Chapter 70

Perfect Symmetry

Maria brought her wrist to her mouth and spoke into a communication device. "There's nothing here. Regroup at the ground floor." She turned the device off and gawked at Shadow. "What are you doing here?"

Shadow didn't answer. Maria bore a striking resemblance to the woman in professor Gerald's photograph. Yet there were still remnants of the girl Shadow had known. Only there was something strange about her eyes. They were the same shade of blue only they lacked the depth of the child Maria.

Maria took a step closer and then hastily raised her gun. "Wait. Who are you?"

"It's me. Shadow."

Maria didn't drop her guard. Her eyes narrowed with mistrust. "You look like him, but someone got his design wrong. Your fur is too dark and your stripes aren't red enough. What are you? A clone made by the Syndicate?" With her free hand, Maria drew out a small pulsing disc. "Don't even try to run. I press this and we both go down."

Shadow raised his arms in surrender. "I am Shadow the Hedgehog. But…I may not be the Shadow that you know." Shadow tried to catch Maria's eye, hoping that somehow she could feel that it was really him.

"What does that mean?"

Shadow took a deep breath. "I'm not from your time. I was brought here by gems called Time Stones."

"Time Stones? You mean the gems from Little Planet?"

"Yes."

Maria did not look convinced. She slowly holstered her pistol and reached into her belt. To Shadow's immense surprise she drew out a red Chaos Emerald. "Prove it. If you're really Shadow the Hedgehog you should be able to use Chaos Control. None of the Syndicate's clones can."

Shadow accepted the emerald. "You would give a possible enemy a Chaos Emerald?"

Maria smirked. "Only the real Shadow could escape."

"Chaos Control." Shadow vanished and reappeared a few feet behind Maria.

Her eyes widened in shock. "Wait…are you…really…Shadow?"

Shadow tossed her back the emerald. Maria caught it and placed it back in her belt. "If you're really Shadow..and you're from another timeline…why are you here?"

"I didn't choose to come here. I was brought here by an entity called the Realm Lord. He has some control over the flow of time. He has trapped me here."

Shadow watched Maria's expression but she had no reaction to the Realm Lord other than confusion. "But you said you used Little Planet's Time Stones?"

"I did, but the Realm Lord manipulated them somehow. This is the second timeline he has brought me to."

Maria frowned. "To alter the flow of time…that shouldn't be possible."

"Well he has and I'm sick of these games. The last timeline I entered was a nightmare. And this one seems equally strange. Where is your grandfather? Professor Gerald may be able to help."

Maria shook her head. "Gerald died thirty years ago."

"But…" Shadow didn't understand. "You're not that old.."

Maria grinned. "You don't think so? I'll have you know I'm nearly sixty-five. And before you ask, my grandfather taught me everything he knew about bio-engineering." She laughed at the dumbfounded expression on Shadow's face. "What? Do you think it's vain? I used what I learned to keep myself looking young."

"No..it's not that you look….fine."

Maria pretended to blush. "My my, you're certainly more of a charmer than my Shadow."

"Commander, we're assembled downstairs, where are you?" A gruff male voice called out of Maria's transceiver.

"Coming down now," She replied. "Come on." She led Shadow through the hall and down a short flight of stairs. "Wait here." She left Shadow in the stairwell as she went over to address her troops. Shadow couldn't hear what they were saying but the soldiers all left a few seconds later. Maria lingered and when she was sure they were gone she hurried back over to Shadow.

"Now what am I going to do with you?" She placed her hands on her hips. Her expression was painfully similar to the ones of the child Maria. They both squinched up their noses in the same way when faced with a puzzle.

"I need a way back to my timeline. I don't suppose you've invented time travel here?"

Maria didn't laugh. "No, all we have are the Time Stones on Little Planet. But I can't just let you use them. I'm still not sure you are who you say you are."

"But you have the stones?"

Maria bit her lip. "Little Planet is tethered to the surface. Perhaps the Time Stones are still there, we haven't checked in awhile. I am willing to help you, but first I need to get in contact with Headquarters."

"And what's stopping me from stealing your emerald and transporting myself?" Shadow challenged.

Maria met his stare and did not back down. Again, Shadow noticed the lack of depth behind the blue of her irises. "You won't." She said simply. "Not because you can't, but because you're curious."

"How can you be sure?"

Maria smirked. "Because it's the same reason I didn't send my troops after you."

Shadow followed Maira out of the building. The street was empty as was the entire square. "Why does this place look abandoned?"

"Not abandoned, it just hasn't' been settled yet." Maria led Shadow to a sleek looking vehicle. It was angular and polished with a clean metal exterior. Red stripes adorned it along with more Eggman symbols. The hood opened like the cockpit of a fighter jet. Maria sat at the controls and Shadow strapped himself in the chair beside her. The hood lowered with a futuristic sounding hiss. Neon lights flashed all around him and the vehicle started to vibrate.

"Does this thing fl-"

With a sudden roar of the car's engines they launched into the sky. Maria screamed with delight as she punched down the throttle and they shot forward. It took Shadow a few seconds to settle himself. He quickly realized that the cars he had seen from above had not been driving on streets but soaring through the skies.

They left the abandoned square and entered a neon city clogged with flying cars. Everywhere he looked there was more to see. Giant three dimensional advertisements walked out of their billboards to sell their wares. Massive floating barges rocked with the crescendo of thumping music. It was like a rave had been transformed into a city.

"I'm guessing by your reaction, things aren't like this where you're from?" Shadow shook his head, still unable to take in all that he was seeing. "Is your technology much better?"

"We don't have flying cars." Shadow thought that answer was sufficient. Maria laughed and pushed down on the accelerator. They dived low before Maria pulled up and spiraled. She was the only one driving like a maniac. All the other floating cars passed by in ordered lines.

Shadow pressed his face against the window and looked out. The lights of the city danced in his eyes. "What is this place?"

"Elysium, greatest of all the floating cities and capital of the Robotnik Empire."

Shadow suppressed a cough. He had expected to hear as much as soon as he saw the Eggman persona spread everywhere. "Why build a city so high up?"

Maria shot him a curious glance. "The surface is uninhabitable."

"What happened?"

Maria clenched her jaw and repositioned her hands on the steering wheel. "Climate change made resources more scarce. Storms and natural disasters became more and more common. Eventually there was a war, several wars actually. Bombs were dropped, the sky became fire. The world would have probably come to an end if it weren't for my cousin. He created the first floating city and managed to subdue what governments were left. Everyone was taken off the surface and repopulated in the cities. There are seven of them now."

"Your cousin? Do you mean Dr. Eggman?"

Maria's foot slipped on the accelerator and they dove face down before Maria straightened them back up. She clutched her heart and exhaled slowly. "I wouldn't call him that if I were you."

"Why not?"

"The names bugged. Everyone who has the trace on them, which means everyone at this point, is flagged if they say the name. It allows the central government to track them down."

"Is he really that self-conscious?"

Maria didn't smile. "Only members of the Syndicate would call him that. Bugging the name helped him track most of them down. No one's really dared to call him that to his face since…since Sonic." Maria said the name with almost reverential affection.

"What happened to Sonic?"

Maria turned to him with her eyebrow raised. "You killed him. Just before the wars broke out."

Shadow fell silent. He could feel the cold grip of the Realm Lord reaching down his back. "The Ultimate Life Form, the perfect weapon to use against the hero of Disorder and rebellion." So, at least part of what the Realm Lord said was true. There were Shadow's in other timelines who fought, and killed Sonic. He was pulled out of his thoughts by Maria. She pointed up ahead towards the tallest of all the buildings. It was a great central spyre topped with a massive replica of Eggman's face. His two watchful eyes were filled with red spotlights that looked down into the city. The messaging was clear; he is always watching.

"My penthouse is near the top. We can talk there." Maria landed the car on a private helipad. Her and Shadow got up and entered the spyre through a set of glass doors. "Home sweet home." Maria's penthouse was spacious but austerely decorated. There were few personal effects, a highly advanced kitchen, a long arched sofa and a t.v screen built into one of the walls.

Shadow lingered in the living room while Maria went over to the kitchen. "I'm not sure what you would like. Our Shadow just ate rice and chicken."

"I'm not hungry." Shadow examined the room and spotted a picture on one of the tables. He held it up and saw that it was a picture of Maria, Gerald and Eggman. They were all in white coats and inside some kind of laboratory. There was a banner behind them that read Roboticize the Future.

"Ivo came up with that." Maria said as she approached with a tray of sandwiches. "That was the slogan he used to gain supporters. He always believed that robotics would be the future. Him and grandfather always butted heads about it."

"Professor Gerald and he worked together?"

"For a while. My grandfather was trying to help Ivo in his work, but they were always stopped by Sonic. Ivo and Gerald knew what was coming, they expected that there would be a breaking point one day and that the only way to save the earth was to place either one of them in charge, but they could never decide which one."

Maria motioned for Shadow to take a seat on the couch so he did. Maria lounged beside him and munched on a sandwich. "Did you help them?" Shadow asked after a pause.

Maria nodded. "I didn't like most of the things Ivo was doing but I knew that it was necessary. I wanted to believe he could make things work with Sonic, but that was just never going to happen."

"Is that why Gerald created me? Your world's version of me at least?"

"But Gerald didn't create you. It was Ivo and me. My grandfather had told Ivo over and over again that his machines would never match an organic. Ivo believed that Sonic had to fall to one of his creations in order to prove he was better. It wasn't until after Gerald had died and Ivo got more desperate did he finally relent. He wanted to use Sonic's blood to synthesize a clone, but Ivo was an expert in machines not biology. He spent a year turning out failures before he finally came to me. I had learned everything that my grandfather knew, and together we made you Shadow."

Shadow could sense that Maria was watching him closely, gauging his reaction. He tried to keep his expression as neutral as possible. "And then what happened?"

"Once our Shadow had killed Sonic, Ivo made his move. War broke out. The harder Ivo tried to press his control, the more fierce the resistance. There were revolutions and counter revolutions. Some people went crazy, they wanted to destroy technology and return to a pre-industrialized society, but it was too late by that point. Eventually, Ivo realized that there was no real hope. He started construction on his floating cities just as the bombs starting getting dropped…." Her voice trailed away as if it was too difficult for her to continue. As if to hide her pain from Shadow, she turned her gaze to the floor.

This gave Shadow a chance to observe her reactions. There was something artificial about her display that unnerved him. Her anguish did not reach her eyes which remained the same exact shade of depthless blue. "Things have improved over the years of course," She continued. "We've been given a second chance. Science and technology have advanced rapidly. We believe we can make the surface habitable again. As bad as things were, life has never been better than it is now. There is no poverty, little to no crime, and sickness is slowly being eradicated."

"A utopia."

Maria looked at him and smiled. "That is what we are trying to build. Ivo is in charge, but he leaves much of the day to day to his Council. It's our job to ensure we don't repeat the mistakes of the past."

"And what about me, the other Shadow I mean?"

"He is free to do as he likes. After he killed Sonic, Ivo did not use him in the wars. Our Shadow did not feel that the human war was any of his business. He visits from time to time. But he mostly keeps to himself. He is the only one that can endure the radiation on the surface. That is where he spends most of his time. I don't know why, but he just seems to prefer solitude."

"I think I will eat after all." Shadow snatched up a sandwich and took a large bite. He was still exhausted from all the battles and his stomach was growling.

"You haven't said much about your world. I'd be interested to know what's different."

Shadow chewed and considered his response carefully. "It is not a utopia."

"And what about me? Did I allow myself to get all old and wrinkly?" She asked in jest while playing with her hair and pressing her lips together.

"You never got old at all." Shadow took another bite and chewed slowly.

Maria's smile faded. "I've always considered the multiverse a frightening thing to contemplate. How the simplest changes can have the most dire of consequences….You did know me though? The other me? That's how you recognized me."

"I knew you when you were a child. In my world I was created by Professor Gerald and we spent some time together."

"And my grandfather? What was he like in your world?"

Images of Gerald waiting to be executed flashed in front of Shadow's mind. They mixed with the memory of Gerald injecting the frightened Maria with the Chaos Blood. "He tried to destroy the earth. I stopped him…me and Sonic."

Maria recoiled. "You…fought with Sonic?"

Shadow sighed. "I don't understand why the Realm Lord has brought me here, why he insists on showing me these alternative versions of reality. We are all so different. Nothing remains to bridge the gap between timelines." He placed the rest of his sandwich on the tray and met Maria's eyes. "I need to get home. I don't belong here. Can you help me?"

Maria hesitated. For a fraction of a second, something stirred beyond the blue in her eyes. It was quickly shielded again. "I can'," She said, "At least, not without some assurances first."

"What do you mean?"

"Your story. It's too incredible for me to just believe it. Headquarters would expect me to report you to the Council. Ivo himself would want to meet you. But if you go into the Grand Tower, there is no guarantee that you will return."

"He'd kill me?"

Maria rose to her feet. "He'd protect Elysium. If he couldn't be sure who you were, then there would be no benefit in helping you, and great risk in leaving you alive. And…if he found out that you helped Sonic…even if it was the Sonic from another timeline…"

Shadow stood, but tried to appear unguarded. "You mentioned assurances?"

Maria nodded. She paced back and forth a few times as if summoning the courage. "There really is only one way.." She muttered to herself. Maria turned suddenly to Shadow. "You say I never grew up in your timeline. So we must not have known eachother for very long. I don't expect that you can trust me."

"I don't really have the luxury of trust."

Maria didn't smile. "What I am suggesting would be incredibly invasive and dangerous for you. You'd be putting more than just your life in my hands, but it is the only way."

Shadow felt a pang of unease and foreboding. "Say it."

"The Dreamcast. It is a machine that would allow me to enter your memories. The Doctrine Keepers invented it, to keep the peace and charge criminals and insurrectionists. If…if you would allow me to confirm your story…then I will help you."

His first instinct was to refuse. The very mention of the machine seemed to make Maria tremble and as she described its function a cold shiver had run down Shadow's back. At the same time, Shadow understood that he had no other choice. As he nodded in acceptance he realized what was the real issue with Maria's eyes. They were too perfect, the same shade of blue covered both eyes completely and in perfect symmetry.