Chapter 2:

The blizzard raged on outside the tunnel's entrance, the occupants of which were busy thawing out their extremities on a temporary fire that Bunnie had set, blasting some wooden tracks they had ripped off the disused line. The flickering light from the flames illuminated the inner walls of the tunnel, albeit dimly, but it let the group gather around to discuss the route from here on out.

It had taken them half an hour, give or take, to trundle through the solid mass of free-falling snow and hail. It would take longer to get through this winding tunnel for sure, but the cover from the elements would be an invaluable bonus to their journey. Even Rotor had noticed the sudden drop in temperature as the sun got blocked out by the clouds. He wouldn't have let anyone know, but they had caught glimpses of him shaking his hands to get the blood back into his system.

The others hadn't fared much better. Antoine's old military uniform was now hanging off a plank near the fire to dry, as Antoine leant up to Bunnie's metal arm. Third degree burns from the glowing appendage be damned, he wasn't moving from that spot, as much for warmth as comfort from his wife.

Sally and Nicole were still wrapped in a blanket, tied up on Rotor's bag, which was also propped up to take some comfort from the red hot flames. It'd taken a whole three minutes into the journey before Nicole had put her foot down, taken solid form and asked Rotor to strap Sally to his back and carry her. Rotor hadn't minded of course, leaving a sulking, yet very grateful chipmunk to shield herself away from the elements wrapped up in a sleeping bag, hearing only the shrieking wind knock against her warm cocoon.

"Right." said Sally, above the muted blizzard and roaring fire in front of her. "Firstly, thank you Rotor, you've done stellar so far for getting us here."

"Well, y'know I try." shrugged Rotor, opening his flask and knocking everyone slightly aback by the strength. "Although, wouldn't have got there without Mursu's help." Rotor knocked his flask on Mursu's gear, who smiled to the group. "Cheers man."

Bunnie and Antoine nodded to the walrus, who gave them a polite nod

back.

"I guess." muttered Sally, staring into the flames, ignoring the violent chirping in her pocket that buzzed against her hip.

"So, ze plan, Princess?"

Sally unzipped her sleeping bag, climbing out awkwardly as her half-dead legs failed to cooperate.

"Good question T'wan." She nodded towards the chasm, where the rails of the tracks glistened in the firelight before disappearing out of view. "We're going to follow this trail onwards, apparently one of the exits leads out to the sun temple. Should be able to see it, the exits are marked." She glanced over to Rotor and Antoine. "Obviously, one of you guys is going to have to point it out, I can't make track of the damn symbols."

They nodded, and started to get their gear in order. Antoine's uniform had just about dried out now. He didn't usually wear his uniform, his days of being in Knothole's army was behind him, but his winter uniform given to him all those years ago was showing it's worth now. The company who supplied them was taken over by Eggman during his first takeover, and had found more lucrative business mass producing the Egg Jackets his army had loved so much. Sally raised an eyebrow curiously at the uniform. She wondered what they'd been up to since the incident.

Bunnie's arm clicked, and lit up the tunnel in a white light, highlighting more of the tunnel's vast route.

"Don't know what we'd do without you, Bunnie" said Sally.

"Ya'd be dead." agreed Bunnie, using her right hand to configure the settings on her metal arm. "Ya know what the worse thing is, they give me this swiss-army metal arm -" she clicked a button, which displayed a blue wireframe grid off the walls, a 3d representation of the unseen. "This all purpose utensil of a limb, and Rotor still refuses to put a chainsaw on there."

Rotor looked up from packing his bag.

"Again, Bunnie, I'm not saying it wouldn't look cool, but god no."

"Absolute killjoy, sugah."

The others finished packing their things, and using Bunnie's grid and light, they saw their way onwards throughout the tunnels passageway.

The workmanship, admittedly, was beautiful. The rails had indeed frosted over in the tunnel, and large mounds of solid ice covered a majority of the tracks. That being said, it wasn't a half-arsed job by any stretch of the imagination. Even the tunnel's walls had carvings on, scratched painstakingly into the concrete.

"Who made all of these?" inquired Sally, out loud.

Rotor caught her gaze and looked at the walls.

"Hell, I have no idea. They look beautiful though."

Mursu paused and stared with them once he caught up.

"My father. Friends too." explained the guide, shifting the weight of his bag from one shoulder to the other. "Wanted to show they made it."

"Why would they want to leave their memory on a tunnel they knew was doomed to fail?" asked Sally.

"They had fun making it, yes?" said Mursu, running his hand down one of the carvings. "Has a history. Why forget that?"

Bunnie's light, being attached to her and all, was fading away as the three were left behind.

"Just because old and unused, doesn't mean can't be respected." he continued, removing his hand off the handiwork. "Father worked on better projects, had new experiences, new memories. But why forget old ones?"

"Hey y'all!"

The group looked around to see Bunnie and Antoine, who had stopped to wait for them.

"I don' mind being on mah own with T'wan with the only decent light source but I ain' comin' back for ya."

"We're coming now." Sally shouted back, and rushed onwards to catch them up.

Nicole buzzed from her pocket. Sally switched on her earmuffs, which doubled as headphones.

"Hey, what's up." asked Sally, slowing down to a walk, leaving her in relative privacy.

"I wish you'd let me out, I can't see jack here."

"We went over this. And I ended up asking Rotor for help."

"Sal, I asked Rotor for help."

"Not the point." she muttered, climbing over some ice that had formed around the tracks, running up the wall in a stunning and eerie pattern that spiralled all the way round the tunnel. Like one of the loops in Green Hill, she thought as she followed the ice's route through the place.

"Judging from the estimated route, we should be getting close now" came Nicole's tinned voice, which hesitated before carrying on. "If it's any consolation Sally, if it's not anything to do with Sonic, I'm sure it'll probably help us in our search."

Nicole paused as Sally said nothing, just walked in silence.

"Sally..."

Sally gave up trying to ignore her, there wasn't much point. She could try and be strong in front of the others, but Nicole was uncomfortably good at reading her.

"It has to be Nic. Or … at least I hope so. I..." she found herself both reluctant and willing to speak about the whole reason they came. Everyone knew it, but staying silent on the matter made it seem… less real. "I just don't get it Nic. Everyone just started vanishing in front of us, they can't have just gone."

"I'd have blamed Eggman but..."

"Yeah, that got me. I know his Egg Bosses are gonna be fighting with each other for some time. I'm hoping on that Pronghorn from way back when though, I think she might be able to do some good there."

"Against Thunderbolt and Rotor's dad?"

"Christ, I don't envy her."

"Well, you know, I checked for patterns" bleeped Nicole, indicating her processor was busy, most probably collating data. "All the people who vanished, I can't see any correlation."

"I don't get why Cream and her mum went though. I'd get Cream, but Vanilla's not a threat to anyone." She paused, remembering. "Apart from that one time Sonic put his elbows on the table. Shoulda seen her wield that rolling pin."

Nicole laughed, her cute tinned laughter making Sally giggle as well. It was good to talk about the guys again, even if briefly. Not that she wasn't the only one bottling up how much she missed them. She could hear Bunnie through the walls of the Skypatrol, crying when the thought no-one was looking. Stronger than the rest of them for sure, but Tails and Cream were like siblings to her. Since going on this mission she had reverted a bit more to her actual self again, or at least, she was putting on a brave face in front of people. Because it seemed like they were getting somewhere, Sally knew this. It's the only reason she was keeping it together so well. If this burst of energy that showed itself on the radar had nothing to do with Sonic, or hell, even Eggman, she wasn't sure how the team would take it.

"We'll find something though, I promise it." lied Sally. Nicole probably knew this, but to be fair to her, she beeped a reassuring chirp, and fell silent again, leaving Sally to catch back up with the group.

About twenty minutes of walking later, walking in silence to conserve energy, they had made headway, quite a distance into the deep vastness of the tunnel. This far in they left echoes of every step they took, and even every breath they'd make throughout the chasm, reverberating across the walls like a shockwave.

Suddenly, a click echoed back, not one of the gang's making. They all froze in its wake.

"Everyone, take cover!" Sally hissed at the gang, which unfortunately echoed back through the tunnel, responding as it were to the occupants within.

A laugh spun its way past the gang and onwards through the trail they'd made, soon joined in by snickering, which became deafening as the noise bounced off itself and off the concrete walls.

Sally shot a look at Mursu, who leant in and spoke to Rotor in hushed tones. After a couple of minutes, Rotor whipped out a tablet and typed on it, until Nicole buzzed in her pocket.

"These are the kids Mursu was talking about. Harmless enough."

She raised her eyebrows at him. He picked a stone up from the track, and lobbed it over to the noise of the children. The sound of it bouncing off the rail and wood silenced the laughter throughout the tunnel.

She looked around to Antoine and Bunnie, who were peeking over from behind their cover, staring intently at the pebble, which had just finished it's momentum based journey, slowly spiralling around.

"Ah think that stopped them."

"Kids are damn lucky zey don't feel the hilt of my sword."

"Were ye scared hun?" teased Bunnie, flashing him a cheeky grin.

Antoine stood up, brushing himself off.

"Nonsense." he pouted. "Zey just caught me off guard."

He stepped out from behind cover, walking up the track as the group watched him go.

"If I see but one rock, I drag you all back home to your parents. Oui?"

A bright red light illuminated the tunnel, leaving Antoine as a sillhouette, his shadow protruding far past himself and the group. As Sally covered her hands from the light, her hands now shaded crimson, she heard a faint but audible noise, getting higher in frequency, it's volume increasing until-

"S-sacre bleu."

Bunnie's feet immediately whirred, blasting herself towards Antoine's direction as Sally, Rotor and Mursu ducked down again behind the concrete partitioning. It was evident now what the light was, as they heard the scorching sizzle of the laser tearing it's way down the track, burning charred lines on everything it hit.

Sally crawled her way over to Mursu and raised her fist near his face.

"You said it was children!"

"Wait-" stammered their guide.

"Nothing but harmless children trying to scare off tourists!" she yelled angrily, her fist shaking, holding herself back from clocking him in the jaw. "A laser, for crying out-"

They were interrupted by two bodies hitting the ground next to them, bouncing off the rails and sprawling out about fifty yards away.

Antoine got up slowly, holding his arm painfully, and checked on his wife.

"Is she ok?" asked Rotor, over the deafening roar of the laser, which hadn't given up. It's erratic sounding behaviour, as well as some of the scorching hot energy that would leave burn marks near where they sat indicated that they weren't aiming as much as wildly swinging the trajectory at a guessed target.

"S-she's breathing, but..."

Rotor scrambled over, and picked her up.

Well, most of her.

Sally nearly puked.

"Ze holding's of her leg have come loose, zey took a direct hit."

They dragged her over to cover where they could assess the situation. Her leg, which Antoine dragged with him, had suffered a massive blow. It had held up against the laser well enough, Uncle Chuck's cybernetics were top of their field. Or at least second, admitted Sally, looking at the damage. The laser had unfortunately bent some of the metal out of shape, near the thigh region, causing the bolts that attached it to herself to come loose.

"Can you fix it Rotor!?" Sally shouted over the din of the still rampant shot being fired by their ambushers.

"I think I can, but we need to get out of here now!"

"We can't head back out of cover, one wayward shot from that thing, without protection we'd be killed, easily."

"Ze cold wouldn't do any favours either, not with these wounds."

They looked at Antoine, who was still grasping his arm.

"Did it get you?" asked Sally, worriedly.

Looking up at the group, he removed his hand from his burnt arm, the smell of singed fur and burnt skin rising from him.

"It just grazed me, Bunnie was of taking ze most of ze damage." he said, putting his hand back on his arm. "If zey'd hurt but a hair on her head..."

"Easy there Antoine. We'll have a word with them later." she assured him, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Among some others I want to have a word with." she finished, shooting a glare at Mursu, who looked down at the ground, wincing everytime the wayward laser shot past.

Rotor noted this and whispered to the cowering walrus, who gestured down the way.

"Right…" started Rotor, picking up Bunnie from the ground. "Mursu says there's an old maintenance room a bit back where we came from. Has a ladder underground to an old sewage line, runs adjacent to the tunnel. It's our best chance of avoiding these guys."

"And why in the hell should we trust him?" spat the chipmunk.

"Sally-"

"No, Rotor, I'm not having it, first Nicole, now Bunnie, this could have been a trap!"

"We have no other option Sal!" yelled Rotor, taking Sally aback. "I noticed the room on the way here, it's out best option for now as it is. I want to ask him a couple of questions too but now is not the time, understand?"

They sat there glaring at each other in relative silence as the shooting from their attackers raged on.

Sally sighed, and helped pick up some of the bags, giving a quick smile at Rotor.

"I'm gonna have to go through the hierarchy at some point Rotor." she joked, as Rotor patted her head.

"Pulling the princess card already huh?" he replied back, laughing. "Look, I trust your decisions, you know I do, but I think your timings off. We'll question him once we're safe."

Antoine sat himself upright on the wall, still holding on to his heavily burned arm.

"Can we move and save my wife, please?" he said weakly, his eyes not once moving from Bunnie's unconscious body.

"You holding up ok T'wan?" asked Sally, lifting him up, putting his non damaged arm around her shoulders for support.

"Do not mind me, I'll be fine." he said, before puking on the floor in front of them.

"Christ."

"Just a bit painful, Princess, but Bunnie comes first, oui?"

Sally watched as he fell into unconsciousness himself, finally tearing his gaze away from his equally unconcious wife.

"How are we going to get past this laser then?" asked Rotor, peeking out from behind cover. "It doesn't seem to be aiming AT us, but I can't promise with us carrying two people we won't be accidentally hit by it."

Sally smiled, picking up another pebble from the track.

"Simple." she laughed. "I didn't spend months of my life listening to daddy's military advisor for nothing."

Tossing the pebble up in the air a couple of times, she tested the weight of it in her grasp.

"Tactics, Rotor."

She launched the pebble as far as it could towards the assailants, where she heard it, even above the roaring din of the laser's hellfire, bounce off one of the rails.

Within but a second, concentrated aiming annihilated the poor thing, and started to melt the steel rails that it bounced off alongside it.

They used the temporary distraction to make a run for it back along the route they came, not being noticed by those firing upon them.

A minute later, both Sally and Antoine burst through the maintenance door, collapsing in a pile. Following them, Rotor, still holding Bunnie, and Mursu, who had been lumbered with everyone's luggage. To be fair to him, he was one strong walrus.

Rotor lay Bunnie down on one of the desks, as Sally picked Antoine up from the ground and sat him on a spare folding chair she had found in the corner.

This maintenance room hadn't been used in years it seemed, open cans of dried and frozen paint lay strewn across the room, and old brooms and ladders littered the floor. The shelves in the room, of which there were many, held an assortment of items, which Rotor was looking through now.

"I don't think you're going to find advanced cybernetical repair tools here Rotor." she said, watching him go.

"A phillips would be a start." he grunted, moving through the boxes of junk.

Coughing, Bunnie's eyes started to flicker open, taking in the room, and Sally's face.

"H-hey Bunnie, you ok?"

"A-ah think so." she said, focusing on Sally. "W-where's Antoine?"

Sally pointed towards Antoine, who's head lolled back into the wall with a thud.

"He took a bit of the blast from before, but he should be fine Bun."

"That's good." she smiled weakly. "I was hopin' ah blocked all of it, but that was somethin' else. Good thing mah limbs can take it."

Sally's face gave it away. Bunnie mustered up her strength to pull herself upwards, where she saw Rotor with her leg around his shoulder, still looking through the shelves.

"It's probably a good thing T'wan is knocked out, considerin'"

Sally snorted and burst out laughing, giving Bunnie a hug at the same time. Rotor turned around nonplussed at the pair, who were giggling at him.

"Y'know what, I don't think I want to know what you two are laughing at." he said, counting through some bolts in his hand. "How you holding up Bunnie?"

"Legless."

"Hilarious."

He placed his tools on the side as the girls continued smirking.

"Bunnie, I think we might need to go to Uncle Chuck to get this leg properly fixed. This stuff is too advanced for me, unfortunately. I can get it put back on your leg, but all this wiring..." he gestured at the loose connections, charred wiring and motherboards. "...is beyond me. You'll basically be limping from here on out."

"Ah'll take it." grunted Bunnie, lying back down as Rotor continued his search through the boxes. "God knows ah've had my share fair of practice."

"Bunnie, I'm so sorr-"

"Guys, it's fine." she said, smiling at the ceiling. "Ah rescued Antoine. Ah'm happy if sacrificing these means you guys can live."

"Aww Bunnie" replied Sally, tears in her eyes.

"Antoine first though."

"Understandably."

"Wish I could do the same with my love, mind you."

"What's that?"

"Keep him safe in my pocket."

Rotor turned around, and rubbed his eyes in exhaustion.

"No hitting the patients, for god's sake." he said to a crimson Sally, placing his tools next to Bunnie, who was still laughing, holding her arm where Sally had just thumped it. "And stop provoking her."

He placed the leg on the table, trying to get it lined up properly.

"This'll take a while, may as well get a bit of rest, Sal." he told her as he got to work.

Sally stood up and waited by the door, near Antoine. He'd do fine once he woke up, the pain would have calmed down a bit by then. Sally's scarf had been made into a temporary bandage for him, which would do at least some relief to what was going to be a lengthy recovery for him.

Who were the guys who were shooting at them? They were no children, or at least, she hoped not, but at the same time no attempt had been made to chase after them. They didn't seem on the offensive, at all, but more keeping them out. They were certainly doing a better job than the children at least. That being said she wasn't ready to give them too much credit. If Bunnie had mis-timed her rescue it was possible that Antoine would have been carried home in an urn.

She focused an angry stare at Mursu, who was sat…

Crying.

She couldn't help it, she knew her weak point was her emotions. And right now, she was still livid at this man, who had been the cause of three of her friends injuries in just one day, but the utter state of the guy at the moment, weeping and huddled up in a corner away from everyone else, it was taking all the thunder out of her.

She walked on over to him, who backed away from her, obviously afraid.

"You seriously didn't know?" she asked him, looking at his soaking wet eyes.

He shook his head quickly.

"There were kids, here, month ago." he responded, through his tears. "I swear it."

"Who are these guys then?"

He shook his head again, looking straight at her.

"I d-don't know."

She didn't have it in her to berate the guy. She knew what it was like to fail, god knows she knew more than most. Her best laid plans had been torn apart due to her own recklessness, or being outplayed by Eggman all those months ago, when the planet itself tore itself asunder. The depression, the feelings of utter despair mixed with the harrowing knowledge that it was her plan that got people into the mess they were in, that was almost too much to bear.

But she had friends that had helped her, didn't she?. The rest of the Freedom Fighters of course, stronger than she was by far, but Amy, Cream, Sonic… back when they were still around.

She shook the thought out from her mind. This wasn't the time to dwell on that, not with everything else happening at the moment.

She patted him on the shoulder - albeit awkwardly - and walked back to Antoine, who had woken up slightly in the interim.

"How're you holding up?"

"Stings like you wouldn't believe, Princess." said Antoine grimacing. "We made it out safe then?"

"All in one piece."

"Ah beg to differ!" Bunnie called out from her makeshift operating table.

Standing up quickly, he rushed over to his wife's side, where Rotor stood, rolling his eyes as he paused welding.

"I am so glad you're safe mon ami."

"I'm made of hard stuff, hun." said Bunnie, rapping on her metal arm. "Well… mostly, but it'll take a lot more to stop me, don't ya worry." She leant over and gave him a brief kiss, smiling at him.

"I'll weld you to her if you don't get off, French boy."

Looking around the room as Antoine hurriedly got out of the way oas Rotor's not quite precision tools got to business, she noticed the door at the back. She couldn't make head nor tails out of the writing, but the carved logo up above was fairly obvious, a pipe, with the engraving being so fine as to see individual water droplets pour out of it.

This would be the way to go for sure, but looking at the rest of the gang, Antoine's cut probably needed bandaging up properly before entering, and the only ones trained in first aid was Bunnie, who had actually spent the time learning while stuck in care back in Knothole. Bunnie was unfortunately busy being fixed, and judging by the tools Rotor was using, it wasn't going to be a quick nor easy thing to get finished. That left Mursu, who looked emotionally spent. While she still felt a pang of sympathy for their guide, she couldn't quite bring herself to go alone with him, she wasn't in the best frame of mind herself, without the rest of the group she would have lashed out at someone, anyone at this point, and good intentioned or not she knew she'd end up throwing a punch at the guy. And god knows he probably felt bad about all this, a punch would be the last thing he'd need, despite the knowledge of the wonders it would do for herself.

Either way, she thought, there'd be no good reason to drag Bunnie down a path if it was going the wrong way, and especially not Antoine if they ran into anything like from which they had just escaped.

"I'm gonna scout ahead."

The group turned around to look at her, Bunnie and Antoine wincing as they did so, almost in unison. They really were suited for each other, as annoying as it was. Antoine would sometimes finish Bunnie's sentences, albeit in French, the effect somewhat coming across like sitting on the remote and turning on the translator halfway through a film.

"But Princess, without Bunnie and me, you'd be defenseless." responded Antoine, who was visibly trying to hold off the pain he felt lifting his sword. A fifty percent chance and the lazer had only gone and knocked his sword-arm out of commission.

"Hey, I got my wrist-swords, I can hold my own."

The look on the gangs face immediately showed her how well they thought she could hold up her own. It was… lack of practice really, as she absent mindedly started rubbing her bracelets, the source of her best weapon… for a given value of best. She would be able to take out a badnik, even the occasional swatbot, but her expertise was leadership, not fighting, as much as it annoyed her. What kind of leader wasn't able to hold her own amongst her group?

"I've been practicing, Antoine." she lied, before addressing them all. "Either way, no-one's in a good enough state to face getting lost, and especially not if we run into anyone. I'm the only one that's not injured or busy, and it's not like I can do much to help here."

"Hun, ah'd stamp my foot down if ah had it on." said Bunnie.

"I'm working my fastest, Bunnie" sighed Rotor, going through his tools.

"Ah know ya are sugah. But mah point still stands, Sal, yer ain't goin' on yer own, ah got caught by that thing and ah got jets."

"Had."

"Watch it hun, I'll throw it at ya."

Sally reached into her pocket and took out Nicole's handheld, allowing Nicole to shoot out, her solid form materialising in front of all of them.

"Bunnie, Antoine, are you ok!?" Nicole rushed over to the both of them, where they exchanged hugs, Antoine wincing in pain as Nicole gripped on tight.

"S-sacre-"

Nicole jumped back in horror.

"Oh god, Antoine, I didn't mean it, I'm so sorry!"

Bunnie laughed as Antoine held his wound, but still managing a grin at how flustered the lynx was getting.

"Nic will be with me instead. She'll be able to map out the tunnel network down there."

"Not only that," said Rotor, placing his wrench down by Bunnie's waist, walking over to Sally, "but if we … if you can give me her handheld for a brief second Sal"

She hesitated.

"Sally, I fixed her, come on."

Nicole placed her hand on Sally's shoulder.

"Sal, you can do it." reassured Nicole, rubbing her thumb on her shoulder. "It's going to be okay."

Reluctantly, Sally held out the device. It took Rotor a couple of pulls to release Sally's grip, who immediately held Nicole's hand's once the handheld was out of her reach.

"It's only a little configuration, see?" he clicked away, as Nicole's solid form flickered intermittently, her solid and hologrammatic form appearing both at once, and then none at all, until Rotor clicked the final button, restoring her solid form once more. She shook the feeling off. Sally didn't ask how it felt, being one, or the other. It always felt a bit personal. They were close friends of course… very close friends, but the whole organic/robotic thing was a topic they tried not to dwell on too much. To Sally, Nicole was the same as anyone else. Well, that was a lie, she was much more than that. She was someone Sally could fully depend on, which, barring Mursu of course, the poor thing, was a quality she shared with everyone else in this room.

Sally was biased towards Nicole, of course, but that was neither here nor there. Bunnie was more than aware of this, to Sally's chagrin, which had lead to what Bunnie called playful banter, and what Sally could only refer to as bullying. It was only her years of being in the freedom fighters that held her back, as tenuous as the grip was, from complaining to her father. You could take the princess out of her kingdom, but by god, as much as she wanted to, you couldn't drag that royal upbringing out of the princess.

"What have you done?" asked Sally suspiciously, taking back the handheld from Rotor, staring at him with her questioning eyes.

"Turned up the sound range on her device. Not too much that she'll hear outside the tunnel, but enough to hear ahead, by a far distance."

"You ok there Nic?" asked Sally, watching as Nicole's eyes had gone slightly hazy, as if she was staring into space.

"I swear I can hear you all think."

"Thattagirl" said Rotor, ruffling Nicole's hair.

"Ya shouldn' listen to what Sally thinks Nic, ya'll go blind. And deaf, probably"

Rotor caught the bolt before it hit Bunnie, glaring at the chipmunk.

"I hope you feel ashamed, hitting the injured." he said, placing the bolt down with a clunk.

"I'm gutted I missed."

Bunnie held out her tongue, as her husband giggled, holding her hand.

"Either way, we're off." she said. "If we hear so much as anything, we'll send out a distress signal to you guys and head straight back. We'll try and map out as much as we can, and then when Rotor's fixed you up, you should be able to take the safest route."

"Sounds like a plan."

They picked up their belongings and head out the door, giving a farewell wave to the gang. Mursu gave a little wave too, through his tears. She hesitated, but gave him a friendly nod despite this. As Sally carefully pushed the door to, Nicole switched over to her holographic mode, allowing her to move more freely throughout the tunnel. They went through the side tunnel, attempting to be as silent as they could, as Nicole analysed the soundwaves throughout the tunnel ahead.

"Y'hear anything Nic?" asked Sally, cautiously stepping onwards, as to not interfere with Nicole's radar.

"Nothing yet."

They carried on, Nicole's form zipping through the tunnel this way and that, ears primed and ready, twitching at step Sally made, of every wayward snow displacement through the tunnel. Smiling, Sally walked onwards. Nicole was genuinely unaware she did it, her ears moved on their own to external and internal stimuli, despite having no reason to do so… at least, to a machine. She was learning to be self-consciously alive.

Well, thought Sally, more so. There was no beating around the bush, and it was somewhat hard to point out anything else as Nicole's form lit up the tunnel as she pressed her head to it, listening out for tremors. Nicole was for all intents and purposes an AI in a handheld. But to Sally, she'd become more mobian, more trusting, more understanding than any other being she'd grown up with. The fact it was 0's and 1's speaking to her, she couldn't think like that. How could this lynx, worrying, feeling, being alive, be just 0's and 1's? What was a brain if not electrical signals doing the same thing after all? Firing off in 0's and 1's on repeat? Would you like a tenner? 1. Do you want to go out in the cold and snow for hours and get frostbite? 0. If Sally could think in 0's and 1's then how was binary any different than just the wants and needs of-

"Sally!" buzzed Nicole's voice, directly in her ear.

"One!"

"Wh… what?"

Sally tried again.

"Y-yes?"

"I'm picking up something, roughly five minutes away."

Sally walked on over, watching as Nicole tried to decipher it, squinting as she did so.

"Can you wire the feed into my earphones?" she asked, adjusting her earmuffs. They were by far her favourite present… other than Nicole, obviously, all those years ago. But Tails had built her a pair of earmuffs with built in speakers, essentially just a comfy headset. He had made it himself back when the Freedom Fighters were getting started, some time before the first Death Egg had been launched. Simple things, but she'd been so proud of him, and to be fair, they were gorgeous. He'd come a long way since then, helping Rotor with the Skypatrol, not least held off an entire island invasion using only what was in his shed, but she'd kept these, from way back when. He'd kept insisting with her that he could build her better ones, but she was adamant on these.

Hopefully, they'd find Tails and he could see her wearing them still. He'd probably secretly be proud of that.

"Oh right yeah, two seconds." replied Nicole.

Crackling into life, the audio feed started filtering into Sally's hearing. People … talking, from what she could make out, but it was masked by what sounded like running water, gushing in heavy volumes continuously.

"Some sort of river?" she asked Nicole, who was still listening.

"Underground pipes, spitting out water into an underground stream… of sorts."

"How can you tell they're pipes?"

"Benefit of having the entire internet to sample from, it's the way the waters running and how it echoes off the metal walls and all that." finished Nicole, turning down the volume on the audio.

"Ah."

"I'll explain about it more tonight if you want?"

"My hot water-bottle and a lie in is the only thing I'm looking forward to tonight Nic, in the nicest possible way."

"You're no fun." pouted Nicole, as she zipped on over to her side.

They walked onwards quietly, keeping an ear on the audio that Nicole was still transmitting, as the voices became more and more intelligible.

[psshrrrrkrkr- "the weight of th-" shhhhhhhhhhh - "-go of the thing, my hand's slippi-"]

The crash echoed through their eardrums, followed by an impressive string of swear words.

"Are you serious? The great mighty bison can't lift a crate?"

"Aha, you're funny. Dude, there's something weird about these crates, they don't feel right."

"Nah, I … I get that… just let's get them hauled upstairs"

The sound of footsteps dragged their way on a metallic floor, before the crate dropped again, followed by laughter and more swearing.

"It's like, actively pushing my hands away from gripping it."

"See, I told you!"

"Shut your face, I know. Look, if we don't get this to her by 5 we're screwed."

"She can lift the damn thing herself."

Sally and Nicole shared a brief look. 'She?' mouthed Nicole, as Sally shrugged, turning her headphones up.

"Hey, shush. I'm sure she can hear us."

"R-really?"

"Remember that dog, Jimmy or something, nice guy. Three kids, wedding ring on his finger?"

"Oh christ yeah, went bowling with him… a while back."

"Well, I heard he was shouting his mouth off, complaining about the job, saying where she could put the next shipment of crates."

"Into the sea?"

"Something like that. Well, when was the last time you seen him?"

"N-not for a while actually."

"Well, 'officially' he's off sick, but I heard he's been kicked out. Most probably, but here's something interesting. That new shipment of food that came in, Terry didn't put it on the order log."

"What are you saying?"

"You seen a wedding ring in your dinner?"

The crate dropped again, and the audio feed went quiet.

"You believe that?"

"Oh for god's sake Gary, it's most probably rubbish. That being said, he's not here. I swear that computer she's got is linked in to the walls. Just shut up in any case, I'm not lifting these crates on my own."

"You got my heart going there you absolu-"

The sound tapered away, leaving nought but the pipe water flowing through their feed.

"That doesn't sound good." mumbled Sally, after a lengthy pause.

Nicole zipped back into her handheld, still hidden deep in Sally's coat.

"Nic, anything you can analyse from that?" she asked Nicole, as the handheld beeped away.

"Nothing you couldn't guess already."

"...Damn."

She walked towards the noise, the sound of the two guys had gone, so it stood to reason there was now an empty room waiting for them, hopefully with some clues as to what was going on.

"Crates that make you have trouble holding them? What could that be?" she wondered out loud to herself, easing her way along the small tunnel. "Can a giant magnet do that?"

"Unless they were magnetic or metal themselves, then no."

"Damn it. Well, that's me out of options. What about the boss then? Someone that cruel, possibly Thunderbolt?"

Thunderbolt had been one of their adversaries during the world breaking apart. A feisty chinchilla with a shocking talent, she was Eggmans' number one fan. Was, being the operative word. It was possible in a world without him, she'd be trying to run the world in his image, ever so much as cruel as he had.

That being said, knowing the little round thing, there'd be more posters of Eggman or herself up, the girl couldn't be called subtle.

"I heard nothing that would give it away unfortunately." said Nicole.

"Ah, it's alright."

"Should we go back and tell the others?"

Sally slowed to a halt, weighing the options.

"Well, … we could." she started, looking at the route they just came from. It wasn't too far they had come. This was what, 5 turns from the gang? Was hardly any time at all. And she knew what would happen, Bunnie and Antoine would say they were fine, Rotor would feel obligated to rush, all to help her. If everyone else had gone the extra mile…

"We're carrying on."

Nicole bleeped worriedly.

"Look, just enough to see one of the guys that shot at us." she replied to the still beeping handheld. "If it's something that's worth shooting us for, we may as well let the guys know if we should chance it."

Nicole's bleeping continued, but a lot dimmer, as to only be noticable if one was listening out for it.

"It's fine Nic, honestly. We'll be fine." She patted her pocket, shaking her head to clear her thoughts, and under her breath, she whispered only to herself. "I hope."

They walked onwards, leaving the tunnel, the last light of Sally's torch fading away as they turned the corner, followed slowly by their last footsteps in the snow that lay on the ground, leaving the tunnel as quiet as they found it.

"I think that should do it, Bunnie."

It had taken the best part of an hour, as Rotor lifted his makeshift welding mask and gave Bunnie a thumbs up. Shakily, she lifted herself up using her arms, dragging her leg with her, now attached to her body.

"Well, for a given value of do it in any case." he continued, as he gestured to the appendage. "I've locked the knee mechanisms in place… or rather, welded, it's the best I can do for now."

"Ah'm sure it's fine." said Bunnie, with a weak grin.

"Hold on my sweet!"

Antoine rushed over to her side, letting Bunnie grab a hold of his waist as she tried putting weight on the limb. The results were… interesting, to say the least. Her leg had to stay completely straight, leading to very odd strides, and a near dependence on her husband to use as a crutch.

"Could we not fashion some sort of.. How you say it… wheeling chair?" suggest Antoine, easing his shoulders once they'd done a couple of laps around the room. He and Bunnie would never admit it, but the metal appendages did make the girl heavier than most. Even with one out of commission, it was a testament to Antoine's strength that he was able to so much as help his wife around the room.

"Don'tcha dare." she said quietly back, almost as a murmur. "Ah can walk just fine."

"It'd be easi-"

"No."

The ambience of the tunnel filled the room, as the sudden silence left a vacuum for it to occupy. It caused a welcome distraction, considering Antoine was focusing very much on anything but his wife, and Rotor and Mursu got back to organising their gear with attention normally reserved for rocket scientists. The alternative was seeing the fire and resentment in Bunnie's eyes, the coldness in the reply.

They packed in silence, Rotor ransacking any available tools out of the room, Antoine wisely deciding to stay out of Bunnie's way for a while. Bunnie sighed inwardly. She wasn't mad at him, she couldn't be. He had been there for her so many times in the past, he was the one who had helped when she was first this vulnerable. He should've known how she felt about-

She shook her head, her big ears billowing as she did so. Thinking like that was behind her. These were her friends, they meant nothing by it, it was just… mistakes made out of temporary idle-mindedness. They hadn't known what it was like, all those years ago, to be constantly a subject of pity. To have to stay behind, to watch as every other Freedom Fighter fought … well, for freedom. To be stuck in that godforsake-

She'd blasted the damn thing to oblivion. Way before she should've, admittedly. Tails had helped Bunnie to a remote field, where they'd talked. About Sonic and Tails's insecurities. About Antoine, and Bunnie's feelings. Tails was the best little brother she'd never had, he'd always listen, and she was more protective over him than most.

Using Tails as a crutch, she'd blasted those metal confines until there was nothing but melted scrap oozing onto the grass.

It'd taken them an hour to get back home, laughing all the way back before facing the wrath of Rosie.

She snickered. Tails and herself had laughed in her face at the time, they hadn't been able to help it. The month of chores after were worth it, looking back on the whole thing.

"Cup of tea, rabbit?"

Jolted back to the present, Bunnie focused on their guide, who had a cup of admittedly weak tea to present to her.

It was the thought that counted.

"Thanks hun."

"I'm sorry."

"Ah don' worry about it, I've had worse tea."

"I was talking about your leg."

"Ah"

Bunnie sipped her tea embarrassed as Mursu sat next to her.

"I didn't want anyone to be hurt" he said, rubbing his already red eyes.

"Yer a very sentimental walrus, it's gotta be said"

This got a confused look until Rotor, without looking around, translated it into Holoskan.

"Oh. I guess I should be more like the others."

"Nah, it's more honest." she said, giving him a smile.

"I don't think your chipmunk friend thinks so." he replied quietly.

"Now that was jus' unfortunate." laughed Bunnie, punching him lightly with her robot hand. "Look, yer not a bad guy, or a bad person. Hell, yer not even a bad walrus. It'd be nice if Rotor had a bit more heart to be honest."

"I can undo that leg, Rabbit." came Rotor's reply.

"Ah'd like to see ya try."

Antoine laughed as Rotor came back over with a wrench, causing Bunnie to scramble backwards away from the group.

"You're all too kind to me."

They looked back at Mursu, Rotor getting his wrench from Bunnie's knee joints and placing it down again.

"I know walrus's aren't the most welcoming people, but you can't let them drag you down. I know you've grown up with them but ... " Rotor paused in reflection, before walking back to his coffee machine that he'd set up halfway through Bunnie's metallic surgery. "Well, you can't put too much on that. It's the family you choose that matters, not the one you're stuck with."

"Ah."

"You should try moving somewhere new. I've heard Shamar's a nice place this time of year."

"Shamar?"

"Oh, yer gotta go at least once!" exclaimed Bunnie, who'd turned over to him, all excited. "They got sandy dunes as far as the eye can see, an-"

"Sand?"

"Oh god, it's like… snow, but hot, and you can make huge castles… and it gets everywhere that you can find it in your fur for weeks, and -"

Antoine and Rotor left them to it, Bunnie's brochure for the country continuing on as Mursu listened on in wonder. Rotor knew this feeling. Walrus's by and large were … reclusive. Kept to their own country. They knew nothing but snow from when they were born and knew the snow up until the day they died. As it had been for centuries. Moving away from here as a child, not long after his mother died, it'd blown his mind.

"Can we trust him?"

Rotor snapped out of it.

"What?"

"Can we trust him?" repeated Antoine, looking back at the guy talking to his wife.

"I'd… I'd like to think so."

"He's been of causing two incidents so far. Zey nearly took out three of us. Even if he's a nice guy, he's done more damage than the enemy."

Rotor sipped his coffee, Antoine listening in horror as he swore he heard the coffee thud into Rotor's stomach.

"I'd like to think of him as just a massive clutz." he said, keeping his eye on Mursu, who was being enlightened to what it meant to be too warm. Sure it sounded fascinating, but two hours into that kind of weather and Rotor ended up having to seek a passage into the underground where the sun's searing heat couldn't reach him.

"But still..."

"Yeah I get you." said Rotor, putting his coffee down. "If there's a third strike, he's out."

"Out?"

"He's a strong walrus, you have no idea." muttered Rotor, rubbing his fist, where the guy had easily stopped it before with no struggle whatsoever. "He might be softer emotionally but that guy is pure Holoskan Walrus bred and raised. But if something else happens to endanger us, we're going to have to sort him out."

Antoine patted his sword, as Rotor winced.

"I'm sure it won't come to that though."

"He better hope so." replied Antoine, rubbing his burnt arm again.

Suddenly, the sound of footprints came marching down the tunnel, the stampede coming from outside the main tunnel door.

They all looked at each other.

"We could take the same route as Sally and Nicole." suggested Bunnie, attempting to stand up with difficulty.

They hobbled over to the maintenance tunnel, where to their increasing dread, they could hear footsteps coming from there as well.

"Damn." grunted Bunnie, who was already charging her cannon, causing Antoine to ready his sword.

Mursu put all his body weight against the maintenance door, meaning at least one exit was temporarily shut off from any invaders. They all pointed their weapons at the tunnel door, readying up for the attackers.

"How many of them do yer think there are T'wan?"

"Easily one hundred, maybe more."

The footsteps got closer.

"Don't suppose ya got anything up yer sleeve Rotor?"

"I could use the SkyPatrol as a distraction, but that's easily 20 miles away, it wouldn't get here in time, not to mention the snowstorms."

"Ah damn."

They heard a loud thunk as Mursu wedged some metal into the door, essentially bolting it shut.

"I'll fight too."

"Well, we can at least take out four of them" laughed Bunnie, albeit weakly.

The footsteps converged around the door in an almost uniform fashion, where they hastened to a halt.

"Good luck guys" finished Bunnie, pointing her cannon directly at the doors entrance, shielding her eyes away from the inevitable onslaught of-

Someone knocked on the door.

Silently, Bunnie looked at Antoine, who looked as confused as she felt. This was probably not a tactic he'd read up about.

The knocking came again, as a jingle. She recognised it from somewhere. It was … a polite jingle as such. A rat-tattattat kind of knock.

"Hello?" came the muffled voice, behind the door.

Again, the group stayed quiet.

"Right, I know you're in there, I'm opening the door, ok?"

"What do yer want?" replied Bunnie, aiming directly at the door.

"A talk would be nice."

"What, with all yer soldiers?"

"Ok, admittedly, my bad, but you can't be too careful now, can you."

Bunnie gestured with her hands towards Rotor and Mursu to stand by the door, and used Antoine to stand up.

"Tell yer soldiers to get lost, and we'll talk all ya want. Hell, I'll make yer a cup of tea."

"Well, how can I refuse?" came the voice. Loud orders were barked at the soldiers, and the footsteps subsided.

"They gone?" asked Bunnie to the voice while looking at Antoine's face.

"They've gone around the corner for now. Need some safety after all."

Antoine nodded. His acute hearing was less defined than Bunnies, after all, rabbits outclassed coyotes by a fair margin, but with Antoine's military background, he seemed to be able to tell where soldiers were and how they moved. It was impressive to say the least.

"Can I come in?"

She looked around at the group, who were in their positions ready. Mursu's fist was primed with such fierce concentration it would probably decimate the poor mobian or even human to step in with anything but welcome intentions. It made Rotor's heavy wrench look weak in comparison.

"Ah suppose." she said back, loading her arm cannon back to the door. "Slowly, mind you."

The door creaked open slowly, being pushed by a figure with hooded robes, and a mask covering it's head. It was a mobian for sure with the proportions that seemed to be hiding under the robes, which swept behind them as they walked. They had their hands up, obviously noting the prepared ambush.

"Y'know, after so long, I expected a warmer welcome." came the decidedly female voice from under the mask. "How are you Bunnie?"

Antoine gasped, as the hooded figure turned around to see him, grasping his sword towards herself.

"Antoine!" gasped the familiar sounding voice. "Last time I saw you you were..." the voice faltered.

"How do you know us?" said Rotor slowly, lowering his wrench.

"Oh please, the Freedom Fighters?" laughed the figure. "Each one of you a hero and legend in their own right. Also, have you been working out Rotor?"

"No flirtin' missy, you tell us who you are or I'll blast yer outta principle."

"And to think I was once your maid of honour."

She lowered her cannon. "N-no you weren't, that was Sally."

The figure looked behind her, and shut the door to. Removing her mask with her left hand, to a gasp from the Freedom Fighters, the girl shook her head, causing her red hair to swish across her features.

"Well duh." replied Princess Sally Acorn, leader of the Freedom Fighters.