'At least,' Sonic thought as he was munching away at the food, 'Eggman won't let me starve. For the time being that is'. The hedgehog was inside the metallic room again, after being thrown in by the robots again. However, when he was thrown, he did a backflip not allowing himself to be tossed around. He may not be able to leave this place, for now, but he had some decency and self-respect that he refused to lose.
After a few minutes which were spent resting his sore muscles, Sonic's ears picked up the sound of something metallic being pushed. The Mobian turned his head towards the door to see a very small opening close. For a second he thought if he could fit in there, but, from what he saw, the opening was so small, even Cheese would have a hard time going through. So instead of scowling on how well the Doctor was prepared, Sonic focused his attention on what was pushed into his room; a tray filled with a sandwich, some fruits and a bottle of water.
The food was not top-notch but, compared to other alternatives including starvation, one had to admit it was quite decent. Decent of course, to Sonic, who was well-known for his junk food consumption abilities. At least the Doctor recognized him the right of proper nutrition.
That doesn't meant he was not suspicious of Eggman's sudden philanthropy (scratch that, it's philomobiy). Before he took a single bite, he sniffed it making sure, to a degree, that the food was not poisoned. Then he took a tiny bite out of the sandwich. It did not taste funny which as a good thing. After that he waited for a little. Since nothing happened he took another bite, bigger this time. Again nothing happened so he assumed that if Eggman had poisoned his food that would appear by now, so he dug in. Needless to say, he performed the same course of action for the rest of the food and water.
Relishing this small moment of peace, away from any pain, he finished eating and sat with his back on the cold wall, closing his eyes for a bit.
Sonic? Can you hear me?
All alarms rang on the hedgehog's body, but were quickly ignored as Sonic recognized that voice.
Tikal! Please warn me next time you do that!
I apologise. I did not mean to upset you more.
Upset me? Nah, I'm perfectly fine. Apart from the soreness in my whole body.
If anyone was to observe the hedgehog right now he would see him with a sheepish expression on his face.
Good to hear that. Strangely her voice seemed to be awfully distant...
Tikal? What's going on?
… No response. Sonic grew worried.
Tikal?
Be careful, okay? Don't do anything stupid...And with that Sonic could feel their connection fading away...
What was that for? Him doing stupid things? That was one of his defining characteristics, rushing in without thinking of the consequences. Normally he wouldn't be worried about it, but this was far from normal... what was truly going on?
Sonic realized that he was beginning to become paranoid. Shaking his head, as if the paranoia would obey Mewton's* laws of movement and gravity, the Mobian sighted. He needed to find a way out of there. He needed to see his friends, he wanted to hear his little brother sprout big words which made no sense to him, have Amy squeeze him to death, tease the Knucklehead. He wanted to run, feeling his air on his quills and watch as the world became a blur every time he exceeded Mach 1...
He wanted his freedom back.
Sonic let out a long breath and stared at the metal walls confining him. Surely there must be a way out of this place... there always was. He'd probably figure out one later. What was really worrying him was the fact that he was under the Doctor's mercy. He touched his chest, where the microchip was most likely implanted and closed his eyes...
There was a loud tang as the impenetrable door in his room slid open revealing two of Eggman's robots from the previous day. By the time they had entered the room Sonic had already stood up, put on his famous patronizing smirk and leaned nonchalantly at the wall opposite of the door.
"YOU ARE TO PRESENT YOURSELF UPON OUR MASTER. "Their soulless mechanical voice made Sonic's ears flinch.
"Really?" said Sonic, his voice filled with sarcasm. "Tell Baldy McNosehair I'm busy right now." The two robots stood there, their AI processing what had been said and wondering if what sonic had said was insulting or not.
"IF YOU REFUSE TO COMPLY WITH OUR ORDERS WE WILL USE FORCE," the two robots finally said, ignoring Sonic's last comment. The Mobian sneered.
"Please... I take out robots like you for breakfast," the hedgehog responded assuming a battle position smirking the entire way. "And you've left the door open for me. It's like you're begging me to escape." And with that, he readied himself to perform a homing attack.
"I would not do that if I were you hedgehog." A voice was heard from behind the robots which made Sonic freeze on his tracks. Eggman, in his usual outfit had now appeared behind his two robots.
"Why not?" the boy challenged. Eggman smirked.
"I have already told you rodent but if you insist on testing it, go ahead," Eggman patronized him. Sonic dropped one ear in confusion. Was Eggman actually encouraging him to destroy one of his robots?
"Since you asked so kindly..." the hedgehog trailed off and in a split second he was up in the air, locking on one of the mad scientist's robots. In slow motion he curled up into a ball, launched himself and tore apart one of them. In an instant he found himself face down on the floor, feeling as his chest would tear apart any second now. He was slaying amongst the robots remains, clutching his torso. The pain was close to unbearable and it wouldn't stop. Sonic let out a muffled whimper and tried to stand up, only succeeding on getting up on his fours. With the corner of his eye he caught Eggman observing him with a satisfied look on his face. Then the doctor came closer to him, his massive figure casting a shadow at his suffering enemy. He snapped his fingers and the pain Sonic felt disappeared immediately. The rodents still lay on his hands and knees feeling some sort of an aftermath on his chest though the pain was gone.
"Get up."
"It's the microchip, isn't it?" Sonic asked his voice being strained. Eggman's smile widened.
"So you finally figured it out, hedgehog," he chuckled rubbing his moustache, "of course it was microchip." His attitude suddenly changed from one of amusement to annoyance. "What else could it be? Now get up and stop wasting my time."
Hating himself for what he was about to do, Sonic obediently stood up and resisted his urge to run away. The hallway was basically empty, the robot and the human posed no threat to him and he would finally be free... if it wasn't for this cursed thing inside him. He stared at his chest accusingly.
"Good boy," Eggman addressed Sonic as if he was a pet to which the hedgehog responded with a low growl. "Now follow me." he turned his back at the rodent and started walking but he stopped as he didn't hear Sonic's footsteps. Said Mobian was looking at Eggman, his face revealing a small hint of fear.
"Where are we going?" Sonic asked as he gulped and looked apprehensively at the direction Eggman went. If he wasn't mistaken that was the way to that horrible machine that used him as a filter and he couldn't help thinking about the pain it had caused him.
"Be quiet and follow me," the Doctor ordered Sonic, "or stay there and face your punishment."
Sonic confused at first at Eggman' sudden change in behaviour, yelped when he felt a small electric current in his body. Recognizing it was the microchip, he swallowed his pride and obediently followed the human, sprinting right next to where he was, making his statement clear; if he was to follow him, he wouldn't do that staying behind him like a scared animal.
As they were walking along the hallways, Sonic contemplated on his options. Things were getting worse. Eggman had him on a silver plate, being completely at his mercy and forced to obey his every command. If not, punishment awaited him. So far the only way he could escape was by getting rid of this microchip inside him or disabling it. If that happened, getting out of here was going to be a piece of cake. Sonic sighted. Only one thing stood between him and freedom, a tiny microscopic machine, nothing compared to the robots or deities he had fought with and won.
"Finally realized you can't escape your predicament rodent?" Eggman asked who had heard his sight. Sonic didn't respond because: a) he'd say something insulting and he would be tazed for it, b) it was subtle way to tell Eggman to mind his own business and c) because he could, aka I don't acknowledge you.
"Humph. Stubborn as always." Sonic, in a valiant attempt to show his disrespect, silently mimicked what Eggman had said while rolling his eyes and shaking his head in a childish way. Thankfully Eggman hadn't noticed him, as the hedgehog didn't experience any pain in those seconds. After a few minutes, the Mobian, to his horror, realized they were heading towards the lab, where that damned machine was. Was he going to be placed inside the machine again? Was this supposed to be a round 2 of sorts? His breath became shallow and he instinctively reached for his wrists that were still sore from the restrains. As they entered the lab he saw that the machine was hidden, and calmed down a bit.
"Sit down hedgehog. I'd like to have a serious talk with you." Sonic blinked.
"What?" he asked not believing his ears. Eggman wanted to have a talk with him? One that didn't involve volley-balling insults to one another? Feeling the now-familiar electrifying feeling in his body as he had stood there for a few seconds staring at the Doctor, while having been instructed to sit down, the hedgehog turned his head looking for a place to sit he found a nearby chair and apprehensively climbed onto it as Eggman had already taken his place.
"I've done a bit of thinking during those last hours," the Doctor started, "about recent events." Sonic frowned as it was obvious those 'recent events' involved him being enslaved. "Don't look at me like that boy." the human scolded him. "If you hadn't ran away from me all those years ago, or better yet, snooped around my lab, our relationship would have been much better-"
"Any reason you decided to bring up the past all of a sudden?" Sonic intervened, not fond of those events. Eggman looked annoyed as he was interrupted, but waited for the hedgehog to finish and continued his speech.
"Why yes, my dear rodent. Even though we have been in conflict all those years, it is not too late to fix those past mistakes." The hedgehog's attention was now solely at the Doctor. Was he saying what he thought he was saying? Fix past mistakes? As in, forgiving each other and maybe let go of all this endless fighting. A tiny spark of hope was created in Sonic's heart.
"What... do you mean?" he timidly asked. Though he was anxious for what the human would say to him, somewhere inside he knew that things wouldn't be so easy. The tiny spark flickered.
"Isn't it obvious?" exclaimed Eggman. Sonic gulped. "Join forces with me of course and everything will be forgiven."
"..." Sonic was at a loss of words. He stared at the scientist unable to respond. The spark disappeared, leaving behind darkness. "Are you..." he growled, "completely mad? In case you remember, the reason I left was because you had deceived me, thinking you were actually a good person, while in reality you're the same rotten man as always, wanting to have everyone underneath you!" he let out his frustrations, not caring about getting zapped. Meanwhile, the Doctor had leaned back in his chair, a nonchalant look on his face.
"Pf" he muttered as Sonic was done. "Should have expected that. You're still the same innocent boy, ignorant of how cruel the real world can be," Eggman continued. "Tell me boy, you think this planet is better off as it is?" he lowered his entire structure, hands on knees, looking at Sonic in the eyes, their heads a same level.
The hedgehog was caught off guard by the question. He opened his mouth to answer 'yes' but stopped and looked away deep in though. He tried again to say yes but something inside Sonic stopped him from answering so he lowered his head, glaring at the floor. The Doctor look quite amused by the boy's inner struggle.
"Though so. And for a good reason too. United Federation has proven itself to be cruel, doing everything possible to achieve their goals regardless of ethics; Soleanna is corrupted to the core; Apotos is facing severe economic problems, dragging Spagonia along, while the others countries take advantage of them, worsening the situation; Mazuri lacks basic things and few people care; Empire City is famous for its high criminal rates; I could go on but my point is obvious, don't you think?" Eggman finished his speech with a satisfied smile on his face.
"So you're going to magically fix all of that?" Sonic remarked, his voice filled with sarcasm. "I'm perfectly aware of 'how cruel the real world can be', something I have to thank you for, I guess." He said, pleased at how he managed to turn a patronizing comment to perfectly aimed insult. "So no 'join the dark side, we have cookies' speech will change my mind, Eggman."
The human sighted. "I hoped we could avoid this..." he cryptically commented, "but since you're so stubborn to let go on your idealistic view of the world, you don't leave me with much choice rodent." With that straps appeared from the chair, fully immobilizing Sonic in a matter of milliseconds. The hedgehog, unaware of what was going on attempted to break free, his heart pounding in his chest.
"What the..." the hedgehog growled.
"What's this Eggman?"
"Proof that the ones you so desperately wish to protect aren't the saints you imagine them to be." With that a huge screen appeared in the room, showing a young female human sitting in a room. She looked young probably being in her early twenties and her face looked familiar to Sonic...
The room was virtually empty sans a table in front of the woman, a small button on it. Other than that there was a simple door on the other side of the white wall. Then an old frail man entered the room, making the human girl stand up,
"Oh, Professor! You're here!" she said and everything became clear to Sonic as he remembered those people. The girl was from Spagonia University and the man was one of the professors there; what was Eggman planning?
"Ah. It's good to see you're on time. Usually you're late in my classes-" the man trailed off.
"Well professor I need that extra credit," she said nervously. "Anyway, what's this experiment you mentioned?"
"Ah yes." The professor piped up. "It's very simple really; you are a 'teacher' of a 'learner' and you'll ask him a few questions." the man explained. " If he gets it right all is well but, if he get it wrong you are to press that button," he pointed at the button on the table, "which will deliver electric shocks to the 'learner'." They continued talking, but Eggman muted the screen.
"In case you're wondering hedgehog, you're the 'learner'." Eggman said. "However if you answer correctly you will be electrocuted, not by them but by the microchip. So, you have two choices: answer correctly and get zapped for sure or put your trust in the female's ethics and hope she won't press that button." Sonic was at a loss of words.
"By the way, don't thing of calling for help, you'll be electrocuted if you do and it will be in vain. The speaker will only recognize the answers along with you screams, if you answered wrong" Sonic looked at him confused. "Oh yes, rodent; she is perfectly aware that she'll be performing the electrocution on a living thing and also knows that the voltage will go up by every question, oh did I forget to mention that?" he added. "Maybe that will make you understand who the bad guy here is." And with that the Doctor fell silent as the two humans at the screen stopped talking too.
"Uh hello?" the girl started talking, a stack of papers in her hands. "I will ask you a few questions now. You must answer them correctly or I'll have to press that button which will electrocute you and... the voltage will go up so answer correctly, ok?" she laughed nervously.
"Get out of there! This isn't just an experiment; it's really happening-augh!" Sonic screamed in agony as a current went through his entire body. The girl was oblivious to his pleads.
"First question: When was the Great Fourth Wall civilization?" she asked loudly and waited. Sonic bit his lip as he knew the correct answer from one of Knuckle's rants. If he answered correctly he'd be zapped for sure. If he answered wrongly, it would all be up to her.
"4.000 years ago!" he yelled and his voiced was heard in the room where the two humans where. The girl looked partially relieved and she didn't hear Sonic who screamed as the microchip was activated once again. Eggman looked at the hedgehog with a disapproving look.
"Tsk. Tsk. Why did you give the right answer? If the girl is truly good she wouldn't shock you, would she?" he remarked and Sonic did his best to ignore him. Yet a part of him agreed with Eggman. She could stop whenever she wanted right? She didn't have to shock him, she could just refuse and leave.
"Next question: What is United Federation's capital?" she asked again.
Sonic stood the silent for a few seconds, debating whether he should answer correctly or not...
"St-" he took a deep breath, "Station Square." he muttered and Eggman's frown dissolved into a smirk.
The girl bit her lip. "Professor?" she whispered not knowing what to do. The man nodded and he gulped. "I'm sorry... but..." she clenched her fists. "Your answer is wrong."
And with that, she pressed the button.
"I'm sorry. Wrong answer."
Sonic's body tensed expecting the next wave of pain, after the human pressed the button once more. It had been half an hour since the experiment started but to Sonic it seemed like an eternity. He had been answering praying that once, just once, she'd spare him.
She didn't. The searing pain that came, setting his inwards on fire, making him wish he'd pass out, shattering his hopes and the hedgehog let out another cry, making he girl flinch. Just flinch. She didn't protest, he didn't hesitate though she'd heard his screams. All she needed was a nod, perhaps a bit of encouragement from the professor and she pressed the button without second thought.
Sonic knew her. The Mobian had talked to her a few times when he was in Spagonia, they'd once joked together... and the professor; he'd also talked to him, amused by the comic relief the old man's hearing problem caused and also thankful for the info he had provided to him and the others...
"What have you done to them, Eggman?!" Sonic yelled at the man. He raised his heads upwards with great difficulty, the hedgehog's body sore from all the shocks and looked at the doctor, expecting him to have a triumphant smile on his face...
Only to find none. Instead the doctor had a sombre expression, regarding him with a mix of curiosity and... sorrow?
… What?
"I haven't done anything to them-"
"Liar!" The boy yelled, tears threatening to come out. It didn't make sense. Both of them were good people, normal Spagonians, they couldn't do that... could they?
"Last question," the girl said her voice completely blank and unaware of the brief exchange. "Who is the current President of the Mobian Republic?" she asked her hands already on top on the button.
Sonic gulped once more, as he was going to be electrocuted again. It didn't matter if he answered correctly or wrongly, there wasn't any difference. His body was already sore from before and a small part of him feared for his life, as he recalled that the voltage went up at each question and that the previous shock left him at the edge of consciousness.
"If you don't say anything, it'll be taken as a wrong answer," the female human from the screen said.
Sonic remained silent. He didn't know the answer anyway. The country was having elections the day he was caught so the president could have very well changed. Yet what difference would it make if he knew it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He'd be saving the girl from the trouble of pressing the button, that's all. So he closed his eyes and tensed his body waiting for the next, more painful than the last electroshock that would tear through his body, probably causing him to black out from the pain.
He heard the despised sound of a button being pushed, his heart sinking as a small part of him still believed in the girl's sense of right and wrong and readied himself.
It never came.
"What?" the hedgehog whispered as he opened his eyes and looked at the screen. To his confusion the button was pressed yet he should have have felt by now. Maybe it malfunctioned?
To further his confusion, Eggman had pressed another button too, one located on his chair as the obese scientist as rubbing his forehead with his hand looking tired.
"Egg...man?" Sonic timidly asked, not knowing what was going on. The human looked up to where the Mobian was and stood up heading towards the exit, ignoring him completely
"Robots!" his voice was the same as always yet the hedgehog couldn't help but notice it was at the verge of breaking. "Escort the rodent back to his room." And with that he left the lab as two robots, the one from before and a new one, came to where the boy was. The chairs restraints retracted back to the seat but Sonic didn't run, because one, that would only earn him another wave of pain and two, he was still puzzled by what happened.
Hoping he didn't break any orders, the hedgehog carefully went towards Eggman's chair trying to find the pushed button but the two robots grasped and dragged him away. Turning his head around and glancing at the chair one more Sonic found the button.
'Quick disengage' was written on it and Sonic was forming a rather impossible conclusion...
Did Eggman truly spare him from the electroshock?