A/N When this story was first written all the way back in March I never imagined it would reach over 300 reviews and over 18,000 page views. Seriously thank you all so much for the support, you've shown this story also to everyone who favorited, followed or even viewed this story, for the love and support you've shown for this story, thank you all so much.
As usual a big thank you goes out to SD321, TGN, Alexandria Prime, bajy, Keyblade Writer of the Dawn, Turqoiuse Triangle, Fanakatsuki, YamiChaos 27, and Sharp DragonKlaw for leaving a review on this story. Thank you for the support for this story and for keeping me motivated to continue this story.
A thank you goes out to Latias Eevee, for leaving a follow. A shout out goes to Shredder 8 and Joz161 for leaving a favorite and a follow. I'm pleased to see that you're enjoying the fic and thanks for the support.
There are only ten chapters remaining until this story comes to a close. It's actually been a little emotional time. I'm not going to say a lot about what's going to happen in the homestretch, expect for things to get crazy. While the next couple of chapters are going to be calm before the storm chapters, things will be escalating soon near the end.
Disclaimer. I don't own anything except for this rewrite. Sonic is copyrighted to Sega.
Deep within G.U.N's prison facility, the Resistance fell silent at their enemy's desire to be a called a name no one had ever heard before. Zerinn stonily glared back at his captors, a slight scowl pulling up at the corner of his lip. Zerinn shifted painfully on his side hearing the chains scraping against his fur scanning several of the hostile expressions glaring back at him judging him for his crimes along with his part in the war.
Zerinn chose to ignore everyone else in the room focusing his glare on Gadget who flinched feeling the hatred seeping from the jackal's glare. Gadget swallowed nervously meeting the intense stare of his former friend. Zerinn simply stared at Gadget with a slightly vulnerable expression. Gadget hesitated to inhale deeply and against his better judgment Gadget walked closer to the bars ignoring a warning shout from Sonic to get back before Zerinn had a chance to inflict another injury upon the wolf.
"I don't understand why do you want to be called by a name you abandoned?" Gadget asked.
Before anyone in the room could react Zerinn lunged out with his arm grabbing Gadget roughly by the wrist pulling him closer to the bars meeting face to face. Shouts of alarm rang out in the cell. Omega swiftly reacted to Infinite's sudden attack on Gadget, raising his arm again ignoring Commander Tower's command to stand down.
Sonic felt a surge of anger building up inside him upon seeing Gadget pulled closer to Zerinn's cell. An expression of pure terror appeared on the wolf's face, upon being closer then he wanted to his enraged former friend. Without the mask on his face Zerinn looked less intimidating without the mask covering his face, Gadget found his gaze drawn to a small burn scar partially covering the top half of Zerinn's scar.
"With the power of the Phantom Ruby, I had the ultimate power at my fingertips, my squad was behind me. Nothing could touch me. After Shadow killed my old weak self, I was free to assume a new identity, one which could never be defeated, but when the ruby shattered, it destroyed Infinite. Without that power, Infinite is dead and he's never coming back. That's why I'm asking to be called by a name I haven't heard in a long time."
Sonic with no hesitation raced to the bars reaching through them roughly yanking hard along the fur on Infinite's wrist forcing him to release Gadget who staggered back, wincing rubbing at his fur wincing from the pain. The wolf chided himself mentally for being so foolish at getting so close to his former friend. Zerinn retreated scowling settling down ignoring the heavy clink his chains rubbing away at his fur sitting back down on the floor.
"You wouldn't happen to know where Eggman's holed up somewhere would you?" Sonic asked.
"I have no idea where the fat bastard is," Zerinn replied curtly. "If I had any idea where the doctor was, I would dedicate my time to tracking Eggman down. Once I found him I would rip his limbs off one by one, then I'll unleash the power of my shattered ruby on that fat man. I will take joy in breaking his spirit, forcing him to witness illusions of his precious empire crumbling to nothing but dust. I will then demand to know which prison Quartz, Saber and Nephthys were at. It doesn't matter if they still hate-"
Zerinn's speech was cut off by a sudden violent coughing fit causing him to slump to his knees, his sides heaving. Alarmed Gadget took another step towards Zerinn's cell only for Kaito stepping in front of Gadget, holding an arm out acting as a barrier to stop Gadget getting grabbed by Zerinn again.
"I thought they said your condition was stable," Kaito said suspiciously "Although personally, I believe that prison for the rest of your life will be the best option for you."
"Those accursed humans forced me to swallow a foul tasting medicine. It took three doctors to hold me down while they did so. All it did was make me feel a little bit better, but I still want my revenge on Eggman for lying to me about what the Phantom Ruby making me ill like this."
"Actually, what if he was under the custody of the Resistance?" Gadget asked.
In an instant chaos broke out in the prison facility with loud panicked screams coming from the prisoners ringing through the air swiftly followed by the sound of all the prisoners rattled the bars of their cells screaming in panic at the thought Eggman's former second in command escaping and then killing them in a brutal manner to quench his sadistic tendencies. A few prisoners crouched in a corner of their cells their arms over their heads closing their eyes waiting for the inevitable moment they were going to die. Alarmed by the commotion several G.U.N soldiers raced into the room armed with tranquilizer darts swiftly sedating the prisoners before they could break out of their cells.
"Gadget, are you suggesting that after everything Zerinn's done, we're just going to let him go free?" Amy asked in disbelief.
"Did you forget he helped Eggman torture Sonic for six months?" Tails asked furiously. "Also he helped Eggman bring this world to ruin?"
"I'm sure Gadget nor anyone else in the Resistance hasn't forgotten that Infi- I mean Zerinn did all of those terrible things," Sonic said calmly, his gaze fixating on Shadow. "If we keep an eye on him, it should put everyone's minds at ease. Besides, he's not the only one in the room who tried to destroy the world."
Shadow tensed slightly directing his gaze down towards the ground. A twinge of guilt formed a knot in Sonic's stomach at bringing up the black hedgehog's past, and his role in the Space Colony Ark incident several years ago to take revenge for the deaths of his best friend and creator at the hands of G.U.N. In a way, it was ironic after the Black Arms invasion Shadow found himself joining the same military organization responsible for killing his best friend.
"I won't deny that I did those things," Shadow admitted. "The only reason I joined up with G.U.N in the first place was to keep my promise to Maria, helping to protect Mobius."
Commander Tower coughed softly alerting everyone to his presence noticing he had their attention. Sonic noticed Zerinn's eyes drawn towards the small device a serious look in his eyes. Silence fell over the holding cell everyone held their breath awaiting the human's decision on what to do with Zerinn glaring back defiantly at his enemies his upper lip curled in a fierce scowl.
"I will admit that we owe the Resistance a massive debt for saving all of Mobius. Truth be told, with a lack of resources, and with most of our forces concentrating on providing aid to other stricken cities, it would be a good idea for Zerinn to be placed under Resistance custody as it would free up some staff members to keep an eye on our prisoners here. We'll place a tracker on him to keep track of his every movement."
Shadow stepped forward holding onto a small black device resting in the palm of his hands holding up the tracker for everyone to see. A small black rectangular shaped device with a small red light something Zerinn didn't fail to notice, a grimace appeared on his face.
"Error, it is an unwise decision to allow Infinite to roam free even with a tracker on him," Omega interjected. "If there is someone capable of watching over him, there still needs to be precautionary measures in place to ensure Zerinn doesn't eliminate any more citizens. I'm fairly certain the Resistance will be able to keep Zerinn locked up away from society."
Everyone fell silent as Sonic, Tails, and Amy gathered around speaking in low tones discussing what to do with Infinite the jackal glaring defiantly at them all his tail thudding against the cold floor stirring up small particles of dust, cobwebs, and dirt clinging to his tail. The jackal cast one disdainful glance at Sonic his lips pulling upwards exposing his sharp canines.
"Then it's settled then. We'll be placing Zerinn under your custody for the time being," Commander Tower stated. "Shadow place the tracker around Zerinn's right ankle. I'll inform all of you right now if Zerinn kills one more civilian he will be executed is that clear?"
"We understand sir," Amy replied. "Don't worry he won't escape under our watch. Besides a lot of lives have already been lost to the war. We don't need any more blood being spilled since it won't bring those who died back."
Kaito nodded numbly heading over to the bars escorted by Shadow and Rouge. Zerinn looked up his eyes widening in disbelief upon seeing Kaito approaching his cell resting a hand on the cold metal bars. Zerinn reached forward slipping his fingers through the steel bars resting his hand over his brother's feeling the warm fur underneath his glove.
"Kaito, about every-"
"I don't want to hear anything you have to say to me," Kaito muttered. "Out of everyone here, I'm the only one who doesn't want to see you die, but I can't forgive you for everything you've done."
Gadget heard the cell door opening Zerinn to shuffle out his cell, wrists still restrained. Shadow came forward bending down on his knees slipping a black device around Zerinn's right ankle. Zerinn stiffened his heart in his mouth glaring down at his squad's murderer. For several minutes tense silence filled the room. Shadow noticed Zerinn flinch uncomfortable of how close Shadow was to him.
"Listen, if you still choose to hold a grudge against me for what happened to half the member of your squad, then they would've killed me first. I've been in your position before. A lot of people are going to say you don't even deserve this second chance. It's up to you what decisions you're going to make from now on."
Shadow stepped back allowing Gadget and Kaito to take Zerinn by his elbows walking alongside him in silence. Sonic, Tails, and Amy followed them into the lift a tense silence hanging over them like a dark grey cloud refusing to dissipate over their heads. Sonic and Tails hurried over to Gadget speaking in a low tone into his right ear.
"Gadget, are you sure you're going to be okay doing this?" Sonic asked worriedly. "You're very strong for going through with this. Seriously, if he gives you any trouble, just give anyone of us a shout and we'll help you."
"I hope we know what we're doing," Tails said keeping his voice low so Zerinn couldn't overhear them. "What if something goes wrong and Infi- I mean Zerinn escapes to kill even more innocent people?"
"I'll be fine, truth be told, I'm a little nervous too," Gadget replied. "But I have to be strong. Something tells me that there's still a small part of the Zerinn I knew when we were children. At least that's the belief I want to hold on to, but who am I kidding? The Zerinn I know is dead and gone."
"Hey, Gadget, that may be the case," Sonic said solemnly. "At least he'll be locked up where he won't be able to hurt anyone else, that's the important thing, besides we'll be able to keep a closer eye on him."
Gadget nodded numbly keeping a tight grip on Zerinn's left arm risking a glance over at Kaito who didn't say anything. Zerinn continued to walk ahead in silence his eyes closed refusing to look at either one of his brothers, the only sign he'd overheard their conversation was a slight curl of his lip. The small group walked away from G.U.N headquarters heading through the desolate city.
Eggman paced back and forth along the floor of the main control room of his base at Mt. Yuji. Several Egg Pawns rushed about gathering supplies following the commands their creator issued them, the portly human stood in silence with his hands folded behind his back surveying the scene. Surely Neo wouldn't have had much trouble capturing a traitor, would he? Another concern to the rotund figure was the fact one of his Chaos Emeralds was missing. The other two were in a secure vault in a location only Eggman knew about.
"Metal Sonic has a lot of nerve for stealing my Chaos Emerald," Eggman snarled rubbing at his temples. "He had no right to even take it with him in the first place. I mean how hard could it be bringing back one sick jackal?"
The sound of a robot's engine announced Neo Metal Sonic's arrival entering the large room through the open window landing on his feet stopping several meters away from Eggman's position. Eggman forced a neutral expression on his face upon Neo's return. The robot staring back at him stoically. Several minutes passed with Orbot and Cubot wisely choosing to leave the room aware of Neo glancing stonily at Eggman's face. The robot's glare forced Eggman to uneasily recall the time his prize creation locked him away in the hold of one of his ships from the Egg Fleet, then seized control of his fleet forcing Eggman to form a reluctant alliance with Sonic and his allies in order to stop Neo Metal Sonic.
"Well, I wanted to say congratulations for losing my Chaos Emerald which you took without my permission by the way," Eggman said pacing angrily in a small circle. " Not only did you fail to kill Sonic in another of your foolish ideas, but you also failed to bring Infinite back here, so I could extract what was left of his ruby from him. Because Sonic and his friends destroyed the original Ruby, I could use the base of the Infinite's ruby and combine it's power with Infinite's ruby, since it's a vital part of my plan to reconquer Mobius. Now, do you understand why I wanted that accursed jackal back in my clutches?"
For several minutes Neo Metal Sonic remained silent calculating a response to Eggman's question. The robot lifted his head to glare, glaring back at Eggman. Orbot and Cubot nervously looked on at the silent stalemate. Eggman took the robot's silence to have his worst fears confirmed tightening his fists, Neo Metal Sonic observed his master's expressions carefully gauging for any weakness, until Eggman's creation spoke again.
"It was an error on my part master. Losing the Chaos Emerald is a setback," Neo Metal Sonic said slowly. "But the good thing to come away from my recent failure is that I was able to copy Sonic's bio Data. It means he'll be no longer able to overpower me. I'll be truly superior to him, ending his life once and for all."
"Fine, fine, it still would've been nice if we still had all three Chaos Emeralds still in our possession," Eggman glowered. " Thanks to your blunder, we now only have two left. We'll talk about this later, right now I need to visit three jackals. It appears I still have a use for them even though they were supposedly the best mercenaries around."
Eggman stalked down the corridor aware of his creations following him until he arrived at the jackal's prison cell. Saber and Nephthys kept their gazes focused on the floor not wanting to make eye contact with their employer. Quartz looked up in interest seeing the fierce scowl gracing Eggman's face. Quartz approached the entrance to his cell ignoring Saber's frantic whispers to get back. Ever since Eggman had lost the war from their vantage point in their cell, the three former members of the Jackal Squad observed in silence Orbot and Cubot wheeling several large recycling bins filled to the brim with destroyed robot parts.
Eggman paused in front of the cell glaring at the three jackals sitting still on the hard benches lowering their heads in a gesture of submission with Neo Metal Sonic standing behind his creator eying Saber who risked a wary glance at the visor of the robot looking over the prisoners with contempt his metallic fingers flexed. Saber swallowed hard recalling the first time they'd encountered Eggman's prized killing machine in the desert bordering Green Hill Zone over six months ago.
"Well, it looks like things didn't go your way did they doctor?"
Eggman snarled in response reaching through the cell bars pulling Quartz right up to the bars. The jackal yelped in pain his face colliding with the cold steel of the bars. Eggman kept his hand pressed on the back of Quartz's hand for a few minutes. Saber and Nephthys were on their feet watching in horror as Eggman pulled hard on Quartz's right ear forcing the mercenary to gaze at Eggman's face.
"I don't want to hear anymore back talking from any of you," Eggman growled. "I want all three of you to come with me now. If anyone of you backtalks to me I can guarantee you'll be spending the rest of your life as a Robian."
Quartz wisely chose not to say anything in response hearing the cell open. Saber and Npehtys stood shoulder to shoulder protecting Quartz following Eggman down the long corridor their footsteps echoing off the metallic floor. Neo Metal Sonic followed them silently a sinister presence behind them. Saber titled this head meeting the cold gaze of those red optics tracking his every movement.
"Where are we going?" Nephthys asked fearfully.
"I've got an assignment for all three of you, along with someone else I have in mind. He's one of my older creations which I built many years ago to help me take over Angel Island. This creation showed great power and potential by tapping into the power of the Master Emerald nearly killing that guardian in the first place, but was destroyed in the process by that gullible idiot. However, I've been able to rebuild my creation from scratch with a few tweaks to his design."
Neo Metal Sonic tensed folding his arms across his chest stalking ahead in silence pushing past Saber and Nephthys. The group walked down the hallway until Eggman came to the end of the corridor his lips pulling back revealing a sinister sneer plastering on his face. Eggman reached up towards a keyboard typing in a combination hearing the door open with a loud hiss.
The small group stepped into the dark room. Eggman flicked on the switch illuminating the room revealing a hedgehog robot standing upright with several cables holding the robot in place. Saber took one glance at the strange device resting on a nearby table before he hurrying to catch up with his squadmates trying to ignore his brain screaming at him to run away from Eggman and his empire, but a small part of him refused to leave Quartz and Nephthys behind to experience what little mercy Eggman carried in his black heart.
Eggman smiled sinisterly approaching one of his older creation beginning to unhook the wires attached to his robot. Orbot and Cubot peering out nervously from behind his back eyes drawn towards a robot hung suspended by several thick cables. The rotund figure approached a keyboard typing in a combination Several loud beeps rang out through the room, a low hum filling the room as the robot lifted his head orange optics flaring to life.
"Welcome back to the world Mecha Sonic."
Mecha Sonic slowly raised his hand wrenching away the cables silently stalking forward. Upon the robots' approach Quartz, Saber and Nephthys flinched shuffling backward grouping together. Quartz swiftly reached up for one of the kunai resting in its holster. The jackal silently withdrew it his eyes darting back and forth between Eggman and this new threat examining them with his optics.
"You're seriously going to use an inferior version of me?" Neo Metal Sonic asked with disdain.
"Of course I am. At least I know Mecha Sonic can actually be trusted," Eggman sneered. "I programmed him to never take over my empire in case he deemed me unfit to rule my own empire."
Metal Sonic's response to Eggman's statement was to clench his fist provoked by Eggman's statement. Sensing he was no longer needed, Eggman's prize creation turned on his heel storming out of the room hearing the hiss of the door opening allowing him to exit. The closing doors signaled his departure. Once he was outside of the room and away from an inferior model Neo Metal Sonic continued his walk down the long hallway his digits clenched tightly his processor working to come up with a plan of his own, one that would make his creator respect him.
Eggman turned to face the three jackals and Mecha Sonic. Eggman smiled upon seeing Mecha Sonic giving him his full attention. Saber fiddled with the small shard of the ruby attached to its cord, Nephthys and Quartz said nothing, years of having followed their former leader's orders, all three of them cautiously observed Eggman awaiting their next orders.
"Alright, all of you will be heading to Angel Island tomorrow. I've heard from one of my spies Knuckles will soon return to Angel Island. It's crucial that all of you secure the Master Emerald since it's the centerpiece for my grand scheme to help me reclaim Mobius. For some reason, if any of you fail this mission apart from Mecha Sonic fail, then please allow me to demonstrate what will happen. I believe you'll be perfect for this little demonstration Quartz."
Before Quartz could react Eggman roughly grabbed him by his right arm pulling him forward towards the mini roboticizer wrenching the top open forcing Quartz's right arm inside the machine closing the lid on top of Quartz's arm.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Quartz screamed in fear.
"I'm going to show you exactly what's going to happen if you fail me."
Saber and Nephthys let out shouts of horror hurrying over to their comrade's aid only for Mecha Sonic to step in between them and Quartz glaring down at them menacingly. A bright flash of light filled the room along with Quartz's screams of horror, thankfully for Quartz the procedure mercifully concluded. Quartz slumped to his knees dimly aware of hearing a low hiss. Eggman opened up the mini roboticizier. Quartz's right arm lay transformed into a robotic appendage.
"What do you think of your new arm?" Eggman asked gleefully.
"How could you do this?" Quartz whispered in pure horror.
Quartz continued to stare in horrified disbelief at his new robotic limb, shaking fearfully from the shock of what had just happened to him. Saber stepped forward in disbelief reaching out to touch the metallic limb seeing Quartz flinch in horror, sinking to his knees pupils dilated with fear, his breath coming out in short gasps. Nephthys hurried over sinking to her knees placing her hands around Quartz's shoulders feeling him flinch from her touch.
"Personally I think it's an improvement," Eggman said icily. This is just a warning of what's going to happen if you don't come back with the Master Emerald. Personally, I think all three of you would make excellent Robians."
Quartz held up his right limb coated in pure titanium. The jackal felt the bile rising up his throat, rapidly turning his head throwing up what little contents were left in his stomach. The cold steel felt alien to him. Even touching the limb instead of feeling soft fur, the cold metal underneath his touch felt so wrong. Saber and Nephthys kneeled in horrified silence reaching out to touch the metal along Quartz's arm.
"This is horrible," Saber breathed out in fear. "We've made a terrible mistake."
Eggman took his cue to leave the room with Mecha Sonic following behind him obediently. Saber and Nephthys cast one last terrified look at Eggman's back hearing him whistling a jaunty tune not even caring about what had just happened, except for partially robotizing Quartz's arm like it was running an errand. In a stunned silence Quartz, Saber and Nephthys remained kneeling trapped in a dangerous web of lies and betrayal with a monster when he decided they were no longer useful they would be turned into cold unthinking Robians.
A/N Well I said things would escalate and they have indeed. Zerinn hasn't fully recovered from his illness, for now, he's stable, but only time will tell if it'll improve or worsen. Things aren't going to get even easier for the Resistance now they're forced to shelter one of the two individuals responsible for nearly destroying their home.
The idea of Quartz losing his arm to the roboticization process is something I've been planning for a while and the chapter presented the perfect opportunity to add another layer of cruelty to Eggman's character. Mecha Sonic is the obscure reference that will make his appearance. Originally for the in the previous chapter, the original plan was to have Mecha Sonic make his debut two things were going to happen. Mecha Sonic would've made his debut and Zerinn would've been placed under the Resistance's custody.
There are a couple of rewrites of Sonic Forces fics I highly recommend for your reading pleasure. They are Revengeful Resistance by TheGameNguyener and Sonic Forces Secret Strikers by Spider Dom 321. Check them out if you haven't already.
As per usual if there any errors I need to go back and fix/constructive criticisms/thoughts and reviews are welcomed and appreciated. I will talk to you guys soon with the next chapter which will hopefully be out soon.