I'm stirred from my light slumber by the sound of soft singing. Opening my eyes, I look across the cell and see Sonic sitting up against the wall, gazing down at his hands idly fiddling in his lap while he mumbles a melody I've never heard. He's more lively than before, but still looks downtrodden – though, I can't blame him. I feel like shit, too.

"You thinking of making a future in music?" I ask, letting a smile grow and sitting up myself.

He stops singing and looks up at me, his eyes widening a little as he clearly didn't realize I heard it. Then he drops his gaze again and a breathy chuckle escapes a charming smile. It's nice to see him acting more alive.

"Yeah, I'm pretty good, right?" he responds. "I've written about a hundred songs in my head."

"That many?" Exaggeration or not, my mood dips thinking about the weeks or months he's been robbed of living in the outside world. My smile slowly fades to nothing. "You must've been in here a long time."

Green eyes drag up to meet mine yet again and Sonic's smile also disappears. "Way too long, Rouge."

Then I furrow my brows in discontent. "I don't know if I even realized when you disappeared... no offense, I just wasn't that aware of what you were doing in the world."

"I get it. You were focused on chasing after Shadow, right?"

"I guess so. You haven't been here for a whole year, have you?"

"No," he answers, shaking his head. "I don't know exactly how long it has been, but if I had to guess... maybe half of that?" Then he shrugs and looks down at the floor, puzzlement mixing with his melancholy. "Although, I suppose it could be more than that... hmm."

I watch as he crosses his arms and rubs his chin; I assume he's thinking. Then he adds, "Yeah, I'd say six or seven months. Man, that's a long time for Eggman not to have an adversary."

"All the more reason for me to stop him," I say. "Preferably in a way that's agonizingly painful for him."

With his arms still mostly crossed, the blue man taps one index finger above his lip while studying my face. I narrow my eyes at him and ask, "Why are you staring like that?"

"I want to memorize that determination I just saw in you." He smiles again, and my lips might even curl a bit, too. "It's reminding me of what it was like to fight back against that old egg. Although, you are just a little bit more intense than I am on the punishment part."

His comment makes me chuckle – Speedy is actually nice to talk to when he isn't a husk. But I can't help but wonder how someone with his heroism and fighting capabilities got captured in the first place. And I pity the thought that it might've been because he went too easy on the Doctor.

"Sonic, can I ask..." I give him the same concerned look he'd given me when I hesitated to accept the injection. "How did you get caught?"

A deep frown etches itself into his muzzle and his ears lower. "It was either me, or my friends." He continues with a sigh, "Eggman had them trapped – my best friends – and he'd only let them go if I gave myself up."

One gloved hand balls into a fist. "I tried to fight anyway, of course, but the old kook finally managed to make a bot that could withstand my attacks. And he was adamant about doing some... pretty terrible things to my friends if I didn't stop fighting."

He lets out another sigh and I cross my arms, rubbing away worried goosebumps as I imagine this hero being thwarted by Robotnik. He finishes, "Without any Chaos Emeralds to enhance my power, I couldn't save them... unless I went with him."

"Jeez... do you think your friends are looking to bust you out?"

"I'm sure they're looking, but..." His gaze trails up at the ceiling. "There's no telling where we are. For all I know, this lair could be hidden underground or floating in the sky, or even cloaked by some weird science machine."

I hadn't thought about that. But if it's true, then it means G.U.N might not be able to find me, either. So, there may be no way to receive help from the outside... I'll need help from the inside. This is as good a time as any to find out how much Sonic has learned during his prison sentence. "What do you know about this place?"

He doesn't answer right away, so I go on, "Anything you can remember when you were brought in? Directions, vent systems, where different rooms are located? Were you able to see something we can use?"

His gaze casts downward – a sign to me that the answer is about to be disappointing. "I don't know anything... when I surrendered, I was tied up, blindfolded, had tape slapped over my mouth – the whole nine yards – and got stuffed into a crate!" A scoff leaves him while he shakes his head. "They dumped me straight from the box into this cell. Didn't even untie me at first. So... I'm sorry, but I can't help you at all."

I turn my head, glaring through the metal bars and wanting to curse at how difficult this is going to be. "And what about our jailmates?"

"No luck there, either. From what I've heard, Eggman is on top of at least blindfolding the people he captures. And with Shadow working for him, no one can take even one step out of line. They were all starved before being let out of this room, so I don't think anyone before you had the thought to memorize what they saw. Chances are, you know everything they know."

I hear him let out a huff. "I miss the days when Baldy was so arrogant, it made him slip up. His ego used to lead him to make some pretty dumb mistakes, thinking he couldn't possibly mess up and all that... now, it's like he finally learned, and we've been seeing how dangerous his intelligence can be."

My voice comes out dull and pessimistic. "I'm essentially on my own, then."

"... I'll help you as much as I can. If you're going to fight, then I will, too. Trust me, I wouldn't let someone face him or his bodyguard by themselves. I just... don't know how much I'll be able to help in the way of escaping. And... I wouldn't want you to put yourself in a confrontation you have no chance of winning. I want everyone to come out of this alive."

I look back to him again, letting his words sink in and wondering if we have even a sliver of a chance at taking down the overlander. He smiles, probably trying to coerce me into smiling, too. Feeling drained, I tell him, "I'll do what I can to stop him without letting anyone die."

Sonic doesn't have much else to say, so we can the hopeless talk and the rest of the day drags on, my hunger increasing as he and I think up games to keep ourselves occupied. The other cells are a little less melancholy; though they haven't had a proper meal, I can hear idle mutterings of conversation now that they've gotten the energy they needed.

Nice for them.

Annoying for me.

At first, I was getting by on rage-driven willpower. Now, my stomach has started to growl, something that deflates my determination a bit as I acknowledge that Eggman is going to starve me like the rest. But famished as I am, I do my best not to think about food. Instead, whenever my body asks for sustenance, I think of the expression I want to see on Robotnik's face when I murder him.

Terrified.

That's the word that comes to mind. That's how I want him to feel. And if I can somehow take out Shadow along with him...

But now that's wishful thinking. For the time being, I'll focus on survival and stay alert for opportunities when they arise. The strategy will come later.

The next morning, Eggman's bots return for another round of injections. I manage to hide the relief I feel, although Sonic must be privy to it; he's been hearing my stomach whine for a day. They take care of the other cells, one by one, and it feels agonizingly slow now that I'm sufficiently hungry. But they finally get to us, and I'm surprised when they call me forward first.

"CELL MEMBER 147 – APPROACH."

Weird, but Sonic isn't saying anything, so maybe it's standard for new prisoners to get their nutrients sooner when they've been deprived for days. I step closer to the bars and hold out my arm, my gaze trails down to the syringe, and I realize too late: the liquid inside is a different color. The needle is plunged into my skin and the pressure inside my arm is instant, purple fluid disappearing from the glass tube.

Purple, a violet hue, different from the turquoise blue that substituted water and food.

Fuck- Fuck-

I can feel it – a pulsing, nearly stinging sensation – assaulting my system. The initial pressure stops once the needle draws out of my arm, but the sting gets stronger and feels like it's crawling swiftly through my body as my muscles start to tense. I grimace and my gaze flicks over to Sonic, and now I see his face has changed. He might've just had the same revelation I did, because he looks worried.

"Rouge?" he blurts, and my muscles tighten faster. Scarily fast, my body feels like it's constricting from the inside. Sonic looks at the robots now prepping to inject his nutrients. "What did you give her?!"

The minions don't answer; they're not programmed to. What they are programmed for is recognizing resistance, so they shoot his nutrients at him like they did when he refused to comply before. Meanwhile, I'm starting to feel numb. It's a weird transition from my muscles squeezing as tightly as they can to steadily losing any feeling at all. The slight straining pain disappears in certain spots, starting in the arm that was pricked and spreading outwards to the rest of me. It erases my balance and I start to fall, only to be caught by my cellmate. At least with his energy boosted, I could count on him not to let me hit the floor.

"Rouge!" he shouts, and now most of my body is immobile.

"Paralytic," I manage to say before my face begins to freeze.

It's a horrifying experience, losing control of my own limbs, feeling all function being drained away in a few seconds. I want to flap my wings, straighten my legs, reach out to grab the cell bars, anything... but I can't. Not a single inch of me will move when I beg it to, and I can't even open my mouth to speak anymore. My vocal cords won't work. I can only watch Sonic's eyes dart around in distress, hearing the panic in his voice.

"Why did you do this?! What is Eggman planning? This is sick!"

Then I hear a laugh... and it horrifies me, too.

Not a laugh from the Doctor... but a hundred times worse.

Deep.

Evil.

My fight response tries to kick in just from hearing his voice, which makes me panic inside when it obviously doesn't work. I can't focus my eyes to look in any one direction, but what my vision catches is concerning; Sonic looks over at the cell bars, which cursedly lie just outside my periphery, and his expression changes from frantic to stern.

"Shadow..." he says, his cadence heavy with vitriol.

"Back away, Sonic." His tone is serious, but I recognize the sinister tinge dancing on the edge of his words. "The spy has a meeting to get to. You don't want to interfere."

I hear a faint metal scrape of the cell bar raising, and... the crackle of electricity?

Sonic grits his teeth and stares hard at our captor – he looks furious, and my vision shifts as he lowers me to lie on the floor. Please let this be part of some plan to bust out... don't just give up like that! The crackling sound follows footsteps that enter our little room, moving behind me while the metal scrape returns to signal the bar lowering. Sonic stands in front of me, but I can't see enough of him to tell if he's planning something. Now I feel like prey with my back to a predator, helpless against an attack.

The crackling stops. What in the world is he doing...?

A second passes. Then, faster than I can fully comprehend, Sonic charges forward, a blur of blue rushing over me just before a solid smack rings out from behind, followed by a heavy thud. I think he's pinned Shadow! Yes!

Then the crackle starts again. Shit, no!

Sonic screams and I hear the crackling turn into zapping. I can see yellow light flashing on the cement wall in front of me.

Fuck...

My cellmate must be trying to continue the fight, because I hear a couple of punches mixed with his agonized yelling. Damnit, Sonic, don't get yourself killed...

"Don't be a hero, 101!" Shadow shouts, calling him by his number. "Don't make me kill you!"

The zapping continues, but I think the fight has been shocked out of him now. His screams are more guttural and I'm not hearing a scuffle anymore – just the Chaos energy buzzing throughout the prison. If that's Sonic's punishment for fighting back, then what kind of torture is waiting for me?

Then it stops. And Sonic's yelling halves into a brief shout and pained groans. There's a thunk on the ground; it must be him falling. Damn it all...

The Experiment scoffs, "Pathetic." His footsteps start, approaching me. "You know by now that fighting only makes things worse, 101. It's a shame to see how you've regressed."

He stops behind me again, and then his voice is next to my ear. If I could move, I would've startled. "You must've been getting along with the new prisoner to want to pull a stunt like that."

He sounds... disappointed, as if he's pitying Sonic for still having the drive to rebel. I want to rip his throat out... and now my vision lifts from the ground. Is he... picking me up? Shit, of course he is, he's moving me. Probably to an interrogation room or a dungeon even darker than this prison...

"I'll make sure to inform The Doctor of your newfound spirit," he tells Sonic, carrying me to the cell entrance.

The blue hedgehog tries to speak, but he doesn't get a word out through his wincing. I can't believe he took such a shock, and for nothing! What's the point of bravery if you can't stop the bad guy in the end?

Damnit... he's clearly got a hero's heart, even if Shadow and Robotnik are prepared for anything. Too valiant for his own good. We certainly won't be jail buddies after this.

Within my peripheral vision, Shadow reaches his right hand forward to grab the cell bar, and a quick jolt of his Chaos energy makes it shoot upwards. He's using this shocking ability so much now, yet I've never been shocked by him myself. I always managed to stay out of his reach, only ever dealing with a thrown Spear or having a near-miss with a Blast. Even when I was caught, he didn't have his hands on me long enough to dole out that attack. Now, being electrocuted is a very real possibility; one I have to keep in mind.

The monster takes me out of the cell, and the bar recloses behind us. My only friend in this cursed castle is still groaning, his noises getting farther away. And as much as I hope this isn't the end for me – or him – I don't know if I'll see him again.

So long, Sonic...