“Alright, Maria should be up and around in about three hours,” Shadow sighed in relief and stood up to face Sonic and Tails.
“Why’s it gonna take so long?” Sonic had his arms crossed and was tapping his foot. “We got you out in a second.”
“The revival process can be painful and dangerous if it’s done too fast,” Shadow rubbed his arm where he had been cut up earlier, “I regenerate fast enough that I was able survive but it hurt like hell, for Maria it’s best to do it the slow way.”
Tails raised a hand, “So what’s this ‘Ultimate Lifeform’ thing you mentioned?”
Shadow turned back to face them, “That’s what I’m supposed to be. It’s a long story and most of it is stuff dad told me.”
“We’ve got time, so spill,” Sonic said.
Shadow looked back over his shoulder for a moment to check the countdown, “Alright. It started back when humans ruled the Earth...”
OoOoO
“For the last time: no! I will not work on ‘Project Shadow’, no amount of funding will change my mind!” Professor Gerald Robotnik angrily closed the video call and sat back in his chair with a huff. In his late 50s, Gerald was bald and his long mustache was already turning from red to grey. He pulled down his dark glasses and rubbed his eyes for a moment before replacing them.
For months now he’d been hounded by the Guardian Units of Nations (known as G.U.N.) to work on a secret project that needed his genetic expertise, but he refused every time as he had no desire to sell his work for military purposes. They dared not try to force him as he could too easily sabotage their efforts and set them back so far that they would need another expert to undo the damage he could cause. It didn’t stop them from trying though...
The doorbell ringing seemed like it would be welcome distraction as Gerald answered, “Who is it?” he didn’t bother looking at the doorbell video.
“Professor Gerald Robotnik, I need to speak with you immediately.” The voice came from a young woman.
“Just hold on,” Gerald had to force himself to get up to answer his front door and he was greeted by a young woman with short blonde hair and brown eyes who was very clearly pregnant.
The woman didn’t give Gerald time to be dumbfounded and spoke in a no-nonsense voice. “I’m your late son’s ex-girlfriend and in about two months this will be your granddaughter,” she put her hands on her belly.
Though Gerald invited her in, the young woman (who didn’t give her name) only sat down to speak. “I’ll be frank with you: I was contacted by G.U.N. to bring a deal to you. I know your son died from N.I.D.S. five months ago and I cared about him but I never planned to start a family, not this young. When I found out I was pregnant I had planned to terminate it when G.U.N. came to me and made me an offer, if I can convince you to join their project then they will let you use their resources to find a cure.”
“You mean, my granddaughter has Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome?” Gerald wanted to be angry, happy and distraught at the same time, but settled for just slumping into his chair. That condition was recessive in his late wife’s family and it was bad fortune that his son had suffered from the still untreatable disease, even as he went to university to at least try and accomplish something. The news of his son’s death had caused him to retreat from his work, not that he would have worked on Project Shadow even if his son was still alive.
Gerald put his hands together and stared at the woman, hard, “What are all the conditions of this deal?”
The woman pulled out her phone and read the file that she had been given, “You will go to work on the Space Colony ARK for their ‘Project Shadow’ and in exchange they will let you keep your severely ill granddaughter in a sterile environment where the genetic research you can do for them has the best chance to lead to a treatment if not a full cure. As for me I will be relieved of the responsibilities of raising a child, be reimbursed for all medical expenses and paid enough so that I won’t have to work a job while I finish my education and still find a place to live afterwards,” she looked up at Gerald, “I’d rather just be honest with you about my part in this deal. I’m not heartless but I can’t raise a child and finish my education at the same time. I can’t force you but if you want to even give your granddaughter a chance at living, this is the best chance she’ll have.”
Gerald asked to see the agreement and stared at it hard for a few minutes. “Very well, I’ll let them know the next time they contact me.”
And on cue he heard his phone ring again...
OoOoO
“...and you will be working on ‘Project Shadow’ from here, Professor Robotnik.” The G.U.N. liaison showed Gerald to a large lab built around a central pillar, “You can start anytime, but I assume you want to be present when your granddaughter is born.”
“Yes, I do.” Gerald showed clear annoyance in his voice, “You’re certain this place is sterile enough for someone with N.I.D.S.?”
The liaison sighed, “For the hundredth time yes, ARK is a closed environment and everyone onboard goes through extensive decontamination procedures when they board and are not admitted if they have any diseases.”
“Good, then yes I will go and meet my granddaughter,” Gerald turned and left.
The mother was only there long enough to make sure things went smoothly and asked to be wheeled away once she was no longer needed. Gerald watched the infant girl being put in an incubator, needed to monitor her condition especially once it was confirmed she had N.I.D.S. He touched the glass that separated him from the incubation room.
“My little Maria, I promise I’ll find a cure for you.” He stayed to watch for almost half-an-hour before heading back to start his work.
OoOoO
The goal of Project Shadow was to create what their employers were going to call “The Ultimate Life Form”, a creature that could safely regenerate from any kind of injury and biologically tap into the strange energy source that powered ARK.
Their first experiments were on starfish and lizards, two animals known for their ability to regenerate tissue. The problem with the starfish was its inability to incorporate higher brain functions due to a lack of a central nervous system, and as for the lizard...
Gerald watched the HAZMAT suited scientist checking the mechanical connections on the giant lizard, which was now the size of a wolf.
“Its mass has increased over tenfold, we can’t stop the regeneration,” one of Gerald’s colleagues said as she sat at a computer getting information from the quarantine tank.
“Maybe enhancing the regenerative abilities that already exist is the problem,” Gerald said, “Regardless the biolizard’s DNA won’t work. It might work better if we use a mammal as the base.”
“How ‘bout a hedgehog!” The voice came from behind the both of them. Five-year-old Maria Robotnik sat in small play area just out of the way nearby. It had been a thorny subject but Gerald wouldn’t let his granddaughter out of his sight for any longer than necessary. It was at least safe for her to be here, the environment was sterile so no risk of contracting any disease, even a common cold had the potential to kill her. Despite some objections from the higher ups most of the staff had become fond of her.
Gerald smiled and walked over to her, “A hedgehog?”
“Yeah!” Maria held up a stuffed brown hedgehog that had been sewn for her by one of the staff in their off time.
Gerald accepted the stuffed animal and turned it over, then chuckled and ruffled his granddaughter’s blonde hair, “I think that’s a fine idea, Maria. Thank you.”
Maria beamed as she took her stuffed toy back and Gerald returned to the workstation as the HAZMAT member had finished with the biolizard. “Let’s get started, I think this might be the key we’re looking for...”
OoOoO
“It’s grown so fast,” the woman scientist stood with Professor Gerald Robotnik looked at the creature in floating in the liquid of the cylindrical tank where their new creature was maturing, floating in the middle of the tank with a number of electrodes attached to and tubes feeding its body. It was a humanoid hedgehog with black quills, other than a red stripe at the top of its head and white tufts over its chest. “Why is it humanoid, Professor?”
“Some human DNA was introduced this time along with the chaos energy we siphoned from the reactor,” Gerald circled the tank, admiring the fruits of his labor, “If Shadow’s cells are going to work with humans we need to introduce it at the earliest part of the process,” he sighed, “And G.U.N. wants him to be able to follow orders and learn and the only choice is human.”
“Shadow? Him?” the scientist gave Gerald a skeptical look.
“Yes, biologically Shadow is male and I needed to give him a name.” Gerald touched the cylindrical tank, “Unlike the biolizard he’s an individual with thoughts and emotions and reason.”
“Whose DNA did you use?” the scientist suspected but needed to hear it.
“My own,” Gerald said. “It’s been two years. I think it’s time to wake him up.”
“As you say, Professor,” she stepped aside as Gerald worked the controls. The machine whirred for a moment then the suspension liquid began to drain, lowering Shadow to the floor. The black hedgehog collapsed, spluttering the last of the fluid from his body as it was caught up in the cables and tubes still connected to his body as the door slid open.
“Hello, Shadow, how do you feel?” Gerald leaned down to be level with the black hedgehog’s face.
Shadow just grunted, not able to form any words for a moment as he looked up at Gerald.
“You’ll need some education,” Gerald started carefully detaching all the wires and tubes from his body, “My name is Professor Gerald Robotnik, I’m your... father.”
“Fa-ther?” Shadow managed to form the words as Gerald helped him wobbly to his feet.
“Vital signs are stable, everything looks good professor,” the scientist said, “We’ll need to start his education soon.”
“Yes, we will,” Gerald still held Shadow’s hand, “But first I want you to meet someone.”
Shadow just nodded and allowed himself be led away.
Maria now spent most of her time in the medical labs onboard the ARK, in the last two years her N.I.D.S. symptoms had become worse but the medical facilities onboard were capable of keeping her stable but the treatments she had to undergo were so frequent that she often ended up sleeping there, just in case.
Gerald entered Maria’s room still guiding Shadow by his hand, “Maria, I have someone I want you to meet.”
“Grandpa!” Maria smiled and carefully slid out of bed, just wearing a hospital gown. “Is that him?” she pointed at the black hedgehog.
Shadow just stared at Maria curiously as Gerald carefully pushed him forwards.
“This is Shadow, he’s the one that’s going to save your life.”
Maria gentle took Shadow’s hand, “Hi, Shadow, I’m Maria.”
“Ma-ri-ah?” Shadow sounded out the word.
“He was just born so he has a lot of studying to do and I have a lot to test with him. Don’t worry you’ll be seeing a lot of each other,” Gerald carefully patted Shadow’s shoulder.
OoOoO
“These reports are fascinating, Professor, but these aren’t the results we’re looking for.” The man Gerald’s personal computer screen, the Liaison from G.U.N., was staring off at another screen where he was reading Gerald’s report.
“This is the way is has to work,” Professor Gerald Robotnik had his arms crosses, “In less than a week, Shadow mastered basic language and now he’s finished all the education of high school in less than three years while studying medicine. He could be a doctor within a year at this rate.”
“Project Shadow wasn’t meant to create medical personnel, Professor!” The Liaison raised his voice, “The cell structures you’ve sent us aren’t compatible with humans and you should have started working on a serum months ago at the very latest, for your granddaughter’s sake if nothing else.”
“We needed to be certain he wouldn’t overload like the Biolizard did and we only determined that creature was completely unusable after five years,” Gerald glared back from behind his dark glasses.
“Then you have two years to show the results we’re looking for or G.U.N. will hand this project over to Dr. Mobius.”
Gerald slammed his hands on the desk, “That hack couldn’t even begin to comprehend the basics of creation or medicine!”
“But he can replicate the results once he knows how it was done. Two years, Professor Robotnik,” the Liaison shut off the transmission.
Gerald sat staring at the glowing screen for a few minutes then sighed and turned around, only to find Shadow was standing at the door.
“Dad? What’s wrong?” Shadow’s voice was a tenor now.
Gerald forced a smile, “Nothing I can’t handle, Shadow, don’t worry.” He shut of his computer and exited the room with Shadow, “How are your studies going.”
Shadow perked, “Great, Doctor Mikamura was really impressed! He says I’m learning faster than any student he’s ever had. Can I see Maria now?”
“Of course, did you get your tests done?” Gerald asked as he escorted Shadow to the medical labs.
Shadow nodded and rubbed his upper left arm, “Yes...”
“I know giving samples hurts, but if we want to cure Maria we need to keep refining the treatment option. It could be years before we have a working treatment,” Gerald patted Shadow on the back.
“I know, dad, that’s why I want to be a doctor so I can help save her too.” Shadow pumped his fists as they entered the medical labs.
“And I’m very proud of you for that, now go see Maria,” he ushered Shadow into Maria’s room and watched them through the observation window. “Better that than being made into a living weapon.”
OoOoO
“Transport approaching, prepare to receive guests.” The operators onboard ARK watched as the G.U.N. transport landed in the docks, going over the entire process as the docking bay doors closed and the transport landed, “Ready decontamination procedure.”
However as soon as the door opened a group of two dozen armed soldiers stormed out with the Liaison at their lead, “No time to waste,” he marched towards the decontamination chamber with one of the soldiers and stepped in.
“Beginning decon-”
“Override it,” the Liaison gave the order and the soldier with him stepped up and ripped out one of the control panels. Less than a minute later the doors were forced open and the squad streamed into the corridors.
The Liaison pointed to the soldier who had bypassed the door, “Take half and get to the main computer. Download all the information before they lock it down, everyone else with me. If I know Professor Robotnik then he’ll be in the medical labs.”
Gerald was indeed there visiting his now 12-year-old granddaughter Maria with Shadow when he heard a voice over the intercom.
“Professor Robotnik. G.U.N.’s here and they’re forcing their way through the station!”
“What?!” Gerald, his mustache now completely grey, was on his feet and at the intercom, “Lock down everything, I’ll be right there.”
“No, I think you’ll stay right here,” the Liaison had already arrived with two soldiers flanking him, “It’s been two years, Professor and we’re here for the results of your research. Ahh is this Shadow?” He stepped forwards, pushing past Gerald who didn’t offer any resistance with the soldiers’ guns aimed at him, “Not our first choice of form but let’s see,” he pulled out a combat knife and grabbed Shadow’s arm.
“Let me go, AAAUGH!” Shadow shouted out as his arm was slashed, his voice a lot more gravelly than it had been two years ago.
The Liaison watched the deep cut on Shadow’s arm healing before his eyes as he bagged the now bloody combat knife, “Remarkable, it seems you’ve succeeded even if you refused to show us.”
“What’s the meaning of this!?” Gerald demanded.
“It’s simple: we’re here for the results of Project Shadow since you refused to give them to us voluntarily.” He stowed the bagged and bloody knife in a pack, “Now we’ll have everything we need despite your lack of cooperation.”
One of the soldiers with him started coughing which made Gerald go livid.
“Pardon me, Sir, bit of a cold I think.”
“You skipped decontamination!” Gerald’s shout surprised them as he grabbed the man and shoved him against the wall, “You brought disease into this sterile environment.”
“Put him down, Professor,” the other soldier aimed his gun at Gerald’s head.
“Don’t hurt my dad!” Shadow’s shout caught them off guard as he hurled himself at the soldier, who panicked and fired at the hedgehog. The force of the bullet hitting his chest made him stumble in pain then he shot his hand forwards and with a bright glow several yellow spears of energy shot from his hand which struck the soldier, piercing his armor and making him bleed.
“Get out!” despite his age, Gerald grabbed both men and forced them out of the room before turning on the Liaison who was already on his way out. “You might have killed her! If I-” he was cut off as the door closed behind him. Despite his anger he went immediately to Shadow’s side, who had fallen to the floor, panting heavily. “Shadow, please speak to me.” Gerald’s voice was faintly panicked.
“Dad, it hurts,” Shadow reached for the small bloody hole in his chest.
“Hold still,” Gerald retrieved a pair of surgical pliers, “I can’t let that stay in you.”
Shadow cried out in pain as Gerald managed to dig the bullet out of his chest, “it struck your ribcage, you’re lucky.” Gerald watched as the hole began to heal over now that the lead had been removed.
Out in the hallway they were taking care of the injured soldier as the Liaison picked up a call on his headset. “Yes.”
“Sir, we have everything copied from the computer core, all of Professor Robotnik’s work and more besides, we encountered no resistance. We can leave any time.”
“Good, get back to the transport and we’ll head home,” the Liaison shut off his headset.
“We can’t leave that thing here,” the injured soldier protested as he was being supported by his companion, “It’s a monster!”
“One thing at a time,” the Liaison signaled for all the soldiers to head back, “We can’t start anything here or the automatic security systems will activate. We’ll deal with Professor Robotnik once we’re certain we have what we need.”
OoOoO
As soon as the G.U.N. soldiers had left, Gerald had all the medical doctors in Maria’s room, and his worst fears were confirmed.
“Grandpa, I don’t feel good,” and Maria didn’t look too good either, her face looked sickly as she coughed.
“No, Oh no no no no!” Gerald looked at the results, “She has influenza not a cold, we have to hurry. Shadow come with me,” Gerald had to take Shadow’s hand as the doctors got to work trying to help Maria.
“Dad, I want to stay with Maria!” Shadow protested as Gerald literally dragged him away.
“I know, so do I, but there’s no time for that. I have to move our experimental serum up immediately if we’re going to save her life,” Gerald managed to drag Shadow all the way to the Pharmacology lab, “How much do you know about Neuro-Immune-Deficiency-Syndrome?”
“It’s a degenerative neural auto-immune disease,” Shadow followed Gerald as he gathered the rest of the doctors and scientists, “It renders the body very fragile to most diseases and causes the degradation of neural pathways which only accelerates with the presence of any serious disease.”
“Exactly, and Maria’s case is rather severe. She’s only survived this long because ARK is a sterile environment but as a side effect the exposure to a single virus is already having a serious effect on her,” Gerald was pulling out notes and directing other members of the pharmacology lab to start work, “She’s going to get weak very quickly and her mind is going to deteriorate as well. Shadow please up on the medical bed,” Gerald directed Shadow to a nearby bed, “I’m sorry to have to do this but we need to rush the serum treatment we’ve been developing now if she’s going to live. I’ll need blood and some marrow from you and a few other things.”
“But Professor,” one of the other scientists spoke as Shadow climbed up onto the bed, “Without proper testing we don’t know what kind of effect it’s going to have!”
“And if we take the time to properly test it Maria will die!” Gerald replied.
“I’ll help too,” Shadow was already lying down, “I don’t want Maria to die.”
“Good, then once we’re done,” Gerald passed sample vials over to another doctor who had just tied a tight elastic around Shadow’s left arm, “You can help us with this but we have to work quickly.”
They were rushing, running on an experimental patch that would keep them awake so they wouldn’t have to sleep while they worked on the serum. Gerald and Shadow only stopped to check Maria once a day and it wasn’t looking good. In addition to vomiting making it nearly it nearly impossible for her to eat, Maria was losing mental faculties at an alarming rate and dehydrating. They knew they were cutting corners but the alternative was too harsh to consider.
After four days of constant work they had a large vial of the experimental serum to treat Maria, it was greenish black and untested but they had no time to try anything else.
Maria lay on her bed, emaciated and with a respirator on being fed by an IV bag. She blinked her tired eyes as Gerald entered the room, insisting that he give her the shot himself.
“Gam...pa...” Maria croaked out.
“Yes, Grandpa’s here Maria,” Gerald gave a weak smile, “Just hold on. I’m going to give you a shot. It’s going to make you all better.” He tested her arm, made sure there was no air in the syringe and gave her the shot.
Shadow watched from the window, wishing he could be there with her. He yawned as Professor Gerald Robotnik exited the room but forced himself to stay awake, “Did it work?”
“We’ll know by morning,” one of the other MDs on board said, “For now you two need to sleep, you’ve done all you can.”
It wasn’t until mid afternoon of the following day that Gerald was awakened by the beeping of his personal intercom. He groggily got up and answered, “Yes?”
“Professor you need to get to the medical lab immediately, something’s happening to Maria!”
That woke Gerald up completely, “What?! What happened?!”
“The serum’s transforming her, we tried to call you sooner but it’s a side effect of the patches you used to stay awake, they practically put you into a coma once they wear off.”
“I’m on my way,” Gerald hung up.
Maria had been changed into her favorite blue dress after she seemed to be recovering but now lay on a bed again, her left arm where she’d taken the shot had shrunk and thinned, looking remarkably like Shadow’s arm, albeit covered in fur (or quills) the same blonde color as her hair.
“It seemed to be working just fine until about 6 hours ago when she started screaming in pain and her left arm started to shrivel up.” The same doctor from the intercom stated, “We tried to wake you and Shadow but the side effects of the stimulant patches meant you were basically dead to the world. We had to sedate her and give her a powerful painkiller to keep her calm. So far it has progressed like this.”
Gerald kept a stone face but he felt like bursting into tears, “What about her N.I.D.S. or the influenza?”
“The influenza cleared up after less than an hour. Shadow’s cells and the treatment eradicated the virus as effectively as when we tested them on him.”
Shadow rubbed his shoulder, remembering too well how he’d been injected with various diseases (in isolated areas), he’d suffered a couple symptoms but they never got more severe or lasted more than an hour.
“As for her N.I.D.S. her immune system seems stronger but her brain is being severely affected.” He showed Gerald and Shadow a scan they’d taken of her brain earlier, “Parts of her tissue are being overwritten and this is happening all over her body. The DNA damaged by your late son’s N.I.D.S. is effectively being replaced with Shadow’s. If this continues...”
“She’ll turn into a creature like Shadow,” Gerald looked down at his hedgehog son.
“Dad, what can we do to stop this?” Shadow was looking back and forth from the computer to where Maria lay, starting to tear up.
“I’m not sure we can, son, not without killing her.” Gerald took his glasses off to wipe his eyes, disguising his tears as if he were wiping sleep from his eyes. “We need to make sure she survives this.”
“Alright, Professor, here’s the treatment we’re using on her right now,” the doctor changed the screen to show them.
“I think oxycodone is the wrong painkiller, the addictive properties might cause the painkilling to be dulled by my DNA, here,” Shadow showed an alternative choice.
“Right, we were just desperate to dull her pain, we’ll switch right away. Thank you,” The doctor’s compliment made Shadow smile but he hastened to get to work, even getting into a sterile gown and gloves he had to roll back to fit him as they got to work.
Maria awoke from her sedation a couple hours later and gave a muffled cry out. “Gram-pa...” she struggled out. Gerald and Shadow were at Maria’s side in an instant and she turned to face Shadow, “Sha....da....dow...” she croaked out.
“Hi, Maria,” Shadow gave a weak smile, “How are you feeling?”
“Hurts...” was all she could muster. Shadow took a moment to look at her shoulder where the thin arm was connected to a still human-looking body and blonde quills had grown in.
“Don’t worry, here drink this,” Gerald carefully put a small vial to Maria’s lips, which she drank gratefully.
“Uk,” she said after she swallowed.
“It’ll help make the pain better. Don’t worry, Grandpa and Shadow will make this all better,” Gerald spoke with more confidence than he felt.
“Thank....u....” Maria lay back and closed her eyes, trying to sleep again.
Things didn’t get any better as the days wore on. Maria’s body was still transforming and the pain only seemed to increase. First her right leg changed, shrinking and shriveling down to look like Shadow’s as her arm had, then her face started to distort until the left side looked completely separate from her right. They had to feed her intravenously through her transformed arm, worried the other arm might change around the needle unexpectedly.
Worse news came when they found out it was affecting her brain and they had to keep her sedated practically all the time.
“Her brain is changing as we expected,” The doctor showed Gerald and Shadow, “the good news is that any trace of N.I.D.S. in the affected parts of her brain has been eradicated.”
“And the bad news?” Shadow asked.
“It’s going to affect her memory, most of her long term memories will be gone so she’ll have to make new ones,” the doctor said.
“And from the looks of things we have more to do?” Gerald looked it over, “Shadow, it looks like your DNA is overwriting my son’s portion and more but it needs to stay balanced somehow. Doing that will make her physically younger, maybe the equivalent of a 4 or 5-year-old if we get this right.”
“We will, I promise we will,” Shadow spoke with a certainty neither of the humans felt.
As the days wore on at least the treatment was able to achieve its intended purpose, Maria’s N.I.D.S. was completely cured after less than a week. Her transformation continued to progress and she was in such pain whenever she was conscious that they still had to feed her intravenously. Eventually Maria’s change finished and she resembled a young hedgehog like Shadow, except that she had blonde quills and even her long hair had changed into quills, albeit much softer and more hair-like than what they expected; her dress was far too large on her body, looking almost like a blanket.
“We won’t know for certain but it looks like Maria’s changes have stopped,” the doctor said, “She might even have the same regenerative factor that Shadow does, we could try to refine this to prevent the aggressive takeover of the body in others but it will take time. I don’t know if it’s safe to revive her yet.”
“We’ll have to try,” Gerald was determined, “I’m more worried she won’t recognize me. Regardless-” Gerald was cut off by a warning siren that started blaring.
One of the staff hit the intercom, “What’s going on.”
“The proximity sensor went off!” came the garbled reply, “G.U.N. has launched a missile attacasfafc sdafcasf,” his voice was cut off by static and the voice of the liaison came through.
“I regret to inform the staff at ARK that we have decided to terminate your research projects. We copied everything of value you had and have handed them over to more reliable scientists, Project Shadow will now be in the hands of Dr. Mobius as the current result has shown to be far too dangerous. Thank you for all of your service.” The transmission cut off and the voice it had overwritten returned.
“We’re doing our best to get the defenses up but I don’t think we can stop the station from de-orbiting!” the sound of an explosion rocked the whole ship for an instant. “Eclipse cannon offline!”
“Let’s go!” Gerald was about to pick up Maria but Shadow beat him to it. “Alright, follow me.”
Shadow ran after Gerald as another explosion hit the station, “Where are we going, dad!?” he shouted.
“The only safe place!”
Alarms were blaring constantly as they reached the central lab of ARK and Gerald quickly went to work on stasis tank bed, “Put Maria in here, she’ll be protected if any part of the station survives!”
Shadow put her in wordlessly as Gerald closed the hatch and suspension liquid started to fill the chamber, “Now hurry this way!” Gerald stumbled as another explosion rocked the station but Shadow propped him up as they made their way to Shadow’s original tube.
Gerald had to all but lift Shadow up and stick him in the tube before he shut it. Shadow as taken aback and turned to face Gerald at the controls. He was about to start pounding on the glass when Gerald spoke to him, barely audible through the glass and over the alarms.
“Shadow, my son, please look after Maria.” Shadow’s tube stared to fill with suspension fluid, “No matter what happens, please look after her!” Then time froze for Shadow...
OoOoO
“...and that’s the last thing I remember before you woke me up.” Shadow finished.
“That’s... I mean wow,” Sonic whistled.
Tails took a moment to process everything and only stumbled on one question, “So you’re a doctor?”
“Not officially certified but Dr. Mikamura said I was more qualified than most physicians on Earth.” A beeping from behind Shadow drew his attention and he turned to the monitor, “Subject safely revived, good.” Shadow opened Maria’s suspension bed, the lid sliding back, “And with how much of her DNA has been replaced, Maria is my biological daughter now.” Shadow carefully picked Maria up out of her dress, which was still heavy with soaked in suspension fluid, which let Sonic and Tails see that she was a blonde hedgehog with a white belly and long hair-like quills; she was small enough that Shadow could easily hold her in his arms.
Maria’s eyes fluttered and she looked up at him. “Sha...dad...dow?” she whispered.
Shadow smiled gently at her, “Yes, Maria, it’s me, and these two,” he turned to Sonic and Tails, “are the ones who saved us, say hi.”
Sonic pointed to himself with a thumb, “I’m Sonic the Hedgehog.”
Tails smiled and gave a small wave, “Call me Tails.”
“Hi Sonic, hi Tails. Thank you,” Maria clung to Shadow’s shoulder.
“Now let’s give you a check up to make sure you’re all better, OK?” Shadow carried her over to another part of the lab.
