Two
Grayson hated research. It wasn't where he belonged, a war wasn't won in a file, and victory came from the barrel of the gun. So it said something that he used every waking moment he was allowed out of a hospital bed, blunting his reflexes and instincts in order to pull documents, both physical and virtual, from anywhere he had clearance and more than once from places where brass didn't exactly approve of him going. When he had a job, he did it, and he could deal with anything that came his way from higher up. His life had melted into a lifeless slush of words. Project Shadow. A characteristically unimaginative name, next to shadow wolf, shadow hawk, and shadow eagle. Say what you like about G.U.N. but they know how to give clichéd names to important missions. This is what he read:
Classified Alpha Alpha One
This file must not leave the G.U.N. Main HeaDQUARTERS
sTATION sQUARE
A matching copy will be kept in g.u.n. main headquarters
prison island
rEADING THIS FILE WITHOUT PROPER CLEARANCE WILL BE TREATED WITH THE MAXIMUM PUNISHMENT ALLOWED BY THE LAW.
Gerald Robotnik was a scientist of unprecedented intellect. For forty-two years he worked with G.U.N. in order to provide it with a large quantity of its current military hard-ware. He was known to be making money from outside sources throughout this entire career, advancing all areas of human life, and due to the unique nature of his intellect this was tolerated. This allowed him to amass a substantial wealth. This money was put towards a new project, code-named ARK, a space station where he would continue his research in peace, intending to take with him only a handful of scientists, and his granddaughter Maria Robotnik. This project was approved and supplemented by funding from G.U.N. who demanded a level of control over ARK. This was granted as expected, and a small section of ARK was designated to be temporary living quarters for a garrison of troops, in an attempt to confirm Gerald's intentions. After their minimum time aboard ARK was nearly over, a routine report mentioned Project Shadow. It was an unknown, but this was not unique, and was allowed to continue. The garrison reached the end of their time and left. Three weeks later an unauthorised communication was recorded between Gerald and an unknown life-form. Triangulation located this life-form as being aboard Black Comet, and the matter of Project Shadow, as well as part of it's nature, a failing attempt at creating "The Ultimate Life-form" was discussed. The conversation left no doubt as to the destructive capability of Project Shadow, and it was left for G.U.N. to come to the conclusion that Gerald had gone mad. G.U.N. units were deployed, with orders to kill all aboard the ARK, but Gerald had already predicted the attack and left. A target, suspected to be the result or prototype of Project Shadow was found under orders to protect Maria. The creature escaped with Maria's help, at the cost of her own life. After the soldier who killed Maria and witnessed the suspected Project Shadow escape had given his report, he took his own life, due to the guilt of having killed an innocent, while failing to destroy a high value threat. Gerald Robotnik was captured after landing on Earth, along with Project Shadow. Both were taken to Prison Island, where Gerald made repeated and occasionally successful attempts to escape his cell, before making unknown adjustments to Project Shadow and returning there. His final words were a threat to the world. Project Shadow could not be destroyed, and exists to this day on Prison Island.
Underneath this was a picture, undoubtedly depicting what he had seen from multiple angles.
Grayson was pretty amazed that the first thing he thought of was that he knew the name Robotnik. It didn't take much to find reports of Ivo Robotnik, and he soon had a name. Alex Sands' report left much to be desired, important facts skipped around gracefully, but leaving a mark to anyone who was looking as closely as Grayson. Alex hadn't worked in weeks, and Grayson wanted to know why. He pulled the home address and went for a visit. With civilian clothes, his own car, and his own time, he would avoid any attention. He could do what he wanted with his time, G.U.N. didn't care. He rang the doorbell, broken, so he knocked the knocker instead. The door opened and Alex Sands stood there, looking down on him from one step up.
"We need to talk" Grayson didn't wait for introductions, just charged in and found the first flaw in his dramatics. He didn't know where to sit. Annoyingly, Sands lead him through, obviously taking charge of the situation, taking advantage of Grayson's moment of confusion. Grayson sat on the sofa he couldn't afford, and cursed himself for not taking more time to consider what he was going to do. Before Sands could once again take the situation further from his grasp, he blurted out a question.
"What do you know about Project Shadow?" The question took Sands aback. After a moment something changed in his eyes, he knew something, but it wasn't as much as Grayson had hoped, otherwise he would have seen it sooner.
"I've heard the name before, if you give me some more to go on, I may be able to help you. I need to know what you know before I give you any of my knowledge on the matter." This threw Grayson a little. He needed any information he could get, but Sands had just said "you first", and now he was even considering it. He had come here to get information, not give it away just because someone asked him to. On the other hand, it seemed perfectly possible that this guy already knew everything there was to know, and was just testing him. He decided the best course of action would be to throw it back. "Project Shadow is an experiment run by G.U.N. I know that it involves the creation of a Space Station called ARK." It had been all he could think of on the spot, mixing a lie with the truth to test if Sands had any knowledge at all.
"Nice try, Project Shadow is not run by G.U.N., I know that much, now you want to tell me anymore?"
And so Grayson did. Every detail he knew. The black creature, the details listed in the files, about Gerald Robotnik, Maria and the Ultimate life-form. The only thing he left out was how his squad had died. Show how emotionally motivated he was and all credibility would dissipate in an instant. Sands took a moment to take this in. Eventually, he returned the favour. He must have realised that they knew a lot more between them then either of them did separately, so he fired back with astonishing stories of creatures similar to the ones Grayson already knew of. As far as Grayson was concerned, this meant that a permanent and long term relationship had been set up between a member of G.U.N. and a non-human, and no-one knew about it. He had more than the ounce of humanity required in him to ask to meet this guy, and to his great surprise, Sands remained forthcoming by inviting him to do just that.
Grayson had met the hedgehog. His surprise, he pondered, must have been infinitely less than Sands' when he had first found out. At least Grayson had come in through research and preparation, which made it all the more bearable. In the end, it was his duty towards his late squad which drew the greatest line between them. He wanted the world to know every detail about how and why his team had died. And so the meetings started. Notes and reports telling all on the amazing subject, recon teams were deployed, based on his claims, and the backup of the file about Project Shadow. The whole thing was revealed to the public. Sonic the Hedgehog was finally out.