Scourge and Fiona burst into the lab of the Sonic Underground universe Robotnik, causing him to turn to face them in complete confusion going, " What?! How dare you, how, how did you get here?! Swatbots, get- " But before a single one of the robots running up to them could grab them, Scourge recognized the sound their metal clanking made on the floor remembering the last time he was grabbed by a Swatbot and almost thrown into the ocean surrounding the Anti-Angel Island, and spindashed through all of them in a green and black blur, tearing them apart in just a second.
He then smirked, relishing in the piles of scrap metal and oil in front of him showing off as a display of his power, and in how scared the Sonic Underground Robotnik was, backing away from him. It felt so much better turning the tables on him than being in that old position afraid of being drowned by the robot of someone he trusted. Now he was finally getting his revenge. " Remember me?! Leather jacket, spines, sunglasses? You threw me in a cell?! " Scourge said angrily as he walked towards the backing up Robotnik, with his fists clenched brimming with resentment. The only reason he wasn't immediately terminating him was that he thought making a revenge-centered speech would be far more epic and satisfying, and he was always one with a flair for the dramatics.
" You?! B-B-But, how- " the Sonic Underground Robotnik stammered, to which Scourge replied proudly, " I powered up with the power of a giant Chaos Emerald! Now I'm all unique, I don't look like Sonic anymore! The name's Scourge the Hedgehog, now, the REAL Sonic, the most powerful Sonic alive! And now I'm gonna make you PAY for what you did to me! "
With that, Fiona shot him with a ray gun electrocuting him to make him fall to the ground, screaming in pain and unable to defend himself from Scourge, writhing in pain on the floor helpless. While Scourge smirked with his hands on his hips at it, Fiona felt a small amount of discomfort out of fear and sympathy. Sympathy that she found shameful, as she immediately frowned after reminding herself of who that person reminded her of; Robotnik, the man who kidnapped her when she was a child, made her work at a jewel mining camp without a break for days on end, and then imprisoned her, in a place where she spent two miserable years clawing her way out through a tunnel.
Just looking at him made her angry at him for something he had nothing to do with, dragging her right back to the worst part of her past feeling like a helpless little kid again, and then she remembered the ray gun in her hand. She shouted, " You deserve this, kidnapper! " and kicked him as hard as she could to try to stop feeling weak and pathetic, still holding down the electrocute button for the ray gun to keep the alternate Robotnik from fighting back. She had been given strict instructions to never let it go until Scourge would've finished the job.
Scourge hi-fived Fiona with a proud smile supporting her standing up for herself, and then proceeded to lay a beatdown on him with his bare hands. " Put ME in a cell, will ya? Well, your days end here! " he exclaimed, punching the alternate Robotnik while leaning over him sitting on the floor. " Little harsh, isn't it?! "
The sound of Sonic's voice immediately made the two of them look ahead with Scourge's spines practically standing on end, and to the massive relief of Scourge, it wasn't the Prime Sonic, but an alternate version of him who looked badly bruised, sitting on the floor behind a green translucent wall. And sure enough, Sonia and Manic were right next to him, as well as an alternate Tails looking terrified, all trapped in the same roboticizer. Manic commented, " I don't blame him at all, though, the dude deserves it. " and Sonia scolded, " Quiet, " in disapproval of her brother's more lax morality.
She then said to Scourge, " Can you get us out of here? You can take your revenge on him later! And plus, we DID help you escape from that cell, " before smiling a little at how clever she was being. Sure enough, it seemed to be working, as Scourge said, " That IS true, and what better way to spite the old man than letting ya escape? " Fiona looked at him with a cocked eyebrow, wondering if he really was that easy to manipulate. She had been planning to free them herself, and was dreading getting insulted by Scourge for wasting her time doing that for complete strangers, but it turned out that Scourge was going to do it himself, just to spite a Robotnik.
" BUT! I know what you're gonna do. You're gonna stop me from finishin' the job. So I'm gonna save you AFTER, " Scourge said with a clever smile. " After WHAT? " the alternate Tails asked looking really nervous. " THIS! " he replied, and finished off the Robotnik that tried to roboticize him by attacking just below his head with a sonic kick. The alternate Tails then immediately alerted him to his attention by screaming briefly at the cracking sound and the sight of it, which to Fiona's surprise, she wasn't 100% comfortable with either, but promised herself that she'd get used to it. As someone who suffered so much at the hands of Robotnik, she believed in their cause of eliminating every Robotnik in existence more than Scourge ever could, while with Scourge, there was really only one Robotnik he had a real grudge against. Every other one would just be dealt with to rack up a number.
" What? " Scourge responded, completely confused and a little annoyed at being treated like the bad guy. He recognized that look on his face, and it was one of those looks he never wanted to see again. It was the look that Miles had whenever he was reliving one of his most traumatic experiences at the hands of the many bullies who picked on him.
After pulling a red lever that made the wall of the roboticizer lift up to free everyone, he said, " I gave him what he deserved! Shouldn't you all be THANKING me? " pointing to himself with his thumb at the end, thinking, " I can't believe how ungrateful they're being! Not that I care what these goody-two-shoes think. "
Looking stunned as Sonia checked for a pulse, SU Sonic replied, " Uh, I guess… It's just, yeesh! That was harsh! You just, killed him! Couldn't you have just, I dunno, tied him up or somethin'? " Scourge snarked with a roll of his eyes, " What, with INVISIBLE rope? " and looked around the room, seeing nothing that could've restrained him. SU Tails was hiding behind Manik, terrified.
SU Sonic stammered, " W-Well, okay, but that ray gun already paralyzed him! Couldn't you have- " " What? Who do ya think could've lifted this tub of lard? And do ya think I'd be having Fi keeping the ray gun pointed to him holding the button the whole time we're running? You're being ridiculous. " Scourge replied in annoyance with a dismissive wave of his hand, and then snapped shouting, " And I didn't COME HERE so you could NAG ME! I do things MY way! And MY way, got rid of him! " with his fists clenched leaning closer to him, making him back up a little with his hands in a placating manner.
This caused SU Tails to yelp, shaking like a leaf, and completely out of his control, Scourge's expression changed to a sad one. No matter how hard he tried to ignore it, the child reminded him of Miles, and a friendship long gone. The fact that this particular Tails was the same age as that Miles back then certainly didn't help, as he looked to be around six years old. Much to his chagrin, they all noticed it, and there was nothing the embarrassed criminal could do to erase that.
He sighed in exasperation and told him gently, " Look, I won't hurt you if you won't hurt me. Why would I? I got no beef with you! You're just a kid! A nice, smart, overly naïve kid, " and thought to himself angrily, " Who wouldn't join in on the fun like Miles did. "
SU Tails stared at him in scared confusion for a few awkward seconds, and Scourge tried to reach out to gently rub his shoulder to comfort him, in a complete instinctive reaction. But SU Tails flinched and backed away from him instead, which was heartbreaking. " That settles it. From now on, I'm not killin' 'till there's no Tails in sight. And maybe nobody else, neither. Don't like them nagging me. My curiosity about what's up is the only reason I'm still here! "
Sick of the awkward situation, Fiona tried to change the subject, asking Sonia, " So why were you guys all put in the same roboticizer? That's pretty weird. " Scourge had looked over at her the minute he heard her voice, and was relieved and grateful at her breaking the uncomfortable silence, which was filled with annoying judgment that seemed to choke the air with stifling glares. Sonia saw Fiona as the lesser of two evils right away, since all she had done was paralyze the man, and call him a kidnapper proving that she had a past history suffering at his hands, not to mention she was a girl, which arbitrarily made her seem more likable to her. So she immediately explained, " He was gonna fuse us all together into one huge robot in some sick experiment just to spite us! It was the first time he ever tried something like that. He didn't even know what'd happen to our minds afterwards. "
" How'd you all get captured so easy? " Scourge questioned, and briefly looked at SU Sonic in confusion and dismissal, because as little as he liked to admit it, he still knew that Sonic, any Sonic, was a very capable person with the level of speed he possessed. Sonia replied with her arms crossed, " Sleeping gas, mostly. He snuck up on us while we were distracted by this ' innocent civilian ' that was trapped under a collapsed building? Turned out to be a robot looking exactly like a normal person! It was just to lure us into a trap. "
Hearing about that robot made Fiona look horrified as her mind immediately took her back to when she first saw that robot duplicate of herself. It wasn't scary, per se, since she had no reputation to ruin with no actual friends or family to be hurt by being replaced, but it was the creepiest thing she'd ever seen. Well, until today. But she promised herself she'd keep reminding herself that those Robotniks deserve it. She wasn't comfortable with the idea that any robot duplicates would exist, and hated him even more for making them, glaring at the Robotnik on the floor muttering, " So he makes them too. "
Scourge briefly looked at Fiona concerned, knowing what was preoccupying her, and then snarked, " How the hell were ya plannin' to do it anyways? None of you have super strength or anything! Why didn't 'cha just leave it to an ambulance person who would know how to do it? " Sonia said in irritation with her arms crossed, " First off, don't swear, there's a child here, second, I have super strength, and third, we're not so callous that we would ignore an innocent person crying for help. We didn't know he was a robot, and unlike you, we're not gangsters. Besides, we didn't know how long he'd have left and we thought maybe an ambulance wouldn't arrive in time. We had to be careful! " Scourge groaned rolling his eyes, with Fiona being just as annoyed and resentful as he was at the judgmental attitude of her. " You remind me of Sally. No thanks. I did my job, and I'm outta here! " he said in irritation.
Before Fiona could turn on the giant ring portal generator strapped to her wrist, Sonia exclaimed in fear, " Wait! " and made her stop, which she told herself was purely out of curiosity about what she intended to say. " You gotta escort us out of here! Sonic's too injured to do so, he needs help just walking, and this place is full of robots! You can't leave! " she said in fear, with her expression just barely trying to look angry to mask it. That also reminded them of Sally, but in a more sympathetic way.
Despite that, Scourge said, " Watch me, " stubbornly wanting to spite her for all the nagging she did to him for doing what she should've commended him for. Just before anyone could say anything, an alarm went off having the entire room flash red, with a robotic echoing voice telling the other robots over an intercom about their master's fate. " All units converge on Sector B! All units converge on Sector B! Plot Codename Revenge put into order! "
After that, they all could hear the sound of an army's worth of robots moving down the hallways of the base with loud metal clanks, and the room they were in was still flashing red in an ominous manner that made even Scourge unnerved. SU Tails begged Scourge, " PLEASE, you've gotta help us! Don't leave us! " holding his shoulders before quickly flinching jumping backwards because of the physical contact with him. Both of them were struck speechless by his final sentence; for Fiona, it was from her abandonment issues being triggered at hearing such words, and the fear that if Scourge were to leave him behind, he'd be acting no better than anyone else who ditched her and let her down, like Nicolette after all the time they'd spent bounty-hunting together. And for Scourge, it was because his sentence immediately reminded him of Miles, being at the height of his clinginess in the worst of his fear.
Despite all this, Scourge was still resistant, but it was clear from his intensely uncomfortable expression that he wasn't enjoying the experience. It was frustrating to him, because he wanted to enjoy it. He wanted to make Sonia suffer for the way she treated him like the lowest of scum, thinking, " She should've been PRAISING me for it! Why would I wanna do anything for this stuck-up bitch? " Sonia snapped at him, " Fine! We'll try to leave ourselves! Come on, Sonic, Manic will carry you, and I'll deal with the robots, " and Manic started trying to pick up her brother up clumsily, leaning backwards a little almost falling over in the process.
A scream was heard from the alternate Tails that immediately caused Scourge to snap, and he lunged at the Swatbot that was standing behind the unconscious child, and spindashed straight through it in a protective rage, then proceeded to create a whirlwind around him fending off and destroying two waves of Swatbots converging on him with his spindash.
Fiona asked, " What happened to him?! " looking panicked, and Sonia rushed to his side saying in pity, " He must have been smacked on the head, look at that bump! Come on, Miles, wake up! " Scourge, who had been panting feeling absolutely incensed and waiting for some more robots to come up to him, was snapped out of his anger when he heard what she said, especially that last sentence. " Miles?! " he exclaimed in confusion, and walked up to her asking, " Why not Tails? That's what my girlfriend's version of him is called! "
" Tails? He'd never go for a name that offensive, " she replied while trying to help him up, and Manic said with his arms crossed, " Yeah. I tried, as a cute little nickname, but he didn't go for it. Just made him cry. Poor kid. " Scourge couldn't help but appreciate how Manic was surprisingly similar to him. His speech mannerisms, his more lax morality, his green fur, although it was natural for him, which he envied. All of it made him start to see him as a kindred spirit, although he wasn't aware of it yet. " I take it HE'S been bullied, too? Just like my Miles? " Scourge asked unhappily, looking depressed at SU Tails' condition and the heartwrenching revelation Manic made to him. " It's all my fault. Would've been so damn easy to just keep an eye on him, " he thought angry with himself.
Manic said unhappily, " Yeah, he was! It took him weeks to trust us! We found him at an orphanage after it got all smashed up by Robotnik. He doesn't trust ANYBODY. Kid's got a past. " Sonia snapped sitting on the floor looking at them, " We can chitchat later! Look! " and pointed just as some robots landed on the floor falling from the ceiling, which had started opening up above them. One of those robots was a little too close to Fiona for comfort, and behind her, at that. Scourge's eye twitched and he immediately started wrecking havoc on the robots in the room, shouting, " Everyone against that wall! " pointing to the left, before creating a tornado to sweep all of the robots off their feet, as well as catching any robots that would've potentially come in from above. The tornado smacked all of the robots against the higher part of the walls at sonic speed from the centrifugal force, damaging them all beyond repair.
Fiona, Manic and SU Sonic found themselves cheering for him carried away in the excitement of the moment, with Manic saying, " Awesome! " and SU Sonic saying, " Way to go, Scourge! " which made Scourge start grinning ear to ear, feeling proud of himself, the minute he heard an alternate version of himself express approval of him. Realizing that now it'd be an easy matter to convince him to help them, Sonia reasoned with him, " You really seem to love destroying those robots. Well, there's plenty of more of them where that came from! And you can cause all the destruction you want that way! "
" Sounds exciting! " Scourge said with a smile. But before Sonia could make any plans, he interrupted her, " But I'M making the plans here. Because I do things MY way! Pink girl, you'll carry Miles. Green guy, " Manic said, " Manic , " and Scourge continued, " Manic , you'll carry your brother since he can't run or nothing, Fi, you'll use your ray gun on the robots I'm not facing, so we won't get surrounded, and I'll have all of the robots in this base torn apart in minutes! And I'm not leaving you behind. You'll follow me, I know the way, and when you're outta there, I'm goin' right back in to kill every bot I find. That's where the real fun will begin! " Sonia tried not to smirk pleased at the irony of how he was making the exact same plan she was going to.
The plan went off without a hitch, and they soon found themselves standing outside of Robotnik's base, which was crumbling apart as part of the automatic defense system plan to try to bury the one who defeated Robotnik in rubble. But before Scourge could go do anything else, Manic exclaimed, " Wait! We gotta get Miles to the hospital! Can't you run him there real fast? It'll take like two seconds. "
The minute he looked at the injured Tails in front of him with a red bump on the top of his head, he had already made his decision, but he was awkward about looking like a softie by making it right away, so he put up some token resistance. " What am I, your slave? " he remarked sarcastically, from all the different things he'd been told to do for them, and Sonia teased, " Are you saying you're not fast enough? " with her hands on her hips. Once again, he took the bait, scoffing and saying angrily, " No! I ran across a whole planet multiple times as a fun little RACE! Which way to the hospital? "
She pointed in the correct direction, only letting herself smirk when he looked away, and he lifted the unconscious alternate Tails into his arms, making it so that his arms and head were over his shoulder to better keep him held up. Just looking at his condition made his face fall into a depressed expression, internally beating himself up over not being careful enough, not being fast enough, and not being strong enough to protect him, even though he wasn't really Miles. And Fiona saw it.
" Are you gonna be okay? " she asked with concern, and Scourge quickly remembered how uneasy she was about being left behind. " She even looks upset when I leave to go to the can, " he thought with concern, and simply replied, " Come with me, Fi. There's no reason you should stay here. " Fiona nodded, still not knowing whether to find that treatment sweetly considerate or annoying, and ran alongside him keeping up using her Speed Boots while he brought the kid to the hospital, with just looking at the anguished expression of the unconscious fox in his arms bringing back a painful memory of when she lashed out at Tails, just to get him to leave her alone.
Soon, they found the hospital, as it was pretty hard to miss, being a large building that looked as one would expect, and Scourge started dreading at first the potential reaction of everyone in the hospital to him slowing things down, completely forgetting the fact that he wasn't world famous there. Instead, while the hospital staff and the random patients in the waiting room did see that he looked like a menacing biker gang-guy with his leather jacket and even fangs, they didn't start saying his name and cowering in fear, either. It was confusing, but for the moment, it was a relief, as it would only make things take longer. Fiona explained to the woman behind the desk, " We're here to drop off Miles. Some robot hit him in the head. As you can clearly see, " and gestured to the bump on his head.
The clerk promptly nodded and called for him to be sent to the emergency room, and Fiona and Scourge looked around the room in stunned silence, not used to the fact that they were being treated like regular people. People still looked nervous around them, with their black menacing outfits, but that was about it. It was certainly more convenient, as Fiona commented to Scourge, " For a second I thought we'd have to be answering a hundred questions. ' Why'd you bring him here, why'd you care, what are you planning?! ' " Scourge replied, " Yeah. I forgot these guys don't even know who we are. That was convenient. " He then reluctantly made himself let go of the unconscious Tails to put him on a stretcher, as he tried not to cringe at him half-consciously groaning in pain. After he was taken to the emergency room, there was a silence as he continued staring in his direction after he was gone, and Fiona asked nervously,
" You gonna be okay? " A few seconds passed before Scourge would mutter distractedly, " Sure, yeah, I don't care… " looking annoyed with his hands in his pockets. " It wasn't MY fault a robot hit him, " he grumbled with a dismissive wave of his hand, and anyone could tell that he was blaming himself for it. Fiona reassured, " I know, hun, " and he complained, " It's just annoying everything that went wrong. The hit was perfect, the revenge speech was sweet, but everything after that was like, nag, nag, nag, I'm gonna treat you like the bad guy, and then the kid… Tails… " He looked bitterly depressed at the end, his eyes seeming to water, and then complained,
" Damn it. I'm the fastest thing in the universe, nothing should've touched him with me around! " He was frustrated at everything that went wrong, and even at the fact that he was frustrated at all. He didn't want to care. He wanted to just shrug everything off.
" I shouldn't care what they think. It's just annoying, that's all. It's annoying that I should've been PRAISED for it and of course I happened to not be looking at Miles at the time! " he ranted, and it finally dawned on him that Fiona had been having her arm around him to comfort him ever since his rant first started. He wasn't planning for a rant at all, it just came out in bits and pieces.
" The important thing is, you learned from it, " Fiona reassured him, trying to smile and remain comforting. " What do you mean? " " What are you gonna do differently to make sure this doesn't happen again? " she asked with faith in him. " Well, for starters, I'm gonna force everyone outta the room the next time I try to ice a Robotnik. I don't know how much more of that annoying nagging I can take! And second, if I meet up with another Tails, I'll get him out of danger and THEN get my revenge. I'm the fastest thing alive, I can just run out of there and back in a second. Not that I care about the naïve kid, he just reminds me of Miles, " Scourge explained looking serious.
Of course, the people in the room had overheard their conversation, as one of them exclaimed on the waiting room couch, " Robotnik? So you defeated Robotnik?! " Scourge felt some joy swelling in him ready to be fully enjoyed as he said, " Y-Yeah, with a kick in the neck! And way easier than your own Sonic, you know. I JUST got here! Just ask Sonic, he'll tell ya the whole story. " Everyone in the room cheered, overjoyed at the fact that Robotnik was really gone for good, clapping and laughing while Scourge had the biggest grin on his face. He was smiling so much, he thought his face was going to start to hurt.
And to Fiona's surprise, she found herself smiling too, a smile of satisfaction as she put her hands on her hips to make that more clear; she may have not taken her revenge out on the right Robotnik, but it felt close enough to her, and the more she did it, the closer she might be to no longer feeling trapped and helpless like that little girl in the camp, because no more Robotniks would exist, and they'd all just be weak little feeble targets who had no more power over her. At least she hoped so. " What's your name, son? " the fox Mobian man on the couch asked.
Unfortunately, the " son " at the end of his sentence set him off, reminding him of the father he barely had. " How dare he! " he thought immediately, and snapped, " I'm Scourge the Hedgehog the BEST Sonic, and I'm not your ' son, ' I'm NOBODY'S son. I have no father! And besides, the bastard wouldn't even be cheering for me if he knew this. " The whole room went quiet in an awkward silence, with everyone knowing immediately the kind of father issues he had and looking at him in pity. And it was even more unbearable for Scourge himself, feeling like he just looked pathetic in front of a whole crowd of people with a verbal outburst that normally didn't make it so obvious what his issues were. He usually kept that kind of thing to himself.
Fiona reflected on the fact that if this had happened in front of her when she first started being interested in Scourge, she would've reacted more negatively, but seeing it after her initial feelings of " bad boy attraction " had developed and matured into falling for him, only had her want to comfort him. She understood him so well by that point, and already knew that he was more than just some bad boy; he had all of Sonic's good qualities hidden beneath it to appreciate.
Trying desperately to rectify the situation, he did what he always did to save his pride falling back on old ways, saying his ears lowered unhappily, " Just gimme your money, " but his heart wasn't into it. He had muttered it bitterly under his breath, his arms crossed looking away from him. And after what he just said, not to mention what he did for his planet, the man actually felt like giving him some, handing him what he pretended was all of his money.
" That'll s-serve as compensation for demeaning me like that. 50 bucks, that oughta do, " he said in annoyance, still embarrassed from being the target of such pity, and wondering why he wasn't going after everyone else in the room in anger before rationalizing it away as not wanting to lose what was left of their admiration for him.
He walked out of the hospital with Fiona following behind him holding his hand, and said, " Come on, Fi, we can find some robots to trash and criminals to mug, get ourselves some money for a hotel. " Fiona nodded, being silent for a few awkward seconds as she internally debated over whether she should comment on what happened earlier and then decided that she'd have nothing to say that would be worth it. How would she even phrase it without annoying him anyways? A good girlfriend would keep quiet, she reasoned, and let him just move on. Trying to make it easier on him, she was the one to suggest, " Why don't we stay on this planet for a couple weeks and see if the kid recovers and stuff? Or at least go visit it every day after our daily hits! It's no big deal. He reminds you of Miles, " and then said very quietly under her breath, " and he reminds ME of Tails. "
Scourge heard that, but kept silent about it, understanding that a long time of emotional attachment to a friend couldn't completely dissolve that easily. That was why he was able to forgive Miles, so he wasn't one to talk on that front. " Good idea, Fi, " he said unhappily, knowing that he would be full of stress and worry that wouldn't really go away until he'd confirm that the fox had fully recovered, and then tried to act more natural saying proudly, " Glad I thought of it! " to which Fiona rolled her eyes with a smile.