Tag 57 – Road Hog
Title: It Could Have Gone Another Way

"Nice try, Robotnik! But it'll take more than flower pollen to stop me!"

"I know. It'll take a hypnotic suggestion as well. You are no longer Sonic the Hedgehog, freedom fighter. From now on, you are Sonic the Hedgehog, first lieutenant of the Robotnik Empire, my most trusted soldier!"

"Sonic, snap out of it!"

"Snap out of what?" Sonic smirked, and it was hard to resist a laugh as the little fox squirmed in his grasp. Still, the kid was harder to hold on to than Sonic originally anticipated, and as the two-tailed mutant twisted in such a way that almost broke Sonic's hold, Sonic tightened his grasp on the kid's arm. A little gasp of pain escaped the fox kid, but he ceased his struggling, and Sonic dragged him the rest of the way to the cell. "S'far as I can tell, I'm not in anything."

"Snap out of whatever's making you do this! This isn—whoa!" Sonic tossed the fox kid bodily into the cell, and as the kid connected with the floor, Sonic shut the barred door behind him. The lock in place, Sonic leaned against the bars, and raised an eyebrow as the kid picked himself up, massaging his arm where he'd used it to break his fall.

"'Fraid I don't know what you're talking about. Nothing's making me do this. Well," Sonic crossed his arms and looked up at the ceiling, "guess that's not completely true. I can think of a few better ways to spend my days than chasing some runt and locking him up."

"I'm not a runt," the fox said, and Sonic snorted.

"Seriously? Have you looked at yourself?"

"I'm not that much shorter than you!"

Sonic turned fully to face him, his amused smirk replaced by a glare. "You wanna run that by me again, pal?"

An odd expression crossed the fox's face, but it was gone a moment later. Instead he frowned, and asked in a much quieter voice, "But why are you doing this? Why are you locking me up here? If you've got better things to do . . ."

Sonic shrugged, and returned to his relaxed position leaning against the bars. "I've got my orders."

"But since when do you take orders?!" the fox cried. "You never do! You don't take orders from anyone! You're Sonic!"

"Right," Sonic said. "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, first lieutenant of the Robotnik Empire. I take orders from one person, and one person only, and that's the big man himself."

"No you aren't, and no you don't!" the fox argued, and he rushed forward to grip the bars in both hands. Sonic jumped nimbly out of the way, just in case the kid (who Sonic had the feeling was craftier than he looked) got any ideas. "You would especially never take orders from him! You hate him! You ruin his plans every day! You're a hero, Sonic! A freedom fighter! You save Mobius every day, and you—"

"Shut up!" Sonic snapped. There was an odd ringing in his ears—a headache. He was getting a headache, a dull throb behind his eyes. "Jeez, will you cool it for a sec? You're louder and squeakier than anyone I've ever met, and that's saying something considering the dumbbots I work with."

"—and you would never hurt me," the fox finished, his voice tiny. He'd slumped down to his knees at the base of the barred door. Sonic glowered at him for a moment before he turned away.

"Hmph. I don't even know your name." The kid gave an odd hiccuping sound, and Sonic bristled his quills, suddenly feeling antsy for reasons he couldn't explain. "But whatever. You're locked up, and that's all my orders said I had to do, so I'm done. Hope solitude suits you, 'cause I won't be back, Mack."

Thanks to his gifted speed, Sonic was at the end of the corridor in a half second, but he paused there, one foot resting on the bottom step. His hearing was sharp despite the distance, and if he wasn't mistaken . . .

Crying. That's what he heard. The little fox kid was openly crying. Sonic balled his fingers into fists and squeezed his eyes shut.

"It doesn't matter," he whispered. "It has nothing to do with me. I never even met that kid before today, and I was told to lock him up and leave him there so he can't sabotage the Empire." Those were his orders. That was his job. Protecting the Empire—that was his job.

. . . So then, why did it feel so wrong?

Notes: Because if this wasn't a slapstick show, I'm pretty positive that's the way it would have gone.

Once again, thank you to everyone who reviewed before. The final eight tags will be up in the next couple of days. If you've come back to read, thank you. If you're new, thank you as well. Really, I do appreciate it.

(And also, would anyone be interested in full length fics focusing on either "Chosen One?/Anomaly" or this one? Because I've been kicking around ideas for both, as well as one sort of based around "Unwelcome Gratitude," so if anyone is interested . . .)