Woo Hoo! Welcome back ladies and gentlefolk. Eh? Excuse me a second, someone is shouting me...Crash in the background Mwahahahahaha! Now I, Pyro the Hedgehog have control of this fic. HAHAHAHA..coughcough...Where am I ? Who are you? Oh, readers! Yes, it all comes back to me now. Shadow and Rouge on a little mission from GUN. HAHAHA! Using my fiery powers of natural combustion (aka the ability to fry the tail of anyone who stands in my way!!) I present...CHAPTER 4!


Chapter 4: Rise of the Machine

Continuing through the warehouse, Rouge and Shadow lost count of how many ammunition crates and fuel drums they walked past. Rouge, leading the way, looked back at the ebony hedgehog.

"Looks like Intel was right on this one" Shadow merely grunted, his mind elsewhere. So it happened, his eyes kept drifting off elsewhere as well.

'Damn, she's got a fine ass…NO…concentrate on the mission, Shadow…but just look at her…the way she shakes those hips…DAMN IT…pay goddam attention…' His train of thought completely derailed when he walked straight into a stationary Rouge. "Oof…sorry Rouge, I was miles away" Rouge frowned.

"Never mind that. Do you hear something?" Her ears were twitching, trying to pick up on the faint sound she had heard. Shadow's ears, only as sensitive as Rouge's because of his Ultimate Lifeform DNA, also twitched.

"I don't hear anything" he admitted, folding his arms in slight annoyance.

"But I thought I heard something moving, something…alive" A look of worry spread across the bat's features, while scorn spread across the hedgehog's face.

"Come off it Rouge. This place has been deserted for years, how could anything…"

Both agents span round, guns drawn, when they heard the faint whirring noise behind them. It sounded like a small computer loading up, the whirring getting faster, the pitch getting higher, until it turned almost into a hum. Rouge took a couple of steps back, her gun still focused on the pitch black recess from which the noise had originated. Shadow, however, stood his ground, the frown lines in his brow deepening.

"Who's there?" he shouted. "We're with GUN. Come out with your arms in the air". He turned on the laser sight on the Desert Eagle, a function he'd personally had installed thanks to the efforts of a certain two-tailed fox. As if in response to the intruding red beam, two red dots appeared in the darkness, seemingly hovering at least six feet off the ground.

Suddenly, another whirring noise started up, this one much lower than the first. Instead of a computer, this one sounded like high-tech machinery warming up. Almost like…

"ROUGE! MOVE!" yelled Shadow as he dived at the bat, knocking her to the ground. A spilt second later, the crate above them was riddled with hundreds of tracer bullets, fired from a modified 7.62mm M134 Minigun. The 6,000 rounds per minute shredded the worn wooden crate into splinters, obliterating the ammunition inside as well.

Removing their hands from their heads, Rouge and Shadow stared up at where the bullets had come from. Out of the darkness, the red dots moved forward, almost gliding forward. Shadow shakily picked his torch up and shone it at the lights. They turned out to be eyes, the eyes of a six-foot android. Its body was as black as oil, and its feet seemed to end in a similar propulsion unit to Shadow's hover-shoes. Its head, however, drew a gasp from Rouge and a menacing growl from Shadow.

"S-Shadow" whispered Rouge. "It's…you". Shadow could see she wasn't far wrong. The head of the android looked just like him. The same frown, the same upturned spines, the same crimson stripes along said spines. Even the bright red eyes reminded Shadow of his reflection. However, the robotic face only seemed to be able to show anger. Shadow was seething. How dare Eggman create a robotic version of HIM? The blue faker? Sure. The dumb echidna? Fine. Hell, he'd even accept a robotic Rouge (although he'd find it difficult to rip any likeness of hers limb from limb). But HIM? The Ultimate Lifeform?

Shadow pulled himself to his feet. His anger and started the Chaos energy flowing through his veins. Now he felt like tearing something apart. This pathetic copy would be a perfect target.

Until it started to speak…

"I am Mecha Shadow, version 3.12. Cybernetic Assassin unit, dedicated to evolution of the Eggman Empire" Its low metallic, monotone voice seemed to echo around the warehouse. "Primary objective: Destroy Shadow the Hedgehog. Secondary objective: Leave no witnesses." With that, Mecha Shadow raised its right arm. The hand folded back on itself, revealing the hidden minigun. Shadow grimaced as the 6 barrels started spinning, the mechanics warming up before…

BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM

Pyro: HAHAHAHA! Shadow and Rouge are finished! The end! Pyromaniacs rule!!

Theos: CHAOS...TORRENT!

Pyro: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! RUNAWAYRUNAWAYRUNAWAY! He does just that

Theos: My sincerest apologies for that, but the flaming twerp has had it coming for a while now. And in case you're wondering, no its not the end of the story. If it was, I'd be very disappointed in myself. And I'm not. Cheesy Grin! Tune in next time to see if our heroes can escape being turned into swiss cheese. Gotta go sort a flaming hedgehog. Ciao. Now where did I put that extinguisher... - Theos (and Pyro)