Author Notes: ..Writers blocked kicked me in the head, and it took me four months to get over it. X.c I swear, I'll try to get stuff done quicker, now. ;.;
Disclaimer: I own NOTHING! Bwahaha! All I have is my Espio plushie!
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A traitor's embrace
How foolish, How wrong
Contained in one place
Anxiety spawns
Unopened, Renowned
What's needed, upscaled
Digested, Inhaled
Unwilling, Unwound
-- 'Flesh Into Gear', CKY
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Deus Ex Machina
"God from the Machine"
The return of conscious, within itself, was an unusual sensation; more for the lack of recollection than for anything else. Eyes widened in sudden panic, only to be met with darkness. Hands moved, only to be met with enclosed walls. It did not take long to realize where he was.
He was back within that hated closet, Espio realized.
What had happened? The last thing the chameleon could recall was being strapped down to a table. He tried to think, then, tried to recall what had happened.
He had been sedated.
Why? Why would Eggman have taken the trouble to sedate him? Not that it was a complaint; merely a suspicion against a malicious creature that obviously enjoyed the pain of others.
A sudden pain from the side of his skull interrupted his thoughts. A hand moved up, more reflex than conscious effort; what was found brought a stunned shock.
Stitches; protection over a rather large gash. There was no blood; merely the result of an injury he could not recall acquiring. The only other alternative, what was likely the source of the healed wound, deeply disturbed the chameleon teen; Eggman had literally tampered with his mind.
Espio trembled in a fear that had nothing to do with claustrophobia.
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He was pulled away from the darkness that coated both mind and body; metal hands grasped at his arms, keeping him still. As with the previous time, it took the young chameleon several seconds to return to his own mind.
Eggman stared at his captive with nothing short of amusement; he had witnessed pain and fear countless times before, but very rarely the sense of detachment that this boy seemed to show. Twice, now, had the teen been placed within and taken from the small, dark cell, and twice had it seemed as if his mind left his body. The irrational fear that the darkness caused was quite amusing to the mad doctor.
The planet's dictator motioned for the two metal slaves to strap him to the table again. It was then that Espio realized what was happening.
"Bastard!" Admittingly, it was a trait he had picked up from Vector; when afraid, respond in anger. "What did you do to me!?"
"Get him down." Eggman smiled, only amused further by the vocal eruption. "And put this on him." Something small was tossed through the air, caught by one of the Swatbots.
Trapped again despite struggles, Espio did not see what was given to the robot until it was a moment too late; he opened his mouth in preparation for a further demand, when metal was practically shoved in his mouth. He gagged, even as the Swatbot tied it securely around his skull. Several short seconds were spent realizing it was a metal gag, keeping his mouth tightly shut.
At first, the presence of the gag utterly infuriated the captive teen; then, queries passed along his mind as to the why, and fear began to ascend.
"Is the equipment ready?" Eggman chortled, holding what Espio thought looked like a supermarket label scanner.
"Yes, my lord." Liza's metallic voice came from beyond his sight. He looked around as much as the straps allowed, but could not see her.
"Begin test, then." Came from Eggman again, as the device was pressed against his side. Flesh trembled lightly at the touch.
A small 'beep' came, before a great pain erupted. Had he not been strapped down, Espio would have arched his back in the sudden agony; red and black swirled along his vision, dancing with nameless colors as the torture raged on, unable to do much but convulse and hyperventilate around the gag. Misery and pain crashed along the shore of torment, for an eternity that lasted all of five seconds.
The pain left with a sudden stop; even after the end, he could not stop his body from trembling, could not stop the pained whimpers from escaping a throat abused by screams he could not fully recall releasing. The misery was interrupted by the nearly sudden voices around him.
"Report." Eggman, stern and commanding.
"A success, Lord Eggman." Liza's voice, again, emotionless, neutral. "The subject's right kidney, as well as approximately one centimeter of surrounding internal flesh, has been successfully roboticized."
It took the still pained chameleon several seconds from understanding what his former friend had said.
Oh, God. Oh, God.
"Excellent!" Eggman chortled, gleefully. It sent convulsions of fear along his flesh. "Prepare the second test." The captive youth nearly choked on the gag.
None noticed the pair of horrified eyes staring out from the darkness.
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"Princess?"
Sally looked up with a start; she hadn't expected Geoffry to interrupt quite so soon.
The transport from the floating island had arrived a long hour beforehand, and the young princess had spent that time trying to comfort the emotionally distraught Chaotix.
Speaking of which; Knuckles practically growled from his seat, glaring at the skunk. "St. John, if you don't have a good reason for this.."
Geoffry did not seem phased by the Guardian's words. "Princess, we found him."
Silence reigned for several shocked seconds. After the shock had passed, Knuckles was the first to ask the queries. "When was this?! Is he all right?! Where is he!?"
Geoffry's maintained silence, but moved aside, away from the doorway; Sally found the behavior odd, but could not give it further thought. Hershey walked through the doorway, eyes wide, appearing as shocked as the rest. Geoffry gave the feline a comforting stare; it was only then that she was able to speak.
Sally was shocked from the behavior alone; Hershey was usually bright eyed and strong, and certainly had never had trouble delivering news before.
"I was looking through Eggman's files. I had done that, before, to find Valdez." At that, both feline and polecat bowed their heads in grief. "I couldn't find him in the system, so I went back through the vents on my way back. That's when.. I.." Suddenly, it seemed, she could not speak.
"Hershey?" Sally frowned. This could not be good. "What happened?"
"Oh, God, princess.." Geoffry helped Hershey to the closest chair, even as she began to shudder in recollection. "I heard screaming."
"Screaming?!" Knuckles gasped; the rest of the Chaotix shared expressions of horror.
"I made my way through the vents as fast as possible," Now, she spoke in a rush, as if trying to get it out before shock and horror could creep back in. "and stopped in front what, I swear, I thought it was a lab of some kind, and I saw Espio strapped down to this table. Eggman was doing something to him with this weird device, and every time he turned it on, he screamed and, oh God.." Hershey began to rock back and forth, clearly horrified by what she had seen.
Those present could only stare in horror and shock; they did not know exactly what had happened, what is happening, but knew that their friend was in horrible pain, and that they were not there to stop it.
"We're going to get him back now." Knuckles suddenly raged. "I don't care what we do, but we have to get him back now!"
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There was nothing else to do now, but wait.
Convulsions of fear wracked the form enshrouded in darkness; the irrational paranoia of the enclosed space, as well as memory of what had happened and knowledge of what was to come, had shunted the usually strong chameleon into a spiral of despair and malcontent. There was little idea how long the mad doctor had experimented with his flesh, nor was there exact numbers on how many times his organs had been changed.
It had felt, to the young man, as if the pain had lasted an eternity; his flesh had been transformed at different stages. The cruel doctor wanted to see how much could be changed at one time, if certain organs that were flesh could coexist with metal, if some could even be changed at all. He had gone into convulsions at some points, betrayed by his own body; he had succumbed to the pain and the darkness at the first and only attempt to roboticize his heart.
At the end of it all, at the blissful end to the screams, whimpers and supplication that he could not get past the gag, eight short syllables nearly shattered his world anew.
"We'll begin again tomorrow."
He would have screamed at what it had meant, had the gag not been left on; he wondered, briefly, if it had been intentional or not.
Thus, he was left within the small, enclosed space again, waiting in fear and dread, robbed of sight and speech.
That was when the unexpected occurred; a voice from beyond the darkness. "I hadn't meant for this to happen."
Valdez. Outside, likely next to the door. A metallic voice, wrapped in sincerity. He banged his fists and palms against the door, begging for release in the only way possible.
"I'm sorry." With that, the voice was gone.
It did not ease the captured mind.
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Explosions rocked the steel and metal city with the proficiency and timing of a well laid plan; even as they wrecked havoc upon unliving and reanimated bodies, a cobalt blur streaked along the streets, blasting through metal, swiftly dodging the flesh of allies.
There were three sets of cells within Robotropolis; all were being checked. All were proved fruitless.
With one last place to venture, hope waning at the lack of results, the first to arrive at the destination was the group most desperate for an end. The Guardian of the floating island and the Chaotix were within the laboratory marked '4-B' as quickly as they could accomplish.
Almond shaped eyes surrounded by crimson fur looked around with careful precision; the equipment and connotations it implied sent shivers down Knuckles' spine.
"He's not in here!" Came a nearly mournful wail from his armadillo companion. "He's not here!"
Knuckles held up a hand for silence; violet eyes inspected the room, listening for any helpful sound beyond the echoes of explosions.
That was when he heard it; soft 'thump's. Several steps were taken in the direction of its origin, before he understood. "Mighty, tear down the walls! I think he's behind them!"
"Behind the walls?" The thick voice of a crocodile asked in surprise, even as the armadillo did as told.
That was where they found the tormented chameleon, sitting with his knees drawn up in an impossibly small space, eyes wide and gagged.
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Flesh into gear
Myself appears dissected and pretentious
A simple sound, A heavy sigh
You'll win the whole world over
You'll live in fear of being someone that you didn't want to
I realize your insecurities will get the best of you
-- 'Flesh Into Gear', CKY
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Author Notes: Bwahaha! That's a wrap for this chappy. I even got a song to fit into it all, somehow. ;;
Espio: x.x -- fainted in the closet
Author: ..He'll come out of it, eventually. XD
Response to reviews:
Mermaid Ninja: Liza was in the Archie version of the Sonic Comics, as well as Valdez, a while ago.
Pumpkin Smasher: ..There was a song? No, no, no relation. Deus Ex Machina means 'God from the Machine' in ancient Greek. I think. ;
Viva la feedback! I love comments and suggestions! :D