Explosions tore through the underground facility, spreading outward from the centre, causing massive structural damage throughout the area. Aftershocks shook the very core of the building, and fire licked down various corridors, torching all in its path, only barely opposed by the few robots that were in any sort of position to try and tackle the blaze.

The source of the damage was a failed safety system of the third reactor of the building, but the cause was not a mechanical failure. Instead, the source could be traced back to a small blue hedgehog, who had already managed to escape the base outrunning the chain of explosions that had followed, and staying clear of the blast wave that knocked over countless droids along the way. This escape was assisted further by a bi-plane piloted by another animal, an even smaller fox.

But there was one other escapee, an overweight scientist, a Dr. Robotnik, more commonly referred to as Eggman. He had seen first hand exactly how the reactor had been destroyed, and it was in fact his very vehicle colliding with one of the emergency safety devices of the reactor. The vehicle itself was a four story tall mechanic version of himself, which he had been piloting. It was sufficiently armed to take on a small army, yet in battle with the hedgehog it had, like many of the doctors other vehicles, proved to be unsuccessful.

Robotnik had learnt over the years to make a quick exit to any of his vehicles, and was actually piloting the robot via another smaller metallic grey craft. The craft had rudimentary flight ability, but its key design feature was the ease in which it could be used to connect to other devices to control them. This device had come about due to many battles against the hedgehog, where a quick exit had always been required. Never more than now; with his robot being the very cause of the explosions that were now destroying his facility, had the scientist been relieved he took it as a design feature.

Flying through the flaming ruins, trying to dodge the debris, Robotnik made for his escape. The hedgehog had gotten out easily, but the doctor was hampered more by the damage which he was unsuccessful in outrunning, but also by the larger size of both himself, and the small flying vehicle he was using to make his escape. Within the craft he had three computers, one relaying sensor information to structural integrity updating a real time map, the second showing a large countdown clock to the point when the reactor would go critical, and the third simply showing the same as it always did, targeting for the vehicle's scant few last ditch weapons.

It took some considerable piloting skills from Robotnik, dodging over the twisted remains of his once logically laid out laboratories. At the time, such a large lab was ideal for the multitude of experiments he was always running, but now, when making an exit was tantamount to his survival, the sheer size was more of a hindrance. His computer guided escape route kept flickering, and repeatedly the doctor had to double back upon himself to make a safe escape. Nervous sweat ran down Robotnik's forehead, as the clock clicked ever downwards, and he still didn't have any assurance that he could make it out alive, let alone that he would.

He entered into another of the building twisty corridors. The place was deliberately maze like, it allowed him to prepare should a certain superfast hedgehog appear on the perimeter, the extra few seconds it took said hedgehog to navigate the maze would be the difference to being prepared, and being caught of guard. While this had yet to make a successful difference, it still made sense in the genius mind of Robotnik, after all, why would he anticipate he'd fail yet again?

Robotnik hastily scrambled through the corridors. He had managed to get ahead of the fires for now, but the surrounding areas where still littered with robot parts, broken computers, and other electrical equipment scratched up and shredded to pieces. Robotnik didn't have time to analyse, he didn't need to; it was his arch nemesis' handiwork, now all that was left of an entire squadron of his army. The overweight scientist had no time to dwell on it; he kept going, passing more of the same, and concluded he was probably now going the same way the hedgehog had probably come in.

A few hundred feet on, Robotnik saw the unmistakable light of day. It glowed into his robot factory from above, through a narrow hole. Without even giving it a second thought, the human fired the last two missiles from his craft, and blew the tiny hole open wider to allow for his own escape. Rubble fell directly bellow, a small piece of damage, practically insignificant to what had already happened here today, and Robotnik pulled back on the joystick, easing his craft through the hole and into the world above.

Smoke filled the air, covering what would've been a cloudless sunny day. The wind gently breezed over Robonik's face, making his ginger moustache twitch. Robotnik turned his craft around and flew further away from what was his once proud base. He hovered slowly, and silently over the ocean, until he deemed himself far enough away from the explosions to be able to safely watch.

Robotnik looked at the site of his most recent battle, now standing as a former shell of itself. Engulfed in flames, and covered in a blackened charring, the base no longer looked to be a pristine source of equipment and new technology for the would-be-emperor, but now a ruined waste. Later Robotnik would return to the site, to salvage anything useful, and stop his enemies getting hands on any of his equipment, but for now he could just sit and watch as explosions continued to ring out.

The giant Eggman face, the one that adorned the centremost largest building o the facility stared back at him. Small explosions rung out through the building; slowly morphing the once proud, yet egotistical face of arrogance into a ghostly tormented image. Where it used to convey pride and stern menace, it now looked disheartened it's moustache dropped downwards as fire weakened the supports that held it internally, the smile slipped into a frown, the explosions taking out the key parts of the structure, until the face was one of despair and suffering, not too dissimilar to the one Robotnik was currently wearing.

One final, much larger explosion rung through the building as the reactor finally gave up, taking the other three with it. The sheer fore took the entire building Robotnik had been looking at with it, leaving just smoking ruins as the debris was thrust outwards arcing down to the ground, colliding with other parts of the building, and causing even more rampant destruction.

The scientist sighed wearily. It was over. Once again, his plan had failed.