Chapter 9: Last Sanctuary
January 14th, 2308 – 2:30 PM – Robotnik's secret base, somewhere in the Land of Darkness
Swift sprinted down the corridors of the secret base, angry at himself for not being able to help Kyle, and angry at Robotnik for taking away his best friend. He clutched at Kyle's rifle, the only article that he had left of him.
Not Kyle...not Kyle...I'll never let you kill him!
He was so enraged that he practically ran on autopilot through the base. He came to a tank hangar, and a group of robot soldiers stood before him. He didn't even bother to slow down as he plowed right through the middle of them with a spin dash. They were knocked aside as easily as if they were bowling pins. Moving on through the room, Swift noticed a group of robots that looked something like robot versions of Freedomians.
I wonder what was the point of designing them like that...? Swift briefly thought.
These robots were smart enough however to not stand in one big group where he could easily destroy all of them. Some of them spread out and took cover behind parked tanks and boxes. They sniped at him with their laser guns, but Swift was far too fast to be hit by the shots. He tore right through any Freedomian-like robot he saw that was in his way. As he crashed into them, the pieces of them were sent clattering to the floor.
Moving on, Swift escaped out of the tank hangar and ran down a hallway. Shutters started to descend from the ceiling, but Swift was simply too fast to be caught by them. He raced under all of them before they could close.
Sorry, Robotnik, but I absolutely refuse to fall into the same trap that Kyle did.
He came to the stairs to the next floor, and rushed up them as quickly as possible. He ran up several flights of stairs towards the top floor, but unfortunately the door to the top floor was locked with a card reader. The door looked like the one that Swift had tried to break down just before Kyle was caught, and so Swift knew better than to try breaking this one down as well. He left the stairwell, and ran down more halls, looking for another stairway to the top floor. Drone guns shot at him as he flew under them, but like just about everything else that was shooting at him, the shots were far too slow to get him.
Finally, he found another stairway, and rushed up to the top floor. As he got over the top of the last step, he noticed an important-looking doorway at the end of the hall. It was decorated with a golden emblem, which looked something like Robotnik's face.
No doubt that's the lab the doctor was talking about.
He hurriedly sprinted towards the door. Suddenly, a shutter started to come down in front of him. Swift kneeled down as he ran, sending himself into a roll. The spines on his back tore up chunks of the metal floor as he wheeled over the floor. He just slipped under the door, but he did feel one of his spines actually touch the shutter as he went under. As he reached the door at the end of the hallway, he rolled into a stand and stopped. The shutter slammed closed behind him.
There's only one way to go now, and that's through this door, he thought. Not that it matters to me. I'd never turn back now.
As he stepped towards the door, it slid open automatically. He found himself standing inside a room that definitely looked like some kind of a laboratory, although he couldn't tell what it was used to study. A massive computer dominated one wall of the room, while on the other side of the room were several glass tubes. All of them were empty, and Swift couldn't tell what they were used for. Since there didn't seem to be anyone in this room, Swift decided he would go over to the next room.
This next room definitely looked like the perfect setting for a final boss battle, assuming that's what the doctor was wanting. The room was large and spherical. Swift was standing on a broad catwalk that circled the perimeter of the room, which allowed him to see what was in the middle of the room perfectly. There was some kind of a machine in the middle of the room...
The device in the middle of the room looked like some kind of a large cannon, which was pointed straight up in the air. There was a small windowed booth in the platform under the base of the cannon, which was probably where the operator controlled it. The whole shaft of the cannon softly glowed with a strange green energy. Swift wasn't sure what this thing was, but it had to be bad news.
Swift began to step towards the cannon, but a vague reddish shape briefly blurred past in front of his eyes. At first, he thought it was his eyes playing tricks on him, but then the red thing shot past in front of his vision again. Eventually, the red blur was circling around him over and over, until finally it screeched to a halt in front of him. The blur was actually some kind of a red robot fox.
That's strange, because it looks like a robot version of Kyle. Wait...what if that IS Kyle?
"Kyle, is that you?"
"Yes, that is him, Swift!" Robotnik's voice called out from below.
Swift looked towards the pit. He hesitantly walked past the robot version of Kyle, and looked down into the middle of the room. He saw Robotnik standing near the machine there.
"What have you done to him?!" Swift yelled at him, pointing back at Kyle.
"I took the liberty of putting him through a special procedure I call 'roboticization'."
"What the hell is roboticization?"
"It transforms a living breathing creature into a superior robotic being, which does not require any food, water, or sleep, or anything else a fragile living body would require. But more importantly, it removes their free will, and from then on they obey all commands I give them. This makes them the perfect soldiers for me!"
Swift turned around to look at Kyle. Instead of a fluffy tail like a fox would normally have, the tail was covered with hard metal spikes. Violent red irises in soulless black pits replaced the sparkling blue irises and the white sclera of the old eyes. The beautiful, soft red fur coat had been transformed into cold crimson red metal. The visage of the once friendly, charming, sensible Kyle 'Kilometers' Prower had been all but destroyed.
"You damn scum you..." Swift said, turning back to Robotnik. "Taking away a living, breathing person's soul, and then replacing their bodies with this terrible metal armor. You deserve nothing more than death for doing this!"
"That's true...but you're not clean either, Swift."
"What do you mean?"
"Remember those robots you destroyed along the way that looked like Freedomians?"
Swift suddenly froze in place, remembering those robots.
Oh no... Was I really killing innocent people instead of his soldiers?
"You're a murderer now Swift, just like me," Robotnik said with a smirk.
Swift was fighting back tears, but was unsuccessful. He pointed Kyle's rifle at Robotnik.
He screamed out, "YOU'RE THE WORST OF THE WORST! FORCING INNOCENT PEOPLE TO FIGHT FOR YOU LIKE THAT!"
"So what? You Freedomians are in my way of world domination. You should be grateful I'm even letting your kind of funny looking multi-colored furballs work in my army, because I can't stand any of you."
"Why do you hate Freedomians so much Robotnik?"
"Humans should be the only race to rule the universe, that's why! Unfortunately, all the other humans have gone soft in the last 100 years, supporting your kind instead of destroying it. They're even more pathetic than you Freedomians! You should all be thrown into zoos, or made to be slaves, or killed for food, just like the animals on Earth! Anyway, if the other humans can't get the job done, then I will! KYLE!"
Kyle swiftly stopped next to the railing overlooking Robotnik.
"Yes master..." he said in an eerie emotionless voice.
"Destroy Swift!" Robotnik shouted.
"As you wish," Kyle spoke again in the same voice.
He turned to face Swift, and assumed a combat stance.
I was expecting a final boss battle, but this is not who I thought I'd be fighting against!
"I'd like to watch the fight," Robotnik said, "But I'm afraid I have to destroy the rest of the Freedomian Army now before they can take over the base. Have fun you two!"
"Kyle!" Swift shouted. "Come on! Don't listen to him!"
"I serve Master Robotnik," Kyle said. "I will obey all his commands."
Kyle ran straight at Swift. As he got close, he spun around so that he swung his spiky metal tail in an arc. Swift went into a back flip to dodge the attack.
As he landed on the floor, he said, "He's our enemy! I'm your friend! Come on, don't let this roboticization stuff mess with your head!"
"I cannot do that. Robotnik told me to destroy you, and I will obey all of his commands."
Swift dodged Kyle as he swung his spiked tail at him again. As he prepared to avoid the next attack, he heard a loud whirring noise that was growing stronger by the second. It was coming from the pit in the middle of the room. The green glow that Swift had noticed on the machine in the middle of the room was getting brighter. He looked towards the control booth on the bottom of the machine, and saw Robotnik at work through the glass windows. Swift looked up to the ceiling, and saw that a hole was opening in the top of the room. The cannon started to extend upwards through the hole.
"Kyle," Swift said, aiming the rifle at the robotic fox. "I don't want to hurt you...but I will do it if that's what I have to do to stop Robotnik!"
Kyle charged at Swift, pulling back one of his arms. It looked like he was preparing to make a punch at Swift as he charged past. Swift aimed the rifle at Kyle's chest area, and opened fire. The rounds pinged off of the metal, doing little damage. The bullets made some dents in the armor on Kyle's chest, and they slowed down his run a little, but otherwise there didn't seem to be any effect.
The robot fox easily reached Swift and punched him in the head. The fist impacted Swift's head so hard that he was sent spinning through the air. Swift screamed out in pain. It felt like he had been hit hard in the face with a baseball. The rifle fell from his hands as flew into the air. He collapsed heavily to the floor, and held the bulging spot in his head. Soon afterwards, Kyle picked Swift up off of the floor, and threw him against the wall. The wind was knocked out of Swift from the impact. He still felt a little dazed from the punch to his face. A shadow fell over Swift, and he looked up to see robot Kyle towering over him.
"I was expecting more from you, Swift," Kyle said.
He punched and kicked Swift several times in rapid succession, before turning around and swinging his tail at him. The body armor Swift was wearing stopped some of the impact of the spikes as they scraped across his chest and arms, but where it did hit flesh it tore gashes that started bleeding heavily. The tail also tore deep tears in the wall next to Swift, and ripped an electric wire in half. The bottom half of the wire dangled down to the floor, spitting sparks all over the place.
Kyle stepped back and said, "Now, I will finish you off, to comply with my master's wishes."
---
During this time, Kyle was operating completely under Robotnik's commands, just the effect the roboticization process was supposed to create. His true personality had tried to fight back against the mind control, but it was to no success. Even now, when Kyle was killing his best friend and his true personality had fought as hard as it could to regain control, it was in vain. Swift would be dead in a manner of moments, and there was nothing that Kyle could think of that could stop him. However, there was one small error that he had made that he didn't notice...
As he drew back his tail for one final slash at Swift's head, he noticed Swift grabbing at the electric wire that had been cut during the last slash. Kyle tried to hit Swift quickly, before he could make use of the wire, but Swift was too fast. He jabbed the electric wire at Kyle's chest. As the wire hit Kyle, the electricity surged through his metal body, all the way up to his brain. As he collapsed to the floor, the shock to his brain screwed up his programming.
Destroy Swift... De...story...S...ERROR
I...serve Master Robotnik. I...will obey all...ERROR
ERROR...Progra...m...damaged...ERROR...
As the program fizzled out, Kyle's true personality was free to regain control once again, and it did just that.
What...? Am I back? Do I have my free will again?
Kyle opened his eyes. His vision was tinted red from looking through the robotic eyes the roboticization procedure had given him. He also had a heads-up-display (HUD) showing his estimated power supply as a percentage, and it was the same way in estimating damage to various parts of his body. He got up off of the floor. He raised his hands up to his face, and moved the metal fingers back and forth.
Man does it feel great to be in control again! But...what about Swift?!
Kyle turned to Swift, all bloodied from all of the slashes he had given him moments before.
"Swift!" Kyle said. "I'm really sorry! I tried to fight it, but I just couldn't fight the mind control no matter how hard I tried!"
"Huh? Aren't you gonna kill me?" Swift said.
"No, of course not. That electric shock you gave me before must have destroyed the mind control program. The real Kyle is back in control again! Anyway, I wish I could have stopped myself from hurting you, but I couldn't do it."
"Don't blame yourself, Kyle. It wasn't your fault, it was Robotnik's fault."
"How badly are you hurt?" Kyle said as he moved closer. He kneeled down next to Swift as he sat against the wall.
"Been better," Swift said, managing a small laugh.
Kyle laughed a bit too, remembering how he had said the same thing back during the battle of Reppoc. Suddenly, the moment of joy was blown as the noise of the cannon in the middle of the room suddenly grew to a deafening level. Both of them looked at the machine. The green glow on the machine was so bright it could have almost been the sun. Then, there was a flash of light, and the whole room was full of the same green glow.
"ARGH!" Swift grunted.
"What is it?" Kyle said, turning back to him.
"I don't know...but for some reason this glowing is making me feel weaker. I'm starting to feel like I've been running for several days without stopping..."
"Why isn't it affecting me?"
"I have no idea. But stop that thing! Hurry!"
"Okay!" Kyle said. He turned around and picked up his rifle where Swift had dropped it. He leaped over the railing and rushed towards the cannon, hoping he could stop it before it was too late.
---
Robotnik sat giddily inside the control booth of the cannon, which he called the Life Energy Ray. Basically, this was how it worked. The green glow from this device penetrated living bodies, and slowly destroyed red blood cells inside the victim's body. This resulted in energy and oxygen not being delivered to cells, tissues, and organs, and consequently resulted in death if the victim was left in the beam long enough. It could penetrate through most walls, and its range was large enough to cover his entire base, so he could destroy the entire Freedomian Army from here with very little effort by using this device. Also, since it only affected living things, his robot army was immune to the weapon, which made it even easier to use.
This weapon was currently only in the prototype stages, but it seemed to be doing its job well enough. There was a security monitor hooked up inside the control room, and so Robotnik watched as the Freedomian soldiers rolled on the floor in agony as the ray destroyed their red blood cells. Meanwhile, Robotnik was safe and sound inside the control booth, which had been specially shielded so that the green rays did not penetrate inside and kill him as well.
If the roboticizer was my greatest creation, then this is without a doubt my second best! This thing more or less guarantees instant victory against living opponents! And it works so well, even though it's only in the prototype stage. Although...it would be nicer if they would die faster.
Robotnik was hoping that it would kill in 30 seconds or less, but it didn't look like any of the soldiers were going to be dead that soon. Some of them still had enough energy to roll all over on the floor as the ray killed their red blood cells. It looked like it would take at least a few minutes more...
A red shape flew down past one of his windows. It was so subtle that Robotnik thought at first it was his eyes tricking him, but then Kyle's robotic face appeared in the window. He pointed a small assault rifle at the glass of one of the control room windows.
"NO!" Robotnik screamed.
Kyle opened fire on the window, the glass beginning to crack where he was shooting. While the glass was strong enough to repel the rays from the cannon, Robotnik didn't test it to see exactly how much punishment it could take. Kyle finished emptying his magazine and stopped to look at his handiwork. There were several deep cracks, but the pane of glass hadn't been broken through...yet. Kyle pulled out another clip from a pocket and reloaded.
What is he doing?! Did the mind control wear off or something? This is bad...I roboticized Kyle, so he is no longer a flesh and blood creature. That means that the ray doesn't affect him at all. It's only a matter of time before he breaks in here then...and when that happens, I'll have to turn off the ray. If I don't, the ray will kill me too.
Meanwhile, Kyle finished unloading another clip. The robot fox shook his head in annoyance at how little damage the bullets were doing, and pulled a small, dark object out of his pocket, a grenade.
"DON'T!" Robotnik shouted.
Kyle pulled the pin out of the grenade, and put it down on the window ledge just outside the glass. He ran the other way to dive for cover. Robotnik wanted to be able to do something to stop the grenade, but there was nothing he could do. He huddled underneath the control console to shield himself from the explosion. With a muffled boom from the outside, the glass of one of the window panes shot inside, clattering all over the floor and making a mighty racket. The green glow penetrated into the room... While Robotnik wanted to keep it running as long as possible, it was no good if he died because he kept it on. Robotnik quickly jumped up and reached for the cutoff switch. With one pull of the lever, the loud humming from the Life Energy Ray stopped, and the green glow dissipated quickly.
"That was close..." Robotnik muttered.
"Don't think you're safe yet, Robotnik," he heard Kyle's voice say.
Robotnik looked up, and Kyle was peering in through the broken window. His eerie red eyes made him look absolutely terrifying. Robotnik backed up against one wall of the control room in fear. Meanwhile, Kyle climbed inside, aiming his rifle at Robotnik. His spiked tail flashed back and forth behind him, as if to keep Robotnik from attempting to run past him. The doctor was trapped with nowhere to go. He was finished.