Sonic Runaways

Zeena sat on the floor of her log cabin, covered head to toe in layers upon layers of warm clothes. The fire wouldn't even stay alive for over a few seconds, so she was left in the cold. She groaned, frustrated, and she could see her breath in the frigid air. She was putting together a makeshift projector screen out of ice cubes. Zeena had some time to kill before Sonic got to her station. Robotnik didn't know she was at this remote location, and he likely wouldn't care for a while. So she would indulge in one of her favorite hobbies. Broadcasting to the world below.

Zeena placed a salvaged Robo Pawn's visor onto a camera stand, and powered it on with her EM manipulation. Robotnik had taught the Deadly Seven how to put together machinery, but Zeena had quickly learned machinery wasn't limited to just weapons of war and robots. When she got her setup complete, she had what was essentially a working computer complete with another Robo Pawn visor as a webcam. Taking a deep breath, she began the livestream.

"Hey, everyone! Welcome to my livestream," Zeena sighed, donning a relaxed demeanor. "It's me, 'Snocone'. How is everyone?" All the regulars were tuning in, and then some new ones. "Hope my outfit isn't too revealing for this site." She laughed. She looked to the chat, and her smile faded a little. "What's that? Oh, I'm glitching. Sorry! Let's see if we can fix that." She fiddled with the setup a little, adjusting the antennas on the internet router she had crafted out of Badnik parts. "Is that better?" She asked. Chat had all the same complaints. "Nobody can… hear me?" Zeena watched as most of everyone left. Her expression soured.

…

Amy of the Roses was on her Tails Electric, inside the run-down motel room she had rented after the shuttle landed in Neonne, Veinia. It was a very short flight to the colorful yet dingy city. She was lucky this place was relatively close to the one she and the others were staying at, Kerosen, but far enough away to survive the immediate fallout of the world shattering. Kerosen, however, was right on a fault line. If Amy didn't know what had happened by firsthand experience, and judging by the overhead photos, she would have guessed a volcano erupted right in the center of town. But this was much worse. Despite the whole town and surrounding area being flooded in magma by the end of the collapse, and thanks to the low population density, everyone had been evacuated on the shuttle. Amy scrolled through the news, as a terribly cold feeling washed over her.

It was official. The world of Erius had been shattered. Everyone had known that for about two days, but it had taken a while for the "big three" governments to finally admit it. To admit that they had failed. "We have suffered great losses over the past two days. The worst of which being the deaths of our own citizens," a recording of Michael Krez, the president of the United Federation stated. "The recent world-shattering blast has resulted in over 700 human deaths and the loss of millions of homes across the country."

"Is there anything else you want to say, Mr. President?" A reporter asked.

"... I'm sorry," the president replied, hanging his head in shame.

"No, the Robotnik Empire had no role in shattering Erius," Agent Stone, Robotnik's closest assistant lied in a similarly professional recording. This was one of the very few videos recorded in the country to be released officially to the entire world. "Lord Robotnik is… gone." Stone cleared his throat and wiped his eyes free of crocodile tears. "He would never inflict harm upon the planet. Or this country." Amy let out a low synthetic growl at this. "Through everything that has happened, we are still standing. We are still ALIVE. Thank you very much. Long live the Robotnik Empire."

"I just can't believe he would do this…" the Iron Queen sobbed in an emotional livestream courtesy of the Snitch website. "No. I really don't think it was him. Robotnik and I were best friends. Now there's these awful rumors about him everywhere! How and WHY would he come back from the dead to shatter the world AND his own country? It doesn't even make any sense!"

Amy switched off of the news tab for her own sake. The Iron Queen's video gave Amy an idea on how to spend her time in a way that wouldn't mentally damage herself. The daunting reality of living in a shattered world was taking its toll on her. The sheer amount of people who had died in a shattered world broke her heart. She needed a breather. Amy's favorite streamer was usually active at that time, so she would just tune in to take her mind off things.

"Snocone ^.^ HAIIII!!!" Amy typed into chat as she joined the livestream.

Zeena, looking back to chat, saw that there was a sudden outpour of messages. All from the same user, "Roji Rasukaru". They were being sent at ridiculously high speeds.

"Hi, Roji!" Zeena typed, smiling a little. Zeena suddenly thought on what she had just said. "Can I call you by your first name?"

"No. That's not my first name…" Amy typed back, clearly ecstatic that her favorite streamer had noticed her. "(My real first name's a secret!) O.O! But you can call me Roji, don't worry."

"Ah, that makes sense," Zeena messaged in return. The chat was all but empty. She and Roji were the only ones left. "Well, I can't really stream. My internet SUCKS. But I guess I can just chat here with you if that's okay."

"Yes! That's perfect! :)!" Amy replied.

They chatted for a while, Amy asking questions and Zeena answering them honestly. Even the ones that could give away the fact she was not exactly from the world of Erius where all her viewers were. She didn't even really think about that whenever she was streaming. "Where'd you get that horn on your head?" Amy asked. "It makes you look so pretty in your profile picture >.

"I was born with it," Zeena answered. This message made her feel warm.

"That's so cool!" Amy exclaimed. "I want a horn!" Amy thought on it. "I wonder if there's a tarot card that I can use to make one."

"Tarot cards? Aren't those banned?" Zeena asked, surprised.

"In most places, yeah," Amy replied. "They allowed them in my old town, but it was destroyed when the world shattered." Zeena suddenly winced in guilt. "I don't think they allow them in the safezone I'm in. But I don't really care. I don't even let the laws stop me!"

"Aren't people weirded out by those cards?" Zeena typed back, astonished by the sheer bravery of this blue hedgehog (judging by the profile picture). Couldn't have been Sonic … They didn't have a mask on and looked a little bashful in the photo.

"Yeah, but I don't let it get to me," Amy replied. Zeena squinted at the message, trying to see if she had even read it right. She read it again, and again. There was no doubt about it. Roji just didn't care what other people thought. Zeena hardly even realized that it had been minutes of her rereading the same message with no response.

"Snocone, you there?" Roji had asked minutes ago. Roji had waited a while, only to impatiently send a barrage of messages in hopes that Zeena would see them. These consisted of singular random characters and gifs of puppy-eyed Becky bears. Zeena quickly scrolled through the spam, until she noticed out of her peripheral vision that the viewer count had gone down to 0. Roji had just given up trying to talk anymore. Zeena looked to the ground, and sighed. She closed her eyes to try and hold back tears.

Without the pings of new notifications, Zeena sat there on the cold cement floor, listening to the harsh snowstorm outside. "Damn it. Can't do anything right, can you?" A warped version of Zeena's voice bitched from right in front of her. Zeena looked up at the icy monitor. The projection of her computer screen had fogged over. Instead of a clear image of the dead stream, all the kind messages sent from Roji… a silhouette resembling some kind of infernal version of Zeena herself had taken center stage.

"No! Not you again. Not now!" Zeena exclaimed, stumbling away from the ice screen. In her haste, she knocked over the Robo Pawn projector. The shadow remained in the frigid reflection.

"Anybody else would have been just fine with what Roji said," the shadow judged. "Well, anyone except me. We're in the same boat, girl. We both want to be free, and Roji IS free. What did THEY do to earn it? We deserve it so much more. We've worked our asses off for Robotnik, and he treats us like garbage every day."

"I suppose you're right…" Zeena replied, getting up and walking towards the screen. "But what can we do about it? If I try to rebel, he'll kill me."

"You know the answer to that, sweetie," the demon laughed. "If you hand over control of your body to me… temporarily… we'll become immensely powerful. Immensely durable. Even the Mystic Melody won't do much for the good doctor at that point. I can be liberated. YOU can be liberated. I'll do all the heavy-lifting. All you need to do is give me the wheel for a while." Zeena saw the impression of a smile in the shadow's eyes.

"I don't trust you," Zeena muttered. "You'll just take over my body completely. That's what you want, isn't it? Sorry, I'd rather not." Zeena pointed right at the screen.

"That's a prisoner's mindset," the shadow growled. A green claw shot out of the ice and grabbed Zeena's wrist. "You can't do ANYTHING on your own, let alone overthrow a tyrant. YOU'LL be jealous of ME when I finally break out of the prison of your mind and take control."

Zeena held in a cry of terror. Thinking fast, and using her technokinesis, she remotely launched her PC into the green arm that was pulling her into the screen. There was the sound of bones breaking, and an ungodly screech from within the ice. The arm dropped Zeena.

"Ungrateful little girl!" The voice shouted, the shadow now holding its broken arm. "What are you going to do without me? Continue being a slave for the rest of your life? Let's see where that gets you." Zeena gritted her teeth, and balled up her fists. "Even if you do free yourself somehow, where are you gonna go next? You're just going to waste away like the insignificant piece of garbage you are. You're NOTHING!"

Zeena screamed in fury, and with a single swing of her fist, broke apart the monitor. She continued to shatter the remaining pieces of toppled ice, as little laughing shadows taunted her from the tiny pieces of crushed ice. Their laughs swarmed her, surrounded her. She tore the entire monitor down until she couldn't hear the laughs anymore.

She panted heavily. Her fists hurt. She looked all around, letting the loneliness sink in. She then heard Frozen Factory's Cacophonic Tower activate from outside. "Zeena! What in the world are you doing?!" Lord Robotnik's voice shouted. "It's been hours since your last update. The hedgehog has been spotted near your post. Get out there and freeze him alive!" Her heart still racing, Zeena rushed out the door into the frigid wasteland.