Sonic hung up his cell phone with a blank expression. Knuckles and Wave were sitting at the table next to their friend, remaining silent as they studied his expression.
"So, uh…interesting conversation?" Knuckles asked, breaking the silence.
"I guess so." Sonic replied.
"Why did I hear yelling in the background?" Wave asked.
"I honestly don't know. I was talking to Tails, and then all of a sudden there was a lot of yelling and the phone sounded as if it was breaking up." the blue hero explained, still looking quite confused.
"Maybe a bee flew in through the window and attacked him?" Knuckles suggested. Wave threw him a weird look.
"What?" the echidna asked. "I don't know about you, but it stinks when a bee randomly just comes flying in and attacks you! Trust me, it's happened to me!" Wave just rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Sonic. "Or maybe it was my 'boss' having another tantrum?"
"That's what I'm thinking." Sonic agreed. "Oh well, it was nice talking to him though. And the best part is: he doesn't hate me! Yay!" his emerald eyes shone with happiness.
The swallow smiled. "I'm happy for you Sonic! See? I told you he wasn't against you!"
"Yeah, it was silly of me to think that. Although, he was a bit nervous when he answered my question about the robbery at the museum. It was him, Jet, and Storm that pulled that off."
"Really?" Knuckles asked in disbelief. "That doesn't sound like Tails to me. And who's genius idea was it to disguise themselves with mud?"
"Probably Jet." Wave answered for Sonic. "That sounds like something he would think of."
"Tails told me he didn't want to be with them when they pulled off the robbery. But Jet didn't give him a choice. Even if it meant just stand there and wait, he wanted Tails to come with him and Storm." Sonic added.
"At least he wasn't identified. Least we're the only ones who knew it was Tails." Knuckles said. Sonic slowly nodded and sighed. "I just hope he wasn't lying to me…"
Wave stood up from the table. "Well, I'm going to add a little bit more to the gears and I'm heading to bed." she stated while walking back to the basement steps.
"Wait!" Sonic stopped her. "So how are those coming along, by the way?"
"Well, you already know I'm done with yours," the swallow smiled. She turned to Knuckles. "I'm almost done with yours. Should be done by tomorrow afternoon."
The echidna smiled a little. "Cool. Can't wait to see it." Wave giggled a little before walking downstairs, closing the door behind her.
"As for me, I think I'm going to make some more popcorn and watch a movie." Sonic also stood back up and put some popcorn in the microwave. "I ordered that new movie channel earlier today. Maybe there's something funny on." he added while watching the small bag of corn pop quickly.
When he had his bowl of popcorn ready, Knuckles joined him as he started walking towards the living room. "But seriously though!" he said suddenly.
"What?"
"You're just minding your own business, and a bee just comes out of nowhere and attacks you! It's not right!" the echidna cried, throwing his hands up in the air. The hedgehog only laughed and rolled his eyes.
…...
Tails sat in his seat in the workshop, finishing up with the paint on Jet's extreme gear. But the more the young fox looked at the gear, the more angrier he got at the hawk for interrupting the phone call between him and Sonic. Honestly, did he really think Tails was going to fill Sonic in on the extreme gears so Sonic could tell Wave?
Adding the finishing touch, Tails set down the spray paint, and buried his face into the palms of hands tiredly. He rubbed at his blue eyes gently before looking out the window to the night sky outside. The moon was so bright that Tails didn't even need to keep the workshop light on to be able to see. Finally too tired to work anymore, the young mechanic stood up from his seat, picked up the gear with his fingertips so he wouldn't get any paint on him, and he hung it up on a drying rack to dry overnight.
He walked over to the somewhat large paint buckets and being careful not to spill them, he carried them over to the wooden table with the other paints. However, one can of teal paint was heavier than the others, so Tails had to use a little bit more of his strength to put it on the table.
"Hey Tails!" Storm came bursting in through the metal door. The sudden loudness scared the young fox, causing him to drop the paint he was trying to get on the table and spill all over him.
He stood there, balling his fists, ears laying flat and growling in annoyance as the paint dripped off of his fur.
"O-Oh my! I'm sorry T-Tails! I didn't m-mean to scare you." the albatross stuttered, tossing the fox a towel to wipe the paint off of his gold fur.
Even though Tails was mad before, he quickly dropped the anger and smiled. "It's okay. Thanks Storm…" he said. "By the way, did you need something?"
"Uh…" the Babylon Rogue stood there a moment, trying to think of the reason why he came running in here. "Oh yeah! Boss said that he wanted to see you in his office before you headed to bed."
Tails sighed loudly. "Ugh! Did he say why?"
"I don't think so…."
Tails rubbed at his eyes again and sighed. "Alright. Well, come with me. I'm heading that way now."
Tails knocked on the office doors quickly. Jet answered them by opening the door himself.
"About time you came!" he greeted, letting the two come inside. The hawk walked over to the corner of the room and grabbed the Type J. "Are you ready?"
"For what?"
"Storm didn't tell you? We're heading back to the museum to try and get those artifacts again!" the hawk replied.
Tails' eyes widened so much it almost seemed impossible for them to get so big. "You're kidding, right?" he asked in disbelief.
"Um, no?" Jet chuckled. "Why would I kid about something like this?"
"Jet, we can't go back to the museum! Do you realize what kind of security they must have now? They probably doubled the guards since our last visit there! Those artifacts are probably impossible to get to now, anyhow!" Tails explained.
Jet just stared. "Your point?"
"You're going to get thrown in jail!" Tails snapped so quickly it was almost hard to understand what he just said.
The 14 year old leader snorted. "Yeah right, I'm going there anyhow."
"Jet, you are so clueless…" Tails muttered, crossing his arms.
"Okay, okay! We won't go to the museum!" Jet held his hands up in defense. The fox smiled.
"We'll just go to the jewelry shop right down the block! It's closed at this hour!" the hawk's enthusiasm grew. "C'mon, let's head out!"
As Storm followed behind his leader, Tails, however, stood right in his spot, not pleased one bit.
"What are you waiting for? Grab your gear and let's go!" Jet ordered.
"I'm not going anywhere, Jet." Tails' ears laid flat as he crossed his arms.
"Why? What's wrong?"
"I was almost arrested last time!" Tails cried. "That was the worst feeling in my life! And I'm not going to feel like that tonight!"
"You're not going to get arrested!" Jet stated. "What happened back at the museum was totally unorganized! We walked inside without a plan!"
"Do you have a plan for this one?" Tails lifted an eyebrow.
Jet looked down at his feet and avoided eye contact. "Well, no…but we can still-"
"No!" Tails interrupted him. "There is no 'we'. I'm staying here, and staying out of trouble."
"I'm the leader!" Jet yelled at him. "And you are going with us!"
"No I'm not!" Tails yelled back. He pushed past both rogues. "I'm staying here and going to bed. If you are still going, then you give me a call in the morning about what went on while you're sitting in jail!"
Jet stood dumbfounded, along with Storm. As he watched the twin tailed fox walk down the hall and into his room before he slammed the door shut, the hawk growled.
"Fine! Stay here! We don't care!" he shouted. He started walking to the door. "Let's go Storm…" he added, his voice a little bit more quieter.
As Tails watched the two rogues fly down to the ground through the large window, he didn't feel guilty one bit. He was proud of what he said. And more importantly, he was proud of what he did.
He wasn't joining Jet and Storm for a robbery, and he wouldn't have that horrible feeling that he felt as the 'muddy fox' that almost got arrested.
As he got into bed and curled up, he smiled as he closed his eyes.
'I bet Sonic would have been happy to see that I was telling the truth…' he thought before he drifted to sleep.
A/N: So Tails actually stood up for himself? Good for him! And who else feels bad for Knuckles and the bee issue? Haha! Hmm, let's see… Maybe two chapters left until the race? Until then, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Next one will be up soon! Review please!