"You can't go back out there!"
You sling your pack over your shoulder, your expression solemn and stiff. The door beckons you out, your mind and heart made up.
"(Y/n) please don't do this. Don't end up like me."
You look back for a moment, a quiet sadness in your eyes. "Dad, just because you couldn't do it doesn't mean I'm happy living like this. I'm sick of hiding and I'm sick of losing everything that's ours."
He rolls his wheelchair forward reaching a hand out to yours. "You can get out of here, you can get away from all of this pain and struggling but I just need you to be patient with me while I get everything together-"
You pull your hand away. "I'm not just some wallflower waiting for some hero to come along and save me. If anything's going to change I need to get stronger. The best warriors in history that didn't rely on magic or crazy powers all came from there. I'm going. Bye, dad... Sorry that I'm still disappointing you."
"(Y/n) I..." You run out of the house before he can respond. You knew he had come outside, you could feel his gaze on you as you crossed the horizon... But this time you swore you wouldn't look back. You wouldn't let him talk you out of it. Eggman took your home, your food, your money, your entire way of life. Your father gave up everything just to make end's meet and when he tried to resist the doctor took his legs too. It never slowed Dad down but you still couldn't forgive Eggman for that. You would never forgive him for that...
______
A scorched circle remained where you once stood, a weight holding you down as your consciousness shifts back to reality. You look down, your eyes meeting Tails'. "Hey! C'mon get up!"
You clamber up, your gaze zeroing in on Eggman. You could feel your blood coming to a boil as everything you had ever repressed or ignored started oozing to the surface.
Tails looks at you expectantly, "You need to get out of here! We can get Knuckles back so just go!" He grabs your arm and tugs. You look over to him with fire in your eyes, optically tracing over his body as you do. His lower half was charred, the fur burned substantially and blackened up to his chest. His once vibrant eyes were now glossy and panicked as he tugged on you.
You grip his arm forcefully and push, causing him to topple backwards. "You're all too weak to do anything, fox. Run away with your tails between your legs, I'm taking care of this." You spew venom in your words, a rage of endless depth forming in your chest. The second time around the regret you contemplated had swiftly turned to anger...
Playing nice with these posers.. Lying to countless mobians and stealing from people everywhere... Hacking into systems that would cripple major organizations in the clutches of Eggman... Throwing away your chance at a normal life for rigorous training and secrecy... Leaving your old life behind and refusing to ever look back on anyone or anything... And it was all his fault...
You look back to the mech, "You never could understand why I joined you could you, doctor? Even a genius can still be clueless I guess... Truthfully, the island where you manuf-"
A laugh comes from the mech and cuts you off, Eggman amused at the sudden explanation, "As fun as this sounds I think I'll just flambe you instead! Dead men tell no tales!" He takes aim at you again, the cannon charging up.
You burst off the ground in a sprint on all fours. Eggman can't react as you close the distance in the blink of an eye. "Don't interrupt me." You scurry up the mech's arm, looking into the clear dome. Eggman's face is faintly visible inside with a cocky smile. "-where you manufactured fluids for your machines-"
He swings the cannon hand at you. An effortless shift to the left as you dodge the attack, the robot hits the dome. Eggman shrieks as the mech is knocked off balance for a moment, Knuckles breaking free from it's grasp and landing on the tiled floor. "You little-"
"-It was a struggle to grow or buy food without importing, so naturally my siblings and I did what we could while Dad picked up any odd jobs he could..." The mech's hands clap together to crush you, but to no avail as you backflip off the machine and begin pacing to the side with a hand on your hip. "We couldn't sustain that life, so Dad joined the fight against you. When he left his eyes were full of fire- but when he returned he lost his fighting spirit along with his legs."
"Who cares!? No one asked about your stupid crybaby story!" Eggman swings a fist down at you, Knuckles getting between and catching it firmly.
He groans under the weight of the strike, but you continue walking and eye up a few pieces of rubble before walking toward a sharp broken metal rod. "I ended up learning the art of stealth and assassination from the shinobi in the Dragon Kingdom. At first I thought I could make a difference, be the hero that I wanted to see in the world. But that was a lie." You reach down and grab the bar, leveling it in your hand as you feel out the weight. "Heroes don't exist in this world. Posers. Wannabes. Imitators. -But real heroes?"
Knuckles throws the robot fist to the side, jumping up at Eggman and aiming for the cockpit but is quickly slapped back down. He rolls backward but skids to a stop on his feet. "Tails! Get Sonic out of here! We've got this!"
Eggman laughed mockingly, "No one's getting out this time! Not any of you or the emo ninja!" He aims the cannon at the doorway, a single blast enough to effectively seal the room.
Your step is as quiet as a whisper, your legs carrying you to Eggman's mech as if you were a gentle summer's breeze. You stand on the robot's head, looking down with a coldness that could freeze even a mechanical heart. "I thought I said don't interrupt me."
A chill runs down Eggman's spine, his sensors just barely triggering before you plunge the rod through the top of the mech. Several red lights blare within the dome, smoke leaking into the cockpit as you jump back down and pick up a second sharpened piece of metal.
Knuckles looks at you with unease, "Hey, (y/a), you alright-?" His tone conveyed his pensiveness, your demeanor so drastically shifted that even he was uneasy to be this close to you.
You inspect the tip, an emotional vacancy in your eyes. "-True heroes are fantasy. Villains are real though, you're a perfect example of that. You, Sonic, Knuckles, Tails- all of you impose your own ideals on others because you have more power than them." You throw the pipe at the robot. Eggman goes to block it, the air filling with a horrid metal on metal scream as the pipe implanted into the arm of the mech.
He presses several buttons as more errors seem to flash up before a shield is deployed around the robot. "I can't believe some backwater loser made me use my anti-Sonic shield when the stupid hedgehog isn't even mobile..." Several slots open up on the face of the robot, tiny beeping preceding a sudden barrage of missiles.
The heroes scatter, Tails running over to Sonic and shielding him as the missiles strike the ground, tossing them across the room. Knuckles dodges to the side, lunging and rolling for a moment before the tail end of the explosions catch him and launch him into a wall.
"It's easy to make others believe anything when you have power..." You sat on the robot's shoulder, gliding across the battlefield moments before the missiles even left their launch ports. "It's something I've learned during all this time... Those that are powerful are considered 'right.' So if I end up having more power than any of you does that make me right?"
A machine gun pops up, firing rapidly on you. "Hah! Stupid (Y/A)! Serves you right!-"
A few beads of sweat roll down Eggman's face as he hears you on his other shoulder.
"If I were to take your life right now would that make all of my actions justified? It wouldn't make the years I wasted come back, it wouldn't make my dad go back to the way he used to be, and it wouldn't undo all the things I've ever done to swindle the people of this planet..."
Eggman turns his head to look at you, a trace of worry on his face as you stare freezing daggers into him.
"-but it would be so satisfying in the moment..."
"How did you get past my shield you little vermin!?" The doctor presses more buttons, the mech charging up briefly before releasing a shock wave. You jump off the robot swiftly as the electric field only slightly creeps into you before you leave it's range.
You stand with your hands crossed, Eggman's shield growing more and more unstable before it gave out completely. "Your system has plenty of holes for me to exploit, if you weren't so cocky maybe you would've noticed when I ruined your network. The fox can build complex machines, but I can take anything apart. You're no exception."
Sonic slung Tails over his shoulder, the fox knocked out cold from the missile strike. "Knuckles! We've gotta get Tails out of here!" He limps over to Knuckles, whom was still getting his bearings after the rough horizontal impact.
He shakes his head a few times, running over to Sonic and supporting both him and Tails. He grits his teeth looking back toward the exit. But there was no way he could burrow them out fast enough with Eggman just being one shot away from burying them. Knuckles would be fine but Sonic and Tails wouldn't get out of it better for the wear. "(Y/a)! Can you keep him off us? I'll come back to help you as soon as I can!"
Your gaze remains unbroken on the doctor. "Not my concern, echidna." You pick up another piece of debris and approach the mech. "There's not much I have left now, all of my ties were severed the moment I decided in my heart that I would go there and train. When you ended up recruiting me to your side it wasn't ever because I liked you or thought you were a visionary. It was because I thought you had a mind that had no equal."
You drag the tip across the ground as you encroach closer... "As it turns out brute force can overcome wits most of the time. In fact, if I were to rip you out of that machine what would you be able to do to me, really?"
You dash forward, getting onto the back of the mech and stabbing into the jets keeping it airborne. The motor sputters violently, an explosion bursting from it as Eggman screams, the robot throwing to the side and thrashing against the wall before drifting backward into the open air. "You freak! Do you have a death wish!?"
You laugh with a sinister smile as you plunge the bar into the jet again, prompting it to spit out more fire and smoke. It begins to spiral in the air, it's movements random and jagged as Eggman fought to regain control. "Fine! You want to play ball!? You want to be in the big leagues, kid!?" He presses a few more buttons as the robot begins beeping. "Stupid (Y/A)! Let's see you preach to me when you're reduced to dust!" He ejects from the mech, a hatch opening on it's back and throwing you off to the side as he flies away on his Egg-Mobile. Your eyes squint as you watch helplessly, baring your fangs as you catch sight of your belt hanging from a hook on the hovering vehicle.
You shift your weight backward as you fall out of the air, the mech crashing down beneath you before you land springy on your feet. "Bastard got away..." Staring in the direction he was traveling it was easy to see his objective. He's returning to base to regroup. Safe to say he also stole the chaos emerald before he left too... Damn it...
You look at the mech as a countdown was clearly visible on it's display. Several resistance soldiers looked on in fear, some approaching the robot and attempted to interact with the interface but failed in stopping the countdown- A few more bad attempts later and the 3 minute timer reduces itself to 2 minutes.
If I find a boat I could probably get away from the island before it blows up...
Knuckles glides down, Tails on his back as both of them look at you expectantly, "What happened back there-!? Were you even trying to help or what!?" Knuckles yelled at you, immediately pointing a forceful finger at you.
You look at him blankly, it didn't matter whether they live or die. You begin to walk away as Tails grabs your wrist. He spoke weakly, an apparent daze still in him, "Hey, this isn't the best time to ask but could you shut down the bomb?"
You clench your fist, "Let go of me, fox."
His grip tightens weakly as his voice became just a little shaky, "I got hit hard, I can't do this myself right now. I'm barely able to walk and my sight's hazy at best- Don't let all these people that you just helped to save die over Eggman's spite."
You turn back, "Don't you get it yet? It was never my intention to save any of you. I would infiltrate you just enough to get my stuff back and return to Eggman. We aren't friends and I'm not here to stroke your hero complex." You snatch your hand away, Tails stumbling slightly as he loses his leverage. "You want to save these people? Then you figure it out hero."
You start walking away again, your gaze fixed forward as you march on. Your ears flick back, the sound of muffled crying resounding in your ears. The fox's voice gets shakier, his grip on his own well being dwindling down to nothing, "I'm sorry Sonic- I can't save us this time-" Sobs break into Tails quiet speech, sniffling as he fell to his knees and buries his face in his hands. "I can't see- I can barely think- and now Eggman's just dropped this whole thing right in the center of our home- all because I couldn't keep up..."
You stop as you continue to listen to Tails' cries, the soldiers in the immediate area looking and listening in despair. Some of them sit down and look around blankly, others trying to call their loved ones as they waited for the bomb to go off. They knew how Eggman did things and this probably wasn't the first time their forces had been wiped out like this. This will destroy the island and everyone on it...
"-Mom? Hi it's Dhalia- I just wanted to say I love you-"
"-Hey son, hope your studies are going well-"
"-I left the recipe for my pies in my email so check that-"
"-I should've called sooner but I was always so busy-"
"-I don't think I'll be coming home-"
"-tell James I love him-"
"-wanted to say I've always loved you-"
"-don't forget to eat proper meals-"
"-and I'm proud of you so I know you'll-"
The voices overlap one another, looking around at everyone's faces you can't help but feel pity for them. They looked like you did way back when...
Lost.
Unsure..
Sacred...
You walk back toward the mech and sigh to yourself as you hop up into the cockpit. A few soldiers take notice but put their heads back down. No one was going to save them now...
You type a few commands, the system rejecting you as the timer ticks down to a minute. You shake your head annoyed, taking a breath and tying again. The bypasses weren't working but it was impossible that the doctor had changed anything drastically in such a short time. You clack the keys further, the atmosphere seeming to get quiet as your eyes shot around the screen. You get past the lock and into the system, a complex home screen waiting for you. There were hundreds of meters and readouts, drop downs in drop downs and submenus for anything you clicked on. You tisk your tongue as your gaze intensifies, "I've already wasted too much time, either this stops or I'm dying here too..."
Tails breathes deeply a few times as he tries to compose himself at least a little bit. Knuckles helps him to his feet and acts as a support, slinging his arm over his shoulder. "Knuckles, it's been a blast fighting with you. It's a shame that Sonic can't run right now but... I know that he knows how much I care about him."
Knuckles shakes his head, "We're not out of the fight just yet." He motions with his head to the cockpit, "That (y/a) just walked over and hopped in. They didn't say anything but they looked pissed."
Tails looked toward the mech pensively. "Could you take me over there?" Knuckles nods, the pair hobbling over as the beeping grows louder. The red light illuminates your face as a fierce determination was reflected in your eyes. Your expression was serious but not as cold as it had been earlier as an intense focus had taken control. Tails glances the screen to see hundreds of pop up windows open and close in the span of moments as you sifted through every single file you could in search of a way to shut down the self destruct. His mouth opens a little in awe, the sheer speed of your hacking leaving him awestruck. He looks up at you, and there was just... Something about it that makes his heart skip. Death was looming but you were so calculated.. Honestly you seemed almost at ease as you worked, as if it was a test that you might fail instead of a life or death situation.
-BEEP BEEP!-
The timer stops with 10 seconds remaining. Tails looks on stunned, Knuckles as well though he sports just the smallest smug smile. You lean back in the seat, breathing quietly to yourself. "How annoying, all that trouble and- Dramatic, you're so dramatic doctor..."
There was a moment of quiet as the remaining time passed by, several soldiers looking around confused and coming to investigate as Tails jumps you and pulls you into a hug, "You did it!! You stopped the bomb!!" Cheers roar across the battlefield as the soldiers all take a collective breath of relief and find a place to scream for a while. His arms wrap tight around you, his tears wetting your fur as you're interrupted from your thoughts.
"Huh-? Let go of me, fox-!" Your cheeks heat up a little as you scramble in the seat unable to escape. "It's not like I would have survived if that went off-!"
He puts his hands on your shoulders and looks into your gaze with glossy eyes, "Tails! Call me Tails, all my friends call me Tails-!" He smiles big at you, relief apparent in his entire demeanor. "I thought that was it- But you saved us! You saved everyone!"
Your eyes avert his gaze, "We're not friends, fox." Too much had happened too quickly for you to know how to feel, the attention just making you feel uncomfortable as you stood up and hopped out of the mech. Tails tries to trail behind you but stumbles as Knuckles catches him again.
"Way to go (y/a)! And here I thought you were just some heartless bastard!" Knuckles laughs loudly hoisting Tails up.
You back away from them, the soldiers also beginning to crowd you as they cheered.
No.. This is wrong... This is all wrong...
You flip back and catch a lamp post, perching on top of it as you look down on the crowd. "You're cheering for the wrong person. What I did was an act of self preservation and all of you would be wise to remember that." A few jeer in the crowd before you bare your teeth, a low growl coming from your chest. "I mean it! Let this be a lesson to all of you. If I hadn't wasted my time I could have escaped before the bomb went off. All of you would be dead. Don't cheer for someone you think is a hero, take time and get stronger so that you don't need saving. If this happens a second time I'm leaving you all to die."
You leap from the pole and sprint deeper into town. Some soldiers attempt to follow you but you're too swift, disappearing in the remains of chaos that became of the city.
. . .
Was I really contemplating killing the doctor?
You scurry down a subway and take a rest, a pensive expression plastered on your face. You DID save those people... For a second there it almost felt like you were the hero...
"-heh" You sigh to yourself as tears spill from your eyes, your arms and legs getting weak as you collapse to the ground with a knot twisting in your chest. You weren't a hero, you were just a coward. A coward that couldn't stand up for themselves. You ended up aiding a tyrant by delivering the tool he needed to have an endless power supply for an army of robots...
If I help him it'll work out-?
More tears rolled from your eyes as you clutched your head tightly in your hands, cursing yourself... "Come on (y/n), I thought we were done with the childish hopes and dreams..."
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One more part left in "Nemesis"
On this part and Part14 leave comments of anything you want me to add and I'll consider it as long as I can work it into the narrative in a way I like! That can be: More characters/ dynamics/ settings/ etc! I'm looking forward to your suggestions! <3