CHAPTER XXIV – BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN

One could only take so much of the relentless flashing. Rouge and Sonic had been subjected to plenty of it in recent days, but this time around, the cameras might legitimately blind them. It was bad enough that bats were naturally not known for the stellar eyesight to begin with, something Rouge cursed her maternal, paternal, and animalistic genetics for. However, it was easy to see why the shutterbugs seemed brighter and more obnoxious than when she was there only minutes prior.

First off, there was Sonic and Rouge who each held a firm grip on an in-custody Fiona Fox as they escorted her through the sea of media sharks. If Scourge's break-in at the AMG wasn't the night's biggest story, Fiona's surrender sure as hell would be. Even then, Sonic highly doubted that this would be the biggest thing to happen that night.

Secondly, the fourth member of the party was a robotic rabbit. Now, robots in Mobotropolis weren't completely out of left field. After all, Robotnik did have a robotics corporation and was known to have personally built his own mechanized butlers (both in his former penthouse and his various bases). But CREAM was absolutely a different case altogether. She didn't sport the usual Robotnik design even though she was designed by him—even if this was her Mark II suit which was built by Tails. CREAM was not painted yet, but from the way she looked on the outside, she could pass as a Mobian if someone wasn't paying close enough attention.

It was certainly a sight for the nightly news outlets: a supersonic, blue hedgehog; an ivory bat who happened to be the head of the police department; the biggest crime boss left in town now in the literal hands of the law; and a cybernetic hare who was asking them to clear the way.

As the crowd of reporters followed the party to their car, the four were finally greeted by a band of officers who patiently told those in the media corps to let the four pass because they now on official police business. But lo and behold, the reporters would be damned if they didn't get a soundbite. The picture of the four leaving the hospital alone was bizarre enough to get their news sites some juicy clicks, but what good was a story without an interview?

Well, they wouldn't get a word from them, at least not yet. Rouge was wise enough to tell those with her to keep silent as they left the hospital. They had other engagements to take care of, and Chaos knows they'd get their stories by night's end. Sonic would see to that one personally.

Her lieutenants having finally given the group enough space from the media circus, Rouge flipped on the lights. Turns out she could whip out some loathsome lighting too. The bright reds, blues, and whites were on full display and even heightened the moment as Rouge's Mustang roared its engine. With no time to waste, she squealed the tires and bolted out of the hospital's parking lot and back into the city. Sadly, they would get no reprieve from bright lights. They were still in Amusement Mile, after all. Casinos and hotels as far the eye could see, though at least the sight of them zipping by at breakneck speeds made for a captivating visual.

Rouge was behind the wheel; no one was gonna drive that high-octane Mustang except her. CREAM was riding shotgun with eyes fixed on the passing glitz and glamor. That left Sonic and Fiona riding in the back with the hero's eyes fixed on their captive.

With all the privacy they could ask for, Rouge finally spoke up.

"Alright, now what were you saying before the press interrupted us?" the commissioner queried.

Fiona sighed as she recollected her thoughts. It was hard to believe that a few nights prior she had heard Scourge's tale. It was… an experience if she had to describe it in one word. With a story this mental, she almost wished she copped a pound of weed to smoke as the story unfolded. It probably would've made it sound more cohesive. She would do her best to recall everything the green demon said, but this was gonna be hard to explain, so to help her elaborate, she'd need a hand from the hero to her right.

"Sonic, first tell me how you got out," Fiona said. "I don't need the exact details, just a summary."

Big Blue raised an eyebrow. "And why would I need to do that?" he shot back.

"Trust me, it'll help all parties involved keep track of how batshit crazy Scourge's story is."

Sonic looked toward at the shotgun seat to see CREAM who had turned around to listen in better… and because this was Green they were talking about, so why wouldn't she have a vested interest in the matter? The hydraulic hare gave Sonic a small nod to give them a refresher.

Sonic groaned softly as he sat back in his seat to remember. "Okay, Green and me torched the lab and began the oil rig's meltdown, the lab started to take on water, we used the elevator to get up, we had to get out of said elevator to climb up the old-fashioned way since the wiring from top-to-bottom was shot, we made it to an opening where the elevator doors were blown clean off, I jumped first and got out, he was almost jumped but stopped because the other elevator broke from its wires, those wires cut Green in the chest pretty good, he fell down the shaft, I reached out and was too late, I escaped down the hall and down a ladder, I sped to Mobotropolis, swore vengeance on old 'Egghead,' and the rest is history. That good enough?"

"One or ten details too many, but it'll do the job." Her remark was met by annoyed grunt from Sonic. Clearly, he wanted her to get to the juicy bits since his patience was wearing thin. But to fair to Sonic, time wasn't a luxury they had anymore.

"Before we get there, please," Rouge asked in a frustrated tone, echoing Sonic's thoughts.

"Okay, I get it," Fiona said having gotten the point. "Alright… so Scourge said that he remembered Sonic not catching him after the elevator dropped and gashed his chest open. After that, he fell off his… I don't know; was it some sort of ledge?"

"Steel beams that were framework for the elevator shaft," Sonic corrected. The ugly memories of that night returned to haunt him again. Fiona stopped to see Sonic's uncomfortable face as she regaled them the "tale."

"Well, whatever it was, he fell down the shaft. Now, this is where things get… 'fucked,' because frankly, I don't know how this next part is even remotely possible."

"Fiona," CREAM began, "the guy on your right is proof enough that 'impossible' went out the window a long time ago."

The vixen let out a loud, mocking laugh. "Then let's test that theory," Fiona retorted. "So he's falling. What do think he lands on?"

"Clones?" Sonic asked.

"No. He hit the water."

Sonic shot Fiona a confused look. "But that doesn't make sense. When Amy and I came ba—."

"You're jumping ahead, you blue bastard."

The hero opened his mouth to reply, but CREAM was the first to respond. "No," the robo-rabbit interrupted, "that makes sense. Think about it! The shaft was full of clones a few days later, but right after the lab was destroyed? I doubt the bodies would've had a chance to flow into the elevator shaft and fill in that quickly. So when Fiona said Scourge hit the water, he most likely did."

Sonic darted a glance at CREAM, but judging from his face, he had at least come to terms with that explanation. Falling back into the seat, he pointed his hands to Fiona and flicked them, gesturing her to continue.

"Anyway, he hits the water and survives the fall. He's so far down that he can't see Sonic anymore. He claimed he even called out to you for help, but you obviously didn't or couldn't hear that. Why would you? You were several stories above him in a place burning around you. Suddenly, a wall breaks open and starts pouring in more water to the elevator shaft. He isn't hit by any kind of debris. Now it's filling up even faster, and Scourge was in agony from the fall and his chest getting sliced like pepperoni."

"Not to mention that those deep cuts were taking on salt water," CREAM added. "His body must have been going through hell."

Fiona let out an exasperated sigh, but it wasn't because of CREAM's butting-in. "Y'know, that's what I thought too, but what he told me next is going to sound mad as hell. He figured with the water coming in faster that he's likely to drown, so naturally, he has to find an escape. Climb back up? Can't do that because it's filling too quick, and he couldn't tread water for too much longer because of all that pain. So how did he escape?" The silence and anxious looks from Sonic and CREAM begged her to continue. "He waited for the new opening in the shaft to go underwater, he apparently drummed up all the strength he could get, goes underwater with those scratches taking on that much salt water, swims through the hole pumping gallons of water, and finally swims Chaos-knows how many hundreds feet to the surface!"

The sheer dumbfounded looks on Sonic's and CREAM's faces were damning. Rouge herself looked back for a quick second before veering away from the next lane as they sped on I-90 crossing the Allegheny Passage into Angel Island. To say Fiona's small audience was in disbelief would have been the understatement of the century. The whole scenario she just told was… well, Fiona said it best: it was mad!

"And I'm still not done!" Fiona said which earned a stunned scoff from Sonic and Rouge.

"What else could there be?!" Sonic asked in a voice that was both cynical and maddened.

"Well, my dear vigilante, I will tell you! When he surfaced, he found a floating piece of debris from the oil rig and climbed up to get outta the water. He said that he was absolutely spent from that escape. I'd say I wouldn't blame him, but I'll circle around to that little nugget later. Anyway, Scourge is on the floating piece of wreckage and spots Sonic speed away to parts unknown, probably the city. Scourge called out, but his voice didn't get to bad, big brother in time. After that, he passed out and woke up in a hospital after months of being in a coma. He said that for entire time he was out, the whole scene of Sonic speeding away as he called out for 'big brother' to come help played on repeat the entire time! Need I remind you that he was in that coma for months? No wonder he wanted to humiliate and torture you before taking you out!"

That last line made Sonic reel back in regret for a moment, but he had tune back into the story.

"Scourge said Sonic just forgot him and cut him loose. Here's the thing about the hospital: his memory of it is, at best, hazy. He didn't remember much of it other than saying that he felt something was off; not just with him but the hospital as whole. I'm talking the room and people that worked on him. He then busted out and had been tracking Sonic for a few weeks before he showed back up at the airport the other night. And then… actually, that's it. You know the rest."

Those in attendance to Fiona's explanation… well, they didn't know how to react to the story as a whole. There were parts that they individually reacted to that were somewhat understandable if taken in a vacuum, but after taking into account everything else that the vixen had laid out? It was absurd! Nuts! Preposterous! Ridiculous! Any adjective that could've described it was probably the best way to sum up Sonic's, CREAM's, and Rouge's reaction. Fiona said it best; the entire story was of batshit crazy!

"Judging from your slacked jaws, you don't believe me," Fiona added. "Or maybe you do but it's still trying to compute… very literally for one of you now that I say it out loud. What I told you is what Scourge told me. Personally, I think his story is every shade of mental that you could think of! I mean, how on Chaos's green Mobius could he have done any of that?!" Fiona asked as her incensed tone took center stage. "I know he's got superspeed, but how am I supposed to believe that he could've done half of those things?! I mean, how is it possible that he could have swum through a current fast and deep underwater AND somehow make it to the surface on one breath of air?!"

Finally, Sonic spoke up. "And you didn't think to call him out on his story?"

"At the time, I didn't really care about it after he told me because I was happy that I might be able to rid of you, you over-juiced sprinter. But now that I'm telling you guys out loud… oh, fuck it. At this point, I'm beating a dead horse with all this shit!" With that, Fiona sighed and let out a pained groan. "Just thinking about it makes my head hurt!"

Sonic then turned to CREAM with a curious look. "Is any of this even possible?!"

"Sure as hell doesn't sound like it to me!" Rouge piped up as she finished merging onto I-95 going south.

"Rouge is absolutely right," CREAM affirmed, "and I'll tell you why her story is total BS."

"Technically, it's Scourge's, not mine," the vixen said.

"Fiona, we'll ask for your input from now on," CREAM said before turning her focus to her compatriots, which earned a scoff from the vixen. "Even with his abilities, getting through that current in that deep of water with all the injuries he had to have gotten at that point, that alone would make it impossible. Even if we entertained the idea that it might be doable, Green would have needed to presumably swim up hundreds of feet of pitch-black seawater, since you guys broke out late at night, after exerting all that energy just to get out. At that point, his lungs wouldn't have been simply screaming for air… they'd have been completely destroyed at that depth. The most experienced divers can go 50 or 60 feet at most without scuba gear, but even that kind of dive can also result in severe brain damage because of the extended period time that the brain isn't getting oxygen!"

"And Chaos knows Scourge's head has been all kinds of messed up since I met him," Fiona said. "He's been having constant headaches. The guy has been going through ibuprofen like a mower goes through grass."

There it as again: that detail of Scourge's head. From what Sonic and Fiona had seen in recent days, there was evidence of scarring that fully healed. Sonic made a mental note of that and saved it for later.

"Okay, so if Scourge's story is bullshit, then how did he get out?" Rouge asked.

The group then went silent trying to make a plausible theory. If the physically impossible was out-of-the-question, then what could Scourge have done to escape? The kind of height he would've needed to make up would not have been possible instantaneously. Green would've been wracked with so much pain that he might have even passed out from the experience. Sonic could picture him just floating on the water unconsciously with all those torched clones, the same clones he—.

DING!

Sonic's eyes lit up as he raised his head so quickly that it got CREAM's attention right away.

"That's because he escaped the same way I did," Sonic said in the middle of his 'eureka' moment.

"How so?" the robo-rabbit inquired.

"CREAM, when Amy and I found you all rusted out that night, you were just a bonus. We didn't come looking for you specifically, just any kind of evidence against Eggman. When we happened upon the elevator shaft where I saw Green fall, all those trashed clones were floating, rotting, and smelling to high hell! Scourge didn't have to lift too many fingers to get out because the rising water did most of the work for him. Fiona, for the record, that 'new hole' that broke open down the shaft after he fell? That hole was already there because it opened up as we were climbing, so that's another reason why his story is bullshit, but I'm getting off-topic.

"All Green had to do was wait for it to fill with water. He still would've needed to climb up a story or two, but by that time, he might have—. Pfft. 'Might have.' He's here, so he obviously had enough energy to climb up the rest of the way and out of the shaft. There was a hallway heading toward the elevator that I used to find the exit. Scourge would've had to use the same way that I used to escape!"

CREAM's face lit up the more she listened. His logic was all aces to that point, but one question persisted in her processors.

"Okay, but you didn't see Scourge in passing?" CREAM asked.

"I didn't come back to the oil rig for another two days to find that evidence. Scourge must've escaped in the meantime. It was almost 48 hours for Chaos's sake!"

"And what, pray tell, was that evidence?" Fiona asked.

"Amy and I came back with CREAM and a brain chip from—."

Wait… a brain chip that was connected to all that cerebral circuitry… from a direct clone of Green… would that explain Scourge's cranial scars?

You bet it would.

Sonic's pupils slowly shrank as more pieces began falling into place. But there was a detail missing, a single lynchpin that would sync everything together and explain his brother's behavior. He just needed to find it. Maybe elaborating more would make that detail come to light.

"All this stuff about Green's mental state being all of sorts," Sonic began. "Why did Scourge spew out that poppycock escape story to Fiona? His head probably got injured after falling and landing in the water hundreds of feet below, and it's a testament that he avoided death by the skin of his teeth. But how would that get him a new set of memories? I can see him possibly getting amnesia which would make his memory spotty if his head took on that much damage, but creating new memories out of thin air? That made-up scenario would have needed to have been planted. How would that be possible?"

There it was, the million-dollar question.

"What are you trying to say, Sonic?" Rouge asked.

"Wait…," Sonic trailed off before turning to Fiona. "You said he woke up in a hospital. He doesn't remember much of it."

"Yeah," Fiona replied. "He was also in coma for a few months. Maybe he dreamed it all, and that's why he believes that?"

"I want to agree, but we're forgetting the scars on his head. They weren't properly healed, and since that's the case, can we assume that he wasn't properly discharged from that hospital? I find it hard to believe he'd he able to leave when his head would've needed a few more weeks to heal. And even then, the fact that the scarring is there in the first place means that someone worked on his brain."

"Maybe for brain hemorrhaging?"

"Not likely because after that time, he would been dead for a few days. We know it had to be for a few days because Amy and I didn't see when we were there to… to… to pluck…."

Right then, right there, Sonic had his answer. That was the lynchpin that tied everything together… and Sonic's face turned for the worse. To confirm his theory, he had to ask one more question.

"CREAM," the hero asked in a lower voice, "all the stuff the clones had in their brains… the chips and circuitry… Eggman put it in to control them… right?"

The robo-rabbit wondered what Sonic might be getting at. She knew that the answer to his question was "yes," but—.

Oh.

There it was.

It all made sense now!

"What if…," Sonic began. "What if someone got to Green? Someone who knew about Eggman's scheme about the clones and how they worked?" His voice turned darker with each passing sentence. "What if they took Green out of one hospital to transfer him to another under the guise of him needing emergency brain surgery by a specialist? Then what if those people had access to a clone's brain? They would've had access to all the hardware that Robotnik would've used to make those clones turn on their new masters when the doctor would've activated the Eggmanland Protocol.

"So then Green has brain surgery performed, maybe an entire brain transplant. They would've had time to drum up Fiona's story and then plant it into Green's head to make him think that I left him to die. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they created some darker personality to match. But then something went wrong. He escapes but not after his brain was toyed with enough to cause everyone serious problems. The fake memories and personality stayed with him, but we've seen he's obviously not at 100%. Green must have escaped before the final touches could be put in and is running on his new instincts and fake memories. We know that because after Amy gave him that big shock at the AMG, his brain was literally short-circuiting between this new persona and his old one! It would explain everything! Like why all the bad memories of that hospital aren't completely gone. Green is still somewhere in there, but he's trapped behind Scourge!"

CREAM had to sit back down in her seat and take it all in because Sonic's logic was just plausible enough to seem real. She wanted to cry. Did she and Tails install a program into her new body so she cry? The very idea of the man she raised being tortured even more than what Eggman had done already… it was almost too much. She was on the verge of breaking down, but even more than that, if Sonic's theory was true, she wanted to hurt the people responsible for this.

"Why?" CREAM asked as all the light in her life had been sapped away. "Why go through this? Why go after us?" Then she turned around with a pained expression to Sonic seething from his theory. "Why go after you?!"

"I don't know," he answered truthfully as his incensed eyes grew in rage, "but when I find the fucking bastards that did this… I… I…!" Then he slammed his fist against the middle seat so hard a few of the seat's stitches came undone. He came within a few inches of nailing Fiona who had recoil defensively. "I'll skin the fuckers alive and fly their hides at City Hall for the whole town to see! Then I'll throw their bloody bodies in the ocean for the sharks to feast on their innards! Do they think they can just go after me and my friends and get away with it?! Do they?!"

"Sonic, take it down a notch before I pump a round into your arm!" Rouge screamed. "I know you're hurting right now, but I will not have you throw a tantrum that'll get us involved in a wreck!" Sonic groaned and gritted his teeth but complied. He wasn't too thrilled at the idea of calming down if his sharp breathing was anything to go by. "Thank you. Now this theory of yours makes sense and all, but besides the 'why' of the situation, who on Mobius would have access—?!"

"To a clone's brain?" Sonic interrupted. "How about your old G.U.N. bosses?"

The very suggestion made Rouge lose focus of the road for a second, but the lack of cars in her way made it a moot point. Still, the bat reeled back from that idea and re-focused on the road as they had arrived at the bridge between Angel Island and South Res.

Rouge then punched the gas as hard as she could as Sonic spoke again. "It would explain why G.U.N. has been keeping their eye on this shitshow… and why're they're taking over the investigation as soon as they can."

Rouge then darted a quick glare of spite at Sonic in the rearview mirror. "My old bosses may be pains to deal with, but they would never do anything like. Even if that were the case, Knuckles wouldn't know anything about that, and I trust the Commander too much."

"I'm not saying it was either of them that did this, but someone at G.U.N. might have it out for me."

"We don't even know if there's a traitor at all!"

"True, but the only other brains that they wouldn't have had access to right away would be the ones at the oil rig. Those bodies were already decomposing when Amy and I were there, so their brains would not have been useful for anything. The chips and circuitry might've been salvaged by someone else, but that timetable is doesn't exactly make sense since it would imply that someone knew about the clones being there, grabbed the wiring and brain chips, and were able to get there before G.U.N. locked it down after Robotnik's assets were seized. Sure, it's possible, but very unlikely. And then there's the fact that G.U.N. would've had access to all the other clones and their brains that were growing under Robotnik's businesses which would've been in much better shape anyway."

Rouge was about to snap back, but their off-ramp was coming up. She flipped on the signal and turned off the sirens as she hauled ass down to the rotting sore of Mobotropolis: South Res. There was a tower of smoke and an aura of red and white lights not too far from where the off-ramp led to (that being Fiona's old headquarters and those trying to quell the flames), but where they were going, they wouldn't need firetrucks. After all, this safehouse was right off the interstate.

"We'll discuss this later, Sonic. I'm not saying you're right or wrong, but there are a few things we'll need to dig deeper on."

"Agreed."

The Mustang came to a stop as the group readied themselves. Rouge checked her pistol and killed the lights on the car. Sonic stretched his arms, CREAM tried to get past all the emotions to get her head straight, and Fiona… well, Fiona was no fighter. She'd be there so they could get insider access.

At the same time, they all poured out of the car. After Sonic got to stretch his legs, he turned to the building in question and commanded his Detection Vision be turned on. CREAM, of course, acquiesced and let Sonic take a look. The old apartment complex had one cyan-colored skeleton placed on the second floor waiting for them. He wasn't upright, so maybe he was resting. Either way, they had to be ready if shit hit the fan. But let's be real, it was probably going to.

With one last crick of the neck, Sonic led the group and headed in. The four of them each had one thing on their minds: bring in Scourge.

But for Sonic, there was another thing he swore he would do: save his brother.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I can't thank you guys enough for being patient in between updates. Things in my life haven't been all sunshine and rainbows, especially this year. I know my alma mater's homecoming festivities hampered the schedule a little bit, but then there's the matter of everything else besides that. 2021 hasn't been particularly kind to kind my family. A few weeks ago I mentioned that we had to put one of our cats down since her health took a downward turn in a short amount of time. Well, that wasn't the worst thing to happen to me recently.

A few weeks ago, we got a terrible bit of news regarding my grandma. She had to be rushed in for emergency surgery regarding stomach pains and a hernia. I wish that was the worst, but it only went south after that. The only good thing that came out of it all, was that she was at peace and in the company of family when her time came. My grandma wasn't the smartest woman on God's earth. She admitted to me as much, but she had the purest heart and soul of anyone I've ever met, and to get the call late on that Monday night... it broke my family, and it broke me. With everything that's been going on since then, stress levels around my household haven't gone down at all not to mention the grief that my dad and his five siblings have had to battle since then. I loved my grandmother. I still do even after she had to go away. She was the sweetest woman you could've met. She deserved a peaceful end. Before her time came, I saw her on the phone with her only living sister left and saw her face light up like I haven't seen in the longest time. She made her peace and finally got to reunite with her husband of 67 years who passed away in January. She didn't have to wait long to see my grandpa again, and that's a solace I'll never let go. It's hard when loved ones die, and the fact that I lost both my grandparents in the same year hasn't been an easy thing to cope with. But... they're together again in the good place, and I can't wait to see them again one day.

If you're still here after reading that, then I implore you to give your grandparents and loved ones a call to see how they're doing. Losing loved ones hurts worse than any injury could. I'm still hurting and coming to terms with it, but there's a line from the MCU's WandaVision that stuck with me. If you've seen the show, you know where I'm going with this.

"What is grief if not love persevering?"

But you didn't come here to see me pour my heart out in an author's note, so while grief is the topic of conversation, the grief Sonic must be feeling for Green cannot be understated. The very idea that all that happened to his brother while he was helpless to do anything about it would make anyone wish they could've made a difference. It's been heavily foreshadowed what happened to Scourge, so much so that a few of you have already pieced together what happened, especially after the attack on the AMG. Sonic will have his hands full trying to save Green. Also, fun fact, the story that Fiona told regarding Scourge's "escape" was not only initially meant to be in the last chapter (but was put here to not overload you guys), but was also my initial idea for his actual escape. After months of planning the story, the more the little details would've made it impossible to accept. It's fiction... fan-fiction to boot where anything is possible, but given the more grounded tone the series has had (to this point), Scourge's then-means of escaping would've been hard to digest given the other circumstances (falling a terrible distance, the cuts on his chest, etc.), so I reworked it and... well, I'm not going to expound on that yet.

Anyways, thank you again for your patience in between updates. The plan is for two more chapters to be uploaded (hopefully no later than Halloween) so the story may finish and so that I can move onto other projects. Thanks to a Guest as well as jurassicdinodrew the reviews on chapter 23!

As always, the characters used in this story are the property of SEGA, Sonic Team, and Archie Comics. Everything in the story is being used strictly for entertainment purposes. And as always, I will talk to y'all later.