Run Think Shoot Live

by a Xen traveler

Alyx Vance finds herself on a multiverse adventure! On a new planet in a new body, she must work with the local Freedom Fighters to stop Robotnik! She makes friends with a twin tailed fox who helps her escape Robotropolis, she finds refuge in Knothole Village! Multi POV story at this point. Valve multiverse & Sonic SatAM/IDW comic AU. No sexually explicit content. HL-Alyx spoilers

18. Chapter 18: Clones, Portals and AI

chapter 18: Clones, Portals and AI

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Mobius - Knothole Manor 3rd floor - 178th day of the 3239th cycle

Steam bellowed out of the opening washroom door as Starline exited into the dusty but cozy den of his personal quarters. The platypus let out a tired sigh as he trudged in, rubbing a fleshy palm to his temple. He was wearing a deep burgundy bathrobe with purple trim over his frizzed up fur. He opened his eyes, dimly glaring at the room in front of him; It was an office with a fireplace to one side. There was a bookshelf with his favorites collection and a work desk next to the door to the balcony. The desk had a few pieces of memorabilia, a few heavily sun bleached photos that had been strewn next to his now yellowing personal terminal. He grumbled at the now brittle plastic of the outdated piece of equipment, no doubt completely under-powered by this point… It should still have basic access to the satellite network if things hadn't changed too much.

He walked up to the fireplace, pulling some of the few bone dry logs from the lograck, tossing them into the hearth along with a wax starter. Grabbing for a laspistol he kept on the banister he frowned, dragging his finger across the painted lip of the fixture. He grimaced as he brought his flesh digit to his eyes. "It's just filthy in here… 37 cycles without care…" He grimaced as he pointed the blaster at the starter, letting loose a bolt. "Should have opted for a filtration system…" He grumbled as the starter sputtered from the spark of light, dripping its fuel onto the few logs. He set the small laspistol back on the mantel, moving over to a small kitchenette in the corner. He reached for an electric kettle, filling it with water and setting it to boil as he opened the small cupboard above it. He began to rummage for some non-perishables. He had contemplated making real food, but honestly didn't want to interact with any of the intruders… refugees? Whatever! He was too tired to deal with them, his nerves were frayed and this was better than ration bars." His mind slowly roiled at the frustration at the situation, the intrusion of his personal space irked him to no end; at least Nick had guarded his personal quarters. He snapped the cupboard closed after grabbing an old dehydrated meal.

Pulling off the wrapping he paused before looking at the expiration date, squinting at the small text. His hard expression wilted in disappointment before he shook his head; it wouldn't kill him, it just wouldn't taste normal. The tired platypus grumbled as he ripped open the seal of the meal cup, taking a sniff. Not bad... but most definitely stale. He let out another grumble as he set the cup down in wait for the kettle to go off. He moved to his desk on the other side of the room, picking up some of the almost entirely destroyed photos of his family. He could hardly make out the portrait of him and his sister. A bitterness built in him at the state of each photo, the cold feeling subsided at the thought he could replicate some new ones with his fabricator. His eyes moved across the desk, examining some of the different crystal samples he'd collected through his life, different void artifacts most of them. His eyes landed on the pale clear gem, the false Chaos Emerald that had caused him to lose his arm. The gem may have been faceted but the ugly pale color was a stark reminder of the unnatural origins of the thing. His eyes continued, falling on the swirling colors of another warp topaz fragment.

He moved to his jacket on the coat rack, pulling the half warp topaz from it and moving to set it next to the inferior specimen. There were a dozen crystals of different shape and color, most of them trash but some of the samples were still possibly useful. He thought back to his earlier days of elicit artifact dealing with other collectors. His eyes left the small pile of possibly useful trinkets he'd found or sought from other collectors. His eyes traveled across the desk as he froze, noticing his journal wasn't in its usual spot. He scowled as he moved forward, shifting the clutter around desperately, looking for the book. "Where did–?!"

"It's on the shelf over here." A firm voice replied, causing the doctor to spin towards the now crackling fireplace. Nicholas stood in front of the hearth, holding a familiar purple drone. "I'd like to take care of this now." He tilted his head to the object. "My sister has suffered enough dispair." The softly glowing lynx stepped towards the nervously shifting platypus. The Lynx paused, giving his creator a pensive look. "You're going to make this right, aren't you?"

Starline looked pensive himself before putting on a tired smile. "Yes, I…" He trailed off, sighing as his tired expression dropped. "I never expected this." He closed his eyes, straining. "You know, just throwing out a pillar my education is based on... Just a normal career realignment, nothing too big..." He huffed a sigh. The platypus opened his eyes, looking at the AI construct in front of him. "You must understand my reluctance in any of this." He shook his head. "I'll push forward, I apologies for any perceived reluctance."

Nick's expression softened. "I'm not stupid." He said, hesitating. "I'm well aware of the damage a rogue artificial intelligence could inflict…" He got a wry smile. "However." He pointed a thumb to himself, holding the drone under his other arm. "My origins are organic." He nodded to the sleeping drone. "So are hers." He shrugged. "Have a little faith." He hefted the drone forward, starting to look for a way to wake it. "I can't vouch for myself but the residence of Knothole can vouch for my sister."

"HA!" gave a dry laugh as he began examining his new prosthetic. "As corruptible as any of us organics I suppose…" He sighed, glancing at the slightly frowning Lynx.

Nick seemed to be chewing his lip. "Do you really think–"

"No." the platypus shook his head as he made his way to the fireplace to stand next to the Lynx. "I trust you." He gave his creation a flat look. "That show of dread that you wouldn't be able to protect the people here." He seemed to gaze to the side, gesturing past the walls to the village. "Now that you have autonomy, you could have slaughtered the village and made your way to insert yourself into the ancient network." He gazed back to the nervously shifting lynx. "But you care." He gestured to the drone. "From what I can tell, so does she."

*REEE*

The two males turned to see the electric kettle going off by the small sink on the counter. The doctor glanced at the Lynx. "Give me a moment to fix up some food, then we can continue talking; I'm famished." He motioned to said spot and the two chairs sitting in front of it.

Nicholas nodded as he made his way to sit by the small fire. He positioned himself in the chair angled towards the kitchenette to watch his creator pour the instant soup cup and make a mug of tea. He looked down to the quiet drone in his arms and turned the purple egg shaped drone around, examining the chassis. "Nicole?" He whispered. "It's Nick…" He hesitated. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to speak to you all these cycles but–"

"She probably can't hear you." The doctor interrupted as he sat in the chair next to him, setting his tea down and slowly starting to eat his instant meal as he got comfy in the velvet cushioned seat.

The lynx's ears flattened as he slowly set the drone on his lap. "Great…" He grumbled, biting his lip. "Maybe I should have pestered Tails before coming here…"

Starline rose an eyebrow as he motioned the lynx to pass him the drone. "The Powers brat?"

Nick got a hard look, hugging the drone. "He's not a brat, he's one of the brightest minds I've seen this generation." He began turning the drone looking for a way of waking it. "It might be your's and Robotnik's tech recycled into this drone, but Mile's is the architect for my sister's new chassis." The construct began looking flustered as he examined the drone for any sort of control. "Come on Nicole! how do I wake you up!?"

The platypus looked thoughtful. "If the chassis is based on my stealth drone design, then on the back there's a pinhole button above the heat exhaust port." He pointed at the rear of the drone. "Hold it for 2 seconds to do a soft reboot sequence, that should wake her." He said, returning to his food. "Don't hold it for longer than 5 or that will shut it completely off and might corrupt any mounted datafiles."

Nicholas looked surprised then worried. "Uhh, you know what? Give me a moment…" He jumped up, waving his hand to form a warpzone in front of him.

Starline looked shocked then furrowed his brow. "What are you doing?" He griped through his mouthfull of noodles. The stupefied doctor looked through the portal to see… Was that the back porch to the hanger? A group of Mobians sat around a coffee table on worn outdoor furniture. You could hear a pin drop as multiple heads turned to stare at the sea dweller dressed lynx, stepping through.

The walrus at the far end of the table dropped his dice onto the mess of scratch paper and pencils. Everyone gaped at the warp zone that passed into the extravagant fireplace den. The walrus's eyes widened as he stared at the Lynx. "What?"

A small coyote wearing aviators jumped from her seat, pointing a sleeve hand at the lynx. "See! I told you guys he was real!" She turned to the rest of the group. "Tails was right! So was I!" She turned to smile at said orange fox who just looked wide eyed at the game's intruder.

There was an orange and black vixen sitting next to him. "Oh WOW!" She got up to look at the warpzone. "That's an odd portal! The way Uncle Kleiner described, it sounded more glowing and sphere like." She gave an inquisitive look. "Is that what you guys were talking about when you said warp zones?!" She got a big grin. "Okay, that's neat!" Her expression sharply fell. "Wait, why's it here?" Her head snapped to the lynx starting to motion for Tails to follow him through the portal. "Wait! Who are you?!"

The Lynx gave a respectful tilt to his head in the direction of the orange and black fox. "I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself. I'm Nick, I'm the security system." He hesitated before smiling at a slightly nervous looking Tails. "I have a need for Mr. Prower's consultation as he was the creator of my sister's current chassis." He smiled, closing his eyes as he nodded to the group. "It shouldn't take long."

Tails glanced at his peers, a bit uncomfortable from being called out. "Uhhh, sure?" He sprang up, hopping forward with the crutch. He glanced over his shoulder to the group. "You guys can show me how the game's going in a little. Be right back!" He hopped through the portal as the lynx followed behind him. With a spark and a pop, the portal collapsed, leaving the group in confused shock.

A smaller cyan fennec fox sank in his seat. "Wait, the security system's a person?" He looked nervous. "W-was that a wizard?! We've been living w-with a wizard this whole time?!" The fennec fox squirmed. "Why'd Tails go off with them?!"

A lime green and black tenrec slumped in her wheelchair, scoffing next to him. "Someplace more exciting then this probably..." She grumbled, causing the fennec to sink a little bit further in his seat, clutching his character sheet. The grumpy girl sneered at the fennec. "Why'd you bring me here again, Kits?!" She snapped as she began stabbing her pencil into the book sitting on what was left of her lap, piercing her character sheet in the process.

"Hey!" Belle snapped her hand down on the table, smacking a closed eastern fan against the pile of papers that made their game map. The sound grabbed everyone's attention, looking at the craft costumed robot pirate ninja. The robian leaned over the table, her paper pirate hat flopping askew. "Come on Surge, be nice! You're trying something new tonight! No need to be a stinker, you might enjoy something different for a change!" She paused. "And don't destroy things you can't replace." She bit, glaring at the now damaged book on the tenrec's lap.

The wheelchair bound girl rolled her eyes as she pouted in her seat, glaring at the Robian mouse. "It's not like it matters! I can hardly feel anything down there after Rosie's shotty patch job!" She sneered at the robian in front of her. "You look ridiculous, Sawdust."

The robian huffed, rolling her wrist as she snapped her fan open, cooling herself to flaunt dramatically. "Why thank you Surge, I'm glad you noticed the work I put into my costume!"

The tenrec girl furrowed her brow. "Huh?"

"No fighting on game night." Rotor grunted. "Or you're out." The table got quiet before the walrus nervously glanced to the spot where Tails had disappeared. "Umm, you think we should do anything? Or you guys want to continue?"

Alyx shifted uncomfortably. "I mean, he said he'd be back soon?"

There was an awkward pause as Belle turned to look at the spot where the portal had been. "Hmmm… I mean he did say don't wait up…" The Robian's face scrunched, eyes wincing. "Or maybe you're right Rotor... Maybe someone should tell commander Acorn..." She leaned back into the worn couch, slumping as she scratched her wooden head. "Boy howdy, today's been a strange day…"

XXXXX

Tails hopped through the portal followed by Nick into the third floor of the manor. The boy's eyes widened as he realized where he was, head darting to look at the window'd door to the balcony. "Is this the third floor?!" He yipped as Starline frowned at him.

"You really trust this whelp?" The doctor griped indignantly, an annoyance building in him as he glared at the AI construct.

The lynx gave him a flat look. "I want to make sure I don't damage my sister, you didn't design her chassis." He replied as he held Nicole's chassis towards the twin tailed fox. "If I hold down the tiny button in the back, will that reboot Nicole? Will that wake her up?"

Tails's ears flicked as he winced. "I mean… that's how that used to work?" He grimaced as he shimmied his book bag to an angle he could reach in while still leaning on his crutch. "If you wanna wake Nicole, I can do that without risk of corrupting her short term memory files but..."

Starline rose a brow, a bit intrigued. "You changed my design that much?" The doctor asked as he finished his food, setting the empty cup on the end table.

Tails got a bewildered look. "Wait, you designed the eyespy?" Closing his eyes, he shook his head. "Never mind. Here, give me a moment." The boy began digging through his bag, quietly mumbling to himself. "I gutted the system board from the eyespy, she's closer to a Mark III swatbot to be honest." He yanked the wrapped up diagnostic com cable from his bag, beginning to unwind it. "batteries though instead of a reactor, managed to fit a holo projector too." The boy rambled, hobbeling over to the sleeping drone in the Lynx's arms. "Give me a minute." He said, as he connected his data watch to the diagnostic port on the bottom of the drone. The boy started typing away at his watch. "Just a moment…" He smirked. "Aaaand… wake up!" His ears flattened a bit as he winced, realizing the rude action he'd just performed. "Sorry Aunt Nicole for forcefully waking you up."

Nicole came to life, her optic brightening up as she lifted out of her brother's arms. Tails quickly tugged the cable free and wrapped it back up to store in his bag. "Wuah?" The drone warbled. "Tails? Is that you, honey?" Her voice had a tint of strain. "I had the most horrible dream, it's okay you woke me up… Does Sally need me for something?" She asked, a hopefulness tingeing her voice. "I can't remember too clearly what happened. I think I forced a shutdown? But why would I force a shutdown?" The drone hovered back, projecting her feminine avatar before freezing at the sight of the Lynx next to her. "Wait, I've seen you before…" She squinted before her eyes widened in abject horror then excitement. "A-are you?!" Her avatar lunged forward, trying to bring the male lynx into a hug. She tumbled through his construct as he freaked out trying to catch her hologram, spinning to look at her as she yelped then whimpered. She reprojected in front of him, big grin plastered over her face. "NICK! THAT HAS TO BE YOU! IT'S BEEN SO LONG! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?" She cried as her arms clutched in front of her as she shook with excitement. "I thought you'd been decommissioned or forgotten in some lab!" She half sobbed, her eyes sparkling. "You look amazing!" She cried, the excitement radiating from her. "You have a hologram as well?!" She had the biggest smile. "This has to be you! you look like your template! Where have you been?!"

The male construct gave her a cheeky confident smile. "It's great to see you like it?" He posed, a hand on his hip as he brought the other up to his face, playfully tapping his nose with a finger. "You had me inspired, dug through some records and came up with something appropriate."

She got up close, looking him up and down. "You even matched the sea trader theme! We look like siblings!" She looked like she was about to explode with excitement. "Where have you been!?" She blurted.

His own excitement deflated into nervousness. "I've been here… you weren't far off in your guess as to what happened… You understand though when protocols are in place… limited contact was what I was ordered… I was put in charge of Knothole's security."

She got a frustrated look, then deflated."Oh…" A relieved look crossed her face. "Well, I'm happy we can be family again, for real now." She looked him up and down, hopping on the balls of her feet. "So you have a hologram too! How'd you pull that off!." Her smile pursed in confusion. "Actually, that doesn't look like a normal holoprojection." Her eyes widened as she noticed his lack of slight transparency. "You look solid."

He got a pensive smile. "Yeah…" There was a short pause. "Recently, I figured out how to use the electromagnetic manipulators of the warp topaz to… Do this…" He gestured to himself. "Manufacture hard light." He straightened up as her eyes got super wide.

Nicole's mouth gaped as a slow desperation built in her expression. "W-what?"

The male lynx looked really uncomfortable as he could feel the envy bleeding from his sister. Not knowing what to do, he twiddled his fingers, beginning to ramble. "It's not too far off from what warp zones do, the topaz makes an excellent projection medium. Anyways, it might be nice but I'm stuck to the confines of the forest." He quickly shrugged, avoiding eye contact. "You know, portal defense system and all…" There was an awkward pause before he continued. "So just the forest and part of the fields to the south." He cleared his throat before stepping to the side, unblocking her line of sight to the doctor trying to disappear into the velvet cushioned chair. "Anyways, I have someone here who wants to apologize to you."

Nicole's eyes couldn't get any wider as her ears flattened at the sight of the now nervously fidgeting platypus in front of her; her creator, her father. "Uhh…" She gaped as her mind felt like it just blew a fuse, her thoughts stuttering as her projection did as well.

Starline looked like he was on pins and needles."Uhh, E-hem." He cleared his throat, giving a pensive smile that turned grimace. "I guess I should apologize…" He trailed off.

Nicole's projection snapped sharp as her avatar and drone backed up from the platypus. "Are…" She paused. "You're real…" Her voice crackled. "That wasn't a nightmare, was it? You tried to kill me?!" She choked out.

Starline looked half sick as he sunk into his chair, trying to avoid her gaze. "I… Yes… I did…" The platypus's cheeks began tingeing red under his fur. "And I regret it. You do not seem to be the threat I believed you to be." He looked into her wavering eyes. "Neither is your brother." He got a slight smile. "The way he threw himself at those war droids trying to burn the forest, then…" He trailed off thinking of the existential horror the construct went through as he faded, falling into the ground. He winced at the thought of Nicole's own existential moment as he had tried to fry her by overloading the power crystal in his own arm… He winced as he rubbed his shoulder, trying to soothe the still lingering pain of his limb port. "I shouldn't have tried to kill you…" He mumbled, averting his eyes again. "I really shouldn't have done that…"

Tails walked up to him, looking frustrated with grit teeth. "Wait, you were really trying to kill my Aunt?" He glared daggers at the platypus. "Nicole is one of the nicest people I know!" He shouted, waving his free arm ecstatically. "Sure she might be newer... in a way? But everyone knows Nicole! Everyone can vouch for her!" He brushed the strands of his fringe out of his face. "That's why I upgraded her! She wanted what Grady had and to be honest, she's using it way better then he has!"

"ENOUGH!" Starline bit, glaring up to the indignant child in front of him. He could just see it, this welp was Maxwell's spawn. He mulled the thought over in his mind, they may look similar but the kid hadn't flipped a table and clawed someone in the face… yet… The platypus gave a deep huff. "I was trying to keep protocol for rogue AI…" His breathing calmed and he deflated in his seat, mind drifting to abject horror at the prospect of the possible necromancy he'd committed. Maybe he did deserve to be imprisoned in the Void of Silence. He clicked his tongue in resolve "I'm trying to take responsibility here though." He cleared his throat, staring down both holograms. "Nicholas and Nicole Nemo, I apologize for any distress my meddling has caused you. Both of you." The title drop caused both AI constructs to look uncomfortable as the doctor continued. "I ask that you not only forgive me but…" He winced. "Please don't blame my species for any undue suffering that you have experienced–"

"I'm not Nicole Nemo!" The flustered lynx shouted as she seemed to nervously grip the hem of her tunic. All eyes stared at the hologram as her nervous fidgeting built. "I'm Nicole Acorn!" She blurted, a rosy tint to her avatar's cheeks forming.

Tails's ears perked at that, giving a slight smile. "Did Sally make you officially her sister?"

Nicole continued to blush, closing her eyes. "Officiall enough to give me a last name, I have a family and I'm my own person. I'm not the ghost of a drown girl." She let out a breath, squinting her eyes shut. "I'm my own person."

Nick gave a pensive nod, leaning against the banister of the fireplace. "I'm my own person too." He shook his head. "I don't have any memories of this nemo character." He shrugged. "I know my neural map is based on a Nicholas Nemo but other then that…"

Starline seemed to deflate in relief and confusion. "Oh… okay then–"

"I forgive you!" Nicole shouted, a slight hope building in her voice. "I forgive you…" She seemed to be breathing hard, her avatar shaking from the stress of the situation. She met the platypus's gaze. "Promise me you won't ever try that again Dad."

The title caused the platypus to flinch, his gaze dropping to the floor. "I promise…" There was a pause as he swallowed, closing his eyes. "I promise, My dear. As long as you stay true to your species, the Mobian species, then I will never harm you." He felt a weight in his lap as he opened his eyes. The purple drone was sitting in his lap, the hologram of his… daughter… Yes, his daughter was standing in front of him, her hand resting on his shoulder.

She gave a shy and hopeful smile. "I can't wait to introduce you to everyone…" She got a nervous look as his eyes followed her holographic hand to his shoulder. She began to blush again. "I can't really hug anyone, not in a way that counts…"

The platypus looked back to the drone on his lap, then extended his flesh hand to rest on top of her chassis. "It's alright Nicole." His tired smile returned. "I've never been too good at that kind of thing." He looked at her avatar. "I understand the sentiment. Thank you for your forgiveness my dear."

Nick walked over to them, looking his creator in the eyes. "Thank you, Sir."

Nicole booted up her hoverpads and slowly rose from the platypus's lap, returning to the out of the way vantage point that suited her vision and projection. She smiled at him again. "You'll love Sally, she's your Niece!"

The platypus coughed, seeming to choke on air. "I've already met her…" He grimaced, giving a dry chuckle. "Maybe... got some work to do on that…"

Nicole gave a concerned frown. "What?" Her expression grew more worried. "You didn't cuss her out did you?"

Tails gave a laugh. "I don't think he cussed her out, but with that introduction of twisting my ankle." He tapped the crutch to the floor. "And what happened to you, Nicole." The fox gave a sly grin. "He might have a lot to fix with Aunt Sally."

Nicole registered Tails's leg and her virtual hackles rose. "What happened to you!"

The fox gave a sigh, glaring at the platypus. "I feel like I was shoved down a flight of stairs."

Nick shook his head. "It wasn't that bad, you fell like 8 feet and rolled your ankle." The fox's eyes glared at him and the hard light construct sagged, looking to the floor. "Sorry about that, I was working within my orders and the ankle rolling part wasn't on purpose."

Nicole looked between the three boys, bewildered. "What?" She shook her head. "Did I miss anything else?!"

Nick gave a dry laugh. "Yes, but things are fine now."

Tails sighed. "It's fine. It's already feeling better with some of the painkillers Rosie gave me." He yawned. "I should get back to the game…" His mind drifted back to a previous part of their conversation. "Now that I think of it, I wonder where Grady got off too, I hope he didn't run out of charge."

Nick lifted his gaze, perking up. "He's at your hut, been charging since I woke up."

Starline froze as he put the pieces together. His head snapped to the fox. "You have another AI?"

Tails got a spiffy look, chin pointed high with his eyes closed. "Sure do!" He gestured towards Nicole's drone. "Could say he's the prototype for Nicole's chassis!" The fox looked so proud. "No bars holding him back either, taking full advantage of the swatbot III CPU, just like Nicole!"

The platypus gaped. "What stupid…" He let out a frustrated growl as his hackles slowly rose. "An AI that has no bars holding it back? Are you a fool?" The platypus spat, silence echoing around them. He glared the now flustered youth down, meeting the fox's hard gaze. "You've been experimenting with AI on your own with no restrictions?"

A fire grew in the boy's eyes. "What restrictions are needed? Is there something I'm not getting here?!" He pointed at Nicole who just looked bewildered, watching her adoptive nephew and father argue. "What's wrong with AI?!" He bit. "I've wanted my own hellper like how Aunt Sally had Nicole for like my whole life! What's wrong with that! You trust AI I thought now, what's the problem?!"

Starline put his face in his hands. "I DO trust Nicole and Nicholas, I just..." He trailed off, giving a huff of his own frustration. Clenching his fists in front of himself he forced a deep breath. "It's fine, It's fine..." He glanced to Nick. "You are self aware and aware of the dangers of other AI. Is the platform he created dangerous?"

The construct clicked his tongue. "Grady is in fact an idiot, another template of an organic... I think... but he seems to be a full template with selective memories remaining and a built in archive." The Lynx shook his head. "Grady's not smart enough to interface with most equipment anyways." He glanced at Tails. "Isn't that right? He lacks the back end routines to do anything more than rudimentary computer tasks."

Tails flushed, starting to look embarrassed. "I..." His gaze dropped. "I couldn't figure that out..." He slightly squirmed. "That's on the todo list." The boy gave a small shrug as he started to play with his fingers. "I mean he can use a calculator, but..."

The platypus looked a bit more relaxed before shaking his head. "Right." The doctor gave the older teen a curious look. "You don't have a mentor…" He glanced at Nicole's drone then back to the boy. "You upgraded my AI to a mobile platform on your own accord? Where did you learn about anything like that if you weren't an apprentice?"

The boy frowned at him. "Book learning." The fox huffed, pushing his bangs from his eyes and leaning into his crutch. "Thanks for the library I guess."

Starline gave a slightly predatory smirk as he thought about it. "Not a Powers, ehh?" His smile became more genuine. "Impressive. Let me know if you ever need help with a project."

The boy gave him a confused look. "I'll… keep that in mind." He glanced down to his data watch and bristled. "Oh snap! I hope they didn't wait for me!"

Nick waved his hand and a portal opened in front of the fox. He peered through to see the pen and paper game in full swing. Belle was standing with a leg perched on the table as if she was looking off the bow of a ship, she turned and smiled through the portal as the rest of the group noticed the warp gate. The robian gave an enthusiastic wave. "Arr, Ahoy matey!"

Tails smiled at Belle's antics and turned to wave bye to Nicole. "See ya later Nicole! Just like how you're here for me, let me know if you ever want to talk!" He chirped as he hopped through the portal, turning to her and giving her an acorn salute before the warp gate snapped shut.

Nicole smiled before looking at her brother and father. She hesitantly smiled at the platypus before giving a confident nod, the smile affirming. "I'll see you around Knothole, Sir?"

He slowly returned the warm smile, nodding his confirmation. "No doubt. If you're assigned to the Princess, then I'm sure she'll be… pestering me..." He strained out, slowly rolling his neck as he rubbed the back of his head. He let out a sigh as he let his eyes wander to some of the more of the completely sun faded photos littering the room. a hint of annoyance touching the platypus's expression. "Probably thinks I owe my very being to the state." He pinched the bridge of his bill, waving her off to dismiss her as he slumped in his chair. "Please let Princess Acorn know you're alright, my deepest apologies for causing her distress." He looked up to smile at her. "Don't be a stranger, dear." He grabbed for his tea to take a sip before frowning at the now lukewarm cup.

Nicole felt a faint warmth encompass her. A smile crept on her face, just like how she'd imagine talking to her Dad. "Of course Sir." She gave a respectful nod. "I'll let Sally know." She glanced at her brother. "And I'll see you around?"

The male lynx perked, giving a slight formal bow. "Of course. Just call my name, I'll hear you." The male construct straightened before waving his hand, opening a warp zone to the front of Sonic and Sally's hut.

The now chipper construct gave him a wave. "I'll see you both later then!" She smirked before zipping through. With a crack the warp zone collapsed behind her.

Nick gave a sigh as he turned to the platypus who had gotten up to make his way to the kitchenette. "I had a… request from the princess."

The platypus glanced at his creation for a second before returning his gaze forward. He started to rummage through the cupboard of glasses and mugs. "Oh do you?"

The construct pushed forward. "She wants me to not intervene in hand to hand fistfights anymore unless it's a life threatening situation." He hesitated. "I plan on implementing her request."

Starline was only half paying attention as he lowered himself to continue rummaging through the bottom cabinet. "Sure, whatever." He grumbled. "They can govern themselves for all I care. Protect me under a new protocol though, expel all who attack me."

Nick gave a firm nod. "I can do that." The AI affirmed before startling at the platypus raising a decanter full of amber liquid from the lower cabinet. The lynx frowned. "I didn't know you drank."

"Rarely. It's my father's." He grumbled, pouring himself a low wide glass. "And it's been a long day and my nerves need to mellow out." He waved the hologram off as he made his way back to his seat. "I need some time to think." He mumbled as he plopped down, taking a sip of the aged spirit.

The hologram eyed him warily as he watched his creator sip at the legally dubious and rare substance. "This isn't going to become a habit, will it?"

The platypus looked a bit miffed. "Of course not. How much liquor do you think I have?" He scoffed as he sank into the chair, toying with the glass, clinking his metallic fingers against the rim. "Glad this horrendous day is over."

The hard light hologram walked up to the platypus. "It couldn't have been that bad."

"You're mighty chatty compared to what you used to be." He grumbled out as he continued to clink his fingers against his drink. "I had to reattach an arm without any sort of pain killer. That's twice in the same week or close enough that I might have some nerve scaring..." He sighed, rolling his shoulder. "My port still feels raw." He glared at his creation before his expression mellowed. "What's done is done, I'll fix it later." He raised the glass to his lips, taking another sip before setting it on the coaster of the table besides him. "I'll run diagnostics later but this helps for now." He sighed. "So you should have access to some of my old archives." He stared Nick down. "Is that mutant a Powers?"

The lynx shifted then firmed his stance. "Most likely, It would make sense for Miles to be Maxwell's grandson, given his age." The construct's eyes became unfocused, as if staring off in the distance past the platypus and the wall behind him. "I have some public record of Maxwell's daughter. Trisha Powers, unknown mother, born 3196. Bog standard highborn heir it seems."

The platypus gave a grumble as he took another sip. "So the monster moved on a cycle after he killed Mother and Father." The platypus gave a pursed frown, gritting his teeth. "I should have kept a closer eye on the scoundrel."

Nick gave a slight frown. "You have no proof of that accusation."

Starline bellowed a haughty laugh. "Oh come off it. I need no proof." He spat. "Besides, I'd wager the foul creature is deceased at this point so what does it matter?" He glanced to his construct. "Am I correct?"

"My records are incomplete after you left." The lynx refocused his eyes, looking down at the doctor. "I doubt he's alive. He'd be 99 cycles old at this point, that's not considering the degeneration he'd be dealing with as well. If he was alive, he'd be bound to the highest tier life support, barely able to move and maybe even just a brain in a jar if his pharmaceutical company skirted the law enough."

The doctor shook his head. "That's doubtful, the scrutiny he was under? That would be a mighty expensive risk and a purgatory even he wouldn't want." The platypus scoffed. "The vain fool." He raised his glass. "Cheers." He gave a pompous grin. "I hope it was painful." The doctor slammed the rest of his drink back, bringing the glass down with a clink. He gazed into the fire, the heart of the soft flames were just embers now. His mind began to drift to his father's nemesis and the unproven crimes he'd most certainly committed. Victor had a blank frown on his face, just staring at the embers as his mind clouded. "The best way to get revenge is to live well, and Maxwell was a miserable creature, so that shouldn't be hard." He leaned back in the chair, resting his eyes. "His grandson doesn't have a mentor at his age? Psh! How old is the boy?"

The lynx stepped over to the fireplace, glancing to the banister to see a faded portrait of all the minister's all lined up out in the gardens, dated 3189. Maxwell's face was scratched out on the photo. "My estimate puts the boy at 18 cycles." The lynx picked up the frame, trying to look through the scratches at the ragged and elderly looking fox. "The royal institutions don't exist anymore, neither does the college or its partnership programs. It's amazing he's managed to learn what he has with only a basic education of math and reading. He's spent a lot of time in that library downstairs." The lynx put the photo back. "From my records and dossier on the Powers, Miles is a completely different creature compared to his grandfather's clan. He seems to lack the vicious and manipulative nature they are known for, or at least he was trained out of most of it by the Princess Acorn."

"Hmm." The doctor mumbled as the buzz was starting to hit him. The words spoken to him finally caught up as a slight pang of guilt for the apprehensive treatment he'd shown the young vulpine washed over him. His mind continued to drift as the haze of his mind compounded. His thoughts drifted back to the day he'd lost his arm, the archaic curse the odd fox had spat over him and the one he'd spluttered back in his shock and delirium. "Sounds like he's indeed a disappointment to his family name." The doctor mumbled in his stupor. "Maybe I should offer him some pointers, make sure he's even more of a disappointment…" He mumbled as he began to drift off to sleep. "Live well..."

Nick glanced back to the master of the manor softly snoozing and sighed. "As long as you don't hurt him…" The construct mumbled, fizzling out of existence as the hard light disintegrated.

---

Mobius - Quarantine zone junkyard outskirts - 179th day of the 3239th cycle

The wind howled outside overhead as Colin sweat, busy at work. There was a robot behind him, holding up a light as he worked at the workbench. The robot was a sleek and sharp design without clothes, a purpose built robian hedgehog with piercing blue optics for eyes. "Almost there, maybe... just maybe..." The human grunted. "Metal, bring the light a little higher."

The hedgehog automaton shifted as he corrected the angle of the light, illuminating the face down robian beetle on the workbench. "Yes, Sir." He monotoned.

"Thank you Metal." The human mumbled as he continued to examine the back of his friend's cyberbrain. He'd been spending so much time in software and schematics, that he could practically see the wires as veins of information, pumping the vital data through the life support system. His tweezers and soldering iron started to shake with his nervousness as he paused his attack. If this didn't work it could kill her, but he was 95% sure that this would work. He didn't know why he hadn't seen this before, but he was so sure now that a simple hardware mod could cut out the slave unit without breaking the reactor. His hesitation grew as his mind began to race. 95%, he'd done the math… that was only a 5% chance he'd kill her… That was 1 in 20… His gut started doing flips at the thought. "I... I..." He swallowed before firming his stance. "I'm sorry for everything I've done, I'm sorry for everything I failed to do." He swallowed one more time. "I'm sorry if this doesn't work, Jewel. You never deserved this." He plucked the ribbon cables and bridged some of the pins on the slave unit, rendering it on a permanent reset loop. He rerouted the ribbon cables, taking a deep breath as he grabbed for a jumper wire. "One last change, tie the reactor high so it can finish booting." He jumped two other pins for a few seconds before retracting the wire. "Done–WHAAA?!" The man squealed, jumping back as the body in front of him violently spasmed. A cry of anguish broke the silence before breaking into blubbering sobs. The humans heart jumped as he quickly closed the back of the neck access, pulling the zipper of her dress uniform back up and moving to secure the screws on her neck. " We're almost done, I'm so glad- OOF!" He spat, staggering back as a metal appendage swiped his gut.

The cries grew as the body stopped spasming, the robian rolling over to glare at him. "HOW DARE YOU!" Her synthesized voice spat. She looked disheveled, her pink suit skirt wrinkled as she sharply swung her leg, clipping his jaw and causing his chin to bleed.

The human spun to the ground as Metal just looked shocked, looking from his creator to the Robian lunging for his crumpled form on the ground. "Sir?! Advise! This is unexpected!"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" The now bleeding man rang. "PLEASE DON'T! I WANTED TO HELP YOU! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!– GAAAKK!" He struggled as she had lunged for his neck, picking him up as she began to squeeze.

"HOW DARE YOU! YOU! YOU!" Her voice began wavering as she began to cry tearlessly. "YOU HORRIBLE MAN! I WISH WE'D OF NEVER MET! YOU SHOULD HAVE NEVER COME TO MY REALM!" She cried, her violet eyes flaring.

There was a flash and her cries froze as there was now a strange looking robian hedgehog gripping her own neck, fist with sharp vibroclaws poised. "RELEASE HIM NOW, OR TERMINATE."

"EEEP!" She screeched as her metal grip laxed. Dropping the bloodied man to the floor to cough and splutter.

Metal flung the Robian beetle across the room to crash into a stack of crates. The woman screamed as she collided with the boxes that tumbled utop her. He quickly turned to his creator to see him whimpering while clutching his neck and wiping the blood from his chin. The man gave deep wavering breaths as he got to his feet, moving to grab for a thing of wipes usually reserved for cleaning grease from hands. The robotic guard moved forward to check his master. "Are you okay, Sir?"

"She's going to be okay, It worked." He sounded so distant, looking out of it as he shook. His actions almost seemed robotic as he began cleaning his wound. "It worked…" He said again before slumping into a nearby office chair. "I can have some peace now…"

Metal stepped forward, gently wrapping one of his clawed hands around his masters arm, pausing. He looked up, a bit alarmed. "Sir, you're blood pressure dropped!"

The tired and hazy man let out a choked laugh. "Yes? It has? That's wonderful..." The man trailed off before his mind reeled back to the present, heart picking up. His mind cleared as he heard the sound of shifting boxes. His gut sank as he put two and two together. "Oh no! Jewel!" He ran over to the boxes or at least tried to as metal seemed to materialize in front of him, putting a palm up to stop him as he stared down the robian trapped under the toppled tower of crates.

"No." The protection droid ordered. The man glanced around his protector to see the distressed Robian pushing a box of non perishables off of her stomach.

She sat up and just looked so dejected and frustrated, it tore at Colin's very being. He wilted at the sight, she was understandably livid. He hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more to make this right."

Her dejection turned hot as she glared him down. "15 cycles, Colin... 15 agonizing cycles..." She croaked out. "I've been awake for every bloody moment of it!"

"I'm sorry, I thought you wouldn't want me to experiment on anyone else before you." He squirmed as he crumpled forward, curling into a ball on the ground. "You wouldn't want me to sacrifice others to free you!"

She flinched at the sorry sight in front of her. "Well..." She hesitated. "You're not wrong?" She sagged her shoulders and felt a strange click, a plate in the back of her head and neck coming loose. She suppressed her urge to shiver at the strange sensation of... organs? being exposed, delicate circuitry open to the elements. She moved a hand to press against her neck, holding the plate in place.

She knelt as she watched the mess of a man start crying in front of her. Her heart sank, pitty for her old friend building at the broken person in front of her. Thoughts of her situation nipped at her, trying to rile her up again but to no avail. She sighed, putting a palm to her temple, fruitless for the comfort of massaging the stress away. There was a pregnant pause as her thoughts of the rage and injustice made her feel cold. She squirmed when she realized the bruising apparent on his neck, looking down she winced at her metallic hand that she'd just tried to murder him with. She shifted forward, voice catching. "I-I didn't mean to try and kill you..." She winced. "I don't want to kill anyone-"

"I'm so sorry!" He ignored her words, beginning to whimper. "You have every right to kill me." He squeaked out. "You do, but I'm scared–"

"I will not let that happen." Metal droned, cutting him off as he firmed his stance between the human and Robian.

She glanced up to the imposing robot standing between them, getting nervous. Her eyes dropped back to the sniveling mess on the ground, grimacing at the sight. "No wonder he calls you Snivly…" She mumbled to herself. Her heart was a mix of slowly numbing rage and pity, she'd observed him long enough under his uncle to understand some of the torment he had to endure. The rage simmered again, nothing like what she'd had to deal with. She shook as an embarrassment struck her, flushing internally at the thought of how many years she'd been denied the dignity of clothes. She looked down and remember'd he'd been decent enough to give her cover… her old apprentice uniform… She groaned as she cupped her face, twingeing at the odd sensation of the back of her head being open to the elements. "I won't kill you Colin. Please get up from the ground."

The distraught man realized her words, beginning to pull himself up, wiping the tears and smudging some more blood on his face. "Metal, I order you t-to back down." He wavered

Metal looked at him and seemed to click with dissatisfaction. "Affirmative." He slowly backed up.

She slowly stood, putting a hand behind her neck to hold the plate closed as the small man slowly rose to his feet. She let out a frustrated groan, synthetic eyes closing. "I hate that I pity you." She bit, causing him to waver.

He closed his eyes, dejection building in him. "I'm sorry."

"Quit saying it, I get it." She griped. She gave another sigh, her eyes wincing shut. "I have a fair understanding of all that went on around me though. Thank you for protecting me from the scrap heap." She mumbled. "Thank you for freeing me." She stepped forward, still holding the plate on her neck. "Now, please do the right thing and upload whatever that was that freed me to the Robian update server! Please free all of us!"

He looked shook then dejected, shaking his head as he nervously began wringing his hands. "That wasn't a program." I can't free all the Robians…"

She looked confused as he noticed her hand holding the plate on the back of her head. She winced at him in confusion. "What? Then how-how am I?…" She trailed off.

He shifted uncomfortably. "I would have to take every Robian apart… individually, to wake them…" He shook his head, averting his eyes. "Uncle is already suspicious by default… There's no way I could free more then a handful before he catches on."

The girl looked destroyed, as if her lip were quivering. "Oh..." She closed her eyes and slumped. Before freezing, an odd sensation pinching her neck in the back.

Colin noticed and jumped up, grabbing the driver and machine screws to fix her neck. "Here. I can fix it, just give me a moment." He hesitantly approached her before pausing. "M-may I?"

She didn't even move. "Yes, please help. It feels strange..."

He moved to gently guide her up, moving to her back. He unzipped her shirt enough to remove the plate, guiding the pinched cables back in place before slotting the panel back and zipping her shirt back up. He moved to start driving the machine screws back in place as metal glared at the two, claws twitching in anticipation of any threat. "Almost there..." The human grumbled.

Her expression squirmed. "Thank you..." She bit her metaphorical lip, feeling conflicted. "I'm sorry for the cut on your face... and for choking you."

He paused in his work before continuing. "I understand, I already said you have every right..." He trailed off before finishing. "There. Secure." He got up and moved back to his chair to continue using wipes to clean up any hint of dried blood, using adhesive bandage to seal his chin. He glanced at her as she got up, dusting herself off.

Metal perked up. "Sir, proximity sensor for sector 8 is tripping." the android moved to a nearby terminal, examining the readouts. "Looks like two transports, Robian detail and Dr. Robotnik inbound."

The small human froze, looking down to his bloodied uniform, then stared at Jewel. "You need to stay here, stay quiet!"

Her eyes widened at the prospect of the iincoming tyrent. "What?!" She shifted uncomfortably. "Didn't you mention something about escaping? Why not now?!" She moved to make for the door.

He squirmed before darting to catch her shoulder. "I'm no where near ready!" He let out a haggered breath, wincing. "Just stay here with Metal until I get back. If you run off now I can't promise you wouldn't be run down by drones!"

She stopped her b-line to the door and hesitantly turned to look at the menacing looking metal hedgehog at the terminal. "O-okay?"

Colin turned to his guardian droid. "Metal, remote into my lamp droid and observe my interaction with Robotnik, do not intervine unless I call for you." He shifted as the stress built in him. "I don't think he'll hurt me... that much..." he let out a wavering breath. "I need to clean up, excuse me." He made his way to his personal quarters in the other partition of the unit.

---

Earth - United States, Michigan - Aperture Science Innovations - 1987

Julian pulled up to the mesh fence gate, peering out the window as he adjusted his coke bottle glasses. The place was nestled away, hidden in the forests of northern Michigan. He'd been winding his truck on forested back roads for over an hour, referencing the poorly drawn map and struggling to remember directions, it had been ages since he'd been here. He glanced at the metal sign above the gate, Aperture's circular logo and lettering emblazoned it. The large man squinted at the sign before dropping to the empty guard shack to his left. He furrowed his brow at the vacant post before noticing a camera and microphone. "Hello?" He cleared his throat. "I've got an appointment with Mr. Johnson. This is Aperture, right?"

*CRACKLE*

"Intruder! Who's asking?" A gruff voice crackled from the device. "Do you really have an appointment or do I need to make you one! WITH MY GUN! I'll line you with lead if you don't tell me the truth!" The hostile voice barked through the tinny speaker.

The young doctor furrowed his brow, noticing a line of pipes sticking from the bottom of the shack. He rose an eyebrow. "I have an appointment with Mr. Johnson. My sister is his assistant, Carolin Kintober. My name is Julian." The absurdity hit him as he saw the sight notchs on the ends of the tubes. "Are... are those really shotgun barrels pointed at my car?!"

"Deters unwanted salesman, Johnson's orders! I can confirm the knee capping potential! HA!" The voice barked through the buzzing speaker. The gate slowly clanked as it began to open. "Carolin mentioned you this morning, should have recognized you from those magnifying glasses you have strapped to your face." The hostile voice grumbled, causing the doctor's bewilderment to sour. "Get in before any more bums follow you, we're at quota today."

*CLINK*

The gate stopped at the end of its track giving pause before Julian let off his truck's break. The car slowly rolled forward as he ripped his gaze from the line of shotgun barrels pointed at his door and tires. He shook his head entered the forested property. He frowned at the thoughts of the eccentric millionaire; If that was Cave's idea, it didn't surprise him. He grumbled at the memories of all the ranting blow ups the salesman had blessed them with each year since grandfather had passed. He continued up the winding forested road as the gate slid closed with a clink behind him. The road opened up to a glade at the base of a mountain, there were some buildings nestled into the rock. There was a clinical looking building with a parking lot front and center. To the side there looked to be a warehouse with a loading dock and garage, probably the old entrance to the mines. This place had been an old salt mine, picked clean years ago. He pulled into the parking lot on the paved portion and got out, looking towards the sterile looking building in front of him. He started his way towards the door as he heard the wind rustle the leaves around him. He paused as a crow perched on the trim above him, cawing as if to ward him off. He frowned at the bird before ignoring it, crossing the threshold into the company to claim his birthright.

He entered the lobby of the company his grandfather helped put on the map and his foot kicked a tin can. The clang echoed as it spat a streak of bean juice across the waxed floor, bouncing to come to a stop at the foot of the reception desk. Julian's eyes widened in shock and confusion at the pieces of trash that littered the floor. "What..."

"Dr. Kintober I presume." A woman's nasally smoker voice quipped. The rotund man glanced up to see the reception area. The waiting area around the reception had a group of ragged and dirty people slouching on the 70's era plastic and metal seating. The doctor got a confused expression as he glanced around at the rag tags glaring at him before finally settling on the receptionist. She was a older woman with a bee hive hairstyle that seemed 15 years out of date. Her tired glare seemed to cut right through him as she popped a bubble from the gum she was chewing. She paused her chew before continuing. "Carolin said you were stopping in today. Look at you, it's been a while." She rasped. "Mr. Johnson's expecting you in his office."

Julian hesitantly walked up to her, past the group of homeless folk staring at him. His look of confusion persisted as he leaned in to speak to the receptionist who seemed to radiate like an ashtray. "Alright, I do have to ask though... what's with the..." He tried to subtly gesture to the loiterers littering the waiting room. "What happened here?"

She gave a disgruntled sigh as her gaze met his concerned stare. "They're potential test subjects for project P. Can't afford Astronauts and Olympians anymore, too many lawsuits." She grumbled. "My pension's had a terrible few years." A buzzer went off behind her twice. She leaned around the rotund giant of a man. "NEXT! NOW SERVING NUMBER 54! Bring me your paperwork, hun!"

A scruffy man in his early 20's jumped up and jogged over. "Hi! Yeah! That's me! I think?" He passed the clipboard with the stack of paperwork to the woman as he sniffed, letting out an audible sigh. He shifted nervously. "Is it true I could qualify for a job if I let them look at my head? How does that work anyways?"

She leafed through the stack, looking for his signatures. "If you sign form 14F then you may qualify." She paused, scrutinizing his work. "Good, you can spell a name, you qualify." She smacked her lips as she blew another bubble, putting the paperwork away as it snapped. She turned back to the homeless man, handing him a visitor tag and pointed to a hallway. "You need to go to floor sub 34 for your test, you can collect your 60$ at the conclusion of the test. Or, if you want to go for job interview then skip the test and go to sub floor 55. Don't go wandering, it won't end well." Her gaze shifted to Julian. "Dr. Kintober, Mr. Johnson wants to meet you in his office. Management is on sub floor 60." She waved them off as she pressed a button on the intercom on her desk. "Mr. Johnson, You're 1:00 is here early." Her tired gaze met Julian's as she let go of the button. "He'll see you, don't keep him waiting." She grumbled before pulling out a gossip magazine to read.

The young bum pinned the visitor badge to his worn and ragged jacket. "Alright! I wonder if this job has benefits! Maybe even housing! I've heard this place is a bunker!" He started for the hallway as Julian dumbly blinked at the situation in front of him.

The balding red head rolled his eyes before striding to follow the chipper but unfortunate soul in front of him. The doctor began grumbling under his breath. "Just remember, he paid for your schooling... you could be a real force in this place someday… This is your birthright." The two men made their way down the dimly lit hallway, passing a wood cabinet full of awards; Aperture fixtures, shower curtain salesman of the year 1943 - Cave Johnson. He rose an eyebrow at that, thinking back to the history his mother had told him. That award must be for the government contract that was responsible for starting all this. He turned his gaze forward, following the homeless man to the elevator. His thoughts returned to the award; every base in the states, then around the world, then every appliance in each of those bases... That was the bread and butter that initially funded Aperture labs.

The homeless man reached the elevator first, hitting the call button and bouncing on the balls of his feet. Julian silently walked up beside him and winced from the man's smell, the scent of body odor and a faint funk of ammonia wafted from the man, causing the doctor to crinkle his nose in disgust. The elevator door opened, greeting the two with some tinny bossa nova playing over the intercom. The homeless man hopped the short gap, turning to smile at Julian from under his ragged cyan cap. Julian hesitated before stepping onto the elevator, the carriage shifting from his weight as he entered. The homeless man's eyes widened. "Wow, you're big! The whole thing just moved!"

Julian just scowled at him, pausing before hitting the floor 60 button. He moved to get as far away from his traveling companion as the car would let him. "Mhm." He grunted as the elevator started its descent.

There was an awkward pause as the hobo put out a hand to shake. "My name's Grady, you can call me that. " He audibly sniffed, clearing his nose. "What's your name?" Julian just stared forward, trying to ignore the man. The young man's expression faltered before he looked forward. "Okay? nevermind..." There was an awkward pause as the young man closed his eyes, foot tapping away at the jazzy tune playing overhead.

Julian watched the number raise as they dropped into the earth, glancing between the homeless man and the pannel. "You're floor is-"

"Hm?" The young mans eyes split wide only to see the 34th floor. He started swearing and he scrambled to smack the floor 55 button. "I guess I'm going for that job interview." He smirked, glancing to the cold Goliath of a man. "Fate makes the decision for me again." He perked, glancing at the overweight man. "Got a good feeling about this one..." There was another awkward pause before the young man continued. "You got an appointment with the owner or something? Sounded important!" The awkward silence dragged on as the elevator dropped further. He crossed his arms, getting a pensive look as he stared at the floor. "So the job has something to do with intracranial examination..." He glanced at Julian. "You got any idea what that means?"

Julian slowly turned, giving the homeless man a bewildered stare. "HA! You should have gotten off on the 34th floor, I'd go back if I were you."

The elevator started slowing, coming to the 55th floor. The young man gave a thoughtful stare at the door before shaking his head. "I need a better plan than just 60$, can't be that bad." He shrugged. "Winter's around the corner and 60 big ones won't cut it."

Julian just looked forward, giving a look of contempt. "You're a moron, aren't you?"

The young man bristled. "Well i was trying to be friendly, you don't have to be an ass!" He shook his head. "Whatever. Someday I'll own this place, just you watch!" The door opened into a lab setting and he turned to step out to present himself. "Hey! I'm here for the job interview! Oh wow, this looks like something from a Scifi film! Wow that thing looks sharp, what's it for?-"

The door slid shut as the elevator picked back up, taking Julian lower. A ghost of a thought nipped at him, the fate of the man above him. He quickly quashed the thought, if the moron willingly signed his own death sentence he didn't care. It wasn't his fault that man was an idiot, it didn't matter. He needed to worry about himself, this was on Carolin and Johnson. The obese man shook his head. "Free country after all." He mumbled to himself.

The door opened to a waiting room at the corner of a cubical office. He stepped into the clinical lighting of the office space. "Uncle Julian! it's been so long! you're back from college!" A young voice beamed.

The large man looked around, spotting his nephew Colin barreling towards him from down a cubical corridor. The 7 year old ran up to him, waving his arms ecstatically before skidding to a halt. He gave a false smile to the bastard child. "Good morning, Colin." He walked up, towering over the unusually small child. "It's good to see you, keeping up with your studies I presume?"

The brown haired boy eagerly nodded. "Mom said Mr. Johnson is going to pay for private tutoring once I'm in 3rd grade! Just like you! That's just one more year!" He shined, holding up an excited finger. "Maybe someday I can be a scientist like you or Great Grandpa Robotnik!" He waved the tall man forward as he spun to lead him through the maze of half height occupied cubicles. "Mom sent me to get you! Come on!" He yelled as multiple annoyed eyes glared at the two of them from the cubicals.

Julian sighed as he began following his nephew through the office maze before him. He gazed over the cubicle to the far safety rail, looking into the depths of the mine, a lattice of support structures and harsh blue'd lighting stretched into the distance. "It's been so long since I've been here." He turned to the boy. "What are you doing out of school right now, Colin?"

The boy hesitated. "Mom took me to the doctor this morning, she didn't have time to bring me to school before she was needed at work."

The two left the cubicle maze to start around the edge of the room on the catwalks, heading towards the management offices covered in glass. Julian pursed his lips, looking down at the boy now at his side. "Does it have to do with your dwarfism?" The large man drawled.

The boy's eyes widened. He shook his head. "N-no sir. What's wrong? Is there some sickness I should be worried about from my height?"

Julian shook his head. "Nevermind my boy. Just a scholarly curiosity about you and your'e sisters conditions." He dragged his finger against the dusty safety rail. "Possibly a contaminate your mother encountered here caused your dilemma or your sister's malformed voice box." He sighed.

The boy faltered for a second, looking confused before pressing forward. "Well it's good to have you home! MIT must have been amazing! I hear that's one of the best schools for science!"

"Indeed, it was quite the adventure." The large man grumbled, mind drifting to the projects he'd stolen from his classmates.

The two made it to the private offices, walking into the lobby to see Carolin perched at her desk, typing away. She looked up and smiled at both of them. "Julian! I'm so glad you could make it!" She smiled at her son as she got up, moving around the desk and over to him. "Thank you for getting your uncle, Colin!" She pulled out some change from her purse to hand to him. "Why don't you get a hot chocolate from the vending machine."

The boy eagerly nodded, accepting the change. "Alright!" He nodded. "Thanks mom!" The boy skittered off, leaving the adults alone.

Carolin's smile flattened as she glanced at her younger brother. "You're early, good." She frowned at his casual dress. "Really? You couldn't afford a suit? It wouldn't hurt to show a little more respect or gratitude." She gave a huf as she walked up, brushing some dust off his shoulder, looking up at him.

"Psh. it's nice to see you too dear sister." The balding man breathed. "You know it's difficult to find clothes in my size."

She went back to her desk. "And who's fault is that?"

"Genetics." He growled. "I'm not the one jumping the gun with hostility dear sister." He glared at her. "I see you've done well for yourself, been years since I visited this hovel–"

"Hovel is it?" She bit, glaring at him.

"I saw the refuse Aperture keeps in the lobby." He grit. "Using bums for test subjects? That's rich, What happened to you trying to turn this place around?" He scoffed. "Or are you just like Johnson? I would have thought better of you, Miss perfect." He motioned to the countless suspended structures above them out the window. "Is Aperture still skirting federal regulations?"

She glared at him. "You know nothing." She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "This place is more complicated to run then you could ever imagine. You have no idea what's done to keep this place afloat. Believe it or not, we're the underdog, we've been the underdog for YEARS." She bit. "We need every advantage we can get to keep ahead of the thieves who want to ruin us! Black Mesa can- GRRR!" She grit her teeth, throwing her balled fists at her side. "And to think Grandfather's stolen documents kickstarted our competition!" She brushed the lose brunet bang from her face. "I have been working on some of the safety concerns, but you know our benefactor, old fashioned." She shook her head. "It truly is a balancing act."

He rolled his eyes. "Right."

*BEEP*

The siblings both looked towards Carolin's desk and intercom going off. She ran over to answer. "Yes sir Mr. Johnson!"

"Hi, Yeah! Family time over, I can hear your muffled bickering from here! Send in your brother, I want to see my next star employee!" Cave's voice bit through, annoyed.

Carolin's face dropped at the sound of his tone. "Y-yes sir. Is there anything else I can get–"

"NOPE!" He chirped back. "Thanks for being a peach, send in your brother! I've got shop to talk with Gerald's prodigy!"

*COUGH COUGH COUGH*

*CLICK*

Julian made his way to the office door as he gave a half glare to his sister. "You mentioned he was sick in your letter?"

She sighed, looking defeated. "It's not contagious but let's just say… I've been being prepared to step in if and when the time comes."

The large man grunted acknowledgement as he turned to enter the office.

*COUGH* *COUGH*

There was an older man with graying brown hair doubled over his wastebin as he sat in his swivel chair, sounding like he was hacking up a lung. The man spat before leaning back, taking a deep breath, letting out some half hearted rasps. Julian stood there at the dim lit entrance waiting for his grandfather's friend, their family patron to collect himself. He glanced around, taking in the scene in the meantime. The office was a round shape with a painted false window to what looked like a sunny beach city coastline, possibly inspired by Miami. He glanced back to the deeply breathing man who was looking at him. "Hello Julian, or should I say Dr. Kintober." He stood and motioned him to step forward. "Come over here, let me get a better look at you." He said, squinting as Julian stepped forward.

"Hello sir." Julian said, putting a hand forward to shake. "I want to formally thank you for funding my education. MIT was–"

"Wow you're big!" Cave interrupted as he gave the man an up down look. "Not just as tall as Gerald, but you're something else! You're huge!" The old man's face slightly soured as he leaned forward on his desk. "Wonder if the lab boys can figure something out for Colin…" He grumbled under his breath, causing Julian to furrow a brow.

The large man gave a silent huff as he dropped his hand to his side. "What about my nephew?"

"What about the who?" Johnson dismissed. "Anyways, you studied at MIT. I want to reap my investment darn quick! I want to make you your own team, make any good contacts? Anyone promising in the field of AI? Heck even just robotics? anyone you'd want to have work under you?" He snapped his finger a few times. "Carolin told me you had a few cohorts, how about that Russell character? Your old roommate? Anyone else you can think of?"

Julian looked a little peeved, pressing his glasses to the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry sir, that bridge is burnt. Besides, I think he's got a few more years to graduate."

Cave frowned. "Okay, then is there anyone you'd like to reach out to?"

"I'm here of my own merit." He gave a nodded bow. "I'm grateful you want to give me my own team to begin with."

Cave paused then gave a defeated sigh. "We can go over some of the auxilary personnel here later." He cleared his throat as he walked back to his desk to spit a red glob into the trash, dark specks staining his chin.

Julian furrowed his brow at the aged man. "Are you okay?" He asked, going through the motions even though he was fairly certain from Carolin's inference that he wasn't.

The man sat down in his office chair, taking a deep breath and motioning to the seat across from him. "Fine enough. Lab boy's conversion gel is apparently toxic. Who knew ground moon rock was toxic."

Julian furrowed his brow, grimacing and giving the older man across from him a bewildered look. "Moon dust? A lot of rock dust is toxic..." He mumbled below his breath.

Johnson opened his eyes, looking whistfull at his friends grandson in front of him. "You look like your grandfather so much." He sighed. "But fatter." He bluntly commented. "Way fatter and you're hair is red instead of brown." He gave a cough before waving his hand dismissively in front of him. "Anyways." *COUGH* He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk as he sat in his seat. "You know what, actually... Now that I look at you too, your glasses are way thicker. Boy you lost the lottery on that one!" The eccentric man quipped, causing Julian to bite his tongue at the demeaning comments.

Julian put on a fake smile, ignoring the little jabs. "Grandfather Robotnik was a difficult man to measure up to from what I hear. I hope I don't disappoint."

The old man's eyes got distant. "I'm sure you won't. I wish I could have been there to yank the fool away from whatever that thing was that disintegrated the floor. Never found the body. What a man he was… A true friend." The old man's eyes beamed in reminiscence. "You know when we met I thought he was lying about his name. Thought he'd stolen it from a movie!" The old man leaned back in his chair. "Nope, turns out his dad was Russian or something, Slavic at least." He cleared his throat again. "Robotnik means heavy laborer, unskilled." He stood, reaching over the desk to shake hands. "Unlike a robotnik though, He was seriously skilled; his brain was something else. I know your name is Kintober but I know you'll honor your grandfather's legacy, smartest man I knew." He gave a confident smile as Julian stood to shake the man's hand. Cave smile grew. "Now! Did those eggheads at MIT teach you anything about artificial intelligence? I got some projects I want to show you! Future of this company!" He beamed, a sly grin on his face. "I should have been working on it years ago."

---

Mobius - Robotropolis - Robotnik's control tower - 179th day of the 3239th cycle

*BEEEEEEP*

Robotnik came back to consciousness, stark awareness surrounding him. He shifted in his control chair as he looked around himself, he was in his control room. He glanced at the time in the corner of one of the monitors, 2:18 in the morning flashed. The large man grumbled as he reached behind his head, unhooking the data cable from the new port. He got up from the chair. "Operator." He snapped. "How much of the mirror is complete? And what's the progress of the quantum tether? I can't spend the rest of my life physically wired to the mainframe!"

"Working!" The overhead AI excitedly chirped. "Mirror has fragmentation. 12% scanned, defrag needed to see how much data is usable. Proposal, please do not disconnect during live mirror back-"

"ENOUGH!" The man barked, pressing his meaty hand to his forehead to stave off the headache. "I've got too much to do. Are the thinktanks done finding a solution to our biohazard problem?"

"Affirmative! Thinktanks are ready to deploy the first isolation team to encase the growing biomass in resin. They are currently prepping the Robians as we speak." Operator replied. "Two Thinktank AI mainframes are now free for other tasks."

"Set them on my quantum link accessory, I don't have the time to spend weeks physically wired to my network." The tyrant griped. "I want to see the isolation teams attempt, deploy them." He got up from his chair and moved towards the lift to the sky-dock. "Send a transport!" he barked. "I should see what progress my nephew has finished on the dimensional anomaly." The lift started its accent.

"Colin has submitted adequate progress." The AI recited. "Coordinate harvesting at 80%. A minor teleportation array can be set up for sending probes soon."

"Good." The doctor grumbled. "It would be good to shut the door on that part of my life." He sighed. "A pity no other humans ever managed to escape, if that was even real." He snipped to himself as he watched the floor count increase. "And to think I prepared all this for no one." He gave a deep sigh. "Well..." He scoffed. "It won't go to waste." The lift doors hissed open as the rotund man exited, striding to the awaiting hover transport. He noticed a nearby drop transport pass, probably the isolation team being deployed to the zone 8 quarantine. "Lets see if my nephew is up for a late night show."

The flight to the new quarantined part of the garbage filled sector was quick, Robotnik watched as his craft beamed the array of spotlights down upon the trash. The craft banked, circling his nephews temporary accommodation right outside the gates of the quarantine. He watched the cleanup crew's craft land first, closer to the gate as his started to touch down at the clearing next to the cargo like building. Robotnik winced as he got up, his neck still a little tender from the recent surgery. He moved to the extending ramp and opening side door of the hovercraft, grabbing a form fitted but sleak filter mask that was in a compartment on the wall. As he moved to the exit, two swatbots flanked him, one at each shoulder. As he exited his craft he noticed his nephew standing at attention with a utility drone in front of his accommodation. The faint smell of amonia ate through the filter causing the large man to frown, wincing at the illumination the drone provided. Colin sighed, a tiredness bleeding through his posture. "Good morning Dr. Robotnik, I take it you'd like an in person report."

The rotund man frowned at his nephew. "Well, spoil my fun at trying to give you a surprise visit. How'd you know I was coming?" He grumbled.

Colin gave a flat look over his form fitted breathing filter. "Who else would be coming sir." He grumbled. "I've had them increase the security in sector 8." He folded his hands behind his back. "Proximity alarms are quite cheep to manufacture, we should be using them more-"

"Don't clog my network with thousands of useless alarms that a lizardrat could set off." Robotnik griped as he strode over to his nephew. The small man looked odd, something was a bit amiss. Robotnik frowned. "What's with your collar boy? it's flipped up, you forget how to dress?" Colin hesitated before folding his collar down, exposing some discoloration. Robotnik frowned, scraping his own mind for any recent incidents he might have caused. "What happened to your neck?"

XXXXX

Jewel stood behind Metal in mute horror as she watched the android in front of her pilot a remote drone from the terminal, observing the tyrant king interrogate Colin. The synth panned the drone to get a better view, vocals crackling through.

Colin squirmed, visibly gulping. "I got a bit ambitious with a new robotics project. You know how things can lash out when its more then just a program."

Robotnik scoffed. "Don't be a fool." He moved forward to swipe his nephew upside the head with his his metal hand. "And you better not hook up one of your experiments to my network." He growled as his nephew hissed, grabbing his noggin from the pain. "Let that be a reminder that if you screw up, not only will you're creations come after you, so will I." He growled.

Metal tensed at the sight of his creator taking the abuse before relaxing, starting to pivot the drone again. Jewel hesitantly stepped closer to the terminal screen, causing Metal to glance at her and shift to let her get closer. She frowned. "I guess there was an assumption... and with the stories he used to tell me but... they're family? Why would he do that to his own flesh and blood?"

Metal paused, looking at the Robian besides him. "This is normal for them." He replied before centering the view on Colin. "I am required to stay my hand for now. Colin suspects Robotnik may have a backup contingency if he dies. The point is to escape." He looked at the robian beetle beside him. "You are aloud to accompany us if you wish." He looked forward again. "That was the plan anyways.

Colin straightened up, still clutching his bald head. There was a small gash trickling blood but the man ignored his pain. "Of coarse sir. I won't let my-my projects harm your network."

The towering tyrant turned to head towards the gated entrance of the quarantine. "This is a warning, boy." He griped before quieting. "Don't make me assign you a lethal nanny..." He turned, piercing red eyes glaring down the middle aged sniffling wreck of a man.

Colin let go of his head, running to catch up to his uncle. "I have the reports for my scans-"

"I'll review them later." The large man snapped. "I want your observation of the cleanup operation we're about to preform." He sneered. "A second set of human eyes would be helpful." He snapped. "The amount of fuel needed to incinerate this outbreak would be such a waste, we're encasing the growing biomass in resin instead."

The drone moved to follow the two men, shining its lamp to illuminate their path in the stagnant night air. As they grew closer to the tall newly concreted wall they saw a detail of Robians with sprayers and what looked to be high powered lamps lining up to enter the quarantine.

Jewel shifted uncomfortably, seeing the metallic husks of her fellow citizens dressed up in yellow hazmat gear, backpack mounted sprayers while others held the high powered curing lamps. "What is going on?"Metal glanced at her. "Biohazard caused by a realmwalker. Part of the reason we havn't been able to get solid readings of the anomaly being held open." The droid monotoned. "Cant risk Colin getting too close." He shifted, zooming the drones optics at the lining up Robians. "That might not be a problem soon."

Jewel's phantom gut twisted as she saw the Robians start to march towards the raising gate, followed in toe by Robotnik and Colin, their swatbot protectors following shortly behind. The two watched for around 5 minutes before she could see more lights in the distance, a camp setup in the wreckage. Swatbots stood guard over the grounds as the mass before them slowly grew into sight. She gasped at the alien thing through the drones camera. "What on Mobius?! Another realmwalker brought this?! That looks worse then the fungal forests of the insect kingdoms of mother's homeland!" She hissed, memories of the picture books clawing at her mind. She grew nervous at the stories of condemned forests and the constant fight it was to keep the sea of decay at bay. Her eyes darted from the monitor to the android's hard gaze in front of her, gageing his non-existant reaction. She looked back to the screen. There was a film of slimy biomass with bulbous protrusions starting to erupt from the ground. The covered area was pulsating, growing into a pile of traincars in the background.

A stationed swatbot noticed them and started walking towards the group of humans. "SIR! THE BIOMAS HAS BEEN STEADILY GROWING. ESTIMATED RATE-" The robot was cut off as a pole sticking out of the biomas lunged for it, piercing it through the helm and dragging it to the ground.

Robotnik froze, cold sweat starting as he looked at the armored green tenticle, smashing the swatbot with its sharp point. "It's just like Black Mesa..." He rasped through his respirator, thinking back to the monster tentacle thrashing in the tram tunnel.

Colin paused, turning to his uncle. "Excuse me?"

"This is from earth, or from the boarderworld Xen." Robotnik stepped back. He turned to the lining up group of Robians. "ALRIGHT VERMIN! YOU WILL SEAL EVERY PIECE OF BIOMASS YOU FIND!" He barked, shaking a fist. "OPERATOR! MAKE SURE THESE RATS COMPLETE THE SEALING PROCESS, I WANT THIS SECTOR SWEPT 100 TIMES IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES TO KEEP THIS FILTH FROM SPREADING!" He screamed.

The front line of robians started approaching the biomass while spraying a clear amber liquid upon the now twitching skin on the ground. The back detail coming up with the high powered lights starting to cure the resin top the biomass.

Colin squinted, turning from the blinding ultraviolet show, covering his face and wincing. "Xen, eh?" He grumbled to himself. "I should prepare for contamination on the other side then... and a return portal in case the situation is unsalvageable..."

---

Mobius - Arc I satellite colony - 3202th cycle

Shadow was peering out the window of the observation deck of the Arc. He watched the blue and green world below him slowly spin, or was the station spinning? Was it both? He looked up to the clear polymer ceiling, across the giant ring to the other habitation modules; the stars behind the structure slowly shifting. His gaze dropped down and he began walking towards the corner of the observation deck, towards his favorite seat. He got comfy, sitting on the ledge and letting himself lean up on the glass as he gazed down at the garden world below him. There were oceans, mountains, forests, deserts and even floating islands suspended around the equator. His eyes trailed north to the region his mother had told him she was from, or close enough to where she was from. It was a medium sized country, a long one who's border looked like an up side down pepper, the country hugged the coastline getting wider the further south it got. The country was green, being made of forests and fields surrounded by oceans, mountains and wastes.

He sat there and imagined what it would be like down there, what were the people like? Were they like the people up here? His point of reference might not be that good considering who was raising him. His mind drifted to the Mobian doctors he resembled, before a slight irritation simmered in his chest. He gave a huff before sitting back, closing his eyes and collecting his thoughts. "I wonder if she'll ever take me to the kingdom of Acorn…" The young hedgehog crossed his arms over his chest, rolling his head to press against the glass, opening his eyes to stare at the curios kingdom below him, his home he was from that he'd never been to. He closed his eyes and pressed his head to the glass, letting out a breath of frustration that fogged his view. It had been a rough few weeks, his sleep had been getting worse and his mother was fretting over something to do with his development, whatever that meant.

The boy's thoughts drifted to his mother, a stand out creature compared to the other Mobians... Well aside from Grandpa. Grandpa was tall, the tallest Mobian he'd ever seen. His eyes scrunched; wait, that wasn't right… Mom and Grandpa weren't Mobians… They were Humans? Whatever those were. Father? no… not father... his genetic template was a Mobian. He didn't have a father, his template seemed to despise him. He'd figured out enough, they thought they were sneaky but he knew… he knew he wasn't normal… The black and red hedgehog's brows furrowed. Mother had cloned her long time handler and coworker to his chagrin, that's how he was born. The young boy grumbled thinking of the black hedgehog he shared so much of his genetics with. The cold and clinical mobian tolerated him but wanted nothing to do with raising him, treating him more like a datapoint than a living being. He'd asked him about their familial relationship once and the scientist almost seemed offended, affronted at the idea.

The boy pulled back from the glass, gazing into the slight reflection in the glossy but smudged finish of the window. His eyes followed the red streaks through his ebony quills, thinking back to the list of donors he'd found when snooping in his Mom's computer. At least he looked a little different from his genetic template.

The moody 7 year old hopped down from his seat onto the cold tile ground. He adjusted the clinical gown he wore that signified him as a test subject. He paused, mind toiling at the thought of the others; he was fortunate for a chimera class clone. He'd been told he should be thankful for his mishap of consciousness. Some of the things they did to the clones up here made him queezy. He was glad Mom wanted to be his Mom... Pulling the subject garment he wore closer, he shivered; it was getting colder, was there an issue with the life support again? He moved towards the door, dragging his feet across the white tile to the interior hallway that ran through their home hanging in the heavens. He looked up the curving hallway to see if anyone was coming before starting his journey back to his Mother's lab. As he walked, he thought of some of the other experiments on the Arc. He had snooped a bit, finding out some info about his own project. Officially, he was an experiment on stabilizing gene splicing and slowing cellular metabolism. He'd read some of his mother's notes, she was really excited about something like immortality that he could have, he'd need to look that word up later. His mother was proud, she was grandauter to the Minister of science and headed her own team on the Arc. Not only that, but she'd been consulting with the finest minds in the medical community of the Acorn Kingdom. Her pride and joy was to make sure he was healthy and successful.

As he continued his walk down the sparsely occupied hall, he passed some doctors who gave him un-trusting glances. He glared back at the older Mobians, frowning his displeasure. He shifted uncomfortably as he passed more doctors. It was so stuffy on this station, maybe someday he could find a way off. He was getting closer to the clone vat lab and the thought of that gave him pause. Collecting his nerves, he pressed forward, glancing into the window before averting his eyes from the experiments. Glass cylinders lined the walls with samples, ranging from individual limbs to organs and some full grown Mobians. In the center there was the other immortality experiment, a big primitive lizard who's genetic template had been harvested from deep below Mobius. Legends of void creatures and regenerative immortality was what he'd overheard the doctors whispering about. All he knew about it was they kept cutting its legs off and they kept regrowing. He shuddered at the thought of the scientists cutting off his own arms and the countless nightmares that had conjured. His mother had reassured him that he was so much different and special, she would never let anyone do something so horrible to him. The memory of her freaking out at his witness of the lizard's vivisection was still fresh in his mind. She had exploded at her grandfather for not making sure he'd cleared the observation room. The boy grimaced, ears flattening at the strain his snooping had caused their family. That had been shortly after she'd finally admitted to him that he was a test subject along with being her adopted son... He got a slight blush; the second part he should have realized, that should have been obvious since she wasn't Mobian.

He powered on, walking as fast as he could out of the place of his birth and back to the sanctuary of his mother's lab and family quarters. He entered the fork leading to the private labs and sleeping accommodations. He zig-zagged through modules full of labs and cubicals, past the drop pod bay and to the door of his home.

"What?!" He heard a deep male voice bark. "You're not going to sterilize him?" Shadow paused at the male's voice, his gut starting to twist. He backed up, frowning up at the closed door. "Maria! It's bad enough the brain clamp didn't take!" He shouted. "I'm begining to believe the others were right, the brain clamp wasn't faulty, you just never set one up!"

"Enough of this Noctis!" He heard his mother growl. "You work for me! You're assigned as my handler and assistant! You're not my overseer!" Her voice seemed to waver. "Whatever the case may be, the fact is is that Shadow's a person! He has thoughts and feelings just like you and I. Whether you like it or not, he might as well be your Son! How could you want that for your own blood!"

"MY SON?! I HAVE NO SON!" He screamed. "I HAVE A FRIEND WHO WEN'T BEHIND MY BACK, STEELING SAMPLES TO CREATE THAT ABOMINATION!" He herd papers go flying. "THEN, SHE TURNED AROUND, ACTING LIKE NOTHING WAS WRONG! LIKE SHE HADN'T BREACHED MY TRUST!" The male voice raged before breaking into heavy panting. "I didn't go behind my friends back to clone them, YOU DID. Those samples were supposed to be for study and if they were used in cloning... GRRR! ONLY FAR AFTER I'M LONG DEAD!" He let out a frustrated breath. "You realize how weird this is for me? Not only the fact I lost control of my genetics but I'll admit, ITS CREEPY! Did you really disable the brain clamp and clone me so you could have a kid? Clones are not supposed to have sentience! The ethical boundaries you broke if you did that on purpose! ARG!"

There was a pause before the woman's voice picked up, shaking."You can't prove any of that." She bit. "And even if you could… There's nothing that can be done. He's alive and I won't harm him in that way." Shadow could just imagine his mother looming over the smaller Mobian.

Another sound of frustration bled from the male. "He's not just a clone Maria, He's a chimera! This kind of bio-engineering is already such a new field! Who knows what genetic diseases he could curse our species with if he reproduces! The responsible thing would be to sterilize him and be done with it! How can you make sure you're designer baby won't be a curse! We haven't had the time to test generational effects of bio engineering! We're just in the beginning phases! Maybe in a few hundred cycles! But what do you care? You may have no stake in our species gene pool, but I do! Besides, It's not like you can keep him up here forever, he's going to want to leave the Arc at some point! You know the rules! What are you going to do then?"

"He isn't going to plague your species Noctis!" The woman snapped back. "He's a kid! And a healthy one at that! He will serve his purpose for the project, then after that he'll have a real life."

Shadow frowned, feeling self conscious that he probably shouldn't be listening to this conversation. Looking to the side of the little office he was in for a hiding spot, he moved to crawl under one of the vacant desks next to the wall. He huddled close to a vent next to the wall, slowing his breath to focus on the sound that would reverberate from the next room. He grumbled to himself, he didn't want to deal with this in person, bad enough they were fighting again… and about him too… His mother wouldn't tell him what sterilization meant and he was scared to ask any of the other doctors. He knew it meant something to do with cleaning or surgeries. but he wasn't sure what it meant in this context. He scrunched a frown, Noctis was probably not demanding he take a bath when he already bathed himself on the regular. He curled up under the desk, hugging his knees as he pulled them to his chest to wait out the argument.

He focused back in on the voices. "AAARG!" He heard the male yell. "Why did the state assign me to you! I should have never taken that student loan! Why couldn't I have been sniped by the private sector! All this red tape and secrecy only to have a realmwalker abuse the ignorance of the royals!"

There was a pause. "You don't mean that, do you?" He heard his mothers voice crack. "Do you really think that ill of me?" She wavered. "Do you really regret being my friend? How could you think I'm just trying to manipulate those I consider family?!"

He heard the strained breathing of the male slow, manifesting a frustrated whine. "Maria… I… I don't regret meeting you, no. I'm sorry, I didn't mean that." He heard footsteps start to pace. "This is like playing with fire, I'm sorry but this is just too much!" There was a pregnant pause. "I think your loneliness has caused you to do something reckless and selfish." He heard the frustration build again. "I still can't believe you cloned me behind my back–"

*BEEEP* *BEEEP* *BEEEP*

"Hold on, there's an emergency!" He heard the door slide open and saw from his hidden corner his template, Dr. Noctis rushing past, staring at his datawatch. The adult hedgehog was a deep ebony black with tan fur on his muzzle. He had a ploom of white fur that poked from the neckline of his lab coat. The one characteristic that the doctor lacked that shadow had was the red quills that highlighted his head.

"Wait! What is it!" He heard his mother cry as she ran to the doorway, poking her head out.

The black hedgehog turned, skipping to slow as his eyes were still glued to his datawatch. "It's a breach in the ultimate lifeform's chamber, it's been getting harder to sedate it." He frowned. "Its brain keeps growing back, fat lot of good that did us to try that!" He looked up from his data and froze, locking eyes with Shadow who was poking his head from under the desk. The ebony hedgehog's eyes widened at the 7 cycle old child. "Uhh..." He uttered in dumb horror as the realization of what the child might have overheard hit him. The Mobian's hackles momentarily shot up before quelling as he returned his attention to his watch. "I'm needed to try and sedate that thing again. Tche, all this for isolating a healing factor gene. This isn't worth it." He mumbled as he swiftly turned to run.

Maria stepped out of the lab, a concerned look on her face as she followed her co worker and handler's shocked view only to find her son, wide eyed and hiding under the table. His expression hardened, his mouth forming a line. "What was that about?"

The tall blond human looked extremely uncomfortable as she glanced from him to the doorway her colleague had absconded through. "That's nothing you need to worry about, honey."

He frowned. "I'm not stupid, I can tell when people are talking about me." He grumbled as she got a painfully nervous smile. "And now you're fidgeting. What does sterilization mean?" He asked, dipping his head, preparing for harsh words.

"I said you don't need to worry about it, I'm going to take care of it." She forced a more genuine looking smile. "I won't let anything harm you." She knelt down to get to his eye level, putting out her slender pale hand to him. "Now, how about we get up off the floor, are you feeling hungry?" She slightly frowned. "Why were you eavesdropping on us anyways?" He hesitated before giving her an 'are you serious?' look. Her mouth became an uncomfortable line. "Nevermind." She shook her head. "Come on, lets go to the mess hall."

He rolled his eyes as he ignored her hand, crawling up off the floor as she got up to her full height, towering over him. "Mom, Please tell me; what does sterilization mean?"

She flinched, looking really small for the tall woman she was. "It doesn't matter because I won't let them do that to you."

*WHOOP* *WHOOP*

Both looked up as the overhead intercom kicked on. "Attention, all personnel." The soothing feminine voice monotoned over the intercom. "Fire in the cloning labs. Please head to your designated stations for further instructions. This is not a drill. Activating pressure seals in 15 minutes, please make your way to the designated areas."

Maria's eyes widened, her head snapping to her son who just stood there, shocked. "A fire?" He nervously asked. "Couldn't that cause a leak? But there's no air outside!" He started freaking out. "What- AHH!" She grabbed his hand and began dragging him. "Wait!" He yelled. "Where are we going?" He yelled as his small legs stumbled to keep up with the tall woman. "Are we going to go help put out the fire?"

"I'm making sure you're going to be safe during this." She snapped, her grip getting a bit too tight for his comfort.

"Mom! Your hand's too tight, it hurts!" The young boy started to whimper as he tried to pull away, causing her to falter and re affirm her grip more gently.

"Shadow, I'm sorry, but we need to hurry sweetie!" She dragged him through the maze of offices and labs to the cryo and drop pod bay. She let go of his hand before running to one of the cryo pods. "Come on sweetie, it won't be long but a fire is serious. Mommy needs peace of mind that you're safe so she can help the others the best she can!"

He slowly walked up to the drop pod his mother was connecting her wrist com to, frantically typing away at the small screen.

"You want me to hide in the pod?" He asked as the door cracked open, swinging up. A naked chipmunk slumped out of the pod, its head cracking on the floor as it gasped like a fish out of water. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIM!?" He shrieked as a red pool started to collect below the chipmunks head.

His mother yelped as the thing tumbled from the pod, looking horrified herself. "OH MY WORD!?" She gave a nervous chuckle as she glanced down at her watch, squinting at the small text as she fidgeted.

Shadow poked a foot forward to nudge the gasping body. "Is... Is he going to be okay? Should we do something?" The body rolled as it convulsed, revealing a familiar face.

A shiver went up Maria's spine as she noticed its face, eyes widening at the monarch in front of her. She returned her attention to her datawatch as a sinking feeling began to nip at her. She let out a relived breath as she continued to read, things becoming somewhat clear. "I'm sorry for destroying an enhanced organ clone, Uncle Alexander…" She whispered. "I hope that was just a quality test sample and not something you needed right now..." Her eyes darted through the lines of text only for her shoulders to sag, a look of relief on her face. "Oh, good... It's the third in a set. He had more than one organ donor clone."

Shadow looked to his mother who was now ignoring the brainless clone to continue programming the life pod. The clone continued rolling, twitching and bleeding on the ground. "Mom?" He looked back down at the horrifying sight. "Are-are we going to do something to help him?" He was starting to hyperventilate.

She looked up from her task to realize what her son was watching and the hair stood on the back of her neck. She grabbed him, pulling him away, turning him from the sight of the dying clone. "NO!" She reacted, kneeling to hug him tight. She let out a wavering breath. "I'm so sorry you had to see that but I need you to be strong." She hesitated. "He isn't real like you are, he cant think or feel."

He made an effort to pull away, meeting her gaze with a fearful look. "What do they do with the brainless clones?"

*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP* *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP* *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*

Both beings froze as the sirens kicked on full alert, the lights of the white sterile environment dropped to the red low power emergency lights. Maria got a hard look. "We're out of time, I need you to get in the pod."

His face scrunched. "WHAT?!"

She picked up the shocked boy and held him as she pulled the rest of the twitching clones legs from the pod, shoving the convulsing organ clone out of the way. "Please hold still!" She strained as she held the now squirming boy. She placed him in the pod, bringing the life support mask to his face, holding it firm.

"Wait! MOm!" The scent of the mask was sweet as he struggled to exit the pod. The sound of the blazing sirens started to fade as his movements started to slow, his mind feeling fuzzy. She continued to hold him down as she reached up to grab the pod door, trying to pull it closed. "wAiT!? moM!" The boy slurred out as he tried to push forward, shoving his hand through the door to prevent her from closing it. "What are you doing–" He reached his other hand up, fumbling to remove the mask now secured to his short muzzle.

"SHADOW! Move your hand back now!" She snapped, the frustration bubbling through. She grabbed his hand, pushing it back in the pod. She tried to bring the door shut but he started to press up against the door to prevent her from closing it. His other hand continued to fumble with the secured mask, failing to remove it. She leaned her wait on the door as he pushed back. He strained, gasping for strength in his small frame as he put all his weight behind his push. He couldn't, he just couldn't! He collapsed back as the pod snapped shut. He immediately started to try and bang on the door, his vision starting to tunnel as he frantically tried to open the pod. "MOm! dOn'T LeaVe me HEre!" He warbled as tears started to prick at his eyes.

She looked stressed through the little window as the red emergency lights flashed in the background. The sweet smell was overwhelming at this point, his movements slowing to almost nothing as he struggled to continue through the fog."I love you honey!" She echoed. "Everything is going to be okay!" Her voice was so distant. "Don't worry honey, I'll see you after we sort this–"

*STATIC*

---

Mobius - Knothole Manor 2nd floor - Shadow's room - 179th day of the 3239th cycle

The wind blew, picking up and causing the trees around the manor to swish and creek. Shadow opened his eyes, blinking in the darkness. He grunted as he sat up, glancing over to his dimly blinking clock. The amber letters read 5:34 in the morning. He sighed as he pulled the covers aside, sliding off the twin sized bed. He glanced to the window to see the early morning gray of the sun just starting to crest the forest. Soon there would be fog, then the snow season would arrive after the trees lost their leaves. Another wind swept through the canopy, causing more creaking in their sanctuary.

He sat back on his bed; his eyes unfocused on the scene in front of him, staring past the window and trees in thought… His dream was concerning, he shifted uncomfortably as his mind placed the newly remembered chunk of memory that had been ripped from him from cryo-sickness. He sighed as he cupped his face, a distress building in him at the realization; he wasn't a regular clone, he was a chimera. A pit of anger started bubbling in him and the urge to break something built. He dropped his hands to grab his quilt, starting to pull on the blanket, straining the fabric. That's why he hadn't hit puberty yet, that's why he was so short for 15 cycles, if he was really 15 cycles? No; they'd been able to receive basic info from the crashed cryopod, he was 15, that's how he knew his name was Shadow. The anger built in him as he remembered his mother's handler talk to her about sterilizing him, he knew what that meant now. The uncomfortable thought made him remember that he could have been born like that other clone, nothing more then livestock. How could that be okay? Why was the Arc growing brainless clones... oh... organ harvesting... Okay, he'd read some history books, he knew a bit about the old civilizations but it still made him feel queezy. He shuttered thinking of the fate his mother had saved him from, then grit his teeth again from the building frustration. If he was any other clone they could of cut him apart while he was awake like the lizard clone, his mother said she'd never let them do that though… He started to hear the sound of fabric ripping and froze, his eyes widening as he let go of the quilt. "Oh no!" He quickly shifted to his night stand to grab the book that held his booklight, turning on the little amber lamp to examine the damage. He winced and groaned at the crumpled fabric, a tear at the seam showed the stuffing inside.

He sank inside as he set the bedding down, mind racing to figure out if he should tell Vanilla or try and fix it himself… Cream might help him with that but knowing her, she might hold it over him if she needed something. Another thought struck him and his eyes began watering, he'd already guessed but the confirmation hit him hard as he silently began weeping. His mother Maria was most certainly dead, she never came back for him… The Arc must have run out of most of its power if it ejected him…

After he let out his silent anguish, he got up, folding the damaged blanket as he wiped the tears from his eyes. He let out a small wavering breath as he collected himself, hiding his distress behind his cold demeanor. The frustration returned in full force as he spiked the blanket on the ground as hard as he could, but it just landed with a soft thump. Smacking his hands against his temples, he tried to reign in the confusing feelings and cool down. He never asked to be born a clone but thankfully no one knew except Amy. His gut twisted at the thought of her; she'd pester every detail out of him eventually. He wilted as he picked up the sloppily folded quilt before starting to head for the door. He paused before exiting, almost forgetting; glancing down he noticed he was still wearing his starship pattern pajamas. The sight of the gag gift made his blood boil. He quickly moved to dig through his dresser, grabbing his day clothes. He put on a pair of cargo shorts and pulled a tank top over his head, his growing tuft of chest fur sticking from the neck. Last, he put on his adult sized black leather bomber jacket that Tangle had gifted him. After his quick change, he grabbed the damaged blanket and made his way for the door.

He exited his room into the hallway of doors that looped the second floor of the manor, creating a circuit. He glanced around in the dark to let his eyes adjust to the low light of morning. As he waited, he thought about what his next move should be. Biting his lip as he thought, he made up his mind; he should ask Vanilla for help. Cream was nice but he didn't want to deal with her right now. He made his way to Vanilla's room at the far end of the floor, passing Amy's on the way. Vanilla shouldn't be too mad since it was an accident, bonus points for him for confessing off the bat too. He paused in front of her door before pressing his ear to it as he closed his eyes, focusing on the sound. He couldn't hear any of the older woman's signature restless movement, she must be up already. He pulled away from the door, making his way around the big loop to the stairwell at the entrance to the manor.

Once he got to the entry way, he noticed the lights to the hallway ascending to the third floor were lit. He frowned; that's right, they had a stranger in the house. He warily made his way down the flight as he eyed the lit portion. As he hit the first floor he shook off his wariness, Mrs. Acorn didn't seem too frightfully worried about their guests, so it should be okay. He shook his head, grunting; he could figure that out later.

Down the hallway, he could see the lights of the kitchen were on; there was some faint poppy music playing. The young teen rose an eyebrow as he edged up to the doorway, peering into the kitchen. The kitchen was dimly lit, granite countertops lined the walls with an island for prep in the center. On the far end was a big window that looked out on the village with a long table where they all usually sat for breakfast. Across from the island, closest to the door was the electric range. Vanilla was in front of it, already dressed up for the day in her usual archivist dress and vest. The middle aged woman was bouncing in place as she hummed along with her little boombox. He could hear a sizzle as she set a piece of toast dredged in sweet and spiced custard on the griddle. Shadow's eyes widened at the special meal before stepping in, catching the rabbits attention.

She smiled at him. "Shadow dear, you're up rather early. How did you sleep?" Her smile faltered at the sight of his bedding held to his chest. "Oh…" She got a bit of a worried look. "Did you have an accident?"

His cheeks grew hot. "Huh?!" He firmly shook his head. "NO! What!?" He looked confused. "Why would you think I…" He looked away. "I ripped my quilt! I was wondering if you could help me mend it so it doesn't get worse!" There was an awkward pause as the boy nervously shifted. "We're supposed to keep things nice, aren't we?" He mumbled, cheeks burning under his fur.

The boy turned his gaze to his guardian's pensive but de-stressing look. "Oh, what a relief." She gave a short laugh, the relief palpable in her tone as she smiled and returned to her task. "Well, that's not as bad as I thought." She began flipping the current batch of sweet toast. "You didn't do it on purpose I gather?"

The boy moved to the other side of the island where some bar stools sat. Placing the quilt on the stool he took a seat as she glanced over her shoulder, eyeing him expectantly. His gaze dropped from her. "I had a dream that made me angry and I made a mistake, pulled too hard." He met her gaze. "I had the sense to stop." He let out a breath, slumping in his seat. "Will you help me mend it?"

She paused, giving a hum before turning to remove the done pieces of toast. "I might have Cream teach you, she's a fairer seamstress then I." She sighed. "Thank you for not just... up and hiding it." She started growling. "We've had a few cases of that." She let out an annoyed huff. "Whatever the case, finding moldy or damaged anything isn't fun."

Shadow grimaced. "W-why did you think I wet the bed? I'm 15 cycles old! Who does that?!"

The tall middle aged rabbit let out another frustrated huff. "You'd be surprised, but I'm not going to tell you to spare them the embarrassment." She started on the next batch of toast.

Shadow tilted his head, trying to see. "What's the occasion? That's quite the fancy breakfast."

The tall rabbit glanced back at him, a tired smile on her face. "We've got some new residents and I've got some ingredients that needed using, works out." She turned, gesturing to the now almost empty egg basket. "The eggs were getting a little old, I sifted through and picked out the good ones, the rest are going to the compost, Knuckles will take them after his lesson tonight." She glanced back to a jar on the counter. "We also have some sugar sap from the grafts taken from the southern fields, so I thought it might be a nice treat."

The young hedgehog's expression furrowed. "How can you tell?"

"Tell what, Dear?" The rabbit half answered as she started flipping again.

"The eggs." He said, hopping off the stool to go look at the supposed bad eggs.

She smirked. "The bad ones float." She replied as she picked up one of the eggs, dropping it in a nearby glass of water; sure enough the egg floated to the top.

The curious teen looked at the egg, bewildered. "It floats if its rotten?" He asked, squinting and unsure as he poked the egg in the cup of water."

Vanilla shrugged. "Bubble of gas builds up in the egg." She let out a tired breath as she finished the set of toast, beginning to put a plate together. "I'll be back in a bit to finish off the rest. you can have some breakfast now but I want to reserve this portion," She motioned to a specific plate. "For King Nigel, Queen Annabel and her daughter..." She paused. "Princess Sticks?" She sounded unsure before shaking her head, dismissing the thought. She took another breath before moving said stack to the oven, setting the implement to the warm setting. "I want to give a proper welcome, but this is all I have."

Shadow shook his head. "I don't get why you're worried, this is a treat." He mumbled.

She gave a dry laugh as she started putting together another plate, this time on a tray. "I'm flattered but its not like i'm one of the royal chefs." She shrugged to herself. "I'm a librarian. I miss the archives, but I'm glad I took that vacation to the southern burrows to visit family." She glanced at the boy. "last chance before you have to make you're own plate."

He shifted. "I'll eat with everyone else, Amy would pitch a fit if I didn't wait for her." He raised his fingers to sarcastically air quote. "Apparently... It's important to share special moments with friends; she likes sweets so that counts as a special moment."

The rabbit gave a half lidded smile. "Well, that's thoughtful of you."

"Ehh." The small boy grunted as he moved back to his seat.

Vanilla gave him a small smile before shaking her head. "It's nice you think of her, its good to socialize." She said. "I was worried about you when you first came here."

He sat back down on the bar stool that was padded with the damaged quilt. "I'm normal, you don't have to worry about me…" There was a pause. "Besides, I'll hit that growth spurt soon."

She nodded in agreement. "Any day now, but we should probably have Dr. Wudchuck do another checkup. Would probably be good to check for a hormone deficiency, I wonder if enough equipment has been brought back to test for that." She mumbled as she continued her work on the breakfast in bed platter.

The boy grunted again. "Beats me, I load and unload the cart. Not my job to unpack the cargo."

The tall rabbit shrugged. "That is true." She smiled at him. "I'm proud you two have stepped up to that job so well." She turned to finish her work. "I can't remember if Rosie's gotten more equipment but I'll talk to her soon." She walked over to the island that Shadow was now resting his head in his arms against. She smirked, ruffling his soft quills as she grabbed a bowl of berries on the counter. "Things are going to be alright." She smiled. "Even if something's wrong, we'll figure it out."

The tired looking boy grunted his answer of approval as he rested his eyes closed, snuggling into the elbow he was using as a pillow.

Vanilla brought the bowl of berries back to the plate she was making and sprinkled some of the fresh fruit on top. She paused, pursing her lips as she got an idea. She eyed the old coffee maker, that might be worth it... She nodded as she moved to the pantry to grab the special occasion coffee, it was stale but it should do. Brewing a pot and leaving it on the warmer she herself perked at the familiar and tempting scent. She poured herself a mug, taking a slow sip of the black gold. She perked as a shiver ran up her spine, it had been a long time since she'd had caffeine. She silenced her already quiet radio as she finished the tray of food. She hefted the tray with the Stranger's breakfast along with their drinks, making her way to the entry. Pausing at the stairwell, she readied herself, balancing as she hefted her work up the first flight. She turned to the second flight and ascended to the landing before turning and pausing. She stared at the threshold, if she was wrong then she might get kicked out and two mugs of hot coffee poured on her. She got nervous, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. She put a foot forward on the first step, battling with herself to move forward. She stood for a minute, unsure and slightly frightened at the prospect of getting tossed through a warpzone.

There was a flash of light at the top of the stairs, catching her eye. A lynx in formal dress stepped into sight. The sea tribe dressed Mobian smiled before nodding to her. "I won't expel you, I'll make sure he doesn't expel you either Mrs. Rabbot. You may come and go with dignity."

She slowly nodded, looking a bit confused. "You're not the platypus I saw earlier…" She blushed at her obvious statement. "Of course you're not." She winced at the Lynx in traditional sea garb. "I mean… who are you?"

The lynx smiled. "I'm the security system…" He gave a slight smile as his eyes trailed away. "let's say I had a software and hardware change… I can interact a little bit more now." He smiled at her. "It's wonderful to finally meet you Vanilla. I too like archiving data, it used to be my old job, I guess… just like you." He waved her up. There was a pause before she slowly started ascending the final flight of stairs. "Sir could probably use a good breakfast, thank you for being so welcoming!" He nodded to her as she reached the top flight into the dusty hallway. "Dr. Starline is in his study at the end of the hall." He gestured. "You let me know if you require anything, My name is Nicholas." He said as his form fizzled into sparkles and then nothing, causing her to pause, eyes widening at the show.

"So… not real or maybe I'm crazy?" A thought hit her, the lynx looked similar to Nicole. "Oh, another computer?" The middle aged woman asked herself. She shook her head, grounding herself as she hefted her tray and squared her shoulders. Time to go meet the new mystery tenant of her house.

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Chapter 18 end.

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Authors note: I apologize for how long this took but different portions had to be rewritten, over and over again. I fear I've kind of burnt out on this story though. Need to build up some more ideas or just take a break. Struggled to write this. I got school starting soon so need to figure that out too. Watch my profile for any other stories if you like my writing I guess. Who knows, I may just continue writing on this though. Reviews are deeply appreciated but not required. Have a wonderful day and thanks for reading!

- Xen Traveler