Chapter Text
Being held at gunpoint by none other than Director Rockwell of G.U.N. was certainly not on Sonic’s bucket list. After he and his brothers took out the entire squadron that was assigned to keep them contained, Rockwell was certainly not happy with them. Sonic's green eyes narrowed and glared at the woman, putting Tails, Knuckles and the rest of his family behind him. Panic rushed through his body as he kept his gaze locked on the weapon in Rockwell’s hands, the memories of the last time he was in this building flooding through his mind. Last time, too much happened. Sonic wasn’t about to let anyone hurt his family again.
“Drop it, Rockwell!” The blue hedgehog shouted, holding his arms out so they shielded his teammates. “We did nothing wrong!”
“Nothing wrong?!” Rockwell responded with an exasperated gasp. She took a threatening step towards the blue hedgehog, lifting her gun ever so slightly higher, the barrel aimed at Sonic’s head. “I could go off about all the nothings you did wrong.”
“Oh yeah? Name some!” Sonic growled at her, taking a step back as she stepped towards him.
“Breaking-and-entering, impersonating government personnel, theft of classified G.U.N. property.” Her eyebrows dipped, her hazel eyes glaring at Sonic through a lens of grief. “And don’t get me started on what happened in Tokyo, and Commander Walters…” Her finger found itself locked on the trigger of the gun, one pull away from taking a life-ending shot. “You’re never leaving this building again.”
Sonic withheld his snarky response. We didn’t do that! He wanted to yell. We were ambushed by Egg Drones! Even if it wasn’t actually Eggman, anyone with common sense wouldn’t pin the blame on us for that attack! And also, we didn’t steal the access card! Olive Garden guy, or er, Commander Walters gave it to us!
But the blue hedgehog bit his tongue. Now was clearly not the time to escalate the situation with impulsive words, not if Sonic wanted to go home alive. Rockwell had every right to be upset, and she was not in the mood to talk it out. Green eyes turned to the others behind him, his family putting up a brave face as they defended themselves, but their fear was as clear as day. They were scared for their safety, however the bulk of their fear was for Sonic. The occasional glances from their panicked eyes told him so. He was the one on the line for them, and they worried for him. Sonic wished he could derail the situation so everyone could get out safely…but that was not an option.
Rockwell is not letting them go free, with or without a fight.
Sonic, luckily, wasn’t afraid of a fight. No matter the outcome; his family was all that mattered.
“Fine, Captain.” He taunted despite his heart racing in his chest. “You leave us no choice but a good ol’ fashion jail-break!”
The general consensus of the room was panic, from both the Wachowskis and the agents that surrounded them. Tails, Knuckles, Tom and Maddie screamed his name when Sonic took a daring pounce at Rockwell. She, too, panicked as she certainly did not expect such a bold move from the hedgehog. If she had been prepared, Sonic would be dead already. Instead of pulling the trigger, Rockwell froze, allowing the blue hedgehog a chance to leap over her and sweep her foot, knocking her to the ground. As the other agents watched, they clambered to their feet and reached for their weapons, finally returning to their assignment of ‘contain the aliens’.
“Guys, c’mon!” Sonic called out to his family, waving them over to usher them down the hall towards the exit. Green eyes widened as they noticed the agents reloading their guns. “Hurry! We need to get out of here!”
Tom and Maddie scrambled up with the help of Tails and Knuckles, who followed as the couple took off. Sonic waited until all four ran past him safely before turning to leave himself…but that was when he heard it. The sound of guns firing.
The scene seemed to slow; Sonic spinning to see the barrage of bullets flying towards him, Tom turning around to see and running back for him while the others too screamed Sonic’s name, their terror-stricken voices echoing off the metallic walls. The blue hedgehog could perfectly outrun these bullets, he knew that, but he couldn’t bring himself to move. Maybe it was fear, or his thoughts finally catching up, or knowing that if he stepped aside his family would be at risk. Whatever it was, Sonic froze. He didn’t even breathe as the fastest of the bullets came dangerously close to his chest.
This is the end then, right? This is how Sonic the Hedgehog dies.
When the world came back to life, however, the bullet never reached him. Sonic had shrunk away from it, putting his hands in front of his body to shield himself — as if that would work — and squinting his eyes shut, prepared to be met with a plethora of pain…but he felt no impact. No pain, at all. With a sharp gasp, green eyes slowly fluttered open to see what miracle had saved him from one-hundred per cent death.
Before him was a black hedgehog, whose back was faced towards him, where Sonic had spotted one– two– five holes, and five bullets on the ground just below him. Rusty red blood began to pour from the wounds and Sonic’s saviour, Shadow the Hedgehog, fell; his knees giving out beneath him as the pain of his injuries took hold. Sonic rushed to his side with a cry of his name, catching the black hedgehog before his body hit the cold, metal ground.
“Shadow!” Sonic shouted, cradling said hedgehog as gently as he could manage. Green eyes darted between Shadow’s pained expression, his gritted teeth, his closed and narrowed eyes, and the bleeding holes on his chest. There were way more than on his back. “Are you okay?! Talk to me, please!”
Shadow couldn’t speak. All he did was writhe in pain, his gloved hands clutching his torso as his blood continued to pour out of him like a river. No matter how hard he bit his tongue or held his teeth together, the soft groans and whimpers still escaped his lips. Sonic shook his head as his eyes found themselves staring at the tiny bullet wound on Shadow’s chest, in that tiny patch of white fur. Where Shadow’s heart, the same one he pointed to on the moon, was.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. All those days — those months Sonic had thought Shadow was dead, that he never got to save him, gone to waste because Shadow was alive …but for how much longer? How many more breaths does he get to take before the bullets kill him from the inside, or until he has no blood left? For months, Sonic thought he should’ve been the one to disappear, to die in the explosion of the Eclipse Cannon, but in the end none of that mattered. Because Shadow had once again sacrificed himself for him.
No . Not again.
Sonic tore his gaze away from Shadow when a furious yell echoed across the room. Green eyes looked up to see Knuckles leaping over him, fists at the ready. The red echidna landed heavily on the ground just in front of Sonic, slamming his fists down with enough strength that a red energy-blast shook the room. The unsuspecting agents were knocked off their feet, their weapons sent flying out of their hands. Knuckles let out a satisfied smirk before he put himself in front of Sonic, shielding his teammate from any other attacks.
Sonic was about to offer Knuckles his thanks, but a sharp gasp from Shadow forced him to turn back to the black hedgehog in his arms.
“Shadow, you gotta stay with me.” Sonic begged, pressing his hand down gently on Shadow’s heart. “Everything will be okay.” Blood stained his glove red, but he did not care. Shadow was all that mattered. “You’ll be okay.”
“I’m sorry…” Shadow gasped, trembling in pain as he spoke. Sonic’s eyes were wide as he listened. “I had…to fix things…”
“You gotta press harder, Sonic.” Tom instructed, pulling the blue hedgehog’s attention away from Shadow. “You need to stop the bleeding. We don’t have a tourniquet right now, so you need to apply a lot of pressure. Kneel on him if you have to.”
Maddie knelt beside the two hedgehogs, throwing her long black hair before replacing Sonic’s hands with hers. She pressed down hard on Shadow’s wounds, eliciting a pained yell from the black hedgehog whom she tried to comfort through words of praise and comfort.
For the first time, in a really long time, Sonic was glad his parents were a police officer and a vet.
“This is really bad…” Maddie muttered, her eyes darting between the several puncture wounds on Shadow’s chest. “He’ll be facing a lot of issues if we don’t get him to an operating table, ASAP.”
“Like…?” Sonic asked. Dread filled his gut as he waited for Maddie’s answer.
“Uh…” Maddie stuttered, trying to formulate an answer that would not scare the blue hedgehog. The soft glare she received from him, however, forced her to deliver the punch straight. “Severe bleeding, abdominal wall and organ damage and a possible lung collapse.”
Sonic nodded, frantically turning his head to Tails, who was standing next to Knuckles and putting up a brave face. The agents were on their feet once more, reloading their guns with Rockwell in the lead, her hazel eyes glaring at the group of aliens as she approached with her weapon. Sonic hissed an urgent call to Tails, bringing the two-tailed fox to his side at an instant.
“We need to get out of here, Tails.” He whispered. Green eyes darted towards the agents who were beginning to close in on them. “Please tell me you have a ring.”
“I’m sorry, Sonic, I don’t.” The fox replied with a shake of his head, his eyes reflecting a sincere — but unneeded — apology. “G.U.N. confiscated everything when they teleported us in…I don’t even have my gadgets.”
Sonic let out a low hiss. Of course G.U.N. have learned. They would’ve been dumb if they didn’t, after all of the encounters with the Wachowski family.
“Stand down, aliens.” Director Rockwell’s demanding voice filled the room as she raised her gun at them. “We don’t miss.”
As he looked up at her, tension building in the air around them, desperation began to grow in Sonic. Too much was at stake now, and he wasn’t going to risk anyone else getting hurt. He called Knuckles back to the group, who reluctantly followed orders and ran to Sonic’s side, kneeling while he cast the agents a threatening glare. Sonic did the same before he leaned down to Shadow and gently shook the black hedgehog awake.
A sharp pain shot through his heart when Shadow’s pained, red eyes looked up at him.
“I know I’m asking a lot, but I need you to teleport us out.” Sonic whispered to him, clutching his hand tightly. “We can help you, but you need to get us out. Can you do that?”
A weak whine escaped through Shadow’s gritted teeth, but Sonic held on. He leaned closer, pressing his forehead against the black hedgehog, whispering gentle words in his ears.
“I know you’re in pain, but I promise we can help.” He said. “As soon as you get us out of here, we’ll make it better. Please?”
For a moment, Sonic believed he wasn’t going to get an answer as Shadow shut his eyes again, falling limp in his arms. But slowly, his weak and shaking hand gripped Sonic’s tightly. His sharp teeth gritted as Shadow forced himself to lift his head, taking sharp and heavy breaths as he prepared to teleport.
“Grab the others.” He muttered, struggling to stay awake but his grip remained as tight as he could manage.
Sonic nodded, returning a reassuring hold on Shadow’s hand. He turned to Tails and with his free hand, he held the young fox’s hand, who then held Knuckles’. The echidna then turned to Tom, offering his hand to him, to which he accepted before taking Maddie’s hand into his. Sonic smiled as he watched his family hold each other, and then he gave Shadow a gentle squeeze to tell him they were ready.
Energy crackled through them as Shadow channelled whatever was left of his strength, summoning all of his power to teleport the family out.
Sonic snuck one last glance at the surprised and furious Director Rockwell before he, and his family, disappeared in a flash of light.