Chaos Born

21 Minutes And Sonic At Last

COUNTDOWN TIL SELF-DESTRUCT: 21 MINUTES 40 SECONDS

. . . . . . . . . . . 

Why the security computer had to be here in one of the robot assembly rooms, Tails was sure he didn't need to know. The huge drop under the walkways which separated them from falling into an old, unlit furnace way down below did nothing to calm their nerves either. 

The computer was slow and the screen was cracked in several places but by Chaos did Tails put that hunk of junk through its paces. He didn't care that the thing hadn't been used for years, he wasn't going to let it beat him; he was going to make that computer work like it had never been worked before. In under a minute, Tails had hacked in and was making his way through the lines of code to find the right door.

"You guys get to Room 91," he ordered. "I'll have opened it by the time you get there."

"Which direction?" asked Amy in an instant, not wishing to waste a moment.

Tails peered at the screen and pointed to his left. 

"That way," he said. The walkway they were stood on ran forward a few feet before a second pathway veered off sharply to the left towards the far wall. "See this darkened bit?" Tails then asked, pointing at the map he had brought up. "That's where Sonic is. Let me know when you have him."

"Do we meet back here?" Knuckles asked, looking around him sceptically. In answer, a rumble in the distance caused the walkways to shudder and creak, a bolt or two falling from their places and clattering down into the factory below.

"...Maybe not," Tails swallowed, suddenly finding that his feet didn't feel as stable as before.

They weren't aware that several fires had grown out of control on the floors beneath them and were endangering the structure of the building. They just assumed it was the inevitable detonation that was sending out a few warnings before it blew.

"This is E Floor, right?" Amy asked for clarification. "How long will it take to get all the way downstairs?"

"We'll worry about that after we have Sonic. Come on!" replied Knuckles, surging forward to find Room 91 and, hopefully, their missing friend at last.

- - - - -

Shade had deemed that the tiltrotor was still functioning. There was gas in the tank, the rotors weren't too sticky and moved well, the instruments were a little rusted but could probably last them until the next island, the wheels... Well, they weren't in best condition but, for now, they would have to make do. It would mean their landing could be bumpy and quite rough but it beat getting blown up and sunk any day.

From inside the cockpit, the echidna heard approaching feet and she scrambled over the seats to get to the doors of the cargo area. Charmy was already yanking them open and he collapsed into the helicopter with relief.

"Are you all here?" Shade asked hurriedly as Espio appeared behind the bee.

"Not yet," the ninja told her, pushing Charmy into the nearest seat. "The others are somewhere behind us."

Shade then noticed Vector come running up with a pale looking Ira slung across his back. She said nothing as the burly crocodile pushed him in and towards the back of the aircraft.

"I take it this thing works?" he asked Shade.

She nodded. "Needs to get outside though."

Vector eyed the aircraft doubtfully. 

"It'll be hard by me'self," he admitted, "but with help, I reckon we could do it."

There was a few crashes and bangs far above their heads as parts of the factory began to fail.