SG-Mobius

AN: I don't own anything except OC's, everything else belongs to Sega, DiC, MGM etc... Sonic setting is Satam but I may draw from the games as well.

Chapter 1: Return to Mobius

"You won't get away with this, Robotnik!" I haven't heard that voice in seven years, and hoped never to hear it again.

"I believe, princess," the large dictator replied, "I already have, after all, I am ruler while you squat in a filthy forest." I bite my lip so I don't laugh, hard to believe now that I'd have defended her years ago.

He turned away from the prisoners to address the Swatbots, "put them in beside our other guest, they can keep him company."

"Thank you kindly, Your Imperial Rotundness," I call out sarcastically.

"Who's that?" I don't recognise that voice.

"The princess while know, she'll tell you soon enough," Robotnik informed the girl, then walked down the row of cells to stop in front of mine, our eyes bore into each other as Sally and the vixen are locked in opposite my cell.

"How's that factory Your Highness?" I ask innocently, not caring that Robotnik sees the satisfaction dance in my eyes as the Princess gasps, "back in one piece yet?"

Robotnik grins, humoured by my actions, "not yet, your brand of Freedom Fighters are considerably more competent than your Knothole fellows, despite my losses I must confess myself rather impressed."

Fury floods my veins as I rise from my bunk, I'm stopped from reaching the door to throttle the dictator by the chains holding me to the wall, "Never Call Me That!" I snarl at Robotnik, ignoring the Princess' gasp as I step into the light from the hall fixtures.

"Then what should I call you?" Robotnik asks curiously, "Terrorist?"

"Insurrectionist works just fine," I tell him, my eyes not leaving his face, even as the Princess cranes her head in vain trying to see around Robotnik's bulk.

"Very well," Robotnik concedes, "may I ask where your band of Insurrectionists developed such tactics?"

"My IQ rivals yours, remember," I retort, ignoring the Dictator's chuckle.

"I remember," Robotnik replies, "I also remember how the equipment standard of the Freedom Fighters dropped after they drove you out, along with their capacity for tactical planning," he glances over to savour the look on the Princess' face, "I could just Roboticise you and then order you to tell me."

"If you intended to Roboticise me, you'd have done it," I pointed out, "ten Marks says you're using me to bait little boy blue," I put on a thoughtful look, "or waiting for Snively to override my little sabotage."

"You're the one that reprogrammed every Roboticizer in Robotropolis?" I look over Robotnik's shoulder to see the owner of the voice, I nearly lose my poker face at seeing who it is.

Fiona, trust me to run into an old crush on my first night back.

Robotnik's own poker face cracks, "yes… I must confess my surprise at your success, but no matter, I'll just build a new device if I must... though I am surprised by your cavalier attitude to your fate."

I stare at a spot in front Robotnik's feet, "you tend to look at things differently… when you live through a Glassing."

He turns around, petting Cluck, "I'll leave you all to be reacquainted, good night, Princess."

I return to my bunk as the Dictator's footsteps fade, ignoring both women staring at me.

"What's a Glassing?"

Damn her, I don't want to remember.

Raw Energy streaming from the Heavens, Blood running in rivers through the streets, Screams on all sides, Smoke blinding me, A Flash, Searing pain down my right side…

"Glassing," I say after a moment, my voice thick with emotion, "is when a planet is bombarded from orbit by warships armed with Capital class Plasma weaponry, the oceans are boiled away as the surface is turned to ash then molten, finally solidifying into crystal."

"What kind of monster would do such a thing?" Fiona asked, horrified.

"The first time was a necessary evil, we couldn't let the virus leave the planet and spread across the network," I say, that time is much easier to talk about, "the other… the other was done for fun."

"Fun?" Fiona asked incredulously.

I shrug humourlessly, "to them we are but lesser creatures to be enslaved to serve them."

Fiona falls to her knees in horror but her friend keeps looking at me.

"Tails?" she asks tentatively.

"Lieutenant Prower, Your Highness," I snap at her.

"Tails…" she flinches at my hostility, "what happened to you?"

"What Happened?"

"Jou will pay for your crimes, Collaborator!"

A hand grasps the root of my left tail, a blade presses flush with my pelvis…

'Tails?"

I can't hold back a scream as the blade slides back and forth, parting flesh and muscle then grating against bone…

"Tails!"

I'm panting heavily, clutching my remaining tail in my hands as sweat drenches my fur, I look up to see Sally staring at me in fright.

"Did… did He ever say?"

Sally shook her head, "he only said the Collaborator was dealt with, then…"

"You found out it wasn't me," I can't keep the bitterness out of my voice, nor can I bring myself to care as Sally hangs her head in shame, "What happened to Brego?"

"He ran once Rotor outed him," Sally said, "Sonic tried to catch him but he stole a plane, fortunately Rotor got his jammer working in time so the transmitter Brego left didn't give Knothole away."

"Yeah," I can't help feeling thankful, "it cover the whole forest?"

"Not at first," Sally said, then grinned, "but we fixed tha…"

A dull boom shook the building, dust falling from the ceiling as the lights failed, a grate on the air vent opened just as the emergency lights came on.

"Is this tha Ol' Mobotropolis Railroad station?" a familiar southern twang asked.

I can't help but laugh, "No, this is Oldgate prison, you missed the left turn at Allinson."

"Dagnabbit… wait, who's that? Sall? Ophff!"

"Sorry, Bunnie," ok, I don't know that voice.

"I'm here Bunny," Sally called out, sticking her arm through the bars, "Fiona's in the cell next to me."

"Alright hun, but who's with ya?" Bunnie asked, hurrying up to the cells, she looked in mine and gasped, "Tails?"

"Long time, Bunnie," I say as she breaks open the door, "little help?"

Bunnie gave the chains a look, then broke them leaving only the shackles on my wrists, I could remove those later.

"Ya'll right?" Bunnie looked me over as I stepped out, "W-what happened to yer arm?"

I curl up the fingers of the arm in question as the others stare, the black synthetic muscle contrasting the gunmetal colour of the 'skin', "you give up a few things… chasing a dream," I say quietly, I nearly miss the others giving me understanding looks.

"We have to leave," Bunnie's companion, an Echidna girl said.

"Not before I get my gear back," I replied, making the others exchange a glance.

"Just what is so vital you'd risk our lives?" I'm really tempted to hit her, damn Knuckles' reprisal.

"I work for an alien military, standing orders are not to allow any equipment to fall into enemy hands," I repeated as I started hacking the door, "combine that with some of my tech being centuries ahead of the normal tech level of this planet…"

"That would be bad," she said as she caught on, looking over her shoulder.

I hurried through the moment the door opened, by some stroke of luck, or perhaps idiocy on the Swatbot's part, all my gear was neatly piled on a table.

"Hurry up," I roll my eyes, I'm going as fast as I can.

"Where are they?" as if in answer to her question, Tails and Julie-Su slid down the side of the turbine housing.

"Sorry we're late, the tin soldier just had to check his gear before leaving," Julie complained.

"I recall a time when Sonic dragged a bug into Knothole," Tails said pointedly, "it was only chance it was damaged before the dear Doctor could follow it."

Sally shivered at the memory, she still had nightmares some nights, "is it all clean," she sighed as Tails nodded firmly, "Let's go."

"I'm not going with you," the four stared in shock at Tails, "I have my own mission, my own War to fight, I only got caught because I was careless, I need to report back."

Sally gave him a hug, which he hesitantly returned, "Stay safe, Tails."

"It's Miles, Sall," he said gently, "can't call me Tails any more since, you know…"

"Stay safe Miles," Sally said, gave him a peck on the cheek and re-joined the others, they quickly disappeared.

It took only ten minutes to reach the old garage where I'd stored the hover bike, after that it was an hour's ride to my old home away from home, a house that had been built for me years before at Falls Church, named after the ancient temple built beside a waterfall on the plateau of the hill.

On arriving, I knew something was wrong, the turrets I'd set up with the help of the SGC engineers were active and aimed at the house, I dismounted beside one of the turrets and drew my sidearm, a G-21 clamshell magnum, and carefully approached the house.

I crept up to the door and tapped in the override, when the door opened, I heard voices.

"…a mistake coming here," a male said.

"We'll have to make the best of it," a second male said, "at least those guns will keep buttnik's bots out."

"That's true," the first replied, I slipped in quietly, it sounds like they're in the living room.

I peer inside to find two male hedgehogs lounging on a couch, one a silvery colour, the other black with red highlights.

I step out, "Stand up, slowly."

The two look round, then their eyes drop to the gun.

"Do I need to repeat myself?" the two slowly comply, turning to face me with their hands up.

"Who the hell are you?" the black hedgehog demanded.

"The guy whose house you broke into," I glanced out the window at the active turrets, "and are apparently stuck in."

"But Sonic said this place belonged to his best friend?" the silver hedgehog said.

"Who went missing seven years ago," the black hedgehog added pointedly.

"I was chased out after being falsely accused of being a traitor," I said harshly, "someone I considered a close friend led the lynch mob that tortured me… speaking of which, I need to remove him from the access list."

"Access list?" both hedgehogs asked.

"This place was built so I could conduct my experiments without endangering Knothole," I explained, "I built a security system to protect my work when I wasn't here, you must have entered before the software drivers fully updated to activate the new defences. Now, who are you?"

"I'm Silver," the silver hedgehog replied, then nudged his companion.

"I'm Shadow, the Ultimate Lifeform," the black hedgehog added, glaring at my snort.

"The Ultimate Lifeform?" I'm having a hard time not laughing outright, "you might be the perfect Mobian, but there's no way on this plane that you're Ascended."

"You understand Ascension?" Shadow did a double take at Silver.

"You know what he's talking about?" Shadow asked curiously.

"Think of the Universe being made up of multiple layers that overlap to a point with adjacent layers," I said, "like the electromagnetic spectrum, lifeforms such as us inhabit one plane, like how visible light occupies one part of the spectrum, while other lifeforms inhabit other planes we can't interact with under normal circumstances."

"I'm with you so far," Shadow said, "so an Ascended is a being from another plane?"

"Not quite but close," I corrected, "an Ascended is a being of our plane, at least in my experience, that has reached a point in Evolution where they evolve past the need for a physical body and become a being of pure energy, in doing so they shift their form from our plane to the Ascended plane, which to our current understanding is higher than this, in doing so they gain intimate knowledge of the lower planes and become capable of exerting god like power on the lower planes, though few have the inclination to do so."

"Ok, that does make me sound a lot less like the Ultimate lifeform," Shadow admitted, he then looked at Silver, "how'd you know about this?"

"I picked up bits and pieces in my travels," Silver admitted, "the concept fascinated me."

"Talking to an Ascended can feel like pulling teeth at times," I told him.

Silver nodded, "well, we introduced ourselves…"

"Lieutenant Miles Prower, SG-7," I said, giving a small bow.

"Wait, as in Tails?" Silver asked in shock.

"Not for seven years," I muttered, my remaining tail swishing nervously, "the mob saw to that."

"Damn," both muttered as they put it together, "for what it's worth, sorry," Silver said.

"You both weren't around," I said, setting the safety and holstering my revolver, "or at least, I'd never heard of you."

"I wasn't woken up until about three years ago," Shadow explained, "Silver came back last year."

"That explains… wait! Came Back?" I asked.

"Through time," Shadow clarified.

"To prevent the destruction of my world," Silver explained.

"Messing with Time is a serious business," I said sternly, "we can't predict the effects of our actions, we can only guess at possible outcomes, for all you know you could make things worse."

"You Think I Don't Know That?" Silver shouted, "but nothing could make my Future worse."

"That you made it back means it wasn't Glassed," I argued, "Or occupied by the Goa'uld, trust me that's worse than Robotnik winning, hell it could be Robotnik's Army acting as a deterrent right now keeping them away."

Silver looked ashamed for a moment, "maybe you're right, but I have to try."

"Damned if you do, damned if you don't," I said with a humourless grin, "I know how that feels. So, why'd you two come here?"

"We needed to get away for a while," Silver said, "well, he did, I came along to make sure he stayed out of trouble, Sonic said we could crash here if we needed."

"You can stay tonight, but tomorrow I'm locking the building down," I say, ignoring the look they give me, "I need to check what tech I left here and clear out the useless crap, considering some of the experiments I conducted the last thing I need are distractions."

"Fair enough, where will we sleep?" Shadow replied.

"Anywhere but my room, now I've got to get my bike, see you later," I said, heading for the door.

"Hey, mind if we raid the fridge?" Silver called out.

"No, but if you make chili dogs, open the damn windows first," I shouted back, I grin knowingly at the faint high five.

"How're you settling back in?"

I look over my shoulder to see Silver in the doorway, "Easy enough, I'm used to moving between posts at a moment's notice, it'll be a nice change to stay in one place for a while."

I miss his grin as I turn back to my duffel, my hand finding my most treasured possession, I run a finger down the picture as I pull it out, a smile grows as my mind drifts to my love.

"Wow, girlfriend?" I glance back to see Silver looking over my shoulder.

"My mate," I correct, looking back at her picture again, "we were sealed ten months ago.

"Sealed?"

"Married," I explain, drinking in her beautiful features again.

She was a wolf (by Mobian definition), five foot seven (three inches shorter than me) with thick silky grey fur, black hair that fell to her elbows, a large bust, narrow waist, wide hips and very strong legs. Unlike most of her people both her pupils and Iris' were black and had a bright silver lining around her pupils, there were two white lines on the sides of her muzzle and the underside was white, running down her neck and spreading out over her torso, black fur covered her hands and feet like socks and gloves.

There was a strange earring in her right ear, it was made of two studs and chains: one stud was gold and had an intricate flowing pattern etched into it and the chain was like interwoven gold thread. The second stud was a silver colour, with a simple but elegant angular pattern with a conventional but still elegant chain.

Silver noted the identical earring in my right ear, "So her people exchange earrings instead of rings?"

"Yes and no," I explain, "but it's also a sign of status, my Earring, the silver part, is symbolic of a warrior, hers represents a member of the Scholar caste, an unbonded person's earring is uniform, in my case both parts silver and hers gold, when a couple is sealed their original Earring is split and they give their mate one of the halves, they then join the two pieces. It represents the joining of two souls."

"What's her name?"

"Aela," we both spun round as Shadow shouted up.

"Guys, this thing is doing something weird!"

I put down the picture and followed Silver down.

"It just lit up and started making noise," Shadow said, pointing to an old Master Communications panel that was indeed trying to work.

"It's a communications unit, Shadow," I told him, then kicked the side, shutting it up, "War era piece of scrap."

"Miles!…"

The voice was garbled but definitely recognisable.

I leaned over and activated the mic, "Sally?"

"Thank Heavens… I wasn't sure this still worked."

"Only just, it sounds in need of an overhaul," I replied, "could you ask Rotor to inspect the Landlines, you're coming in pretty garbled here."

"I'll tell him… we lost contact with the Wolf Pack, they're camped in the old town on the other side of Falls Church, can you try to reach them through the landlines, we've been trying but yours is the Master unit…"

"Is the call sign for my place still Citadel?" I asked as I checked the system display, "I'm getting a reading but I can't tell if they're on the lines."

"That'll be enough… Amy was taught to tap a direct connection to the lines… if you can help them in anyway, we'll be in your debt…"

"I'll try to raise them, call you in a bit."

"I'm not getting anything off the Landlines!"

Lupe grimaced, ducking a laser bolt, "it was a long shot to try."

"We need to warn Knothole…" Amy Rose began.

"Lupus Prime, this is Citadel, Lupus Prime Respond!"

"Citadel?" Lupe asked.

"That's Tails' old place," Amy shouted, racing to the radio.

"Citadel, this is Rosebud, a large Swatbot force is attempting to break through to the Forest, you need to warn Overlord!" Amy said into the microphone.

"Confirmed, Rosebud, we're relaying now. What is the Enemy's composition?"

"Err…" Amy leans out and makes a quick count, "About three companies, but they've got tanks!"

"How Many?"

"A dozen? I don't know, I can't see through buildings," Amy snapped as one of said tanks nearly brought down a building on several wolves.

"Calm down. I want you to pull back to foothills round Falls Church, don't let the enemy see you move out of the town, use the south west sewers if you have to."

"What?" Amy demanded incredulously.

"Let's say there's a an asset at my disposal that doesn't leave much evidence of friendly fire, get clear then sit back and watch the show."

Amy and Lupe exchanged a look.

"At the least it should distract the Swatbots enough for us to escape," Lupe reasoned.

"Confirmed Citadel, we'll lure them to the central square then pull out," Amy agreed.

"Don't take too long, Hover Units are moving to reinforce."

"The Freedom Fighters are in full retreat, Sir!" a Swatbot reported.

"Very good unit Beta-Victor-thirty nine," Snively replied, then turned to his uncle, Doctor Ivo Robotnik, The Mad Emperor, "Doctor Robotnik, the Freedom Fighters are being herded into the town's main square!"

"That's good, Snively, Very Good," Robotnik said, "Order all units to encircle and capture them."

"Very well sir," Snively turned back to the console, "Unit Beta-Bictor-thirty nine, encircle and close with the enemy, Hover units to provide close support for the Armor."

"Understood, Sir!"

"Soon Snively, very soon, we shall be rid of those troublesome wolves and the Freedom Fighters will lose a significant portion of their strength, it won't be long before we crush them once, and for ALL," Robotnik postured.

"Indubitably, Sir," Snively agreed, then looked around as an alarm activated on the console.

"Snively, what is that?" Robotnik demanded.

"Electromagnetic interference in the upper atmosphere above the engagement zone is interfering with our comm net," Snively dutifully reported, a second alarm erupted as he started work.

"Snively?!"

"Twelve metallic objects are entering the lower atmosphere at high speed, sir," Snively reported, "predicted trajectory…"

"I'm waiting, Snively?" Robotnik prompted.

Snively gulped, "Trajectory indicates they'll impact on top of the assault force."

"What!" Robotnik roared, jumping to his feet, "scatter the force!"

"Aye sir…" he turned around in time to see the monitors monitoring the assault force black out with only three being restored seconds later.

"Swatbots, report!" Snively ordered.

"Twelve high power kinetic impacts have inflicted casualties: Armor units, one hundred percent. Infantry units, seventy nine percent. Hover units, eighty eight percent," a surviving Swatbot reported.

"Oh my," Snively exclaimed, he turned to see a look of abject shock on his uncle's face, that was quickly replaced by anger.

"Snively recall the Swatbots," Robotnik ordered, stepping towards the door.

"Yes sir," Snively affirmed, turning back to carry out the order, he was in shock himself, those kind of casualties hadn't been inflicted on the Swatbots since the Great War.

"And Snively?"

"Yes Sir?"

"Find Out What Happened!"

The Pack was able to escape the town, but remained wary of the Swatbots that weren't far behind them, the first sign of something was up was when trails of fire blazed across the night sky, then what looked like twelve shooting stars hit the town.

Several of the smaller Freedom Fighters were blown over by the shockwaves, including Amy, but once the dust cleared, they began cheering.

Amy pushed herself upright and looked back to the town, most of the buildings were in ruins and the burning vehicles from the assault force both lit up the town and cast great shadows.

"Whoa!"

"Damn, you busted those bots good!"

Silver was a little more disbelieving than his companion, "What in Hades did you use?"

I pointed to a systems display, "War era Orbital platform, there's seven I was able to hack before Robotnik destroyed the rest, only five remain but I still have the Master Authorisation codes. Armament is four Magnetic Accelerator Cannons, twelve high explosive missiles and a Goldeneye Particle Cannon and standard point defence auto cannon."

"What were they needed for?" Shadow wondered.

"Missile defence and strategic area denial," I explained as I powered down the satellite.

"Overlord to Citadel."

"Citadel copies, how'd we do?" I reply.

"Brilliant, I can't thank you enough for getting them out."

"A bottle of twelve year old scotch would settle it," I suggest cheekily.

"Miles… what'll I do with you?"

"Count yourself lucky there's someone else whose diet consists of more than just chili dogs and soda," I suggest.

"That'd be nice… any chance of you coming to visit?"

"I have my own war to fight," I remind her, "my new mission begins tomorrow, I won't have time."

Sally sighed "… a lot of people would love to see you again, even for a few hours and the Alpha of the Wolfpack will want to thank you."

"Can't help it, I've got work to do," I say apologetically.

"Ok, good night Miles," she finishes.

"Night Sall," I close the channel and shut down the unit, I look at the two hogs, "I'm going to finish unpacking then hit the sack, see you two tomorrow."

The two say good night as I leave, heading off to their own rooms, once I close the door I feel the tiredness hit me, instead I place my duffel on a chair, place Aela's picture on the bedside cabinet and sit on the bed to untie my boots, before climbing under the covers still in my BDU, sleep claiming me in seconds.

AN: Tails is the only SGC personnel on Mobius after the initial upgrade to his house, the Chiefs don't see Mobius as a threat but want to keep an eye on Robotnik as well as recover potentially useful technology if possible, as Tails knows how to operate there he is currently the only operative though he has permission to recruit local help. Stargate timeline is currently early Season Two, but I might change that.