*Gadget POV 3rd person 

Alarms blared while bright red lights flashed all around the room. Panic seized the wolf in fear that the mad man figured out that Zero was free from his mind control. If he took over the jackal again, the genius honestly wasn’t sure what he’d do.

A crackled voice came over Zero’s wrist band. Putting a single finger to his lips, Gadget remained silent as he hesitantly answered the call.

“Hello?”

“Infinite.”

It was Eggman.

“The Resistance is here. I’m heading out now to greet them. Get out here ASAP.”

“...Alright.”

The line was disconnected.

“...Zero?”

“He still doesn’t know about me ‘snapping out of it’. Hopefully me saying that will at least give us a couple minutes to brainstorm and get out of here.”

Nodding, Gadget replied, “Okay.”

“Then, let’s go.”

A gloved ebony hand was grasped, “Wait Zero.”

“Huh?”

“From my understanding of what I read, the Phantom Ruby didn’t make you, well, not yourself. It was the Mind Remote Controller that did.”

“Okay?”

“Meaning you should be able to use the Ruby’s power and have no problem.”

Eyes lit up, “Meaning we can just faze out of here.”

“Yes.”

Fingers begin to glow red as tiny cubes formed, before coming together to make a sort of pool in the sky. As if a painting being done in front of them, a picture appeared on the canvas to create a map that covered a large amount of ground.

“This here is Eggman’s fortress,” Zero pointed to a section on the map, “These blinking dots are us. Let’s see…here’s the entrance to the site. This will most likely be where the Resistance is.”

Tapping the map lightly, Zero touched where he thought they might be. Almost like a video feed popped up showing indeed the Resistance had a full army, ready to attack, and they weren’t far. Expanding the view, Eggman was already outside with his robots, prepared to fight back.

“We have to hurry.” Gadget nodded in agreement, “Where should I take you?”

“Well, probably just to the Resistance. We can figure out what to do from there.”

“Alright, I’ll teleport you over.”

“Wait, what about you?”

“I need to get that remote from him. I have to get you out of here and away from him and the base. With the Resistance is the best place for you. They can protect you if I fail.”

“NO!” Gadget protested, “I told you, I’m not leaving you. You don’t even know what the Remote looks like or how to use it. Let me help. We can succeed if we work together. I just know it.”

Zero’s eyes grew from the unexpected outburst, but his gaze quickly softened as he held both of Gadget’s hands after that was spoken. He quietly sighed. “I’m scared Gadget. I'm scared of losing myself again and hurting you.”

“I know,” Gadget intertwined their fingers, “But we have to try. I believe everything will be alright as long as we’re with each other.”

A smile graced white lips, “Me too.”

“Let’s do this!”

“Alright. We’ll need a plan, and fast.”

“I have an idea actually.”

————

General POV 3rd person 

With the Resistance right outside Eggman’s front door, the battle quickly ensued as Mobians of all species from all Resistance locations ran towards the robot cluster that stood before them. Fires were shot from both sides, Mobians fell, and many robot parts scattered as the battlefield seemed evenly matched.

The Doctor looked out with an impatient stare as he watched everything unfold. “Where’s that blasted jackal? I swear, when this is over…”

“Then what Doctor?”

Visibly flinching, the man turned around to see just who he’d been speaking of behind him, mask on.

“Where the hell have you been!?”

“Taking care of personal business is all.”

“Eck, I don’t want to know.” He grimaced, imagining the worst, “Anyway, at least you decided to show up. The Resistance is here. Get to work!”

“Oh, I will.”

As this happened, a few Resistance members stationed in the shadows not far from the duo; those being Tails and this generation Sonic. They listened silently as they debated their next move.

“Thanks for letting me come buddy.” Sonic whispered.

“Thank Shadow. I think he’s the one who finally convinced Knuckles to let you join me.” Tails answered quietly as they continued to observe.

Red danced around Infinite’s fingers, Sonic readied himself to pounce. However, what the two Resistance members saw next hadn’t been expected as red cubes dragged Eggman from his floating vehicle and arms and legs were bound in the air.

“W-What the hell are you doing?!”

“Where’s the remote?”

The man's eyes widened slightly, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“BULLSHIT!”

Sonic and Tails were stunned and had no clue what was going on, so they just continued to watch as they hoped for answers.

“Where is the Mind Remote Controller?”

“Shit… H-how did you…?”

“Know about it?” Zero snarled, “Did you really think you could keep me under forever, being your stupid puppet for this war? I told you no! I wanted nothing to do with this stupid Ruby or this damn war of yours!”

Wait...what? This confused the two Resistance members further.

“If you had just worked for me in the first place, I would have had no reason to mind control you. Why the hell did that fucking Ruby chose you?!”

“I don’t know,” Zero answered honestly, “But it probably wasn’t meant to be used in your damn war.”

Just then, Gadget came out of hiding, making shock run through the observers as the wolf approached the two. The Doctor glared at him.

“This is your fault! How did you manage to break Infinite free of my mind control?”

Ignoring him, Gadget walked up to the restrained human before pulling a device from the man's outer shirt pocket. It was a small rectangular device with some frequency settings and a few buttons. Odd, it looked like it was still on. Maybe the battery in it died or something since Eggman had no clue about Infinite. Switching it off, Gadget walked over to Zero.

“Found it. Now Eggman shouldn’t be able to control you anymore and make you fight in this war.”

“Good. Do whatever you need to do with it. I trust you.”

Emerald stared at the two and instantly noticed how different the jackal seemed. He was more calm, and normal? It was strange, and he didn’t know what to think. Answers. He needed answers. Leaving his spot, steps approached the two. Hearing the new set of feet, both looked to see the azure hedgehog.

“Gadget,” Sonic breathed out, feeling a bit nervous at seeing him with Infinite, “What’s going on?”

Lifting his hands up, Zero removed the mask and threw it on the ground. As that happened, Gadget dug out the small marble he used earlier to hack into Eggman’s system. Tails soon came up as well.

“Isn’t that one of those high tech hack marbles?” The fox inquired which earned him a nod.

“Zero was under mind control from this device,” he showed the remote to the two, “Somehow, Zero snapped out of it before you guys got here. I think the device died actually. He was leading me out of the base, but I hacked Eggman’s system before we left to figure out what exactly he did to Zero, and found all the files on this remote and about the mind control, and saved it to this flash drive.”

“He just ‘snapped out of it’?” Sonic questioned as he crossed his arms, not fully convinced, as Tails plugged the wires from the marble into his handheld screen he pulled out. “How do we know he’s not just pretending?”

Zero raised a brow, “Really? What would I get out of letting Gadget out of the base? He could get killed out here.”

“Oh, and why did you let him out?”

“Because the Doctor’s a fucking psycho and I didn’t know what he’d do when he realized I wasn’t under the mind control anymore. I didn’t want Gadget to stay locked up or get caught up in that, so I brought him out of the base. I thought he would be safer with the Resistance rather than with me.”

That definitely didn’t sound like Infinite. Infinite was cruel, harsh, violent, and not caring for anything or anyone. The jackal before him sounded like he actually cared for Gadget, not just his well being, but also his freedom; not just obsessive. Eggman’s right hand man was never one to sound, quite like this. Sonic wasn’t really sure how to respond.

“And, uh, sorry.”

“...What?” The hero breathed out as he felt floored from hearing the word ‘sorry’ out of the other’s mouth.

“Sorry for all the times I beat the shit out of you, and for almost choking you to death in the mountains.”

Amber eyes bulged, “You almost choked him to death?!”

“Yeah… I’m not proud of that.”

“Sonic,” Tails grabbed the flabbergasted hedgehog’s attention, “What they’re saying is true. It’s all right here. And I know these are Eggman’s files because of the code’s signature. He uses a special code in all the files he keeps so it’s unique to just him.”

“Damn…”

“Well played.” The Doctor snarled out, “But if you think this over yet, it’s not. Not by a long shot!”

The ground began to shake. Pebbles by their feet quivered as it felt like an earthquake came out of nowhere. Confusion settled on all of their muzzles before several large metallic hands came out of the ground and then the rest of its body with it, having multiple hands, a round body, and then the tail of a snake. It was huge; a giant robot creation Eggman created, just waiting to pummel them.

“Tails! Get out of here!”

“Right!”

Tails flew off as he carried the information with him, planning to show the Resistance the first chance he got, which might not be until after the war. Gadget, Zero, and Sonic all stayed as they looked in awe and slight fear at the weapon in front of them.

“Get out of here Gadget!” Zero spoke up, “This could be dangerous. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“I’m not going anywhere! I told you before I’m staying, and I’ve been fighting in a war for six months. I’m not running away now!”

Heterochromia orbs glanced at him, but he didn’t argue as he replied, “Alright, but be careful. I don’t know what Eggman has planned.”

Listening to the exchange, Sonic really started to believe this wasn’t some trick. He knew that Tails confirmed the information Gadget found, but he couldn’t help feeling a bit uneasy about the whole thing. But, he’s been at war with the guy for months, so of course he’d be second guessing the other. However, the entire time he has known the jackal, he has never once talked the way has for the past several minutes, or acted like a normal Mobian until now. It was strange to witness, but he hoped for the best, and trusted both Tails’ and Gadget’s judgement.

Being thrown off by the giant monster that appeared, Zero accidently let Eggman out of his binds and the man quickly dove into his personal flying vehicle before cackling maniacally. “Good luck fighting my Death Egg Robot! You may have been able to defeat my mind control over Infinite, but this is far from over! Hahaha!”

Flying through the air, the scientist entered the round body of the robot as he then took manual control of his creation with an evil smirk on his face.

“Bye bye Resistance.”

Standing up straighter, the hands flew down towards the trio, but all managed to jump out of the way and the hands landed successfully into the ground.

“We need to think of a strategy!” Gadget shouted.

Just as that was said, Sonic tried to spin dash his way through Eggman’s weapon, but it was to no avail as he bounced right off; not even leaving a scratch. Teeth gritted as the hedgehog landed near them. “I agree. This is going to be tougher than I thought. I don’t know what he used to make that thing, but it’s not like his normal robots.”

Spurring an idea, a few red cubes suddenly floated near Eggman’s creations. Scans all over were performed as the three continued to dodge attacks made by those persistent metallic limbs. Once the squares finished their stealthy but hasty scan, they returned to the jackal. They came together before Zero took a second to look over the information. Both Gadget and Sonic noticed.

“What is it?”

“I was trying to figure out what that robot was made of,” Zero explained, “I was hoping if we could figure that out, we might be able to find a weak point. But, I didn’t get much from my scans…”

“Hmm…” Gadget hummed, “Maybe that clear covering is the weak point? It seems to be made of something different.”

“It is. It’s a type of plastic but a much harder and more durable one. It’ll still be difficult to break it because I think the plastic is reinforced, but we might stand a better chance than with the rest of the body.”

“Alright!” Sonic grinned confidently, “Let’s do this then!”

Spin dash ready, he wasted no time as he went forth. True, it was not as strong as he had left a few small scratches there, but still, after a few tries, the covering remained intact. Sonic then tried various kicks and punches but got the same results. Finally coming back by the two, pants roughly left his mouth as he glared at the stupid piece of machinery.

“I can’t do anything.”

“Hmm…” Zero hummed, “Gadget, I’m going to try something. I think this will work. It’s just, I haven’t done this much when being my normal self.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve usually made only small illusions or have done some teleporting. But, I have all of my memories from the mind control and know I can make large illusions.”

“Okay, so you’re planning to make something?”

“Yes, but you and Sonic should go hide somewhere in case I don’t have as much control over this power as I thought.”

The hands flew down once more, just barely missing the Mobians, though Sonic got nicked in the side. Wincing after his feet touched the ground, he cursed, “Shit.”

“Sonic!”

“Go help him Gadget. I’ll take it from here.”

Worry etched it’s way onto the wolf’s muzzle, “But…”

A hand softly cupped his cheek, “I’ll be fine. I’ll be careful.”

“Promise?”

Smiling gently, Zero nodded, “On a jackal’s honor.”

Returning the nod, the Rookie rushed over to Sonic’s side. Placing one arm over his shoulders and his free arm around the azure waist, the duo exited the battlefield. As this happened, some of the Resistance was over the horizon now as they’d fought through many of Eggman’s army already. The Mobians saw what looked like an Infinite and Eggman face off, and halted as they weren’t sure what was taking place. 

Red cubes glowed before swarming together and beginning to form. Taking shape, Zero created an exact replica of Eggman’s robot, only slightly larger. Seeing this new development made the man gasp as he hadn’t expected this outcome at all. A gloved ebony finger pointed towards the Doctor as Zero shouted out.

“For all that you’ve done! For you mind controlling me, forcing me to be your puppet and weapon! For everything you’ve made me do to everyone out there, I will destroy your place and robot Doctor Eggman! You will no longer rule this world and I’ll make sure of that. My creation, ATTACK!!!”

The struggle began as the two large metallic beasts flew towards one another and duked it out. This was not very carefully noticed as Gadget worked to get Sonic towards the Resistance. It was hard as the gash in Sonic’s side looked bad and seemed to be getting worse as they traveled. After a few more steps, the wolf deemed it better to have the hero sit for a bit and found a bolder they could sit behind as to have some cover from the fight taking place.

“Sonic. How are you doing?”

Giving a pained grin, he answered, “Eh, I’ve had hits worse than this.”

“Still… I’m sorry Sonic.”

Lightly touching his cheek with his fingers, the hero replied, “Don’t be sorry. This stuff happens when I battle.”

Though still concerned, Gadget sat beside Sonic. “Do you have your communicator? We can probably get a hold of Tails and see if he can patch you up.”

“Yeah,” pressing a button on his wrist communicator, Sonic spoke, “Tails?”

“Sonic! Are you okay?! What happened in the battle?”

“He hit me good. Zero made a large matching robot that’s fighting him now though.”

“Yeah, we can see it. That’s insane!”

“I need some help. Gadget’s with me but I got a gash on my side.”

“I’m coming now!”

The line was cut.

It wasn’t long after that the fox was there with a medical kit. Getting to work, the Rookie assisted when he could, but mainly had to sit and wait as he watched Tails work and Sonic wince from time to time. However, it seemed to be an easy patch job as it was soon done.

“There. This will have to do for now until we get back to the base.”

“Thanks Tails.”

Sighing in relief, Gadget spoke up, “Do you feel any better?”

Smiling softly, he touched one of Gadget’s hands, “Yep. I’ll be back to normal in no time.”

Then, a huge explosion rang out. Terror suddenly filled Gadget as he imagined the worst and jumped to his feet, releasing Sonic’s hold on his hand. “I’m going out there.”

“Gadget don’t!” Sonic argued, “It’s dangerous!”

“That’s all the more reason for me to go! Zero’s out there. I can’t just leave him.”

No more words were spoken as Gadget bolted away from them and towards the explosion that took place on the battlefield where Zero’s and Eggman’s creations had been fighting only minutes ago.