"To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead."
- Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

"When love is in excess it brings a man not honor nor any worthiness."
- Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)

"Are they following us?"

"No… I don't think so." Tempest put Sally down, and sat nearby. "I was mostly bluffing when I said I could smell them. Really, everything around here seems to stink of that city's pollution."

Sally didn't sound worried, just determined. "So they could be following us, then?"

"It is… probable." Tempest caught his breath quickly. "We should find cover, and wait them out. Then they will either attack and reveal themselves, or we shall lose them at a later time by taking a more circumspect route. Either would be preferable than them finding your Knothole."

"I know a place…" Sally checked her backpack. Looking over a detailed map, she pointed towards a position deep in the forest. "The Dead Springs. The area is literally crisscrossed by tunnels and caves. We can hide out there."

Tempest got to his feet. "As you wish..."

THE CYCLE OF AGES

CHAPTER THREE:

Rogues (Frailty, Thy Name Is)

It was a good thing that Miles current self was just sitting around, doing nothing. It made Lara's work easier. She'd put off the night's normal routine of revelry, and instead looked into the problem at hand. She'd secretly taken a look at public records and city security logs, but there hadn't been anything altogether unusual given the time period and the widespread and healthy paranoia it took to keep the city basically a secret to the outside world. There was only one obvious recourse left, and that one just happened to spend most of its time in Princess Sally Acorn's personal possession.

Simply getting Nicole was a bit risky, luckily there was another option.

"Ok, what now?"

"Everything should be set up now, including the digital work around we'll need to establish a connection." Miles had worked her through things, helping her to set up the remote connection with commercially available electronics. "All that remains is the security overlay, but Nicole herself should recognize you. The important thing is that no one else notices you contacting her on this frequency."

Lara nodded, even though he wasn't really present to see it. In her hands, the bargain basement laptop began to run the uplink program. Nicole had not yet evolved into NICOLE, but she would still be running the background protocols… including the secret ones. One of those was a communications network that linked her to all of her independent fragments, as well as her Overwatch Routines. It was Nicole Overwatch she meant to contact, and through her, Nicole proper.

While the signal processed, Lara took a few seconds to watch Miles, or Tails, rather. He sat on the grass, perfectly still, his legs crossed beneath him. It was a posture she had seen him in many times before.

"Is this where you learned to be like that?" she asked.

"Well…" Miles, her Miles, responded with some reservation, "I am extrospective by nature, so mental focus of this sort had to be learned through practice. Sonic never seemed to have problems with how he felt, or what he wanted in life, and he had a… a cool sort of attitude I always tried to emulate. You could say that I always thought: 'what would Sonic do?' rather than 'what do I want?' And when being like Sonic made me miserable, or led to failure, it fed into a lot of resentment and anger. I only wish I'd realized that much sooner."

"The mental focus I learned…" He laughed self depreciatingly. "Grudgingly… was the most important lesson I picked up during my Turan'Ha. Most Kitsune can lose themselves in physical routine, like training or hunting, but what I needed most was time to think and a way to clear my mind."

"This is where she comes in, isn't it?"

"You never knew her as I did. She was… kind."

"Is that all?"

"She was kind of cute, too. And I was a… horny teenager, so to speak." He paused. "I still can't forgive myself for what happened to her."

"It was Merlin…"

"No, Lara. Merlin set things in motion. But I'm the one who destroyed her."

'The grass has grown.'

Time passes by.

'What was the groundskeeper's name, anyway? I think it started with an H."

Flies by.

'Doesn't matter. I still won't move, though.'

Look! There it goes!

'Hmm… I wonder how long I've been here…?'

Suddenly, something caught Tails' eye. He had never, oddly enough, been ready to fall asleep, which was good, because then he would have fallen backwards and 'moved' but what just passed before him immediately grabbed his attention. Near the pool, out of the shade where he was, he could make out someone bending over to pick up a flower. Gritting his teeth, Tails noticed a soft looking tail and drooping, long ears and gentle curves…

Definitely not the grizzled old groundskeeper.

'Oh, mamma…'

"Hey!" Tails couldn't help but call out. The figure, so obviously female, looked his way and smiled. Standing up, she walked up to him.

"Hi," she said, smiling.

Tails could feel his pulse quicken, and the physiological reaction barely processed in his mind. But it did, and in a moment, he realized something. He'd felt attraction towards more than a few girls before, but he'd never really wanted to – for lack of a better phrase – jump their bones before. It was somewhat unusual to suddenly want to do so now, and with a total stranger. He took a good look at her: she was a female rabbit, mostly a lighter shade than Bunnie (almost cream colored), save for the tips of her ears, a patch on the top of her head, and the shadow around her eyes. Her body was filling out, but not so much as Sally. She had Fiona's original android body type, actually, but before he had fixed and upgraded her.

He did notice a familiar insignia on the armband she wore.

'Calm… calm….'

"Yo," Tails said gruffly, trying to smooth out his voice. "I'm… Tails. I haven't seen you around Knothole before…"

"I'm Cream." She sat down next to him, tucking her legs under her thighs. "Here from the Eastern Resistance Cell… The 31st Rapid Insertion Group…"

31st Rapid Insertion Group; his picture perfect memory recalled a plethora of details about their service history. They'd been organized by two Freedom Fighter graduates a year ago. Final operational approval had been signed by the King and Sally eleven months ago. They'd ran several mid level operations: Operation White Noise, Wire Cutter and Black Ocean. 1 KIA, 1 MIA, 5 still active.

He then remembered that the 31st was currently on leisure rotation on Knothole, along with the 27th RI and the 4th and 11th Special Ops.

"The 31st…" he recalled their vernacular name. "That's 'Bradley's Boys.'"

"Boys and girls, sir," she replied, still smiling, and gave him a quick salute. "I saw you sitting here earlier."

She did?

"I hope I didn't disturb you…"

"Oh… I'm just… was just… meditating," Tails said, thinking quickly. "You know… power is nothing without control. 'Skill in battle and strength are important to victory, but wasted without a clear mind to guide them.'"

'Or something like that.' He wanted to kick himself.

Cream seemed impressed. "…How long have you been here meditating?"

"Well…" Tails grinned, and before he knew it, lied. "Really? Ah… little over a day."

"How can you stay in one spot for so long? Isn't it hard?"

"I ask myself that… sometimes." Tails flexed his arm, showing off his new muscle. "But discipline and training pays off. In the end."

She cautiously felt Tail's bicep.

Tails felt lightheaded. He's never gotten any sort of female attention like this! Most didn't want anything to do with him; others were robots trying to kill him, people trying to exploit him or friends turning their back on him. Of course, he was lying about nearly everything, but that hardly seemed to matter at the moment.

"I get up at 6:00 every morning and train. It takes constant effort… and even then… did you know I can actually punch through a tree?"

"I don't believe it!" She seemed a little skeptical, then looked down at his arm again. "A solid tree?"

"Old Oak. Split one down the base two days ago. Easy as anything."

"Amazing… do you work out your whole body?"

"Yep!" Tails flashed a quick prize-winning grin. "I'm the second fastest guy here, After Sonic. Though… I'm thinking that recently I may be even faster than he is. What with all my latest secret training and all."

She 'ooo'ed and he could feel her curves against his back, running her hands along his shoulders, now tense, and finally just to the base of his neck. Abruptly, the hair along his back spiked a little, and she gasped when it did, tickling her fingers. "Neat," he heard her say.

'Oh?' Tails thought. 'You think 'that's neat? I won't move my body… but I've got a few surprises…'

Suddenly, his tails whipped up and began moving slowly back and forth, distracting her.

She gasped.

"Two tails?" Cream reached down and felt the soft fur, not as soft as it once was, but thicker, denser than before. "I'd heard about a two tailed fox living at Knothole..."

"That's me!" Tails puffed his chest up, keeping his voice a little lower in pitch that it normally would be. "The one and only."

"I'd heard he was a kid," she said.

…

"A common misconception… I…" Before he could say any more, a buzzing sound interrupted. Reaching down, and quickly checking the pager he'd left on the ground near his other work, Tails' eyes narrowed. "What the…?"

Cream cocked her head at the pager, and watched as he stood up.

"I thought you were…"

Tails turned towards the town of Knothole proper. "There's trouble."

Lara couldn't help but listen in, especially since Nicole Overwatch had yet to contact her (plus, it was funny as Hell watching Miles make an absolute idiot of himself trying to impress a girl). But in regards to why she was ostensibly here, there were some problems. There didn't seem to be anything going over the communication waves Miles had told her to look into. She did notice the spike in activity on normal security comms, however.

"Something's wrong," Miles stated the obvious. "Overwatch has been compromised."

"Could someone have sabotaged the Command AI?" Lara guessed. "Or cut communication between it and the primary Nicole?"

"No one in this time should even know about the Overwatch protocols."

"That's a yes, then," Lara assumed, and also stood up, clapping the laptop closed. She stole a look over at Tails and Cream. "I'm betting this didn't happen in the normal timeline, did it?"

"No. Follow them."

"Heh!" Lara smirked. "As if I need to be told that."

Knothole National Defense Research Station Delta

NDRS-D was a maximum security station, dedicated to data mining and city wide networking. All internal and external communications were routed through it, as any other communications were automatically blocked by the city shield and cloak. Located within the "new city" center, directly below a government building, it was encased within a solid concrete mountain of a structure, built in the old overlander style. Tails had designed and organized many of the defenses himself soon after his hiatus to Station Square.

Three concentric passive security rings surrounded the facility, even before one got into the lobby. Once inside, two banks of eavesdropping and electronic surveillance and monitoring equipment could detect anyone entering with weapons, explosives, or sophisticated electronics. The below ground facility could only be accessed by a separate set of elevators within an isolated security zone, guarded by a cadre of military police. Protocol meant that the security blast doors would only open for those with clearance, confirmed first by facial recognition software, key encoded voice recognition software, and retinal scan. Personal identification included weight, and the elevators would not descend if a deviation of plus or minus 10 of the calculated normal was detected.

Inside, the lobby was in shambles: marble set pieces and tables had been tossed out of position, and guards were strewn in every direction. Some hung lazily by cables torn out of the ceiling, and yet others were piled and stacked like cardboard. Spent shell casings lay in pools of water, as the fire retardant sprinkler systems showered down everything and everyone. The security block was likewise trashed; the equipment destroyed, particularly anything with surveillance or recording capacity.

Amid the destruction, a small figure in a baklava furiously typed at the elevator security junction. After only a few seconds, the masked figure cursed with a decidedly female voice.

"Damnit!" she cursed again, and turned from the keyboard. "Lockdown includes a mechanical switching feature and a non-engage magnetic seal… I really hope this works…!"

She was one of several, all wearing black hoods and baklavas.

Another handed her a small piece of electronic hardware.

"It'll work," he assured her. "We didn't come this far to be stopped now."

The female tilted her head, and snatched the tiny device out of his hand. Attaching it to the end of a cable, she went back to the keyboard. Her fingers were a blur as they moved, and visible despite her mask, her eyes widened in delight and surprise.

"Look at this! And… and…! Boy, you weren't kidding! Where did you get this?!"

"That isn't something you need to concern yourself with," another of the facility's invaders spoke up, with another female voice. This one was taller than the male who had spoken, and her sharp slanted eyes offered little in the way of compromise.

"Yeah, yeah, shut up and work," the smaller female at the keyboard grumbled. "Not that you idiots would have a chance at pulling this off without me…"

"Boss!" another one, also female, spoke up via one of the other terrorist's handheld transceivers. "We got cops!"

The 'Boss,' a medium sized mobian standing behind the one working on the computer, reached up to activate the transceiver strapped to his chest, over his bulletproof vest.

"Well, that was quick." He then asked, simply, "How many?"

"Ha! Like all of em, maybe?"

The 'Boss' smirked. "Sounds like fun… use the hostages."

"Don't kill any of them," the slant-eyed female from before added, also activating her transceiver. "You'll answer to me if you do."

Despite her apparent lack of a weapon, the threat seemed to be taken genuinely.

"Probably best not to kill any of them," the 'Boss' agreed, but added, "Feel free to knock a few around, though."

The woman glared at him.

"A hostage with a little blood on them is more convincing," the 'Boss' answered her unspoken question. He then turned to the woman at the keyboard. "You about done?"

"One second…" she replied.

A second passed.

"That was a second."

"Hold on one second…"

"You just said that! Are you done or not?"

"When I say one second, I don't mean literally one second!!"

"Well then say what you mean!"

"You're such an idiot!"

The assembled terrorists looked at each other with dubious eyes.

Then the elevator opened with a happy 'ding!'

The female made a loud 'hrrumph!' "Yeah, no one thank me or anything. Really."

And they went back to being at least semi-professional. While the female at the keyboard unplugged the device from before, sticking it into a vest pocket, she picked up a duffel bag and headed for the elevator. The 'Boss' motioned with his hand, and a particularly large terrorist followed her. He followed right behind. Two other terrorists, the slit eyed female and the male, looked to each other. The female nodded, and he headed back to the lobby. She then joined the three others inside the elevator, and with another happy ping, the doors closed and it descended.

As he went around to the front, he approached the three other terrorists guarding the entrance to the facility. They'd locked down most of the exits, including the main elevators, fire escapes, security and maintenance. Piles of half melted metal slag and marble tables were blocking the obvious routes that would be stormed. They'd also taken a moment to spray paint the windows. A row of hostages had been assembled near the front, ready to get caught in the crossfire if the cops came in from the front.

One of the security guards cursed, and a second later he was on the floor with a bloody face, courtesy of the butt end of a rifle. Standing over him was one of the terrorists, long white tipped fox tail swishing back and forth excitedly. Reaching down to her belt, the terrorist unclipped a rather large combat knife.

"Big Mistake," she hissed, sweet voice laced with venom as she reached down and held the knife to the male's face. "Trying to grab my gun like that? Think you're a hero? Huh?"

"Hey!"

Turning in the direction of the new comer's voice, the woman frowned.

"None of that, alright?" The male who had been with the others in the security checkpoint held up his white gloved hand. "Alright?" he repeated.

The female kept her frown, but quickly put the knife away.

"Fine, take the fun out of everything!" she quipped, but kicked the guard on the ground firmly in the gut. He balled up as the wind was knocked out of him. Behind his mask, the other terrorist frowned right back.

At that moment, another female voice spoke up. "We got a throw phone. Who wants it?"

"That'd be me," another male, this one with a crooked purple colored tail, spoke up and held out his hand. He chuckled and waved his fingers. "Oooh, I'm a mysterious terrorist. Who knows what I want?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just take care of it…"

The crooked tailed terrorist examined the small phone they'd been given, and flipped it open. He then held something up to it, and clipped it on place. Checking it, he nodded to the others. Just a second later, a call came in.

"Listen very carefully," the male immediately spoke, cutting off anyone on the other side. "I have sixteen hostages, and only two demands. That's eight hostages for each demand. A fair exchange, is it not?"

"We are listening to your demands," a voice on the other end said. "Just let the hostages go."

"Now, now, you must know how this goes. Every thirty minutes my demands go unmet, I will execute a hostage, starting with the building security, and ending with the civilians. If you attempt to storm the building… if even one of my men die, a dead-man's switch will blow all these poor people to Hell." The male paused, and smiled, a single large tooth poking out from under his upper lip. The voice scrambling hardware seemed to be working perfectly. At least no one had recognized him yet.

"Is that understood? Answer yes, or no."

"Yes. Yes it is."

"Good. First demand: I want to speak with the leader of your Freedom Fighters, Princess Sally. Second: I want justice for all the enslaved peoples of Mercia."

Quickly closing the phone, the male scoffed.

"Well, that should throw them off a bit," the knife-happy female from before commented with no small amount of amusement. "What do we do after thirty minutes?"

"It won't take that long," the male who had been with the real leaders answered her. "Even if it does, we'll come up with a reason not to kill anyone."

"Little strange, don't ya think?" the other female, the one who had retrieved the throw phone, stood next to the one with the crooked tail. She was facing the front of the building, though, and watching for trouble. "Doing all this, but not wanting to hurt anyone?"

"You three have a different reason for fighting than I do." The male in question looked off to the side at the assembled hostages. He was the only one without a firearm. "That's all…."

Tails arrived on the scene, followed soon after by a panting Cream. Any trace of boyish nervousness was long gone, and he immediately went into work-mode. Storming right up to the commanding officer in charge, he set himself to being appraised of the situation in person. Despite his now mostly average stature, he spoke firmly and with the tone of someone used to telling other what to do.

"Mercians?"

"We're running a trace on any possible connections…"

"No," Tails shook his head as he said it. "The MLF or PMDM wouldn't strike a government facility like this. They're both low tech groups, and according to the reports we've been able to salvage, they neutralized security without a single casualty. Not even one shot fired."

The ranking police officer on the scene was a canine, vastly larger than Tails himself. His ears folded back as he processed what he'd been told. "You don't mean…?"

"They're after the data vault. And they knew enough to cut off even the emergency communications. Even knowing what to do, I wouldn't have thought it possible…" Tails gritted his teeth. "How many snipers do you have in position?"

"Three teams. But they've covered their blind spots and the bomb they planted…"

"Where the Hell is your sniffer?"

"Running diagnostics on it now," the canine replied, and pointed over to a parked van. "We'll be sending it in, in five minutes."

Tails nodded. "All right. Five minutes. Let me make this clear: if we confirm that there is no bomb in there, we will storm the building. The information in that facility could compromise the entire city's existence! Not to mention…"

But he didn't say any more.

"Sir, let me come, too!" Cream jumped in on the conversation. "I've seen combat, and…"

"Suit up and get your gear," Tails cut her off. "I'll be leading this myself."

The officer soughed politely. "Uh… I don't suppose…"

"Sonic isn't here," Tails replied, not even needing to hear the question. "You'll have to make due with me."

The officer nodded primly. "Yes, sir."

Lara watched the entire scene play out, unsure exactly how or if to intervene.

It was bad enough to have minor perturbations in the timeline, but this was on another scale altogether. Not like she was well versed in this time period, but she knew nothing like this had ever occurred. Miles… Tails should have been relatively undisturbed in his meditation. His meeting with Cream would have been the start of a short lived relationship, and more importantly, this was around the time when he met Nail, who Lara knew from when they'd worked together in the future.

All that was royally screwed up now!

Not that Lara liked Cream, personally, but history had happened in a certain way, and it would have been nice for things to stay the proverbial course. Concealing herself, and watching everything that was going on down below from the top of a nearby building, Lara couldn't help but wonder what this meant. Not only had things already changed, but how much would change as a consequence…

Cream seemed to still be getting involved, to Lara's annoyance. The girl was nothing but trouble in the time she knew from personal experience, and by trouble, she meant "psycho monster bitch." Not that it was her fault, but she was the enemy. And an enemy with a very personal hatred of the echidna girl, ever since that battle they'd had in Echidnapolis. But even if Miles could be well off without associating with her, he probably needed some of Nail's training. Though they did seem to pretty much despise each other in the future…

She shook her head.

Was she just looking for any excuse to change things? But that had always been her intention, hadn't it? The first time she'd been sent into the past, it had been to try and change it. Of course, she'd failed, and failed a second time, too. It was only after she'd been sent back and stuck in the past, fulfilling a time loop, that'd she'd mentally given up on trying to change the future. She'd learned that there was more to the world than her own interpretation of events, and her own narrow self interest.

What had happened to her father was probably the best proof of that she could have ever had. She had tried so hard to keep him from falling to what she had always assumed to be evil. But… in the end, they had needed him to be just that. Without his fall, things would have been even worse! She'd come to accept that. But now…

Here and now…

"This isn't supposed to be happening…" she glared down at the building where the hostages were being held. "This isn't right. What happened? What caused this, and…"

What do I do?

The 'sniffer' was a small robot, the size of a mouse, but with eight spider-like legs. It was designed for short range reconnaissance, and a prominent module on the front contained a chemical sampler and analyzer. This 'tasted' the air, specifically for tiny chemical residue indicative of explosives or toxic chemicals. It was a sophisticated piece of technology, but not flawless, and it took time to get the necessary number of samples from different locations, even with multiple sniffers. Worse than waiting for the robots, however, was waiting for a different sort of creature.

"We only have eight minutes before they execute a hostage," Tails reigned in the urge to snarl as he spoke into the landline phone. "We can patch them through to you, yes, but they specifically asked for Sally. And she isn't here. Yes. Sir, this is an emergency! We can not let any information in there fall into enemy hands! Yes. Yes, sir, I understand."

Hanging up the phone, Tails let out a deep breath.

"Sir!"

He turned to the voice and saw Cream, wearing fatigues and a full combat dress, including protective vest, submachine gun and bandolier. She was a Freedom Fighter, after all. Her training may not have been orthodox, but it was thorough and time tested in battle. She was more of an asset than any of the civil officers of the peace Knothole had… all the best soldiers had long since been sent to fight Robotnick. Only a few real vets were used to shore up things at home.

Looking at her, he felt a twinge – or perhaps a spike – of that feeling from before. But the seriousness of the situation instantly squashed it.

"Is everything in place?" he asked, cutting to the quick.

"Yes, sir. No sign of a bomb so far. They're at 86 certainty, and that was a minute or so ago."

"Good." He threw on a bullet proof vest himself, but had wavered at one of the conventional firearms. For a brief period, he wouldn't have hesitated at all. But bring well armed, even very well armed, hadn't brought him victory in Downunda against Shadow. And Sonic had never bothered with a gun, either, so he had started to think it was best to go back to basics…

But he wasn't Sonic, was he?

Ejecting the clip of a police issue pistol, he locked it back into place, checked the gun itself, and tucked it into his belt. Compared to him, though, Cream was far more heavily armed. Still, she was only Mobian, and he… he was a Chaos User. Or some kind of freak. It depended on who you asked, and whether he was around or not.

"Was that the King?" Cream asked, and he detected a hint of awe in her tone of voice. It had been a long long time since he had been in awe of King Maximilian Acorn.

"Yeah. He wants more time to talk to his advisors," Tails explained, and his frown deepened.

"Isn't he in the Royal Retreat? How did you even contact him?"

"We have a Red Line to the retreat that bypasses the facility in there…" he motioned to the building under siege. "It's the only one we can't monitor."

She nodded, and didn't say anything for a few seconds. "Doesn't… doesn't it strike you as kind of…"

When she trailed off, he gave her a little prod.

"Kind of what?"

"Kind of… inappropriate…" she said the word carefully, as if not sure how to phrase it. "To monitor everyone's conversations? Isn't that facility in there an invasion of privacy?"

Tails closed his eyes and smiled warily.

"I understand what you mean," he said. "But we're in a war, as you well know. And this city has secrets that can't be leaked. The security of the city and the success of the war… has to take precedence."

"I… guess so…" She certainly didn't sound convinced.

For a moment, looking at her reminded him of someone.

"I just wish Bunnie still had her combat bionics," he mused aloud. "But with her running civilian hardware and Sonic gone…"

He noticed her expression.

"What?" he asked. Was it something he had said, or…?

"Nothing," Cream replied, adding a reassuring smile to top it off.

Tails was about to say something, though he hadn't thought trough exactly what, when the phone rang. Quickly picking it up, he heard a familiar 'Please wait for his Majesty the King.' A moment later, the King's voice filled his ear.

"Sir. Yes, sir. I understand. Yes. Yes… Ok. Yes, sir."

Cream watched as he carefully hung up the phone.

"Did…?"

"I just got the green light. We hit them in 120 seconds."

"We're getting awfully close to the 30 minute mark, here," the terrorist with the crooked tail started to fidget. "My tail is twitching. They're going to try something."

"I think I saw that two tailed fox out there," the female with the lavender tail chuckled, turning her head towards the one with the fox tail. "Looks like lover boy wants another round with his ex."

"Ha. Ha." The other female replied, mirthlessly. "That just never gets old with you, does it?"

"Actually, no, it doesn't!"

"She got you there!" The male with the crooked tail laughed openly, and didn't even have the decency to deflate at the fox-tailed terrorist's angry stare. "Oh, come on. It is funny. Don't be angry just because it's about you."

"You know what'd be even more funny? Seeing if you can taste the bird shit on my boots when I shove them up your ass."

The lavender female whistled. "Nice one."

"Is it wrong that I find you saying that to be a turn on?"

Standing in the back, only one of the terrorists kept silent.

"Still… its too bad Sonic isn't out there. I'd love another chance to settle our score…"

"Like you could ever beat Sonic!"

"Yeah. Hasn't he beaten you like a dozen times?"

"Maybe like four times. Or five."

The silent terrorist in the back said nothing, but did twitch at the name.

'Sonic…' he thought, but then he heard his two way transceiver come to life, interrupting any further thoughts before they could form.

"We have what we came for." It was the voice of the 'boss.' "We're headed out."

The front of the lobby erupted in a cacophony of sound and light, as the lead assault team set off flashbangs and stormed the building. At the same time, explosive charges blew out two rear assault points. It was difficult to see inside, but the enemy seemed to have been joined by additional compatriots and co-conspirators.

No doubt they had been in the vault below…. Though how they had gotten through the redundant layers of security, Tails couldn't imagine. Nicole herself might have been capable of hacking it, but she was unique in… many respects. Tails resolved to find out whatever weakness they had found and exploited. If NDRS-D could be broken into, then even his personal assets and bases weren't safe. The thought of someone breaking into his Mystic Ruins base, in particular, was doubly troubling. If anyone, especially the King, found out what he had in there…

He had to catch these people. There was simply no other option.

The SWAT team moved swiftly, securing the lobby and the unconscious or shocked hostages. Many were hacking from the smoke, and others were yelling and screaming, making it an impossible din of noise to try and think in. Not that it took a rocket scientist or particle physicist to figure out where his targets had mysteriously disappeared to. The lobby's main elevator doors were still pried open, and Tails could see the cables that operated it.

"They're on the…!"

"The roof!" a voice cried into his earpiece. "They're on the roof! By the Source, one of them is…" Tails could hear the explosion outside. "They took out our stabilizer! We're going down!"

Tails sneer deepened, as he looked up the elevator shaft. Several zip lines trailed all the way from the top down. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cream. She had a very familiar gun in hand: one Sally often used back when they all took runs to Robotropolis in the Old Days.

"I'll be right behind you!" she cried, and it was good she did; he wasn't listening. Jumping, his tails coiled and erupted into a spin. A gust of wind shot out of the elevator shaft and into the lobby, strong enough to made Cream wince and shield her eyes. Combined with jumping, Tails literally exploded out of the top of the elevator housing. Emerging from his flying spin dash, he straightened out and saw the eight terrorists. He also saw how they planned to escape from the top of the building, surrounded by police.

"Gears…!" he growled, recognizing the distinct design motif. "…You three!"

One of them, the 'boss,' chuckled at the attention as he stood at the edge of the roof, his skateboard-like Gear already active and humming with kinetically excited air.

"Looks like he recognizes us," another one, the largest of them all in physical bulk, commented dryly.

"Despite being an annoying brat, he knows good workmanship when he sees it," one of the females in the group added, and then with a mock salute, she jumped off the edge. "See ya!!"

Followed immediately by the other seven.

Tails raced to the edge of the roof and jumped without an instant's hesitation. Just catching up from having rappelled up the elevator shaft, Cream could only run to the edge and watch as he free fell towards the seven GEAR riders. Within seconds, they were all streaking towards the pavement, but one took a moment to spray a hail of bullets over his left shoulder. Swerving to the side, using his namesakes, Tails darted over to the right. But he could tell, right away, that there was little chance of catching them, even with his speed and momentum…

And then, like a miracle from heaven, he saw a light blue GEAR enter his field of vision. Not even pausing to think just where this gift came from, he tucked, spun, and aligned himself with it. Magnetic and vacuum seals locked his shoes in place, and he immediately shifted his weight to realign the board with the ground: or to be more exact, a parked police car.

One after another, the criminal GEARs shot off the car at an angle, using a well timed burst of air to avert a crash and alter their inertia. Given who he now knew to be behind the attack on the communications facility, Tails could guess what their plan of escape was. Most sane criminals would try and find a way to get out that would avoid people. The Babylon Rogues would head for the most populated area possible and zip right through it, causing as much confusion and havoc as possible.

Zipping across and then down the street, the Rogues and their cohorts went face first into the day's traffic and crowds. Knothole didn't have a lot of vehicles, not like Station Square, but what they did have was an overabundance of absolutely terrible drivers. Mobians had never had much experience with vehicle based societies, and so on a busy day, the streets were thick with bicyclers who didn't think lights or signals applied to them, drivers who felt that the privilege of owing a vehicle meant they owned the road, too, and pedestrians used to just walking wherever the Hell they wanted, whenever the Hell they wanted.

It was a mess at the best of times.

"Captain!" Tails roared over the wind blowing past him, hoping his microphone/earpiece would pick it up and transmit properly. "Divert air assets to 4th street and Howard, and 5th street and Vine! Use of rubber rounds is authorized! Stop them at all costs!"

The eight riders swooped down 3rd street, weaving between cars, and sending bicyclers flying. Up ahead was the city hospital, and if he had guessed right, they planned to head down Clancy, up 4th, and then into either the Civil Center or the National Mall. Either would be complete pandemonium, providing ample opportunity to escape in the madcap and chaos. Tails thought briefly about the pistol still holstered against his thigh, but knew better than to try and take a shot in such a crowded area.

Useless…!

Then he noticed the three lead riders, the Rogues no doubt, zip up and take a higher route, running over the scaffolding of the building. Two others joined them, but three didn't dare the maneuver and stuck to the ground. Tails smirked at the opportunity. Taking the jump himself, he built up speed, ran across the scaffold for only a moment, and then shot downward and into the wake of the slowest of the racers.

Normally, he wouldn't race so aggressively, but these people had some serious explaining to do. They hadn't just committed crimes, or stolen some junk…they endangered the security of Knothole and the success of the War. The things Tails had devoted his life to. It wouldn't all be ruined. Not today!

"Not on my watch!"

With a savage howl, he body checked the rider, and locked their boards. This one was fairly good, but obviously had little understanding of how to use a GEAR offensively. She yelled, panicked, as he usurped her momentum and destabilized her GEAR lift ratio. The lock and break maneuver was simple enough: get under your opponent's GEAR, and you make it impossible for them to stay stable and aloft. The board flew out from under her feet as she stalled, but he grabbed her arm and tossed her to the side, keeping her from hitting the pavement.

Instead, she slammed into the side of a parked car.

As he raced ahead, he could hear its alarm wailing. That was one down, seven to go. The real problem would be the Rogues. They were as good as him – Hell, Jet at least was better. Sonic could probably outrace Jet, but not outfight him when they were on GEARs. But since Sonic wasn't here, Tails would have to make do. He'd said as much earlier, and he'd meant every word.

He had a good idea who the next racer was: the crooked tail, and the lack of hesitation to hose down an area with lead, meant it had to be Fang the so-called Sniper. Aka Nack the Weasel, aka The Purple Thunder, Dr. Enrico Martinez, Rick James, and any number of other ridiculous aliases. As the weasel ahead took a quick look back, Tails saw him change speed, and enter a slide. It was a better maneuver than Tails would have expected. But he never knew Nack could ride GEAR in the first place.

Turning his board so it was sideways, Nack tucked his hands under his arms, and came back with a submachine gun in both. Knowing that the infamous mercenary wouldn't hesitate to open fire, regardless of the risk of hitting innocent bystanders, Tails cursed and jumped. It would leave him open, but it would also keep Nack aiming high, where fewer people would be at risk.

Nack's twin submachine guns roared, spitting hot fire and hotter lead. Tails spun in midair, tucked in his tails, and hardened them with a burst of chaos energy. Covering his face, arms and legs, and most of his torso, he avoided any serious injury. Nack's aim was damn good, even under these circumstances, and Tails winced as he felt several rounds hit his bulletproof vest. None penetrated, but he'd be feeling it when the adrenalin wore off. Luckily, his hide also happened to be thicker than the average Mobians, even before his Kitsune growth spurt started up.

Tails emerged from his spin, and saw that Nack, despite now being out of bullets, was not out of the fight. Discarding both submachine guns, Nack had autoloaders on his wrists, and two very large handguns. Tails recognized the make, even in the confusion, and knew his vest wouldn't hold up against either. Thinking as fast as Sonic would act, the two tailed fox tucked in his legs, kicked off, and ejected from his GEAR. It shot forward and away, and right into Nack as he was trying to take aim.

Slamming into the weasel, Nack ricocheted off a car, but kept on his feet. Tails took the chance to fly down, gain speed, and reconnect with his erratically spinning GEAR. He hit the ground at near full speed, and plowed into Nack like a runaway truck, introducing his elbow to the mercenary's midriff. Nack hacked from the impact and spun out, kept afloat only by the inherent stability of his power type gear. A second later, he crashed into a storefront in a shower of glass and smashed oranges.

'Shame about those…' Tails thought, before focusing on the enemy ahead.

After all, oranges were expensive to smuggle in from the South.

Turning sharply left, he saw the last racer just ahead, but also kept an eye on the five up above. Looking over her shoulder, he could just barely make out the terrorist's face. But then she faced forward, and abruptly crashed off the street and into the sidewalk, sending people diving for cover. Tails immediately broke out of her air wake, not wanting to add to the mayhem. Zipping over to the right and swerving around one car after another, Tails saw the above five descend.

He changed targets, seeing an opportunity, and grabbed the wake of one that had just landed. From her figure, concealed though it was, he could guess at the gender. The long thin tail meant she was probably a feline, too, though that only narrowed things down to a couple million cats across this part of Mobius. Not that she even had to be a local…

As he got closer, she hit a jump off a car, using it to burst her air just as the board tilted upwards. Once in midair, she braked and slowed, trying to come up behind him. Was she trying to slow him down to help the Rogues escape? She had to know he couldn't afford any delay in the chase. Annoyed, he spun and released a mini-tornado, trying to catch her with it as she rode his wake. Seeing the attack, she veered off, and disappeared behind a truck.

A second later, Tails barely avoided a mailbox that came literally out of nowhere. There was little time to wonder what it was. A second later, a lamp post bent, and Tails had to break and slide as he fell backwards, skating under the obstacle. It seemed very odd that the post would have broken like that, but… there was little time to ponder it. The racer up ahead seemed preoccupied with heading to the next jump, to try and cut along it when they made a right turn up ahead.

Tails just hoped the Captain had the air support waiting.

Cutting deeply as he made the turn, heading up 5th Street via Brodie Blvd. It was exactly the route he had expected them to take, and down the street, at 5th and Vine, he could see two black helicopters waiting. There was no way they'd be able to make it to the Mall or the Civic Center now. Would they turn, and try and head south down 5th? If they did, he'd have his men ready at every exit.

And then the lead Rogue, Jet most likely, swerved off course, right… into the fallout shelter tunnels. Tails felt like kicking himself. The tunnels! If he knew where to go, he could go through them, into the aquifer containment system, and then out into the swamps and the old Mobotropolis Road. Reaching up to his earpiece, he yelled to the Captain, to move air assets to the Old Mobotropolis Road outside of town.

Only to belatedly realize that his earpiece had blown off.