Hop To It - Eclipse 8

[Heyu]

I might have made a mistake.

Not going after Humi, there wasn’t anything that could convince me not to do that. The mistake was that I’d been awake for, what… 22 hours at this point? I felt fine, and I was doing okay driving, but I knew that sooner or later I was going to experience consequences. The question was, did I believe Humi would be alright long enough for me to get a couple hours of sleep?

She was smart, resourceful, and apparently going on a rampage in the desert. And knowing her, as long as there were robots to destroy she’d never run out of ammo or parts. Humi had lived on the streets and in the jungle for years before I met her, and three months surely wasn’t enough time for her to forget those survival instincts, even if the desert was a different beast. I could even trust that she’d be safe going to Robotnik’s base, since we’d hiked into the Final Egg enough times.

Ultimately, I decided that none of that mattered. She was ten and in a warzone. If I wanted to take my guardianship of her seriously, I couldn’t wait. It wasn’t like I was going to be able to sleep like that anyway.

So that wasn’t the mistake. The actual mistake was insisting on taking the four-wheeler instead of the truck. Chalk that one up to tiredness, I guess.

Humi’s ATV thing was… not falling apart on me, which was about the best that could be said for it. It was faster than Dad’s truck, but it was uncomfortable after a while, just slightly too small for me, and, crucially, it didn’t have headlights. Dad had a flashlight that was for some reason strong enough to make do, but it left me feeling antsy.

I drove through the night, trusting a flashlight, the rare streetlight, and my own poor night vision to get me to the desert.

It was a tense drive. The ATV didn’t have a radio. I hated driving without a radio. And the helmet I found wasn’t designed with my ears in mind, so those were going to be sore once I arrived. It would have been nice to have company, but that weird Omochao vanished some time after I left the city limits.

That kid’s Chaos Emerald had been less than helpful. The exact content of the vision was fading, but I could remember seeing that Sonic would be fine, and that Robotnik’s base was in the desert in a pyramid. It also told me Shadow’s name, which… well, that kid was weird. I think he was a kid, anyway. He had the same build as Sonic, though honestly that’s where the resemblance between them ended. Anyway, despite looking for Humi, the Emerald didn’t show me anything about her.

Of course, then Dad called and told me that his friend on the force had heard from the G.U.N. radio chatter that a mouse in a mech was causing trouble in Sand Ocean. So maybe the Emerald was trying to show me where she was… but why wasn’t she in the vision itself?

Thinking about it now, I probably should have kept the green gem. I don’t remember why I gave it back; must be from part of the vision that I’ve already forgotten. Something tells me I wouldn’t have been able to stop him from taking it back, though.

Whatever. This whole situation was confusing and I wasn’t sure what was happening. I was too tired to worry about all that.

As I passed through Pumpkin Hill, I idly considered making a detour to hopefully find Iota; having him as backup would be nice. I decided against it, since the only road into the Hills proper that I saw was a dirt trail with no lights; it would have been an accident waiting to happen.

It was past midnight when I started driving, and well past one when I finally left Central. No idea why the south bridge wasn’t a straight line, but whatever. The desert should have been an hour and a half drive after that… but I got turned around a few times.. I just couldn’t see. Honestly, if it wasn't a full moon, I’d never have gotten anywhere.

It was still dark by the time I reached the edge of the Sand Ocean, but the first rays of day could be seen peeking over the edge of the horizon. And in the slowly growing light, I saw a G.U.N. encampment.

I yawned. Maybe they would have coffee.

“Wait, is that--”

-----------------------------------------

[Amy]

Amy peeked out from behind a rocky outcrop. The soldiers had set up on some of the last solid ground for miles, and there were plenty of rocks for her to hide behind.

Honestly, sneaking around like this was easy. Maybe she should become a spy! Hiding in the shadows, flying all over the world on missions, getting to wear all kinds of outfits and disguises… rescuing handsome hostages… it would be so romantic~!

Who did G.U.N. think they were arresting her darling Sonic? As if Sonic would ever do anything like what they were saying. He was innocent, and she was going to save him! But the question was how.

Before she could rescue Sonic, she had to get to him. Amy decided the best way to do that was to hitch a ride with a G.U.N. transport. Innocent or not, Sonic was strong and slippery! Amy would know, since he’d been escaping her for years. So if G.U.N. was smart--a big ‘if,’ but still--then they’d be sending reinforcements to wherever they were keeping him. So Amy just needed to find some G.U.N. troops and sneak aboard with them!

Was it a perfect plan? No. But the way she saw it, either she succeeded, or she got caught and sent to prison with Sonic anyway. And then she could break out and rescue him… or, maybe, sharing a cell with him didn’t sound too bad…

…No, prisons were dirty. Nevermind that. Central City made it too easy to get caught, but out here in the desert the soldiers were tired and focused on Eggman, so she barely had to try in order to sneak around them. She hadn’t even needed her new trick yet!

Amy looked up as a big helicopter came in for a landing. The soldiers started loading it up, so it was time to make her move. Amy reached inside herself, held her breath, and--

“And what are you doing here, young lady?”

--almost screamed, barely managing to cover her mouth in time before letting out a strangled yelp instead. Thankfully, the copter’s rotors muffled everything.

Amy spun around, certain she’d been caught, only to blink stupidly at the sight of Heyu. “What am I doing here? What are you doing here?” she countered, whispering harshly. Then she looked again. “Are you okay? You look… um.” He had nasty bags under his eyes.

“Thanks, it’s the stress,” he said flippantly. “I have business here. What are you doing?”

Amy looked over her shoulder. There was plenty of time before the helicopter was full. “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Sonic’s been captured and put in prison!”

Heyu nodded, expression unchanging. “Yes. I was there.”

“You were?” She shook her head. “Well, I’m going to save him, and these guys are going to get me to him!”

The hare stared at her, looking tired, and Amy stared back defiantly. “...If I tried to stop you, what would you do?”

“Scream and get us both caught.”

He sighed. Amy felt bad, but only for a moment. “Okay. Okay. I don’t have the energy to argue this right now,” he admitted. “But once this is all over, we’re going to have words.”

Amy scoffed. Heyu wasn’t her dad. “...Hey, wait a minute. Where’s Humi?”

Heyu’s expression was unreadable. He didn’t answer, just stretched and stepped out from behind the rock.

“What are you doing?!” Amy whisper-shouted, but then it was too late.

“Good morning, gentleman!” Heyu called, waving.

The camp went still. Not quiet, thanks to the chopper, but everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at him. A few raised weapons, but most just looked surprised.

Amy watched, anxious, as one soldier stepped forward. “Uh, hi? Sir, are you aware that this is a restricted area?”

From her perspective, Amy was able to see how Heyu’s tail twitched nervously, but his voice stayed steady. “I’m aware, yes, but I’m also aware that my kid might have given you some trouble.”

“Your kid?”

“Yes, about, yea high?” he added, holding his hand below his waist. “Mouse, white fur, piloting a death machine?”

The soldier flinched back. “Oh, right, the contractor. Are you with her?”

Amy mouthed the word contractor to herself. Heyu, for his part, only hesitated for a fraction of a second. “I am, yes. She got excited to work and went ahead of me, and I only just managed to catch up.”

Then, to Amy’s astonishment, the soldier relaxed. “Oh, good. You know, I was kinda worried about a little kid tearing off toward Eggman’s base, but knowing she has someone looking after her after all really puts my mind at ease.”

“Ha, I bet. Mister…” Heyu leaned forward. “...House? Mister House, can you tell me if she managed to breach the pyramid on her own?”

Private House shrugged and looked to another soldier, one wearing a headset.

“Video feed confirms she got inside,” the indicated man said. “We haven’t seen her since.”

Heyu grunted. “Well. She’s very talented, after all.” His foot thumped against the ground. “I suppose I should go in after her.

Private House looked around. “Uh, we’re packing up, but if you need assistance?”

“Who died and put you in charge, Alf?” someone else muttered.

“That won’t be necessary,” Heyu assured him. “Except… do you have one of those Beetle drones about still?”

“No… would a Hawk do?” House waved towards somewhere Amy couldn’t see from her hiding spot, and a big flying drone hovered over.

“Perfect,” Heyu said, with false cheer. “Can you move it… higher… to the left… Right. The pyramid’s that way, yes?”

“That’s right. What are you--”

Heyu, using a long line of rings that Amy hadn’t noticed before then, snagged the Hawk drone. Then he backed up, and the line of rings pulled taut, stretching out so much that it became increasingly obvious that nothing was actually holding it together.

Everyone in the camp was watching now. Heyu gave House a friendly, two-fingered salute--and then he was gone. Snapping back like a rubber band, the rings launched him over the sands towards the pyramid.

For a moment, Amy was just as flabbergasted as the soldiers--since when could he do that?--until she realized that this was the perfect time to move. No one was looking at the helicopter!

Amy ran over and jumped into the cargo hold. She wedged herself between two crates, as far in as she could. Finally, she reached inside, focused… and turned invisible.

It was a new trick, and she couldn’t do it while moving, but she could hold it at least until they took off.

Don’t worry Sonic! I’m coming!

--------------------------------------

[Humi]

As it turns out, nights in the desert are cold. It can be hot enough to melt rubber in the day, and then cold enough to freeze water during the night. As the night went on, the air conditioning shut itself off, unneeded, and the heat from machines far below radiated out and met the cold night air rushing in, and the result was a gentle warmth throughout the vents that slowly lulled Humi to sleep some time around one in the morning.

It was small, metal and cramped, but it was warm, and Humi had slept in worse places. It had been a long, exciting day, and watching Eggman build something without being able to get involved got boring. And so, she slept.

Now, the sun was rising over the horizon and the AC hummed to life, preparing to keep the pyramid liveable for its sole intended occupant. And as a consequence, the vents grew cold, and Humi woke up shivering.

“Wha?! Huh?” She blinked sleep out of her eyes before her brain kicked into gear. “Oh. Right. Right.”

“...”

“Hm?” Humi crawled through the vents, careful where she put her weight. These vents were a maze, but with the sound to guide her she found her way back to somewhere she’d been before: an outlet that looked over Eggman’s main computer.

She winced when it bent loudly under her just like it did last night, but just like before, Eggman didn’t seem to care or notice. She peered through the slats and saw the bad doctor fiddling with something on the console. Humi tilted her head, until the purple circle he’d been installing on the floor before she fell asleep lit up.

“There… Now to let them through.”

Them?

There was a flash of light, and a bat lady was standing in the circle. “Ugh, I’m never going to get used to that. Does it have to be so disorienting?”

Eggman scowled. “You just teleported from thousands of miles away, in space, and you’re complaining about being dizzy? I think the convenience is worth it!”

The bat flapped a hand dismissively, and Eggman growled. She stepped off the warp pad--Eggman had teleporters?! That was so cool but also really bad!--and it flared a second time.

A black hedgehog stepped out, and Humi’s eyes narrowed. Sonic?

…No, that wasn’t Sonic. He looked like Sonic… if Sonic was an edgy loser who took himself too seriously.

He didn’t even need to talk for her to understand him. Humi’d seen the type before. But then he opened his mouth and confirmed it.

“The next two Emeralds are on Prison Island. I sensed them when you freed me.” He held up the green Emerald. “See you there.”

The bat held out her hand. “Wait, what are you--?”

And then the hedgehog was gone. Dramatic.

“Ugh, how rude,” the bat groaned. She turned to Eggman. “Prison Island?”

“That place again,” he confirmed. “It’s funny; I’ve spent most of my adult life avoiding that place, and now I’m going to visit it for the second time in three days.”

“It won’t be easy getting the Chaos Emeralds out of their vaults, you know.”

“Then what luck that a master thief,” Eggman said, sneering, “has decided to offer her services.”

Rouge turned her head away. Her body language communicated flippant confidence, but from her angle Humi was able to see her nervously bite her lip before her expression schooled. “I didn’t say I couldn’t do it. But my services don’t come cheap.”

“So you’ve said. But fret not,” Eggman said, turning to leave. “Once I rule the world, you'll get everything you deserve and more.”

Humi’s face fell flat. That was the most obvious betrayal threat she’d ever heard. The bat lady clearly knew it too, but she didn’t respond as she followed him.

Humi sat back and thought. Eggman was confirmed as looking for the Chaos Emeralds, and he had help. Those guys looked like bad news, but that was a given for anyone willing to work with Doctor Eggman.

What to do now?

…Humi wished that Heyu was here. The only thing she could think to do right now was break Eggman’s everything. She was absolutely certain it would be helpful, but would it stop his plan?

The door out of the room closed, and Humi counted to thirty. After that, she popped the vent cover off and dropped down into the room. Maybe, maybe if she could figure out the controls for it, she could reconfigure the teleporter to drop Eggman into a volcano.

…Was that too much? He did a lot of bad things.

…

Humi sighed. Eggman’s stupid computer didn’t have a chair for some stupid reason, but she had a stepstool in her pocket that was just tall enough for her to make do. She should probably have asked Heyu’s parents before borrowing it, but it was coming in handy now.

The ‘screen’ was one of those holographic displays Eggman loved so much; he’d had them on the Egg Carrier too. For some reason, this one had thin secondary screens framing it that had a bunch of gobbledygook on it. She was pretty sure those weren’t real letters, but she only just learned how to read English; she wasn’t about to make assumptions on ancient runes.

How did Eggman use this thing? It was partly see-through, and the pistons on the wall behind it were distracting. Humi pressed a button on the keyboard--which was also holographic, ugh. What was the point if they didn’t go clickety-clack?--and the screen brought up a news feed that Humi ignored. It was all about something to do with G.U.N., and she had no interest in whatever the cops were doing.

…One of the not-buttons on the secondary displays had a picture of a camera. Humi pressed it, and several more screens appeared, surrounding the main one as they all tuned in to security cameras throughout the complex.

The one on the main screen was pointed at the back of her head, she didn’t like that. Humi turned around and couldn’t see the camera, but the viewpoint on the display was good enough for her to load her t-shirt cannon and fire a potato at it. The spud had been in her pocket for a while, so it went splat and covered the lens, wherever that was.

“Let’s see…” She pressed another button, and the main screen shifted, helpfully, to a map of the pyramid, displaying a single floor. “Oh! Good. I am here… so…”

After some trial and error, she figured out how to switch the cameras around. Whichever feed was the focus was accompanied by a pinpoint lighting up on the map.

“So that’s where the robot factory is… it’s a lot smaller than the last one. And this is… the server room. Hehehe… Oh!” The display changed to an outside view, focusing on the front door of the pyramid. Eggman and the bat were already outside, him in his walker and her flying. The walker’s legs folded up and it started floating after her, and they ascended offscreen.

Good to confirm they were gone. Humi raised a finger to change to the next camera, when some movement stopped her. From behind one of the statues around the big door, something brown poked out. A head. With big ears.

Humi gasped, cheering up considerably. “Heyu!”

She ran out the door without a second thought.

--------------------------------

[Heyu]

I looked up at the door, thinking. 

This probably wasn’t the only entrance. Did pyramids usually have more than one? Or even one? I don’t remember. My Egyptology phase felt like a lifetime ago by this point, I could barely remember the names of their gods.

No, focus, think. Humi got inside, she had to have. The question was, did she hack into the door somehow, or blast her way in?

She probably blasted. Her way in. Because she, uh. She was still figuring out computers, I think.

I yawned, and my jaw popped.

Well, this door had a big, conspicuous keyhole. Three, in fact. One in each eye, and one in the nose, because of course it had his picture on it. Of course it did. Why would it do anything else?

The question was, was Robotnik the kind of guy who would commit to a theme? Would he co-opt a big pyramid and build a door with three keys, and then just leave them around for explorers to find? The answer is duh, of course he would. That was exactly the kind of… egotistical? No, arrogant. Exactly the kind of arrogant thing he would do.

Which meant I would have to find them. I looked around myself, at the outlying buildings that surrounded the main complex. I’d passed some on my way in, and most of them didn’t even have doors. It was very irresponsible, but maybe they were intended to confuse and slow down trespassers while Robotnik mounted a defense.

They were color-coded, too. Green, red, blue… I was feeling red.

This was going to be very tedious. But I had to get inside somehow.

My ears twitched before I could go more than a few steps, and I turned back towards the door. It started shaking and opening with the sound of grinding stone, and I grimaced and jumped back behind a pillar. Who else was coming out? Was it that Shadow kid? Mecha Sonic? A third thing I didn’t know about? How many guys did he have?!

The doors opened with a weighty thud, and I held my breath.

“...Heyu?”

“Humi?!”

I didn’t even register the distance between me and her. One second I was hiding behind a gaudy Robotnik statue and the next I was back on the stone path, holding her in my arms. I actually had to stop hugging her just to actually confirm it was her.

“Humi! Oh, thank goodness…” She got her arms between us and pushed me away, which only hurt for as long as it took me to realize I was squeezing her a little hard. “Sorry.”

I let her go, and she hooked herself around my arm and swung up onto my shoulders. “Heyu, what are you doing here?”

I blinked blearily. “What am I--Are you daft?” I asked incredulously. “You got kidnapped! I came to get you back!”

She had the decency to look sheepish. “But I was fine…”

“Well I didn’t know that, did I?” I said sternly, walking into the pyramid. The doors started closing behind us.

She rubbed the back of her neck. Her stomach growled. “Uh, do you have any--”

“There’s some granola bars in the side pouches. And pass me one, I missed dinner.” I sighed. “Is there a break room or something in here? We need to compare notes.”

The stone doors closed, and I had to stand there and blink until my eyes adjusted. I turned around and looked at the doors, and the digital panel next to it.

“...Hey, do you think you can make that not recognize Robotnik when he gets back?”

Humi grinned and pulled out some tools. “I am so glad you’re here.” She hopped down and went to wreak havoc. “I can’t wait to show you the Y-Nought!”