Line Of Sight By ODESZA, WYNNE, Mansionair.
~~~

The trip over, by helicopter, wasn't that long. Surely. They wanted to leave with as little assistance as possible, so, with nothing more than a pilot, Team Dark set out. Rouge perched in the co-pilots seat, but did more talking than anything. Only when she fell quiet did Shadow lift his gaze from the floor.

"What is it?" Omega asked, awkwardly sat beside the dark hedgehog.

"I thought we weren't having backup?"

"What?" Shadow cut in, unbuckling to peak out the front between the two pilots, gripping the bats chair.

Sure enough, there was another G.U.N helicopter beyond the two tailed fox's house, sat beside a pond. Suspicious. Even they needed coordinates from Tails to reach the home. How and why were there others here?

"What's going-?"

Shadow gently shook Rouge's chair, discreetly glanced at the pilot beside her and shook his head. The pilot in question appeared tense. Hands far too firmly gripping the yoke and sweat decorating a pale head. Something clandestine was going on here.

"Has the mission changed?" Rouge chose to ask, feeling a weird tightness in her stomach.

"Orders are orders."

Shadow frowned. "So we have assistance now?"

"Why else would those GUN agents be here?"

"Why weren't we told?"

"I'm assuming the Commander informed them to tell you when we land."

Rouge shifted. "Right."

Thus, when they reached the grassy floor, the three instructed the pilot to stay in the helicopter. He quickly agreed and thus went towards the fox's home.

"Shadow." Rouge tightly grabbed his arm, eyes wide, and pointed to the open entrance.

The Ultimate Lifeform glanced at the Body-cam strapped to his leather jacket and hummed. What in Chaos was going on?

"Let's...inform Sonic and Tails we're ready to go."

Rouge turned to her walking partner at his odd behaviour, but nodded when he tapped the camera. When Shadow held up his hand, Omega paused in traipsing after them and stood watch beside the fox's porch. Undeniably, the front entrance was battered in- weakly clinging onto it's hinges.

But entering gave Shadow a nasty chill. The back windows were entirely smashed and scattered across the wooden floor. The coffee table was sprung on it's side and cushions draped off the sofa. Most shockingly, G.U.N agents either leaned against each other, tried to stand or sat against the walls with expressions of shock.

"Sweet Gaia." Rouge yellowed.

"Oh! It's you, Shadow. We thought...." A blonde haired agent held their helmet and clung to the stairs rail.

"Is anyone...?"

"No one's dead, if that's what you were aiming for. Just a bit dazed, really. I can admit I'm a bit...scared too. Well, apart from...." Her eyes dragged over to a brunette propped against the sofa, tended by two other agents.

Shadow stepped closer, but the wounded human paled and tried to scream- only gasping in terror. They shook a trembling finger at him but calmed when Rouge went to the hedgehog's side. The brunette held a hand to their side. Their uniform was torn, revealing nasty scars beneath. Scratches continued along their face and loose hair lay at their side.

"What happened here?"

"We were attacked!" One of the agents tending to the wounds almost cried.

"We were only following orders and he completely lost it!"

"Shadow. Rouge." Omega bowed to peak his head through the entryway.

"The Tornado is gone."

The bat finished helping another agent stand before looking to the robot. "You're kidding."

"We have two helicopters. Everyone out." Shadow practically barked and ushered the limping staff towards the door.

"Well, aren't you accommodating."

Blue eyes widened when her partner turned his Body-cam off, gesturing for her to do the same. Chaos, Shadow was lucky she trusted him.

"Well?"

When Omega approached his side (having failed to fix the door) he crossed his arms. "Perhaps my priorities aren't correct- but why would Towers send us out here with this going on?"

Rouge frowned, hands on hips. "We show up at Tails', a bunch of our own are injured, they've left without a trace and you're wondering about the mission?"

"They aren't 'one of my own', for starters. Our fr-, that Faker and his brother wouldn't hurt a fly unless necessary. I only wonder what led them to take such...actions."

"Apart from one, they did not appear even bruised. Dazed, sure. But very minimal harm. Personally I would have went with a much more direct approach." Omega shrugged.

"You have a point."

Rouge double took. "No. More violence definitely isn't the answer."

"Not that."

"Aw."

"They clearly didn't want to attack. It seems they went on a more defensive stance. Until...something made them change tactic."

"Those scratches...." Rouge turned, seemingly noticing something. "They looked familiar, didn't they?"

"To what?"

"To those at Vanilla's and Cream's home."

Shadow's eyes narrowed. "What're you-?"

"Relax. I'm just saying, whatever caused those here must've been what happened to those missing people too."

"But that-."

"We're gonna find out either way." She stood, waving a discarded, slightly cracked Body-cam. "But I think we have bigger problems on our hands."

"What do you mean?"

She sighed, approaching him. "When Breezie talked about a mobian being behind these cases- I don't think she realised just how bad that damage could be. Or, she does but doesn't care because she's high enough that the consequences won't affect her." She growled, even startling Shadow.

It was rare to see Rouge truly angry. Topics of class and people with more money than they knew what to do with always seemed to do the trick, though.

"What are you getting at?"

"Before Eggman ruled Mobius, yeah, ages ago, there was a war between humans and mobians. Most of the history is lost but the damage was the same. Even with the peace treaty now, there's still so many on both sides with their short sighted views. If...if these cams' caught something bad...that could be real dangerous, Shadow."

"You're suggesting another war."

"More political, less violent. But maybe- more or less."

"What do we do?" Omega asked.

"Surely we need to find Sonic and Tails. Knowing them, they'll be off to Angel Island."

"No." Shadow began pacing.

"No?"

"It's suspicious enough that we turned our cameras off-."

"Well, who's idea was that?"

"Would you like this conversation to go back to the Commander?"

"So, what shall we do?" Omega refocused.

"We return to Station Square. We can't have Abraham becoming suspicious of more people within Faker's circle."

"And the Body-cam's?"

"All we can do is minimise the consequences of the two morons' actions. We can help them more if we stay down here, so, let's do what we can to make the damage as small as possible."

"Right."

Still, for Chaos' sake Sonic, why do you have to be so complicated?

—————

Tails wasn't moving. Tails. Wasn't. Moving.

"No!" Tears sprung to Amy's eyes and he could see her rush to his side.

"I-I didn't mean-!"

He was there faster than he could register. In an instant, he tore their helmet off to reveal brunette hair and terrified blue eyes. Their gun (the gun) collapsed to the floor and trembling hands raised to offer a pathetic attempt at peace.

He was sinking.

"Please!"

Cheese rushed to his side, hugging his ear. "Chao chao chao!"

'Ruin.'

"You."

When did he grab their throat?

'Maybe this will help even the score for everything the world owes you.'

"I've torn metal oceans of armies apart with my own hands. I've destroyed entire buildings with just my voice. I've taken down Mobius' most disastrous, notorious enemy with nothing but my quills. Eggman runs from me in fear. And you?"

His voice sounded like he had never been happy before.

When had he tossed the agent and decorated them in scars?

"Well, you just hurt my little brother."

He raised a claw, like five knives, already tipped with crimson red.

"No-!"

"Chao!"

"Sonic!"

Warm hands touched his cheeks. Forest green eyes poured into his soul. Terrified breaths left dry lips. Frazzled pink quills blocked the agent behind.

Had the world been spinning as fast as he could run? It seemed to stop.
The buzzing lights seized.
The shadows snuck back to their furthest corners.
The whispers, laughs and screams warped into Amy Rose's terrified exhales.

"A-Ames?"

His legs gave way and he pushed his weight into her hold. The colours seemed far less dull and he heard the sobs and gasps of agents around him. Eyes no longer burned, claws didn't scream in pain and teeth seized aching.

Amy cracked a gentle, but pained, smile (cheeks utterly soaked). "There you are."

Then he remembered and no longer could he breathe.

"Tails!" He whirled and dropped to his knees, scurrying over to the fox with his head propped up on the brown bag.

Not fast enough.

They whispered.

Not fast enough! Not fast enough! Not fast enough!

They chanted and laughed and danced.

He brought the poor boy into his arms, sobs strangling his throat. This was cruelly familiar.

'Because you've done this before.'

NOT FAST ENOUGH! NOT FAST ENOUGH!

'Will you ever stop failing at this? You look away for a moment and suddenly you've lost everything.'

"Sonic!" Amy's fingers snapped in front of him.

"Hey. Hey hey. Look at me. It's okay, see?" She brought up a-

"It's a dart. That's why there was so few before. They're just darts."

Darts?

So....

"Is Tails...?"

"It depends on what's in these things. Though, if they wanted to aim for legs I'm guessing they were designed with you in mind. That means they're really strong, whatever's inside."

"So we need to hurry."

"Yes. I'll stay with him whilst you pilot the plane."

Sonic stood, expression twisting into distrust as he hugged a limp Tails close. Amy gulped, picking up the bag, her hammer and Cheese hid between her quills (why did it look like he was seeing a ghost?)

"I'm on your side, remember? I won't hurt him."

'Not that she'd get the chance.'

Okay. That was more than enough for Sonic to nod and swiftly lead the way to the Tornado. Agents watched them, but did nothing more. Chaos, he'd terrified them to the point they couldn't move. Even Amy kept her distance, putting her hammer wherever it went and tossing the backpack onto the passenger's seat. She climbed to the top wing and delicately assisted in laying Tails before her, swiftly doing what she could to minimise the impacts of the dart.

"It must've been really strong for it to have worked so quickly. N-not a surprise though, 'cause your legs are the strongest part to you. Well, physically."

Sonic hummed, only half listening, and hardly acknowledged Cheese tensely join his side. "Hopefully Knuckles has something for us to wash it out."

When did he end up in the pilots seat? And why was talking such a chore?

Either way, he knew he started to ramble as the Tornado came to life. "W-well, if it's a sedative we kinda just have to...wait it out. You have the dart, right?"

"Yeah?"

"We can check what it is when Tails wakes. C-cause he will. He will."

Usually, the evening sun and cool breeze would melt all his worries away. He'd run. He'd be free. He'd let the wind whisk him away.

But now, as rooted as he was, he could do nothing but spiral. When did his head feel so hard to control?

"If it's...poison? Wash it out. Tube'n'water. Don't think it is though. Didn't s-seem like they wanted to kill us, right?"

Even though Amy knew this already, she knew Sonic was just trying to distract himself. Too much so, for his landing on Angel Island was a bumpy one and stirred him into action- sitting upright.

"When did...?" He shook his head and climbed out, zipping around to sling the bag over his shoulder and help Amy down.

She brought Tails with her and watched the silent hedgehog lead them past a Chao garden. The little creatures met Cheese's eyes, freezing their waves and looking petrified. Amy couldn't decide what was more unnerving, Sonic's nonsensical mumbles or chilling stillness. She was far too preoccupied to notice her glowing pink rings all the same.

The Master Emerald shrine and jewel itself were always more majestic with the lowering sun, in her opinion. Angel Island felt far more tranquil. But Amy was way too shaken up and out of it to truly appreciate the floating isle's beauty. It took a red echidna to make a few louder stomps down the aged stone stairs for her to be brought back to the present.

Knuckles' purple eyes bore into the pair. His cowboy hat, bandaged and slightly torn, flapped in the slight breeze and he shifted a belt to sit more comfortably around his waist. Green cuffs rested against his massive mittens and bandages circled up his dreadlocks.

How in Chaos could she even begin to explain what happened when she didn't completely understand it herself?

Clearly, Knuckles hadn't quite caught onto just how dire their situation was.

"Long time no see."