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Information in this article may not be canonical to the storyline of the games or any other Sonic continuity. |
The Brain Trust Laboratory is a location that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics.
Description[]
The Brain Trust Laboratory is a highly advanced computer room located in Freedom HQ. It is where the Knothole Freedom Fighters communicate with others across Mobius, and where they can use the Star Posts and the Digitizer to gain access to the Special Zone and the Digital World respectively.
History[]
The Brain Trust Laboratory was built when Elias was revamping the old Freedom HQ as a gift for Sonic’s birthday. During his birthday celebration, after Bean and Bark attacked Freedom HQ and subsequently were defeated, Bean contacted Eggman via the Brain Trust Laboratory’s main computer to inform him that they failed their mission.[1]
During the Babylon Rogues’ attack, when Sonic returned to Freedom HQ from his beating at the hands of the rogues, Tails went to the Brain Trust Laboratory, where he gave Sonic and Knuckles their very own Extreme Gears, as well as one for himself.[2]
When A.D.A.M. began to put his plans into motion, he took control of Tommy Turtle and used him to sabotage some of the equipment in the laboratory, and also took control of Bunnie’s robotic limbs to further destroy the lab, but she was pinned down and restrained by Vector and Mighty before she could do too much damage to the lab. During that scuffle, A.D.A.M. took control of Jules in order to kidnap Tails.[3]
Vector used the Brain Trust Laboratory’s main computer to communicate with Espio when he and Nicole were infiltrating Golden Hive Castle in order to retrieve data about what had happened to the Golden Hive Colony and its inhabitants.[4]
After the Great Harmony took place, Rotor built the Star Posts, devices that the Knothole Freedom Fighters could use to enter the newly formed Special Zone to retrieve the emeralds. Sonic and Tails used these Star Posts to enter the Special Zone to retrieve a Chaos Emerald, which they successfully did before returning back to the lab.[5]
Soon after that incident, Shadow discovered Gerald’s diary, which was in reality a disc, realizing Eggman was using him this whole time. Shadow wanted to learn the contents of the diary, but needed to do it in a location he could trust would not interfere with the data extraction, and so he decided to head to the Brain Trust Laboratory. Soon, Shadow arrived near Freedom HQ and requested Sonic and Tails help him retrieve data from Gerald Robotnik’s diary, which had been damaged by an Egg Flapper. Sonic took Shadow to the Brain Trust Laboratory, and with the help of Nicole, Sonic and Shadow entered into a physical manifestation of the disc’s data via the P.L.O.T. device. Meanwhile, back in the real world, Snively showed up, attacking Freedom HQ, angry at Shadow having stolen his hair. Knuckles ran out of the Brain Trust Laboratory in order to fight him, but soon was struggling to defeat Snively’s Egg Lobster. Once Shadow and Sonic returned from the digital realm, Tails informed them of what was happening, and Shadow grabbed Snively’s hairs and dashed out of the lab to confront him.[6]
Knuckles, while on a mission, would later contact the Knothole Freedom Fighters in the Brain Trust Laboratory, informing them that Rouge had supposedly stolen the Master Emerald from Angel Island and was selling it to the highest bidder in the Marshlands.[7]
The Brain Trust Laboratory was one of the many areas attacked during Eggman’s assault on Knothole City, although unlike most of the rest of the city, it, and Freedom HQ as a whole, remained relatively intact, but still required the need to be rebuilt, which the Knothole Freedom Fighters and Chaotix did after everyone had settled down in New Mobotropolis.[8][9]
At some point, the Star Posts in the Brain Trust Laboratory activated seemingly on their own. While Tails and Rotor investigated this, in truth, it was the Suppression Squid’s doing, who used the Star Posts as their entry to Mobius and soon after, a massive fight between the Knothole Freedom Fighters and Suppression Squad took place within the laboratory, with Sonic and Scourge showing up soon after to also join in on the fight. The Suppression Squad would eventually come out on top and gain temporary control of the lab and Freedom HQ as a whole.[10][11]
The Suppression Squad, having grown sick of Scourge’s abuse and tyranny, eventually leading to Anti-Miles proposing an alliance to the Knothole Freedom Fighters to get rid of Scourge and use the Star Posts in the Brain Trust Laboratory to send him back to Moebius. While the two groups eventually were successful in sending Scourge to Moebius, Boomer sent Sonic back with him on purpose, shutting access back to the Brain Trust Laboratory down on purpose so that Sonic could deal with Scourge for them, much to the anger of Sally, whole began arguing with Princess Alicia. Midway through their feud, Silver and Rob showed up in the middle of the lab via a Super Warp Ring. Rob asked Sally where Sonic was, and she told him Sonic was on Moebius, and the two hedgehogs then left the Brain Trust Laboratory almost as quickly as they had arrived, with Sally and Alicia going back to arguing about Sonic’s wellbeing. Sally then instructed Tails to reactivate the Star Posts, and though Alicia was going to stop them by force, Anti-Miles stopped her, reassuring her that Sonic likely had enough time to have finished Scourge off for them.[12][13][14]
During the invasion of the Iron Dominion of New Mobotropolis, Sonic, Monkey Khan, Tails, and Sally escaped from New Mobotropolis via the Tornado and flew to Freedom HQ. There, in the Brain Trust Laboratory, they used the P.L.O.T. device to enter the Digital World in order to rescue Nicole from the control of the Iron Queen, who had transformed her into Iron Nicole and taken control of her.[15]
Amy once brought Cream, Cheese and Vanilla on a tour of Freedom HQ. While there, Amy introduced Nicole to the two while in the Brain Trust Laboratory. Nicole informed Amy that she was picking up on Chaos energy readings somewhere in the Great Forest nearby, and, upon asking permission from her mother, Cream, Cheese, and Amy left the lab with Nicole’s handheld.[16]
Sonic and Geoffrey returned to the lab in order to enter the Special Zone to retrieve a Chaos Emerald as per the request of King Max. While in there, Geoffrey betrayed Sonic and came back to the lab without Sonic, although Sonic managed to leave the Special Zone as well and return to the lab before heading back to New Mobotropolis.[17][18]
After Naugus was crowned king of New Mobotropolis, Mina visited the laboratory, both to apologize to Nicole and to ask her to come back and help the city and its citizens, before the two were interrupted by Harvey Who, requesting Nicole’s assistance.[19]
References[]
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #160, "Birthday Bash! Part One: Giving and Receiving"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #164, "Sonic Riders Part 2 of 2"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #168, "Order From Chaos Part One: The Gathering"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #169, "For A Friend"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #170, "Comings and Goings"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #171, "I Am"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #173, "Round Up"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #175, "Eggman Empire"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #185, "Mogul Rising Part One: Needful Things"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #189, "Bold New Moebius Part One: Unwelcome Guests"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #190, "Bold New Moebius Part Two: Duality"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #193, "Otherside Part One: How the Other Half Lives"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #194, "Otherside Part Two: Cross World Conflict!"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #195, "Hedgehog Havoc! Part 1"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #209, "Iron Dominion Part Two"
- ↑ Sonic Universe #21, "Treasure Team Tango Part One: The Salida"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #219, "In Service to the King Part One"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #220, "In Service to the King Part Two"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #237, "Heart to Heart"