Sonic is on the scene...but he's not the only one crashing the party.
Chapter 2 – Fleeting Truths
Hotspur and Sonic held their positions, locked in a stare down to see who would move first. Samus felt her own eyes glued to the scene from the safety of cover behind the flipped hovercar. The simple sight before her challenged a lot of what she thought to be indisputable reality.
Sonic was a hoax. Sonic was an inspiration. Sonic was a legend.
There wasn't a person in the city that hadn't heard of Sonic the Hedgehog. The first tales woven of his high-speed exploits began a few years ago, of a vigilante that assisted the police, saved lives, or defused situations when needed most. There were even stories of him returning lost pets, or even lost kids. Each tale always had the same ending – he was in and out in a flash – his presence always felt, but otherwise hard to prove.
And stories were all they were to some. Samus had seen news reports, internet discussions or even playground chatter erupt into intense debate on the validity of his existence. For Samus herself, the closest Sonic came to tangibility was from one of Marcus's frequent tales relayed to him by a cop buddy from one of the Volesdale police stations.
As the story went, a shootout broke out between Volesdale officers and the remnants of an old crime syndicate, when the weapons of the opposing force suddenly vanished in a particularly strong gust of wind. Details like the amount of weapons, where the shootout occurred and the likes always changed, but Sonic's role was never questioned by the storyteller.
Yet here stood that fabled hedgehog, reflected in Samus's cerulean eyes. The sudden, concrete confirmation of his existence stirred something within her. It was a chilling but liberating feeling. Sonic used his own extraordinary abilities to help people on his own terms, in ways no one else could. It reminded her of the alternate Samus in her dreams, the bounty hunter that bounded through the cosmos of her own will with her own sense of justice.
I longed for that freedom.
She had never said that aloud. She couldn't.
Hotspur's cannons suddenly discharged, but Sonic dodged with ease, standing a few feet away from the impact crater. Sonic waved his hand across his mouth as he feigned a yawn; Hotspur retaliated by firing a few more shoots that never had a chance of hitting their intended target.
The nozzles on both cannons swiveled with an audible click. Output from the cannons changed to low powered rapid-fire, which Sonic danced around, quite literally.
Samus could see Hotspur ball his clawed fists and clench his teeth in frustration. "Why don't ya mind your own business!?"
"You're robbing a bank and trying to hurt good people!" Sonic went into a breakdance, swiveling in place with only has hand to keep his balance. "Why is this not my business, again...?"
"Sit still or I'll come over there and stomp ya into a pancake!"
Sonic stood up and pointed at Hotspur. "So do it!" he dared with a smirk.
Those words cut through Samus's stupor. Sure, Sonic was the closest thing Centropolis had to a superhero, but she was still a cop, and there was no way she would let him take on a dangerous criminal all on his own.
"We have to help him," Samus murmured, seemingly shaking Marcus out of his own stupor.
"Looks to me like he's got this one in the bag," Marcus replied. He knew Samus was right, but he didn't want to turn down seeing Sonic the Hedgehog in action. "I'd pay to watch him make an ass out of Hotspur."
"So would I, but the city is still our responsibility." Samus produced the disruptor grenade. Hotspur's back was still turned to them, so she took the opportunity to lean out from behind the hovercar and flashed the grenade. Its silver body reflected enough light to catch Sonic's eye and he knew precisely what Samus was up to. The hedgehog suddenly started darting left and right, garnering all of Hotspur's befuddled attention.
"You got ADD or sumthin'?" Hotspur growled. "I told ya to sit still!"
"You can't catch what you can't see!" Sonic teased. More cannon fire challenged that notion.
Samus twisted the cap on the disruptor grenade and it produced a small whine in return. She steadied her aim and rolled it towards Hotspur. Eventually, the armadillo's own hearing picked up the whine and looked down just in time to see it roll to a stop between his legs.
"Ahhhh, hell."
An abrupt wave of radiation erupted from grenade. Hotspur's augmentations immediately malfunctioned, if not shut down completely. The cannons refused to cooperate; getting them to recede back into his shell was enough of feat on its own.
Hotspur cast a hateful glance back towards Samus, "I'll handle you later Sparrow."
Sonic took advantage of the situation and broke into a spin dash, his spinning body ripping up the ground beneath him. He launched himself through the air, slamming Hotspur square in the chest. The armadillo teetered from the impact and fell onto his back, using the momentum to curl into a ball and start one of his infamous rolling rampages.
It began as a chaotic and unplanned swath of destruction as the armadillo crushed barricades and knocked down a lamppost. Sonic revved into a ball once again and launched himself at the source of devastation; he ricocheted off in a blur, deflected with startling ease.
The hedgehog unfurled on the ground with a few quills bent out of shape. "Maybe that wasn't the best move..." he told himself. "He is twice your size after all."
Sonic's intervention snapped Hotspur out of his indiscriminate tantrum; the armadillo instead choose to follow up on his earlier promise and steered towards where Samus and Marcus were hiding. They escaped from behind the car before he smashed into it. Glass and metal twisted and crunched as Hotspur steadily drilled into the remains of Hendrickson's car.
Samus brandished her pistol and watched the shots ricochet into the sky. She was well aware of the fruitlessness in trying to damage his shell, but if Hotspur was focused on her, it would keep Marcus out of his sights and give Sonic time to recover.
She got more than she bargained for when he suddenly rolled backwards and aimed straight for her. Samus dove to the side to avoid the collision, but Hotspur banked back in her direction with such speed and efficiency that she couldn't get her footing before he was upon her again. She braced for impact, but it never came.
Samus was whisked away, her body lurching from the sudden movement. It was an intense, disorienting blur, and just as quickly as it began...it ended. She felt her legs slowly guided upright as she was allowed to support her own weight. Sonic released his firm but gentle grip on Samus, allowing her to stand on her own. She quickly realized that they were standing on the marquee above the bank's entrance. Hotspur was in the street below, his dumbfounded stare bearing into the spot he knew Samus had been.
"Thanks for the backup," Sonic tossed her a thumbs up. "Leave the rest to me."
Those spaghetti noodles he had for arms didn't look like they could have supported much weight. Then again, nothing about his equally wiry legs suggested they could carry him around so quickly either. It wasn't often when she needed rescuing, so she let her questions subside under the mystery of Sonic the Hedgehog.
Hotspur's ears perked up at the sound of sirens in the distance, and they were closing in fast. He grabbed the abandoned sack of cash just as Sonic dropped down into the street.
"You can deal with me, or you can deal with them!" the hedgehog gave him an ultimatum.
The armadillo's muzzle contorted with apprehension and annoyance until he looked up where Samus was and sighed. "How many of you freaks are there!?"
Sonic threw a curious glance back and saw what Hotspur was talking about. A being as blue as he was had appeared atop the marquee and seemed to be confronting Samus. The look on Sonic's face told the armadillo all he needed to know.
"I'm outta here!" he announced, curling into a ball and barreling down the street. Sonic ignored him; full exposure to a disruptor burst made him a much easier capture for the cops. This guy, on the other hand...
"Hello Samus."
That voice!
"Who are you?" she asked, studying his appearance. The blue jackal was slightly familiar to her. She had seen him, or something like him, in a pokemon encyclopedia. Perhaps he was a lucario, but those were supposed to be extremely rare or downright extinct in the city.
"The important question is – who are you?"
His voice prodded her mind; he was using telepathy for communication. Samus felt herself slightly annoyed, but intrigued nonetheless, by the reversal of her question.
Sonic appeared in a blur, placing himself between them. "You get away from her!" he warned. The threatening inflection in his voice was a stark contrast to his casual mocking of Hotspur. Did he have reason to fear the newcomer?
"I have the answers that you seek...if you want to learn them," the jackal continued, ignoring the hedgehog. "It is sensitive information...for you only."
"Don't buy into it! There's no reason to trust this guy!"
Sonic was right. If this guy really did hold the secrets he claimed, he would have to approach her correctly. His words were tucked behind ambiguity; if he could not give her a solid reason to listen, there was little reason to trust him.
Or at least, that's what she thought until his next words slowly entered her mind.
"It's your choice, Samus Aran."
Two chapters in and there are already two guys vying for Samus's attention. Who would you listen to anyway – Sonic or Lucario?
On another note, that's not the last anyone will see of Hotspur...though it will be awhile before his role in the scheme of things is revealed. He's a bit more than just a thief!
