ARAAT4: Origins

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A Rose And A Thorn 4: Origins

Co-Written by Harley Quinn hyenaholic and Froggy22651

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Harley: Well, now there’s an option to turn off Anonymous reviews. I’ve turned them On, but if people start being stupid again, at least I can stop them this time.

Froggy: Well, now there’s a really fancy age verifier. I’m glad to say me and Harley don’t have to lie about our dates of birth, but a few people out there might. Is it really necessary to have to sign in every time though?

Harley: Oh, well. This chapter isn’t particularly gripping, but sometimes you can’t help that. You find out more about Midnight, anyway. There’s all my other things to read if you really can’t bear it. As for making ARAAT into a book… well, I don’t think Sega would stand for it.

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Chapter Thirteen: The Equation

Mirage leant on the metal wall just outside the Restricted Area, chewing on a claw nervously. Yesterday they had discussed this plan, in the gym and then in the garden... what she was scared of was that somebody would take that seriously, would not be interested in the emotion between her and Midnight, but in the blab about the future. She looked over at Midnight, who was watching her expectantly. She was the one who had come up with the marvellous plan, so she had to make it work. And it wasn't even that she didn't know how. It was just that she was scared. They were finally changing things, and she was scared. She looked to Midnight again, for reassurance.

He gave her that smile that she so desperately needed to see, the smile that said, ‘I love you and believe in you and know that you can do this’. Her plan seemed a little bizarre to him, depending entirely on her own newfound powers, but as usual, he trusted her to know what she was doing, "Alright. The coast is clear. Let's do this,” he said in a calm, confident voice.

Mirage flexed her claws and looked at the Shard, then at the thick steel door. You didn't need to shout. That was just to impress the crowd - or more accurately, scare them, something Shadow would always enjoy. You didn't need to speak it. You didn’t even need to move. You just had to know.

Knowledge is Power... Power equals Energy... Energy equals Matter... Matter equals Mass… Mass distorts Space... and makes a dent... if there is enough of it, you leave a hole... A large piece of the steel door vanished, leaving a gap just big enough for a Hedgecat and an Echidna to walk through.

After a moment of hesitation, Midnight led the way, slipping through the doorway Mirage had created for them. As the hedgecat followed, Midnight ran his eyes over the space where the wall had ceased to exist, marvelling at his mate's abilities. When the section of wall reappeared a moment later, he remarked, "I'm no master of chaos energy, but for future reference, I think that ability could be used as a powerful offensive weapon."

"It will be," Mirage told him, "If you like watching people's lungs fall out of thin air. Come along..." She hurried along, perfectly aware that they were being caught on about a million cameras.

Giving a sharp nod, the echidna followed after her, knowing that every second they wasted was another second they could be caught. They couldn't afford to be caught, for both their sakes and the sakes of the innocents aboard the ARK.

Mirage set the pace, moving fast and almost soundlessly over the metal corridors, heading fast for the stasis tubes set aside. Even if they were caught, they couldn't exactly lock her up now that she could walk through walls. They passed surprised scientists, half-sentient freaks that looked a little bit like Shadow and a little bit like your worst nightmare, and even a small boy who stared at them both, astounded. She ignored them all.

Midnight held the boy's gaze for an instant, slightly put off by the young human's eyes, one sea-green, and the other brown. The moment passed, and the echidna moved on, following the hedgecat, "How close are we?" he asked.

Mirage didn't answer, reasoning that it didn't really matter. She skidded to an abrupt halt outside a door that looked like any other door in the complex, "Chaos Energy - I can almost smell it!" she said. She waved a hand at the door again and it vanished. She hurried through the gap, followed by Midnight, into a room.

It contained over thirty tubes, each one about ten feet tall, the glass frosted over with the cold inside them, containing some sort of machine that rested on top of... well, if solid water could be anything other than ice, that's what they would be made of.

“These things are going to destroy the ARK,” she said, wiping the frost off one. There was a long silence as she stared, “Are not they beautiful…”

Midnight stood where he was and looked up into the tubes at the bizarre creations of the ARK's scientists: robots that seemed to be able to manipulate water as their body. They didn’t look beautiful to him. They looked like hideous monsters. Still, beauty was in the eye of the beholder.

His grey eyes stared at the things, watching the life-like motions they made, tendrils of water reaching out and moving slowly as the machine appeared to... stare back at the echidna warrior with reptilian eyes full of burning, savage rage. Quilla could only gape at the unimaginably powerful monster that had been forged from pure hate and the miracle gems that he and his fellow warriors had tried to take. Many of the warriors stood there staring, like him. Others turned and fled, screaming in terror. For the first time he could remember in years, Quilla was truly frightened. With a deafening roar, the water-dragon unleashed a flood upon the warriors, bashing them away with frothing waves. Quilla dropped his spear and thrashed through the water, struggling to keep his head above, struggling to keep air in his lungs. Breaking the surface, the proud warrior clung to the walls of the royal palace as the storm raged against his city, destroying it and its frightened citizens. For all of his skills, for all of his bravery and royal right, he could do nothing against such awesome power. He was but an insect to be squashed, and squashed he was, the waves pulling him under once more. Giving one final, anguished scream, water rushed into his lungs, and Quilla sank into darkness for the last time... Midnight gasped, frozen in place, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open.

"Midnight! Midnight, are you okay?!" Mirage shook him hard. She grabbed his face and turned him to look into her crimson eyes, "Midnight, speak to me!"

Midnight blinked, remembering who he was and where he was at. "I… I'm ok,” he assured her, “Just another memory..."

"What happened?" Mirage asked him, forgetting momentarily that speed was of the essence right now. Midnight seemed to be suddenly a whole lot more important than saving the world.

"I saw my... I saw Quilla's death,” he said quietly, "He was killed by some sort of monster, him and his entire civilization, by some sort of... it was a monster, a dragon, a demon made of water..."

Mirage turned slowly and looked at the Artificial Chaos, then back to Midnight. Mirage was used to insanity. It ran in the family. And fear lay sprawled across her mind like a large, sleepy dog. But as crimson eyes scoured a dark blue face, she was beginning to realise that it was possible to suffer a worse state than mere insanity. It was when you were perfectly sane and the impossible was still happening, "Was it... like those things?" she asked him.

"Larger,” he breathed, "Much, much larger. Huge and powerful and... and hateful."

“They are dreaming,” Mirage said softly, “I can feel their minds. They are held together by Master Emerald energy and I can feel their minds. They are already dreaming.”

“What are they dreaming of?” Midnight asked, curiously.

Mirage smiled thinly, “They are dreaming of waking up,” she said.

"Then we'd better make sure they don't," Midnight replied.

As she went over to the computer in the corner, Mirage was aware that Midnight had turned back to stare at the things again. She logged in as Robotnik, Gerald. The password was, as she had guessed, ‘Maria’.

As Mirage was tapping at the controls, Midnight was still looking at the artificial chaos, breathing hard, obviously shaken by his vision. "You killed my people,” he spoke in a harsh whisper, "You killed me."

"Hey, everybody dies sometime," Mirage said absently from the corner. There was a small, empty silence as she remembered that she was immortal, "Well, most people do," she corrected herself.

"I'm going to find the one of you which did it,” he growled softly, seeming to not hear Mirage, "And when I do, I'm going to destroy him."

"It, Midnight," Mirage corrected him, "Not him, it," she continued typing, "I do not think it was one of them, anyway," she added.

Giving the things in the tanks another glare, the blue echidna turned away and again joined the hedgecat's side.

“It says here that the computers on the top of them are supposed to stop them from turning back into water or something,” she said, “They are also supposed to control them, but they do not work properly because of an overload of energy or something… so when they got out, they just went crazy.”

"Blindly attacking anyone and everyone,” said Midnight with a nod, "Yeah, I can believe that. So can you lock this place down? Or better yet, mess these machines up so they can't function?"

"It is Windows 3000. How am I supposed to mess it up any worse than it already is?" Mirage asked him, "No. I am going to change the password needed to wake them up. Old password... Maria... new password..." Mirage gave it a few seconds thought, then hammered the keyboard with her elbow, "89kiujop97uyk. Confirm new password... copy… paste… 89kiujop97uyk. That should stop them!"

Midnight smirked, crossing his arms over his chest, admiring her work, "Totally random. It could take them a long time to figure a way around it. Long enough for us to figure out a more permanent solution."

"Come on, we have to get out of here," Mirage tugged Midnight's arm.

“Mirage,” Midnight said suddenly, “These… humans… treat us all like shit. They act like they’re gods or something. They’re…” he shuddered, “Awful. You could get the people who matter - you, me, Shadow, Sonic, Maria, maybe even Gerald - out of here. You could just save the people who deserve to live. Why do you care if the rest of those bastards die?”

Mirage smiled sadly, remembering what she’d read in Gerald’s notes a few days ago, “Because I am programmed to,” she said.

“You’re programmed to be some sort of ice queen?” Midnight raised an eyebrow, smiling a little, “You’re the new ‘ice queen’ model they’re bringing out this year?”

Mirage smiled briefly, “Ice queen? I resent that!” she hid her face quickly, not wanting Midnight to see her eyes, “It is just the way things turned out, I guess,” she said.

Without incident, the two of them managed to get back to the security door to the top secret research section. With any luck, the guards on duty would not have noticed or figured the significance of the two projects moving around in there. Stepping to the side, the echidna bowed and gestured towards the wall, "After you,” he spoke.

Mirage snapped her fingers, a totally unnecessary action, and they hurried through the resulting hole. A pair of sky blue eyes watched them go...

~~~

On one of the ARK's many observation decks, the lights were out, leaving the room and its one occupant illuminated by the light of the stars and that reflected off of a an ominous comet as it continued on its way through the solar system. A single red eye stared out the view port, attached to a floating central body of purple, bruised-looking flesh and several tentacle arms, like some sort of bizarre extraterrestrial starfish. It remained there silently, thinking its sinister, alien thoughts.

Ashura shuffled his feet as he came up behind Black Doom's messenger, Doom's Eye. It was strange. He could read people's minds, he could twist their brains, he was... great... and this sorry excuse for a tentacle monster still freaked the hell out of him. He cleared his throat, hoping he wouldn't be heard.

For a moment, it seemed like he went unnoticed, but then the creature spoke without turning to face him. How it did that was a mystery; it had no obvious mouth to speak from, "Ashura... What news do you bring us?"

Ashura tried to grin. It was ridiculous. He was one of Them. But these aliens, these things, filled him with fear - and anger at being fearful. He granted favours and asked for more in return that his clients could afford, but this thing acted like simply letting him live was a favour, "There's been a hitch," he said, all traces of confidence leaving his voice.

"Explain,” the alien message commanded, still looking out at the stars, its tentacles eerily swaying back and forth.

"Well, you know how the Artificial Chaos were going to go crazy upon their release... after Project Shadow's completion..." Ashura felt as if his throat barely worked any more, "There's been a hitch..." he managed again.

"Tell us about the hitch, Ashura, and stop stalling,” the alien being rumbled, annoyed by the green hedgehog's hesitation.

"The password was changed," Ashura said, his voice almost a squeak. Dear me, I sound like the terrified lackey... he thought, "I was watching, she changed it... she's totally insane, I know she is, I made sure of it! But she knew! How could she know?!"

"The answer to that is quite simple,” replied the alien, seeming to be totally unfazed by this news, "Professor Gerald thinks himself clever. He intends to betray me and keep his prize. I understand human treachery very well. It is, however, not a game exclusive to them," Finally, the starfish-like Doom's Eye spun around and stared into Ashura with its one crimson orb. "It was the feline and her echidna companion, wasn't it?"

Ashura considered, briefly, the word ‘feline’. It hardly applied to a… creature like Mirage. After all the messing around those doctors had done with her, she didn’t have a drop of pure species blood in her. When Project Shadow was awoken, he wouldn’t be all that different.

“Well?”

"Yes..." Ashura squeaked, and his face formed into a glare, despite his terror of the consequences, "But you can't kill her! You mustn't! I still need her!" And even a child could tell that the need wasn't for caring, or love, or anything as paltry as a heart or a soul could provide. The need was for power.

Doom's Eye gave a low, amused chuckle, saying, "Treachery, as I understand it, is considered a virtue among your kind. Loyalty certainly is not. But do not fear; I have no intentions of eliminating her. In fact, I believe that this 'hitch' can be used to our advantage..."

"Great!" Ashura enthused, then his face fell, "Uh, how?"

"You shall see in time,” the alien assured him, "You have served us well, Ashura, and in the coming ceremony, you will be well rewarded. The ARK will be a useful tool to the Black Arms, but before it can be, it must be cleansed of these humans. And cleansed, it shall be. I will merely provide the spark; human nature will fuel the inferno."

Ashura regained his confidence, approaching the view port, "Mortality - and the fear of it - is such a useful tool." He smirked.

"Ironically, this fear of death will prove to be the greatest cause of it,” Doom's Eye mused, joining his fellow conspirator in looking at the stars.

Ashura nodded knowingly, and suddenly the pair of them burst into laughter, one low and booming, the other starting off slowly, like a glacier cracking, and then degenerating into the typical evil cackle used by all power-hungry lunatics.

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Harley: Next chapter we get back to a combination of mind-fucking and ass-kicking. Fantastic amounts of fun!

Froggy: Now, read, sign in, and review. It’s not that hard. And if you don’t have an account, well, bloody well get one!