Flying Freaks: Restless Curiosities (2/6)
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Coconuts ran into the main control room, slamming open his little service door.
Robotnik turned around in his chair, black eyes sending his servant a clear threat. "What is it!?"
The robot skidded to a stop. "I have a report, Boss! There is a new villain on the loose! She kidnapped someone and took off!"
Robotnik raised his eyebrow and leaned back in his chair. Scratching his mustache, he hummed. "Interesting⌠what did this villainess look like?"
"She was big and strong and had red hair," Coconuts exclaimed, making large, exaggerated gestures. "She's human like you, but real pretty. AndâŚ" He scratched his head, trying to remember what the lady said on the phone. His boss's glare was a good reminder. "Oh yeah! Her name is Katella."
Robotnik slammed down his fists and leaned forwards. "Katella!? She's here?"
The monkey nodded his head. "Mhm-hmm!"
The mad doctor burst out laughing. "I heard that people were going missing, but it never crossed my mind that she was the fiend responsible!"
Robotnik's laughs simmered into a expression of glee. "Know of her."
He spun around in his chair and typed something into the large computer. An old news report popped up on the large screen and began playing. It was sepia-toned and the definition was only passable, but the story was clear.
Katella, wearing a frilly blue gown and sporting a bob, stood on a stage next to a line of about a dozen people who looked similarly her. A grandmother, a father, a baby cousinâa perfect, close-knit family. A woman who seemed to be her mother stood in the center. She loudly praised a non-profit they were fundraising for.
A glowing sign above the stage showed the number of Mobiums, slowly ticking up.
Katella was clearly checked out of the situation. Dead honey-brown eyes stared off into the space above the audience. A flat, forced smile marred her pretty face.
That was, until the baby started crying. An older relative tried to shush it, but the wails showed no sign of stopping.
Katella's eyelid twitched, life tearing through the plasticity one cutting thought at a time.
"SHUT UP!!!!!" she screamed, finally losing it. Turning on her family, she threw her hands out. "Is there not a better way to do this!"
"NO! I'm talking now! I. AM. SO. BORED. Just standing here, listen to you all drone on and on about what a good cause this is! Oh, please donate. Oh, think of the children. Oh, please stare at the blinding sign we bought just for this &%#@!
"Except, no Katella. You don't even get to look at that. You just get to stand there, eye-candy for the audience while staring into nothing. Just looking out into the sea of strangers who you can't even see.
"I'm a grown woman! I am capable of so much more than this &$@# and its time that you &#^!@&#!%#@*Â saw that!"
She grabbed her dress so hard that it ripped under her touch. Storming off the stage, her family watched her go in stunned disbelief.
The video cut off, and Robotnik smiled in what seemed to be genuine awe. "She was the talk of the town for months. It led to an investigation, and the 'charity fundraiser' turned out to be a years-long money laundering scheme. The family was so rich by that point that they got off with a slap on the wrist."
"Wow," Coconuts said, eyes wide.
"By the time the whole matter was solved, Katella had dropped off the face of the earth. People have theorized for nearly fifteen years about where she wentâeloping, witness protection, killed, the like."
The monkey did a double take. "But! I just saw her kidnap somebody! And she had a ship and a servant, too!"
Robotnik turned completely to face him. A serious mask slipped over his excitement for a moment. "Are you completely sure?"
Coconuts nodded his head so far it knocked against the ground and he sprawled out onto the floor. "It had to have been her! She looks just like the Katella in the video! Her hair is longer and her outfit is different, but she looks exactly the same."
Robotnik nodded, a smile breaking out once again. "That's not a surprise. You see, while most people consider her a mysteryâ" he smiled gleefullyâ"I have resources they lack."
He typed something else on his computer and a few more tabs popped up on the screen. It was a bunch of news reports and bounty posters, all written in alien languages.
"She literally left the earth," Robotnik states, as if it were obvious. "Katella the Intergalactic Huntress. Her name is quite famous in certain circles. She has her beautiful hands in a number of black market zoos, museums, and circuses. Occasionally she will take a bounty hunter gig, but she is most renowned for her collection of oddities and freaks." Robotnik leaned back in his chair, admiring the wanted posters in particular. "The rarest specimens in the universe all have a cage on her ship."
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Tails stopped fighting at some point. This Katella lady had some nice equipment for committing evil. Robotnik's stuff wasn't nearly this specialized.
The kit had gotten the rest of the blindfold off at the very least, but it was still difficult to see through the nets. At some point they entered a spaceship. It was a maze of pastel walls, small alleys, and doors that led to who knows where. The design was intricate yet plain. Tails didn't know why anyone would want to live here.
Katella eventually brought him through a series of rooms filled with cages. Strange, unusual creatures were stuffed in them. The little fox couldn't help but stare at them in curiosity. Gills, hair, ears, and other unfamiliar body parts were put together in so many different ways. The one thing most of them had in commonâother than the prisoner thingâwas that they were sending pitying glances his way.
It was mind boggling. Despite himself, Tails was amazed. If it weren't for the fact that they were all kidnapped by a madwomen and stuffed in sterile cages straight out of a horror movie set in a zoo, meeting these people (beings?) would be so neat. As it was, he had to stop himself from asking a million questions.
Forefront of his mind was one in particularâwhich cage was he going to be put in?
Room after room, and he was still riding over the huntress' shoulder. Tails' sadness and boredom began warping his curiosity.
How long have these people been here?
What did this weird lady want with them?
"There you are, young lady! Where did you get this sunflower butter?!"
Tails blinked at the crinkly old voice. The sound of a beak clicking reached his ears.
Katella ignored it. Before he had a chance to prepare himself, she deposited Tails into a cell, locked it, and folded up the nets in a quick, elegant motion.
As she walked back towards the door, she turned and kicked the cell the loud bird was in. The bars rattled. "If you don't want poison in the next batch, behave!"
The loud birdâan old albatrossâlooked like she was going to say something else, but a little duck sharing her cage whimpered. She bent down and patted them on the back.
Katella huffed. Her boots sent bursts of thunder through the floor. She placed a strange looking key chain in a little lock-box near the door and stormed out of the room. The doors closing behind her served as the final clang.
Tails stared after her for a moment before sighing. He curled his arms and tails around his knees and studied his surroundings.
The room was a semicircle, with the door in one corner and a ton cabinets, a fridge, and some weapon displays along the straight wall. There was a sign above the door that read "Mobius" in several languages.
The cages took up the rest of the room. They varied in size, shape, and security. There were small walkways leading to the many empty ones in the back. Tails' was on the end of the front row. It was rather big to hold just him.
Only four cages were occupied, all in the first row. The elderly albatross and a duck shared one. One on the opposite side of the room from Tails seemed to have some beautifully colorful salamanders and rare amphibians, and there were a group of insects in the next one over. A familiar white-furred bear huddled up with a number of other mammalian Mobians beside the albatross.
There were far fewer people in here than the other rooms, but still enough for their absences to cause a stir. Many seemed to still be in shock if they weren't already choking on despair. Tails ignored the handful that stared at him weirdly.
"Are you okay, young man?" the elderly albatross said, catching his attention.
Tails nodded. "Are you Gran-Gran?"
The albatross blinked in surprise. "Oh, you met my kids! What a wonderful coincidence!"
Picking at the ends of his tails, he said. "Mhm-hmm. They're looking for you."
The albatross's red feathers drooped. She crossed her arms and looked away, as if she could intuitively sense the direction her hometown was in.
"They worry too much," she said fondly.
"I don't see how that changes anything."
He blinked at the blasĂŠ response. "OkayâŚ"
"Do-do you know if anyone's look-looking for me?" the duck choked out. Gran-Gran patted their head.
"Sorry," Tails said. "I think I saw something in the news about you," he nodded towards the albino bear, who had been listening into the conversation silently. "But all I know is that people have begun noticing the disappearances."
"At least that's something!" Gran-Gran said in encouragement. The duck looked slightly bolstered.
The others who had heard them started murmuring and talking amongst themselves. A few still sent curious or wary looks his way.
Tails was hit with a sudden pang of loneliness at the sight. Even if they were all separated from their loved ones, everyone else here had at least one other person in their enclosure with them. His cage was much smaller than theirs. Rather than providing room for a large amount of people, his could comfortably hold one or two adults at most. Still, he was so tiny that it felt cavernous. Like being lost in a massive cave.
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Sonic found his friend's trail in less then a minute. He ran the route back and forth three times before the implications finally sunk in. There were signs of a struggle near the last mark.
He immediately ran through the village, the next one, and the rest of the forest. He asked anyone he came across if they had seen Tails or had any leads on the missing person cases.
Everyone in the albatross's village only freaked out more upon learning that someone else had vanished. Not a single decent lead in the next town over either.
The closest thing anyone could give him was directions to a mountain hermit who "knew everything." Sonic, having very few options, dropped in on him.
Wasting no time on introductions, he immediately asked, "Have you seen a two-tailed fox anywhere?"
The Wise Old Hermit began laughing so hard he popped something. Sonic winced and reached out a hand to steady him.
"Ahhaha, you shouldn't kid around so hard," the Wise Old Hermit said. "Painfully funny jokes should be solely metaphorical."
"I'm not joking," Sonic clarified. He leaned further into the man's space with a serious expression to demonstrate. "My friend is missing. He's hard to miss; if you haven't seen him, just say so."
The hermit pursed his lips and considered this. "Well, what does he look like?"
"He's a little brown fox with two tails."
"I thought you were done with the jokes!"
Sonic grit his teeth. "I told you!" It was hard to not tighten his grip on the old man and shake him. "I'm not kidding around here!"
"Well you must be! Two-tailed foxes do not exist!" the so-called Wise Old Hermit yelled.
Sonic dropped his grip on the old man. As he regained his balance, he glared. "Well, I guess you don't know everything."
He sped out of the cave so hard the wind knocked sent the hermit flying. "Not again!"
The hedgehog sighed. He could think of one last unfortunate option.
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Robotnik gave Coconuts an only slightly used brush and sent him right back to the sewers.
His latest project was put on hold as he scrolled through the news coverage. An albino bear, a young chameleon actor, a prize fighting bumble-bee, that one duck that hatched from a golden egg, and many more individuals who made at least the third page of their local news.
Katella certainly had an eccentric taste. Robotnik's jaw was pried open as he scrolled through each notice. No two missing persons were the same, unique either through achievement or a physical marker. This spree was thorough and diabolical. Robotnik respected it immensely.
His awe only grew as he realized that no one had even guessed the identity of the true culprit. Many were blaming him, in fact!
Robotnik wished that he had some way to contact Katella, because he certainly wouldn't mind proving those accusers right.
With the two of them working together, it would take no time at all to captureâ
"GET BACK HERE!!," a certain drill robot shouted outside.
Robotnik sprinted to the closest window and leaned out to see his nemesis trashing his front yard. His two dumbots ran in circles, failing to repair his defenses or return their various body parts to the correct spot.
A blue blur zipped and zagged all around the entrances.
"Stop that!" Robotnik waved his fist outside the window. "What are you nicombots doing! Catch him!"
"I got'em, boss!" Coconuts yelled from a window a few stories below him, very much not on sewer duty. He jumped out with a weapon in his arms, but Sonic spin-dashed him into the building via another window. There was a loud crash as a glass pane clattered to the ground.
"Darn you, Sonic!" Robotnik yelled, continuing to shake his fist. "What have I done to deserve this!?"
Sonic finally stopped his rampage. Standing amidst the fires and rubble, he deadpanned at the doctor.
"Okay, well, besides that."
The hedgehog seemed to grow frustrated. He looked around and found nothing of interest.
Cupping his hands around his mouth, he yelled, "Have you been kidnapping people?!"
"No!" Robotnik responded, a mocking wide-mouthed grin on his face. "But I certainly admire the villain who is! Don't think for a second you'll get any help here!"
Sonic scowled, and in a blink, he was gone.
Scratch and Grounder tried to catch him in a pincer movement a few seconds late and accidentally high-fived as they headbutted and headbutted as they high-fived.
Robotnik slammed the window close.
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As it turns out, some people were more concerned with tracking down Sonic the Hedgehog, Hero of Mobius, than the actually missing people.
He re-entered the missing bear's town and a bunch of its citizens and other random islanders mobbed him.
"Oh thank goodness!" Someone cried in relief.
He tried backing it up. "What's the big idea here!?"
A fancy looking car suddenly honked its horn and drove into the center of town. Everyone backed up from it, staring in absolute shock. Automobiles were not a common sight on the islands outside of a few cities. People's shock and awe was suspended between Sonic and the car.
Even the hedgehog himself had no idea what to make of it. He was a grateful that everyone had given him room to breath. Holding his breath, he forced himself to stay still as the car stopped a few feet away.
The door opened, and a human wearing a dark suit, sunglasses, and an earpiece stepped out of the car. She told the crowd to calm down and disperseâget back to the search parties or whatever. Then she waved for Sonic to enter the vehicle behind her. Warily, he did so, scooting over to the other side of the backseat.
Once the agent settled, she quietly pulled out a tablet. His eyes shifted from her to it as the screen lit up.
An older man Sonic could not remember ever seeing before popped up on call. He looked pleasantly surprised.
"Uh, hello?" Sonic waved.
"Is this Sonic the Hedgehog?" the man asked. Silent nod. "I am a member of the United Nations Foreign Affairs department. The council that governs the islands in this area requested our help with the abductions. Out of concern for civilians, in addition to the fact that we believe the responsible party is expanding their reach, we have sent out men to look for the culprit, and we were advised to keep our eyes out for you as well."
"Great!" Sonic lit up. "What have you found so far?"
"We have a list of everyone who has gone missing as ofâ"the politician checked his watchâ" fifteen minutes ago." The agent shifted her hold on the tablet in order to give Sonic the list.
The politician failed to hide a cringe. "We have a number of sightings of suspicious aircraft, but little else to go off at the moment. The latest report came from Seaside City, which is unfortunately hundreds of nauticalâ"
Sonic didn't stick around to hear the rest of it. Sticking the piece of paper in his quills, he jumped out the car and raced towards Seaside City.
In his attempts to outrun gravity and the ocean, he miscalculated a tiny bit.
When he finally hit land, there were no buildings, beach towels, or people in sight. Just the ocean, sand, and two crabs.
Sonic bent over to catch his breath for a moment. His ears twitched as he heard a feint voice. Rushing off in its direction, he realized it was coming from some rocks near the tide pools. He couldn't see the exact origin, as a small shuttle was blocking the view.
A burst of panic pushed him forwards. The crying cut off as the ship ascended. Sonic took a running leap.
A little bunny stared at him from one of the windows, a terrified expression on her face.
Sonic reached for a handhold, but missed, falling back into the sand. He immediately stood up and followed the ship from below.
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Gran-Gran was really good at making small talk. Turns out, her actual name was Athena and she was, in fact, 150 years old exactly. According to her, the secret to a long life was being proud of every passing year while still challenging Age itself to a fist-fight every week. Tails told her that he just turned five, so he didn't have nearly as many years to be proud of yet.
"On the contrary!" she crowed and threw her wings into the air. "Years are longer for you young folks, so you can pack more in there!"
Tails giggled at her theatrics. Even the little duck smiled.
The door slid open, and everyone froze.
Tails' ears twitched nervously as Ketalla brought in another poor victim on her back. The little prisoner's whimpers echoed through the quiet room.
The fox desperately wanted to help them, but he was immobile via fear and steel.
The huntress moved over to one of the work benches and placed the prisoner on the table.
A quiet gasp tore through the kit's throat.
The newest victim was a little bunny girl. Straps of a sunset-orange bathing suit peeked out from under her red sundress. The swimsuit matched the orange fur on her head and on the ends of her extremely long ears. They were half the length of the rest of her body.
Her little gloved hands were practically fused together in her lap. Little cries slipped through her lips, and her nose quivered nearly as fast as Sonic. Shivers racked the rest of her every few seconds. The poor girl was terrified, but holding it together remarkably well for her age. She had to be at least a year or two younger than Tails, and he suddenly understood the albatross's words completely. He was a little kid, but she was a toddler.
Katella took one of the bunny's ears and gently clasped a round piece of metal around it's base. She pulled and poked it for a second before doing it again with the next one. The little girl scrunched her eyes together, doing her damnedest to hold back a sob. Katella pat the her on the head, and the cry burst forth.
Tails' eyes filled with tears in sympathy.
Katella sighed and backed up. "I told you to quit that," she said with a hard, disappointed voice. "It's annoying."
The girl tried to obey, but the waterworks refused to be turned off. Her watery eyes filled with fear.
Katella groaned. Looking around, her eyes landed on the fox. He gaped as their eyes locked.
She turned her eyes back towards the rabbit. A sweet, poisonous smirk adorned her face. "Now, now. Don't cry. Because you're so cute, I'm willing to bend my rules a little bit. If you quiet down and don't do anything stupid, I'll do something nice for you."
The girl stared at their captor for a second. With a monumental effort, she was able to turn her sobs into small sniffles.
The huntress pet her on the top of the head, again. "There's a good girl." She picked the little rabbit up, under the arms, and grabbed the keys from the wall.
Everyone else looked scared to death, but Tails felt a little hopeful, given the situation. Keeping his eyes on Katella and the girl, he stood up and backed away from his cell door.
Katella gave him an approving nod as she approached his cage, which churned his stomach. He didn't say anything, though. She opened the lock and set the rabbit girl down.
"Bye-bye, now." The huntress waved to the little girl as she deposited the keys in their box and departed.
Tails approached the bunny slowly. "HeyâŚ"
Silent tears crawled down white fluffy cheeks. The rabbit placed one hand on the bars and sunk down to the floor, gasping for breath.
The little fox gently placed a hand on her shoulder. She glanced over at him and threw herself into his arms. He sat down and wrapped his tails around her too, trying to give her some sort of escape..
"I-I wa-want my-my Mama," she whispered into his chest. Tails could do nothing but rub her back and tighten his hold.
