The Devil at your Side chptr 4

Chapter 4

It was about 5 years ago, after the so-called ‘Chaos incident’. I had been... out of town for a while, a LONG while, and all I just wanted to do was reunite with my family. Was that too much to ask? Well, no, really? Okay, so I may have gone about it the wrong way. I arrived at one of the robot processing plants Robotnik had stationed in Metropolis. The fact that GUN or any other authorities hadn’t stormed the place and took it offline was astounding. But I digress. I went into the place and tore it apart. I was, let’s say, a TAD upset. Dear father only left me to rust away at the bottom of the fucking ocean. But good fortune came to me, and after a fair few years and a makeover to make any supermodel whimper with inadequacy, I returned. And after my little stress relief session, as I said before, I got locked up. Seems like I hit a nerve when I totalled half his stock supply.

So, I spent a year or so locked up, and then fortune smiled on me again. And here I was, freed, sitting in one of old Ivo’s disused bases, laughing myself silly at the sight of him with coffee drenching his moustache. I stopped laughing, then went back to looking at the man. If I had teeth, I’d be grinning a big, toothy smile right now.

“What the heck do you want?” He asked in a low tone, looking right into his screen, right at me. With a cheerful tone, I answered. “Oh, I’m not –really- after anything for you... now. Already got what I wanted.” This seem to make him stumble mentally for a moment, I could see the gears working under that dome of his. “What do you mean?” I shifted position on my chain, leaning back while putting my feet up on the desk. “Well, you know that vault stronghold you have in the Mystic Ruins? The one holding that Emerald you found a couple of months back?” I could see it in his face before he actually answered, he knew what had happened, but I didn’t bother giving him the time to respond, “Well, I’ve raided it. OH! And by the way, about those other top secret research projects you’ve got going on in there... watch your monitor...” I said with a tone of malice, pressing a big red button on my console. Watching as Robotnik’s head turned to another screen, I knew that’d he was seeing the constant feedback reports from the research lab come to an abrupt halt. He swivelled in his chair, looking at another monitor, probably at security cameras watching the outer perimeter of his base, which would be showing him a number of bombs going off, causing the base of the structure to collapse onto itself. Within a few short moments, the building was turned to dust, and Ivo was there, gawping at his screen.

At this time, I’d had got a paddle ball and was idly paddling away.

“I...I...GODDAMNIT, I’M GOING TO RIP YOUR GODDAMN SERVOS OUT! GIVE ME BACK MY EMERALD!” The round man bellowed at the bemused robot thru the monitor. I stopped my paddling, turning my head to look at my creator. “Now why would I do that? You’ve not been the caring, loving father I always hoped and dreamed of, why should I give anything to you!?!” Mock anger and sorrow ringing thru my voice, followed by a short laugh. “I have my own plans for that emerald, more so that just creating a stupid fucking empire based on some perverted obsession with stuffing furry woodland creatures into tin cans. You built me, you left me, you’ll... be hearing for me. TOODLES DADDY! HAH!” And with that, I slammed my fist on the disconnect button, just in time to stop a stream of very naughty insults come flying thru the speakers.

Next port of call. I had three emeralds now, locked up in containment, and for good reason. Cadaver was probably recharging, and I needed a bit of a juice too. But I had one last call to make. I had stayed hidden for far too long. Tapping out another command into the computer, I waited until my next recipient answered. And he did so pretty quickly. The screen flashed to life, and a robot was looking back at me. Green, largish head, black eyes with red pupils, as was the custom with more advanced robots such as myself, and a elongated crest between the eyes and over the top. The fucking metal luggage set just grimaced as soon as he saw me.

“Oh for fu.. what do YOU want?!” ChaosCroc sneered, folding his arms and looking positively grumpy. “Oh, come now,” I said, perfectly friendly like, “How’s that such a way to treat an old friend, hm? Croccy?” I let out a short laugh. Damn, I did that a lot the past few minutes.... Anyway, he just groaned at me. “Look, just because I had a hand in releasing you from tha...” I quickly cut him off, didn’t really like people who downplayed their part. “You mean when you came looking for a powerful weapon that Dr Robotnik buried, hoping to control it and add it to your ever changing army of drones and found me instead, a powerful weapon you couldn’t control?” he looked at me, with an angry set of eyes.

I got the paddleball out again.


Becky had looked at the door for a good few minutes after the robot had left her cell. She contemplated actually trying the door, and try to escape. But something in my mind told her that the robot probably wasn’t lying about the other things that stalked the corridors of the base. That Cadaver robot freaked her out a little too much. Turning to look at her room, she saw the bed and the side table. Nothing much else there, apart from a light switch. She gingerly tested the bed, reaching over to it to gently prod it with a finger, then pulled her hand back quickly. She half expected a spike trap to spring up from it. But, waiting a few moments, nothing happened. She tried it again, pressing her finger harder against the bed, again retracting quickly. Still nothing happened. The hedgehog then gingerly moves to the bed, and sat on it. Still expecting something to happen, she tensed up, ready to jump off at the slightest hint of danger.

Still nothing happened.

Becky relaxed a little. The events over the past few hours had really gotten to her. Slowly lying down onto the bed, she stared up at the plain coloured ceiling. Perhaps she just needed some sleep. Letting out a long sigh, she closed her eyes. It took a few minutes, but slowly she dozed off.

She woke up a short time later. But she wasn’t in the cell anymore. She was back home, in her room, in her own bed. Checking her leg, she found no wound. It was all a bad dream? She couldn’t tell, it felt so real. Sliding off the bed, she went about her usual routine, although a little shaken by the dream she had. Heading to the bathroom first, she locked the door behind her. Quickly stripping off, she steps into the shower and begins her daily washing routine. The shower felt more refreshing this time, probably washing off the cold sweat the dream had caused.

A few minutes of showering, Becky stepped out of the cubicle and went to the mirror above the room’s sink. Grabbing a towel, she started to dry her hair, as she usually did. Noticing the mirror was steamed up completely, making it impossible to see her reflection, Becky stopped drying herself. She needed the mirror for her usual routine, she was a girl, it would be like removing the oxygen in the air. Except with a lot more rage and a lot less choking. Grabbing her towel, she wiped the mirror clean, and found herself staring back.

Except her eyes were not her own. They were black, instead of white, and only had one pupil. It was red, dagger like. Becky roiled in horror a little as she looked at herself. She looked completely normal, except for her eyes. And the fact that her mouth was missing. Her muzzle was smooth, no hint of an opening, not even a wrinkle. She clawed a little at her muzzle, trying desperately to find a mouth, until she found a hold in the dead centre. Pulling her fingers away, she watched as the hole opened wider and wider, smaller holes opening to the left and right of  the centre hole, until her muzzle starts to split apart and the familiar sight of a twisted, opened mouth smile appeared on her face, her flesh stretched. She looked horrified into the mirror as the mouth that appeared on her face started laughing, cold, metallic, malicious laughter.

Becky then woke up, sitting bolt upright on the bed in the cell, breathing heavily, covered in a cold sweat.

END OF CHAPTER