Eggman showed Tails where the missiles were and how to break in without being detected. They broke in, took out their tools, and started disassembling the missiles.
"E- eggman... there's like... 1000 of them!"
"No, only 200. Don't exaggerate."
"Will we have enough time?"
"Only if Sonic stalls the men."
"Oh."
"No more talking. Let's go."
"Sorry."
They got back to work and about 20 minutes into it, Eggo stopped what he was doing. Tails looked at him and said,
"What is–"
"Somebody's outside."
"Huh?"
"Keep working." Eggo loaded 2 guns and said, "I'll take care of them."
Tails nodded and continued working on the missiles. Eggman left and pulled out a gun, cautiously leaving the room and locking the door so whoever it was couldn't harm Tails. Then he looked around the empty hall, and saw nobody. He walked a little further, and saw a paint can move. He ran to it feeling a gust of wind, and turning around. He felt another gust of wind and said,
"Sonic?" He heard something skid to a stop, and smirked as they said,
"Where's Tails?"
"He's busy right now, can I take a message?" Sonic pushed Eggo to a wall and said,
"What'd you do to him?!" Eggo chuckled.
"I didn't do anything. His decision was all his own." Sonic stared at Eggman blankly.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I believe you know what that means." Sonic looked at the floor in thought for a minute and said,
"Let me see him."
"No can do!"
"Why not?!"
"He's busy."
"Don't give me that! Where is he?!" Eggman put a gun to Sonic's head and said,
"Leave." Sonic just glowered at him and he turned off the safety.
"Now." Eggman ordered. Sonic shook his head.
"Not without Tails."
"You wanna do something?! Then stop the men dressed in black from vaporizing th planet. THEN you can see him."
Eggman pushed Sonic away, turned the safety back on his gun, and started walking back to the Nuclear missile vault. He noticed Sonic staring blankly at him and said,
"GO!"
Then Sonic looked away from him and ran off. Eggo waited a minute, the snuck into the vault. Tails had finished about half the missiles on his own, and was clearly exhausted.
"W-what was—"
"It was nothing. Get back to work."
Tails looked at him suspiciously for a moment, then went back to working on the missiles. Eggo joined him, and knew that Tails probably had a good idea of who that was, but remained at work trying not to think about it. Eggman looked at his watch.
'35 minutes 'till show time' he thought.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Sonic ran from Eggman thinking,
'That was weird. He just missed an opportunity to kill me. I thought for sure that he would try something. And men in black? A man in black handed me those pictures! If they're trying to vaporize the world... nah. Eggo's probably trying to do it, and using them as a cover-up. But... Tails? I wonder how he's doing. What did Eggman mean when he said Tails was busy? Busy doing what? Did Eggo kill him? No, he'd be too proud. He would've told me that first thing. What the heck is going on here, anyways? I'd better go find Cream and Amy and teach Eggo not to mess with my friends.'
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Amy and Cream walked with the strange guy. He hadn't said a word to them since they had partnered up, but if they weren't near him or if they were out of his sight, he'd stop and wait.
"Amy, this man is scary." Cream whispered.
"I know, but without him we're lost." Amy responded.
They were walking down a dark hall and suddenly saw a bunch of dropped papers and manilla folders on the floor.
"Hey, what're these?" Amy asked. She went to pick them up, and the man grabbed them first.
"Those are nothing."
"So let us see." He put the papers in a room and locked the door.
"Sorry about that." he said, and kept walking.
They followed him and Cream stared at him, blankly. She looked at Cheese and Cheese said,
"Chao, chao!" Pointing at the man.
"Huh?" Cream asked. Cheese did it again, and Amy said,
"What's wrong, Cream?"
"Cheese is trying to tell me something."
They looked at Cheese and Cheese pointed to the man, then Cream, then pretended to faint.
"Man you faint?" Cream asked.
"Let's keep going." The man said, grabbing Amy and Cream's forearms.
"Hang on!" Amy yelled, pushing him off.
He got a little mad and went to them grabbing them tighter. He started getting more aggressive and violent, and said,
"Let's GO!"
Suddenly in a flash, the man got taken out and fell between Amy and Cream, hitting the floor, KO'd. They looked and saw Sonic dizzily sitting on top of the man, panting. Then Cream gasped as she muttered,
"Man kill you."
"Sonic! What're you doing here?" Amy asked, giving him a hug.
"St-stay away from the men in black."
"Huh?"
Sonic told him his version of what had just happened, and they couldn't believe it.
"Eggo's partnered with Tails?!" Cream asked.
"Eggo's helping you?!" Amy asked.
"Look, I don't get it, either. But the bottom line is this; we can't trust anybody. Especially the men in black. And we should probably stick together. Now come on, guys. We have a lot to do, and I'm not so sure how long we have to do it."
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
11:55. Eggo looked around. Tails was worn out, and there were still about 20 missiles left. Eggo wiped some sweat off and said,
"Tails."
"Huh?"
"Put the waste down the chute. We don't want this place to blow."
"Okay."
"Are you okay?"
"I feel a little dizzy."
"It's almost over."
Tails checked his watch and gasped.
"We have 5 minutes!"
"Yup."
"We can't finish this!"
"Exactly. Any plans?" Tails thought about it.
"One... but... we'd have to be really careful."
"Go on."
"And it might not work."
"Tell me."
"First, tell me about the missile launcher. Does it use any flames?"
"I don't know."
"Gun powder?"
"Yes."
"Is there an area where they put missiles that are going to be launched?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Lets try to finish disabling these, and I'll tell you as we go."
"Okay." They continued working and Tails said,
"Okay, the plan isn't that complex. You know these?"
Tails ripped off a tube of nuclear acid, and Eggman nodded.
"We put one of these where they'd put the gun powder so the machine will blow up. What do you think?"
"I think you'd blow up more than just the machine." Tails shrugged.
"So you wipe out a couple rooms and bad guys. Big deal!"
"Let's see..." Eggo thought about it, rubbing his chin.
"Umm, Eggo? I have a question."
"Yes?"
"Why didn't we just destroy the machine to begin with?"
"That I was planning on leaving to Sonic."
"Huh?"
"You'll see soon."
"Why don't you tell me anything?!"
"I tell you all that you need to know."
"That person out there was Sonic, wasn't it?" Eggo leaned against a wall, and sighed.
"Answer me!"
"Yes, yes it was. But he's long gone, and there still may be enough time to finish these. We'll do the best we can, then put your plan into action."
Tails opened his mouth to object, and Eggo glared, shutting him up. Eggo continued working and heard a loud clanky sound, looking up to see Tails had finished his half, and was throwing away the waste. Eggo had 10 to go. Tails sat next to him and helped him, saying,
"Slo-mo." They started working and 2 minutes later, an alarm went off, and a red light started flashing.
"What's going on?!" Tails asked.
"They're readying the missiles! Let's go! Hurry!" Eggo yelled. He grabbed Tails' wrist and started pulling him away.
"Hang on!"
"Huh?"
"There's only 2 missiles left! Let me go!"
"There's no time!
"But Eggo–"
Eggo picked Tails up, quickly grabbed a container of nuclear acid and carried him out of the vault, locking the door behind him. He carried Tails as far as he could, then put him down, grabbed his wrist tightly, and pulled him with him.
"Eggman! I've got to finish the–"
"Trust me, it was for your own good. You would've died in there."
"But there were only 2 left! Why couldn't--"
"Shut up! Here, hold this. Be careful."
Eggo said, shoving the nuclear acid in Tails' hand. Tails quietly stared at it, and Eggo thought, 'Finally! God, I thought he'd never stop. He's such a little kid, sometimes!' Suddenly they heard,
"Stop right there, Eggman!" and looked up to see Sonic, Amy, Cream and Cheese.
Suddenly Sonic attacked Eggman, and almost brought Tails down with him. Tails gasped as he almost dropped the acid, and quickly caught it. He watched the fight and said,
"Sonic! Stop! Stop hurting him!" Sonic paused.
"Huh?"
"Quit hurting Eggman! We're on an important mission!"
"Eggman... you brainwashed Tails?! Your kidnapping days are OVER, you–"
"SONIC!!!!" Tails yelled.
Eggo looked and saw Tails holding the container of nuclear acid, and threatening to drop it.
"Tails! No!" Eggo yelled.
"Everybody, stand back! This is nuclear acid, and I'm gonna drop it if you don't listen to me."
