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It had been a quiet day. Sonic had gone for a run early that morning, fueling up as he always did with a few waffles, three cups of iced latte, and two energy drinks before leaving. Tails had seen him off then retreated to his lab to begin working on some of his side projects, including but not limited to a robotic puppy. The tech pup would, upon completion, be able to help him within the lab and assist in ordinary house work. At least, in theory. Tails was currently stuck on a particularly finicky line of code in the program.
Tails stared at the line of ever changing zeroes and ones, pursing his lips thoughtfully. He pushed his chair over to a cabinet off to the side of the room, snatching a notebook off one shelf and a pencil and marker off the other shelf. He accidentally knocked over the pen jar and spent the next two minutes gathering up the spilled office supplies and loading them back into their jar.
Then, he threw himself back over to the opposite side of the office, notebook on his lap as he rolled over to the whiteboard and began marking down necessary coding and ideas, copying them down into his notebook once he was certain they were perfect. He was still working on it an hour later when he heard the door open, clicking shut almost inaudibly.
Tails rolled his eyes in amusement – Sonic wasn’t very good at sneaking up on him. His older bro often tried very hard to spook him, but the thing about having fox ears was that he could pick up on almost anything. Tails scribbled another line of possible code down on his notebook. He waited until he was certain Sonic was in his lab before making his knowledge of his brother’s presence known.
“ You know you can’t sneak up on me, Sonic.” Tails teased, scratching a few more digits on the white board. “I have to give you props though – I almost didn’t hear you, and your timing caught me off guard. You do know you’re back early though?” There was no immediate response, which was worrying, so Tails looked up in confusion. “Sonic, are you-?”
Metal Sonic stared back.
(:)
Sonic waved farewell to Amy cheerfully, tucking a basket of fruit under his arm. Tails and Sonic grew apple trees back at their house, and while they loved apples, it was nice to get some new food to go along with them. Bless Amy’s heart…
There was a skip in his step as he hurried through the destroyed wreckage of the town, and through the nearby woods. It took only about five minutes for him to reach the outer edge of the forest, peering down the small slope leading to the workshop. The cottage wasn’t exactly hidden , but due to its location – surrounded on three sides by hills - it was often overlooked, and it certainly felt secret and safe. He didn’t notice the faint trace of darkness clinging onto the back of his mind, hiding behind the peace and security.
Sonic threw open the door without a second though, grinning into the house’s interior brightly. Sometimes he tried to sneak up on Tails, but today he wasn’t too interested in that prospect. “Hey, Tails! I’m home! I know I’m a bit earlier than usual – and probably expected, haha , if you were hoping for a bit more peace and quiet, – but I bumped into Amy, and she gave me a lot of fruit! Like, so much fruit. I think there’s a watermelon in here! I know, I know, I told her other people probably need it more, but she said if we bring her a few dozen apples, we could call it even! I was thinking we might be able to remove some of the seeds of these fruits when we eat them and be able to plant them and get a bigger orchard! Then we could have, like, watermelons year-round and any extras could go to the resistance! Not to mention that… um, Tails?”
Sonic peered into the doorway to Tails’ workshop, frowning at the surprising absence of a fox in the area. “Were you… heading out today? You weren’t, right?” He glanced around, frowning in worry. He had noticed the Tornado earlier, when approaching the house, out on the runway. He walked a little further into the workshop in confusion, wincing as light hit him in the eyes, taking a step backwards to look up at the source.
There was a hole in the roof. A jagged hole, and underneath it there was a pile of roof tiles and plywood he hadn’t noticed at first. A trickle of dread settled itself in his stomach.
“ Tails?!” Sonic barked, staring up at the hole in the ceiling. How had he not noticed that when looking down at the house?! “Tails! Buddy, buddy! Please tell me you’re in here somewhere!” Sonic clambered on top of one of the tables in the lab, fixating his gaze upwards at the hole in the roof. Cupping his hands together, he tilted his mouth towards the sky. “ Taaails !”
At the lack of response, Sonic’s brow furrowed, and he folded himself into a spin dash to launch himself through the hole and onto the roof, giving himself more elevation. “Tails?!” Once again, his little brother’s voice failed to answer him.
Sonic was beginning to accept the reality that Tails was gone. Where had he gone? Who had taken him? A hole in the roof was not due to Tails’ own means, or free will. They had worked too hard on making this entire section of the house a few years ago for Tails to just… blow a hole in it.
...not to mention it didn’t even make sense.
He probably should’ve opened with that thought, all things considering.
Alright. So. Tails was more than likely captured. Kitnapped.
The obvious culprit was Eggman, who had been oddly silent for the better part of the month. Sonic had known that, when Eggman was willingly participating in keeping his own movements on the down-low, his next move would be something big. It appeared this was it. But kidnapping Tails? Surely Eggman knew that Tails could escape on his own easily. And even if he somehow couldn’t get out, Sonic would be coming for him in no time at all. Honestly, for an evil genius, he certainly was dull.
Sonic leapt back through the hole, nailing his landing on the ground. He crossed over to one of Tails’ desks, opening up a drawer then removing the fake bottom, yanking the Tornado’s keys out of the compartment. He dashed out of the house for the runway, crossing the quarter mile in no time. He did a neat little spin-dash-flip-move into the Tornado’s cockpit, revving the engine with practiced ease.
(:)
Thank goodness for Amy and Jewel. Using their organization skills and their connections to all the spies around the globe, they had located Eggman’s current base in a matter of minutes, and forwarded the coordinates to Sonic. Then, because he couldn’t read coordinates to save his life, they told him to head for the Green Hill Zone, informing him to keep his attention to the sky. He’d see the flying fortress Eggman had crafted in no time.
Now, to save Tails.
It was a short, quick flight to the Green Hill Zone, and Sonic spotted the airship immediately. Amy and Jewel – as previously mentioned – knew of his location, and Sonic had informed Rouge, too, just in case something went wrong. Which he seriously doubted, but it was nice to have some backup.
Sonic flipped on the tracker-scrambler mechanism Tails had installed a month or two ago. As long as the helmsbot was neglecting to pay attention to the scanners – thus failing to notice the disturbance in their sonars – flying in would be a piece of cake. Thankfully, that appeared to be the case, as Sonic easily drove past all the cannons and maneuvered the Tornado into one of the landing docks. Fortunately, the steward bots were completely oblivious to Sonic, minding their own programming to handle the maintenance of robots and the ships, not paying any mind to the intruder, as that was not their job.
Odd, since Sonic assumed all badniks’ programming was ‘kill that hedgehog, no mercy’. However, as unusual as this was, he could still use this to his advantage. Sonic easily moved through the shuttle bay, snagging a basic map of the ship from the bins easily, sticking his tongue out at the badnik he had robbed. The badnik showed no sign of any irritation, and just kept on moving.
Sonic did the same, keeping one eye on his surroundings and one eye on the console. “Okay,” Sonic muttered to himself, unable to keep himself from humming a few notes from Task Inconceivable. “Brig is… hmm… level four, elevator is that’ah’way… and the nearest terminal is over there… ‘kay! Plan made.” Sonic shoved open the door leading out of the hanger, heading to the left immediately.
He broke into a run, keeping one eye out for security cameras. He only had to dodge one during the entire flight down the hallways, and couldn’t help but feel a trickle of dread rear in his stomach. Non attacking badniks… low security… absent-minded helmsbot… something was absolutely up. Eggman would be putting his all into making sure Sonic was stopped, unable to get Tails back. Not… let Sonic get into the base with no hassle.
So. Either Eggman wasn’t here, or this was a trap.
Actually, both were another option. It was likely both.
Sonic had no doubt that Tails was actually here. Otherwise Amy and Jewel would’ve gotten completely different information. Because how could Eggman be absolutely confident Sonic would come strolling in, and could control the leak of intel, unless Tails was unquestionably here somewhere.
Sonic stepped into the large elevator, crossing his arms as he tapped his foot. The elevator whirred as it descended down several floors. He hated how slow these things were. Everyone always said that they were “faster then stairs” but when you were the fastest thing alive, stairs were way faster because you could decide for yourself how fast to go. Honestly, Eggman dismissed the presence of stairs in his bases just to annoy and inconvenience Sonic.
After too long – twenty seconds – the elevator finally opened on level four, and Sonic took an excited step out, eager to locate Tails and bring him home.
Metal Sonic, however, had other plans.
The metal android crashed into his flesh counterpart just as Sonic took a step off of the elevator.
Sonic went tumbling head over heels, barely managing to get his feet behind him before he crashed into the wall, using the momentum to shoot himself back at Metal, who had hardly touched down on the ground himself before Sonic knocked back into him. Metal, however, had all the monitors a robot crafted for war and stealth did, and the reaction time of Sonic himself, catching the blue hedgehog by the crown of his head and smashing him right back into the ground.
“ Hey.” Sonic croaked out, offering Metal a weak smile as the robot pressed down on his neck, keeping him pinned effectively. “I’m gonna assume that – urk – can’t you loosen up a little?” He teased with a huff, prompting Metal to press down harder. “Alright, that’s fair dude.” Sonic rasped, letting Metal Sonic lift him up a tiny bit and drag him off down a far hallway. After all, Sonic had no doubt that in no time he’d be reunited with Tails. (After all, Metal Sonic was here instead of guarding Tails, which meant the fox would have no problem escaping, as long as there wasn’t an actual serious threat blocking him. Sonic would just take some time to trash Eggman, Metal Sonic, and whatever plan the evil scientist had cooking up. Then he’d head out and meet up with Tails.) All he really had to do was let Metal Sonic bring him right to Eggman.
(:)
“ Ah! Welcome back to my fortress, rodent!” Eggman grinned, towering threateningly over Sonic, doing his absolute best to appear intimidating, yet failing completely. “It’s been much too long since the last time I had you in my clutches!”
Sonic tugged lightly at the restrains Metal had outfitted him with, rolling his eyes. “That was last week, Eggy. Anyway, enough of the chatter. I heard from a little flicky that you kidnapped Tails.” He bantered, “but, seeing as how Metal is here and not guarding him, I’m going to assume he already escaped, huh? Guess I should’ve figured that much out. Welp, cya!” Sonic stood and pivoted, already moving for the door out of the circular room, but Metal shifted so that he was blocking the exit. “Yeaaaah, okay.” Sonic sighed long and hard, tilting his head to regard Metal Sonic. “That’s uncool, dude. Eggman, mind calling off your robot?”
“ Oh?” Eggman crackled, fixing Sonic with a maniacal grin as he determined to forgo the question. “So, you mean to say you’re not even a little bit concerned about your little orange friend?”
“ Naw. If Metal’s here, you clearly aren’t guarding him enough.” Sonic smirked bravely, confidence filling him. “Pretty sure you’re just tryin’ to mess with my head this time ‘round. Should I mention ‘again’? Because you’re tryin’ta do it. Again.”
“ Ha! Metal Sonic is here, you’re right about that.” Eggman nodded, patting Metal’s shoulder proudly. “But I have a much better guard-system in place now! One that ensures that your fox never escapes. Ever!”
“ Aw, and you’re not gonna show me?” Sonic pouted with false concern, knowing full well that Eggman fueled his mechanics with false conviction, “now that’s just-”
Something clutched his chin, yanking his face away from Eggman and towards a new metal face, jagged ends snapping off of the chin and cheek bones. Steel blue eyes stared at Sonic’s olive ones, stabbing deep into his heart.
“ Tails?” Sonic gasped, flinching back from the cold fingers curling around his cheeks, the claws digging into his skin and drawing small beads of blood. The hand didn’t release him, so Sonic forced himself to relax, staring at the metallic copy of his best friend. “You made a... Metal Tails?”
“ Mecha-Tails!” Eggman corrected, striding over to stand by Mecha-Tails’ side.
“ Aren’t those the same thing?” Sonic scoffed, managing to make eye contact with Eggman.
“ Ah-ah-ah!” Eggman shook his finger at Sonic, grinning proudly. “There is a distinct difference! Take Metal Sonic! He is not you – nor will he ever be you. He is made purely of metal. Mecha, however… Well, this is your little friend! Instead of being flesh and blood, like you’re used to, he’s just nuts and bolts! Pretty impressive, hmm? I haven’t used roboticization in years , and figured I could bring it back! Ergo – Mecha-Tails.”
Sonic choked on air, fear twisting restlessly about in his stomach, its claws sinking deep into his spine and clawing at his heart. This metallic beast... n ot a copy. Real. His little brother-
No. No. This had happened before to Tails… but Tails had done… done something. He had stopped it from taking control of his mind. He had done it so well that nobody – including Sonic himself – had actually realized it was still him underneath until he was prepared to reveal himself.
Sonic had faith in Tails. His buddy was still underneath that shell. His mind wasn’t changed, or mutated, or whatever it was. His body was transformed, but he was still here. Sonic was sure of it. He was. He forced back the stream of dread in his soul, and fixated Eggman with a bold grin. “Eggman, Eggman, Eggman… you clearly do not know Tails well. He’s perfectly fine! I’ll bet he finds a way to reverse it within the hour! Right, buddy?” Sonic shot Mecha-Tails a confident grin, but couldn’t help a twitch of a frown that pulled on his lips. He fought to keep his smile on his face, refusing to show any doubt in Tails’ capabilities.
Mecha-Tails’ face remained blank and emotionless.
“ I saw that flicker of fear!” Eggman challenged, patting Mecha-Tails on the head, avoiding both the orange spikes jutting off the back of the metal head and the three sharp bumps that were stamped on his forehead. “Don’t tell me – you’re actually worried that I managed to succeed in brainwashing the little goober! Ha! Never thought I’d see the day where you weren’t completely and totally confident in your friends!”
“ Dream on, Egg-face!” Sonic scoffed, shifting his arms uncomfortable. If he could, he would cross his arms. “ Obviously , you were seein’ things. I know you’re just bluffi-”
“ Mecha-Tails,” Eggman interrupted, pressing a button on a remote he pulled out from his pockets that released Sonic’s handcuffs. Sonic stared at his free wrists in confusion, rubbing them nervously as he pulled abruptly out of Mecha-Tails iron grip, staggering to his feet uneasily. “Please, smash your ex-brother for your new ‘Papa’.”
Mecha-Tails beeped, once, and that was all the warning Sonic got.
Before the blue hedgehog could even blink, an orange and white board smashed into his side, sending him skidding across the floor. Half a second later, a second board hit his other side. He reeled, rolling away from the sudden pain as fast as he could, blinking in dazed shock. Did Tails just…?
“ Tails?” Sonic blinked, realizing in utter horror that Mecha-Tails hadn’t even twitched during the two seconds since he had been standing in front of him. His gaze flickered over to Eggman, who was beaming at the two of them with the happiest smile Sonic had ever seen on the evil genius’s face. “What did you just-?!”
“ That wasn’t me!” Eggman insisted, still smug. “That was Mecha-Tails’ transformed tails! Surely you’ve noticed them hovering around?”
Sonic’s eyes flashed over to the boards that had hit him, realizing that, sure enough, they were high above, now, circling like vultures. An uneasy feeling settled in his stomach, and in his momentary distraction, Mecha-Tails fired his thrusters, slamming into Sonic and smashing both of them into the furthest wall.
Sonic gasped in confusion, yanking his arms out of the wall as soon as Mecha-Tails backed off, leaning forward sharply enough that he tumbled into the ground without enough time to prepare. Sonic huffed in a sharp breath as he crashed into the ground, rolling over speedily before Mecha-Tails’ fist smashed down where his head had been just a second before. Mecha-Tails took a second to process the sudden lack of a hedgehog beneath him, whirring questioningly as he lifted his head, scanning the surrounding area curiously as Sonic put as much distance between them as he could in the few seconds he had.
I can’t risk hurting Tails, Sonic fretted, searching for Eggman, better take my criticism to the big man himself- Something smashed into his back, and Sonic caught a flash of blue metal out of the corner of his eye. “Oh, com’n!” He seethed as Metal Sonic shoved him roughly into the floor, “two at once seems a bit unfair, doesn’t it?!”
“ Oh, that’s the point!” Eggman beamed, a cackle quivering his mustache as he leaned over Sonic maliciously. Mecha-Tails shot back over from his position at the edge of the room, joining Metal Sonic and Eggman in towering over Sonic. “You can’t defeat them both! Finally, I win, because you’re too chicken to destroy your own best friend, and too weak to destroy Metal Sonic all on your lonesome! Not too smug, now, are you, rodent?”
Sonic growled, a deep, low noise in the back of his throat, pressing his fists underneath him and rose to his knees, snarling up at Eggman. Rage curled in his stomach, and he felt his limbs tremble. “How dare you?!” Sonic spat, clenching his hands tightly as he completely stood, just about ready to wring Eggman’s neck . “How dare you?!”
“ Metal Sonic?” Eggman beamed, and Sonic felt a metal leg jab roughly into his stomach, sending him right back down into the ground. It didn’t help matters that Metal Sonic kept his foot jabbed firmly into the center of Sonic’s back, pressing down hard, and kept him pinned, no matter how much he screamed and struggled.
“ LET ME GO!” Sonic roared, keeping his gaze firmly on Eggman, trying to ignore Mecha-Tails towering over him on the opposite side as Metal, trying not to look at his twisted and changed best friend, his younger brother, his partner in crime… his baby bro, who he’d raised since Tails was three. It was horrific that Eggman would dare lay a finger on him.
To Eggman, everything was a game. A big, stupid chess game. Eggman and Sonic were the players, and the doctor’s pieces were his robots. Sonic’s avatars were his friends, and Eggman had just taken his king. His favorite player, the one he always kept close to his chest- and Eggman knew that. HE KNEW THAT. How-how dare he?!
Without Tails- the game was over. Without the king…
Maybe somebody stupid could ignore the king being captured, and keep on playing, like it wasn’t in the rules, but Sonic knew , he knew that if he failed to protect the most important piece everything else would fall, too. It was just a matter of time.
“ You know,” Eggman gloated, pacing back and forth, in and out of Sonic’s sight, “The Roboticizer is up and running once more. I tried on all sorts of varmints, first… not wanting to kill, but merely twist and mutate. And it worked! Little Prower here is only the first test of all Mobians, the first of your friends! Soon everyone else will be taken, soon everyone else will become my minions, instead of your buddies and pals! The Eggman empire is rising, and as much as I would love for you to witness it, I’ve learned from my mistakes during the War. Even if I kept you captured, you’d somehow escape. So, I suppose, I have nothing to gain from keeping you captive, other than bragging rights, which I’m getting out of the way right now.”
“ Please, ” Sonic choked out between his teeth, blinking salty tears at the ground underneath him, for once not caring about his friends, their houses and cities, but just thinking about his little brother “ please, you can have anything else- anywhere else, just-just let Tails go. Let him be free and happy, just leave him alone! Destroy everything else, just-just let-let him be-be safe , please! Robotnik, listen-”
“ Sorry, you pathetic little hedgehog,” Eggman leaned far, far over, Sonic could see the tip of his mustache, and Metal shifted enough so that Sonic could actually look Eggman in the eye, tears dripping steadily down his cheeks, green eyes wet and shining as he stared up at Eggman. “But you’ve no hold over me, no cards to play. Why should I release your pathetic little friend? What is in it for me?”
Sonic’s face crumpled – he had nothing to offer. “Please.” Was all he could whisper, dipping his head right back down as water drizzled down his cheeks. “Please, Eggman, just let him go-”
“ Ah!” Eggman cackled, elated. “Begging, now, are we? Oh, how the mighty hero has fallen!”
Sonic sobbed quietly, inhaling as sharply as he could to try to calm himself down, forcing his breath to even out. Instead, he found it just caught roughly in his throat and he gasped out a cough, rasping quietly into the ground. He shook, arms trembling so hard, and he moved best as he was able to hug himself.
“Oh, how sweet. You’re trying to comfort yourself!” Eggman chirped in victory, one foot coming down to rest upon Sonic’s head as if it were a ball. “When you lose, you sure do turn into a pathetic mess, don’t you? Ha! I suppose that’s the thing about always winning - you never get better.”
Sonic found that it was surprisingly easy to swallow back a cross retort, restoring to just clinging to his own arms all the more tightly.
“Metal Sonic, Mecha-Tails,” Eggman took a long step back, chuckling. “Why don’t you handle the speedster properly? It’d mean so much to daddy.”
Metal moved, but Mecha-Tails was quick to take his place. Sonic got half a precious second to wonder what Eggman meant by ‘ handle’ before his world shattered.
He heard the crack before he felt it, but when the pain finally set in, he could feel the break in his leg, and he knew that this was it. He knew. He quivered, shaking as the pain flared through his leg, and almost threw up. He caught his breath, and breathed out a sob. He needed to save Tails. He had to do what he could, he had to get moving, let it be a lie, let him-
Then Metal’s foot smashed down on his other leg.
And as Sonic sobbed into the ground, his legs a bloody and messy heap, Metal-Tails scruffed Sonic and lifted him up, switching position easily so he was holding Sonic from the front, and started to walk. Eggman grinned gloatingly over Mecha-Tails’ shoulder, following them closely.
“I could tell you about all the mechanics needed to put together the robotisizer! Have I told you already that it was a Mobian who came up with the idea for such a machine?” Eggman crooned, following after them excitedly. “You know, this will be the last time I have a conversation with you, hedgehog. After today… well! The world will be mine, and you’ll be gone.”
Sonic could only hiccup, and lifted one hand to cup Mecha-Tails’ cheek, the other gripping tightly onto the metallic hand around his throat. “T-Tails… please… break free from Eggman’s control… this isn’t you. ”
Sonic couldn’t fight anymore. He could just dangle there, and feel useless. He-he needed to move, he needed to run, to grab Tails and take him to safety, but his legs-
His legs.
Every second they dragged on the ground was a new searing burst of pain to his whole body, and he broke out in a new, fresh wave of tears over and over again, shivering and sniffing, hope broken and shattered.
He couldn’t run, he couldn’t save anyone. He-he was crippled. He was useless. And he… he was scared. He was about to lose Tails… he couldn’t stop Eggman. All his friends would be gone in an instant, and the world would be conquered in a flash.
World… conquered… Where was Silver when you needed him? Sonic hadn’t seen him for at least a month, not since he went back to the future after the last time. Was this… this supposed to happen? Was he supposed to die, and Tails be robotisized? Was this the only way the future would be okay?
Why? Why, why, why ?
“The smart thing to do would have Mecha-Tails walk into a disintegrator with you. But…” Eggman paused, grinning brightly. “No Chaos Emeralds, and precious fox-boy to catch you if you fall this time! How delightful would it be… if I dropped you out the garbage chute?”
Sonic tried to kick against Mecha-Tails, push himself away, but his legs flopped uselessly, clopping against the ground. Sonic barely registered the trail of blood he was making, and he ignored how Eggman pointedly stayed away from it. Metal Sonic peeled away into a different hallway, but both Sonic and Eggman ignored him.
“Tails…” Sonic whimpered, feeling the whir of a door behind him, and then they were in a new, large chamber. No windows, just steel walls, and a large, circular outline in the flooring.
Eggman stood close to the dreaded red button, and in an over dramatic flick of his wrist, pressed it. There was a whir, then the circular outline became a circular hole, opening straight down into the Green Hill Zone, a mile below.
Sonic withered more desperately, shaking his head and tugging at Mecha-Tails’ fingers. “ Tailstailspleasedon’tyoudon’twanttodothistrustmetrustme- “
“Delightful, isn’t it?” Eggman beamed, joining them next to the hole, brightening up even more when Sonic’s feet came off the ground and dangled over open space, inches from death. One movement on Mecha-Tails’ part would seal his fate. “It simply doesn’t matter what he wants, now that he’s mine!”
Sonic wept, heart crumbling in his chest, unable to think anything other than this is it. I failed Tails. I promised I’d keep him safe, I promised , but it’s over now.
Eggman hummed wistfully, gaze circling the chamber. “It’ll be a shame to see you go rodent. But, an even bigger shame is to not conquer the planet, correct?”
Despite Sonic’s lack of an answer, Eggman laughed, patting Mecha-Tails’ back. The robot didn’t even react. “It’s been fun. Thank you for playing my game! These last six years have been quite memorable, and I’ll never forget you as my greatest rival. It’s been a pleasure being your adversary in this fun war, but now our time has come to an end.” Eggman beamed. “Mecha-Tails?” Mecha-Tails’ icy blue eyes flashed over to regard Eggman. “Drop ‘im.”
“ TAILS !” Sonic gasped, clutching at Mecha-Tails’ arm desperately as his grip slackened. “Tails, Tails, please, this is going to haunt you forever, Tails, buddy, I love ya, li’l bro, I love ya so much, please don’t do this, it’s going to-”
Mecha-Tails’ claws opened.
And Sonic fell.