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Page 16
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The "Hedgehog--Priority One" light went on in the command chamber.
"I guess it's 'Game On,' isn't it, Snivley?"
"Yessir, Doctor Robotnik. You think that Davey Crockett will--"
"Of course. Does he think for a second that he can reprogram a roboticizer and send a video link to Knothole, and not have me notice?"
Robotnik gets up, allowing silver goo to drip down his arm.
"Oh course, you don't think that he would--"
"Oh, I think he will, Snivley. He might get away with deroboticizing Uncle Chuck, but I don't think that he'll get any father. You see, I did a DNA scan on Davey Crockett, and I must say, I was surprised by what I've found."
"W-What did you find, Master?"
He opened his mouth as if to speak, but then . . . "Oh, I think I'll leave you in suspense for a while." He headed out the door. "But I will tell you this." He turned back to Snivley as the doors close between them.
"Davey looks like me for a reason."
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"Programming those Swats to escort us to the Roboticizer's a nice touch, Uncle Davey."
"Hey, we had to get in there nice and easy." Davey opens up a panel in the wall. "Here's your way in. The Override's at the other side."
"I see it, and the VR's kicking in."
"Good. Do me a favor and do it as soon as you can. Okay, Prower?"
"Will do!." Tails gave Davey the Thumbs Up, then ducked in.
"Well, arrrrrrrrrrrighty then. It's you and me now, Sir Charles."
"The roboticizer's over here."
The two went into the chamber.
Davey looked at the controls.
"Biological lock keyed to Robotnik's DNA? Phrack it!"
Ten seconds with the Data Spear, and the lock was bypassed. The control panel pops out.
"My programming's still here. Goody. You may assume the position, Chuckie."
Chuck stepped into the tube. The tube slides down.
"Gotta wait a bit for the 'cizer to power up. ET's about 30 seconds on the 'cizer, 25 on the override. Live feed's going smoothly. How things going, Knothole. Hiya, Suni!"
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Everyone who wasn't involved in the extraction team was glued to the monitor that Antoine connected the live feed into. Sonia was sitting at the front, with a diet coke in one hand and a chili dog in the other. Several others were making a similar event out of it. Soft drinks and snacks were flying everywhere.
"You all are probably wondering why I'm letting you all ride shotgun with me. I guess it's my need to flick the bird at Robatsy in public. King Acorn has sent me to your planet to wreck Robotnik's world. Byte by byte, brick by brick, and bot by bot. I'm gonna drive it all down into the shocking bedrock, man. And when I'm done, and I have that bloated piece of excrement at my feet, begging that I put that reason why abortion is legal in my world out of his misery, orrrrr, maybe I will let him die. Or maybe I'll roboticize that bastard, just to show him what it's like--"
Davey looks off camera and notices someone off camera, hiding in the shadows.
He flipped on the house lights.
"Eh, what's up . . . Doc?"
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"I always wanted to say that," Davey quirks to Chuck. 25 seconds til power-up. 10 on Tail's ET. Man, The Heartbreak Kit's doing good. Still, Davey needs to stall for more time. Robotnik's robot arm reaches for the override switch.
Davey reaches for the roboticizer switch.
23 seconds on the 'cizer. Tails' time's stuck at 10. Damn.
"Dueling with machines. How novel, Crockett. Honestly, do you think you can flip that switch before I take out your arm?"
"I dunno, Robuttnik. I've reprogrammed that Roboticizer, I could've done the same with the override." Roboticizer: 17 seconds; Tails: 7.
"You didn't have the time, mister. The ICE would've gotten you for sure."
"Julian, I've been in cyberspace for two--"
"WHATTT!!!!" Roboticizer at 10, Tails at 5. "How did you know my name?!?!" A pause--Roboticizer at 5, Tails at 3. "Oh yeah, King Acorn sent you did he?" Roboticizer at 4,Tails at 2. "No matter, I know what to do with His Highness' 'care package'. . . " Roboticizer at 3, Tails at 1.
Robotnik threw the switch.
A faint sound of a wire being ripped out.
And nothing more. Roboticizer at 1.
Robotnik angrily glared at the switch and jammed it a half dozen times. A splash of silver spurted out with each jam.
"Game Over." Davey slowly pulled his switch. Uncle Chuck was bathed in blue light.
"How can this BE!" He kept jamming on that lever until his left arm fell off, spilling another gallon of silver. "That Roboticizer Override's cost a million Mobians!!!"
"Now, Tails!"
A panel was kicked out, and Robotnik realized that Davey had an ace in the hole. "You snooze, you lose, Robuttnik. You need this one Mobian wire to get it to work, and I just yanked it out as you were pulling the switch."
Now would be a good time to play his own ace, while the live feed was still on-line. Robotnik tried to clap his one remaining hand, but all he could do is pound the floor. "Bravo, Bravo. I must say that I'm impressed. Only someone like myself would have the guts to do what you've justdone. Or my--"
"Hold it right there, Julian!" Davey stepped up to the tub of lard and whipped out his Power Rifle. "What the phrack are you trying to pull on live TV? Some propaganda crap to shake up the Freedom Fighters with? No Dice."
By this time the upgrade was complete. The blue glow over Chuck resided to reveal ahedgehog of flesh instead of metal. Eyes that were 30 seconds ago red on black are now black on white. He was examining his hands that now don't look like a puppet. "Amazing," he said to himself. "I know by now that my new body's artificially made, but it looks so real. Am I real now, am I?" He looks up to find Davey on top of Robotnik. He knocks on the glass to get Tails' attention, and motions him to raise the tube."
Davey was laughing very sarcastically. "That is the biggest bullshit that I've ever heard!! YOU?? MY FATHER?? OF ALL PEOPLE?? HAH!!!!"
"David, you don't know. . . "
"You are NOT Darth Vader, Julian!"
". . . your mother was divorced when you were an infant, did you know . . . "
"I'm NOT Luke Skywalker and I'm NOT training to be a Jedi Knight!"
". . . how can I know that when I don't have connections to your planet, Kintobor."
"And I wouldn't give a phrack in hell WHO my biological father is, he could get--" Davey froze when he heard his real last name. "What the phrack did you call me?"
"That's your real name, isn't it? David Kintobor? Not that callsign you've been using when you're surfing the net."
Charles stood in awe when he heard that name. Kintobor? It couldn't be!! In Knothole, Bear felt the same. Neither one wanted to find out what would come next. Charles felt a sharp pain in his stomach.
"David," Charles said slowly. "I'm afraid that he has a point. You see, Kintobor is Robotnik backwards!"
"I know that Kintobor is Robotnik backwards, Chuckie? But what does that have to do with me?!?!"
"A lot. Being an auto-automation in the last stage in its existence. I have been freed from my personality programming." Robotnik looked more like an expressionless wooden puppet than an evil tyrant. "You are not aware of it, but Julian Kintobor came from your world. Yes, through The Void. How else would you explain a human in a world of talking animals? He became a brilliant military genius, and became King Acorn's war minister. It wasn't until he staged his own military coup when he gave himself his callsign of Doctor Ivo Robotnik, the Tyrant I am an obviously poor imitation of."
"Yeah, absolutely crappy. Note to Snivley, and I hope you're watching. . ."
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. . . and he was, in the Control Room.
"If you ever throw something at me of this low quality ever again, I'll hunt you down and roboticize you myself. Is that clear, mister?"
"er, yeah, right, sure thing . . . Junior . . ."
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"I SHOULD DO YOU RIGHT NOW JUST FOR CALLING ME THAT!!! I AM *NOT* ROBOTNIK'S SON!!!"
"You don't know that. Before he came to Mobius, he had a family, and a child that was too little to notice that he was gone one day and never came back. That child must have been you, David."
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In Knothole, time froze. Everyone stopped what they were doing, their eyes glued to the screen. Sonia's heart sank when she finally realized who she's been dating. Davey Crockett was such a nice person to her. Such a warm and caring man-turned-fox with a friendly, though introverted personality and chest fur that you would just love to dive into. Who would have known that his father was the one who brought so much pain and misery to this world.
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"Nice story, pusbag. Still, it's bullshit. You could be saying that just to cause a division between me and the Freedom Fighters. They might even want to take me out for your sins! Like I said, No Dice." He held the rifle to Robotnik's head. And fired. The head burts open like an overripe melon, and silver blood squirts out the neck like a fountain.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
From out of nowhere, Packbell charged the duo that could be Robotnik and son, but that is still debatable, lifted Davey off Robotnik and threw him across the room. He landed on top of the biological lock. His right arm got stuck in the place where you put the arm in. He tried to yank it out before the lock checked that arm for DNA, in one last gasp for hope that he would still be innocent in Knothole, but . . . his DNA was close enough:
DNA CHECK CONFIRMED, DOCTOR ROBOTNIK. ROBOTICIZER ACTIVATED
For all of Mobius. For all of that solar system. Time froze. All was silent.
Except for the sound of one heart breaking.
David Kintobor's.
Otherwise known as Davey Crockett's.
Robotnik's son.