Heroes (Sonic the Hedgehog! The Avengers AU)

Chapter 9 - The Aftermath

Vector rushed through the halls the minute he had heard that there was a situation with Silver. He was one of their strongest, and a good friend. If he had a struggle, things were worse than he could've imagined.

His fears were confirmed when he saw the hedgehog slumped up against the wall, breathing heavily as he pulled out the metal and let it fall beside him. He looked up to see Vector and put on a friendly smile. "Sorry, boss. They got rabbeted."

Vector shook his head, denial already setting in. "Just stay awake, eyes on me!" He ordered, not wanting the chance of losing his friend.

"No. I'm clocked out here," the hedgehog insisted with a chuckle, blood spilling out of his mouth when it turned into a cough.

The croc shook his head again. "Not an option, Silver," he said, trying not to break at seeing Silvers weak state.

"It's no use, Vector. But it's okay. This was never going to work...they didn't have something... to..." Silver leaned back more, losing all his strength as he looked away.

Vector froze, unable to handle reality as he saw the last breath of the hedgehog. His hands shakily reached up to his comms as the area was swarmed with medics.

***

Blaze was having the wound on her head being treated as she heard Vectors shaky voice call through, announcing the news to everyone.

"Agent Silver is down."

Much like Vector, she froze hearing those words. That was impossible, it had to be. She stood up, waving the people around her away as another agents voice pitched in.

"Paramedics are on their way."

"They're here," Vector said solemnly. Blaze broke, her world shattering when she heard Vector confirm her worst fears.

The others listened in as well. Amy not too far from where Blaze was frozen, Tails and Shadow stood together as they heard.

Amy looked over to Blaze with a somber gaze. She knew how close they were, and the devastating confirmation coming from Vector was what caused the tears flowing on the cats face.

"They called it."

***

Vector, Tails, Shadow and Amy were gathered in the briefing room again, a look of numb shock on their devastated faces.

"How's Blaze holding up?" Tails questioned, averting his gaze from the table over to Amy.

"She's...not too well. Just give her time," the hedgehog responded.

Vector sighed. "We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the emerald, Sonic, Knuckles. I got nothing for you. And we lost a close friend..." he added, refusing to look up at the group as he hesitantly kept talking. "Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Master Emerald. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier."

Tails frowned slightly, so they were right. Shadow had a scowl on his face, but before he could speak up, Vector continued.

"There was an idea, Tails knows this, called The Heroes Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Silver died still believing in that idea, in heroes." A pause. "Well, it's an old-fashioned notion."

Shadow sighed, getting up and leaving. He didn't want to hear any more. He didn't need to.

***

In a far-off meadow, Knuckles punched through the glass, stumbling out of the cell as he looked around with a frown.