EDIT 1/11/2018: I feel like my pacing with this story is off, so I added a scene that was originally from chapter 3 in here, not simply to pad it, but because it also makes more sense for it to happen in this chapter.

Four unconscious heroes sat, in various awkward positions, against the bars of a wagon cage. The irate screaming of strangers had woke the group, which consisted of Sonic, Shadow, Silver, and Solid Snake. The first thing they felt were heavy, rusty chains.

The chains chaffed their legs and ankles, connected into one mid-length chain behind them, and attached to a bar at a corner of the cage. The boys had headaches that felt like hangovers from a whisky chugging contest. There were gags of various qualities silencing them. A grated restraint mask of worn leather covered Shadow's face. Silver was choking on a balled up rag, held to his mouth with a torn up garter strap, and soaked in a sedative. Sonic struggled to spit a ball gall out of his mouth; but it was covered by a bandana. A simple strip of duct tape kept Snake silent.

A large black tarp covered the cage. The light was dim, but light enough to see vague outlines of facial expressions. The voices outside rose and fell randomly and none of the captives were clear-headed enough to understand the words.

Snake blinked a few times, his vision was too fuzzy for comfort.

Upon recognizing the spy, Sonic perked up, saying, "Eyy nnekke!"

Snake groaned irritably.

"Whrmm urrh we?" Sonic asked with a drunken slur in his voice.

Snake shook his head; hoping the gesture would keep Sonic quiet.

Silver's gagging became louder, worsening their headaches and gaining their captor's attention.

"Shut up in there!" A rough voiced male said.

Where have I heard that before? Snake thought.

Snake sat, presumably, in the back left corner of the cage. Sonic was in the upper right corner, Silver on the left, and Shadow in the back right.

Sonic pulled hard on his chains. He only managed to cause a racket and amplify the pain on his wrists and ankles.

The tarp was lifted behind Sonic, and then a cattle prod slid through the bars and shocked him. The electric current traveled to the others via the cage, and they screamed in a chorus of pain.

A man screamed for the cattle prod wielder to stop. Mercifully, they did.

The prisoners slumped forward in their restraints. Sonic was convulsing heavily; while Snake, Shadow, and Silver were shaking so hard their teeth chattered.

The wagon stopped, and the tarp was lifted. Blinding light filled the cage, and the occupants cringed. A tall, slender man opened the cage door—between Sonic and Shadow—and dragged everyone out by their chains, one by one, after he unlocked them. He tossed them onto the grass carelessly, and hit Snake in the back with the long end of his chain.

They were in a sunny, open meadow, with a forest surrounding it in the distance and a few trees off to the side. A stream flowed behind an oak tree close to the center of the clearing.

Their heads were spinning, and their stomachs were killing them. A few feet away, a man was yelling; "start settin' up boys! We've got a lot 'o work to do if we're gonna be up 'n runnin' by Friday."

The soft crunches of a boot stopped behind Snake's head and a large round shadow blocked the sun, as he lay on his side, facing the three hedgehogs who glared at the two captors. He smelled vanilla scented smoke; had to be a cigar.

The man standing over Snake prodded his head with a steel-toe boot. "Get a load 'o this, O'Malley. Fine catches, eh?"

O'Malley eyed them skeptically. "Think they'll be worth the trouble, Mr. Higgins?" He emphasized 'trouble' with a gesture to his bandaged right shoulder.

Higgins tapped ashes off his cigar, letting them fall on Snake's cheek. "Trust me, O'Malley, these boys are circus material. Nice pieces a work, though." His voice oozed with sleazy cunning.

"It took a lot of drugs to keep 'em all under. You think we got enough to keep 'em tame?"

"Oh yeah, we got plenty. 'Sides, I know I guy here who can hook us up if we need more." He turned and walked off. "Get those punks tied down 'till we can start workin' on 'em." He called over his shoulder.

O'Malley rolled his eyes and picked up Snake's chain. He pulled it, "get up, dickhead, and make this easy on yourself."

Snake stood on unsteady feet. The drugs and the electric shock were taking their toll.

O'Malley started walking past the others, grabbing their back chains and pulling them to their feet as he went. He dragged them to the oak tree by the stream. He then reached up to a low lying, reasonably thick branch, and attached their chains to it. All four of them were lined up, from truck to branch —Shadow, Sonic, Silver, and then Snake—, on standing feet.

Silver fell unconscious again, so O'Malley removed his gag. "Poor little bastard. Took a lotta stuff to keep him knocked out."

"Watch who your insulting, asshole!" Shadow snapped. The muzzle made him threatening and ridiculous.

O'Malley rewarded Shadow with a backhand.

"I suggest you learn your place, flea-bag." He spat on the hedgehog's forehead, and stalked off towards the wagon train.

"Damn bastard." Shadow growled as he rubbed his head against the tree trunk.

Snake had been busy blowing against the tape, and had now removed it; albeit he had to chew it up and spit it out. "What was the point of tape and a muzzle for us? You can still talk and I can take it off with my breath!"

Sonic supplied, with lighthearted sarcasm, "mhbyeee ehy thugh oouh err the sweeht on's."

Shadow and Snake scoffed. Then all eyes turned worriedly to Silver.

The time traveler's head was slumped onto his chest fur, and his tongue poked out the side of his mouth.

Snake slid over to him and bent his head close to the hedgehog's muzzle. "Still breathing." He looked at Sonic and Shadow. "But whatever they used to keep him under almost killed him."

Why would they use so much for Silver, of all people? Shadow thought.

"Nuhh les fihhur ouh huhw oo geh ouh ff hrre."

A young man in a cream blue blazer and black cat suit sauntered over to them. "Hey prisoners!" He offered them a small wave and a cheeky smile.

The three conscious captives glared at the man.

"Okay…Tough crowd." He shrugged and crossed his arms. "Listen, I've got some advice for you fellas."

Sonic sputtered, and made an unintelligible remark.

The visitor rolled his eyes. "Look, whatever ya do; don't underestimate Mr. Higgins. He can and will make your time here a living hell; however long it is. Trust me." His seriousness increased on the last note.

"Whatever kid. Now, you gonna knock us out or what?" Snake mocked.

"Nah. I'mma let Syla do that. It was pretty funny watching him drag you out of the cage." The cat suited boy slapped his thigh. "And when he spit in the black hedgehog's face! Oh my gawd!"

Shadow glared daggers at the boy. "My name is Shadow; and you're end will be painful when I get out of here!"

"Mine's Conier, and I look forward to it!" He called back, snickering, as he jogged back to the circus preparations.

For a while afterwards, the boys hung there undisturbed in their planning escape. Sadly, they did get put back to sleep by Syla after Sonic tried to break the branch.

"Psst! Snake, you up?" Sonic whispered.

They were back in the wagon cage. The chains they had originally been held in were attached to the back wall.

"Kinda hard not to be."

"That stuff wore off for you too didn't it?"

Snake groaned, since it was too dark to give the hedgehog a 'no shit Sherlock' look.

"You got any ideas of getting out of here?"

"No. And my codec's not working, so we won't be getting outside help anytime soon."

"Why are you guys so loud?" Silver griped from beside Snake. "We're trying to sleep."

"Sorry, sleepyhead, but we're trying to come up with a plan to get outta here." Sonic snapped.

Snake rolled onto his side, facing the wall, and tried to go back to sleep.

"All of you shut up." Shadow hissed, half-awake, as he rolled onto his side, facing Silver.

Everyone went quiet for what felt like hours, but was actually a few minutes. Suddenly Sonic sprung up. "Silver!"

"Whaat?"

"Is your psychokinesis working?"

"I don't know."

"Try to pick the locks." Sonic urged.

Silver felt around with his mind, and found the locks. A dim blue glow surrounded him and the chains. When he couldn't push against the tumblers, he focused on his own chain instead.

Everyone watched the glowing hedgehog hopefully.

After halfway unlocking the chain, a terrible migraine broke his focus, and he stopped instantly.

"What was that?"

Silver curled up, his chains scraping the floor and jingling. "My head." He whimpered.

"Whatever they gave him must have caused this." Shadow pointed out. Then it occurred to him. "None of us can use our abilities. That's why we could we hardly "

After much argument, everyone decided that their only hope for escape was to get the mysterious drugs out of their system. But at one point, O'Malley came into the cage, at which point they pretended to sleep, and dosed them with sleeping serum.