Can I Call You Tonight by Dayglow.
~~~

"One good thing about Metal having a Chaos Emerald is it makes tracking him down a lot easier. I can only guess from there that Snively's with him." Tails adjusted his goggles, tufts of fur flapping over his head in the wind.

"There's a chance Sally and the others could be too." Amy reminded, hands gripping her knees from the seat behind.

"If they are, how long do you think they've been kept there?" Knuckles mused from above.

"Worrying about that won't help us- we've gotta stay hopeful." Rouge spoke, perching on Omega's shoulder.

"Don't trust any scientists. All are a bunch of creeps." Sticks murmured at the echidna's side.

"For once, I agree." Shadow nodded.

"Well hey, Tails can be trusted!" Silver defended and the fox awkwardly gave his thanks.

"I think calling what Snively's been up to sours the idea of scientific work." Blaze argued.

"What even has he been doing anyway? Do we know if it's malicious?" Amy asked.

"He's paired with the likes of Metal Sonic and is after the Chaos Emeralds- that's enough for me." Shadow replied.

"Pulling off something pretty big doesn't seem like him, though. I suspect he's going for a more personal approach." Tails theorised.

"Either way, all Robotnik kind will be swept from existence at my hand." Omega promised, catching red and glass eyes snapping to him.

"Apart from you, Shadow. Unless you start kidnapping and Robotisizing."

"I don't plan on it."

"You do work for the government." Sticks glared.

"For the last time, it's the military- I don't even work for them!"

"Still keeping an eye on you."

"Guys- focus." Amy redirected, looking to the Tornado's wing above.

"We've got the Chaotix keeping tabs on Eggman still, right Rouge?"

The bat waved her Comlink. "Count on it, Pinky."

"And Cliff and the gang are waiting out in case Sally or the others call, yeah?"

"Haven't we been over this like five times already?" Knuckles huffed.

"I'm just making sure!"

"You're obsessing."

Something about the word made Amy's eye twitch. "Nothing wrong with being careful."

"You don't need to worry- in all the timelines I've been too those guys manage to get out mostly unscathed." Silver smiled. "The Freedom Fighters are legend! Founded by Sally and Sonic, from inspirations in the past, you guys keep going no matter what's thrown your way! B-breaking branches aside."

"Past inspirations?" Shadow echoed, brow raised.

Up until then, Sonic had been quiet and totally not losing it in his head with worry and doubt. But asking questions like those was dangerous and unwanted information could get out and he's worked so hard to make sure it's left behind-

"Comics. Movies. That kinda thing." He dismissed.

"Didn't you two grow up in a hole under ground?"

"We didn't live like animals, Rouge. N-not the non-talking kind anyway."

Well, for the most part. His selective mutism had a habit of showing up at the most inconvenient times.

"Can't blame ya. Nothing like the solitude of mud away from spies!" Sticks beamed.

"Riiight. That's- yup."

"I thought it was tinfoil that kept you safe." Shadow grinned, arms crossing.

The badger wagged a finger. "I'm not that crazy!"

"No of course. That's the limit."

"Sides, tinfoil protects ya from aliens!"

———

The crackles of thunder awoke him. He hadn't even realised he'd leaned against Knuckles to nap, the guardians snores overshadowed by snaps of lightning. But his ears had been better trained for whimpers anyway. So, he caught Tails in the pilots chair doing his best to fly the Tornado despite namesakes fluffed up and tightly wrapped around him.

"Not the nicest weather to fly in, ay Little Buddy?" He called, hopping to sit on the back of the chair and squeeze tense marigold shoulders.

Tails yelped and stole a quick glance at his dampening brother. "I thought I had it handled!"

"Had what handled?"

"My fear!"

"Don't be harsh, kiddo! I'm still scared of water and I haven't been near a river in months!"

"I don't think that's how it works, Sonic." Tails stifled a chuckle.

"Point is Smartypants, sometimes ya can manage it better and sometimes you can't. You can't beat yourself up for that."

With a particularly profound attack of thunder, the fox squealed and pressed his side closer against his brothers leg. Tails managed to find little solace in Sonic moving down to take over with controlling the plane.

"I don't like the inconsistency." He grumbled, squishing himself against the older hedgehog.

"For a twelve year old kid, I'd say you're doing a pretty amazing job. Maybe I'm biased." Sonic winked and Tails snickered.

"Either way, fears all about facing it head on every time. No problem if you need a bit of help sometimes. That's all part of growing up!"

Tails hesitated, dismissed the thought and words fell silent. He focused on unique, incredibly fast heart beats instead and partly listened to his brothers distracting rambles. Whether it was in a cave, under a tree or Tornado's wing or even his bedroom- Tails found his brother at his side faster than a blink whenever a thunderstorm arrived. No matter what disagreement or squabble they had before- even their latest fights were forgotten. At least, for the time being.

Tails could be happy with that.

"You still scared or can I bring up something?"

Why did it have to end so soon?

"Is it bad that I am?"

"Chaos, no! I just don't want ya to think of too much."

"Talk to me- i-it helps."

Like a flick of a switch, Sonic's expression morphed into nerves and, between the flashes of lightning, sweat decorated his forehead. His heart beat was noticeably quicker.

"You know, thinking about it instead of saying it will only make you more worried." Tails poked.

"Har har. I dunno how to go about it."

"Use that blunt charm of yours."

"Full of quips today ain't ya?" Still, Sonic smiled and took a deep breath.

"It...it's about Amy."

Admittedly, Tails was relieved it wasn't another conversation he had in mind. But, remembering who his brother was, he realised that probably wouldn't be brought up unless he began a discussion. Talking about Amy, though?

"I was wondering when you'd want to talk to me about this." He did his best to hide a grin.

"You were expecting this?" Sonic's nerves seemed to only grow.

"You haven't exactly been hiding it well."

"H-hiding what well?"

Tails' eyes lightly rolled. "You brought her up. You say."

"Oh man." The Blue Blur soured.

"I don't even know dude. I...I feel like I'm going crazy. Her fault- by the way. 'Never felt like this before. She gets me all sweaty and weird and all I wanna do around her is run away but also stay? I feel like I keep pulling her in and pushing her away again. If I'm confused I can only imagine what's goin' through her head." He took a breath.

"Blaze says I should take her to Breezie's ball-auction thing, but why? 'Thought we'd all just rock up together. Guess that's suspicious though, right? Dunno why takin' Ames would make a difference." He shook his head.

"Point is, whatever's going on just keeps getting worse and I want out. I keep feeling so light but also heavy around her and-."

Tails straightened. "What do you mean you want out? Like...you don't want to hang out with her-?"

Sonic panicked so much at the suggestion the Tornado jerked and those on the wing grumbled in their sleep. Ensuring their friends were okay, Tails looked to the stormy sky and Sonic's eyes dropped to Amy. She snuggled against her knees and drooled, peacefully unaware of the rain soaking her quills. Looking back, Sonic tensed at his brothers smirk.

"No. I can't...I don't want Amy out of my life. Never. I just...what's goin' on with me?"

"Sometimes I forget how oblivious you are."

"Well hey-."

"You like her, Sonic. By the sounds of it you have for a while."

And his heart stopped. Why was that so scary but so...relieving to hear? Was it obvious? Well, Tails had said he was poor at hiding it. Chaos, did that mean Amy knew? He knew Amy had a thing for him (fortunately he wasn't that daft), at least in the past, but how did she feel now? He wouldn't blame her if she moved on, even if it made him just a bit sour.

What gave with all the blushing and hand holding then? The leaps and squeals and diverting eyes?

Even if he was absolutely, positively confident in how she felt it did little to ease Sonic's fears. He'd only felt somewhat like this once before and, well, that didn't exactly have a happy ending.

He promised he'd come back to her, anyway. Not necessarily in a romantic sense but....

He felt sickened to be thinking of this when Sally could possibly be captive. Would she understand? Be surprised? Did this really matter in the scheme of things?

His mind was tearing itself apart. Snively and Metal were on the rise. Breezie's auction was only days away and there weren't many Chaos Emeralds left. They screamed and denied and belittled. So selfish. Stupid (so stupid). Slow.

"Now isn't the time. We're so close! After this we only have three more emeralds to find!"

He whispered, but Sonic was more concerned with the desperation in his voice. He made it clear the Chaos Emeralds were important, but always for Mobius' safety- never his own gain.

It made Sonic boil. Was he being used and mind twisted not even for the protection of Mobius? Not for the future of his friends? It begged the question, just who was this?

"You're losing me, Sonic. I-it's not that big a deal!" Tails tried, obviously riled up by the storm amidst the speedsters spiral.

"I mean, this is a good thing, right? Liking Amy?"

"Chaos, don't make it sound like that." Sonic mumbled, internally cursing the stolen opportunity to hide his red face behind his hands.

Tails chuckled. "At least you got there."

"Oh 'cause all you guys have known for ages?"

"Well...yeah. Blaze guessed so, like, the first day we met her."

"That river's not sounding so bad anymore-."

"I'm kidding! I'm kidding. But maybe she was right, maybe you should invite Amy to Breezie's Ball?"

"Why?"

"You're hopeless." Tails sighed. "One, it's a plus one exclusive type of thing. Two, she'd kill to have you as her celebrity guest and you know it- so our chances of getting closer to the emerald are higher. And three, it's a nice gesture for Amy."

That...did make it seem more worth it. Damn it.

"I'll think about it. In the meantime, let's focus on the chance our friends are probably locked up and waiting for their robotic demise?" Sonic jerked his head forward.

Tails huffed but obliged. "Great way of saying that."

The Forbidden Zone had been untouched more than Prison Island since Eggman's polluted attack. Rumoured to be where the Robotnik Empire had been born, back in the days of the human verses mobian war, it's nature and wildlife had been wiped out since. Even then, decades from the war, the brothers choked on the abrupt change in quality of air and their friends began to wake.

Black, thin trees met them far below. Creepy in form, their thin branches shooed instead of waved. Marshy, foggy ground almost whistled and there was a surprising lack of Eggman factories, bases and storage facilities.

Upon landing, Sonic urged his friends to wait as he jumped down to the muddy ground- squelching under his weight. A hand over his eyes, he examined the area and caught the occasional, jutted out piece of debris. Architecture of some kind and with the rare glisten, he surmised it was made from metal.

Past Robotnik buildings perhaps?

If so, why would Snively choose to come back here?

"Hey." Silver uttered quietly, strange binoculars over his contacts as he met the speedsters side.

"See anything?" Sonic asked.

"Robotnik memorabilia, rusty and scratched, remains on some of those things. I see something even further up ahead. Too small to be an Eggman base though."

"We should be careful." Sonic concluded.

"How're we approaching this?" Amy asked.

"With vengeful violence." Omega replied (Rouge flying overhead), hitting the ground with a tremendous thud- covering the closest of the group in mud.

Knuckles stuck his tongue out and shook himself clean. "Agreed."

"We don't want to set him off." Tails countered. "Snively isn't...he's not like Eggman."

"Precisely. He's worse." Shadow argued, holding out a hand to help Sticks down.

"The Doctor, as intelligent as he is, has an ego matching Faker's and his mind deadly focused on him anyway. Snively doesn't have the same vendetta against you."

"No. He doesn't." Sonic agreed, frowning. "He's set on someone else."

"Who?" Blaze asked.

"I'm bettin' all the chilli dogs on Mobius that Snively's been losing it over the past couple of years over two people." He straightened the cuffs of his gloves.

"Eggman. And Sally."