Renegade

Chapter 6: Miles's Story, Part One

Miles knelt there on the street, sobbing. "Why did this happen?" His voice cracked. "What did I do to deserve this? God, where are you? Why have you forsaken me?" Nick picked him up and put him back in the car. We got in and drove back to my house. Miles had calmed down by the time we drove up. I couldn't possibly imagine what Miles was going through, which meant that I couldn't possibly help him. It was depressing, knowing that someone was hurting and not being able to do anything about it.

At the house, Miles just sat on the couch, looking out into space, not seeing anything in front of him. I sat down next to him. "Miles?" He broke out of his trance and looked at me. "Do you think you'd be up to starting your story now?"

"Oh, yeah, sure. I'm fine." I looked him over. He had bloody bandages all over his body, but I knew those wounds were only superficial. Miles's soul was suffering from far worse injuries, and perhaps I could finally take a glimpse at them. "Well, let's start with the introductions. I'm Miles Prower and I come from some other dimension, as I've already told you. What you do not know about me is that I have a 300 IQ and enjoy building machines. I lived on a planet called Mobius. I was born just a few years before a major coup that set a tyrannical regime headed by Robotnik. This guy is just as smart as me, but he decided that helping people out was just too much work than it was worth. He had tried, but all it had gotten him was a dead daughter and a life sentence in prison. So instead, he just decided that he wanted to be in charge. He built up this massive army of robots and took the capital city by force. Then he started with the roboticizations. He turned all of the inhabitants that he could round up into cyborgs who had no free will. There were some that were able to escape, but most…" he looked down. "Most people weren't so lucky. My parents didn't make it." Miles stared off into space again. "I wish…I wish I knew what it would have been like, growing up with a family, not getting caught up in all these wars."

"Wars? You lost me there."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Anyways, those of us who got away banded together to for the Freedom Fighters. We waged war with Robotnik for two years. We hid out in the Great Forest, where he was never able to reach us."

"Hold up. Who was with you in this group of Freedom Fighters?"

"There was me, Sonic the Hedgehog, who was our champion and might as well have been my big brother. He could run faster than sound. There was Princess Sally Acorn, who was the brains of the operation. Bunny Rabbot, who was half roboticized; Antoine D'Coolette, a cadet from the Royal Guard; Rotor, my mentor; Amy Rose, crazy hedgehog who always chases Sonic around and had major anger issues; Cream the Rabbit, she always has her best friend Cheese with her; the Chaotix Detective Agency, Espio the Chameleon, Vector Crocodile, and Charmy Bee; and Knuckles the Echidna showed up every once in a while, he'll be important later. Anyway, we were all caught up in this war. We almost lost, too, but God intervened and gave Sonic unimaginable power. We took back the kingdom, and Sally became Queen. Antoine rejoined the Guard, and took his new wife bunny with him. Life was looking up, but then Robotnik came back. He terrorized people, pretty much becoming a terrorist. He never resurrected his empire, thanks to those previously mentioned." He paused. "I miss them. Well, John, I think that concludes part one of my story. Now, I really have to go." He stood up to leave, but then cried out in pain and surprise as he fell back into the chair. "What the heck? What's wrong with me?"

"What's wrong with you? What do you think is wrong with you, you have fresh wound all over you!"

"Well, they should have healed by now?"

"C'mon. Now you're going to tell me you have super-healing like Wolverine?"

"I love that movie, and it's not just healing." He tenderly stood up and turned his back towards me. "See this?" He pointed at his sheaths, which crossed each other. There was a circular device where they met, with a lightning bolt in the middle. "It's an ES system. It boosts the amount of electrical activity in my brain. With it, all bodily functions are sped up."

"That's…that's amazing. Did you design it?"

"Yeah."

"Wait, when you said "all bodily functions", does that include, uh, going to the bathroom?"

He gave me another one of his sad smiles. "Yeah. I had to learn the hard way how to route power through my body. Now, the energy flows only where and when I need it," his smile suddenly faded as he added, "usually. But there's something wrong. Normally, healing just happens. Unless… John, which way is the lightning bolt facing? Is it right side up?"

"No, no it's upside down."

"Nick!" Miles tried storming into the kitchen, but his injuries made it more of a hobble. I followed him. We found Nick making lunch. "Nick, switch me back, now!" Miles was furious about something, but I couldn't tell what.

Nick looked at him and said in a firm tone, "Miles, you were almost completely drained. You need to recharge before you go out and get yourself killed."

"If I don't go out, Cassie's gonna get herself killed!" Nick and I still had no idea who Cassie was.

"You won't be able to help her like this!"

Miles turned to me, exasperated. "John, I need you to do me a favor. See that circle on my back? Turn it until the lightning is right-side up!"

"Hold on, what will that do?"

"Well, it will change my ES system from recharge mode back to standby mode, allowing me to use it."

"Nick, why'd you shut him down?"

"He was only at 2% power. He can't let it get down to zero."

I continued in my role as moderator. "Miles, what happens when it reaches zero?" He glared at me. "What happens when it reaches zero?"

"I lose my speed, my flight, and my enhanced thought processing. Plus injuries will become more deadly. Of course, all of this happens when it's in recharge mode as well, and I'm going to get Cassie, with or without my ES system. I can't believe I waited this long for nothing!"

I had no idea what to say. How could I convince him that he needed to stay here? "Miles, think for a second! If you go and try to rescue Cassie now, Snell's men will massacre you! You won't save Cassie, and all the other Cassie's out there will have no one to protect them!"

Miles looked dejectedly at the floor. "I…I didn't think about that. You're right."

I silently thanked God for speaking for me. I felt kind of like Moses. "Good. Now if you don't mind, we should eat lunch and then hear some more of your story." I really hadn't learned much from part one of his story, at least not about why he was depressed. You'd think losing his parents at a young age would be the problem, but he barely put any emphasis on the event. No, the real problem lied at the heart of part two.