Disclaimer: I only own Kate, the rest belongs to Sonic Team @SEGA

Anyway, enjoy :)

*soon, hidden bunker*

"What in the name of Chaos were you thinking?"

Sally's furious blue eyes bore right into Sonic's frightened green ones. The blue hedgehogs leant back as far as he could go on the metal chair as Sally leant forwards on the table.

He crossed his arms defensively, and jerked his shoulder towards Silver, who was sat on the chair next to him nursing the back of his head with an ice pack.

"Why just me? He came too!"

Silver scowled.

"Yeah, and I tried to stop you!"

Rolling his eyes but saying nothing, Sonic unfolded his arms, distractedly messing with his ear as he usually did. Sally continued.

"Sonic, Naugus could have killed you!"

Fed up with Sally's rant, Sonic sighed.

"Well Sal', he didn't, did he? And now we know that the Emeralds aren't in the Castle, so it wasn't a complete waste of time!"

Sally didn't reply, and sat back on her chair. She rubbed her forehead firmly with one hand as if trying to push the stress out of her mind. Elias was sat next to her, and simply stared at the table. After learning that Naugus still had a small degree of control over him, he had been afraid to say anything. Tails and Kate worked silently at the monitor, also remaining silent until a block capital appeared on screen. Tails frowned at the shaky letter.

"Nicole, we told you to stop doing this. It won't help,"

Despite Tails' warnings, the letters continued to pop up.

"I'M CURIOUS, THOUGH. HOW DID YOU ALL ESCAPE?"

Kate, who had glanced up briefly to read Nicole's message, quickly looked down again, ears drooped in almost an embarassed way.

"I er…lost it again," she muttered, barely audible "I don't really know what happened…I just…" she cleared her throat firmly "whatever it was, it worked, and that's all that matters,"

Her explanation was brief, and Sonic carried it on, ignoring Kate's obvious desire to divert the conversation.

"She sent him flying. It was like some wave of energy. Next thing I knew Naugus was smashing into the wall,"

He heard Kate growl, but once again ignored her as he noticed Sally's peaked interest.

"You overpowered Naugus? Even with the Emeralds?"

Kate shrugged, still not looking away from the monitor.

"I…I g-guess so," she got out awkwardly.

"There was something else though," Sonic added "Naugus was afraid of you. He was trying everything to stop you changing,"

Kate snorted.

"Heh, he's not the only one,"

Sally's brow furrowed in scepticism, and she cupped her chin in her hand thoughtfully.

"That would make sense. After all, he was trying to get Kate killed. Maybe he saw her as a threat,"

The wolf at the monitor finally turned around. Her muzzle had turned slightly paler and she looked rather queasy.

"Is this…is this conversation supposed to make me feel better because it's really not…" she said under her breath.

"So…does that mean Naugus knows Kate can stop him?" Silver piped up, before eyeing Kate, concerned. There were nods around the room, but Kate shook her head furiously.

"No…no…slow down," she breathed "you're looking too much into this, guys…it was just a blip…"

"How are we?" Sally shot back "Kate, Silver's right, Naugus is afraid of you because he knows you have the ability to stop him. Maybe, if you could break-"

Kate began to lose her temper, and she began to advance on the chipmunk.

"He's not the only one afraid of me!" she snarled, taking Sally by surprise "I'm afraid of me! Everyone is! Breaking the barrier would only make it worse-!"

She stopped talking as she felt Silver's hands on her shoulders. She fought back initially before calming down. Her anger faded slightly, and she held on to Silver tightly, a little dizzy and ashamed of her outburst.

"If…if I break that barrier…I'll lose myself for a while…" she explained darkly "…I won't know the difference between you guys and Naugus…and if I hurt any of you…I'd never forgive myself,"

She took a deep breath, and reluctantly moved away from Silver's hold. She pressed a hand to her head as she felt a headache coming on. No one spoke as they watched her pace, not interrupting her deep thought.

She paced for a other few seconds, before nodding slightly.

"But…but maybe you're right,"

This, of course, caught the attention of each of them, and they all stared at Kate in disbelief.

"Kate…I thought you hated that power," said Tails, who had finally turned away from his work on the monitor.

"I do," Kate told him, shivering slightly "but it's going to break eventually. Might as well make use of it,"

*soon*

"Are you sure about this?"

"It's fine! Just get on with it!"

Begrudgingly, Tails complied with Kate's demands, and attached the device to Kate's wrist. It was a large, metal band. A wire connected it to the monitor, and another wire led away from the monitor and was also hooked up to the device, creating a circuit.

The device was a larger version of a tracking device that Eggman had placed on Kate many years earlier. It had been deactivated after Kate had brought Sonic to White Acropolis, but Kate had remembered it's design, and function. It was created to drain her power, and was used as a remote way for Eggman to control her. Whilst Tails didn't have the time or resources to make a remotely controlled one, he had managed to make a makeshift system.

The plan was to drain a sizeable amount of Kate's electrical energy, and then feed it back into her suddenly and all at once. This, Kate had said, wasn't the norm. Usually, her energy would recover gradually. Reabsorbed it all at once would mean the electrical signals would rapidly fire around inside her body for a while, her brain included, which would hopefully cause an surge of energy similar to the emotional surge needed to break down the mental barrier to her demigod genetics.

Knowing what was about to happen, Kate clenched her eyes shut, and went stiff in the chair she was seated in. Her breathing quickened as she remembered the last time this happened to her. It was in Eggman's base, when she had just been captured after being so close to escape. She remembered the fear and the pain it had caused, and began to tremble.

There was a high possibility this would work. If it did, any minute now she would completely lose control, and the thought made her worry even more.

She jolted as she felt another hand squeeze her clenched fist. Her eyes opened, and she stared into Silver's reassuring golden eyes. He was leaning over her, smiling gently. She began to calm down, but was still shaking.

"Now, Kate," Sally said, who was pressing buttons on the monitor "if it gets too much, tell us to stop, and we will, okay?"

Kate nodded through gritted teeth as Sally checked that the wires were securely connected to the band and the monitor. Then, she held up her hand in a fan, and slowly began lowering her fingers one by one. Kate saw this, and once again clenched her eyes shut. Sally was down to three, then two, then one. Zero.

The monitor clunked once and there was a loud whirring noise as the device activated. The sockets that the wires were plugged in to began to spark slightly as the device began to drain Kate's energy.

Kate writhed violently in the chair, fighting against the constraints on her arms and biting her lip to stop herself from being too loud. The pain caused by the drain shot through her entire body. She began to hear her pulse beating in her ear as the device deprived more and more of her energy. Her head pounded, and she began to whimper.

It was over quickly, and she opened her eyes. She couldn't see, only hear Silver's words of reassurement. She fell limp in the chair. Noticing that Kate was still awake, Tails leant over, concerned.

"Are you okay?"

The wolf didn't reply for a moment, before nodding her head weakly.

"Y-y-yeah…I'm…I'm f-fine…" she slurred, barely able to keep her eyes open "c'mon…send it back in…"

Sonic, who had been quietly observing along with Elias, piped up from across the room.

"Kate, you don't have to do this,"

"He's right. No one is forcing you," Sally added.

Kate growled, beginning to get annoyed.

"I said I'm fine! Just do it!"

After a moment of hesitation, Sally nodded as she complied, even though it was against her better judgement. Kate shivered in anticipation as she watched Sally and Tails tweak the wires slightly and type away on the monitor.

"Remember," she said sternly "do whatever you can to control me, because I probably won't listen to a word any of you say,"

There were nods, and Sonic rose to his feet, making sure he was prepared in case something was to go wrong, which it probably would. Kate stared at the wall opposite her, face painted with determination.

There were sparks again as the device reactivated. Kate jolted as the current shot through her body. Her eyes clenched shut in an instant. There was no thrashing this time, just a small tremble, as if she had lost nearly all function in her body. Sparks flew from her hands, causing Sonic to jump back in alarm.

The trembling stopped as Kate tensed up all over. Tiny little bolts of electricity jumped around her clenched fists as a low growl began to work its way out. Noticing this, Silver took a step back and, like Sonic had already done, prepared himself for the worst case scenario.

It ended quickly. The whirring of the device had disappeared entirely, meaning that Kate's growl had grown louder. She convulsed in the chair, just like she had done outside of Castle Acorn. This was it, this had to be it…

The growling stopped, and Kate took a deep breath. Then…nothing.

Nothing happened. The exhausted wolf slumped back in the chair, her eyelids opening slightly to reveal her natural blue eyes.

Not sure if she had actually returned to reality, Silver approached Kate tentatively, lowering his voice as to not frighten her.

"Anything?"

She didn't respond for a few seconds. When she did, her royal blue irises lazily dragged themselves to look at him.

"…nothing,"

She looked away, and did her best to sit up in the chair. No one spoke for a minute or so, as none of them really knew what to say. Tails unhooked the wires from the device and the monitor, and then made a move to remove the device from Kate's wrist.

Despite the restraints on her upper arms, Kate did her best to move her arm away from the fox.

"What are you doing?" she snapped, surprising the young kit.

"I'm…taking this thing off you now, Kate," he said slowly, trying not to aggravate her further.

Kate shook her head feverishly.

"No…no! Leave it on! Try again!"

Tails didn't back away as Sally came to his aid.

"Kate…we can't…it's too dangerous for you,"

The ivory wolf gave an impatient huff.

"I don't care! Just…" she gave up as she realised any argument was pointless. She couldn't do this herself, and no one would agree to repeat it. She relaxed, and nodded to Tails, telling him to take off the constraints.

The device clicked open, and Tails removed it carefully, placing it on the monitor before removing both of the leather straps that were secured around Kate's upper arms. As soon as her arms were free, Kate pushed herself up off the chair, stumbling forward before regaining her balance.

She staggered forward, and leant on the table with one hand whilst pressing the other against her head.

"What…why didn't it…why didn't it work?"

Tails opened his mouth to speak, but his words failed him, and he just shrugged and sighed, returning the chair that Kate had been sat on to its original place at the table.

Meanwhile, Sonic was quietly pacing back and forth, deep in thought. He stopped abruptly, nodding to himself reassuringly as if he was about to do something seriously against his better judgement.

Sighing, he turned around, and went up to Kate, suddenly angry.

"I should've known this would happen,"

His unnatural angry tone caught the attention of everyone, and they stared at him, shocked but slightly intrigued, and although she was facing away from Sonic, Kate seemed to realise that it was her that Sonic was addressing, and she raised her brow at him.

"What?"

Sonic took a step closer, and he appeared to be shaking a little with anger.

"I knew this would happen! What is it with you?" he snapped "can't you do anything right? You're useless!"

There was a profound silence. No one spoke out of pure surprise at Sonic's unexpected and offensive outburst. Strangely, instead of looking upset or furious, Kate gave a genuinely amused laugh, and gave a cynical smile to Sonic.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Her tone might have been an amused one, but there was a small, dangerous edge to it. She had heard him perfectly fine. She was giving him a second chance.

Sonic didn't appear to sense this, but Silver did, and he stepped forwards.

"Sonic…what are you doing?"

The blue hedgehog didn't say anything, and instead pushed Silver away with one hand. Annoyed, ivory moved forwards again, but this time, Sally held him back. When he turned his head to object, Sally shook her head at him, a flicker of understanding across her face. Seeing this, Silver complied, although he was rather reluctant.

Sonic continued his offensive on Kate, who was interested to see where this went but was also giving Sonic a look that warned him not to go forward with it. Cobalt, once again, ignored this.

"You heard me," he growled "ever since you've been here…you've done nothing to help us,"

Kate laughed again. This time, however, it was more bitter.

"O-ho. Okay," she chuckled "so did the Robotisizer not happen for you, hedgehog? Did you forget the time where I nearly died to save your ungrateful ass?!"

She was now directly in front of him, squaring up to him threateningly. Still, no one spoke, leaving the wolf and hedgehog on their own.

"Oh no, I didn't forget that," Sonic said quietly "but who said I care?"

Kate had no comeback, at least not straight away. She stood there, staring at him, shocked into a dumbfounded silence. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself before nodding her head and whistling.

"You've sure got some nerve, hedgehog," she muttered dangerously, eyeing him "just…just say it again, so I know you're serious,"

Sonic folded his arms confidently, not backing down despite Kate's temper obviously rising rapidly.

"I don't care what you did. I never have done,"

Kate nodded her head again, and waved her hand as if she was egging him on.

"R-i-ght," she said slowly "come on, one more time, hedgehog, one more time,"

Still no one intervened. They watched on, knowing that Sonic had an alterior motive other than just to annoy the ivory wolf. So, they let him deliver the final blow.

"I. Don't. Care," he said with a hint of finality "it was probably better if you stayed as a robot,"

There was nothing. Kate simply stated at him, the cynical smile still etched on her muzzle. She nodded once in consideration, before turning around so she was facing away from the blue hedgehog.

Obviously not expecting her to react so calmly, Sonic frowned, losing his anger in a heartbeat. He watched Kate carefully as she silently placed her hands on her hips.

Then, all of a sudden, she blew.

It all happened in a split second. Kate growled and whipped around on the spot, back towards Sonic. Her clenched fist spun round, landing a hard and painful punch to the left side of Sonic's face.

Immediately, Elias and Silver leapt forward to restrain Kate as she went in for the attack again. Sonic had stumbled sideways, clutching his jaw and using his other hand to support himself on the table. He flexed his jaw a few times before looking at the struggling wolf in utter surprise.

"W-wow!" he exclaimed "you…you really have a strong right, you know that?"

Kate's muzzle contorted into a snarl as she continued to strain against Silver and Elias' hold.

"Uh-huh! And if you don't stay back, you'll feel how strong my boot is when I kick you in a place that counts, hedgehog!"

In response to her threat, Sonic held up his hands in a peaceful gesture, trying to get her to calm down.

"Woah, woah, settle down!" he pleaded, before adding "did you…did you feel anything? At all?"

His question made Kate stop struggling for a moment, and she furrowed her brow at the hedgehog. She stared at him for another moment before her mouth fell open in realisation.

"Oh! You were trying to break the-" she stopped suddenly as Sonic began to massage his jaw again "ah…s-sorry…"

Hearing this, Silver and Elias let go of Kate, and she cringed slightly as Sonic waved off her apology.

"Trust me…I've had worse…it's no problem," he breathed "but, seriously, you got nothing from that?"

Kate shook her head.

"No…no…there was nothing…"

She trailed off as she looked around the room. Everyone was looking at her. Or, at least, that's what she thought. Her head suddenly felt very hot, and she began to feel lightheaded. She took a deep breath and exhaled shakily as her head began to throb dully.

Turning sharply on her heel, she made her way to the bedroom that they shared, not saying anything.

"Kate?" Silver called "are you alright?"

The white and cyan wolf gave a weak nod.

"Yeah…I just need to be alone for a while, okay? I just need to be alone…"

And then she left the room without another word.

This turned out a lot longer than I thought it would.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed!

Rate and Review!

~W.O.T~