A light beeping sounded as Sonic cautiously walked through the abandoned base. Skeletons and bones littered the metal hallways.

Giving a quick tap to his earpiece to radio in back to headquarters, the hedgehog stopped in his tracks to take in his surroundings.

"Sonic? Are you in the base yet?" Tails voice sounded out of his earpiece.

Sonic nodded, knowing his adoptive brother couldn't see him he answered,"yeah, where am I going bud? This place is giving me the creeps."

The foxes voice hesitated, yet stayed as strong as he could muster. "Sorry, Sonic. I just.. couldn't leave this alone."

"No worries, bud. I just want to get in and get out as soon as possible. So where should I head?"

"Right, sorry. Okay, head all the way down until you find a four-way intersection. Take a right and the third door on your left is where the project is. Now I don't know what it looks like, but I'm sure you'll know what it is when you come across it."

Giving a quick thanks, Sonic ended the transmission. He resumed walking through the broken down, rusted base.

The base the cobalt hedgehog was roaming was indeed the once enamored Space Colony ARK. After the raid almost 50 years ago, the space colony fell under great stress from the planet's gravitational pull and soon after came hurdling towards Mobius. If Sonic hadn't gone into his super form and slowed the decent to the ground, the space colony would have wiped out millions of Mobians.

A sigh left peach lips as he gazed upon the many humans that were slaughtered in the raid of the base all those years ago. Many still wore their lab coats and other articles of clothing.

Turning right, Sonic counted the doors until he came up to the third door on the left. Bracing himself for the hunt for the project Tails had been researching. What this thing could even possibly look like escaped him. He had no clue as to what he was looking for. It could be huge or incredibly small.

Nonetheless, he promised his brother he would get what he came here for. Taking one last breath, the hedgehog turned the handle of the door and opened it. The metal door creaked open with mild resistance.

A quick glance around the room made Sonic feel all the more comfortable walking in as he didn't see an immediate threat. Taking a chance, he strolled in, checking every corner of the room before stopping by an incredibly large... fish tank?

The blue hedgehog frowned, thinking to himself before he gave a sharp yelp and nearly jumped out of his fur as a shadowy figure moved inside of it. The dust covering the large tank made it hard for his emerald eyes to see what exactly had moved inside.

Using the fabric of his glove, he wiped across the circular glass and gasped when he saw what looked like a mirror image of himself. The only noticeable difference being the creature's dark fur and maroon markings on his limbs and upward turned quills.

Sonic squinted at the figure inside the glass. It seemed to be filled with a grossly colored green ooz while wires and tubes connected to the creature inside.

Knowing he shouldn't touch any of the panels to release the creature for fear of hurting it, Sonic radioed Tails and requested back up. The twin tailed fox was waiting outside of the base by the bi-plane, but Sonic knew his intellect in machinery would help tremendously.

The fox kit soon appeared in the room Sonic was in and immediately spotted the figure inside the ooz filled tank.

"What is that?" The younger of the two questioned, his mind racing to try and find an explanation. Nothing in the protected notes he delicately 'acquired' (stole) from Eggman's computer said anything about a synthetic hedgehog.

Sonic shrugged as he tapped lightly on the floor with his shoe,"I was hoping you could tell me. This think nearly made me crap my pants. Well. If I wore pants."

Tails looked at Sonic oddly,'what is he talking about?' Shaking his head, he began to search for a port to connect his Miles Electric to alleviate and bypass the system that connected to the tank the creature was connected to.

Sonic watched as his brother tapped away at the screen when a loud drainage noise caught his attention. The gross ooz in the chamber was sinking through a drain at the bottom of the tank, it continued to disperse until the creature was sitting limply on the floor.

With a clanging sound, the glass door of the tank opened and the stench from the inside made Sonic nearly gag. The ooz smelled just as badly as it looked. Giving Tails a nod, the fox pushed a few more buttons and the tubes and wires connected to the now presumably Mobian hedgehog detached themselves and hung from the ceiling of the tank.

Both boys gave a worried glance to the other as Sonic kneeled down cautiously, reaching out his gloved hand to touch the ebony hedgehog. Even through his glove, Sonic could feel the coldness of the other's face.

"Tails.. are we sure he's alive?"

Tails suddenly looked horrified, quickly checking the vitals on his Miles Electric to make sure he didn't see incorrectly. A quick sigh indicated that the hedgehog was in fact alive.

"We should take him. It wouldn't be right to leave him here."

"I think we should take him to a hospital, Sonic. It's more reasonable than our house," the fox offered, thinking it was the best option of the two.

Sonic seemed to agree, leaning over to grab the ooz sogged hedgehog and lift him into his arms. Some of the ooz soaked onto Sonic's fur but he ignored it as he and his kid brother walked to the entrance of the base.

The warmth Sonic's body held was seemingly drawing the ebony hedgehog in his arms closer to his body.

"You can put him in the cockpit behind my chair. It's the safest way to transport him while we're in the air," Tails hopped onto his plane, using his tails to propel him. Sonic nodded and placed his new found friend into the cockpit and secured him in. After he finished, he hopped onto the right wing of the plane and signaled that he was ready for take off with a thumbs up.

...

The beeping of the heart monitor connected by wires to the black hedgehog made Sonic sick at the thought of the poor being connected to test tubes again.

'Was he ever able to get out of the tank he was held in? Does he even have a name? The only thing I'm sure of is the fact that the hedgehog is a boy!' Sonic thought in vain as he stared at the boy in front of him.

The doctors at the hospital were informed of the predicament the ebony male was in and did their best to help him. They were confused when his DNA didn't seem to match normal hedgehog DNA, but they helped to the best of their abilities.

Tails had went home to gather all the data he could on his Miles Electric and returned to the hospital room to share his findings.

"—so, they called it Project S.h.a.d.o.w. but they never seemed to give him," Tails pointed to the being in the bed,"an actual name. They just refer to him as the 'project'. It doesn't look like he was ever released from the confinement of the tank, but he was awake and lucid. There are reports of him interacting with a young girl, but he was never taught to speak or even breathe without the help of the wires that were connected from him."

Sonic sighed, his ears lowering slightly,"so he never had a life and then he was trapped in a tank for fifty years. That's one way to be brought into this world."

Looking up from his device, Tails noticed the concern and worry plastered on his friends face,"Sonic, why do I feel like you got really attached really fast?"

Giving a light chuckle and whole hearted smile, the blue hedgehog shrugged,"this just.. bothers me. You know? Like.. how are you going to bring a whole being to life and then not let him live it? I swear bud, when he wakes up, I'm going to show him the world."

Finding the oddly fast attachment a little off putting, Tails nods at his friends proclaimation, resuming his research on his tablet.

...

Weeks had passed by before they received information regarding the black hedgehog. Sonic and Tails had flown to the hospital, eager to hear any general news about the stranger.

As they entered the premises, both boys were lead back to the hedgehog's room by a nurse who instructed them to wait until a doctor arrived.

The moment they entered, Sonic immediately realized the hedgehog they had brought in was missing. Not sure what to think about it, he was about to question Tails as someone knocked on the door and gained the Mobian's attention.

As the doctor walked in, in trailed the black hedgehog. His gaze was focused on the ground, his posture showed that he was timid along with his tail between his legs. The hedgehog's legs wobbled as he slowly walked towards his bed and struggled to climb onto it.

Puzzled yet excited the hedgehog was up, Sonic focused his attention to the doctor,"how is he?"

A concerned look covered the physician's face,"I have some.. concerns. He doesn't seem to be speaking, his body is malnourished, and he refuses to make eye contact. His boy language along with the mild scarring on his torso and back indicate that he might have been abused before you two had found him."

The brothers shared a concerned look before turning back to the doctor, Sonic spoke up,"where did you two come from?"

Looking rather embarrassed, the doctor's ear flicked,"well, he panicked when he woke up and ran out. Security found him in a broom closet a few floors above us. It took a while, but I managed to get him to trust me enough to lead him back here."

Sighing and sneaking a glance towards the hedgehog in the bed, Sonic turns to Tails,"what are you thinking little bro?"

He took a moment, but answered nonetheless,"I guess we could.. take him. It would be best for him to get used to a stable home rather than one that resembles the Ark where we found him, don't you think?"

Giving an odd look, the doctor reluctantly agreed seeing as how the black hedgehog was terrified of the monitors in the room and had to be removed.

After filling out hours of paperwork, Sonic spent the next few hours sitting in the room with the hedgehog that would soon go home with him. Sitting cross legged on the floor against the wall to seem less threatening, Sonic pretended to play with his shoe, keeping his ears to the barely audible sounds the hedgehog made as he slowly crept closer to the edge of the bed to see what the mysterious blue hedgehog was doing.

By the end of the day, both male hedgehogs were sitting on the floor, Sonic quietly chatted away, nervous that a booming voice might scare the timid hedgehog.

"What do ya say we head home now, bud," Sonic reaches out his hand making the hedgehog's quils bristle slightly at the gesture. Before blue could retract his hand, a striped hand reached out and grasped onto the glove Sonic wore.

Taking that as a good sign, Sonic looked at the hedgehog in front of him and smiled warmly. It was the first time he was able to look at the black hedgehog's face, taking in every detail he could. From the hedgehog's blood red irises to his tan muzzle, Sonic noticed it all.

Sonic slowly stood up, bringing the black hedgehog to his feet. The blue hedgehog tried to remove his hand from the others grip, but the strong grasp the black hedgehog continued to hold onto Sonic's. Shrugging it off as if the other didn't understand, Sonic began to slowly walk to the door, the ebony hedgehog following closely behind.

...

The walk home had taken longer than anticipated, the black hedgehog either growled defensively at other Mobians or attempted to hide behind his new found blue friend.

Sonic had asked Tails to spend a few nights at Vanilla's house, not wanting to scare the black hedgehog. Leading the male to the upstairs bathroom, Sonic left him in the small room to grab a towel.

As he walked back, he immediately noticed the hedgehog was no longer standing but instead he coward on the floor, the new scenery making his timid side even more known.

"Hey, hey," Sonic's soothing voice easily caught the attention of the black hedgehog,"what's wrong?"

Kneeling down, Sonic gently reached out his hand, expecting his dark counterpart to place his own hand in his. What he didn't expect was for the ebony male to lean forward slightly, pressing his forehead into the palm of Sonic's hand.

Taken aback, Sonic could only give a small chuckle at the gesture. Was this the hedgehog showing he trusted him? Or was this just miscommunication?

Shrugging it off, Sonic crawled on his knees towards the shower, turning on the faucet and plugging the drain to fill the bath. Figuring it would be easier to sit in a tub then stand on a slippery floor with wobbly legs. Once the tub was filled up, Sonic motioned for the black hedgehog to come closer.

The liquid seemed to make the male nervous, but he edged closer nonetheless.

After a few attempts, Sonic had finally managed to get the black hedgehog into the tub. Not without getting his own fur drenched, of course.

Atempting to show the black hedgehog how to wash himself was a bust. When Sonic showed that he needed to squirt shampoo onto his palm and scrub himself only resulted in the ebony male to scrub the liquid onto Sonic's fur.

Laughing, Sonic rolled his eyes,"no, you have to rub it on yourself."

The hedgehog tilted his head, his black ears flopping to the side.

Normally, Sonic wouldn't willingly wash someone else, but he knew the hedgehog in the tub wasn't capable of doing so on his own.

So, bathing another Mobian was what he was going to do. It was odd, but as he continued, he didn't find it as uncomfortable as he would have guessed. The smell from the gooey residue from the tank he was in was finally leaving and being replaced with a more earthy scent.

Once bath time was over, Sonic drapped the towel around the shoulders of the black hedgehog. He should probably find out what the hedgehog's name is, shouldn't he?

"I wonder what your name is," Sonic scratched his chin as the hedgehog in front of him dried off, leaving the soaked towel on the counter.

Sighing, the speedy blue hedgehog ushered the other male into the spare bedroom, expecting him to sleep there.

When Sonic tried to return to his own room, the black hedgehog followed him, expecting to go with the hedgehog that he deemed to be a safe Mobian. Many attempts were made to try and usher the nameless black hedgehog to his own room, but sleep soon took ahold of Sonic and he gave up not long after.

As he layed in bed, the black hedgehog curled up into a protective ball of spikes, he couldn't help but think about the many things the poor hedgehog could have gone through.

Not only did he not get to live the life he was created for, but he was more than likely abused by the scientists aboard the space colony. Who would do such a thing? Sonic could only frown at the thoughts, sleep soon grabbing ahold of him. His body seemingly relaxing.