Chapter 13 –Misery--
"Snively!" echoed through the dark and dreary halls, "Get in here!"
"Y-yes, Sir, right away" Snively sputtered into his terminal. He turned and ran for Robotik's office, which was in the next room. Upon entering he could see a large figure standing near the window with his hands folded behind his back.
"Sir, you wanted me?"
"Yes, yes I did. Do you know why?" Robotnik said as he turned around with a sinister grin on his face.
"N-no Sir."
Robotnik moved closer to Snively, his red eyes now locked onto his
"P-please don't hurt me again," Snively yelped.
Poking Snively square in the nose Robtnik asked, "When were you going to tell me those pesky freedom fighters cornered you again."
Snively gulped deeply, he hadn't planned on telling him at all, but he knew the best way out of these situations was to lie, beg, then lie some more and if he could, feed Robotniks ego.
"Funny you should mention it, I-I was just making the report for the incident this afternoon."
Pressing down harder now Robotnik continued "And what did they get from you this time…hmm?"
"Ahh well you see it was Amy, and she had a big hammer…"
"Out with it" Robotnik bellowed
"The access codes for the main frame" Snively squealed "Please, please don't hurt me"
"What!!!" now picking up Snively by the collar of his shirt. "Why would you give them that?" he asked as he stared menacingly into Snively's eyes.
"I-It was the only thing she wanted, S-Sir. If I didn't tell her she was going to hit me."
"Then next time let her hit you" Robotnik said as he threw Snively backwards, "Perhaps she will knock some sense into you."
Robotnik turned around to look out the window again as Snively got up of the floor.
"And how much information are they able to get with those passwords?"
"E-Everything."
"Surely you don't mean everything Snively! Do they know about the return of the other humans or Project SMASH?"
"No, Sir. That information is stored on your personal computer only."
"Then don't stay everything!"
"S-sorry, Sir."
Snively thought it would be a good time to start boosting the doctors ego, "Well, Sir, luckily you implemented that new rotating password key, its unlikely they even get a chance to read any of the information before the password changes."
That particular idea was actually Snively's, but he was more than willing to give it up to avoid punishment. He knew that Robotnik would latch on to as if it were his own in a matter of seconds.
"Hmm, yes I suppose that was a good idea wasn't it? But that still doesn't explain why there is a blue hedgehog running around the city!" He yelled as he pointed towards the monitor, which did in fact currently show Sonic running along the river in the old section of the city. Sonic was always up to something, but he was often to sneaky to be sure as to what. The only thing knew for sure was that it was bad if the hedgehog took time out his day to mock them in one of his traditional childish ways. Seeing as he hadn't done that, he posed no real threat in Snivley's mind.
"Should I launch SWAT Bots to intercept him, Sir."
"No, we will continue our deceptive strategy of doing nothing."
Snively couldn't help mutter under his breath "Nothing may as well be the name of every plan you have ever made."
"What was that Snively?" He said razing an eyebrow as he turned around to face him.
"I was just saying how doing nothing is giving you a chance to perfect your next plan, Sir."
"Yes, yes it is. I almost rather like doing nothing, it gives me time to think. With all this time off I can spend my time concentrating on Project SMASH, it is nearly in its final stages. You will see Snively, even you will have no choice but to respect me when this all over.
"B-but I already do respect you, Sir"
"Of course you do, of course you do." Now get back to work!"
"Y-yes, Sir." Snively said as he walked back into the other room. Pfft "Project SMASH", how much more primitive could he be? He didn't even know what the project was, but Robotnik had been going on about it for weeks. However Snively was sure that what ever this plan was, it would fail, just like all the others he had hyped up. He couldn't help but remember the last "project", he boasted about for days on end, which may have lasted a record 2 hours before getting blown up by Sonic and his friends, but of courses the issue wasn't the project, the robot, or the technology, it was the man behind it. Snively could see Robotnik's genius through and through, but then there was the issue of his common sense and power hungry nature, which in the end always allowed the freedom fighters to get the better of him. Snively wished he could point out all of his flaws without facing severe pain, but the doctor's ego was to big to allow for anything but his own ideas.
Now it was back to babysitting the new comers. It was Snively's job to see to it that they got everything they needed. Why did they bother coming back? On the brighter side at least they respect me. Snively checked his terminal for any immanent problems and then headed for the elevator. Robotnik had them all staying in the building adjacent to his head quarters, he didn't want them wondering around disturbing his 'vacation time'.
Snively hit the call button and the elevator doors opened immediately. It only serviced him and Robotnik, so there was hardly a need to ever wait. However, the ride down from the 100th floor often took a while. Snively continued to contemplate why they couldn't just give the returnees the parts they needed. Making them would only take a day at the most, but apparently that would be too much to ask for. No instead I have to show them were all the scrap piles are and tell them were they can go to fix the parts they find. This is mad, they don't even want to be here, and Robotnik doesn't even have a reason for keeping them here…does he? That thought had never entered his mind until now. No that can't be possible, why would he want a bunch of whiny humans lounging about, eventually they are going to want jobs or worse yet rights, and I don't even have those.
Snively walked out of the elevator, which had arrived on the first floor, and out the entrance of the building. The streets were pathetically dirty as usual, with rats running about in the gutters and heaps of scrap in every direction. And I call this place home. I bet even the newcomers have better living conditions than this. He continued down the street, his destination was only a block away. It was sad that the sunlight stung him, and not just eyes, but his face as well. He spent so much time indoors that even the thought of going out side during the day made him tingle. He shielded his eyes from further exposure as he continued down the street. He could see General Simmons standing outside the building, waiting for him.
He had met General Simmons a week and a half ago, a few days after they had landed. Simmons seemed impressed with him for some reason, but Snively just couldn't figure out why. The man had an interesting nature, positive and humorous, essentially the opposite of Robotnik. Snively hadn't had time to meet with him since their introduction, seeing as he had been too busy helping unload their shuttles and creating additional housing for them.
"Ah, Colin my boy, there you are. We have been waiting for you for quite some time." Simmons yelled out as he saw Snively approach.
He had used his real name, for a second Snively's eyes glazed over as he returned to another time in his mind. The last person who had called him by his real name was his mother as she boarded one of the last ships to leave the planet. Snively had chosen to secretly stay behind with Robotnik. He couldn't help but reminisce over the sound of his mothers voice in his head.
"Colin?" Simmons asked to see if he was paying attention.
"Sorry, Sir. Dr. Robotnik kept me longer than expected you know how he is."
"No I don't, but I can imagine. He sure seems like he has quite a few screws loose if you know what I mean," Simmons said as he made a circular motion with his finger while pointing towards his head.
Snively burst out laughing in agreement in his high pitched cackle. "Oh believe me Sir, hehe, it is truly remarkable the parts that man is missing, but yet he remains a genius… somehow."
"Colin."
"Yes, Sir."
"Stop calling me, Sir."
"Yes Si… I mean surely"
"Don't call me Surely either." Simmons said, "Bill or Simmons will do."
Snively couldn't believe this man, he was falling in love with him, in a strictly brotherly type of way. He has a sense of humor, he respects me, and he is even letting me call him by his first name rather than some stupid name only a super villain makes for himself.
"Bill," Snively said with renewed energy, "How can I help you?"
"Well," Simmons said as he smacked the clip board he had been holding behind his back into Snively's chest with a surprising amount force, "We need all these parts and the doctor says you can show us where we can find some broken ones to fix up."
Recoiling heave from having the General's clipboard thrown into his chest, Snively did his best not to gasp or cough, but none the less he struggled for the first few words of his response. "Y-yes I suppose I can do that, let me see what you have on the list."
Snively took a second to glance at the list, and indeed all the parts they wanted were for repairing space shuttles.
"Hmm yes, we have all of these, but they are going to be hard to find." As he said this, a new man emerged out of the door behind Simmons.
"Excellent, perfect timing Davis." Simmons began as he slung an arm around the other mans shoulder and pulled him in tight, "This, Colin, is my dear friend and lead pilot Sergeant Davis."
He had not yet met this Davis fellow. He was shrouded with a saddened demeanor, but yet still somehow stood proudly. He did not wear any officer's uniform, but rather what he assumed were normal clothes. Snively pegged him at roughly 50 years of age judging by his graying hair.
Davis did his best to look interested in Snively and managed to put on a small grin. Snively had a feeling that he did not appreciate the whole hearted introduction that Simmons had given him but was doing the best he could.
"It is an honor to meet you Sergeant Davis," Snively said as he reached out his hand offering a handshake to him.
Davis, now out of the grasps of his general was considerably more friendly and graciously excepted Snively's kindness.
"So you need to repair your shuttles I see," Snively began as he started walking in the direction of the warehouses."
"Oh no" Davis said, "Our ships are fine."
"We need them to fix the rest of the shuttles in our fleet so that we can all return safely." Simmons said as he chimed in to finish Davis' sentence.
"Wait there are more of you?"
"Yes, thousands, didn't the doctor tell you?
"No… he failed to mention it. Where is the rest of your fleet then?"
"They are all stranded around our new home. Or at least we thought it was our new home, but the atmosphere is still not quite right for human living. To fix that we began Teraforming the planet, but during the process, a rouge pile of space debris hit and damaged many of our ships."
"So you are here to get parts for them?" Snively asked.
"Yes. We were forced to come back here in hopes to find parts to fix the remaining ships. The planet will not be done for another 50 years, so we needed to get the ships fixed or face the loss of dozens of ships. The threes ships arrived on were the only ones that were damage free, and as God would have it you are here to help us. We did our best to repair as many ships as we could before we left, and can only hope that the repairs will last until we get back."
Fascinating so there are thousands more of them, Snively thought. Could mother be one of them? He would have to ask one of them later.
Trying to show something he was pretty sure was called sympathy Snively responded, "That's awful, I will do all I can to help."
"I wouldn't expect anything less from you my boy, but I should remind you time is of the essence, we don't know when one of our ships oxygen scrubbers could stop working or a support could give out, crushing everyone inside."
"So your just going to return to your fleet, fix your ships, and wait for the planet to be done."
"Well that was the plan, but then we came back here and found the two of you. Even though the city leaves something to be desired, it is habitable. We thought we might bring the rest of our fleet back here to wait out the 50 remaining years. Most of us haven't taken a step off of a ship in well over 20 years," Simmons continued.
"Why exactly did you leave in the first place?" Snively asked. He was very young when everyone left, only sixteen as he recalled. He had never paid attention to all the political mumbo jumbo that was thrown around as to why they needed to leave.
Simmons was silent for a moment. "It was our time to leave, the planet was uninhabitable outside of a hundred mile radius of this city, as I am sure you know. We needed to find somewhere new to live, were we could begin a new."
Snively knew that he was of course talking about the radiation. Their ancestors had doomed them all when burnt the world to a crisp with atomic weapons. Somehow, this city and a small piece of the surrounding area had escaped, making it a sanctuary of life. However, what Simmons was most likely unaware of was that Robotnik had solved the radiation issue within the first year of their departure.
They were now nearing the giant warehouses on the outside of the city. Snively began to point out all of the locations they would have to look to find the parts they needed. "The majority of the parts you need are in these three warehouses" Snively said as he pointed systematically to them. Unfortunately there is no map or, for that matter, organization of any kind so you're going to have to get your hands dirty. The remainder of the these parts on the list such as the couplings, thruster modules, and hydraulic cables can be found in any number of scrap piles outside of the three buildings."
"Uhh…do you think you could give us a hand?" Simmons said as he looked at the heaps of junk that lay about, "We are kind of pressed for time."
As much as Snively disliked manual labor, he welcomed the thought of spending more time with the two of them.
"I would…"
However, just as he usually did, Robotnik had to open his mouth and take every happy feeling away from him. "Snively! Get back here…Now!!!" roared over the load speaker on one of the buildings near by. Startled by the sudden break of silence, all three of them stared at the loud speaker as it shook with maddening reverberations.
Snively didn't even know what to say, he was too angry and depressed to produce a response. Stupid good for nothing fat man and his demands. One day, one day it will be me yelling at you to do my biding.
Snively handed Simmons the card key that would grant him access to any building in the city and turned to leave his new companions so that he could head back towards the headquarters. He was delightfully surprised when he herd from behind him, "Don't take to long my boy, we need all the help we can get!"
Snively turned around for a moment to see Simmons examining the access card. He then did his best to reassure his new friends, "I will be back as quickly as I can, but with Robotnik… well you never know."
"And Colin, feel free to stop by anytime, I would love to hear about what has happened here while we have been gone." Simmons added
"It would be my pleasure to tell you, but for now I must go, the "master" beckons."
Snively turned back towards his destination. He really began to wonder why he never left with them in the first place. His uncle promised him glory, fame, and honor, but all he had received since day one was misery.