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Cell block sixty-seven. Floor six, area A. The room was dimly lit by small lights in each corner. There was no need for a prisoner to see much light, in the eyes of Robotnik. The room had eight individual cells, five of whom were occupied by robots awaiting release. Floor six had deliberately been left with just those five, and as Tails was walked into one of the other cells, and the SWATbots let him go and retreated, he slumped to the floor and cried.

Robotnik himself stood behind them, watching or controlling their movements; Tails couldn't tell which. "Don't worry," he said, smiling horribly, "you won't be alone for long." Tails made no sign that he had heard, and maybe he hadn't. His mind was reeling with the realisation; he had been captured by Robotnik. It had only just sunk in. He never noticed the doctor depart, leaving him alone with the other occupants.

They were totally silent. On a second check, Tails' cell was protected with a forcefield generator, completely blocking the sound from outside and leaving him with just a dull hum and his own loud breathing. He absently tried to push his hand through the bars, but the forcefield generator gently pulled him back. He didn't even bother to try again.

Slowly he found himself wondering how this had happened. Sonic and Sally had meant to be in Robotropolis, not him. But it was Nintex. Nintex had touched the teleporter; on hindsight he thought he had always known it was not just a flick of the hand. But /why/? If Nintex was a spy, why would he have knocked himself out like that?

No, Tails thought, that was me. I touched the controls as well. I'll bet he wanted to come out with Sonic and Sally. It's my fault he's out cold - but why come here at all?

Slowly Tails remembered what connected Nintex and Robotropolis. Nintex had mentioned having "five friends" in Sonic and Sally's interview. Maybe Nintex had come back for them. But they were roboticized, weren't they?

He blinked.

Five friends. Staring at him from the other cells around him.

Five friends.

They were here with him.

And they were all foxes.

The door opened, still with that strange silence from the forcefield generator. Robotnik walked in, four robots behind him, moving with him. Moving so well-coordinated with his footsteps that they might have been his extra limbs. Two of them carried Nintex. Robotnik walked over to a panel and flicked off the forcefield generator. The sudden sounds in the room caught Tails by surprise; Robotnik's footsteps, the SWATbots' clanking, and the soft padding of the other foxes around them.

"How come I can hear them?" Tails asked, finding his voice. "Surely they have forcefields?"

"Of course not," said Robotnik. "Your cell is high-security; theirs are nominal. They are not likely to attempt an escape, whereas you are. Assuming, of course, that you haven't two guns aimed at you."

He was right. The two other SWATbots were staring at him from afar, guns pointed at his chest. He didn't dare move. Robotnik opened the cell and gestured the robots inside, where they put Nintex down and backed out. They never once took their glance off Tails.

"He'll need these," Robotnik said, and one of the SWATbots handed him his crutches. Tails was not thinking clearly, and he was missing details; for him, the crutches had appeared from thin air. Robotnik tossed them in and pulled the cell shut.

Tails caught him with his finger on the forcefield button. "What happens now?"

Robotnik paused for a moment. "For you?" he asked. "Nothing much."

Then the field was on, and the silence resumed.


Robotnik left Tails to his own thoughts then, knowing full well that the moment his back was turned the fox would search the cell for a way out. Tails never liked to give up; it was a trait he inherited from Sonic. But Robotnik must be confident about the cell's security if he took the SWATbots with him.

There wasn't much in the cell. A video camera and a speaker were mounted at separate corners, and Tails would have disabled them if they weren't a possible link to the outside. The metal that made up one side of the cell was obviously very deep, and further experimentation convinced the fox that the forcefield was impenetrable. The floor and ceiling were both too thick and solid to even hope to get through, although at least it gave him something to stretch his tails for. At least the cell was kind of large; clearly it was meant for a group of people, unlike the other individual cages that his neighbours watched from.

The foxes. He found himself watching them. Yes, they were roboticized, but they looked out at him with an expression that Tails had never seen on a robot; a kind of innocent curiosity. They were watching him intently without really understanding what was going on within him. And it made him nervous. Tails knew the ins and outs of robots, and programming them to act like that was something that Robotnik just wouldn't do. And, come to think of it, why were they caged anyway?

Suddenly a thought occurred to him, and he smiled. I think I get it. They're like Uncle Chuck. They're only robots, not slaves. They're free minded.

If only it were that simple.


It was a full two hours later. Tails had worried about what Sonic and Sally were doing, because he was completely cut off from them with the rest of the world. Determination and blind panic had melted together, making Tails' mind so active that sleep was impossible. Not that he hadn't tried, but within thirty seconds he was up and pacing again.

The first thing that changed within the room was Nintex. It came slowly, Tails noticing him twitch slightly, and then, mutter, "What now?"

Tails laughed, "Nintex!" He ran over and kneeled down, helping Nintex from a lying position to a sitting one. "Are you cool?"

"That's the Sonic in you," Nintex replied with a chuckle. "I'm fine, just a bit stiff. Where...?" He stopped, staring outside the bars at the robots. There was no doubt about it, these were his friends. His eyes watered as he stared at them. They stared back, yes, all five of them.

"They aren't actually roboticized," Tails said. "They just -"

Nintex interrupted: "Shut it."

Tails fell silent.

"I'm well aware they know who I am," Nintex said quietly. "But there's something wrong, there always was. Phil is nineteen, the oldest. Cy is the youngest; he's thirteen. But they're displaying all the intelligence and self-awareness of a four-year-old."

He wasn't expecting Tails to wince at that, and stared at him. "What is it?"

Tails looked down at his feet, trying to make his mind up. After a good five seconds he looked up again. "Every time people say stuff like that, it just hurts," he said.

"What did I say?" Nintex replied, readying his apology.

" 'Four-year-old,' " Tails replied. "It's just one of those things. When you've got a, um, problem, like, um, well, um..." His sentence dissolved.

Nintex was staring at him. "How old are you, Tails?" he asked.

Tails stared at the floor again. "I'm three."

"You're what?"

"I'm three."

Nintex frowned. "You're quite mistaken," he said, "to quote Shepherd. You're eleven minimum."

"I'm three," Tails repeated.

Nintex continued to stare into his eyes, trying to understand. "Tails... you can't be... Tails, when were you born?"

"Thirty-two, twenty," Tails replied. "February twenty-ninth."

Nintex thought briefly. "That makes you fourteen."

Tails looked up at him and met his gaze, repeating: "February twenty-ninth."

And then Nintex understood. He tried to find a suitable reply, but all he could manage was, "Oh."

" 'Oh.' " Tails repeated, his eyes watering. He slowly began to talk. "It's been... two years since my last birthday. That was thirty-two, and I had turned three. Sonic and Sally were... awesome party makers, and they got... they got everything, everything right. They even brought in a massive set of fireworks, just 'cause of me. And the whole village watched them, and they cheered for me, and it was the most fun I've ever, ever had..."

Nintex stared at him, shocked by this revelation. Tails sniffed and Nintex saw a tear run past his muzzle.

"And then... and then it was over. And it's been two years. And I'm still waiting. February this year, I went to bed, and it was the day before... and... and then I woke up, and it was March... and the thing just never happened. And Sal tried to make a party, but it just... it just didn't work. And..."

He couldn't talk any more. He was crying, and Nintex just didn't know what to do. After a moment, Tails moved closer to Nintex, leaning forward, and hid his face under his arms. Nintex pulled him closer to comfort him, and let him lean on his cellmate's shoulders.

As seconds became minutes, Tails' sobbing slowly died down. Five minutes later, Nintex, sadly contemplating what Tails had said, came to the slow realisation that Tails was now quiet.

He had fallen asleep on Nintex's shoulders. Nintex decided not to resist, and let him be.


Nintex must have himself fallen asleep. Some time later, it was jarred by the sudden sounds of the room. Nintex opened his eyes and saw Robotnik, standing in front of the cell door, staring inside at the two foxes huddled together. Tails' eyes jerked open and he looked up at the doctor.

"Well, well," Robotnik said. "Group morale. I'd never have guessed. Please do not forget the SWATbots." He indicated them behind him. "Hanyu, stay inside. Prower, come." He opened the cell.

Tails froze for a moment, then lifted himself from Nintex and rose to his feet, trying to get himself awake. Robotnik motioned and Tails followed, outside the cell, but oddly enough, Robotnik stopped him there, closing the cell again. A SWATbot grabbed him from behind and held him right in place.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "What's going on?"

"Question time!" Robotnik barked back. "I've met a few problems with my daring ideas, and I need help."

"Questions?" Tails echoed. "But, I don't know anything about your plan. And even if I did, why would I need to tell you? And why should I?"

Robotnik stepped aside in response, calling out into the air, "Twelve feet!" As he did so, Tails realised that he was facing the exit to the cell block. But there was something moving there, and he squinted to make sense of it. First a blue form, then the black eyes with red pupils. A golden jet intake and claws sharpened to perfection...

Metal Sonic walked forward into the room. As he strode, Tails recognised him for what he was, and instinctively pulled back. But there was no escaping that grip of the SWATbot. And even if he did, Metal Sonic was in the way of the exit. Not forgetting Nintex, who was still in the cell.

No, there was no way out of death if Metal Sonic kept walking in that line towards him. But oddly enough, he didn't. He stopped some way back, although not enough to make Tails comfortable.

"Ahh, that's fine. Twelve feet is perfect. Fox-boy: keep an eye on Metal Sonic, because you never know when he'll ignore an order." He laughed. "As with myself, Metal Sonic places little emphasis on his own susceptibility. Above his orders is one primary goal: to hurt Sonic as much as possible, and ultimately kill him. And he will gladly kill you, just to hurt him."

Tails tried to take it in. "Why would you stop him killing me?"

"I need your answers, boy. But do you take him seriously? If not, then I'll just have to bring him closer."

Tails stared fearfully at the robot that stood in front of him. "Oh, gosh," he muttered. "It really wants to kill me, doesn't it?"

For indeed, Metal Sonic was staring at the fox with such fury in his eyes that Tails completely forgot himself. "Oh gosh, oh gosh oh gosh, it wants to kill me," he said, then looked at Robotnik. "...what's the question?"

"Did you disable the satellite navigation system?" Robotnik asked.

Tails looked at Metal Sonic and Robotnik in turn; they were both taller than him. "I thought it worked," he said. "Sally was worried that it worked."

"It does, in part, but only in part. Someone made an unauthorized edit to the program. Was it you?"

"No," Tails said, shaking his head.

"Ten feet!" Robotnik called. Metal Sonic took a step closer and Tails' breathing got that much faster. "Was it you?" Robotnik repeated.

"No!" Tails yelled at him. "No it wasn't! Send him back! Send him back!"

Robotnik ignored the request. "Do you know who it was?"

"Send him back!"

In response, Robotnik shouted, "Eight feet! Now tell me/, fox-boy, /DO YOU KNOW WHO IT WAS?"

"No!" Tails yelled, panicking as Metal Sonic advanced again. "No I don't! Send him back!"

Robotnik paused, knowing that Tails was telling the truth. Time for the next question. "How many of you are here?"

"Four!" Tails yelled, struggling in the SWATbot's grasp, no longer thinking clearly at all. "Sonic, Sally, me and Nintex! You've seen us all here! Send him back!"

"Why are you here?"

"Help! Nintex, help!"

"Six feet! Fox-boy, listen to my question! /Why are you here/?"

Tails watched as Metal Sonic took the next step forward. It seemed to take forever to happen, as if the robot was enjoying the torture. But for a brief moment, the mechanic inside Tails took over, and he watched the robot with interest as it brought its hand into a solid fist, motors inside whirring. Then he realised what it was going to use that fist for, and then -

"Four feet! Why are you here?"

"I don't know!" Tails screamed, as Metal Sonic advanced once again. "Sonic and Sally went, and Nintex messed up the teleporter and I grabbed it! I'm not meant to be here! Let me go! Get that robot back!"

Robotnik listened to this answer with interest. "Interesting... that's a question for Hanyu, then..."

"Help, Nintex!" Tails called. He had lost the focus to tell whether or not Nintex actually knew he was yelling. "HELP!"

"Fox-boy," Robotnik called. "Listen to me! Answer this question: /how do you plan to stop me/?"

"LET ME GO!" Tails yelled.

"TWO FEET!" Robotnik roared. Metal Sonic took a further pace and now he was right in Tails' face.

This was too much. "LET ME GO!" Tails yelled.

"ANSWER THE QUESTION!"

"LET ME GO!"

"ANSWER IT!"

"LET ME GO! LET ME GO, LET ME GO, GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME AND LET ME GO!"

Robotnik stopped. This was no longer working. He needed to let the fox think and calm him down; at the moment he wasn't even capable of answering the questions. "/Twelve feet/," he called. He seemed almost sad.

But this was not how Metal Sonic saw it. The robot smashed a fist into Tails chest, before turning around and walking back to the twelve-foot mark. Tails, winded by the blow, groaned and dropped to the ground. The SWATbot forced him back up and very quickly he was back in the cell, where he collapsed to the ground, breathing hard.

Robotnik dismissed Metal Sonic with a wave of his hand. He had not expected that kind of reaction from the robot, although looking back on it, it was not too surprising. He then called in a SWATbot which was hanging just outside Tails' line of sight, and took from it two large but thin boxes. Nintex stared at them, not sure he was seeing it correctly.

Robotnik turned them on their thin side and passed them through the bars, pushing them onto Tails' leg.

"Here," he said, smiling at them both. "Pizza time."

Tails stared at the pizza boxes, disbelieving, and was sure he would pass out. Unfortunately, he was wrong.