ADAPTION chapter six
From behind the eyes of her controlled body, Amy watched as Melissa was dragged into the room and thrown roughly at Dr Bowens feet.
When she had first heard what was going to happen she had done her best to warn Melissa, but she had been asleep and all she had been able to do was apologise to her in her dreams.
Suddenly Amy recognised the scene in front of her. Melissa had obviously put up a fight, her clothes were a tattered mess, and she was curled up on the ground at Bowens feet. Exactly as she had been in Amy's dream.
Amy's mind reeled, trying to figure out if her dream had shown her what Bowen would do to Melissa. But there was nothing, she had seen only that glimpse, the warning hadn't been enough.
Dr Sampson looked up from where she was crouched, every single one of the sixty new cyborgs was standing in the room behind Bowen, formed rank upon formed rank, Amy and Tails right at the front, directly behind him as his most prised possessions.
"Well, Dr Sampson, what have you to say? Do you know why I have brought you before us?"
Melissa clambered to her knees and looked around at the cyborgs, then shook her head, "Have I done something to displease you.?"
She looked desperately at Tails and Amy standing behind Bowen, but knew there was going to be no help from them, they couldn't risk it, there were too many cyborgs now, it would be a massacre.
Dr Bowen laughed down at her, "Displease me? Oh no my dear, you have done what I suspected you would do all along, and it gives me great pleasure!"
He grabbed her by the top of her arm and pulled her to her feet. She desperately tried to keep herself covered by the scraps of clothing left on her body.
He grinned and brought his face close to hers and whispered, "It gives me an absolutely infallible reason to make you join my ranks."
Melissa Sampson struggled, but to no avail, she was shoved into one of the tanks used in the procedure.
As the front slammed closed and locked she banged on the glass frantically,
"Please sir! Tell me what I've done! I'll make it right!"
Dr Bowen pressed the button to fill the tank and looked up at her, "Oh, I don't think you could make it right my dear. I mean, giving my codes to the freedom fighters.? That's an unforgivable atrocity."
Melissa blinked and stepped back, leaning against the back wall of the tube, she didn't flinch as the liquid oxygen seeped in, engulfed her, didn't move as the emerald shard was dropped in to her, she kept her eyes on Amy, right up to the moment Bowen pressed that non descript button.
She closed her eyes and didn't open them again until the procedure was over.
"I've found where they're being kept Sonic. Says right here. Dungeons? There are dungeons under Milestone city?"
Porker looked nonplussed for a moment until Rouge spoke up, "Yeah, sure, didn't you know Milestones built on one of the ancients old cities?" "How do you know that?"
She rolled her eyes at him, "Explorer, historian, mean anything to you?"
Knuckles looked over Porkers shoulder, "So, how do we get down there? Assuming that's the plan of course?"
Porker typed in a command and flicked through some pages on the screen until a map came into view. He looked it over for a moment, muttered something, then typed another command. A new map came up, older than the first; he overlapped the two of them, so the lines from the old map showed on the new.
"There" he looked pleased with himself, "It doesn't show on the new maps, but there's an old sewage opening. here."
He pointed at a mark on the screen, Rouge looked at the maps, noting all the markings of both old and new, then poked the screen.
"No, that's where we have to go in; the sewage opening is blocked now, and it's too close to the guard towers anyway."
Porker and Knuckles looked at where she pointed.
Grudgingly, Porker consented to the fact that her way was indeed the best way. It was near the edge of the city, no where near any guard towers, and relatively alone, most of the housing near it was empty. The only problem was going to be digging down to it, because a factory had been built over the entrance, of course, Sonic would likely make light work of it.
"Guys!"
They all looked up as Tekno called for them. She and Sonic had been in her work room, keeping an eye on the security cameras in the procedural room and Borgs quarters.
They crowded round the screen and watched in silence as Dr Sampson was forced into the tank, when it was over Sonic turned to them all.
"We have to get going as soon as possible; Bowen obviously knows that she helped us. He'll probably get all the information about us and the movement from her, so that means we have to act before he can do it."
They nodded, "Tonight then?"
In her tank, Amy seethed. She was about ready to break her own rules and just simply fight her way out.
She had done her best to shield Melissa during the procedure, finding it a lot easier now that she had better control, so Melissa still had her own mind when she woke up, but despite that, Amy was still angry.
'Stop worrying about it Amy' Tails thoughts reached her, even though he was as scared and worried as ever, he was keeping his calm and trusting in Sonic.
'How could either of us have known Bowen would find out?'
She felt Melissa's agreement from along the hall; she'd already been moved into her own tank in the cyborgs quarters, 'I'm ok now, and as you've thought yourself, these new bodies aren't so bad.'
They all three of them glanced over at the door as it slowly started to open.
By the time Dr Bowen had walked in they had let the programming take over them once more. He closed the door behind him and walked the short distance to Melissa's rejuvenation chamber.
He looked up at her and smiled to himself.
"Yes, you are much better this way I think."
He leaned over and pressed the button that opened the chamber. It emptied and the front flipped up, she stepped down gracefully, her light fur glistening with the liquid oxygen, the new uniform dripping. She stood 'at ease' as he looked at her.
He closed the chamber again and stepped back.
"Miss Sampson, Agent six one seven oh, please tell me all you know of the freedom fighters whereabouts and what your part in their plans was."
Melissa stayed silent for a moment then looked at him, "All memories of previous life were wiped when programming took over the body; I remember nothing before you woke me up in the rejuvenation chamber at oh six hundred hours this morning."
Dr Bowen stood silent for a moment, some internal struggle showing plainly in his face as he clenched his teeth.
He slapped her suddenly and then clenched his fists.
Melissa looked at him, absolutely no trace of emotion showing in neither her eyes nor her face, the perfect drone.
Bowen took a deep breath and calmed down, "I should have known this would happen, it's my own fault entirely."
He looked her up and down, "I should have tortured the information out of you before I changed you. No matter. I'm sure Sonic and the others are planning some sort of rescue for their friends down there."
He smiled nastily, "I'll just make sure that the first guard they meet. is you"
He looked around the room at the other cyborgs, then back at Melissa. A nasty gleam glinted in hi eyes, "Actually.Agent, come with me."
He opened the door, and a moment later they were gone.
Sonic and Knuckles led the way, Tekno and Rouge bringing the rear.
Porker, as was his want, was monitoring them from the safe house with Kintobor.
It took them a while, but they found their way into the city with no trouble. Finding the right factory was more troublesome. They knew the general area in which the opening should be, but over the years, more and more factories had been built on top of it, so it was more like looking for a needle in a haystack than anything else.
"This is getting ridiculous" Sonic muttered, "Is there no other way to find this thing?" Knuckles shrugged, but Tekno pressed something on her wrist communicator, "Porker, are we anywhere close to it? At all?"
Porkers' voice came over the communicator, "Actually, yes, you're right over the tunnel, no where near the entrance, but you are over the tunnel."
Sonic and Knuckles smirked at each other, "Good enough for us" Knuckles commented.
Within moments they both started digging incredibly deep into the ground, until they broke through into the tunnel and landed in a heap on the damp moss and slime ridden floor.
The two girls glanced at each other, spread their wings and glided down the hole, landing lightly near the boys, who were still grumbling and trying to clear the muck off themselves.
Soon they were winding their way through the tunnel. It was dark, but Tekno had a small torch with her, so they could see well enough.
After what felt likes hours of walking they found what Porker had told them to look for. A ladder leading straight up into the darkness. The only person who could tell how far up it went was Rouge, she clicked her tongue at it and then whistled.
"Bloody hell people, that thing goes on nearly forever."
Tekno nodded, she'd read the maps carefully before leaving, "We've been walking down a very gentle slope; we've been getting deeper underground without really noticing. This ladder leads to the dungeons directly underneath Bowens laboratories."
"So lets get going then," Sonic impatiently started climbing the ladder, "Just try not to slip."
"Don't worry about us, Tekno and I can definitely survive this fall, but should we catch you if you do?"
Rouge gave Sonic an innocent look; he scowled and climbed further, ignoring her.
Porker watched the four blue blips on the screen until they reached the ladder on the map. It looked as if they were standing still, but he knew they were climbing it now, so he decided to leave them for a moment and get a drink.
While he was gone, Kintobor kept watch, keeping a metaphorical eye on the map. That was why he didn't notice until the last moment that he was being hacked.
With a look of intense surprise on his holographic face, he shut down and vanished.
The screen tacked into the security cameras switched off, and the map disappeared, to be replaced by Dr Bowens face.
He looked incredibly pleased with himself and turned and said something to someone behind him, who vanished with a flash of light.
Porker came back into the room with a glass of water, "How are they doing Kintobor? Sonic reached the top ye." he dropped the glass in surprise.
A flash of light blinded him so he didn't see who it was that grabbed his arm.
For a moment he struggled, then a female voice cut through his panicked thoughts, "Calm down Porker, it'll go better if you do. I'm really sorry about this by the way."
Then the world spun around him and he knew no more.
From behind the eyes of her controlled body, Amy watched as Melissa was dragged into the room and thrown roughly at Dr Bowens feet.
When she had first heard what was going to happen she had done her best to warn Melissa, but she had been asleep and all she had been able to do was apologise to her in her dreams.
Suddenly Amy recognised the scene in front of her. Melissa had obviously put up a fight, her clothes were a tattered mess, and she was curled up on the ground at Bowens feet. Exactly as she had been in Amy's dream.
Amy's mind reeled, trying to figure out if her dream had shown her what Bowen would do to Melissa. But there was nothing, she had seen only that glimpse, the warning hadn't been enough.
Dr Sampson looked up from where she was crouched, every single one of the sixty new cyborgs was standing in the room behind Bowen, formed rank upon formed rank, Amy and Tails right at the front, directly behind him as his most prised possessions.
"Well, Dr Sampson, what have you to say? Do you know why I have brought you before us?"
Melissa clambered to her knees and looked around at the cyborgs, then shook her head, "Have I done something to displease you.?"
She looked desperately at Tails and Amy standing behind Bowen, but knew there was going to be no help from them, they couldn't risk it, there were too many cyborgs now, it would be a massacre.
Dr Bowen laughed down at her, "Displease me? Oh no my dear, you have done what I suspected you would do all along, and it gives me great pleasure!"
He grabbed her by the top of her arm and pulled her to her feet. She desperately tried to keep herself covered by the scraps of clothing left on her body.
He grinned and brought his face close to hers and whispered, "It gives me an absolutely infallible reason to make you join my ranks."
Melissa Sampson struggled, but to no avail, she was shoved into one of the tanks used in the procedure.
As the front slammed closed and locked she banged on the glass frantically,
"Please sir! Tell me what I've done! I'll make it right!"
Dr Bowen pressed the button to fill the tank and looked up at her, "Oh, I don't think you could make it right my dear. I mean, giving my codes to the freedom fighters.? That's an unforgivable atrocity."
Melissa blinked and stepped back, leaning against the back wall of the tube, she didn't flinch as the liquid oxygen seeped in, engulfed her, didn't move as the emerald shard was dropped in to her, she kept her eyes on Amy, right up to the moment Bowen pressed that non descript button.
She closed her eyes and didn't open them again until the procedure was over.
"I've found where they're being kept Sonic. Says right here. Dungeons? There are dungeons under Milestone city?"
Porker looked nonplussed for a moment until Rouge spoke up, "Yeah, sure, didn't you know Milestones built on one of the ancients old cities?" "How do you know that?"
She rolled her eyes at him, "Explorer, historian, mean anything to you?"
Knuckles looked over Porkers shoulder, "So, how do we get down there? Assuming that's the plan of course?"
Porker typed in a command and flicked through some pages on the screen until a map came into view. He looked it over for a moment, muttered something, then typed another command. A new map came up, older than the first; he overlapped the two of them, so the lines from the old map showed on the new.
"There" he looked pleased with himself, "It doesn't show on the new maps, but there's an old sewage opening. here."
He pointed at a mark on the screen, Rouge looked at the maps, noting all the markings of both old and new, then poked the screen.
"No, that's where we have to go in; the sewage opening is blocked now, and it's too close to the guard towers anyway."
Porker and Knuckles looked at where she pointed.
Grudgingly, Porker consented to the fact that her way was indeed the best way. It was near the edge of the city, no where near any guard towers, and relatively alone, most of the housing near it was empty. The only problem was going to be digging down to it, because a factory had been built over the entrance, of course, Sonic would likely make light work of it.
"Guys!"
They all looked up as Tekno called for them. She and Sonic had been in her work room, keeping an eye on the security cameras in the procedural room and Borgs quarters.
They crowded round the screen and watched in silence as Dr Sampson was forced into the tank, when it was over Sonic turned to them all.
"We have to get going as soon as possible; Bowen obviously knows that she helped us. He'll probably get all the information about us and the movement from her, so that means we have to act before he can do it."
They nodded, "Tonight then?"
In her tank, Amy seethed. She was about ready to break her own rules and just simply fight her way out.
She had done her best to shield Melissa during the procedure, finding it a lot easier now that she had better control, so Melissa still had her own mind when she woke up, but despite that, Amy was still angry.
'Stop worrying about it Amy' Tails thoughts reached her, even though he was as scared and worried as ever, he was keeping his calm and trusting in Sonic.
'How could either of us have known Bowen would find out?'
She felt Melissa's agreement from along the hall; she'd already been moved into her own tank in the cyborgs quarters, 'I'm ok now, and as you've thought yourself, these new bodies aren't so bad.'
They all three of them glanced over at the door as it slowly started to open.
By the time Dr Bowen had walked in they had let the programming take over them once more. He closed the door behind him and walked the short distance to Melissa's rejuvenation chamber.
He looked up at her and smiled to himself.
"Yes, you are much better this way I think."
He leaned over and pressed the button that opened the chamber. It emptied and the front flipped up, she stepped down gracefully, her light fur glistening with the liquid oxygen, the new uniform dripping. She stood 'at ease' as he looked at her.
He closed the chamber again and stepped back.
"Miss Sampson, Agent six one seven oh, please tell me all you know of the freedom fighters whereabouts and what your part in their plans was."
Melissa stayed silent for a moment then looked at him, "All memories of previous life were wiped when programming took over the body; I remember nothing before you woke me up in the rejuvenation chamber at oh six hundred hours this morning."
Dr Bowen stood silent for a moment, some internal struggle showing plainly in his face as he clenched his teeth.
He slapped her suddenly and then clenched his fists.
Melissa looked at him, absolutely no trace of emotion showing in neither her eyes nor her face, the perfect drone.
Bowen took a deep breath and calmed down, "I should have known this would happen, it's my own fault entirely."
He looked her up and down, "I should have tortured the information out of you before I changed you. No matter. I'm sure Sonic and the others are planning some sort of rescue for their friends down there."
He smiled nastily, "I'll just make sure that the first guard they meet. is you"
He looked around the room at the other cyborgs, then back at Melissa. A nasty gleam glinted in hi eyes, "Actually.Agent, come with me."
He opened the door, and a moment later they were gone.
Sonic and Knuckles led the way, Tekno and Rouge bringing the rear.
Porker, as was his want, was monitoring them from the safe house with Kintobor.
It took them a while, but they found their way into the city with no trouble. Finding the right factory was more troublesome. They knew the general area in which the opening should be, but over the years, more and more factories had been built on top of it, so it was more like looking for a needle in a haystack than anything else.
"This is getting ridiculous" Sonic muttered, "Is there no other way to find this thing?" Knuckles shrugged, but Tekno pressed something on her wrist communicator, "Porker, are we anywhere close to it? At all?"
Porkers' voice came over the communicator, "Actually, yes, you're right over the tunnel, no where near the entrance, but you are over the tunnel."
Sonic and Knuckles smirked at each other, "Good enough for us" Knuckles commented.
Within moments they both started digging incredibly deep into the ground, until they broke through into the tunnel and landed in a heap on the damp moss and slime ridden floor.
The two girls glanced at each other, spread their wings and glided down the hole, landing lightly near the boys, who were still grumbling and trying to clear the muck off themselves.
Soon they were winding their way through the tunnel. It was dark, but Tekno had a small torch with her, so they could see well enough.
After what felt likes hours of walking they found what Porker had told them to look for. A ladder leading straight up into the darkness. The only person who could tell how far up it went was Rouge, she clicked her tongue at it and then whistled.
"Bloody hell people, that thing goes on nearly forever."
Tekno nodded, she'd read the maps carefully before leaving, "We've been walking down a very gentle slope; we've been getting deeper underground without really noticing. This ladder leads to the dungeons directly underneath Bowens laboratories."
"So lets get going then," Sonic impatiently started climbing the ladder, "Just try not to slip."
"Don't worry about us, Tekno and I can definitely survive this fall, but should we catch you if you do?"
Rouge gave Sonic an innocent look; he scowled and climbed further, ignoring her.
Porker watched the four blue blips on the screen until they reached the ladder on the map. It looked as if they were standing still, but he knew they were climbing it now, so he decided to leave them for a moment and get a drink.
While he was gone, Kintobor kept watch, keeping a metaphorical eye on the map. That was why he didn't notice until the last moment that he was being hacked.
With a look of intense surprise on his holographic face, he shut down and vanished.
The screen tacked into the security cameras switched off, and the map disappeared, to be replaced by Dr Bowens face.
He looked incredibly pleased with himself and turned and said something to someone behind him, who vanished with a flash of light.
Porker came back into the room with a glass of water, "How are they doing Kintobor? Sonic reached the top ye." he dropped the glass in surprise.
A flash of light blinded him so he didn't see who it was that grabbed his arm.
For a moment he struggled, then a female voice cut through his panicked thoughts, "Calm down Porker, it'll go better if you do. I'm really sorry about this by the way."
Then the world spun around him and he knew no more.
