Fighting Flatlines (War Over Mobius Saga: Rebel Route #2)

Remember Who You Are...

Author's Note: Quite a bit of the dialogue in this chapter was inspired by lyrics in the above song.

Once they returned to base and the officers left, Knuckles and Adalia had to work together to get the unconscious wolf to a doctor. They didn't have to think too hard about which doctor to take him to, they knew. As they arrived at Nadia's room, Kimberly immediately set up another bed for the wolf. 

"He's been here for her, the least I can do is return the favor." She glanced at Gadget, who hung awkwardly across the arms of both Knuckles and Adalia, as she finished getting a blanket on the bed. As soon as she was done, Kimberly helped get Gadget into the bed, then prepared to get the most painful procedures out of the way, as well as several injections that could benefit him.

After all of that was done, Knuckles picked up a mental monitor and pushed a few buttons on a keypad before the device began to blink, then he placed it on Gadget's head to keep an eye on his mental state. Sonic, who had walked in during the multiple medical procedures, kept an eye on Gadget just in case the sedative wore off during a procedure. While they were inserting an IV to keep a certain medicine in him, he showed signs of waking up.

 "His ears are twitching." Sonic noted, pointing at Gadget's head.

 "He's awake, but with all the medicine in him, he's not going to respond to anyone." Kimberly made clear. 

Gadget's eyes opened, but were horribly unfocused, strange for the spectacled wolf. 

Sonic waved his hand in Gadget's face, just in case he'd respond. 

"Well?" Kimberly asked. 

"Nothing." 

"He's drugged, of course he isn't responding!" Knuckles added. 

Sonic wouldn't give up, he kept trying to get Gadget's attention. "Hey. Buddy. Wake up. Agent." 

Gadget snarled, but it was very quiet, more of a sound of annoyance than a full out snarl. He stopped once Sonic quit waving his hand in his face and resumed his unresponsive state. 

"Quit buggin' him, Sonic!" Knuckles griped.

"Leave him alone, Commander. He's Sonic." Kimberly lightly rolled her eyes as she turned back to the wolf.

 "Maybe something with Nadia's scent?" Sonic asked, trying to get Gadget to be responsive.

"Do we have anything?" Knuckles asked.  "I mean, she was covered in blood, is anything she had on decently blood-free?" 

"We actually got the blood out of everything that she was wearing, so nothing has her scent." Kimberly replied.

 "Well, go rub something on her scent glands!" Knuckles commanded, now wanting a response just as much as Sonic. 

Kimberly nodded, she grabbed Nadia's top shirt, and pressed it against her facial scent glands, rubbing gently. "Done." She walked over to Gadget and gently held it on his nose. 

His nose twitched as he sniffed, horrible memories flooding his mind while he smelled her. "Leave me..... Leave me lying here.... I don't care.... I fought for what I believed in.... Take Nadia.... She needs help......" Gadget mumbled mindlessly. 

"He thinks he's dying on a battlefield." Knuckles observed, pausing for a few somber seconds while the mumbling continued. "I know someone who can help." 

Sonic looked at him. "Who?"

 "Go find Amy and ask for Gears." 

"We don't have a soldier named Gears...." Sonic started, confused. 

"I know, but he's been here since Nadia rescued him from getting blown up. He's Gadget's twin brother." 

"Oh. Ok." Sonic sped out to ask for this mystery wolf. 

A few minutes later, an agitated voice hollered as a blue blur sped back into the room. 

"Easy!" Sonic declared, holding a very displeased dark green wolf. 

"Get your rebel paws off me!" Gears yelled, slapping Sonic in the face. 

"Ow. Strong paws." 

"Meet my brother, he's the Alpha." Gears grumbled. "I'm just the stupid Omega..."

"Mental note: ow, ow, ow, Don't tick off Gadget. If getting slapped by Gears hurts this bad, getting slapped by Gadget must hurt!" Sonic rubbed the area where he'd been slapped.

"Guess Infinite learned the hard way." Knuckles chuckled, remembering for a second how Infinite looked when he and the police arrived. 

Infinite looked terrified, and beat up. 

"Why did you drag me here?" Gears tapped his foot impatiently. 

They scooted out of the way so Gears could see his brother. 

Gears was alight with fury.

 "You said my brother wasn't hurt in the battle! You said he was alright! Why is he here if he's 'ok'?!" 

"It's a mental condition, not a medical condition!" Knuckles instantly snapped, used to raising his voice when tension rose.

Gears froze. His ears drooped. "I promised Mom and Dad's ghosts that I'd protect him, we were supposed to go off on our own, start our own packs, but then the war started, our whole family killed each other under the influence of Infinite and the Insanity, and me believing Gadget died with them. When I found him, I promised Mom and Dad that I'd protect him with my life. I didn't know at the time that he was working for the Resistance. I can't believe....

I failed." 

His knees buckled once he reached Gadget's bedside, tears began to leak out of his eyes. 

"Gadget...." A strangely female voice called.

Gadget's ears twitched, turning to find the voice. "Mom?" His head turned to look above Gears as ghosts filled his vision.

"It is not your time to go, Gadget...." His mother's voice echoed. She appeared to him, as green as his brother, but much more gentle. "Be strong, my son, if you give up, what do the deaths of thousands mean?" 

Gadget softly gasped as multiple ghosts, some family, most fallen members of the Resistance, and even some he didn't even know, filled his vision. If he gave up, the fallen soldiers would have died in vain, the others, their brutal murders forgotten. 

"Be strong tonight....." His mother pleaded. 

The ghosts began disappearing, but the tens of ghosts all gave him one last message.

 "Remember who you are....."