Disclaimer: All non-original characters are property of SEGA, DiC and/or their respective creators.
Inescapable Past, Act 25: After The Fact
"Miles? Are you still in here?"
Wheels squeaked as a creeper rolled out from beneath the partially disassembled jet engine. Removing his loupe glasses, the horizontal Tails turned his head to see a gelada in a turquoise nun's habit gliding across the echoey hangar.
"Hi, Sister Cora," he called out, sitting up on the creeper.
A frown came over the approaching gelada.
"What've you been told about changing outfits, Miles?" she chided.
The fox glanced down at his Solaris Institute school uniform: a white dress shirt and green plaid pants with matching necktie. By rights, he should've been in his coveralls or extracurricular polo. However, he was still very much getting to grips with the basic concept of wearing clothes.
He smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, Sister Cora."
"Not to worry," said the nun, smiling warmly, "Besides, you should be in your pajamas by now."
Tails tilted his head. "Really? What time is it?"
"Five hours until breakfast."
The fox's blue eyes widened. That would explain why he'd had to resort to a calculator for some pretty basic calculation just now.
"Up you get, Miles," said the gelada, picking up his vermilion blazer, "I'll walk back with you."
"Do you have to call me 'Miles', Sister Cora?" asked Tails as he got up, "Even Elise calls me Tails."
The simian nun blanched.
"That would be 'Her Highness' to you, Miles. Now come along."
"O…kay," said Tails, interrupted by his own yawn.
Plodding across the hangar, the drowsy ten-year-old started to sway until Sister Cora took his hand.
"Honestly, Miles, at this rate, it won't be long before we find you asleep under one of these machines."
"Probably," said the fox dozily.
〜
Clove found herself feeling strangely jealous of her little sister's bionic eyes and ears. The air of the infirmary was thick with the bleep of vital-signs monitors and groans of wounded GUN personnel. Mercifully, Cassia had consented to switching her eyes off, lest she glimpse something she wouldn't soon forget.
Clove was resting her chin between the younger pronghorn's temporarily useless ears, humming old lullabies. The vibrations transmitted through her jaw was how she'd used to 'sing' to Cassia in the years between the illness that'd rendered her deafblind and Robotnik's unlikely intervention.
The sisters had been deposited by Colonel Sleet in a corner of the infirmary, next to a water cooler and across from the bed occupied by the white tigress Jian. Clove's view of the bed was obstructed by the broad frame of Lieutenant Urchino. He and Sleet looked to be keeping a respectful distance while Captain Topaz crouched at Jian's bedside.
Clove wasn't sure whether she should feel somehow privileged to be here at all. When her interrogation had been interrupted, she'd fully expected to be dumped in a cell with Cassia. Instead, there'd been that tense elevator ride followed by a headlong sprint across the grounds of GUN's Metropolis headquarters.
She felt more like their guest than prisoner.
"Colonel? Colonel!"
The yell cut through the background noise of bleeps and groans. Sleet span on his heel to face the white husky in mottled grey fatigues running towards him. The newcomer threw a hurried salute as he practically screeched to a halt.
"Corporal Richter?" said Sleet.
"Reports, sir," the husky wheezed, "Reports of explosions…at the South Sector Barricade."
"The Barricade? What does Major Maw have to say about it?"
"We can't raise the major, sir. We can't raise anyone."
Sleet suddenly shot Clove a glance. The pronghorn self-consciously averted her too-interested gaze, even as the wolf's orange eyes lingered on her.
"What are your orders, sir?" urged Richter.
Sleet's gaze snapped back to the corporal, then to Topaz.
"Captain," he said, "The base is yours."
The lioness was up on her feet in an instant. "Excuse me?"
"You heard our charming guest's story about…"
He paused, looking about at the growing number of curious onlookers around the infirmary. He duly lowered his voice.
"About waiting for Maw's signal. Now, he's suddenly gone dark. Considering who else we know to be in the area, what do you suppose might have happened?"
Topaz's eyes narrowed. "Infinite."
"Quite plausibly. As I was saying, the lieutenant and I—"
"If that bastard's involved, I'm going with you," hissed Topaz.
"You're going precisely nowhere, captain," said Sleet coolly.
The lioness inhaled sharply, clenched her fists, and lunged at the colonel. Urchino blocked her way. Seizing the lapels of Topaz's fatigues, he lifted her off the floor.
"Get a grip, cap," said the burly dingo, "D'you want Jian waking up and finding out her girlfriend got herself killed 'avenging' a papercut?"
"It wasn't a papercut!" spluttered Topaz.
"She's alive, ain't she?"
A hand appeared on Urchino's broad right shoulder.
"Eloquently put, lieutenant," said Sleet, "Now if you would kindly unhand your superior officer…"
"Oh, uh, righto, sir."
Topaz maintained the same scowl as she was lowered to the floor and watched Sleet and Urchino depart with Richter.
"Is something happening, Cloey?" whispered Cassia.
Slightly startled, Clove looked down at the younger pronghorn. She drew her thumb from left to right across Cassia's forehead in a sloping diagonal line. In the duo's own personal sign language, it meant 'no'.
"Okay," replied Cassia softly.
Pulling her little sister closer, Clove replaced her chin between the youngster's ears and began to hum Can You Feel The Sunshine?. Cassia smiled cozily.
〜
In the Sky Lounge aboard the Babylon Guardian, Jet sat at the bar, watching Infinite as he knocked back the cocktail Sonar had made him in one gulp. He supposed his bodyguard had earned it.
The jackal had just finished recounting how he'd killed his old buddy Maw, herded the survivors of their surprise attack into an armored personnel carrier, locked it, and left the keys for any old passerby to find, together with the severed head of Metal Knuckles and some gadget they'd found on Maw. Jet was tempted to ask if he'd left flowers and a card, too.
"Simple as that, huh?" said the hawk. He'd been busy flying the airship during the raid.
"They all got a lot more cooperative when they heard he had a direct line with Axel," said Infinite, gesturing to Sonar for a refill.
"They took your word for that?"
"A lot of them used to take orders from me."
"Fair point," said Jet, "No one there excited to spearhead the founding of the Neo Eggman Empire?"
Infinite scoffed. "I doubt even Maw was that bought into, well, whatever Axel's game was. Bastard probably just couldn't hack taking all his orders from Sleet."
"And you weren't interested in figuring out Axel's plans for yourself?"
"Whisper wanted to. I already tried to kill him once. Sleet can have a go instead."
"Well, it's heartening to know at least one of my bodyguards remembers they signed a contract," said Jet. "For what it's worth, Wave would've sooner smashed that gadget you found than analyzed it. Best keep your distance when we land."
Slapping Infinite's back, the hawk slipped off his stool and limped towards the exit. His muscles were still feeling the aftereffects of the haptic suit's sensory feedback loop. As he hobbled past, he watched Sonar at work behind the bar. The fennec was walking an attentive Tekno through the steps of making a Monopolitan.
"Already part of the team," he murmured, grinning to himself.
Heading for the airship's elevator, Jet went down a deck, and almost collided with Wave on his way out.
"How's the patient?" he asked, dodging around the swallow.
"Looks worse than she is," said Wave curtly.
"Sonny's making cocktails if you're thirsty," said Jet as the doors closed. The worst she and Infinite could do was throw drinks at each other.
He limped down the passageway to the cabin Wave had exited. Tobacco smoke wafted in his face as the doors opened. Inside, Whisper sat on an examination table in her beige tube-top and undies, a lit cigarillo between her lips. The yellow fur around her ears was still matted with dry blood.
"How are you, Whisper?" said Jet, lingering in the doorway.
"Alive," she mumbled.
"Feeling suitably revenged?"
Whisper shot the hawk an irritated glare.
"Why's Tangle not here?" she asked, raising her voice, "You know how useful she would've been tonight."
Jet cocked a brow. "I hardly think I need to recap what she did."
Whisper snatched the cigarillo out of her mouth.
"What she did?" the wolf spat. "She was being nice!"
Folding his arms, Jet's expression hardened.
"I understand you're fond of the kid but—"
"This isn't about my…do you think I was already how am I when Lupe kicked me out of the Wolf Pack?"
She stopped for a long, calming drag on her cigarillo.
"Tangle deserves another chance."
"And she'll get one," said the hawk coolly, "Just as soon as she's done her homework."
Whisper sighed heavily, shaking her head.
"She won't…she isn't like the rest of us."
"If she wants to work for me, she'll have to be."
With that, Jet turned heel and stalked off back up the passageway, suddenly in the mood for one of Sonar's Monopolitans. He'd often wondered what Whisper might be like if she were a little more outspoken. Turned out he preferred the quiet version.
〜
"Living in the city! You know you have to survive! Living in the city! You've got to keep the dream alive! Living in the city! Where everything is free! Living in the city! Can't you see?"
Tangle sang along with Mina at the top of the voice as she raced along the shoulder of an empty highway, stooped forward on her Extreme Gear. She'd found leaning into the rushing headwind was a surefire way to keep her increasingly heavy eyelids open.
Just then, Mina cut out and the sound of a ringing phone filled her ears. With a mournful groan, the lemur brought her hoverboard to a dead stop.
For some extra warmth, she'd put her blush-pink school blazer on between her orange windbreaker and white polo shirt. Inconveniently, it'd more than doubled the number of pockets she could stuff her cellphone in. Luckily, it was still ringing when she found it at the sixth attempt.
Looking at the phone's screen, she rubbed her eyes. Looking again, it still said Jet was calling.
"What does he want?" she mused, grazing her front teeth back and forth across her lower lip as she angsted over whether to pick up.
Eventually, Tangle thumbed the 'reject call' button. Feeling oddly emboldened, she promptly opened her contacts, brought up Jet's number and added it to her list of blocked numbers.
"So long, boss."