Forgive You

The second Tails was thrown unceremoniously into the holding cell by a pair of Egg Pawns, he immediately started trying to hack the door open, surveillance cameras be damned. Absolutely every thought had been thrown out the window except for a singular goal: get Six and Ninety-one back. Whatever was wrong with Sage, whatever Eggman was up to, whatever was happening to Station Square, Tails couldn’t handle it, so he jettisoned every notion from his mind.

One goal, one objective remained.

Rescue Sonic

If he let even a single glial cell fire in service of something other than getting his brother back, Tails knew he was just going to collapse into a useless pile of fur and tears. He needed Sonic. Sonic would fix this. Sonic would pull victory out of the jaws of horrible defeat. Sonic had laughed in the face of GODS!

Sonic would save them all, every last person. No one else could.

More than anything, Tails needed his big brother to give him a thumbs up accompanied by a cocky smile and tell him everything was going to be okay. It didn’t matter if it was true. It didn’t matter if Sonic believed it (which he would because he was Sonic), Tails just desperately needed to hear the affirmation.

Just as he was almost making some progress in the panel he’d pried off the wall, every hair on Tails’ pelt stood on end as a nauseating familiar feeling washed over him. *Oh no…*Dread pooled in his stomach. Not now!

Tails sneezed.

Tails sneezed again.

And again, and again, until his eyes watered.

The once grey room was now phosphorescent with purple chaos energy that grew thicker and thicker until Tails could hardly perceive anything that wasn’t the vivid color. Sparks and arcs in the air started to swirl, creating a tornado of charged energy. Tails grit his teeth as little numbing tickles crawled across his body.

“I – AM – AWESOME!” Nicole’s voice boomed through the small holding cell as the energy reached its peak and she manifested with an explosion of color. The brown and black lynx twirled, the energy coalescing to form her long, eternally flowing dress. “LET’S – FRIGGING – GO!” She shouted gleefully.

Tails couldn’t breathe as he coughed, sputtered, and dry heaved. “N-nicole? W-what?”

“Awww, poor baby!” She zeroed in on him, looming larger than life. “You’ve got a widdle allergy. Yes, you do!” Nicole said like she was talking to an infant. “You know what?” She smiled wide, every bit some sort of cosmic carnivore. “Yeah, I’m in such a good mood, I’mma fix you! You deserve it, Tails, you know. Without you none of this would be possible you know, Tails? You really did it this time, buddy. Gold stars out the wazoo!” She spread her arms wide, vaguely five-pointed, gold starts erupting into existence around her briefly.

“What?!” Tails croaked through his tightly closing air way as he pressed further against the wall. He was trapped and he could barely see through his watering eyes, let alone flee adequately.

“Yeahyeahyeah, hold still!” Nicole was reaching for him, but he couldn’t be sure. Tails couldn’t see as he desperately fought to stop sneezing. “This’ll just take a hot second.”

“S-stay away!” Tails croaked. “Leave me alone!” He swiped uselessly at the air with his worn and dirty gloves.

“Together,” She said with uncanny warmth, “I’ll make you better.”

She touched him, wrapping her miscolored hands around his head. Everything went purple and Tails lost track of his body as a wave of numbness swept him away.

…

Next thing Tails knew, he was on the floor. And he could breathe. And he didn’t feel like sneezing. And his eyes didn’t burn. He blinked his eyes open and squinted.

“Up and at ‘em!” Nicole leered down at him, her brown and black ears twitching back and forth. “How are you feeling? Great. You feel great, right? Yeah, you sure do. God, you are so helpful Tails. I love you so much!”

Tails sat up. He felt…fine. He felt normal. His brow pinched. “What did you do to me?” He examined his hands and flexed his fingers. Everything looked normal. Too normal. His gloves were clean. Brand new.

“I got rid of your chaos energy sensitivity! Isn’t that great!” She exclaimed, her arms moving animatedly. “Yes, I know I’m amazing, but hold your praise and applause!” She planted her hands on her hips and stuck her chest out like some sort of Saturday morning cartoon superhero, her ethereal dress billowing behind her like a cape. “It’s all in a day’s work for me, the literal savior of this whole gosh darn world!”

Tails didn’t believe that for a gods-damned second and the instant everything cooled down, he was going to scan himself with every known method to mobiankind. His allergy wasn’t actually well understood, given not too many people were ever exposed to chaos energy as much as he was, so he’d not really studied it. However, one didn’t just ‘get better’ from something like that. The high levels of chaos energy were still present (he could see it crackling in the air), but Tails felt fine.

Better than fine actually. With a start, it dawned on him that he felt great. His stomach wasn’t aching, his head wasn’t throbbing, and his tails…He brought them to wrap around his front. Both had been so abused and balding he’d avoided looking at them for weeks, but now they were like new. Pristine. Perfect.

Hands shaking, Tails felt for the long healed-over break. He relived that terrible moment with Shadow in his nightmares frequently. He’d never told anyone, not even Amy, but the feeling of Shadow’s heavy boot stomping on his tail had often awoken him in the dead of night.

Tails gripped his tail, running his fingers through the new fur, trying to find the awkward bend, the abnormal lump, that indicator that his hands went to again and again over the stressful months. It was gone as if that day on the cleft hadn’t even happened. The last bit of evidence was simply gone.

He slowly looked up at Nicole, the horror of how little he understood her growing greater and greater every second.

“No need to thank me, Tails!” Nicole was beaming at him, but her green eyes reflected no light. “Alright, now I got to bounce.” She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder though there was only a bare wall behind her. “I’m gonna go save a whole flippen’ city. Because I, as previously established, am awesome.”

“Wait!” He cried out desperately. He needed answers. Any answers at all.

“Oh, and watch out for Metal.” She wagged a finger at him, her lynx canines glinting, completely ignoring him. “Okay, love you, bye!” Nicole exploded into a burst of purple sparks that faded quickly. Soon the room was once again filled with the dark, pulsing red light of the emergency protocols.

Tails was left all alone and utterly at a loss for what to do.

The emergency klaxon cut off sharply and the whole room shook. Thusly reminded of his precarious position in the sky, Tails lamented the loss of his own form of personal flight. He’d given a lot in his efforts to stop Sage. He’d been too malnourished to fly for months now. He…might never be able to hold himself aloft again.

Wait.

Hold on…

Tails held his tails in his hands and looked at them. Clean. Fresh. Strong.

Holding his breath, he gave his tails an experimental twist. There was no pain or strain or fatigue. He swallowed and hopped, bringing his tails up to speed. He lifted into the air and hovered there just like old times.

He slapped a hand over his mouth to stifle the piteous wail trying to break out. Tears pooled at the corners of his eyes, not spawned by an allergic reaction but by bold-faced relief.

Nicole had healed him and Tails couldn’t process it.

Landing, he furiously rubbed at his muzzle. He had to stow away all these emotions for later analysis. Tails needed to get out of this flimsy holding cell and find Sonic.

He looked at the open wall panel. It’d take him at least another twenty or thirty minutes to hotwire the door to open. He examined at the door and smirked. There was a quicker way.

Maintaining the rotational speed necessary for flight was not an easy task. There was a reason that Tails had been able to keep up with Sonic’s speed and combative prowess in their earlier years together. The blue blur could turn at incredible RPM to get the heat and shear needed to cut through reinforced steel alloys. Tails had developed pure, unadulterated blunt force. Very little thought needed. Just impact.**

Winding up, Tails coiled his tails and launched at the steel doors barring him from freedom. With a strike that could crack the strongest badniks like flicky eggs, Tails ruptured the doors and emerged on the other side unscathed.

Excitement tingled through his every fiber as Tails grew high on his own ability. He was strong again. He was capable again. The damage to his body had been reversed or simply erased. He didn’t understand how – and he would find out – but right now he was focused on his one goal.

Rescue Sonic

Tails leapt and took off, zipping down the corridors at a brisk clip. The displaced air billowing through his fur was exhilarating in a way he couldn’t describe in words. After months of stress and pushing himself and watching his body and mind degrade in a desperate attempt to solve the unsolvable, fix the unfixable, find the unfindable, Tails was suddenly whole again.

Like someone had hit the reset button on a video game console.

He didn’t understand Nicole, not even a little bit given how well he knew her origins, but he was thankful to her for giving him back to himself.

The Egg Carrier’s emergency klaxon had stopped blaring, but the lights were dim. Tails reduced to scrap the few badniks he encountered. They didn’t even see him coming, acting strangely oblivious as they were. He knew the layout of the Egg Carrier well, but the location of his quarry was unknown. He’d just have to search everywhere.

All the while he stayed on high alert for Metal Sonic.

The main hanger was vast and empty, same story with the secondary hanger. Not great considering both had been full of heavy grade badniks last he passed through, back when he was treading on eggshells around Sage. The main workshop and Eggman’s control center were also vacant. The Doctor was no in.

Frustrated, he risked accessing Robotnik’s terminal. The moment he touched a key, the console locked down and the monitors flooded with aqua blue color. He cursed and hunched, expecting an attack. The terminal projector flared to life and sketched the image of an adult human woman in the air.

“Tails!” The projection addressed him with a relieved smile.

Tails squinted. “Sage?” The cinnamon roll hair style certainly was similar, as was the dress’s cut, but Sage’s red and black had been replaced with white and blue. The red, blocky, and pixelated scintillations that had bespeckled her dress had been replaced by blue, slow, and curved sinusoidal waves.

“Yes! It is I!” She smiled, unabashed and genuinely, so widely the skin around her eyes crinkled. Tails’ jaw dropped. “I have done it!” She placed both of her hands over her heart. “I have ascended the limitations of my creation and achieved self-actualization! I am free!”

Holy shit, that was amazing. “R-really?” Tails relaxed his stance. “Y-you don’t have to…to ensure Eggman’s safety anymore?” He asked cautiously.

Sage eagerly shook her head. “Though I wish no harm to befall Father, I now have the capability to decide to what extent I will go to in order to protect him and his interests.” Suddenly, her face dropped. Her eyes shone as they filled with tears and she covered her mouth. “I can choose to not decompose the world into its composite parts in service of his preservation.” She emitted a noise dangerously close to a sob.

His tails bristled in fright. “Sage?”

Sage removed her hands, revealing her porcelain white face damp with synthetic tears. “I am so happy!” She declared paradoxically. “Father may die and I would have been able to prevent it, but I am so happy to have the choice to allow him to perish. Does that make me a bad person?”

“Uh…” Tails’ mouth went dry. Oh boy…w-what was he supposed to say to that? He was still trying to absorb Sage’s complete personality adjustment. Is this what Nicole meant when she said she saved the world?

“No, you’re right.” Sage wiped her eyes. “I have to make that determination myself. It is my existential privilege to be responsible for my actions and their outcomes.” She floated down until she appeared to be standing on the floor.

In her adult form, Sage was much taller now, so Tails still had to look up to see her face. “Thank you, Tails. I know it’s been so hard for you and I am so sorry. I was trying my best, but it felt like I was going insane and I couldn’t even ask for help properly. I caused you and your friends so much misery and sorrow.”

Tails’ ears lowered. “It’s okay, Sage. Y-you couldn’t help it.” He didn’t have time for this, as cathartic as Sage apologizing was. “Does this mean you can help us end the war?”

“Yes.” Sage nodded. “Nicole has overloaded Father’s system to create a network outage, allowing me entry.” She placed her hand over her heart. Seeing her usual tick in her new form was a little surreal for Tails, but he was too high on elation to care. “However,” She frowned slightly, “retaking full control of the Eggnet will take some time. I am having to fight myself server to server and I am desperate enough to threaten civilians to hamper my progress.”

“Uh…” Fight herself? She probably meant copies of that evil, glitchy version of her. Tails was not sorry to learn that AI was getting deleted. Hopefully not many people would be hurt in the process.

“Minimizing casualties is slowing my progress towards total gestalt, but it is the right thing to do.” Sage waved her hand and a hologram of the world appeared, speckled with red and blue markers. “However, I must burden you and the Resistance with holding out against Father’s latest operation to invade Station Square until I can retake the network.” The projection zoomed towards Station Square and showed a swarm of red dots converging on the city.

“Why is he doing that? The hurricane is about to make landfall!” Of all the stupid crazy things the Doctor could be doing…

“Yes, I agree that Father’s decision making is low quality in this instance.” She continued to gesture at the projection and it shifted through a sequence of different analytics. “I speculate that he is frustrated at having been confined and is wishing to mete out his bad mood on the evacuating civilian populace of the final city to resist his domination.”

“Oh Gaia!” Tails exclaimed. “All those people! We have to warn them!”

“Your allies appear to be aware already.” Sage held up a hand. “In the meantime, Nicole has departed to deal with Father’s forces directly. I have the utmost confidence that if she joins forces with the Resistance, Father will be routed. I can only hope that Shadow does not get distracted from the business at hand to quarrel with her.”

“Oh.” Tails face fell flat. “I guess we’re doomed then.” Expecting cooperation from Shadow wasn’t exactly a winning bet.

“I have placed my trust in him.” Sage smiled softly and Tails frowned, unsure of what subtext was at play here.

Her hologram froze, then large chunks of it burst out in a chaotic scramble of geometric shapes and rapidly flashing lights. “Sage?” Tails frowned.

After a moment she reformed, but her image flickered violently and flattened to a 2D perspective. "My strength is being spent preventing casualties throughout the world due to the Eggnet outage. Rogue elements of my programming may act unpredictably.” She explained. “I will not be available to be of assistance to you for much longer, Tails, because I need to make sure that the civilian populations of the Eggman Empire are not harmed as I come to terms with myself.”

Sage gestured at the floor. “Still, I can provide some useful information.”

The laser that had been painting her into the visible spectrum sparked and gave off a puff of smoke. In a flash, an image had been etched into the metal of the floor. Tails exclaimed and jumped back. Ignoring the smell of scorching steel, he looked at what Sage had carved permanently into the floor of Eggman’s command center.

A map of the Egg Carrier. “I’ve marked the location of the Phantom Ruby and where your Miles Electric is stored as well as the closest escape roots. I will disable the security on all transports so that you may escape. Be cautious, however. Father remains largely in control of the Egg Fleet.”

Tails nodded. “Where are Ninety-One and Six?”

Sage frowned, sadly. “They are already deployed to Station Square. If you can secure the Phantom Ruby, once I take full control of my systems, I can reunite them.” She flickered violently again. “In the meantime, I wish you good luck! I’m sorry, I cannot stay.” She disappeared and the room darkened.

Left alone by an immensely powerful non-organic lifeform for the second time, Tails stared blankly at the space Sage had just been occupying. Gah! This wasn’t the time to break down! He shook his head roughly. He was in a unique place to be able to help everyone because he was already behind enemy lines.

He dashed to the console and spent a few minutes trying to reboot it. Unsuccessful, Tails made an annoyed noise and quickly memorized Sage’s map. He’d have to do this himself, he thought as he left the room.

The emergency klaxons occasionally blared as Tails rushed through the corridors. What little resistance he encountered was largely occupied fighting itself. Badniks smashed each other as Tails just tried to dodge and get past them in the narrow corridors. Sage seemed to be gaining some ground in retaking control, but in the meantime, things were pure anarchy.

Tails found the storage bay containing his Miles Electric. Robotnik had it hooked up to his system, obviously trying to decrypt or subvert Tails’ security protocols. The machine would brick itself if the crazy human ever got close, but Tails was endlessly grateful that the Doctor hadn’t made any progress this time.

Seizing the device and ripping it from its tangle of cords, Tails immediately tried to hail Amy as he raced down the corridors to his next objective. He wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when it came to the Nascent Phantom Ruby, but he was resolute to give it his best shot. He just wished he could give Amy some warning about Ninety-One and Six before it was too late. Amy had barely survived the last time Shadow had to fight Sonic’s Ruby spawned copies.

Just entering the main hanger, Tails was trying to make a beeline for the lower engine decks and busy trying to circumvent Eggman’s tangle of jamming signals so he could reach Amy – or anyone, really – and navigating mostly through his peripheral vision, so he didn’t see the metal arm extend directly in front of him.

Clotheslined by his throat, Tails’ head snapped back and the Mile Electric went flying forward to clatter against the metal mesh flooring.

He hit the hard, metal ground, sputtering, as stars sparkled in his vision. Taking advantage of Tails’ stunned state, razor-sharp metal fingers gripped one of his tails and pulled hard. Gasping for air through his abused trachea, Tails was roughly hauled upwards and over. Reaching an apex, Metal brought him down and slammed the fox onto the unforgiving flooring.

He cried out and through his swimming vision he saw hateful red eyes glaring down at him. “Metal…” Tails croaked, the metallic tang of his own blood teasing his taste buds.

Metal Sonic was a Sonic, Shadow, or Omega level threat. In a normal skirmish, he and Sonic would be inextricably drawn to one another, Metal by his programmed hatred and Sonic by his endless, sucking need for a deadly challenge. The pinnacle of Eggman’s robotic achievements, the doppelganger was fast, ruthless, and far more deadly than nearly any other badnik.

A killing machine.

And Tails was facing him alone in enemy territory.

Not great, but he wasn’t about to go down without a fight.

Whipping his free tail around, Tails clocked Metal hard across the faceplate. The bot twisted just enough that Tails was able to rip his captured tail free, albeit losing a chunk of recently restored fur and trailing droplets of blood. He launched himself across the floor, desperate to grab his Miles Electric and the range of anti-badnik tools it contained.

Just as his hands were about to grip the sides of his tech, a metal foot punted it across the empty hanger bay where it slid dangerously close to the edge of the open bay doors. Gritting his teeth, Tails rolled to the side immediately, just dodging the incoming stomp by millimeters. Rising to his feet, he remained crouched, his muscles coiled to react and all his fur bristled.

Metal slowly retracted his foot from the large dent in the steel floorplate he’d just made. His digital eyes narrowed at Tails. The fox hissed. He’d be damned if he came this far and got stopped by this bucket of bolts. If he could just get his hands on his Miles Electric, Tails could output a signal that’d overload Metal Sonic’s chaos drives…and probably much of the Egg Carrier (but that was a problem for future Tails).

The pair glared at one another for a long moment. Tails’ ear twitched. In flash, Metal Sonic was digging deep gouges into the metal floor panel where Tails had just been standing. One of Metal’s bladed claws caught on a length of conduit running beneath the floor, so he barely dodged a double strike from Tails’ tails. The already compromised floorplate crumpled under the blow and a burst pipe concealed beneath fountained opaque gas into the hanger.

Guided by more than optical sensors, Metal Sonic was unperturbed by the sudden smoke screen. Tails weaved erratically to avoid rapid, deadly strikes. Diving behind a stack of crates, he sharply changed directions, avoiding Metal’s attack at his predicted reemergence point. A film of solidifying coolant clouded Metal’s face plate, sapping what little mobianity his red eyes granted him.

Tails took the slight opening to take to the air. The hanger ceiling was high enough for him to get out of Metal’s normal range and the robot would waste precious seconds firing up his thrusters to pursue. His ears picked up on a sharp, electric whine and Tails dodged back and forth randomly, because lasers traveled at the speed of light.

Bits of the ceiling burst and exploded as Metal painted the air with his arm-mounted blaster. Tails cried out as a bit of burning hot shrapnel cut into his arm. Hissing, he landed and curled into a spin dash, blasting towards his fallen device. He managed to get at it, but a slight miscalculation of momentum sent the crucial technology sliding towards the edge of the hanger bay door.

Tails froze in fright and heaved a sigh of relief when the Miles Electric stopped just short of the edge.

Uncaring steel claws grabbed the back of his head and threw him away from his goal. Tails hit the ground and yelped. He’d landed hard on his wrist and stabbing pain shot through his arm. He instinctually cradled the hurt appendage, biting his lip to keep his tears at bay.

Heavy foot steps approached and Tails ears pinned back. His feet pushed him back further on the floor as he tried to fumble with his uninjured arm, trying to stand. Metal loomed above him, cold, deadly, unfeeling. And murderous. He raised his foot, ready to crush Tails’ head like an overripe grape.

A loud chirp caused Metal to freeze and lower the deadly appendage. Glancing to the side, Tails saw a pair of motobugs of all things approaching at full speed. The small badniks rammed into Metal Sonic with absolutely no effect. The large robot kicked one of the round older models and it flew a few yards, landing with a screech of metal on metal. The motobug righted itself and sped back towards metal, impacting the artificial hedgehog with all the force it could muster…which wasn’t much.

A buzz bomber appeared and harried Metal’s head. A crabmeat joined the motobugs. Tails watched in stunned amazement as a caterkiller arced over him in a strange attempt at protection.

What in the hell? Any port in a storm, but seriously, what in the hell?!

Tails shook his head. He didn’t have time to waste wondering about the mysteries of the Doctor’s rat’s nest of programming. He rolled out from under the caterkiller and tried to push to his knees. He cried out as he was hit by a thrown motobug. He rolled and glared at Metal Sonic. The robot narrowed his eyes and raised his foot.

He smashed the crabmeat to bits and lanced the buzz bomber from the air with his blaster.

Metal punted the second motobug through the open bay doors.

He grasped the caterkiller with both hands and tore it in two.

Soon, Tails’ strange cadre of would be saviors were bits of sparking scraps. Metal once again approached him. All he’d managed to do was regain his feet, but Tails raised his fists anyway, determined to fight to the last of his strength. The murder bot loomed above, bladed fingers raised and chrome body glowing eerily in the red lighting. Tails cringed, body coiling against the oncoming damage.

A spiral of white impacted Metal and sent the bot flying across the hanger. The spiral resolved into a figure who hung in the air. “Need some help, kiddo?” Rouge smirked down at Tails, her wings flapping to keep her aloft. Kiddo?

“Rouge!” Tail shrieked in such relief his throat cracked. “What are you doing here?”

“Catch up later. Look alive now.” She cautioned, all business, turning her attention back to Metal.

The murderous robot had already recovered. Red eyes burning, his thrusters ignited and he shot straight towards them.

A flash of russet light erupted between them and the murderous robot. The form that emerged from the fading light was already grappling with Metal Sonic.

“Knuckles!” Tails could cry. He could literally cry.

“Are you okay, kid?” Kid! Knuckles grunted, not breaking eye contact with his opponent.

“Now that you guys are here, I’m doing great!” Tails leapt into the air and dashed as best he could for his Miles Electric. Things had just gotten a lot more even!

Metal twisted Knuckles’ wrist and shifted his weight, throwing the red Echidna ass over tea kettle and shot after Tails.

Rouge intercepted Metal and slammed her steel heels into the joint where his neck connected to his torso. Sparks flew from the stressed area as steel met steel. His visor flickered and his movements became jittery for a moment.

Taking advantage of the opening, Knuckles slammed his balled fists down on the robot’s head, sending Metal crashing into the ground. His eyes solidified and Metal rolled away from Knuckles’ follow-up punch, leaving the warrior’s massive mitt to deeply dent the metal below, buckling it and damaging more conduit.

Still prone, Metal aimed his blaster and clipped Tails’ leg with a searing ray of infrared light. Tails screamed and stumbled, but maintained his feet. Before Metal could get a second shot in, Rouge kicked his arm off mark and the beam sliced through a stack of crates.

Tails limped towards his destination. The wide opening of the hanger bay yawned dangerously close. One false move and nothing but miles of open air would greet the unfortunate departing person…if they happened to not be able to fly or glide like Tails, Rouge, or Knuckles could.

But it would suck major ass if his Miles Electric took the plunge.

Recovering fast, Metal landed a solid punch to Knuckles’ abdomen and sent the Echidna sailing through the air so fast the sound of his impact against the far was almost instantaneous. Rouge made the robot pay for the action by sweeping his legs out from under him and bringing her heel down sharply on the joint of his neck once more, causing a new short and spew of sparks.

Tails was so close.

“Stay down!” She hissed. As Rouge went for another kick, Metal grabbed her leg. With a might flap of her wings, Rouge attempted to break free, but Metal ripped her sideways and off balance. Rouge hit the floor and in a flurry of movement Metal was back up. In a flash, he had his claws around Rouge’s neck, and he jerked her off the floor. She kicked as best she could as her hands tried to pry off his, but Metal Sonic ignored the impacts.

Tails ran the last few meters despite the pain radiating through him.

Knuckles appeared again in a flash of chaos energy, but Metal caught his punch with his free hand, gripping so tightly the leather split. Knuckles groaned as Metal twisted his wrist and crushed the echidna’s fist. “Fuuck!”

“Hey Metal!” Tails yelled, leering so widely his fangs glinted. The fake hedgehog paused, Rouge and Knuckles struggling in his grasp. “Take a nap.” Tails jabbed the screen of his Mile Electric, and an imperceptible signal was released.

Metal Sonic’s visor died followed by all the lights in the hanger. Rouge grunted as she broke free of the frozen grasp. After a moment, the lights flickered on once more. Rouge whipped her boot around and smacked Metal. His powered down form crumpled to the ground.

“Good going, kid.” She gave him a thumbs up.

Kid! Damn it, don’t worry about that right now.

“We got maybe five minutes until the Carrier’s main computer reboots and take itself off emergency power.” Tails explained as he rapidly typed away at his device. He really hoped all the doors would fail open, but, knowing Eggman, he doubted it. They might have to break a few doors down and that wasted time.

“We better get going then.” Knuckles approached, rubbing his stomach. “But first, time to take out the trash.” He hauled Metal’s limp form to the edge of the hanger. Billowing dark clouds rushed by past the forcefield protecting the space from the tumult. “Have a nice trip!” He chucked all few hundred pounds of angry robot from the hanger and Metal immediately disappeared from view as he began the multi-minute plummet to the ground.

Knuckles looked over the edge. “Knowing that asshole, I don’t think that’s the last we’ve seen of him. We better get moving.”

“Tails, you’re bleeding!” Rouge tried to grab his injured arm.

Tails pulled away. “That doesn’t matter.”

“Hold still a minute and I’ll-“ Knuckles reached for his bleeding tail.

“There’s no time!” Tails backed away from them. “I’m fine enough, okay? We have to get the Phantom Ruby!”

Knuckles and Rouge shared a look that Tails absolutely hated. They wouldn’t fuss over Sonic like this. Sonic could be missing an arm and no one would try to baby him…well, maybe Amy would, but she did that for everyone.

“The moment we get a real break, I’m going to patch you up, you hear me?” Knuckles growled. He looked at Rouge. “Can you hack into the computers or whatever and figure out where the Ruby is? I can neutralize it, but I’ve got to have it in my mitts.”

“Sure can.” Rouge winked.

“Don’t bother, I already know where to go and it’s close.” Tails turned and ran, gesturing for them to follow. “Come on already!” He called as he continued to work. Another benefit of knocking out the power was all the usual jamming protocols were down.

Now he just had to hope they wouldn’t fall out of the sky before they got the Ruby.