"I'm telling you, Sonic..." Tails said, as he dabbed at the bruises over his face with a wet cloth, "It was the doll! It attacked Amy, and it tried to kill me!"
"Tails..." Sonic sighed and set himself across from his brother, both males occupying separate chairs in the kitchen. "Think about what you're saying... a killer. Doll. You know how that sounds?"
"Don't..." Tails raised a finger and pointed to the hedgehog, "Even start with the 'Tails is crazy' bs. After all the weird crap Eggman built throughout the years, do you really think this is beyond reason!?"
Sonic leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin. "You're right, Tails..." the hedgehog relented, "Eggman is... well, was, a crazy old coot. But why a killer doll?! And why make it to look like you specifically?"
Tails shook his head. "I dunno " he muttered, dabbing at the bruises on his face. The doll had hit him with far more force than a being of its size should have been able to exert. "Some kind of last-minute revenge device? To take one of us out in the event we finally got him?"
Sonic shrugged. "I dunno, little buddy... it had plenty of opportunities to go for you before it did... and why attack Amy if it was after you?"
"Collateral, maybe?" Tails suggested. "I don't know, Sonic. All I know is that thing is dangerous, and it said it was coming back... for me..."
Sonic swallowed, and nodded. "Then it looks like we're gonna have to stay on our toes. Right, little buddy?"
"Yeah..." Tails replied, fiddling with his tails nervously, "Yeah, right..."
Sonic took first watch, while Tails holed himself up in his room checking his security systems. If there really was a killer doll on the loose, and it was coming back for Tails... Sonic was the best bet to catch the little bastard, being super-fast and all. He meandered through the shared home of him and his brother, pausing to check on Amy as she slept peacefully.
"Well Ames..." he chuckled, "We're waiting for an attack by a killer doll... crazy times, huh?" She didn't respond, her chest simply rising and falling. Sonic looked her over, wishing he'd been there to protect her when she'd been attacked. Been there to protect Tails.
"It should've been me, Amy..." he went on, rubbing his tired eyes, "It should've been me who got Eggman not Tails. He's just a kid Ames, too young to be taking life like that... even if Robotnik had it coming for too damn long... I should have done him in when it was obvious he was never going to stop, nobody would have blamed me... but I didn't, and Tails had to do it instead. Does that make me a hero... or a coward?"
Amy had no answer for him, remaining unconscious on her bed.
Sonic shook his head in resignation. "Never mind..." He said, backing out of the room, leaving on last look at his friend, "Sleep tight, Ames. Get well soon."
"Sonic?"
Sonic's ears perked as he thought he heard Tails calling from somewhere within the house. He frowned. Tails should have been in his workstation still, checking the security systems. He couldn't have finished this early... could he?
"Tails?" Sonic called, moving down the hall with his ears pricked, "You finished, buddy?"
"What? Oh, yeah, I just... need some help moving something!"
Sonic frowned. There was something... off about Tails' voice... but he couldn't be sure. He headed in anyway, keeping his guard up for any troublesome little dolls.
"Buddy?" Sonic called out, edging into the kitchen, "You there?"
"BATTER UP, HEDGEHOG!"
Sonic barely had time to react as something orange and airborne lunged from the ceiling corner, ducking into a roll as the plaster shattered from the wall where his head had been, unfurling and landing easily on his feet. He turned around, and again had to duck out of the way as his assailant charged him again, screeching and wielding a baseball bat in its mitts.
"WOAH!"
Sonic ducked again and raised a forearm... and screamed as the bat made contact, shattering the bone.
"HA! HAHAHA!" The freaking doll, floating in the air via some unknown means, leered at him with madly glowing eyes and a mouthful of vicious teeth, the bat comically large in its small hands, "STRIKE!"
Sonic's mouth flapped and his teeth grit at the pain of his broken forelimb, eyes bulging as he watched the floating doll heft its bat again.
"What the HECK, dude?!"
"SHUT UP AND STAY STILL!"
The doll boosted forward again, far faster than Sonic had been expecting, and he again dived and rolled, returning to his feet, searching for a weapon to defend himself with.
The doll screeched at him with a distorted, childish voice. "Stay still so I can KNOCK YOU OUT, YOU JERK!"
"Yeah, not gonna happen, you little asshole!"
Sonic, despite the pain in his arm, lunged across the kitchen toward the sink, narrowly dodging a swipe of the bat as he moved. The doll snarled in frustration, swinging itself off-balance with the attack. Sonic wrapped his good hand around a plate, and threw it like a frisbee toward the thing.
The doll squeaked in pain as the plate smacked it in the face, tumbling to the floor in a mess of limbs. Sonic stumbled and fell, the pain in his arm blinding him momentarily, sparks dancing in his vision as he again scanned for the evil little thing. It didn't hang around long, scampering out of the kitchen like a fleeing rat, something shiny in its paws.
Sonic took a moment to collect himself, before furrowing his brow and grabbing the bat from the kitchen floor. "Oh no you don't, you little creep..."
The hedgehog trotted through the door where the doll had escaped, moving down the hall in pursuit. He kept his eyes and ears peeled, blinking his vision clear as best he could. The thing could be anywhere by now, what with its small size and flight capabilities.
He kept himself low as he crept through the hall, his right hand clasped around the bat, ready for any sign of the-
"THAT'S IT!"
Despite his speed, Sonic barely had time to react as the thing jumped him from the ceiling lightshade, slashing at him with a kitchen knife.
Sonic jerked backward, swinging with the bat and missing... and dropping the weapon as the doll slashed him across the arm. He shrieked with the sudden, sharp pain, and desperately tried to defend himself as the doll slashed at his face, snarling with each swipe.
"THIS... IS... FOR EVERY... TIME... YOU RUINED... MY PLANS... YOU BIG... BLUE... BULLY!"
Sonic, too busy frantically trying to guard his face, finally tripped and fell as he stumbled backward, slamming into the floor... and wheezed as he felt a horrific, sharp pain in his chest. Moments passed, the hedgehog breathing shallow... until he craned his head down, finding the knife jutting from his upper torso. The doll kneeled on his chest, on hands and knees, glaring at him with its glowing red eyes, jagged teeth lining its wicked grin.
"Haha... hahaha..."
The doll giggled to itself, as though highly amused, metal claws extending and pointing at the hedgehog with glee.
"Looks like I finally got you, Sonic!" The thing cackled, "I FINALLY GOT YOU, YOU INFERNAL BLUE HEDGEHOG! AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!"
Sonic didn't have time to wonder what the creature was talking about as it wrapped its metal claws around his chest, opened its jagged maw improbably wide, and the life force was slowly drained from his body.
Robotnik growled to himself as he hopped from the unconscious hedgehog's limp form. He looked over the knife he'd retrieved from the kitchen before beating his retreat. Stupid. Now the hedgehog's body was dying. Which made it useless.
He giggled, unable to control the... childish and mischievous emotions that seemingly came with being a killer doll.
"Heh... hehehe! I should probably stop killing my potential hosts!" The doll cackled to itself, wiping the blood from its claws onto the hallway carpet. Then the ungodly thing gasped, as the stuffing surrounding its face rippled and warped... and fresh pain hit Robotnik. He raised a clawed mitt to his face, feeling swelling... and blood.
"I... need to find someone..." The former doctor muttered, realisation at his predicament bringing him some momentary lucidity, "I need to FIND someone!"
"Sonic?"
The doll stilled, plush ears perking at the sound of... his killer.
"Sonic, you okay?" Tails' voice called from around the corner, "I heard noises!"
Robotnik, trapped in the stuffed monstrosity he had created during an insane bout of creation, wore a wide, malicious grin on the plush face of the 'Tails Doll', as he had named himself.
He had, at least, absorbed enough life force... he felt stronger... he was sure he could transfer now... if he was quick.
With a silent cackle, the doll wrapped its paws around the discarded bat, hovered into the air, and waited for the larger form of Miles Prower to pass beneath.
"Sonic?" Tails jogged down the hallway, concern rising at his brother's lack of response. Sonic couldn't have fallen asleep with their predicament, and with the noises he had just heard? Tails' heart was in his mouth, terror gripping his chest, until he rounded the corner and found...
Sonic, unconscious on the floor... a kitchen knife sticking right out of his chest.
"SONIC!" Tails scrambled over to the limp form of his brother, and fought to control his panic as he noted several slashing wounds over the hedgehog's arms. His left arm was swollen, and Tails made sure not to touch it. "Jeez... it's okay, Sonic... I'll call someone... you'll be o-"
Tails didn't get to finish his statement as something swooped down behind him, cracked him around the back of the head, and turned his world dark.
"Hehehe... yes... a little bit of this and a little bit of that...
Miles' world was pain. He was aware that he was slowly regaining conscious, a splitting pain wracking his head, intense nausea roiling his entire body.
"...And slip it in... and one roused brat!" The distant, giggling voice cackled, the voice echoing through Miles' skull. "Wakey wakey, Tails!"
Miles was aware that he was being smacked around the cheeks, and he blinked as his vision slowly began to return. The world was blurry, filled with stars... and intruded by the red-eyed, leering visage of the Tails Doll, leaning in close to Miles' face.
"Hahaha! Hi, Tails!" the thing cackled, toothy mouth grinning wide, pinching Miles' cheek with one clawed mitt and an empty syringe clutched in the other. "You sleep reeeeaaaaaal heavy! Had to wake you! Lazybones! HA!"
"Whu whu's ha'nin " Miles managed to slur, his head lolling as he attempted to bring himself round. The pain in his skull was unbearable. He tasted copper in his mouth. He tried to move, finding that he was tied up to a chair in his workshop's medical bay. "S... S'nic?"
"Ha! HAHAHAHAHA!" The doll hovered from its position on Tails' knees, casually discarding the empty syringe over one shoulder. "I wouldn't worry about that bothersome blue booger!" The little monstrous creature hovered around the workbenches, selecting tools, turning back to Tails and glaring at him with that evil, mischievous little face. "I stabilized him! Made him BETTER! His body might still be of use to me, even in its damaged state..." The doll set itself down on a workbench, kicking its legs as it sat over the edge, "I might be a little different now, but I am a doctor after all!"
Miles ceased struggling against his bindings and froze. His eyes bulged as he looked over the grinning, bloody eyed creature sat on his workbench. He remembered the doctor's body, computer implants hooked up to the still form of the little thing... and he only now noticed the doll's two-sided face - one soft and plush, the other fleshy. and bruised.
"No..." he muttered, "You gotta be kidding me..."
The doll giggled maliciously and levitated over to his bound form, setting itself on his knees again like a child waiting for a story. "I wanna play a game, Tails!" it cackled, "I wanna play... Guess Who!" It hopped onto its feet, twin tails slashing, gesturing with its arms as though playing charades. "Who has a biiiiiig old belly..." It gestured around its half-fleshy torso with both paws, "And a CRAZY moustache..." again, it reached up and spread the mitts over its face, before leaning in close to Miles', the black button nose almost touching his. "And who..." it hissed maliciously, "Did you shoot, Miles? Who did you murder?!"
Miles leaned as far back in his chair as he could, eyes bulging as the doll leered at him with vicious teeth and slit, glowing red eyes. "How?" He finally managed, "How did you..."
"INGENUITY, MILES!" The doll gripped the edges of his white muzzle and screamed in his face, spittle pattering out in little droplets, "And an INSATIABLE WILL TO LIVE!" The doll smacked him again with a clawed mitt, drawing blood, far harder than it reasonably could given its small form. It left his body once again, hovering over to somewhere at Miles' left.
"What... do you want from me?" Miles stammered, straining his head around to find the doll tinkering with some strange, mish-mash device. It fumbled with a clutch of cables, and Miles couldn't help but notice a vicious, bleeding gash across its small back. The stitched flesh of its small back.
The young engineer couldn't help his curiosity at the sight. "What's... happening to you?!"
"HAHAHAHAHA!" The doll... the Doctor, turned and giggled at him, cables in both paws, "I'm glad you asked, Miles! You see..." It levitated again, lower limbs trailing limply, landing on the arm of Miles' chair. "I have certain... abilities in this form! I can sap others' Chaos energy... not enough to kill them, but enough to sustain my own life! And I can theoretically transfer my own life force back into an organic host... I just need to be strong enough to do so! And with a little technological assistance..." It gestured back to the hastily assembled machine behind it, before whispering conspiratorially in Miles' ear. "Do you want to know a secret? I was planning on killing you, Miles... one way or another, I was gonna cut you up one piece at a time!" Its face slowly split into a malicious grin, the eyes glowing bright, "But you know what will be sweeter? When I transfer into your body... you will take my place in this one! And while it would be quite satisfying to squish you like a little bug, I think I'll keep you around! Put you in a cage, a really small one! You'll make a fine conversation piece when I finally get my evil plans back in line! Don't you think?"
Miles simply stared at the thing, considering the fate Robotnik held in store for him.
"Heeheehee! I called myself 'Tails Doll' because you got me on the spot! But you know what? You'll be the doll, Tails! The real Tails Doll! Isn't that so wonderfully delicious?!"
"You're... insane..." Miles muttered in response.
"Ha! Haha!" The doll leaned forward, the glowing red crystal on the end of its antenna glowing hot, "You'd be a little crazy too, if you died and woke up as a murderous plaything!" It leered into his face for another moment, before moving away again to check on its machine. "Still, I don't suppose you'll have to imagine for much longer... you can find out for yourself!"
While the thing's back was turned, Tails made his move. He had noticed, during the doll's monologuing, that his twin tails had been left unbound. A very big mistake, on the doctor's part.
He reached around with one of the dexterous limbs, and began fiddling at his right wrist binding. He had checked when the doll had been tinkering with its machine, and the right wrist had been more loosely tied. He began to fiddle with the bindings with the end of his tail, tugging, worming the end into the loosening threads...
"Anyway..." the doll snickered as it turned back to face him, now clutching its cables in one mitt, a small knife in the other, "This is going to hurt quite a bit... and it's all a little crude and improbably planned out..." The evil grin stretched wider, sharks' teeth glistening, "But don't worry!" it giggled, "I'm a doctor!"
Tails began to panic, and hissed with pain as the doll made an incision on his left arm with the knife, inserting the cables into his flesh. It did the same with its own arm, slicing into the stuffing-skin and working the other set of cables within.
His tail desperately worked the loosening threads of his bindings.
"Well, Tails..." The doll said cheerfully, "I guess it's time we see if our little experiment works! What do you say, my... little friend?!"
With a wave of relief, Tails right hand bindings came loose.
And with a spike of anger, he lunged toward the doll and grabbed it around the throat with his now free hand.
"GET. STUFFED." The fox growled into the evil facsimile's face.
The doll sputtered and squealed in his grip, lower limbs thrashing, teeth gnashing, before Tails reeled his arm back, and threw it with all of his strength to the opposite side of the medical bay.
He frantically tore at the rest of his bindings with the doll's discarded knife, and fell to his knees as he lunged from the chair. Desperately Tails scrambled to his feet, wielding the knife as a weapon, desperately scanning around for any sign of the evil little doll.
There were noises. The pattering of small hands and feet. The clatter of metal on concrete. Before the doll burst from its cover, boosting through the air like a rocket right toward Miles' face.
He had been ready for that this time. He slashed with the knife, and was rewarded with a squeal of pain as the blade made contact.
The doll hit the ground with a thump, thrashing on the concrete as it tried to right itself.
"Predictable as always, doc..." Tails said, keeping his knife at the ready, "Maybe you ought to try switching up your tactics?"
"Ack..." the doll whimpered as it turned to glare at him, a bleeding gash across its face where he had struck it from the air. "BITE ME, FOX-BOY!"
Tails opened his mouth to respond... but fell silent as the doll began to quiver.
"No..." it muttered, glaring at its paws, "NO NO N-AAAAAAAAAGGGGH!"
Miles could only watch in fascination as the doll fell to its knees, pounding the concrete with a steel-clawed mitt... and its covering of stuffing began to ripple. Veins popped, flesh solidified, fur sprouted, further bruising blossomed around its wounds... until the remaining stuffing converted entirely into flesh and blood, the organic material still sporting the tight stitching.
There was a final pop of cartilage, and the doll fell silent, the only sound its ragged breathing as fully formed lungs replaced whatever had been inside.
"No... no..." there was pitiful sobbing, almost recognisable as that of the doctor it had once been, before the doll looked back up to Miles... big, blue, organic eyes stared at him, glistening with tears, the antenna on the head glowing dimly. "It's too late... it's too late..."
Tails, despite all instinct, allowed his knife to droop. He gestured with a hand. "Look, doc..." he said, watching as the pitiful doll staggered to its feet, "I don't know what you did... but I can help. If you give it up now... I'll help you find a way out of that body!"
The doll cocked its head, fiddling with its mitts pathetically. "P... promise?" the childish voice squeaked.
"It's the least I can do for... what I did..." Miles replied, his own ears drooping. "If we work together... we can find a way! I swear it!"
The doll nodded timidly, holding out a paw. "Shake?"
Miles, despite his better judgement, padded forward and cautiously took the soft little hand in his own.
And shrieked in sudden pain as metal claws dug into his palm.
"YOU IDIOT!" The doll, eyes glowing a furious red once again and teeth fully bared, sliced into his hand with its vicious steel claws, screeching into his face. "YOU DETESTABLE LITTLE FOOL! YOU HAVE NO IDEA, DO YOU?!"
Miles lunged out with his knife, slashing at thin air as the doll swiftly darted away.
"You don't get it, MILES!" The doll snarled, now hovering above his head like a bothersome wasp, "My life force... my chaos energy... has completely bound to this form! There IS no way out! I'm STUCK like this! FOREVER!"
"Well... Tails grunted back, raising his knife "Sucks to be you, I guess!"
"I'm gonna KILL YOU, TAILS!" The doll screeched petulantly, fat angry tears dribbling from its newly reconstituted eyes, "I'M GONNA MAKE YOU PAY!"
Tails prepared himself for another suicidal frontal attack, before the doll grinned wide and wore a mocking , childish voice.
"I know where your friends aaaare!"
Tails' eyes widened and his words caught in his throat, as the monstrous little creature darted away through the air and left the room with a devious cackle.
Sonic. Amy. Unconscious.
Tails' heart plummeted, and panic gripped his chest.
"GET BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE CREEP!"
Tails hurried through the workshop, red and white sneakers pounding into the concrete, desperately running to catch up with the menacing little doll that had become of Robotnik. Terror filled his heart as he feared for his friends... he didn't even know if Robotnik had been telling the truth about Sonic. His brother could already be dead as far as he knew...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGH!"
Tails lurched around and yelped in shock as, with a vicious screech and the whirr of electric motors, the doll lunged at him from a tool shelf... armed with a dangerously spinning saw blade.
The fox darted back and desperately tried to escape as the doll swiped at him with the blade, and he cried out in pain as he felt flesh slice from one of his tails.
"HAHAHAHA!" The doll cackled with glee, the saw comically large in its paws, kicking its feet and grinning wide as Tails scrambled away on hands and knees, "THAT'S RIGHT! COME BACK HERE SO I CAN TAKE CARE OF THOSE PESKY EXTRA LIMBS FOR YOU, MILES!"
Tails, crawling desperately away on all fours, rolled beneath a workbench and took a moment to catch his breath. He cursed himself. The doll had been waiting for him, luring him into the workshop to take him off guard... it seemed Robotnik's primary concern right now was revenge on the fox who had killed him.
"Come out, Tails..." the doll giggled in that high-pitched, sing-song voice that sent chills down Miles' spine, "Come out come out wherever you are..."
Tails bit his lip. The sawblade whirred with intent. He had to find something to fight back with. He'd fought full-sized Badniks before, surely he could take on one little doll?
One little doll currently possessed by the soul of his arch-nemesis.
"Come on, Tails..." The doll giggled, hefting the large hand saw in its paws. Robotnik, delirious and insane, scanned the workshop with glowing red eyes, his grin stretching wider. "I'm going to count to ten!" He squeaked, hovering low to the floor to inspect beneath the workbenches. "And if you don't come out..." He revved the sawblade with a press of a metal claw, the blade whirring with intent, "I'll make it reeeeeeeeaaaaal slow when I find you!"
There was no movement, no response. The doll snickered evilly.
"Have it your way... playmate!" The doll said gleefully, hovering back to head-height, "One... two... three..."
He revved the saw blade with each number, each time exerting a little more pressure.
"Four... five... are you there, Miles?"
The doll's ears perked at the scrape of shoes across concrete. The clack of metal on metal. The doll grinned.
"Six... seven... eight... nine..."
"PEEK-ABOO!"
The doll screeched in alarm as Miles lunged from behind a workbench, raising a blaster pistol... and fired. White-hot rounds slashed past the doll, causing it to spin in a panicked frenzy.
Miles squeezed the trigger once, twice, three times, four... and then ceased. All was silent. He smelled burned meat.
Slowly, the fox inched forward, his weapon held tight, to where the doll's body would be.
Where the doll's body... should have been. All that was there was the saw.
Miles yelped as the thing caught him off guard again, this time pouncing from a nearby shelf, screwdriver in hand, slashing at his face over and over.
"YOU LITTLE SHIT!"
Miles fell to the ground under the barrage of swipes, the pistol clattering away from a well-timed kick by his assailant. He screamed as the doll reared its head back and bared its teeth, glowing red eyes burning from a half-fleshless face. The endoskeleton beneath glistened with blood, one side of the face completely free of its wrapping.
"I'LL KILL YOU, TAILS! I'LL KILL YOU YOU LITTLE BASTARD!"
Miles scrambled backward, desperately searching for his pistol... before the doll batted his remaining defending hand away from his face, and plunged the screwdriver into his chest.
Miles choked, tasting blood. He went cold. The tool was stuck in him right up to the handle, missing his heart by a fraction.
The doll giggled, rising into a malevolent cackle as it pointed at him and laughed. Fat tears dribbled from it's remaining flesh-bound eye, the other swivelling madly in its lidless socket.
"I... I GOT you, Tails!" it laughed, like a victorious child during a game of tag, "I got you! AND your stupid brother!" it laughed with gleeful mirth, almost doubling over with apparent hilarity. Miles could only lay there and watch, his extremities numb, eyes bulging at the sight of the horrific little creature.
"And who knew," it went on, a delirious smile plastered over its face, "After all these years... that all I needed to do... was turn myself into a killer doll?"
Tails simply gawped at the thing... at Robotnik, as he doubled over and cackled, tears spattering onto the concrete floor, eyes swivelling madly.
This had to end.
With one determined motion, Tails reached over with one hand, and wrenched the screwdriver from his flesh with a growl of pain.
"Hahaha! Hahah- huh?!"
The Robotnik-doll glared, wide eyed, as Tails snarled and thrust forward with the screwdriver... running him straight through, the tool poking right out the other side of his torso.
"AAAAAAGGGH!" The doll screeched and thrashed, blood spurting from its mouth in great gobs, paws wrapped around the screwdriver. While it was preoccupied, Tails lunged across the concrete floor and grabbed his pistol... and fired as he swung the weapon to face the doll.
The doll screeched as its left arm was blasted clean from its torso, clattering to the floor.
Tails fired again, this time taking the right leg. The doll toppled over, hitting the concrete with a wet thud.
"Nng nnngh "
Miles watched in horror as the doll, bleeding from its injuries, tried to crawl its way toward him, red eyes locked on his, sharks' teeth gritting in agony.
"I'll... GET YOU, TAILS!" Robotnik spat, blood spattering from his mouth to the floor, "I'LL GET YOU! YOU CAN'T KILL ME! I'LL BE BACK FOR YOU, JUST YOU SEE!"
Tails grit his teeth and set his pistol's sights over the evil, leering face. "Playtime's over," he muttered.
With a final pull of the trigger, the doll's head vanished in an explosion of flesh and metal, and the little body slumped to the ground lifelessly.
Miles' heart beat like a drum, the pain from his stab wound lancing through his chest. He clasped his hand over the wound, doing his best to stop the bleeding, and limped toward the inert doll, pistol at the ready.
It didn't move a millimetre, simply laying there in a pool of its own blood.
And then he lunged backward, almost slamming to the ground once again, as a crackle of orange electricity sparked away from the deceased doll, snapping in the air above, the doctor's disembodied voice almost audible over the terrible noise... before dissipating slowly into nothing, the workshop lights flickering on and off repeatedly as it vanished.
Tails gawped as the remains of the doll began to rapidly decompose, first the flesh sloughing off like melting toffee, disintegrating into nothing, followed shortly by the robotic endoskeleton. The steel frame melted and ran like lead, the mechanical innards sparking a little as they joined the rest of the form... until nothing but a dark stain was left coating the young engineer's workshop floor. Not a shred of evidence the doll had existed.
He could only stare at the dark patch, eyes wide, body shaking, brain trying to process what it was he'd just witnessed... before shoving it all into the back of his mind, the logical engineer taking over. He set his pistol aside, confident he would no longer need the killing weapon. He had to patch up his wounds... and check on his friends.
Some days later...
"Hey..." Sonic finished pouring the mugs of tea and grabbed two of them, carrying them over the kitchen and handing one to Amy. "You doing okay, Ames?"
The pink hedgehog, dark circles under her eyes, scratches on her face still sore, nodded tiredly as she accepted the hot drink. "Yeah..." she said wearily, fighting back a yawn, "Just real sleepy..."
Sonic nodded in understanding, rubbing at his chest where the knife wound had been treated. It was still sore as hell, but at least he'd lived. "I know, me too... but like Tails says, give it a few days... let our energy levels recover... and we'll be as good as new! You'll see!"
She offered him a small grin, before eyeing him with concern. "What about you?" The said, eyeing the bandages around his arms and upper torso, "you're the one who took a knife through the ribs..."
He smirked, the expression not quite reaching his eyes. "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog!" He replied, as though that were proof enough against silly little things such as stab wounds, "It'll take more than that to slow me down!"
Amy nodded and sipped her tea. "What about Tails?" She replied, "He didn't seem so good when I saw him earlier..."
Sonic hummed in response. "I know... do you blame him? After everything?"
She considered for a moment, and shook her head. "No... no, I suppose not..."
"Don't worry Ames," The blue hedgehog said, reaching out to give her hand a comforting squeeze, "I'll go check on him... somebody has to make sure he's getting some decent sleep, after all!"
She chuckled. "Big brother mode engaged again, huh?"
"Never goes off..." he replied with a wink, reaching for the hot chocolate steaming on the side and clasping it in his free hand. He winced as a stab of pain from his wound, but did his best not to show. "I'll see you in a few!"
She gave him a little wave as he left the room, carrying his own drink as well as Tails'. He whistled a tune as he walked, making sure not to spill the damn drinks over his sneakers. In truth, he wasn't as cheerful as he tried to project... but he had to keep morale up somehow. That was his job as team leader.
"Tails?" Sonic called as he trotted down the stairs to the workshop, "You still up buddy?"
A murmur echoed from deeper in the workshop in response, and Sonic headed further in.
He made real sure to step around the dark patch that still coated the workshop floor, that had been proof against anything the brothers could throw at it.
He found Tails, as usual, slumped at his computer station, poring through the data retrieved from the last Robotnik base... or what they hoped would be the last Robotnik base. There was no telling now.
"Hey buddy..." the hedgehog said, orange ears perking as their owner turned his head, "Nice hot drink!"
"Thanks, Sonic..." Tails muttered, tired eyes glancing to the mug as he retrieved it.
Sonic took a swig of his own drink, and gestured to the patch on Tails' own chest. "Healing up okay?"
Tails shrugged. "Eh. Had worse, can't complain. How about you?"
Sonic grinned. "I guess I'm just lucky I have my clever little bro around to patch me up!"
Tails grimaced. "You know..." he said slowly, "technically I wasn't the one who stabilized you..."
Sonic's grin faltered as he understood. "Sure, buddy... but you were the one who ended it all... we'd probably all be dead right now if you hadn't done what you did..."
"I feel so much better..." Tails replied, not sounding it even a little.
The two brothers remained silent, the computer monitors before them flickering, their mugs of hot drinks steaming.
"Do you really think he's gone?" Sonic said quietly, "for good?"
Tails declined to answer for a few tense moments, calculating, before he chuckled humourlessly. "You'd think so, after killing him twice..." the fox muttered, "But you know something Sonic? He said he'd be back. He said he was coming back for me... I might be rational, but... I don't think it's the last we're gonna see of him."
Sonic hummed darkly, giving his brother a squeeze of the shoulder. "You finished working on those security systems?"
Tails grunted. "I'm gonna run more diagnostics. Just to be safe."
Sonic nodded in approval, before leaning back up and turning to leave. "Good," he said. "And Tails?"
The fox glanced over his shoulder toward his older brother. "Yeah?"
Sonic smirked. "Try and get some sleep tonight, okay?"
Tails nodded, declining to return the smile. "Goodnight, Sonic."
"Night, little bro."
With that, Sonic left his younger brother to his work, the tired eyes of Miles Prower flickering over the information displayed to him on the screen. He'd trawled through Robotnik's records for hours, but try as he might, he could unearth no records of that monstrous little doll. It was like the thing had never existed.
Still, he knew better... and with what he had seen, he was doubtful it would be the last he'd see of the 'Tails Doll' Robotnik had become.
His ears perked, a chill running down his spine as he thought he heard that childish, evil little cackle echo quietly through the workshop. he strained his ears. Nothing.
His fur stood on end as he returned to his work. He was NOT going to sleep tonight, that was for sure.