Author's Note: Should I have warned y'all that this story is dark...? Should that have been a thing that happened? Yeah, this ain't a bright one!

Chapter Two: Simple Curiosity

Silver was not expecting to wake up. He had been fully prepared to die with his squad. Either survival instinct had forced him to throw up a force field to protect his body, or Infinite had wanted a prisoner. Either way, Silver opened his eyes to the bright white light of a chamber. He was strapped down with his hands unable to move.

"We're so glad you've graced us with your presence."

"The pleasure is all mine, Doctor," Silver said through clenched teeth. His eyes darted around the room, but he didn't see the man. Clearly Eggman was not confident enough in the abilities of his restraints or else he'd be gloating to Silver's face.

"The last of your petty rebellion remains a minor annoyance, and I'd like to wipe them out at the earliest convenience. If you could be so kind as to tell me where they are, that would be a great help to me."

Silver smiled. He knew that Eggman knew their base was set up in Station Square, but he most likely was unsure where. Eggman was probably not in the mood to completely obliterate the entire city in the off chance that he would kill those who remained. He smiled. "My name is Silver the Hedgehog," he started, "my number is 132."

Eggman sighed. "Yes, yes! If you tell me where they are, I'll let you live."

"My name is…" Electricity coursed through his body. The pain was so unexpected that he let loose a howl as his muscles contracted. The shock ended just as quickly as it had started. "Silver… the hedgehog…" he continued.

"He will not break, Doctor," Infinite said. "Shall I convince him?"

"This one is more immune to your powers," Eggman said, "but you may if you so desire."

The masked creature walked into the room through a small door. "Hello, my psychic friend," he said. "If you cooperate, then this will go so much easier for you. Just tell us where the Resistance is, Silver, and we all can go on our merry ways. Perhaps even your little friends will be allowed to live."

Silver stared down at the scarred and beaten mask. He had put a few dents in that thing. "My name is Silver…"

Infinite laughed, cutting him off. "You think you can fight this? We'll get the answer out of you one way or the other! We have all the time in the world and you're just prolonging your suffering. Perhaps you should give us what we need."

"I'd rather die."

"I know you would… When we're done with you, you will wish you were dead." Silver braced himself, but Infinite shook his head. "No, not now, but soon."

"What are you doing?"

"Wearing him down, Doctor. Take him to his cell."

A couple robots came in at his command and unstrapped Silver. "You know, Infinite, sometimes I wonder who is really in charge of this operation," the hedgehog muttered.

Infinite laughed quietly. "I don't."

The robots dragged Silver out of the room and into a small, secluded cell. He shrugged and walked to a corner. "Well, I have to give them credit for not putting me near the other prisoners," he mused. He sat down and fiddled with his gloves. He needed a way to contact Knuckles. Escaping wasn't going to work. He had to make the most of being a prisoner here. He was, in fact, in Eggmanland after all. They had been trying to infiltrate it for years and Eggman had never taken prisoners of the higher profile, preferring to kill those so they didn't have time to escape. Perhaps he really was feeling the pressure if he had taken such a high profile prisoner.

"And they think I'm dead," Silver said. That actually worked to his advantage. There would be no doomed rescue attempts. He felt bad about hiding it from them, and he needed to at least let one of them know he was still alive, but he also needed a way to contact them without giving Eggman a way to track the signal.

What didn't work to his advantage was that the cell was surrounded by the same force field that Eggman had equipped his robots with, preventing him from using his powers to escape. Silver sighed. What could they possibly do to get him to talk? Ten years had hardened him and he'd rather kill himself than give away their location. He put his hands behind his head with a grunt. It wouldn't hurt to get some rest. He imagined that over the next few days, he and Infinite were going to become good friends.


Tails held the smaller version of the Miles Electric in his hands, moving the device around to get a better look at it. It wasn't bad. He could have done better, but whatever mechanic they now had on staff had done a fair job at it. When the sound of metal footsteps hit him, Tails flinched. "Hey, kiddo…" Knuckles said quietly. Tails didn't look up. "Don't worry about Shadow, okay? He's just been through a lot…"

"How many?" Tails asked without looking. "How many are dead?"

"Let's not worry about that right now," Knuckles tried.

"No. I want to know."

The mattress shifted as Knuckles sat down in the bed beside him. He sighed. "Amy died not long after Sonic disappeared. Eggman had set up a small fortress outside of Westopolis. We figured that somehow he managed to kidnap both of you. It was a quick raid. We walked into a trap and basically faced a firing squad. Rogue died not long after that in an attempt to go undercover. Infinite found her out and we never heard from her again… A lot died in the bombing of the Mystic Ruins and Vector…" His voice cut off and then he laughed. Tails turned to him with a concerned expression. "I'm sorry… I can't remember how Vector died…"

Tails pulled his knees to his chest, fighting back tears as he tried to process the information. "And Silver?"

"Died this morning," Knuckles said in such a blunt way that Tails flinched. "His squad got caught in an explosion."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Knuckles said. "Despite what Shadow says, it's not your fault that this happened. You said you were only gone a couple hours. You didn't know that this would happen."

Tails finally turned to Knuckles. The robotic parts looked decent enough, but it still made him sick to see his friend as part robot.

"It's not so bad," Knuckles said.

"I could probably upgrade it… maybe make it a bit more like flesh, if you want."

"Maybe some other time…" Knuckles said. "Right now, Tails, we need to defeat Eggman. For good… and we can't do that without you. You are the one thing that Eggman isn't expecting. He's spent all his time developing ways to counter us, but not you. It's been ten years, even. He might have forgotten how to fight you."

Tails looked down at the Miles Electric and ran his hand over the small screen. "Is Sonic dead?"

"I don't think we need to focus on if he's dead or not."

"Do you think he's still alive?"

Knuckles sighed. "No, I don't," he said. "It's been ten years, Tails… If he's still alive, where would he be? I don't want to be pessimistic about it, but I also want to be realistic. We can't afford to sit around thinking that he could be alive and then wait for him."

"What about the other Sonic?"

"Did you bring him back with you?" Knuckles asked. Tails shook his head. "Then we're on our own." Tails fell back on the bed. Was Knuckles asking him to die? That seemed like a very real possibility, and he wasn't sure he could blame him if that was what was expected. "Tails, I know this is a lot to take in. We've had years to get used to this new reality, and you've only had a couple hours, but we don't have time to let you get to understand this. Eggman could find this base at any time, or just nuke the city if he gets desperate enough."

Tails closed his eyes. It wasn't like that would be the first time Eggman would have tried to bomb the heck out of Station Square. Tails sat up. "What's the plan?"

A few minutes later, Tails was standing in what looked like an operation room. Monitors were set up, showing the world and what it had turned in to. "Where's Westopolis?"

"That's Eggmanland now," Knuckles said with a shrug. "And we're going to infiltrate it… but we can't just rush in"

"Eggman's gotten extremely efficient at keeping us at bay."

Tails turned to see Espio standing in the doorway with Charmy standing behind him, smiling. Tails could almost laugh. The bee was no longer the kid he had once known. The urge to smile vanished at the thought that Vector was dead and Knuckles didn't even remember how he died.

"So, what's he been doing?" Tails asked.

"Heat tracking to counter my invisibility, force fields to counter Silver's telepathy, bullet-proof metals to protect his robots, a crush-proof weaving in the metal to counter Knuckles' punches and robots that hit Mach speeds to fight Shadow," Espio said. "Over-all, he's gotten better at this game and without a mechanic, we haven't been able to counter."

"We have a mechanic," Charmy interrupted. "She's just not as good as Tails, ya'know?"

"She?"

"Yep. You'll meet her soon enough," Knuckles said. "But for now, we need to figure out a plan."

"I need to know what we're dealing with," Tails said. "I want one of Eggman's robots."

Espio looked at Knuckles. "That's a hard order, kid. Not many of us can take one down single-handedly anymore."

Knuckles nodded. "But Tails needs to know what he's fighting."

"Then send him."

"I can't. We can't let Eggman know that he's back. If we do, he'll upgrade the bots quicker."

Espio sighed. "I suppose that means I have to head out, doesn't it?"

"If you don't mind," Knuckles said with a roll of his eyes.

Espio grumbled something and then headed out of the room with Charmy running off behind him. "Will he be okay?"

"He'll be fine," Knuckles said. "It'll be easy to get a single robot here, don't worry. Come on, then, let's go meet that mechanic." Tails followed Knuckles through the base. His ears fell flat as they walked through because some of the other animals glared hard at him. "Ignore them."

"Easier said than done…" Tails muttered.

Knuckles led him into a small workshop. "Kyte," he called. "Someone's here to see you!"

There was the sound of metal shifting and then their mechanic stepped out into the open. She appeared to be a dog. Most of her body was covered in tactical gear and what little fur could be seen on her face was stained with grease. Through the grease, though, he saw that her fur was light grey. "Oh… Oh my! Miles Prower?" she gasped. Her tail wagged happily. She grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously. "It's a pleasure, Mr. Prower!" Tails looked at Knuckles, concerned. He shrugged. "I hope you don't mind what I did to the Miles Electric. It was a stroke of genius, but it needed some upgrades."

"N-no, It's alright," Tails said sheepishly. "I haven't had a chance to properly look at it, but I think that it'll be fine." He looked around the workshop. The dog, Kyte, seemed to be pretty good at mechanics. And then he noticed her legs. They were robotic. He turned back to Knuckles.

"Some of us are just lucky to be alive," he said.

"It's nothing," Kyte said.

"Eggman got a hold of her and roboticized her," Knuckles explained.

"Yeah, but I got better, and now I help out here!" She handed Tails another hand held. "See, these are the changes I made!" She launched into an explanation of the new and improved Miles Electric and Tails tried to keep up with a lot of the new lingo used around technology. He was beginning to realize that ten years was an eternity in the technological world.

Knuckles stepped forward just when Tails thought his head might explode from all the new information. "Thank you, Kyte, but I think Tails needs to rest. He's had a big day."

"Yessir!" Kyte said with a quick salute. Knuckles smiled at her. "And, welcome back, Tails." She bowed slightly to him. "I mean it when I say it's good to have you back."

"I… look forward to working with you," Tails muttered. He followed Knuckles out of the workshop and back into the bunks. "I don't know, Knux… They seem to hate me, and the ones that don't hate me are putting this whole operation into my hands."

"Having you back may give them the hope we've needed," Knuckles said. "I'm not saying that we're going to win, Tails, but I am saying that we are going to try. We have to get you back to your time so you can prevent this all from happening."

"Yeah…" Tails closed his eyes and put his head on his knees. Knuckles didn't say a word for a while and the two sat in silence. "I'm sorry…"

"There's no need to apologize," Knuckles assured him.

Tails wanted to argue, but he didn't have it in him. All this was too much for him to handle. Not even a day ago, everything was fine. They had just won a war and they were celebrating their victory over the Eggman Empire. Things were going back to normal… And now, it was ten years later and they were fighting another war, and losing miserably.

Knuckles stood and left him alone in the room once he started crying.


Everything was going perfectly. They only had a few small sectors that weren't there's and then the world would finally fall completely. Infinite stared out of the window at the robotic city below. Eggmanland, he called it. It was a silly name for a silly goal, but what truly was to be expected from a ridiculous man child?

Defeating the rest of the Resistance should be easier than the ridiculous hoops they were jumping through. If they could just kill that last Echidna, the entire operation would fall apart. More than Shadow, Knuckles was keeping what little remained of their ragtag group of heroes together. Without him, they would have no focal point or reason for being. The only reason they kept fighting was to keep the memory of that annoying blue hedgehog and his fox friend alive. What ever happened to Tails anyway? Infinite shrugged at his own question. He supposed they may never find out.

"There you are."

Infinite sighed and turned to the man. "Yes, Doctor?"

"I thought you'd be torturing that annoying hedgehog."

"Patience." Infinite said. "If we overwhelm him too quickly, he will shatter. We simply want to crack him and let him bleed, not destroy him."

"Speak for yourself," Eggman snapped.

Infinite stifled the urge to roll his eyes. "You may torture the annoyance as you wish after we get what we need from him."

"I don't know why you are so eager to kill them all. They are hardly a threat to us anymore."

"But one day, they may become more than just an annoyance. If you do not want you reign challenged, then we must kill them all, and we should not wait until that day comes to break them. They are weak now. We should not let up on them for the sake of "playing fair" as you call it."

Eggman sighed, but didn't argue the point, much to Infinite's relief. "Do as you wish, then, Infinite."

"I shall." He said. It's not like I need your permission, Doctor. He started away from the window, leaving Eggman to stare out the window at the empire he had built. Infinite had built it alongside the man, but it wasn't his dream. His dream was to kill the rest of them and then live out the rest of his life in peace. It didn't matter if his peace was in the Eggman Empire or not. He was over this stupid war. "Doctor."

"What?"

"I think it's time we brought out the weapon."

"It's not ready."

"I will make it ready." Eggman frowned. "Oh, don't tell me you are getting nostalgic, Doctor."

"Nonsense. Do what you think is best. We can't afford to stumble at the finish line."

Infinite laughed. "Doctor, do you really think we're still running a tight race? We gained the lead years ago and now we're just lapping them. We just need to get them off the course now and end this rat race." He looked back at the man and smirked behind his mask when he saw Eggman's face. Infinite knew that sometimes he scared the Doctor. Eggman was, for all his ridiculous evil tendencies, a kinder person than it really took to rule the world with an iron fist. Infinite didn't doubt his abilities, but he also didn't think that Eggman had the heart for slaughter most of the time. If he did, their weapon would have been deployed by now.

He got into the elevator and ended in the middle floor where they were keeping Silver. "Hello, psychic."

"You know, people do have names," Silver said.

"I know. Come with me."

Silver stood. "Oh, goody! Are we going back to the interrogation room?"

"No," Infinite said in the most deadpan way possible. He stepped into the cell and cuffed Silver around the wrists and ankles to keep him from running and using his powers.

"So, where are we going?"

"You will see."

Silver walked a little faster to walk beside his captor. "I mean, if you don't want to call me by my real name, you can call me by my fur color…"

"You think you are funny?"

"No, but humor is a good way to get through a bad situation," Silver said.

"I suppose." Infinite looked down at his feet. "But humor won't help you here. This war is won, my friend, and nothing that you do here will change that. I would apologize, but I feel like lying at this point would be superfluous."

"Did Eggman but a thesaurus in you?"

Infinite shoved Silver into the elevator and pressed the bottom floor. "No," he said after a few minutes.

"No?"

"Eggman didn't program a thesaurus in me, I just read a lot while I'm in here between killing you all."

Silver chuckled nervously. "Well… Okay, then…" The ride down might have been awkward to Infinite if he cared, but he didn't. But Silver was shifting uncomfortably beside him. To his credit, the hedgehog was smart enough not to try and attack him in the elevator. Infinite was glad for that. He didn't want to have to kill Silver too early.

The elevator dinged, and they stepped out into the dark corridors. They had one thing down there. Silver was a lot more subdued in the catacombs. He must have known that something terrible was waiting for him.

Infinite walked up to a metal door and slammed on it. "You have a visitor."

Silver stepped forward and peeked into the small, barred window. "I don't see anything," he said.

Infinite slammed on the door again, harder this time. Mechanical movements came from inside the room and a single red eye came from the shadows. Infinite smiled. In the blink of an eye, the thing inside rushed forward and a mechanical arm reached through the bars with an almost unearthly, robotic snarl. Silver jumped back, but his eyes widened in the realization. He ran back towards the door, but the prisoner had retreated back into the darkness.

Silver dropped to his knees and put his head on the metal door with a pained moan. Infinite crossed his arms and looked back into the room. The cyborg had been nearly driven mad. Infinite looked down at Silver and smirked. "Ten years without seeing the sun, thinking everyone was dead, and unable to run does things to a hedgehog, doesn't it?"

"You monster…"

Infinite laughed. "What? No jokes? Personally, I thought you would be happy… Your hero is still alive."