"In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies."

-Winston Churchill

AN: So, this chapter is not so much of a chapter as an interlude. I felt the content in this interlude should stand by itself and not among other text, so it is incredibly short.

Interlude 1 – Pawn

November 14, 3238; 1145 hours: Robotropolis

The ride had been smooth, and he had been attended well enough. Robotnik had chosen to speak little during the trip, satisfied that he had extracted all of his answers at the Tundis base. Tails was confused but he gave no overt indication of being so. Again, he was winging this entire thing. His mindset had changed so drastically since a mere week ago… Perhaps it was for the best.

He had eyed the shape of Robotnik's bald head against his headrest in front of him the whole trip. After all, eventually, the Eggman would die by his hand. The only thing that stopped his blade now was his mention of other dangers. What was it that would prevent him from sleeping at night? From this vantage point, he would know.

From this vantage point, with Robotnik by his side, he would be able to see the world.

His T-Glass flashed, indicating that the device that rested in his waist holster had received a message from S. It displayed on the screen.

For now, pretend you are his ally.

Tails had no idea how S knew that he was with Robotnik, but he would take his advice for now. If he was a pawn in S's game, then he hoped that it was a game that would benefit the world. He hoped that by the end of it, he would survive.

The stench of Robotropolis filled his nostrils, and he furrowed his brow in distaste as he entered the pollution-filled city from the transporter. He could see the looming form of what used to be Castle Acorn before him. Now, the majestic castle represented death and disease, similar to the city itself.

"Welcome to Castle Robotnik." The Eggman said with pride, his white cape billowing brightly in the wind. "This shall be your base of operations from now on."

Tails nodded, following Robotnik in. In front of the door stood a smaller man, with, Tails noted amusedly, a nose that was comically disproportionate relative to the size of his head.

"Welcome back, Uncle Robotnik, I sure hope it was a pleasant trip." A nasally voice escaped from his lips. "And Miles Prower, how nice it is to meet you. I do wonder why you are not in handcuffs."

"Shut up, Snively." Robotnik grinned. "He's helping us out now, isn't that right, Tails?"

His face had no indication of any emotion, nothing that would give anything away. "Yes, Robotnik." Snively's dark eyes gave him a scrutinizing look as he walked by, but the young fox did not even turn his head. As the two passed through the door, Snively scoffed and followed them in.

"Status report, Snively." Robotnik drawled.

"Y-yes sir." The younger man nodded nervously, shooting glances at Tails, who waited expectantly. "The search through the Great Forest runs optimally, but we still haven't found the source of the Emerald's signal." He said. "We have, however, reduced the search area to a 5-mile radius, on the opposite side of the forest as Knothole."

Tails smirked. So they had known where Knothole was this whole time. Sally would be surprised indeed if she found this out.

"Good job Snively. I expect the Emerald to come to us soon." Snively made an awkward grin at his uncle's praise, bowed his head, and made to retreat. "Wait, Snively."

The small man turned around. "Yes, sir?"

"Please, show young Tails around the castle. And Tails, please, make yourself at home" Robotnik said, before turning and walking out of the room. The voice in which he spoke in sent shivers down Tails's spine, but he couldn't tell if Robotnik was being menacing or genuinely nice.

"Follow me, Prower." Snively said, walking away. Seeing no other option, Tails tagged along with the short man, who surprisingly was shorter than he was, despite being an Overlander. Alongside Snively, Tails was shown many rooms, many of which were laboratories dedicated to various schools of science, but one room interested him the most.

"Enter." Snively said. Tails walked into the room, which was lit brightly by floodlights attached to the ceiling. Whirring machinery surrounded the room, which seemed to all lead into a large glass container at the end.

"What is this…?" Tails asked, fascinated by the amorphous metallic blob in the glass. It was suspended by some sort of life-support liquid, and it squirmed and reshaped itself constantly. It was… tantalizing, for lack of a better term.

"This is Uncle's current brainchild, the Sol Invictovirus. He is quite proud of it, although I'm not quite sure what it does. I'm guessing it's some sort of biological weapon." Snively spoke. It did seem a little too large to resemble the classic pathogenic virus that most people thought of; but nonetheless, there was a certain disease-like quality to it.

"Is it alive?" Tails asked, feeling the glass. The thing seemed to move toward the barrier, morphing into an exact replica of the fox's hand as if it were on the opposite side of a mirror.

"I suppose it must be." Snively commented. "I've never seen a robot act so irrationally." Tails continued to move his palm around the glass, noticing that the Sol Invictovirus seemed fascinated by his touch. "To be honest, I don't think it's reacted like this to someone touching the barrier before."

Tails felt a sudden sting of pain, and withdrew his hand to see a trail of blood dripping down his palm. There was a minute crack in the glass, yet the liquid that supported the virus wasn't leaking out. Tails eyed his palm again and the blob, panicking slightly. "What did it just do?"

"It reacted to your latent Chaos energy." Robotnik's voice echoed through the room. They turned to see the man standing in the doorway. He strode toward the glass. "My hypothesis was correct. You do have Chaos energy streaming through your veins."

Tails watched Robotnik place his hand on the glass. The blob did not even react to his presence. It didn't even seem to notice that Robotnik was even there.

"What do you mean by that?" The young fox asked, looking at his bleeding palm. "Is it inside of me?"

Robotnik removed his hand from the glass. He did not speak for a while. "Do not worry. I wouldn't let any harm come to you while you are under my protection. Let's begin with a little lesson on what I've discovered about Chaos energy. It cannot be stored like ordinary energy. The battery we use to store Chaos energy must already contain such energy for it to accept more. The Sol Invictovirus was the first breakthrough I had with creating such a battery, by making something that contained a massive amount of collected ambient energy. Strangely, it exhibited some properties of life, and it hungers for Chaos energy, slowly adding more. This is why it was drawn to you."

"So what will it do to me now that it's inside of me?" The fox asked nervously.

"It will feed off of your energy and grow." Robotnik stated. "However, I believe such a relationship will be symbiotic. In fact, I believe I can go so far as to say that I have created the world's first natural Chaos Syphon."

Tails stared blankly. "I have no idea what that means."

"It means, I have created a better battery than this. One that can control and use the energy that it collects. You, Tails, are a natural chaos user. Given enough energy, you can make the impossible possible."

Snively looked at Tails, then Robotnik. "This was your plan all along then?"

Robotnik nodded. "I noticed that very small Chaos signals were coming from Base 23 and I made my hypothesis there, once I was informed of the absence of Tails from Knothole. Initially I thought the two were unrelated until I suddenly made the connection."

Tails nodded. He looked at his palm once more, noticing that it had stopped bleeding. "So what does this mean for me?"

"I do not know." Eggman said, turning around. "However, I do have a long-term mission for you which I will detail tomorrow. For now, familiarize yourself with the Castle."

Tails nodded. Robotnik left the room and Snively was about to, but he looked back at Tails, who had his hand on the Sol Invictovirus. "What are you…?" The fox asked.

"Coming, Prower?" Snively's nasally voice drawled.

Tails turned. "Yes, Snively." The two walked out, leaving the blob to itself.

November 14, 3238; 1243 hours: Tails's Quarters

The young fox entered what were dubbed his quarters and closed the door behind him. He drew a deep breath and sighed, looking at the rather comfy-seeming room before him. A large bed was laid out, a large desk with a computer of his own. Everything seemed prepared. Was that… a uniform that laid folded on the bed? He picked it up, examining it. It was black coat with white running down the side s of the sleeves in a similar fashion to what Snively wore, and similar black pants. He looked in the mirror beside the door.

"I really need to trim my fur." He said, noting the scraggly mess that he had become. Heading into the attached bathroom, he located a pair of scissors. "This will have to do."

Over the course of an hour, he carefully trimmed his fur. He then dressed in the uniform and stood in front of the mirror again. His hair was no longer long and raggedy, but rather, it came down tousled but neat right down to his shoulders. The coat was practically tailor-fit to his frame, with two coattails falling down behind him. The pants were strange feeling, but somehow tied the whole thing together.

Looking at the complete ensemble, he looked like just another one of Robotnik's pawns. His eyes saddened at that, but immediately dried up. This was who he was now. There was no turning back. It would take a long time for him to accept his reality, but eventually, he would get there.

There was a knock on her door. "Come in." Tails said. The door opened, and the short frame of Snively passed through.

"I see you have located your uniform." Snively spoke, to which Tails nodded. "I have come to speak to you personally."

"About what?" Tails asked, genuinely confused. He had been of the opinion that Snively would remain distant from him and would not interact with him unless ordered.

"What is your opinion of my uncle?" He said, his voice unusually firm.

Tails raised an eyebrow. "Is this a trick question?"

"I am not here to evaluate your loyalty." Snively said, frowning. "Perhaps this will loosen your tongue."

Then, PHOENIX beeped, and Tails looked at the device which sat on his desk. The T-Glass, which he had taken off before he trimmed, had text on it. He gave Snively a glance before walking over to the desk, picking up the device. He read the screen.

I am here to evaluate our plan. -S

Tails jumped and looked at Snively, bewildered. "You…! You are…!?"

Snively nodded. "Your capture by Robotnik was not an accident. I am S, now, let us discuss our plan, face to face. Now, what is your opinion of my uncle."

Tails looked up at Snively with a terrible expression in his eyes. "I hate him. I wish for him to die in the worst way possible. He murdered everything I loved. It is his turn to die."

Snively grinned widely. "Then let us begin, partner."