The Dmgirl: I am BACK! Well, more like "The Three Posts is back from Hiatus. I hope you guys didn't wait too long. I'm sorry for the humongous delays and I'm getting ready to set this story back on track. Bad news, I'm restarting from the beginning. Meaning that there are some things you have probably read that are not right. That's right, guys, It's edited. I had a major cast change which is, fortunately, justified, so get ready for a few surpises along the way!
Disclaimer: I still don't own Sega and company. If I did, I'd probably pass my time trying to figure out their characters instead of making platform games. Lame? I know.
The Three Post
Prologue: Red Skies
Hell.
The beautiful planet Shadow had once hated and, eventually, come to love, was a wasteland. Thick metal sheets covered the soil in layers as large, half-rusted pillars seemed to reach for the sky, tickling the dark clouds overhead. Factories spread as far as the eye could see, releasing dense smoke into the already over-polluted air. The foul odor would have made anyone gag and retch while their eyes stung from the chemicals. The mechanical sounds were enough to make hairs stand on end, and that was if the acidic rain didn't melt your skin first.
The heaven that this planet had been, that all had known, had been turned into hell.
He held his breath as he fitted a new magazine into the grip and loaded the gun, back leaning against cold metal. Black ears swerved at the multiple sounds as he freed his lungs, features relaxing. Three robots. Two to his left and one behind him. At least there were no humans around, or anything living, for that matter.
Crimson eyes snapped open at a creak, and his head tilted upwards. Just in time to watch the top of the pillar fall towards him. Found. He just barely had the time to reload his pistol. Damn, they were quick.
He rolled out of hiding, giving himself a blind shot before standing. And he could only smirk as he watched one of the Egg Fighters explode before him. One down.
He jumped as a laser shot missed by mere inches, and peered beyond the smoke. Gunners. Fuck, he should have known better.
He grimaced as he turned tail and ran, stumbling in the first footfalls. If only he had his shoes, he would have avoided that ungraceful slip, would have been able to flee so much faster from the rain of laser bullets coming his way.
Cat-like ears perked at the sound of rifles being fired at will, and he didn't resist the smirk tugging at his lips. There he was.
"Took you long enough," he shouted as he turned around, shooting the robots on sight while heavy footsteps made their way to him.
"Consumer models in the way. Target in the closest factory," heard Shadow as the robot came into view. Its colors had all but faded, and a thin layer of rust was already showing on the surface, but that didn't stop it from destroying the Gunners around them.
"Knew I could count on you," he replied as he climbed atop it and opened the back to slip it. The hatch slammed shut, and black fingers flipped a switch before taking hold of the control wheel, pulling it towards him while continuing, "You make sure the coast is clear. I'll keep us airborne. You made a refill before leaving, didn't you?"
"Affirmative. I am not worthless nor a fleshbag."
Shadow snorted as the screen flicked on, giving him a view of the outside. The retorts hadn't changed. Even after changing the shell so many times, the robot still responded to its original programming, was still his friend. This was still Omega.
He pulled on the wheel and veered to to the right, heart pounding in his ears. That was close. Too close, he dared to say so himself.
"Reset course."
The mechanical voice had him snarling. Only disadvantage of working with an intelligent robot, the minute you start going against their programming, they make sure to realign you.
"Didn't you see the pillar, idiot? Contrary to you, I'd like to keep my life intact," he growled. Seriously, could Omega be anymore annoying? He turned and zoomed in.
Only to slump in his seat.
"Shit," he uttered. This was not part of the plan. This was not part of the plan, at all.
He had no trouble imagining that there would be guards. Every factory had them after his multiple raids on the assailant. And the fact that there might be a bit more than usual had crossed his mind. The object the enemy had found had value, at least in his eyes, and the former would stop at nothing to ensure his defeat.
But this was pushing it. This was over anything he could have imagined.
Forty Gunners rounded the entry, laser pistols at the ready as Fighters, about twenty of them, tested each other. And if one would fall, another from the inside would quickly take its place while the scraps were taken in for remodeling.
There was only one place he knew to be better guarded than this, and the line drew itself like the passage of a frontier. Once crossed, you went from five Gunners to ten with the possibility of finding Fighters in your tracks. And it only got worse as you got deeper. Until now, Shadow still hadn't made it to the center, but he was willing to bet his quills that that was where the Entity, the source was.
Shadow sighed, slumping even further in the compartment. It wasn't helping. It wasn't helping at all. They still had to go into that fortress of metal and lasers, find what he was looking for, and get back out. Alive. And seeing that they were in enemy territory, they would most likely get shot, or worse, the moment they made as much as one step towards the building. Awesome.
"I fuckin' hope this works," he growled as he gripped the wheel and turned to the closest smashed robot, only to hear Omega's protest.
He nearly shouted in rage.
"I don't care if we're not facing the right direction or not moving," he snarled after taking a breath. "The factory is heavily guarded and we can't blow it up until we have, at least, recuperated the disc."
As if the robot was the only one who hated delays. He had wondered for years if it still existed, and, once sure, had searched the location for days. And now, at a hundred yards away, he had to make a change of plan that he wasn't even sure would work. Omega itself could possibly be unable to support what he was about to do.
The receiver took seconds to locate on the dismantled robot, luckily unbroken by the impact. Demanding Omega to install it close to his own, Shadow pulled out a keyboard, typing furiously to access the robot's own programming. In a few seconds, the screen faded to black and several lines of coding appeared.
"I would make you proud, Tails," he stated with a smirk as he quickly found what he was looking for and rewrote it. Firewall. Omega have the same signature as the others while giving no chance to the source to even gain access. Win win situation for their team.
But the hardest part… He closed the assembler and slid the keyboard back into its hiding place, eyes trained on a small switch. The hardest part would be to disguise himself. The energy he emitted, Chaos Energy, called to anyone's senses, made him an easy target. He'd have to hide it, convert it into something more conventional.
And, although, he had already managed to hide other types of energy, certainly when he needed to search for something, it had never been long enough, or done on a living being. There was no certainty, not facts to back the attempt. Only hope.
With trembling hands, Shadow flipped the switch and watched as a dome of light surrounded him, giving the compartment an orange glow. No one would see it. The door sealed shut behind him, and held no cracks. Even the air he breathed was brought from a ventilation system that made a curve. And, with the receiver Omega had on, the robot could now be perceived like any other.
"Omega?" he called out as he sat back, watching the screen in front of him.
"No Chaos signature," was his response.
"Don't worry, I'm still here." As if Omega could actually have feelings. "Just need to make sure they don't detect me."
"Logical."
"It's electric, so you can use it. Which brings us to my demand," he replied, biting his lip before continuing. "Change of plans. You're going to infiltrate the factory by blending in. Do not do anything until you have the disc and it's safely put away. Once you've recuperated the disc, you have carte blanche, but only once you've put it to safety. You heard me, Omega?"
"Affirmative. Infiltrate, recover disc, make it safe and proxy in blank."
"Nice to know you understand so easily," he responded, unable to help the smile on his face. This could work. No. This had to work. Else they were both dead.
He held his breath as they passed the guards, only to gasp upon entry. Well, if that didn't complicate things ten times over.
"When the Entity decides to protect something, it doesn't do it lightly," he whispered through clenched teeth as the robot slowly trudged through the Fighter covered floor while keeping watch on the Gunners of the upper floor. No resistance as of yet, but how long would it last?
He blinked, feeling himself getting weaker. Shit. How long would he last? At this rate, he wouldn't be able to help Omega by the time he found the disc, leaving them...
His eyes snapped open when an object hit him square on the head. What the hell?
"Disc retrieved. Begin proxy in blank."
He blinked as Omega spoke, looking at the screen before staring at the object besides him. The disc… They had it.
"Good job, Omega," he stated as he turned off the shield, barely hearing the robot pull out and crush the receiver. "Now let's get out of here."
He grabbed the wheel, pulling it as far as it could go. His ears flicked at the sound of an explosion, nearly missing the robot's words telling him that the roof was open. He watched the Gunners fall apart at the impact of a missile, the Fighters scattering to get a grip on the ascending Omega.
"Worthless consumer models," was all the robot said before he heard the grenade launchers, making him smirk. Omega and his will to destroy anything robotic, he'd never tire of it.
He turned the wheel and took off as the explosion consumed the factory, leaving it to dust. Now to - He flinched at the sound of a high-pitched scream.
Every time. Every time they would manage to be successful, it would resound. And he was sure it was coming from the place he could never reach. Where the Entity was. But was it a cry of despair or rage?
"Come on, Omega, let's go home," replied Shadow as he pressed a button. The robot beeped in agreement as the turbo came on, the hedgehog sitting back and deactivating the screen.
"Until next time, Central City," he murmured as he picked up the disc, cleaning it with the back of his glove. "Until next time."
The Dmgirl: I started playing Minecraft a few months ago, and, I gotta admit, the sky I imagined for the place they're in really ressembles the one I saw in the Nether. Ain't that weird?
