--::--

As Sonic had predicted, it hadn’t taken them long at all to find Eggman’s base.  Shadow had been surprised Sonic was looking at all, since the secondthey made it to open ground their casual run had turned into a full blown race.

It was dangerous terrain for them to be moving at such high speeds.  One false step on the sand and either of them could find themselves head first in a sand dune and supporting several broken bones.  Even knowing the consequences of slipping, Sonic didn’t seem to care as he raced on.  Shadow, who was never willing to be second best, had torn off after Sonic.

Pride be damned.

Unfortunately the race would never have a winner as no sooner had they stepped into Shadow’s marked off perimeter, Eggman’s security system activated.

It had been buried beneath the ground, rising up to separate the two hedgehogs like a great metallic beast.  It looked like it would be an impossible opponent to face, and even the cocky Sonic looked somewhat daunted.  However, much to their surprise the contraption promptly fell over.

It appeared than neither hedgehog had to do much since the sand that had gotten stuck in the system’s joints prevented it from moving, making it instead a massively intimidating looking paperweight.

Why put a mechanical robot underneath layers of sand which would no doubt be dangerous for its system to function correctly?

For the dramatic show of course.

So while Sonic had been taking care of the paperweight at his leisure – rather savagely Shadow had to admit, obviously Sonic disliked having his races interrupted – a threatening looking army of robots marched in the distances.

“Looks like it had back up,” Shadow noted.

“Thank you Captain Obvious,” Sonic retorted.

This brought them into their current situation.

A wave of burning hot sand showered over both Sonic and Shadow as they tore into heavy plated robots set around edges of Eggman’s base.

These robots had a tough exterior and it took at least two or three solid hits to tear through its heavy plating.  This slowed their progress as they continued to work their way closer and closer to Eggman’s base.

“If the doctor had mechs like this, why didn’t he use them at the beach?” Shadow shouted over the din to the blue hedgehog.

Sonic leapt agilely over the heads of robots and landed harshly on the back of one.  It toppled over with the hero’s additional weight and Sonic darted off to land next to Shadow.  The two hedgehogs instinctively pressed their backs together so neither would be attacked from behind.

“I don’t know! Maybe he was saving a special treat just for us?” Sonic grinned widely before shooting off again.

Shadow fought the supreme urge to roll his eyes before tearing off after Sonic’s lead.

--::--

When they finally broke into the doctor’s base, both were surprised to see the state in which Eggman was in.  It was obvious by the wet bath robe and moustache covered with soap suds that the doctor had been in the middle of a bath when the alarm went off. 

The sight of a nearly naked Eggman granted Sonic and Shadow more of the doctor than they ever wished to see.

“Blasted rodents!  Tearing up the place!”  Eggman paced furiously while glaring at a computer screen.  He wrung out his beloved moustache, seemingly oblivious to the two hedgehogs standing at the door in perplexed confusion.

“How often have you broken into his hide out and seen...”  Shadow breathed softly, obviously struggling for words to describe what he was staring at, “...this?”

“Never,” Sonic hissed back, watching in transfixed horror while Eggman ranted about property damage, “He’s usually prepared since he’s normally expecting us to come barging in.”

“Seems we caught him flat footed this time,” Shadow muttered.

“And with his pants down,” Sonic was left cringing at the sight of the obese man storming around.  Then, unable to contain himself any longer, Sonic cleared his throat, “Hey doc!  Mind putting some clothes on?”  He crowed.

Shadow smothered a nearly audible groan and crouched into a ready stance that Sonic mirrored when the mad doctor whirled around.  Eggman’s face was beat red and his trademark glasses were askew on his puffy pink nose.  Shadow prepared himself for another onslaught of robots the doctor no doubt had hidden in the Master Control Room.

Yet no amount of preparation could ready Shadow for what came next.

Eggman let out an undignified yelp and fled behind a high backed chair in a vain attempt to cover himself from the intruders.

“Don’t you know how to knock on a blasted door before entering?” Eggman shouted at the stunned hedgehogs.

That was...

... new?

Shadow wondered just how long the doctor spent roaming around his based naked at any given time, then decided that was a train of thought better left unanswered.

“What are you rodents doing here anyway?” Eggman demanded furiously, attempting to wrap the robe firmly around his large frame, “You usually wait for me to do something before running in and trashing the place!”

Shadow quirked an eyeridge as he watched the flustered doctor.  Caught in a shower, surprised to see them, and in nothing more than a worn out bathrobe, all were signs pointing to Eggman’s ‘innocence.’

Of course it could all be an elaborate act, and with Eggman’s track record that wasn’t unlikely.  Shadow wasn’t going to take any chances with the tricky madman.

Obviously Sonic thought the same way, because no sooner had Shadow blinked, the hero had darted over to the doctor and dragged him out of the chair by his collar.  All signs of previous humor were gone the instant Eggman acted oblivious.  Green eyes that were normally so playful were now like dark pits of emerald fire.

In the six or so odd years that Shadow had known Sonic, he had only seen the other’s quiet fury once before and that had been a very long time ago.  Shadow hadn’t thought he’d see it again.

Now Shadow was highly tempted to take a step away to distance himself from the hero.

Of course he held his ground since he was the Ultimate Life form and thus not scared of some blue faker...

...but he wouldn’t have cared to be in Eggman’s position.

“Where is Tails,” Sonic demanded, pearly white fangs bared in a quiet snarl.  Those three words sounded heavier than lead and held all the weight of a protective older brother.  An older brother doing his best to fight off the overwhelming fear and worry that would paralyze a normal person.

Eggman, who looked a bit shaken by Sonic’s strange shift in demeanor, could only gape in surprise as his glasses began to slowly slip off his nose.

“Tails?  Why would I know where your little side kick is?”  Eggman demanded, quickly gathering up both his wit and snark once the shock wore off, “It’s not my job to keep tabs on him.”

Seeing that Sonic’s fist was only tightening around the collar of Eggman’s robe, Shadow stepped forward to settle his hand on Sonic’s shoulder.  He wanted to stop Sonic from snapping and giving the doctor a black eye as that certainly wouldn’t produce the results they wanted.

Well, the results that Shadow wanted.  Which was Eggman’s cooperation.

He knew Sonic would very much like to punch the doctor right now.  In fact it would most likely be very satisfying.

Maybe later.

But now winning Eggman’s cooperation was the highest priority.

And making sure that robe didn’t slip any further, otherwise they were all going to be horribly scarred for the rest of their lives.

Shadow really didn’t know which took precedence over the other.

“Playing dumb won’t make this situation go by any faster doctor,” Shadow flicked lazy eyes over the madman’s wet and soap covered form.  He cringed in distaste, “And in your current situation that’s the least of your worries.”

Shadow waited for the implications of that to sink in before continuing, “An army of robots that bore a striking resemblance to your past designs stormed Emerald Coast—”

“—And took Tails,” Sonic interrupted stiffly.  His hands trembled with the effort it took not to go after Eggman and force the answers he needed out of him. 

Shadow could see that Sonic had gone pale under his fur out of anger and his restraining hand on the hero’s shoulder was most likely the only thing saving Eggman the trouble of having to invest in a decent pair of dentures.  Sonic was in check for now, but Shadow knew that wouldn’t last forever.  Sonic’s infamous impatience was already beginning to show.

One mean spirited comment was all it would take to make Sonic snap.

Eggman merely shook his head, “I think you have me confused with some other megalomaniac with a legion of robots – have you thought to check in with Dr. Doom yet?”

 Sonic ripped himself from Shadow’s firm grip and hauled his archenemy to his feet.  Eggman stumbled after Sonic as the hedgehog lifted him with far more strength than the doctor ever thought the hero possessed.  He looked to Shadow for help, but the agent watched on unsympathetically.

“Enough crap Eggman,” Sonic said very softly, “I’ve fought you my entire life.  I think I’d know a Badnik from a SWATbot and a SWATbot from a toaster when I see one.

“So what I do know is that a legion of your robots came to the beast, trashed the place, tried to kill me and my friends, and when none of that worked they took my little brother.”

Eggman’s eyes were wide with genuine fear at whatever he might have seen on Sonic’s face.  Shadow found himself thanking Chaos once again that he wasn’t on the receiving end of the hero’s fury.

“I don’t have Tails,” Eggman denied, “I swear I don’t!”

Shadow snorted as he turned towards the large LCD screen.  He flipped it on to the local news channel where a crew was busy picking up the spare parts and twisted metal heaps of SWATbots, “Unfortunately your promises mean very little doctor, as time and again your actions speak far louder than words.”

Eggman watched the screen blankly, a slow purple color beginning to creep onto his cheeks.

Then surprisingly, he burst out into full, body shaking laughter.  He looked genuinely amused, “You cannot be serious!” The doctor cackled madly.

He looked between the hedgehogs to invite them to join in with the ‘joke.’  Neither cracked a smile so Eggman’s mirth quickly died away under their frigid stares.

“You don’t really think I’m responsible for this do you?” Eggman looked at Sonic in surprise, “Those are Badniks that attacked you.”

“Yes thank you, we’ve realized as much,” Sonic put in with an annoyed flare.  Obviously Eggman’s laughter and outright confusion had put somewhat of a damper on his righteous anger.  Now he was looking at the doctor with deep suspicion.

“Sonic, you were capable of destroying my army of Badniks when you were eight,” Eggman scowled, “I got rid of all my older models years ago.  It would be a pointless waste of scrap metal to sick them on you only for you to tear through them in minutes.”

“Thirty seconds, tops.” Came Sonic’s correcting reply.

Shadow gave his blue partner an irritated glare.  His ears had perked up at the mention of Eggman discarding his robots and he narrowed his eyes with interest, “And where did you throw all your used robots?  GUN would’ve noticed you transporting an army.”

“Junkyard Zone of course,” Eggman sniffed.  Obviously he had been somewhat insulted when both hedgehogs insinuated he had been using old technology for his mater plans, “No one goes there.  The smell is something foul since all of Mobius practically uses it as dumping grounds for their garbage.  It’s where I throw all my old gear.”

Shadow turned towards the nearby super computer and began to pull up files to validate Eggman’s story.  If the doctor was smart, he’d keep something like an inventory on file.  Sure enough the story checked out as Shadow looked over the past years of the doctor’s expense reports.

The doctor filed taxes?  Who knew...

Next, going off an instinct he couldn’t quite name, Shadow streamed a live video feed to Junkyard Zone.  If the robots weren’t in Eggman’s base, and he had deposited them there, Shadow would be staring at a huge pile of rotted metal.

However what he saw there made him freeze dead cold.

“Sonic, look at this,” He breathed softly.  In a flash, Sonic had darted over with a startled Eggman in tow.

“No way,” Sonic muttered as green eyes locked on the massive screen.  Even Eggman let out a sound of surprise.

Junkyard Zone had been completely cleared out.  It was barren.  No garbage.  No trash.

Nothing.

 Slowly, Shadow turned towards the doctor, his heart was doing odd flips and he felt just a bit ill – truly a concern for the Ultimate Lifeform.  The possibilities of what this might mean made Shadow sick to his stomach.

“Doctor, is it possible that someone could have made these robots functional with the supplies gathered from the dump and accompanied by the right knowledge?” Shadow demanded quietly, praying against all odds that the doctor would say ‘no.’

Eggman considered the question before he slowly nodded, “Yes.  It is possible.”

Sonic looked between Eggman and Shadow, green eyes going wide.

“Wait, are you saying there’s another psycho out there and playing with Egghead’s old toys?”  The hero demanded.

Shadow met Sonic’s gaze grimly and nodded.

“It would appear so.”

--::--

Tails groaned as slowly he began to come around.  The first few things he noticed were that he was lying on a dirt floor.  The second thing he noticed was an irritating headache throbbing painfully at his temple.

“Where am I?” He groaned aloud.

He had been drugged by that ‘Mary Sue’ person and carted away here.  Wherever ‘here’ was.

The fox looked around warily.  He was in a windowless cell with an open barred chamber door, like something he’d see in a jail.  It was being guarded by one of Eggman’s ridiculous looking clown bots.  Tails smirked to himself; he could incapacitate the thing and steal its plaster to get out of this rotten dump.

As soon as he darted forward a sharp pain shot up his tails.  The fox gasped and swiftly twisted around, finally noticing thick chains clamped over and twisted around his namesakes.  The chains were attached to a heavy post and next to it a deep hole had been dug into the ground.  Tails crinkled his nose as he realized it was meant for him to use as a way to dispose of his ‘waste.’

Gross.

Tails spotted a padlock on the chains and a stroke of inspiration hit him.  Perhaps he could pick it open with the drill bits Sonic had gotten him!  He patted at his fur, feeling slow panic set in when he realized he was no longer in possession of the small case.

He groaned. 

Mary Sue had probably taken it form him before throwing him in this hellhole.  Tails growled in frustration as he flopped down, casting defeated blue eyes around his prison.  There was a small vent directly overhead, but there was no chance he could reach it so much as fit through it.  The most he could probably do was jump for it and wrap his fingers around the grail enough to yank it off.

It couldn’t hurt to try; Tails clambered back to his feet and looked up at the ceiling.

At the very least he’d get to vandalize this place a bit.

He crouched on his haunches, preparing to spring up to grab hold of the vent.  Before he could try, a smooth voice interrupted him.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Tails whirled around at the familiar voice and his fur bristled.  He got a good look at his captor and his hackles rose warningly.

She was a human with long auburn hair swept to the side and pinned up in a messy up-do.  She had dark brown eyes and a splash of freckles across her straight nose and cheeks.

“Mary Sue!” Tails glared at her, “Why am I here?”  His eyes drifted over towards one of the robots flanking her on either side serving as her body guards, “What’s Eggman offering you to make you do this?”

Mary clucked her tongue, “Eggman has nothing to do with this.”

She smirked and leaned against the bars to his cell, “That’s all I’ll answer, because anymore and I’ll have to kill you according to the evil overlord checklist.”

Tails stared at her blankly.

“Oh, you don’t believe me?” Mary carefully unfolded a sheet of paper tucked away at her waistband and waved it at the fox before she consulted it, “Rule 7, ‘When I've captured my adversary and he says, "Look, before you kill me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?" I'll say, "No." and shoot him. No, on second thought I'll shoot him then say "No."’”

She looked over at Tails, “Do you want me to shoot you?”

“No thank you,” The fox muttered and shook his head.  He stared at her suspiciously, “So are you honestly going to base your entire evil plan off of that?” Tails demanded.

“Of course I am Miles,” Mary said sweetly, “After all it got you caught didn’t it?”

Tails winced.

‘Oh be strong my battered ego.  You’ll prove that list wrong yet,’ He thought desperately to reassure himself.

“So why can’t I hang off the vent?” He changed the subject, giving the human a grudging glare.

“Because anything weighing more than ten pounds will be flash frozen with liquid nitrogen,” Mary’s smile only grew sweeter, “It will then promptly be thrown off the roof of my base so I can watch it bounce for my own personal amusement.”

Tails edged away from the woman and looked over at her as though she were mad, “Just out of curiosity, how long have you been planning this?”

“Seven years,” Mary replied simply as she consulted the list in relation to talkative prisoners.  She smirked with satisfaction as she witness the fox yelp in surprise from her answer.

“Seven years?” Tails demanded, “Chaos!  That’s way more time than Eggman invests in any single plan!”

Usually the madman just went ahead and unleashed some great evil until it went out of control and was forced to be beaten back by Super Sonic.

Mary purred with acknowledgement and slowly crouched down, her eyes gleaming with wicked amusement.  She met Tails’ gaze, staying at his eyelevel.

“And that is precisely why I’m going to win this game,” She smirked with a soft smile, “I know everything there is to learn about this particular universe and the characters in it.”

She stood up, “Now if you excuse me, I have a meeting with one called Fang the Sniper.”

Tails, ignoring the slight tremble Mary’s threat caused, stared at her deadpanned, “Never heard of him before – he sounds like a hardcore dentist though.”

Mary faltered for the moment, something in which Tails took as a brief victory.

The human puffed herself up and swept herself towards the door, “Well then perhaps the name Nack the Weasel will inspire a bit of fear in you!”  And with those words, Mary Sue flounced out, leaving a confused Tails alone in her wake.

He blinked to himself and coughed into the silence.

“Who the heck is Nack?”