The New Girl: (Sonic Satam)

She couldn't believe what she was seeing...
The brown and red hedgehog stared blankly at the news report, even as the reporter and camera-guy were dragged off-screen. The station cut transmission moments later as her hometown, one of the last free cities, fell under Robotnik's control.

Gabz rushed through the abandoned apartment tower.
Why was she here, in the heart of Robotropolis?
...to follow some guy she had met in the pub?
She didn't even like him!!!
Now both her daughters were in mortal danger!
...adopted, true, but still family.
She never thought Robotnik would invade so far south, no one did, but she was wrong...

Gabz nearly ran over poor Cat, as she stormed down the hall, and she all but ignored the elderly mountain lion as he tried to flag her down.
"Gabz? Gabz! I have a letter for you..."
A letter? There was no mail service here... they must smuggle it in with the supplies.
"...It's from Patta!" Cat continued.
Only hearing her daughter's name caused Gabz to stop.
"Fine!" She snapped.
Gabz snatched the letter from the puma's paw and continued to her room.
She tossed the envelope onto her bunk as she gathered up her belongings. She figured it would take her several days to get back home, but she HAD to try.
She had to rescue Annabelle and Patta before "Eggman" enslaved then forever!
She'd take the Gremlin's backup shuttle... they could steal another, and it was their fault she was here in the first place!

Just as she turned to go, Gabz noticed the return address on the Letter...
Drycreek!?!?
...Wasn't that where Peter had gone to recover?
How could Patta be there?
The confused mother immediately tore open the envelope.

Patta's letter said she and her sister had been "kidnapped"... Apparently, they had fallen asleep in there own beds and woken up in a strange hotel, with nothing but a trunk of clothes and a few treasured personal items.
The locals were quite friendly, but not even the innkeeper seemed to know how they got there, or who paid for their room...

Peter was behind this, Gabz was certain, him and the other Gremlins.
...And to think she had willingly joined their ranks; agreed to fight beside them!
At least her family was safe. But this only raised more questions...
Had the Gremlins known of Robotnik's attack?
Why has Drycreek remained safe?
And who would DARE take her children without her permission?
Gabz needed answers, and she knew right where to find them!

She stormed through the makeshift H.Q. in search of one of Peter's closest friends...
"CHRIS MERLO!" she shouted, forgetting where she was.
"Where are Annabelle and Patta?"
"Who?" the tall brown fox replied.
The furious hedgehog grabbed Chris by his chest fur...
"Don't play dumb! WHERE ARE MY DAUGHTERS?!"
The giant fox teleported out of her grasp.
"Your family is safe, Gabz. We'd never leave an Operative's loved ones in danger..."
"So, you KNEW about the attack, didn't you!"
Chris only nodded.
"And you did nothing?!?!" Gabz asked in disbelief.
"No... we sabotaged a few of Eggman's transports and created a fake work order to open up every sewer access in the city."
"We made an  escape route, that was all we could do..."
"So, was Peter in on this?" the hedgehog asked indignantly.
"Yes, Wolf was there to pull out any potential Operatives."

Wait... Peter hadn't mentioned any of this...
In fact, their first encounter had been downright casual.
Gabz only followed Wolf here because she was curious.
Had Peter just been emotionally manipulating her this whole time?

"So who 'pulled out' My children?" the determined mother asked , through gritted teeth.
It was a few moments before the fox responded,
"Peter organized the mission, I just did the hacking..."
Gabz was getting annoyed; "Do you know or not?"
"I don't... Rage does, but he won't tell me."
The prickly female just rolled her eyes.
She'd heard Chris had multiple personalities, and that this "Rage" persona was the source of his Chaos powers... but no one had really explained the details.
"Fine! Where is Peter now?"
"We think he's on his way back Here. Rage lost track of him when he left Drycreek..."
Chris suddenly realized what he himself had just said...
"Wait? You lost track? How is that even possible?"
Now Chris was talking to himself... Her patience exhausted, Gabz interrupted his monologue,
"Chris, where is Drycreek? I need to know my kids are safe..."

The vulpine technician sighed, and walked over to a large computer. With a few keystrokes he pulled up a pair of surveillance images, that Gabz could only assume were overhead shots of Drycreek.
One showed nothing more than a few abandoned buildings.
But the other showed a thriving village, nestled between the fertile green hills and open desert.
Even the dark brooding Emo she was, Gabz still had to admire the mix of quaint architecture and natural beauty.

"Before the war, Drycreek was just too small to be on the map," Chris explained,
"but with all the war refugees, we've had to do a bit of hacking to hide it..."  
As Gabz studied the photos, Chris continued,  
"The picture on the left is what Robotnik sees, the one on the right..."
Gabz didn't let him finish, "Why not do this for other cities?"
"Well, there ARE other safe-havens, like Knothole and Furville, but if Robotnik already knows about a town, there's not much we can do to hide it."

It seemed to Gabz her new allies were far more active, than she realized. At least she was sure Annabelle and Patta were safe, as long as the Gremlins remained secret.
But she STILL wanted to know who had taken them out of the city; she'd decide weather to pummel, or thank them later...
"When Wolf get's back, you tell him to get his tail over to me... now!"
With that she left the brown fox to his work.
Injured or not, Peter WOULD tell her who else was involved in this... even if she had to beat it out of him!  
Then again, considering how he handled getting shot in the leg, and his general disposition toward her, he might actually enjoy that...