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Darkness.

Blinding darkness.

Rain pelted Tails' body like bullets, making him flinch in the air. The teleporter swung wildly in his grip as gravity came into effect. Tails let it go and flew, almost by instinct. Only then did he realise that that was a bad idea; the device fell some twenty feet onto a metal surface below. Nintex fell too, and collided with the ground with a jarring /thud/. When Tails had got himself down, his comrade was unmoving.

"Wake up!" he yelled desperately, shaking Nintex by the chest. But the fox didn't; he simply lay on the ground, offering no resistance. The teleporter had taken damage too; in fact, it looked beyond repair. It had smashed on the metal; some components had scattered over the ground and Tails could see a circuit board snapped right in half by the collision.

He gave up on both of them and slowly looked up, to see where he was.

The sky was dark with clouds. As Tails watched, lightning flared some way away, followed by the thunder half a second later. The rain was so thick that he was already drenched, and his fur was completely stuck together. The city smelled of oil and smoke, and Tails realised that he was not on ground level - he was poised on the edge of a five-storey tower building. Underneath his feet and the sound of the rain he could hear the systematic sound of heavy machinery. Over the side, below him, was one of the dirt paths, except that it had become muddy sludge from the rain.

Turning away from the side of the building, Tails noticed a set of crates with him on the roof, and on one of the far corners was mounted a large long-range antenna - Tails guessed that it was for Robotropolis's autopilot system. Above him were long rows of hovercraft, forming queues that moved no slower than one could do singly. Robotnik always kept his traffic moving.

He saw blue in the corner of his eye.

Sonic was below him, on the muddy trail, trying not to slip. Sally stood behind him, less visible on a brown surface, also having footwork problems. Tails grinned at the sight of them. They were alive! He called out to them: "SONIC!"

But the rain was too loud, and it drowned him out completely. Sonic and Sally didn't even notice him, and carried on walking past his building. He put his hands to his mouth and tried again:

"SONIC! SALLY! SONIC! OVER HERE!"

But they didn't even notice.

"SONIC! SONIC, SALLY!"

Nothing. They were walking away from him, oblivious. Tails wasn't ready to give up, and was just getting ready to leap off to fly to them, but then something happened. One of the hovercraft seemed to be completely ignoring the queue system, and Tails got a good look at it as it flew right past his face. It had a red stripe along its side that no other had.

Tails tried to hide behind the tiny jut-out that marked the edge of the building. He knew what that stripe meant. That was Robotnik's personal hovercraft, and of all things, he didn't want to be seen by the great doctor. He retreated away from the edge and accidentally caught his foot on one of Nintex's discarded crutches.

Robotnik's ship passed by him, and he breathed a sigh of relief -

There was a flash of lightning, far, far too close. Thunder exploded, rocking Tails' ears, making him shriek and grab the motionless Nintex.

The antenna.

It lay in flaming pieces, surrounding the transmitter base, wrecked. The next sound was a mechanical klaxon that was even louder than the rain, because it came from a hundred places at once.

The hovercraft queues fell apart, becoming a massive swarm, and the danger appeared instantly as each one tried to track the autopilot network without a broadcaster. The sky filled with crashes and bright explosions as the craft manoeuvred into one another. The one that was Robotnik's was no better off; it veered around a complete one-hundred-and-eighty degrees, finishing its turn and aiming right for one of the buildings.

Tails watched it approach, until he realised that it was coming for the building he was on.

"Come on!" he yelled uselessly to Nintex. No reply came, so Tails grabbed his arm and tried to drag him behind the crates on the rooftop. Nintex's body resisted him too much.

The hovercraft came crashing down on the other side of the rooftop. It slid, grating loudly, sparks flying, and eventually halted not too far from the other edge. Tails gave up the struggle with Nintex and ducked down to his level, trying to keep himself still.

The door opened, and then Tails forgot about hiding.

It was indeed Robotnik flying the craft, but not as Tails had ever seen him. As he stepped out, he had one hand to his head, trying desperately to control himself. He meandered away from his vehicle and collapsed on his hands and feet. Then the doctor burped loudly and threw up all over the metal rooftop.

Tails watched for a moment longer, then pointed and burst out laughing at him.

He gasped as the doctor looked right into his eyes, burning fury at him. Robotnik lifted himself to his feet, composing himself, and Tails lost his will to laugh.

"Well, well," he said, pointing back. "Fox-boy Tails comes down to see the show."

He pulled something out of his pocket, and threw it over. Instinctively Tails reached out to catch it, but the moment it was in his hands, SWATbots came up from behind him and had him in their grip.

Tails strained for a moment, then realised what he was holding. It was a device he'd created himself not long ago, for five uses on Sally's mission. The device that sent Sonic's phoney video out to the nearest spybot. Sally must have left it here without realising.

"I see you're not alone," he said, staring down at Nintex's form below him, then back at Tails. "Stop struggling, boy. It will help nothing."

Tails knew it. He fell limp in the SWATbot's impenetrable grasp.

"Knothole's newcomer," he said. "Nintex Hanyu... I expected him in better shape."

Tails' jaw fell open. His unasked question flicked across the air without any need.

"Oh, come on, fox-boy. I have my knowledge, you have yours. But you must know, surely, that dear old Hanyu here has just returned from a short absence?"

"Old?" Tails asked, not meaning to.

"Much older than you," Robotnik replied with a subtle sneer. Tails caught it and shut up, glowing from embarrassment. But a moment later the doctor was smiling broadly. "Come on, boy!" he enthused. "My city is a fantastic sight in the morning, don't you think? I'd like to show you around. And your friend here, we can't forget him, now, can we?"

Tails couldn't find a suitable reply.


"You!" called a voice. Sir Charles froze in place, and turned to look. At the other end of the corridor was the last person he wanted to see: Robotnik's tiny nephew, Snively.

"Where are you going?" he called accusingly, walking up. "Off-shift power units are that way." He pointed to one of the off-hand corridors.

Sir Charles thought fast. "Seeking repairs, heading for maintenance area."

"I'd love to repair you," Snively replied cruelly. "What is the nature of the problem?"

"Motor."

"/Ah/," he continued, "limbs all messed up. Care to let me rearrange them for you?"

"Maintenance area has detailed information about the problem," Sir Charles replied.

Snively frowned. "Get going, then. And hurry up! We need you in proper service by nine sharp!"

Sir Charles ran down the corridor towards the maintenance area, not looking back. His hideout was in the other direction, so he would have to make a turn quite soon.

As he made his way through the different sections of the city, he found himself wondering just how serious Snively was about his 'offer'.


"Come on," Robotnik greeted, gesturing to the hovercraft.

Tails obliged, not because he wanted to, but because he was being pushed by the SWATbot. The hovercraft was sleek black inside, and the LED-lit controls made for quite a futuristic-looking set-up. Robotnik sat down in the pilot's seat and Tails was thrust into the co-pilot's. He felt very small beside the doctor, and made no effort to resist his captors.

Two SWATbots came in carrying Nintex together. He was carefully set down in the back compartment. His crutches, interestingly, were thrown in with him.

"How can you see?" Tails asked. He was talking about the front window, onto which the rain was falling, smearing outside vision badly.

"I have tricks," Robotnik said, and then a moment later the window began to clear. The rain seemed to be falling away from it. "Forcefield generator," he continued. "Fascinating, isn't it?"

Tails had to nod. The door clicked shut behind him, and he knew he was in this for the long run.

The craft took off with queer silence, and the floor buckled as it accelerated into the air. Tails stared at the control board in front of him, and shrank back from it. He had no desire to touch the controls. Not a single one was labelled.

Suddenly he noticed two figures outside, on the dirt-track. Sonic and Sally. He had forgotten about them. So much for using his device. He glanced sideways to Robotnik, who raised an eyebrow at them.

"So you two aren't alone here..." he said. "Interesting... I did wonder whether you could get here on your own." He snickered for a moment.

"Are you going to take them?" Tails asked, dreading the response.

Robotnik thought for a long moment. "No," he replied. "No, I have a better idea."

Tails' ears flattened. Maybe he would have been better off with 'yes'...

Something beeped above Robotnik's console, and he glanced to the side, away from Tails. He pushed a button and the image of Metal Sonic appeared on a screen. The robot paused for a moment to note Tails' presence and decided to say something else.

"Master, what has happened?"

"I've brought a friend!" Robotnik laughed, glancing at Tails, who tried to pull away. He was still held in place by the SWATbot. "We could make him number twelve, couldn't we!" He carried on laughing.

"He would resist," Metal Sonic replied, then returned the joke: "And you would forget, as with seventeen. Is he your only prisoner?"

"No," Robotnik answered, glancing back to Tails. "Hanyu is unconscious with us. And we have other visitors below, but I'll introduce them myself later. Is there anything else?"

Metal Sonic paused for a moment. "Lightning has just struck one of the autopilot transmitters," he said.

Robotnik frowned. "I know that. I was here when it hit. Half the hovercraft out here are destroyed, and the others are down. I will finish this later." He cut the connection.

There was a moment's silence.

"He said 'prisoner'," Tails said uselessly.

Robotnik nodded. "You two will have to help me for the time being, I'm afraid."

Tails gulped and stared down at his feet.


Sir Charles stepped out the door and stared in shock.

The dirt-track was not the empty area it normally was. Hovercraft simply littered the scene all the way in both directions. Some of them had landed successfully on the track. Others had been ripped open in a mid-air collision. Sir Charles could see the SWATbot inside the nearest one, unmoving, frozen in an attempt to adjust the flight angle. The side of the craft was missing, as was the SWATbot's left arm. He could see a decent amount of the robot's electronics.

The whole scene simply froze him. What had happened? How could Robotnik have let something like this occur?

He remembered slowly that he was off-shift. He could go back to the hideout and check for news. Robotnik must have said something to explain all this.

He set off along the path. He sometimes tried to run, but in other places, hovercraft had fallen down together and he had to crawl between them. It was slow work.

Ten minutes later he passed the refinery area and turned left. It was a relief to get off the dirt-track, even if it meant passing through an alleyway. He ignored the taller buildings and went through, recognising everything.

A very large pile of scrap metal lay behind one of the buildings. Since that building was entirely disused, the metal had never been moved. What Robotnik hadn't realised was that there was a cavity inside it, housing a small few rooms.

Sir Charles found the Tesla coil that marked the entrance, and pulled. A whole square of rubbish came away, quite secured to a slab of metal. He carefully crawled through the gap and replaced the slab.

Once you were inside, you would never have known that it was under a pile of rubbish. It was cosy if a little tight, but around the room were various items that made it almost look like it was a basic living room. There were two doors to smaller rooms which were for storage.

This time, however, Sir Charles didn't glance around the place, enjoying his freedom here - he was staring at the two people right in the centre: Sonic and Sally.

"Hi!" he said, hugging his nephew. "Weren't expecting you here."

"We've got stuff to do, and help to find," Sonic replied. "And you're both."