Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The saw blade tearing a block of wood in two halves was muffled by the headphones on his ears, and drowned out the remaining noise. He might not have heard the footsteps, or noticed another presence if it hadn’t been for his natural sense of unease when a potential predator, or prey, surpassed a certain distance.

Tails shut off the saw blade and removed the headphones. Finally, his ears turned away from his work, and he recognised the confidence-heavy but light footsteps marching into his workshop. “Sonic isn’t here,” He said. “And I’ve already told you both not to fight in my workshop. It took me weeks to repair the damages.”

“I’m not here for Sonic.”

Tails turned around. “Then… What do you want, Shadow?”

Shadow crossed his arms and looked the kit up and down as if weighing his agency’s decision. “I’m going to regret this, I can tell,” He grumbled. “G.U.N has assigned a mission to me. There has been some recent activity in a government owned facility not too far off the shore,” He informed. “They want to recruit you to investigate it and shut it down.”

Tails frowned. “I don’t work for G.U.N. And if it’s their facility, why can’t they go and shut it down themselves?” He asked. “I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to have an eight-year-old doing your job for you.”

Shadow’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t ask. I just do. And you are not going alone, I will be there.”

“And that’s supposed to fill me with confidence?” Tails retorted. “Because it doesn’t.” He’d gotten braver with his comebacks for the traumatised hedgehog when he discovered the weak spots that Shadow had, and the reason he behaved the way he did. Much like his older brother, he was willing to give Shadow a chance to be his friend. “Fine. I’ll go. It’s just us?”

“Just us,” Shadow said with a short nod. “You may leave a note. If that hedgehog gets worried about you, he will cause more damage than is necessary to G.U.N HQ. Again.”

Tails smiled sheepishly and pulled a paper and pen from his work desk. He scribbled a quick note, and retrieved his resource belt and satchel. “Okay,” He said, walking up to the dark-spined hedgehog. “Let’s go. Are we taking the —”

Shadow grabbed Tails by the arm and they were gone in a flash of Chaos Control.

“— Tornado… oh god, nope. Okay.” Tails made a disturbed sound and stumbled over his feet, heaving dryly while hunched over with a few hard slaps to the back from his company. He waved a hand in Shadow’s direction and the pats stopped. “I’m okay.”

“You cope better than that faker,” Shadow said. “He almost fainted twice. The Echidna warrior was there, he had to catch him.”

Tails heaved a breathless laugh and straightened up. “Thanks, Shadow.” It helped to be reassured when he did things he deemed embarrassing, like almost throwing up in front of someone. “So, this is the place?” His eyes narrowed on the sign. “P…Poppy… playtime? G.U.N made this place?”

“G.U.N’s performances have been… less than satisfactory during my absence,” Shadow said, struggling to find the right explanation. It was hard to justify why a military operation would make a globalised play area, and toys, when their specialities, and whole purpose, lied outside of entertainment. “Regardless of their reasoning, we’re here to shut it down.”

“But I vaguely remember this place, and reports claimed it was shut down a few centuries ago,” Tails stated, walking beyond the welcome sign with the hedgehog by his side. “Something about it being deemed unfit for children after a lot of workers went missing.”

“It shut down over that?” Shadow scoffed. “That could have been a mere coincidence.”

“No, not really,” Tails argued. “The only people to go missing were the ones working on the same day, during their shifts at Poppy Playtime. At first, people thought whatever had happened spooked the workers, so they ran, but they were never found. It’s still a cold case even now, but they were all declared dead some decades after the case first when cold.”

“But I thought you said they were never found?” Shadow found himself somewhat intrigued.

“They weren’t,” Tails said. “But the accident that spooked all of the workers? Well…” He cleared his throat and looked back at the factory. “There was just too much blood for them to rule it out as just one person. Or even a handful.”

Shadow frowned up at the smiling monstrosity on the front of the building. “Tell me, for all your knowledge about this place. Did you learn of what the authorities thought was the cause of their deaths?” He wanted to know just what he was getting himself, and this kid, into.

They stopped just outside the doors and Tails pondered his answer. On one hand, he did know what they thought, after having some rather gruesome dreams the following days after reading and viewing disturbing images from the very crime scene he was about to walk into, and on another, he wanted Shadow to see for himself. He settled with a simple response. “None of the machinery could have made splatter patterns like the ones they found.”

“So, they didn’t figure it out?” Shadow summarised.

“No, but they had theories,” Tails said. “But I think it’s better if you see it for yourself first.”

“Why?”

“Because I trust your opinion, and I really don’t want theirs to be right.”

—

“Hi, my name is Leif Pierre.”

Shadow tensed and turned around with his fists clenched. Then he noticed the lit up television screen just above Tails, and a processing tape recorder in front of him, and relaxed with a heavy sigh. “Shouldn’t you of all people know not to touch potentially dangerous equipment?”

“Sorry,” Tails said sheepishly. “But it’s just an old VHS system. These were completely harmless then, and even more so now. They just left recordings on them.”

“And I’m the head of innovation here at the Playtime Co Toy Factory. If you’re seeing this, then you’re trespassing!”

Shadow rolled his eyes. “Do we have to watch this?”

“Well, he’s the only person who knows more about this place than we do,” Tails said. “You haven’t exactly told me what we’re looking for here. For all we know, the recent activity could be human and not mechanical. Did G.U.N think of that?”

“We’re here to shut. It. Down.” Shadow ground out. “That’s all we need to know.”

“See, it’s that thought process that puts you on the wrong side of things every time the world’s in danger,” Tails pointed out. He smiled nervously when Shadow scrutinised him with a glare. “Not that everything doesn’t turn out alright in the end, but if you looked at the finer details, you’d be on a clearer path. If that makes sense…?”

Shadow scoffed. “I don’t need to be on a clear path. And this guy is doing nothing but complain about our presence. He’s told us nothing we don’t already know,” He said. “I’m going to explore.” He turned on his heel.

A distant sound of puffing caught his attention.

Tails’ ear whirled around and his head followed suit. “Was… is that a train?” He got an answer in the form of Shadow running in the direction of the sound. “Hey! Wait up! Shadow!”

“So, you’ve got my warning. It’s not too late to turn around. I just hope you’re certain whatever you’re doing is worth it.”

Tails slowed to a walk when he realised which room of the factory they were entering. “The gift shop… Huh. I suppose it makes sense to have toy trains here,” He said, stepping up to Shadow’s side so he could inspect the room more thoroughly. “Whoa. A tornado ran through here.”

“You might want to ask Sonic if he’s visited as of late,” Shadow said.

Tails snorted. “Yeah, maybe.” He noticed Shadow disappear back into the reception, but he lingered in the gift shop for a minute longer, picking up the damaged toys and admiring the posters. “Why would anyone do this to perfectly good machines?” He turned the green robot around for a closer look. “I wonder what happened to you…”

“Tails!” Shadow’s voice echoed around the building. “I need a code for the door.”

Tails pulled a face. “You can manipulate chaos energy! Just blow it up!”

A distant shout and BOOM! that shook the ground beneath his feet resulted in a moment long silence. He was almost worried Shadow had blown himself up when: “The door is still standing! Is there a code?”

“The door is still standing!? What’s it made out of? Sheer power of will!?” Tails found it hard to believe that a door, an ancient metal door, could withstand a chaos blast, but he also wasn’t ready to see what happens when you called Shadow the Hedgehog a liar, so he looked around.

The train had four colours, the usual amount of buttons used for a code, and arrows pointing from the last of the carriages to the head of the train. “Uh… Try red, yellow, pink, and green?” He heard a distant confirmation sound and decided it was time to leave the gift shop. He didn’t want anything anyway.

Shadow picked up the second VHS tape. He made a point of looking at the fox, but the kit wasn’t looking in his direction. He made a noise of indignation and turned to put it into the VHS machine. He missed the smile that crossed Tails’ face when he knew Shadow wasn’t looking.

Always look for the finer details.

“A grabpack?” Shadow read. “Alright. Mission over.”

Tails smiled and rolled his eyes. “Oh, I think I found it.” He looked through the tinted glass with a thoughtful frown. “Will these fit either of us? It looks a bit big.”

“Why do we needs more hands? We have hands,” Shadow muttered as he watched the video explain the usage of the grabpack. “If this mission gets more ridiculous, I will call it off.”

“Our hands can’t hold electricity,” Tails offered, returning to watch the tape.

“Yours can’t.”

“Okay, you’re not invincible.”

Shadow grunted. “Or am I?”

“No, you’re not…” Tails trailed off when the glass hissed and opened for the pair of them to reach inside. He complied, but hesitated when it came to putting it on. He reached for one of the cannons that the tape had spoken of - while he was busy looking at the invention, mind you - and pulled the trigger point. One of the hands extended abruptly.

And slapped Shadow across the face.

He fell to the floor with a thud.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Tails cried. It wouldn’t fit him for sure, but it had the potential of fitting onto Shadow if they tightened the straps enough. He offered it out and the hedgehog turned away from Tails, once back on his feet, slipping his arms through the straps.

Shadow fastened one strap while Tails worked on the other. He had half a mind to slap the fox in return, but had yet to decide if he would go through with it or not. He had a faster healing factor, not to be confused with immortality because that was a condition more susceptible to death, though it still applied on a technical level, and Tails was not.

The slap left a slight sting, but it would subside after a few minutes, whereas Tails would return home with a bruise, and then Shadow would go home with a number of healing injuries from Sonic in retaliation.

They returned to the reception and searched for the next room they had to venture through. Shadow spotted a blue hand symbol and looked between the blue hand mould on his newly acquired equipment and the button.

“Is that where we’re supposed to go?” Tails asked.

“Do you have a better plan?”

Tails pursed his lips as the blue hand connected with the button. “You don’t have to be so mean about it.” He watched the door take some time to open and then stepped through, turning around as he walked forward until he made a full turn and spotted a terrifying statue in the middle of the room. “Oo…Okay. How did kids enjoy it here?”

“They were brainwashed,” Shadow said with a shrug. “It is easy to manipulate a young mind.”

“Yeah,” Tails hummed, glancing over to him. “I guess, it is.” He looked away before Shadow caught him staring and craned his neck as they got closer to the giant. “It’s really dark. I wonder if I could get the electricity back on. Make it somewhat easier to look around the factory.” He tensed when a blue hand soared past and slapped the statue in the eye. “Why would you do that!?”

Shadow didn’t even spare him a glance. “It’s just a statue. There is another hand button over there,” He said, walking around the display in order to reach the room in question.

Tails shook his head and looked down at the display stand. “Huggy Wuggy…” He read the name aloud. “1984. Wow, this really was made a long time ago.” He stepped back and noticed three other doors: Power, Cafateria, and Testing. He didn’t like the sound of the last one, so he made a bee-line for the one thing he could do something about. The lights. Or, the majority of the lights that weren’t currently…

Shoom…

“Eep!” Tails shrieked and tore his hands from the door handles. He turned around at the sound of a jingling key. “Shadow?”

“Over here,” Shadow said, walking back over to the kit with his ability to see in the dark, something that only the ultimate life-form could do. And… most nocturnal creatures. At least he wouldn’t have to drag the two-tailed fox around everywhere because he couldn’t see an inch in front of his face. “The button short-circuited.”

“I noticed. There’s a key,” Tails said.

“Where?”

Tails swallowed and lifted a shaky finger to the statue, where a key swung back and forth like it had been moved not long ago. “Up there.”

Shadow followed the direction he was pointed in and glared at the statue. “Hmph. That wasn’t there before, was it?”

“No.” Tails twiddled his thumbs. “Is it too late to take that guy’s offer to get the heck out of here?”

“Yes. We are on a mission,” Shadow reminded him. “Fly up there and retrieve it.”

“No way!” Tails protested. “That thing is moving!”

Shadow raised a judgemental eyebrow. He walked over to the statue and swiped the key with the aid of the moulded hand, and waited in a baited silence for the statue to react to the sudden movement. He felt he’d proven his point when nothing happened, and inspected the key. “What room does this unlock?”

“Probably the power room?” Tails suggested, gesturing to the doors behind him. He pulled on the doors to emphasise that they were locked, and he waited for Shadow to unlock it. The key fit through the keyhole and turned with a soft click. “Okay. This is fine.”

The power room was different to a regular one, that was the first thing Tails mentally noted. “Wait here a sec,” He said, confusing the hedgehog who stopped regardless of his confusion.

“Why?” Shadow watched the fox cub walk away.

“I think these are electrical storage points, or circuits, or possible even converters,” Tails said, touching the poles in question. “Which means the starting frequency is an AC, and these turn it into DC…” He cleared his throat nervously as he realised he was babbling. “Alternating and direct currents. Both can be used to power a lightbulb, but direct current is more resourceful, and more commonly used.”

“So, how do you turn the power back on?” Shadow asked with disinterest.

“Erm. Can I?” Tails gestured to the grabpack and Shadow slipped it off. Like he’d thought, it was much too big for him to wear constantly, but he could manage it in order to turn the power back on. He hefted it onto his back and walked around the room, spotting the locked up circuit he’d been looking for.

Shadow jumped in surprise when a small door crashed into the ground a few steps ahead of him. He looked over the bookshelf it had come from, and then to the fox now walking back around with a glowing, stretchable arm.

Each pole lit up as it came in contact with the arm, and the room lit up with a crackle of electricity.

Tails let go of the starter circuit and shrugged off the grabpack. “We can go now.”

Shadow nodded and pulled the grabpack back on. He left Tails to open the doors while he fixed the straps, and ended up walking into the back of the two-tailed fox when he stopped so suddenly that he hadn’t seen it coming. He looked up, ready to snap at the kid for not warning him, when he saw the empty display stand that had Tails visibly trembling. “It moved.”

“I…. Told you… It. Was. Moving!” Tails shrieked. “Did you see that thing? It was huge! And… and ugly! Like Eggman! But dumber.” He started muttering inconsistencies to himself, and in order to get him to stop, Shadow grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, albeit a little rougher than necessary.

“Yes, you were right. But I can manipulate chaos energy and you are a genius,” Shadow said firmly. “That was just a hideous, Eggman-sized toy. If there’s one thing we can handle, it’s mindless robots like that. Now, pull yourself together.”

Tails took a deep breath and bowed his head. “Sorry,” He said sheepishly. “I just… don’t like creepy things, you know? This place is practically haunted.”

“We can do this.”

“Yeah.”

Shadow opened the next door and started to walk down the hall. He was the first of them to spot the fluffy blue arm sliding into the doorway they had to pass through, the only place they could go through, and mentally cursed the world. He heard a sharp gasp from Tails and closed his eyes with a frustrated sigh. He knew he would regret this.

“I changed my mind!”

“You get back here!”

Chapter Text

The room was more lit up than the last one they’d been in, but that didn’t strike much confidence in either one of them. For one, they knew there was a mascot running around that seemed to be luring them in, despite it going in the only direction they could physically move towards, considering the other door required two hands when they only had one.

Shadow had worked hard to instil the slightest bit of confidence in the fox, more so in himself and Shadow than the creepy building they were currently forced to explore. He could try to get them out, but his mission took precedence. Besides, he could not be killed so easily, and he would get the kid out of there before he had to face death, so they had nothing to worry about.

He had no idea how any of the machines in the room worked, and was relying on the knowledge Tails had adopted five seconds ago, when he first looked at the hunk of junk before them, to tel him what to do. He was tempted to say that part aloud to watch the kit’s reaction, but he decided not to. Call it pity. Perhaps bringing that blue faker wouldn’t have been a bad idea, if only for moral support.

“We need three more of these,” Tails said, flying down to the floor below, where Shadow jumped down moments before because he thought that was where he had been supposed to go, and offered him the object. “There’s a control panel up there that must move the claw.”

Shadow raised a brow at the piece of machinery. “To get…” He followed the direction of the claw and spotted a glass box with another hand mould. A red mould; The same colour as the button for the door in the main room, which must mean he needed it. He adjusted the grabpack with a grunt and ran forward, lifting himself into the air with a spin dash, and shattered the case.

Tails looked at him with an unimpressed expression. “Can’t you ever do things differently?” He asked. “I guess we don’t need the claw now, but collect them anyway?”

“Why?” Shadow questioned, attaching the red hand to the grabpack. They didn’t need the claw to function now they had what they needed.

“It might come in handy later. I don’t know, I’m following my gut,” Tails said with a shrug. “Can you just do it? I’m going to see if I can find the VHS for that yellow tape player back in the stairwell.”

“Be cautious. That creature is still in here somewhere,” Shadow warned.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” He heard Tails mutter. He watched the two-tailed fox cub turn and walk beyond a tall collection of shelves, and scoped the room for the remaining keys. Despite temptation, he wouldn’t question a genius’ gut instinct, though he did have to admit, the claw would make for a great areal weapon. He spotted one of the pieces on a high shelf. Convenient.

He found the last of the pieces, and then looked at each of them separately. Each had a designated colour. “I swear, If it’s that simple…”

“Hey, Shadow! I found the tape!”

Shadow grunted and stored away the keys in his quills. He followed the path Tails had taken and looked around the corner, but the fox wasn’t there. His eyes narrowed. There was no point in jumping to conclusions. He turned around and lifted his gaze. Perhaps the kit climbed his way out? Unnecessary, but he wouldn’t put it past him.

Or… that blue monstrosity was still hidden in the same room as them. It seemed to have arms almost as extendable as the ones on his grab pack.

Tails would have made a sound, even if it was a muffled one. He was sure of that. And he would have seen that slender giant climbing across the shelves if he hadn’t heard him, which was also unlikely with the mass of fur it carried on its person.

“Shadow?”

He jumped and turned around, and his eyes landed on the fox cub he was looking for. “Where did you go?”

“Back this way,” Tails said. He took his hand and guided him back around the maze, not quite understanding just whose hand he’d grabbed in the moment, but Shadow didn’t make a scene out of it, and pointed out the cracked open door between this room and the stairwell they previously walked through. “I was waiting for you.” He pulled the tape out of his satchel and pushed it into the player.

“Rich, where are they keeping the Huggy boxes?”

“Huggy boxes?” Shadow echoed.

Tails shrugged. “Toys, maybe?”

“I don’t know. I couldn’t tell you. Remember when maintenance last did a sweep of this place?”

“No.”

“Exactly. Nobody in this stupid company knows what they’re doing. Oh, I swear, I haven’t seen a single box in its place since they started flooding the storehouse with orphanage junk.”

“Right.”

“I get it, it’s a nice programme and all. It’s just hard to be happy about it when manufacturing’s on our neck about it because we can’t find stupid Huggy boxes!”

“Rich.”

“Ugh. You’re right, you’re right. It’s… it’s for the orphans. I just wish there were less boxes.”

“Orphanage programme?” Shadow spoke aloud. He had a sneaking suspicion about such a programme, and turned to Tails with a curious look as though the fox had the answers to his questions. “Did it say anything about that when you were researching this incident?”

“Not much,” Tails admitted. “They were secretive about it. But, it didn’t really make sense for the owner of a place like this to start a programme like that, back in those times or otherwise. Not from the pure, goodness of his heart anyway.”

“Why not?” Shadow asked.

“Well… he lost someone. Someone close to him, if I remember correctly,” Tails explained. “That does things to people.” Shadow grunted at the truth in his statement and turned to look around the stairwell, feeling the fur on the back of his neck stand on edge in the sudden, eerie silence. All the while, Tails continued. “Anyway, doesn’t it strike you as strange that a toy factory started an orphanage programme?”

“Should it?”

Tails pursed his lips and shook his head. “Do you have the keys?”

Shadow sifted through his quills and handed them to the young fox. “What are you going to do with them?”

“Activate the claw,” Tails said. “We might not need it now, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. This place is already putting me on edge, and that guy wasn’t kidding when he said he had a good security system.”

Shadow huffed. “You think that thing was what he meant?”

“Well, I doubt he worked here without finding out they had mascots that came to life,” Tails answered, slotting the keys into their designated spots. He tested the claw to be sure the metal wasn’t rusted all the way through, otherwise it wouldn’t be as helpful as he’d hoped, and thankfully, it hadn’t.

“Hmph. I could live by that.” Shadow’s comment caught Tails’ attention, and he turned to read the poster the hedgehog was looking at.

“Don’t forget to take breaks?” Tails read aloud. “Breaks longer than ten minutes are not… Ah, that makes more sense.” He smiled in mild amusement and shook his head. However, he had to admit that he already lived by said quote. Sonic had complained multiple times that midnight was not an acceptable time to have the saw machine on. “Okay, we can go. There was a door in the room with that… thing that needed two hands, right?”

“Yes, but there’s also one there,” Shadow said, pointing to the steel door in question.

The same door that had ‘Do Not Enter’ with a no entry symbol painted on and peeling off with age, but still very much readable.

“Oh. That looks… reassuring,” Tails said. He flew down after the dark-spined hedgehog, and sifted through his satchel as they walked when he remembered why he’d brought it in the first place - although, it had been a good place to store other items he’d needed to hold on to for a short while, like the tapes.

Shadow fired off the hands onto the buttons and waited for confirmation, which took too long in his opinion, when he heard the familiar beeping that had announced the presence of Sonic and his friends multiple times before during his solo missions. “You brought that tracker with you?”

Tails shrugged. “It tracks chaos energy. At first, I thought, maybe it’s just a chaos emerald messing with this place, and we could easily find it with or without this. And anyway, it’s a good thing I did end up bringing it because your chaos blast was somehow useless against this place,” He stated. “How do we know your senses aren’t being blocked too?”

He couldn’t argue with that, but it did annoy him that the two-tailed fox had a point. “Well, what do your sensors say?” He asked.

Tails looked it over, and stuffed it back into his pocket at the same time the metal door opened with a pressurised hiss. “Nothing yet. Whatever’s powering Huggy Wuggy, it isn’t chaos energy,” He informed.

“Good. The last thing we need is another chaos-sourced robot to deal with,” Shadow said. He turned to Tails when neither one of them moved into the passage. “You first, Fox.” It was a comfortable height for them to fit through, and with the kit ahead of him, he would be able to keep an eye on what could be behind them, and it gave him a chance to do something about it.

“Right.” Tails nodded and stepped into the small passage. “Oh, there’s a… drop!!!” He shouted when Shadow walked into the back off him and forced him to take a step onto the pulley section of the conveyer. He slid down on his rear, and bounced back to his feet when the conveyer belt returned to view at the bottom. “Uh. The door is closed!”

Shadow slid down on his feet and stepped off the pulleys with more grace than Tails. He noticed the electrical circuit and shrugged off the grabpack again.

Tails noticed the straps reaching around his arms and frowned. “What are you… doing!” He stumbled back with the full weight of the grabpack and then pulled it up, glaring at the dark-spined hedgehog for not giving him a heads-up. “Fine. You could do it yourself, you know.”

Shadow raised a brow. “I thought you wanted to be included.”

“How thoughtful of you.” Tails looked around and turned back the way they came, entering a second passage that neither of them had noticed on their way down. He returned a few seconds later with a crackling tube of electricity and used the red hand to complete the circuit.

The door opened, and the conveyer belt activated.

While they switched back the grabpack, the conveyer belt carried them through the machine.

BEEP!

Tails jumped and Shadow crouched down, both staring at the flashing red light. He managed to step out of the way just as he realised what was happening, and avoiding being head-butted by a severed doll head.

It hit Shadow with a soft ‘Bonk!’

He growled in frustration, and stepped out of the way when another light flashing a panic-inducing red, the heads and bumblebee bodies now coming from the right, and then from the left. “Are we in a robot manufacturing machine?”

“That’s what you’re calling it?” Tails asked.

Another door opened and dropped both them and the doll parts into another machine. Shadow pulled himself out, and then reached down to grab the fox cub before he drowned in parts, which took effort because his foot had gotten caught on something, throwing them both back onto the cool floor with a THUD.

“I hate this place,” Tails grumbled.

“What is this place?” Shadow wondered aloud.

Tails brushed himself off and walked over to the nearest display stand. “Make-A-Friend, 1960. Huh. That explains the doll parts.” He tensed at the sound of a distant crash. Almost like someone had fallen down something, but there was no one around except for him and his past-caring companion. “Did you hear that?” Shadow’s ear twitched. “No.” “Did you try to listen for it before answering?” Tails asked. “Uh…” He pretended to think about it and then deadpanned. “No.” Tails rolled his eyes and glanced away from the stand, noticing a way out with only one problem. He walked up to it and set his hand down in the empty container by the door. “This door says: Nobody leaves without a toy.”

Shadow ground his teeth together. “I am not making a toy.”

Tails grinned. “You don’t have to hide it, Shadow. Rouge has already told us about your plushie obsession.” His ears shot up when he heard the grabpack crash to the floor. “Eep! I was joking! I was joking! Wait!” He took off in a run, turning sharply to avoid an incoming spin dash. “Shadow!”

“Interesting…” A bloodied claw scraped across the ground, leaving a fresh trail of scarlet in three clean marks, as the dark-spiked hedgehog lunged for the two-tailed fox with murderous intent.

Tails panted with laughter, and hid behind the Make-A-Friend machine from his companion. If he knew a toy factory would rile the latter up so much, he would have suggested taking him to a place like this to Sonic a long time ago. At least Sonic would have been able to put up more of an interesting fight, had he been there.

Shadow made a noise of disinterest, though he was still glaring at the fox with crossed arms like attacking was still a possibility, and stopped chasing the kit. He turned back to the display stand and kicked it, and it soared across the room. Seeing the fox flinch at the loud bang, he felt satisfied with the point made and settled down. “You can make the stupid toy.”

“With pride,” Tails said, his muzzle held high. He cautiously rounded the corner and inspected the machine. Not at all complicated, though that was the point of something a child of the olden ages was supposed to use and not inventors. “Ah. Shadow, can I borrow the grabpack?”

Shadow raised a brow. “Why? I thought you said you could make one of these with ease while you were running for your life.”

Tails scoffed with an air of nervousness about the way Shadow said the last part of his sentence. “I can. But the… the power is out.” He cleared his throat and gestured to the extra level above them. “I have to go up there and find the circuit to activate it.”

Shadow sighed and shrugged off the pack. “Why does every room have a separate circuit? It would be less of a waste of time if they had one whole circuit running through the building,” He stated, helping the two-tailed fox fasten the grabpack onto his shoulders. He noticed the nervous look on Tails’ face and lingered one hand on his shoulder. “I could do it. You can stay down here.”

Tails smiled gratefully. “Thanks, but this whole place gives me the creeps. And… I know what I’m doing. Going together would be a waste of eyes, right? You keep an eye on things down here. I shouldn’t be long,” He said. “Besides, I’m brave enough for a little adventure.”

Shadow smirked. “That faker wouldn’t have kept you around if he thought you weren’t.”

Tails grinned. He ascended the staircase to the mezzanine level above and first checked the area for danger. He breathed a sigh of relief when he concluded that the seventeen foot beast wasn’t hiding up there just waiting for him. “I’ve faced-off with Eggman multiple times, and escaped being roboticised,” He softly reassured himself. “I can do this.”

Shadow tapped his foot impatiently, and decided to occupy himself by looking around. He inspected the door, and caught a lock of blue fur stuck under the bottom of it, poking out just enough for him to spot. He knelt down and plucked a piece of it free. “Hm. This looks a lot like that thing,” He muttered.

“Don’t go…!”

The distant, petrified whisper made his stand straight. “Who’s there?”

“He’s waiting…”

“Be careful…”

Shadow opened his mouth and took a breath…

Shoom!

The lights flashed with life at the same time the cogs in the toy machine kick-started. He turned around and caught Tails hopping down each step with a bright smile on his face, and he met the excited fox half way across the floor. “You’re happier.”

Tails smiled bashfully and helped Shadow get the grabpack back on his own shoulders. “Fixing things always make me more confident. Something I’m useful for, you know?” His smile faltered. “I’m not really good at other things. I can fight and all, but I think I get in the way more than I help.” He walked up to the ‘Power On’ button and the machine whirred to life, tooting as smoke puffed from the small chimneys on top.

“People need reassuring sometimes,” Maria said, giggling as a butterfly landed on her friend’s nose. “Ah!” She grabbed his hand before he could reach up and slap the creature away. “Be gentle. A little kindness matters more than you think, Shadow.”

“Why don’t people just… not feel?”

“People like to feel. Nobody likes to hurt… so… we show them a little kindness, and they show us what it means to them. Try?”

“Is that your attempt at humour?” Shadow scoffed. Despite vowing not to make a toy, he followed Tails to the machine and watched the fox pull the first lever, dispensing the limbs of a doll from the same tube they’d gotten stuck in. “It’s pathetic. You have gotten that stupid faker out of every situation he’s put himself in, and you fought for him even when you thought him dead.”

“That was with a machine,” Tails reminded him. “Its not like I have anything against being Sonic’s sidekick! I enjoy helping my friends…”

“You are not just a sidekick,” Shadow said matter-o-factly. “You have fought me without him and reigned victorious.” That was the first and last time he would admit to a defeat. Luckily, Tails didn’t made it harder by shooting him a smug smile or firing back a snide comment. He just pulled the second lever.

“Oh yeah. I remember that,” Tails mused. “Emerl died anyway…”

“He was a threat to the planet,” Shadow said. “And that is not my point.”

“I know.” Tails pulled the final lever and turned to him, hopping over the conveyer belt and back onto solid ground. The machine was made for humanity, after all, so it was quite large in comparison to a full-sized Mobian, much less a fox cub. “Thanks, Shadow. Again. You’ve been very reassuring lately.”

“Don’t get used to it,” Shadow grunted.

Tails laughed and walked around to the end of the machine. He didn’t notice the smile that crossed Shadow’s face. “Wh… They did not have laser-technology this advanced in the 1960s! Ooh. Bee-cat. Hey, Charmy would love this! … Is that stereotypical?”

“Just put the damn cat in the scanner.”

The machine lit up the second the plushie came in contact with the pressure plate.

They waited as the machine scanned the toy, the screen soon presenting them both with a green tick as the the door rose from the floor.

Shadow caught the softly falling piece of fur and remembered what he’d been too distracted to remember. “Wait, Tails!” He jogged forward and grabbed the two-tailed fox by the arm, pulling him to a stop in front of the comically darkened hallway.

A long, furry, blue leg stepped out of the shadows.

Tails’ ears flattened against his head. “Oh, Sweet Mobius…”

Chapter Text

Shadow threw his arm out in front of the fox cub as the giant beast started towards them with a sharp-toothed grin, and he backed down the hall. He needed to get the kid out of there. “CHAOS BLAST!” He swung his other arm out at the robot, and it flew down the hall it emerged from with a surge of energy pushing against its core. “Run!”

Tails turned on his heels. There was no way out except the way they came, and such a cramped spot would not bode well for the both of them. He needed a distraction. He lifted his eyes, and an idea sparked to life. “Shadow, hold it off!” He called, running as the hedgehog skidded to a stop in the middle of the room.

“Hurry up!” Shadow shouted.

BANG!

Huggy Wuggy hurled itself across the tiled floor like a rabid animal, swinging its arm out at the hedgehog. It crashed into the power button and display stand as Shadow leapt over it, landing on the ground with a soft click of his heels.

“You’re going to have to try harder than that,” Shadow sneered.

Huggy Wuggy rose to its full height, and knocked its head against the mezzanine floor.

“Whoa!” Tails exclaimed, clutching onto the banister for dear life. He turned a few shades lighter when the mindless killing machine slowly turned to look at him. Don’t faint, Don’t faint, Don’t faint… He mentally repeated the mantra as he straightened up and ran along the trembling metal.

Huggy Wuggy’s hand slammed down on the floor ahead of him, but he lunged and twirled his tails, landing on the other side with a roll to soften his landing. “Ha!”

“Chaos Spear!”

Energy whipped out from Shadow’s hand and cut through Huggy Wuggy’s right leg, destabilising the mascot. It fell to its knees with a deafening shriek. “Whatever your doing, do it now!” He snapped at the two-tailed fox.

“Give me… a… second!” Tails skidded to a stop and crashed into the banister, making a noise of fright when he leaned far over the edge. He pulled himself back up with his tails and grabbed the lever on the opposite side of the banister, stood a few feet above Shadow and Huggy Wuggy as the animatronic struggled to its feet. “Move!”

Shadow nodded sharply. He disappeared for a blink as the section of the mezzanine beneath Tails’ feet creaked and groaned, slipping free from the support poles holding it up. He pushed off, and watched the metal floor collapse onto the unsuspecting mascot as he hovered in the air.

Shadow reappeared beside him and dropped, reaching out a hand that Tails caught with ease.

“I doubt that destroyed it,” Tails said breathlessly. “You still want to finish the mission?”

“This is the mission,” Shadow told him. “That thing is what must have caused the disturbances; all the recent activity has been because of a rogue machine.”

CRASH!

“RAGH!”

Huggy Wuggy burst from the debris.

“Eep!” Tails shrieked. “I think it’s a big smarter than just some rogue machine!”

Shadow eyes narrowed on the room. “Tails, there!” He pointed to the opening that once had a metal door reading ‘Do Not Enter’. It had opened at some point during their battle, which he took as something, or someone, hinting at them to go that way.

“Are you crazy!?” Tails cried. “We just went through a door like that, and now we’re facing a giant blue monster!”

“If the machine is here, it won’t be in there!” Shadow said. “Now go!”

Tails grumbled in protest, but flew towards it anyway, pulling up suddenly when a long hand grabbed at them, narrowly missing their bodies only to catch one of his tails, lurching him and Shadow down onto the conveyor belt. “Agh!” He tensed when a hand appeared in front of his face.

“Let’s go!” Shadow snapped. He grabbed Tails’ hand and pulled him through the machine. “Your tail?”

“Fine,” Tails called over the blaring alarms and flashing lights, warning them of the incoming danger. He heard the bang of something heavy striking metal and skidded to a stop at the same time as his heart. “What was that?”

He and Shadow slowly turned to look through the ventilation shaft, and spotted countless rows of sharp teeth and a pair of crazy eyes charging for them.

“SWEET MOBIUS!”

“GO!” Shadow pushed Tails in front of him as they ran.

Huggy Wuggy then appeared in front of them.

“I’m gonna faint,” Tails gasped, stumbling as his head reeled.

“Don’t you dare,” Shadow growled. “Down there!”

Tails turned, and ran along the moving conveyor belt. He could hear the animatronic running behind them, but swore to himself that he wouldn’t look back. He went back on his word when he heard a familiar swoosh of energy, and he grabbed Shadow’s wrist, pausing for a moment to swallow the bile in his throat when he realised the robot was practically breathing on them from behind. “You can’t blow it up!” He snapped.

“Why not!?” Shadow retorted.

“We’re in a confined space!” Tails exclaimed. “You’ll blow us up… too!” He shrieked when he dropped down into a hole in the machine, landing on more pulleys. He jumped over them when he realised they were running on the spot, and ran until the upward incline of the machine turned into a sharp downhill. “Whoa!!!”

The pair of them slid down on their rears and crashed into a broken part of the machine.

“He’s coming!” Tails cried.

Shadow pulled him up and shoved him in another direction. “Stop looking back!”

“I don’t need to look back! I can hear it!” Tails snapped back.

Ahead of them were more pulleys on an incline; they wouldn’t be able to scale that fast enough to get away.

Huggy Wuggy’s hand swiped at Shadow’s quills.

He stumbled, tripping over his feet and knocking Tails down with him. “Shit!” He cursed.

Tails mapped the area and spotted a jammed door. “Watch your head!” He shouted, slipping through the small entrance and continuing with Shadow hot on his heels. Would Huggy Wuggy fit through that door? Would it break it open? His heart pounded harder in his chest, drowning out the sounds of heavy footsteps chasing him from behind.

But those weren’t loud enough.

Those were…

BANG!

His heart lurched into his throat. He flattened his ears, and pressed his back into the corner of the closed door. The lights were too bright, flashing aggressively against his eyelids, and his skin burned, hyper aware of the arm stretched across his front as the thunderous stomps of the large monstrosity marched towards them.

That was their only way out.

They were trapped.

No, no, no. Please, no! —

His breath hitched as he stumbled, catching himself on the arm held in front of him, and he took off yet again without a second thought. He didn’t question why or how, he didn’t want to know. Run, Run, Run, RUN!

His feet caught on one another when the conveyor belt pushed against him, but a strong pair of arms pulled him upright. The conveyor belt was moving towards them, but they didn’t have time for that! He pushed off the floor, panting heavily as he pushed forward, the tips of his tails smacking against the sides of the machinery as they twirled.

Shadow stepped onto a row of pulleys at the top, and dragged the fox cub down with him, hurling them both out onto a deactivated conveyor belt in a wider room of the factory. He rolled over his head and landed on his back with a THUD. Tails followed, landing on Shadow’s abdomen.

“Ow!” Tails’ fur stood on end when the crates behind them fell from the neatly stacked pile they’d been, crashing down onto the tip of his tail. He pulled desperately on his furry appendage. “It’s coming!” Tails cried, pushing to his feet and crowding against the pile of boxes.

Shadow got to his feet and pushed the box off the fox cub’s tail. He didn’t have time to waste using chaos energy, and very little time to think of a plan with the blue monster pounding on the door as it closed behind them. Turning around, he lifted his gaze and spotted a large crate.

That would work.

He backed up and triggered both hand moulds, briefly freeing one of his hands from a death grip - that he realised had been clutching at his hand since they first made it into the narrow conveyor system -, and pulled the crate towards them.

“What are doing!?” Tails exclaimed.

Shadow grabbed his wrist and squeezed it. “Trust me.”

Tails swallowed. His eyes drifted… “There it is!”

The crate smashed into the machine just as Huggy Wuggy burst through the conveyor system door, and they fell with it.

“Wait! My satchel!” Tails slipped through the satchel strap with his wrist still caught in Shadow’s grasp, slamming onto a lower level of metal flooring. He shook the spots from his vision.

“Let go!”

His head snapped up. “Shadow!” He crawled forward and hooked his arms under the dark-spined hedgehog’s armpits, pulling Shadow back with a desperation to flee from the monstrosity that clutched his leg with a vice grip. His tails reached out and grabbed onto the vertical, metal poles holding the mezzanine in place. They were surprisingly strong for how old and hollow they were.

“Chaos Spear!”

A blade of energy tore through animatronic, and it released his leg, throwing him and Tails back onto their rear-ends with a sudden lack of opposing force.

That look longer than he’d ever admit, shamefully, but at least they had completed their mission and could abandon the building and that monstrosity of a robot along with it. Mission accomplished.

Shadow’s ear twitched when he heard sharp, uneven breaths gradually becoming louder as Huggy Wuggy fell into the distance. “Tails?” He sat up and turned to the two-tailed fox in question, frowning deeply at the haunted expression on the kid’s face. “Hey, deep breaths. We beat it. It’s over.”

“I’m… gonna faint…”

Thump!

Shadow sighed. He did have to hand it to the fox cub, he held out a lot longer than he thought he would. Hell, he even felt he was going have a moment of reflection for second there. “Let’s get out of…”

“This way…!”

“She’s coming…!”

Shadow tensed. It was that same voice again, but there was no one conscious as far as the eye could see, and Huggy Wuggy couldn’t talk during any of their encounters. Not that a murderous animatronic would want to warn them about potential danger. He noticed a poppy painted around a red door on the other end of the mezzanine.

And the voice returned.

“This way…! Hurry…!”

Shadow climbed to his feet and pulled Tails up into his arms. “Alright… A small detour.”

—

Tails groaned softly and sat up on a world of comfort, and not cross-hatching pieces of metal digging into the skin beneath his fur like when he’d passed out. “What… Did we make it out?” He asked, disconcerted. He shook his head and looked around. “Oh. I’ll take that as a no.”

“You’re awake,” Shadow said, stepping through a nearby door.

“I dunno, I’m still debating it,” Tails countered. “Why are we still here?”

“I heard a voice.”

Tails blinked. Did he hear that right? “You… you’re hearing voices.”

Shadow glared softly. “Yes.”

“And… these voices…”

“Are real,” Shadow said firmly. “They warned me about that blue thing…”

“Huggy Wuggy.”

“I am not calling it that,” Shadow said. “They warned me about it, and then we had to fight it. They came back when you fainted, and led me here.”

Tails looked around. “To a room full of pillows?”

“And to me!”

Tails tensed, and searched the room for the owner of such a high-pitched voice. “Oh!” He spotted the small doll-like child in a display case. She was no longer tied down to the case, but she stood there regardless. Most likely to be seen by both of them as they first made eye contact with each other. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there…”

“Poppy,” The doll said cheerfully. “My name is Poppy.”

“Tails,” He greeted. “But erm… why exactly did the voices lead us to you?”

Poppy’s smile slipped off her face as the subject changed. “The monsters of this place weren’t always like that,” She said solemnly. “They were once happy, and the children were their family, but then something went wrong. This place closed down, but they forgot us. We were left behind, and everyone began to go stir crazy.”

Tails and Shadow shared a glance.

“It’s not their fault,” Poppy added. “They can’t help it. They have bad memories of being alone here, and without the children…”

“It’s like a bad trip on repeat,” Shadow finished. “So, there’s more of those blue things that we have to face?”

“Oh, Huggy Wuggy is the only tall, blue mascot,” Poppy said with a soft giggle. “But there are others. They want to be free.”

“If they are set loose then the whole world will be in danger. We’ve seen what those things do when they are around people,” Shadow said. He watched the doll carefully as Tails got to his feet. Although she claimed to be on their side, the air around her was shifting. He could feel it. “They’re dangerous to the outside world.”

“But it’s been so long!” Poppy argued happily. “Things can be different for us now. We won’t have to be so alone.”

“Poppy… I don’t think you understand,” Tails said slowly. “Huggy Wuggy wasn’t like you. He didn’t talk; he didn’t do anything but chase us around and try to kill us. If… if everyone else is like him and not you, they could put a lot of innocent people in harms way. We…” He looked between Shadow and the doll. “…protect the world, making sure things like that don’t happen.”

“You freed me,” Poppy said. “Why? If not to let me leave?”

“That’s not what we’re saying,” Tails argued.

“Oh, it’s not fair!” Poppy sniffled. “You don’t know what it’s like to be held somewhere against your will!” Both fox and hedgehog looked at each other with half-amused expressions, but were distracted by the red-headed doll jumping down from her case. “They were good people! And then this happened, but they didn’t ask for it; We didn’t ask for it! You can’t do this to them. You can’t!” She turned and ran out of the room.

“Poppy, wait!” Tails started after her but Shadow grabbed his arm. He turned to the dark-spined hedgehog with a frown, and noticed how he looked like he was about to witness something he couldn’t prevent. “Shadow? What is it?”

“My Chaos Control won’t work in here,” Shadow told him. “I can’t get us out. I can only use attacks and defences that keep us in here.”

“You mean, we’re trapped?” Tails’ ears fell.

He’d meant to get the kid out before he had to face any danger, but already they’d faced a seventeen-foot animatronic with razor sharp teeth, and have been informed that more were on their way for them. And he couldn’t do anything to make sure that Tails would stay out of harms way, because genius or not he was still just a child.

“Stay behind me,” Shadow said firmly. “Whatever she leads us into, I will face it first.”

“I know how to fight,” Tails protested.

Shadow knew that, and he expressed that he did with a short nod, but regardless. He wasn’t about to throw Tails head first into danger just because he could ‘handle it’.

They left the plush room and the door snapped shut with a SLAM! behind them that even made Shadow’s fur stand on end. He glared at the wooden obstacle and continued down the hallway, where they were met with three doors, only one of which was open.

They followed it through to a large room, where Poppy stood in front of a large crater in the floor, facing away from them into the dark abyss.

“Poppy, we didn’t mean to upset you,” Tails spoke softly. He and Shadow stopped a few feet away from her. She didn’t turn around. “I want you to be free. But… but your friends need help… or… reprogramming, at least. They’re not right. Murdering people is wrong.”

“And who will help them?” Poppy’s voice was borderline void and saddened. “Will they be left to rot if they cannot be helped? Or maybe you’re just like everyone else… and you want to hurt us again.”

“Hurt you? No!”

“Who hurt you?” Shadow asked.

“I can help,” Tails offered. “I promise not to hurt you.”

Poppy turned to them, tears welling in her plastic eyes. “Can you?”

Tap…

Tap.

Thump.

THUMP.

Tails’ ear twitched at the distant sound and halted his response. He moved around his ear to listen for another echo and stopped on Poppy. She was much too small, and not moving at all, to be making such loud movements from so far away.

It wasn’t her.

It was…

“Come to Mummy!”

“Poppy!”

Shadow leapt forward and crashed into the petite doll, rolling across the floor with her in his arms as she screamed with fright. His head snapped up when he saw two stretching arms protrude from the deep, black hole, and turned to look at Tails. “Run, Tails!”

“What does it look like I’m doing? Ballet!?” Tails flew above a pink hand as it felt the floor he had been standing on, and he moved towards Shadow and Poppy, both of which had gotten back to their feet.

“There you are!” A feminine face popped up in front of him.

“AH!” He screamed in terror.

“Mummy has been looking all over for you!” The pink animatronic cooed. She grabbed the fox while he was catatonic, and squeezed him a little tighter than necessary as she spoke through gritted teeth that pulled into a smile. “But not to worry! Mummy doesn’t need to look any longer.”

She started to descend through the hole at an alarming speed, like a spider, so Shadow wasted no time in jumping over her extra limbs as they slid back into the place they came from, and reached out to the young fox just as he managed to wriggle his arms free.

Shadow grabbed Tails’ hands and pulled him to a stop, earning himself an irritated cry from the long-legged animatronic. “How do we stop her?” He snapped at the little doll, who hadn’t moved from where he’d tackled her to a safe distance. She looked between the two of them and then the dark hole.

“You… you can’t!” Poppy cried. “You have to kill her! Or… Or cut off her leg!”

“Cut off her leg,” Shadow repeated. “Got it.”

“NO!”

Shadow grunted when an arm flew out and struck his gut, throwing him into the wall behind him. He dropped onto the floor with a series of coughs as debris fell around him, but he forced himself back up and stared at the dancing room and aggressively moving colours.

“SHADOW!”

“Tails!” Shadow cursed under his breath and pushed to his feet. He ran to the crater and jumped down without a second thought, leaving behind the red-headed doll even though she cried out for him.

“Wait!!!” Poppy sighed in defeat and sat, dangling her feet over the edge of the dark hole. She clenched her eyes shut tight in fear and leaned forward.

…bang…

Poppy’s eyes snapped open. “More visitors?”

—

“Are you sure this is the place? It’s giving me the heebee jeebees. I don’t think Tails would come down here without putting up a fight.” A blue hedgehog with bandages climbing his forearms and lower legs, and adorning a brown bandana around his neck, crossed his arms despite the flashlight in his hand protesting the action, and glanced around the worn down factory with a look of unease. “And, my buddy’s got a good punch.”

“I don’t doubt.” A young girl brushed a lock of blonde hair out of her face as she leaned over to pick up a discarded robot from the floor. It was green in colour and had no features of overall interest, so she set it down on the counter and walked over to a green tape player. “But Rouge said that Shadow had a mission here. Right, Rouge?”

“That’s right, honey.” A white bat - wearing a black jumpsuit with streaks of pastel pink, and a cropped jacket of the same make - strutted across the floor with her wings curled in at her sides and tutted softly, knocking the robot the young girl placed off the counter with a look of disdain. “And the boss told him to bring Tails along. He’s got a mind they just want to get their hands on.”

The blue hedgehog glared at her. “They don’t have their own smart people to brainwash?”

Rouge chuckled and held up her hands in mock-surrender. “Easy, tiger. Shadow’s good with kids. Your little brother is in good hands.”

“Right.” The hedgehog scoffed. “This place was abandoned for a reason, and Tails knew it. Why’d you come here, little buddy?”

“We’ll find him, Sonic,” The young girl said soothingly. She set a hand on his shoulder with a sweet smile.

“Yeah. Thanks, Maria.”

—

Poppy pulled the door to her case closed with a soft smile. “They will help. They won’t have a choice.”

Her soft, taunting laughter rang around the factory.

Chapter Text

BOOM!

“We could really use Tails’ help!” Amy panted, wiping her brow as she leaned against her piko hammer. Her eyes drifted and she straightened up, tearing her hammer out of a fallen robot. “Maria, duck!”

Said little girl straightened up from where she stood protecting a group of Mobian children. Her hair was tied back in a messy, high pony tail with a blue bow, and she wore pale blue overalls with a dark blue top matching her trainers underneath.

Maria whirled around and ducked in the split second she spotted the soaring hammer, shattering the object marching towards her. She flashed Amy a bright smile of gratitude and picked up the tool, throwing it back to its owner as a blue streak returned to the battle field. “I haven’t been able to contact Tails or Shadow all day,” She said. “I think they’re just doing their respective things and muted their communicators.”

“Not quite!”

Kaboom!

Sonic dodged a flaming robot head and sprang back up with crossed arms, watching as a familiar white bat soared to the ground while checking out her covered nails. He tapped his foot impatiently. “What do you mean ‘not quite’?” He questioned.

“Shadow and Tails went on a mission,” Rouge stated. “Perhaps I can be of some assistance?” She smirked and turned around, facing a whirring dishwasher. “What’s the situation here anyway? It isn’t like house-wear to go all bloodthirsty on us.”

“That’s what we need Tails to figure out,” Sonic said. “What do you mean they’re on a mission? Why didn’t Tails tell me?”

Rouge rolled her eyes. “It’s not like you’re the boy’s father, Sonic. He can do whatever he wants,” She said, to which Sonic grumbled that he was still Tails’ guardian. She chuckled at his child-like reaction and shook her head. He and Shadow were alike in so many ways that it was getting harder to assure herself, let alone poor Omega, who feared his circuit board may be at the end of its cycle when the two meet, that they were not clones of one another. “But, if it makes you feel better, he did leave you a note. Haven’t you checked on him today?”

“Like Maria said!” Amy smashed a hairdryer out of the sky. “We thought he was in his workshop. He doesn’t like it when we walk in unannounced.”

Sonic walked over to Rouge and took the note from her extended hand. “Shadow came, got a mission…” He snorted. “… they can’t do it themselves.”

“Oh!” Rouge gasped in offence.

“Will be back soon.” Sonic crumpled up the post-it. “Okay, one more question.”

“What’s that, Sugar?” Rouge asked, snatching a metallic pencil out of the sky inches from Sonic’s temple. She twirled it between her fingers and snapped it in two, discarding the remains on the floor for someone else to clean up. She wasn’t the down and dirty kind of girl for anything that wasn’t pretty.

“What happened?”

Rouge paused, long enough for Sonic to continue.

“You came to us, and I’m going to assume it’s not because you thought Shadow would come back here with Tails,” Sonic stated flatly. “So, what happened? Where are they?”

A heavy sigh passed the white bat’s lips. “We… don’t know,” She admitted.

“What…!” BOOM! “…Do you mean you don’t know!?” Amy turned to Rouge, and held her hammer out at her accusingly. “You lost our little brother!? How? There are thousands of you on the job all the time! That’s a lot of eyeballs doing nothing!”

She wasn’t vocal about her closeness with Tails, and didn’t flaunt it as often as Sonic liked to, but he remained her little brother just as much as he was Sonic’s, and there were very few people, if any, she would choose if it came to them or Tails. There were also few things she wouldn’t do to people that hurt him.

“We lost all connection with Shadow a few hours ago,” Rouge told them. “Right now, our only assumption is that something big and hard must have knocked out or broken his communicator and he didn’t notice.”

“You know where they went?” Sonic asked.

“I do.”

“Then let’s go get them,” Sonic said. He turned to Amy and Maria with crossed arms. “You…”

“I’m coming with you,” Maria interrupted. She held up a hand at Sonic’s slacked jaw, and looked at him sternly. “They lost my best friend too. Not to mention, I’m four years older than Tails. If he can go on this mission, then so can I. Besides, I might not be as smart as Tails and Ivo, but I’m brighter than some; you’re going to need me.”

Sonic and Rouge pursed their lips and glanced at one another. It was true that Maria was intelligent, but her intelligence lied more within the areas of biological and chemical science than mechanics and other such areas that would prove helpful. Even so, there was no way she’d take no for an answer, and Sonic would be quite the hypocrite if he refused, considering his own age.

“Sure.” He shrugged.

“Sonic!” Rouge uncrossed her arms.

“Really?!” Maria’s face lit up.

“Amy, I need you to stay here,” Sonic said. “These people are gonna need some help with clean-up, and any other machines on a rampage. Then, see if you can get in contact with the Chaotix. If anyone can figure out what’s going on here, it’s those guys.”

Amy smiled dreamily, and nodded confidently. “You got it, Sonic. Be careful.”

-

“Anything useful in here?” Sonic asked after a while. He and Rouge followed Maria’s suggestion to return to Tails’ workshop, and watched her rummage around for a minute before he got bored. Patience was never really his strong-suit. That was Tails’ job.

She threw another piece of equipment into her backpack and fastened it on her shoulders. “For us? No, but we could use the Tornado to fly there. You know how to fly it, right Sonic?” Maria asked.

“Right,” Sonic said with a thumbs up. It was his plane first, after all.

“And everything else is just ‘what if’ equipment,” Maria finished. “Now, let’s get going!” She jogged over to the Tornado and attempted to lift herself up. Being small wasn’t always a bonus to certain situations, though she was admittedly taller than most of the anthropomorphic Mobians she knew. Not to worry, however, as she received a boost from Sonic not too long after, and he jumped in after her. “You coming, Rouge?”

Rouge sighed, shaking her head into the palm of her hand. “I have a terrible feeling about this plan.”

-

…bang…

“More visitors?”

-

“Are you sure this is the place? It’s giving me the heebee jeebees. I don’t think Tails would come down here without putting up a fight.” A blue hedgehog with bandages climbing his forearms and lower legs, and adorning a brown bandana around his neck, crossed his arms despite the flashlight in his hand protesting the action, and glanced around the worn down factory with a look of unease. “And, my buddy’s got a good punch.”

“I don’t doubt.” A young girl brushed a lock of blonde hair out of her face as she leaned over to pick up a discarded robot from the floor. It was green in colour and had no features of overall interest, so she set it down on the counter and walked over to a green tape player. “But Rouge said that Shadow had a mission here. Right, Rouge?”

“That’s right, honey.” A white bat - wearing a black jumpsuit with streaks of pastel pink, and a cropped jacket of the same make - strutted across the floor with her wings curled in at her sides and tutted softly, knocking the robot the young girl placed off the counter with a look of disdain. “And the boss told him to bring Tails along. He’s got a mind they just want to get their hands on.”

The blue hedgehog glared at her. “They don’t have their own smart people to brainwash?”

Rouge chuckled and held up her hands in mock-surrender. “Easy, tiger. Shadow’s good with kids. Your little brother is in good hands.”

“Right.” The hedgehog scoffed. “This place was abandoned for a reason, and Tails knew it. Why’d you come here, little buddy?”

“We’ll find him, Sonic,” The young girl said soothingly. She set a hand on his shoulder with a sweet smile.

“Yeah. Thanks, Maria.”

-

New Characters Unlocked!

Sonic The Hedgehog.

Maria Robotnik.

Rouge The Bat.

New Objective: Find Shadow and Tails.

Continue…?