Rise For Me (Sequel to Scream For Me)

-1-

Dr. Starline stepped into the control room of his base just in time to see the Metal Virus drawing away from his prisoner's body. She promptly slid to the floor of the cell, touching her face tentatively with her hands before seeming to realize she was no longer infected.

"They did it," the doctor said, bending down and putting his hand on the glass of the cage. (Y/n) the (A/t) lifted her head to look at him with wide eyes, her mouth opening and letting out a scream, however, Starline was unable to hear due to the design of the cell.

"When you are quite finished," he said and she clamped her mouth shut, covering her face, "I would like to begin." Her eyes widened slightly and she shook her head as Starline walked around to the door. He then stepped into the cell, closing the door behind him. He lifted a hand as her fingers shifted over her lips. "I wouldn't recommend screaming, my dear. It won't do anything to me. As the one who created you, I have all the defenses." Her hands remained around her mouth. "Very good."

The doctor walked over to her and she moved away from him until her back hit the cell wall. Starline bent down, retrieving a muzzle from his pocket. He pried her hands away from her mouth and easily slipped the muzzle on before a scream could burst out. He then cuffed her hands and pulled her to her feet as he stood.

Without a word, Starline led her into a different room, much resembling the lab she'd been created in. Her ears flattened and she tugged back against his grip. The doctor turned to face her, clicking. "Now, now," he said. "We've already gotten past the hard part. Turning you into a Mobian was most likely the most painful part." He chuckled as he hauled her over to a table and forced her onto it, strapping her down and pulling a tray over.

"Now, however, if it makes you feel better, I'll walk you through it," he continued. All she did was stare at him in terror. He lifted a different type of muzzle, switching it out for the one she had on. "This is going to completely fix your scream. The first one was wonderful, no judgement here, however, it seems rather uncontrollable, no matter how much training you received. It seems you went almost entirely mute to avoid screaming." He peered over her face, her chest moving up and down rapidly, her eyes flicking from side to side to try and find a way to escape.

"Now, darling, scream for me." That was no problem. She clearly tried to hold it in to stop him from getting what he wanted, but all it took was a small smirk and a lift of his hand and she screamed. This Mobian had ruined her life, and her fear for him was exactly what he wanted and needed for cooperation.

"That's enough," he finally said, looking at a device with the stats for his project. And surprisingly, she immediately cut off. Her eyes went wide while Starline's grin grew. "Perfect results. Now you only scream on command, whether mine or yours. It's most likely shock making you react directly to my commands." He removed the muzzle and she turned her head to look at him. "This means you can now speak freely without fear of screaming. Amazing, isn't it? It's a gift, from me to you." She simply stared at him and he shrugged. "You'll find your voice later. Second step, making you respond only to me."

He turned to the tray, picking up a scalpel. He singled out a small pair of tweezers and with them carefully picked up a tiny chip. "This will connect our brain activities to each other, however, this chip is specifically designed to make you entirely prone to me. All the settings in my own chip that allow me to have control over you have been removed from yours, leaving only the submissive ones. Really, the only thing in common with our chips is the connecting mechanism, which is what allows me to control you and forces you to obey." He chuckled. "Ingenious, really."

Carefully, he propped her head up so he could reach the back of her neck where he would plant the chip and proceeded to fit it in. She squirmed slightly, but the second the chip hit where he needed it to, he ordered to stop and she did. Then, he stitched her back up, satisfied with his work.

"Third step," he said, "making sure that your friends don't hit you with an EMP that will short out the chip and relinquish my control over you. I plan on adding to you a sort of cyborg feature. This feature will run throughout your body and upon an EMP, you will shut down entirely, which will essentially put you in a coma until someone can get the tech back online. There is a twist to it, and, for safety reasons, I'm just going to keep that to myself." He smirked, patting her lightly on top of the head and removing the prop from under her. Her head thumped back onto the table. "This may be the hardest part, my dear. And, just this once, please refrain from screaming."

Then, he proceeded to gather the components for his final step and get to work.

~

Everyone was on Angel Island. Tangle, Vector, Charmy, Cheese, Chocola, Vanilla, everyone. All of their friends Zavok had thrown onto the island to make it harder for them to fight.

Everyone but (Y/n).

Marching away from Knuckles, who he'd apparently been fighting, Shadow approached the doctor and grabbed him by the back of his shirt, lifting him off the ground with ease and turning him around so he could properly stare him in the eye.

"Where is she?" he snarled. Eggman's eyes widened.

"Who are you talking about?" he asked, lifting his hands.

"(Y/n)."

"How would I know? She was infected where I couldn't find her. I became disinterested with the zombots after they stopped listening to me, and it's not like I care about that failed experiment anymore. Project Scream is discontinued!"

"I don't care!" Shadow spat, curling his free hand into a fist and pulling it back behind his head. "Starline must have her. Where is that platypus?"

"I fired him!" Eggman squealed, staring at Shadow's fist. "He brought the Zeti here in an attempt to impress me and I fired him for it!"

"You let him out of your sight!" Shadow hissed. "You fool!" Then his fist connected squarely with Eggman's nose and sent the doctor flying back when he released him. He sat up, his nose bleeding. Shadow stalked back up to him and the doctor squeaked, scrambling back. The dark hedgehog stepped on one of the tails of his red coat, stalling him. He planted his other foot on his oversized belly and shoved him flat on his back. "Do you have any connection left with Starline?"

"No," Eggman snorted. "When I fire someone, I fire them. No more of them! See ya!" He dropped the tart remarking attitude when Shadow's upper lip twitched furiously. However, the only thing the dark hedgehog did was shove his belly roughly, making him huff before stepping off him and stomping over to where Rouge and Knuckles were, the red echidna hissing at the bat like a cat.

"He didn't know, I'm guessing," Rouge said, turning away from the Emerald as Knuckles splayed himself across it protectively. Shadow shook his head and she sighed. "I'm sorry, Shadow, but we're probably going to have to search manually, looking for clues or sightings. And we have to deal with cleaning up the world first." She put her hand on his shoulder, surprised almost when he didn't react, only dropping his head in defeat. "We'll find her, Shadow, I promise."

"No," he said, pushing her hand off his shoulder. "There are more than enough of you to clean up the disaster of the Metal Virus, but I have already lost enough. I lost Maria, but I will not lose (Y/n). Not when there is a chance that she is out there and she may need me." Rouge smiled.

"I knew you would say something like that," she said. "I'm going to stick around with these guys to clean up this mess, for now at least, but when we're done, if you still haven't tracked her down, you can count on me to help you." At this, Shadow returned the smile with a small one of his own.

"Thank you, Rouge," he said sincerely. She folded her arms, smirking.

"Okay, enough with the sappiness," she said, flaring her wings. "Get out there and find your one and only." Shadow turned, curling his hands into fists as he locked his gaze on the land below.

"Copy that." And with that, he teleported off to find (Y/n).