Chapter Text
Should have made ‘pick up running as a hobby’ a point on my bucket list.
Tom Wachowski is running faster than he has probably ever run in his life, and it sharply dooms on him that he is a) not as young as he once was and b) was never really that good at running to begin with. Running through a forest and downhill probably doesn’t help matters either.
That’s the third car in as many years, he thinks while jumping over another knot of looping roots and barely manages to stay on his feet as he runs. Why do the crazy scientists in my life always aim for my cars?
He would have laughed at the thought if he had any air left for it. A few years ago, crazy scientists were as present in his life as aliens – meaning, a big fat zero. Look at him now, chasing after both of those things, and not even being really surprised by it. What a life.
It could have been such a nice day, he thinks with gritted teeth, ducking under another low hanging branch, nearly stumbling. Such a nice day out in the woods, fishing with the boys, but NO, there gotta be maniacs with huge robots to ruin your Sunday!
If he got his hands on that Robotnik-guy this time around, he would forego the punching and go straight up to strangling him.
The thought helps him; this way, he can focus on the anger churning in his gut, rather than the fear seizing at his throat.
Because Sonic is alone out there, running away from this swarm of tiny robots and one big one, and Tom is too slow to help. As always, it seems.
Hold on, buddy, on my way.
Then, everything happens very, very fast.
There is a whistling sound from somewhere behind him; something cutting through the air with great velocity.
Instincts kick in, and Tom lets himself drop to the ground like a stone, arms thrown over his head.
Not one second too late; with a sizzling sound and a wave of heat he can even feel down on the ground, something makes impact with the tree bark close to where his head had been seconds ago. Wood cracks and splinters, and he feels fragments rain down onto his back and shoulders.
Scrambling to get up and take a look, Tom whistles quietly when he catches sight of the smouldering hole burned into the tree. The whistle stops abruptly when he glimpses a very familiar egg-shape through the hole, a blinking red dot like an eye turning in his direction right at that moment.
“Oh shi-…” He ducks again, stumbling towards the left, half-expecting another laser coming his way. What does it say about him that he has started to kind of expect those?
It doesn’t come. One second, two, and still nothing happens. Did it not see me? Pressing his back against another trunk, Tom slides around bit by bit until he can glance around the edge.
The lone Badnik floats a little higher than he had last seen it, beeping quietly while it swerves left, than right. Abruptly it stops, beeps louder, and then zooms off at rapid speed. Not towards Tom’s current hiding place, but towards the left, vanishing in the thicket.
Head reeling, Tom waits another few precious seconds before he dares to get up again and step out. That was… more than strange. Why would a lone Badnik be floating about here, of all places? Last time he had checked, those little eggs followed their master into battle like a faithful battalion, and Robotnik is currently…
Tom looks back towards the general direction of Green Hills. He can clearly see the latest of Robotnik's giant robots there, moving about, bent low to aim for something much smaller down on the ground.
So if Robotnik is currently over there, then why are there Badniks here?
A thought flashes through Tom's mind, followed by cold dread. Tails and Knuckles. Last time he had seen them, they had been chasing after Sonic and Robotnik in the plane. Had they gotten hold up here? Were they currently being chased by a splinter group of the doctor’s mechs?
He has to make a decision, even if it is an awful one. Sonic, or Tails and Knuckles?
From a distance, a muffled explosions sounds. Not dangerously close, but enough so to figure that it is much closer than that giant robot is. The decision is all but taken out of his hands at that point.
Tails and Knuckles are closer. Get them, then help Sonic.
Stumbling back to his feet, Tom started running once more, this time towards the sound of the explosion.
As he runs and runs and runs – how big is this forest?! he thinks, tired and angry and worried - the explosions repeat. The sound of laser shots can be heard, and once he nearly loses his footing because he is fairly sure he just heard a gunshot ring out; the echo of it has his heart miss several beats before it picks up again at rapid speed.
Coming, boys. Hold on!
Finding the source of all the noise proves to be quite easy; it does not take Tom all that long to reach a clearing which is obviously the place it came from.
Or, maybe, clearing is not the right word for it anymore. Battlefield seems to fit better.
Skidding to a stop, Tom can't help but gap at the sight in front of him. The clearing has been torn apart. Trees have been cut or shot in half, toppling them over, their fallen crowns taking up at least half of the clearing. Holes have been dug into the ground with explosive forces. And all throughout, there lie...
Badniks. Dozens of broken and shut down Badniks litter the free space of the clearing.
There had been s battle, that much was clear. Tom had even heard it. But who had been battling? Neither Tails nor Knuckles are anywhere in sight; a fact which makes Tom feel equally relieved and worried, a twisting, squeezing mix of feelings in his gut.
Carefully, he bends to brush away some of the debris from one of the fallen Badniks. Upon closer inspection, the little thing has a hole in its lens which is easily recognizable as a bullet hole. And a kind of… net, crackling electrical-blue and still smoking where it made contact, is wrapped around the drone.
Don’t think that is one of Tails’. Tom runs a hand through his hair, more confused by the second. The net is clearly designed for this exact purpose, and high tech. But it does not look like Tails’ handiwork; and anyway, he is pretty sure their fox would have shown him had he designed something like a fishing net for Badniks.
Someone else around these parts is hunting down Badniks?
The thought does not come with a sense of relief like one would have expected. Sure, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and all that. But right now, all Tom could think of was there being someone else out there who could keep up with Robotnik’s invention, and he had no idea on whose side that someone was on.
Gut twisting unpleasantly, he reaches for the gun he keeps in his waistband, readying it. He did not like using guns; never had much reason to in sleepy ol’ Green Hills, either, if you did not count shooting into the air to scare up a few raccoons. But with possibly two mad scientists out there, and his boys still missing…
He continues his trek along the trail of destroyed Badniks slower now, gun at the ready, gaze darting back and forth between possible hiding places for an ambusher. Maybe turning around would be better. But there is still the slim chance of one of the boys being here, and as long as he has not been able to confirm otherwise…
There is rustling and the cracking of sticks in front of him, and Tom throws himself behind the nearest tree trunk for cover, leaning out only marginally to keep a good look on the events.
First, a Badnik comes in sight, bursting out of the forest in front of him. It is slanting dangerously to one sight as it goes, bobbing through the air more than gliding elegantly like its brethren do. Smoke is rising from between the pearl-white plates on the left side, and its light flickers in and out rapidly.
Yet still, it spins on its axis, aiming back the way it came from almost determinedly. It’s red eye flashes, readying for a shot-
And a net comes whooshing at it, enveloping the drone from top to bottom. The moment it connects, blue electricity races over the entire white chassis, emitting visible sparks. There is a horrible crunching and grinding, the Badnik rears up – and goes silent and dark, falling out of the sky and to the ground like a stone.
While Tom is still trying to make heads and tail of what just happened, a single man darts out from between the trees, from the same direction as the fallen Badnik. From such a distance, Tom can't make out much more than dark hair, a suit, and the three other guys chasing after the first, much more heavily armored than the first. Military?
They catch up to the first man almost immediately. One pulls him back by the collar of his suit, and the man lets it happen, uses the momentum to throw himself around and lunge at his attackers. Everything after becomes a blur of fists and knees Tom could not possibly follow with his eyes; he can only make out, four bodies interlocked in fight so tightly it becomes impossible to say where one begins and the other ends.
What Tom does see quite clearly, though, is the fifth man closing in on the others from the same direction they all had come, raising a weapon high over his head as he goes.
Tom reacts without thinking.
And, yes, perhaps it is not the smartest thing of him to do, and yes, in retrospect, he will sit there and shake his head at himself for barging in without knowing what was going on. But in that moment, all Tom could see was one guy against three heavily armed ones – four, if you counted the one sneaking up on him - and Tom did not think further than that’s not fair before he shouts „HEY! Watch it!“
Maybe he should have stayed quiet, or at least formulated his warning better; but the moment the shout leaves him, it is too late to take it back.
The guy in the suit whirls to face him, clearly thinking there is another threat he had to be aware of. In the same second, the brawny guy behind him sees his chance and slams his weapon over the unsuspecting man‘s head with a sickening Crack. The smaller man goes down like a tree felled by lightning strike and does not get back up again.
In the meantime, the other three heavily armed men turn towards Tom. And suddenly, he is the one being advanced on.
Tom can’t make out what they are saying to each other, muffled as they are with their faces half-covered by black scarfs and helmets, but he thinks he can hear snatches of “another one?” and “what to do with him”. Survival instincts finally kick in, and Tom takes a step back, hands raised in a placating gesture. „Okay, people, listen, I don’t know what‘s going on here, but you see, I’m the Sheriff around these parts, and if you could just tell me what-…”
The next thing he knows, sharp pain blooms at the back of his head, and everything goes blurry. He thinks the ground is coming closer- oh it is closer. Is he on his knees? When did that happen? He really can’t say. Everything is swimming in front of his eyes and rapidly darkening.
The last thing he thinks before he loses consciousness is What is it with these guys and sneaking up on people?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Maddie! Maddie, please! Tom's gonna kill me if....!"
"Hold onto Ozzy for me, Wade, thanks!
"Maddie!"
Maddie tunes out Wade's voice and keeps running towards the main street. She had watched on as Robotnik's gigantic robot had stumbled and bent and, finally, fallen over there, and she had not missed the blue lightning flash whizzing all around the falling giant.
Please be safe, she prays to whoever might be listening. Please.
Where was Tom? He had wanted to go fishing with the boys out in the forest, and now this. What had happened?
“Maddie!”
“Lady Maddie, here!”
She skids to a stop and stumbles back a few steps, craning her neck to peer into the side street she had just run past.
Tails and Knuckles are running towards her from that direction, waving wildly.
At the sight of them, Maddie's already tired legs almost give out under her. She darts towards them, throwing open her arms already to catch them in a relieved hug, make sure they are safe. “Boys! Thank god, you’re alright!”
Knuckles catches the most of her weight in a big bear hug, while Tails clings to the arm she has thrown around him. “We’re fine,” he wheezes from under the force of their hug, making no attempt to get out of it. “We’re okay, really. We got the big robot, and most of the Badniks, now it is just Robotnik and whatever he has got up his sleeve still.”
“I’m less worried about the robots, I’m worried about you,” Maddie shuffles back to take a look at them both. “Are you okay?! Any injuries, anything at all?”
“Mom,” Tails still looks a little shy when he mutters the word, but it makes his eyes gleam. “We’re okay, honest. Uh, the tip of my left tail got a little scorched, but that will grow out again, no problem.” To prove it, he wages one of his tails towards her, showing off the little smoking dark spot at the tip. Thankfully, it looks like it only hit the fur, and no deeper.
“We are warriors, lady Maddie.” Knuckles crosses his arms, sniffing a little. “It takes more than that to truly injure us.”
You shouldn’t have to be warriors, your kids, Maddie wants to tell him. She knows from experience that it will not go well, and lets it drop for now. “Well, yes,” she says instead. “But even smaller warrior injuries are worth to get checked out. I’m your mom. It’s kind of my job.”
That makes the Echidna actually go silent… and maybe blush a little. She finds it hard to tell with his fur sometimes.
Satisfied that two of her kids are alright, Maddie takes a look around, worry rising to the forefront of her mind again. “Sonic. And Tom. Where are they?”
"Uh, we kind of had to leave Tom back at the sea?" Tails looks terribly embarrassed and guilty as he says it, and instinctively, Maddie squeezes his shoulder to reassure him. "The car got destroyed, and he doesn't fit into the plane..."
"I'm sure he will be okay. Grumbly, but okay," Maddie says, laughing a little. God, what relief. At least Tom was out of danger right now. "And Sonic?"
“Still out there,” Knuckles indicates the main road ahead of them. “The battle is almost finished, but Eggman is a stubborn foe.”
“I don’t think he can do much, now, though, with all of his… Mom? Mom!"
Moving as in on autopilot, Maddie gets up and starts marching down the side street. She has to make sure Sonic is alright.
Behind her, she hears fast steps hurrying along, and Tails’ worried, “Uh, Mom, you probably should not get too close to…”
“Don’t worry, Tails. It wouldn’t be the first time I’m there for the final face-off between those two.”
“Wait, really…?”
"I will tell you all about it.... later...." Maddie trails off as the main street comes into sight.
The entire street lays in shambles. There are holes in the concrete, still smoldering from the heat of explosives and laser. The corner shop down on the left has caved in under the arm of the fallen robot which is laying prone the next street over.
In the middle of the street, Sonic is on one knee, breathing heavily. Blue lightning crackles around him, making his eyes gleam bright green. He is bruised and his fur burnt in points, but he looks triumphant, grin wide and showing all teeth. "Hey Eggman!" he calls up towards the flying pod above him. "How many of your robots have that been now, counting this one? Ten? Eleven? It's almost getting boring, breaking them. You could try and come up with something new and cool for a change!"
The doctor has both hands propped against the control panel so he can loom those extra few inches over Sonic. He is breathing as heavily as the little hedgehog, one end of his moustache smoking, a line of dried blood running down his temple. If anything, it makes him look only more dangerous as he bares his teeth in the mockery of a smile, flapping one hand with a roll of his eyes. "How very not surprising, that you can barely count above ten."
“Hey, just don’t want to hurt your feelings! It’s gotta be embarrassing, losing all these robots to me.”
“Embarrassing?” The crazed grin only grows, stretching into something terrifying. “You really don’t know the least bit about science, do you? Any great breakthrough only comes to pass after many, many experiments. Changing the variables. Eliminating interferences. Finding the best solution. With every robot you destroy, I will only make another, better one. Until one day, the next robot you face, will be the one to catch you.”
“Hah, sure. Looking forward to it,” Sonic has the gall to wink and throw a thumb up in the man's direction before he leans down further, digging his foot in to ready himself for a quick start.
Robotnik's seems to light up with rage, a literal fire burning in his eyes as he opens his mouth to...
Beep beep
Beep beep
A shrill beeping interrupts whatever the doctor has been about to fling back. For one terrifying moment, Maddie thinks bomb, and her throat goes tight with fear; She does viscerally remember how she had first met Sonic, how he had looked after suffering an explosion.
But then the beeping repeats, and it does not sound all that dangerous. It sounds rather… cheery. Musical. And it keeps repeating steadily, annoyingly.
Sonic stops his planned attack so abruptly he nearly stumbles over his own feet. Obviously as confused as everyone else, he looks around for the source of the sound.
Above them, Robotnik hits a button with force without even so much as looking at it. The ringing stops – for one second. It immediately picks up again.
The doctor’s entire expression melts from maniacal intent into something annoyed, and he lifts one hand to drag it down his face in a gesture of weirdly human annoyance.
“Um.” Tails mutters next to her, sounding as confused as she is. “Is that a phone?”
That makes… strangely sense. It does sound like a ringtone.
“Not mine,” Maddie assures him, feeling something like hysterical laughter catch in her chest. Of all the things, really?
“Well, since I don’t have a phone, and Knuckles sure doesn’t have one-…” Sonic starts, gesturing at his friend, who rolls his eyes at him. “You, uh, wanna take that, Eggman? Need a break? I’m cool with a break.”
“Don’t be ridiculous-… oh fine!” The scientist snaps when the beeping starts up yet again. “Fine! Excuse me for a moment."
With an arching gesture, Robotnik pulls up one of those blue holoscreen he so often uses. This one grows and expands until it is hovering slightly above and in front of the Eggpod, right in the middle of the street. The picture fizzles into thousands of pixels before it clears and reveals the stern face of an elderly man, dressed in uniform and his entire chest decorated with medals. "Doctor Robotnik. How fortunate that we finally get in touch with each other."
"General! What a surprise. Can’t you see,” Robotnik begins in a deceptively friendly tone, “that I’m a little BUSY AT THE MOMENT.“
If the man at the other end of the line is startled by the loud outburst, it doesn’t show. He does not flinch, does not even blink, and instead begins in an utterly calm voice in front of the snarling scientist. „Doctor Robotnik. Your mindless rampage has gone on for long enough now-….“
„Mindless? Do I have to remind you, again, who you are talking to, you utter waste of space and time-…“
"... and it is high-time for things to be guided back into an orderly structure, as they have once been before your… unfortunate disappearance."
“Guided back into an orderly structure,” the doctor repeats, voice high and mocking. “Oh, beautiful. I’m curious, how long did it take you to formulate that whole sentence? You must have really wasted all your brainpower on it. An hour? Two? Did someone write it for you?”
“Doctor,” the Commander’s voice rose the slightest bit, to drown out Robotnik’s continued ranting. “What we would like to offer you is your old position back, with a few new accommodations. All you had to do in exchange would be-…”
“Nope.”
“-… that you cease your independent actions, which have taken far too much out of our resources in covering up the damage you have done-…”
“Nope-di-nope, nah, and a big NO on top,” Robotnik sing-songs, rolling his entire head into the eyeroll he delivers it with. “Don’t care. Not interested. Get out of the line, I’m expecting other calls today, I’m a very busy man.”
Down on the street, Maddie exchanges wide-eyed gazes with her boys. Are they seriously seeing this right now? The government, wanting Robotnik back in their services, after everything? And –
Unfortunate disappearance? Maddie thinks, appalled and perplexed. Is that official wording for ‘unplanned trip to another planet’?
“You might want to listen until the end, Doctor.” The way the General does not let himself be rattled by the continued interruptions and insults truly was an impressive feat in its own right. He continues on as if they were still holding a civilized conversation between equals seated opposite each other in a comfortable sitting room. “We do not come empty handed to you with our request. Of course, there will be something for you out of such a deal, as well.”
“Oh, great, the boring part,” Robotnik lets himself fall back into his seat, plastering on a mockingly-thoughtful look while he twirls his moustache. “Now let’s see – fundings! No, I got enough of that myself. Tech? Tempting, tempti – oh wait. You are using my tech at this very moment. Scratch that point. And everything else… not interested. So, General.”
The doctor rose up back to his full height slowly, looming over the screen as he leaned in, voice dangerously low. “I have everything I need right here. What do you have?"
That is when the neutral expression of the General changes; a slow smile spreads over his face as now he leans back in his seat, fingertips pressed together, and regards the fuming Robotnik over them with the look of a cat that got the canary. „Doctor, you are very convinced of your superiority over all of us; you must realize that will be your downfall someday.”
“What?!”
“In all your ingenuity, your many, many plans… have you really never considered the possibility of us discovering your latest hideout?“
Robotnik’s entire face twitches, goes momentarily blank… and then rage dawns on it, stormy and dark like a thundercloud, promising an oncoming storm of destruction and terror. „You dare to set foot in my territory? If touched anything of mine, start praying that I will give you a swift-….“
„We are not the monsters you seem to think we are, Doctor,” the General interrupts once more, voice now sharper, colder. “We are ready to sit down and talk, the way civilized people should, if only you would give us the chance. We are sure that we would be able to come to an… agreement, between you and us. Will you give us such a chance?”
"Civilized monkeys more like," Robotnik seems to be over the yelling, now. His voice has dropped to a dangerous hiss. "I would rather eat mushrooms than sit down and talk with the lot of you."
"A shame. We really did want to come to an amicable agreement,” the General picked at his fingernails, sounding not surprised at all. „But we also highly anticipated such a reaction, so we made sure to have a… let us say, a bargaining chip. You see, dear doctor, we would be willing to give back most of the tech back that confiscated from your hideout -
„As if I couldn’t build new one faster than-…“
„… and would also be ready to return your men to you.“
For the first time in the entire conversation, Robotnik actually seems to be well and truly thrown off-balance. His moustache twitches, eyebrows lifting high in surprise while he blinks rapidly. "My what?"
“Allow me to show you.”
The holoscreen flickers and changes, the picture of the Commander being replaced by a video.
Something strange happens to Robotnik face then, the rage flickering for a beat before it returned tenfold.
And yet, he does not start yelling immediately. All that thunderous anger seems to be petrified, frozen in time, and with it, everything else seems to come to a sudden halt as well.
Something about the startling, oppressing silence which fell over the street made Maddie restless. It was so very unlike Robotnik to go so completely, utterly silent. He was always moving, always talking, always something. But now he seemed to be frozen in place, eyes trained on the video playing out on the screen in front of him. It was as if he was not even breathing anymore.
Despite herself, Maddie takes a few steps closer, painfully curious to see what had the doctor in such a stupor.
It takes her a moment to understand what she was taking in, and when she did, she felt as if her heart had stopped beating altogether.
Even though she is looking through the holoscreen and thus seeing the video feed mirrored, there is no mistaking what she is seeing: Two men standing opposite of each other in a nondescript room devoid of windows and furniture. One of them was a stranger to Maddie, a man in a once neatly pressed suit, now crumpled and smeared with something dark, walking back and forth in the little room like a tiger in a cage.
The other, dressed a lot more casual in a fishing west and jeans, gesturing wildly with both arms and clearly talking to the other, was very familiar.
A scream wants to build in her throat and she slaps both hands over her mouth to stop it from escaping.
At the same time Sonic - always faster, faster than everyone else - who shouts next to her. „DAD!“
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Tom comes to, he cannot make sense of what happened, or where he is. It even takes his hurting head a few painful beats to figure out who he is.
Once he resurfaces completely, he groans – ow that is gonna be a nasty bump – and tries to move his arm around to feel for the sore spot on the back of his head.
Only that his arm does not move. There is something holding it, and when he groggily tries again, there is a pull back against the motion.
“Wha-…?” He croaks, voice rasping like sandpaper. He tries the other arm; no success here either. Only then does he realize that he is moving forward, but he can’t feel the ground beneath his feet.
Panic sets in, shooing away the last clinging tendrils of unconsciousness, and he rears his head up to look around. He takes not of several things in rapid succession – first, he Is no longer in the forest, but instead in a nondescript hallway with steel walls. Two, he is currently dangling between two men with the size of bulk of actual wardrobes, being held up by his upper arms and his feet dangling in the air. And three, those two walking wardrobes are currently taking him to some place who-knows-where.
With a grunt, Tom rears up and throw himself backwards, ignoring the way it makes his head spin and hurt in favour of trying to break free. “What-… let go, you-…!”
There is an annoyed sound from his left, and something, like a fist, hits his already throbbing head hard in the temple. The nausea come immediately and Tom groans weakly through closed lips, feeling as if he might throw up any second.
“What’s… what’s going on?” Tom tries to say, but it does not come out as loud as he wanted to, his tongue too heavy, and his throat too tight.
No answer, apart from a squeak somewhere to his right. When he manages to look up, he has time to realize that the wardrobe-guy on his right has opened a door, and…
They are pushing him through it into the room beyond, none too gently.
Tom stumbles, nearly going down because he is suddenly shoved onto his own feet again. He gets a blurry view of a small room without windows or furniture, blank walls, and someone else standing in the corner farthest from the door - then he hears the door fall closed in his back, and whirls around. Surging forward, Tom rams his shoulder against the door. No reaction.
"HEY!" He throws himself against the obstacle a second time, hissing out a breath at the pain bursting in his shoulder. He turns to hammering against it with his fist instead. "Hey! Whatever you think you're doing, you got the wrong guy! I’m a Sheriff, you hear me?! I'm Sheriff Wachowski from Green Hills! Tom Wachowski! Look it UP!"
There is, of course, no answer. Figures. With a deep sigh, Tom let his forehead fall against the door for a moment, taking a deep breath, before he took a step back. Right. First things first – he needed to get the gist of what just happened.
There is a quiet shuffle from behind him. “Wachowski?”
"Yeah," he answers automatically, scrubbing a hand down his face.
"Tom Wachowski?"
"Yea-...” only then does it dawn on Tom that it is weird that someone is in here with him who knows his name, and he blinks, hard. “Wait, do you know-...?"
Tom turns around, question on his lips, but he never gets to finish it. He only sees a blur moving his way fast, and the next thing he knows is pain, sharp and sudden, for the second time today. Only this time, it sits right in his jaw, radiating up the entire left half of his face, and shit, that hurts.
His half-formed sentence gets lost in a pained hiss and he stumbles away as far as he can in the small room, a hand pressed to the throbbing point of impact. "Shiiiii-take mushrooms! What the hell was that for?!"
Through tearing eyes, he blinks at his assailant, trying to get a good look at him. "Wait. You're the guy from before, in the forest."
"Very observant," the man snaps. And it is the guy from the forest, the one chased by soldiers. It’s the first time Tom gets a closer look at him, but there is no mistaking it. He is slightly shorter than Tom, darker skin tone and dark hair, and he is still wearing a suit - a sight not too often seen in Green Hills - although it looks a little worse for wear now, part of the seams at the shoulder torn open, and something that looks suspiciously like blood smeared on the front. He is carefully shaking his hand out and watching Tom like a hawk, face carefully blank.
Tom has absolutely no idea who the guy is, not even after wracking his tired brain for it. "Do we know each other? Or do you sock everyone in the face when you first meet them?"
"You don't know me,” the other confirms, seemingly unbothered by that fact. “But I know everything about you.”
Which, alright. Super weird.
"Oooookay, that's-.... Okay.” Tom tries to take deep breath despite his hammering head and throbbing jaw. "Alright. You know me. And - what did I do to you, exactly?"
As if the question has triggered it, the neutral facade of the man splinters into thousand pieces; there is pure, white-hot rage on his face, lips pulled into a sneer, eyes burning. "Not me. You and that blue rodent nearly killed the doctor."
Tom's mind stutters to a grinding halt for a moment before picking up at rapid speed once more, attempting to pick apart that statement. Sonic and him? And? Doctor? What? And -
"Kill?! - Okay, pal, now I'm sure you got the wrong person. Me and Sonic, we're the good guys, okay? We don’t hurt people, and sure don’t kill-...,"
“How," the man cuts him off, voice cold and hard as ice. "How is stranding a man with no resources on another planet - a planet you know not the least thing about, neither about the flora and fauna nor if it has so much as a breathable atmosphere – no, really. Do enlighten me. How is that not killing him?!"
Tom's mouth opened and closed soundlessly a few times as realization hit him like a freight train. There really are not many people who can possibly match such a description. He doubts there are any at all, to be honest. All but one. "Robotnik. You're talking about Robotnik?"
“Who else? Or do you make a habit of sending people to their certain doom?” Now there is something mocking and cutting to the anger in the man’s voice, an insult in and off itself. “Is there a list?"
Disbelief is replaced by righteous anger, bubbling up in his chest like lava. Tom might still be confused, but he is angry, too, about this so far shit day and the accusations both, and right now it is much easier to focus on anger alone. "Now wait just damn moment,” he snaps, straightening so he is at least eye-level with the guy and now longer looking at him from a bent-over position. “That maniac tried to kill Sonic, and me!"
"Kill you?” A laugh bubbles out of the man, but it is grating and joyless. “You did not even exist for the doctor until you decided to stand between him and that...rat."
"Watch it." Tom balls his hands to fists, feeling very much like repaying the favor and take a swing of his own at the other now. "That's my son you're talking about there."
"Son." The man spits it out like something bitter in his mouth. "You truly have to be insane to think of that thing as a person, let alone your own son-..."
"Don’t talk to me about insane when you hit me for the sake of a megalomaniac of a scientist who thinks he can rule the world with flying eggs."
It is the wrong thing to say, and he knows it the moment it is out in the air. Something snaps in the other, visible in the full-body jolt that goes through him, and he lunges. In a blink, he is at Tom's throat, hands so tight on his collar that it nearly cuts of his airflow. By that grip, he crowds him bodily back against the wall, following him until they are mere inches apart, eye to eye and nose to nose. The man's eyes are burning pits as he hisses directly in Tom's face, "Don't dare to talk about the doctor in such a tone. Not you, especially. Is that clear?”
Tom wheezes, struggling against the newly blooming pain in the back of his head where it had hit the wall, and the lack of air from the front. “Then don’t talk about my son!”
For a moment, he thinks the other will hit him again, or worse. He sure looks like it. Tom readies himself to fight, to kick and throw his weight forward, anything. Then -
"Hey!"
Loud banging at the door makes the both of them stop, breathing hard.
A hatch had opened in the middle of the door, just large enough for one man to peer into their cell. His voice is muffled through the layers of steel. "Whatever you got going in there, quit it right now. Don’t make me come in there."
Tom nods slowly, feeling his chin knock against the white-knuckled grip of the hand at his throat. “Sure, we will be nice,” he manages to croak out around it. “Right?”
The last bit he directs at the man in front of him, who seems to be frozen in place. Slowly, only in small increments, does he loosen his grip and steps away from Tom, giving him room to breath once more.
Tom takes the chance greedily, bending over and gasping for air immediately. Damn. Between the headache and the tight grip, he really had seen spots dancing in his vision for a moment.
Once he feels a little more stable again, he searches carefully for the other man.
He finds him at the opposite end of the too small room, back turned towards Tom, hands folded on his back. Standing tall and proud, and for all the world looking as if he is absolutely unbothered.
Tom sees something else.
The man's hands are trembling.
He really is upset about all that, it dawns on Tom. A truly uncomfortable thought, which churns in the pit of his stomach. Who would have thought? Someone upset about Robotnik missing. Huh.
The entire outburst of the man suddenly appears in a whole other light, and some of Tom’s anger dissipates as he wonders – how would he react, if someone he cared for was sent to a whole other planet?
He couldn’t even wrap his head around the idea of it.
Damn it, Tom thinks with a sigh, letting himself sink down to the floor right where he is standing. Damn Robotnik, and this cell, and my softie heart in particular.
“Look,” he says out loud, careful and weary, always looking at the other’s hands to make sure one of them is not aiming for him again. “I’m not going to say sorry for what I did back then, because I’m not. I did it to protect my friend - my son.," He lets that word hang in the air between them, daring the other to laugh at it again. It doesn’t come, so he continues on "But. I’m sorry for... whatever happened to him, and to you, because of it. I honestly did not think farther than keep him away from Sonic. I didn’t actively think about throwing him onto another planet, or what happens after. And I didn’t think...”
That someone would care.
That was the crux of the matter, wasn’t it? He would not have believed, not in a million years, that there was someone in this world who would care when this crazed scientist was gone for good. If anything, he would have expected people to be relieved to have him gone.
Based on the way the other man's back quivers with tension, hands still visibly trembling even in the dim light when he lifts them to drag his palms down his face, it’s quite obvious that Tom was wrong in that department.
"Didn’t think,” the other repeats, hollow. "Typical. Nobody ever thinks, not really."
What, nobody but him, Tom wants to snark, but he bites it back. Shrugs instead. "We tend to stop thinking things through carefully when it comes to protecting the people we care about. Makes us human, I guess."
There is a twitch, and a sound from the other as if he agrees despite himself. Then only silence.
Tom keeps staring at the currently prone frame of the guy for a few more weary minutes, waiting for another assault. When it doesn’t come, he tries to breath out deeply through his nose and relax somewhat. His headache is killing him, and it makes thinking hard. But he has to think; there has to be a way out of this mess, and he wants to find it as quickly as possible.
Man. What did I get dragged into this time?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
„Nonono! That’s my Dad! He doesn’t work for Egghead! You got the wrong guy!“
Fast as lightning, Sonic rounded on the still eerily-silent Robotnik and grabbed his collar, shaking him. „Tell them he doesn’t work for you!“
With a snarl, the doctor slaps the offending hands away with such a force that Sonic loses his alance and has to jump back to the ground. Rounding on the screen again, which had returned to the Commanders impassive face, Robotnik snarled. „That’s it? You take my assistant away and think I will hop and dance to your tune again?!“
„Eggman! Tell them!“
The General keeps talking over Sonic’s raised voice and Robotnik’s obvious fury, talking as pleasantly as if he is simply on the nice weather they are having. „Let us say statistics have showed us that wherever he is, there we will find you too. You are fond of statistics, are you not?“
“Statist-…” Robotnik actually splutters for a second before he finds his footing again, voice rapidly rising to a roar. “You want to talk statistics? Fine. In terms you will be able to grasp - statistically speaking there is an astronomically large chance that I will ignore your little offer, come straight over to your current location, and squash you like the cockroach you are. How’s that for statistics?”
„You are, of course, free to do so,” comes the too-pleasant reply. The whole peaceful demeanour combined with the obvious threats is starting to make Maddie feel sick. “But if you do, we will consider that a clear refusal of our offer, and as such, we will no longer have any use for bargaining chips. And, well. How to say this?”
The General shrugs. “For your tech, we might have use. For your men? Not so much.“
Robotnik opens his mouth… and closes it again. He seems to have reached a point where his fury has rendered him mute.
“We have stated our terms now, doctor. The offer to talk is open for, let’s say, one hour. You know how to contact us, should you decide to accept. If not…“
The General moves his hand as if to brush something away, shrugs, and presses a button to his right. The connection cuts off abruptly, leaving only a blank blue holoscreen behind.