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"Countdown to Chaos" Part Three: The Freedom Fighters are one step closer to completion with the bombastic, bouncing debut of the battlin' Bunnie Rabbot! But the journey isn't over yet—some of Sonic's teammates are still missing, and it’s up to the blue blur and his best buddy Tails to find them! What shocking secrets will our heroes uncover? And just what is the "countdown to chaos" counting down to? Meanwhile, Dr. Eggman returns to the Death Egg to test out his dire predictions. Is it possible that the unspeakable evil known as Eggman could be the only one who can save the world? Find out in this amped-up action-filled story, featuring new cover art from Sonic art superstar Ben Bates, which connects with the other “Countdown to Chaos” covers to form one giant image of awesomeness! Plus a freedom-fighting variant cover from Tyler Capps (Cooking Comically)!
Sonic and Tails fly over Metropolis Zone, the last known location of their missing teammate, Bunnie. After failing to make contact with her despite Nicole's efforts, the two heroes and Nicole drop down on the city, leaving T-Pup to run the Tornado until they return. They are then attacked by the city's defense systems, fighting their way through Egg Army troops with relative ease and making their way to the command tower. As they travel, Sonic contemplates the two disparate timelines in his mind, which are growing increasingly hard to tell apart, but pushes it aside. They enter the main control room to find two Egg Soldiers, including a foreman who orders his subordinate to seal the room. After a brief and infuriating exchange, the foreman orders his underling to attack, only to have her attack him. As he passes out, the soldier orders the other Egg Soldiers to hold off, identifying herself as "Scarlett." However, she then removes her helmet to reveal herself as none other than Bunnie, whom Sonic and Tails greet warmly.
She explains that the foreman's suspicions forced her to go into deeper cover, cutting off all radio contact in order to get closer to her objective. Discarding the rest of her uniform, she gets a rundown on the status of the other Freedom Fighters, and is less than thrilled to learn of Sally Acorn's continued absence and Amy Rose's disappearance. She then explains that her mission was to secure a shield generator for the Sky Patrol, and that the Metropolis Zone serves primarily as a research and development station for Eggman. She reveals that a new generator has been built, intended for a new generation Death Egg, which she intended to steal before Sonic and Tails arrived. She then links up to Nicole, surprising Sonic and Tails with her robotic arm, though she is confused by their reaction. The two then remember that in this reality, Bunnie received her limbs from Uncle Chuck after she was injured when Dr. Eggman attacked. Deciding to wait to restore her memories until after their mission is completed, they are saved from explaining things to Bunnie by the Egg Army, who try to break into the room despite Bunnie's efforts to delay them.
Elsewhere, at a base in Artika, Eggman is met by Tundra the Walrus, another of his new Egg Bosses. After receiving a transport to the Death Egg, he bids Tundra farewell, surprising Orbot with his familiarity. Eggman replies that he is adjusting to the new reality, and that his robotic minions will in time as well. Orbot assumes that his haste to return to the Death Egg may be related to the confusion of memories, but Eggman responds that he is more worried about what he learned back in Efrika.
Meanwhile, in Metropolis, the Egg Soldiers receive an unexpected message from their foreman, only to have Sonic and Bunnie burst out and head for the vault where the new shield generator is stored. Running, flying, smashing, and blasting their way through the city, the duo face soldiers and Badniks alike before arriving at the massive vault door. They are then confronted by a force of Egg Soldiers with robot and tank support, only for the door open courtesy of Tails and Nicole, the latter of whom impersonated the foreman to fool the Egg Soldiers. However, their efforts are then disrupted as the city is rocked by a massive earthquake. Grabbing the foreman and Nicole, Tails flies for safety while the quake allows Sonic and Bunnie to take off with the generator. The four heroes rendezvous at the Tornado, reminding Sonic of previous events. He also notes the similarity between this quake and the one that he and Tails experienced previously in the Wood Zone, and is informed by Bunnie that similar quakes have affected other Egg Army bases. Sonic briefly wonders whether Eggman would be willing to risk damage to his own operations, but is then reminded of his recent interference in Sonic's attempt to restore reality to normal. The heroes head for home, while on the surface the Egg Soldiers start rebuilding and come across their awakening foreman.
Arriving at the Sky Patrol, the group are surprised to be greeted by Antoine, who returned immediately after seeing Uncle Chuck safely to Spagonia. After being reunited with her husband, Bunnie demands to know what Sonic and Tails were trying to keep from her, and Antoine reveals that he traveled back to be with her for just that reason. They then give Nicole to Bunnie, restoring her memories of the unaltered world. Overwhelmed, Bunnie is left to be comforted by Antoine, while Sonic examines an improved Nicole. While she is nearly back at full running efficiency, she reveals an unsettling fact: she may only have enough residual Genesis Wave power to restore one more set of memories, which means that either Amy or Sally must be chosen. Sonic decides to focus on finding the missing ladies, deciding that once they've found Sally their combined forces should be enough to find Amy.
Aboard the Death Egg, Eggman has recovered from his journey, takes his seat on the bridge of his flying fortress. He asks Orbot for a report, expecting it to be "good news"; of course, he gets bad news instead, as Orbot informs him of the events in the Metropolis Zone. Annoyed, Eggman asks if there's anything else, to which Orbot informs him that an escape pod was launched from the Death Egg just hours before they arrived. To their surprise, a security image reveals the escapee to be none other than Sally Acorn herself. Now aware of her return to organic form and her escape from the Death Egg, Eggman orders his robots to track the escape pod and deploy Metal Sonic, determined to make sure Sonic and Sally never reunite—at least, not while the latter is still alive.
This story marks the first appearance of Bunnie D'Coolette's redesign in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs.
Bunnie operates under the alias "Scarlett" while in the Egg Army. This may be a nod to two different plots: a cancelled Karl Bollers story in which Bunnie would have had her real name revealed to be "Scarlette O'Hare," and her counterpart from Dark Mobius, who was known as Scarlette Rabbot.
Eggman orders the deployment of Metal Sonic to do his bidding before settling in to relax in a fez, robe, shorts, and slippers, smoking a bubble pipe and reading a magazine while saying "Home is where the evil mechanized heart is."
This issue's regular cover is the third piece of the 4-part panoramic connecting cover art by Ben Bates.
On an earlier version of the cover, Nicole was depicted with plug socket-like ponytails. The final version of the cover had them removed. Evidence that this aspect of her new design had been removed was first seen in Sonic the Hedgehog #252. The final cover also changed Bunnie's tail to be less fluffy.
Despite appearing in the front cover, Axel the Water Buffalo is nowhere to be seen in the actual issue.
Although both the main and variant covers depict Nicole in her life-sized mobian form, she is only seen in her miniature handheld form in this issue.
