'Reflections' part 3
by T. 'RockChick' Evans
Disclaimer: It's all in part 1.
A/N- Latifah 27 helped me out with this chapter, the end part is mainly her idea.
Sorry this took so long… I have lots of work to do. And getting hardly any reviews can kind of put a writer off, yes? Well, if you want the next chapter sooner, you know what to do about it. So there.
Re-reading the first part, I just realised how confusing it is. Should I re-write it so it's easier to follow? Feedback please. And yes, the medical stuff towards the end of this chapter isn't exactly accurate, I know nothing about that stuff, it's just what I think. But hey, this is fan fiction so we can ignore little things like that, right?
You can't? Oh. Tough.
Also, anyone who's never read STC may not understand how Sonic got stuck in the mirror universe in the first place. Basically, in the comic Robotnik merged two worlds- Mobius and Shanazar- into one, which played havoc with the fabric of reality. Or something… this opened up a lot of portals into new Zones, alternate universes n' stuff. Sort of like Archie there, I guess. In this story, one of these portals opened up around Sonic.
* * * *
The Control Tower in the mirror Emerald Hill Zone was pretty much identical to the versions in the hundreds of other Mirror Universes, with the exception that where those buildings had steps, this one had ramps. Every now and then, one of the Emerald Hill Folk would pass by, taking no notice of a large vehicle resembling a Volkswagen camper which was parked outside. Moments earlier, two hedgehogs had emerged from the vehicle; one in a wheelchair, the other walking alongside- accompanied by a tall grey rabbit.
The Emerald Hill Folk didn't bat an eyelid at any of this, not until an indignant yell echoed from inside the building.
"What do you mean, 'they're not here' ???"
The mirror Sonic glared up at Porker Lewis from his wheelchair.
"W-well, uh…" the nervous pig stammered, shocked at the outburst. "Amy and… that other Sonic, they never turned up…"
"I don't believe this!" Sonic fumed, bristling. "I knew I should never have trusted that creep. He's… he's gone and run off with my girlfriend!"
The newly- recharged Super Sonic glanced at the angry blue hedgehog. If Sonic got any more ticked off, he thought, there would be steam coming out of his ears.
"Y'know, you really should calm down…" the yellow hedgehog began.
"Calm down?! YOU are telling me to calm down?! Excuse me if I missed something, but--"
"Sonic, don't start that again." Johnny sighed. Porker backed off, keeping his mouth shut, and Super Sonic rolled his eyes. Or maybe he didn't- it was hard to tell.
"Listen. They've been gone for, what? Three, four hours? It's not that long… maybe--" he began.
Sonic shot his lookalike a venomous glare.
"You of all people should know better than that. This is another version of me we're dealing with; he could get here in five minutes if he wanted to." The hedgehog scowled. "I knew this was gonna happen."
"They might have got into trouble or something," Johnny suggested.
"Yeah, Sonic. You're just jumping to conclusions," Super added. Sonic's frown became deeper.
"You'd be the first to complain if he had taken off with Ebony."
"That's different, and you know it!" The yellow hedgehog snapped, returning his glare.
"Is it?" Sonic replied quietly.
For a few seconds, there was a silence as green and red eyes met in two identical hostile stares. If looks could kill - or more precisely, if Super Sonic had decided to use his powers- Sonic would have been fried by now.
"Super and Ebony…?" Porker whispered discreetly to Johnny. The rabbit nodded.
"Yeah..."
The tension was abruptly broken by a quiet 'ahem' from behind, just saving Sonic from getting into a blazing row with himself.
The Kintobor Computer's disembodied face hung in its column of light.
"I did detect some badnik activity not far from here, several hours ago…" the hologram commented. "…But it was in an uninhabited area."
"See?" Johnny said. "Maybe they ran into some trouble."
"Probably because that faker was 'distracted'," Snarled Sonic, turning his wheelchair to face the computer. He then glanced behind him. "Well, goldilocks? Can you sense his energy anywhere?"
Super Sonic looked at Sonic and sighed. It was good to see some life in his counterpart for a change, but his anger was misplaced. Suspicion and jealousy were stopping the blue hedgehog from thinking rationally.
The amber hedgehog closed his eyes and concentrated; 'his' Sonic's energy signal was loud and clear, as was the nearby Chaos Emerald; and he could just about locate the emerald at the Groovy Train. Nothing else though.
"…No, I'm not getting anything…" he said, after a moment. "But Doc. K has a longer range than me." Super Sonic nodded towards the computer, who immediately started scanning with his advanced sensors. There was another pause, this one lasting for a few minutes.
"Got him!" Kintobor exclaimed eventually. His face dissolved and was replaced with a floating map of Mobius, which gradually zoomed in on a barren area of the planet. A red dot appeared at a point on the map. "The other Sonic is right there. And it's fair to assume that Amy is with him."
"I hope that isn't where I think it is," Super Sonic said in a worried tone, carefully scrutinising the map. The spirals in his eyes picked up speed. "I've been there before, and…" he trailed off.
"What? What's wrong?" Sonic demanded frantically.
Super Sonic muttered something incomprehensible, before glancing desperately at Johnny and Porker. They met his gaze before looking at each other worriedly; both rabbit and pig knew that expression on his face only too well. It was Super Sonic's patented 'take cover, Sonic's gonna blow' look.
"Speak up." Sonic growled slowly. Super Sonic looked down.
"Badnik processing plant," he muttered.
The fireworks were as expected. Sonic tended to get… 'extreme' where Amy was involved.
"WHAT?!!" he yelled, angrily spinning his wheelchair to face the others. "A… a badnik processing plant?! You're telling me Amy might have been turned into a badnik?!" The blue hedgehog's eyes went wide with fear and disbelief. All pretence of calm was lost in the thought that Amy, the one who had pulled him back from the brink, who had never given up on him, was in danger. And there was nothing whatsoever he could do to help. That feeling of helplessness came over him again; was he to blame? He couldn't be. His mind searched for a scapegoat, and found one.
"That other 'me'. He's responsible for this… he's probably even working for Robotnik--"
"Sonic…" Porker began, stopping him. "We can't jump to conclusions yet, we don't know what happened…"
Sonic 'hmphed', folded his arms and glared at nothing in particular.
"The important thing is to mount a rescue," Super added.
"Yeah..." Sonic agreed, looking up. "We need to get Amy out of there, and we need to do it right now!" he clenched a fist, looking around impatiently. "Well? What're you guys waiting for? Get Tails and the others, and…"
"Tails isn't here," Johnny reminded him. "He's over at the Chemical Plant Zone, helping the Flock. We can't contact him with all the interference over there--"
"That pixel brain is never around when you need him. What about Knuckles?"
"Since his island sunk, he could be anywhere."
"Tekno?"
"She's with Tails."
Sonic scowled. He glanced at Porker, who cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. It wasn't likely he was going to get involved in any kind of rescue mission. The hedgehog sighed.
"Looks like it's just gonna be you and Johnny," he said to Super Sonic, giving him a pleading look. "Please.. you have to get Amy back… I…"
"It's all right, Sonic. I understand," Super Sonic cut in, knowing how hard it must be for him to ask his other self for help.
"If only…" Sonic began quietly, looking down at his legs, "If only I wasn't so damn useless!"
Porker Lewis saw Sonic's anguished expression and sighed; the hedgehog would give anything to be able to help. And it would take more than two to break into a badnik production facility and make a successful rescue attempt. He frowned thoughtfully, absently tapping his chin. The blue hedgehog looked up as the pig hesitantly cleared his throat.
"Uh, I wasn't going to tell you this yet, but I've been working on this idea…"
* * * *
Meanwhile, elsewhere on Mobius…
Amy scowled and stared morosely through the bars of the dingy cell. A couple of burnished red badnik troopers passed by outside; the pink hedgehog glared at them, but the menacing humanoid machines did not respond. She wished she had her crossbow, so she could shoot them with more than just dirty looks.
There seemed to be more badniks around now than there had been earlier. Amy's frown deepened at that- perhaps something was about to happen…
Hearing a soft sound from behind, Amy regarded the unconscious Sonic who was lying on his back on something that was probably supposed to be a bed. He groaned softly, one gloved hand twitching.
"Sonic?" Amy asked, quickly taking the few steps needed to reach the bed.
"…?" his eyelids fluttered, then opened. "Amy? Wh…what's going on…?"
"We were ambushed by badniks… they got you with their stun guns before you could attack."
Sonic raised a hand and rubbed his aching head, nodding slowly as it came back to him. He propped himself up on his elbows, fighting dizziness, waving Amy off as she fussed and told him to take it easy.
"…Ughhh. How long was I out?" The blue hedgehog glanced around, grimacing as he saw the drab walls of what was obviously a dungeon of Robotnik's design; he'd been in enough of them to recognise one when he saw it.
"A few hours," replied Amy. Sonic nodded again, thoughtfully, before glancing at the pink girl.
"You should've run, Amy. If you had got some help…"
She shook her head.
"Not likely when I had ten badnik troopers holding me at gunpoint. Besides, I wasn't exactly going to leave you behind…"
"Thanks, but I don't think your…" he gave an ironic chuckle, "…devotion is going to get us very far. We're both in the same boat now," Sonic smirked, and grunted as he moved into a sitting position with his legs hanging over the edge of the bed. He gave her a calculating stare. "And I can take care of myself without you keeping an eye on me."
"Um, sorry… It's just, you know… my Sonic…"
"Yeah, yeah, I know." The hedgehog's voice had a distracted tone as his green eyes scanned the walls, ceiling, and floor for an escape route. He wasn't going to be spin-attacking out of here for a while, at least not until the weakness from that stun blast wore off completely.
"Don't bother, I already tried," Amy sighed, observing. "These cells were built to hold Super Sonic…"
"So what? Do I look yellow to you?" Sonic muttered defensively.
Before Amy could reply, there was a clanking sound as the bars swung aside. Several troopers stood with guns at the ready. One of the robots gestured with its weapon.
"You will come with us." The tone of the deep, artificial voice said plainly that this was not a request.
"Make me, bucket head…" Sonic muttered under his breath, receiving a glare from Amy.
"You will come with us," the machine repeated, the way it held its gun showing exactly what would happen if they didn't.
Sonic and Amy looked at each other, both thinking it was a better idea to co-operate than get shot. And maybe there would be a chance to escape along the way somewhere.
"Can you walk?" Amy quietly asked Sonic, who looked unsure but wasn't about to say it out loud.
The troopers escorted the two hedgehogs through the corridors, guns surrounding them on all sides. Sonic was still unsteady on his feet, needing Amy's help to keep going in a straight line.
"Hey," he said to her as they walked, looking somewhat embarrassed. "Don't get any funny ideas because I've got my arm around you, okay?"
"As long as you don't," Amy smirked back.
Sonic hmphed, knowing she was winding him up. As if his Amy wasn't bad enough. But it was best to stay cheerful in situations like this, when they didn't know what Robotnik had in store for them…
* * * *
Emerald Hill…
The mirror Sonic's patience was starting to run out.
He was sitting on the edge of the scanner table in Porker Lewis' lab, gripping the edge with his hands to keep from sliding off. His shirt, jeans and shoes were gone, showing how much thinner he was than his counterpart from the other reality- apart from his arms, which had got stronger from constantly pushing his chair.
His legs, however, were as limp as ever; to pass the time, Sonic spent a few moments trying to flex his toes. As always, it didn't work.
"Johnny and Super Sonic left ages ago, Porker…" he said eventually.
"Because you couldn't wait and sent them ahead," the pig replied, exasperated. "Do you want me to get this working, or not?"
Sonic remained silent. Of course he wanted this to work… if it did, it would be a chance to walk again, to run again, not to have to sit around and do nothing when the girl he loved was in danger.
Porker fitted the last piece of the device into place. The small piece of curved metal sat flush against the fur of the hedgehog's leg; Sonic guessed it was probably cold, but couldn't feel a thing.
"Don't see why you couldn't tell me about this before, Porker," the hedgehog said, regarding the intricate web of wiring and occasional sliver of metal that adorned his lower limbs. The complicated apparatus was connected to a belt around his waist, which was also covered with circuitry.
"How is it supposed to work, anyway? And ease up on the geek-speak this time, Lewis." Sonic smirked. "You know I don't get that science stuff."
Porker began to adjust the belt. He thought for a moment, then started to explain.
"Well… it's a bit more complicated than this, but let's say that your brain sends messages to your legs when you want them to move. But those messages aren't getting through." He made a cutting gesture with his hand. Sonic grimaced slightly, nodding.
"What this does," Porker continued, indicating the belt that he was fiddling with, "Is…intercepts those messages. It tells the muscles in your legs what to do, then this part-" he gestured to the wiring that he had finished setting up, "-acts as a support and helps them do it. Because- no offence, Sonic- your legs don't have much strength anymore."
Sonic wasn't offended and nodded thoughtfully again.
"So this thing is like some kind of booster?"
"Yes," Porker affirmed. "The bottom line is, if it works, you should be able to run as fast as you used to before your, er, injury."
"Cool." Sonic grinned, then took in Porker's more-worried-than-usual expression. "I see a 'but' coming on, Porker…" he frowned.
The pig sighed.
"That's why I didn't tell you or anyone else about my invention before- I didn't want to get your hopes up." He shook his head. "I've been working on this for months, but I don't even know if it'll work at all, because I haven't been able to test it properly." Porker paused. "And even if it does work, I haven't been able to iron out the major flaw… I have no way of stopping your nervous system from rejecting the device."
"So…?" Sonic prompted.
"So it's not a permanent solution," the inventor replied gently. "It might not happen, but it's very likely that the device will stop working after a while, say, several hours. If it does, it'll never work again."
The hedgehog looked downcast for a moment.
"So I'll only get one shot at this," he mused quietly.
Porker nodded.
"Sorry, Sonic."
"It's okay. As long as I have time to save Amy, that's all that matters. One shot is all I need." He fixed his friend with a determined stare. "Let's get on with it."
Porker moved around to the back of the table. Sonic's belt had a small box about the size of a pack of cards attached to the back, partly covering the small bump on his spine and the scar from where surgeons had tried and failed to repair the damage. The box nestled neatly between the two spikes that protruded from the hedgehog's back.
"Ready?" Asked the pig. Sonic looked over is shoulder and nodded.
Porker leaned over and made an adjustment to the metallic box with a small but complex tool. The circuitry on the belt and down Sonic's legs glowed softly. A small beep issued from the chrome rectangle.
The hedgehog shuddered once, then his eyes widened.
"Whoa…"
--To be coninued…