Disclaimer: All non-original characters are property of SEGA, DiC and/or their respective creators.
Inescapable Past, Act 23: Tough Questions
The cell door dinged as Mighty's carapaced forehead rebounded off of it. Looking it over, the armadillo groaned. Many minutes of hard pummeling hadn't so much as dented it. An open food hatch was all he had to show for his efforts.
The waist-high rectangular slit gave him a peephole of sorts, which would be great if he wanted some different concrete to stare at. The armadillo shook his head and looked at Espio.
The chameleon was still lying on one of the cell's two unpadded steel benches, either unconscious or sedated. Mighty was leaning towards the latter. Other than his bandaged left forearm, which had clearly been dressed by a professional, Espio didn't actually seem in too bad a shape.
Mighty could only assume the chameleon had hit back at his interrogators with one too many comebacks. If that was the case, the armadillo could even sympathize a little. He could remember more than one argument where he'd wished he could tranquilize the razor-tongued reptile.
"What did you say to them?" he muttered, walking over to the bench opposite Espio.
No sooner had he sat down than he heard a commotion out in the corridor. Crossing the cell at a speed that would've impressed Sonic, he dropped to his knees and peered through the food hatch.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" huffed a feminine voice.
Mighty couldn't see the speaker, but he heard a flurry of footsteps.
"I didn't know where you were!" a second, gruffer voice countered.
"Save it for the elevator!" interjected a third voice.
That one Mighty recognized. That slimeball Sleet.
He, Urchino and Topaz passed the armadillo's cell in a blur. Clove followed hot on their heels, pulling Cassia along behind her. Mighty's eyes fleetingly met the younger pronghorn's luminous yellow optics, but she quickly left his peripheral vision.
The sisters reached the elevator just as the doors were rolling shut. Clove studiously ignored Topaz's pointed glare as she ushered Cassia into a corner of the car furthest away from the lioness.
At the second attempt, the doors rolled shut, and Topaz turned her fiery gaze on Urchino.
"What do you mean you didn't know where we were?" she asked.
"Can I put it any plainer?" said the burly dingo. "Jian was already too out of it to tell me, and none of you wanted to answer your bloody phones. I literally had to look for you."
"Captain, perhaps recriminations could wait until—"
"Don't you start!" snapped Topaz, rounding on Sleet. "How could you leave her unarmed like that with someone like Infinite?"
The wolf met the lioness's glare head-on.
"What do you want from me, captain?" said Sleet levelly. "Should I say sorry for not taking that mutt's sword off him before I left? I'd rather assumed the corporal would do that of her own accord."
Topaz scowled. "Oh, so it's Jian's fault, sir?"
"Not what I said, captain," said Sleet icily. "However, 'red alert' protocols have been in effect across this base for over twelve hours now. Could you possibly remind us of what the first of those protocols mandates?"
"That all personnel should be armed at all times outside of quarters."
"And was the corporal armed, lieutenant?" said Sleet, glancing at Urchino.
"Err, no, sir," said the dingo.
"So then, captain, I'll ask you again," said Sleet. "What do you want from me?"
For several seconds, Topaz silently stared daggers at the wolf. Cassia squeaked in fright as the lioness span and slashed at the elevator's doors.
"Why is this thing taking so long?!" she growled, raking her claws down the stainless steel.
Clove wobbled as her little sister clambered up her slender frame, seeking safety in her arms.
"Can't you make them stop shouting, Cloey?" whispered Cassia shakily, burying her face in her big sister's shoulder.
It occurred to Clove that the kid would almost certainly be crying, if not for her bionic eyes. Squeezing her tight, she racked her brains for a quick fix.
"I could…turn your ears off?" she murmured.
She felt sheepish even voicing the suggestion. As a rule, Cassia had hated being reminded she could effectively be rendered deafblind at the push of a button.
"Yes please," said the younger pronghorn with nary a moment's hesitation.
"Okay, Cassie," cooed Clove, delicately sliding a hand between her little sister's ears. "I'll let you know when its quieter."
〜
"You're actually serious about this, aren't you?" said Jet, looking around the Babylon Guardian's cargo hold at his recently returned bodyguards.
They were sat in a line on their respective hoverbikes. Tekno was sitting on Sonar's knee, swinging her legs. The offline Emerl lay bobbing up and down on an Extreme Gear beside the fennec and canary. The severed head of Metal Knuckles was perched between Infinite's handlebars.
The jackal had just got done explaining why they were itching to fly back down to Metropolis as quickly as possible. Tekno was confident she'd caught the gist of it: they were after someone called Maw who had worked for Robotnik, their old group and now GUN, but had recently reconnected with some old Egghead friends.
"Why can't this be GUN's problem?" asked Jet, making no effort to hide his exasperation.
"He's an Egghead," snapped Whisper, removing her mask. "Hunting Eggheads is what we do."
"Once upon a time, perhaps," said the hawk. "Now, you work for me, and I don't pay you to go haring off chasing old grudges like some gang of avenging angels."
The yellow wolf locked stares with the Babylon Rogue. As her blue eyes widened, his narrowed.
"What's suddenly so special about this Maw, anyway?" Jet went on. "I can't help but notice his Eggman Empire credentials didn't stop you working with him yourselves."
There was a plasticky rattle as a hard-light cartridge bounced at the hawk's feet. He didn't flinch, watching with detached amusement as Whisper dismounted her hoverbike and stalked off across the cargo hold. Then, he looked at Infinite.
"Well?"
"We weren't exactly spoiled for choice," said the jackal. "The talent pool of Mobians willing and able to fight Robotnik the way we did wasn't deep. Some of our best recruits were disgruntled Eggheads."
"And look how that worked out for you," said Jet wearily. He threw up his hands. "Screw it, if you want to try and get yourselves killed, go wild. Hell, you might even cheer Wave up if you do. The little birdie stays put, though."
"Huh?" Tekno piped up. "How come?"
"Because I've seen what Rouge is willing to do to her so-called friends. I don't need any more enemies like that," replied the Babylon Rogue. "Also, don't think for a second I'm putting that damned suit back on."
With that, Jet turned and limped off towards the elevator. Tekno squinted venomously at his retreating green plumage until it disappeared behind the elevator's sliding doors.
"Cheer up, kiddo," said Sonar, tilting her head towards the canary.
"But I wanna help you guys," whined the twelve-year-old. "I've got a score to settle with Robotnik, too."
The fennec dropped her head suddenly, hiding a smirk from Tekno.
"This…isn't really about Robotnik, kid," said Infinite.
"But Whisper said—"
"Never mind what Whisper said," said the recomposed Sonar. "If you want to help, you can give me a hand with the toybox. C'mon."
Pouting, Tekno nevertheless let the fennec lead her by the hand towards the far-left corner of the hold. As they walked, she looked over her shoulder at Whisper. The yellow wolf seemed to be sulking on a crate over by the cargo hold's door. Was that smoke she was blowing?
"Still with me, kiddo?" said Sonar, startling the canary out of her reverie.
She turned to find the fennec holding a chunky plasma rifle in both hands. Beside them was an open crate. It contained a whole arsenal of ballistic weaponry, only some of which Tekno could figure out the workings of by sight.
"Sonar, why did Whisper lose her temper like that?" she asked as she took the plasma rifle, laying it carefully on the floor.
About to reach for another weapon, the fennec momentarily froze, then sighed.
"Y'know what? I think we have time," she said, sitting down with her back resting against the crate, legs outstretched. "C'mere, kiddo."
Tekno shrugged and deposited herself on Sonar's lap. "What is it?"
"You know how Robotnik, well, took your family from you?"
The canary nodded slowly.
"Well, the same thing happened to Whisper very early in the war. Luckily, she was always able to find herself another family, sort of like how your little pal Amy found the Knothole gang. But then, uh, Robotnik took that family from her as well."
"What happened to them?" asked Tekno, pinching at her gray skirt's pleats.
"I guess I don't need to explain to you what Neo Metal Sonic is."
"That thing?" said the canary, drawing back her feathery bangs. "What did it do?"
"It tricked us."
Sonar and Tekno looked up in unison. Whisper was standing over them, a lit cigarillo in her mouth.
"How?" asked the twelve-year-old.
"It pretended to be a Diamond Cutter," said the wolf as she delved inside the crate of weapons. "It wasn't."
"Thermies?" remarked Sonar, eyeing the brace of red handgun-shaped blasters Whisper retrieved from the crate. "Seriously?"
Ignoring the fennec, Whisper made her way back across the hold. Retaking her seat on the crate near the main door, she took a drag of her cigarillo and unholstered one of the thermal blasters.
"Giving up sharpshooting?"
The startled Whisper brandished the blaster at Infinite.
"For now," she said, keeping the weapon raised as she took another drag.
"You sure you're not over—"
"Don't," the wolf cut in, lowering the blaster. "Just…don't."
"Don't think I don't know how you fe—"
"No, you don't," snapped Whisper, stubbing her cigarillo out on the crate lid. "That Mark III attacked you head-on. I know how it ended, but you were able to try and help your squad fight. I didn't get that chance."
Infinite frowned as he watched Whisper relight her cigarillo. The lighter flame shook slightly.
"Smithy, Claire, Slinger…they never even saw Mim…it coming. Neither did I."
She paused to steady her breathing, dabbing an eye with the corner of her poncho.
"You don't know…you can't know that feels."
She let out another tremulous breath.
Infinite closed in, plucked the cigarillo from her hand, and stubbed it out. Laying his hands on her quaking shoulders, he pressed his forehead to hers.
"It isn't too late. We can still just leave Maw to Sleet."
"No, we can't," sniffled Whisper. "We can't trust Sleet to punish…he might just cut some deal. It has to be us. Maw doesn't deserve mercy."
〜
"Gah!"
Espio grunted as he opened his eyes, only to be blinded by the cell's harsh spotlights.
Mighty sat bolt upright on the steel bench opposite. "You're awake?"
The chameleon cocked his head to the left. Seeing the armadillo gawking at him, his half-open eyes rapidly widened. He could vaguely recall that lioness sticking him with a needle after she'd patched up his arm. Was this a side effect?
"Are you…actually here?" murmured Espio warily.
"Believe it or not," said Mighty, pinching the skin on his arm.
"How? When?"
"I heard you might be in trouble," said the armadillo. "So I came looking."
The horizontal chameleon cocked a brow. "Just looking?"
"Well, not just that, but uh…" Mighty glanced around the cell. "This wasn't exactly the plan."
"I hope not."
The armadillo shrugged. "Can't blame a guy f—mmph!"
The tip of Espio's tongue suddenly attached itself to Mighty's mouth. It lifted him off the bench and across the cell. He landed face down across the chameleon's torso.
"Okay, didn't see that—"
Espio slapped a hand over his mouth.
"Shut up, you old hobo," he said, pulling the armadillo close enough to kiss him.
Mighty had to clamber awkwardly on top of Espio to avoid breaking the liplock. It went on until his lungs decided otherwise. He wrenched his head up, gasping for air.
"I thought you—"
"Wouldn't be pleased to see you?" Espio cut in. "You're the one who left town."
"You're the one who decided to go play detective with Vec—"
The chameleon silenced him with another kiss Mighty had to struggle free of.
"Where even is that croc? I was in Station Square but—"
Espio put an index finger over his ex-boyfriend's mouth.
"I can't tell how sick I am of being asked questions right now," he half-whispered. "Now, quit pretending this isn't how you hoped this would go."
The armadillo steadily held the chameleon's golden gaze as the finger was withdrawn.
"I missed you, scales," said Mighty.
"Missed you too, hobo," said Espio as their mouths met.