Jayde the Hedgehog • By Your Side [3]

13: The Past✔️

Music: Flight - Tristam, Braken

11:44: GUN HQ

So much for finding out the story beforehand.

"Torrent Natalus was someone who I worked with for two years of my... let's say 'runaway'." Jayde sighed, standing in front of the commander, Shadow and Rouge. Behind the main three stood Omega along with Sonic and Knuckles, and the pink hedgehog stood beside the Protector, tending to her wounds. The commander had called the trio after the second failure of the same mission and demanded Jayde tell them everything, "That bat isn't someone you want to get on the wrong side of. Imagine he's like the Mobius version of Scourge." Jayde continued, flinching as Amy dabbed alcohol on a particularly sore wound.

The commander clicked on a keyboard, a few images coming up on the screen of the time she worked with Torrent to steal the main device the first time, "Agent Jayde, is this you in the CCTV footage?" His eyes were full of anger, but he promised he wouldn't assume things before hearing the truth.

The cobalt striped female sighed, bowing her head, "Yes. That is me." A few gasps rose in the room at the conclusion – even the ebony hedgehog was shocked. He knew that Jayde had been alone for over five years, but he never expected her to have done something as reckless as that.

"You know that this is a violation to one of our prioritised rules?" the commander asked, anger evident in his voice.

The Protector growled, "You can't say it like that when you don't know what actually happened!"

The commander raised an eyebrow, placing his fingers together under his chin, "Would you care to elaborate?"

She dragged a fingerless gloved hand down her face and huffed. She guessed she'd have to let the truth out of her criminal acts sooner or later, "In that time of my 'runaway', I had been accustomed to my new surroundings. I was self-trained. The only problem was that I was still naive about the world around me – according to Torrent."

"I stumbled on his base by accident. In that week I hadn't eaten, much less drank, a thing. You could say that he actually saved me. He took me in, fed me and gave me somewhere to sleep. That's when he started to train me. At the time I thought he was preparing me for going out into the world again. But then he assigned me on a mission with him." Jayde started to pace around, much to the dismay of the other's who had to follow her movement, "I felt that I needed to owe him, after all he had saved me from starving to death. So I agreed. I didn't know what I was getting into." Jayde turned face the commander, her ears pinning back slightly, "If I knew what he was actually planning at the time, I would have never gone along with it."

"So, how did you find out about his plans?" Rouge asked.

Jayde muttered a few incoherent words before speaking, "I may have been alone for a while, but my Dad still taught me about technology. After we had retrieved the device he wanted, I snuck into his control room to see what was on it. Once I saw all of the information, I immediately confronted him – granted, that wasn't the best idea when he was practically a criminal." Jayde looked up and stared at Shadow, "After all, criminals can't leave any tracks."

"Because I found the Shard after these events, it was, and still is, one of the most difficult battles I've ever had. A good old street fight." The grey female spun around again, "But you know the thing about street fights?"

Sonic interrupted her, "The street always wins." He mumbled. Emerald orbs widened, "Wait was this in Station Square, early spring?" Jayde nodded, "That was the mass Eggman attack... were you there?"

"Eggman knew he was there." The grey hedgehog muttered, "With all the robots joining and Torrent attacking me, I had to run. But some of the robots malfunctioned, firing in random directions – one happened to hit that sneaky bat." Her fists clenched, "He begged me to help him, but I left him there. I tried to go back to his base and retrieve the device to give back, but they had already moved again. I thought he was dead until I saw that CCTV footage."

"He's waiting on revenge." Shadow muttered.

Jayde flinched, the image of the scared little fox behind the glass permanently engraved into her memory. "Revenge indeed." She mumbled, catching the blue hedgehog's eyes. Sonic frowned, knowing that there was some hidden meaning behind her look – but what?

The grey hedgehog looked at the commander, "Torrent doesn't live in a world that plays by your rules. If you want to beat him and imprison him, you need to be smart, and you need me." Jayde spoke, "I know you have no reason to trust me, but believe me – you won't stand a chance otherwise."