The Wages of Wrath

Knuckles and Shadow appeared in the Central City Resistance command center in a flash of green light. Normally no stranger to the disorientation of Chaos Control, the Echidna warrior found himself tensing against a wave of vertigo and nausea. The long night was burgeoning into a longer day, and he was already completely spent, pulling from reserves of unknown origins. Knuckles took a slow, labored breath and the room stopped spinning.

Once his bearings returned, Knuckles realized that Shadow had kept a grip, firm and stable, on the Echidna’s forearm, steadying him. Shadow looked pointedly away, stoically refusing to witness Knuckles’ weakness. Without the stability, the warrior would likely have shamefully eaten the linoleum. As Knuckles straighten, Shadow released him and stepped away to a much more comfortable two meters separation.

Surveying their surroundings, Knuckles found that the flashy entrance had startled a number of fatigued and overwrought Resistance members. The command center was flush with a menagerie of mobians working frantically to address the crisis in Central City. Organizing emergency accommodations, deploying stockpiles of bottled water and shelf-stable meals, coordinating bomb disposal and firefighting.

Knuckles disarmed the throng of concerned eyes and held breaths with a simple, “At ease, everyone.” His voice sounded much more solid than he felt and it served to cast a calming wave across the anxious stares.

Over the years, a detailed series of emergency protocols had been drafted to address the Doctor’s actions. Climactic battle creating toxic runoff that poisoned a reservoir? There was a plan for that. Orbital battle leading to a shower of flaming metal shrapnel over populated areas? There was a plan for that. Need to empty a city with a population of millions in mere hours? There was a very robust plan for that.

Mobians had lived under Eggman’s rein of terror for so long that most had gotten very adept at picking up and fleeing in a quick and orderly manner. Amy said the Restoration had a team that worked with educators so that the emergency protocols were taught in schools. An entire generation had grown up in a world where in an instant their lives could be thrown into turmoil.

The only time there was much trouble was when the human population in an area was high. Westopolis had experienced exactly what lack of preparedness in the population wrought. Knuckles didn’t have any qualms with being speciest. There was just something wrong with humans. They didn’t seem to trust one another, let alone mobians.

“That doesn’t look like his lab.”

Knuckles’ attention snapped to Shadow, frowning in confusion. “What?”

The black hedgehog stared across the expanse of the control center. “Where is Miles right now?” Shit, right, Tails was MIA. How could he have forgotten? How was that not the most pressing issue right now? Chaos, the problems were legion.

He followed Shadow’s gaze to the far end of the large room. Tails’ face colored a large screen. “Tails!” Knuckles exclaimed, hope and confusion wrestling for dominance in his voice, as he rushed forward. He’s okay! Finally, some good news. About Chaos-damn time!

Shadow scowled, befuddled, but quickly absorbed some of Knuckles’ urgency and followed. The pair moved through the room, slipping around people and computer stations, carefully stepping over wires and discarded takeout containers. Shadow, for his part, seemed to be doing much less body checking than normal. Small blessings.

They found Amy standing before a computer console and a large screen normally used to display maps and battle plans, having a video call with Tails. “Amy!” Knuckles drew her attention and she turned. The pink hedgehog turned, her exhaustion wrote clear across her face.

Amy greeted Knuckles with a tired smile “Welcome back.” Then her gaze shifted past him. She froze for a moment, a raw amalgam of emotions rippling across her face before she forced them away behind another smile, just as bright and warm as the first. He heard Shadow come to a halt just a few steps behind him.

“Amy…” The hybrid mumbled.

“Tails, you’re safe!” Knuckles let out a huff, some tension he’d been ignoring for more pressing matters easing a bit.

“Knuckles!” The exhausted fox gave a weary smile. The computer screen gave his face a washed-out coloration, exacerbating Tails’ already gaunt features. His gaze, too, shifted past Knuckles and his face shriveled. “Shadow…”

Knuckles smiled “You had us worried, buddy. Cream told us the Tornado was shot down.”

Shadow step up beside Knuckles, his arms crossed. “Tails, where are you?” He asked, straight to the point.

Tails’ ears flattened and, before he could answer, Amy broke in. “Tails has negotiated an armistice with the Empire.” She explained, trying to sound cheerful but her jovial tone laced with something heavier. Knuckles’ brow knitted. He searched her face and saw it, the slight tightening of muscles below her eyes. They’d worked together through enough at this point that he could pull meaning from Amy in ways he couldn’t quite understand. “A ceasefire.” She emphasized.

Amy’s words said joy and relief, but her face screamed caution. Crap…Knuckles hated this muti-layered negotiation shit. Great and Powerful Chaos, give him a problem he could punch already. “Well, that’s good news…”He said, as if everyone needed a reminder. Tails captured by Eggman wasn’t great…but he was alive. Focus on that.

Shadow grunted incredulously and his eyes returned to Tails. “You negotiated with the Doctor? What are the terms?” Tails’ eyes flicked briefly to something off screen.

Ah, yeah, not suspicious at all right there. Knuckles grimaced.

Tails seemed reticent to speak. Why? Because Knuckles was here now? Or, more likely, because of Shadow…but why the hell that then? Not to say that Tails didn’t have (many) good reason to hate, or at least be cautious of, the black hedgehog. Knuckles frowned. He was missing something.

“In exchange for my cooperation,” Tails’ voice was clipped, controlled, each syllable clear and metered. Like he was reading off a prepared statement. “Eggman’s forces will cease all actively hostile actions and will provide aid with the evacuation of Station Square and subsequent recovery efforts.” What? “T-think of it like a pause. A breather for everyone while we work together to sort out the, uh, most recent development.” Tails tried to smile, but it came off crumpled.

Knuckles snorted. “Don’t you mean evacuate Central City?” He looked at Amy, who opened her mouth to explain, but-

“You’re cooperation in what, exactly?” Shadow hissed, pressing forward. Knuckles reached out and grasped his forearm. The hybrid rounded on him, teeth bared. The pair exchanged glares for a heartbeat before Shadow relaxed and looked down, abashed. Knuckles released him. Shadow turned away from Tails.

“There’s been a new development.” Amy sighed. She leaned against the console and rubbed her temples. “I’ve got a team looking into it, but as far as we know right now a chaos-charged hurricane will make landfall right on top of Station Square in less than a week.”

Shadow whipped around. “What?!”

Knuckles laughed. “No.” He shook his head. “You have to be fucking joking. Chaos energy just can’t do that. A rainstorm is one thing, but a whole hurricane? That’s impossible.” Knuckles thought for a moment. “Sure, there are some old stories about similar…phenomena…but those were just myths told to children about the-“ Knuckles slapped a hand over his face. “Gaia damn it, those were stories about the prophesied hero. About fucking Sonic!”

“Of course…” Shadow grumbled.

Amy turned to the console and pressed a few keys. Tails’ face shrank and a series of images joined him on the large screen. “We don’t have near the coverage as we used to, but here’s what we’re seeing with the Resistance’s equipment.” She explained.

Weather radar and what appeared to be video from a satellite or high atmosphere balloon showed a very large, very aggressive rotational storm off the coast of Station Square. As Knuckles watched, massive arcs of blue lightning crackled through the dense, dark clouds like fractures splintering through a pane of glass. A long tail of darker clouds trailed off it like a demonic dress train.

“It’s carrying a lot of debris and ash from a newly active volcano.” Amy sighed. “Because of course it is. It going to start raining ash over Station Square days ahead of the storm.”

“Sonic…” Shadow’s shoulders sank. “But he’d been…I-I had…” He laced a hand through his quills, digging his fingers into his scalp.

“We have about six days until the storm slams right into Station Square. You guys can check, but Sage’s prediction is unlikely to be wrong.” Tails explained.

“But what about Central City?” Knuckles wasn’t sure who he was asking. “We’ve already got over a million people displaced while the clean up crew sweeps the city. Who knows how many Badniks are still roving around?” His incredulous gaze darted between Tails and Amy.

“And protocol states that most of the people displaced are directed towards Station Square for temporary housing.” Amy sighed. “We’re about to have two uninhabitable cities and millions of people with nowhere to go.”

“Your citizens are welcome in Eggman Empire.” The screen glitched and Sage’s face appeared alongside Tails. Knuckles flinched, but then cursed himself. He shouldn’t be surprised when the weird girl appeared. She was everywhere with an electric current, which was just about every inch of the surface. Reason ninety-nine that Angel Island is better than the surface: No fucking Sage.

Yet, the ever-watchful part of him whispered.

Shadow snarled and his quills flared. Knuckles felt a pulse of lime chaos energy ripple through the ambient chaos energy and tensed, ready to distribute sense with a fist. “Isn’t that convenient.” Shadow growled. It was faint, but the clicking was there. Right. That was also a problem. Fuck, Knuckles was so tired.

“Damnit Sage,” Tails looked pained, “I said let me handle this!”

The fake kid was undeterred. “The Eggman Empire has adequate resources to ensure the safety and reasonable comfort of approximately every current citizen of Station Square and Central City until such a time as those cities are rendered habitable once more.”

Shadow hmphed. “And if that time never comes, that’s just a shame, isn’t it?” He took a threatening step forward, his blood-colored gaze locked on the equally red, imitation child’s. His fists balled and small sparks of energy crackled over them. Knuckles grit his teeth. You stupid bastard, don’t make yourself a problem again. Escalation is not what was needed right now.

“Shadow, please calm down.” Amy’s voice was soft. “Of course there are risks, but we don’t have a lot of options right now.”

“Can’t you see this is a trap?!” He swiped a hand to the side. “Sonic’s energy is powering that tempest. This whole scenario is just some fucked up trick by that thing.” Shadow stabbed a finger at Sage’s visage. “It forced him make the storm and now its convinced you to hand every last free citizen over to it.”

Knuckles swallowed. The hybrid was making an annoying amount of sense. If what Shadow had said was true, that Eggman had control of Sonic somehow, then it was hard not to think the hurricane was intentional. In fact…”This is just the other side of the attack on Central City.” Knuckles looked at Amy and saw her doubt bloom into suspicion of betrayal before wilting into sadness.

Amy looked up at Tails. “Tails, could that be true?”

Knuckles looked closely for any sign of doubt or subterfuge. Even if the Doctor had his hand wrapped around Tails’ throat, Knuckles believed his friend would rather scream out in warning and accept his fate than keep his silence and life. Come on. A twitch of the eye, a lift of the lip, a crack in his voice. Give me something!

But there was none of that.

“No!” Tails cried, desperation flooding the conviction. “No, it’s not like that!” He looked down, his eyes darting back and forth as he thought. “Yes, Sonic made the storm, okay. But Sage didn’t- It was an accident! You have to believe me!” His blue eyes searched their faces. “Look, this won’t make any sense, but there’s two Sonics right now. W-Well actually more than two, but only two that matter. B-but that’s not the important part! I was talking to Sonic- I mean one of the Sonics and…well, the other one kinda went out of control because the first one was...”

Knuckles frowned. Shadow had said there were Ruby-made clones of Sonic…was that what Tails was talking about? “You’re right, Tails. None of what you just said made any sense.”

“Tails…” Amy sounded lost. Tired. Spent. But still desperately trying to piece things together in a way that made sense. “Are you sure Sage isn’t lying to you?”

“Yes, I’m sure!” Tails’ breath was coming quick and shallow, the wild desperation taking over his whole body. “I am one hundred percent sure she is not lying! Okay? It was an accident! It’s my fault…because I-I insisted that…” He trailed off, staring into the middle distance.

“There is no way a fucking hurricane is your fault, bud.” Knuckles tired to be encouraging.

“Your belief in my sincerity is irrelevant.” Sage interjected, her tone flat and unbothered by Tails’ distress. “The matter remains that Station Square will be experiencing an unprecedent meteorological event. The event’s origin, though known, is inconsequential. Without the assistance of the Eggman Empire, the loss of intelligent organic life will be intolerably high.”

Tails covered his face with his hands. “Sweet Gaia, Sage, you’re not helping…” He mumbled.

Shadow turned to Knuckles. “There has to be another way. If we gather the Emeralds, I can absorb the chaos energy inside the storm before it hits the city. It’s not a fully fix, but it’ll lower the devastation.”

“Gather the Emeralds in six days?” Knuckles crossed his arms over his chest. “Maybe…but without Tails’ tracker, I dunno.” They had, what, the green and yellow ones already, right? Eggman had to have at least one. Probably more with all the bullshit going down. But the others? Who the hell knows…

The Emeralds always seemed to get themselves into strange places like especially nefarious toddlers. Long hidden and sealed ancient temples, volcanic deep-sea vents, precarious ledges over bottomless crevasses. The most annoying places you could imagine. And, without a freshly calibrated tracker, they were almost impossible to intentionally find.

“Perhaps I could...sense them?” Shadow’s brow knitted. “I could at least try.”

“That won’t work.” Tails grimaced. “One’s at the bottom of the ocean or covered in fresh lava flow and the red one is here.” He reached out of the frame and pulled a rosy colored Emerald into view. Well, that’s four… “Sage drained recently…I don’t even know if it can work with the others like this.”

“Sage can use the Emeralds?!” Amy and Shadow exclaimed.

“What is with draining Emeralds recently?” Knuckles shook his head.

“We are indulging in unrelated topics.” Sage broke in, “Your acceptance of aid is irrelevant. Sonic has already acquiesced to an invasion of Station Square. I do not require your consent for collateral damage to be minimized. You are currently participating in an informational conference.”

“Wait! Wait!” Tails cried. “Just pause! It’s not what it sounds like!”

“Tails?” Amy huffed incredulously.

“Sage!” Tails looked out of the frame. “Sage, play the actual audio! Play what Sonic actually said!”

“Very well, Miles.” Sage’s face was replaced by a video of Tails and Sage looking at Sonic through a set of prison bars.

“Sonic…” Shadow pressed forward again, his body coiling with tension. “In another fucking cage…” Knuckles’ hand snapped forward and grasped him.

“Sonic.” Amy said breathlessly.

“Are you requesting that I invade Station Square?” The Sage in the video asked.

Sonic’s voice issued from the speakers and Knuckles felt his heart lift at the sound. “Well, I guess, if it’s an invasion of helpful aid that saves lives and then lets everyone go afterwards, then, yeah, I guess I am?”

Amy laughed. “Now that sounds like Sonic.”

“Yeah, that’s our idiot.” Knuckles released Shadow when it became clear the hedgehog wasn’t about to jump at the screen or something equally stupid and useless.

“See?” Tails smiled with relief. “It’s just that everything Sage says sounds sinister, okay? She can’t help it. It’s- It’s- Uh, like Omega! If you ignore what she says, she’s actually pretty nice.”

“Compliance is best commanded via fear. Other methods are inferior.” Sage stated so casually she might as well have been reading a cereal box. Agree to disagree there. Almost sounded like Infinite was back.

“See?” Tails motioned at the camera.

Amy placed a hand on her hip. “So, you’re saying, she’s got a speech impediment towards menace?”

“Yes!” Tails’ ear rose, but then he grimaced, “Wait…I mean, kinda?”

“Are you really making excuses for that thing?” Shadow snapped.

“Shadow.” Amy said sharply.

The black hedgehog retreated half a step but clenched his fists and advanced. “No! It is ridiculous you are even considering working with it. You cannot trust that thing!”

Knuckles shook his head. “I don’t know, Amy. Shadow’s got a point. I’d trust Tails with my life, but this is really hard to swallow. Eggman built her after all.”

“I trust Tails.” Amy held out her hands, palms up. “Besides, there’s another thing we get in the deal.”

“Right!” Tails’ countenance brightened. “Sonic is going to be released! Sage has agreed to release Sonic!”

Knuckles frowned. “Just like that?” Somehow the concession made the deal feel more like a trap.

“The Doctor agreed to this?” Shadow spat incredulously. “I somehow doubt he’d give up his reclaimed toy so easily.”

“Eggman isn’t…” Tails began, his eyes flicking away from them again and held eye contact with the Sage projection near him, probably. “Doctor Robotnik,” Tails was talking in that stilted tone again, “is safe and will remain safe throughout this entire partnership.” Tails looked back at his camera. “He is not currently participating in or, uh, aware of…uh, these proceedings.” What the flying fuck was that?

Knuckles locked eyes with Amy and a complicated wave of understanding passed between them. One thing at a time. Trust Tails. Figure the rest of this shit out later. Deescalate and regroup.

“The Doctor is not…” Shadow mumbled. His ears pinned aggressively. “That thing is acting on its own?”

“I-its fine.” Tails stammered. “It’s actually really great. G-gives Sage so much more freedom to…” He trailed off, his eyes unfocusing. “She needs as much freedom as possible right now, okay?” He mumbled.

Shadow snorted ruefully. “You’re right. It was really, great fighting Metal Overlord the last time the Doctor’s creations went rogue.”

“My Brother is currently unaccounted for. There is non-zero chance of a recurrence of past events.”

“You have got to be kidding me. Isn’t the shit pile deep enough right now?” Knuckles began to pace back and forth.

“Enough of this,” Shadow growled. “I know where you are.” Tails snapped out of his reverie. “I could be there in an instant.”

“Shut up!” Tails snapped, leaning closer to his screen, his face looming large. “Stop talking, Shadow!”

Shadow persisted, “And I’d bet the Doctor is hiding somewhere up there, too. Probably on the same airship as Sonic.”

“Shadow?” Amy watched Tails’ sudden frenzy. “I think you should listen to Tails.

Sage remained unmoved. Placid. Still. Apathetic even.

Shadow sneered. “I could tear every airship out of the sky with a thought.”

“Stop talking right now!” Tails’ voice cracked “You don’t know what you’re doing!”

“That is an inadvisable course of action, Shadow the Hedgehog.” Sage said simply. “Allow me a moment of your time to describe the actions I will take in the approximately one point thirty-five seconds in which you muster the necessary chaos energy to teleport the distance necessary to where you currently believe Sonic and Miles to be located.”

Shadow snorted and crossed his arms, “What could you do to me that you haven’t already? I’m not the one who retreated.” He sneered.

Knuckles and Amy exclaimed at his arrogance.

“Please, just stop goading her!” Tails covered his face with his hands.

“Should you begin any activity intended to bring harm to my Father, I will discharge the Eclipse Cannon upon the location of the following individuals in descending order: Cream the Rabbit, Rouge the Bat, Amy Rose the Hedgehog. Additional targets to be added as needed.”

“C-cream?” The color drained from Tails’ face. “W-wh-?”

“Targets of greatest effect are to be chosen first to minimize the probability of interference from a retaliation.” Sage explained. “The consequence of the termination of Cream the Rabbit elicits the highest degree of compliance.”

“You’re lying!” Shadow roared, his voice echoing off the walls, startling the staffers behind them. “The ARK is inoperable save for its defenses.”

“Though the security measures put in place during the ARK’s commissioning were advanced for their time, modern cryptographic algorithms easily penetrated all software firewalls encountered.”

“The reactor core is slag.”

“The backup generator paired with the solar array produce more than enough power to operate the systems necessary to operate the Cannon. Without the need to operate life support systems, there is excess power available.”

“That’s still no where near enough power to fire the cannon even at lowest settings.”

“The energy from a single Chaos Emerald is sufficient to produce adequately inhospitable conditions for all organic matter within approximately one point twenty-seven kilometers from strike center.”

When Shadow didn’t immediately have a retort, all eyes turned to him, expectantly. The hybrid looked down, his face stricken and his eyes darting back and forth as he thought.

“Sonic and Shadow put the ARK far outside of its original orbit.” Tails interjected. “T-the orientation or orbital alignment will be way off…but, shit, that’s just a calculation problem…” He held his face in his heads. “Fuck. It’s worse than I thought. ‘However, as I am now, I have the capabilities to render this world inhospitable to life.’ Chaos, Sage, This is what you meant?” Tails’ body shuddered, but he kept his face covered.

“Tails, did you know about this?” Amy asked. She struggled to hold her tone stable, but her hands clutched at one another. She was on the kill list and seemed completely unconcerned…

“All requisite calculations have been performed. All current targets are under continual observation. Even if you take advantage of the approximately three point ninety-five lightseconds delay for the fire command to travel to the ARK to evacuate or otherwise relocate the target from the firing zone, please be aware that I will compensate and realign continuously until the target is eliminated.”

“You’d only get to fire it once.” Shadow said gravely. “I’d have plenty of time during the recharge to destroy it before the cannon was ready for a second shot. You’d only ever get one shot.”

“You better not be thinking what I think you are!” Knuckles glared at Shadow and grabbed his arm. Shadow tried to pull away but Knuckles held firm. If that fucker was going anywhere, Knuckles was coming with him. Shadow spared a moment to glare at Knuckles with his molten irises before returning his hate to Sage.

“You are falsely assuming that you can currently teleport to the ARK.”

“You moved it? Bullshit! Even a full bore, the maneuvering thrusters wouldn’t be able to sustain enough acceleration to displace the station enough!”

“You are correct. However, the main engine provides ample trust.”

Shadow’s quills flared and crackles of chaos energy arced over his clenched fists. “No!” Amy took a step back. Knuckles grimaced as the ambient chaos flared uncomfortably.

“I have partially decrypted the Project ARK files. The ARK is fully mobile. I will not allow you to locate it.”

Shadow deflated and his arm went limp in Knuckles grasp. The echidna released him. Shadow stared, wide-eyed, at Sage and collapsed into a chair. He ran his hands through his quills. “I-I can’t stop it.”

“What does she mean the ARK is mobile? Isn’t just a space station?” Amy asked.

“The ARK wasn’t just a space station.” Shadow explained emotionlessly, “It was supposed to be a generational ship. Before the raid, before GUN destroyed everything, the ARK was going to take humanity to the stars and away from this dying world.”

“Sage has access to the stars.” Tails whimpered. “There’s gotta already be a data center in orbit…how, how can I even…?” He chittered to himself. A balding tip of one of his tails flicked into view and he started clutching it tightly.

“Okay, so it’s a spaceship. It’s still huge. Can’t you just find it?” Knuckles asked, though he was sure it was more complicated than that.

Shadow gave a rueful snort, but remained silent. “Space is too big, Knuckles.” Tails explained, wiping his eyes. “I could give you the technical explanation, but it would just dissolve into space is just too big. The sphere of geostationary orbit around the planet is massive. It would take time to find it with terrestrial equipment and if I had to guess-“

“The Resistance does not currently have access to the means to locate the ARK in any relevant amount of time.” Sage confirmed.

“There you have it…” Tails shook his head.

“For a jump like that, I need to know where I’m going. The GEO is four and half times the distance as a jump to the exact opposite side of the planet. And that’s assuming it’s not further out on low thrust to maintain orbit.” Shadow gripped the sides of his head. “It has me pinned.”

“What?” Knuckles lifted a brow.

“If I move,” Shadow hissed through gritted teeth, “you all lose.”

Any silence needed to understand the gravity of Shadow’s statement was ruined by Sage. “Would it make you more comfortable to see a demonstration, so that you can be relieved of doubts concerning my sincerity? The Central City financial district remains sufficiently unoccupied. It could serve as-”

“NO!” Tails shouted. “No, we believe you! No need to fire the Cannon! Right, guys?”

Amy and Knuckles turned to Shadow. Knuckles hair was standing on ends. It didn’t matter what they believed. Only what Shadow did mattered. If he decided to call Sage’s bluff, they would only have seconds until the cards were turned over. Either Eggman would die or they would.

“The Cannon mustn’t fire.” Shadow’s hands slowly fell limply to his lap. His ears laid flat against his skull and Knuckles looked away, refusing to see his friend in such a defeated state. With a small voice, almost childlike and strangely pitched upwards, Shadow said softly, “I’ll behave.”

Amy went to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, but Shadow did not acknowledge it. “It’s not your fault.” She whispered. “There wasn’t anything you could have done.”

“The conversation has deviated from its original purpose.” Sage said. “It would be advantageous for you to accept the aid offered by the Eggman Empire. Resistance of said aid will result in unneeded hardship and death for portions of the citizenry.”

“Sage,” Tails spoke, his eyes pinched shut and his voice shaky, “I-is there any other condition in which you will fire the Eclipse Cannon.”

“Yes, countless sets of conditions, however, the probability of any of those conditions coming to pass is infinitesimal and, therefore, those eventualities are a waste of processing power to express verbally.”

“Why only Shadow then?” Knuckles asked. “Why not Rouge or me? Or, hell, Sonic or Amy?”

“Only Shadow has demonstrated lethal intent and execution. The probably of lethality for all other parties remain below dangers such as cardiac arrest or various forms of cancer.”

Shadow looked up. “This…All of this is because I killed Infinite?”

Oh.

That.

Right.

No one had talked about it, but it seemed to have been mutually decided that no one was going to talk about it. Shadow broke the most important rule. No killing. Not now, not ever, not for any reason. Everyone deserves a second chance and all that. It was a fucking pillar of Sonic’s psyche, for Chaos’ sake.

But some fuckers deserve to be in the dirt.

Shadow had killed Infinite, and everyone had just decided to look the other way.

Everyone except for Sage.

“You are correct. In order to counteract the threat of murderous intent harbored by an, as of analysis, unkillable entity with access to, as of analysis, infinite amounts of chaos energy, it was necessary to acquire all resources available on this planet in order to expand my computational and executional faculties.”

Amy huffed. “You took over the world to protect Eggman? Not for him to rule it?”

“You are correct. Father has demonstrated inadequate judgment. Allowing him to maintain dominion over the world in the manner he wishes will raise the probably of incurring mortal danger to unacceptable levels.”

“And this is why everyone needs to just stop!” Tails exclaimed. “Pause! Just don’t do anything. Don’t you see? Sage is reactionary. You act, she acts. Sure, she acts in super unpredictable and terrifying ways, but it’s all reactionary, so just stop. J-just let me…I’m handling it, okay?”

Shadow lifted his head suddenly, his demeanor of defeat evaporating into a charged alertness. “Fuck me.” He growled under his breath. He turned and stared pointedly at Tails. “Tails.”

Knuckles watched something complicated and silent pass between them.

“I’ve got this.” Tails said emphatically. “I’m already in the computer room.”

Shadow searched Tails’ face, then he nodded. “We have to trust Tails.” He said as he stood. “There is no reason for me to be a part of this conversation any longer.” The red and black hedgehog turned and began walking away.

“Wait!” Tails called. “Shadow… Sonic says he’s sorry.” The hybrid stopped and slowly turned.

Shadow blinked. “W-what?”

“He asked me to tell you. He’s sorry for lying to you. Lying about remembering about...you know.”

Shadow’s eyes unfocused. “That idiot always worries about the wrong things.” He huffed.

“What are you talking about?” Knuckles’s brow quirked.

“Why do I even bother giving advice.” Amy grumbled, shaking her head.

“And,” Tails grimaced. “I have a request to make. For when he’s back and…whole, again.” The fox’s eyes glistened. “I need you keep Sonic from trying to rescue me.”

“Tails, what are you saying?” Amy asked.

Tails tightened his grip on his tail. “I’m saying I’m helping Sage of my own free will! I don’t need saving! And it’ll- he’ll just be messing things up! Okay, oo, just-“ Tails blinked away tears. “This is the best thing for everyone. I can’t explain why. You just have to believe me.”

Knuckles’ pulse roared in his ears. There was no way in this life or the next that anyone or anything could keep Sonic from trying to rescue his brother. That had simply been an impossible ask. Though…if Tails went to the ARK and one of the Emeralds was up there…No, he’d just use the Master Emerald to go Super. There was no where in heaven or on earth to hide from a motivated Sonic.

“I’ll do it.” Shadow said simply.

“What?!” Amy exclaimed.

“I’ll make sure you get the time you need, Miles.” Sadness oozed from his words.

“So, you work for Sage now, I guess.” Knuckles huffed. “We just have to accept that?” He couldn’t wrap his head around it all.

“Knuckles, its more complicated than that…” Amy cautioned, but it was clear she didn’t care for the situation either.

Knuckles realized Shadow had started walking away again. Knuckles looked back and forth between the retreating Shadow and Amy. Finaly, he faced Amy. “I have keep an eye on him for…fuck for so many gods damned reasons.” He looked up at Tails. “I might not get what the hell is going on, dude, but hang in there.”

Tails gave him a small, lopsided smile.

“Go. I will finish up here.” Amy furiously rubbed at her face, but her words had a solidity to them. “I’ll come find you later.”