The glass was so smoked that the kit could barely make out what was on the other side, but his sense of direction had yet to fail him. The shadows of tall well-lit buildings loomed just on the other side of the car's translucent windows.
"Where are you taking us?" he asked Naugus as he raised his empty pistol.
Weapons as big as this one were scary whether they were loaded or not, especially when the person on the other end didn't know any better.
"I am taking you were you need to go, Tails." Ixis said calmly.
The others began to press their faces against the glass in an effort to understand the fox's frustration. Jake was the next to spin around in anger.
"This is hardly out of the city!" he screamed.
"Relax, all of you," the old man insisted.
"Relax?" Fiona asked as the tone in her voice suggested she was about to do anything but, "how can I relax when it looks like you are about to drop us off right on the Dominion's door step?"
Ixis sighed with a tiny amount of frustration, "Surely all of you are smart enough to know that every bridge and out of the city has been shut down by now. There will be mandatory searches of every car for weeks while the city's coppers go on their foxhunt. I was quite certain that at least you would understand what I am doing," Naugus said as he eyed Tails, "after all I got the idea from you."
"What idea?"
"Hiding in plain sight. You took Mara here the last place the dominion would ever expect to find her. That is what I am doing with you."
"We don't want to hide!" Tails scowled.
"And who says that you will be?"
"You know we can't just walk in through the front door any more," Jake commented sarcastically, "or at least I don't think we can."
"Walk, run, shoot it makes no difference."
"How does it make no difference?" Fiona asked in astonishment. "What good does it do to walk into the most fortified building in the city when everyone who works in there wants to kill us."
"Because, it's the easiest way out."
Tails cocked back the hammer on his gun, "Perhaps you could do a little more explaining then."
"Very well then," Ixis said slightly offended. "If you can't drive out of this city what other way might one try?" he asked as he pointed a finger to the sky.
"You want us to fly out?" Mara said in a giddy voice, asking what the others were too irritated to suggest.
"Precisely my dear, but your friends here don't like the idea because they haven't thought it all the way through."
"I don't think I would be caught dead in one of those choppers, we wont make it more than a few clicks before we are nothing more than fireworks." Tails replied.
"He isn't talking about a helicopter," Jake said with a smile.
"Very good my dear boy, I thought you might know."
"Know what?" Fiona asked now more curious than ever.
"There are a few things Kintobor never told you, boss. I never bothered to fill you in because I didn't think it was that big of a deal. There is an elevator in his office that takes you down to an underground tunnel system. It's ancient and most of it has been sealed off except for the segment between HQ and the military base."
"And now we are talking about walking into a mili base?" Tails asked baffled by the pair's optimism.
" Yes," the agent replied, "because the tunnels end up right in Julian's private hanger. There is no security, no guards, no cameras, no anything to keep us from using it because that's all supposed to be on this end."
Tails eyes widened as he lowered his gun. He finally realized the genius behind Naugus' plan, " They are all on the foxhunt. No one is left at home."
A smile twisted up the side of the bearded man's face, "Indeed. I do hope a few of you know how to fly."
The kit smiled, it had been a while, but few things made him happier than sitting in the cockpit of an aircraft.
The breaks of the limo screeched as the vehicle came to a stop in the buildings loading bay.
"How are we going to play this?" Jake asked as he reached for the handle on the door.
Tails smiled as he offered his hands out for Fiona to cuff, "the only way we can."
It didn't take Fiona or her former partner long to understand what he was getting at. Soon enough Jake had scooped up Mara and was marching her in front of him with pistol at her back.
"I am sorry about this," he whispered to her as they got out of the car.
"Oh, don't worry its not the first time I have had to do this," she replied surprisingly enthusiastically.
The agent tried to hide his look of amusement, but it still shown rather evidently on his face.
The now cold steel of Tails old weapon did not feel pleasant against his back. The cuffs around his wrist were just for show and still lose enough to slip out of, but any pesky guards wouldn't bother looking twice. Anyone watching the security feeds was only going to see the most well known pair of dominion agents marching in the two most wanted felons. Even amongst the confusing chatter on the radio, their reputation might be enough to fool the guards at the first checkpoint.
Jake walked up to the door, keeping the small girl in his sights as he swiped his access card. The panel flashed red and beeped authoritatively at him as it pronounced his access was denied.
"Well I guess now we know the answer to that question," Jake muttered.
The doors however were quick to slide open as a security officer walked out with a look of disbelief on his face, "What in the hell?"
"You're tell'n me," Jake said nonchalantly. "This bitch nearly threw me off a building."
"They said you two went rouge," the officer said as he kept a hand on his holstered weapon, eying the pair of agents.
"Hardly," Fiona growled as she gave the kit a nice shove while wearing her notoriously wry smile. "Never thought I would get my hands on this one though. Guess he isn't as tough as everyone says."
"No one radioed this in, I had no idea you caught them."
"No on does. Lost my com in a bit of a tussle and haven't had a chance to call it in."
"I see," the guard replied as he looked over their condition. "Just give me a second to get all this checked out."
"Pete," Jake insisted, "did I mention I almost got thrown off a building? I just want to get rid of this little witch and go find my favorite bar stool. All we need are two holding cells not bureaucracy."
"Fine," he replied reluctantly as he moved out of the way, "put 'em in cells three and four."
"Thanks," Fiona replied curtly.
The five of them walked down the strangely bare hallways. This was one building Tails had could not recall ever wanting to see the inside of. Everything about the demeanor of his surroundings rubbed him the wrong way. He had never been in a place that felt so wrong. Fiona on the other hand seemed to be almost at home, leading the way as the security officer escorted them through blindingly white corridors.
When they reached the cells, Pete stopped for a moment, staring at the vixen.
"What is it?" she asked trying to sound like her usual annoyed self.
"Your collar," he said finally realizing his mistake, "Where is it?"
Before the man could get a hand on his weapon Tails had freed his paws and cold cocked him.
"Put him in here," Fiona said as she threw open the door to one of the cells, "and grab his access card and radio."
"Where do you think everyone is?" Jake asked as he dragged the mans body across the recently waxed floor.
"Out looking for us," the vixen suggested.
Tails twisted the dial on the radio, scanning the frequencies for anything meaningful.
"…possible sighting on east 3rd and Raymond…. Unit 18 responding…"
"They have no idea we are here," the kit announced with a big smile on his face.
"For now," Fiona snapped, "We are hardly inside the building.
Not a single Freedom fighter had ever made it inside Dominion HQ and back out again. Not even Sonic was brave enough to attempt what had long been considered a suicide mission.
"I swiped my badge," Jake reminded him, "that's going to raise a flag somewhere. I'll give it five minutes before this place starts to get a little hot."
"Then what are we still doing here?"
The three of them followed Fiona down the hallways as she navigated them through the building. She produced the guard's security badge and swiped it at the next security point. The light flashed green and the door hummed with electricity as the magnetic lock disengaged.
"There should be sentries here," she noted as they passed through another checkpoint undisturbed. "They must really want us."
"All units be advised," the dispatcher announced over the radio, "a suspect in question has attempted to access HQ, please standby for orders."
The kit held the device to his ear as he tagged along behind the others.
"Security footage confirms that all four subjects have entered Dominion HQ. Internal security forces have been alerted. All units please respond, this takes priority."
"I told you," Jake said over his shoulder.
"Enough blabbering you two, the elevator is just around the corner."
The vixen swiped the guard's access card through the reader and the lift promptly opened. Fiona and Mara stepped into the elevator just as two more guards burst through the double doors at the end of the hall. Jake was quick to greet them with rounds from his weapon, forcing them to fall backwards and retreat for cover.
"C'mon, Fiona barked at him," as the elevator doors began to shut.
The agent dove inside just in a nick of time. Riding up to the penthouse took less time than he expected, but Tails had a feeling this elevator wasn't servicing a lot of floors this time of night. The ding of the bell announced their arrival to what he could only hope was where they needed to be.
It felt weird to be in the hallway of the Dominion HQ building. Paintings lined the halls and proud men with chubby faces stared back at him, each more distinguished than the next. The oldest photos all black and white, were well over a century old. In the presence of the previous rulers the kit suddenly felt the need to be reverent and respectful despite the fact he stood in Julian Kintobor's home. He stepped lightly on the red velvet carpet that nearly matched the sheen of Fiona's fur as it led them down the corridor to two large cherry doors.
"In hear," she called out as the fox walked into his office.
A persons workspace could tell you a lot about them. Julian's was odd mix of organized chaos. Everything seemed to have a place except for the disarray of papers on his desk. A variety of books lined the shelves, each, by the looks of the binding, an original.
"Now what?" Jake asked out loud as he searched the room.
"What do you mean now what? You're the one who said they knew about this so called elevator," Fiona snapped.
"He never told me where it was, just that it existed."
"Great…"
"Oh c'mon Fi, it can't be that hard to find an elevator."
The two agents set off on a tirade of destruction. Flipping over every conceivable object looking for a secret entrance or switch. Mara soon joined them as she rummaged through the dead man's desk, feeling around for hidden places.
Tails however continued to stare at the bookshelf. His HUD only illuminated Julian's terminal as a point of interface. It did not seem to detect any other objects in the room. The kit had hoped that Naugus might be kind enough to have stored what they were looking for on it again, but he was not so lucky this time. If you were as twisted as Julian where would you hide a button?
"Are you just going to stand there? Those guards will be up here any minute," the vixen barked at him in her frantic state.
Tails ignored her. The early morning sun began to rise on the city, illuminating the walls of the office in a crimson hue. His eyes continuously returned to the same book, one whose sole premise centered around trivializing life as secret group of higher powered individuals controlled nearly every aspect a person's existence. Kintobor struggled daily to control even the thoughts of his subjects, what better place to hide one's secrets. Two plus two does not equal five the fox reminded himself as he tried to tug Orwell's 1984 out of it's resting place. The book gave slightly and the shelf promptly slid sideways revealing their long sought exit plan.
Everyone else arrived at his side, doing their best to ignore the smug look on his face. What they assumed would be casually placed in the room was in fact a rather difficult object to find. Tails however, was not sure that he liked the fact that he was so easily able to see into a mad man's mind. He hadn't even thought to try another book. It was almost as if there was no other choice.
"You can gloat later," Fiona commented as stepped into the enclosure. The space was small, barely big enough for the one man it was meant for. The two foxes were pinned against one another as they made room for the large agent who hoisted Mara above his head. Reaching out with a paw, the kit tripped a switch and the bookcase returned to its prior position, leaving the room almost as it appeared before they entered.
When the doors opened again it was not to a well-lit office space, but rather a dingy brick lined tunnel. Banks of lights were strung together by a solitary power cable, which lead the way into the depths of the under ground. The popping in his ears suggested that they were well below the subways. No doubt the tunnel's designer had intended for them not to be discovered by accident.
By way of the crow the base was at least a mile from the down town structure, stationed an island in the bay. However, the tunnels were far from a straight shot, and even at their quick pace the group spent twenty minutes navigating their way through the leaking passageway. They were rewarded with a spiral staircase that ascended into the darkness above. At the top a single steel door bared their way. Tails gave it a push, but it did not budge. Throwing his weight into it did little to move it either.
"Out of the way small stuff," Jake said sarcastically.
The kit growled in frustration, but let the large man at the door. With one good heave it nearly fell from its frame.
It almost seemed too easy. They had just broken into one of the most secure compounds in the entire country. Now, in front of them were the prized gems of Kintobor's air force. To Tails' knowledge only fifteen of the Saber fighters existed in the world and two were sitting in front of him. He didn't bother to wait for anyone else to say anything, and instead walked promptly up to the closest aircraft.
The jet was bigger than he imagined, fueled and ready for a war. A he placed a paw on the latter Fiona was quick to call out, "I can fly this."
"I am sure you can, but I can do it better."
"I have been in a sim for over forty hours on one of these."
"Hardly compares to the real thing, trust me. Hop in back."
The kit bound up the latter and grabbed the flight gear. Most of it was designed for someone bigger than he was, but it would have to do. With the flick of a few switches the instrument lights began to come alive and the oxygen flow into his mask. Glancing over at Jake and Mara gave him some pause about whether the two would be up to this task.
"Are you sure they are going to be alright?" the fox asked as he watched the former dominion agent try to fit the girl with a helmet.
"Just hold still," Jake nearly screamed as he fastened the straps
"Do you know how to fly this thing?" Mara asked as she fiddled around in the copilot seat. "I mean how do you know what all this stuff does?"
"Don't touch any of that!"
"Yeah, they will be fine," Fiona said with no reassurance in her voice.
"This is a VTOL* right?" Tails asked of the vixen now seated behind him.
"Do you have any idea what you are doing? I told you to let me fly this thing!"
"Relax," he replied coolly.
While Tails had not had the fortune of flying one of these new Saber fighters, he had read enough about them to know what they were capable of. Flying was still flying after all.
Just as the canopy closed a bullet smacked against the glass putting a small crack in it. Soldiers began to surround them as they opened fire with their riffles.
"Guess we are out of time."
He wasn't sure who had alerted the base to their presence, but it made little difference now. They would have surely figured it out when they took off. If they could make it out of the city alive at least they would have a head start.
"Get us out of here!" Fiona screamed.
Tails looked over at the two humans who were still buckling themselves into their fighter and far from ready. He could not leave them behind, not after they had come this far.
"Hold on," he said into his mic as the engines began to spin up, "this is going to be tight."
Tails could feel the pulse of the engines directly through the throttle in his left hand as he inched it forward. With his thumb he shifted another lever and redirected the thrust down toward the ground until the crafts wheels left the ground. Twisting the yoke gently he spun the fighter away from the hanger's opening and towards the soldiers who were pouring into the bunker through back entrances.
"What are you doing?!" Fiona asked.
"Buying them some time," the kit answered as he found the trigger for the Gatling gun. Men dove for cover as a stream of armor piercing rounds poured out of the wing, shredding everything in their path. Still hovering just a foot or two above the ground, Tails retracted the landing gears.
"Are you crazy!" the vixen screamed, "if you can't hold this steady we are done!"
The sound of the other jet starting up created a defining roar, even inside the cockpit. Jake wasted not wasting any time getting the jet up to speed as he pulled out of the hanger at near take off speed.
"I am clear," the man's city accent came over the radio.
"Can we go now?" the nagging fox behind him asked.
With a smile on his face the kit pulled back on the stick as he flipped the plane back around. He didn't bother to tell Fiona what he was about to do because she would have only yelled at him. The kit jammed the throttle all the way forward engaging the afterburners while adjusting the exhaust direction to propel the plane forward. By the time they left the hanger they were nearly traveling at the speed of sound.
A glance back over his shoulder revealed the structure collapsing in on itself. The vacuum created by an object leaving an enclosed space that fast had caused the flimsy aluminum to buckle under the negative pressure.
Through the reflection in the glass he could make out the fox behind him, she was scared. Deep breathing and glazed over eyes were uncharacteristic of the vixen.
"You okay?"
"No," she replied after a few seconds. "Could you stop showing off! You don't need to impress me anymore."
"That's not showing off," Tails answered. "That's just me flying."
It was a half hour before the pair of foxes were flying alongside their former partners. They had put nearly a thousand miles between them and the city, but that didn't mean they were out of trouble yet. Mara gave reluctant wave as she glanced at them all while she struggled keep her stomach down.
"She doesn't look good," Fiona remarked on their internal com.
"She is as fresh as they come. What do you expect?"
The two sat in silence until a blip appeared on the radar, "Boogies, at seven o'clock."
"That was quick," Tails muttered as he began to second-guess this entire plan.
Peeling off from the formation his hand found the throttle and gave it smack forward. Most pilots didn't know how to handle a head on confrontation at a rapidly decreasing range. Sure enough a tiny puff of smoke erupted from its underbelly as a missile tore through the sky.
"We have a lock," the vixen panicked from the back seat as she read over all of the instruments, "and it's closing fast."
"That's what I am counting on."
With a swift adjustment in their flight path, the oncoming rocket was unable adjust its alignment fast enough to connect with them. Instead it sputtered out of control as it tried unsuccessfully to turn and follow them. Rather than give the enemy pilot the option to preform the same maneuver, the kit found his thumb on the trigger of the Gatling gun as he aligned his target in the ridicule. It only took two rounds to stop the fighter's engines. Plumes of smoke billowed out the back as it lost altitude.
"How long have you been able to fly like this?" Fiona asked now somewhat curious about of piece of the fox's past she had never known of.
"Long before I met you."
"Miles, I could use some help over here," Jakes called out over the radio. "Can't seem to shake this guy."
It was only seconds before Tails had maneuvered his plane behind the enemy's. The Sabers were top of the line, far faster than the measly Migs they were up against.
"Fiona, you want to get me…"
"Yeah, I am on it. I'll have your lock in a second," she replied already knowing what he was going to ask. "There, everything is armed and ready to go.
No doubt the missile lock had caused their target some alarm. He began to viciously swerve and bank as he pulled away from Jake in an effort to save his own life. However, the red diamond in Tails' HUD had already caught up with the green square confirming the solution. Once the missile was on its way there was no way to outrun it, only confuse it, but there was little hope of that.
Just before the Mig turned into a giant fireball the pilot had enough sense to eject.
"Thanks for that," Jakes voice crackled over the radio.
"I'll put it on your tab."
"Miles, baby, we got more incoming, CBDR**. Their radar signatures look like Sabers, a whole squadron full of them."
"Shit," the kit replied as he put the plane into a dive. He needed to lead them away from Jake who didn't have the skills to deal this.
"Get the hell out of here Jake," he screamed into his mic, "I will take care of these guys."
"Like hell you will. I can see the radar too. We have a better chance if we work together on this."
"I just hope you know what you are doing."
The Migs had been easy but any pilot, even a bad one, could fly a Saber and look good while doing it.
"I'll figure it out as I go,"
"That's Jake for you," Fiona commented over their internal com, "cock sure of himself at every turn."
The squadron split off into three groups of three, trying to corral the two renegade pilots into a confined air space. Tails would have none of it, as he laid on the air brakes hard and came up behind the first sortie.
"Line 'em up Fi," the kit yelled out.
He could hear her clicking away on the controls as she developed three separate hard locks for their Saber's sidewinders. With the press of a single button three missiles took flight as they dropped from the belly of the fighter. In mere seconds the group scattered as they all tried desperately to evade the incoming ordinance. One of the pilots reached for his flairs, another banked hard while the last ejected at the last moment.
The only enemy to make through unscathed was the one who had been smart enough to drop flairs for the heat seeking missiles. But his days were as short lived as his comrades. Jake strafed the jet with his auto cannon, cutting across the fox's field of view in a spectacular show of guts. The 30mm rounds nearly ripped the plane in half.
"Yee haa," the agent screamed over the public frequency as the enemy fighter burst into flames. "These guys don't got shit on me."
"And you call me a show off," the kit mumbled.
There were still six fighters out there, all of which had turned on their stealth systems, causing them to disappear from radar. It had become a classic dogfight where each pilot would have to rely on LOS*** rather than the fancy tech that was crammed in their jets.
The next group of fighters was on to his tactics and set up a trap accordingly. One of the pilots purposefully strayed farther from his wing mates in hopes that someone would take the bait. Tails knew better, but it seemed that Jake did not. Swooping in behind his Saber the enemy crafts lined up shots. However, Tails ceased the opportunity to make them the prey. Rather than go for a hard lock and let them know he was on to them, he switched back to his guns and let a couple hundred rounds fly. Planes, much like birds could not fly with clipped wings and the fighter on the right spiraled out of control.
Seeing that his partner had been shot down, the other Saber tried to bug out before the Kit could get another clean shot. Tails had yet to encounter pilots with as much skill as the man in front of him possessed. Everything he did broke the rules of any standard training, purposefully cutting turns well past the threshold for acceptable g-forces. Ordinary pilots would have blacked out in the steep banked curves they were flying, but yet this man persisted, cutting his throttle at random points before entering into steep inverted descents that made even pair of foxes nauseous.
After their target braked hard the pair lost him as his aircraft drifted by overhead.
"Lost him," Tails said through his com.
"Now he is on our six."
"Then let's see how good this guys really is."
Devils Canyon lay just a couple miles south of where they were, a few seconds journey in their subsonic jets. The kit had flown it almost every day for one summer for the sheer thrills.
Rather than slow down to enter the rocky formation, the kit decided to raise the stakes by nearly doubling his speed. When the first turn came up he could have sworn the tip of his Saber's wing shaved the granite walls. But no matter how hard he tried, his enemy only tried harder, closing the distance between them at an alarming speed. Tails could only assume the vixen behind him had her eyes closed as their jet hurled through the ravine, following the rivers sharp and sudden bends.
"What do we have left?"
"One sidewinder and the auto cannon," Fiona's response came promptly.
Tails flipped the switch on his console to arm the missile and took aim and the fast approaching arch. The explosions crumbled the rocky bridge causing it crack. Just as the kit began his approach it gave way and begun to fall into the riverbed bellow. He could hear Fiona screaming in the back as he hit the afterburners again. Only narrowly did their fighter pass through the rocks unscathed, but the same could not be said for their enemy's. As he circled the canyon from above, the remnants of his rivals Saber lay strewn about the rapids as smoke rose from the gorge.
Only four enemy craft remained, one of which was now Jakes tail. It didn't take the kit long to line up the shot held down the trigger until an alarm warned him he was out of ammo. Once again the Gatling gun on the wing of his Saber tore through steel, ripping the metallic bird from the sky.
"I am going to owe you a lot of drinks aren't I?" Jake asked over the radio seemingly unimpressed with himself.
Tails was too worried about his next targets to respond. They were closing fast from the east and he didn't have a weapon to speak of. Mara was too inexperienced of a co-pilot to get Jake the hard locks he needed to shoot these Sabers out of the sky. The only thing the kit could hope to do was outsmart his foes.
"Watch yourself, Jake," Tails said over their frequency.
With a twist of his wrist he brought the aircraft low well under the hard deck**** and any radar ceilings.
"Fiona, get up here," Tails commanded, "but make sure you leave your mask on."
The vixen complied as she unbuckled herself from the flight chair. She had learned to trust him, no matter how absurd the request. It was a small fit between the pilot seat and the glass, one that no human could have made. With one final wiggle she found herself sitting on the kit's lap, tail lapping gently against his face.
"What's your big plan," she asked. "We are nearly bingo on fuel and I don't even think we have a bullet left in that cannon you seem to like."
"Just need to be a little creative," he suggested as he maneuvered their fighter behind one of the unsuspecting enemies. The Saber had a near zero radar presence under the right circumstances, so long as they couldn't see them, there was little chance of their enemy knowing they were there. Slowly, the kit inched their plane underneath the other fighter where he slowed until he matched its speed.
"Do you want to wear it like a hat until we can make a run for it?"
"We would never make it."
"Then what are we doing?"
With a big grin Tails asked her to take the stick while he reached over his head and ripped the ejection cord for her seat. The back half of the canopy floated into the air and the seat took off as it violently shook the craft. Both foxes looked on as it collided with the Saber above them. The enemy pilot struggled for a moment as he tried to regain control, but the damage had been done. The copilot seat was wedged firmly in his fuselage, which was now leaking fuel. After just a few more moments the stream of flammable liquid caught fire. Had they known what happened, the pilots may have had enough time to eject, but the resulting explosion engulfed the entire plane before they even had a chance.
"You never seem to run out of ideas do you?" The fox in his lap asked as she stared at the fireball suspended in the sky above them.
"Pretty sure I am out of them now. Two boogies left and considering we just used your seat as a missile I think it's safe to say we are out of weapons."
"Perhaps," she replied as she looked down at the Desert Eagle resting in the kit's holster, "but maybe not." Without telling him what she was doing she plucked the pistol from its home and slid a new clip into the empty weapon.
"Were you holding out on me?" he asked, watching her as she took aim out the open canopy in the back. "I could have used a few rounds an hour ago."
"You never asked,"
Tails muttered something under his breath that was inaudible over the com. The real problem however, was the two remaining Sabers that had zeroed in on him. They were now on his six and no matter how hard he tried to shake them he couldn't. The lock tone began to pulse until it reached a solid note alerting him that he only had moments before his aircraft was destroyed. Tails punched the throttle forward as he pulled the plane into a steep climb as he performed one barrel roll after another. The spinning twisted the heat signature of his jet, forcing the missiles to follow erratically winding as they struggled to climb after him.
All at once he cut the throttle and let the fighter flip all the way over so it's nose was pointed at the earth. Still spinning, he plunged towards the two explosive devices, narrowly escaping their touch as they flew past still following his jet trail into the upper atmosphere. Once they passed they collided in a fiery explosion as they tried desperately to correct their course after realizing their target had changed direction.
As he dropped back down to the enemies' altitude Fiona took aim at one of the Sabers and let a round loose.
"Baby, if you want me to hit one of these things we are going to have get closer."
As he settled in just a few hundred yards from the enemy fighter the other promptly showed up on his tail, letting lose with it's Gatling gun. The kit yawed the fighter side to side as he dodged nearly all of the rounds save for one that put a hole in the tip of his fighter's wing. Fiona quickly changed targets and sent two rounds at the enemy behind them, one of which shattered the glass on the pilot's cockpit canopy. Flying at subsonic speeds meant that almost immediately each shard of glass became a new projectile that showered the inside of the jet with tiny razors. Neither of the pilots ejected as the plane plummeted to the ground, confirming that both were likely dead.
"Just one left," she remarked as both her and Tails searched the sky for the aircraft. In all of the commotion it had disappeared from both sight and radar.
"Do you see him?" Tails asked.
Before Fiona could answer the tone lock returned.
"Now I do," the vixen replied with a look of horror as she gazed over her shoulder.
"Shit," Tails nearly screamed as he reached for his own ejection cord. He had never wanted to do this. When Fiona lost her seat she also lost her parachute. As soon as his half of the canopy had pulled away he held onto the vixen with all his might. He swore to himself that he would not let go. The chair jetted into the atmosphere as it slammed the two of them down into the frame with a bone crushing force that seemed to go on forever.
When he felt as if he could take no more of the g-force, everything subsided and a feeling of weightlessness set in and they entered freefell. Their Saber had become nothing more than orange cloud of fire. Tails felt disappointed with himself. He never had to eject before, but then again he had never been outnumbered like this.
The air rushed through his fur and the vixen in his lap howled in fear. It was becoming obvious that heights were not her thing. He wished could say something to calm her but his words would be lost in the wind before they found her ears. Without any warning the parachute attached to the seat deployed, wrenching the two backwards up into the sky with so much force Fiona slipped from his grasp, causing her to release a high pitched yelp as she tumbled into the open sky.
***Now Playing Skyfall by Adele***
Never have I written something and then stumbled across a song that fit so well. Give it a listen; perhaps you will see what I mean.
Tails had no time to think, nor did he bother to even try. He unbuckled the straps on the chute faster than he even though possible as he dove after. The altimeter in his HUD ticked by with alarming speed as the ground rushed up to meet him. Entering into a dive he felt his body surge forward picking up speed even quicker.
Having seen him jump after her, the vixen had enough sense to splay out her limbs slowing her fall and giving the kit time to catch up. He nearly collided headlong with her, struggling to grab onto the fox's body as they bounced off one another. Tails pulled her in tight, whispering into her ear, "I won't ever let go of you again."
Her body was riddled with distress, shivers running up and down as she struggled to breath. Tails knew this was the end, the reserve shoot was still attached to the chair and there was no going back for it. He had promised himself he wouldn't let go and he had no intention of breaking it even if it cost him his life. There was no better death than that of one in a lover's arms.
As he looked over Fiona's shoulder at the earth bellow him however, he wondered if both of them would have to die. He could hear her crying, and couldn't blame her. They had come so far only to quite literally be shot down in the end. This wasn't about dyeing; it was about dyeing without ever having lived. He knew that he owed her the life that he let slip through his fingers. The life she was entitled to before it was stolen.
Tails spun the vixen so she was above him as they fell. The lake beneath them should provide enough cushions for her, but it would likely break him. From this altitude hitting water would not feel any different from landing on concrete. Tails closed his eyes as he wound his tails tighter than he could ever remember. Twisting until it hurt, he held them in place till he felt the mist rising up from beneath him.
"I love you," the kit whispered in her ear as let his tails loose. He felt himself slow momentarily, but it did little to lessen the exasperating speed at which they were falling.
The water stung like a thousand knives in his back. His scream was immediately muffled by the water he inhaled and the world around him went black.
He stood alone in an empty abyss, wandering around in an area devoid of even a sense of direction. Emptiness stretched out as far as his eyes could see.
"Is this what is like to die?" he asked out loud half expecting a response, yet none came.
"No," a voice called out from behind him.
When he turned to face it, the fox he loved stood there staring at him with eyes filled with tears. She was the younger red furred fox he had met all those years ago.
"Fiona, what are you doing here? Are you - are you dead too?
She didn't answer his question. It was as if she was ignoring everything he was saying. A weight grew heavy on his chest almost as if someone where standing on him. It was disconcerting, but so too was the fox in front of him.
"No! You don't get to do this," she screamed at the top of her lungs. "You don't get to save me and then die! That's not how this was supposed to work!"
"Fiona, I just wanted to give you a chance to live the life you deserved. I took you away from your home and promised to show you the world. The only thing I did was hand you over to Julian who took everything away."
"Get up right now!" the vixen yelled even louder. "You are not allowed to be dead," she sobbed.
Tails approached the distraught fox cautiously, embracing her once she came with in arms reach. Her touch was cold and uncharacteristic. As he pulled away he caught a glimpse of his own reflection in her eyes. He was not the same fox either, but rather the younger version of himself that had fallen in love with her.
Her paw lashed out and caught the side of his muzzle as she slapped him.
"Damn it Miles!" the vixen screamed in anger, "wake up!"
The kit reached up to rub his enflamed face. Nothing made sense anymore. Why were they younger? Why could he still feel pain? Why had Fiona hit him?
This is a dream, he thought to himself.
Upon that realization his eyes snapped open and sunlight flooded in. The kit rolled over and emptied his stomach of the seawater that had been sloshing around inside of him, coughing feverishly as he did so.
Before he could even fill his lungs fully with air Fiona had wrapped her arms around him, cradling him as tenderly as he could ever recall being held. Slowly he brought his own paw to his face where she had struck him in his dream. He winced when he touched the spot.
"I am sorry, baby," she said looking down at the red mark on his muzzle. "I am not sure why I hit you."
He didn't care; it very well could have saved his life. The only thing that helped him make sense of his dreamscape was feeling the bite of her hand on his face. Few things had ever been so emotionally confusing yet so bitter sweet. Sitting up he could see where the vixen had dragged him ashore. His fur was filled with sand, but never had he welcomed such a gritty reminder that he was alive.
"Don't ever do anything like…" Tails put a finger on her mouth to silence her. He didn't want her to finish that sentence because it was a promise he could not make, let alone keep. Instead he pulled her closer and planted a gentle kiss on her lips. To this, she had no objection.
The thunderous crack of sonic broom opened up above them as two jets tore by, one chasing the other. It was impossible to tell who was who as the aircraft twisted in a magnificent display acrobatics. However, just as there was in all duels, there was a looser. In the end one of the crafts felt the piecing blow of armor penetrating rounds. The fighter sputtered in the air as it tried to stay afloat, but flight was a function of physics that required speed. Without it's engines, the Saber was doomed to crash, and crash it did.
The victor banked hard as the pilot turned back in an easterly direction towards Capital City. It did not take both of the foxes long to realize who had won the battle and more importantly who had lost. Together they hobbled up a sand dune and looked out into the open expanse where the burning wreckage lay in the distance. The vixen was distraught with the loss of her partner.
"Jake," she cried out as she broke into a sprint towards the crash site, leaving a trail of wet footprints for the kit to follow.
Tails had no choice but to let her run ahead. His legs would not carry him faster than a snails pace. When she reached what remained of the plane, she stood at the edge of the flames trying to discern if anyone could be living inside the inferno.
After what felt like an hour of walking Tails reached her side. She had been staring intently into the orange glow since she arrived. Slowly, he pulled the vixen away from the flames that threatened to lick them both. There was no saving anyone.
"Fiona," he called out trying desperately to reach her over her sobbing. "There is nothing we can do." It pained him more than he cared to admit to see the two of them die, but in every happy ending was there not also a sad one? Mara had been as much a friend to him as anyone else in his life. She deserved better than this.
Slowly the weights that held Fiona in place melted away under the heat of the fire and the kit was able to nudge her towards the now setting sun and away from the blaze that had engulfed what remained of the cockpit.
"Come on Fiona, we need to get going," Tails said as he limped through the sand. She was quick to put a hand under his arm and share the weight he could not bare. The prairie stretched out before them, a wasteland full of dried dirt and weeds. It was a lonely place, but the foxes knew they had each other. "We have a long walk home."
*VTOL – Vertical Take Off & Landing, A type of plane than can take of and land vertically without the use of a runway.
** CBDR – Constant Bearing Decreasing Range, aka intercept course.
***LOS – Line of site.
**** Hard Deck - minimum operating altitude for flight missions.
Well I promised you guys 8,000 more words, but I didn't think I would do it one chapter alone. I was contemplating splitting this chapter, but it was never what I intended to do, so I opted to just keep it the way I envisioned it. My apologies if the length was a bit overwhelming and or things were boring at times.
Since this is the last chapter, I thought I would take the time to open things up for any questions, which I can answer in the epilogues. Feel free to ask anything you like. Why I wrote something one-way versus another, where I got an idea, how the story was constructed, ect. Don't feel obligated to ask anything, but I thought I would offer in case anyone is curious now that everything is all done.
It's been fun everyone. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the support of each and everyone one of you. It has made writing and completing this story possible. I will as promised be adding an epilogue in the coming days just to top the story off, but this is how I wanted it to end… well almost. I will leave that almost part for the epilogue.
As always opinions are welcomed and encouraged. Also, I greatly appreciate the person who has been giving me grammatical advice. I am nearly blind to that type of thing, but I try pretty hard not to make the same mistake twice, so that advice does not go unheeded.
Thanks again everyone!
M.D