Gadget POV 3rd person 

Seconds ticked by as minutes turned to hours, the slumbering male showing no signs of awakening anytime soon. The Resistance member worried for him, and wished he could go out and hack the enemy’s systems to figure out what exactly he did to Zero, but he had no idea how to escape. Waiting for him to wake up was a priority anyway as he was concerned for the other’s health.

What’s going on? It made sense that Eggman did something to Zero, but how? Messing with someone to the point of changing their morals and personality, it was hard to believe. The Doctor was a genius scientist, so maybe it wasn’t difficult for him to achieve. He didn’t know. All he ever really knew about the man was that he was evil and good with building robots and weapons. Whether he was good at experimenting on others or not, was a mystery.

Thoughts broke as he saw eyes flutter and heterochromia orbs staring back at him. A daze washed over his face from half sleep as he began to rub one of his eyes. It was super cute, and Gadget couldn’t help the look of adoration that spread on his muzzle.

Mumbling, the adorable jackal spoke, “Gadget?”

“Hey Zero,” he sat on the bed beside the waking up male and caressed one of his cheeks, “How are you feeling?”

“Sleepy.”

However, despite feeling so, he sluggishly sat up.

“Are you okay? Do you need to rest more?”

Shaking his head, Zero answered, “No. I’ve got to get you out of here. It’s not safe and I’m not sure what Eggman will do when he finds out I’m my old self again.”

“Zero…”

“Um,” he hesitated, “I remembered everything that’s happened during the war. I still don’t quite know how Eggman got this stupid Ruby on me, but I recall the day I first defeated Sonic, all the cities and civilizations I’ve destroyed, and...everything I’ve done to you. I am so sorry Gadget. I can’t even express how much I regret all that I’ve done.”

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”

Staring into the eyes of the wolf he loves, he replied, “When this is over, I want to make up everything to you. Even if it takes a lifetime, I’ll do it. Whatever it takes, I want to protect you and love you.”

Amber spheres teared up. Arms gently wrapped around the jackal as a few tears were shed. “I’ve missed you so much. I would love that. To spend everyday with you.”

The embrace was returned before ending soon after. “Now, let's get out of here.”

Nodding, the wolf helped his lover to stand. After a few stretches and pops of his joints, and Gadget getting his shoes and gloves on in the process, they were ready, and off they went. Zero led them out the front door of the cabin. The duo pivoted to the left and traveled along a hidden path in the forest. A few minutes went by of that, which felt like forever to the impatient crimson canine, as he does trust Zero, he still felt slightly on edge, and would believe they were actually going towards the exit when he saw it.

It wasn’t another minute after that thought when Zero stopped in front of a tree. It looked the same as the rest, but seeing him grab an invisible knob and pushing through deleted all doubt from his mind as the two stepped into a laboratory; no longer being surrounded by lush trees and nature. Gently, Zero took a hold of one of Gadget’s hands as he whispered to him.

“I know how to get us out of here, as I’ve been to this base many times. We need to hurry but be stealthy about it. I know I’ve done bad things, but I’ll need you to trust me so we can get out of here safely.”

“I do trust you,” and Gadget meant every word as he had no doubt now that they were officially out, “But why not just teleport us out of here with the Phantom Ruby?”

…

“I honestly hadn’t thought of that,” the jackal admitted, “But considering I’m back to normal, and I don’t know the cause of what made me go crazy in the first place, maybe it’s better I hold off on using it for now.”

“Fair point,” the rebel agreed, “But before we exit the base, let me see if I can hack into the system and try to figure out what he did to you.”

“There’s no time,” Zero argued, “Eggman mentioned the Resistance was going to be here soon. He said tomorrow, but that was before I went to find you and fell asleep, so I have no idea how much time we have.”

“The Resistance is coming here?!”

“Yes. So we need to get out of here pronto.”

“But…”

Fingers curled softly around the other’s hand as the jackal urged him, “Please. I don’t want Eggman to get a hold of you or for you to get hurt. If I can at least get you out of here, you can get to the Resistance, away from me...”

“No!” Gadget argued, “I’m not leaving you. I just got you back, the real you. I don’t want to lose you again.”

…

“You won’t be satisfied until we hack the system, will you?”

“No, I won’t. I have to know what he did so I can keep you safe. You’re important to me too Zero. I’ve waited too long, and I love you too much, to leave you alone.”

That confession made the jackal’s cheeks darken, but it was ignored as he sighed, “Alright. I’m not sure of the best place to look, but just down the hall, there’s a computer room he’s used for a lot of experiments and inventions. That might be a good start.  It’s on the way towards the exit out of the base so it’d be a win-win for us.”

Nodding, the wolf replied, “Okay, lead the way.”

Carefully, the two quietly walked up to the door before it swooshed open as it was electronic and moved based on motion sensors. Blue and yellow eyes glanced back and forth towards each direction in the hall. Deeming it clear, the hold on the other’s hand slightly tightened as he led them off to the right. Two doors down and there was another doorway where the metal swooshed out of the way so they could enter. It was easy to see what Zero meant, as that room full of machines and random metal parts, along with one computer. 

Going over, Gadget popped his knuckles before setting to work. The system needed a password. Lucky for him, he had just the right tool as he dug around in a tiny pocket on the inside of one of his shoes. It looked like a small yellow marble, but pressing one side of it extracted a few needles that the genius plugged into the system and let it go to work. Within seconds, he was logged in.

Zero whistled, “That’s impressive. I knew you were smart, but it’s still cool to see you in action.”

That compliment made Gadget’s whole face light up, as the jackal snickered at his reaction, but the wolf ignored it as he typed away, searching everything he could. Through all the files, he finally found one about the Phantom Ruby. There were various folders in that single file. This could take forever… Regardless, he decided to try before the war started. 

*Click*

“January 4, 20XX. The Phantom Ruby refuses to listen to me, but chose that stupid jackal instead. Why?! Why did the Ruby choose him? I do not understand. I have power, intelligence, money… What could the Ruby want from him that I cannot provide?... Huh, that’s weird.”

“What is?” Zero asked.

“Maybe the guy’s a little more coocoo than I thought, or something. It almost sounded like he tried to bargain with the Phantom Ruby.”

“I think that’s cause he did.”

“Huh?”

“I never heard it personally the whole time I’ve used the Ruby, but the Doctor mentioned it could like, talk, to him or something? I dunno. I ignored half the shit that came out of his mouth. He might be smart with machines and junk, but that doesn’t mean he’s right in the head.”

…

“Um, okay then. I’m going to keep reading this… January 17, 20XX. I finally figured it out. If that jackal won’t join me willing, then I will just have to do this by force… Huh? Some of the file is missing. Let’s see. Here’s the next entry. 

“January 22, 20XX. Now that I have that jackal under my control with the Phantom Ruby’s help, there’s no stopping the possibilities! His personality is just similar enough that the Ruby will still work for him, but I’ve altered part of his brain with this Mind Remote Controller that allows me to change his desire for war. He already hates the world after losing everything, but there was always that one thing that kept him from starting the war with me before the alteration. Such a pain…”

Gadget hummed, “One thing?”

Zero wasn’t fully listening as he stood guard closer to the door while Gadget worked, not catching any of the last two journal entries the wolf read through. The examining continued.

“Such a pain. He said the only reason he could not bare to start a war, even after all of the terrible things he’s done, is because he didn’t want to disappoint the one he loves the most more than he probably already has. Apparently this true love of his died years ago, and though Zero admitted to doing things that his loved one wouldn’t be proud of, he could never imagine going that far, and making his lover sadder and more disappointed in him. Disgusting.”

…

Shock shook through the red canine at those words. “Um, Zero?”

“Hm?”

“Did you not want to start the war, because of me?”

His face light up like a decorated tree during Christmas. “H-He wrote about that?!”

Giggling, he answered, “Yeah, he thought it was gross how devoted you were.”

“He just doesn’t know what real love is like. If he felt what I do now, he’d never say that crap.”

Smiling dearly, Gadget chose not to tease him more as he tried to search about the Mind Remote Controller that he mentioned. After a few more clicks, a promising folder was found. 

“January 18, 20XX. I created the Mind Remote Controller. It will allow me to adjust Infinite’s mind waves and thoughts to do exactly as I command. He will still hold the essentials of his personality most times, but I can change him to become more aggressive for any number of reasons as long as it fits in the perimeter of his person… Um, okay?... Oh, there’s a picture.”

Looking at the diagram of the device, it looked easy enough to control and manipulate. That’s not good, but it might be for him if he can find it.

“If the device were to short out, lose juice, or disconnect from the power source, however the hell one wishes to say it, or be destroyed, then Infinite would revert back to his original self, and most likely have little to no memories of what took place during his time while under the control of the Remote. Granted, he might be able to remember over time, but this has not been tested, and I do not plan to test this theory because I plan to keep him under as long as possible for this war and world domination.”

Amber eyes grew wide as horror overcame his face. Hastily, he saved all the files he found to the marble like flash drive; not just the ones he read as he wouldn’t have enough time to read through them now to see what he needed verses what was junk. He’d have to find that out later. After all was saved, he looked for one more piece of information, and dreaded the answer found as it was what he had expected, before logging out and unplugging his drive. Steps were taken towards the jackal.

“Did you find anything?”

“Yep, good news is that I found what made you, well, not yourself, and I know how to stop it.”

“What’s the bad news?”

“It’s called the Mind Remote Controller. And the device is on the Doctor’s person. Meaning, someone would have to get close enough to him to search for it, find it, take it, and then destroy it.”

“Destroy it?”

“Yeah, sounds like if the device runs out of energy or is destroyed, you’d be back to your old self.”

“I wonder if something happened to it to make me wake up earlier.”

“I’m thinking so,” Gadget agreed. “If he’s been using the same device all these months, there’s a good chance it short circuited or died. That’s not a guarantee or anything, as I don’t know too much about it myself, but I doubt he willingly just shut it off.”

“That’s unlikely, yes. And when he spoke to me through the communicator before I came to find you, it didn’t sound like he had any idea I was back to normal.”

“Let’s keep it that way.”

Alarms blared along with flashing red lights. This couldn’t be good.