Disclaimer: I do not own the Terminator series or anything affiliated with it. In case you forgot:

disclaimer (dis-CLAIM-er) n.- a statement made to save one's own ass

CHAPTER 17: Tragedy Strikes

"What do you want to see?" Sonic asked Amy, looking at the movie list. Half of the movies had something to do with himself, most of them children's movies.

"I dunno," she said. "Don't need to see those movies about you, that's for sure. I mean, you're you, and I have you right next to me, so who needs a movie?" Sonic chuckled.

"You're right there," he said. "What about that one right there?" He pointed.

"Terminator, huh?" Amy looked at it for a second. "Looks interesting. Alright. Can't be scarier than anything we've ever seen before, right?"

"Right," Sonic stepped up to the ticket booth. Inside, a young man(a human this time around) was on the job. He looked up as Sonic approached, and nodded to him.

"Evening," he greeted. "What can I do for you?"

"We need two for Terminator," Sonic replied.

"Two for Terminator? Coming right up. That's gonna be 10 credits." As Sonic handed the young man the money, he began to press some keys on his register. A couple of tickets popped out for the two of them. He handed the tickets to Sonic and said, "You're Sonic, right?"

"Yeah, that's me," Sonic said casually. The guy in the ticket booth grinned.

"I would've thought you'd have had enough of robots and junk after all you've done," he said. "Here you are, going into a movie about them. Well, enjoy the show."

"Thanks," Sonic said as he stepped away from the booth. Amy laughed a little and shook her head.

"Here we are, we've both beaten the crap out of countless Eggman robots," she said, "and now we're about to watch a movie about robots."

"Well, it's sure to be interesting," Sonic said. "All the movies about me beating the crap out of Eggman have my name in the title. Unless the theater left my name out."

"Yeah, no joke," Amy agreed. Espio was with them, of course, but no one could see him, so he didn't need a ticket. He was watching the ticket booth for no real reason. It wasn't like him to let his attention wander, but this time it did. He was watching a tired-looking old man, also human, buying a ticket for Terminator as well. The old man was clothed in a long brown trenchcoat with a white T-shirt and brown pants underneath it. His shoes, also brown, looked new. And for some reason, he didn't actually say anything. He used sign language. Espio figured he was just dumb(vocally challenged, not stupid).

Didn't know the older generation was into movies about machines trying to kill people, he thought(he'd already seen the movie about two weeks before Amy came and hired him to watch her back). He also observed the man's contact lenses. They were an unnatural shade of blue. This guy has some strange tastes about him. He likes violent movies and he has artificially-colored contacts. Interesting guy. Guess he likes to keep up with the times. Espio had to cut his thoughts short, since Sonic and Amy were going inside already, and a door opening and closing by itself would look a bit odd. He scooted inside just as the door began to swing shut, and stayed behind Sonic and Amy, not paying so much attention to the old guy anymore. The movie was set to start in just fifteen minutes, as Sonic pointed out.

"We ought to get our popcorn and drinks now, because we probably won't have time in a few minutes," he said.

"Okay," Amy replied. "I'll cover these, since you got the tickets."

"Okay," Sonic agreed. As Amy got in line behind a woman with three kids("I WANT ICE CREAM MOMMY!" one of them was shouting), Espio moved up next to her ear and lowered his voice to a barely-audible whisper.

"Could you grab me a Sprite?" he asked. Amy's reply was a VERY slight nod. Espio noticed it and backed away. He took a look around. The only theater showing Terminator was Theater 7, so he headed in that direction.

Espio was waiting on Sonic and Amy as they stepped into the theater with a large popcorn and three drinks. The odd thing? He was visible. Sonic got a look at him for the first time.

"That's what you look like?" he asked in a low enough voice not to attract attention.

"Yeah, this is what I look like," he said. "I figure, this is a movie theater, so it won't matter if I'm visible during the movie. No one's gonna think twice. I just have to make sure people don't see me leave with you, but I have an idea about that. Anyway, I didn't pick out a place to sit. Thought I'd leave that to you."

"Okay, thanks," Amy said. She handed him a large Sprite while she said that.

"Thanks," he said. "I love Sprite." He took a huge drink right there.

"Whoa, easy," Sonic said. "We've got about two hours of movie to sit through."

"No big deal," Espio replied as Amy walked past, going to find a seat. Sonic followed her, and then he followed about twenty seconds later and sat down beside her, acting like he didn't know her. They were sitting watching the previews of movies to come when the old man from before walked in. Espio wasn't sure WHY this guy caught his eye, but he did. He asked Amy through the corner of his mouth, "Do you know who that guy is?"

"No, why?" she asked in a whisper.

"I dunno, he just seems to catch my eye," he replied. "Maybe it's just the way he's dressed."

"Maybe." They both stopped talking about him when he sat down- two seats down from Espio.

Around the part where Reese and Sarah were running from the Terminator in a car(after the big sex scene) on the big screen ten rows in front of them, Espio noticed, out of the corner of his eye, the old man seemed to start fidgeting a bit. He dismissed this as the man getting anxious to see how the movie ended. About five minutes later, he saw through his peripheral vision as the man put his right hand into one of his pockets. When he removed his hand, he was holding- a pocket watch. Espio mentally reprimanded himself to get worked up over an old man checking the time. A few seconds later, when Espio wasn't watching, the old man pulled out something else entirely: a 9mm Berretta pistol with a ten-round clip. He jumped up, aimed at Espio, and shot him twice, both times in the chest. Espio was caught off guard, and didn't even realize he'd been shot until he saw the gun and felt his own blood running down his chest. Indistinctly, he heard Amy cry his name, and he heard sounds of a struggle or something going on as the old man cried out in a robotic voice.

"NUMBER 34 HAS BEEN AVENGED!" the old man yelled. Espio's vision was going blurred, fast. He heard dozens of voices all yelling different things: "GUN!", "WHAT'S GOING ON!?", "TERRORIST!", "SOMEONE CALL 9-1-1!", and he even recognized Sonic's voice shouting, "I'M GOING AFTER THAT GUY!" It took him a moment to become aware of Amy's voice: "ESPIO! HANG ON! DON'T DIE! HELP'S COMING! COME ON, HANG ON!" He reached into one of his gloves and pulled out a kunai. He focused his eyes for a second, enough to see Amy. He held the kunai out for her.

"Give that to Charmy for me," were his last words. He closed his eyes as his last breath left his body, and knew no more.

Well, I DID foreshadow this with the name of this chapter, did I not? Anywho, here's a recap. Amy, Sonic, and Espio go to see a movie(Terminator, among my all-time favorites). Espio's attention wanders to an old man who seems to be keeping up with the times. In the movie, he notices the same old man sit down a few seats away. What he doesn't realize is, this old man has a gun, with two bullets meant for him. Near the end of the movie, the old man shoots Espio twice, shouts in a mechanical voice that #34 has been avenged, then runs out. Espio dies right there within moments of being shot. Guess this means Amy's gonna be without protection from now on, huh? Not to mention what Vector and Charmy are gonna say when they find out...