Owl: Ah…maybe they will, maybe they won't :P And thanks
Matri90: Thanks
Maverick87: So it seems…then again, Raker does have a tendency to twist things to his advantage ;)
Awdures: Thanks :D Robotnik…I do quite enjoy writing him; he's an interesting character :P A little like Raker, only saner and far more intelligent ;)
Hawk's Soul: Heh, thanks. Shadow as a cold-blooded killer…actually, I think he can be when he has to be, but I've never had him down as the kind of assassin type :P
Shadow-spawn180: (grins) Maybe Raker, maybe not ;) You'll find out next chapter. Raker with an army of aliens…ooh, now that has potential…As for the full version of the Cherry Pip Song…heh, okay; I uploaded it to The Facts of Life for anyone who wants to read it ;)
TC Chan: Yep, Shadow is indeed in control :P As for what happens…you'll have to wait and see ;)
Matt Lans: Ah, but will it work out that way?
Private somebody: I'm going to refer to and occasionally use Chaos Control in my stories, yes. To recap; I don't ignore anything completely, I take aspects of any storylines that catch my fancy. Just because I'm not religiously following each and every one of the game stories (in this case SA2) doesn't mean Chaos Control doesn't exist (after all, Shadow and Metal Overlord both used it in Sonic Heroes :P) And no, it's not a military facility at all (otherwise you'd be right :P) Like Shadow said in the last chapter, it was a bog-standard colonisation attempt :)
Pyro Hedgehog4Ever: Well, you nailed the personalities pretty well...as for who we say goodbye to, it's gonna be...hmm. Nah, I think I'll keep it to myself ;)
Milette Tails Prower: Thanks :D
The waffle: Thanks; glad you liked it :D
MCM: Thanks...glad you like Bait too :P
Guardian's Log no. 11497
Well, so I managed to get Espio to help us. I'm not as happy about this as you might think; I practically blackmailed him into it and blackmailing someone like Espio isn't something you do lightly.
Still, the chameleon does have his own strict code of honour, even if it's not quite on a par with mine. He won't betray us.
At least, not until he's got his hands on that thousand I promised him.
--Knuckles the Echidna
Dear Diary
I don't know if I like Espio coming along with us or not. He's kinda creepy and if he decides that blood is thicker than water (and he IS Scarface's brother, no matter how much he says he's not) me and Knux are gonna be in really deep trouble.
--Tails
The Mobian cable car network was a more comfortable and better organised version of the moving platforms in the Zones. It wasn't free – the cheapest fare was ten Mobiums to the next Zone and an additional five for every Zone passed until you reached your destination – but it had couches complete with blankets and pillows for long journeys and basic meals were included in the price.
Espio reached out and picked up an apple (fruit was there all day everyday) then bit into it.
"I can't believe we're travelling FB class," he said, not quite under his breath.
Knuckles, who had bought the tickets and was already regretting it – the couches really were quite hard – scowled.
"If someone had thought to mention the different classes of ticket—"
"I did mention them," the chameleon said coolly. "You just didn't want to cough up."
"What's FB class?" Tails wanted to know.
"Flat Broke," Espio translated. "One below economy." He grimaced at his apple before adding, "And it damn well tastes like it too."
"Are you going to be a jerk all day?" Knuckles demanded. Espio in a bad mood was almost impossible to live with.
"Yeah, I'm going to be a jerk all day," Espio retorted, giving up on the apple and folding his arms across his chest. "I have been dragged out of the CDA – and incidentally, since that involves leaving Charmy unsupervised, I'm constantly wondering what the hell I'm going to go back to – I have been blackmailed into risking my life, and not only that but since you don't yet have my fee it seems I'll be doing it on the never-never! I'm going to be a jerk until further notice."
Knuckles rolled his eyes. He was already regretting his bargain with Espio; coercing someone like the chameleon wasn't something you did if you could avoid it.
Yeah, and I couldn't. That's all there is to it.
Next to him, Tails rooted around in the fruit bowl until he located a cratt and bit into it enthusiastically, narrowly missing squirting himself with the sticky innards, then he pulled a face and tried to spit it out.
"What's wrong?" Knuckles said idly.
"Iff fower!" Tails protested with difficulty; the fruit had stuck to his teeth and he was finding it hard to get rid of.
Espio picked up another cratt and sniffed it, then tossed it back onto the pile with a contemptuous snort.
"Barely even ripe."
"Better'n the ftuff I ufed to get in the tunnels," Tails said, still rapidly attempting to de-gunk his teeth and addressing Knuckles rather than Espio. "They used to throw leftovers at us an' laugh as we fought over them. That's how ol' Scarface an' me started off being enemies."
"Why? Because you didn't fight over the leftovers?"
Tails shook his head. "Uh uh. It was 'cause I grabbed one and threw it back at him and hit him on the back of the head and sent his face into his plate."
Knuckles stared at Tails for a few minutes, then laughed in disbelief. "You did what? I wish I could've seen that. What'd you throw at him?"
"Half a pella shell. I wasn't aiming for him, not 'zactly, but I still hit him." Tails' ears flattened and he looked away. "He got real mad, Knux."
"I'm sure," the echidna answered, while reflecting that if someone hit him on the back of the head with half a pella shell – comparable in size and hardness to a coconut – he wouldn't be too happy with them either. "It's no damn wonder you went feral, kid, with that going on." He paused, then his curiosity got the better of him. "What'd you do out on Angel Island, anyway? You disappeared for a couple hours and then you came back looking drained."
The fox squirmed. "I jus'...I went to tell someone 'bout what happened, like you said."
Knuckles frowned. "Yeah? Who'd you find to tell on the Island?"
Tails' ears flattened more. "Well...it wasn't a person, Knux, not really. It was a...a...well, it was a star."
Knuckles blinked. "A what?"
Tails shifted his feet, looking embarrassed. "Dumb, huh? I jus'...well, you know I used to wish on a star when I was a little kid and I told that star all about what happened."
The echidna shrugged. "I've heard dumber things, Tails." Curiosity getting the better of him, he glanced up at the night sky. "Which star?"
"That one." Tails pointed to the star in question. He still felt a certain fondness for it; even if it hadn't sent Sonic to him when he was a very young cub, it had still been his only friend and confidante until the hedgehog had turned up.
A shooting star flicked across the sky and Knuckles felt the typical chill run down his spine. Shooting stars were a bad omen in Sagayan culture, a sign of troubled times ahead.
"Wow!" Next to the echidna, Tails closed his eyes for a few minutes, then opened them and looked up. "Didja make a wish, Knux?"
Knuckles blinked, taken aback. "No. Why?"
"'Cause we just saw a shooting star. Pretty lucky, huh?"
"Lucky?" Knuckles shot Tails a startled look.
"Uh huh. What are they for you, Knux?"
"Trouble," the echidna said succinctly.
"Huh? How come?"
Knuckles glanced at him. "Old superstition. The ancient tribes used to believe that the stars were the souls of their greatest and most honourable ancestors looking down on them from the heavens. A shooting star meant that there was such trouble ahead that the soul of that echidna had chosen to leave the heavens for good to come down and guide the people through it…and Sagayan beliefs also say that once you leave the heavens, you can never return."
Tails' ears perked. "Is there an echidna story behind that, Knux? 'Cause you know, you still owe me one."
"I what?"
"Yeah, 'cause you said that you'd tell me another if I didn't tell Sonic you'd told me the first one and I didn't tell Sonic so you gotta tell me."
The echidna glanced around at Espio, then back at Tails. "Not now, kid. People can hear."
"There's only Espio."
"Espio's a person." Memories of the chameleon's initial reaction to Knuckles' request for help prompted the echidna to add, "Just."
Espio raised an eye ridge. "This little excursion is likely to be a lot smoother if you don't upset me needlessly, Knuckles."
"I'll upset whoever I want, when I want! You're not in charge here!"
The chameleon chuckled dryly. "Temper, temper. You'll never manage any kind of undercover rescue and burglary with that attitude."
Tails glanced from Knuckles to Espio and back to Knuckles again and then said in an effort to diffuse the tension, "So shooting stars are bad news for echidnas?"
Glancing at him, Knuckles relaxed with a visible effort and said, "Yeah. And scientifically and spiritually, our version of events makes more sense than yours. Why do you wish on them, anyway?"
"We wish on 'em 'cause they're so rare," Tails said simply.
"So are tsunamis, but I've never heard of anyone wishing on those." The echidna glanced up at the clock on the far wall of the car and added, "Get some rest, kid. We'll be there soon."
Tails bounced on his seat. "I don't wanna get some rest, Knux!"
"Ask me if I care what you want, kid." The echidna stretched out. "And anyway, if you don't want to get some sleep before we arrive, I do, so zip it before I die of old age!"
Tails shivered; he didn't want to consider the possibility of Knuckles dying, especially not now Sonic was gone.
"You think Sonic's dead?"
The echidna considered long and hard before answering, "I don't know. He vanished – the Void didn't kill him immediately – so he may still be alright. If he can get back, kid, he will. You know that."
"Think he'll bring Bait?" Tails muttered.
Knuckles rolled his eyes. "If you're going off on an I-hate-Bait tangent, you can fly to the top of the car and do it from there."
Tails fixed him with an accusatory look. "You don't like him, Knux, and it wasn't even you he sold."
"Agreed, but Sonic likes him and Bait worships the hedgehog."
"I can't believe he picked Bait over me!"
Knuckles folded his arms. "Sonic didn't pick anyone, kid. You picked me over him, and for all his faults the spikeball never abandons those who help him out, and Bait did that big time. How many times are we going to have to have this conversation?"
Tails kicked his legs, scowling at his new sneakers, then abruptly lost the scowl and looked up at the echidna. "Knux?"
"Yeah?"
"When we get to Scrap Brain, what're we gonna do?"
"You're going to stay safe and out of the way, kid; I'm not gonna risk losing you again. Espio and I are going to see if Sekko is still in business and if he is, we're going to shut him down. Permanently. We're also going to use his building to get into the tunnels; it seems the easiest way. Espio will take me to the prison and from there I can get into the library you mentioned and dig into the Chaos Caves. Then I'll grab a chunk of Chaos matter big enough to power a whole damn planet, grab that other echidna, and then we're all three of us gonna go back to Angel Island and get it in the sky again."
Tails sat back on his heels and frowned. "What do you mean, a lump of Chaos matter? I thought we were gonna get another Master Emerald."
"That's all this is, kid. My ancestors just carved the last one into the shape of a giant jewel because they thought it looked better."
Tails flattened his ears. "You're gonna get the rest of the slaves out too, huh Knux? Promise you're gonna get the rest of them out?"
"Yeah. We are."
Tails curled up into a ball and looked up at Knuckles.
"I could come too, Knux. Into the tunnels, I mean."
The echidna shook his head. "No, you've only just stopped trying to kill me from the last time you were in there. Besides, like I said, I'm not going to risk them taking you prisoner again."
"But they wouldn't if I was with you."
"I'm not gonna take the chance." The echidna reached out and pushed Tails into a lying position, not ungently. "And if you don't go to sleep right now, kid, I'll glue your eyes shut."
Whether it was his threat or Tails' own fatigue that decided the issue, Knuckles never knew, but Tails shut his eyes obediently and a few minutes later started to snore gently.
"Touching," Espio remarked. It was impossible to tell if he was being sarcastic, wistful or just stating a fact.
"Don't start," Knuckles said tonelessly.
"You'll know when I'm starting something, Knuckles, believe me." Espio shook his head. "You don't really think you'll be able to carry out this crackpot idea, do you?"
"What's crackpot about it?" the echidna demanded.
"Freeing all the slaves for one thing. You know as well as I do that it's going to be impossible."
"Talk to the spikes, chameleon."
"Do you want my help or don't you?"
Knuckles floundered slightly, then said rather sullenly, "Go on then."
Espio stretched out his legs, crossing them at the ankles. "Alright. Tails himself said those tunnels went on for miles. That could just be exaggeration but on the other hand, he may well be right. The tunnels I worked in went on for miles as well."
"They're the same ones," Knuckles said tightly.
"We don't know that for sure, Knuckles, and for all our sakes you should hope that they're not. The tunnels I was in…you got to them through Lost Jungle Zone, where I grew up. Tails…well, I don't think we'll ever find out how he got in there since he was out cold when it happened, but you got to him through Scrap Brain Zone. It's over seven hundred miles from Lost Jungle to Scrap Brain, and that's if you dug one tunnel in a straight line, never mind an entire network. If the tunnels are the same, there's got to be over a hundred thousand slaves down there." The chameleon glanced at the snoozing fox. "You were right about one thing though; you can't take him back into the tunnels. He's tough but that might snap his mind completely."
"You think he saw something he shouldn't down there?"
It really was a mystery, Espio thought grimly, how Knuckles was able to wield the power of the Master Emerald and through it all seven Chaos Emeralds, and be so damn naïve at the same time.
"I wouldn't like to think about what that kid has probably seen." When Knuckles frowned slightly, Espio elaborated. "When it comes to punishment, a lot of overseers can be…inventive."
Knuckles' eyes pierced the chameleon's. "You too?"
"I favoured the traditional methods, echidna. I'm many things, but I'm not sadistic. After a while it becomes something of a contest; who can think up the most degrading and humiliating punishments. Myself, I never bothered with all that."
"Do you know why Tails freaked out?" Knuckles said sharply.
"I have…theories." Something about the way Espio said it told Knuckles that the chameleon had more than mere theories, and he pounced.
"Theories like what?"
"Ask Tails. He knows why he freaked out, even if you don't. I'd lay money it's something he saw rather than experienced first-hand, but sometimes that's worse. They do it occasionally in public view, both to increase the humiliation and to spread terror among the other slaves. Frankly I'm amazed Tails had the mental strength to survive; I've seen some real tough nuts crack in half the time he was down there."
Knuckles looked at the fox who was now snoozing peacefully – Tails seemed to have broken the cycle of nightmares and did get some restful nights now and then – with a certain amount of pride.
"It'd take more than some twisted lizards to break this kid."
He'd expected Espio to protest the insult against his genus, but instead the chameleon nodded once.
"Yes, I've seen that happen. You do get the odd one who can't be broken, but they're few and far between, and I never saw one as young as Tails. You're not planning to take him with us into the tunnels, are you?"
Still pretending to be asleep, Tails pricked up both ears as much as he dared.
"No," Knuckles said flatly. "I've only just got him back to normal again. Chances are good if he goes down there – especially if they recapture him – he'll go feral again. He'll be safe in the hotel."
Tails cringed inwardly. The thought of Knuckles not wanting to take him along...well, he didn't wanna go feral again, no way, but he wouldn't. Knuckles would be there to protect him and Tails would be able to lead him straight to wherever he wanted to go. That was how it had always played out in the fox's mind, and he'd never stopped to think that the echidna might have different ideas.
Admittedly he didn't blame Knuckles; he knew the echidna was genuinely doing what he thought was best.
But didn't Tails get a vote?
While he was still trying to puzzle it out, he fell asleep and neither Knuckles nor Espio realised he'd been listening, both of them having entered into a rather heated discussion about whether or not they could appeal to some hidden sense of mercy in the odd overseer to let them pass.
"For the last time—" Espio left off the pacing he'd been engaged in for the past ten minutes and whirled on Knuckles— "no!"
The echidna folded his arms. "I still say it's possible. Get someone to let us take a few people out...it could work."
Espio sighed. "They don't think of slaves as people. If they did, it'd be too damn hard to do their job. Slaves don't have names."
Knuckles stared hard at him. It wasn't the chameleon's shady past that bothered him; it was his almost casual attitude towards it.
"Did your girlfriend have a name, Espio?"
Espio's eyes narrowed into slits. "How do you know all this?"
Knuckles picked up a mango from the table in the centre and bit into it, never taking his eyes off the chameleon.
"That's my business. Yours is getting us in and around without being spotted."
"Which is going to be a damn sight harder if you insist on spilling a sob story to everyone with a whip that we meet! Oh, I'm sorry, Knuckles—" the echidna had flinched at Espio's words— "does the truth hurt? All anyone cares about down there is looking after number one."
"You didn't," Knuckles said very quietly.
Espio's irritation left him as abruptly as it had come, to be replaced by something else.
"No, I didn't. But if it hadn't been for what happened, it'd most likely have been me who sent Tails feral. You get a few who discover they can't hack it, but they're never, ever given guard duty and certainly never placed anywhere near where they can help a slave escape. You think the boss of those tunnels would have placed Scarface where he did if he didn't think he could be trusted?"
Knuckles raised an eye ridge. "Now you're calling him that too?"
"It suits him so well. Lugnor was always far too vain when we were kids. I gave him his first scars, though." Espio smiled coolly. "Seems he's got quite a collection now. I'd almost have done this job for nothing if there was any video evidence of Tails' attack on him."
Knuckles stared at him. "Nothing?"
"Almost. As it is, the price we agreed will do fine."
The echidna glanced out at the rapidly darkening sky, pretending interest in the lights of Scrap Brain Zone he could see up ahead. "I'll pay you when all this is over, Espio."
Espio snickered quietly. "Damn right you'll pay me, echidna. I don't give out freebies and I don't come cheap either."
Knuckles clenched a fist, then resisted the urge to hit the chameleon with a supreme effort and unclenched it again, staring out the window. He didn't know what it was about Espio that put people's backs up so much, but he knew that whatever it was was doing the same to him.
Neither of them spoke until they reached Scrap Brain and got off, Knuckles carrying the still (apparently) sleeping Tails.
The fox lay still, rightly guessing that the echidna would drop him like a hot potato if he knew Tails was awake.
"Where are we staying?" Espio wanted to know.
Knuckles shrugged. "I don't know. You know this Zone better than me; I was hoping you could pick somewhere."
The chameleon raised an eye ridge. "You said you wanted a spy, Knuckles, not a guide. This could very well cost you extra."
Knuckles gritted his teeth and without parting them said, "I'll pay for the hotel, that's all."
He half expected Espio to argue but instead the chameleon said, "Fine," and led the way to a hotel that even Knuckles recognised as five star.
Without batting an eyelid, the echidna strode into reception and did the same thing as he'd done in Metropolis (ie, threatened to cost them thousands of Mobiums in repairs if they didn't give him and Espio a room each), and had the immense satisfaction of seeing Espio look momentarily stunned.
Still pretending to be asleep as Knuckles dropped him – literally – onto a bed, Tails waited until he heard Knuckles start to snore before sitting bolt upright, determination burning in those blue eyes. One thought had been sounding over and over again in his head ever since the echidna had mentioned leaving him behind.
Well, if Knuckles doesn't think I can do it, I'm just gonna have to prove him wrong!
He knew the way down to the prison and from there to the library. He knew the timetables too; he could race in, grab one of the echidna books and race out again before they even knew he was there! And boy, Knuckles would sure be surprised!
Moving silently, Tails clambered out of bed – he still liked sharing a room with Knuckles in case, as he put it, the echidna had a bad dream and he could be there to comfort him – and padded over to the door. Creaking it open, he squeezed through, glanced up and down the deserted corridor and shut the door very quietly behind him.
"What do you think you're doing?"
The voice in his ear was so abrupt and unexpected that Tails leapt a full foot in the air.
"AAH! Nowhere!"
"An interesting response," Espio told him with narrowed eyes as he shaded into view, "albeit a somewhat nonsensical one."
Tails stared at the chameleon, heart pounding so loudly he was surprised Espio couldn't hear it. "Whatcha doing out here, Espie?"
"I asked you that first."
The fox glanced at the door leading back into his and Knuckles' hotel room. The echidna hadn't woken up at his yell; Tails had heard him turn over but that was it, and if the snoring sound was anything to go by, Knuckles wouldn't be waking up for quite some time.
"I'm gonna go into the tunnels and get one of the old echidna logs for Knuckles," he said in a stage whisper.
Espio stared at him, for once too astonished to maintain his icy demeanour. "You're going to what? Are you insane?"
"No! An' even if I was it's gotta be your brother's fault!"
Now Espio sighed, a sigh of pure boredom. "If you think you can make me angry enough to let you go on some suicide mission just by reminding me that I happen to be closely related to the bastard who almost beat you to death, think again. You're nuts. You don't think they're going to let you waltz in and waltz out again, do you?"
Tails planted both paws on hips and turned up the glare a few degrees. "You never worked those tunnels, Espie, and you know it! I know what it's like down there! I know exactly what goes on!"
"The hell you do." Espio caught hold of Tails' arm and twisted it into a secure and – so long as the fox didn't try to escape – painless hold. "You know what it's like to be a slave down there, nothing more. You haven't the first idea what it's like to be an overseer, either in those tunnels or anywhere else."
Tails, trying and failing to pull free, kicked out at the chameleon's shin but failed to connect, mostly because Espio kept out of leg range wherever possible as a matter of course.
"Let go!"
"And if I do, what am I supposed to tell Knuckles when he asks where you are?"
"The truth! Tell him I wanted to do something to make him proud of me an' so I'm gonna go get one of those echidna books! An' if you don't let go right now, Espio, I'm gonna howl real loudly, and if I do your ears'll prob'ly explode! And you gotta promise me not to tell Knux 'less he asks. Anyway, I'll prob'ly be back by the time he wakes up." Tails glared at Espio. "Now let me go!"
The chameleon shook his head, not in refusal but in disbelief.
"You're a damn fool. Getting yourself killed or recaptured won't make Knuckles proud of you."
"That's why I'm not gonna get killed or caught," Tails said reasonably. "Espie, he doesn't think I can do it, but I can. If I get one of the books, he'll know I'm as cool as I ever was and we can go in together and rescue everybody!"
"You're a fool and you'll most likely wind up dead, but I guess that's your own lookout," Espio said, and released him.
Okay, that's it for this chapter. Sorry it took longer than usual but I was working hard on Rising Star (and other stuff :P) Anyway, if you read it, please review!
