Mara awoke to the sound of a splash. Her neck stiffened as she tried to move her head away from the edge of the armchair she had fallen asleep in. The girl had spent the night watching the fox toss and turn as her own thoughts bounced around in her mind. So many things weighed on her mind, including her feelings for the Mobian. She had wanted to feel love just once in her life, but now it made less sense than ever. Before she ever made sense of anything exhaustion caught up with her. She wanted to apologize again, she knew now that nothing between them would ever work.

It was morning, but there was no sun to be seen, as it hadn't risen high enough in the sky to look down into the bottom of the quarry. Cool air nipped at her bare skin when she stepped through to the outside. When she peered over the edge she found the kit swimming in the metallic blue water bellow. Mara couldn't remember the last time she had been swimming.

As she climbed onto the railing the fox who had been floating on his back opened his eyes, "I don't think you want to…"

She had already decided what she was going to do and that was jump. Mara hung in the air momentarily before gravity took over and she plunged downwards toward the water. Even the twenty-foot fall seemed to take an eternity as the red rock on the wall became a blur.

The water stabbed at her with cold daggers and even before she surfaced she was screaming out in pain. With chattering teeth she pulled her head above water, trying her best to breath deeply.

"I tried to warn you," Tails said treading water next to her.

The chill had taken Mara's breath away, she could barely make a sound to respond to him, "So-o-o cold."

"The nights are always cold and the sun only hits it for a few hours a day. Come on," the fox said as he swam over to the rope latter he had hung over his balcony.

He helped Mara back on the balcony and tossed her a towel. She couldn't help but shiver in the cool morning air.

"Well I wasn't expecting this," a voice called out from inside Tail's apartment.

Mara frowned; she recognized the tone. Sally emerged from the shade.

"Did you fall in or did he get sick of you and throw you in?" She asked.

Mara didn't answer, instead she found the ground with her gaze.

"Miles, go get her some dry clothes. Perhaps something a little more appropriate for the rest of her stay here."

Tails trotted off with out so much as a word.

"Why don't you call him Tails?" Mara asked meekly.

"The same reason Julian doesn't," the squirrel replied with a grin, "It pissed him off. As for you."

Mara looked up at met Sally's gaze.

"What were you doing here?"

She didn't know how to answer that question because she still wasn't sure herself.

"That kid is confused enough. The last time he got too attached to someone I had one of my best agents floating around in the wind for close to a year. The shit he pulled…" Sally trailed off. "My point is I don't know what your intentions are, and I don't know what he sees in you. So tell me if there is something I need to know before I send the two of you into hell itself."

Mara shook her head vigorously.

"Good, because it's your life not mine that is on the line here."

Tails emerged again holding plain black khakis and a tight fitting dark green tank top. Mara stepped back inside to change out of her wet clothes.

The girl that stared back at her in the mirror was one that she had never met. Her face was tired, bruises ran up and down her bare arms and the small lively spark that used to be in her eye had been replaced with a hollow understanding of what the world was truly like. A far cry from the innocent girl in an apron and jeans she used to be.

When she stepped back out into the Tails room Sally nodded, "Much better. Rotor said he will have everything ready in a couple of hours. Until then, see that she learns something useful."

"Anything else?" Tails asked mockingly.

"Yes, find somewhere to stow that attitude of yours."

Tails growled in anger but he let her walk out of the room without uttering a word.

"What's her problem?" Mara asked still stealing glances of herself in a mirror.

"That's another long story."

"I'll be honest, I don't like her taking out her issues with you on me. I think you owe me this one."

"Fine," Tails said as he moved towards the door, "but we are not going to waste time."

Mara followed him into the hall watching as he struggled to form the words to his story.

"After Fiona was… captured, I lost it. I was bent on revenge before, but I sunk to a new level. I disappeared entirely, no one, not even Sonic could find me. I spent the better part of a month just waiting for a glimpse of Julian. Eventually I found him, learned everything there was to know about him, what he ate, what he wore, where he went. The man was practically a ghost unless you knew where to look."

Tails paused as he gathered his bearings in the hallway. "This way," he motioned before continuing. "He became an obsession. The man was and always had been untouchable to us. Yet there I was practically sharing his life from a distance, waiting for him to slip up. I have to give him credit, he never so much as took a piss alone."

The fox led Mara into a long dark room. Their voices echoed inside the cavernous space. When he flipped the lever for the lights, a shooting range appeared before her.

"So?" Mara asked, "What did you do?"

"I waited longer," Tails said as he checked the pistol he had given her the day before. "I figured the man was not impervious to mistakes, and I was right."

The fox put the gun in her hand and provided no further instruction. Mara pointed it down range with a shaky hand leaning and looking away as she pulled the trigger. She flinched with the pop and the proceeded to glance at where she had been aiming. Having hit nothing she turned to Tails hoping for some advice.

"What are you scared of?" he asked. "You're pointing it at the enemy not yourself."

"She focused herself again, inhaling deeply until the tremor in her hands were gone. She squeezed and the gun came to life again. The bullet clipped the edge of the paper, tearing a small pea sized hole in it.

"Better," the kit commented, "now all you need to do is aim."

Mara frowned. How did I get caught up in this?

"Square your hips off and don't try to crush the gun, just hold it. The harder you try the more you're going to miss. Look down the sights find what your aiming at and stop thinking."

Stop thinking, Mara laughed to herself. She wished that was possible. The silhouette was still wobbling in and out of her sights, but rather than try to line it up she just let it happen. The shot found the target this time.

"Easy right?"

"For you maybe." Mara replied reluctantly. "So what did you do to him? Julian. When you found him?"

"Keep going and so will I"

She focused again while keeping Tails voice in the back of her head.

"One day a month Julian would take a small side trip on his own. It was a lab of some kind. There was no getting inside for me, but there was still a chance to corner him."

CRACK

"Better, try not to flinch as much. So I decided to have a chat with the man. The small stretch of ally between his car and the door was nice and quiet. Trust me when I say he wasn't happy to see me."

Another shot was followed by Mara sighing in frustration.

"I told you not to try so hard." The kit said before continuing. "Our conversation was cut short because Fiona decided to interrupt. I had no idea she had been working for him, that she was still alive even."

BANG

"There you go. I hadn't seen her and she had her gun on me from behind. Kintobor just stood there and laughed. I wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad. Everything I had done up until that point was for her, but there she was working for the man I was trying to kill. Nothing made sense and I grew weak as I wrestled with what was going on."

POP

"Nice, again. If was an emotional wreck before that moment I am not sure what I was during it. At some point I got it in my head that the girl I loved couldn't possibly be the same as the one with me in her sights. She was dead to me, and in some ways that's still the truth. Fiona isn't the same person any more. Julian saw me struggling with how to handle the situation and went for the door thinking I wouldn't risk my own life just for his."

BANG

"One more time. He was wrong though. I put a bullet right in his ass, probably couldn't sit down for a week. I never thought the man would have been capable of jumping before then either."

CRACK

"But he is still alive." Mara said.

"Yeah he is, all because I let my emotions get the better of me. Shaky hands don't aim so well. He made it to the door before I could find my aim again."

"And what did Fiona do?"

"She wasn't so good at aiming either, but that was on purpose. She smiled at me, as if we were still friends before she pulled the trigger on that hand cannon of hers. I didn't stick around long enough to give her a second chance or change her mind."

"So what does that have to do with Sally? How could she be mad at you for trying to kill him."

"She isn't. Sally is mad at me for failing to kill him. Julian doesn't just sit around after someone nearly murders him. Inside of a month thousands of Mobians disappeared. We don't even know what happened to them and we never found the bodies. You asked me the other day why there were not more people here. Now you have an even better idea."

"So she blames you for that?"

The fox nodded. "I tried to put myself back together once I knew Fiona was still alive, but part of me was worse off knowing that she was probably involved with what ever Kintobor was doing to my friends. Sally seemed to agree there too and hung the fact that Fiona betrayed us around my neck."

"But Fiona didn't have a choice."

Tails shook his head this time, "Everyone has a choice but sometimes the price is just too high for some. To Sally, Fiona's choice should have been obvious."

"Your damn right," The squirrel said as she walked into the room. "Who can possibly be so selfish that they capture and kill their own kind just to save their own life? And I thought I told you to teach her self something useful!"

Tails frowned. "Considering she could barely hold a gun yesterday I didn't think this was that bad of an idea."

"Maybe you should give up on thinking then?" Sally said snidely as she walked up and pulled the gun out of Mara's hand. While she locked eyes with the fox Sally emptied what was left in the clip into Mara's target down range.

The girl stood there with a gaping jaw as every single shot landed in the center. Sally then trust the weapon back into Mara's hands. "You see, easy."

"So did you just come down here to show off?" Tails asked.

Sally smiled, "The opportunity was there, why pass it up? Just remember I am keeping an eye on you."

"Glad to know you have nothing better to do."

"And why don't you keep all of the personal details out of this adventure, lets not forget what got us into to this mess in the first place."

"Oh you mean Kintobor? That guy I tried to kill?"

"No, I mean your fragile emotions."

"You roped Mara into this, the least I can do is tell her how much shit she is wading into before you push her in anyway."

"Well now that she is neck deep could you take her to Rotor, he wants to prep her."

"What happened to a couple of hours."

"I had him speed it up, you know how I can be persuasive."

"I know how you can be a bitch, yes."

Sally glared at the fox for a long length of time before turning to leave.

"Have you ever tried being nice to her?" Mara asked.

"I gave up a long time ago. She used to be like a big sister to me. I guess there are some things where apologies just don't cut it any more. I can't say I blame her too much."

"Come on," Tails continued as he hit the switch on the lights. "Lets go see how many safety protocols Sally had Rotor skip over to get this setup so quickly."

The fox laughed when he saw the nervous look on her face, "Relax, I am only kidding. Although… I wouldn't put it past her."

"That doesn't make me feel better."

"I didn't think that it would."

Mara soon found herself lost in the long corridors again. The maze of hallways intersected at regular intervals, but it was too easy to get turned around when everything looked the same. There were no maps, markers, or obvious point to get ones bearings.

"How do you know where you're going?"

"Memory. We don't want there to be maps of this place, so we never made any. It was all done so a lone drifter couldn't come in here and size the place up and sell the information. It takes months to learn where everything is."

The lab they walked into next was enormous. The walls were lined with racks of test tubes and bright lights while tables were positioned randomly around the room with some staggeringly fancy technology in varying stages of disassembly. At the far end of the room stood a large greyish walrus in a stark white lab coat. He glanced over his shoulder but quickly returned to his work.

"Rotor," Tails called out.

"Tails," he answered. "Did you bring the girl?"

"Yes, her name is Mara."

"Very good. Have Margret sit in the chair there."

"It's Mar…"

Tails waved his hand to cut her off, "Trust me, that's as close as you are going to get."

The fox helped her into the dentist like chair. It was comfortable, but she couldn't help but feel like she was not about to enjoy what ever was going to happen next.

The walrus was not pleasing to the eyes she decided. His thick skin was wrinkled over, causing his features to distort and shift as he moved. Much of his face was often buried in a fold of blubber, making her wonder how he could even manage to see. He approached carrying a multitude of wires.

"Don't worry, these won't hurt a bit, Mary. It is Mary right?"

Mara nodded.

"Excellent," he replied as he attached the electrodes to her temples. "We are going to do our best to make sure you don't lose your memory."

"That's… uhh good. Thank you," she replied unsure if it sounded even remotely sincere.

After a dozen or so more wires where attached to her body the Walrus returned with a set of leather restraints.

"I am sorry to do this Madeline, but it's for my own safety. The last human we tried this on didn't react so well."

Mara could see Tails press his face into the palm of his hand. Obviously he had been keeping that from her and never had any intention of telling her. The kit had told her everyone had a choice, but she was struggling to see hers at the moment. She knew she could scream and Tails would save her, but what then. Sally had shown her no kindness. If I don't help the Mobians where will I go? What chance do I have on my own?

The walrus clipped on the second strap and already she could feel herself sweating. Why didn't I ask more questions? What are they about to do me?

"Now Tails, if you wouldn't mind, I would like to get a baseline on her. Can you hold up those cards on the table next to you?"

The fox reached down and held up a piece of scrap paper with two letters scribbled on it, Na.

"Ohh I know this one, that's uhh salt." Mara answered somewhat enthusiastically despite her predicament.

Rotor furrowed his brow, "Close enough I guess. The next one please."

Pb

"No idea," the girl responded.

"That should do I suppose. Now Mallory, when I put this helmet on don't be scared. You probably won't be able to hear us and you definitely wont be able to see us."

Mara closed her eyes as a curiously confusing helmet with dozens of wires weaving in and out of drilled holes was lowered over her head. Almost at once her sense were gone and the world seemed small and very confined. Never once and she felt as alone as she did in that instant. A voice called out loudly, reverberating through the helmet itself.

"Mara, just relax it will be over before you know it," a familiar voice called out from the ether.

Her eyes were darting around the inside of blackness searching for anything, but still emptiness remained. All at once the goggles came to life, nearly blinding her with a white screen, or at least she thought it was white. A hypnotic tone began to be pumped into the helmet and suddenly she lost all of her concentration. The only thing she could seem to do was stare at the light. Every so often she could make out an image, but only for a split second before it faded like the colors when she rubbed her eyes on a sunny day. The pulse in her ears increased and she slipped entirely a trance where time seemed to stand still.

She couldn't be sure how long the screen in front of her had been dark or when the pulsing sound had ceased, but slowly her conscious mind returned to her. Her head throbbed in pain as if she had spent the entire night drinking. She went to lift her hands to the helmet only to discover them stuck in place. She could feel the room shifting, or perhaps it was her. Slowly the real world returned to her as the helmet was removed. An orange two tailed fox stood in front of her holding a bucket.

"You're probably going to feel like…"

Mara felt her insides churn as her equilibrium caught up with her state. What little she had eaten was now on its way up. Tails put the pail in her lap just in time.

"Quite remarkable this girl," Rotor called out from the other side of the room. Not even the slightest indication of brain damage. She must be quite capable mentally."

Mara was not quite sure how to take that. She had never bothered to study; instead she just picked up where her parents had left off with the diner. Perhaps if everything Sally said about my parents was true, I should be at least a little intelligent.

"Did you even look at who her parents where?" Tails asked as he continued to eye Mara as she hung her head over the bucket.

Mara could hear the rustling of some papers, "No, I have that here somewhere though. Ahha I found it. Ohhh, yes this explains it. She is probably well equipped to handle this type of information. Show her the cards again."

Mara looked up from the bottom of the pail, despite feeling even worse. The kit was holding up the same card she didn't know before.

"What makes you think I am going to know it now? Lead."

Mara didn't know how to react. The world fell of her tong as if she didn't intend to say it.

"Show her another one," Rotor said now studying the girl more closely.

Tails flipped to another card. It was more complex.

KNO3

"This makes no sense how am I supposed to know something I have never even seen before." Mara said before pausing for a second. "Potassium Nitrate."

The look on her face must have been interesting because Tails immediately started to giggle, "Cool, isn't it?"

"How am I doing this?"

"All of this is in your head now. You don't remember learning it, so it takes a while to surface."

"So you're saying I have no idea that I know any of this."

"That's correct my dear," Rotor answered. "It works like recall. Until you see it or hear it, your brain isn't even aware of anything having to do with what we just taught you. Show her another one Tails… go to the last one."

The card had nothing more than a drawing of interconnected circles of varying sizes. Mara studied it for a moment before announcing, "Benzene."

Tails seemed to have an impressed look on his face, which led her to believe that she was correct.

"It's such a relief to see this worked so well," Rotor said as he loosened the straps on the chair. "Get some rest my dear. Your mind will need time to recover from something like this."

Tails helped her out of the chair, carefully placing an arm under hers. Walking still seemed slightly foreign to her, but slowly the rhythm returned and only her migraine remained. When Tails pushed open the door to his room Mara caught a glance at his clock.

"How long was I in that thing?"

"I was hoping you wouldn't ask," Tails said slightly ashamed. "Sally stopped by…"

"I bet she did," Mara interrupted angrily.

"She made Rotor throw in a bit of biology too. Nothing too much really."

"How long?" Mara asked again slightly annoyed looking out Tail's balcony where an orange glow illuminated the ravine.

"About ten hours."

"And that's safe?"

"Well you seemed to be doing alright, so Rotor gave it the okay."

"I don't feel alright."

"That's normal," the fox replied as he set Mara down on his bed. "Just get some sleep you will feel fine when you wake up."

"And you stayed there the whole time."

"Of course."

"Thanks," Mara replied. "I have never really had a friend before."

"Firs time for everything," the fox said with a smile on his face.

Mara sprawled her body out on the fox's king size bed, pulling the sheets up over her head. She could hear the door to the room open and close as Tails left. She knew she was alone again, but for once in her life it didn't feel that way.

Dear Readers & Subscribers

I know this chapter probably had too much of an OC for most of you, but I felt it was necessary to flush out just a little bit more back story before I get back into the big stuff. Please let me know how you guys feel with a review.

Cheers,

M.D.