Luna stares at her brother in shock as she struggles to catch her breath. The cold fury in his gaze freezes her heart, and the hand he uses to hold the gun doesn't shake in the slightest.
Sonic has come around the elevator, and he's looking from Shadow to Luna in astonishment. He truly had believed that Luna had been Shadow.
"I'll say it again," Shadow rumbles in a deep voice as he clicks back the hammer of his gun. "Who... are... you?"
Tears appear in her eyes, "I... I..." She can't even get the words out. She squeezes her eyes shut, and grits her teeth. She warps out of the water, and reappears several yards to Shadow's right. He spins into a kneeling position, both hands on the gun trained on her. Luna ignores him, instead holding out her arms for Trouble to float into. She glares at Shadow with tear-filled eyes, and then skates off, using Chaos Control to vanish.
...
"Why...?"
Luna sits on top of a building, knees drawn to her chest. Night has fallen, and the cold wind bites at her bare arms. She can't feel it, such is her sorrow.
"Chao," Trouble says sadly as he floats next to her face, and tries to wipe away tears that won't stop flowing.
"I fear I am to blame for this," comes Ai's voice from her wrist. "If I had spoken sooner this may not have happened like it did."
Luna shakes her head, "No, it's not your fault Ai. I should have known that he wouldn't want a sister."
"With all due respect, Luna, I do not have a record of you mentioning to anyone your relationship to Shadow." Luna sighs, "I know, that's because I wanted him to be the first to know. Where did it go wrong?"
"Perhaps it was the hug," Ai says, trying to answer her as best he can. "Shadow has been a GUN agent for some time, and so when someone he has never heard of before says they want to meet him it is only natural he would assume it was an ambush. In other words, you simply startled him."
Luna sighs again, Ai is making perfect sense as usual. "What should I do now, Ai?
"That depends, are you wishing to try again with Shadow?"
Luna is quiet for a minute, "... I don't know anymore."
"Then I am at a loss for advise, Luna. All that we can do now is wait for you to decide on what you want." "Chao." Trouble hugs Luna's face, and she pulls him closer.
A thought crosses her mind, "Ai, you said that Gerald Robotnik has a grandson?" "Indeed, His name is Doctor Ivo Robotnik."
"Then... if Shadow, and I have the same father, Ivo's grandpa, then that means we're related too, right?" "It's logically sound to assume so in a sense, yes. I take it that you wish to find him?"
She's quiet for a minute, thinking. Does she? What if it ends up worse that Shadow? "I feel like I have to try, Ai. If I don't then I don't know what to do."
"In that case, then I will mediate this meeting. As we speak, I am broadcasting a Distress Signal to the Robotnik computer mainframe."
"How appropriate," she muses out loud.
"I am receiving a response, they are on their way to pick us up."
Luna stands up, rubbing as much of the red out of her eyes as she can. Fifteen minutes pass, and still nothing.
"Well well well, this isn't what I was expecting at all!"
Luna whirls to face the speaker, and sees a fat man in a red coat hovering in some kind of personal hovercraft.
He stares down his pointy nose at her, "I don't recognize you at all, little girl, but if you're a hedgehog then you're probably with the rest of those pests. What really interests me, however, is how you managed to get your hands on my distress beacon."
"Hello Ivo," Luna laces her finger behind her back, a shy grin on her face. At least he wasn't about to shoot her like a certain someone. "I'm glad you came, I was starting to get worried."
"Hm?" Eggman frowns at her, "Now I wonder why that would be?"
Luna rubs her arms, "If you don't mind, can we talk someplace a bit warmer, please?"
Eggman rubs his chin in thought, if this is a trick, it's a very good one. For some reason, he actually wants to believe it. He decides to go with his gut on this one.
"Very well, just hold on..." he messes with the controls in front of him, and a robotic hand unfolds from behind his transporter. Before she can blink, the hand shoots out, and grabs her.
"Whoa!" she exclaims, as she's lifted into the air. She pulls Trouble from the air, and holds him close as they are carried off.
About an hour later they are inside Eggman's pyramid base. He's outside of his personal carrier, and Luna's feet are firmly on the ground again.
"I'm sorry for the unorthodox travel, miss, but I had gone out expecting to bring back a robot."
"It's fine, and my name's Luna, by the way."
"A pleasure..." Luna follows Eggman into the heart of his base. They approach a table set with dinner, and Eggman orders a robot to bring a second helping for Luna to eat. They sit at the table, and Eggman leans forward, elbows on the table.
"Now then, I would like some answers, if you don't mind terribly much."
"Of course not," Luna says, and her stomach growls as soon as the food is put in front of her. "Um, Ai, would you mind explaining please?"
"Certainly, Luna." Ai leaves the strap on her wrist, and hovers over to the large display screen. "Dr. Ivo Robotnik, I believe you are familiar with Project: "Shadow"..."
As Ai explains, Luna eats. She shares her meal with Trouble, who delights at the thought of being hand-fed. When the meal, and the explanation are finished, Ivo leans back in his chair.
"Now let me check to make sure that I understand this correctly," he rubs his chin as he speaks. "Luna, you are a female clone of Shadow created by my grandfather in hopes of a better chance for curing Maria, and the only reason I don't know about you, despite the fact that I have my grandfather's diary, was that my grandfather took any mention of you out of it?"
Luna nods as Ai returns to her wrist, "That about sums it up."
"Hm..." Eggman mulls it over, and then waves a hand dismissively. "Well, you had my distress beacon, so that's enough proof for me. I haven't had much time to upgrade my programs, so I used some of my grandfather's codes. Still, I want to know something. If you're Shadow's clone, then that means that you're just like him?" "I'm not just like him," Luna says sourly.
Eggman looks at her in confusion, and she explains her run-in with Shadow earlier.
"Well I honestly can't say that Shadow wouldn't behave like that. He's always skeptical of strangers at best, and downright murderous at worst. So you sought me out because..."
"Because we're family, aren't we?" She stares at Eggman with questioning eyes.
Eggman sighs, "Technically, yes we are, and with Shadow turning you away I'm not surprised you would come looking for me. I'll tell you this now though, it won't make you very popular if you stick around." And with that he begins his dinner.
Luna is confused, "Why, don't they like you?"
Eggman coughs, and Luna realizes that he's laughing.
"Like me?! Please, I'm they're mortal enemy! Frankly, I hate them too. I try to make the world a better place, just like my grandfather, but at every turn those Mobians are always stopping my plans before they can come to fruition!"
"Your records show that your plans have all been with the goal of conquest in mind. I fail to see how the differentiates you from the Black Arms."
Luna looks at Ai, and then looks at Eggman in agreement.
He wags a finger at the two of them, "The difference is that in all my schemes, no one has ever gotten hurt. People always overlook that though because always easier to just paint me as the bad guy, and call it a day."
"Footage from the ARK shows that you once launched Sonic from the ARK in an exploding escape pod," Luna thinks that she can hear a hint of dryness in Ai's voice.
Eggman laughs, "Like that would kill him, HA! He's fallen from space before, he would have survived. At the most it would have bought me the time I needed back then."
He leans forward, fingers interlaced, "I'm telling you now, Luna, When Shadow wants something done, it happens. The last time I was on the ARK, he tricked me into helping him almost destroy the entire planet!" Luna Looks at Ai, and when he says nothing she assumes that it's true.
An Egg-Pawn waddles up to Eggman, and makes a series of beeping noises. With a confused look, Eggman turns on the large Observation Screen to the news.
A anchor woman is sitting behind a desk, a news bulletin in her hands.
"This just in, Dr. Eggman has been sighted, yet again, in Station Square. Eyewitnesses report him abducting a young, female hedgehog that has yet to be identified."
An amateur video of Eggman picking up Luna is played, and Eggman rubs his chin in thought. He switches off the news, and turns to Luna.
"This may work in both our favors, Luna. No doubt once Sonic sees that report he'll come looking for me. And if I know Shadow like I think I do, then he'll be looking for the both of us pretty soon."
"So what are you saying, Ivo?" Luna hugs Trouble close, and walks up to Eggman.
"Well we both know that you came willingly, but they probably won't believe that at first..." A grin comes over his features, "When they get here we can explain it all, and hopefully they won't destroy all my robots this time. But while this takes care of my problems, I believe that we have a few of yours to deal with."
Luna cocks her head to the side, looking at him curiously.
"Shadow," he continues. "If you're anything like him, then I can guess that you want his respect, correct?" Luna blinks, he'd hit that nail on the head pretty hard, and she hadn't even known it was there.
"Well... yeah, I guess..."
"Then I'll help you, consider it a practical joke on my part. Shadow is a warrior, Luna, and the only way you'll get his respect is to show him that you're on his level." He clasps his hands together, smiling at her.
"I'll help you train with the time we have, and I'll even arm you." He snaps his fingers, and an Egg-Pawn waddles forward with a box in its hands. Eggman takes the box, and opens it in front of Luna.
She gasps, inside is the red Chaos Emerald. Eggman takes the emerald from the box, and hands it to her. Trouble hovers a few inches from the jewel, wondering if it's a new toy.
"It's beautiful..." she breathes. The hologram that Ai had shown her failed to completely capture the luster of the Chaos Emeralds, or the power she can feel humming through her now that it's in her hands.
She jumps up, wrapping her arms around Robotnik's neck, "That you so much, Ivo!"
Eggman is taken aback, this is not what he had been expecting at all. Awkwardly he pats her back, and sets her back onto the floor.
"You're quite welcome, Luna," he grins while patting her shoulder. "I have a feeling that this is going to be rather fun."
"Me too," Luna stares into the facets of the Chaos Emerald. "Me too..."
