Launch Base Zone - Infiltration

[Gail Strafer]

The ensuing explosions sent the blasted open barrels flying skyward like they had jets, as the ignited fuel spread outwards. The gas already on the ground quickly went up like a lake of fire. Before long the lit fuel had doused a few of the shuttles and caught them on fire...including the one the other three were hiding under. Gail could feel a light burning sensation on his right leg. When he turned to look, he saw that his jeans had caught fire there.

Screaming and ignoring everything else, he crawled out from under the ship frantically. Once in the open air, he rolled into a supine position and started slapping his right leg with one of his paws to put out the flames, wincing every time his flesh came in contact with it. For the moment, he'd be open and exposed to fire from the SWATbots.

However, many bots had now been engulfed in flames. But since they were robots, it didn't affect them much initially. They simply walked around while on fire, trying to locate targets even as their armor and faces burned. Of course though, they couldn't see anything since the heat messed with their thermal imaging cameras. It looked like Chadin had definitely taken out a few bots there.

A loud blaring alarm echoed through the camp, as some of the SWATpods observing the reopening of the mine floated back towards the shuttles to look for the saboteurs.

[Chadin]

My ears shot straight up as the blaring alarms sounded off. "Well, I certainly got their attention!" I muttered to myself.

With stealth thrown loudly out the window, I took off into a sprint towards the large factory ship in plain sight, around the burning flames. I made a bee-line straight for one of the openings in the side of the ship. With any luck, I'd draw all the bot's attention on me and draw them away from the others. At the very least, they'd perhaps have fewer bots to deal with.

[Jijeka-Te]

Ji and Anu didn't stay under the shuttle for long, either. Fortunately, they were a bit more fortunate in avoiding the flames than Gail was.

Once out from under the ship, their first instinct was to take cover, but they found little to take cover behind. Instead, Ji took a running start and took to the air again, knowing she'd be more mobile and therefore harder to hit with some altitude. Anu stayed low.

[Gail Strafer]

"Aaaah! AAAAAAH!"

The wolf now screamed from the pain as he pounded on the fire on his clothes with the vigor only brought on by imminent lethal injury. But the flames just wouldn't go out. Some of the burning fuel must have gotten onto his jeans, and not just the fire. Eventually he decided to just forget patting it out and quickly took the jeans off, shoving them over his tennis shoes as fast as he could, letting them get ripped in the process.

Finally he managed to get them off, as he just laid there for a moment, breathing heavily and trying to massage the burns on his leg while the jeans went up in smoke beside him. Now that he had a moment to think, he couldn't help but be angry that Ji and Anu simply left him like this without helping. Weren't they a team? But maybe he should have known better than expecting royalty to get its hands dirty.

Sighing, he leaned himself against one of the jets to quickly examine his injuries. Looked like most of the fur on his lower right leg had been burned, leaving singed skin underneath. Not just awful apparently... The fire itself had been so terrifying he'd been afraid it would be worse.

Hobbling to one leg, he moved to duck between the jets to hide and also to find his friends. Ji and Anu had taken to the air again...while he thought he saw the remaining SWATbots running after something. He couldn't see much except a pair of antlers over the rushing crowd. It would almost be funny if it wasn't so dangerous.

But he knew his new friend wouldn't last long without help, so the wolf started hobbling after the deer. The thought that his injury might just end up getting him captured too didn't enter his mind. He thought he was invincible after all. Thankfully for Gail most attention was on Chadin at the moment.

---

Chadin would find laser blasts flashing all around him as he rushed towards the factory ship. If he didn't lose his pursuers soon, he would find himself surrounded. Fortunately the mining site was a busy place with lots of equipment, raw earth, and vehicles to hide behind. In fact, Chadin would see a few unattended bulldozer bots just up ahead.

---

Meanwhile, a SWATpod located the flying Egyptians and started tracking them with the under-mounted laser gun. Blasts of superheated, bright plasma began to flash around the two of them.

[Chadin]

My heart was pounding at a frenzied rate as I raced across the mining site. I couldn't remember ever running so fast in my life; my tail was pointing straight up to be sure!

Laser shots whipped past me. Some found their marks, but the chaos being covering my body absorbed most of them harmlessly. Even so, it wouldn't be able to keep that up much longer. Swat-bots were closing in from all sides. I couldn't make it to the factory ship without either taking some of them out, or finding a safer way. I needed to find some place to take cover. But wherever I went, I couldn't stay there long or I'd be swarmed and overwhelmed.

That's when I noticed one of the bulldozers. PERFECT!!!

In a flash, I changed directions; causing several shots that were heading for me to miss. I made a dash for the closest bulldozer and made a mad scramble up to the cockpit. Closing the door behind me, safe for the moment, I looked over the controls.

I can't claim to have a full understanding of tech, but I've been part of enough missions to sabotage Robotnik's machines to have at least some idea of how to operate them. That, and it was amazing how effective randomly pushing buttons could be.

My hands flew across the controls, trying to figure out how to make the thing work. Suddenly, the huge engine roared to life, making my very teeth rattle in my mouth. It did not take me long to figure out the steering controls either. I opened the machine's throttle up to maximum and nearly caused me to fall to the floor with the surprising speed the bulldozer sprang forward.

Dirt began to pile up at the head of the blade, slowing my quick progress. That wouldn't do, so I sifted around till I found the controls to raise the blade slightly. I sped up quickly after that. I still didn't have a total grasp of how to steer this thing yet, but that didn't matter. I was out to cause as much chaos and confusion as possible; and maybe even spatter a few dozen Swat-bots along the way.

[Jijeka-Te]

(Ji) "Whoa!"

Ji nearly went off course as she noticed the plasma shots the flying thing was shooting at them. Thankfully it wasn't a very good shot from that distance.

(Ji) "We need cover!"
(Anu) "Never mind cover, we need to help the others!"
(Ji) "How?! ...Hang on. I've got an idea. Remember earlier when those soldiers were refusing to shoot at us because that dragon-thing was in the line of fire?"
(Anu) "...Where are you going with this, Your Highness?"

[Gail Strafer]

The SWATbots who had been rapidly pursuing Chadin before just as quickly turned tail and took cover behind what they could find, as the massive vehicle raced towards them. Still, a few were not so lucky and Chadin might hear the crunching sound of metal on the dozer's treads. The steel bucket cleanly knocked through several stacks of metallic boxes, sending them tumbling around and falling on bots as they went.

The deer would hear some crackling static from a radio positioned near the controls, before Robotnik himself spoke up on the radio.

"Mr. Deer, we meet again," Robotnik said, smirking to one side. "I think you've had enough fun for one day. Gerald, do what you will please."

---

"####, I need to get one of those too!"

Gail grinned as he watched his new friend suddenly turn the tables on his pursuers. Still, perhaps he should try to get into the ship while Chadin had the forces distracted. The wolf hobbled as quickly as he could through the delivery shuttles. He figured he would try to skirt the edge of the compound and slip into the factory ship that way.

In fact, he saw an aged building up ahead that looked much older than the other things here. If Gail remembered right, Robo had built a base here back in the Death Egg days. This building looked like a remnant of it. He picked his way in through a crack in the wall, and found himself in a dark, dusty hallway with a stone floor. The only light came through the windows and other cracks in the wall and the ceiling. Once more he continued limping, although his leg was starting to feel better. Dust and pebbles scattered at his feet, as he used the pockmarked wall to maintain his balance.

This building looked like it would end with him being closer to the factory ship, so he could move quickly here without worries of being seen.

---

The SWATpod continued closing in on Ji and Anu, firing more laser blasts as it went. If Ji and Anu didn't duck for cover, the ship would be upon them very shortly and it'd have a better shot.

[Chadin]

This was actually proving to be a lot more fun than I'd expected. This must be what Sonic feels like, plowing through almost everything with a reckless abandon. Still, this thing wouldn't last long if those Swat-pods started firing on his bulldozer from above.

Quote:"Mr. Deer, we meet again," Robotnik said, smirking to one side. "I think you've had enough fun for one day. Gerald, do what you will please."

"Gerald!?!" What the heck was going on?

[Jijeka-Te]

After a quick hop off the ground to restore her altitude, Ji navigated herself to the swarms of robots that were still around, positioning herself directly between them and the pod that was firing at her-- and gaining more altitude by hopping off one bot's head for good measure.

(Ji) "If they fire, we'll dodge and they'll hit each other. If they don't fire, we'll be safe."
(Anu) "I'm telling you, Your Highness, we need to find cover! Your shenanigans will get us hurt for sure!"

Anu sighed, and scanned the area for potential shelter while Ji kept up her fancy aerial maneuvering.

[Gerald Robotnik]

[ From Launch Base to the Bulldozer Radio]

Chadin would hear an aggravated sigh, before hearing Gerald speak. “Unit your orders have changed. Drown the deer.”

--------------

The Artificial Chaos that Chadin had been using heard the command and obeyed; it's eyes flashed green to show it had gone through. It moved up Chadin's torso fast, covering the deer's head. It would suffocate the deer, as the head base stayed on top.