Clothes Maketh The Man

The med-tech looked down at the still slumbering Guardian. He had been brought to the infirmary several hours ago, and showed no signs of waking. She had tended his wounds, cleaned the blood and soot from his fur, as requested, and now, could do little more than watch him sleep.

She was amazed at just how quickly he seemed to be healing. His most noticeable injury, though by no means the most grievous, his blackened left eye, was almost completely healed. There was barely any swelling, and only a slight discolouration.

There was a fairly obvious cut beneath his right eye. Now little more than a healing scar, albeit a nasty looking one, it had been a very open, and heavily bleeding gash when he’d been brought to her.

The burns and scorches on most of his body were now the bright pink of recovering flesh, not the blackened, blistered mess they had been. His fur was already beginning to grow back.

‘If we could somehow isolate whatever it is in his genetic structure...’ she mused, ‘the lives we could save...’

"Lord Dimitri wishes to know if there has been any change in the patient." Xenin said as he entered the room, interrupting her thoughts.

"His injuries appear to be healing at an alarming rate," she informed him, indicating the bruising around his left eye. Xenin nodded silently as he noticed that the swelling was now almost completely gone, the colour almost returned to normal. "But he shows no sign of waking."

Xenin leaned in for a closer look. "He does seem rather peace..." He gasped as a red hand clamped painfully about his neck.

"Admiring your handiwork?" Knuckles growled in a venom-filled voice as the cyborg struggled to breathe. He curled his fingers around the young echidna’s, desperately trying to pry loose his vice-like grip. He hadn’t realised the boy was that strong. "Time for a little payback."

The med-tech screamed and reached for a nearby hypodermic needle. No one had been exactly sure what to expect when the Guardian awoke, and certain precautions had been made. She froze in her tracks as Knuckles fixed her with a cold, angry glare. "You come anywhere near me with that, and I’ll show you just where to stick it."

She dropped the needle, dimly aware of the sound of breaking glass as it hit the floor. She backed away, terrified, even though he made no move towards her. Turning, she bolted in blind panic from the room, slapping a large red button by the door as she did so. The door slid close behind her as a sweet smelling vapour began to fill the room.

Knuckles’ eyes darted about the room, narrowing as he located the source of the gas. He dropped the gagging Xenin, walked calmly across the room, and crushed the gas valve shut with a single hand.

He returned his attention to Xenin, a sadistic smile curling his mouth.

"Well," he said, "looks like it’s just you and me."

~~~~~

"Hmmm," Dimitri smiled as an alarm sounded. "Looks like our boy’s awake." He glanced at Moritori and Kommisar. "I guess we should go and see how he turned out."

~~~~~

The med-tech cringed at the obvious sounds of battle from the still locked room. The muffled thuds as one of the combatants hit the wall. The sound of breaking glass and shattering furniture.

"What the blazes is going on in there!?" Moritori demanded as he entered with his grandfather and granddaughter.

The med-tech’s head snapped towards them, her crystal blue eyes wide with alarm. Seeing Dimitri, she immediately bowed and attempted to follow proper procedures in reporting to her leader. "The Guardian awoke, my Lord," she began in a halting voice, "shortly after Xenin had entered to enquire about his condition. When Xenin began to examine the Guardian’s injuries, the Guardian grabbed him, and threatened us both," she looked at the floor, appearing more than a little ashamed. "So, I ran..."

Dimitri waved off her disgrace. "Perfectly understandable." He chuckled to himself. "I’m not sure I’d want to be locked in a room with either one of them myself." He cocked his head, listening to the crashes and thuds. "They’re not letting up, are they?"

"Kid’s got a lot of spunk," Kommisar smiled. "Is there anyway to see in," she asked the med-tech, "without opening the door?" she added quickly. Fearing for her own safety, she wasn’t too sure she wanted to let them out.

"There was a security camera in there," the med-tech admitted, "But the Guardian threw Xenin right at it. I’m afraid it’s totally destroyed. There is some footage, though." She tapped in a few commands at her computer terminal, bringing up a black and white, slightly grainy image of the room, and the two combatants.

Knuckles stood on the examining table, his back to the camera, flexing his long fingers. His muscles tensed, the spines on his back bristled, like a dog with its hackles up, his attention focused on the somewhat wary Xenin. The cyborg jumped at him, but the lighter Knuckles simply back-flipped over him.

There was no sound to go with the picture, but Xenin’s grunt as he impacted with the hard metal surface was obvious. Knuckles dropped down, the table tilting at the sudden increase in weight on one side. The young Guardian may not be a match for the mass of the cyborg, but he was no featherweight either.

Xenin gripped one side as the table gave way beneath them. Knuckles’ agility saved him from ending up beneath the metal slab as it flipped over, narrowly missing Xenin. The picture shook at the impact.

"The boy’s fast," Moritori noted.

Xenin charged, but Knuckles side-stepped him, spinning around to kick him in the back. Knuckles dug his fingers into Xenin’s metal back-plate, lifting him easily from the floor. He spun around a couple of times, building up speed, before he hurled Xenin across the room, straight into the camera. The picture deteriorated into nothing but static.

"And brutal," Kommisar added.

"I guess we’re just going to have to go in there then," Dimitri sighed. "Or they’ll end up killing each other." As leader of the Dark Legion, Dimitri had full access to all of the Legion’s facilities. He placed his thumb in a small indent in the wall, just below a softly glowing red indicator light. A neighbouring green light flickered to life and the door slid open.

No sooner had the door opened than a red blur flew through it. Without losing momentum, Knuckles grabbed a hanging light fixture, swung over it, twisted in mid-air and hurled himself back into the room he’d just vacated. There was a screech of tortured metal and an infuriated scream as he impacted, feet first, with Xenin, before the cyborg could exit.

Showing no fear for his own safety, Dimitri followed them into the room, while Moritori, Kommisar and the frightened med-tech watched from the door. The room was dark, the lights having been taken out early in the battle. Powdered glass, shattered furniture and shredded linen littered the floor.

Knuckles was crouched in a low, almost bestial stance, eyes locked with Xenin’s. There were several deep gashes on the cyborg’s metal frame, exposed wires hanging through the openings. Knuckles, however, had not a mark on him, other than the ones that had already been there. The pair seemed unaware of the newcomers as they slowly circled the room, both tensed for attack.

"Boys," Dimitri admonished, "don’t make me separate you."

The sound of his voice snapped the pair back to reality. Xenin snapped to attention in respect for his superior. Knuckles merely diverted his attention from one target to the other.

"Impressive," Dimitri said, taking note of the damage inflicted on Xenin.

"He had it coming," Knuckles growled in a low, threatening voice. "For that matter, so do you."

"Perhaps," Dimitri nodded, "But there are so much more worthy avenues for you to exert your aggressions."

An uncharacteristically malevolent look took over Knuckles’ countenance.

"What have you got in mind?"

"Just a little world domination." Dimitri smiled.

"You’ve got a one track mind," Knuckles said, his body relaxing as he rose to a less defensive stance. "But it’s an interesting tune. What’s in it for me?"

"Anything you want," Dimitri walked towards him, arms spread wide. "Anything you can imagine."

Knuckles cocked his head to one side as he studied the massive cyborg. "I don’t know..." he said, warily. Then a wicked smile curled his mouth. "I’ve got a pretty twisted imagination."

"Really?" Kommisar purred. "Sounds intriguing."

He turned slightly to face her. She gasped in spite of herself as he fixed her with a cold glare. It wasn’t the look so much, she was used to that from him, it was the eyes. She remembered Mathias Poe saying that the green tint, hardly noticeable in the darkened room, was proof that he’d become the opposite of what he’d been. The change in his fur colouring was easy to overlook. But there was no missing the change in his eyes.

The deep, soulful violet had been changed to a pale, golden amber. All the usual warmth was gone. These eyes were cold. These eyes were calculating.

These were the eyes of a predator.

"You’ll be answerable only to me," Dimitri continued.

"WHAT!?" Moritori demanded. Dimitri ignored him.

"You’ll be Second-In-Command of the entire Legion."

"Now, wait a minute..." Moritori growled.

"But, we’ll have to find you something suitable to wear." Dimitri looked the youngster over. "Running around in nothing but fur may be rather provocative, but it hardly demands respect." He slapped a hand on Knuckles’ shoulder. "Come. Let’s get you suited up."

"This is unacceptable!" Moritori grumbled as he watched the oldest and youngest generations of their bloodline exit the room. "That rodent is NOT of Dimitri’s own flesh, but of his brother’s. I should be Second-In-Command."

"Perhaps so, Grandfather." Kommisar admitted. "But are YOU going to tell him?"

Xenin was examining his exposed circuits and wires. The med-tech approached. He noticed her concern. "Do not worry," he told her. "It is all structural. It would seem he was more interested in causing me embarrassment than pain."

"But, you’re bleeding." She protested, pointing to a nasty gash on his face. Xenin touched it, studying the blood on his fingers.

"So I am," he said. "But a true warrior wears his battle scars with pride."

~~~~~

"What is taking that boy so darn long?" Moritori muttered.

"The guy usually wears mittens, socks and shoes," Kommisar said. "He’s probably having trouble with the buttons or something."

The door slid open and Knuckles entered the room silently. He was studying his new attire rather apprehensively.

"Oh, my," Kommisar whispered at the sight of him. He raised his head at the sound of her voice.

He was covered from neck to toe in skin-tight black leather. Only his head and hands remained uncovered. On top of the leather he wore several pieces of gleaming body armour. A single piece of moulded metal encased his upper torso and heavy gauntlets covered his forearms from wrist to elbow. A long, curved and extremely lethal looking blade extended past each elbow. A long flowing cloak, also of black leather, though of a softer variety, hung from his shoulders, held in place with a strangely opalescent green crystal, which seemed to shimmer with its own, unnatural light.

"Ah." Dimitri beamed. "Now, you look like family."

Kommisar smiled as she eyed him appreciatively. The armour accented the broadness of the shoulders, while the tightness of the leather gave greater definition to the tonality in the rest of his body. And the colour combination of the black leather and his red fur, despite its green taint, was quite striking.

"Ooooh." She purred. "You were just POURED into that suit."

"How do you wear so much?" Knuckles commented absently as he ran his hand up the tight-fitting leather that encased his arm. "It’s restricting, and your fur can’t breath."

"It’s intimidating," Dimitri told him. "And it does offer a great deal of protection." ‘Not to mention it covers that blasted birthmark of yours.’ He frowned as he noticed the boy wasn’t wearing the gloves that went with the ensemble. "Did you forget the gloves?" He asked.

"Nah," Knuckles replied with a smile. "You DID say this outfit was for intimidation, and I think these babies," he held up his hands, "are far more intimidating if there’s not hidden behind leather."

Dimitri studied the young echidna’s hands and smiled. The boy was right. The four knuckle spurs were lethal looking enough, but each of the boy’s fingers, and his now concealed toes, ended in a long, sharp claw. Dimitri had never met another echidna with such talon-like fingernails.

From the data collected during their last encounter, Dark Legion medical officers had developed the theory that whatever had been done to the youngest Guardian to increase his power levels, had also resulted in the re-activation of long dormant genes in his basic echidna structure.

Long ago, echidnas, with their sensitivity to harsh sunlight, had been burrowing animals, living in massive underground communities. But as they evolved, as they adapted to the light and began to build villages, towns and cities, they no longer needed their claws for digging. And as their technology advanced, they no longer required them for defence, and so, they had gradually been bred out of the species.

Likewise, the smaller spines on his back. None in the Legion had been aware of them until he had instinctively used them to defend himself against Mathias Poe. They too, were relics of a bygone, eat or be eaten age, a deterrent for hungry predators, so they would look for a meal elsewhere.

But he could also create biological Chaos energy, which not only increased the strength of his natural abilities, but also enabled him to perform acts that could not be explained by any scientific means. The boy was both more primitive and more highly evolved than any other echidna in existence.

"What do I need with this armour?" He demanded. "It’s heavy. I don’t know if I can glide in this."

"Come now," Dimitri smiled. "It’s not THAT heavy, it was specifically designed for you, so that was taken into account. And it does have some...interesting features. There’s a removable, portable computer in the left gauntlet." Dimitri turned over Knuckles’ arm to reveal the small screen set into the armour. He pressed down firmly just above it, popping open a small slot in the armour. He pulled the device from its slot. It was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, and only a few centimetres thick. "It’s voice activated, so you don’t even have to type. And it’s got a holographic projector." He held his palm out flat. "Display schematic for personal hoverdisk." He said. A detailed diagram of the mentioned piece of equipment appeared above the tiny computer, hanging eerily in mid-air. "That will be all." Dimitri said. The schematic dissolved. The cyborg offered the computer to its new owner.

"Very cute." Knuckles commented as he took it and returned it to its slot.

"And if you twist your arms quickly, like this..." Dimitri demonstrated with his own arms. Knuckles mirrored him and three sickle-shaped blades popped out to surround his hands, much like a trident. They reminded Knuckles of Kragok’s artificial hand. He raised a brow.

"But, most interestingly of all is this," Dimitri tapped the large oval crystal on Knuckles’ chest. "And these." He indicated two similar crystals, each set into either gauntlet. "See how it shimmers?" He touched the large crystal.

"Yeah." Knuckles confirmed. "What’s making it do that?"

"You are."

Knuckles raise a brow. "Come again?"

"It stores the ambient Chaos energy that your body is constantly radiating." Dimitri explained. "It’s hooked up to the two smaller ones, through circuitry in the armour and leather. By focusing your will..."

Knuckles made a fist of his left hand. The crystal on his chest began to fade, the shimmer moving to the smaller crystal embedded in the left gauntlet. As it intensified it began to emanate a vibrant green glow around Knuckles’ hand. He smiled as he guessed what it meant. He raised his hand, spreading his fingers. He willed the energy outwards. Emerald lightening danced from his fingertips, obliterating half of a nearby wall with pure Chaos energy.

Those present stared at it for a moment. A cruel smile curled around Knuckles’ face. He chuckled.

"Cool."