The Realization of Hector Hedgehog
The Story of the Secret Life
Chapter 4
Storms, Assassins, Showgirls & Knuckles
The rain poured onto the city with a ferocious magnitude unseen on a Wednesday in the middle of September. The wind made it even more ferocious to those who were still up. For Hector, who had always been very fearful of thunderstorms, it was a living nightmare. He shivered as he clenched his blankets, not knowing whether he should jump up and scream bloody murder or just lay and calmly take the abuse of the storm.
"Morning, Heck!!!!!" Mina threw the doors open to Hector's room. She then proceeded to jump on his bed. "Come on, sleepy head, time to wake up for work!!!!!"
Uuuuuuuuuuuuuugh. Hector's lids were half opened, and his undereyes were puffy. Get away from me. Please. Get away.
A week had passed since Sally had intruded into the house. Seven days had passed since Hector began to realize that he was either going crazy or he was dreaming. After a week, he had started to think he was dreaming.
At least he wanted to. The small, thin black box that Sally had given him was still in his closet, still in the back pocket of his denim jeans, which he never wore. He had this fleeting idea that he wasn't going to be seeing the last of her, either. Or of her mafioso friends, whom he hadn't seen for eight days, but whom were obviously responsible for his misery of the moment.
"Now, Hector," His mother looked at him as he poked at his (burnt) sausage. "I know that it seems complicated and unholy to you to have Mina sleeping only a few yards away from you, but I just want you to know that you only have a week before your wedding. You have to get used to her being around when you get home, understand? Both my mother and Gertrude's mother made us do the same thing with our husbands, whether they wanted to or not. Besides, it cuts down on infidelity."
Oh, now, Irme." Mina's mother laughed. "You know perfectly well that Hector would never cheat on the girl he loves. He'd hate himself for it, wouldn't you?"
"Yes, ma'am." So, does this explain why I hate myself for being with Mina when I know that Sally exists? Tell me that.
"Hector!!" Hector's mother folded her arms in astonishment as she looked down on his plate. "Why, you haven't even eaten a single thing on your plate!!"
"Come on, Heck!!" Mina gave him a slap on the back. "This cooking is absolutely deee-licious!!! Have some for a change!!!!"
"Um..." Hector looked down at his plate. "You know what? I'm not hungry."
"Again?!"
"Look, mom, I have to go get dressed. I'll be late."
With that, Hector excused himself from the table and darted upstairs. Awestruck, the women at the table looked at each other. Mina started to eye Hector's abandoned plate greedily.
"I don't know what's gotten into that boy of yours, Irme."
"I don't know, either." Hector's mother looked over to the stairs. "Normally, he'll eat a truckload of food in a day, but he's hardly eaten anything this past week. Maybe I should get him some help." Or I should make him eat it with the belt, that ungrateful son of mine. All I do for him-
"Oh, Ms. Irme, I'm sure he's fine!!" Mina giggled. "I'm sure he's just tense about the wedding. I mean, he's probably just upset about not having a bachelor party-"
"MINA!!!!" Her mother suddenly jumped up and gasped. "Of all the uncivilized...go get me the soap!!"
"Ok, mama." Mina's head went down. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean it that way..." With that, she started to cry.
"Oh, Gertrude." Hector's mother gave a sad sigh as Mina whimpered. "I think you were being too harsh on her."
"Oh, you're right!" Mina's mother gave her a hug. "I'm sorry, Mina. Tell you what, let me help you with dressing today..."
----------
Hector waddled his way into his office and slumped down into his chair. He winced and lifted his shirt to give his cut stomach a look. A small gash waited for him, and it was very fresh. He gave a sigh.
This is the last time I ever wear a metal belt from my closet, he thought as he tucked his shirt back into his pants. I don't get it. I really don't get it at all. Then again...
He had not noticed the amount of weight he had lost in the past week (probably because his face had remained the same) until he had put his pants on that morning. It was rather shocking for him to find that his pants were now hanging off of him. In fact, he had never had to wear a belt to keep his pants up. But it made sense to him now. You don't eat, you lose weight. Then again, I just haven't had the heart to eat. And when I do, I eat very little. It's strange...
"Hello." Geoffrey's smirking face popped in. "Hope you had fun last night. Did your mother whip you again for waking everyone up?"
"No. I haven't been sleepwalking lately."
He hated Geoffrey more than ever. He began to realize that someone had to have been telling him what was going on in his house, and he was beginning to suspect Mina. Normally, Geoffrey wouldn't comment on his sleeping patterns. Does he have a phone at his desk?
"Well, I can see you've been having problems with writing your comic."
"I've been having writer's block lately." I think I'm going crazy because my fictional heroine is in the city at this moment with the Mob and I don't know how it's physically possible for her to be here. "What's your excuse?"
Geoffrey's eyes grew wide, then he scowled. Geoffrey was forever late with his stories, and he never really had a good reason for it.
"I don't have to answer to you, boy. You just go back to work." With that, Geoffrey slammed the door.
I don't believe it!!!!!!!!!!!! Hector's mouth dropped as he realized what he did. I ACTUALLY TALKED BACK TO GEOFFREY!!!! And...I did it so well. Where did that come from?!?!? Holy smokes!!!
After doing some quiet "woo-woos" in his chair, Hector looked over his storyboards and found himself justifiably confused. He had a story of Sonic escaping Group B's operatives in the Acorn Kingdom......but it just didn't quite click. It was a dead end for him, and for the first time in his life he couldn't imagine it happening!! It was almost as if Sonic wasn't even there anymore...
Oh well... Hector noticed that someone had left a menu for the company's cafeteria on the desk. He looked it over. Well, I might as well try to figure out a way to maybe do the next issue before I get too caught up in the wedding. I do have a legitimate reason for not being able to work right now, so Geoffrey can take the comic, though I hope he can get it in on time, and maybe its not a good......hey, I didn't know the cafeteria had chili dogs...
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As noon slowly engulfed the city, the figure and his driver quietly waited, in the Racer X on the corner, unseen by the rest of the world.
"Why do you think Sally gave this crazy loser the chip?" The iguana looked at the figure. "I mean, he's got no class, and no experience for espionage of any type. And I still don't see what you see in him."
"Patience there, Reese." The figure gave a chuckle. "You'll see tha-"
He abruptly stopped. His head cocked sharply to one side, looking over to the left side of where he was sitting. Outside, people were milling around and smoking.
"Huh?" The iguana looked over to the sidewalk. "I don't-"
"Ssssssssssh," The figure hissed.
After a moment, a grey bear dressed in a dark brown suit walked silently into the building. He seemed to easily blend into the crowd to Reese. But it was at his entrance into the building that caused the figure in the back to give a slight growl.
"He knows."
"What?!?"
"He's one of them." The figure's eyes met Reese's. "Do what I tell you. He'll be coming out of the building in a few minutes, I'm sure of it."
"He's afte-"
"Don't talk." The figure's voice had a frantic tone to it. "Do as I say. I want you to go into reverse..."
---------
Hector had never had a more satisfying meal in his life, or at least what he could remember of it. It was like eating something that was both spicy and not spicy at that same time. He had never tasted a chili dog, even though it was the food of choice for his hero...
Say, he thought. I wonder why Sonic isn't here at this moment? Hmmm...maybe, somehow, I must have wished Sally from my comic world and brought her into this world. Maybe that explains why I imagined her on the boat, and she had been there. But then why didn't Sonic come? And where are all of the other Freedom Fighters at this moment?
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Hector looked up, gave a gasp, and proceeded to wipe away the small bits of chili dog that had gotten on his chin with his napkin. He threw what remained of the wrapping of the food and the napkin away before opening the door.
"Hello."
"Hello." In front of him was a burly grey bear in a brown suit. "Am I to presume that you are the owner of this office, Hector Hedgehog?"
"Yes." Hector cocked his head to one side, a little confused, as he let the bear in. "What can I do you for?"
"I am here to inspect you." I don't understand what boss is talking about. This is him.
"Inspect me? For what?"
"Just to inspect you."
"Uh..." Hector was becoming confused. "Inspect what?"
"Oh, I am just an inspector from the head division of this company..." The bear's ears perked up.
"Is something wrong?"
"Am I to assume, sir," The bear gave a sniff, "that you have very recently eaten a chili dog?"
"Ummm...well, yes I did." Hector smiled. "I normally don't have-"
"LIES!!"
The sudden outburst made Hector jump back in fright, his eyes wide with shock. After a moment, the bear nervously laughed.
"Oh, please, Mr. Hedgehog, forgive me. You see, I have a tendency to have stupid outbursts of stupidity."
"Um, right." Hector felt slightly uneasy about the bear. "Right! But...what are you here to inspect?"
"I am...here to inspect..." The bear gave a very quick glance around the room, and his eye caught on of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic covers. "...your comic."
"My comic? Why?"
"There...was a problem at the printing press." There, now he was getting somewhere with the hedgehog. I just hope I don't blow my cover. "We need to see the original copy of the pages so that we can...make a new press for it.
"Oh!!" Figures. "I have them in my filing cabinet. Just a sec."
With that, Hector quickly walked over to his filing cabinet to shuffle through the thousands of papers that were in it. Gosh, I have so much prototype stuff in here its not even funny, he thought. I even have stuff about Sonic's roboticized mom. And that's not for a while yet. Hmmm...where did I put it last week?!
As Hector fretted over where his papers were, the bear calmly put on a pair of gloves. He then reached into his pocket and drew out a knife, which he put behind his back. Don't worry, little Sonic Hedgehog. Take your time with Uncle Jepshtat. He has some business with you, you little point-eared prick.
"By the way," The bear smiled. "How is Sally doing in this old country?"
"Oh, she seems to be adjusting." Hector flipped through the second most recent comic's pages. "I mean, her coming from another di-"
Hector's heart stopped. Wait a minute. Why is he asking me...No. No. No. It can't be...
The knife was fast, but somehow Hector was able to turn around and grab Jepshtat's hand before it got a chance to plunge the weapon into his heart. With a grunt, he tried to push the bear away. But he was too strong, and instead Hector found himself being pushed into the wall.
At the last minute, the bear suddenly instead shoved him through a window. The glass shattered and fell to the ground, some of it hitting a girl in the head. From the ground, Reese gave a shout (though no one could hear him through the car doors) as they saw Hector being pressed over the ledge.
"AAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!" Hector gave a scream. "Help!! Help!!!!! Police!!!!!!!"
"Hector!!!" Geoffrey's head popped in angrily. "What in-" He stopped when he saw what was happening. After a sec, he started to laugh. "Ha ha, veeery funny. Hiring a hitman. Kintobor will make you pay for that window for sure. 'Scuse me."
With that, Geoffrey slammed the door. With a grunt, the bear lost the knife to gravity, so he resorted to choking Hector instead. Hector gasped for air as he found that he couldn't catch it.
"Whoo...aare...yoou..."
"I shall tell you who I am if you tell me where your princess put that chip!!"
"Chip...?!?"
"Don't act stupid, hedgehog!!!" The bear's grip became tighter. "I know what you are trying to do. You are simply trying to play dumb with me, eh? Thinking I can't see behind those phony glasses of yours? I can recognize an old enemy from miles away!! Don't EVER call me a fool!!!"
Phony glasses? Hector struggled to think as his air supply began to dwindle. No, I've worn these all my life. Old...enemy...Oh no...he's from the comic as well!? Then that means...
"It's time to die, hedgehog."
Jepshtat's grip became ever so tighter. Calling all of his strength together, Hector drew as deep a breath as he could, and he scrunched up and jammed his legs in between the bear's pants.
The effect was instantaneous. The bear gave a roar as it fell to the floor, holding itself in pain. At that precise moment, however, Kintobar burst into the room, his face red.
"Just what in the hell is the meaning of this?!" He angrily screamed. "I am in an important meeting, and I'm interrupted by Geoffrey who says you broke my window?!?! I want a good explanation, Hedgehog, or I'll fire you on the spot!!"
"No, sir, it's not what you think!" Hector found himself on the defensive. His window? Here I am, almost getting killed, and all he cares about is a window?!?
"Ha!"
Without warning, the bear jumped up and kicked Kintobar square in the face. As the fat man doubled over in pain, the bear smashed another window, punching it in anger that he had failed, before bolting.
"Oh no you don't!!" Hector suddenly found himself running after him. "Come back here, you!!"
"No, no no!!!!" Kintobar whined. "Someone get me a washcloth and some ice!!! Aaaa!! The pain!!!!!!!"
-------
Jepshtat cursed himself as he flew down the stairs. He had failed. His boss would accept nothing under his death for it. For following him furiously down the stairs was the man he was supposed to kill, Sonic the Hedgehog.
Hector leaped over the handle bar as he chased him down, dropping himself two staircases. His adrenaline was up and flowing. No matter what, he could not allow this agent to get back to his boss alive, whomever it might have been. No matter what, he had to protect Sally from this enemy that had followed her over.
The chip!!! Hector's thoughts snapped in realization. Oh my god, the B-666 micro chip?! The one that Sally stole in #22 when she had learned that it held the key to decoding the derobotization sequence? That must be…I was right! Oh God, if that's here, and they think I'm Sonic...Oh, God, Oh, God, OH GOD!!! I can't let this guy get away from me!!!
After what seemed like forever, Jepshtat finally reached the bottom of the stairs. With all of his remaining strength, Hector jumped the last handle and leaped onto him. The two wrestled around like children for a moment, until Jepshtat punched Hector in the face and threw him off.
"I'll get you yet!!!" Was that last thing the bear said before bolting towards the main lobby.
Hector's jaw rang as he gasped for air, calling on reserve energy he knew he didn't have. He ran, though he knew by now it was pointless to do so, even after only twenty seconds. Twenty seconds was all it took for him to lose a guy that was after Sally.
Man... Hector rubbed his cheek as he tried to run along. I really...
He stopped as he got to the door. Outside, the bear was running out into the street, shouting at people that almost ran him over. He slammed his hand down on one of the cabs that was pulling through, screaming.
"Pig!!" He screamed. "Can't you see I'm late for an appointment?!?"
The next thing that happened, happened almost too quickly for Hector to have thought it happened, and yet it did. As he turned to jump over another car in his way, Jepshtat was suddenly thrown up brutally into the air by an unseen force, and whatever the unseen force was caused him to hang there, rolling over thin air. After a few minutes of honking from other cars, the bear's limp and bloody body rolled over and dropped to the ground, flopping as it did so.
Hector's mouth dropped open as he saw it. It almost seemed impossible. The bear had been flying. And now he was dead. How...
Without thinking Hector ran over to the bear, who lay in the middle of the street, and he took his hand. It was starting to get stiff, and cold to the touch. Fearing what he already knew had been done, Hector dropped the bear's hand to the ground. There was no recoil, for his hand was too relaxed.
He's dead...He's dead...oh my God...this day can't get any worse...
Suddenly, without warning, a small glow surrounded Hector, the dead bear, and eight feet of street behind them. Small glowing lines began to appear in the air and on the ground, first unconnected, then becoming a circle, a rectangle, a square...a hood, a tire, a windshield...a whole car. Then the color began to come: grey. the windows on the side materialized, becoming tinted. The car was soon completely materialized in front of Hector in a matter of microseconds.
Fear welled up inside of Hector when he saw the car appear in front of him. It was bad enough that the car had been invisible. It worse when he knew whose car it was. His suspicions were all too easily confirmed when he saw, coming from the back seat and walking over to him, the mafioso whom had first confronted Hector over a week ago. He took his hand and picked it up and dropped it as well, a tsking sound coming from his throat.
"Fool. Thinking he could get away so easily."
That clinched it for Hector. He knew exactly what was going on. Everything was clear to him now. The Mob was after him. In agreement with his mind was his fist, which inexplicably sailed towards the mafioso's face.
But the figure was too quick for him. With a simple turn of his head the attack was avoided. As quick as he had avoided Hector, he took Hector and slapped him hard in the face with a force the hedgehog had never felt before. As he fell, the mafioso grabbed his collar.
"You're not as strong as you wish you could be," the mafioso's familiar voice hissed into Hector's ear. "You only wish you were anything like Sonic."
With that, the mafioso threw him down, and took off through the streets.
"Meet me there, Reese..." were his last words before disappearing.
"No!!!!!"
Hector sprung up reproachfully, more angry and incensed than ever at the hoodlum. Without another word, he ran after him.
I'm going to get you... Hector angrily thought as he disappeared into the crowd. I'll get you, and I'll make you talk!!!
-------
Down in the slightly poorer sections of the city lay a showroom theater, a place where people could get away from the business of the town to get some entertainment. Though this particular revenue was well-known for it's more unsavory business (at least for the woman), today's show involved a performance from a ballet performing an exotic tale of love, hate, betrayal and triumph.
For Sally, however, it really didn't matter to her as she quietly waited backstage for her friend to show up. He had promised to try to reveal everything to her - the reason for her coming here, the possible place where her enemies were hiding and, most important of all to her, all of his reasons for choosing that strange boy that looked like Sonic to be the keeper of the chip.
He said he wanted to do it in a way that wouldn't attract the enemies' attention, so where better than at a place known to be a strip joint? She sighed as she put her foot down. Nice going, Sally. Even if he is-
Suddenly, the back door burst open, and her friend came in, gasping only a small bit for air.
"Sorry I'm late, princess."
"What's happened to you?" Sally put her hands on her hips. "You sound like you were running. Where's Reese?"
"Actua-"
"DUUURRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"
Without warning Hector leaped onto the mafioso, knocking his hat off and dragging him to the floor. Gasping, he jumped back off of him, punching him as he did.
"How do you like that, bud?"
"HECTOR!!!" Sally's eyes flashed with anger and shock as she ran over to pick the mafioso up. "You bastard! How could you!!"
"Actually, my parents were married and..." Hector's voice trailed off. His eye grew wide with complete and utter horror. "Oh my God."
The mafioso, being helped by Sally, was completely revealed even in the dim stage lights. He was an echidna, and a red one at that, with piercing purple eyes and dreadlocks falling down from his head. He looked up at Hector, his eyes both angered and insulted, but if Hector looked deeper he could have sworn that his eyes were filled with a sense of amusement.
"No..." Hector stepped back. "This can't be right..." It's not right. It can't be right. And yet his voice was right the whole time. Oh, God, Oh, God. I'm not dreaming, am I? "Uh, look, I can-"
"Don't have to." The echidna bluntly cut him off. "I understand completely. Here's my reply to that."
Without so much as batting his eyes, he socked Hector so hard the hedgehog's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he fell to the floor.
"Knuckles!!!!" Sally glared at him. "You really didn't have to do it like that. He's just an innocent."
"That's what you think, Sally." Knuckles rubbed his nose, numbing whatever pain Hector's pithily punch had inflicted. "There's more to it than that, though, you'll see. I think what I've just been through is only the beginning..."
Knuckles turned to see Sally's pleading eyes, but it was clear the echidna was giving nothing away yet. With a sigh, Sally took one of Hector's arms while Knuckles took the other, and they both dragged him away from the shadows, the hat Knuckles had used completely forgotten.
