Shadow flinched at the sound of wailing and yelling. His furious eyes found the young fox clutching one of his namesakes close to him as he admired a set of teeth marks now upon it and the small blue quills that were jammed in. The wailing came from the biter who sat on the floor, green eyes staring up innocently at his guardian, with his spines puffed up. A low growl escaped the dark hedgehog as he grabbed his charge

"Metal Sonic's outside and you two choose to fight!"

Both hedgehog and fox flinched from the tone of Shadow's voice.

Tails glanced up nervously "Metal Sonic's back?"

Shadow nodded "which is why you two need to be quite"

Tails glared at his brother "He started it"

"I don't care who started it" Shadow hissed "I'm finishing it"

Both kids starred at Shadow in awe.

The ebony hedgehog met their gaze before passing Sonic to the young fox "Get out of my sight until I say it's safe"

Tails nodded slowly and ran out the room. Shadow sighed and allowed his gaze to return to the robot that never quite got destroyed. A soft flapping alerted him to the arrival of Rouge who sauntered over to the window.

"Wow we sure are popular" she smirked.

"I presume you didn't reach Eggman's base then"

"You presumed right Honey but Omega wasn't against helping a girl out" the bat winked "Of course part of me wishes he were here t o stop Knucklehead and Amy"

Shadow turned to look at her "Yes although I doubt we'll have any trouble... from them at least"

"What do you mean Shadow?"

"Amy decided to send us the fox boy and now he's hiding somewhere in the house with the little faker"

"Wonderful" Rouge sighed "we've gone from GUN agents to babysitters and still haven't gotten Blue to go to sleep"

"I did the bath" Shadow protested

"exactly why I thought I'd save my pride and leave it to you Shadow" Rouge smiled "I'll see what to do with Fox boy"

"Do?" Shadow muttered.

"Shadow I hate to say it but there's a very good chance some one's breaking in here today and I don't think the kids should be part of it"

"You sound like their mother" Shadow observed.

"Given what you said just five minutes ago I don't think you have the right to comment" Rouge laughed at Shadow's expression "There are cameras in here Shadow... I couldn't let you have all the fun after all. You seem to enjoy playing dad with those two"

"I thought the blackmail was for Sonic"

Rouge smiled innocently "It is but if I happen to catch you doing something embarrassing well I'm sure I'll fine a use for it"

Shadow smirked "you know this means war"

The ivory bat laughed "Bring it on I'd love to beat the Ultimate Lifeform!"