The new Iron Khan stands before the Freedom Fighters atop his dark nimbus. He smirks as he rests his atom-bat on his shoulder and places a fist on his hip.

"Ken! Listen to me!" Sally called out. "You have to fight her control!"

"I am the divine weapon of the Iron Dominion," Iron Khan said before charging at the Freedom Fighters. "And I am glorious!"

He blasts right past the heroes, sending them to the ground. Y/n is the first back on his feet and sees Khan aiming his atom-bat at the three kids from earlier.

"Mister Khan! Stop!" the bear says. "STOP!"

Iron Khan goes to swing, only to he tackled off of his cloud by Y/n just as Sonic runs in and grabs the kids. He brings them to safety.

"Why does it feel like all I'm doing today is snatching people up and carrying them around?" Sonic asks and sets the kids down.

"Sonic!" Sally runs up to the blue hedgehog. "Is Bunnie--?"

"Resting at Freedom HQ safe and sound," Sonic assures the princess.

Lightning fires at the sky, but misses its mark as Sonic looks at the kids.

"We're you kids throwing rocks at Khan again?" he asks.

"He turned evil!" the bear child exclaims.

"He's not evil!" Sally corrects.

Antoine looks to see more lightning zap into the sky, along with a green energy bolt. He growls in anger.

"Snively took his power ring crownnajd left him prone," Sally informs Sonic. "The Iron Queen used the same techno-magic she used on Bunnie to take control of him."

There was another blast of lightning, this time accompanied by a yell, and Y/n crashes down besides Sally and Sonic.

"My everything feels tingly..." he groans. "And not in the good way..."

Sally and Sonic look up to see Khan flying over to them and stops in the sky. He smirks and gives them the 'come on' motion with his finger.

"So he needs to be contained. Got it," Sonic takes a step forward. "This should be fun!"

"Don't... don't hurt him!" Sally tells Sonic.

"Don't hurt him, she says," Sonic says as he rushes at Khan.

Iron Khan does the same and charges at Sonic as he pulls his atom-bat back. He swings, only for Sonic to slide underneath his attack.

"The Iron Queen's taken control of you before, man!" He backflips over Khan. "You said you'd never let anyone control you again. Not Robotnik, and not this psycho! You're too stubborn to let her voodoo work on you! Snap out of it, Khan!"

Sonic was silence as the control cyborg-monkey plants a firm kick to his chest, sending him flying back. However, he recovers and returns to to fight.

Up above, Regina watches in glee. "You're wasting your time, dearie! His cybernetics are too extensive! My control is absolute!"

"This power ring may have offered some protection as his crown, but now it's gone," Snively says before he snaps the crown into pieces. "Aww, too bad."

"My little monkey pawn will destroy your Freedom Figbters just like he did in the Dragon Kingdom!" the Iron Queen declares. "And then your city will burn!"

Regina laughs as Iron Khan slams his atom-bat into Sonic's stomach and sends him back. However, Sonic dodges the next swing as a plan starts to develop.

"So that's the game you like to play!" he scowls at the Iron Queen and Snively. "Thanks for giving me a plan, though."

The Blue Blur rushes over to Sally, who was with a now standing Y/n.

"When we first met Khan, he didn't have a crown, right?" Sonic asked Sally.

"Right," the princess conforms. "He took a power ring that was there, and it transformed."

"Then we'll just get him another one!" Y/n states. "Sonic, me and the others will buy you some time while you go to the Lake of Rings and--"

"Look out!" Sally called out.

Y/n and Sonic turn to see Iron Khan in front of them, and he swings his glowing atom-bat. Y/n goes to bring up an energy shield, only for a sword to show up and block Khan's weapon.

"Then I am suggesting you are getting zero move on, then!" Antoine says as he flares at Khan.

"Wow, 'Twan," Sonic says. "Don't worry, I'll be quick. Y/n, make sure Sally's safe."

Y/n nods and Sonic speeds away. Antoine spins his sword around, taking both him and Khan out of their power struggle before the coyete thrusts his sword forward. Khan blocks it.

"You tell us nothing useful about ze enemy, or that you are ze liability," Antoine swings again, pushing Khan back, "and if I lose my wife, eet is because of you!"

Antoine goes for another thrust, only for Khan to dodge and swing his atom-bat. It strikes Antoine right at the chest and sends him flying back.

However, green chains form around Khan's wrists. He pulls at them to try to break them, only for Sally to fly in and kick him in the face.

"Blast it, Ken!" she grunted. "Fight her, not us!"

However, Khan breaks the chains and swings at Sally. "All for the glory of the queen!"

Sally falls to the ground with a painful grunt, and Y/n immediately becomes ticked off. He charges at Khan and puts him in a headlock.

"You know, I don't really know you all that well," Y/n stated, "so I'm not really gonna feel bad for hurting you!"

Iron Khan thrusts his atom-bat behind him in an attempt to hit his opponent, only to miss. He does it again and misses, but thinks up a new plan. He holds his atom-bat with both hands and brings it behind his head--more specifically Y/n's head, and puts his opponent's own head into some sort of lock.

"Hey, what the--?" Y/n didn't get to finish as he was pulled off from behind Khan and slammed into the ground. "Gah!"

Khan lifts his atom-bat up and brings it down on Y/n, only to miss when the human rolls away. Y/n then twists around and lands a solid kick to the side of Iron Khan's face, making him stumble away.

"You know, being dead for a few weeks kinda made me rusty," Y/n smirked as he hopped onto his feet. "So this fight is a welcomed one!"

"I will make your second death painful!" Khan declared as he summoned his nimbus.

He charged at Y/n as he charged his atom-bat. Y/n stands his ground as his eyes glow emerald and his body gets covered in green energy bolts. He balls his hand into a fist and rears it back, and finally throws it forward just as Khan swings his atom-bat.

"Chaos Smash!"

"Tumultuous Thunderclap of the Enraged!"

The two meet in the middle, making a bright flash of power from the countering forces.

Meanwhile, at the Lake of Rings, Sonic was getting impatient.

"C'mon, c'mon, come on!" Sonic walks in a circle. "This is the Lake of Rings, Nicole. Why am I not seeing any rings?"

"The Rings are a by-product of the energy conversion from Robotropolis' nuclear fallout," Nicole explains.

"Meaning...?" Sonic asks.

"It takes time," Nicole says. "A lot of time. And there's already a lot of strange distortion in my network right now, so--"

*KRA-KOOM!!*

Sonic and Nicole turn to see a bright flash booming back at the scene of the fight. Lightning crackled and shot out of it while the energy withing was green with Chaos Energy.

"What was that?!" Nicole asked.

"Best guess?" Sonic said. "Y/n and Khan."

Nicole gulped. "I'll reroute some power."

"Thank you!"

Suddenly, out from the trees, Khan comes flying in as he and Y/n fought each other on the cloud. Khan goes to fire lightning, but Y/n pushes the atom-bat away and makes it fire into the sky.

Sonic panics and turns back to the mystical lake. "C-mon-c'mon-c'mon! Now-now-now!" A ring shot out from the water and Sonic leaped for it. "Yes!"

Y/n saw what happened and got the plan. He grabbed Khan's head and pushed down on the cloud, making it turn towards the lake before Y/n flings Khan off of it.

"Incoming!" the human calls out.

Sonic smirks as he turns around just as Khan crashes into him. They both fall into the water, and Sonic slams the ring right on Khan's head.

The power of the ring can enhance strength, grant insight, or empower one's greatest wish. In this case, Monkey Khan needs all three.

Khan gasps as a flash of light goes off before fading, showing him back to normal as the Iron Queen's techno-magic wears off. He falls to his hands and knees, breathing heavily. Sonic looks at him in concern.

"... are you back with us, M.K.?" the hedgehog asks.

"... not really..." Khan gasped.

"This is why you were so angry when you saw us celebrating. This is why you said there were no Freedom Fighters to contact in the Dragon Kingdom," Sonic stands up and walks to Ken. "This is why you got all bent out of shape when I ragged on you about being 'king'."

"Yes," Khan weakly looked up at Sonic. "It's all my fault."

Back at the walls, Regina clapped with glee.

"That's that, then!" she laughs.

"That's it?" Snively asks. "We're pulling out?"

"They know not to challenge me and they're faith in Monkey Fuzz is shattered," the Iron Queen boops Snively on the nose. "Now... let's go home."

"Mmm... yes, dear."

And with that, the two finally leave and head back to New Megaopolis.

Back at the Lake of Rings, Sonic and Khan were out of the water with the monkey sitting on the grass. Y/n stood by Sonic as Sally and Antoine walked up to them.

"I-I thought I could control myself with the power ring crown. I got angry--again--and lost my focus," Khan admits. "She released me after the Freedom Fighters were gone, just to mess with me! I tried fighting on my own, I really did..." He dips his head and holds it in his hands. "But I'm weak. I can't do it alone... can't be alone... like that. It's like being back in the vault."

Y/n looked at Monkey Khan, feeling sympathy for him. He knew what it was liked to be controlled. It's happened to him more times than he would like to count.

Antoine finally walked up to Khan and grabbed him by his top. "So you choose now to be telling us?! Now zat my wife is nearly lost! Did you not theenk she would use you like that again?!"

"Antoine! Cool it!" Sally ordered.

"No. He's right," Khan stated.

"No, he's not." the Freedom Fighters turn to see the three kids from before. The bear becomes nervous. "Well, I mean, not totally.c

"We lost our parents to Dr. Robotnik's war," the coyete boy says. "That's how you lost your friends."

All three of them walk up to Khan and the cat gets up close. "Sometimes we felt like it was our fault. We're too little and weak to help fight."

"But Rosie says we all help in our own way," the bear cub states. "Um... so we have to help each other."

"And then we're all string because everyone else is," the cat says.

"Yeah," the coyete agrees.

The bear cub walks up to Khan now. "So we'll be strong for you and you have to be strong for us." He offers a hand. "Deal?"

"... deal," Khan smiles as he shakes the boy's hand.

Khan stands to his feet and turns to see Y/n and Sally.

"We've all made mistakes, Khan. It's nothing to be ashamed about," Y/n says. "What matters is how we bounce back. I should know. I have plenty of experience."

"Exactly," Sally nods in agreement. "And we cannot lose sight of who the real enemy is, and who our friends are."

"Thank you," Khan said and hugged both Sally and Y/n.

They soon part and Ken walks over to Antoine. He offers a hand.

"Can 'I'm sorry' be a start?" he asks.

"Oui. And I am sorry for my frostingness!" Antoine apologizes as well as he takes Khan's hand.

They let go of each other's hands and Sonic elbows the coyete playfully.

"I was about to say, remember your old yellow streak?" Sonic says.

"Oui," Antoine says. "I recall it all too well."

"Because I could totally bring it up right now," Sonic continues.

"I know."

"I've got a list."

"Stop eet."

Y/n chuckles a bit as he watches the two. Sally walks up to him.

"I've missed this," he says to her.

"And we've all missed you," the princess says. "Maybe we can finally live in peace after we take down the Iron Dominion, huh?"

"Heheh. Yeah," Y/n says as he crosses his arms.

Sally looks up at him and smiles. She then walks off and grabs the kids, saying she would check on Tails. Antoine leaves to check up on Bunnie with Sonic, which left Y/n alone with Khan. He turns to the monkey.

"Okay, so to make sure I've got this down..." the human starts as he starts to count with his fingers. "We've got this 'Iron Dominion' running the Eggman Empire now, they've got the Dark Egg Legion, plus the four houses of ninja clans, and they've got two bases--both the Eggdome and their own base back in... the Dragin Kingdom, right?"

"That's about right," Khan says.

"Am I missing anything?" Y/n asks.

"No, that's about it," Khan assures the resurrected human.

"Then it looks like I'm back in action," Y/n smirks. "Never an easy life for a Freedom Fighter, huh?"

Khan shakes his head with a smile. "No, not at all. Now, I must look for my atom-bat in the lake."

"You want any help?" Y/n asks.

"No, I can do it on my own," Khan assures the human. "You go on and get some relaxation. I'm sure being dead and then alive takes quite the toll."

"You have no idea," Y/n laughs. "But if you're sure, then I'll head out. See ya, Khan."

Khan nods and watches Y/n run off before turning back to the Lake of Rings. However, when he was sure he was out of Khan's sight, Y/n slowly stopped and turned to look over his shoulder. His face immediately became emotionless and stoic, and he turned to continue his path back to his house at a walking pace.

The Eggdome...

In the detention level of the Eggdome, Snively can be seen standing on a step ladder as he looks into his uncle's padded cell. He was babbling on about some kind of formula, while occasionally saying he hated Sonic.

"It's a pity you're so far gone, Uncle. I'd like you to appreciate how well things are going without you," Snively grins evilly. "Sonic's beaten twice as in many days. We have a sizable army, even if it isn't made of robots. We have a spy. And I'm treated decently for once! Princely! I've found love, you domineering oaf!"

"... crystal ducks in wooden water... hate that hedgehog..." the broken Robotnik mumbles. "... they always loved Colin more... empire that reaches the stars..."

"Oh, forget it," Snively begins to walk away. "No point in gloating when you can't understand me."

As Snively walks away and leaves, Eggman keeps babbling to himself randomness. However, he suddenly speaks out the override sequence to his cell before going back to random nonsense. Then the door unlocks and clicks open...
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A tragedy has been revealed, and the next terror released! Will this be Dr. Robotnik's return? Find out when our heroes get put on the run, next time on No Longer Human!