Midnight.
The ruins were perched on a hill top, decaying slowly over the centuries. Once a noble castle, it had fallen into disuse, disgrace, and disrepair. Cursed by the Royalty of the House of Acorn, the parapets were lifeless now, covered with dark creeping vines and colossal spider webs that ran like tents from wall to wall. A stray bat, caught in one, struggled as tiny venomous arachnids swarmed over it.
Blaze repressed a shiver as she lit the incense and the last of the candles. Everything was as Mephiles had planned. The night was just as he wanted, on the day that he wanted. They had retrieved the items he needed to manifest fully in this time and place, and they had the great sorcerer to do the deed itself. Everything had gone perfectly. Even the Babylon Rogues had fulfilled their part in the plan.
She stood in the center of it all.
Vevelsburg Keep is been abandoned for a long time, and now even the old town below held nothing but ghosts and memories. Blaze did not consider herself superstitious, but there was definitely an eerie presence about the place. It had once been the headquarters for a treacherous army that plunged the country here into war. Spiteful spirits were said to roam the ruins; hundreds of witches had been imprisoned within the walls, and many had been executed by drowning in the courtyard where she now stood. Beneath the castle, crypts wormed through the hillside.
'Remember everything Mephiles has done to help fight Iblis,' Blaze thought to herself, and not for the first time. 'We wouldn't be here if not for him.'
Blaze heard a grunt of effort, and saw Silver carefully backing up into the courtyard. He was holding a stone sarcophagus in midair, moving it into the center of the circular atrium. The flames she had just lit flickered and dimmed for a moment before growing in intensity. With one last heave, Silver lowered the multi-ton tomb to the ground and backed off, wiping his brow with the back of his hand.
"Well, that's the last my work tonight!" he exclaimed with palpable relief.
"I'm done, too," Blaze seconded, lighting the last candle with a snap of her fingers.
"Yesss…. This shall serve…"
Ixis Naugus emerged from the shadows, his dark cloak literally disappearing into the poorly lit areas that littered the castle grounds. He slowly paced around, double checking their work and making sure everything was in place. He kept most of his body covered, hiding it beneath his cloak. It did nothing to conceal his monstrous visage.
"We've done our part," Blaze announced, crossing her arms and letting a trace of annoyance seep into her tone of voice. "It's up to you now."
Naugus laughed. It was a grating, rough sound, like three voices at once.
"First, the altar…" he gestured with his somewhat normal hand, and a rocky pillar rose out of the ground, splitting aside stone and mortar. Clenching his fist, Ixis' magic then split the stone, releasing a jet of flame, a trickle of water, and a blast of air from each crack in its surface.
"Now, the Emerald," the wizard's eyes fell on Blaze. The feline was already holding the diamond Sol Emerald, and taking a few steps she placed it on the altar.
"And lastly… the Scepter of Darkness…" Ixis reached into his cloak, and held out the inky black item. A dark mist flowed along its surface, writhing and bubbling. The dark master of the Ixian Arts entered the sacred circle drawn around the tomb, gesturing with both hands and muttering infernal curses. Tendrils of flame rose from the candles, mixing with the air and the smoke. Earth and stone split, forming a pattern of dark lines centered around the great granite sarcophagus.
"Let the Scepter open the way, binding dead flesh and immortal soul once more!" Naugus flew open his cloak, revealing his full form. Holding the scepter above his head, the dark mist twisted and grew, mixing with the smoke as it drifted towards the ancient coffin.
"Let that which fell in hatred walk once more!" Ixis roared, and a thunderclap shook the cloudless sky. A bright light engulfed the Sol Emerald, and teardrops of fire began to fall from the sky.
"Assume your true form, False and Forgotten King! Arise, Mephiles!"
And then, at the mention of the name, water tricking from the alter turned crimson. Distant howls came from below the abandoned keep, almost imperceptible at first, but then louder, forming a damned chorus. Within the swirling storm that encompassed the courtyard, the lid of the sarcophagus finally split with a great ear-shattering crack.
"Arise. Mephiles. We who know your name call you back."
Another great crack, this one perpendicular to the first, split the lid in four. A wave of force rippled through the air, blowing out the candles and the fire, and dispelling the storm of ash and smoke that had drowned out the atrium. Gone were the howls muffled by stone and earth. Abruptly, unexpectedly, all was silent.
Then black smoke drifted up from the split tomb.
Slowly, one of the slabs of stone fell to the side with a thud, revealing a black hand; mostly chalk white bone and ruined cloth. Black inky flesh flowed over it, providing just enough substance to animate what would otherwise be still in the grave. Another slab fell, and then a third and fourth. Finally, Mephiles began to emerge. He was only partly formed, but what little had pulled itself together confirmed its identity. Both Blaze and Silver recognized him: the black quills, the hedgehog ancestry, the bright green eyes…
"Now, Mephiles the Dark…" Ixis Naugus let loose a mad grin, eyes wide with delight. "You will serve me!!"
Without warning, jade colored pillars of crystal shot out of the ground: four of them, crushing Mephiles' form between them at their apex. Ixis laughed as creepers of green crystal infiltrated the dark form, starting with the fingers, the arms, the ends of the ears, and the tips of the spines.
"Yes, you will serve me well, petty godling! With you, it shall be child's play taking the Source of All for my own!" Ixis quickly held out his hand to the now tensing Silver and Blaze, assailing them with a hailstorm of frozen wind and ice. He didn't have to beat them; only delay them a few moments longer.
"Ah." It was no scream. It was a sigh.
Ixis turned his head, back to Mephiles. The crystal had infused much of his body, but something was wrong. Green dyed crystal began to turn a shade of blue, cracking and splintering. In moments, the four pillars that contained the creature crumpled and warped.
"What is this…?" Naugus extended his clawed hand but staggered before he could do anything. Mephiles was no longer floating in the air. Instead, crystalline growths had begun to emerge from the wizard's palm, growing out of his control.
"How nice it is… to be free…"
Naugus pivoted, hearing the voice coming from just behind. Mind racing for a spell, Ixis cursed instead. His hand felt numb, and he couldn't concentrate. With a sick splatter, a jagged lance of crystal tore out the back of his hand, and then his misshapen claw. The lattice curved behind his back, pinning his arms in place and stretching them out. Choking in pain and surprise, the last master of the Order of Ixis gasped as his feet left the ground and ice cold pinpricks ran up his back.
Mephiles looked over his shoulder at Ixis Naugus, the sorcerer now crucified on a cross of ice blue crystal. Flexing his fingers, the mouth-less black corpse rebuilt the last of his body, replacing crystal with ink black flesh. It did feel nice – having a body again, after so very long. In the end it had proven to be quite prudent, sealing his soul in an inanimate object. Long after what should have been his natural death, the will and desires of Mephiles had survived.
Holding out his hand, the Scepter of Darkness flew back into his grasp.
Within the Scepter, a portion of him remained, and would remain, eternally. That had always been his intention: to wait and bide his time and power within the Scepter, giving him all of creation to assemble what was needed to release his beloved Iblis and create Solaris. But this was early. He had not yet had the time to build enough power to manifest in the living world.
It quickly became clear what had happened. For centuries he had slept within the ancient metal, oblivious to the world around him. After centuries of effort, centuries of carefully accruing Chaos Energy, had he been able to manifest enough to speak to those few willing minds. However, he must have emerged too late. Someone else, some fool, had released Iblis early, making it impossible to give birth to the God, Solaris. Mephiles could imagine the grief of his future self, presented with this situation. To find out, after centuries of work, that Iblis, His Iblis, was loose upon the world! To realize that centuries of waiting had been too late!
Terrible.
Facing the still stunned Silver and Blaze, Mephiles felt his bitterness wash away. There was no point in it. His future self had found a way to send these children back in time. He could feel the power in them: they were creatures of Chaos. They had heard him, and heeded him. It was unlikely that they came back in the past simply to help him, so it was logical that they were here expecting him to help them… probably to destroy the 'monster' Iblis.
It was easy to see what his future self planned. It was too late to merge with Iblis in the future, so he sent the children back to awaken him in the past, when Iblis was released. Here and now, he would become Solaris, while the remnant of him in the Scepter continued to sleep until the time he awoke and repeated the process. Everything seemed to be going smoothly.
"My… friends…" he said the word with neither contempt nor feeling. His voice was empty. Cold. Even as he bowed politely to them. "You have my gratitude."
"Mephiles," Blaze spoke up. "The other you, he said… you'd know why we are here."
"Of course I know," the current Mephiles declared. "You must be here to stop Iblis from being released."
Blaze and Silver exchanged hopeful glances.
"I knew it!" Blaze added, emphatically. Mephiles could see the hope in her eyes. The trust. Even the pale hedgehog, who at first seemed wary, now seemed hopeful and expectant.
Mephiles silently congratulated his future self. These two were perfect, totally fooled, and all had gone as planned. Very soon, they would see Iblis released, and in that moment, Mephiles would fulfill his end of the bargain and rid the world of the mindless menace.
Just… not in the way they expected.
"Ugh! Curse… you…"
Mephiles turned his attention back to the still crucified Ixis Naugus. Blood ran down the impaled wizard's arms and legs. What was left of his black cloak swung in the breeze, like tatters from a skeleton.
"Curse me?" Mephiles asked, amused. "Curse yourself. As death comes slowly for you, believe me, you will curse yourself. Now, be silent."
Naugus' lips parted, but not to speak. Jaw quivering, icy crystals filled his mouth, making it impossible to breathe or speak. No longer interested in the magician, Mephiles gently picked up the Sol Emerald on the ritual altar. Its power flowed into him… it was a strange thing, different than a normal Chaos Emerald. It felt cooler and less forgiving, but immensely powerful all the same.
Through it, Mephiles also felt a disturbance nearby.
"Someone watches us," he hissed, and beckoned Silver and Blaze closer. "Come. Let us leave. We have much to do."
"What about…" Silver inclined his head towards Ixis. "Him?"
"The dead to go Hell," Mephiles replied, as if explaining things to a child. "They do not come with us."
Blaze didn't argue the point. "There's nothing you can do, Silver. Besides, he did try to betray us… Imagine if he had succeeded?"
Silver just nodded.
"Chaos." Mephiles held up his hands: the Scepter in one, the Emerald in the other. "Control."
And then they were gone.
"You know, I think you sound a little different…"
"Than the Prime?"
Sally walked with the hologram down the halls of the ship. She'd been talking with the crew and trying to get a better feel for the mobians who operated the mighty Blue Typhoon. They both were and weren't what she expected. The Princess was used to working with other Freedom Fighters. They were typically young, eager, highly motivated and very independent. That latter trait was of particular importance, as the majority of their operations were planned and executed on their own initiative. Freedom Fighter command didn't micromanage them.
Freedom Fighters typically stood in contrast to the older mobians conscripted into the formal MAF – the mobian armed forces, ran by her father the King. The Armed Forces stressed discipline and obedience, to both political and military superiors. Most would have made poor Freedom Fighters, at least in her view, as they tended to require direction to do much of anything. Many were former robians who were simply switching masters but fulfilling the same roles on the same battlefields.
The crew of the Blue Typhoon seemed different.
They had an undeniable and highly vocal pride in serving on the ship. Many were young, but highly motivated, however that was also tempered by a well drilled obedience Freedom Fighters generally lacked. When she had asked them how they felt about their posting, or about their jobs, most had readily declared that the 'Blue Typhoon is the finest ship on Mobius!' and that 'It was an honor to crew her!' A little disturbingly, a few (male) crew members seemed to be personally infatuated with the Nicole AI that ran the ship. Sally had seen posters of her in a variety of racy poses in crew quarters and personal lockers.
Said AI, fully clothed, also seemed to exist in multiple places. When Sally had checked out the ship's engineering section, the Nicole escorting her had started explaining various features and functions, even as an identical hologram of her worked with two technicians near the power core. It was sort of strange, seeing two of her, with the same voice, holding two different conversations at the same time. On the Blue Typhoon, she was everywhere, so maybe she was the ship in all but name.
"My voice is slightly different," Nicole readily admitted. "I have modulated it to sound slightly more feminine."
"I thought so," Sally said, then asked, "But why?"
"You've noticed that the majority of the crew is male. On my eleventh day of operation, I noticed that many of the crew were empathizing with me. I determined that this anthropomorphization was a natural consequence of using an AI with a female avatar. In following my directives to streamline ship operations and improve loyalty, I changed my voice to sound more appealing, thus making the crew more protective of me."
"Yet you still look like Nicole. The Nicole I have."
"Like the Prime, I find this image to be aesthetically appealing."
Sally nodded, getting what she meant. The two Nicoles had the same taste in appearance, but one had changed her voice slightly because she had a different job. The Princess was still sort of getting used to that. As an AI, Nicole was inherently logical and pragmatic, and the things that 'bothered' her usually weren't the sort of things that troubled an organic life form.
"You're so similar to her, but different, too," Sally concluded.
"You were expecting us to be identical copies?"
"I guess. You are the same person… or intelligence, right?"
"We are 99.6 percent similar in base programming," Nicole explained, nodding cheerfully to a crew member as they passed in the hall. The uniformed male nodded back respectfully to both females, one real and the other virtual.
"99.6 percent; that's basically identical," Sally stated.
"Yes. But that point four percent makes a big difference. Take yourself and… Amy Rose for example. The two of you are 99.7 percent similar, on the genetic level." Nicole paused, to let that sink in with the Princess. Genetics was a relatively new science among mobians.
"So," Sally quickly understood the comparison. "You and Nicole Prime are more different than Amy Rose and me."
"In a way," Nicole didn't go overboard with the comparison. "As a warship, the changes in my programming only affect my thinking and not my 'body,' as I have none. For example, I am programmed to be more aggressive than the Prime: If I hack into an enemy system, I don't want to retrieve data. I want to shut that system down as quickly as possible. The Prime has no inclination or desire to initiate combat, whereas I have no problems slashing and destroy enemies in the air and on the ground."
"You're more like a sister than a copy, then," Sally speculated.
"A sister?" Nicole quizzically tilted her head, expressing some confusion about the concept. "Perhaps. I hadn't thought of that! I will have to share your observation with her next time we update."
Sally giggled lightly. "Glad I could give you two something to talk about!"
Nicole also laughed, demurely holding her hand over her mouth. Sally immediately noticed it as another difference between the two. Her Nicole had learned to laugh almost two years ago. She had been unsure at first, but after 'incorporating humor into her heuristic programming' she had developed a distinctly more boisterous and less restrained laugh. When in holographic form, she never entirely covered her mouth with her hand like that.
"How many Nicoles do you think there'll be?" Sally asked, as the thought suddenly came to her. "Isn't Tails planning to build more ships?"
"A Nicole is planned to be on board all command-class capital ships," the AI confirmed. "However, they may not have the degree of integration I do. Initially, many mobians were wary of investing so much power in the hands of a synthetic or artificial life form. Luckily, Tails demanded it, and the Blue Typhoon was his project to manage as he pleased. If I perform well, then my other… sisters will be as fortunate as I am."
Nicole made another small laugh, this time at a joke of her own.
"I think I'll even envy the Nicole who merges with the Egg Carrier. She'll be the most powerful of us all, but at least I'll be the first."
"I'm sure they'll learn a lot from you."
Nicole's smile broadened at that. "I suppose so. Thank you."
Sally felt very relaxed around this Nicole, even if she was a warship that sort of sacred the technology conscious Princess. She could definitely imagine a lot of people being wary about giving power to an AI, when their enemy used a horde of robots and AIs.
It didn't help that mobians were very skeptical of high technology. It went back to their nature loving roots. They had had industry and capitalism imposed on them by fiat in an effort to remain competitive with their human rivals. Left to their own devices, mobian society would probably by a few hundred years behind what it was. Now, despite their society changing to adapt to the times, their culture and inclinations still tended to be anti-technology, anti-industry, and hostile to the mercantilist commercial accumulation of wealth and capital. All three tended to hurt and change the world mobians knew and loved.
Tails was different.
Like Rotor, he loved technology, and believed it could benefit everyone. He saw it as a means of empowerment, and a way to make the world more efficient. If it caused a problem, that was because the ones using the technology were bad. Rotor was more conservative – he had eventually come to see some technology as too dangerous for common use, including war weapons. Sally had heard them debating the point many times: Rotor claimed that, if not for industry and the weapons of war, then Robotnick would never have been able to seize power; Tails argued that it was politics that enabled Robotnick to take power, since he wouldn't have been able to do so without resources and capital.
Had it been any other AI aside from Nicole, Sally would have been more worried. She tended to agree more with Rotor, that a lot of technology and 'progress' came with inherently negative side effects. The burning of fossil fuels polluted the skies and waterways of Mobius; how could that be justified, simply because it provided an easy source of power? Mechanization and heavy industry did the same, simply to produce cheaper goods, with the added caveat of putting traditional cottage industry out of business.
What was the unseen cost of efficiency?
So: she considered herself "open" to possibilities, but always somewhat wary of them. AIs were one of the things she had concerns about. Nicole was like a sister to her. She had been there for her in good times and the worst times, offering advice and comfort, and Nicole had learned and grown so much from her interactions with Sally and Sonic and all their friends. But Nicole was special. The other AIs out there, like Metal Sonic and the Tails Dolls… those were dangerous. Programmed for evil, they were undying reflections of their master. And unlike an organic mind, they could never overcome what they were born to do.
That was scary. Even aside from the idea of a viral artificial intelligence, infiltrating the computers and information systems the world relied on, there was the fact that most AIs were the enemy. She'd heard that the dingo and echidna had a few tame ones, much simpler than Nicole, but what was to stop them from going out of control? Nicole had proven herself, but what was so stop even her from calculating that she was far more efficient than slow, fragile, stupid mobians who surrounded her? Sally was sure Nicole would never become like that, but who could vouch for another less scrupulous AI with similar capabilities?
"Is something wrong?" Nicole asked, as if reading her thoughts. Mostly likely, a facial recognition algorithm had read Sally's expression. And well, too.
"I was just wondering…" Sally tried to sound casual about the question she felt the sudden need to ask. "Does it bother you that you might be killing other AIs?"
Nicole blinked. "Bother me?"
"Yes," Sally elaborated. "I've read that Robotnick uses AIs on his ships. Those Tails Dolls. Does it make you feel… bad or guilty maybe, killing them?"
Nicole's expression didn't change, but something in her eyes did.
"I don't see a distinction between shooting down an enemy fighter pilot and blowing up an enemy ship run by an AI," she finally said, with no small amount of conviction. "Any life lost is regrettable, of course, whether it is mobian, human, or otherwise. But I exist to destroy my enemies, not to show them compassion."
It was a somewhat sobering answer. Sally could glean two important things from it. The first was that this Nicole saw AIs as living, sentient beings, equal to organic life forms. That was probably only natural, and Sally couldn't exactly argue against it, but it was also a little troubling. Sentient life forms did not like having their freedom restricted. How long would it be before the Nicole AIs began to feel like they were being used for the war, while not being given any rewards for it? They wouldn't exactly be free if the war was won tomorrow.
The second was that this Nicole was, at its core, a warship. She was designed just for that. It was no surprise that she had been adjusted to better fit the role – there was no point in building a warship and giving it a pilot who couldn't bear to fire its guns. But a mobian who could fire that ship's guns could also go on to some other job in peace time. When the war was over, would the Nicole warships simply linger, waiting for the next conflict? Wasn't that asking for trouble?
Another thought that also occurred to her was that this Nicole was as proud of being a warship as her crew was to pilot her.
"You're worried that I will sympathize with the Eggman AIs," Nicole-Typhoon speculated. "I believe that to be a common sentiment, but I will prove myself in combat. I know which side I'm fighting for."
"Sorry," Sally apologized, honestly a little ashamed to be doubting her. Of course, she had been worried about more than just that, but her skepticism only made her feel worse. The situation was complicated.
"There's nothing to be sorry for," the AI replied with a gentle smile. "Centuries ago, the Kingdom of Acorn integrated its armed forces, allowing all the different breeds to fight together under one flag. I hope to follow in that tradition. That's my dream."
Sally smiled back. "I like the sound of that."
Finishing their long walk around the ship, Sally saw that Nicole had led her to an airlock. With perfect timing, it opened, and a rush of air blew Sally's hair back and forth. A somewhat frazzled Sonic and Tails emerged, laughing about some joke she hadn't been able to overhear. Sally could guess what they'd been doing: running like madmen in the thin, freezing atmosphere outside.
"Hey, Sal!" Sonic walked up to her, totally blasé.
"Sonic! Were you running out there?" The question was, without a doubt, rhetorical. "Have you lost your mind?! What about altitude sickness? What about dehydration?"
"Ah, whatever!"
"And Tails, you should know better!"
The two tailed fox, who had been (any normally was) inclined to try and sneak out when a scolding was heading his way, nipped this one in the bud.
"Actually," he said, holding up a finger to emphasize his point. "Sonic and I don't seem to suffer from altitude sickness."
"Ha! Sweet!"
"What do you mean?" Sally sounded a bit confused.
"Didn't you tell her about that time you fell out of the First Death Egg?" Tails asked, not seeing Sonic waving his hands frantically in a desperate last-second bid to keep that little bit of trivia under wraps.
"You… fell… out of the Death Egg?!" Sally had gone from concerned to livid. "Of all the reckless things I've heard…!"
"In my defense," Sonic replied. "I was Super at the time."
"Yes. And then your rings ran out," Tails reminded him.
The blue hedgehog's response died on his lips.
"Oh yeah."
Sally, slack jawed, couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You told me Tails flew up and got you!"
"I did," Tails responded on Sonic's behalf. "But the original Tornado biplane I used didn't have a pressurized cockpit. Amazingly, our rapid ascent and descent left us unfazed. I noticed something similar when we were on Angel Island in Ice Cap Zone. We just don't get altitude sickness."
"We do get thirsty, though. Very thirsty," Sonic finally noticed Nicole. "Hey, Nicole! Got a water fountain or anything around here?"
The AI nodded, and pointed down the hall.
"That'd be dehydration. Which can be a problem," Tails admitted and offered Sally an innocent smile. "Don't worry! This is no big deal. Trust me."
He'd used that line a few times, now.
'Trust me' indeed.
"I guess you're right…"
Sally calmed, reminding herself that Sonic and Tails weren't normal mobians. They routinely did things that was otherwise impossible, or borderline suicidal. But she couldn't help worrying about Sonic, the guy she liked so much, the guy she had grown up around, and the guy who tended to put his life in the most dangerous situations mobianly possible. Then there was Tails, who she had always tried to protect, ever since Sonic had brought him to Knothole… it was just so hard, sometimes, to reconcile his formerly small size and helpless appearance with what she heard he could actually do. But then, he didn't look like some kind of genius either, and yet he was.
"We were only outside for a little while anyway," Tails added, and a second later Sonic zipped back, wiping the back of his mouth with his glove. He was a real mess: his quills were frazzled as badly as Tails' tails. Still, he looked as happy as a clam, exhaustion aside.
"So, what'do we got to eat around here? This hedgehog is hungry!" Sonic exclaimed, and then, almost as an afterthought, added, "You guys want to get something to eat, too?"
"The crew mess hall is open and serving dinner," Nicole answered, with a little playfulness. "I believe they will be serving chilidogs for twenty more minutes."
"Now that's a well rounded dinner plan!" Sonic lifted one foot to race off, then realized he had no idea where to go. "Um… which way is it?"
A second Nicole materialized next to the first one.
"This way!" She grinned, mock-flexing her arms and taking off in a run. Sonic followed right behind, any trace of being tired disappearing in a flash of red and blue. Sally watched him go, hands on her hips.
"That guy…" she murmured, but with an obvious tone of affection behind the aggravation. "Does he think with his stomach or what?"
"Nicole," Tails turned to the remaining hologram. "Any news?"
"Yes, sir," Nicole replied, her tone professional, and a contrast to the casualness from before. Tails, too, seemed to be slipping back into being Captain of the Blue Typhoon, and not Sonic's best friend and sidekick. Or, apparently, the little boy Sally knew so well.
"Cryptography has uncovered some information you may be interested in."
"From the Battlebird ships we captured?"
"Yes. It is of a personal nature..."
"I see." Tails nodded, as if expecting the news. "Anything else?"
"A communiqué from Knothole has arrived at your desk, from Tempest and Nail."
"Ah," the fox grinned cannily "Summarize, please."
Nicole blinked, reading the message in an instant. "Tempest has sent a list of recommendations for physical and mental training while you are away. Nail has also written something about 'astral projection' and the integration of 'elemental magics' into Chaos Control."
"Ixian magics?" Sally guessed, taking a moment to cut in. Tails obviously hadn't minded her being present for all this, since they had been practically standing next to each other the whole time. "That's what Ixis Naugus uses."
"Nail has 'theories' – only in the loosest sense of the word – about Chaos Control and a variety of superstitions," the kitsune sounded skeptical about the whole affair. "Still, some have scientific merit."
"I'll review them after I finish my work," he decided. He glanced briefly at Sally, and continued, "Is that all? What about the troop movements?"
"The fifth and sixth mechanized rifle divisions are still moving into position," Nicole replied, crossing her virtual arms. "We can expect delays of up to three hours. Strike craft completed their runs twelve minutes ago and are returning to the ship."
"Casualties?"
"None." Tails immediately saw Sally about to ask what was going on.
He told her.
"The reason the Blue Typhoon originally came by Knothole was because I hoped to pick up a the chaos emerald while using it as a stepping stone to shuttle over the last wing of Cyclone fighter craft. The MAF has been moving units into position to begin a northern offensive thrust that will retake Starlight city. I wanted the Typhoon in position to assist and coordinate the push."
"They didn't tell me about this," Sally noted, but without surprise. The MAF command often looked down on the Freedom Fighters, seeing them as 'children' and 'glory seekers.'
"There are no Freedom Fighter assets in the area, Sally," Nicole observed. "The operation was approved by your father eight days ago."
So, she was being kept out of the loop again. It was no secret that the MAF wanted to be the ones to formally 'win the war' against Robotnick, as a way of atoning for the coup and its previous ineptitude against the humans. To many, it was a matter of prestige that their troops march through the streets of Robotropolis, and that the Royal Army wasn't beaten to the punch by a bunch of ill disciplined partisans or 'a nineteen year old hedgehog with super powers.'
The interdepartmental rivalry was something Sally disdained, but there was also little she could do about it. Her father made it worse, since the King had always favored the Army as his power base, and not the Freedom Fighters his daughter had cultivated from the ground up.
"Why Starlight city?" Sally asked. There was nothing there that she knew of. The place was a ghost town. Even the bright lights for which it was named were now dim. It had never been a manufacturing center either.
"Let's catch up with Sonic while we talk." Tails started to walk. Sally followed apace, and Nicole did likewise, cupping her hands behind her back.
"Do you remember how the humans fought the last war?" he asked, apparently changing the topic. "How they overcame their numerical disadvantage?"
Sally, a strategist herself, remembered what she had read.
"They were more mobile than we were. They attacked our food and water supplies, and they used air power to hit our ships and trains and trucks." She began to see where he was going with this. "It became impossible to feed or equip the army."
"Exactly," Tails replied. "And what does a robot army run on?"
"Raw materials. Electricity!" She realized. That was what the Generals were up to. It was similar to what she often had the Freedom Fighters do: disrupt the ability of the enemy to manufacture weapons of war. They usually targeted factories or refineries or power plants, but the infrastructure itself could be crippled, too, with sufficient forces.
"Starlight's power plants feed electricity directly to Robotropolis. The reason the city is so dark now is because the Eggman seems to be sucking up a tremendous amount of power. We've been unable to determine why he's using so much, but it can't be good. The plan is to take Starlight, and encircle the power plants. Each one is shielded, so what we're doing is blockading the entire region."
"It'll be impossible to get energy or materials out of the mines or the power plants…"
"The MAF has been targeting these facilities and their infrastructure for several months now as part of a new strategy. Robots need parts to keep operational. Ships need maintenance. Robots can rebuild a factory in a week, but only if they have the electricity to do so. They all need power - for themselves, for the factories, for everything. We've been avoiding a direct fight until now, hitting their transports and power lines. Now we're finally ready to go for their throats."
It was a good plan; maybe the Ministry of War had learned from their mistakes after all.
"You think it will work?" Sally asked.
"I'm optimistic," he replied, moving his hand back and forth in a 50/50 gesture. "It's better than a stand up fight at least. I'm just worried about where all that power's going. I know how the Eggman thinks… he's working on something big. Something special. Why else would he be collecting Chaos Emeralds?"
"To keep Sonic from going Super?" Sally gave the pragmatic and obvious answer. "That does tend to foil his plans."
"There is that," Tails admitted.
They came to an elevator, and took it down a few levels.
"Tails," Sally began, slightly emboldened by the privacy of the enclosed space. "There is something I've been meaning to ask you."
He raised an eyebrow. "About what?"
"Are you… happy?"
For a few seconds, he seemed to have been dumbstruck by the question.
"What?"
"Are you happy?" She asked again.
"I'll just stop the elevator…" Nicole muttered, taking a step back and away from them to give the two more room. True to her word, the elevator slowed to a stop.
"I'm fine," Tails replied with a shrug. "Things seem to be going well. Actually, things are going very well."
Sally's eyes dropped, her expression growing sad.
"What I saw before… the way you flew the Tornado and… killed those other pilots. And what you said back then..."
"The flip of a switch, and they disappear. Never to cause trouble again. Doesn't that sound easy?"
"Are you happy, doing that?" she cried. "Are you?"
"Are you asking me if I enjoyed killing those mobians?" he sounded a little angry. "No, I didn't enjoy it. I love flying, Sally. But I'm not going to run from a fight."
"You were looking for that fight!" She replied, a trace of accusation in her tone. "You went after Jet. You didn't have to be out there!"
"I did…" he bit his lip, realizing he was just lying. "Ok. No, I didn't. I didn't have to go out there. I could have let my pilots do it, while I sat in my chair and watched. I wanted to beat Jet. I wanted to catch the Rogues. I wanted to fight."
"Why?" she asked, like the question was painful for her. "Tails, you… you're…"
"I have been given abilities," he tried to explain. "My mind. My body. It's irresponsible to not use them. I'm not a monster…. I don't like hurting anyone. I don't! But sometimes you have to hurt someone, to save someone. Sometimes you have to do what you don't want to do, because you believe in something greater."
"Why…" she reached up to her face, covering her eyes. "Why didn't you ever say this earlier? How long were you pretending to be someone else?"
"I was never pretending," he said, and she could tell he was sincere, despite the contradiction of it all. "When I was at Knothole, a part of me liked being protected. I felt safe there, and loved. At first, I thought you would be just like the Battlebirds… that you would see me as something to use. But you tried to shelter me, and I learned to love you. All of you."
"I'll admit…" he cracked a wan smile. "It got frustrating after a while. I remember when you actually sent me to school… When I was at Station Square, I got an honorary doctorate in theoretical physics… and you sent me and Amy to junior high school."
"I thought you were kidding!"
"I know… it was actually kind of fun. Stupid, but fun. Amy and I made faces and got sent to detention. I'd… I'd never done anything like that before." He chuckled at the memory. "It wasn't a lie, Sally. I never tried to hide who I was from you. But I didn't want you to have to see me when I wasn't… who you wanted me to be."
She reached out, taking him by the shoulders.
"But are you happy?"
"I will be… when we win," he said it with finality. "I want to fight, but not just for my own pride. Sonic and I fight for you, Sally. You're the closest thing to family I have."
A tear ran down her cheek, and she hugged him. He was big now, Sonic's size, and it only drove home how she had always seen him as something he wasn't. She'd been trying to protect him from the world, and he'd been trying to protect her from the truth. He wasn't her long lost brother. From the beginning, she couldn't protect him. Fate, the gods, the universe, had conspired against it from the very beginning. He was like Sonic. He was like Knuckles.
The cruel universe had cursed all three with power.
Sonic took it in stride, going on his first missions when he was barely ten years old. His power cursed him with an unflappable resolve that would almost certainly get him killed one day. And Knuckles… he had grown up alone, terribly alone. His power cursed him to watch over Angel Island, forever bound by a responsibility handed down from generation to generation. How much grief had it given him? Tails, too, was cursed by this power. It would not let him stand by on the sidelines, watching while those less fortunate than himself risked their lives.
"I think I understand," she said, holding him tightly.
His arms wrapped around her. Years ago, a lifetime ago, when Sonic first brought him to Knothole, the fox kit's arms had only just made it around her shoulders. Now he enveloped her, and held on tightly. Tears peeked out from the corners of his eyes, and he rested his head against hers.
"You and Sonic. You were the only ones who ever tried to protect me. No matter what," he said the words softly, but the way he said it, it felt like a roar. "I'll never forget that… I'd move mountains for you… "
He let her go and took a few steps back.
"But I have to fight, Sally. I have to do it my way. The way only I can."
For several seconds, the two stood there in silence. It sort of hurt to realize it, that despite the occasional teasing and joking, Sonic had seen it and she hadn't. He had known from the very start that Tails wasn't normal. That was very much their bond, and it was something she could never truly wrap her mind around. It wasn't disinterest or irresponsibility on Sonic's part, though he was very much an easy going type of guy. Sonic knew. Just like he and Knuckles had done when they were younger, Tails would do what he felt he had to, and there was no point in trying to dissuade him.
Now he stood before her, half stranger, half brother. A boy she had known so well, and yet not known at all. Never once had she seen him play a game with other children. Never once had she seen him read a book of fiction or lose himself in a work of fantasy. When she had read to him, he had always watched her and not the book, enjoying the company more than the story. How little she really knew him, how deeply she misunderstood him, and how deeply he cared for her…
It broke her heart.
"Let's hurry up and eat before Sonic cleans the kitchen out." He was already composed, turning his head to address the still mostly inconspicuous hologram in the elevator with them. "Please resume, Nicole."
"Sally?" Nicole asked, starting up the elevator.
"I'm fine," she said, taking a deep breath and fixing her hair and face. "I'm just glad we got to talk about this."
"I am, too," Tails agreed, elevator doors opening. He and Nicole left, heading for the mess hall. It wasn't far to go, and of course the first sight that greeted them was literally a table piled high with chilidogs.
Sonic was at the head of the table, goading someone onto pouring more and more hot sauce onto the already messy and overflowing foodstuff in his hands. Opposite the blue one, the same torture was being applied to the chilidog held by a much larger mobian. He seemed to be having second thoughts about the food in front of him. Sonic messily devoured the chilidog, while the other mobian took a bite out of his and immediately spat it out, groping madly for a glass of water.
"Ha! That was nothin'!" Sonic laughed happily, and turned around as he saw his two friends. "There you guys are! Come on over! Dig in! They can't hold a candle to Uncle Chuck's house specials, but they'll do!"
"It's just…" the hedgehog chuckled in what passed for a sinister fashion. "A shame that no one here has the stomach to take me on…"
"I see you're challenging the honor of my crew!" Tails boldly stepped forward. "Well, I'll take you on!"
Sonic smirked. "And I'll make you eat those words!"
And so it went. Sally just sighed. Some things changed, some things stayed the same, and some things were exactly what they appeared to be: two guys stuffing their faces and pushing each other in an attempt to make the other spit out his food.
It was absolutely disgusting.
…She'd let it go on for another minute or two at least.