IMPENDING DOOM

02

✥
TWO
Escape
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៚ IT TOOK AGENT STONE A LONG TIME TO REFOCUS. The pretty thing was just . . . too pretty to take his eyes off of.

Like, for real. It was like a dream come true: a hedgehog, no doubt powerful and insane like Sonic, but with his and the Doctor's colors? The aesthetic combination of red and black? Perfection. Chef's kiss tenfold.

"AgEnT StOnE!"

. . . Ah. He had paused for too long. Robotnik was screaming in his ear.

"Ivo, just be silent a moment." He was practically wheezing. Why was it so hard to breathe? Excitement was literally choking him and that is just rude.

". . . Are you having cardiac arrest?"

"No."

"Asthmatic?"

"No. Just shush." Then heat immediately flushed up and down his neck after the word left his lips.

No one tells Ivo Robotnik to shush.

The Doctor huffed loudly in his ear but obeyed. "Hurry it up, Stone," he muttered.

A few deep breaths. A hand to his throbbing heart. Soon Agent Stone was calm again. Click and clack went the keys on the keyboard from Robotnik's end, echoing in the earpiece.

Agent Stone walked around the desk and its many monitors, approaching the glass tube. Mist curled all around it and the cold could be felt from the other side of the room.

"Oh my God" left his lips without really knowing, and the cold entered his chest and soul.

Upon further inspection, Agent Stone could see them.

Shackles. Chains. Manacles. Whatever word suits your fancy, but none of them can really describe it. The dread and sickness of a thousand terrible ideas made a home in Agent Stone's ribs. The cold, unforgiving iron was snaked around wrists and ankles, waist and neck. Like this hedgehog was some feral animal that needed to be chained up.

But maybe the hedgehog was.

But also maybe it wasn't.

Once upon a time, the good Doctor wanted to study Sonic. Wanted to slurp up that blue electricity like it was a latte with steamed Austrian goat milk. Agent Stone really didn't know his true intentions. Would Robotnik have dissected Sonic? Experimented on him? Or did he want a simple quill, a simple blood sample to see?

Agent Stone wished he knew. Because now the very thing he wanted was right here. Agent Stone would not let another villain harm this hedgehog. He was a villain, yes. He sided with Robotnik and he, too, found Sonic to be somewhat of an annoyance. A villain, he was, yes, but a black-hearted evil?

No, sir.

This child was a victim. Something in his not-black heart told him so.

He would give Project Shadow to Robotnik, but he wouldn't allow him to experiment on the child. He would rather die. If Robotnik wanted to do so with Sonic, once upon a time, Agent Stone would have denied him then also.

Agent Stone put his hand on the glass. It bit his glove with the sharpest of teeth, glass so frozen that it burned.

"Computer, open it up."

"Opening capsule."

It's rather laughable how the computer system didn't have face or voice recognition. Agent Stone supposed the Commander—or whatever asshole ran this show—assumed no one but them would know of this, so they didn't bother with an appropriate security system.

That, or maybe Robotnik was disabling everything. Didn't matter.

The glass coffin hissed and clicked, manacles opening with a loud metal clank. Agent Stone remained directly in front of it, anxious, sweating despite the frozen room. The glass slid away and the hedgehog began to fall, preparing to land flat on his face.

Luckily, Agent Stone was quick. He caught the frozen child in both arms, somewhat cradling him.

Agent Stone was frightened for a moment. The computer had claimed all vitals were stable, but here, in his arms, the child was unresponsive. So cold and stiff he could have been dead. There were marks in his fur were the manacles had once been, bare skin where fur should have grown. The sickness in his chest doubled but he had to ignore it. Two fingers to the child's neck put him at ease; there was a heartbeat.

"Let's get the hell outta here," he murmured to no one in particular. He told the computer to put everything back the way it was, then told the Doctor to wipe its memory of the last ten minutes.

"Abracadabra, screw you!" sang Robotnik as he did so. "Now get out, Stone! Hurry back!"

Agent Stone, cradling the hedgehog close, scurried down the fire escape and out into the parking lot. Cameras were blind to him. Blind to everything, thanks to a man with a three-numbered intelligence quotient. He had stolen from the government and no one knew. They might find out months from now, but by then, he and Robotnik would be long gone.

He hurried to the car, his lovely Tesla of red and black he liked to call Omega, and he lay the hedgehog down in the back seat, draping his coat over him. In a second, he was behind the wheel, keys in a shaking hand.

"Package secure, Doctor," he said breathlessly, starting the car. "I'm on my way."

Robotnik cackled maniacally in a way that was comical. Agent Stone smiled.