Bid For Power

by

Black Fox Raven

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Okay, legal disclaimer. Anyone not ©Sega or Archie is ©me. This fanfic should ONLY exist at www.fanfiction.net, so if you got it somewhere else, e- mail me at raven2040@yahoo.com.

Plagiarism is a very bad thing, boys and girls, so don't steal my work.

Also a disclaimer; I'm familiar with the Archie universe, but not in great detail, so if I type something that may seem wrong, just ignore it and go on with the story.

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CHAPTER 1

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Somewhere near Robotropolis stood a vital installation to the freedom fighter movement. Rumors had circulated that Robotnik was mobilizing forces to attack it. Several soldiers were recently sent to make sure it was not overrun. The base was the first line of defense between Knothole and Robotropolis, and for that reason it was vital. Several men and women were preparing for the inevitable assault. They were all brave souls, not afraid to die for what they believed in.

Unfortunately, there were fates worse than death. Among them was robotization. You could talk about it like it was just something horrible to have happen to you, but until you fought on the battle lines against robots that were once your friends, or even family, you didn't realize the true horror of it all.

A young woman, a ferret, clad in an official uniform, spoke to one of the men. "Who's the commanding officer here?" she asked.

"That would be me," said a male arctic fox who approached her from behind. The woman recognized his outfit.

"You're one of Geoffrey's boys, aren't you?" she asked.

The fox nodded. "Captain Steven Reynard, at your service," he said. "And who might this lovely lady be and why has she graced us with her presence?"

The woman smirked. "My name is Julia," she said, "and I'm here with the reinforcements."

Steven nodded. "Good to hear," he said. "We're going to need all the help we can get. Where is Daniel?"

A raccoon came forward at the mention of his name. "Here I am."

"How many of them are there?" Steven asked.

"Looks to be about eighty of them," he said.

"Damn," he muttered. "They outnumber us two to one. But now that Julia's here with the reinforcements we should uggggh!" Before Steven even realized it someone had run him through from behind with a blade. Within seconds the area was in a state of pandemonium. The reinforcements weren't actually here to help, as they began attacking the others, disposing of them quickly. Julia was directing traffic, obviously the leader of this group of mavericks. Within seconds they decimated the forces, and few were left alive. The ones that were still alive were not untouched, as they were wounded and maimed.

Julia smiled at the work her forces had done. She walked over to one of the vehicles and painted a symbol on the side of it in red. It was recognized as combination of an ancient rune of life and a rune of death. She turned to the troops at her side.

"Burn this place."

* * *

It had been three months since Prince Elias had returned to Knothole. His motives for doing so were unclear, but he was welcomed back with open arms by his father, and his walking out was never mentioned again. Much to Elias's dismay, however, his father had set him back in the position that drove him away from Knothole in the first place: ruling the kingdom in his father's stead. It wasn't too bad, however, as Geoffrey St. John was more than willing to resume his role in leading Knothole in Elias's name.

In his room, Elias was reading a book quietly to himself. He had recently come down with a cough and a fever that he dismissed as a cold. It wasn't very serious, whatever it was. But even so, Geoffrey had suggested to him that he not do anything strenuous.

Speaking of Geoffrey, he had just walked in carrying what looked like a piece of metal in his hand. He didn't seem to be in the best of spirits either. He looked worried, which got the attention of Elias.

"Is there something wrong?" Elias asked.

Geoffrey nodded. "We have a problem," he said. "The main base on the front line was decimated."

Elias gasped. "Robotnik's troops?"

"No," Geoffrey replied. "This was caused by someone else. A group of volunteer reinforcements had made their way to the base, where they were ambushed by a group of assassins. They took their guise and went to the base themselves disguised as the volunteers. Once inside they laid waste to the area, killing most of the people there."

"My God," Elias muttered, then suddenly coughed twice.

"Are you all right, Elias?" Geoffrey asked. "I notice that your cough hasn't improved."

Elias shook his head. "It's nothing, it." Elias was again interrupted by more coughing, eventually developing into a coughing fit that caused a look of concern on Geoffrey's face. When Elias recovered, he hit his palm against his chest twice and tried to regain his breath.

"Sorry," Elias said. "Do go on."

"Right," Geoffrey said. "Anyway, after they left Robotnik's troops rolled into the base and easily eliminated the remaining survivors. I'm guessing they were roboticized. Only one person survived. He brought this back. He said the assassins left it behind as a mark."

Geoffrey then showed Elias the piece of metal. On one side was the strange marking that Julia had left on the vehicle, registering a gasp and a look of dread on Elias's face.

"No," Elias muttered. "It can't be."

"You've seen this marking before?" Geoffrey asked.

"Yes. It is the marking of a group of people known as the Stosstrupen."

Geoffrey thought for a moment. "Stosstrupen? That name sounds familiar."

"They're a clan of assassins," Elias said. "My father once told me about them. They've warred with the House of Acorn for years over a dispute over the throne. They disappeared shortly before the Great War. Those who fought them thought they were gone."

"I remember now," Geoffrey said, "but the only things I've heard are myths and legends. They're not even supposed to exist."

"They exist," Elias said. "And that is either proof of their existence or a very cruel joke." Elias sat up. "I must warn my father."

"No," Geoffrey said. "Think of the consequences of that action. Most people think of the Stosstrupen as only a fairy tale, so if you tell everyone, you will either be considered insane, or if they do believe you, Knothole will be in a state of panic."

"Nevertheless," Elias said, "my father must know about this." Elias got to his feet, then coughed repeatedly as he stood.

"Elias, you must lay down," Geoffrey said. "You're in no condition to do anything right now."

"No," Elias said taking a step toward the door. "I'll be all right. I..." Elias's words were interrupted by coughing. He struggled to take another step toward the door, then immediately collapsed.

"Prince Elias!" Geoffrey said in shock. "Are you all right?" He was losing consciousness, and thought he heard Geoffrey calling for a doctor, but was unable to tell as his vision faded to black.

* * *

Geoffrey waited outside Elias's room. Dr. Quack was brought to Elias in short order. He was examining the future king now. After a brief wait, the door opened and Dr. Quack stepped out.

"What's the diagnosis," Geoffrey asked.

"He seems to have a case of what appears to be tuberculosis," Dr. Quack said. "At least, that's what I think it is. I haven't seen a case quite like this in a long time."

"Is he going to be all right?"

"Hard to say," Quack said. "Nowadays, tuberculosis is easily cured, but this is a very unusual case. I've never seen it spread so quickly, nor have I seen it occur with the symptoms he has. On another note, this disease doesn't appear to be contaigous."

Geoffrey looked worried. "What should we do?"

"Well, I can give him some antibiotics but until I find out exactly what it is that's gotten ahold of him I can't really say what'll happen. Until then, I suggest he gets some rest. And tell him not to leave his room. Like I said, it doesn't appear to be contaigous, but that doesn't mean it isn't."

Geoffrey nodded. "It will be done."

* * *

Sonic stepped out of the bathroom, drying his quills off with a towel, humming a song to himself. He was in a pretty good mood, as his mind was on the events that would transpire later tonight. He had a date with Sally in a few hours. This was no ordinary date, however. Sonic was going to ask Sally something very important.

He passed by a mirror over his dresser, looked at it, fixed his quills, then smirked and said "You da man!"

He opened the dresser and looked through his socks, then found what he was looking for: a small black box. He opened it and looked at what was inside: a beautiful gold ring adorned with diamonds and emeralds. He had saved up a lot of money to get this, and it took him over a year to do so, but he had finally gotten it. It was the second most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, next to the person he was planning to give it to.

He actually had the ring for months now, but every time he'd gotten around to try and ask Sally the big question, he'd always choked under pressure. Tonight was going to be different. There was going to be absolutely no way that Sally would escape this time.

He noticed he had a message on the answering machine. "Must have called while I was in the shower," he said to himself. He pressed the play button.

"Hi, you've reached the home of Sonic, the most way past cool hedgehog! I'm not in right now, but if you leave a message after the tone, I'll give you a ring. Catch ya later!"

"Sonic, it's me, Sally." Sonic's ears perked up when he heard Sally's voice. "I know we had a date tonight, but something's come up with my brother. He's gotten sick and I need to see him. Don't worry, Sonic. I promise I'll make it up to you. Bye."

Just like that, Sonic's perfect day was over.

"Damn it!" he shouted. "That's the third night in a row!" He sat down on his bed, looking at the ring he was going to use to propose to the girl he loved, then sat it aside and shook his head. "I can understand why she'd want to be with Elias if he's sick," Sonic thought to himself. "But usually she calls off dates for silly things. Either that or that moron Geoffrey wants to talk to her about something. And this was supposed to be our night, too!"

"Oh well," he said to himself. "There's always another day."

There was a knock on the door. "Come in," Sonic said. In walked Mina the mongoose with a cheerful smile on her face.

"Hi Sonic," she said. "I was wondering if...what's wrong?" Mina noticed the sour expression on Sonic's face.

"It's nothing. Just having problems with....crap!" Sonic realized he'd left the ring lying next to him on the bed. He quickly grabbed it and hid it somewhere. Thanks to his super speed, he was able to put it in a hiding place before Mina even realized what was going on.

"What are you doing?" Mina asked with a smirk on her face.

"Nothing!" Sonic replied with a big phony smile. "Nothing at all!"

"Well, you seemed to be in a bad mood so...."

"Oh noooooo! I'm having a blast of a day! Really!"

Mina giggled. "Silly boy. I'm not even going to ask. Oh by the way, I found this place by the lake that's really pretty in the moonlight. I thought I'd come and show it to you."

Sonic looked at Mina, who was still smiling sweetly at him. He knew she was up to something, and it wasn't simply to "show him a place by the lake". "Are you asking me out on a date?" Sonic asked.

Mina blushed. "Well....."

Sonic sighed. He knew Mina had a crush on him, and while she was nice and all, his feelings lied elsewhere. "Look Mina," he said. "I like you, all right? I really do. But I don't 'like' you. You understand what I'm saying?" He'd been over this discussion with Mina several times, but she kept on coming on to him. She was persistent, all right. Maybe not as persistent as Amy, but then, who could be?

"Yeah yeah, I know," Mina said, the smile still on her face despite the fact that she had been let down. "You 'like' Sally, right? Well, she's not going to be there for you forever, ya know."

"Of course she will," Sonic said, even though he was starting to wonder due to recent events.

"Oh really?" Mina asked. "And you're sure that you're the only one she has eyes for?"

"Positive," Sonic replied.

"I don't know. She doesn't seem to mind whenever Geoffrey comes on to her." Mina giggled, and Sonic winced. She hit a nerve, and she knew it.

"There's nothing between them," Sonic replied hastily.

"And she seems to like boys quite a bit," Mina said. "Remember Griff?"

"That's below the belt," Sonic said quietly.

"She's gonna lose you sooner or later," Mina said as she wrapped her arms around Sonic's neck, pulling a little closer to him, her lips very close to his. "And when she does, I'll be there to pick you up!"

Right about now the only thing that could make this day any worse would be if Sally herself walked in and saw Mina wrapped around Sonic like this. Luckily for him, Sally didn't come. Sonic blushed and got out from around Mina's arms. "Can we switch the subject to something else?" Sonic asked.

"Oh all right," Mina said, sticking her tongue out at Sonic. "Okay, forget the date. Why don't we go over to Tails's place and see if he'll give us a ride on the Tornado."

Sonic thought about it for a moment. It would get his mind off being stood up for the third time in a row. "All right," he said. "I'm in."

* * *

"Another one gone?" Geoffrey asked.

"Yes," a young female racoon wearing clothes similar to Geoffrey's said. "Deep in Robotropolis, like the first one. Afterwards Robotnik's troops destroyed the remains, just like before."

"Were there any strange markings left behind, Captain?"

The woman shook her head. "There were no survivors, so it's difficult to tell."

"It must be the Stosstrupen," Geoffrey thought to himself. "It's so much like the last one it can't be coincidence."

"Sir?" the racoon asked, noticing that Geoffrey was in deep thought.

"It's nothing," Geoffrey said. "Captain..."

The woman smiled at Geoffrey. "You can call me Taylor, you know. We're not on duty."

"Captain," Geoffrey repeated. "I want you to send as many troops to our remaining bases as possible. Warn them of what happened to the last two bases, and make sure this does not happen again."

"Very well," Taylor replied, turning her back to Geoffrey and leaving. "He's always got his mind on his work," Taylor thought to herself. "I don't think he's ever just let his hair down once in his life." She glanced back at Geoffrey one last time before shutting the door to his office.

Geoffrey did not really appreciate the fact that it was the middle of the night and he had to fill out more paperwork explaining how another base was crushed with little resistance. He would get the blame for this. Even now he was sure that certain people were trying to prove his incompetence as a leader. This would not do. He had big plans, and part of making those plans work was to ensure his reputation stayed intact.

"They must be told," Geoffrey said. "They must be told of this new menace."

((TO BE CONTINUED..))

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Once again, comments and criticism are welcome. Flames will result in decapitation.