-two hours after-

When Robotnik returned he led the two out and reluctantly they followed, stopping at the door they glanced back at Silver who smiled reassuringly giving them a small wave, they returned the reassurance with short nods before turning and leaving the room.

"Robotnik, you said you would set him free." Shadow snarled, when they were back in the other room.

"And where is Sonic?" Mephiles demanded angrily.

"Alright, don't get your quills in a bunch." Robotnik said, putting his hands up a bit as he walked to a drawer that he searched through for a minute.

Robotnik then strolled over and directed them to a table where Sonic lay limp and unconscious.

Mephiles quickly went over to the hoglet but he froze, finding stitches running up and down Sonic's limbs and more on its peach colored belly, it had basically been ripped open and sewn back up for different experiments and examinations.

"What did you do to him?!" Mephiles demanded, turning to face Robotnik who simply smiled.

"Nothing yet." Robotnik said, walking around to the other side of the table. "But don't worry he will be perfectly fine when I'm done with him, after all he can't die."

"He's immortal?" Shadow asked, stepping up next to Mephiles who was seething in rage.

"Oh don't tell me you haven't figured it out." Robotnik shook his head slightly before walking to his computer where he started to type.

Reluctantly the two followed and stared at the screen in complete shock.

"You see, that hoglet matches your DNA perfectly and it is not just a coincidence." Robotnik explained. "He is the offspring of none other than you Mephiles."

"My.. son?" Mephiles asked, looking back at Sonic in disbelief. "H-he survived.. but how?"

"Well one could say he is much stronger than you think." Robotnik shrugged, turning back to type something into the computer. "Though just as a warning if you try to get revenge I will make the hoglet and your brother suffer."

Shadow growled in irritation but paused noticing Mephiles wasn't near, confused he looked around and spotted his brother next to the hoglet.

Mephiles stared at the infant in a daze, eyes now softening he gently put a finger to the hoglet's cheek. "My son.." he breathed, gently rubbing his cheek. "They hurt my son.. you hurt my son." He growled, looking up and turning to face them. "You hurt my son!"

"Meph.. no." Shadow tried, knowing his brother was about to attack Robotnik who seemed to be anticipating it. "Don't do it."

"He hurt my son!" Mephiles shouted angrily.

"Me hurt an infant? Now why would I do that?" Robotnik asked, pressing a button. "Oh yes, because I'm evil."

Suddenly they heard a scream and the two looked around but they realized it was coming from their brother.

Quickly Shadow went to the door and started to bang his fists against it. "No! Stop!"

Mephiles watched Shadow struggle with the door and noticed he wasn't using his powers, realizing what was wrong he looked back at Robotnik who smiled evilly.

"That's right hedgehog, I put a restrictor chip inside each of your three brothers." Robotnik chuckled.

"Three?" Mephiles queried, staring at the scientist.

"Yes, but I'm sorry to say the third is out of commission." Robotnik sighed. "But you are the perfect replacement unless you want your son to take a lot more pain."

Mephiles pinned his ears and looked down for a moment as he looked back at Sonic, he thought for a minute and with a sigh he slowly walked up to Robotnik and stared up at him. "Then do what you wish but if you lay one more hand on him I will tear you from limb to limb." He warned, his voice threatening low.

Robotnik smiled and nodded in agreement. "Alright, I will not harm him in any way."

Shadow looked over at them and saw Robotnik bringing a syringe to Mephiles' neck. "No!" He shouted, running over to them but a robot grabbed him from behind and yanked him back. "No! Meph it's a trap!"

Mephiles looked over at him but didn't do anything to fight as he felt a prick in his neck and the contents of the syringe was emptied into his system.

Shadow then watched in horror as Mephiles fell to the floor clawing at his throat in pain that was quickly spreading to the rest of his body making him jerk and gasp.

After a few minutes Mephiles finally stopped struggling and slowly got to his feet, his head hung low and his arms hanging limp as his top half stayed bent over and slouched.

"What did you do to him?!" Shadow demanded, struggling against the robot only to have a shock of pain go through his body till he slumped in the robot's grasp.

"Don't worry hedgehog, he is perfectly intact just under my control." Robotnik informed him. "Though I need to test and see if it actually works."

Shadow watched quietly as Robotnik pressed a button on a remote in his hand, he tried to get away from the robot that held him but he was stuck unable to move.

"Now which one will be more entertaining.." Robotnik thought, looking at Shadow. "Maybe your little brother." He suggested, as if on cue another robot entered the room with a white hedgehog in tow. "Hmm.. decisions decisions."

Silver struggled to get free but he froze stiff seeing Robotnik standing not far off, ears pinning back he looked to his left to see Shadow watching him intently like he wanted to say something but couldn't.

"No.. you two are too valuable." Robotnik shook his head.

Suddenly they heard something not far from them and they realized it was Sonic crying probably from the pain, they all looked in his direction and Robotnik chuckled evilly.

"Perfect, he is too young to be used right now so he will be the perfect victim." Robotnik decided, looking at Mephiles who still stood there motionless. "Mephiles, your first order is to kill the blue hoglet you call Sonic."

In response Mephiles chuckled darkly and looked to the side to stare at his brothers before slowly standing up straight and looking behind him to the hoglet who was struggling to move as pain was the only thing it felt.

"Yes master." Mephiles growled, his claws lengthening as he slowly walked towards the hoglet.

"N-no! Meph d-don't!" Silver cried, trying to get free only to have a shock of pain go through him as well.

Mephiles went over and took the hoglet in his sharp deadly claws and he watched in sheer pleasure as the tiny thing squirmed and cried in his grip.

"What's wrong tiny? Scared?" Mephiles asked in a mocking tone as he put a sharp claw to Sonic's throat making him shudder and look at him fear evident in his eyes making Mephiles chuckle. "Good."

With that Mephiles threw the hoglet hard against the wall earning a loud squeak from Sonic who fell onto the counter.

Sonic slowly got to his hands and knees but immediately collapsed being too weak to even move much, tears staining his vision he watched helplessly as his father came at him like a feral animal, he then found himself in the monstrous hedgehogs jaws that slowly chomped down crushing his tiny bones and making blood squirt out.

Once the hoglet stopped moving Mephiles released the tiny thing making it fall to the floor covered in blood that was seeping from the teeth wounds the gray hedgehog had inflicted.

Robotnik laughed evilly, completely enjoying himself. "Now kill your weakling little brother." He ordered, pointing to the whitish hedgehog who was released.

Mephiles slowly turned blood staining his muzzle and claws, with a hiss he stalked towards Silver who quickly backed away clearly terrified but Mephiles quickly grabbed him and lifted him up into the air by the throat.

Shadow struggled hard to get free seeing his little brother being strangled by his twin.

Silver put his hands on the clawed hand that was choking him, desperate for the air he was quickly losing he kicked at Mephiles but his older brother didn't react in any way, his eyes vague of any emotion.

"M-Meph.." Silver struggled to get out, starting to get very lightheaded. "B-br-other.."

Suddenly the door was knocked down sending a wave of smoke around the area.

Startled, Robotnik looked around but froze seeing something in a crouched position amongst the smoke.

The figure slowly stood up and looked in their direction, suddenly it vanished and a second later shot up in front of Mephiles doing an uppercut to his jaw sending the gray hedgehog flying up to the ceiling where he crashed and fell to the floor with a thud.

The stranger then lunged at Robotnik effectively knocking him down, seeing the remote fly out of his hand he quickly jumped up and grabbed it right out of the air, once he landed on his feet he pressed a few buttons deactivating the chips inside Shadow and Silver before crushing it easily in his fist releasing Mephiles from the control Robotnik had on him.

Slowly Mephiles sat up and rubbed his forehead confused as to what had happened.

Shadow quickly went over to Silver and helped him up as the whitish hedgehog gasped and shook.

"Wow you guys sure look rough."

All three paused at that snarky voice and they looked over to see the figure turning to face them fully, it was a hedgehog with green fur and quills with light blue eyes that glinted in light.

"Scourge?!" they all exclaimed in shock.

"Hello brothers." the green hedgehog greeted with a smirk playing across his face.

"Couldn't you have gotten here sooner?" Shadow demanded.

"Hey I got here didn't I?" Scourge snarked, adjusting the top pulls of his slick black jacket. "And by the looks of it just in time considering our little brother almost got choked to death."

"Y-yeah thanks." Silver nodded slightly, slowly getting up with the help of Shadow who kept him steady.

Mephiles got up as well and looked around. "Where is Sonic?"

Shadow and Silver tensed at the question and looked over at Mephiles before glancing at the hoglet who still lay on the floor behind them in a pool of blood.

Mephiles noticed their distraction and looked behind himself to see the blue hoglet on the floor motionless and covered in the crimson color, not wasting any time he ran over and fell to his knees next to the tiny thing.

"No.." he denied, slowly putting a finger to its shoulder and rolling it over onto his back but he immediately pulled his hand away seeing the hoglet was not breathing or moving in any way. "No.. please no.."

His heart lurched in overwhelming sorrow at the sight of the hoglet laying lifeless on the floor. tears now filling his eyes, he gently put his hand underneath the tiny thing and lifted it up off the floor.

"No." Mephiles murmured, ears dropping and tears slipping down his cheeks as he pulled the hoglet close to his chest too heartbroken to care that it was bloody and dirtying his fur. "no.. NO!" he cried out at the top of his lungs as tears continued to fill his eyes and slip down his face.

The others watched him in silence being respectful of the mourning father, it was definitely a disturbing sight to see someone so ruthless and menacing cry like this.

Noticing Robotnik was missing, Scourge looked around and frowned in annoyance. "Robotnik is gone." he informed the others. "We better get out of here before he tries something."

"He's probably too chicken to mess with us now that we are free." Shadow pointed out.

"Y-yes but i-it is still better if we g-go.." Silver agreed.

"Alright." Shadow nodded shortly in agreement. "But Mephiles is not in much shape to travel right now."

Suddenly red alarms went off making everyone jolt and look around.

"Okay let's get moving." Scourge said, staring at them.

Mephiles pinned his ears and slowly stood up with the lifeless hoglet still in his grip, he then slowly turned and walked past them without saying a single word.

The others followed him out and they hurried out of the building and went to the end of the alley but they hid in the shadows knowing their predicament would be hard to explain if they ran into someone.

"Here Shadow, get us out of here." Scourge said, tossing him a green emerald.

Shadow caught the emerald and looked down at it before back at them. "Where?"

"My room." Mephiles muttered, staring at the tiny hoglet laying limp in his hands.

"Alright." Shadow nodded, having them touch him as he held out the chaos emerald. "Chaos control!"

They all then disappeared in a flash of green and when they reappeared they were in Mephiles' hotel room.

Mephiles stared at the hoglet in a bit of a daze tears still flowing a bit as he slowly walked to the bed where he sat down, he then pulled the hoglet away where it lay on its back in his hands, ears twitching a bit he gently put his thumb to the tiny things pale peach muzzle and taking a shaky breath he wiped the blood from its mouth but the hoglet just lay there limp as a ragdoll and that alone made him upset.

Eyes lowering in sorrow he brought the hoglet to his neck where he gently brushed his cheek against the side of Sonic's head in an affectionate manner, he held him close and squeezed his eyes shut as tears continued to flow.

Shadow looked away in shame feeling guilty for the hoglets death, Silver put a hand on his shoulder and tried to comfort his older brother which didn't seem to be working.

Scourge on the other hand was trying to figure everything out though that didn't seem to be working either.

Mephiles gently rubbed the hoglets back, knowing there wasn't anything he could do he pulled the hoglet away again but he felt something scratch him making him pause and look down at the blue hoglet, ears twitching a bit he lifted Sonic into view and noticed it's eyes were opening slightly they were dull in color and his tiny form shuddered and shrank a bit before falling limp again.

The gray hedgehog set the hoglet back in his hand and gently put a finger to its damaged ribs where he could just barely feel it rise and fall.

"He's alive." Mephiles mumbled, ears slowly going forward as he let himself smile in relief. "Sonic's alive."

The others paused and looked over at him in surprise. "He's what?!" They exclaimed, hurrying over to see.

Still severely weakened Sonic raised a tiny hand as he let out a quiet whimper.

Mephiles gently put his finger to the hoglet's hand giving it the reassurance it needed.

Sonic quivered a bit but he recognized the feeling and his body automatically relaxed for the first time in a week, getting the very thing he had been crying out for, his father.

"He needs medical attention." Shadow reminded them of the wounds Sonic still possessed.

Mephiles paused and noticed it was very true Sonic's wounds were still bleeding and he was having difficulty breathing.

"W-wait.." Silver said, raising a finger. "Shadow, c-can I have the emerald?"

Shadow glanced at him before nodding and handing the green emerald to Silver who took it in one hand and brought the other to the hoglet.

Mephiles instinctively hissed at him but knowing it would help he allowed Silver to proceed.

Silver put his free hand to the hoglet's chest and closed his eyes focusing his and the emerald's power, Sonic squirmed a bit as an odd sensation went through his body.

Everyone watched quietly as the hoglets wounds slowly healed over and soon Silver pulled away.

Sonic then gasped in a desperate breath but accidentally started to cough on the blood that was still in his throat.

Mephiles noticed this and rolled the hoglet over where his head and arms were hanging over the side of his hand, he then carefully patted its back making it cough up the blood that was slipping from his open mouth, it then relaxed in his hand as he gently rubbed its back helping the tiny thing calm down.

Noticing Sonic was a bit uncomfortable he picked him up and laid him back down on his arm where it almost immediately took hold of his fur.

Needing a much needed rest, Sonic curled up against Mephiles' chest forgetting all about what the gray hedgehog had done as he let out a small yawn before closing his eyes to sleep.

"Aww, he is so cute." Silver smiled, watching the hoglet fall asleep.

"You two make an adorable match." Scourge snickered.

"Want a bloody nose?" Mephiles hissed, ears flattening against his head as he held the hoglet close.

"Alright, alright." Scourge shrugged, knowing his older brother was easily annoyed.

"At least he's alright." Shadow smiled slightly.

"Yes.." Mephiles agreed, looking back down at Sonic who was burying his face into his gray fur. "Everyone is alright."