Archie Sonic Universe Online Issue 52

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***Sonic Universe Online Issue 52*** is the fifty-second issue of the Sonic Universe comic series.

## Solicitation

*The return of the Rabbot may end as quickly as it began in “Rabbot Rebound Part Two: Charging In Progress!” Bunnie’s in Jack Rabbit’s turf now, and he’s playing for keeps! But are all the Sand Blasters as ruthless as their boss, or can an inside job topple their house of cards? Featuring cover art from the explosively-skilled RocketPOW!*

## Story One

*"Rabbot Rebound" - Part 2: Charging In Progress*
As Bunnie reflects on her predicament, the guard, Scarlett, eventually asks Bunnie how she’s doing. While the latter rebukes her approach, the former points out that not all of the Sand Blasters follow Jack’s philosophy and some are just following orders, to which Bunnie apologizes, explaining that her experiences with the place didn't let her realize some of the people in it thought differently. Scarlett understands, claiming that Jack has been running the city into the ground for years, leading Bunnie to ask why she’s still in the city if that's the case. She explains that she was a citizen of the city when the Robians attacked it during the First Robotnik War, and was proud to fight and drive them off, but when all of the Robians were turned back, she thought there’d be no more need for fighting, which quickly fell apart when Jack kept mistreating the former Robians until they went back to Eggman for protection.

Not everyone was able to leave, as one of them, Holly, was too sick to do so, and nobody helped her except Scarlett, who ended up falling in love with her. She convinced Jack to let Holly stay in the city as long as she served him without question, but since then, everyone’s treated Scarlett poorly out of association with being close to Holly, causing her to begin hating everything the city stands for because of it. Bunnie tried to convince to defect and help her, but she refuses, as she can’t leave Holly behind or risk Jack hurting her if she betrayed him, then adding she has no intention to helping someone who chose to be legionized and was aware of the danger by coming here.

Trading shifts with another guard, she goes home to Holly and gives her the lunch from the Mess Hall, which Holly tells her not to starve herself for her sake, feeling that she’s a burden to her because she’s bedridden. While Scarlett tries to argue against that claiming that things will be fine and she'll stay right by her side, bearing through anything until that happens, Holly asserts that she should escape the city because there’s no hope for her, and she would only overwork herself until they’re both too weak to leave. Scarlett sternly refuses, saying she wouldn’t abandon her, even if Bunnie could help her escape. When Holly asks about that last part, Scarlett tells the whole story, and her partner advises her to help Bunnie escape without Jack noticing, because she’ll come back to save them. Scarlett insists on not doing so because of the risk. When Holly questions if this is because she's a cyborg, Scarlett breaks down, as she cannot comprehend why someone would willingly replace their limbs with cybernetics, especially after Robotnik's ventures on the matter, and that she cannot trust her girlfriend's life to someone crazy enough to do that. Holly consoles her, claiming that while she doesn't know why and would definitely turn down the offer herself, it's possible the prisoner felt trapped, as if there was no other option and maybe she's just like her partner.

The next morning, Scarlett tells Bunnie she’ll help her escape, but warns her that she overheard about Jack planning on testing some new weapons on the other prisoners, but doesn't know where they are being held as only his inner circle is privy to the exact location. While Bunnie suggests that she could force them to talk, Scarlett argues that they can't risk blowing their cover yet since they're the only ones that know how to remove her shackles. Instead, she suggests that they can go where they usually stay and plan their next move without using force, which Bunnie agrees, mentioning how she already tricked the Battle Bird Armada into thinking she was a legionnaire beforehand. When Scarlett remarks that it's not much of a lie anymore, Bunnie reproaches by claiming this is only temporary, and once this affair is done, she'll go back to the Freedom Fighters.

Greeting the rest of the Sand Blasters, Avery questions why Scarlett brought the prisoner, Shift and Jolt dismiss his concerns, as the former doesn’t think Bunnie’s a threat because she’s got restraints designed to keep Legionnaires from causing trouble, while the latter says she can have a little fresh air since Jack isn't around. As Tex leaves, they ask the two girls to join their poker game, which Scarlett intended to decline before Bunnie eagerly accepted.

When she questions if they really okay with hanging out with a Legionnaire, Shift says he’s always happy to speak with someone with an appreciation for fine technology and Avery doesn't care as long as she can play poker, with Jolt pointing out that Jack’s the one who really has it out for the Robians and that they just follow his lead. Shift agrees, claiming that if Jack was more open-minded, they could salvage more Eggman technology to fortify the city, rather than scraping by with "obsolete contraptions". Trying to change the subject, Bunnie asks why Tex suddenly walked out in the middle of the game, and they explain that he doesn’t usually hang out with them and are not even sure what he was doing there in the first place, with the only thing they know for certain about him is that he follows any order Jack gives him without question.

Going on a tangent, Shift says if it were up to him, they would craft more efficient weaponry to defend themselves with what they can salvage from the D.E.L., using the coil generators binding their cargo as an example, leading Bunnie to propose that instead of fighting, Jack’s gang could partner up with the D.E.L. to get more tech. Shift says that’s a great idea, because he could turn Sand blast City into a technological marvel matching the likes of the United Federation or Albion, with Jolt saying that it’d be nice to have the city be more open to the rest of the world, and Avery declining, claiming following Jack's orders is enough for him. Deciding to drop the act, Bunnie says they could start by telling her where they keep the stolen cargo. With a grim, Shift folds the game and says he’ll lead her to the missing cargo and cyborgs. While Jolt is worried about him turning on them, Avery points out the Avery is always up to something and that they should just let this situation play out.

After the prisoners are freed, Bunnie thanks Shift for giving her jet pack back, but questions how he'll explain the situation to Jack, to which he simply says he’ll tell him that the guard blundered. When Scarlett and Bunnie start to react to his perceived betrayal, he quickly corrects them by explaining he was referring to the other guard, given they were scheduled to begin their shift, thus effortlessly passing the blame to them, adding that he would never let something happen to a *friend*. Bunnie then tries asking Scarlett again if she's okay with staying, which she reluctantly says yes.

As they part ways, Shift warns that they should hurry since Jack will know of their escape shortly and make it more difficult for them to leave, finishing by laughing when saying he hopes Bunnie enjoys his "parting gift". When Lesath questions whether or not he's on their side, Bunnie says that she doesn’t trust him, but knows he wouldn’t pull a double-cross if it meant missing out on more tech. Getting to the flying saucers, they are chased by a livid Jack and the rest of the Sand Blasters, who orders to shoot the saucers out of the air and get that cargo back. Hesitating, Scarlett aims and intentionally misses them, and when confronted by Jack, she lies that she doesn’t want to damage the cargo.

Feeling there's no other option, Bunnie confronts them directly, but her jet pack starts to malfunction, which makes Scarlett worry that Shift is responsible. However, Bunnie is able to fly again, and apologizing to her before shooting near her car, causing them to crash, taunting Jack before flying away. Shift smirks, thinking that he would’ve preferred more time to finish repairing her jet pack, but it worked out well enough, and expects this "fellow Freedom Fighter" to repay the favor with interest. As the legionnaires fly away, Bunnie ponders on how despite managing to escape, she's now delivering supplies to her worst enemy, and despite regaining her cybernetics, she feels more shackled than ever before, finally questioning whether she has the right to call herself a freedom fighter amymore, as she left behind the two girls whorisked everything to help her escape, wishing that Antoine or Sally were there to tell whether or not she made the right choice.

Meanwhile, at the Dragon Kingdom, the Iron King comments on the disgrace to have both lost the Iron Dominion and his mace, but that regardless, he has returned at last to reclaim his kingdom...

### Off-Panel

* **Script**:
* **Pencils**:
* **Inks**:
* **Colors**:
* **Letters**:

### Appearances

#### Characters

* Antoine D'Coolette *(Mentioned)*
* Avery the Bear
* Beauregard Rabbot *(Flashback)*
* Bunnie D'Coolette
* Jack Rabbit
* Jolt the Roadrunner
* Lesath
* Matilda the Armadillo *(Flashback)*
* Scarlett O’Fenn
* Holly the Snow Leopard *(First Appearance)*
* Shift E. Wolf
* Tex the Lizard

## Trivia

* The issue underwent several developments of the interior art during its production:
	+ While member Tale drew the first pages and they were finished, those were scrapped and redone by Gilgalad once he took over artistic duties for the sake of consistency once the former had to step out of the issue.
	+ While Gilgalad had already penciled out pages 6 and 7 before his departure, the team decided to use the end of Scarlett and Holly’s scene as a better point for the shift in art style.
	+ There was almost yet another shift in art style with Gendeerfluid​ penciling page 20, but Lav managed to finish that one as well.
* The guard who takes over watching Bunnie after Scarlett is a reference to one of the unnamed members of Infinite's Jackal Squad from the Sonic Forces prequel comic.

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