Hello, y'all, I'm back with a new chapter. It's been a hectic week for me, but it's finally weekend. Anyway, enjoy. :)
Chapter 3: Hacker
Tails continued to make his way for Eggman's new base. However, due to his undivided focus on the giant fortress in front of him, the fox failed to notice a rogue Egg Pawn with a huge laser cannon in hand on top of a nearby building.
The Egg Pawn, having spotted the Tornado, immediately raised its laser cannon and locked on. The robot pulled the trigger once it had a clear shot. Contrary to the normally lousy and incompetent marksmanship the Egg Pawns displayed, this one managed to land a direct hit on the Tornado's wing, which clearly took Tails by surprise.
The two-tailed fox quickly turned his head around and spotted the shooter. He then pushed a button and the Tornado shot a missile at the (lucky?) Egg Pawn, destroying it instantly.
Even though the shooter had been dealt with, the damage had already been done. The Tornado couldn't fly straight anymore now one wing was damaged, so Tails had no other choice but to land on the roof of a nearby building for a quick repair.
Tails stood on top of the building and watched helplessly with horror clearly visible in his sapphire eyes as Eggman's fortress pulled the limp forms of Sonic and Knuckles in. His two best friends disappeared soon after, and the fortress began to move away from the city.
Not ready to give up on Sonic and Knuckles, Tails quickly pulled out his tool kit and began fixing the Tornado's wing. It didn't really take a long time, really, five minutes at most. Soon, the wing was fixed and the Tornado was ready to take off once more.
Tails jumped inside his trusty plane and flew after the menacing fortress to wherever it was going.
"You're not going to get away with this Eggman."
Tails put the Tornado on autopilot and pulled out his portable handheld device, which he called Miles Electric.
"Alright, Eggman, time to figure out what you're planning." said Tails as he pressed a series of buttons and hacked into the flying fortress' mainframe.
"Dang! Eggman's firewall is strong and all the files are heavily encrypted." Tails said as he continued working his way through Eggman's security, "Alright…time to get serious." The genius fox cracked his knuckles and got ready.
"Let's dance, Eggface." Tails pressed the buttons rapidly and relentlessly in an attempt to bypass the ridiculously strong firewall the mad doctor had designed. If anyone could accomplish such a feat, it was the fox, the child prodigy who had matched wits with the notorious scientist on many occasions.
The battle was extremely stressful for Tails, he could easily keep up with the firewall in his head, but his hands barely managed to catch up with his own mind. Not even averting his eyes from the screen even for a split second, Tails continued his with unwavering commitment and determination.
After about half an hour of non-stop typing and code breaking, Tails finally managed to bypass the last of the doctor's security and hacked into the fortress' mainframe and database. (I'm not a technology guru, nor am I a hacker, so this part is not very detailed)
"Yes, in your face, Buttnik." Tails said triumphantly as he stopped for a while to catch his breath. The cyber battle was intense, even for a genius like him.
After a second, Tails resumed his mission. The first thing Tails did was disable the entire fortress' firewall and alarms so that the mad scientist wouldn't be able to figure out the fact that his system was being hacked. The genius fox then opened up a file that showed the fortress' schematics and blueprint, carefully studying everything he could.
"The fortress is called the Egg Citadel?" said Tails as he shook his head slightly, "Egghead really needs to work on his naming skills."
Tails quickly turned his attention back to the schematics.
"Okay, if Sonic and Knuckles are trapped inside a prison, then they must be somewhere in the lower part of the fortress, but where?" Tails said to himself as he tried to pinpoint the exact location of his captured friends. Suddenly, it dawned on the fox.
"The wristwatches I gave them!" Tails shouted excitedly, "I remember seeing Sonic and Knuckles wear them this morning. If that's the case…" The fox then proceeded to pressing another button on his handheld device. A small antenna popped out and started scanning. A minute later, two dots appeared on the schematics, one red and one blue.
"YES!" Tails shouted excitedly as he zoomed in the sector of the fortress where his friends were located. He started accessing security cameras for live footage, but stopped. He still didn't want to see Sonic's face at the moment (Tails is a little childish in this story, but hey, he's only 8).
Tails began to analyze the composition of the containment cell in which Sonic and Knuckles were in.
"Titanium…metal…steel…diamond? Wow, looks like the doc just hit a jackpot. Let's see, what else?" Tails continued to analyze the cell until his device gave him an unknown reading.
"What the…Unknown substance?" Tails asked himself as he looked at the screen. The fox was sure he had had every substance and material on the planet memorized and documented, so the sudden appearance of a new one clearly intrigued the eternally curious and studious fox. However, Tails kept his urge under control. He needed to free Sonic and Knuckles first and foremost.
Turning away (reluctantly) from the new undiscovered substance, Tails began to hack the cell's lock and tried to unlock it. The lock was incredible, and attempting to unlock it would be the scariest nightmare for all locksmiths and thieves around the world, but not Tails.
The genius fox spent a minute or two studying the lock carefully. Once he had everything down, he started his work. Tails' fingers typed rapidly on the keyboards; his eyes completely focused on his task. Soon, the nightmarish lock was undone. Tails let out a sigh of relief and pressed one final button to make the door open, letting their friends out.
Looking back at the schematics, Tails saw that Sonic and Knuckles had already left their cell, and had begun to make their way for the top floor. Tails smiled briefly, relieved that their friends were safe. No matter how mad he was at Sonic (or anyone for that matter), he would still help him to the best of his ability.
After the short celebration, Tails turned his attention back to the Egg Citadel's mainframe and continued to dig even deeper, a feat which he naturally succeeded without alerting the mad doctor to his presence.
"Alright, I'm in. Time to crack this egg wide open."
You can guess what Sonic and Knuckles were doing at the same time, right?
In any case, the next chap will be up ASAP. Thank you for your time, and don't forget to write down a few lines. Constructive criticism is always welcome. Flames...I'll go and get my hose ready in advance.