Chapter Text
A little Sonic, about two feet high, struggled to keep up with his caretakers for the day as they walked through the facility. There was an agent on either side of him holding his hands. He leaned his head back to look at his reflection in the window as they passed it. He was blue. And furry. With quills. And massive eyes. Nothing like them. As he grew, the understanding came to him. Every day, he noted another difference between them. Every day, their hands felt colder, their speech more reserved. But he was beginning to understand it had always been that way.
“Do you think there are other hedgehogs on Earth somewhere?” Sonic looked between the men.
Neither of them looked at him, but the one at his right side spoke. “Yeah, kid. We showed them to you, remember? They’re little rodent things.”
Sonic frowned, looking to his feet. “No… I mean ones that look like me.”
“Well, there is one…” The man on his left muttered.
Sonic smiled up at him, hope written on his cartoonish features. “There is?”
“Don’t tell him about that,” the other one hissed, turning his head.
“Why not?”
The man on his right glanced down at Sonic, then back to his partner. “I’m pretty sure the director has a specific way he wants to tell him about it.”
“Sonic’s got ADHD out the wazoo. He won’t even remember by the time they have a serious conversation with him about it.”
Sonic pulled at his hand. “Remember what?”
“Well,” the agent started, casting a look down at Sonic, “about thirty… what is it, thirty-six years ago? GUN raided this space colony called The Ark. They got word there was some sort of dangerous weapon in development. And there was. It was a hedgehog. He looked pretty harmless, you know. Kind of like you but bigger. But he had this crazy amount of Chaos energy inside of him. He had these… otherworldly powers like teleportation, super speed, enhanced senses, and more. He managed to get out through an escape pod and fall to Earth.” Suddenly, his tone changed like this was a ghost story. “Most people think he’s dead, but… the director doesn’t. He thinks he’s still out there somewhere.”
Sonic watched his feet pad along the floor as he absorbed all of this information. “Do you think he’d be my friend?”
The storyteller laughed at him, and it hurt something deep inside the child. “Sure.”
The other man shook his head. “That hedgehog is really dangerous. He could hurt a lot of people if he wanted to. But you’re going to be really powerful when you get older too. And if he is still out there, you’re going to help us catch him.” The men let go of his hands as they walked into the gym. One of them picked him up and set him down on a specialized treadmill.
Sonic reached up to hold onto the handles of the machine. Is that what he was training for? To be able to best this other hedgehog? He would do it if it kept his planet safe. But he wondered about this hedgehog. If he had gone undetected for thirty-six years, he can’t be doing much harm. Maybe he was nice.
One of the men turned on the treadmill and checked his watch. “Alright. Run until you can’t anymore.”
Sonic nodded and started to run. The treadmill adjusted to his pace. His mind continued to linger on the other hedgehog for—
—————————————————————
“—years. This paperwork is going to take years,” Sonic groaned, leaning back in his chair and propping his feet on the thick stack.
“Well, that’s what happens when you spin dash a giant robot through a community center. You get an incident report and a psych eval.” Amy, the manager of Sonic’s squad, tapped on his desk with a firm finger.
“Psych eval this, psych eval that. I’m always doing a fucking psych eval.” Sonic put his arms behind his head. “What’s with that? It’s not like I killed anyone.”
“I don’t know, Sonic. The order doesn’t come from me.” Amy sighed. Though the squad was generally hers to look over and assign, issues pertaining to the hedgehog were often handled higher up the ladder.
“Maybe I’ll have a chat with Espio then.” Sonic flexed his feet on the desk.
“Leave the director alone. Get this done by the end of the day or you can’t come out for drinks. I know you can finish it in time,” Amy spoke in her no-nonsense tone. She walked away before he could argue.
Sonic put his feet back down to the floor. His leg bounced as he picked up the packets of work. It wasn’t fair. He could understand the incident reports, but the psych evaluations after nearly every mission? It felt like they didn’t trust him. Even though he was raised by them and has been a successful agent since he was fifteen. It’s been four years with no major hiccups. So why? Simply because he wasn’t human?
Knuckles passed by his desk. “Hey, Sonic. Heard there were some rat traps in the break room. Think someone’s out to get you.”
Sonic rolled his eyes, dropping the papers. He showed the red-headed man his middle finger. “Shove it up your ass, Knuckles.”
Knuckles chuckled and returned to his own desk. Sonic grabbed the psych eval paperwork and dashed through the office. His coworkers groaned as the gush of air that passed them knocked things off their desks. He went up the stairs to the balcony and slowed to a walk down the hall. He stopped in front of the director’s office and knocked on the door.
“What?” came through the door.
Sonic opened it and peered inside. “Hey, boss.”
“What do you want, Sonic?” Espio dropped his pen and rubbed his forehead as if he already got a headache just seeing his face.
Sonic walked into his office like he owned the place and shut the door behind him. “These evals—what gives?” Sonic dropped the papers on his desk and plopped in one of the chairs in front of it.
“It’s routine. You do them all the time. What’s the problem?” Espio leaned back, narrowing his eyes.
“That is the problem. Why do I need to do them after every mission? I haven’t changed. And no one else has to do them.” Sonic folded his arms, tapping his foot.
Espio sighed. He scratched the side of his face, staring at the paperwork like it could answer for him. “You’re just… important to us is all.” He interlocked his hands on top of his desk. “We want to make sure you’re doing well.”
Sonic’s lip pulled up. “That’s not why.”
Just then, the door burst open. Sonic turned around. Hunching in the doorway was Tails, a young man who was technically part of his team, but really worked in several departments. He was rarely in the active field. “Sir!”
“Jesus, what is it?” Espio stood. It was slow. He’s getting old.
Tails hesitated once his eyes caught Sonic. “Um, we recorded a sudden outburst of energy…”
“So?” Espio cocked a brow.
“I think you should just come take a look, sir.” Tails swallowed, his face grave.
The director’s expression flattened as he walked around his desk and out the door to follow Tails to the computer lab. The hell? Sonic got up and followed behind them, walking quickly. This seemed serious. He had to know what it was about. They walked deeper into the facility. Tails scanned the badge around his neck on the sensor outside of a door. It opened for them. Sonic dashed forward, but the door slid back shut before he could get in. He grimaced. He didn’t have clearance. He looked through the small, frosted window in the door. The only information it gave him was that the lights were on inside. Sonic waited around for several minutes until the director reappeared from the room.
Espio began down the hall quickly. Sonic fell into pace with him immediately. The older man tucked his hands behind his back. “Get your gear on and get to the aircraft hangar.”
“Why? What’s going on?” Sonic stared at him.
Espio’s expression was complex. Sonic couldn’t read it. “It’s time. We found him.”
Sonic nearly tripped. He stopped, eyes widening. “What, you mean, him? Like HIM, him?”
The director turned to him. “Yes. He made a mistake. Our satellite caught his energy signature in a forest in northern Italy. Are you ready?”
“Am I…” Sonic mumbled at first. It’s been fourteen years since Sonic first learned about the hedgehog and fifty since he had disappeared. Sonic had started to think he was just an urban legend, permanently out of reach. But that didn’t mean he hadn’t put his all into preparing for the scenario in which he was real. Sonic cleared his throat and puffed out his chest. “Of course I’m ready. I’ve only been training like my whole life.”
“Then go,” Espio said firmly. Sonic braced to run off, but he waited when the director spoke again. “And Sonic?”
“Yeah?”
“Godspeed.” The director saluted him.
Sonic smirked and saluted back. He became a blur as he rushed through the facility into the locker room. He was the first there. His body was buzzing with energy, with excitement and arousal. He threw open his locker and yanked at his tie until it came apart. He tossed it into the locker and got to work unbuttoning his dress shirt until he got frustrated trying to maneuver his trembling fingers. He ripped it off and tossed it at the trash can. He grabbed his bullet proof vest from its hanger and strapped it over his shoulders and around his waist. Then he pulled on his elbow guards that kept them from getting skinned when he hit the ground. He wrapped his hands and wrists tightly with reusable bandages to support his joints then pulled on white gloves that only left the tips of his fingers exposed.
Sonic kicked off his shoes and unbuckled his belt in order to remove his dress pants. He put on his black, custom made pants. The material was thin and stretchy like leggings in all the places that helped him move. They were thick and padded in the sections that didn’t need as much flexibility. He fastened his utility belt across his hips. He hated it. It was bulky and annoying. He didn’t even use guns. But they forced him to wear it just in case. He sat down to wrap his feet and ankles before slipping on socks and his running shoes.
The door to the locker room opened as Knuckles and Rouge entered. Rouge smiled at him. “Hey, Sonic. Ready to—“
“Can’t talk, gotta charge the jet!” Sonic raced past them, narrowly avoiding knocking them over. The door swung behind him. It was a short trip outside of the building and out back to the airstrip. He approached a slender jet waiting on the runway. A few people were getting it prepped—filling it with gas, and connecting its energy reservoirs to what was essentially a giant hamster wheel. Sonic got up into the wheel and looked at the mechanic kneeling on top of one of the engines. “Is it ready?”
“Let me get out of the way,” the man called down to him. He started down a ladder. He gave Sonic a thumbs up once he was back on the ground.
Sonic started to run. Really run. The way he did when no one could show up in his way. It was a relief to get some of this excess energy out. His body sparked with blue electricity, creating arcs between him and the wheel. The thick cord that was connected from the wheel to the energy reservoirs on top of the engines began to glow as it conducted. Sonic heard he was fast. He wondered if he could keep up with him. Surely not, right? Maybe they meant fast like according to humans. His heart pounded as he thought of running after the other hedgehog.
“That’s good, Sonic,” the mechanic called. A whirring sounded through the air as the reservoirs reached their limit.
What did he look like, this other hedgehog? Was he blue too? There was a blur in his mind where he imagined him, there always had been. He was dying to put an image in its place. Finally, it would happen.
“Sonic, stop!” The man yelled to him.
Sonic’s ears twitched his way. He looked up to the reservoirs which were glowing brightly, full of his energy. He jumped out of the wheel and pressed his palms on the outside of it to slow it down. His gloves protected him from friction burns.
“What the hell?” The man scoffed, and the other workers looked just as displeased with him. He could’ve easily overloaded the expensive reservoirs.
“Sorry, my bad, guys…” Sonic gingerly let go of the wheel once the energy dissipated. He rubbed the back of his neck.
Sonic’s team came up the pavement in two jeeps. One worker got back on the engine to detach the cord while another dragged the platform holding the wheel away back into the hangar. Tails hopped out of the jeep and jogged over to the mechanics to check with them.
Amy stepped out and walked up to Sonic. “You ready to do this?”
Sonic nodded and clenched his fists. “Absolutely.”
“You need to understand that all of us are just backup. We’re no match for him. It’s going to be up to you to detain him, and we can secure him after. You can call us to distract him if he gets the upper hand, but I’m not willing to send any of the team in close, understand?” Amy looked at him seriously.
Sonic nodded before he even really thought about what that meant. He’d been swearing up and down he could handle leading a mission. This must be his chance to prove himself. Maybe he wouldn’t get a psych eval after this one. “I understand.”
“If you don’t think you can handle it, I can talk to Director Espio. I don’t want you to… this is going to get real.” Amy put her hand on his shoulder.
Sonic smiled at her. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be too fast for him.”
“I hope so. Let’s go get him, soldier.” She patted his shoulder.
Sonic grinned and practically flew up the steps of the jet. He strapped himself into a seat. Tails walked in next and made his way to the cockpit. The rest of his team poured in and took the seats around them. Amy was last. She checked on everyone, reminding them to buckle. Then she went into the cockpit too. The jet’s engines turned on and the aircraft lurched forward, wheeling down the runway.
Tails spoke over the intercom. “Welcome to your supersonic flight departing from Atlanta set to land somewhere in Tuscany, Italy. I don’t know, we’ll find out when we get closer. This flight is two hours instead of ten, which you can thank Sonic for. Please keep your seatbelts on while the engines are supercharged.”
Amy could be heard over the intercom too. “Quit fooling around and get us off the ground.”
“I’m going, I’m going. Thanks for flying with Tails United! Enjoy your journey.” The intercom cut off as the plane lifted into the air.
At first, it moved at a regular pace as it climbed into the sky. They eventually leveled out at cruising altitude. Sonic looked out the window. The engines began to glow blue. The white noise grew loud and—blast off. Their bodies pressed against the backs of their seats as the plane increased its speed, cutting through the air at thousands of miles per hour. Sonic smiled, happy to be helpful. And relieved. He couldn’t have sat here for ten hours. His legs are already buzzing, tapping away at the ground beneath him. Finally, he was going to meet someone like him.