Wow, set myself a deadline and immediately blew past it lol. But hey, chapter three is here! Also known as the one where Wedgely remembers that Antoine is a coyote and regrets his decision to make the general also a coyote.
Oh, and by the way, thanks so much to all who have left reviews. It really makes my day to read them and I just wanted to let you guys know they're greatly appreciated!
Onward!
The sun had long completed its crawl over the eastern horizon by the time Tails decided he'd done enough. He backed away from the keyboard and directed his eyes in the direction of the infiniband cable still connected to his arm. He removed it rather unceremoniously, and tossed the loose end onto the floor; he couldn't be bothered with cable management at the moment.
He was trembling again. Actually, despite his best efforts, he was pretty sure he hadn't stopped in the first place. His back met the wall behind him, and he slowly sank down it until he was sitting on the floor. The only sounds permeating the space were those of the whirring of fans as they worked to cool the gargantuan equipment surrounding him.
But that's what he was as well, right? Equipment? A machine, comprised of metal and circuitry, masquerading in false flesh? He didn't want to dwell on that - not now. Not ever, really, but he knew that time would have to come at some point. He decided to distract himself for the moment, lest he dive too deep down that rabbit hole unprepared.
Okay, Miles, think. Take stock.
In the past four or so hours, he'd disabled, rerouted, and hotfixed a plethora of code pertaining to his internal systems, all of them in relation to his physical body or communications systems. As he'd previously suspected, whatever was going on in his head that comprised his "mind" was far, far too advanced for N.I.C.O.L.E.'s capabilities. The AI that powered him, made him who he was, was almost definitely based around some breakthrough software in the realm of quantum computing. Tails didn't have a fraction of the equipment or resources on hand to even begin dealing with it, and frankly, the idea of poking around in his own consciousness and giving himself what was essentially a cyber lobotomy scared the absolute hell out of him.
So, instead, he'd stuck to what he could actually change.
The first thing he did was immediately sever the download link from Robotnik's system, effectively cutting out any updates the doctor might send through the channel. He also installed a quick bit of backdoor code to prevent any error messages from firing back to Robotnik, so that the human would be none the wiser. The doctor might send information to Tails, but the data would never make it to its destination, and would instead be discarded and lost to the ether. If Robotnik actually decided to look at the code, it would be plainly obvious where Tails had hastily patched together the fix, but if all went well, he wouldn't have any reason to look that closely. At the very least, it would buy the fox some time.
Secondly, he'd removed the majority of inhibitors placed on his abilities. He was hesitant to do it, fearful of losing who he was, becoming less a person and more a machine, but after a long internal argument, he decided that leaving himself a disadvantage wouldn't help anyone. Robotnik would remove the inhibitors in the event he gained control anyway; Tails might as well get some use out of his newfound power in case things truly got out of hand.
Removing these metaphorical weights had the effect of markedly increasing his strength, plus boosts to his already impressive speed and agility. He gained control of laser blasters hidden under the tops of his wrists, as well as a HUD that he could will into his vision to scan his surroundings. He hadn't actually tested any of this, except for momentarily displaying a readout of basic atmospheric conditions in his vision to confirm that his changes had taken effect, as despite his earlier resolve his concerns about his personhood still held him back from experimenting any further.
And finally, he'd modified his internal tracker, something that Robotnik had doubtlessly been using to keep tabs on his movements since day one - a worrying thought. Tails couldn't simply turn this off, the doctor would notice immediately that his project had gone dark if he shut the entire thing down. Instead, the trick was a program that would allow the android to fake out the positioner, deploying a decoy signature that would display his marker as being elsewhere whenever he needed to be discreet. It wouldn't hold up for long, obviously, but it was better than nothing, and it was something Tails could work with.
He had a starting point.
Okay...okay, I think that's everything.
The exhausted kit hung his head between his knees and sat there motionless for he didn't know how long. Slowly, his chest began to hitch, and then the sobs came. The kitsune sat with his namesakes wrapped around him, and cried until his eyes ran dry. He supposed crying was yet another cleverly designed obfuscation, specifically crafted to create an illusion of sadness and pain to fool others. But it felt pretty damn real to him.
In some faraway, fantastical corner of his mind, the boy was desperately hoping he could lay there indefinitely, so that everything beyond the walls of his workshop might magically right itself, and he could walk out of the building into the bright sunshine of a day undisturbed by Robotnik or war or existential pain. He'd almost made himself believe it could happen, but just as the sobs began to peter out, he heard the unmistakable sound of the workshop's front door opening. His brother's voice echoed off of the cavernous main floor.
"Yo, Tails? You in here, man? Got some news!"
Tails was off the floor instantly, rushing to shut down the computer before Sonic could work out where he was. He doubted the hedgehog could understand at a glance what was displayed on the monitors, but he was decidedly not in the mood to take any chances. The systems darkened quickly as a result of their owner's rather inelegant method of cutting the power supply, plunging the monitor into blackness.
"Hey, bud. That you?" the voice called.
"Yeah, Sonic. I'm in the server room." Tails responded, forcing his voice to remain stable. It was more difficult than he'd expected.
He quickly wiped his eyes the best he could manage and took a moment to compose himself, trying his absolute hardest to not look like he'd just spent the last five hours in abject panic. Sonic didn't need to know about this. Not now, not ever. How could he be expected to remain friends with Tails once he knew the truth, that he was nothing but a machine? Who would want a computer in a metal husk for their brother?
Once he was satisfied that he looked presentable enough for the dim lighting that still graced the walls outside the server room, he stepped slowly out into the hallway, only to be met by Sonic just as he turned the corner.
"Hey, morning, bud! Didn't figure you'd be up and goin' so early after how late we went last night."
"Ah, well I woke up about an hour ago; couldn't get back to sleep. Figured I'd get some early morning cable organizing done." Tails was a fantastic liar. Normally he hated that about himself, but the loathsome trait was serving him quite well in this instance, so he decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Well, looks like you'll have to put that on hold for now. Just got a message from Sal: emergency Freedom Fighters meeting. She wants us there ASAP."
Tails tried his best to hide the concern on his face, and instead covered it with bemusement.
"Oh, uh I...did she say why?"
"Nothing specific, but apparently King Max has something in mind. Wants to meet with us first."
Oooooh...this is bad.
"ASAP, huh?" Tails responded, stalling for time, though he wasn't sure how much good it would do him, "Well, we'll probably have to take the Tornado I. I've still got some of the guts ripped out of the X-1."
False. The only thing taken out of the X-1 was its targeting computer. The plane was still perfectly capable of flight. But it would be best for everyone involved if Tails didn't take to the sky right this minute. The Tornado I would have to do.
"Okay, no prob. She ready to fly?"
"She'll need some fuel," Tails blurted, a little more quickly than he would have liked, though if Sonic took any notice of his friend's odd tone, he didn't show it. "She's been sitting in the hangar for a while, and I drained all the fuel out before storage to prevent corrosion in the engine."
That, at the very least, wasn't a lie. Thankfully, Sonic didn't seem at all suspicious, and simply flashed a thumbs up. Maybe Tails wasn't as acting as conspicuous as he felt?
"Gotcha. How long should that take? I should probably let Sal know our ETA," the hedgehog responded.
"I'd say...give me about an hour, then we should be able to head out. I'll go hook up the fuel line right now."
"Sure thing, bud," Sonic assured, turning around to head back down the hallway, "I'll be over at the house; just lemme know when we're all set!"
Tails would have loved to use the hour it took to connect the fuel line to the plane, pump the fuel into the fuel cells, start the engine and test the propellor for any malfunctions, and give the wings a once-over, to prepare himself mentally for any issues that might arise from a cybernetic sleeper weapon such as himself sharing a room with the entirety of the Freedom Fighters plus the King of Acorn. However, to his increasing dismay, he found that he didn't have a heap of viable options.
If he went AWOL and ran off without any kind of notification, well, it would probably be the most suspicious thing he could do. The rest of the Fighters would scour under every rock on Mobius to find him, which would severely hamper the Kingdom's ability to keep an eye on Robotnik. For all he knew, that might have been part of one of the doctor's contingencies.
Revealing to his teammates any part of his actual reasoning for wanting to defect was also out of the question. He knew what that would mean. If Tails let anyone know about his true nature and had his cover blown, he would immediately be rendered useless to Robotnik, and Tails knew quite well that the good doctor held very little regard for useless equipment. And that's not even touching the distrust that would certainly begin to brew within certain factions of the government should the information become more widely known.
So, by the time he began the walk over to the house to notify Sonic that they were ready to hit the skies, he'd resigned himself to trusting his own preventative measures and keeping as close an eye on any Robotnik developments as possible. His foe didn't show his hand often, but with his current link to Robotnik's systems and the bonus of newfound enhancements, the fox figured he had as good a shot at getting out in front of this situation as he was ever going to get. Plus, if the worst eventually did come to pass, he knew of at least one, sure-fire out - one that he didn't find at all pleasant to dwell on.
The biplane touched down within half an hour at Mobotropolis International Airport, and after parking the Tornado in the reserved hangar, Sonic and Tails were met by a small entourage of military personnel. At this point it was mostly a formality, but Tails enjoyed the extra layer of security all the same. Sonic often joked that it made him feel like he was an honored dignitary arriving from lands afar, and to that end he made a show of blowing kisses and bowing to an invisible crowd upon exiting the plane, which of course earned him a light but firm elbowing from Tails and a stern glare from General Allistair Penn.
The coyote met them on the tarmac, extending a professional, if cold, handshake to each of them. Behind the group, a small gathering of airport workers made their way toward the plane.
"Gentlemen," he greeted with a curt nod, "The king's been informed of your arrival. I trust you can make it to the palace from here?"
The general's steely gaze was as intimidating as ever. Tails swore it got harder to look the man in the eye every time they met.
"Yes sir, thank you," Tails responded respectfully before Sonic had time to open his mouth.
"Oh, and Prower, all the necessary arrangements for the exercise at Green Hill have been approved," Penn added, "You'll receive a formal address in the mail soon. Arrive with your aircraft an hour before the scheduled start time...is that it?"
The general gestured toward the Tornado I, and Tails thought his face betrayed a sense of apathy toward the machine.
"No, the one I'll be testing is the X-1, a fighter model. It's undergoing repairs at the moment," Tails responded, measuring his words so they didn't sound too hostile. He was already under enough stress, and he didn't take very kindly to others disrespecting his work.
"Sure," the coyote remarked somewhat dismissively, "At any rate, I'll see you in a few days. And be prompt. G.U.N. doesn't tolerate tardiness."
"Right. Of course, General."
With another stilted nod, Penn turned and accompanied two of his soldiers out of the hangar, which Sonic and Tails took as their cue to do the same.
"He always that cheerful?" Sonic quipped as soon as they were out of earshot.
"Yeah, a real people person," Tails responded, this time allowing a little more of the venom to drip into his words.
The two hastily made their way out into the mid-morning sun and toward downtown at a steady clip, mindful of any passing pedestrians, of which there were many, and careful to avoid being slowed down by any potential autograph seekers. While Mobotropolis was the capital of the Acorn Kingdom, and one of the largest cities on Mobius, the two had spent so much time in the sprawling bastion of civilization that they knew every street, alley, and rooftop like an old friend. It took them virtually no time before they were standing at the front gate of Acorn Palace, and were given a warm welcome by the palace guards with a formal salute.
"General Penn could learn a thing or two from you guys!" Sonic remarked with a wink as he strolled past and returned the gesture. Duty bound as they were to demonstrate restraint, Tails was certain he saw some of the guards fighting back amused smirks.
Finally, the duo entered through a pair of large, oak wooden doors which lead to the office of King Maximilian Acorn. As Tails expected, they were the last to arrive aside from King Max himself. This was common, as Sonic and Tails were the only two members of the core team to live outside of Mobotropolis, but given the duo's speed and punctuality, it had never been an issue.
"Hey hey! Long time no see!" Sonic greeted, and addressed everyone present with an enthusiastic wave.
"Hey Sugahog," came a velvety voice that could only belong to one Bunnie Rabbot, "Glad you two could make it."
"Wouldn't miss it!" Sonic replied, "I mean hey, if King Max himself wants to meet with all of us, it should be pretty important. Where is he anyway?"
"Oh, you know dad; probably cutting through some more red tape," this time it was Sally who responded, "Seems like he's had his hands tied all day. He should be in soon."
As Sonic crossed the room to catch up with Sally and Bunny, Tails felt a gentle nudge to his arm, and turned to see the friendly face to his right.
"How's it going, kid!" Rotor exclaimed with a grin, obviously happy to see his only other mechanic buddy. Tails wished he could share in the jubilance and gleefully talk shop with his friend as usual, but the best he could do under the circumstances was put on a smile and power through.
"Oh, pretty good, Rotor," he offered with a grin, "Doing some maintenance on the X-1, so we rode in on the older model."
"Saw that. I know the jet is way better for what we do, but there are times I can't help but miss that old biplane. Somethin' real authentic about the sound of a propeller cuttin' through the clouds. It's the kinda sound I grew up on."
"Maybe I can take you for a flight sometime and we can give the engine a tune-up. I really should get her out of the hangar more often," the sentiment was genuine, but the casual inflection was most certainly not.
"Sounds like a plan, boss."
As they chatted, Tails' eyes idly scanned the room, and eventually landed on the stoic figure of Antoine D'Coolette parked in a chair next to the wall, arms crossed and eyes skyward. The coyote was always lost in thought before a mission, with a solemn expression that betrayed a weighty sense of gravitas whether or not the situation actually called for it. It was a habit that his teammates often teased him about, but Sally had on more than one occasion commented on her respect for his determination, misplaced though it sometimes may be. For this particular assignment, however, Tails had a feeling that Antoine's demeanor was hauntingly appropriate.
The fox turned his head, preparing to continue his pleasantries with Rotor, when he was interrupted. The oak doors opened once again, this time giving way for His Highness King Maximilian Acorn, walking at a slightly more brisk pace than one would consider normal.
"Morning, all," the king declared tiredly yet warmly, flashing a smile in that regal way that looked at once heartfelt but also strained. The expression of Sir Charles the Hedgehog as he followed in after was not dissimilar.
"Uncle Chuck!" Sonic exclaimed, gleefully bounding over to grab the older man in a firm hug.
"Sonic! Ah, good to see you again, old boy. You as well Tails!"
Tails offered a grin and nod to acknowledge his surrogate uncle, but couldn't bring himself to muster much more than that. He was among friends wearing smiles all around - a situation most would find comforting, reassuring. But Tails could only taste the bitter sting of uncertainty, as every passing second confined within these walls, in the company of the people he loved most in the world, only amplified the very real danger of which they were all blissfully unaware.
King Max sat down behind his desk, an earthen, sturdy thing, and motioned for all in the room to come to order. Tails found a seat on a nearby sofa next to Rotor; he could see Sonic now reclining in a chair next to his uncle, while the girls opted to stand. Antoine, of course, remained the picture of solemnity in his seat.
"General Penn not coming?", Sonic questioned as everyone got settled.
"The general has quite a lot on his plate at the moment, for reasons that will soon become clear. I've briefed him on the main points of this meeting and I'll be filling him in on the specifics later," Maximilian responded, "In any case…"
The king cleared his throat, and began: "Thank you all so much for coming here on such short notice. And I mean that, genuinely. Not every leader can be as blessed as I am to have a team as dependable as this, which is why I'm going to need each one of you to be alert and on your guard in the coming days.
"We have reason to believe that Dr. Robotnik is mounting his forces. His radio silence over the past months has been more than a little concerning, but we've had little in the way of a tangible threat. However, our various recon scouts have recently shown a higher than average rate of mobility within Robotnik-controlled territories both inside and outside the Acorn Kingdom, which we can only assume is indicative of some less than savory dealings at large."
The king could practically see the questions swimming around inside each team member's brain, but they all knew very well that this information was far too important to interrupt. He was silently grateful for that, for he was in short supply of answers.
"This comes in the wake of some other reports claiming that there has been...troubling activity in zones where Robotnik has previously been known to operate. I hesitate to elaborate, since these reports aren't fully confirmed at the moment, and we're not positive they relate directly to Ivo, but...they're credible enough to take seriously. The situation is looking tenuous. To that end, I have an assignment that I'd like you to see to.
"Currently, the Kingdom has only two chaos emeralds in its possession here in the palace. A third is being kept with the Master Emerald on Angel Island, which means that four are up for grabs, so to speak. I've been speaking with Charles and other advisors and we agree that in light of recent events, it would be irresponsible to leave them unguarded.
"So we're going on a chaos hunt," Bunnie stated, a small grin adorning one side of her face.
The king smiled as well, thankful for even the smallest bit of levity, "Yes, you're going on a chaos hunt."
"Not under normal circumstances, however," he continued, "We're uncomfortable having all seven emeralds stored within the palace. It would paint an enormous target on our back, and all of Mobotropolis by extension. What you'll need to do is essentially confirm each emerald's location and ensure that it's in a secure place, so that we can apply energy concealment technology, and log each location. We'll be leaving them in the same general area we find them; our main objective is to not leave them unprotected."
"So Robotnik's probably in pursuit of them too, right?" It was the first thing Tails had said to the room since they'd arrived, "We'll need to be quick about it."
"I would have to imagine so, yes," the king responded, "which is why I'm encouraging you all to stay vigilant. We still don't know the full scope of what he's planning, but at the very least he'll want to keep the emeralds out of our reach even if he's not using them."
Tails nodded. This would be quite the logistical challenge, even disregarding his personal extenuating circumstances, depending on how far the emeralds had dispersed this time around. Tracking them down in the past had been a gradual thing, bagging and tagging them whenever the opportunity presented itself; they'd never been under this severe of a time crunch. He was suddenly all the more grateful he'd modified his GPS locator.
He began to weigh their deployment options. They had several planes at their disposal to reach the further emeralds, and four people who could fly them, but only Tails and Antoine had extensive experience in combat situations. Sonic and Rotor were competent pilots, but Rotor's real talents were with a wrench in-hand, and Sonic had never had much practice with evasive maneuvers. Of course, it's possible they would get lucky and some emeralds would be close enough to reach on foot, or that Robotnik simply had other things on his mind and they would be able to track their quarry unmolested, but that wasn't something he should count on with any measure of certainty. He would bring it up to Sally once they'd triangulated the locations.
"Well, our first move should be getting to Angel Island," Sally declared, "I'd like to convene with Knuckles as well as temporarily relocate the emerald he has in his possession. The island seems as obvious a place to hide a Chaos Emerald as the palace."
"Pfft. Good luck tryin'a get that fella to give up an emerald," Bunnie replied, "He's even more hard-headed than Sugarhog over here, no offense."
"None taken," Sonic replied with a chuckle, "I was actually just about to suggest we check up on ol' Knucklehead myself. Last time I talked to him, he mentioned something he'd been working on that'll probably help us out big time."
The king raised a curious eyebrow; Knuckles hadn't informed him of any new developments, "What do you mean?"
"He said he was working on a "deeper link" with the Master Emerald. Not 100% sure what he meant by that, but he was pretty sure he could use it to...man I can't remember all the words he used, but bottom line: once he creates that link, he'll be able to sense the energy of each individual chaos emerald by connecting with the Master Emerald. Hopefully he's got it down pat by now; when we talked it sounded like he was pretty close."
Tails felt a small wash of relief at hearing the news. It was a welcome sensation, one he hadn't been feeling much of in the last twenty-four hours. He had tech onboard the X-1 that could track chaos energy signatures, but its range was limited, and required a lot of educated guesswork to utilize. If Knuckles could indeed give them a ballpark estimate on where each emerald might be hiding, they would have a major leg up on Robotnik.
He could only hope to come out on the other side of this mission with as little conflict as possible. Then he could begin work on how exactly to track down the greater answers he so desperately needed, the most glaring of which being how to sever his cybernetic ties to the doctor and throw himself clear of any remote interference. If this mission went south, or if the underlying turmoil ran as deep as the king seemed to fear, he would be fighting two battles at once, with no clear directive on either.
"Alright then," Sally stated rather matter-of-factly, jolting Tails out of his thoughts, "I think Sonic, Tails and I should make a quick trip to Angel Island to discuss everything with Knuckles. Once we're done there, we can reconvene at Tails' workshop and lay out our plan depending on what information the three of us are able to gather. Sound good?"
All present nodded in affirmation. With that settled, everyone began rising to break from the meeting, but were at once interrupted by the sound of Antoine's voice.
"Your Majesty," he began, his thick northern accent coating his words, "Ze threats of which you 'ave been speaking. How seriously shall we take zem?"
There was a pause. Not extraordinarily long, but long enough for the king's eyes to flit up to the map on the wall, and find the spot where the town of Riverwald once was.
His tone was heavy when he responded.
"Take no chances."
The sky was a brilliant azure, a perfect day to relax lazily against a nice rock next to a sleepy stream, so that's exactly what the red echidna decided he would spend his day doing. The Master Emerald had been quiet enough lately, which was unusual, but he took it as a good sign. It indicated stability and balance, two qualities his life had been in short supply of.
The life of a guardian was an understated one, if you screwed up it was catastrophic, but if you did everything right, people wondered what you even did at all. Thankless work, but crucial. Knuckles paid no mind to what others thought, of course; there was little communication with the outside world on the floating island, which he was quite happy with, thank you very much. In fact, his main contact with civilization at large was his…
Ping!
...communicator.
The guardian pulled his wrist in front of his face with an exaggerated motion to see what was so important as to interrupt his peace, and was greeted by the sight of Sonic the Hedgehog's smiling photo accompanied by a simple line of text:
Hope u cleaned house. we're on r way.
Knuckles let out a long suffering sigh, and grumbled every step of the way back to the temple.