25. The Phantom ARK
Shadow trudged through the woods, heading away from Doctor Eggman's theme park. He'd had no trouble escaping with the Chaos Emerald, but he'd seen no sign of Amy, Tails, or Cream. There was a faint glow to the east, so he supposed the sun was about to come up on the second day of this alien invasion. At the moment though, the light was still much brighter behind him, a combination of the full moon and the lights from the theme park. The densely-leaved trees around him blocked nearly all the light, though. The darkness suited his mood. He kept wondering what the alien leader wanted from him. He says he created me, but I know - don't I? - that I was created by Professor Gerald Robotnik. And a little bit by the other researchers, maybe but Project: Shadow... He scrabbled for memories that weren't quite within reach. Project: Shadow was supposed to be Ultra Top Secret. An attempt to create an immortal, Ultimate Life-form... a cure for NIDS and other diseases... or an ultimate weapon, depending on who you asked. Most of the people on the ARK, and even in the research labs didn't know what I was, really. He considered that a moment. It felt true, he thought. Huh, I wonder if even the Professor knew what I was, really. I certainly don't. But Doctor Eggman says I have no past, which means... what? At the least, it implies that Black Doom and/or Professor Gerald didn't create me fifty-some years ago. But someone created me at some point...
Anyway, I am. And if it was an Ultra Top Secret... then the Professor would be committing a terrible crime to tell anyone, especially some alien no one knew about. Unless the government knew about Black Doom. He considered the ramifications of that a moment, then shook his head. No, that doesn't make sense. But if the Professor really did break the laws and cooperate with this alien, maybe that's why the Professor wouldn't even have told me. If I knew, I could get him in a lot of trouble, either intentionally or by accident if I said the wrong thing. But why would he promise Doom the Chaos Emeralds? He KNEW how terribly powerful they are!
Again the image came to mind, his fleeing down a corridor with Maria in tow. And a glimmer of an old man with a white moustache like Doctor Eggman's, rubbing his forehead tiredly as he told the hedgehog "Maria is my life." That may be it. He'd do anything for Maria; he tried to destroy the planet to avenge her, Rouge said. That set of memories was still missing, for the most part. In the back of his mind, the girl stumbled and a soldier fired a gun. He felt like rubbing his own forehead, felt lost and tired and very alone.
What's going on with me? I can't get these images out of my mind... Those black creatures... how do they know me? Who was I before this? He stopped short as his sense of Chaos power surged, before a circle of light abruptly flared up on the ground, with himself at its center. "What!?" he gasped. The light grew brighter, and spread then dimmed, leaving him apparently hanging in space, with the Earth at his back and the far-distant stars on all sides.
"Shadow," rumbled a deep voice behind him, "you seemed troubled."
"You!" exclaimed the hedgehog, twisting to face Black Doom. He wasn't really surprised, but he was rather unnerved at the way this being could haul him from place to place. Or has he? I can still breathe, so I'm not really in space–
Further analysis was interrupted by the alien. "Look," he commanded, pointing back past Shadow.
Shadow twisted again, feeling his feet pivoting on some invisible, barely tangible surface. He blinked at the asteroid not far away– no, not an asteroid... "That's the..."
"Yes, that's right," Doom seemed pleased about something. "The Space Colony ARK; fifty years ago."
"The ARK?" Shadow opted to pretend he hadn't instantly recognized the place. "Fifty...years ago?" The catch in the second sentence wasn't feigned; he had a sudden premonition what Black Doom was going to show him.
And sure enough, even from as far off as they appeared to be, Shadow could see clearly into one of the passages, a passage whose windows he shouldn't have been able to distinguish at this distance, let alone see through. And there it was– or rather, there they were, the red-striped hedgehog and the blonde girl in her favorite blue dress ("I'll wear this one for luck, and maybe they'll fix the problem and we won't have to leave!") fleeing hand in hand down the hall in advance of the soldiers. "That's... me!" Again, he tried to sound surprised. As the soldiers leveled their weapons, he gasped in spite of himself. That's when she got shot the first time! I remember now, they shot her and we ran on to the lab, with her blood running down onto my hand! He shivered violently, as chilled as if he really were in space; this was more memory than he wanted.
"That's right," replied Doom remorselessly. "This will remind you what the humans did to you. Never forget that horrifying image." He waved a three-fingered hand and suddenly Shadow was on the ARK, standing in the chill stone and steel corridor. The alien was no longer in sight.
It's not really the ARK, he told himself, the scents are wrong, and even Black Doom can't just toss someone back in time fifty years... He nearly forgot all of that though as - she - appeared. Maria! The silent cry seemed to come from the depths of his soul, and he remembered sharply and cruelly that while fifty years and more had passed for the world, it was a scant week in his own timeline since she had been so shamefully gunned down. He stared, feeling his eyes and throat burn, and struggling for breath as his beloved sister hurried towards him.
"Shadow, I can't just leave everyone else behind! Please, you need to rescue the people being held by the GUN soldiers in the laboratory!" It's not real, his mind made one last feeble protest and gave up. He'd play the part Black Doom had assigned him, for now at least, to try and find out what the alien was truly after... and he'd enjoy Maria's company, even if only an imitation, while he could.
He nodded and started to move. Through a door and into a bay, and the body of a man in a lab coat lay sprawled on the floor. Nearby Shadow recognized a Heal Unit server, and noted that the researcher had fallen with one arm reached vainly towards the device. Even as Shadow took in the scene, the man moved slightly and the hedgehog realized the he was still alive.
"That's one of the researchers," said Maria, her face a picture of distress. "Shadow, give him a Heal Unit!"
That wasn't right, objected part of his brain as he dutifully hoisted the glowing blue capsule out of the server. Maria was more than capable of treating people with Heal Units; she used them herself on a daily basis! And she certainly wasn't the type to wait for someone else to act first - the two of them would have gotten into a lot less trouble if she had been. He tossed the Unit to the floor in front of the wounded man - wounded but not bleeding - and the researcher vanished in the puff of blue mist.
Shadow stared in shock - he'd never seen a Heal Unit vaporize anyone before! Maria on the other hand was completely unconcerned; in fact, she seemed unaware that anything was wrong. "Oh thank goodness he's alright," she was saying, looking at the now bare spot on the floor with relief. "The Heal Unit's side effects will make him dizzy for a while, but at least he's safe!"
Shadow puzzled over that as they moved out of the bay and into a corridor leading to a GUN lift chamber. If Black Doom was supposed to be using this as a fake memory to induce Shadow to cooperate, why would he leave so egregious a flaw as the 'healed' person disappearing? Surely the aliens didn't vanish when they were healed. He jumped back, flinging an arm out to stop Maria as the door slid open to reveal the lift chamber full of GUN soldiers and Beetles. Those are wrong too, he realized. Those are the modern Beetles, not the ones I saw fifty years ago, and those are current GUN uniforms. There was a third error in the 'memory' as well - both the wounded researchers in the chamber looked identical - not only to each other, but to the first one Shadow had run across. Also, there was another Heal Unit server here, and he was fairly certain that they had been uncommon, and kept only in Gerald's quarters (for Maria's use) and in the sickbay. They certainly weren't left lying around where someone could step on them! Several of the soldiers were shooting rather too close for comfort, so he launched an attack to knock the closest out, ignoring Maria's protests. The two circling Beetles he simply smashed. Then he heaved a Heal Unit at the researcher closest to the server, and while waiting for it to recharge, went to inspect the other. When he turned the man's head to see his face, he got a sudden sick shock of memory. I left Maria in the waiting room when I heard that odd noise, and looked around the door to see two gun soldiers standing over the doctor they'd just shot. This is him. He. He snorted to himself. Everything else going on and my inner school teacher has to correct my grammar.
"Why has GUN suddenly...?"said Maria, wringing her hands, "I... I just can't understand!"
"It's all right Maria," he said reassuringly. "Let's get you on to the escape pod, and then I'll come back and make sure all the researchers are safe."
"But the researchers!" she protested. "I can't just leave–"
"Trust me," said Shadow coaxingly. "The soldiers are partly looking for us" - or for me, at least - "so the researchers will be safer the sooner you leave. And then I won't have to worry about the soldiers catching you, so I can get to the wounded that much faster. And you know the soldiers can't catch me unless I let them."
Maria was clearly unhappy, but she subsided, and Shadow led her quickly down a corridor that was marked by flames along the edges of the floor. That's not right either - firstly, there's nothing there to burn, just steel and stone; and secondly, the ARK's automatic detectors would seal the corridor off and either foam it or open it to space, putting the fire out. Hearing voices ahead, he left the girl hidden and looked around a corner. More soldiers, and several of the big, bipedal robots.
"Remember," grated a voice that nearly made him jump out of his quills, "you were attacked by the humans here. You know what you must do... Finish them off!"
Shadow glared at Doom's Eye then walked straight through it to take Maria's hand. She seemed completely unaware of the alien hovering three feet in front of her, and Shadow boldly walked through the projection again as he led her into the corridor. "We have to run now, as fast as you can." He darted between the startled soldiers as fast as the girl could run; fortunately, this group had knives in their hands and their guns slung over their backs. Careless, in a facility not yet totally cleared. Before they got to the bend in the passage, though, someone had unlimbered his rifle, but the rounds he fired after them missed. Then they were around the turn and out of sight. Shadow kept going until Maria couldn't run any more.
"Why," she panted, when they paused to catch her breath, "are the soldiers doing this to us?"
"I don't–" he started, then changed his mind. This wasn't real, so telling the truth wasn't going to change anything that had happened. So, he told her the truth. "Because of the Biolizard, Maria. Someone got scared when she broke loose, and the Gizoid did the same. So they've come to take control of your grandfather's experiments. Including me."
"You're not an experiment, Shadow! You're a person!"
He couldn't help but smile at her indignant tone. "I'm a person who happens to be an experiment," he corrected her. "And GUN has no proof that I won't also go berserk and possibly kill someone."
She frowned, but didn't answer, instead starting down the hall again. The black hedgehog fell in beside her. She trudged along with her eyes on the floor, absently stroking back a wisp of blonde hair that kept falling back into her eyes.
Shadow kept his ears alert for sounds of more soldiers, and tried to figure out where they were. The hall seemed terribly generic, with no signs or identifying color marks. They reached the end of the hall and stepped into a larger corridor he knew very well.
Maria apparently recognized it too. With a giggle, she skipped out into it and pirouetted. "You used to always run so quickly along this slope, remember?"
"Yes," he replied quietly, as a veritable flood of memories washed over him. He'd spent a lot of time here, on the Loop. Only, when they got to the bottom of the slope, the rest of the Loop was missing - there was only a door leading back in the direction they'd come from, albeit on a lower level. Where the hall itself should have swung off the opposite way... was a solid wall.
The two stepped through the door and had to fend off another squad of soldiers. And so it went until Shadow finally located the escape pod, in completely the wrong room, that wasn't where it was supposed to be anyway. And as they stepped through the door the room changed, growing suddenly much larger as a round, flying tank sort of vehicle appeared. Shadow snorted, suddenly recognizing the vehicle as 'Heavy Dog' a prototype he'd battled for Professor Gerald as a test of his skills. But that had been months before the tragedy! Maria gave a short squeal and clapped her hands over her mouth. Shadow turned to reassure her as the tank moved into attack range, but–
"What the...!?"
A soldier was there, superimposed over the room, several times life-sized, with his gun raised and pointing at Shadow. There was a white flash, and Maria, also several times life-size, was falling to the floor in a series of black-and-white stepped images. "Please, Shadow," her voice gasped in his mind, "help me...!"
He stepped forward, hand raised but there was nothing but the room and Heavy Dog, and Black Doom suddenly loomed over the dokan's shoulder. "Humans, willing to sacrifice their own when overcome by greed. They are a foolish race."
"Those heartless humans!" Although his outrage was partly feigned, Shadow suddenly realized that, although he couldn't in all fairness retaliate against current GUN soldiers for the agency's past crimes, there was nothing to stop him from taking some sort of revenge here - even if the soldiers in this place weren't real. "Get out of my way!" he demanded. Black Doom vanished and Shadow leapt into battle with a will.
The Heavy Dog hover tank spun and darted on its cushion of air, but it had no hope of catching Shadow, who dashed and leaped far more quickly than a mere machine could match. The homing grenades it fired were a bit more annoying; with a cloud of the things surrounding the vehicle, it was tricky to get close enough to hit the tank itself, and since they went off automatically, he got a few singed patches - which stung, even though the fight wasn't real. Hmm, I wonder if there's something there that I am fighting, even if it's not old Heavy Dog. The tank's other main attack was a stun charge sent through the metal floor, but that had no hope of hitting the elusive hedgehog. In very little time, each grenade launcher had been hammered shut with a homing attack, and the fuselage pounded into a metal lump. Although Shadow did decide to leave the hatch functional, so the pilot could escape. He chased the human a short way, then knocked him cold.
And suddenly he was standing in brilliant sunlight, with an absolutely frigid breeze whipping through his quills. The air was almost thin enough to be in space, but he was standing on bare flagstones. Blinking furiously at the glare and drafts, he realized he was standing on top of one of the ancient buildings in the canyons. He was amazed by the change in temperature– and then he looked down. The ground was missing.
"Surprised, Shadow?" rumbled Black Doom behind him. "Come this way, and see how I cannot fail to take over this pathetic planet."
Shadow looked down again, and realized the ground wasn't actually missing - just a whole lot further down than it should have been. They were at least as high as the Doctor's fish fleet had been, flying a fleet of buildings. He stepped quickly up to stand beside Black Doom, hugging himself for warmth. Just because he wasn't incapacitated by bitter cold the way ordinary dokan were didn't mean he particularly enjoyed it. "I bet no one expected this baby could fly," he said, awed in spite of himself.