For seeing the two uninvited hedgehogs in his base - and one of them his main enemy - Eggman was taking their presence surprisingly well. Or, judging from his completely ash-coated clothes and skin, Sonic and Silver were the least of Eggman's problems.
Eggman snickered at the sight of the two wide-eyed hedgehogs, both taking in his current condition, "If you think I'm a shock, you should have seen yourselves when I walked in! What a darling little sight, of two lovers so happy to have succeeded…"
"We're not lovers!" Sonic and Silver shouted at the same time, already their cheeks growing a slightly darker red.
Before Eggman could make another remark, Sonic burst out, "So, what about you, Eggy? Romance heating you up as well?"
"Hardly, hedgehog. Just a test gone wrong, that's all." Eggman walked right past the two hedgehogs and began rooting through a box on the giant workstation in the center of the room.
With the purple emerald in Silver's hand, both hedgehogs were surprised when Eggman didn't say anything about it. "Don't you want the Emerald back?" Silver asked, holding the gem out.
Eggman replied without looking at the pair, "Take it, and good riddance." The doctor placed a few gears to the side and continued to look through the box.
"What…? Why don't you -"
"It's a fake, Silver, but a really good one," Sonic answered with one hand on the Emerald, "Isn't that right, Eggman?"
"You're correct, Sonic. And this isn't the first one I've found." Eggman held up a screw to the light, and then placing it with the other assorted machine parts. "Each one I find is better made than the last. Whoever is doing this is getting very good very quickly."
"How many have you found so far?" Silver asked as he and Sonic walked over to the table.
Eggman looked down at the two hedgehogs, his face scrunched in concentration. After a few moments, the scientist seemingly had decided that currently the two posed no threat and said, "Four. Two white, one purple, and one green."
"We've found one too. A blue one," Silver said, placing the purple emerald on the table.
"Hmm…" Eggman stood up, one hand rubbing his chin as he thought. "Hmm…and what happened to said Emerald?"
"Shadow destroyed it."
"Hmm…"
"Enough with the 'hmms'! What about your Emeralds? What have you done with them?" Sonic snapped, getting impatient after twenty seconds of boring conversation.
Eggman rolled his eyes, although not visible due to his dark glasses. "It's more what I've tried to do with them, hedge-rat. I've been attempting to take the fakes apart and diagnose what causes them to react like real Chaos Emeralds, thus allowing me to disable them. But the last one I tried was very well made - and went up in smoke, as you can clearly see."
Sonic let out a small laugh, "Fourth time's the charm, huh, Eggman?"
"Perhaps. But put that damn Chaos Emerald back in the case," Eggman pointed to the empty glass container hanging from the ceiling, "This one messes up electrical equipment if left out for too long."
"How long?" Silver asked.
The lights flickered once, and then went out, plunging all three into complete darkness.
Eggman grumbled, "That long."
XXXXXXXXX
With his natural quick recovery abilities, Shadow was healed and released from the hospital, and now with finally everyone out of there they all planned on staying out. Having made it back to Tails' place, Knuckles carried the tired fox upstairs while Isis was fully awake and listening to Amy speak about the Chaos Emeralds.
"I see…" Isis said after the hedgehog spoke about the power inside the gems and what they could do, "Although, they honestly remind me of a kind of candy on my home planet. Om nom nom," she said, picking up the red Emerald and pretending to bite it. Suddenly, Isis' hand flew to her mouth, as though she had a sore tooth.
"Something wrong?" Amy asked.
"Uh…no…" Isis kept her hand covering her mouth, "Is there a mirror around here I can use?"
"Just down the hall, second door on the left."
"Thanks." Isis left for the room, her eyes a little worried.
"Odd…" Amy mumbled to herself, and then looked over her shoulder at the other two currently in the room. Shadow had his eyes closed and seemed deep in thought, while Blaze was looking out the window.
"Blaze," Amy said, and once the cat looked at her the hedgehog continued, "Do you think Isis could be hiding something?"
"She is hiding something. I'm sure of it," Shadow replied just as Blaze was about to speak.
"How do you know?" Blaze asked, changing topics.
"Something isn't right here. Maybe it's just me, but her story of why she's here seemed, well, rushed. As if she made it up on the spot," Shadow opened one ruby eye and looked at the cat.
"You think she's a spy for Mephiles?"
"Actually, no. Seems too much trouble to become friends and save your enemies if you're planning on killing them later. She had enough opportunities to take at least one of us out - so why not? No, she's on our side, but for a different reason than what she says." Shadow closed both eyes again for a brief moment, then opened them and jumped up, "Damn it, what's taking those three so long? Are they playing a game of Monopoly with Eggman or what?"
"Could they be in danger?" Amy gasped, standing up as well.
"Oh calm down, you two. Three hours gone isn't the end of the world." Blaze leaned back against the wall and crossed her arms, "Really, what would Eggman do if he caught them anyways?"
XXXXXXXXX
"If you don't hold that flashlight still, hedgehog, I will smack you."
"I'd easily get out of the way. No chance on earth, Egghead."
"You want to be stuck in the dark forever, or are you going to help me fix this light?"
"Oh, the things I could do to this place while you're still crawling around, looking for the flashlight…" Smack! "Ouch!"
Silver sighed as he listened to the two enemies squabble. The fake purple emerald actually blew the fuses of the main generator over a hundred meters away, and after managing to put the fake jewel back (with little difficulty) the two hedgehogs set off with Dr. Eggman to restore power to the place (with major difficulty).
"Ok Silver, you hold the flashlight. Fancy feet here can't hold still for one second in his life."
"Well excuuuusssseeee me, princess!"
"Make yourself useful - sit down and shut up!"
Silver could tell that Sonic had stuck out his tongue at Eggman, even though it was childish and pointless, since Eggman couldn't see his face anyways. Silver handed the box of parts to Sonic and took the flashlight from him, shining the light down on the open panel so the doctor could see.
"At least somebody is useful around here," Eggman grumbled, fiddling with the wires inside. A thump and a small gust of wind signaled to Silver that Sonic had dropped the box and ran off to explore.
"Bloody hedgehog," Eggman snapped, setting the panel back into place, "Sonic, flip the main switch on, will you?" No response.
"Sonic? I'm still here too, ya know. At least turn on the light for me!" Silver called out. No reply came from the blue hedgehog.
"Where the hell did he go off to?" Eggman asked, more to himself than Silver, as he turned the generator back on. Immediately the lights flashed on, and Silver saw stars for a moment from the sudden brightness.
A loud humming noise filled the room, as if a thousand bees were crawling in the walls. Silver turned to Dr. Eggman, "Is that the generator?"
"No, it can't be…it's never done this before." Eggman headed for the door that lead back into the hallway, and Silver followed, "Sonic, what the hell have you done this time?"
Sonic was in the hallway alright, but something was quite right with him. The blue hedgehog was to the left, his back towards the other two, and staring at a bright purple object floating about eight feet off the ground.
"That's the fake Emerald," Silver whispered.
Eggman called out, "Sonic, what's with you?" He started towards Sonic, as the blue hedgehog did not seem to have heard him, "Hello?"
As soon as Eggman laid a hand on Sonic's shoulder, the purple Emerald stopped glowing and fell to the ground, lifeless - and Sonic's eyes glazed over as he fainted.
XXXXXXXXX
After helping a sleepy Tails downstairs, Knuckles was sent back upstairs to fetch a number of books Tails requested so he could look up some more on the fake Emeralds.
While he was passing the downstairs bathroom, however, the echidna heard some cursing from the room. He opened the door just a crack, and stared in shock at Isis glaring at the mirror, a pair of false, humanoid teeth on the counter…
And a set of razor-sharp, vampire-like fangs in Isis' mouth.
XXXXXXXXX
Rouge was easily able to sneak past the security systems in Dr. Eggman's base, and now was hacking into his computer. Well, ok, not really - the computer was already on and the doctor logged in, so really she was just searching it.
Most of the stuff was technical mumbo-jumbo that Rouge could barely, if at all, understand, so she easily brushed it aside. However, there was one thing that caught her eye, and it easily chilled her to her core:
Message from Mephiles the Dark 2:17 AM
My offer is simple - you capture and give me Sonic the Hedgehog. I'll take him far away from here so he'll never bother you again. You can take over this world, and I have my prize.
Do we have a deal?
XXXXXXXXX
Eggman simply stared at Sonic as Silver rushed over, "Sonic! Are you alright?"
"He fainted," Eggman said, the initial shock gone. He bent down next to the blue hedgehog and shook his shoulder, "He's not gonna wake up any time soon. I should have something that smells strong enough in the kitchen to bring him back. Let's go." Dr. Eggman scooped the blue hedgehog into his arms and walked down the hallway. Silver followed, carrying the strange, false gem.
XXXXXXXXX
Knuckles slowly backed away from the bathroom, and turned around to see Isis standing there in the hallway, the sharp tips of her two canines showing from beneath her lips.
Before the echidna could even make a sound, Isis pushed him into the bathroom, shut the door behind them with her foot and slapped a hand over Knuckles' mouth, "Don't freak! It's ok!" Isis whispered.
Knuckles yanked Isis' hand down and shouted in a whisper, "Ok? You're a fucking vampire!"
"I'm not a vampire! These are my natural teeth, ok? Everyone on my planet has had their teeth surgically altered to look like this. I'm not a blood-sucking monster! These teeth are designed to threaten people, deal damage in combat and bite through hard objects. And I don't bite unless provoked!"
"How can I trust you?" Knuckles asked, eyes narrowing.
"Buddy, if I wanted to kill you, I would have done so already. I'm not going to attack you. Will you attack me?"
"…no." Isis let Knuckles go, and the echidna looked at Isis' mouth, "So, what's with the false teeth?"
"They're teeth caps. I place them over my real teeth to hide their appearance. It keeps people from freaking out."
"…Can I see all of your real teeth?" Isis nodded and slightly opened her mouth, curling back her lips. Instead of human teeth, with only a few pointy ones and the others flat, or teeth like Knuckles and Sonic, who had more sharp ones that flat, or Shadow, who had all fangs (although Shadow had said that the back ones were flat on top, allowing for grinding while still looking intimidating), Isis' teeth were true fangs. Each and every tooth looked like a miniature vampire canine, except, of course, for the canine teeth, which were full-size. They were perfectly aligned, pearly white, and looked deadly. "Creepy," Knuckles said.
Isis nodded her agreement and closed her mouth. She went back to the mirror and picked up the teeth caps. "These things get loose every so often, and they're hard to put back in when you can't see. I'd prefer not to wear them, but if you smile with a mouth full of fangs, people freak. I didn't want you guys to panic as well."
"Seems useless to have those teeth if you can't bite with them," Knuckles said.
"I can, actually. See these?" Isis flipped the tooth cap over, and on the underside of each false tooth was a hole, "These are big enough for my fangs to go through. I can bite and leave a mark looking completely different from the teeth people see."
"Must be a bitch to clean, though." Knuckles replied.
"It is." The two were silent for a moment while Isis placed the teeth caps over her teeth and licked her lips. Her fangs were now hidden behind the false plastic covers, but Knuckles simply could not imagine anything else but sharp, deadly teeth there instead.
Isis turned back to the echidna, "Look, Knuckles, I know that must have freaked you out, but don't tell anyone. Well, I suppose you could but…you know…"
"I get it," Knuckles replied, "No worries."
Isis breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you."
Knuckles headed to the stairwell while Isis went back to the living room; the echidna a little more wary of their new companion.
XXXXXXXXX
"Mephiles said nothing of what he wanted to do with Sonic…would Eggman actually…?" Rouge scrolled down to Eggman's reply.
Message from Dr. Eggman 2:23 AM
What exactly do you want with Sonic?
The messages continued - these seemed to have been sent only this morning.
Message from Mephiles the Dark 2:26 AM
A little act of revenge is all. Why does it even matter? You get rid of the blue pest and I get him. We both get we want. You have caught Sonic before - just do it again!
X
Message from Dr. Eggman 2:30 AM
Sonic's nearly impossible to keep caged. He'd free himself for your grasp within two days. You can't possibly keep him under control.
X
Message from Mephiles the Dark 2:32 AM
I have my ways, Doctor. He cannot, and will not, break away from me. And as an added bonus, feel free to send any of his pesky friends along with him. I'll keep them out of your hair while you take over the world. Imagine - finally beating Sonic the Hedgehog after all this time!
X
Message from Dr. Eggman 2:35 AM
I probably could catch Sonic and hold onto him long enough for you to collect him - but what's the point of going through so much trouble if he'll break free anyways? You'll need to provide me with a better bargaining tool than a simple chance of keeping Sonic away from me.
X
Message from Mephiles the Dark 2:36 AM
Will a bonus of $100,000 - delivered before you even catch the hedgehog - do?
X
Message from Dr. Eggman 2:45 AM
…I'll think about it.
X
Rouge let out a small laugh, wondering if Eggman would even be willing to 'think' about it if Mephiles had gone into detail, saying something along the lines of, 'I want to capture Sonic so I can use him as my bed slave, violently raping him every day of his life - not only will it break him mentally, but he'll be too sore to run anymore. That'll keep him in line.'
The sound of footsteps made Rouge look at the door. Someone was coming down the hallway - perhaps Dr. Eggman, although even if he wasn't coming in here, better safe than sorry. There was nothing else here for her to see, anyways.
Rouge quickly jumped back to the air ventilator and crawled in, expertly shutting the vent behind her. Why people never made their vents too small to crawl through, Rouge would never understand…
XXXXXXXXX
A teaspoon of chili pepper poked into Sonic's nose made the blue hedgehog waken almost immediately, sitting up on the kitchen table and coughing, his eyes watering from the sharpness of the smell. Silver handed him a glass of water, which Sonic eagerly chugged down.
"What was that for?" Sonic wheezed, the pepper stinging his nose.
"To revive you. You fainted." Eggman took the ceramic mug from Sonic and refilled it from the kitchen tap. He handed it back to the hedgehog, who took slower gulps this time.
"I did?" Sonic managed to say between swallows of water, "I don't remember that…"
Sonic paused for a moment, trying to remember. He had felt like someone was in the hallway…he had gone into the hallway…he had seen the bright purple light, and…
Flashback. On his hands and knees, Mephiles mounting him for the gods-knows what time now. One time was already too much. Hands on his hips, yanking him back as…as Mephiles' organ was thrust forward into his defenseless body. A slap on his ass, Mephiles riding him like there was no tomorrow. Eyes shut tight, trying to keep the tears in - fingers digging into the rug, needing to try and gain some control. But Sonic had no control in this situation. All he could do was choose how much soap to wash with and how much cream to apply afterwards.
It hadn't occurred ten minutes ago, no - even while the flashback was occurring Sonic knew that he wasn't being raped at that moment. But the fear was real, and it made him want to blank out his mind, to hide and get away - which resulted in him fainting.
"Why is it when I have these flashbacks while asleep I wake up, and when I have them while awake I go to sleep? That makes no sense!"
"Are you alright, Sonic? You were shaking for a second there." Sonic turned to look at Silver, who had placed a hand on his side.
"Eh, I'm ok. Just a little cold there for a sec." Sonic hopped off of the table and turned to face Eggman, "Thanks, I guess."
Eggman simply nodded, but then his eyes narrowed, "What do you want, hedgehog?"
"What do you mean by that?" Sonic replied, faking confusion.
"Don't try that with me. You snuck into my base. It's one thing if you smash your way in - sneaking is in another category. What were you looking for?"
"…nothing."
"Sonic…"
"Chaos Emeralds," Silver piped up. The other two turned to look at the silver hedgehog which took a deep breath and continued, "You've heard about this dark hedgehog that has appeared recently, right?"
Dr. Eggman nodded, "Go on."
"Well, he's looking for the Chaos Emeralds, so we're trying to get them first. We just wanted to make sure that you didn't have any in storage, that's all."
"I see…" Eggman replied, slowly looking back and forth between the two hedgehogs.
Silver gulped slightly - that was sort of the truth, and of course a scanner could have picked up the fake Emeralds and they would have mistaken them for the real ones - but would Eggman buy it hook, line and sinker?
"Then you can leave now. The only Emeralds I have here are fake. However if you do manage to find any other false ones, leave them outside. I'll see if I can disarm the annoying things before they pop up all over the place."
Silver sighed - it seems Eggman took the first two, but was thinking about the sinker. Well, at least it would do for now.
"Fine then," Sonic said, turning to leave the room, "Let's go, Silver. See ya, Eggy."
This time the two hedgehogs exited through the front door, with Eggman's cameras closely watching them. Once the huge door slammed shut behind them and the two hedgehogs were a few dozen meters away, Sonic turned to Silver and said, "Quick thinking on your part. I think he bought it."
"I think so too. At least now we know about the false Emeralds, but we know nothing about whose side Eggman is on…"
"Well, I do," Rouge said, landing in front of the pair. She looked at Sonic with a small hint of pity in her eyes, "And I'm afraid, Sonic, it isn't looking good for you."
XXXXXXXXX
A quick scan was done through the books for any hints on fake Emeralds, but for the most part everyone was waiting for Sonic, Silver and Rouge to get back. A good four and a half hours had passed before the trio walked in.
"It's about time you guys returned! Where the hell was the base - on the moon?" Knuckles asked, glaring at the doorway before they even walked in. Everyone's expressions were either of annoyance or relief - the relief being of the kind, 'it's about freaking time', but they all changed once Sonic walked into the room. His face looked pale and his eyes frightened as he shakily made his way onto the couch and collapsed, his head in his hands.
"Sonic? What's wrong?" Amy asked.
"Mephiles is trying to bribe Eggman to capture and sell Sonic to him," Rouge replied, stretching her wings as she walked in, Silver not far behind.
"With what?" Shadow asked.
"A hundred grand plus freedom from Sonic and anyone else he chooses."
"Eggman wouldn't sell Sonic to that monster!" Amy growled.
"Mephiles didn't mention a single thing about what he wanted with Sonic - the messages were sweet and innocent. Eggman could easily accept the offer - especially since he'll get the money even before he catches Sonic." Rouge sat down on the coffee table and leaned back on her hands, "If I were Eggman, with no knowledge that selling Sonic to that creep would mean that Sonic would be raped, I'd do it."
"I would too, to be honest. Seems like a good deal - a cash prize for permanently getting rid of someone that drives you crazy and ruins all of your plans. No downside to that at all. I suppose if I hated the person enough, even if I knew they'd be raped I'd catch 'em anyways. But from what I understand, Sonic and Eggman have a love-hate relationship, so I don't think Eggman would go that far." Isis was sitting on the floor close to the far corner of the room, looking around at everyone else.
"A 'love-hate' relationship?" Knuckles asked.
"Sure. They work with each other when someone else is trying to take over or destroy the world, but hate each other the rest of the time."
"Yeah…that's how it works between me and Eggy," Sonic whispered, looking up and managing a small smile.
"This is bad. Really bad. The last thing we need is for Eggman to try and capture Sonic. Most of the time Eggman's plots fail easy, but every so often he comes up with a whopper that takes a lot of time to deal with. If he brings out one of those and if Mephiles attacks at the same time…" Tails trailed off. There was no need to say out loud what everyone already knew - that meant bye bye Sonic, both physically and mentally.
"Then we have to recruit Eggman first. We need to come up with a better bribe," Blaze said, "Together I'm sure we can pool enough money to go over Mephiles' offer…but for the other part…if I was an evil overlord, I'd be happy with the hero gone, no problem."
"Ok…maybe we can, oh, I dunno, give Eggman a day's head start when he first announces an evil plan? Or give him a few Chaos Emeralds?" Knuckles shrugged, "Just brainstorming here."
"They're good ideas - we can even do a combination of a few smaller things," Amy added.
"Or we could just threaten him," Shadow snorted.
"I vote for Shadow's plan," Isis called out.
"If we did that, then he'd quickly go over to Mephiles' side, you know," Silver pointed out.
"I know that, but it seems easiest, and the most entertaining," Isis replied.
"Forget about threats. We need loyalty out of love, not hate here," Rouge said, looking at Shadow and Isis.
"Well, the best way to do that is to find out what Eggman wants, and then offer it to him," Isis said, "But if he wants to take over the world…eh…that won't go over well."
"We might not even have to do that - if we just expose Mephiles and show proof to Eggman about what Mephiles will do to Sonic, it might be enough to get him change sides," Blaze suggested.
"Brilliant, Blaze! Eggman's pretty evil, but he's not that evil! I think he's got enough of a heart to be horrified at that stuff. Only problem is how do we get the proof…" Tails put his chin in his hands, "Hmm…"
"No problem, Tails. Leave it to me," Isis declared, standing up, "When it comes to thievery and gathering info, you can rarely find an equal."
"I happen to be a pretty good thief myself, Isis," Rouge said, smiling, "Are you sure you can do it alone?"
"Alone? Sure. But it's safer if we go in a group. You game?"
"I'm in as well, then. If we're sneaking into Mephiles' base, we'll need speed to get in there, and to find the damn thing," Shadow added, standing up as well.
"Three's a good team. We'll sleep well tonight, search for the base tomorrow afternoon, and enter at night," Rouge looked at Isis, "Sounds good?"
"You know this guy better than I do. I'm at your command," Isis replied.
Shadow's eyes narrowed at the sentence. For the some strange reason, he was sure that Isis was lying…
XXXXXXXXX
"Now that that's settled, we need to plan to make some money. Who's got some money they can throw in?" Silver asked.
"I have around ten thousand on me. Let me check…" Isis dug through her backpack, silently counting the wadded bills and loose change, "$10,493.45 to be precise."
"That's already a tenth of what we need. Anyone else?" Tails asked.
"Well, for saving the world and stuff, I probably could get some money from the government…" Sonic said, running a hand through his quills, "But I don't think I'll be able to get a hundred thousand without being suspicious. And certainly not if I tell them it's for Eggman."
"They owe you something for sure…or do you guys work to pay for everything?" Isis asked, gesturing to the items around the room.
"No, we basically get everything we ask for from the government for free. I suppose since we don't go asking for private jets or luxury cruises or summer mansions they don't mind paying for a new couch or television every so often. And of course we get all of our food and my machine parts for free," Tails replied.
"Hey, it's the least they can do. If you guys don't exploit them, there's no reason to cut you off. And if they did, they'd be fucked."
"Exactly."
"Come to think of it…don't you two work for the government?" Isis pointed at Shadow and Rouge.
"Well, yes, but we're both on a forced vacation." Rouge replied.
"A what?"
"Neither of us takes time off often, and since we do a lot of overtime eventually our vacation days pile up and they force us to take a holiday," Rouge explained.
"In other words, if we keep working for so long they'd have to pay us more, so they lock us out to keep our wages lower," Shadow added.
"Really? You guys don't make that much?"
"Oh, we make quite a bit, but I certainly haven't been working long enough to be able to spare 90 grand."
"I didn't expect you guys to pay that much! But could you spare a little?"
"Sure…about five thousand apiece, I think. Rouge?" Shadow looked at the bat over his shoulder.
"I can do that, no problem," Rouge replied, "That gives us a fifth of the total money we need."
"We could rob a bank," Isis shrugged, "Oh for crying out loud, I was kidding! Don't look at me like that! I can get a job, I'm sure. There should be a few things around this planet that pay a lot in a short period of time."
"Prostitution does," Rouge smiled, "A hundred bucks an hour."
"I meant besides that! Or being a pimp."
"An assassin probably would make a lot," Shadow said, "Or a drug smuggler."
"Those I could do."
"If we have to get jobs, couldn't they at least be legal?" Amy sighed.
"The ones that pay the most aren't legal, sadly. But we'll think of something." Rouge turned to look at Sonic, "Hey, you haven't really said anything this whole time! Are you ok?"
"Yeah," Sonic said quietly, "Just nervous, that's all."
"Don't worry, Sonic. I'm sure we'll be able to act quickly enough to get Eggman on our side. You'll be safe," Knuckles said, patting Sonic on the back.
Sonic bit his lip, but didn't say anything else as everyone continued to brainstorm ideas. Time was key here - if they didn't act fast enough, Eggman would accept Mephiles' offer - and then…
No. He had to do everything in his power to defeat Mephiles - to save his home, his friends, and himself. But there was no way they could get enough cash by flipping burgers…
"Oh, what the hell. It's not like I haven't done this before."
XXXXXXXXX
Shadow, Rouge and Isis had turned in early for the night, the last gratefully accepting Tails' invitation to sleep on the fold-out couch instead of the chilly streets. Tails went to bed not much later, still tired from his first training day and needing to be fully rested for tomorrow. Silver was up the longest, along with Amy - together they had written down everyone's ideas, and after organizing them went to sleep as well, tired from the day.
It was past midnight before Sonic could sneak out of the house, his lover not present in bed with him that night for they needed their rest. Earlier that evening he had contacted the CEO of a toy company that had a certain fondness for the blue hedgehog. Surely he would be able to get some money out of the man.
They had arranged a time and a place, and on the edge of a school park the CEO drove up in a simple dark blue car - not too expensive, but not too cheap either. It was clean and well maintained, and it helped Sonic to calm his pounding heart as he slipped into the front passenger seat.
"Thanks for meeting with me," Sonic said, glancing at the man. Bob, as he was so cursed with an uncreative name, looked over at the blue hedgehog and smiled.
"Anything for you, Sonic," Bob said, giving Sonic a squeeze on the shoulder. Bob started up the car, and they drove away. Both were silent while Bob made his way out of the city, finally driving up a mountain path. Sonic's heart was beating faster with every passing mile. But there was no other option - if he didn't go through with this, it would mean complete disaster for everyone.
After fifteen minutes Bob turned down a gravel road, almost completely hidden from the road, and drove on. Another five minutes more, and the car was on the rocky beach, overlooking a quiet lake. No one else was in sight for miles and miles - just the cries of owls and whispers in the wind.
Bob put on the parking brake and turned off the engine. He flicked on an extra light overhead, filling the vehicle with a soft orange glow, bright enough to see inside but dull enough that it'd be hard to spot from anywhere else.
"So what'll it be?" Sonic asked after a couple of silent minutes.
"You can take me around the world." Bob's smile, just a few short minutes ago being a friendly, child-loving one, had become predatory. Bob's eyes looked up and down Sonic's body - a body that belonged to someone almost forty years his junior.
"Ok then…you have the money?"
"Sure do." Bob reached into his pocket and grabbed a thick wallet. He slowly opened it, and one by one placed twenty hundred-dollar bills into Sonic's hand, "Two thousand, just as we agreed."
"I said five thousand, remember?"
"I prefer to go without a sleeve. Two thousand with, ten without…" Bob smiled at Sonic, trying to get the hedgehog to give in. He was used to getting what he wanted, including expensive cars, raises…and now, one of his sexual fantasies he had only admitted to a few who shared his lust.
Sonic shook his head. While he would almost kill for the extra cash, it wasn't worth the risk. Besides, this wasn't new to him anyways. He could stand doing it a few more times. "I don't want a disease. No thanks."
The only reason Sonic knew about Bob's want for him was because once at a fancy party, they had been alone in the public bathroom together and he had grabbed Sonic's rear end, whispering his lust for the blue hedgehog in the hero's ear. If they had been alone at that moment, Sonic probably would have torn Bob limb from limb, but with a huge crowd only a thin door away Sonic simply cursed a few times and fled from the scene.
Even two years later, nothing had changed. Bob was rich, he wanted to hump Sonic and he knew others that wanted to hump Sonic - a creepy combination, but one that would pay extremely well in a short time. Just what Sonic needed.
Of course, the only problem was Sonic's lover…if they ever found out about this, they might abandon him forever. Sonic's heart ached with the thought of losing them…
"But I have to. If I don't do this, then I'll lose everything, including you. Please forgive me, my angel…"
Bob's eyes turned dark, and his smile cold with Sonic's refusal to go without protection. "Fine." Bob unzipped his pants and motioned to the back seat while slipping a condom over his growing erection, "Get over there. I'm gonna ride your ass hard tonight."