It did not take Sonic long at all to reach Knothole, with
the other Freedom Fighters in tow. Antoine had calmed down by the time they
arrived back, his flashbacks swiftly fading away. As Sonic and the others skidded
to a halt inside the main square, they were greeted by the village's two other
main residents. Rotor Walrus, the group's main technical expert, headed
straight for Sally. "Did you get the plans?" he asked.
Sally held up the flash drive containing the plans.
"They're in here," she said. "I'm going to analyze them with
NICOLE shortly, but first I'd like you to scan it, and make sure it doesn't
include any nasty surprises from Robotnik." NICOLE was a sentient computer
that Sally had received in a mysterious package one day. Though small, it was powerful
enough to crack even the toughest of Robotnik's encryptions. Recently Robotnik
had taken to bundling viruses in with his plans to try and shut NICOLE down
from the inside, and while it hadn't worked so far, Sally wasn't taking any
chances.
Rotor took the drive from Sally and headed off to his
workshop, with his young assistant Tails in tow. "I'm gonna hit the
hay," said Bunnie, stifling a yawn, "I need a power-nap. No pun
intended." Bunnie's arm cannon may have been powerful enough to wreck
Snively's robot, but it used a lot of energy, and firing it always exhausted
her. For this reason, she usually restricted herself to firing it once per day,
and only in dire emergencies, as had been the case back at Scrap Brain Zone.
"And I shall start preparing supper!" declared
Antoine, before heading off towards the kitchens. Antoine's shell-shock may
have reduced his effectiveness as a soldier, but he was still an excellent chef.
Most of the time.
"It better not be escargot again, Ant!" Sonic
called after him.
Sally remained in the square, with Sonic. She had
something important to discuss. "So," she said, "Charles
believes these plans are for some kind of powerful super-weapon. What do you
suppose it could be?" "Charles" was Sonic's uncle, one of
Mobius' top scientific minds prior to Robotnik's coup d'etat. He, like almost
all of Mobius' other citizens, had been "Roboticized" - turned into a
mindless robotic servant. Except Charles had not become mindless. By a stroke
of good luck, he had retained his free will, and now worked for the Freedom
Fighters as a double agent, passing them information about Robotnik's schemes.
It was he who had alerted them to this new super-weapon, whatever it may be,
and told them where the plans were being kept.
Sonic merely shrugged. "I dunno, but he seemed
pretty rattled when I talked to him. He reckons it's gotta be both new and big.
Really big."
"That’s not really very helpful," said Sally.
"Well, that's all he knew," said Sonic. "Apparently
there's been a lot of activity lately in Buttnik's research centres, so he reckons
maybe it uses some fancy new tech Buttnik's invented, and there's some kinks
that need working out."
"That would make sense," said Sally, looking
pensive. "But then, if it's something we've never seen before-"
"Sally!"
Looking up, Sally saw Rotor running towards her, the
flash drive in his hand. It had only been a couple of minutes, and his hurried
pace and concerned expression told Sally that something was very wrong.
"What it is, Rotor?" she asked.
Rotor came to a halt a few feet away, resting his hands
on his knees for a moment while he recovered his breath. "I checked the flash
drive," he said eventually. "Not only were there no viruses on it…
it's not even encrypted."
"Not encrypted?" repeated Sally, surprised.
"I don't think Robotnik's ever not encrypted something…"
"Well, maybe ol' Blubber Boy just forgot this time,"
suggested Sonic crudely.
"Or maybe… maybe he wants us to see what's on this
drive," pondered Sally, as she took the flash drive from Rotor. "He
wants us to see what he's got in store for us."
"Then let's take a look already!" said Sonic.
"The sooner we know what it is, the sooner I can wreck it!"
"I think we should gather everyone else here,"
suggested Sally. "If this really is as game-changing as your uncle
suggests, then it might be best if we all knew about it."
"I'm on it!" said Sonic, before whizzing off
through the village. A moment later, he returned with Bunnie, Antoine and Tails
in tow. Bunnie was still half-asleep, one long ear flopped over her face.
"Wha-wha's goin' on?" slurred Bunnie.
"We're going to analyze the plans, see what Robotnik
has in store for us, and then figure out a way to stop whatever it is before it
does whatever it's supposed to do," said Sally.
Bunnie clearly did not comprehend this in her tired state,
but nodded anyway. "Sure, sure, just lemme-" With that, she toppled
over sideways and was asleep before she hit the ground.
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