ALEXIS

"...oh, look, she's decided to join the living."

Alexis fluttered her eyelids, wincing from the harsh light searing into her brain. As her vision unclouded, she could see Snively leaning over Princess Sally as she lay unconscious on a metal dissection table.

The mirrors were gone. They were in the torture chamber.

Reflexively, Alexis tried bolting upright, but she couldn't move; her wrists, ankles and torso were secured to a table with cold metal restraints. It was taking too long for her vision to clear--that worried her. She wondered if Snively had injected her with something. Blinking away the residual dark spots, she tried desperately to focus herself.

"I didn't think I was on the list," she said slowly, forcing each syllable.

"You weren't," he said. His tone was not without a hint of enthusiasm. "And neither was he."

He nodded to his right, where she saw that Tails was similarly restrained on an upright steel slab. Strangely, his head was half-shaven, exposing the left portion of his bald scalp. He looked coherent, but absolutely bewildered; a thick rag was clenched between his teeth.

Snively hopped down from his perch on Sally's table and picked up a small, handheld power tool. "This device," he said, striding over to Tails, "is called a drill. If applied with enough force to the boy's shaven skull, it'll really screw up his brain. Ha! Ha ha ha ha ha. I am truly hilarious, oh my."

He held the device up to the light, checking the bit, fastening it. Tails watched his movements intently. A whimper escaped him.

"In any case," Snively continued, ignoring him, "you'll notice that I was thoughtful enough to provide a gag so he could bite down on something as the drill enters his frontal lobe. Otherwise he might grind his teeth to splinters... although, come to think of it, that could be rather amusing. It's not like he'll be able to chew his food after this, anyway."

He set the tool down.

"Alas. I'm not quite ready for that yet."

Tails exhaled slightly. Alexis tensed.

"This whole scenario, you see, has gotten me rather... aroused. We don't have many outlets for these things around here. And since inter-species pedophilia isn't really my bag... well, that leaves one of you two lovely ladies."

Twitching with anticipation, Snively crossed back to Sally's table. "You know, I've always had a thing for the princess. Gorgeous, isn't she? Even when she's a vegetable." He slid his hand delicately inside her thigh.

Alexis tugged against her bonds. "Get away from her, you son of a bitch."

Snively laughed. "Oh, right, because you're in such a position to threaten me. You people crack me up." He stroked the soft area between Sally's legs, teasing a little with his fingertips. "Mmmm, I wonder if she can feel that." He snickered. "Actually, you know what'd be funny? If all of a sudden I hopped on the table and started fucking her before your very eyes. God, your expression alone would be priceless."

He stepped away. "On the other hand, it's hardly stimulating to copulate with a comatose partner. Not that I'd know from experience, of course. But then there's you..."

Alexis shivered. Snively smiled.

"Did you know that your restraints are actually magnetic? They're fastened permanently until I switch off the electricity--quite a clever invention, if I say so myself. It allows for such creative freedom."

He was moving towards her.

"You like puppy play? I can restrain you in any position I want."

Gritting her teeth, she tried not to look at Tails. "You're going to make him watch?"

"He has to learn sometime, doesn't he?"

"You're sick."

"So I've been told. Oh, and just FYI: you should feel the full effect of the drug in about fifteen minutes."

Alexis held her breath. "What drug?"

"Just something I've been experimenting with. I've become quite the chemist, lately, haven't I? Actually, it is to my understanding that you and Dr. Bookshire Draftwood created the formula to assist with medical procedures; the patient remains conscious and responsive, but incapable of sudden movement. Thanks to the good doctor's extensive notes on your findings, I've perfected the formula for my own purposes."

He was standing over her now, lowering his face to hers. "I increased the potency," he whispered, touching her neck. "You'll be completely immobile. I'll release your restraints, and you'll watch me, helpless, as I'm drilling into your little friend's brain. When I'm finished, I'll release him, too, and you can watch him twitch and slobber all over himself as he bleeds to death. That, my dear, is precisely when I'll wake the princess from her coma."

The room was dead silent--nobody breathed. After a moment, Snively climbed onto the table and straddled her waist.

"Look at that," he said, rubbing the bulge in his pants against her bare stomach. "I'm excited just talking about it."

She struggled helplessly. "Not waiting 'til I'm sedated?"

"It's more fun when you're still kicking."

"Don't make me laugh."

"I won't..."

BZZZAT. The lights above them suddenly sparked, and the surrounding hum of electricity groaned and fell silent. The room was plunged into darkness.

Alexis reacted before she could even think. She felt the tightness of her metal restraints give way as the magnets lost their power; she lifted them away with ease. Snively sputtered something unintelligible, trying to pin her down, but she spiked her knee upwards and connected solidly with his testicles. He shrieked, followed by a muffled grunt as she socked him in the face with one of her cuffs. He fell off the table.

"TAILS! Where are you?"

There was some commotion, followed by, "Here!"

"Run, Tails! Follow my voice! I think I saw an exit!" She scrambled off the table, knocking into equipment.

"Alexis, WAIT--!"

"HURRY!"

With an electric whine, the amber-colored emergency lights flickered on. A quick glance around the room revealed that Snively had vanished. Alexis knew he'd return any minute with an army of SWATbots.

Uh-oh. Not one, but three possible exits. She picked one and darted for it.

"C'mon!"

"But--"

She rushed out the door: a hallway. To her left was a staircase leading down. Good.

"--Alexis!"

She turned. "What?"

"We have to go back!"

"Why?"

"AUNT SALLY!" he screamed, trembling. "I'm not leaving without her!"

"Tails, there's nothing we can--"

"He said he could wake her up! WE HAVE TO GO BACK!"

"There's no time!"

"Then you go." He turned and ran back into the chamber.

"TAILS!"

She hesitated for a moment. Finally, she ran after him.

"Tails, we have to leave NOW! We can't--"

She stopped herself, gasping. Through the rightmost entrance came a swarm of countless SWATbots, guns raised.

Tails stood frozen, his expression a mix of confusion and disbelief--as though the risk of death was something that never occurred to him. Sonic wasn't there to save him this time.

"Don't...!" he said, raising his hands.

The explosion of laserfire tore the young fox to pieces.