Chapter Text
A young fox named Tails typed away at his keyboard in the middle of the night, the quiet hum of his homemade supercomputer and the clicking of his fingers on the keys the only sounds in the room. It was just another quiet night in, but Tails didn’t mind. He enjoyed all his adventures with Sonic and their other friends, but it was also nice to have some time to just slow down and work on some of his ideas. At the moment, he was writing his plans for an upgrade for the Miles Electric. Sonic never understood why Tails wanted to continuously upgrade his already finished inventions. He’d always ask why Tails didn’t just build a new one or say that it didn’t need to be upgraded because it worked perfectly. Tails always shook his head.
Just because something is functional, that doesn’t mean it can’t be improved.
After this, he wanted to start implementing his upgrades. It should be rather simple, and he had all the materials he needed. It likely wouldn’t even take an hour. He just had to finish-
BEEP BEEP
He was startled out of his thoughts by a sudden alarm on one of his monitors. He scanned through until he found the source, a device he’s built to detect chaos energy nearby. On the display was a little symbol he’d programmed to show up for a specific item. A chaos emerald. Not far, just in the nearby forest.
Tails’ brow furrowed. Why would a chaos emerald show up in the forest at –
'Hold on, what time is it?' he thought.
The kit checked the time and cringed when it read 3:45am. That added to his confusion. It wasn’t moving so it wasn’t like someone was carrying it or transporting it for some reason. His system should detect even the slightest movement, but there was nothing. And it wouldn’t have been there before, or his device would’ve detected it, even if it was deep underground. Had the chaos emeralds been used and dispersed once again?
The young fox decided that it was worth investigating. He was up anyway; he might as well go check on it.
He quickly packed a small backpack with the Miles Electric and a couple other potentially useful gadgets and headed off into the night. He went out through a window in his workshop that was facing the forest, and it didn’t take long to find the emerald. In a little patch of grass, the cyan chaos emerald sat on its own, no animals or people of any kind who could have put it there. The fox kit didn’t hear anyone or anything either. He carefully examined his surroundings, searching for any sign of foul play.
This was suspicious. Chaos emeralds didn’t just show up sitting perfectly in a little clearing in the forest like this.
This couldn’t be Eggman. Attacking under the cover of night wasn’t his thing. He preferred spectacle, something big and bombastic to grab the attention of anyone around. This, though a bit obvious, was far more quiet and subtle than Eggman was capable of. Tails thought of all the foes they’d face in the past that could be the reason for this.
It was most likely not the Zeti, as though Zavok was capable of cunning strategy, the others often weren’t. Besides, he wouldn’t use such an obvious trap.
It probably wasn’t Starline either, he thought through every possible angle. He preferred longer, more complicated plans, this was far too simple for him.
There was no shortage of bizarre creatures that Sonic had fought, but he couldn’t wrack his brain enough to find one that he thought would be capable of planning this.
He carefully pulled out the Miles Electric to scan for anything suspicious around the chaos emerald. After a few seconds of scanning it came up blank. No traps there. Was it somewhere around him then? He walked a bit closer to the emerald and started scanning around him, still coming up blank until –
CRASH
Tails was on the ground. Blood dripped from his nose onto the ground in front of him. His head was throbbing.
He was being forcibly held down with an immense weight that he couldn’t fight if he tried. Though try he did, he started writhing and kicking and making as much of a fuss as he could manage. His attacker grabbed his head and forced it to the ground, harshly sending another wave of pain through his skull. He didn’t have any time to think before something was jabbed into his neck.
He struggled. He squirmed and pushed as hard as he could to get his assailant off of him, but it was no use. His movements slowed and became labored. It wasn’t long before his vision blurred and his head started spinning, and before he knew it, everything went black.
Sonic awoke to the sunlight gently caressing his face, flickies chirping cheerily all around him. He smiled. He really enjoyed when he got to wake up like this. No big robot trying to destroy him and no bad guys attacking villages that he had to speed over to stop. Just a quiet morning, lying in an open field surrounded by nature.
He stretched out his arms and legs, letting out a small groan before he jumped up to his feet. He checked his communicator, a device Tails made for him that Sonic also occasionally used as a watch, which read 9:32am. He wasn’t sure what time he actually fell asleep, but he felt very well rested. Sonic didn’t have any plans for the day, and he wasn’t getting any kind of alert about an Eggman attack or anything. He didn’t have anything he needed to immediately worry about.
He started thinking about what he could do with his day. He was a bit hungry. He shouldn’t be far from Tails’ house, and he enjoyed spending his more chill days with his little buddy.
He’d probably have to wake up Tails. The kit would probably be lying face down at his computer or on his workshop desk again. The young fox often forgot to go to bed and simply fell asleep at whatever space he was using at the time. Whenever Sonic found Tails like this, he’d carry the kit up to his room and tuck him in so he could at least get some real rest. Sonic usually tried to discourage Tails from doing this; it couldn’t be good for him. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to actually get mad at Tails. The kid just got really excited about his creations, and he was more of a night owl than Sonic anyway. As long as it didn’t become an actual problem, Sonic was okay with just lightly chastising him.
Sonic quickly decided that he was indeed going to spend the day with his little buddy. Tails always put a sniper on his face. He didn’t often seek the company of others, being content to spend time on his own, but Tails was an exception.
He had a plan for the day now. He would find an easy breakfast he could make for them, then they’d have a chill day in together. Even the fastest thing alive needed a slow day in with his best friend from time to time.
He shot off like a rocket in the direction of Tails’ house, bouncing around different breakfast ideas in his head until he soon reached the front door. He knocked but got no response from the fox. That probably meant he was either passed out in his lab somewhere or up in bed still. Thankfully, he’d given Sonic a key for situations like these, which the hedgehog quickly pulled out. It had a cute little blue keychain shaped like the hedgehog’s head, which he always let out a little giggle at. He liked when Tails designed his inventions to look like himself or his friends, it was cute. He turned the key in the door and swung it open.
“Tails! I’m home, buddy!” he called enthusiastically, once again getting no response. He waited a moment before shrugging. He’d check the usual spots for the fox.
First, he checked the workshop. No Tails at his computer, nor on his desk. Okay, so he was in bed still. That at least made Sonic feel a bit better. Maybe he should let the little fox rest? He didn’t often get himself into bed, and Sonic didn’t want to risk waking him. Checking on him probably wouldn’t hurt though, right? He decided that yeah, it couldn’t hurt. Even if he woke Tails up, it shouldn’t be hard to get him back to sleep. So he slowly made his way up to the kit’s room.
The hedgehog slowly and gently opened the bedroom door as not to wake the young fox. When his eyes fell upon the bed, he stopped in his tracks.
Tails wasn’t in his bed.
That was…weird. Had he missed Tails in the workshop somewhere? The blue hedgehog lifted the blankets to see if his adoptive little brother was just curled up under them, which did sometimes happen. The fox was quite small and could be near impossible to see under the blankets, but he wasn’t there. The bathroom door was open, so he wasn’t in there either. Okay, Sonic must’ve just missed the kit in the workshop. Tails would occasionally fall asleep in strange places there. Sonic once found him asleep under the Tornado, wrench still in hand, his toolbox at his feet. He’d just carefully look through it again to find him. Tails had to be around here somewhere.
The blue blur started at the computer, looking around it to see if maybe the kit had fallen asleep working on it somewhere. Not there.
Next he’d check his work desk, looking under it, on top of it, and behind it. Still nothing.
‘What about the Tornado?’ Sonic thought. He checked the seat, on top of the plane, under it, at the engine, the wings, nothing. ‘Man, where could he be?’
He looked in every nook and cranny of the workshop, having no luck finding the little fox anywhere.
‘Okay, so he wasn’t in bed or in the workshop, but he had to be somewhere’ the hedgehog thought. Sonic decided to try his communicator. Even if the fox was asleep, he almost never took it off. Even then, it was never far, always in arm’s reach.
“Hey little buddy, where’d you go?” He asked into the device lightheartedly, putting his other hand on his hip. “I came over for some breakfast and can’t find you anywhere, everything good?”
He waited for a minute. He expected a groggy groan at the very least from his little brother, his call having woken the kit up. But there was nothing. He decided to try again.
“Hey, you there buddy?”
Nothing once again.
‘Okay, that‘s weird.’
Tails always had his communicator on him. The only time he didn’t respond was if he was really busy, and even then, he usually gave a warning in advance. Did something happen? Sonic hadn’t gotten any kind of alarm, so did Tails decide to deal with whatever this potential something was himself? Sonic thought maybe if he tried one more time, he’d get a response.
“Little buddy? Are you there?”
Nothing.
“Helloooooo?”
Nothing.
“Tails?”
Sonic started to tense up. Tails should’ve responded by now. Even if he had for some reason misplaced his communicator, he should have the Miles Electric, or his phone (which he seldom used). Sonic continued his attempts to reach the kit with the communicator, but no response ever came. He tried calling Tails’ phone. Nothing.
The hedgehog started pacing back and forth in the workshop. Where could Tails be, and why wasn’t he responding? He didn’t see the fox anywhere in the house, not even on the couch or in the kitchen. Maybe he went somewhere and the communicator broke? That wasn’t likely though, Tails made sure his inventions were sturdy enough to withstand battle, they wouldn’t just break. Maybe he was just in a really deep sleep? But again, why was he not in his workshop or in bed? Did he sleep somewhere else? Tails didn’t often spend the night outside of his house unless he was on an adventure with Sonic. And again, he always had his communicator. Plus Tails wasn’t exactly a heavy sleeper, he doubted the fox could continuously sleep through his attempts to reach him.
He did another check in Tails’ room, looking in his closet too for good measure. He let out an annoyed low growl when he didn’t find the kit, his growing frustration and confusion souring his mood. He checked every possible spot in the house, every closet, couch, pillow, and corner. Nothing. He used the communicator again.
“Seriously Tails, this isn’t funny. Where are you?” He couldn’t help the slight edge to his voice as he spoke. The longer he couldn’t find the fox, the more upset he got. The more worried he got. Something wasn’t right. Tails had never disappeared like this before. Why couldn’t Sonic find or reach him? The hedgehog felt his chest tightening and his breathing slowly growing more rapid the longer Tails didn’t respond. Sonic couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong. “Tails, come on, why aren’t you responding?”
Sonic forced himself to take a deep breath in. Panicking wouldn’t help.
‘This is probably just some kind of misunderstanding, right? Tails isn’t a pushover, he can handle himself. But still, what’s going on? Did he somehow left his communicator somewhere by accident?’
Sonic tried to think of other places Tails could possibly be. He wondered if maybe he was with one of their friends. ‘Yeah, that must be it. Maybe Amy took him to get ice cream, or someone needed their microwave fixed or something.’
He decided that he’d just check with his friends to find out where Tails was.
There was no reason for him to be worried, right?
Tails stirred to consciousness on a cold, hard floor. His head throbbed slightly, and his vision took a few minutes to adjust to his new surroundings.
He was in some kind of industrial building, but it was covered in a layer of dust and grime that made putting his finger on where exactly he was difficult. His blurry vision and the lack of lights didn’t help. Cobwebs littered the walls and ceilings, and all the lights were off except for a single light on the ceiling above him. Its light was dim though, barely lighting the space around him enough for him to see. He moved to get up but was quickly met with resistance on his wrist, something cold digging into it. He looked down and saw that he had been handcuffed to a steel beam.
The events of the previous night instantly came back to him. He’d been lured out, ambushed, and kidnapped.
His eyes quickly darted all around the room for his captor, and soon landed on a familiar logo. At the end of the hallway sat Eggman’s logo plastered onto the wall. He must be in an abandoned Eggman base. But why? There was no way he had been captured by Eggman. The mad doctor would be laughing his head off and gloating right in front of him if that were the case.
'What's going on?' he wondered.
The cub continued searching his surroundings. He needed to figure out who took him and why. There had to be some kind of clue.
He caught something out of the corner of his eye.
A red glow pierced through the darkness.
The bright red dots slowly came closer and closer, loud, metallic footsteps ringing throughout the base until its source came into view. Metal Sonic, staring down at him, his robotic face devoid of any emotion. Tails tensed and backed away as much as he possibly could with his restraint.
“Metal? What do you want?!” Tails spat, not bothering to hide his distaste for the robot. “Why did you bring me here? What is Eggman plotting?!”
The robot simply stared at him silently.
Tails hated that. The cold, harsh silence that seemed to follow Metal Sonic. Sonic, the real Sonic, was once silent too. But even then, he was able to express himself. He’d flash a cocky grin before wrecking Eggman’s bots or give Tails a wink and a thumbs up when he was proud of him. His robotic copy simply stood in place, staring at his target with tension hanging in the air. And at the moment, that target was Tails.
The robot turned to the monitor beside Tails. Tails supposed he couldn’t quite make it out before due to the lingering blurriness in his vision and the layer of grime on everything. Metal Sonic pushed some buttons, which caused more lights to turn on. It didn’t turn all of them on, some remained completely off and some flickered, but it gave Tails enough light to be able to see a bit better.
Tails watched cautiously as the robot continued, typing away at the keyboard in front of him. His metallic finger clicked loudly on the keys as they typed. A low, monotone, robotic voice filled the room through speakers all around him.
‘Do not try to fight me.’ It stated simply. Metal did not move, but his gaze shifted to his captive. ‘I will use violence if necessary.’
“Go ahead!” Tails retorted. “I’m not scared of you!”
This was a great big lie, he definitely was scared of Metal Sonic, but he wouldn’t let that hold him back. He wouldn’t let the robot push him around, even if he was at a pretty severe disadvantage.
The robot did not respond. Tails eyed him with an eyebrow raised, his curiosity growing.
“Where is Eggman?” He prodded the robot. “Why are we in an abandoned base?”
The robot began typing again, and the monotone voice played over the speakers.
‘He is not here. You and I are the only residents of this building.’
“What?” Tails’ brow furrowed. “Why not?”
More typing.
‘This does not concern him.’
The gears in Tails’ head turned. Whatever reason Metal had for kidnapping him, he wasn’t following orders from Eggman, and based on what Metal was saying, the doctor seemingly wasn’t aware of what he was doing. That was...odd. The robot was supposed to be unquestioningly loyal. Tails wondered if he acting on his own? It wouldn't be the first time that had happened, but that hadn't happened in a long time. What changed?
Tails needed to know more.
“Why did you kidnap me?” the kit asked, cautiously shuffling slightly closer to the robot. “What are you doing?”
The robot paused for a moment, then continued typing.
‘I require your assistance.’
That made Tails pause.
Metal wanted his help. His help.
Why?
“...why not just ask Eggman for whatever it is you want?” The fox inquired, a mix of anger and genuine confusion in his voice.
Another pause.
‘He cannot help with this; you will do it instead.’
“…why me though?”
This gave Metal a turn to pause. Tails waited for a response, but he wasn’t sure he would get one. Frankly, he was extremely confused. Metal had acted out on his own before, sure, but as far as Tails was aware he’d never sought help from anyone ever. Why now? And why Tails? What could he do for Metal Sonic that Eggman couldn’t, or perhaps wouldn't?
Eventually, the typing resumed.
‘You are an inventor and can program machines, yes?’
“…yes?”
‘Then you can do what I need.’
Tails paused.
“…and what exactly do you need?”
Yet another pause, then more typing.
‘I want to upgrade myself. You will assist me.’
Tails let out a shocked laugh.
“You think I’d help upgrade you? Why would I ever do that? You’re our enemy,” he snapped.
‘I have you captured. I have confiscated all of your items. You have no means of defending yourself against me.’
While this was true, that didn’t mean Tails would give in. He’d fight until he couldn’t anymore. Even if the robot beat him within an inch of his life, he’d fight until he couldn’t move anymore. Besides, if Metal needed him he couldn't very well kill him without sabotaging his own plan. The fox took a deep breath and slowly and stubbornly spat out his next words.
“I’m not scared of you.”
Metal Sonic paused once again. Tails couldn’t for the life of him tell what the robotic replica was thinking. He wondered what was goin on in that robotic mind. It couldn't be anything good.
Tails refused to back down, glaring daggers at the machine and simply waiting for its response.
After a few minutes, without any explanation, the robot simply turned around and left, rocketing out of the room and leaving Tails.
He supposed he had no option but to stare at the floor and contemplate his current situation. There was no way he would help Metal, even if it meant he’d be at the robot’s mercy. Besides, again, Metal needed him for...something.
But the robot hadn’t hurt him. He’d threatened to, but he didn’t. Well, outside of his initial capture, at least. Even if he couldn't outright kill Tails, Metal had no reason not to hurt him, yet other than his remaining dull headache, he was completely unharmed.
Tails hadn’t often found himself wondering what his big brother’s metallic copy was up to, but this…this truly puzzled him. Whatever upgrades Metal Sonic wanted, he either wouldn’t or couldn’t get them from Eggman. Not only that, out of every genius in the world, he specifically chose Tails to do it. Why? He had to have picked Tails specifically for some reason. What was he planning?
Tails was forced to ponder this as he sat alone in the bottom of an abandoned Eggman base.