A/N: See end of chapter for ranting Author's Notes.
A/N2: I probably botched Infinite up, but I've been thinking a lot about why he would stick around Eggman. Well, sure, it's all about the power and them agreeing onto changing the world, but I like to enjoy the idea that Eggman has conditioned him to near complete obedience. How? Heck if I know. He's the genius, not me (so yeah, it's free for interpretation)
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Doctor Eggman stared at the planet as it lazily hung into the vastness of space. It rotated slowly, almost imperceptibly, looking as if there was no war ravaging its surface. Reports were coming in every ten minutes, updating information on the various monitors with predictable cadence and results.
Everything was going according to plan. Everything was within calculated parameters.
Even the wild and desperate attempts of the rebels were vastly predicted by his genius.
A huge grin appeared on his face and he felt better than good. Not even the core group of the resistance, composed by Sonic's closest friends, could throw his mood down for too long. True, at times he still cursed them at their ability to escape his grasp, but their attacks were becoming less debilitating and far in-between.
They would eventually fall, and fall hard.
Just like Sonic.
"Master," the voice belonging to the station's crude AI spoke, its horribly fake female tone cutting through the silence and the man's thoughts. "Infinite has arrived."
Eggman nodded to himself. "Let him in," he commanded. He did not turn away from the window when he heard the door swish open. Instead, he chose to fold his hands behind his back and listen to the approaching footsteps. They were steady, but slow. Almost uncertain, or afraid...
When Infinite came to a stop in the middle of his office, the evil Doctor waited. He waited long seconds, perhaps even a minute or two, doing nothing but stare at his weapon's faint reflection on the thick glass separating him from the vacuum of space.
In the end, it was Infinite who caved in first, lowering his head a little and letting his long tail nearly hit the floor. A clear sign of submission that made Eggman's dark heart skip a beat in jubilation.
"Sir," the jackal spoke softly, not daring to look up from a spot on the ground. "I apologize for my lateness. There were some... things that had to be taken care of. I will file a full report and submit it to you as soon as I am allowed."
He took a moment to savor his control over the much younger mobian, something that became stronger with each passing day. It wouldn't take much longer before Infinite abandoned his idiotic beliefs and became the true weapon he was aiming for. Then, and only then, he could consider his victory to be truly crushing.
The mere vision of it filled his megalomaniac ego almost as much as seeing Sonic at his feet, bound and helpless. Barely twitching under the potent drugs he had been given.
"I have received a full report on your operation in the eastern continent," Eggman said once he felt that he had taken enough time to mull over things. His voice was calm, stoic. Far from the inner happiness he was feeling at the moment. "Well done, Infinite! You have crushed them easily, as I had predicted! However..!"
He stopped and turned around with a grace unthinkable of someone of his size, landing his heated glare on the single eye visible through the mobian's mask. It made the jackal freeze where he was, if not in fear, then in apprehension. Eggman wasn't exactly picky on that for the moment being.
"What is it that troubles you, Doctor?" Infinite showed a spark of courage, as if unconsciously wanting to defy the man that had given him a power that was beyond his wildest fantasy. "The mission was a success. The resistance in that zone was crushed and the Phantom Ruby's power has proven to be unstoppable once again."
The large human hummed, one hand going to stroke his mustache like it often did when he was thinking things through. "Indeed," he said, voice nothing more than a loud mutter. Behind his round glasses, however, his eyes had narrowed in anger and displeasure at what the jackal did not do.
He sat down at the nearby desk, choosing to ignore the jackal for the moment. He took his time to sift through the documents on the virtual monitors hovering over the metallic surface, subtly signaling that he was in control and he chose when to carry on with the conversation. It was a silent reinforcement of his superiority to the mobian.
"You have left some of the rebels to crawl away," he continued after what felt like an eternity to Infinite, but in truth was nothing more than a few minutes. He was still browsing his files, dividing his attention between them and the living weapon still standing in the middle of the room.
The jackal gave a small shudder, but recovered quickly and hid his apprehension behind a sturdy wall of indifference. "They were nothing but weaklings who ran away screaming in fear upon seeing the power you have granted me," he defended himself without trying to insult the Doctor. "Is that not what you wanted? For them to be an example of what becomes of those who cross you?"
Eggman frowned, his hand stilling on a schematic for a new robot scheduled to go into production later that week. "True," he admitted. "I do want to set an example. But that example should not include them getting away."
His mind easily recalled each instance he had used the captured rebels as a show of his dominance over their worthless lives. None of them had gotten out without some sort of punishment based on the severity of their crimes. From forced labor in his factories with little regard to their health, to public humiliation and flogging.
He had yet to kill someone, though. Public execution was an honor that he felt belonged to Knuckles and the rest of the core rebels.
"They still hold hope. And hope is a dangerous thing, Infinite. All it takes is a glimmer, a spark, and it will spread like a wildfire until nothing but ashes remains." Eggman's mind easily recalled the data on how many new members the resistance got each day. The numbers weren't as high as during the beginning of the war, but there were still people fighting back.
Victory was sweet, and the mad Doctor would always stop to savor every small success as much as he allowed himself. There was no denying that. However, true victory would never be achieved until every single rebel had been either bent to his will or destroyed completely.
The jackal hummed, the voice modulator in his mask translating it into a weird growl of sort. "Then I will stifle this spark. I will take this... hope they still arbor and crush it in front of their eyes. You have already started the process by declaring the hedgehog dead, showing his corpse for proof. Destroying his memory will be no harder than defeating him."
Instead of quelling his anger, that statement made Eggman's rage flare out of control. He slammed his hands onto the desk, creating a loud metallic bang that resonated within the room for several seconds before disappearing into silence. "You can't destroy Sonic, Infinite!" he yelled at the top of his voice, making the jackal flinch back slightly. "You are a powerful weapon that surpass even the Master Emerald, but you cannot ever hope to destroy him. It's impossible!"
He took a deep breath and leaned onto the back of the chair, relishing into the softness of the synthetic material. One hand went to the bridge of his nose, pinching the delicate skin in an effort to sedate the pressure behind his eyes. After all, it was useless to get angry with someone that knew nothing, that considered a single instance of power as the epitome of godhood...
"You were able to beat him, Infinite. You could catch him by surprise a few more times if you're good enough," Eggman said once he recovered enough of his self control. "But destroying him? No... I've seen it with my own eyes what he can do. I have years upon years of evidence of the miracles he can pull off. Every time I think I have finally killed him for good, he comes back. Faster, stronger... for every skill of his I find a countermeasure for, he creates a new one."
The Doctor knew he was ranting, and perhaps showing an apparent unfounded fear for the blue hedgehog too, but at the moment he didn't care. It was imperative that Infinite understood, that he finally grasped in his little underdeveloped brain why Sonic was so dangerous beyond the mere fact that he was fast and a capable fighter. There was something in that hedgehog that no one else had. Not even Shadow, the supposedly Ultimate Life Form that was able to match the hero in skills.
"You know him as a cocky hedgehog. Carefree and simple minded..." he warned, leaning forward to better observe the jackal. "And that might be true for those that don't know him well. The real truth, however, is far from that. Simple he might be, but he's also adaptable like no one else I've ever seen. Give him time, Infinite, and he'll figure out a way to utterly destroy you, no matter how powerful you are."
The Doctor proceeded to watch Infinite with keen eyes, observing every small movement in search of the telltale signs that he clearly understood his position. It was in that moment that he caught a glimmer of disbelief in the form of a slightly tilted head to the side. He scoffed at that, but he also couldn't truly blame the mobian for not believing in something he had neither seen nor experienced first hand.
That, he decided, was something that had to be corrected immediately.
"Do tell me, Infinite," the man focused his attention solely on the yellow eye. "Now that you have the Phantom Ruby... what do you consider yourself to be? Please, be truthful. I will not hold it against you."
The cordial tone of voice he had just used had thrown the jackal for a loop, catching him by surprise with the strangeness of the inquiry.
"This power..." the mobian muttered, looking down at his hands in contemplation. "To manipulate reality as I see fit... I feel..."
"Good?" Eggman interjected, hands clasping under his chin as he watched Infinite's inner struggle with morbid fascination. "Better than good? Does this power, perhaps, makes you feel like... a god?"
The jackal stilled, hands twitching in barely suppressed surprise at being caught thinking these outlandish thoughts. It made Eggman chuckle darkly under his large mustache, his brow creasing upward in amusement. "Indeed you are!" he exclaimed as a bout of pride pervaded him. He stood up and walked around the office with his arms spread wide open. "A god!"
He came to a stop in front of the mobian and looked down at him like a person would do with a dog. But his mirth soon faded away into a harsh, warning gaze that promised pain and regret if only Infinite dared to disobey him. "A god," he repeated. "But an artificial one."
As much as he liked to consider his pet as a godly entity, he was not one. Infinite might be able to use the Phantom Ruby flawlessly and be invincible in a battle, but there were still flaws to the design. Flaws that he could, nor would, iron out.
Too many times he had lost because his best card had gone out of control, and having an exploitable way to cut the power to these aces was a risk he was willing to take.
Besides, it was not like he had broadcasted these flaws to the rebels, so the risk was further reduced.
"Infinite!" he hollered suddenly, his voice deep and powerful. He grinned maniacally when the jackal stood to complete attention. "As your master, I believe it is time for you to learn a valuable lesson."
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A/N: I'm a Sonic fan since the very beginning back in 1991 or so, and I still like the blue hedgehog. With the exception of Generations, 06 (yes, it was a terribly executed game with poor story choices, but it still had good points), and Mania, I find recent games to be... not really interesting.
Like Forces. The core ideas of having an avatar and having Eggman near complete world domination are good, but again, they were badly executed.
How the heck a normal "insert-whatever-race-your-avatar-is" can keep up with Sonic of all people is beyond me (double boost? Seriously? Sonic should have to drag the avatar along, not gain speed from him/her). Not to mention that a "tortured for six months" Sonic appears as fit and well as any normal day. And Knuckles as commander. And Tails as a whiny, helpless kid.
Sega, sega, sega. Did you forget Knuckles is simple minded. Too simple minded to be a commander, which is supposed to coordinate way too many people to count? He's a good and capable guy, but that's stretching it beyond the horizon. And did you forget that Tails is this genius kid that went up against things like Chaos 4 and Eggman himself?
Sega and Sonic Team, I know you tried and I appreciate it, but you can't go for a serious plot and then do a half-assed work like this.
But let's not go down the ranting path and rather focus on the "what ifs"...
TL;DR: A different take on the Forces game. Supposed to be a 2-part sort of ficlet that center around how I think things should have been handled, but could not because of obvious rating reasons.