Chapter 3: Eggman's Care
Sonic remained silent the whole way back to Eggman's base. Eggman thought since because it was closer he could take the hedgehog back with him to take care of him and figure out what had traumatized the blue hero so badly.
The whole way there, Eggman held Sonic as he drove the Mobile with one hand. Sonic clung to his arch enemy, searching for any source of comfort he could get, not that he needed to, Eggman wasn't letting go with his gentle hold for anything.
At last, they finally arrived at the base and Eggman flew in, gently lowering the Egg Mobile to the landing pad as if trying not to jolt the hedgehog in his arms. Once he turned the vehicle off, he held Sonic a little tighter in a protective manner as he climbed out and walked inside through the sliding double steel doors. Feeling safe and comforted, Sonic buried his face into Eggman's chest, as if trying to hide from the monster that had taken advantage of him. Eggman didn't object. He just continued to stroke the quills in the gentle manner that he possessed.
"Welcome home, Doctor Eggman." Orbot greeted as he wheeled over, Cubot following behind. "How was your…"
Orbot suddenly stopped as he noticed the frightened hedgehog in his creator's arms. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. What was Eggman doing, holding Sonic like that?
"Um, sir?" Cubot spoke up. "What is Sonic doing here? And why is he clinging to you like that?"
"At the moment, that is none of your concern." Eggman told them. "Sonic is in my care for the time being. I'm going to get him cleaned up and I'm gonna try to get him to talk to me."
"Shall we get the torture devices, sir?" Orbot questioned.
At the mention of torture, Sonic began to cry again, sobbing into Eggman's chest, leaving a big wet tearstained spot on the doctor's uniform. Eggman pet Sonic's quills and hushed, trying to calm his arch nemesis.
"No Orbot." He ordered the red spherical robot. "He's been through enough."
With that said, Eggman turned away from his robots and continued walking down the hall towards the bathroom. Before he entered, he stopped and turned back to his robots.
"What you can do though, is get me the first aid kit so that I can deal with Sonic's injuries properly."
"Yes sir!" Both Orbot and Cubot saluted.
Eggman nodded and entered the bathroom with Sonic safely in his arms.
When he entered the bathroom, he closed the door behind him and set Sonic in the big white porcelain tub. He undid Sonic's sports wraps and took off his gloves and shoes, setting them aside with his neckerchief.
"Sonic," He spoke to the hedgehog gently. "I know you hate water, but I'm gonna have to turn it on to help get you cleaned up… ok?"
Sonic said nothing. He just stared down at his legs, trying not to grimace at the sight of the vampire's lubricant starting to solidify and turn white, he was surprised Eggman hasn't noticed it yet, and was secretly praying that he wouldn't.
Realizing that he wasn't gonna get a response, Eggman reached over and turned on the water, checking it before putting in the plug. He let the water rise to cover Sonic's feet before he reached underneath the sink and pulled out a cup, filling it to the brim with the still running water before gently pouring it over Sonic's body. The hedgehog flinched at the soft touch of the water pouring onto his back, but other than that, he did nothing else.
Eggman wet a wash rag and began washing the blue hero, starting with gentle strokes to his face to wash away the tears that had dried and stuck to his cheeks. Afterwards, he put a little soap on the rag and washed the rest of the hedgehog's body, being sure to be extra careful with his arms and neck. Sonic relaxed, almost leaning into the doctor's gentle touch, but when it came to washing his perineal area, he tensed back up and quickly flinched away, whimpering as he drew his legs close to his body and covered his area with his hands.
"Oh, right," Eggman nodded, moving the rag away. "I suppose that is a pretty personal area. You can wash it yourself, if you'd like."
Sonic stared at the white rag, bloody from his arms and neck, and wet and frothy with the doctor's strawberry scented soap. Sonic didn't particularly like smelling like a strawberry, but anything was better than the stench of sex that was still clogged in his nose. He carefully grabbed the rag and began washing himself, while Eggman respectfully turned away, watching as Orbot knocked on the door before coming in with the first aid kit.
"Here's the kit, sir." Orbot said as he handed it to the evil genius.
"Thanks Orbot, now out with you, I have a patient to take care of."
Orbot nodded and wheeled away, closing the door behind him.
"... I thought you said you weren't a real doctor."
Eggman almost jumped at Sonic's voice, unable to believe that the hedgehog was actually talking now. He turned back to him to see that he had laid the rag over the rim of the tub, finished with his washing, but he was staring at the wall with a haunted look. He kept sniffing and rubbing his nose. Sonic smelled like a strawberry now, but the stench was still in his nose, the strawberries unable to break through.
"Yes, I may not be a real doctor, but I still have some medical knowledge." Eggman answered as he took a wad of toilet paper and held it against Sonic's nose. "Here Sonic, blow."
Sonic did as he was told and blew as hard as he could into the makeshift tissue, sending sex-filled mucus out of his system. When Eggman pulled away, Sonic could finally smell the strawberries, relieved to be free from one of the reminders of rape.
After throwing away the tissue, Eggman turned off the water and unplugged the drain. He put the rag in a laundry bin by the tub and put the cup back under the sink. When he pulled back out, he was holding a big white towel, which he used to wrap around Sonic's body and lifted him out of the tub, holding him close.
"Cubot!" Eggman called to the robot as he walked out into the hall. "Grab Sonic's stuff and the first aid kit and follow me back to my room."
"Yes sir!" Cubot saluted before going off to do what was ordered of him.
"... Thanks for taking care of me, Eggman." Sonic said, forming the second sentence he had said since he was first found.
"Of course Sonic. We may not be friends, but I can still care. I'm willing to help you in your time of need, especially since you've always helped me in my time of need."
"Even if most of them were for trickery on your part." Sonic chuckled.
"Yeah, that too." Eggman chuckled back.
Eggman then stopped in front of a red steel door, waiting for it to open up. Once it did, he stepped into his room, followed by Cubot who was now holding the first aid kit and Sonic's gloves, shoes, and neckerchief.
"Just set that stuff on the side of the bed Cubot." Ordered Eggman as he set Sonic down onto the edge of the bed, having him sit up with the towel wrapped around him like a blanket. "And then you can leave."
Cubot nodded and set the stuff down before leaving. Once the door closed behind him, Eggman opened up the first aid kit and pulled out a bottle of Bactine and some cotton balls.
"Now I'm warning you ahead of time Sonic, this is going to sting." He warned the hedgehog before pouring some bactine onto a cotton ball and cleaning the cuts on Sonic's arms.
Sonic flinched and hissed, struggling not to pull away from the stinging sensation of the medicine. Once the cuts were clean of all possible infection, Eggman got out some gauze tape from the kit and wrapped up Sonic's arms.
"That neck of yours is what I'm most worried about." Eggman said, lifting Sonic's chin a bit to observe the grisly bite of Diaspheria. "I'm afraid it might need some stitches."
Eggman again reached into the first aid kit and pulled out a little white pill.
"Here, take this." He said, holding it out to the hedgehog.
"What is it?" Sonic asked as he wearily took the pill into his own hand.
"It's an EZ-melt painkiller. It'll take away the pain some when I start stitching your neck back up."
Not wanting to take any chances of feeling a needle going into his neck multiple times, Sonic placed the pill on his tongue, marveling at how it melted so easily. Minty.
Immediately, he began to feel the effects. He couldn't feel the stinging in his arms from the bactine, and his body didn't ache with the afterfects of rape.
Eggman took out some new cotton balls and poured the bactine, cleaning away at Sonic's neck now. Every now and again, Sonic would flinch as the doctor dabbed at a particularly bad area of the bite, but remained silent for the most part. It wasn't until Eggman got out the needle and thread and started stitching the gash did he start softly crying again.
"Sh, sh, sh Sonic. It's alright. It'll be over and done with soon." Eggman whispered hushed words of comfort as he continued to stitch.
Sonic said nothing and just continued to softly sob, waiting for the pain to be over with. The painkiller had done little to block out the effects of a needle going through his skin followed by the pulling sensation of the thread. Eventually, Eggman finally tied off the thread and snapped it, taking some gauze and wrapping it over the stitches to keep them in place. Sonic sniffed and wiped away his tears, incredibly grateful to the doctor. Eggman sighed as he sat on the bed next to his arch nemesis, now at the moment friend. He pulled Sonic into a hug and gently stroked his quills.
"Sonic… What happened?" He asked again, hopeful that he would get an answer this time.
Sonic again considered telling Eggman about Diaspheria and what she had done to him, but her threat still hung in the air and he just couldn't. He couldn't let Eggman get killed on his account.
"I'm… sorry, Eggman… I wanna tell you, but… I just… can't."
Sonic's words were broken up by gentle sobs, he just couldn't stop crying, but could you really blame him? Never in a million years had he ever thought that something like this could happen to him. But that's the messed up thing, isn't it? You never believe something could happen to you until it does.
Eggman sighed but didn't force the hedgehog to speak. Whatever had happened had really traumatized him, and he was perhaps too afraid to speak about it, afraid of possibly reliving it.
"Alright Sonic, I won't force you to tell me." He gently said. "But just know that even if we're enemies, you can still talk to me."
"... Thanks Eggman."
"Do you wanna stay for the night? Rest up before you head back home?"
"A very generous offer of you, but no thanks." Sonic shook his head as he grabbed his shoes and gloves, pulling them back on. Eggman went ahead and grabbed the neckerchief and gently tied it around Sonic's neck as if trying not to disturb the stitches. "Thank you for the care, Eggman, but I really must get back home, otherwise Tails and the others will completely freak out if they see that I'm not there."
"I could send them a message." Eggman offered.
"No, they won't fall for it." Sonic shook his head again. "They'll just think you kidnapped me and you're trying to trick them, and I honestly don't want them coming over for a fight after everything you just did for me."
Sonic stood up from the bed and made his way over to the door. He stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see Eggman had stood up too and was looking down at him with concern in his eyes. It broke the hedgehog's heart. Now he really couldn't let Diaspheria hurt him.
"I understand, Sonic." Eggman nodded. "But please, be careful out there."
"... I will… try." Sonic whispered to himself before looking up at his arch enemy, now at the moment friend. "Thanks again Eggman."