Work Text:
“Haha, that’s twenty to one, Sir Thomas!” Sonic tosses the baseball in the air, spinning once in victory before capturing it back in his glove.
Tails cheers from his place on the bleachers, fiddling with a conglomeration of metal and wires. If the Wachowski’s didn’t know what he could do with it, they’d be scared to let him play with such a thing. Based on the things he’d done in Hawaii, the danger is negligible.
On either side of him sit Maddie and Knuckles, each cheering themselves. They’d only remembered to bring two gloves, so they’ve been taking turns playing catch and snacking on apple slices as the sun slowly moves through the sky.
“Okay, well, you’re a cheater,” Tom begins, even as he smiles. “You can’t throw that fast, it’s literally impossible for me to catch that!”
Knuckles jumps in to defend Sonic. “It is not his fault he has an adv-”
Maddie gasps as the boy jolts forward, falling face first into the dusty ground. She barely has time to stand before three tall men - men? Three - aliens find their way around the bleachers and towards the boy - whose teeth are grinding so loudly that even Tom, from his spot frozen a couple yards away, can hear it. The aliens yell to each other in a language none of the Wachowski’s recognize.
Knuckles pushes himself off the ground with much difficulty, and though Tails keeps a firm grip on Maddie’s arm as she scoops him up, Sonic has joined the fray.
“You guys need directions? I don’t know where the nearest sewer is, you’ll have to find it yourself!” One of the creatures screeches loudly, mouth spewing a green slime where Sonic was once standing. He grimaces. “Seriously, do you need a toothbrush or something, that stuff smells nasty!”
Knuckles shoots forward, knocking one several feet in the air with a punch. “You dare cross me again?”
The alien manages to land on his feet, wobbling for balance.
“Sonic!” Tom yells, shepherding Tails and Maddie into the car. “Grab Knuckles, let’s go!”
Sonic does as he’s told, interrupting Knuckles mid-strike with a grasp on his arm. “Let’s go, little red!”
“I am not little,” Knuckles yells, running alongside the blue blur. They jump in the trunk of the car as it pulls out of the parking lot.
“Step on it,” Sonic yells.
“Got it!”
They don’t wait to see if the creatures are pursuing them.
Sonic and Knuckles climb into the backseat as the car speeds down the road - out of town. They can’t let the town be ravaged again.
“Who were those people?” Maddie asks, glancing in the rearview mirror as she drives.
“Traders,” Tails says matter of factly, reaching under the seat to retrieve his backpack. “They travel worlds and kidnap people for the slave trade.”
Sonic gasps. “They do what ?”
Tails shakes his head, clutching his bag as if it’ll protect him. “I’ve never seen them in person! They usually stay on one sector of the galaxy, a few planets away from Mobius, and certainly nowhere near close to Earth!”
Tom shakes his head. “Then what are they doing here?”
The fox shrugs, tails swaying anxiously.
“Aha!” Knuckles flicks something tiny towards the fox, who catches it with a little bit of fumbling. “They shot me with a magical dart! It is their mistake for underestimating my endurance.”
Tails examines the dart. “It’s not magical! It’s…ow! It shocked me!”
Knuckles places a hand on Tails’ shoulder. “That is what it’s meant to do.”
“How do you know?” Maddie challenges.
“They had the same technology years ago, when I first met them.” Knuckles seems proud of his knowledge.
Tom, however, is horrified. “What do you mean when you -”
Suddenly, the car flips over, rolling twice before slamming against a tree. It lands upside down, leaving the inhabitants to dangle in their seatbelts.
Tails is the first to recover. Helpfully, he drags Sonic out through the broken window.
“Mom, dad!” Sonic exclaims, prying the driver’s door open as Knuckles crawls out of the backseat.
Tom coughs. “We’re okay, we’re fine. What’s -”
Tails erects a forcefield just before the three traders can reach them. Or - almost just before. One of the aliens is screeching, an ungodly sound that seems to permeate the barrier as if it isn’t there. And inside the forcefield is his severed arm, oozing green blood and grasping Knuckles’ leg in a tight grip.
Knuckles hums, shaking his leg to be rid of the bleeding limb.
Maddie shrieks as the creatures bang on the forcefield. “Okay, what is going on?”
Knuckles shakes his head. “Put the barrier down, they are easy to defeat!”
Sonic groans. “How do you know ?”
“Does that really matter right now?”
“Yes!”
Knuckles glares. “I was taken by them when I was young! I escaped from them then, I can defeat them now!” The warrior snatches Tails’ invention, pressing the button to lower the barrier.
Before the creatures can take a step, Knuckles has incapacitated one of them. He didn’t stand a chance against his strength. Sonic takes out the other one, hog-tying him with his own strand of rope in record speed.
The third though, the third manages to get through.
Tails squeaks as the alien grabs him by the scruff of his neck. It holds him above the ground, shaking him in Sonic and Knuckles’ direction.
“Tails!” Sonic exclaims, in tune with Tom and Maddie.
The creature gestures at Knuckles, and then shakes Tails once more.
Come with us, or we’ll take him.
“Knuckles.” Sonic’s eyes are solemn as he looks at the echidna. “We can’t let them take Tails. What do we do?”
Knuckles breathes hard, glancing between Tails - whimpering in the bruising grasp of the slaver - and Sonic. Finally, his eyes land on the slaver. He raises his arms in surrender. “I will go with you. Put the fox down.”
The creature’s grip on Tails tightens, eliciting a pained whimper from the child. One long hand beckons Knuckles closer. Only when the echidna is in reach does the slaver loosen his hold on Tails, who drops unceremoniously to the ground and scurries directly to Sonic.
Sonic passes Tails to Tom and Maddie - huddled by the car - despite the overwhelming urge to keep him close. He has to be ready.
He does nothing as the alien unties his captured ally and uses the rope to bind Knuckles’ arms behind his back.
He does nothing as they gather their unconscious friend into their arms.
He does nothing as one opens a ring portal.
He does something when Knuckles turns back and nods.
No one is able to see what Sonic does, as fast as it is. But had they been able to, they’d have seen Sonic take an unused ring from the creature's bag, open a portal to the deadliest planet he can think of, and throw all three of the annoying scumbags through, all before they’ve moved an inch.
When he finally slows down, Knuckles is grinning triumphantly. The ropes are snapped, deposited on the asphalt. “Ha! Triumphant!”
Sonic can’t resist a grin, holding his hand up for a quick high five.
Tom groans, leaning his head against the totalled car with his eyes closed. “Yeah…that was…not expected.”
Tails shoves himself out of the grasp the couple has on him, throwing himself between Knuckles and Sonic and pulling them into a three-way hug. Sonic can feel the tears leaking from his eyes. “I thought they were gonna kill us!”
Sonic pulls the kit away from Knuckles and into a full hug. He wants the kid to himself, sue him! “Not with me around.”
Maddie groans as she pushes herself off the ground. She turns her anger filled gaze to Knuckles. “What the hell? Why did those guys want you, did you do something to them?”
Knuckles frowns. Sonic feels a spike of empathy. Looking into the echidna’s eyes, all he can see is…hurt.
Knuckles turns his gaze to Sonic.
It’s a more comforting sight than the angry woman in front of him.
“Ever since I escaped them the first time, they’ve been tracking me. I do not think about it often; I am too fast for them to keep up with when I travel. But…I have stayed on Earth far longer than I anticipated. They had a chance to catch up.”
Tails sniffs, slowly calming from his fear in Sonic’s arms. “You were captured by them before?”
Knuckles nods, eyes distant. “Only a year after my tribe’s demise. News traveled fast that I was the last of my kind, and I became a very valuable piece of trade. And a very opportunistic one, as a lone echidna.” He turns back to Maddie, now confident enough to confront her. “I apologize. I should have warned you. But I did not at first believe I would spend so much time on this planet. I had forgotten.”
Maddie shakes her head. Her anger had been from a place of panic, unfounded and unmeant. “No, no I shouldn’t have yelled. It isn’t your fault.”
Sonic nudges Knuckles, grabbing his attention. “You were…eight when they first attacked you?”
Knuckles nods.
“And they’ve been chasing you since?”
Knuckles nods again.
Sonic can practically feel the weight of that confession. To live like that - alone - Sonic knows how that feels. But to constantly be on the move, to be hunted as an animal, never able to form connections, even from afar…Sonic can kind of see why the big red teenager is the way he is.
Instead of saying what’s on his mind - which he can’t form into words - Sonic says this: “Well, I think we drove ‘em off for good now! And if more do come back, maybe we’ll keep ‘em! See if they like a taste of their medicine!”
Tails giggles innocently. “I can make a jail cell!”
Tom and Maddie exchange worried glances as Knuckles laughs heartily.
Tom places a hand on Knuckles’ shoulder. “The important thing is, you don’t have to fight anymore. We’re here for you.”
The smile Knuckles gives is less happy as it is…relieved.
He doesn’t have to fight anymore.