Hi there! AHeartForStories here with the second chapter of 'Mother'!

I don't know if it was obvious or not, but the Commander from the previous chapter wasn't the one from in the games and the comics. It's actually supposed to be his father. The Commander from now was still a kid back then, after all.

I would like to thank 'TheVideoGamer' for reviewing the previous chapter. I really appreciate it. ^^

I would really appreciate to recieve reviews and read about your oppinion of this story. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy writing it!

Mother: Chapter 2 - The Project

A sigh of frustration left the elderly man as he checked every single little detail on the blueprint for what seemed like the thousandth time. He didn't understand. He couldn't understand. Everything was perfect! Why didn't it work?! Why wouldn't this damn project live?!

Gerald slumped back against his chair and rubbed in his tired eyes from behind his dark glasses. He had been here for days without getting any sleep, checking over and over again to see if he had missed anything.

His eyes shifted and came to rest on the examination table in front of him. On it was the same white sheet from before. Only this time, it was covering something important. It looked like the figure of a person. A mobian to be exact.

The white sheet was pulled back enough to reveal the mobian. It was a female mobian hedgehog. He didn't know why he had chosen her species to be a hedgehog. It just kind of happened.

Gerald kept in mind that this was a woman who was lying here in front of him and made sure to respect her need for privacy by covering her from the chest down, even though she wasn't awake yet and possibly couldn't even understand the need to cover the most intimate parts of her body.

But it was still enough to show what she looked like. She was an ebony hedgehog with a tan muzzle and upturned quills. Her body had nice curves and she was slender. Her chest wasn't too big and not to small either. She had average sized breasts, nothing to special, but nothing to be ignored either.

Gerald watched as her chest raised and lowered. His eyes got a sad look. Her moving chest was a sign that she was breathing and that in turn was a sign that she was alive. But she wouldn't wake up.

The door to his laboratory opened, making the old scientist jump in his chair as he hadn't expected any visitors today. He looked up to the door and saw the intimidating form of the G.U.N Commander standing in the doorway. His eyes held that same cold glint.

"Commander Tower." Gerald said and stood up from his seat as he acknowledged the man in front of him.

"Professor Robotnik." The man responded. Neither one of the two men had a friendly tone in his voice as they spoke. It was obvious they didn't even like the very sight eachother.

The Commander's eyes shifted and came to rest on the sleeping form of the mobian on top of the table. His cold eyes briefly got a disdainful glint. Gerald noticed the look and laid a hand on the shoulder of his creation in a protective manner as if trying to reassure her that everything would be okay.

"Is this the project?" The Commander asked and walked closer to the examination table. He didn't seem all that impressed. Gerald simply nodded. He didn't feel like going into detail about this hedgehog's creation.

"Will it meet up to our demands?" He asked.

"She. And yes, I am certain that she will be able to give us the cure we have been looking for. Although I don't see why we have to use a person for this." The scientist said, correcting the military officer about his hedgehog's gender and questioning the need to create a person instead of liquid or powder as vaccine.

"Yes, the cure. I hope you are right, Robotnik. You don't know what might happen if this project were to fail. Don't let us down, Professor." The Commander said, completely ignoring the subtile hint and left the room.

The old man sighed in relief and sat back down on his chair. Their occasional conversations were usually heated, but this time it stayed civil. That was for the best. It would hurt the Commander's reputation, it wouldn't be good for the professor's health and it certainly wouldn't be good for the project herself.

The man often questioned why he kept working for him. But the small form that appeared next in the doorway when Commander Tower left, reminded him why he was going so far to reach his purpose.

"Maria." Gerald said with a smile when he recognised the little girl timidly hiding herself behind the door frame. The girl saw her grandfather smile and shot him a youthful one back before running over to him as she deemed it safe to enter. There were some days that she wasn't allowed inside because her grandfather was too busy with his project. But she knew today wasn't one of those days.

"Grandpa!" The little girl yelled and jumped up on his lap and wrapped her short arms around his neck. Gerald smiled as he wrapped his arms around the young girl and pulled her into an embrace.

The hug took a while before either of the two felt like letting go. Maria's father had a job back on Mobius he couldn't drop, so her parents stayed down on the planet while their daughter grew up without them here on the Space Colony Ark. But they made sure to visit as soon as they could. They came over and stayed every vacation and always made sure to get two weeks off from work whenever it was their daughter's birthday.

But even though her parents weren't around that much, Maria didn't miss them as much as she should. She was way too excited to meet this hedgehog her grandfather was looking after. She knew she was sick and she had been told that this hedgehog could be her friend and could cure her of her fatal illness.

Maria didn't care all that much about the cure part. With her young 4 Year old mind, she found it more important to have a new friend.

There weren't all that many kids around on Ark. There was this one kid who she played with sometimes. He was the Commander's son, Abraham Tower. Maria didn't know if she considerate him a friend. She would like to, but the Commander didn't like the two of them playing together just because she was Gerald's granddaughter.

"Will she be okay?" Maria asked and let her eyes glance over the female hedgehog lying on the examination table before settling back on the elderly man.

"Yes, she will." Gerald answered. He felt horrible for lying to his granddaughter, but he honestly didn't know if his project would be alright or not. Maria noticed her grandfather's lie as he hadn't been all the convincing, but she didn't question it. She felt like it wouldn't be such a good idea.

Out of nowhere a deafening alarm resonated through the halls. Maria and Gerald looked around, confused of what was happening and what was going to happen. The old scientist stood up from his seat and placed his granddaughter back on the floor. He hurried over to the door and looked out into the hallway.

There were colleagues of him running down the hallway. They were getting to the shuttles to try and escape to the safety of the planet. Gerald stopped one of them and told them to wait. The scientist, a brown haired woman in her 30's, watched him nervously as she wanted nothing more than to follow the others to safety.

"Maria." Gerald said and went to his knees in front of her and took her shoulders.

"You need to follow this woman and get to the shuttles okay? If you get back on Mobius, she will help you find your parents." He said. Maria was scared. She didn't want to leave her grandfather alone, but she knew she couldn't disobey him either. So she nodded.

"Come on." The woman said and took the blonde girl in her arms before running down the hall. Gerald watched them go before he went back inside his laboratory.

His eyes fell on the female mobian asleep on the table. He needed to get her out aswell. He couldn't possibly leave her here to fend for herself. Gerald walked up to the table. He was contemplating how to get her out unnoticed when the door suddenly closed and locked behind him.

Suddenly an ominous feeling overcame his heart and mind. He felt like he wasn't alone in this room. He could feel there was somebody else besides him and his creation.

A chill ran down his spine as Gerald could feel this person's eyes watch him. The lights had turned of on their own, making him unable to see as good as he wanted to. After finding the courage who joined him in the room, Gerald slowly looked up to the darker part of the room.

He jumped back, startled as he saw three red eyes shining through the darkness. They looked evil. He wanted nothing more than to run away, but he knew he couldn't leave her.

So here he was. Defenseless in a locked room with an unknown being.