A/N Once again I'm sorry to anyone who didn't enjoy the singing spot, I heard the song one night and just knew that I had to do it. I promise I will try to avoid it.

To anyone who enjoyed that spot I'm glad.

And Shade of Naxx- lol

Tails unlocked his lab door, nobody had wanted to come inside in the hour. He was glad for that, he had looked terrible for most of that time. He'd cleaned himself up since then and now he carried that same near emotionless face as always.

He put away the old musical equipment and got to work like he promised, everything was spinning too fast in his mind. Somehow getting through the entire song seemed to help. He'd never gotten through it before but now that he had he felt more confident. He was stronger than his emotions now.

He just needed to think clearly now, get his mind straight. Work would do that, like it always did. A smile crept up his face as he started and soon he was in a dazed state finally at work.

Outside…

Nicole smiled to Fiona who had accompanied her through the entire tour. Everyone else dispersed when it began since they'd already shown Blaze around.

"Thank you Fiona, it was kind of you to show me around" the lynx continued her normal smile facing the fox.

"No problem, I don't really do much around here to be honest, most of the time we're waiting on Tails to discover something or make a plan" Fiona explained "I'm sure he'll find you more useful than the rest of us"

The lynx frowned puzzled by her choice of words; at first she thought it was a joke but quickly analyzing her face proved otherwise.

The fox sighed "I guess it had to come out some time. Tails has changed a lot since either of us last met him. He's not the sweet little nerd we knew" she frowned looking away and rubbed her arm nervously "What I did to him…. It hurt him far worse than I could have imagined"

"He wasn't acting himself when we forced him to leave, has he gotten any worse?" she remembered all those years ago just like Tails explained. He'd crossed the line and nobody felt safe around him anymore.

"You could say he has, I mean… when I found him…. He tried to crush my skull in"

"What!?" the Ai was horrified, so much so her body fuzzed up during her outburst then fully reformed again. He tried to murder her "What happened to him?"

Fiona sighed "After he left the Freedom fighters he says he kinda stopped seeing anyone, apparently he became a vigilante of sorts. When Eggman destroyed everything his isolation went to the extreme and his emotions festered for that entire time. I think he saw me and just let it all out. He's under control now and says he's trying to forgive me. Maybe a little of his old self is in there"

Nicole frowned, her friend had fallen so far, but the small hope that he was forgiving her made her smile.

The fox wanted to warn her though "Just be cautious still, he's still angry, if you piss him off he'll let you know"

The lynx nodded "Thank you for the warning, I will keep that in mind"

Fiona was about to leave when Nicole asked "So you said Scourge left you behind? That means you two aren't….?" she paused not sure how to say it, and partially found it a little improper to ask such a question now.

"Yes we're done, I can never fully trust him anymore. Why? Afraid I'll turn on you all again?" she didn't blame her, the past tended to repeat itself a lot.

"No I trust you, we're all here because of you. I owe you a lot in an odd way. Had you not set out to find help to take vengeance on Eggman you'd have never found Blaze and I. I'd still be in there under Eggmans control. I owe you much Fiona. I have a chance to show this world one last time that I am good and not just a computer that can change sides and be used, and I have chance to avenge all my friends death as well. I won't waste this opportunity" The lynx smiled thankfully, she had a chance to redeem herself in the eyes of the remaining Mobians. Something she had wanted to do for so long. Ever since she was used against them and that song ruined her reputation.

"I know you won't" Fiona smiled and paused.

"Is something wrong?" Nicole asked.

The fox just sighed and asked "You were with them after I left… did…. Did they hate me?"

"No" she gave a heart warming smile and took the foxes hand "Nobody hated you, they were just angry. You hurt them, yes, but nobody wished any ill will on you. Sally told me she punched you once when you tried to use Tails' emotions. She didn't hate you she just wanted you to stop. She even said after those events that she hoped you'd come back some day" her smile disappeared "Too bad…. They all had to die for that day to come"

The words stung, badly. She was right, with them all dead this team was almost like the B-team. They weren't the Freedom fighters, they never would be, but maybe they could be something else. All they needed to do was get their act together.

"I may not have been around with them like you had but…. They were my friends. Whether I realized it or not, their deaths won't be in vain. I promise you Nicole, I'll do everything I can to make this right" she looked into the lynx's green eyes determined.

"So will I" she said back.

With all that agreed upon Fiona smiled "Well I don't know about you but I'm finally gonna get into Tails' movie collection"

"I think someone had that idea already" Nicole said pointing to Silver and Scourge in the rec room. The green hedgehog had the single chair in the room while Silver sat on the floor.

"Guess I'll join them" Fiona shrugged.

"Alright then, I will see you later then" she waved.

Elsewhere Blaze was speaking with Shadow in the shared bedroom, she claimed a bed quickly glad to have a comfy place to sleep again.

Shadow explained his time protecting the town with Silver in more depth. She had inquired how the two of them had been able to hold off all of Eggmans army by themselves. The dark hedgehog had explained he was in possession of a chaos emerald and the threat he made to Eggman to force a stalemate.

"That is quite a lie" Blaze said impressed.

"Who says it's a lie when neither of us know I could do it" Shadow smirked "That's why it was beautiful, why it was effective. Because I didn't even know, made me seem a little more truthful"

"It seems you learned a lot from Rouge didn't you?" the cat smiled remembering the bat had been apart of his party in the Sol dimension.

"Perhaps"

Blaze then asked "So why take in the kid? I mean I know you needed help but you kept him when Fiona and Tails showed up?"

Shadow thought about it and said "Maybe I just knew he'd be useful" he clearly wanted to avoid the question.

"I don't think so, I think you like having him around… I think he's like a protégé" she smiled.

"And what if he is?"

"Then I'm glad, you can be a good teacher, I know it, and he hasn't seemed to catch your emo yet" she managed a joke.

He rolled his eyes "He's a good kid, hopefully by the end he'll stay that way"

Blaze nodded and both were quiet for a time until she noticed his leg "Your leg?" some concern in her voice.

"Don't worry about it, it's fine" his leg shifted a away a bit.

Blaze wanted to ask more but knew how the male could be "I don't mean to pry"

He very suddenly said "I got this the day I failed my promise to Sonic…. A constant reminder that I couldn't save any of them"

Blaze frowned.

"Anyway, do you feel alright? None of this happening too fast?" looking to her.

"I think I am doing well, don't worry about me"

"You were locked up for two years,, it can't be good for you" Shadow replied showing some worry for his old friend.

"I know… I will figure things out my own way"

Shadow knew she wasn't one to change her mind but offered "You have friends to talk to if you need it" but got up and left it at that before she could reply.

The dark hedgehog left to go do some excises and after a short time Blaze felt the need to sleep. She instantly found the bed to be one of the most comfortable things she'd felt in a long time and quickly succumbed to slumber.

About an hour later Tails came out of the workshop wanting a break. He could hear the TV on in the rec room and guessed people had gotten into his movie collection, he didn't really mind, not like he'd used them any time recently..

Walking into the control room he sat down and said "Hey mum, anything happen?"

"No, things have been mostly quiet, Miles"

"Good to hear" he typed away at the keyboard and asked "Any problems I should know about?"

"Surprisingly no, the base seems to be in perfect order for once, nothing needs your attention right now"

Hearing that made Tails sigh, a day to just relax for once, man did he need that.

"What's everyone else up to?" he asked

"Well Blaze went for a nap, Shadow is working out a bit. Scourge, Silver and Fiona are watching movies and Nicole said she'd be in her PDA putting everything back where it was supposed to be" she listed off.

The fox nodded and said "I think I'm gonna go for a walk"

"Alright, be careful out there"

"You know I will" the fox managed a smile before getting some light gear, mostly just one of his belts with some stuff inside in the pockets. It would be one of the first times he's left the base without his armor on in a awhile.

Within a few minutes Tails silently left without anyone knowing besides his mom.

In the tv room…

Scourge sat in the lone chair near the tv and leaned on the arm.

"Man, can't believe Tails has all these" Silver said looking through his large collection.

"Probably stockpiled em so if he ever got bored he had variety" Fiona said sitting on the floor.

"But damn does he have a lot" Silver chuckled.

"Could you choose something eventually?" the green hedgehog whined, the last movie ended awhile ago and Silver still hadn't chosen anything.

"Sorry" he apologized getting back to looking.

Fiona just rolled her eyes at the rude moebian and looked to the silver hedgehog and remembered something "Hey Silver, you were talking more after we met Blaze?"

"Huh? Oh, so what?"

"Usually you let Shadow talk but not only were you the one who wanted Blaze out of her cell quickly but you also seemed to… talk a bit more about what you did back at your town… like… bragging" she smirked.

Silver shook his head "If you're insinuating something just say it" he continued to look away as he went through the selection.

"You like her?"

This caught Scourges attention his eyes lazily looking to the younger hedgehog for his answer.

"Even if that was true, is that your business?" he tried to avoid the question.

Fiona was gonna continue playing it cool but Scourge just laughed "Yup, definitely"

Silver turned "Ok so what does it matter if I like her, tell me that. Is there something wrong with liking someone now?"

Fiona just face palmed, he was terrible at this.

"So are you denying it or not?" Scourge smirked.

Silver froze realizing what he said and growled feeling stupid.

"Aww that's cute, I'm sure a woman of her stature will like a pothead" Scourge taunted.

"Hey I told you to stop calling me that" Silver whined.

"And I said 'make me' but I've yet to receive your reply, so until then, you're pothead" he laughed.

Silver rolled his eyes with a groan and turned to continue looking through movies but Scourge said "And I've yet to get an answer about your little crush too" Silver just growled lightly but decided not to say anymore and dig a deeper hole for himself.

The trio finally got a movie going and sat back and enjoyed.

Shadow came in half an hour into the movie and saw the trio watching. He quietly walked behind them and went to the bar in the corner of the room and looked through it.

Finding something he liked he popped it open and quickly heard Scourge yell "Bring me a glass!"

Shadow rolled his eyes and poured some before walking over. He handed over a glass and leaned against the wall behind Silver watching along with them all.

Scourge went to drink "Hey what the hell this thing is empty!"

Shadow smirked "You said bring you a glass"

The green hedgehog eyed him angrily but eventually got up and poured one for himself. He half expected someone to steal his seat but when he came back he was pleasantly surprised to find it still empty.

Continueing on the four finished that movie as well. Silver, Scourge and Shadow stayed for another but Fiona wanted to stretch a bit and check on Tails, see if he needed any help with anything.

Unfortunately he wasn't in the workshop or the control room. She was about look somewhere else when Rosemary asked "Trying to find Miles?"

"Ya, know where he is?"

"He left for a walk a few hours ago, it wouldn't be too much to ask if you went to look for him?" she asked worry in the Ai's voice.

"A few hours?" she sighed annoyed, things were going fine and he had to go missing "Ya I'll go find the little tike, which way did he go?"

Rosemary explained showing the sensors readings on the largest screen "He was walking around the edge of the perimeter but stayed in the area, then suddenly he left and now I have no idea where he is" for half a second she sounded like she was going hysterical.

"Don't worry I'll be back in a flash" she left and got all her equipment and headed out to the wasteland. She specifically remembered to bring a communicator if she needed to call for help.

The feeling of dread hit her senses as she left the elevator like always. One of the cruel reminders of what she was fighting for.

Fiona went in the direction he'd last been and was soon there and called Rosemary, ok, I'm here, no sign of him"

"Please continue searching" she heard her plead.

"Don't worry Mrs Prower, I'll have him back" she wondered why she called her that, over time she sometimes forgot she was even a computer.

Venturing forward the fox looked for any sign of her teammate and continued on with no sign of him for over half an hour.

"Dammit, where is he?" she growled.

She shook her head and turned to head back thinking he might be back now but a sudden glare blinded her.

"Gah, stupid sun!" in a fraction of a second she realized that the sun was coming from her right "…Wait"

"LOOK OUT!"

Something smashed into her side causing her to fall to her side and into a small ditch, immediately after being hit the crack of a high powered rifle pierced her ears. She hit the ground with a thud and dust kicked up. She nursed her arm which took the fall gritting her teeth.

"You alright?"

Her head jerked to see the man she'd been looking for. Tails was just crawling off her as the pieces made sense. He must have tackled her and they ended up here.

"What happened?" she groaned getting to her feet.

"Stay down" he pounced her again pushing on her chest to keep her down and stayed low as well, they ended up awkwardly close but he looked to the right checking on something before crawling off her again.

"What's going on?" she asked again rolling over on her stomach and going into a crawling stance like he did.

"You nearly got your head blown into chunks, that's what happened" he explained peaking over the low incline from the ditch.

"Wait there's a sniper out there!?" she asked keeping her head down for sure now.

He peaked over and ducked back down a bullet whizzing by half a second later kicking up dirt, the sound of the shot piecing the air again.

"Ya, it's a new kind of eggbot I've never seen before. Looks less clunky, agile and fast, not sure yet but it may have minor stealth" he explained all he knew for now.

"Why didn't you call for help?"

"It's got some sort of area of effect scrambler, as long as I'm near it I couldn't call for help" he was breathing heavy.

"How long have you been hiding from it?" she asked knowing he'd been off radar for nearly an hour.

"Almost an hour ago I heard someone calling for help while I was out walking, I went to investigate, turns out it was a trap made by this… predator" He growled and Fiona smelt something metallic then noticed something strange. On her tank top was a drop of blood, she hadn't been shot. She noticed a drop come from Tails and gasped.

"It got you!?"

"Barely, got me in the side as I dove for cover. Performed some quick first aid" he lifted his shirt to reveal he'd wrapped a cloth around himself to stop the bleeding but it was soaking through.

"Where'd you get the wrapping?"

"This shirt used to have sleeves" he answered.

He continued "I've ben dueling it for nearly an hour now, occasionally it will move and flank me, so far I've been fast enough and lucky enough to avoid further injury" He looked exhausted and somewhat pail, the wound and hour long combat was taking it's toll and had she not shown any sooner he might have been too tired to continue.

"What are we gonna do?" she really hoped he had a plan.

"Well I was never able to get away from it because it's too agile, I tried to shoot it with my pistol but it kept it's distance and stayed fast. I'm out of ammo now. But it's a single bot and has only a sniper rifle from what I can tell. It can't shoot two of us at the same time. One of us needs to get away from it and call for help, Scourge or Shadow could keep up with it and destroy it easy"

Fiona nodded "Ok so what do you want me to do"

He thought, trying to figure out the most effective way to implement his plan "Alright, luckily for me I know the landscape, after being tricked I knew of this area and risked my tails to get here instead of the open terrain where I started. It's filled with rolling hills or ditches and some rocks. We both head in different directions using the cover. We time it right and he won't be able to aim at both of us long enough to make reliable shots. As soon as one of us escapes his jamming zone we call for help…. And hope the other isn't dead, then wait for Scourge and Shadow"

"I got all my equipment, anything in there we can use?" she wanted to get this going, as Tails said it moved sometimes and at any moment it could go and catch them off guard.

"It's too far away to throw your EMP grenades, but give me a few just incase" she quickly handed over half. Since she carried four that left them both with two.

"Ok, ready?"

"Wait!" she suddenly said.

"What?" he wanted to start this as much as she did.

"Take this" she pulled out one of her pistols and handed it to him "It's nothing compared to your stuff but it has ammo"

He nodded in thanks, "You had that way I'll head this way" he pointed his thumb backwards.

"Alright good luck, and watch the wound" Fiona said turning to a spot she could jump out and move from.

He did the same and took a deep breath and tried to ignore the pain he was feeling. This thing wasn't gonna outsmart him.

Both foxes waited for the moment to move, both of them knew the best opportunity to move the first time would be when it moved. Both their sets of big ears waiting for any sound out there.

Tails' eyes snapped open hearing the slight sound of metallic joints moving and said "Now" both hopped out of the ditch and quickly scanned for new cover, both found some and dashed their way over. Tails having an advantage due to his namesake. So he understandably travelled further.

Both slid to their cover. Tails slid behind a rock while Fiona slid into a new ditch, both hearing a shot fire. This one meant to take out the male fox but ricocheted of his rock.

He took a deep breath to stay awake, the wound effecting his head and making everything fuzzy. All he had to do was breath, he'd be fine.

Both foxes waited again for it to move but it never came.

"Great, adaptive learning, it's not gonna mess up like that again" he groaned to himself.

He hummed and tried to think. Something to distract it from the two. Anything to allow them to inch forward. It was quite a bit away from them, and it's scrambler couldn't be that big if his mom hadn't picked up anything from it. Since they weren't too far from his land he suspected the signal was extra localized. To keep it's prey in the dark but not tip off anyone nearby. Which meant they were so close to escaping it's range.

Devising a plan he took a breath and truly hoped this would work. Technically it would mean he'd have to trick Fiona but it had to be done.

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the EMP grenade and suddenly yelled "NOW!"

He tossed the small device out from his cover then looked back to see if Fiona would be ok. The device still in the air was shot by the sniper, his ruze worked , but was Fiona fast enough.

He looked out and saw the female fox hide behind her own rock safe for the time being. He sighed and started trying to catch her attention.

Within a minute her curiosity to see if Tails was ok over came her so she looked and saw him and tried to make sense of what he was miming.

Quickly interpreting his throwing motion she guessed he wanted her to throw something. Only a few things were on her but she figured the small grenade would be good.

He then counted with his fingers from three to one. When he reached one she tossed the grenade behind her as Tails yelled "NOW!"

She stayed put hearing a gun shot take out her own item. She saw Tails dive into his own ditch.

They realized if they tried to do that exactly as before it would predict them this time so a new plan had to be made. Tails thought of one, one that he could dictate without having to do motions to Fiona, it was too dangerous to direct is instructions to her or else he'd have to expose himself.

This time when signaling her he tossed his second grenade up as he yelled now. His prediction was right, the grenade almost hit the floor before it was taken out, the bot was heard the signal but saw something else move away from its crosshairs and moved to shoot it which made it lose time. While it took out the grenade Fiona was simply following orders and dashed out to a new spot diving behind yet another rock, she wanted to be able to see anything Tails ordered. A shot rang by her as she dove for safety.

Tails needed to be able to communicate with her the next time and after hearing his grenade taken out he also jumped out of his ditch and dove for another rock. He hoped the distance they had created from one another would mean it would take more time for the bot to swivel left and right to make its shots. He was correct and made it behind the rock and heard the shot half a second slower than normal.

This had to be it, either they escaped the zone or it was forced to move to try and take out one of them, the distance it had to keep checking left and right was becoming too great.

Tails looked out and found Fiona ok and did some motions that he hoped would say "When I signal you, don't run" he hoped not running would confuse it again.

She nodded and he waited a second before yelling "NOW"

A shot rang one foot from his position in the direction he would have gone and smirked "Getting jumpy now jackass" he chuckled, it was trying to predict them now and get lucky but failed.

Now he looked to Fiona and motioned again, this time they'd both throw an object when he signaled but also wait a second after he signaled to throw.

Once again she understood and pulled out her second grenade, the last between the two of them. Tails pulled out the knife he kept in his boot. The last thing he had besides Fionas pistol.

"Now!"

Both paused for one second hearing a shot ring out again, they threw their objects and ran out for cover again.

Two shots rang out, BANG…. BANG… "AH"

Tails slid behind another rock and heard a ping signaling he could use his communicator.

"Mom! Send Shadow and Scourge to this position, right now!" he didn't wait for a reply and ran out of cover having heard the cry, it wasn't from him so he knew who had made it.

Pistol ready he looked out and saw Fiona had actually made it to cover but had been shot in the foot somehow. If he had to guess she dove and was shot as she entered her cover.

Scanning fast again he finally got a look at the opponent he'd been facing for an hour.

The figure running to finish off its prey. He recognized the enemy.

"Nack" he growled, but he wasn't Nack anymore, he had clearly been robotized.

Robo-Nack ran with speed he never had in life quickly closing the gap between him and the female fox so Tails opened fire.

The shots forced the robot to stop and hide for cover. He popped up from the ditch he chose and with inorganic speed aimed and fired, his rapid actions deteriorated his aim allowing the two tailed fox to dive for his own cover.

"Just need to stall him a bit longer" he growled pulling out the mag to see how many shots he had left before punching it back in.

He jumped out of his cover noticing he did it the same time Robo-Nack had and opened fire forcing it to be unable to line up a shot safely without being hit itself.

But then Tails heard the all to familiar click and saw the pistol was out of ammo.

He gasped and looked forward and saw the biggest smirk on the robots face who waved goodbye and took aim. The glare of the lens signaling the end.

Then he heard a boom, not a gun shot, a boom… like something broke the sound barrier. The sound hurt his ears but he knew who it was, it made him remember his old friend doing the same thing so many times before, it felt nostalgic in a way. Sadly what was coming wasn't his old friend, but it was close enough and just as welcome.

In less than a fraction of a second a black and red flash sped past Nack and cut him clean in half sending the top half in the air slightly. A green flash came and jumped up at the airborne weasel and a loud bang went off as it passed shattering the weasel skull in tiny metallic pieces. Both parts hit the ground and Tails sighed relieved it was over.

He fell to a kneeling position completely exhausted and light headed from his wound and waited for the two to come back.

Just like that Shadow and Scourge stopped in front of him sliding to a stop. Scourge carrying a shotgun, must have been what he used to blow Robo-Nack's head away.

"You alright?" Shadow asked helping him to his feet and helping him stand.

"Get Fiona, she got shot too" he pointed to her position and Scourge ran over to go get her.

He came back with the fox. She stood on one foot next to Scourge using him to take some of the weight and an arm around the back of his neck as support.

"Tails, you alright?" she asked, he looked ever worse now, pail and shaking.

"Once we get back mom can patch us up, come on" he looked to Shadow who picked him up hefting him over his shoulder and burst forward for the base. Scourge followed.

Rosemary let them in remotely and soon Tails and Fiona were in the medical room getting patched up by robot arms.

"Tails what happened? You shouldn't have gone out alone or without your equipment!"

He tried to ignore her but said "I know" he felt pretty stupid in hindsight.

The cloth he used was replaced by actual gauze but before all that he had rubbing alcohol applied to the wound and had the wound sewn back up. The gauze finally on he now felt the pain again and whimpered a little.

Fiona got the same, alcohol, closing the wound and her foot wrapped in gauze. She was also given crutches to relieve herself of walking on her foot.

"Don't you ever do that again Miles, you had me so scared" she chastised him, her voice had never been do hysterical and loud in the time they'd all been there.

Her voice actually made him look like a punished pup and said "I'm sorry mom"

"You better be, now thank Fiona for risking her life to save you"

He looked to the female fox and sighed "Thanks… I… wouldn't have gotten out of their had you not shown up"

She smiled with a nod and said "Well thanks for saving me twice. First from the first shot and at the end. Had you not stalled him I'd be dead"

"Luckily you gave me your other pistol" he smiled back and remembered to give it back.

She took it and sighed "You saw who it was right?"

"Ya… it was Nack" she frowned "I worked with his sister for a long time before I joined the Freedom fighters"

He nodded, seeing him made him realize a depressing truth. Eggman robotized Nack, it meant they could see some other old faces. Luckily for the both of them Nack was never a nice guy and taking out his robotic form wasn't too hard on either of them. Doesn't mean the next one they encountered would be as easy…

For now they had to heal, until that time the team was essentially grounded from a major operation.

He looked over the fox he suspected would become his new best friend since he'd be stuck here with her while everyone else did minor missions and cocked an eyebrow noticing something.

"Hey that first shot almost got ya" he pointed up at her ears. Mid way up her right ear on the right side was a half circle missing from the edge of her ear.

"Wow shit… too close" she gulped.

So that's 17, went a little differently then I wanted earlier. But I think it was nice to show a brutal reminder of what they could find out here.. Hope you guys liked it and I hope the small cameo of Nack was good. I also hope the fight was believable and tense and made sense.

Let me know what you think so far and hopefully the next will be done soon. Oh and be on the look out around valentines for a one shot I made, it's currently finished I'm just waiting for the heart day to come. You guys may like it.

Also that last part I kinda dropped it, now Fiona and Tils both have a half circle missing from the side of their ears.

Extra points if you spotted a nice(but somewhat vague) reference to a movie in here

Live long and prosper

Admiralkirk