SONIC THE HEDGEHOG: VELOCITY'S END
A fanfiction by Mythick Voices
Author's Note: This chapter includes a rewritten/modified scene from the comic book Sonic the Hedgehog #235. Its inclusion is for multiple reasons. Chief among these is that it easily allows fans to understand where in the saga's chronology these events take place. It also nests the idea that, although this is alternate universe, there are certain plot anchors that remain the same as canon regardless. Lastly, it is a particularly touching moment between a father and son that is, in my opinion, that is as rare as it is well-written in the comics. The original author of that story (and current official Sonic literature) is Ian Flynn, should the inquiring mind among my readership wish to explore further.
Chapter 2
Amy phoned Tails from the moborail back to New Mobotropolis, informing the fox of her brief conversation with Sonic. He was far from pleased. The mobian fox cursed aloud, his voice echoing in the empty war room of the now-defunct Knothole Freedom Fighters HQ. The support he had hoped to gain from the Acorn Kingdom had evaporated in light of the usurpation of the Acorn crown from King Elias by Ixis Naugus. The devious and charismatic sorcerer had somehow managed, using a combination of recent heroics and magical beguilement, to turn public opinion in his favor, ascending the throne. The situation escalated quickly, ultimately culminating in Elias trying to move his family in secret to Feral Forest. During the relocation, Eggman nearly killed Antoine, putting him into a coma. Tail's desperate cries of "Save him!" to Sonic as the hedgehog rushed their ally back to the city still echoed in the fox's ears like the entire attack had happened just moments ago.
Maybe he'd put too much pressure on his mentor, Tails wondered. But with Antoine in a coma, Sally roboticized, Naugus crowned king, and public opinion roused decidedly against Nicole the Holo-Lynx, things had become especially dire for what remained of the Freedom Fighters. They needed Sonic now, more than ever—Chaos Emeralds or no.
Exasperated, Tails wandered up to the hangars at the New Mobotropolis Airfield and tried to still his mind with wrench and widget. Rebuilding the Tornado, Sonic's beloved, vintage biplane. Doing so afforded Miles a level of single-minded, utilitarian focus that he had nearly forgotten due to the constant meddling by Eggman and those similarly devoted to his axis. First, he saw the ketchup red fuselage, wings, and tail as well as its solid gray struts buffed to a high-polish shine. Then he saw to all its nuts and bolts, changing out old or rusty parts, checking and testing the wiring in the cockpit.
At a point, the stately, postured figure of his father, Amadeus Prower, appeared behind him, surprised to find Tails working on the plane during a time of such political upheaval. The juh-juh juh-juh sound of small mechanical parts echoed upward into the vaulted ceiling of the hangar as T-Pup, Miles' mechanical familiar and support unit, ran circles around the older fox's big red boots.
"Miles, that old plane isn't going anywhere. Why don't you and I go for a walk. It's been a while since we've had the time to really catch up. Father and son."
There was no response.
"You haven't been home in some time. We—your mother and I—we're worried about you."
The younger Prower tried to ignore his father, rummaging through the toolbox on the ground beside the left wheel of the plane.
"I'm sorry. Really. But I have work to do. I need to get the next Tornado finished. Then… then we can go after Eggman. Save Sally. And help Antoine." He tossed a ratchet over his shoulder as T-Pup dodged nimbly out of the way, wagging its little robotic tail excitedly. "Then things'll be fixed and fine and—"
In his haste and sorrow, Miles dropped the hook jaw pipe wrench he was holding directly on his foot. The extra added amount of pain was too much, causing all the emotion the mobian had been suppressing for weeks to froth to the surface. Miles' eyes filled with tears.
"Y-you… you fought in the Great War. How do you… h-how do you… handle it… when someone so close to you…"
Sobbing, Miles turned and threw his arms around his father, who embraced his son comfortingly, but with the practiced solemnity of one who had seen a lot of war and a lot of death. T-Pup's ears bent back against its mechanical head as it tried to nudge Tails' foot affectionately, hoping to cheer him up.
"You take it one day at a time, Miles," Amadeus soothed. "You live your life as best you can, and you pick up where you left off…"
Miles sniffled, collecting himself once more. "Where's… where's…?"
"Your mother? Dealing with government business, of course. And it breaks her heart because she'd much rather be here for you."
The portal fizzled shut with a loud whooping noise and a few stray flickering sparks of Chaotic Force energy. The whirring of the Globe Posts subsided as Kintobar's technological marvel powered down.
"Where'd you send the good doctor?" Alicia Acorn chuckled fiendishly, walking up behind Miles who stood in front of Kintobor's multi-monitor system. Her feathered red hair fell over her shoulders like a rocker mullet. Her cobalt blue-gray uniform was freshly pressed and starched.
"To the Citadel," Miles sneered, turning around to face his partner-in-crime.
"What a deliciously Grim fate," the chipmunk mobian quipped.
"Literally," the fox agreed.
"So what's the deal with the ship?"
Miles turned back to the monitors, one of which displayed a live feed of the airship still parked directly above Kintobor's Tower. "Battery's dead," the leader of the Suppression Squad said flatly. "Whatever energy source they use to power the weapon, they used it all up getting here and firing the beam on the Tower that made it possible for us to warp in."
Alicia put her hands on her hips, staring at the monitor feed. "So… can we recharge it?"
"That's the twist," Miles replied, sitting down on the swivel chair in front of all the monitors and spinning around to face his associate. "The power source is… unorthodox. We'll need help to retrieve the components."
"Help?" Acorn wondered. "Miles, after what happened with Scourge, we're running short on friends."
"The Boss assured me that the Super Genesis Wave changed that situation somewhat," the yellow fox said cryptically.
Suddenly, the Tower's AI chirped and sounded: Doctor Kintobor, your guests have arrived and are on their way up now.
Alicia giggled. "You reprogrammed the AI? Nice!"
"Peace o' cake," Prower flexed. "I may not be as handy with a wrench as Tails, but when it comes to a computer, there ain't nothing I can't hack."
"I'll remember never to tell you my mobimail address," the chipmunk retorted, feigning shock.
"Oh, I've already read all your mails," Miles snipped.
Just as Alicia was about to fire back a rebuttal, the private elevator that ran exclusively from the lobby to Kintobor's penthouse office opened, and a veritable pack of mobian rogues emerged. Some were familiar faces. Boomer, the purple walrus with the golden gauntlets and ocular battlefield scanner. Accompanying him were a cadre of former Freedom-Fighters from Sand Blast City: Jack Rabbit and his motley crew, Avery the Bear, Shift. E. Wolf, Jolt the Roadrunner, and Tex the Lizard. An unfamiliar face, a female Maine Coon mobian with wine-red eyes, black-stripped silver fur and similarly banded tail, was with the group as well. The seven of the sauntered out of the elevator box and into the office, slowly fanning out and gawking at the opulence and technologically advanced furnishings of the chamber.
"The Sandblasters?" Alicia wondered aloud, arching an eyebrow dubiously.
"That's right!" snapped their leader, Jack Rabbit, putting his leg up on a crate and hunching forward, his one visible blue eye sharply fixed on Acorn. "See, the way I hears it is, you Suppression Squaddies need some more brains in yer outfit. Need the help of someone who makes plans all tactical-like."
"Did you?" Alicia almost groaned with agitation.
The rabbit tugged on the strap of his eyepatch. "Even with only one good eye, it's plain to see you're understaffed and outgunned. Grand plans you've got, and only Miles, Acorn, and Boomer to carry them all out? Hah! Try again, 'Licia."
"You'll address me with respect," Acorn shot back with a stern and icy glare. "I'm a princess, not your favorite dancer."
Rabbit spun his sidearm deftly around his finger, showing off his well-practiced dexterity with handguns. "You could be both," he suggested.
"Enough!" Miles interrupted their frivolous banter. "But you aren't wrong. You're here because you all have skills particularly suited to this mission."
"A mission which you refused to explain to us until we arrived," Avery the Bear interjected, looming over Miles and Acorn, darkening them both in his large, stocky shadow. His oversized bazooka rested across his right shoulder, but the added weight of the weapon seemed to cause the bear no visible distress. "We Sandblasters can smell a rotten scheme from miles away, you know?"
"Yeah, because we're the best at thinking 'em up!" snickered Jolt the Roadrunner, balancing a glimmering dagger on the tip of his finger.
"We couldn't tell you all the details until you arrived here because we couldn't risk one of you—any of you—reporting what we've done here or what we're planning back to Mobius Prime."
"We're the Suppression Squad," Boomer growled, lumbering forward and turning to stand beside Alicia.
"It's good to see you, Booms," Alicia smirked.
"Likewise, Princess," the walrus nodded before turning back to the assembly of henchmen. "We successfully invaded Mobius Prime. Don't forget that."
"Right," Jack Rabbit mused, fidgeting with his bandolier. "'Cept back then, ya had Scourge wit'cha. Where is the Green Meanie, by the way?"
"We've got a new boss now," Miles assured the rabbit. "A much wiser, stronger boss. Now all you have to do is listen, and listen good."
"Princess, this is the one I was telling you about. Zyndara the Cat. I think you'll find her particularly useful to us. That one really does have nine lives, I swear it. Real knack for always landing on her feet, no matter how rough the fall. Seen it with me own eyes, I have!"
"Good to know," nodded Acorn. "Welcome," she said to the newcomer. The silver-furred Maine Coon had a roguish look; spiked, black-tipped hair complimented a red, black, and white unitard, gloves, and boots. Zyndara simply nodded a hello in return, then sat down upon one of the crates and began to use one of her claws to pick her fanged teeth.
"Alright, listen up!" Miles said, elevating his volume. "We've got a list of mobians we need to track down and bring back here. Some of them are close by, some of them are real far away. And others, well, we're not even sure where they are. But that's why you're here. Using Kintobor's Globe Posts, we need to trap and bring them all back here to help power the super weapon aboard that ship (he gestured at one of the monitors). Simple enough?"
"Is one of them Sonic?" Jack asked.
"The Boss says if we follow his instructions, by the time we've finished, Sonic will be irrelevant."
At that, the Sandblasters exchanged glances and began to murmur amongst themselves. Zyndara looked unphased. Boomer rolled his eyes. "I thought the Sandblasters were known for their grit!"
"It ain't about grit when it comes to that Blue Hedgehog," Jack Rabbit grumbled.
"Who exactly is 'The Boss' you keep talking about anyway?" Shift. E. Wolf chimed in. "If your Boss was smart, he wouldn't take Sonic so lightly."
"Look, when we're done here, all of you will be rich and powerful enough to take over Sand Blast City. Run things however you want there. What does it matter where the orders are coming from?"
Finally, Zyndara spoke up. "Are we going to invade Mobius again?" the Maine Coon mobian said, her voice low, husky, confident, with a nigh-imperceptible growl adding to its timbre. "I hear the Chaos Emeralds are missing."
This announcement elicited even more hushed whispering from the new arrivals.
"The list," Miles stated once again, ignoring the question, pressing a few keys on the computer before a list of names appeared on the central monitor above them all. "These are the names. How you go about tracking these individuals down and capturing them, I leave to you all. You can split up, or go as a group. I don't care. But your mission is to capture these mobians, and bring them back to this tower as quickly as possible using Kintobor's Globe Posts. We clear?"
After some final discussion amongst themselves, the Sandblasters assented, and Jack did a full twirl before bowing deeply and gallantly. "The Sandblasters… are at ya service, Princess," he said to Alicia.
"Wwwwwonderful!" the walrus whooped.
"Zyndara?" Alicia Acorn asked the cat.
"I'm too curious to see how this is all gonna pan out not to agree. I'm in."
"Then as of this moment, the Suppression Squad's membership is back up to nine. Exactly as The Boss predicted," Miles smiled with evil intent.
Alicia Acorn felt the first feeling of thrilling elation she'd felt since the Wave. She laughed maniacally. "Oh, the terrible things we're gonna get up to, Miles!"
End of chapter two
