14. The Decision of a Weapon
Emerl let them in to Gimme Shelter by the simple expedient of deactivating the electronic lock. He confided to Shadow that it was one of the tricks Rouge had taught him for thieving. The dark hedgehog was amused. So, she did try to train him as a thief, after all. He suddenly remembered the Gizoid sneaking through the room the night before and taking the Chaos Emerald shard from her room, and smirked. Hoist on her own petard, that time. His amusement vanished when he saw the main computer, however, identical to the one on the Doctor's whale ship - and to the one in the room where he'd dimly seen the endless ranks of clones. Emerl was looking at him, and he shook off the chill of memory. "The Doctor's Mother Computer," he said, "I never imagined I'd be here again." Well that's true enough. Now what? Oh yes, strengthen the connection between us. He carefully did not look over his shoulder or at the ceiling; he had to trust Rouge had done her part. "Tell me," he faced the computer, but expected an answer from someone else. "What am I? What is the Gizoid? We were created as weapons so why do we have hearts? Why do we have souls?"
"Professor Gerald Robotnik–" started a voice behind them. The Gizoid actually jumped; Shadow merely breathed a silent sigh of relief as he turned to face the bat. He couldn't relax completely, though, because he didn't know exactly what she was going to say.
"Rouge!?" he feigned surprise.
"You are his ultimate creation, the Ultimate Life-Form," she said calmly, answering his questions in order. "And during the output experiment of a Chaos Emerald, he discovered and reactivated the ancient battle weapon, Gizoid. Yes, you, Emerl."
"Where did you learn that?" An important question; Shadow didn't want Emerl to think they were making this up, he needed to see it was verifiable.
"I looked it up on the Doctor's computer. I also found one of Professor Gerald's old research files." The bat's voice was slightly stiff, as if repeating a line rehearsed for a play.
"Why did Professor Gerald give me a soul?" What actually puzzled Shadow was not that the Professor had 'given' him one, but that he thought that he could give such a thing. To Shadow's mind, a soul was an inherent part of life and personhood - he was born, so therefore he had a soul. Of course with robot it was different, since they were not truly alive; he could see how Gerald might think he could program one to at least simulate having a soul.
"He wasn't interested in researching weapons," said Rouge simply. "He was researching a cure for his granddaughter, and a way to bring happiness and hope to all people. But he was forced by the government and the military to use his research for war machines. That's why he gave you and the Gizoid a soul. A soul identical to his beloved granddaughter, Maria."
That caught the dark hedgehog unaware. "Maria," he murmured involuntarily. Did the Professor really believe he'd given Maria's soul to Shadow? Program a copy for the Gizoid, yes, but . . . even if he could 'give' a soul to Shadow, how could he give Maria's? Surely she needed it herself!
Rouge continued, looking solemnly at Emerl, who was standing silently beside Shadow, "His hope was that no matter how crazed and obsessed with destruction mankind might become, the weapons themselves would never fight." Then she surprised the black hedgehog again. "Shadow, you are afraid of your own power. It troubles you. But you've never used it recklessly; you've never used it selfishly. Gerald's wishes have come true."
Shadow was speechless. This had not been part of the plan! But Rouge was continuing, "You too, Emerl."
"Me, too?" the robot all but whispered. Shadow wished he knew what it was thinking.
"You were created as a weapon, yet you feel sympathy for living things. However, Gerald did not create you, and he was unable to completely erase the destructive powers within you. That part of you still exists. So he programmed you with a special code. And if the keywords of that code were to be activated, Gerald's program would be complete. You'd become just like Shadow."
We hope. Although two of me might be too many for some people. "What are the keywords?" he asked, hoping that she'd found them.
"Bring hope to humanity," she answered promptly, switching her gaze to meet his red eyes.
That sounds more like Maria than Gerald, he thought. Maybe he was planning for her to do the honors? He glanced out the corner of his eye at the Gizoid; it appeared to be thinking hard, if the angle of its head were any indication. Time to start the endgame, and pray that we all survive it. His voice sounded a bit odd in his own ears as he commented, "'Bring hope to humanity', huh? Kinda touching. How do we input the code?" As if I didn't know very well.
Rouge hesitated. "Now about that . . . ." Her voice trailed off as she glanced uneasily at Emerl. Shadow realized that she was finally realizing just how much danger they were in.
"Well?" He sympathized, but the longer they delayed, the greater the risk that something would go wrong - like Doctor Eggman.
The white bat swallowed nervously. "You have to do it when he awakens."
"So basically when he absorbs this Chaos Emerald . . ." said Shadow. He drew it forth slowly, keeping one eye on the Gizoid in case it reacted as it had on the beach. But the golden form just stood, looking back and forth between the dokan, as the green light glittered in the palm of Shadow's hand.
"It would appear so," whispered Rouge. For once it wasn't greed that dominated her expression as she stared at the gem. Trepidation, perhaps, or fear. But she wasn't leaving, although when he'd outlined the plan, Shadow had recommended that she do so at this point, so that his would be the only life immediately at risk from the awakened Gizoid.
The black hedgehog took a deep breath, drawing as much Chaos energy through the Emerald as he could hold. Here goes everything. "Looks like I've got no other choice," he said, and stepped toward Emerl with the Chaos Emerald outstretched.
"Shadow!" squeaked Rouge. Black and golden heads both turned to look at her. "That's your . . ." she fumbled, uncertainly.
"It's all right," Shadow answered. "I–" he said the first thing that came into his head, "I will always be with Maria." Well, that's the truth. If this works I have her memory - and according to Father, her soul - and if it doesn't, well, we'll all be together in heaven.
"Shadow," Rouge's voice was nearly inaudible as she shook her head, stepping backward. Emerl himself seemed uncertain; in contrast to his nearly pouncing on Shadow on the beach, when he had demanded the Chaos Emerald, he was now shaking his own head and leaning away from the approaching hedgehog. Shadow sincerely hoped that that was evidence of the robot's own realization of how dangerous he was about to become to his friends, and his unwillingness to do so.
"Emerl!" he commanded, a bit too loudly. He modified his volume slightly. "Take it! This is the last Chaos Emerald!"
A golden hand raised, hesitated, then inched forward. Then suddenly was pulled back. Shadow gestured with the gem, and the robot extended its arm again. The dark hedgehog could swear that the golden arm was trembling as it once again hesitated, with the hand above the glowing green crystal.
Suddenly the robot snatched the stone, taking two steps back as its chest plate opened and the ring of shining Chaos Emeralds was completed. The plate snapped shut and everything went very still as the robot ducked its head. The light seemed to be sucked out of the room as the Gizoid's eyes flared with stellar brilliance.
Suddenly the robot drew itself up, and a different voice, one that Shadow had heard a hint of on the beach and the entirety of in his dreams, rang out. "Show me your power, or I shall not obey. I represent all things, and shall become Gizoid, the conqueror of all." Shadow could feel the Gizoid drawing in Chaos Energy, and see it in the flickering of the electric lighting. This thing was easily as powerful as he was now, and with the Emeralds in its possession, it might well outlast him if it came to a battle.
"Well!" said Rouge, trying to appear as confident as ever, "That's a big difference!" It didn't work; her knuckles were probably as white as her gloves as she clasped her hands together.
Shadow drew himself up, summoning every bit of authority and confidence that he possessed or could feign and threw three-quarters of the Chaos energy he held into a Chaos bubble between himself and the Gizoid. Rouge had said that Sonic had used only a flicker of energy. He let it collapse, reabsorbing as much as he could. Meeting the blazing blue eyes squarely, he said, "Gizoid, ancient weapon of legend. I, as your new master, command you: Bring hope to humanity!"
The Gizoid made no move, and no sound. Rouge edged closer to Shadow, her wide, aqua eyes fixed on the robot. Shadow didn't move, maintaining his masterful (he hoped) pose and waiting to see if he had just saved the planet again - or destroyed it. Suddenly the Gizoid began to speak, rapidly, in a language that was completely unintelligible to the hedgehog. Since he had been flash-trained with at least the basics of every language spoken on the planet, that was unusual, to say the least. Faster and faster the Gizoid spoke, until even a language the two dokan knew would have been incomprehensible and then–
Abruptly the robot seemed to shrink slightly, the sapphirine glow of its eyes dropping back to almost nothing. Cocking his head at Shadow, Emerl laughed, "Hey, now! Don't go and get all serious on me like that, Shadow!"
Shadow gaped a moment, then picked up his jaw off the floor and snorted. "Look who's talking. Although now you remind me a little too much of a certain spiky, smug little–"
"Watch your mouth!" crowed Emerl, cutting him off. Rouge had stepped away from Shadow again, and he could see her grinning with relief as she fanned her wings.
The dark hedgehog shook his head slightly. After that much tension, they were all being silly. "You're free now," he said, trying to rein his own expression back down from gleeful to his usual dispassion. "Eggman will no longer have any control over you." At least, he won't as long as Father's plan actually worked. He was still not entirely confident on that point, but the immediate danger seemed to be over.
"Thanks, Shadow! And you, too, Rouge!"
"Oh," said the bat casually, staring pointedly at her wrist, "I appreciate that, but if you really want to thank me, give me some jewelry!"
"There is one last thing I'd like to ask of you," said Shadow slowly.
"What is it this time," sighed Emerl with exaggerated patience, folding his arms and tapping a foot exactly like a certain smug, spiky little–. Rouge giggled.
Well, that makes it easier, thought Shadow. Now I really want to hit him. "Let us battle, one last time, to see who truly is the strongest!" He ignored Rouge's sudden scowl in his direction. "I wasn't completely healed before, but now I'm ready. I am the Ultimate Life-form, Shadow the Hedgehog!"
"You sure about that?" still sounding like Sonic, Emerl planted his fists on his nonexistent hips. "I don't want you whining about how you 'didn't have your Chaos Emerald' and stuff!"
Shadow masked a grin. His actual reason was that he wanted to find out now, in relative privacy, both how well he could fight the Gizoid sans Emerald, and whether he could possibly use the Emeralds himself even though they were inside Emerl. He and Sonic had both used the seven Emeralds' powers to fight the Biolizard, and Sonic had shared that power with Knuckles and even Tails in order to take one Metal Overlord, so it was theoretically possible. He had tasked himself with the protection of the planet for Maria's sake, and it might still come to fighting against the Gizoid, and probably would at least come to fighting alongside it, so he'd rather find out now if what he knew would work, or if he'd need to get a new training program. Rouge was still glowering at him, although he wasn't exactly sure why. "I no longer need it," he told Emerl, referring to the Chaos Emerald. "I have Maria in my heart."
That was too much for the bat, who made a face. "You boys have fun," she said with a sigh. "I'm going home. I swear," she said as she walked away, "why do men like to fight so much?" The closing door cut off her monologue.
"See you later, Rouge!" Emerl called after her. Then he took up a fighting stance and glanced at Shadow. The hedgehog could all but see the cocky grin. "Ready?"
"When you are," was the calm reply. Shadow took up his own stance and watched the robot lunge forward. He gauged the feel of the Chaos Emeralds, but didn't try to draw any power yet. Instead, he relied on what he'd already stored and used his innate abilities to recharge. Emerl used his standard hodgepodge of attacks, but Shadow had gotten accustomed enough to the combinations - and the erratic acquisition of invisible tails or wings - that the randomness no longer threw him off; it merely added to the challenge.
"Wait a second, Shadow." The robot suddenly broke off the fight.
"What? Are you backing down?" Shadow was surprised. Thus far Emerl had been more than willing to fight, and the hedgehog was just getting warmed up.
Emerl gave a quick little headshake that Shadow had seen Amy use once. "Would it be okay if I went to see Sonic, Tails, and everyone again?"
Shadow blinked, wondering why the robot seemed to think he needed permission to see the others anymore. Well, I guess I did establish myself as his new master, but . . . then I said he was free. Maybe he thought I only meant free of the Gizoid's curse of destruction, although I'm not sure he's totally free of that anyway. He shrugged, deciding it didn't matter. "Yeah. Tell them you're not a kid anymore; you're all grown up. Once you've spoken to them all, come back and see me. We'll finish our fight then. I'll be at my apartment near Central Highway. I'll be waiting!"
"Okay," called Emerl over his shoulder as he skated away. "You'd better be warmed up when I get back!"
Shadow shook his head as he skated off in the direction of his apartment. He let himself in and sat down, but in a few minutes found himself back on his feet and pacing. It seems to have worked; it should have worked . . . so why do I feel disaster looming? He tried to make himself relax, but he just couldn't. He nearly jumped out of his skin when someone knocked on his door.
It was Rouge. "Hi, Shadow, mind if I come in?" He stepped back to let her enter, but she paused in the doorway, looking at him closely. Then she stepped in, and asked as he closed the door, "What did we miss?"
"What?" Shadow didn't understand the question at first. Had they been supposed to get catching something?
"You look like you expect something to explode any moment. We nullified the Gizoid, didn't we? You said the passwords and Emerl overcame it, so what's wrong?"
Shadow looked at the floor. "I'm not sure," he said slowly. "Maybe it's just that I don't trust Father's programming; he meant well, but . . . . I think we're overlooking something major. I just can't figure out what it is."
He paced across the room and back, while the bat settled herself on the couch. "We have this robot, from ancient times, that's programmed to serve whatever master shows it the most power, and absorb all the weapons and fighting techniques that it sees." He stopped, struck by a thought. "You know, that would be a diabolical way to undermine an enemy. Either send the Gizoid out with an underpowered force - so that the enemy will show greater power by defeating the soldiers it's with - or simply give it as a gift. Everything the opponent shows it will both convince it of their power and be another link to their destruction, because when it goes berserk, nothing they do can stop it, since it will know every weapon and defense they have. And if another country were to manage to steal it or overpower it - then they would become most powerful, and start it all over again. I wonder if it really is something made by the Babylonians, or something they got from someone else.
"But that's beside the point." He yanked his train of thought back to the correct track. "Anyway, we have this robot that absorbs and uses martial information and techniques. Professor Gerald picks it up, and discovers how dangerous it is, because of the inherent risk of it going berserk. He can't destroy it, so he tries to program it to have emotions, on the hope that it won't cause itself distress by attacking those it cares about. Then . . . then, well, everything falls apart and he somehow smuggles the thing out to his old factory, where eventually his grandson discovers it."
"Could Doctor Eggman have done something to it while he had it?" interjected Rouge. "Inserted a command to override the Professor's reprogramming?"
The red-striped hedgehog pondered a moment. "I don't think so. I mean, with enough time he could probably do anything that Professor Gerald could do, but the Doctor didn't seem to think much of the robot. He found it, but then he dumped it to pursue what he thought was a bigger prize, and although he copied it a while back, if the Phis' number is accurate, neither the Gizoid nor the Phis were put to use until just recently. And then he dumped the Gizoid on the beach– That's it! Or part of it, at least - why would the Doctor come all this way from his base - the Gizoid wasn't in the Gimme Shelter, remember, it was stored somewhere else - but he brought it here to drop on a beach where everyone knows Sonic the Hedgehog spends a lot of time."
"And everyone also knows that Sonic the Hedgehog is as curious as a gerbil and has as much caution as a charging bull," agreed Rouge. "So of course he was going to drag it off to Tails, who could learn as much as the Doctor already had about the Gizoid's abilities and need for Chaos Emeralds, and then of course, Sonic would collect the Emeralds for it and train it, so that Eggman could take it back. Only Knuckles stopped him from getting Emerl back, and then we spiked his guns by using the password." Shadow was shaking his head. "No?"
"Doctor Eggman wasn't really trying to get the Gizoid back from Knuckles. I'm not sure what he was doing, maybe just checking on our progress, but he didn't want it back at that point, or he could have taken it while Knuckles was trapped. We're missing something." He paced another few laps, then suddenly looked at Rouge. "Why are you here, anyway?"
The bat blinked at him, as if she'd forgotten the reason herself. "Oh. I . . . um . . . . I told you that the people who came to talk to you were ex-GUN personnel, remember? And that the woman had been contacted something called Nocturne looking to get hold of the Gizoid? And the same person or people had contacted the Doctor for the same reason? Well, the guy who was spying on me was linked to the People Are Human nuts, and I couldn't find a connection between him and your pair. Last night, I managed to get into the files of the PAH, and one for their major supporters is listed as Nocturne! It seems to be a group, but all contacts are online, and the money comes out of a bank account that - well, it shouldn't exist. I can't seem to find how the funds are getting into it; it seems to be generating money out of nowhere, which is of course massively illegal. I was able to link that account and the PAH e-mails to the ones that the Major received, but beyond that it truly is a dead end. I dumped the account over to the Finance people, so they'll probably get cut off, but I'd already pulled every trick I knew. I can't find any way to find out who or what this Nocturne is, or why they wanted the Gizoid."
"Hmm. Well if they're important, we'll probably hear more from them later. Hopefully the Gizoid is now safe regardless of who end up with him–" Shadow stopped dead. "Oh, no. That's what we're missing Rouge! The Gizoid has to listen to its master, its basic programming says it has to have one."
"But you set it free," she started.
"I told it it was free, but remember! Its deepest programming, what the Professor couldn't ever touch, was that it would give allegiance to whoever displayed the most power. So if someone shows it more power, it will become theirs."
"But, will that matter as long as the free-will programming is in effect?"
Shadow sat down on the couch beside the bat, thinking hard. "I don't know. I hope so, but I don't know.
"Look, Shadow," said Rouge, "the Professor knew about Emerl's basic programming, and he designed this emotion and free-will stuff to override it. So even if someone else does take him over, they still can't order him to attack his friends, because he won't want to hurt him. And anyway, all you have to do is show him that you have the most power and it's a moot point. Just go super on him, or show off that Chaos Control of yours in some flashy way, and even Eggman can't compete with that."
"I suppose," Shadow started, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. "That was fast," he told Emerl, who was fidgeting in the hall. He led the robot out to the parking lot behind the apartment building, nearly empty at this time of day, since most people were at work.
Rouge followed them out, but left as Shadow squared off with Emerl. It was a fast battle, since Emerl used a combination of Shadow's own moves, and Sonic's. Real spines clashed off force-generated ones as the two spindashed at each other, then uncurled to trade kicks, then recurled for homing attacks. Balls of Chaos energy flared and vanished, or trailed their targets until a countering bubble dispelled them. It was one of the most challenging battles the black hedgehog had ever fought, but Shadow was having the time of his life. He had an opponent that could stand up to his challenge, and for once, no time pressure or looming enemy. By mutual consent the two paused, and Shadow realized he was panting for breath, not due to weakness this time, but simply from the degree of work he was being pushed to. He had been drawing on the Chaos Emeralds, contained within the robot as they were, and he could feel that Emerl was using them as well. "I shall concede that you are my equal," he said grandly to Emerl, mentally picturing Sonic's answer to that statement.
The robot gave it. "Hey man! I'm just getting warmed up!"
Shadow snorted. "You're just as mouthy as Sonic, too." He spotted a familiar blue shape coming around the corner of the building. "Looks like we've got a guest."
"Hey! Emerl!" Sonic called, waving his hand to attract the robot's attention. He nodded at Shadow.
"Sonic!" crowed Emerl as he saw his friend.
Sonic flashed a cocky grin at his darker counterpart. "I figured Shadow wouldn't be able to give you enough of a challenge by himself, so I came!"
Shadow glowered back at Sonic. "Yep, you sound exactly alike."
Sonic kept grinning. "Whaddya say, Emerl? You wanna take us both on at once? It'll be tough!"
"No problem! No problem!" answered the robot excitedly. He added, "No holding back! I hope you two don't get hurt!"
Sonic's reply was to spindash at Emerl. The robot deflected him toward Shadow, who Chaos teleported out of the way, and reappeared behind Emerl. The robot spun to block his kick, and the battle was on. This time, Shadow drew much harder on the Chaos Emeralds, noticing that although Emerl could detect Chaos energy, as when he'd tracked the Emeralds and shards, he didn't seem to be able to tell when Shadow was drawing that energy away. When Sonic closed with the robot in a flurry of nearly invisible blows, Shadow experimentally tried drawing the Chaos energy from the robot itself.
He succeeded, but Emerl managed to pin Sonic before he had a chance to experiment further, and the blue hedgehog laughingly surrendered. "Haha, all right Emerl, lemme up! I yield, already!" The robot let Sonic up, somehow looking as smug as the blue hedgehog ever had. Then it made a sound like someone clearing their throat.
"Thank you, Shadow! And you, Sonic!" Emerl began rather portentously. "I'm so glad to have met you - and everyone else, too! I don't know what my creator was thinking when he made me, but I'm glad that he did because I got to meet all of you! When I first met you, I was like a little baby robot who couldn't do anything. Heh heh, I couldn't even talk! I was weak, but you all protected me, and played with me. I'm sure there were times when I was a burden, or in the way, but in my time with you, I never felt 'in danger' or 'worried' as Gerald programmed me to." Shadow blinked. He remembers the Professor programmed him? I know I didn't tell him that, and I don't think Rouge did! But Emerl was continuing, "All I ever felt was 'fun' and 'excitement'. And 'happiness', too."
Shadow groaned. I don't think I can stand much of this! "This is ridiculous. I'll see you later," he said, and headed back to his apartment. Too much sweet and light. Sonic yelled something after him, but he ignored him.