﻿A Dangerous Weapon part 2


Six months later…
Sonic found himself streaking by the quiet hills of Emerald Hill Zone, remembering with fondness the first time he zoomed by that different, yet quite familiar, place. It was the first time he brought Tails along for one of his missions against Eggman, chuckling as he remembered the ugly top and sweatpants he wore and especially laughing as Tails thought his pants looked like the front of a car. He decided to stop by a tree and, with a simple knock, had a coconut fall down. Swiftly, Sonic grabbed the fruit and opened it by cracking it on a rock to then drink the delicious sweet milk inside it and pick the pulp of the fruit. He sat down next to the tree, one arm behind his head and his legs crossed, as he enjoyed the sun and sweet fruit. He really loved moments like these, where Eggman wasn’t in sight and he could just enjoy these quieter, calmer days, just sunbathing and basking in nature’s gifts.
“How can Egghead not enjoy this? The view, the smell, the taste… Ten times better than his stupid amusement park ideas…” Sonic said to himself with a small chuckle, tossing the half-eaten fruit behind him, leaving it for the Flickies inhabiting the zone. Sonic’s eyelids fluttered and a yawn escaped his lips, the warmth of the sun and the full belly worked wonders in making him feel sleepy, and soon he just fell asleep under the tree, taking a reinvigorating nap lulled by the nature all around him. However, as Sonic snored quietly, he was suddenly woken up by a loud beep coming from a hi-tech watch he kept in the folds of his glove. 
“GAH!! I’M UP, I’M UP!!” he shouted, flailing his arms and legs as the beep continued. Groaning, Sonic stretched his limbs before checking the watch: it was connected to Tails’ workshop’s alarm system, a precaution Tails had given his best friend in case something happened. Sonic got up and immediately zoomed out of Emerald Hill Zone, heading straight for his best buddy’s workshop. As he headed there, Sonic thought that it was either because of Eggman finally deciding to show his ugly mug again after six months or maybe Tails needed to contact him and that was the only way he could since Sonic didn’t have a phone.
“Who even needs those things… But whatever it is, it’s important.” Sonic said to himself, accelerating. As he got closer to the lab, however, his nose caught the smell of smoke. He stopped for a second and widened his eyes as he saw the huge column of ominous, black smoke rising from the forest right in front of Tails’ lab.
“What the…? TAILS!!” he shouted, dashing through the trees as fast as he could while a terrible feeling occupied his mind. He could feel in his bones that his best friend and adoptive brother was in trouble, so he zoomed past the forest, even burrowing through a couple of trees with his trademarked Spin Dash, and reached the workshop.


What he found was the stuff of his worst nightmares: the workshop had been completely demolished. Where once was Tails’ house and laboratory, now there was nothing but a flaming, smoking pile of rubble. All around were pieces of Tails’ tech and inventions, including pieces of Sonic’s old plane, the Tornado, which Sonic gifted to Tails back during their first mission. But worst of all, Tails was nowhere to be found. Sonic felt his stomach tighten and his heart freeze as he ran past the rubble, calling for his buddy but receiving no answer.
“This… This makes no sense… There’s no way Tails didn’t see whatever made his workshop explode and save himself… right?!” he asked, feeling concern and guilt rise through his throat in such a rush he almost was knocked on his knees and felt the urge to vomit. As he breathed, he coughed due to the smoke, so he moved away from the rubble, catching his breath and thinking: the blast radius was big enough to have completely obliterated Tails’ home and workshop, yet… the other houses seemed fine? Plus, he didn’t hear a shockwave or any deflagration. As Sonic thought and felt his stomach tighten again, his ear flicked and he turned back towards the smoking pile of rubble. There, right in the middle, he saw a figure. A shadow, as tall as himself with long flowing hair, big pointy ears and a long tail.
“H-hey!” Sonic shouted, zooming back to the site of the blast, thinking that maybe whoever it was had seen what happened. Sonic stopped right before the figure, the recoil of him stopping enough to blow away the smoke hiding the mysterious bystander. Sonic raised a brow as he saw the figure: a dark gray Mobian with a jackal-like metal mask and a weird, glowing gem emblazoned on his chest. His worry immediately got swapped for determination as he raised his fists: this guy screamed “Eggman’s new henchman” from every pore. Yet, as he studied the newcomer, he couldn’t help but think he was… familiar, somehow. Like, he had never seen this guy before, but it felt like he had seen him somewhere. Sonic shook it off as the figure, who up until this point was just staring at the ground where a spiral-like pattern was, seemed to notice him and slowly raised his head and turned it, spotting the hedgehog. As Sonic stared into his singular golden eye, he felt a shiver run down his spine: it wasn’t fear, but… something about that gaze so empty and cold made his skin crawl. He shook it off and attempted his usual shtick: mock the foe to make him drop his guard and get the jump on him quicker, especially cuz he was damn certain that he was responsible for destroying Tails’ lab.
“Yo. Betcha yer one of Egg-Breath’s lackeys. Awfully weird place to be taking a stroll, huh?” asked Sonic, smirking cockily at the figure.
“I mean, I’m known to be pretty reckless myself, but right in the middle of an exploded house? It’s kinda weird, not gonna lie. Me, personally, I prefer a nice sandy beach or grassy hills.” he added, chuckling, though he clenched his fists harder as he talked about his best friend’s house. His mind was flooded with questions, but the most important one was: was Tails okay? He wasn’t around, but maybe it just meant that the jackal had kidnapped him and sent him to Eggman.


Much to Sonic’s irritation, however, the individual refused to answer. He didn’t do anything, not even an annoyed scoff. He simply folded his arms and hovered a few inches from the ground, a blood red aura surrounding him. The power he exuded made Sonic feel queasy, it was unlike anything else he had ever felt. 
"...Oh, I see! You’re the strong, silent type, aren’t ya? Well, it ain’t very nice to keep one talking if you don’t.” he said, his right eye having the most imperceptible of twitches betrayed his cocky and confident facade, and that was enough to make the mysterious figure scoff amusedly. Sonic gritted his teeth, breathed and grinned smugly again, ready to beat the everliving tar out of him to get his answers.
“Alright then, don’t talk. Let’s get straight to the point!” he said, making one of his feet slide back as he assumed his attack position.
“By the way, Halloween was last month, so maybe lose that ugly mask, ya clown!” he then added, maybe a bit too angrily than he wanted to convey. Then, the figure chuckled. Ominously, slowly and coldly, his chuckle reverberated through the burning rubble as he kept floating, seemingly unfazed by Sonic’s comments and attempted trash talk.
“That’s rich, coming from a full-time buffoon pretending to be a hero.” he commented, his altered, booming voice was pure vitriol for Sonic’s ears. Sure, he had heard hateful comments before, but none so deep and personal. It’s like him and Sonic shared a long lasting relationship made up of nothing but hatred. Sonic scoffed and still remained ready, his eyes fixated on the individual.
“Admiring my handiwork? I’m quite proud of it myself.” said the figure, spreading his arms to make sure Sonic would look at what he did.
“By the way, this? Not an idea of the doctor. It was fully mine. I simply thought, "What's the best way to hurt a hero like you?” And the answer was quite simple: hurting your precious friends.” hissed the figure, narrowing his only visible eye. Hearing that made Sonic visibly shiver, both in fear of what he did to his friend and especially with a rising, uncontrollable rage filling his veins.
“And of course, I couldn’t start my plan by NOT targeting your oldest, closest friend. The one who looks up to you the most, that respects and loves you the most.” said the figure, by the tone of his voice and his eye Sonic could tell that he was smiling under the mask, which only made his blood boil more.
“Ooh, you should have seen him in action. He has really grown since the last time I saw him. Such strength, such speed… and his gadgets? Little marvels of technology. He almost made me sweat. ALMOST…” he hissed, Sonic could practically imagine his disgustingly wide grin as he said all this.
“The tears and pleas he gave to me once I had him on his knees were EXQUISITE. Especially when he started begging for your arrival. And believe me, I TRIED with all my might to wait for you, just to make you watch his demise, but alas… You were just too slow, “Fastest Thing Alive”...” he then concluded and slouched his shoulders a little, as if he was really disappointed that Sonic couldn’t be there in time, which then turned into a diminutive shrug.


Sonic didn’t know what hurt him more in that speech: the idea that Tails could have been potentially killed by this… freak, or that someone was playing his game back at him… and it was actually working! Sonic was fuming, his teeth gnashing and his veins so swollen on his arms and head that they were actually visible.
“What’s the matter, "hero"? You look… angry…” the masked figure chuckled menaciously and sheepishly, putting his arms behind his back and leaning forward a bit. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back: with an enraged roar, Sonic dashed at the masked figure at full speed and hit him with a hypersonic punch… or rather, that was what it was supposed to happen. Instead, the figure needed to simply raise his hand to stop Sonic a few inches from his face. Sonic’s anger was replaced with shock as he barely saw the blood red aura surrounding him. Again, this moment felt… familiar.
“...Well, this is just sad. Was your friend’s life really worth this pitiful attempt?” the figure scoffed, making Sonic snap back to anger and push with all his might, actually gaining an inch.
“Ho oh! Now that’s more like it. C’mon, “hero”, make my day…” he chuckled venomously as he allowed Sonic to struggle in his grip. Each and every one of Sonic’s muscles were tensed and fought to get to Sonic’s target and hit him. But, as he got only an inch close to the figure, grazing his mask with the fabric of his gloves, he decided to push him back. A tremendous force was applied to Sonic, making him yell as he got sent back into the forest, slamming against a tree so hard that he felt his entire skeleton shake. Sonic slid down the tree, feeling every inch of his body hurt in a way he never felt before. Yet, he still got up, ignoring the pain screaming in his brain and choosing to fight. In a way, the creep was right: Tails was worth MUCH more than what he was doing.
“Behind you.” he felt the whisper behind him right before he got clocked in the face, sent against another tree, this time breaking it in half as it was one of the trees he burrowed through. Sonic groaned and got up shakily, his fur covered in splinters, panting deeply: this guy hit like a damn truck, that punch almost broke his jaw, and he was fast. Nowhere near like him, he thought, but still, the speeds he reached were impressive. He saw the tree levitate, surrounded by that blood red aura, and have all of its branches removed. Sonic got ready to dodge, but his feet suddenly felt extra heavy. The figure was using his powers to anchor him down, something no one had ever done before. He barely had time to register it, though, before he got slammed with the tree trunk, sending him back into the debris of Tails’ house. He crash landed into one of the only walls left still standing, causing it to collapse on him, lifting a lot of dust and ash. 


The figure dropped the tree and calmly levitated towards the site, arms behind his back and gently stretching his neck. Once he reached the burnt down house, he moved the dust away and found Sonic. He was stuck up to his chest in heavy debris, and was struggling to breathe as blood dripped down from his mouth, his head limp as he coughed and struggled, his fur frazzled and covered in dust, ash and splinters. The figure went down on one knee and harshly grabbed Sonic’s hair, pulling his head up to watch his battered and bruised face. He had a black eye, blood dripping from his nose and mouth and the latter was contorted into a grimace of mixed pain and anger, showing his teeth though it was clear he was still struggling to inhale.
“Simply priceless…” The figure chuckled, then landed a punch on Sonic’s chest, causing him to gasp and inhale sharply, finally able to breathe and coughing blood. His entire body was screaming in pain, his ribs and sternum had received severe damage from the blunt impact with the tree and he was pretty sure his left shoulder was out of his socket because he couldn’t move that arm and the right one was being crushed by the debris. He was trapped, at the mercy of this new foe.
“...It would be SO easy… I could just snuff you out… Like a candle…” said the figure, his voice quivering with anticipation as his other hand simply covered Sonic’s mouth and nose, soon making him struggle as he couldn’t breathe. As Sonic’s heartbeat slowed and his vision got blurry, however, the masked menace let go of his muzzle, still harshly pulling on the hero’s hair.
“...But no. This would be too swift. Instead, you have to suffer. Like I did…” the figure’s voice lowered and got more bitter as he got closer. Sonic just spat blood on his mask, earning the figure an amused chuckle, and growled through his teeth: “W…Who… are… you…? Wh-Where… Is T-Tails…?”, to which the masked figure just snickered.
“Who I am isn’t as important as WHAT I am. And I, am infinite suffering. For you and this world. So, you may call me, Infinite.” he said with elation in his voice as he saw Sonic hurt. He then pulled on Sonic’s hair, making him groan and whine, and twisted his head, getting closer to his ear and harshly whispering: “As for your friend… I swear, on my soul, that you will NEVER know what I did to him. Everything you think I did, all the tortures I have subjected him to, every single unimaginable horror you’ve never even dared to consider… I will never tell you a single syllable. You will have to watch as I take everything you value away from you. I will make you beg me to end it all, just to be reunited with your friends… and I will deny you that mercy. You’ll live, knowing that all of this is your fault.”. As he was done, Infinite let go of Sonic’s head and flew off, while Sonic tried to shout at him to stop, to come back there and answer him, but his voice died in his throat, too tired and bruised to really talk.


Left alone, Sonic tried with all his might to free himself, or at least his right arm before that too was made useless by the heavy rubble, struggling intensely as much as his bruised body allowed him to. He then tried vibrating his arm to phase through the debris, but his body was coursed with stinging surges of pain which made him stop before he could reach the right frequency, and this happened a few times in the following minutes. At least, the quick vibrations made the pressure much more manageable, no longer threatening to snap his arm but keeping it still nonetheless. Groaning, Sonic stopped everything and tried to process what just happened, and not just the complete beatdown he just received. What this… Infinite said, heavily implied that Tails had been… 
His ears flickered as he heard steps, so he weakly lifted his head. He smiled upon seeing Knuckles staring down at him. The Red Rad gasped in shock seeing Tails’ house reduced to rubble and Sonic injured in a way he had never seen before.
“Holy Chaos, Sonic! What the heck happened here?” asked Knuckles, kneeling down.
“H-hey, Knux… M-Mind gettin’ me outta here first? It’s, gettin’ kinda cramped…” Sonic said, giggling hurtfully.
“Oh! Right!” said Knuckles first grabbing him by the shoulders, which caused Sonic to scream in pain as he gripped his dislocated shoulder a bit too tight.
“Gah! Dammit!” he yelped, pulling back. “Dude, I think you have a dislocated arm…”.
“Hanf, hanf… Y-Ya don’t say… Think you can pull me out WITHOUT pulling me by my arms?” Sonic grunted and groaned, panting to quell the pain. Knuckles hummed in agreement and burrowed all around Sonic, softening the earth enough that Sonic could pull himself out, first by breaking his arm free of the rubble and then using it to crawl out of the hole. Panting, Sonic got on his knees and held his dislocated arm, shivering as it hurted like hell. Knuckles quickly kneeled down again and said: “This is gonna hurt…” as he grabbed the arm and put the bone back in its place, causing Sonic to hiss in pain.
“MFGH… Th-Thanks, Knux…” he said, groaning as he moved his fingers, opening and closing his hand into a fist and moving his arm a bit, checking if it was okay.
“No problem. I assume you also got the alarm from Tails’s house. Ya know what happened here?” asked Knuckles.
“Mgh…” Sonic groaned, trying to get up, but his legs refused to work, making him fall on his knees and into Knuckles’ arms.
“Ey! Easy, you’re a mess. I mean, you usually ARE a mess, but right now, you’re an even more messed up mess…” said the echidna, holding Sonic up.
“Mph… V-very descriptive, Knuckles.” Sonic huffed as he got up, still a little shaky, but at least he was now standing straight.
“Did ya call the others?” Sonic asked, dusting himself off. Knuckles huffed and replied: “Yeah. Rouge said to meet back up at this old G.U.N. warehouse she owns, back in Central City. Says it’s her own special personal retrieve.” as he also got back up. Sonic nodded and dashed towards Central City, while Knuckles shook his head and followed him, gliding and dashing behind him.
“You sure you can run in your state? I can help you.” said Knuckles as  he caught up to his long-time friend and rival, noticing how uncharacteristically slow he was, probably due to the injuries.
“I’ll be fine… I need to warn the others about Eggman’s new lackey… I’ll tell you guys everything over a plate of chili dogs at this warehouse…” said Sonic, shaking his head. In reality, he was feeling much more pain than he was used to. The roughhousing had been much more… well, rough than he expected.
“So Eggman is involved…” Knuckles grunted.
“Yeah… I don’t know what he wants with Tails, but we’ll stop him, and his new lap dog… We always do…” Sonic scoffed cockily.
“But… What is Rouge doing in Central City, in a G.U.N. warehouse nonetheless?” asked Sonic, to which Knuckles raised a brow as he flanked Sonic.
“...You mean you don’t know?” Asked Knuckles.
“...Know what?” Sonic asked back.
“Sonic… Shadow has disappeared. No one has seen him in months…” Knuckles revealed with a sigh. Sonic widened his eyes as he heard that, getting that same feeling he got when he saw Tails’ house burned down. Groaning in pain and fatigue, Sonic kept running forward towards Central City, followed by Knuckles and determined to find out what happened to Tails and Shadow and what would this new enemy wanted from him.


To Be Continued…