Time Heals All Things

Chapter Thirty-Three: From 'Subject Rodent' to 'Project Shadow'

  Contrary to Sonic's thoughts his glossy black furred boyfriend was not asleep, in fact he had only pretended to go back to sleep until he had heard his cobalt blue quilled partner shut the front door. Once he was sure he was alone Shadow had risen from their bed to make himself a strong coffee and retrieve his laptop from under the coffee table, the disc drive for it from his home office before returning. Once the black and red striped hedgehog was settled in bed with his pillows propped up he took a few sips before setting the rest of his coffee on the polished up precious stone slice that Rouge had given to him some years previously and pulled his laptop into his lap. These days it was Sonic who used this device more than him but he needed it to read the encrypted discs. He could have used his office computer but since it was a work terminal and he knew that neither Gerald nor Ivo wished G.U.N to find out these discs had not been destroyed twenty something years ago on Prison Island this seemed the safer option. Shadow took yet another sip of coffee as he waited for his laptop to finish running through it's start up sequence and reminding him even more why he much preferred his tablet.

  His red eyes immediately bulged in shock at the screen as he choked slightly on his coffee before finally gulping it down. The background wallpaper was a picture of himself and Sonic that his boyfriend had somehow managed to sneakily take without him even being aware of it. In the screenshot the two of them were curled together on the couch, he was clearly asleep as his eyes were shut and his head was resting against Sonic's shoulder and it was obvious that the sneaky blue hedgehog as feigning it as he lent his head on him but his arm was in a selfie position.

"Hmph. Idiot." Shadow muttered shaking his quills choosing to ignore the image for now and question Sonic when he finally returned from his 'lunch out' with Tails. He pulled out the disc drive for his slimline laptop and plugged it into the UBS port before slipping in the first encrypted disc entitled . Immediately the screen went black before a small password window appeared with a symbol cursor pulsing inside. Shadow tapped in the five letters that spelled out Maria and was once again greeted with the video of Gerald that he had first seen back on A.R.K the first time he had returned to it. What once had been an emotional eye opener now caused a dismissive grunt to escape Shadow's throat before he ran his black-furred index finger along the finger pad and tapped it, the video vanishing to reveal a small window behind which the edges of Sonic's chosen wallpaper was acting as a frame. Inside the window was two files one entitled Specification and the other Documentation. Curiously he clicked onto the Specification file and began reading Gerald's original project proposal and hypothesis after the original prototype: Biolizard was deemed a failure. This was followed by written directions on tests and experimentation with genes, DNA and cellular structure that clearly were meant to be read alongside a video journal judging by the time references in bulletin points. Upon realising this Shadow quickly altered the size and shape of the window before clicking on the Documentation file on the window behind and a new window sprung forth which his black index fingers quickly moved to reshape it to sit in neatly beside the Specifications window. He clicked on the first video and found himself watching Professor Gerald monologuing into the camera about cloning the cells of an already deceased lifeform. They were using this newly transferred alien species that had been discovered by G.U.N and signed over to them for the experiment. Gerald went on to state this second attempt was due to the failure of the first prototype with lizard DNA, Shadow instantly knew his creator was referring to the monstrosity that he and Sonic had destroyed twenty-something years previously. Behind him on the table was the dead remains of a mobian hedgehog with dark quills and this made the black furred hedgehog straighten. The long deceased scientist only referred to this mobian as a rare 'oddity' in evolution, there was no name for this hedgehog it was only written as 'Subject Rodent' in the Specifications. Back in the days of the ARK the human world had never encountered any mobian before, they had no idea what they had discovered. Both Mobius and the Federation both shared the same world but had never even met, the worlds that would not meet properly until fifty years later when Sonic and his friends accidentally used Chaos Control to cross the boarder. Shadow was unsure whether or not this hedgehog had been found alive or already dead. Considering that this being was the seed that spawned him so to speak he hoped that the latter was true. He would hate to think that this unknown biological DNA source had suffered so that he could be brought into this world.