Chapter 3: Captivity and Interrogation


Wave groaned slightly, eyes closed, as she stirred. What a horrible dream that had been, getting captured while out Christmas shopping. And those blood-red eyes were so chilling, even for a nightmare, that they made the swallow shudder as she lay there in the soft, comfortable safety of her bed. Wave opened her eyes just a crack, but this was more than enough to let blinding light into her unready pupils. Wave immediately squeezed her eyes shut.

'Wait... I don't hear my alarm going off. And it's too early for this kind of light. I don't think that was a dream.'

Wave raised her left arm above her eyes as she opened them. Her stiff arm cast a shadow over her eyes, allowing her to slowly adjust as she found herself staring straight at an orange wall. Her suspicions becoming confirmed, the swallow exerted a lot of effort to sit up. She hissed slightly as a sharp pain made itself known in her right arm. Her eyes now fully adjusted to the light, Wave took a look around the room.

She was currently sitting on a circular bed, which was covered with a light orange blanket. On the edges were multiple fuzzy pink pillows, laid down in such a manner that they were like a fence, to keep Wave in the bed. The room itself was also circular, with orange walls and a pink carpet, which in turn was partly covered by a light orange shag rug. Attached to the walls were three orange lamps. Directly to her right was another bed, identical to the one she was on. To the left was a dark orange door which was small enough that it could only have been a closet. Across from Wave's bed was a transparent pink desk, where her Type-W, her wrench, and a pack of tarot cards sat. To the right of the other bed, there were two doors, side by side. The door to the left was silvery, contrasting greatly with the color scheme of the room, and the door to the right was colored hot pink. The swallow took note of the fact that there were no windows.

"In the name of Babylon Garden, where am I?" Wave asked herself. "Either way, whoever owns this place sure does like pink and orange."

The swallow pushed herself off the side of the bed, knocking one of the pink pillows to the floor. She took no heed, instead grabbing her wrench from the table. Now feeling a bit safer, with a weapon of sorts in her hands, she headed over to the two doors. Wave looked over the door to the left, figuring that it would probably be the exit, but found that it had no doorknob. She searched all over, but to no avail. Wave growled in frustration, abandoned the metal door, and turned to the door to the right. This one, to her relief, had a silvery doorknob. She twisted it and opened the door smoothly, revealing a hallway.

Curiosity taking the better of the swallow, Wave stepped through the doorway and walked down the hall. It was only a couple of feet long, and seemed to continue the orange-walled, pink-carpeted theme of the other room. At the end was another pink door. She opened this door to find a bathroom-- an orange-walled, pink-tiled bathroom. Even the very objects within the room shared the same color scheme, with two pink sinks, two orange toilets, and two orange shower heads. It was enough to make a person sick of the two colors.

"Let me correct myself," Wave muttered, closing the bathroom door and walking back to the main room. "Whoever owns this place sure isobsessive of pink and orange!"

Returning to the main room, Wave took her battered Extreme Gear off the desk, and hopped onto one of the beds. Using her wrench, she began to peel off the outer layers of the Type-W, as she always did when she repaired it. Working on something like this usually helped to get her mind off of things, particularly the fact that she had no clue where she was.

"I don't know how long I'm going to be in here, so I may as well make the most of it," she whispered to herself. She stopped in the middle of unscrewing the back part of her Extreme Gear. "How did I even get here in the first place?"

As she resumed her repair work on the Type-W, the swallow racked through her brain, searching to find some memory, any memory at all of how she had ended up in this room. But try as she did, Wave couldn't remember. All she could recall was being in Metal City as she was abducted.


"Look, guys, we're going to need a plan to find Wave. We can't leave just this minute," Sonic explained as he sat down at the kitchen table. Jet pulled the opposite chair out and slouched down moodily in it. Storm looked for another chair, but gave up and stood next Jet when he could find none. Blaze, already knowing that there were only two chairs in the kitchen, stood next to Sonic, her purple-tipped tail flicking nervously as she kept her unmoving gaze on the two birds.

"I mean, come on. Do you guys even have any evidence?" Sonic asked.

Jet growled irritably, crossing his arms. "No, we don't have any evidence! All we have is two shopping bags on the street, and what some people said!"

Sonic was about to further explain to the two Rogues why they needed to plan their rescue mission out when there was a knock on the door. He glared at Jet in annoyance and turned to Blaze. "Since I'm a bit busy at the moment, you wouldn't mind answering the door, would you, Blaze?"

Blaze nodded, more than happy to have a reason to get away from Jet and Storm. She slowly walked out of the kitchen, giving Storm a nervous glance as she passed him. The cat hurried to the door when there was another knock, this one sounding more like the pounding of a massive fist. She opened the door to see Knuckles, who had his fist raised to pound the door again. Right behind him was a white bat, whom Blaze didn't recognize, carrying the Master Emerald.

"Oh! Knuckles... and his friend," Blaze guessed, standing aside and opening the door wider for the two. "What is your business here?"

"We were just tailing two people. Jet the Hawk and Storm the Albatross, if you know them," the bat explained, flying right behind Knuckles as he entered the doorway. "And before I forget, my name is Rouge the Bat... world-famous treasure hunter!"

Blaze gave Rouge a small, polite smile as she closed the door. 'Note to self... keep this bat away from the Sol Emeralds.'

"Since Rouge gave you most of the details, have you seen either of those two?" Knuckles asked. "And if you don't know them, can you at least tell me where Sonic is?"

"Sonic is in the kitchen." Blaze pointed to the first opening on the left, directing the two. Knuckles and Rouge made their way down the hall, and Blaze was about to follow when she heard another-- and much lighter-- knock at the door. She turned back around and opened the door, to see Tails and Cream.

"Hello, Blaze!" Cream exclaimed, immediately running forward and hugging the cat.

"Hey, Cream! Hello, Tails. We weren't expecting you two today. Come in," Blaze said, a smile on her face.

Cream let go of Blaze as Tails walked in, the cat quickly shutting the door behind the two most recent guests. There was enough snow on the floor as it was, there didn't need to be any more.

Ears pricking slightly at the sound of two people yelling insults at one another, Tails looked around a bit as the three made their way to the kitchen. "I... I hope we aren't bothering you guys."

"You certainly aren't," Blaze said, shrugging. "Knuckles, a girl named Rouge, and two birds looking for their friend are here as well." She waved briefly at Sonic as she re-entered the kitchen. Knuckles and Storm, who had obviously been the ones yelling a few seconds ago, had stopped fighting, but were still glaring at one another. Rouge was hovering next to Knuckles, still carrying the Master Emerald.

"Well, looks like the whole gang is here now!" Sonic exclaimed, directing everybody else's attention to the three who had just entered the room.

"That's good. Maybe now we can all look for Wave," Storm said, eyeing Tails and Cream as they walked up to the table.

"I don't think you guys have met Cream yet. Jet, Storm, this is Cream. Cream, this is Jet and Storm. Their friend, Wave, is missing," Sonic hastily introduced, pointing at everyone in turn. "Now, with all that stated, do you guys want to help us find Wave?"

"I'd love to!" Cream said sweetly. She turned to face Jet, Blaze immediately putting a hand on her shoulder in case the hawk tried something. "I'm terribly sorry that Miss Wave is missing, Mister Jet."

"Well then, instead of standing around talking about it, let's get looking for her!" Knuckles growled in annoyance, pounding one of his fists on the kitchen table.

"Shouldn't we get Amy to come along, too?" Tails asked, his two tails idly swishing. "She's part of our group, after all..."

"Sorry, Foxboy, but I don't think she's coming. Knuckles and I passed her earlier, and she wasn't exactly happy to come down the road," Rouge said. Her hands gave out at that moment, resulting in the Master Emerald falling on top of Knuckles' foot. "Whoops!"

Knuckles screamed an obscenity as he pulled his foot out from under the gem. He rubbed the appendage, despite the fact that it was still in his shoe. "Oww! Geez! Watch it, Rouge!"

"Hey, it's not my fault," Rouge shrugged, landing down on the floor. "That rock weighs a ton!"

"You could have least said 'sorry'!"

"You're acting like a five-year-old."

Knuckles pointed at the Master Emerald on the floor. "Do you want me to drop this on your head?!"

"ENOUGH! Just shut the hell up!" Jet screamed, fed up.

The echidna and the bat stopped in the middle of their growing feud, looking at the angry hawk in surprise. The two then looked around at everyone else. Judging from the annoyed expressions on everyone's faces, they had been thinking the same as Jet, except they had chosen not to vocalize it. Knuckles quickly pointed an accusing finger at Rouge.

"Well, it's HER fault for dropping it on my foot in the first place!" he said.

"Excuse me? My fault? I hardly believe it's my fault!" Rouge said, flapping her black wings in annoyance. "You're the one who just left the stupid rock there, unguarded."

"That has nothing to do with it! You dropped it on my foot, so it's--" Knuckles was cut off when Jet got out of his seat and stomped out of the kitchen. A few seconds later, the sound of the front door slamming shut was heard throughout the whole house.


Amy slowly opened her eyes to find herself sitting in an upright position against the wall of a dark and dank cell. The musty smell hit her nose immediately, and she tried to follow through with the natural reflex motion of gagging. This was not possible, however, as the pink hedgehog had duct tape over her mouth. Her arms and legs were still tied together. In her attempts to wriggle out of the rope, Amy ended up falling onto her side, issuing a muffled grunt as her body collided with the cold cement.

'How am I going to get out of this?' the pink hedgehog thought to herself, while starting to chew through the tape.

"Well, well. I must say, Metal Sonic certainly did a good job with you!"

Amy turned her head in the direction of the voice. Even in the poor light, there was no mistaking that the figure who was talking was Dr. Ivo Robotnik, or "Eggman" as he was better known. She yelled at him, but it only came out as muffled noises through the tape. The fat man walked over the slightly weathered bars of her cell, curling his gloved fingers around the metal.

"How does it feel, knowing that nobody's going to save you? Hmm, Miss Rose?" Eggman sneered, a smile just visible beneath his bushy orange mustache. "After all, Sonic obviously has no clue that you're missing. Heh heh heh!"

All Amy could do, still chewing rapidly through the tape, was watch Eggman. He folded his hands neatly behind his back as he walked away slowly. The pink hedgehog finally got through the tape. She spat the adhesive out of her mouth and began struggling to sit up.

"What are you up to, Eggman?" Amy yelled at his retreating back.

Eggman glanced over his shoulder at her, still walking. Ignoring her question, he asked, "Where is Sonic?

"Why should I tell you? Maybe I don't know where he is!" Amy spat.

At this, Eggman stopped and turned back around, returning to Amy's cell. He pressed a button on a control display mounted on the wall, and all the bars in the cell retracted into the floor. The human knelt down and cupped the hedgehog's chin in his hand, forcing her to look up at him.

"If you tell me where he is, it's your one-way ticket out of here, and I will leave you alone... forever. My promise. Now, please tell me where your boyfriend is."

At Eggman's last sentence, Amy was hit with with the memory of the day she'd found out about Sonic and Blaze. The blue hedgehog's painful words echoed once again through her mind.

"Amy, I'm sorry, but Blaze and I... we're together. I do love you, Ames, but like a sister-brother type of love. I hope you understand."

The return of the memory made her saddened. This sadness began to turn to anger about her current predicament. Eggman was right, Sonic probably didn't even know she was captured, let alone care. If he hadn't gone for that stupid cat, she would have probably already been out of here...

Vengeful feelings began to stew in Amy's mind. Normally she wouldn't have even considered betraying Sonic, but Eggman's choice of words had clearly affected the pink hedgehog's thoughts. She quickly decided what she would reveal. Revenge was beckoning to her, and she accepted what it offered. The vengeance she felt was underscored in the way she answered.

"He's probably home, at Station Square. He lives on a street called Speedway, in house number 47," Amy replied.

"That's a good girl." Eggman grinned and patted Amy on the head. Then he got to his feet and snapped his fingers. The sound of footsteps on cement could be heard, shortly followed by the materializing of two glowing red eyes behind Eggman. The human didn't look at them, but he acknowledged their owner's presence all the same. "Metal! Take her to her room!"

Metal Sonic stepped out from behind his creator. If he could show emotion, Amy thought that he probably would have had an ugly sneer on his face. The robotic hedgehog grabbed Amy roughly, picked her up with surprising ease, then walked away. Seeing as how she was tied up already, not to mention that Metal Sonic had superior strength, the pink hedgehog figured it was pointless to struggle.

As they passed through several corridors, each with doors that had the words "TOP SECRET" painted on them in big, red, cautionary letters, Amy couldn't help but wonder what Eggman kept on the other side of those doors. Metal Sonic continued to walk through the halls, not speaking a word. This slightly confused Amy, as the last time she had seen Metal Sonic, he had been trying to take over the world, and stating that he was the "real Sonic". After the whole incident, he had apparently been deactivated, though. Maybe that was it, Amy reasoned within her mind. While he was offline, Metal Sonic had received a repair job from Eggman to make him more obedient. It was the only thing the hedgehog could think of at the moment that made sense.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Metal Sonic stopped at a silver door without a doorknob. The robot gently set her down and, with a single, swift motion of one of his metal claws, cut through the bindings on her arms and legs. His metallic right hand kept a firm grip on her shoulder to prevent her from escaping as he released her bindings. Still keeping his hold on her, Metal Sonic placed his other hand on what appeared to be a hand-print scanner. The door slid open in a split second, accompanied with a hiss. The robot tossed Amy into the room, and the door slid shut just as quickly. Judging from the beep that emanated through the door, it was locked again. The pink hedgehog didn't take thought to notice this, though-- all she could see was pink carpet.

"Well, if it isn't Amy Rose!"

Amy lifted her head up from the carpeted floor to see Wave, who was lying on one of the two beds. The swallow was on her back, hands clasped behind her head, but she was looking straight at the hedgehog. Amy pursed her lips with slight disgust as she got to her feet, rubbing her wrists where the bindings had been.

"So, I see Eggman captured you as well," she said dryly.

Wave nodded. "Obviously. You know, this is the strangest room I have ever seen. And coming from a thief, I've seen some pretty screwed up places, so that says something."

A snort of laughter escaped Amy as she walked around the circular room, taking in the orange and pink. One thing in particular caught her eye-- the pack of tarot cards that was on the desk. She picked them up and looked through them in interest.

Wave got off the bed and walked over to Amy, looking over the hedgehog's shoulder at the tarot cards. "I see you're into fortune telling?"

Amy looked over at Wave, turning around to face the bird. She arranged the cards neatly back into their deck, and placed the stack back on the pink desk. "Yeah. You can say I've had some experience with them in my days. So, how'd you get here?"

Wave shrugged, walking back to the bed she had been sitting on and plopping down on it. "Me? I just woke up here. I think the doctor injected me with something, though. My right arm's pretty sore, and it's not the kind of pain you get when you sprain something. How about you?"

Amy walked over and sat down on the other bed. "I woke up in a cell. Eggman asked me a couple of questions, and then Metal Sonic brought me here."

"Interrogated, huh? What did you tell him?" Wave asked.

Amy was about to answer, but then she thought twice. She had revealed where Sonic lived. If Sonic were at home, then Blaze would be there too, undoubtedly. Tails and Cream had been riding on the bus... to go to Sonic's house. Also, just before she had gotten captured, Knuckles and Rouge had been following Jet and Storm... and they had all been going in the general direction of the blue hedgehog's residence.

At that moment, the full reality of what she had done hit her. She had told Eggman the location of Sonic's house out of revenge against him and Blaze... but she had completely forgotten about Tails and Cream, Knuckles and Rouge, Jet and Storm. Amy hadn't intended to get them wrapped up in this, but now they could all be dead in a matter of seconds... and it would be her fault. The hedgehog began to cry so hard that she didn't notice Wave get up from her own bed and sit next to her.

"Rose! What did you tell him!" Wave grabbed Amy roughly by the shoulder and shook her.

Having snapped out of her thoughts, but feeling no less guilty, Amy attempted to curb her sobs as she looked up at the older girl. "Wave... I'm sorry..."

"I don't give a shit if you're sorry or not! What did you tell him?!" Wave growled, losing her patience rapidly.

"I... I told Eggman where Sonic was." Amy's vision blurred up with fresh tears.

"Is that all? Sonic's strong! He can fight the doctor off," Wave said.

Amy shook her head. "No, Wave, you don't get it. Sonic's not the only one at his house... Blaze is there, too. So are Tails and Cream... and probably Knuckles, Rouge, Storm, and Jet. They were all on their way there before I got captured. Eggman hasn't attacked for over two years now, and the longer the wait between his attacks, the more power he's gained. By now... E-Eggman could have the p-power to... to k-kill them all!"

The purple swallow took in all this information, staring at the ground as the pink hedgehog started to sob again.

"No. No," Wave said, trying to convince Amy as much as she was trying to convince herself. "You're wrong, Amy."


Jet gave a loud sigh, the small puff of warm breath becoming visible in the cold air, as he sat on the snow-covered porch stairs in front of Sonic's house. 'Man, Sonic's friends are really annoying. Because of them, now I have a headache! How does he put up with them? Their arguments are worse than Storm and Wave's fights!'

The hawk put his head in his hands the moment he had finished that thought. Wave... she had said that she would be back by eight. By the time Storm and he had gone to look for the swallow, it was almost nine. That was the thing that worried Jet the most. Wave was very punctual-- if she said she would be back at a certain time, then she would be.

---

It was extremely early in the morning, perhaps five o'clock. Jet was sleeping peacefully when he felt something warm rub his arm. He slowly opened his eyes to see only darkness. The hawk frowned and grumbled a bit, then turned over onto his left. Shortly after he did that, he felt his other arm being rubbed.

"Jet, wake up," came a quiet voice.

Upon hearing his name, Jet opened his eyes again and sat up, running a hand through his ruffled head feathers. He yawned, not used to being awoken this early.

"Erm... mah. What is it?" he muttered, still half asleep.

"I'm going down to Metal City for Christmas shopping. Do you want to come with me?" It was Wave. The hawk could just make her form out in the darkness of the room. She was on her knees, on his bed, and right next to him-- it had been her who'd been rubbing his arms.

"I'm going to have to say... no. It's way too early for me," Jet yawned again. "The sun isn't even out yet. Sorry, Wave."

Wave looked away in disappointment. "Alright. I'll be back by eight. If I'm late, then go looking for me."

She stood up and leapt daintily off his bed. The swallow walked over to the open door and stopped for a moment, looking over her shoulder.

"Are you sure you don't feel like coming?" Wave asked, trying one last time.

"I said no!" Jet growled louder, thoroughly annoyed. Wave, getting the message, quickly walked out of the room. She shut the door behind her, leaving Jet in the darkness. He settled back down in his bed, and quickly fell asleep.

---

"I said no!"

Those had been the last three words he'd said to her. Only the Babylonian gods knew where Wave was now... Jet sighed once again, throwing himself back against the steps behind him. He stared up at the dark clouds in the sky above, which only added to his already dismal mood.

"Well, well, well! If it isn't Jet the Hawk! Long time, no see."

Jet jumped up, quickly getting to his feet. He glared at the person who had called to him-- it was none other than Dr. Robotnik. As if on cue, four figures appeared from behind the doctor. The first was a blue robot which somewhat resembled Sonic, glaring at Jet with glowing red eyes. The next robot was red and had the appearance of Knuckles, and its glowing green eyes were also focused on Jet. The third robot was a black hedgehog which probably could have been mistaken for Sonic at a distance, its red-eyed gaze averted elsewhere. The final figure was what Jet thought was a very poor attempt at making a Tails doll. While its form contrasted greatly with the others', it was still slightly eerie, staring at Jet with its blank black eyes.

"What do you want, Eggman?" the hawk snapped.

"Since you wish to cut to the chase, I'll just do the same. Where is Sonic?" he barked.

Sensing a fight was approaching, Jet flicked his wrists, summoning two green feather fans. His gaze narrowed, and he tried to ignore the fact that even though there wasn't a fight yet, he was already outnumbered. "Why should I tell you?"

"Fans? I'm so scared! Is that supposed to be a threat?" Eggman pointed at the hawk. "Shadow, attack!"

Before Jet could react, the black robot had lunged at him and kicked him squarely in his stomach. Screeching in surprise and pain, Jet was sent flying backwards, right into the front door of Sonic's house. The velocity at which he hit the door wasn't enough to break it down, but he certainly made enough of a thump to grab the attention of everyone else in the house.

Sonic opened the door, and quickly ran outside to verify the situation. Blaze, Tails and Cream followed suit, as did Knuckles, Rouge and Storm. Jet growled as he propped himself up on his elbows, getting his chest off of the snowy ground.

"Eggman!" Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles yelled in unison.

The doctor gave a wry smile. "Ah, just the hedgehog I wanted to see!"

Tails cast a quick eye over the three robots behind Eggman. He looked exasperated upon seeing his poorly-created clone. "Bringing Tails Doll into this? You can't possibly be serious, Dr. Robotnik." The fox still remembered when Tails Doll was first revealed-- it had behaved erratically to the point where it ended up breaking down on its own.

The black robot, whom Eggman had referred to as Shadow, chose this moment to jump down from the roof, a smirk on his face. He landed down in front of Eggman and the other robots.

"Watch out for that robot!" Jet warned, getting to his feet and pointing at him. "That one sent me flying with one blow!"

Rouge gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. "That isn't a robot..."

She was right. The black 'robot' that had attacked Jet was, in truth, Shadow the Hedgehog. There was no denying it, with the red streaks down his night-black quills, and his signature air skates on his feet. His ruby red eyes gleamed as his smirk turned into a grin, showing his sharp teeth.

"It's about time somebody noticed," Shadow hissed. His facial features quickly twisted into anger. "Isn't that right, Rouge?"

Upon being acknowledged, Rouge took half a step backwards, a fearful look on her face.