See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer
Chapter 18: The life of a Slave
Sonic awoke to the feeling of something tapping against his lips, he opened his eyes just in time to see the same Hornetite wearing a lab coat sticking a thermometer into his mouth. She looked up to see that he was awake, "Careful now, blue mammal. Do not overexert yourself", she said before taking the thermometer out of his mouth.
That was when Sonic notice he had a blood pressure device strapped to his left arm and an electrode connected to a heart monitor attached to his chest; he watched as the Hornetite looked at a monitor in front of her, "Heartrate is normal, breathing is normal and your temperature is 35°C. According to the CT scan, you had a sleep efficiency approximately above 90 percent, which is just another way of saying you slept very well", she said as she wrote down on a clipboard.
"You...sure are keen on making sure I'm healthy, huh?", said Sonic as the doctor used a flashlight to look inside of his ears. She then took a popsicle stick and told Sonic to open his mouth, using the stick to hold his tongue down while she inspected his throat and teeth. "Your teeth are in perfect condition, no cavities or enamel erosion, and you don't appear to have any respiratory problems. You are quite a healthy mammal, which is good.
"Her Majesty's plans cannot be reached if any of you are sick or in bad health, and she has ordered we perform a once daily health checkup to ensure you eight mammals stay healthy", said the doctor. Her words struck an interest in Sonic's mind, "Say...what is this plan of hers anyway? We keep hearing about it but we don't know what it is or why we're so important to it", he said.
The doctor shook her head, "I'm not at liberty to reveal her Majesty's plans, only that I am to inform you all of your daily health evaluations and that you should respect our queen's authority. Just because you're needed alive and healthy it doesn't mean she cannot punish you severely for your impudence", she said.
Sonic smirked, "Lady...you only cuffed my wrists, which makes no sense for me because I mostly use my legs, usually for running faster than the speed of sound. So what's to stop me from running away from here and getting help?", he said as the doctor checked the reflexes of his elbows and knees. She gave him a neutral expression before lifting one of her left arms and pressing a button on a device she wore on her wrist.
Suddenly, Sonic felt his body stiffen and his was unable to move any part of his body; he tried to move around but it not only felt like every muscle in his body was paralyzed, it felt like every single cell in his body was paralyzed. This actually almost made Sonic panic, "What's going on? I can't move!", he said. "Precisely. Her majesty had long since taken precautions to prevent escape attempts when she enslaved the Hobidon race and the lower class Insectoids, the soldiers that captured you placed these specially designed cuffs on your wrists.
"While you were unconscious, the cuffs injected microscopic nanobots into your body. By now, they've attached themselves to your nerve cells, and using electrical signals sent through these wristbands computers allows us to control your very movements. So you can try to escape but all we have to do is push a button to paralyze your nerves and then push another to command your legs to walk you back to us", she said.
Sonic looked at her with disbelief, he couldn't believe how sadistically intelligent these creatures were that they had actually managed to do something that not even Eggman could accomplish; every time Eggman had captured Sonic, he'd always managed to escape because despite having an IQ of 300, Eggman was never able to render Sonic incapable of escaping and his evil plans ended up blowing up in his face.
But now, these creatures, the Hornetites, had developed a way to keep their prisoners from escaping by using microscopic robots to control their nervous systems like marionettes! He suddenly felt his limbs free themselves from their frozen stiffness, he looked up to see that the doctor had pushed another button to release him before looking at him with a somewhat stern expression.
"Also, even if you did escape, who would you turn to? The Hobidons and lower class Insectoids have been enslaved and greatly fear us, the upper class Insectoids are far too loyal to their monarch who has allowed them to live freely and in the lap of luxury to betray her, and our glorious kingdom is in the middle of a large island in the middle of an ocean. Unless you're part fish, you do not have the strength to swim miles and miles to find the mainland. Be smart and accept your fate, all of the other slaves have", she said.
The doctor then called upon a group of four guards to come and retrieve Sonic, "The health examination is complete, take him back to the prisoner hold and inform the queen", she said. Sonic was still in shock at being told about what the cuffs on his wrists that he didn't get up when one of the guards told him to, so he pushed a button on his wrist device which caused Sonic to stand up and walk with them almost like a robot.
Sonic was at least relieved that he could still move his eyeballs, so he could see move of the courtyard he was being led through, he could see the Hobidons just sitting around with miserable expressions and no real purpose; he could also see more Insectoids sitting amongst them. One group had humanoid heads and torsos but their lower body was fat and caterpillar-like with six stubby legs, another group looked like silk worm moths that stood on two legs and had four arms, another group looked like walking stick bugs loading things onto carts being pulled by what looked like purple praying mantises the size of camels.
All of them, with the exception of the giant mantises, were wearing the same glowing metal cuffs that no doubt had pumped nanobots into their body in order for the Hornetites to control them if they resist or try to escape. After what seemed like an eternity, the guards reached the prisoner hold; they released Sonic from their control and pushed him into the room. The others immediately rushed Sonic to see if he was okay, with Amy running up to hug him, much like how she did when they first became friends only this was out of fearful concern than obsession.
The others were happy to see that Sonic was alive and well, but they immediately noticed the look of fear in his eyes. "Sonic...what's wrong? Why do you look so scared?", asked Silver. Sonic slowly sat down and placed his head in his hands as he explained to them everything he was told, at first they didn't think much of the health checkups but when he told them about the cuffs and what they do, they all had a look of abject horror on their faces.
"And on top of that, the city surrounding this castle is full of high class Insectoids that are too loyal to the queen and won't give up their fancy rich lifestyles to help a bunch of slaves, and this kingdom is on an island in the middle of an ocean. I can't swim and even if I could, I'd soon die of exhaustion if I tried to swim across a whole ocean. These guys are smarter than Eggman, they're scarily smarter than him, and...I'm stuck. With old Baldy McNosehair, I could've easily escaped because he never thought his plans all the way through. These guys have thought of every way to keep us from escaping even before they knew about us", said Sonic as he sighed in defeat.
Nyx walked over to him, placed her hands on his and pulled them away from his face. "Sonic, I know that it seems we're in a bit of a rut here and things seem hopeless, but you have to remember that this isn't the first time we've been in a perilous situation. You guys have been through tough times, I had witnessed the death of my parents and we've all survived a war, during which you were held captive and tortured for six months.
"Yes, we've been taken captive. Yes, they've implanted us with nanobots to control our very movements and yes, there's no way for us to escape but we can't give up or lose hope. We have to stay strong until we can escape. Did you guys forget that Maria was with us and they didn't capture her? She clearly wasn't their target, so she must've gotten away and probably told Tails and the others what happened. Knowing Tails, he's probably building a device to enable him and the others to travel through dimensions. Until then, we have to stay strong and brave or as a certain someone once told me, 'we have to keep going and not let our fear own us'", she said with a confident smile.
Sonic slowly took in what Nyx said and realized she was right; he stood, smiled and gave her a short hug of appreciation. "Thanks Nyx, I needed to hear that", he said. Infinite then approached Nyx and gave her a loving kiss, "You're so beautiful when you're giving an inspirational speech", he said as he nuzzled her cheek which made her laugh.
The sound of the door opening caught their attention and turned to see Queen Vespa standing in the doorway once again flanked by her second-in-command Yellow Jacket but this time she was flanked on her left by a young Hobidon with spiky purple hair and orange fur; he stood next to Vespa wearing a small crown on his head and a short purple cape like she did. "Now that we've dealt with that...minor roadblock, I've decided what shall be done with eight mammals: until phase one of my plans is complete, you shall be made to work in the Honeycomb Mines with the rest of the slaves", she said.
That's when she noticed they were looking at Fluke, who stood next to her with a nervous expression. "Oh, allow me to introduce my son, Prince Fluke. He's to oversee how I operate and conduct things around here, so that when he reaches adulthood and becomes king, he will be just as great a ruler as I am. Now then, Yellow Jacket, activate their nanobots and make them walk towards the mines", she said.
Yellow Jacket sneered wickedly as he pressed a button on his wrist device forcing them all to march into the courtyard like cartoony soldiers, Sonic was already used to the feeling of having his body seized but it took the others by surprise as they realized that this was what he was talking about a few minutes ago. While they were being forced to walk to the mines, Knuckles kept looking at Prince Fluke out of the corner of his eyes, noticing how he looked at his mother with a pleading expression and also glancing at Yellow Jacket with a look of utter contempt.
It seemed that Fluke didn't want to be there and he didn't want to watch his mother and her subordinate pushing them around, and this gave Knuckles a tiny sliver of hope that they had someone on their side. They soon came upon the entrance to a mine shaft, they walked down the lit tunnel into an enormous underground cavern lined with large honeycombs dripping with the oozing sweet yellow goop, and mine carts and railroad tracks lining the floor.
"These mines have formed honeycombs for thousands of years, the combs and the honey are beloved delicacies amongst my people and so I have employed these slaves to excavate them and bring them up to the surface to be processed by the merchants and artisans for selling and consumption. You shall join them in excavating the honeycombs as well", said Queen Vespa.
They group looked to see the Hobidons and lower class Insectoids toiling away with shovels and pickaxes, and hauling the boulder sized honeycombs to the surface in mine carts. Knuckles was throughly disgusted by what he was looking at, and he turned around to glare at Queen Vespa and Yellow Jacket. "You people are vile, evil creatures! How can you do this to these innocent people? Some of them are Insectoids just like you, and you enslaved them simply because they're of the lower class and therefore beneath you?!
"Who are you to decide who should be free or not based on their social status? Guess what? I live in a country run by a president and functions on democracy, where everyone is free to live their lives how they want regardless of their social status. I mean, yeah the lower class do struggle to get by, but no one decides that they deserve to be enslaved and forced into labor. You're not my queen and I don't care if you can control me with tiny robots, I refuse to serve you!", he yelled.
Yellow Jacket growled as he stepped forward and rammed the end of his spear into Knuckles' stomach, knocking him to the ground. "How dare you speak that way to her majesty?! You are swine and are far beneath her, you will show respect for her authority!", he screamed as he repeatedly slammed the end of his spear into Knuckles' ribcage.
Despite his pain, Knuckles held his defiant attitude, "I don't take orders from sniveling little cowards who stand off to the side while his subordinates fight for him. Thought I forgot about that? When you came to kidnap us, you just stood off to the side while the others fought, and when Infinite called you out for it, you screamed like a whiny brat and brained him in the head. If you think I'll listen to a mewling little pissant, you must either be stupid or desperate or both!", he spat.
Yellow Jacket growled and was about to hit Knuckles again but Queen Vespa stepped forward, grabbed him by the chest and lifted him up to face her. "Hmm...for a mammal, you are very stubborn and strong willed. I like that in my soldiers, especially if they show no fear in the face of punishment for defiance. How would like to join my forces? You won't have to toil in the mines with your companions and these pitiful slaves, and I'll mold you into a true warrior", she offered.
Knuckles turned his head away, "I don't want for people who enslave innocent people for their own benefit, and I'm already a warrior in my own right. I come from a race of Mobians known for being strong proud warriors, and I led my friends and other Mobians in a year long war, and we succeeded. I'd sooner die than work for you!", he spat.
Queen Vespa smirked as she dropped Knuckles to the ground, "Well unfortunately for you, I need you alive for my plans to succeed. But just because you're not allowed to die, doesn't mean I can't punish you for your impudence", she said as she turned to the group of guards overseeing the slaves toiling in the mines, "You men, get the other seven some tools and put them to work. Yellow Jacket, take this red mammal to the Torture Grounds. The best kind of slave is one who is willing and they're only willing once they've been broken", she said.
Yellow Jacket activated the nanobots in Knuckles' body, forcing him to walk back outside; Rouge tried to run towards him but the other soldiers held her back, Knuckles saw this and tried to quell her fears. "Its okay, Rouge. I'll be fine, I've survived both the genocide of my people and a war, there's nothing they can do to break me!", he called out. As afraid as she was for her husband, Rouge knew he was right and he had to be strong, for both herself and him. So she swallowed both her fear and pride as she was forced back underground by the other soldiers.
The rest of the group were given pickaxes and, under the supervision of the guards, began hacking at wall of the cavern to excavate the honeycombs. About two feet away from Silver stood a male Hobidon with mahogany hair and grey fur who started coughing and hacking, which made Silver look at him in concern. "Hey are you alright?", he asked. The Hobidon continued to cough until blood trickled out the side of his mouth, completely ignoring Silver's question.
The others looked to see that the Hobidon was in very bad shape: he had dark rings around his eyes, his cheeks were sunken in and he was so skinny and malnourished that his ribs were very visible through his fur and skin. "What's going on here?", asked one of the guards as they approached him. The Hobidon looked up at the guard and said in a barely audible whisper, "Please...make the pain...stop..."
The guard sighed before he pushed a button on his wrist device, which caused the Hobidon's cuffs to turn black; the Hobidon gave a small sad smile before the light faded from his eyes and he fell over, Nyx ran towards him and placed her fingers near his throat. She suddenly backed away with sadness and terror in her eyes, "He's...he's dead! What...what did you do to him?!", she shouted at the guard.
"The nanobots within the other slaves contain a small amount of Botulinum neurotoxin, it's a slow acting poison that causes death. The way it works is that first the nanobots use their tiny mechanical jaws to sever the nerve endings so the victim doesn't feel the pain as the poison shuts their organs down one by one starting with their brains. You all don't have to worry about that because since the queen needs you for plans, your nanobots do not contain any of the neurotoxin. The rest of the slaves have them because when they've outlived their usefulness, we put them out of their misery", he said.
Sonic and his friends gasped in horror as another guard carried the corpse away, knowing there wasn't anything they could do, they returned to digging out the honeycombs but they did take a small moment of silence for the poor Hobidon, especially since it seemed that all the other Hobidons looked so emotionally beaten and broken that they looked at the scene with miserable banality.
Meanwhile on the Torture Grounds, Knuckles was being held down by two soldiers while three other were using their mandibles to bite into his flesh; Knuckles at this point was covered by numerous cuts and bruises that parts of his red fur had turned purple due to the almost hour long beating he had endured, and now the Hornetite soldiers were commanded to bite into his flesh in an effort to break him.
Queen Vespa stood off to the side with Yellow Jacket watching the scene, "How is this, your highness?", asked Yellow Jacket. Queen Vespa smirked, "I don't see enough blood", she said. "You heard her! Our queen wants to see more blood!", Yellow Jacket screeched. The Hornetites biting into Knuckles' flesh bit harder until they drew blood and it hurt so much that Knuckles let out a cry of pain and fought hard to keep the tears at the corners of his eyes from falling.
Queen Vespa then turned to Yellow Jacket, "If what that red mammal said is true, then you should fear for your life!", she said to him while glaring angrily at him. Yellow Jacket shook with fear, "He spits nothing but lies, your majesty! I...would fight for you until my dying breath!", he claimed. Vespa huffed, "For your sake, you better be telling the truth! If there's one thing I have zero tolerance for its sniveling cowardly weaklings! That is why I enslaved the Hobidons, after they proved that they'd rather cower in fear than fight back, I found them to good for nothing other than digging up honeycombs.
"Then I enslaved the lower class Insectoids because of their utter refusal to try to better themselves, even when I offered them riches in exchange for their willingness to be conscripted into my armies. Weaklings and cowards serve only one person in life and that is to obey the strong and help them become even stronger; I have no place in my army for them, so as my second-in-command, you are expected to so the most amount of strength and tenacity out of all my soldiers. But if what the red mammal said turns out to be true, prepare to endure a pain so horrible that not even the Devil himself would inflict upon others!", she said.
Yellow Jacket swallowed back a lump that formed in his throat as he bowed respectfully to her, "Y...yes, of course! Anything for you my wonderous, benevolent and...beautiful queen", he stammered. Queen Vespa smirked as she fluttered her wings in a display of pride, "Well...at least you recognize true beauty when its standing right front of you. I shall be retiring to the royal spa room for the rest of the day, I've earned myself some much needed downtime; you are in charge of the Torture Team, Yellow Jacket. Continue the red mammal's torment and when his injuries become life threatening, take him to the doctors to have him healed and then repeat the process until the pain has shattered his mind and soul", she said before walking into the palace.
Knuckles grunted as he propped himself up on his elbows, the soldiers having let go of him when their queen started yelling at their general. Speaking of Yellow Jacket, he suddenly turned towards Knuckles in vengeful rage, "HOW DARE YOU MAKE MY QUEEN LOOK DOWN ON ME!", he screamed as he grappled Knuckles by the throat with his mandibles and slammed him head first into the hard ground, a loud crunching sound echoing through the courtyard. Knuckles saw white spots dancing in front of his eyes as the head injury he had just endured disoriented him, his body holding in the position of which Yellow Jacket slammed him for five seconds before he fell onto his side.
Yellow Jacket sneered at him, "You'll regret the moment you decided to tarnish my reputation, you cherry colored swine! You're lucky we're under orders NOT to kill you or any of your little companions", he said before turning to his subordinates, "You lot! Time to take a break, he needs to be fresh for his second beating of the day...let's say...twenty minutes", he then began to walk away but not before turning to one of the smaller more timid soldiers.
"YOU! YES YOU! Go fetch me some ambrosia, I'm starving! Don't you look at me like that! Yes, you gave me attitude with that look? Have you forgotten who I am? I am Yellow Jacket, Queen Vespa's second-in-command and I shall..."
His words faded as he got further away from Knuckles, who was trying not to pass out but the pain radiating from his body up to the top of his skull was too much to bear; his vision began to blur and distort to the point where he couldn't make out the two guards left behind to watch him and he had to close his eyes or else he'd become nauseous. Speaking of the two guards, they struck up a conversation with one another out of boredom.
"How come we never get a lunch break?", the first one sighed. "Lunch break? I would kill just for a tiny nap", the second one gripped. Suddenly, an orange blur zipped past the two guards, their eyes went wide before they fell over unconscious; the orange blur revealed itself to be Prince Fluke as he leapt down in front on Knuckles prone body. There's a nap for you both and when you wake up we'll be long gone, he thought as he proceeded to help Knuckles to his feet. "Don't worry, sir. I'll get you out of here, I can't watch them do this to you anymore; I may not be able to free all of you but at least I can free one of you. Can you walk?", he said.
"I...think...so...", Knuckles croaked before falling over half conscious. Fluke looked at him in concern, "This is bad, you're too weak to move. Hang on, sir, this might hurt", he said as he lifted Knuckles onto his back and used his dragonfly esque wings to fly out of the courtyard and through the dense forest. When they were about a hundred feet away from the castle, Knuckles regained consciousness long enough to speak to young prince. "Why...why are you helping me?", he asked.
"My mother is concerned about her approaching old age and subsequent death, so she is trying to mold me to take her place as king when I reach adulthood but I don't want to be king! I've seen what my mother has done: enslaving other creatures because they don't fit her idea of true strength and power, treating those of her own kind so callously and placing so many expectations in me to walk in her claw-steps.
"I hate what she is doing, what we're doing! Its wrong and vile and disgusting, and if this is what it means to be a ruler, than I never want to become one! I may be one and a half years old but I'm intelligent enough to know this isn't the way you lead others, and I wish to help, even if that means going against my own mother whom I love despite all the wrongs she's committed", he said.
Knuckles smiled to himself knowing that his previous assumptions about the prince were correct, "What's you name again, kid?", he asked. "Fluke, my name is Fluke. Please only refer to me as such, I refused to be called "Prince" or "Highness" or "Majesty". They are titled I neither deserve nor want, I am no different than any other grubs my age and there's nothing special about me apart from the fact that I'm a hybrid of Hobidon and Insectoid genes", said Fluke.
"Thank you...for helping me, Fluke. You're a good kid, and that's why...you need to leave now!", said Knuckles. Before Fluke could ask what he meant, Knuckles threw himself off of his back and landed on the forest floor.
"SIR!", Fluke shouted in distress.
"Get out of here, kid! Leave this place and go find help! If they catch me, I'll just be beaten up again and healed afterwards. Whatever plans of conquest your mom's got cooking up, my friends and I are major components in it and its apparently too important to risk killing us, but if she finds out you betrayed her by helping me, there's no telling what she'll do. She may be your mom but given how she treats her soldiers, who's to say she won't kill or torture you? Run...JUST GO!", Knuckles shouted.
What Fluke hadn't known was that while he was talking, he couldn't bear the sounds of furious buzzing slowly ganging up on them, but Knuckles' more sensitive non-visible ears picked up on the sound and immediately deduced that it was Yellow Jacket and his cronies coming after them. And he wanted to spare Fluke from any punishment he might suffer for his traitorous act; Fluke almost bent down to pick Knuckles back up but he could hear Yellow Jacket screaming at his subordinates in the distance and they were growing closer by the second.
Reluctantly, Fluke sent one last apologetic look towards Knuckles before flying away; Fluke didn't even stop for a short rest or even planned to stop for a short rest, he simply continued flying even as he reached the ocean and began flying over the large open body of water, determined to find help. Back with Knuckles, through his blurred vision, he could barely make out the sight of Yellow Jacket and his goons coming closer.
"Come at...me, you...you...honey sucking...bastards...!", he groaned before shutting his eyes and losing consciousness.
Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 18, and so much has been revealed. What happens next? Tune in for Chapter 19 to find out; until then, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!