The next day, Tails is about to leave the hideout so he can get into the city and take his mind off last night, to replace the lamp he tossed at Sonic and fix the thesaurus he also threw at him.

He jumps in his plane and throws his bag in the back, before he can start the engine though.

"Tails!" Knuckles shouts.

The fox turns around and sees Knuckles coming towards him.

"Where are you going?" Knuckles asks.

"Nightstar City. Why?" Tails asks as he puts on his flight jacket.

"Sonic called a team meeting, he's waiting for you" Knuckles says, putting his hands on the edge of the cockpit.

That name again... Fuck off with that name... I hope he burns in a fire

"Not interested, fill me in when I get back" Tails says, trying to not let his rage boil over.

"Huh?! Tails this is about the dude who hired those guys to kill us. The Four Seasons have information for us!" Knuckles says, urging his friend to stay and come to the meeting.

"I have a busy schedule Knuckles, can you step back so I can take off?! You did this last time, and now you're doing it again! Move!" Tails asks, his frustration boiling over slightly.

Knuckles is yet again surprised by his sudden change of tone, he sighs and looks down at the dirt, "I don't think Sonic's gonna like this"

"I could honestly care less what Sonic says or thinks. Step back!" Tails says, his frustration finally taking over.

Knuckles isn't scared of much, but when Tails, who's usually not hostile or aggressive snaps at him, he jumps a little. Reluctantly he steps back lets Tails start his engine and he watches him take off towards the city. As the plane gets further and further from the hideout, Knuckles wonders what made Tails snap at him like that, after all Tails was the dude who just sat in his workshop making stuff and was sometimes if not often seen as the crybaby of the team.

---

Winter meanwhile had been at Burning Hearts since the morning, today he decided to lend an extra hand and help the waiters and waitresses serve customers, he may have been the CEO of the restaurant, but to him it didn't mean he could sit on his butt all day and do almost nothing. He sets down a tray of food for a couple at the restaurant for brunch.

"Enjoy!" He says.

"Thank you lad" The older man says.

As the wolf walks off he's stopped by Alex who's giving him a sly smirk, hands on his hips, an empty tray under his arm.

"What" Winter says.

"So where did you go yesterday?... Where you with your favourite fox?"

"Fleetwood, and...." He sighs, annoyed with how perceptive the mountain lion was, "Yes... I was with Tails"

"So when are you two gonna start dating?" He teases.

"Yeah I don't think he's romantically interested in me" Winter responds, crossing his arms, walking towards the kitchen to see if there were any more orders ready.

"I doubt it Winter, I saw the way he was looking at you after the show that day, it looked like he was really interested in getting with you" Alex says, following him to the kitchen.

"He just likes me because I sing good... I highly doubt he's even into me like that. Besides. I don't know a lot about love, and I'm honestly happy dying alone"

"Wow..." Alex responds, shocked with what he just said, "That's not a positive way to think at all..."

"How about this. If I'm wrong and by some miraculous miracle he does like me, I will let you add one thing to the menu and price it at however much you want" Winter says, smirking at him.

"Oh come on that's not fair!" Alex says, fuming at how.

"Haha! It's because you know he doesn't like me like that. We're just friends, will probably stay that way forever" Winter says, taking a plate of food from the counter and putting it on his tray as well as a paper telling him which table it was for.

"You're a nasty little dude you know..." Alex pouts, picking up some food and putting it on his tray, as well as the paper for his table too.

"I know. I can be a pretty mean kid when I wanna be" Winter says back, snickering loudly.

"I will remember that you said that though, pfft, little jerk" Alex says, Winter pets his back trying to comfort his friend.

As the day goes by, lunch eventually comes, and when noon finally arrives so does Tails at Burning Hearts, carrying a box with his new lamp and fixed thesaurus. The fox sees Winter setting down some plates on a table with a family and his tails start wagging excitedly, when he's done he calls him out.

"Winter!" Tails shouts, waving enthusiastically, a big bright smile on his face.

Winter turns when he hears him, smiling and waving back to him.

"Tails!"

The wolf goes to the front where the fox is and the two hug eachother. Tails' heartbeat slows a little, he felt relaxed now that he was in his arms, a sense of relief, safety washing over him as he squeezes him. Winter felt calmer too, hugging the other felt like letting everything go, like relaxing after in a hot spring.

When they separate, they hold eachothers hands, their tails wagging gently.

"Are you feeling any better?" Winter asks.

"Mhm. That talk we had last night helped, thanks" Tails says, embracing him again.

"Happy to help" Winter responds, hugging him back.

"So what's on the menu today?" Tails asks.

Winter then notices the box he's got right next to him, "First tell me what the big box is for"

"Oh... I uh... I threw my lamp at Sonic and I had to get a new one because I broke it" Tails explains, scratching the back of his head nervously, avoiding eye contact.

"Wow... Tails-"

"Yeah, I know... I should have just screamed at him to leave me alone" Tails says.

Winter puts his hand on his head, "Yeah that would have been the much better thing to do"

The fox smiles at him, but then his stomach growls audibly, Winter raises his eyebrow and looks down at the embarrassed Tails.

"When did you last eat?" Winter asks.

"I... I uh, left early this morning and didn't have time to eat anything" Tails responds, avoiding eye contact with him.

"Were you in a bad mood?" Winter asks again.

"Kinda..." Tails responds, "Can we talk in your office? There's something that's been on my mind for a while..."

"Sure" Winter says, holding Tails' hand as he leads him to the office.

Winter sits Tails down on the sofa and turns on the television for him so he could watch something while the kitchen prepared their lunch. Winter eventually comes back with spaghetti and chicken parmesan with some meatballs in there as well, when Tails sees it his mouth starts watering.

"Ohhhhh god, that smells good" Tails says, his tails wagging excitedly, ears raised in anticipation.

Winter can't help but laugh a little at him, his enthusiasm was just that entertaining.

"Did you make it?! Did you? Did you?!" Tails says, practically shaking from excitement.

"I helped with it" Winter responds.

"Mmmf, I wanna eat it now... Can I eat it? Can I?"

Winter finally breaks out into laughter, he just found Tails to be so adorable and he couldn't help it, "Yeah, you can eat it"

"WOOOO! Itadakimasu!" Tails shouts picking up his fork and spoon.

The fox digs in, enjoying every bite of the food he was given, Winter starts eating his plate of spaghetti too. In no time at all, the fox boy is done with his food while Winter is still eating, and he's leaning back on the sofa, Winter was impressed with how fast he finished his food, so fast he could probably give Goku a run for his money.

"Bah! That was delicious!" Tails says, then he takes a napkin so he can wipe his mouth.

"Uhhhhhh huh" Winter says, terrified at how fast he finished the plate of food, he stares at him and drops his fork on the table.

"Can I have some more?" Tails asks, his eyes full of stars.

Winter falls backwards off his chair when he hears Tails ask for more, Tails sits there puzzled at what just happened. Winter eventually stands back up and picks his chair up too.

"That plate should hold you until dinner and you want more?!" Winter shouts, finally managing to say it.

"Mhm" Tails goes.

"You're scary..." Winter says, sweating nervously

"I'm not scary! I'm a fox! A fox who loves building stuff and hugging his friend" Tails says, standing up so he could hug Winter, which he proceeds to do, squeezing the wolf firmly.

"Uh huh" Winter responds, "I'll pack you some to go"

"Thanks" Tails says, he leads Winter to the sofa and sits there with himself on the wolf's lap, laying his head on his chest.

"Tired?" Winter asks, petting him gently.

Tails shakes his head, "Being with you is relaxing. I like being able to show this side of me to you... There's only one other person who's seen this side of me, and I hate him now so"

"Oh... Yeah" Winter says, feeling a bit awkward.

Tails brings Winters head down on top of his, allowing him to use it as a pillow. Winter's ear twitches, and he moans a little, much to Tails' satisfaction.

"I wanna just lay here with you all day" Tails says, closing his eyes.

Winter struggles to say anything, why? Because he was really close to him, and staying close to him longer than usual, he could feel the fox's heartbeat, his warm face in his chest, feel him breathe as he layed there in his arms smiling warmly at him.

Why am I comfortable with this?... Is this what love feels like? Is this what it's supposed to be? Warmth?... Like the sun?

The wolf mentally slaps himself on the face.

No... He doesn't like me like that and I don't have time for love, it's only something that makes you get soft and sloppy!

"Something wrong?" Tails asks, rubbing his face in his chest.

Winter snaps out of it and sees Tails' gaze locked onto him, the fox's chest beating pretty fast as he looks up at his crush, examining every detail in his eyes, he fights the urge to kiss him... It's hard when you're brain just immediately plays a little film of you smooching him and letting him caress your body as you taste eachother.

"No... I just have a lot on my mind, that's all" Winter responds, turning away to hide his slightly red face.

Tails changes position, pressing his chest on his while still holding onto him, Winters ears raise almost immediately and his lets out a muffled shout.

"You can talk to me about it, you can tell me about anything" Tails says, resting his chin on his chest.

Winter could feel his heart tickling as he looks down into Tails' blue eyes... His beautiful blue e-, No! He's your friend, he doesn't like you like that!

"W-Well..." Winter goes, his brain racing as the fox's close proximity was starting to make his brain feel like a scrambled egg.

Tails can't fight it much longer and starts inching closer... And closer to the wolf's lips.

Almost there...

Winter doesn't know why either but his brain is telling him to get closer to him. The two get closer to each other, their eyes closing, they could practically smell eachothers breaths, feel their racing hearts, feel eachothers warm bodies. Their lips are close... Very close...

.

.

.

Their phones go off at the same time...

They both gasp, their heartbeats jump for a moment. Snapping out of the trance they were in, they both scramble away from eachother, blushing heavily, and see their phones going off on Winter's desk. They look at eachother and then at their vibrating and chiming phones. Spring was calling Winter and Amy calling Tails.

"Uh... I'll step outside to take this..." Tails says, smiling nervously.

"O-Okay" Winter says, trying to recollect himself after being scared by his own phone.

When Tails leaves, the wolf grumbles and answers his phone...

"What" Winter says, half angry, half scared almost to death.

"Where are you?! We're at the Musahino Docks with almost every member of Team Sonic... The fox isn't here" Spring says, audibly frustrated.

"Burning Hearts. Lots of people for the-" Winter clears his throat before speaking again, "-Lunch rush"

"You want us to make this fuck up right to Team Sonic right?.... ¡Ven aquí ahora mismo!" Spring shouts, her patience wearing thin.

Winter irritated at the way she was talking to him fires back, "¡¿Puedes no hablarme así, joder?!"

Spring grumbles expecting Winter to retaliate back, just in her tongue, "Just get over here y rápido"

She hangs up and Winter sighs setting his phone down on the desk, Tails eventually comes back looking noticeably more annoyed than him.

"You okay?" He asks.

"Yeah... I was planning on spending the whole evening with you, maybe helping wait tables while I was here, but I guess that's not happening. Amy wants me over in Kanasaki, can't say why" Tails says, disappointedly.

"It's okay, you can come back any other day" Winter says with a reassuring smile.

"Thanks Winter... Oh and uh... Sorry if I made you uncomfortable earlier. I don't know what's going on with me" Tails says, rubbing his arm nervously.

"It's fine, I'm out of it too... Sorta" Winter responds, rubbing the back of his head and avoiding eye contact.

"Is it okay if I leave my box here?" Tails asks with a nervous grin.

"Y-Yeah... Sure you can" Winter says, looking at his friend.

"Thanks!" Tails says, smiling at the wolf.

"Anytime" Winter answers.

Winter waves at Tails as he waves back, flying in the sky with his Tails. He watches him fly up amongst the holograms, the neon and digital signs before he vanished from view around a building. When Tails is gone, he goes back into Burning Hearts so he can get suited up himself.

"Hey Alex!"

The mountain lion is finished serving a customer when he turns and sees Winter going to his office.

"I have to head out early for the day, can you hold the fort down?!" Winter calls from the corner.

"Sure, stay safe out there!" He shouts back.

"Thanks!" Winter says, rushing back to his office.

Winter had prepared for moments like these, on his computer was a program that opened up a secret within the walls of the office, a holographic interface appears and scans Winter's right eye.

A green checkmark appears and the door to the office closes and locks, the walls rotate and reveal Winters suit, his mask, and a sizeable arsenal of weapons. He suits up, grabs a pistol, some knives and puts on his mask, the red lights in the eyeholes turning on as he opens a false door. Waiting there is a white motorcycle, engine on and waiting for him, he gets on it and flies out threw the passageway.

The wold comes out threw an alleyway and onto the streat, weaving past cars, lorries, groups of other mobians. After a short burst on the motorway and across the Emperor Hoshino Bridge he finally arrives at the Kanasaki docks, a screen on the motorbike guiding him to his destination which was a secure beacon that Spirng had put up so he could find them.

When Winter arrives, Tails is already there, and so is the rest of Team Sonic, all of them in uniforms. The other Four Seasons Members walk up to him as he stands the bike up and stretches his arms. At this point the sun was beginning to set as the danger that loomed grew ever so close.

"About time!" Summer says.

Winter decides to ignore him and look to Spring, "Well?"

"We believe he's in that warehouse, I sent up a drone and there doesn't appear to be anyone around on the outside" Spring says, pointing towards a purple coloured wearhouse with boarded up Windows.

"No security... Totally not fishy at all" Winter says.

"I did a run around of the place too... Didn't see anyone or anything out of place" Sonic says.

"He's either hiding in there or gone" Amy says.

"We'll never know for certain unless we go in ourselves" Summer goes, loading his shotgun.

"Spring do you have a plan?" Winter asks.

"There's 8 of us..." Spring starts.

"9" Another voice goes.

Sonic immediately recognises who it is, so does Winter to an extent.

"Oh no" Sonic goes, face palming.

Emerging from the side of the street, wearing a black leather jacket with a red stripe on it, a utility belt and matching pants... Was the ultimate lifeform himself... Shadow.

"Oh my god... Shadow what are you doing here?" Sonic asks, slightly annoyed that his rival showed up.

"You know the deal Sonic. When Chaos energy is involved... So am I"

"Chaos energy?!" Summer shouts, not believing what he just heard.

When Shadow hears Summer's voice he turns towards the Four Seasons. He looks back and forth between the three of them and then back at Sonic, crossing his arms.

"Who's the circus?" Shadow asks.

"Yeah uh, you shouldn't insult them" Sonic says, crossing his arms.

"What are they gonna do, put on a clown show?" Shadow asks.

"No... But they will kick your ass. They're assassins dude, and they almost did us in not too long ago-" Sonic explains.

Shadow looks towards the four masked foxes and growls, Sonic seeing as it was going to get bad now that he just told him that they almost killed them runs in between Shadow and the team.

"-But! They had a change of heart! They aren't super terrible!... And they're actively trying to make up for what they did by helping us find the guy who contracted them. So please do not attack them" Sonic says, smiling nervously.

Shadow looks between Sonic and The Four Seasons, Winter stands there staring at him, while Autumn had her hands on her brass knuckles, Shadow sighs deciding to take Sonic's word for the time being... However this didn't mean he trusted The Four Seasons completely.

"If you try any funny business, I will crush you with my bare hands" Shadow says, pointing at them.

"Whatever" Winter says, not letting his threat get to him.

After giving Shadow a brief rundown on what they were doing, they decided to split into two teams... Sonic, Knuckles, Summer and Spring in one team, Shadow, Tails, Winter, Amy and Autumn in the other.

Springs idea was to basically have one team come in from the front and the other from the back which was facing the waterfront and the big city, Winter was in the team breaching in to the rear, the wolf looks around a corner and sees a camera, said camera looked to be active.

Winter gestures for Autumn to hand her a small drone, she takes on from her utility belt and gives it to him, he takes it and activates it with his mask, the red light turns on and the drones little spider like legs spring out. Winter puts the drone on the wall and it skitter up the wall, on the roof and down towards the camera... Attaching itself to the camera and deactivating it. The group was now free to go and breach the rear of the building.

Winter goes in first, Shadow behind him. They're in a dark hall with yellowish orangish lights illuminating the way down.

"Isn't this place supposed to be abandoned" Amy says, gripping her piko hammer tightly.

"It is... But it appears someone's made it home sweet home" Winter answers.

Shadow closes his eyes for a moment, "I'm sensing a faint amount of chaos energy"

"Down the hall I assume?" Tails asks, holding the Miles Electric in his hands.

"Yes" Shadow responds.

Winter steps out of the way while looking at Shadow, "Go on... Lead the way"

Shadow glares at him for a second, wondering if he was gonna try something... But he decides to start walking instead, the others following behind. Winter and Autumn's masks scanning for threats or potential booby traps.

When they reach the end of the hallway, they arrive at a dark room with the door open, Shadow growls audibly, "...It's a stronger now, but there's nothing in here"

Winter gently pushes the door open and presses a button on his mask that activates a flashlight. The wolf looks around the room, all he could see were empty wood crates, dusty windows letting in some moonlight, rusting catwalks and staircases and a table in the middle with a smashed PC.

Both Tails and Winter proceed into the room while Shadow and Autumn searched for threats.

"Well, that's great..." Winter says.

"The harddrive is gone..." Tails says as he examines the hardware, "Whoever did this must've known you guys might not go through with the job"

Winter looks at the smashed monitor and sighs, "It looks like we're gonna need to do some additional digging"

Winter looks back at Tails who's looking up at the ceiling, but somethings wrong... He looks stiff, like he just saw a ghost. So he looks up too and when he does... An audible gasp escapes his lips.

Hanging on ceiling, with red glowing eyes, razor sharp claws and a thirst to kill were dozens and dozens of old, heavily modified servant bots...

One of them throws itself down from the ceiling towards Tails, who can't move, he's frozen stiff. Winter jumps at him and tackles him out of the way, just as the bot smashes into the ground in the spot he was standing in literally a few seconds ago.

At this point, it definitely got the attention of the others who turned to see the hailstorm of rusted servant bots dropping from the ceiling surrounding them. It's at this point the moonlight begins to show just how poor the condition of those robots was, they were rusting, falling apart, some were missing pieces and some of them had no heads... And if that wasn't bad enough, they were modified, armed to the teeth and there were dozens of them.

"What the hell..." Shadow growls, "That's why I was sensing chaos energy... These rusted servant bots are powered by it!"

Some of them appear behind Amy who screams and raises her hammer, shielding herself from them incase they decided to attack, they were completely surrounded...

"Winter..." Autumn says, slightly on edge because of their current situation.

"I know... We fell into a trap. And it appears we're going to have to fight ourselves out of it" Winter says, squeezing Tails against his chest.