The Highest Form of Flattery
Chapter 4: Snare
She felt a small tingling as the machine went to work. Quickly, the sensation vanished and Tails smiled happily, telling her that it was a success.
He led her to a full body mirror attached to the bathroom door and she gasped a little when she saw herself.
Her fur was completely white...and she looked a lot like Cream, only older and less colorful. Every exposed part of her skin and fur was white. Her eyes were gray. Her dress was black as could be, but similar in shape and form to the dress she had been wearing. The boots she was wearing looked more like somewhat trendy work boots than the beautiful fashion accessories she wore into this house. Obviously, someone with little understanding of female fashion had designed this.
"Well, Amy, do you like how you look?"
Still in a sour mood, she gave him a shrug, "It's okay."
"I think you look nice." The two tailed fox did his best to make her feel better, but knew it was futile; she had always considered herself to be quite beautiful, so any change in form would not likely be an improvement to her.
The hedgehog with a rabbit's guise walked past him and out into the living room.
"Okay, now, remember, someone who touches you will be able to notice that you aren't what you look like, because you still feel like you really are, be careful." He mentioned before she could get too far.
The others saw her as she headed for the door, "Hey, who's that pretty, little rabbit?" Rouge teased her with a good natured smile.
Amy decided that waiting in the kitchen wouldn't kill her, but she was in no mood to talk too much.
"You'd never recognize her...even her expression looks real." Sonic whistled, obviously surprised at the results. He didn't seem to be angry or apologetic.
"Hmph. I still say that the robe and veil idea would have worked better." The echidna threw in his two cents.
"The veil in itself is conspicuous. A white rabbit just looks like a tourist from the cold lands."
"All right, Rouge, you've got a point." He shrugged, "Then again, the Chaotix..."
The comment was interrupted by the ringing of a cellphone.
Rouge answered it, "She'll be out soon." When she hung it up, she gave instructions to the departing girl, "All right, Vector is the only one who is actually here. Apparently, he left Espio and Charmy back at the detective office He'll know who you are, but he's going to act like you're Vanilla's niece. Just call yourself Ivy if anyone asks...most people probably won't recognize you by voice. Once you're at the house, just stay inside and you can keep the disguise off."
They all exchanged their farewells.
As she got outside, though, Sonic called for her to stop and spoke to her quietly, "Hey, look, I didn't mean to yell at you like that. I'm sorry." He seemed sincere and, even though she had partially resolved to ignore him, she forgot all about that.
Amy gave him one last hug, though it was not a hard one to ensure that he could not easily run, "I forgive you." It was such a tiny thing to receive an apology, but it felt like so much more coming from him.
With that, she gave him one last goodbye and left the house.
Not far down the way, she found the detective. He was listening to his headphones and waiting. On the latter's shoulder was a duffel bag.
"Ivy, good to see you! I brought some stuff for you in this bag so you'd be comfortable at Ms. Vanilla's house for the next few days. I'll carry it for you, don't worry."
"Hello, Vector."
He quickly gestured for her to follow him, obviously eager to get to his destination.
The trip definitely wasn't short, but it was among the most quiet she had had in her life. For some reason, they both didn't feel that conversational. The reptile had taken his headphones off and was really attentive of his surroundings. At a couple points along the way, she thought that he was talking to himself.
When they arrived, he looked quite anxious.
'Ivy' offered to knock on the door for him when he seemed to lose his nerve, but that caused him to insist on being the one to do so.
He knocked and held his breath, only to let it out when the smaller of the two rabbits answered, "Hello, Mr. Vector. Hello, A-Ivy." She giggled at her own error, "Please come in, you've walked a long way. Mother and I made a nice fruit salad for you!"
They entered the house and walked into the kitchen, to find Vanilla dishing out servings of the aforementioned salad. The table was set with a nice, red and white checkered table cloth and some fine silverware.
The homemaker greeted them with a smile and invited them to sit down.
"Ms. Vanilla...this is very kind of you..."
Amy was no where near interested in watching him stutter and worry about impressing the older rabbit, though, she was solely concerned with turning off the disguise machine. As she held the button down, she was already sitting. The sensation from before came and left in an instant.
Cream's look of astonishment told her that she had gone back to normal again.
"Amy, how did you do that? Is it like the hammer trick?"
"No, Tails is to thank for this..." She tried to pull off the little disc, but it firmly held onto her neck, "...I just wish he hadn't made this thing grip so strongly...I can't get it off."
"That's because you aren't supposed to be able to!" Eggman's voice shattered the peace as a soft pitter patter of footsteps could be heard in the entrance to the kitchen.
"Sonic!" The pink hedgehog happily stated as he came into sight, with both hands behind his back. She got to her feet and took one step forward.
"Ha ha!" The robot was the source of the sinister voice, "This is the Aimbot prototype, the noncombatant model, with most of its programming in imitation. Even though it wasn't perfect, it was still able to seem like Sonic well enough for several hours. It was also able to hack that device on your neck when you hugged it. Oh what technology can do! Only a few seconds to transmit a virus capable of turning an image generator into a shock device!"
She scoffed at this, "A shock device, that's usel-" Suddenly, she was down on the floor, unable to move voluntarily. All she could see was the wall as she twitched worthlessly. Even when the shaking stopped, she couldn't quite get herself to move, and her entire body felt numb.
"Amy!" Cream cried out in concern, as the others looked, shocked.
The professor laughed, "It was good enough to cripple you temporarily! Leave it to Tails to make an invention that could be exploited with a simple circuitry altering virus! Now, Vanilla, hands high!" More laughter came as the rabbits screamed, "Yes, it's a non-combat model, but it can still hold a gun! Brilliant, isn't it? Get back, Crocodile! You can beat me, but someone's going to get shot!"
"Eggman!" He growled, stomping the ground.
"You heard me! Don't move!" Eggman ordered again.
"All right, all right, just don't shoot them."
"Oh, of course not."
Suddenly, a great portion of wall she was staring at collapsed as a large metal hand burst through it. Though she squirmed desperately, nothing could stop it from wrapping its digits around her midsection. The others, unfortunately, were unable to help due to the gun that was being pointed at them.
"No! I'd never hurt her! Then there would be no reason for Sonic to come back! I lack the resources to cause enough of a disturbance to get that hedgehog to come back from the sabbatical he's been on since he evaded my detection devices, and this little rodent...she's a valuable enough hostage to bring him back from the other side of the planet, if necessary!" Eggman laughed heartily, "Besides, how would you be able to savor the glory of the Eggman Empire if I were to just go around killing all of you when I don't have to?"
The arm pulled her away, lifting her off of the ground. It also turned her around, giving her a clear view of Vector standing in front of Vanilla, facing the robot bravely.
"Please, tell everyone you know! When Sonic returns, she will be released safely! You have my promise!" The robot still spoke for the doctor.
Suddenly, just before Amy was pulled outside and out of seeing distance of the incident, the fake Sonic turned the gun on itself and blew a hole in its own head.
Despite the fact that it was robotic and made out of metal, the bullet pierced it like glass. Lifelessly, it fell to the floor with a great clang.
The detective, at that point, recognized his chance to save Amy, but he was too slow. When he jumped up to smash the arm, he came up short by only a few, short inches. With a mighty jerk, the arm pulled her into the air...and she noticed that it was attached to a hovercraft similar to the one Eggman would normally pilot. However, it was unmanned.
Though she could move now, there wasn't any room to wriggle out of its grasp. Even if she did, there was too much distance between her and the ground to even consider taking the fall.
A few minutes into the flight, Eggman's voice reached her ears, "My apologies, Amy, but I didn't plan on having to take you like this."
"Then you shouldn't have taken me at all!" She looked up and, with a slight gasp, noticed that the craft was invisible.
"Look, I didn't have a choice in the matter, you little brat!"
"Well, neither did I!" She shouted back, rivaling his volume.
"Ahem...yes, I apologize for that, again." This time, he actually sounded a little sincere, "We'll talk when you get to the base."
She silently reminded herself that, if she got the chance, she would have her hammer take charge of the discussion.
For several more minutes, things were quiet.
The robot stopped at a grassy plain, but, suddenly, the ground itself parted as a hidden hanger door was revealed. Hovering cautiously, the craft lowered itself slowly until it was below the ground and waited for the doors to close before descending very much further. Before the doors shut, she saw that it was a giant area, with metal walls, floors, and even metal ceilings. There were other things to be seen, but there was such a long distance that it was impossible to discern what was what with much certainty. It was the sort of environment that would be typical of the doctor.
As the silver doors shut, the room was left in a pitch black state.
After what felt like an age of descending, eventually she was gently set down on the cold hard floor. The hand released her, ensuring that she was not even the slightest bit uncomfortable.
There was a soft clanking as someone entered the chamber, "Ah...Amy Rose, so good to see you."
"I'm almost glad I can't say the same." Amy bitterly remarked.
He chuckled lightly and began circling her, judging by the sound of footsteps, "Again, I must say that I am sorry for this trouble, but you're the only one who can help me."
She did her best to make the last two words as mocking as possible, "Help you?! You're just after Sonic, so you can kill him and start the 'Eggman Empire'!"
"Not true! I rarely dirty my hands when I am not forced to! Besides, I don't want to kill Sonic." He stopped his pacing somewhere in front of her.
"What are you after then?" Her accusing tone dulled a little bit as curiosity entered it.
"Actually, I need your help to...ah...perhaps you should see it." He sounded quite nervous.
"See what?" This put her on guard.
"You'll see. "
A door near the side of the room hissed open and there were more audible footsteps, these fell far heavier than the doctor's.
"Lights!"
Everything was illuminated in an instant, causing her to wince and shut her eyes.
When Amy opened her eyes, she caught sight of another copy, as well as the doctor. The robot stood with a small canister in its hands. Only a moment later, did she recognize it as a grenade. Instantly, she called her hammer to her hands, but the shock came all too quickly. The Piko-Piko Hammer fell to the ground, as its owner did.
"You disappoint me, Amy, I thought we could have handled this peacefully." His maniacal laughter haunted her ears as she heard a loud clash of metal on metal near her body and a small hissing noise. Her eyes tried to fall shut, but she fought to hold them up for a moment. A pleasant smell graced her nose and everything felt so peaceful as she became one with the darkness...