After leaving the Sonic Underground Universe, Scourge and Fiona traveled to another Robotnik's base, this one in the Film Noir universe, and took him down with extreme prejudice. Scourge had no real hard feelings towards this particular one because he hadn't put him in a cell, but he still contributed to beating him up when he could've easily ended it in one easy blow, purely because he thought it'd be more fun that way. Fun, that was the idea. But for Fiona, it wasn't about fun. It was about asserting her power over someone who at least looked and acted like the man who made her suffer so much and helped make her the way she is today. As a result, despite her left hand being always occupied with holding down the paralyzing electrocution button on the ray gun, she managed to be the most vicious attacker, kicking him and hitting him with one hand in her desperate attempt to get over her fear, until finally, the job was done. It didn't feel like a phenomenal accomplishment, considering how many other Robotniks were left. To them, it was just raising a number, and now they were done for the day, and could spend the rest of the day doing whatever they wanted.
Before they would leave the base entirely, Scourge noticed a small airship in it, and said, " Hey, let's take a look! " out of curiosity. The two of them found from the onboard computer's display that the airship was set to automatically send the maximum of two people in it to a small island. Fiona said with her hand on her chin, " Maybe that was his next destination for a plan. " Then Scourge pressed a button below the screen with Fiona saying nervously, " What are you doing? " and some text appeared on the screen. Scourge said, " Operation Rainfall. It's a plan to create a bunch of acid rain over Cocoa Island. Don't see what he'd have to gain in it, but he'll never get to do that now. Wait, Cocoa… Like, Coconut Island? " He almost gasped, before regaining his composure and looking serious and determined. " We've got to get to that island. " He pressed the button to activate the airship, and the roof of the room above them opened up as the airship started to hover out of the room with magnetic repulsion and start flying.
Fiona was unclear on all the details surrounding Scourge's childhood brother figure, and the ones he did tell her she didn't always remember, but she did remember that Miles used to live on an island, and with this seeming to be an island Scourge was familiar with, there was only one explanation.
" You wanna pay a two-tailed fox a visit? " she said casually with a smile, trying to make it clear she was being accepting of Scourge for who he was. " You're lucky you said fox, Fiona, " Scourge replied bitterly staring ahead. " What else would I say? Relax, hun! " Fiona said a bit nervously. " I know, I know. You'd never call him something like that, force of habit. A-Anyways, " Scourge replied, feeling awkward about his mistake, before regaining the attitude that was expected of him, sitting on a chair with Fiona already sitting down next to it, and saying with a confident smile, " We're just takin' a little luxury cruise, is all. Just a trip to go visit a place, and see if there are any bozos who deserve our attention. It's no big deal. " Fiona smiled and rolled her eyes at how transparent his rationalizations were, and decided to play along. After all, it could be fun, and at least it was something exciting to do.
After the airship arrived at the island, it landed on a beach with a forest leading up to it, and Scourge and Fiona left the airship and ran out of it to explore the island, Fiona keeping up with him using her newly acquired speed boots. Sure enough, Scourge's instinct was right, as before long, they heard the sound of a familiar child's voice screaming in the distance, and ran right up to it to see what was going on. An alternate version of Tails was being bullied by a crowd of angry villagers, who were insulting his second tail calling him every insult for it under the sun.
Much to Scourge and Fiona's surprise, the terrified fox child had the power of ice at his disposal, frantically using it left right and center, in a way that was sloppy, haphazard and unskilled, but powerful. There were already two villagers who were trapped from the neck down in ice, and three more who were pinned to trees by icicles in the edges of their shirts and pants, while the kid was sending ice all over the place in a freezing water current. But it wasn't from someone trying to victimize them, it was from a 4-year-old mage who was desperately trying to defend himself in his panic.
At first, he was handling himself pretty well despite being outnumbered, which was why Scourge and Fiona were choosing to hide behind some bushes and watch the show, but things soon went from bad to worse when two different people, a fox and a deer Mobian, grabbed his arms and tails from behind while he was distracted fending off someone in front of him and held him to a tree, pulling his arms back towards it with the fox holding the left ones and the deer holding the right ones. This left him panicking and defenseless, and about to be attacked, as a strong-looking wolf Mobian with black fur ran towards him with a satisfied smirk, and punched him, giving him a shiner.
Scourge instantly snapped at that and ran into the Mobian in a rage punching him at the speed of sound to send him flying. With no regard for any of the other people around, only not openly killing them because the kid might not be able to handle the sight of it, Scourge then went up to the two people restraining the FN Tails and smacked their heads together, and Fiona hit the one on the right with her paralyzing ray gun to keep him from causing her boyfriend any harm while he knocked out the one on the left, and then sent the both of them flying. Then finally, he ran around the rest of the prejudiced villagers in a blur to create a tornado around them, lifting them up and away from the Tails who could only watch.
" Finally! They won't be comin' to bother you again if they know what's good for 'em! " Scourge said proud and relieved that not much harm had come his way. The minute he saw how he was shaking in fear looking terrified, he remembered how Miles had panicked at first meeting him, even though he had just saved his life, and he wondered what steps he could take to immediately reassure him, especially after the kid shrieked a little and froze the two of them to the ground by the feet shouting, " No! Don't come any closer! "
They tried to walk, but they couldn't, because as Scourge pointed out, " The kid hasn't just frozen our footwear, the ice reaches all the way down underground, too! Nice technique! " to the immediate confusion of the nervous Tails, who slightly lowered his arms which were pointed in his direction. Fiona was dumbfounded that in the middle of her being worried and scared of what the kid might do, Scourge was able to remain unintimidated and act friendly to him anyways. He was certain no Tails would ever kill anyone, on purpose anyways. Even Miles hadn't.
" A compliment? " he said quietly to himself in confusion, his eyes darting all over the place looking down and away from them searching his mind for the socially expected response. " T-Thank you? " he said, as the ice trapping Scourge in place melted away freeing him. He exclaimed, " Huh? How'd that happen?! I didn't tell it to do that! Did I? " Scourge then smiled saying casually, " Well, maybe it's 'cause deep down you knew I wasn't gonna hurt ya! I DID scare off your bullies after all. Now, would ya mind freeing my girlfriend, there? I know you don't mean us harm. That's why you went easy, and only froze our feet. "
FN Tails looked all wide-eyed in realization that his subconscious had indeed guided his magic in that way for that very reason, and asked nervously, " Why did you help me? You can clearly see I've got two tails! Who would help a mutant?! " still with his feet firmly on the ground in a fighting stance, ready to refreeze them at any time. Fiona reassured him, " We don't care about that! If anything, we think it's cool! No pun intended. " " So you don't think I'm a, a, d-demon? " FN Tails replied nervously, whispering the final word. " What, no! That's stupid. Just a cute little kid, " Fiona replied, and noticed the ice melt away with the air feeling warm around her, as the kid completely lowered his arms.
Scourge relaxed his shoulders at seeing that and asked him, " So where'd ya learn to use magic like that? Looks pretty cool. " FN Tails replied, deciding to warily play along and see if he could prove himself right about his suspicion, " I just did it on instinct when some people tried to kill me. It was a freezing cold blizzard out, and I guess I had wished I could take that to my advantage. " Fiona simply commented, " Cool, " and Scourge looked serious asking, " How long have you been out in the woods being treated like this? " with a look in his eyes that implied he was planning revenge. The kid noticed that look, and became scared again, explaining to humor him,
" S-Since a few months ago. I used to live at some foster home, where people used to beat me up, so I ran away because I couldn't take it anymore. Then I realized I had never lived on my own before. Didn't think that one through. I've been doing what I can to survive ever since. " He added with his eyes downcast and head lowered in shame, " Even stealing. "
" The bastards. Don't worry, buddy. I'll make the island pay for what they did, " Scourge said to him in the most quiet reassuring voice Fiona had ever heard from him. Not even when she occasionally woke up crying early in the morning and was soothed to sleep in his arms after a nightmare did she hear him be that comforting, although it was very close. Unfortunately, what he said only made the kid even more afraid of him, reminding him of the violent way he dealt with his bullies and how they might be dead for all he knew, and Fiona, seeing disaster waiting to happen, reassured him with concern,
" It's okay, now! We're not gonna hurt you. I don't think we've really introduced ourselves, now, have we, hun? " Scourge felt self-conscious of what it implied about him that someone as famously egocentric as him still hadn't even told him who he was and was instead instinctively focused on trying to be nice to him, nice like Sonic, but snapped out of the impending identity crisis when Fiona put her hand on his shoulder.
He explained with a grin, " That's right! I'm Scourge the Hedgehog, the fastest lawbreaker alive, and this is Fiona, my girlfriend. We're here visiting the island for the day out of curiosity, and we were in the middle of explorin' it when we, well, found out what was happening to you, " with the grin becoming forced at the end.
" So what are you gonna do now? " the kid asked suddenly, his curtness surprising them. " I mean, you're only on the island temporarily. What does it matter that you saved me once if I might die tomorrow anyways? You're not gonna be my friends after this. " Scourge replied clumsily with a smile, " At least we did! Besides, you're more than capable of handling yourself, and I'm certain you'll meet someone that'll wanna be your friend sooner or later. Only so many people can look at a cute kid like you and not wanna adopt you. "
Scourge knew that it was possible that the Sonic of this universe was destined to show up and meet him in the same way that he met his own Tails, and didn't think that he should ruin the surprise, but unfortunately, him not telling him this didn't make his cheeriness seem understandable. It felt to the kid like the universe was mocking him, causing him to tear up from disbelieving him, and say with a cracking voice, " You're gonna leave me behind, struggling to survive on this island, and you STILL smile at me?! "
Fiona recognized the abandonment issues this version of Tails might have just from what he said, exclaimed, " We'd never do that! " getting Scourge's attention right away. She went down more to his eye level and put her hand on his cheek to reassure him as he instinctively backed away more so that his back was right up against the tree. " Look, you're a sweet kid, " she started to say, but with every passing second, she became more and more nervous and uncomfortable at the fear in his eyes, and soon in a moment of self-awareness, focusing on what she was seeing, she realized that it was more than that.
She was once in the exact same position, doing the exact same thing, and a memory flashed before her eyes of her slapping Tails saying that she was teaching him to stop being too trusting. As if it was for his own good, in some desperate way, making it somehow justified, when in reality she only did it to lash out and make him stop trying to convince her not to go with the only person other than him who trusted her anymore. He was making her conflicted and uncomfortable and afraid. But he still didn't deserve it. The image of what she did the last time she was doing something like this flashed in her eyes for just a split-second, but it was stressful enough to instantly make her pupils shrink and her expression become scared as she imagined herself slapping him, and the reactions of Scourge and him afterwards.
Terrified of the possibility that she might make that mistake that again without thinking, and to much worse consequences, she embraced the Tails in front of her in a heartbeat, holding him close in a warm soft hug as she breathed deeply to reassure herself and slow her rapidly beating heart. " I'd never hurt you, " she reassured him sadly right away with her eyes closed, focusing on the sensation of the hug, almost whispering to avoid her voice cracking, and completely forgetting that Scourge was there witnessing it all. Her reaction all happened in a second, with her putting her hand on the child's soft furry face, looking scared from a memory, and hugging him. The child sighed happily relaxing his shoulders after a few seconds of complete confusion, finally accepting the fact that someone could care about him, even if they might not always be there for him.
" Mind if I join in? " Scourge finally decided to say after a few seconds of staring in silence awkwardly trying to think about what to say. He knew because of why she was reacting that way that she'd get startled from any response from him, and wanted to make it clear with a friendly if awkward tone that she was still his girlfriend and wasn't in big trouble. He'd always suspected she'd have regret for that anyways, and asking her to talk about it might only lead to trouble. Fiona immediately opened her eyes at hearing Scourge and remembering that he was there, and it took a second for relief to set in as she said, " Uh, go ahead, " as Scourge sat next to them and put his arms around them, jumping at the opportunity to get some of the affection he could never have in his youth.
A few seconds later, the three of them stood back up with FN Tails being calm and reasonable at last, and Scourge, after saying with a smile, " There's someone I think you should meet, and better now than later. We'll get you off this island and then you'll finally have someone looking after ya, " And he was now faced with the unenviable problem of having to explain why he was leaving the dimension without him. The disappointed look on the kid's face wasn't pretty, and Scourge and Fiona tried to think of it in terms of " annoying " rather than admit that it outright made them feel guilty. " Why can't I come live with you? " he asked, thinking it wasn't fair.
Fiona sighed heavily, and Scourge explained unhappily, " I'm not even from here. At all. I spend every day traveling to other universes, " briefly showed him his interdimensional ring summoner, and continued, " And believe me, I'd love to take you with me, in fact I'm fighting back the urge to just do that, but if the Zone Cops notice you go missing from the universe you belong to, that's just gonna give them even more reason to come after me. I'm lucky I haven't seen them go after me yet at all since I escaped their prison! And I've met a version of you from my own universe. He's my best friend, actually, and acts a lot like you. " The two-tailed fox said all wide-eyed, " Does HE have two tails, too? Does he know how I feel?! " Not wanting to respond to that since the kid leaving his own universe to go be buddies with Miles wasn't what he wanted, he said,
" Anyways, what that means is, I know for a fact that your own Sonic, your own version of me, is the perfect friend for you, and is probably destined to come find you here anyways. It'd be weird if I came along and just scooped you up before he ever could so you could go around watching us offing Robotniks! There's no way you'd feel right about that, it'd just fr-I mean, make you scared of us. " He took care not to say the word freak in front of him.
Stunned and overwhelmed by the information he was taking in all at once, FN Tails said nervously, " Offing Robotniks? " Scourge then explained full of pride and excitement, " Yeah, exactly! I've made it my personal goal to spend every day killing off at least one Robotnik, until one day, I'll have taken down them all! " He then said more quietly with resentment looking away, " That'll show him, thinking he's so much better than me! " before continuing, " B-But clearly you're not gonna be comfortable with that for some reason, even though they deserve it. You're not vengeful enough, so you'll just end up miserable and wanting out. I've seen it happen before. " FN Tails was speechless, before saying looking stunned and intimidated,
" How could the nicest people I've ever met be so, violent? " Of course, he immediately was terrified of retribution for insulting them without thinking, and Fiona quickly interrupted his thoughts with, " We'll warp you out of this dimension and then warp you in front of the house of your own version of Sonic, I mean, Scourge's counterpart here. He's blue, just so you know. You won't really be cheated out of anything, he'll be just as great of a friend as Scourge would! And hell, maybe we'll come to visit you, and hang out sometimes! You want that? " She smiled nervously towards the end, secretly longing to just hug him again wishing it was Tails and frustrated with herself for even having that regret at all. " A-As long as I don't have to kill anyone, I'd love to hang out, " he replied, finally accepting their decision because it was clear that their moralities were too different.
Scourge asked in exasperated annoyance, " What's wrong with killing Robotniks, anyways? You know they deserve it. The dumbasses, " saying the final word to rationalize his targeting of them; as far as he was concerned, he wasn't doing it to fight villains like a hero, he just thought the way they were going about being villains was stupid, putting their own planets on a time limit. They deserved to be punished for their idiocy, but he held no grudge against them for being evil, because he had no personal investment in the planets they were ruining. He couldn't care less, he hoped.
Not planning on going beyond a sentence at first, the little fox replied sadly, " I deal with people who want to kill me every day, I don't wanna prove I'm no better than them. Even if it doesn't prove that, I don't wanna do the same thing they do and give them any sort of proof that I'm the monster they think I am. Even if they'll never know, they'll always be in my head. I'll think about how they'd react to me, like they're always there scrutinizing my every decision and mistake. I'd never stop going back to that moment and thinking that they're right. I know it's irrational, I know it's crazy, but- "
" It's okay. You're just like Miles. He thinks like that, too, " Scourge replied in annoyance, cutting him off before he could start rambling and insulting himself like he did too. The more he heard that argument against killing from people, the more it seemed to gain credibility, and the more he resisted believing in it, because if he did, he'd never end up getting rid of every Robotnik. Then what would he brag to Sonic about? Not to mention he might end up regretting what he did, when he couldn't undo any of it, and he was afraid just at the thought. What would that do to him? If he accepted all that guilt for everything he did, the weight of it would make him collapse, and he refused to suffer that humiliation in front of anyone. Could simply getting Robotniks thrown in prison be just as satisfying? All of this he pondered as he brought the alternate Tails out of his dimension and then back, to his own version of Sonic, with Fiona holding his arm, going through the motions doing it without much conscious effort as he was distracted.
Since he was distracted, Fiona stepped in ringing the doorbell of the house and saying for him, " Don't be shy. Just tell him your life story, he'll be hugging ya in minutes! See ya later! "
" WAIT! Stay here while I talk to him! Please! " the kid begged them all of a sudden, immediately getting Scourge's attention. Scourge sighed heavily, thinking that the conversation would be long, boring, and require too much explaining, and not to mention would involve the other Sonic poking fun at how his evil twin was doing something nice. And on their second meeting, at that. " You heard him, Fiona. YOU stay here. I'm waiting outside until you're done, " he said in exasperation. He quickly realized his potential mistake at Fiona's hurt expression and said, " I'll be right here when you come out, I promise. I just think you should do the talking since it'd be less awkward for you. " He also had plans to return to the island with Fiona after all of that and reduce it to a wasteland. " NOBODY treats a little kid like that and gets away with it, especially not Tails! " he thought.
Just before Fiona could protest since she was feeling nervous, the door opened with FN Sonic saying hello and Scourge ran away in a blur, leaving her and an alternate version of Tails to discuss things with the blue hedgehog wearing a gray detective suit and hat right in front of her. She had to fight back the sinking feeling of overwhelming anxiety and fear of abandonment and have faith that Scourge would come back, and ignore the paranoid worry in the back of her mind that he was ditching her because she proved she regretted the way she treated Tails, and both her and FN Tails smiled very nervously at FN Sonic, trying to work up the nerve to start talking to him. Fiona was normally the opposite of socially awkward and timid, in fact she was overly gutsy if anything, it was just uncomfortable since she would be talking to a Sonic, while doing the right thing. How much could she deviate from being a " bad girl " villain until she didn't meet the standards anymore? She thought, " What if I'm not cool anymore? Oh damn it, I've gotta stop worrying like this. Talk, Fiona, talk! "
" H-Hi there, uh, " Fiona said to a very confused-looking Sonic with a huge fake smile, forcing herself to act overly cheerful to hide how uncomfortable she was. She didn't call him Sonic right away despite knowing his name out of the paranoid fear that she'd only be embarrassing herself by getting him confused that she knows his name already; she didn't know how famous or not he was in this little universe. " Sonic the Hedgehog, " she was told, and continued with nervous fake cheerfulness, " And I'm Fiona! There's someone I'd like ya to meet! His name's Miles, he's an orphan. He got bullied a lot. Can I use your bathroom? "
At the end, she internally congratulated herself on coming up with the genius excuse to not spend as much time explaining to him on the fly, only to quickly feel ashamed and almost disgusted with herself since this could be perceived as abandoning him by forcing him to be alone with him. She tried to ignore the kid's pleading look of fear telling herself, " It's for his own good, " remembered that it was the exact same reasoning as when she made her biggest mistake, and added to the thought, " For real this time. It's better for the two to talk alone, it's more natural them becoming friends that way. "
" W-Well, okay, " he replied in confusion, feeling sorry for Fiona's confusing nervousness and the kid's trembling at seeing him. " Good! By the way he has ice magic. How's THAT for a conversation starter?! Gotta go! " Fiona said with a smile, and ran into the house in a red and black blur before he could question her on it. She rushed into the room with a toilet in it immediately to the left of the living room, closed the wooden door and sighed in relief sinking to the floor with her back against it. With any luck, she could get away with hiding in the bathroom until the two of them would be completely finished talking, and only have to talk to him in a brief explanation of who she was and how she met him.
It wasn't that she hated the hedgehog or anything, she thought he was perfectly fine, or at least assumed for a reason that she wasn't sure of since she thought she would resent any Sonic other than Scourge on sight. From her experience, she should, because Sonic represents to her a traitor, someone who she thought cared about her only to look down on her for being forced to steal for food and water and stop being grateful for everything she did for him. And yet, perhaps because enough time had passed, she didn't hate THIS, unrelated Sonic. She hoped she wouldn't always feel that conflicted. All she knew for sure anymore was that she loved Scourge.
" You put me in a VERY awkward situation there, you know that?! " Fiona said to Scourge in an angry scolding whisper pointing at him with one hand on her hip outside of the house. " It would've been even more awkward for ME! I'm his evil twin! Don't you think he would've been pointing out how weird it is that I'd help the kid?! " Scourge yelled back, feeling like the victim. " Yeah, but… " Fiona said awkwardly, not sure if she should tell him. " But what? " he asked still irritated with his arms crossed. " It was an alternate version of SONIC! I wasn't comfortable talking to him all friendly like we were old pals, " Fiona confessed awkwardly.
" Makes sense, I guess. Probably reminded you of old times. Not that it matters much since you know you're happier with me, " Scourge replied nonchalantly. Fiona said lovingly with her arms around his neck, " Of course I am! It's so much more exciting, after all. Especially after we got rid of this world's Robotnik, there'd be nothing exciting to do if I stayed here. " Scourge, who had put his arms around her back instantly, said casually, " Exactly! Being with a Sonic was probably torture after this ' bad boy. ' "
Unfortunately, he immediately spotted the uncertainty in her expression before she could fake agreement, and asked to clarify, " Right? " Realizing she had been caught for good, Fiona reluctantly said as they let go of each other, " H-He was fine. Just like any other person. It just made me nervous since he wasn't you, and he didn't have a reason to trust me. But he still treated me like just like any other person. I was expecting nothing but suspicion. But he was more confused than anything. " She tried to sound as resentful as she could by the second to last sentence, hiding the embarrassing feeling of shame that was weighing down on her.
" Suspicion? What, because you're dressed all badass-like? You know Sonic's all prejudiced against criminals. It's not your fault, " Scourge said, briefly caressing her back and head casually in affection. " No, i-it's because he never met me before, that's all. Though obviously if he knew I was dating his evil twin, he wouldn't have a reason to trust me anyways, " Fiona said, and Scourge was annoyed at detecting an ashamed tone in her voice.
" Why should that matter to you? Who cares what he thinks? He's not me, he's just some stranger. And a totally inferior Sonic at that. If someone doesn't trust you when you want them to, they can go screw themselves. Especially if that hurts you! Fi, the only one whose opinion of you matters is ME, don't go beatin' yourself up, " he told her in a serious tone and expression, gently putting his hand on her cheek at the end. He was getting worried about her potentially getting the same self-doubt and hesitation as Miles, and made a plan to try to counteract that the best he could later.
" Thanks, hun, " Fiona said full of appreciation, but with a smile that was nervous and distracted. " Come on, don't be upset. Smile for real! What's stoppin' ya? " Scourge asked cheerfully, secretly impatient at how long it was taking to comfort her like that. She was reminding him of Miles, and not in the good way, the exhausting way that was the hardest part of being friends with someone as troubled as him.
" How's about we go visit that Tails with the head injury now? " Fiona brought up to change the subject. Scourge said, " Of course we should! But first thing's first, " and kissed her six times all around her face, not wanting the moment to end so quickly and wanting to at least end it off with a bang. " Oh, get a room, " a neighbour taking out the garbage complained, jealous at seeing the two of them. Scourge and Fiona smirked at the racoon Mobian who said that, and Scourge said, " We WILL! Good luck with yours! " sarcastic at the end, before using the interdimensional teleporter to warp away with her to the shock of the man who saw it.