Chapter Text
Despite the attitude that he would later be famous for, Chris Thorndyke did not try to hide the crashed spaceship in his back yard.
Partially this was because it was a giant crashed spaceship - seriously, how would a 12-year old kid hide that - and partially because his grandfather was actually there at the time (for once...).
"Great balls of fire!" Chuck Thorndyke yelped, jumping out of his chair as a bright light shone, blinding the two of them, then fading away to reveal a huge construction of metal behind their house that hadn't been there before.
"W-w-w-w-what is that, grandpa?" Chris stammered, staring up at the monolithic construction.
"I haven't the faintest idea, my boy!" Chuck blinked, then shook his head. "Come on! Quickly now - there might be people inside!"
Chris blinked, trying desperately to follow his grandfather's disjointed train of thought, before realising that his grandfather was heading off without him, slowing only to grab a crowbar from the tool shed.
Hurrying to catch up, Chris arrived in time to find his grandfather struggling to open a somewhat dented and bent exterior door.
"Ah, Chris, could you um, just put your weight there..."
Together, the two managed to pry the door open just enough to squeeze through. It was dark inside, but Chuck pulled a penlight out from a pocket.
Despite himself, Chris found himself walking right behind his grandfather, hunched over as though trying to hide behind him. "What is this place, grandpa?"
Chuck... chuckled. "Well, it's not an alien spaceship, that's for sure." He focused his light on one of the doors, and Chris could easily see a label of "E7". He was confused for a second, then realised what his grandfather already had - aliens wouldn't label their doors in English.
There was a noise behind them.
Both Chuck and Chris whirled around, but there was nobody there.
"Is someone there?" Chuck called out, even as Chris looked around fearfully. "Does anyone need help?"
"You should not be here."
Both Thorndykes spun around as one, tripping each other over and causing the penlight to go flying. In the dark, a pair of backlit red eyes glowed.
Mecha Sally considered the two figures. She had standing orders to destroy all rodents, but no standing orders regarding Overlanders. Using her night-vision mode, she was easily able to see the two cower beneath her gaze.
"Identify current location." Mecha Sally demanded.
"U-uh, you're in Station Square?" The older man stuttered out, slowly crab-walking backwards.
Mecha Sally tilted her head. The United Federation was far from her targets. The question of how the wreck of the Death Egg had appeared here could wait - the Dreamcast protocol could not be carried out here. She would have to relocate.
"You will procure transport." She demanded of the Overlander.
The older man's eyes blinked several times. "Um, if you need to get home I'm sure we can work something out - "
"You will be my hostage. Do not resist, or I will kill you and use the younger one instead." Mecha Sally warned, extending out an arm blade.
The older Overlander's eyes went wide, but suddenly they focused on something behind her -
The impact of the crowbar into the back of her head was fully unexpected, causing her core processes to spin uselessly for precious system ticks as they tried to identify the situation. Long enough for a second blow to smash her optics and knock her off her feet. Mecha Sally realised that she had dismissed the younger Overlander as a threat at her own peril.
"Are you okay, Chris?" Chuck called out in mild panic, rushing over to his penlight and swinging it around. His grandson was still standing over the robot, his shoulders trembling and tears streaking down his face.
Chuck took that as a no.
Glancing at the robot to make sure it wasn't getting back up - it wasn't - he walked up and gently took the crowbar off his grandson. "Come on, Chris." He said, far more aware of his grandson than normal. "Let's get back out into the sunlight. I think a great many other people will want to take over this from here."
Chris looked down, sniffing. "I-is the robot going to be okay? I... I just wanted them to stop, I didn't..."
Chuck stared in absolute amazement at his grandson, then let out a low chuckle. "Of course, Chris. Don't worry - your grandpa's got a knack for this sort of thing, don't you know!"
Some time later...
When Nicole's systems rebooted, she found herself inside a Faraday cage, a half-dozen engineers with G.U.N. logos on their uniforms peering at her.
She manifested her holographic form to stare back at them, causing the assembled Overlanders - no, wait, these were humans, she could see they had five fingers - to jerk backwards in surprise.
"Um... hi?" She tried, waving her hand slowly.
There was rushed whispering between the engineers, then the one door out of the room - looking like something that belonged on a vault, not a lab - opened, letting in an important looking man in a G.U.N. general's uniform.
"Identify yourself." He demanded, causing Nicole to blink. She didn't have a lot to do with G.U.N., but she thought they would at least recognise her when they saw her.
"...Nicole." She answered, after a pause. "Nicole the Holo-Lynx."
The general nodded, as though he'd somehow expected that answer. Then pressed a button on a nearby console. "And what is this?"
A screen nearby powered on, showing various tanks and aircraft firing missiles at a slightly lopsided tower with the logo of -
Nicole's hologram grabbed the wires of the Faraday cage like the bars of a cell, moving her avatar's eyes as close to the screen as possible. "That's an Eggman base!" She cried, watching in dismay as the assorted fire from the G.U.N. forces didn't even seem to be scratching it. When did Eggman start making his bases indestructible?!?!
The general crossed his hands. "Miss... Nicole. In exchange for aid against this... Eggman, the Guardian Units of the Nations are willing to negotiate for your release from our custody."
Nicole was already nodding even before the general had mentioned releasing her. "Yes, yes! Of course I'll help!" She cried.
Then she paused. "But, um... I... I also want to find my friends. I... don't know what's happened to them."
The general frowned for a moment, then touched another button to change the picture on the screen. "Is this one of your friends?"
Nicole's eyes lit up. "Sonic!"