Bane led them down the opaque corridor, to one of the doors that they had passed earlier. This door had the legend, "TPO: Research and Development". He opened the door for them, and they went through. Tails was having much the same doubts as Sonic, but this was currently overridden by his excitement. The mechanical contrivances in this place must be incredible, what with having millennia of development going on. And he was not disappointed. An incredible array of machines were spread out in front of them, seemingly in a space bigger than the entire dome in and of itself. Men and women in lab coats were tinkering, testing, and writing things down about the machines. One particularly unusual machine beeped, and one of the technicians wrote something down. As Tails stood on his toes to see, Bane and the rest unknowingly left him behind.
Tails saw what had been written down about the machine. "Went beep" was all that was written on that particular page. He tapped the technician on the shoulder, and said, "Excuse me… what exactly is that?"
The machine in question was the approximate size of a bowling ball, with small projections ending in little knobs, and 2 small slits on one side. The technician didn't look at Tails, and prodded the machine with the pencil he was writing with. "In all honesty," he said, writing something more down. "We're not sure. One of our developers up and died before he could tell us what it was supposed to do. So far, it's gone 'beep' at fifteen-minute intervals."
The technician looked down at Tails. "I say, who are you?" he asked, as if he had just realized that someone was there.
"I'm Tails," he replied.
"Oh, yes… the little fox friend of Sonic's. Well, I hear you're good with machines… could you spare some time and help me figure this thing out?"
"Sure!"
Meanwhile, Bane, Sonic, and Omega had reached their destination, a small portico. "Now, Sonic, although I understand you are loathe to use weapons, you may need a few of the devices… hey, where'd Tails go?" Bane asked.
Omega and Sonic glanced around quickly. There was no sign of the little fox. Sonic shrugged. "Knowing Tails, he's probably messing with some of the machines here. He's probably even brought along his own personal screwdriver set."
Sonic sounded unconcerned, but was secretly very worried and suspicious. This place had separated Tails, Omega, and himself from the rest of the gang. And now Tails had gone missing… this did not bode well. Omega wasn't quite so worried. He trusted Bane, his earliest friend who hadn't turned out to be evil. He also believed Sonic's nonchalant statement.
Bane continued, "Anyway… I know you are loathe to use weapons, but you may want to take a look at some of the devices that we've developed recently."
Sonic stole a glance at Bane's face. It was earnest and clear… but that didn't mean he wasn't lying. It just made it less likely. He took a look at the array of devices on the counter. There was a gun… some bombs… some other things he couldn't even recognize… and a pair of white gloves. They looked a bit out of place. "What are those?" he asked, pointing at them.
Bane peered at the gloves. "Ah, those… those are our newest innovation. Woven from carbon-12 microtubules, those gloves are practically indestructible. Can't be pierced, and incredibly heat resistant. One problem, though, due to flexibility issues… objects within the gloves can be crushed, with sufficient force. It'll ward off a dagger or flames, but totally useless against, say, a hammer."
Sonic peered at his own gloves, worn and stained with food. "How stain-resistant are they?" he asked.
"Oh, not very," Bane replied glibly. "But cleaning is easy. All you do is toss them into a fire, and most of the stuff that isn't the gloves will burn away."
"Well, it's true that my own gloves have seen better days…" Sonic said, and pulled his own gloves off.
He pulled the gloves on the table on, and they fit, as the cliché goes, like a glove. He flexed his fingers a few times. It was like skin… "Right," Bane said, turning to Omega. "Now you choose something."
Omega turned a discerning eye to the table's offerings. He picked up a set of sharp claw protectors, a breastplate that looked like it would connect to his chest bar easily, and a wrist knife. The claw protectors went on the claws of his right hand, and the wrist knife was clipped to his left arm, extending about half an inch beyond the prosthetic claws. He looked up at Bane, and said, "I'm going to need some help with bolting this on."
"Glad to oblige," said Bane, taking up a small handheld device.
Omega held the plate in place while Bane bolted it in at regular intervals. "All of the things that you have chosen," he said as he finished. "Are made of the same materials as your arm; an alloy of stainless steel, tungsten, titanium, and vanadium. It's also outfitted to be ultra-light, as you can tell."
Indeed, the plate and claw protectors seemed to weigh next to nothing. He wondered how it was done. Well, in any case, it was time to find Tails…
