Runaways File 1: Sky (pt 1)


Darkness. That’s the first thing I remember from that day. Darkness. A loud, ringing noise piercing my ears. A hideous smell of smoke. Then, my sight began to return. Blurry, unfocused, all I could see was rubbles. There wasn’t a single part of my body that wasn’t hurting. Still, with great effort, I remembered getting up, despite every fiber of my being screaming in pain. My legs shook, my arms were heavy and my breathing was harsh. My mind slowly picked back the pieces. I was… about to eat dinner… with my family… 


My eyes widened.
“...Mom? Dad? Claudia?” my voice comes out quaky, uncertain. Smothered by all the dust I must’ve inhaled. I wobble my way out of the crumbling remains of my home, barely dodging the rubbles falling on my head. Then, a louder crack amongst all of the noises. My head moved up almost by instinct, catching a glimpse of the first floor of my home about to collapse on me. I’ve never been a pretty skilled gymnast, yet I leaped through the window like it was embedded in my genes, and right before the entire floor collapsed. I coughed as that raised another puff of smoke and dust, then I turned towards the plaza, over the burning and crumbled remains of the neighborhood, and heard them. The screams. 


The entire block was screaming, either in fear or pain as… something attacked. Something that must’ve been having a hell of a good time, due to the maniacal laughter overpowering all the screams. That laughter… That bone-chilling sound still haunts my ears to this day. It was enough to make my feathers stand up, all on their own. 


Nevertheless, despite the absolute terror I was feeling, my legs moved on their own, straight towards that sound. Before I noticed, I started running towards the plaza, where I saw… him. The floating figure, surrounded by a red aura, was firing lasers all around. His ghostly white hair flowed following the wind, giving him an even more ethereal look. Every shot fired, every Mobian running away screaming in fear or crying in pain, made him break into that maniacal cackle freezing my blood in my veins. It was as if he was reveling in his own power, as if he had been dreaming to do something like this for a long time. Some Mobian, armed with guns, shot at him, but it was as if he was indestructible. The shots just bounced off of him. That at least made him stop his terrifying laughter, making him turn his head towards them and getting more serious, almost as if he remembered what was his purpose here.. 

“There is no reason to resist. Your savior is no more.” he proclaimed, his monotone voice was just as scary as his laughter, as he fired a beam from his hand directly onto them, making them yell in pain as they were flung off. One of their weapons cluttered towards me and, despite having never taken one of those in my hand before, I instinctively reached for it.

“...I can sense your terror, child.” his voice made me stop in my steps. As I glanced over him, I froze: through the terrifying mask he wore, his piercing red eye was looking at me. My hand moved on its own, desperately trying to reach for the gun, my only means of safety from that… monster. As I picked up and shakily pointed the gun at him, not even mustering the strength to look at him, he sneered at me, saying: “All that anxiety and doubt… It’s delicious.”, while he readied another beam, shooting it at my feet, forcing me to fall down and let go of what I began to see was a useless weapon.
“Give in to your fear. Flee, screaming, and I’ll let you live.” he said, pure malice in his voice, and then laughed again. That same laugh that I heard before. I got up, took a few steps back, then turned away from him and ran. I’ve never ran as fast as I did that day. I thought my heart would explode in my chest. Tears welled up in my eyes, I had never felt so… afraid before. As I fled, I could hear him say: “You’re showing more sense than your parents did…”, but that too got lost as I fled the scene.


Once I was far away enough, I felt all the tiredness reach me. My legs decided to stop working, making me fall on my knees. Luckily, I threw my hands forward to catch myself from falling on my beak. My breathing was fast, uncontrolled. My chest heaving and falling with each breath I took, sweat and tears flowing down my face and ticking onto the ground as what the monster said echoed in my brain.
“You’re showing more sense than your parents did…”.
Did that… Did that mean that he…? A feeling of dread, sadness and anger boiled in my stomach. Everywhere I looked, I saw that eye glaring down at me, not a single trace of empathy or compassion in that yellow orb. And no matter what, I couldn’t get the sound of his laughter or what he said off of my brain. It echoed insistently in my head, and everytime it did, I could feel the sensation in my stomach grow more and more.
“You’re showing more sense than your parents did…”,  “You’re showing more sense than your parents did…”,  “You’re showing more sense than your parents did…”...

I was so… sad… and afraid… and angry… I failed to notice the platoon of Badniks surrounding me, wanting to apprehend me too.. or maybe just put an end to my misery. I clenched my fist so hard I could feel my nails digging in my flesh… and didn’t see the sparks coming out of my hand, sizzling and crackling around. That feeling… That feeling was growing inside me and, as my hand went to clasp the feather-shaped rock I wear as a necklace, a gift of my father from when I turned 18 last week, I felt like I could not hold it down for a second more. I remember… screaming… All the air trapped in my lungs… I wanted it to leave my body, to ease the pressure, to mend the insane pain I was feeling. The feeling that… I was useless. I was alone, and small, and weak and… useless… I screamed so hard I brought the entire sky down with me. Literally. As I yelled, I accidentally released a gigantic electric bubble, surrounding me and the whole area 10 feet all around me. It completely destroyed the Badniks, frying their circuitry and melting the paint off of their metallic body.

I don’t remember how much time it passed, but I remembered feeling completely tapped out soon after. I collapsed on the floor, barely having the strength to keep my eyes open and breathing by the skin of my teeth. The last thing I remembered before passing out was a pair of shoes coming towards me and someone trying to speak to me…

“...And that’s, more or less, what happened… sir…” the sky blue hawk finished speaking, holding onto the bench’s edge and holding onto a can of soup, waving his feet a bit as he didn’t dare to look towards his speaker. That being Knuckles the Echidna, leader of the Resistance, who found him and told him about what happened. Eggman attacking, Sonic vanishing and the creation of the Resistance to fight back the invasion.
“Well, kid, I would’ve found this story hard to believe to say the least, hadn’t I not walked right onto you, passed out in the middle of a completely fried up Badnik platoon.” commented the red guardian of the Master Emerald.
“And… you’ve never had that kind of power before, right?” asked Knuckles, scratching his chin while watching the kid eating some more canned soup.
“N-No… Like I told you before, I’ve been powerless my entire life… My whole family has no powers, we’re… We’re just pharmacists!” bawled the kid.
“I know, I know. Your father is… was… the CEO of Babylon Pharmaceutics. And your mother was on the board.” said the echidna. Again, the hawk nodded silently.

“I’m… sorry about your loss… Believe me, I know what it’s like to be the last member of your family…” asked Knuckles, kneeling down and putting a hand on the hawk’s shoulder.
“...NO!” he snapped suddenly and Knuckles winced, more so because he gave him a static shock.
“They… They can’t be dead! That thing… That thing was lying! It had to be lying! I… I know they’re alive! They must be alive! My heart tells me so!” he shouted, getting up and stomping his foot, making small sparks come out of it. 


Knuckles blinked, then smiled.
“You got grit, kid. I like it. What’s your name?” asked the warrior, getting up.
“...Skylark. B-But just… call me Sky…” stuttered the young hawk, having calmed down a bit.

“Well, Sky, how about you come with me? We can figure out a way to find your parents and then, who knows, maybe with your help we might actually survive.” said Knuckles, stretching his hand. Sky looked at his hand, puzzled. On one hand, he had no place in a war. He was a thinker, not a fighter. More useful behind a computer screen than into the battlefield. But on the other hand… he had no choice. The Resistance had all the tools and the firepower needed to fight back Eggman’s invasion and find his parents. Sky shook his doubts away and firmly grasped Knuckles’ hand.
“Okay.” he said, nodding. Knuckles smiled, then winced again as Sky gave him another static shock.
“Uh… Sorry? I… I have to control this thing…” Sky whimpered. But Knuckles laughed.

“No worries! I’ve suffered injuries greater than a buzzing handshake!” he said, patting the kid’s back.
“Now, let’s go back to the base! The others would like to meet you!” he added. Sky massaged his back and nodded softly, smiling back a bit.


Back at the HQ, Espio stared at the projection of the territory in dismay. Eggman’s forces had occupied 99% of Mobius, and only a small chunk of it was still occupied by The Resistance. The ninja grunted and slammed his fist on the table. He hated to admit it, but this time Eggman had them beat. Not only were his robots much stronger and harder to counter than before, but everytime they would manage to destroy even one of them, Eggman’s damn sentries would pick up the scraps and repurpose them into new robots in a matter of minutes, effectively giving him an army that never ended. Meanwhile, their soldiers could get tired, hurt or worse. And Grenda’s milk would only work in two of the aforementioned options. Espio gritted his teeth, the situation has never got gloomier and, even if it pained him to admit it, Sonic’s absence only made it worse. He was the glue of the team, the hope that whatever happened they would always prevail. Now that hope was snuffed out. Even if they still talked like Sonic was still alive, deep down many knew that that wasn’t the case. Eggman’s hatred for Sonic wasn’t a mystery. He wouldn’t have never let his worst enemy live, had he got his greedy hands on him… At least, Espio hoped that Sonic died and hadn’t been roboticized, because that would’ve been even worse than dying.


“Hey, Espio. Still brooding?” Knuckles’ voice moved Espio's attention away from the disconcerting charts.

“...General.” said Espio, still unable to believe that Knuckles was their leader. Not out of disrespect, he had known for very long how Knuckles could be an effective leader on the field ever since they were young. It was more so he didn’t think Knuckles would volunteer himself for such a role.

“How’s it looking?” asked the echidna, patting his old chum’s shoulder. Espio sighed and said “Not good. With every step forward we take, they push us back by two…”. 


It was then that he saw Sky, peeking at him behind Knuckles.
“...Who’s that?” asked the chameleon, pointing at him.

“Oh, right! This is Sky. I found him near one of the wrecked refuges in the outskirts of the City.” said Knuckles, moving Sky forward a bit.

“Was anyone else still there?” asked the chameleon, raising a brow


Knuckles lowered his head down, “No. He was the only one. And…I think he lost a lot of people close to him.”, he took the chameleon to the side to quietly inform him of the terrible things that happened to Sky. Espio looked back at him and sighed.

“Not even the young ones are safe… But I assume you didn’t just take him here to keep him safe…” said the chameleon.

“You know me too well, my friend… You know that electrical anomaly our radars picked up?” asked Knuckles, silently nodding towards Sky. Espio paled.
“That was HIM?!” Espio almost yelled, but contained his voice.

“I mean… I found him surrounded by a platoon of twenty Neo Egg Pawns and their circuits weren’t just destroyed. They were fried. Rendered so useless that not even Eggman could salvage them if he wanted to.” Knuckles whispered back to Espio.

“Knuckles, the energy output we picked up… it was 12,500 volts, give or take. Enough to power up a few city blocks. All of that came from… him?” Espio asked frantically, pointing at Sky who was sipping on some juice while looking around the base.
“That’s what I want to find out.” Knuckles whispered again, before going back to Sky.
“Okay, kid, I’ll take you to our lab, where we’re gonna do a few tests to evaluate your possible powers.” said Knuckles. Sky just nodded and followed him outside, while Espio kept staring at him, perplexed. How could he be capable of doing something like that?

“Huh, so the laboratory is not connected to the HQ?” asked Sky, walking alongside Knuckles.


“We prefered to have it separated from the HQ. That way we don’t have too many important places in one building. But don’t worry, the Lab is super safe. Our geniuses have protected it with a special shield, one that not even Eggman’s upgraded forces can pierce through.” said the echidna.

“Oh wow! Did Mr Prower work on it?!” asked Sky, seeing the huge building functioning as the laboratory which was surrounded by a barrier that opened up for Knuckles and his guest.

“Unfortunately, recently Tails has been… unable to help us. Sonic’s disappearance… got him. Badly.” said Knuckles, sighing.
“But, he’s not the only genius we can be proud to have in our midst. In fact, we have two more, and one of them is responsible for the barrier technology.” he added smirking.
“The reason why Eggman can’t pierce through this barrier… is because the technology that keeps it up hasn’t been invented yet.” he said with a chuckle.

Sky held his beak: was he going to meet…? As they opened the door however, they winced as they heard shouting.
“Are we under attack?!” asked Sky.

Knuckles huffed.
“No, it’s the other genius I was talking about. He has some… familial problems…” sighed the warrior as he led Sky into the laboratory.

Needless to say, the young hawk was dumbstruck. The place was full of incredible pieces of technology. Computers, vehicles and wispons of every size and shape were kept and possibly even manufactured here. At the center of it all, was a huge hourglass-shaped supercomputer, which definitely looked like it was from the future. Sky could barely hold a loud squawk of excitement seeing all that, when a white wolf wearing a lab coat and tiny glasses on his muzzle crossed their paths. He was talking on the phone and… it didn’t seem like a pleasant conversation.

“...No, Victor, for the millionth time, you and your friends can’t leave the premises of the shelter for no reason at… What? No, I am not doing this to stay cooped up in my lab, I’m… I’M TRYING TO KEEP YOU SAFE!! …You know what? This conversation has ended its purpose. Call me back when you’ve blown off some steam.” grumbled the wolf as he closed the call and put his phone on plane mode, huffing soon after and almost collapsing on an armchair nearby, rubbing his temples.
“...Everything okay, Silas?” asked Knuckles after giving the scientist a moment.

“Ah, commander.” said the doctor, looking up and adjusting his glasses.
“Yeah, I’m alright, it’s just… Victor, he… He drives me crazy! How can someone as smart as him still act so childishly?! He’d rather listen to his dumb delinquent friends instead of me! I swear, one day those doofuses will make him end up in jail…” groaned the wolf.
“...Ah, but you’re not here to hear me rant about my problems.” he said, getting up and adjusting his coat.
“What can I do for you?”

“Well, I was hoping you could run a few tests on this subject I found in the City.” said Knuckles, moving away and showing Sky, who stared intensely at the wolf.

“OH. MY. GOD!! Y-You’re… You’re Silas the Wolf! The most advanced Mobian mind in terms of robotics of our century!” said Sky zooming to the wolf.


“Ho ho, I see I have a fan.” chuckled the doctor, feeling happy that someone around the age of his son viewed him this way.

“I most certainly am! I read your ideas for robotic implementations on Mobians without any negative drawbacks! Brilliant, just brilliant!” said Sky, nodding vigorously.

“You read the whole thing? Impressive for someone your age.” mused the doctor, taking a chart.

“Oh no, I read the whole thing when I was twelve.” what Sky said left both Knuckles and Silas speechless.
“But I re-read it sometimes, when I’m bored.” he added, taking an audible sip of the caprisun before tossing it away.

“I… see…” the doctor stuttered.
“Uhm, so…” he cleared his throat and made his pen click.
“I’ll just… ask a few questions. Full name?”


“Skylark Faustus the Hawk. But just call me Sky.”

“Height?”

“Feet or cms? Feet is 3’33’’, cms is 100.”

“Any special interests?”

“I’m a HUGE science guy! Physics, robotics, chemistry, everything! You name it, I love it!”

“School career?”

“None… technically.”

“...I beg your pardon?” asked the doctor, stopping writing on the chard.

“Well, I started reading and writing at the age of 2. By the age of 7, dad stopped sending me to school, saying how they couldn’t teach me anything I didn’t already know, so mom and dad homeschooled me. Dad taught me math and science and mom taught me everything else in-between.”

“...Wasn’t it… boring? Without friends of your age?”

“Not really. In fact, I liked it more because my home school was quieter, less noisy. Plus, dad made it super fun for me. They even made a graduation test for me. I passed with flying colors when I turned 12, and my dissertation was about your work.” Sky said, smiling.

The doctor was speechless. This kid rivaled his own son’s already high intelligence.

“So, when I turned 16, I started helping out my dad at his pharmaceutical company.”

(That’s why he’s so familiar… He’s the son of Mason the Hawk, Babylon Pharmaceuticals’ CEO…)thought Silas.
“...Was it… like, an archivist job? Front desk?”

“Oh no, I helped out in RnD. In fact, I had the idea of adding trimesolazine to our insomnia medicine. 20% more effective than any normal sedative, 5% less side effects.”

The doctor almost dropped his pen.
“Is… that so?”

“Mhm! Dad said that if I kept this up, I would've taken over before his feathers would start to turn gray… And then, yesterday…” Sky sighed and looked down.

“I’m… sorry to hear the news, kid… Your father was…”

“IS. My dad IS alive. And are my mother and my sister. I know they are!” Sky interrupted him, throwing a bit of a fit.

“Alright… Well, your dad is… a good friend of mine. We were roommates in college together. He studied chemistry while I focused on robotics, but we helped each other out very often. He was brilliant, fun, sociable… Everything I wasn’t. Trust me, it’s a miracle I ended up getting married.” the doctor chuckled slightly, putting down the pen.
“Okay then, follow me to the DNA Reader so we can see what your power is… Though, I think some of it is that brain of yours. You’ll go the distance, kid. I know it.” aid the doctor.

“Okay!” Sky nodded enthusiastically, following the doctor in the other room with Knuckles. Little did they know that that was gonna be the start of their insurgence against Eggman.


To be Continued