DISCLAIMER: "Sonic the Hedgehog" and most other characters and situations in the following story are copyrighted trademarks of Sega Incorporated, Archie Comics and/or DIC Productions. Permission to reproduce this specific material may be granted by the author so long as you email first. (c)2007 native_pangean@fsmail.net.

The Mission: Part 2

Bunnie held down one corner of the map Rotor had just spread out and studied it. This was the map he had drawn on the mission a couple of days previously. He had strengthened a few of the lines, written a couple of notes and added a handful of details, but surely enough it was the map of the dark quarter.

Sally scrutinized the map from Rotor's other side. "So what was that?" she asked the walrus, pointing.

"I think it's a chute system," Rotor replied. "I always thought there had to be another one. I mean, you know there's lots of space inside Robotnik's corridor walls and stuff?" Sally nodded, way ahead of him.

"I bet we can get into Robotnik's living quarters through there!" she mused. The rest of the group made vague noises at this.

"But what 'are we to be doing zere?" Antoine asked, voicing the question on everybody's mind. He seemed more amiable without Velvet here, Bunnie thought. That was a shame. She wanted the siblings to get along - Antoine owed it to himself.

"I don't know," Sally admitted, still sounding positive. "But we'll be able to use it sooner or later!"

Antoine looked unconvinced, but didn't ask any more questions. Then Bunnie had a wicked idea.

"It would be nahce to just poison him," Bunnie said wistfully, half-joking. A series of guffaws sounded around the table.

"Bunnie!"

"Somebody's talking venom!"

"Sacre bleu!"

"I'm not comin' 'round your place!"

Bunnie locked eyes with Sally - the pair gave eachother an inspired look. Then they burst out laughing. "Okay, okay! What with?"

Velvet stood apprehensively in the square again. This time she would not be selling. She would be performing, of sorts. Before she began to attract attention to herself she took several deep breaths. She had a mad case of butterflies: what if this didn't work? No, don't think that, she said to herself. She rehearsed the actions one more time in her head.

Ask them where they're going. They won't be able to remember at first because they'll be thinking of a picture of the place, not how the place name sounds.

Keep talking, block them from finding the information they're after.

Wave my hand so that they're directed to look down and to the left or right. People who look down are usually unsure of themselves, so making somebody look down might make them doubt their memories.

Right. She'd either look like a royal idiot or this would work. One or the other. She picked out a face in the crowd and walked up to him.

"Excuse me!" she said. He broke out of his reverie and looked at her. "Where are you going?"

THAT EVENING...

Sonic led the girls swiftly down the mall, breaking off into the shadows by the dark alley and smoothly pulling torches out of his backpack. He gave one to Bunnie and the other to Velvet. As Sally had instructed, The girls didn't switch theirs on, but stayed, silently, in the darkness. They knew where to hide: there was a triangle-shaped space between two cameras where neither could spot them.

Velvet settled silently, watching Sonic and Sally depart, before glancing 'round at Bunnie, or the bright reflections of her eyes, in the darkness. Bunnie gave her a friendly look in return.

"Gettin' used to it yet?" she asked quietly. She wasn't sure whether the cameras had sound, they probably did, so she kept her voice down.

"Sort of," Velvet replied. She hadn't mentioned her plan to anybody yet, lest it didn't work. She had figured, however, that sooner or later she would have a run-in with Snively or Robotnik again, and then she would try out her new trick. But only if necessity demanded it.

She looked at Bunnie for just a little longer. Bunnie was her friend, but just a friend. And a gorgeous one at that. Large, green eyes with distinct lashes told you what was going on in her soul. She laughed readily and talked with a fabulous Southern accent. Two oversized ears lolled above her like a headdress, and her shoulders were delicate, belying the soft, beautifully round breasts she sported. Despite Bunnie's large chest size, she was slim and toned. More voluptuous and toned than she herself was. Velvet smiled to herself as she realised that, even though she liked girls, she couldn't stop being one herself.

"What?" Bunnie asked playfully. Velvet shook her head and came back to the present.

"I think we'll do just fine on these things," Velvet said confidently, talking about the missions. And she did: although she had nothing in particular to offer as yet, she felt confident that she could help out pretty well. For a layperson.

She and Bunnie turned their heads to the mall: a platoon of SWATbots marched past, unaware of their presence.

Sonic and Sally had made it to the corrider where Snively's main centre was. Silently, Sonic looked 'round at Sally and gestured for her to duck down and wait where she was, before crossing the corridor. The door was closed and he pressed his ear against it.

Sally watched Sonic as he did this. She adored him, in fact, she felt it with all her heart. She led the Freedom Fighters ultimately, as the future queen it was she who had final command over what they did, the missions they went on, the decisions that were made. But her little secret was that Sonic was her strength. It was he who gave her the determination to do all this. Sure, she could do it on her own if she really had to, but his courage, even his recklessness, was the power behind a lot of her plans. She provided the direction, but he was the leader as much as she was. She hoped they would always be together.

Sonic looked around at her and made a gesture: he was in there. That was her cue to duck down further, so she did. Sonic knocked, and slid to the wall, hiding behind the hinge end of the door.

It wasn't much of a contest, really, on reflection. Snively answered the door; he wasn't used to a knock. All his callers were either robots, who communicated via the panels in front of him, or Robotnik, who almost certainly wouldn't have the courtesy to knock. Sally almost shook her head in disbelief as he opened the door; didn't Snively know any better? Was he really that distracted, or even over-worked? He never looked healthy, but then, what human did, with all that skin on show? And maybe he was hoping for a little gentility from Robotnik so answered out of a futile hope?

Whatever it was, Snively gingerly answered the door, only to have the handle ripped out of his grasp as Sonic sped around the door and levered it open, knocking Snively out with a well-placed punch to the jaw. Without a word from either of them, they both entered.

Sonic dragged a still-unconscious Snively back into the room and casually tied his wrists as Sally took a seat on Snively's chair - still warm - and entered the robotic ID. She didn't look back, but heard Snively's groan as he came to. She let Sonic do the talking.

"What happened?"

"You just got your butt kicked, slimeball!" came Sonic's reply. Sally smirked to herself; he loved to bait the midget.

"Let me go, rodent!"

"Aww, ain't ya gonna say 'please'?"

"Untie me!"

Sally heard the sound of scraping as Snively was manhandled into a more suitable position. It was a shame that they couldn't kidnap Snively; he would be an ideal candidate for torture. The passwords he must know, the secrets! They could uncover all kinds of new ways to attack Robotnik... if it weren't for the fact that Snively's body was riddled with GPS chips. Almost invisible unless you knew where to look, they were under his skin in several places. Sally had seen two in his arms on previous excursions into Robotropolis, and, with ID technology as advanced as it was, he could have them anywhere: deep in his abdominal cavity, in his ears, in a tooth... It would be impossible to remove them all without killing him. Each chip could function individually as a positioning system, and Robotnik's computers would be trained on them. To kidnap Snively would be to give away Knothole's position. That would be disaster.

"Not a chance, bud!"

Snively's voice receeded into a background grumbling as he sulked, clearly unable to do anything given the circumstances. Sally was grateful for the relative quiet and concentrated on the task at hand - knocking out the cameras again so that Bunnie and Velvet could get into the newly-discovered chute system. She certainly didn't need him chattering away.

"What are you doing?"

No such luck there, then.

She heard a thud: Sonic gave Snively a jolting kick. "Shut it, beak face!"

Presently she managed it and called over to Sonic for the radio. He handed it to her, and she flicked it on. "Bunnie? Bunnie, come in! Do you read me?"

"Yeah, ah'm here, sugar!", came Bunnie's informal reply. Sally smiled; her friend was not a technical type. Bunnie wouldn't be the kind to say, "Roger".

"We're ready!"

"Ready for what?" Snively's waspish tone threatened to get louder. "What are you doing?" He was getting angry.

"Hey!" Sonic replied, "you wanna shut up, or do I have to do it for ya?" Sally would never admit it to anyone, but she loved it when he talked tough. She let the slinky smile stay on her face; she was facing away from the two males, so nobody would see.

"Hey!" Sonic protested. Evidently Snively had said something he didn't like. "Do I call you names? Huh?" She heard another thud: Sonic let Snively know his displeasure. Sally pushed a lock of hair out of her eyes and kept vigil, waiting for Bunnie's signal that they were ready.

Bunnie shuffled to the end of the chute which opened into what looked almost like a kitchen, but not quite. She heard Velvet close the distance behind her as she sat down and pulled out the radio.

"Okay, sugar, we're here."

Sally's voice mumbled tinnily through the speaker: "Alright Bunnie. Do your stuff and we'll meet you at the agreed spot."

A multi-armed robot paced its way around the room, attending to errands. A weird looking monster it was - some of its appendages were like hinged arms, two like metallic tentacles. A lump up top that could almost pass for a head if it weren't so weighed down with gadgetry swivelled intermittently. Its entire body was divided, from where its legs ended, into two skinny torsos. Each half strove to keep in balance with the other, clunkily succeeding. Always busy, on the verge of falling, but never quite, like a tightrope walker. Bunnie wrinkled her nose at the ugly beast and reached out with her robotic arm to displace the grille.

The kitchen robot's heavy footfalls and whirring machinery conveniently masked the grating sound of metal against metal as she pulled the grille out of place. Silently she placed it against the ground and tip-toed out.

The robot must have been more attentive than she thought, because almost immediately it turned around to face her, its pincers snapping threateningly. The two girls screamed and retreated, Bunnie blocking several blows with her arm as Velvet hid around the corner. She delivered a mean punch, catching the robot's complex balancing act off guard and making it topple onto the floor. She hid out of sight too as it struggled to its weird feet.

Sonic and Sally were finished with the control room. Sonic efficiently untied Snively - the plan was that Bunnie and Velvet would do their piece too quickly for Snively to log on and catch them in the act, so it would look like they'd never been there, even though he looked for evidence of their actions. And it had happened before that Robotnik, blindly angry as he was, sometimes didn't even ask Snively questions. Sometimes he just saw that his empire had been compromised and beat the small man. If Snively was untied that would incense Robotnik all the more. So he was untied.

Before Snively could grab at Sonic, the hedgehog was out the door with Sally, speeding away to their meeting point. Their part of the mission was over.

Not so for Bunnie and Velvet. The robot chased the pair of them around the kitchen, aggressive, but not efficiently programmed to search and destroy. Its strange way of tilting and rocking and spinning made it a hard target for Bunnie to hit, and she missed, much to Velvet's panic. This wasn't good - they had to get done here as soon as they could, that was what Sally had told them.

Suddenly Velvet found herself in the corner. She instinctively tried to dart to one side, to get into as open a space as she could, but she was trapped. The robot was facing her, leaning over her. She was cornered. She cringed fearfully against the wall, not knowing what to do next. It leaned down further, ubsurdly angled, turning antennae in her direction, and reached toward her.

A shrill battle-cry heralded Bunnie's form as she slammed the robot against the wall. Velvet, who had hunkered down with her hands protectively over her head, looked over and saw the robot grab pitifully at Bunnie, who barely even had to move to evade it. With an almost sigh-like sound, the robot collapsed and went offline.

The two girls looked at eachother and scanned the room quickly. Somewhere here was a food or water supply, and Velvet had, in her backpack, a supply of powdered poison.

It wasn't hard to find: a generous supply of a dusty-looking porrigey material sat in cold storage. Velvet reached behind her, pulled out the paper envelope and sprinkled the contents into it.

"Come on, sugah!" came Bunnie's call; she was standing beside the chute. Velvet didn't need telling twice - she skipped swiftly around the central table and crawled quickly inside.

The mission appeared to have gone well.

Sonic tapped his foot. He folded his arms and huffed. He hated to wait. It happened a lot because he was the fastest in the group, but he still hated to do it. Standing still made them sitting pot shots.

"Where'd they get to?" he bristled, half to himself. Sally was about to answer, but he beat her to it. "If Ant's sister's half as clumsy as him..."

"Oh, come on, Sonic, she's just fine. Maybe they had to fight a robot," she suggested without realising her insight.

"You never know," Sonic continued. He paused as Sally gave him a quizzical look. "It might run in the family."

Sally looked half way between amused and offended, and folded her arms. "What might run in the family, hedgehog?"

"You know," Sonic prompted, half enjoying the sniping, despite the tension. "Ant!"

"Are you saying Antoine's a condition?" Sally asked.

"Yeah!"

"You're unbelievable!"

"But I'm right!"

"No you're not!"

"Am too!"

"Are not!"

Sonic locked his gaze onto Sally's - they argued like this sometimes and they always ended up in a staring contest. Sometimes they managed to keep a straight face, sometimes they burst out laughing. Whichever it was to be, they never found out, because around the corner came Bunnie and Velvet. They came to a halt when they got to himself and Sally.

"Did you do it?" Sally asked eagerly. Bunnie looked at Velvet and Velvet nodded.

"Like a dream! Had a spot of trouble wi-"

The animals turned suddenly to look up the mall: a not-so-distant shout came from up the path. Snively was coming, and he had a gang of SWATbots in tow.

Sonic's reaction, as always, was lightening fast. "Hey, SWATbots!" he hollared. "Wanna play a game? I call it Juice!" and with that, he tore in their direction as Snively barked orders at them to disperse.

"RUN!" shouted Sally and the girls turned tail, running in the direction of the city gates. Sonic would catch them up very soon, but they needed to get away from Snively, and they were not as fast on foot as Sonic. Sonic glanced at the retreating girls: Snively was catching up, but right at this second, he was busy with the SWATbots. They would have to hang in there for a second.

Velvet cast a quick glance over her shoulder. Snively was catching them up. She looked ahead, judging distance. Snively would catch them before they got to safety. Despite the urgency of the situation, in as unhurried a way as she could she turned and faced Snively. This, immediately, caught him off-guard and he skidded to a halt, regarding her with surprise.

"What do you want us for?" she asked him. He looked taken aback, but before he could formulate a reply, she swiped her hand in front of his eyes, leading his gaze down and to the left.

"If you just want to stop, thinking about it for a second, what are you trying to do?"

Snively looked at the ground, seemingly casting around for an answer on the floor. He looked lost. She passed her hand in front of his eyes again.

"What are you trying to think about? What is it?" she harried him, unhurriedly but insistently, not giving him time to remember. His eyes were unfocused as he looked into the middle distance. He shook his head slowly. He seemed to realise it was important to remember. But her plan had worked. He could not!

Sonic's bright colouring prowled behind Snively, out of his line of sight, but within hers. Without taking her attention off Snively, Velvet kept track of him as he walked, almost calmly, around to where Sally and Bunnie stood. He seemed to understand that Velvet had something going here.

"Snively?" she prompted. He was lost in reverie. "Snively? Where are you going?" she led his eyes down and left again. "Where are you going?"

"Erm..." he began, hesitating, holding his breath for a sentence that just couldn't come. Then he huffed in frustration at his own lack of knowledge. Even his distress looked diffuse.

"Was it the store room, Snively?" she asked, remembering the previous mission where he had cornered her. "Snively? Was it the store room?" Swipe. "Do you remember where it was?"

"No, it wasn't..." the little man replied, frowning in confusion. And without a word, Velvet turned and walked away, ushering her companions down the mall, away from the confused little human, and past the gateway.

The cool shroud of night chilled the returning Freedom Fighters and they hastened their way to the camp fire. Pulling aside the leaves and branches they were welcomed warmly by the glow and by Rotor.

"Hey guys!" he called, a broad smile on his face. "How'd it go?"

"It went great!" Sonic replied as the group found seats and settled in. "You won't believe what Velvet did!"

Rotor looked at her, intrigued. "What?"

Antoine sat silently while the rest of the group exchanged greetings. He was still angry. Why hadn't he been asked on the mission? He was the Captain of the Guard; it just wasn't fair. He frowned and crossed his arms, looking the other way. He didn't move when somebody came and sat next to him.

"Hi. How are you?" It was his sister. He pursed his lips and looked at the ground.

"'right." A pause.

"You going to tell me what's wrong?"

"Nutting is wrong, sister."

Antoine was waiting for Velvet to challenge him on this when Sonic spoke to her. Typical of that hedgehog, thought Antoine. A private conversation and he sticks his nose in.

"Come on, Ant! Turn the frown upside-down, man! We did it!"

"Humph!"

"Whatever!" and with that, Sonic forgot about Antoine's misery and went back to a conversation with Sally. Antoine glanced over at the back of Sonic's head and then to Velvet, who was looking at him with a smile.

"Want me to show you what I did?" Velvet offered. Antoine shrugged. She turned back to Sonic. "How many windows are in your hut, Sonic?" she asked. He looked around at her, confused by her question. She swiped her hand in front of his face. Antoine looked on in surprise.

"Uh..." She swiped again.

"If I asked you to stop, thinking about it now, how many would you tell me you had?" Sonic looked back at her blankly, his mouth working as if to try to come up with the answer, but failing.

"Sonic?" Velvet prompted. "Try to think of them. How many are there?" Swipe. A silence had descended over the camp - everybody was enraptured. Sonic looked around at them all.

"I can't remember!" he admitted. Velvet touched his shoulder to get him to look back at her. She pretended to hold something between her fingers and held it up before him.

"Look, there it is!" she said and tapped his forehead. He glanced upward.

"Three!"

"You're sure?" Velvet asked, although she didn't need to.

"Nope!" Sonic said, amazed but sure. "Three!" The others looked at eachother in astonishment. He was right, there were three. How could he forget? Sonic looked at Velvet in good natured disgust. "You are so weird!" he said flatly.

"Sonic's gettin' old!" Bunnie laughed.

"No I am not!" he retorted irritably. At that, the rest of the group laughed and converstation started again. All except Antoine and Velvet. He looked at her.

"You can do zis strange zing?" he asked incredulously. Velvet nodded.

"Not a bad trick, eh?" she said, sounding pleased. Antoine shook his head with a wry smile.

"Perhaps ze 'odge 'eg is right about one zing. You are, how you say, 'weird'!"

"Cheeky git!" Velvet chided good-naturedly. And they hugged.

THE END