Author Notes: Phweehah! Another random ficceh from the weird mind of Nevermore! This is completely unrelated to all my other ficcehs. And, yes, I will eventually have the sequel to Captive up.. I just have to get working on it.. o_o *cattleprods muses*
Special thanks to Alba Aulbath and Slaye Une for listening to my ideas and giving me proper feedback. ^^b Thanks, guys!
And I apologize if the fic's format is a bit screwy. Stupid laptop doesn't have a good word program. O_o;
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Deus Ex MachinaA groan birthed into existence, as amber eyes began to open. Vision was clouded at first, as it tended to be when one begins to awaken. The mind struggled to lift itself from the depths of sleep; Espio Chameleon wondered what awoke him from a rather pleasant dream.
It took a few brief seconds to realize exactly what had awoken him; the cracks of thunder sounded, unusually muffled, from the outside. A typical dark and stormy night, he mused.
Vision finally cleared, and he glanced around, expecting the familiar sights of his home; he became shocked when all he could see was metal. A small room with metal walls, divided down the middle by thick, metal bars.
Espio tried to recall what happened the night before to lead him to a place like this.
He had been with his friends; the group known as the Chaotix had taken a night to relax and to enjoy themselves, and had gone to see a movie and to simply 'hang out'. Had Vector spiked his soda again? The last time the crocodile had done so, the chameleon teen awoke on a park bench wearing a pair of leather pants he never could recall buying.
A new groan escaped; that must have been what happened. He was probably in an EST holding cell. There was nothing left to do now but wait for an officer or, if he were lucky, Constable Remington to free him.
I am going to kill Vector. Espio fumed.
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"Hey, where's Espio?" Came a confused query from Mighty Armadillo. "He's usually here by now."
The Chaotix, save Espio, sat around a table within the food court in Echidnopolis Mall; they were meeting again, intending both serious and entertaining matters.
Vector shrugged, tossing a potato chip into his mouth. "Dunno. Haven't seen him since last night."
Knuckles gave the crocodile a sideways glare, sipping quietly from a cup of soda. "Please tell me you didn't.."
Vector huffed indignantly, "I swear, I didn't put anything in his drink this time!" He paused; a small grin began to creep along his face. "Though, you gotta admit, what happened last time.."
"Maybe he just overslept." Julie-Su interrupted the crocodile, wincing slightly; the embarrassing tale had been told too many times for her comfort. "Rainbow Valley isn't far from here."
Knuckles continued to stare at Vector, amused. "Let's head out, then."
There was a momentary pause, as the various teenagers cleaned up after themselves.
"By the way, Vector.." Knuckles began. "What did you put in his drink last time?"
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A door slid open within the second half of the cell; Espio perked up at the sound. Without a clock, he was unable to tell how long it had been since he had awoken, but it felt, to the teen, as if it had been at least an hour.
He opened his mouth, fully intended to blame anything that had happened or may have happened squarely on Vector. However, once he recognized who walked into the cell, he was unable to make a sound.
If it had been anyone other than Espio within the cell, all that it would have been was another victim of Dr. Eggman's tyranny; a roboticized chameleon stood there. Metal scales, lavender in shade, shone brilliantly under artificial lights; had the creature possessed facial expressions, it may have very well smiled.
Espio had hoped that he would never see the creature that had once been his best friend again; Valdez, in his current state, represented everything he feared.
Thoughts churned within a shocked mind; assumptions were quickly changed and reformed. Valdez was standing before him, simply staring, glaring, in silence.
Oh. Oh.
Oh, shit.
He suddenly wished that Vector had tampered with his soda.
Espio blanched; his scales literally turned white. "How..?" It was all he was able to ask; coherency had been lost.
"You honestly didn't think a river could have killed me, could you?" Clearly gloating with a mechanical tone. "It takes more than that to take me down."
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"..What in all the hells?" Mighty could simply stare at the chaos that Rainbow Valley had become.
Chameleons stood in shock as their children wailed in fear and confusion; several treetop homes, visible only due to damage taken, appeared as if they had been attacked. Burns marked bark, and blood marked the grass.
"Guardian!" A mustard-yellow chameleon nearly covered in spikes ran towards the shocked Chaotix. "Robots came at us from nowhere really early in the morning! We didn't stand a chance!"
"Robots?!" Knuckles, as well as his friends, blanched visibly immediately. "We didn't hear about any attack at all!"
"The elders really don't like us talking with other people." The yellow chameleon shrugged, then winced; his eyes widened, as if recalling the frightening details of the attack. "The robots took Espio!"
"What?!"
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Espio moaned as he pressed a gloved hand over a bloody gash; stopping the flow of blood was proving to be difficult at best. Still, he tried to stop the blood, tried to think of other ways in which to do so, and, most importantly, tried to keep his mind away from what was happening.
He supposed he was in shock; Valdez had beaten him, had gloated while he did so, and had released information that frightened him. They were aboard an airship en route to Robotropolis.
If Valdez had his way, Espio would be roboticized. The metal chameleon had claimed that, after his flesh would be twisted into everything he did not want it to be, they would be friends again.
Espio did not want to admit it, but he was terrified. The last time he had experienced this level of fear, another chameleon had been within the roboticization chamber; Liza had been lost, that day.
Being who he was and everything that had happened, a spark of hope, of optimism, remained; the Chaotix were still upon the island; perhaps, by now, they noticed his absence. Perhaps they knew that he had been taken. Espio knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that his friends would do everything they could to free him.
A great rumble suddenly shook the room; Espio gasped in surprise and fear. Such a short time had passed; how long had he been lost in fearful thoughts?
Could they already be landing? Could they already be in Robotropolis?
Espio trembled slightly as the door slid open anew.
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Author Notes: And end chappy one there. :3
Espio: Why do you pick on me? Every fic I'm in, you horribly torture me. Why!? :/
Nevermore: Because yer my favorite Chaotix member. It's what I do. ^__^v
Espio: Grrr.
Nevermore: *shoves Espio in The Closet and locks him in*
Espio: O_O Noo! Not here again!
Nevermore: Bwahaha. Anyway, viva la feedback! ^^ I feed on suggestions and praises! Even flames! HUZZAH!