Chapter 11

Tails dropped Cream off back at her village. She stomped her feet and protested with all the gusto she had in her little body, but in the end, all it took was a few kind words and a pat on the back from Sonic to ease her conscience. "Don't worry Cream, Tails and I are the best duo on the planet. We'll take down that base in no time flat." As Tails had seen dozens of times before, Sonic's carefree enthusiasm did its job and Cream subdued. She bid them good luck and promised to make them a great feast to celebrate their victory.

It always amazed Tails how quickly Sonic made an impact on people. In a single conversation or with just a few words he had a way of instantly changing a person's outlook and infecting them with his eternal optimism. To Tails, that was his true super power. Speed alone would never have conquered all the various evils and dangers Sonic had faced. His true trump card was the thing that could never be replicated, the quality within his heart separate from his super speed that could never be exchanged into one of the multitude of metal copies Dr. Eggman had created over the years.

Though Tails never said it aloud, in many ways Sonic and Dr. Eggman were a lot alike. Both burned with an inner drive that seemed totally oblivious to the circumstances around them. Each thirsted for those moments of truth where everything peripheral to life was swept aside, the moments where their skills and cunning were tested in matters of life and death. What separated them was that while Eggman's fire burned inward, consuming both himself and those around him, Sonic's burned outward infusing and motivating his allies. Eggman was a furnace where Sonic was a lighthouse.

Even now, after all their years together, Tails still felt it. Watching Sonic rest easily on the side of the wing infused Tails with a sense of strength and purpose. Though Tails had learned how to operate alone, and was no longer afraid to do things without his friend and idol, as a team, they were the world's finest, the heroes who have saved the planet time after time.

"I see a lot of smoke." Sonic shouted over the rushing wind. He pointed towards the basin between Hot Crater's summits.

"That's where the base is." Tails answered. He tucked the Tornado into a shallow dive as he aimed for the clearing within Leaf Forest. After landing, Tails outlined his tools on the grass. He handed Sonic a com link to put in his ear.

Sonic frowned as he mangled the device into his ear. "Argh…I hate wearing these things."

Tails put one in his own ear and turned on the channel. "Can you hear me?"

Sonic recoiled as Tails's voice rang out of his com twice. "O sorry!." Tails said as he flicked the com off. "I'll turn it back on if we get separated."

"What's that?" Sonic asked as he pointed to the briefcase sized drive Tails had heaved out of the plane.

"The badniks here are not powered by animals like the old models. A remote A.I is controlling them all. I tried hacking into her server but she kicked me out."

"Her?"

"AG-1991 Genesis. A very advanced A.I. No doubt one of Eggman's own inventions. I think I can still gain control of her but I need a greater access point. Her main computer is not located at this base but I can bet she has a main channel somewhere here probably in the central tower. If we can break inside I can hack her and turn off the machines."

"What ever happened to the good old days of just smash and grab?" Sonic lamented.

"We aren't here just to fight." Tails reminded him. "We have to find out what's causing the pollution and stop it." Sonic shrugged and the two of them continued down the path. When they reached the sheer cliff Tails flew up while Sonic dashed up the rock face. At the top, Tails noted that the badniks from the other day had been cleared away. "Remember, the robots are controlled by an A.I. All their attack patterns will be different. They nearly got me the other day, but Cream saved my life."

As expected, the prospect of superior adversaires only made Sonic more excited. Tails trudged behind as Sonic hurried up the path. When they reached the overlook point, Sonic whistled. "Woo wee, you weren't kidding Tails this base is intense." His eyes expanded as if he were a kid checking out his score after halloween. "This won't be easy."

"Let's not fight right away. I want to see what they are doing first."

"Right on." Sonic hurdled over the cliff and slid down into the basin with the kind of style and grace possessed by him alone. Tails followed behind slower and less sure footedly. At the bottom, they concealed themselves behind one of the myriad of metal structures. On the ground level, the polyester sheen Tails had noted from above was replaced by a style straight out of a dystopian future. Everything was made of metal, and nearly every building was covered in sharp wire.

Tails watched the street and waited. He could see half a dozen bi-pedal badniks congregating near an open square, but they didn't seem to be guarding anything. They just stood there, staring at one another in a circle. "Where to now?" Sonic whispered.

Tails looked around. At the far end of the base, across from the central tower he could see massive cooling towers and other containment buildings. Above those, closer to the far summits he saw what appeared to be a dam and large turbines. Tails pointed them out to Sonic. "I bet that is where they are contaminating the river."

"You want me to distract the guards while you take a look?" Sonic asked eagerly.

Tails frowned. "If you need to. But stay undercover if you can." Tails slunk out of his hiding spot and risked crossing the road in the complete open. Nothing moved. The city of metal was completely silent. Tails stopped when he got out of sight again. His heart was racing but he wasn't sure if he was afraid or something else. There's no sound. Tails had never been close to one of Eggman's bases and not heard the constant churning, grinding and revving of engines and great machines. This is like a ghost town.

"Sonic…can you hear me." Tails whispered. Static answered back followed by Sonic.

"Yeah I hear you. It's kind of creepy here. There's no sound."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking." Tails looked up and saw white disc shaped robots flying overhead. Only they did not fly together or in a pattern. Some seemed to just wander in various directions and two actually bumped into each other before going their separate ways. If those are scout drones, then why aren't they looking for anything?

Tails left his hiding place and continued through the streets, slipping from one hidden corner to the next. At no point did he see any robots doing any work. Tails reached the perimeter of the square and risked getting close enough to see what the circle of motionless badniks were doing. What he saw was almost comical but for some reason it made his blood run cold. The robots were standing straight up, stiff as a board and just staring right at one another. Tails knew they were turned on because every few seconds one of them would jerk, almost like a nervous twitch.

BLAST! Tails covered his mouth to keep himself from crying out. With seemingly no motive, one of the badniks raised his arm cannon and shot another. The victim fell with a crash and exploded into pieces. None of the others even noted the disturbance but continued their silent, unseeing vigil.

"Tails?" Sonic's voice issued out of the comm. "What was that?"

"Something is wrong." Tails whispered. "The robots are acting strangely."

"You mean more so than usual?"

"I'm serious." Tails left the square and continued down a side road. The western half of the city betrayed the true status of the base. Most of the streets were unfinished and at parts there were large holes in the ground that led straight into the base's furnaces within the core of Hot Crater. At last, Tails saw some robots doing some work.

Two bi-pedal badniks guarded a group of service droids who were laying plaster over an exposed bit of scaffolding. However, when Tails got closer he saw that the droids were not working at all. Instead, one was continuously laying down more and more layers of plaster while the second removed it and placed its own. Neither seemed to realize what the other was doing. Tails wondered how long they had been going like this, placing the same tile only to have it removed one second later. Again, Tails expected to find the sight funny, but something about it unnerved him.

He slipped past the guards, an easy thing to do since they were watching each other and not the road. Then Tails took to the skies, flying low and under the cover of the buildings. Near the top of the western summit, Tails finally heard something. The low grinding of turbines and the flushing of water. This must be it.

Tails followed the sounds and located the dam. Machines hovered around the dam like flies, but none of them were doing anything. The grinding turbines were actually screeching and when Tails investigated he discovered it was because the fans had been deposited in a dry bed. The metal was simply hitting solid rock over and over again. Though machines and guards were everywhere, none of them were productive.

Tails turned aside and instead tried to locate the sound of the flushing water. The river flowed down the western slopes and towards the furthest edge of Leaf Forest, ultimately rushing towards Cream's village. As he had expected, Tails located a second dam, and a hydroelectric engine built over the water. However, the dam was broken, and the engine was as silent and cold as the grave.

The true source of the pollution was a second river of purple slime that sludged down the mountain and deposited into the river. Nearly twenty badniks were caught in the purple stick, the corrosive liquid slowly eating away at their metal parts, but they did not move or attempt to flee. Tails watched with mounting horror as a robot scooped the liquid into his hands only to have his fingers burn away.

Tails zoomed up the trail of purple liquid. At the crown of the basin, overlooking even the great spyre was a massive containment dome. Multiple fissures and cracks were allowing droplets of the purple ooze to leak out. "Sonic. I've found the source. But…this is strange."

"What is it?"

"I don't think Eggman is polluting the river on purpose. He has a leak. Whatever he has in this containment field its powerful, but he isn't harnessing it properly."

"Can you fix it?"

"I think so. If I can reprogram the A.I I can make all the robots here set to fixing the leak."

"Alright, let me know what you need me to do."

"It's just so weird. Eggman is never usually this careless-"

"I am sorry to disappoint you."

Tails whirled around. Somehow, three of the flying saucer droids had snuck up behind him. A woman's voice echoed from their mics. "Am I not as equipped as my master?"

"Tails, what's going on?" Tails could not answer. His back was up against the containment wall. The saucers opened a hatch on their tops and exposed a whirring turret.

"Welcome to Zone 4 codename Scramble." The woman's voice was suddenly bubbly and unnervingly cheerful. "Built over Hot Crater our bases are fueled by the intense heat within the core of the mountains. The fires reach a temperature of 1,200 degrees kelvin. More than enough to incinerate you down to ashes." Her voice switched on a dime. Tails leapt aside as a spray of machine gun fire pelted the wall he had just left.

The roar of the gunfire drowned out every other sound as Tails took to the skies. He was faster than the saucers but when they spread he could not avoid their gunfire. Hoping to catch them off guard he dropped and fell down towards the buildings below. The droids chased after him, still shooting continuously. Tails tried to direct their aim towards one of the buildings. Glass shattered as bullets broke a window giving Tails the outlet he needed to take cover inside.

One saucer followed right into the foxe's trap. Tails landed in a white fluorescent lit hallway and spin dash straight at the temporarily flummoxed droid. It smashed to pieces on impact and the others flew away. "Sonic?" Tails gasped. "They're onto us."

"No kidding!" Sonic shot back. Gunfire and the echo of blaster bolts issued out of the comm. "You sit tight, I'll see if I can't bring them all to me. You reach the central tower!" Tails gingerly peeked his head out of the shattered window. A host of saucers were patrolling the building, no doubt waiting for Tails to come out. Before Tails could even start thinking of a plan the ground shook beneath him and he heard a colossal Crash! The saucers abandoned Tails and took off towards the direction of the sound. Tails took his chance and soared out of the building.

It sounded as if the once quiet base had erupted into a war zone. As Tails raced for the central spyre he looked back and saw that one of the buildings had collapsed. In the rubble, all Tails could see were the yellow bursts of blaster fire and a blue blur zipping from foe to foe. Good luck Sonic.

The central spyre was still well guarded. Massive gun turrets spotted Tails and fired rockets. He evaded those and reached into his belt to draw out small blinking red discs. When he got close enough, Tails flicked the discs at the turrets. His devices stuck to the turrets flashed and made high pitched whining sounds. Moments later, the afflicted turrets shut down.

Tails used his EMPs to disable the defenses as he flew to the uppermost window of the base. He rolled into a ball and dashed through the glass landing in a spacey and well furnished apartment. A large monitor behind an oak desk flickered to life. AG-1991 smiled pleasantly at Tails. "Welcome. My name is Aurora, how can I be of service?"

At the far side of the room was an elevator. Tails ignored the screen and approached it. He pressed the call button and heard a distinct lurch echoing from down below. A red flash made him turn back. Aurora's face had changed. She pressed her forehead onto the screen, distorting and stretching her face. Her outline suddenly turned into a series of red lettered code. Her eyes were expansive pits of pure menace. "Will you go below?" She whispered. "My terminal. Birthplace. An extension. My memory banks will be depleted." Her voice changed again, back to harmless. At once, Aurora returned to normal. "Calling elevator." She said pleasantly.

Ding. The sliding doors opened. Tails stepped inside. Aurora beamed at him. "Have a pleasant trip!" Right before the doors closed again, her smile fractured into a grimace. The lights in the elevator car shut off. Tails exhaled and tried not to panic. He fumbled for some buttons to push but then there was a loud Crack! As if the wires had been cut, the elevator car started to plummet. Tails cried out as he rushed headfirst into the roof of the compartment.

SMASH! The car came to a sudden and violent stop. Tails curled himself into a ball to lessen the impact as he crashed into the ground. Pain erupted down his back and rushed through his entire body. For several moments Tails lay still, trying to catch his breath and recover from the shock.

Clung. Clung. Something heavy and metallic sounded from outside the doors of the elevator. Tails tried to rise but the pain was too extreme. Clung. Clung. Clung. Whatever it was had reached the sliding doors. Tails gasped as he raised his arm up, grasping in the dark for something to cling to. "Sonic…" He said feebly. "I…" Clack. The thing had taken hold of the doors. Light streamed in through the crack. Tails saw a grotesque metal face glaring down at him. Its metal fingers had slipped through the sliding doors and started prying them open.

Again, Tails tried to move but his body refused his commands. His every nerve felt on fire and it was taking all his effort just to remain conscious. "Sonic.." He breathed, not even able to muster the energy to call for aid. The doors were almost open. I'm done for. Tails lamented. I shouldn't have gone in alone. Despair was threatening to envelop him, a force even more deadly than pain. A red light flickered beside him like the call from a lighthouse that guides a storm sick sailor home. Tails summoned all the energy he had left and reached for the device. He had just managed to take the disc in hand when the doors opened in earnest.

The machine drew forth a blaster larger than Tails's entire body, but before he could fire it, Tails flicked the EMP and it struck the machine in the leg. Its red eyes turned cold in an instant and it fell harmlessly to the floor.

Relief mixed into the pain and Tails fell back. His vision faltered and for a moment everything turned black before suddenly turning blue. "You alright?" A hand swam into focus. Tails reached for it and allowed himself to be picked up. Sonic set him on his feet. Tails was still woozy and leaned on his friend to remain upright.

"You got in?" Tails asked.

"Like I'd miss this. Come on, I think the terminal you're looking for is in here." Sonic put an arm underneath Tails to help support him. Together, they headed down the white hall towards a set of broken down double doors. Tails could see nothing beyond them but darkness.