The prisoners crept along, cart by cart, Bunnie keeping her hand tight around Rotor's. They soon realized the carts were unloading at some sort of prison facility and that's why the carts ahead of them had paused so often. Since their group did not have a cart, they were all simply herded inside the next empty cell, given nutrition capsules and locked in—
Except for Bunnie and Rotor.
The combots scanned each Mobian as they walked past and stopped them both. Without explanation, they took the two away from the rest of the group and bound them in electric shackles. Bunnie caught the looks of despair on the prisoners' faces when they realized the combots were taking her away. The eagle actually tried to rush forward and say something, but the combots knocked him away, shooting at his feet. Everyone jumped and screamed.
Bunnie tried to be brave, like Sonic, and she smiled at them. But she almost broke down crying instead.
The combots escorted the sea lion and rabbit onto a small train deeper into the city—towards a great, oval-shaped, brass plated structure.
Rotor did not have to tell Bunnie that it was the Command Center.
They went to a winding mess of buildings adjoining it. The combots unloaded them and took them down a series of dimly lit halls. It was a wing of special cells, several already full. Bunnie stared at the faces, her eyes blank with shock. For a moment, she thought she saw a pale blue hedgehog—it reminded her of Sonic's Grampa Chuck-but they passed too quickly for her to see his face.
The combots put both of them into a cell. The clear doors slid shut with a hiss. A great water feeder hung from the wall and the two were both given nutrition capsules.
They stood in silence. Rotor instantly moved to the opposite side of the cell, crossed his arms and closed his eyes. Bunnie walked over to the water feeder.
She stared at it for a moment, her eyes dim. Then she stretched out her one hand and began rubbing it along the nozzle. Water came out and she let it fall on her hand and drip on the floor.
She tried cupping some of the water and splashing it on her shoulder, but she dropped most of it. Her hand was too small and it trembled.
Bunnie lunged forward, falling to her knees. She pressed her face to the nozzle and began to drink. She gulped the water, letting it drizzle onto her face and down her body and wet the ends of her hair. She began running her hand through her curls as she drank, as if trying to bring some order to her appearance.
Finally, she stopped drinking, still licking her lips. She leaned her head against the cement wall, beneath the nozzle, not daring to move. She closed her eyes.
"Where are we, Rotor?" she finally dared to ask. Her voice shook.
He did not respond.
