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"Uhh…" I slowly open my eyes to a dim room, surrounded by cold metal walls and floors. I could hear the sounds of young boys screaming nearby. There was a door in front of me, covered with thick metal bars. As I raised myself to my feet, I got a sharp pain in my right shoulder. That's right. That strange person squeezed me there and made me faint…did it bring me here?
I finally got to my feet, and cautiously peered in between the steel bars. It was a rather large room, filled with cells like the one I was in. Across the hall, laid one of the teenage boys who nearly skinned me in the slums. He was still blacked out.
"Where am I…?" I said quietly, looking at the other young humans being held captive in the cells. Something moving suddenly caught my eye…
At the left end of the hallway lay a black-hooded figure in what appeared to be a shelf made for sleeping. I could clearly hear some snoring out of it…
"…Hello?" I shouted lightly to the figure, it made no response.
"Hey! Don't wake him up!" A nearby prisoner whispered harshly.
"Why? Where am I?" I asked.
"Shhh!! You're in Dr. Robotnik's prison quarters…He's taken us all captive to use on who knows what…," Another prisoner answered.
"Dr. Robotnik…? Who is he?" I ask curiously. I had a strange twisted feeling in my stomach…
"He's an evil scientist. So evil, he destroyed Station Square 15 years ago!"
"I live in Station Square! Is there any way to get out of here?" I shiver in the cold air of the room, and I begin to feel hunger setting in on me.
"For us humans, I'm afraid not…but…you're a hedgehog. You may be small enough to squeeze yourself into that ventilation shaft behind you!" I turn my head to see a large vent at the base of the wall.
"That ventilation shaft should lead straight outside, if not into the heating system!"
"How do you know so much about this?" I calmly ask.
"Well, I was a former assistant of the Doctor, but he caught me trying to smuggle out prisoners! Now I'm due to be used in one of his biomechanical experiments any day now…" He said with a hopeless sigh.
"Here! Take this drill bit and try to undo the bolts holding that vent up…" With that, the former assistant slides a small metal bit to my cell, sliding under the gate. I pick it up.
"Oh! Take this too. It will allow you to pass through the security doors in case you can't get out through the vents…hopefully the Doctor hasn't cleared my name from the security system yet…" The assistant slides a small plastic ID card, filled with his information. I take it and place it into a small pocket in my cover.
"Thank you so much…" With that said, I turn my attention to the vent. I sit down and place the end of the drill bit into the bolt head. I push in hard and turn the bit. It wouldn't budge the bolt. "Ahhh…it's tight!"
"Try kicking the vent; it may snap the bolts looser for you…"
With that said, I reared up my right leg, and kick the center of the vent with my heel. It was rather painful, but it gave no result, still won't budge the bolts.
"He's up! Quick! Cover the tools!" The assistant whispers suddenly.
I comply swiftly, putting the drill bit in my pocket and sitting against the vent, covering it.
Soon enough, the hooded figure was in front of my cell, staring at me. It was a silent, tense moment, as I stared back at him…
"Hmm…" He said in a rather low tone as he turned back to return to sleep in his sleeping quarter.
"Phew, that was extremely lucky. Nothing ever escapes Sabre's keen eyes! Now, get back to work, and be quieter this time…" The assistant whispers quietly, making sure the figure was asleep.
"Alright…" This time, I wedge my slim fingers between the vent and wall. I gave a deep breath before pulling with all my strength. It didn't feel like much, but I pulled until I felt a sudden pop come from one of the bolts. Success! I pull out the drill bit and begin to slowly undo the bolts. Minutes felt like hours as I removed each bolt, and finally remove the vent cover.
"Yes! Now hurry! Crawl through the shaft and make your way outside! I will have one of Dr. Robotnik's transport bots hacked and ready to take you out of his city!" The assistant gives a goodbye wave as I begin my slow crawl, managing to squeeze into the shaft with relative ease. It's a good ten yards or so through the vent that I come to a sudden loss of footing…
"WHAAAA!!" *CLANG!* the assistant hears that through his own vent, gasping.
"I totally forgot to tell her about that drop…"
"Owww…" I moan in dizziness as I recover from my 10 foot freefall. I realize I've arrived in the main ventilation shaft. A wide, but frail looking ladder leads straight up to the roof of the building. I nervously step onto the ladder and begin my slow ascent.
Moments later, I finally reach the end of the ladder. The only obstacle now blocking me is the large ventilation fan that circulates air throughout the building. I can feel the suction pulling me into it, but I was strong enough to hang onto the ladder as I pull out the drill bit. The assistant told me I could use this to temporarily stop the fan until I get onto the roof.
"Well, here goes nothing…" With that, I quickly stuffed the drill bit in between the blade of the fan and the wall, sending a small shower of sparks onto me. It hurt a bit, but I covered up until the fan finally stopped…
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A loud alarm tone sounds off, awakening Dr. Robotnik from his midday nap. He spills his now cold coffee all over his keyboards as he awakens.
"Err? What now?? Who dares awaken me in the middle of my beauty sleep?"
"Warning: Ventilation has stopped in the prison quarters." A small monitor in front of him shows a surveillance camera inside the main ventilation shaft, showing the young hedgehog climbing out and onto the roof.
"SABRE!! We have a rat! Find her and bring her back to me!" He shouted into the intercom system.
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"Huh??" The hedgehog quickly jumps from his sleeping quarters, and rushes to find the ventilation cover had been removed.
"The girl! She must have gone to the roof…" Annoyed, he sprints towards the exit, where he enters a small elevator that lifts him to the roof of the prison quarters. It takes a minute for him to arrive at the roof, where he sees a trail of small footprints leading to the edge of the building, and then the trail suddenly ends.
He sees a small ID card partially buried in the snow. He picks it up and brushes off the snow to reveal a familiar face.
"Dr. Fedeli…" With the case solved, he rushes to Dr. Robotnik's main room, where he hands him the card.
"That's it! He has betrayed me for the final time! It's time he received his punishment! Bring him to me at once! And send a search bot to locate and return that hedgehog to me!" The doctor screamed angrily, crushing the card in his hand.
"Right away, master…" With that, Sabre triggers a small switch that releases a rather large flying mech outside. It jets away at mach one speed, under the orders of its creator.
Moments later, Sabre arrives back at the prison quarters. As he approached Dr. Fedeli's cell, he hears an odd clicking noise coming from it. When he forces open then cell door, he finds the assistant using a remote of some sort. The assistant was too busy using it to notice the hedgehog standing before him.
"Fedeli, Dr. Robotnik feels it is time you joined his other experiments…" Sabre said in a rather cold tone.
"Huh? What??" Before he knew it, Sabre yanked the remote from his hands.
"HEY! Don't mess with it! It's sensitive!" Fedeli yelled frantically. He was using that remote to control the transport bot that was currently taking Sabrina out of the city.
"Well, is it sensitive enough to handle THIS?" The hedgehog threw the remote down onto the solid metal floor, where he stomped his iron boot onto it, completely destroying it.
"NO! Do you have any idea what you've just triggered?? Destroying the remote triggers self-destruction!"
Sabre just gave a smirk, yanking the scientist up by the collar of his shirt. "You did it again, Fedeli. You broke the Doc's final string. Now, to the lab you go!" He dragged the screaming scientist away from his cell and to the nearby lab where Robotnik currently does his biomechanical research.
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"What a view!" The young hedgehog shouted as she looked down from the basket of the transport bot. The sky was beginning to cloud up, and a thunder was soon heard in the distance.
"Oh no, looks like a storm is coming!" She looked around and discovered there was no protection for her, nor a way to manually control the bot. Suddenly, a red light flashed and a rumble was felt on the machine.
"Self-destruct sequence initiated, in 5...4...3...2..." Sabrina gasped, ducking for cover. The basket she was in suddenly detached from the bot, seconds before it exploded in a rather violent blast, throwing the basket toward the thick forest below…
