Eggman's Base

Finally they were there.

They had been walking for a whole day and half the previous night before they were forced to sleep under a big oak and endure the chilly dark of the night, and as soon as the dawn arrived this morning, they'd immediately set off again on stiff legs. They'd walked across fields, through woods and nearly drowned in a flowing river, as if the creepy canyon hadn't been enough.

But now they were there: Eggman's current base was far away and well hidden from the Mobians, covered by a couple of tall cliffs beneath a high hill and a small mountain behind. It looked pretty much the same as it always did; the same laboratory themed large metallic building, full of the doctor's ugly face symbols.

And somewhere inside were Cream, and probably a whole massive amount of Eggman's odd robot creations.

"Alright." Tails interrupted her thoughts where he stood with the CEL in his hands. "Let's sneak down."

Amy nodded and they quietly pattered down the slope and crossed the line to the base. Soon they were just outside the solid walls, constantly hiding and sneaking past the useless robots that probably were supposed to guard this place.

Of course there was a main entrance, but only a simpleminded fool would pick that way, so instead they targeted one of the minor entrances where the security wasn't that severe. But even there you needed to enter a code to get inside using a fancy keyboard. But that's why any bright person would bring their ingenious fox-friend.

"Can you get us inside?" Amy whispered as she constantly shot glances over her shoulder to see if they were spotted; the robots were stupid, but not so stupid that they wouldn't come back here in a while.

"Sure, but I'll need some time," Tails replied quietly as he started pressing buttons and finger on the mouse.

Well, maybe we don't have that much time. Amy could hear the robots simultaneous steps and couldn't help but to get a little nervous. "Tails…" she said warningly.

"I can't work faster!" he hissed, clearly under stress.

By now the robots had rounded the corner, and some of them had spotted the two intruders and to Amy's horror they were on their way. "Tails, they're coming!" she said loudly.

"I'm working as fast as I can!" Tails exclaimed, and drops of sweat were trickling down his temple by now. "We don't have enough time…"

Amy thought fast, and then she bit her lip before she came to the simple and only conclusion: "No worries, I'll buy you some!" she said and pulled out her large Piko Piko Hammer. She prepared herself to fight and positioned herself in a taunting way in front of the robots that were closing in fastly, and she gave them a long glare. "Don't you dare interfere when we're in the middle of a rescue!"

Most of the robots had noticed them by now, and they were rushing towards them, and Amy did the same with her hammer poised; she let out a roar and took a big leap into the robot crowd and swung her hammer as if her life depended on it… which it did.

"Amy, are you okay?!" she could hear Tails call from the closed entrance.

"I'm fine, you just focus on getting the damn door open!" Amy shouted back without stopping in hitting the metallic creatures that were surrounding her.

"Uh… right!" came Tails reply, but Amy was too busy fighting the robots to hear him.

"Goddammit," Amy snarled as she fought, "you – are –", she hit one on the head, "persistent – as—", the head flew away and she hit another one in the belly – or whatever – "HELL!" She spun herself and the hammer around in a fierce tornado move and sent at least six bots in a row flying into the wall and fall motionless and broken to the ground before she attacked the others. "I can keep this up all day if you want me to!" she threatened loudly.

Not that she expected them too, but the robots paid no attention to her taunts, but instead they shot laser beams at her. "Why, you…!" Amy gripped the handle of her hammer tightly and prepared to jam right through them. "RRRHHAAAAHHH!"

CRAASH!

"…. Almost, almost, almost, almost…" Tails muttered as he pressed the buttons on the keyboard for dear life. "… Done!" he pressed enter and the entrance immediately opened as response, but when he turned around to call out for Amy to stop it and get inside, the robots were already lying in a broken pile of steel behind her.

The pink hedgehog triumphantly spun her hammer in the air, winked and victory posed: "That's what you get," she said and stepped on one of the robots' heads as she returned to Tails. "How about that?" she asked proudly.

"Wow…" came Tails' reply as he observed his friend and the robot pile. "… Sometimes I'm just happy that you're on my side and not the enemy's…" He turned around and started to walk inside. "Sonic should really give you a chance someday."

"I know, right?" Amy cooed and indifferently adjusted her headband before she followed him inside the building.

"So, now that we're inside, the CEL won't show us exactly where in the base that Cream is?" Amy asked as they walked – very carefully – in a long, empty corridor.

"That's right," Tails said as he stopped to peek around a corner for enemies. "So we'll have to find her ourselves."

"Well, that's a pain," Amy sighed.

"I know, and it's dangerous too, but what other choice do we have?"

He was right, of course he was. The two of them sneaked past robots and walked up stairs and corridors for quite a while, before they located a big open door to a big room that by the looks of it seemed to be of greater importance, which could be the cells.

But Amy's expectations were crushed when they entered and found themselves in a big room full of keyboards, computers and control systems instead of the cells.

"Naww, this isn't where they keep the prisoners," Amy said disappointedly as she looked around.

"Maybe not," Tails replied and walked inside, up to one of the greater computer screens and positioned himself on one of the chairs. "But I think that from here, I might be able to hack into the system and find them."

"Oh," Amy said. "I suppose that could work."

She looked around a bit more, and then she just stood and pulled her skirt somewhat restlessly on the spot. "So… what should I do?" she asked after a while. "Do you need help with anything?"

"Oh, no, I'm fine," Tails replied without taking his eyes from the big screen. "This won't take long, so don't worry…"

"Ok," Amy answered. Tails is really busy right now, I shouldn't bother him. But what should I do while he's working? She turned to her friend. "I'll just have a look-around," she said.

"Mhm…" Tails didn't seem to be listening, so Amy headed outside with cautious steps, careful not to disturb Tails as he downloaded and edited and hacked and did his complicated technology stuff that Amy would probably never fully understand.

She wouldn't be gone long enough for him to worry, and she wouldn't go that far either; she would be back before he was done. But she just wasn't patient enough to sit around and do nothing in a base full of enemies and doctors… and a kidnapped friend.

She walked the corridors for a while, careful not to cause a commotion or to open the wrong doors or enter the wrong rooms. But wow, this place is pretty big, she thought as she walked. Maybe I should've stayed put with – huh…?

Amy stopped at once and perked her ears at the next corner which turned to the right; there were two persons talking just around that corner.

Amy quickly covered her mouth with her hands so that she wouldn't make a sound, and for a second she considered sneaking away and head back to Tails… but now that she thought about it, she was curious to find out who those people were, and what they were talking about. Who knows, maybe she'd actually find out something useful? So she didn't run away, but pressed herself against the wall and carefully, slowly and really quietly moved herself closer to the corner's edge, without revealing herself of course.

She already recognized one of the voices as Eggman's, but she was really not sure how to react when she cautiously peeked around the corner to see that the doctor talking to a hedgehog whom she had not seen or heard of in quite a while: Shadow.

Shadow…? Amy blinked several times in confusion. What is he doing here…? Has he joined forces with Eggman again? Her question was automatically answered as she eavesdropped on their conversation:

"… and then when you've fetched me all the Chaos Emeralds and I have used them for my ultimate weapon to take over this world, I'll give you your share of the prize: The Chaos Emeralds. Got it?" It was Eggman who spoke. "I don't see why you get so worked up; a great man and scientist like me always keep his promises."

"Yes, doctor," Shadow replied. "I've soon got all of the Chaos Emeralds, so you'll be able to use your weapon soon enough."

Eggman gave him a wide and creepy smile. "Good," he approved sluggishly.

Their conversation seemed to be over, so Amy decided that she was done here. As quietly as possible she turned around and started padding her way back. This is terrible, she thought and cast a glance over her shoulder to see if she was followed. If Eggman has convinced Shadow to work with him to revive that weapon or whatever, then it'll be really difficult even for Sonic to stop them.

I'd better get back to Tails and tell him about this, and then we will figure out a plan to save Cream and hide the Chaos Em…, she didn't get the chance to finish the thought, because as she turned her head forwards, a freakin' super creepy spider mutant robot appeared out of nowhere (it was small, but Amy did not care for bugs) and before she was able to stop herself, she let out a shocked, high-pitched squeal that probably every single person in this part of the lab could hear… and unfortunately, those two persons were the ones that she least of all wanted hot on her heels.

She quickly pressed both her hands against her mouth, but it was way too late for that; "What was that?" she could hear Eggman say.

Time for me to run, Amy told herself and set off as fast as her legs would carry her. She didn't need to hear Eggman order Shadow to follow her to realize that he already would. She very well knew how fast Shadow was, and that she only had seconds to make up her mind before he would've caught up.

Alright, I need to hide immediately! Amy's thoughts rushed and almost without thinking, she flinged herself to her left and around a corner, hopped behind a couple of steel barrels and didn't make a noise; she listened keenly for Shadow's steps, and when she'd heard him swoosh pass, she could finally breathe again.

"Oh dear god, that was close," Amy sighed exhaustedly and leaned against the wall. "Thank you, barrels."

After she'd caught her breath, she rose and peeked around the corner; she saw a hint of Shadow's black spikes before he disappeared to the left. Amy set off as well, but forward. She would head back to Tails now, and this time she would be a little more careful.

Amy reached the Control Room in mere minutes, but she didn't make it as much as two steps inside and open her mouth to say "Ta—" before Tails ran straight into her from inside, ; there was a crash before he was able to yell "Am—" and they both stumbled backwards in opposite directions.

"Oww… There you are, Amy!" Tails exclaimed as he steadied himself. "I noticed you'd disappeared and I got worried…"

"I know, I'm sorry for just running off," Amy interrupted impatiently, "but you have to listen to this:" and she quickly told him about Eggman and Shadow – though she didn't mention when she messed up because of a tiny bug – and Tails listened patiently throughout all of it.

"That is really not good," he said when she had finished. "Shadow's working with Eggman again? This is bad news…"

"Bad? It's terrible! What are we going to do, Tails?"

Tails' eyebrows sank into a deep and thoughtful frown. "Hmm… I wonder what kind of thing Eggman promised Shadow in order to get him over on his side," Tails muttered. "It's not like Shadow to cooperate only for the sake of majority."

"I have no idea, and honestly, I don't really care about that right now," Amy replied; she was starting to get worked up. "What should we do?"

Tails was silent for a few seconds before he answered: "I think we'll just have to try to take it easy."

"'Take it easy'?!" Amy exclaimed. "I'm sorry, Tails, but I don't see how you take it easy in a serious situation like this."

"That's my point," Tails replied. "It's just like in situations like this that you need to keep calm and take it easy." He hopped up on one of the chairs and waved Amy along. "You know, I've checked some of Eggman's files," he began.

Amy walked beside him and looked up at the wide screen. "Really? Did you find something out?" she asked.

"You could say that," Tails replied and hacked into a couple of Eggman's files. "You see, if you are to trust these saved files, then Eggman has been preparing a telepathic speech that is to be performed by a hologram of himself, on all the technologic TV screens etc. in our world."

Amy followed this far. "Uh-huh, so he's going to have a speech?"

"That's right, and I've looked into it too…" Tails brought up a long text message on the screen. "And it would seem like Eggman is going to threaten everyone in our world by taking Cream as a hostage," he explained as he scrolled down to the end of the message. "After what you've told me, I am not almost 100% sure that Eggman is going to let the whole world find out that he's captured Cream, and we probably won't get her back until we do what he wants."

"But," Amy said hesitantly. "He can't take over the world yet, can he? I mean, we've still got one of the Chaos Emeralds, so he won't be able to use his ultimate weapon or whatever."

"Well, you see, that's where he's outsmarted us," Tails said. "You see, even if we have one of the Chaos Emeralds, Eggman is probably only going to threaten to kill Cream unless we give it to him. It's possible that he'd already counted with us to have one the Emeralds, and that might be the main purpose for kidnapping Cream in the first place; to make sure that he has the advantage."

Amy hated to admit it, but Tails was probably right. She did not like the thought of being outsmarted by a fat, crazy fuzzy-moustache scientist.

"But that's why it's lucky that we are here," Tails continued optimistically when Amy didn't answer. "We are here right now, so we can save Cream and prevent Eggman from succeeding in his world domination project!"

Amy blinked a few times, and a smirk even appeared on her lips. That's right, she thought. "So then, do you know where Cream is?" she suddenly asked as she remembered the sole purpose of being here.

"Oh, uh…" Tails got back into action and brought up a map on the screen. "Y-yeah, I think I know exactly where she is."

Amy gazed at him; she was really happy to finally hear some good news. "Well then, good!" she exclaimed. "Shall we get going?"

Tails nodded. "Sure, I'm just gonna shut these things off," he added and removed all the sites.

Which reminded Amy: "Oh yeah, Tails? I've been wondering this for a while now," she said. "How come the security alarm hasn't called yet?" She'd expected to hear the "Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" any second now.

"Oh," Tails simply replied. "That's because I shut it off."

… Of course. Why was she even concerned about stuff like that? "Tails, I've told you this before, and I'm telling you again: You are a genius!" she beamed at him.

"Amy, don't say that! You're flattering me," Tails said embarrassedly and looked away so that she wouldn't see his fierce blush. Naww, the cutey creature. Amy was still beaming at him when he finally turned around.

"O-okay then… shall we go?" he said after clearing his throat and straightened himself.

Amy nodded. "Yeah."

And they exited the big room and followed Tails' instructions through a couple of corridors and down a long staircase; down, down, down, down. Down in a huge basement full of cages and cells.

"This was kind of obvious, now that I think about it," Amy muttered to herself. "We should've checked here first of all."

But Tails wasn't listening, because he'd discovered the poor frightened rabbit whom they'd been searching for all along: "Cream!" he whispered and set off towards one of the cells.

Amy reacted quickly and followed him; the next second the two of them were gazing at their friend through the metal bars. "Cream!" Amy almost exclaimed, but she made sure not to make the same mistake as before and make loud noises.

The little rabbit looked up on them, first with confusion, and then her eyes widened and you could literally see the happiness glow out of them; "Amy! Tails!" she exclaimed with her light voice. "You found me!"

"Don't worry, Cream! We'll get you out of there in a second. Back off," Amy said warningly and took out her Piko Piko Hammer; but Tails stopped her with a horror-struck face.

"What are you doing, Amy?! You can't use your hammer, it'll cause too much noise!" he hissed. "And please keep your voices down…"

"How are we gonna get her out then?" Amy retorted. "We've got to hurry, or else Shadow or Eggman will find us!"

"Don't worry," Tails said reassuringly and to Amy's surprise, he took out another small machine from his tails or whatever; this one looked like some kind of multicolored gun.

"What's that?" Amy asked. "Since when did you join the army?"

Tails ignored her. "This is my Power Tool," he explained. "It's very handy since it's small, and it can do a lot of stuff too, although it's not that powerful. But I always keep it with me." He turned to Cream and pointed it at the bars. "It's a laser beam; don't worry, it's not gonna blow the place up."

Amy still wasn't sure if she could trust the suspicious little thing; but she trusted Tails completely, so she managed to refuse the urge to cover her ears in case something would explode. But the small laser beam that shot out of the edge when Tails'd pulled the trigger was not explosive at all; it was a thin laser beam that easily burned the metal and cut a hole in the bars, big enough for someone as small as Cream to fit in it.

"There," Tails smiled. "Now you can come out, Cream."

And their friend didn't linger five seconds in the cell, and as soon as she was out she ran into their arms, eyes full of tears of joy. "I was so scared…" she sobbed into Amy's shirt. "Thank you so much for saving me…! I'm so sorry that I got caught and messed things up for you…"

"It's alright now, Cream, it's alright," Amy comforted and patted her gently on her head. "Don't worry… We'll be out of here soon, you'll see…"

"Amy's right," Tails gave Cream a comforting smile. "Soon we'll be outside, and then we'll head back home…"

Cream nodded repeatedly and tried to stop sobbing. "Okay…"

"Come on, let's go," Tails said and grabbed Cream's hand. "We've got to tell Sonic about Eggman's plan."

"Really?"

All three of them froze.

Amy swallowed hard; you couldn't mistake that voice for anyone. She slowly turned around, and when she looked up, she saw Shadow standing on top of the staircase, gazing down at them with his red eyes; he looked really mighty and dangerous from up there.

He gave them a dark look; "You'll have to get to Sonic before you can tell him, and that I'm afraid I cannot let you do."

R&R? Next chapter will be uploaded soon.