Industrial Accident
This morning Knuckles could stand, and achieve some semblance of a walk. So they stumbled to the Senate in silence. Both knew that it was now that judgement would be passed; neither knew quite what to expect. Shadow feared the cold and dark of another lifetime spent in stasis, or the same fate as his father, execution. Knuckles feared something all the more ambiguous, a vague feeling of terror and uncertainty that bubbled up inside him, impalpable and implacable, aside from a simple connection with humans. Knuckles had gone from simply itching in their presence to holding a constant feeling of nausea and some primal urge to run or fight. Had Shadow been at full strength his power would not be in check.
A door led them directly onto a stage, it came as somewhat of a shock, both stood for a moment blinking in the light of a large, hot, stuffy room, filled with what must have been hundreds of humans, and on an upper balcony about half as many Shremu.
"Project Shadow, Guardian Knuckles." A celestial voice boomed.
Both jumped, Knuckles instinctively putting himself in front of Shadow, who willingly slipped behind.
"Your freedom has been bought on the threat of war, and the promise of peace and easing of our troubles"
Shadow crept out from behind Knuckles to hear their sentence at his side. For a moment as he passed their hands brushed together. Through the Bond they combined their strength, and together held it.
"The Guardians gave us their terms. Now you will hear ours"
Knuckles identified the source of the voice, an old looking human in the middle of the front row of tables; he looked to be their representative. To his surprise however Knuckles noticed Master Almer stood beside him, and on his other side stood another Guardian he didn't recognise, but judging by his clothing he was most likely a fixture in this society. Knuckles was a little reassured
"We are told that with the return of the Emeralds these bizarre illnesses making themselves apparent all across the planet will recede" Shadow and Knuckles looked at each other, and drew a blank. The voice continued "You will be released, under guard to Angel Island to perform whatever right it is that will restore them." The look of confusion on their faces increased. Neither could understand why they wanted the Emeralds back. Knuckles guessed they'd been out of contact with the world longer than they'd thought.
"If these illnesses do recede you will be released uncharged. If not you will be imprisoned pending further trial." The human paused "It has been decided that Project Shadow has already served a lifetime's imprisonment and just punishment for his initial actions upon release fifty years ago-"
Something inside Knuckles snapped "Just punishment!" He shouted. Shadow jumped. "What you did was downright sadistic!"
"Silence!" The human roared. Hastily Shadow grabbed Knuckles' hand and squeezed it. He had no idea what they were talking about, why Knuckles was so angry, but hastily tried to subdue his rage.
Tersely the human continued "We are willing to release you on these conditions solely because no other explanation for these illnesses has been found. We are willing to classify those lost in the helicopter destroyed by Guardian Knuckles as an Industrial Accident as the actual cause of the fire in Skytop village has now been confirmed and proved Project Shadow innocent of the crimes…"
This time both their tempers flamed. A muttering ran round the assembly, Almer and the unnamed Guardian looked at each other.
"Come on then… we want the truth… tell everyone what really happened" Knuckles demanded.
A new human, from the look of her some sort of scientist, answered. "Forensic reports received this morning have sited the cause of the fire to be a chip pan fire in the village pub the Silver Hare. It seems the chef panicked and threw water on the flames… this caused the fat to separate and caused an explosion in the kitchen. As the village is not connected to the mains gas supply this explosion reached the gas containers running the hob and only exacerbated the fire. Due to they layout of the village from then on it was only a matter of time before the other buildings caught alight"
Shadow and Knuckles stood on the stage, both silenced by their shared anger. The simplicity of it all made Knuckles furious. So many more people had had to die, and suffer because some idiot didn't know not to put water on chip fat. Even he knew that. Much of the assembly seemed mutually to have been shocked into silence. Then as a faint rumbling of voices began, firstly from the upper balconies Knuckles began to hear several variations on the phrase "screw up", in many languages. Finally he could breathe a soft sigh of relief. Shadow's name was cleared, even if his wasn't. The humans had jumped to conclusions, now Knuckles realised there were likely to be several governments scrambling over each other to avoid political suicide. He came to realise they'd been saved by the politicians. For a moment he smiled to himself, he hadn't expected that. From the top balcony someone threw something. It hit one of the humans on the head. The projectile was accompanied by a particularly vulgar profanity. The Senate, seemed suddenly to be descending into chaos itself. It took a long time for order to be called. Until then Shadow and Knuckles watched with mild amusement as the civilised humans fought amongst themselves. Only once order was eventually restored, after the removal of several of the most vocal Shremu and one human did the voice speak again.
"Project Shadow" They both looked up "You are released on very tentative terms" The human had their attention "If the strange illnesses do not recede you will be rearrested. If not you will be fully released, however your eventual place of residence must be reported to the highest authorities… If any incidents involving yourself or your Guardian occur you will be dealt with harshly, pending trial any punishment, up to and including execution may be considered." There was a pause "There is a plane waiting to return you to Angel Island. Dismissed"
With that a guard approached and they were escorted off the stage.
They were taken to a large conference room off to the side of the main Senate hall. Currently it was empty, aside from four guards, each standing silently in the corners. For a long moment they simply stood there, aghast, staring at each other. Then Knuckles breathed an audible sigh of relief and laughed. He wasn't entirely sure why it was funny, he simply descended into hysterical laughter. For a while Shadow watched him bemused, then, certain Knuckles wasn't going to damage himself, he spotted a large table covered with food and scampered over to it. Knuckles' recovering from his hysterics shortly followed him. When they'd been offered food the previous day neither of them had had much of an appetite. Now with their nerves eased, if only a little they were both enticed. For now everything else could wait.
Shadow was eating a sausage roll when the when the firsts of the senators started to arrive. Shadow looked at them, blinked, then went back to what he'd been doing. Knuckles however stopped and looked for Almer and the delegation from Angel Island. Fortunately they were among the first to arrive. Knuckles ran over to them on his painful feet.
"What the hell is going on!" He asked standing in front of Almer, he seemed a little startled. He took a moment to compose himself.
"If you would calm down a little Knuckles…" Almer said gently
"I'm sick of everyone telling me to calm down!" Knuckles growled. Now all the frustration, anger and fear of the past days had finally boiled over. He knew he was venting his anger on the wrong person, but he couldn't help it "Why am we the only ones who don't know what's going on?"
Almer put his hand on Knuckles' shoulder "Breathe and count Guardian"
Knuckles exhaled heavily and began to speak "One two three four five six seven…" After a moment Knuckles seemed to relax
"Sorry…" he muttered softly "It's been a long few days…"
Almer told him how long it had been. That only seemed to deepen Knuckles' despair.
"Master… why do the humans want the Emeralds back?"
Shadow walked silently to his side.
"There is much you need to hear Knuckles… The world has changed while you and Shadow have been on the run…
"After you destroyed the Master and Chaos Emeralds… umm… Unusual things started to happen. It began with the Echidna… Most closely linked to the Emeralds, primarily with the Guardians… We started to get reports in from the other schools of Echidna Trainees suddenly being endowed with extra power… becoming, more Shard-Touched if you will. We didn't thing anything off it to begin with… then we started to notice it too, a few weaker Trainees started to pick up in their battle training… couple started to run faster… To begin with it was always contained… always controlled, then we started to get reports that it wasn't just Echidna, or Guardians. Shremu and humans all across the world were beginning to be affected. Over the subsequent weeks the reports became more and more alarming. Then we had too accidental deaths on Angel Island"
Knuckles looked appalled
"The first was sentenced as murder… and all that goes with that"
Knuckles face grew hard to read, he fought the taste of bile at the back of his mouth.
"People all across the world were being endowed with strange powers… most of them didn't know what to do with them or how to control them… that was when people started to die… The only assumption we can make is that the effect of the Chaos and Master Emeralds balanced the Shards out in these people, made the effect of their status as Shard-Touched negligible, or non-existent, without the other Emeralds the balance was upset and the Shards gave them extra power. We don't think any new people have become Shard-Touched, endowed with the same power from the ancient Coreinth that gives the Echidna their strength, which is why we hope that if you can reunite the Emeralds the effects will diminish… and recede with time…" Almer sighed "The humans don't believe us Knuckles… Your freedom has been bought at a very high price… The Guardians threatened war to secure your release…"
Knuckles looked like he'd been slapped, he was one of only a few Guardians who could comprehend what all out Guardian war might look like, the image he came to wasn't pretty.
Almer continued "Many, many of your old friends have pooled their resources to ensure your freedom, Corin here" He indicated towards the thus far unnamed Guardian dressed in human clothing "fought valiantly for your cause. Moonstone's Charge's father is a powerful politician, I'm not sure Moonstone understands quite how powerful, at her insistence, and emotional blackmail, he spoke for you. So did Coral, her character witness was quite effective, but we're sure she had inside help, she seemed to have a great deal of knowledge about the incident involving the Thousand. I'm also told Custos and some others attended the facility you were being held in, harassing the natives. You're good company for one-another you and Custos, neither of you seem very keen to stay put and guard your Charges like good little Guardians"
"Is Coral still here?" Knuckles asked eagerly
Almer shook his head "I don't honestly know"
Knuckles sighed, all he'd heard seemed to have sunk in now, he turned to look at Shadow "Looks like we owe the whole world a favour… I wonder who told Coral about the Thousand…"
At that moment they were interrupted by a soldier wearing a general's uniform bustling up to them.
"Are you in charge?" Shadow asked suddenly
"Urrr yes… I'm General Tilney" He seemed a little put off by Shadow's bluntness. Knuckles fancied he was afraid Shadow would burst into flames if he offended him, which under normal circumstances would have been a perfectly valid fear.
"I want my stuff back." Shadow growled "My bracelets, and my boots, you can keep my gloves… at the very least I want my bracelets. I'm not leaving without them"
Knuckles realised they'd taken his too "And mine"
The General nodded over his shoulder, a nervous looking soldier brought two small bags and handed them to him. General Tilney then handed one of the bags to each of them. With relief Shadow opened his and found his three bracelets, his torn gloves and his boots inside. He examined each item in turn, discarding the gloves as ruined. He looked at the shoes and scowled. "Your scientists better not have broken these. I don't have a spare set"
Promptly Shadow sat himself on the floor and began replacing each item. He paused for a long moment to run a tender hand across the bracelet inscribed with Maria's name. Knuckles upon opening the bag he'd been given found one glove, his shoes and his single bracelet. He was glad to get that back, he hardly cared about his shoes; they were wet, and caked in a thick layer of mud, filthy enough for him to prefer to go barefoot. He looked at the bracelet for a moment, it was all he owned. He'd managed to loose everything else all along the way. As he slid the bracelet on over his large hand he decided it didn't matter. He'd not lost anything of value. With that General Tilney and his entourage disappeared again, perhaps to gather courage to approach them again. Shadow took himself back to the table with all the food, taking Almer with him, leaving Knuckles alone. He was just looking around the room when he spotted a shape he recognised.
"Coral!" Knuckles shouted eagerly. When she turned round however she didn't seem as pleased to see him as Knuckles had hoped.
"Hello Knuckles" She said almost icily.
For a moment Knuckles was at a loss for what to say to her, he studied her face. Her eyes were still the same soft gold, her pale tan fur was perhaps a little darker than he remembered. For a moment Knuckles lost himself in the memory of their shared childhood
"I-I… missed you" Knuckles stammered. Coral made no reply. Desperately he searched for the words "I… wanted to say thank you… for what you did for me…"
Coral's eyes grew colder "I didn't do it for you Knuckles. My Charge is sick. She's in hospital, fighting for her life… all because of the Shards, because you and your Charge couldn't leave well enough alone!"
"But Ribern-"
Coral raised her large hand "I don't want to hear it!"
"I…I'm sorry" Knuckles stammered shakily
"Besides, you owe more to a newer friend."
Knuckles' blank expression only seemed to anger her more "You never were very bright" She sneered. "Agent Rouge ring any bells?"
"Rouge is here?"
"Yes, she told me all I needed to hear."
"Great… that's all I need" Knuckles thought aloud "Guess I really do owe the whole world a favour"
"You can start by taking your Charge and sorting this mess out!"
Shadow chose that moment to run up to stand at Knuckles side, alerted by his distress. He looked at Coral, and back at Knuckles.
"So you're the famous Chaos Controlled. Can't say I know what all the fuss was about" she stared angrily at him "Now if you'll excuse me Knuckles, I have a hospital bed to sit beside"
Knuckles' bottom lip was trembling "Coral…" He called weakly. She turned around, maybe for a moment her eyes softened "Can't we be friends… I didn't mean for any of this to happen"
Coral blinked "I'm still your friend Knux. But right now, I have more important things, I have to put my Charge first. Same as you do."
"Can't… Where are you living… Can Shadow and I come see you?"
"You'd better sort this mess out first, otherwise I'll be dead"
With that she turned and walked away.
"Are all Echidna fitted with such foul attitude problems?" Shadow asked, glaring at the back of Coral's head, his power beginning to batter itself against their blocks.
"Guess so…" Knuckles sighed softly, watching her disappear out of a door. "Come on… we've got a mess to sort out…" Knuckles turned and began to walk towards Almer and his companions. Shadow followed, moving up to walk at his side. Knuckles continued to speak "You know… when we did this I honestly thought we were doing the right thing… I honestly thought we would be helping people… Doing my duty of service as a Guardian, you know? How wrong can you get?"
"The greatest harm can result from the best intentions, you told me that Knuckles. No one can truly resent us for doing what we thought was best for everyone…"
Knuckles sighed "There have been some deluded people in the history of this planet… most of the most evil men in history did what they did thoroughly believing in the righteousness of their causes. They all thought they were doing what was best, even if that meant murdering millions of humans or Shremu. In ancient times the Guardians went to war because humans believed we were a danger, and would destroy them, steal their children for ourselves…"
Shadow seemed at a loss for words.
"I wonder how history will see us…" Knuckles asked himself softly.
"We made a mistake…"
"Guardians can't afford to make mistakes. No-matter what euphemisms humans use to describe it we've both shed enough blood to last us a lifetime."
Shadow silently agreed "But for a weapon… I stubbornly refused to shed as much as they would have wished" he forced a laugh "Now I intend to retire"
Knuckles raised an eyebrow and forced a smile "I think, that sounds like a great idea, maybe we should try a beach hut somewhere warm on a desert island-"
"Look Mary there he is! They told me he wouldn't get any bigger" An old sounding voice behind them said.
Shadow and Knuckles spun round to look. An old man, leaning on the arm of a much younger woman was slowly coming towards them. Shadow frowned hard at the old man, and seemed to sniff in his direction. Then through the Bond Knuckles felt a warm swell of excitement build up in him, then it culminated in recognition as the old man came close.
"Doctor Smith?…" Shadow asked, an uncertain expression on his face.
"I didn't think you'd recognise" The old man said.
Shadow ran forward and the old man, arduously bent down to embrace him. Knuckles at once felt an unpleasant sensation, a part of him desperately wanted to run forward and tear Shadow from the human's arms. Hastily he tried to suppress it. Knuckles watched the old man tenderly stroke Shadow's head. Then they pulled away. The old man sank to sit on the floor.
"You have grown little Shadowkin"
"So have you… Doctor…"
The old man chuckled "I've gotten smaller I think."
"Yes Doctor"
"No one has called me Doctor for nearly thirty years."
Shadow smiled weakly "I… I thought everyone would be gone by now"
"Yes Shadow…" He sighed softly, just as Knuckles walked up to stand close at Shadow's side "There aren't many of us left now… I married Jenna you know"
The smile on Shadow's face widened "Is she here?"
"No… I'm sorry… she passed away a few years ago"
"I'm sorry…"
"She had a long happy life… This is our granddaughter, Mary"
Shadow looked up at the young woman and smiled "She looks like Jenna"
"Yes, she does…"
"I remember Jenna… she used to call me her Dusky one"
"I brought you a present Shadow"
"I-I remember! You always used to bring me presents!" Shadow said happily
"I thought the days on the ARK would be like yesterday to you…"
"My memory is bad… I only remember fragments… shapes… My memories come and go"
"Do you remember this?" Doctor Smith held out a small, old looking toy metal shuttle to Shadow. Shadow stared at it, incredulous for a long time
"Surely… It can't be the same one"
"It is" The old man smiled triumphantly "I rescued it from yours and Maria's room before we all abandoned the ARK… I kept it safe these fifty years because it reminded me of what we were trying to achieve… and of all we did achieve…"
Shadow fingered the shuttle but didn't take it "Then you should keep it…"
"No Shadow" Doctor Smith put it in his hand "This means more to you than anyone… I'm only sorry I couldn't save your Angel for you"
Shadow twitched back tears "So am I…" For a moment he fingered the shuttle, his eyes closed "Thank you…"
"You're welcome little Shadowkin… Now" The old man grunted, trying to stand with the help of his granddaughter "I think you have work to do… there's the whole world for you to save again… and I have to go home… they don't let me out much"
With that Doctor Smith began to slowly move away.
"Doctor!" Shadow shouted and went to run after him, but Knuckles got in the way
"Let him go… It must be hard enough for him already"
Shadow looked between the doctor, and Knuckles, sighed and cradled his little shuttle in his hands. When he looked up General Tilney was approaching again.
"I think its time to go…" Knuckles said.
The General's words and motions confirmed Knuckles suspicions.
Shadow, Knuckles and the delegation from Angel Island were led through a short maze of richly carpeted corridors to a set of doors. When these opened the outside world greeted them with a cold, wet blast. It was raining. For a moment Shadow paused at the threshold to look out at the concrete area behind the Senate building. A thin layer of water already lay on the ground. The heavy rain splashed up in large spots as each drop threw itself at the ground. A little way off a small modified plane was waiting, its short white fuselage dripping and shining in the watery light, engines roaring. Above the sky was lead grey and looked just as heavy. Beside Shadow Knuckles was chuckling.
"You really do have a problem with the rain don't you?"
Shadow nodded "The plane had better not crash"
Quickly they all ran out to the plane and were ushered up the steps.
Inside the engine noise receded to a whining hiss. As Shadow followed Knuckles down the narrow aisle between large leather seats he wondered how he'd managed to get so wet just running across the tarmac. Shadow and Knuckles took two seats together, Almer and one of the other Masters, O'Hare took the pair behind them, but to Shadow and Knuckles' alarm were suddenly usurped by armed guards. Knuckles snorted to himself, he wondered what good they thought their guns would do if Shadow decided to blow up the plane. After a few minutes everyone seemed to be settled. There were a total of 12 Shremu, including Shadow and Knuckles, the five Masters each had a Trainee with them. The Trainees were sharing seats. The rest of the plane's compliment was made up of armed guards, General Tilney and one other important looking woman in a suit. Knuckles counted eight obviously armed soldiers, the rest were probably wearing guns to. He sighed, slouched down beside Shadow, who was looking keenly out the window, and waited to be on the move.
The plane rumbled down the short runway, and in a few moments was in the air. Knuckles again rubbed at the wounds on his wrists, wriggled his ankles as the pressure dropped, curled up at Shadow's side, and fell asleep. Shadow amused himself watching the clouds pass by beneath them, pondering a perpetual sensation of déjà vu.
The flight was mercifully uneventful. Knuckles slept all the way, and after half an hour or so Shadow had gotten bored with the clouds and slept too. They only awakened when the plane's wheels bumped down on Angel Island's makeshift landing strip. They yawned and stretched as the plane's engines whined into silence. Shadow peered out the round window.
"It's not raining here" He reported
Knuckles just laughed and resisted the urge to make a comment about Shadow being the Ultimate Weatherman.
A moment later they were ushered off the plane behind Ribern and O'Hare. They were met at the bottom of the steps by the faces of many concerned looking Trainees. At the lead were Master Drew and his apprentice, Cypher. Knuckles didn't hear the words of the brief exchange as Drew handed command of the Island back to Almer. Though as he watched several runners were dispatched from the gathered assembly, he supposed to locate Cholra. Almer then turned to Shadow and Knuckles and beckoned for them to come to him.
"You are to go straight to the Shrine. Cholra and the rest of us will meet you there… These humans aren't very patient… can't say I blame them."
Knuckles looked down at his ankles, and said in a low voice "I don't think I can run"
"You'd best find the strength, or one of the humans will carry you" Almer said simply
Knuckles looked at Shadow and sighed "Running again my Shadowkin… I'll follow your lead, no doubt our escorts will too"
Shadow smiled, put his arm around Knuckles' waist, ignored his half-hearted objections and they trotted forward together. The armed guards followed them at a run.