Tales of Team Sonic
A Terrible Thing To Waste
"Hey Rockman, we need to have a talk," an Italian man with brown hair and a trenchcoat walked into the mayoral office.
He was surrounded by multiple bodyguards and henchmen, all of whom looked extremely formidable to the public eye. Sitting on a desk was an African-American politician with a mustache and a blue suit.
"I see, and you are?" Lloyd Rockman asked.
"Constantino," the Italian man told him. "I don't know what hold you have over my dad but it ends tonight."
"Your dad, hmm," Lloyd looked down at his phone. "Oh yes, I recall now… Mr. Rossi, wasn't it?"
"I don't know what hold you have over my dad," Constantino leaned in over on the desk in a threatening manner. "A lot of our money seems to be going into your coffers and your stupid mayoral campaign."
"Your father's a grown man," Lloyd smiled crookedly. "He can make his own decisions and support whoever he wants, right? By the way, how'd you like to sign up as a supporter?"
In anger, Constantino knocked all the things off Lloyd's desk in one swipe of his arm.
"I'd like," Constantino growled, "to wipe that stupid grin off your face… forever."
"You sure you wanna go there, son?" asked Lloyd. "You've got guys… but I've got guys of my own too."
"Boys," Constantino ordered. "Let's take Mr. Rockman for a swim tonight, shall we?"
All of Constantino's bodyguards moved in aggressively to grab a hold of the mayoral candidate but at once, a blue streak struck half of them, knocking them into the air.
"The hell?!" Constantino cried.
After that, a large, menacing figure leaped onto the desk and gripped Constantino by the throat, lifting him up.
"Sir!" one of Constantino's bodyguards rushed forward but a small disc fell under his feet and generated enough gravity to send the large man flying into the air.
The final three guys pulled out their guns but a blue ball struck all three at once, knocking them down like bowling pins. After that, the muscular aide to Lloyd threw Constantino to the ground.
"Like I said, I've got guys of my own," Lloyd smiled.
Constantino looked at the three figures in the room. All three of them had glowing eyes and none of them were remotely human. The Italian man looked a bit closer and recognized at least one of them.
"Is… is that Blue Justice?" Constantino gasped.
"He always comes to the aid of the people," Lloyd clasped his hands together. "And when the people support a guy like me, you can bet Blue Justice will be right behind them. Why don't you run off now back to dear old dad?"
Constantino was forced to swallow his pride right there and get up, running off shamefully, knowing that there was no way for him to avenge any kind of honor on this day.
"Watch for me in the runoffs!" Lloyd called out as the man exited the building.
oooo
"You guys okay?" asked Tom.
Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails were together in the sofa fast asleep as Tom came into the room.
"Guys?" Tom nudged Sonic.
"Huh, what?" Sonic exclaimed. "Donut Lord?"
"Guys, you've been dozing off at odd hours for over two weeks," Tom told them. "You all feeling alright?"
Tails was the next to get up.
"I don't recall staying up all night," Tails rubbed his eyes.
"Guys, seriously, I know sometimes you do patrols at night but you never stay out this late," Tom made sure to wake Knuckles next.
"Maybe all that crime fighting really does a number on you," Sonic yawned, trying to come up with a theory.
"Guys!" Maddie's voice called out.
"Uh oh, sounds serious," Sonic suddenly snapped out of his sleepiness. "We'd better see what's up."
Tom and the three headed to the living room where Maddie sat.
"You guys need to take a look at this," she told them in a serious tone.
"Last night, another state bank was robbed," the news anchor announced. "This time, we were able to get CCTV footage and what we saw was surprising."
The footage rolled, showing three figures wearing black going inside the bank. The three bodies everyone saw on screen had the basic outlines of Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails.
The figure who looked like Knuckles punched the bank vault hard enough to de-stabilize it. With his raw strength, he yanked the door off and threw it aside. The next figure who resembled Sonic sped into the vault and took out multiple large bags of money.
"What the…" Sonic's jaw dropped.
Next up, a security guard ran up to the three.
"Freeze!"
After that, the smaller figure who resembled Tails took out a laser blaster and knocked the gun out of the man's hands. After that, all three ran off, leaving behind a stunned security guard.
"Because one of these robbers looks vaguely familiar, we must have one question on our minds" the anchor told the audience. "Has the vigilante known as Blue Justice turned against us?"
"You know, we don't know that for sure," his female broadcast partner replied. "After all, not many good footage of Blue Justice exists out there. Besides, some people don't even think he's real."
"You know, I did see a video of a local MMA fighter losing to someone who claimed to be Blue Justice," her male partner replied. "But many out there doubt the authenticity of that fight as well. In fact, some say it was a publicity stunt with a CGI animal…"
Tom turned down the volume.
"Okay, we've GOT to get this settled," he told the three.
"Uh… I do not recall doing any of this," Knuckles replied honestly.
"Nada," Sonic said next. "No memories."
Tails shrugged, indicating he also had no idea what was going on.
"You know us better than this, Tom," Sonic looked at his adoptive father. "After all we've been through, we'd never turn to crime or do anything like this… at least not willingly."
"I fully believe you," Tom told them. "Look, just go and get some sleep while Maddie and I do some research on this trending news topic. We'll get this all cleared up because I know you three are innocent."
"Alright, thanks Tom," Sonic yawned, realizing just how sleepy he was.
oooo
"So what do we have here so far?" Tom asked his wife.
"Well, based on the articles I've gathered, we now know all the locations of these so-called Blue Justice crimes," Maddie told him.
"I see," Tom sat down. "Most of them are state banks in Seattle…"
"Notice anything so far?" asked Maddie.
"Hmm, most of them are just robberies so far," Tom noted. "Is there a trend we should be looking for?"
"I only showed you the names of the banks on the articles," Maddie clicked on the mouse. "Now… let's see the locations of all these banks on a map."
Tom examined the evidence carefully as all the state banks showed up on the digital internet map. Soon, he noticed a trend.
"All these banks," Tom finally acknowledged. "They all surround and converge around a central location."
"That's right," Maddie pointed towards the central building where all the crimes had taken place.
"This is the US Government Accountability Office," Tom noted. "Not sure if it means anything or not but… this place might be worth investigating. All the bank robberies surround this building like a circle."
Upstairs, a creeking noise was heard.
"Hang on, let me go check on the boys," Tom said, getting up.
"You guys alright?" Tom went upstairs and opened the door.
Before him were Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles putting on black ninja-like suits.
"Boys?" Tom asked.
All three turned around with glowing red eyes.
"Uh oh," Tom realized something was amiss.
All three ignored Tom as Sonic took out a ring, throwing it into the air for create a portal to the government building that Tom had just recently looked up.
Sonic was the firsts to enter the portal, soon followed up by Tails. Before Knuckles could enter, Tom grabbed him by the shoulder.
"Knuckles, wait!" Tom tried to stop him.
Knuckles turned around, planting his hand on Tom's chest. With a simple push, he sent Tom flying half-way across the room as the Wachowski's back hit the wall.
"Owww," Tom rubbed his back in pain.
"You alright?" asked Maddie as she rushed in.
"Yeah, you were right about where they were going," Tom got up as Maddie helped him.
"So what next?" asked Maddie.
"Well, since that place might be surrounded with security, I might need to take a look at the interior of the building," Tom went straight for the computer again.
oooo
Inside one of the main office buildings, Tom appeared through the ring's portals, armed only with his wits and a gun.
"Don't know if this is the place or not," Tom looked around.
He didn't particularly want to do it but if it came down to it, he planned on choking a janitor or guard unconscious and stealing their uniform to do his investigation under cover.
In mere moments, he heard footsteps coming towards the room. Quickly, Tom opened up the closet door and hid inside. He left a little bit of peeking space open to see who it was.
"You boys have done well," Lloyd Rockman came inside.
With him were Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in black suits that covered their bodies and most of their faces. More ominously, Tom saw that their eyes were all glowing red.
"I could've never done it without your help," Lloyd told the three. "Once I'm running this city, I'll still need your assistance. You three are the best aides I could've asked for!"
The three only nodded as if they were in a trance.
"What has he done to those three?" Tom quietly murmured.
Suddenly, the career politician's eyes darted towards Tom's location as if he sensed Tom's very presence.
"You can come out now," Lloyd smiled. "I know you're there."
Tom was taken aback, having lost any element of surprise. Calmly, he walked out of the closet.
"I'm surprised you managed to get past security," Lloyd told him as Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails surrounded Lloyd in a defensive position.
"I have my ways," Tom glared at the man.
"I'm sure you do," Lloyd replied. "So what can I do for a trespasser such as yourself?"
"Well for starters," Tom told him. "You can release your hold on them."
"Nah, I don't think so," Lloyd shrugged. "You see, having these three is very helpful to me and I think I'll keep them around as my personal attack dogs."
"You can't do that to them," Tom growled. "They may not be human but they have their rights and they should be free."
"Why do you care so much?" asked Lloyd. "What're you? Their dad?"
"You could say that," Tom admitted.
"Well don't worry, I already know their stories," Lloyd chuckled. "They weren't able to hide much from me."
"How were you able to do it?" demanded Tom.
"Well, it all started when I was a young boy," Lloyd told his story. "I was an intelligent young man and the school athletes all loved to pick on me back in the day. They gave me no rest and made life hell for me. You could imagine what that was like, no?"
"I can," Tom told him firmly. "You remind me of another person who used his bad childhood experiences as an excuse to be a rotten scumbag in the present."
"Let me guess," Lloyd smirked. "Dr. Ivo Robotnik?"
"Wait, how did you?" Tom's eyes widened in shock. "I didn't even say his name!"
"That's right," Lloyd finally confirmed. "I'm a telepath and I just casually read your mind."
Tom gulped, realizing things weren't looking good.
"One day, just as I was being slammed against the locker by a bully named Brad," Lloyd continued, "my latent telepathic powers awakened. In that instance, his mind was putty in my hands and I was able to make him back off. After that, the rest of high school sailed by smoothly, with all the jocks… and cheerleaders listening to my beck and call."
Lloyd saw Tom looking at him suspiciously.
"Better idea, instead of telling you, why don't I show you?" Lloyd offered.
Before Tom could react, it was as if a gate in his mind had been forcefully opened up as a head-splitting pain over took him. Lloyd was now establishing a psychic connection even more forcefully.
"Alright punk, you know what day it is," Brad slammed a teenage Lloyd against the locker. "Pay up!"
Lloyd looked at the larger athlete with hatred in his eyes.
"Let me go, Brad! I already gave you ten bucks yesterday!"
"Well now I need more," Brad slammed Lloyd against the locker again.
"I said… NO!" Lloyd screamed as his eyes glowed with power.
At once, Brad's eyes changed. His entire body seemed to pause, as if waiting for instructions.
"Get off of me," Lloyd ordered, not yet knowing what he was doing.
At once Brad obeyed and got off. Hardly believing his good luck, Lloyd felt something pulsating inside of him.
"G-Get on your knees and apologize," Lloyd ordered.
"I'm sorry Lloyd," Brad did as told with a glazed look in his eye.
At once, Lloyd realized what he was capable of.
"I think I'm going to like this," Lloyd felt the power surge through his mind.
Finally, the past scenes of Lloyd's life ended as Tom grasped his head in pain.
"Yeah, you're living proof no person should have this kind of power," Tom told him truthfully, clutching his head. "Just because you were bullied once, doesn't give you the right to invade other people's minds."
"Is it really an invasion if they don't know about it?" Lloyd smiled.
"How did you get to Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails?" demanded Tom.
"It was simple," Lloyd finally turned to Tom with a frown. "You see, I can establish a telepathic link with anyone in my vicinity that I choose. One night I stumbled upon the three of them high-fiving after foiling a few muggers and once they turned around, they instantly became my pawns."
Tom cursed himself for not having prepared the boys for a situation like this. But then again, none of them ever expected to go up against a telepath and had little experience dealing with psychic powers.
"Now that you've uncovered the truth," Lloyd told him. "I can only deal with you in one manner to make sure you never expose me."
Lloyd quickly made a motion towards the three.
"Kill him," Lloyd ordered.
Sonic's eyes were still in a glowing red trance as he came in first, punching Tom hard enough to send him flying back against a wall.
"Aaahhh!" Tom cried out.
"Raaahhh!" Knuckles cried and leaped into the air.
Thanks to the roar, Tom got enough of a heads up to roll out of the way as Knuckles came down, destroying the drawer right next to him.
Trying his best to ignore the pain, Tom grabbed his gun and aimed at Lloyd. However, a yellow laser struck the gun and knocked it out of his hard courtesy of Tails.
"Agh!" Tom cried out.
Knuckles grabbed him by the collar and hurled him across a dinner table, knocking off all the snacks.
Tom frantically looked around, realizing he was done for if he didn't do something soon enough. Deep down, he knew he would not survive a prolonged assault by the three if they were going all-out.
Sonic appeared before Tom with glowing red eyes again. He clenched his fist as electricity gathered around it. Tom recognized whatever Sonic was doing, he was likely preparing a fatal blow. Looking down, he finally found something and instinctively held it up.
"Sonic," Tom said. "This isn't you."
In his hand, he held a donut that fell down from the table.
"You're not a killer Sonic," Tom told him. "I know you have the heart of a hero and a family you love."
Briefly, Sonic stopped and look at Tom with some hesitation as the glow in his eyes began to waver.
"Listen to my voice Sonic," Tom continued. "Listen to Donut Lord and be the hero I know you are…"
Gritting his teeth, the blue hedgehog shook his head, vibrating at super speed like a war was going on inside his mind. Finally, Sonic snapped out of his brainwashing, completely cutting off the psychic connection between Lloyd Rockman and himself. .
"Tom?" Sonic's eyes widened.
"I'm okay Sonic," Tom told him.
"Impossible!" Lloyd was infuriated. "No man or… beast should've broken out of that!"
"Sorry, guess your telepathy's just garbage," Sonic smiled.
"Kill them!" Lloyd ordered Knuckles.
As the two moved in on Tom and Sonic, Sonic raced right behind Knuckles, hitting the echidna on the back of the head with multiple hammer strikes like he was beating on drums. As Knuckles fell down, Tails tried to pull his gun on Sonic but the blue hedgehog quickly applied two super-sonic slaps across his buddy's face to knock some sense into him.
"What?" Tails finally snapped out of it as well. "What happened?"
"This guy," Sonic pointed a finger at Lloyd.
"Sonic, did you just hit me on the head multiple times?" Knuckles demanded, finally coming to as well.
"Yeah, but you needed it," Sonic smiled.
"No, this can't be happening!" Lloyd's confidence began to waver. "I won't let you do this to me!"
"Oh no?"
Tom punched Lloyd as hard as he could across the face before he could use his telepathy again, knocking him backwards over his desk as the politician fell on his back.
"Good job Donut Lord!" Sonic cried.
"Get back!" Lloyd suddenly got back up to his feet.
Blood ran down his mouth from where Tom punched him. In his hand was a gun that he trained on Tom.
"Say goodbye!" Lloyd pulled down on the trigger.
Immediately, Sonic went into super speed mode. Racing forward, he grabbed a pen from the desk and jammed it directly into the barrel of gun that Lloyd was in the process of firing.
Sonic ran back to Tom's side and just as Lloyd pulled the trigger, his gun exploded, seriously injuring his hand.
"Aaaaaaahhhhh!" Lloyd Rockman screamed in pain.
"Ready to give up now?" demanded Tom.
"Not quite," Lloyd winced in pain, holding his hand. "I lost my psychic connection to your three boys… but my hold over other people isn't over yet."
The door broke down, revealing multiple guards with the same glowing red eyes Sonic and his friends previously possessed.
"Remember to go easy on them," Sonic pointed out to Knuckles and Tails. "These guys are just as brainwashed as we were."
As Sonic and his family moved in to deal with Lloyd's security forces, Lloyd quickly used the opportunity to slip away. Them holding back out of fear of seriously injuring or killing other people under his control was exactly what Rockman was counting on to buy him precious enough time to escape.
oooo
By the time he had reached the parking lot, Lloyd was panting heavily. His powers of telepathy were very useful but they had a drawback. As an adult, when he was stressed out or in a tight spot, they were much less effective and in order for him to use it again, he would have to be in a calm and confident state.
Fumbling in his pocket, Lloyd reached for his car keys only to realize to his horror that they were not there. It was then that he realized the keys must've fallen out of his pocket the moment Tom punched him and sent him falling over his desk.
"This can't be happening," Lloyd grasped his head as the pain on his injured hand seemed to get worse.
Suddenly, a black limo pulled in front of him. The windows rolled down to reveal Constantino to Lloyd's relief.
"Constantino!" Lloyd cried happily. "Listen, let's strike a deal! You get me out of here and—"
"This is for my father, dirtbag."
At once, Constantino pulled out a machine gun and opened fire on Lloyd, striking him in the heart through the chest and hitting multiple other major organs as a side effect. As Lloyd fell down to the ground, Constantino rolled the window back up as the limo drove off.
By the time Lloyd's body stopped moving, Sonic and the rest of his family had gotten there.
"Whoa, what just happened?" Sonic knelt down before Lloyd's body.
"Judging from the bullet wounds," Tom examined him. "Lloyd Rockman's made more enemies in life than just us."
"A shame," Knuckles crossed his arms. "He had talent and power but refused to use it in the service of something greater."
"It is a shame," Tom agreed. "He had no one to guide him in using his powers and teach him right from wrong."
"Yeah, Sonic had Longclaw and Knuckles had his father," Tails looked down at the deceased Lloyd. "And we all have you, Tom. This guy had no one."
"Well at least now in the event the three of us ever go rogue again," Sonic pointed out. "We can always count on Donut Lord to be our kryptonite!"
"As long as we never have to deal with another psychic again," Tom lifted Sonic up on his shoulders, "I don't think we'll ever have to worry about that possibility. Ready to go home, guys?"
"You said it, dad!" Sonic put his arms around Tom's head. "Let's catch up on some sleep!"
Fin.
