"…Alright," Rouge finally stopped writing into her notebook and looked up at the black hedgehog sitting in front of her, her eyes calm and intent, showing nothing but concentration on her business. Yet still soft and understanding somewhere deep inside.
"Are you sure you're ok? The conversation will be difficult, you know."
"Yes, I'm fine," Shadow growled, for some reason felling irritated already. "Say, is it really this necessary?"
"It's for your own good, hun, you know," was the bat's simple reply.
"I…"
'…Don't need help. Especially from an impostor of a psychologist you are.'
'…Can solve it all by myself.'
'…And still have to get out of this without GUN having any suspicions about my sanity.'
"Well, nothing. Here we go."
"Target detected. Prepare to…"
The robot didn't get a chance to finish its sentence. A flow of Chaos Energy hit it, tearing it apart and sending pieces of metal flying in all directions. Smoke of the explosion hung in the air, forming a thick curtain around the intruder.
Eggman's secret base remained secret no more. Not for Shadow at least.
He was almost amazed at how little resistance he met. A single metal door, three sluggish robots – how could doctor ever come up with such wretched forces? Shadow didn't have much time to think about it, but he already knew he didn't like it.
Every time Eggman acted in an inviting way like this it ended in a disaster. Or great trouble at least.
A hidden loudspeaker suddenly came alive, Eggman's raspy voice drilling into his ears. Shadow didn't twitch, though, nor did he let himself get distracted; he mused over the idea of shooting the source of noise down, but cut it short quickly. He rushed forward instead, creaky words nothing more than a mess of syllables to him. They didn't really matter at the point; the door he was looking for already appeared before him, at the end of the corridor…
"Wait, did Eggman say anything?" Rouge interrupted him.
"Well," Shadow rolled his eyes, "let's say there were a few seconds when he wasn't saying anything. He just went on depicting how his new stunning plan would bring him the world domination, on and on, you know… Though it must have taken him a lot of mental work to come up with that much talk without actually revealing the plan itself."
"So you didn't know anything until the last second?"
"Actually not."
"Alright, you opened the door, and then…?"
…And then he found himself unable to do anything… apart from staring.
The room he burst into was poorly alight; pale light from the light panels was pouring over the floor, but high ceiling was drowning in the darkness desperately. The place was nearly empty - Shadow noticed nothing apart from two similar doors in the opposite wall.
And apart from a hedgehog, of course. Oh wait… no… two hedgehogs.
His hand holding a handgun fell limp beyond his will.
Two blue hedgehogs, facing one another with their fists balled, brows frowned, forms tensed up just as if ready to fight, looking like twins in quarrel, like mirror reflections of each other…
The door closed with a loud clack behind him.
Two identical heads turned towards him, two puzzled and at the same time relieved expressions greeted him.
"Um… Hi, Shadow," one of the blue hedgehogs hailed him cheerfully, catching his nonchalant face back again.
"You're about time," another one stated flippantly, crossing his hands against his chest.
The black hedgehog suddenly remembered how to move and how to speak.
"What the-?" though no, this one really could wait. "Eggman! What the hell have you done this time?"
A quiet chuckle cracked somewhere beneath the ceiling.
"Cloned Sonic, actually," a twisted voice fell down. "Used his DNA to create a body duplicating his own, and used his mind data I have been collecting for years to design intelligence copying that blue rat's… well, in almost all aspects."
Shadow waited for the scientist to continue, but no more dark words came out. Of all moments Eggman choose this one to go mute and let the black hedgehog die of curiosity.
"Almost all, you say… does it have something to do with your plans of conquering the world?"
Another chuckle followed, even more ragged, more wicked than previous.
"…I'll leave it for you to guess."
Shadow waited for Rouge to write his last words down. He hadn't been speaking for long, but his throat was already sore and his mouth was dry, so the hedgehog had to force every single word out. And his story was still going to have a long run…
"Was that all he said?" the bat asked, not tearing her gaze away from the paper.
"Yes, practically. A far cry different from himself a minute before and in general, he actually shut up."
He bit his lower lip and looked down, trying to relish the moment of silence. The sound of pencil scratching paper, which kept him feeling uneasy at the beginning, wasn't bothering him anymore, and for a brief second he could easily imagine himself being alone in the room. Almost abandoned. Unneeded. His mind stood up against the pause fiercely, the interrupted flow of his story tickling him up and urging him to continue… even if he didn't want to.
His gaze travelled up only to find Rouge looking at him encouragingly.
"I think that was what he wanted. To make me go through that all by myself."
Silence stretched, becoming almost unbearable for the black hedgehog. Somehow he knew that Eggman wasn't going to help him out; that it was up to him to choose a direction and to decide which step would be better to take next.
And his… well, both of his counterparts weren't making it any easier for him.
"Jeez, doesn't that Eggman have Metal to haunt me?" Sonic growled in a low voice.
"Seriously, the whole 'Sonic's evil twin' thing is not funny anymore. Why don't Eggman just come up with something original for once? I dunno, army of demon chao or something?"
Shadow didn't get a word in their conversation yet, choosing to listen, to watch and to muse instead.
"Though it's nice that my copy doesn't try to kill me right away."
"Yeah. Stupid enough, but maybe we'll get on with."
"Hey, it would be cool to have someone apart from Shadow to race."
The black hedgehog bit his lip. This time Eggman seemed to surpass himself; no matter how hard Shadow tried, he couldn't find a visible distinction, a flaw in the hedgehogs' manners. It was much like he just couldn't focus, seeing things double beyond reason; his head was almost spinning from the resemblance.
He blinked a few times, struggling to drag himself back to normal again.
"A hedgehog ménage à trois?" one of Sonics quirked a brow, musing randomly. "Well, never actually thought of it, but why not?"
"Okay, but then it's definitely not me to do the housework."
"No chance."
'Chaos, do they have to act like this?'
Shadow rolled his eyes. For a brief second he considered just grabbing both of the mocking hedgehogs, dragging them out of the base and straight to the GUN headquarters, and letting those humans decide who of the two was who on their own. Just to rid himself of the riddle he didn't want to solve. But…
But no, he wouldn't. He apparently was the one person to know Sonic the best; Tails would be of use here, too, but the fox boy was not within the reach at the moment. And besides, Shadow had trouble fighting back a thought of GUN soldiers simply eliminating both of the hedgehogs. Just to avoid taking risks. The Ultimate Lifeform knew all too well that the GUN leadership and his counterpart had never been getting along.
So the burden was placed straight on him unceremoniously.
"Alright." Sonics at once stopped argufying and looked at him curiously. "As far as I remember, the real faker could hardly outlast a two-minute fight against me… and the fake one, I bet, won't be able to last for so long." He grinned with challenge.
Two large smirks were his reply. Of course his doppelgangers knew what he meant…
"And what was so unusual about that fight?" Rouge asked cautiously when he trailed off.
"…They were equal."
"Um… but they were the clone and the original, it's not a surprise that…"
"No, not that. They were… fighting like one being. Like they always knew exactly what the other would do in the next second and what he wouldn't. I had expected the clone to slip shortly and give himself away, but it really was like fighting against two Sonics at the same time."
The bat frowned. Being a fighter herself, she could imagine what the black hedgehog was talking about… and she definitely didn't like where he was heading for.
"Fine… you may continue."
Despite his swagger, Shadow had never actually been the one to beat the blue hedgehog in a fair fight with composed ease; and now, facing not one, but two equal opponents… Chaos, he felt more as if he was slowly but steadily slipping into the tornado. He knew pretty well that he wasn't actually going to get hurt for serious in this battle, but being unable to pull through and to pull off his plan properly was driving him mad.
It seemed like both of the blue hedgehogs found it out from Shadow's body language somehow, since the longer the fight lasted, the easier they were going on him, paying much more attention to each other instead. Soon enough he got an opportunity to sneak out of the battle and lean against the wall, trying to catch his breath back. His hands fell limp along his sides, though the gun still being hold tight. Shadow hadn't got a chance to use it… yet.
The Ultimate Lifeform looked carefully, once again comparing the movements of his adversaries to the flow of tornado. Graceful, yet feral and dangerous thrusts of wind, not hitting their target only because it was as fast and elusive as the assaulter himself… Shadow was trained to trace objects moving at the speed of sound, but even he now had trouble noting their single blows.
Not much time passed before the fighting hedgehogs ceased their movements to a stop as well. They stood against one another once again, still tensed up and never letting their guard down, panting slightly and recovering from their fight.
"…Looks like it didn't work."
Sonic on Shadow's left shook his head. "Eggman was saying something about the clone… before you joined the party, you know."
"And what was that?"
"Something about equal fighting skills, actually. And about 'the same intelligence'," another blue hedgehog continued. "The truth is, the clone himself doesn't know he's not the real one."
"Yeah. And if I now think I'm the real Sonic, so does he."
"Well, if we take fatty's word for it."
"Yep."
Shadow felt like slapping himself to wake up at the point. Or both of his counterparts to shut up and let him think. Or better Eggman, just for kicks.
'There must be a way to make the clone give himself away… Something he doesn't have while Sonic does…Maybe memories? There's no way Eggman could copy everything…'
"How did you get inside the base anyway? Do you remember?"
They nodded.
"Through the main door, actually. Chaos, I should've smelled a rat when nobody actually tried to stop me," the blue hedgehog frowned regretfully.
"Same here. And… wait… no."
And Shadow didn't like those equal guilty looks.
"What now?"
"…That machine."
"A scanner, or something like that… Pounced on me when I was there," Sonic pointed at the twin doors behind him. "Have no clue, but maybe it picked my last memories up."
"Well, it couldn't get much as it got blasted right away, but if Eggman really has been collecting data for years before…"
'…Great. Missed this one, too. Is there anything else to try?'
The hedgehogs stared back at him as if waiting for him to say something about it.
"So you have equal bodies, equal abilities, equal mentalities, and now equal memories. Right?"
Chaos, two Sonics for real. And it was up to him to decide which one of them would survive this little face-off.
'Think of that, the idea of resorting to the help of GUN psychologists wasn't half bad…'
"If you ask me, even I now can't tell those rodents apart. It wasn't too smart of you to start a fight, Shadow, you only got things completely messed up," came Eggman's phlegmatic voice from somewhere above them. "And just in case you are thinking of getting away with both of them… not too smart, either. Trust me, I had time to prepare. Only one of them is going to leave this room."
Silence fell onto the three hedgehogs. Heavy, sticky silence.
'Chaos, Eggman, you were so talkative minutes ago. Why don't you help me with my brainwork once again?'
No answer to his silent question came.
A pair of wide green eyes met his. Seemed like his cocky-as-always counterparts finally got to know the seriousness of their state... Judging from how well for Eggman the whole play had been turning for now, Shadow could tell that doctor had something prepared for them. Something really, really unpleasant.
And that meant Shadow had to get rid of the clone right there and then. Even if it was harder as hell done than said.
"Really?" blue eyebrow quirked challengingly. "Every time you say you have something for me it turns out to be another stunning robot of yours which has a weak point right in the middle of its chest. Bet this time won't be an exception."
"C'mon," his twin teased, crossing his arms against his chest, "you don't want to give Tails and others a heart attack, do you? Besides, I trust Shadow, and you're supposed to do the same."
Shadow raised an eyebrow. Was he now facing a discord for real?..
His fingers wrapped themselves tighter around the gun handle. He had lost the fight, he had lost the game of mind; now his intuition was the only one he could count on, and he simply had no right to make a mistake this time.
'C'mon, Sonic. Give me a hint.'
"You do trust me?"
"Um…" first Sonic bit his lip uneasily. "I do, but… Look, Shads, it's just ridiculous. Since when do we have to follow Eggman's orders? First off, it was he who started this, and I'm not gonna help him with it."
The other one just shrugged wordlessly. 'I do'.
Shadow swallowed. Hard.
'Gotcha.'
And then, before the supersonic hedgehogs could move, a gunshot followed.
"Are you sure you don't need any…"
"I'm fine, Rouge," he snarled. "I'm just tired of this inquiry and want to get out of here already."
Maybe he was pushing his luck at the point, but he was tired enough to be past caring.
Rouge kept looking at him, biting her lower lip thoughtfully. Shadow had to remind himself that she still was a friend, and probably the only one in the whole organization, and that she was just wishing to help him… but Chaos, being confined within four walls for days obviously didn't result in him becoming more trustful. After all, she had the power to make him stay here for a long, long time... He found himself tensing up against his will.
"Fine," the bat uttered finally. "You may leave. I'll make sure your record is taken to the archive. But if you find something bothering you, it will be better for you to come here again."
'Or just drop into my house when I'm not at work.' She couldn't say it out loud as their conversation was still being recorded, but she stated it with her eyes clearly and yet softly.
Shadow didn't come with a reply for either one of her suggestions. He stood up abruptly; since he was free to leave, he wasn't going to stay there any longer.
"Goodbye then," he muttered, trying hard not to meet her gaze.
Outside, he turned around the corner and leaned against the wall, his head slipping back and his eyes closing. GUN special mental facilities… A month ago Shadow would have laughed at the thought of possibly ending up here one day. During the last week, the thoughts of staying here for at least a year had kept visiting him, and he could do nothing with them. And now he was finally able to go wherever he wanted.
Chaos, had it really been the whole week?..
"Shadow!"
His eyes flew open, all too familiar voice making him slip back to reality. There it was, a restless bundle of blue fur and quills; once at the end of the corridor, right before his vision a moment later, at once bringing himself impossibly close to the other, cuddling up to Shadow until it became hard for him to breathe.
"Sonic…" he managed, glad and awkward to hug his counterpart back at the same time.
"Ha, I knew they won't be holding you locked up for too long."
Shadow didn't reply, and Sonic leaned back a little, his hands still staying on the black shoulders. Green eyes met red ones demandingly. "Are you ok?"
"…Yes. Yes, I think."
"You do? No offense, Shads, but you look as if they were torturing you." A small smirk died on his lips, emerald eyes becoming serious once again. "Shadow…" the blue hedgehog bit his lip, the thoughts too painful to be revealed and words obviously stuck in his throat.
"I know. I'm just tired. And…"
He trailed off helplessly.
Despite his arrogant attitude, his ostensive defiance towards his counterpart, Shadow still knew how much the other meant to him. He would be glad to lie to himself, but he had crossed the line of no return to his sweet self-delusion long ago. A week ago, not only a life of some clone had been assaulted... but also their trust to each other. He was still uncertain as hell of what he had done, and was scared to burn down the frail paper bridge between him and Sonic with his straight words, with his doubts stated aloud, and feared to notice a note of reproach in those green eyes, a reminder of that he not only was capable of thinking of shooting his lover down, but also had actually done that. He felt almost literally torn apart.
He swallowed, his throat dry and coarse. He wouldn't. He couldn't.
"I don't get it. Who was actually killed: the clone or Sonic himself?"
…Yet he did. Whoops.
Now he was peering at his blue counterpart, seeking every signs of emotions in his features. He hadn't seen Sonic since they had made their way to the GUN HQ a week ago – those psychologists he hated so much, playing safe everywhere they could, had separated them, thinking that it would keep Shadow's mentality more stable. And they sure had tried to get their hands on Sonic, the black hedgehog thought sorely. Interrogated him, maybe put him to the test… Shadow gritted his teeth, trying to hold back a growl, banishing unwanted thoughts away.
He longed to pull his lover closer, run a hand through his back quills, inhale specific scent of his fur, kiss him… and yet hesitated, knowing precisely that there still was a fifty percent chance of that he had made a mistake.
And now, finally having his primal anguish worded out loud, he waited for Sonic to answer. Something. Anything.
And then there was a chuckle.
"I'll leave it for you to guess."