Shadow In The Light
Good grief, you were having a headache.
Maybe it was due to that Snively figure. You had to really wrack your brain to decide if he was worth keeping it around before ultimately deciding to go with...you weren't sure if it was gut instinct or some fragment of memory to dismiss him from your base.
Considering you felt satisfied in seeing the shocked expression in Snively's face before he was escorted out of the base by Metal Sonic and Rusty Rose, you felt it was the right choice...though you later began to second-guess yourself.
Bah. You just hoped that wouldn't bring issues in the future...
You stopped in front of Belle's room. You weren't really thinking in going there, but you could as well check on the self-proclaimed Thinker, considering she wished to go with Canaan to help her on the mercenaries' quest for her friend/lover/whatever.
However...
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Sound of bullets. Too weak to be real. More like a...
"Why?"
Such words made your blood go cold.
"Belle? Is everything alright?"
The machine girl silently opens the door to her room, her expression still shocked.
"Doctor..." she said. "I'm sorry, I was just browsing through the files of the base to look for the schemes I made to repair miss Piastol's ship and..."
He looked at the screen in her room, playing in silence a very familiar video, of men in black charging through very technologically advanced rooms and shooting down men and women wearing lab coats.
Something causes you to force into the cubicle and shut it down, despite knowing the damage was already done.
"You shouldn't watch that," you say, with softness coming from who knows where. "That's a powerful image for a young mind like yours."
The machine seemed to hesitate, before asking:
"Those men...they were from G.U.N., right? I thought they focused on preserving the peace, but they were shooting down those water creatures and...so many people. Why?"
You shook your head bitterly.
"Tsk, tsk. It's always what such groups say, those military groups that think it's all for the sake of regional/national/worldwide security. Take a pick, and you'll it's all the same. But here's the truth, Belle: at the end of the day, groups like G.U.N. are not focused on serving the people: they serve their governments. Allow me to tell you a tragic tale, of a brilliant mind brought to heel by them..."
So, for the next minutes, you tell her the story of the ARK. Of one Gerald Robotnik, who, to cure his dear Maria, brought to world weapons of mass destruction, that dealt with Black Doom, that created the Biolizard and Shadow the Hedgehog.
And then you tell of his downfall. Of how failure after failure brought the pressure of his employers on his head, until they decided to erase everything, having no regard for innocence or guilt: their weapons were made to hide truths so that no people knew their secrets...and how this led to the death of even a innocent girl.
"I never met Maria personally...but I guess you two would bounce off each other, as some youth say," you grumble. "Pretty cheerful girls overall, with a wish for exploration...if it weren't for her NIDS, I guess she would just hop from one corner of the world to the other as a traveling inventor, or some silly thing like that."
"It doesn't sound too bad..." Belle said. You nearly scoff at the notion, but decide not to.
"In any case...my grandfather's name was forever tarnished as that of a maniac, when it was G.U.N. that led him to become such. On their search for justice, they nearly destroyed the world. I already didn't have high regards for them, but once I learned the truth, I just knew the odds of we ever looking eye to eye would only be acceptable if something like the end of the world was happening..."
The puppet seems hesitant.
"But...they were created to protect people," she said, hesitant. "And they do that. Are they good or evil, doctor?"
You tap your fingers at her bed.
"Hm. You are a rather binary machine, ain't you?" you muse. "Good, evil...such abstract concepts. If you ask nine in ten people, they would decry me as a boogey man, some scourge of this world coming from an accursed bloodline. But there are so many wrong things in the world: people that fancy themselves as heroes and instead use of whatever power they have to twist the world in their favor, and are yet hailed as heroes."
You put a hand on the screen.
"I want a different world. A mechanical utopia in which people can happily live and not fear being victim of injustices! This is my Eggmanland! The world may refuse it, but this is a goal I shall aspire for until my last breath! Glory to the Eggman Empire! HAHAHAHAHAHA..."
Your laughter dies as you see Belle flinch.
"Sorry...it was just a bit loud..."
"That's how I laugh. I get this a lot," you shrug. "In short, Belle, be careful in defining good from evil in such a binary manner, for the world is painted in more colors than black and white."
The girl seemed to reflect on the matter, a hand on her chin. You decide to leave her alone to reflect...
Your heart feels a bit lighter for some reason.