How the resistance had managed to imprison someone who’d caused so much peril was something they were all puzzled about, well into the next day. It had been a plan in the making since Sonic was broken out of the Death Egg. They’d spent a large portion of their time and resources on the execution, and were relieved that such risk reaped reward in the end. Tails had spent time analyzing the energy signature of the phantom ruby, and much like he’d done with Shadow, managed to build an instrument that would prevent the illusionist from using his powers. The machine was made to emit energy at the exact opposite frequency, in order to cancel out those of the phantom ruby’s. They’d sacrificed even more time on their agenda by stationing every able bodied soldier, in order to set the trap perfectly. The machine only created the opposing energy signature; it was up to the resistance as a whole to deliver it via modified wispons. Just before Infinite had been about to drop the sun on their heads, he’d been successfully subdued by Tails’ destructive interference energy signature, and escorted straight to headquarters by Shadow. _______ Gadget had volunteered to start off the first watchover shift while the resistance worked on taking Eggman down. He felt a little bit at ease knowing that the worst of the threats were taken care of - Mobius had never experienced this degree of death and despair simply at the hands of that crazy old man. It was clear by the damage done to the world, at what level the jackal operated on. The miniscule ease he’d felt was fleeting; as he approached the area of the headquarters built to house the masked villain, dread began to seep in. He’d never been allowed near this part of Tails’ workspace, and he wasn’t sure what the layout for his holding cell was even like. He had only played a small part in capturing him by using a modified wispon, and hadn’t been present for the processing of his imprisonment afterward. The jackal had been surprisingly calm about the whole situation, other than a few pointed insults towards Sonic and his friends. The red wolf wasn’t too surprised - it seemed to fit the visage Infinite put on by what little he’d gathered from their interactions. Regardless, whatever was going through that lunatic’s head was beyond him. He entered the space through a reinforced vault, and was met with Tails and Silver standing in front of another closed off vault. Tails waved him over hastily. “Heya Rookie! I don’t think we’ve ever had a real conversation before, so I don’t know your name.” “That’s okay. It’s Gadget.” “Good to know! Anyway, you don’t have to be frightened about doing this. I’ve got alarms rigged to notify the entire resistance if the frequency deviates at all! But it’s not going to, I’m confident it will hold up.” Silver used his psychokinesis to disengage all of the locking systems on the vaulted door just ahead. “I snagged one of the arm chairs from the rec room for comfort. No napping though! I hope you got that out of the way this afternoon, dude.” He had; he didn’t bother to mention that he napped any chance he got since the war had begun. He trailed behind the two, cautiously peering everywhere as if Infinite was going to jump out and run him through with a spoon. Yeah, ease was definitely out the window now. Behind a wall of beams, was a circular device suspending the masked menace in stasis. Tails noted the increased anxiety rolling off the rookie. “It doesn’t look like much, but the beams are also leeching power straight from the phantom ruby. Theoretically, it should keep it in a low power mode, or even eventually deplete its power source. Way more effective than the standard iron bars!” The explanation was enough for the red canine to feel some reassurance for his safety, even though he was still creeped out. “Uhm… is he awake?” The two tailed fox paused for a moment. “Well, he hasn’t shown any signs of awareness since we detained him here. I scanned him, and it’s almost like his body is idling. I’m not sure, the stats I got were crazy abnormal.” Gadget was back to feeling dreadful again. Silver slapped a hand on his shoulder, causing him to screech in an octave higher than normal. He could only give a withering glare towards the hedgehog, who flashed an apologetic smile. “You’re free to contact any of us for any reason at all, no questions asked. One of us can take over for you if you aren’t comfortable.” “Alright. Thanks.” ________ Shortly after, he was left alone with the dormant villain. He sat in the chair nearby to get cushy, and silently thanked the telekinetic hedgehog for the piece of luxury. Gadget slugged his bag down and cracked a book open. He’d read a few sentences, and then get self conscious and paranoid that he was being watched. Flicking his ears, he settled back into the cushioned chair. Calm your nerves, you panicky ball of fur. Gadget huffed and squinted his eyes - he’d never called himself something like that. At the same time, he realized it was eerily quiet; the white noise coming from the energy beams had dissipated. He shot out of his chair and scanned the room apprehensively. Shouldn’t there be an alarm going off or something?! I hope it’s just a silent one… The ring holding Infinite in suspense was still active, which he audibly thanked Chaos for. Jittering, the red wolf pressed the call button on his headset, to find it unresponsive. Maybe this room is too fortified for signal?! A series of clunks assaulted his ear drums, and he whirled around to see that the last thing keeping Infinite contained had fallen face down. Poised stock-still in the centre of it, was the very much non-comatose illusionist. Gadget readied his weapon in horror. Damn you, Tails and Silver!