As a warning for those who are a bit squeamish, this scene does contain a little bit of a graphic description of a torture victim.
The Creeps
Four Months Later
Within the dark halls of Eggman's vast space lair wandered a hopelessly lost and somewhat confused and scared blue hedgehog. All of his instincts were screaming for him to just go back to the rocket and get as far away from the structure as possible as quick as he could. It was only sheer willpower that kept him going, which worried him. He'd NEVER been scared of Eggman's creepy and horribly lit bases before so why start now.
Besides, he had been sent here on a mission.
The hedgehog's ears twitched as they caught onto a sudden clang of metal. The clang of Eggman's nearby robot guards. He forced himself to bite back the yelp his instincts annoyingly wanted him to make and came out of his shadowed hiding place dashing straight into their path. They barely had time to acknowledge his presence before he crashed into them head first at frightening speed, destroying them on contact. With threats to his stealth taken care of, he continued down the halls and resumed his search.
He felt a vibration around his wrist, his communicator, and found a safe spot to answer it.
"Yellow Watchdog to Blue Leader, you copy?"
"Yeah, Tails, I hear ya loud and clear." He rolled his eyes at his friend's little codenames. He knew he would hear it from him, but it was fun to mess with his little buddy. Takes his mind off of being utterly terrified.
"Sonic, how many times do I have to tell you, it's Yellow Watchdog! It took me a long time to think that up."
"Okay, jeez, sorry. I hear you loud and clear, Yellow Watchdog…"
"Thank you."
Sonic bit back a chuckle as he got back to the matter at hand. "You got the info I need or what?"
"Yup. Just updated your mini-map. According to the map I currently have on screen, you're not too far from the holding chambers."
"Thanks, little buddy. I'll call you when I get there. Blue Leader out." The image of Tails was replaced with the mini-map and Sonic continued to follow the blip to its destination.
Someone was locked in those holding chambers. They didn't know how long, and Sonic kicked himself for not figuring it out sooner, but that much they knew. There was no way the Blue Blur was going to let some poor innocent person be locked in a place like this. Surely, there had to be a rule against it.
Maybe whoever it was was the reason Eggman had been on the downlow as of late.
Four months and not one word of an evil plot or petty little misdemeanor or even a sighting of Egg-Breath at all. It was a relief to Sonic and his friends at first, but as the disappearance went on, it began to seriously unnerve the animals. Something about the 'calm before the storm', Sonic remembered Shadow mumble.
As Sonic got closer to the chamber, he eventually came across the entrance to Eggman's computer room. Thanks to his keen hedgehog hearing, he could tell Eggman was having a conversation on the other side of the door. Confident the coast was clear and that he was safe, Sonic put his ear to the door and listened closely.
"...oing great, Mr. Mas… lly can't th… r letti… y him."
"Pleasu… ne… And I tru… ...nd of the bargain."
"...s, sir of course."
Now there was a voice Sonic had never heard before. Who the heck was Eggman talking to? As Sonic picked up on more clacking from the guard robots nearby, he knew that he would have to wait to get answers. So, instead of barging in and confronting Eggman like a moron, he ignored it for now and left.
Whoever that guy was," Sonic pondered, "he sounded like a sleazeball.
Within minutes, Sonic found the the chamber, and was immediately startled when he heard the faintest of whimpers. A sickeningly young sounding whimper.
Whoever Eggman had was probably only a kid, Sonic realized from the whimper alone.
Surprise and fear was immediately replaced with his blood boiling and disgust rising. How could Eggman do this to a kid of all people?! Without hesitation, Sonic dashed in, not bothering to keep quiet any longer, and he followed the whimpers to their source. He was stopped in his tracks by what he found.
Inside of the chamber was a very frail and weak looking human boy. He couldn't have been older than 16; Sonic knew enough about human anatomy to tell the kid was about his age or less. The boy's clothes barely hung off him, and what was left barely looked like they fit, he was so small. He was skin and bones, complexion pale, constantly trembling. He was clutching his knees like a lifeline, head buried in between and what was showing covered in a mop of messy, sheenless black hair.
Oh, and all of the gashes and scars. If Sonic had eaten recently, he would have puked at the sight of them. All of them looked very infected, noticeable from all the pus, blood and… was that toxic waste or something he was seeing? Only toxic waste should have such a horrid green glow…
To really hit home how much damage Eggman had done to him, the boy's head suddenly shot up when Sonic made a sudden move. The boy's pupils were pin pricks within faded and bloodshot blue, and the look of fear he gave the hedgehog nearly broke Sonic's heart.
"Please, d-don't hurt me…" The boy croaked, clutching his head with both hands. Sonic knew that position. He'd dealt with a lot of abused kids in his spare time working with the police for awhile because they needed his kinder touch.
It was something he picked up from Eggman, Sonic thought darkly, scowling slightly at the thought. He thinks I'm gonna hit him or somthin'.
"I'm not gonna hurt you." Sonic crouched down and got to eye level, seeing as though the boy lie on his side. "I'm gonna try and get you outta here."
"D-Don't try and trick me…" the boy said softly, barely able to contain his tears. "I-I've seen you around here before. He s-sometimes uses you t-to... " he trailed off and softly sobbed. Sonic thought of only one person he could have confused him with.
"No, no, that couldn't have been me. The guy who did this to you, he has a robot that looks like me. Trust me, I wouldn't hurt a fly." Sonic said with a reassuring smile, trying to lift the boy's spirits. His smile faltered when he moved a little too much and made the boy flinch.
"It's alright. You don't have to completely trust me right now. Just know that I'm telling the truth." Sonic finished, and he called Tails right away.
"Yellow Watchdog, come in. I found who we're looking for. I need you to hack into his cell right now and have the rocket ready."
"You got it, Blue Leader."
Within minutes the cell was unlocked, and the door opened. The boy realized there was nothing between him and the giant, scary looking hedgehog anymore, and so he balled up more to protect himself.
"You're not gonna let me carry you outta here, are ya?" Sonic said, already knowing the answer before the immediate head shake came. The hedgehog groaned, not liking what he had to do next, and pressed down a pressure point in the child's shoulder until he passed out.
"Hopefully he stays out until we get back to the planet, or else this is gonna suck," Sonic moaned to himself. Careful not to agitate his injuries, the Blue Blur quickly scooped his charge up and ran as fast as he could the the waiting rocket, glad to leave this place behind.
"Heh, heh, heh, heh… I can already TASTE the lack of hedgehog in the air…"
Eggman opened the door to the holding chamber and strolled easily to his charge's cage, a cruel smirk on his face.
"Oh, Danny… it's time for you to go ho-" Eggman froze when he saw the boy was nowhere to be seen, the cage unceremoniously unlocked. He looked around and saw no sign of his charge.
The only thing left behind was a few strands of blue hedgehog fur.
"B-But… how di-" Eggman growled, knowing his life just got a whole lot more difficult, and could do nothing else at the moment but scream his frustrations out into the ceiling, a scream so loud it could be heard through even the impossibly quiet reaches of space.
"SOOOOOOOOOONNNNNIIIIIIIIIIIC!"
