Ray

author notes:

Hey there I'm Rayden, or Ray for short. I wrote this fan fiction about stealth the hedgehog (a spiderman and sonic fusion character from the Archie sonic comics) for the Sonic big bang 2025 event. Now I should let you know that this fan fiction is still a massive work in progress. everything is still subject to change. I would've loved to continue work on this - I've honestly thought about writing something like this for a long time now - but I really just picked a bad time to do this in my life with all my exams lol. I should also note that I've rarely written fan fiction before and never published anything so this is a first time for me. So forgive me if everythings pretty scuffed. But with that being said I hope you enjoy it!

Character Links:

Sonic The Hedgehog/Peter Parker (AKA Spider-man) - Nicky Longclaw

Longclaw/Aunt May - Aunt Longclaw

Miles ‘Tails’ Prower/Harry Osborne/Miles Morales - Miles Robotnik

Amy Rose/Gwen Stacy - Gwen Rose

Terios The Hedgehog/Eddie Brock - Terry Brock

Maria Robotnik/Dr Curtis Conners (AKA The Lizard) - Dr Maria Robotnik (The Biolizard)

Dr Ivo ‘Eggman’ Robotnik/Norman Osborne (AKA The Green Goblin) - Norman Robotnik (AKA The Egg) Norman Robotnik isn't featured in this story but rather mentioned in passing

New Yolk city/New York City - New Yolk City

G.U.N/S.H.I.E.L.D - G.U.N

======================

It was a warm autumn evening in New Yolk City. The local children all making their merry way towards class, everything seemed relatively peaceful.

RING RING RING, “NICKY GET UP ITS TIME FOR SCHOOL”

“AH-” followed promptly by the sound of Nicky jumping to the ceiling, smacking his head on said ceiling and then falling back to his bed after being startled awake. “Ow….IM UP!!!”

We then follow Nicky as he goes through his morning routine. Brushing his teeth, taking a desperately needed shower, and combing his hair. He stumbles out of his room, with his backpack hanging in front of him, putting his many books in his bag.

“Nicky dear!” exclaimed Nicky's aunt Longclaw, “you nearly forgot about your lunch!” She then hands it to Nicky.

“Great…another ham sandwich…”

“I know how much you like them!”

Nicky smiles. “Thanks, Longclaw!” He places the meal in his bag and was about to leave. That is until Nicky feels a feathered arm halt him in his tracks. A feeling he's not too comfortable with.

“Nicky, aren't you forgetting something?”

“Oh right.” Nicky leans in to give his aunt a goodbye hug.

“Oh, Nicky, you're too sweet, but I meant these.” She places a pair of glasses on Nicky's head.

“Do I have to?”

“Nicholas…”

“Fine.” he rolls his eyes as he runs off, “Love you!”.

“Love you too!” replied his owl aunt.

Nicky runs after the school bus, “HEY NO NO WAIT!”. Though the young hedgehog may be fast he wasn't fast enough as the bus sped by without him. “Ugh…what now?” Nicky ponders to himself for a moment, but then immediately runs to a nearby ally. As if there was any wonder as to what to do.

Nicky looks up from the bottom of the ally and a smirk forms on his face as he flicks his nose. Nicky then jumps impossibly high and sticks to a wall. He chuckles to himself as he bounces from wall to wall till Nicky reaches the summit, proceeding to jump high into the air. With a gust of the wind Nicky changes amazingly fast into a blue and black spandex with white eyes and a spider symbol on his chest. Nicky lands on the roof by momentarily curling into a ball and rolling down before uncurling and seamlessly continuing in a run. Finally with a big leap Nicky jumps off the building.

“WOOOOHOOOO!!!!”

[“Neighbor Like Me” - The Math Club begins to play]

From his wrist a strand of web shoots out that sticks to another building, he then pulls on the web like a rope and swings by continuing his joyous yell. Many New Yolkers spot the ‘blue menace’ from the streets and begin to point him out, shouting the name of his alter ego.

As Nicky spots the people pointing he waves to them as he swings by, “Good morning New Yolk City! It's just me, your friendly neighborhood Stealth The Hedgehog!” The New Yolkers then respond with the appropriate boo’s and YOU STINK!’s. “Hehe oh…they love me” Stealth said with a big ol smile on his face.

As Stealth swings to school he begins to reminisce about how he got these powers. A little over 4 months ago now he was on a school trip with his best buddy, Miles Robotnik, visiting his adoptive dad's lab, Ivo Robotnik. Where in an unfortunate accident Nicky got bitten by a radioactive spider, gaining the powers of said spider. Initially Nicky was ecstatic to receive these abilities and the power may have gotten to his head as he abused them for selfish gain. That is, until his uncle Chuck got shot while trying to save Nicky from the gun of a robber Nicky could've stopped. As Nicky held his uncle Chuck in his arms, with his dying breath, uncle Chuck passed 6 words that would go to define Nicky's life for many years to come, “With great power comes great responsibility”. Ever since that day Nicky vowed to use his powers for the greater good at all costs, as The Amazing Stealth The Hedgehog!

“Ohhh….where is he!” exclaimed Gwen, a pink hedgehog similar to Nicky, who paced back and forward just outside the changing rooms of the school's running tracks.

“I'm sure he'll be here soon Gwen!”, replied Miles, Nicky's best pal. “You know how he is about being on time.

Stealth sees this conversation as he swings by and quickly crawls into the changing rooms. Gwen meanwhile continued on her tirade, “He better be here! I swear if he misses this one…".

"And like I told you,” Nicky runs out the changing rooms “I won't!”. Gwen and Miles then run towards Nicky exclaiming his name. “Hey guys!”.

“Don't you scare me like that again!” chattered Gwen with Nicky responding with an apologetic “I know, I know”.

Miles butted in, “Hey not to alarm anyone but they're getting at the starting blocks!”.

“ALREADY!?” Nicky exclaimed as he ran towards his position.

“GOOD LUCK!” Gwen yelled out as Nicky ran off.

Nicky prepares himself and gets on the starting block and into position. He begins to psyche himself up as the commands “Ready, set” are yelled out. A small electrical charge builds in him and as the whistle is blown he's off with a blast. Nicky barrels down the track, blitzing past the other runners as he leaves them in the dust with the cheering of his friends.

“WOO GO NICKY!!!” shouted miles.

“KICK THEIR ASSES NICHOLAS!” yelled Gwen with a tone only comparable to a soccer mum.

Nicky smirked as he heard their cheers. Running was second nature to him. It's like he was born for it. Hell many may even claim him to be “the fastest thing alive” but Nicky’s too humble to accept that title.

A few minutes later Nicky walks away from the stands, heading towards his pals while holding a gold medal over his head.

“What is this, your 5th consecutive win?” asked Gwen.

“6th actually” corrected miles.

“Aw shucks guys, it's nothing really” Nicky said as he tried to hide himself.

“NOTHING!? Nicky, you're the fastest guy in the history of our school!” exclaimed Gwen as she took Nicky's hands.

Nicky blushes and mumbles to himself “Yeah I guess it's kinda cool…”.

“A victory like this deserves a celebration!” Gwen enthusiastically shouted.

“Where to then?” asked Nicky inquisitively, still a lil hesitant about celebrating something so mundane.

“Good question hm…” Gwen placed her hand over her chin and began to ponder it.

Miles cut in with a suggestion “how about my Aunt Maria's lab?”

Gwen’s eyes lit up with excitement “OH MY GOSH YOU MEAN HER???”

Nicky seemed a bit perplexed. “I feel like I'm missing something.”

Gwen seemed absolutely shocked and shouted, “NICKY HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW HER?”

“¯\_(ツ)_/¯”

“Well I'll have you know that she's my hero! She's a leader in biological advancement despite her sickness that affects every part of her life. Her perseverance despite the odds is just awe inspiring!”

“Jeez Gwen,” replied Miles, “didn't think you liked her that much”

Gwen stressed, “I LOVE her!”

“Well if Gwen loves her so much” said Nicky “then I don't see an issue in heading there. let's go!” Gwen replied with what can only be interpreted as excited squeals as the three of them made their way towards Dr Maria Robotnik's lab.

[Neighbor like me fades out]

Around half an hour later the three of them arrived at the entrance to ‘Dr Robotnik's Laboratory Of Biological Sciences’. Nicky wonders to himself “Man this is pretty big for a lab huh?”

Gwen answered “Well she is Miles’s aunt after all”.

“Oh yeah…how come you never talk about her little buddy?” asked Nicky.

Miles responded, “Well she's only my dads cousin, and according to him they haven't really spoken much since my great grandfather Gerald died in that lab accident. I've only ever seen her in thanksgiving dinners and when I was first adopted”.

“You don't say. Well I guess now's a great time for you guys to connect huh?”

“You bet!”

“Hurry up and ring the bell!”, Gwen impatiently commanded.

“AH! right sorry” Miles then raised his arm and rang the bell.

A robotic eye attached to an arm emerges from the wall. a gruff male voice speaks out “State your name and business.”.

The three of them tensed up and his behind miles. “Is this really what Maria sounds like? That illness of hers sure does more damage than I thought…”, Nicky thought to himself.

“H-hey Terry. It's me. Miles!” mumbled Miles. “I'm here to visit aunt Maria. we were in the area and thought this'd be a good place to celebrate my buddy's Nicky's victory in a race”.

“Miles?” the voice seemed surprised. “Sorry I hardly recognized you. Hang on.” the arm retracted as the door next to was opened.

There stood a hedgehog coincidentally looking very similar to Nicky but black and with a scar over his left eye. “Please come right in”, the hedgehog motioned for the crew to enter. They collectively looked at each other a bit intimidated with Nicky making the first move to enter followed by Gwen and Miles. Though the hedgehog and Nicky exchanged a sceptical glance as he walked by.

The group walks through a couple of winding hallways till they arrive at the sight of an older blonde human woman wearing a dirty lab coat and odd looking goggles over her eyes. It couldn't be seen clearly from the group's angle but she sat in a wheelchair. She also wore a strange circular device with a green core at the centre with several tubes running out from under it and under her coat.

“Oh my gosh it's her!!!” exclaimed Gwen.

The hedgehog cleared his throat “Maria-”

“Yeah yeah one sec Terry” responded the scientist, waving her hand.

“Maria.” Terry repeated.

“Terry, I said give me a minute!” (presumably) Maria said again, a little frustrated now.

“Maria, you have guests”, Terry said coldly.

“Terr-I have what?” Maria finally poked her head up.

“Your nephew and his friends came to visit” Terry gestured to the three visitors.

Nicky and Gwen shyed away and hid behind miles who awkwardly smiled and waved his hand, “hehe…hi.”

Maria removed her goggles revealing her blue eyes and blinked a couple of times at them. “MILES!!!!” Maria screamed out as she quickly spun her chair towards the little fox and embraced them in a big hug, practically squeezing him as she gave them oh so many kisses on the cheek.

Miles, a bit caught off guard, “WAH! hehe hey aunt Maria…”

“Oh it's been so long since we last saw each other! Where have you been!?” Maria exclaimed, still in shock over the return of her nephew.

Miles responded in a more negative tone, “I've just been with my dad…as usual”.

“Oh, right, Ivo…” Maria notices the two other hedgehogs next to miles. “Hm? and who might these two be?”

The two of them shyly waved to Maria as well. “These are my friends!” Miles answered as he first ran over to Nicky. “This is my bestest pal in the whole wide world, Nicky! And over here is the reason we came in the first place, Gwen!” The two hedgehogs said their awkward greetings towards Maria.

“Well hello there you two! Oh I'm just so glad you managed to make so many great friends, Miles!”

Maria then decided to further “So what brings you three here? Public information about my newest project hasn't been published yet so I doubt you came here for that.”

Miles's and Gwen's eyes light up as they simultaneously respond with an enthusiastic “YOU HAVE A NEW PROJECT!?!?!?”.

Maria, a little flustered by the sudden attention, nervously tries to put together a half baked but humble cover up, “oh psshhhh it's nothing really! just a little experiment with lizards I've been working on…”

“Wait wait wait…” Nicky squeezes between his two pals to talk to Maria better. “To answer your question, we're just here to celebrate my 5th-”

Miles butted in, “6TH!”

Nicky continued on “6th! Consecutive win”.

Maria's eyes sparkled with interest “Oh you run in track? That's amazing! I've always wanted to run track ever since I was a little girl! Though I never could for obvious reasons” her voice seemed to trial down in response to the cruel reminder of her sickly state. In the background Terry's own quills seemed to droop down in solace? Empathy? Something entirely unrelated? Nicky wasn't too sure himself. “But just hearing stories like yours about all of your accomplishments just makes me so excited!” Maria exclaimed enthusiastically.

“Heh, you know it!” Nicky responded confidentially but his quills drooped down as he prepared to ask a question “So…what is it exactly that you study here?”

“NICKY!” gwen pouted

“What!? It's just an honest question!”

Maria seemed to giggle at the young lovers' little quarrel. “Oh it's fine Gwen really! Besides, I can't help but share my own research!”

“Oh fine, if you say so…” Gwen mumbled quietly.

“But to answer your question Nicholas,” Maria said inquisitively as she rolled her chair around to a table with a tank on it and a small lizard scurrying around inside. A vile with an orangey-red liquid bubbling inside sat on a stand next to the tank. “I'm an animal biologist. Specifically I work in their genetics and potentially reverse engineering a cure for human genetic diseases. And with my newest endeavour on lizard DNA I might be on the cusp of a breakthrough! Just need to find me some human test subjects which unsurprisingly are hard to come by as is. Not to mention all the budget cuts just making things ten times more complicated…”

“Budget cuts?” Miles asked “Can't my dad help you out? I don't see why he wouldn't”.

“Oh, Miles” Maria said somberly “I couldn't ask that of your father. And besides, we haven't spoken in a while…not since…since…” Maria seemed to tense up. Her breathing grew heavier as the memories of it flooded back to her. Memories of gunshots, screams, broken glass and a little girl shouting for her grandfather.

Suddenly a loud beeping echoed from Maria's chair and a sharp pain felt like it was stabbing her through the heart. She clenched her chest and groaned in pain, coughing vigorously.

“WOAH HEY!” Nicky and the rest seemed startled and stumbled back.

“AUNT MARIA!” Miles shouted.

“MARIA!” Terry also exclaimed as he rushed towards Maria.

Gwen spoke with a soft shock, “Oh no…I'm comin-”, Nicky stopped Gwen before she could get that far.

“Wait…” Nicky whispered softly, “I think we should let him handle this.” Gwen didn't like it, she wanted to help so badly, but she knew he was right. Terry knows what to do. He'll find the solution.

Terry turned Maria down a bit revealing a complex contraption on her back. It was a large octagonal device with many orange pipes of strange liquids emerging out and running all around Maria. An orb of that same liquid lay at the centre. Terry twisted and turned the orb which seemed to release some steam. He also simultaneously compressed and soothed her chest making sure she was calm and relaxed. Fortunately it did just the trick, Maria calmed down with her vitals seemingly returning to normal. “You alright?” Terry asked. “Yeah ... .thanks to you. Thank you.” Maria responded graciously.

She then turned to the group and was met by a set of confused and terrified faces. “Aunt Maria…” Miles asked timidly “are you…okay?”. A tsunami of guilt washes over Maria as she tries to come up with an explanation. “Oh of course I am!”

“So then what happened?” Gwen pushed.

“Oh you know, things happen. Just how the cookie crumbles as they say hehe…” Nicky gave Maria a face that made it clear none of them were buying it.

Maria then timidly glances at Terry beside her, begging for help. The black hedgehog sighed, crossing his arms and answered. “That was an unfortunate side effect of Dr Maria's rare genetic disease. NIDS can cause a variety of things, one of which you just saw, being triggered by intense and overwhelming emotions specifically. The large device on her back is meant to help support her and help her live her life so far. That's all you need to know.”

“Oh jeez…” Nicky responded, still trying to process the information. A shocked expression said it all as she covered her mouth with her hands. “And as for now what she needs is some rest.” and without a second word, Terry stoically wheeled Maria away. However, mid roll Maria spotted Miles. hiding behind his friends and holding his tails timidly. The look of the poor boy reminded Maria a lot of…herself. “Wait terry!”

“Yes?”

“Maybe…maybe I don't have to go to bed. Maybe I can tank it out a bit more…”

The groups face turned with confusion

“What? Maria, are you sure about this? You know your doctor would be against this right?”

“Oh my doctor can go suck an egg! My nephew came to me for the first time in a while wanting to celebrate his best friend's success! I'm not about to turn him down because of some silly disease!”

The group's faces seemed to simultaneously light up again, their happiness restored - Miles especially.

Recognising there's no fighting this, Terry sighed “Fine. Just don't overexert yourself too much, okay?”

“You don't have to worry about a thing!”

“That's just making me worry more.”

Miles runs over to Maria. “So does this mean the party's back on?”

“It sure does!” Maria enthusiastically replied. “Come on! Gwen, Miles. how would you like to bake a cake with me?”

“Oh yeah, sounds like fun!” Miles replied. Gwen on the other hand stood there stunned and shocked until she regained her composure and her eyes lit up “BOY WOULD I!?”. Maria giggled, “Well someone's excited!”

“Come on!” exclaimed Gwen as she grabbed Maria's wheelchair. “I know the perfect recipe!” and out of the three went. The two hedgehogs then stand at the door together. Terry turns to Nicky. “You first champion.” “Heh,” Nicky smirked confidentially running under his nose “with pleasure.” Nicky held up a thumbs up with a wink before walking off. Terry scoffed as he followed the rest of a group.

But we stay on the scene. On the bubbling vial of red lizard dna, as it slowly turns from an orangy red to a sickly green, the bubbles forming a monstrous face before the roar of a beast echoes as the bubbles pop and then cut to black.

While Miles, Maria and Gwen attempt to bake their cake Terry stands to the side, leaning on a wall with his arms crossed. He looks over at the cooking group - Maria specifically, making sure nothing went wrong. Nicky walks by and leans on the wall next to Terry - coincidentally matching his pose. “What.” Terry spoke sternly. “Oh don't give me those grumpy pants! Who's to say that I just felt like standing here too?”

“No. I know your type.”

“Like my type of partners? ‘cause just so you know the only type of girls I like are gwen so it's gonna be pretty har-”

“Annoying, obnoxious and far too nosy.”

“Ah, that's what you meant. Okay so yeah, maybe I do have something to ask but can you really blame a guy for wanting to know at least something about his doppelganger? I mean it can't be a coincidence that we look the same right?”

“It is. Happens way more than you know.”

“Huh… the more you know I suppose.”

“Either get on with the question or get out of my sight hedgehog.”

“Fine fine fine if you want to just cut to the chase like that”

“Ironic coming from the star track runner.”

“Did you just…okay whatever. I just wanted to ask. What's up with you and Maria?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Like, what is your relationship with her? You hang out with her a lot and yet you don't seem to wear a lab coat.”

Terry sighs, “If you must know I am Maria's full time caretaker. My job is as simple as making sure Maria is well and that her needs are taken care of on account of her disease. I have been doing this since she was a child”

“A child??? But Maria's like…”

“46.”

“46! Which makes you…”

“None of your business.”

“Damn alright then. But what about her, oh what did you call it again? NIDS? Yeah that. What exactly is that?”

“Classified and none of your business.”

“Is that all you know how to say?”

“None of your busi-” Terry caught himself and a sudden stern scowl formed on his face as he turned away from Maria and towards Nicky - pointing his finger at him he shouts “Listen here hedgehog. I don't have to answer shit from you, get me? Just because you happen to know Maria's nephew doesn't mean you get to just waltz in here and feel like you're entitled to every little bit of our lives. News flash moron. You're nothing but a low level, self-entitled, egotistical brat who's riding the high of some high school sports event in autumn! So why don't you take you blue spiny butt and f-”

Suddenly violent coughing can be heard from behind the hedgehogs in the kitchen. “MARIA!” Terry turns and is met with the scene of a Maria - held in Gwen’s arms - coughing up blood and looking as if she's about to faint. Behind her is the smoking oven with the cake the three were baking. Miles scrambles to try and save the cake to the best of his abilities with Gwen trying to simultaneously guide him and trying to help Maria who still remains in a disoriented state.

Without a second thought Terry ran towards Maria and tried to help her. “Stay calm Maria! Stay calm. I'm here. I can help you.” swiftly, Terry began to adjust the contraption on Maria's back, twisting and turning the orb till she felt better.

Maria suddenly took a large gasp of air once the process was complete. She was panting, but alive, much to the relief of everyone there. Maria then turned to Terry to give him a nice big hug. “Thank you Terry. I don't know where I'd be without you.” Terry however, couldn't return the same favour, the same look of concern remaining on his face long after everyone else's has long past. “That was... the second time. Today." Maria loosened the hug a bit, seeming more sorrowful. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess it was.”

“This can't keep happening Maria. You need rest.”

“Oh no I'm fine. Really! It's nothing to worry about.”

“No Maria, you need rest. And that's final.”

Gwen butted in, “With all due respect Mr. Terry it was an accident. Maria just inhaled some of the smoke from the burnt cake when we were taking it out!”

“Yeah exactly!” Nicky spoke up again “No one’s at fault here.”

Terry seemed highly angered and stood up to get face to face with Nicky “listen here hedgehog. If anyone's to blame it's you for causing me to take my eyes off of Maria. If it hadn't been for you trying to ask your incessant questions Maria wouldn't have had another attack!”

Nickys hands went up as he took a slight step back. “Woah hey listen dude no point in pointing fingers and throwing blame onto others. Let's just calm down an-”

“NO! No, I won't calm down! Maria's life is constantly at risk anytime one of her triggers go off, and you all set it off TWICE! I will not let it happen a third time.”

“Terry stop…” Maria softly spoke, which quickly silenced the Nicky look-alike, a look of concern dawning on his face. Maria continued “They're not to blame. I am.” The room's faces filled with distress at Maria's statement. Miles decided to speak up for the first time since the incident “Aunt Maria that's not-”

“No it is! If it wasn't for this stupid illness and stupid need to constantly defy it none of this would've ever happened! And maybe everyone would've been better off without it…”

There was an empty silence in the room. Everyone present at a loss for words when a tear ran down the good doctor's cheek. Finally, Terry spoke up “Maria I…come on. I…I think you need some time to res-”

An agitated Maria snapped “Terry please, I-” she took a deep breath and rubbed her temples. “I just need some time alone.” A highly concerned Terry couldn't respond with anything other than “Y-yeah sure. I'll be waiting for you.”

“Thank you.” She began to roll her wheelchair back to her office door. She put a hand on the knob before turning back towards the kids “S-sorry this party isn't what you all wanted it to be…” and with that Maria shut the door close once she entered.

Maria's office, once bright and colourful, now looked far more dark. Lights once brightening the space now off. The light of the setting sun seeping through the blinders, being the only thing to illuminate it instead. A full vial rack is thrown against the wall and smashes into pieces, staining the concrete wall in colourful chemicals as shattered glass pieces littered the floor. Maria's chest rises and falls rapidly as she stares at her desk in…anger? Anger at who? Her guests? No, that's crazy. Herself? What for? Terry made it clear to her. She’s not to blame for her condition. It's just part of her after all…oh I see. It’s this damn…curse. That's what's ruining her life. Rearing its ugly head at every aspect of her life. Birthdays, parties, everything. If only this damn thing would be gone. Then she could be truly happy. If only. If only…

Then.

Out of the corner of Maria's eye she caught the orange glimmer of the vial of lizard DNA from before. Maria put on her goggles. Strange…it was a different colour before. What caused its colour to change? Maria slowly approached the vial and lifted it up to inspect it. The dna seemed to be fine, usable even. She looked from the device the vial was held in to her computer. Procedure would mandate that she test if the DNA was safe for human testing. But. Maria’s done this plenty of times before. What's the harm in skipping a few silly rules if it meant she could live a normal life?

Maria reached over to the device strapped to her back and pointed the vial to it. It hovered there for a moment. Is this what she really wanted? What is she thinking, of course it is! Why is she waiting? She's been waiting her whole life! DO IT NOW!

“AUGGHHHH!!!!” Maria could feel the DNA rush through her veins, the orange vial mixed with her blood turning into a sickly green colour. Her muscles spazzed out of control, rapidly contracting and relaxing, the pain it was causing her too much.

Maria fell out of her wheelchair gripping her chest. Why did she do this to herself? What the hell was she thinking?! This pain… it's…it's too much. too much. Too much. TOO MUCH.

Maria was gripping the tiled floor and crushed it to shards. Her veins, turned green, begin to writhe up through her skin and bulge out like snakes. Giving way for her muscles to rapidly start growing massively and ripping through a lot of her clothes. An orange scaley hide engulfs her skin as Maria's hands turn thick with three nailless fingers.

As Maria's muscle mass increases she reaches up to the ceiling with a blood curdling cry that quickly devolves into a low bellowing screech as her shadow begins to morph into something less than human.

Meanwhile out in the lobby, “Did you hear that!?” blurted a worried Gwen.

“What, the blood curdling screech? Yeah kinda hard to ignore.” said Nicky in an accidental snarky attitude.

“NICKY!” shouted Gwen.

“Sorry! Sorry won't happen again I'm sorry.” Nicky began profusely apologising to the angry pink hedgehog.

Suddenly a loud thumping sound shakes the ground.

“Woah!” Gwen nearly trips over before Nicky speeds in just in time to catch her.

“Okay can someone tell me what the hell that was!?” demanded Nicky, still helping Gwen on her feet.

“I-I dunno!” blurted Miles, panicking heavily. “Earthquakes never normally happen in New Yolk City…”

“No. These shakes aren't coming from the earth.” Terry spoke grimly. “They're coming from…” Terry's eyes widen as a realisation hits him as he sees Maria's door.

Without a second thought Terry rushed towards the door with no regard for his own life. “MARIA!!!”

Suddenly the wall Terry was running to exploded out, the bricks of the wall shattering like glass on concrete. The blast launched Terry back onto the ground, knocking him out.

“TERRY!” Nicky shouts, too slow to do anything. Miles and Gwen step back out of shock, Gwen even covering her mouth as small tears form under her eyes. A great anger forms in the blue hedgehog as he grits his teeth and looks up to see the attacker. But as Nicky makes eye contact his eyes widen and his pupils dilate.

[Supporting Me...for Biolizard - (cover) GameGrooves slowly fades in]

A white smoke emerges from the destruction. The silhouette of a tall monstrous lizard-like creature could be seen through the smoke, Terry's body still lying at its feet as the beast emerged out the smoke. It was over 10 - 15 foot tall, bipedal - standing on two legs, fleshy-scaly-orange skin coated its body, strange goggle like eyes - that clearly had belonged to Maria previously - jutted out of its eye sockets, looking as if its flesh had formed around the goggles. The beast wore a half ripped lab coat with tubes with a sickly green liquid running under it.

The beast saw the group and shot its head up - revealing the monster's disgusting molars - bellowing out a horrible ear piercing screech.

Monster Born of Pain

The Biolizard

The group was in shock of this crime against nature, watching in horror as gills on the sides of its neck flap up and down in a disgusting rhythm.

“WHAT IS THAT THING!?” Gwen shouted in horror.

The monster growled at the group before leaping up and clinging to the ceiling. It then crawled around before punching a hole in the roof big enough for it to crawl through. The beast then roared at the group one final time before escaping for good.

“Dunno…” Nicky spoke hesitantly. “But something tells me it ain't nice. Considering it just hurt Terry and Maria most likely too, I think I'm justified in that claim”

“What should we do?” asked Miles.

“You two go help Terry and rush him to a hospital” said Nicky confidentially.

“Nicky… What about you?” Gwen asked worriedly. still in hysteria from what she witnessed.

“I'm going lizard hunting,” he said plainly. That is before Nicky makes a b-line after the lizard through the hole in the roof.

Gwen extended a hand and shouted, “Nicky wait how are you going to-”

Miles cut her off mid sentence, “Gwen come on we have to help Terry!”. The young boy said as he ran towards him.

Gwen still looks out longingly towards the direction which Nicky fled. Her arm still hesitantly extended out. “Oh, fine!”, Gwen says as she runs with Miles.

[Supporting Me ends]

“Breaking News: A 10 foot tall, orange, muscular lizard monster with a strange device on its back had been spotted hopping between the roofs of New Yolk City. Its motives and its sentience are currently unknown at this time. Authorities have advised people to keep indoors and avoid the gigantic lizard monster - people are dubbing “The Biolizard” - at all costs. Currently the guardian units of nations - better known as G.U.N - has sent out a squad of 5 attack helicopters to deal with The Biolizard. More will be updated upon soon.” These words were transmitted all throughout local news stations in regards to ‘The Biolizard’ who was making its way through the city.

The Biolizard left craters in its wake wherever it had landed and left. With armed helicopters labelled with the letters “G.U.N” hot on the monster's trail. The Biolizard had landed on the glass roof of a train station - cracking the glass under its weight, shaking the entire station and frightening the people inside - when it had noticed the helicopters hunting it down. The beast snarled at the flying iron clouds and hopped down to the streets of New Yolk City.

“Here ya go kid!” A local hotdog vendor lent a small child a freshly made hotdog.

The child then responded with an enthusiastic “yippee!” Followed by the child attempting to get the mothers attention.

“yes, yes one moment honey…” the mother seemed to be fixated on her phone where the broadcast about ‘The Biolizard’ was playing on loop. A growing look of shock appeared on her face.

“mommy?” The child had inquisitively asked, turning his head. “Mommy, what happened? you're scaring me”.

The mother turned to her son with panic and grabbed his arm beginning to run, “C-come on sweetie we have to go. no-”

The mother had been cut off by the loud thud of the sudden arrival by the beast she had just been stressed about. The Mother and her child were in a state of stunned shock, being so close to a monster like that put them in fear induced paralysis. It felt like time had suddenly stopped as the two looked up at ‘The Biolizard’. It emitted a low growling sound as it stared off into the distance, motionless - its gills softly moving in synchronicity. It hadn't noticed them yet.

Suddenly, the stunned silence had been interpreted by the screams of the hotdog vendor as he ran off in fear, screaming like a bloody mary for help. Unfortunately, while the sound had helped the mother and her son snap out of their trance. It also disturbed the beast as it covered its ears in response to the screeching.

The Biolizard turned to the mother and her child, mistaking them for being the ones responsible for such a horrible sound and screeched back at them. In response the mother wrapped her arms around her child trying to protect him as they both screamed out in terror. The Biolizard then raised its arm, ready to smash them to mush.

“NO STOP!” a female voice shouted out. The voice sounds like Maria's but had no discernible source. Regardless, some force made The Biolizard hesitate for a moment. causing it to pause for a short time before crushing these two people.

[It Doesn't Matter - Sonic Adventure Begins to play ]

“NOT SO FAST!” Suddenly another voice shouts from some far away distance. But as the new sound distracted The Biolizard, a strand of web shot out of nowhere and grabbed the back of The Biolizards hand. The web then yanked the biolizard back, causing it to stumble backwards.

A fast blue blur then zipped above The Biolizard, doing a backflip as the shape shot out another web which pinned The Biolizard to the building behind it. Pinning it down.

Finally the shape landed between the mother and her child and the biolizard. Landing on his feet, leaning on one hand and one out in the air, Stealth The Hedgehog had appeared at last! “Listen, destruction of public property is one thing, but vandalising a hot dog cart is a step too far dude!” The Hedgehog quipped out. Though The Biolizard was still too thrashing about trying to release itself to notice.

The mother slowly turned her head up to see what happened. The sight of Stealth causing the mother to gasp in shock. Which the son took as a prompt to do the same.

Stealth himself turned back to the two and asked, “yo, you two alright?”

To which the mother then responds with a scream, shouting “AHH ITS THE SPIDER MENACE!” grabs her son and runs off.

Stealth sighs and mumbles to himself, “figures…”. he then turns back to the biolizard, “so biolizard was it? I don't suppose you have any better opinions of m-”. Stealth was then promptly hit by a tail swipe from the biolizard and sent flying across the street - hitting a car but using his stickiness to cling to the side and prevent damage.

======================

Author Notes:

okay so beyond this point Stealth and The Biolizard would've had their good ol fashion super powered brawl out. Going from the streets, to a train station, back to the streets and ending in the zoo. All while Miles tries to cook up an antidote for Maria which fortunately works in the end! However Maria is still held accountable for the actions of the biolizard so is held prisoner under the commands of Director Abraham Fury of G.U.N (a cross between Commander Abraham Towers of G.U.N and Director Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D). However Terry blames Stealth for framing Maria in this light and still holds Nicky accountable for beginning this whole mess. He walks away with an angry look on his face which might cause Terry to go down a path of shadows ;

Special Thanks!!!:

I'd like to thank my wonderful boyfriend @sailemo for doing a massive amount of the beta reading he did, for pushing me out of my comfort zone to actually do this whole event and for supporting me through all my 3am rambles about this story :)

I'd like to thank @lesbianikkan for also beta reading.

and I'd like to thank YOU for reading this entire thing. and who knows, if this gets popular enough and people like I might finish this off and maybe even write more.