Chapter Text
Sonic and Amy approached the Echo Mine, inspecting the entryway that was shaped to look like the top half of Eggman’s face, his upper teeth sharp and serving as an entry point. Sonic had an amused smile as he looked at the mine’s entryway.
“Y’know what I like best about Eggman?” Sonic asked Amy, who gave him an interested look.
“What’s that?” She asked curiously, sparing a glance at the mine’s entrance.
“His subtlety.”
Amy playfully rolled her eyes as the two hedgehogs stepped into the mine’s entrance, walking over to a large hole in the ground with a pulley that led down the hole into unseeable depths. Sonic noted the rogue scorch marks around the edges. His nose twitched as he smelled faded scents of sulfur and metal. He grabbed a headlight that was next to the pulley and wrapped the band around his head, carefully placing it in between his quill spikes and under his ears. He grabbed onto the old and dusty rope attached to the pulley and lowered down carefully, looking at Amy, who grabbed the rope and began climbing down right after him. He glanced at the walls of the hole, seeing even more scorch marks and even deep gouges in the rock.
“Looks like there was a heck of a battle here,” he commented, looking down to see the damaged platform the pulley was attached to.
Amy hummed from above him, looking down at the platform as well. “There was! This was where one of our biggest counter-attacks against Dr. Eggman’s forces happened before you came back to us. We were able to liberate a lot of people that day.” She smiled, remembering the battle as the two continued to make their way further down the rope.
Sonic jumped down and landed on his feet. He heard a thud as Amy jumped down and landed on a rail that led through an old mineshaft. He turned on the light on his head and saw Amy turn on her own flashlight. “We lost a lot of good people, too…” Amy trailed off, spotted a ruined helmet that was covered in cobwebs and dust.
Sonic frowned and walked over to her, gently putting a hand on her shoulder. “Hey– you made sure it was worth it,” he said, trying to reassure the pink hedgehog.
Amy looked at him, a bit unsure. “You won the war for us.”
Sonic huffed, rubbing his nose. “Well, yeah. Saving the day is what I do.” He shook his head, minding his quills. “And we’re here to stop Eggman from performing an ‘encore’,” Sonic said and looked behind him before turning to Amy who was staring in front of them. “Which way?”
Amy nodded her head to the tunnel in front of her and Sonic took the hint and the two walked down the path. Sonic glanced around, taking in every detail of their surroundings.
“The command hub is down this tunnel, hopefully the back-up generator still works. With a little luck, we’ll be able to boot up his computer, access his network, and find out what he’s planning!” She explained cheerfully, but Sonic put a finger on his chin, looking a little doubtful.
“Silver and I saw his badniks emptying a defunct lab though. How do you know he hasn’t done the same thing here?”
Amy gave him a thoughtful look but shook her head, shrugging her shoulders. “I don’t. But this is the closest abandoned base on file, so it's the best place to start,” she answered the cobalt hero, who felt a shiver go down his spine.
He looked around, unsure of why his anxiety was rising. There weren’t any badniks attacking, he would also know if there were any lurking in the shadows. But why couldn’t he help but feel like he and Amy were in danger? Sonic shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts as the two walked down the tunnel.
–
“Here we are!”
Sonic felt a rush of relief as they walked into Eggman’s old lab. He turned to Amy, who was looking around at the monitors. “Finally! It’s too dark to run, but all this walking is killing me,” he complained, stopping to stand in front of the large screen in the middle of the drafty room.
Amy walked over to a large switch on the side of the monitors. “Please-oh-please work…” she pleaded as she pushed to switch down, trying to power it on. The monitors were still for a moment before they all powered on. Sonic watched as the large screen flashed a pale blue light with Eggman’s logo, the word ‘Eggnet’ underneath it. “Woo-hoo! We’re in business!” Amy cheered and the two switched off their lights.
“Man, not even reserve badniks? Snore-fest,” Sonic groaned, feeling antsy the longer they waited in the large area. His ear twitched and his foot tapped onto the rock underneath going miles a minute. He tried to keep his cool, trying to keep his quills lowered as he slowly felt like something was wrong. He took the light off of his head, wincing as the band caught onto one of his quills. He took it out, smoothing his quills back in place with his hand.
–
Eggman rubbed his hands together eagerly as Orbot and Cubot filled the last of the two canisters with his special virus. “Heh-heh-heh! This is so mean I almost feel bad for those dopes. Almost,” he laughed, cackling as the two assistant robots closed the lid.
The liquid was one of his greatest inventions to date! The color was a silvery neon green, glowing like radiation. Now that it was formulated and made, he had no doubt that this would finally take down that blue rodent and the Restoration for good once it was tested and certified for release.
Dr. Starline ran in, an almost panicked expression on his face. “Sir! There was a ping on the Eggnet! The Echo Mine has come back online!” He huffed as he caught his breath.
Eggman rolled his eyes in irritation. “M’kay. And I should care because…?”
Starline put his hands together and looked up at the taller man, almost pleading. “It’s Sonic and Amy Rose. They have access to your files there, sir,” he hurriedly explained, which brought an evil smirk to the old doctor's lips.
Eggman grabbed the capsule out of Cubot’s hands and placed it onto a backpack as he laughed. “What impeccable timing! Cubot, tell Rough and Tumble to meet me in Hangar Three.”
Cubot saluted Eggman, scurrying off to find the newest members of the secret lab. “You got it, boss!”
Eggman grabbed the bag alongside another identical one and began to walk out of the room but Starline walked besides him, looking exasperated. “How can you be so casual about this? The Neo Metal Virus may be viable, but you have yet to even test–”
Eggman cut the mobian off with a glare. “Starline, you need to learn to enjoy these dramatic sudden deadlines,” he scowled, feeling bummed out by the others' constant worrying.
–
Rough and Tumble were kicking around Cubot, who had sunken down into just a cube for fun by the time Eggman and Starline got to Hangar Three. Eggman smirked devilishly at the two, knowing full well what he was planning.
“You finally get off your fat butt and get us those weapons?” Rough growled out, kicking Cubot towards Eggman.
Tumble scowled and crossed his arms, baring his sharp fangs. “We’ve got half a mind to just take over this dump for ourselves.”
Eggman’s face darkened as he raised the two backpacks in his hands up into the air. He handed them to the two criminals who put them on half-mindedly. “‘Half a mind’ is being generous,” he mocked the two, chuckling darkly. “These backpacks are your backups. Hit the button on the cross-straps if Sonic gets the upper hand,” he instructed, ignoring the disappointment the petty thieves gave him.
“I was hoping for a tail…” Tumble grumbled, but Rough looked at the doctor questioningly.
“So what, it gives us superpowers or something?” The skunk asked, feeling a tad bit nervous as the doctor looked down at them with a sinister glint in his smile.
“Or something,” Eggman answered vaguely.
Rough huffed, but didn’t press further. “If these are backups, what are we leading with?”
Eggman cackled and walked over to a clothed structure behind them. He grabbed the grey cloth and smirked. “Get a load of this!” He shouted, ripping the cloth off of his newest machinery.
–
Sonic looked at Amy, who managed to get to the login screen. “Uh-oh. Login screen. Do you even remember any old passwords?” He asked his friend, who tapped away at the keyboard in front of her.
“It’s usually a variation on this,” she said, finishing typing ‘H4T3TH4TH3DG3HOG’ into the password key. She hit ‘login’ and the screen loaded before turning to the main menu. “I’m in,” she announced, smirking as she tried not to laugh at the absurdity of the password. Sonic huffed and rolled his eyes, amused. She turned back to the keyboard and began to type once more before pulling a file that contained a blueprint of sorts. “Its most recent files are for this,” she said as she pointed at the screen.
Sonic widened his eyes in shock as he stared at the blueprint. “Is that the Ark?!” Sonic’s ears lowered as he glared at the image. Could Eggman be trying to recreate the old lab? Why would he need something so similar?
Amy, however, shook her head. “No, this looks to be much smaller, I’m seeing a lot of talk about ‘payload distribution’. But of what?” Before Sonic could answer, the cave rumbled and shook and Sonic looked around.
“I think Eggman just remembered his forgotten base!”
Amy looked back at the screen, panicked. “No! We need to know more!” She scowled as the screen and its monitors shut off and a drill emerged from the middle of it. Amy and Sonic barely managed to get out of the way as Rough and Tumble plowed their way through the wall, causing a small explosion along the way.
“We’ll cave-in the mines!”
“Bury you in rubble!”
“You’re gonna get wrecked by Rough and Tumble!” The two shouted in unison, but Sonic only rolled his eyes.
He cupped his hands around his mouth and looked up at the two who were still in the large drill. “If that’s going to be your thing, it actually has to rhyme!” He shouted, irritating Rough, who scowled.
“We did rhyme!”
Tumble coughed slightly and entered in his own two cents. “Well…not exactly.”
Rough glared back at him, snarling. “What?!”
Tumble growled back. “‘Rubble’ and ‘Tumble’ only kinda rhyme at best!”
“I offered to go by ‘Tumble and Rough’!”
“That doesn’t flow and you know it!”
Amy, who was growing a bit bored of the two’s banter, turned to Sonic, who looked amused. “How did these guys take over a whole town?”
Sonic got ready to take the two criminals down and smirked. “Blunt objects can still be dangerous. Be happy you get a turn beating them up.”
Amy jumped up and raised her Piko Piko Hammer and slammed it onto the drill. She felt her body shake and fell back.
“Forget it! We’ll steal a rhyming dictionary later,” Tumble snarled, looking down at the two hedgehogs.
“Right! We’ve got roadkill to serve up!” Rough eagerly agreed, watching as Sonic caught Amy before she hit the ground.
Amy winced as the two criminals activated the drill and began firing the guns located at the cockpits. “Yeesh– that thing is solid!” She worriedly said, but Sonic only cheered.
“And dangerous! Woo-hoo!” Sonic ran down a random tunnel, looking for a way out. He could feel the earth around him shake as Rough and Tumble drilled behind them. He barely stopped in time before falling into a deep pit. “Whoops!”
“Careful!” Amy shrieked as she dangled over the pit before Sonic backed away from the ledge.
“Dead end?” Sonic asked, one of his ears flickered and he felt some of his quills raise in defense.
Amy looked down at the pit, worried as she couldn’t see the bottom. “It’s a refuse pit! The only way out is back the way we came,” she told the cobalt hedgehog, who looked at the path around the pit.
“Hold on– this path is barely wide enough for their tank.”
Amy caught on to his idea. “If they drove out here, they wouldn’t be able to turn around.”
The two shared a mischievous look as they nodded. Sonic bolted out of the way as Rough and Tumble burst through the entrance they had just come through, rock and debris flying.
“End of the line, suckers!” Rough cheered but realized he was about to drink the tank into a large pit.
“Rough! Hard right!” Tumble shouted, panicked as the skunk turned the tank sharply, barely avoiding falling into the pit.
“Oh crap!” Rough yelped as he regained control of the large vehicle before trying to drive towards the hedgehogs, who were on the other side of the pit.
“I almost feel bad for what we’re going to do,” Sonic told Amy, who hummed before giggling.
“Haha– almost!”
Sonic ran behind the tank Rough warned Tumble before the cobalt hedgehog launched Amy into the air, who slammed her hammer onto Tumble’s cockpit, effectively smashing the glass. Sonic took his turn and he spin dashed into one of its left wheels, breaking the wheel off and landing gracefully onto the ledge of the pit and smirking as the tank fell onto its side, about to fall into the pit. Amy swiftly ran forward and jumped off of the tank and onto the path while Rough and Tumble scrambled out of their cockpits.
“Bail! Bail!” Tumble shouted as he jumped onto the path.
Rough yelped as he struggled to get onto his feet. “Why didn’t he just give us flamethrowers?! Bazookas?! Not this big dumb tank!”
Sonic crossed his arms as he watched the two criminals land beside him, tapping his foot impatiently. Amy frowned and glared at the two. “It’s over you goons! Tell us where Eggman is and we’ll go easy on you!”
The two criminals smirked at Amy. “Joke’s on you, toots!” Rough cackled as he pressed the red button on the cross-straps of his backpack.
“We’ve been saving the big guns for last!” Tumble snickered, pressing his own button.
The capsules on their bags opened on one end, sending the silvery neon green liquid all over the two, who yelped, trying to rub it off.
“S-sonic…what is…?”
“No idea,” Sonic answered Amy.
Rough grabbed his face as his eyes turned pitch black, Tumble soon following as well. The two mobians let out ear-splitting screeches as the liquid seemed to sink through their fur and under their skin. Rough’s claws elongated and grew razor sharp, his teeth seeming to lengthen as well. Tumble's hands grew larger, his stumpy tail growing spikes, and the two’s mohawks turned into tall, sharp spikes, and Sonic shivered just looking at them. The two mutated mobians roared out as they both grew in size. Their fur changed color, some parts of it glowing neon. Amy backed away, grabbing Sonic’s hand.
“Sonic! We have to run!” She screamed, and Sonic picked her up and dashed through the mine’s tunnels. He could barely breathe, the scent of whatever was splashed onto Rough and Tumble burned his throat. It smelled like acid, but also like metal and death. He ran as fast as he could whilst carrying Amy, but just as they made it to the entrance, he threw her forward with scream as he felt razor sharp claws dig through the quills on his back and into the delicate skin underneath.
“Sonic!” Amy cried out as her friend turned around and kicked Rough in the face. The pink hedgehog ran forward and used her hammer to slam Tumble into Rough and grabbed Sonic as the two were launched back, stunned.
Sonic whimpered as Amy dragged him out of the Echo Mine and used her Piko Piko hammer to smash the top of the entrance, sighing with relief as the tunnel was sealed with debris and rubble, trapping the mutants inside.
Amy set Sonic down on his belly, inspecting his back. She gasped when she saw the wound. It was bleeding profusely and oozing a silvery neon green liquid. Amy slung Sonic over her shoulder, mindful of his back. She grew saddened as she heard the other moan and whimper in pain.
–
Eggman smirked and cackled as he watched everything unfold through one of his egg-drones. “Oh-ho-ho-ho! This went better than I dared hope for!”
Starline, who was next to the evil doctor, watched the screen in front of him in amazement as Amy Rose dragged a collapsed Sonic, trying to call for help. “The power of the virus and the infected…what’s next on the agenda, doctor?”
Eggman turned Dr. Starline, laughing darkly. “Next? We share my Metal Virus with the world! Forget any testing, it’s time we start the clinical trials!”