Two old, aging men sat across from each other in a dimly lit, well decorated office. Two heavily armed guards stood on either side of the door, eyeing down one of the men carefully. The man in question was of course none other than the infamous Dr. Ivo Robtnik, also know by his nickname, Dr. Eggman. This usual white prisoner attire stuck out like a sore thumb in dark room, the silver shackles around his wrists reflecting what little light came from the lamps on the desk he sat in front of.

Behind the desk in question sat a man a fair few years older than Robotnik. His white hair and wrinkles were more than enough proof of that. The medals on his highly decorated uniform reflected about as much light as his prisoner's shackles. His hands rested in front of him in his desk, his fingers folded together. A stone cold look rested in his unusual heterochromic eyes. One brown, the other green, both growing cloudy with age, both holding that icy stare. A name tag on his chest read simply, "COMMANDER J. TOWER."

The two of them sat in silence for what seemed like ages. At long last, Commander Tower spoke up. "I'm sorry, Ivo, but once again I must deny your request." Eggman didn't respond with anything more than a simple, slow exhale through his nose. "While I appreciate your efforts to turn over a new leaf," the commander continued, "the United Federation has made it clear that to us you are far too much of a perceived threat by both them and the general public to be allowed any semblance of freedom, no matter how heavily supervised and restricted the alleged freedom is."

A sarcastic smile formed on the old doctor's lips. "Me?" Eggman asked softly. "A threat? After all the time I've been here? After all the time I've had to think? After all the things I've learned? I'm still a threat, am I?"

"You have one hundred and forty seven life sentences to carry out, Doctor."

"What's the point in giving me so much? I only have one life."

Commander Tower lightly rolled his eyes. He let out a small sigh before responding. "Numerous counts of destruction of public property, illegal deforestation, building without a permit, countless counts of armed terrorism, several counts of conspiracy to overthrow the government, numerous counts of armed robbery, conspiracy of running a criminal enterprise, several counts of kidnapping against a Ms. Amy Rose, a few counts of kidnapping against one Mrs. Vanilla Rabbit, numerous counts of child endangerment-"

"That brat's mother should've taken those charges, not me," Eggman grumbled.

Commander Tower ignored him and continued. "Numerous counts of fraud, decades of tax evasion, several counts of conspiracy to make use of the Chaos Emeralds to create weapons of mass destruction, numerous thefts of the Master Emerald from Angel Island, abuse of an ancient deity which directly led to the mass flooding of Station Square, damage of which is still being addressed all these years later. Just a few months after that, you took control of the, at the time, abandoned Space Colony ARK and hacked into every major communication channel and live-streamed yourself firing the laser canon onboard the colony at the moon, resulting in a large chunk of the moon breaking off, causing irreparable damage to the planet's entire ecosystem and a slight axis tilt. Soon after, your creation, Metal Sonic, transformed itself into Metal Overlord and tried to take over the world."

Eggman sighed. "Yeah, I kind of lost it for a while there."

"Not too long after this," Tower continued, continuing to ignore him, "you split the planet itself into multiple floating chunks with an attack from an orbital space station, an event that led to an ancient eldritch evil known as 'Dark Gaia' being released from the planet's core."

The old doctor scratched his head in confusion. "I can't help but feel like something else took place before that…"

"Later, you built a space elevator that shot up to an amusement park in space that utilized an alien race of creatures known as 'Wisps' for energy sources, effectively using them as slave labor, including the Wisps' queen. Not too long after this you meddled with the fabric of spacetime, though no definitive records exist showing what exactly it is you did. What is known, however, is that you at one point successfully conquered approximately ninety-nine percent of the world until being swiftly taken down. In a manner of months with the help of someone who seemingly vanished off the face of the earth not too soon after."

"I still can't believe how quickly that all came crashing down on me. It's honestly kind of incredible in retrospect."

Commander Tower sighed. "The point is," he said coldly, "there is more than enough evidence based on your criminal history for you to be seen as a legitimate threat to not just the United Federation, but the world itself. It is highly unlikely you will ever see any semblance of freedom, no matter how small and insignificant said semblance of freedom may possibly be."

The old doctor clenched his fist. "Is there not something I can do?" he asked, desperation in his voice. "Anything at all? I really have changed this time! I know I've said that before, but I really mean it! Why do you think I've been donating my blood these past seven years?! I want to make a genuine change in the world!"

"The Guardian Units of Nations appreciates your… sudden eagerness to advance the studies into developing a cure and advancing treatments for Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome. However, this alone is not enough to undo your substantial criminal record."

A wave of anger washed over the old Dr. Robotnik. He jumped out of his and slammed his chained fists on the commander's desk. The two guards at the door immediately drew their guns and aimed them at Eggman, but a simple raising of the hand from the commander was enough to stop them from firing. "Is there nothing you can do?!" Eggman yelled angrily. "Can't you see I just want to atone for what I've done?! I want to do something good before I die! Just one thing, that's all I ask, God damn it!"

Commander Tower stared at the enraged doctor, taking note of the tears forming beneath his dark shades. He looked down, letting out a slow exhale.

"I understand how you feel, Ivo," he said finally. "Really, I do. I'm getting up there in years as well. There's just nothing I can do to help you, and to be perfectly honest- even if I could, I'm not sure that I would."

Eggman stared down Tower, before silently sitting down in his seat. "I know," he replied softly, "and I don't blame you either."

Commander Tower looked at Robotnik with a sense of pity. He shook his head, a grimace on his face. "I will schedule an appointment with your counselor," he said simply. "You clearly need another visit. The old doctor solemnly nodded his head silently in agreement. The commander thought for a moment, then added, "I'll also reach out to Miles Prower in the coming days and ask if he's willing to come in for a visit. I don't suppose there's any reason to restrict visits so heavily given… recent developments."

Eggman looked up at Tower, a small smile on his face. "Thank you," he whispered.

Commander Tower didn't respond to him. Instead, he turned to the guards, both of whom still had their guns trained on Eggman. "At ease, soldiers," he commanded. Both soldiers immediately withdrew their weapons. "Take Dr. Robotnik back to his cell," Tower ordered. "But stop by the cafeteria on the way down and let him pick out something nice. Send me the bill."

"Are you sure, sir?" one of the soldiers asked.

Tower nodded. "I'm sure. Now get on with it!"

"Sir, yes sir!" both soldiers yelled as they gave Tower a salute.

The two soldiers led Eggman out of Tower's office. When the door shut behind them, Tower let out a long sigh. He stood up out of his chair and paced around the room for a bit, before finally settling on just standing by the window. The blinds were closed, he never kept them open under any circumstance. The old veteran couldn't stop himself from thinking of everything in the world around him as if it were a potential combat scenario. In his mind, open blinds meant an easy shot for a sniper, and that was not a risk he would take. He scratched his head, pondering his own actions. A lot of ideas raced through his mind, ideas he needed to express to someone else. He pulled out his phone and speed-dialed one of his contacts. As he pressed his phone to his ear, a gruff, annoyed voice said on the other line, "What is it?"

"I need you in my office as soon as possible," Tower replied. "Bring Agent Rouge with you."

"Right now?" the voice responded, clearly agitated. "We're kind of in the middle of something here."

"It's important."

"Ugh, fine. Where's that damn emerald…"

With that, the other person hung up. Tower put his phone away and stared blankly at the closed blinds, thinking to himself in silence. After a few minutes, a green light shone in the middle of the room and a light gust of wind followed it. Tower turned to face it, lifting his arm to shield his old eyes from the brightness. When the light and wind dissipated, two figures stood in place of it: a black hedgehog with red stripes, dressed in a fancy suit and a curvy bat in a long, sparkly black dress. Neither of them looked very amused.

"Now what could possibly be so important it cost us our reservation?" the bat asked, clearly annoyed.

Commander Tower walked over to desk, but did not sit down. "I've been thinking this over for a good while," he said calmly, "and I think it's time I've committed to it. Effective immediately, the two of you are no longer going to be active field agents. This will not affect your salaries in any way."

The pair looked at him with shock, neither of them really knowing what to say. "What is the meaning of this?" the hedgehog asked finally. "What's your game here, commander?"

"Agent Shadow, Agent Rouge, I'm temporarily reassigning your roles. Starting tomorrow, I would like for you to act as active guards for Ivo Robotnik's cell and provide him with an hour of social interaction each day. Am I clear?"

Rouge crossed her arms. "You interrupted our date night so you could reassign us to babysitting duty for the old guy we keep locked in the basement?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at the commander.

"Seriously, commander," Shadow grumbled. "What's the deal here?"

Commander Tower looked at the two of them and let out a long sigh. He closed eyes, put his hands behind his back and bowed his head. "I'm assuming the two of you have read the latest report on Robotnik's health condition I sent you, correct."

Rouge gave the commander a puzzled look, resting her arms at her side. "Yeah, so? What does that have anything to do w-"

"Ah, I understand now…" Shadow said, cutting her off. "So, that's what this is all about then." The hedgehog crossed his arms, a soft, somber look resting on his face. "It always comes back to her, doesn't it? Do you really think caring for him now will somehow help you move on?"

Commander Tower opened his eyes and looked up to face the hedgehog. Rouge was still confused, but didn't dare speak up after noticing how intense the two were glaring at each other. "You have your orders," Tower said finally, breaking free from Shadow's gaze. "You are dismissed. Have a good night."

Shadow turned around, pulling a green chaos emerald out of his pocket. Rouge grabbed onto his arm. "What the hell was that about?" she whispered.

"The same thing it's always been about with the two of us," Shadow muttered. "Maria."

With the power of a chaos control, the two vanished in a flash of green light and a little gust of wind, leaving the commander alone with his thoughts.

A plane sped off the runway in front of Tails' runway, its pilot eager to leave and never come back. "Good riddance!" Tails yelled cheerfully, waving at the plane as it picked up off the runway. "If you ever come back here, I'll call the cops!" Tails sighed, glad to finally be rid of that awful client. "Thanks for helping me deal with him, guys," Tails said, turning to face his friends.

"All we did was just stand there and stare at him," Knuckles said.

"Yeah, and it was enough for him to get the picture," Sonic chuckled.

"How late did you guys even stay up last night?" Tails asked.

"Late enough to know Netflix has a pretty garbage selection of original movies," Knuckles grumbled.

"Late enough for me to decide to spend the night," Sonic added.

Tails shook his head, a smile on his face. "What am I ever gonna do with you two?" he asked.

"If you haven't figured it out by now, you never will, little bro," Sonic said, ruffling the hair on Tails' head.

The kitsune pulled away from his adoptive older brother. "Alright, cut that out! I'm not a kid anymore, man!"

"You'll always be a kid to me, Tails." Sonic grinned at his little brother. An alarm went off from the phone in his pocket and he pulled it out to check it. "Oof, I completely forgot about that appointment," he muttered. The hedgehog looked up to his friends. "Sorry guys, I gotta run. It was good hanging out with you!"

"Yeah, it was good to see you, Sonic!" Tails said cheerfully. "See you around!"

"Thanks for hanging with me last night," Knuckles said with a smile. "See you around bro."

Sonic sped off, leaving Knuckles and Tails behind. The two of them walked back into the hangar together. As Tails closed the hangar's doors, Knuckles leaned against a desk and asked him, "So… did ya tell her?"

"Haha, no," Tails chuckled nervously.

"Figures," the echidna shrugged. "Well, it's good not to rush into that kind of thing, I guess. Just remember that you gotta tell her sooner or later."

Tails sighed. "I know, it's just so difficult. I go to say it, and the words just won't come out. It's not just nervousness, it's like there's a barrier of some kind."

"You just gotta learn how to talk to girls, dude. In like, a romantic way, or something."

The kitsune raised an eyebrow at the echidna. "So… do you think-"

"I ain't teaching you, bro," Knuckles said quickly, not allowing Tails to even think of finishing his sentence. "I am the wrong man to ask."

"Ok…" Tails said, taken aback by Knuckles' quick response. "So… who is then?"

A silence hung in the air for several minutes. Knuckles stroked his chin and thought heavily. This was clearly a rather difficult question. At last, the echidna looked up and said, "Silver…?" Knuckles shrugged. "I honestly don't know man."

Tails rolled his eyes. "Right, the guy who's only sometimes in our time period. I'll keep that in mind the next time I see him."

"Sorry bro, I don't got all the answers."

"I know, I know." Tails glanced over at the planes parked in the hanger. "Hey, could you give me some space for a bit? I kinda want some time alone with my thoughts."

Knuckles nodded. "Sure man, I understand. Don't think too hard, alright?"

"Alright," Tails laughed. "No promises though."

"You nerds and your thinking," Knuckles muttered as he left the room.

As soon as he was gone, Tails walked over to an old plane he hadn't really thought about in years. The Tornado II, long since put out of commission, rested in the back of the hangar. He rested on the side of the dusty old plane, making a mental note to clean it later. His mind was full of questions. Why was it so hard for him to tell Amy he liked her? What could possibly be stopping him from just telling her how he feels? He pondered all of this and more, for several moments.

"Sonic," he muttered finally.

"Of course," he thought. "How can I confess to someone who already loves someone else?"

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to leave a review. Next chapter will develop Cream and Charmy some more.