At The End Of The Tunnel

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At The End Of The Tunnel

Co-written by Harley Quinn hyenaholic and Froggy22651

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Harley: WARNING! WARNING!

Though this work of fiction is set in a cross between the SatAM and Archie universe, and there are both Sonic Team and Archie characters in it (which neither me or Froggy own), there is not in fact a lot of Sonic interaction. So if you’re just looking for the parts with Sonic in it, stop reading right now. This fanfic is primarily about two fan characters called James Prower and Breech Loader, which we do own, and also some other characters called Curtis Mortimer Farlis, and Keith, which we also own. It will not advance your knowledge of any universe, especially the one you eat your tea in. It will not decrease your cost of living.

But if you’ve read my work before, you’ll know that I write good fanfics. And I wouldn’t cross my writing skills with anyone who wasn’t at least as good as me. And that there will probably be sex at some point during the course of this fanfic.

So my advice for reading this fanfic is to treat it as a work of original fiction that just happens to have Sonic characters in it. It started off as an RP, you know. If you enjoy reading it even half as much as we enjoyed writing the first draft, then you need a cold shower and a brisk run.

And one more thing – this fanfic has NOTHING AT ALL to do with my series Universe Backstabber. Nothing at all. To do. With. Universe Backstabber. But read it anyway.

Thankyou, and get on with it.

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Chapter One: Nightmare

His whole world had become pain. It hurt to move. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to live. It wasn’t just physical pain, either. In fact, his injuries were only responsible for part of his pain. Knowing full well just how badly he had failed was far more painful than injury could ever be. Although his injuries were nothing to be scoffed at. His whole body was battered and bruised. A few ribs, his jaw, and his nose were broken. He was covered in blood, his own and the blood of his men, the Royal Guard of the Acorn Kingdom. He was their leader, the Captain of the Royal Guard. He had failed them all.

A SWATbot had worked him over for at least an hour, and it showed. The machine wasn’t very intelligent, and its torture techniques needed refinement, but what it lacked in technique, it made up for in brute strength. The Captain let his mind wander to take it away from the pain. It didn’t help much. His mind kept drifting to his failure. It drifted to memories of a robot army marching into the capital city, Mobotropolis. It saw those very machines killing and capturing the innocent citizens, either eliminating them as threats, or making them candidates for slavery in the new world order. It saw those machines storming the walls of the royal palace and slaughtering the Royal Guard, the warrior order that had defended the kingdom for a thousand years.

There was no doubt in the guardsman’s mind that his order was destroyed for good. It was gone, wiped out by the superior numbers of an artificial army. The robots didn’t take prisoners and didn’t show mercy. Except for him. Why? Why was he, their leader, still alive when all the others were killed? As soon as the question entered his head, he regretted asking it. Julian Kintobor, ex-hero of the kingdom, and now its ultimate traitor wanted to gloat, wanted to rub in just how much of a failure he was.

Julian had been the human defector that had granted the mobians victory over their enemies in the Great War. The brilliant inventor had created a mechanical military force unlike any the world had ever seen, and turned it against his own kind. Now, he had betrayed the mobians and defeated them with that very same army. Now, nothing stood in his way. He had what no one else ever had before, control over the entire world. And it was all the fault of the Captain of the Guard. He should have killed Julian when he had the chance. He should have argued harder against his king about replacing the organic military with the mechanical one. He should have done things better, but he hadn’t, and now he had paid the ultimate price with the ultimate defeat.

The Captain of the Guard shook his head, trying to clear it. He was dizzy and disoriented by both the repeated blows to his head and the shear unreality of the situation. He wanted to believe that it was a nightmare that he was about to wake up from, but he couldn’t deny the truth. The guardsman squeezed his eyes shut and focused on his training. He was a captive of the enemy. He would not give aid to the enemy, under any circumstances. He could only give his name, rank, and serial number. What were they again? He searched his foggy mind for the answer. James Prower, Captain of the Royal Guard, 888-23-9912.

James looked down into a puddle of water that had formed in the dimly lit dungeon and looked at himself. He was a dark orange furred fox with blue-green eyes, 27 years old. Dark purple blotches were under his swollen eyes, and blood leaked from his split lips and nose down his white muzzle. He was naked, his guardsman armor, cloak, and sword having been stripped off him after his capture. Even though it was badly beaten, his body still was an impressive specimen. He was tall for a Mobian, and well cut from years and years of intense training. But all the strength, endurance, and training in the world weren’t going to save him.

The cell door opened up, and two SWATbots stepped in. James wasted no time in showing his opinion of them. He leapt to his feet and hurled himself at the closest machine, throwing a punch at the thing’s domed head. It was a stupid move; there was nothing that his flesh and bone paws could do to the armored, mechanical soldier. His fist impacted against the metal dome with a sickening crunch as the fingers and knuckles of his right hand broke. The fox grabbed his hand and screamed soundlessly in pain. The SWATbot returned the favor and threw a punch of its own. The machine’s punch had a much more dramatic effect, hurling the dazed furry against the wall behind him. The guardsman moaned and crumpled to the ground.

The two SWATbots took an arm each and dragged the groaning fox out of the dungeon cell. As they dragged him through the dungeon, he saw that the other cells were packed with prisoners, mostly palace staff. He looked hopefully to see if there were any other surviving guardsmen, but he saw none. He felt every injury worsen as the machines dragged him up the stairs and into the palace, beating him against every step. As they dragged him through the ornate but gore-stained hallways of the royal palace, he watched helplessly as maintenance droids cleaned away the bodies of his fallen comrades unceremoniously, tossing them into mobile dumpsters. They were treated like mere trash; they would not get the funeral that noble and brave warriors deserved. James threw up on the marble floor and was dragged through the vomit, adding another fluid to his dirty fur. The bots didn’t care.

James’ journey through the palace ended in a laboratory. The wounded fox recognized the vast machine and glass tube as Sir Charles’ invention, the roboticizer. It was a machine designed to turn living flesh into metal and circuitry, effectively turning whoever was placed in it into a robot. The project was shut down when a particularly nasty side effect was discovered: whoever underwent the full process lost their free will, rendering them nothing more than a very fancy and expensive paperweight. The guardsman had no clue how the device worked; the science behind it was far beyond his understanding. He didn’t care. His opinion of technology in general wasn’t very nice at that moment.

“Magnificent, isn’t it?” a deep, sinister voice issued from his left. James felt a shiver run down his spine, and anger filled him as he recognized the voice as Julian’s.

The disgustingly obese human stepped into view, his balding midget lackey of a nephew, Snively, standing beside him. Julian’s appearance had changed quite a bit since James had last seen him. The human’s eyes were replaced by red optical sensors and his left arm with a mechanical prosthetic. Julian’s attire was more befitting of an evil tyrant with its shades of red, orange, yellow and black, and its cape. He was the man who betrayed his kingdom and slaughtered the Guard. James wanted nothing more than to tear him apart with his bare hands. Considering the human’s girth, it would take a long time, but the slower, the better.

“What? No ‘hello’? No congratulations for my victory over you furballs?” the traitor continued, a smug smile on his face.

“Congratulations,” James growled bitterly, “Now go to hell, Julian.”

“In time, guardsman. In time. But first I have a world to conquer and rule, subjects to enslave, and enemies to dispose of. I’m sure you noticed the cleanup of your companions.”

James snarled in response.

“Such a temper. You always were an angry one, Prower. By the way, the name isn’t Julian anymore. It isn’t befitting a global ruler. Dr. Robotnik has a much better ring to it, don’t you agree?”

James honestly didn’t give a damn what the human called himself. He glared at the human defiantly and with pure hate in his eyes.

“Oh, don’t be such a sore loser, fox. With that incompetent king out of the way, the world will be under far more efficient management. And you will get the honor of serving under me in the new world order.”

“I will never serve you, Julian,” James replied without hesitation. He refused to use the human’s self-given title. He didn’t deserve that sort of respect.

“Oh? Is that so? I think you should reconsider that, guardsman. I will offer only this once. And I really don’t appreciate it when my generous offers are refused.”

James snorted and spat at the human as his answer, the blood-filled spittle landing on the doctor’s uniform. He wanted to hit the face, but couldn’t quite manage the range. He would rather die than serve the traitor, and knew that he probably would. The human wiped the spit off his uniform with his metal hand, a look of disgust on his face.

“Disappointing. Very well. If you will not serve me willingly, unwillingly will do. Place him in the roboticizer! And bring the others in.”

James growled as the two SWATbots dragged him to the center of the machine and forced him to stay in as the glass tube lowered over him, trapping him inside like an insect in a glass jar. He tried to resist the robots, but he might as well have tried to wrestle with a tank. He beat against the reinforced glass tube in frustration. His blood turned to ice as he realized what was about to happen to him. He was going to be denied the release of death, instead forced to work as slave labor for the traitor as a mindless machine. It was a fate worse than death, and for the first time since before the battle inside the palace, he was genuinely afraid.

The fear that James felt as he realized what his fate would be was nothing compared to the fear he felt as more SWATbots dragged in ‘the others’. The others consisted of a vixen and two young vulpine children, a boy and a girl. They were his wife, Evelyn, his son, Alec, and his daughter, Josephine. His family. Well, almost his family. There was one member of the Prower clan missing, his newborn son, Miles. A million terrible thoughts flooded the fox’s mind, as he wondered why Miles wouldn’t be there; there was plenty of ways for a baby to die in a besieged city, and no easy ways to escape or survive.

“James!” Evelyn cried out as she slipped free from her SWATbot escorts and rushed over to his glass prison. Tears streaming down her cheeks and her eyes wide with fear, she placed one paw against the glass; a stunned James placed his left and still uninjured paw against it with hers. The SWATbot reached over and pulled her away.

“There is a price to pay for disappointing me, Prower,” Robotnik said as he took a familiar weapon from his nephew. James recognized it as his own sword. The fox suddenly realized that he knew absolutely nothing about fear, failure, loss, or pain.

“No! Wait! Ok ok ok! You’ve made your point! I’ll serve you!”

“Too late, Prower. The deal was only offered once; you refused, and stained my uniform as well. Snively, bring the boy to me.”

The small, long-nosed human walked nervously towards the two children, who were huddled together and crying in fear. Sweat ran down the midget’s face as he turned back to face his uncle.

“Sir,” he spoke in his annoying, nasally voice, “D-Do I have to? I mean, isn’t this a little…”

“No, it’s a lot! Do as I say, Snively!”

“Y-y-yes sir!” the human squeaked as he dragged Alec away from his sister and shoved him to Robotnik.

Robotnik drew the blade back like a baseball bat and swung it at the tiny, sobbing child. Everything moved in slow motion to the guardsman as he watched his son’s head separate from his body and fall to the ground in a gush of blood. James stared wide-eyed at the remains of his son, too stunned to speak. Only a pitiful, weak whimper escaped his throat. His ears flattened against his head and his tail curled between his legs. The high-pitched scream of his daughter hurled him back into a terrifying reality.

“Stop…stop…” James whimpered, dazed and shaking uncontrollably.

Evelyn wailed her grief and struggled to keep both Snively and a SWATbot from taking her daughter. James began to hyperventilate as they pulled Josephine away, dragging her towards the blood-splattered butcher of a tyrant, who was grinning gleefully. It was happening too fast for the guardsman to process. Dr. Robotnik raised the sword over his head and brought it down forcefully but without skill. The first hack didn’t kill her. Neither did the second. The third finally, mercifully silenced her.

“OH GODS, NO!” James wailed in grief and agony.

The fox finally snapped out of shock and rushed the glass wall, beating it as fast and as hard as he could, desperate to break through. All rational thought left him as he broke his hands against the unyielding glass. He beat his hands against the tube until they bled, smearing his own blood over the transparent capsule. He screamed an inarticulate cry of misery and loss.

Evelyn was the last one to die. The SWATbots held her by the arms as Robotnik stepped methodically towards her. She turned her head towards James, eyes wide with fear. Robotnik shoved the blade deep into her chest with a sick, wet sound, instantly cleaving her heart in two. Her eyes glazed over as she died quietly.

“I love you, James,” were her last words.

James had fallen to the floor, curling himself into a fetal ball as he sobbed uncontrollably, just wanting it all to end, wishing to die and join his family and fallen comrades. But he knew it wouldn’t happen. Julian was a monster with no mercy, and would not let his torment end so easily.

Dr. Robotnik chuckled with glee as he finally threw the switch, the bloodied sword still in his grasp. James’ body tingled and every hair on him stood up straight. He jerked and convulsed as the tingling turned to raw agony, like being stabbed, burned, frozen, beaten, and electrocuted all at once. Pain unlike anything he could have ever imagined surged in waves across him, and a dull, numb cold was left in its wake. His thoughts became jumbled and confused, his psyche chopped up, rearranged, and rebooted. All sensation disappeared, leaving him in infinite numbness. Sights and sounds became distant and clouded, like he was sitting at the back of a very large movie theater and was watching his life through the distant screen. He tried to move, but couldn’t. He tried to scream, but nothing came out. He had no control of himself. His free will was gone. He had been transformed, roboticized.

“Whom do you serve?” Robotnik asked cheerfully as the glass tube opened up.

James, or at least what had been James, stood up and replied in a mechanical, emotionless voice, “I serve you, Doctor Robotnik.”

The evil doctor just smiled and turned to his lackey, who had vomited all over the floor.

“Snively, deal with this mess.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll call the maintenance bots to…”

“No! I want you to clean this yourself! And with Prower’s help, of course.”

The small human paled and looked like vomiting again. He nodded rapidly and ran to get the necessary supplies. As he returned, he looked pitifully at the unmoving, roboticized form of James Prower, who soon joined in the cleaning up and disposing of the bodies of his family. Outwardly, the fox could do nothing to stop this. Inside, he was screaming as he was dragged into a new, horrifying existence beyond anything he could have ever imagined…

~~~

James Prower screamed as he sat up in bed, awakening from the nightmare, his fur drenched in a cold sweat. He froze and slowed his breathing as he slowly came down from the adrenaline high induced by the horrifying dream…

He swallowed and crawled out of bed, making his way to the bathroom. Turning a tap, he splashed water in his face and rubbed fiercely. Looking in the mirror, he saw the same orange-furred, blue-green eyed face as it was ten years ago before Robotnik’s coup. It almost seemed like the events of that day never happened. He wished that were true. But that nightmare wasn’t just some horror concocted by his subconscious. It was a memory, a flashback.

It really happened.

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End of Chapter One

Harley: Chapter One was written by Froggy and edited by me.

Froggy: This is my first fic! I don't think I've ever placed a story I've worked on up on the net! Please be gentle...

Harley: Yes, be gentle. And remember - if there's anything wrong with this fanfic, it's all his fault.

Froggy: Huh?