The girl gets a bright smile. "I can help? Cool! Oh! My name's Liberty, by the way..."

As Tails anticipated, a simple crossing of wires and kerchink! The door opens! Liberty hops out and hugs Tails!

"My name's... woah oof!"

Tails returns the hug in that, "You're cute but we've got urgent things to do," kinda way.

"My name's Tails.  And yes.  For starters, please let Sonic know that I'm working on getting him out...  If you haven't already.  Pretty good chances the robots are already on their way here, so let's hide!"

Tails doesn't make assumptions about how fast the girl is, so he tries flying her to someplace where the two can escape the notice of any robots.

As it happens, there is a ledge those ground-based bots can't get to and is also easy to hide from their view so they don't inform anyone to send air-based bots. Liberty gasps at being grabbed and lifted to that spot. Once hidden, she continues talking to Tails' mind, "Sonic is.. unconscious. I've made several attempts to wake him, but I think Brainstein is artificially inducing unconsciousness to Sonic."

She looks about. "My telepathy only works with living creatures... so you, Sonic and I are it. But... I sense a lot of people above. Police."

On the one hand, worrisome that Sonic is out cold.  On the other, at least he's not suffering from being stuck in a boring holding cell.

Tails nods to Liberty and thinks at her the events so far, assuming her telepathy works as quick as thought.  He's got lots of questions floating around in his head, but tries to suppress them so as to not overwhelm Liberty.  Next step is to figure out what trap Brain Stain expected me to walk into.  And without the options of hacking or mind-reading, the only thing left is to scout.

Tails does his best to scout the path to Sonic without being spotted or falling into a trap.

Liberty seems to just smile at Tails when his mind goes wild. Either Tails was successful in suppressing thoughts, or this girl is hard to overwhelm. Or both.

The path to Sonic seems straight forward. It does have robots and the occasional semi-obvious trap. None of the traps appear to be lethal, though. As if the intent is only to capture and never to harm. Which is not consistent with Brainsteins earlier lethal order to "kill Jenkins"

Tails can see Sonic up ahead, suspended in a bubble of some kind, made of energy as if a force field. Under and above the bubble are technological rings.

Liberty telepaths, "I've informed Officer Jenkins that you're OK and that you found Sonic. The men who work for Brainstein have been arrested."

Oh!  Thanks for telling him!  Especially handy that your telepathy can get past whatever's blocking radio signals.  Non-lethal traps?  I'm wondering if this guy's project was to capture Sonic and somehow harvest his power all along.  Yours and mine as well.  Wonder if Maverick has a super power.  Commanding a plane to fly just from touching it, perhaps.  Do we have time to leave this place, get Maverick for his technopathy, then return and have Maverick mind control the robots.  Hmm.  Probably should just risk freeing Sonic now.

Tails does his best to alter a trap to work on the robots instead.  Preferably one that'll keep it still long enough for him to try and take the robot apart.

Liberty says, "Maverick doesn't have technopathy. But he is very good at stealth and being stubborn. He's my brother. But even if he had superpowers, I don't think we have time to leave and return."

The traps seem easily altered.

Stubborn is right.  Forcing himself to stay awake long enough to give the location of the entrance, for example.

Tails isn't quite sure what the plan is.  Step 1.  Lure robot into trap.  Step 2.  Use it to release Sonic, somehow.  Can't program it without a computer unless...  Nah.  Efficient Brain Stain wouldn't put a console into each robot.  Will have to figure something out.

I'll lure a robot to a trap so we can use it to rescue Sonic.

Tails tries the subtle approach first.  Throw a pebble where you want the robot to go.

Plan A begins to work out. Robot aggros Tails. Robot falls into trap. Over the com, Tails hears, "I commend you for keeping your cool despite that minute I gave you. If you are curious, you made it to Sonic in 4 minutes and 35 seconds. Why that's almost enough time for Sonic to reach Gigapolis from the shores of Turquoise Hill. But speed isn't everything. Sonic fell for my traps and you have yet to. Is Sonic stupid? Or do you secretly, deep inside, realize you have a coolness even your hero doesn't have? After all; a TRUE believer would have believed there is no way their own hero needs rescuing."

Liberty telepaths, "Blablabla mind games, blablabla I'm soooo smart. The only reason to listen to Brain Stain is in case he drops useful hints. I believe in you, Tails! SONIC believes in you or he wouldn't take you places! It is no wonder you know full well that as cool as Sonic is, *everyone* needs someone."

The robot has standard robot parts/salvage. Importantly, connectors that could be use to jury-rig an interface to the device holding Sonic.

Tails inwardly cheered when he discovered the robot parts could be used as an interface!  His face was already turning read from Brainstein's mind games, but Liberty's praise makes him blush all the more.

Thanks for the assurances, Liberty.  I'm puzzled by this villain.  On the one hand, his jabs are more insightful that Robotnick's...  On the other, because Robotnick's more honest about his own feelings...  I'm able to keep Brain Stain from getting to me because I know that he's a big fat liar.

He shows Liberty how to cross wire the door to Sonic's cell.

I'm expecting there to be some trap triggered as soon as I try to release Sonic.  So touch those wires together if I get trapped inside with Sonic.  That should let us back out.  I hope.  OK.  Here I go...
This message was last edited by the player at 20:45, Thu 19 May 2022.

Liberty is really excited about being part of the plan. Even if she doesn't think it likely she'll be needed. She nods to Tails, acknowledging his plan.

Once Tails releases Sonic, just as he suspected, a backup happens to try trapping both, but Liberty immediately touches the wires! Sonic and Tails are released for half a second. JUST long enough for Tails to get out with Sonic. Who is still unconscious.

Liberty looks shocked / startled that she just helped. And that it worked. Sonic groans as if trying to wake. Liberty stares at him intently.

Tails was a lot more pessimistic about the plan working.  Was really expecting to only be able to wake Sonic just in time for him to zoom out the door dragging Tails rather than the other way around.  Either way, he pat-pats Sonic's cheek to try and wake him.

"Wish I could let ya have your beauty rest, but we're not outta the woods yet, Sonic.  I was only able to take down 1 badnick, and there's plenty more."

Huh.  No sarcastic remarks or shockingly accurate mind games from Brain Stain.  Did the cops find him?  Is he speechless that his plan failed?

Liberty keeps staring intently at Sonic and he says, "Woah... WOAH! OK... that was weird."

Liberty then gets a startled expression and then a smile. Sonic looks at her with surprise. Then looks at Tails and smiles. "Heh. Quite the friend you got there, Tails. Knew you'd come for me soon as this guy caught me. But I got worried when he predicted you would be on your way to rescue me."

He hops to his feet and gets that confident battle-ready smirk. "Alright. Well now that I'm free, let's find this bad guy and make sure to stop whatever it is Maverick warned us about. You know where the big bad is, yet, Tails? Where's your watch? And datapa-WOAH... w-warn me when you're gonna do that, girl... er... Liberty. OK."

Liberty smiles. Sonic nods. "Alright. She got me caught up on everything. Hang tight, Tails. I'mma grab your gear and come back here."

ZOOM! Off he goes!

Liberty looks over to Tails and gives a helpless grin and shrug. "Heh?"

Tails is super relieved that Sonic shook off his grogginess so fast, but isn't really surprised.  He giggles from the exchange.

"I'm gunna have to tease him about your mind being to fast for him, heh.  Thanks for speeding things along, Liberty!  Not to mention getting us outta that room.

"Now you mentioned you knew more about what kinda time limit we're working on.  When Sonic gets back, you should get us both caught up on what you know Brain Stain, his plan, his location, and whatever else could help."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:52, Fri 20 May 2022.

Liberty nods. "I've been here about five days. Lemme collect my thoughts so I don't miss anything and don't hafta fill your mind with... unnecessaries."

Liberty sits in a meditative pose, closing her eyes.

Sonic suddenly shows up and hands Tails his watch and computer. He looks at Liberty, then to Tails.

Liberty opens her eyes and Sonic and Tails feel a flood of thoughts. The parts of the factory Liberty has walked through, the location of Brainstein's office, the parts of the factory Maverick walked through, and what happened leading up to Mav going to find help:

When Brainstein's goons kidnapped Liberty, they were only after her. Maverick initially told the cops about her kidnapping, but unsurprisingly she wasn't found. But Maverick was intent on rescuing his sister. Frustrated, he wandered the city, "yelling" with his mind so Liberty could reveal her location. He had been up all day and all night before he made it to the private airport. Liberty sensed him, told him the way in that she knew about, so he sneaked in. When he learned there was a whole factory and that there was a project the scientist was working on, he looked and figured out it was linked to the whole city and to some kind of robot. Liberty told him to go warn Sonic and Tails, so he sneaked out, but due to having used a computer at all, Brainstein knew there was an intruder. Maverick managed to get to one of the planes and luckily, found the key still in it. So he flew towards Turquoise Hill Beach because he had overheard from Sonic enthusiasts that Sonic and Tails might be found there.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:45, Fri 20 May 2022.

Instead, she floods your mind with necessaries.

Tails tries to piece together Brainstein's plan from what he just learned.  (I'm assuming Brainstein isn't nearby and easily bonk-able right now from the fact that Sonic didn't already bonk him.)

"Kinda reminds me of the Metal Sonic plan.  The idea of kidnapping a telepath and Sonic to incorporate their powers together in one robot is a scary thought, though.  Considering he's got so much money and resources to throw around, I'm guessing making it big isn't the goal here.  Either conquest or revenge or both.  Either way, probably doesn't care one bit about how much damage he does to the city.

"He stopped taunting me as soon as I rescued you, Sonic.  So I'm thinking the taunts were actually attacks to get me to fail, and rescuing you when I did really messed up his plan.  Meaning that the robot's not quite complete, and doesn't have all your speed.  But he did have Liberty for 5 days.  So the robot can probably predict your moves.  If he's even got 3/4 of your speed that'll make it really hard to take down.

"I've got some ideas.  For fighting the robot, I'll set Sonic up with a sorta harmless remote control so I can remotely make Sonic occasionally throw the robot some unpredictable curve balls without Sonic having to even think about it.  I'm expecting one good hit to take it out since Brain Stain's robots are so much more efficient than Robotnic's over-built badnicks.  For getting to Brain Stain himself, Maverick might be key.  The guy will be distracted with the robot fight, most likely.  But even then it'll take an expert sneak to get past the sentries."

Since Liberty was captured first, is it going to be a girl robot?  Nah.  More likely it'll look like Brainstein.

Sonic thinks as Tails says his piece. "Well I'mma do a quick search for him. BRB, Tails!"

Sonic zooms off.

Liberty giggles. "...a girl robot..."

Liberty looks at Tails. "You can make a controller that controls people? Woah! Cool! Well in the meantime, I can't read a robot's mind. Normally, anyway. But if this robot is advanced enough to be a person, maybe I can... this Metal Sonic you mentioned. Is he still alive?"

Flashback to little Amy Rose rescuing Metal from the cold and snow, wrapping him in a bow and delivering him back to Eggman as a Christmas present to both Eggman and Metal.

Returning to present. "If not... if you can set up something that can read the thoughts of our opponent, I could handle that while you handle Sonic. You're used to his moves and speed, so you would be best for that, after all. But... Oh! And do you think you would be able to hack Brain Stain's helmet so I could get inside his head? That would be perfect in case he can't help himself and shows up to 'watch his victory' or something."

Sonic zooms back to the pair, some zapping cables in hand. "As predicted, he's not here, but I made sure to find the main power supply and cut it off. Easy for Tails to repair so he can hack the main computer, but stops any nefarious computations in the meantime."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:25, Sun 22 May 2022.

Tails is so used to Sonic's decisiveness and vanishing to go kick butt that it barely registers beyond the usual Sims plus sign over his head.  He looks a little surprised at Liberty's reaction to the idea of a girl robot, then realizes that the concept doesn't happen in real life but in very rare cases.  Happens much more often in his own imaginings.

"Well not really 'controls.'  More that there'd be a few recievers on Sonic like two watches and two ankle bracelets.  Each would give a tiny jiggle when activated.  Sonic's reflexes are literally faster than thought, so as soon as he got used to the idea of, 'right watch jiggle means to bounce off the right wall to attack from the robot's side,' and 'left ankle bracelet jiggle means circle around to the left side,' he'll be able to do what I'm asking him remotely without having to process it.  The real bottleneck is the one trying to do the controlling.  Which... probably should be you now that you mention it.  I'm decent at video games, but you're right I'd be better used focusing on hacking.  With Brain Stain distracted, I'll have a chance."

With Sonic returned, Tails smiles.  Rather proud of him for finding the main power supply (and probably smashing all the bots in the process) when he's not a techie.

"Thanks, Sonic!  I'll do my best!"

Sonic says, "Well I've cleared this place of dangers. Even ran over the rest of the place after clearing the bots in case there were traps. Activated a few. So I think we're good to go and can go out to meet the police."

He looks at Liberty. "You did good, Liberty! Thanks for helping my buddy Tails and consequently helping me!"

He looks back at Tails. "Thanks, Tails. You really stuck it to the bad guy and even threw yourself knowingly into the trap he had for you while outsmarting the trap by putting trust in your newfound friend. Now that's teamwork and solid hero-thinking!"

He offers Tails a high five and then Liberty (who gladly high-fives). Then guides the pair out to the cops.

The police take statements. Jenkins, of course, gives Tails a congratulatory speech about how heroic and brave he was. "I think we just got ourselves 4 new honorary police officers today."

Sonic grins. "Does this mean I can have one of those police badges dangling from my neck like the too-cool cops on tv shows?"

Jenkins nods, "Sure does."

Sonic pumps his fist, "Alright!"

Liberty slowly wraps her arms around Tails, snuggling him from beside him. She is smiling, but tears are rolling down her cheeks and she is shaking a little.

Tails high-fives Sonic.  "Alright!"

He blushes from all the praise, but is smiling.  Fantasies of being a private detective duo with Sonic immediately come to mind when honorary cop badges are offered.

"We still have a badguy to - woah!"

Tails returns Lib's hug and gives her a reassuring pet.  "Thanks so much for helping, Liberty!"

Liberty sniffles. "Y... you bet. Sorry... I don't know why I'm crying."

Jenkins says, "Because you were a kidnap victim, kid. It's natural."

Sonic says, "Sure we have a bad guy to catch. But our best bet at finding him will probably be one of his computers in the place we just left. And if he's got even a quarter of your brains, Tails, he will have thought to wipe his computer clean so we can't find him that way. But I'm open to ideas."

Liberty says, "He hacked Tails' watch, right? Maybe Tails can trace where the hack came from."

Tails whispers to Liberty, "Don't tell anyone... but I cry after surviving danger too."

Big boys aren't supposed to cry, but sharing that with her might help make her feel better about it.

"I'll try both," Tails answers Sonic.

He starts working on his handheld computer while flying back down into the evil lair.  Inwardly he's kicking himself for being scared to go in even though Sonic said he'd already cleared the place out of all dangers.  Nothing to be afraid of.  Just a creepy evil lair as silent as a grave.

Liberty telepaths to Tails, "Your secret's safe with me."

Anxious as she is to follow Tails around like a lost puppy, she looks at an officer and says, "Can you take me to my brother Maverick? None of this would have been possible without him and I have yet to thank him."

The cop says, "Sure thing, li'l missy. Right this way." and guides her into a cop car.

Sonic meanwhile, shrugs and says, "Got not much else to do, so I'll be making sure no surprises happen inside while Tails is hacking."

Sonic trots down into the factory with Tails. He gives a proud smirk to Tails.

Tails thought back at Lib, Thanks!

By the time he's at the evil lair's computer, he's done a fresh malware sweep of his handheld and watch, and wrapped them in foil.

"The foil acts like a faraday cage to prevent my handheld from getting hacked again while I work on this system," Tails explains.

Disconnect the base computer from any communications, wrap it in foil for good measure, (unless it's huge), boot up the computer on backup power using his own boot thumb drive that snoops for malware and suicideware, then get to sniffing for clues.  Tails is expecting to not find any clues on badguy computer.

While Tails runs the sniffer on the base computer he checks the results on his own.  "Unsurprisingly, he hacked my watch and handheld using the base's wireless.  Which must be hardwired to some outside network.  Unless he figured out how to magically bypass his own base's radio communications blocker.  Which wouldn't make sense for Mr. Efficiency when a simple solution is available.  In any case, this means that I can't track him from his hacking my handheld.  The only chance I have of finding his location is if he overlooked something on his computer or his router..."

He checks the sniffer's results on the base computer.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:18, Sat 28 May 2022.

Sonic zooms off.

Tails finds an incomplete wipe on Brainstein's computer (which is about the size of a small room). It can be concluded Sonic cutting off the power prevented the computer from completing the wipe. And because Tails is able to catch it, he is able to stop the wipe from continuing!

Meanwhile, on his own watch/computer, Tails is able to deduce the IP that hacked him was in fact the giant Brainstein computer he's staring at.

Sonic appears and says, "Double-checked. While there are no more robots or computers of interest, I think I found how he escaped."