Eggman's tech lab loomed on the horizon, a jutting glass and metal fixture sticking out of the cliff face adjoining the city. The hedgehog below stared up at it, charging on through the the forests and outskirts of Capitol Aero, as far as he could.

Sonic sucked up another gulp of air. His stomach turned.

He reached the edges of the trees, and raced across the mile of open ground between him and the lab, pushing the limits of his speed, dirt flying from beneath him. Toward the back of the building—and the line of combots waiting for him.

Sonic's eyes narrowed.

Gramps, probably being carted off to Robotropolis in some transport-bot at this very moment. Tails—who—who knew what they were doing to Tails.

The combots shot.

Sonic whipped through the first line of bullets and plowed through two of the combots with a shout. He leapt into a spin dash, curling up tight into a ball, as the combots and he somersaulted over each other. Sonic whipped out of the ball and surged up the wall of Eggman's tech lab, to the nearest glass window.

He crashed through, feet first. The shards of glass shattered around him in slow motion. A three story drop waited beneath him. He had come in on one of the high windows overlooking the main lab room.

Sonic grunted in concentration as he fell. He shot all his limbs out towards the scaffolding a foot away from him, fighting the air. The tips of his fingers touched the edge of the scaffold rail and it was all he needed. Speed off, his hands snatched onto the rail, and his body swooped beneath the rail onto the scaffold. He skidded across the grid-floor on his sneakers and his hands.

He froze, hissing. The hedgehog's ears cocked back.

The place was swarming with combots. He could sense them positioned all throughout the warehouse. And all the workers were gone—the place was totally silent except for the robots. Eggman had been expecting him. Tails was either gone, dead, or going to be very soon.

Sonic whipped into a blur, charging across the scaffold, leaving it rattling behind him.


They climbed up the nine-story spiraling stairwell in Eggman's tech lab, the two combots hauling Tails by his upper arms. The fox's two tails dragged behind him, limp and useless from the weight of the chains wrapped around them. Tails breathed in and out through gritted teeth, trying to keep silent every time the combots shifted his shoulder. Grounder and Eggman followed close behind.

Eggman kept listening to the feed on his combot messenger. He cleared his throat. "Hurry it up, move it."

They stepped onto the top floor of the tech lab, an enclosed landing with only a metal scaffold to act as a barrier between them and the nine-floor drop down to the basement floor.

As soon as they reached the top, Tails sagged, unable to stop from shivering.

Eggman pressed his gloved fingers against the top corner of a paneled wall piece. The piece clicked open and Eggman pulled out a long tray from the wall…a tray covered in an electric map. The hologram on the console formed a layout of the tech lab. Eggman traced his fingers around the figure of the stairwell.

Tails raised his head just enough to glance at the map and Eggman.

At once, an energy field leapt up on the floors beneath them, cutting off the stairwell from the rest of the building. The field spiraled down, all the way to the basement, until someone could look over the side of the stairwell and see a single tunnel, shooting straight down to the bottom floor.

Tails eyes widened.

He let out a sharp breath of air, stiffening his legs.

Eggman continued to play with his console. "All right, Grounder, let's get on with it."

A combot knocked into the back of Tails legs, sending him to his knees on the floor.

Grounder wheeled around to face Tails, his black eyes blinking. "Mobian," his speaker announced. "You have defied Dr. Ivo Nikolos by breaking and entering into Robotropolis. We have secured footage of you in Robotropolis at tech lab Spectank, and we have reason to believe you conspired with the Ringweilder to release a high-security prisoner, an echidna, and facilitate his escape from Robotropolis. Do you plead guilty or not guilty?"

Tails stared, his eyes glazing over through the speech. He still shook. At the question, he paused. "Guilty," he said, his voice small.

Grounder scooted closer to him. "Then, where is the echidna?"

Tails blinked at the question. "You mean…you don't have him?"

Eggman rolled his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose.

Grounder wheeled closer to Tails. "Tell us where he is, and you will not die."

Tails stared. He let out a long, shaky sigh, and bowed his head.

The combots yanked him up from the ground and slammed him back against the metal stair railing. Tails barked in pain, trying to worm away out of instinct. Grounder's hand shot out into his face and pushed him back by the head. Forcing the fox's upper body backwards, bent over the rail and the nine-story drop.

Tails legs gave way beneath him. He tried to coil his tails about himself despite the chains. Grounder's hand forced his head to the side so he could glance down at the sickening drop.

The basement floor looked like a patch on a checkboard.

"Want to go for a fly?"

Tails closed his eyes hard.

It would probably take about three and half seconds to fall once he factored in the weight of his chains. Three and a half seconds. Then his body would explode once he hit the basement floor. It would all be over in three and a half seconds.

He didn't mind the feel of falling too much.

One of the combots grabbed the chain wrapped around Tails' middle and hefted his waist over the edge of the rail. The fox's body dipped back and he stiffened like a board, all his muscles locked in terror. He let out a loud gasp.

Grounder's hand snatched his good shoulder, stopping his fall.

Tails heaved for air.

"Look, screw up," Eggman said, walking over to the scaffold to stand over the fox. He chuckled. "Look at you, you don't want to die. You're just a kid."

Tails fought the gravity pulling back on his head, keeping his chin tucked against his chest, his eyes screwed shut. He quivered.

"Come on, Tails? Where did the echidna go?" Eggman asked.

"I'm gl-glad you d-don't know—" Tails' voice shook as he forced out the words between his teeth, his jaw locked.

Tears sprang to his eyes.

He'd lost it. He couldn't stay cool, even after all he'd been through. They'd all been right about him. The fear broke through. The sob lurched free from him.

The truth was, at the end of the day, no matter how many times he had faced death and pain in the past, he was still just an undersized twelve year old who needed his parents.

At the sight of Tails' tears, Eggman cleared his throat. He motioned with his hand and the combots pulled the fox forward several inches. Grounder still held him bent backwards over the rail. His automated voice clipped out, "You knew the echidna and were seen visiting his island on occasion. Where do you think he went?"

Tails growled through another sob.

"Some place in the forest?" Grounder tried. "Someplace underground?" He waited. His gears clicked and his voice increased in volume. "Say something!"

Tails sucked up a breath of air.

"Drop me!" he shouted, his sobs heaving free.

For several seconds, neither Grounder nor Eggman spoke.

The fox waited for them to say or do something—anything. His torn shoulder and upper body throbbed.

Eggman stared down at Tails, frowning hard. He bit his lip and cleared his throat. "Look…Tails…you don't have to die today." His tone was almost congenial. "Just think about it for a bit, this is a big moment in your life! Now, I'm not going to pretend you don't…care about Sonic, in some way—after all, Ivo assures me Mobians do replicate many of the emotions and bonding patterns as humans, and I've seen it myself. So…think about Sonic! If we kill you now—what will be left for him? When it's his turn to die, he'll die alone…and if my guess is right," Eggman paused and stepped closer. He leaned over Tails staring down into the fox's stricken eyes. "If my guess is right…Sonic hates being alone."

Tails closed his eyes. He shook with his suppressed sobs, the words stabbing into his mind. He shook his head-

Eggman pressed his fingers beneath Tail's chin and bruised cheek, forcing his head still. "Take your time and think about it…there may be some innocent little piece of information you can share with us, and then we may be able to work out something. Maybe you could even tell him goodbye."

"I-have nothing-to say to you," Tails gulped out between his tears.

"You have some time to change your mind." Eggman said, patting his cheek. "You can just stay right here and think about it. I'll leave you here with Grounder. He has some more questions you can answer for him, and he'll let me know how things progress."

Tails sagged over the drop, letting his head fall back.


Man, it took a lot longer for me to upload this time! Sorry for the wait. :-D Christmas has come to our house, so it's been really, really busy lately. Anyway, thank you again for the reviews and for reading! :] Hope ya'll enjoy!

~ConnieP.S. A couple updates-I finally got my About Me page up and I also hope to edit/add/replace many of the "Presode" chapters very soon. I'd also like to become more active on the forums here, if I can find the time! Either way, hope I can see you all around Fanfic more. ;-)

MERRY EARLY CHRISTMAS!