Chapter 9 - Kidnapped and Careless

“So where’s the creep holding her?”

“Eggmanland, at least that’s where he wants you to bring the chaos emerald.”  Sonic crossed his arms.

“We’ll have to take the Tornado,” Tails said as his mother finished diapering him, “it’ll take too long to go on foot.”

“For you maybe,” Sonic said as Tails stood up, “the emerald’s still at the workshop, right?”

“Yeah, I kept it in my room.”  Tails grabbed his onesie and overalls.  “Can you get me dressed mom?”

“Of course sweetie.”  She smiled and quickly dressed him.

“Thanks mommy.”  Tails hugged her.

As Sonic and Tails turned to leave, Rosemary grabbed Tails’s hand.  “Miles, please be careful.  I don’t want my little baby to get hurt again.  If you get into any trouble, just let Sonic handle it, okay?”

Tails turned around to see his mother’s worrisome eyes.  “I’ll be fine mom.  I’ll leave the serious fighting to Sonic.”  He assured her.

“Alright, you two stay safe.  And make sure Eggman gets what’s coming to him.”

“We will Mrs. Prower, don’t worry about a thing.”  Sonic grinned.

And with that, Sonic and Tails were out the door and off to the workshop.

“So, what’s the plan?”  Sonic asked.

“Well, I was thinking about trying the fake emerald idea again.  I’ve got plenty of ‘em sitting around.”  Tails suggested.

“Hmm, you think he’d be dumb enough to fall for that again?”

“I dunno, maybe we should play it safe and just give him the emerald.  We can always get it back later, and I’ve already got 2 others at the workshop.”  

“Well either way, I could just lay some smackdown on eggface until he lets Ebony go.”  Sonic grinned.

“I don’t know about that either Sonic.  I’d rather not run the chance of any one of us getting hurt, especially Ebony or you.”  Tails sighed as they neared his workshop.

Sonic let out a sigh and stopped.  “That’s why you just leave the fighting to me buddy, I’m more than capable of handling myself.”

“I know that.”  Tails twiddled his fingers.  “But, what if it’s more than you can handle?  I really don’t wanna see you get hurt!”

Sonic could tell Tails was on the verge of tears.  He smiled warmly and hugged Tails.  “I’ll be fine baby bro.”

“Y-you promise?”  Tails asked.

“I promise.”  Sonic said releasing Tails.  “Besides, egghead’s never really had much of a killer instinct.  And if things get too hairy, we can always just hightail it out of there and come up with a better plan.”

Tails rubbed his eyes.  “I guess you’re right Sonic.  I don’t know why I got so worked up over it.”

“You’ve always been more in touch with your emotional side than the rest of us guys, maybe the baby stuff just brought it out even more or something?”  Sonic shrugged.

“Maybe, I guess I’m a little worked up over Ebony being kidnapped too.”  Tails said opening the main door to his shop.  “I haven’t told her this yet, but, after all the time I’ve spent with her, she’s kinda like a big sister to me now.”

“Like how we have our little/big brother relationship?”  Sonic asked stepping into the shop.

“Yeah, exactly like that!”  Tails exclaimed.  “Although, I’m not sure if she feels the same way.  She already has a baby brother, and they’re twins too.”

Sonic put his hand on Tails’s shoulder.  “I’m sure she’d love to have you as a baby brother if you just ask her.”

“I guess you’re right.”  Tails smiled and waddled over to the Tornado.  “We should get going though, don’t wanna keep her waiting too long.”

“And judging by Professor Pickle’s critique on the menu, I’m sure she’s probably pretty hungry too.”  Sonic laughed and hopped onto the back of the plane.

“I’ll bet she is, those sandwiches really looked awful.”  Tails giggled and opened the main hangar door.  “Oh wait a sec, Sonic can you grab the emerald from my room?  It should be in the duffle bag on my bed.”

“Sure thing.”  Sonic hopped down and sped around to the main door to the house, grabbed the bag, and sped back.  “This it?”

“Yup, check just to make sure it’s in there.”

“Let’s see, diapers, changing supplies, there it is.”  Sonic pulled out the blue emerald for a second and stashed it back into the bag.  He hopped back onto the plane and threw the bag into the vacant seat.

“Ready to go?”  Tails asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”  Sonic braced himself as the Tornado began moving.

Tails readied his goggles and the Tornado began its ascent towards Eggmanland.

An hour later, the bright lights of Eggmanland appeared on the horizon as they neared the sadistic looking amusement park.

“How the heck does he keep this place running?”  Sonic asked craning his neck to get a better look.  

“I don’t know.”  Tails stated looking for a place to land.  “Hold on, we might be hitting some turbulence pretty soon here.”

Tails circled the area a few times before he spotted a place he could safely land.

“Why don’t I just hop out here and you can hang back and wait for me.”  Sonic said readying himself to hop off.

“What?!  No way Sonic, I’m coming too!”  Tails glanced back at Sonic.  He pulled the plane into a landing and came to a stop.  “There’s no way I’m letting you go in there alone!”

“And I don’t want you to get hurt!  I can tell you’re still limping a little and I can’t say that I’ll be able to protect both of us at the same time in this place.”  Sonic hopped to the ground crossing his arms.

Tails eased himself down and winced a bit upon landing.  “I’m fine, really.  I can pull my own weight Sonic, don’t treat me like-”  He paused.

“Like what, a baby?”  Sonic asked still with his arms crossed.

“Well, in this case yeah.”  Tails said quietly.

Sonic let out a sigh.  “Alright fine, I just wish you had something to better protect yourself with, like the Tornado III or something.”

“Need I remind you that the Tornado III got totally wrecked after the whole Ark incident?”  Tails put his hands on his hips.

“Oh, forgot about that.”  Sonic scratched his head.  “Anyway, you still got the Miles Electric?  We might need it to bypass some of the security in this place seeing as I don’t have the same brute strength that I did last time I was here.”

“Yup, got it right here.”  Tails said holding up the handheld.  “See, what would you do without me?”

“Hehe, I think I’d find some way to survive.”  Sonic ruffled Tails’s hair.

“You don’t mean that!”  Tails laughed.

“Of course I don’t.  Now let’s get moving, we don’t want to keep Eggface waiting.”  Sonic turned around.

“Right, let’s move.”  Tails said as they walked towards the main entrance.

To their surprise, the place seemed almost deserted.  Everything was up and running, but there were no guards or arrogant PA announcements blaring over the intercom. 

“Something’s not right here.”  Sonic looked around.  “This is way too quiet, even by Eggman’s standards.”

“What do you mean?”

“Usually he’s gloating over the intercom by now, but there’s nothing.”  Sonic pointed to a speaker mounted to a pole.  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“Hmm, maybe he’s hiding something?”  Tails suggested.

“Maybe, either way we should get going.  And keep your wits about you, I’d rather avoid getting caught up in any traps.” 

“Got it, I’ll be careful.”  Tails said as they walked through the main gate. 

As they continued walking, the gate closed behind them.  “Guess there’s no turning back now.”  Sonic glanced over his shoulder and back at Tails.  “So, any idea where Eggman’s hiding?”

“If I had to guess, I’d say that big tower in the center of the park.”  Tails pointed to a large tower.  “From what I can tell, it’s gotta be the control tower for this place, and probably Eggman’s HQ.”

“Got’cha, big tower in the middle of the park.”  Sonic glanced towards the tower.  “How far out are we?”

“About 5 miles, this place is a lot bigger than I thought it was.”

“That’d be a quick enough jog if all this junk wasn’t in the way, the long way it is then.”  Sonic sighed.

“Sorry, I’d fly us over all of this but I can barely manage to stay airborne for more than a few minutes myself while wearing all this.  So I doubt I’d be able to carry you for too long.”

“That’s fine, we’ve got plenty of time.  I can suck it up and go at a slower pace this time.”  Sonic shrugged.

“Thanks Sonic.” Tails smiled.

The two made for the tower as quickly as possible and managed to get there within half an hour.  

Sonic walked up to the huge door at the base of the tower.  “Think we should knock or ring the doorbell?”  He asked sarcastically.

“Brute force always seems to work.  Besides, I’m gonna ring his bells once we find him.”  Tails clenched his fist.

“Easy there buddy, I’ll give ya a couple shots on him once I’m finished with him.”  Sonic grinned pressing his foot against the door.  “Hmm, seems pretty solid.  Think you can hack it?”

“Of course I can!”  Tails said whipping out the Miles Electric.  He plugged the device into an outlet and in half a minute the door whooshed open.

“You never cease to amaze me.”

“I aim to please.”  Tails smiled walking behind Sonic.

The room was dark and Tails clung to Sonic shivering a bit.  Sonic stopped and looked around.

Something’s not right, it’s way too quiet in here.  Sonic thought.

As Tails opened his mouth to say something, the lights came on all at once blinding both of them for a moment.

“Gah ha ha ha!  How nice of you to join us!”  Eggman taunted floating down in his eggmobile.  “And there was me thinking you wouldn’t even show your face let alone even come here.”

“Eggman, I was about to say the same thing.”  Sonic taunted back.

“Where are you keeping Ebony you creep?!”  Tails yelled.

“Don’t worry, rest assured your little ‘baby’sitter is perfectly fine.  Although, she is a little, tied up at the moment.”  Eggman chuckled.

“Why you-!”  Tails was about to fly up when Sonic stopped him.

“Let me handle this buddy, you stay back for now.”  

“A-alright.”  Tails nodded.

“Aww what’s the matter?  Afraid the little baby will get hurt?”  Eggman mocked.

Tails’s eyes went wide.  “Y-you knew?”

“Of course I know about your little secret, I like to keep tabs on all of my enemies!”  Eggman laughed.  “Although strange as your little double life is, it just makes you that much more of a freak than you already are.”

Tails fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands crying.

Sonic bent down and hugged Tails.  “You big, fat jerk!  You didn’t have to say all of that!”

Eggman grinned and lowered his eggmobile into a robot conveniently placed to the side.  “Oh, hit a nerve did I?  Then let’s make this a little more interesting!”

“Wait!  You said you’d let Ebony go if we gave you the emerald that Tails took from you the other day, right?”  Sonic yelled.

“Hmm, I guess I did say that.”  Eggman stroked his moustache.  “On second thought, if you would be so kind as to hand over the other emeralds that you’ve gathered then I will gladly release the girl.”

“Not on your life you creep.”  Sonic stared at him angrily.

“Well then, the deal is off.  But I can still enjoy grinding you to a pulp.”

“Like hell you will.”  Sonic leapt at the machine.

While Sonic dodged Eggman’s attacks, Tails regained his composure.

I’m not a freak, just because I’m different doesn’t mean I am.  And I’ve got plenty of friends who say otherwise.  He stood up and wiped his face.  “I gotta find Ebony before Egghead notices.”  He ran over to a staircase and started climbing.  Once he had gone up what had to be about 10 floors, he came to an open room filled with what looked like prison cells.  Well, fancy prison cells, but still a prison.  He almost tripped from a huge tremor from below.  “I hope Sonic’s okay.”

Down below Sonic was doing his best to avoid the machine’s blows, but it was slowly catching up to him.  Every time he managed to get an attack in, he simply bounced off the machine’s armor followed by the typical taunting from Eggman.  He stopped for a moment to catch his breath when suddenly the machine’s fist came out of nowhere sending him flying into the wall.  Before he could hit the floor, he was pinned to the wall by the other hand.  “Damn…..it.”

“Well then, ready to give up now?”

“Not…likely.”  Sonic struggled to grin.  “I’ve beaten your sorry butt more times than I can count, nothing I can’t handle.”

“Heh, you’re in no position to gloat my friend.”  Eggman pushed the machine harder crushing Sonic even more.

Sonic did his best to avoid getting himself crushed.  Come on Tails, hurry it up!

“Ebony!  Ebony where are you?!”  Tails yelled running around the prison complex.

“Tails?  Tails is that you?”  Ebony called from the far end of the room.

“Ebony!”  Tails’s eyes lit up and he rushed over to her cell.  “Oh thank god you’re okay, I-I don’t know what I woulda done if you had gotten hurt.”

“It’s okay buddy.”  She reassured him.  “Now how about getting me out of here, I could go for some real food right about now.”

Tails looked over at the plate of measly looking sandwiches.  “Looks like he still hasn’t found a decent chef.”  He plugged the Miles Electric into the control panel.  “I should have the door open in just a second.”

Within a few seconds, the door to the cell opened and Ebony stepped out.  “Phew, thanks Tails.  I appreciate it.”

Once Ebony stepped out, Tails hugged her tightly.  “I’m so happy you’re alright.”

“I’m sorry that I worried you, I can only imagine how my family feels right now.”  She hugged him back.

Another tremor came from below nearly knocking both of them to the floor.

“What on earth is going on down there?”  Ebony said bracing herself.

“Sonic and Eggman are fighting.”  Tails stood up.  “I hope he’s okay.”

“Come on, we should try to help him.”  Ebony grabbed Tails’s hand and they made their way back down the stairs.

Once they reached the bottom, Tails looked around trying to find Sonic until he spotted him pinned against the wall.  “Sonic!”

“Any last words pest?”  Eggman grinned.

“Just a couple, lean in will ya.”

“Hmm?”  Eggman leaned the cockpit closer as Sonic mouthed random words.  Frustrated, he opened up the cockpit to hear what he was saying.

“You…really…are…stupid…NOW TAILS!”

“Huh?”  Eggman started to turn around as a wrench made contact with his face sending him flying out of the cockpit.  The machine slowly fell the other way releasing Sonic from the wall.

“Phew, thought I was a goner for a second there.”  Sonic panted once he landed.

“Sonic!”  Tails ran up to him followed by Ebony.  “Sonic are you-oh my god, your face!”

“What?  What about my face?”  Sonic looked confused as he felt his face.  Withdrawing his hand, he noticed that his glove was covered in blood.

Tails held up the Miles Electric like a mirror for Sonic.  “Look for yourself.”

Sonic looked and immediately regretted doing so.  His nose was probably broken, he had a black eye, and he was covered in scrapes and bruises.  “Yeesh, no wonder it hurts so much.”

“Yeah, you look even worse than I did a few days ago.”  Tails said taking a closer look.  “You’ll have to go to the hospital to get yourself looked at.”

“A hospital?  No way man, I’m fine, really.”  Sonic gave a shaky thumbs up before clutching his arm.

“Sure you are.”  Tails laughed.  “Come on, let’s get the heck out of here.  I’m sure Ebony’s family will be more than happy to see her again.”

“You’ve got my vote, let’s go.”  Ebony said as they walked out of the tower.

“Hey Tails, you think you could fly ahead and grab the Tornado?  There should be plenty of space here for you to make a landing.”  Sonic suggested.

“Sure thing, it’ll take me a few minutes but I’ll be right back.”  Tails said before flying off.

After about 10 minutes, Tails flew the Tornado overhead a few times and eventually landed in a clearing not too far from the tower.  Ebony helped Sonic over to the plane and sat him in the second seat behind Tails.

“Sorry Ebony, you’re gonna have to hang on like Sonic usually does, there’s only 2 seats on this plane.”  Tails apologized.

“That’s okay, it looks like Sonic is in pretty bad shape as it is.” 

“I know, we’ll definitely have to take him to the hospital once we get back.”  Tails said getting ready to take off.  “You all set back there?”

“Yup, good to go.”  Ebony smiled.

“Ugh, as good as I’ll ever be.”  Sonic sighed.

Tails laughed and took off.  During the long trip back, Sonic had fallen asleep and Tails touched down outside his workshop.

“Here we are,” Tails hopped out of the plane, “take Sonic and bring him inside.  Set him on the couch for a while.”

Ebony grabbed Sonic and carried him into the house.  She carefully set him on the couch as Tails walked inside.  “Do you have a phone or something I could use to call home?  I can just get someone to pick me up instead.”

“You can just use the Miles Electric, it should work just fine.”  Tails handed the device to her.

“Thanks Tails.”  Ebony said.  Tails turned the device on for her and dialed the number.  “Hello?”

“Ebony?  Is that really you?  Oh thank god you’re alright!”  Her mother answered from the other end.

“Yeah, I’m just fine mom.  A little hungry is all.  But do you think you can come pick me up?  I’m over at Tails’s workshop in the Mystic Ruins.”

“But of course!  I’ll be there as soon as I can!” 

“Thanks mom, see you in a few.”  Ebony hung up and handed the device back to Tails.

“Umm, before you go.  Do you think you could change me real quick?”  Tails asked shyly.

Ebony giggled.  “Sure thing.”