Ch. 21: All Because You Said, "No."

***Sonic's POV***

My eyes slowly fluttered open to see nothing but darkness as I groaned lowly in pain. I got up, still sore from the 50,000 volts of Taser power that coursed through my body. Make it twice in a three-day span that it happened. If I never get electrocuted again, it'll be too soon.

I rolled my neck around, cracking it, and did a full-body stretch. I couldn't see much. I felt around to find a concrete wall, then I moved left to find another, and even more left to find a third one. The fourth wall was made of glass. I took my hands off the third wall and looked out of the fourth, and saw the moonlight shining down from the skylight into a larger room. In the larger room, it looked like there were other small rooms like mine, but whether they were occupied or not, I could not tell. In the middle of the room was a small electronic console, probably my ticket out. But I was here, and it was over there.

I put my hands on the glass for only a second, but right after I did that, I was sprayed with highly-pressurized water that made me take a few steps back. I groaned in agony from it. I got back up to the pane and touched it again, and just like last time, there was a loud blast of the stupid water to knock me back again. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this glass wall was rigged so that it would spray me when touched. When I took another step toward the glass, I heard a splash. Water had made its way into my trademark white-striped red shoes. The same waters from my overly-glorified super-soaking had begun to pool in my cell.

"Great," I thought out loud, "First I'm trapped, and now my shoes are all wet."

"Sonic?!" My eyes shot up. That voice… could it be?! I had to be sure.

"Y-Yes?" I replied nervously.

"Baby, is that you?!" IT'S HER!

"Amy?! Ames, I'm here! Where are you?!"

As if on cue, a bright light shined in my room, blinding me for a second. When I came to, the large room was also well-lit. Getting as close to the glass as I could, I saw all of us in a cell for each of us. Shadow, Maria, Rouge, Knuckles, and finally, her.

When I first saw her, I felt like a million bucks. It was like I hadn't seen her in years. Lord knows it felt like it. She looked like she had been through hell, and given that she was beaten senseless back at the homestead… But jeez; I could never imagine her to look this worse for wear. She looked slightly underfed. Her normally pleasant body was skinnier than it should have been, not quite looking like an anorexic runway model, but not far from it. Her clothes were partially torn and ripped, and she exhibited scraped hands, bruises all over her body, but her face and warm smile still remained angelic through the bruising. However, what perplexed me the most was that all of her wounds were treated. She had bandages over most of them. So what did that mean? That whoever hurt her also medically treated her? A savage, but also a Samaritan?

Hell, Knuckles and Maria looked like they had gone through the same war that Amy did. Oh, wait; they did. The only difference was that Maria, out of the three original abductees, looked the cleanest and most well-kept and -fed. It looked like she didn't take as much of a beating as opposed to my hard-headed and -fisted friend or my wife.

And then there was Shadow and Rouge. The sudden light change had awoken them up too. The cells were placed in a hexagonal fashion with one person seeing their spouse directly on the opposite side of the room. All of us were awake by this point, and we were all overjoyed to see our better halves alive and (mostly) well. Shadow and Rouge went up to the glass walls of their respective cells, but were thrown back because of the rigged glass and the ensuing aquatic blast. If their cells were rigged like mine was, then who's to say that that they weren't all rigged?

As I turned my attention back to my wife, tears formed in both of her eyes. By the time I reset my gaze upon her, tears were already flowing down our faces like rivers. We both whimpered at the sheer joy of the moment. I was right… about everything. They were alive! But if there's only six of us here… WHERE'S THE REST OF US?!

"Ames? Where are the kids?!"

"Sonic…"

"Beautiful, please answer me. Where are they?! Where?!"

"Not here." Oh… that voice... that wicked voice… that rat!

He came into our room looking the same as when I had seen him earlier. Blue silk suit, coifed hair that was now more grey than brown, and a certain swagger to his step. All of us stood silently and angrily at the man who was responsible for our hellish encounters.

"Titus," I hissed.

"In the flesh. How are your new living arrangements?"

"Our kids. WHERE ARE THEY?!"

"You didn't answer my question."

"WHERE ARE THEY?!"

"I'll take it you don't like your rooms. I'm sorry, but they're all we can afford at the current moment."

"CAN THE SMART MOUTH! TELL ME NOW!"

"First off, they are not your kids." EXCUSE ME?! "Second of all, they are mine. They are my property."

"And I'm a toy monkey crashing cymbals together! And 'your property'? Who do you think you are?!"

"First off, I'm the President of the United Federation, and secondly, I'm your offspring's new owners." The more he shot his mouth off, the darker I turned. My breathing intensified, and my willingness to not commit murder was draining. "I wouldn't go Dark if I were you, Sonic."

"Says you," I demonically replied.

"You know what? I'm feeling generous, so I'll honor your request. Let me show you your offspring." He snapped of his fingers and a television screen came out in the back of my cell. Identical ones came out in all of our cells as well. The monitor turned on and… no!

Images of violence, torture, abuse, and other unholy things were brought to all our attentions. The worst part of it was who we saw taking the punches, the electrical shocks, and the worst kind of abuse you could imagine: our children. My dark blue fur increased in its blackening. My fists were clenching tighter and tighter. My eye twitched furiously, my eyes were now a glowing and ghostly white. There was no scary laughter, just angry groaning. It turned louder and louder the more I saw the evil sights.

"Titus," I spoke. "I'LL KILL YOU!" I turned and dashed for the glass door and swung madly, attempting to shatter it. The more I swung, the more the ensuing water pressure tried to knock me back. But I wasn't giving up. Not after what I had witnessed my children go through. I swung faster and yelled. The water accumulated more in my cell. I didn't care anymore. I wanted him dead. I wanted his blood on my hands, his head severed and on a silver platter, and his skeleton resting above my fireplace. And what did he do as I struggled? He walked up to the cell door and laughed as if a great joke had been told. He snapped his fingers again and two poles came from descended from the ceiling. I stopped my swipes to see them. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the first spark of electricity appear.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Water covered my body, and a powerful electric current was thrown in for good measure. The pain was indescribable. Thousands of volts went through my systems yet again, only this time it felt worse than my two previous experiences… and I just had to think, "If I never get electrocuted again, it'll be too soon," didn't I?

It stopped for the moment, the poles returning to within the ceiling above. My cell was at least a quarter of the way filled with water, and my body fell in absolute agony with my head above the water line. I moaned in physical agony as the pain did not subside for a few moments. I was able to get one foot up and then the other, finally using the bed I was passed out on to help stand me up. He smiled like a weasel with his hands behind his back.

"I told you," he said in a sing-song voice. "You didn't listen. Are you going to calm down now?"

"What are y-you doing t-t-to the kids?!"

"You mean you didn't see?"

"SAVE THE ATTITUDE, YOU SLICK BAS-!"

"I thought you of all people would enjoy a cocky tone of voice. Certainly a case of 'what goes around, comes around', wouldn't you say, Sonic?"

"Leave the irony alone for just one, measly second and tell me what you are doing to them!"

"I am simply preparing them for the future, Sonic. My future."

"The only thing I see in your future is-."

"Oh, spare me the threats, Sonic. Now calm down, and let's try this again." It was obvious now that he wasn't going to answer that question, so I guess I would have to have another one answered.

"Alright, fine," I said. Rouge caught my attention by waving her arms around feverishly. She pulled out a small device that, judging by her charades… oooooooh. What she was holding was a small voice-recorder; G.U.N.-standard-issue, no doubt. I had used those back in old days as well, and I knew that the range on them was impressive to put it mildly. Now it made sense. I just had to get him to spill it all. Here goes everything…

"I'll let you start. What say you, Titus?" I asked.

"I say that you and your team should be dead by now. But I guess I should've known that Eggman wouldn't be able to get the job done."

"Yeah… I don't know why you called on him to do it. He's really incompetent when you really think out it."

"Yes, he is."

"Titus, I got another question for you. It's not the same question I yelled at you before, but I have to build up to the question. So you'll have to bear with me. Think you can do that?"

He scoffed. "Ask away, rodent." This coming from the rat-, I mean, politician.

"Alright. You know, I'm kind of insulted by the way you work."

"Why? Is it because that I'm torturing the little people that you love so much?" he mocked.

"That, and your methods of killing Shadow, Rouge, and me. Eggman? Seriously? Pfft. You broke out the one man whose rear end I've kicked so many times over the years out of prison to kill me? I'll say now that if wanted to end me, then you should've chosen someone else, because I don't know if you noticed, but we've beaten him more times than I can count.

"And let's not forget about that backup plan. A plane crash? Again, seriously? That was your big backup plan just in case Eggy with the Chaos Emeralds in the desert didn't work? You go through all the trouble of breaking him out, having your secretary, Hex, go to G.U.N. evidence lockup to swipe the Chaos Emeralds to give to the doc to help him in killing Shadow, Rouge, and I, and if that didn't work, you wanted to kill us in a plane crash? Really? How do you go from Eggman with the most powerful pieces of rock on the planet to kill us, to killing us in a plane crash?! My friends and I have dealt with giant robots, aliens, and angry gods hell-bent on world destruction, and you think that after all of that that a plane crash would kill us? HA! You are an idiot! A plane crash as a way to kill us seems so ordinary compared to the kind of B.S. we've had to handle in years' past! That's what I'm insulted by!

"No, I take that back, because there's something else I'm even more insulted by! You were a smart man to have three adults sent away on assignments while our families were vulnerable to attacks. I'll give you credit, Max, that's how a nutcase villain like you is supposed to work; you take away the bigger threats, leaving the easier targets. No offense to my friends and wife here, but it made sense to go after them then, given that they more than themselves to look out for. But I'm more insulted that not only did you use executive orders for the worst of reasons, but that you went above what it means to be a leader! But you are a politician after all, so I guess you would have to resort to doing something like that would make you a coward."

A collective "Oooooh!" enveloped the room. Titus' face was priceless.

"And how am I the cowardly one?!"

"Because you weren't man enough to take me on head-to-head yourself. You hid behind the scenes as all the henchmen did the bigger jobs. Trying to kill Shadow, Rouge, and me… twice, abducting our families, torturing our kids, and for thinking that you're actually going to get away with all of this! That is what insults me! All you are is a sociopath who thinks that just because you have some power and can use it, poorly at that, you think that you can do and say whatever you want. Trust me, Titus, I've seen this kind of a sad, sad person too many times in my life. You are no better than a common criminal for the things you've done. That just makes you a great politician.

"So you orchestrated all of this; the kidnappings, the misuse of government power, Eggman's breakout, the robbery of the Chaos Emeralds, attempting to kill my team and I twice, holding us prisoner, and laying a hand on the kids. But what I have to know is why. Titus, why?! Why the violence?! Why the abductions?! Why all of this?! At least answer me that!"

He took every word that I said in and stirred it around in his skull like it was an alcoholic cocktail, debating if I was "worthy" enough to get the truth. Then he looked at me with a raised eyebrow. He smirked. He had made his decision.

"What a question, Sonic!" He chuckled again his smile turned cheesy. His teeth fit the bill since they were a bit yellow. I craved putting my fist into them over and over until it got to the point where an oral surgeon couldn't fix his mouth.

"I want to you take a good look at everyone in the room, Sonic. Go ahead, look!" I raised an eyebrow, but I did as he said and looked at everyone, then back to him. "Now to everyone else, I want you to look at Sonic. Take a nice, hard look." I saw five other pairs of eyes gaze upon me. What was he getting at? "This hedgehog," he proclaimed loudly, "is the reason you're all here!"

HUH?!

"Me?! I'm not the one who turned into a criminal, broke Egghead out of jail, or abducted any of us! How the hell am I the one at fault?!"

He leaned in closer to the pane that separated us and said, "They're all here because you said 'no'."

"'Because I said 'no'? What are you babbling about?!"

"Think back, hedgehog; you'll remember."

Remember? I said 'no'? Because of me? He was making as much sense as Kanye West performing at a country music award show.

"No, I don't recall. Enlighten me," I challenged. He sighed. It was like I let him down for some reason.

"Y'know, Sonic, I thought you would be smarter than this."

"You sound like my friend, Tails," I replied dryly.

He rolled his eyes, took in a sharp breath and turned away. "Eight years ago. I need you to remember what you did eight years ago."

Eight years ago? Let's see… I was still with G.U.N., Knuckles' and Rouge's wedding, that night with Amy, my last mission, going to the Whi-. OH, YOU'VE GOTTA BE FREAKING KIDDING ME.

"You're still upset about me leaving G.U.N.?! After all these years?! What are you?! A child?!"

He smirked. "I'll stand by the statement that you were the best G.U.N. agent I had ever seen, Sonic."

"I'm flattered," I retorted angrily.

"As I was saying, when you wanted out the first time, I thought that it was another one of your jokes. You are famous for them after all." Among other things… "But when you were actually serious, well, I didn't especially like your decision, but I had a thought. 'He's going to miss the action, the suspense, and the thrill of the mission.' I thought that it was going to be a matter of time until you came back. And all those phone calls I paid you? I just wanted you to come back to us."

"I asked for you to honor my wishes. You could've done that! After all the annoying things you've ever done to me, you could have at least honored my wishes!"

"You call me 'annoying'? You were the one who married an 'annoying' fan girl!"

"At least Amy wants me for the man I was! You only want me to be your little soldier!"

"Quiet!" He knew that I had him there. Why else would he scream that last word? "And then when I begged you to come back a few months later, I thought the thrill would bring you back. You had to admit, Sonic, that getting back in the game in Shamar was fun, wasn't it?"

"No, it wasn't because you ripped me away from the woman I loved and still love! Secondly, you were too much of a wuss to do anything about it yourself! Some world leader you were!"

"Quiet!" There it was again. "But when you came back, you still didn't want in, so I thought I'd have to force you back in, whether you liked it or not. Oh, but you just had to play that royal get-out-of-jail-free card of yours, didn't you? I thought you always hated using your princely authority!"

"I do, but I was desperate, and I wanted you gone. I had better things to do with my life, and you had meddled in it for far too long. I couldn't get you out of my life fast enough. To be perfectly honest, I don't know why I didn't use my royal authority sooner! As much as I hate playing 'Prince Sonic', I will go on the record and say that it was the best use of my royal authority to date."

"And yet, you're still at my mercy." Keep laughing, Titus. Just keep laughing… "When you pulled that little stunt that night, I knew I couldn't personally do a thing to get you back. That was, until I realized something. You hurt me too many times, and I wasn't going to let you hurt me again. The fact that you didn't even extend an invitation to me for your wedding definitely didn't help." He's mad at me for not getting an invite? Jeez, he's upset about that too?! That's just as bad as how angry Maleficent was about not being invited to Princess Aurora's christening (that's a reference to Disney's Sleeping Beauty, for those of you keeping track at home). "I was determined to get back at you thank in part to a new-found hatred of you. I thought of a few ways to get some payback on you. Maybe having something bad happen to your wife…?"

I slammed my fists against the glass in a fit of anger, only to get another quick power-washing. "You want to run that by me again?!"

"No, I think you heard it clear as day. But then I found out that Amy was pregnant! With triplets no less! Then a brilliant thought crossed my head! Your children! That's how I'd get back at you! But I waited until their births to do something, and what I found out is that your kids seem to possess your speed, Sonic. I've watched them grow up; even more than you have! I mean, just look at that soccer tournament your kids won the other day!"

"Spying on children, Titus? Especially for an old man like you-."

"Silence! Ahem. Their speed and athletic abilities weren't the only thing I noticed. Little Emerald was exhibiting some of her mother and father's physical traits as well, so I came up with the idea to wait until they were of age and then I'd swipe take them from you and raise them as my own! The same would for Shadow and Maria's kid when born, and since she's carrying the child of the ultimate lifeform, coupled with the abilities of the other kids, I would use them all against you and your friends, because I also remembered that even if I took you out, I'd still have to deal with the rest of your rodent and heroic friends."

"Enough talking, Titus! What's the endgame?!"

"The endgame? Simple. I abducted your kids to raise them the way that I deem fit. I'll strip them of their freewill by systematic torture, which you saw an example of just a moment ago. With their wills broken, I will use my new little soldiers to bring down anyone who stands in my way! Naturally super-powered soldiers at my command, doing everything that I say! Oh, it will be like having multiple you's, Sonic, at my beck and call with no chance of escaping! And why stop with just ending you and your friends?! Why not think bigger? Like your mom and siblings at Mobotropolis? Why not go one step further and take down the queen herself? With super-powered soldiers making sure that I will be the one in charge, all in the name of the United Federation! And if I needed more natural superhero soldiers, well, that's where Maria, Amy, and Knuckles came into the fold. I would have made sure that they'd mate and make sure that I would never run out of them! And when they're no longer fertile, well, there'd be no more need for them anymore, would there? My soldiers would just reproduce with each other again and again, leaving no end in sight for my glorious rule!" He looked directly at me and said the final line. "And the only reason I'm doing this, Sonic, is all because you said 'no'."

My anger had built up to unhealthy levels. I had never killed a man, even in my Dark form, but I was determined to break that vow. But I wouldn't just kill him at first; there'd be no fun in that. I'd torture him; make him go through the hell that he's putting my kids through. Then I would break him until he was an inch from death, have him beg for me to end his life with him at my feet, only to spare him and start the process over and over again until I got bored of him. Then I'd end his life. But as I went down my list of doing what he had coming to him, I realized that would make me no better than him. And I realized one more thing.

"I was wrong, Titus. You're not a sociopath. You are the worst kind of scum that I have ever seen in my life! Hurting innocent people just because of something that's between you and me?! No! I would never and will never let anyone die because of me! I was wrong to call you a sociopath. I know now that you are insane! You're crazy! You're worse than all the criminals I've put away, the villains I've defeated! You have set the standard for a complete wacko! And above all, Titus, you have messed with the wrong people! Your fight was with me. There was no need to involve anyone else! Take a look around, Max, and see that every set of eyes on you in this room hasn't taken too kindly to your words! I'm willing to bet that they want you dead more than I do! It was never their fight! So why bring them in? And you think that you can beat us?! We have dealt with gods! Aliens! A diabolically genius and megalomaniacal doctor hundreds of times, and you think that you're any better than them?! HA! You're the dumbest one of them all! Why? Because you have systematically pissed off each and every mom and dad in this room, and you brought our kids into this mess! Do you realize that none of us are going to quit until our kids are safe and you're burning in hell?! DO YOU?! You idiot! You have pissed off the world's greatest heroes by involving innocent lives in this, our kids no less! I want you to mark my words, Max. I want you to remember these words: with everything that you have done, none of us will quit until you are beaten. I will make sure you get justice for what you've done! You will not get away with this, and when the dust settles, I will see to it myself that I personally put one of my signature red shoes up your ass! You are the one person on this planet that I will not save, because with what you have done, even though I am the hero that everyone looks up to, even I would not be able to save you, nor would I want to! I'm not talking just as a hero, but as a husband and a father, a husband and father that is willing to go through hell and back to protect his family! My friends, my mother, my sister, my brother, my wife, my son, and my daughters! They are all my family and I swear to you, that you will lose, and that you will know that your biggest mistake was involving my family in a fight that should have only been between you and me! YOU GOT THAT?!"

When I finished, I tried to catch my breath. I studied his face. He laughed suddenly as if I had told the greatest joke of all time. It probably was one to him.

"Oh, Sonic, you amuse me! The thing is that I still have your offspring at my mercy, just like you, and I could easily end their lives at any time if I wanted to!"

"But to you, they're an investment. And there's no need to end an investment with such prime potential."

"Playing devil's advocate, Sonic? Well, you're right in saying that. But these is an option where your kids can leave scot-free. Because as it so happens, I have something better in my possession. Maybe it wasn't a bad thing that you survived your escapades."

"Meaning?"

"I'll let your children go on with their happy lives, but you would have to take their place. Sadly, it wouldn't be just you, Sonic. It would be for all of you in this room right now! If you all pledge your allegiance to me and the United Federation, listening to everything that I command of you, I will set your kids free! But I won't ask for an answer yet, you guys. I'll be nice and give you some time to think it over." He began to walk back to the door from once he came. "You have fifteen minutes. Think carefully." With those final words, the door shut behind him, leaving us to our thoughts.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Sonic, how dare you! We allow you to say "Damn" and "Hell", but did you really need to say "ass"?! Really?! But in all seriousness, i think Sonic saying "Ass" really tied his final rant together with a nice, pretty bow.

Okay, I admit it. I portrayed Max as your stereotypical psychotic madman who wants to rule the world. But to be fair, he's only doing it out of revenge against Sonic. However, that's still no excuse for writing him as such a one-dimensional villain. When I write future stories, I'll have to flush out my villains a little more. I couldn't do that here because I wanted Max's evil reveal to be a surprise.

Stick around, because chapter 22 will be up very soon.

As always, all the characters (save for Max Titus, Hector "Hex" Wilson, and my fan-kids) are the property of SEGA.