*Wrong Place, Wrong Time*

A myriad of responses, most of them riding a wave of incredulity, had formed in the man's mind at the blue's unabashed attempt at smoothing over the foiled attack. In the heat of the moment, the blonde-haired fellow didn't truly absorb the sincerity of the alien's words, and couldn't see beyond his own rush of anger to really stop and listen anyway. But the anthro's efforts did succeed on one front, if only very briefly. The guy's attention had turned from the multi-tailed beast and snapped back to him, with a crude string of words ready to part from his lips.

And then the door had flown open, and he was on the ground seconds later, trying and failing to keep a bag's worth of Funyuns in his stomach. He didn't properly register the whir of noise in front of him as the hedgehog dropped down and compacted his frame for an iconic attack. He only vaguely recalled a blur of blue rush past him, followed by a harsh swirl of air and a racket of metal pieces clattering behind him.

He didn't witness the cannon-wielding operative fall backwards as their weapon was pulverized, nor did he get to see a third agent launch out of the SUV, despite the clear hitch of the door and pounding of her feet as she sprang into action to backup her fallen teammate. But with the fight knocked clean out of him, the blonde man finally <i>did</i> hear Sonic's words. As he wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand, the now pale-faced fellow lifted and turned his head back. '...Buddy?' If the concern hadn't sounded so genuine, the fellow would have been certain the alien was mocking him. Uncomfortable confusion began to replace his earlier anger.

Unfortunately for Sonic and Nine, the agents didn't have that problem. The man who'd initially hauled the door open was employing a tried and true weapon that had bagged them more than a few anomalies from Laissez. He'd waited only for Sonic to turn his head, recognizing a very slim window of opportunity against an impossibly fast foe, before pulling the trigger. From the mouth of what looked like a miniature riffle, a dart flew forth, traveling straight for the blue-quilled shoulder of the hedgehog...

A second dart was flying less than a second later from the female agent, this one also aimed at Sonic. But rather than waiting to see if either dart had hit its target, she was aiming up and firing a second shot right after the first, this one angled in through the open door, and sailing in Nine's direction...

(the electro-darts pack a two-part punch if they hit! if the needle lands, it unloads a potent, fast-acting tranquilizer. it also offers a brief, powerful electric shock designed to stun the nervous system; this second feature is also triggered if the dart is picked up within thirty seconds of firing. totally up to you if it hits either of them, and how they might be affected if so ^^)