A Horrifying, Yet Miraculous, Absolution
Ch. 4
[×]
Three scientists were besides Gerald – the ones he trusted and depended on the most. Their pencils were at the ready, hovered over blank white papers and clipboards to write anything and everything down. Despite being a week since PSU- – Shadow's – awakening, this was to be the first time the head of the entire Project was to begin testing. It had taken that long for… Shadow [that identity still foreign, but despite his hesitation, Maria made it obvious her desires] to be capable of staying conscious long enough to stand still and be analyzed under its – his – own power.
"A furnace..."
Gerald flinched and lifted his eyes to greet the hedgehog's directly. He noticed that Shadow remained calmer and… almost dependent on the attention of the Robotniks. It was as if the two were a balm on the pain that mixed into his face; was apparent that the hedgehog-looking creature understood hope through the duo as well. "Mind explaining that before we begin, Shadow?"
The gaze of PSUL – of Shadow, curses! – kept that blank emptiness despite knowledge that something was clearly inside to enact feelings and thoughts. By now, Gerald hypothesized that the 'Mobian' did not know how off-putting those pyrrole oculars were – a deeper, dark hue at the top that transitioned to the color of blood at the bottom. Doll eyes. Soulless eyes. ["The eyes of the damned," one researcher quipped at the common dining facility. Gerald was to snap in, but recalled the color of them and their leader's and was unable to speak…] "Without something to inhibit my Chaos Energy, I feel like I'm afire. A burning sun. Like I'm split into a million pieces, catapulted into the core of a gravitational pull, and then slammed repeatedly into its center." Those white gloved hands – a gift from Maria – rubbed against wrists where nothing resided. "It's horrible and I should be in pain, but… I'm numb. The energy is subduing me to the point I feel like I'm only partially aware. I was warned this could happen..."
Those wings not only allowed Shadow to fly, float, and hover, but like the 'squid,' it was made of nothing but channels of Chaos. A biological mystery. Gerald had a strong suspicion that they were conduits in gathering more of that mythical energy from the surroundings. The surface area was just so large; he tried to imagine being pumped full to the brim with Chaos. Shivered at the thought. Chaos Energy injected into humans was an experiment G.U.N. had tried not long ago and failed spectacularly – despite his warnings. In short, the military's products exploded like miniature suns. "I see…," Gerald begun with unease. "Was it… Maria?"
She had started digging into his old research papers like a woman lost in the desert whom found water. [Rambled about shoes and bracelets, of all things.]
Shadow did not respond immediately; those hands kept to wrists. When it – sigh, he – did, the creature had slightly changed topic. "Professor. Please do not test my Chaos abilities for the foreseeable future. I have no desire to be 'more brilliant than the stars.'"
That was a quote. Possibly from the same person[?] that commented about the 'furnace.' Gerald took in a deep breath – he couldn't blame Maria for saying that to Shadow. Whatever energy reading mechanisms they even attempted to get near the Ultimate Lifeform all reached charted maximums before breaking; just like the bulbs above did if he was to experience emotional duress. Just being near the specimen when he was self-aware left a body buzzed. "No worries, Shadow. All we will be doing right now is simple things. Stuff like: where did you get your knowledge base from?"
"You."
Gerald didn't allow himself to show confusion. "I see."
"Professor?"
"What is it, Shadow?"
"I'm not lying. You and Maria gave me the wishes that drive my actions."
… Wishes?
Gerald's associate picked up the slack during Robotnik's silence. "What sort of things do you enjoy?"
"Maria. Professor." That was the immediate. "Motorcycles. Coffee beans. Lavender." That was after slight hesitation. "… Team Dark…" That was at the end, nearly a whisper – and without context it was quite… scary. What was 'Team Dark?'
Another scientist. Another question. "How about things you don't like?"
"Sonic," came a bitter laugh. "Alright, that's true but needs clarification. We're more…" A change of expression – the numbness that Chaos was driving into Shadow's form easy to spot now that Gerald had a reference. "… Were rivals." The Lifeform shook his head. "Not rivals anymore, now…"
Dr. Robotnik's own pencil flew. The mental state of the specimen was not fully stable or clear: was possibly the after effects of the energy absorption. Dangerous? Incredibly so. Aggressive? Seemed not. Controllable? Only to the members of Project: SHADOW, it seemed – a loyalty he still didn't fully understand where it came from, but glad all the same. [The idea of Shadow becoming a failure like the Biolizard; that dark form tearing thru flesh; anything that moved a target; a monster-!]
The last one of the group had a different question than likes or dislikes. "How old would you consider yourself at?"
The wings stiffened at that. Flapped. "I honestly… wouldn't be able to even formulate a guess."
Gerald tapped and circled a specific note: unaware of the passage of time. [A cause from Chaos or from being designed as an immortal being? Neither? Both?] The head of the scientist group coughed back to action and took his turn. "It is obvious you're cognizant of self. When did you begin?"
A moment of silence. Thoughts to himself. "I… could see Professor's laboratory. I could… see myself. And yet I can recall the black stillness of my tube – of the nothingness before my creation." Confusion. Admission of loss. Shadow was unsure. "It wasn't like this. That was all the sights, sounds, and self at once. 'Welcome to the world.' Not… this… On this, I was-"
Gerald flinched when the machinery around the group immediately fried and smoked; the booms of pieces going off balance and self-destructing in the far background; ceiling lights cascading into a failure so intense that not even the emergency spares were safe. By now, he was just glad that those were the only Chaos Driven items on the whole floor. They had chosen this area, deep within the asteroid section of the ARK, for a reason. At some point they would over stimulate the Project, but he hadn't expected it to be so soon-
"I saw myself from its viewpoint," was the Lifeform's voice of horror and self-realization.
[x]
Gold.
Golden rings. Four of them. Drawn in crayon, their wax doodles reflected the private room of Gerald. His fingers traced each one slowly. Extensive notes filled the pages upon pages of a pink-hearted diary – detailed formulas of wavelengths, sinoids, calculated load maximums; how much Chaos they could subdue and redirect. There was no setup. No preplanned thoughts nor curiosity. It was as if Maria had an epiphany from seeing the winged form of Shadow – the religious subtext sunk into the depths of his mind. [Not the Devil! he hissed to himself once more. After yesterday's show, now even his next-of-rank were whispering more of that rumor to themselves.]
"He needs them, Grandpa. He's becoming… 'aware' without. His words. Not mine."
He flipped through more of the pages and eventually reached the title card she had scribed. "'Inhibitor Rings – Shadow's Cure.'"
She moved her body slightly in nerves. "It's…," his granddaughter sighed while she rubbed the back of her head, "not technically a cure. More like a sealed lid on a pressurized vessel. I checked your readings. He's too strong now for them to do what..." Cyan roamed the room as she searched for a way to finish the sentence. "… these specifications allow." A jump. "BUT they'll still be super helpful!"
"This is incredible." It was like she had seen the math before and knew the answer. He could have thought up the exact design himself and had the same configuration output and design. "You literally cannot make them any stronger than what's here, and we only have enough material to make exactly four of them..."
She was his kin. Maria knew the tone of pride mixed with suspicion. "I was just… worried for him. I'd imagine he never lived without them for so long." His dear was hiding something. Certainly. "I just really want to help Shadow."
That was genuine.
He rubbed the bridge of his face. "Maria… Well, I suppose this is much better than some of the others' ideas. It might take a few months to assemble, however."
She frowned at that. "Grandpa. I hope you're standing up for him in the meanwhile. You have to protect him while he's in this state."
There it was again. That fierce devotion. If Gerald didn't know better, one could argue the Ultimate Lifeform was Maria built to guard a certain hedgehog. "I am, just how you would want. He's too dangerous to sleep in your room right now, but I ensured he was safe and comfortable in the lab. I even petted him to sleep like you instructed."
Blonde locks flew as she nodded. "Great! So he'll be able to come by when the Inhibitors are completed!" Mouth still in an upended smile, the girl took a look at the door. The tone went flat. "You still… haven't told G.U.N. about Shadow yet, right, Grandpa? I noticed a certain individual acts like he doesn't know."
"I'll have to at some point." So far, every researcher with knowledge on Project: SHADOW have kept sealed lips. Scientists preferred to confirm their experiment's completion prior to running to the press – especially the ones that Gerald curated.
Her eyes furrowed, like if she had swallowed a tart onion. "I see…" Her little shoes paced around. "O!" She jumped, then turned to face her relative. At once, she threw herself onto him and gave the strongest hug her body could do. "I love you, Grandpa. Never change."
"I love you as well."
[x]
Gerald was aware enough that he was experiencing a nightmare.
His lab coat was dinged almost brown and splattered with verdant viscous fluids of some type. Superficial injuries filled his hands, almost as if he had been burned at the surface of his hair. A dull ache reached his stomach; a more pronounced one let it be known on his right calf. There was a sense of dizziness as he felt himself stumble on the rocks below him. Strained, he twisted himself to see the surroundings: of the surface of a planet that was burning, burning; burning. Everything was ablaze in crimson – even the sky held that color as a maddening haze.
Was this… Earth?
He didn't see Maria, which was good. Even in nightmares, nothing was worse than dreaming of her final breath. Her not apparent meant she wasn't here – his mind either saw her first or never at all.
His shoes were missing.
Barefoot, Gerald wondered where the trigger was to awaken. This apocalyptic landscape was nothing he wanted to experience more of. He took a few steps back when suddenly…
There just was an army.
Misshapen. Claws. Ebony slicers and yellow eyes. Green glowing sacs. Jagged mouths that held human bodies – those of his crew from Project: SHADOW and military personnel alike. Alien in form.
Demons-!
He shoved that fallacy aside. He already knew this dream: the one of them invading his mother planet; of their slaughter thru cities and towns; of every plant, insect, and piece of matter absorbed and consumed into their biomass. They used that carbon to give birth to more and more of their kind. It was mindless slaughter in the pursuit of relieving hunger. THIS was what had given him fear the first time – even the second – but was also why the Eclipse Cannon was soon to exist.
The comet streaked in the sky as it always did.
One of them noticed he was there.
Just because he knew it was a dream did not make the simulated pain of being skewered right into his lungs any less.
[x]
He awakened to crimson.
The entire ARK was blaring. A female voice stated a grave tenor over the loudspeaker system. Her coded words made the index of danger quite high – only just short of the Biolizard escaping its prison; Shadow still such a secret that an alarm for his potential hazard had yet to be coined. The soldiers appeared moments after the master alert screamed once again to Dr. Robotnik; their boots had torn the door open loud enough to drown all other sound if just for a moment.
What was going on?!
Sean Casey was in the group. Each man was armed to the teeth with safeties off. His youthful face tried to hide the steel glint of danger in those eyes, but were unsuccessful. "Doctor! There's been an incident on the seventeenth floor lab!"
The 'military side' of the ARK?!
The kid continued. "We need to escort you and the others to safety immediately."
"Where is Maria!?" The cry rang into the alarms. The tension of his state hurt.
A shake of Casey's head. "She must have run off to hide. She wasn't in her room." He grabbed the elder's elbow. "Our orders are to prioritize the intellectuals!"
Had she run to Shadow!?
Gerald forced the panic to quell. Yes. Maria must have run to where the Ultimate Lifeform was upon the first alarm – he hadn't hidden the location of where he was on purpose from her. For goodness' sake, the girl might have gone camping in the lab against his wishes again. She only saw the Project in a positive light, and he knew that she would never do anything unwise on her own. Although he didn't like the fact that she had left by herself without a note, the scientist had to admit that there was no place safer than besides him. [Assuming the fear in his heart was not from the thought that PSUL had broken free of his sanity.] "What's the cause?"
A grimace. "Above my pay grade, doctor," Casey started as he hand signaled the others in something only the military understood. He turned his head towards a colleague. "Have you managed to get in touch with the other floors?"
ZAP! The entirety of the illumination systems of the ARK shuddered from whatever that was. Lesser crucial machines went offline as the hum of emergency generators kicked from slumber. Sparks scattered from the ceiling.
"The hell-?!" one of the youths mouthed.
Something sunk in the pit of Robotnik's stomach.
They ran. Together, the group emptied into the hallways, which were filled with other Security Forces and members of Project: SHADOW. Gerald could see their faces: confusion, tiredness, and exhaustion. Some were pulled from sleep, some from late midnight snacks, but the majority had been in their individual labs undergoing prep work for a 'new experimental series.' The three of his most important heads ran besides him – their eyes flickering a question that their leader was beginning to understand despite the fog of denial.
They didn't make it far when the next 'event' occurred. Camera lenses exploded and showered, cracked into ten pieces as gold static ran down each edge-
Gerald squeezed his eyes. He did not want to be correct in this moment.
The communicators the military used snapped right in half-
They used Chaos Drives.
Another armed member broke into the group. Breathless, he heaved his dinner upon the ground. "Tech- Airman Casey!" he groaned. "The whole seventeenth damned floor is locked out! We managed to evacuate, but literally the second we did the primary glass on the windows blew up with some kind of lightning. We lost the ability to see what was going on in there." A gasp. "It might be an enemy agent out to steal our data!"
A memory of the importance of that area of the station rung.
The floor where G.U.N. held onto the robot. That was why he remembered that number! The ancient war machine that could destroy a civilization; one that bid its time observing the surroundings until it snapped. The object that helped him to harness Chaos Drives using modern science. One that was a disaster that Gerald hated himself to turn over, but needed to. Funding for Maria. Everything for Maria. So, then, how did Shadow play into this!? Because that yellow color – that static – could be nothing else-!
"Professor! Change of plans. You're the best person to find a way to isolate our critical infrastructure!" Casey snapped to the others of his squad. "Let's go to the server room! Get him there safely!"
So, they continued. The only source of illumination were battery powered flashlights that a few of the men owned. Although the power issues were clear, the life support systems were notably still left in primary mode – whomever made the attack knew the results if those had been taken offline. [WHOMever? Gerald knew. He knew all too clear.]
There was a present awaiting them on floor sixteen…
It wasn't the Project.
Wasn't the Biolizard.
It was the smoking debris of a machine – crystal lenses cracked, and dull, warm grey metal distorted. There was only a head.
Gerald persuaded the men to let him see where the rest was. When floor seventeen was finally broken into, a left foot was found lodged in the ceiling. The right embedded into floor eighteen's mess hall. The fingers of the right arm pierced into the officer's quarters the level below. The left arm melted into slag near the far end bathrooms. As for the core, where the ancient Chaos engine resided, there was nothing left.
Save for a torch mark in the middle of each track projected backwards; the starburst that hinted what had been the primary objective.
[x]
Maria was in the lab. In the corner. Hidden behind the moderate gap where his bookshelves piled with tomes of knowledge. Hands wrapped around the specimen's body that was dead to the world. His wings were hidden under blankets and pillows; his expression filled with of promises of nothing; ebony pulses, like mist, hazed around the area and prevented the light itself; a golden heat simmered that Gerald ignored for the most important [for later] – her face streaked with tears.
He arrived alone.
It had been days.
"I forced Shadow to do it," she cried. "I didn't want to, Grandpa. Please don't blame him. I couldn't do it myself. I needed time. I didn't know it would do this to him-! He never said that it would do this to him! But- But we need more time and if no one dies-!"
She was breaking down.
"We did the right thing. Told him to disable anything that could track us! I pulled the alarm that ran off regular batteries so no one would get hurt! I told Shadow to wait- Wait for them all to escape. Make it look like it self-destructed. To be careful. We can't have reasons to storm the ARK! But it's not their fault right now. He was so angry. So, so; so angry. But he didn't kill them. He only went after the machine that would have started the chain of accidents. If the Gizoid had activated on its own-!"
Hard breaths. Jagged emotions.
Raw.
Abnormal on her.
Wrong.
A whisper of ghosts. "He's your good son, Grandpa."
She inhaled.
Bored into Gerald's eyes.
"Don't let them find out about Shadow's completion."
A plead.
"Promise me!"
Unlike the previous one, he didn't know if he could pull it off.