Hawking

Hawking was a member of the Brotherhood of Guardians and son of Mathias and father of Tobor. Hawking was responsible for the creation of the Hyper-wave Projector, and used it to transport the populations of Echidnaopolis and Cavem Canus to separate Zones when the Floating Island suffered radioactive contamination, and he personally started and oversaw the cleanup of the Island following its corruption of nuclear fallout. At the time of Knuckles' birth, Hawking was the second-oldest member of the Brotherhood still alive, and had became increasingly physically decrepit and weak. As such, when he was forced to use the Projector to bring Echidnaopolis and the Dingo population back to Mobius, Hawking, having greatly overextended his natural abilities in recent days and suffering extremely old age, succumbed to his weakness and fell into a coma from which he did not wake. Hawking wore a distinctive cowboy hat that he left for Knuckles before his coma.

Early Life
Hawking was trained by Deo Volente, the father of Semper Fidelis and grandfather of Archimedes. Hawking became close friends with Deo, and this friendship lasted for the rest of his life.

Hawking did not have a good relationship with his father Mathias, as he eventually retired to an alternate dimension to increase his level of connection with the Chaos Force, and preferred not to speak of him in his final years.

With his wife Sonja-Ra and son Tobor, however, Hawking was loving and caring to both of them, and spent a great deal of time with them both (unlike other Guardians who often put duty ahead of their personal lives), and was especially close with Tobor.

In his youth Hawking was quite like Knuckles; sporting, stubborn and eager for a fight, but at his physical prime, Hawking became a much more level-headed individual, and overly-sensitive to the consequences as of his actions as Guardian. While many of his forefathers were more conerned with the ongoing conflict with the Dark Legion, Hawking was more concerned with the Dingoes, the Echidna's violent and unstable neighbours who were constantly using increasingly more dangerous methods to achieve their goal of victory over the Echidnas (this conflict going back centuries to the point the Island was created). The skirmish war reached its boiling point when the Dingoes raided Echidan armories and "acquired" Overlander nuclear warheads with the intention of directing them towards, and wiping out, Echidnaopolis.

Hawking, knowing there was no other choice, delved into the forbidden knowledge of Dimitri the Echidna and created a powerful laser defensive system to destroy the approaching warheads and thwart the attack (forcing him to suffer great guilt and work with his estranged father). This worsened the problem, as the nuclear fallout quickly began spreading and affecting all life on the Island. With no hope to protect the Echidna and Dingo people's from the fallout, Hawking was driven to use Dimitri's research notes on "Zones" (alternate dimensions) and access the abandoned technology of the Grand Observatory to create the Hyper-wave Projector and use it to save the Echidna and Dingo populations (the latter ironically being affected by their own weapons), by teleporting the cities of both races to safe-and separate-Zones to protect them while he began and supervised a cleanup effort with the other Guardians. The population of Echidnaopolis honored Hawking with a statue dedicated to his actions and his creation; the Projector, in the city square.

Due to his involvement with the restoration of the Island, Hawking eventually decided to pass on the mantle of Guardian to his beloved son Tobor, and tasked him to watch over Echidnaopolis. Sadly, the Dark Legion breached the barriers between Zones and attacked the city. Tobor dueled with the leader of the Legion, Moritori Rex, and Rex, sensing he was about to lose, teleported them both to Angel Island, and two men were crushed by debris from the decrepit ruins of buildings, heavily injuring them both. Hawking then arrived, and mistook Rex for his son, and carried him to safety and watched over his recovery, never realizing his mistake (until after his death).

Meeting with Knuckles
Now in his twilight years, Hawking, who was now the second-oldest member of the Brotherhood alive (at the time of Knuckles's birth), had retreated to his Inner Sanctum beneath Echidnaopolis, and was extremely old, and his body debilitated by his advanced age and confined to a wheelchair and underestimated by his bretheren. As as result, he had became cantankerous and stubborn. One thing that never changed about him was his love for his descendants, particularly Tobor.

At the time, Dr. Robotnik, as he died, used his Ultimate Annihalator, the effects of which caused the barriers between Zones to begin de-stabilizing and ultimately break down. Hawking teamed up with Knuckles, sending him to quell the Dingo uprising currently taking place, while he took steps to stabilize things, shedding some light on his family's past as a result. Eventually Hawking was forced to use the Projector to begin transporting Echidnaopolis back to the Island. Unfortunately, the citys' return coincided with Cavem Canus, and because Echidanopolis' transition was rather violent and destructive, it caused a disruption on the Island and threatening both with destruction. Thankfully, the Dingoes were transported by Knuckles to Echidnaopolis, so Hawking could concentrate his efforts on them while Cavem Canus was destroyed. At this time, the Projector suddenly began breaking down, forcing Hawking to combine his powers with the Projector to transport Echidnaopolis safely home. The overextension of his abilities, combined with his decrepit physical condition, caused Hawking to fall into a coma. He was found by Deo, and brought to Haven, and kept on full life-support, with the Brotherhood and Fire-Ants unable to help him due to fears of using equipment on Hawking that he couldn't handle to help him. At first, Hawking's condition was unstable, and had repeated heart attacks, though Locke melded with Hawking at this time and stabilized him. As Locke journied into Hawking's decaying mind, Hawking remarked he would finally go to the great beyond, and he was tired after doing so much in his life, though Locke insisted his life was worth saving.

Death and Afterlife
Before the Quantum Beam was fired on Angel Island, Hawking, as old and weak as ever, and still in his coma, was visited by the spirit of Steppenwolf. Steppenwolf's appearance caused Hawking to finally awake, and he recognised the Echidna standing before him and knew why he had come; to take him to the afterlife. Hawking was initially worried for his descendants, but Steppenwolf assured Hawking the Brotherhood would endure, and so Hawking's spirit separated from his body and accompanied his ancestor willingly into the afterlife, while his body flat-lined.

Soon afterward, Hawking, who at the time was still transitioning to the afterlife and only appeared in his youth yet lacking colour or substance, returned to help Knuckles, who at the time was suffering and struggling to come to grips with his greatly-amplified Chaos powers, and stopped Knuckles from interfering with the natural flow of history (which he now possessed). Knuckles initially doubted his claim that he was Hawking, remembering the last time he saw him he was extremely old, but Hawking proved it by taking Knuckles through time to shortly after his death, and Knuckles saw Hawking's rotting corpse, and was greatly saddened by his death, though Hawking assured him he was still evolving, as he was, and wished him luck on his journey of self-discovery and control before departing for the afterlife.

After finishing his transition to the afterlife, Hawking, now appearing as he did at his physical prime, came to Tobor as he died destroying the Quantum Beam and killing Kragok. Hawking served the same role as Steppenwolf had for him to his long lost son. Hawking comforted Tobor, and walked arm-in-arm with him to the afterlife.

When Knuckles restored the population of Angel Island by reversing the effects of the Quantum Beam, Spectre, with his near-omnipotent abilities, knew about Hawking's death, along with those of Mathias (due to the Quantum Beam) and Tobor (though he couldn't tell who it was in his case), and related to his comrades of their ascension to the "next evolution" (afterlife)

Hawking and the rest of the deceased members of the Brotherhood attended Knuckles' funeral, and Hawking and his forefathers tried to explain to Knuckles the concept of their afterlife.

Powers
Hawking possessed the same abilities as the rest of the Brotherhood, and with time gained incredible mastery of the Chaos force, using his powers with great efficiency and refinement (though he never achieved or delved into his father's level of connection with the force), such as using telekinesis to pick himself up. Hawking retained his abilities even as his increased age caused his body to weaken, though using them during the crisis with the collapse of the Zone barriers greatly over-extended him and caused his coma and eventual death.