Lava Foundry, Act 1.

[mach_n_roll]

Who: Sonic, Knuckles, Blaze, Rouge, Marine, Rrrrrrrobotnik
What: Scouting Eggman's new digs
Where: Remember that Volcano that no one talks about? We're back there again.
When: The moon hangs low in the sky. It's daytime.
Warnings: Lava, dangerous robots, smartass commentary

"Welp, at least the lava's hardened since last time."

Sonic mused that to himself, as he kicked a fragment of pahoehoe off the cliff and looked up to the rim of the crater.

"I guess ol' Eggolodon couldn't resist the chance to build a base in a volcano."

Comments

[monotreme_101]

"I mean, you gotta admit, Sonic..." Knuckles said, walking up beside his buddy in blue. "Makin' your digs in a Volcano is kinda classic. Even my ancestors knew it was cool."

Hidden Palace, yo!

"Hopefully we can get in, get some intelligence for Zero, then get out without bein' seen. I just KNOW Egghead's gonna take the opportunity to mess with everyone while all this other stuff is goin' on."

[vela_nova]

"Assuming he isn't already aware we're here," Blaze suggested. "He's gotten paranoid since the destruction of the Egg Carrier, after all. We should be ready for anything."

[babylonmechanic]

"Will you lighten up, kitten?" Wave scoffed, carrying her Gear under her arm as she looked up at Eggman's new base. "This is gonna be a cakewalk. I could handle this myself even without you all here."

[mach_n_roll]

"Zero just wants us to scout the place out quietly." Sonic adds, cracking his knuckles. "And yeah, that'd be a piece of cake, but Blaze is right. He's been pretty quiet, and things have kind of changed since then."

The man was in a coma for long time, and then suddenly silent up until that MUAHAHA broadcasted to the masses. It sounds typical of him, but he'd gone back to his weird silence, even in light of the moon's aberrant path.

"So watch yourselves, guys. He could be up to anything in there. We'd better split up into groups. It'd be easier to get near the place without being seen."

[monotreme_101]

"Teams, huh? Yeah. I guess that makes sense..." There were a few of them there, after all. "Who's goin' with who?"

[yournewcaptain]

"I'm goin' with me first mate, Blaze!" Marine slapped Blaze hard on the back as congrats.

"You, Sonic! You come with Blaze and me! You three..." She gestured weakly to Knuckles, Rouge, and Wave. "You lot go do your own thing. But Team Marine will sink the enemy ship and save the day! Onward, lads! To ADVENTURE!" And she strutted off in the wrong direction with smug determination.

Air Reconnaissance (Wave, Knux, Rouge)

[mach_n_roll]

Updrafts from the volcano make the glide to the overlooking cliffs an easy one. Now all that remains, is to get close enough to peer through the clouds of smoke and into the base without being seen.

Re: Air Reconnaissance (Wave, Knux, Rouge)

[babylonmechanic]

Wave's flight was aided by her Gear, which she rode over the air currents coming from the volcano. She had binoculars at the ready. "It's hard to see anything through all this smoke," she said. "Eggman really likes his privacy."

Re: Air Reconnaissance (Wave, Knux, Rouge)

[monotreme_101]

"Be careful." Knuckles replied, gliding along and riding the thermals generated by lava and hot rock below. "Just because we can't see him, don't mean he can't see us."

Re: Air Reconnaissance (Wave, Knux, Rouge)

[sexyspybat]

Rouge flew with them overhead and took out her modified treasure scope.

"Wouldn't you know it, it's teeming with patrol 'bots. These might actually keep us awake, won't they, honey?" She winked at Knuckles slyly.

Without taking a moment to ask permission, Rouge grabbed hold of Knuckles' hand. "Here. Just so you don't tire yourself out keeping up with us girls."

Re: Air Reconnaissance (Wave, Knux, Rouge)

[babylonmechanic]

Wave felt her eyebrow twitch with irritation at the sight of Rouge grabbing Knuckles' hand like that. What the heck was wrong with her? But she'd save that for later.

"We'll have to get in closer," Wave said. "Keep an eye out for security, and look for a way in."

Re: Air Reconnaissance (Wave, Knux, Rouge)

[monotreme_101]

Knuckles' eyebrow twitched as well. Though, differently to Wave, his mouth also twitched as well. Into a smile. For like... point five seconds.

"I'm on it."

Knuckles squinted against the dry, somewhat murky air. "Not spottin' anything yet..."

Ground Infiltration (Sonic, Blaze, Marine)

[mach_n_roll]

After a long climb, the three of them get close to the outer wall of the base. Patrol bots are getting thicker on the ground, the closer they get...

[vela_nova]

"So far so good... They haven't noticed us," Blaze said quietly. "But we may not be able to avoid it once we reach the entrance. Do we rush the entrance, or find another way in?" she asked.

[yournewcaptain]

"Crikey, look at 'em all," Marine said, dropping her tough-guy guise at the sight of their newest obstacle. "I... um... give me a moment and I'll think of a way in...!"

She struggled hard to think of something, anything, but came up with bupkiss. To be honest, she was at this point more concerned with how she'd look like a poor leader than how they'd solve this problem.

[mach_n_roll]

"We probably need to find another way in." He snorts. Oh trust me, he'd LOVE to break down that gate and gleefully homing-attack from badnik to badnik, never touching the floor until he lands on Eggman's console with glass-cracking force and a lovingly vicious grin.

BUT... Zero wants reconnaissance only. They should at least TRY to go about it with a little strategy.

"Marine, d'you have anything that can scramble transmission signals? If you do, then we might be able to disable a couple of the robots so they don't send a distress signal back."

[yournewcaptain]

Marine perked up.

"Well, Sonic, I 'ave... THIS!" she said while whipping out a handheld techy device from her pocket. "This baby can fry all electronics in a 40-meter radius!"

Then she muttered under her breath sheepishly, "It was supposed to be an AM/FM tuner. I guess I mixed up a few wires. Ruined two ships' navigation systems that way..."

[vela_nova]

Somehow, Blaze wasn't surprised.

"It should do," she said. "There appears to be surveillance equipment there, and there," she said, pointing to what might have been disguised security cameras. "If Marine can get it close enough to fry the cameras, Sonic and I can take out the guards simultaneously before they can warn anyone."

Still Infiltrating (cont'd)

[yournewcaptain]

Marine flailed and ranted under Blaze's arm as she was whisked away.

"CROIKEY!! Lemme at 'em! I'll smash ALL their 'eads in! Nobody picks a fight with mates of Captain Marine and lives to tell about it!!"

Another doorway caught her eye. They hadn't been down that corridor before, and it was enclosed enough to bottleneck the robots if they chose to follow them. "Blazey, why don't we 'ead that way? I've got a spiffy feeling about that one!"

[mach_n_roll]

Aw man... Zero was going to chew on his quills for this one, and this time it isn't his fault! Oh well. At least he's back in his comfort zone.

He smashes into one sentry robot after another, kicks them into those stupid pneumatic tubes that Eggman's so proud of, launches himself into the air to stop a buzz bomber in mid-flight, and lands on a pyramid of stacked crates with a grin, rolling his shoulder.

"Oh man. I needed that!"

[vela_nova]

After looking down the direction Marine suggested, Blaze nodded in agreement. "Good idea," she said. "Sonic!" Blaze called out to the hedgehog. "This way, we can bottleneck them!"

And not a moment too soon, as even more robots started to swarm out! They REALLY didn't like Sonic, did they?

[yournewcaptain]

As they rounded the corner and into the corridor, Marine took a moment to come up with another brilliant plan to help them along. Clearly she was the brains of this team and had to act as such! The corridor split into three directions and all three doors were shut. All they had to do was approach them and push [A] to open!

"Strewth, more doorways? Well, she'll be apples. Of course we'd want to head..." Eenie meanie miney moe... "This way!" She pointed to the door on the right. Her quick thinking took just enough time for the robots to catch up and start making their way one by one up to the two Mobians.

A discovery!

[babylonmechanic]

When Rouge tried to hurry her along, Wave turned back and held a finger to her beak, hoping to silence the bat up. She pointed to a grate near her, and as she crawled further along, Rouge and Knuckles could see where she pointed.

Down below was a bed. Inside that bed was Eggman. Eggman was asleep.

Did you know Eggman sometimes slept naked? Thank goodness for sheets, huh?

Re: A discovery!

[monotreme_101]

"....oh sweet merciful Chaos..."

That was a sight Knuckles didn't need to see.

"His ultimate weapon. The ultimate attack. I can't stand against him - I cannot punch him, I cannot kick him, I cannot head butt him. Because I do not want to touch him."

It was a feeling of conflict for the Echidna.

Re: A discovery!

[sexyspybat]

Rouge gagged silently. While bedsheets were currently a humongous blessing, what had been seen could still not be unseen.

"Hopefully, you won't have to, darling. Scoot." She pushed her way past them (cheekily making sure to brush against Knuckles quite a bit) up to the grate and began unscrewing it with her trusty mini-screwdriver that she'd whipped out of her back pocket. "Let's hope he's not a light sleeper."