StH: Eggmind, Part 2: Rescue Attempt

"Master Robotnik." General Sally Acorn spoke up, as she entered the control room in Megaopolis. "I have formulated a plan to capture the rest of the Freedom Fighters."

"Well, let's hear it, my servant." The rotund dictator replied.

"First, I isolated the best ways to target each of them. Bunnie will be gutted after the loss of Antoine, and desperate to both rescue him and avoid losing anyone else. We can use one of their rescue attempts to corner her, then bring her in. Her limbs will pose a problem, but Nicole can either take over them or lock them in place, then remove them  afterwards to disable her while she is reprogrammed. She will need new cybernetics to fit into her uniform anyway. As for Tails, he and Fiona are a special case. As such, I do not suggest that you go ahead with your old plan and drain his intellect to boost your own, leaving him either an empty shell or an imbercile, simply because they rely on each other. She cannot function without him."

"Blast. And why is that?"

"Fiona's ex-boyfriend, Scourge, got tired of her, and sold her to the Legion. She ended up in Hood's chapter, where she was not only legionized, but used as a subject for experiments with hypnosis- attempts to see how much he could actually do with that. By the time we were able to rescue her, Fiona's personality had been rewired, to be dependant on Hood. Nicole was able to revamp her cybernetics with no bombs or control devices, and freed her from the spell, but Fiona is now devoted to Tails, and dependant on him instead."

"I see."

"I can find another machine for you to test on him, if you wish?"

"I have just the thing."

"Good. Now, as I was saying, for Tails and Fiona, Fiona's situation makes this easy. Capture one, and the other will immediately spring to their rescue. We can use this to get Tails. Then you can have yourself a lab assistant, and, since he and Fiona need to work together, a medical doctor, to whom Fiona can be the nurse."

"Very good, General." Eggman smirked. "And what of the hedgehog?"

"Inconclusive. All results end in defeat." Sally replied.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean just that. It doesn't matter what order we go for the remainder in, whether we try to get Sonic out of the way or save him for last, he wins every simulation."

"How can this be? I have you and I have Nicole!"

"Tails' research into Chaos may hold the answers we seek. We need to capture him, even if the plan stops here. He and Fiona must be ours. Then we may stand a chance of discovering how it is that Sonic defeats us. If not... then my advice would be to abandon the plan and relinquish all captured Freedom Fighters."

"And why, exactly, do you say that, slave?" Eggman demanded, seething.

"To bolster your chances of survival. The Freedom Fighters were only prohibited from killing because of me. Sonic will have far fewer qualms about killing you, especially after my mental rewrite. He will be seeking revenge, and he will do anything to save me."

"I see... prepare to trap the foxes! Get me Nicole!"

"Yes Master." Sally said, clicking her heels together and saluting, before turning and leaving the room.

"We'll see who wins when Sonic tries to fight us for real!" He growled.


***

Morning in Knothole's war room was not a pleasant one. Sonic, Tails, Fiona, and Bunnie had returned from their successful mission, only to receive word from King Elias that they had lost contact with Sally's team, and, several hours later, Eggman had appeared to announce that Sally and Nicole had become his loyal slaves, and the rest of the team had been legionized. To add insult to injury, the doctor had taken the time to accentuate the point that Sally had been lost while Sonic wasn't around to save her.

Now, the hedgehog was pacing back and forth, away from the table, glowering. He was devastated by the news, but, as always was trying hide it. It wasn't working well. Even now, his muzzle was tearstained, and his eyes reddened. He was struggling to come up with a way to save Sally. Plans weren't his strong point, he'd never had to make them for himself. His attempts at strategy while Sally had been roboticized before were awful, and it was only through the assistance of the Arctic Freedom Fighters that they were able to pin the Mecha-Squirrel down and save her. Still, he had to try. He loved Sally, and if he got her back, she could de-brainwash Nicole. Then they could find out which chapters Antoine, Rotor, and Amy had been sent to, and get them back too.

Bunnie, who was sitting at the table, was also in shock. Antoine was her husband, and now he was a cyborg minion with no free will and a bomb strapped to him in case someone tried to save him. Something like this had happened before- Antoine had been critically injured by an exploding Metal Sonic in the past, and she had vowed that she would protect him and make sure nothing like that ever happened to him again. She'd failed. She stared at her metal left hand, and looked over at Tails and Fiona. The young foxes were the only couple on the team not torn apart by Eggman's attack, but she didn't begrudge them that- they'd had enough hardship to try and get together in the first place, let alone maintain it afterwards. Fiona was curled up in her boyfriend's arms, as they tried to work out a plan together. Both were smart, yes, much smarter than either Sonic or Bunnie herself, but Tails' field of expertise was in science and Chaos, and Fiona's was in medicine and physiology. Neither was a strategist like Sally, nor had the boundless knowledge of Nicole.

"I think we've got something." Tails said, after a long period of whispering.

"Well, spill." Sonic demanded. His temper had became rather foul since the loss of the others, but no-one really blamed him- he was simply vocallising what all of them were thinking.

"This all hinges around Nicole, right?" Fiona asked rhetorically. The vixen now had metal hands, and an implant under her eye. "She can locate the others, then fix them, like she did with me. Well, then we have to free her. Now, if it's a virus that converted her, then her antivirus systems should flush it out in a few days. Uf, however, she was hacked into and reprogrammed, then we need to do the same. Now, Tails can do this, but the best people we have for the job are-"

"Sally-Girl and Rote." Bunnie cut in.

"Exactly." Tails nodded. "Rotor is, unfortunately, out of reach, so our best bet is Sally. Now, normally, we rely on Nicole to reverse mind control, but we do have plenty of other options. We can use a couple of Power Rings, or Elias' Sword of Light, or even a Chaos Emerald, should we get our hands on one."

"Will a Power Ring work on Nicole?" Bunnie asked. "Things'll be a bit easier if it will."

Fiona shook her head. "No, it protects her from Magitek because that's magic. Otherwise, she needs technical fixing."

"Worth a shot." The cyborg sighed. "Guess we have to get a ring to Sally-Girl, then."

"Right." Sonic said. There was a faint hint of a smile, now that he knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel. "Next Ring is due up in about 20 minutes. Maybe I can get her back here before that..."

"No, Sugah-Hog! If Eggman catches you too, we're done for!" Bunnie cried out.

"Actually, the best part about this plan is that it doesn't matter if any of us get caught." Tails broke in. "As long as one of us is able to deliver the Ring to Sally, we win. Still, Bunnie has a point. Just because we can afford to lose three more of us, doesn't mean we should try to. We should stick together for now. if it looks like we're cornered, then we split up."

"I get it." Sonic nodded. "Let's get that Ring, and free Sal!"

***

20 minutes later, the remaining Freedom Fighters were once again battling their way through Megaopolis. Sonic was wearing his slightly-oversized backpack, which contained a Power Ring, as he leapt, homing attacked, and spindashed through hordes of robots and legionnaires. In the control tower, Eggman, Sally, Nicole, and Lien-Da watched, none of them pleased.

"It seems General Sally was correct." Eggman scowled. "The hedgehog is fighting with greater speed and ferocity than before. At least seve- er, eight of those takedowns have been lethal. He's pulling out all the stops!"

"So, now what?" Lien-Da asked.

"You go down there, take Nicole with you, and stop them! I want those foxes!" Eggman roared.

"Yes Master." Nicole saluted, flickering away. Lien-Da grumbled, and used her Warp Ring to drop down to the battlefield, only to have to dodge an airborne legionnaire, knocked flying by Bunnie, who was now barrelling towards the echidna.

'Oh, not good.' She thought, jumping aside again, and launching a spin-kick at the rabbot. Bunnie stopped surprisingly quickly, and caught Lien-Da's leg, swinging her over her head and smashing her into the dirt.

"Stay down, ya li'l varmint!" Bunnie growled, pressing her foot down on the echidna's stomach.

"I guess you haven't heard much about me..." She hissed. "'Stay down' isn't in my vocabulary!"

Lien-Da grabbed Bunnie's ankle, and sent a powerful electric shock through it. Bunnie cried out with pain, and stumbled back, as the echidna stood up and fired another lightning blast at Bunnie, forcing her back.

"Then you need a better teacher!" Another voice yelled. Lien-Da turned around, and saw Fiona standing there, less then a second before she was blasted by lightning. "You're not the only one to get that upgrade!"

"Thanks, Fi!" Bunnie groaned, climbing to her feet.

"Don't thank me yet, we're not done here! Go help Sonic and Tails with Nicole!"

"Nah, y'all need mah help more than they do!"

Lien-Da managed to regain her footing, and fired her own lightning bolts, leaving her and Fiona struggling to overpower each other. However, it rapidly became a non-issue, as Bunnie formed her arm cannon, and blasted Lien-Da across the courtyard.

"Nice shooting."

"Same to you, sugah!"


Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails were trying to get past Nicole, which wasn't going well. Every time one of them found an opening, Nicole would put something, be it araised section of floor, a building, or a copy of herself, in the way, which they would have to fight through, all while Nicole lined herself up for another attack.

"This isn't going well!" Tails groaned, as Nicole fired another laser at them. It set light to Sonic's backpack, which he hurriedly removed, extracting the Ring as he did so. However, when he looked up, Nicole was already in front of him. She blasted him away, and snatched the Ring, absorbing its power and beginning to glow yellow. "Oh, this really isn't going well!"

Sonic extracted himself from the building, and rushed back in, but Nicole sidestepped the attack, and roundhouse-kicked Sonic in the head.

"Sonic, I'll handle her! You go back and get another Ring!" Tails yelled.

"Got it!" Sonic nodded, rushing off.

***

Meanwhile, Eggman and Sally watched the battle from the tower, both relaxing slightly now that the fight was beginning to turn in their favour, when Nicole appeared on the main screen.

"Master, their plan appears to hinge on the use of a Power Ring."

"I see. General, what use could a Power Ring have for them?"

"Aside from use to power Sonic himself up to greater levels, to possibly rush a captured slave back to Knothole, I can recall one: Power Rings can, when held, break mind control and protect against it automatically. Perhaps Sonic intends to use it on me."

"Very well... activate the Force Dome. Make sure he can't get back in. We have the foxes, and the rabbot as a bonus. That will do!"

"As you command, Master." Nicole smirked.


***

Outside, Fiona, Bunnie, and Lien-Da paused their fight, as the sky turned dark.

"What in tarnation is goin' on?"

"Ah, the Force Dome is online. Now anything outside can't get in, but things inside can get out." Lien-Da explained, firing more lightning, which Fiona blocked with her own attacks, and Bunnie deflected with a shield.

"So that means... Sonic can't get back in!" Fiona gasped.

"Exactly!" Lien-Da smirked.

"It gets better." Nicole's voice echoed from across the square. All three turned to see the uniformed lynx floating towards them, carrying Tails' barely conscious form. Fiona recoiled with horror, and rushed towards Nicole, desperate to free her partner.

"Fi, wait!" Bunnie called, unable to move while she was pinned by the lightning, and stuck watching as Lien-Da took out her whip, coated it in electricity, and swung it painfully into Fiona's midriff. The vixen scream, and fell to her knees, as the long strap wrapped around her body.

"B-Bunnie!" She managed to choke out. "Go, warn Sonic!"

"No, I won't leave y'all again!" She growled, blasting Lien-Da with her arm cannon, and rushing to assist the fallen foxes, only for Nicole to grab Fiona as well, and teleport her away. "No!"

"It'll be alright, Mrs. DeCoolette." Lien-Da's venomous voice whispered behind her. "If you're that upset, you can join them... and your husband!"

Bunnie whirled around, glaring at Lien-Da, and stormed towards her, punching the echidna down with her metal fist, and drawing it back for another shot. Lien-Da pushed up, jumping back to her feet, and kicking Bunnie in the gut in the process. She stumbled, the wind knocked out of her, as Lien-Da kicked her in the back of the head, and blasted her with electricity again. Bunnie groaned, and passed out, leaving Lien-Da to pick her up, and carry her through her Warp Ring.

***

Ten minutes later, Tails began to stir, groaning with aches and pains that he had received from trying to fight Nicole alone. He tried to reach an arm up to ru his head, but found that he couldn't move either of them. He shook his head, let his eyes adjust to the light, and looked down at himself, discovering that he was strapped to a table that had been tipped up at an angle, in the middle of a lab. Directly in front of him was a large beam weapon of some kind, pointed straight at his chest. Eggman was fiddling with buttons on the side of it, grinning evilly as he did so.

"Hey!" Tails yelled, causing the mad Overlander to look straight at him.

"Ah, Tails, you're awake." He gloated. "Now, you're probably wondering what this wonderous machine I have pointed at you is."

"Let me guess, the machine you used to turn Sally into a mindless puppet?" The fox hissed. He tried to lift his main weapons, his twin namesakes, to slash himself free of his bonds, but they too were secured down, and wouldn't budge.

"Oh, no. I used my Eggpods for that. No, this is something I was payed to build.. Turns out the buyer was a potential rival, so I roboticized him and locked the device away. I never thought I'd get to use it until now."

"What is it, then?" That was a good idea- keep him talking. Eggman loved the sound of his own voice, and it gave him longer to try and break free.

"This, my soon-to-be-minion, is a gender-bender laser. It can turn any man into a woman, and vice-versa. And I am rather keen to  have you match the others."

"That's insane! Impossible, even! Nothing like that would ever work!" Tails shouted, incredulous.

"Well, allow me to test that hypothesis." Eggman smirked, tilting the beam down, and firing it at Tails' feet. The fox was just now noticing that his shoes and gloves had been removed, so he got a full view when, much to his horror, his feet shrank back a little, and his toes became smaller, leaving him with dainty, feminine paws.

"No!" He cried out, as Eggman began to raise the angle of the beam, and it swept up his legs. The muscle and fat faded, leaving him with slender, womanly legs, the only muscle and fat being left in his thighs. His hips cracked out, elliciting a groan of pain, and his manhood retracted, leaving a vertical pair of lips instead, his testes following suit and becoming a pair of ovaries as they took their new position. His rump swelled, pushing his pelvis away from the table slightly, as he developed a supple, firm bubble-butt. His midriff squeezed in, and his spine cracked into an S-curve, making him groan again.

"Oh, you sound like you're not enjoying your change, Tails! Or should I say, Tailsko!" Eggman laughed.

"Bl... blow it out of your egg-shaped backside, Robuttnik." Tails wheezed.

"That's not very ladylike!" The fat scientist continued chuckling, as the beam caused Tails' shoulders to narrow slightly, her arms to lose their muscle mass and her hands to become girly and delicate, and her nipples to tingle. The pivoting of the beam stopped, as Eggman focused it on her chest, as a pair of breasts began growing out, not stopping until they reached a D-cup, after which the beam continued moving up. It made her neck thinner, and re-arranged her vocal chords, causing her scream of anguish to come out at a higher, softer pitch. Then it hit her head, and Tails had to close her eyes to avoid being blinded, but she could still feel her facial features softening, her muzzle receding slightly, her lips becoming plumper, her nose shrinking to a cute black dot, her eyes becoming wider, her eyelashes growing out, and her hair tumbling down her back in long, soft tresses.

The she heard the beam shut off, and opened her eyes. A mirror had been lowered down in front of her, and Tails screamed at the sight of her new body. She was staring at a gorgeous vixen, with a buxom, curvaceous figure, a soft face, and womanly limbs. And this girl was her. Eggman strode over to her, and stuck a needle into her neck. Immediately, she fell limp.

"Wh-what... the...?" She gasped.

"Muscle relaxant. You won't fit into an Eggpod with the table, so I need to make sure you won't struggle during the trip or transfer. And don't worry, Nicole will be the one taking care of you re-education. So, say ta-ta, Tails."

Two robot walked in, unstrapped Tails, and carried her limp form away, leaving Eggman to grin maliciously.


***

Three hours later, in the city's prison, Bunnie was trying to comfort the sobbing Fiona. Both were chained to the walls of the large, circular room.

"I'm so s-sorry, B-B-Bunnie!" The vixen wept. "I-I-I j-just couldn't b-bear the thought of l-losing him!"

"It's alraght, Fi. It ain't your fault, it's what Lord Hood did to ya. And Sonic'll come back for us, and he'll free Sally-girl, and then she can fix Nicole, and everythin'll work out. You'll see."

"Th-thank you... W-what do you think th-th-they're d-d-doing to T-T-T-Tails?"

"Ah don't lahke to say, Fiona-Girl. Now, y'all gotta be prepared for somethin' nasty though. Eggman'll definitely send Tails down to us once he's done with 'em. It's the kahnda jerk that he is. Ya need to understand that, whatever it is, y'all ain't gonna lahke it."

"I... I understand..."

However, nothing could prepare Fiona for what she was about to see. The door opened, and in walked their transformed friend. Tails, for all intents and purposes, looked just like Nicole and Sally. Same glassy yellow eyes. Same neat, but long hair, same latex Eggman outfit covering her buxom figure. Same thigh-high boots. Same grinning Eggman logo tattooed on her exposed midriff. For the two imprisoned girls, the horror wasn't that Tails had suffered the same fate as Sally and Nicole- that alone could be dealt with. It was the fact that the woman before them used to be a boy, Fiona's protective boyfriend to boot.

Tails sauntered forward, as Fiona stared, dumbfounded, at her.

"Hello girls..." She said, her voice syrupy and smooth, her tone flirtatious.. "I am the Eggman Empire's top physician, Dr. Tailsko Prower. It's time for your checkups."