Okay, here's the last chapter of the little Silver & Team Dark adventure together. I hope you'll all enjoy it and tell me what you think. After this, true to my words, there will be another Sonic & Tails tale set in the modern era - a fluff most likely, but at this stage, anything could happen. So stay tuned. :)
P.S. Warning for the use of guns (or basically, warning for Shadow being Shadow).
Team Dark Chapter 4: Lunatic
Silver, Shadow and Rouge reappeared only a second later inside the control room, where hundreds of security feeds were displayed on numerous screens before them. Their sudden entrances caused the workers inside to stand up with a start until they realized it was only Shadow.
"Darn it, Shadow," yelled one human, a hand dramatically placed on his heart, "Stop popping up unannounced like that, will you! You want to give your coworkers a heart attack?"
"I have no time for chitchat," the hedgehog replied sternly and went to the controls. "I need the schematics for the layout of this entire base. Now!"
"O-Okay…" the worker replied with a questioning look on his face, but he simply did as told, subduing his curiosity for the time being. With a few presses of buttons, the 3D schematic was pulled on the screen. "Here you are. I don't mean to pry, agent Rouge, but do we need to know what's going on here?"
"We have a situation of great urgency we need to deal with asap, something you boys needn't concern yourselves with. Agent business. Classified," Rouge answered and before the human could form any further questions, she had already moved to the controls and activated the fire alarm. The lighting inside the entire base turned red in an instant, and the unmistakable blaring of various sirens ringing thunderously throughout the entire building soon followed. Within seconds, all employees followed the most basic of their trainings and, as clearly shown on the security feeds, vacated the building in a calm and orderly fashion.
"That should do it, and I suggest you go as well. After all, you do not want to fail a practice drill, especially one as basic as this one," said the bat to two workers lingering inside. After a brief exchange of bewildering looks, they shrugged and did as commanded, buying Rouge's claim that the entire thing was simply a surprised test. Exactly two minutes later, the only souls that still remained inside the control room were the three anthropomorphic beings.
"Silver, the table's yours," said Rouge as she stepped aside.
"Thanks," he replied with an appreciative nod.
Immediately, Silver set out to work, pulling up the newly received schematics of the Time Guardians' Detention Center which he had received via his communicator minutes ago and comparing it with the one currently displaying the past incarnation of the facility.
"Okay…There are some structural changes done to the building as to be expected…But if the calculations that Abel's sent over are all correct, and they are always so, the isolated cell where Nega is being locked up in is in the same area as… that place." He finished his statement and pointed at a large space located at the deepest underground level, painted red on the screen.
"The storage space, highly restricted," Rouge concluded.
"What do you store there?" asked the youngest of the trio. Shadow's expression darkened a tad in response.
"Weapons. Big ones," he said simply before disappearing.
"Uh…" Silver mumbled, bewildered by the hasty departure. Rouge, on the other hand, appeared unconcerned, and she reassured the time traveler of that fact as well. True to her words, Shadow, in the same manner as he had left, reemerged a second later, only this time, he had someone else. Behind him stood the final and most explosive member of Team Dark – Omega, dutifully ready for action as always.
"Great, now that's the gang is all here and accounted for, let's move before that Gauche guy messes with our systems!" Rouge announced, and in a flash, Shadow warped all four of them to their designated destination.
The trip was, as with the previous ones, brief thanks to Chaos Control. Once inside, Rouge turned on the light for better visuals. The moment the lights were on Silver looked, with wide eyes, at the numerous offline units taking up space inside the room, all of which were identified by the agents as the towering and feared GUN Troopers.
"Those are big alright," Silver commented.
"But inferior and simplistic in designs and armaments," Omega added, expressionlessly.
Silver looked around as he followed his allies around the room and mentally, he counted thirty units in total. The mechanical giants, though inactive, still managed to appear intimidation, and their bulky exteriors were more than enough to instill fear within anyone who beheld, especially when regarded up-close and personal.
Silver's eyes narrowed slightly as he studied the units and the weapons they held before turning back to the others.
"If Gauche is inside the base, this is the perfect playground for him. He could be anywhere inside those units' circuits or the lighting or…"
Thuck!
"What was that?" Rouge wondered aloud. Everyone's heads turned around toward the source of the strange noise. Nothing.
Tche! came another noise, this time on the opposite direction. Four pair of eyes shot toward the alleged source, but once again spotted nothing out of the ordinary, only the statue-like Troopers standing by.
"Huh," Rouge spoke up, suspicious and cautious, "Either G.U.N. has just finished installing a haunted house without us knowing as a way to keep intruders out, or that Gauche guy is really in here messing with our heads with special effects."
"My chips are placed on the latter," Shadow said.
Crash!
More than half of the lights went out at the same time, partially darkening the room and greatly limiting everyone's vision.
"Great…" Rouge muttered evenly, not at all amused by the sudden occurrence. "Just keep 'em coming, one after another."
"That's Gauche alright," Silver replied, "Always a trickster, and not the benevolent kind."
Shadow turned to Omega and addressed him with a low, hushed voice, "Omega, scan the area for heat, motions, anything. See if you can pick up his trace."
"Acknowledged. Scanning in process…Finished, no other living life form detected within the area. All Troopers systems currently offline. Scan comp..." A sudden beep then interrupted Omega's monotonous voice, and in an instant, everyone tensed.
"Omega, did you set the wrong time for your alarm clock, or did your radar just pick up on something else?" Rouge asked, wary.
"There was a sudden spike in the energy readings. One GUN Trooper unit seems to have been manually activated…Two…Three…Twelve…" the ally robot replied. The rest of the light went out at this point, surprising everyone. The group steeled themselves for what was to come. Rouge and Shadow stayed close to each other, Omega's hands instantly morphed into machine guns at the turns of events, and Silver began to focus his energy, all of them ready for the inevitability of combat.
"Hang on a sec, let me shed some light on this," Silver announced briefly and used his aura to illuminate the area around them.
And at once, they found, to their amazement, guns of carrying sizes and varieties pointed at them from all directions, trapping them in place.
"Thirty," Omega concluded lowly. "Scan complete."
"Yah, we kind of notice that Omega. Thanks a ton for the info and the heads up, buddy," Rouge spoke up, sardonic.
"Compliment received, agent Rouge, and you are welcome," the robot replied, oblivious to the bat's unconcealed sarcasm. Rouge, exasperated, covered her face with one hand, and shook her head in resignation.
"What's the point, really?" muttered the bat before she turned to face her other partner, "So then, Shadow…Smash, or no smash, your call," she went on and stepped closer against the others. "And just for consideration, I would like to get home alive for the day."
Nearby, Omega and Silver, too, waited as well for the dark agent to give his order. Shadow surveyed his surroundings and the battalion of robots around them. The only exit was through the bulky menaces around them. His mind was made up in an instant. Silently, Shadow reached for his Chaos Emerald and held the gem forward, harnessing its mystical powers for the feats he was about to perform.
"Chaos Con…" Shadow exclaimed, but his signature chant was cut short when a loud, riotous buzz rang viciously against his eardrum, causing him a massive headache and stunning all of his senses in the process. Nearby, Rouge experienced the same torture, and in her case, being born a bat with hearing more acute than many other species, the buzz was unbearably torturous to her. Within seconds, both agents reached for the earbuds still inside their ears after their latest assignment and violently yanked them off before subsequently throwing them toward the ground. The delicate devices impacted with the hard surface and shattered like glass upon contact, and thus ended the infernal high-pitched frequencies they were emitting.
"What the heck was that? Ouch, my head…" Rouge mumbled, her eyes shut tight in an attempt to fight back against an incoming wave of intense dizziness brought about by the noisy assault on her hearing. Omega helped her up while Silver did the same for Shadow, his face twisted in concern as hauled the agent up to his feet.
"Are you okay?" asked the white-furred hedgehog, his worry clearly conveyed through his gaze. Shadow, in response, nodded. "I'm fine, just a malfunction with the ear comm.," he said.
"And something tells me it's not a natural one, either," Silver added, looking around.
It took a few seconds for Shadow's dizziness to fade away, and only then did he realize the lack of weight in his hand. The initial shock passed, and Shadow swiftly located the dropped Chaos Emerald before him. Before he could reach for the gem, a snake-like, flexible appendage wrapped itself around it.
Silver, on instinct, intended to use his power to retrieve the gem, but a warning shot coming from a machine gun nearby and aimed at the space inches next to his foot forced him to stand still. Begrudgingly, he dropped his hand and stood down, bidding his time and planning his moves.
The gem was then yanked away from the dark hedgehog' reach, much to the group's surprise, and subsequently moved toward the head of the GUN Trooper unit standing right before them, its massive RPGs pointed squarely at both of their faces.
The trapped agents and time traveler followed the movement of the gem, and their eyes landed upon the elusive orchestrator at last, perching on four limbs atop the robotic puppet's head and looking down at them through the six shining slits on his metallic face.
Immediately, Silver's eyes narrowed, and his entire expression darkened visibly at the sight of his devil-themed adversary before him as the latter tauntingly waved the sacred gem in front of their eyes, mocking them and enjoying every second of it.
"Gauche," he growled out the name with no small amount of disdain lacing his voice.
"Silver! Greetings and salutations, mein freund. Do you miss me? Oh, I bet you do. Admit it, you miss me!" the futuristic killerbot boisterously and excitedly answered in a voice that sounded strangely human, worldly different from Omega's monotonous and expressionless tone. His speech also sounded somewhat speedy, which Rouge mentally compared to that performed by a young child when high-strung on sugar. Silver responded, his teeth grinding against each other in the process.
"Why should I? You tried to blow up an entire city last time we met, you homicidal maniac!"
"Ooh yes, good time, too, I made lots of big-bang-boom-booms in a few city blocks, and your bluish, freaky magic tricks helped clean up the other half of the city…Good time…Good time…But now that I think about it, my demolition points were lower than yours, so this time, I'm gonna up my game a bit, and as you see, I have you where right I want you. Isn't it exciting? Ooh, if I was made of flesh, I would have goosebumps already. Hmm, I wonder how that feels like to have your skin all crawl up like that…Oh well, guess I'll never know, but hey, being a robot, especially one as devilishly awesome as me has other perks and not to mention a few more fringe benefits, all of which I'm sure old bucket of bolt over there can appreciate," Gauche continued his tirade and pointed at Omega, who said nothing in return.
Unfazed by the lack of response and the heated glares sent at him by both Silver and Shadow, the dark killerbot simply shrugged his shoulders and moved on. Coolly and annoyingly, he took one quick look at his opponents before he continued his ludicrous ranting, "Oh come on, Silvy baby, don't look at me like that. Why the all the hate and scowl and grumbles when you see me? I swear you're always all work and no play, no wonder you're as stiff as a rigid lump of wood. And to think I organized this little get-together specifically for you…All that work just for a smile on your adorable face in return, wasted! Bummer!"
"Both you and I know that's a lie," Silver cut in, "You're doing all of this for Eggman Nega and somehow trying to bust him out in the future. Newsflash, loon, it's over. You're discovered, and we're going to put an end to your scheme right here and now."
Gauche once again shrugged nonchalantly, unaffected by the intensity of his adversary's words.
"Well, doc Nega is technically mein vater, so I am - what do you humans say again, ah yes - obliged to bust his butt out of whatever poor object that is being subjected to long, torturous sessions of being sat upon by the honestly undesirable presence and speechlessly outstanding mass. Pah, in any case, I hope you don't mind me borrowing this little shiny bag of tricks from shoddy shady sideshow Shadow over there. After all, I've done my research and learned that Chaos Control is a gigantic cheat, a life-hack, so big no-no for any Ultimate Light Show from smiley-and-sunshine, at least for the rest of the day if you please. For today's entertainment, I run the show! All aboard! Destination: Funsville, and the captain is yours truly, moi!"
"Are you sure that thing is a robot? From what I'm seeing, he looks and sounds like someone who should belong in a mental asylum, or a sky-high lunatic spouting gibberish at every given turn," Rouge leaned closer and whispered into Silver's ear, and begrudgingly, the younger hedgehog nodded, his exasperated look growing even more pronounced than before.
"Trust me, he's got a few, nah scratch that, a lot of screws loosed inside his head, literally in his case, hence the nutcase behavior, and even for Nega's standards of mechanical loonies, that idiot is leagues apart from the rest. Give him a few seconds and he'll talk your ears off with nonsensical ramblings and rants," said Silver, "That being said, his mannerisms mask a darker and more sadistic side to his programming. His words are deceptions and distractions, and his fighting capabilities are not to be underestimated, especially when he's in top shape and in his element. So be prepared."
"Like now, for example? Reassuring to know, hon, but we're kind of already passed that preparation stage," the bat replied, eyeing the gigantic armaments aimed at them from all sides. Shadow, as usual, remained perfectly calm.
"Listen closely, you deformed imp, for I'm not going to repeat this," Shadow began, drawing the addressee's attention toward himself, "Return the Chaos Emerald, and I will at least allow you to retain some of your consciousness after I'm done with you. Don't return the Emerald, and I'll turn you to a heap of scraps right here, right now. Your choice."
"Oh yeah, you're a real diplomat in the making, partner. Threatening a maniac that can control massive mechanical titans with massiver guns pointed directly at our faces…Oh, I'm sure he's sold," Rouge muttered sarcastically again despite their current predicament.
"Do you have to make light of everything, Rouge?" Shadow asked, slightly annoyed.
"Trust me, light is something of a luxury we can honestly use more of at the moment," Rouge replied, gesturing around the room shrouded in a gloomy veil of blackness except for the small area around the four trapped heroes, illuminated only by the cyan light radiating from Silver's psychic aura.
This time, her partner paid her out-of-place comment no mind in favor of concentrating on whatever was to come.
"Hmm, two options presented by the Ultimate Lifeform, let me see," Gauche sat down and assumed the pretense of thoughtfulness, all the while juggling the Emerald carelessly with his nimble tail. His head tilted to one side, and his arms were crossed, childishly appearing as though he was really lost in thought.
"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, which option should I follow? Moeny, mainy, meeny, oe. Ooh I know, ahem: Hell no! Squads! Ready. Set. Up them blow!"
With that order uttered, the closest GUN Troopers under his influence simultaneously opened fire on the trapped beings, the thunderous noises of multiple continuous gunshots ripping ferociously through the air, trumped only in volume by the roaring, high-frequency bout of hysterical laughter elicited unabashedly by the devilish and mentally unstable future machine.
"And they complain I don't know how to kick things off with a bang," said Gauche, his voice slurred by the giggles in between each syllable. The maddening sounds of gunshots stopped after a while, and at the epicenter of the perimeter, a thick smoke screen hovered ominously, carrying with it the strong incense of gunpowder and incinerated metal pieces.
"Well done!" exclaimed Gauche as he playfully tapped the head of the Trooper he was sitting on. "Or maybe it was medium-rare? Hmm…on second thoughts, nah. Definitely overcooked. Grilled hedgehogs on a stick anyone? It's on me," he jested to the robots before he burst out laughing again, his laughter uncontrollably and movements even more erratic than before, his tail swinging wildly from left to right and his entire body quaking with each laugh that came out.
"Target locked on…" said a flat voice coming from within the veil of smoke, snapping the fiendish creation out of his self-indulged amusement. Curiously, Gauche leaned forward a little from where he was, his sensors faintly picking up signals of life beyond the veil of gunpowder smoke. Suddenly, a missile flew straight from the shadowed spot and flew directly toward the devil-like robot.
Had Gauche reacted and jumped out of the way a split second later, he would have received the full force of the destructive projectile, which proved powerful enough to cleanly blow up the head of the Trooper on which he had been previously perching on.
"Heads up!" cried another voice inside the screen moments after the explosion.
Upon landing on all four on the ground, Gauche's sensor picked up yet another energy reading, this time coming straight behind him. A familiar flash of cyan aura flared up where the readings originated, and a split second later, Gauche found himself suspended in mid-air, his entire being trapped and encased within a coating of Silver's psychic aura, physically immobilized. With him paralyzed, his influence over the Troopers weakened, and the units walked around and opened fire aimlessly on the members of Team Dark.
The three agents effortlessly evaded all incoming projectiles, and dealt with the puppets with practiced ease.
"Aww, I'm tagged," Gauche whined. "Now I'm it, and I'm better at hiding."
"And now, you're about to be scheduled for shut down as well, Gauche, but before that…" retorted the psychic user as he quickly retrieved the Chaos Emerald and sent it toward Shadow. The GUN Troopers were about to open fire once more, but with a simple cry of Chaos Control, Shadow unleashed a massive shockwave around himself and his two partners, the force of which proved devastating enough to reduce the closer units to scrap metals in a second.
"So much for respecting company's properties," Rouge commented with a laugh. "And if the higher-ups demand compensations for this mess, it's all on you, Shadow."
"Why me?" asked the dark hedgehog, voice dry.
"Do you see any other immortals around here, sans Omega and the rest of the machines?" she answered, smiling a little. "You can probably go without eating for a few months, me, nuh-uh."
"Face it, Gauche," said Silver with a triumphant grin on his face, "You're trapped, your control is over the Troopers is gone. Your initial advantage over us has just been lost. Basically, you're finished here. Now, drop the tirade and give it to me straight, what are your plans?" Silver interrogated the trapped adversary, who in return, only shrugged dismissively.
"Whoa? Moi, finished?" he asked, his voice mimicking the emotion of humor, "Nonsense, pal. My act is still ongoing for a while longer. I must admit, though, for a celebrated hero of your status and experience, you don't seem to be able to see the big picture behind everything, do you? Honestly, Silver, you're so far out of focus and definitely out of your depths this time."
"What do you mean?" Silver, tired of the other's tirade, spat out impatiently, "What big picture?"
"If I tell you, it'll spoil the fun, now won't it? It'll be like I organize a surprise party and advertise it to the one whom I want to surprise. Nah, I may be crazy in the head, but I ain't stupid."
"Gosh, why do I have to deal with you of all things?"
"Oh I'm sorry, would you prefer being saddled up with Droite instead?" asked Gauche, still showing no sign of submission any time soon, only humor. "'Cause I'm sure that sneaky size-and-shape-altering sister of mine can be just as crazy and loony-bin-crazy as I am, sometimes even unfathomably worse depending on who or what she's majestically masquerading as. You really should have seen her posing as the doc, magnificent show! Made the lesser robots go nuts!"
Silver, now rather impatient by the meaningless words of his enemy, telepathically yanked Gauche closer.
"I don't prefer you to your sister and vice versa, but at the very least, she knows how to be quiet when she should be. You, on the other hand, run your mouth too much."
"Hey, she's the straight man of the group and I'm the funny man of the troupe. It's like yin and yang, you know, one cannot exist without equilibrium and all that philosophical jazz I deleted from my memory. Too much of a hassle!"
"…Fine, then answer me this," Silver's hand balled into fists, and accordingly, the armor of Gauche began to crack under the increased pressure. "Where is your real body?"
"Uh…Hello?" Gauche sang, gesturing his tail all over himself, patronizing. "What am I? Chopped liver?"
"No, you're weak. The current you are weak. Normally, you would be able to put an entire base under siege, but you haven't done it here yet despite this place being two centuries behind on technology and security. It means either you don't want to or that you can't. And the latter case seems to be true, for you're still trapped there, even though you, at your full power, can easily assume your viral form and escape my clutch. You're not at your hundred percent, so the one I see here is only a fragment of the real Gauche."
"Dearie, I blame the vicious jet lag I got for my…underachievement-y performances. You know how those are," Gauche joked again, undaunted. "Traveling through time, and then hiding myself inside an obsolete Umbra," he shivered mockingly at that idea, "Worst three hours of my life spent inside a casket of junk. Dark and stupid and simple and…urgh...just urgh. Now where was I, oh yes, and then shoving myself inside a very, very uncomfortable and claustrophobic trunk and then shipping myself here…Long journey, cheap flight, bumpy road, tight space, no sleep, no sustenance, working late at an infernal hour of three in the freaking morning, entertaining you, gosh, I'm such a busy bot. So bring them together and voila - you do the math, Silv. Go through all that and see if you can still function normally."
"You're a machine," Silver snarled, irritated. The other members of Team Dark standing behind him seemed to be annoyed as well, but they said nothing.
"Your point being?" Gauche shot back, head tilted to one side. The frown on the other's face deepened.
"Look," Shadow, having heard enough of the roundabout and meaningless exchange between the two, decided to enter the verbal match, with a rifle obtained from a fallen Trooper held tightly in his hand, locked and loaded. "I don't have much time for this. So choose your words carefully the next time you open your mouth. One wrong breath and I'll introduce a part of you to my little buddy here," he paused and loaded the weapon, his movement deliberately slow and intimidating, before adding, "Capisce?"
"Huh," Gauche eyed the rifle, head tilted to one side, before his vision was set on Shadow. "Oh hello there, I didn't know Snow White had another dwarf called Evilly, or is it the Prince Daring? Meh, to heck with it. Go ahead, pull the trigger, I dare you."
Bang! A booming noise blared up and ripped through the air, cutting off Gauche's taunt. The sound of gunshot was then followed by another noise of bullet hitting metal, sending the hit target plummeting to the ground with a loud clank. The sudden noise made Silver cringe, but his control over his power was not weakened, still holding onto the rogue robot.
"Dare accepted," replied Shadow as he blew on the barrel, dispersing the smoke coming out, before he reloaded the rifle.
"Ouch…My ears," the white-furred hedgehog moaned and rubbed his ear before shooting Shadow a mean look. "Don't. Do. That. Ever. Again! I hate guns!" he said, glaring at his ally, who seemed unconcerned.
"Wow…Now I don't have a leg to stand on…" Gauche mumbled and gazed down, noticing the right leg that had been hit by the bullet, or to be more specific, the emptiness where his right leg had attached to his body a few seconds ago. "I have a feeling you'll be quite an exciting opponent to play against in a game of Truth or Dare, Shadow. I'm sure it'll be quite a blast."
"The next one won't be as merciful, so stop the act and start talking," the dark agent pressured and aimed his weapon at Gauche's head this time. As usual, the robot appeared indifferent, apparently impervious to fear and all intimidation tactics thanks to his mechanical roots.
"I suggest you start talking," Rouge cut in, "Shadow's capable of many things, but making empty threats is not one of them."
"Oh come on, why the perpetual scowl, Shades? It's not as if you're not dark enough already," Gauche, ignorant to advice, carried on with his taunts and jabs. "Have fun, laugh a little. Not to brag, but I'm pretty good at making people laugh, I leave some in stitches when I'm through, and other times, I poke them too much, they practically burst and laugh their heads off." He then burst out laughing manically again, making the frowns on Silver and Rouge's face to deepen and harden.
"You're one real sicko, you know that," said Rouge, disgusted.
"Why thank you, milady. I do try my best to impress. Future robots, we have our sense of humor as well, unlike the ones in this era, emotionless and stiff like that one over there, Omega, is it?"
"I know humor," Omega replied in a monotonous voice. "Knock knock."
"Ooh, a classic. Alright, humor me," Gauche hummed and decided to play along, "Who's it?"
"Elvis," answered Omega.
"Elvis who?" asked Gauche, inquisitive.
"Elviscerate you," the powerhouse member of Team Dark replied coolly before flexing his sharp claws, fully intent on carrying out his words for real, and would have if Rouge and Silver had not interrupted. Gauche, on the other hand, continued to laugh, uncontrollable.
"No!" shouted the young psychic desperately in an attempt to placate his allies. "The creep's riling you up on purpose so you'll destroy him and possibly get rid of all traces and leads. He's only a clone, expandable."
"Party popper…" the devilish creation whined. "And here I was looking forward to the fireworks."
After a brief pause and a long intake of breath, Silver, now somewhat calmer than before, turned back to his captive and spoke, serious and grim.
"Gauche, fine. If you have no intention of talking, it's your choice no matter how idiotic that is," Silver, running out of patience already, spoke up. "I'll just contact the Time Guardians right here, right now and have them trap you inside a secure cyber cell with an impenetrable firewall. I have a feeling my friend would love to have you studied and dissected in order to produce an antivirus program tailored specifically for your future meddling."
Gauche, still unflinching in his resolve to stay defiant until the bitter end, bit back within a heartbeat with another jab, "Well, then you have to move fast, Silvy baby." From his slit-like eyes, a holographic countdown was projected, counting down from fifteen, much to Silver's horror.
"Looks like I'm kinda out of time here, and I have another show booked for later. And now, since I opened the act with a bang, it's only fitting I should go out in the same manner - with style! So, catch ya later, chief, since you know, I'm it now and all! Ha ha ha!" Gauche added and as soon as his last word was spoken, the countdown reached zero. After a brief beep, the robot exploded. Thanks to Silver's power, the explosion was greatly contained, and thus, no harm was done.
"Darn it," the psychic cursed and looked at the inanimate remains of his adversary. "He's gone. Again!"
"Are you all alright?" he turned around and asked his allies, genuinely concerned for their welfare.
"Dandy," Rouge answered. "I'm just glad that thing shut up, for my ears will surely to fall off if they hear that chipmunk-like squeaking of that maniac for a second longer. That guy's a piece of work. But out of curiosity alone, what do you mean by a fragment?" Rouge asked as she approached. Shadow and Omega were close behind.
"Gauche is a computer virus, but in both the cyber world and in real life, and you know those things, they spawn and multiply all the time, and they're everywhere. Gauche's no different. He can create solid and viral clones of himself, the extent of which I don't know yet, and split pieces of his consciousness into those clones and direct those subordinate pieces to do as the main body wills. The larger the consciousness, the more powerful his clone is and the closer it is to the original Gauche. The smaller the piece, the weaker his control over other machines, but the clone will be much harder to detect."
"So basically," Shadow began, "This enemy of yours can play the roles of both the hacker and the virus. The one we've just dealt with was a very tiny, barely identifiable fragment. Nega's head is sure full of fun things. I suppose it runs in the family's bloodline."
"Yes, and I know Gauche, he said he had another show booked for later, then it means he's still out there somewhere. But I'll deal with that later. Right now, please help me clean up this mess to make sure that no changes take place in the future. Or at least, any more than what have already been changed."
"What do we do with the broken Troopers?" Rouge asked, surveying the wreckage around them. As many as half of the units were lost, while the others shut down after Gauche's control was gone, and she was certain she would be neck-deep in paperwork again.
"Silver, gather the destroyed units together. I'll send them away," Shadow said, and with his telekinesis, the future hedgehog did as told. Within minutes, a large ensemble of burnt metals, debris and smashed weapons was placed in the middle of the room. Utilizing Chaos Control again, Shadow teleported the pile into the nearest volcano he could find, effectively erasing the evidence of the skirmish. The remaining units were unarmed, and were put back into place after they had been given a thorough scan to make sure no lingering influence of Gauche remained.
"No anomaly detected. All units' systems are normal." Omega concluded after ten consecutive and thorough virus scans on himself and on the other Troopers.
"Good. Now, we need a story, a believable one at that," Rouge said to her two partners nearby. "Any ideas, boys? For Silver's out of the question."
"You're the cunning spy, you get to that. I, on the other hand, have an entire police squad outside to deal with, so excuse me," replied Shadow with a rare display of something akin to a smirk on his face before promptly disappearing in haste with Omega by his side, leaving behind a shocked and subsequently fuming bat alone with an equally shocked Silver.
"Did he just…tease you?" asked the young psychic, dumbfounded.
"That…That little, lazy, irresponsible…Urgh! Shadow! I'll get you for this later!" the bat exclaimed and stomped her heel on the ground. "I can't believe that hedgehog! The nerves of him!"
"Okay…" Silver said slowly and backed away from the female agent, trying his best to refrain from laughing aloud at the scene before him. "Since this is clearly an internal G.U.N. and Team Dark's affair, I believe I'd best be on my way to avoid unnecessary interruptions and, you know, finding Gauche and avoiding questioning and all…"
"Alright, I understand" Rouge spoke as she turned to the younger male, having calmed down from her outburst, "In any case, thanks for the assist, I suppose," Rouge cried again and stormed off toward the exit, "If you hadn't helped, who knows what that Gauche could have done to G.U.N. with thirty of those Troopers there along with the org's database. Now, I have a few calls to make, an entire database to scan for virus just to be sure, and lots and lots of papers to file. This is going to be a nightmare, but I suppose I could see you out."
"Nah, you seem busy enough without having to worry about me, Rouge, so I'll show myself out through the back, but thank you for the offer," Silver politely declined the offer with a small smile. "And thank you for your help as well. Now that Gauche is gone, Eggman Nega will be forced to stay in jail for a very long time…or at least I hope so…" Silver paused and took another look back at the room behind him. His eyes ran from one place to another in search of something even he did not know. Everything, as Rouge had confirmed after the clean-up, was in place, but for some reasons, Silver's mind was not entirely at ease…The feelings continued to haunt him, unforgiving and persistent…
"Come on Porcupine, let's get out of here before the agents flood back inside," Silver was broken out of his reverie by the voice of the bat, "Besides, I'm in serious need for some fresh air to rid my nose of this heavy stench of gunpowder. Sheesh!" Rouge said, and with that, both of them – with Silver being the more reluctant in his stride - headed out toward the exit and locked the room, returning it to its original state of silence.
And despite their meticulous scanning and careful inspection of the entire room, not a single one of them, even Omega, had noticed a tiny spider hanging from the ceiling above, watching their every movement from the very beginning to the end, completely undetected and hidden within the dark shadows, away from sight and silently bidding for its time to come in the future.
Patiently…
…
Two hundred years into the future, inside the Time Guardians' Maximum Detention Center…Solitary Confinement Section…
Eggman Nega sat on the edge of his lone bed within his small isolated cell, his fingers absentmindedly and constantly flipping the pages of a book he had read over a thousand times out of sheer boredom. The doctor continued to skim through the pages aimlessly over and over again before his patience was lost. Frustrated, Eggman Nega slammed the object shut and tossed it back onto his shelf. Lying down and staring blankly at the ceiling with a heated scowl upon his visage, he allowed his mind to wander in an attempt to alleviate the boredom of solitary confinement. It was then that his eyes finally caught a little something hanging on the ceiling above – something that had never once been there before and was therefore not supposed to be there at that moment.
And yet, it was there, paradoxically.
The incarcerated doctor's lips turned upward and broke into a sly, devious grin, his eyes studying the creature with glee and delight. Quietly, he turned to his side, hiding his face completely from the prying security camera installed inside the cell. Only then did he allow muffed chuckles to escape his restraint and whisper, his voice rendered completely inaudible by the thick blanket pulled over his head.
"I do indeed have very capable hands…" said the mad scientist gleefully cryptically, his grin widening even further underneath his cover. Now, to wait for the sun to go down, and the nightmare shall finally begin.
THE END.