A/N: Robotnik's intentions are revealed, and future plans are made.
He keeps his hands between his knees on car rides; he never drinks hot chocolate with whipped cream; and if there were any other universal law of his life, it was to never leave home without a pick.
It's with years of practice that his hands don't shake as he subtly twists and turns his tools into the metal opening. His thoughts shift back to the files left abandoned on the floor, dropped when he spotted his father's wide-eyed face in the doorway, and he leaves his current task to shuffle through its contents.
There was data scribbled into too-small chart squares, tests about "distortions without explanations"; Tails furrowed in confusion at the words on the page. Nothing seemed familiar to experiments the child had sat in before. His father always made it a point to organize their files neatly, lest his boy grow frustrated in trying to decipher his randomly assorted notes.
"Then... he knew he didn't want me to see this," he breathed, allowing his thoughts to spiral. His breaths hitched, and he swiped the files into his arms and rushed to the door. A muffled voice could be heard down the hall, and Tails crouched, pressing his ear against the door- cradling the files and his metal pick in his arms.
Footsteps approached, slowing as they came close to the door.
"...Miles?" The doctor took the silence as permission to continue. "I know you are confused, and possibly angry, but know- know that I would never do anything with the intent to hurt you."
Maybe you should have thought of that before you hid this from me. Tails bit his tongue, and despite his best efforts, felt his eyes begin to sting.
"Son, I promise you... everything's going to be alright." Just as abruptly as they came, the footsteps quickly left. Tails closed his eyes, timing his breaths to soothe his beating heart, and clutched the hooked metal again once he reached 20.
He made quick time with his pick, working through the steps he read in a book even long before he met Sonic, before hearing the soft click of the door.
"There." Sighing a huff of relief, he turned the knob silently and peered into the corridor, taking off with the folders once he saw no sign of the doctor.
He'd know these hallways if he was blindfolded, and he knew exactly where he needed to go.
"Sonic!" The fox-child sprinted into the chamber, clambering over his feet, and heaving open the shuttered cell-door. He could almost sob, the way a light overcame the teen's eyes when he spotted him opening the door; he threw the hedgehog's arm over his shoulder, mummering apologies and are-you-alright 's.
"Heh... Took you long enough." He didn't ignore the smile that didn't quite make it to the hero's eyes. He also tried to ignore their obvious height difference as he half-dragged his friend out of the cell, with some difficulty. "He didn't hurt you, did he? I wanna make sure you're alright, kid, and I don't know what meeting you were talking about earlier-"
"I know, Sonic, please, save your strength," Tails says, scanning Sonic's newly acquired bruises and how he favored his left leg over his right. "I have the files on a guy called Infinite. He can create a 'false reality', and cause you to hallucinate your worst fears, and- Chaos, I'm such an idiot."
"Hey," Sonic stopped in his tracks, Tails tripping over his shoe with the force of their pause. He found snapping green eyes blocking his path. "I don't want to hear you talk bad about yourself, alright?"
He shrugged the concern off and shoved the hedgehog along. "This is all my fault anyway, but I appreciate the thought." They reached the end of the expansive hallway, transferring the teen's weight as Tails extended his hand to the handle.
He opened the door- only to see his robot companion on the other side. The duo sucked in a breath, and the child dug his heels in for a fight.
"Orbot, please-"
"Miles... I can't believe you thought you had to do this without my help."
Their guarded expressions made way to confusion, as Orbot stepped forward.
Orbot untucked the boy's hand and slid a key onto his palm, pausing to hold Tails' wrist gently. "This is the key to the armory. From there, you can exit out the back. Do what you must." His neon eyes glowed in the dull light. "The boss will not show mercy this time. Don't hope he will have a change of heart, alright, my boy?"
He leaped forward and wrapped his remaining arm around the bot's shoulders, tucking his head into the corner familiar to him; when his childhood was all machine and no warmth, he would hold his friend close and listen to the whirring of his fans, and imitate that it was a heartbeat.
"Thank you," the boy smiled upward at the bot's face. "friend." Orbot's expression was limited in its metal confinements, but the lingering touch on his shoulder and pinch of Tails' cheek was worth whole worlds to him.
Orbot turned to the blue-spiked Mobian in Tails' grasp, a stillness seeping through the air. "Keep him safe."
"You know I will." Not quite a snap, but sincere, and Orbot nodded before letting the two go off; leaving them only with a final warning ("I can only distract him for long." "We know, you've already done enough.")
They parted ways, and with a strength Tails hadn't felt since young childhood, he allowed his heart to fully give itself over to trust.
Running through the building's confines, Sonic held out his hand to stop the child tagging behind.
"This the place your friend talked about?"
A metal doorway, surrounded by windows spoiling the contents of the room. Tails let out a slight smile, stepping into place next to the hedgehog. "Yep, this would be the place."
He slid the key into the slot, only for the door to swing open without so much as turning the lock. While the fox stiffened, Sonic laughed and pushed open the door.
"Looks like Egg-head couldn't even think of a proper security system, huh?" He sauntered into the room, turning back to the child in the entranceway, his arms folded behind his head. The smile was a humble change from the broken teen he found in the cell- always the one to hide his pain, to continue fighting- and yet Tails retained the tension in his shoulders.
"Sonic, I don't think this is right-"
"You should listen to your fox-friend."
The duo turned suddenly to a figure silhouetted in the darkness, their backs turned. Sonic stepped in front of Tails, a nod of the wrist signaling him to draw in closer and stay behind. Lightly holding the boy's hand, he slowly began to walk towards the exit.
"And who would you be?" Sonic tilts his head, a mischievous glint twirling in his smile; never taking his eyes off their new foe, he flicked his head at the door and let go of his grip. Tails took a quiet step in his feet, and took his key towards the expanding exit- a slider, meant to be pulled from the bottom up. A panel was placed on the wall next to their escape, and Tails plugged the key in and twisted. The gates sprawled open.
An echoing laughter boomed through the room- before a red haze overcame the room. Sonic narrowed his eyes, eyeing the figure now turned halfway.
"What the-"
Crackling under the concrete flew them off their feet, Tails landing on his torso far from the opened doors. His palms stung with the harshness of the floor, almost tearing through his gloves, before looking up to their attacker. Glitching crimson hues adorned the room- pieces of the floor becoming dislodged from the foundation, splitting and crackling with a pounding force.
"I'm everything you should fear, little one."
Tails' face was lifted roughly by a clawed hand, his eyes meeting a single red iris behind the masked countenance.
"Tsk. How disappointing," the figure sneered, strengthening his grip on the boy. "I thought Eggman would take on an apprentice with more... potential."
Glaring through the whispering pain, Tails scanned the masked figure for any expressions.
"Hello... Infinite."