Snively shook his head again. Anything he could do to stay awake, he was doing. He'd been constantly working for almost the whole of the time since the mainframe went down. This was yet another way that losing the mainframe was hateful.
Snively had a list of such reasons going in his mind. Every hour, the list expanded, encompassing yet more disgusting aspects of the situation.
Currently, most of these aspects had to do with Robotnik's physiology. The two of them had spent four days together in the one hover unit, neither of them bathing, changing clothes, or sleeping. Dull as Snively's senses were compared to an animal's, a robot could smell Robotnik's body odor.
Sadly, Snively was losing some of his restraint. His patience with Robotnik was wearing out, and that boded ill for him. If he was on edge, Robotnik was surely psychotic.
Maybe his blood pressure will spike and he'll have an aneurysm, Snively thought. I'm probably not that lucky.
As soon as he thought it, he shuddered. Much as he hated Robotnik, he couldn't really see what life without him would be like. Whenever he thought about it, he could only imagine an abyss.
He didn't think about it much anymore.
Robotnik shifted in his seat and another waft of odor hit Snively's nose. Snively shook his nose yet another time, this time for a different reason. The smell was intolerable! If Snively didn't get some form of release soon…
"Sir?"
"What?" said Robotnik, as if snapping out of a trance.
"Sir, we're reaching the limits of what caffeine can do. We've got to get some sleep at some point or…"
"No!" shouted Robotnik. "We are the only things that keep this city running! If we sleep, we'll never get the mainframe back online!"
"But sir," said Snively, too tired to care about the consequences of arguing, "We're reaching the point of diminishing returns. If we stay awake much longer, we'd almost be more productive asleep!"
Robotnik grimaced and growled, and Snively braced himself for the inevitable repercussions. Amazingly, Robotnik started to relax. His grip on his chair eased just a little. "How many commands can the Swatbots queue up?"
You want to tell them to do as much as possible while we sleep, Snively thought. He was a bit miffed that Robotnik would care about efficiency, which was Snively's job; as Snively thought of things, and how he justified the partnership to himself, Robotnik was the creative mind, the controller and imaginer; Snively was the happy worker carrying out orders and making sure everything went smoothly.
Getting maximum efficiency out of the bots was something Snively considered to be his job, not Robotnik's, but given how happy he was to be getting out of that hover unit he was more than happy to play along. "Quite a few, sir, it depends on the complexity of the commands."
"Very well, Snively. We will give as many orders as possible to each group of Swatbots and worker bots. Once all the bots have things to do while we're asleep, we return to Headquarters."
Snively was relieved for a moment. Robotnik had listened to reason—who could've expected that? Then he suddenly had a thought—how long would it take to contact every single squad of Swatbots? Hours, maybe. What if one of those squads was then done with its jobs? Robotnik would insist they give them something to do. Then others would get done, and get new series of orders, then others…
Robotnik didn't want them to go to sleep, not in the least. The conditions under which they'd get to sleep were set up for the purpose of denying them that sleep until the mainframe was restored and could take over administration.
Snively moaned mentally and reached for his coffee.
Sally sat at a table near the outside of Knothole. She was outdoors; the breeze was pleasant, though it might grow chilly if the night was a cold one.
Occasionally Sally regretted the cover of the trees. From what she could tell, a glorious sunset was burning across the sky. It was an outside possibility that she could manage to see the tail-end of it yet, but she doubted it. Another wasted opportunity. Well, she thought, if this works, I'll ensure there are at least a few more for me to see in the future.
Antoine caught her eye as he approached. "I am being ze reporter for you, my preencess," he said.
"Good, Antoine. Now we wait for Sonic and Tails."
"Tails? My preencess, he is…"
"Antoine, I'll explain later. I'll show you what the two of you will do."
"Ze two of us?"
"Antoine, wait for a moment." And it turned out to be just a moment; mere seconds later, Sonic and Tails appeared on the table, bowing.
"Weee're here!"
"Yep!" confirmed Tails.
Sally nodded. "Only a few minutes late."
"What? Me? Late? I'm the fastest thing alive."
"The fastest thing with a lazy streak, you mean."
"I not could be more in agreeing with you, preencess. This fyuel…"
"Antoine, we'll discuss that later," Sally interrupted.
"Sacre bleu! Every things is later!"
"Nicole, display the hologram of the plan." Sally wanted to keep them focused. She wanted them relaxed, which was why she'd joked with them, but now it was time to settle down. The computer displayed the image, buzzing contentedly.
"Antoine, Tails, this is the route you will take," she said. "Follow these checkpoints. Antoine, you know where they are, so Tails will follow you." She looked him in the eye. "Can you remember it all?"
"Of certainment!"
"Right. Tails, your ultimate destination is this building. Actually, the roof of this building. This plan has some tight timing. There are two options here. Some of these factories have skylights, some don't. We can't be sure which."
To help with the explanation, Nicole displayed the roof of the building in two forms—once with a skylight, once without.
"We've used skylights in the past, so it may be guarded. In either case, your goal is to punch a hole in the roof."
Tails stared at her. "Aunt Sally… how?"
"If there's a skylight, you can find a way to knock it out. We'll supply you with the tools you'll need, so you can do so even if there's no skylight."
"What about Swatbots?"
"You'll handle them," she said. "I wish there were a better way to put this, but you're gonna have to find a way to deal with them. There shouldn't be many. Use Antoine if you can find a way to get him there. It's all up to you. We're counting on you to improvise."
Tails was shaking. "You can do this, Tails," she said. "I know you can. That's why I'm trusting it to you. Sonic and I will handle the rest of the plan, and Antoine will get you to the roof. All you need to do is handle that one part on the roof. It's the key to the plan, and I know you can do it."
"Yeah," said Sonic. "Big guy, you can handle it. It's just a roof! A few feet of wood and metal! It can't stop you, just walk all over it."
Tails smiled a little. "Yes," said Antoine, "zere is much of ze knowing of ze abilities of you. Ze preencess is much in her correctness to do being giving this to you."
Just what I needed, Sally thought, Antoine's approval of my plan. But it seemed to help Tails; the kit stopped shaking as Antoine patted him on the shoulder. Sonic caught her eye and tossed a big sneer in Antoine's direction, followed by a questioning look. Sally mouthed 'later' back to him.
"Alright, everyone, let's go. Antoine, Tails, you'll ride Dulcy. Sonic and I will head out first."
"Hey, Tails! You get to travel Air Dulcy."
"Cool! I've never ridden her before!"
"Just watch that last step."
"Huh?"
"You'll see."
"Here," said Sally, handing out watches. "These are all perfectly synchronized. They'll vibrate when there's fifteen minutes before we need the hole, one minute left before the plan goes into effect, and again at the critical time. Tails, at the third vibration, we need there to be a hole in that ceiling. You'll probably want to wait as long as possible before you put the hole in, but when you feel the second buzz, you'll need to hurry."
Tails nodded. "I gotcha."
"As soon as the hole's in place, get out of there! Every Swatbot in Robotropolis will notice our part of the plan, so get out of the city as soon as you're done. Everyone understand? Let's do it to it," she said. Antoine and Tails started walking towards Dulcy's meadow. Sally watched them for a few moments, then turned to Sonic. "Ready?"
He nodded. "Got my Power Ring and everything." He stared at her for a few moments. "Well? You gonna answer my question?"
"About Antoine?"
"That one."
"Sonic, can you name an animal that can hide better than Antoine?"
"Anyone! When he flips out, anything can hear him!"
"How often does he "flip out"?" she said firmly.
"About… once a month," said Sonic. He crossed his arms in front of him and waited.
In the time they'd known each other, Sonic and Sally had slowly developed a body language unique to them. Sally understood Sonic's gesture now to be an admission of sorts—he knew she had a point, but he was going to make her work for it and prove to him what it was.
She was perfectly willing to do this. "So, anytime that Antoine doesn't shake, he can hide the best."
"It comes naturally to him," said Sonic.
"In that case, he's the perfect animal for the job, since we need a way to get Tails safely to his destination, then home again. We can't do it, since we'll be elsewhere at the time. By sending him with Antoine, we give Tails the best chance of survival."
"But what if the Swatbots run into them? Ant's no good at that, an' you know it."
"Yes, I know it. But it's a risk we can't get around. Can you recommend someone else for the job?"
"No," he said, "but I can recommend we don't set it up like this."
Sally frowned, signaling disapproval. "Sonic, we can't get so risk-averse that we're paralyzed. Yes, it's a gamble. But I have faith in Tails. When did you start doubting him?"
Sonic turned his head. This was a surprise, thought Sally; that was Sonic's way of expressing embarrassment. "It was easier to get pumped over Tails when I knew he wouldn't be a Freedom Fighter."
Sally could only shake her head in amazement. "So all of your promotion of Tails' being a Freedom Fighter was based on the assumption that he'd never be one? All this time you never actually wanted him to get involved?"
He grimaced. "Hey, I was sure we could nail Robuttnik before we ever had to use Tails. I blame you, Sal. I never thought you'd cave an' let him be a Freedom Fighter. But y'know, since I said so often I wanted him to be a Freedom Fighter…"
"The lie took on a life of its own."
"Somethin' like that. I just wanted him to be happy." Sonic stared in the direction Tails had gone in. "I love him. I didn't think he'd end up doin' the thing I never wanted him to do."
"That'll teach you to watch your tongue."
"Yeah, no kiddin'."
"Any other lies you'd like to confess? Or shall we go?"
Sonic shook his head. "You're bein' real sweet, Sal."
She walked up to him. "Hey, you kept repeating to me how you wanted him to be a Freedom Fighter."
"'Cause I knew you'd never let him be!"
"Sonic, do you know how much your opinion matters to me?"
The hedgehog and the princess were silent for several long moments. Then both blushed and turned away. Eventually Sally sighed in finality and turned back to Sonic.
"C'mon, let's go."
"Gotcha, Sal. Hop to it, I'm ready to juice!"
She jumped into that familiar posture, linking her arms around his neck as he supported her back and knees. "Robotropolis, here we come!" Sonic shouted. A moment later, the only evidence they'd ever been there was flying leaves.
Tails followed Antoine, trying to clear his head. So THAT was what Sonic had meant. "Watch that last step" had turned out to mean "Don't be on Dulcy when she lands". The only landing Dulcy knew was the crash landing.
He looked up and saw Antoine continuing through the murk. Tails hurried to catch up. Despite his boots, Antoine was moving through the city making almost no noise. Tails still had a lot to learn if he was being outclassed by Antoine.
Following Antoine was like following a train. There was a lot of starting and stopping, and for the animal in back, the stops were sudden and the starts more so. Every few minutes, Antoine would stop and shiver once or twice. Each time, he looked back at Tails, then said something defiant and hurried off again, forcing Tails to run to catch up.
"This is annoying," Tails thought. "Why is he acting like this?"
He caught a strange smell. He looked at Antoine—was it coming from him? Tails had some doubts, as he was in Robotropolis and everything stank. But this smell was almost like… sweat.
It was sweat, Tails thought. Antoine was sweating profusely, through seemingly every part of his body. It was as if Antoine was a sponge, and someone was wringing the sweat out of him.
Tails came to the inevitable conclusion: however frightened Tails was, Antoine was scared out of his mind, and only by looking back at Tails and refusing to let him down was Antoine able to continue going on.
Tails felt momentary panic. Was Antoine thinking clearly enough to lead him in the right direction? Tails was lost, for certain; he had no idea which way he was going, nor which way would get him out of the city. If Antoine was lost, Tails was, too. But somehow Antoine seemed to know where he was going, panicked though he was.
He stopped again as they walked parallel to some pipes. Tails stopped, waiting for the shiver, but it never came. Antoine pressed a paw against the pipes, then dropped to the ground and rolled beneath the pipes. Tails hesitated, then followed.
Antoine stayed there, shivering, and Tails felt panic again. Had Antoine totally fallen apart? If one was to believe Sonic, this happened often.
Why, oh why, did Sally team me with Antoine? Now we're doomed!
A sound a moment later convinced Tails that they really were doomed.
Clank, clank, clank.
The unmistakable sound of Swatbots on the march.
Every muscle group in Tails' body seized up, causing him to shiver like Antoine. The footsteps were almost constant and intolerably loud. It was a whole troop of them! The sound came from every direction at once, so it was impossible to know where they were going, and from where; all Tails knew was that the sound was getting louder, so the bots must be getting closer.
Now he could see Swatbot feet! They were passing so close by Tails instinctively wrapped his tails around his body to get them out of the way. The sound was shattering Tails' ears.
And then it was over. Within seconds the Swatbots were gone, and many long seconds later the footsteps became inaudible.
Antoine scrambled out from beneath the pipes, brushing gunk off of his uniform and muttering. Tails followed him and wondered how he could possibly be concerned with his appearance at a time like this. Then he looked closer and saw how much Antoine's paws shook as he cleaned himself.
Antoine looked up at Tails. "I tink I know why my preencess put you and me into teammates," he said.
"Why?"
Antoine made an expression very unusual for him, one that most had never seen. It was a bitter smile, but almost guilty in its bitterness. "It is taking ze coward to know hiding better, no?"
Tails knew how everyone thought of Antoine. How could he have been so thick as to expect Antoine to not know the same? All this time, everyone thought that Antoine was too arrogant to understand his flaws.
The reason he had to try and be brave was because he knew he was a coward.
"I think you're very brave, Antoine." He remembered something Sonic had told him. He'd said that even Antoine was brave, because he knew all the dangers and was a Freedom Fighter anyway. "Sonic thinks you're brave, too," he said on inspiration.
Antoine gasped something unintelligible, then bowed his head to Tails. "Tanks to you," he said. "Now, we are going?"
"Yeah," said Tails. "Antoine, why didn't they find us?"
He smiled. "Be touching ze pipeses," he said.
Tails did—for just a moment; they were scalding hot. "Oh! I think I get it."
"Ho-ho," said Antoine. "Those Swatbottoms were tinking of finding us. But I was clevair! If they see us only by being heated, then heated is where to hide!"
Naturally. Swatbot infrared sensors would be all but blinded by the heat of the pipes. What was the heat of two animals compared to that?
"Good job, Antoine!" said Tails.
"Now alongsides coming," he said. "We are not wanting to be late for ze end! I will see zis conclusivity with my own two feet!"
Tails smiled. What would be the point of correcting him?
TO BE CONTINUED…