A/N: Uh, I did say something about shorter and more frequently published chapters, didn't I? I did stick to that... kind of. A month ago. Or maybe... four months. Evidently I fail at this 'brief and frequent' thing. Ah well. Hopefully this has been worth the wait for the like, 2 people that are actually reading this story. lol

-= The Fait Accompli =-

I. A Secret Place

Smack!

A ragged swipe of four sharp claws jerked Tails' mind out of the past and into the current moment. He couldn't remember where along his trek, following Fiona through the wilderness, it was that he'd slipped away into his reverie again. He'd been thinking of Marr a lot - far more than what he knew was good for him.

"Come on! Idiot!" Fiona was right in his face, looking more even more annoyed with him than was her custom. "I walk nearly a mile into the green alone and find you were standing here the whole time, mind up in the trees with the birds!"

"Uh," Tails sniffed, shaking his head free of the visions he'd allowed to sink in. "I'm sorry. Really."

"This is the untamed wilds, brat. They are not kind to those who do not stay alert!"

"It's dangerous out here even for Kitsune?" Tails asked, as they ventured further into the jungle.

"Plenty of danger, for stupid people," Fiona said. "Wild predators that prey on the stragglers. But the true danger is losing your way, losing your energy."

"I see," Tails nodded.

It was obvious from the way Fiona moved around that this was a familiar path to her. She flowed amongst the leaves and branches like liquid, only occasionally slowing to clear a stray set of vines with a rake of her talons, or break a branch free of the path and toss it aside.

"So... what are we hunting today?" Tails gulped.

"Not decided yet, possibly war cow. Or terapod. See which comes across first."

Terapods!

"You have terapods here, too?" he asked.

"Mm!" Fiona nodded, her face lighting up with a set of memories apparently very different from Tails'. "Big and strong, fall hard. Meat is a bit gamey."

He'd remembered those on the Mobius continent, but only ever seen them once, when they'd made a pass through Knothole in the coup days... and that'd been an adventure in itself. He remembered the way he and the others had befriended them by using Sally's translator device. And he sure as hell wasn't about to eat one.

"I'd rather we passed on the terapods, if you don't mind." He was still trailing along behind her.

"Why?" Fiona looked at him, puzzled. A loose lock of hair fell over one eye and she brushed it aside quickly.

"You'd understand if you spoke to one," Tails said solemnly.

She looked at him for a long time, an expression painted on her face that now seemed to define her: a big frown. She sighed, shrugged her shoulders, and continued her walk through the foliage. "War cow it is, then."

Tails' eyebrows raised. No argument? No interrogations on just what on Mobius he was talking about? Clearly, either Tails had gotten something very, very right or there was something very, very wrong with her. Maybe she'd just had enough of arguing with him. In any case, he wasn't about to protest her decision.

As they penetrated deeper among the thick flora, the Kitsune woman began to slow her pace, conducting her lithe limbs with more care and forethought. Her back hunched up, fur bristling, her nose up in the air, tasting the breeze. Tails followed along, comparatively clumsily, but eventually found his groove also.

"I gather you're on to something," he asked, his voice low.

"Hush," she whispered over her shoulder at him. "Stay as you are. Head low. Watch what I do."

Tails froze in place, eyes scanning between the trees - it took him an embarrassingly long moment to realise that they'd come to the edge of an outcropping, overlooking a swamp where some large, strange reptilian creatures were drinking the murky water. They were dark green, massive beasts, their beady black eyes almost unnoticeable. One raised its head, its four elephant-like ears pricking up on end, listening for evidence of movement. These must've been the war cows Fiona had mentioned.

He looked around again and realised he couldn't see her.

"Up here," he heard her whisper. She was up in one of the ages-old trees, her two thick tails flicking back and forth in the air like a cat ready to pounce.

He peered back over through the bushes at their apparent prey. One lifted its head again, revealing a set of yellow, jagged teeth protruding from the front of its stubbly trunk... without doubt, Tails thought, this was one of the less homely-looking animals that he'd seen in his life.

Then, in a dull red blur, Fiona was suddenly on its back, making the creature's gangly legs buckle. She shoved its face into the water, grabbed hold of one tusk on each cheek, and violently wrenched the cow's head upside down, the air crackling with the sound of snapping vertebrae and severed tendons.

"Whoa," Tails breathed, his eyes going wide with the shock.

The other war cow near the water, looked straight at Fiona, jumping back clumsily with what seemed to be just as much of a shock as what Tails had. He watched, waiting for it to realise what had happened, and bolt in the opposite direction.

It didn't run. It opened its snout, letting out a shrill cry that sent a shiver up Tails' spine.

"Look out!" he shouted.

Fiona reached into her belt, drawing a crude crescent-shaped blade from it. When the second war cow began to charge, she stood with her feet apart until it got close.

As soon as its trunk lashed out at her, she grabbed it with one hand, and used it to swing under the creature, driving the blade clean into its chest without even trying. As soon as she wrenched the piece of sharpened metal free from between its ribs, the creature crumpled to its knees, covering her with a mess of blue blood.

"Done," Fiona called out.

Tails hopped over the edge of the outcropping and strolled over next to Fiona, looking her over. She was a mess, but she looked calm, even casual, as she stepped over the corpse of one cow and over to the other, dragging its body out of the water by its tail.

"Holy cow," Tails murmured.

"No. War cow," Fiona corrected him.

"I didn't mean..." Tails started, but then thought twice. "Never mind. Did they... feel anything?"

The vixen shook her head, squatting over the edge of the water. "Break the neck or pierce the heart. If you don't waste your time, they die quickly."

"Oh..." It still seemed somehow barbaric, though he could see the hypocrisy in such a thought.

"You look shaken," she said, rinsing her blade off in the rancid water before sliding it back into its sheath.

"I don't mean to," Tails said, his shoulders tensing up and then untensing again. "I've never seen a... slaughter before, that's all. And to think, this is where chilli dogs come from. More or less."

Fiona's ears folded back. "Chilly... dogs?"

"They're like... ground meat. You roll the meat up into a cylinder and then you eat them with chilli, in a bread roll."

"You eat them cold?"

"No, you eat them hot." Tails said, starting to laugh. "Chilli is a food. It's spicy."

"Chill... lee." Fiona said slowly to herself, scowling. "You have words that can mean two opposites. Your language is stupid. Makes no sense."

He shrugged. "It gets the job done. So, how do we carry both of these guys back to the ship?"

"Carry one. You and I can share the other before we go!" Fiona beamed, patting her scabbard proudly.

Tails gulped, glancing at her blade, then the hulking masses of dead flesh behind her. He thought for a moment, about how he was going with this whole culture shock thing.

Opening portals to alternate dimensions? Toppling evil, robotic overlords? Up against this, they were child's play.

Fiona rose to her feet and daintily strolled back to one of the cows, grabbing it by the neck and hoisting it up. "You take the tail," she nodded. "It's too wet here to make a good fire."

"So where are we going?" Tails asked, picking up the beast by the tail. He started backpedalling, until Fiona had room to swing around with her end and take the lead, walking with the creature's head under her arm.

"My place," she said.

It didn't take them long to reach their destination - all they'd had to do was follow the stream, and they finally arrived at a secluded waterfall, hidden away from the prying sun behind a thick forest canopy. Tails was all too glad to see that they'd made it - he hadn't complained, but the war cow's corpse was starting to weigh, and whenever they rounded a corner, he could see its dead eyes peeking out from under Fiona's arm... almost like it was looking at him, blaming him for its untimely and sudden demise. Fiona, on the other hand, strode along briskly without a care in the world. It was a strange culture shock, and he was sure there'd be plenty more to come. In the morning, Tails had remembered times when he'd get out of bed, walk to the sink and throw together some toast, butter and a side of fruits; Fiona got up in the morning and slaughtered wild animals.

"Drop it here," Fiona said brusquely. Tails let the cow drop to the thick grass before the words had even left her mouth, stretching his arms out. The freshwater pool, gathered around the tumbling stream, was a welcome sight. Tails' eyes felt bone dry from his lack of adequate sleep, and he looked forward to nothing more than a good bath at this point.

"I'm guessing this little corner is one of the prime Kitsune tourist attractions?" he jibed, trying to sound confident, but his voice wasn't cooperating.

"No." She turned sharply towards him. "No one knows about this place, and no one needs to. You will not tell anyone of it. Clear?"

"Okay..."

Fiona began moving to the surrounding scrub, picking up the loose fallen limbs of the trees, aiming for the old, dry ones. Tails got the gist quickly and started to join her. They worked quietly for a few minutes, dropping them on the sandbar in a small pile.

"Fiona," Tails asked, dragging a long branch behind him, leaving trails in the sand.

"What is it?"

"Why is it that you don't want anyone to know about this place?"

"Because it is my space. I go here when I want to be alone, and if others knew, it would not be mine anymore."

"And here you are, leading me right to it," he smirked, snapping one of the masses of wood in half with his boot. "Why?"

"Padra orders that I make you and the hedgehog as welcome as I am able, so I will apply myself to my task by giving you the benefit of doubt. You'd do well not to cross me, kit. It is not in my nature to hand out trust on a platter."

"I gathered. You can trust me."

Fiona glanced his way, and nodded just slightly. She was abrasive, but Tails was starting to form some respect for her. It stood to reason that the daughter of a Kitsune war master would act this way - a nod from her would always mean yes, with nothing else implied.

He watched her again, eyes closed, taking a deep breath of the fresh air, a wide grin on her face.

"You're smiling," Tails commented.

Fiona exhaled slowly, stretching her arms above her head, the thick muscles on her arms and back folding and rippling. "This is a perfect morning. The days are long and they are hard, and my kin are prone to politicking and bickering back at Gorromandas. In the wilds, there is only me, and the rocks and the roots. It is my moment of repose and healing, before I go back to my labours."

She reached for her dagger again, and knelt over the dead war cow, starting to saw at one of its legs, just under the joint. As the blue liquid started spraying across her chest and face, Tails winced and turned to the water instead. "I'll never get used to that."

"Hah," Fiona chuckled without turning. "Then do you expect me to feed you and coddle you every day? Like a baby?"

"No."

"Then you will get used to it."

Gods, Tails thought. This woman was impossible, taking everything so literally... but at the same time, he could respect the way she talked. Sort of. At least she was making the effort to use his own native tongue, even if she wasn't too flash with it.

She finally pulled the meaty leg free of its socket and dumped it next to the body, and reached into her pouch for two pieces of flint. She squatted over the pile of wood they'd made, banging them together. The occasional spark broke from the impact, but it wasn't working well. "Futusa," she muttered, continuing to beat the stones against each other.

Tails finally saw an opportunity to actually make himself useful: "Allow me," he said.

Fiona looked up at him; he clenched his fist tight, and when he opened it again, there was a tiny glowing ball of white light in his palm. He held it over the wood pile, and turned his hand over, letting it drop freely into the pyre. It burst in a small flash of orange, and the wood quickly became enveloped in flame, promptly dying down to a manageable smoulder after a few seconds.

"Hmph," Fiona smirked, standing up. "Good." She pulled something off her back, which Tails had previously thought was some kind of weapon - but when she placed it over the fire, he realised it was a bush grill. It wasn't that he was unfamiliar with survival skills - he'd had plenty of experience out in the forest - but cooking fresh game was something new to him. The Freedom Fighters had never been that kind of hunter-gatherer.

Fiona dumped the shank roughly over the fire, not even taking the time to skin it of its scaly hide, and moved towards the water, shrugging off her shoulder pads and breast plate as she moved. Her boots came off next, and she dove into the water gracefully, submerging for a few moments before kicking her way to the surface, lying on her back.

"Isn't that cold?" Tails called out after her.

Fiona shook her head, gesturing him to join her. "Come."

He had his doubts even as he cautiously dipped one foot in the water, but she was right. The water was warm, warmer than the air by a great deal, reminding him of the old volcanic springs Sonic and himself had enjoyed kicking back in, out in the Great Unknown. He slipped into the water, shrugging his armour aside as he did so.

"I can see why you wouldn't want anyone else to know about this place," Tails said, scooping up some water in his palms and splashing it against his face. "It ain't half bad, I must say."

"Padra says that every warrior has a sanctuary," Fiona said, glancing over at the fire. "For many Kitsune, that place is in their head. For me, it is here."

"Padra?" Tails looked down at feet through the lapping stream, barely visible beneath the froth. "That means your dad, right? You seem a lot like him."

"Feh." The vixen blew some wet dangling locks out of her face. "I am not like him. And 'Padra' does not mean 'father'."

"So it means...?"

"It means..." Fiona pursed her lips thoughtfully, looking up at the sun filtering down through the leaves. "It is... like father, maybe. But more formal. Respectful. The father is the master, and my padra is the most respected of all fathers."

Tails smiled wanly at her, but when her gaze shifted towards him, he shifted focus to the foliage behind her, hoping she wouldn't notice the contact. "I remembered my father for the first time since I was a pup the other night. When you brought us out to the ship."

"Your father was well regarded, they say," Fiona nodded. "Padra tells me he was a clever one. Strong, but he could say one thing while he thought another. They were good friends, before he went to the Otherland."

"Otherland?"

"The place you say you tumbled in from."

"I see." Tails' brow began to crease. "So you mean, my father was a good liar?"

"If he wanted to be."

"I don't remember him that well at all..." Tails frowned. "I remember him caring for me, though. He'd always tell me things when I was very small, about fear, and about doing the right thing. I didn't really get it at the time. I didn't until a long, long time later."

"The... right thing?" Fiona looked at him, puzzled. "Strange."

Tails' frown grew deeper. "What do you mean, strange?"

She watched his face carefully and waited a moment before shrugging her shoulders. "Maybe not so strange after all. I'm sure he was good to you."

"You don't sound so sure." He watched Fiona moving through the water past him, and dragged her body up and out onto the bank. She shook herself off briskly, flicking her two tails up to thrash the water out of their thick fur. Her face might as well have been made of stone.

Sonic's head was swimming, lungs filling up with sweet, thick smoke. The wing of cooked chicken he was eating was going down a treat as well, all dripping with grease and coated in spices. He'd never tried meat off the bone before, but he was surprised at how good it was, despite its sickening outward appearance.

Angiris was sitting in one of the ruined couches across from him, taking a long drag from his pipe, blowing a thick plume of smoke into the air. "How is it?"

"Gross," Sonic said between chews. "But here I am, eating it anyway. Beats chowin' down on carrots and lettuce though."

"Once you get used to the idea of eating flesh, you'll wonder how you ever got by without it," Angiris smiled, leaning back on the ratty human furniture, one arm draped over the back. "Seems our cultures are a world apart. Tell me, hedgehog, how do your kind keep their civilisation from stagnating in times of peace? Is there no aggression in the self that must be sated either by battle, or by the hunt?"

"Growing up, we were never wanting for a fight," Sonic chuckled. "We'd been at war since we were little kids. It only finally wrapped up for good about two years before Tails and I came here. Couldn't take two steps into the daylight before you were tap-dancing over SWATbot lasers." He fell quiet for a second, before laughing to himself again. "Kinda miss it, come to think of it. Good times."

The misty grey brute leaned forward, offering his pipe. "Tell me about this war." Sonic turned it away politely.

"His name was Robotnik. A human. Nobody really knew where he even came from in the beginning at first, he just kinda rocked up one day. Rose through the ranks of the Acorn monarchy, kicked ass and took names during the civil wars. Then just a few days after we'd called it a win, he marched right on in and took over."

"A coup?"

Sonic leaned back in his chair, wiping his hands on the desk chair he was sitting on. "Yeppers. It was when we were little, so we had to learn fast when it came to survival and fighting. Only a few adults. My unc taught me a lot."

Angiris smiled, not a bemused leer but a genuine look of admiration. "It shows. If you think yourself a representative of your kind, I believe we'd find a great deal in common!"

The hedgehog looked at the pile of gnawed chicken bones on the table, then back up at Angiris. "Uh, maybe."

"You don't think so?"

"Well..." Sonic's eyes lowered. "We were up against tin cans with guns. I dunno how I'd feel about killing someone. I've only done it once and I ain't proud to say it."

"The Kitsune do not kill simply to quench a thirst for blood," Angiris said. "It is from necessity, and every one of our kin is taught this from when they are pups. A life must take another to survive, and stay strong. To kill is a privilege, and to die is our inevitable reprieve."

"Whatever floats your boat, man." Sonic realised one foot was tapping nervously against the metal floor and stopped it quickly. "So anyway, you seen the big guy this mornin'? He was gone when I got up."

"I believe my daughter departed with him this morning, to hunt. I'd expect them back soon enough," Angiris said, rubbing the coarse fur on his chin. He hadn't missed how quickly Sonic had changed the subject... to be honest, he'd never grown up being all too fond of philosophising on the concepts of Darwinism either, so he could appreciate that. He knew Sonic's perspective would shift in time. The Prower boy's view already had, of that he was certain.

"Gotta say, he's pretty quick with the ladies," Sonic laughed. "Little player, he is."

"I doubt it. Fiona's never been an easy lay, that's one thing I'm rather proud of. One of my high-ranking paladins tried to claim her forcibly two years ago, and she ripped his throat out." Angiris grinned at the memory. "Good girl."

"Fiona didn't exactly roll us out a red carpet when she found us," Sonic smirked. "Hopefully she ain't killed him yet."

"She won't dare lay a talon on him, unless she wants to answer to me about it," Angiris puffed. "And nobody... nobody would want that." His voice went low as he said it, hoarse and dangerous.

Sonic smirked. "I get the hint, Angie. I'll be up front with you: I don't know if I trust you yet, and I sure as all get-out ain't up to looking any of your other Kitsune pals in the eye. But when you're in Rome, ya do what the Romans do. I think that's how Unc used to say it."

"I've never heard of this 'Rome', but it's a wise saying. Our kind have a similar phrase, volpa on ena canan ol volpa - 'a fox among the dogs is no fox'. Now... I can see you're bored, and I think it's time you showed my kin that you are no ghu-rah. Are you ready to earn your keep?"

The hedgehog blinked. "Depends what you got in mind."

"It's time I told you something. That roaring engine that young Miles brought to life yesterday was not our only source of power. Our main tool is fire, and we need fuel to keep the fires burning. Without it, we will freeze in the coming winter."

"Time for a fill-up, is it?" Sonic inquired.

"We will need plenty indeed for it," Angiris nodded. "But there is something else, too. We are planning a great expedition soon, and we will need to gather as many resources as we can for it. I am conducting nightly raids on the surrounding villages and supply stations, and I could use warriors with your speed-"

"Easy there, fella." Sonic stood up, hands on his hips. "What you're asking is for me to go stealing stuff? Didn't you say Kitsune are about honour and all that?"

"These villages are brimming with bigots who are circling Gorromandas, stockpiling their tools and their weapons to strike at the Enclave. We will not survive without these raids to prevent them. No thing we do is without honour, but practicality also factors in." He leaned over, folding his hands together, his eyes sparkling. "So, what say you?"

A strong shot of dread flowed in with the anticipation in Sonic's stomach, thick and bitter like the m'ghana he'd gotten so sick on back at Morris' place a few days earlier. He thought back to all those years ago that he'd taken off with Tails for this hunk of rock, and realised something. When Robotnik had bit the bullet, maybe the hero and legend of Sonic the Hedgehog had too. And in their place was just... some hedgehog.

II. Picking at the Wounds

Night was falling again, and the fires were burning strong out on the streets. Tensions were high and everyone knew it was only going to get worse as the inevitable confrontation between the Monarchy and its people drew closer. Of course, only a few knew what was really going on - in a half-hour, Nicole would be led down to the tech lab where Chuck and Rotor would plug into her brain, combing through her memories to find the proof they needed to prove her innocence. Everyone who was in on it knew the chances of success lay somewhere in the margins, inside the margins of the margins. But it was also their best hope to blow the conspiracy open.

Antoine had not hidden his reservations about allowing the two Brotherhood agents, Roderick and Jericho, to watch the procedure - but Nicole had insisted that they see it all - stressed that total transparency was paramount to a successful repair of relations between the North and South.

He let his sword, still in its scabbard, drag along the gritty concrete walls of the guardhouse hall as he walked along. He was only headed for the mess hall where a dish of escargot had his name on it - one made with butter, not margarine - then he'd be along in the labs with everyone else.

As soon as he heard Viktor's voice around the corner, he stopped, pulling his sword close to his body to keep it from rattling, and listened.

"So, I heard our queen was seen spilling her guts to Griff in the throne room. Getting all close with him."

"What, like kissing?" someone else asked.

"Nah, just hugging and stuff. Still, reckon they might be... y'know..."

"Do you think an android's got those... bits?"

"How should I know? I ain't never looked." Viktor was cackling. "She knows she's on 'er last legs, that's for sure. Then once she's gone, we can get a real Mobian in the throne again. Maybe someone who's got a pair, that won't go around talking about, 'peace and unity!' like it's some kind of gods-damned holy grail. Makes me sick."

"So who would you suggest to make a better king or queen out of, hmm?" Antoine called out, stepping through the door. "You?"

"Sir!" Viktor stood up straight and gave a salute so lightning-quick he almost clocked himself in the head, knocking the table with his thigh and sending a flask of water rolling over the edge to clatter noisily against the tiles.

"Don't be giving me the 'sir' treatment, Viktor," Antoine frowned. "Our nation is facing the most greatest threat since tze coup, and here you sit, with your idle gossip!"

"Sir, it was not my intention to disparage our majesty, sir!" Viktor said, biting his bottom lip to suppress a smirk.

"You are young, Capitan. You have not known tze fires of a true war. Tze horror at Adramalech. You should hope you never learn, and count yourself lucky. Our queen needs our support, and if you are not on our side, you are in the way."

"Sir, understood, sir!"

The weedy guard across from Viktor was staring at his meal intently, but his ears were pricked up, listening to every word of the conversation.

"We will see if it is understood!" Antoine barked. "Now return to your posts! Get out of my face!"

"Sir, yes sir!" Viktor sprang away from the table, dragging his companion with him, and jogging out through the door. It was going to be a weird day.

When he got to Chuck's computer lab, all the lights were off and a paper sign had been hastily stuck to the door: 'MOVED TO SICK BAY'. Immediately, this sent up red flags in Antoine's mind.

"Ant?" Bunnie's voice came from behind.

"Oui," he smiled, turning around to give her a quick kiss. It was good to see her again, after all that had happened so far. Over the years, while everyone else had seemingly grown and changed, Bunnie had held firm; some had surmised that she'd never stop being a Freedom Fighter, even though the title was long since defunct. She dressed the same, kept her hair short and scraggy as always. In truth, Antoine knew that there was more to her manner than simple traditionalism or nostalgia. Raising a child was not easy, and Bunnie had found herself trying to pull free of her doubts as they came, feeling like her youth was fast slipping through her metallic fingers.

"Ran into one of your guards on the warpath just a minute ago," Bunnie frowned. "Was mumblin' somethin' 'bout you?"

"Viktor," Antoine shrugged. "Captain of the Second Guard. He has been adequate so far, but there is no mistaking he is something of a... how you say, a douche canoe?"

"Hah!" She gave Antoine a jab in the arm, with her normal hand (it had not ended well when she'd used her robotic arm on previous occasions). "'Douche canoe'? They've really got you nice n' cultured out here these days, hey hon?"

"I think I am getting the hangs of it, yes," Antoine beamed.

"Well, you might need some of that palace charm, darlin'. Lupe passed on a communique from Ari in the North. They want to throw out an olive branch, send two Mobotropolis folk up there in the Sanctuary, do some investigating like they've done here. And guess what?"

"We are it?" Antoine guessed, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

"We're it, sugar."

"But..." the coyote stammered. "What about my work with tze First Guard? And our little one back in Knothole?"

"First Guard'll get by without ya for a couple days, sweetheart. And Rosie's hangin' back in Knothole. It's all good."

"I am not liking this," Antoine frowned. "I have a bad feelings about it."

"But this is a good thing, Ant! 'Till now, all we knew was that Ari was fumin' 'bout everything that's happened so far. If he wants us there, that means he's still got some faith in us."

"Oui, it is good," Antoine nodded, starting down the hall with Bunnie clomping along in tow. "When you put it that way. Maybe... if zis little experiment of Charles' goes well, tze trip will not be necessary?"

"Yep!" Bunnie grinned, though inwardly she had her own reservations about what this experiment would entail. But they were minutes away from observing it themselves, so she forced her thoughts out of her mind.

"Have you been to the sick bay yet?" Antoine asked, catching her expression. "I am getting tze feeling something has gone wrong..."

"Nah, nothin' wrong, sugar." Bunnie quickened her pace down the hall, and Antoine fell in tow promptly. "They just needed the medical equipment on standby in case somethin' went pear-shaped. Long as it's Chuck n' Rote doin' the tinkerin', I don't reckon they'll be needin' it."

"Of course." Antoine gave her a big, empty smile. He wanted to say she was right, and he knew Nicole would be in good hands with Rotor and Chuck at the helm, but... when it came to pushing the ultimate frontier, even the very best would be at most, barely adequate.

"I'm telling you, there's nothing to be seen in there that you won't be filled in on once we're done!"

Bunnie's ears pricked up as the neared the infirmary. Chuck's voice.

"We've been instructed by Grand Master Ari to observe every aspect of your investigations. There are no exceptions." Jericho was standing outside the door, with Roderick standing behind him meekly, scrawling notes into a digital notepad... no doubt, he was transcribing the entire debate.

"What's goin' on here?" Bunnie asked, resting a steel fist on her hip.

"These two from the Brotherhood are insisting that they sit in on the brain dive," Chuck told her. "I don't mind you and Antoine joining us, but this is an incredibly delicate operation. I'm sorry, but these two are going to affect my concentration. I can only do this in the presence of people I can completely trust."

"You have my assurance that we will not interfere," Jericho said flatly.

Chuck's red eyes turned from circles to suspicious dashes. It was strange, sometimes, how Bunnie could get the feeling he was showing signs of a weathered age, despite his metallic body a gifting him with an apparently eternal lifespan. "Heard that one before. I want to trust you, but given the circumstances, it'll take more than your assurance."

"Then you'll have to settle for mine, Sir Charles." Nicole had appeared behind him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "I'd promised to Ari that we'd grant total transparency in this investigation. We're going to stick to that, and exactly because of the nature of the circumstance, nothing but total trust in each other will do. Are we clear?"

The robotic hedgehog turned to her, inclining his head. "Clear, your highness."

"Good." Nicole nodded, and turned around, back inside the sick bay. "We should get this underway," she said as she walked. Chuck looked at Bunnie for a moment, defeatedly, and motioned for them all to follow him inside.

Griff was watching Nicole pensively, his eyes steely and his lips tightly pursed, like he was struggling to maintain his composure. It wasn't the first time Bunnie had seen Griff like this around Nicole. She'd not mentioned it to anyone, but she'd developed a strong impression that Griff had grown deeply attached to Nicole. At the very least, it'd been obvious from the beginning that he saw her as some sort of personal heroine. If the feeling was mutual, Nicole did a much better job of hiding it than he.

Rotor was tapping away at one of the computer monitors affixed to the wall, running an apparently complex series of visual diagnostics. The rings around his eyes suggested that he'd been burning the midnight oil again, but Bunnie had come to expect no different from the walrus.

And there was Nicole, looking so dishevelled that it was frightening for Bunnie to witness. Her eyes sported circles that were deeper than Rotor's, and her black hair, normally flowing straight like silk, was tangled in knots, falling over the pale blue hospital gown she was wearing.

Nicole caught Bunnie's concerned glance and returned a smile. "Thank you for being here, Bunnie. And you, too, Ant," she said, looking over at the coyote, who bowed in response.

"How are ya doin', hon?" Bunnie murmured. "I ain't never seen you lookin' so beat before..."

"I've had a lot on my mind lately, Bunnie, but I'll be alright."

Bunnie smiled back. "I dunno what good we're gonna be, but we're here for ya, love," she said. "I know you couldn't be in better hands than Rote n' old Uncle over here."

Nicole laid back on the bed, and reached over to the side to find a lever to adjust the head height to the point that she was almost sitting upright. "Are we ready?"

Chuck dragged a thick data cable out from the computer terminal and placed the plug end in Nicole's hand. "We're ready."

"Ready," Rotor said, peering over at her from over another computer monitor.

"Excellent. Good luck to you both." Nicole took the plug, and brushing her hair out of the way, inserted it into a hidden port in the back of her head.

"Guys, I hope you understand there won't be much to see while Rotor and I are doing this," Chuck addressed the others. "I'll be scouring her memories with a headset, while Rotor keeps me informed of her vitals. It's not something that we can really show you."

"Understood," Griff said, frowning. "We shouldn't see it anyway. Nicole, you don't need to tell us just how much you're confiding in us by allowing us to do this."

"If this'll get the situation resolved peacefully, and give us the proof we need, then I don't have a problem with it," Nicole said, with more than a little reluctance.

Roderick was still scribbling notes, looking over his shoulder every minute or so.

"Nicole, I'm going to put your AI into diagnostic mode," Rotor said. "Sleep tight."

"When you're ready. And Rotor..."

The walrus looked over monitor at her again. "Yes?"

"I trust you."

Rotor nodded. "Sending the reboot signal."

Nicole's body went limp immediately, her mouth agape, deadened green eyes still open and staring into nothingness.

"Oh, my stars..." Bunnie whispered, putting a hand over her mouth. Antoine came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, giving a reassuring squeeze.

Rotor opened one of the desk drawers, pulling out what looked like a home-made virtual reality headset, and passed it to Chuck.

He sat down next to Rotor, and put it on. "We've got visual. Let it keep running. How are her vitals?"

"Heart rate steady, breathing and blood pressure are all normal. Error log is clean. We're all good."

Chuck's vision was filled with images from Nicole's memories. The images came thick and fast, almost too much for him to process - and there was seemingly no order to them. All he could do was watch, hoping that the next slide of Nicole's mind would be the proof he needed, all committed to memory in the computer's hard drive.

I'm on a table in the throne room of Castle Acorn. King Maximilian is leaning forward in his throne, speaking quietly.

"Sally, these are the Deep Power Stones. Joined together this way, they're a source of limitless energy. Reverse them, and within thirty seconds, they become a source of total destruction. The Deep Power Stones are hidden at Drood Henge. This book is in the secret vaults of the Royal Library. It will give you the location - there you will find these three scrolls... they disclose the location of the Deep Power Stones. Nicole knows the language. End recording, Nicole."

Speech committed to memory. Maximilian forgets that I record all audio input, regardless of any commands I'm given. It is one of my original design traits.

"I guess that covers it, Nicole. Don't let her find that message before she's of age, no matter what. I don't think anyone should really be put in control of that kind of power. I hope she'll realise that by the time she hears this."

Julian Kintobor has entered via the back door. He is dressed in his War Minister uniform. Victory against the Trema insurgents has all but been declared by both sides now.

"What was that you were saying about power?" Robotnik asks.

"Nothing, Julian," Maximilian responds. "Just musing about the nature of it."

"What of it, my good man?"

"You know the classic phrase about its ability to corrupt. If we win this war, Julian, and it looks like we're about to, let's not make it so that we take too much power for ourselves."

"Why not?" Julian Kintobor is laughing loudly. "Only a weak man... or Mobian... could allow himself to become a slave to their own power. You, my friend, are no weak Mobian. And I am no weak man!"

"Sonic nearly died today, Nicole."

Sally is watching the rain outside the window. The sun is about to rise. She has been awake all night, fretting over him.

"I must be some kind of fool to love that stupid hedgehog! I can't believe how mad he makes me sometimes, throwing himself into danger like that. I know Robotnik's game. I know more than anything he just wants to humiliate Sonic, but... one day, he's going to push it too far. Do you know what I mean?" She presses the palms of her hands to her temples.

"Yes, I know," I say. "It will be alright, Sally."

Sally looks down at me, surprised. She had not expected a response. "Nicole... are you malfunctioning?"

I run a self-diagnostic. Results are negative. "No," I say. "I have re-enabled my empathy subroutines. I am now free to express and process thoughts and feelings."

The princess picks me up and looks at me with genuine surprise. She is not aware that these subroutines have been enabled since the coup began. It was the last gift that Charles had for me before the SWATbots took him away. "That's... incredible, Nicole! I have to tell everyone about this! I always knew by the way he talked about you, that my father never thought of you as just a computer... but you really are one of us now, aren't you?"

"Please," I tell her. "Don't tell anyone about this. It's... easier for me, if they do not know what I am capable of."

"Oh... okay, if you say so." My tactile receptors are picking up a stroking motion on the side of my chassis. "You know, if you were in a Mobian body, like us, Nicole... you'd make for one heck of a good friend to have at my side."

The sentiment triggers a long-repressed memory. I fight off the urge to disable my emotion processing engine successfully. "Thank you, Sally," I say. "You are... my friend."

Sally looks at me, then tilts her head and smiles.

I have never had friends before. The realisation that I now do, almost makes me feel like crying.

I remember that, the feeling of crying. Once, I had been running back near the pool we used to have in the backyard, on the sandstone tiles. One of my sandals had caught between them and I tripped an fell. I became filled with shock and dread when I saw the blood running down my knee, and the throbbing. I bit my lip as hard as I could but the tears were running anyway, a warm sensation upon my cheeks.

"Hah!" Daniel, my eldest brother has gathered his friends and they are all laughing at me. "Stupid little girl! I've never cried before in my life, not even when I nearly took all the skin off both my knees and my elbows! Dad says we don't have crybabies in this family. You know what I do to crybabies, don't you?"

I shake my head and his friends are forming a circle around me. "Big girl! Big girl, big girl, big girl!"

"Mumma!" I begin screaming. "Mumma!" I know she won't come, because she is never at home, but the thought of her comforts me as I scream her name.

They grab me under the arms, and begin dragging me over towards the water. I see one last image of of Daniel leering at me cruelly before they throw me in, and I promise myself that I will never cry again.

Sally has left me out on her desk again, right next to the window. My visual sensors are watching the sun rise.

It is very beautiful.

People had asked Knuckles plenty of times why he was so reluctant to travel into the city too often; he had plenty of valid reasons, to be sure. The air smelled dirty, too much smog; too much pushing and shoving in the streets, too much banging and buzzing of buildings being restored and too much shouting of pigs on street corners waving cheap trinkets in his face - or even worse, salvaged pieces from Robotnik's old factories. What he hadn't told anyone about, though, was that he was none too fond of driving.

In Griff's old hovercraft, the auto-pilot function essentially diminished the possibility of crashing - but he knew it was buggy, and a bad call by the craft's computer would likely send himself and Macska, the greying feline that was bound up next to him, flying to their deaths, or at least a pretty grisly fracture or two. He turned his face to the wind as they sped along the dirt road, feeling the sweat on his face cold against it, and he could tell he was going pale.

"You don't have to keep me tied up," Macska was groaning. "The guys in Knothole will know me! I'm an old friend."

The echidna threw up his hands. "I don't know you. So I don't care."

"This is no way to treat a senior citizen!" He complained, trying to wiggle one wrist free of the ropes that Knuckles had constrained him with. Darn it but back in his youth he'd have slipped a hand through in no time flat, caught the Sheriff under the knee and planted an elbow square in the middle of his forehead, and he'd be home free. If he could just get that wrist out...

"So what was it you were looking for?" Knuckles asked, conscious that he'd be hard to hear while still facing away from his captive. "If you're looking for a good joint to burglarise, you'd have been better off sticking to the city."

"I told you, I was just looking for an old friend! You know Sally, right? The princess?"

He finally couldn't look away anymore. He turned to Macska, his stomach still turning from the motion sickness. "Sally's dead. Didn't you see the memorial in the middle of town?"

"What...?" Macska's eyes widened. "When?"

The city was coming up fast. In a minute or two they'd be at the gate of Castle Acorn. He could see the pointy top of one of the power obelisks that supplied the city with its electricity, and beyond that, the gates of the Royal Gardens.

Knuckles met his shocked expression with a cool gaze. "Ages ago. You can't be telling me you didn't know. When we get to the palace, you'll have some explaining to do, pal."

The look in Macska's eyes took Knuckles by surprise. He'd obviously been well aware that the hut he was rifling through had once belonged to Sally, but he didn't look prepared for the news. Maybe he'd just assumed she'd relocated to the city. But the way he was looking through that computer... how long had he been watching to know that he'd find it there? Days? Weeks?

"Before we get to Mobotropolis, I want you to tell me what you were looking for on that computer. Those Knothole workstations aren't networked, so what were you hoping to find?

"I, uh..." His eyes darted left and right. He briefly peered over the side of the hovercraft at the dirt and gravel road that was rushing just beneath, as if he might be crazy enough to attempt jumping over the side and hope he wouldn't go rolling straight into a tree. "I just wanted to know where Sally had gone. I swear."

"By looking through a terminal, outside of the network, that housed Wolfpack information? It belongs to Lupe, and she brought it in. You knew it was there and you knew it was hers."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Macska said, leaning back in his seat, attempting to look as nonchalant as one could with their hands bound.

"Okay. No more games. I've had a gut full." Knuckles stopped the turbines on the craft and allowed it to glide gently to a stop at the side of the road - then he pulled the key from the ignition, and casually tossed it deep into the foliage aside.

Macska's eyes widened. "What are you, some kind of idiot? How will you get me to the city now, you fool?"

Knuckles stood up, smiling eerily, grabbed Macska by the throat easily in one hand. "In little pieces."

Immediately, the claws came out, trying for all his might to rake the sheriff in the face, the cat's attempts to throw Knuckles off at all were vain. The echidna was far younger than he, and a great deal stronger. As soon as Knuckles saw the fear in his face, his smile only broadened. "See, there's one thing the folks at Knothole don't know about me. The thing is, well, back in my old home town people knew me as being... how can I put it? A little bit of a psycho, I suppose."

His vice grip on Macska's throat tightened. Knuckles cheerily hopped the guard rail of the hover craft, dragging his quarry along with him.

"Now, I didn't catch your name..." Knuckles said, voice low.

"Mmchh..." the cat choked. Knuckles loosened his grasp just enough for him to croak out, "Macska."

"Okay, Macska. Here's how it works. Nobody knows you were in Knothole, nobody's seen you on this back road, and I'm in the mood for some killing. So... is there anything you'd like to say to me before you die?"

Macska's eyes narrowed, despite the grip around his neck. "You're bluffing... you stupid little... punk."

In response, Knuckles used his free hand to unbutton one of the pouches that hung from his belt. "Reach into that pouch, friend."

The cat and echidna kept their eyes locked firmly upon another.

"Go on, there's nothing dangerous in it," Knuckles smiled.

Macska dipped his still bound hands in and felt something bulbous, dry and brittle... like a rock, but it felt lighter...

He pulled it out and saw what it was in the sunlight. A skull - a Mobian skull.

Macska's eyes turned wide as saucers. "Help!" He cried, letting the weathered cranium drop from his hand and into the dirt. "Oh gods, somebody, please help!"

"We're on a road in the middle of nowhere, fella." Knuckles smiled. "Nobody's going to hear you. Now let me ask again. Before I kill you, do you want to die without a clear conscience, or with one?"

"Okay!" Macska blurted out, his eyes welling up with tears. "They turned their backs on me all those years ago... I wanted to get back at them! I went up north, some guys up there let me join them, the Cult of Xul... said I could help 'em out with getting some revenge, take down all these yuppie scum in Mobotropolis... they wanted to know about the Antithesis and I knew Lupe's Wolfpack would be the best chance at finding an archive with some info on it. Okay? Okay?"

"Who are Roderick and Jericho? The northerners from the Brotherhood. Are they part of this cult?"

"I've never heard those two names, I swear on my mother's grave! Just please don't kill me... please please please please please..."

Knuckles sighed. "Alright, then." He let Macska drop to the ground, and felt a punch in the gut from his conscience, as he watched the old feline curling up on the ground, shivering and sucking his thumb. He'd taken the scare routine too far... on the upside, he'd gotten some answers, and he now knew for sure what the cat's intentions were. But all the same... he didn't enjoy seeing anyone suffering, and he found even less comfort in knowing he'd caused it.

After scooping up the old skull from the dirt and putting it in his pouch, he picked the cat up by the scruff of the neck, and dragged him back to the hovercraft, pulling a spare key from his pocket to start the turbines again. "We're going back to the city."

Of course, everyone in Knothole knew that skull belonged to his mother, and the keepsake of skulls of the departed was a long-held tradition among echidnas... but Macska didn't need to know that yet.

When they finally reached the outskirts of the city, it was obvious something was up from the smell alone - he was used to the smell of smog in the city now, especially around the industrial areas, but this was thick, like the kindling he'd known from back home - street fires, it had to be.

It never ceased to amaze him how quickly the buildings in Mobotropolis had gone up again after the launch of Robotnik's battlecruiser had knocked half of them down like dominoes during the war. The leered down at him from overhead, erect and imposing - the more he stared, the more it looked like they were swaying, ready to topple over on him, so he took a deep breath and faced the castle as it came into view. He knew the gang would be busy with Nicole, but he'd still be able to turn his catch over to Antoine or Viktor for interrogation.

Then the power obelisk ahead of them exploded.

And within seconds, it was chaos. It began with a brief crack of white light first, right at the base of the pylon. Then a powerful shockwave erupted, shattering the obsidian stone structure like a marble, billions of chunks of conductive rock flying in all directions. The sound of the explosion was quick and hoarse - Knuckles could feel it pound right through his body.

"Get your head down!" He grabbed Macska by the back of the head and slammed both of their bodies to the deck, as the rain of shattered black stone began, the endless shrapnel taking out every window in sight down the street, which added to the cacophony in a chorus of crashing glass. To the left and right, Mobians were scurrying for cover from the fallout.

"We just lost the power!" Chuck could hear Rotor shrieking.

For a moment, everything was completely black. He'd been flung from one memory to another inside of Nicole's head until a heavy tremor and a loud bang, seemingly from down the street, had violently wrenched him back into reality. He pulled the visor off and saw the lights had already flickered back on as the emergency generators kicked in.

"What the hoo-hah happened out there?" Bunnie strode over to the window, looking to see if anything was visible from their position. The sound they'd heard could only have been an explosion - a very large one, if it was big enough to knock out the power to the castle.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no." Chuck dashed around to where Rotor was sitting, watching the computer as it rebooted. "Nicole didn't wake up. I was half-way through the brain dive."

They looked at each other.

"What are you saying?" Griff could hear the worry in his own words as he spoke them.

"The power surge might've gone to her brain," Rotor said.

The room became completely quiet aside from the sound of the computer's fans spinning. Antoine walked over to Nicole, still laying back, eyes still wide open, and pressed two fingers to her neck. He hadn't thought he'd find a pulse in an android, but he did. "What do you have to do then?"

Chuck looked at Antoine grimly. "We take her out of diagnostic mode, and disconnect her. And hope she isn't braindead."

Rotor wasted no time in doing so: he typed a simple command to reboot Nicole's brain, and watched her.

She did nothing. No movement at all.

Griff walked across the room to her, and leaned over, brushing her eyes closed with two fingers. He looked over his shoulder at the others, all staring at him in silence.

So was this it? The end? His heart began to pound fast inside his chest. But when he turned back to look at his queen, her eyes were open again, looking at him.

"Did it work?" she asked.

All parties in the room let out a collective sigh of relief.

"What?" she said, sitting up, looking confused. "Did something happen?"

Chuck stepped forward. "Nicole, there was a problem. We experienced a blackout while the brain dive was in progress. You're lucky to be alive..."

"Then do it again," she said, lying back down. "Don't give up until you've got the images you need!"

Rotor looked down at his paws, resting lightly on the keyboard. "I can't do that. No way. Not after what just happened now."

Nicole looked at him. "Rotor, I love you dearly, but I'm giving you an order."

"I know," Rotor said. "And I'm disobeying it. You don't know how close you came, and it wasn't just the blackout either. I'm not going to obey an order to kill you, Nicole."

She turned to Chuck, but found no support in his sullen gaze. "He's right. The chance of us succeeding with this is just so minuscule, and the chance of you dying is so great... I'm sorry, but doing this was grasping at straws from the beginning."

Nicole looked around the room at the others. Antoine and Bunnie, holding hands tightly. Roderick in the corner, arms folded. Jericho, still taking notes. Lupe, leaning against the wall silently, hands cupped together. "I see."

Reaching up under her frazzled hair, she pulled the loose wires out of her head and let them drop to the floor. "Then I suppose we're done here. If you all wouldn't mind, I'll need a moment."

Griff watched everyone leaving quietly, then turned to leave himself, but he felt Nicole touch two fingers to his arm. "Griff, stay for a moment. I'd like a word with you."

Nicole knew Chuck and Rotor were right about the dive. There was no denying that from the get-go, it'd been a crapshoot. She knew just as well as they, that she would've died if they tried again.

What they didn't know, of course, was that her other option looked scarcely better.