Brothers in Arms

Eclipse: Ally or Agent?

"Eclipse?" I wake up rather suddenly to someone shaking me, groggily raising my head.

"Ergh?" I groan unintelligently, reaching up automatically to wipe drool off my face.

"It's time for you to talk to the Commander. So, come on." I let out a hefty sigh at this news, realizing I still feel quite tired, but my mind starts turning gears, and, by the time I am out of my warm bed--what is it with these humans and their freezing air temperatures?--I am fully awake.

"What is it he wants to talk about?" I ask, starting confusedly as someone tugs my hands behind my back. To my dismay, they are shackled there, but I try to ignore this and focus on Ayers.

"You'll find out," she replies mysteriously, and I squirm as my hands are now attached to a metal clamp placed around my waist.

"Is all this really necessary?" I question, looking, I am sure, very peevish. The human woman nods, giving me a side glance.

"Yes. It's all part of a very important appearance by yourself. This is how you're going to be getting around for a while."

"Urr..." I groan again at hearing that, letting my head drop in annoyance as my tail is also attached to my waist through small, ring-shaped manacles. "This is going a bit far..." Professor Ayers makes an amused sound, but I am still irritated. "It's not like I can go and leave again, you know," I add a little snarkily, and she shakes her head.

"Just put up with it. You'll see why you're restrained like this when the Commander explains it to you." Still skeptical, I nevertheless let the matter drop, and, soon, I am being paraded through the building again. We head up in an elevator, which thankfully has no other passengers.

It is bad enough I have to be stared at by all of these humans. Now, I have to be stared at while wearing all this tomfoolery. How embarrassing.

The door we come to is set into a wall, and Ayers presents a card to the two guards flanking it. One swipes the card through some sort of slot, and I shift my weight as a small, green light flashes, uncomfortable with the open gawking I am getting from the soldiers. As the entrance opens, I notice that there are actually two separate doors, the one behind this one sliding the opposite way, that lock into place with a solid sound. I am ushered inside, and I try to keep an air of confidence despite my restraints.

"So, we finally meet," addresses a man in the room whom I have never seen before. I peer at him, his rigid form seated at the end of a long table, baffled to my core for a moment, then close my eyes to rest them.

Heh, I am tired. For a moment, I could have sworn he had two different... I look again, becoming completely shocked.

"Your eyes!" I gawk, never having seen this before. "They're different?"

"Indeed," replies the human, sounding amused. Still surprised, I take notice of the other people in the room for the first time.

"You." The word comes out before I can think, eyes instinctively narrowing at the Mobian in front of me.

"Took you that long to notice, huh?" The bat-woman says dryly, shuffling her wings. I flush slightly, greening in embarrassment.

I should have noticed her sooner. I have been far too off my game lately.

"...you look well," I say to her, trying to at least be polite.

"Oh?" Her eyebrows shoot up. "So, you can be civilized."

"I am not a monster," I huff in response, miffed. "Believe it or not."

"I don't." The reply should not affect me, but it does. I feel a subdued uncomfortableness at being here, around people who still do not trust me and who do not even think of me as a person. It is, well, hard. I am an alien, disliked and outcast. And, right now, I feel quite alone.