Honest kicked her legs patiently as her and Shadow waited for Zonic.
Why was he late to the meeting he wanted to have? Honest and Shadow had followed him to what they had assumed was No Zone HQ, but once there, he had to leave and said he was to "be back soon". How soon was that? Honest and Shadow had taken seats near the door so that they'd catch Zonic whenever he arrived. They needed a password just to use the elevator, so they really had no choice but to wait. This whole situation was giving Honest severe déjà vu for some reason.
Honest had typed the word "patiently" earlier, but her patience would only last so long. Shadow was in his "celery mode" beside her, staring at the wall with empty, zombie-like eyes. This would be far less painful if only he would talk to her, she felt. It had been a while since Shadow last felt like he had to go into this mode. He only did it when he was in an unfamiliar place or interacting with unfamiliar people. The last time something like this had even remotely occurred was in chapter 20 of {Café Edition} when a conversation wasn't going the way he wanted.
Honest looked out the glass doors. The sky was so big and clear and blue… it looked almost too good. It was kind of an unnatural shade of blue now that she stared at it for a while. Clouds gathered at the far end of the horizon, where it was starting to turn yellow. How far could she see, she wondered? It was just city for as far as one could see. For it to be a bustling city with, no doubt, tons of industry, it looked so pristine. It wasn't what Honest was used to back on Mobius for sure. It was a utopia in all meanings of the word.
In the clear glass, Honest's face reflected back to her. However, it looked off. Her reflection had straightened her hair and looked to be wearing actual makeup. Her reflection then widened her eyes and pushed through the doors.
"Honest Prime?!"
Shadow broke free from his vegetative state and stood up, assuming a defensive stance.
This must've been the Zone cop version of Honest. She looked like she was on the verge of geeking out and asking for an autograph. "And… the Shadow Prime." She sounded more in awe that time. She straightened up as she had been bowing that whole time. "I'm Zonest, pleased to make your acquaintance."
She was wearing a dress that resembled Honest's, but the skirt was longer and pleated, and on top of it, she wore a short jacket. Her tie was tied slightly better than Honest's, but it still wasn't correctly tied in any way, shape, or form. She looked much older than Honest, but they had to be the same age, right? That was how this alternate reality stuff worked after all.
Zonest seemed to think of something as she looked behind them at the elevator. "Are you looking for Zonic? He's out right now tracking down your Doctor Eggman."
The more Honest heard of her No Zone version's voice, the more she could hear herself. However, she sounded fairly different. It was more like hearing the voice of your long lost sister than hearing your own voice played back to you.
Shadow was about to say something, probably something along the lines of "yes, we are," but Honest stopped him.
"No, actually, we're here to see the new prisoners!" Honest told her. Hopefully this Zonest person understood what she was talking about. Shadow was confused and probably doubting her again. Zonest thought for a moment and bent down to fish a slip of paper out of her skirt pocket and hand it to Honest.
"Okay, here's the code for the elevator. They change it every week just to confuse us. The prisoners are on the ninth floor in temporary holding cells. Zhadow should be there guarding them." She straightened back up and adjusted her jacket.
Honest and Shadow both looked at each other. Oh, boy. Zonest and Zonic were only the beginning to all the characters they would have to meet, it seemed. They said goodbye to Zonest and entered the elevator. The piece of paper said "ecco92". Honest entered the code into the panel and pushed the button next to floor nine.
"'The new prisoners'?" Shadow quoted her, obviously wanting to know what she had meant by that.
"You'll see," Honest said, beaming and adjusting her gravity-defying tie then pulling on the hem of her physics-ignoring dress to pull the bunches at her waist out. It was like she was making herself look good for whoever was on the other side. Maybe she was just being dramatic, though.
When the doors slid open following the ding, Shadow got his answer as to who the prisoners were pretty much instantly. Three basic wire cages sat next to each other in the pretty much barren room. In each of the cages was a stool and a cot. The occupants sat on the stools and watched them, well minus the occupant of the first cage. He was sitting with his back to them.
"Hey, Infy, Scourge, and- robot?" Honest asked, confused. In the rightmost cage sat a… robot. He had big spikes of metal sticking out everywhere and was blue striped with white.
"Not just a robot. I am Neo Metal Sonic," he said, his eyes glowing a deep red.
"Metal Sonic?" Shadow asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"No, not Metal Sonic. Not anymore. I am Neo Metal Sonic, the greatest robot ever created- Er, I was, until they put this Control Collar on me," he said, pointing to the metal ring around his neck. It worked on robots? I mean, it had worked on literal darkness during his time in the prison, so why not?
Honest racked her brain for reasons why Metal Sonic would be here. He was in the Comics, so that explained why he was in Comic Edition. Still, why he was a prisoner in No Zone was still a mystery.
"Why are you being held here and not where the prisoners are usually held?" Honest asked, looking between the three cages.
"It probably has something to do with the breakout," Neo told her.
Honest made a move towards Infinite's cage, but was stopped by a voice emanating from within the one beside it. "Don't bother talking with Infinite. He hasn't said a word to either of us this whole time," Scourge said. "Here, I can tell you everything you wanna know." Honest sat on her knees between the two cages and Shadow sat beside her. Scourge looked down at them from atop his wooden stool with a grave expression.
"It's my fault the prisoners escaped."
Shadow's face lit up and Honest just knew he was going to say something about how he knew not to trust Scourge, so she clamped a hand over his mouth just as he drew a breath. Frankly, er, Honestly, that made her mad. However, she just shook her head to signal to Scourge that she was more annoyed than anything. "Don't worry. That's the last thing people are going to be thinking about in ten chap-, uh… months."
Scourge was adamant about it though. "No, Honest. It's my fault, and everyone will know soon enough." He sighed and propped his head up with his fist. "I didn't keep a close enough eye on her, and now it's too late."
"Um… Who did you not keep a close enough eye on?" Shadow asked, leaning in. Honest instinctively laughed. It was actually like 90% impossible for Shadow to know what she and Scourge knew, but it was still funny nonetheless. Probably not to Scourge since he didn't know Honest knew, but you get the point.
"Fiona," Scourge answered, rolling his eyes in a dispirited manner. "She took over the castle. Worse than that, she has the Ph-" He cut himself off and glanced over at Infinite sitting in the cage beside him. "Well, she has a lot of things." Honest was looking at Infinite also, and when she turned back around, Scourge was facing her with a pained expression. "She was wearing my crown, Honest."
Yeah, things were looking pretty bleak. Honest knew how sentimental Scourge could get over seemingly worthless items like his shades and crown.
"So you're saying Fiona was the one who sent the doctor to blow a hole in the stadium? Aren't you two… you know… partners?" Shadow asked, scrunching his face in confusion.
"Yeah," was all Scourge told him, looking down at the floor. The question was "had he known before she took over his castle", and the answer was complicated. Anyway, Honest and Shadow had more important things to worry about at the moment. That wasn't to say that Scourge himself was unimportant, though. They could talk until the next morning if they wanted to, but Zonic could show up at any moment, and what Honest wanted to do required that he stay as far away as possible, at least for the time being.
Honest stood up. "We need to find Zonest."
Shadow stood up as well. "Where's Zhadow? I thought Zonest said we would find him here guarding the prisoners."
"You're looking for Zonest? Her office is on the third floor," Scourge told them. "The rooms are all labeled, I'm sure you can find it."
Honest turned back around to stare at him. "How do you know where it is?"
"I was just there," he said, rather cryptically.
"Huh," Honest remarked, turning back around. Shadow just stared at her as if she held all the answers, but Honest ignored him and started back towards the elevator. However, before she pressed the button to call it, Honest turned around one more time.
"If anyone shows up here that isn't us or Zonest, don't tell them anything, 'kay?" Honest told Scourge who nodded. Her eyes then flew to Neo Metal Sonic who made an affirmatory buzzing noise. "Okay."
Honest pressed the button.
