For those wondering about my take on the Jackal Squad, I got the idea from what mercenaries hired by America did in Colombia. They raped Colombian women and the American government covered their asses. With that in mind, I see no reason to believe that the Jackal Squad were decent or even remotely likable. They probably would have been like real-world mercenaries: complete scum that use their position of authority to commit the worst atrocities imaginable while the guys that hired them provide money and brush any evidence of their disgusting deeds under the carpet. So yeah. As far as I'm concerned, the possibility that the Jackal Squad were gang rapists is not out of the question.
CHAPTER 8
Avery was now feeling very good. It's been a few days since she arrived at Sonic's house. She felt much safer here than in her own apartment. She had all of the support she needed and not just from Sonic, but from all of her allies too. The developing jackal-dog inside of her was also doing very well. She had a medical check-up yesterday and to her relief, Forest was perfectly normal. No defects or any similar problems. She still had some romantic and sexual thoughts. But for the first time in a while, they weren't exclusively about Infinite, but about Sonic as well.
As the dog relaxed on the couch, she wondered if she actually loved Sonic. If it was love, it certainly wasn't the primal love that a sick part of her felt towards Infinite. She didn't feel an animalistic desire to be screwed and dominated by Sonic like she did with Infinite. She simply wanted to be loved by him. To be comforted by him when she felt down. To be there by her side when she needed him. It didn't have to be only about screwing, which is all that Infinite seemed to know how to do when it came to relationships.
But did Sonic love her back? Avery thought that Sonic always came off as rather asexual to her. He never seemed like a hedgehog that was capable of loving someone in anything more than a platonic way. Sonic just loved being free. Free from Eggman. Free from anything deeper than a friendship. Free to run in the Green Hill Zone.
Of the two males in her life, neither seemed like a perfect choice for Avery. One was a jackal who was beyond the point of return, to put it mildly. The other was a hedgehog who might not even be into females. There was no third option for Avery at this moment. Maybe she should just not worry about a romantic relationship for the time being. What matters most right now is stopping Infinite, getting through her pregnancy and making sure Forest lives a normal and happy childhood.
Then the phone rang, taking her out of her thoughts. She looked over and saw Sonic walking over to pick it up and answer the caller.
"Hello...WHAT!?" Sonic blurted out. "Oh my God. Oh my God..." Avery's heart sunk. Something bad must have happened. Really bad. And she knew who was probably responsible for it.
"I'll be right there. Just make sure everything's okay. Bye." Sonic said rather lifelessly and put the phone down. What ever it was, it must have been really bad in order to effect the blue hedgehog like that.
"What is it?" Avery inquired.
"It's Amy..." Sonic said as the blood drained from his face. "Infinite attacked her."
Avery's heart couldn't sink any lower. He attacked Amy. No...No...Why couldn't it have been me...again? Amy. She'll never be the same again after this. Infinite kept his word. Wait a minute? What if this is my fault? Did Infinite go after Amy because he knew I moved in with Sonic? Oh God...
The dog's eyes began to moisten. Sonic noticed and began to calm her.
"Hey, it's gonna be alright. From what Shadow told me, Infinite apparently didn't go past second base with her. Amy will be alright." Sonic said soothingly. But the hedgehog did not know the real reason why Avery was upset. He did not know that she felt guilty about this. She blamed herself for putting Amy in danger. Avery did not want to tell Sonic about this. After all, what would he think? Would he be mad at her for causing Amy to be hurt? Yes, Sonic was rather understanding about a lot of things, but would he understand this?
Avery wasn't able to think any more about this. Sonic was already heading for the door.
"I'm gonna go make sure Amy is alright." Sonic said. "You better come with me." Avery began to look rather panicked. She didn't think she had the guts to see Amy in a traumatized state. Not only would it be horrifying to see such a sweet hedgehog broken down, it would also be like looking in a mirror. She hated the way she felt after Infinite brutalized her. Watching Amy going through that stress would be like watching herself.
Sonic walked back over to the trembling dog and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Look. I think you can...sympathize with Amy and her situation. She needs help, from both of us. Come on, buddy. Do it for Amy." Sonic asked. Avery looked up into the warm and friendly gaze of the hedgehog and slowly nodded her head.
"Okay. Let's go help Amy." Avery said, her confidence restored yet again by Sonic.
They didn't have time to wait, so they ran as fast as they could to the location of Shadow and Amy. The last time Avery ran with Sonic, it was during the war. It felt like forever since they last did that. I should try running with Sonic more often. I can see why he enjoys it. The wind on my face. The rush. The sense of complete and total freedom. It's very euphoric.
The two soon arrived at their destination and saw what they expected to see. Amy was indeed a blubbering wreck and she was clinging to Shadow as though she were in danger of falling off a cliff. As soon as the black hedgehog saw Avery and Sonic, he breathed a quiet sigh of relief since he longer had to deal with Amy. Amy immediately detached from Shadow at the sight of Sonic and ran up to him. Sonic didn't have time to prepare himself, so Amy knocked him to ground in a tackling embrace.
"Sonic! Oh Sonic! Infinite...Infinite..." Amy said, unable to complete her sentence as she began to cry into Sonic's shoulder while the blue hedgehog did the best he could to calm her down. Looking at Amy wail and moan was just too horrific for Avery to watch, so she decided to not focus on that ugly sight. She turned towards Shadow.
"Did you see Infinite?" Avery asked.
"Yes. I saw the coward alright." Shadow grumbled icily. "He ran off into the forest over there." Avery began to feel very confident about finding Infinite and putting an end to his tormenting once and for all. There were four of them and only one of him. They could easily take him...if they could find him that is.
"Sonic! Amy!" Avery yelled. "We need to go find Infinite. Now is a very good time. We outnumber him four-to-one. He's in the forest somewhere. Come on!"
"WHAT!?" Amy wailed in a mixture of fear and anger. "NO! NO! I am not going in there! I was almost raped twenty minutes ago for God's sake! You honestly want me to help you right now!? NO! Just no!"
"I agree with Amy." Sonic said as he held the traumatized hedgehog. "She is in no condition to be running around out there. We should just go back home and get some rest."
"So, the alleged 'war hero' doesn't want to capture the worst war criminal on the planet right now even though he just ran off into a nearby forest and couldn't have gone very far? Pathetic..." Shadow said mockingly.
"What is wrong with you Shadow!?" Sonic shouted. "Do you not have any empathy for Amy? She was very close to ending up like Avery!"
"Shadow actually has a point, Sonic!" Avery interrupted. "We can end Amy's suffering and mine if we just head out into the forest and capture him! Scratch that, I want to see him DEAD for what he's done to me!"
"We don't even know if Infinite is still in the forest!" Amy cried.
"It doesn't hurt to take a look." Avery said as she walked up to Amy and knelt down beside her. "If he is in there, we can kill that bastard and he will never hurt me or you ever again. Think about it Amy. We have two options here. The first option involves us going home tonight and it's very possible that he'll try to attack you or me again. The second option is that we try to find him and end this once and for all. Plus taking him down will be easy because he doesn't have that thing in him anymore. So what do you want to do Amy?"
Amy looked up into the eyes of Avery. The dog could see that fiery spirit returning in her. Amy stood up and pulled out her Piko Piko Hammer.
"Let's do it. Let's kill that freak!" Amy growled with confidence.
"Glad you came to your senses, Amy." Shadow said with a smug grin.
"Wait wait! Why are we talking about killing Infinite?" Sonic asked. "You know what I said at that meeting. Our goal is to capture him! He probably knows where Eggman is!"
"What good is he alive!?" Shadow responded. "After what he's done, he no longer has a right to live. Besides, we don't need him to find Eggman." Sonic realized that he was the sole dissenter in the quartet. He then took a deep breath.
"Okay then. Compromise. After we question Infinite about Eggman, we lock him up in the loony bin for the rest of his life. Sound fair?" Sonic asked.
"I can agree to that." Avery said. The mental image of Infinite in an insane asylum being frequently pumped full of drugs to keep him sedated, was a very comforting one. Prison was out of the question. If Infinite could break into her apartment, he could break out of prison. The only option at this point other than killing him, was to have the jackal institutionalized.
"No time to waste!" Amy yelled. "Let's get going."
The four of them then proceeded to enter the woods. Their eyes constantly darted around looking for any sign of Infinite. They craned their heads up to the treetops to see if he was up there and looked off to the side to see if he was in the bushes. After twenty minutes of searching without any success, Shadow began to become visibly frustrated.
"Oh come on!" Shadow yelled. "He doesn't have his powers anymore. He's not the same being that used illusions to conquer the world! Infinite is now little more than a depraved freak who takes pleasure in humiliating and degrading women since he can't slaughter civilians en masse anymore. How the hell can he be this good at hiding from us!?"
"Shadow, please!" begged Amy. "He could have heard you!"
Suddenly a horrific thought popped into Avery's head. One that made her blood run cold.
"Shadow...about what you said...about Infinite getting off on taking advantage of women." Avery said with a shudder. "I think he could try to attack someone else other than Amy and I".
"Like who?" Shadow asked.
"Well, I think men are safe. As far as I can tell, Infinite isn't into dudes too. That means he could go after Rouge, Blaze..." Avery was unable to complete her sentence as one extremely disturbing potential victim popped into her head. "...Cream..." she finished. Her companions all froze in their tracks at the mention of the prepubescent rabbit child.
"Please Avery!" Sonic begged. "Let's not talk about this anymore." Everyone agreed, even Avery. It was best not to ponder how deep Infinite's depravity went. They needed to continue the search for him so that said possibility would never become reality.
More minutes went by as the quartet searched in vain for Infinite. They could find no sign of him. Avery concluded that he was either not in the forest anymore or was very good at hiding. Amy yawned loudly.
"I'm tired. I just want to go to bed now." Amy moaned. Avery nodded her head in agreement.
"I'm starting to think that Amy may have been right earlier." Avery said. "Infinite's not here." Shadow let out a loud groan.
"You're giving up now!? After being all in favor of finding him earlier!?" Shadow said in disbelief.
"You can keep looking around here if you want, Shadow." Sonic replied. "But all three of us are done."
"Hmph." The black hedgehog mumbled angrily and proceeded to march off deeper into the woods alone. Amy, Avery and Sonic then proceeded to walk back to Amy's house. They all locked all of the doors and made sure any possible entrances into the home were sealed. After Amy felt safe enough to sleep, Sonic and Avery left back to their house on the hilltop.
Avery quickly fell asleep on the couch. As Sonic prepared to go to bed, the phone began ringing again. He went over and picked it up.
"Hello?" Sonic asked the caller.
"Sonic?" It was Amy's voice.
"Is something wrong Amy? Are you having trouble sleeping." Sonic asked. "Look, we double-locked everyt-"
"It's not that. It's about something Infinite told me." Amy interrupted.
"Just ignore it Amy. Whatever it was, he was only saying it to taunt you." Sonic said.
"That might be the case, but I think you should hear it anyway." Amy said back.
"What was it?" Sonic asked.
"He said that he knows that you and Avery are living together." Amy said. "He told me that you don't love me and that you're in love with Avery. Is that true?"
Sonic looked over at the sleeping form of Avery on the couch with his mouth agape. He didn't know what to say to Amy.
I must admit, Sonic being asexual is my personal headcanon. He never really came off as a character that was capable of being in a romantic relationship. However, that might not be the case for the purpose of this fanfic. There may or may not be a Sonic/Avatar/Infinite love triangle of sorts coming ahead.
Another fun fact: One of my original ideas was to have the Infinite/Amy encounter be 100% consensual. Amy would have loved being fucked by Infinite so much that she joined his side. I ultimately decided against that. The notion that having sex with a villain and enjoying it will turn you into a villain, is not a very healthy mindset that one should promote.