Chapter 2
Mobius-31
Shadow the hedgehog was sitting over a cliffside thinking, only that morning Rouge was raped and murdered in the comfort of her own home by Eclipse the darkling, it made Shadows blood boil, her back had been completely shattered all so Eclipse could get to him, he couldn't believe it. First Maria and now Rouge it was unbearable, he let a single tear fall from his eye, suddenly he heard footsteps behind him he turned to see Omega, Tails, Cream & Cheese, Knuckles, Tails, Sonic, Amy, Silver and Blaze walk up to him.
"Hey Shadz we wanted to see if you were okay?" Sonic said, "not really" Shadow admitted
"Losing Rouge to me is like losing Maria again-" Shadow said, he didn't need to finish, "if you need to talk to anyone we'll be here" Amy said reassuringly. After the funeral Shadow went back to formally his and Rouge's residence, now it was just his, he sighed, not knowing how to take it, he simply pulled out a beer from the fridge and sat in a chair thinking about what he was gonna do. Eventually his eyes closed and he nearly went to sleep
"It hurts doesn't it" said a robotic voice behind him, he whirled around to the source, ready for a fight, "be calm i am not her to fight" said the voice, from the shadows "i know what you are going through if i had emotions i would be sympathetic". The figure stepped forward from the shadows; he was unusual, his head had pointy ears and no mouth on his robotic face, and his body had blue details across his body with a red bat symbol in the centre of his chest.
"Who the fuck are you?" Shadow asked, "someone who lost the most important person in their life twice, both my parents and the one who raised me" the figure replied, "i am sorry" Shadow said, "don't be i have no emotions anymore" the figure replied "it hurt to much and i wanted revenge without my humanity getting in the way so i transfered my mind to this body. This is what i offer you", "what will this mean?" Shadow asked.
"You would have to give up your emotions and you will need parts from 3 of your friends, Omega, Shard and Nicole, I have uploaded a virus to them already" the figure replied, handing a wrist mounted device to Shadow, he put it on his wrist. "This will activate the virus, not even Nicole could pick it up, then bring them to me in your garage", "I need to think it over," Shadow said.
The next morning in the G.U.N locker room
"How can i do it, how can i betray my friends, but the pain it's not going away" Shadow thought to himself, "Omega" he said to Omega, "omega turned to him, "can i talk to you about something?", "off course" Omega replied. "How do you feel about Rouge death?" Shadow asked, Omega thought it an odd question but he could forgive Shadow after Rouge's recent death.
"She was a good friend, she brought team dark together and we shall keep it together for her memory" Omega said "we will destroy Eclipse for what he has done", "but i don't think i can" Shadow said, Omega was surprised, "not as i am anyway, i need to get rid of my emotions, Omega i need your help with that", "i am with you Shadow what can i do?" Omega asked, "go to my garage there's someone there I'm gonna need to get Nicole and Shard whether willingly or not".
Later in the afternoon
Nicole and Shard were waiting for shadow in the central city. In their apartment to be accurate, "I'm worried about Shadow babe" Shard said to his girlfriend, "he is clearly not himself," Nicole agreed, "but that is only natural and expected after-" she didn't finish her sentence.
"We'll when he gets here we can ask him" Shard said, "and that means we have plenty of time" Nicole said playfully bringing her face in front of Shards, Shard smiled putting his hand behind Nicoles lower back while nicole wrapped her arms around Shards shoulders, their lips connected as the 2 machines built their passion for each other.
Shard, still kissing Nicole swept her off her feet and deposited her on the bed, Shard lay on top, "i love you shard" Nicole said in between a kiss, "i love you Nicole" Shard replied. A few hours later it was dinner time, Shard and Nicole didn't really need to eat, but they enjoyed it. Shadow had for some reason asked to join them.
The doorbell rang, "i'll get it" Nicole said, "okay" Shard said, then cheekily giving Nicole a little slap on the ass as she passed by, Nicole slapped his shoulder in return, "what was that for?" She asked, "just a little joke between friends" he said chuckling, Nicole rolled her eyes as she approached the door.
It was definitely Shadow who walked in, "hey Shadow" Shard said, "hey shard" Shadow said with the barest hint of a smile but Nicole could see some guilt in that smile, after a little bit of dinner they decided to talk, "hey Shadow, why did you want to see us?" Nicole asked, "well it's just i want to get rid of the pain that i am suffering from and get back Eclipse for what he did" Shadow began, "but to do both i need to get rid of my emotions, i need to become a machine and i need your help, both of you".
Nicole and Shard were lost for words, "Shadow i know it hurts but do you know what the fuck your suggesting?" Shard asked, "yes I do and I need your help" Shadow replied standing up, "Shadow listing being a machine doesn't mean your emotions simply go away" Nicole tried to reason, Omega and a guy I know are willing to help are you?" Shadow asked, "sorry but we can't" Shard said and Nicole nodded.
"Fine" Shadow said and pressed the button on the wrist mounted device and like the odd machine said it activated the virus, Nicole screamed and clutched her head as the virus attacked her and her systems. Shard could only watch in horror as he was about to point his arm cannon up to Shadow when the virus attacked his systems, "what is this!?" Shard asked through the pain, then his system showed what it was, "a Virus!?" he exclaimed, "you freak you uploaded a virus! How?", "it was only if you didn't agree willingly" Shadow explained, "i'm sorry".
Shard's system shut down and Nicole was beginning to black out.
Unknown location morning
Nicole began to wake up inside what seemed to be a prison cell, she groggily looked around and found Shard, who had been absolutely vandalised, his arm cannon and legs had been torn off and hanging from a hoster connected to a chain connected to the roof.
She rushed over to her boyfriend and made sure he was okay, he groaned and woke up, the first thing he saw was Nicole, "hey" he groaned cracking a smile, "thank god you're okay" Nicole said in relief, "isn't this sweet" Said a robotic voice, they both turned to see a human sized robotic figure standing over them. Shadow on one side arms folded and Omega on the other.
"What's going on?" Shard asked his remaining arm wrapped protectively around Nicole, "you are going to help us to turn shadow into what i am" the figure explained, "and before you ask, Shadow is doing this willingly and Omega is standing by his side", "we will never help you" Nicole said through teeth that were definitely gritted. "Oh but you will, willingly or not".
A couple of hours later the the acorn castle
The rest of the freedom fighters had been looking for Shard and Nicole ever since they hadn't shown up that morning, But no one had found anything, the Chaotix had no leads, and the only thing that G.U.N could tell them was that Omega and Shadow were absent which was understandable considering Rouge's recent death.
"Okay let's go over this again" Sally said to the rest of the freedom fighter members, rubbing her eyes, "no one knows where Shard or Nicole are?" "nop" Sonic said, "nothing," Amy added, "haven't seen her," Silver continued, "me neither" Blaze added "I hope the sugars are okay" Bunnie said worried, and everyone else gave a negative response. "Nicole is strong, she can take care of herself" Ken reassured Sally "besides Shard won't let anything happen to her". Nicole was Sally's best friend since she was little, "we need to keep searching for her" Dr Ellidy, Nicole's father said.
"And we will doctor Ellidy" Tails assured him, "just trust us" Cosmo added next to Tails, "it's just after my daughter Nikki...Nicole is all i have left" Ellidy said sorrowfully as he left for his office, "i'll go check on him, he needs support and you guys need to find Nicole" Rotor said as he followed the doctor, no one could argue.
The doctor and Rotor entered his workshop, Sonic uncle, Chuck, and his apprentice, Mutt, he sat down at his desk and looked at first the picture of him and Nikki then the one with him Nicole and Shard. "Don't worry old friend, Sonic and the freedom fighters will find both of them", "i've never seen Nicole so happy when she is around Shard, and i can't help but be reminded of my first daughter" Ellidy said, "no matter what i swear we'll find them" Rotor said, "i'll personally see to it myself if need be", "thanks Rotor" Ellidy said.
Just then the phone on Ellidy's desk ran, Ellidy picked up the phone, looking at the number, it was from Nicole, his heart nearly lept out of his chest right then and there, "it's Nicole!" he exclaimed, answering the call, everyone in the room(which was only four) was overjoyed, "Nicole are you okay?" Ellidy asked excitedly.
"Hello doctor Ellidy" came a voice that was, not Nicoles, Cold, emotionless and machine, all their hearts turned to ice, "who are you" mutt asked the person on the phone, "i am the one with Shard and you daughter" the figure replied, one one holo screen in the lab a set of coordinates popped up, Charles had a look at them. "If you want to see her again you will cooperate, meet me at these coordinates, you try showing them to anyone else and a data charge will destroy all your systems and I will kill your daughter then the rest of the freedom fighters".
Rotor, Ellidy, Chuck and Mutt stared at the phone "where do the coordinates lead?" Eliddy asked sorrowfully a tear rolling down his eye, "what are you going through with this!" Rotor exclaimed, "he must know that you guys heard so there's no point telling anyone else" Ellidy explained, "otherwise he would've killed us and activated the data charge" Chuck agreed, "then i'm coming with you" Rotor said defiantly, "are you insane Rotor" Mutt exclaimed.
"Mutt you stay here with Chuck, keep your mouth shut until i say so" Ellidy said.
Shadows garage
"Shadow's garage what?" Rotor exclaimed, "there has to be some mistake" Ellidy looked at the coordinates on his mile locator, "i'm afraid there isn't" Ellidy sighed, they went in with many questions all for later. It was quite a mess in his garage, it could have been a workshop for Tails, "what is Shadow working on" Rotor asked, as he picked up what looked like a metal sonic arm "i hope he's okay" which was a bit of a naive question out loud but Rotor could be forgiving.
Then he noticed something, something green, he immediately recognised it as Shard's crystal power core, it contained his programming and memories, thankfully it was undamaged but where was his body?. "Rotor over here" doctor Ellidy called, as he opened a trap door that went downstairs. The 2 followed the stairs to what looked like a secret science facility, "what was Shadow up to?" Doctor Ellidy asked, "you will find out soon enough" Said a voice behind them, the 2 jumped as they turned around to find Omega.
"Omega!, what-" Rotor began, "follow me" Omega ordered, leading the way, the doctor and the Engineer followed Omega to a laboratory where Shadow was waiting on the side with his arms crossed and another taller human figure working on something. "Welcome Doctor Ellidy and Rotor. I calculated that you would cooperate, it was only logical to assume you would come," the figure said in the same voice they had heard on the phone.
"Who-" Rotor began, the figure whirled around extending his arm and a metallic tendril wrapped itself around Rotor's neck, Ellidy could only watch in horror, "what do you want and where is my Daughter" he demanded. "Cooperate and you'll see her, Shard however you can't see again, we are using his body for other purposes" the figure explained.
Ellidy gritted his teeth and sighed, "what do you want?" he asked Shakily, "we need you to transfer Shadows conscience into this robotic body then remove his weak emotions" the Figure said, "like hell we will" Rotor said, "put Rotor down and i will cooperate" Ellidy said, "very well" the figure said putting Rotor down and retracting the tendril "and as a show of good faith i'll give you Nicole's coordinates" he handed a tablet to Rotor, who took one look then ran out the door.
An hour later
"Are you sure you want to do this Shadow?" Doctor Ellidy asked, "it's too late to turn back no so do it" Shadow demanded as the robotic figure stood in the shades of the lab corners.
Meanwhile with Rotor
Rotor was in the taxi heading to a warehouse district still holding Shard's crystal, he had called the freedom fighters and told them the whole situation, Knuckles and Shade the echidna and Whisper the wolf and Tangle the Lemur were on their way. For now he ran inside.
He took a moment to look around and found Nicole tied up with ropes hanging from the ceiling with a ball gag in her mouth, "Nicole" he said running over to her, she opened her eyes and shook her head while saying something through the gag, "don't worry i have shards crystal and i'm going to get you down" he said taking the gag off, "GET OUT OF HERE IT'S A TRAP!" Nicole shouted, Rotor then heard a beeping bellow him and looked down, there was a drain below him and in the drain was a bomb with a time counting down for 5 seconds.
It hit zero in the time it took Rotor to process it and that was the end of any other processing for Rotor, Nicole or Shard. Knuckles, Shade, Mighty and Ray ran around the corner to the warehouse, "we're almost their" Shade said, "i h-hope they're okay" Ray stuttered, "you kidding Shard, Nicole and Rotor can handle themselves" Mighty said confidently, "Mighty's right" Knuckles said, but it was at that unfortunate moment that when they came only 10 feet away that the warehouse completely exploded and collapsed.
Knuckles and the rest stopped dead in their tracks, "oh no" Honey breathed, "knuckles snapped out of his shock and rushed to the collapsed warehouse, looking through the rubble, the first thing he found was Shards crystal snapped clear in half, one missing it's end.
Shade then found Rotor dead, severe level burns and missing a tush, both his legs and a hand, there was a chance Nicole was still alive as long as her hand held device was intact. "Contact the other, tell them we'll meet them at the other set of coordinates" Knuckles said with tears in his eyes, Shade pressed herself into his chest and cried for her friends, Mighty and Ray shed their own.
The air patrol outside Shadow's house
"Knuckles did you find them" Ken asked, "yeah we found them-" Knuckles replied through the coms, "well that's great" Silver exclaimed as everyone smiled in relief, "Damn it Silver it's not!...Rotors dead along with Shard" the smiles faded to be replaced by grief expressions, "A-and Nicole?" Bunnie asked, Sally was almost afraid of the answer, "her body's not here but if her handheld console survives then she survives" Shade replied, "wait for us and we'll all go in together".
"I'm a little unsure about this" Blaze admitted as she looked at Shadows house from above in the sky patrol, "is Shadow the one doing this?" Cosmo asked the questions all wanted the answer too, "if he is then we need to find out why and stop him" Ken said one hand on Sally's shoulder to help with the grief they all were experiencing.
Meanwhile in the secret lab in Shadows house
"How do you feel, Shadow?" Ellidy asked, "i do not feel anything doctor but i thank you for your work" Shadow said in his new metallic body, it may have been Shard's metal sonic like body but the design itself resembled Mecha sonic more but with Shadows detailing and the Omega's head attached to his back. Omega was now in the Shadows system to help aid him. The fake chaos emeralds in his hands and the one in his chest gave him the ability to still control chaos.
Ellidy turned to the other machine, "now let me go and see my daughter" Ellidy demanded the other machine figure, "off course" the figure said then sent a metallic tendril straight into Ellidies chest, "you can see both of them" the figure whispered into his ear as Ellidy died.
Outside
Bunnie was wanting to come with the others, but she was pregnant with Antoine's child so unable to go, she was 5 months in, Antoine decided he would stay with her on the air patrol and the others went to retrieve doctor Ellidy and hopefully Nicole's handheld set from where her programming originally came from.
"Okay everyone let's go" Espio said who was the first at the door, then it was violently blown open sending Espio a few feet back, "Espio!" Charmy and Vector exclaimed, rushing over to help their fellow Chaotix. The others looked to the door, to see a machine walking out the door, "Mecha sonic?!" Sonic exclaimed, "wait he looks different" Amy pointed out, "wait a minute it's not a mecha sonic" Tails said as the machine came fully into view.
"It's a mecha Shadow" Cosmo finished in horror, "yes he is" said a metallic voice on the roof they looked up and found the metallic figure, "he is now what i am, he now has no emotions to make him weak, he is now a murder machine" the Murder Machine batman said
One week later
"Now will you tell me the truth" Mecha Shadow asked, as he stood over the dead body of Eclipse the darkling, it had been a week since the two had butchered the freedom fighter, and then went on a killing spree on every prison, eggman and resistance base on Mobius till he found Eclipse, not literally every base but quite a lot to say the least, their were no survivors as far as anyone knew.
The rest of the world made a memorial for the freedom fighters which the two were watching now, the memorial itself was as follows.
Sonic the hedgehog - the greatest hero on Mobius.
Tails the fox - a child prodigy who despite growing up in a gruel world helped to saved it with his brother and friends
Amy rose - a caring and powerful girl who died to young
Rouge the bat - who may have been a thief but became a decorated agent
Knuckles echidna - a kind hearted and devoted soul and the one of the last of his kind
Shade the echidna - betrayed her beliefs to save her friends and world
Rotor the Walrus - never saw the world for what it was but what it could be
Mighty the armadillo - never let his rage get the better of him
Ray the squirrel - not the bravest but certainly the most loyal
Sally acorn - Princess of the those who rose up against their suppressors
Ken Khan - a warrior who fought for those who had suffered at the hands of Eggman
Nicole the holo lynx - she may have been a machine but she had the most love
Shard the metal sonic - though many saw him as the enemy that didn't stop him from saving lives.
Antoine D'coolette - a devoted soldier and loving husband who supported his wife no matter what
Bunnie D'coolette - loving wife who, with the help and support of her husband never let her disabilities stop her
Cosmo the seedrian - a girl who saw the good in all, plant or animal, mobian or human.
Silver the hedgehog - who fought to not save the future but to change it and make it happy for every generation
Blaze the cat - while her duty was to her dimension, her heart was to our world.
Tangle the Lemur - a young and excited girl who saw the good in all even if others were so quick to judge.
Whisper the wolf - a soldier at heart who remade her family when she thought she lost all.
Espio - a warrior with true honor
Vector - one of the greatest detectives in the world
Charmy - an innocent youngling who was a mighty hero.
Around the memorial were the Freedom fighters graves all marked, Gardon and Marine from the soul dimension where looking over, Silver and Blaze's graves, Gardon had requested it, he hadn't trusted Silver mainly out of concern for Blaze but he would have figured that Blaze had wanted to be next to Silver in life or death. This however was also a crippling blow for the Sol dimension, now there was no one to take care of Sol emeralds and there was no heir to take the throne.
Sonic's family, his father, Jules, his mother, Burne and his Uncle chuck were in front of his grave in between Amy and Tails', G.U.N agent Topaz and Commander Towers stood formally over Rouge's grave, it had been moved so that the freedom fighters could all be together. Cream, G-merl, Vanilla and their Chao's, Cheese and Chocolate were also there. Gmerl and Cream & cheese were arranging Flowers on each grave, while Honey cried on the bench next to Vanilla.
Eggman himself had decided to come to pay his respects but he stayed by the gates with Orbot and Cubot.
"In my opinion they didn't deserve such a death" Omega said to Shadow, "not the time Omega" Mecha shadow retorted then turned back to the murder machine, "you are correct the truth is that you are the only real being in this world destined to die" he replied not looking down, Shadow's processors weren't to sure how to process that, "this world exists down in the dark multiverse and all worlds down here are only meant to die" the Murder machine continued "but you can come with me and we can be the most powerful pair of murder machines up their so as the phrase goes, 'what do you say".
After a moment of thought and conversing with Omega, Mecha Shadow agreed and kicked Eclipse corpse off the cliff.