City Streets

[Dr. Robotnik]

"Of course! Of course!" the bear even slightly bowed as he said this, before he took off at a running pace down the alleyway to gather up others to help in the heist.

[Maybe it's time for a timeskip?]

[Chadin]

As the bear hastily took his leave, the stranger turned back slightly, sporting a deeply satisfied smile. "Excellent, all the pieces are falling nicely into place. Soon, I'll have everything I need to begin the next phase of my plan." The stranger brooded happily to himself.

Truth be told, the news of the Freedom Fighters the bear mentioned had surprised him somewhat, but not quite in the same way as one might have expected. He already knew of at least one of those Freedom Fighters the bear mentioned. Specifically the deer. He'd been there, watching as he and a number of others fighting with Robotnik's forces on Angel Island. What he'd seen there intrigued him greatly. The others were of no consequence to him, but no one could have missed the light show that the deer produced. But he didn't just see the deer's power, he could feel it. More importantly, he felt the pain and suffering. Things that he felt confident he could use to his advantage. After all, such strong emotions can be as easily manipulated as the desperation within the bear.

But for now, the deer and the Freedom Fighters can wait. Tonight, will be a night that Robotropolis, and Robotnik himself will not soon forget. For tonight, will bear witness to the grand return of:

Mammoth Mogul!!

[Nail Strafer]

[From Swatpod Refueling Hangar]

The scene that Whip and Alpha would encounter after descending from the hangar would not be a pleasant one. Darkness covered the street underneath the building, with the only light provided by a few flickering street lights and some fires from oil drums. Dark figures huddled around the flames in ragged clothes. These would be some of Robotnik's slave laborers, out to chat with friends for little bit before going home and getting ready for more back-breaking labor the next day.

The occasional SWATbot marched up and down the street, while spybots silently hovered above and scanned the streets for trouble. If Alpha and Whip wanted to hide, they would find ample things to hide in. Alleyways, alcoves, trash piles, dumpsters, and assorted other objets lined the street.

[Whip the Rabbit]

After the placement of his ears was properly aligned, Whip sauntered lightly to the large pile of broken bits and pieces that Alpha was concealing himself behind. Making sure not to scar himself on any of the pointy bits, and avoiding a foul-smelling puddle, he semi-ducked beneath it, mostly to be on level with Alpha as he waited for his idol to join them.
"Pretty dumpy down here, huh?" He commented, peering over the pile. He may have been scanning the area, or he could have been eyeing some of the food one of the slaves was holding; The lighting was too dim to tell. "Reminds me of home, actually..."

[Nail Strafer]

[Alpha, did you post? Whip's post makes it look like you did, but I can't see one. We've been having some board glitches with invisible posts.]

[Alpha Omega]

[Not in this topic yet, but I made my action clear in my last post of the Refueling hangar topic. I've been debating to post, or wait for Espio to join in this topic first.]

[Espio]

[Timewise, I'm a few seconds behind you. Feel free to post next, or pm me if you wish to swap places in the turn order.]

[Alpha Omega]

Omega looked at whip, a very quizzical look on his face. "THIS reminds you of home? Dude, what kind of childhood did you have?" He looked around the streets, scowling as he saw the numerous workers, and getting flat out angry every time SWATbot walked past. He absentmindedly returned the ring that carried him down to finger size, and slipped it back onto his right hand.The rings' power was something he'd probably need very soon, if they wanted to avoid capture.

[Espio]

Having made good on his exit, Espio sprinted down the walls of the refueling hangar, getting a good look at the desolation around him. How any dictator could let his subjects live in such squalor was beyond him. He took note of the air drones and bots patrolling the streets. Seeing as how he was lucky enough to escape the deathtrap above earlier, he figured he might not want to trip another one prematurely by lurking about. He extends his grappling hook a few stories off the ground, the rope coiling around a ornament affixed to the adjacent building. He took a swing across the street, retracting the grappling hook as he neatly lands in the alleyway alongside Whip and Alpha. "You two ready to have a look around?", he asked to break up the discussion.

[Dr. Robotnik]

"Mmm?"

One of the hooded figures looked up in curiosity, as he heard the grappling hook rope retract back to Espio. His companions took note and looked up as well.

"Did you see something?"

"Heard something...sounded like a rope. Don't see anything though."

Espio and the others might notice the slave laborers now glancing around to locate the source of the noise.

---

Meanwhile, if Espio and the others wanted to set up a hiding place for the group, a few options presented themselves. Some of the buildings along the street did not appear to be inhabited at all. However, most of them had their doors and windows covered up with wood planks.

Off in one direction, this street led directly to the base of Robotnik's main command tower. It would be easy to spot. Guard towers flanked both sides of the street near the base. Meanwhile, a checkpoint complete with SWATbot guards and automated sentry turrets ran from tower to tower, with gates and barriers set up to prevent vehicles from attempting a ram raid.

Large red signs hung near the checkpoint, declaring that anyone approaching without authorization would be gunned down on sight.