These Inhibitors' Flaws (Reworked)

Chapter One

"What?"

Sonic stared at the rings in Knuckles' hands, frowning. The rings looked slightly off, not perfectly circular but more oval shaped. This was because they were "open." They almost looked to be made out of frosted glass, and he could see intricate silver lines, with rounded contacts, along the inside of them. They were a deep crimson colour, swirled with slightly lighter ribbons. Despite the colour, he immediately decided he did not like them. At all.

He outright refused to wear them.

"Clearly, your energy is out of control," Knuckles said. "We think it's time you got inhibitors, like Shadow."

Sonic couldn't help but notice the way Tails was avoiding eye contact with him. Or the way he winced when Knuckles said "we." It did not appear that this conclusion was agreed upon by both of them. Was this what Knuckles had spoken to Tails about back at Eggman's base three days ago?

"My energy is not out of control," Sonic hissed.

Knuckles gave him a look that screamed "are you sure?" and Sonic wanted to punch him in the face. It was one time. One. He'd gotten really good at managing his Chaos energy, and his super forms. He messed up once. For the first time in years. How was this fair?

"Don't fight this, bro, please?" Tails mumbled. "It won't be that bad. Shadow manages just fine."

"Shadow is Shadow," Sonic grumbled, trying his hardest not to snap at his brother.

He kept his arms folded tightly at his chest. Perhaps if Knuckles couldn't get to his wrists he'd give up and Sonic wouldn't have to wear them. It was silly to think that would work for long, but he would put this off as much as possible. They all knew Knuckles was physically stronger than Sonic. If he got frustrated enough, it wouldn't take much to tackle Sonic to the ground and force them onto his wrists.

Of course, he'd have to catch Sonic first.

And he was seriously thinking of booking it right now. It was alarmingly easy to piss off Knuckles sometimes. Sonic had gotten his fair share of bruises from making Knuckles angry over the years. And a couple broken bones. Not to mention that scar under his chin from when they first met; those spikes on Knuckles' fists were no joke. Granted, Knuckles did hold back more when they got into their occasional scuffles these days. Sonic hadn't received a scar like that from him for a while.

Knuckles narrowed his eyes. "I know that look, hedgehog. Don't bother trying, I already had Tails lock all the doors and windows."

Sonic eyed Tails, trying to gauge how accurate that was.

"Sorry, Sonic..." Tails mumbled, still not meeting his eye.

Sonic huffed, keeping his arms folded. He sank further into the dark settee. They had ambushed him while he was napping. They must have locked everything while he was dead to the world. Sonic wondered how he hadn't heard them doing that; he was generally a light sleeper. Perhaps he hadn't slept as well as he'd thought last night.

Knuckles sighed. "Come on Sonic, don't be difficult."

Sonic continued to glare past him, arms folded. Knuckles shook his head and passed the inhibitors to Tails, who took them hesitantly. Sonic saw this exchange in the corner of his eye and growled under his breath. Knuckles was such an asshole. He was going to make Tails do it because he knew Sonic would not lay a finger on his little brother. He couldn't.

Sonic closed his eyes and let out a puff of air as Tails stepped closer. His tails were flicking and he still couldn't meet his eye. Sonic opened his eyes and stared at the inhibitors. He could just take them off later anyway, right? When they were both gone, he could just slip them off, "accidentally" lose them, and they'd never have to speak about this again. After a moment, Sonic unfolded his arms and held out his wrists like he was about to be put in handcuffs. Though, he supposed they kind of were like handcuffs.