Disclaimer!

Part 3 of the ‘Origin of Mobius’ Series.

I apologise to Packbell’s creator as I could not find him to ask permission. (Sorry Bookshire)

As the Sun set in the southern sky a chill wind blew up. Dark clouds scudded across the horizon and plunged the sky into darkness. The chill breeze became a mournful howl as the night grew darker. Those of psychic sensitivity were plagued by dreams of fire and destruction, of warfare on the planetary scale. Young children began to whimper as hideous images of their worst nightmares appeared to them. Everyone who was alone shivered in an unknowing fear. Strange sounds came from deep within the forest. The wind whipped into a whispering, sibilant voice as it tore through the trees. Will o’ the wisps danced on the edges of bogs.

Deep in a forest clearing something stirred..

The digital display flicked to display 23:00. The four armoured members of the black company stood rigidly to attention. Amy and Sally took their seats on the air-sled. Sonic and Bunnie shuffled uncomfortably in the plastic biosuits, the eyepieces fogged slightly with condensation.

"We have just received contact from Lunar base Alpha, we have a squadron of five Wolverine fighter bombers to make the first wave of attack as planned. We have no word about the other attack force as yet but it would be unwise to question the Emperor on the matter." Said Michala, his voice strangely powerful against the wind.

"Are the flyboys pre-briefed on their targets sir?" asked the other human, his strong Afrikaans accent making it difficult for the Mobians to understand through the com-link.

"Yes, they will target the Roboticizer plant and any A.A. defences."

Sonic butted in: "But what if there are still prisoners in the Roboticizer buildings?"

"The bombs the fighters will use are electromagnetic pulse bombs, they’ll knock out any electronic equipment and hopefully the fault might set the prisoners free."

"Do you know if any prisoners are being held in the main units?"

"Our intelligence reports state that there is only one prisoner in high security near the plant, there are also believed to be at least four others nearby."

"Will we be able to rescue them?"

"No, we do not know yet where they are."

The soil in the clearings heaved as if it was being pushed from underneath, clods of earth shook loose as the mounds pushed higher. With a shower of dust and splinters of rotten wood skeletal hands burst from the top of the mounds. The hands groped around until they found a firm hold, and began to pull themselves out of their tombs….

Midnight approached fast, the black company had armed themselves with their choicest weaponry, the Mobians cradled heavy assault rifles and Amy slid her long-rifle into the holster in her ‘sled. They were silent and except for the strange noise the wind was making, the silence was only broken by the hiss of respirators and hydraulics.

Skeletal forms pulled themselves clear of the mounds of earth, empty eye-sockets glared at the sky. Corpses, still fleshed in grey skin, stared with luminous eyes of pus at the forest surrounding them. A crude imperative thrust into their mouldering brains, they made their way to an ancient ruin in the great forest. There was a gentle wailing as shades of the departed rose from the ground, ancient horrors stirred in the shadows. Clutching whatever was to hand the corpses walked into the ruinous clearing.

Within the clearing a huge bulge was visible in the centre. The ground squirmed with titanic forces and the thin grass covering split into deep cracks which pulled further apart. With a roar of triumph a huge skeletal head burst out of the ground. It was dracoform and black flame licked about it. Two heavy claws burst from the ground behind it. The creatures bulk disrupted huge chunks of stone and earth as it hauled itself out. As it reached the surface its full horror could be seen. Entirely fleshless a black flame burnt within its titanic ribcage, its vast wings were only a thin and tattered membrane through which filtered an eerie light. The monster lashed its tail and roared again. Upon the back of this vast Dracolich a cloud of white lights flickered about and conglomerated into a pulsing mass. As the mass solidified it darkened to become as dark as obsidian. Heavy armour plates formed and a great horned helm appeared atop it. The visage within was entirely skeletal, and a deep red fire burnt within the sockets. The Dracolich unfurled its wings with a snap and took to the air, its rider now wielding a large black axe. As the monstrous form ascended it was joined by myriad deadlights and a larger form materialised next to the dragon. It became a figure, swathed from head to foot in rich silks and chiffon, mounted atop a white unicorn. The unicorn rode the air with pounding hoof-beats, its flowing mane becoming a vapour trail behind it. The figure radiated an ethereal light, and slim feminine hands grasped a staff of silver-birch wood. The Undead host turned to follow the strange pair as they flew on the wind to Robotropolis.

"So, how are we gonna get to Robotropolis?" asked Sonic. "We have no vehicles to get there since the generator blew on the shuttle craft."

"We use our own power," said Azarlan. "Our armoured suits contain gravitic reaction motors and twin ramjets so we can fly there."

"What about me and Bunnie?"

"We’ll carry you."

"There is no way I’m flying at speed when all I’ve got to hold me on is a pair of hands."

"Oh, you will."

"Won’t!"

Azarlan sighed and jumped high into the air. He floated down slowly and there was a whine from his backpack as twine jets of flame shot out. He shot towards Sonic at an alarming speed, arms outstretched. Sonic underestimated his reach and was grabbed. Azarlan’s jets whined with the extra weight but he took himself high into the air. Sonic swallowed hard as the G-force pushed his stomach to his knees.

"Now we start to have fun!" cackled Azarlan, his voice nearly lost in the slipstream.

His jets flared brightly and he shot skyward. Sonic stifled a whimper as he saw the ground rapidly shrink beneath him. Then he felt a sudden sensation of weightlessness.

"FUCK!" screamed Sonic as he realised he wasn’t holding on to anything, and nothing was holding on to him either. The ground rushed alarmingly towards him. The sensation of vertigo was alarming and Sonic wanted to puke. Suddenly, at tree height, his fall stopped gently. Azarlan had hold of the back of his Bio-suit and was chuckling to himself. Sonic felt too ill to swing for him and decided it would not be very wise, considering he was still high enough to kill himself if he fell. As Sonic clutched frantically at Azarlan for a better hold, he realised he was shaking, and had come out in a cold sweat.

"P-Please don’t do that again."

"Don’t worry, I won’t drop you again, unless you squirm like that."

"Thanks for the warning."

Azarlan floated slowly down towards the ground, Sonic still held firmly by the back of his biosuit.

"At least you didn’t pass out, it would have made you even easier to catch."

The five fighter bombers descended from high orbit, the pilots activated their cloaking devices and the sleek fighters shimmered into a cloud of multicoloured fragments.

The commander gave out his first command: "On my word, begin descent at Mach three, steep dive, twenty metre Max height. Arm all weapon systems. Run Checklist."

His wing-man begin to go through the checklist: "All craft, run standard checks on forward Plasma cannons."

There were four confirmations across the comm-link.

"Run standard check, aft autocannons, check ammo feed and coolant lines."

There were another four confirmations through their head sets.

"Check wing bomb racks."

"Wing racks checked and armed."

"Check and arm belly bomb rack."

"Roger."

"Run check on main Plasma core and exhaust."

"A OK"

The commander spoke again over the comm link.

"Pilots begin descent on three."

"Two."

"One."

"Dive."

The five sleek bombers began a sharp descent, their forms becoming a diffuse cloud of multicoloured fragments. There was a loud whoosh as the Ramjets engaged, the plasma core squirted raw plasma into the main ramjet. A streak of raw sun-fire followed each cloud of fragments as they hurtled towards the ground. The pilots were silently thankful for the mass neutralisers as they hit the bottom of their drop and pulled up sharply. They began to spread out to jink between the trees that reached above the main canopy. As the trees thinned out and abruptly stopped on the edge of Robotropolis, one of the pilots remarked.

"What an ugly bastard that is."

The FLAK guns on the outer walls barely picked up the five craft before they were over-flown and smashed in the hail of heavy calibre shells from the rear.

The pilots flipped their planes sideways to fly through the buildings. A blast of white hot plasma from the front of one of the planes incinerated a fleet of stealth bots sent to intercept.

"Approaching main target, deploy wing racks."

The bombs on the wings of the lead two planes dropped off and ignited small motors. They dropped behind the planes as they flew above the city. The planes rapidly gained altitude and were well above the city when the bombs hit their target. A blue pulse radiated away from the bombs as they impacted. Anything the eerie blue ring touched was enmeshed by a cloud of static sparks. Electronic equipment shorted out and either exploded or caught fire. The intercepting stealth-bots dropped from the sky, falling in lazy arcs before impacting into the sides of buildings. A magazine exploded somewhere, sending a shower of hot metal into the air. Similar explosions shook the vicinity.

"Phase one complete, return to orbit."

The Undead horde had reached the edge of the city. The figure riding the unicorn halted and waved her wand of birchwood. The wall appeared to melt, it parted like the Red Sea and flowed into tall bastions on either-side of the gap. The horde shambled forward, crawling over the remnants of metal. The few worker bots still in the nearby area stared for a second at the approaching horde of death. The sheer terror they felt temporarily over-rode their programming and the roboticized Mobians fled. The horde began to attack anything that moved, SWATbots were swamped by the unforgiving numbers and torn to pieces. SWATbots carrying heavier weapons attempted to hold the horde at bay. Heavy bolts of energy and swarms of shells poured into the undead ranks. The zombies fell but continued to inexorably advance, small gobbets of flesh continued to slither towards the SWATbot positions. A Commander Bot was cradling a heavy assault gun and blasting away at the mob. It did not notice the lumps of flesh crawling into his cooling vents. The Com-bot exploded as its main power unit overheated. The mighty Dracolich rode above the devastation, dispensing flaming destruction in great gouts of burning black flame that made metal molten. It landed next to a large building. The skeletal figure atop it made a gesture with its hand, the mighty doors of the building collapsed in a cloud of glittering crystals. The rider dismounted and strode with resounding footsteps that were not drowned out by the clamour outside. An underling scientist of Robotnik ran for it when the figure came in. The figure ignored the fleeing scientist and made its way towards a bench on which stood a piece of complex equipment. Bringing his huge black axe down on it, the figure cleaved the piece in two. As the axe cut through it, molten metal was flung out by the stroke. Following the axes passage, the object disintegrated into a pile of glittering dust. The figure strode away towards another door. The door was a heavy bulkhead, made of reinforced steel at least two inches thick. The figure raised one clawed fist and smashed the door like it was match wood. The room was full of complex equipment, most of it marked with Radiation warning symbols. The figure gestured with one hand over it, it began to age rapidly. Firstly rust formed on all the surfaces in the room, then these began to crumble away to a dark brown dust. A Geiger tube in the next room began to click wildly as a flood of radioactivity began to pour out of the containers. The radioactivity quickly dropped to nothing and the ageing of the room stopped. The figure returned to his monstrous mount.

The task force moved towards their targets in Robotropolis, Sonic was slung in a harness under Azarlan, Bunnie under one of the other Troopers. Sally and Amy rode on the air sled, Sally looking a little small on the large rear seat. Sonic felt the weight of the gun underneath him, it was surprisingly reassuring that it was a high powered Laser gun wired into a pack on his back. The other two Mobians were carrying similar weapons. The black company members appeared over-armed to Sonic: They each carried their assault rifles in holsters next to their heavy armour plated back packs. They also carried a large weapon each, and Sonic noticed that they had their close quarter weapons also. Michala carried a rack of missiles strapped to his forearms, Azarlan had a huge Plasma cannon, and another carried a multi-barreled gun out of which a long belt of fearsome looking Ammo dangled. The last carried a weapon that looked like a meaner version of the pulse cannon Bunnie sometimes used, meaner, because it was over twice the size and packed a humming power-plant.

The group landed on the outside of the main wall, Sally and Amy took the ‘sled and carried over.

"How do we get in," Asked Sonic. "You’re too big to get in through the ventilation ducting and the gates are sealed closed."

"Quite simple," answered Michala. "We gatecrash."

Hearing the command, Azarlan strode up to the gate. He hooked the blunt fingers of his gauntlets into the joint between the two doors and pulled hard. Iron hard muscles strained and the powered armour made an audible noise of whining servo-motors. The door, at least an inch of reinforced steel, buckled slightly before, with a scream of grating metal, being pushed into the wall. Hydraulic fluid jetted from a burst pipe. The party walked through the gate. An alarm siren was audible in the distance. The gates garrison of SWATbots swarmed out of a tower next to it. They were stopped and destroyed by a single missile from Michala’s arm racks which exploded in a blast of super-heated metal. Red hot chunks of SWAT bounced off the Black Company’s armour. They moved on…

Amy and Sally took the air sled high over the outer walls, before diving low to fly in the streets, out of range of the FLAK guns that patrolled the sky with electronic sensors. They flew at a suicidal altitude and had to increase it to get over the piles of smouldering wreckage. The departing vapour trails of the bombers were just still visible against the smog. The whoosh of the main engine echoed off the metallic walls, creating a strange jumble of sound just behind them. Sally only realised how fast they were going when the dull roar of a Sonic boom echoed off the walls behind them.

"Not far now, Sally," Amy said through her headpiece. "Turn your targeting scope on and check you’ve get a fresh battery loaded."

A quick glance at the power meter on the side of the gun was enough to show Sally the power pack was full. A quick touch to the side of her helmet activated the imaging map and Smartgun link. The superimposed targeting reticule on her left eye showing the view through her gun’s kick-sight. The nightscape was illuminated in a ghostly green glow that became quite fierce when the smart-link picked up points of light. Amy, in an obviously casual and well practised routine, pulled her long-rifle out of it’s holster and slotted a single round into place before closing the chamber. She thumbed on the autopilot and took careful aim at something. Amy’s bionic eye tracked the SWAT as it patrolled along a walkway, over six miles ahead of them but closing fast. Amy gently squeezed the trigger. The bullet left the rifle without a sound but became a bright streak as it hit a relativistic velocity. When it impacted the tachyon counter caused the bullet to micro-implode. The SWAT exploded in a shower of white hot plasma. Amy slotted the rifle back and took control again.

"Heads up, were coming into firing range!"

Sally snapped back to attention as they approached the Bot control centre. One of the heavy guns on top had targeted them and was pumping a steady stream of shells at them. Tracer fire lit the air in it’s actinic glare. The shield at the front of the craft flared a bright blue as some bullets hit and exploded against it.

"Main shields down! Duck!"

Sally ducked as another volley whizzed past her head. There was an awful popping noise as some hit the front of the ‘sled. Amy jinked the craft to avoid most of them. The main gun gave off an audible whine before an orange bolt shot out and hit the gun. It’s magazine exploded in a white magnesium flash. The SWATbots on the roof had started taking pot shots at the ‘sled now. The laser bolts ricocheted off the sled and Sally sunk lower into her seat as another nearly gave her a new haircut.

"Get your gun out and get shootin’ damn you!" Amy screamed through the headset.

Sally pointed her gun and let fly. A SWAT was caught in the blast and exploded in a dull red cloud, throwing an eerie light about. Amy fired the main gun at the building again. A large hole was torn in the side and molten metal showered down. The ‘sled shot over the building and Amy spun it round for a second pass. Amy loaded her rifle and placed it over the handlebars, resting the butt against her shoulder. A SAM missile whooshed up from a two robot team on the building. Amy’s eye again tracked it and she squeezed the trigger gently. It exploded in front of them and they passed through the cloud of hot gas. The main gun fired again. This time it triggered a chain reaction in the building. The building was engulfed in flames which quickly became a raging fireball. The building exploded violently. Sally screamed as a huge piece flew towards them. Amy swung most of the ‘sled out of the way but a large chunk of metal tore the engine off the back.

"Oh Fuck" came over the headset.

The ‘sled veered sharply downwards. Amy pulled up hard on the stick. It hit the ground at close to 500Kph but at a shallow enough angle. Both the girls screamed as it skidded along the metal-plated pavement and across a freighter line that, thankfully, was not busy at that very moment. It hit a building on the other side but, again thankfully, had lost enough speed to avoid injury to the two girls. Sally got up off the ground where she had fallen and automatically dusted herself down. She saw something out of the corner of her eye and froze. It was a SWAT. She aimed her gun but Amy put her hand on the end of it. Amy walked up to the SWAT and stood right in front of it. It didn’t move. She gave it a hard shove that pushed it over. It fell with a metallic clang that reverberated off the metal buildings. It was very quiet, except for the rumblings of the building in its death throes.

"Well, I think we can call the mission at least a partial success. Now all we have to do is footslog it out of here." Said Amy through the Comm-link.

"I have never been in this part of the city, at least, not since it became Robotropolis."

"We have got a map, remember?"

"Oh yeah, the left eye?"

"Yeah, I’ll just set it to retrieve mode."

"Shouldn’t we contact the others?"

"No, I have orders for strict radio silence until it becomes light."

"Shall we go?"

"The sooner we start the sooner we’ll finish."

The two girls set off, covering one another.

Michala hooked his fingers into the sewer cover. With a good show of strength he pulled it off and tossed it away. It clanged against a wall and rattled to a stop. Sonic winced until he remembered how all the bots they had passed had been deactivated. The worker robots were milling around in a strange confusion. They even approached the group for orders. Luckily they thought fast enough to avoid any violence and the workers were now ordering one another to get above ground.

Michala pulled a small red stick off a clip on his chest. It flared brightly and he gestured for them to move back. He tossed the flaming stick into the sewer and hit the deck. The was a dull rumble as the methane in the sewers ignited. A pillar of flame shot up out of the manhole, and similar flames could be seen over the other covers. Bunnie nearly shit herself when a smoking manhole cover landed only a metre away from her.

"Now we wait." Said Michala.

"How long?" asked an already impatient Sonic.

"’Bout ten seconds."

Suddenly there was a gurgling noise from the sewer. A solid flow of thick pink liquid surged past.

"Ugh! Mega Mack!" exclaimed Sonic. "That stuff is meant especially for me!"

"The bio-suit you’re wearing should protect you. And the respirator contains enough oxygen to get us through."

The flow slowed and ebbed to a thin trickle at the bottom. The trooper with the assault gun jumped into the hole first. He disappeared entirely within it. Sonic followed but let himself fall gently from the edge. The tunnel was huge, easily accommodating the hulking armoured forms. The rest of them followed suit, although Bunnie was given a hand down by Azarlan. They proceeded through the sewers. The journey was long and, surprisingly Sonic thought, quite tiring. He wasn’t sure whether it was the weight of his gun or the constricting bio-suit that protected him from the dully glowing Mega Mack on the floor of the pipe. The pipe had been descending downwards for quite some time. Eventually they rounded a bend to find a large iron grate blocking their path. Azarlan aimed the large plasma gun at the grating and gestured for the rest of the group to stand back. Sonic followed the rest of the group as they backed up a considerable distance.

"Cover your eyes." came over the comm-link.

Sonic did so. Azarlan pointed the gun and pressed the trigger. The gun gave a piercing whine and a blast of seething plasma gouted from the end of the gun. The grating dissolved like sugar in boiling water. The piping beyond was also considerably damaged as white hot compressed hydrogen exploded in contact with the Mega Mack. Sonic looked again to see the grating gone and a pall of heavy smoke from the vaporised metal. Azarlan walked forward, casually swinging the hefty gun and whistling something tuneless through the comm-link. A snapped order shut him up. They proceeded.

A little further on they came to a nexus in the sewer system. There the piping opened up into a large cavern with pipes entering and leaving at all different heights and directions. On the opposite wall was a colossal steel door, flanked by two huge robots. These robots seemed quite active and the party kept low as the scanning beam passed over their heads. The robots were an unusual type, they looked like old egg features himself but instead of arms they mounted a fearsome arsenal of guns.

"On my signal we take ‘em out." Whispered Michala over the comm-link.

"Ready."

"GO!"

There was a fearsome roar as the multi-barreled gun in the hands of one of the Black Company came to life. It spat a hail of heavy metal death at the closest robot which imploded under the weight of the depleted uranium tipped bullets. The pulse cannon gave an unearthly screech and a bolt of blinding white light leapt out and struck the other, blowing an arm off. The robot returned fire, multiple laser shots arcing from its intact arm. They ricocheted off Michala’s armour, and he drew his weapon. The scythe cut through the air like a dark comet, describing an arc of green fire. It struck the robot full on the head and sheared straight through, passing straight through the armour plated body as if it was a fine mist. The robot collapsed into two large chunks, fizzed and clicked, before stopping the erratic twitching movements.

"Get that door open now!" screamed Michala over the comm-link. Sonic ducked and covered his ears. The gout of plasma seared through the door as if it were made of balsa wood. As the steam cleared there was a little surprise waiting for them.

The undead legion was quite pleased tearing through the non functional SWATbots. They moved with a single mind towards things that still moves. Snively, having been in the sector to inspect one of the factories, was hiding under a bench in a locked office. His hands, clammy and shaking as they were, were clamped hard around the butt of his little laser pistol. His breathing was coming fast and he didn’t always catch the air before it departed. A hideous smell of damp and rotting flesh assaulted his nostrils. He had smelt decay before, especially when Packbell, goddam sick arsehole, would partially flay a prisoners and allow them to rot alive on a grotesque hook. Snively also remembered it when his mum had died. There were no ambulances for the Overlanders, most Mobians would not even help them after the wars broke out. He could barely remember why the Overlanders had left Earth. In a rare moment of silence it came back to him: He remembered that a lot of the men, especially those who had served in the military, had gone on raids to other planets. Then, he remembered that his whole family had been exiled from elsewhere long before he was born. Robotnik was a fugitive from some huge organisation of interstellar groups. They had caused them to flee. A dull memory from his early childhood surfaced: It had been a peaceful day, the sky was almost perfectly clear, an exception to the usual city smog that blanketed out the sky. He had taken a walk on one of few grassy patches in the city limits. He was enthralled by the dancing constellations but intrigued by the myriad of large blocks of near total darkness. He watched. Later he came home, his dad had been pissed out of his skull on the sofa. His mum was crying, he thought his dad had upset her. He had asked what was wrong. She had replied, "We’re at war."

After that his shitty life got ever worse. He watched the News reports on the progress of the war. It was some kind of alien invasion as far as they knew, but there were no super-heroes to save them. The planetary bombardment had been horrific, the Cities were now smoking ruins of fused glass and metal, all of the green spaces were now churned mires of black mud and the ice-caps were reported to be beginning to melt. Then they started to evacuate. He was not an important person, but he, with his family, were one of the first groups to leave. They drifted in space for a month before they found out that Earth had been destroyed, not just scoured of life but shattered into its atomic structure, drifting in a spiral towards its doom with the sun. Then they learnt the nature of their assailants. A ship was spotted tailing the colony ship. It moved alongside and fired something at us. It was a boarding torpedo. Four armoured humanoids erupted through the nose-cone and tore like a living thunderbolt through the soldiers sent to investigate. He only saw it after, he sneaked through an airvent to take a look. The four figures were standing back-to-back in the centre of a hall. Surrounding them was a sea of gore, men who had been torn apart in the most hideous ways. The smell was vile, like rotting meat, like, like….

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed.

One of the zombies had got into his office, it was a small slim female. He didn’t have to look to know it was his mum. His scream drained to a hoarse gargle, he felt something hot run down his leg. He ran also, showing an athletic ability only shown in those full of adrenaline. He vaulted a table, scattering test-tubes, and dived into an airvent in the wall. He crawled up, his fingers scrabbling for purchase on the smooth metal. He didn’t notice the razor cuts on his fingers as he hauled himself into the ceiling. The zombie didn’t follow. He gasped a lungful of air and plunged headlong through the duct. Something was following him.

Sally and Amy reached the end of a large freightway. There had been no traffic since they destroyed the control centre, it must control other functions also. There was a large steel wall in front of them.

"Where to now?" asks Sally.

"I don’t know, perhaps.." replies Amy.

"We’re gonna have to go over the wall aren’t we."

"Yeah I think so, we can’t go back that way, everything’s blocked off."

They begin to climb. Sally’s climbing ability matched by Amy’s longer reach and greater strength. When they reach the top Sally and Amy get a gun shoved in their faces.

"Why Princess, what a pleasant surprise." Growls the Packbell, his mouth fixed in a rictus snarl.