Heroes (Tails x Reader) Book 4

IX. The Front-runners

A wind blows across the battlefield as the crack of the cannons echo into the sky. The three of you watch as a barrage of glowing hot munitions come raining down.

"Scatter!" Shadow dashes forward.

You vanish in an instant, Sonic jumping a few times before rolling up and spinning up at the projectiles. He ping pongs between the missiles, deflecting them scattering across the base while hatches open, releasing ground robots that quickly begin flooding out into the wide courtyard. You and Shadow get to work weaving yourselves between the assault, several groups of mechs getting their limbs sliced clean through before Shadow delivers the finishing blows. The two of you keep the momentum advancing deeper into the ranks before more mechs seem to pop up behind you and lay down a barrage of fire on your backs.

"Shadow! Behind us!" You continue your silent assault, slashing through the droves and throwing your knives to the sides before pulling them back to your body.

Shadow spins back, "Got it!" Energy gathers in his palms as he unleashes a barrage of energy in response. The platform shakes as it erupts in flames. Shadow moves backwards while keeping pace with you, laying down a trail of fire in your wake as the thin line you created was reinforced by his concussive blasts.

A squad from the left rushes you as you dodge up, catching sight of Sonic airborne and pinging flying enemies down at your pursuers while the robots knocked into each other. You take full advantage, moving even faster as your strikes cut through the crisp air.

Your squad looks on in awe, Viper frozen for a moment as they watched on... The older soldier bumps their shoulder, "Get your head in the game!"

Viper shakes it off, nodding. "Right. Sorry." They double back to the rest of the squad, pulling a flare gun out of their bag and setting up a small relay.

The older soldier gets down and starts assembling the antennae while the others stood guard. "For what it's worth that leader of yours is a real hard ass."

Viper stops for a moment, their mask looking over to him before they got back to work. "East has my respect and admiration. Seeing them put in 100% of their skills is something I have never been able to witness, my only regret is that we can't watch further."

He laughs bitterly, "When we pull this off the only thing you'd better be dreaming about is kicking back and drinking a cold drink or somethin... I'm sick of all this Eggman bullshit."

The fire rains down from both sides, more robots being deployed with ranged capability. Looking up you could see Sonic still zipping between shots in the air trying to keep the fire focused on him. Additional ground forces start firing on him as well, the blanket of shrapnel becoming harder to evade midair. You squint further down, slashing through several more mech gracefully before tisking your tongue. There were too many down below, Sonic needed to get higher up to increase their delay...

You raise a finger to your ear, "Sonic, get higher up and I can take care of the extra heat on you!"

You watch him struggle to dodge as you spoke, a delay before you hear his voice in your ear. <bzzt> "Higher-? No can do East, I think Eggman knows what I'm trying to do! They're keeping me at this height with their fire!" More mech rain down, their remains getting harder to evade as Sonic couldn't aim them as freely.

You tisk your tongue, "Evade for a minute, I'll take care of it."
You then swap to Shadow, "I need to advance to cover Sonic, be advised!"

His voice responds in your ear while a concussion of explosions resounds behind you, "Copy. I'll hold the line for our forces!" His body blinks out, appearing in the air as he unleashes a volley of projectiles. He teleports back to the ground and weaves himself back through the ranks as fire rained down behind him, cleansing the courtyard of the hordes in an instant.