Shadow and Sonic watched Tails as he began to fly up the cliff, stopping
every now and then on one ledge or another to rest his tails for a moment.
Sonic turned away and jumped up to the workshop balcony, from which he
could get into the workshop proper. Shadow leant against the workshop wall
and watched Tails, who was still flying up the cliff face. As Tails
reached the top and disappeared from view, Sonic jumped down from the
balcony, landing easily next to Shadow.
"Something's been in there and destroyed Tails' computers – come and look!"
Shadow jumped up, grabbing the edge of the balcony and pulling himself up. He walked to the door, which Sonic had left open, and stepped in. Inside, it actually looked reasonably tidy, except for the two computers that handled most of Tails' tougher calculations and his simulations, as well as his games. There was no wreckage, but each computer had a perfectly round hole about the size of Shadow's palm straight through it, in a place that looked precisely calculated to maximise the amount of damage. Sonic walked up behind Shadow and looked over his shoulder at the damage.
"Shadow, when you were working with Eggman… did you ever see anything that could do this?"
Shadow thought about it for a few seconds. He hadn't really been paying too much attention to most of the robots he'd seen; they didn't figure in his plans and weren't of any importance. "No… nothing like this. He had some lasers, but they weren't this powerful. Or this precise. The robots I saw probably couldn't do something like this without taking out part of the wall, as well. And there would have been some wreckage…" Shadow turned away and began looking around the rest of the workshop. He opened the drawer labelled 'schematics'. Sonic walked to the door and looked up the cliff as Shadow stared into an empty drawer. There was a scratch mark along the bottom, as if something had tried to slip something sharp under whatever had been in there, and caught it in the wood. A radio stood on a table; while it looked perfectly whole from in front, there was a hole in the back the same shape as the ones through the computers. It stopped just a millimetre short of going entirely through the casing. Shadow picked up the radio and turned it over and over in his hands. Amazingly precisely done. None of the robots he'd seen looked capable of that kind of precision. It was quite possible that he hadn't seen everything, of course… and he hadn't been paying much attention to what he did see... but still, the standard of Robotnik's robots was generally lower than this. He shook his head and put the radio back down, then carried on looking about. The television, too, had been destroyed in a similar manner, again with the same millimetre-exact precision. Everything that could be used to communicate with the outside world or store information was ruined.
Shadow walked back out of the door and looked up the cliff. Tails had reached the top and was waving down at Sonic. From his manner, Shadow decided that the plane must still be okay. Suddenly, Sonic began gesturing frantically at Tails, shouting "Duck!", even though Tails probably couldn't hear him. Shadow looked up in time to see a small, fast-moving shape in the sky, heading directly for Tails. It was sheer luck that made Tails look in the right direction first – then take a step in surprise and fall off the cliff. Whatever it was swooped right through the air where he had been standing, then turned and began accelerating down the cliff towards the figure of Tails, who was using his tails to propel him ever faster downwards. Just in time, he levelled out, followed by his pursuer, which had been gaining on him and was now only about a metre away.
As soon as Tails was close enough, Sonic jumped and attacked the thing that was chasing him. Instantly it snapped to one side, as fast as Sonic could move, leaving him shooting through empty air. He curved his path and came back again, ready for it to dodge this time. It stopped suddenly, hovering just centimetres above the ground, and Sonic overshot in surprise. It was similar in shape to the robot Hyper Metal Sonic, but not the same. The three spikes were longer and really were spikes rather than shaped pieces on either side of the head, the bottom two curving up to almost touch the down-curved top spike. There were no jets on the back, which was almost smooth, with a suggestion of spikes similar to Sonic's but smaller, and it had no obvious means of propulsion in the air. It didn't seem to be made of any kind of metal, but instead out of some kind of crystal, which shifted and changed colour in the light, dark green and black, and appeared to be made all of a piece instead of with Metal's more obviously hinged joints. Features such as eyes seemed more carved on and were shaped more like Shadow's than Sonic's, the bit that would have been white the same shifting black/dark green as the rest of it. Only the iris and pupil were a different colour, the pupil black, the iris a pale icy blue that seemed to glow without actually radiating light. For a couple of seconds everyone, including it, simply stood there motionless, then it spoke.
"Something's been in there and destroyed Tails' computers – come and look!"
Shadow jumped up, grabbing the edge of the balcony and pulling himself up. He walked to the door, which Sonic had left open, and stepped in. Inside, it actually looked reasonably tidy, except for the two computers that handled most of Tails' tougher calculations and his simulations, as well as his games. There was no wreckage, but each computer had a perfectly round hole about the size of Shadow's palm straight through it, in a place that looked precisely calculated to maximise the amount of damage. Sonic walked up behind Shadow and looked over his shoulder at the damage.
"Shadow, when you were working with Eggman… did you ever see anything that could do this?"
Shadow thought about it for a few seconds. He hadn't really been paying too much attention to most of the robots he'd seen; they didn't figure in his plans and weren't of any importance. "No… nothing like this. He had some lasers, but they weren't this powerful. Or this precise. The robots I saw probably couldn't do something like this without taking out part of the wall, as well. And there would have been some wreckage…" Shadow turned away and began looking around the rest of the workshop. He opened the drawer labelled 'schematics'. Sonic walked to the door and looked up the cliff as Shadow stared into an empty drawer. There was a scratch mark along the bottom, as if something had tried to slip something sharp under whatever had been in there, and caught it in the wood. A radio stood on a table; while it looked perfectly whole from in front, there was a hole in the back the same shape as the ones through the computers. It stopped just a millimetre short of going entirely through the casing. Shadow picked up the radio and turned it over and over in his hands. Amazingly precisely done. None of the robots he'd seen looked capable of that kind of precision. It was quite possible that he hadn't seen everything, of course… and he hadn't been paying much attention to what he did see... but still, the standard of Robotnik's robots was generally lower than this. He shook his head and put the radio back down, then carried on looking about. The television, too, had been destroyed in a similar manner, again with the same millimetre-exact precision. Everything that could be used to communicate with the outside world or store information was ruined.
Shadow walked back out of the door and looked up the cliff. Tails had reached the top and was waving down at Sonic. From his manner, Shadow decided that the plane must still be okay. Suddenly, Sonic began gesturing frantically at Tails, shouting "Duck!", even though Tails probably couldn't hear him. Shadow looked up in time to see a small, fast-moving shape in the sky, heading directly for Tails. It was sheer luck that made Tails look in the right direction first – then take a step in surprise and fall off the cliff. Whatever it was swooped right through the air where he had been standing, then turned and began accelerating down the cliff towards the figure of Tails, who was using his tails to propel him ever faster downwards. Just in time, he levelled out, followed by his pursuer, which had been gaining on him and was now only about a metre away.
As soon as Tails was close enough, Sonic jumped and attacked the thing that was chasing him. Instantly it snapped to one side, as fast as Sonic could move, leaving him shooting through empty air. He curved his path and came back again, ready for it to dodge this time. It stopped suddenly, hovering just centimetres above the ground, and Sonic overshot in surprise. It was similar in shape to the robot Hyper Metal Sonic, but not the same. The three spikes were longer and really were spikes rather than shaped pieces on either side of the head, the bottom two curving up to almost touch the down-curved top spike. There were no jets on the back, which was almost smooth, with a suggestion of spikes similar to Sonic's but smaller, and it had no obvious means of propulsion in the air. It didn't seem to be made of any kind of metal, but instead out of some kind of crystal, which shifted and changed colour in the light, dark green and black, and appeared to be made all of a piece instead of with Metal's more obviously hinged joints. Features such as eyes seemed more carved on and were shaped more like Shadow's than Sonic's, the bit that would have been white the same shifting black/dark green as the rest of it. Only the iris and pupil were a different colour, the pupil black, the iris a pale icy blue that seemed to glow without actually radiating light. For a couple of seconds everyone, including it, simply stood there motionless, then it spoke.
