Egg Command Tower

[Rampage]

Without hardly a fearful glint in his eyes from Robotnik's threat to shut him down, Rampage sat back in his cell silently contemplating all the fun he will have in the coming future. Toying with Robotnik's new henchmen being chief among them. Rampage would happily obey Robotnik's order not to harm his new allies now that he'd been directly ordered not to; but that didn't mean he couldn't still have some fun with them now and again so long as things stay on the level. All the while however, Rampage's cybernetic eye remained focused on the cell bars.

"Well Rampage, I do believe I am all done. You may take off those cables and come out now."

"Bout time..." Rampage answered in reply as he rose to his feet and quite unceremoniously yanked the cables from his mechanical limbs as though they were leeches.

But as the cell swung open, Rampage completely ignored the open door in favour of smashing his robotic forearm into the cell bars. The data he gleamed thanks to his cybernetic eye told him that the metal alloy used to make the bars, while more than adequate for MOST species, was never designed to resist the kind of strength a cybernetic hybrid like Rampage possessed. With a mighty crash, two of the bars snapped off at the bottom, allowing Rampage to further bend the bars up to allow easy access out of his holding cell. "... I was getting mighty tired of humouring you. So, which way to the armoury?"

He made no effort to showcase it, but Rampage's cybernetic arm was badly damaged from his show of strength. Two large indentations from the metal pars were dug deep into his arm, damaging several systems within. But Rampage knew that was going to happen even before attempting this little stunt. Besides all that, being mechanical, Rampage felt no pain so destroying his robotic arm was a trivial concern knowing that he can easily repair it later. The impression he left on Robotnik and Alta was the real importance here.

[Sorry if I'm breaking ranks busting out of the cell like that, but I hope the explanation covers it well enough]

[Dr. Robotnik]

Perhaps if this was the first time Rampage had done something like that, Robotnik would have been impressed and afraid. But after Rose getting shot, this felt relatively minor. The doctor merely scoffed at the stunt and made a mental note to build a stronger cage specifically for Rampage, for when (not if) he kept showing out like this.

In any case, he ignored Rampage's question for a moment to accept Alta's letter with a smile. "Thank you." The doctor quickly unfolded the note and started to read. One eyebrow would be visible rising higher and higher behind Robotnik's glasses as he continued on the note.

Quote:Doc,

Despite my persistent asking, Alta simply won’t believe me when I tell him he should be wearing a nurse’s outfit! It’s obviously because he’s bashful, but that’s beside the point. I have complete, undeniable proof that he should, in fact, wear a nurse’s outfit. I drew it! Big Grin

Rose
(The second page of the two part letter shows this: http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk351...ic0013.jpg )

When the doctor unfolded the picture and saw it in all its beauty, BOTH eyebrows would now be visible rising behind the glasses, along with a fair portion of the whites of his eyes. Feeling a little embarassed, he gave a nervous smile and quickly put it away in his pocket before Rampage could gawk at it.

"That was a very...interesting note, Alta," Robotnik said, his voice sounding somewhat cheerful yet bewildered. "I'll...take that under consideration." He spoke as if the note concerned some technical matter.

Finally though he got round to Rampage again. The smile promptly vanished, along with the cheerful tone. "Oh...right...armory.... Uh...39th floor. Remember to restrict your shooting to the firing ranges only. I will use that code if you get out of line now." He held up the little device that he'd been downloading the code to. "And don't think smashing this is going to mean you're free. I've got redundant copies of the code stored in multiple places now."

[Rose Fox]

Alta’s reaction to Rampages breaking out of his cell was not extraordinary. He was obvious surprised by this, but he didn’t show fear. Though, he was afraid of him, he knew that as long as he did get in his way, he’d be fine.

Folding his arms and sighed, looking over at the doctor. He automatically gave a confusing and concerned towards Robotnik at the reaction of the note. He couldn’t possible imagine what Rose would have written to get Robotnik’s reaction. And frankly, he probably didn’t want to know. Shifting a bit, he sighed again.

“What now?” he asked, somewhat awkwardly. He did want to start work on something, but he was having a hard time of thinking up something decent. He had worked far too much on rides and attractions over the years.

[Rampage]

"Hah! Believe me, Doc, if I ever decide I want out, there ain't gonna be a whole lot you can do to stop me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna check out what toys I've got to play with." With that, Rampage tromped out of the room, leaving the Doc and Alta to themselves.

Finding his way to the elevators wasn't difficult thanks to the largely centralized layout of Robotnik's HQ. Plus, this base wasn't all too different than the one his previous employer had used.

[Dr. Robotnik]

When Rampage arrived on the correct floor, he'd find himself standing in a small ante-room. Heavy gun turrets with cameras hung in the top of each corner high overhead, and they all immediately and audibly rotated to point at Rampage when he entered. But since he was identified as a friendly, they did not fire. An extremely large and heavy metallic door sat on the other side. Next to it, Rampage would see a small retinal scanner for access.

On the other side, he'd find himself standing in a giant warehouse with a huge assortment of weapons to choose from. Rifles, pistols, machine guns, rocket launchers, miniguns, flamethrowers...with most of them set up for laser fire. If you could name it, it was in there. However, they were all stored unloaded. To get ammunition, Rampage would have to visit the test fire range.

---

"I don't know..." Robotnik said, scratching his chin. But then he smiled, as he got an idea. "Maybe we could go see how the digging equipment is doing? We should be leaving soon for Angel Island to dig up those emerald shards." The doctor relished the opportunity of beefing up his army with the enhanced power of the emerald shards. He couldn't wait to see what improvements he could make to the special robots and vehicles he was designing.

Not to mention he couldn't wait to try out his own personal digging machine he'd been building for this operation. The doctor just loved building those modal machines that hooked right into his Egg Pod...even if they always ended up being destroyed by Sonic.

[Rose Fox]

"That seems alright. Not like I know anything better to do." Alta replied simply. He really didn't know what else to do, other than follow the doctor around. He really did feel like working on something, but he was still drawing a blank. He sighed somewhat out of furstration. He had to thank the doc for makeing sure he got out of being in jail; but he also cursed him for it since it forced him to work at that miserable park.

[Dr. Robotnik]

[Chadin said we could go on and post without him. He'll be moving to another topic.]

"Good!" Robotnik clapped his hands together, smiling as he did so. "Then let's go up to my laboratory. I'm working on my latest Egg Pod vehicle now."

Robotnik quickly guided Alta to the nearest elevator, and before long they'd be riding up to the labs now. The doctor seemed positively chipper and eager to explain his newest ride. "Oh, it's going to be marvelous. I'd like to personally be on the frontlines myself, so I'm outfitting the Egg Pod now for its own drilling and mining capabilities. Not to mention I pity the person who gets in front of it." He rubbed his hands together. "It'll be built like a tank and it'll be able to smash through anything!"

[Rose Fox]

He followed closely behind, somewhat eager to see what Robotnik's laboratory looks like. He'd already figured his lab would be much better than the one he had worked in while he was interning with G.U.N. But Hearing the doctor's excitement of his new machine seemed to make him feel slightly pessimistic. He didn't doubt it was a bad machine; but knowing his track record with the blue hedgehog made him doubt that it was as great as the Doctor's ego made it sound it to be. He already was imagining several flaws with it; which he decided to mention in questions rather than bluntly say it. It was safer that way.

"Yes, but does it work fast enough?" For now, it was the only thing he was going to mention.; since it was concert to him that it would be slow. "Tank" is defense, and usually you end up trading speed for it. And against a supersonic hedgehog, he could already tell that the defense would go down quickly if the Doctor couldn't make a hit. But he still didn't really know. He'd have to see it before he could conclude something else.

[Dr. Robotnik]

"It should...the front is a wall of little drills and crushers. Underground, it will chew through rock and earth as fast as if it were just driving around on the surface. Not to mention it has plenty of sensors to help me see everything that's going on all around me even when I'm deep underground. That's not to say it's merely for utility, of course. I have some offensive measures installed too."

A soft ding indicated they were on the right floor.

"Ah...we're here now."

The doors slid aside to reveal a massive white space, with high ceilings and bright lights everywhere. Tables, construction materials, chemicals, and machines of indeterminate purpose lay scattered everywhere. But towards the back of the room a large thing under a sheet would be visible. Robotnik pranced towards it rapidly, practically looking like a little kid ready to show off his new toy.

"There it is... My latest invention."

[Rose Fox]

At this point Alta wasn't paying attention to Robotnik. Instead, as he walked out of the elevator and into the lab, he was paying far more attention to the lab itself. It was huge, and paled in comparison to the lab G.U.N. had. It had everything necessary for building machines and robots alike, which only made him itch to try and build something. Of course, he was rusty and he would never build anything as huge as the ceilings were made for, but he hadn't done anything for so long. He was still walking forward though, at a somewhat slow pace. Though he did finally look over towards the large machine that was covered by a very large sheet.

"Oh, yes it's um....huge..." his response sounded exactly how someone paying attention to something else; dull.