Heroes (Tails x Reader) Book 4

II. Friend and Foe

You venture around the base at your leisure, really taking in all it had to offer now that you were on the same side, at least for now. Despite kinda've being official Tails was still uncomfortable being outwardly affectionate towards you around others, though to be fair you weren't even sure if his friends knew you guys were dating-ish let alone living together now. Not that it was a big deal, you kept it secret from your team as well so were you really in a place to be upset?

Several soldiers eyed you as you made your way around, going into places haphazardly to check them out before returning to your walk of the base. They seemed to have upped their tech since last time, cameras hidden behind reflective domes and motion sensors lining the halls in series, the alarms ready to blare at the first sign of an intrusion.

A group of soldiers approach you from behind, one of them tapping on your shoulder. "Excuse me but you're East, right?" The boy in front looks at you excitedly, his face slightly obscured by his helmet.

"And if I am?" You cross your arms, looking between all of them they seemed generally harmless. The five of them looked like they were well trained but likely nowhere near even Ava's level.

He takes off his helmet, two of the others also following suit,
"Could I get you to sign my helmet? I heard about you from some of the veteran fighters!"
"You're sooo cool! I wanna be like you when I get to fight Eggman on the front lines!"
"Have you ever ran up the sides of buildings like Sonic can?"

Your brows raise in surprise, admiration was.. different from what you expected... "Oh.. I mean I don't really have a pen or anything-" He takes a marker out of a pouch, excitedly handing them forward with a giddy grin. You take them, chuckling under your breath as you do a quick signature. "Umm... Can't say I've ran up buildings the way Sonic does but there have been occasions where I've needed to scale the sides, yes." You hand the helmet back, marker tucked inside as you addressed the third, "...and hey, when this plan is a success you won't have to fight Eggman on the front lines. Between everyone coming together I doubt Eggman will know what hit him."

One of the ones in the back pipes up, "What's so special about you? You seem like any other normal (y/a)." The others shush them immediately, clamping their hands over their mouth.

You scan over them, taking in every inch with a calculated stare. "To be frank there's nothing special about me. I'm just some (y/a) that happened to be exactly what was needed." You vanish from their sight, an afterimage of you disappearing before you spoke again standing behind the group. "You could say my skills spoke for themselves."

The group gasps, the naysayer immediately changing their demeanor ad becoming much more shy. You look between all of them with a more amused look now, it was so easy to impress the normals. They reminded you of when you'd heard about the ninja clan of the east and how impressed you were to hear of the limited feats that had been made public. Your mind traces over your mentor again, then the Master. You had surpassed all expectation already and with the addition of the bionic attachment on your arm you could probably fight the Master 1 on 1 and put up a decent fight. Her Phase was a constant though, you could only maintain it in short bursts so you would surely lose in a fair fight... Not that they fought fair anyways...

"Work hard, all of you." You nod to the group and walk past them, continuing down the hallway. "When the operation starts I expect to see you giving it all you've got."

They seemed to stun for a moment, their eyes reflecting their excitement and admiration as they all salute you with giddy grins. "Thank you East! We'll do our best!"

The hall progresses into further conference rooms and some techy centers with workers inside. It seemed pretty straightforward, you get a few looks from the folks circulating the facilities but with the meeting that was called it seemed to dispel most apprehension.