Belly of the Beast

[Chadin]

Unfortunately, just as Giichi was winding up to throw his smoke bomb the Swatbots walked into the elevator and the doors elevator closed shut behind them. Giichi would see the numbers above the elevator doors steadily increasing.

"We have cervine prisoner aboard elevator 1-3, orders?" One of the Swatbots called out over its radio.

I remained deathly quiet as I waited to hear the reply over the Swatbot's radio.

[Tails]

Tails types in Robotnik on his computer and it searches for Robotnik's IP Address.

Tails cheers. "I've almost got it."

As soon as the computer finds the IP Address, he types it in. Now Robotnik would never know that Tails is in his computer.

Unless Robotnik has some kind of security program.

With that in mind, Tails quickly searches for any recent plans Robotnik may have.

Soleanna, preparation for attack

Tails decides against copying any files and immediately leaves Robotnik's computer.

With that in mind, Tails wonders what to do next.

[Giichi Twinkieland]

[You know, IP addresses are used to trace computers, not hack into them.]

**** **** ****! Two more seconds and I would have had him!

Giichi looked up at the number display above the elevator. It was already ticking upwards. Once he found out which floor the elevator was going to, he would head there through the air ducts.

Or so I hope... I'll just have to go up wherever the ducts go up and hope that it takes me higher in the tower.

The elevator stopped on floor 89...the roboticizer floor. For the umpteenth time today, he felt the color drain from his face. That feeling was really starting to wear on him. In any case, he crept back across the room and into the ducts. He'd been hoping Robotnik would take him to one of the prisoner floors first. But if Chadin was going straight to the roboticizer, then Giichi had no time to waste. The odds were slim he'd save Chadin now...but he had to try.

[Dr. Robotnik]

"Just take him to the roboticizer floor. After you've dropped him off in the holding cell, look for the feline intruder."

Robotnik wanted to go down and interrogate the deer right this instant, but he wanted to deal with Tails first.

An idea hit him suddenly. These two intruders...more than likely they were in league with Tails. Why else would they have done their operations simultaneously? Even if they weren't, that deer would make an excellent bargaining chip.

Smiling, Robotnik called up the security camera monitoring the elevator carrying the deer and his two swatbots. He grabbed a frame from the video and emailed it to Tails.

After doing that he tuned his radio to Tails' radio.

"Listen up, foxboy...I have one of your freedom fighter friends in custody right now. If you don't stand down, he'll be roboticized."

Granted, no matter what Tails did, he'd roboticize the deer anyway, but oh well. If Tails thought Robotnik might show some mercy, then it'd be a nice bonus.

[Chadin]

[Ooohhh, nicely played... This is shaping up better than I'd hoped]

As Giichi made his way back across the server room, he'd easily spot Chadin's crossbow lying on the floor near the duct opening. Apparently the guards had been to focused on capturing the prisoner than collecting his primary weapon.

Meanwhile, I began to notice my hearing was starting to come back. It was heavily muffled, like my head was underwater, but it was gradually becoming clearer. I thought I heard what sounded like robotizer, but then again...

When the elevator reached its stop the doors silently slide open. I'd felt the fear before. I'd heard others talk about it. But right then, as the Swatbots entered the room, I saw it. The Robotizier, as real as can be. My ears drooped limply to the sides and my eyes bulged out even more than if a pair of headlights were shining into them. I was scared stiff.

I was knocked out of my mental paralysis when the two Swatbots carrying me tossed me into a nearby holding cell. And by toss, I mean that literally. I slammed face first into the back wall. "Ow..." I groaned; it felt like I was glued to the wall for a minute or so before I slide down the wall and collapsed into a heap on the floor. The cell door slammed shut with a loud clank.

Maybe it was the adrenaline and fear in my system but I heard that clank clear as a bell. I scrambled to my feet and threw myself against the barred door. I pulled and pushed on the bars for all my worth but it was too late. The door is locked, and I am trapped. Trapped... in the Robotizer chamber. I could see the machine just sitting at the centre of the room, like a feral animal patiently waiting for its next meal.

What a way to go... trapped and completely helpless. Hopeless, I slumped back against the bars as the gravity of the situation sank in. I felt numb, but even knowing the fate that awaited me, I was surprised to find myself thinking about what happened to Giichi. I hoped, no I prayed he'd made it out. If only so that he could avoid my own fate.

[Tails]

Tails can't believe his eyes. He sees a deer in custody of the swat bots in Robotnik's control.

He listens to Robotnik's message. "Listen up, foxboy...I have one of your freedom fighter friends in custody right now. If you don't stand down, he'll be roboticized."

Tails knows without a doubt that Robotnik would continue to roboticize the deer whether he stands down or not. He just knows Robotnik so well.

Tails feels dumbfounded in his reply. "What? I didn't know you had hostages. Regardless, you won't have the prisoners for long. Here I come."

Tails lands his airplane and prepares himself to enter Robotnik's base.

[Giichi Twinkieland]

Giichi spied Chadin's weapon on the ground near the duct. After picking it up, he looked it over a few times.

Well...this looks dangerous...

He spent a moment trying to figure out the proper way to hold the thing and aim it. If he ran into any swatbots on the way to where Chadin was, this would be his only realistic weapon. Once he felt satisfied he'd practiced the grip enough, Giichi moved to crawl into the vent.

But then it struck him. The room felt very quiet, even though just moments ago a hole had been blasted in the outer wall. Giichi took a moment to gaze at the grim vista through it. He couldn't hear that plane outside anymore, nor any explosions or gunfire. Had the pilot been shot down?

Giichi sighed. They could have really used that guy for some help, whoever he was. But no use fretting about it. Wishing for him to come back wouldn't make it so.

The cat slid into the vent and was soon scrambling quickly down the small tunnel.

[Dr. Robotnik]

Robotnik's grin leered out from under his thick mustache as the fox retreated. That had definitely worked out better than he'd hoped. It was such a joy to play upon the morals of heroes. Even when it was all but hopeless to save someone, they'd do everything possible to ensure their safety, no matter the cost.

In any case, with that problem dealt with, Robotnik set the tower defenses to automatically fire at any unidentified flying objects approaching the building. Soon, he was on an elevator heading down to the roboticizer floor.

As the doors hissed open to the correct floor, he immediately turned his gaze to the nearby holding cell, where his prisoner should be right now.

Ah...there he is. I swear...I know I've seen him from somewhere before.

Robotnik paced his way towards the cage, sporting the same grin he'd had upstairs. The deer had his back to him at the moment, as he laid against the bars.

"Comfortable, I trust?" he said, as if he were entertaining a house guest at a country estate. "What's your name again? I think we've crossed paths before..."

As Robotnik got closer, he noticed the small metal box on the back of the buck's neck. His eyes went wide.

"Wait...now I know why you look familiar. I believe you were one of my earlier experiments. It was that mind control chip."

It really was a fragile thing. I've come so much further since then. Maybe I shouldn't roboticize him straight away like the others. I think I'll study him some more.

Robotnik appeared lost in his thoughts for a moment, as he turned away from Chadin and leaned against a table. It was like he'd forgotten about the buck just as soon as he'd greeted him. But of course Robotnik cared nothing about manners, since he held all the cards right now.

[Chadin]

When Robotnik first entered the room from the elevator I was too lost in my depression to notice at first. That is until he spoke to me. Every other thought and emotion disappeared in an instant and sprang to my feet to do was jump to my feet and practically across the cell too.

"Robotnik..." It really was him. The very same. Maybe the Robotnik's from every other alternate zone looked the same but this one had to be the same. He recognized me. He remembered the experiments he did to me... He remembered what he made me do... It had to be the same one.

"It is you then... the one who did this to me!!!!" I threw myself against the bars, rattling the cell door violently. Of course it did little to better my situation. In fact doing so brought on a blinding flash of pain from the shrapnel wound in my shoulder.

"GNNNGHHH!!" I staggered back from the bars clutching my left hand against the blood wound. Even with my injury, I glared through the bars at Robotnik with a look that could have killed. I so badly wanted out of this cell so that I could do onto him what he did to me.

The things he did to me, what he made me do... the torture... the pain... it all came racing back in a flood of emotions and memories. I was helpless to do anything to stop him, to stop what he was doing to me. It made me angry; more angry than I'd ever felt before.

The scars along my body began to glow with greater intensity than they had ever before. Once again though, I was too swept up in my emotions to take notice. All I could think about was getting across the room and beating the man responsible for all of my suffering to within an inch of his life.

[Tails]

(alternate version) - I think I'll enjoy this version more. goodbye to what's on top.

Tails jumps out of the tornado and he cracks his knuckles. "Let's get ready to shine." He looks at the tress and knows he'll have to take this one step at a time. He grins. "I shall figure out how I'll confuse the robots into submission. Get ready, now."

Tails races toward a nearby tree and hides behind it. He observes the swat bots as they scout the area out in radius of a square. Their own little patrol routes. "I'll race around each individual robot and make them so dizzy they'll shoot each other. Alright, do you know what you're doing? Yes."

Tails gets into a running stance and prepares for quite the journey to make it to Robotnik's base where a hole in the wall sits from the missiles.

Tails thinks. Here goes nothing.