Tommy Turtle Memorial Hospital, New Mobotropolis
Night
With the F.F.S Mk. III's speeds alongside the dutiful efforts of Cobalt and a few R.A.A medics, Tails and Isabelle were able to make it from Big Kahuna Island to the hospital in good time. They were both given top priority upon arrival.
Sally, Bunnie, Antoine, Manic, Charles, the Prowers and the Sprouts were in the waiting room.
All were anxious to receive the news of their conditions. Especially the parents of the patients who were informed of what had happened.
Knuckles and a few others were with them earlier when they arrived before leaving at some point. Either to go back to West Robotropolis to collect more evidence to be processed, analysed and reviewed later, went to Central Freedom HQ to make a report of today's fiasco or to head on home and handle the current tragedy in private.
Team morale is not looking too great right now. Sonic's disappearance does very little to help matters and the current body count of the R.A.A soldiers including the twenty-one killed at his hands when Mecha had control of him.
The Dark Legion Troopers they had managed to capture alive were either all former abductees who had been forcibly cyber-masked into legionaries or clones that were made in the labs of West Robotropolis. Neither them, the scientists they apprehended nor the captured Lionel knew the location of the Legionizer.
The fact that Lien-Da and them had managed to get away in what should have been a slam dunk outcome for them only adds salt to the wounds. Besides Resort Island, the Big Kahuna Island mission is the biggest disaster the Knothole Freedom Fighters have been involved with in the last three weeks and this December has proven to be their worst time all year by how everything has been going for them.
Maybe it was easily avoidable. Maybe it was doomed to fail no matter what and they were unlucky. Sally blamed herself for how it all turned out and felt like it could have all been prevented had she put her foot down sooner but at the same time, it seemed like an unwinnable condition.
With Tails in an emergency room, she felt an absolute failure as a leader, as a friend and an aunt to the young fox. His parents don't blame her for his current condition yet the anchor of failure hung on her neck like a noose. Out of everything that Sonic has ever gone up against, him harming Tails is the one that finally broke him.
He was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off and she realised it far too late. The R.A.A Troopers that survived his rampage now saw their blue hero in the same light as Infinite after what he had done.
Sniffing to herself and accepting another tissue from Antoine to wipe her face, she waited and waited until Doctor Quack in surgeon's clothes had emerged from the emergency room with a yellow echidna surgeon named Loony and Cobalt at his side.
The chief of the hospital looks over at the small crowd in the waiting room. Seeing how deeply worried they were upon arrival and all waiting to hear the news.
"Good news is they'll fortunately both live and neither suffer any life-changing injuries from their wounds but the bad news is that they might not be dispatched for a while until roughly after Christmas." The duck informed Sally and the others with them letting out sighs of relief at the news. "They will have to remain here until they are both deemed clear to leave."
The skilled physician's age and exhaustion was pronounced on his features. He had taken a step back from active practice as a doctor to take on a more administrative role but twice this month he had to step in and perform the lifesaving operations on such short notice.
"Oh, thank the Lord for that…" Bunnie breathed a sigh of relief. Holding Antoine's hand for support.
"That's wonderful news." Charles smiled at the news. Although Sonic going AWOL did break his heart, knowing Tails has survived such a horrific moment and be able to live well in spite of it still gave the elderly hedgehog some hope. Just enough to offset the sombreness surrounding Sonic's absence.
"Right now, they both need time to rest up for the night but you can come and see them tomorrow morning." Loony runs a hand over his tuft of hair and casually remarks to the group. "That's about the fourth team member of yours' that's been put out of action in the last few weeks."
"I think they're well aware of that fact..." Cobalt rolled his eyes. Looking over to Sally.
The cobra mouthed to Sally about wanting to have a private word with her and the chipmunk excused herself to follow him to a smaller room. She sees her team medic running a hand over his face.
"Tails is lucky that not one of his vital organs got slashed and us having Nicole's nanites to help out. I know there is more to what happened on that island for Sonic to just bail on us than what you're telling to Quack." Cobalt sternly confronted his leader on the matter. "So, what and why did your plan go to hell? Why has Sonic run off?"
"Mecha Sonic happened." Sally answered simply. "He is why it all fell apart. He knew what we were up to before we ever set foot on the island."
"Okay but that doesn't explain Sonic up and leaving us after his brother got wounded nor did you say who did that to him…" The cobra puts two and two together. "Unless he had something to do with it—"
"If you're accusing him of something, I would be very careful in choosing your next words." Sally's curt tone showed she wasn't in the mood for any nonsense. "What are you going to say Doctor?"
"...I was going to ask how that happened. As much of a pain in the ass he is, I know that's not something he'd ever do under any circumstance."
"From what Knuckles and them had told me, Sonic was being controlled by Mecha somehow. My best guess is that it's because of their mindlink and you know the rest."
"That explains his recent behaviour…" Cobalt murmured before narrowing his eyes at her. "You should have benched him if you knew he wasn't all there mentally and had listened to my advice earlier."
"I should have…" Sally sighed quietly, shaking her head and having thought the same thing. "I was stupid to think this problem could be resolved by itself with time… Those six months were worse than he had led on and I should have seen the signs the moment he brought up what happened with Fiona Fox."
"The traitor? What about her?" Cobalt raised a brow. Sally forgets that Fiona's departure was well before he ever came onto the team and to him, it's ancient history as far as he's concerned.
"Before she betrayed us and before she had joined us, she was a prisoner of a Roboticizer Camp as a child. The same one Sonic went to where Ray went missing for a few years." The chipmunk explained to him. "Julian would have her moved to another location and was left to basically rot in a cell all alone when he was done using her for his Auto Automation project. No one came to rescue her and had to break herself out. She resented Sonic for that even after they had seemingly made up."
"And now Sonic resents us for failing to rescue him until he got himself out. No wonder things turned out as they did..." Cobalt facepalms. "No wonder we've been so terrible lately if this is part of the reason why and with those crooks at IGN stirring the pot, I wouldn't be surprised they're partially responsible for him snapping like that."
"I did convince him to go see Doctor Sorders after this but that was right before this."
"I take it you have your people out looking for him?"
"I have a few out looking for him." Sally turned her back to the cobra and looked out the window in the room with a heavy heart, seeing the pouring rain outside. "Problem is us trying to find Sonic and him wanting to be found by us… Sonic, where are you?"
Central Freedom HQ, New Mobotropolis
Night
Gadget can feel the despair in the base as his teammates were trying to gather their thoughts and make sense of it all. A dark cloud hung over them all and nothing needed to be said about it.
He turns to Rotor who was examining the Shard of Creation with his equipment that Manic had carried on him after seizing it from Slimy. The walrus looked over the impossibly and perfectly cut crystal fragment under a microscope.
"No cutting tool could make a cut this flawlessly." He says to Gadget, beckoning him over to check out what he's seeing under the lens. "There's no imperfections on the surfaces. It's as perfectly shaped as the Chaos Emeralds."
"If it wasn't cut, then how could the crystal orb I presume manage to shatter into perfectly even pieces?"
"We need the other fragment to be sure but from the looks of things, this object is something greater than what we had thought previously." Rotor looks at the wolf as he elaborates. "Something impossible by our own definition. This shouldn't exist at all."
"If it's an impossible artifact, then where did Kirk find them, where could the other pieces be and where did they come from originally?"
"Somewhere not of this world I reckon."
Gadget nodded, taking it all in. "...Has Nicole said anything about Butch's disk?"
"She's still combing through the data but a few interesting discoveries have been made. According to his intelligence, there exists the new Sternbach Class and it's a warship type. It is larger than both their Rodis Class Battle Cruiser and Egg Carrier combined. Has enough armour, armaments and shieldings to withstand prolonged aerial assaults and ground to air bombardments. We know that one of these ships goes by the name of Jurika and carries the motto of 'Where he walks, death follows'."
"Jurika?" Gadget repeated the name. "Is he a famous Dark Legion figure or something? Sure it's not supposed to read as Jericho?"
"Butch doesn't know what Jurika is meant to be a reference to and Julie-Su says she doesn't know anybody by that name. My best guess is that Tarek must have named it but the significance behind that name is anyone's guess."
"Wife, child or someone close to him?"
"Who knows?"
Gadget sighed and leaned back in his chair. Rubbing his eyes and mind loaded with heavy thoughts.
The walrus notices his expression. "What's on your mind friend?"
"...What's on your mind Private?" Hockley asked Akira with a scowl on his face and looking down at the private, smacking him at the side of the head. "Mobius to Private Moron, I asked you a simple question and apparently that's a mighty task for you to even come up with a yes or a no for an answer!"
The sound of the slap reverb around the training hall and the other members of the Raoul Platoon minded their business. They knew it's just another one of those scenes between the unforgiving sergeant and his favorite punching bag Private Akira Amamiya. A few of the more unsympathetic members of the platoon quietly gossip to each other about what Private Poltroon has done to incur Hockley's ire this time and snickers to
"I-It's n-nothing sir!" Akira winced from the hard slap to the head but still answered his superior's question and remembered his place. "It's nothing sir…"
"It doesn't look like nothing to me because if it was nothing, then why the hell are you standing there looking like a slack-jawed maggot!?" The sergeant roared in his face and made the wolf feel little in his presence, hard pointing down at the dumbbells on the floor with his index finger. "There's the dumbbells right there on the floor to go and work out those arms of yours' if there's nothing inside that hollow skull of yours'!"
He picks up the two dumbbells and shoves them onto the wolf. "Here, take them and get pumping with them Private or would you rather have me yelling at you to do one-hundred-twenty push-ups with no water breaks instead if that's what you want? I don't see you sweating right now and I doubt the boys around here would be too happy to learn that you'd be the reason I'm asking double in the workouts if you're going to keep doing piss all around here."
"N-No sir!" Akira quickly shook his head and straightened up. "I-I'll stick with the dumbbells sir!"
Hockley leaned in to harshly whisper to the wolf, eyes staring him down. "If I catch you standing around looking like a dopey gormless jackass again, I swear to Tikal that I will have you stripped bare and razed for being a future hazard in the making with your daydreaming. Riker might tolerate that from you now but I won't let you be the cause of death for these noble and courageous soldiers who have to unfortunately carry a worthless and useless burden like you around unless you start actually getting your act together and start functioning like you're not a lemon from a factory assembly. Get to it now or I'll stop being polite to you."
"Y-Yes sir!"
The sergeant walked off to go inspect the other members of the platoon. People he looks at as actual soldiers while regarding Akira as a mockery of one and a coward who has no backbone to snap back at him.
His cutting words swirl around in Akira's head. Words like worthless, useless and burden echoing back at him. Not wanting to be any of the above in the eyes of his peers and showing he's got value, the wolf started lifting the dumbbells.
He doesn't want to be a total disappointment to any of them; Riker included. No one wants garbage on their team. Raoul Platoon does not want disappointing trash that can't meet what is demanded of them.
"...It's about everything. Everything like..." The wolf said with a sigh, shaking away the memory. "Our tarnished reputation, the disaster of Reactive Factory, this mission, our teammates being hospitalized, how many times I've caused Lindsey to escape, what IGN is saying about us and...Sonic leaving… It seems like that's all I have been seeing since I've joined up."
"We all have our bad days."
"But not like this. It's as if me joining has kickstarted a string of bad luck for you guys."
"Akira. Don't ever think you joining us has anything to do with this." Rotor told him straight up. "It's simply bad timing and out of your control."
"Still dropped the ball in capturing Lindsey. All three times I had her, I ended up letting her get away."
"Don't beat yourself up over it."
"My track record hasn't been that impressive and all three times things went wrong on a mission, I am at the center of it or had something to do with it… It's unacceptable and I feel responsible for our current performance." The red wolf shook his head. "I won't blame you guys for dropping me from the roster if you believe that I'm not good enough to cut the mustard as Sonic's chosen one…"
"...If we had done exactly that as you said, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now and Antoine would have been booted out a long time ago." Rotor politely counters. "Yes, things have been rough and you haven't had much success as our newest member but we're not that strict as to boot you out over it. Everyone needs time to find their groove and you're no exception."
The walrus thought of a good analogy to use until one comes to mind. "After all, remember that famous pro wrestler Ice Dagger Steve James when he first debuted for the S.P.W.F? He went out as Isaac Diesel during his first three months in the company and the audience response was lukewarm despite his great technical skills. Did he quit because of it? No, he went and got it changed to a gimmick that made him a real superstar. You get what I mean?"
Gadget scratches his neck. "I get what you mean. It's just that I am the one being singled out as a Scrappy Oliver."
"Listen. I would not put any stock in what those tabloid heads have to say and if the public actually saw who you are past the propaganda, they'd see a real good guy who's just like them. A real babyface to root for and get behind." Rotor tells him. "I don't know what kinds of people you were hanging around with but you're a likeable dude and we like having you around. The only one who can't seem to see that is you to be frank with you."
The walrus turns his gaze back on the Shard of Creation. "I understand the pressure you're under to try and impress us but you already proved yourself once when you helped us defeat the Eggman Empire. You more than earned your spot with us. You will have your day eventually."
With that being said, Gadget didn't press any further on the matter and instead moved onto the next subject. "...Seeing as I have recorded Tarek basically confessing to his crimes with my camera and we have those Iron Vigiles, we have proof to clear our names and get him convicted. Show them who the real villain is."
"Yes but there is one major problem. Your footage also shows that side of Sonic and if the court or the public ever lay their eyes on it, anything Tarek says is overshadowed by how Sonic acted in it and a guy like Bargrin Fox can use that to basically get him off the hook. Say that Sonic is "not" mentally sound and a "threat" to everyone around him." Rotor did his air quotes. "Plus it doesn't exactly show Sonic in a flattering light either and would probably be ammunition for IGN to use against him."
"We're going to have to get Tarek to confess to his crimes another way..." Gadget murmurs to himself. "But we have those Iron Vigiles for evidence, right?"
"If we can prove he actually had a hand in the creation of these ones and we're able to find any files relating to them but I highly doubt we'll find anything given what happened last time. Anything of interest has already been moved elsewhere by the time we got there and all we have are some deactivated scraps and bodies." Rotor sighed, being realistic with the wolf. "Tarek can still claim innocence over their creation on a technicality with a good defence attorney on his side. Real legal BS stuff to get them off scot-free despite what they've done."
?, ?
Night
In the medical infirmary, Lien-Da was verbally tearing Slimy a new one for losing the Shard of Creation while Gae-Na, Lindsey, Jason and Tarek watched on. The latter having gotten patched for his cuts on the face including the spot Sonic had busted open earlier.
"...I'll have you shot for this!"
"Now Grandmaster, no need for the extremes. We still have one of the Shards in our possession." Tarek spoke calmly to the older echidna. "There is still hope of recovering it. We could steal it back but that would have its own set of issues. The biggest of which is getting it out of New Mobotropolis."
"On the other hand, we could look for a good bargaining chip to get them to hand it over to us." Gae-Na suggested, looking to her boss. "Something of equal value that they would trade the Shard for."
"The Kommissar makes a sound point. They would willingly trade us the Shard of Creation if it's the life of a teammate."
"Whatever helps gets my Legionizer operational again." Lien-Da rubs her brow. "How soon can it be done?"
Gae-Na voices her recommendation. "I recommend we wait it out for a few days until things calm down before we make our move and we can catch them by surprise. After all, they'll be a little preoccupied with the holidays."
"Fine but only because her advice never fails me." The Grandmaster looked over to Lindsey. "And your mole problem?"
"Seeing as Lionel was nowhere to be seen when everything went down, I don't think we'll be having anymore snitching going on." The redhead blew her bangs aside. "But I am looking for a pay raise and it's been long overdue since I started getting involved in your operations."
Lien-Da wasn't so agreeable towards the idea. "You take the amount we're paying you now or leave it if you don't like it."
"If not for me and my crew, you would not have any stones to power your fancy device and Pencil-Neck over there would be singing like a canary in their custody right now." Lindsey countered and got in the Grandmaster's face. "We're the ones doing your dirty work and I had to pass up on a number of good paying clients for this."
Gae-Na stepped as did Jason. Both parties are ready to throw hands at each other if their leaders permit it. The room becomes thick with tension.
Lindsey sneered at the older echidna. "I am more than entitled for a raise and if you can't guarantee me that, then I suppose I'll just let my own undisclosed insurance policy that I've had put together in the last few days inexplicably make its way into the wrong hands like oh... The Eggman Empire, Mammoth Mogul, G.U.N and a few other interested parties. You wouldn't want that to happen, would you?"
"I'll have you hung for this." Lien-Da narrowed her eyes. She hates this arrogant and greedy human who had the gall to try strong-arming the Grandmaster into accepting her terms. The feeling is mutual with Lindsey as the redhead thought the echidna is an untrustworthy cheat and a fool who thinks she's the chessmaster.
"Lindsey. Lien-Da." Tarek calls out their names. "Let us not be so hostile with one another when our enemies would all stand to benefit from it. Yardley does make a good point about her people being the reason we still have the Shard of Matter in our possession and they have done the jobs we needed them to do but I do not agree with her attitude over it."
"We busted our asses off for you and the least you could do is pay us what we're owed. We've lost half of our crew and procuring our gear doesn't come cheap." Jason adds in his two cents into the discussion and one hand on his pistol. "You guys have the resources to build your ships, your robots and everything else. Surely, us getting a raise for our contributions wouldn't hurt."
"Nothing you and Lindsey ever did couldn't be done by anyone else." Gae-Na coolly remarks. She didn't like him or his girlfriend's attitudes.
"Yet they've survived and done more to hurt the Knothole Freedom Fighters more than your own people ever did." Tarek pointed out and Lindsey smirks at the jackal's checkmate response. "May we have a private talk between you and I for just a minute?"
Lien-Da gestured to her Kommissar and Gae-Na along with everyone else went out of the room to give the two of them some privacy.
"Alright. Out with it." The Grandmaster cuts to the chase.
"You might not be willing to give them a raise and I am not as pleased with how things turned out but I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss them over it." Tarek said and got to the point in turn. "They have gotten us this far and thanks to them, we still have the Shard of Matter in our possession. After all, who was it that had ignored my suggestion to eliminate Sonic and them while they were down and whose creation was it that allowed you to evade capture?"
The echidna wanted to rebuke his statement but thought about it and reluctantly conceded. "Don't forget you're the one who employed them in the first place."
The jackal scientist nodded. "I needed a crew that is both expendable and can take the fall to claim plausible deniability if need be. It just so happened they had lasted longer than expected. As for the raise, I would grant her that if I were you. We still need them in helping to get the Shard of Creation back."
"...Very well but only because I want my Legionizer up and working." The Grandmaster points at him. "It better work."
"Grandmaster Lien-Da. You have seen the test results and have seen how many Dark Legion Troopers it had produced in just only three hours versus your usual conversation methods to produce the same amount." Tarek replied simply. "It will work and it will bring you victory against your enemies as long as those Shards are hooked up to it. After all, one of them in theory could produce an entire fleet of Sternbach class warships if we have the facility and equipment large enough to produce them at that size."
"Could it?"
"I cannot confirm nor deny the theory unless it is tested."
"I see…"
Lien-Da then orders everyone back into the firmary. Looking over at Lindsey and Jason, she puts on a practiced understanding expression.
"After having a word with your employer here, I think you and your crew are eligible for a raise." The Grandmaster tells them, acting like she's come to her senses. "You have done plenty for us already with the jobs we have given you."
"Damn right we did!" Jason responded. Lindsey shot him a look that made the man shut his trap.
The redhead crosses her arms. "Seeing as you're willing to give us a raise, I want a ten percent increase. Our services and the expenses behind our services don't come cheap."
"I'll give you a five percent increase and no higher until after you help us get back the Shard of Creation from those brats." Lien-Da answered with a steely gaze. "You bringing over that tracker and that mole of yours almost jeopardize this entire operation of mine but I'm not above giving out second chances. Consider both of yourselves fortunate that you are even afforded this much charity from me. Same goes for you Wormtongue."
Slimy tugs on his collar nervously. "O-Oh, you're t-too kind…"
Lindsey grumbled at the offer but knew better than to argue with the head of the Dark Legion. "...Fine. I'll take your five percent."
"Pleased to hear we're in agreement." Lien-Da said before pointing to the door. "Now, you and him run along while we go discuss important matters here."
That comment came off as very patronising and that really rubbed the redhead the wrong way. Rather than be vocal about it, she bit her tongue and beckons Jason to follow her out of the infirmary. They're in no position to make a complaint.
If this kind of business keeps up the longer she's having to work with Lien-Da and her people, the more she'll consider acting out of spite for her employers. Maybe even doublecross that self-important broad should she find the right opportunity.
"...Do you ever wonder if the system's even fair sometimes? That it does enough to punish the right people?"
"It does seem unfair at times and some of the decisions the people involved can be pretty maddening but that's life. It's our job to make sure that justice is served whether we like the verdict or not and keep the peace." The walrus answered the wolf's question. "Why do you ask?"
"It's just that Sonic, you and the others seem to make your own calls and answer to no one but yourselves. Act independently from the government."
"We are like that admittedly and we are more than willing to bend the rules if the situation warrants it. Case in point, King Naugus and how we acted against him despite him being head of the throne but you already know how that story ends."
"It ended with the reformation of the Knothole Freedom Fighters, the return of Bunnie, the recovery of Antoine and the restoration of Sally." Gadget remembers how it all went down on the news. "I remember celebrating when I heard you guys were back in business."
"Heh. I never knew how much I missed being able to make a real difference until Naugus showed me." Rotor smiled as he recalled something Sonic had said to him once. "If there comes a time to be the heel in order to do the right thing, then you gotta be a real good one to make a point."
"Hey yo… Say 'ello to El Bad Guy." Gadget was doing a voice impression and pointing thumbs at himself that got Rotor cracking up. "You call yourself ruler of the world Robotnik, no? I'm going to. Cut. You. Up!"
The walrus chuckled as did the wolf when Manic walked in. "Hey Manic, listen to this."
"Yo, that shiny pretty gold belt hanging around your waist?" Gadget points at Manic while doing his impression and gesturing at his own waist. "When I'm with you meng, it'll be all mine."
"Hey, that's pretty good dude." The green hedgehog had a good laugh before focusing his attention on the Shard of Creation. "Whatcha find on that thingy?"
"It's not of this world. Its energy signature is very different from those of the Chaos Emeralds and our instruments can't seem to pick up on it unless we adjust them to pick up on the scent but even that's not one-hundred percent accurate. We think it came from an orb of unimaginable power." Rotor gave Manic the quick rundown. "How Kirk found two of them is still a mystery but based on Butch's intel, the Legionizer needs both of these to work properly or else it backfires and causes a breakdown in the system."
"Ah. Like a gremlin." Manic crosses his arms, looking over at Gadget. "You know what those are?"
The wolf nodded as he smiled. "If there's a problem or fault in the system that can't be explained, a gremlin is probably responsible for it. I've handled a few computers where that happened. Fortunately, that never happened with mine."
"Instead, Eggman had it destroyed."
"Yep… And it didn't come cheap either."
"If you're nice all year, Santa just might get you a new one."
"Sure, we'll go with that."
"Dude, you don't believe in Santa Claus?"
"I'm a little old for that now."
"You're never too old to be young at heart." Manic picks up a box cutting tool that had the blade out that he didn't notice and twirls it around in his hand. "I mean you're never too old to pop when you see your favourite wres—OW!"
The hedgehog lets go of the tool after accidentally cutting himself with it and the blade flying at the Shard of Creation, knocking it to the floor with a thud. Gadget reaches down to go pick it up off the floor.
Rotor was quick to chide the green thief. "For crying out Manic! What have I told you abo—!?"
When Gadget picks up the Shard near Manic, it suddenly glows and the fresh cut on the hedgehog's arm disappears in seconds like it was never there except for the blood that had gotten out much to the three's astonishment. The wolf looked at his friend.
"Woah..." Manic looked over his arm, tugging on the skin near the cut and feeling no pain from it. "Did you dudes just see that?"
"We did…" Rotor says, eyeing the Shard in Gadget's hands. "Gadget, what did you do when you picked it up?"
"Umm..." Gadget scratches his head with his free hand, trying to think what he was doing at the time. "I was thinking about the cut and… Thought of making it go away?"
"It must have picked up on your thoughts and it did exactly that." Rotor takes the Shard of Creation from the wolf and sets it back under the microscope, becoming more intrigued by its unusual qualities in light of Gadget's accidental discovery. "I think you have just helped me make a breakthrough here…"
Inside a capsule pod in a robotics lab, Mecha Sonic is in sleep mode and has been since Slimy had him deactivated following their escape from Big Kahuna Island.
The green-skinned scientist was rightfully wary of the robot and had a device placed on his head to prevent the machine from coming online by himself again while he tends to more important work. He will get around to him eventually whenever he's free.
Not that any of it bothered the metal hedgehog. He has broken Sonic emotionally and got him to quit on his friends after hurting Tails. Carrying out what he thought his creator had wanted him to do.
If that's the last deed he ever gets to do and he isn't able to get the chance to go after Snively for his treachery, a forced rest by that pencil-necked geek with a big bald spot is a mild annoyance for him.
Should opportunity come his way again for him to be free again and Sonic is still around, he has every intention of finishing what he had started.
When that time comes, he will absolutely be relishing the moment before ending him with all his family and friends becoming his next targets. Once he is done with eliminating everyone close to his progenitor, only then will he set his sights towards grander ambitions and him up on the throne of power to loom over these inferior creatures.
Labyrinth Zone, South Island
Night
An owl sat in meditation inside her home deep in the Labyrinth Zone and protected from the rainy weather. A home that never sees a visitor either curious or stumbling. Her place of solitude away from the world where she can have her peace and be left alone by the other residents of the island.
It used to also be home to a younger blue resident but it's been nearly eleven years since he had run away after their argument and she's come to terms with the fact he is never coming back home to her. He probably hasn't thought of her in a long time.
Suddenly, she shot up into a defensive combat stance as she glared at the front entrance and regarded the other shadowy presence with slight hostility; assuming this newcomer to be an intruder looking for the secrets. "What is your business?"
"Longclaw, it's me…" A hoarse and tired greets her. "Sonic the Hedgehog. I've finally come home."
Sonic slowly steps over to the lamp illuminating the room and she sees that her blue hedgehog has grown in those eleven years but he looked like a real mess. Far from the healthy and spirited hedgehog she had raised.
His blue fur is dull and muted with dried reds clumped to them. Has some wet mud on him which he got on the way to the house. His face showed exhaustion and looked like someone who has really just hit rock bottom. It broke her heart seeing him in this state.
The first time she sees him in a long time following their argument and he looks so tired. So defeated. So lost.
"I-I've had a string of rough days out there recently and I just… I just couldn't take it anymore. I...I think you had a point all along and I-I am so sorry for what I had said to you that day…" He looks over at his once-adopted mother. "I should never have said that. Not after everything you did for me..."
Rather than be angry at him like he was expecting her to be, Longclaw wordlessly rushed over to him and pulled the nineteen year old hedgehog into a deep hug. The same warm maternal hug she used to give to him when he felt upset.
Sonic returns the gestures and lets his tears flow from his eyes after holding it all in for hours because he is finally home again. The hedgehog always hated the sight of tears yet he couldn't help shed some himself when Longclaw embraced him after not seeing her for those eleven years. How much he truly misses her.
That long standing emotional wound in his heart was wiped away at long last but unfortunately, it had to come at the cost of experiencing a breakdown and mortally hurting his little brother in spirit to make the reunion possible. In a fairer world, he could have come here with Tails at his side and introduce him to her; the next most important adult in his life after his uncle.
She knew he was hurting inside and he needed help more than ever. The Last Knight of Sophocles is going to give her son the help and support he desperately needs if none of his friends out in the world are going to...
Author's Notes: Thus ends our second act and with a reunion no less. Sonic has come home in the Labyrinth Zone.
With catastrophe both external and personal having taken place, we now have come to the recovery process of this saga. Will Sonic come back from such major lows, will Gadget overcome those negative thoughts holding him down from his full potential or has the curtain finally fell on both of our heroes at last?
Stay tuned for the next chapter; the beginning of the last act of the story and leave your thoughts in the reviews. Peace.