[Sonic Forces] Spark

Marbles On Glass

A/N: I need more Sonic and Avatar cutscenes in my life, and I blame this fic for it.

Enjoy.

-.-

Winnie did not have to wait long to hear a commotion at the door. The sounds of firearms and metal bursting into flames could be heard in the otherwise still room. Like a child staring at a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve, hoping to spot Santa Claus, Winnie kept her attention at the door. She sat up straighter when she saw sparks coming off the door, rising into a large arc and coming back down. There was a sound of the door being kicked down; Winnie flinched. When she looked again, there coming out of the dust was one Shadow the Hedgehog.

The Mobian let out a cry of relief as she tried to get Shadow's attention. Shadow immediately turned his attention to the birdcage and, upon assessing the situation, started to prepare a Chaos Spear. Winnie recognized this as she started to frantically wave her hands- it wasn't her that he needed to save. Raising a curious eyebrow, Shadow stood down as he tried to figure out what Winnie was doing. Desperate, she finger spelled 'S-O-N-I-C' and pointed to the machine the blue hedgehog was strapped to.

Shadow raised an eyebrow before turning to the direction she pointed in. Winnie could feel her stomach churn as Shadow's eyes grew wide with horror. Quickly, Shadow induced Chaos Control to get closer to the birdcage.

"What do we do?" he demanded.

'C-O-N-S-O-L-E' came the quick finger spell, along with a point to the console in question. Without wasting a moment, Shadow turned around and fired his Chaos Spears at the contraption. The spears were exact toward their mark, the console bursting into flames in seconds of being hit. With the console rendered useless, the glass bubble that held Sonic started to crack. Shadow reacted by going under the glass bubble, not having to wait long for Sonic to fall out, and catching the blue hedgehog with relative ease.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

Everyone's attention snapped to the broken doorway; there stood a pissed Fay'lin, her feathers looking ruffled in the worst of ways. Winnie trembled at seeing her old boss like that, Shadow barely blinked.

"Fay'lin." Shadow said, placing Sonic on the ground. "We've found a lot of information about you."

"I bet you have." the bird growled, stepping further into the room. Shadow, too, stepped closer to her; there was a darkness in his eyes that would have scared anyone. It was a warning too; back away now and you may get to live. Just maybe. Shadow wasn't known for being polite, after all.

"If you give up now and go quietly, I promise not to hurt you too much." Shadow sneered.

"As if I would go out quietly." Fay'lin argued with a snarl of her own, pulling out her modified pistol without fear.

Shadow didn't even hide the fact that he rolled his eyes at her. Utilizing Chaos Control, Shadow disappeared from his spot and reappeared right behind Fay'lin. The bird Mobian was disoriented for a moment and had waited far too long to react before Shadow rammed his elbow into the base of her neck. Winnie clasped her hands over her mouth as Fay'lin fell to the ground unconscious.

"She's not dead." Shadow announced to no one in particular as he picked up her pistol. In a smooth motion, he bent the weapon in two as if it had been made out of twigs instead of solid iron. With both the weapon and villain incapacitated, Shadow then returned his attention to getting Winnie out of the birdcage.

Apparently, it was simply a matter of undoing the lock since the console that controlled pretty much everything in the room had been obliterated.

Shadow set Winnie down on the ground, make some basics checks to make sure she was alright, then walked away.

"This is Shadow." he said into his communicator. "The threat has been neutralized, but we may need medical assistance ASAP."

"You got it honey." Rouge's voice said from the other end. "I'll send out Tails with medvac and extraction."

"Good." came Shadow's rough reply before ending the call. Finished with what he needed to do, the dark colored hedgehog turned back to Winnie. The Mobian had almost immediately gone to Sonic's side after Shadow had gotten her out, and now she was looking over the blue blur in worry. What was driving Shadow nuts was the fact that he could almost feel the grief come off of her.

"He's alive." Shadow said to her. Winnie looked up at him with a confused and unsure expression. The hedgehog rolled his eyes before moving over to her. "He has a pulse," he elaborated, "It's weak, but persistent. Sonic will survive."

Winnie continued to look at Shadow before looking back down at Sonic. She knew that Shadow was right, but until Sonic was awake again, nothing would make her feel better about the situation.

. . .

"You will never be able to stop us!" Fay'lin cried, loud enough for the whole Resistance to hear. "Once Starline finds Eggman, all of you are done for! All of you!!"

"Sure, sure, honey." Rouge sighed as she filed her nails. "Just keep walking."

Fay'lin released a feral growl that scared everyone in the vicinity, spare for her escorts Rouge and E-123 Omega. Winnie was walking opposite of the trio and minding her own business before Fay'lin recognized her.

"YOU!!" the insane bird screeched, causing Winnie to stop dead in her tracks. "I'LL KILL YOU WITH MY OWN BARE HANDS IF I NEED TO! MARK MY WORDS!!"

"Would you shut up?" Rouge now asked in a much darker voice, using her nail file to hit the bird Mobian upside the head. Fay'lin whipped her head around to give Rouge a devastating glare.

"HoW dArE yOu...?!"

Winnie flinched as she watched the group make a turn and out of earshot. She nearly jumped out of her skin when someone put a gentle hand on her shoulder. With a sigh, she found that it was only Tails.

"How you doing buddy?" the young fox asked.

'Fine.' Winnie's communication screen displayed, despite her not looking fine in the slightest. Tails picked up on this but didn't say anything about it directly.

"Have you gone to see Sonic recently?" Tails then asked, motioning for Winnie to walk with him. As the two walked, the Mobian shook her head. This prompted Tails to wonder, "Why not?"

'Amy.'

"Oh..."

It was no surprise to anyone that Amy had become comatose Sonic's most frequent visitor. Some times you could hear her crying through the door, wishing that Sonic would just wake up already. Almost because of it, Winnie had become the least frequent visitor, right after Shadow. The other reason? Guilt. Lots and lots of guilt.

"The doctor said that he's going to wake up soon." Tails noted, sounding like he was speaking a thought more than speaking to Winnie. "If you want to go see him, you might want to do it soon."

That was when Winnie gave Tails a concerned look. He noticed it quickly enough before waving his arms. "I didn't mean it like that!" he quickly claimed. "I meant that, if you wanted to be there when he woke up, now would be the time to go! I can understand if you don't want to see Sonic just laying there of course, but I'm just saying..."

This time, it was Winnie who put a calm hand on Tails's shoulder. Maybe she'll visit Sonic; she just hoped that she wouldn't become a blubbering mess like Amy when she did so.