Chapter 2

Tails was shouldering his messenger bag as he prepared to leave the house. Inside was a notebook and a few concept sketches. He tucked his communicator into his shirt pocket, grabbed the keys to the Tornado, and entered the garage. "I'm leaving!" he called out.

Sonic poked his head into the doorway, "Do you have your communicator?"

"Yep, fully charged."

"Are you taking the Tornado? Just take my car and save yourself the ticket."

Tails rolled his eyes, "I'm not going to fly it! The fine for flying low in a civilan zone is something I don't want to pay again."

"No I meant how you got in trouble because of the wings protruding into other lanes of traffic."

"Well I fixed that. Watch." Tails jumped into the tornado and pressed a button. The plane's wings retracted into the body and shifted lower to the ground. "See, street legal."

Sonic laughed, "All that hassle for a short drive into the city?"

Tails laughed too and stroked the wheel of the Tornado, "Of course, this is my baby. Whats the point in having her if I can't take her to town and show her off?"

"Alright then. I'm expecting you home before 5 o'clock though. Don't make me come after you."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll text when I get there and when I leave. See ya!" Tails started up his made-from-scratch plane, drove out of the garage, and onto the road leading to the city. He revved the engine and sped up, a cloud of dust billowing behind him. It wasn't as good as flying, but Tails loved to blast down the dirt road that connected his home to the huge city nearby. Sometimes Sonic would race him in his own car. All to soon a speed limit sign appeared and demanded a max speed of only 45 miles per hour. Reluctantly, Tails took his foot off the gas and applied the brake, barely coming within the speed limit as he entered the city.

After an extremely dull drive through the city, Tails reached the University of Neurological Studies. He parked and locked up the Tornado, texting Sonic as he entered the building. Tails jumped on an elevator and went up to the third floor. Upon reaching 's office he stood outside and said to himself, "Ok, be straight forward. Just lay it out nice and clear. If he can be reasoned with, fine. But if he trys to be shifty, he gets zilch." With his plan in mind, Tails knocked on the door.

Mikysara, the intern, promptly answered, "Oh, hello Mr. Prower. Dr. Botner went to use the facilities, he'll be back shortly. Please come in and have a seat."

Tails entered and sat down in a chair near desk, "Thanks. Oh, and by the way, you can just call me Tails."

"My apologies Mr. Tails. Thank you for coming to see . He is quite eager to learn how much headway you've made on the machine he asked you to construct."

"Yes, well he might or might not find out. I want this machine, when I perfect it, to be available to the public, to the people who need it."

"That's very noble of you. The Doctor mostly speaks of what it will do for his career, how he'll be forever known as the pioneer of a new age in the mixing of science and medicine." Here the formentioned scientist came in though the door. He was a bear of tall stature, on the aging side but still possessing a strong intimidating air.

"Ah Miles! If I had known you had arrived, I would have come straight back instead of stopping to talk with a student." said as he came over to his desk.

Tails stood from his seat and shook the Doctor's hand, "Its alright and please, call me Tails."

He looked to Mikysara and snapped, "Don't just stand there, where are your manners? Go get Miles here some coffee! And bring one for me as well." The intern nodded rapidly and scurried off. turned back to Tails and replied, "Miles my boy, if there is one thing you should know about me is that I save casual behaviors for casual encounters."

"Well, I'll just add that to the other stuff I know about you."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I've checked your history Botner. I should have done that when you first approached me but I was too eager to think of it. Frankly, I didn't like what I saw. I'm here to negotiate and either you meet me halfway or I walk out of here and you get nothing."

Dr. Botner growled, "You can't do that! That's illegal, that's theft!"

Tails crossed his arms, "Doctor, just because a patron commissions an artist, doesn't make the finished work his. He can own it but he cannot claim it as his work. It was the artist who sketched and painted the work, not the patron. The artist doesn't have to give the patron his work if he doesn't want to."

"But the artist would have to return the commission fee."

"You didn't pay me to build your machine. We signed no legal document that binds me to turn over the machine or any research relating it to you."

"Is that what you want Miles? Money? Because I can give that to you."

With a shake of his head Tails answered, "Keep your money, I have no interest in that. What I am interested in is making sure this machine helps people, people in need. Not scientists looking for notoriety."

laughed, "Is that all? Miles, my boy, that was the intention all along! Surely you knew that? Do you honestly believe I was trying to steal this project from you? If that's what I had wanted, I wouldn't have shared my neurological research with you!"

"You have a history of trying to steal work from others. It doesn't hurt to be cautious."

"Ah, but if you're not careful it can. It will cost you colleagues, opportunities."

At that moment, Mikysara re-entered carrying a drink-holder with two coffee cups, "I brought you the usual Doctor; A latte with half-and-half and honey. I didn't know what you like but the espresso is very good today so I thought you might want to try that." She handed the coffee out and placed the cream and sugar in front of Tails so he could add it to his taste.

Tails began to pour in the little buckets of cream "Thanks Mikysara. Expresso is actually my favorite kind of coffee."

Dr. Botner took a sip of his latte, "Yes, my intern can be a little bit of a clueless klutz but she has her moments of brilliance. Lucky for her, she's not clueless in neuroscience. It makes up for all the little fumbles." He laughed at his own joke and took another sip as Mikysara laughed nervously as well.

"Ha Ha Ha… You're always quite witty Doctor… Ha…" she replied halfheartedly.

"Yes, yes. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a word with Miles in private." Mikysara nodded and left at the dismissive wave of hand. "I never like to discuss business in front of uninvolved parties. So you said you have 'terms ' Miles?"

Tails sat up in his chair and cleared his throat, "Yes I do. I'm willing to keep you informed but I'm going to control just how informed you are. I'll tell you how my progress is but you're not going to see any blueprints or schematics."

"That's alright I suppose that's fine. Just as long as I know how things are coming."

"Ok. And when I finish the machine, we can take it to the Association for Applied Medical Research and Sciences but we push for getting this machine available to the public ASAP. That's my main goal and I'm determined to realize it."

"That's a fine goal, and I am here to help. Although I recommend that you let me present it to the Association. I have far more experience dealing with their sort and-"

Tails cut him off, "With all due respect Doctor, I am quite capable of handling 'their sort'. But, you're welcome to come along, if you so please." looked at Tails over the tops of his glasses, trying to read him, but he could get no sign of wavering from the young fox's face.

At last he sighed, "Very well Miles, you win, I agree to your terms. You drive a hard bargain my boy. A bargain that I will hold to and expect you to do the same."

"Of course. I'm a fox of my word Doctor." Tails reached into his bag and pulled out his notebook and the concept sketches, laying them out on the desk. "This notebook contains a timeline of my progress thus far. And these are some rough sketches of the machine itself."

"Oh my, I see you've been doing quite well lately, now that the whole trial business is over and the media is finally leaving you alone. Trauma is no good for the scientific mind, yes?" commented the Doctor as he flipped through the time line. "And these sketches, quite lovely but I see two different designs here. One with a large dome and the other with helmets. Modifications?"

"Yes. I changed it to be more portable, functional, and practical. "

"Mmm… Yes, yes. I notice here on the timeline it says that you did two trial runs? How did those turn out?"

"The first failed but the second was a success. I've been fine tuning the machine since then, working out bugs and such."

"Why did it fail and what made it work the second time?" Botner asked, burning with curiosity.

Tails leaned back in his chair with his coffee, "Sorry, but that's not data I want to disclose to you at this time."

"Alright, but may I speak to and/or examine your test subject?"

"Certainly not because he is not my test subject; he is very close to me! He is the first Mobian this machine has benefited, not a lab rat!" shouted Tails angrily, standing from his seat.

Dr. Botner calmly took a long sip of his coffee before replying, "Tut, tut, Miles. Such behavior is unbecoming of a scientist of your caliber. So is growing so attached to your specimens."

Tails slammed his fist onto the desk, making everything on it jump into the air and come back down in complete disorder, "He is NOT a specimen! If that is the only way you can see him, then he will never set foot anywhere near you!"

"You forget your place Miles, as well as basic scientific method. Once a trial in an experiment is completed the data must be collected in order to draw a conclusion. That is all I wish do."

"Don't lecture me, I'm not one of your students! I have that data and I am drawing conclusions!"

The Doctor was getting visibly irritated as he tapped his finger on his desk and said with a hint of a growl in his voice, "I understand that Miles, but what I'm trying to make you realize that you're little lab does not have all of the necessary equipment to collect all of the data. For instance, I'm sure you haven't done before and after brain imaging because you lack the device to do so." Tails was silent as he looked away, glaring at the floor. "You can't just be giving me bare minimum information, you have to include me in this endeavor. Miles, you want this machine to help people but you need any and all data to make the machine flawless with little to no possibility of bugs."

"Ok. I will consider bringing him in. I have to talk to him first and see if its alright with him." He replied after a long pause.

"Good to hear. Your young Miles and very talented but you'll never get very far if you don't reel in your emotions. This is science, not soap operas my boy. Now is that all?" asked Botner as he stood.

"Yes, that is all. I'll contact you when I've made more progress and whether or not I'll bring him in. Have a nice day, ." answered Tails as he shook the Doctor's hand and packed up his stuff.

Botner walked him to the door, "You as well Miles. I'll be awaiting that call." Tails left the office and caught an elevator going back down to the ground floor. He went out into the parking lot and got into the Tornado.

Tails sighed and ran his fingers through his bangs, "I should have stayed an airplane mechanic. This scientist business is a pain in the neck." Tails started up his baby and began the hideous drive home through five o clock traffic. He was sitting at a light that seemed to be stuck on red when his communicator began to vibrate. "Hello?"

"Yo bro, what happened to my text?" came Sonic's voice, relived but a little annoyed.

Tails bopped himself in the forehead, "Aw, man! I'm sorry Sonic, I totally forgot. After dealing with Botner and this horrid traffic, it slipped my mind."

"Its ok, just try to remember next time. You ok though? You sound bushed."

"Nah, I just have bit of a headache is all. What's Shadow making for dinner?"

"Hang on I'll check for ya." Tails could hear Sonic's voice shout in the distance, "Yo Shad, what's on the menu? … Because Tails is on his way home and asked me. … Really now? Well I bet you it won't be as awesome as mine! … Yeah, yeah stick a cork in it! Hello?"

"Hi, so what's cooking?"

Sonic scoffed, "Shadow thinks he can beat my pizza. But we'll just see about that. I'm going to let you go so you can focus on the road ok little buddy?"

"Sounds good. People drive like idi-" At that moment someone in a big pickup truck forced their way into the lane in front of Tails, making him slam on the brakes and blast his horn, "Use your signal you moron! You're gonna freaking kill somebody!"

"Tails!? What happened, are you ok?!" shouted Sonic, panic entering his voice.

The fox growled, "Yeah, I'm fine. Flipping idiots are reminding why I prefer flying. I hate driving at this time of day."

"Try to get home in one piece bro. We'll see you when you get home."

"See ya." Tails hung up and focused on navigating the streets and out of the city. As soon as he was out of the city limits, Tails switched the Tornado back into plane form and took off. He flew high, level with the clouds and took deep breaths of the pure, chilled air. After circling and clearing his head, Tails did a loop and flew home.