Well, here goes nothing, guys. Thanks for sticking with me thus far. I was worried about my science here, but then I realised the show itself had about as much respect for scientific accuracy as a bored toddler has for it's parents expensive designer wallpaper (no seriously, they assumed the whole world forgot how the sun and moon work) so I figure whatever I'm about to pull, it's no less dodgy than what canon gave us... hopefully.

Malcolm.

'You know I could've sworn you'd be a robot, but I think that kind of mistake is acceptable, don't you?'

The man with spectacles is staring at a computer screen with a look of on his face like Tails when he's just discovered some crazy new law of physics. Sonic begins to wonder if the itching feeling he's getting is less to do with hiss growing urge to run, and more to do with those damned scanner thingies that keep shining in his eyes every couple of seconds.

He's already tried the running-straight-through-the-glass thing. That sometimes works. There's no give, though. The world around him remains steadfastly the same, and there's something about that, about not being able to take a few steps, break into a run, and be somewhere else far away from, or far closer to whatever the current problem is, which makes his quills itch. Clearly these goons have learned a little since the last time he was in one of these places.

The man in the white coat is still talking. 'Why your speed, your agility... just to function mentally on the speed at which your body operates physically would take a phenomenal amounts of energy. That kind of power couldn't possibly exist in anything that wasn't manmade. But then I was thinking on a human scale, wasn't I? I can appreciate that now. You're very much a biological entity.'

'Yeah, guess I'm just full of surprises. So what'd you say your name was?'

'I didn't. But don't worry, we're going to be getting to know each other quite well over the course of the next few... well however long really. My name is Doctor Kai Narasu. I was a Biology Expert assigned to Area 99 when you first arrived in this world from whatever alien landscape you call home.'

'Can't say you're ringin' any bells, Doc. Thanks for the name, though. I'll remember it.'

'Hm... your personal files courtesy of Doctor Crowley don't say anything about your being skilled in the art of vaguely concealed threats, but then again I presume you and her started out on better footing than you and I.'

'Well you do have me in this big glass cage, while your employers keep my friends locked away in some shabby underground dump, Kai. You know, that sort of thing kinda colours my view on a person.'

'...The wit, however, she did mention.' He begins to walk away...

Okay Sonic likes to keep his cool, usually, but everything about this guy annoys him. Probably something to do with the whole kidnapping and lethal force thing that he and his colleagues have going on. 'Pardon the lights,' Kai says. It's just some simple bio scanners, but I'm fairly sure the results will be conclusive. We've done enough research, really, this is all just formality.'

No idea what he's talking about, but he's still annoying. 'Yeah, you sure about that? I mean, you did think I was a machine, right? That why you're not workin' for section 99 anymore isn't it?'

'Hm, now that's interesting: Passive aggressiveness... Miss Crowley didn't say anything about that either Hm... considering all the information my employer seems convinced we gained from her, she wasn't really all that thorough when you get down to it now, was she?'

'Clearly she gave ya enough to go on.'

'Oh there's no denying that. Her... advice has been invaluable. We knew the boy was involved of course, but to this extent... it's truly fascinating, Mister hedgehog. The ties that bind...'

Still not making any sense. His frustration and need to run is at war with the fact that he knows if Tails were here, then Tails would be telling him to... Sonic's not sure, gather information or something, he supposes. That sounds like the kind of thing Tails would think is a good idea, so he looks around. The guy in the coat goes back to his computers and screens and starts typing at a rather impressive pace, even by Sonic's standards.

He doesn't understand a lot of this stuff and he'd be the first to admit it. Computers bore the heck out of him. But maybe Tails will understand. Sonic just has to remember what he sees so he can relay it later... Computers... machines... wisps of icy cold air swirling around the scientist's feet: to keep the computers cool; Sonic knows that much. There are no other people in the room, and Sonic wonders why for a second before realising: this must be a secret even from a lot of the people already working for CLIP. These guys sure seem to like their privacy. The other glass tubes freak him out a little... There are displays and posters too. Images of... off worlders, as he thinks the tv shows are calling them all now. Some of them are of him; others are of robotic constructions, like the kind you'd see in Eggman's labs. And then...

'Hey, that's Shadow.'

The scientist looks up from whatever he's doing, following the line of Sonic's vision to the display on the far wall. 'Well of course. Who else? I presume you know why you're here, Mister Hedgehog?'

He'd tell the guy to stop calling him that, but he doesn't exactly want to be on first name terms with him, either. Dilemma. Sonic eventually settles for folding his arms.

'Mostly, because you stuck one of those gun things in my new friend Ella's face. And kidnapped one of my best friends... Heck, even Doctor Eggman doesn't hold with those guns you guys like to carry around all the time. He thinks they're unsporting, I figure.'

'Hm. Never send a man with a gun to go a giant robot's job, I presume?'

Sonic knows, logically, that hedgehogs in this world bristle. And roll into balls, and stuff. Chris has shown him in books, and he's fairly sure he has the defence mechanisms tucked away somewhere. But he's never felt the desire to actually do that himself, excluding those times when Amy's in a really girly, datey kind of mood and his first plan then is usually to make a break for it. Sonic's never felt the urge to hide before. Not the way he does now, with those lights blinking in his face and the coldness of the glass dome against his quills. 'Something like that.'

'Hm. How ironic that such a highly advanced weapon such as yourself would think so badly of a weapon based on precisely the same principles.'

'Me, a weapon? Huh. You're lookin' at the wrong hedgehog, pal.'

'Oh no, Sonic, I believe we're actually looking at the right hedgehog at last. While everyone was so obsessed with Shadow we missed the obvious, you see... who would've thought the answers were right here, all along? It all comes down to time, of course. Time dilation, time variations... There are differences between our worlds which can't be accounted for by base physics. We're admittedly not certain what that all means right now, but have you at any point considered the possibility Sonic, that your origins are not what you believe them to be?'

'Origins? What're you talking about?'

'Your creation, Sonic. Your birth, if you can call it that.' The scientist is shuffling back and forth around the room now, examining dials and monitors picking up... something from Sonic. Information of some kid, Sonic supposes. He doesn't know what exactly you can find out by looking at light rays, but whatever the Doctor is seeing, he clearly approves of it. 'What do you know of it?'

'People don't remember things like that. Nobody remembers being born.'

'No. But they remember being children. They remember their parents... you didn't tell Doctor Crowley anything in particular about your family.'

Sonic shrugs as not-deliberately as he can manage, because damn, he's already had his brain picked over at least once this week, and that was by somebody he actually kind of likes. He's not dumb enough to let it happen again. 'She's already met my family.'

'Well that's endearing, I'm sure but I'm talking about genetics here, Sonic, not those whom we choose to call our kin. There are something's which simply can't be chosen. Your friends the Thorndyke's know that well enough... And as for you, my living weapon, what exactly DO you know about the kin you never chose? Do you even have any idea where you came from in the first place?'

'I told you, I'm not a weapon!'

When the scientist laughs it's cold and humourless. 'Are you so naive as to think that is true, Sonic, or are you just playing the fool with me? Perhaps your mind doesn't work as fast as your feet, hm?'

We enter an office that looks ways similar to my own. There's even a Newton's cradle sitting on the desk. The furniture is large, heavy and practical; there are maps on the walls and a display of ornamental weapons, clearly not meant to be used, behind the desk. This is the room of somebody who is, or was, a soldier, somebody who appreciates the power and potential (not to mention the threat) of a loaded gun. There are framed certificates on the wall, the occasional photograph –all of machines or formal military gatherings, there are no personal family images that I can see: no wife or children, or grandchildren. Torn's entire life seems to have revolved around his career.

The man sitting behind the desk in front of us is not what I expected. He's balding, for one thing. His cheeks are pinched and hollow and while he's clearly tall and well built, whatever muscle he had when he was younger has atrophied with age so the suit he wears appears to be slightly too big for his frame. A strong man out of his prime. Still he has sharp, bright eyes that are probably just as alert as when he was a teenager. It takes me minute to remember who it is I'm looking at, for his name to show up in my memories.

'Corporal Malcolm Torn,' Professor Thorndyke says. 'The Director of the Covert Lateral International Program. Whatever the hell that means.'

The corporal's jaw twitches, and he stares firmly at professor Thorndyke while I try in vain to figure out exactly what is about to happen. I feel like I've come into the theatre halfway through the show, and barely had time to read the program. My mind is racing, trying to put together everything I know and make all the information I've absorbed over the last few days take the form of the man in front of me now.

'You know of me,' Torn says eventually. 'I'm surprised. Perhaps even flattered.'

'You could say I've been doing some research of my own.' The professor says.

'No doubt. And I presume you've turned up a lot of interesting... I won't say facts about me, because everything's a matter of opinion, isn't it?' He's looking at me as he says this. I feel like a bug, being scrutinized with a microscope. Now I understand how my clients must feel every time they're in the room with me. He gestures to the two chairs in front of the desk. 'Please, sit.'

To my surprise, the professor does, gesturing at me with his eyes to do the same. It's only when I place my hands on the arms of my chair that I realise how much I'm shaking.

'I believe you requested a meeting with me,' Torn says. His voice is cordial and polite, friendly even.

'I want to know what you want with Sonic.' The professor says.

'You say you've done research, professor...' Torn says, leaning back in his chair, still smiling that unnerving smile. 'So why don't you tell me what you already know, and I'll endeavour to fill in the blanks?'

'Why would you tell us anything?' I find myself blurting. 'Why... why do you think we'd assume we're going to get out of here alive if you do?'

'Oh I don't think he's promising that, Doctor Crowley.' Malcolm Torn says, sounding amused. 'The professor is far more intelligent than that.'

'I want you to let my Grandson, Amy, and Doctor Crowley go.' He professor says. I'm quite surprised by how... demanding he sounds, as if he honestly expects his request to be honoured.

'You believe I'd do that.' Torn replies. It's not a question.

The professor shrugs. 'You have no reason to keep them. What would they say? That they were taken by bad people to some place in the desert, blindfolded and locked up? I know fine well that you're above any authority. The rest of the world can't do anything about you. You'll just cover everything up, the same way you covered up the murder of Maria Robotnik. Not to mention Gerald Robotnik, and all those other scientists who you had locked away for presumed crimes against the state.'

Torn appears to think about this for a long moment. I can hear the Newton's cradle clacking and resolve to get rid of my own when I get back to my office... Except that, if I honestly believed at this point that I was going to see my office again, I'd be even more delusional than Eggman.

'So then, Miss Amy Rose. A... pink hedgehog, apparently?' Torn asks, sounding slightly puzzled, as most do when talking about the Galaxy X inhabitants.

'So she tells me.'

'Mm, yes well... She has at least one ability that we might use to our advantage, and she's a worthy subject of study, so it could be worth keeping her around. And of course there's the matter of your Grandson. Both of them have bonded with Sonic. He'll do anything to protect them from harm. Rest assured, they will be taken good care of. We wouldn't want to upset our newest prize, after all. Doctor Crowley, however...' He looks at me. 'There are... other options for you. After all, you do hold a high up position in the government. It seems a shame to waste such a resource.'

'Whatever you want from me you won't get it,' I snap. The words are out before I even know I've said them. I believe them, though, that's what matters. 'Anyway I'm one of the few people the president might listen to; if I brought this to his attention... Well, really you can't afford to let me go, and I refuse to stay and work alongside you.' I swallow the lump in my throat. 'I'd become just another of your little accidents as soon as I left... And if I'm not going to leave this facility alive, then... I want to know the truth.'

'Doctor, you don't need to do this.' The professor says, softly.

I nod, but in the back of my mind lies the half-scattered remnants of a dream I only barely remember. A little girl with blue eyes and no real life ahead of her, smiling calmly as she waits for the inevitable. I owe that little girl. And I owe the family she left behind. We all do. Every one of us who closed our eyes, turned our backs, or were made ignorant through time and deception. I understand now whose memory Shadow died to protect.

I can hear the rest of the truth.

'Yes I do.'

'Very well,' Torn says, bluntly. 'Was worth a shot. I'm not a man to waste manpower needlessly. So... your grandson and your little adopted freaks are still here.'

The professor says nothing, but he doesn't have to. He knows that Torn is right. Whatever the professor's plan was, it didn't involve Amy, or Chris, or even me still being here. Now we have them to worry about as well.

Torn goes on. 'It was a good attempt at evading capture, I'll admit. Not many people would be so bold as to try and outwit my men.'

'I doubt you would've let any of us leave that desert anyway. The only reason we're still here is because we're a bargaining chip to use against Sonic. You had too much to lose by letting us go.'

I hesitate, glimpsing at the professor but he just keeps on looking at Torn, refusing to meet my eye. I suppose I haven't been forbidden from talking. Besides, at this point, what do we have to lose?

'Oh I'm sure we'd come up with something we could use against him.' Torn says. 'That hedgehog is actually remarkably easy to control, so long as you know what you're doing. And thanks to Doctor Crowley here's... exhausting reports, we have all the information we need and then some. You've played your part very well, Doctor, considering you had no idea you were playing it. I take it you know who I am.'

I will not get mad, I tell myself, trying to avoid meeting his gaze because I don't want those cold eyes turned upon me. It's strange, to think that the world is so afraid of innocent little creatures like Cream or Tails, when we have people like this running the show behind the scenes. But I will not get mad because that will mean he's winning.

'Malcolm Torn.' I say eventually. 'You're listed in GUN's records and in... Other places.'

'Places even you aren't supposed to have access to, I'm sure.'

'Maybe.' I swallow hard, trying not to look as scared as I feel. 'I think it hardly matters. They talk about your involvement in Space Colony ARK, the cover up operation that began Gerald Robotnik's descent into madness. What I discovered in those documents far outweighs any crime that might have been committed in order to obtain them.'

'Committed by you? Or committed by your bizarre little rodent friend with wings?' Torn smirks. 'You think we didn't know that Rogue the Bat was snooping through our records?'

'You knew exactly what she was up to,' I say. 'Actually, I suspect you've known almost everything we were doing, or going to do, right up until this point. You had eyes and ears everywhere, didn't you?' The flare of anger comes again, bubbling up from where I thought I had it buried. 'How long have you been spying on my life?'

'Long enough. You have done your research, so you probably know the answers. But of course, we're going off on a tangent.' Torn goes on. 'Another of your little traits, Doctor.' He smiles at me. I feel sick. 'Why don't we return to what this is all really about?'

'We did assume that money was an issue.' The professor answers for me. 'After all, that's usually one of the highest motivations for kidnapping the child of rich celebrities... Thorndyke industries could provide you with all the funding you needed. But that's not accurate, is it?'

'A sensible theory.' Torn smiles, as if appreciative of my train of thought. His approval makes me twitch in disgust. 'But yes. Money is no object to us. There are people in the oval office who will listen to us before they listen to him. We have no need for funding from obsessive book keepers like Thorndyke Industries. No, Sonic is all we wanted, and your family are the means by which we can maintain our control over him.'

'Why?' I snap, anger getting the better of me at last. 'What do you want from Sonic?'

Torn gives me a look that suggests he's beginning to doubt my intelligence. 'You've seen him at work. You've watched all the videos of his activities worldwide. You've seen him destroy a falling orbital weapon with nothing more than the Chaos Emeralds, alas, an artefact we have yet to fully comprehend. You'll be helping us out with that too, of course.'

'Go to hell.' It feels good to swear at them, breaking the act or not. The words dropping off my tongue like hot lead. I'm lighter as soon as I've spoken them however pointless it might be. 'You're a bunch of liars and thieves and killers. You murdered a little girl for no reason other than that she was a witness... You lied to your country, and your president, and to the people you're supposed to protect. What IS clip anyway? Some kind of shadow government? I want no part of you.

'What she said,' the professor points at me, scowling. 'We will never be a part of anything you people have created. And I'm positive Sonic feels precisely the same way.'

'But don't you see that you're already a part of it? Why it was only through Elloise here's careful study and research that we were able to develop our current strategy. Your words confirmed everything we already suspected about Sonic and his friends. You know I was rather hoping to see you. I never thought I'd have the opportunity to thank you for all the help you've given us.'

I can feel the heat rising in my cheeks, even terrified as I am. But it's true. I've been used, and I know it. 'I would never have written a damn word if I'd known what it was all going to be used for.'

'Hmm. I'm sure you wouldn't. But the thing is, Doctor... the odds of you having worked that out alone were extremely unlikely. If it weren't for Agent Topaz's traitorous actions, I doubt you would have realised a thing. And for the record, they too are being taken care of.' He gives the professor a nod. A prickle runs up my spine. 'We have agents watching every inch of the Thorndyke house as you assume, and they no longer have Sonic to protect them.'

But they have others, I find myself thinking, trying to draw some hope from the idea. They have Tails, Topaz, and Tanaka, and heck, they can't be any worse off than we are.

Torn he gets to his feet again and turns to face the cabinet behind us, opening the door to reveal a large television set, and pulling out a DVD. He places the DVD in the machine without a word. I glimpse sideward at the professor and feel his hand squeeze my arm reassuringly. Neither of us knows what's coming.

'You know, I believe I underestimated Sonic,' Torn says conversationally. One of the most interesting things about him, which I discovered from your notes, is his tendency to bond with people. He's hardly talkative, but it's surprising how easily someone so... blunt makes friends. I didn't anticipate that he would consider you a confidant so soon after meeting you... Ergo, we didn't anticipate you becoming as involved as you are. Unlucky for you. But then, trouble does seem to follow that spiny blue rat around like a bad head cold, doesn't it? And he always drags everyone else along for the ride with him.'

I don't answer. My eyes fall on the screen, a piece of grainy colour footage begins playing across the screen, peppered with humming voices.

"All our potential candidates are currently being recorded from several locations in this room. I hope that doesn't bother you."

"O-oh. No, th-that's fine. Really I-I don't mind."

It takes a few moments for me to realise what I'm seeing, and when I do my blood runs cold. It's a recording. A recording of me. I recognize the awful suit I'm wearing and the way I stumble as I enter the room. The nervous pattern of my speech, the pigtail trailing down my back. I look as much like a nervous graduate as I remember feeling. Wondering why I was even there...

It's my interview with the Governmental Psychology Department. My interview for the position I hold now. Or did, until this morning. The interviewer sits there in his starched white suit, and I remember him as clearly as if it were yesterday, the judging twist of his lips while I struggled to remind myself that I had earned the right to be there and that I was, probably, more qualified than he was anyway.

"I've read your thesis on the psychological ramifications of high ranking government work on individuals in positions of power, Ms Crowley... very intriguing, if somewhat sprawling."

"I... oh well I didn't score particularly highly, but..."

"But you believe you have something to offer us, hm?"

"I... I don't know about that, sir. I just want to help people. I'd like to think I've learned a lot about how to do that during my doctorate."

"You don't sound particularly sure of yourself, Elloise. Surely somebody who has spent so long working on a doctorate degree should have more specific awareness of their subject?"

"I... I suppose they should. But... knowing what I know and talking about it are two different things. I would be doing a lot less talking in this job, and a lot more listening. That's where I'm... well, the most comfortable. I always have been, I... I'm a very fast learner, sir. I'll do whatever is required."

'What precisely is this in aid of, Mister Torn?' The professor asks, coldly, talking over our voices on the film. My eyes are still locked on the screen and truthfully, I don't need to hear it. I remember the event word for word.

'Well, Ms Crowley does want to know the truth,' Torn says. 'I am endeavouring to show it to her.'

'I don't...' I start to say, but I trail off. I can still see myself in the video, nervous and on edge, stumbling through each question. I'm sure I remember making things up as I go. And then I remember leaving the interview room, dejected and down heartened, only to get the surprise of my life a few days later when the letter arrived at my home, confirming my being granted the position.

It always had seemed too good to be true.

'We've been doing some studies of our own, you see. I believe your final grade at Harvard placed you as... ninety second out of one hundred and thirty two, wasn't it? You barely scraped a pass mark in your elective course in business. When you went onto do a Doctorate, you were refused from three separate grants. You finally opted to pay for your own tuition. Which makes sense, I suppose. After all, what kind of seriously competent psychologist would be dense enough to call up a target and try to remove him from his classroom, when just about anyone in that building could've been a double agent? Definitely not the most astute of choices, Doctor...'

'Is there supposed to be anything productive about all this, or are you just plain cruel?' the professor snaps, but I'm not really listening to him. His words don't help.

'I have all the degrees I need and more than enough experience to qualify me for this post, Mister Torn. I don't see the point of this little trip down memory lane.'

'True. But in the end what's paper worth? On paper I'm a field sergeant with a dozen medals under his belt and a free pass to every party thrown at the Whitehouse. My resume doesn't say anything about who I really am. It just shows you a lot of details that people want to hear. Yes, on paper you seem a decent enough bet... but the woman I see in that video isn't someone who I would've offered such a high ranking government position as Head Psychologist, don't you agree?'

I don't answer.

'Tell me, Doctor Crowley. Do you honestly think that you were employed by the government –and then chosen by CLIP to carry out these tests– because we were impressed by your resume?'

'If... If I was such an unimpressive candidate why give me the job?'

'Good question. And the answer is simple. You know how they say that those best suited to run the country are those too smart to consider doing so? Well, we read your essays, noticed your tangents into irrelevant areas that weren't important, your... ability to extrapolate on what's in front of you. You're smart, Elloise – just smart enough for us, but not focussed enough, not coherent enough to ever do anything with the things you discover. Your one uncanny knack, is your ability to perceive the strengths and weaknesses of others without realising the true importance of what you discover. You provided us with a veritable library of information. And all,' he laughs now, actually laughs in disbelief. My blood boils. 'Because you couldn't stop rambling...'

...Oh.

I don't want to believe it. Just knowing that I handed the information that could get Sonic captured right into CLIP's hands, is bad enough... but the idea that the last few years of my life, my entire career, has all been some elaborate sham, that I'm just some tool to them to be used as they wish...

'You could've asked any psychiatrist for the same thing,' the Professor puts in. 'Doctor Crowley isn't to blame for being used and your vindictiveness knows no bounds if you think taunting her with how much you manipulated her is a valuable waste of our remaining time on earth. Do the feelings of other people matter so little to you?'

'Far from it, the feelings of others are very important to me. Sonic, for example...' Torn clicks his tongue in amusement. 'Now there's a guy who thinks with his heart, wouldn't you say? Or rather his feet, and granted they often seem to be telling him the same thing... What was it you said in your notes, Doctor? "While primarily good natured and prone to helping those in difficulty, it may still be wise not to antagonise him in any way."'

I remember writing those words. And because of that, though perhaps not that alone, they know the best way to keep Sonic on a lease is to stick somebody in trouble and put the weight of their lives on his shoulders.

'He's particularly protective of his friends, but the truth is, anybody would work really,' Torn goes on. 'You just have to stick somebody in front of that blue freak and he'll go out of his way to protect them. A "hero complex", I believe you called it. Christopher Thorndyke was just an added insurance.'

'An added insurance, to keep Sonic under control. Right,' the professor says. 'So enlighten us, Mister Torn. Why is it that you need Sonic the Hedgehog so badly that you're willing to tear all these people's lives apart?'

'—And what does it have to do with your wife?' Torn finishes a sentence the professor was clearly thinking. I'm honestly wondering that myself. How DOES Gloria play into all of this? 'That's what you're really thinking, isn't it, Charles? What did happen to Gloria Robotnik? Oh, I'm sorry; I believe you knew her as Christine Thorndyke.'

'Like you said,' I whisper. 'If we're not getting out of here anyway, what's the point in secrets?'

Torn gives me a long, steady look. 'Bravery in the face of your own destruction. I appreciate that quality in an agent.'

'Appreciate it enough to give us straight answers!'

'You see Mister Hedgehog, you probably recall that just under a year ago, the remnants of the ultimate life form project were... well rediscovered, so to speak, in an abandoned laboratory underneath the city.' Sonic does his best to ignore the itch to run and pay attention. 'There we found the cryogenically frozen body of the Ultimate Lifeform project... or should that be, the Ultimate Life form Project Point two-oh? Well, either way, it had been locked in that chamber for going on fifty years. The GUN agents of the time were unable to track it, due to Robotnik's very sophisticated technology...'

'Shadow, right?' Sonic keeps staring at the poster opposite his heavily reinforced glass cell.

'Indeed. And you also know everything that happened afterwards...' the guy in the lab coat sniffs, pushing his glasses up his nose. 'Caused us quite the commotion, did that hedgehog... Gerald Robotnik was indeed a genius. However what you may not know is that Shadow's cryocapsule was not the only one released from the colony fifty years ago.'

'You're talkin' about Emerl, right? Cream's... friend.' He swallows the last word, because it still leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. The sight of the ocean exploding upwards and Cream sobbing into the sky. Nothing he could do, because he didn't trust himself to say anything to make things right. It was too late for any of that.

The scientist smiles. 'You'd think. But no. Emerl was indeed part of the Ultimate Lifeform project... and he was created by Gerald Robotnik, but he was not released from Space Colony ARK. He was built in an earthbound base years before he even began the process for creating Shadow. In those days Robotnik focussed primarily upon mechanical constructions... It was only later, after he discovered your world, that he began branching out into cybertronics and of course, genetics. Emerl it not the life form I'm referring to here.'

...Oh. Okay. Well, that's weird. The scientist chuckles. 'Goodness, you really don't understand, do you? Well, I did gather from the Doctor's notes that you're not exactly the sharpest tool in the intergalactic shed.'

'Whatever. You gonna explain, or leave me to wait for the ideal time to break out in peace, man?'

'Sorry Sonic, but no matter what clever plans you think you may have for escape, you will not be leaving this room or that cell. I'm under strict instructions to keep you under lock and key. Not that I needed those instructions. I think it's fairly obvious what you'd do to this place if we let you out and I really would rather you not destroy my workplace at supersonic speed. Where was I?' The scientist starts another scanner of some kind and Sonic winches at the sudden light in his eyes. He keeps listening though.

'Approximately fifteen years ago, CLIP was made aware of... activity, in a place they suspected of being one of Gerald Robotnik's former bases. Agents had explored it before, of course, but they had found nothing of interest and closed it up again. Seems they just weren't looking in the right places. You see hidden within a disguised corner of that facility, was another cyropod, released from Space Colony ARK over forty years previously... Robotnik created several life forms in his quest for world destruction, or betterment, depending upon who you believe.'

The Doctor pushes his glasses up his nose. He doesn't look like he knows or cares what it was. Sonic isn't sure himself. Sometimes, he wonders if Rogue was right in suspecting that Gerald Robotnik created Shadow purely for the purposes of stopping himself all along. 'Where're you going with this?'

'Hm... You know, I'm not sure I'm supposed to be telling you all this.'

'Well... what harm can it do?' Sonic asks, and okay, he is not getting really nervous feelings in his stomach. He's not. 'Like you say, I'm stuck in here. Most of this is just boring science to me anyway. I mean, if I'm gonna be stuck in your freaky bubbles, I'd kinda like to know why.'

'True enough. We owe you that much, don't we?' The scientist nods. Sonic smirks. He might not understand all of this stuff, but he knows that look: it's the same one Tails gets whenever he's made some amazing discovery and just can't hold back from talking about it, even though he knows nobody else around him will have the foggiest what he's talking about. Scientists are pretty much all the same that way. This guy just won't be able to help himself.

'Fifteen years ago there was a woman whom CLIP had been tracking, on and off, for going on the last thirty years. One day, one of our agents found her snooping around the facility which, until that time, we had assumed was just another of Gerald Robotnik's many abandoned bases. Nothing particularly special about it, he had about a dozen of them... But this woman had access to areas we had never realised existed. Areas shielded from our technology. We believe she got information about these locations from Gerald Robotnik, in prison, a scant few weeks before he died. They tracked her to the facility, where they found her to be in the process of doing two things... First, she was releasing the Life Form in the facility from its forty year cryosleep. And second... she was opening a portal.'

'Uh... What?'

'It's erroneous to assume that transportation between our worlds is a recent phenomenon,' Torn is still talking, and through the blood pounding in my ears I'm still hearing him. 'You claim I owe you the truth. I would agree. I'm not a complete monster, I'm just doing what I believe is best for my country.'

'For yourself, rather,' I whisper. It's all I can summon up. Torn doesn't as much as glance at me.

'So,' the professor says. 'Outer world transportation has happened before, has it?'

'Yes. And Gerald Robotnik was the first and to this date only human of this world to accomplish it. To create a portal between worlds without the use of the Chaos Emeralds was a spectacular feat, but he had the genius to achieve it, and he did. Over forty years ago, Charles, on the day your wife was killed... She was in a hidden base in the very place where the project known in our files as "Emerl" was discovered... She was caught there, following instructions that we believe she got from Robotnik when meeting with him at the prison a few days earlier. This was not long before Robotnik recorded his last message and set in motion his plans to have his weaponized beast destroy the world as we know it.'

'His last act of rebellion against those who imprisoned him,' the professor said, his voice dry and cold. I think we're both getting pretty numb to earth shattering revelations at this point.

'Indeed. Until that moment we hadn't been certain that Gloria was even alive and god only knows how he knew. She had dropped off the radar years earlier, when she married you, no doubt. We never knew the identity of her Son's father, and I presume you didn't either. Of course to have a child out of wedlock at such a young age was highly frowned upon especially back then. Hence, when you met her, she was pretending that her son was in fact her brother, and that her parents had been killed in an accident. Which is only partly true.'

'Took me years to work it out,' Charles mutters, seemingly to himself. 'I was very young when I met her... didn't ask her to marry me for a decade.'

'Going to the prison to meet her grandfather was the second to last mistake Gloria Robotnik would ever make.' Torn goes on. 'Gerald knew that the only person he could trust now would be a member of his family... We're not sure how he contacted her, probably had people working for him in the prison even then, but whatever the case, your wife was acting under directives from her grandfather when she accessed that facility, and released the prototype for the Ultimate Lifeform. Of course I ordered my people to stop her using whatever means necessary... but it was too late.'

'So you murdered her and covered it up,' I whisper. And suddenly I can see it all playing out in my mind: Maria'a older sister, desperate to do one last bit of good for the family she lost. A woman trying to give her grandfather, who she probably only ever knew as a kindly, intelligent old man, his final wish, and to free an imprisoned soul from eternal slumber: And that soul was the prototype for the ultimate lifeform.

'When my agents arrived at the facility, we found her opening a portal and sending Gerald Robotnik's original prototype back to the world of it's origins. A world where it would fit in, and be accepted. Until then he had worked purely with mechanics and cyber technology, but eventually Gerald began to branch out into genetic research... and from those trials was spawned the creature from which all the other experiments came.'

'The monster on board Space Colony ARK...' the professor says weakly, although I can tell he's kidding himself. He doesn't believe that anymore than we do. No. The monster on the ARK wasn't the prototype Ultimate Lifeform. Not the first one, anyway. It was a deliberate creation designed as a defender of the facility, and was probably never even intended to be an Ultimate Life Form. What kind of magnum opus would that have been?

'It took us years to figure out what the portals were all about... truthfully it was sheer luck that you emerged in this world when you did. We thought that you'd been lost forever,' Doctor Kai Naumra goes on. He's smiling, and his expression just plain freaks Sonic out, even more than what he's saying does. 'Don't you see, Sonic? It was you. You were the creature that Gerald Robotnik's associate threw into the portal fifteen years ago, sending you back to the very world that spawned your genesis.'

'I...' No. That can't be, can it? He was born in the other world, Sonic is sure of it. Well, almost sure. And okay, so he never had parents but that wasn't so unusual: neither did Tails, or Knuckles, or Amy. Lots of people grew up without parents. It was perfectly normal where they came from. If Chris had come from their world he would've been working by now or something. 'That's crazy. It isn't true.'

'Think whatever you wish, Sonic, but the tests make it perfectly clear. Do you really think a normal hedgehog, even from your world, could possess the abilities you do? Certainly, your world does seem to churn out the strangest things... Flying bunny rabbits, hammers materialising out of nowhere... mutants,' he chuckles. 'But nothing quite like you. Your ability to harness the powers of the chaos emerald is almost unheard of; your maximum speed impossible in any biological being. You're a mutant, born of science and technology. You never had parents, or if you did then they were mere donors, probably creatures from your world manipulated to Gerald's cause.' He gives Sonic a moment, probably to let this sink in, but when you think as fast as Sonic does it's far too long. Sonic watches the man walk over to the image of Shadow on the wall, standing beneath it and staring.

'Okay so... so if all that's true an' I wasn't even born in my world, why'd that woman send me there?'

'I suppose because her grandfather wanted to give you some semblance of a future...' The scientist answers. 'To send you back to a world where you would be accepted, before he destroyed everything this one was... I don't think he ever expected you to return, but thus is life. And now, here we are,' the scientist extends a hand brandishing to the room around them. 'Back in the place where it all began. Gerald Robotnik's prototype has finally come home.'

Sonic isn't used to being freaked out. It's not a big thing for him. Usually he just runs until he can get whatever's bugging him out o his system, but there's nowhere to run here. He can feel a faint tremble running through his quills and can't work out if the sensation is coming from him, or from the room around him. He thinks of racing Shadow through the streets of Station Square, of following him to Space Colony Ark... Dealing with Gerald Robotnik's lizard freak alongside him, the Chaos Emeralds power burning in their bodies and swallowing Shadow whole. Now Sonic understands that it was never really a case of him being able to keep up with Shadow. It was a case of Shadow being able to keep up with him. Because Shadow was Sonic with all the... well, Sonic-ness ironed out of him. Shadow was created in order to surpass him.

And isn't that just the weirdest thing ever?

The scientist is staring at Sonic now, with something akin to glee, or even reverence, in his expression. 'You're our missing link, Sonic. Shadow was the final product of the Ultimate Lifeform Project, Sonic. But you? You were the first. And from you we can finally replicate the true origins of Gerald Robotnik's work. From you...' he trailed off, almost laughing. '...We can create armies.'