"Finally."

Shadow stalked deeper into the Shield Vault. It was by far the largest single area they'd yet encountered, but also the most important. In the middle of an artificial cavern, the great pulsing heart of the City Shield slowly beat, four times a minute. A two tiered cylinder, at least thirty feet high, thrummed like a beating heart. It met up with an even larger metallic protrusion that came down from the ceiling, high above. Blue and yellow energy coursed through the construct, dyeing the chamber in those alternating colors despite the otherwise neutral lighting.

Grating and walkways crisscrossed above them, connecting now abandoned lab stations and monitoring equipment. It was an impressive sight, all in all, even for those who had seen similar works of science and engineering elsewhere. In fact, Knothole's City Shield was smaller than Station Square's had been, and that was smaller still than the current shield protecting Robotropolis. However, given that the entire area this machinery now occupied had been a muddy swamp just two years ago... that was impressive.

Shadow moved towards the pulsing Shield Generator, but paused.

He still bore the polymer adhesive paralyzing his right arm.

The chamber cast long shadows, as flashing red alarm lights and stacks of crates and boxes towered like a city in miniature. Arcs of electricity and elemental energy ran overhead, and yellow chaos energy streamed through visible pipe-like wiring. The lighting was reduced due to the state of emergency, giving the place a penetrating gloom that would, hopefully, give its defender an advantage in the coming battle.

"Where is it?" Shadow asked, not bothering to turn his head. "Where is it, Rouge?"

"Ah... as I recall, the Emerald is stored in some kind of power generation alcove," she said, looking around. This place was a lot more confusing than the schematics indicated. "Probably on the bottom floor, I guess?"

Shadow's ever-sharp eyes moved from one piece of machinery to another.

"Damnit," he snarled. "Find a console or something. There has to be something here that can tell us where the Emerald is."

"R-right." He was obviously still a little pissed it had taken so long to disable most of the facility defenses. Like it was her fault that there weren't any convenient security consoles or anything. It wasn't exactly as easy as sauntering over to a random computer, typing furiously, and magically turning off every camera and force field in the building!

Hell, chances were that all the computers here were on lockdown, too!

Shadow continued to look around. Rouge didn't know it, but he wasn't simply looking for some kind of clue. He could see the flows of Chaos Energy around him. If an Emerald was in the open, but say: hidden in a cave or in a spider hole, or even just in some bushes... he could easily track it down by following the latent flows of Chaos Energy. Unfortunately, certain individuals had found ways of hiding or containing Chaos Energy, and this concealing an Emerald from even his senses.

Making things worse was the fact that chaos energy was currently flowing all around him, through special conduits and into that massive shield device. It made it damn near impossible to see or feel anything. The more he tried, the more confusing and blinding the mess of applied Chaos Energy became.

Footsteps.

Turning around, Shadow stared back the way they came. Flexing the fingers in his left hand, Shadow's eyes narrowed as the intruder stepped into the light. From her spot by one of the computers on the first level, Rouge gasped.

Antoine stumbled into the Shield Vault, dragging his sword behind him. He'd managed to wrap up his broken leg and brace it with part of a metal grill, probably torn from an air duct somewhere. The long slash across his chest was still slowly bleeding out. He looked half dead. Rouge couldn't imagine how the stubborn idiot was still standing.

"You... you will not..." he managed to say between ragged gasps. "You will not..."

Shadow just stared at the half dead Royal Guard.

"Shouldn't you be dead?" he asked, watching callously as the other Mobian struggled to lift his sword.

"Tze Emerald... ees what protects... thees city..." Antoine managed to hold out his arm, hand clenching the hilt of his sword like a lifeline. "You will not take it. Not while I live!"

"Not while you live, huh?" Shadow's mouth quirked into a savage grin.

"Not while I live... non...!" Antoine lunged, pivoted, and swung the sword down in a great arc. Even uninjured, the coyote stood little to no chance of landing a solid hit on the black hedgehog. Except, this time, Shadow made no attempt to dodge or block the blow.

With an audible TING Antoine's sword hit his opponent clean on the junction between the shoulder and the neck before raking across the chest. Shadow didn't move or flinch. A piece of steel spun in midair, hitting the floor and sliding up to the edge of one of the abandoned machines in the Vault. Antoine could only stare dumbly at the strike, at his sword, not broken halfway along its length, and at his opponent.

"Do you see, now?" Shadow asked. "Do you understand?"

Antoine stumbled, but Shadow seized him by the collar.

"Its Pointless. Pride, persistence, even bravery... these things are all pointless in the face of overwhelming power," Shadow explained, lifting the Royal Guard off the floor, straight armed. "Now, before you die, do you begin to grasp how futile your actions are? Do you?"

Antoine coughed, and weakly tried to stab Shadow in the side with what was left of his sword. As before, it accomplished nothing. He tried one more time, the sword never slipping from between his fingers.

"Non," he said between blood stained teeth. "Eeet ees you... who do not understand..."

Shadow said nothing; his fist began to glow with dark energy.

"Shadow!" Rouge yelled, hoping to distract him. "Wait!"

"You've found the Emerald?" he asked, glaring at her over his shoulder with one red eye.

"Ah... not yet, but...."

Shadow turned away, the blazing nightmare in his fist just inches from Antoine's face. Rouge tensed. Shadow sneered, abruptly tossing Antoine aside and firing his Chaos Spear through the Vault entryway. Beyond it, the blast of energy erupted, shaking the walls. Stepping through the doorway, a body of tawny yellow and gunmetal gray emerged unharmed.

A metallic hand clenched into a fist.

"What's this...?" Shadow asked. "Another pointless interruption?"

Bunnie stepped out of the hallway and into the light of the Shield Vault.

"Oh, that's right. The cyborg." Shadow grinned as if anticipating what was to come. "Are they that desperate to stop me?"

"That's no way tah talk to a lady." Bunnie narrowed her eyes; her targeting systems locked onto the hostile intruder. Internal sensors identified and displayed weak points and data readouts. "Didn't yah momma teach yah any manners?"

Shadow blinked, and frowned just a fraction, slightly annoyed by the question. "Tell me. Where is the Chaos Emerald? Where have you hidden it?"

"Yah must know ah won't just tell yah," Bunnie said, "Especially aftah what I just saw yah try and do."

Shadow frowned and glanced over at Antoine's unconscious form for a second before facing Bunnie again. "I see."

For a second, the Freedom Fighter also took her eyes off Shadow, to glare at Rouge. But her attention quickly returned to the immediate threat at hand. The cyborg girl's scowl deepened.

"Ah'm going to make you regret doing that to him."

"Oh?" Shadow asked.

"You think you can just walk in here and do what you've done? Kill all the Mobians you've killed?!" Bunnie asked back, crossing her arms in front of her. "I'll stop you!"

Shadow's smirk became savage and he started to walk towards her.

Bunnie's arms uncrossed, and she slid one foot back for balance. Both arms came up, her strong mechanical left facing him. Behind her left shoulder, two small coils retracted and a sot blue glow suffused down her arm along her spine, and into her cybernetic legs. A small option window appeared in the upper right corner of her vision that read: 'Combat Enhancement Protocols.'

And a second later: ACTIVE.

No sooner had she thought those words than something within her snapped and hissed. Like a shot of adrenalin straight into her brain, she suddenly felt more confident… more powerful, more capable! Anger replaced doubt, pleasure supplanted fear, and a savage grin caused the demure southern gal to grin like a Cheshire cat. Out of the gauntlet attached to her organic hand bright blue energy coalesced, before snapping out as an electron whip; sharp bladed flechettes suspended in a magnetic field.

"I think you can stop me?" Shadow was still smirking, the light from above cloaking his glowing eyes in darkness. "Maybe you'll tell me where the Emerald is… after I tear every scrap of metal and wire from your screaming body…!"

Bunnie cracked her electron whip to the side, cleaning slicing a deep groove in the metal floor. Their eyes met, bright green and dark orange, for a silent second. And then, with a wordless snarl, Shadow took to the air and the fight was on.

The Egg Carrier

Metal Sonic's steps were slightly jerky. Caked blood covered his arms. Brushing past ranks of Combots, he made his way deeper into the ship. Now back within range of their local command systems, the Tails Dolls quickly cleared their sector Commander for entrance.

The Dolls had established a secure command center in the fore of the ship from which to conduct the ongoing assault on the rest of the human held sections, primarily Command and Control and Engineering. The humans, however, had turned the ship into a maze of sealed bulkheads and corridors, booby trapping every nook and cranny. It was excruciatingly slow going, especially for an AI.

"Query: status of target?" All nine Dolls asked at the same time, the very moment Metal entered the room. Once upon a time, it had been a dining room for the ship's officers.

"Target is deceased," Metal replied, straightening up and noting the position of the Dolls clustered together.

"Observation: you are damaged," one of the Dolls said, stating the obvious. "Has your regeneration malfunctioned?"

"My Berserker Module has been damaged." Metal swayed slightly. "I am unable to produce functional berserker nanites.."

The gems on the Dolls' foreheads glowed as they electronically conversed.

"Recommendation: we have established a replacement repair bay in a lower deck. We will arrange for an escort."

"That is not necessary," Metal replied. "I am still functional."

"Notice: if your berserker cells are damaged, they must be immediately repaired." Another Doll stated. "This is our consensus."

"I said I'm fine. Leave it be."

The Dolls hummed.

"Cautionary: you do not appear to be fully functional. Seek immediate repairs. We will provide escorts."

"Didn't I just say..." Metal ducked his head for a moment only to look up at the assembled Tails Dolls with glowing red eyes. "I'm perfectly FINE!!"

That very instant, a dozen tentacles erupted out of Metal Sonic's arms and chest, spearing the stunned Dolls. Almost immediately, they began to bulge, tiny red gemstones buzzing and glowing desperately. Unintelligible static and white noise blared from their built in speakers as berserker cells rapidly began infusing, assimilating and devouring circuits and processors, metals and plastics.

Moments later, Combot Eleven Thirty Two reset his target list and began firing indiscriminately at his squadmates.

Shadowbot Five Seventeen self-terminated, along with every other unit in his formation.

Three of the two dozen surviving robians, working tirelessly in a lower deck, began uncontrollably laughing, gleefully smashing the damaged robots they had once worked to repair.

In the fore sections of the egg Carrier, Metal Madness reigned.

Outside, waiting at the edge of the nearly leveled forest, Tails cut a thin strip of apple and held it up to his tongue. Looking up at the cloudless sky, he began a silent countdown.

"Ten. Nine. Eight..."

Satellite Torch Lens Five entered designated geosynchronous orbit, replacing CB9. It was a simple communications/observation platform, with no actual AI or basic programming beyond that required to function in its necessary capacity. It was but one of many satellites that kept the Eggnet operational. At 16:42 hours, Robotropolis Standard Time (RST), it reached its designated position and began transmitting.

Uplinks were quickly established with other nearby satellites:

Echo Eye Two.

Torch Lens Four.

Charlie Baker One.

Sprint Piston Three.

It then began linkup with the regional Tails Doll Network and the nearby Eggman Air Armada.

Tails sliced another piece of apple, chewing the fruit slowly and quietly.

So far, so good.

Shadow appeared in a flash, burying his fist in Bunnie's stomach. Swinging his entire body in a wide arc, both Mobians plowed into and through an upright plasma display before Bunnie's back finally met the unyielding floor. The force of the blow sent flecks of broken plastic and smoke out from behind the southern girl's sides, and with a gasping cough, a trickle of blood escaped from her lips. Yet Bunnie responded in kind, seemingly oblivious to the damage, and her mechanical hand came down in a hammer blow, crushing Shadow's left ear, before following up with a vicious haymaker to the face that sent him flying.

The black hedgehog slid across the grated metal floor, tearing a long gash on his shoulder, before flipping up and onto his feet. His face was awash with fury as he shook the blood from his quills and raised his right hand. He didn't even give her the courtesy of calling out his signature attack before the lances of Chaos energy erupted down the length of his one good arm. Bunnie charged into the attack, armored left arm raised, the impacts of her bionic feet making shallow indentations in the floor.

To Shadow's surprise, instead of impaling his opponent, the Chaos Spears that hit Bunnie's heavily armored left arm split and exploded like a cluster bomb while the cyborg Mobian charged through the conflagration unfazed. It took only a second to determine what it was: Chaos Resistant Armor - morganite - and a lot of it.

'Then, before?' He remembered the ineffectual attack he had fired into the hallway. 'I see. More of that kind of defense?'

Shadow's feral smile widened a second before Bunnie's spiked first damn near tore it off his face.

'This… should be interesting…!'

Shadow's feet skidded across the floor, kicking up sparks as his body pulsed with Chaos Energy and his rocket shoes fired. Looking up, he wiped the blood off his face and muzzle, revealing a still present smirk. Pressing off the ground in a sudden change of momentum, he tucked into a ball, becoming little more than a blur of black and dark red. Bunnie instantly dove to the side to try and avoid the homing attack, but Shadow still managed to clip her left arm, tearing off a chunk of armor and limb.

Bunnie rolled on the ground before flipping up onto her feet.

"Pulse Cannon," She thought/ordered, as a small menu popped up in the corner of her eye, specific weapons highlighted as 'recommended' by her onboard computer. Her willow green eyes tracked Shadow as he tore through another metal display, before racing along the walls and floor at incredible velocity. Cocking her large mechanical left arm, the bottom half of the protective armor unlocked from its position and slid back slightly, allowing the barrel of a weapon to emerge. Leveling her arm at the far end of the Vault, she braced her feet, and fired.

For a hundred feet in front of her, a concentrated sonic pulse, circular in effect, shook metal to the point of cracking, and shattered plastic into dust. But Shadow had not been among the destruction. Re-aiming, she fired again, tearing a hole twenty feet in diameter in the second floor of the Shield Vault and raining down bits of broken lighting and twisted metal. Bunnie jumped back as a black body slammed into the ground at her feet before ricocheting to the side and behind her. Turning and firing, as quickly as she could from her position, the resulting sonic blast carved a deep hole in the ground and sent up a thick cloud of dust.

Narrowing her eyes in annoyance, Bunnie saw another menu appear.

- Thermoptics -

At her whim, the lenses of her pupils detached and slid into the corner of her eyes. At first, they were replaced by an ultraviolet filter, but then the infrared cycled into position and locked in place. Seeing through the smoke and haze, Bunnie willed her pulse cannon back into its protective housing. Replacing it, the sides of her mechanical arm parted a fraction, allowing twin blades to pop out, like a switchblade, before moving forward up to her wrist. Folding out from under the lower portion of the blades, two half cylinders met in the palm of her hand, becoming a handle.

Shadow appeared, literally, in a flash.

Bunnie didn't hesitate, and slashed at him with the scythe-like blades of her left arm. Shadow simply leaned back and dodged, dancing back as she advanced on him. A jab to the face missed, as did a slash to the neck, but a spinning draw to the chest drew a thin long of blood. Shadow was fast – faster than anything she remembered fighting before.

'Of course he is,' her mind lectured, 'He's as fast as Sonic. Maybe faster, at least in short bursts, thanks to those shoes.'

Through the smoke, the two danced like experienced partners in a soundless waltz, in and about, forward and backward, retreat, parry, and attack. Shadow tried to slash her with his quills and break her with his chaos-empowered fists, aiming for her unprotected organic sections. He leaned heavily into an attempted shoulder slash that Bunnie was able to side step just in time to avoid. With a wolfish cry, Bunnie committed herself fully into a lunge, bladed arm forward. Like slow motion, she watched raptly as the edges of the silver weapons slid into his collar bone, where white fur met black, with a spray of dark crimson. Blood rushed out of the hedgehog like a fountain as she cut deeper and deeper, burying fully half her twin blades into his body. At the same time, she felt a heavy pressure in her lower body, and a red and green warning sign flashed in front of her.

'Damage?'

She looked down, and saw Shadow's spear-shaped left hand buried into her abdomen. It still faintly glowed a demonic black, and had cut right through her bodysuit, impaling her with his fingers up to his thumb. Still, she barely felt it… even as Shadow's hand glowed hotly for a second, and her vision became clouded by damage signals. The ultimate life form's arm then made a sweeping motion, his hand cutting its way out of her with a spray of white, red and black fluids coiling in the air and staining the floor and wall.

With an inarticulate gurgle, both Mobians fell away from each other and stumbled back. Bunnie's blades snapped as they pressed into Shadow's collarbone, and with a sudden jolt, she went flying back and onto her backside. Shadow also fell back, his head thumping darkly against the metal floor. There was total silence for a few tense seconds.

And then Shadow started to laugh.

"Not bad…!" he said, dark voice echoing against warehouse walls. "Not bad at all!"

Several feet away, Bunnie also smiled; this fight was far from over

Internal Hemorrhaging - Stabilized

Blood Pressure - Stabilized

Power Flow – Stabilized

Internal Repair Systems – Activated

Bunnie pushed off the ground with her organic arm and got to her feet. Her left side had been ripped open, and she could see a long stain of red and white and black running down her thigh and into a pool on the floor. The colors amazed her – was that what she looked like, inside, now? There was no time to dwell on it. Her wound had not closed, but it had stopped leaking blood and whatever else kept her alive. Carefully putting two fingers into the jagged wound, she grimaced in disgust.

And yet… she remained functional and cognizant.

In the past a wound like this would've killed her.

Shadow's determined growl cut her train of thought short, and she watched in anger as he also got to his feet. His face was a mess: one ear was hanging limply, the cartilage in it broken, and his face had long gashes on the right eye and left cheek that dripped claret. He still had her broken bloodstained blades wedged into his chest. Sneering, he reached up with both hands and tore the two silver edges out with a spray of gore.

"Hmf!" He tossed the broken blades onto the ground. Looking at her with hotly glowing orange eyes, his eyes darted down to his still immobilized and useless right arm. The polymer material from before was still clinging to him, and still keeping his arm paralyzed up to the shoulder.

"You've been able to have yah way before, but I won't let yah go any further," Bunnie said, now steady on her feet. "You won't get yah hands on that Emerald…"

Shadow was slow to respond.

"I will," he eventually replied. "I have sworn to bring justice to this world."

"You?" Bunnie almost laughed at the irony. "Justice? You're a monster!"

The black hedgehog stared at her with impassive eyes. "You don't even know what you are, yet you call me a monster?"

"What I am? Ah don't know what you're trying to imply." Bunnie pointed at him. "But you're insane!"

"If I am, it is because this world deserves its monsters. It creates insanity. It deserves all the horror we can visit upon it." Shadow glared at her with burning crimson eyes. "I was created to sow terror. I was bred to abet genocide. I was taught to hate and I learned my lessons well. A world where a monster lives and an angel dies... it deserves to burn."

"Doesn't it?" he asked, the wounds on his chest sealing up, white chaos energy burning the cuts closed. "Answer me, damnit! Does it not deserve to burn?!"

"You're insane…" Bunnie held her left arm out to the side. Selecting another attack system, her shoulder parted, widening slightly, and a small set-piece weapon emerged. Small actuators on it adjusted its aim, while on Bunnie's other hand, the long electron whip re-integrated, waving threateningly in the air, tiny blades suspended in its crackling blue glow.

Shadow vanished from sight. Bunnie snarled, and looked around. She didn't have to search for long or for very far – he was right above her. Seeing the shadow, she looked up in time to see him and fire off another shot from her shoulder cannon. The black hedgehog, however, twisted, and avoided taking another to the chest. As he fell, he grabbed her by the shoulders, knocking her onto her back. Bunnie tried to target him again, but she saw only black as he head butted her, over and over again.

Her vision began to get fuzzy.

As much damage as he was doing to her skull, he was doing far worse to her vulnerable optics. Bunnie started to lose focus, and she barely even saw the warning indicator that popped up when Shadow grabbed her shoulder cannon in his left hand, and twisted the barrel, ruining it. Thinking quickly, she activated the rockets built into her feet and calves, using them to blast out from under the ultimate life form's brutal assault.

No sooner was she free, than she changed course, and attacked with her electron whip. Shadow was quick, however, and he rolled to the side, avoiding the first attempted blow. Even with her right hand horribly damaged, she found that she could still use it. Additionally, after only a second's pain, her handy little neural interface informed her that it had intercepted and ceased acknowledging pain receptors from that part of her body. So: pulling her arm back, she brought around the glowing whip for another strike.

Shadow jumped and rolled and dodged, well aware what a hit from the cyborg's weapon could do. Behind him, foot wide scrapes appeared in the metal wall, and an entire walkway on the second floor tore apart. Stopping, briefly, he fired a Chaos Spear up and into the ceiling. Then he went back to dodging.

Bunnie tended not to move when she used her whip attack, and Shadow had not dismissed it as coincidence. Rolling forward, he aimed another shot up and into the air. This time, Bunnie looked up to see what he had fired at, and saw the falling roof support. Drawing back her electron whip, she used it to defend herself, catching and cutting the curved support beam in half.

This action, however, left her open.

That split second was enough. Enough for Shadow to snatch a long piece of broken metal from the floor with his good left hand. Enough for him to close the distance, and slam his shoulder into her. Enough for him to bring his arm back, and ready the long shaft of steel. By the time Bunnie realized the situation she was in, it was too late. Shadow slammed her into the twisted remains of a piece of metal rebar, and ignoring the hand clenching fur on his shoulder, brought down his jagged weapon. Bunnie gasped, but lost her voice when the thin metal spear plunged into her neck just above the collarbone and pinned her to the crate behind her.

"Aa… aaa…!" She struggled to move, and warnings flooded her vision. Unlike before, critical components had been damaged, and she had started to lose feeling in her extremities. The word 'Compensating' and 'Emergency' came up several times in rapid succession, and then there was just a dull hiss, like static. To her side, the bright blue glow of her electron whip faded, and the flechettes fell to the ground with a clatter like steel rain.

Shadow stood in front of her, breathing heavily.

Flipping back onto her feet, she saw him hold out his arms, and in that split second, Chaos Control. Bunnie's eyes narrowed as she searched through the ruins of the Vault. Frantically looking for some heat source to lock onto, she came up short, and for an instant she wondered if he had made good his escape. The thought of pursuing him had some appeal, even though her duty was (first and foremost) to protect the Chaos Emerald that empowered the precious City Shield.

WARNING

The message came too late. By the time it had registered in her still largely organic brain, Shadow was already behind her. Turning her head, she tried to see him, but a bloody white glove had her by the side of her head and an index and middle finger locked around her right ear. Bunnie felt him pull her head back, and his breath was hot on her neck.

"Those who stand in the way of my cause," he said, softly, and Bunnie felt a sudden wave of disorientation sweep over her. Her vision became black, and then resolved anew: she could see a brightly colored blur in front of her face.

"Are not worthy of their lives!" he roared, slamming her face first into the pulsing Shield Generator.

The impact stunned her, but did little worse. Then she realized just where she was. Fighting to force her head back, she barely made it in time. A second later, the reciprocating cylinders of the Generator came together, crushing her organic arm into paste. Thankfully her system seemed to have already been so hopped up on chems that she barely felt it.

"Now!" Shadow roared behind her. "DIE!"

Slamming the back of her head into his face, Bunnie spun and desperately kicked into his torso, activating her rocket boots. Shadow went flying, half his body set on fire, before crashing into and through a second story catwalk. A few seconds later, Bunnie also crashed to the floor, shock and blood loss nearly overwhelming her systems. Alarms blared in her head, and when she saw what was left of her arm... her arm... the arm she had been born with... it was almost too much. She felt sick, but no bile - or any taste for that matter - rose up her throat.

An explosion of black fire forced her to cover her eyes. Bits and pieces of metal fell from higher up, some large enough to crush the more delicate machinery in the area. Behind her back, she could feel the Shield Generator pulsing on, paying no mind to the battle raging around it. Sighting a black shape emerging from within the black flames, Bunnie tried to level her remaining arm at the target.

Only for him to blink behind her.

Somewhere high above, another rafter fell to the ground with a crash.

Bunnie rolled onto the floor, fired blindly upwards, only for one of Shadow's shoes to land directly onto her face. Bunnie screamed as it landed again and again, over and over until the back of her skull broke through the grating on the floor. Her vision blurred and then turned briefly to static.

"This is the end for you," he said it with absolute finality.

Bunnie's vision flickered again.

"I have no more time to waste..." He looked down on her with pitiless eyes. "On a brain in a box."

'A brain... in a box?' Bunnie struggled to understand. 'No. No I'm not! I'm...!'

"Should I show you what you really are?" he asked, and with one swift kick and twist, Shadow the Hedgehog decapitated her.

Rouge, who had been behind cover this entire time, screamed as Bunnie's head rolled across the floor. Kicking her legs, she backed away from the sight of it. She barely got more than a foot away from the thing - it thankfully stopped when it hit an upturned metal plate in the floor - before bumping into something.

Shadow stared down at her.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, looking down at the bat.

Rouge's lips flapped, but she couldn't quite form words.

Shadow 'tsked' and walked past her over to the head. Picking up the grizzly trophy, he held it by the ears. Disgusted as she was, Rouge found she couldn't look away. It was just too horrible to even try and ignore.

"Reinforced cranial structures and an artificial spinal cord," the black hedgehog described the features with clinical detachment. He then turned the head towards the beaten, bloody, and beheaded body.

"Did you think those were normal physical features, cyborg?" he asked. "I could tell from the start... your Mobianity was only really skin deep. You may have been only 'half robot' before, but now you're just a brain in a pretty looking box."

He turned the head back around.

"Be thankful. If someone cares to repair you, maybe we'll meet again before the end comes."

Tossing Bunnie's head away like so much trash, the ultimate life form stalked towards Rouge. his left arm, his only good arm the entire fight, was drenched in blood. Alone again in the empty Shield Vault, his steps were like sequential thunder.

"The Emerald," he said, repeating it like a mantra. "The Emerald. Where is it, Rouge?"

"I think I've located it," she said, forcing herself calm. "I know I've located it. But I couldn't find a way to unlock the..."

He loomed over her like a black monolith.

"Show me where it is. Now."

Rouge nodded and lead him over to a far wall covered by pattern of blue and white circles and gridlines. Shadow followed her, swirling chaos energy vaporizing the blood caked into the fur of his arms and the fibers of his gloves. Rouge stood in front of the pattern, pointing at the circles. On closer inspection, they were actually indentations in the wall, lit up from within.

"Behind here..." she said, stepping back. "I'm sure of it."

Shadow carefully analyzed the surface, running a finger along one of the grooves.

"I know what this is," he finally spoke after taking a couple seconds to be sure. Nodding to himself, he pressed his hand up to one of the circles. Black energy wafted from his palm into the material. He then repeated the process for two other circles. Each time, the wall emitted a soft chime.

"Shadow?" Rouge asked, not quite getting what he was up to.

"Only someone with my kind of power can open this lock," he replied. "This... is like a game Gerald used to play with me... when... a long time ago. An eternity ago."

After a couple tries, the largest circle lit up with black energy and the whole thing split in half. The sound of unlocking metal could be heard as the wall recessed and then retracted into the metal around it. Behind that, long lines of screws wound around, pulling back into the four corners of the high security vault.

Finally, finally.

"Finally!" Shadow reached inside, eyes lighting up from the amethyst glow of his hard won prize. "Yes. Yes! Finally!"

The man-made hedgehog held the Chaos Emerald up to the light, laughing.

"This is it! Six of the Seven!" Lowering his arm, he let out a sigh of relief. "Yes. So very close, Maria!"

"Shadow," Rouge interrupted, leaning a bit closer. "Don't forget..."

"I know. I know," he repeated. "Come. The Doctor will be most pleased."

Placing his good hand on her waist, he pulled her close.

And, just like that, they were gone.

Sitting alone at the edge of the blasted forest, watching over the now silent battlefield surrounding the Egg Carrier, Miles "Tails" Prower tossed aside the apple core. Snapping open a small tin case, he popped a tiny mint into his mouth, balancing it on the tip of his tongue. Before him, over a thousand Combots and other enslaved and subverted robots stood in long neat rows: parade formation, arms outstretched in mute and unwavering salute. The last twelve hours had been well spent; things were coming along mostly to plan.

"T minus sixty hours," the kitsune muttered, biting down on the mint candy and walking past the rows of former Eggman robots and badniks.

It was time to get back to work.

---

Notes:

Ok. Technically that's the end of Chapter 9. Time for Chapter 10. Gotta squeeze all the climactic elements into that one, so expect it to be as long as 9 if not longer. It is good to be wrapping things up here, though! Even after Chapter 10, I'll have to propagate some of the changed and retcons up into NWO, too, though the differences won't be too major.

Guess that's it for my notes. If you like the new COA Reloaded chaps, or if you miss some of the old stuff, or if anything else comes to mind, let me know it! I always try and be responsive to my readership.