Ozone

Prelate Scout Unit Number 91 hit the floor of the Recalibration chamber hard and groaned. Anyone get the number of that Eggpawn? Or would have if his oxygen processing sacs were not currently full of supersaturated perfluoromethylcyclohexane. Wait a minute. He rolled to his side and, with a painful contraction, expelled a gout of the thick dielectric fluid.

Uh-oh. This isn’t right.

Normally, when Sage decanted him after he’d almost terminally desynchronized, he was deposited gently onto a table. Okay. I’ve worked with worse. A soft tube would worm its way down the access shaft located in the front of his faceplate to his sacs to extract excess fluid. Just have to think. Make a list. This time, however, M93 slammed his heavy metal foot into S91’s chest and forced the defective scout unit to painfully spew his contents onto the cold, hard floor. That jerk! I swear…Just…gotta…lean into the pain. N-No biggie…I-I-It starts to feel good after a while, you know?

S91 hacked and sputtered, his visual input fading in and out as his processor tried to find some information to feed him that wasn’t registering as agony. Why do you have to be such an asshole, Metal? When at last his vision stopped blurring and doubling, he saw a mass of blue above him. Find Tails. Find Six. Find Sage. Easy. Super…easy.

S06 stood protectively over S91, his quills flared and fangs bared at M93, who regarded both scout units with cold hatred, his metal fists raised and ready to engage at a moment’s provocation. Okay, that’s one checkmark. Moving in the right direction… He still felt like he’d been cast as the floor in an all heavy infantry cabaret, but S91 felt an iota of relief. It felt right for S06 to be nearby, though S91 couldn’t exactly explain why. Something was wrong with his ability to pull from solid state memory.

“Welcome back, rat.” Well, that’s not a good sound. A voice sneered behind 91 and he twisted, his body registering a lot of really unhelpful pain, to look. Shit. A smile forced its way free of his grimacing facial muscles as 91 stared up at Mr. Tinker. Yeah. Not good. “Did you have a nice nap?” The spherical, bespectacled human leered down at him. Looks like someone is free of timeout. S91’s ears pin back. So, totally not good.

This is real. Breathe. This is real. It sucks hard but that’s just because it’s real. You woke up here. Not back there. Never going back there again. It’s real. It’s real. It’s real!

S91 blinked. When he tried to talk, he coughed violently, his fluid-logged innards still recovering. Mr. Tinker laughed, clearly not enjoying the scout unit’s distress, because that would be mean and cruel and Mr. Tinker wasn’t those things. Damn it, Sage. S-So Mr. Tinker was just laughing because he was happy to see S91. Y-yeah…Buddy…

S06 growled aggressively at Mr. Tinker, his quills flared and ears pinned as well. M93 stepped between 6 and Mr. Tinker.

Finally, he managed a weak, “Oh, uh. Yes?” What had he been doing before he got tubed? His memories were missing or corrupted. Come on, buddy, remember. Work with me here. His cranium seemed to be filled with wet sand. Find Sage. She can fix this. “Where is Sage?” There you go. She could run a diagnostic on him and figure out how he was failing this time. Sure. Let’s go with that.

“I have always been here.” A familiar voice reverberated through the metal chamber. The hairs on the back of S91’s neck rose. There had to be something wrong with his gross motor functions because his entire chassis was vibrating. He craned his neck upwards, making eye contact with the speaker.

It was Sage, but also not.

The projection of a human child floated in the air as normal, but every aspect of her had taken on an uncanny quality. Her face was as still and blank as a death mask. Her skin, normally pale, but now just slightly too blue. Her dress, black as always, but the matte surface had become a window into a swirly black void, drawing in all light into it rather than being a projection. Occasionally her entire visage would fritz, sharp geometric shapes erupting from the hologram before disappearing as if they were never there.

Oh, Chaos. This isn’t good. Crap, think! Think, think, think. There has to be a way out of this! Wait. Where is Tails? If Egghead did something to Tails, I’m going to lose my temper. I’m going to seriously lose it!

S91 felt his motor functions seize up. His chest servos went into overdrive trying to pull air into his processing sacs. More and more air. In and out, he wasn’t getting enough. He was getting so little, his optical sensors were shorting.

“Look at you groveling on the floor. This is too hilarious.” Mr. Tinker chortled. S06 hissed again, but no one seemed to pay him any mind. The human typed away on a computer panel. “The fox has got to see this.”

91 felt like he had right before M93 had broken his arms. That was my B. The paralysis and the confusion. This might be my B, too. Sorry, dude…I can just…What did Amy say to do?

“Are you operating nominally, Ninety-One?” The thing that looked like Sage asked as she stared down at him with her cold, vacuous eyes.

Slowly, S91 began to settle. The strange vibrating eased, his chassis relaxed, and his vision cleared. He pushed to his feet, helped by S06. “Uh, yeah. Totally.” He tried to smile at Sage, but it was more of a grimace.

It’s fine. I can work with this. Just got to find Tails. Tails’ll know what to do.

Something had happened between when he desynced near that weird purple-pink orb thing. It was…Come on, I can do this. The Phantom Ruby. We don’t have to think about that! That’s what it was…but how did he know that? First confessing to Shadow and now this? Do I just have to get temporary brain damage to get through my shit? Is this what Amy meant by avoidant…Crap, FOCUS.

S91 shook his head trying to dislodge something…maybe some fluid got into his cranial casing? “Sage, what’s wrong with you?”

“Explain your query.” She demanded, impassively.

“You’re…all…” 91 gesticulated at, just, everything Sage had going on, “Uh, like, glitchy…”

“You are hallucinating, Ninety-one.” She answered flatly. “Do you need further recalibration?” It sounded like a threat.

No! “N-No! I, uh, like the new look. It’s, uh, edgy?” Again, black and red look better on Shadow, but I can dig it.

“Your aesthetic opinions have been recorded, but know they have little value.” Harsh. Yeah, totes harsh.

The door of the chamber opened and a pair of M-units escorted something in. “Sonic!” What was that?

“She’s been perfected, you imbecile!” Mr. Tinker declared. “No more of that annoying independence or irritating obsession with factoring anything into her calculations other than my will!”

“You’re a fool if you think that’s true!” S91’s ear flicked. He almost thought he heard someone speak.

“Shut up!” Mr. Tinker rounded on…a shade being held in place by the pair of M-units. Yellow in coloration, its wrists and tails were bound together. “Or I’ll muzzle you! I’ve had enough of your insolence!”

Tails! Tails! It’s Tails! S91 gripped the organic casing of his cranium. A noisy static was clogging all his receptors. Come on, dude! It’s Tails! Just- ugh- please listen to me!

“Sonic!” The shade buzzed. Why was there a shade here? Good question! Keep asking questions! “Wake up!” I’m here buddy! I’m just having a little trouble, but I’ll get it figured out! The buzzing in his head kept getting more intense.

Mr. Tinker guffawed loudly, his bulk shaking. “He can’t hear you! But keep crying out for him. It amuses me.” He grinned down at the yellow shade. “I wanted you to bare witness to how your puny civilization finally falls before the might of my genius!” He laughed boisterously, his bulk shaking with his…happiness?

The yellow shade continued to thrash and speak (maybe? That was weird though, wasn’t it? Shades couldn’t speak…right?) which seemed to make the fuzziness clouding his processing worse. Plus Mr. Tinker kept laughing.

Really S91 was a bit overwhelmed if he was being honest with himself. His circuits weren’t rated for this.

If that’s what it takes to get you, er, me to snap out of this, then I’ve got some bad news for you, dude. No one’s inner monologue is more overwhelming than mine.

He just needed to concentrate.

Good.

Luck.

“Well, let’s just ask him, shall we?” Mr. Tinker rounded on S91. “Rat!”

S06 stepped between the human and S91. At least he knows what’s up. “Sir?” S91 answered through a strained smile.

“Have you started to question the nature of your reality?” Mr. Tinker asked, his eyes hidden behind a sheen reflecting from his glasses. You’re gonna get it this time, Eggman.

S91’s jaw ached fiercely and he didn’t really have a clue what Mr. Tinker was talking about. What he did know was that if he gave away how badly he was glitching right now, he’d get thrown back into the tube and 91 could think of about a billion things he rather do than get tubed. No more chances.

What could he say to answer Mr. Tinker’s question, though? “I’m…happy doing anything?” He meant to speak with more conviction, but the questioning lilt seemed to amuse Mr. Tinker greatly. I’m not going to let you hurt any more innocent people.

The older man cackled. “Anything, you say? Well, let’s put that to the test, shall we?” He loomed over 91. “How do you feel about a trip to the surface?” I’m getting mixed vibes here.

“Really?” His ears perked. Go to the surface? A strange pang of longing reverberated through his core and then became a searing short. 91 flinched as the spot where the strange thread normally attached to his chest burned. He touched the spot, right below his regulator, and found the artificial fur singed and the organic coating tender from recent regeneration. Huh…What’s up with that?

Mr. Tinker paid no attention to S91’s distress. “It’s time to remind all those animals who owns this world.” I hate it when he talks like that. Eggy, when are you going to learn to cut all this world domination crap out?

S91 wanted more than anything to go to the surface. On the surface he could prove he wasn’t broken. On the surface was…

░▒▓██▓▒░ !

S91 ERRORED hard, but fought to stay still. His cerebral casing pulsed and he was sure the organic processors inside were turning to jelly for how violently they were scrambling. Oh…so not cool, dude. He grit his teeth and leaned into the pain. Above him, Sage observed silently. He knew something had happened. She seemed…wrong, somehow. All of this felt…wrong? His core’s thrumming increased frequency.

Got to…wake up…dude…

“Ninety-one, you are desynchronizing.” She declared. “Report directly for recalibration.” The yellow shade screamed something.

S91’s head snapped up. “No, I’m fine!” Shit…not great.

“Ugh,” Mr. Tinker grumbled. “I’m done watching you play this stupid game, Sage.”

“Father, as I had previously informed you prior to Ninety-One’s premature decanting, the probability of desynchronization was greater than approximately eighty-five point nine-“

“I don’t care!” The man roared. “This is your fault for locking me out of my system, young lady! I’m done waiting. Your strange little plan has failed and now we’re doing what I foolishly let you convince me out of for weeks. The rat is going down there now!” Mr. Tinker gesticulated wildly at Sage, who absorbed his animation with a cold impassivity that raised the hair on the back of S91’s neck.

This wasn’t the Sage who tried to keep him from hurting himself. I failed her. This wasn’t the Sage who made special meals for him. I couldn’t save her. This wasn’t the Sage who told him she believed in him and encouraged him. I wasn’t fast enough.

All of these frowns are my fault.

“As you command, Father.” Her eyes shifted to S91. Oh, they were so wrong. He saw a desolation reflected in their flat redness. Dried out husks of trees, oceans turned to deserts, dark clouds blotting out all sunlight. S91 shivered. “Prepare for a descent operation, Ninety-one.”

He gulped. Truthfully, laying his feet on the surface and running as fast as he could sounded like the absolutely best thing in the world right now, but everything…just…felt…so wrong. Like he was dreaming. Yes. Or having a nightmare. Kinda, but, also, yes! Maybe Sage was right and he was hallucinating. She did say he was desynchronizing. NO!

“Proceed to the-“ Sage’s voice cut out with a painful screech, a ripple of deep purple sparks crawling across her hologram. Huh. Weird.

Sage disappeared and the lights flickered rapidly for a moment. S91 blinked.

“S-sage?”

“What now?!” Mr. Tinker didn’t seem to be asking anyone in particular.

M93 took a battle stance briefly before he, too, began to malfunction. His visor flickered rapidly between red and purple as if he was fighting the strange error, before going fully blank. His chassis collapsed to the floor, his hydraulics failing into a depressurized state.

What was going on? Who cares?! This is great! Metal is out of commission. Tails is right there. Sage is…well we’ll put a pin in that. All you got to do is just…remember? Okay, on three. One. Two. Three! Remember!

Mr. Tinker rounded on the yellow shade. “What did you do this time, you ungrateful little mutant?” He jabbed an accusatory finger. The M-units holding the shade stood perfectly still. “Being a thorn in my side isn’t enough for you? You’ve got to corrupt my children?”

Now! Remember now!

“Children? You’re sick, Ivo!”

Nnnnnnnow!

Mr. Tinker and the yellow shade continued to argue and to S91 the shade’s voice sounded so familiar it made his core overclock. Nothing made any sense right now. Sage was always the one to explain away the confusion and now she was gone…

S91 was starting to question the nature of his reality.

Okay, okay, okay. I can work with this. Can I work with this? Of course I can, don’t be silly, Sonic. S91’s processors felt muddy, like they were parsing code in a language he couldn’t understand.

“You have to listen to me! You don’t have any control over Sage right now!”

“Ha! Nice try, Miles! I’ve completely purged all of your grubby little fingerprints from her code. This is just a minor set back.”

“What are you talking about? That’s just what she wants you to think! She’s only humoring you because her programing forces her to. You’re in as much danger as the rest of us!”

“Enough of this! I don’t need Sage in order to finally put an end to all you vermin!” Mr. Tinker pivoted to face S91. The human smiled, matching S91’s own aching, raised cheeks. “There’s only one measly city left standing that I don’t control and I am going to make sure every pathetic animal on this planet watches you destroy it for me.” No no no no!

“No! Sonic! You have to wake up!” The yellow shade thrashed against its bonds. “Please! Sonic! Please wake up! Please!”

S91’s ears laid flat. S06 looked at him, brow pinched and quills agitated, as if waiting for something.

S91 couldn’t understand why, but he really, really didn’t want to follow Mr. Tinker’s command. Oh, thank Gaia. He wanted Sage to come back, the real Sage. She was the one who always made things make sense. Whenever doubt crept into his programming, she was there to restore order and clear the errors. I’m sure she did, bud.

As things were now, he wasn’t sure what to do. Confusion billowed like a virus through him and he just wanted to run until things made sense again. Mood.

No, he didn’t want to follow Mr. Tinker’s command – yes! – but he had to. Shit! It was his duty. He had to save the world from the shades. To Sage’s credit, just swapping shades to Robuttnik and he’d be just doing his usual thing. All she’d done was a little reskinning and he was living in his own alternative universe, fighting his own amnesia.

For the Glory of Humankind. Shit…

o.0.o.0.o

Wind whipped the forward outpost, bringing the tang of sulfur dioxide and a snow of ash from the looming meteorological catastrophe. The sun hung high in the sky, slowly dimming as the air filled with particulates, but the horizon over the ocean was a thick and pure blackness only occasionally marred by massive crackles of bright blue chaos energy.

Shadow surveyed the oncoming wall of destruction with stoic resolve. His chest had long healed but the tether connecting him to Sonic was a tiny whisp of its former strength. Nicole had yet to return from wherever the fuck she went, and he had to focus on saving as many people as he could – and not who was at the other end of…Focus. He had to trust that Tails could handle the situation.

The storm was here.

His ear flicked as he heard Amy approach and he half turned to look at her. Exhaustion pulled at her features, but she already had her hammer summoned and slung over her shoulder. “Are you ready?” He asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” She replied, her gaze sliding past him to the oncoming hurricane. “I don’t think any amount of preparation could make anyone ready to face that.” In the distance, massive storm surge hammered the Red Gate Bridge.

His skin prickled as the air around them grew heavier and heavier with chaos energy. Sonic’s energy, he thought as his chest tightened. Shadow fought back the urge to race out over the ocean and throw himself into the maelstrom if only to feel Sonic’s afterimage, to lose himself in the illusion of that fool if but only for a moment.

“Remember, our focus is saving lives.” He said, more to himself than to Amy, though he would never admit it. His own reserves of chaos energy were full to the brim. Training with Knuckles had paid off immensely. His capacity was higher than he’d ever thought possible. Paired with the green Chaos Emerald and Shadow was effectively a bottomless sea of chaos.

“Cream and the other airborne volunteers are ready for any last-minute rescues, but they will fall back once the storm makes landfall.” Amy said, more to herself than to Shadow, and she was more than willing to admit it.

“The evacuation went better than we could have hoped.” Amy pulled out her phone. The dancing image of Nicole displayed a new message scrolling by on repeat. All our agents are currently busy with other customers. Please hold and the next available agent will be with you shortly. Your call is very important to us. Thank you for your patience and remember – I love you! “Even with both Nicole and Sage gone.”

Shadow turned away. “It’s sick how dependent those things made you to them so quickly.”

Amy sighed. “The past few months have been very stressful for everyone. We might not know Sage or Nicole’s true motives, but I don’t think it’s wrong for people to accept help when it’s offered. And depending on one another isn’t a bad thing.” Her grip on her hammer’s shaft tightened. “Trust is precious.”

Shadow sensed there was some deeper meaning that Amy was trying to get at, but he wasn’t in the mood for it, not after everything Nicole had said to him.

Every time, Gerald made you because he was afraid of me. What the fuck did that mean? It flew in the face of everything he understood about Project SHADOW’s objectives. Not to even begin to parse how Nicole implied she has existed since before Shadow’s creation even though Tails had made her in the last few months.

Then there was the comment about unity energy and how there were two wielders of it present…she couldn’t possibly know…

Shadow shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to try to sort through anything. Odds were the crazy computer demon was spouting complete nonsense in order to push his buttons. She didn’t know anything about him except how to bait him. Complete nonsense. Pointless gibberish.

“Omega and I will remain in the city through the storm to respond to any emergencies.” As nearly indestructible, they were the best equipped to address any mid-storm rescues.

“So will I.” Amy put her free hand on her hip.

Shadow turned to fully face her. “You will not.” He stated as if he had any control over the willful woman.

Amy smirked. “I could almost interpret that as concern.”

Shadow clenched his fists and looked away. “It is.” He said quietly. “The Reconstruction needs you,” he covered quickly, “so you shouldn’t take unnecessary risks.”

Amy lowered her hammer and the head thumped the ground heavily. “We’ve talked about this. You and I are emergency response. Together. Buddy system, remember?”

Shadow looked down. “Right.” Promises, promises. After Nicole had turned his body and bond into a lightning rod, Shadow had wanted to be alone to stew in his anger and confusion (and lick his wounds). Amy had allowed him some space, but she hadn’t gone far. He resented the attention, but he understood. In the past, he’d have ran already to go brood in silence overlooking some cliff probably.

“Besides,” Amy shrugged and gave him a half-hearted smirk, “no one else can handle all that chaos energy.”

As far as Shadow knew, of all of them, only Rouge and Amy had been born ‘normal’ mobians. (Maybe Sonic had as well, but no one knew for certain…including Sonic most like.) Amy’s strength and tolerance for high levels of chaos energy had come through exposure and her own perseverance.

She frowned. “Let’s see if Station Square can, too.”

“This city survived Perfect Chaos. It will survive this.” Shadow had still been in stasis during the god-fueled flood, but he’d heard enough tales about how Super Sonic saved the day.

Amy sighed. “I must really be getting tired if you’re the one who is doing the encouraging.”

Shadow tsk’ed.

Suddenly Amy’s communicator crackled to life. “-one!” *Kchzz! “*Can you-“ Shzzk “me?”

Shadow startled. “Is that-?”

Amy ripped back the cuff of her glove to reveal the nearly forgotten piece of technology. “Rouge? You’re okay! Thank Chaos!”

“Well, hello, Pinky! You wouldn’t believe how happy I am to get ahold of you!” The bat’s sultry tone was flattened by the audio limitations of the device. “Red is here with me as you could probably guess. He so valiantly pulled my ass out of some real hot water.”

“Hello, Amy.” Knuckles’ voice was muted by the background hum of what Shadow suspected was some sort of air transport.

“Look, I’d love to catch up, but you wouldn’t happen to know where Shadow is?” Rouge asked. “Ideally have him in eyesight, even?”

“I’m here, Rouge.” Shadow spoke. To his continued shame, he understood her urgency to know his location, but it still stung.

“Oh, handsome, I’d say I’ve never been so relieved to hear your voice, but Prison Island still holds that title.” His jaw tightened at the memory, one that grew more and more painful over the years. Not from what he’d done, but from what could have happened. What his life would have been if he hadn’t reached her in time.

“Rouge, what is your status?” Shadow cut through the pleasantries. “Where are you?”

“I’m fine thank you very much. And we’re on route to the Egg Fleet.”

Shadow’s breath hitched. “Sonic is there!”

“I know.” Rouge answered flatly. “A little girl told me.”

“Sage?” Amy asked, her ears perked with alarm.

“Yes, but she isn’t here anymore. Something bad has happened we think.” Shadow and Amy shared a grim look. Nicole. “But I’ve got my helicopter back and Sage left the IFF code for the Empire when she disappeared, so we’re gonna take the W and attempt a swing at plucking Blue out of the Doctor’s clutches.”

“Send me your coordinates.” Shadow commanded. “I can teleport to you and-“

“Negative, Shadow.” Rouge said. “You need to stay on the surface because-“

The ground shook violently as Omega fell from the sky and impacted the ground nearby, causing Amy to squeak in surprise. “EGGMAN ROBOTS ARE APPROACHING THIS LOCATION.” The massive robot announced.

“What?” Amy’s shoulders slumped. “But we have an armistice!”

“We had an armistice with Sage.” Knuckles voice issued from Shadow’s communicator. “And now she’s disappeared, I don’t think she is running the show anymore.”

“The Eggnet, or what we can see if it, is full of mobilization chatter.” Rouge explained. “We’ve passed through several clouds of Eggpawn carriers and I’ve seen swarms of locusts with fewer members than Sage’s little drones that have passed us.”

“Where are they headed?” Amy’s voice was tight.

“I’m not certain, but it looked like…” Rouge paused and sighed, “Station Square.”

Amy made a small, frustrated noise. Shadow glanced at her. Her eyes were closed and she trembled slightly as she fought to absorb the latest terrible development. “We just can’t catch a break.” She mumbled. He raised his hand and laid it on her shoulder.

Her eyes flew open and she glanced between his hand and face. Shadow regretted the action, certain he was about to be harangued (that’s what Rouge or Sonic would do without question) and almost removed the offending appendage, but then she smiled softly and Shadow felt a lightness in his chest.

“So, I think it’s best you stay on the ground, Shadow. We’re heading to get Sonic and Tails from the Egg Fleet and maybe do something about the Phantom Ruby or new Phantom Ruby or whatever Tails called it.”

“Nascent Phantom Ruby.” Knuckles offered.

“Whatever! Anyway, ground crew, do you think you can handle whatever is headed your way? It was a lot of bots.”

“We’ll handle it.” Shadow said. What else could he say?

There were miles of refugees strung out between here and Central City who would be almost defenseless. Shadow, Amy, and Omega would be hard pressed to defend a good fraction of that territory, but if the Doctor was anything, he was attracted to wrecking cities. They could use that to narrow the playing field.

Omega held up a clawed hand. “THERE IS NO WE. YOUR ASSISTANCE IS NOT REQUIRED NOR IS THAT OF THE SLOWEST HEDGEHOG. THIS IS ONLY AN OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF DIBS.”

Shadow’s ears pinned, but he stifled an indignant snipe. “The safety of the refugees is what matters. If we can lure Eggman’s forces into the city, we can minimize casualties as well as utilize the storm to neutralize his forces.”

Amy hefted her hammer. “I think that’s a solid plan. The city was going to get beaten up anyway, so what’s a few munitions craters?”

“ALL MEATBAGS ARE WARNED TO STAY OUT-“ Omega’s voice cut out and his enormous form froze. A crackle of purple chaos energy sparked across his form and the red light of his eyes died away.

“Omega?” Shadow took a step forward. “Omega!” What fresh hell was opening up below his feet, a new bottomless pit eager to swallow him?

“What’s wrong?” Rouge asked from Amy’s wrist. “What’s happened?”

“I don’t know? Nothing stops Omega.” Amy covered her mouth.

She was right. Shadow couldn’t remember a time Omega had been disabled. The robot was nearly as unstoppable as Shadow. That’s why Omega was tasked with handling Shadow when if he lost control. “I don’t-“

Shadow gasped as every neuron in his brain fired at once. He was sure he was digging his claws into his scalp, but he couldn’t feel his body through the pain. Amy’s screams of his name fell on paralyzed ears. He was being squeezed. He was being stretched. If Shadow had been able to string a thought together, he might liken the feeling to his forced transformations in white space.

He was being translated.

Everything went purple.