The Hell We Live In

Eleven

__Tails had set the food on the table. He wasn't feeling hungry so he only had some for Fiona and Scourge. He had his coffee, though. That was all he needed. Once Fiona and Scourge came out from the bathroom Tails motioned them over to the dining table. While they went to eat Tails went to sit down in the living room. He turned on the TV and then went on his phone. It was really redundant because he wasn't bothering with the TV, but he felt he needed the noise in the background while he was on his phone. While he scrolled through social media to look at cute animal pictures T-Pup hopped up on the couch and laid itself in Tails's lap.
__The door suddenly beeped, causing Tails to look at the front door. The door opened slowly, revealing the large purple walrus. "Hey, Tails. Mind if I come in real quick?"
__Tails shook his head and watched Rotor walk up to him. "What's happening?"
__Rotor was rubbing the back of his neck while grinning awkwardly. "I was kinda hoping you could lend me some of your equipment for a little while. I was trying to rent some stuff I needed at that hardware store, but for some reason the staff refused me."
__Tails groaned as he started to rub his forehead. "I had this happen before. They don't want to waste their time 'cause they figure we can just make their rentals ourselves."
__"That's so stupid!" Rotor growled. "Sure we could, but that takes too long! It's much easier to just use one that's already built."
__"I know," Tails agreed. "Normies are just a bunch of self-centered assholes." Tails then stood up and put one hand on his hip. "What do you need?"
__"A scissor lift."
__Tails's ear twitched as he crossed his arms and narrowed an eye at him. "You think I just have a big ass scissor lift in my garage?"
__Rotor looked slightly nervous and awkward. "Do you?"
__Tails let the silence sink in for a few more seconds before grinning. "I do." He led the walrus into his workshop. "You need to borrow my trailer, too?"
__"That'd be awesome. Thanks."
__Tails had his scissor lift over by his desks. He didn't really use it much. He would only really use it if he was working on high-up things, like a spaceship or something. Nowadays he just used it whenever he was either too tired to fly or something was wrong with at least one of his tails to get to the second floor in his workshop, which was stupid because there was a built in ladder. By the way, he had made a deck in his workshop that acted as a second floor. He had a smaller than average trailer that was parked close to his plane. He was going to put the scissor lift on it before hooking it up to Rotor's truck. He set a ramp on the trailer and then went over to his lift. He stepped in it and inserted his key in the ignition to turn it on. Then, using the controls, he slowly drove the lift onto the trailer. Once it was in the middle of the trailer he turned off the lift and got off. He gave the key to Rotor before removing the ramp. "Get my straps, will ya?" By this point he noticed that Scourge was peaking into the garage. He pretended that he didn't notice.
__"Here you go." Rotor handed Tails one of the straps and the two of wrapped them around the lift and trailer to keep them secure.
__"Back your truck up here," Tails told Rotor tiredly. "I'll open up the garage door.
__"Will do!"
__Once the door was all the way open, Rotor slowly backed his truck up into the garage. Tails was motioning him to keep going until the hitch was right under the tongue of the trailer and motioned him to stop. Once everything was locked and hooked up Rotor turned off the truck and walked up to Tails. "Hey, uh... can we also talk for a bit?"
__Tails had a bad feeling he knew what this was about, yet he nodded anyway. He led him over to the ladder and climbed up onto the deck. There were a few chairs and a table that they went to sit in. Next to them was a smaller refrigerator that Tails kept "drinks" in. It was still really early and it wasn't smart, but since this was the extremely light stuff he pulled out two beers and handed one to Rotor. "You gonna complain?"
__Rotor gladly took the beer. "About the beer or Scourge?"
__"The hell do you think, man?"
__Rotor tittered awkwardly. "The other day you just seemed really upset that we didn't like that you and Sonic brought them here. I'm just confused. You hated those two more than any of us; you were the happiest when they were put back in jail. What happened?"
__Tails groaned before taking a sip. "You weren't there with us when we interrogated Scourge about The Devil. He told us what happened to him, Fiona and the Destructix once they were back in Zone Jail. That place was willing to let them die with these euthanizing watches they put on them."
__Rotor leaned back in his chair. "Are you fucking serious? Weren't they still kids?"
__Tails nodded. "They lived in fear these past ten years. They had The Devil to protect them and be a part of their family, but he had been deceiving them the entire time."
__"What's up with Scourge then?" Rotor asked more quietly. "Fiona looks chipper, but Scourge... he seems really off."
__Tails sighed. "He's got serious depression that the jail never provided for."
__"Shit. How did you even convince them to help us with this?"
__"We're willing to let them stay here once this is all done," Tails explained. "I can tell that they don't really intend on continuing what they started again."
__"And No Zone allowed this?"
__"Yeah, but they had to put those collars on them to keep them in line. They were supposed to shock and paralyze them whenever they were out of the twenty foot range, harm us in any way, or remove the collars. Sonic and I really didn't like that, so I modified them to give them a fifty foot range and they'll only get strong vibrations and excessive beeping."
__"Aren't the No Zoners going to be upset you messed with their stuff?"
__Tails buzzed his lips as he rolled his eyes. "That's future Tails's problem."
__Rotor burst out laughing. "Wow. You really don't care that much?"
__"They don't deserve my respect," Tails growled.
__Rotor quieted down to a titter as he shook his head. "I understand. Bunch of assholes. I get they have to keep a bunch of dangerous multiverse criminals in check, but nearly killing them in just plain wrong."
__"Yeah, no shit! Fuck those guys! Fuck them hard in the ass! Fucking. Fuck. Bastards."
__Rotor was still laughing. "This was a bad idea. You can't even handle the lightest shit. Ain't it about nine now?"
__Tails started giggling as he set his empty bottle on the table. "Whoops. Can you drive?"
__"I can drive," Rotor reassured him. "This was just basically water. But don't be telling the cops now." The two continued to laugh as the walrus stood up. "Anyway, I'll let the other Freedom Fighters know for you. It should help get some stress off your shoulders."
__Tails smiled at the large walrus. "Thanks, man."
__"Of course. I owe you after all."
__Tails frowned and shook his head. "No, man. I owe you. You helped raised me and taught me a lot about building and tech and shit."
__"All right, quit talking like that. I'll never get home at this rate." He waved goodbye at the fox as he climbed down the ladder before hopping in his truck and leaving.
__Tails looked at his empty bottle. "Fuck me, man. Sometimes I don't think at all. I'm gonna get myself in trouble one of these days." He looked over as Scourge's head popped up from the top of the ladder. "Dude, I gave you a fifty foot range for a reason. You don't need to be constantly close to me." He wouldn't have talked to him like this normally, but not after one drink.
__Scourge took a munite to reply. "I think you need that medication more than me."
__Tails shook his head. "I don't have depression if that's what you're thinking. This is normal." Tails then started stretching. He remembered his coffee he left in the living room and desperately wanted it back. "But uhhh... I guess I have to take you two to HQ later, so prepare for that."
__Scourge didn't reply. He just slowly climbed down the ladder. This made Tails annoyed. "At least try and communicate normally." He stood up from his seat and carefully climbed down the ladder. Scourge was waiting at the bottom for him. "What?"
__Scourge took a few steps back and avoided making eye contact. "Why?"
__"Why what?"
__Scourge looked straight into the fox's eyes, making him feel uneasy. "Why pity us? Why even go through the trouble of bringing us here and fixing up these collars to make it easier for us? We would have agreed to help you even if you originally planned on sending us back."
__Tails straightened up his posture as he stared at Scourge in disbelief. "You're kidding? You're fine with going back there?"
__Scourge flattened his ears. "No, but we still would have helped you find The Devil no matter what."
__Tails shook his head. "You're fucking crazy. You're not going back there."
__"But why?" Scourge asked again. "Why are you going through this trouble? We're just a hassle to you now."
__This was true. The other Freedom Fighters were not happy with his and Sonic's decision and were going to be giving them and Scourge and Fiona a hard time. And since Scourge and Fiona are stuck with him he had to deal with this awkwardness everyday. There was part of him that still didn't want to trust them, or know if they would indeed deceive them in the end. But none of that mattered.
__"You're just like the rest of us," Tails said quietly. "You're living in hell just like us. You're all alone just us. You're in need of dire help just like us. You've had your own fucked up shit to go through that no one else will ever understand. Just. Like..." Tails went silent for a second. "Me."
__Scourge's ears perked up. He didn't say anything. He just hesitated before reluctantly grabbing Tails's arm and leading him back to the living room where his coffee waited for him.