CHAPTER 3:

Two Sides of the Coin

The tiny puggle tore the leathery shell of her egg and greeted the world with a tiny cry.
"Oh, the child is beautiful!" hir mother, a red echidna, softly crooned. Hir father, a brown echidna, smiled at the grey-eyed child and picked hir up.
Hir parent's faces suddenly grew pale.
"The child...she..he...the child is both male AND female!" hir father stammered.
"Oh Darik, what shall we do?" the mother said, her eyes welling up with tears.
Darik's face took on a solemn but gentle expression. "We know what the Clan Lord would do to this child. But whatever it may be, it is OUR child. We will simply raise this child as a female--we will not be able to disguise those attributes when it--*She*--grows up. Our clan is getting smaller, and the birthrate is declining. Double-sexed or not, the clan cannot afford to kill another child, Elenna."
Elenna gently settled the amethyst puggle in her pouch. "It just seems to strange that half the children born to this generation have been doublesexed....."
Present Day.....
Thwok!
Estri drew back the the longbow, the red feather fletching almost against hir face, and took aim at the sand-stuffed leather target.
Thwok!
Another bull's eye.
"Excellent Estri! Not one of our clan elders could claim to hit that target from a thousand feet! And you have hit it in the center ten times!"
Argus smiled at his pupil. She'd been his student in archery since she was two..and that was eighteen years ago. He'd even seen to her education in medicine, clan history and law, and mechanics. She was the cream of the crop, and some said she might even become Clan Lord someday.
Estri pulled the goggles over hir helmet and straightened hir black gloves. The desert sun beat down hard on the sands of the Great Unknown, home to hir Clan, the Marrauders. They were scheduled to meet with the Wolf Pack Freedom Fighters, for trade discussion. And Estri had been invited along, to demonstrate hir skills. It was so ironic, sie thought, that their prized warrior was a cursed doublesex. Even hir mentor, Argus, did not know hir secret. And it was a secret sie kept, even after hir parents had died in the Clan Wars. Sie owed hir parents much for keeping hir safe from the law, and sie vowed to honor their sacrifice with hir achievements.
Rebecca walked out onto the archer's field. Estri smiled at the beautiful red echidna girl. Sie'd grown to love Rebecca. Rebecca was the only echidna to know Estri's secret--and she didn't care; she loved Estri regardless.
"Estri! We've got to hurrry up and get ready to go!" Rebecca shouted as she ran up to Estri.
Estri looked to Argus. "May I be excused, Sir?"
Argus chuckled. "Of course, Estri. Go and get cleaned up."


***********************************

The warm water streamed over Estri's fur, washing the sand and grit out of hir long purple dreds. Estri rubbed the herb-laced tallow soap over hirself, scrubbing quickly to save time. Hir ears perked as sie heard the door open and close.
"Don't worry Estri, it's just me, Rebecca," a soft voice said over the noise of the shower. Estri smiled and shut off the water, and grabbed a nearby towel, wrapping it around hirself.
"What do you need, love?" Estri asked as sie stepped out of the shower.
Rebecca's eyes saddened. "Oh Estri, my parents have arranged me to marry Rikal!" she sobbed.
Estri's heart broke. Sie took Rebecca into hir arms and hugged her close. "Rikal's a good man...y-you should be proud to have..." Estri choked.
"I don't love him! I could never love him! I only love you, Estri," Rebecca sobbed into Estri's wet fur.
"But you knew that we could never show our love, Rebecca...you knew this would come one day..." Estri said sadly, hir grey eyes full of tears. Rebecca nodded sadly.
"I have but one request from you, love," Rebecca said softly.
"What do you wish? Anything, and I will do it for you!" Estri said softly.
"Make love to me, Estri. I want to give myself to you, to know what mating in love is like before I am condemned to Rikal," Rebecca requested.
Estri nodded slowly and kissed Rebecca, letting the towel fall from hir body.
"Dear God, no!" Argus gasped.
Estri stood in naked and in shock. Sie was done for now...
"And you were our finest young warrior...such a pity..."


***********************************

Estri was brought before the Clan Elders in chains. The hall was lit from above but a glass skylight inside the cavern. Tapestries hung down the sides, where the clan had gathered to see Estri's trial. In the back of the hall, on the judegment platform, sath the Clan Lord, a tall, powerfully-muscled black echidna. He looked down at Estri, who was forcibly bowed before him.
"Who has proof that Estri is a doublesex?" he boomed.
Argus sadly stepped forward. "I saw Estri nude in the showers at the practice fields," he said, his head hung low.
"Only one witness. There can be no sure accusation without a second witness," the Clan Lord replied.


Rebecca stepped forward.

"I...I saw Estri too," she sad softly, not looking at Estri.
Estri's eyes widened in disbelief...hir love was betraying hir in front of hir very eyes!
"Rebecca, why?" Estri asked, hir voice full of shock and pain.
"I..I had to come forward....It's my duty..." she stammered to Estri.
"Two witnesses," The Clan Lord announced. "What do you have to say, Estri?"
"If I am to die for something I cannot change, then strike me down and be done with it!" Estri snapped, full of bitter rage. The Clan Lord took a stand from his throne and Estri closed hir eyes tight, expecting the blades of the guard's swords to fall on hir neck at any time.
"Estri, you are too valuable to our Clan to loose to this law. And you are not a puggle in your mother's pouch any longer."
Estri looked up.
"As we all know, we are getting short on females. We had much hope for you, Estri, and we will not give up so easily on you," The Clan Lord stated, the wheels in his head turning. "I have a solution to this. Estri, we will make you a normal female."
Estri's eyes widened. "Wha--How?"
"The operation is very simple. We wil remove your unneccessary male parts."
"No! You can't do that! You can't just cut off parts of my body!" Estri shouted as the guards drew their knives. They forced Estri's legs apart as sie struggled hard, not able to get to hir groin..
Arrows flew through the air and embedded their razored heads into the guards. Estri fell back, blinking as the crowd began to scream and panic...
"Get up and get out now, quickly Estri!" Argus shouted, bow in hand. He turned to the Clan Lord and snarled, "You ought to stop playing God, because you are NOT good at it and the position is TAKEN!"
Estri got to hir feet and ran out of the hall as fast as hir legs could carry her, trying to pick the locks on her manacles with a stolen dagger from a dead guard. Sie ran out into the desert, towards hir tent, dropping the manacles in the dust. Quickly, she put on her helmet, chest armor and boots; she grabbed her supply pack, bows and quiver and slung them over hir shoulder. She could hear the sounds of the crowd approaching quickly, determined to exact Estri's sentence for the 'good' of the clan. Estri ran out of hir tent and barely escaped the barrage of hands trying to grab hir. Sie ran to the RunnerBeast pens and leapt onto the back of a saddled and supplied one, and with a tug of the reigns the runnerbeast shot off into the desert of the Great Unknown.


********************************

Night had fallen. Estri patted the exhausted runnerbeast, curled up next to the fire, sleeping. The winds blew cold across the sands, and Estri wrapped a blanket around hirself as sie cooked the rattlesnake sie'd caught. As sie sat almost blank, all of hir mind's defenses against the shock sie'd faced gave way. Estri heaved with heavy sobs and collapsed onto the sand, crying into the dry desert floor.
The next day, Estri set out for the Wolf Pack's den. Sie hoped they might be kind enough to take hir in; sie could fight well. The journey took most of the day. but soon sie was in the canyon where the Wolf Pack called home.
Five STEALTHbots shot through the skies, spooking hir runnerbeast. it brayed and tossed hir from its back on the rock underneath. Estri coughed and rolled over; the runnerbeast ran madly on behind hir. Sie watched the five oval-shaped metal monsters dive down and lazer the runnerbeast into a bloody pulp. Estri scrambled to hir feet, dizzy, trying to get to shelter before the STEALTHbots did the same to hir. Sie stumbled and fell, gasping for breath as a rock winded hir.
Estri aimed hir crossbow at one of the bots. Sie took careful aim and shot; the steel-tipped arrow head pierced the shell of the bot and it exploded. The four other bots quickly closed in on hir and scooped hir up in a steel-corded net. Estri moaned softly and passed out.


****

Estri awoke in a cold steel cell. It was fairly well-lit, inside and out; to hir right sie could see a wall of electrified bars, outside of which was the hallway, with other cells in view, all empty. Estri pulled hirself up off the cold metal floor and went to the bars for a look.
A soft moan came from behind.
Sie turned around quickly, no realizing before that sie was in an occupied cell. hir heart beat faster, afraid that sie had been put in with somefur that might do hir harm. Lying on the metal bench was a strange, beautiful creature. Estri looked her over. She looked kind of like an echidna; she had claws and knuckles spikes, a pouch and echidna tail, but instead of long dreds, long silky spines cascaded around her unconscious form, and two small horns poked through her headfur on either side of her forehead. Her body was a smoky grey with a silvery sheen; on the outside of her legs were black stripes, like a marsupial wolf. The girl had a flesh colored muzzle; Estri then quickly noticed the girl's right arm was robotic. She wore a tan leather vest and beaded choker, and tan boots and gloves with the same. Estri put hir hand on the girl's throat, checking for a pulse. Sie felt the light *thup* *thup* of the girl's pulse, slighty slower than a the range of a normal fur. Estri wondered why this girl was here--was she a captured pawn, like hirself, or a criminal?....
The girl let out a soft breath and blinked her fiery orange eyes. She turned to face Estri and cried out in shock, scrambling backwards.
"Wait, wait, I'm not going to hurt you, I swear!" Estri said, trying to reassure the frightened female.
"I--I'm sorry, you surprised me," she said, regaining her composure. She extended a clawed hand.
"My name is Wildfyre." Estri shook Wildfyre's hand.
"My name is Estri, of the Marrauder Clans."
"Welcome to Robotization Row," Wildfyre said with a sigh.
Estri swallowed nervously. Sie had heard of this place and of the evil Tyrant Robotnik from the Wolf Pack Freedom Fighters.
"Do you think we have a chance of getting out of here without getting botted?" Estri asked, watching a partol of SWATbots march past the cell.
A light smile spread across Wildfyre's muzzle as she flexed her robotic arm. "Leave that to me, I've found that my new arm has many tricks up it's sleeve."
The lights suddenly dimmed.
Estri and Wildfyre got to their feet. "What's going on??" Estri asked, trying to force hir eyes to adjust to the darkness.
"I think the Freedom Fighters had bombed one of the generators! Quick, let's try to get out of here!" Wildfyre stated. She ran to the metal doors and poked a metal claw into the lock, severing the control wires.
Estri smiled. "I take it you've done this before?"
"No, but we all have to learn sometime," Wildfyre smiled as she pushed open the cell door. "Now come on!"
Estri took Wildfyre's hand as they stepped out into the blackened hallway. Alarm klaxons were going off everywhere and the clanking of the boots of SWATBots could be heard down the hall.
"Those robots!" Estri said as they ran down the hall. "They're coming for us!"
Wildfyre darted to the other side of the hall, pulling Estri with her as her heart began to race. She was the prey now, the deer with wolves in hot pursuit...
# Halt Prisoners! ## came from the second group of SWATbots just behind them.
"We have to fight now!" Estri said as sie pulled Wildfyre close to hir protectively. "Aim for the head!"
Wildfyre smashed the head of an approaching Swat with her metal claws; Estri kicked one back into several others, making them loose their balance and fall. One by one the Swats fell to the desperate attacks of the two cornered furs, but more kept coming...
"I can't keep this up for much longer," Wildfyre panted, ducking as a fist swung over her head. By now her body was bruised and bloodied in places as she kept her back to Estri.
"We have to keep going, there isn't an unlimited supply of these things!" Estri admonished, trying to bolster Wildfyre's spirits; but even sie had the pull of fatigue on hir battered body.....
A Swatbot caught Wildfyre off guard and landed a tremendous blow to her stomach. Wildfyre collapsed in agony. Estri felt Wildfyre slip to the ground behind hir and turned for a half second, long enough for a Swat to smash hir in the back of the head. Estri fell onto Wildfyre, struggling to protect hir new friend...
Tazer fire lit up the darkness. The doors *shooshed* open and the two furs were drug quickly down into the dark hall.


*****

Sonic turned to Sally. "The prison blocks are powerless. I'm gonna go in there and get as many furs out as I can. Watch my back, Sal!"
"Be careful, Sonic," Sally admonished as she watched Sonic prepare to leave.
"I'm coming with you, Sonic, I know these blocks like the back of my hand!" Mecha Sonic said, stepping forward.
Sonic nodded. "We can use your help."


*****

Estri writhed hard against hir bonds as sie lay on the examining table. A tall fat human man with a bushy red moustache and red-on-black eyes that seemed to burn a hole into hir soul stared over hir.
"My my my, what an unusual specimin we have, eh Snively?" Robotnik smiled, cocking the small hand gun in his metal glove. "And such a proficient warrior, too. No, this one will not be an ordinary worker bot...this one is going in with the Kaxta."
Estri turned and saw Wildfyre floating in some kind of greenish liquid in a tube...was she dead?
"What about the Freedom Fighters, sir?" Snively asked, watching the view screens as Sonic, Sally and Mecha Sonic dashed past. Robotnik turned to decided....when the glimpse of Mecha Sonic caught his eye.
"Snively...focus and scan that other hedgehog with them." The view screen focused in on Mecha Sonic.
"Snively....is that...no, it can't be!!" Robotnik gasped. "It's Mecha Sonic!"
"Sensors indicate he is some new form of robot...something semi-organic!" Snively said, punching buttons furiously. Robotnik, stunned, dropped his roboticization weapon to the ground. A beam shot out and hit Estri's left arm, instantly roboticizing it; sie shrieked in pain. Robotnik cursed and grabbed up the echidna by hir dreds.
"Get every unit after Mecha Sonic IMMEDIATELY!" Robotnik snarled, opening up another tank. "I want him ALIVE!" With that he unceremoniusly threw Estri into a bio-tank. The tank sealed quickly; green liquid began to rise as an umblicus came down and attached itself to Estri's face. The echidna clawed frantically at the glass as the numbing liquid rose over hir chest, but the diamond glass would not even scratch. Estri felt hir head grow light and sie slipped into darkness.


*****

The SWATbots were getting thicker by the minute.
"There's no body here, Sonic!" Sally cried as she jump-kicked another Swat.
Mecha Sonic punched his fist straight through the body of a Swat, it's innards spilling onto the oil-soaked floor.
"We better book it then, Sal!" Sonic said, taking out a power ring. he held it high above his head as the familiar flow of energy started rushing down his arm...
"Come on, Mecha, let's go!" Sally cried to Mecha Sonic as she grabbed onto Sonic.
"You two beat it, I'll cover you!" he shouted. Sonic gave a brief nod and shot out of the complex, a golden comet. Mecha Sonic buzz-dashed through another SWATbot, trying to clear a path.
"Leaving so soon?" A famaliar raspy metal voice echoed through the fray. Mecha Sonic froze in shock for one fatal second, giving a SWATbot time enough to fire a lazer. The beam struck him in the back, tearing the consciousness from his body as he fell.
##Subject Apprehended, Sir. Requesting Orders.##
"Take him to Main Lab 4," Robotnik stated calmly. "I want to have a look at my catch."


*****

Mecha Sonic awoke with a bad headache. He tried to move but soon found himself strapped to an examiniation table. He struggled hard, his metallic muscles pushed to their peak, but it was of no avail...these were force-bonds, made from magnetic fields around his body.
"Testing complete, Sir. We can duplicate the process," he heard Snively say. A sharp pain in his stomach made him gasp for air. The SWATbot removed its fist from his belly.
"Amazing. A direct punch in the stomach, full force from a robot and he didn't die," Robotnik mused, looking over the pained hedgehog. He took out a hand lazer and using the beam as a cutting tool, slicing off Mecha Sonic's left arm at the shoulder; Mecha roared in agony as his flesh was seared in half. Robotnik watched for a second with all the scientific curiousity his title bespoke of as Mecha's arm suddenly shot tendrils out into his shoulder; the flesh began to eat away at the table beneath is as the arm re-attached itself to Mecha's body.
"Incredible!" Robotnik smiled. The arm soon was totally re-attached.
"Snively, can we duplicate this?"
"Yes Sir....we can set up the holding tanks to create this new form of robot," Snively answered.
"Excellent. Begin work at once! Start with the Kaxta."


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