Chapter 7: The Flying Foxes
Resting his back against a creeper low to the ground, Tails was meticulously making repairs to the Tornado biplane. A multitool in one gloved hand, and the other pushing away some loose wires, the orange kitsune was diagnosing an issue with the aircraft. Catching a loose screw, he tightened his grip against it and shifted his arm to the side, sticking his hand out from under the plane.
As he opened his palm, a smaller set of hands reached out to grab it. The fox cub eyed the piece in wonder, flipping it between her fingers with wide eyes.
"Rag." Tails opened and closed his palm in succession. "Hurry, some oil's spilling out." Black sludge was running between the kitsune's eyes and approaching his furry muzzle.
"Right," Screwy replied in baby speak as she nodded her head. Placing the screw on the floor, the single-tailed fox handed her adoptive father a fresh white rag.
"Thanks." Tails wiped the oily substance from his face before it managed to reach his nose, leaving a black streak reminiscent of a soldier attempting camouflage in a jungle warzone. Another drop replaced what was smeared away seconds earlier. "Gotta fix this quick…" Tails threw the used cloth to his side, caught by the waiting hands of Screwdriver who fetched him a new one.
Returning with a new rag, she crawled down to hand it to the elder fox.
"Hey, you're a pretty neat apprentice!" Tails gave the baby fox a thumbs up with his free hand as he grabbed the new cloth with the other, wiping the drops from his face before finishing his work. Screwy giggled, placing her fingers below her lip as she laughed.
"Welp," Tails rolled himself out from under the biplane, wiping his dirty gloves together before pulling himself up, "I think that's a job well done. What do you think, Screwy?"
"You did great, Dad!" she replied, balling her fists in excitement.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'." Tails rubbed the back of his head with a dirty hand. Immediately realizing his mistake, he slowly pulled it back, inadvertently tracing his fingers across his floofy, triangular ears and back down his face. Looking at himself in a nearby mirror, he laughed at himself, with Screwy giggling alongside him.
"Man, do I need a shower!" Tails picked up the cub, cradling her in his arms.
"Dah." Screwdriver pointed over the elder fox's shoulder.
"What's that?" Tails spun himself around before looking back down at his daughter, whose finger was pointed at the Tornado. "You interested in the plane?"
She clapped her hands and giggled profusely.
"Then let's go!" The orange kitsune lifted Screwdriver up over his head and pointed her forward, holding the cub by her hips. "Now what noise does the biplane make?"
"Brrrrrrrmmmmm!" She yelled, sticking her arms out like superwoman.
"Very good!" Tails began jogging around the spacious workshop, electing to take a roundabout path instead of a straight shot to the aircraft, spinning in circles and diverting from his path in random directions for maximum suspense.
"Uh-oh, looks like we're experiencing some turbulence." Tails slowed himself down as he gently shook the cub. "Gotta be careful now! Flying in inclement weather can be treacherous." Sticking a tongue out the side of her mouth, she positioned her hands in front of her face, grabbing hold of a fake yoke to steady the make-believe plane.
"Shzoooeeeeem!" The orange kitsune swooped Screwy downward before returning to normal altitude, no longer shaking the child above him. "You made it, Screwy! We're almost at our destination!"
"Yay!" Screwdriver waved her arms forward, still maintaining her superwoman pose as the elder fox below approached the side of the Tornado. The cub placed her palm against the sleek metal side of the plane, staring up above in wonder.
"You like Daddy's plane?" Tails asked as he brought Screwy back down to a cradled position within his arms and against his chest. Twisting herself around, she pointed her index finger to the cockpit. "You want up?"
"Yeah!" She clapped merrily at the offer. While Tails couldn't understand her baby speak, he knew full well what she wanted.
"Okay!" Tails nodded his head. "Let's head on up." Pressing a button on the wireless key stored in his hammerspace, he gripped the fox cub tight against his chest before spinning his namesakes, lifting them to the cockpit above. Halting his tails just as he was hovering over the pilot's chair, the orange kitsune landed in his seat, Screwy snug against his chest floof.
Tails lifted Screwdriver so she could get a better look. The cub observed the plane's complex dashboard. Her eyes sparkling in excitement, and a wide smile appearing on her face, as she reached for the controls. A moment before she could press a button, however, Tails pulled her back.
"I'm afraid you can't actually fly this thing," Tails said in a warm voice, peering down at the fox below. She slowly spun herself around, a contorted look of betrayal across her face. "Don't worry, Screwy," Tails laughed nervously, "I promise to teach you how to pilot this baby once you're older. Deal?"
Screwdriver wasn't having it.
The young cub started crying in Tails' lap, flailing her arms and legs as tears poured down her face.
"Ah geez." Tails groaned as he cradled the cub in his arms, hoping this would help her forget about the stunning realization that a baby who was hardly able to stand on her own two feet wouldn't be allowed to fly an aircraft. While Screwy did stop crying, she also folded her arms and look away with a humph.
"Giving me the silent treatment now?" Screwy simply turned her head the other way, all but ignoring her father as she kept her eyes closed and cheeks puffed out. Pondering the situation, Tails came up with a plan.
"Okay, Screwy, you win." She slowly opened her eyes and turned her face back to Tails. "You can play around with the dashboard." A smile began to form across her face. "I'll even bring you closer." Reaching for the adjuster bar on the side of his seat, he pulled them forward several inches so they were closer to the yoke. For added measure, Tails wrapped either namesake around the cub's waist, lifting her up for a better view.
"How's that?" Tails had a satisfied smirk on his face as Screwy squealed in joy.
Cracking her knuckles, the fox cub started expertly pressing buttons, pulling levers, and twisting knobs, a sight that, to a layperson, would've looked like a baby messing with the dashboard randomly, but the kitsune biplane expert was stunned, his facial muscles frozen as a single sweat droplet rolled down the side of his face.
"Un…unbelievable." His lips quivered as his daughter found the button for the large garage door. "Is this…for real?" He didn't need to ponder further; with a roar of the engine, the Tornado's propellers began spinning, and the biplane started rolling forward.
"Wait! You can't pilot this thing! You're too young." Screwy looked back at her father with a serious expression, all but communicating to the orange kitsune that everything would be fine.
"Okay, Screwy," Tails nodded his head, a warm smile on his face, "I trust you. I'll be right here in case things go south." Screwy gave her dad a thumbs up before turning her attention back to the path ahead, rolling the biplane out of the garage and down the runway lined with artificial palm trees. Pulling the yoke back, she lifted the biplane off the ground before retracting the landing gear.
Save for some height assistance from her dad, Screwdriver single-handedly took flight, likely breaking some sort of world record.
"Wow," Tails scratched the back of his head once more, still holding his daughter up with his ambidextrous namesake tips, "you really are special, huh?" She clapped and giggled, eyeing the blue sky all around while ensuring a smooth ride with little turbulence.
The elder fox allowed himself to slouch back, his namesakes doing the heavy lifting as he put his hands behind his head, looking up at the sky above through the glass casing protecting them from the elements.
"Isn't this great, Screwdriver?"
"Huh?" She peered back at her dad with wide eyes.
"Flying makes me feel so…free. It's…rejuvenating. When I'm high in the sky, I feel invisible." Screwy giggled as she brought her attention back to the controls. "I don't know how you're able to fly so well, but one thing's for certain: you are gifted, and I want to nourish your gift as much as I can."
"It's settled," Tails continued, straightening his back against the seat, "when you're a little older, we'll build you your own biplane." Screwy swung her head around, her pupils forming into hearts as her mouth stayed poggered. "Maybe we can even have a race." Tails oofed at the force of the young cub launching herself against his belly, giving him a tight hug.
"Thank you," Screwy said in baby speak, "you're the best daddy I could ever ask for." She rubbed her furry muzzle against Tails' fluffy belly as her hands rested around his waist. Tails peered down, a warm smile on his own face as he ran an oily hand across the prodigious fox cub's hair, inadvertently covering her with grease. Of course, as a mechanic's apprentice, she didn't mind it at all.
Their father-daughter moment was abruptly cut short as the Tornado took a nosedive toward the ocean below; Screwdriver, in her excitement, forgot to activate auto-pilot.
"Oh no!" Tails set the younger fox in his lap and reached for the yoke, pulling it back as fast as he could. The biplane started leveling off, but the water was rapidly closing in.
"Just…a little bit…more!" Tails struggled to say as he pulled back harder. The unphased Screwdriver stood up and helped pull the wheel back, wrapping her smol paws around it in her attempt to help, at least marginally. Both clenching their teeth, and pulling as hard as they could, the Tornado swooped back up just in the nick of time, the aircraft within feet of crashing into the ocean.
After pushing the yoke forward a bit, allowing the plane to level off once more, he slouched back in his seat, wiped the sweat from his brow, and sighed heavily.
"Well, that was a close one." Perhaps due to residual nervousness or from surviving their near-death experience, the two started chuckling together, the younger hugging her father once more.
"All right, kiddo. I think it's time we take you home. You wanna see your brothers and sisters?"
"Yeah!"
"You wanna see Sonic?"
"Yeah! Papa!" She yelled louder.
"It's settled." Smiling widely, Tails turned the Tornado around and flew back to their abode.
"Hey guys, dinner is—" Sonic peered around the seemingly empty workshop, his apron swaying with him as he scanned the area, unable to find anyone from the entranceway. "That's strange." Taking a few steps into the garage, he found his younger brother's Tornado biplanes parked in their normal spots along the wall. "If Tails didn't fly off somewhere, then where would he be?" Stepping forward a few more paces, his sneaker caught something that was both fluffy and tubby. "Huh?" Pulling his foot back slightly, Sonic found the orange kitsune sleeping below, the tip of his shoe leaving an imprint in Miles' chonky belly floof. The force of the impact, however, wasn't hard enough to wake the tired kitsune.
Bending his knees, Sonic peered down to get a better look at his younger brother. Tails' arms and legs were spread out like a snow angel, and blue schematics covered his face like a blanket. Light snoring could be heard below, his chest rhythmically rising and falling.
"If Tails is sleeping," Sonic wondered out loud, "where is Screwy?" Stepping over the tired fox, he didn't have to look far. His jaw dropped when he found her.
"Screwdriver…what is this?"