In a flash the group is warped to a completely new location, the surroundings unfamiliar to you. Before you begin to understand where you are Shadow grabs you by the arm and pushes you up against the wall. "Why did you bring them!?" You grunt weakly as Shadow yells behind you, his grip tightening.
"Shadow, we couldn't just leave them to die-" Amy steals a glance at you pensively, "-even if we might think that they deserve it. It's our duty to help anyone we can." She walked over, taking your belt of goodies off your waist and stepping back.
Shadow huffed intently. "Any ally of the doctor should be held accountable for their actions. This (Y/A) in particular. The information leaks, the plans to various government facilities, schematics for technology being developed and records of Nocturnus Clan devices- All of those were stolen and hand delivered to Robotnik because of them." You could feel his words cutting into you, like knives being thrust into your spine. "Payment with their life is letting them off easy."
Sonic wipes his face with a nearby rag, his gloves still messy, "But- didn't you work for Egghead for a while there too? And try to overthrow the government, blew up a island, helped Egghead blow up the moon, tried to kill everyone on the planet-"
Shadow held a hand up, "I get it, message received." His grip loosens as he lets go of your arm. As you look at him you can see he's still watching your every move in case you try anything. "Regardless we were forced to flee one of the doctor's installments. Destroying it is one thing but we weren't so careless as to cause the entire factory to go supernova."
You furrow your brow, Tails taking note and stepping forward, "I also thought it was strange. I didn't get a chance to get a good look at the wiring while we were there but it almost seemed like Eggman planned on the plant exploding."
Sonic chuckled, "Well of course! When all of us are together there's nothing we can't do!"
Shadow tensed his arms, his expression hardening in thought. "I need to look in to a few things, I'll take our uninvited guest with me to keep an eye on them."
Amy raises her finger in protest, "Respectfully Shadow, I think they'll be more likely to stay in one piece if they stay with us instead..."
Shadow grunts disapprovingly. "They are full of useful information and intel on Eggman, I won't allow anything to happen to them til I've gotten it all out."
Sonic chuckles again, shooting Shadow a knowing glance, "I think we all know that just means you'll practically torture them til you get all the info you want. We still gotta work on your compassion a little there Shad."
Shadow grumbles, turning away and leaning against the wall. "Don't call me 'Shad,' Sonic."
The atmosphere shifts, feeling strangely light as everyone seems to get a giggle out of the exchange between the use-to-be enemies. You let out a sigh, crossing your arms. "Shadow's right you know, as long as I'm here I'm still a threat to- whatever it is you're doing."
Knuckles pounds his fists together a few times. "Planning on causing more trouble? We know how to deal with that kind of behavior.."
You scoff, rolling your eyes, "Spoken like a true hero, echidna. You do the world proud by beating your captive to a pulp because they happened to push your buttons."
"Hey friends, let's all calm down." Sonic claps his hands together. "It's been a long night of kicking egg butt and blowing up factories. Why not just chill out for the night, maybe hit the chili dogs tonight and start fresh tomorrow."
Amy nodded emphatically, "We just did a lot of work trying to arrange the assault on Eggman's base. Trust me I want to hash this out too but we should get some rest first."
Shadow pushes off the wall, walking away from the group, "Do what you want." He vanishes in a flash of light.
Old brat. If this is how you treat your friends no wonder no one ever wants you around.
Sonic shakes his head, "Classic Shadow.. Well with mister gloom and doom gone what's say we get those chili dogs?"
Knuckles eyes you up, his arms crossed with a SEVERE disapproval. "What about them? Are we just gonna bring some (Y/A) that tried to kill us out for dinner now?" He throws his hands up in a fit, storming away before Sonic could answer. "Whatever! I need to check on the Master Emerald and make sure Eggman didn't steal it or something!" His footsteps shake the ground like a toddler throwing a tantrum.
Barbaric and unsightly, He's not fit to guard something as precious as that. It's a miracle it hasn't already been stolen with how much he abandons it.
Amy sighs to herself "And there he goes... Alright boys, what are we doing? Should we drop off our guest at the prison?"
You glare at her, "Isn't there usually a trial before throwing someone in to rot for the rest of their life?" You stare daggers into her, expecting another fluff-filled response like any other time she tried to force her compassion into you during battles past.
She looked back at you with disdain, marching up and getting in your face, "Don't push it. You hit me several times not too long ago, don't think I'm forgetting about that any time soon." Your eyes drift to the lump on her forehead from one of your many attacks, a small smirk forming on your face.
"Yeah that was pretty funny-" you tease, a sour satisfaction in your eyes. She raises her hammer above her head, staring you in the eyes. You return her gaze, an immovable coldness radiating from your expression. It probably wasn't smart to enrage them, but you didn't care.
They aren't heroes, as soon as something happens that gets in the way of their personal desires they'll show their true colors... No one was special, and no one was above being greedy or selfish...
She huffs a puff of hot air in your face, lowering her hammer carefully and averting her eyes. Her expression became bitter and cold, almost a reflection of yours. "Sorry Sonic, I can't do it with them... We almost lost the entire planet to Eggman and I- I can't."
As expected, you got hurt and now it doesn't matter that you saved me. You chose to save me on a whim to stroke your own ego.
When it comes down to it you'll wish you'd let me die once we're fighting again.
Sonic's expression softens for a moment as if he wanted to say something comforting- but it's Sonic. Even you knew that Sonic uses humor as a coping mechanism to keep himself sane. Understandable given how the smartest man ON THE PLANET has tried to kill him and somehow failed like, a lot. "No sweat, Amy! Go put your feet up for a while, we'll keep an eye on the troublemaker! Right buddy?"
Forcing a response instead of being genuine, is that what it means for them to be heroes?
Tails nods, feigning a smile. "That's right! I'll message you with more info later, but in the meantime try to get some good rest tonight." Your eyes glance at Tails, soaking up the fake smile.
Pedestrian. Lying to each other just like everyone else. How are any of you different from the Doctor...
Amy departs tiredly, her feet dragging as she trudged into what looked like woods to you. "It's hard to believe that this is the group that's stopped the Doctor on several occasions. You're all a mess and cant even handle one captive between the five of you."
Tails shoots a glare at you, "We argue and disagree but we're all friends. We still trust each other no matter what-"
You cut him off with a forceful scoff. "You lie to each other and tell half truths. You could be supportive to one another but instead you chose to keep it light and send her on her way. When I escape I promise you won't catch me a second time."
Sonic frowns uncharacteristically, "And here I thought Shadow was the biggest buzz-kill I'd ever met-" He starts walking in the opposite direction of where Amy ventured, his hands crossed behind his head. "You can read into it if you want but this is just how we all are. My friends are the best and brightest around! How could I not want to hang out with them no matter what we're doin?" He looks back at you, a gentle smile on his face as if he didn't have a care in the world. "Honestly it's hard not to keep it light with how cool they all are!"
Poser...
You follow behind Sonic for now... If you ran he could easily catch you, and Amy took your tools so you couldn't contact the Doctor. That would be your first priority then you could figure out where to go from there...
Tails walks beside you, his eyes brighter than usual as he looked to Sonic. He leans his head in your direction, "I think you and I both know that Eggman meant to take all of us out with that explosion. You included." You scrunched your nose as he spoke, the thoughts that were still in your head coming back to the forefront. "To be honest I don't like that you tried to hurt my friends, but all of us made it out okay so I think I can forgive you this time." His eyes looked through you, his tone gentle and lighthearted. "You might not want to be friends with any of us, but we both share an enemy so we can at least be allies. Just something to think about."
Allies... Yeah, if I wanted to be watched and mistrusted all the time... Not that I would trust any of you anyways. Sonic's a wannabe and you, Tails? You're an idealistic dreamer. All of you need to get a grip...
You huff to yourself, not addressing what Tails had said as you continue trailing behind Sonic. Whether someone thought they were doing good or doing evil as usual the only thing that mattered was power. That would never change regardless of which side you had chosen to support.