Recursion Error

by Writer's Domino

"I mean, my life was pretty great until I got shanghaied into the global furry resistance from another universe."

99. Chapter 99

Recursion Error

Episode 99- Operation Staple

---

"HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY BE SO IRRESPONSIBLE!?"

That was the noise Silver woke up to. Yelling. And as he sat up, yawned out, rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes as his groggy and muddled brain put the sounds together and put a name to that voice he heard, he realized... that was Nicole's voice. Which was weird, because for as long as he'd known her, which admittedly wasn't all that long, she didn't seem like the kind of person to yell. In fact, before this moment he wasn't even sure she could. She seemed extremely calm for a computer lady, which he also didn't know all that much about, and really nice, which was always nice. So waking up to hear this almost sounded wrong in a way. He cupped one of his hands over his ear and leaned closer to the wall to try and listen closer.

"I can explain-" That was Sorun's voice. Who up until this moment was missing. This confused Silver further.

"NO, SORUN, YOU CAN'T EXPLAIN THIS!"

Well, something had to be happening, because this... this sounded really serious. Like the kind of situation he should be worried about because this all sounded really worrying. But at least Sorun seemed to be back from that whole mess, so that was nice. But now all this, this noise, it didn't sound so nice.

Gloves and socks were quickly slipped on. Shoes were still next to the front door - Sorun had this weird thing about not letting anyone wear shoes in the house ever since he got carpeting, Silver didn't really understand it. He gently opened the door to his room and- oh. Oh, wow, it was so much louder now.

"AND YOU WERE HERE FOR THREE DAYS!? THREE DAYS!?" He found himself wincing as he crept closer to the living room, tip-toeing because the atmosphere honestly made it seem like the house would collapse if Silver interrupted. Like he was stepping on cracked glass. He did that a lot in his old time. "THREE DAYS AND YOU NEVER THOUGHT TO CALL!? DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED WE ALL WERE!? HOW WORRIED I WAS!?"

"I-I didn't think-"

"YOU DON'T THINK, THAT'S THE PROBLEM! YOU ARE COMPLETELY THOUGHTLESS!"

Again, Silver winced. This was a harsh tone he was hearing. Said by a voice he, until now, didn't even know could sound harsh. He peeked around the corner of the hallway, looking left into the living room. He could see Nicole - she was pacing in front of the couch. And oh, wow. She looked absolutely livid. It made a bit of a chill go through his heart.

"AND THIS CONDITION!" Nicole continued. Silver crept further towards the kitchen, and felt an incredible amount of tension leave him when he successfully managed to slip into the kitchen. "THIS ILLNESS OF YOURS, YOU-"

A rustling sound was heard from the couch Nicole was pacing in front of. "It's not explicitly an illness-"

"I DON'T CARE! HOW LONG!?"

"... Weeks, but-"

"WEEKS!?"

The concept of scolding was one Silver was somewhat familiar with. Master would often scold him in his youth whenever he did something stupid, and Edmund seemed to just like scolding on principle. He'd never liked it, how every word enunciated with so much raw emotion felt like being struck in the face. It made him fearful of ever eliciting such a wrath.

But this, what Nicole was doing, this wasn't scolding at all. Silver didn't know what it was. This was like being struck in the stomach over and over with a hammer, and he wasn't even at the receiving end of all this yelling! He couldn't imagine what that would feel like.

Silver hissed; he just now realized that was happening to Sorun right now. He hoped he was okay.

"Chao-chao..." It was like a monster itself whispered in Silver's ear. He jumped a bit in fright, whirling towards the noise of it, the pet monster Sorun kept around, and then did a double-take. There was Virgil, all right, except he was in a state Silver didn't even know was physically possible for him. He was cowering, wrapped up in Sorun's blue coat that was lying on the dining room table like some kind of cocoon. Only his face was poking through the cocoon, and it looked extremely fearful. Silver was almost certain he was even shaking.

"WEEKS OF YOUR HEALTH DECLINING AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER SEEING THE DOCTOR!?" Silver turned back towards the noise that was making all his fur stand on end. Nicole was still fuming, hands clenched at her side, face looking like she was about to assault the couch in front of her. And then, in the next instant, it was like all the energy was drained from her. Her face fell into an exhausted expression, and her entire form hunched over. "I'm coming back after I process all of this," she mumbled out, and then disappeared into a flash of green.

Seeing Nicole disappear was akin to seeing an oppressive force vanish. It was like once her presence was gone Silver could breath, that the overbearing pressure that had been trying to suffocate him finally left. It was once the area was clear that Silver left the kitchen and maneuvered around the couch to see if it really was Sorun she'd been yelling at.

It was Sorun! And he- ooh. Oh. When Silver stepped around the couch he froze, because the state he'd come to see him in was nearly indescribable. There was Sorun, alright. He was sitting in a way that made it seem like he had no bones, like he was so tired that he was physically incapable of getting up. He was practically lying down he was so slumped in that couch. His eyes stared ahead, and yet were completely unfocused, and featured dark circles around them. His skin had an unhealthy pallor. Even his dark hair seemed disheveled.

This was a man who was defeated. Utterly and completely. Silver didn't even recognize this person as being Sorun.

With laconic slowness, Sorun's eyes slowly rolled to Silver's direction. There was absolutely no change on the human's face, no sign of acknowledgement, nothing other than their eyes meeting. He didn't so much as stir from his place on the couch. "Hey," he greeted, if it could even be called that. His voice sounded cracked and weak.

"Um... hi," Silver awkwardly greeted back, giving Sorun a little wave. There were a lot of things he wanted to ask, like where he'd been and if he was doing okay, but now he wasn't so sure he should ask those questions. In fact, Silver wasn't at all sure what he was supposed to do here. Nothing Master ever taught him prepared him for this. Whatever this was. What even was this? "E... everything okay?"

"I mean... probably not." Sorun looked back ahead. "I think this whole relationship thing Nicole and I got going on has been doing wonders for her. She's learned so many new emotions since getting with me. Anger, disappointment, disgust, anxiety. She's really growing as a person. It's great." He didn't sound like he really thought it was great. In fact, Silver wasn't sure it was possible to sound more unenthused than this.

"That, uh..." What does he say to that? Something nice? Supportive? Does he just nod along and agree, Silver didn't know, that seemed rude. Ask questions, that was it, it'd give him more time to think! "Everything okay?" He nearly kicked himself when he realized he already asked that.

The deep sigh Sorun released was akin to somebody blowing out their entire soul. It was deep enough that his body sank deeper into the couch, threatening to disappear between the cushions. "Well..." he began. Miraculously, he managed to rise up into a proper sitting position with all the grace of a corpse managing to pull itself out of its grave. It was not at all graceful. Really it looked like he was set to collapse back onto the couch any second. "Concerning our relationship status, on a scale of one to ten, one being everything is completely okay with ten being Nicole about five minutes from breaking up with me... we're sitting at a pretty solid eight here, buddy."

Silver winced. Eight was a pretty high number. "It's that bad?"

"Dude, I've never seen her that angry." Sorun's eyes widened at the mere mention of Nicole, and his face was almost in awe. Like the mere mention of what just happened minutes prior was making him relive those events in real time. "Like I really thought I saw the peak of it when we came here after the stupid interdimensional road trip, but no, it wasn't. It really wasn't." He looked back at Silver. "Silver?"

"Yeah?"

"Listen, um... I know I've always come across as this, you know, dependable friend you can rely on who always has the right answer, but... yeah, there's just no getting around it. I really screwed up here, man."

Silver scratched the side of his face. All that time thinking hadn't really given him all that much, so he still wasn't wholly sure what he was supposed to say. "But everyone makes mistakes, right?" he tried.

"Yeah, sure, and mistakes can be forgiven, but this mistake in particular is kind of treading old road and you can only say sorry so many times before it stops meaning anything." He threw his hands up and let them flop back to the couch. "I'm sunk, man."

"What did you even do?"

Sorun leaned forwards and slapped the palms of his hands together. The energy and speed behind the movement was so insignificant it sounded like two wet noodles colliding. "Well apparently when you're missing and everyone's worried to death over you because they don't know what's going on with you, and you've been back for a few days but didn't bother to call and tell everyone you're okay so they quit worrying, that can apparently be upsetting."

"Huh?" Few days? What? "Sorun you've been gone four days," Silver said.

"Yeah, I got back to this zone three days ago."

"So why didn't you tell anyone!?" Silver yelled out. Now he was starting to get upset. "I've been worried to death over you! Everyone said you got kidnapped by a bunch of these evil guys so everyone asked me for help, we had to get together and go to a whole other zone, we beat that green Sonic guy and everything but you weren't there and nobody there knew where you were so-!"

"I get it," Sorun said. "There's no way around it and it leads into the other reason Nicole's furious with me, so I'll just go out and say it. There's something wrong with me."

"I'll say there's something wrong with you, Sorun, do you have any idea what your friends have been going thr- I mean why didn't you-!?"

"For the- I mean I'm sick, Silver."

Silver's voice died in his throat and all feelings of anger vanished. The worry came back tenfold, the worry he'd felt for Sorun's safety when he'd first heard he was taken, but there was something different about it this time. The feeling coincided with a small sensation of dread Silver felt that didn't sit right with him at all. "W-what?" he whispered out.

"I was... away. At the G.U.N. base with these doctors," Sorun mumbled out. "They did a bunch of things and I was hoping they could do something, but they couldn't. So I came back. And told Nicole. And, uh, yeah."

"You're sick?" It was actually getting hard to stand for some reason, so Silver had to step over and sit down on the couch next to Sorun. He didn't really react all that much, though he did seem to have a hard time looking at Silver. "With what, how long, wh-what's even wrong with you?"

"I don't know, that's the thing," Sorun said. "All I can guess is that it's related to Chaos energy, and that stuff's toxic to me, which means... I don't really know," he admitted. "I noticed, egh, maybe a couple days after we got here? I didn't think anything about it at the time but then over the weeks it just kept getting more noticeable and I didn't know what to do and now I'm in this giant mess, and Nicole flipped out 'cause I didn't say anything 'til now."

"Oh." Everything before, the anger at Sorun making everyone worry and the yelling, it all seemed to lose meaning now. To the point Silver almost forgot all that completely. Now the only thing he could think of was what Sorun was saying, about being sick, and there was a question at the forefront of his mind that he wanted to speak but was almost too afraid to ask. He managed anyways. "Are... are you gonna be okay?"

Sorun didn't say anything at first. He took a few second to sit there in silent contemplation. Then he bent forwards to rest one of his hands on Silver's knee while giving it a small squeeze. "Yeah. I'm gonna get this fixed," Sorun said. "I made a promise I'd get you home, didn't I? This sickness, don't even worry about it. I got ideas how to go about fixing it."

"Ideas?" Silver echoed.

Before he answered, there was this... look, that Silver noticed. He couldn't call it a blank expression, because there was emotion there on Sorun's face. The way his eyes seemed to instantly sharpen in their gaze, like a sort of intense focus on his face. And yet at the same time there wasn't any discernable emotion on his face. Like he was nearly asleep but concentrating at the same time. Silver didn't know what he was looking at. And at the same time, it... made him uncomfortable. In fact, for some reason, it was... disturbing, almost. It gave Silver a sense of wrongness looking at that face, and he wasn't sure why.

"No matter what I have to do it's getting fixed," Sorun said. "That's all I want to say about it."

"Why can't you say more?"

Sorun turned to fully face Silver. Under the gaze of that look, that expression he could only describe as eerie, Silver couldn't help the disturbed feeling he felt. It was bad enough he almost felt like asking Sorun to quit looking at him like that. "You trust me?" Sorun asked. A simple three-word sentence that carried more weight behind it than it should, and Silver couldn't parse together why.

And yet, he still managed to answer. "Y-yeah, of course."

"Then trust me on this," he said. "I'm gonna fix this. Details don't matter, so don't stress about it." And in an instant that eerie look left Sorun's face, causing Silver to immediately relax. Now Sorun just looked like normal Sorun. "On another matter, do you happen to know what happened with that Chaos Emerald I had? Pretty sure Scourge stole it when he kidnapped me. The others find it?"

"The blue thing?" Silver paused to think for a moment. "Uh... yeah, I think. In that castle we went to, it was locked in this one room we found while searching for you. I think I overheard them saying they have it at the castle? Er, the castle here? The good castle, not, you know, the other bad one."

There was another shift in Sorun's expression. He seemed to relax a bit, and there was the smallest upturn on the corners of his mouth. He seemed more alive all of a sudden, too, even straightening his posture out a bit. "Best news I've heard all day. Need to go get it later," he said. "And listen, Silver, I don't want you to worry, I-"

There was a green flash - Nicole was back. Her presence alone, and the silent, smoldering glare she was sending Sorun even made Silver freeze up on the spot. Sorun had done much the same, completely still as a statue as he looked towards her. He wouldn't be surprised if there was cold sweat running down Sorun's face, but in his current state of petrification Silver couldn't turn his head to check.

"I talked to Dr. Quack. He said he'll see you right now." Silver found it eerily perplexing how she could sound so calm and icy at the same time. "We're going."

Sorun stirred just the smallest bit. A micromovement that was the only sign of him acknowledging Nicole. Then he asked, "Can I go get my co-"

"We're going right. Now."

"Okay, okay." Sorun made a wincing expression, the same kind of expression somebody who'd just been stabbed would make, and rose his hands up as he stood up off the couch. "Silver, I gotta g-"

He didn't even get to finish before the both of them teleported away in a flash if light.

---

Yeah, fine, so he'd screwed up again, what else was new?

It was all Sorun could do but to remorsefully sigh out as he stared out the hospital window. He was pretty sure this was the same room they admitted him the first time - when he'd lost an arm and an eye, got loaded with enough shrapnel to resemble a human pincushion, and almost died from blood loss.

Fun times. Fun memories. Fun time right now. Fun. Funny.

Wasn't really funny, not this. Dying again to a mysterious power. Wasn't funny having his life being torn away from him again. Over and over it kept happening, when every time he manages to fix everything it always had to be something new.

He just wanted to go back to his fucking courier job. He just wanted to go back and live in his house. He just wanted to hang out with his friends and have fun with his girlfriend. It wasn't that complicated. Everyone else in this city got that, so why didn't he? Why did this have to keep happening to him? Specifically him? Why him? Why his world?

He could see it right now as his fingers glided over the cracked glass of the window. A blood-red sky and a horizon completely on fire and nobody below was even reacting. Bolts of red lightning were crashing down and rending the ground, and there wasn't so much as a single scream of panic. Buildings smashed and rent asunder and everyone was acting like everything was okay. People laughing and chatting and walking to and fro acting like they weren't on fire and melting.

Always his world burning down. Always everyone else making it out fine but him.

"Sorun?"

He blinked. The glass wasn't cracked. Nothing but smooth, unblemished glass comprised this window. The sky was blue and everything was fine. He breathed out and leaned back in the chair he was sitting in. He couldn't even look at Dr. Quack standing there right in front of him because he was drawn to the overbearing presence named Nicole that was standing over in the corner and glaring daggers at him.

That was another thing altogether, one Sorun wasn't sure how to fix. Or if he even could. It was a whole can of worms he didn't even wanna touch because he was so focused on the current issue. He couldn't even blame her for being mad.

No, mad doesn't cover it, actually. That wasn't mad back there. That was the grievous sort of anger that actually had him concerned. He wasn't sure if this was something that could be reconciled.

He heard the glass cracking behind him again. But when Sorun glanced back at the window, it was perfectly fine.

"Sorun?" Dr. Quack called out again.

"Doccy-doc." Sorun turned back to the one-eyed duck. He tried putting on a smile, but the small, fragile expression on his face didn't feel at all like a smile. "Ya got nothin' for me, right?"

It wasn't like he was expecting much. He'd only been here for an hour, only so many tests could be done, and his only hope was that there was something a Mobian doctor had up his sleeves that an Overlander doctor didn't. Hope was slim but it was there, though at this point Sorun was having a hard time grasping for it.

The duck blinked his eye. "Professionalism would... discourage me, Sorun, from putting it that way."

"Lookin' for accuracy, not politeness."

"Always something with you..." he grumbled out as he looked down at his chart. "You know I've treated war victims less snippish than you, Sorun? It says a lot."

"Yeah. I've no doubt."

"Sorun," Nicole snapped from across the room. He stiffened in fear. "You're not a child, so act appropriately."

He clenched his teeth and made a grimace at the tone she was using with him. It was bad. The fact she was still mad at him was a bad sign, and above almost all else he really just wanted Nicole to relent a bit. It'd go a long way to calm him down, at least. Maybe make him cut it with the sarcasm and dry wit so he could focus on the important things. Like his life.

His eyes flicked over to Dr. Quack. At his missing eye. There was... a possibility there.

"Son of a bitch. I was hoping to save that card for an emergency. It's dangerous." A considering hum left Sorun. He scratched at the side of his face. "I guess this is kind of an emergency..."

Fuck it. He needed the goodwill right now. He needed the breathing space because he screwed up and genuinely feared for their relationship.

"Ah..." Sitting back in his chair, Sorun asked, "Will you consider forgiving me if I give Dr. Quack his eye back?"

The reactions varied. Dr. Quack looked confused. Nicole's face had straightened out into a curious look. She was the first one to speak.

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, what she said," Dr. Quack said. "'Give me my eye back'? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Means do you want your eye back or not?" Sorun asked. "I can regenerate it for you."

"You can't extend your regenerative ability to others," Nicole said. She was giving him a discerning look, gazing right at Sorun's face like she was trying to figure something out. "You said as much yourself."

"I can't..." Sorun trailed off. His feet tapped the ground a couple times as he thought over his next words. "But there's a loophole I can use. It's really risky, though, so I never wanted to use it."

"And you choose now of all times to bring it up." Now her expression was flat. Unimpressed. She saw what he was trying to go for and she didn't look very approving. "Sorun..."

He winced again. Should've figured this would in no way be subtle enough for her not to catch, but he was too far now to rescind the offer. "Silver told me you guys got my Chaos Emerald back. Go get it and you'll see. Oh, and go get Anto-" He cut himself off, wincing. Antoine and a sword wasn't... he wasn't completely sure it would cut it. It could. Maybe. They might not even need it. But he didn't wanna risk it.

Sorun nearly bit his tongue in frustration when he realized. Sonic would for sure be the safest option. But that meant asking him for help. Admitting Sorun wasn't enough to handle it. And as much as Sorun hated that... there was a non-zero chance this thing could actually kill someone, so he needed to swallow his pride a bit and ask for help.

"Get... Sonic, too," Sorun bit out. It hurt. Somewhere in his brain it hurt asking that.

Nicole blinked. She tilted her head a bit and, in the smallest change in her features, actually looked a bit hesitant now. "Sorun, what are you planning?" she asked.

"You will see if you get the Chaos Emerald and Sonic," was all he gave for answer. Nicole didn't look satisfied at all by that answer, but, slowly, she still nodded.

"I will, then." She turned towards the doctor - he still looked confused and was looking back and forth between the two. "Doctor, I'm leaving Sorun in your care for the moment. If he climbs up on a high place it means he's hungry, but don't try and feed him soup. He'll just hiss and swipe at it."

The doctor looked like he was about to drop his clipboard he looked so lost. "Ah, buh, uh, Nicole, he's not- he's not some kind of Mobini cat."

"No. He's not." She turned to him. And glared. "A cat would be easier to manage." And with those wonderful words she vanished in a cloud of green pixels. Sorun himself wasn't so sure what she meant when she said all that - that was new. Was that some kind of mean joke? Did he really make her that upset?

"Man. I really did screw up here."

"Can I just say I didn't consent to whatever it is you two just agreed to!?" Dr. Quack cut in. He actually slammed his clipboard down on the nearby counter he was standing next to. The sound caused Sorun to jump a bit in his seat. "What is this, Sorun, what are you trying to do to me?"

Okay. He didn't plan this out very well. That was becoming increasingly obvious. In a desperate effort to salvage the situation Sorun tried flashing the duck a winning grin. "You're really gonna say no to a free eye?" he asked.

It didn't work. The duck doctor actually looked a bit upset. "I'd like to say no to radical changes to my body, yes, but apparently you two just-" he cut himself off, sighing out and muttering under his breath. He ran a hand over his bill. "I can't believe... I'm only agreeing because it'll put a smile on my wife's face, but can I ask what exactly you're trying to do here?"

"You'll back out if I tell you."

"I wanna back out now just by hearing that," Quack grumbled. "Why? Is it just one of your Emerald powers, because if it's just that then I don't see why you never brought it up befo-"

"You'll see. Just, um..." Sorun let out a breath and tapped at his knee. "Just do me a favor and get me a scalpel."

Oh, now the duck just looked worried. Just hearing that one request appeared to make him stiffen, like a bout of dread washed over him. "What?" he asked, daring to hope he's misheard.

"A scalpel," Sorun repeated. "I'm gonna need one."

"I don't want to give you a scalpel," Dr. Quack said. There wasn't any malice behind the words, and it wasn't even delivered in a factual, clinical manner. It was answered in an unsure, almost lighthearted tone. He'd been dragged in too far and was just riding it out at this point, Sorun could tell, and he could even respect it. But he really did need that scalpel.

"Do you trust me?" Sorun asked.

Dr. Quack looked down. He was considering the question - really considering it by the looks of how scrunched his face had gone - and then looked up. "I'm not so sure right now," he answered.

"Good stance!" Giving him an approving look, Sorun snapped his fingers and pointed at the duck. "But seriously, I'm gonna need something to cut it open. Please just go get it."

Those words didn't seem to calm Quack down at all. It just made his one eye widen even further, and he went a far as to raise his hands up next to his head. They were shaking. "Ffffffine..." he bit out, shaking his head all the while as he made his way towards the door.

A while later he'd come back with the agreed-upon tool: a scalpel, handed directly to Sorun. Wasn't much to say. It was about what one would expect of a scalpel. A small, sharp blade at the end of a flat, metal handle. He'd gotten up out of his chair to stand in front of Dr. Quack in order to grab it.

"Listen, I know this is sudden-" Sorun began.

"Save it, Sorun, I'm not interested in hearing you excuse yourself for giving me my eye back just to try and smooth things over with your girlfriend."

Sorun paused, scalpel in grasp. Then he sighed and set the scalpel down on the counter to his left. "That obvious?"

"Sorun, I was right here. I saw her pick up on it."

Once more Sorun lamented not having thought this through. "You can't blame me," he mumbled, raising his head back up to face the doctor. He almost regretted saying it, because even he saw it as a weak defense.

Surprisingly, he was given a sympathetic look by the doctor. "Look, kid, I've been there, too. Everybody's done stupid stuff for love; ain't nobody who hasn't. I did... especially stupid things." He glanced to the side a bit and stayed silent for a few moments, and then looked back at Sorun. "Just kind of wish it didn't take whatever spat's going on between you two for you to finally decide to give me an eye."

"I never brought it up because I'm genuinely putting your life in mortal danger with this, Dr. Quack. It's why I asked Nicole to bring Sonic." When he saw the doctor flinch and lean back, his one eye widened at Sorun, he made a sigh. "Look, uh, it-it was dumb of me to do this, I didn't put any thought in it, if you really wanna quit we can just forget it and-"

"Sorun," Quack interrupted, holding a hand up, "just... how risky? Exactly?"

"Well I didn't exactly have time to string the math together," Sorun grumbled. "Low, I guess? With Sonic and Nicole there? Honestly it's more likely I'll get an arm chopped off, but I can just grow that back with the Emerald literally right there so it's all fine."

Dr. Quack didn't immediately respond to that. He just stood there, quietly regarding Sorun in silence, and then he reached over to grab the clipboard he'd slammed down earlier. "Most people wouldn't be so casual over something like that," he said.

"Most people can't regenerate with a magic rock."

"... Is this a good time to talk about why you came here in the first place?" On a dime Dr. Quack pivoted topics and lightly tapped at the clipboard he'd picked up. "Your... condition."

Sorun made a dismissive sound. "You already made it pretty clear you don't have anything for me."

"Well, Sorun, there's nothing physically wrong with you-"

A green glow overlapped Sorun's eyes. "I'd have to disagree with you," he said, pointing at his eyes.

The duck gave a helpless shrug. "I don't know what you want me to do. I don't even know what this is," he said, watching closely as Sorun's eyes faded back to blue. He did grow a bit concerned when a bead of blood dripped out from Sorun's nose. "Have you tried just not using... whatever that is?"

"It activates on its own when I get upset. And over time it's been getting easier and easier to flip the switch," Sorun explained. "As you can probably guess that isn't ideal. And if it gets to a point where I can't turn it off... see what I'm getting at?"

"I do. But I still don't think I can help you," he confessed. He looked a bit remorseful admitting it, which helped to calm Sorun's mood a bit as the human crossed his arms. "I told you once before areas involving Chaos energy isn't my specialty. You'd honestly probably be better off asking a wizard for help over a doctor."

"I can't tell if you're being serious or not when you say that." A pair of green flashes prevented Sorun from speaking any further. Nicole had returned, holding a glowing, blue object in her hands. A Chaos Emerald. His.

And besides her was... him. He knew from the looks he got that his eyes had probably flickered green a little bit the moment he glanced at Sonic's way. He'd felt it in his hand, felt the way the tips of his fingers momentarily itched before he'd managed to clamp down on the feelings he felt. It was harder than it should have been, though.

"Couch the topic for now," Sorun said, glancing back at the doctor before turning to the other two. "I ironed out the details with Dr. Quack. We're good to go."

Said duck stammered out. "W-we ironed out nothing. You just said that you could give me my eye back and it'd be dangerous-"

"Well do you want it?" Sorun asked.

"... I mean of course I do, but-"

"Doc, it'll be fine." He hoped it'd be fine. Sorun couldn't guarantee it, just make it real close to a guarantee, but the current setup was... optimal. Somewhat. With Sonic and Nicole there it shouldn't go too horrible if things got out of hand. "You guys ready?"

"Ready for what?" It was the first time Sonic spoke since arriving. He was looking around at the three of them with wide, confused eyes and looked about ready to throw his hands up. "Can we slow down for a second, I- Sorun we JUST figured out you're back and the second we do Nicole's telling me you need me for something? What's going on? Why are we in the hospital, are you- you're okay, right?"

"So many questions, Sonic, one thing at a time." Leaning an elbow on the counter for support, Sorun leaned his body towards Dr. Quack's way and pointed at the duck with his other arm. "I'm gonna give this guy his eyeball back. I can explain everything else after."

It didn't do anything to assuage Sonic's confusion, as he visibly still looked a bit lost, but to his credit he'd managed to shake most of it off an adopted a more relaxed, if slightly interested, expression. "Ooookay..." he began, "we'll do that I guess. Hi, Sorun, by the way, great to see you safe."

The greeting gave Sorun a bit of pause, as he didn't much expect it. He didn't know how to respond, so the most he managed to give was an awkward little wave towards Sonic. It seemed Sonic was in the same boat, because all he'd managed to do was reciprocate it with an equally awkward wave. Off to the side Nicole had watched the exchange, and when ten seconds of silence passed she gently knocked on the surface of the Emerald to gain everyone's attention.

"May we please begin?" she requested.

"Yeah, sure. Sonic, get ready just in case."

"Again: ready for what?" Sonic asked. "I don't even know why you need me."

"I need you here in case the Empusa tries to attack someone."

"In case the what does what? What? We're doing what?" Blinking rapidly, Sonic backed up a step as Sorun began to approach Nicole. He tried shaking his hands to get Sorun's attention. "Seriously I need an answer here!"

The hand shaking, and Sonic's request for answers, went ignored by Sorun. He'd immediately stopped right in front of Nicole and grabbed the Emerald, though when he attempted to pull away she didn't let go of it. He looked up, catching the unsure expression Nicole was sending up.

"Sorun, this doesn't seem wise," she said. "The further detail you go into this the more it seems you had good reason for withholding this. And now you're talking about something attacking somebody. I want a straight answer before I give this to you: how dangerous is what we're about to attempt?"

"It's..." Sorun trailed off, and then sighed. She didn't sound like she would accept anything else, and they all deserved to know what he was getting them into. He decided to say it plainly. "I don't know if it's going to attack someone because it's something I'm gonna make with the Emerald, and everything I've ever made always listens to me. But this is the first time I'm making a creature here, so I dunno what's gonna happen. So I need Sonic and you and standby because this thing is really dangerous."

"I will reiterate. How dangerous?"

"Well for sure if I drop it it'll go back to being a magic glowing rock so it's not like there's a risk of it escaping or anything." He was pretty sure of that. Damn near certain, actually. "But at the same time this thing can cut people in half with a single swing, so... yeah. Need you two on standby in case it starts wigging out."

Maybe that hadn't been quite the right combination of words to say to them all. The reactions varied: Sonic looked tense, like he had a million and one questions racing through his mind and at the same time couldn't take his eyes off the Emerald because he knew what was about to possibly happen. Dr. Quack was glancing towards the door and was backing up as far into the counter as space allowed. Nicole, strangest of all, looked calculating. She was looking down at the Emerald like she was contemplating, hard enough her ears were lowering a bit over her head. He felt her grip tighten, and for a moment Sorun was convinced that she was going to decide against this and take the Emerald away.

And then, slowly, Nicole released her grip as she came to a decision. "You seem sure," she said, somewhat hesitantly as her hands pulled completely away. "You've never done this before. You said so yourself," she continued. "How do you even know you can do this in the first place?"

Ah, the consequences of never actually telling anyone how this worked. It was fun at times, but this was one of the rare moments it was actually biting him. He didn't feel like giving his secrets up just because of that, though. "It's like at the beach, when I showed you all those weapons," he explained. "I just know these things."

"And yet you don't know if you can control this... creature of yours."

"Because it's uncharted territory, Nicole. And hey, you're the one always encouraging scientific experimentation-" He cut himself off when Nicole looked up to give him a sharp glare. "What I mean," he quickly corrected, "is that this is about as safe an environment as we're gonna get." He nodded his head at Dr. Quack. "And, well, I owe the guy my life from that one time and I know from experience the life of being a cyclops is suffering. Really the least I owe him is a shiny new eye."

"... Fine, then. You seem sure." Conceding with a resigned look and closed eyes, Nicole took a few steps back. Her eyes opened back up, and she said, "This doesn't erase anything."

"Y... yeah." It was too transparent a move made in the heat of the moment. Anybody probably could've seen through it the more Sorun thought on it, and if that were the case it had almost zero chance flying by Nicole. It vexed him a bit he ended up playing the eye card for nothing in the end, but... ah, well. He probably wouldn't have used it for anything else anyways.

Gripping the blue Emerald tight in his hands Sorun walked in front of the doctor. He still looked unsure about all of this, still taking occasional glances at the door. Sorun felt he'd be a bit mad if he did that after having come so far, and decided to get the show on the road before the doctor changed his mind. "Alright, usin' it," he said. "There's absolutely no preparing you guys for what this thing looks like so don't freak out."

He pictured in his mind what he wanted. The glow of the Emerald intensified, and he felt the same sensation he always felt when he twisted these energies into something it wasn't. "Okay okay okay good so far..." he thought. The Emerald was dissolving, breaking apart into innumerable, tiny fragments that were swirling together into a shape. "Alright listen, heart, I know the lore doesn't explicitly say the regen juice this thing puts out can regrow body parts, but you've stretched the rules on a lot of these things so throw me a fucking bone here. I'm gonna look like a loser if this flops."

There wasn't an acknowledgement or anything like that. At the end of the day it was still him deciding what this rock was shaping into and what it could do, even if it was on a subconscious level, and if he could force it through sheer force of will and mental yelling Eggman would have died of a heart attack months ago. His Yamato could do some wacky things because of that separation loophole, though, so there had to be some give here. A little room to bend the rules his own heart arbitrarily agreed on. And Sorun liked to imagine that if it was his heart it'd absolutely allow loophole shenanigans for his benefit.

He guessed he'd see pretty soon, because he was done making what he needed to make. The first reaction he got was Sonic screaming out on shock.

"OH, WHAT THE- nope, nope I- oh, that's- ugh, I can't..." He made a gagging sound and turned away from the creature Sorun was holding out in his hands. He dry heaved a few times, making Sorun think he was genuinely about to throw up. He glanced back at the creature, and then made a strangled, sort of disgusted sound as he turned away again. "Sorun, what is that!?"

What indeed. It was small, no longer than one of Sorun's arm. Its body had gray, thickened flesh. Its legs were quadruped, ending in sharpened points, and its arms were similar to that of a praying mantis. The torso was thin, insect-like, with hardened carapace surrounding the soft midsection. Two wings with translucent membrane colored in metallic blues, pinks, and greens like that of a dragonfly jutted out from its back.

It was probably the head that was freaking Sonic out. At a first glance it looked like an ant's head. Like two large bulbs smashed together to form a head with two large pincers jutting out of its mouth. If one looked closer, though, they'd see each side of its head, each of those "bulbs", had a human eye that glowed a solid blue and a nose. And between those partial faces was a human, skull-like face. One with completely empty eye sockets and a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth right behind the two large, serrated pincers on either side of its mouth.

"It's an Empusa. Specifically one of the green ones," Sorun answered Sonic. The hedgehog was still refusing to even look at it - gagging out and shuddering while muttering under his breath. He found a bit of amusement at the sight.

"... Sorun, you know the more I think about it I start to realize maybe having one eye isn't so bad," Dr. Quack said. He wasn't doing much better now that Sorun looked at him. He looked queasy, and seemed to be looking up at the ceiling, as if trying to avoid even catching a glance at the thing Sorun was holding. "The kids really like the eyepatch. Says it makes me look 'hip' or whatever they called it. And cybernetic augmentation's come a long way, and while I realize there's a stigma around it because of everything Eggman did I'm starting to come around to-"

"Doc, come on we've already come this far." Sorun lightly shook the little monster he was holding in his hands. It made a deep trilling noise. "You're gonna hurt its feelings if you turn back now."

"That hideous thing doesn't even look like it has feelings," the duck snapped, looking back down from the ceiling, and then making a sound in the back of his throat and looked down further until he was then staring at his feet. "It... I don't even have the words to describe that."

"It has a skull for a face, why does it have a skull for a face...?" Sonic mumbled out. He covered his face with his hands, turned his head to the creature's direction, and then spread his fingers out a bit to peak through them. "Jeez, it's got- it's got three faces, Sorun, why, why any of this!? It looks like you pulled it straight out of a nightmare!"

"I mean... you're kind of on the mark," Sorun admitted. The hand dropped away from Sonic's face to reveal a disbelieving look. "It came from my heart. Or brain. Mind. However you wanna interpret it. Nightmare ain't too far off."

"And this is what you dream about!? Weird bug skull monster things!?" Sonic exclaimed, gesturing wildly at the Empusa. It turned its head over to look at him, making Sonic cringe back with a grossed-out expression and take a few steps back. "At least tell me it isn't gonna try and hurt anyone, man..."

"If it hasn't tried to kill anyone at this point then I'm pretty sure its safe." There was one positive right there. If there was at least one thing he could walk away with it was the knowledge any lesser demons he made wouldn't try to go on a murder rampage. He doubted it'd be useful information he'd ever use, but it was still nice to know. "Wanna hold it?" he asked, making a small mocking grin towards Sonic.

"Sorun seriously if you try coming close with that thing I'm leaving," Sonic said, backing up a few more steps while warily eyeing the demon. "If it's not dangerous after all then I'm staying over here."

Humming, Sorun decided to make no further comment. It was when he looked over at the fourth occupant in the room, Nicole, did he realize that he'd shown this thing to her and that she was staring right at it. It was in that moment he froze, and nearly felt his heart seize. There wasn't any overly strong emotion on her face that he could discern, but it hardly mattered as intrusive thoughts began to invade his brain. Would she find this hideous thing connected to him so monstrous she'd start judging? Would this change the paradigm of their relationship any more than his screw-ups had already caused? Would she find it so disturbing she wouldn't even speak to him again?

Maybe not that last one, because she'd stepped forwards until she was right next to the Empusa. It was all Sorun could do but to watch with bated breath as she reached her hands out. She grabbed at one of the Empusa's arms and extended it out slightly to examine it. The bladed portion of the mantis-like limb wasn't a blade at all - it was five fingers tipped with long, sharpened talons that perfectly flushed together into a blade. Unlike the rest of the limb the bicep portion of the arm wasn't insect-like at all. It was eerily similar to a human bicep in shape.

A small, acknowledging sound left Nicole as she released the arm. The Empusa made a sort of guttural cooing noise, its serrated mandibles slowly opening and closing and its head tilting as Nicole continued to look at it. She finally decided to comment on it. "Despite appearances it seems friendlier than you advertised, Sorun."

Sorun turned his head away a bit, hoping the motion made some of his hair hide the redness on his cheeks. "I think that's just you," he mumbled out.

"... Ah. I see." Her eyes quickly regarded him and then focused back on the Empusa. "Why does it have so many human-like features?"

"You're asking for secrets I'm not willing to share with anybody besides you. And Sonic and Dr. Quack are right there," Sorun said. He saw the doctor roll his eye from the corner of his vision and Sonic had tried to make a remark, but then he'd caught sight of the Empusa again, made a distressed noise, and turned away. "It looks like this because this is what an Empusa looks like. That's all I'm willing to say here, right now in this place."

"That's fair, I suppose."

"Hm...?" He noticed she was still looking at it, green eyes scanning up and down the small demon's body. Other than the air of curiosity surrounding her Nicole wasn't showing any strong reaction towards it. "You don't seem that spooked compared to the others."

"I don't get spooked," she replied bluntly. "Otherwise I don't have any overly strong feelings concerning the appearance of this creature. I think it's an interesting design, but that's it."

"'Interesting'!?" Sonic cried out from the other side of the room.

"What I assume to be a human skull situated in the center of its face raises questions, I'll admit," she added.

"Yeah, I know it's weird," Sorun said. "You wanna show Cream this later? See what happens?"

Nicole's answer came with the addition of a disapproving frown. "You're not allowed to give children nightmares, Sorun," she said, causing no small amount of disappointment in Sorun. She glanced over her shoulder. "You may have already given Sonic nightmares," she continued.

Sonic made a sputtering noise in outrage but otherwise was continuing to try and not look at the Empusa.

"Fine..." Sorun sighed out. "... Can I show Antoine?"

"No." Nicole took a few steps back, and then asked, "Now may we please know the reason you decided to create this creature?"

Somewhere deep inside, Sorun felt some relief. She didn't seem horrified beyond comprehension at the Empusa like the other two seemed to be, so that was good. If anything she seemed a bit more relaxed now. Maybe seeing something brand-new caused her to mellow out a bit. "Right," he began. He lifted the Empusa up to draw attention to the bulbous abdomen hanging off the end of the Empusa's torso. It was engorged and inflated like the abdomen of an ant or a spider, and green light was shining out from beneath its flesh. "This particular Empusa is actually one of the smaller ones."

Sonic made a groaning sound. "What, there's bigger ones?"

"The normal worker drones are about four times bigger than this one." Sonic didn't even comment. He just shook his head with that sickened look on his face and waved at Sorun to continue. "Anyway, it's a support unit meant to shower a kind of healing nectar it keeps in its abdomen to heal the normal worker drones. I'm gonna cut it open and spill a bunch of healing juice on Dr. Quack's face. Unless anyone has any objections...?"

He'd looked towards Dr. Quack when he said that. The duck certainly looked like he did, squeamishly looking towards the Empusa and regarding its green abdomen with disgust. He shook his head, mumbling out, "Consarn it, we're already this far and I do want that eye." He looked to Sorun and asked, "Does it at least taste... not disgusting?"

"Yeah, like limes," Sorun said. He took the question as consent and, swiftly, grabbed the scalpel he'd put down earlier while gripping the Empusa's neck with the other hand while holding it up. There wasn't any flair or fanfare with the cut; he'd simply stabbed the small blade into the uppermost part of the abdomen, where it connected with the Empusa's torso, and dragged it all the way down to the tip. The Empusa screamed, a high-pitched, screeching sort of sound and wriggled in his grasp as its lifeblood poured out of the wound Sorun made.

He jolted a bit. Something tore through him the moment the Empusa died in his hand. Some unwell feeling. Not wishing to waste time, Sorun put the feeling off in the back of his mind and held the twitching demon above Quack's head. There wasn't really a better way to do it, and he couldn't even put the corpse down without it disappearing. So he'd just held it over Quack and sort of tried to sprinkle it on him, doing his best to aim it so that the green, glowing fluid dribbling out would land on the doctor's face. He'd started sputtering out immediately.

"Agh, you lied! This doesn't taste like limes at all!" Quack yelled out, shaking his head while gagging out as the green slime poured over his head.

Sorun snorted. "You actually bought that? Wow." Despite his glib tone, Sorun was paying close attention to see if anything was happening. And something was. The green fluid was disappearing off of Quack's body moments after making contact. It wasn't a characteristic of the nectar itself; some had spilled out on the floor and that was remaining in place. It was only the fluid that touched Dr. Quack that was disappearing.

Suddenly, there was a groan from the doctor. He held the eyepatch that was covering his eye and winced greatly, and then made a short sort of shout and tore the eyepatch right off. Sorun looked closer and made an "oof" sound. He imagined there was once a empty eye socket behind that eyepatch. Now there was a little, wriggling ball of meat in there, pulsing and undulating.

"It supposed to burn like this...?" the duck hissed out. His features were scrunched up, in pain. Both Sonic and Nicole, standing off to the side, looked unsure and were looking to Sorun for an answer.

"Well, I don't feel anything whenever I regenerate stuff, but that body isn't normal," Sorun said to them with a shrug. "Probably a lot of friction going on in there, but listen, I'm sure this gunk'll cancel out the burn damage. And hey! You already got a li'l meat blob growin' in there. Just, uh, angle your head up a bit, lemme really lay it on thick."

The doctor did so, though he looked like he was regretting it. With the new angle Sorun was able to aim the small stream of slime directly into the semi-empty socket. It was doing the trick - the object that looked like a mish-mash of pulsing meat was taking shape, growing spherical. It was lightening from a deep red to a glossy white. A blue ring was forming in its center with a black dot in the middle.

"Alright, I think it worked." Despite the doctor's words Sorun kept pouring. "Bleh, Sorun, it worked, you can stop!" He kept pouring. "Sorun I can see out of the blasted eye!"

"Oh, sorry, didn't hear you." And just in time, too, because the Empusa's abdomen was drained to the point it was only dripping a few drops of slime out at a time. The creature itself had died pretty much immediately after Sorun cut it open. Now it was just a limp corpse he was holding up. He regarded it for all of a second before tossing it on the counter besides them. It glowed brightly and then disappeared the moment it left contact with Sorun's hand, and what ended up clattering on top of the counter was a glowing, blue gem. The green slime that had been spilled all around had disappeared as well. Any evidence of that Empusa ever existing was completely gone.

All except for that eye, that was. Dr. Quack was blinking heavily, both eyes looking around to look at whatever drew his attention. He looked about as surprised as Sorun felt; he wasn't even sure that would work or that the eye would stay once he disappeared the Empusa. He felt a bit glad knowing it did, if only because it meant there wasn't some kind of terrible blowback he had to deal with now.

"Welcome back to the world of depth perception," Sorun said in a dull deadpan. "Everything working okay? Eye blurry or anything? I can bring it back if you need a second dose."

"NO!" Quack quickly shouted, turning at Sorun and shaking his head. "I mean, uh... no, no that's fine," he said, quickly coughing to clear his throat. "The eye appears to be functioning fine, it... huh." He blinked and looked around. "It actually feels like I never even lost it."

"Doesn't look it. It didn't do anything for the scar tissue, sorry." There was an ugly patch completely around the duck's eye socket that lacked any fur. Flesh scarred over from the explosion that took the eye to begin with. There were a couple of small slashes going past the eye socket, too, maybe shrapnel from the mine. It hadn't disappeared with the regeneration of the eyeball. "Huh. My scars went away. Might just be another quirk of Devil's Body."

Dr. Quack rose a hand up to feel around the eye socket. His fingers rubbed over the scarred tissue, making an unsatisfied huff leave him. "Well, I guess it was too much to hope for it to go perfectly. Still, the eye is more than I could have asked for. Might run a few tests on it later, but... for all intents and purposes everything looks... completely... fine, Sorun, are you okay?"

He didn't think he was. That feeling he'd felt when the Empusa died was intensifying, making him feel a bit nauseous and causing his head to start spinning a bit. "Nah, uh, I-I'm fine," he mumbled out, stumbling back a bit and grabbing onto the counter with one hand to steady himself. Nobody around him looked like they believed him. "It's... it's all fine, everything's fine..."

A new feeling was welling up and he'd covered his nose and mouth with his free hand to try and head it off. It didn't work. Crimson fluid started to leak between his fingers. At that point he'd given up and let his hand fall away, thereby letting the streams of blood pouring out of his nose splash around on the ground. He stumbled a bit, about ready to collapse onto the ground right there. He caught a swirl of green in the corner of his vision, and suddenly there was a pair of hands holding his shoulder and arm to keep him steady.

Mildly surprised at the assistance, Sorun looked at her. Ever since he explained to Nicole where he'd been there'd been an air of animosity surrounding her, and every time she so much as glanced at his way there was clear bitterness in her eyes. That was all gone right now. No frustration, no hostility, none of that. She just looked plain worried now, staring right at his face and where the blood had been pouring out from his nose.

"It... takes a lot out of me, I guess. When a living thing I made dies..." He held his bloodied hand up to his nose again. That debilitating wave from earlier was beginning to subside, and the bleeding had stopped. His mouth and chin were still a mess of red, though. "I-I'm fine."

"... None of this is fine." She'd started to relax her grip slightly, testing to make sure he actually could stand on his own, and it was only when she was satisfied did Nicole fully release him and take a few steps back. "You're never to do this again," she quietly mumbled out.

Sorun hesitated in responding. That tone Nicole was using - he couldn't place it. It sounded like somebody who was incredibly exhausted and simultaneously on the verge of screaming and he didn't know what it meant. "I'm trying to fix it," he said, as if such a weak thing to say actually meant something. Somewhere deep down he hoped it meant something.

The look Nicole gave him said it didn't amount to much after all. That withered expression somehow hurt him more than killing the Empusa had. "I've matters to attend to. I cannot... I can't with this, Sorun. Please sort out what you need to and find me later."

Before Sorun could give any kind of answer she'd disappeared in a swirl of pixels. He'd watcher her go wordlessly, staring at the spot she'd disappeared from. He wasn't sure at all what that had meant in its entirety. Her being completely fed up with him for now and needing to take a moment to herself, he supposed. He couldn't help but feel the worst.

"What a fuckup I am." He let out a slow, steady breath, and then looked towards the counter. The blue Emerald was still sitting there, ready for the taking. And take it he did, hand reaching out and grasping it. It'd reformed into his katana the moment he'd made contact, fingers comfortably wrapping around the familiar tool as he lifted it off the table. "Fine. Desperate measures. I don't care if I have to lobotomize and slave him with the Yamato. I need to fix this."

So goddamn sick of things like this interrupting his life. Enough. He'd had enough. It was enough months ago. It was enough his first day on this planet.

"Doc, you can go. I think we're done here," Sorun said. He brought the sword closer, holding it in both hands as he inspected the sheathed blade up and down. Seemed to be in order, as usual.

"Uh..." The doctor sounded unsure. When Sorun looked up he saw the doctor looking at him pensively. Or perhaps at all the blood on his face. "I really do think after that little display I should run a test or two-"

"This isn't something that you can fix. We tried that. I'm doing something else now." He looked back down at the blade, but then frown a small bit when he noticed the duck hadn't left. "Quack. I'll be fine. Go."

Dr. Quack made a harsh kind of sound and shook his head. "If you wanna be that way, fine. Tissues are on the counter to clean yourself off. If you need me you'll know where I'll be." He walked towards the room's door, his footsteps sounding more heavy, dragging almost. He opened the door and then stopped halfway, looking back into the room. "And... Sorun, uh, I just wanted to say thanks. You know, for the eye. I know the kids'll-"

"Go."

Evidently he must've taken the hint, because that was the moment Dr. Quack ducked out of the room entirely, closing the door behind him. Sorun wanted to breath a relieved sigh after that. He wanted to, but he couldn't. Because he could still see Sonic standing at the other end of the room, staring at him. It bothered Sorun.

"What do you want?" he asked. He spotted the box of tissues Dr. Quack had mentioned earlier and reached out with his right hand to grab at a few. His left hand was still holding onto Yamato.

Sonic blinked at the question. He shook his head a bit in shock, as if he'd been struck. And then he asked, "What do you mean, what do I want? What kind of question is that?"

"You're still here," Sorun observed. He'd grabbed the tissues and began to wipe the blood off his face, grimacing the smallest bit when he realized some of it had dried on. He'd have to wash it off with the sink at home. "Why?"

Sonic still looked confused. "Of course I'm still here, I don't- what are you even asking?"

Out of respect for the doctor Sorun pocketed the bloodied tissues to throw away later instead of tossing them out on the floor. The question Sonic asked irked him, though. His presence in the room irked him. Enough that when Sorun looked back at him his eyes were glowing green. "What... do you want?" he repeated.

"I wanna know if you're alright!" he yelled out, sounding a bit frustrated. "I mean, I mean jeez, Sorun, you know, you get kidnapped and disappear and then out of the blue you're back bleeding everywhere and your eyes are, I don't even..." He stopped himself, pressed his palms together, and then took a deep breath before opening his eyes back on Sorun. "I just wanna know what's going on. You know, if you're okay, if I can do anything to help. That sort of thing."

"It's not really any of your business." That tone. That fucking tone of his. So eager to be helpful, so earnest. So free to feel all these things because everything always worked out for him. Never changed, he never changed with him. It was one of those moments where it pissed Sorun off to no end just standing in the same room as Sonic.

"None of my- you're actually being serious right now," Sonic realized. His features hardened a bit, and his voice grew a bit harsher. "I feel like it's my business when one of my friends starts bleeding all over the floor, Sorun. And you think it's just you I'm worried about here? Did you even see how distressed this is making Nicole? Did you even stop and think maybe everyone else is gonna be worried about this!?"

Theeeere it was. Something that finally made that obnoxious attitude drop into something a bit more confrontational. It made the corners of Sorun's mouth perk up just the smallest bit, and the green glow in his eyes intensified. "There's nothing anyone can do to help, so I didn't bother. It won't be an issue when it's resolved. It barely bears mentioning."

The explanation didn't seem to calm Sonic down in the slightest. "So what, you're gonna just go and fix it? Whatever this is? How do you even plan on doing that?"

Sorun didn't dare laugh. As if Sonic would actually let him if he knew what he was planning. "As I said, it's none of your business. There's a path I can take. That's all I'll say on the subject."

"A path," Sonic airily repeated. "Wow, that tells me nothing. Does your 'path' involve that freaky monster thing, because that didn't seem to work out too good for you."

The small grin Sorun had grown died. That fire- no, not even that. Whatever sparks of hostility he'd manage to elicit out of Sonic were gone now, the embers quickly fading. It made him adopt a neutral expression and made his eyes fade to blue as he crossed arms and leaned his back against the counter, sword still in hand. "No, that healing nectar only works on physical wounds. What's wrong with me isn't physical. More... ingrained."

"And you can't just make something that does help you?" he asked. "You can make all this other amazing stuff but you can't spin that?"

"How simple life would be if I could..." Sorun let a bitter chuckle out at the thought. "No. There's nothing I can make that can help me. I can pick and choose some things, but I have a limited selection to draw from. And I'm hesitant on making creatures after what happened with the Empusa. That was quite literally the weakest one I possess; I don't want to imagine the consequences of summoning bigger things. I'm for sure never creating any of the sapient ones." That was just a whole can of worms he didn't feel like dealing with. It wouldn't be worth the headache. Which sucked, because a large majority of the demons he could create were sapient.

Sonic's eyes closed halfway. He seemed to be trying to discern something about something, but then grew visibly dissatisfied as he failed to find whatever he was looking for. "How does any of that even work?" he asked. "Did you really make that creature from your nightmares? 'Cause... I mean if it's bad enough you're dreaming about stuff like that, Sorun..."

The frown returned to Sorun's face when he sensed the concern in Sonic's voice. "I'm fine. And I won't tell."

Sonic grit his teeth and clenched his fingers hard enough to make his gloves audibly tighten. "Agh, why not!?"

"Because it's funny knowing I a hundred percent know how this works and nobody else does," Sorun honestly answered. The frown went away at the satisfaction he felt at seeing Sonic frustrated at the answer. "If it'll make you feel any easier though, Sonic, I'm serious when I say I have a way of saving myself. I'd rather just do this alone and not draw more people into my problems." Anything to get him off his back so he could just go already.

"Well... fine." Sonic didn't look all that happy with the statement, not in the least, but he at least looked understanding. Maybe because he realized it wasn't something Sorun would budge on. Which he wouldn't. "But listen, there was something else."

"What is it?"

"It's..." Sonic blew an uneasy breath out and ran a hand through his quills. He looked uneasy; hesitant in saying what he was about to say, uncomfortable, even. Nevertheless he took a deep breath and managed to say, "Back when you were taken, you... we all came as soon as we could but couldn't find you. Where'd you go?"

"It's a long story. I wasn't there at that castle for long. Was here, was there, I don't feel like recounting the whole thing at the moment. Ask me later if you care that much," Sorun said. "Why?"

"Just wanted to know what happened, sheesh. But, uh... it's about... did you talk to Miles? Like, at all? Not, er, our Miles, Tails, but the other one? The Anti-Tails?"

Sorun hummed in thought. "Little bit. Said something about cutting a deal with you guys."

"Yeah, we did," Sonic said. "Most of Scourge's 'friends' were so sick of the guy they offered to hand him to us as long as we left each others' zones alone after. And after we beat Scourge and looked for you we found him and Antoine's and Sally's doubles."

Oh. This was about that. He probably should have saw this coming. "Yeah, I didn't believe him when he said that," Sorun explained.

Sonic made a heavy breath. "Sorun, we had to bring them here to be treated." He enunciated the word "here" by pointing both index fingers at the floor. "Anti-Sally was fine but you gave the other two concussions! Anti-Miles was bleeding all over the place because of a bunch of wounds! Anti-Antoine lost a finger! How did that even happen!?"

Shrugging, Sorun answered, "It fell off." Sonic didn't look impressed. He scowled at Sorun and crossed his arms, waiting for him to continue. It made Sorun sigh a bit. "I panicked and things got carried away," he revised. He didn't sound apologetic in any way and didn't care to. He sounded more bored than anything else. "And that evil little cyclops told me about what happened with Antoine's dad so, I'll admit, I kinda got a bit angry."

Amazingly that managed to soften the expression Sonic was wearing by a bit. But only by a bit. "You maimed a guy over a grudge?" he asked, sounding disbelieving.

"You better believe I did. He'll have to get a cool robot finger if he ever wants to hold a sword again. Or just use the other hand," Sorun said. It made Sonic sigh and rub at his closed eyes. "Why do you even care?" he asked.

"Why do I-!?" Sonic looked back up in shock. "Other than the fact all their pals freaked out and demanded we help them or all bets were off, you went too far! They were barely coherent when they woke up, couldn't say a single word anyone could make out! I feel like anyone should care after seeing someone like that!"

"'Too far,' he says," Sorun said in a derisive tone. "Listen closely, Sonic. I was kidnapped and taken to a whole other universe against my will. I didn't know you all were storming the gates to help me. I thought I was on my own, and unlike someone like you I didn't have powers to fall back on at the time."

"Then how'd you even escape? How'd you cause those wounds?" Sonic challenged.

"Same reason I'm in this hospital," Sorun answered. His eyes started glowing green again. "I did what I thought I had to in order to survive. So things happened. Don't you dare stand there and judge me when you weren't even there to see what happened."

"You didn't have to tear his finger off. You can't tell me you needed to do that when you managed to fight off three people barehanded."

"And you don't have to criticize me like you're some villain apologist."

Despite the words Sonic didn't seem eager to back off from the fact. Quite the opposite - he looked defiant, about as much as Sorun felt on the topic. It was proof enough that neither were willing to budge on their stances. And for some unexplained reason, deep inside, Sorun actually felt refreshed at the small confrontation the two were having at the moment. Like the friction was causing some sort of joy, the same feeling that'd made him smile a bit from earlier when he'd gotten a rise out of Sonic. He liked the feeling.

But then Sonic had to interrupt it by tapping at his own face, above his lips but beneath his nose. "Hey. You're bleeding again," he informed him.

Indeed he was. When Sorun held fingers to his nose they were pulled back with fresh, wet blood on their tips. It made Sorun sigh and have his eyes go back to blue. "Look, I have enough to deal with without having to hear this from you of all people," he muttered, wiping the blood off on his pants. "I got a failing body and a relationship on the rocks. I don't need inconsequential nonsense like this tacked on top of all that, so let's just agree to disagree and drop it."

"I don't think permanently injuring someone is inconsequential, Sorun."

"I don't care and nothing you say is gonna make me care," Sorun said. "And if you think I'm gonna go all the way over there and fix it by regenerating his finger with another Empusa then you can forget it. Nicole'd never let me anyways."

Sonic grimaces. He was obviously displeased, but at the same time the defiance in his eyes had cooled into acceptance. "I don't see the point arguing this if you aren't even gonna listen," he said. "Just... please promise me this won't happen again."

"Sonic, if I had it my way I'd live the rest of my days with my little courier job and never get into another fight in my life." Something about that sentence seemed wrong. Sorun wasn't sure what. "It was a one-time thing. A temporary bout of mania brought on by desperation and anger given the situation at the time. I don't seek a repeat."

"... I guess I'll trust you on that," Sonic sighed out. The defiant fire died out in him once again, making Sorun feel another odd bout of disappointment. "I just... y'know, I get things were bad and I get everything that happened with Antoine and his old man were awful. I don't even blame you for feeling the way you did. I just don't want you flying off the handle again. You scared some people."

"It won't happen again." Assuming nobody ever attacked him again. From there not even Sorun was sure what would happen. "What ended up happening with Scourge, anyways?" If nothing else he was curious what happened with that green lunatic since he wasn't there to see it.

The question alone made Sonic adopt a disgruntled, slightly exhausted expression. "Ugh, it wasn't easy. He had a stupid throne packed with a power-up and got a Super form. We had to stall and time him out of it to beat him. Took him to Zone Jail after, so he shouldn't be a problem ever again."

"I'll pretend to understand what that means." Whatever this "Zone Jail" was, Sorun didn't care enough to ask. Scourge was out of the picture and that's all he really cared about in the end. "Well," Sorun said, shrugging off the counter, "if that's everything then-"

"Actually," Sonic interrupted, "there's one more thing. You got a message."

"Tell Elias I'm not playing chess with him again. He always wins."

"Oh boy, no, Sorun, it's not that kind of message," Sonic groused with a roll of his eyes. "I don't know the details, just that there was some kind of encrypted-whatever message that came through on the computer the castle uses for communications. They decoded it and said it was for you. Happened a day after you went missing."

That was... huh. Sorun didn't know what to think of that. What was he supposed to think of that? Did he even know anybody outside of the city that'd go that far to talk to him? He didn't think so. A lot of people out there probably assumed he was still dead. His first thought went to Finitevus, but he was one of those people who assumed Sorun was dead. Maybe. "What'd the message say?"

"Asked for you to come to a location out in the middle of nowhere. Came with a set of coordinates," Sonic answered. "Said to meetup at noon in a few days, which... I guess would be today, huh?"

Sorun frowned. He looked towards the wall clock hanging above the hospital room's door, and then looked back at Sonic. "It's noon in an hour," he deadpanned.

"Well, you looked like ya had a lot going on," Sonic said, grinning and shrugging. It caused Sorun to sigh out and make his way towards the door. "Hey, if you want me to tag along-"

"I don't," Sorun grumbled, grasping the doorknob. "My mysterious message so my business. I'm gonna go find out where this spot is and go."

"Really?" The grin fell off of Sonic's face. "Sorun, seriously, we don't know who sent this message and you're just gonna go along? What if it's a trap?"

"A trap by who? Everyone who has a problem with me thinks I'm dead," Sorun said, turning around to address Sonic while keeping his hand on the doorknob. "Unless you blabbed to Eggman I'm not dead, and I'm gonna be tight if you did, Sonic."

"No, no one did," he answered. "It's still weird, though. Nobody with good intentions goes outta their way to make overcomplicated messages and meetups like this without even leaving a signature. It just stinks, is all."

"... Yeah, I guess." As much as it grinded Sorun to admit it, Sonic had a point. It was pretty weird. Enough to warrant caution, even, because after everything he'd been through Sorun's paranoid mind wouldn't allow him to not view it in caution. He still didn't want Sonic coming, though, in case he had to do something untoward. "I'll go call in a favor if it'll get you off my back."

---

For once Sorun was glad to have left his coat behind at home. It was hot - the midday sun hung overhead and there were only a few light clouds floating in the sky. The location was arid, much more than it should be for being near the east coast of the continent, no plant life anywhere, but it'd turned out the meetup location that was in that message was a few miles out from New Megaopolis, and that place pumped out so much pollution that he wasn't sure there was any plants within a hundred miles of the city.

So here he was, standing on some plateau out in the middle of nowhere. About twenty meters behind him was a drop that just lead to more flat, cracked and barren land. In front of him was a bunch of reddish-brown rocks blocking the way to more nothing-filled land. The place was desolate. Felt miserable just to stand here.

Making an impatient sigh, Sorun tugged at his vest. "I gotta drop this turtleneck and switch back to a normal shirt since winter's passed," he thought. Another impatient breath left him as he looked around. So far there was no sign of big mystery person. Just him and the guest he brought alone for that "just in case" scenario.

Speaking of, he glanced over to the side. Shadow looked even more bored than Sorun did, like he was about to fall asleep on the spot. He was sitting on a nearby flat rock, arm draped over his knee with his eyes half-closed. Sorun doubted he was actually tired. Probably just bored out of his mind.

"Well, thanks for humoring me and coming all the way out here with me. Even if it's turning into a pain," Sorun said, looking over at him. "I know it was kind of a last-minute thing."

"I wasn't busy," Shadow said back. "And this seemed important. You have no notion of who could possibly have a reason for dragging you out here?"

Sorun rose his sword up to his face. He pulled it out halfway, sighed, and then pushed it back into the sheath. "Someone who's gonna be sorry if they don't show up real soon here," he said.

For all his consternation, for all the annoyance Sorun felt at this situation, for the genuine anger that was beginning to brew in him for this beginning to look like a waste of time, the adage that misery loved company was true, because he imagined this being about ten times more miserable if Shadow weren't here. If anything else there was that. It was nice to have a dependable friend like him. Even if he was probably a liar.

"Are you entirely sure this isn't a trap?" Shadow spoke out. He sounded about as annoyed as Sorun felt. "Because this smells like a trap."

"Eh, it's a coinflip. I don't know who'd bother to trap me, but someone dragged me out to the boonies." He unsheathed his blade halfway again to look down at his reflection. "Really wearin' my patience out, too..."

Perhaps in need of some diversion, Shadow's eyes wandered over to the blade Sorun was holding. He maintained his stare for a few moments, and then commented, "I see you retrieved your Chaos Emerald."

"Yeah, the others found and held onto it for me." He sheathed the blade, and then turned his head halfway so one of his eyes met Shadow's. "This the part where you demand I hand it over since G.U.N.'s going around collecting these things for the greater good or whatever?"

Shadow gave him an odd, confused look. Like the tone Sorun used had caught him off guard. "You're a citizen of the Republic of Acorn, which, by default, would put the Emerald you're holding under their jurisdiction. G.U.N. and the Republic have an agreement to not poach Emeralds in the other's possession. You're fine."

"Oh. Okay, cool."

"Where did that question come from?"

"We're out in the middle of nowhere with little else to talk about, just give me some breathing room here."

Shadow didn't look like he believed the excuse, not entirely, but he must not have cared enough to pursue it because he let the topic drop right there. He did have on a sort of sour expression, though. Likely just grumpy from the current situation Sorun had dragged him into, which Sorun couldn't really blame him for. "If this really is a trap..."

"I assure you that this is no trap."

"Fucking finally. Where do I know that voice from?" It came out from behind the rocks that were in front of the two, and Sorun could swear he'd heard it before. An aged male voice that sounded tinny, like it was coming out from an electronic speaker of some kind. Not synthesized, but still electronically altered in some way. He'd heard it before. Where had he heard it?

He remembered real quick when the owner of that voice revealed themselves. They didn't have a body - it was just a head. A metal-covered head in a clear floating bubble, though the six mechanical tendrils sticking out the bubble's sides were new. The head wasn't new. The mechanical-looking echidna head staring over at Sorun with red, electronic eyes.

"Pfft... is that you, Dimitri?" Sorun almost laughed out loud at the sight. The katana in his hand transmuted into the Chaos Emerald, and with a wide smile Sorun glanced over at his companion. "Hey, Shadow, let's kill him."

Shadow thought about it for a solid second. "Alright," he agreed.

"What?" The head's cybernetic eyes dramatically widened, and the bubble floated backwards a bit. "Wait, wait no-!"

A blue, spectral fist flew forwards and grabbed the bubble. Its momentum didn't cease, causing the fist to smash the bubble into the reddish rock behind it, forming a crater and causing cracks to spread out over the rock. The bubble, miraculously, didn't seem to be scratched even a bit from the impact. At the same time, though, it was firmly within the Bringer Claw's grasp, and despite the struggling face Dimitri was making and the efforts of the tendrils winding around the demonic hand, nothing was causing it to dissipate.

"I was worried I was wasting my time coming all the way out here, but honestly? This makes up for it," Sorun called out. The spectral claw extending out from his right shoulder brought the bubble closer until the head in a bubble was in speaking distance from him. Shadow had dragged himself off his rock to stand a few paces away from Sorun. "Now I ain't been on the front lines in a while, got out of the Freedom Fighting biz, but last I heard... you were in league with all those Dark Legion echidna nutjobs that lined up on Eggman's side. I've heard constantly from the others how you command a bunch of squads of echidna whenever the Freedom Fighters fight him."

"G.U.N. has an outstanding bounty for any associates of Eggman's," Shadow helpfully supplied from the side. He was scowling up at the panicking head in a bubble. "Just as an aside."

"Ooh, hear that, Dimitri? Monetary compensation just got thrown in the mix. I got extra reason to kill you now." He glanced at Shadow. "Split the reward with me?"

Shadow scoffed. "They overpay me as it is. You may as well take the whole thing."

"The whole pot, Dimitri, can you believe it? It must be my lucky day."

"Sorun, stop it! Please!" For such an old-sounding voice Dimitri sure sounded shrill at the moment. The tentacles on his bubble were still wriggling around uselessly as he fruitlessly attempted to free himself. "I summoned you here to ask for your help!"

"Genuinely the worst mistake you've made in your life." To emphasize Sorun's point, the tips of the Bringer Claw's five claws pressed down and through the bubble. Dimitri yelped, retreating to the centermost spot of the bubble to avoid the five blue spikes piercing through, causing cracks to spiderweb over the surface of the bubble. "One reason." The smile fell off of Sorun's face. "Gimme one reason why I shouldn't crush your head like a grape and give your corpse over to Shadow."

"Because it's the right thing to do!" Dimitri cried out. The claws dug deeper; the cracks spread. "Because if this were really a trap I would have prepared weapons instead of coming to you unarmed and alone!"

Wait, that second thing actually made sense. With a single mental command the Bringer Claw relaxed the pressure it was exerting on the bubble. It still didn't let go, though it did lower the bubble down a bit so they could all see eye-to-eye. "You lost any and all credibility when you all threw yourselves in with Eggman's lot. You really think anything you say's gonna make me forget that?"

Some of Dimitri's composure returned when it appeared Sorun was willing to talk. The tentacles stopped wriggling and stilled, and Dimitri himself looked less panicked. He still seemed nervous - kept glancing at the claws holding his bubble - and when he spoke he didn't sound completely confident. "The Dark Legion only joined with him because he offered to give us back the cybernetic enhancements Enerjak took from us. I was in the same room with you at the time. I know you saw him do that through the monitor."

"Yeah, I remember. I'm just trying to figure out where in all those words you said is an actual justification for what you've been doing," he said.

"His kind joined league with an omnicidal maniac in exchange for cybernetic implants. There is no justification to be found," Shadow grunted out. "They're fanatics with no regard for life but their own."

"I don't expect either of you to understand our culture," Dimitri spat out at both of them. Whatever defiance he held quickly withered away at the glare both sent him, causing him to make a rattling sigh and look downwards. "And yet... I am asking you to understand our plight." He looked back up. "We're beholden to do Dr. Robotnik's bidding against our will. He booby trapped every single Dark Legion member with a bomb in addition to the cybernetics he gave us."

Neither looked the least bit surprised, which in itself startled Dimitri a bit. "Gave ya the ol' Elijah treatment, huh?" Sorun asked with a small, derisive grin. "What, am I supposed to be surprised he gave you all compliance assurance devices? That's completely in line with that maniac. It's such an obvious move he'd do I'd half-expect him not to do it just to throw you off."

"He's not wrong," Shadow added. "I'm having a difficult time finding sympathy for a band of fools trusting the most untrustworthy person on the planet."

"He was the only person the Dark Legion could turn to," Dimitri argued.

"For what!?" Sorun shouted. "None of them were even hurt! I saw what happened, saw Enerjak heal all those echidna's bodies when he took their cybernetics out! And the second that threat was gone what happened? Those freaks literally threw themselves at Eggman's feet and begged him to saw their limbs off so they could replace them with cyberware they didn't even need!"

"And not everyone wanted to remain in his service for all time!" Dimitri shouted back. "Nobody wanted to serve him under the threat of death! Nobody..." He trailed off, voice growing quieter as he closed his eyes. They opened back up half-lidded, looking practically defeated in Sorun's eyes. "Nobody deserves that," he finished. "Some only did it out of desperation for what Enerjak took from them, not out of some twisted ideal the Dark Legion holds onto."

"Some, but not most?" Sorun challenged. "Your sob story isn't impressing me. Just tell me why I'm standing here talking to you."

"Some of the echidna in the Dark Egg Legion..." Dimitri sounded like he was trying to spit those words out, "want out. Completely."

"How many?" Shadow asked.

"Six."

A mocking sort of whistle left Sorun. "Wow. A whole six out of, what was it, an odd-hundred?" He rolled his eyes. "What prompted this burst of common sense?"

Dimitri made a sigh. "... Nobody will admit it out loud but everyone knows Dr. Robotnik's days are numbered. I ran the projections. He has, at the least, a few weeks before he's finally defeated by the Freedom Fighters. We're completely routed; cut off from everything and besieged in New Megaopolis. And Eggman must know it, too. He's been frantic, practically raving at all hours of the day, turning more and more into a lunatic. And lunatics are unpredictable. I don't want any of my kind to die because that madman hid a switch in the maddened throes of defeat.

"As for the six Legion members I mentioned, they see Eggman for what he is becoming and have their cybernetics back so they want out. To go join the others of their kind on Albion and leave everything else behind. But they can't, because of the bombs implanted in their bodies," he explained. "I'm a preeminent expert in the field, but that madman is that and a genius prodigy in addition. I cannot remove the bombs without setting off a trigger and detonating them. Nobody can, not through conventional means." Dimitri let his meaning hang in the air for a few seconds before speaking directly to Sorun. "You have... unconventional means."

The meaning wasn't lost on Sorun. He'd caught on immediately. And laughed. Laughed at the absurdity of it, enough that Dimitri and even Shadow were both giving him odd looks. But he couldn't help it; it was too comical. Him. He was the last, shining beacon of hope for a bunch of psychopaths. Little old Sorun.

What a fucking world.

"Hahahaha... ah, man." He wiped a tear that'd come loose from his eye and straightened back up to address Dimitri. "You want my Yamato," Sorun surmised. "More specifically you want its power of separation to take those bombs out."

"It worked on Enerjak. I don't see why it wouldn't work on manmade, physical objects if it works on the divine," Dimitri said.

"Oh, no, it'd work, for sure it'd work. Definitely," Sorun assured him with a nod. "That's not the problem. The problem is why I should care if a bunch of cyberpsycho echidna who keep shooting lasers at my friends get blown up for making the worst Faustian Bargain in history."

Because he didn't. He really didn't care if those echidna died. It wasn't his problem. They had nobody to blame but themselves for getting into this situation. And above all that they were enemies that regularly threatened his friends' lives. Now he was expected to go save them? That's why he'd laughed, because of the sheer absurdity. Like hell he'd save them.

It seems Dimitri wasn't easily deterred, though. "You should care because people will die despite you being in a position to save them. Because you're the only person who can. Because if that button is pressed their deaths will be on your conscience if you sit by and do nothing, Sorun."

"Why should I care?" Sorun repeated.

"You..." If nothing else, Dimitri just looked astonished now. Like he'd actually believed those words would have any appeal on Sorun. It was plain to see they didn't, and it made his mechanical-looking face make a ugly sort of frown as he regarded him in a new light. "What do you want?" he asked, turning to bargaining.

What did he want? Nothing Dimitri could give him. What he wanted was to be left the hell alone, but nobody ever seemed to get that message. What he wanted was to smash his little cyber-echidna head against the rocks so he could get paid and get on with his life-

His life. His shortening life. Which he needed help with. With which he was actively seeking help.

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Another Sorun appeared in Sorun's eyes, standing to the side of Dimitri. He had a considering look on his face. "I mean... we were gonna go to Finitevus, but now that I think about it this guy's just as good, ain't he? Even better? He was the original Enerjak, after all. Gotta have some skills."

"I hear what you're saying. But him? Really?"

"You're really gonna be picky about which evil echidna scientist we use here?" Sorun asked himself. "We're desperate here, so cut him a deal. Worst case we still have Finitevus to fall back on, but Dimitri's right there in front of us. Might as well use it."

"Ugh..." He had a good point, even if Sorun didn't like thinking about it. He closed his eyes and shook his head, and when he opened them back up the other Sorun was gone. It was just Shadow and Dimitri, both staring at him expectantly.

Fine, then. If the Dark Legion liked deals so much he'd make one they couldn't refuse.

"Tell you what we're gonna do," Sorun began. "You see this?" He pointed at his eyes and forced them to begin glowing green for a brief moment. It elicited a fascinated gasp out of Dimitri. "This isn't normal. I don't know what caused this and it feels like it's slowly killing me. Fix this, and I'll save your boys. I'll even throw in a free ride to Albion."

Besides him Shadow blinked in surprise, but then quickly saw where Sorun was going with this and took a few steps back. For Dimitri's part, he looked less than enthused. In fact, he looked almost disbelieving. "Excuse me?"

"You were a scientist, weren't you? Researched any and all things related to Chaos energy, to the point you managed to become Enerjak's first host? Lotta people would look at that and assume you were the preeminent expert in this field."

"I am," Dimitri said, some pride bleeding into his voice, "but... Sorun, your biology, no, your kind is unknown to me, as is whatever this condition you speak of is. You're asking me to miraculously cure-"

"Miracle for a miracle. That's the deal," Sorun interrupted. "I'm not willing to budge on this. It's in your best interest since I can't help you dead, anyways, and I have no clue how much time I've got left."

An electronic, rattling breath left Dimitri as he clenched his mechanical teeth. "I would... need time," he hesitantly stated. "How much is something I don't know, not without examining you first, but I swear to you if you save those six echidna I will do everything in my power to help you."

Sorun considered it for a moment. And then he shook his head. "No. Save me first and then I'll save them. I won't lift a finger otherwise."

Dimitri's expression turned to one of disgust. "You're attempting to leverage a bargain with people's lives."

"You're not dealing with a Freedom Fighter right now, Dimitri. You're dealing with me," Sorun reminded him. "And don't get sanctimonious with me. One of us is in league with a global terrorist and it sure ain't me. I said it at the beginning: you don't have a shred of credibility to your name. I don't have a single reason to trust you."

"And I'm to trust you at your word?" Dimitri asked.

"I was aligned with a morally just cause and have people with solid credibility who would vouch for me. My word actually has weight. Yours doesn't." Complete bullshit, but at the same time he wasn't wrong, either. Dimitri just didn't have the moral high ground to argue from and both knew it.

The disgust on Dimitri's face turned to desperation. He was losing the negotiation, losing cards to play to sway his way, not that he'd had much of a hand to begin with. He'd come in on blind faith Sorun would help him because it was the right thing to do, because, quite simply, he hadn't known him that long. It was obvious for Sorun to see from the cyber-echidna's reactions thus far. He hadn't come properly prepared to negotiate terms and it showed. "I can just refuse you treatment until you save the echidna." And there it was. The desperation card. Sorun knew right there Dimitri had just went all in with everything he had. "We're both short on time, Sorun. Don't waste what little we have left arguing."

"Refuse the deal?" Sorun almost sounded a bit amused when he said that. "Are you under the impression I'm just gonna let you float away if we don't agree to something here? Dimitri, you either cut a deal with me right now or I'm just gonna kill you for that bounty. Deal or die. Those're the only two paths you got." That was Sorun's last card. He couldn't help but feel he was playing with a stronger hand, and felt all the more satisfied for it.

"You need me." That rebuttal came out of Dimitri quickly. Quick enough it caused a small grin to grow on Sorun's face. "You won't kill your only hope. You're bluffing."

"You're not the only mad echidna scientist in the world. I got Finitevus. And unlike you I actually have a good rapport with the guy. He'd probably help me without the threats."

"That maniac!?" Dimitri screamed out. "He's nearly as insane as Robotnik and you'd trust him over me!?"

"He's actually mellowed out a lot. At least he did last I spoke to him," Sorun said. "I'd rather deal with you since I don't feel like tracking him down, but... if we really can't come to an agreement, then, well..." Sorun let the implication hang off his tongue, going as far as to raise his eyebrows up and down at Dimitri, who remained silent. His face said it all, though. That resigned, defeated expression. It was the look of a man who knew he just lost.

"... Very well." When he spoke, Dimitri's voice came out quiet, subdued. "I'll diagnose and cure whatever this condition of yours is. In exchange you'll remove the explosive devices from the six aforementioned echidna and safely transport them to Albion. And leave me unharmed," he added.

Sorun nearly scoffed at the little addendum he added at the end there. Still, the deal was a good one. Probably his only chance at living. He'd made a show of considering it, but really he'd already made up his mind a long time ago. "Eh... alright. Deal."

And just like that, the Bringer Claw vanished, releasing Dimitri. He seemed to breath out in relief, and his little head orb managed to steadily float there in the air despite the damage.

"I'd like to move quickly if we're to do this," Dimitri said. "I'll need the aid of your city's AI and the nanites to construct whatever equipment I need to expedite the process."

Sorun grimaced a bit. He had enough things to smooth over with Nicole without adding this on top of it. "No other way?" he hopefully asked.

"I hope you don't intend to imply I smuggle you into Robotnik's fortress to look you over in my own lab. You'd surely be discovered."

"Fair point. I can... swing it with Nicole." No he fucking couldn't, but he'd have to manage something. Future Sorun's problem, he decided. "Anything else?"

The head-bubble bobbed up in down. Assumedly it was a nod. "I can't move around very freely. This meeting is one of the only windows where I'm not monitored and won't be missed, something I can only manage a few hours a day. You'll need to use your sword to transport me back and forth to save time and stave off any suspicion. I can message you a pickup location later."

"That's fine. Do I need to worry about a bomb in you? Tracking device, anything like that?"

"No. Robotnik never touched my cybernetics, never implanted a bomb in me. Transportation and equipment is all I require from you."

"Then we're set," Sorun decided. "Send another encrypted message like the last with the details. And... hey, out of curiosity. How'd you even know to call me? I haven't been advertising the fact I'm alive."

Dimitri made a rueful sort of chuckle at the question. "You haven't taken steps to conceal yourself, either. The Dark Legion have eyes in a few major settlements that spotted you."

"Yeah, I wasn't trying to hide. I was doing my job," he deadpanned. "So the jig's up? Eggman knows I'm around?"

"No." Sorun blinked in surprise at Dimitri's answer. "Those spy feeds go through me before anyone else. I concealed your presence, for both your benefit and to uncomplicate things. I hope that small modicum of trust goes a long way with you."

It didn't at all. "Get out of here, Dimitri," he simply said. He was given an unreadable expression by Dimitri - whether he saw that as an answer or not wasn't clear. He simply made a grunt and turned around, floating away, tentacles physically pulling his bubble up above the rocks before he disappeared behind them. There was a sound soon after; the rocks ahead obscured almost everything, but Sorun did see something speed off into the distance. A vehicle of some sort, maybe.

Once Dimitri was gone, Sorun breathed out. He'd done it. Made a deal, maybe secured a path to living. To say he was nervous wouldn't be entirely accurate, if anything he'd been unusually calm, but at the same time he felt like he could breath a little easier. A path. A viable path. It was all he needed and he'd secured it. Now he just needed to survive Nicole and he'd be golden.

The sound of footsteps crunching on the ground drew Sorun's attention. Shadow had approached, appearing more apprehensive than Sorun was used to seeing. "I realize you're desperate, Sorun, but... him?" he asked, sounding surprised.

"It's either this or I go back to hell," Sorun smoothly replied. "What would you have me do otherwise?"

Shadow flinched. "You don't have to dramatize that experience so much." He didn't comment when Sorun rolled his eyes. "Do you truly intend to honor your agreement with him?"

"Oh, no, not at all. The moment he saves me I'm going to kill him," Sorun said in honesty.

Oddly, Shadow's head reared back and his eyes widened. It wasn't the reaction Sorun was expecting. "You're planning on betraying him? Why?"

"... 'Cause I don't like him?" Sorun tried, as if it were obvious. "Where's this coming from? You looked like you were gonna kill him before I was back there. You hyped it up with that whole bounty thing. I literally said 'let's kill him' and you said 'alright'."

"I thought that was just intimidation, I didn't think you were actually trying to kill him!" Shadow hissed out.

"Where is this coming from?" Sorun demanded, throwing his hands up. "I say I wanna kill Eggman and you're all okay, I'm on board with that, but that guy back there, THAT'S the evil scientist that's crossing the line? That's the hill you'll die on?"

"In Robotnik's case it was about killing a depraved individual that's a danger to everyone and making the world a better place. In his case it's preventative medicine. This isn't that. Dimitri isn't nearly on that same scale. And you're speaking about betraying him and killing him for what? What do you even gain from that?"

"Peace of mind, I guess, I don't know, I..." Sorun breathed out and gave Shadow a tired look. "I'm just done, man," he said. "I'm tired of people bugging me and stupid stuff and interrupting my life. You know, I didn't ask to be dragged out here to the middle of nowhere and get wrapped up in more nonsense, I..." He grit his teeth and ran his fingers through his dark hair. "I'm just so sick of it, Shadow, you don't understand."

"I do, actually, that's the same thought I have every day I wake up," Shadow droned out. "But," he continued in a more serious tone, "Sorun... killing in defense of one's self or others is one thing. Understandable. Justifiable. What you're proposing, this... desire to kill out of little more than indulgence, because you're annoyed by someone, regardless of who he is, what he's done, what he represents-"

"Is bad, yeah, I get it, look I don't need a lecture-"

"You apparently do," Shadow snapped. He took a breath to calm himself before continuing. "It isn't something to take lightly, Sorun. Taking a life. I know you've never partaken in the act, but I have. Other soldiers in G.U.N. have. It's not something you should pursue if you can help it. It changes-"

"It doesn't change a single thing, Shadow, because when I did it I didn't feel a single thing."

Shadow froze. Sorun gazed at him with an almost placid expression, calm, not all that expressive. He didn't know what face he was supposed to make - he was stating fact and nothing more. And while this wasn't something he wanted to reveal, he was getting annoyed on how Shadow was getting on his case with this. He at least wanted to set the record straight.

"When?" Shadow asked, voice sounding dry and numb. He looked disbelieving, but at the same time there was a sort of sudden slack in his shoulders. He believed Sorun and was put off by the revelation.

"That alternate future we talked about was a bit of a nightmare to get through, Shadow. Things happened. I moved on."

"And who?" The way he said it almost made it sound like a demand.

"Some random echidna guards, I dunno. They were in my way and had laser guns, so I just reacted," Sorun lied. "And look, Shadow, I know there's supposed to be a significance behind it, alright? Tons of books and movies and whatever back home went into it, I know there's supposed to be some kind of bad reaction, but listen, right there, in that moment?" Sorun crossed and uncrossed his arms. "Nada. Didn't feel a single thing. Even thought to myself, 'that's it? Where's the overwhelming horror, where's the nauseous feeling that's gonna make me throw up I always heard about?' Nothing." He breathed out a sigh and brushed some hair out of his face. "And look, I don't know why, okay? Maybe knowing I was gonna reset it all anyway made me think it didn't matter, and in the end it didn't since those deaths were overwritten. Maybe there was so much happening I didn't register it, but even after all this time I've processed it I don't even think about it because it just didn't feel like something to acknowledge. Maybe I'm cracked in the head. Who knows?" He shook his head and pointed at Shadow. "But don't stand there and give me a bunch of spiritual nonsense about innocence or whatever. I know you're looking out for me, and I know you're speaking from a place of experience, but those words ain't for me."

"I..." The words trailed off as the left Shadow's mouth, terminating in a long sigh. The usual scowl he wore morphed into a deep frown. His eyes almost looked sad, if that were even possible for him. "I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised. If nothing else I'm glad you didn't come out of the experience any worse for wear," he mumbled out, and Sorun almost laughed at that. "Even so... it's not the act of killing itself I take issue with. It's that you're speaking of it so casually. I've seen people be lost in the act, Sorun, soldiers who committed it so much it lost all significance to them. People like that are little better than Robotnik."

"I'm not-" Sorun began.

"I didn't say you are," Shadow interrupted, holding a hand up. "I acknowledge you had reasons. And that's fine. I just want you to think of these things," he said. "If you need pragmatic reasons, when all is said and done and you hypothetically commit this act, what will people think when Dimitri disappears and everyone knows you were the last to see him? What would everyone back in the Republic think of you if and when they found out? That you killed for so little reason?" Shadow paused to let the question sink in before continuing. "I'm only saying this because I've seen how far you've fought to reclaim some semblance of a normal life and I don't want you to undo it due to some stupid impulse. It's not worth it. Just honor the deal and go your separate ways after."

"The only issue I have with that is that 'his separate way' is going back to Eggman," Sorun harshly muttered. "I'll admit I'm using him, but he's any enemy, Shadow. Me wanting to kill him isn't out of something as petty as being annoyed, it's because he keeps trying to kill my friends. And I'm supposed to, what, just overlook that?"

"He said it himself. The end of the Doctor's reign is fast approaching," Shadow reminded him. "They've made it this far. I doubt they'll err when it's this close to being finished. In a few weeks none of it will matter anymore."

He had good points. Sorun knew he had good points, but at the same time he couldn't let go of that feeling. The feeling that he really wanted to kill Dimitri, make things just that much safer for his friends, if only by a little bit, that one single thing that could go towards protecting the status quo he'd built for himself in this new life. And at the same time it could potentially damage that status quo. Shadow wasn't wrong there. And there'd be no undoing it this time around. And yet, he really wanted to kill Dimitri.

"... I'll think about it," Sorun decided. Shadow didn't look happy with the answer, not at all, deigning to offer nothing more than an acknowledging grunt. "Hey, don't... don't tell anyone what I did. Please," he mumbled out. "I undid it anyways so it doesn't even matter. It's debatable I even killed people."

"I won't," Shadow assured him. It was no small relief to Sorun, who somewhat regretted speaking of the deed to begin with. If nothing else he was glad he confessed to the only person he knew would understand. "Have you thought about what you're going to do about the fact you need to bring Dimitri into New Mobotropolis?"

Sorun tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean he's a criminal working with Robotnik. The kind of person the Republic would want to imprison," Shadow said in an obvious-sounding tone. "And you want to bring said wanted criminal into the city and then let him walk off to the Doctor scot-free. What do you plan on telling the others?"

"... Plan, huh?" Sorun cupped his chin, humming and nodding his head. "Hm. Yeah, that'd something, wouldn't it?"

Shadow immediately saw it for what it was. He made a loud scoff and palmed his face. "I should have known. You made that deal without even considering that factor, didn't you? It didn't even cross your mind."

"Of course I didn't, why would you think I thought about this!?" Sorun shouted out, more mad at himself than Shadow. He made a groan and ran a hand over his face. "Gah, what a... fine mess this is."

Shadow's mouth straightened into a flat line. His version of a sympathetic expression. "If it's any consolation I think they'll be understanding. Provided you present your case in a tactful manner. They've forgiven worse, I believe."

"Yeah, I hear way back in the day they gave Snively a chance at turning a new leaf. Did jack all, but hey, maybe they'll go for this. Exonerate a war criminal for me," Sorun mused in both a lighthearted and simultaneously disparaged tone. "It'll be like Operation Paperclip, where back home my government recruited a bunch of scientists who committed crimes against humanity but were given amnesty as long as they forked over their research data." He rose his hands up in the air and slowly spread them out. "It'll be like that. We'll call it Operation Staple. As in if Dimitri tries to double-cross me on this deal I'll gouge his eyes out with a stapler."

"His eyes are mechanical," Shadow pointed out.

"Then I'll beat him to death with the stapler, Shadow, you- that- I mean- wou-would you just let me worry about this, man? I got this. Now do you want a ride back to base or not, 'cause I have Yamato right here."

---

A/N- Trivia time: the term "the ol' Elijah treatment" is a reference to the character Elijah featured in the game Fallout New Vegas, featured prominently in the Dead Money DLC where he forced the main player character and other characters to do his bidding by strapping them with bomb collars (as a funny aside he didn't make the collars. He found them and just assumed in pre-war America corporations rigged their employees to explode. Thankfully that world's America wasn't that dystopian, though it was inching awfully close to that level. No, those collars were used to contain Chinese POWs in internment camps to be used as test subjects for experiments. Which honestly isn't any better than blowing employees up now that I think about it).

Anyway, that's entirely why Dimitri's plan going in didn't work. He was banking on informing Sorun of all the horrible stuff being done to the Dark Legion to tug on some heartstrings and lean on his sympathy, but Sorun's referenced playing New Vegas in the past and would obviously have seen worse, so he ended up practically laughing in his face. Doesn't help he doesn't like Dimitri and has zero sympathy to abuse.

Worst part is I'm not even making much of this up. For the people who never read the comics I'm not improvising the bomb thing - these echidna really were canonically dumb enough to trust Eggman not to put bombs in them. I think they were going for the Cyberpunk thing where they're literally addicted to cybernetics and were that desperate to get them back, but I don't know, it wasn't super clear.