"I'm looking for a Shadow the hedgehog. Could you tell me where I might find him?"

The drunkard's eyes widened at the sound of the name, and Rouge knew then that she had found her mark. The blue hedgehog stared at her for a time, his jade eyes hazy and wondering as though he was deep in thought.

Then he made a clucking sound with his dry lips and blinked at her. "I think you oughta' come along with me, miss."

"It's Rouge," she told him suddenly, grabbing his hand. He flinched at the contact. "Rouge the bat."

He pulled away gently, his fingers stretching and spanning outwards as he nodded, as though he were shaking off something vile. "Right. Rouge. Come with me. I'll… I'll take you to Shadow."

She smiled warmly at him as he turned around and motioned for her to follow as he climbed the stairs to the second floor of the saloon. "Thank you ever so much, sheriff."

He glanced back at her and flashed a worn grin. "Yeah. Don't mention it."

…

"Shadow the hedgehog," the dark blue menace at the door boomed, his rifle held high in his hand. With the other he clasped the doorway, his claws sinking into the wood as he stood his ground. Wind and gunsmoke blew through the folds of his coat, sending it billowing in the air like a cape. "You are charged with crimes against Westown and Mayor Robotnik."

Shadow ducked further down into his seat, his grip on his gun tightening as he glanced back at the robot in shock. The people screamed and cowered in their seats, holding their hands above their heads as though it would protect them from the gunfire. Children cried. Mothers wailed. Men shivered.

"Gun!" the weasel cried out, his eyes turning scared and unblinking as he staggered back a step and held up his pistol in retaliation. "He's got a gun!"

Before Metal Sonic could say another word, the bullets began to fly.

…

"This sure is a nice room. It's got one of them fancy mirrors and everything."

"Yeah, it's nice," Sonic agreed as he locked the door behind him and thumbed off the safety on his machine-pistol. "The barkeep used to rent it out for wanderers and passerby. Like an inn or something."

"Used to?" the bat asked, her eyes fixed upon the mirror and desk at the far end of the room. She walked past the bed and leaned over the tabletop, staring into the glass as though she had never seen one before. "So, where does Shadow stay? I thought you were taking me to him."

The blue hedgehog took a breath and held his pistol to the woman's head, pressing it into the back of her skull as he growled, "That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Miss Rouge."

…

Metal Sonic leapt forward, his long jacket flapping and flowing around his figure like a cloak of dust as he rocketed into action. Several bullets darted through his coat, tearing the fabric but just missing his steely flesh.

Flipping end-over-end in a blue-brown tornado of motion, the police officer righted himself until his feet were flush with the ceiling, and his body dangled in the air as he activated the magnets in his boots and connected himself with the steel roof with a hard clack. His wide-brimmed hat barely held on to his head as he hung from the ceiling, and the bandits at the other end of the aisle caught a glimpse of his hellishly scarlet irises.

The weasel froze with fear as he stared on in terror and amazement, his eyes burning in the pistol-smoke. "What in God's name…?"

Just as quickly as Metal Sonic had stuck himself to the ceiling, he began to run forward in long, loud strides, his feet pounding the metal above him as he sprinted upside-down towards the group of bandits. His blood-red eyes flared with an ungodly intensity as he brought back his rifle like a javelin and hurled it, the long, metal rod of the gun-barrel spinning like a demented top as it whistled through the air.

The bolt-action rifle smashed into one of the hedgehogs on the leader's right, crunching into the criminal's skull and clattering to the floor. The hedgehog sputtered blood and choked loudly as he toppled over.

Still running, Metal Sonic deactivated his magnetic attachment to the ceiling and somersaulted to the ground, rolling as he went.

"Don't just st-stand there!" the weasel hollered, turning around and hiding behind his allies. "Smoke him! Smoke the bastard!"

The rat stepped forward, stomping towards the metallic devil, dragging his shotgun behind him. He put one foot on top of the sheriff's rifle and the other on the carpet, keeping the weapon just out of reach. "Try ta' jump out of this one, bunny-rabbit," he chuckled in a deep voice as he pumped a round into the chamber and took aim.

…

Rouge saw the ex-sheriff coming in the dusty reflection offered by the mirror just as she had finished unlatching the lock on her luggage.

Whirling around and smacking the gun skyward, she blindsided the hedgehog as she swung her suitcase high. Clothing and other items fluttered through the air and rained down in a torrent of confusion that stunned the blue hedgehog and sent him stumbling backwards. The assassin's eyes trained on the sheath of her cutlass, and she catapulted through the hurricane of nonsense and snatched the sword out of the air.

She landed before the shocked hedgehog with a devilish smile on her face as she peeled the blade from its case. The thin, white line of death danced in her hand as she twirled it in a display of skill. "I've been waiting to use this little toy for a long time."

"Oh, have you now?" Sonic snarled, recovering himself as he aimed his pistol from the waist.

Rouge nodded and snapped the hidden pistol out of her sleeve, loosing a round of fiery lead into the man's gun-hand before he could react in time. Blood seeped from his palm as his gun smacked into the floorboards and slid away.

"Damn," he cursed, wincing in pain and locking gazes with the enemy before him.

The bat-girl tossed away her one-shot weapon and spun the sword in her hand. "But nobody's ever lasted long enough for me to try it out."

"Well, I can assure you, little missy," Sonic replied, cracking the kinks out of his neck as he raised his fists, "I can last a long time."

She laughed a filthy laugh and jumped forth, flapping her wings and rising high above her prey before spiraling down towards him blade-first.

The Blue Blur rolled away just in time as she plunged the cutlass into the wooden ground. He got to his knees and readied himself.

"Enough foreplay," she hissed, drawing back her weapon and bending her knees in a sort-of fighting stance. "Let's dance."

…

Shadow the hedgehog barreled from his chair and fired two shots at the rat as he dived into the aisle. "Everybody get down!" he cried.

One exploded through the bandit's shoulder, and the other through his ribs, and each elicited a horrifying screech of agony as he fell to his knees and dropped his shotgun to the floor.

Metal Sonic did not hesitate, lurching forward with the motion of the train and taking up the fallen firearm. His finger found the trigger easily, and the barrel fit perfectly in the slope of the man's throat.

A hellish bang resounded through the car as the robber's head exploded into pieces, blood spattering the walls and floorboards. The android's face was slick with sticky, red fluid as he stood from the floor and turned around to face the black hedgehog.

"Two down," Shadow observed as he stepped forward cautiously, eyeing the strange sheriff as he approached. "The other three made a break for it while you were down."

Metal Sonic ignored this statement and responded by jabbing his newly acquired shotgun into Shadow's ribcage.

The black and red hedgehog's brow furrowed, and he slapped the barrel away with the butt of his pistol. "I just saved your ass," he told him.

"Irrelevant," the robot retorted as he readjusted his aim. "You are wanted on charges of arson. Dead or alive."

Shadow only stared, his eyes narrowed and deathly serious. He slowly raised his hands above his head, his pistol hanging from his thumb.

Metal Sonic moved to take the gun from his loose grip, his hand outstretched. "You will come with me to Westown, where you will face public execution. No trial will be necessary-…"

"Where the hell have I seen you before?"

The robot froze, his artificial gaze flickering as he returned his attention to the convict's eyes. Scarlet clashed with scarlet. After a moment of silence, the officer answered by snatching away his quarry's revolver.

Then something above their heads exploded, sending a horrid shudder through the compartment as the wheels shook and sputtered beneath their feet. Passengers screamed in terror as the car suddenly tipped to one side, the train balancing on its left set of wheels as the explosion tipped the immense vehicle until it had almost toppled off of the tracks.

Shadow slid, banging his side into the wooden arm of one of the many seats. Grunting and cursing, he grasped the chair's back for support as he righted himself. Metal Sonic, unfazed or uncaring or both, seemed to visibly tense as he held himself in place with sheer willpower.

When the train righted itself and clanged back onto the tracks, the two enemies looked at each other for a long moment.

Then Metal Sonic tossed Shadow's pistol back to its owner. "Do not attempt to escape," he commanded as he kicked open the door behind him and stepped outside.

…

Rouge swung diagonally, her cutlass slicing the air as Sonic leapt aside and countered with a whirling kick. His boot slammed into the blade and drove it to the ground, the bat-girl falling to one knee as she held on with all of her strength. She stumbled and cursed, dancing away and recovering as she adjusted her grip on the sword.

The blue hedgehog flung himself forward, his legs a whirlwind of movement and speed as he twirled through the air and delivered another kick to the blade, which wobbled and recoiled at the force of the blow. Rouge used the momentum to her advantage, taking two steps back until she was against the wall, kicking off of the wooden barrier and lunging forward, weapon held at chest-level.

Sonic jumped away, narrowly avoiding impalement as the bat curved her attack into an uppercut, just barely cutting into the hedgehog's nose. A drop of blood trickled from the wound.

The hero sprinted forward once more, his moves bold and stupid as he grabbed the sword by the blade and shoved it skyward. Rouge's eyes widened in shock as he pressed his palms into the sharpened edge and forced the cutlass back against her chest until the two were inches apart, their panting breaths burning their eyes. The cool iciness of the ivory blade was all that stood between them as they stood face-to-face.

"You're going to tell me everything that you know about Shadow the hedgehog," Sonic demanded, blood oozing from his hands, staining the white gloves red and pink like a flower painted by Satan.

"Don't play dumb with me, serpiente," she hissed, pushing against him with all her might. "You're Shadow the hedgehog."

"The hell I am," he replied, letting up on the sword, leaning casually into the blade as the blood began to rain from his hands. He stood on one foot, lying vertically on the cutlass like he was leaning into a wall for support. "The name's Sonic, darling. Sonic the hedgehog."

"Arrogant bastard!" she cried as she sidestepped suddenly, sending the hedgehog tumbling into the wall as he was caught off-guard. Like pulling the rug out from under a dumb animal, she observed with an evil smirk.

Sonic sat up, rubbing his head sorely as he regained his composure. His bloodstained gloves smeared pinkish goo across his quills as he did so. "You're the second person who come through this way looking for a Shadow," he remarked, standing from the floor. "What's he done, huh? Why're you after the poor fool, anyhow?"

Rouge flicked her sword until the blade was clean of bloodstuff, sending droplets of crimson fluid flying from the blade and coloring the floorboards red. "It doesn't matter what you did. All that matters is that GUN wants you dead."

The blue hedgehog's ears perked up and his stomach turned cold. "GUN…?" he asked slowly, hesitantly. "What the hell does GUN have to do with all this?"

The bat ran forth, slicing horizontally and nearly cutting the hedgehog in two as Sonic barely cleared the blade, jumping above the attack and somersaulting over the girl, falling ungracefully on his rear before rolling away and regaining his footing. Rouge glared hard at him and revealed her second pistol, aiming it as his head as she spoke.

"You'd best quit worrying about why, hon, and start worrying about me."

…

Metal Sonic led the way as the two exited the car and stood precariously atop the platform that connected the train's compartments, Shadow following suit and glancing around at the rushing desert landscape, his jacket flapping in the wind and his hat nearly coming off as a gust of hot air blasted his face.

With one hand, he held his hat to his skull, and with the other he held his pistol at the ready. "Where'd they go?" he shouted above the noise of the grinding gears below them.

Metal Sonic turned to him, his hands occupied with two rifles. He slung his bolt-action over his shoulder, leaving only his stolen pump-action shotgun to hold as he responded in an even, surprisingly calm tone, "The rooftop. They are trying to disable the train with concentrated amounts of trinitrotoluene."

Shadow's eyes went wide as he recognized the name for dynamite, and he held out his hand expectantly, leaving his hat to flutter loudly atop his head. "Gimme' that shotgun," he demanded. "This pistol's only got so much range."

The sheriff glared back at him. "You are not a skillful liar."

The black hedgehog might have smiled under other circumstances. "Then to hell with you," he spat.

"Do not forget," Metal Sonic said as he clasped one of the rungs of the ladder beside them, "that as soon as these criminals are dealt with, you will come back to Westown with me." His mechanical skull whirred as his glowing irises narrowed. "And then you will die."

Shadow, this time, did smile, however sarcastically. "Right," he replied, the only thing standing between the two a flimsy, temporary truce. "Looking forward to it."

The indigo hedgehog did not respond as he began to climb, the black and red hedgehog following close behind.

…

The shot rang out just as Sonic thought to jump away, and he felt his arm go numb as he slammed dumbly into the door, forgetting his position in the room and consequently slapping his skull against the wood. "Sonuvabitch," he grumbled, fumbling with the lock as his ears rang with white noise. Blood dribbled down his wrist and onto the doorknob as he tried unsuccessfully to open the door, the mechanism now sticky with gore. "I could really use a drink…"

Rouge moved somewhere behind him, his vision going blurry as he whirled around to face her. Well, it was more of slow, staggering crawl than a whirl, but Sonic was not too worried about the specifics at the time.

"Then allow me," she sneered, her sword held at her side passively, "to help you downstairs."

Her heel smashed into his chest before he could retort, the force of the kick breaking the rusted hinges of the door behind him. Sonic tumbled backwards and out the doorway, his bleeding form somersaulting over itself with painful, sickening snapping noises as he collided with the railing that protected him from falling from the hallway and down into the barroom below. He stood sluggishly, agony piercing his body and mind as he leaned uneasily on the rail. The wood groaned unconfidently.

Sonic the hedgehog's eyelids fluttered as he glanced up from the floor and in the direction of the assassin in the bedroom, blood leaking from his forehead where he must have cut it in his previous tumble. Then his emerald eyes widened when he saw her rushing toward him in a deadly sprint.

"Shit," he coughed as her heel cracked into his chin, her other foot kicking him in the ribs as she backflipped off of his wounded body and dealt a second uppercut to his jaw. The railing behind him snapped to pieces as he was pushed through the weak wood and into the open air above the bar.

Gravity tugged against him and yanked his body to the floor, his spine shivering with sharp, white-hot pain as he smashed through a table and fell to the earth below. His eyes flickered as his breath left him in shuddering waves, and he found himself choking on blood as he stared up at the chandelier above him. His hands twitched with hurt as he found that splinters had lodged themselves into his skin, but he ensured that his gun-arm was still functional as he reached into his jacket-pocket.

…

"You dropped it? How the hell did you drop it? You coulda' killed us!"

"Shuddup! It's not like I was tryin' to! We gotta' get out of here and get this stuff to the engine. It's the only way we can-!

"It's him! It's the goddamned robot!"

The bandit emptied his revolver as he fired blindly at the emerging form of Metal Sonic, his steely skin gleaming with gross, yellow sunlight as he climbed onto the top of the car. Two bullets pinged off of the metal roof and careened off into the distance, and the other two flew harmlessly through air and past the robotic hedgehog. The blue menace stood to his full height just as the final two rounds slapped uselessly into his jacket.

"You frickin' idiot!" the weasel hollered over the wind, grabbing for something inside of his vest as Metal Sonic raised his shotgun. "Don't you know how to shoot a gun?"

"It's the wind, boss-!" the bandit shouted back just as the buckshot blew seventeen holes through his chest and turned his insides to Swiss cheese. Gore and something internal spilled out of his stomach and dangled like puppet strings as he tripped over himself and fell to the floor. His body splattered on the steel roof and left a large, red stain as he slid off of the edge and bounded into the sand below. His bones contorted and snapped with gross popping noises as he bounced off into the desert.

The two desperados watched in fear as the second hedgehog emerged from the ladder, his pistol already aimed at the dog standing guard beside his leader. Shadow fired twice, once at the canine's left knee, then once at his right. The bones inside disintegrated to dust as the bullets exited through the other side, the wounds spewing blood.

The bandit screamed in pain and uselessly fired several shots into the air as his trigger-finger spasmed and twitched wildly. Shadow rushed forward, slowly at first as he got used to the windy atmosphere and the slick surface of the car rooftop, then quickly as he tossed his doubts and fears aside. He stuck the barrel of his forty-five to the dog's forehead and squeezed the trigger once more, kicking the corpse aside and into the dust below as he wiped blood and graymatter off of his face with the sleeve of his jacket.

He jabbed the barrel of his gun at the remaining weasel. Metal Sonic was at his side in less than a second, his boots clicking against the steely ground as he strolled towards the surviving criminal. The magnets in his feet kept him steady as he lowered his shotgun and drew his rifle.

"You are under arrest," the android declared, cocking the hammer on his bolt-action, "for attempted grand theft and assaulting an officer."

The crazed desperado staggered backwards, his hands tucked into his coat-pockets like they were crossed inside of a straitjacket. "S-screw you! Screw both of you, goddamn it! I had it all figured out! This was supposed to be easy money, easy frickin' money!"

Shadow shook his head and took a step forward. "Don't try anything crazy, compadre."

"Crazy…? Crazy?"

The weasel suddenly tossed away his vest, revealing his scrawny, mangy chest as the leather fluttered away and off into the sky. His face twisted into a wretched grin as he flicked a matchstick along the stiff material of his gunbelt, and the flame wavered and whipped in the wind before he cupped it into his hands for protection. He held the fire to his heart and glared at the two hedgehogs with bloodshot eyes.

The rows of dynamite strapped to his body were dangerously close to coming into contact with the flame as he screamed into the wind. "You ain't seen crazy yet, motherfu-!"

The shot drove through the bandit's hands and out through his spine before he could finish his retort. A bullet-sized hole crunched through his palms and fingers, and the match he had been holding sputtered out and trickled from his grasp. The hole in his sternum seemed bigger, with blood seeping into his dark, greasy fur and into the explosive sticks tied to his flesh. Crimson melted into the orange-red bars of TNT.

The barrel of Shadow the hedgehog's forty-five revolver smoldered as he walked forward, grabbing the dying man's shoulder and holding him upright, for fear that letting him fall to his death might set off the explosives strapped to his corpse. The dark hedgehog did not say a word as the weasel vomited blood onto his trench coat's shoulder, his cold chin resting upon Shadow's form as life fled his body.

"Firing at a man with dynamite attached to his person," Metal Sonic observed coldly, his trigger-finger relaxing ever so slightly, "was a brash decision. If my files did not say otherwise, I might question your sanity."

Shadow turned his head and offered a tired smirk. "Crazy?" he asked with a dry chuckle as he quoted the dead man in his arms. "You ain't seen crazy yet…"

Metal Sonic flinched when the black and red hedgehog suddenly whirled around, his revolving pistol raised and ready to fire. Reflexively, the robot bounded backwards and out of harm's way, aiming his rifle at the fugitive and squeezing the trigger, his thoughts completely focused on the gun aimed at his head.

And it was for this reason that he did not notice Shadow the hedgehog breaking something off of the dead desperado's belt. So Metal Sonic did not see the single stick of dynamite go sailing through the air from the dark hedgehog's hand, flying between the barrel of his gun as well as Shadow's.

And so Metal Sonic realized all-too late what was about to happen as he pulled the trigger and sent a ball of flaming lead hurling into the explosive compound.