Chapter Seven : Captive

For a few seconds, time stopped for Spectre. For a few seconds, there was no sound but bone-freezing voice, there was no one but that evil presence, there was no other choice than standing here in silence, praying it was just a nightmare and that he was going to wake up soon.

Well, seeing as you won't come and greet me, I'll be taking the liberty of coming in by myself, Enerjak chuckled darkly.

This shook Spectre out of his static state. Enerjak was in Haven!

The black male didn't waste any time in calling the members of the Brotherhood one by one and explaining what was going on; he just released the biggest mental cry of fury one could muster, which not only allowed him to evacuate his anger but also succeded in waking up his grandsons who began asking at once what was wrong.

Sons, we're under attack! Spectre mentally yelled. He didn't wait for his sons' answers, nor did he take any time to dress or to put his visor on; the black male immediately bolted to the door and in the corridor.

Sabre, whose room wasn't far from Spectre's, quickly ran to his grandfather followed by Jenna-Lu and Lara-Le who had been awaken by the brown male. "Who is attacking us, Fifth-father?" he asked worriedly, fidgeting with his monocle that was in his hands.

"Enerjak, unless he's playing another one of those wicked games of his," Spectre growled.

Sabre paled at the mention of the name. "Edmund... what are we going to do? Locke is still out, and with Knuckles here..."

"Hush, Fifth-son," Spectre cut in abruptly. "Shield your mind, if Enerjak really is here then he can easily read it."

You sure are a quick one, nephew, Enerjak chuckled. There was another laugh, one that belonged to a female, and Spectre quickly identified it as Lien-Da's.

The dark male growled under his breath and turned to Sabre. "Hide your feelings from him, don't let what he says get to you. Take Jenna-Lu and Lara-Le to some place safe and bring Knuckles on your way back. I get the feeling we are going to need all the help we can get." With that he turned heels and ran to Thunderhawk's and Sojourner's rooms.

He found the two echidnas in the corridor. Thunderhawk was only wearing some sort of shorts and his hair was ruffled as he just jumped out of bed. Sojourner, completely naked, had to lean on the wall for support while his head throbbed with pain. The sight of his sons in such a funny situation would have made Spectre laugh, however things were far from normal.

Thunderhawk turned to look at the dark corridor until he was able to make out his father's red eyes and white birthmark. "Father?" he called out. "What is the matter?"

Spectre was about to answer his son's question when a distant explosion was heard. The lavender echidna's eyes widened as he flung around, and Sojourner had to get his hand away from the wall that was shaking. The sound of the explosion resounded for a while on Haven's metallic walls.

"What was that?" Sojourner asked, surprise overcoming pain for a little while.

"That, it seems to me, was the elevator room being destroyed," Spectre grunted. "I'm afraid Enerjak isn't alone, and if so then we have to drive his troops as far from the sick bay as we can, for Locke's sake. Let's wait for Sabre and Knuckles." Spectre was struggling to keep his cool as he contemplated every possible course of action, which was extremely hard to accomplish when your home was being attacked in the middle of the night. "We also have to protect Jenna-Lu and Lara-Le, and we have to go get Athair."

"I think we won't have the time to do so," Thunderhawk softly growled as nearing footsteps were heard pounding in their direction. "Our uninvited guests are here, we should get ready to greet them the proper way."

Sojourner nodded and struggled to catch his footing as his headache came back viciously. How in hell was he going to fight in this state?

The footsteps were nearing the corner of the corridor they were in, and all three Guardians readied themselves to hurl Chaos-powered bolts at anyone and anything that looked like a Dark Legionnaire. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Thunderhawk's face, and Sojourner was slightly panting with anxiety.

Thanks to Spectre's quick reflexes, the first black-robed echidna who emerged from the other corridor was now face-down on the floor, probably and certainly dead.

His comrades, a squadron made of a dozen Legionnaires, were quick to counter attack with their guns. Thunderhawk planted himself ahead of Sojourner and Spectre and did his best to block the energy-filled shots with blasts of his own, while his two relatives threw Chaos bolts at their enemies. Their teamwork proved to be perfect, and it only took them a few seconds to bring all the Legionnaires down.

Thunderhawk looked over at the stack of corpses with disgust. "War is definitely not my thing."

"Neither is it mine, son, however at times war cannot be avoided," Spectre said. "Seeing as this one can't, let's find Sabre and Knuckles. Who knows, maybe Athair is with them."

"Athair?" Sojourner whispered. "What about Locke?"

"If we were to die, Locke would be quick to follow. I think we can afford to leave him by himself for a few hours if that means getting rid of the Dark Legion. Athair can be of help, now come."

All three echidnas turned heels when a voice rumbled from within the darkness. "Nobody is going anywhere. Freeze, Guardians."

Spectre's muscles tensed as he surprisingly did as he was told, and he sensed his sons were doing the same. His blood-red sight was scanning the dark corridor in order to locate his mystrerious attacker, but to no avail.

"Don't try anything, I'm aiming for your neck," the voice threatened. "If you value your life, do not move."

Father? What shall we do, now? came Thunderhawk's growling mental voice, and Spectre just had to smile. His son didn't sound worried or frightened, and it seemed clear the lavender echidna had no intention to remain docile for long.

Let them come to us, son, we can't risk fighting off shadows and ghosts.

Thunderhawk mumbled something that Spectre didn't catch, but that he assumed was a good heartfelt curse directed at the Legion.

After a few seconds of immobility, Spectre caught movement in the shadows. He stared long and hard till he was finally able to make out a dark-robed figure heading toward him. The more the echidna walked, the better Spectre saw what he looked like.

The Dark Legionnaire was a middle-aged echidna, probably going on his forties, and by the way his hood was pulled back, revealing his face, and the number of scars he bore, he wasn't a mere soldier.

The left side of his face was patched up with metal, covering his forehead, his eye, his cheek, and even reaching under his chin. His cybernetic eye was the same icy blue as his natural one, and was darting from a Guardian to another. He didn't possess any normal spine; there were wires on some, others had been cut off and replaced by metallic ones, and one had even been cut off and left that way. A crest of dark brown hair was running from the back of his skull to his forehead and over his eyes.

Spectre felt a wave of impatience coming from Thunderhawk but he brushed it off. Not now, son, we don't know how many of them are hiding in this corridor. Indeed, behind the brown echidna, soldiers were moving in the shadows. They could have been a dozen, twenty or thirty, Spectre couldn't really tell, but if they ever decided to fire together, the Guardians were dead.

"Well, well," the nearing Legionnaire chuckled, his weapon directed at Spectre. "If it isn't the great Guardian Specter, son of Tobor... Given how powerful I was told you were, I was expecting your capture to be a bit more... challenging."

"Tell that to the twenty corpses down the corridor," the black male snapped. "If you aren't happy with your share of challenge then maybe I'll send you join them, if you wish."

The Dark Legionnaire bared his teeth in fury and pressed his gun under Spectre's chin. "I'll pass that offer," he hissed. "You're lucky the Dark Lord wants you all alive, else your blood would already be coating these godforsaken walls." His rumbling voice somehow became softer. "Now you are going to follow us to the Great Dimitri, without any fuss, and maybe he'll go easier on you."

"Well, being killed slowly or quickly makes no difference to me," Thunderhawk retorted. "Your bastard of a master doesn't even know what pity means."

Sojourner shuddered slightly when the Legionnaire's cold eyes fell on his father. Thunderhawk should have known better than to spit on Enerjak's name in front of his Legionnaires. The red echidna held his breath as the brown one walked over to the lavender Guardian, who remained unmoving.

"Looking for trouble?"

"Yeah, and I found you, how convenient," Thunderhawk snarled back.

The Legionnaire grabbed the Guardian's neck with his free hand. "You worthless son of a-"

"Now, now, Rykor," a female voice purred from somewhere over Spectre's shoulder, "you know better than to disobey a direct order from the Great Dimitri, don't you?"

The Legionnaire, whose name was Rykor, pushed Thunderhawk away with a grunt of disgust.

Spectre turned to look at the owner of the voice, even though there wasn't many females in the Legion. Grinning from ear to ear, Lien-Da was leaning against the wall. She was clad in a tight black suit that barely covered the most essential parts of her body; she had one hand on her hip while the other was holding her whip. The leather strap was swaying back and forth dangerously, as a promise of what was to come.

"Your mother never told you it's rude to stare?" she smirked at Thunderhawk, who was intensely glaring at her. "Even at a pretty lady?"

The echidna's cheeks gave off a slight blush, though Spectre couldn't tell if it was due to anger or embarassment. "Yeah," he replied. "But she never told me how rude it is to break into one's home, destroy everything while fighting the people living there. I had to figure it out myself."

Lien-Da brushed the answer off with a wave of the hand. "Whatever. Let's go meet with the others, I trust they captured the remaining Guardians. The sooner we deal with that, the sooner we'll play."

When she turned around to give orders, Spectre mentally reached out for Thunderhawk and Sojourner. Sons, are you ready? Now, on the count of three, let's get out of this mess... One... Two... The mental connection was suddenly broken when a Legionnaire clasped a flat metallic collar around his neck. The black male startled and brought both hand to the item, afraid it was designed to strangle him. But the collar remained motionless, and Spectre turned to see Sojourner and Thunderhawk were now wearing some as well.

The lavender one grasped it and tried to break it, his teeth bared in fury, but to no avail. He tried to summon his Chaos powers to give him more strenght, and it came as a shock to him to find that he was unable to.

Lien-Da chuckled. "No use in struggling, handsome. These were designed by Great Grandfather himself to annihilate your Chaos abilities." She walked over to him, her hips swaying in a suggestive way. "Save your strenght for... later." She winked at him as she ran a hand under his bearded chin.

"Get lost!" Thunderhawk barked, baring his teeth as he tried to bite her hand away. When soldier came up to the Guardians to encircle them, the lavender echidna punched the Legionnaire that was behind him to the floor. "I'm not too crazy about having a gun pressed into my back! Don't forget I still have my fists!"

"That will be easily corrected," Lien-Da purred.

"Keep your dirty hands paws away from her!" Sabre growled once again as a Legionnaire made a grab for Jenna-Lu.

The one-eyed echidna was currently sitting against a wall, his hands bound behind his back and his head bent forward because of the weight of the Chaos-dampening collar he was wearing, cursing himself. On his way to take Jenna and Lara-Le to safety, he had met with Knuckles and about thirty Legionnaires. Both males had to protect the females and fend off enemies at the same time, which proved to be a very difficult task, and they soon had been outnumbered, overcome and finally captured.

And here he was now, helpless because of that damned necklace and those mere ropes. Edmund would have died of shame if he had known a couple of ropes and a necklace were enough to bring a Guardian down, Sabre thought bitterly.

Knuckles was beside him, mumbling and growling as he struggled unsuccessfuly to free himself. As if it wasn't bad enough, Legionnaires were creeping far too close to the females than the Guardians would have liked, and they made it clear.

"Get away from my mother, you sick bastard," Knuckles hissed through gritted teeth as a soldier brushed past Lara-Le. "Or else I'll rip your ribcage open and use your eyes as table tennis balls."

"Now, this is no way of speaking to your masters, Guardian," Kragok's deep and raspy voice came from Sabre's right. "You ought to show more respect."

"Who do you think you are? My dad?" Knuckles snarled furiously.

Kragok brutally slapped him across the face with his cybernetic limb, one of the claws tearing Knuckles' lip and making him bleed. The young Guardian slightly winced and decided to shut up, sticking to throwing his dark cousin a deathly glare. "You will talk only when allowed to, Guardian."

Moritori Rex, who had been leaning against the wall examining his boots, barked out a laugh. "That's right, Kragok, show him you're the boss! We can't have a feisty lad with us, can we?"

"I, personally, have nothing against feisty lads, Grandfather," Lien-Da grinned as she walked out of mere shadows. "They're more fun than the docile ones."

Rex chuckled and tried to look over Lien's shoulder. "And who are you bringing with you, Granddaughter?"

"Just some rude runaways, they didn't want to come to our party," the female said. "But we managed to convince them to tag along with us, it was easy enough. Well, except for a small detail, but I covered that." She gestured to the soldiers walking behind her, and Sabre muffled a gasp.

Spectre and Sojourner were being held by two Legionnaires in case they tried to escape, but other than their furious glares they seemed to be in good health. Thunderhawk was another story: the lavender echidna was unconscious, and was being dragged by his feet by two others Legionnaires. His hands were bound together and were resting upon his stomach. Sabre winced upon seeing some open wounds slitting Thunderhawk's stomach, shoulders and chest open. The lavender echidna's spines bore small but deep cuts, as well as his cheeks, and his mouth was leaving a thin trail of blood on the floor.

Kragok frowned at this. "Lien, Great Grandfather said we were to capture them alive and in perfect health."

"Well, I will give Great Grandfather a piece of my mind when I see him," Kommissar growled. She pulled her collar away from her neck a bit, uncovering a nasty looking bite mark at the junction of her shoulder and her throat. "I wasn't aware Guardians resorted to teeth when their powers were suppressed and their hands bound. No one ever warned me."

"Never heard of a biting Guardian," Rex chuckled. "Well, you sure taught him."

"He better remember that," Kragok added, nodding.

The Legionnaires dragged Thunderhawk near Sabre and Knuckles and dropped him there. Spectre came over to his son and crouched next to him, checking him up for any serious injury. Before he could even take a closer look, Lien-Da pushed him forward and the black male hit his head against the wall, his teeth clenching together hard. "Sit. Good boy."

Sojourner's throbbing head told him to sit down on his own before someone pushed him brutally, hurting him more than necessary. The red echidna leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

Moritori counted the Guardians and frowned. "Two are missing. You sure you found no one else? We're missing the rainbow-colored freak and the computer whiz."

"Have you ever listened to what Great Grandfather says?" Kragok growled in annoyance. "The Guardian Locke is probably dying in the medical wing. We're only missing the flying guy. Let's wait for Father and his troops, maybe they have him."

"Or maybe they don't," Luger's silky voice said as he approached. He ran a hand on his combed-back hair. "I'm afraid I come empty-handed, my son, but this is quite the stack you got us here," he added upon seeing the Guardians.

Kragok grinned widely at his father's pleased tone, which made Rex and Lien-Da growl. "He wasn't alone, y'know!" they snarled together.

Knuckles snorted at this and leaned toward his second-father. "Do they make you wanna throw up too, or am I the only one?" That comment only earned him a kick in the cheek from Lien-Da, which made him hiss in pain. "Gee, can't you take a joke, you stuck up fools!"

The female Legionnaire, who was looking like she was going to kick him again, decided against it and raised her whip instead. "I see where your sharp tongue comes from, don't worry I may just know how to cure it..."

Knuckles kept a straight face whereas Lara-Le gasped slightly at the very idea of her son being hurt in any way. "You won't make Grandfather Thunderhawk shut up that easily, his guts and tongue are known to resist to much worse than that. So are mine. Now strike, if you're so confident, unless you're afraid I'd find out you hit like a sissy."

Lien-Da's blood boiled as a small smirk made its way on Spectre's face. "Why, you..." Her whip came down, and Knuckles mentally shielded himself against the pain.

But it never came.

The whip was suddenly jerked out of Lien-Da's hand by some invisible pull, and was sent flying away. Before anyone could react a deeply amused voice rang in the corridor. "Now, Lien, is that any way to thank your dear cousins for inviting us in?"

Spectre's eyes closed halfway when he heard the dreaded voice, praying it was nothing more than an awful nightmare, when he heard a chuckle. "I'm more present than ever, nephew."

Indeed, when the black echidna looked up, he saw his worst enemy looking down at him, a grin visible under his beak-like mask. Here stood Enerjak, in all of his golden armored glory, glowing even in the dark corridor. His hands were on his hips, and his unusually long spines were waving behind him. Spectre couldn't help but notice that the golden armor was bumped in some places, and that the most part of what was visible of Enerjak's skin was scratched badly. "Well, Uncle," the dark Guardian spat, "it seems you encountered some problems lately."

The insane Lord waved the comment off. "You know how dingoes can be. They didn't take me killing their leader too well, especially that Stryker, so I had to rough them up a little."

"And I wondered why echidnas and dingoes don't get along well," Knuckles ironised.

Enerjak looked up and smiled as if he was noticing Knuckles' presence. "Ah, my dear young nephew! I haven't seen you lately, I was beginning to miss you."

"Sorry to say that this isn't mutual."

"So, how are you doing?" the armor-wearing echidna pursued, ignoring Knuckles' comment. "Still with that bat? Nephew, you should come back to your senses, she is no good for you." The red Guardian snarled and was about to bite back something to defend Rouge when Enerjak cut him off. "And your father? I was told he isn't feeling well these days, maybe you should talk to your stepfather about it." The immortal one grinned; he was taking pleasure in playing with the young one's mind.

"You leave Dad and Rouge out of this!" Knuckles barked.

"Ah, but what's the point of a family meeting if people are being left out," Enerjak chuckled. "Which makes me think..." Edmund's twin turned and raised a hand to the ceiling, but nobody was able to see what was up there. "I was beginning to wonder when you would show up."

Enerjak's hand waved, and some sort of dark-colored ball came falling from the ceiling. The leader of the Dark Legion caught it with his telekinetic powers and hurled it at top speed to the other end of the corridor. The blur sped past the Guardians, and Spectre could have sworn he saw bright colors on the shadown, but then again he couldn't really tell because of the darkness. Before he had time to ponder over that, the "thing" crashed against the wall, and Spectre winced when he heard the sound of bones being broken.

Sabre, who was the closest, was the first to discover what was now lying in a heap on the ground. "Father!" he cried out, horrified. He tried to scoot closer but Luger prevented him from doing so with a feet on his shoulder.

Enerjak made his way over to Athair making tssking sounds. "He should have known you can't sneak up on me that easily. Well, I only knocked him out." He picked the brown echidna up and dropped him next to his son.

Sabre was doing his best to not cry out again. Athair's forehead now bore a deep cut; his nose was certainly broken judging by the way it was bending, and blood was slowly pouring out of his mouth and on the floor. A few colored rings had been dislodged and were now scattered on the ground. "Father," Sabre whispered more to himself than to Athair. "Great Aurora, Father..."

"What do you want, you son of a bitch!" Knuckles growled at Enerjak, furious.

"Ah, my boy, don't call your great grandmother that," the immortal one chuckled. "Well, as for what I want... I intend to bring you all back to Necropolis, lock you up, have fun with you seeing as you're family, then kill you seeing as you're also enemies. I thought it was pretty obvious."

"What about Mom, and Grandmother Jenna?"

Enerjak turned to the two females and seemed to think for a few seconds. "Well, my troops can always use a female or two." Lara-Le couldn't help but shudder as the Legionnaires dissolved into dark chuckles in the shadows, and Jenna-Lu got closer to Sabre in fright.

Athair's son growled. "Not even in your wildest dreams."

"This is no dream, nephew." Enerjak then grinned. "Well, now we're all together, let's head back to Necropolis. Oh, I almost forgot." The immortal echidna slapped his armored forehead and grabbed Lara-Le's arm. "Sorry my lady, but you were part of the deal."

"Deal? Which deal?" Knuckles shouted. "Leave her alone!" The red Guardian struggled around and ended up kicking Thunderhawk's head unintentionally. The lavender echidna woke up with a grunt, spitting up blood on his bearded chin. Upon seeing Enerjak, Thunderhawk widened his eyes and tried to crawl away, but was unable to because of his wounds.

Spectre stared at his son, and right then something broke inside his mind. He was the eldest, and the leader of the Brotherhood, yet here he was all bound and helpless and watching as his family was being torn apart. When Hawking had died, Spectre had been given the entire responsibility of the Brotherhood of Guardians, and therefore his duty was to stand out for his sons and make sure they were safe at any cost. Any cost...

"So, ladies and gentlemen," Enerjak said with a large grin. "Let's fetch my dear nephew Locke and head back home!"

This one sentence, that got most of the Legionnaires cheering, made Spectre's collected attitude topple over. He couldn't let his sworn enemy destroy these lives he had witnessed evolving. "Wait!" he suddenly called out, surprising everyone including himself.

Everyone turned to him, and even Thunderhawk seemed baffled.

Enerjak just smiled. "Yes, Spectre?"

"I... I'd like to suggest a deal," the black male said in a voice that wasn't quite his own. He avoided his sons' eyes on purpose, already knowing they would be puzzled or worried, his bloody gaze never leaving the immortal one's.

The latter chuckled, amused. "Suggest away, nephew."

Because of the power-dampening collar, Spectre knew he couldn't talk to Enerjak mentally, but he was fairly sure the ancient one could still read his mind. He resorted to that so his sons wouldn't hear anything about his "deal". I want you to leave Haven and let my sons be, as well as Jenna-Lu and Lara-Le.

Enerjak raised one eyebrow. "That is some strange deal, nephew. How can I accept your offer when I don't see what I get out of it?"

Spectre took a big breath to gather his courage before carrying on. Me. You get me. I'll go with you without putting up any fight. I'll do whatever you want me to do, in Necropolis or anywhere else. Just leave them alone.

Enerjak frowned. "How can I be sure I can trust you?"

You have my word, as a Guardian.

Spectre felt his hopes raise as the insane echidna actually seemed to ponder over the offer. He understood the situation was pretty interesting; one of the two most powerful and respected Guardians willing to obey his every and any order. The black one knew just how appealing this sounded to Enerjak, and that was why he had made that deal. If that sacrifice meant his sons would be safe, then he was fine with it.

Enerjak then grinned widely. "Very well, nephew, I shall accept that offer." His overly happy voice and quick answer worried Spectre, but he didn't press the matter seeing as he had gotten his way. The armored one turned to his soldiers. "Free them."

The Legionnaires were so startled they just stood where they were, their eyes widened and their arms at their sides. Rex, Luger and Lien-Da were in the same position, and Kragok's jaw was hanging open. Enerjak growled. "Are you all deaf? I believe I just said something; do I really have to say it again?"

His tone rang like a threat, and at once Legionnaires scrambled to the Guardians to unclasp the collars and undo the ropes. Sabre immediately kneeled by his father to check him over although that was unecessary, and Thunderhawk managed to get up on slightly trembling legs. The lavender echidna eyed the Legionnaires suspiciously, as if waiting for them to threw themselves at his throat at any moment.

Enerjak ushered away a Legionnaire who wanted to take off Spectre's collar, and put his hand on the black echidna's shoulder. "Well, nephew, I'll leave you all a moment, I am fairly certain you have much to say. We will be waiting by the elevator, or what is left of it anyway." Enerjak chuckled. "Good luck explaining."

Spectre shot him a dark glare as the troops began moving away in the corridor, toward the elevator room. Enerjak was leaving him to explain his "deal" to his sons, how foreseeable; the ancient one was delighted by others' pain.

Within seconds the whole corridor was clear, and Thunderhawk walked over to Spectre. "Well, that had to be one hell of a deal!" he exclaimed, a small grin evident on his face.

"For a few seconds back there, I really thought we were dead," Knuckles nodded while getting up, going straight to his mother who had been left by Enerjak. He hugged her gratefully, and she returned the embrace.

"Just what did you tell him, Grandfather?" Sabre asked, still kneeling by Athair but now relieved that his father was breathing normally and wasn't bleeding so bad. "Did you trade in some zones of Angel Island?"

"Like that will ever happen!" Thunderhawk chuckled. "You got him good, Father, if Enerjak believed that one then he is more insane that what I thought." The lavender echidna then looked at his father, who hasn't spoken ever since the Legionnaires had gone away. "Father? Are you all right?"

Spectre sighed. "I'm fine."

"Wait," Sojourner said, "why haven't they taken your collar off too?" The red echidna pointed to the thick metallic band around his grandfather's neck. Spectre hadn't even realized it was still hanging off his neck, weighting a little on his shoulders. "Is that another of Enerjak's jokes?"

When Spectre made no move of surprise, Thunderhawk frowned. Normally his father would have ranted about how long it was going to take to take the collar off, how Enerjak's sense of humor was only one-sided, and such. The lavender echidna was afraid he was beginning to see things clearer now.

"Father," he called out seriously, "what was the deal about?"

Spectre decided he had to act quick; Enerjak wouldn't wait forever, and if he got impatient he might just come back and capture everyone after all. The black male had no choice but tell his son the truth. "My freedom, for yours. I'll put up no fight and go with Enerjak because I know I'm the main Guardian he wants. And," he added soundly when his son frowned and opened his mouth, "this is my choice so I don't want to hear anything about it."

Sojourner, who was leaning against the wall, stared up in surprise at his relative. Sabre widened his eyes and slightly gasped. "But Grandfather, it's-"

"Mad, foolish, suicidal, I know Sabre. However I'd rather be tortured for days on end than know you are suffering from the same fate. I'm old, sons, I'm becoming more and more useless, and you can't say otherwise. I'd have met my end, it was just a matter of years, but I can't stand aside and pretend I am not the leader and eldest of the Brotherhood." Spectre held back a sigh. "This is my duty."

Knuckles, who was stil holding his mother, looked at Spectre in a shocked way and broke the uncomfortable silence that had settled. "You're really gonna go with him? To Necropolis?"

Spectre nodded. "There is no other w-"

"You can't leave us!" Thunderhawk burst out. The younger echidna got right in front of his father, who sighed this time. He had expected his son to act this way. "You can't go and leave us like that! Father, please, stay!" Spectre's son's tone of voice was pleading, and Spectre could have sworn Thunderhawk's lips had trembled with the last sentence.

"Son, you have to understand-"

He once again was cut off. "There's nothing to understand! What if Enerjak comes back and attack us once again while you're captive?"

Spectre shook his head. "He gave me his word."

"Bullshit!" Thunderhawk roared. The other Guardians winced; they had never seen the lavender echidna so furious, so angry at his father. "He has no word! It's a trap! What if you..." His voice trailed off a bit but he shook himself. "What if you get killed? How will we go on without a leader?"

"You won't go on without a leader," Spectre said softly. His surprisingly gentle red eyes bore into his son's. "I think it's time you took matters into your own hands, my son."

Thunderhawk willed his face to remain furious at his father, not wanting to show his growing despair. "What do you mean?" he rumbled although he had a good idea of the answer.

"You know perfectly well what I mean. You are coming of age, son, it's time for you to be in charge. You'll be a good leader to the Brotherhood of Guardians."

"I can't," Thunderhawk immediately said. His angered expression finally broke down as he shook his head, replaced with full-blown denial. He couldn't even imagine this prospect. "I'm not ready."

"That you are, but whether you like it or not, you are now the eldest member of the Brotherhood," Spectre said. He hoped his voice was firm, like he wanted it to be, and didn't give away how he really felt inside. He did his best to steel himself before he spoke again. "From the second I walk out of Haven, I want you to accept all of the meaning and responsibilities coming with this title. Will you?"

Thunderhawk crossed his arms. "No, I-"

"Will you, Thunderhawk?" Spectre's voice made it clear it wasn't a real question, because the only answer would have to be a positive one. The black male winced inwardly when he saw his son cast his eyes down; he didn't mean to be so harsh, but he had no time to chat and Thunderhawk wasn't making it any easier.

He closed the distance separating him from his son and put his hands on his shoulders. "Look at me, Thunderhawk," he called out as gently as he knew how.

Somewhat wet blue eyes rose to meet red ones. For a few seconds, father and son just stared at each other, and everyone witnessed the unspoken exchange of words in respectful silence. It had been a while since Spectre and Thunderhawk had acted that way, so long in fact that nobody could remember when exactly.

"Why?" Thunderhawk asked raspily. Sabre could have sworn his grandfather was going to break down at any moment.

"Because it has to be that way, my son," Spectre answered calmly, squeezing the lavender one's shoulders. He gazed sadly at his son's wounded face. "I couldn't let Enerjak hurt you, this is my duty to protect you all. This duty is now yours, and I'll trust you'll take good care of them. Make me even prouder of you than I already am."

On impulse, Thunderhawk bolted forward and hugged his father, hard. He crushed his chin against Spectre's shoulder, wrapping his arms around his father's torso and squeezing harder than ever, as if he was afraid Spectre would escape. He released his deathly grip just as quickly, taking a step back and leaving a shaken Spectre to register what had just happened. It had been a long time since Thunderhawk had shown that much emotion to him, and it dated back to when he was only a young echidna.

Spectre, I'm getting impatient, came Enerjak's yawn. We would like to go today, it that was possible.

This shook Spectre awake, and he turned to the members of the Brotherhood. "Take care of yourselves, my sons." His red sight fell on Thunderhawk. "You too, son. Stay safe."

Once the lavender one nodded, and Spectre was done with biding farewell, he turned heels and walked to the elevator room. Nearly immediately, Thunderhawk turned the opposite way and walked off, probably to the medical aisle to check on Locke and clean his wounds.

But Sojourner knew better. He had seen tears in his father's steel blue eyes.