Chaos Corrupts Absolutely

by Ryan-Sinclair

By himself and on his own, Sonic suffers a horrible loss in the heat of battle. Rejected by society, he's saved by the most unlikely individual. Will he be convinced to serve for what he is told is a greater good, or can his friends save him from a dark path? -/Reboot\-

3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

.

[Time - 1:15 P.M.)

[Date - June 29th, 21XX)

(Location - Station Square Dock)

.

"Ooh-ooh-ahh-ahh!" The Kiki robot to the E-52 chattered in a mechanical voice while maintaining the engine to the speedboat.

It didn't take him all that long to make it back to Station Square. Eggman's boat was surprisingly fast. Thankfully, the water was smooth and not choppy, assisting in the hastened trip. Seeing as how it was a beautiful day, being out in the sea like this had been his only period of peaceful solitude since that horrid day that led up to him being ambushed. Although he didn't know how to swim and water made his heart throb, he was so stressed out, he actually took off his glove and put his hand in the sea several times, feeling the cool water flow through his fingers.

"I agree." Sonic facetiously talked back to the robotic monkey. "I'd be pissed too if my lower body was permanently fused to a boat." He hung his head in his hands, rubbing his eyes wearily. Regardless of wanting to be home, he was also afraid to go back. In a way, he didn't want to know what had happened since he'd been away. With what he'd been through recently, his empathy for humanity was beginning to wane. Looking up, he saw the dock to the city coming closer, within a few hundred yards.

Automatically, the kiki started to slow the E-52 down so it wouldn't cause any wake in the marina. "Eee-Eee!" It squealed.

"Yep." The blue hedgehog acknowledged as he put his glove back on his hand, aware that he was going to get off the boat soon. By the time they made it into the marina, he was ready, he forced himself to be ready for whatever he would come across. He just prayed it wasn't an angry mob that wanted to lynch him for a single failure. Nonetheless, his lip quivered as he thought about all his friends. Tails, Amy, Vanilla and Knuckles, none of them were going to be there when he arrived and it saddened him. "I'm going to be so alone."

Wiping a tear from his eye, he sniffled, sucked it up and waited until they came up to the dock. Once the boat arrived alongside the dock, the blue blur hopped off, not even so much as waiting to moor or until it turned off its engine. He was genuinely glad to be back on solid ground; or in this case, a dock attached to solid ground. "Thanks for the ride." He found himself saying to the robotic kiki. "I'd give you a banana, but I don't know if you can eat it… what with the mechanical mouth and all."

"Ook!" The Kiki clapped prior to restarting the engine to the E-52. Sonic didn't know what that meant and it didn't appear to matter as the boat started its journey back to the Egg Carrier.

With that business concluded, Sonic began ambling down the wooden dock. Looking around, there weren't too many people out. Most of them were either on their boats chatting or busy working. A few folks that were there fishing noticed his presence, yet chose to stay quiet; a good sign so far. The wood creaked beneath his feet as he kept walking down the dock. By the time he got to the end, it seemed like he'd been walking forever. To make matters worse, he knew he had to make it to the Residential district, where his apartment was. With several more blocks to go, he groaned in agony.

Although he wanted to run, he was too fatigued. Watching the cars on the road whiz past him, moving so slowly, he grew jealous of their speed. A rare moment in his life to have vehicles outmatching him. To the contrary of his desires, he kept walking at the pace of a snail while holding onto his side. There were a couple of times he stopped to rest. At first, the sunlight was welcomed after being stuck inside the Egg Carrier for a week. Now, however, it was beginning to give him a headache, so he pushed on, keeping himself moving in order to get to his apartment.

On the way, he heard a couple of people speak his name, whispering in wonder as to where he had been for over a week. Most stared at him, yet they never yelled about him being a failure. It made him curious as to what was going on, why they were suddenly continuing with their lives instead of throwing him under a bus. Soon enough, he found himself to be glad they weren't speaking directly to him, not harassing him like they previously had been. Having no trouble in the way, it made getting home much easier. His headache appreciated it as well, for he didn't want to imagine the frustration he'd feel if he'd been stopped for a ridiculous encounter.

Successfully making it all the way to his apartment in the residential section of the city, the sight of the building itself gave him a brief restoral of hope. He didn't mind being alone right now and could use time to himself in his own apartment. The comfort of home; the familiar smells. There might have been many nights he spent sleeping under a tree to gaze upon the stars, he still always had a place to call home, a place he could crash at anytime he wanted, without anybody disturbing him. Those thoughts cheered him up a bit. Even without his friends, he knew he could find a way to entertain himself with all his personal belongings. Right now, all he wanted to do was land on his bed.

Sonic opened the door to enter the apartment building. A few people were in the lobby. One lady with a child that wasn't more than five or six took immediate notice of him, smiling wide. "Hey, it's Sonic the Hedgehog!" The boy said, running over to Sonic to give him a hug. It hurt him, but he took it, almost gladly suffering through the pain in exchange for kind physical contact. "I haven't seen you all week!"

The mother went over to her son to make him stop bear-hugging Sonic. She had a smile on her face too, however, the second she saw Sonic's injuries, it vanished. "Oh my goodness, you look really bad!"

"H-Hey, Timmy…" Sonic flinched from the pain the hug caused. "Don't you two worry about me. I'm a hero, I'll be fine… I… I just need some rest right now. Thanks."

Walking past them without giving a proper explanation, he took the stairs up to the sixth floor where his apartment was. Getting closer and closer, he was glad. He really didn't know how much more he had in him. Every muscle in his body felt like it was ready to give out. In his head, he could imagine how nice it would feel to lay upon his own bed, to give his body real rest without being hooked up to a machine in the enemy's infirmary. As soon as his eyes saw his door, he thanked god he hadn't collapsed yet.

"Finally…" He said while punching in the door code to the combination lock. Upon hearing the click after inputting the code, he pulled on the door handle, opening it up to his home.

Instead of smelling the comfort of home, he was met with a rancid odor that hit him like a brick wall. His nose turned up at the stench. To make matters worse, upon stepping inside his apartment, he gasped as he noticed that the place had been utterly wrecked. It looked as if a wild bull had come crashing through there. Closing the door behind him, he went further inside to examine all the damage that had been done to his stuff. "No… No…. No, no, no!" Somebody had come in here while he was away. The couch had been flipped, with its cushions stabbed, cut to pieces with the stuffing torn out of it so it could be strewn about the single bedroom apartment. What used to be the dining room table was smashed into a rubble. Holes in the walls littered the room in near unison as if they were abstract artwork. What was visibly liquidy fecal matter, poo, had been smeared on the floor, caked into the carpet with flies buzzing around it. Red lather had even been squirted on the TV. Looking at it closer, the red fluid appeared to be ketchup.

"Oh my god!" The blue hedgehog cried in despondency as he gazed around at the filth that had been left for him.

Hearing an odd hum from the refrigerator running, he rushed into his small kitchen to see it laying on the ground with doors open, as if somebody had slammed it to the floor. Being open for who knows how long, any food that was in there had since gone rotten. Maggots wiggled about on the floor, scavenging for the remains of anything they could eat. The stench was amplified tenfold here. Foul meat and putrid vegetables permeated the vicinity. Part of him wanted to clean it up since he wasn't going to be able to rest until the place wasn't stinking; nonetheless, hearing water running from the bathroom redirected his attention.

"No…" He huffed. "Don't tell me…"

Leaving the kitchen, he made his way to the bathroom, where he bore witness to the multitude of toilet paper that had been rammed into the toilet following a flush, causing it to flood the whole room with sewage water. Using his gloved hands, he grabbed several rolls of toilet paper, yanking it out of the toilet basin prior to tossing it in the nearby trash can. He tried using a plunger to clear the drain, but it took a lot of energy out of him to do so. On top of the added fatigue, he was angered that an individual would break into his apartment to wreak such havoc upon everything he owned.

Washing his hands after dealing with the toilet, he ambled toward the bedroom. Flicking the light on, he was greeted with another ghastly sight. His hands tightened into fists as he saw his memory foam bed utterly annihilated, having been sliced into chunks by a knife. The knife itself had been stabbed into the last of the whole pieces from the mattress. An expensive bed ripped up like it was made out of cardboard. Just seeing it made his heart pound. For him, the last straw was his fancy clothing cut in half. He didn't really own much apparel to start with. Now, he had nothing to wear, nor a place to sleep. "Who did this!?" He yelled to himself, aware that there wasn't anybody around to answer him. "Why? Why!? Dammit… All I wanted was rest!"

Thinking about it, the only people he could think of off the top of his head that would be capable or willing to do this, had to have been other members of the streetgang that had previously run afoul with him. Even though Eggman had supposedly killed them, it was the only group of people who he figured could have done this.

Seeing all the devastation in his apartment, knowing he wouldn't be able to clean it up on this level of energy that he was currently running on, the only thing he could think of to do was leave. The last thing he did was pack a small to-go bag out of what little stuff he could find that wasn't broken. Exiting the bedroom, with what little possessions he had, he walked past the mess toward the doorway. It saddened him to think that he couldn't sleep on his own bed tonight. Without any other option, however, he chose to retreat from the apartment. He would have to deal with it at some point. Now wasn't going to be the time for that.

Going back outside, he closed the door in advance of breaking down, holding his head to the door as tears flowed down his cheeks. Truly, he couldn't believe this would occur in Station Square. The place and people were always so kind before. Knowing how bad they could really be was all new to him.

Once he got the tears out of his system, he sniffled, wiped his nose and then collapsed in front of his door. He sat there for a while, thinking about what had happened to him, how the world had been treating him. His lips trembled, permanently stuck in a state of frowning. The forceful inhales he repeatedly gave produced a stitch in the blue hedgehog's side. Holding onto the painful area, he tried to suck it up, to not respond so emotionally to the things being done to him. It was hard to do though. It was hard for him to consider humans as nasty creatures after spending so much time attempting to save them.

"I hate this city." He bemoaned. "These people here are complete jerks. Why am I doing any of this?" The blue blur started contemplating, truly wondering why he was being a hero to people who didn't care about him in the least. Thinking about the good folks always helped him through tough times, but this had already gone far beyond that. "If these humans really think they're better off without me, I should give it to them so they know how reality is. They'll regret it whenever Eggman comes knocking on their doors with killer robots."

Before long, he felt another odd sensation, this time in his stomach. He knew he wasn't going to be able to sit around here, in front of his apartment, doing nothing. Hunger pangs from lack of nourishment made his belly feel like a cold bottomless pit. That growling of his insides was the only thing that encouraged him to get up off the floor, making him pull himself up the door so he could stand on his two feet again. The blue blur was wobbly. He found himself to be incredibly upset. For the moment, his heart still throbbed in dejection, responding to all the deep hurt he had gone through recently. Going down the stairs in the apartment building, he had to hold onto the railing so he could guarantee he wouldn't fall down the whole flight.

"Look at me…" He muttered under his breath, talking to himself in a degrading way. "I'm so weak; nothing like the champion I used to be."

Returning to the lobby, he was glad to see that the majority of people had cleared out. Only the mailwoman remained to fill the apartment mailboxes. It didn't take anything to limp toward the exit without being noticed, which was a good thing. Except, in the back of his mind, he thought about the young boy who had been in here earlier. Timmy. He wondered why he told the little kid that he was the same hero he used to be. Perhaps he figured he simply didn't want to smash the hopes of a child. Opening the door to walk out of the apartment building, he shook his head at such thoughts. More and more Station Square was trying to prove to him that dreams were a dastardly joke created by a demented society.

Regardless of wanting to race down the street at high speeds, upon leaving the apartment building, all his muscles could manage at the moment was to shuffle around looking for a place to eat. Gimping along the sidewalk, the distance he had to travel wasn't too much. Halfway to the Central District, his nose caught wind of a delicious scent, making the growling of his stomach intensify. Following the scrumptious smell, he came upon a hotdog stand. It was a small stand. The owner was an old man who donned a white apron in addition to a paper cap. The old man had a rough complexion, he looked like he'd been doing his job forever. Based on that, Sonic decided to give him a chance, betting that he would serve yummy food since he may have been making those hotdogs for decades.

Approaching the hotdog stand, Sonic looked at the menu board to investigate what all was available. The toppings were simple choices for the usual quick franks; sweet relish, chopped onions, shredded cheese, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise. Of course, what caught the eye of the starving blue hedgehog was none other than the topping 'Chili'. Seeing that they had Chili-Dogs, he was convinced to make that decision. His rumbling stomach or his salivating mouth made sure that he didn't think of going anyplace else either. The only issue he had was a lack of currency. For the time being, he was fairly broke. Nonetheless, he knew that a single frankfurter wouldn't bankrupt him.

"Excuse me…" Sonic calmly initiated the request. "Could I get a chili-dog, please?"

Opening his eyes, the old man adjusted his paper cap. Standing up from his small stool, he pulled open the lid of a tray on his cart, using tongs to grab and place a hotdog bun on a napkin. Replacing the lid on the tray of buns, the old man opened the following, which held red coloured hotdogs in boiling water. Placing the hotdog on the bun, next up was the onions, chili and cheese. That aroma was overwhelming.

"How much do I owe?" Sonic asked with a drop of drool on his lower lip.

Handing over the warm chili-dog with melted cheese, the old man responded with a gruff voice. "I won't charge you for that." When Sonic took the chili-dog out of the man's hand, he had such a look of shock on his face that it made the old man chuckle. "I'm serious. You've done this city a great service."

Sonic took a large bite out of the chili-dog, ravenously chewing the mouthful. The taste of the chili mixed with gooey cheese, the crunch of the onions alongside the texture of the hotdog. He was already feeling better. Then, to have the old man give the food to him for free, out of the kindness of his heart; it made Sonic remember that not everybody in the city was an obnoxious halfwit, that there were still individuals capable of proper ethics. Out of any person he could have met, he was amazed to have encountered a good one.

"C-Could I… Could I also have a drink?" Sonic wondered. His tongue felt like a bone dry desert.

The old man snapped his fingers prior to pulling out a cooler from the inside of his food stand. "You got it. Water or soda? We have both."

"Water, please." Sonic requested. Upon receiving the chilled bottle of water, the blue blur expressed his gratitude. "Thank you, so much."

Smiling, the old man said. "No, thank you."

Sonic gradually walked away, feasting upon the chili-dog. He managed to devour three-quarters of it before he even acknowledged the need to drink liquids. All of it was so good, he felt like it was metaphorically recharging his batteries. Having someone be nice to him, that also helped to heal his desperation. The free chili dog and water brought a tear to his eye. In a way, it was a reminder that he couldn't merely give up on being a hero for the people. No matter how many jerks there were out there trying to bring him down, he knew for sure that there were innocents that would suffer more if he didn't do his best to protect them.

'It's so good…' He thought while chewing his mouthful. 'It's sooooo good.' Sniffling, he held back from crying so he could finish off the delicious frank. 'My insides don't feel like they're turning to ice anymore now that I have something on my belly to digest.'

"Hey you!" A voice called out.

Sonic almost jumped out of his skin. Hearing that phrase, it weirdly brought back memories of being assaulted by the human streetgang. As if it were some sort of flashback, he could hear their voices, their laughs. He had to hold onto his side as he remembered being beaten into a state of near-death. "W-Wha…?" His legs spun him around with his arms up ready for a fight.

"Whoa there!" A middle-aged man standing outside of a store made it clear that he didn't mean trouble. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. It's just… You're Sonic the Hedgehog, aren't you?"

"Uhh… No, I…" Sonic lowered his fists, trying to avert the subject, to pretend like he was someone else.

"No, it's you, I can tell." The guy stated, knowing he was right. "Where have you been, man?"

Sonic narrowed his eyes in confusion, curious as to why the stranger wanted to know where he had been. "What? Why?"

The stranger blinked as a single eyebrow lifted. "What do you mean, why? You're all over the news… Everybody saw that vicious beating you took last week. Brutal as hell." Shaking his head, the man exhaled. "A lot of us were giving up hope you were even alive still. We thought you were dead or ran away."

Chugging down the chilled water, now that he knew he wasn't in any danger, Sonic said "I wanted to run away. But, no… I'm still here."

Scratching the back of his head, the human looked a tad nervous. "Look… I was one of the people who cursed at you the other day, and I just want to say that I'm sorry. It was wrong of me. You didn't want that robot to kill those kids."

"Of course I didn't!" Sonic exploded.

Holding his hands up, the guy motioned for the blue blur to calm down. "I know, I know. That's why I'm sorry. I hope you can forgive me, forgive us for being unforgiving."

Whether or not the human was lying, whether he knew his kind would be totally screwed if another threat came their way and nobody was there to so much as try to stop it, the hedgehog didn't feel like dealing with this right now. "Just!" He kept his voice raised before realizing it, choosing to relax a little. "Just… leave me alone right now. I need time to myself so I can rest."

Hustling away from there, he left the human to his own devices, not wanting to hear what he considered to be a phony apology. Humanity knew they couldn't protect themselves and were in the process of turning their back on the only real champion capable of always defending their sorry asses. No, he didn't want to hear anything from any human until after he healed up and brough Eggman to justice. Only after seeking proper revenge against the true villain, would he ever accept an apology from a bunch of hairless apes.

A few blocks away from where he had encountered the man, he decided he'd gone far enough. The pain in his arm, side and back of head was beginning to intensify from the quickened pace he'd gone at. Even the go-bag around his shoulders felt like a hundred pound weight. Looking around for a decent place to rest, he picked out a nearby alleyway to stop at. Entering it, he stopped a few feet in so that he could rest against the brickwall of one of the two buildings surrounding the alley. Putting his bag down, he sat down on the concrete, not caring that it was a hard and uncomfortable surface. All that mattered to him for the time being was that the spot was quiet, secluded and not filled with a gang that might possibly want to kill him.

"Didn't mean to kill those kids, he says." Sonic repeated what the stranger said to him as he shook his head. "What an asshole. Who says something like that to somebody? Sheesh."

Holding onto the back of his head, he had a sudden pain that racked through his body like a crashed freight train. "Oww! Oww! God, it hurts!" He moaned in agony as his vision filled with sparkling stars again. "My head!" Jerking around as he gently smacked his fists against his skull in a foolish attempt to cease the hurt, he wound up hurting his injured arm instead. "Uggh! My a-arm!" Sonic wept. "When is this pain going to end?!"

Suddenly, he remembered being given a bottle of medicine from Eggman. In a heartbeat, he tore through his go-back to look for them. Robotnik was right about one thing, now that the pain reliever he'd received through the I.V. drip was beginning to wane; he could feel every bruise on his poor, sore body. When he found the medicine bottle, he held it up, scrutinizing it to see if he could spot any oddities. It appeared to be the same as what you'd get from a local pharmacy. The only thing different was the Eggman Empire logo printed on the top of the cap. That would normally be fishy enough for Sonic to toss aside, however, he knew Eggman had a habit of marking things that he considered his, so it wasn't too strange to find the emblem. On a plus note, he did witness Dr. Robotnik take one of the pills himself. If it were really a poison, the mad doctor would have poisoned himself, which is something the hedgehog knew the human wouldn't ever risk doing, aware that the chubby bastard loved himself too much to ever do such a thing.

Due to the suffering he was experiencing, he found that he couldn't hold out any longer. Popping off the top to the medicine bottle, he tapped out a single pill. Same as before, he looked at it closely, inspecting it for anything that may cause an alteration in his discretion. It was a white rectangular pill without any signs as to what it actually was. He thought he heard something about pills having numbers on them; even though he didn't see any identification, every throb of ache caused him to care less and less. Finally, when he couldn't bear the excruciation any longer, he flipped his head back and tossed the pill in his mouth, dry-swallowing it without a care in the world.

Putting the top back onto the medicine bottle, he placed it back inside of his gopack, hiding it between a bar of deodorant and a bag of face-wipes. Hoping that the medication would kick in soon, he leaned back against the brickwall, crossing his arms in an attempt to try and get comfortable. Feeling heavy, his eyes closed, resting for a moment. To his surprise, he started getting sleepy. Regardless of the fact that he had only woken up a few hours ago from a weeklong coma, or that he was propped up against bricks, he couldn't help other than to welcome the need for sleep. In a sense, it was the only way out of the world that he'd been able to find.

.

.

[Time - 12:50 A.M.]

.

"Stop it… No, get off. I said stop! STOP! GET OFF ME!"

Sonic awoke to the sound of a woman talking rather loudly. His eyes essentially creaked open, vision hazy from the sleep sand stuck in his tear duct. It took him a bit to recombobulate. At first, he wasn't even sure where he was. Confused, stretching his legs, he looked around, noticing he was still in the same alleyway that he fell asleep in earlier. From the looks of things, it was night. Cars drove with their headlights on and the sky was dark. The hedgehog had to grab his phone so he could see what time it was. "12:50?!" He stated in a frightening revelation. Eyes wide open now, he couldn't believe he slept as long as he did; he might as well have been unconscious. "God… Did I just sleep in the alley the whole day? What's wrong with me?"

"NO!" The woman's voice shouted. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

A man's deep voice laughed before replying "Oh, come on, baby. I know you want some of this. I saw you staring at me across the bar."

Groggily gathering his composure, Sonic grabbed his pill bottle out of his bag and then stood up. The hedgehog then removed the cap, tapping out another pill to take it like he did with the previous one. After putting the cap back on, he tossed the bottle aside to go figure out what was happening, why that woman was yelling so loudly after midnight.

"I… I can't see well. I wasn't staring at you, I promise! Please, let me go!" The woman replied in a tone of desperation. "Get off me!"

"Don't lie to me, baby." The male voice growled. "I can feel it in your body. You want me in you, don't you?"

Coming out of the alley, Sonic bore witness to what the commotion was. It seemed that a tall man had a younger lady cornered in the doorway of a nearby business right off to the side of the entrance to the backstreet. Dark and late as it was, nobody was out to see them nor to intervene. Because of this, the man was trying to take advantage of her so he could get his rocks off. The woman obviously wanted none of it, trying her hardest to push the weirdo away from her. She looked much younger than him.

"NO!" She screamed while slapping at him.

"Get over here!" He abruptly ordered prior to tugging the woman, forcing her to turn around before pressing her against the glass of the door. "Yeah, Mmm. I bet you're going to be tight as hell." Despite her body language making it clear in addition to her sobbing pleads, it should have been obvious that she wasn't interested; in fact, she was horrified. Nevertheless, the pervert didn't care about her feelings at all, only his. He smashed his crotch against her rear while drawing his tongue up her neck to taste her supple skin.

"STOP! P-PLEASE! WHAAU!" The woman gagged in disgust as he plotted how to violate her.

Humping her through their clothing, the guy started slipping his hand into her shirt, copping a feel of her breasts. Unexpectedly, he found himself elbowed in the face by her arm so hard that it knocked a front tooth straight out of his head, landing on the ground in front of them. Watching him hold onto his face in duress, the woman's instincts decided now was her moment to try to run out of there, to escape from the potential rape. However, the guy was faster, spinning around to grab her by the wrist before pulling her back into the corner.

"You fucking bitch!" He cursed at her in advance of slapping her across the face, then ripping her shirt so he could see her bare chest. "You'll pay for that with your pretty flower."

"HEY!" Sonic shouted, his morals forcing him to respond. His face reddened. Seeing an innocent woman being sexually harassed, it made his blood boil to steam. "LET HER GO… NOW!" The heroic hedgehog demanded as he stood his ground, trying to appear as intimidating as he could. "OR YOU'LL BE DEALING WITH ME!"

Turning around, yet still keeping the freaked out woman behind him to prevent her from leaving, the guy realized who he was dealing with. Unfortunately, he merely bursted into laughter. "Sonic the Hedgehog? Ha! We all thought you were dead…" Reaching into his pocket, the human made the horrible decision to brandish a switchblade, as if he thought that would save him from the astronomical speed Sonic was capable of. "How about you beat it? This is adult stuff… Why don't you go have another pissing contest with Eggman; see how many civilians wind up dead?"

Giving Sonic the feeling that the human didn't take him seriously at all, he watched only for a moment as the guy turned back toward the girl to show her his weapon, trying to force her into submission. 'You son of a…' Sonic thought as he approached the man, grabbing the back of his shirt. "I don't think you heard what I said, buddy." He grinned almost menacingly. "This is not the time to screw around with me, not tonight. If you want to continue living, I suggest you listen to my advice."

The guy made a face of great annoyment. "Oh Yeah?" He asked in advance of spinning around to try and slice the heroic hedgehog.

Jumping back, Sonic used his swiftness to completely avoid the switchblade attack. In fact, he was able to quickly disarm the human by grabbing his arm and twisting it until he dropped the knife. "Did you really think you were going to take me down with that? A knife?" Sonic denounced the man's unruly behaviour. Gazing over toward the human woman, he nodded in the direction of freedom. "Don't worry about him, miss. I've got em'. Go on, get home!"

As soon as the lady started walking around the struggling duo, the pervert pulled a gun using his free hand. "Fuck you, anthro!" He cussed, spitting as he fired off a shot, narrowly missing Sonic who had to use all his might to dodge it.

"AHHHH!" The innocent woman screamed as she ran away down the sidewalk.

The blue blur used the resistance from the guy wrestling to his advantage. Harnessing the enemy's own strength, he spun up the guy's chest, kicking him square in the face so hard his jaw made an audible pop as his teeth collided. That maneuver temporarily dazed the human enough for Sonic to free himself from the man's grasp. Nonetheless, he was soon being aimed at yet again. "You rat! Now look at what you've done!" He shook his head, recomposing himself prior to firing a round off at Sonic. "She got away! Baby, come back!" This disgusting debauchee had the nerve to catcall the mentally scarred lady, looking around for her only to see she'd disappeared. "I was going to have a good time, until you ruined it!"

Racing back into the alleyway, Sonic avoided the second shot. Since there had been gunfire, he expected the police to show up sometime soon. For the time being, he was on his own. It was definitely worth it to rescue that innocent woman. But, this lowlife was beginning to frustrate him. In a way, it frustrated him greatly that a person like that would be wandering around Station Square on the prowl, out in public no-less.

"Oh no… No you don't." The weirdo responded to Sonic fleeing into the backstreet, following him there with his gun at the ready. "You cost me a lay, buddy. I'm not going to let you off the hook."

Hiding behind a dumpster, Sonic realized his muscles were throbbing. The fatigue he'd been under was starting to return, indicating that he was still weak and had been exerting himself too much. 'I'm not running away, you turd.' His brain thought while listening to each step the deranged human took in the alleyway. Although he was definitely tired, he intended to disarm the culprit in service to the police. Going through all the tribulations he'd faced, he knew it would be a ego boost, a moral boost, one that would be much needed. 'I'm waiting for you to get to just the right spot.' Based upon the peek he could barely get from beneath the dumpster, he saw the pervs' feet in front, letting Sonic know that it was time to make his move. 'Now!' Pushing against the dumpster, the hedgehog slammed it into the assailant's waist, forcing him back against the brickwall to the alley.

"GHAAA! There you are!" He groaned from getting hit. Once he got his bearings, however, he immediately started shooting again.

Sonic slid out of the way, ran up the side of the wall and then piledrived his elbow into the man's head, giving him another glimpse of stars. The man dropped his gun, seeing it bounce a few feet away. Being disarmed, he still wasn't defenseless as he grabbed Sonic's leg, slinging him against the ground with a thud, adding to the number of sores already on the hedgehog's body. Quickly getting back to his feet, the blue blur saw that the guy had freed himself from the dumpster and was making a move for the gun, lunging for it out of desperation.

"You don't know when to quit, do you?" Sonic asked as he dashed in front of him, stepping on his hand so he couldn't grab it. "All I wanted you to do was leave the lady alone, but you couldn't do it, could you?"

"Wha-..." Was all the creep managed to say before Sonic kicked him in the face, knocking him backward with his head up to the sky.

"I don't get why you'd want to do such a thing anyway." kicking the gun further away from his grasps, the blue hedgehog continued to approach the guy as he laid on the ground in a dizzy haze. "Us anthros… Sure, we're not perfect. Some of us are bad… You humans-…" He chuckled sarcastically. "You humans are another matter entirely. When you're bad, you're wicked, a real blight on the planet in all shapes and forms."

With a bleeding forehead and blackened eye, the human gave up, choosing to try and crawl away.

Sonic followed behind him, right on his heels. "Why does your kind have to be that way?" He asked, not waiting for an answer before he kicked the guy in between his legs, punting him in his crotch to send the family jewels up inside his body. "Huh? Answer me!"

The brazen freak rolled on the ground as he hollered out in pain, coughing from the agony of being kicked in his testicles. "F-Fuccck! O-Oh my god." He gasped. "I… I think I'm going to puke."

"Oh, shut up." Sonic demanded while walking on top of the human, standing on his stomach to make it even more unpleasant. "You were talking a bunch of crap a minute ago, what happened? I'll tell you what happened. I took your sorry ass down. Is reality kicking in yet?"

"Y-Yes!" The guy stuttered in red-face from the pain. "I'm sorry!"

Looking down at the pathetic human, Sonic felt a sensation boiling from within him. A mental wire snapped. Eye twitching, he bared his fangs as he clenched his teeth in seething hatred, utterly tired of scumbags ruining society. Leaning down into the guy's face, he pointed at him with his index finger. "You're a monster, aren't you?" He asked, not letting the human reply prior to saying "You might look like a human on the outside, but I can tell… You're a monster on the inside."

"No… I… Look, dude. I'm just-..." The guy tried to explain before Sonic shushed him by stepping on his mouth.

"Shh…" The hedgehog shushed the human. "You don't need to give me any of your lies. I know what you are. You're a monster." With flames flickering in his eyes, sheer unbridled rage took over, changing his perception. Instead of a human, all he could see was a bad-guy, a demon posing as a living individual. "You're a monster." He repeated as his eyes widened. "You're a monster." Dropping to his knees, he straddled the torso of the human in advance of reaching up to wrap his hands around the guy's throat. "And, I kill monsters."

"Ack!" The human gagged. "W-What are… you doing!"

Cheeks twitching, Sonic's eyes narrowed ferociously and he wasn't able to resist this new urge growing inside him as he stared directly into the wide-open bloodshot eyes of the degenerate. "Doing what the police won't do! Doing what the vigilanties don't have the balls to do anymore! Bypassing the bureaucratic bullshit!" Lifting up the guy's head from the ground, inside of his own mind, he flashbacked to those kids in the bus crying as it was engulfed in flames, the people crushed under the debris from the overpass, the rude security guards at the Casinopolis, the jerk in the liquor store, and the gang members wailing on him for a single unprecedented failure. "You humans are your own demise and you expect me to save you from all of it. Well, I can't! I WON'T!" He slammed the creeper's head on the backstreet concrete.

Sonic proceeded to keep choking him as the man's face flushed deeply and eyes bulged from his head. Unable to breathe, he slapped Sonic's face, earning him a bite from the pissed off hedgehog. "You're… not… supposed… to… do… this… you… fucking… anthro…" The sexual predator choked out in a wheezy voice. Eventually, he started punching with the last of his quickly waning strength. In a last act of desperation, the guy even rolled over, succeeding in freeing his throat from the small blue hands. Wasting no time, he gasped a deep breath of air before getting repeatedly kicked. "I… Can't breathe…" He wheezed in a rough voice, placing his hand to his chest in addition to coughing up blood, some of which splattered up on Sonic.

Sirens in the distance snapped Sonic out of it, making him look over at the guy, watching him faint before looking back at his own two hands. His eyes were wide and his lips still twitching, this time in shock over his actions. "What have I done?" He asked as a tear rolled down his cheek, soaking into his fur. Not taking anymore time to think about it and without even checking on the guy, the blue blur took off toward the entrance of the alley. Grabbing his gobag, he proceeded onward down the street, glancing back only to see several police cruisers converging on the alleyway he was just in, spotlights shining every which way.

Coughing and trembling due to his nerves being disturbed, he was overwrought in distress. "Why did I do that?" Sniffling, he wiped his snot as it dripped from his nose. Now, instead of seeing all the bad things that had happened or all the people who had harmed him, he just kept envisioning that guy pleading for his life as blood vessels in his face were bursting from suffocation. Despite knowing that the human had it coming, being a potential rapist and all, he couldn't help other than to wonder if it were right for him to be dealing out that sort of punishment. Granted, he hadn't normally come across such crimes as that around here, it freaked him out a bit to see it happening before his very eyes. "Why did I call him a monster though?" He questioned his motives. "Why did I say I couldn't save anybody anymore? What's wrong with me!?"

Not knowing where he was headed, he simply made sure he was away from that scene. His heart was beating out of his chest. He shook his head, trying to get the images out of his mind. Sniffling, he felt tears beginning to pour from his eyes. Crying, he kept running until he was far away, in a completely separate district. Unfortunately, he knew he wasn't going to be able to keep running forever. If this was what he was going to awaken to, he didn't want to be out on the streets anymore either.

Stopping in front of a closed business, he used their patio to sit in one of the chairs. Rummaging through the contents of his go-bag, he retrieved his phone, only to find the screen cracked; a tad bit of icing on this cake of a night. Luckily, he found that it still worked. The battery was at a mere ten percent, but he had a feeling that would be enough to reach out for help. His friends might not have been there for him previously, he was hoping that everything would work out now. He prayed somebody would pick up. As anxious as he was, he couldn't think of anybody's number, choosing to use the contact list instead. First up, he selected Tails. Being aware that he was probably still out of town, he just wanted to talk to the yellow kitsune, see if he could head over to the workshop in the Mystic Ruins and crash there until he arrived.

Holding the phone up to his ear, after a few rings, he heard a recording of an operator saying {The caller you are trying to reach is out of service range. Please hang up and try again later.}

"Really?" He grunted, saddened that he wasn't able to get ahold of him. "W-Well, perhaps he's busy flying his airplane. Maybe I should try knuckles. He'll probably answer. He's usually just hanging around Angel Island guarding the Master Emerald, nothing too important." Choosing Knuckle's contact, he let the phone dial the number for him before waiting.

His head hung low whenever he heard {We're sorry. This caller's voice mailbox is full. Please hang up and try again later.}

"Are you serious, Knuckles!?" He shouted, getting frustrated. "Why aren't you checking your messages!? Who's even calling you that much anyway!"

Laying the phone down, he felt like giving up. He had a feeling that if he tried calling anybody else, it would be one thing after the other that prevents him from getting ahold of anyone. In a way, he felt like he was being cursed. Placing his head in his hands, he shed more tears, crying as depression started closing in on his mind. "Why me?" He lamented. "Why is this happening to me?" Sniffling, drying his tears, he tried to calm down. 'No…' He thought in his head 'I have to think of a way out of this. I can't be alone right now.' Picking the phone back up, he went through his contacts one last time. Seeing Vanilla's contact, he thought about it, but figured he'd just bother her. Rouge was probably busy being… well, Rouge, and he didn't think Shadow would give a dook. Swiping up to the top of the list, he saw one that he never thought he'd call.

Selecting Amy's number, he hesitated, unsure if he should do it. He didn't want the fangirl freaking out if she was out touring around the country on her Boxercise Adventure. Nonetheless, he soon decided that he just needed to hear the voice of somebody that wanted to help him. He pressed the button, letting the phone auto dial the number. It rang four times before he heard a voice on the other end.

{Hello?} Amy's groggy voice answered.

"Amy?" Sonic questioned, surprised to hear her pick up considering his rotten running luck with being unable to get ahold of anybody.

She definitely sounded like she just woke up, yet the tone of her voice immediately changed once she realized who she was talking to. {Sonic?! I've been trying to get ahold of you! I called you a thousand times! Where have you been!?}

Sonic clasped his hand over his mouth, unable to speak for a moment. His eyes held great sorrow in them. By simply hearing her voice, her worry for him, it made him feel like he was still loved by at least a single person in this world. "I…" He stuttered, feeling an emotional lump form in his throat. "I… I've been in the Egg Carrier… He… He had me, Amy. He had me in the Egg Carrier doing who knows what to me… and I… I just… An Alleyway, this guy was trying to force himself on this woman… I just went crazy on him! I can't go home… I-.."

{Sonic…} Amy cut him off, sounding sympathetic. {Come to my apartment.}

Blinking his eyes in confusion, first he thought that she was out of town, second, he didn't really know how to feel about going over to a girl's, to Amy Rose's apartment. "W-What do you mean? I thought you went on tour around the United Federation?"

{I didn't go…} She immediately replied. {I saw your brutal attack by that streetgang on the news. A good samaritan filmed the first part, when it started. They hung up afterward to call 911. There was no way I was going to go on an adventure of a lifetime and try to enjoy myself while I knew that you had been hurt like that.}

More tears fell from the corners of the blue hedgehog's eyes. His face grew a bit hot, enough to bother him into fanning himself with his free hand. After that, he clutched his chest as he felt it throb. "You didn't go? I… I didn't mean to persuade you into staying like that… I'm sorry."

{You don't have to apologize.} She informed him. {I'm so glad I stayed now. I was terrified whenever I saw the news. Now, hearing that you were at the Egg Carrier… I didn't know that, none of us did. That good samaritan didn't catch that on film.}

Sonic didn't reply. For a solid minute, he lost himself in thought, wondering how he could have ended up in the situations he had. Having that empty pit feeling in his stomach again, he held onto it. Oddly, in spite of her voice making him feel better, he almost wanted to hang up on Amy so he wouldn't get her involved in that which was occuring to him. In a way, he was scared she'd not like the changes he was going through. He didn't like it much himself, but he didn't want her to think less of him. The last thing he wanted was for more people to think he was an incapable hero. He wasn't sure if it was courage he had that made him not hang up the phone, or if it was inability since his body acted like jell-o. Nonetheless, he supposed he was glad he didn't as she continued to offer help.

{Sonic, are you there?} The pink hedgehog asked.

"Yeah…" He whispered sadly.

{Come to my apartment. Do you remember where it is?} She lured him in.

Sonic shook his head prior to realizing he was talking on the phone. "No…"

{Typical of you. I told you a thousand times; not surprised though.} She teased him, giggling softly in advance of telling him the address.