Nine and Sonic finish painting his room and setting up his equipment. Blaze was kind enough to get Nine some posters for him to hang on his wall, his favourite one being a mountain with fire burning behind it. That morning Sonic went out for a run leaving everyone in the base to their own.

When Nine got up that morning, he noticed a warm cup of coffee on the table. He gets up and puts on his slippers so he can walk over to the desk and pick it up, there's a note on it and it's from Tails.

"...Come to the workshop... T... Okay?"

Once he's gotten his outfit of choice on, he goes to the workshop where Tails is working on the car he presented at the invention convention.

"You called?" Nine says crossing his arms and holding the cup of coffee in his hand.

Tails comes out from under the car, there's oil and sweat all over his face. When he sees Nine he smiles.

"There you are... Mind giving me a hand?" Tails asks tossing him a wrench.

"I'm still not used to technology from this world" Nine responds.

"That's the point, you can consider this a lesson. Sonic can't be the only one showing you how things work here and since we're basically the same person, I think I'd make a great teacher for this kinda thing" Tails says wiping his face with a cloth.

Nine finishes the coffee and sets the mug on the workbench, "Fine... Where do we start?"

---

Sunny Mountain Hospital
Oceanwave City

Sonic arrives at a hospital, the one where Cream was being treated. He comes to a stop next to Vanilla and Vector who are standing behind a glass window as a nurse tends to her.

"How is she?" Sonic asks.

Vanilla takes a second to answer the question.

"Stable, for now" She says.

"That's good to know" Sonic responds.

"Sonic... I know Tails told you what she did and it was terrible. But please... Forgive her..." Vanilla begs.

Sonic puts her hand on her shoulder, "I do... She was angry, confused... It's understandable"

Cheese appears from behind Vanilla, she strokes the choa's head trying to soothe him as he looks at Cream in the hospital bed.

"On an unrelated note, are you two dating?" Sonic asks, cracking a smile.

Vector and Vanilla look at each other and then back at Sonic, Vanilla sighs. She expected him to ask that question.

"Yes" Vanilla answers, visibly embarrassed by the question.

Sonic nods, giving his approval with a smirk.

"Man, Sonic why do you gotta ask random questions like that?" Vector asks, turning away from him.

"Trust me, I know a couple when I see one" The hedgehog responds with a laugh.

"Oh yeah?! Who are you dating?!" Vector shouts, flustered by his cocky response.

Sonic's face turns red, the first thought in his head is immediately Tails, and his soft body, appealing personality, the sounds he'd make when they were together... And Nine, somewhat. It makes him drool, but he snaps back to reality after a few seconds of drifting off.

"S-Someone uh uh secret" Sonic responds, almost getting stuck on his words.

However when Vector sees him blushing, he smirks at him, "So you are dating someone? Ohhh you little shit, I knew you couldn't keep that secret away from us-"

"Shut up!" Sonic shouts, face still pinker then a strawberry.

Vector breaks out into laughter while pointing at Sonic, "So who's this mystery girl you like so much"

"I'm not gonna tell you!" Sonic shouts.

"Oh I think you will, lemme guess, Marine-"

"No"

"Sally?"

"No"

"Tangle?"

"No"

"Whisper?"

"No!"

"Ohhh I know, Wave!"

"It's not anyone you'd be able to guess!" Sonic shouts.

Vector pauses, when he comes to the realisation of what Sonic's into, he starts to laugh, "You're into men! Aren't ya?"

"Oh my god! Shut the fuck up!" Sonic shouts.

Vector is laughing so hard he has to lean on the glass for support, Sonic getting ever more flustered can feel his face getting warmer and warmer. Vanilla sighs, watching them banter and bicker kinda made her feel a bit better.

"Was it Silver?"

"No!"

"Shadow?!"

"Absolutely not!"

"Mighty!"

"No!"

"Ray? I'd understand why you'd go for him-"

"No! Vector please bro, you're killing me!"

"Espio?! He'd freak if I told him!"

"Fuck off!"

"Tails! It's gotta be!"

Sonic squeals when he finally guesses the right one, "N-No, no fucking way!"

"You stuttered!"

"No I didn't, y-you're getting me worked up!"

"You're a sucker for that fox, just admit it! You can't hide it!"

"Shut the fuck up! Please, just stop!" Sonic begs, wanting this suffering to be over.

Vector slaps his hand down on his shoulder while laughing still, "Come on, give it up! You like him and you can't deny it!"

"I don't like Tails like that! Shut up bro!" Sonic shouts.

A little bit of Vector laughing his butt off and Sonic screaming in embarrassment and rage later. Sonic's finally calmed down and he's ready to run back to base, Vector puts his claws on Vanilla's shoulder and kisses her on the cheek.

"Hey lover boy!"

Sonic takes a deep breath and turns around trying to not go ballistic on him.

"Knock em dead!"

"I don't like him like that ugh!"

Then Sonic takes off, Vector and Vanilla waving at him, when Sonic's gone Vanilla jabs Vector's waist making him flinch.

"You didn't have to pressure him like that" Vanilla says crossing his arms.

"I'm just playin around with him haha, we do it all the time. I'm honestly kinda shocked he's gay though" The Crocodile responds.

"It's surprise to me too" Vanilla answers.

"I just hope he finds the right guy ya know?" Vector says looking at the sunset on the ocean in front of the two of them.

"I hope so as well" Vanilla answers.

"So beautiful, we still going to that fancy place you like?" Vector asks looking at her with love in her eyes.

"Unless you have other plans" Vanilla says, putting her gloved hand on his long face.

"Those I don't have" Vector says, with a smirk.

---

When Sonic comes into the workshop, he sighs and sits down by the workbench. He sees Nine and Tails fell asleep on each other inside the car. He sighs and goes over so he can carry them to their rooms, hoisting both of them onto his back and stopping at Tails' room first so he could lay him on his bed. Looking at Tails sleeping peacefully on the bed made Sonic feel at ease, like he didn't have anything else to worry about.

"Sleep well buddy" Sonic says, as he leans down to kiss him on the forehead.

Just as he turns around to carry Nine go his room, Tails grabs his leg in his sleep.

"Mmm Mister Mint monster... You're not going anywhere"

Sonic turns around slowly, "Oh no"

With a strong yank, he's falling backwards onto the bed, Tails then wraps his arms around Sonic to prevent him from leaving.

"Oh man, could this get any worse" Sonic mumbles.

As a matter of fact, it did... Nine rolls towards Sonic and grabs hold of his waist, squeezing him tightly while mumbling incoherently to himself.

"Oh come on" Sonic grumbles.

Sonic groans and lets out a sigh, letting his head roll back as the two fox boys sleep on him, Nine and Tails open an eye smirking and fist bumping each other... Their plan to secure the package all along.

---

Knuckles comes into the base holding a bag of groceries. He takes them to the kitchen and puts them down and goes to the living room so he can watch his favourite show on the telly. When he gets there he sees Nine and Tails playing video games, it takes him a moment to realise what's happening, but after doing a double take...

"Tails! Did you clone yourself?" Knuckles asks, beyond confused at what's going on.

Tails looks over at him immediately, "What!? No!"

"Then why are there two of you?"

"That's not a clone"

"Then what is it?!"

"It's a different version of me from a parallel universe!" Tails shouts.

He takes a deep breath and pauses the game.

"Knuckles... This is Nine, Sonic took him in so he didn't have anything left in his universe" Tails explains.

"Oh... I see, nice to meet you I guess"

"Cool" Nine responds, sounding disinterested in talking to the echidna.

"What's his deal?" Knuckles asks, crossing his arms.

"I don't know, there's a lot I don't know about him" Tails responds.

"Why don't we start trying to learn about him then?! So what's your favourite food?! I love grapes!"

"Chocolate Cake and Mints"

"Favourite type of music?"

"Metal and Hip Hop"

"Something you hate"

"Being alone and people whining in my ear"

"Can you build cool stuff like Tails?"

"Why is that a question?"

"What's your favourite colour?"

"Black and grey"

"Yeesh, depressing much"

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing..."

"Do you have any cool secrets you wanna share"

"Nothing I'll share with you"

"You got a crush on anyone?"

"So-" Nine stops the answer from coming out of his mouth, his face turns a bit red, he throws the controller at Knuckles and glares at Knuckles, "Shut the fuck up!"

"Whoa dude chill"

"You dumbass!"

Knuckles rubs his forehead somewhat irritated by what Nine just did to him, "Tails, this other version of you is the worst"

"What did you just say?!" Nine goes standing up and glaring Knuckles down, Tails gets up and holds Nine back.

"Knuckles is really strong, don't fight him Nine, just ignore him"

Nine sighs audibly and sits back down with Tails on the couch.

"Knuckles, just go for now... Please" Tails says, semi aggressively.

"Fine, I'm gonna make something to eat"

"Do not use the microwave without me watching you!" Tails shouts.

"Oh come on it's been 8 months-"

"Yeah, and you have another 4 to go! Do not touch it!"

"Ugh" Knuckles grumbles as he walks out of the room.

Once Knuckles is gone, Tails turns to Nine to see if he calmed down.

"Feeling better?" Tails asks.

"Yeah" Nine answers, tapping his on the ground, "How do you live with him?"

"You get used to him and how uh-"

"Stupid he is" Nine goes, finishing his sentence.

Tails nods slowly taken a back by what he said somewhat, "Yeah... That..."

"As long as he doesn't piss me off I guess I can tolerate him" Nine responds.

"Thank you" Tails says.

Sonic comes in and sees Tails and Nine talking to each other, it was nice to see them get along so he grins, satisfied to see them getting along, he leaves the room so he can play poker with Charmy and Silver.

"Sonic! We're waiting!" Silver shouts.

"Coming" Sonic shouts back.

---

Later that night, Tails opens his diary and takes a pencil from out of his drawer so he can write with it.

Since getting back from me and Sonic's trip to Earth, and that detour that led us to Nine. I've been playing a big brother role to him, Chaos knows he needs one. I went from hating Nine to actually finding him likeable, which is miraculous actually, it makes me wonder though, how could I use his abilities and intellect to develop ways to keep Sonic safe or to help us when a threat arises.

Tails reaches over to grab a pencil sharpener and sees Nine standing by the doorway, he slams the diary shut and locks it, "Hey Nine what's up"

Tails can see his face is pale, and he's sweating profusely, which takes the smile off his face. He stands up and walks over to him putting his hands on hIs shoulders. Nine takes Tails by the hand and shows him to the front of the base, Tails is confused but he lets Nine take him there and what he finds makes him jolt slightly.

Laying there on the grass in a puddle of blood is Jet, the hawks eyes empty and lifeless, the wind blows on his feathers as he lays in the ever growing puddle of blood. Tails didn't expect to be disposing of corpses so soon since his return, an unwelcome surprise.

"Wh-What happened?" Tails asks genuinely surprised.

"We had an argument... I-I blacked out, when I snapped back to my senses, I saw him laying there" Nine explains, clearly shaken up.

Tails notices the blood on his mechanical tails and looks back at Nine, "Take off your belt, clean your mechanical claws. If someone sees the blood on those your fucked"

"O-Okay" Nine responds.

Tails reaches into his utility belt and activates one of the elastiribbons, with a flick of the wrist he turns it into a large sword.

"Wh-What are you doing?" Nine asks as he aggressively wipes the blood off his claws.

"It's better to dispose of the body in separate pieces" Tails answers, then he brings the blade down, decapitating Jet.

"How do you know..." Nine asks, as he watches Tails cut Jet up.

"Research" Tails responds, with almost no emotion whatsoever.

Nine swallows hard, he can tell Tails isn't who everyone thinks he is. But at the moment he's just happy that someone is helping him take care of this and covering up for his grave mishap. Once Tails quartered the pieces of Jet's corpse, he wraps them in plastic bags and puts them in the back of the car.

Him and Nine drive to the east of Nightstar City where the industrial facilities are and Tails dumps the bags in separate places around the neighbourhood, Nine helps him get rid of them as well, the least he could do since he created that mess. Once they're done, Tails takes Nine to what was once Shadow's café so he café.

Tails gives Nine a slice of chocolate cake and some vanilla flavoured milk, and sits down with him at one of the tables. Nine sighs, unsure if the treat will help him calm down.

"I know you don't remember everything. But can you tell me what happened from what you can remember at least" Tails asks.

The soft glow from the neon lights and holographic ads outside flows into the dark café as the other fox boy gathers himself up.

"Blaze asked me to bring back some things from her beauty store so she could treat Silver's quills. I was coming up the steps when Jet came... He started taunting me, calling me emo and gay. I just wanted to get inside and give Blaze her stuff so I could go to my room and sleep, but Jet just wouldn't fuck off... Then he said something, I don't know what he said... But I remember stopping and turning around, my face was full of fury I think so I charged at him... And then... Nothing. When I saw the body and my claws covered in blood I couldn't go to Sonic... I was scared, so I went to you, and that's probably the best decision I made"

Tails puts his hand on his shoulder, "You did the right thing coming to me"

Nine sniffles, "I-Is there something wrong with me?"

"No Nine"

Tails gets up and embraces him, "There's nothing wrong with you"

"...Ok"

"The problem is now, we need an alibi for what you were doing at the time of Jet's death. Is there any particular place here you like to come to?" Tails asks stepping back from him.

"Besides here in Nightstar City, no-"

"When the police interview you, you were at Friendship Square going to Saikawa Garden" Tails says.

"A-Alright"

"Now eat the cake"

"W-Why?"

"Sweets help me calm down. It might work fo you as well"

"Okay..."

Nine cuts a piece of the cake off and eats it, it tastes pretty good so he keeps on eating it. Tails sighs and looks up at the neon holograms flashing all sorts of vibrant colours, Nine was an interesting case, but what now had his attention was his violent tendencies. It almost made him wonder if Nine would be a threat to him in the future, but he hoped it would never come to that of course.

---

When the morning comes around, the Babylon Rogues came so they could ask what happened to Jet. Wave and Storm are greeted by a sleepy Sonic who yawns as he opens the door.

"Morning Sonic, have you seen Jet? He didn't come back to our place after he left to get the rest of his stuff from here" Wave says.

"Nope, I was knocked out last night" Sonic answers.

"If he gives another one of his stupid prank calls tell him to shove a pipe up his ass" Knuckles shouts from the living room.

Wave face palms when she hears Knuckles say that, Storm laughs loudly.

"If we see him we'll give you a call" Sonic says.

"Thanks Sonic, we gotta get to the skate park, see ya around" Storm says.

The two leave and get on their boards so they can leave. Sonic shuts the door and goes into the living room where Knuckles is watching his show while lifting a weight in one of his arms.

Sonic sits on the sofa and turns on his phone so he can surf the internet. Just as soon as Knuckles out the weight down, his phone started to ring, Vanilla is trying to call him. He picks it up and answers the call.

"Hello?" He says.

Tails comes into the room drinking some soda, he's on his way to his lab so he cuts through his way to there.

"What?" Knuckles says, a smile slowly appears on bis face, "That's great news!"

Tails stops walking for a moment, getting curious about the nature of the conversation.

"I'll announce it to everyone, congratulations Vanilla"

Sonic raises an eyebrow and looks up at the grinning Knuckles who hangs up the phone.

"Cream has woken up from her coma!" Knuckles says, throwing his fists up in the air.

"All right!" Sonic says excitedly.

Tails chokes on his drink, "She woke up...?"

"Yeah! I just hope she doesn't still hold a grudge on me" Sonic says, scratching the back of his head.

"I don't think she will, but it's nice to hear she's okay!" Tails goes, putting on a facade of happiness.

Fucking wonderful

"Let's go tell everyone else, we'll go to the hospital later to see her" Knuckles says, then he runs out of the room.

"Right, hey Tails can you go tell Nine what's up, I wanna keep him in the loop about stuff" Sonic says as he gets on his phone to call Silver.

"Sure" Tails answers.

Once they both leave the room he drops the relieved brother act and his face goes blank, his souless eyes beginning to calculate methods of eliminating the rabbit. He knew if Cream had the chance, she would definitely tell Mighty and Ray what he did to her. He needed to find a way to either silence her or eliminate her completely from the equation, and he needed to do it fast.

"This just keeps getting better and better" Tails growls.