The Robotnic Complex
Chapter 7
Location: Knothole Date: March 7, 4580-2:30 A.M. Tails was sitting in front of the briefcase-sized mainframe computer that Brian had brought with him. He silenced a yawn and took another swig of his coffee. He was tired, but kept working through his fatigue. This technology was incredible. Rotor was long since asleep. Tails smiled. 'It's sad, but pretty soon I won't be able to pull off all-nighters like this anymore. Ah, the joys of growing up.' He put down the mug of coffee and continued his examination of the computer. A minute later he heard a soft noise on the other side of the lab. He jumped up and sat down the meter. "Hello?" He called out into the lab. He reached into his leather jacket and pulled out a small handgun. It was silver with 12 round capacity. Amy had given it to him last christmas. He smiled at the thought of her. 'I wonder how she's doing?' Tails hadn't seen her for 7 months now. She was his best friend. They both knew what it was like to not belong. He had asked her to move to knothole, but she had declined saying that she prefered the wilderness. Some people thought that their friendship might someday evolve into something more, but Tails and Amy didn't want that. They were happy with the way things were. 'Snap out of it Tails, you need to focus.' He drew a clip out of his jacket pocket and loaded the gun. He crept silently across the floor of the lab towards the door, where he heard the noise. He was about 10 feet from the door when he heard a voice from behind him. "Tails!" He spun around and found a target for the gun. It was Amy. He quickly holstered the gun. He smiled. "Amy, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" She smiled at him. "I'm glad to see you too." She walked up and hugged him. "How have you been Tails?" He hugged Amy back. I'm good. And do I have a story to tell you..." She came with Tails and he told her all about the ship and Brian, up to the part where Knuckles sent Brian into the hospital. Her face was horror-striken when he was done. "That's horrible! Let's go see him!" He looked at her in surprise. "Amy, It's 2 in the morning. Don't you think you should wait until tomorrow?" She blushed. "Oh yeah..." Tails smiled at her. "Don't worry, I've said worse than that. Say, I'm about to quit for the night. Want to get a cup of coffee?" She grinned. "Sure, is the kitchen open this late?" Tails walked to the bench to get his glasses and turned off the computer. "Yeah, there open. By the way, where are you staying?" She looked towards the floor. "I was wondering if maybe you had a extra room open...I could stay with you." Tails looked up from the console. He was getting a...feeling that something was wrong. "Amy..." He spoke softly, "What's wrong?" She looked up and he could see the tears in her eyes. "You've been telling me it would happen for years, but I never actully belived it would. Robotnic finally found my house and destroyed it. I barely escaped. But everything I own..." She was sobbing by this time. He walked over to her and sat her down. He hugged her. "Amy don't cry. Things like this happen. You can move in with me and start over again." She sniffed and loooked up at Tails. "You mean that? Are you sure?" He looked up at her. "Amy, your my best friend. I will help you in any way I can." Amy started to smile through her tears. "Thank you Tails." He grabbed a towel off the bench and begun to dry her tears. "So," he asked softly. "Are you still up for a cup of coffee?" She laughted and stood up. "Sure! Shall we?" He smiled and stood up. He walked over and shut off the main breaker. "Let's go." They walked out the door, stoping only to lock the door.
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Dr. Quack was sitting at his desk in the Knothole medical clinic. He was reclined in his chair, at his desk, reading a magazine. After the incident with Brian, things had gone slow again. Not that he minded that, but it was boring on the night shift. Brian was lying on the hospital bed sleeping. The morphene was begining to wear off and his slumber was going to a dream state. His eyelids were slowly twiching. He suddenly bolted upward and screamed. Dr. Quack bolted up from his chair and grabbed his tranqulizer gun and ran toward Brian's room. The screaming cut off just before he entered the room. "Brian!" he said, just before going to his bedside. "What's wrong?" Brian was gasping for air. "What happened to me and where am I?" Quack sat down beside him. "You were severely injured by Knuckles, a friend of ours." Brian's head went down. "Sound's like this guy don't like me. Or is this a grunge for all 'Terrans'." Quack frowned. If you think that was bad, wait until you meet St. John, he is going to hate you." Brian just sighed. "Where are my clothes? I need to leave. I feel like coffee. Any place this side of Mobius serve a decent cup at this hour?" Quack raised his hand at him. "Hold up a sec, you still need to hear the rest." Brian sighed and layed back. He ajusted the bed so that he and Quack were eye level. "OK Doc, go ahead. Quack smiled and sat back down. "Good. Now, Sally has arranged for you to have your own hut. You have access to the lab but nowhere else. Sally will tell you why tomorrow. You also can go to the kitchen, but that's it. Your house is number 53. The kitchen is north of here. You can go there and get coffee. If there is nothing else, I will leave you to get dressed." Brian sat up. "One thing Doc. Why the restricted access?" Quack became very still. "I am not allowed to discuss this with you." Quack went outside and grabbed a clipboard. "Sign here and your discharged." Brian signed the forms and handed the pen to Quack. Quack, in turn, handed him a bag. "Here are all of your belongings. Good day." Quack walked out and went back to his office. Brian quickly got dressed and put on his dogtags and his WatchCom. He swiched it on. ::WatchCom Online:: (Beep Beep) "WatchCom online, waiting command." Brian smiled. ::Standby and wait for further commands:: The watch beeped three more times and shut down. He walked out of the medical lab.
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"So, you were right. They are open late." Tails smiled at Amy. "Yeah, I told you- hey, is that Brian?" Tails was looking down the street and saw the man heading toward the kitchen. "Hey Brian!" Brian looked up from the path that he was walking and saw Tails and Amy."Hello Tails...Who is this?" Tails looked over at Amy and saw her looking down. He chuckled. "This is my friend Amy. Amy, meet Brian." Brian smiled. "Hello, nice to meet you." He extended his hand toward the young hedgehog. She loked up and accepted the hand. "Same here." Brian looked at the both of them for a second before breaking the growing silence. "Well, what are you two doing out at 3 in the AM?" Tails spoke. "We were coming from the lab to get a cup of coffee before turing in. Care to join us?" Brian smiled. "Funny. I was about to do the same thing." They turned and begun walking toward the Kitchen. Once the went inside, Brian froze immediatly. Knuckles was sitting at a far table. He stood up an begun to walk toward them at once. He slowed as he approched the trio. He stopped directly in front of them. "Tails, Amy," He said with a slight chill in his voice. "Do you mind if I speak to Brian alone?" Before either of them could answer, Brian told them to go sit and would join them shortly. After they left, he turned to Knuckles. "What do you want... Knuckles, was it?" Brian tried to say as casully as possisible. In truth, he was scared to death. He would never say himself weak, but the way he had moved earlier...Brian knew that without the WristCom as a assistant, he would never stand a chance. Knuckles leaned toward his face and whispered as softly as he could. "Two things. One, I am sorry about beating you senseless today. Two..." Here Knuckles paused, as if to collect his thoughts. "Sally seems to trust you, as least partially. But me, I'll believe when I see. So just be aware...I'm watching you." He then casully walked up to the exit and left. Brian pondered Knuckles words as he went to a seat by Amy and Tails. Tails looked up from Amy as Brian aproched the table. "What was that about?" Brian just shook his head. "Nothing...Nothing at all." Tails looked at Brian for a second. "Right. Well, the coffee is on the counter." Brian turned to the counter behind him. He walked to it and picked up a cup, filled it up, and sat back down. After a second, Brian looked to him. "Brian, If you don't mind, could I ask you a few questions?" Brian took a drink. He quickly sat the cup down and coughed rather hard. "Jesus, what do you put in this. This is strong!" Tails just laughed. "Your on a completely different planet, and you expected things to be the same?" Brian just took a deep breath. "No...but...Damn! That is strong!" Tails just laughed as he took a drink. "Don't worry. You'll either get used to it or have a mental episode." Brian just looked at Tails. Tails looked up from the table. He smiled. "I was kidding!" Brian smiled. "Oh...Now, did you say something about questions?" Tails sat his cup down. "Oh yeah! First, and I think this is what all of knothole is curious about, how is it that without even trying you can speak fluent Mobian?" Brian put his head down on the table. He sighed before continuing. "Part of my guardian training involved learning how to quickly interpret languages. The training was ment for computer language, but the concept still remains the same for spoken languages." Tails looked at Amy. She leaned forward. "Brian," She said softly. "You don't like to talk about your past, do you?" He just let his head rest on the table. Finally, about a minute later, Brian answered. "It's just that, there are certain parts that I want to be forgotten." He picked his head up off the table and drank the rest of his coffee. "Excuse me, I want to go and check out my living arrangement. I will see you tomorrow Tails. Nice meeting you Amy. Good night." He turned and walked out the door before either could respond. Brian walked up the small path to the hut that had been assigned to him. 'Hmmm...Quaint, yet cozy.' He thought to himself as he walked in the front door. He checked his watch and saw it was 3:28 in the morning. "Better get some sleep." He said to no one in paticular. He saw a couch in the middle of the room. He layed down on it and was almost instantly asleep. Amy and Tails were walking towards his house. They were silent for a long time. "Tails," Amy finally spoke up. "Thank you for doing this. I doubt that anyone else would have been this nice to me." Tails looked over at her and laughed. "YOu don't have to thank me Amy. Your my friend. Why wouldn't I do this?" She didn't say anything else. They got to his door and they walked in. He led her to his spare room. "It's not much, but..." Amy interupted him. "This is fine! Thank you Tails." He just smiled at her. "Good night Amy." "Good night Tails. See you in the morning." Tails backed out of the room and closed the door. He walked across the hall into his room. He took off the jacket, his holster, and his gloves. He walked over to the bed and sat down. He took off his sneakers and layed down. A flick of a swich, and he was in darkness. Knothole was quiet once more.
Location: Knothole Date: March 7, 4580-2:30 A.M. Tails was sitting in front of the briefcase-sized mainframe computer that Brian had brought with him. He silenced a yawn and took another swig of his coffee. He was tired, but kept working through his fatigue. This technology was incredible. Rotor was long since asleep. Tails smiled. 'It's sad, but pretty soon I won't be able to pull off all-nighters like this anymore. Ah, the joys of growing up.' He put down the mug of coffee and continued his examination of the computer. A minute later he heard a soft noise on the other side of the lab. He jumped up and sat down the meter. "Hello?" He called out into the lab. He reached into his leather jacket and pulled out a small handgun. It was silver with 12 round capacity. Amy had given it to him last christmas. He smiled at the thought of her. 'I wonder how she's doing?' Tails hadn't seen her for 7 months now. She was his best friend. They both knew what it was like to not belong. He had asked her to move to knothole, but she had declined saying that she prefered the wilderness. Some people thought that their friendship might someday evolve into something more, but Tails and Amy didn't want that. They were happy with the way things were. 'Snap out of it Tails, you need to focus.' He drew a clip out of his jacket pocket and loaded the gun. He crept silently across the floor of the lab towards the door, where he heard the noise. He was about 10 feet from the door when he heard a voice from behind him. "Tails!" He spun around and found a target for the gun. It was Amy. He quickly holstered the gun. He smiled. "Amy, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" She smiled at him. "I'm glad to see you too." She walked up and hugged him. "How have you been Tails?" He hugged Amy back. I'm good. And do I have a story to tell you..." She came with Tails and he told her all about the ship and Brian, up to the part where Knuckles sent Brian into the hospital. Her face was horror-striken when he was done. "That's horrible! Let's go see him!" He looked at her in surprise. "Amy, It's 2 in the morning. Don't you think you should wait until tomorrow?" She blushed. "Oh yeah..." Tails smiled at her. "Don't worry, I've said worse than that. Say, I'm about to quit for the night. Want to get a cup of coffee?" She grinned. "Sure, is the kitchen open this late?" Tails walked to the bench to get his glasses and turned off the computer. "Yeah, there open. By the way, where are you staying?" She looked towards the floor. "I was wondering if maybe you had a extra room open...I could stay with you." Tails looked up from the console. He was getting a...feeling that something was wrong. "Amy..." He spoke softly, "What's wrong?" She looked up and he could see the tears in her eyes. "You've been telling me it would happen for years, but I never actully belived it would. Robotnic finally found my house and destroyed it. I barely escaped. But everything I own..." She was sobbing by this time. He walked over to her and sat her down. He hugged her. "Amy don't cry. Things like this happen. You can move in with me and start over again." She sniffed and loooked up at Tails. "You mean that? Are you sure?" He looked up at her. "Amy, your my best friend. I will help you in any way I can." Amy started to smile through her tears. "Thank you Tails." He grabbed a towel off the bench and begun to dry her tears. "So," he asked softly. "Are you still up for a cup of coffee?" She laughted and stood up. "Sure! Shall we?" He smiled and stood up. He walked over and shut off the main breaker. "Let's go." They walked out the door, stoping only to lock the door.
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Dr. Quack was sitting at his desk in the Knothole medical clinic. He was reclined in his chair, at his desk, reading a magazine. After the incident with Brian, things had gone slow again. Not that he minded that, but it was boring on the night shift. Brian was lying on the hospital bed sleeping. The morphene was begining to wear off and his slumber was going to a dream state. His eyelids were slowly twiching. He suddenly bolted upward and screamed. Dr. Quack bolted up from his chair and grabbed his tranqulizer gun and ran toward Brian's room. The screaming cut off just before he entered the room. "Brian!" he said, just before going to his bedside. "What's wrong?" Brian was gasping for air. "What happened to me and where am I?" Quack sat down beside him. "You were severely injured by Knuckles, a friend of ours." Brian's head went down. "Sound's like this guy don't like me. Or is this a grunge for all 'Terrans'." Quack frowned. If you think that was bad, wait until you meet St. John, he is going to hate you." Brian just sighed. "Where are my clothes? I need to leave. I feel like coffee. Any place this side of Mobius serve a decent cup at this hour?" Quack raised his hand at him. "Hold up a sec, you still need to hear the rest." Brian sighed and layed back. He ajusted the bed so that he and Quack were eye level. "OK Doc, go ahead. Quack smiled and sat back down. "Good. Now, Sally has arranged for you to have your own hut. You have access to the lab but nowhere else. Sally will tell you why tomorrow. You also can go to the kitchen, but that's it. Your house is number 53. The kitchen is north of here. You can go there and get coffee. If there is nothing else, I will leave you to get dressed." Brian sat up. "One thing Doc. Why the restricted access?" Quack became very still. "I am not allowed to discuss this with you." Quack went outside and grabbed a clipboard. "Sign here and your discharged." Brian signed the forms and handed the pen to Quack. Quack, in turn, handed him a bag. "Here are all of your belongings. Good day." Quack walked out and went back to his office. Brian quickly got dressed and put on his dogtags and his WatchCom. He swiched it on. ::WatchCom Online:: (Beep Beep) "WatchCom online, waiting command." Brian smiled. ::Standby and wait for further commands:: The watch beeped three more times and shut down. He walked out of the medical lab.
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"So, you were right. They are open late." Tails smiled at Amy. "Yeah, I told you- hey, is that Brian?" Tails was looking down the street and saw the man heading toward the kitchen. "Hey Brian!" Brian looked up from the path that he was walking and saw Tails and Amy."Hello Tails...Who is this?" Tails looked over at Amy and saw her looking down. He chuckled. "This is my friend Amy. Amy, meet Brian." Brian smiled. "Hello, nice to meet you." He extended his hand toward the young hedgehog. She loked up and accepted the hand. "Same here." Brian looked at the both of them for a second before breaking the growing silence. "Well, what are you two doing out at 3 in the AM?" Tails spoke. "We were coming from the lab to get a cup of coffee before turing in. Care to join us?" Brian smiled. "Funny. I was about to do the same thing." They turned and begun walking toward the Kitchen. Once the went inside, Brian froze immediatly. Knuckles was sitting at a far table. He stood up an begun to walk toward them at once. He slowed as he approched the trio. He stopped directly in front of them. "Tails, Amy," He said with a slight chill in his voice. "Do you mind if I speak to Brian alone?" Before either of them could answer, Brian told them to go sit and would join them shortly. After they left, he turned to Knuckles. "What do you want... Knuckles, was it?" Brian tried to say as casully as possisible. In truth, he was scared to death. He would never say himself weak, but the way he had moved earlier...Brian knew that without the WristCom as a assistant, he would never stand a chance. Knuckles leaned toward his face and whispered as softly as he could. "Two things. One, I am sorry about beating you senseless today. Two..." Here Knuckles paused, as if to collect his thoughts. "Sally seems to trust you, as least partially. But me, I'll believe when I see. So just be aware...I'm watching you." He then casully walked up to the exit and left. Brian pondered Knuckles words as he went to a seat by Amy and Tails. Tails looked up from Amy as Brian aproched the table. "What was that about?" Brian just shook his head. "Nothing...Nothing at all." Tails looked at Brian for a second. "Right. Well, the coffee is on the counter." Brian turned to the counter behind him. He walked to it and picked up a cup, filled it up, and sat back down. After a second, Brian looked to him. "Brian, If you don't mind, could I ask you a few questions?" Brian took a drink. He quickly sat the cup down and coughed rather hard. "Jesus, what do you put in this. This is strong!" Tails just laughed. "Your on a completely different planet, and you expected things to be the same?" Brian just took a deep breath. "No...but...Damn! That is strong!" Tails just laughed as he took a drink. "Don't worry. You'll either get used to it or have a mental episode." Brian just looked at Tails. Tails looked up from the table. He smiled. "I was kidding!" Brian smiled. "Oh...Now, did you say something about questions?" Tails sat his cup down. "Oh yeah! First, and I think this is what all of knothole is curious about, how is it that without even trying you can speak fluent Mobian?" Brian put his head down on the table. He sighed before continuing. "Part of my guardian training involved learning how to quickly interpret languages. The training was ment for computer language, but the concept still remains the same for spoken languages." Tails looked at Amy. She leaned forward. "Brian," She said softly. "You don't like to talk about your past, do you?" He just let his head rest on the table. Finally, about a minute later, Brian answered. "It's just that, there are certain parts that I want to be forgotten." He picked his head up off the table and drank the rest of his coffee. "Excuse me, I want to go and check out my living arrangement. I will see you tomorrow Tails. Nice meeting you Amy. Good night." He turned and walked out the door before either could respond. Brian walked up the small path to the hut that had been assigned to him. 'Hmmm...Quaint, yet cozy.' He thought to himself as he walked in the front door. He checked his watch and saw it was 3:28 in the morning. "Better get some sleep." He said to no one in paticular. He saw a couch in the middle of the room. He layed down on it and was almost instantly asleep. Amy and Tails were walking towards his house. They were silent for a long time. "Tails," Amy finally spoke up. "Thank you for doing this. I doubt that anyone else would have been this nice to me." Tails looked over at her and laughed. "YOu don't have to thank me Amy. Your my friend. Why wouldn't I do this?" She didn't say anything else. They got to his door and they walked in. He led her to his spare room. "It's not much, but..." Amy interupted him. "This is fine! Thank you Tails." He just smiled at her. "Good night Amy." "Good night Tails. See you in the morning." Tails backed out of the room and closed the door. He walked across the hall into his room. He took off the jacket, his holster, and his gloves. He walked over to the bed and sat down. He took off his sneakers and layed down. A flick of a swich, and he was in darkness. Knothole was quiet once more.