February 2nd. The day of rescue. Espio, Mighty and Ray were the field team, they had the place scoped out and were on guard if anyone showed up, then next was the strong armed rescue team of Knuckles, Vector and Charmy. They were well equipped with stuff to cut the chains, properly carry her out and even enough stuff to give more evidence against Shadow. The area was clear. Only the Chaotix. Espio traced out where the hidden door was and had Vector bust it down, Charmy and Ray were left outside to keep an eye on the area and the fact the older members didn't want the younger ones to see what could be in here. Vector kept watch over the door while Mighty, Espio and Knuckles moved in to set her free, the sight wasn't pleasant and hurt all of them to look at. Soni was balled into a corner shivering from lack of heat and clothes, she only had her robe draped over her but it was filthy and wet, her quills all matted up and as long as her, her bones poked through her skin and stuck out where she had plenty of meat and muscle, her ears twitched and she slowly lifted her head up, the blindfold over her eyes had wires attached to it which seemed to stop her from removing it. Soni's lips trembled as if she was trying to say something but only soft squeaks were able to escape, she crawled towards the sound with water dripping from her face and a trail of blood following behind her. Mighty stepped back feeling sick to his stomach having to look at how she was treated, he asked Knuckles to help him with this as he couldn't do it alone without throwing up. They both got to work while Espio took care of the cameras; shutting them off and saving the video of them breaking in. Espio also went around and safely collected evidence while the other two cut the chain and cuff off of her, safely cut the wires on her blind fold and treated to her wound that she seemed to have been hiding, they wrapped her in a heavy blanket and safely carried her out to the van, Espio finished getting what they needed and everyone got back in the van to quickly leave the area and get her some help.
Soni was speechless. She looked around at everyone around her who seemed scared and joyous to save her, fighting to stay conscious to talk to them but she fell out gripping onto Knuckles arm. Knuckles asked Ray if he'd be willing to help clean her up once they got back to the house and of course he agreed, Knuckles held on tight to Soni as she felt freezing cold and weakened pulse, he'd go off the deep end if she ended up dying in his arm. Soni was carried in and taken to the bathroom where a nice warm bath was set up for her, they turned her around and had the water fall onto her head so Ray could work. Knuckles stayed in the bathroom with him to keep her afloat and watch the progress of her getting help, Ray lopped off the long quills and put it a good bit shorter than she originally had it, cutting or fixing the mats embedded in her, he washed up nicely and then began on trimming her nails down and just cleaning up her hands. Knuckles took to washing her body nicely and pulling her out from all the filth that came off of her, she looked brand new and now she just needed to wake up and start on her side of this fight. Knuckles laid a towel down on his bed and rested her on top then pulled his blankets over her while he looked around for clothes for her to wear, he grabbed some of the spare underwear she gave him to hold onto in case she came by again and a long t shirt. Knuckles lit some incense and began a small prayer for her to be safe from here on out and to help wash her of the evil that tries to stick onto her, once he finished he moved downstairs to talk to everyone in regards helping Soni get what's due to her; freedom.
Shadow stopped by to see his captive maiden but felt something was off as he approached the building, he busted through the door to see it was already broken off its hinges and Soni was missing. He went to check the cameras but all of them were broken and he could only see recording up to just Soni sitting there, furiously Shadow left and began to panic at his plans quickly falling apart, who knew she was here and who broke in? His thoughts raced and his options were limited, maybe he could play dumb as always and get off Scott free. Shadow went into hiding to figure out what to do while the Chaotix began to conquer the board and set up for a reveal to the news of what's happened, Knuckles went upstairs to check on Soni who was awake and just unmoving also looking very confused. "Soni...? Soni! by the gods you're awake please talk to me I-I'm sorry that you had to live through that, Shadow is a psychopath and we want to help you put him away for a long time... Are you ready to do this?" Soni slowly sat up and leaned into Knuckles arms, she was so weak but she nodded her head in agreement to exposing Shadow on live, she requested anything personal to her or him be saved for a courtroom. Knuckles was gonna do his best but everything needed to be seen by the judgement system, he helped Soni charge her phone up and asked to call her publicist to get her word out along with the evidence to attach with it. Soni remained silent but gave Knuckles a number to call, something wasn't right with her reaction, she quietly spoke saying that her personal publicist was killed and that she was all alone, just like Shadow would have wanted it to be. But the number was for a secondary help to get her stuff out. The phone rang and rang until a energetic voice answered, a female, she began going on and on about how she cant believe someone would call her at a time like this but silenced herself once Soni spoke. Her words were weak but held its importance, Soni asked to meet her at the detective agency and she'd talk about everything with her team. The voice shrieked in joy and promised to meet her there in a few hours time, she hung up the phone and apologized for talking on Knuckles behalf and also apologized for what they were about to deal with. Knuckles gave a look of confusion but decided it was probably best to just wait and find out.
Knuckles brought Soni down to get some food in her which she basically scarfed down as soon as it was placed in front of her, Soni had her first strong laugh in so long and finally she felt safe in the arms of who she called family. They laughed and carried on for a few hours till the late evening then, there was a knock on the front door to which everyone froze and grabbed onto Soni, they couldn't stand her being taken again so they sent Mighty to answer the door. Opening the door sprung in a very energetic cat in a fluffy dress, in with her walked a camera crew who started setting up in the lobby area of the agency, full with a solid backdrop and professional lighting. Knuckles escorted Soni to the group where she was hugged tightly by her friend and asked if she was okay and she couldn't wait for the full story. The girl seemed familiar with Mighty and come to think of it, she did LOOK familiar was she the same one that interviewed Mighty a few years ago about his boxing title? The girl introduced herself to the rest of the group as Honey and one of Soni's secondary now primary publicist. They sat Soni down and started to do her interview along with asking them to share detail and evidence with them to give her story reliable credit, they provided somethings but had some other things for her to say as private evidence for the court case. They filmed for hours with breaks in between for food and water along with Soni having another friends to talk to, she agreed to Soni's want to have Shadow arrested. While Soni did her part the rest of the Chaotix looked into a web of people who were killed in Soni's chain, once they uncovered all the info they could they could give Soni some closure on what happened to them. Finally they finished and Soni wished them a safe trip home and that she'd stay in contact with them, she asked when the story was to go live and she got the response that it'll be on the nightly news that night.
Soni cuddled onto the couch with Knuckles and the rest of the Chaotix although Knuckles made sure none of them touched her which made her laugh at the goofy back off faces her love was making at the others. They turned on the news and watched the live count skyrocket, the interview revealed that she was safe and remaining in an undisclosed location, it also laid everything out along with the now being issued court order for famous rock singer Shadow Hedgehog. The interview played out and caused an uproar across the different channels and media, Soni was gonna get her justice but for now it was time for her to go to bed, she made her way to Knuckles room and flopped onto his bed with a small giggle. Knuckles followed behind and shut the door with a grin, he jumped onto the bed landing beside her and rolling over to be on his side. He missed the woman of his dreams, she was still beautiful even though she looked sickly from the weight loss. Soni cuddled into his chest and tilted her head up to rub her nose on Knuckles' she missed him so much, the moment they met a spark was lit and she knew they were truly meant to be and for him to save her from a cold starvation showed that he loved her just as much. They wrapped up in each others arms and intertwined their bodies for more love and intimacy for the night, they both fell asleep to the first good night sleep in over a year.