Ch. 23: Captor's Yolk
A soft screeching noise fills the air, repeated again and again. A yellow raccoon wipes sweat from his forehead, a single silver screw is held tightly between three fingers. It's taken several days of memorizing guard patrols to find the right moment to strike. Zack the Raccoon's forehead is pressed tightly against the bars as he reaches around with the screw, scratching at the seam of a metal panel. The panel has an electronic scanner on it and is flush with the wall. With Zack's incessant scratching, a small groove has formed on the wall, grinding into the edge of the panel.
"C'mon… C'mon…" Zack mutters, squinting without his glasses.
With a final wiggle, The tip of the screw lodges itself into the seam. Zack lets out an excited breath and begins to pry up the panel as quietly as he can. With each consecutive pry of the screw, more of the thick glue holding the panel in place came up. Soon, Zack peeled up enough of the glue around the panel to fit his finger in the gap. Pressing himself further into the wall, Zack grabs the panel and pulls it outward. The panel slips from his grip and falls toward the floor. Zack gasps, but the panel stops just before the floor, held up by a cluster of wires attached to the back.
"Close one…" Zack crouches down and reaches through the bars once again.
The chord hangs just out of reach, the tip of his finger just barely brushing the chord. The chord starts to swing slightly, coming closer to Zack's grip. Just then, the sound of clanking fills the halls. Guard patrol, not good. Two egg pawns come walking down the hall, clanking loudly with each step. When they round the corner, all they see is a normal hallway, and a yellow raccoon slumped against the wall. The two egg pawns pass by, one rolling its shoulder absentmindedly. As soon as they pass by, Zack pops back up. Reaching out of the cell once more, he easily pries the panel back out. Zack carefully keeps his grip on the panel and pulls it closer to the bars. He runs his fingers over the connected chords and holds the screw between two fingers in his other hand.
"If Allea taught me anythin' 'bout Eggtech… It's cut red ta shut off and cut yellow ta cause…" he pulls the yellow wire slightly off from the other wires and loops it over the screw, pulling outward to sever the wire, "...an electric surge."
With a pop, the wire spits out a few sparks, and the lock on the cell door starts to lock and unlock rapidly. Zack pushes against the door and it swings open between two clicks.
"Not too-"
BWAMP, BWAMP! An alarm begins to blare, bathing the hallway in red light,
"Time to scram," Zack looks back, giving a wave goodbye to the skeleton hanging in medieval shackles in his cell.
Zack turns, just to be face to face with two imposing orange egg pawns. One of the egg pawns swings both arms, trying to recapture Zack. Zack jumps, avoiding the egg pawn's grip and landing on its head. The other egg pawn throws a punch, but Zack jumps off, leaving the egg pawn to punch the first one in the face. Zack lands hard, breathless for a moment. It takes a moment for the first egg pawn's head to stop spinning. As Zack stands up, the two egg pawns turn simultaneously to look at him.
"Later losers!" Zack says with a wheeze, holding his ribs.
Zack takes off down the hall, the egg pawns slow to follow. Zack takes a sharp left, losing his footing momentarily and sliding on the metal floor, but he rights himself. Zack sees an elevator at the end of the hall.
"Zackpot!" Zack dashes towards the elevator, propelled by the sound of robots chasing after him.
Zack skids to a halt right in front of the elevator, steadying himself against the elevator frame. Zack rapidly taps the elevator button, and it seems that it is already passing by because the elevator doors slide open almost instantly. Zack is already in the elevator and closing the door before the Egg pawns even round the corner.
"Alright… alright…" Zack mumbles to himself, running his finger over the button panel.
He pushes the top button, labeled ground floor. The elevator starts again. It accelerates quite fast, and Zack has to steady himself for a moment. It slows just as quickly as it started.
"GROUND FLOOR," a robotic voice says as the doors slide open.
"Haha, I'm home free!" Zack stops as he sees why the elevator was already on its way up.
The elevator opens up into the open-air alcove in the desert. The elevator door is quiet, but not silent. Standing in the area, silhouetted by the orange of the morning sun, is the metal squad. Metal Sonic, Mecha, and Silver Sonic are all standing in a circle. Metal and Mecha are having a conversation about presenting data to Dr. Eggman, while Silver Sonic is staring straight ahead at the elevator. Metal and Mecha are distracted, but Silver Sonic instantly spots the nervous raccoon in the doorway. Silver Sonic instantly raises their arms, flipping out spikes as their rocket heels fire up. Zack is rapidly pressing the close door button as Silver Sonic hurtles forward. Zack dives to the side, pressing himself against the wall of the elevator as Silver Sonic comes flying through the door. Silver Sonic embeds in the back of the elevator with a horrible screech. A bead of sweat drips down Zack's face as he presses a random elevator button. He doesn't know where to go, but he can't stay here. Silver Sonic struggles to extract itself from the wall, its wheels spinning uselessly against the polished floor of the elevator. Just as the elevator begins to move down, a fist-sized dent appears in the middle of the elevator door, as Metal Sonic fails to break through.
"I gotta get outta this deathtrap!" Zack says, his voice cracking.
Silver Sonic manages to rip one of their arms out of the wall and swipes at Zack with it. Zack holds his breath and slides to the side. The spikes shave off some hair from Zacks's chest, and he presses his back against the elevator door, his head pressing uncomfortably into the fist-sized dent. The elevator stops and the doors slide open as Zack falls backward onto the ground.
"LAB LEVEL," a robotic voice chirps.
Zack scrambles to his feet as Silver Sonic turns back to the wall, using the spikes on their free hand to pry out their other arm. The floor is metallic and gray as usual, but the room is lined with large tinted tubes, connected to the floor and ceiling with red painted metal. Zack ducks behind a row of tubes and crouches down, holding his breath. The elevator doors begin to close, until a spiked metal fist emerges between them, stopping them from closing. The doors briefly thunk against Silver Sonic's outstretched arm before receding, allowing Silver Sonic to enter the lab. Silver Sonic slowly rolls into the lab, their large, singular orange eye scanning the edges of the room. Zack presses his back against a tube, slowly sliding to the side to keep the tube between him and the encroaching silver menace. Silently, a small silver robot shaped like a bug with one large eye seamlessly detaches itself from Silver Sonic's chassis. Zack glances at the tube he's pressed up against and gasps in shock.
"Sweet Gaia below…" Zack puts his hand to his chest.
Inside the tube, he can see the shape of a humanoid figure, unmoving and cloaked in shadow. Zack's noise alerts Silver Sonic, who turns on a dime and charges toward Zack.
"Oh s-" Zack is cut off as Silver Sonic makes impact with the tube.
Silver Sonic's right arm sideswipes the glass tube, bursting a hole in it. Zack is showered with glass shards, and Silver Sonic bumps off course. Bubbly, green-tinted translucent liquid begins to pour onto the floor. While Zack is shielding his eyes with his arm, and Silver Sonic is recovering, the small insect-like robot buzzes over to a keyboard and screen situated against the wall. The screen says "Master Tube Controls". The small robot emits a jolt of electricity, shaking with the current. The jolt of electricity fries the computer terminal, and an error message pops up. All of the tubes begin to drain. The tiny robot reboots itself after a moment and crawls away into the shadows.
"LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS OFFLINE," a voice fills the lab.
Zack jumps at the pop, looking around at all of the tubes in confusion. He sees humans, mobians, animals, maybe even some aliens, all suspended in the draining liquid. The figures begin to squirm and awaken as the sides of the tubes lift, leaving them on the damp floor of their little red platforms. Zack is too distracted by this to notice Silver Sonic coming in for another attack. One of Silver Sonic's spikes grazes Zack's arm, but he doesn't have time to cry out in pain before the rest of Silver Sonic's heavy chrome frame collides with him. Silver Sonic screeches to a halt, but Zack is sent flying back, his shoulder slams hard into the glitching computer terminal.
"Dat was my favorite shoulder…" Zack bites his tongue to keep from crying out in pain.
The various figures in the tubes begin to stand, walk, and crawl off of their platforms. Some are dressed in matching medical gowns, but all of them wander around a bit like zombies. Silver Sonic turns, their single large eye drawn to the movement around them, assessing the threat level. Zack holds his shoulder, pressing his back against the computer terminal, and he slides up to his feet. Zack quickly and quietly ducks behind a cluster of disoriented figures. Silver Sonic turns back to face Zack, noticing that he's gone. Silver Sonic begins slowly circling around the room, back and forth scanning through the swarm. Silver Sonic shoves a shambling human aside as they circle. Zack is trying to hold his breath, his back pressed up against a large brown bear mobian between him and Silver Sonic.
"Who you…" The bear mumbles, looking over his shoulder at Zack.
The fur on the bear's right hand turns white, spreading up his hand.
"Huh?" The bear mumbles, lifting the hand up to inspect it.
In an instant, the whole hand turns to white mush and splashes onto the floor.
"No good…"
The bear mobian lets out a small groan of misery before his entire body melts into a mushy white sludge. Zack covers his mouth, watching in horror as the bear's face melts into a puddle and spreads across the ground. This leaves Zack exposed, and Silver Sonic is fully willing to take advantage of the opening. Silver Sonic bursts forward on its rocket skates, hopping and tucking into a spin dash to hit Zack but avoid touching the mysterious liquid. The only reason Zack isn't obliterated is because when he attempts to step back, he slips in the goop, falling under the attack. Zack cries out in pain as his damaged shoulder slams into the ground. Silver Sonic is now back over by the original tube that was broken. Silver Sonic returns to a standing position, turning in place on the slick floor to face Zack. Silver Sonic is standing in a puddle of clear liquid and glass shards, which crunch menacingly under their wheels. A wandering disoriented black arms alien is startled by Silver Sonic and growls. The disoriented black arms wraps their arms around Silver Sonic and starts shaking them back and forth violently.
"Gurrgarah!" The black arms alien, with a vacant but agitated look in its eyes, slobbers on Silver Sonic's head, holding them firmly in place.
Zack crawls back over to the computer terminal, ripping open a panel with his bare hands and digging in for some wires.
"I'll show 'im who he made da mistake of bumpin'!" Zack pulls out a bundle of chords.
Zack unthreads one from the bundle and tosses the exposed end onto the edge of the puddle of clear liquid. The black arms alien tries to grab Silver Sonic's head, but the spikes on their head rotate like chainsaw blades, slicing the black arms hand and causing it to drip green blood. The black arms wails as it is not only sliced, but its left foot also begins to melt into white liquid. The white liquid oozes down, mixing with the clear liquid on the floor. Silver Sonic rips itself from the black arm's grip and casts a one-eyed glare over at Zack.
"Sever the yellow wire!" Zack pinches the yellow wire in the bunch between his teeth and pulls, ripping it with his mouth.
The error message on the terminal immediately vanishes, replaced with flashing colors. The lights flicker as the exposed wire in the clear liquid sparks, and the area around the tube with Silver Sonic and the black arms is electrified. Silver Sonic jolts, their limbs flailing haplessly as their orange eye flickers in and out. The black arms alien roars, releasing Silver Sonic. Silver Sonic slumps to the ground with a clank, their eye sparking as their chin impacts the ground.
"Yeah! Suck on dat ya dirty-" Zack starts to celebrate.
The black arms looks down, and sparks of electricity flow across the melting ankle and white goo. As the electricity flows, the whole foot reforms itself around the ankle, as good as new. The black arms also doesn't seem phased by the electricity after the initial shock. The black arms, seeing Silver Sonic on the ground, turns and charges at Zack with a gurgling roar.
"So dis is how it ends…" Zack props himself back up and kneels, silently praying to whatever god might offer him mercy.
With a woosh, screech, and a cry of pain, Metal Sonic comes bursting through the black arm's chest, showering the floor in green blood. Metal Sonic, dripping with green liquid, floats in the air, arms crossed, and glares down at Zack.
"Woah, hey, hear me out-" Zack raises his hands in surrender.
Metal Sonic slugs Zack across the face, whose head snaps back and slams against the computer console. He bounces back down flat on the ground, unconscious. Metal Conis lands, running one hand across his metal nose and emitting a metallic, unimpressed sniff. All of the remaining disoriented figures flee in random directions from all the commotion.
"I leave for a few days…" Metal Sonic turns, glancing at all the chaos and destruction.
The computer terminal sparks a few times before the overhead speakers crackle on.
"What in the world is going on in here?!?" The agitated voice of Eggman booms over the loudspeakers.
Metal Sonic cringes, and a few of the wandering figures, at least the ones not turning to goo, cover their heads in fear.
"Almost every alarm system I have is on high alert!" Eggman yells, followed by an agitated yawn.
A camera on the wall flicks over and focuses on Metal Sonic.
"Don't look at me doctor, I just got here," Metal Sonic crosses his arms, kicking Zack's unconscious form harder than necessary as if to transfer blame.
"I don't care! Get your team together and report to me IMMEDIATELY!" Eggman continues to yell over the loudspeakers, commanding various robots to do different things, and generally locking down the facility.
Mecha Sonic soon arrives on the elevator, glitching and limping. He drags behind him an unconscious Squirrel mobile by their medical gown.
"Doctor," Mecha Sonic says flatly, "Some of these…" He looks down at the unconscious figure, "Prisoners…? Are escaping." Mecha Sonic pauses, an uncertainty breaking up their usual monotone rhythm.
A distinct screeching noise accompanies the usual alarm, indicating the perimeter alarm as no doubt some of these figures from the test tubes flood out and into the desert around the facility. Mecha Sonic turns his one eye towards Metal Sonic, who looks down and away.
"So I left the stairway open, I was in a hurry, but I got the yellow jailbreaker," Metal Sonic grumbles.
"Just leave them be! They'll melt after a few days anyway!" Eggman's voice is accompanied by the rapid, aggressive tapping of keyboard keys.
Large orange egg pawns flood into the room, rounding up the test subjects who remained, leading them back towards the tubes, which return and refill with clear liquid as the subjects are placed back into them. Metal Sonic shoots a glare over to Mecha Sonic before stomping his way towards the elevator. Mecha Sonic watches for a moment before walking over to the puddle, kicking away the sparking wire, and picking up Silver Sonic's shut-down body. An egg pawn runs by, almost slipping in the fluid, before clanking over to pick up Zack's unconscious form. The voices of Orbot and Cubot can be heard, muffled over the loudspeaker behind Eggman's voice.
"And someone make me an omelet!"
The squabbling voices of Orbot and Cubot are cut off on the loudspeaker as Eggman shuts off the comms. Metal Sonic stands in the elevator tapping his foot. Mecha Sonic brings in Silver Sonic, who drips clear liquid on Metal Sonic's shoulder.
"Glad to be back," Metal Sonic says bitterly, leaning back against the dented elevator wall.
–
Somewhere above the base, a door bursts open, and an unrecognizable creature takes one last step before slapping face-first into the ground as a puddle. This is followed by some other creatures in various states of decomposition. A yellow flicky soars out of the doorway and into the open sky, a gray furred Hedgehog, dressed in a medical gown ambles out, mostly intact but holding in a patch of his arm that felt squishy, mumbling to himself. A dark-haired human takes one step into the sun before cowering back into the base. Pushing past them is a large rotund human, bald, with a prickly brown mustache, dressed in the same medical gown.
"Where… we going? Stick together…" he looks around at the other escapees, the only people he's known his whole short life.
Everyone else ignores him, everyone groggy and mumbling to themselves, if they can even speak. Suddenly the elevator door slides open and a squad of egg pawns burst out. Most of the shambling figures are startled by the sound and scatter. The Egg pawns seem to ignore them, more focused on closing the exit door. But the rotund human flees, looking out, the city far out in front frightens him, as do the gravel patches and open plains to the left of the city. To the right of the city in the distance is a forest, lush and green. Most of the escapees seem to be heading in that direction. So that's where the rotund man goes too, shaking off his sleepiness.
"Friends… stay together."
