It's been almost three days since Jessie's disappearance. The police van was abandoned, burned with no traces of jessie or the driver. With no bodies found inside, the public knew he was still out there somewhere and was warned to be careful until the runaway was caught.
Amy has been staying with Shadow for the time being and hasn't been able to leave his sight since. He wasn't overbearing, Amy thought it was cute and heroic knowing that he wants to protect her.
Riko has been making her appearances and keeping up her act but her patience has been running thin with the others. Riko knew after Jessie was taken everyone would be on high alert and would be watching Amy closely. So Amy leaving without someone following her, or asking her 20 questions was not going to be easy. Amy had to remind Riko to wait. The perfect time will come. But Riko was ready to enter Phase 2. Even if it meant speeding up the process. Or starting without Amy.
In an underground cavern Jessie was being caught in what seemed to be a labyrinth maze of ice. He couldn't climb over nor break through it. He even tried digging but it was no use. He wandered around aimlessly; no food in days, puddles of water here and there was his only source to drink. He was tired and cold but most of all he was angry. No matter where he turned, all he saw was more ice. He knew would be going to prison but not like this. He yelled out in frustration.
He walked around another corner but this time he came face to face with Riko. Although he didn't know who she was, he remembered her eyes.
"You..!" Jessie growled at her.
"How are you enjoying your stay? I hope our staff have been taking really good care of you." Riko asked in a cheerful voice that sounded close to Cream.
"You crazy bitch! Just where the hell am I? This isn't the prison!" he screeched.
Riko played with her claws. "It's a new edition." Jessie growled louder at her and yelled more.
"The fuck it is!"
"You can yell and scream all you want but no one is going to hear you. Nor find you." Riko's voice got dark in a way that made Jessie's body go cold in place.
"Aww, what's wrong Jessie? Are we not having fun anymore? If you're not, we can play a different game." Riko stepped closer to him but he backed away.
"You're crazy.. I'll kill you before you can even touch me! And I'll get out of here without a scratch." Jessie was getting serious now and smirked at her.
"Is that so? Then the game is settled." Riko's hands started to crackle with lightning in one and ice in the other. "Last one standing wins." Riko threw ice daggers at Jessie but he ducked only to jump back when a flash of lightning struck near his feet. His heart was beating so loud he could hear it. Jessie didn't have any weapons or powers. He backed away slowly from Riko as she approached closer.
"What's wrong? I thought you were going to kill me before I could touch you?" Riko's voice was as cold as the ice she commanded. An ice shard cut his cheek in a flash, blood slowly ran down his cheek. Jessie was a survivor and he knew what shots to call in any situation and was always ready to fight but not this time. This time, he ran. Quickly as he could get up on his feet and turned and ran the direction he came from.
"Oh, are we playing hide and seek now? I'll count to ten."
Jessie ran as fast as he could; not caring which turn he took as he heard her count.
"1
.
.
.
2
.
.
.
3
.
.
.
4
.
.
.
10."
Riko dashed after him and to his horror she was catching up. Lightning clashed from the sides of him and ice shards shot at him from every direction. He did his best to dodge everything, the lightning especially. Daggers of ice cut into his arms and legs as he ran but he didn't stop. The lightning came close to striking him. A spike of ice pierced through his left ear. He screamed out in pain as he held his bleeding ear but tried to keep going. Riko stopped running after a moment. Although the game was just getting started and fun, she had to stop and leave. The best thing about playing with a scared mouse, they keep running thinking they're still being hunted. Riko smirked darkly as she left the cavern without a sound and started making her way back towards town. "Don't worry Jessie, we'll continue our game real soon."
Shadow's House
Amy and Shadow were having coffee on the couch with Silver over to do some detective work on Jessie's disappearance. Silver and Shadow talked out every theory that could have happened and where would be the closest whereabouts Jessie could hide.
Amy listened to them talk but wished she could do something else. She knew this was important but she wanted this to be over. A knock on the door startled her but she went to answer it, with Shadow and Silver close by. She opened the door to see Riko standing there with a smile on her face as she gave Amy a hug.
Amy let her in, as the boys saw it was only Riko they went back to the couch to talk. Amy leads Riko into the kitchen to get something to drink. As Amy made a cup of coffee for Riko, she asked Amy if she wanted to listen to some music with her, to which she agreed. Doing something besides listening to search strategies was a blessing right now. Riko gave her one earbud and she took the other. As Riko got on Wetube and played a random song she typed in the search bar 'you missed out today'. Amy erased the message while keeping an close eye on the boys. "I like this song." 'You didn't do anything did you?'
'I only scared him abit' Amy grimaces at Riko slightly. 'I'm not gonna do anything serious until you get there' Riko typed out but quickly erased it when shadow started coming their way.
He walks past them to see them watching a music video of a jpop/rock duo girl band. He makes a new cup of coffee for himself and leaves them alone. "Let's go outside Ri, I feel like we're disturbing the guys." As they walked by Amy kissed Shadow on the cheek and said they'll be in the back. Once the door was closed they sat in the lounge chairs and went back to the video but riko spoke freely but low. "I'm not gonna kill him without you, but if you don't do something soon I will.. and will dump the body somewhere and make it look like an accident."
Amy groaned softly. "I only tortured him a little but he can only survive for so long without food and little water. I shot his ear but he'll be ok. You on the other hand missy, while you're here playing wifey, you need to get out of here to get your revenge and you need to do it now."
"I know.. But what? He's not gonna let me go as long as Jessie is, so called on the loose."
They went silent. Til Riko looked at amy. "You got a gas mask?"
"Are you crazy? What are you planning?" Amy angrily whispered.
"Calm your hammer. I'm not gonna hurt your boyfriend, just...put him to sleep long enough for us to finish the mission and I will be gone and you can live happily ever after as mrs. Shadow the Hedgehog with your friends."
Amy blushed and hit Riko's arm. "S-Shut up!"
Riko smirked but it didn't stay. "Seriously. Are you in?"
Amy looked at Shadow and Silver who looked tired, frustrated, and stumped. She was putting her friends through this headache, and only she could fix it.
"They will understand. When this is all over, just tell them the truth. They'll be pissed but they'll still love you and will still be your friends."
Amy watched Silver slumped against the couch and Shadow rubbed his temples. "But, if you don't want to finish your mission; I will and you can back out and pretend to not know anything."
"No. I'm finishing it." Amy looked at Riko with strong focused eyes that held a fire. "I want this to end."
Riko nods. "So, tomorrow then?"
"So soon?"
"You disagree?"
"..."
"I told you he won't last long without food and what little water he has. It's now or never."
"Feed him tomorrow; give him some strength to fight or run, that way when I deal the final blow I can watch the light of hope leave from his eyes. Just like he watched it leave mine." Amy gripped the edge of the lounge chair so tight it broke.
Riko didn't seem affected by this. "Wow, that's pretty dark. You really have been around me too long. Giving the man a glimpse of hope thinking he's gonna have a chance only for him to fail and fall into a deep despair. Sounds so wicked." Riko stood up and dusted herself. "Ok, I'll take care of it."
Riko made her way back inside with Amy close behind her. "Well guys, I'm gonna head home cause you two seems stressed and it's really bumming me out." Riko smiled at them.
Silver sat up and groaned. "This is stressful shit but I'm gonna follow your lead and head home too. Blaze has been texting me to come home so she's worried."
"That or she wants to relieve you from some of that stress called hide the chaos emerald." Riko snickered and Silver's grey fur blushed red. "Shut up! See you guys later!" As quick as ever Silver grabbed his things and teleported out of the room. Riko laughed and patted Shadow on the shoulder. "Get some rest, you look like shit." Shadow groaned at her and Amy pushed her towards the door.
"Good night Ri!"
"G'night!" Amy closed the door but she didn't miss the icy stare Riko gave her knowing full way what it meant. No more stalling. No more excuses. No more sitting around. It's time to take action.
True to her word Riko not only was she going to feed Jessie tomorrow but she decided to feed him tonight before going home. She didn't let him see her, but she left him two bottles of water and a couple of sandwiches. Jessie figured they were always there, he just overlooked them while looking for a way out. Though he was skeptical at first he didn't care. He was hungry. Riko left him again without a sound and went home to make her sleep powder all the while texting a certain bat.
[Hey RB! I'll make this quick! The guys have been super stressed about Jessie the creep missing so I wanna throw a little get together at Shadow's place. Nothing big and fancy, just a chilled atmosphere to get everyone to relax. Can you help me get everyone over the day after tomorrow? Oh and don't tell Amy I wanna surprise her hehe! *smiley winky face*]
[Hell yeah RC! Just leave everything to me! *devil smiley face*]
Riko smiled at the text and threw her phone on the bed. "Well with that basically handled on it's own, time to finish this mixture.
The next day Riko continued to leave food and water for Jessie to find as he carefully wandered around the maze. While she kept him alive, Amy was snuggling Shadow nonstop as they went out on a date and a walk to get some fresh air. Though Shadow stayed on high alert he still enjoyed his time together with Amy. In The End Of their walk they sat on a hill and watched the sunset upon Amy's request. She snuggled against him, which he loved. Elsewhere, they didn't know Rouge was planning the get together and passing the word around to their friends to meet at Shadow's place at noon. So far everyone thought it was a good idea in hopes to get their minds off these stressful times.
Everything was going exactly according to plan.
The Next Day Shadow's House
Shadow was typing on his computer and Amy was lounging on the couch reading a book waiting for her muffins to finish baking. It was a quiet day. Peaceful. But then the doorbell rang.
"I got it Rose." Shadow goes to answer the door and when he opens it he is greeted with a group of smiling faces with food, sweets, balloons, and drinks. With Rouge leading the herd.
"We're here!" She yells as she pushes Shadow aside along with the rest of the group. The pink and black couple looked confused at each other until Amy caught sight of Riko's smiling face coming in the door.
"Uh..Rose..did you invite everyone over here?" Shadow asked as he watched his home be invaded with their friends and his clean tables be covered with food and drinks.
"No..I thought you did." Amy looked at her boyfriend but knew who was responsible.
"Riko asked me to help get everyone together for this!" Rouge says as flew towards Amy to hug her.
"Yeah, I didn't like seeing everyone down and out so I thought it'll be nice to have some us time and have fun. It's important to spend time with friends, right Amy?" Riko smiled sweetly.
"Yeah, you're right. Well, since everyone is here, let's party!"
Needless to say the party went off with a bang. Everyone ate, drank and played games. There were so much laughing and smiling faces, Amy forgot what was really going on.
It was now 8pm and everyone was still having fun but all things must come to an end. Everyone was gathered together in Shadows' living room telling funny memories from their past. And without any warning, Riko rolled the sleep bomb under the table. The bomb went off and everyone, one by one, passed out. Everyone except for two. If Riko hadn't pulled a mask over Amy's face, she too would have fallen victim to the gas.
"Let's go." Riko commanded. Amy hesitated as she looked at all her friends laying on the floor.
"It's just knockout gas; they're ok. They're just sleeping, now let's go."
Amy touched Shadow's cheek softly. "I'm sorry…" She followed Riko out the house and didn't look back.