Chapter 5: Mercy of a Child

A few hours went by after the squad locked Dr. Hamlet up in a prison cell. It was highly advanced, technologically wise. He was still called a traitor and a quack for withholding information from them. He paced back and forth, thinking. If I were to bring this information to Eggman, he wondered, then he would want to take Murphy for his own. It's true, she will protest at this, but it will be much easier for her to escape from Eggman instead of this current empire.

He sighed.

The only problem now is that the crew is against the idea of Eggman obtaining her, he continued thinking. Now Shadow knows my plan. He won't help, no matter what I tell him. Oh Murphy, why did you do this?

Eggman slammed his hands on the table with rage.

"So," he barked. "That man is working for the Insects, eh?"

"Yes Doctor," a gent explained calmly. "He's been on their side since the beginning. He's been manipulating us to do his will."

"That quack," he shouted. "And we've been trusting him all this time."

A few of them looked down, thinking. John, the squad leader, thought to himself with his eyes tainted with uneasiness. It's a good thing that Shadow didn't run anything by him. He must be very lost, like we are, he thought. None of us knew what the right course of action is, not even Dr. Hamlet. But if anything, we don't want him find out about Murphy.

"We think it's best if you don't listen to him as much," he warned. "Just because he's caught, doesn't mean he'll stop trying. He's very deceptive."

Eggman nodded in agreement, then they all disbanded. Not one of them spoke to or visited the old scientist.

Linda sat up on her bed as the medics ran her vitals. She felt herself gain more energy as time progressed.

"You know girl, you're in luck," one of the medics exclaimed. "Surviving the vacuum and the trip back."

"What do you mean," Linda asked.

"Normally anyone would be dead by the time they got back to the space station," the other one replied. "But you managed to hold out. And look! even your face is healing!"

Linda touched her face. The scar wasn't as big as it was before and she could start barely seeing out of that eye.

"Is it supposed to heal," she asked, a little bothered.

"No," the medic replied. "You would've been only seeing out of one eye, and that scar would stay."

Linda felt her face, wondering what this could be from. Could it be from Murphy, she wondered.

"Say, do you recall being exposed to anything while you were in that scrap field," the medic asked. "Considering you were in very close proximity to the space station."

"I probably was," Linda replied. "But I can't say for sure."

She didn't want to share any of her conversation or encounters with Murphy, but she felt she was responsible for this. I don't know if I should be thankful, she thought. She felt like she just accepted a suspicious bag from a stranger in an alleyway. Parts of me feel diseased now, she thought.

She thought about what Dr. Hamlet was talking about. From the look of his face, he did not expect this sort of thing to happen. He probably didn't want Murphy to tell me such information, she thought. That he wasn't entirely on our side, and secretly helping her try to escape. I somewhat don't blame him, considering he's only doing what he feels is right.

She then went to sleep. She found herself in the same dream sequence as she was being tormented by Murphy. She looked around, she wasn't there.

"Murphy," she called out. "Are you there?"

There wasn't an answer.

"Murphy, you are inside me aren't you," she hollered.

There was silence for a while. Linda tried rubbing her eyes to see if she could wake up. She didn't.

"Murphy," she hollered. "If you have nothing to say to me, then how about letting me wake up?"

Finally, Murphy's voice broke out.

"Aren't you going to thank me," she retorted. "You didn't tell anybody."

"Why would I," Linda replied. "You've given me information and something else, i don't even want to know, and I have no idea what to do with it."

There was silence for a moment.

"So it didn't work," Murphy murmured. "I thought you would be enticed to tell, or better yet attack Booker. I also gave you some of my soul. I thought you would like it, considering how much anyone would want it."

There was more silence. Linda trembled.

"Well, whatever you gave me, take it back," she cried out. "I don't want any of this! I'd rather die to the likes of this empire than ever help you."

Suddenly, a black shadow jumped out of nowhere, giving her a jolt. Her eyes snap opened and she found her self a cold sweat.

Dr. Eggman was in his chair as some of the gents worked furiously. They went and tried to forget all that they learned from Dr. Hamlet. Shadow and Rouge were right beside him, thinking. They weren't quite sure of what to do now that they knew about Murphy. Rouge glanced at Shadow, wondering what he was thinking. Neither of them wanted to tell Dr. Eggman about her.

Suddenly one of the gents turned around.

"Doctor," he cried. "It appears that something is wrong with the enemies Mother Ship."

"What is it," he replied, impatient.

"Their power has gone haywire," the gent explained. "None of their jets or weapons are working. Their core seemed to have exploded!"

"What!?," Dr. Eggman barked. He got up from his chair to look at the gent's screen.

Shadow and Rouge looked at each other, took completely off guard.

"Could it be-," Rouge hissed as Shadow shushed her.

"Yep," he concluded.

Linda gasped and jolted up. She felt her body slowly grow numb and her heart ached with every pulse. What's happening, she wondered. She moaned and screamed with agony as vision from her eye faded into nothing. Her breathing became labored and she found gasping each breath became more difficult. The medics rushed in and slowly turned her to her side.

"Linda, what's happening," they cried. "Is everything alright?"

She gasped, finding it hard to speak. Murphy, this has to be you, she thought. What have you done!?