…Judging from how rapidly Eggman was typing, he was busy as hell. Shadow even felt sorry for him for a moment. Pity that delaying the conversation until the evil genius would find a spare minute wasn't a part of his plans.
"Doctor," he called quietly.
The human jumped and turned to him. His face stretched in a funny way. "Shadow? How did you—"
"I have a question."
Red moustache turned down, forming a sour grimace. "Can you ask it some other time? I'm a little busy right now", said the villain, pointing to the side.
The hedgehog looked there and found a small capsule. There were two big fearful eyes staring back at him from behind the glass- a rabbit girl. Shadow had already seen her several days ago, during the fight with the metal copy of Sonic. His memory decided to serve him well for once for he could recollect her name: Cream.
He looked back at the doctor. "A bait?"
"Exactly. Sonic will be here any moment, so if you excuse me—"
"I want to know what's going on with me."
Eggman, who had already returned to his monitors, turned back to him again. "Erm, what?"
"I want to know what's going on with me," the hedgehog repeated, feeling that his patience was already reaching its limits.
"And what's going on with you?" Eggman arched an eyebrow.
"Don't you tell me you don't know!" Shadow exploded. "Rouge found me at your base… you called me an android… you said I have no past… and I don't know if it's true… and now I… but I'm not… I want to know what's going on!"
The door behind him opened silently, revealing a figure of a battle robot. Probably being one of late E-series, it possessed all gizmos necessary to calm down this particularly persistent madcap. Some of them would have looked more apt atop the deck of a battlecruiser.
"Shadow, you seem tired," Eggman said in a voice he probably believed to be soft and caring. "You really should take a rest."
"Mister Shadow-!" Cream drummed on the thick glass. Her voice was muffled, but the knocking still reached the hedgehog's ears. They twitched, suggesting him to look back, which he followed cautiously.
"Fine," muttered Shadow and jumped. Appearing before the robot's face, he dealt a direct blow. And one more. And one more.
He then landed on the floor and stared at his hands blankly. The same expression of utter puzzlement could probably appear upon the faces of scientists, who just witnessed a cannon-ball shattering to pieces after colliding with a handkerchief.
The robot, which was still in one piece and pretty much undamaged, shifted and responded with a burst of fire. Thankfully, Shadow's speed was in better condition than his power, so he still managed to dodge the bullets.
"Idiot!" shouted Eggman while hiding behind his chair. A couple of monitors above him exploded. "Look where you shoot!"
Shadow gave it another go and attacked once again. This time the robot was faster, and the hedgehog caught a blow to his chest and was sent flying across the room. Something shattered. Someone shrieked.
"Sonic is coming here!" Eggman was shouting, referring to no-one in particular.
The hedgehog stood up. It took him two tries to finally get that punching and kicking was pretty much useless - which meant that the one last option was to attack, using his speed and ability to curl into a spiky ball. He greeted the idea with very little enthusiasm. A slight dizziness that had been torturing him for some time suggested that he would have significant problems with telling below apart from above during and especially after his spin attack.
"Stop it!"
Suddenly Cream was right in front of him. Squinting at the side, Shadow found a piece of the capsule lying there. Now it was clear what exactly had broken when he fell.
"Don't fire!"
"What are you waiting for!? Get rid of them!" suggested Eggman from behind the chair.
The robot raised its weapon, aiming at Shadow and Cream who remained standing between them. Shadow stared blankly at the ammo the metal colossus still possessed. Even if the missiles weren't explosive, it still might try to knock two sapients to death with the weight of them alone and be good at that.
"Though wait, don't touch the girl," the doctor suddenly changed his mind. "Maybe I'll have to hold her hostage later."
The robot froze. "Conflicting commands," it uttered. Its head began turning around itself. "System overload…"
"Please, don't!"
"Overload…"
"Do something!"
"Please, just let us go…"
"Ah, dammit…"
Shadow looked back and saw the back of the doctor's chair disappearing in the hole in the floor. A slab that was supposed to cover it returned to its place with a quiet click.
"Overload…"
"Stop it!"
"Overload…"
The floor beneath them shuddered.
It was finally enough for him. The ultimate life form clenched his head with his hands. Too much noise, too little chance to find an answer…
He just had wasted his time once again.
"Chaos Control!"