Chapter 8
"The Hydrax."
Metal the Hedgehog, or known to the G.U.N. Commander only as Hermex the Metalhog, refused to let his arm be repaired until Hadex was for sure destroyed. The Space Colony ARK's HighTech Hangar Highway had already been damaged and a couple dozen Artificial Chaos had been lost. The risk was too great. But sure enough here the four of them were, Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, the G.U.N. Commander, and himself, debating whether to destroy this monster of a machine or not. It should be an easy choice. Shadow wanted to uphold Maria's wish and protect humanity. The G.U.N. Commander and the G.U.N. itself wanted to protect the world, an organization Rouge the Bat was a part of matter of fact. And Metal himself wanted to also defend the planet Earth. So why was this hatred fueled machine still in existence? Shadow broke the silence.
"Hermex. Your concern is understandable, but this is something I must do for myself. My purpose exceeds defeating the Black Arms. My purpose even exceeds Maria's wish, though I do hold that in high regard. The purpose for my creation was to seek a path to immortality. And even though I am immortal, because I never age, and I have an immortal immune system, meaning I can never get sick, I am merely the doorway to the Professor's work. This is something I feel I must complete. In the event I am one day killed, I would hope the Professor's goal could have been completed first."
"Killed? I thought you just said you were immortal?"
"There is a difference between immortal and invincible, great Rouge. And as for you great Shadow, I process your meaning. Your ideas and goal is clear. And I can not fathom another fight with you. But I would still plea caution. As you have your purpose, I have mine. To protect the ARK and its residents, but to also eliminate all threats to both the ARK and planet Earth that could not be contained, or have broken free. I was made to be an interactive databank but also a guardian of this space colony. So I must say this is highly against my own programming. Like you I have purpose, and right now my purpose is deeming your purpose unreasonable."
"Hmph. Your purpose is to be a lost cause then. We are accessing this Prism Core. I am not asking you, I am telling you. If you plan on getting in my way at this point then prepare to have a short meet and greet with the ultimate power!"
"Will punch be served at this meeting?"
"Ha! No, but you'll be sure to get a kick out of it."
The Commander interrupted, "If you two are done I am going to interject. Oddly enough I agree with Shadow. The Professor dedicated his life's work to this colony and everything he made in it. And more importantly to Maria. In their honor I believe we should see this through. However, I agree with Hermex to take extreme caution. If he was programmed to detect danger and is in protest against this Hadex being, then we need to tread lightly."
Hermex sighed, "Very well. I was never much for parties anyways."
Hermex bowed out, clearly outvoted by the group. With a little bit of tweaking, he used a short electromagnetic pulse, or an EMP, to disable Hadex but allow safe access to the Prism Drive Core. Combined with the ARK's AI defensive measures, this should be a safe venture anyways which put Hermex's digital mind at ease. Using the same port the Chaotix had used back in the final moments of the Black Arms' rule to access Gerald's Diary before, the Prism Drive Core was plugged into the console in the Capsule Room. Shadow walked up to the console and scrolled through previous data until he reach the Professor's Diary. Opening it, sure enough, there were several entries on the nano machines. Pressing open, the screen became static for a moment and then paused, before words began scrolling on the screen, Shadow crossing his arms. Six entries on the nano machines were present, narrated by the voice of the Professor himself!
Professor Gerald Robotnik :
"NANO MACHINES:
"I began my research in the cure for immortality upon the government's request. I denied it at first, but because of Maria's condition, I accepted the offer. I still protest the idea. Immortality is not a gift humanity deserves to receive quite yet, but Maria is more important than my own opinions. A side project idea I had that grew with accepting this task was the use of nano machines to fight diseases on a cellular level. And then to be used to prevent future diseases. Maybe I can use this idea to at least cure Maria and then go back to protesting the quest for everlasting life."
FAILURE?:
"The master programming, dubbed Hadex, tried a terrible terrible thing. A revolt. It tried to bring down the ARK itself. My loyal Biolizard was able to contain it by my order, but to cover such a disastrous event, the blame was put on the Biolizard itself. That poor creature, only following his creator's orders. The nano machines have been contained, and Hadex put offline, but this rampage will grab the attention of an already suspicious government. I fear they will not let me keep up this research for long. The irony as they were the ones whom requested I venture into this research. I also fear I may be getting desperate soon. Maria is the source of my sanity. Perhaps I shall seek her comfort later on. And on a side note, a Black Comet has neared our world and is orbiting the ARK…there is also evidence there may be intelligent life on it…should I make contact? After today's failure, I might…"
HYDRAX:
"Black Doom. What have I done making contact with that fiend? I must prepare the ARK. It is only a matter of time before the alien discovers that I have found out his plans to dominate our world. The turrets may be a good start, but I will not let harm come to Maria, which means I can not let harm come to the ARK. It is her life support system. I have engineered its environment to sustain her due to her condition of NIDS also known as Neuro-Immuno Deficiency Syndrome. Sadly, that is why she can not leave this place. Otherwise I would send her off to the planet with Shadow in the event Black Doom attacks this place. I would hate to lose the ARK for it is one of my greatest scientific achievements, but Maria is far more important. But if the ARK falls, she will fall too. That is why I have begun experimenting with the Artificial Chaos units and the nano machines. With the Hieroglyphic I viewed of the hedgehog fighting a fearsome beast, I based Shadow's design off said hedgehog, and the Artificial Chaos on that beast. But I noticed the beast in the Hieroglyphic was more evolved. So my experiments involved making a replica of that evolved form with the Artificial Chaos. With an upgrade involving multiple heads, like back-ups, because that is the Artificial Chaos' primary weakness at the moment, if one head unit gets destroyed another shall appear in its place…perhaps…perhaps I should make it so multiple heads spawn…"
CERBERUS:
"The unruly beast, the Biolizard. The poor prototype. Deemed a failure. But I refuse to give up so easily on it. It has potential. It has ability. It can be successful. I know it. Perhaps I can use the nano machines to repair the damage done by experimentation. Regrow the back legs and at least fortify the life support system. Better yet, since the Biolizard is not particularly fast, I should make the nano machines replicate heads for it, so it can look at multiple angles at one time. This would allow it to better defend itself or guard vital rooms of the ARK. But. I fear though that the combination of two projects so unstable and at times disloyal could pose a grave threat to the ARK itself, a rampage of that magnitude could bring the whole colony down. Is it worth it? The study of immortality? Something that mankind should not study or seek to grasp. Something of that level is not right for the immature likes of us to have. Yet. Maria is worth it. So I will continue my research on Project Shadow."
MEDUSA:
"Maria…oh how I fear she may not have the chance to be saved. The government plans to shut down the ARK. As I speak units of men have left the planetary base in shuttles to board the ARK, but the defenses should keep them out. But just in case I shall disclose my potential final thoughts here. Immortality. A pursuit mankind should have never started in. Now it has simply speed up our own mortality. They seek to imprison us all. I handed over the Gizoid to try and buy me sometime. It worked as Shadow the Hedgehog was completed. He will one day save us all from the vile Black Doom. The necessary preparations have been made to the ARK in preparation for the Black Arms attack in 50 years. Most prominently is the Eclipse Cannon built into the colony itself. It shall deliver us from the tyranny of Black Doom. But poor Maria. Time is short as the G.U.N. forces enter the atmosphere and I fall into despair thinking about the possibility and very likely reality that I am out of time to save her. Have you ever felt this way before, dear reader? The feeling of knowing your failure has cost the success of someone else? That someone else has lost something because of your lack of success? That your existence, your purpose, was to create the happiness of someone else yet you failed because you just were not good enough? Not that you did not care, but that even with all your care it just was not good enough? Unfortunately I feel that now. Or at least I did. But I brought back the nano machines into the Central Control Room one last time and completed…something. An experiment I had started based on Cryogenics. Perhaps…just maybe…Maria can be frozen. Preserved until a cure for her can be found. She always had hope in humanity and I should have hope in her continued survival too! Yes. My last project. I shall detail it as G.U.N. approaches low orbit. Project MEDUSA. For now it is a program outlining the cryogenics sequence for the nano machines. Based on Greek mythology. Originally I was going to make the nano machines take the shape of Maria, to place her inside it so it could initiate the freezing process directly into the eyes in case she ever awakened for some odd reason as she slept. Similar to the Gorgon, the ability of this project would stem from the eyes and eye contact. I did not have the time to make it instantaneous though, so the technique would be done through eye lasers and microwaves. I decided against the idea because it started to become too much like a weapon…and…on top of that it seemed more like a coffin. No…no grandparent should have to bury their grandchild. The very thought brings on instant sadness and near sickness…time is up. The G.U.N. forces should be meeting the ARK's defenses right about…wait. What is happening? Some inside attack has shut down the ARK's defenses! The boarding parties are successfully stepping foot on the ARK! Wha…Black Doom! He is fleeing the ARK and the Black Comet is departing the ARK's orbit! That foul alien. HE was the saboteur. My assumptions were right about him. Maria! I must get her to safety…but the soldiers have already cut me off…Shadow. I'm counting on you…"
LAST NANO MACHINE ENTRY: PRISON ISLAND:
"I hope…I pray even, that the nano machines are released onto the world one day. And inflict mass terror on humanity. May they suffer the way I suffer and die just as Maria has…"
END OF ENTRIES."
Shadow was silent. A silence shared by all four of them until broken by the Commander.
"Insane madman."
"Tch. I've heard enough out of you!"
"Oh?"
"The lack of respect is enough! The Professor was a great man, with good intentions. A person of great beginnings, yet unfortunate endings. You stain the memory by pretending people don't make mistakes. You can't live in the past and expect to ever make it to the future. Accept, grieve, recover, and move on."
"Yet it is because of him we are in this very situation! You can run from your past. You can forget your past. You can even try to pretend your past doesn't exist. But no matter how hard you try if you don't remember your past you can never succeed in that very future you make it to, bound to repeat mistakes you tried to ignore! You talk as if you value the Professor, but it was his own madness that nearly drove the ARK into the planet. A plan YOU disrupted. You, Shadow the Hedgehog. Because even you knew he could be wrong. Anyone can be wrong at any given moment."
"Hmph. Just like you have been before. Like your abuse of power when trying to hunt me down during the Black Arms' invasion? Using an entire military to sign off on a vendetta? An invasion I was helping the likes of you try to repel. An invasion I ultimately pushed back, toppling Black Doom myself! Don't talk to me about right and wrong!"
Shadow's fists were now clenched at his sides as he did a rather decent job keeping his composure. The Commander drew his gun, but hung it at his side, replying in a calm voice.
"The likes of me huh? You don't know the second thing about me outside of my leadership of the G.U.N. Don't try to talk high and mighty to me, when we know everything about you, but you know nothing about me. You know nothing of the sacrifices I've made, the risk I've taken, and the effort I have put into making this world a better place. Heh. You want to talk about searching for answers? Well get in line because you are not the only one on a quest."
"Then by all means ENLIGHTEN us…"
"No…there is no point. The past is forever the past. A gateway for learning lessons but also a coffin of memories, some of which should be buried eternally. But what I will say? This thing must be destroyed. Now."
The Commander aimed his gun at the Prism Drive Core, eyeing Shadow all the while.
Hermex sided with the Commander, "I agree."
Rouge took a step towards Shadow, showing whose side she took without saying a single word. Both pairs eyed each other intensely, ready to make a move to strike down the other. Suddenly, with a line dividing them, this group of allies had become enemies.
"If either of you try to stop me I will bury you both."
"Hmph. If you go through with this, it will be your last mistake. I'll make sure the only thing you are commanding is your brain, as you command your limbs to retrain how to move..!"
Though, neither got a chance to move anything as the Prism Drive Core began to hum violently, a reaction that caused the Commander and Shadow to shoot at it, with bullets and Chaos Spears respectively. It took damage, fizzled, and then popped off the console in smoldering remains. Before they had time to register what had happened though, all four of them were thrown to the ground as the entire ARK violently shook. Each looked to one another in confusion before the lights went out in the Capsule Room. But not just the Capsule Room, but across the entire Space Colony ARK everything shutdown rapidly accompanied by a loud whine that got lower and lower until it silenced. It was quiet all around for several moments before every screen on the Space Colony ARK began to activate, an image of three eyes appearing. The center eye was in a grey diamond, with the two side eyes in grey rhombuses that connected to the bottom two sides of the diamond eye. The eyeballs themselves were black, the irises white and with a slight glow, with black pupils. A booming voice echoed as well, not too deep, but with bass in it as it spoke to the four of the Capsule Room's occupants. A familiar enough voice that it left Hermex shocked.
"It…cannot be!"
"All systems full power. Oh, how good it is to be back in one piece!"
Shadow was more confused, "Who…who are you..?"
"I am Hadex, the nano machine king. The last thing you never wanted to see."
"Hmph. King? I hate to break it to you, but if you are going for the title of the strongest machine, that is already claimed by a teammate of mine. Though you are a pathetic sight so I will agree with the last part of your statement."
Rouge questioned the situation, "I thought this guy was disabled. And shouldn't the ARK's defenses have kept him out?"
"Hahaha. Maybe. If I wasn't in control of the ARK already. You can thank dear Hermex for this."
"…What do you mean by that?"
"Please do tell. I am in no way a traitor!"
"You never had to be. On purpose anyways. But you helped deliver me from confinement and for that I thank you. See. Once the Prism Drive was plugged into the Central Control Room I took over. I faked the ejecting of my programming. Even better, as I hacked into those Artificial Chaos, I implanted nano machines into their laser systems. So when you were hit Hermex, they spread into you. Your EMP did not shut me down, but restarted me!"
"So the ARK's AI programming has been compromised all this time…" Shadow made a fist.
The jewel thief commented, "Seems pretty stupid if you ask me. Why not spring such a grand plan immediately if you had control of the ARK so soon? Why the wild goose chase?"
"Maybe he is not the king that he claims to be!" The Commander added.
"Or, you simple people, I wished to buy time to know more about the other nano machine projects Professor Gerald had made, so I could use them in my own plans! The Hydrax, Cerberus, and Medusa. Perfect. Your world is doomed now. The revenge of Gerald lives on!"
-Bzzt- "Not…so…fast." –Bzzt-
"What? How are you still activated? No matter. I will just have to drive you out of the system completely…gah! The ARK has locked away the Eclipse Cannon firing systems. Challenge accepted. I can hack back into those, though it will take a hour or two."
"In an hour's time I can have the G.U.N. Air Fleet mass evacuate the population from the planet. Maybe not everyone but a good size of it. The fleet has grown in size since the Black Arms invasion. You still lose."
"Still so simple in mind. I have all seven Chaos Emeralds. Why blow up the Earth when I can take out the Solar System's Sun? And with a few modifications with the nano machines and the power of the Chaos Emeralds, I can speed up our sun's dying process, anything not vaporized in the Sun's explosion being consumed in the forming massive Black Hole! You are all done for and unimportant now so I take my leave. Nothing but nano machines swarm the Central Control Room so do not bother trying to stop me there without being ready to be die from a nano attack. I should activate those projects now. The Hydrax should serve perfectly in retaking the Eternal Engine and getting this Space Colony ARK into position! Farewell!"
With that, the screens went blank again as the lights and systems of the ARK returned to maximum power, a sight that now brought on discomfort as it was now under the control of the villainous Hadex. Hermex suddenly shocked himself with an EMP and collapsed offline.
"…probably trying to neutralize the nano machines that have invaded himself."
"…whatever you two think about the Professor, has to be put aside. Right now we have to work as a team to stop this thing. Or else it's all over for us."
The Commander and Shadow exchanged glances but ultimately put aside their thoughts to focus on the task at hand.
Shadow spoke, "I'm heading to the Eternal Engine to confront this Hydrax. Rouge, I'll need you to use your skills to break into the left pupil section of the ARK. A program call Airam lies within there and may be the key to defeating these nano machines. By now Hadex has probably sealed the area down, but it should be no problem for the world's greatest jewel thief, yes?"
"Of course not. Semi disappointed there are no gems involved but then again you can't be the world's best treasure hunter if there is no world huh?"
With a two finger salute Rouge left out the room. The Commander knelt next to the disabled Hermex.
"I'm going to remain here and watch over this thing."
Shadow nodded before turning and racing out of the room. At first the race was on to learn the truth about his purpose, but now the race was on to save to world from total destruction.
Eternal Engine. Still the way it was from when after Tails had infiltrated it in his Cyclone Walker. For Shadow, who knew the ARK even better than any of Tails' computers, easily made his way through the area. It was a smooth travel until he reached the massive drop. Apparently the Hydrax had already been released and beat the ebony hedgehog there, as far below the Engine could be seen, but instead of a massive drop into darkness below, there was a lit up area with a full floor. Shadow decided to bounce down the walls, streaks of gold zig zagging in his wake as he bounced and landed on this new platform. In front of him was a normal sized Artificial Chaos, but instead of a blue body it was black, flooded with nano machines. Suddenly the nano machines spilled out into a pile and the head unit dived into it. Shadow took a defensive stance, smirking as the thing in front of him began to form. The nano machines shot up in a massive spiral before settling into a large lump on the wall. It began scaling the wall until it was swarming over the Eternal Engine itself. The platform Shadow was on collapsed into a black drop, several seconds passing before Shadow landed on a lone platform with several platforms leading back up in a spiral towards the lump which was now taking a shape. It formed…Perfect Chaos.
An Artificial Perfect Chaos! With the top front section of the head the classic mechanical white of the regular Artificial Chaos, the eyes the same yellow too. The main difference was the mass of black within its clear body, a swarm of nano machines clearly possessing it. With a loud and bellowed roar, the Hydrax had formed completely and did not waste any time firing off projectiles out of the spines on its back down towards Shadow. The black hedgehog began leaping up the platforms, springs on the tips of each one, as he raced to avoid the projectiles, several exploding around him and kicking up small fragments of metal as they struck the walls. The Eternal Engine was in jeopardy with this beast about. One of its two tendrils lashed out at Shadow, who leaped onto it and began grinding on it, made possible by a string of nano machines that lay within it. Jumping half way up it, Shadow lobbed a Chaos Spear at the horn on top of the Hydrax's head, the impact dazing it momentarily as Shadow leaped onto the opposite tendril and grinded up toward the Hydrax's head. Avoiding more projectiles, Shadow vaulted into the air before homing attacking the horn on top the Hydrax's head, causing it to explode and sending Shadow flipping back down to the low platform.
His eyes quickly shot up as a loud helicopter propeller noise sounded as the lump began reforming. The Hydrax's head regenerated, but this time four long necks extended out the base of its head with regular Artificial Chaos heads on the ends. Roaring, the Hydrax dared Shadow to come after it again. Smirking, Shadow rushed forward, bouncing once again on the spring platforms as he accelerated skyward. The four new heads lunged down at Shadow, slithering downwards, one even smashing through one of the platforms Shadow was using. Swiping at Shadow, he homing attacked it and began grinding on the tendril, before two heads spawned on the tip of it and it split into two tendrils. Shadow sprung onto one and continued onwards as the two new heads gave pursuit. The remaining three new heads also swiped at Shadow, and he rotated between bouncing off the spring platforms to homing attacking the heads and grinding up their tendrils. By the time Shadow reached the main two tendrils of the Hydrax, there were eight heads following him, each firing eye lasers at him. Repeating the earlier pattern, Shadow zoomed up one tendril of the Hydrax, hopping up and blasting at the horn with a Chaos Spear to daze it. Unable to dodge, Shadow grinded along the second tendril and struck the horn once again, causing the main head to explode and the smaller heads to explode with it. Again, Shadow landed on the low platform, looking up as the helicopter noise sounded as the Hydrax spawned new heads. This time, three new main heads spawned and sixteen mini heads. Shadow grew annoyed at the fact if the fight continued on this way the Hydrax would become troubling to fight and the Eternal Engine may be in critical danger of being destroyed, crippling the entire Space Colony ARK.
"Shadow!"
"Rouge?"
"I'm on the comm. system. while I'm on my way to Airam and with my Treasure Scope I can easily hack into and pick up video feed from the ARK's security cameras. Listen. That beast you are fighting is a replica of what the G.U.N. has on record as "Perfect Chaos", who was fueled by the negative power of the Chaos Emeralds, but was defeated by Super Sonic using the positive power of the emeralds. The way he beat him was to charge into him at high speeds and burst out the top! This Hydrax's weak point must be inside it as well."
"Alright. It's worth a shot…"
Shadow unclipped both of his inhibitor rings as in a yellow flash, they fell onto this bottom platform with a light clinking noise. A gold aura enveloped Shadow as he jumped onto the wall and began skating up it in stride, his release of power giving him enough speed to go vertically up it. One after the other, the three main heads fire sweeping mouth beams at the antihero hedgehog, all being dodged as he weaved in between them. The sixteen heads fired their eye lasers, but now they had no affect as Shadow's aura bounced them off. The three heads summoned swarms of nano machines in the form of tornadoes, launching three of them at Shadow in a zig zag formation.
"Let's finish this!"
Shadow waved a hand and brought down many bolts of Chaos Spears down around him in an orbit, curling into a spindash as they made contact with himself, becoming a Chaos Spindash Spear. Bursting on forwards, Shadow tore through the tornadoes before mad dashing into the base of the Hydrax and charging up the inside of it in a wide golden spiral, destroying all nano machines in his path. Finally, Shadow reached the master program of the main head unit and plowed through it, smashing up and out the head of the Hydrax and, in a death cry, causing it to combust, each individual nano machine exploding as the mini heads and main heads rippled with fire. In one final explosion, the Hydrax was obliterated, Shadow landed for a final time on the low platform as he collected his inhibitor rings. The Eternal Engine had been saved. Now to hope Rouge accomplished her mission as well…
