Part 4: Destruction and Scorn

The great blue globe of Earth turns as slowly and steadily as ever, as if blissfully unaware of the violence and destruction that plagues its surface. High above this constant, inalterable motion, Shadow the Hedgehog appears in a flash of light, Black Doom floating beside him. Uncaring about the planet, Shadow's eyes move immediately to the familiar sight of the space station before them.

Black Doom's rumbling voice sounds, "It is time to complete all final preparations for our ritual. Hidden inside the Space Colony ARK is the most powerful weapon in the galaxy, able to pierce stars…the Eclipse Cannon."

Shadow looks up to Black Doom with some confusion at the sound of the familiar words. "Piercing…the stars…"

"That's right. We must demonstrate the cannon's full power, or tomorrow's Prosperity Ritual will all be for nothing."

Shadow gives a slow nod. "Tomorrow."

"As we speak, our forces are amassing to take the ARK. However…the facility has an impressive defense system, preventing our entry. Destroy the defense systems, so our attack force can get through."

"I understand."

Black Doom looks to the ARK with some mixture of pity and contempt. "What fools. Humans created the Eclipse Cannon to protect themselves from terror. Instead, it will aid in the end of human civilization!" As he speaks, an armored, bird-like Black Volt creature soars around behind him, and comes to a stop underneath Shadow, waiting for him to mount. "Now…go." Shadow grabs ahold of the creature, allowing it to take him towards the space station. Black Doom calls after him, "You've already failed me twice, Shadow! I suggest you not try for a third time!" Doom starts to disappear as Doom's Eye soars past him, pursuing Shadow.

As Shadow soars closer to the ARK, a circle of greenish barriers come into view, with an odd, starfish-like mechanism at their center. Doom's Eye informs Shadow, "That is one of the defense units. Destroy it!"

At Shadow's command, the Black Volt begins to launch a series of organic missiles, all targeting the strange green mechanism. The defense unit crumbles to pieces as Shadow passes over it, deactivating all of the barriers.

Doom's Eye comments approvingly, "One down… Only three remain."

—–—

Shadow, heavy machine gun in hand, walks towards the final defense unit, no Black Volt or Doom's Eye to be seen. As if sensing a pattern, he stops to look over his shoulder, expecting someone to be there. But he appears to be alone. "Finally. Peace and–"

Shadow flinches as a high and nasally yet grumbling voice shouts, "Well, if it isn't Shadow!" Shadow turns with some combination of a sigh and a growl to meet Vector the Crocodile, who appears to have donned a small, black leather jacket for unknown reasons. "You know the layout of this place, right? You've gotta help me find the computer room!"

"Is that all?" Shadow points straight up with his gun, to an opening in flat surface of the ARK high above them, out of which green light floods. "See that opening? The central computer core's in there." With that said, Shadow turns to leave.

"Wait! Aren't you gonna help me get there?"

"I'm busy." Shadow resumes his walk.

"Oh. Well, uh…" Vector scratches at his head. "Thanks, I guess." Vector runs off in the other direction.

After another moment, Shadow checks over his shoulder to ensure that Vector is gone. Then, wasting no more time, he opens fire on the floating defense unit. In seconds, it is destroyed. "The Eclipse Cannon is ours."

Doom's Eye approaches from behind. "Well done, Shadow. Meet me in the cannon's control room." It flies off just as quickly as it arrived.

With no ammo remaining, Shadow discards the weapon, as heavy footsteps across the glass floor can be heard from behind him. "It's been a long time…Shadow." Shadow turns to look into the achromatic eyes of the GUN Commander, who points his pistol directly at Shadow's head.

Shadow turns to face him calmly. "Who are you supposed to be? Another one claiming to know who I am?"

The Commander continues to step forward, never lowering the weapon. "I know you…Shadow the Hedgehog." He stops a few feet short of Shadow. "You killed everyone I loved. My family. Maria!" He jabs the gun forward for emphasis, as Shadow lets out the slightest gasp at the name. "I've been waiting all my life for this day!"

Shadow closes his eyes, and clenches a fist tightly. "You're wrong. I didn't kill anyone, not on that day." He opens his eyes again, and looks directly into the face of his opponent. "Even though Maria didn't know who I really am, even though she would have been terrified of me if she did, I still tried to save her, because I thought she was a good person. But there are no good people."

"How dare you!? Maria was like a sister to me! She meant more to me than anyone else! And because of you…she was killed!" The Commander closes his eyes as he thinks back. "I witnessed it all…the Professor and that black creature planning to create a horrifying, evil creature!"

Shadow is once again struck with surprise. "You're saying that…I was created by Black Doom?"

"And that insane Professor who unleashed it all!"

Shadow has to take a step back as he clutches at his head. "That explains…why…" His eyes dart back and forth as he starts to connect everything, the promises, the demands, the memories, the alien soldiers.

The Commander snaps him out of it with a loud shout. "You don't fool me! It's not just about Maria! Thanks to you, everyone I knew and loved was killed aboard the ARK. Finally, justice is served!" He suddenly pulls the trigger, and the gunshot sounds violently through the otherwise silent space. But no one is standing in front him. He only has a moment to realize that he missed before he is struck in the back of the head by Shadow's kick. He collapses onto the floor as his dropped weapon slides a fair distance away.

Shadow looks down on the white-haired man with scorn. "You've wasted enough of my time." He turns to leave. "I have work to do."

The Commander tries to contain his rage by pressing his fingers into the solid glass floor. He mutters quietly, "I've waited too long to let you get away that easily." Too far from his gun, he draws a knife that he had concealed. "You'll regret turning your back on me!" He quickly stands and charges at his foe with the sharp weapon.

Without turning back, Shadow throws back an elbow, connecting with his assailant's chest and stopping him in place. Then he strikes the Commander's hand with the back of his wrist, sending the knife flying out, which he catches, turns around, and slices with, all in one fluid motion. The Commander cries out as he collapses to the ground again, clutching one side of his face. Crimson blood starts to seep through his once-pristine white gloves. He still stares up Shadow with rage through his remaining maroon eye.

Shadow shakes his head. "It was foolish to think that you could take on the Ultimate Life Form so easily." Shadow drops the knife onto the floor with a clatter. "It would be a waste of even more time to kill you now," he continues, already making his way out once again. "You'll join the rest of your kind soon enough."

Long after Shadow is gone, the Commander still glares at the spot where he once stood, his anger still building with every passing moment. Until a blindingly bright floodlight suddenly shines on him, accompanied by the loud whirring and strong wind of a landing craft. A figure steps out of the craft once it touches ground, silhouetted by the craft's strong light. The figure of another hedgehog, who offers his hand in help to the Commander. After a moment of hesitation, the Commander takes Sonic's hand.

—–—

Shadow walks slowly across the narrow platform, leading to the center of the wide, circular room, where Black Doom waits for him. Black Doom greets, "You're late, Shadow."

"There was a setback." He comes to a stop as the straight platform stretches into a circular one, wrapping around an odd device that seems to stretch from the ground below all the way to the roof up above, a computer console with holographic displays sitting in front. "I took care of it."

"Very well." Doom turns to the computer console, and presses a key. Many lights around the central device light up as the circular platform begins to rise away, turning slightly. The device opens up from the center, revealing seven Emerald-shaped slots arrayed in an X pattern. "You are familiar with this device, correct? Place the Chaos Emeralds inside, so that we may begin our demonstration."

"I understand." Shadow steps up to the empty slots. He takes out the dark blue Chaos Emerald, reaches over, and gently presses it into the center slot. It shines and makes a twinkling sound as it is secured. He continues one at a time with four more Emeralds, leaving only two empty slots. "That's all of them."

"Good. Now, come closer." Doom beckons Shadow to the console. "I have already set the Eclipse Cannon's coordinates to the military base we discussed earlier. I want you to fire at it."

"What!? Me?"

"That's right. Contained within that single facility are all of the planet's highest ranking leaders, military units, and spies. Including the President you've twice now failed to eliminate. When your task is complete, Earth will have no one left to turn to. It is a vital part of our conquest."

"Did you say…spies?" For reasons he can't at first explain, the image of the bat girl who woke him in his earliest intact memories comes to his mind, of the time when they first met in this very room. "That's right…I remember now. She was a spy. She was a traitor. And I trusted her!" In anger, his hand flies towards the cannon's controls. But just inches away, he freezes. "I trusted her…when I didn't think that I could trust anyone. And even though she was a spy…she looked for me anyways."

—–—

It wasn't that long ago she had found him. But somehow, at this moment, it felt like an eternity ago. "Aw yeah, baby!" Rouge the Bat had shouted. "This makes us a team!" Shadow ripped his hand away from the leather glove and metallic claws of his supposed 'teammates'. He turned to leave. "And where do you think you're going?"

Shadow stopped at the destroyed doorway, once again looking back at them through the corner of his eye, into the destroyed remains of the room in Eggman's facility where he had been held in stasis these past months. "I'm going to find answers. I don't want a 'team'."

"Don't get all melancholy on me again, Shadow. We're all looking for Eggman, we can do it fastest together. Even you must understand that much."

"I don't know you." He resumed his walk. "So just stay out of my way."

"Is that why you saved me?" Shadow froze once again. "You wake up here, no memories, nothing at all, and the very first thing you do is save my life, just like you did back on Prison Island! You may not remember, but deep down, you know. I'm your friend, Shadow. If you want answers, I can give you some."

"I saved you because I owed you for waking me up. Consider that debt paid. That doesn't mean I trusted you, and I have no reason to trust you now."

"You're right."

This catches Shadow's attention enough to make him turn back to face them. "What?"

"You don't have any reason to trust me. But I've been looking for you for a long time now, and now that I've found you, I'm not gonna let you just walk out. And as much as I wish I had some kind of proof, I don't. But I know someone who does. I'll bet if we go looking for Eggman, we'll run into Sonic."

"Sonic…?"

"Let us help you, Shadow. Let's find out what Eggman's up to, together."

"…Fine." Shadow resumed his walk through the exit. "Just try to keep up."

—–—

Black Doom's snarling voice rips Shadow away from the memory. "What are you waiting for, Shadow? Fire the cannon."

"Black Doom…there's something I have to know. Did you–"

"Silence! I will not tolerate disobedience! Fire the cannon, now!"

"But I–"

"NOW!"

Shadow's hand trembles over the console. He clenches his eyes and turns his head away as his fingers fall down on the activation key.

"Excellent…"

—–—

The President, resting his chin on a fist, looks down on the workers of the GUN control room from the Commander's chair. He lets out a sigh, knowing that every moment they remain silent is another moment without sign of victory. Suddenly, one of the workers turns from their station to look up at him. "Mr. President, sir, we're receiving a communication. Point of origin…space colony ARK."

"The ARK? Put it on screen."

"I…don't have a choice, sir." Suddenly, every screen in the room, including the large main viewer at the room's front, has its contents replaced by the same image of Black Doom.

"What in the world!?"

Black Doom's distorted drawl projects out from the viewer, "We are the Black Arms. We are here to take rule of this planet. Any attempts to resist are futile, and will result in death."

Another worker turns to the President. "Sir, we're getting reports that this message is being transmitted to every functioning screen on the planet. The entire world can hear this."

Black Doom continues, "You humans are so pathetic."

"Sir, we're getting massive energy readings from the colony. It appears to be powering up." The entire room quickly becomes filled with chaos as workers all at once begin to relay off all sorts of information at once, attempting to be ensured of what's really going on.

The President tightly clenches a fist. "This can't be…"

Heedlessly, Doom's voice proceeds, "As of today…this planet is mine!"

The President shakes his head, speaking quietly under the clamor the room, "You're crazy. We will not…" He doesn't seem sure of how to finish the thought.

"Now, we will complete the extermination of all the world's leaders who resist."

One worker's report sounds loud over all of the others. "Sir, target lock confirmed! The Eclipse Cannon is pointing straight at us!"

The President is taken aback. "W-What!?"

Doom's voice grows ever louder. "Annihilation for what you know of this planet is near. It is time to embrace the dawn of your demise and despair."

The President shouts, "I want all of you out of here, right now! Begin emergency evacuation procedures!" The clamor in the room rises as sirens begin to sound. But one worker turns to the President once more.

"Sir…with all due respect, sir, we're staying right here. Until the end."

Another continues, "I've been ordered to gather information on the Black Comet. I can confirm that it's the aliens' base, and I'm preparing to transmit that information to the Commander now. But I need just a few more moments."

The President closes his eyes. "I am honored to call myself the leader of such brave men as yourselves."

Most of the workers in the room stand at attention from their stations, and one by one give a salute to the President. The last worker presses one final key, then does the same. "Transmission is complete. It's been an honor serving you, sir."

The President stands straight, and returns the salute with dignity.

—–—

High above, the Eclipse Cannon's outer casing folds open, revealing the intense green energy that charges within, concentrating in a sphere around the tip of the weapon. Then the cannon fires at the planet's surface. The beam of energy flies through the atmosphere, shreds apart the air fleet still hovering above the ground, and continues through the ground until it impacts the president's real escape pod, still parked on the helipad at the entrance to the base. From there, the energy radiates outwards, destroying everything in its path for miles around. Even with the base obliterated, Black Doom's maniacal laughter still echoes throughout the rest of the planet.