A/N - Thanks so much for all reads, reviews, faves and follows!
I'm not sure when next weekend's update will be, as we're busy. It might be delayed until the following Monday, or moved earlier to this coming Thursday. Please bare with me.
Chapter Eighteen
The park was eerily silent. Usually buzzing with the shouts and laughter of children, it was now only buzzing with bees as they drifted from plant to plant. Amy often found such things tranquil. Peaceful. But instead it chilled her.
The park, like many other parts of the Beatdrop Capital, had been thoroughly evacuated. The trio had made their way into the park out of the sights of EggPawns. Eggman's robot soldiers paraded the streets looking for stragglers, their beady eyes scanning left and right. Each one with a javelin strapped across its broad back. Mixed in with them were GUN soldiers, also armed, but a lot friendlier-looking than the sinister robots.
"All clear." Whisper's quiet voice came from the lowest branch of a sturdy oak tree.
Amy poked her head out from behind a rose bush as a pair of EggPawns vanished out of sight.
"Well, at least we now know what they were doing," she said. "If they weren't chasing Shadow, that is."
She looked up as Tangle strolled towards her with her arms tucked behind her head.
"Find anything?" Amy asked.
The lemur shook her head. "Na'da. It's as if someone waltzed over afterwards and cleaned up any sign a broken robot had even been lying there. I can't find so much as a nut!"
Whisper ducked her muzzle down behind her collar and continued watching the soldiers. They had no interest in the park. They were more occupied with checking the apartment buildings that surrounded it, and were very much done and dusted. The soldiers that remained were mopping up the remains before moving out to other areas of the city.
"So do you think we're safe to check for clues?" Amy asked.
"I don't know what we'll find," said Tangle. "On my way back over here, I checked some bushes, but there was no sign of a nest back that way." She nodded the way she'd come. "If I were to guess, Shadow would wanna stay outta sight, right?"
"Like… underground?" Amy ventured.
"I was thinkin' more like lurkin' in some thorny thicket. But sure, we can go with your idea!"
"Makes a lotta sense he'd be underground," said Whisper.
Tangle's face split in a wide grin. "So we're lookin' for an old burrow or something?"
"… Sure." Whisper smiled down at them.
"I don't know." Amy sighed and scratched her quills. "It doesn't make much sense to me that he'd hide outside. Why not use a boarded up building, or a vacant one, for that matter! The city is being evacuated. He has his choice of anywhere right now."
"That makes sense too." Tangle gave a frustrated sigh. "How are we gonna search everywhere with just three of us?"
Whisper swung her feet back and forth as she gazed over the street. "Cameras."
Amy and Tangle looked up at her, mouths agape.
"You're thinkin' of hackin' into the drones again?" Tangle asked.
Whisper shrugged. "Sure."
"Hah!" Tangle slapped herself on the leg. "And just a couple of hours ago you were dead set against that."
Whisper pulled her computer out of her jacket pocket. "I'll stay here. You two search the park. Look for quills. Debris. Any sign of a nest or struggle."
Tangle fixed Amy with a raised eyebrow. "Shall we split up?"
"We'd cover more ground that way." Amy straightened and drew her mallet. "You take the area back over there. I'll search this side."
Tangle saluted and took off back the way she'd come, her long tail waving behind her.
Amy looked back up into the tree. "If you need us, Whisper…"
The wolf waved without looking down. Amy smiled and turned to follow the path winding through the park. Tangle had a point. Shadow would want to hide out of sight. So she searched inside every bush, placing her hammer beside her to drag her torso inside. There was enough space in most of the bushes for children to play inside, and evidence some did turn them into little dens. But discarded sweet wrappers and the forgotten foam bullets to toy weapons didn't exactly scream 'Shadow'.
It was beginning to feel like a lost cause. Why would he hide outside, in the open? Sure there was more space to run, but wouldn't an old building provide better shelter? Not just from prying eyes, but also the elements?
There wasn't even any evidence a homeless person had set up refuge in the park. GUN often did sweeps to move them on. If that was the case, then it was growing ever more unlikely that Shadow would be hiding out in the open.
Amy paused beneath a tree. A sycamore with wide sturdy branches. A squirrel drey nestled between the topmost branches, decked out with leaves to keep the light at bay. The lower boughs were sturdy and low enough to climb, covered in scuffs to support that theory. The leaves were also dense enough to hide in. Amy dropped her hammer at the base of the tree and leapt onto the lowest branch, working her way up higher. It didn't take too long for her to reach the hidden branches.
She perched on the branch, happy that it was more than sturdy enough to hold her weight. It could hold two or three people easily. A sticky patch caught her eye, right where the branch joined the trunk. Sap oozed out, pooling in a little crevice. Her nose crinkled at it. Not exactly something she'd want to sit in. But something else caught her eye. Sticking out of the sap was a white tuft of fur.
She reached out to pluck it free and turned it in her fingers. From what she'd seen, Shadow did have white fur. Not a lot of it, but still. If it was his, then he may very well had hidden in this tree at some point.
A shrill yell cut across the park, and Amy had to clutch the branch to steady herself, losing the fur in the process. She jerked her head around towards the cry, spotting Tangle rushing towards Whisper. Heavy footsteps echoed across the park and she followed the lemur's frantic pointing towards a hulking mass of a robot.
Its red and black hull glistened in the faint sunlight. It hoisted a machine gun in its right hand and set off a chain of fire. Not at Tangle or Whisper, but at the sky. Something creaked ominously, and Amy turned her head towards it. One of the Strider Drones. Its legs buckled as it tumbled to the floor, its camera bulb shattered from the robot's assault.
She shook herself and dropped to the lower branches, working her way back down the tree. With the drone gone, the Mainframers were suddenly a lot more interesting to the robot. Amy grabbed her hammer and backed away, waiting for her friends.
"Analyzing." The robot's emotionless voice rang out through the silent park. "Lifeforms are not Shadow. Threat level, low. Nuisance factor, medium."
Whisper joined Amy's side, but Tangle's interest was consumed by the robot.
"Wait!" She pointed a finger at the robot. "You're lookin' for Shadow?"
"Tangle!" Amy screeched. "Get out of there! You saw what it did to that drone!"
"Shadow is this Judge Robot's target." The robot's eyes narrowed. "All lifeforms should have been evacuated. Assessment says you three lifeforms are rebelling against protocol."
"Kinda." Tangle folded her arms. "We're helpin' to find that black hedgehog!"
"Re-assessment. Lifeforms are after the same target. That means these lifeforms are in the way of this Judge Robot's assignment. Nuisance factor raised to high. I shall eradicate these lifeforms."
It hoisted its gun, and Tangle's jaw dropped. She leapt aside as a spray of bullets narrowly skimmed her tail.
"Tangle!" Amy screamed.
She raised her hammer and rushed to her friend's aide. The lemur sat in a crouch. Her long tail curled into a fist and she swung it towards the robot. It extended like a piece of elastic. The Judge swatted it aside with the back of its free hand, sending Tangle raising from the floor to tumble into a thorn bush.
Amy brought her hammer down onto the robot's foot with a clang. It didn't so much as flinch. Her ears drooped and she looked up at it, right into the glowing barrels of its machine gun. All wind was sent flying from her lungs as someone crashed into her, rolling her out of the way of a hot spray of bullets. She looked up into Whisper's frantic face, then back at the robot.
"What do we do?" Amy squeaked.
"We run." Whisper grabbed her hand and dragged her through the park.
"What about Tangle?" Amy gasped, turning her head back towards the robot.
The lemur had swiftly recovered. While the Judge was distracted by Amy and Whisper, Tangle had managed to clamber onto its back. It swung its arm to shake her off, but she held on tight, fastening her tail around its neck. Her fingers clutched onto its helmet as it twisted back and forth, whipping up her fur with the momentum. Tangle squealed and cheered, and waved one arm like a rodeo girl riding a crazed bull at a carnival.
"Think she's fine," said Whisper.
"She's not fine!" Amy skidded to a halt and whipped out her hammer. "We have to do something! She's going to get herself killed!"
Whisper's lip twitched and she turned to look back at Tangle. Amy made to run back towards the Judge, but the wolf grabbed her arm.
"Go!" she said.
"But… Whisper! She's our friend!"
"I'll help her. Now go. Hide." Whisper stepped in front of her, facing the Judge and barricading Amy's path.
The Judge twisted and turned as Tangle leapt along its flailing arms. Surrounding trees lost their branches in an explosion of splinters as bullets cleaved through them. Tangle was fast, but she couldn't keep it up indefinitely. Sooner or later, the Judge would catch her and squish her like a flea.
Amy's heart sank and she lowered her hammer. "But you might end up hurt, too, Whisper. Please. Let me help, I'm not useless."
"I know." Whisper balled her hands into fists then sighed. "Fine. Strike that tree." She pointed a claw towards a broad oak, only a quick jog from where they stood.
"Towards the robot?" Amy asked.
"Yes."
Amy rushed towards the oak tree, raising her hammer. She brought it down against its base with a 'pop!' Hearts sprayed out from it, betraying the hammer's power. The tree creaked and groaned for a moment, then toppled away from them.
The Judge had its back turned, but Tangle had heard the creaking. She leapt into the air as the tree crashed down onto the Judge. She landed in its branches and rolled along its trunk, performing a somersault as she landed before Amy and Whisper.
The Judge swatted at the tree, struggling to deal with the vast number of spindly branches. "Assessing… Tree is hindering the mission. Tree must be eradicated."
"Did you see me?!" Tangle squealed, clasping her hands before her face.
"We saw you all right," said Amy. "What were you think-"
"Move!" Whisper nudged the hedgehog, and thrust Tangle ahead of her. "It'll find its way out of that tree before too long."
Amy rushed off ahead of her, keeping her ears trained on the robot. The sick sound of cracking wood rose over the roar of its machine gun. Then the trunk exploded, raining down splinters across the park. The whir of its machine gun faded out, then its voice reached them.
"Nuisance lifeforms are fleeing. They must be eradicated before they return to further hinder the mission."
Whisper leapt past Amy and skidded into the street. She stooped to grab a manhole cover and grunted under its weight. Once it was aside, she nodded towards it.
"Go."
"Are you kidding?" Amy clasped a hand over her nose.
Whisper pulled her down onto the street as bullets scattered over them, striking the brick wall of the building opposite. Amy's heart was racing. Before she could say anything, she found herself pushed into the sewer. The ladder slipped from her fingers, and her mallet tumbled into the darkness, striking the metal floor with a clang. Amy squealed as she tumbled after it, but was stopped short of the bottom. She looked up into Tangle's grinning face.
"Gotcha!" she said.
Her tail was fastened firmly around Amy's left arm. She swung the hedgehog back towards the ladder, and Amy grabbed on. They were plunged back into darkness as Whisper joined them, and the soft grating of the manhole cover sliding back into place echoed through the tunnels. The Judge's voice faded into a muffle, but its heavy footsteps echoed chillingly through the underground.
Amy clambered down the ladder, choking on the putrid air. She covered her muzzle with one hand, and scooped up her mallet and tucked it away. Then changed her mind. Anything could be in the sewer, and not just rats. Hadn't they only just considered the presence of Shadow beneath Mainframe's surface? Hiding… lurking… waiting for everything to blow over before he struck again.
Amy clutched her hammer tight and stood waiting for her eyes to adjust.
"Where are all the robots?" she asked. "I expected to see cleaning drones at least."
"Pretty rare," said Whisper.
"Really?" Amy cocked an eyebrow and adjusted her grip on her hammer. "Seems a bit of an oversight…"
Light flooded the tunnel and Whisper moved to her side, clutching a torch in her hand. She ushered her along, staying a little ahead of Amy and Tangle.
"So where are we going?" Amy asked. "It's completely alien down here."
"Station," said Whisper flatly. "It's far. Need to lose the Judge."
Whisper paused at the fork ahead of them, then turned left, crossing the filthy water over a narrow iron grate that Amy found with some disappointment lacked any barrier to keep one from toppling in.
She hugged her arms around herself and crossed it slowly. Tangle had no problem, walking along behind her with perfect balance.
"How on earth do you know the way?" Amy asked Whisper. "Have you been down here?"
Whisper quirked an ear back towards her but said nothing.
When they reached the other side, Tangle appeared beside Amy and beamed.
"The answer's obvious!" she said. "Whisper's from the Beatdrop Capital. She's clearly been down here."
"But why?" Amy squeaked.
"Seriously?" Tangle asked. "You never played in the sewers before?"
"Ew! No! Gross!" Amy hugged herself tightly. "It's where everyone's toilet water goes!"
"I wasn't asking if you went swimming in it! I'm talkin' adventure! Playin' underground! You go far enough, you find old and forgotten subway stations and other areas of times long past. It's pretty awesome, actually."
"Secret GUN bases, too," said Whisper. "So be careful, and keep your voice down."
Amy snapped her mouth shut and cast a glance down a narrow tunnel. A rat peered back at her before scurrying off into the shadows.
"Secret GUN bases?" Tangle's whisper was oddly shrill.
Whisper glanced back at her.
"So what?" Tangle went on. "We could find, like, some top secret information down here?"
Whisper sighed and shook her head, dismissing the lemur.
Amy narrowed her eyes at Tangle. "Seriously? You've already risked losing your life once today. Please don't make a habit of it."
Tangle tucked her hands behind her head and grinned. "Live a little, girl!"
"I plan to." Amy hoisted her hammer onto her shoulder. "That's why we're not throwing ourselves voluntarily into danger. Now keep your voice down."
Whisper came to a sudden stop and let out a long 'shh!'
Amy froze behind her and strained her ears. "What is-"
"Shh!"
Then she heard it. Two voices, muttering. Too faint to pick out precisely. A narrow tunnel forked off on their left across the gurgling black water. Whisper turned her ears towards it, then raised a hand. A silent message for Amy and Tangle to stay where they were. She handed Amy her torch and dimmed the light. Enough to see by, but not enough to leak into the little tunnel.
Amy watched the wolf creep across the narrow bridge, each step silent. She paused beside the tunnel, peering into it with one eye. Her mouth fell open and her blue eyes widened. Then the voices abruptly halted. After a brief pause, a stray string of zeroes and ones flowed out from the tunnel, interspersed with other symbols. The sight of it alone was chilling and uncanny, and for a brief moment Amy thought she'd imagined it.
Whisper turned back towards her friends and mouthed one word silently.
'Shadow'.
...
"I don't know what you're thinking, Shadow," said Rouge. "But we can't stay down here forever."
The bat paused in a little alcove and watched Shadow as he continued along the narrow iron grate. He kicked out at a soda can, sending it into the sewage where it was washed away downstream.
"We can't go back up there either," he said. "It's safer down here."
"They're evacuating the city," said Rouge. "There'll be less people to see us."
"Yeah, and a whole army looking for us!" Shadow threw his hands in the air and turned back towards her. "Down here has always been safest. I only ever surfaced to see daylight, but now there's no point. At least down here there are no prying eyes!"
"So, what? You want to become a sewer monster?"
He bared a canine and flopped back against the wall in a strop. He ruffled his quills and sighed.
"I don't know, Rouge. Things are just messy right now. I don't know what to do. At least down here I'm no threat."
Her heart began to ache and she stared at him for a moment. "You're not a threat to me. I know whatever is going on with you isn't you."
He lowered his hand and shrugged. "Until I get it under control, I'm a threat to everyone. Even you."
"I disagree." She nudged a rat that had got too close away with her boot, and it scurried off into the shadows. "But I do understand why you want to stay out of sight. And as much as I agree with you there, there isn't much for us in this damp and stinky mire. Just rats and whatever that is." She nodded to the black water. "And I don't know about you, but I'm not partial to raw vermin."
Shadow scratched behind his ear. "Then if you have any better suggestions, let's hear them."
"Well we could start by-" Rouge's ears twitched and she looked up past Shadow towards the tunnel mouth.
Something moved beyond it. Or someone. Dim light penetrated the faint shadows. Almost unnoticeable to someone unfamiliar with the sewers. But both herself and Shadow were not unfamiliar with them.
"Someone's there," she whispered.
Shadow pushed himself back from the wall and turned his head towards the tunnel. No more movement, but the air was still thick with an ominous presence.
"We should go," said Rouge. "It might be GUN."
Shadow didn't need telling twice. He pulled Rouge into himself and the Chaos Network warped around him. He grimaced as the code corrupted and warped them out of the sewer. They emerged again on soft green grass surrounded by rustling trees.
He released Rouge and she stepped back from him, looking around at their surroundings.
"The park?" she asked.
Shadow rubbed his head and sank back against a tree.
She took a step towards him and raised her hand. "Are you okay?"
He opened his mouth to speak, but a loud crash cut him off. The pair looked up, wide-eyed, as a robot tossed a shattered tree trunk aside. Its red eyes narrowed onto them and it raised a hand towards a weapon strapped to its back.
"Target has been spotted," it said. "Target must be neutralized."
"Omega?!" Rouge gasped.
"Incorrect tag." It hoisted a rocket launcher on its shoulder. "I am The Judge, and you, Shadow the Hedgehog, have been judged 'guilty'."
A loud, sharp hiss came from the gun, and a huge rocket was propelled towards them. Shadow barreled Rouge to the side, then warped her through the Chaos Network into the branches of a nearby tree. The one where they'd been standing erupted in an explosion of splinters and turf.
The black hedgehog glared down at the robot as it turned to try and spot them, its rocket launcher spewing smoke into the air. It wouldn't be wise to leave such a robot to continue wrecking havoc on Mainframe. And if Eggman really had sent out a Judge to exterminate him, then so long as it was functioning, Shadow was as good as dead.
Exterminated for murder.
Murders Shadow didn't even remember committing.
Lives he'd never even considered taking, consciously.
But a Judge robot wouldn't listen to reason. It didn't care if Shadow had no memories of his crimes. It didn't care if he was used as a puppet by some invisible entity pulling the strings. So long as the victims had died at Shadow's hands, he was judged guilty. And it would stop at nothing to exact its judgment upon him.
A walking flaw. A pure example of the open, oozing welt of Eggman's disease on Mainframe. And no one else could see it.
The robot's crimson eyes locked on him, glowing like flames in the dark of night.
"You will not escape," it said. "Stand still and be slaughtered."
The rocket launcher fired again. Shadow had no time to tap into the Chaos Network. He grabbed Rouge and leapt from the tree as it exploded behind him. Sharp splinters snagged his fur, and Rouge winced in his arms. He released her and she fluttered free, hovering several feet from the robot.
"Omega!" she pleaded. "Please, listen to me!"
The Judge ignored her, turning its weapon onto Shadow. Another rocket whistled across the park, gliding through the glowing aura left behind from Shadow's Chaos Control. He appeared behind the robot and twisted in the air, landing a blazing kick against its back. It lurched forwards and sparks flew as Shadow's air skates scuffed up its paintwork.
The Judge twisted, swinging its free arm at the hedgehog. It stuck his side, knocking the wind out of him and sending him careening across the park.
"Shadow!" Rouge shrieked.
The Judge turned its glare onto her and aimed its machine gun. Without a word, it pulled the trigger. Hot bullets skimmed Rouge as she veered to the side.
"Omega! Please! I know you're still in there-ah!"
She grunted as a bullet cleaved through her wing's membrane, and she crumpled to the ground. It brought its fist down towards her and she screwed her eyes shut.
A flash of flames exploded off the robot's arm, knocking it off balance. Shadow stood over her, clenching his fists at his sides.
"Move!" he barked at Rouge.
"Bat judged as an accomplice," the Judge said as it readied its weapon once more. "You both must be exterminated."
The pair scattered as the weapon was brought crashing towards the ground. Rouge cowered behind an oak and poked her head out to see Shadow.
"We can't beat this!" she said.
Shadow watched the robot as it turned its rocket launcher back onto him. No. They couldn't beat this. He glanced around the park, and his eyes landed on something glittering in the moonlight.
The lake.
He vanished into the Chaos Network, wincing again as the code corrupted. The rocket struck the ground, creating a geyser of turf and shattered wood. Shadow appeared behind the robot and landed in a sprawl on its back. He tapped into the Chaos Network again, feeling the strain as he dragged the robot with him. It reached up its arm to dislodge him, but he was off its back and leaping to safety before it could even open its hand.
The Judge landed with a mighty splash in the lake, vanishing beneath the surface. Shadow beat his hands together and turned away from it, a smug smile forming on his face.
Rouge ran towards him and he held out his hands to stop her. Her eyes weren't on him, but the lake.
"We have to help him," she said.
"No. We have to run." He retracted his hand as a trickle of blood dripped from her wounded wing. "It hurt you…"
"Don't you recognize him?" Rouge snapped. "It's Omega! He helped us! Remember?"
"I remember Omega," he said. "But that robot is not Omega."
"It is!"
"Not anymore!" Shadow snapped. "Now come on, before we find out it can swim or something."
Before Rouge could retaliate, Shadow pulled her into him and warped them from the park. Anywhere. Anywhere but there.
The Casino roof. Shadow grimaced when he spotted the table. The one he'd napped under before he'd gone and killed that poor deer. He sank back against a trash can and closed his eyes.
Rouge stood before him and folded her arms. "Shadow… look at me."
He cracked a crimson eye open, meeting her frown.
"We have to go back and help him," she said. "He needs us."
"He wants to kill us."
"But it's not him! He's been… reprogrammed. We might be able to salvage the old Omega. Wake him up. Help him to remember who he is."
"It's pointless."
"It's not! I know the old Omega, and he would never have behaved like this."
"It's not Omega anymore, Rouge. He's a robot! Robots can be reprogrammed. It's just an old shell with a new AI. Now drop it."
He closed his eye again and massaged his forehead. All that warping had done a number on him. It never used to be that hard. Whatever those powers were, they clearly had something to do with it.
Rouge tapped her foot, bringing him back to the present. But he didn't look at her. He didn't want to.
"You know," she said quietly. "I thought you'd understand."
"Huh?"
"You're alike," she said. "Same body, but performing actions outside your control. Brainwashed, to put it bluntly."
He opened his eyes then, and stared at her, aghast.
"Just like you didn't ask for those weird crimson powers," she said, "Omega didn't ask for this. You're not a murderer, despite what Mainframe thinks. The real Omega would see right past that to the real Shadow underneath. And I believe our Omega is still in there."
She turned her back and slid away beneath one of the tables to nurse her wounded wing, leaving Shadow to think over everything she'd just said. It was bitter.
...
Starline had watched the footage play out several times already. The Judge robot had managed to find Shadow, but the slippery hedgehog had lost it. Dumping it in the lake was a genius idea, but that wasn't enough to stop it.
The little spy drone broadcast the footage back to the Egg Base from its hiding hole in a tree. The droning buzz from its bee-like wings drowned out most of the commotion, but the splash as the Judge hit the water had been like a thunder clap.
Beside that footage played the battle between the Judge and Infinite. If Starline didn't know better, he'd have believed the jackal was dead. But it would take more than that to destroy him.
Starline twirled his hair and leant back in his seat, hitting play once again. He was missing something. Something critical.
Shadow vanished again, leaving behind a spray of binary. Starline leant forward and paused the footage, zooming in for a closer look.
There. He narrowed his eyes at it. Something peculiar in that coding…
The door hissed open, and he swiftly minimized the footage in favor of a book he'd kept open. He turned in his seat, clutching the arm of the chair. He relaxed when he saw the robot hedgehog and turned back to his personal computer, pretending to read the dull detective novel. It wasn't exactly unusual for the robot to come into his room and spy on him.
"Is there a problem?" he asked, expecting no reply.
Metal Sonic flexed his claws and made a grating, beeping noise. His eyes weren't fierce, but they were demanding. Starline took it as a hint that Eggman wished to see him. He closed his computer and pushed himself from his seat to follow the robot.
All issues surrounding Faust had vanished. Not surprisingly, Eggman had discovered missing data from Metal Sonic, along with frazzled wires from the tazer. What was surprising was that the Doctor had dropped the issue entirely. Whether or not he'd believed Starline's ruse about a stray electrical current from the wormhole, Starline was uncertain. Robots could short circuit. Data could be lost. It was as simple as that. But he couldn't help but think the Doctor was onto something.
Eggman sat in his usual seat surrounded by his computer monitors. He brushed his mustache with his fingers and glanced over his shoulder at the platypus. Starline adjusted his tie and took a step into the room.
"You wanted to see me, Sir?"
"I've been thinking, Starline," Eggman said slowly, "Since you authorized that phone call with Faust, I'm going to need you to clean up the mess."
Starline's beak went slack. "That's… rather sudden, if you pardon me saying so."
"That robot is causing problems. Taking Faust out of the picture doesn't fix things. All it does is remind GUN where they stand, and what happens when someone threatens my position. When a robot goes out of control, it costs me trust. Trust I need if I'm going to set the ball in motion for plans I've had for the past four decades. Might I remind you, Starline, that Mainframe never used to trust robots." Eggman turned so he could face Starline and jammed his thumb into one of the monitors. Frozen footage of the Judge launching a rocket across the rooftops of Beatdrop's apartment buildings. "Seeing one like this… how do you think they're going to react?"
"I guess quite frightfully, Sir."
"Precisely." Eggman swiveled his seat back around. "Now, ordinarily when a Judge is released, they deal with the task at hand. This one is out of control. It needs to be brought back under control, and I'm going to need you to deal with it."
Starline spread his hands. "Why me? I'm not equipped to deal with robots."
"Do you really think I believed you when you told me this was Faust's idea?"
Starline froze, his beak flapping open and closed as he tried to find words.
Eggman turned his chair back towards him again. "I don't know if you were telling the truth or not, Starline. I don't read people, I read books. For all I know, you could be trying to cover up your mangy hide."
"Sir! Believe me, I have not once stepped foot out of line. I obeyed your rules down to the letter when I was in charge of the Infinite Project. Anyone who jeopardized your rules was promptly dealt with."
"Yes, by soldiers. They weren't exactly sent to the Executioner, were they? Many lives were lost that I have no record of. People I could have dragged information out of to get a look into those rogue sections of GUN. I know you worked against me, Starline. The evidence is all there."
"I worked undercover, Sir! I told you everything that section was working on."
Eggman waved a hand. "Irrelevant. Something has gone down here that has thrown shade on your position. My evidence? A rogue robot tries to apprehend Shadow shortly after I tell you I'm trying to catch him for his DNA. Faust is executed, and I have no record of that in Metal's memory. It's conveniently erased from the second the pair of you stepped into one of your wormholes. Stray current, indeed!" A grin spread across the doctor's face. "If you want to prove your innocence, Starline, then you'll get that robot under control. Otherwise it's your neck the Executioner will be cleaving."
Starline gulped and took a step back. "Of course, Sir."
"I don't know why exactly you've come here, but you intrigue me. Enough for me to keep you alive, for now. But understand this. If you're planning to leak information concerning my plans for Mainframe, I will find out. Working against me is treason. If that's your scheme, then believe me, Mainframe will learn what happens to those guilty of treason and slander. I'll make sure of that by making your execution public."
...
The Judge's claws dug into the soft bank of the lake. The water parted as it hoisted itself free, cascading off its glistening shell. Its fierce, red eyes leered into the darkness, and it tossed its machine gun ahead of it onto the grass. It struck the side of the rocket launcher, creating a clang that echoed out into the park.
The Judge pulled itself free of the lake, and water pooled around it on the grass. A few dozing ducks leapt from the reeds and swam off in a panic, quacking and flapping. The robot paid them no heed.
It stooped to retrieve its weapons and shook water from the nozzle of the rocket launcher. It aimed it into the sky and fired, sending a rocket whistling into the air. At least it still worked.
It fastened it to its back and then retrieved its machine gun.
"Shadow's threat level increased to critical," it said. "Mission priority elevated. Shadow must be stopped, and every obstacle eliminated. Other lifeforms' status moved to 'irrelevant', and any in my path will be destroyed."
It stared off across the park then, flicking water from its claws, it marched across the grass towards the exit.
...
Thanks for reading! As always, please R&R! =D
