Author's note: I got nothing to add here really… But I can brace you, another cliffhanger is coming *hides*

Chapter 9

Eggman couldn't help it, a wide grin plastered on his face. He was appreciating Sonic's condition more and more – it'd never been this easy to render him helpless before! Still wearing a smug expression, he leaned back and let the hover pod find its way to the end of the tunnel, arms crossed behind his head and feet crossed at the ankles.

Sonic, meanwhile, was carefully running forward, though at a – for him – very low speed, arms spread out in front of him rather than held back in their usual position. He knew the general direction to go in, but he was slightly worried about accidentally running into a wall or tripping over something – at a higher speed, doing so could mean a great deal of pain as well as considerable injury. Furthermore, he knew that Eggman would know where he was, by sound if not by sight, and he didn't want to pose as a sitting duck in case he had any weapons equipped on that pod. Better, if possible, to stay behind the doctor than in front of him for the time being…

He almost stumbled in surprise when, once more, he unexpectedly heard a low rumble go through his head. With particular stress on heard. It was faint at best, his ears straining to pick it up, but it was there. The whirr of the hover pod? The sound seemed to come and go and the pitch was sort of odd but, unlike earlier times, now the noise seemed to come back every time after disappearing, even if at random intervals, coursing through his skull... After things being quiet for so long, it seemed almost unbearably loud. In one way, it was sort of annoying – like a broken speaker, the sounds that reached his ears in a haphazard sort of way, interrupted by occasional silence, were hard to follow and under any other circumstances, it would have been irritating – but currently, it was sweet, sweet music to his straining ears.

Sonic was very much a straightforward fellow. He left tricks and foolings to his enemies, preferring brutal honesty in battle as well as the rest of his life. There was a first for everything though... Perhaps he'd be able to get the upper edge again, if Eggman didn't know he was able to make out at least some sounds again... Feeling quite pleased with himself, he sped up ever so slightly, keeping up with the rumbling object somewhere above him, just barely making out where it was moving.

"Shadow?"

The mentioned dark hedgehog whipped around, his fingers already ready to throw the next Chaos spear, the very air appearing to be crackling ominously. He had been so intent on his task that he hadn't heard the fox enter the room. Tails could be surprisingly sneaky when he had the mind to, apparently, and it unnerved the hedgehog all the more that he hadn't heard him coming.

"Where's Sonic?" the young mechanic whispered, instantly fearing for the worst. His blue eyes were wide and his namesake tails twitched. He didn't think he could stand stalking through the corridors any longer. The constant alarms seemed much too loud, as if they were beating to the same rhythm as his heart, pounding in his chest. He was expecting one of Eggman's deadly mechas to pop out any second. In short, he was terrified. This in itself wasn't like him – he usually took similar missions in stride – but there was just so much at stake right now, and nothing he'd seen so far had been re-assuring…

"He's not here" Shadow muttered matter-of-factly. He turned his back to the young fox, once more going back to his task. "Rouge sent him to the tunnel to distract the doctor."

"What?" Tails sounded shocked. His nervousness be damned, he had to find out more through the eerie hedgehog. "He's fighting in his condition? I saw the cell! Shadow, what's going on? What tunnel?"

The black hedgehog frowned as he grabbed two of the wires. What had Rouge told him... Red or blue? He called for her in his wrist. No reply. Cursing lowly, he glared at the wires again, daring them to disintegrate before his eyes.

"Shadow... Answer me, please!"

Tails was starting to get angry. How could Shadow ignore him like this?! He knew what Sonic meant to Tails. To all of them! Angrily, he looked at the wires clutched in the hedgehog's hand.

"It's the blue one" he murmured. Shadow picked up his words, if just barely. He turned his gaze back to the fox.

"Are you certain?"

"Yes. I've seen similar set ups of his before. Tell me what happened to my brother…"

Competently, the fox strode up to the control board as he took as a deep breath. His anger had been replaced by grim determination. He had to remain calm through this whole spectactle and he took a deep breath.

A great snarl of wires, cables and electronics littered the floor around the opened boards. Rouge had warned Shadow that Eggman had rigged the system. It was essential that it was disconnected in exactly the right way. Why he had to be the one doing this job, he had no idea, but Shadow had assumed that he would be able to handle it and hadn't questioned it at the time. He was the ultimate lifeform, after all...

Even so, Shadow stepped back willingly as the young fox sat down on his knees among the tangles. Competent sky blue eyes took in every part of the setup within seconds, noting especially a series of thin black wires, attached and running through every part of the machinery. At once, he could tell that the system was rigged - set to explode if feeling any disturbance in the flow of electronics, most likely. He swallowed. Nothing like a challenge, right? He turned to Shadow.

"I can handle this. Go and help Sonic at least, if you won't tell me what's going on!"

He wanted so bad to ask how Sonic was doing. Was he still deaf? Was he hurt? What chance did he stand?

Shadow finally paid his clear worries some concern.

"Just cuts and bruises. Still deaf, but he hasn't given up yet"

Tails nodded grimly as Shadow turned and left. At least he knew Sonic had backup coming his way now.

Rouge shook her head as a particularly strong wind ruffled her headfur. She was directing the commander to their position, describing the security on location to the best of their knowledge. GUN was coming... But she knew at this rate, they wouldn't be fast enough. She hoped the hedgehogs had been successful at their respective tasks, or they would be too late.

The light at the end of the tunnel - literary! Sonic sped up further, overshooting the doctor and exiting the tunnel as he saw the first signs of light ahead. He then blinked as light erupted all around him once he was out. Filtered through great trees as it was, it still felt very bright on his eyes accustomed to the dark. The sun had just began to rise over the tree tops and the light was almost unbearable at first. The wind ruffled his quills ever so slightly and he instantly felt more relaxed in this welcoming environment.

No time to lose, though. Sonic glared up at Eggman as the pod climbed the air upon exiting the tunnel, already too high for him to reach. Perhaps he could drag an answer out of him, though, to get him going in the right direction...

"Where are you going, Eggman?!"

He didn't expect a response but still, worth a shot, right? He almost gaped when the doctor did reply, though it was still very hard for him to make out the words, most of it a dull mumble at best. It was as if he was listening to someone above the surface while he himself was under water. Dull and distant. And still so very faint.

At the last moment during the doctor's brief (and angered) speech, Sonic remembered to put on a mask of indifference, as to not give away any clues to the mad scientist... That he could hear now, if only barely. It was hard to not flick his ears in an attempt to pick up more sound but he managed.

"Pest... Missile... Adabat..."

Eggman, never one to miss the chance to gloat, must have felt confident sharing his plans, certain that Sonic couldn't hear them anyway. His words were accompanied by wide gestures, especially a particular one involving his middle finger. Clearly, the doctor was in a very, very bad mood. Perhaps that's why he was letting his guard drop and not really considering what he was doing. Or to whom he was speaking, for that matter.

Sonic sighed. The missiles, damn. He had hoped Rouge was taking care of that, but apparently Eggman was still ready to fire them. Or at least one, for somewhere here in Adabat…

Suddenly, he felt a great chill go through his body. He couldn't have aimed it at the centre, could he? The place was currently swarming with scientists - people with the potential of coming up with new ways to stop Eggman in the future. Not to mention, people who had shunned his research and had him removed from all scientific circles for years. It fit too well.

Sonic shot off at top speed. He didn't know where the launch pad was, but he should have time to find it before Eggman's hover pod arrived... Right?

Tails wiped sweat off his brow. He was almost finished. Just one wire left. This was it. Either he'd succeed or the control board was successfully disarmed or... Well, he preferred not to think about it. If nothing else, it should be quick enough that none of them still in the building would have time to feel much...

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he grabbed a firm hold of the last wire and readied himself to rip it out.

Shadow ran slowly through the dark tunnel, cursing his bad luck. He had known that the many miles long tunnel would let him move him faster than going through the dense jungle, which is why he'd gone down here in the first place... But not when it was so dark that he couldn't even see his own hands in front of him! At this rate, it would have been quicker to go through the undergrowth after all. The only thing that lit his way was the sparks of his jet shoes, as well as the occasional Chaos spear he shot in front of him, to vent his anger as much as to light his way. Such a marvellous way to use Chaos energy – as a torch in a blasted underground tunnel - he thought grimly to himself.

As he finally drew closer to the exit, Shadow poured on the speed and revelled in the light once more surrounding him. He could hear the sound of Sonic running and set off in that general direction.

Eggman glared down at the hedgehog running away from him. Where was he going, anyway? He wasn't running off now, was he? With a huff, he turned and moved towards the launch pad. Only to be met, seconds later, with Sonic once more running under him and continuing in this new direction. The same direction the doctor had been going in.

"Going this way, actually!" Sonic waved up at him, having realized that this was apparently the right way.

He continued forward for less than a minute at high speed until he reached a cleared area, a metal platform of some sort with a control board. Off in the near distance, what appeared to be a large hole in the ground, covered by a thick lid and with warning signs around it, as well as sporting a particular trademark moustache-wearing face as a symbol, provided an ominous sign. Was that what he thought it was…?

Cursing, Sonic considered what to do next. In front of him was the odd little control board, not entirely unlike the one in the fort's control room, though considerably smaller and appearing less advanced. Still, why did there always have to be so many buttons on these things?! None stood out as an obvious "Undo" option either... This was really Tails' area of expertise, not his. He bit his lip and glared up at the doctor above him.

Eggman, on his part, didn't look especially pleased either when he arrived moments later. The hedgehog had reached the platform before him. How had he even known what to look for?! He had to get to that control board to launch the missile. Go figure the blue pest had to stand in his way, like always!

Fortunately he wasn't entirely unprepared. He called on his trusted intercom and it wasn't long before another mecha appeared. It was the same one that he'd fought when he'd gotten captured, apparently stationed nearby as a guard. It still sported a number of cuts and was missing paint in some areas, but it looked like smaller robots had been working on bringing it back into order, even if they hadn't had time to finish the job.

The mad doctor wasted no time, siccing the robot on Sonic who merely snorted. This time he was more prepared than during their previous encounter. As much as he disliked the doctor, Sonic had gone through pains as to not kill or badly damage him in their last fight. He had no such qualms about taking out this robot acting on its own, though. His subconscious was well familiar with how the robot worked by now and he wouldn't make the same mistakes as before, having learnt his lesson well. Turning his back to the doctor, he focused on the mechanical opponent instead of paying the human any attention.

Launching himself towards the robot, Sonic didn't notice that a plain robot attack was apparently not Eggman's whole plan – he yelled suddenly out as he felt an unexpected burning sensation on his back. It had just grazed him, but it was painful all the same. Unfortunately, the distraction was enough to send him flying as the mecha met his intended attack with a powerful slap that sent him flying and his head spinning.

Sonic managed to catch himself as he landed, if only barely. He turned to Eggman with an angry look on his face, carefully finding his balance again as he did so.

"Hey doc, shooting me in the back?! Not cool!"

Eggman merely grinned in response, lifting the laser gun higher again and taking new aim. At the same time, the mecha moved closer, ready for another round. Sonic wasted no time, getting up and running towards the robot. He chose a zigzagging pattern, knowing that Eggman didn't have the skill to keep up with his movements at full speed. No, the problem would lay in whenever he had to slow down and perform an actual attack. Especially as the robot was fairly large… He'd have to climb his way up to get a good hit. That would leave him wide open to Eggman's weapon. He shook his shoulders slightly as he felt a trickle of blood running down his back. Good thing that last hit had just grazed him, or he'd been down for the count. Again.

"This time you're going down, you pesky blue fiend!" Eggman bellowed behind him, though Sonic couldn't really make it out and was too focused on other matters to care either way. His sensitive ears were completely filled with the dull roar of the mecha and he already felt a pounding headache, unwittingly slowing him down as he winced at every random hiss or screech of the electronics around him. On top of that, he was still exhausted, not having received any proper rest since his nap in the cell, and nothing to eat since the day before. With a metabolism like his and now running on empty, this didn't bode well…

Panting, ears laid back, he crouched and readier himself for the next attack, eyes flitting between the lurching mecha and the doctor aiming his gun at his head behind him.

Time to give them your all, hedgehog.

Tails sighed and paused to wipe sweat off his face. This was the very last step. Time to put his knowledge to the real test. If he'd done this right, the control board would die after the final cut and the missiles would be unable to fire. If he did it wrong, everything would explode. Truly, Tails couldn't be blamed for hesitating. This was his life on the line. And quite possibly everyone else's too, depending on large the explosion would end being. He wasn't certain.

Sending out a silent plea to Sonic to please, please be okay, Tails clenched his jaw and grabbed a firmer hold on the small tool in his hands.

"Here we go…"

Thanking his legendary lightning reflexes, Sonic jumped to the side at the last chance, avoiding another shot, this time aimed at his chest. He came to a stop but instead of standing up instantly tucked and rolled away as the mecha's arm came down with a crash where he'd just landed.

Picking up speed, Sonic turned the roll into a spindash, barely suppressing a grin as he finally got a real hit in. The robot took a step back, trying to find its balance again and now sporting an impressive dent on its side.

Sonic landed once more, wasting no time as he instantly took off again, circling the robot and hoping to get some protection from Eggman by putting the robot between them. This unfortunately didn't work too well as Eggman simply had the hoverpod rise higher into the air, giving him a good overview of the area.

"I'd tell you to give up already… not that it'd do much good, you deaf little rat!" he yelled as he took new aim.

Sonic snorted, torn between playing along with the ruse and finally letting Eggman know that he could hear now thank you very much… a bit, anyway. He supposed it was best to keep the charade a bit longer, unless he…

…His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he heard a familiar sound and whipped his head around, eyes blinking in surprise as a sudden blast of searing energy came flying… at him?!

Jumping to the side and out of harm's way, Sonic still felt the unmistakable pulling, burning sensation of the crackling Chaos energy in the air. The spear had landed straight in the mecha's chest. Not aimed for him, but certainly close enough that he could have gotten hurt, had he stayed in the same place. He supposed the other one had counted on him to get out of the way, but still…

"Shadow!" he cried out, torn between relief at seeing his rival and anger at his risky behaviour.

The doctor cursed and looked down at the black hedgehog, who was aiming another spear, this time at Eggman himself. He knew from first-hand experience that Shadow, unlike Sonic, wouldn't hesitate to kill if protocol required it, so he harboured no false hope about getting any mercy here. Instead, he shot forward in his pod, at the same time commanding the mecha to get the hedgehogs out of the way.

Seeing his target move closer to Sonic, Shadow instead lowered his aim and let the next spear go towards the mecha, which fortunately provided a shield as Sonic was once more almost in harm's way. With a glare towards Shadow, Sonic took the opportunity to jump at Eggman instead, landing on the hoverpod's edge and making it tilt oddly with the extra weight. Sonic wasn't heavy, but the pod hadn't been constructed for the extra weight hanging on its side and affecting its momentum.

At the unexpected turn of events – he hadn't foreseen Sonic literary attaching himself to the pod – Eggman shrieked and dove towards the ground, landing clumsily and using Sonic's surprise to jump out. He could, perhaps surprisingly, be pretty agile when pressed so hard, it would seem… Fortunately he was only a step away from the control board at this point and was assisted by his mecha keeping Shadow at bay still.

Eggman held his hand above a particular button. Behind him, Sonic was getting to his feet and clearly ready to run straight at him, throwing a quick glance behind him to make sure the mecha was occupied elsewhere.

"One more move and I blow the Science centre to pieces!"

Eggman glared at Sonic, expecting his message to be clear even to deaf ears. He grinned widely, madness in his gaze. He was cornered and he knew it, but if he was going down, he could at least assure that he was going down with a boom. Literary.

Sonic stopped, eyes firmly on the mad doctor. He crossed his arms, to the world appearing at ease, maybe even bored, but inside every muscle tense and ready for action.

Shadow had just let loose a final spear, the mecha unceremoniously dropping to the ground, now little more than a pile of broken, smoking machinery. It was at that moment he heard Eggman's words and looked ahead to him and the blue hedgehog.

"One step from either of you and it all ends!" Eggman leered, finger still hovering inches above the button.

Shadow knew he wasn't bluffing. He only hoped Tails knew what he was doing or chances were he'd just doomed them all, if the missile was fired. Not to mention all the greatest scientific minds on the planet were about to die. Guarding them was what he and Rouge had originally been sent here for and it looked like they may just have failed… He had no way of knowing whether Tails had managed to take care of the rigged controls or not.

Eggman very nearly pressed the button in surprise, catching himself at the last moment, when suddenly all three heard a loud explosion several kilometres away, at the base itself.

Author's note: DUN DUN DUN.