ARAAT2: Eclipse - Part 1

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A Rose And A Thorn 2: Eclipse

Co-Written by Harley Quinn hyenaholic and Froggy22651

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Harley: *ignores Bastard and Bastard is a Wanker and deletes both pointless ‘reviews’*

Froggy: Winner of the Most Intelligent Review this week goes to Dark Angel Murdoc. Thank you for not only enjoying the story, but also saying why you enjoy it. Most importantly, I think we’re both glad that you have decided to continue writing because of us.

Harley: And RAW may like to know that we made NONE of the robots featured in the last chapter up. They have all featured in previous Sonic games. Including the Tails Doll. The Colonel and the Professor are our creations.

Froggy: Finally, in this chapter the torture begins. We’re warning you that it’s incredibly graphic and horrible, but that won’t stop the more sensitive crybabies reading it and then complaining, just like the people who read slash fanfiction and then leave bad reviews complaining about how they hate it.

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Chapter Six: Capture!

Blue light flickered in mid air, expanded in a roughly shaped blur, and then disappeared entirely as the figure of a black and red hedgehog sprang into existence. He landed easily on his feet and looked around at the new jungle he found himself in. Looking around at the trees cautiously, he knew that the GUN base was around here somewhere. His hands itched to wrap themselves around a weapon, but he had used them all up in his pointless battle to get to Eggman. Fine. He didn't need them; he was the Ultimate Lifeform. He took off running, cruising through the jungle, searching for a sign of the humans.

"Sir, he's come, like you said."

"Whatever the cost, I want him captured alive.”

GUN's best restraint forces were out to immobilize Shadow.

Shadow's ears twitched as he heard the sound of jet engines closing in on him. GUN must have known he was coming and prepared appropriately. Shadow sneered. It didn't matter what they used against him; they couldn't stop him. He stopped where he was and crossed his arms over his chest. "Alright. Let us get this over with." The sound of splintering wood filled his ears as one of GUN's mecha-walkers – the Hunter series - came crashing down through the forest canopy, landing on its heavy steel feet. Shadow snorted, unimpressed. He could certainly deal with that junk heap... Then another one landed behind him. Another off to his side. And another. And another. Soon the area was filled with the walking tanks, surrounding the black hedgehog. Shadow raised an eyebrow. His enemies weren't fooling around.

More than forty GUN soldiers stepped in a half-circle around Shadow, just behind the robots. They had been given orders to shoot on sight. They knew Project Shadow would never surrender.

The mecha-walker's guns had been filled with glue instead of lasers. They started firing at and in the general direction of Shadow. If it didn't hit him, he was running on it, and it was slowing him down. Even if he used Chaos Control to get out of it, it still stuck to his feet, rendering his jet shoes useless. This wasn't good.

Shadow dodged and weaved, doing his best to avoid the sticky substance the walkers were hurling at him. This was a new tactic for GUN, trying to immobilize him. He pushed his jet shoes to the max, hovering above the sticky glue as he built up chaos energy, looking for the best opportunity to attack. Soon, a new sound filled the air: the whistling of tranquillizer darts being fired from the soldiers' rifles. They were trying to take him alive!

Growling, Shadow launched himself into the air and spin attacked the cockpit of the nearest walker, hurling it backwards, and the shocked pilot inside struggled to control the machine. Shadow hopped from walker to walker, avoiding the glue and taking cover, damaging the machines as he went. Hurling a bolt of energy at his attackers, he figured he could outlast them. In the middle of one of his jumps, one of the mechas opened its missile launchers. Instead of missiles, though, it fired capture nets at him. Shadow sliced through one and then another as the mechas fired this new projectile at him. Then he made his mistake; one of the nets wrapped around him, sending him to the ground, splashing in a puddle of the glue-like substance. He struggled to free himself.

A soldier stepped forward and fired a tranquillizer dart into his neck. Shadow felt the world becoming a blur, but he continued to struggle, tearing the strong net with his hands alone. It took three more such darts before he finally slumped, unconscious.

~~~

Some hours later, Shadow began to come round. The moment he opened his eyes, he regretted it. The light above him was almost blinding. His head still felt fogged up, and he felt weak and tired from the tranquillizers. His back was against something hard, cold and uncomfortable, and when he tried to sit up, his body refused to obey him.

Shadow struggled to get up, to keep fighting, shaking the tired, drugged apathy from his mind, but nothing he did worked. He was restrained entirely. He growled in frustration.

"The subject has awoken," Shadow tried to turn his head in the direction of the voice, but he couldn't do that either. He hadn't been called 'subject' since... since he'd been a lab experiment on ARK.

"Let me go," the hedgehog demanded quietly.

"Let you go?" asked a smooth voice that made Shadow's skin crawl, "Why ever should I do that?"

Shadow's eyes narrowed in anger. He wouldn't be some science experiment again... he wouldn't... "Because if you don't," he said in a cold, rumbling voice, "I'm going to make you beg for death before I end your pathetic human life."

"Will you now?" The lights dimmed slightly, and as Shadow's vision cleared somewhat, he came to realise that his legs, arms and even his forehead were strapped to a metal table, and that he'd been stripped of his gloves and jet shoes, "I doubt it. I very much doubt it."

"I am the Ultimate Lifeform, and you are just a piece of under-evolved pond scum. I'll show you how misguided your doubts are." Shadow started to call on the energies of the Chaos Emeralds, drawing it to himself so he could use it to blast away his shackles, awaken his groggy body, and teach this puny human his final lesson... but nothing happened. Why wasn't it working?

"I think you'll find that the special tranquillizers I had my men use on you have weakened you too much to use Chaos Control," the voice told him.

Shadow didn't want to admit it, but his captor seemed to be right. His mind was too fogged by the drugs to direct the flow of energy properly, his body too weak to channel it, "You... have no right to take my son from me."

“I have every right to take 'your' son from you, Project Shadow," the voice answered, "You are a creation of GUN’s resources. You wouldn't even be capable of reproduction if it weren't for that idiot Gerald not reading what he was signing. Both you and your progeny belong to GUN."

“I thought GUN enforced rules against that kind of thing. The people of Earth generally consider slavery a bad thing. You always were hypocrites... Not that it matters. Both me and my son will be free soon enough, and you will be destroyed."

"Slavery?" the voice sounded shocked, "Tell me, Project Shadow... how is it possible to enslave a weapon? Is a knife enslaved to its wielder? Although I will admit that you are rather a failure as a weapon... and at everything else too," the voice sounded smug.

"I am not a weapon," Shadow declared defiantly, "Professor Gerald saw to that. He never cared for your barbaric policies. A weapon isn't given a mind or a heart or a will of its own."

"You were also created by Doctor Gerald Robotnik to save his grand-daughter's life. You failed, and the girl died in an unfortunate accident. You were then programmed by Gerald in his madness to destroy the planet. You failed at that too. Only a few months ago you failed to protect your mate, Miss Blossom, from rape," seeing Shadow's surprised face, the voice added, "I read the papers too, you know... And now you have failed in your duty as a 'father' to protect or even rescue your progeny."

"This isn't over yet..." Shadow growled, "And don't you DARE spout your bullshit about the ‘accident’. I was there. Maria was murdered. You claim to act for the good of the world, but you trample over its people to further your own ends. You disgust me."

"You, Project Shadow, are a failed experiment," the voice said, ignoring Shadow’s insult, "And GUN has only one use for failed experiments - further research, to discern where mistakes were made, so that they are not made again."

"I will not be a slave!" Shadow struggled with his restraints again, harder than before. But even as he felt his strength return, it was sapped away as another dose of the drug was pumped into his system.

"First of all, these gentlemen are going to retrieve your memories," If Shadow rotated his eyeballs, he could see the owner of the voice coming into focus, slowly. The tall, lean man looked to be about fifty, although exact age was difficult to determine. And his stripes indicated that he was a Colonel, "All of your memories. Even those you thought you had lost. The term 'video diary' will have a whole new meaning. You should be grateful. Of course, the equipment is still in a highly experimental stage. So it may be somewhat painful." The Colonel sounded rather pleased about that.

"Bastard..." he whispered. They were going to drag his memories out of the depths of his mind and analyse them. All of them. His whole life on display for them to see. They would analyse the dynamic between him and Maria, seeing it as a flaw in his programming. They would examine his control over his own powers, seeing how they could enhance them. They would observe his loyalty towards Amy and see it as something they could exploit. His relationship would be open for them to watch, all of it, even those intimate times when they had been so close. He could imagine some perverted tech officer in a darkened room jacking off to those moments. Shadow was nothing to them but a product, a tool, "NO! My memories are mine and mine alone! You will never have them!"

"There is nothing you can do to prevent it."

Shadow winced as something sharp and needle-like was pushed deep under his skin and into his muscles. Then again. And again. All over his body. He lost count soon enough. Small trickles of blood were drying rapidly under the heat of the lab lights. He tried to free himself, to get free of the stinging needles. At least on ARK they cared if he was comfortable or not, "Get away from me!"

The Colonel held up the diamond ring that Shadow had been concealing in his glove, "How very, very odd that a weapon such as you could ever find the desire for companionship - or expect that it could ever be returned."

Shadow began to shake in rage. That was Amy's ring! He’d had it made for her, his special gift to her and her alone, the symbol of his love for her, his willingness to spend the rest of his life with her... and it was being fingered by the soulless monster that had taken their son away, "That... is not for you..."

The Colonel narrowed his eyes, "You know, I am rather glad that Professor Gerald Robotnik is dead... there were so many experiments he refused to carry out on you. The soft-hearted old fool..."

Then a screaming pain shot through Shadow's entire body, spreading a short agony throughout every part of his body. It was indescribable with words along; he could only say that it was as if a blunt bread-knife had been used to cut up his body. He had to take a deep breath in, before he was able to unleash a scream that fully described how much pain he was suffering. What the fuck were they doing to him?!

The pain stopped as abruptly as it had begun, and Shadow watched, panting, as a scanner was placed over one eye, "From what my scientists tell me, the electricity running through your body stimulates your brain into reliving long-term memories at high speed. So we should have your entire life on disk in about..."

"Two weeks. Less if we keep it on automatic at night."

"Right," the Colonel replied to the scientist who had spoken, "Carry on gentlemen. Oh, and as soon as you have the time, analyse that power ring."

"It's not yours!" Shadow shouted, "It's Amy's! I have to give it to her!" There was a hint of pleading in his voice. Two weeks? He’d go crazy…

"Well, maybe you can," the Colonel sounded smug, "Analysing the mother of Project Eclipse could be very enlightening too."

Shadow expression became eerily blank as he stared at the Colonel. "I gave you your chance to live. Remember that."

"I'll try," the Colonel answered calmly, "Gentlemen," he said to the scientists, "I leave Project Shadow in your capable hands. I will be returning on occasion to check on your progress, of course."

Shadow heard a door open and close. Then the pain raked through his body again, "You monsters!" he screamed as he fought the pain, "This is my life, not yours! You have no right to it!"

"The subject is showing some resistance."

"Ignore it. Just keep sending that electrical current through it like that for 10 seconds at 20 second intervals."

"Have you no honour? Have you no souls?!" Shadow demanded of them, his voice nigh on a screech. The way they spoke about him... it was as if he was an animal.

The scientists ignored his cries utterly, taking notes on his suffering. Through a haze of pain, he could see one of them pick up the ring that the Colonel had dropped carefully, just before another shock ravaged his body.

Shadow cried out in agony, "That's Amy’s ring... Amy's... she's going to be worried... I've got to go to her... let me GO!" he babbled.

"The subject continues to show resistance, despite obvious and considerable pain," commented one of the scientists.

"No shit?!" Shadow continued to fight the restraints. It was futile, but it kept him focused on something other than the pain, kept him angry, "I fulfilled my promise to Maria… I saved your lives... all of you! This is how you repay me?!"

The scientists didn't seem to be listening, "That's good," said the one holding the ring, the one who seemed to be in charge, "It shows stamina. Project Shadow is obviously not a physical failure, even if it is emotionally unstable." More pain.

"At least I have emotions! What about you?! What test tubes were you grown in?!" he taunted them in the brief lull between shocks, barely able to restrain his screams.

There were no shocked silences. No angry reactions. Not even extra pain, to show that the scientists even cared. They paid no attention to a lab experiment's suffering or anger. Even one who could hurl insults at them, "It obviously has an excellent AI," somebody said, as calmly as ever, "Where do you think it learnt to react so intelligently?"

And as they discussed him like he was some sort of lab rat, the pain kept coming, for ten seconds at twenty second intervals.

Shadow grimaced with the effort of not crying out, as another series of shocks ran through him. Now sweat was trickling down his forehead, "I don't know... but whoever made yours did a truly terrible job. Can't even… reply properly."

"How long will the memory scanning take?" somebody asked.

"About a week. We'll leave it on automatic at nights."

A week? A week of this misery could drive him insane. And now he wouldn't even get rest. He had to stay focused. He had to think of his son, of Amy, of Maria. Their memories gave him the strength to go on. He was going to need a lot. He had to escape... somehow.

"A week is far too long," said the scientist in charge, "There's too many tests we need to perform on it. A lot of them could damage the results of the memory scanning if we try them now."

"The subject appears to have a high pain tolerance level," suggested someone else, "If we tried increasing the voltage, we'd get the memories faster."

"Oh... fuck you," Shadow growled at the scientist who suggested it.

"True..." the Professor answered. While he was considering, another shock passed through Shadow, "Very well. Try doubling it."

The hedgehog convulsed as the increased electrical current shot through his body. Shadow screamed in pain until his throat was raw. He felt completely helpless at the hands of the emotionless scientists. His struggles were useless, and they just continued to force his mind open, taking his memories for themselves. He wondered if this was what rape felt like. Tears trickled down his face as the shock ended. He whispered, soft enough that the scientists had to strain to hear, "Maria... help me..."

"We can take tissue samples without disturbing the memory scanning process, right Professor?" asked one of the scientists.

"Absolutely," the Professor answered. A hypodermic needle was inserted into Shadow's elbow and a blood sample was removed. He hardly noticed, thanks to the residual pain.

Yelling and hurling insults didn't seem to faze the scientists. Maybe he needed to try something different, "Hey..." he said weakly, "Have any of you been in this thing before? It's not going to... fry my brain or something, right?"

"Will it?" one of the scientists asked the Professor.

"It didn't actually give previous test subjects brain damage," the Professor replied, "Although some of them were delirious with pain, and suffering from muscle shock."

Well at least it wouldn't turn him into a vegetable, "Oh... good..." Shadow forced himself to remain calm and try to be somewhat polite, despite the fact that he hated their guts, "What's your names, anyway? Looks like we are going to be here for a while."

The scientists didn't appear to be interested in getting to know him, "How are we going to keep it from dehydrating or starving?" asked one, presumably the newest.

"I have here a nutrient drip," said the Professor, "It will keep the subject fully nutritionalised without the need to give it actual food."

"Yummy..." Shadow muttered sarcastically. It seemed that being casual and friendly didn't work. Maybe he could try to really mess with their hearts and make them sorry for him. Tilting his head enough to face the youngest man in a white lab coat, he said, "Hey... I know I'm probably going to die in here. Could you just do me a favour? That ring... please, deliver it to Amy Rose for me, all right? And tell her... tell her that I love her."

Another shock forced its way through Shadow's body, and then the IV was pushed deep into his arm. The youngest scientist blinked, "Don't worry, Project Shadow. You won't die in here, we'll make sure of that."

"Don't interact with it," the Professor ordered him.

As he’d thought, the youngest wasn't completely brainwashed yet and was still capable of basic empathy. The elderly professor, on the other hand, was a different story, "Why not?" he asked the professor, "I would think… that conversation would cause more brain activity. It would make extracting memories easier, particularly if the conversation involved them."

“Yes, why not?” asked the youngest scientist.

"I'm no fool," the Professor replied, "We do our jobs, we get paid, and we advance the knowledge of the world. And when the memory scanning is complete, it's likely that the Colonel will order its memories to be wiped completely. We'll make a weapon of it yet. You see," he told the other scientists, "There is no point in reacting with it if it won't even remember."

Shadow closed his eyes tightly and fought against the fear rising within him. Opening his eyes, he looked back at the youngest scientist, "Just tell her for me, please. I'm never going to have the freedom to do it myself. Please... I love her!" Another shock ran through him, and blood trickled from his lip as he bit down on it in pain.

The youngest scientist was clearly battling with himself. He wasn't used to testing on animals that could answer back.

"Humph. Take away this ring and analyse it," the Professor told him. The youngest scientist took the ring and left the lab.

"He'll have to learn that we can't afford to pussy-foot around in the interests of animals. This is for the good of people," said another scientist.

"I am not an animal!" Shadow growled. He was still angry, but he had the faintest hope that he had gained an ally of sorts in the base.

"The subject appears to be adjusting to the electrical current," commented a scientist, "Perhaps we can increase the voltage further?"

Shadow squeezed his eyes shut and groaned. More pain?! He couldn’t stand it… he couldn’t…

"If it is rendered unconcious, we won't be able to get optimal results from its memories," said someone else.

"True," the Professor noted, "Try it anyway."

"Oh give me a brAAARRRGGGHHHSHIT!!!" Shadow screamed as the greatly increased voltage coursed through him. His body convulsed wildly, and all rational thought was torn apart, his world becoming blinding white pain. For a moment he thought he was going to black out.

"Hmmm... that seems to be the limit of Project Shadow's pain threshold for now," said another, "It isn't reacting as before." Another shock ran through Shadow. It was still ten seconds at twenty second intervals, but now he could barely tell the difference between when the machine was shocking him and when it wasn't.

"How long will the memory scanning take at this voltage?" somebody asked as Shadow screamed again.

"About three days," said the Professor, "Over 50 years worth of data in three days. A weaker subject might die, but I have every confidence in Project Shadow's stamina."

In-between shocks, Shadow babbled incoherently, the world around him becoming a never-ending, nightmarish blur of pain. "Maria... Professor... why didn't you tell me... please help me... Oh, Amy, I'm so sorry..."

"Yes, that seems to be its limit for now," said someone else, "Triple the dose of a normal test subject. Impressive."

"Yes. I think we can expect that Project Eclipse will have a similar limit," answered the Professor, "It's fortunate that Project Shadow came here. We couldn't possibly carry out these tests on a hedgehog only a few weeks old. It would be permanently brain-damaged."

"This voltage won't damage the subject's brain, right?" asked someone.

"Not permanently," the Professor answered, "Now do you want to observe Project Shadow, or so you want to leave and analyse that ring?"

"I want to observe, Professor."

Shadow blinked as the professor's words pierced through the fog of pain. Eclipse. They still had Eclipse and they were going to experiment on him too. The anger rose up in him again, giving him the strength to go on. "My friends... are going to save me," he forced out, "And then I will take great pleasure in destroying you..."

"That would be wonderful!" said the Professor.

"You what?"

"Some of Project Shadow's, aha, friends have the most unique abilities. The Chameleon for example... I've always wondered exactly how it is capable of disappearing so completely. It is a skill far in advance of normal chameleons."

"You won't see Espio... until he throws a shuriken into your spine..." Shadow groaned.

"And Project Shadow's mate... where does she hide that giant mallet?" asked another.

"You have no idea..." Shadow said with a wicked grin, "And there are other friends too... I have the heroes of Earth on my side... how can you compare to them?"

"It has a point," said one scientist.

"It's not our job to capture them, that's the soldiers jobs," said the Professor, "Besides, they're sending out troops soon enough to bring them in. It's GUN. They won't put up a fight. If their arrests are handled correctly. They captured Project Shadow, I'm sure they can deal with a bunch of genetic freaks," he added.

"You are forgetting about the worst of them... the other Ultimate Lifeform... he owes me..." Shadow said, "The blue hedgehog..." Suddenly, Shadow began to chuckle. His chuckles rose in volume to become a crazed laugh, "You are fooling with powers you cannot possibly comprehend."

"The blue hedgehog is not our concern," said the Professor, "You are."

That was the first hour of many.

~~~

Harley: Chilling… Did you squirm?

Froggy: No. But it’s going to get worse. It’s not just the description… it’s the images in your brain that make you want to vomit! But not us!

Harley: Read and review right now! Flames will be mocked and deleted. And unlike some people at ff.net, I do know the difference between constructive criticism and flames.