West Robotropolis, Big Kahuna Island
Evening
"...They're coming around." Gadget hears a weedy voice speaking as he is regaining consciousness. The wolf flutters his eyes open and squinting at the brightness til his vision clears.
Based on what happened earlier and the change of scenery, he appears to be inside a holding cell with two others. Those two being Johnny and Julie-Su. Both coming around at the same time. He sees that his weapons and utility belt have been confiscated but he still has a medal camera on him to record evidence. The guards must've thought much of it and left it alone.
Outside the cell, he can see Slimy Wormtongue as well as two female echidnas clad in black. Quickly recognising one of them as Lien-Da; Grandmaster of the Dark Legion and someone that the late Lieutenant Riker had always wanted to get a piece of before tragically losing his life along with everyone else from the squad to a merciless Infinite.
"I can see that thank you very much." Lien-Da responds matter-of-factly. "Anything else you want to point out to me?"
"Only that we confiscated all of their tools."
"You did want them taken alive as per your orders." The other female echidna stated to Lien-Da. "We nearly lost the wolf to that red-headed thug though. Apparently, she has a particular hatred for him."
"Kommissar. I don't care to know why she dislikes him or what's so significant about him. A hostage's hostage."
The Kommissar nodded with a neutral expression. "Though, he does appear to be that Scrappy Oliver one we've been hearing about from I.G.N lately."
If he assumes correctly, that must be Lien-Da's right hand woman Kommissar Gae-Na. He's heard a bit about her from both Knuckles and Sally. How dedicated she is to the Dark Legion and a very competent second in command.
Organized, intelligent, devoted to the cause and its beliefs of technological mastery as the next step in evolution. In essence, a model Dark Legionnaire.
There are rumors that say the main reason Lien-Da hasn't been ousted already from his position despite making some botched calls in the past is because those who threaten the heir to the throne's life are swiftly dealt with by Gae-Na.
She's also suspected to be the mind behind Operation: Constantius that took place shortly after the end of the Phantom Ruby War. No one could verify the legitimacy of these claims but regardless if they were true or not, Gae-Na bows to her Grandmaster willingly and serves her faithfully. Making the true opposite of Snively Robotnik.
"If it was just him and the grunts, I'd assume this to be a suicide mission..." Lien-Da sardonically remarks, eyeing Gadget as she steps over to his cell and stopping in front of the barrier. "An expendable member they can afford to lose."
"Should have known you'd be behind all of this and you're one to talk about expendables." Julie-Su growled. Having come up next to Gadget and shooting her a glare.
The Grandmaster scoffs derisively. "I was hoping to go a while without meeting you again sister but here we are."
"Likewise."
"So you're the mastermind behind that recent theft and that so-called Eggman Invasion." Johnny furrowed his brow. "You had us set up on Resort Island to make us look bad!"
"Oh please." Lien-Da rolled her eyes and turned away from their cell with a loud guffaw. "Anything I would have planned wouldn't have gone off as brilliantly as the blue schmuck losing his cool and assaulting a public official while those useful idiots did their jobs smearing your public image. Just so happens to be what I needed to get you brats off my back for a while."
"Not enough to stop us from finding out." Sonic responds back with confidence and shoots his cellmate Tails a thumbs up. "We know now you got your hand in the big pie. We're gonna stop whatever it is you're doing and restore our good names while we're at it."
"As long as you're still on the team, not a chance."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly what it means stupid."
In came Mecha Sonic. Stepping into view with the cocky swagger of Sonic except arrogant and full of smug energy. The metal hedgehog condescendingly wags his finger at his twin and his smugness is paralleled.
"You brought upon the negative attention yourself and it's your own fault that you have caused great pains for all your friends by association."
"That's not true!" Tails spoke up against the machine. "Those people have always had it out for us and it's not his fault that we'r—"
"Ugh, no one here asked for your opinion..." The metallic hedgehog rudely cuts off Tails before snidely adding; "Man, I can see why your own daddy didn't accept you at birth."
"That's a lie and you know it!" Sonic sharply rebuked his doppelgänger. Tails knew better than to take the word of Mecha Sonic but it still stung hearing Sonic's voice saying those words regardless.
"Whatcha gonna do? Spank me?" Mecha taunted with a chortle. "Come at me br—"
"If you're going to be an annoyance, then get out." Lien-Da interrupts, clearly getting annoyed with Mecha's insufferable attitude as much as Sonic and his team. The robot flashes a glare at her but ultimately shuts up.
"So, what's your grand scheme after going solo again?" Johnny pressed the echidna for information. "Must be somethin' juicy to keep it under wraps."
Sonic added in a jabbing remark. "Probably plagiarizing one of Egghead's like everything else so far and she's in the major leagues again."
Lien-Da growled at the hedgehog's cockiness. "I can assure you that it's nothing he has already done before and it involves—"
"He's trying to make you slip up by attacking your pride." A very familiar looking jackal dressed in a lab coat enters the room all alive and well. "Get you to reveal your cards to them in your anger. It's how he usually gets to Eggman."
Sonic's look of smugness melted into a grimace when he recognised that voice and his face, letting off a harsh growl. "Tarek…"
The Grandmaster saw his point and calmed herself. "What is it you want, Doctor?"
"I'm here looking for a test subject." The jackal replied monotonously to the enquiry, glancing at Sonic's captured team. "You had a perfect opportunity to kill them while they were helpless. An opportunity that may never come again."
"I want to use them as bargaining chips against that nut muncher princess. Make her stay back from us and force her into a deal if she values their lives that much." The femme fatale spoke back. "Have some leverage."
Tarek shook his head at Lien-Da and thought it's pretty stupid of her to pass up the opportunity to kill off Sonic and his friends under the assumption that she's got a foolproof plan in store. "You of all people should know better by now but I digress. I need a live test subject for my experiment."
"How soon do you need it?" Gae-Na asked. Ever wary of the scientist.
"The experiment is due to begin very soon. I just need one specimen for it."
"Very well. You can choose any one of the prisoners here except the Freedom Fighters."
"I will take the homeless one. No one will miss nor mourn his absence."
Gae-Na nodded and snapped her fingers, gesturing to three of the Dark Legion soldiers to go over to the cell next to Gadget's. When they dragged out the prisoner from that cell, Sonic gasped as soon as he saw the homeless man. The same one he had seen from his sleep.
"Yo, what's the deal between you and Aunt Wicked here, huh?" Manic spoke up and got the jackal's attention. "What's in it for you?"
"The same of every scientist that ever existed; uncovering new discoveries and making scientific advancements. I provide what Ms. Lien-Da here needs in exchange for resources to aid in my research." Tarek responded as he turned around and started heading off with the terrified screaming homeless man who was being dragged out of the room by the guards. "A handshake agreement."
"You're both after the secrets of life." Sonic said seriously to the jackal as he was walking away. "Immortality and obtaining the means to cure death. The hunt for your philosopher's stone. Am I correct Xavier?"
The mysterious scientist stopped in his tracks and glanced over his shoulder at Sonic whose gaze bore through him but it didn't faze him one bit. "A very astute observation, Sonic the Hedgehog. No doubt you've spoken with my former acquaintances and learned the truth from them."
"Yeah, I learned the truth about you alright Doctor..." Sonic narrowed his eyes into dangerous slits and felt a sense of hostility suddenly form within him, a strong disdain evident in his words. "Learn what a truly sick and deprived psychopath you really are behind that polite mask of yours'. You're so focused on achieving your goals of being the curer of death that you forgot how to have empathy or compassion in that black void you call a heart!"
Tails and Manic looked at each other in worry. Both thinking the same thing.
Intrigued by the hedgehog's unusually edgy tone and how he's addressing him, Tarek turns around to fully face Sonic with an unreadable face. "An interesting statement coming from you but yes, that is what I am trying to do. I had previously assumed you're not one for taking matters personally."
"Personally?" Sonic showed his canines. "You had all those innocent people killed in those cells!"
The jackal waves off the accusation with indifference. "Many kill off witnesses and innocents all the time including your own nemesis yet you never show as strong a reaction to those deaths as much as you are reacting to mine. What makes me any worse than Robotnik and his many crimes?"
"I…" Sonic stumbled a bit at the question but quickly regained his aggression rather unnaturally as though his switch was flipped back on. "You abducted those people, cut them open, subject them to your own horrors you dare to call experiments and when you're about to be caught by us, you have them all incinerated alive including a little child!"
"An unfortunate loss but that is life."
"What you've done is cold-blooded murder. Those people had done nothing wrong to you and you made them suffer needlessly for it."
"So has Robotnik and everyone else who's menaced the world yet you take particular exception with me. Rather hypocritical of you, don't you think?" Tarek then points an accusing finger at Sonic. "By your own words, you've caused just as much needless suffering by allowing all those criminals to live and be free t—"
"Can the whataboutism bull and knock it off with the 'you're just as bad as me' speeches too. I ain't got time for that." Sonic curtly cuts off his response. "You're in no place to be trying to lecture me when you're responsible for what happened with Reactive Factory."
Tarek nodded slightly and obliged with his request. "I was not the one to press the button in case you're forgetting."
"I know you didn't press the button but you're still responsible for everything else that happened. You were okay with causing that disaster. Okay with the destruction you wrought on your way out."
"I'm neither okay with or against the action. I simply made the choice at the time according to logical thinking. Kill the witnesses and erase the evidence."
As the pair were exchanging back and forth, Gadget took notice of the way Mecha Sonic stood in the corner like a sneak who had just instigated a riot and tossing some oil into the fires of aggression while standing back to watch it all burn but yet no one has seen or heard him do anything. He wonders if he's got anything to do with Sonic's sudden bursts of aggression.
"I make no illusions about myself and what I have done. I am a scientist as was Gerald Robotnik and many other great minds of our time. My pursuit is to find the means of resurrection and overcoming death itself." Tarek admitted outright to the blue hedgehog. "I seek neither fame or glory; only progress and progress as with everything in life is rarely achieved without spilling some blood first."
Set off by his cold indifference towards the atrocities he had committed, Sonic roared at the stoic bioscience expert. "Well, it'll be your own blood that'll get spilled whenever I get my hands on you!"
Gadget gasped at that as did Johnny and Julie-Su. They couldn't believe their own ears and neither did Sonic's cellmates. Even Sonic was startled by his own words once they left his lips as he went very silent afterwards.
"...It appears that you were right about Infinite having left some psychological damage on him after all." Tarek glanced at a shocked Lien-Da. "We might have witnessed the effects of his PTSD just now. If you excuse me, I must tend to my project..."
The anubian scientist left with Lien-Da and Gae-Na following him to come see his latest experiment. Having won yet another battle with Sonic who threw the debate for a third time.
The blue hedgehog wordlessly watched him leave and his head sinking into his hands, feeling like he's falling apart. Spiraling even further than he already has.
"...How did you know we were coming?" Gadget mustered the will to ask about that one. Slimy not even sparing him a glance. Regards the red mobian as far beneath his attention.
"Ask Sonic." The lab-coat wearing reptile replied. "He's the one who unknowingly tipped off Mecha Sonic here about your arrival."
"Smell ya later and don't let the resentment bug bite ya again Sonic the Pariah!" Mecha Sonic added tauntingly to Sonic before leaving the room with Slimy Wormtongue. Disappearing from their sights and letting his words hang in the air.
"...Sonic?" Tails asked his big brother, breaking the silence as the prisoners were left alone in their own company. "Did you mean what you said there?"
"...I don't really know…" Sonic sighs. Running the hands down his face as he thought about his comment to him. How easily they came to him as if he had always thought so violently and always carried this hostile attitude in him… Except he knows that isn't how he is. He needs to get a grip now or else disaster will happen if he doesn't get a hold of himself soon.
"Dude…" Manic looked at his half-brother with worried eyes. "That's out of character even for you. Something's not right here man."
Sonic didn't try to argue it because they had all heard the same thing. Instead, he asked Tails about something else. "...Any idea what they're up to and how we can get out?"
"Since he was referring to his project, he could be conducting a test on reviving the dead or something like that. We can safely assume that is what he's doing." Tails surmises while checking out the holding cell. "The cell seems refurbished and reinforced. I don't know if any of your moves or mine can break through this."
"I'm sure Sally will come to our rescue after an hour passes." Manic points out. Tails shaking his head.
"That's if we've been here for that long and they haven't been fed false info by Mecha in the span we were out. By the time they find out, Lien-Da and them could be long gone by then."
"And all because Mecha was being nosy…" Sonic grumbled and thought about what Slimy had said. "Is it possible that we couldn't find them for a while and we wandered into their trap because of him?"
"If the link works the way I think it does, he could have eavesdropped on us without us knowing it. Spying on us through you."
"That's creepy man." Manic commented. Tails and Sonic nodding in agreement.
Tapping his chin, Sonic looked up to Tails. "Any theory on how the link works and how he can do that without me knowing it? That's what I like to know."
The twin-tailed fox rummages through his brain for his best educated guess. "It's only just a theory but based on recent events and what I can ascertain, it appears he's able to invade your mind whenever you're at your most emotional."
"...Can you be more specific about that?"
Rubbing his cheek, Tails elaborates on his explanation. "By your most emotional, I'm referring to the likes of anger, hatred and resentment. Negative feelings you may be having deep down and they're enough to allow him to get inside your head and vice versa. Maybe even fed you some strong negative emotions like a transmission signal. That's my guess though."
That part sent a chill down Sonic's spine. His own worst fears were confirmed.
"And speakin' of resentment, what did he mean by that?" Manic asked seriously. "I know he's a jerk sayin' whatever provocative crap to tick us off but it is curious he'd bring that one up and phrasin' it like that."
Not really wanting to talk about it, Sonic shrugs his shoulders. "Come on Manic, you know me and what I'm like."
"I thought I did…" Manic crossed his arms, frowning at the response and seemingly turning his back on his half-brother. "But then I wonder who you really are… A simple guy who loves adventure or someone else entirely?"
"He's the same Sonic you've always known him as for years." Tails told him. "The same Sonic who's saved the world many times and helped everyone he's ever met."
"Is it Sonic you're thinking of or Nicky?"
That gave Tails a moment of pause and glances at Sonic before affirming his faith in the blue hedgehog. "...Whichever he is, I know he'll come through in the end. He has never let us down and that's not going to change anytime soon. The least we can do for him is to give him a helping hand when he needs it."
Sonic is so glad deep down to have Tails' support even in light of what had occurred moments ago. It's like the one piece of stability in his world he's got going on and keeping him in the game right now.
Gadget overheard the conversation and heard what Tails said, letting the kit's word bring him back to that war...
After making his way through the Death Egg and being on a mission to go rescue Sonic while his allies kept the rest of the station security busy, he would find himself surrounded by Badniks when they jumped him just now. He would have taken care of the advancing robots with his weapon but he had expended his ammo on the way to locating Sonic and the wolf has depended on his weapons so far to take care of the enemies.
Knuckles had entrusted him with a very important mission because he believed he could do it and he's screwed the pooch on that. It'll be all his fault that Sonic loses his life because he couldn't reach him in time. Fearful and feeling like trash. What an unhappy combo.
Before he's due to meet his old squad again, he hears a rushing sound and the menacing robots were quickly dispatched by a fast-moving blue line in a wink of an eye. When the line stopped moving and landed in front of him, the bespectacled soldier let out a quiet gasp.
Standing before him is Sonic the Hedgehog himself. The world's greatest hero, a valuable prisoner of war he was sent to retrieve and someone he's always looked up to in the flesh. He was here to rescue Sonic but Sonic had just rescued him from certain doom.
The blue blur looked down at the young wolf on the floor with his signature smile upon seeing him and checking him out as if to be sure of something. It's pretty different knowing about him and actually seeing him in person. He just radiates coolness in his posture.
He extended a hand out to the red soldier like a scene out of a comic book. "Easy there, everything's cool."
Mindlessly taking his hero's hand, Sonic helped him up onto his feet before asking him; "Yo, are you here to rescue me?"
The red soldier tried to verbalize but the words weren't coming out because he was so starstruck by the fact he's actually meeting Sonic up-close and in person. Getting to fulfill one of his youthful dreams.
It seems the hedgehog took notice of the silence and quipped to the wolf in a lighthearted manner as though they had just met on the streets. "Either Honey got your tongue there, you're taken aback by my handsome looks or you're more of the quiet type."
Realizing he's gawking at him, the bashful lupine quickly spoke up in a stutter. "O-Oh yeah, I-I'm h-here to rescue you s-sir."
"Just call me Sonic. That's what everyone else does." Sonic told him as he voiced his honest gratitude. "Can't tell you how much I appreciate it. It's been a while since I've seen a real friendly face around here and it's a pleasure to meet you. Wh—"
"Hey Rookie, you still in one piece?" Knuckles' voice spoke through the wolf's comms. Interrupting Sonic for a bit.
The wolf quickly answered his commander's call to report and spoke in a more formal tone. "Yes sir and Commander, I've just located Sonic. He's alive and well."
"Sonic's alive!?" Amy's ecstatic voice was heard in the background, likely next to Knuckles at HQ and the most cheerful the wolf has witnessed from her since meeting the pink hedgehog. "Oh, I'm so glad!"
"Hold up Amy. We're glad to hear he's alive but he won't be for long..." Knuckles would immediately issue out a new order to the wolf. "Rookie, get Sonic off the Death Egg and hurry. Good luck."
"Oh sure Knucklehead. Don't even bother to ask how I am…" Sonic said after the echidna hung up and the wolf couldn't tell if he was simply joking or being serious there but the hedgehog didn't linger on the subject. "Wait, Knuckles' your commander? Man, I must be missing out a whole lot in the last six months but you must be pretty darn good if he's sending you to come pick me up and he's a tough one to impress."
Looking around, Sonic asked the wolf. "Say, is there an exit around here?"
The young soldier saw in the corner of his eye a ship in the hangar getting ready to depart soon and pointing towards it. Sonic gave a nod and the two hurriedly ran off towards their ride back to Mobius.
"I'm more than eager to get off this stinking joint and make it like a tree. You wouldn't believe how terrible it is up here." Sonic says to the wolf in a carefree manner as the pair runs together with him taking the lead. "No entertainment, not even a crummy romance novel for me to read!"
The two mobians boarded the cargo ship just as the loading ramp retracted and quickly seized control of the vehicle's cockpit area upon leaving the Death Egg thanks to Sonic's speed. The hedgehog uses his own knowledge to redirect the ship's autopilot from its intended path to land somewhere else on Mobius.
One conversation with Knuckles and the Resistance about the intelligence regarding a munitions factory in Green Hill later, Sonic looked at his red rescuer. "Looks like you and I are gonna work together as a team to take out that factory. Couldn't ask for a better welcome back party. Boy, I can't wait to see the smug grin off Egghead's face when he realizes I'm a free spirit again and more than eager to give him a six month kicking on his wide end."
Shooting the awe-struck wolf a grateful grin. "For someone who was supposedly shaking like a leaf back there, you handled that like a pro. Thanks."
"I-It's no problem…" Gadget did a customary bow. "J-Just doing the best I can to serve the greater good…"
Sonic returns the gesture out of politeness. "Good attitude to have but don't forget you matter too. What's your name Rookie?"
"I-It's Akira." The wolf answered and was amazed to be asked by Sonic the Hedgehog for his name. "Akira Amamiya. Everyone else calls me Gadget the Wolf…"
"Akira Amamiya… Bright shining light and rain on palaces." Sonic repeated the name like it's honey to his taste buds before shaking his head with a chuckle when he caught himself getting sidetracked. "Pardon the ramblings. You're the first guy I've talked to in so long who wasn't Egghead, Aunt Wicked or Masked Weird that I'm a bit rusty here. You from Yamato?"
Akira shook his head. "South Island actually. That's where I was living before all of this."
"Cool. A fellow homie from the island." Sonic said in approval. "By the way, how's Tails while I was gone? Hope he's doing okay."
The wolf sighed, knowing he wouldn't be too pleased at the news but he deserved to know the truth. "I'm afraid I don't know because he's been M.I.A ever since you were defeated by… Him and we're too busy holding off the Eggman Empire to be able to go looking for him. I'm sorry…"
"There's nothing to worry about and if I know anything from my years with Tails, he'll survive. Maybe figuring out something I can't." The blue hedgehog's face was impassive yet the eyes tell the real story about what he thought of the news. "Say, is Sally and her people with you guys?"
Akira shook his head. "Our rebellion efforts are pretty scattered from each other and we're more or acting independently in our war to retake Mobius. Too risky to join up together at the moment. Including those over in Northamer."
"Robotnik ain't playing around this time…" Sonic said thoughtfully, pounding a fist into his palm and narrowing his eyes into a determined gaze that inspired the wolf's confidence. "But I ain't playing around either and we're going to retake our freedom starting with that factory… Together!"
The fastest thing alive looked at Akira. "Will you help me win this war?"
With no hesitation, the wolf nodded. "Absolutely."
Seemingly satisfied with the answer, Sonic smiled at the wolf and relaxed into his seat as the cargo ship heads for South Island. "I think we're gonna get along just great. I just know it…"
"...Hey, you're spacing out here." Juile-Su snapped her fingers in front of Gadget and snapped the wolf out of his thoughts. "Something on your mind?"
"Just thinking back to when I rescued Sonic from the Death Egg and the war. That's all." Gadget looked up to the echidna. "Something you need?"
Brushing back her locks. "You weren't saying much after what Sonic said to Tarek and wondering if you have any gadgets on you to bust us out of here."
"I have a sonic lance that could take out the barrier to our cell… But it's in that utility belt they confiscated from me."
"That would be really useful to have right now…"
"Yeah…"
Johnny interjects, checking over every surface of the jail cell. "There might be a way out of here and we just need to find it. Help me out here."
Julie-Su and Gadget went to go aid their cellmate in finding an escape route. If they're not going to be rescued by Sally's team in time given the unexpected complications, they'll have to find their own way out and stop the Dark Legion from achieving whatever it is they're after.
They all realized that this could also be their only chance to realistically capture Lien-Da and Gae-Na plus their associates alive in one place as well as preventing a potential conflict before it even has a chance to begin. Avoid having millions more from dying due to fighting.
The one opportunity they have to bring down the Dark Legion for good or at least weaken them severely by taking their leaders off the playing board and leaving the faction rudderless without a strong leader with an equally strong backing from their own peers to guide them all to victory. Take away their sense of unity as an organization.
They might never get another chance like this ever again. A chance to rid the Republic of Acorn and the United Federation of another hostile political superpower who dares to threaten the peace.
As they worked to find any kinks in the security, Gadget's thoughts went back to that fateful encounter with Infinite after what Sonic had said to Tarek about those lost innocent lives. So vividly he can remember it that it feels like he's back in the moment again...
"There is no reason to resist. Your savior is no more."
Those were the chilling words spoken Robotnik's mysterious masked herald of war known only as Infinite as he proceeded to annihilate almost the entire Fordo Squad present with one fatal beam shot. All except for one huddled bespectacled wolf hiding behind cover.
He already felt afraid of going on the frontlines and had only just recently gotten the courage to face the fires of war by partaking in these field missions out of the need to make himself useful. Show he can contribute to the war effort. Prove he ain't a deadweight to the others.
The red mobian having once overheard a few of his squadmates gossiping about him and derisively calling him Private Poltroon behind his back due to his nervous disposition. One of them snidely remarking to his friend that he'll be the first in their unit to flee at the sight of danger and having more in common with a hyrax than his own lupine heritage. The wolf being unpopular among the more Sargent Hockley-influenced members of the Fordo Squad and they let him know it without even saying it outright.
In their eyes, he's worth less than the mess on the soles of their boots, thinks Riker is a fool for even giving him a spot on the team he didn't earn and believes he'll be the death of them someday. Perhaps those guys were right after all because he's shaking and fearing for his own life as one of his now-deceased detractor's blasters landed in front of him.
Was Infinite waiting for them or did that yelp he made when he tripped on a piece of debris alerted him to their location and got his own teammates killed because of it?
"I can taste your terror, child. All that anxiety and doubt… It's delicious."
Maybe it was fear for his life or anger over the death of Riker, he found himself summoning the will to pick up the gun and pointing it at the hovering killer of his squad who seemed more amused than anything. Shooting a beam at the ground in front of the wolf who fell back onto his backside.
"Give in to your fear." Infinite said ominously with a sadistic air to his words, looking down at the frightened wolf the same way Sargent Hockley and his followers looked down on him. "Flee, screaming and I'll let you live."
As if to punctuate his point, Infinite lets out a malevolent laugh. It was all the convincing the lone survivor needed to get to his feet and flee the scene while the masked jackal gave off a hearty cackle as he watched the wolf run away in terror.
He ran and ran through the wartorn ruins of the city ravaged by the dominant Eggman Empire. Panic and shame filled him like salt poured on a profusely bleeding wound. Disgusted at his own display of cowardice and even the killer of Sonic knows it which must be why he left him alive instead of ending him because the masked jackal deemed him undeserving of the swift end afforded to the others.
Tears ran down his cheeks and bile filled the pit in his stomach. He's a coward and feels like utter garbage for living as one while the rest with actual courage bites the dust.
He easily can hear Hockley's voice telling him that he's a disgrace to every soldier who has fought and died to protect pathetic wastes of space like him. How if he had his way, he'd have him executed by firing squad and how unfair that a brave man like Riker has to die senselessly while he gets to live another day. Letting him know much like someone else has done before him that he'll amount to nothing in life.
What misery awaits him whenever he gets back to him and Riker won't be around to protect him from Hockley's wrath this time. Lieutenant Riker… Seasoned veteran from the Second Robotnik War, leader of the Raoul Platoon and the most patient with him. The one major figure of importance who saw real potential in him and doing whatever he can to bring it out of him.
His death stung the most for him. He lost the only person that really believes in him and Riker now lays lifeless with the rest of the doomed squad. Having died in vain without glory.
That made him stop in his tracks. No, it's not right. The realist in him knows it's not right that he's acting so afraid and outliving the others even after Riker took the time to make an effort to help him try to grow past his own hesitancy. Push past the fear and find his true courage hiding under it. Discover the willpower within to pierce the heavens and soar to greater heights than he ever thought possible.
Sonic would never tuck his tail between his legs and run like he has; he'd take a stand and fight to the bitter end even if the odds aren't in his favor. That hedgehog was a child when he started taking the fight to the Robotniks during the First Robotnik War and won said war as a teenager. What's his excuse for not fighting as fiercely as he had?
No. He's not going to be a coward anymore. Riker and the rest of them deserve better than that. Infinite may have enjoyed his terror now but he's going to regret sparing him later the next time they meet. He will avenge all those who died at that monster's hands. If not for Sonic or Riker, then it's to prove to himself and to everyone else around him who's ever overlooked the red wolf.
It's decided. He will not let fear continue keeping him down and stop him from taking action. If Sonic can do it, so can he.
With a little spark inside his heart, the wolf wiped away the tears of his eyes and got running again. Off to begin his rebellion and start taking up fighting the Eggman Empire for real. Akira Amamiya will run no more…
Gadget wonders deep down if Sonic had ever come to that same resolution as he did years ago when he vowed to bring down the Robotnik Empire to free the world and had been in that same dark place as he once did. Is he and Sonic really that alike?
Author's Notes: We've only just hit the boiling point and the blowoff will be just as devastating. Approaching the culmination of everything that's been going wrong for Sonic and Gadget before things can get better in the third act. We're getting there alright.
What is Mecha Sonic's real agenda, the validity of Tarek's project and what awful weapon has the Dark Legion created? Stay tuned for more and I'll see you all another time. Leave your thoughts in the reviews.