"Manic…" Sonic whispered disbelievingly.
"What's the matter? Don't even recognize your own brother?" Manic asked mockingly.
"Manic, I thought you were…"
"Dead?" Manic asked scornfully.
"What happened…" Sonic asked, taking a step forward. Queen Aleena shouted a warning too late and before he knew it a force hit him in the chest harder and faster than a tornado, slamming him back.
"Don't you dare come towards me," Manic said icily. He scowled down at his blue brother. "You've grown" he said, looking at the hedgehog's lengthened, sharper spines, and longer, more powerful arms and legs. "I haven't grown much… heh, probably not at all."
"After all" he added bitterly. "Robots don't grow"
"Oh god… what did Robotnik do to…"
Manic pressed a button on his arm. A small screen and speaker came out.
"I found him," he said simply. Sonic watched warily, uneasily.
"Manic…" he tried again and stopped as he saw more robots join his brother's side. As they moved into the light his eyes became wide, horrified.
"Bunnie?" he asked, feeling sick. She had fought so hard, but in the end she had become fully roboticized. Her once gentle, sweet grass green eyes now glinted a dark, ominous red. As more robots he recognized joined Manic's side the more sick he felt. Stripes, Antoine, Rotor, Amy Rose…
As the last two appeared he wanted to scream.
No! he shouted in his mind. No, please…
"Sally… Tails…" he moaned. The roboticized Sally looked down on him.
"How do you like us now?" she smirked.
"No, no…"
"Disgusting, huh?" Tails said. "What, don't want to look at us anymore? Not good enough for his Majesty?"
"Tails…" Sonic whispered, his eyes brimming with tears. Manic dropped Sonia carelessly onto the floor then walked up to his brother calmly and squatted down so he was face to face with him. Sonic stared at his brother's unreadable eyes, covered behind a protective dark red visor.
"Just thought you'd like to see some of our friends," Manic said. "Say hello"
"What happened…"
Manic's expression was unreadable. "Roboticizer. What else."
"You… you're talking to me"
"No, really?" Manic asked sarcastically.
"Robots are… emotionless"
Manic stared at Sonic then with a movement so fast Sonic couldn't move to deflect it, backhanded him across the face.
"Robots. Is that what you think we are? Mindless drones?" he snarled.
Realization dawned on Sonic. "So… so you're…"
"It's me" Manic smirked.
Sonic felt tears pool in his eyes, and behind him he heard small gasps from his mother, crying.
"Why…"
Manic's smirk immediately disappeared.
"Because you gave us to Robotnik" Sally said, standing, arms crossed, behind the squatting Manic.
"What? I didn-"
"Yes you did!" Tails shouted. "You could have saved us! But no, you didn't. Where were you when Robotnik took over Knothole?"
"When Robotnik took over my village?" Stripes asked. "He ruined everything, killed everyone. Where were you then?"
"I-"
"Where were you when Robotnik carried me away?" Manic asked softly. Sonic felt his heart break.
"Running after you," he said quietly. Manic stared at him unblinkingly, eyes hidden by the ruby quartz visor.
"Yet you didn't catch me"
"I was running as fast as I could…"
Manic leaned his face in close. "You should have run faster"
Sonic remembered the feeling he had, that he could have run faster, and he turned his head away. "You survived the wound…"
In an instant, Manic's robotic face twisted with rage and, standing up, he grabbed his brother's neck and slammed his head against the prison bars. Although Sonic was now taller than he was, Manic still managed to hold him so his feet dangled off the ground.
"Better you had left me dead than to give me to Robotnik!" he snarled. He smashed Sonic's head against the bars, once, twice, thrice. Sonic hung limply, pulling weakly at Manic's hands, trying to make him let go.
"Do you have any idea of the torture I've been through? Having to be a slave to HIM? Owing my life to him?"
"I'm… I'm sorry…" Sonic whispered, tears now flowing freely down his face. Manic punched his brother in the face.
"Sorry's not enough!" he yelled. "
"Can't we just kill him?" Sally asked, bored. Sonic's eyes started to close. He couldn't breathe…
Manic looked at him then threw him hard onto the floor. Gasping for air, Sonic rubbed the finger marks his brother had made on his neck. Manic walked over to Sonia and picked her up. He looked at her unconscious face, eyes closed, her peaceful expression marred only by a slight frown at the eyebrows and scowl at the mouth. To Sonic's amazement, an expression of sadness and longing played on the green hedgehog's face before being covered by the usual coldness and hardness. He threw his sister at Sonic, who caught her in his arms.
"Leave" he said. Sonic couldn't believe his ears.
"What?"
"What are you SAYING?" Rotor asked, walking up to Manic. "Let them GO?"
"I say we kill them. Both. And the mother too" Tails said, turning his red eyes onto the blue hedgehog on the floor. Sonic felt his heart break.
"Tails…" he whispered.
Manic whirled around. "I said no!" he said, his voice cold. Facing Sonic again he pointed his arm at him, his hand changing into a laser blaster.
"LEAVE!" he shouted.
Sonic didn't have to hear it again. He was out of the castle in a second, putting the gas masks over his face and Sonia's. Sally looked at Manic in disgust.
"I don't see what Robotnik sees in you. You hate him, when we're all completely loyal. He gave you the best parts, you're his best out of all of us. He gave you the top position, put you in command of all the robots. He did this for you, and you repay him by letting Sonic the Hedgehog go, along with his brat sister. Why?"
Manic didn't answer. He walked away silently.
"You're a traitor Manic Hedgehog, a traitor!" Sally shouted at his retreating form.
Queen Aleena watched quietly.
Sonic wiped cold water onto his sister's head wound. When they had gotten back, he had checked her skull for injuries. Manic had hit her a bit too hard; he had almost cracked through the bone. Blood was matted in the pink hedgehog's hair. He laid her down as gently as he could on her 'bed'; a flat piece of metal just above the water that Sonic had managed to find on one of his runs. It had probably once been used as a coffee table. He ran the piece of fabric he had torn from a piece of Sonia's old clothing in the ice cold water running in the drain by his feet and folded it, placing it neatly on her head. He walked to his bed and sat down.
Manic… he thought. Finally, he had found his brother, after ten years… how he had changed…
He hates me. What am I thinking; of course he hates me. I let Robotnik take him. I could have run faster.
But he's fully healed now… he was about to die and I guess Robotnik saved him…He put his head in his hands. Yeah, sure. He's right, better to die than to have to serve under Robotnik as a mindless robot.
But he's not a robot… robots don't have feelings… and he let me and Sonia get away, meaning he still feels for us… but then why did he look like he wanted to kill us initially?
Oh god… Sally… Tails…
Hot tears streamed down Sonic's face. All my friends… taken… roboticized… everyone I love… all roboticized. What the hell did that bastard do to them? So full of hate… we would be dead if not for Manic… they wouldn't hate us that much, would they? Manic… dammit, what did that bastard do to you?
Sonic jerked his head up as he heard footsteps resounding in the pipes. He brushed his tears away quickly; he didn't want anyone to see him so upset. He watched the entrance to their little hiding space suspiciously, standing in a fighting stance near his sister.
It better be Lenn or Tigra… he thought, watching the entrance warily, his entire body alert, flexed for action. He relaxed as he saw a striped head appear, snowy white fur wet and grayed by the dirt of the outside.
"Tigra" he said, nodding his head. The female white tiger stepped down onto the platform and walked to Sonic. The hedgehog looked at the female white tiger and his eyes widened.
"Tigra… your eye…"
The tigress touched her left eye with a paw and nodded her head.
"What happened?" Sonic asked, concerned, stretching out his hand for her shoulder. She brushed it away irritably.
"Got careless. I got caught by a robot. The damned thing managed to get at my eye before I escaped"
Sonic looked at Tigra's beautiful golden eyes, one now marred by an ugly pink gash and closed.
"Is it…"
"I can't see out of it. I'm blind" Tigra said simply. Sonic felt his temper rise. Tigra was the Freedom Fighters' spy. She was able to go anywhere without being seen, and always seemed to have a constant supply of potions and other supplies. She was a valuable member of the Freedom Fighters, one that Sonic did not want to lose. To have actually been caught by a robot… Sonic clenched his fists.
"Those…"
Tigra raised a paw. "Don't worry about it. I can manage with, or without an eye." She tapped her nose. "Smell. Remember?"
Sonic opened his mouth to argue then closed it. Tigra was way more experienced than he was. After all, she was able to go around Robotropolis, wasn't she?
"So what is it? I have a feeling you didn't come down here just to tell me about your eye, if you can survive without it" Sonic said.
"I found some Mobians out scouting. Not roboticized. They need a place to stay for a while; one's been running from robots for days and the other's been hiding in a building in a radiated section… not even the robots go there. He's really sick and needs your help. They just need to rest a while and recover. They can help a lot I think, one claims to be a shape shifter, and he's really strong and the other… well, he's unconscious, but he looks like a survivor. He stayed in the radiated sector for quite long, he has to be a survivor"
Sonic glanced back at Sonia. "I don't know… we don't have a lot of space, and my own sister-"
"They're free Mobians. How long do you think they'll survive out there?" Tigra interrupted calmly. Sonic sighed.
"Okay then" he said. He knew Tigra knew what she was talking about. The white tiger walked to the tunnel and reappeared, holding what looked like an echidna in her arms. Sonic stared at it as Tigra laid it gently onto Sonic's bed. She took out a small green vial from the pouch hanging on her waist and took out the cork. Wetting her fingers with it, she wiped the liquid slowly on the creature's lips. It coughed and shuddered, its head and body running with sweat.
Sonic stared at it disbelievingly. It was undoubtedly a male, even though Tigra had wrapped its shoulders with one of her cloaks. His eyelids were swollen, the color of bruises and closed shut tight, ugly purple welts covering his face and light peach snout. His face looked prematurely wrinkled, giving him the appearance of looking older than he really was. There weren't many wrinkles but it was still enough to give Sonic the impression of looking at a forty or older year old creature. Patches of reddish-brown fur was missing from the skin, showing pale pink uncovered flesh. Sonic's eyes wandered down its body.
That red-brown doesn't look natural… maybe it was an effect of the radiation, Sonic thought. Looking at the strong, wiry muscles covering his arms and legs Sonic immediately knew that the creature could not have been over at least twenty-five.
The echidna shivered and cried out in pain as Tigra gently dabbed a pale pink liquid onto his eyes. He turned over onto his side, shaking, fists clenched. Sonic's eyes trailed from the arms to the hands, both large with two spikes sticking out from the knuckles…
Knuckles…
Sonic stepped back in horror as he realized who the echidna was.
"Knuckles… no… oh god" he covered his mouth and looked away before he threw up. He barely recognized the strong, healthy, proud echidna he had once known and rivaled.
"Oh god… what happened to you Knux…"
"He needs our help. It's alright if he stays here, at least until he heals completely, isn't it?" Tigra asked, gently wiping the beads of sweat off the echidna's trembling head and body.
"Of course it's alright… oh god…"
Tigra untied the cloak around Knuckles' neck and threw it over him to keep him warm. She looked at the pink hedgehog, also lying unconscious and walked over. She inspected the wound, taking the strip of wet clothing off. She took out a tube of lotion from her pouch and started applying it gently to Sonia's wound.
"Oh, where's the other person… you can come in too, you know" Tigra called busily. There was silence then a noise of someone moving slowly. Sonic watched, eyes widening as a large, muscular orange creature hopped uncertainly in. He was speckled brown on the neck, had an ugly, squashed nose and small brown eyes. Long blonde hair ran wild and unruly down his back, but Sonic still recognized him. His mouth twisted into a snarl.
"Dingo" he growled fiercely, crouching into a fighting stance. Dingo looked at him.
"Hi um, Sonic"
"What are you doing here?" Sonic yelled, forgetting to be quiet so the robots wouldn't hear him.
"I let him come down, remember?" Tigra asked irritably. "And be QUIET!"
"Do you even know who he IS? He worked for Robotnik! And you just LED HIM DOWN HERE?" Sonic snapped, staying in his stance, never taking his eyes off the large orange dog.
"I want to help" Dingo said simply. Sonic froze.
"What?"
"He said he wants to help, Sonic" Tigra said, wiping her hands clean.
"Why?" Sonic asked suspiciously.
"Robotnik took away everything I had" Dingo said quietly. "He roboticized Sleet, killed my mom, my sister…"
Sonic frowned and relaxed. "You have a mom? And a sister?"
"I wasn't just 'created'" Dingo said. "Robotnik kidnapped us when I was very small… he killed my dad. I never even knew him"
"Then why did you work for Robotnik?" Sonic asked.
"I had no choice. Robotnik… he locked my mom and sister in the dungeons and took me to experiment with. That's why I can shape shift… he promised me that if I worked for him then he would release my mother and sister."
His voice dropped low. "He killed them." He looked at Sonic. "I understand if you don't believe me, but I really can help. I WANT to help. I… I don't have anything… else" he looked away.
"How did you escape?" Sonic asked curiously. Dingo looked at the blue hedgehog and grinned defiantly, an expression that Sonic had never seen on the dog before.
"I morphed into a bug and flew out" he said proudly. Sonic couldn't help feeling slightly impressed. Dingo managed to escape? By himself?
"I'm not that stupid" Dingo said quietly, reading Sonic's expression. "I just did whatever Sleet told me. It doesn't mean I'm stupid"
Sonic didn't say anything for a while. "Did you know that Robotnik took my brother?" he asked after a long silence.
"Yes" Dingo said softly.
"He roboticized him"
"Yes"
"You helped him. Watched as my brother was thrown into the roboticizer"
Dingo looked guilty. "Yes… but-"
"So why should I let you just join us? Why should I trust you?"
"Because I can help. I can change shape into anything you want. I know a few passageways into Robotnik's castle that he may not have found yet"
Sonic looked at him suspiciously then glanced at Tigra, who nodded. Sonic sighed. He trusted Tigra and he knew Tigra was right about stuff most of the time, but…
"All right. But do anything-"
"I won't" Dingo promised. "All I want is to help… as long as I can have some shelter"
Sonic didn't reply. He walked to his sister and brushed back her hair gently.
"Your brother… wasn't roboticized against his will" Dingo said quietly. Sonic whirled around.
"What?"
"He wasn't roboticized against his will" Dingo repeated. In the next second he found himself on the floor.
"How dare you say that! Are you saying he WANTED to be roboticized? You liar!" Sonic shouted. Dingo sat up slowly, not wanting to provoke the irate hedgehog any more.
"I just thought you would want to know" he said quietly. "Robotnik didn't put him in by force"
"He was injured, he could barely move. Of course he didn't put up any resistance, I mean god, he should have DIED on the way there!" the hedgehog shouted, finding to his anger tears rising to his eyes again at the mention of his brother.
"Sonic, calm down" Tigra ordered and Sonic calmed. Dingo got up.
"I won't say anymore if you don't want me to" he said. Sonic stared down at him with pure hatred and loathing in his eyes then turned and walked away to look after his sister.
A/N: I'll try make the next chapter longer, promise… please review!