A Momentary Pause

Abraham took a sip of coffee, placing the mug on the table and leaning back comfortably, as he stared at the massive screen covering the wall. The only light source in the room, its glow being stopped only by his shadow, displayed long lost footage from a little over 60 years ago. Top secret files he's been obsessively studying since they were recovered, rumoured to be something the Marauders are looking for.

The sepia tone recording showed the interior of what appeared to be a vast underground temple, drops of water falling from the low ceiling as they trudged through the flooded ground. A group of scientists followed two Echidnas, previously thought to have been extinct for millenia, through the dark rocky corridors. Using flashlights, the explorers highlighted stone walls decorated with murals and writings that museums would kill for, if not for Eggman constantly stealing them for his plans.

Abraham didn't even blink as they reached a vast cavern, stalactites hanging from the ceiling far above as sparse beams of light illuminated the marble path hanging in the middle of a pitch-black abyss. As they climbed down the steep staircase, the camera zoomed in on the obscured silhouette of a gigantic statue of what they could only assume were gods. Abraham noticed many of them in fact, at least four of them decorating each corner of the underground dome, each had to be at least twice the height of an average skyscraper.

The camera zoomed out to show the middle of the enormous grotto, which had a huge stone pyramid with seven pillars around it, roughly the same size as the one standing on the Angel Island's surface. Lights shined from the top of each pillar, which Abraham could only assume were Chaos Emeralds, as they walked closer to make out the Master Emerald on full display. The camera began stuttering, quickly shaking as a group of five spear wielding Echidnas assaulted them before the recording went dark.

The footage cut to one of the scientists interviewing their aptly-named leader, Achchautl, in the middle of the jungle. Abraham's interest peaked when he heard the interviewer's last name was Robotnik. Abraham's video was interrupted by loud knocking on the door, which let a subtle whir as he opened it, not before turning the computer off first.

Rays of light forced him to squint upon looking behind him. Topaz walked into the office, so curious about the material he was watching, she almost forgot what she came for until Abraham's gaze reminded her.

"G-good news, th-the Angel Island mission was a moderate success," Topaz stuttered after clearing her throat, still not used to interacting so closely with the Commander himself, "The Master Emerald was successfully captured and preparations are beginning for the second phase."

"The bad news?" Abraham asked.

"But the bad news is... that more than half of the prisoners we selected are dead or injured, we don't even know Team Beta's whereabouts," she said with a somber look on her face, feeling bad about what happened yesterday, knowing there was nothing she could do about it.

The door closed shut as Topaz left the room, it was a miracle she was let in. Abraham always trusted his personnel but he's been unusually paranoid as of late, refusing to leave his office since the General gave him that drive.

Topaz turned a corner, she could only speculate what it contained, as the only thing she knew was that the Marauders wanted it. Her thoughts came to a sudden close, brought back into reality after bumping into Rouge.

"Look where you're going, granny."

"Sorry—Wait WHAT!?"

Rouge shrugged, lowering her eyebrows tenaciously, "You're no emerald or diamond, but a Topaz ain't that bad."

"Is there anything else in your mind besides gemstones?!”

Rouge shrugged and Topaz sighed as the two of them walked away from each other, Topaz pulled out her identification and input her password, which opened the door. She had gotten a little bit used to her attitude by now, but that didn't make it less annoying.

After crossing to the other side, Topaz turned around and right as the door closed, caught a glimpse of Rouge taking out her communicator, hearing her muffled talk.

"Hello? Rouge here, how's the mission going?"

Tails was in a familiar place, a peaceful Shinto shrine in the middle of the forest where he had lived long before he met Sonic. The sour breeze embraced him, the chirping birds welcomed him, it was the first time in years that he saw his true home. His grandfather was taking his usual nap near the entrance, the seven rings on his golden staff chiming in the breeze, his big hat shielding him from the sun. No matter how close he tried to get, there seemed to be an invisible wall preventing them from interacting.

He had no other choice but to leave the place. He rolled up his namesakes and spun them like the blades of a helicopter, but gravity was pushing him down, there seemed to be a force preventing him from flying. As soon as he stepped out of the great Tori Gate in front of him, everything went up in flames. Tails just realized which repressed memory this was. He felt the fire's heat embracing his body and smelled that sweet aroma of burning trees, both of which remained the same they were all those years ago.

He kept walking through the burning forest for a little while, incapable of doing anything but moving forward, until a silhouette caught his eye. Things were the same as always, but this time it looked clearer than usual. Another fox with two tails, much taller than him, maybe taller than Sonic. He ran towards it, but no matter how hard he tried, he could never catch it. Over and over again, he reached forwards but it always slipped away, and right as he managed to touch him, another hand grabbed him by the shoulder.

He jerked awake, his heart was beating so fast he swore it would explode. He hastily looked around, a high-pitched beep echoed rhythmically through the place, as he immediately realized he was hooked up to some sort of machine.

It was clear that this was some sort of hospital, the blue sheets covering him stood out against the monotonous white of the room. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and let it all sink in before taking in his surroundings.

In front of him, lying on his back in the far left corner, was Shadow, talking to someone, no phone in sight.

"Better than expected, Tails, Amy and Cream also came to save Sonic."

...

"We just picked them up, Tails is currently recovering from some injuries."

"We?" Tails muttered.

The ground and everything on it began shaking with every reverberating thud, as he picked up a strong, putrid smell from the corridor.

Omega entered the room, the framed photo of Team Dark fell into the ground, and he stepped over the broken shards as he placed a black tray with a bowl of what he thought was some sort of soup. It didn't look appetizing at all, he couldn't even make out the haphazard mishmash of ingredients.

"Dinner. Is. Ready," Omega said in his deep, monotone voice.

Despite his robotic mannerisms, Tails could sense a feeling of excitement and pride in Omega's cold and blank red eyes. Hesitating, Tails sunk the spoon into the disgusting concoction, its brown color matching that of mud. His hand shook nervously as he brought the spoon closer to his mouth, from the tiny portion alone bubbled a foul, tar-like smell.

"They fought one of Eggman's robots, as far as I know, it's the only one that escaped GUN's property," Shadow walked towards the coffee maker as he talked and served himself, oblivious of the torture Tails was being subjected to, “We could use him in our favor.”

Closing his eyes, he took a bite, resisting every urge to throw up. The ungodly substance was sometimes smooth as water, and other times chunky like cottage cheese, his nose wrinkling as a way to protest the sewage smell he was picking up.

Frank Sinatra's deep and suave voice echoing from the Vinyl player was the only thing calming him down as he mustered the courage to swallow it. It felt strange, since that was the last thing he'd imagined Shadow listening to, he almost expected to hear Evanescence or Slipknot blasting from those speakers the moment he woke up.

"Did you like it?" Omega asked in the sweetest tone his monotone voice could reach.

"Beats hospital food," Tails grimaced under the guise of a smile and gave a thumbs up.

This was a warm and hospitable welcome coming from someone like Shadow, more so than he expected. Tails felt embarrassed, there’s nothing he disliked more than getting treated like a little kid. Shadow grinned as Amy, followed by Cream and Cheese, entered the room. Realizing he was awake, the two of them squealed in joy, racing to see who could hug him first.

“Farewell,” Shadow took his leave before hanging up, the soup being spilled into the floor as Amy and Cream slammed right into Tails.

He slid the gray curtain to his left, admiring the carcass of that shapeshifting robot they’ve just defeated a while ago, connected by a myriad of cables from his back into a computer. Tails’ looked in awe as information was being downloaded into a small USB drive, but the girls snuggling him paid no mind. Tomorrow was going to be one hell of a day.