(A/N: Well, it doesn't look good, does it? Cardlordandmasteryugi, don't worry, I won't write a fic like that. As SonicLover pointed out, the situation is never hopeless. Anyway, here's the next chapter!)
Chapter 5: The Menticide Plot
"You think you're so clever, don't you?" Espio asked, keeping an air of bravado for Amy's benefit.
"Just quit talking, you fool," Eggman retorted, pressing buttons on a nearby computer. "You won't escape this time."
Espio looked away to avoid meeting Eggman's triumphant eyes. Suddenly, he spied something in the back that made him gasp audibly.
"What?" Amy whispered, still trying to wriggle free of the restraints.
"Look down there," Espio replied, calm again.
Amy followed Espio's gaze to the back of the lab, past all of the unused machinery, to see what appeared to be a cage. "Who's in it?" she muttered. "I can't see that far."
Espio had to hide his shock. Certainly his ninja eyes were better suited to night vision, but it wasn't that dark…
"Enough of your chatter!" Eggman shouted, raising his finger above the button to start the process.
Amy paid no attention; she squinted and looked back until she could see a familiar outline in the cage. "Cream?!"
Eggman looked up, distracted, as the Cream in front of the heroes smiled evilly. "So, you figured it out."
"You haven't been using mind control at all, have you." Espio's sentence was not a question. "That's why the 'MCPE' caps were useless."
"But why would you want us to think-" Amy stopped, having realized the answer to her question.
Eggman nodded. "Obviously you wouldn't want to fight one of your dear friends. While I did enhance their strength and speed somewhat, you all subconsciously perceived them as stronger since you didn't want to fight them."
"So this-"
"Cloning," Eggman interrupted Espio. "The real heroes stay in the back, in cages. It works quite well, but the clones get far too much of their model's personality."
"Too much? What are you implying?" Knuckles growled.
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As they talked, the false Cream looked up, confused. "What's wrong, Cheese?"
Cheese, who had managed to find Cream in the base after she teleported away, was extremely confused to note that there were two Creams in his presence. He made a quick decision.
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"Enough talk," Eggman scowled. "It doesn't matter that you know our plans; soon your clones will help me take over the world, while you stay here guarded by my best robots."
"Your robots can't hold us!" Amy shouted.
"I think they can, little girl. Especially if they wear the performance-enhancing devices I've given to all of the clones."
Espio nodded in comprehension again. "They looked like mind control devices, but they just made them stronger."
"Correct," Eggman smiled, aiming his finger again. "Now-"
He was interrupted by a loud crash. Eggman whirled around to see Cheese charging toward the back of the lab, breaking open the real Cream's cage and the controls for the other cages.
"NO!" Eggman shouted, lowering his finger, but a glove caught his hand.
"Looks like you lose again, doctor," Shadow said menacingly, after teleporting across the base.
The real heroes dashed toward the machine in the middle, while Shadow released Espio and Amy. Eggman gathered his clone army behind him.
"You'll never get out of here alive," he predicted. "Get them!"
The nine clones charged at the eleven true heroes.
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"Thanks, Cheese!" Cream said politely, and the others echoed her sentiments. Turning to her double as the two groups reached each other, Cream shouted, "There's no way you can beat us!"
"I feel that that statement is in error-" Cream's clone began to say, but she was silenced when Cheese slammed into her with all his might.
Shadow faced down his doppelganger. "You're not even good enough to be my fake," he scowled, charging forward with a light dash.
"You should know there's only one Sonic!" Sonic shouted, spin dashing at the false Sonic.
"Amy, help these guys. I'll get Eggman," Espio suggested, watching his friends' attacks barely faze the powerful clones.
Amy nodded, and turned to hit the fake Shadow in the back of the head. "That's for tricking me!" she yelled.
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"You've failed again, doctor," Espio said, cornering Eggman in front of his machine. "There's no way out this time."
However, Eggman did not seem to be the least bit concerned. "You heroes are always so optimistic."
Somewhat surprised by the doctor's unusual calm, Espio pointed out, "I don't see any way that you could escape this, considering we're about to eradicate your precious clones."
"First of all, you were in a far worse situation than I was not two minutes ago, and if not for that accursed chao, I would be talking to a 'precious clone' of you! So don't be so sure of yourself. Second of all, I did say that you'd be guarded by a robot…"
Reaching behind him, Eggman pressed a button that opened a door in the far side of the base. Espio heard robots marching and flying toward the battle.
"Third of all," Eggman continued over the noise of the robots approaching, "I already have escaped."
Espio puzzled over this cryptic statement for a bit, but was forced to focus more on the robots. "Amy!" he shouted. "We've got company!"
"I'm not finished with this Shadow yet!"
"Just go."
Amy jumped away and began a vicious homing attack at the oncoming robots. They began to fall, but many more came to replace them. Espio could tell she'd get tired out before Eggman let up. He had to find out what Eggman was up to.
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Vector fired an explosive bubble at his counterpart, who dodged the slow projectile easily. After a powerful bite, the real Vector stumbled back a bit, but stood his ground and jumped up to slam down on the other Vector.
Rouge winced as her image kicked her powerfully. She hadn't done much physical work in a while, so she wasn't used to hand-to-hand combat. While the fake Rouge flew above, preparing to slam her, Rouge jumped backward and scaled the wall. Before the false Rouge could turn around to attack, Rouge jumped off the wall and tackled it.
The fake Shadow, doubleteamed by Amy and Shadow, fell first, shortly followed by the Cheese-less Cream. Now that the heroes knew they were merely fighting clones, the battles didn't seem so tough.
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Espio stared Eggman down for several minutes before making a grave observation. Hidden well under his headgear, Eggman was definitely wearing some kind of metallic device-
"No!" Espio shouted, realizing what had happened.
"Yes," Eggman disagreed. "Naturally I tested the cloning machine on Sonic first, but I knew that a clone of myself would be invaluable."
Furious, all of the implications of this revelation came to Espio in a flood. "So we didn't catch you," he sighed.
"Not by a long shot," the false doctor agreed. "And I'm afraid I have more bad news."
Espio looked around warily, then saw a pair of red flashing lights in the corner of the lab. Several more lights began flashing in different areas. He turned to Eggman and gasped. "You didn't-"
"I somehow forgot to include an electronic countdown when I programmed the self-destruct mechanism," the doctor said, beaming. He pressed a button and the trap door shut tight, to the confusion of the other heroes who had not heard Espio's conversation.
"Neither one of us knows how much time we have before the base explodes," Eggman commented. "I suggest you tell your friends to stop their futile fighting."
"You're wasting a lot of useful material," Espio said offhandedly.
"Are you kidding? I don't know how you people put up with each other. I couldn't stand to try to take over the world with these insufferable characters! Anyway, my statement from before stands. Game over."
(A/N: Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire! How will our heroes escape?
And I suppose some of you are wondering why I called the fic Menticide if there is in fact no mind control. Good question! The thing is, menticide only refers to mind control in a figurative sense; "killing the mind" is one way to look at the idea of mind control. The actual definition of menticide, though (from factmonster.com, you have to register with dictionary.com to see it), is: the systematic effort to undermine and destroy a person's values and beliefs and to induce radically different ideas. And isn't that what I've just done to you, dear reader? You were all so convinced in your belief that the heroes were being subjected to mind control, and then I came along and undermined those beliefs. Yes, I know it's a stretch, but how could I resist using such a cool word?
Whew. Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter!)