It was too easy. It was almost embarrasing to think of those wasted years.
The wind caught the black folds of her dress, billowing them out behind her as she stood on the roof of the facility, the night sky illuminated with the deep orange glow of red hot fire bursting in the distance. The security team were nearly through the door she'd barred behind her. Her gun carried a small charge yet. Enough to take them all down? Certainly not. The warning light bliped slowly and silently as a warning. She had neglected to bring a spare. She closed her eyes as the door broke open and the hussle of marching metallic feet was punctuated by the barked orders to give herself up or face execution.

Sally had crept into the facility an hour before, crawling through the vents that seemed wholey unnecessary in such a facility. Who would need the fresh air they pumped inside? There were no organics here, just soulless hulking robots, yet another of Robotnik's facilities. This was a triple hit, Nexus and Keisha had two other identical facilities. This was the first time they had decided to launch such an ambitious plan, but they were all confident of their skills and they knew it would work.
The infiltration had been easy. Robotnik was arrogant and rarely posted a heavy supply of guards in his facilities, but there enough to have a little fun with. A single shot blew the head off one S.W.A.T. bot guard. The other turned rapidly and stared into the shadows. If they could feel emotions, fear would certainly have been one of them as the former princess dropped on top of him, landing squarely with one foot on each shoulder, gripping his saucer shaped head and twisting her body as she leaped from him, ripping his head clean away. The body jerked on impulse for a few seconds before collapsing noisilly in a heap. 'Stupid girl' she thought to herself, ducking into the shadows and waiting for the guards who would investigate the noise.

The bots wasted no time marching their slow methodical march down the all way. 5 of them. Of course they'd heard the noise, and now they saw the bodies. Each raised his arm out straight and began scanning the area. A large silvery disc flew out from the shadows and exploded against the head of one of the bots, taking him out instantly. Sally took the opportunity during the confusion to leap from the shadows and shoot her pistol at two of them, leaping up and knocking over a third, using him to cushion her fall and in one movement pressing the pistol to his red optic sensor and pulling the trigger. The final bot aimed its gun at her from behind "Stand down." it ordered. Glancing down into the hole left in the bot's head she saw her chance. Moving quickly she rolled to one side, lifting the bot's arm up to aim at her executioner, thrusting her hand inside the bot's head and jamming two wires together, shorting them and causing the wrist mounted laser to fire shooting him clean through the neck joint with a satisfying fizzle.
"Who the hell...would design a robot...weak...against his own weaponry..." she panted, her bloodstream filed with adrenaline. She wasted no time, getting up on her feet and using the rush she felt to push her on. She had little time now, the alert would soon be sounded. She reached the structural weak points quickly. Nexus had studied the blueprints years before when he worked for the Freedom Fighters and was always dismayed that no-one had decided to utilise thie valuable information. No longer. Sally set the charges and the timers, giving herself enough time before...

Her ears were suddenly filled with the loud whooping of sirens. Drat. She thought she had more time than that. Thankfully she was able to place the last charge, of course now her escape route would be blocked. Of course, they'd not yet managed to escape using plan A. She ran quickly knowing it wouldn't be long before the emergency shutters dropped and sealed her escape routes. She flew around corners, leaped up shafts, ducked into shadows and made her way to the roof, jamming the door closed as a squad of S.W.A.T. bots raced up the stairs behind her. Running to the edge of the roof she could see the detonations in the distance. They'd done it. She didn't doubt that Keisha and Nexus had escaped safely. Of course, now there was just her.

The door burst open. "Stand down for robotisization, or face execution for your crimes." the bots commanded.
"Tell me..." she said, not turning around. "What comes before two?"
One particularly badly programmed bot answered. "One, of cou-."
Sally leapt from the roof as the charges detonated, the explosive force pushing hurling her into the air and away from the stricken sentries as the roof collapsed below them, sending them hurtling into the fiery hell that was once the facility. Sally looked back at her handy work with a smile as her flight reached its zenith.
"Zero."

---

Damn stories, they have a habit of growing on ya.
I thought of the title at work since I'd recently bought the Oasis Greatest Hits album. What does this have to do with the song of the same name? Well...they...both have Sally in it...sort of.

It was nice doing something less stressful for once. Relaxing with my colour work after slugging away at the comic pages. I hadn't realised just how much work they were until I took a break for this. This feels like something of a throwback for me, using the starry sky technique again, using an explosion...this harkens back to a lot of my earlier works...but with a little improvement, I think.

Starry sky tutorial here ---> http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&global=1&q=starry+sky+tutorial#/dgksow

Hope you guys enjoy.

[Original sketch by  jessycelly]
[Sally copyright to Sega, DiC & Archie]