Chapter 9: Checkpoint

The group found the rest area, well it was actually a lobby of some sort. It had nice comfortable red sofas, a selection of vending machines, and easy music playing. 

They had managed to seal the bulkheads to all of the other rooms, not even the DE-55’s could break through them. They all rested and talked. 

Sotsu looked out the single window that looked over a section of the city. They weren’t very far up. Though they hadn’t noticed that after heading up the several flights of staircases that they had ascended this much height. But it was still only a moderate level compared to the towering buildings the city had.

"Is everything okay?" Sally asked as she approached Sotsu.

"Yes I’m fine and ready to keep moving when you are. How’s Sonic holding out?" Sotsu replied.

"He’s seen better days. But I think he’ll hold out."


They hadn’t been in here for much more then an hour. Most of the group were up and well rested. 

"How much farther until our destination?" Sotsu asked as he continued starring out the window.

"Let me check," Sally said pulling the out the map.

She unrolled it and pointed out a room on the third level.

"Were here in the lobby. We need to head out that corridor to our left, here, then through the Chemical Plants. Then when we reach the east wing of the Chemical Plants, down to the Security Grid, and shut that down. Then we head up to the barracks, we should find the DE-55 factory station up there," she said pointing out each location.

"So we’ve only made it perhaps half way," Sotsu said.

"Yeah and this was the easy half," she said looking back on the battle worn group.


"We’re all ready to go I guess," Sonic said as he grabbed a candy bar from one of the vending machines.

"Yeah let’s go get that Fat Bas…." Zhi Wei trailed off remembering what happened last time he said that, when Sotsu was still on Robotnik’s side. 

"Go ahead," Sotsu said waving his hand a little.

"Ah… you took the fun out of it though," Zhi Wei whined.

"What’s he talking about?" Remoan asked.

"Just… arg! Let’s get going!" Sotsu said, frustrated by the overall juvenile attitude that the Freedom Fighters held. 

Sotsu noticed a figure standing on top of the building across from the window. It’s eyes glowed red… it was one of the ex-earthlings, not Evi-Tanoted either.

"Let’s get going! The other ex-earthling’s spotted us!" Sotsu shouted. The group turned to see a bright red blaze coming toward the window, a fireball.

They all began to run for the door in panic. They all rushed out the door just as the fireball shattered through the window erupted with a loud blast, turning the lobby into nothing more then ashes.

"What was that?" Sonic asked looking over the aftermath of the attack.

"It was the other ex-earthling, he shot a fireball of some sort at us," Sotsu replied.

"I’ll say," Remoan added. 

"It’s not safe to stand about like this. We’d better keep moving," Knuckles said as he began to walk down the corridor they were in.

Their plan had not gone accord at all. It was due to the level of defense this place has. Before when Sotsu was here, he was the places primary defense, now it was as if everything had totally changed. 


"Was it always this hard to break into Robotnik’s HQ?" Sotsu asked as he thought about then and now.

"No… this is many times harder then anytime we’ve previously attack," Sally replied.

"It’s amazing that Robotnik had managed to boost his guards up in such a short time," Sonic added.

"You can thank the ex-earthlings for that," Sotsu said.

They group managed to reach the access walkway to the Chemical Plant. The walkway served as extension high over the toxic waste that circled that structure.

"This is the Chemical Plant Zone," Sally said as the group made their way toward the large metal door that resided at the end of the bridge.

The door swung open as they approached it. The group readied themselves for a fight, but the door was automatic, it merely does that as a trigger from movement.

They group entered the room. Several cylinders churned vile concoctions in them with a loud hum. The metal floor they stood upon was position over a span of green toxins. The group looked about in wonder and curiosity, only to be interrupted by a sudden vibration. 

Three forms lifted from the wastes. They were tall metal serpents, the green toxic oozed down their metallic bodies making them look more monstrous then they already were. The tall creatures reeled back ready to strike, emitted a loud hissing sound.

The whole group opened fire on the metallic fiends. The guns bit off bits and pieces of the creature’s metal hide, but the blasts and projectiles of the ex-earthlings blew the serpent creatures apart.

"That was close," Alex breathed as most of the Freedom Fighters sighed in relief. 

"We’ll be okay as long as we stay on our toes," Knuckles said.

"Everyone keep an eye out all around. There can be a good number of tricks and traps Robuttnik could have set up," Sonic announced.


"Alright now," Sally began," we need to make our way to the security grid here. We need to get that shut down, then I think it might leave the manufacturing area open to us."
She took out the map and consulted it, checking over the various details with thorough thought.

"We should begin going down these access tunnels," Sally said as she headed for a small hatch in the corner of the room. She pulled up the panel, inside a ladder went down disappearing into the darkness of the long tunnel.

The group began to file down the ladder. Kevin was at the bottom because of his ability to determine things easier in the dark. There were several small lights placed here and there to light the small vertical shaft, but not sufficient enough to clearly determine things. 

There was a small beeping sound. The group stopped in their tracks.

"Sentry turrets!" Kevin shouted.

"I can take care of them," he added as he fell down the shaft, blasting the turrets with a shock wave as he crossed them. Once he hit the last one he reached out and grabbed the ladder, and with an abrupt strain to his arm, he was safe from the floor, which resided a good few feet from his current position.

"Kevin are you okay?" Nikki called down.

"Fine, a little shaken that’s all!" he called back up.

The Freedom Fighters made their way down the long vertical shaft to find themselves in a narrow corridor that led to a lone metal door at the end.


Kevin opened the door just enough to peek into the next room. It was some form of a hazardous material storage area. Several barrels of gray to green stood stacked in the corners, all had the biohazard symbol on their front.

The group walked in and looked about. The room was a small size, probably just for temporary storage until they get transferred to whatever places they are needed. 

The group headed out another small metal door, leading to a massive room filled with more barrels, stacked high to the ceiling of the massive room. Now this must be a actual storage.

"Wow I’ve never seen anything like this before," Sotsu said as he peeked about a massive stack of containers.

"Yeah that’s all I need," Knuckles began in a sarcastic tone," more radiation."

"Pretty nifty," Remoan commented.

The group walked about some, before they finally stumbled upon an access panel that was set into the wall.

"This one heads back up," Tails called as he climbed into the small space.

"Kevin you should go first again," Sonic said.

"Watch out for those guns," Zhi Wei called.

Kevin managed to clear the tunnel of the turrets and the group climbed their way up. They encountered the same small corridor, then the room opened into another processing room just as they had first entered. It was no more then a few seconds before a good number of serpents rose from the toxins.

One in quick and fluid motion the jaws of one came down on another of Geoffrey’s men.

"How come my men are always serving as bystanders so none of the main crew ever gets killed off!" Geoffrey shouted angrily as his shots tore into the metal serpent’s head. 

"Be grateful it’s them and not you," Sonic replied. It reminded Sotsu of Star Trek, when one of the officer people gets killed.


The group hastily disposed of the metal menaces. They reached another blast door, that slid open with a hiss. On the other side stood a small group of SWATbots, funny though that they were all different in ways. The Freedom Fighters didn’t move to attack. Sotsu and Remoan’s attacks were halted by the group.


"What’s going on?" Remoan asked.

"Those are our undercover people," Sally whispered.

"Team ROATA," Sonic called out. 

The SWATbots turned around and noticed the Freedom Fighters there. They removed their helmets revealing who they were.

"How could you tell it was us?" Andy asked.

"Easy," Sonic began," your all different sizes. I still don’t understand why they couldn’t figure you guys out." 


"Hey Remoan," Sotsu said.

"Yeah?" 

"Did you happen to get your form from him?" Sotsu asked, pointing toward Andy.

"I don’t know. When I woke up, I was already in the process of working for Robotnik."

"Hey you’re that ex-earthling Robotnik got," Andy announced.

"I guess I did," Remoan answered Sotsu.

"Yeah but you’re a lot taller," Sotsu replied.

"I’ll always be the tallest," Remoan gloated. 


"So did you guys get the access codes for the Security Grid?" Sally asked approaching the group.

"Yep right here," Rita said producing a small piece of paper, on which was written a long string of numbers.

"Good. Great. Now you can take us prisoners," she added.

This would make it a lot easier. Now they wouldn’t have to fight their way through everything. 

The "SWATbots" cuffed the Freedom Fighters and told Robotnik that they had caught the Freedom Fighters and were going to execute in the lower chambers. After a short and witting reply to the question of why not execute them now, they were heading down the corridors through the Chemical Plant.

"So what’s with the black echidna? I don’t ever remembering such a thing exists," asked Andy.

"I don’t know," Sotsu replied. 

"You figure that maybe your genes got messed up?" Sonic asked.

"I like it. I think it looks cool black," he added.

"I think Sonic might be right. There might have been a mess up when you drew your DNA from whoever can in contact with," Kevin said. 

"Maybe I feel into a chemical tube or something," Sotsu said looking at his black fur.


The group entered a heavily guarded chamber. At the end was a red blast door labeled "Security Grid". This is where the group would find the defensive consoles. Once those were shut down they could easily make it into the manufacturing barracks and shut down the DE-55 processing units for good.

They entered the room. It was small and not to well lit, except for the several flashing buttons that lined the consoles and the screens that lit on the monitors. 

Sally headed to a large console that was set on the back wall. She produced the piece of paper and began to punch in the keys on the keypad in front of the console. 

 

"Okay once I hit in these last keys we needa get to the manufacturing barracks ASAP!" Sally exclaimed. 


Team ROATA discarded their disguises. With the Security Grid down it wasn’t necessary to sneak around like this. All of the camera would be down, as well as a good amount of guards that used the Security Grid to power themselves.

Sally punched in the last few keys and all of the screens on the monitors shut down. When the group walked out they saw that only a hand full of SWATbots were standing.

"Get them!" one of the SWATbots shouted. The Freedom Fighters made very quick work of the SWATbots as they shot them down and continued moving on.

"How much further until the barracks?" Sonic asked.

"I think they should be a ways ahead. But we’re closer then you’d think," Sally replied as they crossed the bridge that exited the Chemical Plant.

They arrived inside of a large room filled with various drawings and blueprints. There was no one inside.

"This must be a design room," Lara said as she looked over some of the drawings of guard robots and an assortment of trap designs.

"If we take these we can use them to our advantage," Kevin said picking out a few.

"He’s right," Bake said.

"Let’s not take to much time people. Remember the longer we wait the more likely we’ll have to fight more of those DE-55’s," Sotsu said.

The group found themselves fighting to the barracks. They encountered sentry guns, SWATbots, and more various enemies then they wanted. They were worn and tired by the time they had finally reached the barracks. Despite the shutdown of the Security Grid it seemed that Robotnik was prepared with a source of back-up power. 

Now ahead of them stood the entrance to the place that sheltered the manufacturing machines for the DE-55’s. Once past this door and into that room they had to work fast and efficiently. Failure to do so meant them fighting an uncountable number of the very things they sought to stop the production of. It was hard enough to fight a dozen, let alone they were not only low on ammunition, spare men, and energy. But the two other ex-earthlings still stood as emanate enemies that were themselves, more dangerous then the DE-55’s. 

As they approached the oversized metal double doors they heard footsteps behind them. The group turned to see the very two things they feared of having to face more then the DE-55’s, the ex-earthlings.

Both were silhouetted by a bright light, contrasting to the light were two sets of red eyes. One was small and wiry looking, most likely Evi-Tonited. The other stood tall, almost taller looking then Remoan. A cloth of some sort draped down, hiding most of his figure. Sotsu couldn’t make much sense of his anatomy and gave up trying to guess what he could be. He seemed to have long hair of some sort, as spikes seemed to come about his head, and his feet which were right under where the cloth ended, seemed to be fairly small. 

"It’s time to die Freedom Fighters," the tall figure said with a harsh and gravel voice.

"Not on my watch," Sonic said with his natural arrogance.

"This time I’m not screwing around," Evi-Tanoted shouted out as he summoned his pistols, which were easily visible as he x-ed his arms in front of his chest, his guns were pointing up.

Sotsu prepared his CD. Kevin readied an ice attack. Remoan drew his Scout. The rest did what they had to. The fight they had dreaded was upon them. Two very powerful beings with unknown potential with destructive motives were now encountering them. Along with those two, they still had to hurry and destroy the DE-55’s manufacturing machines before the robots could be activated.

"With the power I have I can easily down all of you normal Freedom Fighters. That only challenge is choosing from the vast number of ways I can do it," Evi-Tanoted said as he twirled the pistols in his hands.

Now this was it, if they could make it past this, they could get through the rest of it. But what were their chances of getting through this. Sotsu’s guess… was that they had next to nothing.

-Nicholas D. Wolfwood-