A/N Hey Chapter 16, how fun.
To Shade of Naxx, you actually made me laugh, but no worries about not knowing much of Star trek, , totally honest I know more about Star wars but because my birthname is legitimately Kirk…. That's why. I've asked my dad if he named me after Captain Kirk(Since he is a star trek fan) he says no but I know he means to say yes. More importantly…. I forgot that Blaze has her own Eggman…. Awkward. I do have a explanation anyway.
Fiona stared down at the small memory stick jaw dropped. The odds of finding her, it was slim to none. Plus they had spoken about her just before they left for this mission, it was like some crapy story.
"That's Nicole?"
Tails nodded smiling, he was clearly glad to see her "I always hoped she'd be still operating"
The female fox asked "Ok what made you think that?"
Tails explained "A couple weeks after Eggmans attacks, I realized things weren't getting better, so I ventured to Freedom HQ to see what was going on. I hoped that I'd find them either winning or about to win but it was quite the opposite. I found the place trashed, recently ransacked by eggbots"
Fiona frowned thinking of her old home, the place completely trashed because nobody was there anymore.
Tails continued "I eventually found Nicole's handheld, I activated it and found she wasn't in there. I knew she hadn't been deleted or there's be left over data, like an echo. It was entirely empty. Someone downloaded her out of it and now I know who" he picked up the small device that held their friend "I kept the device as a memento, when we get back I'll upload her there. I'll try to fix up the base with projectors for her. Projectors are easy to make and I got plenty of supplies for those"
Fiona had a heart warming smile, someone had defied the odds and survived among the Freedom fighters.
Silver spoke up again "Hey, so you gonna open Blazes door yet?" he was getting impatient now.
Tails just looked at him and said "Listen, I would have let her out sooner, but like I suspected this place had a kill switch. As soon as I gained access to the computer it started a countdown to purge everyone including Nicole" he pointed to the freezed countdown. If we opened it a few seconds ago Blaze would have been killed instantly, then us and Nicole. But yes, here" he pressed a button and the door slid open and Silver walked inside.
Tails was about to keep talking again but heard Silver yelp in fright. He quickly put Nicole's memory stick in a safe pocket and followed Fiona and Scourge to the doorway.
"Hey, calm down I'm not here to hurt you, we're freeing you" they heard his voice nervously explain, coming around the corner.
What they saw was Blaze on top of Silver threatening him with a claw to his neck.
"And why should I believe you, nobody has gotten in here in over two years!" she growled deep in her throat while Silver held his hands up in a surrender position.
"Blaze, let him go please" Tails approached, the voice causing her to very quickly look his way and freeze seeing the familiar face.
"Tails? How did you?...How did you get here?"
He wanted to end the deadly situation said "If you let the kid up I'll explain"
She quickly tensed not liking that deal "Not a chance, not until I know you are all real"
He just rolled his eyes and said "Ok, Silver, let her test you"
He gulped as her claws slowly moved from his neck to a patch on his arm and sent a single claw down his arm "Oww" he yelped and began to bleed. She visibly sighed climbing off him and cautiously approached Tails doing the same to him. He bled as well.
Fiona walked over and Blaze flinched at her approach, she was really jumpy, no doubt being in a cell all alone for what she said was two years had to be hard on you.
"You… also look familiar" she eyed her intensely.
"I'm Fiona, do you remember that name?" she asked extending her arm.
Blaze cut her before answering finding her blood as well and said "You are the one who left the Freedom fighters for Scourge… speaking of which" she looked past both of them to see the hedgehog himself.
"Stay away form me, I ain't letting some cat cut me, I know who I am" crossing his arms in defense.
Tails and Fiona looked to one another then lunged at him forcibly pinning him against the wall and taking out an arm.
"Get off, you assholes, get off me!"
Blaze approached and cut into him making his growl in anger but also bled.
The cat visibly relaxed again and sighed "How did you all get in here?" Silver had gotten up and passed by her making her flinch and tense once more but when he continued to walk past she relaxed again.
Tails explained again "We got some information off a robot about this place and came, we thought it was something else like a storage facility that held plant life, but it turns out it was you and Nicole"
"Nicole?" she asked not remembering the name, understandable from her isolation.
"The AI Sally used to carry around"
"Right" she shook her head.
"How'd you get in, this place is heavily defended, atleast that's what Eggman kept gloating over the intercom" she frowned.
Scourge scoffed "Ya, this place was surrounded by a huge field of mini-bots or whatever they are called that could make themselves into giant damn robots and would just rebuild any damage"
"That's all? I thought it would have been more, that's what Eggman said…." She looked down realizing she'd been tricked and that this lie had made her lose hope in the past. She felt foolish for believing such a lie, but how would she have known otherwise?
"Anyway, I guess this raid has turned into a rescue mission, come with us. We have a safe place" Tails explained trying to look as welcoming as he could "You can explain how this happened when you feel up to it"
The cat nodded and followed the four out of the cell, she looked around and said "Is this it… all that's been outside?"
"Yes" Tails nodded. He walked to the console again and prepared to open the large door but noticed something.
"The nanobots have shut down… it looks like Nicole had been controlling them?"
Silver was surprised, she had been their friend in the past apparently "But she's our friend right?"
"I don't know, we'll get answers once I get her inside her device again" he hoped she'd been tricked to attack them. He opened the door from the console and turned seeing the two giant pieces of metal slide apart.
"Hope Shadow isn't getting too impatient" Fiona commented.
Blaze twitched on edge "Shadow is with you too?" she had to check him now.
"Ya he had to be left outside, he and I were needed to just barely get those doors open, before he could get inside the defenses attacked him so he was left outside. He's fine though" Silver answered.
"Well I'm checking him" Blaze said.
Nobody questioned her except Scourge who chuckled "Just try to cut him, he'll bash your face in first"
"He won't touch me" was all she growled out.
Walking outside they found Tails' theory correct, the nanobots didn't attack them and they all quickly looked around for a silhouette of the hedgehog they were looking for.
"There he is!" Silver yelled pointing out in the direction they'd originally come from and the group approached, Blaze clearly on edge until she checked to see if Shadow was a fake or not. Her rational mind knew he must be real, they must have all checked eachother, but she irrationally needed to see it herself.
As they approached Shadow stood cross armed and opened his eyes. He quickly noticed his old friend and ally "Blaze, you were in there?" he actually seemed surprised, why wasn't she back in the Sol dimension?
The group stopped besides Blaze, Fiona quickly saying "She's gonna cut you to see if you're a robot, she checked all of us so just do it"
He growled but reluctantly extended his arm and with a quick swipe blood came from his wound and Blaze visibly calmed.
She now had a friendly smile "It's good to see you again, after so long some friendly faces are what I need"
"Well, as friendly as Shadow can get" Fiona chuckled.
Tails then asked "Blaze what happened? How'd you get here?"
The cat looked down and sighed "I failed my duties"
"You lost the Sol emeralds?" Shadow asked.
"No… do you remember that you and a Metal Sonic visited my universe and I helped you find him?"
"Of course"
She sighed "Just over two years ago one caught me by surprise and sent me to this dimension for Eggman. I was teleported into a cell which was filled with knock out gas. Eggman took the Sol emeralds when I was out"
"What'd he do with them?" Tails joined.
Blaze waved her hands in all directions "Look around you"
Everyone realized what she meant, he used the Sol emeralds, which were connected with fire to burn their world.
It was Fiona's turn to ask "But I saw how it happened, he had legions of his robots burn forests and attack cities?"
Blaze nodded "Well yes he did that, near all major population centers. There's no way he could burn the whole world in a matter of hours. The robots cleared all the places close to where people could see them to hide it. He used the Sol emeralds to burn the rest of the more isolated land almost instantly. After that he sent me to that prison and I've been there ever since…. With nothing to think about but my failure that killed your world"
Silver spoke up seeing her pain and said softly "It wasn't your fault Blaze, you couldn't have predicted any of this, nobody did"
"But I still should have been ready, and because I didn't have my guard up Eggman has my Sol emeralds, killed millions and doomed your world" she began to cry as she had before feeling like all those lives were killed by her.
Silver approached her and tried to comfort her but she just slapped his hands away growling deep in her throat "I don't need your pity!" her outburst making the young hedgehog back off.
"How about revenge?" Shadow asked.
Her eyes flicked to him hearing the word revenge and said darkly "Of course, he still has the emeralds, meaning I have to fight to get them back"
Tails smirked "We came here to steal plants but we came out with Blaze and Nicole, excellent"
Scourge rolled his eyes "Risked out lives for a cat and a computer stick, I'm just loving this" his sarcasm dripping from his mouth.
He was mostly ignored and Blaze was curious about something "You mentioned your base, how does it stay hidden?"
"It's underground, we've got plenty of food and beds" Tails explained.
"If you've stayed hidden this long then I guess it must be secure, I will help you. I really don't have any other choice" she didn't seem angry like Scourge was. She had a job to do and the only way to get back to it was to help them.
With that the group headed back, Blaze was quiet. That was ok, but everyone could tell it wasn't just because she was a quiet person. She'd been locked up for two years completely alone with nothing but Eggmans taunts. To add to that she had failed at her job and had all that time to think about it. Eggman didn't even need to torture her, because she most likely tortured herself.
Nobody really spoke, Tails was curious to see what state Nicole was in. She had been inside Eggmans computer for a long time. She attacked them with those nanobots and apparently gave no mercy. Either she was being tricked by programming of the computer around her, or she was being forced. Or worse…
That was about the time Scourge asked "So with that lead gone what the hell are we gonna do now?"
Silver nodded "Same, we got nothing left to go on now"
The two tailed fox sighed "Right now we have nothing, but we still need to speak with Nicole. She might have something for us to go on. That is if she hasn't been changed"
"Wait Eggman could have turned her against us and changed her?" Fiona asked worried that if they brought her online she could trick them now.
"Changed is the wrong way to describe it" he said realizing he said that too "No, She's an AI, meaning her programming can't be changed with ease like virtual intelligence or something like that. Since Ai's are like us, they are individuals so they wouldn't allow their coding to be changed. No what I mean is maybe he tortured her and forced her to change her personality herself…. She could be psychotic… but then again she may have been tricked into attacking us. Like wearing glasses that make you see monsters when they are actually friends"
"I really hope it was just a trick" Fiona sighed.
"To be safe I'll make sure when I activate her handheld that it can't connect to my base. If we don't see any troubling signs we'll keep her around and I'll set up a separate network for her projectors so she still won't be connected to the base systems" Tails clearly had a plan ready for all problems.
Fiona stayed quiet then asked "How are we gonna tell her?"
"What?" Tails asked.
"Nicole will want to know where everyone is… especially Sally" a frown on her face.
Tails paused not sure what to say, he knew how dangerous Nicole could be already, if she was told all her friends, especially her best friend had been killed she might become even worse.
"I'll figure it out when it comes"
Night came and the, now, group of six huddled around the heating lamp.
While sitting like that they caught Blaze up on recent events. Shadow and Silver explained their story, how they met, their time working together and how they met up with Fiona and Tails.
Something everyone noticed was that Silver boasted a bit, so much so that Shadow had to give him 'the eye' to make him shut up.
After that Tails explained his story, not as detailed as before, briefly explaining that he left the Freedom fighters for a job opportunity. Nobody added to his story.
Fiona was next and explained her story just as detailed as before, explaining that Scourge abandoned her, much to his annoyance. Then she explained her search for a safe place to live. She briefly touched on her life then explained how she went in search of the man who would be Tails.
"So technically… you're the founder of this team?" Blaze asked.
"Sort of, I guess" she scratched her head feeling a little awkward hearing that.
After that Scourge very briefly explained how he got here, same as before. He pissed some people off who promptly stole his warp ring and used it to trap him here.
"And after all this time we've found eachother. It seems we've defied the odds" Blaze managed a smile. She'd heard of Scourge and his actions, and also heard of what Fiona did. She was cautious of Scourge but after hearing Fionas story she was sure she was trustworthy. It was her that made it possible for them to be together right now.
Everyone but Scourge nodded in agreement.
There was a generally good feeling among the group for once. Things actually looked better. Even though their mission ended differently than they expected the original four were happy they had a chance now. Blaze was a powerful ally, and Nicole was what Tails finally needed to hack Eggmans systems. Assuming she was ok.
Not much else was said and everyone went to sleep.
The next day continued like before, the walk home was still quiet. By mid day they reached the base and Tails let everyone in.
Blaze looked around amazed by what she saw. She couldn't believe a place like this still existed but Tails kept everything working and hidden. He truly amazed her.
While she did this Tails got to work preparing Nicole and her handheld. He put the memory stick on his desk and went to the far back of the workshop to some shelves. He searched among it and soon found the old device and blew away the dust.
Carefully he opened up the device making sure everything was in working order. When he found everything in order he carefully opened it up and removed the parts that allowed her to connect to networks wirelessly before closing it up again.
When he was done all that he called for Fiona, she had experience with the AI that nobody else here had so she should be here to evaluate her.
When she arrived Tails began the process of uploading her back into the device.
"How long will this take?" she asked watching from behind.
"A few minutes at most" he replied.
They both watched the screen reach fifty percent completion and Tails spoke again.
"I'm gonna hook up a power ring to her. If she attacks one of us we'll distract her and the other takes it out, got it?"
She nodded leaning against the wall.
Another couple minutes passed and the screen hit one hundred percent.
Tails reached into a cupboard and pulled out a power ring. It was filled with more so he wasn't hurting his supply.
He slipped the ring into the device and they waited for something to happen.
Within a few moments the device started projecting and pixels started building from the floor up. Feet appeared first, then legs. The rest of the familiar lynx built up. She didn't look any different than before.
Her fur remained light brown and her hair still swept over her forehead to the side. Her dress from before was still purple and strapless. In general she was exactly the same.
After forming she looked dizzy and leaned against Tails' desk.
"W-where… where am I?" she asked looking around not seeing the two yet.
"You're somewhere safe" Tails said.
The lynx turned laying her eyes on them "Tails?... Fiona? It's been so long, what happened?"
Both foxes to looked to one another.
"Do you not remember anything?" Tails asked.
"My records says I've been out of my handheld for around two years, I remember everything up to that point" she explained rubbing her head "Why was I out of my handheld?"
Fiona looked to Tails hoping he would explain.
Luckily he did and stepped forward "You've been a prisoner of Eggman for the last two years. We saved you yesterday"
"What? I… was with Eggman, how?" the very idea she was away from her friends and under Eggmans care scared her.
"Do you remember the Freedom fighters went to go fight him after what he did?"
"Yes, Sally told me I should stay and take care of the headquarters….. what happened?" she was starting to remember things better now, they never came back for over a week.
Tails took a deep breath and Fiona tensed ready for anything "They are gone… they are all gone"
"Gone? Where?" she was already trying to deny what he truly meant.
"You don't understand, they were all killed"
"No… No!... Even Sally" she was already dropping virtual tears that disappeared before they could hit the floor.
"I'm sorry" Tails looked away not able to face her as she dropped to her knees.
"No, this can't be. How could they all be gone!?"
Fiona approached the lynx and kneeled down next to her "I know, I learned about it a few weeks ago…. I'm sorry"
"All of them… all gone" she moaned into her paws.
Tails simply watched, his old self would have been where Fiona was right now but he wasn't that kid anymore and kneeled down in front of her and said "We're going to avenge them all"
"Nicole slowly stopped crying and looked at the male fox and a growl escaped her throat "How?"
"We have a few others here, they all have a grudge against Eggman for one reason or another, even Scourge, we're going to find him, make him pay for what he's done and destroy everything he's built and save Mobius"
The mention of Scourge didn't seem to bother her as her tears stopped and she imagined finding the fat man and smirked "Whatever you need, I'm in. He killed my friends, my best friend. Sonic and Sally would want us to keep him alive…. It's far too late for mercy like that"
Fiona and Tails looked to one another and smirked, she was definitely on their side.
"We'll make him pay Nicole, we promise" Fiona said.
"Who else is here?" she asked the two foxes.
Tails started counting off his fingers "Fiona and I. Shadow, his…. Side kick Silver, Scourge and Blaze who we found in the same prison as you"
"Why is Scourge here?" the lynx getting to her feet.
"Let's just say he's stuck here and Eggman hunted him down for a few weeks before we saved him. It's either he stays and helps or leaves and continues to be hunted" Tails explained.
"I'd like to go meet them" she smiled suddenly turning to her normal cheerful self picking up her handheld so she could walk around freely.
"Go ahead" he gave a light smile leading her to the door.
Outside Blaze was just finishing up learning about the whole base and had met Rosemary. Hearing the workshop door open they all looked to the trio.
"That's Nicole?" Silver asked being surprised.
"I am Nicole, you must Silver" she smiled to the new face.
"Good to meet ya, glad you're ok"
"What do you mean?" She looked to Tails for answers.
"I don't know how it worked but while captured by Eggman you were hooked up to the prisons defense systems. You controlled a huge area dominated by nano bots, they attacked us when we entered. You were atleast somewhat connected to them somehow"
The lynx gasped and turned to the larger group "I'm so sorry, I would never attack you. I don't remember anything from the last two years"
Shadow lifted a hand to silence her and said "Whatever was the situation, you weren't in control, full control, or being tricked you seem fine now. No hard feelings"
"Ya well not for me, because of your nano bots I ended up burning up my jacket a bit" Scourge revealed a few singed spots along the leather.
"Your Jacket was already trashed before that, the burns just blend in" Fiona taunted him, his response being a roll of the eyes.
Nicole looked to Blaze and remembered what Tails said "Blaze, you were in prison with me, did I ever say anything to you?"
"No, the only voice I ever heard was Eggmans"
She frowned, partially because she felt bad for not being able to speak with Blaze in her isolation but also because she didn't get a clue of her state of mind in there.
"Nicole it's good to see you alright" Rosemary's voice came over the speakers.
The lynx looked up and asked "Who's that?"
"That's the Ai that runs the base, Tails' mom, or Rosemary as we call her" Fiona explained.
"It's nice to meet you Rosemary" she smiled.
"I hope you are alright Nicole, you can speak with me any time you want" the mother offered.
"Thank you, maybe some other time"
"Of course"
Tails spoke up "I'll be working on a projector system for all the rooms for you. You'll hook up to it and you'll be able to project yourself around the base without a power ring. Unfortunately it won't be able to make a solid hologram"
"Thank you Tails, I appreciate that" she smiled, it wouldn't be like what Rotor made but it was what he could make with the resources he had and that was enough for her for now.
Nicole got the grand tour of the base after that catching up with everyone like Blaze had.
When that was over Tails left to go work on the projector system.
Once inside he locked the door and took a deep breath. Everything had luckily gone their way, Blaze was working with them and Nicole wasn't corrupted. Only one thing left to do.
Answer the question Fiona asked…
Tails walked to the shelves in the back and pulled away a tarp to reveal an electronic piano. He'd learned to play a bit in his spare time after he left the Freedom fighters. Clearly he hadn't touched it in awhile considering all the dust.
He smiled looking at it and lifted it off the shelf and brought it over the to desk and layed it down. He quickly checked to see if it even worked still and after turning it on and hitting a few keys he heard notes.
He nodded happy with that and found a radio as well on the shelf and looked inside to see the disc he wanted.
Looking at all this he thought back to the last time he'd done this. He tested himself, when he lied to himself about her, this was how knew for sure.
A test to see if he still loved her or if he got over her. So far, the last four times, he failed. He hadn't done this in three and a half years.
Today though, he still didn't know if he was over her yet, maybe he was lying to himself. If it was his anger it was a mask to hide the truth. Today he needed to know, it was time to answer this question once and for all.
He turned on the radio and went to the song he wanted and took a deep breath as it began. As he prepared the sound of scratching, broken sounding notes played, ever single one making him twitch somewhere. Setting up his fingers ready for it to truly begin.
Then the piano came about a minute and thirty seconds in and Tails played along note for note. He calmly played feeling a chill down his spine and prepared to sing the vocals.
To love somebody naturally
To love somebody faithfully
To live somebody equally
Is not enough, it's not enough
… it's not enough
Taking in a breath he stood firm continuing to play along, he wasn't worried that anyone would hear him, the rooms were sound proof.
To love somebody secretly(and never touch)
To love somebody honestly(and always trust)
To love somebody tenderly
The tender touch is not enough
It's not enough
The guitar and drums kicked in as the rhythm sped up
Love hurts sometimes
It's not easy to find, no
Searching everywhere, you turn and swear(ahh-ahh-ah)
It's always been there
The song slowed again Tails taking a hitched breath as only the piano and a little bit of drums were heard again.
To love somebody foolishly(Can happen once)
To love somebody hopelessly(it hurts so much)
Is not enough, it's not enough
It's not enough
Once again the music picked up as Tails prepared to sing, to the furthest spot he'd ever gotten to in the past.
Love takes a little time
It's not so easy to find, no, no
Searching everywhere, you turn and swear
It's always been there!
The guitar solo began and Tails could feel it all coming up, water escaping his eyes, in the past he'd only ever reached here before breaking down and stopping it, but he was hardened now and even though he was sure what the answer was now he needed to finish this.
Early in the solo he managed to say the solitary line before the solo took full effect
Standing there…
As it played he could feel himself holding back the tears and grit his teeth forcing himself from reaching over and ending it. Finally the vocals came back and he gulped forcing the lump in his throat down. And readied to play the keys again.
And if it don't come easily
One thing you must believe
You can always have trust in me
Cause my heart will always be, yours honestly
For the final time the music kicked up
Yeah! Love hurts you sometimes
Not to easy to find, no-oh
Searching everywhere, you turn and swear(Ahh-ahh-ah)
It's always been there, standing there
Love hurts you sometimes
It's not yours, it's not mine no-oh
Live is only to share
You turn and swear(ahh-ahh-ah) it's everywhere
Standin there(ahh-ah)
Cause it's always been there
Panting as he finished the last few notes the tears finally streamed from his eyes. Covering his eyes he half curled up. His legs trembled under his own weight and his shoulders shuddered from every breath.
He tried to calm but found it incredibly hard, he hadn't cried since the last time he did this and now it was all coming out, three and a half years of bottled up emotions finally flowing again.
All that ran through his mind was "I have my answer…"
So that's chapter 16, everything is doing pretty good, except new mental scars.
I don't own this song, it's owned by Van Halen, it's called "Not enough" if you want to listen to it, some versions don't have the messed up scratching broken notes at the beginning. The one I used was on youtube and the artwork is red with black lines and stuff. Incase you're interested.
That whole sequence I actually thought of while on the bus from work. Just had my Van halen playing got to this and knew it was perfect. I hope nobody finds it distracting or annoying but I felt like putting it in there, and honestly thinking about this version of Tails, Fiona and this song does bring a small tear to my eye. But that's just me.
This was also my first try at a true music spot, once before I used music as part of a joke to make fun of Shadow but you'll have to read my other story for that one.
Besides that I don't have much to say, if you want to understand why I chose to do that son I highly suggest you take a listen. It's an odd song in Van halen, cause it oddly gets slow a little softer.
Anyway live long and prosper
Admiralkirk