Rock's eyes flicked down at the bat a couple times as he traipsed along through the lobby.

"... Shh."



He stopped at the front desk and deposited her on the waiting stretcher.

"Oh, my," gasped the receptionist-bot in a tone like a hairdresser who had just heard juicy gossip. "Is that—"

"Agent Rouge, yeah," the primate interrupted. "She needs some attention, now."

"No kidding... Hurry up, then!" urged the robot, gesturing erratically at the console on the front of her counter with an ink pen, while the stretcher started rolling away, attended to by a couple of the white uniforms. "Swipe your ID if you want credit, hm?"

Rock tugged his card from his belt and did as he was told, but curiously echoed, "Credit?"

"You want emblems for the capture, don't you?" asked the robot impatiently.

He turned aside, glancing between the robot and the departing medical crew, then leaned back a little just to subtly crane his neck and see down the hall they were taking Rouge toward. "'Course," he mumbled unaffectedly. Thumbs hanging from his pockets, he ambled away mid-turn—a couple steps backwards at first, then sideways, before fully facing and heading for the front door at a pace more deliberate.

Meanwhile, somewhere way back there, Coop's hideous mistreatment continued. (Whether this meant the hideous mistreatment Coop received or that he committed was up for debate, however.)

*Pop-bang pow-crash munch-clomp...*

Robots were spilling little animals like candy out of piñatas as they popped and burst to pieces with each flail of Coop's mighty fists. Most of the critters scurried away, but at least three or so particularly grateful Flickies felt it necessary to try to affectionately land on Mama Coop's head and shoulders in the middle of the ongoing struggle. The bumping continued unabated.

However, it seemed one orange robot, clutching a bulky, coconut-shaped grenade, had a mind to put an end to it all, regardless of the collateral damage it would do to its own. Didn't it just figure that such a robot would be a monkey?

*Peeeew...*

In went the Kiki's fizzling-fuzed explosive.

3... 2... 1...

In a nod to the problems of the group, a building in the distance had the good grace to explode with extreme violence.

A bright, eye-searing flare that gradually cooled down into a plume of flames lit up the distant skyline. Moments later, reaching across the city to the trio, came the sound of the blast.

K-krooooooommmmmmboomROOMBOOMrumblerumblerumbleboooomrumblemumbleboom.


There was the sound of distant sirens. Robots across the city turned to watch the flames.

Coop's fight was clearly going well.

Pieces of debris began to fall out of the sky. A robot arm plummeted past the building, slapping a street light on its way down. The street light shattered in a shower of glass.

A head fell out of the sky further down the street and made a small crater in the sidewalk.

Tails fluttered out of the sky like a foam helicopter toy, dropping with relative speed down to the lower levels of the hospital. He landed on the sidewalk outside, and cautiously looked around. Seeing the street around was relatively empty. He approached the hospital. He peeeeeered insine into the lobby.

Robots. A pair of Egg Pawns framed the door.

Watching from above, the three urban acrobats would see the fox recoil, slump, look around, look harder. He brightened up. He trotted across the street to a shallow crater left by an errant piece of robot that had been rocketed into the area by the distant explosion. He retrieved the dented head shell, and shook it. Charred electronics fell out onto the pavement below with a tinkle. Then he veerry carefully put the helmet over his head.

He marched up to the hospital doors, and inside.