domi|note
Thanks to Exploder, HalfWright, xXCookieGiverXx, SmallSpek, Angel-of-Energy, A Ugly faic, cutelittlefreak, WelshScot,ChaoCream, LordCooler, Pirony, Ficfan421 and L.L x C.C for reviewing the last chapters.
Enjoi.
There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm. ~Willa Cather
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Anthem of Our Dying Day
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Chapter Four
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"Why don't we run away? We can leave all our problems at the door."
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Hell Yeah by Zebrahead
There was a bar hidden deep inside Tails' half mechanical brain labelled 'Urge-to-kill Meter' and at the moment the needle was fluctuating between 'Dormant Psychopath' and 'Homicidal'. A pulsing monster commonly known as 'Headache' was making its presence known in his temple and the overbearing heat wasn't doing anything to make the situation easier now that anger was starting to flare in his blood. The school holidays were meant to be for relaxation or the general avoidance of all things legal and bad in the world, like homework and bed-times.
Normal fourteen-year-olds didn't have to deal with this kind of shit.
"We must have come to the wrong garage," Wave said, trying to push her team-mates out the door, "we're looking for the best one in Soleanna." The snide remark immediately started to make his blood boil. He just wanted to go to bed or something.
"Well you're looking at it," the fox snarled, "but by all means go find one with more than six years experience, better equipment, and lower pricing. Have fun makin' sure they aren't bugged, because if they are, Egg Pawns will be rippin' you apart before you can get outta Soleanna. And as a bonus, you don't get to deal with this jackass." Tails jerked his finger in Shadow's direction, and the hedgehog's eyes widened slightly. It made sense; he probably hadn't seen the mechanic this pissed off in a while.
"Sorry," Shadow smiled sarcastically, "his grammar turns a little iffy when he's agitated."
The confused looks that the birds exchanged gave him a small bit of satisfaction, but he was still incredibly riled up. In one day- and not just any day either, the start of the school holidays- he'd taken in some kind of narcissistic weirdo, gotten his shoelaces stolen, broken some top quality solar modules and encountered these egotistic Gear riders, which had made him realise exactly how utterly lacking in skill he was.
"Maybe we should head somewhere else," Wave murmured, starting to push the boys out of the doors again.
"Fine," Tails replied pettily, crossing his hands over his chest.
"But Wave!" Jet interjected, ducking under her arm, "It's getting dark soon and we don't have much money for a hotel."
"Hate to interpolate, but we run a cheap hotel service as well," Shadow smirked, and the birds looked between each other, unable to really contemplate the news.
"What are you saying?" Tails hissed, gripping Shadow's elbow.
"I'm not sleeping here tonight, it's not my problem," the hedgehog threw Tails the keys and strode out of the garage.
The yellow fox whipped himself around the door of the garage and pegged a nearby wrench at him, which the hedgehog ducked, as he usually did, "Fine, you shameless slut!" It was unfortunate that Shadow derived some sick enjoyment from such claims, and simply waved in response. That bastard knew that Tails was too kind-hearted to leave people out on the streets, especially people with Gear he was so completely fascinated with. Shadow liked to indulge himself.
In two-cent hoes, Tails reminded himself bitterly before he turned back to the birds that were standing there awkwardly, unsure of what to do, "What?"
"Was he serious about the housing thing?" Jet asked, his demeanour weaker than before. It seemed that his proud exterior could also fall victim to penniless situations, like the one he was in now.
Tails shrugged nonchalantly. It seemed that yelling his frustration at Shadow vented a little bit of anger out of his hyped up system, "It's no official service but everyone that lives here pays for food, water and electricity, equally for the amount of time that they stay here."
Wave stepped forward again, a little quizzical at the request, "Wait a second, so you don't actually charge people for shelter in the first place?"
Tails shook his head, despite the prickling annoyance he felt towards the older bird, "No. It just seemed a little stupid to me. I normally earn enough rings to pay for the Crisis City housing tax by myself. My friends help me out when I need it though."
"So it'd be alright for us to stay here?" Jet asked sheepishly.
"We only have one room left, tonight you guys would have to sleep on the couch, but if you were to stay any longer than that you'd have to share the spare room."
"Done it before," Storm shrugged, looking at his shorter team mates, "no biggie."
The green hawk nodded, though it seemed this option pained him, they probably knew the danger that lingered in Crisis City's streets, "We'll pay for the things we use but we need the garage supplies more than any of that."
"Will you be requiring my assistance?"
"No offence, but we don't trust anyone but Wave with our gear," Jet shifted his eyes in the bird's direction, watching as Tails blue irises flickered from her back to him, "Shit, we haven't introduced ourselves, haven't we? I'm Jet the hawk."
"Wave the swallow," she supplied a little reluctantly, turning to their final member as Storm made a heroic pose that had Tails smiling.
"Storm the albatross!" If he had a cape he would have looked like a superhero.
"There are some -unlike you- that might have heard of us," Jet said rolling down the edges of his gloves to reveal flame-like tattoos, "We're the Babylon Rogues."
If Tails had been drinking water he would have spat it into their faces. The Babylon Rogues! Extreme Gear rider extraordinaires! No wonder he didn't think of them immediately! He wouldn't assume they'd want to visit a city like Soleanna, where their Extreme Gear would be illegal to ride.
"I have heard of you," Tails said, feigning indifference, just thinking of all the times he had completely embarrassed himself in the last day.
"And?"
The yellow fox growled at their conceited behaviour, "What should it matter? Whether you're famous or not, I would not leave someone to the horrors of Crisis City streets." And at least while they were here, he could get a look at how their Extreme Gear had been constructed, "I'll be requiring an explanation from you though, if you're going to be staying here."
There was a long drawn out sigh from the green hawk but he nodded his head and they followed him up the stairs in single file, "Yeah, sure, whatever."
Runaway by Artist vs. Poet
"More?" Sonic howled when he saw the Rogues, "Tails, I'm sure I stopped lecturing you when you were eight about collecting weird things. First it was frogs, then it was rocks, and now you're collecting narcissistic bums that you find on the street!"
"Please Sonic, that was six years ago," his tone sounded on the edge of sarcastic and annoyed, and even he couldn't tell the difference between the two as he led them up the stairs. They were looking around at the 'wonderful' accommodations, probably wondering how they were going to recover from such a horrific experience as this one.
"Tails, I don't know if I can take much more of your 'Good Samaritan' tendencies," Knuckles said from his post on the couch. The bastard has taken all the good pillows and built a weird fort out of them while he flipped through an Extreme Gear magazine he had left on the coffee table.
"Unfortunately, I make up for the rest of you," Tails muttered darkly as he trotted down the steps towards the living room, gesturing for them to sit on the couch around Knuckles, "Here's the couch, and I'll probably be spending the rest of the evening trying to clear out the rest of the useless junk in the storage room, until then make yourself at home. Silver will act as your tour guide." The fox looked up to see the silver hedgehog peeking over the edge of the third floor's balcony before he waved idiotically, "He's the weirdo looking like a creeper up there."
The hedgehog let out an irritated huff and Tails turned to Knuckles who was steadily sinking deeper into the couch, "Shouldn't you be getting started on dinner, Knux... or is it someone else's turn?"
A small sound of annoyance passed his lips before he nodded his head and sunk deeper, "Before Tails heads to the third floor," Sonic interrupted them, claiming his favourite bean-bag in front of the television and turning it around to face them, "I think it'd be nice to know why three birdies like yourselves are down in the dumps when people with your talent are worshiped in this city."
Jet shrugged, seemingly iffy about telling Sonic anything, "There isn't much to tell."
"Summarise it."
The hawk hissed and spat out his explanation, "We came here for the Soleanna Grand Prix, but when Eggman saw our ship he gunned it down. Our zeppelin originally came from an air force so he must have thought us someone who wanted to oppose him, ultimately taking down everything that we own except our Extreme Gear."
Though he seemed sincere enough, Tails couldn't help feeling like there was more to their tale than what they were saying, but it wasn't a surprise. Everyone held their secrets.
"We've been trying to find jobs, but we were caught riding Extreme Gear by 'Egg Pawns', as you call them," Wave sighed, "and they damaged our Gear. Talk in the Underground led us to your garage, and here we are."
"Is that why you were trying to chase us before?"
"We thought that you were in a race," Storm said, "at least if you were racing we'd be able to bag the cash, but you guys were just trying to get back here."
"Ultimately ruining our plan."
"Ugh, shut up," Wave demanded, "the thought of starting from scratch again is hurting my head."
"I can go grab some aspirin," Tails murmured, getting up and walking into Shadow's room, striding out and vaulting off the couch, flying to the second floor.
"You guys aren't Anti-Mutant, are you?" Sonic asked. By the silence he got in return Tails assumed that they weren't. That was a relief.
"We've got abilities that can be considered 'super human', so we're in the same boat as you guys," Jet said, relaxing Tails before he remembered something and he slammed into the balcony, freaking out the birds downstairs.
"I just remembered that it was Shadow's turn to cook dinner!"
There was a collective groan from Sonic and Knuckles as they squashed their heads into the nearest pillows, "Maybe we should call take-out?"
"We called take-out on Tuesday, we can't do it again," Amy said, emerging from her room, "but maybe you could make an exception for the new guests?"
Tails looked in the till they reserved for buying take-out, but only three lousy rings lay at the bottom of the jar. They weren't even platinum rings, they were only bronze, and he had a feeling he'd contributed two of those.
"Listen," Sonic said, "this is really embarrassing but we don't really have any edible food but for what our friend Shadow cooked. And… this is putting it mildly; he's one of the worst cooks this side of Soleanna."
"Can't be that bad," Jet admitted.
Amy started giggling as Tails filled the glass of water, getting Shadow's cooking out of the dingy old fridge. The fox would have started laughing if it weren't for the fact that he knew he'd be eating what looked to be random bits of charcoal in a bed of stale rice. He made his way down to the second floor, giving Wave the aspirin to which she accepted politely, albeit a little reluctantly.
"So who are you guys?" the albatross asked curiously, and Tails decided that Storm was probably his favourite, obviously the kindest out of all of them, despite being a little dim.
"Ah, ridiculous, I can't believe we forgot to introduce ourselves," Sonic grinned, slapping his knee, "The name's Sonic the hedgehog."
Tails nodded towards them, not really as amused as his blue brother, "Tails Prower."
"Pink one up there is Amy Rose, Couch Potato over here is Knuckles."
"Oh my God! Metal Knuckles?" Storm exclaimed, eyes wide with child-like curiosity, "Can I see your hands?"
The red echidna rolled his eyes, "If I had a ring for every time I heard that…" Despite that, he removed his hands from between the pillows displaying regular organic hands, and a collective breath that all of the Babylon Rogues were holding rushed out in a miniature gust.
"Why'd ya wanna 'ssociate with someone like that anyway?"
"The former Metallix Brothers. Urban legends are one of the reasons we wanted to come to Soleanna in the first place," Wave admitted, an excitement in her eyes that Tails hadn't seen before. She looked kind of pretty like that, not scowling and more like a real teenage girl instead of the harsh woman that had snapped at him before, "you're locals, do you know if they exist?"
"Oh Metal Sonic exists alright," Knuckles scowled, something that he always did when he was referring to the metal rodent, "I'm not sure about the other two though."
"Oi! There ent no doubt 'bout the Tails Doll fella. He's no corporeal psycho babble the likes a which Silver tends ta entertain 'imself with," stated a very familiar voice.
Clambering up the stairs were Silver and Marine, a raccoon who was Blaze's Royal Mechanic, a position Tails would admit he was incredibly envious about, but whose mutant appearance forbid him from achieving. He'd never share this with the smaller raccoon because on many accounts Blaze had told him that Marine looked up to Tails, having been her former mentor and all.
"Ya serious?" Sonic called, rushing over to the raccoon in a blinding flash. The speed in which he ran over frightened the Rogues, who watched the papers around the coffee table fly up in a disturbed gush.
"Yeah!" The thirteen-year-old said animatedly, "He was all 'Can-ya-feel-the-sunshine?' and I was all like; 'Holy-green-jackeroos!' I'm tellin' ya, it was horrific, but he ent such a bad guy. Got me over to this place, safe as houses," she winked her large blue eyes, "he had ta split, but I came over here ta tell ya about the guy that saved me. His name's WelshScot, and he might be needin' some help with some of that bloody fat-man's robots."
"C'mon, let's go!" Sonic announced, grabbing Marine's hand and leading her down the stairs, "And we'll be getting chilli dogs on the way back."
"You guys don't want dinner first?" Amy grinned from over the balcony.
"Who's cookin'?" Marine called.
"Shad-"
"Aaaand we'll be off mates!" she grinned before Sonic and the raccoon had disappeared into the garage. There was a tumble from upstairs and Caleb slammed into the balcony, looking fresh from his bed in the same clothes he had fallen asleep with.
"Did someone say Welshald Scottman?"
"Yeah. Something along those lines, why?" Silver snapped, at the same time Tails said, "I think you're saying it wrong."
He'd heard of him before, as 'WelshScot' though. One of the only mutant medics in all of Soleanna strong enough to stand up to Eggman oppression. A very dangerous profession for sure. Tails had never encountered the man, having never been in an Extreme Gear collision that he couldn't handle himself. He'd gone to Doctor Quack whenever a sickness or injury was too much for him to handle.
Caleb ignored the tone and looked about the bottom floor frantically, "I've been trying to find him for the last two years." He grabbed the railing off the balcony, performing an arc in the air, maneuvering his wrist to sit against the frames with feet balanced at the edge of the flooring before he dropped to the second floor, landing like a cat, "You have no freakin' idea how hard it is to find that guy. Bloody pro-mutant doctors are near extinct."
"Shame that traceur talent is wasted on a jackhole," Silver murmured before piping up and saying, "Why would ja need a pro-mutant medic unless…?"
"That ain't exactly any of your business, Cockatoo. Stick ta courtin' your girlfriend, lord knows you already have enough trouble with her," he snarled, eyeing the Rogues quickly before cracking his neck.
"How do you know about me and Blaze?" Silver replied defensively.
"You're not the only one that gets packages for New City," the brown fox replied cattily.
"Ch'yeah, forgot you would, bein' Rapidi Solis' golden-boy," Silver sneered, turning away from him.
"I worked for it, so you can stop bein' a conceited sod, Hedgehog and prance off with the fairies for a bit."
Anger flared in Tails at the way that the new comer treated Silver, a long time friend but he couldn't be outright rude to him because Caleb was right… a bit. He unclenched his fists and turned to the fox who had started making his way up the stairs, "Hey, Caleb, want some dinner?"
He gave a small little shrug and went over to Amy who'd caught on to Tails and offered the fox a bowl of the charcoal black indistinguishables. There was a strange silence as he scooped some into his mouth and chewed on it, Tails watched from his vantage point on the first floor as Caleb observed the strange look Amy was giving him. He swallowed the food and tilted his head to the side, "What'cha lookin' at, Pinky?"
"How'd you eat that?"
Caleb rolled his eyes, "Oh golly gosh, you folk ain't tryin' ta poison me, are ya?" He asked in a thick Southern accent before reverting back, "I'm not a picky eater. Try it. It isn't that bad."
Silver and Tails rushed up to see what was happening, leaving the three birds on the couch baffled. Knuckles probably would have gotten up, but he looked too reluctant to leave his little pillow fort. It was a strange phenomenon, when Shadow made something that was actually edible. Damn, if only Sonic was here.
They watched Amy dip her spoon into the offered bowl and chew on the supposed-food in fascination before gagging and spitting the substance up, "Bleugh!"
Caleb shrugged and took the food up to his room, leaving Silver and Tails laughing hysterically. They just knew it was too good to be true.
Ice Box (Cover) by There For Tomorrow
He woke up the next morning sleeping on the only bed that had been uncovered in the spare room, immediately plodding over to the kitchen and turning on the smaller T.V to see what Sonic had accomplished overnight. Amy was awake already, making coffee and breakfast by the stove.
"Channel 27 reporting! Our crew has found the dismantled pieces of seven Eggman robots at the docks of New City, next to five mutilated bodies."
"That must have freaked Sonic out," Amy murmured, and Tails nodded, accepting the steaming cup of coffee she offered him.
"There are no witnesses, but the remaining circuitry of some of the robots reveals footage of a mutant with scales along his arm, and a brief glance at a man with a fox mask in a trench coat, with a small red gemstone hanging from the top of his head.
"There are no more signs of the mutant; he seems to have completely disappeared. But could this be the elusive Tails Doll? Soleanna's own urban legend? We'll have more updates after the break."
"It's a shame the Babylon Rogues aren't up to see this," the words were muffled by the rim of his cup. He'd fallen asleep contemplating the mysterious birds, and the true reason they could be in Soleanna. Sure, the Soleanna Grand Prix could be a valid excuse, but it definitely wasn't enough motive to come to a city that despised all that they lived for, which would happen to be Extreme Gear. They could have easily gone somewhere else; Soleanna wasn't the only cities vying for their attention, like Apotos. Why risk coming somewhere so dangerous?
Amy gave an affirmative grunt when Heartbreak Made Me a Killer by Short Stack started playing from upstairs. Tails and Amy watched as Caleb made his way down, zipping up his jeans, pulling on his shirt and sliding on his jacket, all without even a decent 'hello' before he disappeared through the garage door. Tails cocked his head to the side.
"How come his job is so demanding, while Sonic and Silver's isn't?" Amy mused.
"Yeah… they work for the same company don't they?"
"Curious…" the hedgehog sighed before turning back to the toast, basking in the early morning light. Mornings in Crisis City were always the same, and almost hard to distinguish between the dusk and dawn with sunlight awash with yellow and orange as it swooped over the horizon in a gentle arc. He normally never woke up this early. He wondered what had prompted the change in his sleeping schedule, especially when he was up so late working.
"What's the agenda for today?" Amy grinned, offering him a plate of buttered toast.
He took a piece and mulled the question over, "I don't have anything past cleaning the storage room so that the guests can sleep in there, but that could take up the entire day."
"Good luck with that, I've got hairdressing lessons from nine to four."
"Have fun," Tails replied dryly.
"Well, learning would be easier if there was someone with longer fur around." She noted, crossing her arms across her chest, annoyed.
"Caleb has a pony-tail, it goes halfway down his back," Tails observed, wondering how that strange fact had made itself known in his mind. Amy obviously shared the thought, looking at him strangely before shaking his head.
"Uh-uh. He'd probably bite my hand off if I tried."
Tails snorted into his drink at the accuracy of it. He had no doubt that was how Caleb would react.
"Yeah, that's right. Choke on your coffee," Amy laughed gleefully.
There was another thunk from upstairs and Silver came down, his quills a mess of bed-hair, muttering something along the lines of 'stupid early risers' before ducking behind Tails, taking a sip of his drink.
"Hey!"
"It's your fault that I need it, this… devil's liquid. I hate coffee," he growled, amber eyes narrowing at the fox who glared right back. There wasn't any reason to ask why he was being such a prat, Tails already knew. But it's not like he could do anything about it, Silver needed to stop stealing things, he wasn't a pick-pocket any more, "So do you know if Sonic or Shadow came back last night?"
"Shadow came back," Tails affirmed.
"How do you know?"
"The bottom floor smells like whore."
Amy cringed at his bluntness, but Tails didn't know how to put it any other way without making the situation seem awkward. Shadow was a womaniser, no amount of lying would make it any different, "Alright, but what about Sonic?"
"Not sure," Tails stood up and looked over the balcony, noticing that Sonic's door was open, "but I'm pretty sure he's not, or we probably would be able to hear his snoring."
"Whatever," Silver sighed, rubbing his eyes, "I'll probably go and visit Blaze today."
"Ugh, will no one stay to help me?"
"You totally brought this on yourself," Amy smirked over her mug of hot chocolate.
Tails dragged his hands down his face, but he had to agree with her, "Yeah. Fine."
They dispersed after that. After brushing his teeth he headed back to the spare room and rolled up his sleeves.
"Have at thee, useless junk!"
