Chapter 11- Infiltration
The loud hum of the Tornado's engines echoed through the silent sky as the blue plane touched down on a crimson metallic surface belonging to the Egg Carrier III. Soon after, a young fox, three hedgehogs, an echidna, and a bat jumped out, landing on the same surface, wind blowing their fur and quills everywhere.
They had landed on a small flat landing zone on the giant ship, one of the only flat surfaces the mechanical monster had to offer. Beyond them, maybe fifty feet away, was a large blast door leading into the ship's interior.
"Whoa," the blue male hedgehog, Sonic, commented rather loudly over the loud whistling of the wind, "Eggman really improved this thing from last time!"
"This is no time for sightseeing," another hedgehog, Shadow, snapped with closed fists.
"Both of you guys, cool down," Amy scolded. Seriously, these two acted more like kids most of the time, not like the ultimate life form and Earth's most loved hero.
"Tails," Knuckles asked with crossed arms, "Where is Eggman located?"
The young fox pointed to a large pointed tower spearing up from the middle of the ship without a moment's hesitation, "In the Command Center."
The crimson echidna nodded and turned to the two bickering hedgehogs, Sonic and Shadow, "Come on, no time to be behaving like kids."
"Up yours, knucklehead!" Sonic immediately retorted, making both the guardian and the ultimate life form smirk. Once again, Sonic had just proven the point of his childish behavior.
"Come on, let's go!" Rogue ordered, staring at a small blast door that lead into the interior of the ship.
"Shouldn't you call G.U.N. for support?" Tails asked, following the bat to the door.
Amy, Knuckles, Shadow, and a brooding Sonic all followed.
"No," Rouge answered, stopping in front of the sealed door, "They probably have their hands full with Eggman's troops in the city."
"How are we going to open it?" Amy asked curiously, stepping besides Sonic.
"Don't worry about it!" Knuckles exclaimed, slamming one of his spiked fists into his other hand's open palm, "I'll turn that door into scrap metal!"
Rouge softly laid her hand on the echidna's fist and shook her head, "That'll only attract attention, leave this to me."
The ivory bat quickly pulled out a small metallic rectangular box out of her leather spy suit. Attaching it to a large green box beside the door with ten numbers meant for access codes, the bat began pressing multiple buttons on her device. A quiet hum erupted from Rouge's hacking equipment. Smiling, the bat punched in five numbers.
"Access Approved," a robotic female voice droned.
With a loud hiss, the large metallic door slid open. Rouge smirked and turned to the others, tossing the metallic hacking device in her hand.
"I could've done that," Knuckles mumbled, passing the bat and heading into the belly of the metallic ship.
"Nice job Rouge!" Amy chirped as she passed by.
"Can you teach me that later?" Tails asked as he followed Amy.
"Showoff," Sonic grumbled.
That left only one, Shadow the Hedgehog, the only one she really wanted acknowledgment from.
Staring hopefully at the black and red hedgehog, Rouge's heart skipped a beat when his mouth opened, "Well done, Rouge."
The snowy white bat smiled as the ultimate life form passed by. Maybe there was still hope for him. With a quick yank, the huntress stuffed it back into one of the many pockets littering her suit. The door began hissing shut again as the treasure huntress jumped inside before it closed completely with a loud clank, leaving only the sound of the wind hand in hand with silence.
-
"Sir," a small orange worker drone announced, "There has been an unapproved opening in sector forty-seven."
"Hm," a figure, a human one, hummed, drumming his fingers on the armrest of his large chair.
Clad in a red and black mech suit, Doctor Ivo Robotnik, world renowned genius and super villain, contemplated the situation with a small smirk, his small black shaded glasses glinting under the bright yellow light illuminating the room.
The room was littered with multiple monitors showing him most of the main halls and chambers of the ship. Red and green lights occasionally flickered on the computers in the large circular room, giving off small, almost feeble beeps that rang through the doctor's ears.
Turning the chair to face a large window that gave him a view of the front of his ship an part of Station Square located below him, the genius' dry lips arched into a small smirk.
"Send in Squadron 13," the doctor finally ordered.
"Sir?" the small drone questioned, as if unwilling to believe the words that had just escaped his lips.
"Must I repeat myself?" Robotnik asked in return, never looking away from the large window, "Or shall I turn you into a tin can?"
Frightened, the small drone immediately beeped and turned to stalk out of the room, a large metallic door hissing open and shut after it left.
"I knew you would come, Sonic and Shadow," the doctor drawled to himself in an amused tone, "Too bad this time none of you are leaving here alive."
-
Shadows danced across the floor, ceiling and roof of the metallic structure the small group of heroes was currently slowly and quietly traveling through. Even Amy Rose, infamous for her loud and sometimes obnoxious mouth was as quiet as a mouse in this situation, adding on to the fact that what they were doing was seriously dangerous and risky.
Sonic was in front, peeking around corridors to make sure the coast was clear. Amy was behind the azure hero, clinging to the fur on his back for dear life. Tails, the young two tailed fox genius was behind the pink hedgehog, a small laser gun in hand, a courageous yet fearful look on his face.
Behind her was Rouge the Bat, a small GPS device in hand, leading them in the right direction. Behind the huntress were Knuckles and Shadow, both covering the rear of the group to avoid any unfriendly sneak attacks.
"We're about to enter a large circular room," Rouge announced quietly, hoping everyone would hear, "My scanner shows there is movement in there."
Sonic turned his head back slightly, his upper face hidden in the darkness. All Rouge could see was his mouth arching into a toothy grin.
'If only I had your confidence, Sonic,' the bat thought as they proceeded to another large door.
Pressing a large crimson button next to the door, the giant metal structure hissed open, smoke blowing out of small air vents from its sides.
Motioning for the rest to follow, Sonic entered the room, which was the same as the rest of the base: completely dark. Knuckles, Rouge, Tails, and Amy followed in without question.
Only Shadow hesitated slightly before entering the room and for good reason to, as it hissed shut right after he stepped foot into the dark chamber.
"What?" Sonic asked in shock, whirling around at the noise, refusing to believe what it represented.
They were trapped.
"Damn," Knuckles cursed under his breath. An obvious trap, They should've listened to Rouge.
Bright white lights suddenly illuminated the room, seeming to shine from everywhere and nowhere. It was as if the whole chamber was totally surrounded in lights. It wasn't enough to cause harm to the eye, but enough for everyone to see the chamber clearly.
They were in what looked like a laboratory. White machines and instruments littered the room, beeping with red and blue lights. A large generator hummed in the corner of the chamber, which was fairly large when compared to other normal rooms.
"Welcome Sonic, and of course, all his little companions," an all-to familiar voice chuckled darkly, his voice seeming to echo around the room.
"Eggman," Sonic hissed, spitting the name out like a piece of bad meat, "I didn't think even you would sink so low!"
Another chuckle echoed through the chamber, causing everyone to bring up their guards in case of an attack.
"Why, whatever do you mean, my admirable adversary?"
"You know damn well what I mean!" Sonic roared at the top of his voice, "How could you attack the city when it was defenseless? How could you be so spineless?"
"I merely saw it as an opportunity Sonic, not an act of cowardice," Robotnik retorted, his voice calm and collected, as if they were discussing today's weather.
"Whatever," Knuckles interrupted, hot-headed by the Doctor's taunts, "Let us out of here before I smash this room to bits!"
A long pause filled the room, giving Amy and Tails the chills.
Finally, Eggman cleared his throat and spoke, "I will, my dear echidna. But first, you must take care of my special squad."
Shadow raised a brow, seemingly uninterested by the whole situation, "Get on with it, Doctor."
Another chuckle.
"Very well, ultimate life form...Squadron 13, attack!"
As if rehearsed, or simply by their leader's command, five small shadows dropped from the ceiling, their backs arched forward, giving them a ghostly appearance. Everyone's eyes widened at the sight of their new opponents.
"Shadow clones?" Sonic asked in disbelief, remembering the incident with Metal Sonic.
Eggman or Metal, which either one was in control, made hundreds of organic and metallic copies of the original Shadow in an attempt to create an all-powerful army.
And indeed, the figures in front of the heroes were exact copies of the dark hedgehog, but they were not metallic.
"New and improved?" Shadow asked sarcastically, "I don't remember fighting these kind of clones during the Black Arms invasion."
"That's because, as you said Shadow, these are new, my near-ultimate creations, five clones of the ultimate life form. They have your speed and your power, Shadow. I used some blood samples I had from the Ark incident to create these."
Sonic's lips twitched into a playful smirk, "So you're saying these Shadow clones are just as powerful as the original was, back on Ark?"
"Correct, are you ready to admit defeat yet?"
A dark laughter suddenly filled the area, bringing chills to everyone. It alerted everyone in the room for one simple reason, it wasn't Eggman. Looking behind them, they saw Shadow with his head thrown back and laughing sinisterly.
Amy backed up slightly, scared of the dark hedgehog. Was this really him? She had never heard Shadow laugh that way before.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Doctor," Shadow snarled, his eyes boring into the lifeless ones of his five clones, "But my powers now outclass the ones of my past self."
"What?" Eggman asked in a curious tone.
"Let me show you," Shadow whispered with a malicious smirk, darting forward so fast that only Sonic could follow his movements.
A wave of compressed air blew the group's fur and quills into distortion as Shadow charged at the five clones, his fists waving back and forth in rhythm with his skating movements. Before anyone could register what had happened, the clone on the far left fell to the ground with a thud.
"What happened?" Eggman practically screamed over his intercom, his voice raising a pitch.
The original Shadow appeared again, this time on the left of the clone on the far right. With a swing of his arms, the ultimate life form swiftly broke the back of the copy in two separate places, causing two sickening cracks to echo through the air.
Amy's eyes widened out of shock as she pressed Tails' face against her stomach, not wanting the young minor to be exposed to such death.
Sonic watched on as Shadow darted to the middle copy hedgehog and rammed his elbow straight into his nose, causing the organic creation to fall to the ground in a heap as well. Knuckles watched on, trying to not let any emotion or reactions show by his physical appearance. But the honest truth was, he was a little disturbed at Shadow's swift killing.
The black and red hedgehog had not even paused before killing his clones, which were not even robots. They were living, breathing creatures just like themselves.
Rouge's mouth was completely dry. She could only watch in horror as the former member of Team Dark chopped the fourth clone in the neck, making it emit a small, pathetic cry before falling to the ground as well.
"That leaves only you," Shadow mocked with a dark smile, his eyes on the last clone, his form arched forward to give him a more intimidating appearance.
Before anyone could even utter a word of protest, Shadow disappeared, reappearing behind the startled clone. With a quick jab, the ultimate life form broke the skull of the fake. Red eyes widened slightly before the last clone fell.
"I'm not too impressed," the ultimate life form hissed sadistically, "I thought you said these were my copies?"
There was a long, painful pause that hung in the air.
Eggman finally cleared his throat, "How did you improve so much?"
"Hm hm hm hm, curious of my new powers Doctor?" Shadow asked sarcastically, his voice so deep and low that it could've frightened Chaos himself.
The door that was blocking their path suddenly hissed open as Eggman spoke again, "A deal is a deal, you may proceed."
"Wise choice," Shadow snorted before walking through the door slowly, paying no heed to the stunned crowd, still shocked from the ultimate life form's ruthless display of violence.
Author's Note: Since this chapter is a little short, the next one will be coming your way a little earlier. Look out for Chapter 12 tomorrow!