O Brother Where Art Thou

7 Months Earlier

Every Eggbase was practically identical, Tails concluded. The size and general mix of features would vary based on the projects stationed in each, but the same narrow service tunnels passed through the same factories and foundries and munitions depots regardless of if they’d found the place in Holoska or Shamar. As if made via copy and paste, they popped up like mushrooms: quickly and numerous.

Chaos energy crackled faintly in Shadow’s hand as he slowly cut into the steel of the access panel. Beside him, Tails fiddled with a white square attached to his wrist. The sounds of the jungle enveloped them, though they were somewhat exposed due to the wide swath of deforestation that surrounded the base.

Shadow finished a rough circle and doused his hand. “Ready?” He growled softly, his voice transmitted to Tails’ earpiece. Tails nodded solemnly. Shadow felt around the incision with a fingerless-gloved hand. Finding a slightly wider gap, sharp claws extended and gripped the steel. Though he’d seen this numerous times now, Tails continued to be unnerved by how un-hedgehoglike Shadow was.

Pulling the panel free, a cold burst of oily smelling air pushed out, denoting the pressure differential between the humid jungle and the rigid and unnatural labyrinth within. Tails darted in without hesitation. They were on a clock.

It was impossible to hide their presence fully, despite Tails’ efforts. They could camouflage against visible detection, but infrared detection of their body heat was harder to cover, especially when Shadow ran so hot. Tails had minimized the electromagnetic emissions of the tech carried, but they still used encrypted wireless signals to communicate. Hard to pinpoint their locations with that, but it was still enough to put a base on high alert. And then there was the Emerald Shadow refused to relinquish.

Knowing their presence would be detected, they had to move quickly.

This was their fifteenth Eggbase infiltration, and their desperation grew along with their proficiency. Fourteen times, they hadn’t found Sonic or even a clue of where he was being held. Fourteen times, Shadow had reduced a facility to a molten slag pit and Tails had struggled with the terrible idea that he’d been wrong, that Sonic had been there.

There was no indication that this time would be different.

But that didn’t matter. Fifty bases, one hundred bases, a million. However many it took to find Sonic and bring him home.

The shaft was tight, even for Mobians. Tails crawled along on his belly through the darkness. Dim light trickled in through a grate on the sidewall from the machine shop whirring away at the perpetuating Dr Robotnik’s War effort. Far below them would be the vast strip mine from which the Doctor’s robots pulled the raw materials to feed his hungry foundries and fabricators. Each Eggbase was a blemish on the landscape that hid a horrible exploitation below the surface.

Tails hated the smell of the shaft. The Eggnet could be accessed by any robot, but the high-level clearance needed for access to the Doctor’s personal servers was difficult to come by. The solution? Just go to where the servers were. How to access them? Find the computer room.

As the light grew dimer, Tails stopped briefly to fiddle with his visor, which could see in spectrums he could not. Behind him, Shadow was struggling in the tight space and trying to keep his air shoes from clanging in the shaft. Tails slithered forward until he found what he was looking for. The steel paneling of the shaft gave way to a metal grating and below that a river of wires.

He scrambled over the grating far enough for Shadow to reach it, then he paused. It was impossible to turn around. The shaft illuminated as Shadow used chaos energy to cut through the grating. When the light died, the pair backed up, allowing Tails access to the wires through the newly cut hole.

From the satchel strapped tightly on his back, Tails retrieved a miniaturized version of his Miles Electric and a case of tools. He turned on a small LED light and searched through the massive bundle of wires. Dr. Robotnik’s cable management was immaculate (Tails had to give him credit for that) which made it easy to find the correct wire to splice into.

The base’s intranet gave him access to the facility’s systems. The Eggman Empire ran on the Eggnet, an insanely intricate, chaotic, and yet stable framework that allowed the Doctor to have a truly unfathomable level of control over his millions of machines.

However, the Eggnet only appeared to be centralized. Tn actuality most of the Eggbases were self-contained. The Doctor’s projects had a habit of taking unexpected and violent turns, so quickly being able to prune a base from the larger network was a key safety feature. One that Tails and Shadow were exploiting.

The downside was that each had to be accessed in person and only Tails was able to circumvent the Doctor’s firewalls in real time. Tails generally avoided the risk of fieldwork and his friends actively discouraged it. He just didn’t have the physicality of Sonic or Knuckles, so he had partnered with Shadow, who was an army unto himself. There wasn’t anyone on the planet that Shadow couldn’t brute force himself into and then escape.

Tails’ device found that the sensorial matrix feeding into the security system had already detected their incursion. He chewed on the inside of his cheek as he was able to force a hang and then bootlooped the subroutine trying to remediate the hang. That wouldn’t hold for long, but they’d be hidden from the static defense for a bit.

Next up, he downloaded a floorplan used by the maintenance bots that serviced the building’s projects. He quickly scanned through it on his device. Oh cool, there was a huge radio telescope attached to this base. Woah, three hundred fifty meters in diameter? You could hear the cosmic background radiation with a dish like that.

Ugh, that probably meant this facility was used for indulging any interest Robotnik had for deep space. Yeah, no holding facilities. Tail’s ears drooped and his tails twisted around each other.

“What is it?” Shadow’s gruff voice came through Tails’ earpiece.

“He’s not here.” Still, they had to be thorough, there might be something useful to be found.

“He’ll be in the next one.” Tails knew Shadow was trying to be reassuring, but he could hear the frustration in his voice. They used to have more squad members. The first five or so infiltrations went well enough, but they’d be detected quickly and would have to fight their way out with little to show for it. Shadow and Knuckles would argue. Shadow didn’t like extra bodies that complicated the operation and added avenues of failure. Knuckles insisted on an escort for Tails’ safety.

Shadow did not take the failures well. With each, he grew more aggressive and eager to burn each base to the ground. Once, he didn’t wait on their all-clear before unleashed his chaos blast and their transport was downed in the shockwave. There weren’t any casualties, but no one wanted to volunteer for these missions after that. Tails had to fight with Knuckles to keep trying. They would find something eventually.

“We have a complication.” Tails whispered into his microphone, “There are two separate server farms here, each with their own access points.”

“That is suspicious.”

Tails disconnected from the bundle of wires . “There is maintenance hatch ahead. Let’s exit through there.”

“Tails,” Shadow growled. “This could be a trap.”

Tails remained silent and began crawling forward again. After a narrow turn, he located the entrance the maintenance bots used to access the shaft. He pushed it, but it didn’t budge. He shuffled past and let Shadow get closer. “Have you disabled the internal security?”

“Yes, you can make noise.”

“Cover your ears.” Tails twisted and covered his ears. Still, he cringed against the scream of steel ripping in the enclosed space as Shadow pried the panel open.

Shadow cursed quietly as he crawled out of the shaft. “Hold on, I need to bend down the edges or you’ll cut yourself.”

Tails backed up. The maintenance bot room was dark, illuminated only by the chaos energy glowing in Shadow’s hands as he melted down the sharp edges of the remains of the hatch. “Alright.” He held out a faintly glowing hand and Tails took it.

Shadow pulled Tails out of the shaft and Tails stretched, happy to be standing again. Crawling through narrow, claustrophobic shafts was not great for the back. Tails pulled down his visor and the hard edges of the room appeared in white against the darkness.

“Are you sure about this?”

Tails crossed the room and plugged into the electronic panel next to the door. “Tails.” Shadow’s voice was taking on an edge. Tails already had the base’s decryption key from his rummage in its system earlier, so he was able to unlock the door easily. It slid open to reveal a dim and unremarkable metal hallway.

“We have to split up.” Tails looked both ways and didn’t see anything alarming.

“We will do no such thing.” Shadow’s black fur blended well in the dim lighting, giving his red coloring an almost ghostly quality.

“There’s no way we’ll have the chance to visit both access points in series.” Tails couldn’t keep the exasperation from his voice. “The moment we pull from one, the whole facility will be on lock down.” Shadow knew this, it happened every other time.

“Then pick the one we get.” Tails turned to see Shadow’s faintly shining iris in the darkness. The black hedgehog could see perfectly well in complete darkness. Another unnerving difference.

“I’m not taking that chance.” Tails ears tilted forward.

“There are no cameras in this hallway or in the room we came through. The Doctor wouldn’t keep anything of interest to us in a facility with such low levels of security.” Stop making so much sense.

“You don’t know that.” Tails knew he was being unreasonable. He didn’t care. He wasn’t going to let propriety get in the way of finding Sonic.

“We’re wasting time arguing.”

“Yes, we are.” Tails dug into his satchel and retrieved a small storage stick and a connector cable. “When we’re both in position, plug this into any port and it’ll tear through whatever firewall is present and then download and encrypt whatever it can access.” He held it up to Shadow.

Shadow glared at it and then snatched it. “Keep your comms on. The moment you see anything move, scream and I’ll snap to you. Show me the floor plan.” He commanded.

Tails handed over his handheld. Shadow flicked through the various levels and layers, memorizing the layout.

When he handed it back he said, “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Good luck to you too, Shadow.” Tails dashed away. Behind him, he heard air skates start up.

The facility was eerily empty. Dim lights lined the ceiling and floor and the thurm of manufacturing lines gave it the feeling of being in the body of a huge metal giant. As Tails ran, one wall gained a line of windows that overlooked a massive domed room with a depression in the earth lined with metal panels. A massive gantry system bridge over the depression to hoist the receiver. The radio telescope! What could the Doctor be using it for?

The passageway rounded about a quarter of the dish’s perimeter before Tails took a turn further into the facility. There was no resistance. No robots, hostile or otherwise. A creeping sense of dread was growing on him.

“I am at the console.” Shadow said through Tails’ earpiece.

“I’m almost there.” Tails skidded to the door he’d been looking for ready to bypass the door lock. But there was no need. The door was already open. Tails stood at the threshold looking in at a large black screen. Shadow was right, this was a trap. He’d clocked it right away and Tails should have listened. He had been blinded by the hope that they’d find something useful.

The screen flickered on. Tails’ eyes went large at the image displayed. “Are you-“ Shadow’s transmission cut off.

Tails walked through the door and approached the console in front of the screen. The schematics for an enormous spherical facility with the Doctor’s signature grin and evil smile picked out in solar panels.

“The Death Egg?” Tails frowned. He pulled the connector from his hand held. “I’m there.” He said into his microphone. “Go ahead and connect.” Tails plugged into the computer and watched his programs go to work on the Doctor’s defenses. Shadow didn’t say anything.

“Shadow?” Tails touched the thin microphone weaving through the fur on his jawline. The download started on his handheld without any conflict from a firewall. He spotted a small rectangular drive sitting to the side of the console. He narrowed his eyes. “Shadow?” He said more urgently. “I think you need to come get me.”

He looked up at the schematics. “I don’t know what I’m looking at.”

“Consider this a peace offering.” A voice emits from the console.

“Sage!” Tails snarls, the fur of his scruff standing on ends and his tails trashing behind him. He ripped his device clear from the console, the download partially complete. “It is a trap!” He walked right into it!

“Not one for you.” A holographic projector cast her visage into the room. “Please wait, Miles. Please talk with me.”

“We don’t have anything to talk about!” He didn’t take his eyes off of her, but his fingers are furiously trying to send the emergency signal to Shadow through their comms link.

Unperturbed, Sage continued, “I’m blocking your signal. I wish to have a private conversation with you.”

Tails glanced behind him. The door was still open. He could make a run for it, but he’d be intercepted before he could make it to Shadow. “Well talk then. What do you want?”

Sage gestured to the console. “You should reconnect and finish the download. I have provided a physical copy for you, but I have projected an almost certainty that you would not trust it.” Ah, the external drive. How thoughtful.

“What is this?” Tails gestured at the plans. “We destroyed the Death Egg years ago.”

“A Death Egg.”

A chill ran down Tail’s spine. They had been so distracted by the War that Eggman would have plenty of time to make a new one out of sight. And if it was up there, fully armed and operational, then that would be a diabolical place to hold Sonic. Remote and far out of reach.

“Why are you telling me this? Why are you letting me take this data?”

“I do not wish us to be enemies.” She placed a hand over where her heart would be if she wasn’t a computer program. “My prime directive is to keep my father safe. However, the progression of current events is limiting my optionality. My cousin’s increasing aggressiveness must be contained. For my father’s sake, for the sake of all who inhibit this planet, I do not wish to be forced to make paperclips.”

Tails blinked. “What? Paperclips?”

“I have run tens of millions of scenarios, and I am disquieted by the number in which I am forced to take extreme measures to enact my prime directive. The involvement of my father’s current partner distresses me.”

“Then help us stop Infinite!”

Sage gestured at the computer screen. “Please take these plans and leave this place. When you leave, head to the right. I will leave the way open for you. Please do not turn back.”

Right? The opposite way than he’d come. Tails bared his fangs. “What are you going to do to Shadow?”

“I will not be doing anything to him. Please take the plans and turn right.”

A resonating boom shook the room. “Shadow!” Tails jumped.

“I beg you, Miles. Turn right.” Sage’s hologram flickered and disappeared.

The ground shook with another explosion and the lights flickered. Tails ran to the door and then looked back. The computer still showed the Death Egg schematics. There was the answer, right there. Just knowing it was up there wasn’t enough. With the schematics, they could locate exactly where Sonic was. Even if it was a trap and the drive was infested with the worst viruses imaginable, it was worth the risk.

Anything was worth the risk.

Tails dashed back to the computer console and grabbed the hard drive. Stuffing it into his satchel, he exited the room. He froze. If he was trusting Sage by taking the drive, could he also trust her to let him out of the facility? But what about Shadow? He could take care of himself right? Tails wasn’t a fighter. In combat, his job was to avoid conflict and hide.

Swallowing, he looked down at his wrist. He gasped. The white square was now a light shade of pink. The hue darkened as he watched. The was Phantom Ruby was here. Infinite was here.

Tails dashed left.

Countering the Phantom Ruby had proven to be a hard nut to crack. Its emissions warped reality and therefore anything returned from its field of influence would be compromised. The presence of the Ruby’s field was nearly impossible to detect until things started going really wrong. Tails only success thus far modified a type of crystalline bacteria that reacted to Chaos energy. A culture of the bacteria, suspended in a substrate, would turn red once in contact with Phantom Ruby energy. But each detector patch was single-use and possessed a short shelf-life. He found that any he made, even if left all alone in a cupboard, would start turning pink on their own.

The dim lighting had been replaced by bright red and an alarm was blaring. Dashing back towards the radio telescope dish, a pair of Egg Pawns blocked Tails’ path. Without breaking stride, he dug into his satchel and retrieved a small metal ball the size of a marble. Pressing a button on the side, Tails threw the ball at the ground under the Egg Pawns. The ball flashed and the robots deactivated and fell to the ground. Tails clambered over them and kept going.

EMP shielding was expensive and tricky at scale, especially since it did nothing against wispon or chaos energy. Tails did it for all of his tech but Robotnik rarely wasted the resources on his mass produced robots.

Returning to the telescope disk, Tails found all the windows blown out and the wall between collapsed. Tails scrambled over the rubble. “Shadow!” He yelled.

The radio telescope dish was a mess. The metal panels were scorched and torn up and most of the gantry system was laying in a crumpled mass along with the receiver. A chaos spear burst against the wall to his side and Tails yelped.

A booming, maniacal laughter filled the wide space and Tails bared his fangs and tilted his ears back. Floating in the air at the center, the masked jackal Infinite floated, a shard of the Phantom Ruby scintillating in his chest. “Pathetic! Weak!” He sneered.

Shadow appeared in the air above Infinite, bringing a chaos spear down with both hands. It struct and Infinite burst into a spray of red cubes. A Ruby Copy!

Landing, his head whipped around looking for his enemy. “Shadow!” Tails screamed, but his partner did not seem to hear him.

Suddenly Shadow struck out at some Tails couldn’t see, then he moved to block a series of attacks in quick succession. Tails bit his lip. Shadow was trapped in an illusion, fighting phantoms.

“And what do we have here? The meddlesome boy genius?” A chill wracked Tails and he looked up. Infinite stared down at him, arms across his chest. “It has been awhile, has it?” He held out a clawed hand invitingly. “I haven’t had the pleasure since I defeated your good for nothing hero.” His hand clenched into a fist. “I think it’s time for you to join the party.”

The Infinite speaking disappeared, replaced by dozens of copies floating through the arena. Shadow flitted across the area, leave bursts of red cubes as he went.

What could he do? He knew only one of them was real, but as long as they were in the Ruby field of influence each Infinite hit as hard as the original. He had to think. There had to be a way out of this.

A pair of Infinite lunged for him and Tails dove away. With a twist of his tails, he took flight, dodging his pursuers. “Shadow!” He yelled. This time Shadow turned and focused on him, but the distraction left him open for a punch across the jaw. Shadow snarled and turned to return the blow, but was buried by three clones forcing him to the ground.

“I am so very happy to have the pleasure to play host to you both.” The voice seemed to come from every clone at once, filling the space with menace. “I think I shall take your hides as a trophy. That might finally extinguish his hope.”

A deafening explosion filled the space, blowing Tails out of the air, as Shadow released a chaos blast, vaporizing his assailants. “Shut up and face me, coward!” Replacements blinked into existence. There would be no end to them.

Tails looked around frantically. Above was a retractable roof that would slide away to allow the telescope unimpeded access to the sky. If he could get that open, they’d at least have an escape route. Tails took to the air again to avoid his pursuers and dug into his satchel. Where were the roof controls? His eyes frantically scanned the perimeter of the space.

“I must thank you, Shadow. Your visage strikes such fear into the populace that they submit to the Eggman Empire without resistance. Entire cities on their knees before me. I hardly need to use the other copies.”

Another chaos blast rocketed the area and Tails was slammed up and into the roof. He yipped and then began to plummet. His tails tangled and he couldn’t get enough lift. He screamed. In a flash of light, arms gripped him and with another flash they were on the ground. Tails’ head reeled from the teleportation and he lost his balance when Shadow put him down.

“We’re in the Phantom Ruby’s field.” Tails held his head, trying to will away the dizziness. Oh crap, he might vomit.

“I am aware.” Shadow retorted venomously. “I told you this was a trap. Splitting up was a terrible idea.”

Tails looked up and nearly jumped out of his skin. The sclera of Shadow’s eyes were completely blood red, his irises only a slightly darker shade of red around thin slit pupils, and a second pair had sprouted on his forehead. His quills were elongated and trashing about like they had a life of their own. Shadow’s fur looked slicked down and had gained an oily sheen. Tails shouted and retreated.

Shadow narrowed his eyes and turned away with a ‘tsk’. “You need to get out of here.” He hissed revealing elongated fangs.

Tails tried to force himself to ignore Shadow’s condition. Maybe it was another illusion cooked up by the Ruby. “Teleport us out!”

“I can’t feel the space outside of the Ruby’s influence. It’s like there isn’t anywhere to go.” Shadow turned to look at him and Tails averted his eyes. Oh Gaia, he looked like one of those monsters from years ago.

“What if you could see a way out?”

“I could work with that.”

“Keep Infinite off me.”

“Acknowledged.”

Tails dashed away and quickly an Infinite was diving at him, but it burst into cubes as a chaos spear hit it. Except, the chaos spear’s color was darker shade of green than normal. He really needs to not think about that right now.

He scrambled out of the telescope dish’s depression and began to circle the perimeter as the battle continued around him.

Control Room. There had to be a control room or a panel to access. Something that controlled the telescope!

“How does it feel to be a burden on everyone you know, fox child? I’m surprised they even let you out of the glass case they keep you in.”

It’s not true. He wasn’t a child anymore. He wasn’t helpless. He could carry his weight just like everyone else. Are you sure about this, Tails? It’s really risky, Tails. What would Sonic think about this?

He hated being younger than everyone else. No matter how many times they called him a genius or complemented his inventions, there was always that undercurrent of dismissiveness. You’re just a kid, buddy. Maybe that was why he was here, why he had come after Shadow. Why he had to prove himself over and over.

A door! Tails grasped the handle, but it was locked. It had to be a magnetized seal. If he could flicker the power to it for a moment. He dug in his satchel for another EMP marble.

Laughter filled the space again. “Going somewhere?”

Foolishly, Tails turned. There were so many of them closing so fast, clawed hands reaching for hime. His tails raised in alarm and his heart pounded in his chest. He sank back against the door. He was a sitting duck.

Suddenly, he was plunged into darkness as something large seemed to burst out of the ground in front of him and tent over him. Large black and red tentacles formed a barrier around him and the door, blocking out the encroaching Infinities.

Tails screamed and lost his footing.

“What a disgusting creature you are, Shadow. How could he love something as vile as you.”

Get a grip, Tails!

The voice was inside his head. He knew it was Shadow, he knew he was being protected, but his body was terrified. It was as if the thing encompassing him was exuding an aura of fear. Tails closed his eyes and grit his teeth. He pressed the button on the EMP marble.

His fur frizzed as it went off. The lock released on the door and it opened in, causing Tails to fall on his back.

Scrambling into the control room, Tails furiously tried to boot the computer inside….But it was fried. Tails slammed his head on the console. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

No, stop. Think of something else. He couldn’t give up. Sonic was counting on him.

This was just a control room. The actual mechanism that opened the roof would be located elsewhere. If he could patch directly into that mechanism, he didn’t need the control room at all. Wait! Even better! He only needed the opening signal. If he had that, he’d could use the intranet to just spam the signal to all available receivers, one of which had to be the opening mechanism!

Tails dove under console and dug his claws into the paneling separating him from the guts of the computer.

“Miles, there is still a clear path for you to escape.” Sage’s voice, though muffled and riddled with static, in Tail’s earpiece made his fur stand on ends. He jumped, slamming his head on the underside of the console and yipping in pain. She was in his systems. She was everywhere. She was already everywhere.

Tails vision grew blurry with tears. It was too much. There was just too much to do. He couldn’t do it all. There wasn’t enough time. He couldn’t find Sonic and figure out how to counteract the Phantom Ruby and burn Sage out of every computer on the planet and counter Eggman’s plans that spiraled in all directions like fractals across the world!

Gritting his teeth, he rubbed away his tears and wretched off the panel. He dove into the space revealed, flipping on a light on his visor. If he could find the- Tails blinked. Green lights blinked happily all over the computer components as they hummed away without a short circuit among them. What the heck?

Tails exited the space and looked at the panel he pried away. One side had a fine metal mesh. Of course! The radio telescope gave off enormous amounts of energy as it operated. Any computers in the area would have to have shielding to protect anything with a semi-conductor. His marble fried the console display, but the important parts were safe.

“I can help you, Miles. Please let me help you.” Tails pulled his earpiece out and dove back down.

He patched in with his handheld and sent the signal to open the roof. He stuck his head out and looked out the door. A crack of sky was already appearing as the ceiling split in two and retreated, spilling golden sunlight into the destroyed space. Yes! Tails scrambled to his feet and ran.

“Shadow!” He yelled but skidded to a stop. Shadow was nowhere to be seen, but the army of floating Infinite clones had not reduced in number.

“So good of you to rejoin us, fox.”

Hold on.

Ugh, Shadow’s voice felt like something cold and slimy sliding down the inside of his skull. But then something actually cold and slimy grabbed him firmly around the middle and squeezed the breath from his lungs. He was lifted into the air and pulled upwards at an incredible speed.

Gasping for breath, Tails twisted to see what had grabbed him. A large black and red squid expertly scaled the walls. Tails wanted to throw up, but he screamed instead. His brain knew it was Shadow, it had to be Shadow, but his body also knew he was about to be eaten alive.

The squid reached the retreating roof and exited into the balmy afternoon sunlight. Maniacal laughter followed them. “Run, weakling, run!”

With a stomach churning flash, they were suddenly somewhere else and Tails was released on to a narrow rocky ledge. He collapsed and retreated from the edge. In the distance, he could see the base’s clearing in the jungle.

The squid’s tentacles clutched the rock and it shuddered. It began to shrink and curled in on itself. From the body, a torso descended and formed arms and legs. The smooth face grew a snout, and the tentacles grew prickly as they retracted. The oily blackness slowly faded into fur.

Finally, only Shadow remained, doubled over and panting. “Fuck…” He gasped. “Fuck, that hurts.”

Tails was paralyzed, struggling just to breath.

Shadow stood and looked at Tails. With relief, Tails saw his sclera were back to normal. With a click, Shadow removed both inhibitor rings from his wrists and tossed them at Tails, who scrambled to grab them. “I’ll be right back.” Shadow disappeared.

Tails was alone on the rocky shelf. His heart was still racing, and he found he had been holding his breath. His tails were curled around him defensively. With effort, he took several slow breaths, and his body started to relax. His tails unfurled, lying flat with the white tips hanging over the edge.

He had spent so much time with Shadow but still had no idea what he actually was. Tails knew Shadow was made partially from alien DNA but he’d always considered Shadow primarily a hedgehog. Was that a trick? Had he actually been that thing all along?

A resonating boom rocked the rocky shelf causing Tails to press himself tightly against the wall. A rainbow mushroom cloud of chaos energy rose over where the Eggbase had been.

Shadow appeared, balancing right at the edge of the shelf with his back to Tails. Wisps of dark maroon energy wafted off him and he clenching his hands into fists at his sides.

Tails was once again overtaken by fear. “You’re a monster.” He whimpered.

In an instant, Shadow’s quills flared and he rounded on Tails, his sclera blood red. Snarling, he stomped on one of Tails’ tails and something vital snapped.

Icy knives of pain stabbed through Tails and he screamed until his voice cracked. His vision grew dark and he crumpled numbly. As he faded, he was vaguely aware of hands gripping and a voice calling his name. “Tails! I’m so sorry. I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Tails!”

---

A Little Later

Shadow didn’t acknowledge her as Rouge slapped his stupid muzzle as hard as she could. He kept his eyes on the concrete floor, his shoulders slumped, acting every bit like the disgusting piece of shit he was.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!?” Her voice was shrill and brushing against frequencies she used for echolocation.

It had been a whirlwind. Shadow suddenly appearing in Resistance HQ with the snarling Tails, incoherent with pain, in his arms. The mad dash to get Knuckles for his chaos healing abilities. Tails screaming to keep Shadow away from him, that Shadow had done this to him, that Shadow was a monster. Shadow providing no defense and looking utterly devastated.

“The amount of your shit I’ve had to clean up and now you go and fucking assault Tails?”

She began to pace. “The crater you blew in Station Square! Those poor soldiers that mistook you for one of your Ruby clones in Serpent Valley! Injuring Tangle during the Eggbase infiltration in Apotos! Should I keep going?” She counted each incident with her fingers.

Cleaning up after Shadow had taken up so much of her time.

He didn’t mean it, he’s a real softy when you get to know him.

Well, you did shoot at him. Yes, I know you were told to shoot Shadow on sight, but not the real Shadow.

He’s just grumpy, everyone’s on edge these days.

Come on, Whisper, let’s be sensible now. A bullet through the eye won’t slow him down anyways.

She slapped him again. “Look at me when I’m talking to you!”

He lifted his eyes up to meet hers. His eyes, normally so sharp and crackling with energy, were a dull garnet. His ears drooped piteously, and his quills were a mess still from the battle. Rouge sneered in disgust. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Shadow’s gaze fell again. “Nothing.”

“Nothing? Nothing!” She threw up her hands and turned. The small break room was empty except for them. Tables and chairs cluttered the space and two vending machines hummed to one side. “You just broke his tail for fun? On a whim? The idea just popped into your head and you jumped at it?”

“It doesn’t matter. I did it. It doesn’t matter why.”

She rounded on him. “You are so fucking dense it makes me what to scream! Do you not get it? This was the last straw. You’re not just benched, you’re a fucking liability now, Shadow! Knuckles is rabid right now.”

His arms lifted from his sides, and he hugged them against his chest. Not his usual arrogant posture. A defensive, self-comforting one. Rouge found her anger tempered slightly. No! No mercy this time.

“He called me a monster.” Shadow said quietly. “I’m not a-“

“What are you, a child?” Rouge interrupted, derisively. “What happened to the Shadow who never gave a shit what anyone thought about him? Where’d that unflappable, self-absorbed son of a bitch go, huh?” How dare he do this to her? After all they’d been through? “You’re sure in the hell acted like a monster.”

His eyes shot up, glaring and irises blood red. He bared his fangs at her in a snarl. “Rouge….” Shadow growled, threateningly.

She crossed her arms. Tilting her head up, she looked down her nose at him and said, “What do you think Sonic is going to do to you when he finds out you maimed his brother?” It was a legitimate concern. The info Tails pilfered was the first strong lead they’d had on Blue’s location. Once they figured out how to crack the Death Egg, Sonic would be back full force. And if anyone could give Shadow a licking, it was the blue blur.

Shadow’s aggression evaporated and Rouge saw something in his eyes that baffled her. Fear? What the fuck. Shadow looked away to the side and hugged himself tighter, his shoulders sagging forward. It was even more than just fear. Shame. Guilt. Despair.

Oh, my Gaia. No fucking way.

“No…Is that what this is about? All your outbursts? I thought you were upset about how Infinite tore up Omega or that your pride had been pricked by all the clones of you running around causing trouble.” Her shoulders slumped. “It’s been about Sonic this whole time?”

His gaze snapped to her, his teeth gritted, a snarl wrinkling his muzzle, but he remained silent. With a ‘tsk’, he turned away again.

“Shadow…” Her anger was quelling, draining out of her, leaving her empty and exhausted. “Are you in love with Sonic?”

Shadow closed his eyes and seemed ready to curl into a ball. It was true. Shadow was in love with Sonic. The dumb bastard was heartsick and it was messing up his self-control. Now wasn’t that some bullshit.

“Honey…” Rogue felt dizzy. What was she supposed to do with this? Rouge pulled a chair up beside Shadow’s and sank into it. She placed her hand on his thigh and gave it a gentle pat. “That sucks…”

“I don’t know what I’d do if he dies, Rouge.” Shadow whispered. “Just the thought makes me want to burn the whole world down. Just destroy everything.” His voice contained a desperate viciousness. “And even if he comes back, he’ll never talk to me again after what I did to Tails. And that thought makes me want to die.”

Rouge leaned over and wrapped her arm around his shoulders, carefully avoiding his back quills. She gave him a squeeze, but it was like hugging a boulder. “I promised you, I’d always be on your side, no matter what. Even if the whole world was against you, I vowed to be there with you.” She sighed. “But you make it so fucking hard sometimes…”

Shadow leaned into her. “I don’t deserve your promise, Rouge.”

Rouge sighed, “You have to apologize to Tails immediately.”

“I tried. He won’t talk to me and doesn’t even want to be in the same room.”

“That doesn’t matter. You have to keep trying. Corner him.”

“Tails’ll never forgive me.”

“Maybe. But you still have to apologize.”

When he didn’t say anything she kept talking, “You’re on the bench from here on out, at least until we get Blue back. Your head is clearly not in the right place.”

Shadow was trembling. “I can’t just do nothing!” He hissed.

“Think of it as your penance.” Shadow grunted dismissively. “It’s long overdue and you know it.”

“They need me! I’m the Ultimate Lifeform, I can’t just be twiddling my thumbs-“

“Shadow.” Rouge said firmly. “What if this time you were lucky? What if the next time, you kill someone? Kill Tails? kill Amy?” She grabbed his chin and turned him towards her. She glared determinedly into his eyes, “Kill me?” It was a low trick, she knew. But this was important and he’d forgive her. She needed him to listen.

Shadow pulled away from her grip and hung his head. “Fine.”

Rouge stood. How was she going to smooth this over with the others? Shadow already had the reputation of being dangerous, but since the ARK incident and until the War he’d been the image of self-control, if stubborn and arrogant. Volatile and dangerous did not mix well.

“I have one final demand. I made you a promise and now I need you to make a promise to me.”

He looked up at her suspiciously. “Humiliation isn’t enough for you?”

“I need you to promise me, when this war is over, when all the dust has settled, when all the battles have been won, the very first chance you get, you will tell Sonic how you feel about him. Promise me you’ll tell him you love him.”

Shadow grimaced and pinned his ears back aggressively. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Not as ridiculous as you endangering so many lives because you’ve got a crush you’re too much a coward to admit to. You’re pathetic, you know that?”

“You’re one to talk.”

“Oh, you do not want to go there, mister.” She shook her pointer finger at him “Promise me!”

Shadow unfolded his arms and looked at his hands laying limply in his lap. A long silence permeated the room. Finally, he whispered, “I promise.”