Chapter Text
It was a very dark night.
Miles had encountered many dark nights like this. The canopy overhead was thick and so were the clouds, covering the light from the moon and stars. Rain was coming. Miles could smell it in the air.
The rain was the least of the six-year-old fox’s worries however. He’d been out here alone for a couple months now and knew how to deal with a little rain. He hoped with all his might that there wasn’t going to be any thunder though. No, as Miles scurried through the thick bushes and undergrowth of the forest, he was much more concerned with finding a place to sleep tonight. He’d been jerked unceremoniously from his sleep an hour or so ago as the burrow he made collapsed in on itself and nearly buried him alive. Miles only barely managed to dig himself out before he suffocated, and there were still clumps of dirt clinging to his overgrown, matted fur.
Miles shook himself out slightly after darting into the safety of a bush. He took a moment to catch his breath, looking around warily. His eyes were good in the dark, but the lack of moonlight was making it a lot harder to see. Miles had no idea what could be out here. The forest always seemed more alive at night. More likely to jump out at Miles and drag him down into some unseen depths that he’d never return from. All he needed to find was a good tree where he could dig himself a new burrow. That was all. Then Miles could go back to sleep and ignore the way the trees seemed to reach out to grab him. The way the dark shadows seemed like bottomless pools of black water. The way every single miniscule sound became amplified against the silence and made Miles’ fur stand on end no matter what it was.
The fox poked his nose out of the bush and sniffed the air. A moment later, he stepped out slowly, his front paws stepping carefully in case he encountered any thorns. He kept his twin tails - the very things that had gotten him cast out here in the first place - tucked close to his body so they wouldn’t make any additional noise by brushing past plants that would attract unwanted attention.
But it seemed that unwanted attention was determined to find him anyway.
The snap of a twig rang out sharply against the trees and Miles froze. He dared not back up into the bush to hide. That would make noise. Instead, he looked around frantically, scanning for whatever had made that noise. His ears swiveled around, trying to pick up on any other sounds.
Keep his breathing shallow. Calm his wildly beating heart. Whatever was out here could easily find him if he wasn’t careful. It might find him even if he was careful.
. . .
Silence.
Miles took a tentative step forward. Another. And another. Maybe what Miles had heard wasn’t someone stepping on a twig and snapping it. Maybe it was an old branch falling off a tree. Maybe Miles had nothing to worry about, maybe he was perfectly safe, maybe he was the only living thing out here besides the plants and the flickies and the-!
Footsteps.
Somewhere behind Miles.
And they were coming closer.
Miles took off, no longer caring about stealth. There was definitely something out there and it was definitely after him. Miles had to get out of here before it caught him. Footsteps pounded across the ground, picking up their pace as Miles’ paws tried desperately to carry him to safety.
It sounded like two feet. Whoever was chasing him down was running upright - unlike Miles who was on all fours. He found it more efficient like this, but clearly his pursuer hadn’t gotten that memo. The thing was gaining on him.
Miles’ pace increased to a panicked all out sprint. It was coming for him! It was going to catch him! Miles crashed painfully through weeds and bushes, narrowly missing trees and snags. He winced as a thorn caught one of his legs but he couldn’t worry about it right now. He had to get away!
Run.
Run!
Ru-!
Miles tripped over an angular rock and stumbled into a full wipeout. He crashed down a sudden incline, catching more thorns on the way down and hitting his head on the hard ground at least twice. Finally coming to a stop, Miles lay collapsed in a daze for a minute or two. It was only when the dizziness finally cleared that he realized that whatever was chasing him hadn’t gotten to him. Cautiously, Miles sat up and looked around the little dell he found himself in.
Trees stood guard at the edge of the dip in the land. Within the dell itself was an abundance of bushes, soft grass, and moss. It would have been perfectly tranquil, a perfect place to make a new burrow, if it weren't for the persistent feeling of eyes tracking Miles’ every movement.
He was being watched.
Shallow breaths. Calm his wildly beating heart. It was watching him. It was going to come for him soon. Miles couldn’t give it any reason to attack sooner. He was shaking as hard as if he was in the middle of a thunder storm.
One of the bushes across the dell twitched and Miles held his breath, hardly daring to move a muscle. He stared at the bush until its silhouette was burned into his eyes. Then another bush trembled, closer this time. Miles felt like he was going to pass out. It was all over. A third bush shook, right in front of the fox this time, looming over him like the Grim Reaper itself.
Maybe it was the sheer terror that made Miles stop thinking straight in that moment. Maybe it was the inevitability of his impending death. Trying to talk to the monster was clearly a very stupid idea, but Miles opened his mouth anyway.
“H-Hello?” His voice was squeaky. Pitiful. Just like him. Easy prey for a monster. The monster clearly knew that.
A dark shape rose up out of the bush slowly. Miles shrunk into himself, his ears folded back and every inch of his body shaking like a leaf in a storm as he stared up at the monster.
Bright green beacons stared right back at him.
Knuckles wasn’t particularly used to newcomers. They didn’t happen all that often when you lived on a floating island in the dead middle of an ocean. To his knowledge, there had only ever been one instance of newcomers coming to Angel Island. Well . . . before a couple of days ago, that was. A human had crash-landed on the island, bringing with him destruction and pollution. He tried to play nice with Knuckles, but Vector quickly warned the echidna not to trust the man. The man refused to leave and he clearly wanted the Master Emerald.
Then two kids showed up on the island.
They claimed they were here to fight the human. Neither Knuckles, nor the rest of the Chaotix fully trusted the duo, but they weren’t setting off Vector’s danger sense nearly as much as the human did. They were allowed to stay, for the time being at least.
Both seemed too young to be on their own, though the same could probably have been said of Knuckles before the Chaotix showed up in a similar fashion one day.
The little yellow and brown fox was thin and scrappy so Knuckles gave him some of the extra fruit they’d pulled in that day. The hedgehog on the other hand, seemed just fine and perfectly healthy. He didn’t talk much, but he was pleasant enough to be around. His quills were as blue as the sky and his eyes were as deep and vibrant green as the Master Emerald itself.
“Eggman wants two things,” the fox said, pointing with a stick to a map he’d drawn out in the dirt. Everyone was gathered around it. The map showed a rough estimation of the island, with the Master Emerald shrine at the center, the mountains to the northwest, the chao garden to the south, and the wreckage of the human’s ‘Death Egg’ off to the northeast. “The emerald, and resources to fix his space station.”
“That thing looks far too dangerous,” Mighty murmured, glaring at the crude drawing of the metal ball with the human’s face on the front. “It can’t be allowed to fly again.”
“Yeah!” Ray agreed from next to his adopted big brother.
The fox nodded. “Exactly. That’s why we need to destroy it and kick Eggman off the island. Preferably before he can get to the emerald.”
“That’s Master Emerald,” Knuckles grunted. He peeked one eye open and shot a look at the fox’s companion. The hedgehog. “You should know the difference. Don’t think I haven’t sensed the other seven on you already.”
The hedgehog simply shrugged with a smug smile. He dug into his quills and pulled out the green Chaos Emerald, the Master Emerald’s smaller twin.
“We’ll use the Chaos Emeralds against Eggman if things escalate, but hopefully they won't," the fox said as his companion tucked the Emerald away again. He stood up, though he was still smaller than most of his gathered listeners. “If you guys would come with us to take down Eggman, that would be a huge help!”
“Sounds like fun!” Charmy cheered, launching himself into the air excitedly. “Can we, Vector? Can we can we can we??”
“Hold on now, Charmy,” Vector said. He stuck out a hand and caught the bee as he flew near. “Ya gotta remember that protecting the Master Emerald is the main priority here. ‘Sides, it’s Knuckles’ island. It’s his call.”
“What do you think, Knuckles?” Mighty asked.
Knuckles hummed contemplatively. “The sooner that human gets off my island, the better. I'll stay here to guard the Master Emerald. I can handle myself in case anything comes by. The rest of you go with the fox and the hedgehog to take care of the human’s creation.”
Espio nodded. “Understood.”
“Yippee!!” Charmy shouted, escaping Vector’s grasp and shooting back into the air. “We're going on an adventure!”
Everyone quickly gathered anything they thought they might need and headed off towards the Death Egg. As Knuckles watched them go, he found it strange that the fox seemed to be the one leading the group. He was definitely younger than the hedgehog. Knuckles looked around only to suddenly find the hedgehog had apparently not left, but gotten up and positioned himself against a tree. He leaned back on the bark, eyes closed and arms folded, with a pleasant smile on his face like he was taking a nap.
Knuckles raised a skeptical eyebrow at the hedgehog. “I thought you were going with them.”
The hedgehog shrugged. “Miles can handle things without me for a few minutes.”
So that was the fox’s name. Knuckles couldn’t remember if it had been said before and he just hadn’t cared enough to remember. The echidna folded his arms and regarded the blue hedgehog critically. Something was almost off about the kid. Almost.
The hedgehog opened his eyes slightly and smiled at Knuckles. “Don’t think I introduced myself yet. My name’s LJ.”
“LJ, huh?” Knuckles said. “That a nickname or . . . ?”
“Nope! ‘S just LJ.” LJ stood up from the tree and started walking in the direction of the Master Emerald shrine. Knuckles followed automatically. He could hardly let a stranger near the important artifact, even if said stranger didn’t seem to care about anything except his young companion.
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Knuckles admitted as they made their way through the trees.
“Shoot,” LJ nodded.
“How do you guys know this ‘Eggman’ guy?” Knuckles asked. He narrowed his eyes. “And how’d you know to follow him here?”
“Eggman’s been causing us problems for the past year or so,” LJ shrugged. “He destroyed our home with his robots. Honestly, we’re just getting payback. I will say that Miles is more noble than I am though. He’s in this for protecting the rest of the world too. He’s better than me like that.”
“So you’re saying you’d let Eggman destroy the world if he hadn’t destroyed your home first?” Knuckles challenged. They emerged from the trees at the base of the stone altar that housed the Master Emerald.
LJ stopped and looked back at him, his vibrant green eyes glinting slightly. “No. I didn’t say that.” His seemingly perpetual smile looked just a bit colder in this light.
“Then what are you saying?” Knuckles said in a low tone.
LJ’s smile spread wider and he tilted his head to the side a bit. “My turn to ask a question first.”
“Thanks for meeting me here!” Amy cooed sweetly. “It’s been forever since we went out together.”
LJ nodded with a light chuckle that made Amy’s heart flutter. “Heh. True dat. Sorry, Ames. I’ve been . . . really busy recently.”
“Don’t worry, I get it!” Amy promised. She reached for the picnic basket and started taking food out, spreading it across the blanket for them to eat as they saw fit. “Fighting Eggman is a full-time job and it can’t be easy.”
“Definitely not,” LJ shook his head, grabbing a small plate and scooping some fruit onto it.
They chatted idly for a while as they ate. LJ refused to touch the strawberry shortcake like he always did and Amy scolded him for it like she always did. It didn’t take long for Amy to realize that LJ seemed to be acting . . . off somehow. He wasn’t quite himself today.
“Is something wrong?” Amy asked, leaning forward.
“No,” LJ responded easily. “I’m just fine, Amy. Why?”
“It’s just that . . .” Amy hesitated. She ran her hands along her skirt, smoothing out the wrinkles that accumulated in the time since she knelt down. “It’s like something’s bothering you. I’m a psychic, remember? I can tell these kinda kings.”
“Right,” LJ chuckled. “Psychic.”
“I am!” Amy insisted. “That’s how I met you! I read the cards and-”
“-Met me at Neverlake,” LJ interrupted, finishing the story he knew by heart at this point. He was staring fondly up at the sky as the clouds formed into shapes - recognizable shapes if you stared hard enough. “I remember, Ames.”
“I can read people like I can read the cards,” Amy reminded him anyway. She positioned herself next to him and stared up at the sky as well. They were close enough that he could reach over and hold her hand if he wanted to. Amy hoped he would. “So you’d tell me if something was wrong, right . . . ?”
“Of course I would . . .”
Amy glanced over and bore witness to a rare sight. LJ’s usually permanent smirk had slipped off of his face, like he’d dropped it somewhere. He gazed up at the clouds with a rare soberness Amy had never seen on him.
“Actually, Amy . . . There is something I’ve been meaning to tell you.” And for the first time that day, LJ finally turned his breathtaking, emerald green eyes towards her.
“I get that humans like to wear clothes, but why do we have to too?” Mighty groaned. Espio rolled his eyes, looking up from a rack of t-shirts over at his teammate, who was doing the same on the other end of the rack.
“If we want to live in polite society, we have to play by their rules,” Espio explained, for what felt like the fifth time that day. “This isn’t Angel Island.”
“But where the heck am I gonna find any shirts that work well with my shell?” Mighty complained.
“Tank tops?” LJ said with a snicker. He rejoined the group with several pairs of pants draped over his arm.
“Hmmm,” Mighty hummed. “I might have to try that next.” He dove back into the rack to resume his search.
“Find anything good?” LJ asked, coming to stand next to Espio.
“Some things,” Espio said, indicating the small haul of shirts he’d picked out so far. “None of it’s really my style though.”
“Fair ‘nuff,” LJ conceded.
“Hmm. What about this for you?” Espio pulled out a shirt and showed it to LJ. It was a black t-shirt with a white stripe along the edges of the bottom, the sleeves, and around the collar, and a white arrow on the front pointing upward.
LJ’s smile grew wider and he took the shirt from Espio. “I like it.”
The three boys spent a few more minutes browsing shirts. Espio and LJ eventually found a good amount that they wanted to try on and headed for the dressing rooms, leaving Mighty to continue struggling to find something he liked. As they headed over, Espio thought he spotted LJ staring at him from out of the corner of his eye. By the time Espio looked over at the hedgehog, the intense green beacons were looking somewhere else.
Reversing the situation, LJ then noticed Espio staring. “Something wrong?” he asked, brow crinkling in amusement.
Espio shook his head. “No. Just thought I saw something.”
No one was in the dressing room area when the two got there, so they got their pick of any dressing room they wanted. It wasn’t really necessary, considering mobians didn’t usually wear clothes anyway, but it was yet another weird human rule that they had to abide by. Espio tried on five different outfits, ruling out one of the shirts and two of the pants, before LJ called from his dressing room.
“Yo, Espio! Can I get your opinion on this one? It’s the shirt with the arrow.”
“Yeah,” Espio said, opening the door to his dressing room. He headed over to LJ’s room and the hedgehog opened the door to meet him when he got close.
Of all the things Mighty thought he'd be doing today, fighting off an alien invasion wasn't one of them.
It started less than 24 hours ago and already, everything was going to heck. Destruction everywhere he looked. Buildings on fire. Screaming and crying as people tried to escape.
Blood.
So much blood.
Some of it was green, but more of it was red. Like a demented Christmas celebration.
Mighty hefted a car over his head and chucked it and one of those bird-looking aliens, squishing it against the side of an abandoned pawn shop with a sickening crunch. He took a moment to catch his breath, dropping to his knees in the middle of the road. A thin trail of blood trickled down the armadillo’s forehead and he wiped it away before it could reach his eyes.
Mighty didn't know what had hit his head to cause the small wound, or when it had happened. He didn't know where the rest of the Chaotix were either. Dear Chaos, he hoped Ray was safe. He hoped Ray was safe on Angel Island and that he hadn’t followed the older members of the team down here. Mighty prayed that the invasion was overlooking the island in favor of attacking big centers of civilization.
With a pained grunt, Mighty hauled himself back to his feet. Gotta keep moving. Gotta save whoever he could find before it was too late. Gotta take out as many aliens as he possibly could.
They seemed pretty mindless. But that wasn't going to change the fact that Mighty's gloves and forearms were stained green.
Mighty ran from street to street, checking inside shops and wrecked cars for survivors. He didn't find anyone, which was both a relief and worrying. Radios and phones went out pretty fast so evacuation information was sparse. Did anyone know where to go for safety? Or were they all running to their doom?
Mighty thought he heard crying in the burnt out shell of a small convenience store, so he busted through the wreckage to investigate. By the time he reached the source at the back of the store, buried beneath some collapsed shelves, Mighty discovered it was a flicky.
Carefully, Mighty dug the poor thing out. His guess was that it had flown in here for safety from the invasion only to get trapped when the fire started.
“There you go, little guy,” Mighty murmured. He held the flicky in one hand and gently brushed some soot off its wings with the other. “You're all good. Can you fly?”
The flicky chirped, fluttering a few inches up from Mighty's hand before landing back in it again.
“That's good,” Mighty nodded. “It's not safe here, alright? So I need you to fly as far away as you can until you can't see any smoke. Got it? Tell any friends you see on your way. Stay out of the city until the sky isn't red anymore.”
The flicky chirped once more and flew up and up until it escaped through a hole in the ceiling. Mighty breathed a sigh of relief. He stood up and started making his way towards the exit when-
Voices?
They were too muffled to make out, but they were definitely in the store somewhere. Mighty started heading towards them to make sure they were okay.
Mighty pushed through more burnt out shelves and piles of what used to be good products. He encountered a pile of wreckage taller than him just as he was about to get to the voices. Mighty peeked through a small hole and looked out to the other side. He spotted the front register and-
Knuckles, Espio, and LJ?
LJ spoke quietly to them. Before Mighty could get their attention to talk to them, Knuckles and Espio turned on their heels and ran out of the store.
“H-Hey!” Mighty huffed. He gave up trying to find a good way around this pile and started climbing over it.
LJ turned at the sound of his voice. “Who's there?” His tone was even, like it always was. Mighty had to hand it to the guy. He was handling the whole invasion situation very well.
“It's Mighty!” The armadillo heaved himself onto the top of the pile of rubble and slid down the other side to meet LJ. “I just freed a flicky from the back of the store. Didn't know you guys would be here!” Mighty panted for a few seconds, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. “Where's Knuckles and Espio running off to? They got a plan?”
“Something like that,” LJ said. He walked closer to Mighty.
“I should probably- probably catch up to them. See if I can help,” Mighty wheezed. This invasion was so exhausting. He was so tired.
“Yes. You should,” LJ agreed.
“You know where they went?” Mighty asked. He looked up at LJ, his eyes tracing the familiar white arrow of the hedgehog’s shirt until they met those strikingly bright emerald irises.
There was fire everywhere.
Fire alone wouldn’t have bothered Blaze. It normally didn’t bother her in the slightest. She was born with the gift to control it. It bent itself to her will. She was long past the days of her childhood where it could escape her grasp. It was hers and it knew that. Blaze had total mastery over it.
So it wasn’t exactly the fiery torrent around her that had her so on edge. In fact, she’d set the surrounding area on fire to protect herself.
Blaze wasn’t the only one here.
There was something hunting her.
It had hunted her the moment she appeared in this strange world. She had felt its eyes on her. Its unending hunger couldn’t be satisfied. It stalked her through every new area she moved through. Even when it wasn’t there with her, she could feel its presence. Its influence. And now it had finally caught up with her.
Blaze wasn’t going to go down so easily. She was going to take the monster out or die trying.
Blaze set her fists on fire and glanced around her. She knew the monster hadn’t died when she set everything on fire. It was still alive and it was weaving through the flames as it stalked closer to her. Blaze growled. “Show yourself, coward.”
Was that the sound of laughter echoing towards her? Or was the crackling heat of the flames playing a cruel trick on her ears? Blaze’s fur prickled.
Footsteps zipped by behind the princess and she whirled around. Nothing. Just more fire.
“What are you afraid of?” Behind her again. Blaze turned and spotted the monster, its ugly face distorted through a wall of orange flame. Dancing. Swaying. Mocking her.
“I’m not afraid of anything,” Blaze hissed. A blink and the face was gone.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
Blaze couldn’t spot the monster this time. Its voice seemed to echo from everywhere.
“Likely story from something that’s been hunting me.” Blaze thought she saw movement and blasted fire at it. Once again, nothing. She was starting to sweat, though whether it was from the heat or the nerves, she couldn’t tell.
The monster didn’t dispute her. It only laughed. The sound crawled up Blaze’s spine like a wet spider.
“Your terror ends today, Monster,” Blaze said. Her heart was beating like a drum. She took a chance and closed her eyes to take a breath.
It was a mistake.
Upon opening her eyes, Blaze gasped as she found herself face to face with haunting green eyes, rimmed with fire.
The monster smiled. “Hi.”
Things had changed drastically for Shadow within the space of only about a year and a half. Going from waking up from stasis, to trying to end the world, to losing his memory, to getting it back and getting a job at GUN was a massive jump to make. Thankfully, things had quieted down recently and settled into a routine. Shadow had missions to go on with Rouge and Omega in the mornings. He had the evenings to himself to do whatever he wanted. That was the way Shadow liked it. Safe and predictable. If Shadow had his way, it would never change.
But then came the discovery that would slowly start to tear Shadow’s life apart over the next few days.
It started like normal. Team Dark got a mission brief from Commander Tower. They were supposed to break into an Eggman base to download as many files from the computer as they could and erase what they couldn’t. The trouble came when Shadow asked a question.
“Why not recruit LJ for this mission?” Shadow suggested. “He knows more about Eggman bases than anyone.”
“Absolutely out of the question,” Tower shook his head.
“Why not?” Shadow asked in confusion. “He’s-”
“A security risk,” Tower interrupted. “This mission is a need-to-know basis. And that hedgehog doesn’t need to know.”
“He’s a wildcard, hun,” Rouge shrugged. “He’d find a way to mess things up for us somehow.”
“I AGREE,” Omega said. “THE BLUE MEATBAG IS ALSO LAZY AND UTTERLY INCOMPETENT.”
“Fair point,” Shadow conceded before turning his attention back to Tower. “But why is he a security risk?”
“I’m afraid that’s classified, Agent Shadow,” Tower said.
“Classified?” Shadow said incredulously. “What could be so classified about LJ of all people?”
Sure, Shadow didn’t exactly have the best relationship with the blue hedgehog. He was annoying and stubborn and like Omega said, he was lazy. Shadow couldn’t stand his lack of care in delicate situations. Shadow had once wondered if LJ was hiding something but had long since learned that the hedgehog was just like that. He played his cards close to his chest, which was understandable. Shadow did the same thing.
“For your sake, I’d advise dropping this topic of conversation,” Tower grunted. “It’s in GUN’s best interest to keep him out of our internal operations. That’s all I’m going to say.”
Shadow sighed. “Fine.”
Team Dark went on the mission and it was marked a success. On the way back to the apartment after reporting, Shadow decided to ask Rouge about what Tower had said.
“Do you know why Tower said LJ is a security risk?” Shadow questioned.
“Maybe,” Rouge chuckled unhelpfully.
“You’ve hacked GUN'S high clearance databases every weekend since I met you,” Shadow groaned. “You have to know what’s going on.”
Rouge paused and then sighed. “Listen, hun. Do I know what Tower’s hiding? Yes. Do I want you to know as well? Heck no.”
“But why?” Shadow was starting to get frustrated. “I don’t like having information withheld from me, Rouge. I’ve had enough of people lying to me.”
“I know,” Rouge said. “But trust me when I say it’s better if you don’t know. It will only end badly.”
Shadow grit his teeth and turned to his robotic friend instead. “What do you think, Omega?”
“I DON’T CARE,” Omega stated bluntly. “THE BLUE MEATBAG DOES NOT MATTER TO ME IN THE SLIGHTEST.”
That got a chuckle from Rouge and an eye roll from Shadow.
“Come on you two,” Rouge said. “We can still catch the new episode of Fresh, Fancy, and Fanged.”
That night, after the episode was over and they went to bed, Shadow found himself lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He was thinking about LJ again, and the more he thought, the more LJ seemed suspicious. How many times had Shadow caught LJ just . . . watching people? How many times had LJ disappeared from a group conversation and no one seemed to notice?
Had Rouge sent LJ a warning glance before he and Shadow went super to stop the Ark from crashing into Earth?
Had LJ been bizarrely eager to team up during the Black Arms invasion, only to abruptly back off?
So many of those vague recollections seemed weirdly fuzzy. Maybe it was just Shadow’s lingering amnesia.
Regardless, there was definitely something up with LJ. Warnings from Tower and Rouge or not, Shadow was going to get to the bottom of it. Early the next morning, Shadow bumped into Rouge - quite literally - on his way out of the apartment.
“Oh! Shadow! Going somewhere?” Rouge asked. “I wanted to talk to-”
“I’m running some errands,” Shadow lied, slipping his motorcycle helmet on. “I’ll be back around dinner, probably. Text me?”
Rouge hesitated. “No . . . No, it can wait. Will you pick up some new shampoo for me?”
“Sure,” Shadow nodded. “See you tonight.”
“Bye.”
Shadow hopped onto the Dark Rider and made his way to GUN HQ. After logging onto his computer in his office, he began his search. Typing “LJ” into the database yielded no results. Same with “LJ the Hedgehog.” Shadow leaned back in his seat, staring at the blank search screen. He would have expected GUN to at least have basic info on the blue blur, seeing as he was a fairly prominent hero, but there was nothing. The most likely conclusion was that all information was classified, locked away behind passwords and clearance codes. Rouge could easily get past all that, but she didn’t want Shadow doing this in the first place, so he couldn’t very well ask her for help. And Shadow wasn’t particularly skilled with computers, so doing it himself was off the table as well.
He’d need another way in.
Just getting someone’s keycard wouldn’t be enough if Shadow didn’t know all the passwords. He had no idea where to even go to find those passwords. If there was a way for Shadow to lure some high level operative away from their computer while it was still logged in, then he had a chance. A small, short chance, but a chance. He wouldn’t have long. He’d need to act fast and get the info he needed on the first try. He probably wouldn’t get this chance again. Shadow cursed his lack of foresight for not bringing a thumbdrive with him so he could download things.
No time for hindsight. Who would have the right level of clearance to access the files on LJ? Without knowing how sensitive the information was, it was hard to say. The only person who Shadow knew for certain had access was . . .
Commander Abraham Tower.
Shadow groaned. He was biting off a bit more than he could chew wasn’t he? Oh well. Time to move.
Tower had a mind like a steel trap and that had been true ever since they were kids. If Shadow wanted to lure him away from his computer, and leave it open at that, it needed to be for a darn good reason. Or maybe . . . it didn’t have to be for a specific reason at all.
The Ultimate Lifeform and the commander had a troubled relationship in the past, filled with hatred and misunderstandings. However ever since the Black Arms invasion, the two had put the past behind them and learned to trust in each other. With the exception of the recent instance of Tower withholding information about LJ from Shadow, the commander was honest with him and held him in the highest regard. If Shadow said something, Tower would listen.
Shadow hated to so blatantly lie to his oldest living friend like this, but there was no other choice. Tower was hiding something big and Shadow needed to know what it was.
Shadow set the plan into motion by teleporting into a hallway and started skating down it with faux intensity. He wasn’t at his top speed, but a soldier who wasn’t familiar with him wouldn’t be able to tell that. Soon enough, Shadow encountered a soldier traveling in the opposite direction who noticed him and flagged him down.
“Agent Shadow! What’s the hurry? Is-”
“There’s a situation in the deployment hangar!” Shadow interrupted. “Go get the commander now! It’s urgent!”
The soldier scrambled out an affirmative before running off towards Tower’s office. Shadow waited a few seconds before performing several short teleports, ending up around the corner from the commander’s office just as he and the soldier raced out, heading towards the deployment hangar. One more teleport and Shadow was inside the office.
Perfection. The computer sat unattended behind Tower’s desk, still logged in and waiting. Shadow sat down and immediately set to work. He navigated away from the files Tower had open and pulled up GUN’s internal database.
Search: ‘LJ the Hedgehog’
And there it was. A file. And several other files where LJ was apparently mentioned, positioned below it. The main file first. Shadow clicked on it.
A blurry photo of a winking LJ stared back at Shadow, clearly taken when the blue hedgehog was mid-run. Even at a point where he must have had a fair amount of adrenaline in his system, LJ still looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. The look on his face would have made more sense on someone who was relaxing on a couch rather than a runner with super speed. It wasn’t important though. Shadow wasn’t here to critique LJ’s facial expressions.
Alias: LJ the Hedgehog
Birth Name: Sonic Maurice Hedgehog
Shadow squinted at those first two lines. Alias? Birth name? LJ wasn’t his real name? Come to think of it, what did LJ even stand for? And what kind of name was ‘Sonic’? That was a bit too on the nose, considering the speed.
Age: Fifteen years (approximate)
Place of Origin: St. Markson’s Home for Boys, Westside Island, Orchardville
Now that was interesting. LJ had always claimed he was from Christmas Island, some isolated run-down place that didn’t offer much in terms of interesting scenery. But his official file straight up contradicted that. Westside was Miles’ home island wasn’t it? Why would LJ lie about being from the same island as his closest friend, the one he considered his brother?
Shadow committed the whole place of origin to memory, making a mental note to look up the specifics later. He needed to know what ‘St. Markson’s Home for Boys’ was and why LJ would have been there in his early life.
Shadow started skimming the file next. There was information on LJ’s career as a hero and the things he’d accomplished over the years. Shadow knew all that. That wasn’t what he wanted to know. And then his eyes caught on a particular section and he nearly choked.
Confirmed Victims: Anton Veruca, Jeremy Mullins, Lewis MacAlastair
Potential Victims: Unconfirmed. See <Alteration Speculation> for gathered evidence.
Victims? Shadow’s thoughts started spiraling. What was that supposed to mean? LJ had never hurt anyone that Shadow knew of! The hedgehog was strictly non violent. And what did the file mean by ‘alteration’? What kind of alteration?
How deep did this go? How much had Shadow been lied to - heck, how much had LJ lied??
Shadow became so distracted by his own panicked thoughts that he didn’t notice the seconds bleeding into minutes. And then he heard footsteps from down the hall, coming closer. He’d lost his chance to search the file anymore or click on that link to ‘Alteration Speculation.’ In a rush, Shadow backed out of the file and erased the recent search history before teleporting out of the office just before the door swung open.
Shadow packed up his stuff upon returning to his own office and headed out, placing his communicator into ‘do not disturb’ mode so Tower couldn’t message him. He was frazzled. Frayed. Thoughts still whirling around and around with no end in sight. The secrets GUN was keeping concerning LJ went far deeper than Shadow had anticipated. He didn’t know what exactly he had anticipated. Just that it wasn’t this.
He had two leads: St. Markson’s Home for Boys, and a list of names. He could work with that. Shadow took a breath as he barreled down the freeway on the Dark Rider. He had a direction. He was going to get to the bottom of this.
Shadow made a couple stops to make it seem like he’d been out all day before heading back to the apartment. He grabbed groceries, paper towels, a few products for his quills, Rouge’s shampoo, and a cheap pack of army men toys Omega had requested. When Shadow finally got home, he pushed the door open with a foot and set the plastic bags he was carrying on the table with a heavy sigh.
Rouge looked up from the floor in front of the couch, where she had her nail painting supplies set up on the coffee table. “Back a little early?”
“Yeah,” Shadow said. He gathered the food that needed to be kept cold and started packing it into the fridge. “Was going to pick up a new set of gloves, but I got overwhelmed.”
It wasn’t entirely a lie. Shadow was feeling overwhelmed right now, but it wasn’t socially, like he usually meant when he used that word.
“Mmm,” Rouge hummed sympathetically. She set her elbows on the coffee table and watched Shadow as he moved over to the pantry. “You need anything?”
“I’ll be fine,” Shadow promised, pulling out a bag of tortilla chips. “Just need some alone time for a while.”
“Say no more, edgy hedgie,” Rouge smiled. “Let’s talk dinner in a couple hours, huh?”
“Sure,” Shadow nodded. “Oh and tell Omega I got those army men he wanted.” After a thumbs up from Rouge, Shadow headed back towards his room, positioned at the very back of the apartment. He locked the door as soon as he was inside. With his cover story, Rouge wouldn’t suspect anything and would leave him alone. He could do his research without her catching on.
Once again, guilt gnawed at Shadow’s stomach. He hated this. He hated that he was doing the very thing that had been done to him so many times throughout his life. Lying. Hiding the truth. Shadow took a breath and promised himself that he’d tell Rouge everything if he got too in over his head.
Until then though, he was doing this alone.
In the meantime, Shadow began his research. First order of business: St. Markson’s Home for Boys. A cursory search didn’t yield much. The place didn’t seem to have a website, which was disappointing. The place was likely old and hadn’t gotten online yet. Shadow began searching through Orchardville newspapers to see if it was mentioned anywhere.
An article from a couple years ago gave Shadow news he definitely didn’t want to hear. The home had apparently closed down due to not having enough money to stay open. On the plus side, the article did give a basic rundown on what the place even was. It was . . . an orphanage. That made sense given the name, but it still surprised Shadow to think that LJ had come from such a place. He’d always acted like he just popped into existence fully formed one day. Shadow continued reading and his opinion on St. Markson’s Home for Boys only continued to sour. The reason the home had been so low on money in the first place was because it had been sued several years prior, after accusations of neglect and mental abuse towards the boys it housed.
Shadow stared at that sentence for a while. Could it be . . . ? The thought made him shiver, but it made sense, didn’t it? LJ supposedly had ‘victims.’ St. Markson’s had very serious accusations posed against it. Was LJ the one to blame? Shadow started looking for an older article that might shed some light on the situation and after some digging, he found it. St. Markson’s was accused after a very specific event caught the attention of Orchardville. Three boys had apparently gone insane and a fourth had straight up gone missing. Shadow’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he read the list of names.
Anton Veruca, Jeremy Mullins, Lewis MacAlastair, Sonic Hedgehog.
LJ’s victims.
And LJ himself.
LJ had done something to those boys and then left the orphanage. And based on GUN’s file on him, they suspected he’d done that same something to more people since then. It was no wonder he was marked as such a high level threat.
Shadow was searching for the address for St. Markson’s before he even realized what he was doing. He had clear goals for the next stage of his investigation.
1: See if St. Markson’s had been torn down and if it hadn’t been, see if any files on LJ and his victims were still there.
2: Glean whatever information he could about LJ.
3: Track down LJ's victims and question them.
4 . . . Well, Shadow would figure that out when he got there.
A knock sounded from Shadow's door and he quickly snapped his laptop shut. He had a plan. Now he just had to keep up appearances until he could slip away. He discussed dinner with Rouge and they ordered something to eat. Omega made them come see the little battle scene he'd set up and then the three of them watched a movie together - some cheesy romcom from Rouge’s childhood. Once it was over, Shadow went to his room, but he didn't go to bed. He packed up anything he thought he might need into a satchel and then waited until three in the morning to head out. On quiet feet, he snuck over to the pantry to grab a couple snacks. He was almost to the door when-
“Shadow? Where are you going?”
Shadow grimaced and turned around to face Rouge, dressed in her pajamas and perched on the couch with curlers in her hair.
“I got a call from Tower,” Shadow said, trying to do his best impression of ‘I got woken up in the middle of the night for this and I'm not happy about it.’ “He needs me for something. Don't know what for but he said it's urgent. I'll be gone for a couple days.”
“. . . Well that's just great,” Rouge groaned. “Tell Abe we have lives when you see him.”
“I will.”
“Kinda strange that he only wanted you and not all of Team Dark, don't you think?”
“Yeah,” Shadow nodded. He hoped Rouge wouldn't think much harder about it. This was a sloppy cover story. “But Tower has his reasons, even if they're stupid sometimes.”
“True enough,” Rouge relented. “Alright then, stay safe.”
“I will.” Shadow opened the door and headed out without another word.
From out of the corner of his eye, Rouge looked like she wanted to say one last thing. She didn't get the chance before Shadow closed the door.
By morning, Shadow had reached Westside Island. He tracked down the address of St. Markson’s and to his relief, he found a boarded up building still standing on the top of a small hill. The property was surrounded by an iron fence with a lock and chain around the front gate, but that couldn’t keep the ultimate lifeform out. Soon, Shadow found himself inside the fence and he gazed around the land that surrounded the home itself.
The grass was neglected and dying. There was an old playground on one side of the large house, a sandbox, and some picnic tables. Another side of the property sported a small pool, with a sign nearby stating that boys under eight years old weren’t allowed without an older boy accompanying them. The pool had long since been drained and there was a single water gun that lay abandoned at the bottom, along with some wilted leaves and dirt.
Shadow found his gaze drawn back to the metal fence as he made his way towards the house. He wondered if the fence had been put in before or after LJ escaped. If it was before, then that posed the question of how the hedgehog had gotten out. Maybe he dug under. Or maybe the fence was installed after LJ’s disappearance, to stop any other boys from following in his footsteps. Shadow then reached the front door of St. Markson’s and placed his hands against the wooden plank nailed across it. The nearby windows he could see were similarly boarded up.
A flash of light and Shadow teleported inside. He found himself meeting a dark, dusty interior. It was so gray and dead for a place that must’ve once been so alive with rowdy boys. There were three hallways that stretched out before the ultimate lifeform, one to his left, one to his right, and one yawning open in front of him. To the right of the center hallway was a staircase, leading up to the house’s second level. Shadow wandered through the deserted hallways, an intruder in a place that had long since been unceremoniously laid to rest. Each step made the floor boards creak and left footprints in the layers of dust. The house was in pain at his very presence.
Shadow stumbled across a room lined with beds, stripped bare of their sheets and leaving behind only the mattresses and boring metal frames. There was a bedside table at the foot of each one, each devoid of the personality they must’ve once held. Places to display the personality of their respective boy. Now desolate.
It was all so undescribably . . .
Sad.
Shadow spotted something under one of the beds and went over to it, picking it up. A stuffed blue dragon with a green ribbon tied around his left wrist. He held it tenderly in his hands. It must’ve been forgotten in the mad dash to remove everyone and everything from St. Markson’s. Somewhere out there, a boy had been forced to grow up without his comfort toy.
All because LJ had put disapproving eyes on this place where there had been none before. If it weren’t for that blue hedgehog, all the boys might still be here, laughing and playing with their friends as they waited for the day a set of parents might come and decide to take them home. Shadow set the toy on the bed gently and patted its head before taking his leave.
An hour more of exploring passed. Shadow felt like the very air here was mourning, forcing him to trudge through it at a snail’s pace. He found game rooms, bathrooms, the vast dining room, and the connecting kitchen. All gray, and empty, and full of dust. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Shadow found the records office. Dozens of filing cabinets lined the walls, each denoted by a range of letters, signalling that the files they kept were sorted alphabetically, probably by last name. There was a central desk and Shadow hunted around inside the drawers for a moment before he found the key to unlock the filing cabinets. First things first: look for LJ’s victims.
Veruca, Mullins, and MacAlastair. Shadow found each of their files and looked through them. For the most part, it wasn’t anything he needed to know, but each of their files ended off with the same notice, written in red ink.
This individual has been removed from our care and now resides at Orchardville Residential Hospital.
Another lead. With luck, the three victims were still there and Shadow would be able to go talk to them. But first, LJ.
Or, ‘Sonic the Hedgehog.’
It didn’t take long for Shadow to find it and he started reading through.
Sonic was left on our door step at two years old. He did not learn to speak until age nine.
The other boys don’t seem to like him much.
The other boys have taken to bullying Sonic. Our efforts to stop this have proved unsuccessful.
Sonic has been discovered to be skipping school.
Sonic shows rude and abrasive behavior towards other boys and staff alike.
The other boys are spreading rumors about Sonic that we will not repeat here.
The entire file was extremely disconnected compared to the other ones Shadow had read. It was a mishmash of various notes about ‘Sonic,’ some more ominous than others. Finally, it was all capped off by a note at the end, written in red ink.
This individual is no longer within our care.
No mention of where he was now or anything. He was just gone. Shadow reread the file one more time to see if he missed anything important. It didn’t seem so. Shadow put the file back in its place, just like he had with the others, and locked the filing cabinet back up. He’d take the relevant files with him, but it felt almost wrong to do so.
It was time to take his leave of this empty grave.
Shadow made his way into town and soon found Orchardville Residential Hospital. He stopped at the front desk, asking if Anton Veruca, Jeremy Mullins, and Lewis MacAlastair still lived there.
“Yes, but . . .” the chinchilla receptionist hesitated. “They’re not exactly open for visitors.”
“I understand that. And I hate to make you bend the rules, but I feel this is a situation that requires an exception,” Shadow explained. “I’m here on a mission for GUN, and it’s vital that I interview those three. I can give compensation if need be-”
“No, no, that’s alright,” the chinchilla shook her head. “I can give you . . . five minutes with each of them. Will that be alright?”
“Yes,” Shadow nodded. “Thank you very much.”
Shadow was directed to the rooms where the three boys had taken up permanent residence and soon discovered why it was that they weren’t open to visitors. Whatever it was that LJ had done to them, it was serious. Sometimes there was crying, sometimes there was screaming. Sometimes they’d be part way through a sentence before they interrupted themselves with nonsensical singing. Jeremy was covered in bandages and sported extra thick gloves, thanks to his habit of scratching himself nearly constantly. When asked about this, he said he was trying to get the bugs off.
There were no bugs.
“It’s alright,” Shadow promised Anton as the iguana hid under his bed for the fifth time, whimpering about the sky falling. It was all Shadow could do to keep his tone level. “Please, I just need to ask you a few questions.”
“No questions no questions no questions,” Anton mumbled. “Need to hide need to leave, the sky - the ground - HE’S COMING FOR ME HE’S COMING!!!”
“He?” Shadow asked with a tilt of his head. He knelt down and peered under the bed at Anton. “Who?”
“Freak - monster - He’s coming - hurt - Didn’t mean to-! I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry! Make it- I don’t- Never should’ve- I’M SORRY-!” Anton sobbed.
“Who? Who hurt you?” Shadow pressed. “. . . Was it Sonic?”
Anton screamed and after that, Shadow couldn’t coax anything coherent out of him. He had similar luck with the other two boys. They rambled disconnected sentences and shut down completely once Shadow mentioned ‘Sonic.’ It was terrifying how badly LJ had broken them. It was so much worse than Shadow could’ve possibly imagined. He left the hospital in a daze, briefly thanking the receptionist on his way out.
Shadow found himself in Orchardville’s park and sat down on a bench before placing his head between his knees. He took in shaky breaths, trying to gather his thoughts.
LJ had done something to those three boys that completely shattered their sanity. It was no wonder that St. Markson’s had been the subject of such terrible scrutiny after LJ did the deed and disappeared. That sort of mental break doesn’t just happen. There has to be a reason. And with LJ not there to take blame, it shifted to the next target.
This was the full extent of what LJ was capable of. This is what GUN was so afraid of. This was why Tower was so adamant about not letting him anywhere near the mission.
Anton Veruca, Jeremy Mullins, and Lewis MacAlastair were LJ’s only confirmed victims.
But Shadow knew for a fact that there were others that were suspected.
Who were those suspected people? What evidence did GUN have that suggested LJ had in fact gotten to them? Did they behave in the same way as those three boys? Or had it not progressed to that point yet? How long did it take for LJ’s . . . ‘alterations’ to take effect?
. . . Had he targeted any of his friends?
Shadow was on his feet and sprinting out of the park before he was even consciously aware of what he was doing. Forget getting Rouge if things got out of hand, forget doing things secretly, forget everything! LJ was a danger to everyone, and GUN had let him remain free for far too long. Shadow needed to take care of him before he hurt anyone else.
There was no time for a proper plan, there was no time for anything! LJ needed to be removed from the playing field and it needed to happen now.
Shadow didn’t waste time for the next boat to come. He raced across the surface of the ocean at the top speed his skates would allow him to go. The moment he hit the mainland, he was off like a bullet, tearing across the landscape towards Mystic Ruins, where LJ and Miles lived. Shadow didn’t care if Miles was going to be there and would see all of this happening. Him being in such close proximity to LJ almost 24/7 had almost definitely put him in danger. What the fox thought in this situation didn’t matter. All that mattered was that LJ was probably going to be there, so that’s where Shadow was going.
This was going to end now.
LJ and Miles’ house was buried deep in the Mystic Ruins forest. It was one half house, one half mechanic’s workshop, with a built-in plane hangar and an attached runway. Shadow had been here only once before, when the Dark Rider had broken down abruptly and Miles offered to fix it for him. The air had been welcoming then. Now, it was toxic.
Shadow slammed the front door open, discovering it to be unlocked. That was just like LJ. And speak of the devil, there he was, facing away from Shadow with his shoulders tense and quills raised at the suddenness of the other hedgehog’s entrance. It looked like LJ had been on his way out of the front room and was heading for the kitchen when he froze like a statue.
“Face me,” Shadow spat with all the hatred he could muster.
LJ’s quills smoothed out and he turned around with a friendly smile. “Shadow! Fancy seeing you here. What’s the occasion?”
“Drop the act, you monster,” Shadow growled, stalking carefully into the house. He closed the door behind him and locked it, just in case LJ tried to escape.
“Monster? That’s kinda harsh,” LJ chuckled. “What I do? Did you loan me something and I forgot to return it? It was a DVD, wasn’t it? C’mon, we can go find-”
“No,” Shadow interrupted. His eyebrows were pressed together so hard that it hurt. “Stop playing dumb with me. I know what you are. I know what you’ve done. And now you’re going to pay for it. I’m not letting you hurt anyone else ever again.”
“You ‘know what I’ve done’?” LJ chuckled. He leaned against the wall casually and crossed his arms, staring Shadow down with half-lidded eyes. “Tell me. What have I done?”
“Enough,” Shadow snarled, creeping closer. LJ wasn’t trying to run, wasn’t trying to argue, wasn’t doing anything! Why? “I know where you came from. I know your real name. I know how you broke those three boys at the orphanage and then disappeared. I know you could do it again. I’m not letting you.”
LJ closed his eyes and let out another chuckle. That sound had never been so infuriating. And . . . unnerving. Why was he still acting so casual? What did he know that Shadow didn’t? “I think you’re taking this a bit too seriously, Shadow.”
“Oh am I?” Shadow stomped right up to LJ and stared him down. He could reach out and grab that devil’s neck. Choke him out right here, right now. He wouldn’t be a danger to anyone ever again.
“Yeah. In fact . . .” LJ opened his blindingly bright green eyes and smiled. “You look tired, Shadz.”