Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 211

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 211 is the two hundred and eleventh issue of the main Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series published by Archie Comics.

Home Invasion - Part Two: Security Measures
Sonic, Tails, Monkey Khan, and Sally break through the dome covering New Mobotropolis, having returned from the Dragon Kingdom. Geoffrey St. John tells the Iron Queen to pack it in, but she refuses; she summons forth Iron NICOLE and orders her to smash her friends out of the sky. With a devious smile, NICOLE instead uses the nanites to trap the queen in an orb and brings her up-to-date; reverting to her true form, she announces that she's been free of the Queen's control for some time and has updated her defenses against the Queen's Magitek. The Iron Queen is indignant, refusing to believe a machine has gotten the best of her; she tells NICOLE that she is nothing but a tool, a thing, but NICOLE replies that her friends have helped her grow into something more. Angered, the queen uses her own powers to control the nearby nanites, reforming NICOLE's cage into a hideous insect-like tank. She says that if NICOLE won't control the nanites for her, she'll do so directly, but NICOLE refuses to allow her nanites to be misused any longer. Meanwhile, Iron King confronts Amy, who fends off his Tremor Mace with her Piko Piko Hammer; Sonic quickly intervenes with a spindash, briefly knocking the King back. Standing atop the King, Sonic asks Amy if she missed him; joyful, Amy states that she knew he would come back and that she (of course) missed him, giving him a hug. A slightly chagrined Sonic replies he was being "ironically cliché" while the King angrily demands they get off him.

Watching these events unfold, a panicked Snively attempts to crawl away, only to find himself before an angry Sally Acorn. She addresses him coldly, saying she's lost count of how many chances she'd given him in the past, obviously not approving of his continued evil in the face of her generosity. Sweating, Snively nonetheless attempts to maintain some bravado, insisting that the Iron Dominion still has three other ninja Clans with which to fight back. Grinning, Sally replies that that's no longer the case as Monkey Khan flies overhead.

With a flash of lightning from his Atom-Bat, Monkey Khan addresses the masses below; he announces himself not just as the King of the Free People, but as a humble messenger. He tells the Yagyu that he has met with their leaders in the Dragon Kingdom, and upon his word of honour declares that their ties to the Iron Dominion have been severed. Below, the Legionnaires are confused, but the Yagyu react with surprise.

Lien-Da laughs in utter disbelief, thinking that after being gone for so long, her opponents have little to show for their efforts. She is shocked when a nearby Yagyu Lord announces to his troops that they're returning home. She grabs the Lord by the arm, unable to believe that the word of "one monkey" is enough to make them drop the fight; the Lord replies that while he doesn't know how things are done on this side of the world, where he comes from, one's word of honor is a sacred thing. Stammering, Lien-Da protests that the Dark Egg Legion can't win this fight alone; the Lord merely replies that it is unfortunate for her and tells her goodbye. Lien-Da angrily watches as the Yagyu begin streaming out of the Coliseum, but then she realizes that both the Iron King and Queen are caught up fighting the heroes. Thinking this is a perfect opportunity, she calls out to the Legion to fall back to her, announcing that the Eggman Empire now belongs to her. This catches the Iron Queen's attention, and she is infuriated. She slams her staff to the ground, temporarily disrupting the nearby nanites as well as NICOLE. She demands that the Legion obey and fight for her, but Lien-Da is smug; she coyly asks the Queen if she's trying to take control of her with the neural chips she had distributed to the Legion. Lien-Da reveals that her own chip had been modified, preventing the Queen from controlling her mind. As the troops flock to her, she says that the Legion is hers to command, and adds that the Queen has once again been played. With that, she laughs, and the Queen is shaken. However, Regina then informs Lien-Da of something she'd forgotten; with her Magitek, she can manually set off the bomb in Lien-Da's cybernetics. Lien-Da is caught by surprise; she cries out futilely as the explosion consumes her.

The nearby Legionnaires are confused, only remembering an order to regroup, but one quickly takes notice of situation. A Legionnaire turns to Snively, asking him for orders as there's no one left to take command; unable to handle the situation, Snively stammers before running off in a panic. The Legionnaire orders the others to "gather up the Grandmaster" and retreat to the Eggdome. Meanwhile, Sonic, Amy, Monkey Khan and Antoine are attempting to subdue the Iron King with little success; Sonic finally concedes that the king is a problem. Khan says that the only way to reliably defeat him is to use the Fan of Fen Xing; to their surprise, Espio the Chameleon suddenly appears, saying it's a good thing he brought it. He addresses Khan as the King of the Free People and hands over the fan with the blessings of the Raiju Clan as well as the Shinobi Clan. Khan asks him to hold his Atom-Bat for a moment and then tells everyone to fall back, though Sonic insists he doesn't want to miss the show. The heroes scatter as Khan opens the fan and Jun Kun looks on in shock, saying the fan was supposed to be hidden in his armoury. Khan offers Sonic the chance to use the fan, but Sonic says he got to do it last time. Sonic calls out to the king, telling him that the west coast is nice this time of year; Khan brings the fan down in a grand sweep, and its force launches the king into the air.

Meanwhile, a panicked Snively pilots a saucer through the city, muttering anxiously to himself. He gives a small scream as he sees the Iron King launched overhead and tells himself to hurry. He rushes into the city's detention center and frantically enters the code to unlock a cell; Doctor Eggman appears in the doorway, telling Snively it's about time. In a rush, Snively gives a fractured explanation as to what's happened, unable to cope with the sudden collapse of power. Eggman asks of Regina, but Snively screams that there's no time, desperate to escape and regroup, adding "Don't let them get me!" Smiling cruelly, Eggman says that that's the Snively he knows. Outside, the two climb into the saucer, Eggman saying that they'll use the confusion to escape back to the Eggdome.

Within the city, a frightened but defiant Regina is cornered. Sally points out that all her supporting forces are gone and demands her surrender, saying that if she does so, no harm will come to her. A surprised Antoine asks Monkey Khan if he agreed to that; Khan replies that Sally had convinced him earlier that justice was more important than revenge (though he adds "Well, mostly convinced me"). However, the Queen cackles at the notion of surrender, and begins conjuring the nanites around her; she forms a massive robotic dragon around herself and says she'll never surrender to them. Sally asks if NICOLE can intervene, but the AI replies that it's taking all her resources to prevent any more of the city's nanites from being used. Sonic replies that they'll have to stop her the old-fashioned way and calls out to Tails, who's been circling in the Tornado. The young fox strafes the robotic dragon with fire. While the dragon chases after Tails, Khan flies in from behind and strikes the machine with a supercharged bolt of lightning from his Atom-Bat, causing it to crash to the ground. Amy takes the opportunity to land a powerful hit from her hammer. Enraged, the Queen attempts to escape by flying the dragon towards the hole broken through the city's dome, but Sonic races up the dragon's spine. The Queen screams for him to stay away, attempting to hit him with laser cannons mounted on the dragon's body, but he dodges and launches himself far above its head. Hanging in the air for a moment, Sonic announces that it's been fun, but "It's time for me to win now." The Queen screams uselessly as Sonic spindashes down the length of the dragon's body, splitting it apart. Amid the debris, Regina falls from the sky, screaming "I hate that hedgehog!" Before she hits the ground, however, Monkey Khan summons up his cloud to catch her - and then dismisses it with a snap of his fingers, dropping her in a heap.

Sally asks NICOLE for a damage report; the AI replies that her systems are still coming back online but that everything seems stable. She adds that there seems to be no sign of the Legion or Yagyu within the city. Antoine places handcuffs on the disheveled Queen, who is lead away by Geoffrey St. John. Sonic says that that's it, and Sally says that they've won. Amy, thinking more celebration is in order, catches a surprised Sonic in a hug while Sally and Monkey Khan embrace.

As the city's nanites reconfigure to their original structure and the iron dome dissolves behind them, Snively looks back from within the saucer. He timidly suggests that while the city is recovering, they can quickly head back to save Regina; Eggman bluntly replies no. Snively attempts to protest, but Eggman insists the answer is no; he says that he's rested, recharged and ready to get back to work, adding that "Sonic won't know what hit him!"

Off Panel
"Tails And His Amazing Magic Hat 2!"

Tails is up on the stage with his hat once more, this time chanting "Hocus Pocus"! At that moment, El Gran Gordo pops out of the hat, startling Tails. Tails then kicks his hat off of the stage in frustration.

Quotes

 * Iron Queen: You can't play me for a fool! You're just a program! You're a tool! A thing!
 * NICOLE: Once, perhaps. But my friends have helped me grow into something more than my original programming. Something you cannot and will not control.


 * Lien-Da: The Legion is mine to command! It looks like you just got played again! Hahaha!
 * Iron Queen: You forget. I can still command the bomb in your cybernetics to detonate.
 * Lien-Da: (as the explosion engulfs her) Wha-- NO!!!


 * Sonic: You've been hiding there this whole time just waiting to make your entrance, haven't you?
 * Espio: Maybe.


 * Snively: Ruined! Everything's ruined! Yagyu gone! Legionnaires retreating! Lien-Da -- boom! Iron King -- whoosh! And I-I-I-I...
 * Eggman: But what about your oh-so-precious Regina?
 * Snively: No time! Must escape! Regroup! New plan! Don't let them get me!
 * Eggman: That's the Snively I know. Let's go.


 * Iron Queen: (as her robo-dragon is destroyed) I hate that hedgehog!

Key Events

 * NICOLE reveals her true loyalties to the Iron Queen.
 * Lien-Da tries to take control of the Dark Egg Legion away from the Iron Queen, but is badly injured when her explosive detonates.
 * Snively releases Doctor Eggman from confinement, and they escape.
 * The Iron King is defeated by Sonic, Monkey Khan, and Espio who use the Fan of Fen Xing on him once again.
 * The Iron Queen battles the Freedom Fighters by using the nanites to become a robo-dragon.
 * The Freedom Fighters defeat and arrest the Iron Queen.

Trivia

 * The cover art for this issue bears a striking similarity to that of SSS: #1.
 * As the queen attempts to escape in her dragon, Sonic tells her "There's no 'next-time-gadget' built into that thing!" This is a pun in reference to the cartoon series Inspector Gadget, in which the villain ends each episode threatening "Next time, Gadget!"
 * Lien-Da being severely injured with an explosion mirrors the second story of StH: #205 when the Experimental Dark Legion weapon exploded when she killed her father.
 * The Iron Queen's downfall is similar to Eggman's downfall in StH: #200, as both tyrants stated the infamous line "I hate that hedgehog" when their machine is destroyed and they are being defeated.
 * The Iron Queen's encasing of herself in the form of a giant mechanical dragon is similar to the transformation of Maleficent from both Sleeping Beauty and Kingdom Hearts.
 * In the Q&A section at the back of the issue, Ian Flynn revealed that Knuckles' body was inhabited by the "spirit of Enerjak" thanks to Finitevus' help, indicating that becoming Enerjak involves more than the absorption of immense amounts of Chaos energy.
 * What the Yagyu Lord says to Lien-Da about one's word of honor is almost the same thing Ken said to Sonic word for word in the "Journey to the East" saga.
 * The robot dragon created by the Iron Queen is similar to a robot shown in StH:#207.