Good Morning!
So you know how I said I wasn't going to touch romantic stories for a while?
Well, this one fic may stray into that territory. Rest assured that this is only going off on a limb and the main focus is NOT on relationships, more like healing of the self (If that makes any sense...)
Anyhoo, I hope you can enjoy. Read this if you want and review, comment or PM if you have questions on anything about the fic.
Just FYI, changed the rating 'cause some serious business bout to go down! (in my opinion anyway)
Thanks!
Gate Keeper
Chapter 2: Of Nightmares and Unexpected Revelations
Eggman shook as he looked out the window of his house to the darkened outside.
He had made it home without another incident. It seemed that since the debacle of the Chaos Crisis with Earth (read: Sonic X), a permanent portal was maintained between the realms and now humans were much more commonly seen. He also managed to make a phone (you think a tech genius will settle for someone else's product and NOT try and make improvements?) though he hoped to expand his company in that area soon and start his own lines of cell phones.
He had managed to get some sleep, though he woke up due to a dream.
Precisely, one involving the ladies Vanilla and Cream.
It had been his first abduction, and while he knew he had treated them well it did not stop the dreams from suggesting otherwise. He had dreams filled with screaming when he lingered on the subject, and would continually see Vanilla and Cream starved or tortured or both if it was especially bad. Worse was that HE was the one who would come in and torture them, and he would hear his mother screaming at him. Needless to say he avoided thinking about that time as much as possible, and as such he didn't continue that sort of event often and when he did he kept his prisoners more as guests than anything, video taped and recorded more than in cells.
The tapes were more for his conscious than anything.
Still, with his mind racing Eggman couldn't sleep. He had put on a night robe and had gone downstairs, pondering his dream and what to do.
I wish that I could talk directly to them, without this guise, so that I could make amends for the abduction. Still, what is done is done; I have released myself from the fever dreams of that monster I once was and will continue to build up myself to talk to Sonic.
Well, it looks like I will not be sleeping anymore today. A walk sounds nice right now; I can see how the city has changed without worrying too much about coming across anybody. Eggman nodded. He went back upstairs and in 10 minutes went walking out the door wearing a dark pinstripe suit and fedora. He started to stroll, the weight of his current situation heavily on his mind.
A Mobian was walking down the streets of the city, a long dark dress drifted behind her as she walked.
She couldn't sleep, an event from yesterday piling up to form uneasy tension inside of her mind. And to think a simple phrase, said by a stranger, could break down the barriers she had around that time. It was not a harmful one, but for months afterword she jumped when there were large shadows, or when she felt a presence seem to hover over her.
Shaking her head she walked down the street, anxiously wanting to put her mind to rest.
A voice came from behind her. "Hey lady, what're you doing out here all by y'self?"
A second laughed "Maybe she's comin' down for some "company"?"
A third said "Lucky i'm gonna be cumming if she don't find anybody else, ain't that right?"
a cheer was made by the first two followed by a round of laughter and high fives.
The Mobian turned around. In front of her were three hedgehogs, wearing ripped clothes and were leaning forward slightly, like hungry dogs.
One of them stood out. He had brown quills that were slicked back with greasy shine. He had a single golden chain, and seemed to lead the other two.
The Mobian looked at him "E-excuse me! I'm not looking for company at all, thank you very much!"
This made the three laugh all the harder; and the leader wiped a tear from his eye and said "Lady, lady lady... Doesn't matter if you want company here..." he stepped forward, the two sweeping off to the sides, and the Mobian took a few steps back retreating from the group.
He looked her in the eye, a hunger inside it that made the Mobian shiver. "You're gonna get it. Consider this a welcoming gift... If I let you live, that is." he laughed as he pulled out a knife and started towards her, the others hesitating somewhat before following him.
Like a shot, the Mobian ran and the leader cursed as he tried to pick up speed.
Block after block went by as the Mobian ran for her life. Unfamiliar streets blurred together and as she came to a end of the street she turned into a small alley, hoping to lose her pursuers.
No such luck, as seconds later the three came sprinting down with the leader barreled toward her with red in his eyes "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" He shouted and she let out a terrified scream. The Mobian ducked into another alley between two buildings, sprinting until she found herself flush against a brick wall.
She was trapped.
A few streets away...
"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"
A scream.
Eggman cringed. He wished he had picked a better place to start his re-mapping of the city. At the time of his empire, this part had been slightly affluent with the recent boom in economy before he restructured it. Unfortunately, it seemed that the passage of time had worn down this area to one of destitution and depravity. Eggman knew he couldn't interfere with affairs here, even if he wanted. He kept walking until he heard a conversation from a nearby alleyway. he looked down the passage to see two hedgehogs partially blocking a third from entering a side alley who looked ripe with rage and held a knife, talking fervently with scared looks on their faces.
"...Boss, you gotta calm down man. The're better girls down at Vinny's who won't give you half the trouble she did..."
"...Yeah man, we can't just have her in the middle of the street. That's just not right, man. Who knows who'd see us? Just let her alone man!"
The third broke free. "You guys are weak! C'mon, this is what you signed up for! You wanted in on the good life, so man up and take her! Or if you're not, you can say goodbye to any gang forever! Think on that, if you can."
With that the third pushed past the two, who cowered near the entrance.
"HELP!" cried a female voice.
The two cringed and looked down in despair.
Eggman was torn. He knew that he shouldn't meddle with peoples affairs; that's how he started going bad in the first place. But he couldn't stand idly by while this women was possibly KILLED!
Luckily for him, the two hedgehogs spotted him and rushed towards him.
"You, hey you!" the two practically scrambled towards Eggman with hope in their eyes.
"We need your help man! This crazy guy is goin' to knife this lady and we, we..." One of them sighed. "We... don't have the balls to do it ourselves. Please, we can handle the guy if you can distract him. We can't just leave her there, my momma raised me better, but livin' out here..." He trembled "I-it really takes your standards down pretty low man."
Eggman pushed past the two. He raced toward the alley, hearing two pairs of shoes quietly follow behind him. He turned the corner and saw the brown hedgehog from before wave his knife lazily in front of the woman, a Mobian by the looks of it.
Eggman called to the hedgehog. "I hope you have a better place to stick that knife than in that young lady. I would suggest yourself, but then there would be no one to clean up the mess."
The hedgehog turned around and laughed. "Do ya wanna get it stuck in you then, Mister tall, dark and ugly?
Eggman rubbed his nose with his hand Why does everyone I confront have to be a inane moron with a habit of not-so-witty one liners? He sighed. "Not really, no. However, I happen to have a sense of common courtesy and decency intact and we could all forget this happened if you just drop the knife and leave.
The hedgehog pondered this, the knife hanging loosely from his right hand as his left hand rubbed his chin. He pointed at Eggman "You know, normally I would take you up on that offer." He then twirled around, grabbed the woman and held her in front of him with the knife to her throat. "But I've been chasing this pretty lady for about fifteen minutes, and I think that the game of 'hard-to-get' just got won and I deserve my spoils. Now you leave before I have to slice her neck and have sex with a corpse!"
A chill went down Eggman's spine Well, at least he has some guts. he thought. Eggman looked into the hedgehog's eyes, and sighed "Don't make me do this."
The hedgehog laughed again, pushing the knife a little harder against the Mobians neck. "Do what? Shoot me? Too late now old man, 'cause unless your dumber than those two schmucks I left behind, I've got a pretty little lady right in front of me just waiting to sacrifice her life for me." He leaned down, stroking the Mobians cheek with one hand. "Ain't that right, sweetheart?"
A shiver and a whimper were all that the captive woman could muster.
Eggman replied "Please don't. Some things should be kept secret, and this is one of the deeper ones I have."
"Not my problem. You leave and I have some fun or I kill her, then kill you and whoever maybe around the corner, and I do her corpse.
Eggman shrugged "Alright, if you insist." He raised an open hand to the sky. "Alpha, Beta and Gamma; perform operation Aegis on immediate position. Free hostage then incapacitate threat." He closed his hand, making a fist.
"Execute."
Eggman lowered his hand, and put both of them behind his back.
The hedgehog laughed. Well, looks like your buddies decided to take a day off. Too bad, but more for me I guess."
He raised his knife, a smile across his face.
He looked down into the Mobian's terrified eyes and licked his lips. "This was always my favorite part!"
The knife plunged down. A terrified scream came from the Mobian.
Just before the knife would have cut into the Mobians throat, a hand exploded from the earth and caught it. From the wall to the left of the Eggman the brick wall burst as a figure dived for the Mobian, and pushed the hedgehog back. A sickening pop was heard over the sound of screeching metal as two hands burst from the dumpster, catching the hedgehog firmly in its grasp, screaming before quieting down to a whimper.
Another hand erupted from the ground and slowly a figure rose from the dirt. The Mobian seemed to disappear into a hard blue cocoon on the right hand side wall of Eggman and the dumpster seemed to crumble to reveal another form.
Robotic ones.
Eggman stepped forward. "Oh dear, I knew I should have updated your programming when I had the chance! That was entirely too close! Alpha, why did you wait so long? You know Beta and Gamma wait on you to make the first move!"
The dirt covered robot, which seemed to have a red case, gave a metallic whine before giving a short series of low droning sounds.
Eggman rubbed his nose. "You wanted to make an entrance!? You could have gotten her killed! Gamma, tell Alpha how much of a human he is acting right now."
The robot holding the hedgehog tight, who had a green case, made several higher pitched tinny beeps at Alpha.
"Thank you Gamma. Beta, you can let go of the hostage now. Beta?"
A crystal clear whine was heard from the blue cocoon.
"No, you can't keep the Mobian. Is she feeling better though?"
Several musically inclined beeps came from Beta.
"Well then, we need to get her home. I'm sure she has had enough excitement for one day."
The cocoon slowly opened, revealing a huddled Mobian woman.
"NO! I'M GONNA KILL YOU, YOU SKANK" The hedgehog in Gammas' grip yelled as he pulled out a pistol from a hidden pocket. Instantly the cocoon swallowed the Mobian again, while alpha threw the knife in his hand at the Hedgehog. It pinned the gun to a shard of the dumpster and Gamma screeched as it slammed the open arm of the hedgehog against its leg, breaking it.
The hedgehog screamed as Eggman advanced on him, tears coming down his face. By the time Eggman got to Gamma and the pinned hedgehog, there was only whimpering again from him.
Eggman crouched down while he took his hand and tilted the hedgehogs face up at him. "Do you know who I am?" The hedgehog shook his head.
Eggman leaned in close, peering over the top of his glasses to look at the hedgehog in the eyes. "I am the nightmare of Mobius. I've enslaved this country with robots just like this, I've razed this city to the ground before you built it up again, and I've more ways to make you suffer than even G.U.N. can manage on a good day." He chuckled. "Well, maybe not. I don't invest in torture like they do." He waved his hand. "But that's off topic. My name is..." he sighed And here I hoped that no one would have to know who I am.
"My name is Eggman."
The hedgehog spluttered "B-but Eggman's dead! There's no way you could be him! He died in a crash in Ice Cap Zone last week!"
Eggman raised his eyebrows. "Gamma, move your left arm from the hostile to show your insignia."
A small beep accompanied the rotating of Gamma's arm to show the Eggman insignia stamped onto the green metal of the left arm.
The hedgehogs eyes grew wide. He looked up with fear at Eggman before he passed out.
Eggman stood up. "well, that was easy. Gamma, give the hostile a dose of Rohypnol before making a cast for the left arm and re-setting the right arm, I believe it was dislocated during the operation."
Gamma gave a nod and a beep before getting to work.
Eggman nodded at Alpha. "good throw Alpha. Don't let it go to your head, it won't stay there too long."
Alpha responded with a indignantly sounding drone.
Eggman walked over to Beta. "Beta, hostile has been neutralized. Please release the Mobian, she may need some Rohypnol as well to forget her almost-tragic event."
Beta gave a dirge-like sound as the cocoon opened up again.
Eggman peered inside and sighed.
"Hello, Ma'am. It seems we have met again."
Huddled in the cocoon was non other than Mrs. Vanilla the Rabbit.