Soleanna: When SWATbots attack...

((CUE THE DRAMATIC MUSIC!))

From the besieged castle, a brightly-glowing dot rose up against the magnificent blue backdrop of sky. Those on the ground below, or at least the ones not currently destracted by demon robots and impending death, might have gawked or pointed in bewilderment at the mystery object. From this distance, no details were visible; only its fierce red color could be seen, that is until the object ascended high enough to put the sun behind it and rendered itself a nigh-invisible silhouette against the light.

What was it? Another weapon brought over by the SWATbots? Or was it some sort of miraculous aid come to assist the city? All who saw it stared, and wondered.

Nothing happened for several moments. Those down below grew anxious as they quickly concluded the object either would not or could not help them. Hopes grew dim, and despair began to choke those still surviving the assault as their numbers dwindled by the second.






And then she dived.

"Hang on!" She yelled over the roar of the wind as the city swooped up to meet them at dazzling speeds. The view from this height was truly horrific; everywhere she looked there was fire and smoke and mayhem. Those damn robots were everywhere! She didn't even know where to start! So she looked to her companion for an answer, hoping he could help her triage which sections of the city most desperately required assistance.

"BILL!" She yelled again, hoping he could hear her. He'd been thoughtful enough to provide her with his name as they were exiting the castle, so at least she didn't have to keep calling him "sir" now. "WHERE DO I GO?"

A silver-grey wreck tumbled out of the perma-portal just outside the capitol of Soleanna. Face pressed into the grass, he lay there for a moment, unmoving, inhaling the sweet scent of earth. It smelled like home, and...smoke?

Golden eyes shot open, taking in the flickering orange glow of the city beyond the wall, which now had a great, gaping rubble-strewn hole in it; ears now sending sound to his concious brain for the first time in half an hour, he registered the crackling of the flames, the rumble of a building collapsing, and more importantly, screams.

A whole other set of instincts took the wheel now as Venice pushed up off the ground, still staring into the flames that engulfed the city. People were in there, and he was going to help them whether they liked it or not. With that thought firmly cemented in his mind, he dove into the inferno.

Surprisingly, two of the Swatbots fell in half, a orange tabby Manx, with read armored limbs standing behind them.

"Need any help, sir?"

Venice hacked something black and gooey into his hand. He stared at it for a second before quickly wiping it on the chunk of building he was leaning against and pretending it didn't exist.

Okay. Maybe just running in here wasn't so smart. The smoke was making friends with his lungs, the heat from the flames was starting to get to him and he'd yet to find anyone that needed help. Or anyone at all.

This hero business sucked. How did Blaze do it-- A huge tremor shook the earth, and a few seconds later a bright red light shot up into the sky.

Venice sighed. Oh, right. That's how.

Well. In his current condition he'd need help before he could assist anyone else...and it had been a long time since he'd seen her. Quickly climbing on top of a large heap of ruins, he grabbed a chunk of concrete and wrote a short distress message on it in ash. Then he hurled it as hard as he could in the cat's direction.

This was, admittedly, not very effective, but it was enveloped with the strange blue glow that came with his powers, and he willed it to keep going beyond what his meager physical abilities allowed. Venice only hoped he didn't hit anyone in the head.

Blitz seemed surprised for a moment by suddenly being hoisted into the air, but he quickly recovered his wits as he nodded in response to Bill's statements.

"These enemy robots seem familiar to me too, but in a different way. They seem vaguely similar to Nega's robots."

The android clenched one fist, activating the energy blade housed in that arm.

"And for what they've done to this city, I intend to rip every single one of them apart."

Ha. Ha.

...Oh, damn.

While his brain was screaming at him to go crawl away and die somewhere, his feet were doing something very different as he took off faster than he'd ever run before (which, again, wasn't saying much). But it got him in range of the plummeting figures, and he flung his mind at the two Blaze had been carrying, arms reaching for them as well out of habit. The first he caught with relative ease despite his lack of practice, and the man hung in midair just feet from the ground. The other, however was heavier and gave him more trouble, especially with his mind distacted by catching and holding the first person--his grip slipped a bit, and the second person fell to street with a loud clank.

Venice winced. Wait, clank? And they'd managed to land on their feet, too. ...Which was just fine with him, really. Setting the first man down, he ran over to the two.

"Are you guys alright?" Venice coughed out.

"By the mighty warriors of Sol, Venice!" stated Bill, who seemed unaware that he was upside down. "I see you are aware of the terror that has dropped down upon us by surprise! We must aid the princess to battle this evil!"

Venice held up his hands in what he hoped was a placating gesture. "Uh, I'm, uh. A civillian. A friend of Blaze's. Listen to um... Bill over there. You know me, right, Bill?"

There was a loud CRASH, and he winced. Today was...not going well.

"HARK!! The princess!! Come brave warriors!!!"

Leaping off his head, Bill hurried for the building where Blaze crashed.



But none would notice that something, yards away was coming from the air.
"Energy signature detected! 0.8 Mi, southwest. Steath-bot units are to engage."

Blitz reached the building well before Bill and Venice, leaping up on various broken hunks of wall, until he'd reached the section Blaze had caused the impromptu redecoration of.

"Princess! Are you all right?"

"B-Blaze!" Venice nearly swallowed the word in the rush of acute shame now associated with the cat. The blush he wore could light a stadium with its itensity, but his concern for Blaze bullied aside his embarassment (for the moment). He rushed over to her and inquired as to her overall state as he pushed aside one of the smaller filing cabinets.

"Are you alright?" he asked with much unnecessay concern--and proceeded to choke on the plaster dust that still filled the air.

Blitz had immediately moved to follow Blaze's order, vanishing down an intact stairwell to search for anyone that my be trapped under rubble... and he could hear some people behind a wall of rubble blocking a hallway.

The problem? Blitz wasn't strong enough to MOVE the rubble... be he knew someone who was.

"BILL! GET DOWN HERE! WE HAVE CIVILIANS!"

And then the building started shaking.

What was happening with the others only dimly registered in the mink's frazzled mind, and was quickly discarded as unimportant. Blaze was okay--that was important. If his brain had been working better he might have realized she was super, she'd be fine if you dropped a house on her, what was he thinking but oh Solaris he really hadn't meant to do that it was really really stupid of him--

What? She wasn't even mad at him? But he'd--oh. Oh. She didn't know. Of course she didn't, how could she? Venice bit back any apologies or explinations that threatened to spill off his tounge. No time for that now; as the cat had pointed out, the city was kind of under attack. He ran out after her.

"Y-yeah. Yes! Just tell me what you need me to do!" The reply was rushed and awkward as twin desires flared in his chest--one to simply forget, the other to aid his people--any people. The two feelings reinforced eachother, and soon all embarrasment was replaced by the sort of blind bravery that accompanies those who want to do right but have no idea how to accomplish it.

"What is wrong?" Bill asked when he was about to smash through the rubble.

But then he heard sirens from behind...where a wall exploded.

Those black robot units again, and they just entered in the hole they made. "Surrender!" Without a minute wasted, the three robots fired their lasers.


But Bill stood in front of the cyborg, letting the lasers bounce off of him. That's right, Bill has the ability to produce a shield that coats his body and protect him from physical or laser harm. "Vile machines! Who the devil sent you?"


"By the name of Dr. Robotnik, you are all under arrest!" they continued to fire, unaware that Bill was protected by his energy shields.


"Robot...nik?" he never heard of that name.