Captivity, Part 2

Shadow lay on a platform inside the vacuum tube, an air mask strapped to his face, breathing deeply and evenly. The tube was pressurized, but not emptied of its oxygen, for Robotnik didn't want Shadow dead.

Robotnik's hands were inside of control gloves that guided the mechanical arms inside the tube. A headset was strapped to his face, which allowed him to see through the high-resolution camera inside. He had removed the panelling from the left side of Shadow's head, and was carefully examining the biomechanical circuitry and fiberoptic wiring. If Metal Sonic had built this, then the robot was a genius. Robotnik felt a grudging sort of pride as he poked through Mekion's inner workings. Metal Sonic had learned how to build biomechanical machinery and integrate it into a living body. It was much more sophisticated than roboticization.

He parted the wires and saw a spiderweb of filaments, all laced into Shadow's brain through a gap in his skull. Amazing to think that Metal Sonic was capable of such things! Robotnik had to admire him, robot though he was.

But he wasn't interested in the circuits and biotic machinery. He was looking for a calibration port. Mekion had to have one, because physical access was needed to program a robot in its first stages.

After an hour and a half of slow, careful searching, Robotnik found it: a tiny loose wire with a socket on the end. Robotnik turned it this way and that with the mechanical claws. It looked like a one-millimeter serial plug. The smallest one on the market. And Robotnik had a kit containing hundreds of possible matches, for he had come prepared.

It took another two hours to attach the correct plug to the port and run a wire out of the vacuum chamber to the lab computer. Robotnik took his time. When it came to robots, patience and care were the key; otherwise he might kill Shadow by accident.

Robotnik connected to Mekion's mainframe and found himself facing an operating system based on neuro-synapses instead of binary. The menu on his screen was a mass of colors and shapes that made no sense to anyone but Mekion. Robotnik sat back in his chair and thought. He had accessed Mekion while Shadow was asleep, and therefore he was seeing Shadow's subconscious. He should awaken Shadow and see if that changed Mekion's thought patterns.

He walked to the machinery beside the tube and turned off the sedative gas that was keeping Shadow unconscious. Shadow's brainwaves immediately spiked toward waking, and Robotnik checked on him through the headset. Shadow's natural eye was blinking, and he looked ill from the gas. Robotnik spoke into a microphone. "Shadow, keep absolutely still. I have plugged into Mekion's wiring, and any motion could rip your brains out."

Shadow froze, his eye widening.

Robotnik returned to his computer. The screen had changed, and now he saw a text message on the screen. "Awaiting algorithm. Comply?"

He growled to himself. Metal Sonic was no fool. He had placed an encryption key to protect Mekion from infiltration, and only someone with the other half of the code could enter.

Robotnik reached into a box and pulled out a disk containing his own decryption software. He inserted it into his computer and activated the program. It would systematically decode any algorithm, but it took hours and sometimes days. He shrugged to himself - he could wait. The fact that Shadow might be locked in the tube without food, water or motion capability for days did not worry him at all.

"I'll give you two thousand dollars for it," said the jeweler.

Tails stood inside the jewelry store, surrounded by glass cases full of glittering stones of all colors. He had to stand on tiptoe to see onto the counter in front of him, and the human who was examining his ruby with an eyeglass screwed onto one eye. The ruby was two inches across and very rough, but it flashed in the light with an inner fire.

Tails was certain that it was worth at least five thousand human dollars. "Only two thousand, eh?" he said, raising an eyebrow. "It came from the Floating Island, too. Maybe I'll take it to the other jewelry place downtown."

The jeweler stared at him. He was an older human, going bald on top, with rough hands from handling precious stones. "This is from the Floating Island?" he exclaimed. "Got any proof?"

"I'm friends with the Guardian," said Tails. "He let me do some digging as a favor. You can call him up and ask."

The jeweler looked at Tails, then at the ruby. "I'll give you three thousand dollars for it."

"Six," said Tails, trembling inside at his own boldness.

"Six?" exclaimed the man. "You'll put me out of business! And there's no evidence of where this ruby is from. Four thousand."

"Five fifty," said Tails.

"Five," said the jeweler.

"Done," said Tails.

Tails walked out of the store with a fat wad of cash in an envelope, and the jeweler gloated at getting such a good deal. He grabbed his phone and dialed a number. "Hey Louis," he said, "call our buyer. A Floating Island mineral has turned up, and it's fair size. And hold him to the price he quoted!"

Outside, Tails climbed into the Tornado and sat counting his money. The Tornado asked, "Was the exchange satisfactory?"

"Yep!" said Tails. "Got five thousand bucks right here, which is about eighty-five hundred Mobiads. I could rake up a nice set of eyes for you with this."

"Pleasantness," said the Tornado.

"That's not a word," said Tails.

The sun was shining in a cloudless sky, and although the air was chilly, the sun had warmed the inside of the Tornado to uncomfortable levels, so Tails had folded up the canopy and stowed it under the back seat. Now he shoved his money into a compartment under the control panel and checked his watch. "It's two thirty. We'd better go wait for Mecha."

"Affirmative, Tails," said the Tornado. "Query. Shall I be on the alert for any change in Metal Sonic's status from neutral to enemy?"

"Uh, sure," said Tails. "But I think he'll be friendly. We're both after the same thing, because why else is he on his way here?"

"You are both seeking Shadow, correct?" said the Tornado.

"Yes," said Tails. He put the Tornado into gear and was walking down the street, when the Tornado said, "Why?"

"Why what?" said Tails, too preoccupied with driving to realize that the Tornado's development had just leaped forward.

"Why are we looking for Shadow?" said the Tornado.

"Because Sonic asked me to," said Tails. "And I'm afraid something bad happened to Shadow. But I have to talk to Mecha to be sure."

"Affirmative," said the Tornado, and it was quiet for two blocks. Then it said, "Query. Why does Metal Sonic want to find Shadow?"

"Shadow is Metal Sonic's slave," said Tails. "And kind of his friend, too."

"Affirmative," said the Tornado slowly, sounding bewildered.

Tails rounded a corner and arrived on the side street where Shadow's distress coordinates had led him. Standing on the sidewalk was a muddy-looking fox wearing a backpack over his chest and one on his back. He was staring at the ground, but looked up as Tails approached. Tails hoped that this fox would leave before Mecha arrived.

The fox continued to gaze at him, and walked toward the Tornado. Tails looked up. "Uh, hi."

"Hello Tails," said the fox in Mecha's voice.

Tails squinted. "What the ...? Mecha?"

"Yes," said the fox. "I had to assume this guise to avoid being recognized." His eyes glowed red for an instant, and Tails recognized him under the alternate shape. His eyes were too slanted, and his muzzle too sharp.

Tails grinned. "You make a lousy fox."

Mecha gave him a sarcastic look. "Thank you." He looked around the street. "This is where Shadow was yesterday when harm befell him. But there is no visible evidence of a struggle."

"Yeah," said Tails, wondering if it was safe to climb out of the Tornado. "I looked around, too. There's nothing here."

He watched the fox walk up and down the sidewalk, studying the ground. Mecha was splattered with mud from head to toe. There was a smear across his face where he had wiped his eyes, and his false tail was filthy. Tails recalled the rain the day before, and thought of how muddy it must be out in the wilderness where Mecha had been. Tails felt sorry for him.

Mecha stooped and plucked a tiny object out of the gutter. "Aha," he said, examining it.

"What?" said Tails.

Mecha walked to the Tornado and handed it to him. It was a tranquilizer dart the length of his little finger. It had a short needle in the tip, and inside the hollow core was a plunger that compressed on impact. It was empty.

"This explains why there was no sign of a struggle," said Mecha. "Shadow was tranquilized and probably panicked."

"Who do you think did it?" said Tails, although he guessed the answer already.

"Robo Knux," said Mecha. "He uses this city as his home base. Although use of non-lethal force is unlike him ... I wonder if Dr. Robotnik is the one upgrading him, and demanded Shadow as payment."

Tails shivered. "That's just creepy."

"Yes," said Mecha. "Particularly when you consider what Shadow is capable of." He fell silent and gazed up the street, thinking.

Tails kept quiet, feeling in awe of the android. The seconds stretched into minutes, and the silence became uncomfortable. Suddenly Tails blurted, "You want something to eat?"

Mecha looked at him. "What?"

Tails blushed under his fur and mentally kicked himself. "I mean ... sorry ... you can't eat, I don't know what I was thinking ..."

"Actually, I can," said Mecha. "What did you have in mind?"

Tails stared. "You can eat now?"

Mecha nodded, and Tails looked down at his flightstick instead of those appraising red eyes. "I thought we could go to a restaurant or something. I don't know what you ... you know, like to eat. I skipped lunch because I .. well, I was nervous."

"And still are, to all appearances," said Mecha. "My fuel levels are optimal, but perhaps the chao will accept your offer. I must locate a physical satellite uplink to increase my depth scanner's range."

"Huh?" said Tails.

Mecha raised one eyebrow sarcastically. "To locate Shadow globally, I need a more powerful scanner. And even then, locating him is doubtful."

Tails looked at the Tornado and thought of some of the maps it had generated. "Tornado, could you scan for a certain robot signature in the northern hemisphere?"

"Yes, Tails," said the Tornado. "It would take a minimum of sixteen hours."

Mecha's eyes widened, and he peered into the cockpit. "I did not know that your craft was equipped with artificial intelligence."

"Yeah, it's pretty new," said Tails. "Say hi to Mecha, Tornado."

"Hello, Metal Sonic," said the Tornado.

Mecha's eyes half-closed. "Tails, that name is obsolete. I am no longer a copy of the hedgehog and do not bear his name."

"Oh," said Tails, ears flattening. "Tornado - "

"I heard," said the Tornado. "Modifying 'Metal Sonic' to 'Mecha'. Is this correct?"

"Yes, Tornado," said Mecha. "You are intelligent, for a computer."

"Thank you," said the Tornado.

Tails was relaxing a little. Mecha was much more laid back than he had been at their last meeting. Maybe they could be friends after all. "Um, do you want a ride?" asked Tails, jerking his head toward the back seat.

Mecha looked in. "The seat is obstructed by debris."

"Oh, yeah." Tails's face grew hot again, and he reached back and shoved everything into the floor. "There you go."

Mecha said nothing about Tails's housekeeping methods. He nimbly swung up on the Tornado's side and climbed into the rear seat, pulling off his two packs as he sat down. One he set on the floor, and the other he set in his lap and opened. Two chao heads poked out.

Tails recognized the black one. "Hi, Nox! Who's the other one?"

"I'm Aleda," said the blue chao, looking at Tails. "Hey, I know your voice. You're the one who talked to us earlier. And I remember being outside in the sun with a lot of people ..." Her little face puckered in a frown.

"Yes," said Mecha, "and it was most unpleasant."

Tails turned to face the Tornado's controls and turned on the engine. He guided it up the street, and heard the chao crowing in delight as the walker moved. He glanced in the rearview mirror at the fox that was Mecha, riding along with one arm resting on the side of the cockpit. He still had his sharp metal claws, Tails noticed. He tried to focus on driving, and not think about the fact that Metal Sonic was sitting in the backseat, within arm's reach of the back of Tails's neck. Tails tried not to let the fur on his neck stand up, but it disobeyed him and bristled, becoming super-sensitive to the feel of the seat and every breath of air that passed through the open cockpit. His eyes kept flicking to his rearview mirror to see what Mecha was doing, but Mecha was watching the street pass by and paid no attention to him.

Suddenly Mecha hissed a curse and turned his head the other way, shielding his face with one hand. Tails looked around and saw two rats, one in a shabby brown robe, walking along the sidewalk and watching the Tornado pass, pointing and whispering to each other. Mecha gazed intently in the other direction, and Aleda and Nox ducked out of sight.

Tails said nothing until they were a block from the rats, and Mecha had stopped hiding his face. Then Tails turned his head and said, "Do you know those rats?"

"I had an unfortunate encounter with some of their companions," said Mecha, his voice clipped and ears pointed.

"Yeah," said Aleda. "They tried to kill us."

Mecha twitched and tried to disguise it by stroking Aleda.

Tails watched in his rearview mirror. "Why'd they try to kill you?"

"I told them that their god was artificial," said Mecha, noticing Tails's eyes in the mirror and looking at him.

Tails tried not to laugh. "You did what?"

"I would prefer not to discuss it now," said Mecha.

Tails wanted to laugh, for tension and fear were making him giddy, but Mecha's eyes were daring him to laugh. Tails glanced at those claws again and swallowed his humor. He pulled up to the curb. "Um, what do you think of eating here? Sally loves this kind of food."

Mecha glanced up at the sign. Ethnic human cuisine. He knew nothing about it and wasn't hungry anyway. "I have no opinion. If you wish to eat here, that is fine."

Tails turned off the engine, told the Tornado to stay alert for possible car thieves, and climbed out. Mecha followed him, carrying Aleda and Nox. Tails was determined to dig the god-story out of the android, but his hands were shaking as he pushed open the door. He liked Mecha, but he was terrified of him, too. Perhaps he would live longer that way.

"Chaos relocate!"

Sonic and Sally appeared on the dock on Deimos Island. The tide was out, and the water that had been lashing the pilings was low and quiet. The water out beyond the harbor was washing against the cliffs with a sleepy rumble that echoed in the bay. Sally and Sonic peered around, looking and listening. "It's a lot quieter," Sonic breathed. "Want me to warp us to the top of the cliff?"

"No, I want to see the path," said Sally. They both kept their voices down by instinct, as if this island was filled with watchful enemies.

The two left the dock and walked up the path. It was dry and sandy, and Sally noticed that logs had been set into the steepest parts to act as steps. She tried to observe everything as they climbed out of the cove and ascended the cliff face. Sonic was walking on the balls of his feet, alert and tense. The sun was swinging toward the west, for it was about three o'clock, and they could hear birds singing in the trees on the clifftops.

Sally looked out at the vast ocean and thought of how far from the mainland they were. It was so far, and with a rescue party to manage! She had come with Sonic to observe this island herself, and make contact with the scientists if possible. She needed to know the condition of the two injured scientists, and find out what resources they had. It was a delicate operation to remove five people from under Robotnik's nose.

They reached the gap in the path, and Sonic teleported them to the other side. "Not far now," he murmured. "I'll feel better once we're in the trees."

Sally nodded. She, too, was feeling conspicuous and exposed out here on this path.

Inside the lab, in a vacuum chamber, Shadow blinked his natural eye. He had just lost the sight in his robot eye, and his robot half suddenly felt hot and tingled. He had been lying here for hours, not daring to move because of whatever Robotnik had done to him. He had been able to see a wire leading up toward his ear, out of the corner of his robot eye, but now his robot eye was off.

Something was happening. Mekion's thoughts and commands had accelerated, and it was like listening to a recording on high speed. It made him dizzy. "Mekion," he said to his robot half, "what's happening?"

"Standby," Mekion replied.

An upgrade. The thought sent chills down his spine. Mekion was being upgraded, and any time that happened, Shadow's life became miserable.

The noise in Mekion's half continued, and Shadow could only listen and wait. Robotnik was poking around in there, and Shadow half-hoped that Robotnik broke Mekion by accident. It would teach Robotnik a lesson.

Suddenly Shadow had the odd sensation that Mekion was bigger. He flexed both hands - no, his body size had not changed. Something had been altered in his mind, and it felt alien. "Mekion?" he said.

"Standby," Mekion repeated.

Then it was over, and Mekion was silent. Shadow lay still, wondering what would happen next. Two mechanical arms that had been folded against the inside of the tube now unfolded and reached toward him. Shadow cringed and closed his eyes. He heard the whirr of the gears in the arms, and heard metallic clanking and scraping that vibrated through his skull and into his teeth. He held perfectly still, hoping that his brains weren't about to rip free.

"Mekion?" he ventured to his robot half.

"Keep still," said Mekion, and Shadow obeyed.

"Update log," Shadow said. Mekion loaded the log into Shadow's internal screen, and Shadow felt the desire to throw up. "That's not possible," he told Mekion.

"It is," said Mekion.

"I can't do this," Shadow told the other side of his mind. "It'll kill both of us. It violates the mecha-fusion process at its basic level!"

"The problem is you," said Mekion. "You refuse to adapt to the changes. Not that it matters now. I have one hundred percent control."

Sonic and Sally observed the empty helicopter pad, and crept through the woods to the chainlink fence. Sally gazed at the lab and its outbuildings, and the pyramid skylights that were the only windows. "You're right, it's a prison," she whispered.

"Told you," whispered Sonic. "And you're not going in there."

"How are we going to make contact, though?" Sally whispered, frowning.

Sonic shrugged. "I can teleport through the skylight and talk to whoever's alone." He lifted his chaos emerald, but Sally grabbed his arm.

"Wait! Look."

She and Sonic dropped flat as the main doors swung open, and a human figure stepped out. "That's one of the scientists!" Sonic whispered. "Should I teleport up to him?"

"No, wait," Sally whispered. "Look, he's headed for the gate."

The hedgehog and squirrel watched in silence as the human opened the gate with a keycard and stepped out, then walked up the road toward the helicopter pad. Sonic and Sally followed him, moving as quietly as possible, thrilled that an opportunity like this had dropped into their laps.

They caught up to the human on the helipad. He was standing at the edge of the cliff, looking out at the horizon with the wind ruffling his hair and rippling his clothing. Sally's heart went out to him. He was young for a scientist, probably in his 20's, and he knew that he was a prisoner. This was as far as he could go in the direction of freedom.

"I'll go talk to him," whispered Sonic.

"Bring him over here," Sally replied. "I need to hear what he says."

Sonic nodded and grinned, and bounded out into the open. He jogged toward the human and called softly, "Hey! Hey!"

The human turned, saw Sonic and almost jumped out of his skin. "Who are you?" he exclaimed.

"Rescue party," Sonic said. "Come over here so nobody sees us."

The human followed Sonic over to the trees. He saw Sally and said, "Do I know you?"

She extended a hand. "I'm Princess Sally Acorn, from the Great Kingdom. This is Sonic."

The human shook their hands. "I'm Nick Karabian. So you got our message?"

"Yes," said Sally. "We're planning a rescue attempt but we had to speak to one of you so you'd know we were coming. Can all of you walk?"

"Kind of," said Nick, looking over his shoulder toward the lab. "Lintel and Kray got shot in the legs for sending that message, but we got some braces for them and they've been hobbling around. When do you think we can get out of here?"

"It might take a few days," said Sally. "What kind of protection do you have?"

"Well, there's the fence," said Nick, pointing. "Robotnik brought in four E-200 robots, and I know they're armed. And Robo Knux is somewhere on the island, too."

"You mean he's loose?" said Sonic, spines bristling. "I thought he was staying in the lab!"

"He just got his eyes upgraded," said Nick. "He's not real dangerous right now. Oh, and also - " He broke off, looking over his shoulder. "Run!" he whispered, and leaped to his feet.

Robo Knux was standing at the other side of the helipad, his red body shining in the sun. Sonic grabbed Sally and teleported at once, but Robo Knux had seen them.

He strode toward Nick, blinking his new eyelids and looking angry. "So," he said, looking up at Nick. "Fraternizing with the enemy, are you?" He seized Nick's arm and said, "Maybe you should stay indoors. Blue hedgehogs are dangerous when they appear around here. I should put my claws through your head, but Robotnik wants you to live a little longer."

Nick allowed himself to be towed back toward the lab, strangling fear fighting with paralyzing joy. Sonic and Sally, themselves, had come to rescue them! He hoped he would live to see it happen.

Shadow climbed out of the vacuum tube, shaking all over, and looked up at Robotnik. The fat human leered at him. "Not bad, if I do say so myself. No trace of infiltration." He ran his fingers over the airtight panelling on the robot side of Shadow's face. He had put it all back in place, but the damage was done. He could see it in the sick horror on the black hedgehog's face. "Well?" said Robotnik. "What do you say in gratitude?"

"Thank you, m-master," Shadow whispered, and retched, doubling over.

Robotnik smiled. "You actually said it! I thought Mekion would have to work much harder than that."

Shadow straightened up, his natural eye glassy and the pupil dilated. "The three laws," he gasped. "You altered them! I can't - we can't operate without them - " He grabbed both sides of his head, as if to keep it from splitting apart.

"The three laws are still there," said Robotnik. "I only altered your master registration. I am your master now, and not Metal Sonic."

"You're not my master!" Shadow snarled, then gagged and collapsed to his knees, hugging himself. "I apologize, master. Shadow is a rebel and will not bend to my control."

"Break him if you have to, Mekion," said Robotnik, watching the hedgehog rocking back and forth in agony. "Remember, that is an order, and it bears more weight than the third law, about self-preservation."

"Yes Master," said Mekion. Suddenly he gave a raspy, whispering scream and spindashed at Robotnik. Robotnik dodged, but Mekion had already turned aside and struck the wall, leaving a jagged dent. Shadow wanted to kill Robotnik, but Mekion wouldn't let him, and it left him mentally unstable.

"I'll leave you here to think it over," said Robotnik, and escaped through the airlock.

He was met on the other side by Robo Knux, who had Nick by one arm. "Hello, doctor," said Robo Knux. "I caught this cretin talking to a couple of spies - Sonic Hedgehog and Sally Acorn. They teleported as soon as they saw me."

"Oh really," said Robotnik, looking startled and angry. He leaned into Nick's face. "What did you tell them?"

Nick looked away and said nothing.

Robotnik drew back his robot hand as if to strike him, but thought better of it and moved back a step. "Robo Knux, put Mr. Karabian in there," he said, pointing to the airlock door. "Shadow needs some supervision." He looked Nick in the eye. "And if he kills you, well, that'd be too bad, wouldn't it?"

Nick put on what he hoped was a sardonic smile before Robo Knux shoved him into the airlock. The outer door closed, the pressure equalized, and the inner door rotated open.

Nick peered out. The lab was silent, but he could hear Shadow's ragged breathing. "Shadow?" he called softly.

"No," the hedgehog's voice whispered. "I'm Mekion. I'm Mekion!" He flashed through Nick's range of vision and crashed into the wall in a spin. A second later he dashed the other way and hit the other wall. Back and forth he went, quick, angry and dangerous. Nick stayed inside the protection of the airlock chamber and watched. What had Robotnik done to him? Shadow was fighting something, but Nick couldn't see what.

Then Shadow was still, and his rasping breaths were loud in the silence. "Mekion," said Nick softly, "what did he do to you?"

"I have one hundred percent control," whispered the hedgehog. "Shadow is fighting me."

Nick felt a chill creep over his shoulders. Shadow had multiple personalities? He peeked out of the airlock and saw Shadow sitting against the north wall, head drooping between his knees. Nick pitied him and feared him at the same time. "What's Shadow fighting?"

"My control," said the hedgehog. "I am Mekion. Dr. Robotnik altered my Master registration. He is Master now." Suddenly he gagged and fell forward onto his hands and knees. "No, no!" he cried in a whisper. "Metal Sonic is my Master and - "

His whisper changed, becoming harsh and venomous. "Shut up, Shadow! How dare you say such things! Robotnik is our Master now!"

Shadow sat up and leaned against the wall, beating his metal spines against it as he rocked back and forth. Clang, clang, clang.

Nick had never witnessed anything so bizarre in his life. It made him hate Robotnik all the more. This hedgehog was suffering incredible mental agony, and for what? To cow him? Shadow might kill himself instead.

Nick slowly stepped out of the airlock, watching the hedgehog who had been Shadow. Mekion lifted his head and watched him, panting through clenched teeth, but there were tears running from his natural eye, trickling down his muzzle and dripping onto the floor. "Why are you here?" he snarled at Nick.

"I'm a prisoner," said Nick. "I met some people outside - they're going to try to rescue all of us."

"Rescue?" said Mekion. "Even me? No, why should I be rescued? Robotnik is my Master." At the word 'master' he retched and held his stomach.

"All of us scientists are being held against our will," said Nick, hoping Shadow wouldn't throw up. "Just like you."

Shadow straightened up. "I was kidnapped. I came of my own accord. Ah, stop it, stop it!" He held his head and closed his eye, rocking back and forth.

Nick watched in horror, at a loss for words. He had never seen a Mobian behave like this before.

Mekion sat up again, blinking his natural eye. "Are you afraid of me, human?"

"Yes," said Nick.

Mekion cocked his head. "Why?"

"Because you could kill me so easily."

"Then why are you in here?" said Mekion. "Even Dr. Robotnik fled from me."

Nick tried to smile. "Robo Knux caught me talking to the rescue party, and they put me in here as punishment."

"Punishment," whispered Mekion. "Should I harm you? I don't want to, nor have I received a command."

"They think you're so unstable that you'll attack me," said Nick, and forced a laugh.

Shadow's mouth twisted into a smile. "I am unstable. Shadow refuses to bow to my commands. He is strong, and it will take some time to break him. But I am in enough torment without destroying you. Master says that life is valuable - I mean Mecha says - he is not my master anymore - ahhhgh - " He clutched his head again.

Nick reached over and pulled up one of the lab chairs. He sat down facing the ball of quivering black and red spines. It looked like he would be here for a while.

Sonic and Sally reappeared in the street outside Sally's headquarters, and stood panting and looking around. Sally felt shellshocked from the unexpected teleport, and seeing Robo Knux again. She had not expected her heart to stop when the robot stepped into view. She vividly recalled his strength, the cold smoothness of the blades on his hands, and of reaching into his punctured hull and jerking out the green chaos emerald, the same emerald that Sonic now carried.

She looked at Sonic and saw that he was watching her. "That settles it," he said. "You're not going back there."

"I have to," said Sally. "Will Robo Knux hurt that scientist?"

Sonic shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Depends on how valuable the scientists are." He put his hands on his hips. "Well, that was informative! Dang robots. If only my emerald belt still worked!"

"Well, it doesn't," said Sally, still feeling rattled. "We'll have to use our brains instead."

Sonic made a face. "Trashing the place would be so much easier. Want me to go back?"

"No," said Sally. "Not until dark, at least. Let's report in."

"And tell Nash everything," Sonic growled under his breath. "Real smart, Sal."

She whirled to face him. "What is your problem with Fealor? He hasn't done anything - he's been perfectly cordial to you!"

Sonic's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't understand, even if I tried to explain it."

She planted her fists on her hips. "Try me!"

Sonic spun, walked away several paces, and turned back. His eyes were flicking all over, as if he was waging an inner war with himself. Sally waited, lips pressed together. She didn't usually get upset like this, but the stress of the mission coupled with her fear, and her growing anger at Sonic for his attitude, had pushed her into a rare fury.

"Okay, it's like this," said Sonic. "Remember the deal with the eighth chaos emerald and the kids who gave it to us?"

Sally frowned. She knew that something like that had happened, but couldn't really remember it. She did know that Sonic had altered history, which was why she couldn't remember it. "Sort of," she said.

Sonic held up a hand. "This is gonna sound nuts, but hear me out. You know that I time travelled, right?"

Sally nodded. "You altered the past, I know that."

He nodded. "I also made a pit stop in the future. Our future, Sal." He gazed at her, his green eyes blazing like the emerald in his hand, willing her to understand.

She was still irritated, but growing interested despite herself. "Let me guess. Fealor was there."

"Darn straight," said Sonic. "He was this dictator, and we were fighting him! He'd taken our kids away from us, and we lived underground, and Jason ..." He stopped and bit his lip, watching Sally.

She stared at him, and blinked. "Our ... kids?"

"The point is," Sonic said hurriedly, "Nash goes totally bad, and he's here now, getting into politics!"

Sally was beginning to smile. "How many kids do we have?"

"You're missing the point," said Sonic, stepping up and placing both hands on her shoulders. "Nash is bad news."

She nodded. "But you altered time, didn't you? Something with the eighth chaos emerald? And how many kids do we have?"

"Yeah, I altered time," said Sonic, and abruptly turned away. "If I tell you any more about the future, it'll kill you the way it's killing me."

"So be nice to Nash," said Sally. "Ever think that mistreating him now will bring about the future you're trying to prevent?"

Sonic turned and looked at her sideways. "Every time I look at him, I remember what he did."

"He hasn't done it yet!" Sally exclaimed. "That future is gone! He doesn't understand you - I barely understand you!"

Sonic shook his head. "But do you see where I'm coming from on this?"

Sally shrugged. "Sort of. Better than I did. About Nash, think of it this way. He's not the same person you knew. He may never be the same person you knew. Can't you at least be cordial? He probably thinks you're jealous of him for working in my office."

Sonic smirked. "I guess it kinda would seem like that."

"Let's report in," said Sally. "And how many kids do we have?"

Sonic grinned and strode into the building without answering.

Mecha balanced a fork on one fingertip, rocking it back and forth. He was sitting at a table in the human cuisine restaurant that Tails had chosen, and he, Tails and the chao were seated in the Mobian section, where the tables and chairs were smaller. Tails sat across from him, wolfing meat and noodles from the plate in front of him. Aleda and Nox were in booster seats beside Mecha, picking through their plates and avoiding the vegetables.

Two foxes and two chao eating lunch was a common sight, and the other patrons ate their food and paid no attention to the group in the corner booth. Mecha liked the privacy, but he still had no intention of eating in front of Tails. He was certain that Tails would laugh at him, and Mecha couldn't stand people laughing at him. So he played with a fork and waited while his companions filled their bellies, and pondered ways of increasing the sensitivity of his scanner. Detecting Shadow while Mekion was offline would be difficult.

Tails paused between bites. "Hey Mecha," he said softly, "so what happened with those guys when you told them that their god was fake?"

Mecha shrugged and glanced at Aleda. She flicked him the tiniest of glances and continued eating. "They became angry," said Mecha.

"How come you were there in the first place?" asked Tails, shovelling more food into his mouth. Tails had relaxed noticeably with the arrival of food, and Mecha wasn't sure if he liked it. People were easier to get along with when they were scared of you.

Mecha set his fork on the table and gazed at it. "I am on a quest to locate the creator of this world, perhaps all worlds. The Master Designer."

"Oh." Tails's eyes widened, and he focused on his plate for several seconds, not sure how to respond to this remarkable statement. After a moment he said, "How come?"

"My research into the workings of the organic body are a copyright violation," said Mecha. "I must locate the designer and discuss these matters with him."

Tails blinked. "Whoa."

"Yes." Mecha picked up his fork again and twirled it on one end. "I am striving to be open-minded, and thus I encountered Mun-Icytho and his priests. Unfortunately, the priests have more power than their god."

"They were evil," said Aleda.

Nox looked at her, then at Mecha, then at Tails. The emotions of this group were mixed and fascinating, and Nox ate slowly, paying close attention.

"So that's why those guys are after you," said Tails. "Do they know that you can ... disguise yourself?"

"Yes," said Mecha, still twirling his fork. "In my rage I revealed my true identity to them, and they have been tracking me ever since."

"Rage?" said Tails. "What'd they do to you?"

Mecha looked at Aleda, and Aleda said in a whisper, "They wanted to sacrifice me."

Tails straightened, horrified. "They WHAT?"

"Hush," said Mecha, as the people at a nearby table looked at them. "Yes, it is a bloodthirsty religion."

"That's sick!" Tails exclaimed, keeping his voice down. "I hope you showed them a thing or two!"

"Yes," said Mecha, watching his fork.

Aleda said, "He killed five of them."

Mecha looked at Tails askance, checking his reaction.

Tails looked satisfied. "Good!"

Over the network, Mecha said to Aleda, "It seems that he agrees with my methods of justice."

She replied the same way, "You should be friends with him. He really likes robots."

"I know." Aloud, Mecha said, "My quest for the Master Designer continues, but I have been sidetracked by Shadow's disappearance."

"Well, don't mess around with people who sacrifice chao," said Tails. "The real God isn't like that. That's who you're looking for, right?"

"I want nothing to do with religion," said Mecha coldly. "If the Master Designer is a god, then I want to locate him, himself, and not the web of rules that his followers have devised."

"But God's invisible," said Tails. "You can't go somewhere and just see him."

"And why not?" said Mecha, setting down his fork again. "If he is powerful enough to build Mobius and all life within it, he is able to communicate with me."

"Oh, you do that by praying," said Tails. "You just talk to him. He's everywhere, he'll hear you."

"Interesting," said Mecha, drumming his claws on the table. "He is omnipresent, you say? How do you know this?"

"There's this book he wrote about himself," said Tails, but Mecha snorted, interrupting him.

"More religious dogma! I am not interested. Why should the Master Designer communicate telepathically when the majority of life is not telepathic?"

"Like you said," said Tails, "if he's all powerful, he can do anything he wants, right?"

Mecha gazed at Tails, still drumming his fingers. "Yes, perhaps."

"You said that you're trying to be open-minded," said Tails. "Maybe you should be open-minded about religion, huh?"

Mecha focused on the wall above Tails's head and didn't answer.

Aleda said, "Tails, the last religion we looked at tried to kill us. We don't want to do that again."

"You can't brush off all religion that way," said Tails, frowning. "Some are good and some are evil. Do you believe in good and evil, Mecha?"

"They are abstract concepts," said Mecha, returning his gaze to Tails. "Show me a plate of good and a plate of evil, and I will acknowledge their existence."

Tails shook his head. "Aleda just called those priests evil. How are they evil if there's no good and evil?"

"I never said that they do not exist," said Mecha. "I said that they are abstract concepts and do not exist in physical form. But many things in this world are influenced one way or the other."

Tails slowly smiled. "You don't know what you're talking about, do you? You just contradicted yourself."

Mecha gazed out at the restaurant and didn't reply.

Tails said, "So some religions are influenced one way or the other. Forces of light and forces of darkness and that stuff. You ought to find the good ones if you want to find God."

Mecha avoided answering directly. "It appears that you have finished refueling. Let us depart."

"Okay." Tails slid out of the booth, and the chao scrambled out of their booster seats. Mecha set Aleda on one shoulder and ignored Nox, who was forced to talk. Tails saw this disgusting display of favoritism, and picked up Nox himself.

Outdoors it was growing chilly, for the sun was sinking toward the ocean, and the buildings cast long shadows over each other. Mecha stood gazing up the street toward the sea as Tails dug out the Tornado's canopy and clamped it on again.

Mecha used the local satellite to search for Mekion, and if possible send him a transmission. But he couldn't detect Mekion's signal anywhere, and even Robo Knux was unavailable. Mecha wished for his depth scanning equipment back in his base, but unfortunately he was hundreds of miles from there, and lacked Shadow's teleporting ability.

Mecha missed Shadow. He missed arguing with him, and their cutting remarks that passed as humor. Shadow was Mecha's first friend who liked him for who he was, and not out of fear. Mecha had never known what loneliness was like until he had had a companion. And Shadow had seen him through the black months after his defeat at Sonic's hands.

Mecha clenched a fist. Robo Knux and Robotnik would not harm Shadow. If they did, then they would suffer the same fate as those cruel priests.

In the biggest lab on Deimos Island, four frightened Mobians were opening boxes and crates of materials shipping in from the mainland. Lintel and Kray were seated in swivel chairs, and Kray was using his metal hand to tear open taped boxes. They worked in silence, for two of the E-200 robots were watching them and helping move boxes.

Nick had been punished by being locked in with the psychopathic Shadow, and none of them knew why he was being punished. Robotnik had looked particularly vicious when he had called them out of lab 3, where they had been constructing another set of upgrades for Robo Knux. They were to unpack the latest shipment of supplies, because another shipment was due at five o' clock. After that, they would begin work on the chaos energy project.

"What do you think all this is for?" Barlet ventured timidly. His squirrel-tail was twitching and jerking with nervousness.

Touis, the chipmunk, shrugged. "The primary project, probably. Yon maniac can certainly afford some nice equipment." He unwrapped an object like a small cage with claws at one end and a metal sleeve at the other end. "Take this gizmo. It's anybody's guess what this does."

"Something nefarious," muttered Kray, whose ears had been pinned back since he had limped through the airlock. "Probably a device for removing limbs."

There was a distant crash, and the walls and skylight rattled. All four of them winced. "So long, Nick," murmured Lintel.

Touis shot him a glare. "Don't be so morbid. It was probably just ... uh ..."

"Like I said," said the otter, "sayonara Nick, old buddy."

The four worked in silence for some time after that, hoping that Shadow had not killed Nick, and wondering what in the world that crash was.

Shortly after five o'clock, the airlock opened and Robotnik strode in, followed by the other two E-200 robots, each pushing stacks of crates on dollies. Robotnik looked around at the mass of equipment and empty boxes that covered the floor, but he made no comment.

"The final piece has just arrived," he told them. "We will begin work on the primary project at once." The four Mobians nodded, and he could see the hatred in their eyes. But hatred had never bothered him, as long as it served him. He took a box off the new stack, tore it open and lifted out a small object in bubble-wrap. He carefully opened the wrapping and removed a rough red stone. It gleamed and flashed in the light, and they saw it was an uncut jewel the size of a golf ball.

"This is the key," Robotnik said, holding it up. "A ruby from the Floating Island itself, home to the most concentrated chaos energies on the planet. Clear up this mess and open the vacuum chamber. Shadow himself will pay us a visit, and he will show us what he's made of."

The four cast each other horrified looks, and Touis and Barlet scrambled to stack the boxes along the far wall. Lintel and Kray, unable to walk, tried to organize the jumble of equipment. They didn't recognize any of it, so they sorted it by size. Robotnik watched them in silence, and it made them all nervous.

Presently the airlock slid open, and the jingling of metal made them look up. Nick and Shadow walked in side by side, chained together by the wrists and ankles. Robo Knux stepped in behind them. "Happy, doctor?" he said, sounding pleased with himself. "If either of them tries anything, the other one bites it."

Nick looked at Shadow, but the hedgehog's face was set like stone, staring straight ahead. Instead, Nick looked at his four colleagues, who seemed more like his dearest friends in these circumstances. He wanted to tell them that they were going to be rescued, but he couldn't with their enemies present. It seemed that Robotnik planned to keep him prisoner, chained to Shadow. Shadow was worse than a prisoner; he was an experiment.

As the hours had passed, Mekion had slowly mastered Shadow. The violent reaction to calling Robotnik 'master' had ceased, as had the fighting and rocking. The black hedgehog had become quiet and still, and no longer spoke to Nick of his own accord. Nick feared him more than when Shadow had been fighting himself. The black hedgehog was Mekion now, for Mekion had swallowed Shadow and silenced him.

Robotnik reached into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out the orange chaos emerald. It shone with a soft amber light in his hand, and everyone in the room looked at it except for Shadow, who stared straight ahead, unblinking.

Robotnik walked to the table of assorted gear, and selected the cage-like object with the claws at the end. Robotnik jammed the emerald into the claws, then said, "Mekion, come here."

The black hedgehog stepped forward, and Nick walked with him, the chains clinking as they moved. Mekion stopped in front of Robotnik and looked up at him with that dead, zombie stare.

"Hold out your right arm," said Robotnik, and Mekion slowly lifted his natural arm. Robotnik slid the metal sleeve-end of the cage over his arm and locked it at Shadow's elbow. Shadow's fingertips rested against the chaos emerald in the claws.

Robotnik placed one hand on the hedgehog's shoulder. "Stop time."

"Chaos control," said Shadow in a flat whisper. The emerald's orange glow brightened to yellow, and the world around them froze. Robotnik stepped away from Shadow, walked over to the frozen scientists, and rotated Kray's chair to face the opposite direction. Then he returned to Shadow and said, "Start time."

"Timestart," whispered Shadow. His emerald dimmed, and Kray almost fell out of his chair in surprise.

Robotnik reached down and adjusted a lever on the cage on Shadow's arm, lengthening the bars so that Shadow could no longer touch the chaos emerald. "Stop time," he told Shadow.

Shadow turned his head for the first time and looked at the contraption on his arm. He stretched his fingers toward the emerald, but couldn't reach it. "Master," he whispered, "I can't touch the emerald."

"Stop time anyway," said Robotnik.

Shadow looked up at him and said, "Yes Master. Chaos control."

Nothing happened.

"Fascinating," said Robotnik, thumbing his mustache.

The sunlight faded from the skylight overhead and the glass slowly darkened as the world outside sank into the night. The scientists grew bored as Robotnik put Mekion through test after test, finding out when Shadow could use chaos energy and when he could not. Nick's feet and legs ached from standing for so long, and his friends across the room fidgeted and twitched. They could not imagine Shadow's discomfort.

Robo Knux, too, tired of the repetitive tests, and left the lab. He strode over to lab 3 and examined the lumpy, nanotech mess in the vacuum tube. It didn't look like much yet. He wanted to know what upgrade they were planning next, so he shuffled through their notes and sketches until he located the finalized schematics. Ahh, upgraded audio sensors. And the next proposed upgrade was to rework his face and give him a moveable jaw. Excellent! He grabbed a pencil and scribbled 'sharp teeth' next to the drawing. If Mecha's smile was intimidating, then Robo Knux's would be terrifying.

He left lab 3 and stepped through the outer door into the chilly night. The door whooshed shut behind him, and Robo Knux stood in the darkness, letting his new vision adjust. The sensors were super-high resolution, and conveyed so much information to his brain that the first few hours had been agony. But his brain was rapidly adjusting. Full daylight was hard to bear, but darkness was soothing and comfortable - not nearly as much light to deal with. His pupils dilated to take in light, and the nerves transmitted information to his brain in a series of electrical impulses. He strode toward the gate, gloating that he no longer needed night vision, for his normal sensors could adapt to low-light conditions. No wonder Mekion was conditioned for darkness! It was far more pleasant than daylight.

Robo Knux looked at the computer on the gate and wired it his access code. The gate opened, and he stepped out into the freedom of the island. He was sick of this place. He preferred Sapphire City, where nature was kept canned, trimmed and tied back. Here it had grown into untidy tangles that offended the logical part of his brain. He had to use his claws to hack paths through the undergrowth. Not that he minded the excuse to destroy nature, but it blunted the razor-edge on his claws. He set off into the trees in a random direction, slashing and hacking branches and undergrowth out of his way, blinking his eyes to protect them from dust and leaves.

At first he had been upset to discover that they had given him eyelids, but after an hour in front of the mirror, he decided that they gave him the sort of ferocious yet handsome look he had always wanted. Look out, Mecha, I'm catching up with you.

He reached the edge of the island and looked over the cliffs. The sea foamed and boomed below, and he could see the bubbles in the foam even in the dark. Amazing. He looked out at the horizon, and up at the sky hung with stars. Nature. "You're part of this," he thought. "You're alive, just like the trees you've been damaging. Just like Robotnik and those fools upgrading you. Just like Mecha."

The thought sent him reeling with shock, and again he was suddenly aware of how high the cliff was, and of how the ocean snarled around the black rocks below. He backed away from the edge of the cliff and stood gazing at the horizon, his arms crossed over his chest in an unconscious defensive gesture.

Being alive meant that he could upgrade himself in fantastic ways, but it meant that he could experience pain. He blinked at the memory of optic overload. Gosh, it had hurt. Now his eyes were a weakness, and he must protect them from being exploited. He may have one weakness, but Mecha had far more. Mecha had replaced his entire body with synthetic parts, and he bled when injured.

Robo Knux would never go that far. Blood was for victims, not the robot who preyed on them. He imagined taking a chest wound and looking down in horror to see gallons of dark gushing liquid, and knowing that mortality had smote him at last. No! No liquid systems, no matter how convenient they were. He had killed too many people to want to experience death. He didn't mind blood - liked it, in fact, because he could gauge the success of an attack by how much blood it drew - but he couldn't handle the thought of bleeding, himself. Someone else might spill his blood. Like Mecha.

Robo Knux remembered that horrible battle where Mecha had beaten him without even trying. Robo Knux remembered Mecha saying that living with the memory of his defeat was worse than death, and Robo Knux knew it was true. Mecha should have ripped him apart, but he didn't, and Robo Knux was going to make him pay for his lapse into mercy. He gazed unblinking at the horizon and said aloud, "One day, Mecha, I will find you. And you'll wish you had destroyed me when you had the chance."

While Robo Knux was occupied with introspection, Sonic teleported to Deimos Island again. This time he appeared inside the barbed wire fence, and went snooping around the outside of the lab buildings.

Sonic's eyes weren't supersensitive like Robo Knux's, so he was wearing a pair of nightvision goggles. Again he wore the camera on his head, so Sally and her techs could review his findings. Sonic thought of Nash, then pushed away the memory. He knew Sally was right about him, but it didn't affect the deep vivid fear that Sonic still carried inside. Nash had killed Jason, and Sonic didn't think he could ever forgive him.

"No time for that, now, hedgehog," he told himself. "You have to find their power supply so we can cripple it when the time comes."

Because they had been seen, Sally had decided to change tactics. Cutting the power to the lab facility would create a window of confusion in which Sonic could slip in, grab the scientists and slip out without being detected.

The only light came from the skylights on the roofs, and down on the ground it was dark and quiet. Sonic could hear crickets chirping from the undergrowth outside the fence. He crept along the lab's walls, keeping to the shadows, and watching for Robo Knux or other robots. If Robo Knux had new eyes, he was a dangerous lookout, but so far there was no sign of him.

Sonic heard no sound of generators as he prowled, and made certain to check each lab building for wiring or pipes that might give him a clue, but it was all underground. He stopped and peered around, thinking. Power had to come from somewhere, and it was either generators or solar. They'd need a lot of solar panels to power a place this large. He dashed out into the open, reached the fence and followed it.

Thus he found a low mound with a slanted door in it to the rear of the complex. The door was locked, but upon pressing his ear to it, Sonic recognized the buzz of electrical equipment. So, they used generators after all! He gave his camera a good look at the lock, and teleported home for further instructions.

As the afternoon had faded, Tails and Mecha had parted ways to comb Sapphire City for any sign of Shadow. Tails took the Tornado and had it scan for the radio signature that Mecha had given them, but they travelled block after block and there was no trace of that signature.

Metal Sonic journeyed on foot, again carrying the chao in his backpack. Here in Sapphire City they could poke their heads out of hiding and gawk at the buildings, cars and people. It was too much for Aleda, who kept her head buried out of sight except for when Nox's running commentary made her peek out.

Mecha found their chatter mildly irritating, but it kept him from feeling lonesome. He had his scans on their widest sweep, using the satellite to broaden his search, but there was no sign of Shadow. There was also no sign of Robo Knux, which worried him. Robo Knux had a high-profile signature because of the voltage of his electrical systems, and he scorned secrecy. He was like Sonic in that regard, Mecha mused. No wonder Mecha hated them both.

If Robo Knux was not in Sapphire City, then he must have taken Shadow somewhere. Only mischief induced Robo Knux to leave his territory, and he regarded this city as his home. Mecha still held out hopes that Shadow was here, but that hope faded with each new block that he travelled. No sign of Shadow had been detected since Shadow had transmitted his distress signal the previous day.

As the sun sank, Mecha realized that he was tired. He had been in disguise most of the day, and his legs ached from so much travel. It seemed that his body had its limits. He reflected that if he had travelled so far in his old body, he would have needed heavy maintenance to his hydraulic systems and joints. But this body was self-maintaining. Give it fuel and rest, and it would be as good as new. Amazing.

His design still wasn't as sophisticated as the Master Designer's. For instance, there were types of reptiles that could regrow their tails if the tail was broken off. Limb regeneration was beyond Mecha's capabilities, and the idea astonished him. He could shapeshift, but if one of his limbs was destroyed, he could not regenerate it. It was a pity that the Master Designer was as elusive as Robo Knux, though hopefully not as capricious.

A nagging doubt at the back of his mind whispered, "You are a robot, fool. Robots cannot know supernatural beings. Gods have nothing to do with animated heaps of metal." This doubt would crush him if he allowed it to grow, so Mecha thrust it aside with an effort.

As stars appeared in the darkening sky, a lone fox appeared at the parking garage outside a hotel, and met another fox who was parking a two-legged walker in the gasoline-scented darkness.

"Hi," said Tails as Mecha approached.

"Hello," said Mecha. "What did you discover?"

"Nothing," said Tails glumly. "I don't think Shadow's here. I even tried my sphere again. If he can hear me, he's not answering."

"Your findings match my own," said Mecha. "May I have permission to connect myself to the Tornado's mainframe and utilize its scanners?"

"Um ..." Tails looked doubtfully at his walker's screen. "No offense, Mecha, but ..." He trailed off and looked down.

Mecha slowly nodded. "You do not trust me with the Tornado. That is wise of you, in light of our relationship in earlier years. However, I mean no harm to either it or you. I have no wish to pass the night in a hotel, and using the Tornado's scanner is more agreeable to me than sleeping."

"Well." Tails lifted his head and met Mecha's eyes. "You promise not to try to steal it or anything?"

"I promise," said Mecha, returning his gaze. "What reason would I have for such an action? I am the superior unit in both speed and combat."

Tails smiled a little. "Okay, okay." He pushed the canopy back and climbed out of the cockpit, trying not to stare at Mecha's claws, which were glittering in the overhead light. Mecha swung up into the cockpit and set his two backpacks and the chao in the rear seat. Tails watched, half-afraid that Mecha would program the Tornado into an evil killing machine. "Do you want me to bring you anything?" Tails asked.

"Negative," said Mecha. He gave Tails an odd look. "I thank you for the offer, however."

Tails didn't know how to react - Mecha had thanked him! He smiled, nodded, and walked reluctantly toward the hotel entrance.

Shadow had heard Tails's multiple attempts at contact. Mekion had received the network signal, but refused to answer.

It was like being paralyzed. Shadow could think all he wanted, but his thoughts were filtered and restrained by his hostile, cold other half. That other half controlled the motions of his body and his response to commands, letting Shadow's brain dictate necessesities like the beating of his heart, but little else.

Shadow could see himself stopping time at Robotnik's command. Later on, he teleported across the room and back, dragging Nick with him by his chains. Mekion was obedient, but Shadow was cursing Robotnik and imagining driving his steel fist into that fat face. His rebellion came in waves. After a while his mind shut down, usually when being forced to perform an action over and over, and there was nothing inside of him but cold, sick emptiness.

It was during these times of Mekion's complete control that Shadow seemed to see himself, shrunken to a pinprick of existence in a vast expanse of nothing. That pinprick of himself cried, "God, how could you do this to me? You took away Maria, and now you've let them take my free will! You must not exist, then, because nothing's happening to stop this. Mecha's a fool for looking for you, because you're not there. I'm all alone in the dark, a pawn for the powerful. Well, you know what? If I ever get out of this, I'll become so powerful that nobody can use me. I'll use them!"

Using so much chaos energy was making him deadly tired, but Mekion would not admit it. Mekion forced Shadow to submit to using chaos energy far beyond his comfort level, and stand while Robotnik strapped device after device to his head, body, arms, legs. Some of them involved needles being stabbed into his skin, and they burned like fire every time he teleported or stopped time. Shadow was tired, beyond tired. His thoughts had become a blur, and his organic foot dragged more and more with each step he took.

He teleported a final time, and his natural knee buckled. He pitched sideways, and Mekion caught them with his robot hand before they struck the floor.

"Mekion, what's wrong?" said Robotnik.

"Shadow is weak," said Mekion with Shadow's mouth. "The excessive use of chaos control has drained him."

"I hate you," Shadow thought to Mekion.

"Interesting," said Robotnik, jotting this down. "Very well, that concludes tonight's testing. Barlet, help Mekion back to lab two. See that Mr. Karabian accompanies him."

As the squirrel and young human hoisted the black hedgehog to his feet, Shadow thought, "We're all pawns. These Mobians are all under Robotnik's control, just like me. Well, if God won't stand up for them when the time comes, then I will. No living being should be subjected to this slavery."

"I will silence you yet," hissed Mekion.

"Try it," said Shadow. "You have as much control as you can grasp. You can't keep me from thinking,"

"One day our controls will merge," said Mekion. "And you will be silenced once and for all."

"Then we will die," said Shadow, "because I'll kill both of us."

Sally pushed the hair off her forehead and sighed. "So we have any report from the coastguard?" she asked one of her assistants. She was sitting at the table in the map room, and papers were scattered all over it. Her three tacticians, Nash, Bobby and Fritz, looked rumpled and exhausted, and Bobby had a large mug of espresso beside him.

"No word from the coastguard yet," said Nash, head resting on one paw. "Their office may already be closed. GUN hasn't returned any of my calls."

Sally shook her head. "We don't have time to send our own boats out there, and it's too far for the light speedboats. We need a yacht or something."

"Or a hovercraft," said Bobby. "They're not much good in rough weather, but on smooth sea you can go eighty, ninety miles an hour."

"We have to dock in a rocky cove," said Sally, tapping a map generated from Sonic's radar scan. "Is a hovercraft that maneuverable?"

"No," said Bobby, and sighed. "If only GUN would give us some air support! You know that running this mission behind their backs could start a war?"

"I'm aware of that," said Sally. "We can't move until we hear from them."

"How long can you restrain Sonic, though?" said Fritz, a wolverine who had been deroboticized, but still had robotic knees due to injuries.

Sally pursed her lips. "Sometimes I think Sonic has the right idea. Bust in, blow up the place, get out. Freedom Fighter style."

"If only it was that easy," said Bobby, cradling his head in his hands. He checked his watch. "Look guys, it's after eleven. We're not gonna get any calls tonight, and we need to be here early tomorrow."

"Right," said Sally, rising to her feet and wincing as her calves complained. "We'll call it a night. Thank you, everybody." She met each of their eyes in turn, and they knew that her thanks was genuine.

Sally left last of all, turning off the lights and locking doors. She took her coat from the stand beside the doors and put it on, and stepped out into the frosty night. The cold bit into her body, and her breath turned to steam. She shivered as she locked the door, realizing that if she had been sleepy before, the cold had just shocked her wide awake. The stars were crisp and bright overhead, and the puddles remaining in the gutters were edged with ice.

She had walked five paces when Sonic's voice said from the shadows, "What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?" He stepped up to her with a grin and offered her his arm.

She took it, smiling. "Does that question need an answer?"

"Nope," said Sonic. "It's freezing out here! Want a quick teleport home?" He held up his chaos emerald, which shone a warm green through his fingers.

"Set us down about ten minutes from Knothole," said Sally. "I need to walk around a little."

"Gotcha," said Sonic. "Chaos relocate!" His gem flashed, and the world shifted to the road through the forest, very dark after the streetlights of New Mobitropolis. The pair set off at a fast walk, knowing the way by heart.

"So how goes the rescue?" said Sonic.

Sally found his hand and clasped it. "So far it's not. We don't have permission to enter GUN's restricted areas, and if we do, it might cause a war. Robotnik's probably greased a few palms to keep away interference, because GUN won't even contact us."

"He would, the sneaky sucker," Sonic muttered. "I wish you'd just let me firebomb the place."

"And what about the hostages?" said Sally.

Sonic sighed. "I know, I know. I keep thinking about that poor guy we talked to ... I hope they didn't let Robo Knux shred him."

"I know," Sally murmured. "We have to make contact with them again, or the hostages won't know that they're being rescued."

"Without tipping off Robo Knux or Robotnik," said Sonic, and growled. "This spy stuff drives me nuts! I'd rather bust in and bust out, high profile."

Sally didn't answer for a moment, then said, "When it comes down to it, that's what you might have to do."

She felt Sonic take a step that was almost a hop-skip. "Really? I could go storm the place?"

"Maybe," said Sally. "I still don't know about boats, though."

"I could just teleport them all," said Sonic. "You know, get 'em all outside, whammo, instant evac."

"There's every chance that you'll have your hands full with certain robots," said Sally, frowning. "We'll have to get the hostages out, along with any gear they can carry. If you try to teleport all that, it'd kill you. You know there's limits to how large of items you can move, and how far. We need boats."

"Fine, fine," said Sonic.

They walked in silence for several minutes, and the lights of Knothole village winked through the trees ahead. Sonic still thought that teleporting was a better idea, not least because Sally wouldn't have to go with him. Her presence on the island would drive him frantic, as he had discovered on their first mission. He was so distracted by her that he made mistakes, and he couldn't afford to make mistakes on this mission. There were lives on the line.

He was aware of the warmth of her arm linked through his, and the nearness of her face in the darkness. Near enough to kiss, if he dared. He had kissed her once, just before he'd left to battle Metal Sonic, but that had been different. Now was the perfect time to propose.

"Hey Sal," he said, then remembered that he didn't have the ring. He had taken it off before his last visit to Deimos Island.

"What, Sonic?" said Sally.

Sonic floundered. "Uh ... we're almost home, looks like. What time will you need me in the morning?"

"Sevenish," said Sally, unaware of Sonic's mental maneuvering. "Thanks for the transport, too."

They entered the soft glow of the Knothole porchlights, and Sonic was struck by how beautiful Sally was, even looking as tired as she did. Her auburn hair glistened, and the light fell across the velvety fur along her cheek. Her eyes reflected glints of blue, and Sonic had to look away. Dang it, why hadn't he brought that ring?

He escorted her to her hut, then raced for his own, intending to carry that ring at all times from now on.

Metal Sonic had watched Tails depart, then looked at the screen and controls of the Tornado. There was a bewildering amount of buttons, dials, meters and switches, but Mecha didn't touch those. He wanted to talk to the Tornado, not fly it.

"Greetings, Tornado," he said.

The screen changed as it recognized his voice, and it displayed his profile on the screen. He was amused to see that it considered him a non-dangerous enemy.

"Hello Mecha," said the Tornado.

Further communication was interrupted by Aleda saying, "Mecha, do you mind if we eat this stuff?" She and Nox were digging through the backpacks in the rear seat, and he could hear paper rattling.

"Help yourselves," said Mecha. "However, be careful not to dirty the inside of this craft or Tails will be angry."

"He's too scared of you to be angry, I think," said Nox. "It's funny. I think he likes you a lot, but he's so scared of you that he doesn't know what to do."

"Fascinating," said Mecha. He enjoyed having Nox turn his sympath abilities on someone else for a change, but Mecha already knew that Tails was afraid of him.

He fixed his attention on the Tornado's screen. "Tornado, I request permission to network your system with my own for easier access. I wish to synchronize your scanning equipment with my own."

"Query," said the Tornado. "Will this alter your status to dangerous enemy, or to friend?"

Mecha smiled, since the Tornado couldn't see him, anyway. "I am not an enemy, dangerous or non-dangerous. Therefore I am a friend."

"Affirmative," said the Tornado, and the screen flickered with code as it made the necessary changes. Then it displayed a set of numbers. "Listed on screen is my radio frequency. Please connect."

Mecha loaded the frequency into his mental network and connected. The plane registered as 'Tornado2Cy', and Mecha said to it through the network, "Connection made, confirm."

"Connection confirmed," the Tornado replied in his head.

"Excellent," said Mecha. "I am uplinking my scanner to yours. Activate your scanner at full power."

The Tornado's screen changed to show a map of the city. Mecha networked his own scanner's information into it, and watched as the capabilities of both scanners increased exponentially. He began an in-depth scan of Sapphire City and its outlying suburbs.

The Tornado said, "Query. Are you seeking Shadow?"

"Yes," said Mecha.

The Tornado said, "Tails said that Shadow is a slave. Slaves are property. Yet Tails also said that Shadow is your friend. I have been processing this and cannot reconcile the two. Can you clarify?"

Mecha stared at the screen, amazed. This computer was more intelligent than he had first thought. "Shadow began as a slave," said Mecha, wondering how much it would understand. "Over time, however, we became friends, and I no longer consider him a slave."

"Sometimes," Aleda added impishly though the network. Mecha snapped his fingers at her, and she flinched and said aloud, "Sorry."

"I see," said the Tornado. "And now he is in danger, and you are seeking him, correct?"

"Yes," said Mecha. "How is it that you have the capacity for this kind of reasoning?"

"I possess a bio-nano processor," said the Tornado proudly. "My capacity for learning is immense."

Mecha nodded. He was addressing not a computer, but a living brain like his own. He wondered where Tails had found it, and decided that it made his job easier. "Very well," he said to it. "Display the details of the scan so far."

"Yes, Mecha," said the Tornado, and the screen displayed a readout. Many signals and lifeforms, but none with Shadow's signature.

Mecha sighed. "Thank you."

Aleda climbed up the back of his seat and perched beside his head. She had half an energy bar in one paw, which she gnawed. "This is good," she told Mecha. "Find Shadow yet?"

"No," he said. "I fear that he is not in Sapphire City at all."

"Phooey," said Aleda. She slid down the seat and climbed into Mecha's lap, where she sat chewing and gazing at the Tornado's control panel. He stroked her absently, then turned to look at Nox in the back seat, who was contentedly eating his third energy bar. "Give me one," said Mecha, and Nox obligingly pulled a bar out of its box and handed it to Mecha.

As Mecha ate, the Tornado said aloud, "Query. How many users are logged in to your network?"

"Four," said Mecha. "Myself, Shadow, Robo Knux, and Aleda."

"Correction," said the plane. "Aleda is a chao. Therefore she should not be able to communicate with machines."

"But I can," said Aleda. "Or I can talk to Mecha, anyway. I can hear you, now, too."

"Query," said the Tornado. "Can all chao communicate with machines?"

Aleda looked questioningly at Mecha, who said, "No. Only Aleda. It is her special ability."

"Affirmative," said the Tornado. It fell silent, and Mecha concentrated on the arcane process of feeding himself.

Suddenly Nox said from the back seat, "Hey, I can feel the Tornado!"

"What?" said Mecha.

Nox climbed up on the back of Mecha's seat and stared at the control panel. "It doesn't have a face, but it's there. It's lonely and confused."

"It has a nanotech brain like my own," said Mecha. "Therefore it is alive, in a manner of speaking."

Nox gazed at the central screen. "Hi, Tornado. Don't be lonely. We're all here."

"But Tails is not," said the Tornado. "Tails is my primary user, and is registered as my visual sensors in lieu of a proper sensor array."

"Why don't you have visual sensors?" Mecha asked.

The Tornado replied, "They are dang expensive."

This slang was so uncharacteristic of the Tornado that Mecha laughed. Nox and Aleda stared at him, and Mecha stopped, wondering what had come over him. Lately a new emotion had developed within him - almost as powerful as grief and tears, it felt much better than those, and it smote him as a random reaction to the people around him. He knew it was laughter, but it embarrassed him. He was too dignified for laughing. But then, the Tornado using Tails's slang was highly amusing.

Keeping a straight face, Mecha said to the Tornado, "So you are blind?"

"Yes," said the Tornado. "However, Tails intends to purchase an upgrade as soon as he has assisted you in locating Shadow."

"That is kind of him," said Mecha. "Current scan readout, please."

The Tornado displayed it on its screen. A larger portion of Sapphire City had been covered, and there was still no sign of Shadow.

Mecha finished his meal, and his stomach felt full and comfortable. Then he at last returned his shape to his blue hedgehog form, and felt the familiar ache all over as his nanite skin was allowed to rest. The parking garage outside was quiet and mostly empty. It was the middle of the week, and the hotel didn't see much business until the weekend. Mecha leaned back in the seat, resting his spines against the metal wall instead of the upholstery. "What forms can you take, Tornado?" he asked.

"I have three available settings," said the Tornado, sounding like a child who was proud of a newfound ability to read. "Our current form is walker. I also have an aircraft mode and a car mode for additional speed."

Mecha idly checked the Tornado's menus through the network, and discovered a fourth setting that was unavailable. "You also have an amphibious mode?" said Mecha.

"Yes," said the Tornado. "It is not yet operational. Tails cannot achieve an airtight seal after the transformation is completed."

"So it turns into a boat with holes in it?" said Aleda. "That's a bummer."

"Yes," said Mecha. "Tornado, all you will need is a variety of caulking used in other amphibious vehicles. Your systems are already sealed and pressurized."

"Yes," said the Tornado. "But that is also dang expensive."

Mecha barely avoided laughing again, but Nox gave him a sidelong look, sensing it.

"You're fun when you laugh," said Aleda, climbing up Mecha's chest to sit on his shoulderplate. "You should do it more."

"Perhaps," said Mecha, reaching up to stroke her gleaming metallic head. She leaned against the side of his head and sighed. Mecha had hardly seen her today, being occupied with other matters, and he felt remorseful. He was taking her for granted. "Aleda," he said through the network, "what is your opinion of our travels?"

"Oh, it's fun," she replied, also through the network. "Kind of boring sometimes, having to sit in the backpack, but once we got here things got interesting again. It's kinda scary, having those priests chasing us."

"Yes," said Mecha, clenching his teeth. "I shall avoid them if at all possible. I do not want to resume my old reputation, but they infuriate me, and I ..." He trailed off.

Aleda said softly, "I'd love you even if you kill them. But I don't want to watch."

Mecha felt a sudden warmth in his middle, and reached up and patted her. "Thank you. If it comes to that, I will do my best not to let you witness it. But I have no intention of letting one of them come so close."

She placed a paw on his forehead and gazed into his eyes. He looked back at her, seeing his own red eyes mirrored in hers. "I love it when your eyes glow," she told him, gazing at him in fascination. "Shadow has a glowing eye, but yours are prettier."

"Thank you." Mecha knew that his eyes were sophisticated photooptic sensor arrays, and that his irises contained tiny fibers that focused his pupils, creating the patterns that Aleda loved. But it was beyond her comprehension, so he didn't try to explain it.

He lifted her off his shoulder and set her in his lap. "I must rest a little," he told her and Nox. "Please keep quiet for a while. Tornado, alert me when your scan is complete."

"Yes, Mecha," said the Tornado.

Mecha closed his eyes and relaxed, idling his systems. The last thing he felt was Aleda curling up with her head resting on his wrist, then he was dead to the world.

Hours passed, and the night deepened. Nox and Aleda slept in the comparative warmth of the covered cockpit, and so did Mecha. The Tornado quietly continued its scan for Shadow, thinking about the things that Mecha had told it. Nearby, in a hotel room, Tails tossed and turned, missing Sonic, worrying about his plane, and half-expecting Mecha to burst into his room and attack him.

Up north in Knothole, Sonic slept as heavily as Mecha, worn out from controlling chaos and his spying missions. But Sally lay awake in her own hut, worrying about this dicey rescue mission, and her frustration both with it and with Sonic. Sonic acted so inane sometimes and so mature at other times, and it kept her heart in tangled knots. Darn him, she loved him too much.

Out at Deimos Island, four Mobian scientists locked themselves in their quarters and took turns keeping watch while the others slept.

In the lab next door, a human and a black hedgehog were chained together. The exhausted human lay stretched on the floor, sleeping in fits and starts. The black hedgehog sat beside him in silence, staring at the far wall, and only the flicker of his natural eyelid showed that he was alive. He could not sleep while his robot half was in control, even though he desperately needed rest. All he could do was sit, weighed down by the human chained to him, and suffer the continual pain of the instruments that remained plugged into his body.

In lab 1, a human and four robots worked around a machine that contained a glowing amber jewel, and an uncut ruby of nearly the same size that did not glow. Robotnik wanted no sleep, not with a project so intriguing before him.

The only other creature awake was the Tornado, and it was nearing the end of its scan. The Tornado was simple and childlike, like a chao, with a strong desire to please. Mecha was trying to locate Shadow, and the Tornado understood that. The Tornado itself had bonded with Tails, and although Tails was within scan range, the Tornado still felt a nagging discomfort, a sense of loss, that Tails was not here in the cockpit.

Mecha thought that locating Shadow was within the Tornado's power, so it reviewed what it knew. Shadow had relayed his distress signal at noon yesterday. Tails had contacted Shadow two hours after the first distress signal, and Shadow was already inside the lab. A car could travel 120 miles in two hours, and a plane or helicopter could only travel three to five hundred miles. The Tornado reset its scan perimeters to encompass this new range, and let it run, wishing for visual sensors for the hundredth time.

Mecha opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the Tornado's screen, still scanning, still without Shadow. The next thing he saw was Aleda curled up against his stomach, asleep. He looked around and saw that Nox was in the backseat, half inside one of the backpacks, also asleep. It was five-twenty AM. Mecha peered out of the cockpit windows and saw the garage entrance illuminated in cold gray light - dawn was approaching. The inside of the cockpit was damp with condensation, and Mecha felt wet and cold. He queried the weather satellite and saw that fine weather was forecast for the next week, although temperatures would be cold. Perfect for scanning, but what good were clear skies when Shadow was nowhere to be found? He had awakened in a pessimistic mood, and sat for a while, hating this situation, and himself for his idiotic quest, and Shadow for being foolish enough to sneak off and get kidnapped.

He gazed out the window at the garage entrance without seeing it, and thus he saw when the procession began. He blinked and wiped moisture off the plastic window to see better. A group of humans were passing by in single file, each one carrying a candle. Now that was a religious rite or he had never seen one.

Mecha watched as fourteen individuals passed by, then unsnapped the canopy, slid Aleda off his lap and climbed out of the cockpit. As he turned to refasten the canopy, he saw Aleda sit up and blink at him. "I am going for a walk," he told her through the network. "I shall return soon."

She nodded and yawned, and Mecha closed the canopy and hurried out of the garage.

Another chance to study a religion, and this time a human one! Did humans believe in a Master Designer? Mecha had no idea, because he had never studied humans from that perspective. He had wanted to destroy them, not learn about them.

He stepped onto the sidewalk and saw that a thin mist filled the street. The humans with candles were half a block ahead, walking down toward the beach. Mecha followed, so intent on them that he forgot to disguise himself.

He trailed the procession across a street and down on an embankment to the sand, and the wide ocean spread before them. The beach was empty at this hour, and the sand was smooth and hard from the tide. As Mecha watched from a distance, the humans moved into a circle, bowed their heads, and one human began speaking aloud. Their candles wavered and flickered in the breeze. Mecha folded his arms and watched through narrowed eyes. The Mun-Icytho priests had formed a circle, then started chanting and dancing, so he was wary of groups in circles. Any minute now and these humans would do something weird.

The first human stopped speaking, and another one began. Mecha couldn't make out what they were saying over the crash of the breakers, but he didn't really want to know. These people were praying, as Tails had explained. They were trying to initiate telepathic communication with a divine being, and if the divine being was answering, Mecha had no way of knowing. Telepathy was similar to his own remote network - only the users knew about it.

He watched as all the humans prayed, one by one. The sun was rising above the city behind them, and the sky was turning blue. Seagulls wheeled overhead, and a jogger ran by, down at the water's edge where the sand was hard. Mecha continued to watch the humans. The last human was speaking now, and then the humans were stirring, lifting their heads, moving around and speaking to each other. Nothing unusual or frightening had happened, and the humans carried no weapons.

So Mecha strode forward and approached the human who had prayed first. The others deferred to him, so Mecha assumed that he was the leader. The man was talking to a companion and smiling, but his smile faded when he caught sight of the gleaming blue robot approaching him.

"Greetings," said Mecha, extending a hand. The man hesitantly reached down and shook it. Even though Mecha's head only came to the man's waist, the android's red eyes, lithe body and sharp claws earned him instant respect.

"Hello," said the human. "Uh, can I help you?"

"My name is Melthision," said Mecha, who still had not realized that he had forgotten his disguise. "I observed you and your companions earlier, and I want to know what you were doing."

By now all fourteen humans had fallen silent and were staring at this dangerous-looking robot. The man Mecha was addressing, however, kept his cool. "I'm Paul Blake. We were having a prayer meeting, and we try to meet on the beach when the weather's good."

Mecha had to tilt his head back to see Paul's face. "Prayer, you say? Prayer to whom?"

"Why, God, of course," said the human. "And his Son."

"Who is that?" said Mecha. "I am seeking the Master Designer, so I am collecting information on religions."

Paul drew a breath. "Well, God sent his son to Earth as a man ..."

Mecha cut him off. "The actions of a deity on Earth are fine, but this is Mobius."

"Of course," said Paul, smiling. "God is the same on all worlds."

Mecha's eyes narrowed. "Your god is a human. Would a human god be interested in a creature like myself?" He looked down and realized for the first time that he was wearing his blue metal skin instead of his synthetic fur, and his heart almost stopped. They would think that he was a robot and not a Mobian, and any arguments would be stilted as a result. No god cared about robots. Mecha had shot himself in the foot before he ever opened his mouth.

He looked up at the human defensively. "Yes. Would a human god bother with an intelligent robot?" He might as well shoot himself in the other foot, as well, and do the thing properly.

Paul blinked. "I'm not sure. But if you have the capability to look for Him, perhaps so."

"That's not an answer," said Mecha bitterly, growing more embarrassed by the second. "I apologize for taking your time. It seems that intelligent robots fall outside the realm of any god's power."

He turned to walk away, and Paul called after him, "Are you really a robot, or are you roboticized?"

Mecha glared over his shoulder. "Neither."

As he stalked back into town, the memory of a nightmare rose to the surface. I hate and fear both death and life, because one day I may become like one of them. I am neither robot nor organic, neither death nor life, but if I have the capability to seek the Master Designer, perhaps I can find him.

And see if he ever talked to humans about religion again.

Aleda was standing with her paws on the canopy window, when she saw a hedgehog enter the garage and stand just inside, blinking. "Hey Nox," she exclaimed. "Look, it's Melchizedek!"

"Huh?" said Nox sleepily, opening his eyes.

Aleda wrenched open the clamps, pushed back the flap and called, "Hi, Melchizedek!"

The blue hedgehog's head turned, and he grinned and walked up to the Tornado. "Hello, Aleda! What are you doing here?"

"Still looking for Shadow," said Aleda. "Mecha went for a walk, you just missed him."

"I thought I saw him," said Melchizedek. His smile faded, and he gazed into the distance for a moment. Then his eyes focused on Aleda. "When he returns, tell him that time is running out. At noon today, he must go to 2260 Polaris Avenue and knock. When it opens, he is to say, 'the bird is in the water', then he must walk away immediately."

Nox had scrambled into the front seat, and he and Aleda listened to the message with wide eyes. "What's that mean?" Nox asked.

Melchizedek looked at him, and their sympath minds touched.

"Something terrible's gonna happen," whispered Nox, as Melchizedek's deep fear and grief poured into him. But beyond that was a fierce joy, like a triumphant laugh. Nox couldn't understand how someone could feel so many things at once.

Melchizedek looked at the two chao. "Repeat the message to me."

To the surprise of all of them, the Tornado spoke up. "I have recorded the message. Playback initiated." It played back Melchizedek's voice, and the hedgehog smiled. "Thank you."

They heard footsteps, and Melchizedek turned to see Tails jogging up. Tails looked from the chao to the hedgehog and saw that they all knew each other. "Hi," he said. "Who're you?"

"I'm Melchizedek," said the hedgehog, smiling, and Tails instantly liked him. He reminded him of Sonic, sort of, except more relaxed.

"I'm Tails," said the fox. "This is the Tornado. Hey, where's Mecha?"

"Walking," said Melchizedek. "Tails, Superbio caulking is on sale at the GUN surplus on Olive."

"What?" said Tails, but Melchizedek was saying, "I have to go now, everybody. See you later!" He turned and trotted out of the garage, leaving a fox and two chao staring after him.

"You know that guy?" said Tails, looking at the chao.

"Yeah," said Nox. "We met him a few times. He's following us or something."

"He gave us a spy message for Mecha," said Aleda. "Hey Tornado, think you could - "

"I have located Shadow," said the Tornado.

There was an instant of complete silence. Then Tails vaulted into the cockpit and exclaimed, "Where? Where?"

Nox and Aleda pushed and shoved, trying to see the screen, too. The Tornado displayed a map of the West Mobian shoreline, then zoomed in on a tiny speck of an island. "Deimos Island," said the Tornado, sounding pleased. "Mekion's signals are set to power-saving mode and are almost impossible to detect, but my scanner's power has been boosted by Mecha's input."

Tails, Nox and Aleda were cheering and praising the Tornado when Mecha stalked into the garage, head down and eyes burning. He strode up to the walker and snapped, "You three are making excessive noise."

"The Tornado's found Shadow!" Tails exclaimed, pointing at the screen. "Look!"

Mecha climbed up on the plane's side and stuck his head in the cockpit, staring at the screen with sudden excitement.

"Deimos Island," said Tails, hardly able to keep still. "About two hundred miles off the coast. I could fly out there and back in a couple of hours! Want to go now?"

Mecha slid back to the ground outside the Tornado, and stood looking at nothing. He was accessing the humans' wireless information network to gather all the information he could about Deimos Island. Owned by GUN, they controlled all access by boat or helicopter.

Mecha turned to Tails. "There is no airstrip. The Tornado cannot land there."

"Oh." Tails's smile vanished.

"However," Mecha continued, "the Tornado has an amphibious mode, correct?"

"Yeah," said Tails, "but it doesn't seal right ... hey ... wait a minute ... that guy said that caulking's on sale, didn't he? Down on Olive street?"

"What guy?" said Mecha.

"That hedgehog guy," said Tails, climbing out of the cockpit with an envelope in one hand. "Olive is at the end of the street. I'll be right back!" He dashed out of the garage.

Mecha looked at Aleda and Nox. "Was Melchizedek here?"

They nodded. "He left a spy message for you, too," said Aleda.

Mecha looked over his shoulder at the empty garage, fear clawing at him. Who was this invisible stranger who kept crossing his path? Was this some sort of assassin sent to track him? Mecha knew that such a thing was possible, given his identity and reputation. "What does the message contain?" he asked.

The Tornado said, "Playback initiated."

Mecha pricked up his ears and listened to the voice, trying to place it. The voice was unfamiliar, medium pitch, unremarkable. Mecha didn't recognize it, and pondered the message after it ended. Time was running out. For what? And what was the significance of the address he had been given? He accessed his map data and discovered that it was an office next door to the GUN office building. Interesting.

"He was really scared," said Nox. "When he was telling us that message, he was thinking of something that scared him to death. But then ... he was really happy, too. I didn't get it."

Mecha said nothing, but drummed his claws on the Tornado's frame. For a spy to be frightened ... either he was in danger, or the people he was addressing were in danger. Mecha was inclined to believe both, and checked his scanners for Robo Knux in paranoia. There was no sign of him.

Shadow had been found, though. Mecha looked at the map on the Tornado's screen again, and continued to drum his claws. Mekion was operating at low power? That meant that Shadow was asleep, drugged, or subdued by some other means.

The image of Shadow being mistreated sent Mecha into a quiet, seething rage. Strongwilled and impulsive as Shadow might be, Mecha had taken responsibility for him by enslaving him. Letting Shadow be hurt was letting Shadow down.

"Tornado," he said, "scan Deimos Island for Robo Knux. I am transmitting his signature."

The Tornado scanned and discovered Robo Knux within seconds.

Mecha gazed at the blip on the screen with pure hatred. "This time," he thought, "I will destroy you."

Robo Knux stepped out of the airlock into lab 3, and the four Mobian scientists looked up warily. "Hello," he said to them, walking up to the vacuum tube. The lights were on inside of it, showing that it was pressurized, and the opossum and otter were sitting with their hands inside the control gloves. "What are you working on today?" asked the crimson robot, striding around the tube with his hands clasped behind him.

Touis looked up from a stack of blueprints with his ears pinned back. "The auditory upgrade for you, of course. Will you leave and let us work?"

"In a moment," said Robo Knux, gazing around the room. One of Robotnik's E-200 robots was in the far corner of the room. Robo Knux gestured at it. "Hey you, your master wants you in lab one. You hear me? Go!"

The robot walked obediently to the airlock and departed.

Robo Knux looked at the scientists, who were staring at him. "There. Now we can talk."

"What about?" said Barlet, rising from his seat before the computers.

Robo Knux waved a hand. "Don't get up." Barlet sank back, and Robo Knux faced all of them, pleased that he had captured their undivided attention. "Now, I take it that you aren't happy with the situation here. Are you?"

They exchanged glances and said nothing.

If Robo Knux could have smiled, he would have. "I know what you're thinking. You think that I'll rat on you to Robotnik, don't you? If I was doing that, I wouldn't have chased out the robot. Now, you lot don't appreciate being held prisoner. Correct?"

"Why should we tell you anything?" growled Kray. "I got a bullet in my leg to think about."

"Robotnik doesn't need you anymore," said Robo Knux, gazing at the opossum with his new green eyes. "And do you know what he does with people he doesn't need anymore?" He let the question hang in the air, watching their faces. He could tell by their eyes that they knew their days were numbered.

He turned and began to pace, and their eyes followed him. "So," he said, "Robotnik's experiments are rolling, and he hasn't asked any of you for your help. Except Nick's, and Nick doesn't have much choice." He chuckled to himself. "Do any of you know why Nick is now chained to Mekion?"

They shook their heads.

"We caught him trying to escape," said Robo Knux. "Isn't that wonderful? A human, with no abilities or chaos powers, trying to escape!" He checked their faces and saw flattened ears and flared nostrils. They liked Nick and admired his courage, and he could see the hatred in their eyes. Good. He was playing them like a violin.

"It got me thinking," Robo Knux continued, still pacing. "Nick tried to escape. You two, Kray and Lintel, tried to send a message to the outside. You're desperate. So what if I assisted you in escaping?"

"Yeah, right," said Touis. "What's in it for you? You'd benefit from our deaths as much as Robotnik."

"On the contrary," said Robo Knux, turning to face the group. "I have a high stake in seeing that you survive. You are constructing my upgrades. You may be useless to Robotnik, but I have a tender interest in your lives. You can continue to upgrade me in years to come, and if I help you escape, that puts you in my debt. I'd much rather subject myself to a team in my debt than a team who wants me exterminated."

They exchanged glances, not knowing whether to believe him or not. "How do we know that you won't slaughter us once your upgrades are complete?" said Lintel.

Robo Knux gazed at him. "In your opinion, will they ever be complete? With years and years of ever-increasing technology? You'll die of old age long before then."

"Okay, say we accept your offer," said Touis. "How do you propose to get us off the island?"

"Easy," said Robo Knux. "There's a boathouse down by the dock. Inside are two cabin cruisers and enough fuel for both. They'd have you home in six or eight hours. I'd sneak down to the dock at low tide and open the doors for you."

"You sure are eager to help us," said Kray. "Why the change? You haven't given us the time of day before this."

Robo Knux wasn't about to tell them that he would rather 'rescue' them himself, and have them on his side, than have them rescued by Sonic. He half-closed his eyes. "Let's just say that I've been doing some thinking, and decided to protect my investment. I'll step outside a moment and let you talk it over."

He walked into the airlock and shut the door, but didn't pressurize it. He could hear the murmur of voices inside, and waited, examining his claws for rust. They needed sharpening again, but the diamond tips glittered with an edge so fine that they almost hurt his eyes. Such fine weapons, and he was already wearing them down. In a few more years he would have to replace them again.

Five minutes later he opened the door and reentered the lab. The four Mobians were sitting with their heads together, and looked up as he stepped in. "Well?" he said.

Touis stood up. "Apparently we want our freedom as badly as you want our services. Before we accept, one question. Why do you want these upgrades?"

Robo Knux was quiet a moment, debating telling them the truth for once. Finally he said, "Do you know of Metal Sonic?"

Their eyes flickered with recognition at the name, and it annoyed him. Metal Sonic's infamy surpassed his own even now. "He led the attack on Rio Del Fuego a few months ago," he went on. "He has received nanotech bioupgrades that make him well-nigh invincible, and at our last encounter he almost destroyed me. I need equal capabilities if I am to destroy him." He saw fear and sympathy on their faces, and knew that they were on his side.

"What about Nick?" said Lintel. "Will you get him off the island, too?"

Robo Knux shrugged. "Nick is a different matter. I could perhaps free him after you are in the clear, but I can't guarantee anything. Mekion might try to destroy both of us."

Blast their team attitude. If he freed Nick, Nick would tell them about Sonic and Sally, not to mention whatever he had seen with Shadow. That human was better off dead.

"Do we have a deal?" Robo Knux asked.

The Mobians looked at each other, then Touis said, "Yes, deal. But you have to get Nick out, too."

"Yes, yes, whatever," said Robo Knux. "I'm not certain when the escape can begin, so be ready. I may summon you at any time." He turned and left through the airlock, scheming.

Shadow and Nick sat side by side, bound together by the shackles on their wrists and ankles. They were on a table beside the computers in lab 1, and a rack of equipment was rolled up beside them. Dozens of wires led from instruments in Shadow's body into the machines, and their readings were displayed on the computer screens. Robotnik was nearby, setting up another instrument rack with the nameless equipment he had had shipped in the previous day. His four help-robots moved around, assisting him, and Nick watched everything.

Nick kept quiet and tried to make himself invisible. He knew that witnessing all this had sealed his death sentence, and wished that he was anywhere else but in this lab, chained to this black monstrosity of a hedgehog. Shadow sat with his knees drawn up and head resting on his arms, the picture of exhaustion and misery. From time to time the sensors in his body jolted him with pain, and he twitched, clinking the chains. Robotnik paid no attention. But Nick paid attention to Robotnik, nursing the faint hope that Robotnik would make a mistake, and Nick could escape.

Robotnik lifted the orange chaos emerald from an insulated container with a pair of tongs. He admired it for a moment, then inserted it into a pair of metal claws connected to a thing like a giant motor. He inserted the rough Floating Island ruby into claws on the other side, then turned to the computer and studied Shadow's readouts.

Unexpectedly Robotnik turned and faced Nick. His black eyes were cold and thoughtful.

Nick smiled. "What's up, Doc?"

"Tell me, Mr. Karabian," said Robotnik, "do you believe in immortality?"

"What, living forever?" said Nick. "Sure. Not sure I'd want to do it on this planet, though."

"Imagine that you could," said Robotnik. "That not only would your lifespan last until the end of the world, but that your physical strength and mental capacity would be increased?"

"That might not be so bad," said Nick, grinning. "Too bad I won't live to find out, eh?"

Robotnik pressed a button on the keyboard, and pulled up the schematics of chaos energy which he had shown the scientists in the beginning. "I told you about the first stage of my chaos project. Manufacturing chaos emeralds. The second stage was conjecture until Shadow arrived." Robotnik turned, and Nick followed his gaze to the silent hedgehog sitting hunched up on the table.

Robotnik smiled. "Shadow is immortal."

Nick squinted. "What?"

"His lifespan is unlimited by natural decay and the forces of entropy," said Robotnik, gazing at Shadow as one might at a favored pet. "Every time he touches a chaos emerald, his cells are rebuilt and restored. And since he is adept at using chaos emeralds, it is natural that he keeps one with him at all times."

"How's that work?" asked Nick. "I thought chaos energy was destructive."

"It is," said Robotnik, turning back to the computers and typing a few commands. "Unless, of course, a body is so adapted to it that it can utilize it. When taken in small doses, a body can become immune to poison. Echidnas share this same capability for extended lifespans, but they're slightly more difficult to obtain."

Nick watched the computer screens and saw that Robotnik was loading a program dealing with nanites. One of his own lab's programs, he realized. Barlet was one of the programmers. "Hey, that's ours!" said Nick.

"Yes," said Robotnik. "Thanks to your team's highly developed tools, I am able to program a small nanite swarm." He set the programming session to running, and checked a two-inch vial hooked into the sensor pack beside Shadow. Robotnik gazed at it and said, without looking at Nick, "The human lifespan is much shorter than the average Mobian lifespan. Because of their adaption to the planetary chaos field, they live an average of one hundred and fifty years. Some species live up to three times that, and I have records of echidnas living for nearly eight hundred years. Why shouldn't humans live as long? Seventy years is nothing compared to a Mobian. And Shadow, here, will live for millennia."

"Humans can't use chaos power, that's why," said Nick. "They've been doing experiments for years. Didn't you hear about those kids that those Mobians kidnapped and experimented on?"

"Yes," said Robotnik, gazing at Nick. "And some of those children adapted."

"But some of them died, too!" exclaimed Nick. "Our bodies aren't built like Mobians' are. We can't use chaos energy."

Robotnik watched the program run. "No. The human body does not have the ability to process the energy. But I have found a way to give it that ability."

Nick opened his mouth and closed it again. A horrible suspicion was growing in the back of his mind.

After a moment, Robotnik continued, "Shadow's body is full of nanites, due to the mecha-fusion process. I have studied those nanites, and they assist him in utilizing chaos energy. Nanites themselves cannot absorb energy, but they can channel it into the cell tissue around them. I have found that they can convert it into a passive form that will not destroy the user. In theory. I haven't yet tested it."

Nick looked at Shadow, and found that the hedgehog was looking at him with a sympathetic expression. "You poor sap," he seemed to say.

"Doctor," said Nick, "what are you going to do?"

Robotnik continued to watch the nanites and seemed not to hear. "Shadow can sense a chaos emerald if it is touching metal, because of the way chaos energy is conducted. I will have him draw on its power and transfer it through you, which will charge the nanites. Then I can study the effects of the channelled power on your tissue. If you survive, so much the better."

Terror punched Nick in the gut, and he leaped off the table with such strength that he yanked Shadow off with him. The pair hit the floor with a hideous jangle of chains, and they struggled to get up, Nick flailing and fighting.

"Mekion," said Robotnik, "subdue him."

Shadow went from slow, passive movements to lightning-quick blows. He knocked Nick flat with a jerk of the chains, then hit him in the head with his metal fist. Nick's head smacked into the concrete floor, and he passed out. Shadow crouched over him for a second, then carefully stepped back and untangled the chains.

Robotnik stepped around the table and lifted Nick by his arms. "Mekion, help me carry him to the restraining frame."

Shadow obeyed, silently lifting Nick's feet, and helped carry the limp human to the doorframe bolted to the floor. Shadow smiled at the irony - first he had been restrained here until he was broken, and now Nick would suffer the same fate. Assuming he survived the experiment. Shadow felt sorry for him, if only because they were fellow prisoners, and nobody deserved to die the way Nick would; cooked from the inside by chaos energy.

Robotnik unchained Mekion and Nick, and re-chained Nick to the restraints on the frame. He had to shorten them, for Nick was two feet taller than Mekion. Then Nick was hanging by his wrists in the frame, head drooping.

"Watch him, Mekion," said Robotnik, returning to the computer that was programming the nanites. Mekion obeyed, gazing at Nick and hating Robotnik with all his strength.

A few minutes later Robotnik removed the vial of nanites from the sensor pack and emptied its contents into a syringe. He walked over to Nick, rolled up Nick's sleeve, and injected the nanites into a vein. Then he pushed the racks of equipment up on either side of the restraining frame, stepping over cords and checking connections. The four small robots helped him.

Shadow watched, wishing that he could control his own body and kill Robotnik. Robotnik was going to make him kill this younger human, and Shadow didn't want to kill him. Mecha had said that life was precious, and Shadow understood what he meant. Nick had a name and a past. He ate and slept and breathed, and was terrified of Robotnik, and had tried to escape. He didn't deserve to die.

Nick's eyelids flickered, and he lifted his head. He stood up, looked around, and realized that he was inside of the frame. "No!" he bellowed, struggling, but the chains that had mastered Shadow were far stronger than the puny human. "You can't do this to me!" Nick cried, regaining his footing as he swung back and forth by his wrists. "You're not putting those nanites in me!"

"Perhaps you should have awakened sooner," said Robotnik with a smile. "They're already in your bloodstream. I'll wait for ten minutes to allow them to thoroughly disperse, then we'll begin the experiment." He looked around at the four E-200 robots, which were still hooking up the equipment, and added, "Keep an eye on him, Mekion." He strode for the airlock, and it rotated shut behind him.

"Shadow, help me," pled Nick, turning to the black hedgehog. "Chaos power will kill me, we both know it!"

"Yes," whispered Shadow, forcing his mouth to speak the words. It was so hard to form words and make himself speak! Mekion was interfering with the speech center of his brain, and Shadow had to concentrate on each word. "I can't help you. He controls me. But maybe you'll survive."

"Maybe," said Nick, tugging each of his restraints in turn, testing their strength. "I've been around Mobians since I was born. Maybe I picked something up. If not, and you ever get away, could you contact my parents and tell them that I love them? Kathy and August Karabian. They're at 23 Green Hill, Metrocard."

"Yes," said Shadow, suddenly sad.

There was a long silence. The four small robots moved around, carrying on Robotnik's work, keeping the machines running, and Shadow and Nick watched them. Shadow flexed the wrist that had been chained, rubbing it, and Mekion permitted the gesture.

Shadow whispered, "I could give you some painkiller."

"No," said Nick. "What if it caused a reaction and killed me? I can't believe I have nanites in my blood. Those little animals are running around inside of me. Do you know that some people are so allergic to nanites that they go into convulsions just getting near a swarm?"

He was talking too fast, babbling, trying to keep from panicking. Shadow listened and nodded.

"Not Mobians so much," Nick went on, "mostly humans. Mobians are hardier than humans, they adapt to things easier. That's why you're the ultimate lifeform and I'm not. I can't use chaos energy, that's why I worked with nanites, because usually chaos disrupts them, and if they disrupt in my bloodstream they'll burn, and Shadow, I don't want to die!"

The airlock opened, and Nick sucked in a shuddering breath and fell silent. Robotnik looked around at the waiting equipment with a smile, and walked up to the machine containing the amber chaos emerald, and the uncut ruby. "Mekion, come here," he said, and the black hedgehog walked up, hating Robotnik for his cruelty and hating himself for his inability to disobey.

Robotnik extended a metal knob from the emerald machine's side. "Put your natural hand on Mr. Karabian's forehead. Mr. Karabian, you will hold this knob." He thrust it into Nick's hand, but Nick wouldn't clasp his fingers around it, so Robotnik took a roll of electrical tape and bound his hand to the knob.

"Mekion," said Robotnik, "stop time."

Shadow looked at Nick's frightened eyes under his hand, and sensed the chaos emerald, its power conducted through the machine, into the knob, through Nick's body and into Shadow's palm. "I'm sorry," Shadow mouthed, and Nick squeezed his eyes shut.

"Chaos control," whispered Shadow.

Nick screamed as the silent power surged through him, and time stopped around them. The emerald emitted its power to hold them in a suspended time-state, and Nick was the conduit. A brilliant orange glow consumed his body, like fire, and smoke curled into the air. Shadow stared in horror, unable to end the timestop without a command from Robotnik.

Nearby, the machine hooked to the emerald and ruby kicked on and began to run, its RPM accelerating with a crescendoing whine. More golden energy sparked and flickered from it, and Shadow saw that the uncut ruby was glowing as fiercely as the chaos emerald. "Mekion, stop!" he ordered his robot half. Mekion didn't grace him with a reply.

The chaos emerald began to flicker as the timestop drew to an end, and Nick was entirely bathed in that fiery glow, wrapped in a cloud of smoke. He was no longer screaming.

The chaos emerald dimmed, and time resumed. Shadow released Nick and stepped back, coughing. The room was full of smoke and the acrid smell of burning hair, and the object that had been Nick still hung in the metal frame.

Robotnik flipped a switch, and the air purifier in the ceiling roared to life. As the smoke cleared, Shadow saw that the uncut ruby was still glowing. Robotnik released it from its clamp, picked it up with a pair of tongs, and carried it to his testing equipment across the room. He didn't care what had happened to Nick.

But Shadow did, and watched as the smoke cleared. Nick still hung from his restraints, but his body was blackened, still smouldering. Shadow said, "Mekion, scan for life signals." Mekion agreed, for once, and scanned. Nick's heart was still beating. How could anyone survive being so horrifically burned? Shadow slowly moved forward, and raised a hand to touch Nick's arm. The black came off in a long smudge, revealing intact skin underneath. Confused, Shadow prodded Nick and discovered in shock that the chaos surge had burned off all of Nick's hair and clothing, leaving him naked, but otherwise unhurt. Was it possible that the experiment had succeeded, and Nick's body had absorbed the power?

"Master," said Shadow, despising the word as he said it, "Nick Karabian is still alive."

New Mobitropolis was a mile square, and Sonic could circle it in twenty-three seconds. He could circle it three times in a minute, and was working to improve his time.

As he ran with the wind tearing his spines and his feet pounding the muddy grass, he worried about returning to Deimos Island. Sally had considered going in without GUN's permission, but the Great Kingdom senate had stepped in on that one. Sally couldn't move either way now, and Sonic couldn't act without her permission, or he would get court martialed. The idea of being locked up didn't appeal to him at all, so he was running to burn off his anxiety.

He hung a left and dashed through the center of town, slowing to a stop outside Sally's headquarters. He went inside, nodded to the sentry, and trotted down the stairs to the map room. He stopped outside the door and listened.

Sally was talking on a phone, and she sounded angry. "I don't care where he is, get him on the phone! I have a high-security issue to discuss. What? What do you mean, I'm not authorized? This is Sally Acorn! What? Hello?" She slammed the phone down, and Sonic peeked around the doorjam to see that she was holding her head in her hands.

"Why won't they speak to you?" said Nash, who had been studying one of the maps. "It makes no sense! What about those agreements they signed in July?"

"I swear Robotnik is behind this," muttered Sally. "He would cover himself twenty ways from Sunday. Bobby, what's the news on the transport?"

"Helicopters are too risky," Bobby replied. "I do have word that the skimship Lincanna is available. It carries three smaller craft that can slip in and dock, while it remains offshore. Restricted waters begin here." He tapped one of the maps outside Sonic's range of vision. "We could drop anchor here, and send in the light craft after dark."

"It's possible," said Sally. "I don't like having to enter restricted waters, though. We're dancing with international restrictions as it is. The colonies technically haven't done anything to us, and our movements will be seen as hostile."

Sonic stepped into view and leaned against the doorframe. "I can still teleport," he said as they all looked at him. He held up the green emerald. "I've used it so much that I'm stronger. I can go further and stuff. What if we docked the skimship, and I teleported the hostages off the island to the ship?"

Sally gazed at him and tapped her pen against her lips, thinking. Her eyes were a bright blue and her hair was mussed, and Sonic had the sudden impulse to smooth it down. "Get over it, Nash is watching," he told himself savagely. He gazed at the young cougar and saw Nash as he would become fifteen years in the future; a massive, muscular beast in a tailored uniform, with madness raging in his eyes. The mild-mannered young Nash of the present gave no indication of what he might become, and right now was chewing a pencil and gazing at a wall map.

"That could actually work," said Sally, and Sonic's thoughts jumped back to the matter at hand. "You're fast enough. But we can't afford any casualties."

Sonic grinned. "Of course not, Sal. Hey, it's me!"

She beckoned to him. "Come in and shut the door. And be nice," she mouthed at him as his eyes slid toward Nash again.

He shrugged and closed the door.

Near noon, Metal Sonic arrived on Polaris Avenue and stood gazing at the building marked 2260. It was a small, one-story building adjoining the GUN skyscraper, which cast its shadow over its tiny neighbor. There were no cars parked anywhere near, and the windows reflected the street and gave no hint as to the interior.

Mecha was disguised as a fox again, and felt the mild early winter sun beating on his arm. He had left Aleda and Nox with Tails, who was working feverishly on the Tornado. Mecha had assisted him until eleven-thirty, when on impulse he decided to follow Melchizedek's instructions.

Now he was standing on the sidewalk, feeling uncertain and foolish. If not for that admonition that time was running out ... and the fact that caulking had indeed been on sale ... how did Melchizedek know so much about not only Mecha's problems, but Tails's as well? It gave Mecha the creeps, until he applied logic. Tails had probably inquired about caulking before, and finding out his purchases would be a simple matter of asking. Nothing a good detective couldn't do.

But this message that Mecha was supposed to deliver ... what was that supposed to accomplish? He couldn't see how it could possibly make reaching Shadow any easier, not when he was supposed to walk away immediately afterwards.

The false fox stood in the sun as the clock ticked toward noon, panting and gazing at the unmarked door that was his target. Maybe it was a setup. Maybe the Mun-Icytho priests awaited him inside. Mecha berated himself for being naive and gullible, willing to do any fool thing anyone asked him. Then he reminded himself that he was delivering a message and that was all. What harm could that do, especially with 'time running out'? Time for what? Himself? Shadow?

His internal clock struck 12, and Mecha crossed the street and stepped up to the blank door. Whatever happened, he was committed now. He rapped his knuckles on the door, wincing at the metallic clanging they made, and waited.

A moment later the door opened, and a human in a business suit looked out at him. "Yes?" he said, looking at Mecha with distaste.

"The bird is in the water," said Mecha.

The human's eyes flickered. "What?"

Mecha spun on his heel and strode away without answering.

"Wait a minute!" the human called after him, then cursed and retreated inside. Mecha glanced over his shoulder, and broke into a run. If they were going to pursue him, he would get as much of a head start as possible.

But no one pursued him, and Mecha arrived back at the parking garage feeling vaguely disappointed.

The phone rang, and Sally picked it up. "Sally Acorn, chief minister of defense," she said.

"Hello," said a male voice. "I am secretary Roger Rickwood of GUN Scientific Management. We apologize for not cooperating with you prior to this, but I was not notified of your attempts at contact until a few moments ago."

"So you're going to cooperate now?" said Sally, raising her eyebrows at her team and Sonic, who were watching her.

"Yes," said Rickwood. "We've just received a message that certain events have fallen through with Deimos Island. The facilities there are highly classified, and I can't speak of their operations over the phone. How soon could you arrive in Sapphire City?"

Sally glanced at Sonic. "With a teleporting device, any time."

Rickwood was silent a moment, then said, "Yes. Please come to the GUN headquarters at 2262 Polaris Avenue. I will meet you personally, Ms. Acorn."

"Thank you, I'll be there in ten minutes," said Sally. She hung up and dialed the number for her superior in the senate. "GUN's gonna work with us now," she told them. "Something big has happened and they won't say what. We may not need you to sneak in after all, Sonic."

Sonic tossed his emerald in the air and caught it. "I wouldn't be too sure, Sal."

"Okay!" said Tails, throwing aside an empty metal caulking tube. "Check it out, Mecha, all the fittings are airtight now!"

The Tornado had transformed into its boat form. The axle had retracted and rotated so that the folded legs rested on the tail section. The underside had flattened out to minimize water resistance, and two panels had folded down underneath to create both a stabilizing fin and a rudder. The cockpit was much wider.

Mecha walked around the craft, which tilted awkwardly to one side on land. He could see the yellow caulking in the seams in the armor. "Tails," he said, "won't this hinder further transformation?"

"Nope!" said Tails. "The moving parts are sealed with rubber strips. I already took care of those. It's the armor that always leaked. Hey Tornado, turn back into the walker."

"Affirmative, Tails," said the Tornado, and rotated its axle so its feet rested on the ground again. The rudder folded up into its underside, and the airvents opened again in the nose.

"That is totally cool," said Nox, watching. "I was a robot once, and even I couldn't do that."

"Are we going to ride in it?" asked Aleda.

Tails looked at Mecha. "You want to go now? The weather's calm enough."

Mecha looked at Tails, then at the eager chao, then at the waiting Tornado. "Very well," he said. "I suppose the Tornado itself is a weapon, in addition to myself. Once Shadow is freed, he and myself will be capable of dealing with any other threats." He didn't mention Robo Knux, but Tails knew what he meant.

The fox nodded and swallowed. "Okay, get in, everybody. I'll take us down to the dock."

Shadow stood outside the door to the scientists' living quarters in the outer lab building. He had half-carried Nick here an hour ago, and the human insisted that he could care for himself once inside. Shadow was posted at the door to keep out any intruders, and aid Nick if he needed it. Robotnik had acted oddly when he discovered that Nick was still alive. Shadow thought that he was disappointed and excited all at once, and commanded Nick to wash off the ash that coated him and get some clothes.

When Nick had awakened, he was befuddled and half-sick, and didn't understand anything said to him for several minutes. When Robotnik had released him from the restraining frame, Shadow had to help Nick walk.

Shadow had been waiting outside the dormitory ever since. The shower had run for a long time, but it had finally shut off and Nick went about dressing himself with extra clothes from his suitcase. Shadow waited, wondering what the chaos energy had done to Nick, exactly. It had burned off everything but his skin, but what about his insides? What had the nanites done?

The door opened, and Shadow turned. Nick stepped out, looking furtive. He was bald, and his eyebrows and eyelashes were gone, giving him a sickly, bland look. Shadow grinned, and Nick glared at him. "Don't you dare laugh."

Shadow escorted Nick back to lab 1, and Nick staggered with him, groping at the wall to keep his balance. By the time they reached the airlock, the human was gasping for breath.

Robotnik looked up as they emerged from the airlock. "Ah, Mr. Karabian. So nice to see you out and about."

Nick sank into one of the computer chairs and rested his head on the backrest. "What did you do to me?" he said softly, unable to force his voice any louder.

"I'm not sure," said Robotnik. "I'll have to run a few tests. But at least one of my hypotheses is correct." He held up the uncut ruby, which was still glowing a deep red. "It is possible to manufacture artificial chaos emeralds."

Sonic and Sally appeared on Polaris Avenue in Sapphire City in a flash of green light, Sally clutching a briefcase in one hand and Sonic's hand in the other.

Two men in black GUN uniforms awaited them, and one stepped forward and extended a hand. "Princess? Roger Rickwood. It must be convenient to have a living teleporter at your disposal." He regarded Sonic, who met his gaze defiantly. Roger was tall, even for a human, with graying hair and hazel eyes. His companion was a soldier with a gun at his hip, and he watched the Mobians from behind a pair of shades that masked his eyes.

"Yes it is," said Sally, shaking Rickwood's hand. "This is Sonic, although he hardly needs an introduction."

"Yes, we're quite familiar with you, Sonic," said Rickwood, also shaking his hand.

"You should be," said Sonic, and kept between the men and Sally as they all walked into the GUN skyscraper. He shot Sally a look, and she widened her eyes and bared her teeth slightly - he was overreacting, knock off the tough guy attitude.

He rolled his eyes at her, and continued to shield her with his body as they entered an elevator. They rode it up to the fifth floor, and stepped out into an office. A conference table dominated the room, but its chairs were empty but for three at the far end. Three humans rose and bowed politely, and Sally nodded back. Sonic didn't bother to acknowledge the courtesy, but glared at them with narrowed eyes.

Rickwood escorted Sonic and Sally to seats near the others, and sat down, himself. He introduced everyone, and Sally discovered that these three strangers were chiefs of GUN command.

Rickwood folded his hands on the tabletop. "This all began as a grant to a research team who specialized in nanotech. Analytech." He slid a file toward Sally, who opened it and saw that it was information on the firm.

"Unfortunately," said Rickwood, "it seems that there is some corruption within GUN itself. After the firm was granted use of the facility on Deimos Island, someone else took over its supervision. One of the lower science officers has been filing false reports from the facilities, and ordering supplies sent out under fake invoices. He also masterminded blocking or rerouting your calls until earlier today, when we received a message pinpointing him as the culprit. We apprehended him, but he had destroyed all of his records. We don't know what has been shipped out there, aside from sketchy reports from our pilots. They do recall, however, that they transferred an escaped convict out there."

He looked at Sonic with a wry smile. "I assume you remember the Shadow project?"

Sonic stiffened, eyes widening. "You mean Shadow's out there at that lab?"

"Yes, a black hedgehog identified as Shadow," said Rickwood.

Sonic gave Sally a wild look, then sank back in his chair, eyes glazing. He looked as if he was going to be sick. Sally looked at him and recalled the distress message from the scientists, who were being forced to conduct 'illegal experiments' ...

She opened her own briefcase and handed Rickwood a copy of the message. "My techs received this message a few days ago from the scientists on Deimos Island. It's what got our attention in the first place."

Rickwood read the message, frowning, and passed it to his companions. When they had all read it, they looked at Sonic and Sally with new respect. "Well then, Princess," said Rickwood, "it seems as if both humans and Mobians find this situation embarrassing. It will take both our species to straighten it out."

"Yes," said Sally. "I'm prepared to work with you one hundred percent. We already had several evacuation attempts planned. Here is our information." She pulled a folder from her briefcase and handed it to Rickwood. The other officials leaned closer to see the folder's contents, and they flipped through it and whispered among themselves. Sally thought they looked surprised, even pleased.

She turned to check Sonic, and found him slumped in his chair, staring out the window. He had checked out of the conversation entirely. Sally felt a twinge of foreboding ... if Sonic put Shadow's safety first, he could endanger the lives of everyone else. And if the look on his face was any indication, Shadow's rescue had just become priority.

The sun glittered on the water, and the Tornado's prow sliced through the waves, opening them in a foamy V that trailed in the boat's wake. Mecha rode gripping the sides of the boat and staring straight ahead. The chao bounded from side to side, climbing up to watch the water flow by, and shouting over the noise of the engine.

Tails set his course by the Tornado's map, and guided them straight out to sea, the horizon empty and distant before them. Tails didn't know much about boating, but the weather was so calm that he was confident that the Tornado could handle deep water.

He looked over his shoulder at Mecha. Once they had left the harbor, Mecha had dropped his fox disguise, and it gave Tails chills to see the fierce blue robot sitting behind him. But right now Mecha looked anything but fierce. "What's the matter?" Tails asked.

"I do not like water," Mecha replied, barely audible over the engine.

Tails nodded and watched the navigation screen, and thought of the times when water had overpowered Mecha and all but destroyed him. He turned in his seat. "But you're organic now, right? You won't short out if you get wet, will you?"

"No," said Mecha, watching the horizon without blinking. "However, I cannot swim, and there is another unforeseen difficulty that has arisen."

"What?" Tails asked. "Should I stop?"

"No!" Mecha barked. "My discomfort does not matter. We must reach Deimos Island at all costs. This is merely another drawback of my power system."

Tails turned to face forward again, biting his lip to keep from smiling. Did that mean what he thought it meant? No wonder Mecha hated water!

They didn't speak for almost an hour, and the sun heated the inside of the boat while the whipping wind chilled the passengers. The chao huddled down in the space between the seats, and Tails crouched behind the Tornado's windscreen. Mecha gradually shifted to one side until he was riding with his head hanging over the edge of the boat. When Tails looked back, he saw that the android was throwing up. A moment later Mecha sat up again, his eyes glassy. "I despise water," he snarled softly. "And I despise this useless carbon-based power system!"

"Don't lose the horizon," Tails told him. "When you're carsick, you want to find the furthest thing away to look at."

"The motion of the craft is what affects me," growled Mecha. "I have not looked away from the horizon since we embarked."

Tails concentrated on driving for a while, and when he next looked around, the mainland had vanished behind them. There was nothing but water from horizon to horizon, and the Tornado suddenly seemed very small. But they had plenty of fuel, and the screen displayed the map with their course as a green line, so Tails knew that they weren't lost. He kept the Tornado moving at what would have been forty miles an hour on land. Tails supposed he should convert that to knots, but didn't know the conversion numbers. "Hey Mecha," he said, turning.

Mecha was lying crosswise across the seat with his head resting on the edge of the boat, eyes closed.

"Nevermind," Tails muttered.

Gradually the size of the ocean swell increased. The Tornado began to toss and roll, climbing up one wave, then dropping into the trough, then climbing the next one, and Tails struggled to hold the helm steady. In back, Mecha's seasickness worsened, but he had the presence of mind to make the chao climb into one of the backpacks which he held between his feet. He envisioned one of them falling overboard and being lost in this churning mass of vile water. The chao had grown quiet and still as the boat pitched.

"Mecha," said Aleda over the network, "what's wrong with me? My stomach feels all twisty."

"Motion sickness," Mecha replied. "The motion of the boat disorients the inner ear, which in turn distorts the operation of the stomach." He turned and threw up for the tenth time, then sank back into his seat, wiping his mouth and wondering if he was going into shock. He felt a grim resignation. There was nothing he could do to change the situation besides throwing himself overboard, and even that was looking more inviting as the sea grew rougher.

Tails was feeling an uneasiness in the pit of his stomach now, but he wouldn't let himself think about it. He was having to zigzag through each wave to avoid being swamped, and it took all of his strength to control the rudder. The Tornado paid close attention to his control, but kept its thoughts to itself.

Once, at the beginning of the voyage, it had said, "Tails, what happens if we sink?"

"We die," Tails had replied grimly.

After a few minutes, the Tornado had said, "Please do not let me sink."

"I won't," Tails had said, and he had been fighting to keep the boat afloat ever since. This was the first time that he had taken the AI-enabled Tornado into a dangerous situation, and Tails found that it frightened him. This craft had a mind of its own, a mind that trusted him and feared for its own survival. This must be what Sonic felt like when he took Tails with him on missions.

Tails imagined Sonic here with him, and grinned. Sonic would be as miserable as Mecha, except Sonic would complain more. And Tails would have Sonic's life in his hands, the way he did the chao, Mecha, and the Tornado. The thought sobered him, and he concentrated on steering and navigating.

Robotnik held up the glowing uncut ruby in a pair of tongs, admiring it for a moment, before he set it in a box and closed the lid. "I'm not certain how long the chaos charge lasts," he said to Shadow and Nick. "Maybe a few days or months. I'll run a few more tests. As for you," he said, striding up to Nick, "let's have a look at those nanites in your bloodstream."

He took a small syringe from a box, and took Nick's limp hand. Nick was slumped in his chair and didn't even twitch when Robotnik drew his blood.

As Robotnik inserted the syringe bottle into a sensor tube, he said, "How do you feel, Karabian?"

"Totally beat," said Nick, moving only his lips. "I could sleep for a year."

"Fascinating," said Robotnik, peering at him for a moment. "My first hypothesis is that you are sharing the same fatigue that Shadow develops after using too much chaos energy. But it could be that the chaos surge sapped the stored tone from your muscles. Are you in pain?"

"No," muttered Nick. "Just tired."

"Hmm." Robotnik ran an analysis on the nanites in Nick's blood, and said nothing else.

Nick turned his head and looked at Shadow. The black hedgehog was gazing at him, his natural eye sympathetic, and his robot eye cold and blank. They were in this together, and now they shared a desperate bond - if they could, they would help each other escape.

Robotnik broke the silence. "Well well, Mr. Karabian, you are now host to a swarm of nanites that have adapted to your cell structure."

Nick rolled his head toward his tormentor. "What's that mean?"

"I'm not sure," said Robotnik. "I need to observe you for several more days, but they seem to be multiplying at a tremendous rate. By my calculations, your immune system will attack the nanites within a few more hours, and you will develop leukemia symptoms and die." He smiled and shrugged.

Nick lacked the strength to even feel frightened. He looked at Shadow again, but Shadow was watching Robotnik with a murderous expression. Nick couldn't help but think that if Shadow ever regained control, then Robotnik wouldn't live very long.

One of the computers beeped, and Robotnik turned and looked at it. Then he stepped up and gazed at it with a frown. A slow smile spread across his face, a smile that Nick and Shadow did not like. Then Robotnik addressed his four assistant robots. "Disassemble and pack this equipment. Plan ninety-eight." The robots set about unplugging hoses and rolling up cords.

Robotnik looked at the screen again, grinning, and said, "The rescue party approaches! Pity I won't be here to see what happens."

"You're leaving?" said Nick.

"Of course," said Robotnik. "It's a pity that I can't take you two along, but you're going to die, and Shadow ... ahh, Shadow ..." He grinned at the hedgehog as if Shadow had just given him a winning lottery ticket. "Perhaps you will die, as well. I wish I could stay, really. I do like you, Shadow, but you're the key to destroying Metal Sonic, and he will probably destroy you in self defense. Or you may kill yourself. Such intriguing theories, so little time! I shall have to ask Robo Knux what happens." He turned and walked out.

As the airlock closed behind him, Shadow and Nick looked at each other. "No," whispered Shadow. "He wouldn't ask me to do that."

But they both knew that Robotnik would.

The Mobian skimship Lincanna was a glorified freighter. It looked like a flat square with a point at the front end, and railings all the way around that reached above a Mobian's head, but only came to the chest of a human. The underside of the ship was made of overlapping rubber fins that blasted air in varying amounts, forcing the craft to hover over the water. It moved fast, was hard to control, and sounded like an idling jet squadron.

Sonic watched as GUN officers hoisted three speedboats aboard with a crane on the dock, and secured the speedboats to the deck of the skimship. Then he turned and entered the bridge, which was a glass half-globe on the nose of the freighter. Inside were Sally, Roger Rickwood, and two Mobian pilots. They were seagulls with prehensile wingtips, and both of them looked smug about being privy to a secret mission.

"How fast can this thing go?" Sonic asked them.

The gulls looked at each other. "Well," said one, "I've had her up to ninety before, on calm days. We usually do about fifty. You don't want to bounce around too much when you're hauling cargo."

"You got that right," said the other. "Remember the Stardale? They ran her too fast in rough weather, hit a crest and flipped. These babies are tough to flip, but once they do, the weight of the jets on the bottom sinks the whole shebang. They lost everyone on the Stardale. I hear they're still trying to salvage her."

Sonic glanced at Sally, who looked horrified. So did Rickwood. "You don't think we'll have trouble, do you" he asked the pilots.

"Heck no!" they told him. "You humans may have the superior land weaponry, but we own you at sea."

GUN had liked their idea to use a skimship, because it could slip close to the island without being detected. They were afraid that if helicopters arrived on the island to apprehend Robotnik, he might kill the scientists out of panic. So they opted to use the stealthy Mobian approach, and send in helicopters afterward to clean up.

Sonic took Sally's hand and squeezed it comfortingly, and she squeezed back. Then she reached into the pocket of her vest and half-exposed a glowing violet gem inside. "Just in case," she murmured, thrusting the chaos emerald back into hiding.

Sonic held up the green chaos emerald in his other hand. "I got it covered, Sal. Don't you worry." He seemed about to say something else, but glanced at the people around them and changed his mind.

"Sonic," said Sally, "we have to get the scientists clear before you go after Shadow."

He looked at her sharply, green eyes flaming, then calmed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Heck, he's probably locked up with them. I can't believe I never saw him all the times I was there!"

"Remember who we're working with," said Sally, nodding at Rickwood's back, which had GUN stencilled across it. "They don't like Shadow."

"Or me, either," Sonic said under his breath. "Yeah. I might have to arrange for Shadow to escape, and that'd go over like a lead balloon. I just hope he's okay."

"I know." Sally didn't dare say anything else, and walked to the convex glass window and watched men and Mobians bustling around the dock, securing cargo. Sonic stepped up beside her and watched, as well.

"Hey," he said over his shoulder to the pilots, "how come stuff carried by ship is cargo, and stuff carried by car is a shipment?"

The pilots guffawed, and to her surprise, Sally did, too. Sonic's sense of humor always caught her off guard, and it was a welcome relief to laugh after the stress of the past few days.

"Oh yeah?" said Sally. "How come they're called apartments when they're all together?"

Sonic threw back his head and roared.

One of the pilots said, "And why is abbreviation such a long word?"

Even Rickwood cracked a smile at that one.

Sally wiped her streaming eyes and watched as the workers strapped down the final speedboat. It was almost time to depart, and a good thing, too. She didn't know what she would do if the jokes became any cornier.

The sun began to swing toward the west, and Tails squinted against the glare on the water. The sea was still rough, and his back and shoulders ached from fighting the wheel for so long. His fur felt damp and clammy from the wind-tossed spray, and he was losing his battle with seasickness.

"Tails," said Mecha from the rear seat, "I regret having to ask such a question, but are we there yet?"

Tails glanced back at the android, who was curled up in the seat, half-leaning against the side of the boat, and Aleda was in his lap. Tails saw his own misery in Mecha's dim eyes, and turned back to the Tornado's screen. "We're about fifteen miles away," said Tails. "Sorry I can't go any faster, but the Tornado's too small to be out here."

"That is emphatically correct," muttered Mecha. He shifted positions and squinted at the western horizon, which was aflame with the golden sun and its shimmering reflection. After a while he remarked, "I believe I can see Deimos Island, but the glare makes it difficult."

Tails shaded his eyes with one hand and thought that he could make out a dark shape against the sky. "Good!" he said. "I just hope that I can find the harbor. I'd hate to have to beach the Tornado."

The Tornado chugged on, its modified propeller beating the water, rolling from one side to the other like a dying fish. Mecha, Nox and Aleda stared toward the island until they were nearly blind from the intense light, and their approach seemed maddeningly slow. Tails longed to punch the throttle all the way open and let the Tornado's jet engine rocket them to shore, but he knew that this would flip the Tornado instantly, especially in these waters.

The golden light on the ocean deepened to amber as the sun sank. The island was visible now, a solid dark band in the midst of the tossing, gleaming sea. Tails made for it as directly as he could, feeling his own nausea abate at the mere sight of land. Mecha, too, seemed to feel better, and scrutinized the island's coastline with his scanners.

"Tails," he said, "my scans indicate that the island's coastline is composed entirely of cliffs."

"Great," muttered Tails. "I hope nobody's watching the harbor. Where's the harbor, Mecha?"

Mecha slowly turned his head from side to side as he scanned. He straightened. "Tails, there is another craft departing the island and travelling north."

"Really?" Tails peered across the ocean, but could see nothing. "Who's in it?"

"It contains one living occupant," said Mecha. "Beyond that, identification is impossible." His voice dropped. "But it is probably Robotnik."

"Probably," said Tails, lying his ears back. "And the slime just ran for it, too! Which means that saving Shadow will be easy."

"Robo Knux is still on the island," said Mecha, and lapsed into silence for a while.

The island took shape as they neared its natural walls, and Tails uneasily observed the waves breaking in foam over submerged rocks and reefs, and the way the waves pounded the cliffs. If he took the Tornado too close, the water would beat them to pieces on the rocks. "Mecha, can you see the harbor?" he said over his shoulder.

"Yes," Mecha replied. "It is three hundred meters to the north. I pinpointed it using the trajectory of the departing craft."

Tails concentrated on guiding the Tornado along the island's rim, feeling the tug of the tide as it tried to carry them into the cliffs. He couldn't see the harbor until they were opposite it, and suddenly the cliffs receded in a small cove with a dock that looked welcoming. Tails made for it in relief, and the waves shrank as they passed between the outer cliff walls.

He cut the engine as they coasted up to the dock, and jumped out onto the solid planking. For a moment it seemed as if the dock was shifting and rolling beneath him, but he regained his balance and said, "Hey Mecha, toss me the anchor rope." Mecha did so, and Tails tied the Tornado to a piling.

Mecha climbed out, staggering until he, too, had reoriented himself to solid ground. Then he gazed around the cove with a calculating eye. "Tails," he said, "I must go to the facility up there alone."

"What?" exclaimed Tails. "No way, I'm going with you!"

"Negative," said Mecha, shaking his head. "Robo Knux's objective is to slaughter everyone around me. That includes you, and you are unarmed. Remain with the Tornado. It has weapons that will deter even Robo Knux. You must look after the chao until I bring Shadow to you."

"But Mecha," said Tails.

Mecha bared his teeth and clenched a fist in the fox's face. "You let Robo Knux take Aleda once. Do it again and I swear that you will pay with your life."

Tails backed away, eyes wide, tucking his tails between his legs. For a moment he had forgotten that this was Mecha and had treated him like Sonic, but Mecha did not allow such familiarity. "Okay Mecha," said Tails meekly.

Without another word, Mecha whirled and strode up the path.

As he vanished around the edge of the cove, Aleda said, "You know Tails, Mecha didn't tell me to stay here."

"I know," said Tails, climbing back into the Tornado and sitting in the pilot seat again. "But like he said, Robo Knux will try to kill you."

"Why, what happened before?" said Aleda, looking first at Tails, then at the cliff path.

"It was terrible," said Nox before Tails could respond. "Robo Knux just knocked Tails down and grabbed you, but you didn't understand what was happening. He hurt you so bad that Mecha thought you were dead, and it broke his heart." Nox gazed fiercely up at the cliff path. "Mecha didn't tell me to stay here, either. And Shadow's up there."

"You're both staying right here," said Tails, glaring at the chao, who looked rebellious. Then, as they looked up at the path again, Tails said, "Here, trade me seats. If something happens to me, you ought to know how to make the Tornado defend us."

Now that was something Nox and Aleda wanted to do. They obeyed at once.

Nick and Shadow were alone in lab 1. Robotnik's robots had packed up all of his equipment and carried it out, and the lab seemed bare and empty without it. Robotnik had left, as well, locking the airlock door from the outside. But before leaving, he had attached a tiny radio transmitter to the side of Shadow's head, which allowed Robotnik to give Mekion commands remotely. A green light showed that it was active, and Shadow was facing the airlock door as if awaiting attack.

Nick remained in his chair, dozing off for minutes at a time in the silence. He wondered if he was going into hibernation, or if the nanites inside of him were going to kill him by putting him to sleep. That might not be so bad.

He snapped awake as a tinny crackle filled the room. Shadow turned his head, wincing, as the transmitter blared into his ear. "Mekion, do you hear me?" came Robotnik's voice.

"Yes Master," Shadow whispered.

"Good," said Robotnik. "Metal Sonic is on his way. He is the enemy. Do you understand, Mekion? I command you to destroy him."

Shadow closed his natural eye with an expression of despair. "Yes Master," he whispered. "I understand. I will destroy Metal Sonic." He shook his head from side to side, then began to pace around the room, his movements jerky.

"Shadow," said Nick, "Metal Sonic was your original master?"

"Yes," whispered Shadow, but he was battling Mekion again. "No. He created Mekion. But Mekion can be reprogrammed. No! Mecha was never my master. Robotnik deserves my allegiance. I will carry out his commands. No! Not Mecha. Yes! Kill him! Augh!" He gripped his head.

Outside, Mecha had arrived at the fence ringing the facility. He gazed at the windowless lab buildings with an expression of loathing, then ripped the electric lock off the gate. He flung it on the ground and heaved the gate open, then strode across the inner yard to the front doors. At this point he was so ticked off that he could break down the walls, if he had to.

He reached the front doors and slashed his claws through their electronic lock, as well. He pressed one hand against the top corner of the door and liquefied his biometal. The liquid metal flowed into the gap in the frame, and Mecha twisted his hand and jerked the weather stripping off the front of the door. He withdrew his biometal hand and repeated the process with the other corners. Then he stuck his hands in the top of the doors and yanked them outward. They opened with a dying whine of machinery, and Mecha was blasted by air from the interior of the building. Blinking, he stepped inside.

He swept the lobby with his scanners. Four labs. Four lifeforms were in lab 3, and two were in lab 1. There was no sign of Robo Knux, and hopefully Mecha could locate Shadow before Robo Knux detected him. He scanned the people in the labs carefully. Mekion was one of the two people in lab 1.

Mecha strode to the airlock door, tore the lock off, and stepped into the airlock as it rotated shut. It pressurized, and the inner door opened - and Mecha found himself nose to nose with Shadow, who was standing on the other side of the door.

Mecha had a split second in which to notice that Mekion's red eye was blazing so brightly that it was in danger of burning out, and that Shadow's natural eye was fixed and staring. Then Mekion struck Metal Sonic in the face with his metal fist.

Metal Sonic staggered back, stunned both by the blow and the attack. Mekion stalked into the airlock with him, drawing back his metal fist for another blow.

"Shadow!" Mecha exclaimed. "What are you doing? How dare you!"

"I have been commanded to destroy you," hissed Mekion with Shadow's mouth, and swung his fist. Metal Sonic dodged, and Mekion's fist clanged against the wall of the airlock chamber. Metal Sonic ducked out of the chamber into the open space of the lab, and Mekion followed him, panting through his teeth.

A human sat in a chair before the computers along one wall, watching all this with interest. "Who are you?" Metal Sonic asked, circling the vacuum tube, keeping it between himself and Shadow.

"I'm Nick," said the human. "Another of Robotnik's experiments, I'm afraid."

Shadow spindashed, and Mecha dove out of the way in a spindash of his own. "Mekion!" he shouted. "I command you to stop immediately! You are in violation of the First Law!"

"Negative," said Shadow. "Dr. Robotnik is my master, and he commanded me to destroy you." Suddenly he gave an anguished whispering cry and doubled up, holding his head. "No, no, no! I can't, I can't do this!"

The radio transmitter on the side of his head crackled, and Robotnik's voice said, "Kill him, Shadow. Weakness is no excuse."

Shadow straightened up, but his natural eye had begun to stream tears. "I hate you!" he screamed in a whisper, and flung himself at Mecha in a spin.

Mecha dove into a spin himself, and struck Shadow at an angle, sending him crashing into the wall. Mecha had been aiming for that transmitter, but to his grief he saw that he had missed, slashing across Shadow's natural arm instead.

Shadow was bleeding as he leaped to his feet, and he clutched his injured arm to his chest. "I'm sorry," he whispered to Mecha.

"I'm sorry," Mecha replied. He felt as if someone was cutting out his heart with a rusty knife. Shadow, his friend, was being forced to attack him against his will. And Mecha had hurt Shadow, just as he had that fatal night when his pride and folly had ruled supreme. Mecha remembered the bitter taste of Shadow's blood in his mouth, and wondering momentarily if Shadow had really deserved that ...

He thought of his defeat, and of how Shadow had cared for him afterwards. Shadow was the reason that Mecha was still alive.

He sidestepped as Mekion spindashed again and dented the wall. "Shadow," said Mecha, "I can't hurt you again. Stop attacking, I'll comply with your wishes."

"I want you to die!" Shadow snarled, but his voice was choked. Tears were running down the natural side of his face, dripping onto the floor. He motioned for Mecha to run with his natural hand, then put his head down and ran at Mecha, his robot hand extended. Mecha raised his own hands and caught Shadow's robot hand. "Mekion," he said, "you are the enemy here. What is your control percentage?"

"One hundred percent," Mekion snarled, his nose inches from Mecha's.

Shadow closed his natural eye and bowed his head, as his robot hand slowly twisted Mecha's arm sideways. "I can't, I can't," Shadow whispered. Then he raised his head as Mekion and grabbed Mecha's throat in his natural hand.

Mecha knew dozens of ways to kill Shadow and free himself. He had one free hand, which meant that he could tear out Shadow's eye, or jugular, or break his neck, or any number of things. But Shadow was not the enemy - he was weeping as he fought, unable to stop himself. Mekion was the enemy, and there was no way to stop him without hurting Shadow.

Mecha reached up and clawed the radio transmitter off the side of Mekion's head, then liquefied into a semi-solid pool of biometal. He slipped out of Mekion's grasp, and Mekion danced backwards, out of reach of the murky silver fluid. Mecha pulled his shape back together, stood up and faced his rogue creation.

"Mekion," he said, "open your network port."

"Never!" hissed Mekion. "You'll modify my programming the way you did before." He turned his head slightly and said, "Do it, Mekion. No! You have no say anymore, Shadow!" He bolted forward, curling into a deadly spin, and Metal Sonic ducked aside. Mekion continued to rave, but at himself. "I have control, you fool! Complete control! Robotnik is our Master!"

At the word he gagged, staggered and clutched his stomach. "Mecha," he whispered, looking at the android desperately, "you have to disable me."

"No, I can't," said Metal Sonic.

"Do it!" screamed Shadow, charging at Mecha again. This time he grabbed Mecha in a chokehold and tried to throttle him. "Hurt me, hurt me, hurt me, die, die, die!" he hissed in an insane rhythm, then suddenly released Mecha, whirled and beat his own head against the wall. "Submit or I'll kill us both!" Mekion snarled.

Shadow collapsed to the floor, sobbing and holding his head. The laws programmed into Mekion compelled his obedience, but Shadow knew that attacking Metal Sonic was the deepest wrong he could commit. Mecha was his one friend, the one person left alive who had ever been kind to him. Mecha had come to save him, and Shadow was attacking him! Every time he spindashed, he screamed inside his head, terrified that this time he would strike. This time he would land a fatal hit. So far he had not actually hurt Mecha, but if he did, Shadow was prepared to kill himself somehow. He was trapped in a nightmare with no escape, crushed under the violent fury of his robotic brain.

"Shadow," said Mecha quietly, head bowed, "don't be afraid. Mekion is out of control, but we shall soon set him right. You have to fight him."

Mekion leaped to his feet, teeth bared. "How dare you speak to him, fiend!" But Shadow's natural ear had pricked forward, and he gazed at Mecha with sudden hope.

"If I hurt you," said Mecha, still in that soft, anguished voice, "Mekion's control levels will drop because he cannot process pain. When that happens, you must open the network port."

Shadow nodded.

Mecha stepped forward, but hesitated, biting his lower lip. Hurting Shadow was the last thing he wanted to do. He had come to rescue Shadow, not hurt him. Dr. Robotnik was even more twisted than Mecha remembered.

He waited too long, and Mekion sprang into another spindash, this time striking Metal Sonic a glancing blow and knocking him down. Mecha got up with a raw silver gash across his arm and face. They closed up again within seconds, but it sent Shadow into a panicked frenzy.

"He hurt you, he hurt you, I can't stop him, Mecha!" He clawed at his own body, trying to restrain his robot hand, but Mekion held it out of reach.

Mecha shook his head to clear the pain, and said quietly, "Charge me again, Shadow. And I apologize in advance for the pain." He held out his arms to make himself a bigger target.

Shadow stared at him, his breath coming in shuddering sobs, tears still running down his face. "Kill me," he whispered, and flung himself into a spindash.

Mecha dodged again, and as the black hedgehog struck the wall, Mecha pounced on him. He held Shadow flat with one foot, and with surgical precision he clenched his hands together and smashed them down on Shadow's organic shin. The bone snapped, and Shadow wailed, a hideous, tearing sound in his broken voice.

"Lie still!" Mecha commanded, grasping the injured leg. With a sharp jerk, he pulled the bone out straight and set it back in place.

The pain of the break was bad, but the pain of setting the break was so extreme that Shadow almost fainted. Suddenly Mekion's control dropped to half, then a third. Shadow's brain was so charged with nerve impulses that they blocked Mekion's input, but he was in such pain that he couldn't remember what he was supposed to do.

The corners of his vision were dark and all sounds seemed to come through a long metal tube, but Shadow saw Mecha stooping over him. Mecha's eyes glistened with sorrow and remorse, but all he said was, "Open Mekion's network port."

Shadow found that he could direct Mekion to obey, and was dimly aware of receiving network signals again. Then he swam away into unconsciousness, where neither pain nor Mekion could touch him.

The skimship Lincanna cruised over the ocean, and Sonic and Sally stood at the railing, gazing into the sunset. Somewhere out there was an island of prisoners, whom they were going to set free. The wind cut into their faces, and the freighter was so large that the ocean's swell only rocked it gently.

Sally checked her watch. "The pilot says we'll arrive in an hour. It'll be dark by then."

"Yep." Sonic shifted his weight from foot to foot. The further they travelled, the more the idea of Sally accompanying him to Deimos Island sent ripples of panic through him. What if something happened to her? What if she tried to help him, and got in the line of fire? What if Robo Knux went after her? She wouldn't stand a chance. She couldn't even control her chaos emerald properly, because she had no training.

He watched her out of the corner of his eye as the wind blew her forelock across her face. If only she could hear his thoughts and understand his terror for her ... Sonic thought that he understood Knuckles a little better now. Knuckles was ultra-protective of Zephyer to the point where he and Zephyer had fights over it. Sonic knew that Sally wouldn't tolerate his protective attitude, because after all, she had spent most of her life in wartime situations. But this time Sonic was up against enemies he was familiar with. He knew what they were capable of, and the thought of Sally impaled on Robo Knux's claws was more than he could stand.

Why not propose now? They were alone on the deck, and Sonic had the ring. He looked at Sally, then down at the water flowing by the ship. He drew a deep breath as if about to dive in, and sank to one knee. "Sally," he said.

She turned and saw him kneeling, and her face lit up. "What, Sonic?"

"Princess Acorn!" Rickwood called, stepping out of the bridge and waving.

Sonic said, "Uh ... my shoe's unbuckled." He pretended to tighten the strap on his sneaker.

Sally laughed in exasperation and pulled him to his feet. "Sure it was," she said, and they walked up to the bridge. Sonic's face was burning. Who would have thought that this romance stuff would be so embarrassing?

In lab 3, Barlet, Lintel, Kray and Touis were working on the new batch of upgrades for Robo Knux when they were startled by thumps and crashes through the south wall. They froze and listened. "What's going on in there?" Kray whispered.

The crashes continued, and they could hear raised voices, muffled by distance and walls. Then silence fell, and they looked at each other. "Robotnik must have attacked Nick," said Barlet, ears flattening. "Should I go look?"

"We both will," said Touis. "Lintel, Kray, stay here and bar the door. Robotnik might have decided that our time is up."

Barlet gulped, and Lintel and Kray nodded. Then the squirrel and chipmunk hurried to the airlock.

The light in the lobby was different, and the air smelled fresh and non-sterile. Then they saw that the outer doors had been broken open and were hanging at odd angles, and their weather stripping lay in tangles on the threshold.

"Somebody broke in," said Touis softly.

"Or out," said Barlet, examining the latches on the sides. "Somebody just broke the machinery in them, look at the snapped wires!"

"Who would be strong enough to do that?" said Touis in a hushed voice. "Robo Knux has a keycard. Would he do this?"

"You're asking me?" said Barlet. He hurried down the hall. "Look, somebody broke the control plate off the airlock to lab one!" He lifted the broken box off the floor. It had three cuts through the plastic housing that looked disturbingly like clawmarks.

Touis strode up and looked at the ruined controls, then at the closed airlock. "We can't open the door from this side," he said. "Whoever is in there better have working controls or they're trapped."

Barlet looked up and down the drafty hallway. "I wonder where Robotnik is."

"Let's check the other labs," said Touis.

The pair hurried to lab 2, entered through the airlock, and looked around. Nobody was there. They left and checked lab 4. It, too was devoid of people, but packed full of everything else. It appeared as if Robotnik had dumped all of his extra equipment into this lab, and boxes were scattered everywhere, heaped with discarded instruments.

"There's a fortune worth of stuff in here!" exclaimed Barlet. "Why doesn't he take better care of this stuff?"

"He's got a screw loose," said Touis in disgust. "Look at this!" He reached into a nearby box and pulled out the cage-like object that Robotnik had forced Shadow to wear. The orange chaos emerald was still clamped in its claws. "Aren't these things rare?" said Touis, examining the gem. "He just threw it away!"

"Let's keep it," said Barlet. "Might come in handy if we have to barter for our lives."

"Right." Touis slid his arm into the cage until his hand rested against the chaos emerald. "Now, if only I was chaos positive," he said, smirking.

"Let's get out of here," said Barlet. "I feel like someone's watching us. Robotnik must be locked in lab one with Nick."

They left through the airlock, and the lobby outside was silent and empty, the outer doors still hanging open. It was twilight outside, and Barlet paused at the doors and touched Touis's shoulder. They could see that the gate was open in the fence that ringed the facility. "Touis," whispered Barlet, "where are the E-200 robots?"

It dawned on both of them that they hadn't seen the menacing little machines in any of the labs. And here lay the sort of damage that only a robot could do.

The pair bolted back to lab 3, entered the airlock, and knocked at the inside door as the chamber pressurized. The inner door cracked open, and Kray peered in at them. Then he opened the door all the way, looking relieved. "What'd you find?"

Touis held up the cage on his arm that contained the chaos emerald. "A bargaining tool. And it looks like the E-200 robots have gone rogue, the outer doors are smashed ..."

Shadow drifted back to consciousness. There was an excruciating throbbing in his right leg, and Mekion was processing information. Shadow guessed that Mecha was working on removing Robotnik's patch.

Shadow opened his natural eye. Mecha was sitting beside him with his head bowed, gazing at him with a vacant expression. It took all of Mecha's concentration to work on Mekion through the network.

On Shadow's other side was Nick, sitting on his hands and knees. Shadow thought in a detached sort of way how all creatures looked pitiful when shaved, even humans, who were mostly hairless to begin with. "Hello," Shadow whispered.

"Hi," said Nick. "I can't believe he broke your leg, then turned around and set it."

"He had to," said Shadow. As consciousness returned, the throbbing in his leg extended to the rest of his body, especially his right arm. He winced and turned his head a little to see Nick with his right eye, for his left eye was dead. "My body heals rapidly, and I'm packed with nanites that accelerate the process even further. If he didn't set my leg, it would heal crooked in a few hours."

Nick whistled softly. "I wish I healed that fast."

"Will you two be quiet?" Mecha growled. "Mekion has been utterly scrambled. I cannot fathom how Robotnik did this. It appears as if he loosed a virus into Mekion's matrix."

"A virus?" said Shadow. "But is that possible?"

"Mekion operates on nano-neuro principles," said Mecha, frowning. "I was not aware that it was possible to design viruses for such a system. In an organic brain, it would be similar to dementia."

"Can you fix it?" asked Nick.

Mecha shot him a sarcastic glance. "That is what I have been trying to do."

"Can you lock his control back to one percent?" Shadow asked.

"Certainly," said Mecha. "But he still considers Robotnik to be his master. That is the part that I am having difficulty changing."

There was a moment of silence, and Shadow closed his eye. He whispered through clenched teeth, "When this is over, I'll no longer be a pawn for the powerful."

"No," said Mecha. "When this is over, you may be dead."

Shadow opened his eye. "What?"

Mecha shook his head. "I apologize for making you into Mekion, Shadow. Mekion will stop at nothing until he has overcome you, as long as the data corruption exists. I do not have the facilities or time to properly repair his processors. I have reset his control to one percent, but I can not guarantee that it will remain there."

The network noise in Shadow's head stopped, and his mechanical eye flicked on. He lifted his head and slowly sat up. He could control his robot limbs again, but Mekion felt cold and distant in his head. Shadow half expected him to speak in a different language. "Data log?" Shadow asked.

"No data has been logged," Mekion replied.

That was strange. Shadow looked at Mecha, who nodded. "As I said, Mekion has suffered heavy damage. And so has Shadow."

Shadow looked at his injured leg and saw that two aluminum bars had been strapped to either side of it. Nearby lay the remains of a dismantled desk chair that Mecha had commandeered, which explained why Nick was sitting on the floor.

"You may attempt to walk," said Mecha, rising to his feet. "I must convey you to the Tornado. The sooner I can return you to our home base, the sooner I can repair Mekion."

Shadow struggled to his feet, pain lancing through his leg and arm. Mecha helped him up, and so did Nick. Mecha threw the human a long, distrustful look.

"Nick's okay," Shadow panted. "He got caught trying to escape, so they put him with me as punishment. Robotnik pumped him full of chaos-charged nanites to see what happened."

"Oh?" Mecha tilted his head to one side and regarded Nick with new interest. "What happened?"

"It burned off everything but my skin," said Nick, smiling sheepishly. "I'm also really tired, but that's wearing off. I can walk now."

"You should have died," said Mecha. "You are a human. However, since you are alive, you are still useful. Assist Shadow in walking, while I ... open the ... airlock ..." Mecha trailed off, turning his head to gaze at the open airlock chamber.

"Robo Knux," he hissed, and his body liquefied into silver metal. He reformed into Sonic, but a Sonic that looked hard and angry. "Stay still and be quiet," he whispered in Sonic's voice. "I do not think he has yet detected me."

Robo Knux had been standing out on the cliffs that ringed the island, gazing east into the darkening horizon. He had taken up his post shortly after the Tornado had arrived, and missed seeing it. He was awaiting the Mobian rescue party.

He thought it was amusing that Robotnik had fled, instead of remaining behind to take the heat for his actions. Robo Knux had helped Robotnik load his few boxes of delicate lab equipment into the boat that he was taking with him. And while doing so, Robo Knux had discreetly taken the orange chaos emerald in its testing cage out of Robotnik's things and placed it back in the lab. In Robo Knux's opinion, Robotnik was better off without a chaos emerald, and it might give Robo Knux power over his old master later on.

What to do about the rescue party? Robo Knux thought about it and gazed out to sea as the wind beat the trees around him. He was adept at thinking up half-truths, and by the time the skimship Lincanna appeared on his scanner, he had a story to tell the scientists. Then he would simply keep out of sight of Sonic and the rest. Once they were back in their old lab, Robo Knux would finish his upgrades, and the hunt for Metal Sonic would begin ...

The Mobian skimship was about fifteen minutes away. Robo Knux turned and strode through the woods toward the laboratory, rehearsing his story in his mind. His steps slowed as he reached the outer gate. What in the world? Someone had broken it open! Robo Knux hurried inside and saw that the lab's front doors had been forced open, as well. He stepped into the lobby and scanned each lab. Lab 3 contained the soon-to-be-rescued scientists, and lab 1 contained three lifeforms.

Robo Knux squinted. One was Nick, and one was Mekion, and the third ... A lifeform. He ran a detail scan on it and relaxed. Sonic. Of course, the little teleporting pest. Leave it to him to smash a way in so he could spirit everyone away easier. Well, Robo Knux would deal with him later. He strode to lab 3 and entered the airlock.

The inside door did not open at first, and Robo Knux tapped his claws on it. It opened a crack, and Touis peered in at him. "Oh, hello," said Touis, opening the door.

"Greetings," said Robo Knux. "Enacting a bit of security, are we?"

"Something busted the doors and fence," said Touis. "We're understandably concerned."

"Sure," said Robo Knux. "Sonic's here. He broke in, probably thinking there's guards or something. He's with Nick and Mekion right now, and he'll be here in a minute."

All four faces lit up, and the Mobians looked delighted.

"You have me to thank for that," said Robo Knux, looking proud. "I summoned Sonic and his team myself. I suggest that you pack your things. I won't be accompanying you, sadly, but you're in good hands now."

"What about Robotnik?" said Lintel. "Where's he?"

"He left already," said Robo Knux in disgust. "Coward. Anyway, I look forward to seeing you again. Don't forget who is responsible for getting you off Deimos Island."

He turned and strode into the airlock.

Suckers.

Tails drummed his fingers fretfully on the Tornado's rim. "It's dark," he muttered. "What could be taking Mecha so long?"

"Maybe Shadow's hurt," said Nox. The black chao was sitting on the back of the pilot's chair, gazing up at the cliff path. The cliff itself was a dark silhouette against the twilight sky, and the cove was dark. The only sound was the slap of water against the dock and the distant boom of the breakers.

Tails's anxiety had grown as time passed. He had thought that Mecha would return within ten or twenty minutes, but it had been almost an hour now with no sign of him. "Aleda," said Tails, "can you ask Mecha where he is?"

"I can't," said Aleda, sitting in the back seat and also watching the cliff path. "He's too far away. I can only talk on the network if I'm real close."

Tails almost said, "Then what's the good of having it?" but bit his tongue. Snapping at the chao wouldn't accomplish anything.

He stood up and stepped onto the dock. "I'm gonna go look around," he told the chao. "Tornado, look after them, and you two stay in the Tornado. I'll be right back."

"Why can't we go?" exclaimed Nox, jumping down into the pilot's seat.

"It's too dangerous," said Tails, glaring. "And I don't have a chaos emerald for either of you, so stay here, okay?"

Nox and Aleda looked mutinous, but Tails turned and walked off anyway. Part of him screamed that he shouldn't leave them, not with Robo Knux on the loose, but Tails had to do something. He couldn't wait around anymore. He ran up the cliff path on tiptoe.

"Robo Knux is gone," whispered Shadow.

He, Nick and Mecha had waited tensely as their enemy entered the lab next door, and Mecha had turned off his scanners and blocked his network port so that he wouldn't register as a robot to scanners. His disguise had worked, for Robo Knux had departed. Shadow watched him with Mekion's scanner. Now he looked at Nick and the pseudo-Sonic.

"Good," said Nick. "We've got to go get the others. We can't leave them here."

"What do you suggest?" said Mecha in his own voice, for using Sonic's voice galled him. "Our craft is scarcely large enough for three passengers."

"There's a couple of speedboats in the boathouse," said Nick. "They can take one of those."

Mecha nodded. "Affirmative. Let us depart."

He and Nick helped Shadow to the airlock and opened it with the inside controls. The outer corridor was dark and silent, and they hurried through it with nervous glances over their shoulders, half-expecting to see Robo Knux's green eyes flicker on behind them.

They entered lab 1, and the other scientists welcomed them with open arms. To Shadow and Nick's surprise, the Mobians gathered around Mecha, shaking his hands. "Thanks so much for coming to rescue us! You have no idea how much it means to us!"

Mecha accepted the praise with a bemused smile. Taking Sonic's form had its perks. "Just doing my job," he said in Sonic's voice. "Get your stuff and let's jam."

He cast a glance at Shadow to see how good his impersonation was, and Shadow gave him a twisted smile. Mecha was dead-on.

The real Sonic was standing on the deck of the Lincanna, watching the island approach and listening to the thunder of the surf. He tossed his green chaos emerald from hand to hand and looked around as Sally walked up behind him.

"Okay Sonic," she said, "you're cleared to go."

"You're staying with the boats, right?" said Sonic.

"Right," said Sally. "Don't worry about me. Now go! You know the plan."

He nodded and swallowed. "Love you, Sal. Chaos relocate!" He vanished in a green sparkle.

Sally looked at the spot where he had been and muttered, "I wish you'd say that when you're planning on sticking around afterwards."

Sonic appeared outside the door to the underground power station. He looked around the empty yard for any sign of trouble, then spindashed the door. It smashed open, and Sonic peered down a stairwell leading down into darkness. "Chaos control," he whispered, and time froze. He snapped on a light on the headset he wore, and held up the gem in his hand for extra light as he descended the stairs.

In the crystal's light, Sonic saw three generators that would have been running in real time. The air was hot and stank of gasoline fumes, and Sonic saw that each generator sported Robotnik's logo.

Sonic followed the cables that led out of the generators, and located a fusebox on the wall. He opened it and threw all the breakers, grinning. Then he galloped back up the stairs and hissed, "Timestart!"

Inside the laboratory complex, all the lights went off. "What's going on?" said Nick in alarm.

"Power failure," said Mecha. "It is no cause for alarm."

"Yeah it is!" said Lintel. "Electronic doors, guys! We can't get out unless the power comes back on."

Mecha cursed.

Tails arrived at the top of the cliff path, panting. He had nearly fallen through the gap in the trail, and saved himself only by spinning his tails and flying to safety. It had unnerved him. He thought he had seen lights through the trees, but they were gone now, and he was shivering in the wind, wondering where to go.

He peered through the darkness and realized that there was a paved road leading off into the trees, and he followed it, keeping to the edge. The further he walked, the more he wished that he had stayed with the Tornado. He doubted that Mecha would be glad to see him once he found him. And if something happened to Aleda and Nox, it would be Tails's fault, and Mecha kept his word when it came to inflicting pain.

Something gleamed up ahead, and Tails squinted. A fence? He stepped forward and touched chain link. Yes, a fence. And the gate in it was open. He stepped through and emerged from the trees. Buildings of some sort stood before him, but there were no lights anywhere. Maybe the windows were shuttered or something.

Footsteps. Tails spun around to see a pair of glowing green eyes fixed on him from outside the chainlink fence. Robo Knux. Terror pierced Tails's middle and his adrenaline surged. Should he run or stand his ground? He tried to remember what Sonic had told him about dealing with Mecha-bots, but all he could remember was Sonic saying, "Once you've see Robo Knux, he's seen you, and there's no escape then."

He backed away slowly, and Robo Knux barked, "Hold it, fox."

Tails froze, his heart thundering in his ears.

Robo Knux stepped inside the fence, his eyes flicking up, down, and from side to side. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm, uh." Tails didn't know what to say. He couldn't tell Robo Knux about Mecha!

"Speak up," said Robo Knux, holding up one fist and rotating it so his claws glinted in the light from his eyes.

Tails gulped. "I'm looking for Shadow."

"Shadow?" said the robot. "What would you want with him? We're a long way from help, Tails."

"He, he sent me a distress, signal," said Tails, trembling so hard he could hardly open his mouth. "I came to rescue him."

"By yourself?" Robo Knux stepped toward him. "Sounds more like something Mecha would do. You have that plane, don't you?"

Tails nodded.

Robo Knux looked past him, at the lab facility, and his voice dropped to a deadly purr. "Where's Mecha?"

"I don't know," said Tails.

Robo Knux grabbed him by the neck and one arm, which he began to twist backwards. "Let's see if I can refresh your memory," he hissed.

Tails tried to struggle and realized that if he moved, the claws on Robo Knux's hand would cut his throat, not to mention his arm would break. "Ow, stop, please!"

"Where's Metal Sonic?" growled Robo Knux, his dazzling green eyes inches from Tails's own.

"I don't know!" Tails cried. "I was looking for him!"

Robo Knux's eyes again lifted to the building beyond them, and for an instant Tails saw the intricate layering of the robot's irises and pupils - had they always looked like that? Then Robo Knux blinked and returned his gaze to Tails. "It wasn't Sonic, was it?" he growled.

Tails didn't know what he was talking about.

Robo Knux whirled and slammed Tails's head into one of the fence's support poles, and dropped the unconscious fox on the ground. "Can't have you warning him," Robo Knux told him, then whirled and ran for the lab.

Two minutes later a blue hedgehog trotted around the front of the building, keeping close to the fence. His blue fur and spines made him almost invisible in the darkness, and he watched the lab building as he walked. One of his feet collided with something soft, and he stopped and looked down. "What the heck?"

Sonic snapped on the light on his headset. In the tiny circle of light he saw orange and white fur, two tails. "Oh my gosh," Sonic whispered, dropping to his knees. "Tails, what are you doing here?" His brain reeled with disbelief - he had left Tails in Sapphire City, looking for Shadow! Oh heck, looking for Shadow - had Tails tracked him here?

He turned him over, looking for blood and checking for a pulse. To his relief he found one, as well as a large knot on Tails's head. "Tails," he whispered, shaking him. "This is a really bad time to get knocked out! Wake up, okay?"

Tails inhaled and opened his eyes. "Huh?" Then he squirmed backwards, gasping.

"Tails, it's me, Sonic," said Sonic. "Cool it, man."

"Sonic?" said Tails, shielding his eyes from Sonic's headlight. "What are you doing here?"

"I should ask you the same question," said Sonic, realizing that he was angry under his fright.

Tails gingerly touched the knot on his head. "I came with Mecha. We're trying to save Shadow. But Robo Knux caught me - Sonic, he's after Mecha! You have to stop him!"

"I was planning on it," said Sonic grimly. "Hide in the trees outside the fence. There's a bunch of scientists who need rescuing, and you can help me once I get them out."

Tails nodded and walked unsteadily through the open gate, holding his head.

Sonic dashed for the darkened labs.

Robo Knux entered the lab at a dead run, scanners on full sweep. Mecha must have disguised himself as Sonic, how dare he! His scans revealed that all the labs were empty but for lab 3. He stormed up to the airlock and pressed the button. Nothing happened. He looked up at the ceiling and realized the lights were off. No power. But Mecha was in there!

Robo Knux slammed both sets of claws into the sealed door, but the steel was four inches thick and repelled his claws. He roared and clawed at it. Mecha was so close! Robo Knux was an inch from revenge, and he couldn't get through the stupid door! He stopped and examined his claws, and saw that he was blunting them.

Curses.

He stared at the airlock, scanning the wall structure on either side of it. It was sheetmetal covered in soundboard, airproofed with extra insulation to remain pressurized. Tearing through that would be about as easy as cracking through the airlock.

The skylight. He remembered it with an inner smile. No matter how thick the glass was, it wasn't as tough as metal. He ran for the door and almost collided with a figure at the doors. "Hey, watch it!" the figure yelled.

Sonic. The real Sonic, for this time Robo Knux identified him by body temperature and high-resolution scan. "Get out of my way!" Robo Knux snarled, bounding outside. He ignited the jets in his dreadlocks and launched himself up on the roof.

Mecha, Shadow and the five scientists looked up with a gasp as Robo Knux's green eyes peered down through the skylight.

"This is not good," said Mecha calmly. "We have no way of escape from this room, and it is pressurized."

"Master, can't we teleport out?" Shadow asked. "That scientist has my chaos emerald!" He pointed at Touis, who was wearing the cage on his arm with the emerald in it.

"These walls are chaos-shielded," said Touis. "But here, Sonic, you can have this." He slid off the cage and handed it to Mecha.

Up above, Robo Knux drove his fist into the glass. It held.

Mecha looked at the cage and the emerald in its claws. "I am not the hedgehog," he said grudgingly in his own voice. "I have merely taken his form. I am Metal Sonic."

The scientists gasped and backed away.

Robo Knux dealt the skylight another blow. It held.

Metal Sonic liquefied and resumed his real shape, and handed the chaos emerald to Shadow. Shadow slid the cage with the emerald onto his arm.

"Robo Knux will kill all of you," said Mecha. "However, it is me he wants."

"Robo Knux has been helping us," said Touis. "And he said that you're the one who made Shadow into Mekion." They all muttered confirmation of this, as if they expected Mecha to reach out and turn them all into mecha-fused creatures.

Robo Knux hit the skylight again. Something cracked.

"Believe what you wish," said Mecha, feeling frustrated. "Even if he ignores you, he will harm you as he pursues me. You need a method of defending yourselves."

"His eyes," said Nick. "They're super-sensitive. We just upgraded them."

"Perfect," said Mecha, looking around the dark lab. "And what we do not have is light."

Robo Knux hit the skylight. Something else cracked, and now there was a rushing, whistling sound as air from the pressurized room began to escape.

"All of you, back against the walls," said Mecha. "I will do my best to keep the fight away from you. And if you discover a way to create a bright flash of light, then do so."

"Mecha," whispered Shadow, gripping his emerald. "I thought of something."

The skylight caved in with a colossal smash, cutting him off. A violent wind roared through the lab as the air rushed out, and their ears popped as the pressure dropped. Robo Knux leaped through and dropped to the floor, his eyes a venomous green in the darkness. He and Mecha faced each other in silence for a split second.

"Chaos spear!" Shadow whispered.

A blinding bolt of lightning flashed across the room with an ear-splitting crack, striking Robo Knux. For a second everything in the room was illuminated in brilliant light and crisp, black shadows - the equipment and tables, the faces of the horrified scientists - then it was gone, and Robo Knux clapped his hands to his eyes and collapsed with a scream.

Someone else said, "Chaos relocate!" and there was another flash of light. "Everybody come here!" said Sonic's voice, and he snapped on a tiny light to show them where he was. "Quick, quick!" The Mobians rushed to him, and Sonic teleported them out through the skylight.

Mecha kept himself between Robo Knux and his allies until Sonic could return. "Shadow," he said, "take the human and teleport out."

"What about you?" Shadow exclaimed.

"Do as I say," snarled Mecha.

"Always the hero, Mecha," said Robo Knux, lying on the floor and holding his eyes. "Just like Sonic. The more goody-goody you get, the more like him you are."

Mecha's curled into fists, but he didn't reply.

Sonic returned in a flash of light in front of Nick and Shadow. "Come on, you two!" he said, grabbing both their arms. He teleported them out, and Mecha and Robo Knux faced each other alone.

Robo Knux climbed to his feet, blinking his eyes. "I'm surprised you haven't attacked me yet," he said, straightening. "Is this more of your so-called mercy?"

"You don't give much sport unless you can hit back," said Mecha sarcastically. "New eyes, I see."

"Yes," said Robo Knux, stalking forward. "Very nice they are, too, except during lightning flashes. I see that you haven't mastered chaos emeralds, at least."

Mecha retreated, keeping the tables between them. "Why did you kidnap Shadow?"

"To tick you off," said Robo Knux, standing still. "And Dr. Robotnik and I had a deal. He would manage the upgrades for me if I brought him Shadow and a chaos emerald."

"Ahh yes," said Mecha, leaping aside as Robo Knux sprang over the tables at him. "And all you received was eyes. You got the short end of the stick."

Robo Knux slashed at him, but Mecha dodged and Robo Knux's claws splintered a chair instead. "I made out better than you think," Robo Knux snarled. "Why won't you fight me, coward?"

"Not in the mood, I'm afraid," said Mecha.

There was a sparkle of light, and Sonic appeared behind Mecha, grabbed his arm and said, "Chaos relocate!" Their surroundings changed to the roof, then Sonic teleported again, placing them this time on the helipad at the top of the cliffs. Shadow was there, but the scientists were gone.

"Do not expect me to thank you," said Mecha, jerking his arm out of Sonic's grasp.

"You're welcome," said Sonic.

"Where are the others?" Shadow rasped.

"Oh, down at the dock," said Sonic, pointing. "I dropped them down there and you guys up here. I didn't figure that you'd want to tangle with GUN, Shadow. Are you guys all right?"

"Shadow is injured," said Mecha, gazing at Shadow as if Sonic did not exist.

"Injured?" said Sonic, turning to Shadow with a frown. "What'd they do to you in there?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle," said Shadow coolly. He was standing on one foot with his bandaged leg bent, but until now Sonic had thought that Shadow was merely in a defensive stance.

"Did those scientists do that?" said Sonic, looking from Mecha to Shadow. "And here I saved the jerks ..."

Shadow caught Mecha's eye. "Robotnik did this to me."

"Oh." Sonic looked back at the lab. "Where is he, anyway?"

"No idea," said Mecha. "I believe he escaped before we arrived. However, he left behind four robots in an undisclosed location. They are currently leaving the lab facility, and their signals are set to attack mode."

"Oh heck," whispered Sonic, looking around wildly. "Where's Tails? I forgot about him!"

An object burst out of the trees and flew overhead with a screech of jets and a burst of blue fire. The three hedgehogs automatically ducked, but the object - Robo Knux - passed over them and descended toward the cliff path.

Sonic sprinted after him, wondering in horror if Sally had come ashore at the dock. He lifted his emerald in preparation for a teleport, but the words stuck in his throat as he heard Tails scream, "Help!"

Seconds later, a fireball exploded from the side of the cliff ahead of him. It rolled upward in red flame and black smoke, and Sonic couldn't even think. He just ran.

Tails had seen Robo Knux breaking into the skylight, and saw Sonic teleporting out with passengers. So, sensibly, Tails decided that returning to the Tornado was a good idea.

His head pounded as he walked up the dark road toward the helipad. He had no desire to tangle with Robo Knux again, and now that Sonic was here, everything would be all right. What was Sonic doing here, anyway? He was off on some mission with Sally!

Tails reached the helipad and turned left onto the cliff path. As he descended, he pieced together the facts. Sonic had been hunting Robotnik. Tails and Mecha had been hunting Shadow, who had been captured by Robo Knux and Robotnik. So everyone had converged on this spot, all at the same time. Amazing, really. And here he was, gallivanting around while the chao waited, unprotected, in the Tornado ...

Tails reached the gap in the cliff path, and felt spray on his face from the lashing waves below. He spun his tails and helicoptered across, landed and walked on. Gosh, his head hurt ... he rubbed it as he walked, wishing that he had stayed with the Tornado ...

He heard the distant screech of a jet, and looked up to see a blue light against the night sky. What the? Then he recognized it and bolted, and Robo Knux slammed his claws into the ground where Tails had been standing. "Freeze, fox!" he bellowed, extinguishing his jets and pursuing Tails on foot.

Tails reached a curve in the path, nearly overshot in the dark and fell over to keep from flying off the edge of the cliff. As he scrambled to his feet, Robo Knux seized him by one tail and lifted him off the ground. His green eyes glittered as Tails struggled and kicked.

"Help!" Tails screamed, his voice echoing around the cove.

In the Tornado, Aleda and Nox had waited, bored and anxious. Then Nox asked the Tornado to show them the island on radar, and the two chao had watched the map in fascination as different colored blips moved around on it.

Then Aleda had said, "Nox, what's that sound?"

"Huh?" Nox looked around, realizing that he could hear the rumble of an engine. "It's another boat!" he whispered. "Get down!"

He and Aleda dove to the floor of the Tornado as a speedboat nosed up beside the dock. A female squirrel jumped out and stared at the Tornado, then looked up at the clifftop with her mouth open.

"Who's that?" whispered Aleda.

"I don't know," whispered Nox. "But she recognized the Tornado, and it scared her really bad."

There was a flash of light, and Sonic appeared out of nowhere with four frightened Mobians in labcoats clinging to him. "Here you go, Sal!" said Sonic. "There's one more, I'm going back." He vanished, and the hidden chao watched as the female squirrel ushered the four newcomers into her boat.

Sonic reappeared with a human in tow, and vanished again. The human walked to the end of the dock, and the squirrel helped him into her boat, as well.

"I wish Mecha would come back," murmured Aleda, shivering.

"Me too," whispered Nox. "And bring Shadow." He felt a small wave of loneliness from nearby, and he patted the control panel comfortingly. "Don't worry, Tornado, Tails will be back soon, too."

"I know," said the Tornado so softly they could hardly hear it.

Suddenly there was a roar of jets, and the chao peered into the sky as Robo Knux pounced on Tails. "Oh no, Robo Knux is after him!" cried Nox, jumping up on the seat to see better.

Aleda cowered behind the Tornado's side. "I remember him," she whispered.

"Is Tails in danger?" the Tornado asked.

"Yeah," said Nox. "Oh man, Robo Knux got him! We gotta do something!"

The Tornado's screen displayed a targeting reticule, calculating the angle of the shot, and the rocket launcher on the tail rotated to point up at the cliff. But it hesitated. It couldn't see where it was aiming, and it could not accurately calculate in three dimensions without a visual reading.

Nox turned and saw the screen, and his brain snapped into Omega mode. Nox had been the pilot inside of E-123 Omega, and had enjoyed his power and weapons, using them to destroy everything that moved. And suddenly here was a screen like his old one inside the robot, with a definite target and a deadly weapon at his disposal.

He bounded up on the control panel and seized the weapon controls. "Let me aim!" he exclaimed. "Higher, you have to go higher." The Tornado lifted its sights, and Nox fixed them on Robo Knux, and waited as Robo Knux turned, still carrying Tails, and began walking away up the path. Lead a moving target ... Nox squinted, adjusting the controls with feather-light touches of his round paws. Then he yelled, "Fire!" and squeezed the trigger.

The Tornado knew that it was not allowed to fire its weapons without permission from a user. But the chao were temporary users, and Robo Knux was going to harm Tails. The Tornado didn't want anything to happen to Tails. Firing now might harm Tails, but the Tornado was relying on Nox to be its eyes, and it trusted the chao's judgment. It fired a rocket.

The rocket streaked through the air and struck Robo Knux in the back. Robo Knux was blown into the side of the cliff, dropping Tails, who went flying up the path and rolled to a stop at the edge, stunned from the blast's concussion.

As the resulting fireball mushroomed into the sky, Robo Knux's dizzy systems righted themselves. The armor plating on his back had saved him, but his left arm had taken heavy damage in the shoulder joint, and three of his dreadlock jets were not responding. Maybe they were gone. The fire was so bright that his eyes were in severe pain, and he was glad that he had no other upgrades, or such injury would be painful indeed. He rolled over to extinguish the flames, shielding his face with his good arm.

Mecha and Sonic reached Tails at the same time. Sonic pulled the young fox away from the cliff's edge and lifted him. "Tails? Tails, are you okay?" His voice was shrill with panic.

Mecha knelt beside them, trying to hide his own fear. "His lifesigns are strong."

Sonic cast him a fierce glance, and looked back at Tails. The fox's eyes were open and fixed, unseeing, but he was gasping for breath. "What's he doing here, anyway?" snarled Sonic, looking at Mecha.

"He was assisting me, hedgehog," Mecha snapped, eyes blazing red. "I instructed him to remain at the dock, but it seems he has learned your disregard for following orders."

"If not for you, he wouldn't be here!" Sonic shouted, his fear and fury mounting. "He's been hurt twice in ten minutes!"

"Neither of which were my doing!" Mecha snarled back, crouching slightly as if for a spring. "Do not assume that I cannot care about his well-being, hedgehog! His being your friend was difficult to overcome, but I have managed it!"

"Sonic?" said Tails, blinking as his eyes began to focus again. "Mecha? Why are you guys yelling?"

"Tails!" Sonic said, hugging him and helping him up. "We weren't yelling."

"Where's Robo Knux?" Tails said, looking around in a daze and clinging to Sonic for support. He looked at Mecha, who had risen and was standing with his hands at his sides, but looked as if he would like to hug Tails himself, if he dared. "Mecha, you have to get out of here! You were right about him trying to kill everyone around you - "

"WHAT?" Sonic said, spines bristling.

Tails looked up at Sonic, then at Mecha, and saw that they were staring at each other with the utmost loathing. Tails remembered how upset Sonic had been that Tails had been trying to make friends with Mecha, and realized that Sonic and Mecha were jealous of each other.

A short distance down the path, there was a metallic scraping sound as Robo Knux struggled to rise. The three whirled to face him, and Mecha said, "Take Tails to the dock, hedgehog. I will handle Robo Knux."

Sonic said nothing except, "Chaos relocate," said flickered into view down at the dock with Tails.

Sally was waiting on the dock, and hurried up to them. "Tails, what do you think you're doing here?"

Tails opened his mouth, but Sonic cut him off. "Mecha brought him. Tails is in shock, Sal. Robo Knux almost killed him, and so did whoever fired that rocket. Did you do that?"

"No, the Tornado fired by itself," said Sally. "Scared me to death."

Tails looked at the little blue boat beside the dock, and smiled at it.

Sonic tightened his arm around Tails in a half-hug, then pushed him gently toward Sally. "I gotta go get Shadow, he's all busted up."

"What about Mecha?" said Tails over his shoulder.

Sonic's eyes flashed. "Mecha can look after himself." He teleported in a sparkle of green light.

Tails spun to the Tornado. "Hey Tornado, did you really save me like that?"

"Yes," said the Tornado. "With Nox's assistance."

Tails stepped down into the boat, and Sally stood at the edge and looked in, and saw the two chao for the first time. Their bodies were such dark colors that she hadn't seen them until now.

Nox was bouncing up and down on the back seat, thrilled with his victory, but Aleda was glued to the far side of the boat, staring up at the cliff where her beloved Red-Eyes faced Robo Knux alone.

Shadow had watched Mecha and Sonic sprint away down the path, and turned to follow them, but was hindered by the splint on his leg. It kept his knee from bending, which meant that he couldn't spindash, either. The pain in his leg was lessening, but it would take several hours for the bone to knit completely. Shadow was glad of the pain, for behind it hovered Mekion like a malicious vulture, waiting for the pain to pass so he could resume control.

"No," Shadow told him. "Mecha reduced your control percentage."

"Just as loopholes exist for Shadow, so they exist for me," Mekion whispered. "You resume control when you are in pain, and I resume control when you are occupied with other things. Such as now. Enemies approaching."

"What?" Shadow's head jerked up, and he saw four robots striding out of the darkness under the trees, their green and yellow eyes shining like those of predators. The E-200s. Shadow had grown accustomed to seeing them as harmless lab assistants, and seeing them striding toward him as attackers was unnerving.

Mekion's hand reached down and cut the straps binding the splint to his right leg. "Survival is the Third Law," Mekion informed Shadow. "I am willing to relinquish control to you rather than be exterminated. And we will be exterminated if you cannot move quickly."

Shadow spindashed across the helipad as the four robots opened their chest panels to expose their pistols, and fired. Bullets pinged off the ground in puffs of dust, and whined through the air, but Shadow was faster. He changed directions and slashed into one of the robots, his metal spines tearing it to pieces and flinging its parts in all directions. He skidded to a halt and doubled over in pain as his injured leg screamed. The three remaining robots scattered, and when Shadow lifted his head, they had vanished into the trees.

"They are seeking sheltered positions," Mekion informed him. "We must do the same."

Shadow leaped sideways into a grove of trees and knelt, favoring his leg. For now he and Mekion were united, forming an unbeatable team. Why couldn't it always be like this?

There was a flash of light, and Sonic appeared in the middle of the helipad. "Shadow?" he called, turning in a circle. He didn't know about the concealed robots, or that he presented the perfect target, outlined against the horizon. Fear stabbed Shadow. He opened his mouth to warn him, but Mekion's control clamped down so hard that Shadow blacked out for a second. NO. The word was branded into his consciousness. Shadow struggled merely to breathe - Mekion had never been this strong before.

Gunfire splintered the night, and Sonic yelled and bolted straight toward Shadow, ducking into a spindash. Shadow tumbled to the side, and Sonic slid to a halt and lay on his side, clutching his stomach and panting. He looked up and saw Shadow, who was staring at him. "Just a scratch," said Sonic, looking at his glove, which was stained with dark blood. "What's shooting at us? Those robots Mecha talked about?"

"Yes," whispered Shadow. "They have taken up positions in the trees."

"Got 'em on radar?" said Sonic, scrambling to all fours and peering at the trees across the helipad.

Shadow followed his gaze, consulting Mekion. He pointed. "One is there, one is there, and one is there."

Sonic forced a smile. "Thanks, Shads. I don't have infrared vision, and there's torrential darkness forecast all night tonight."

Shadow smirked. "I'll circle around that way and flank them."

"I'll go the other way," said Sonic, checking his wristwatch. "There's a couple of helicopters due in half an hour, and they're gonna try to land here."

Shadow lifted his chaos emerald, which was still clamped to his hand by the testing cage. "Stop time."

Sonic raised his own emerald. "Right. Chaos control!"

The world froze, and the hedgehogs sprinted from their positions.

Sonic located a robot and smashed it, and Shadow destroyed another, but when time resumed, they had not located the third robot. Nor was there time to find it, for there was a coughing roar of hoverjets, and Robo Knux and Metal Sonic exploded onto the helipad, locked in a deadly wrestling match and tumbling over and over, propelled by Robo Knux's broken jets.

Sonic and Shadow dropped flat by instinct and watched the grappling pair. Robo Knux was slashing and tearing at Mecha, who writhed and fought, landing blows so powerful that Robo Knux's hull was dented and pierced in a dozen places. But Mecha himself was bleeding silver liquid, accumulating too much damage too quickly to heal it.

Mecha melted into a lump of liquid, and Robo Knux leaped away from it. He had learned at their last encounter that Mecha was just as dangerous in his liquid form as in his solid form. Mecha solidified into himself, and was running toward his enemy before his body had hardened. Robo Knux sprang to meet him, and the two engaged in a furious fencing match with their claws as weapons, moving so quickly that it was impossible to tell them apart.

"Give up," Mecha snarled as he fought. "I'm stronger than you. It is futile to continue this, for I'll only destroy you."

"Who's the one bleeding?" jeered Robo Knux, blocking Mecha's fist and plunging his claws all the way through Mecha's arm. He used this as leverage to fling Mecha across the helipad, and observed the silver blood on his claws with satisfaction.

Mecha fell to all fours and jumped up, clutching his arm to his chest as the holes slowly closed. "I may be bleeding," he panted, "but my wounds are healing and yours are not."

"Maybe," said Robo Knux, stalking toward him with his head lowered, "but you can feel pain, and you must breathe to regain strength. I can fight forever, and you will have to rest. What sort of existence is that? You are weak."

"I am not weak," snarled Mecha through his teeth. "I am so much more complex than you that you cannot comprehend it."

Robo Knux flung himself at Mecha, and Mecha grabbed Robo Knux's arm, and used his enemy's momentum in a judo throw, pitching Robo Knux over his head and slamming him on his back. Robo Knux's vision blurred from the impact, but he scrambled to his feet anyway before Mecha could complete his attack. "If I did that to you," he sneered, "you would be too stunned to get up."

"Perhaps," said Mecha, flexing his claws. "Which is why I am astounded that you are receiving upgrades to become just like me."

"I am not!" Robo Knux bellowed, slashing at Mecha with both sets of claws, arms whirling like a windmill. Mecha danced backwards, toward the edge of the cliff. "I want nothing that you possess! Nothing!"

"Except the ability to feel," said Mecha, circling and ducking in to stab at Robo Knux's eyes.

Robo Knux blocked him with an upflung arm and knocked Mecha away with a backhanded thrust. "Why should I want feeling? Pain is so unpleasant that I can't wait to inflict more of it on you. Why is your blood silver, and not clear like Mekion's?"

"Different substance," said Mecha. "His blood is compatible with the organic bloodstream, and my own is living biometal."

"Living, ha!" Robo Knux roared. "You think you're alive, now? I'll put a stop to that!" He rocketed forward with a burst from his damaged jets, one arm protecting his face, the other outstretched like a spear. Mecha spindashed aside, and Robo Knux skidded to a halt on the edge of the cliff and teetered there, looking down. The tide was coming in, and the waves boomed and crashed far up the rocks, sinking back and leaving streamers of white foam. Robo Knux remembered his nanite brain, and that old sickening fear of heights and water struck him. He flung out his arms and backed away from the edge, but Mecha saw his chance. He ran up behind his enemy and shoved him with all his strength.

Robo Knux pitched forward with a cry, and saw the hungry surf opening to swallow him. In desperation he fired his jets as he fell, and they blasted him sideways into the cliff. He slammed his claws into the rock and clung there, dazed with terror, as his jets smoked and the waves reached for him, splattering his hull with water.

Mecha walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down. Robo Knux had fallen about ten feet, and he looked almost comical, clinging to the cliff face. "Well!" said Mecha. "Do you give up now?"

Robo Knux looked up, eyes wide. "Mecha, help me."

Mecha planted his hands on his hips. "Help you? You have injured me in every way known to Mobiankind. You kidnapped and tortured Shadow. I owe you nothing."

"Mecha, please," gasped Robo Knux. His left arm was damaged from the Tornado's rocket, and his claws were slipping little by little. He looked up pleadingly. "Mecha, don't let me die. I don't want to die!"

"Die?" said Mecha, sneering. "You, of all robots, shouldn't worry about that."

"Yes I can!" cried Robo Knux. If he fell, that water would short-circuit him and beat him to fragments on the rocks. Not even his skull would survive that. He struggled to wedge his claws deeper into the gap in the rocks where they had lodged. "Open your network port," he said. "I have to show you something."

"Very well," said Mecha, and Robo Knux connected, and transferred a file.

"These are the schematics of my brain," said Robo Knux through the network. "See it? See the nanite fluid? I'm alive, Mecha! Just like you! And I don't want to die!"

Mecha was stunned. His shoulders slumped, and he stared down at Robo Knux, who was so afraid of the water below him. Robo Knux had a nanotech brain. No wonder he acted the way he did. He had denied wanting to be alive, while he was suffering the same torment that Mecha had experienced. Trapped in an obsolete metal body, while the brain withered from lack of stimulation. Robo Knux was going mad.

"How long have you known this?" Mecha whispered over the network.

"A few days," replied Robo Knux. "You're all merciful and all that, aren't you? Pull me up! Don't let me fall!"

Mecha regarded his enemy, still aching from his closed wounds. He thought of how much he hated this other robot, then remembered what it had been like before his upgrades. The sheer misery and pointlessness of life, the hatred of everything living because he wanted to live so badly. A new thought struck him - had his own brain always been nanite-based? Had he been alive since his creation? Was that why he kept having nightmares about Robotropolis?

"Mecha, please!" Robo Knux cried, as one of his hands slipped free with a grinding screech.

Mecha made his decision and stooped, planning to climb down the cliff. Behind him, across the helipad, in the trees, the last remaining E-200 robot targeted the android's silhouette and fired. Shadow destroyed it half a second later.

The bullet punched through Mecha's back and out his stomach, and the impact knocked him over the edge. The pain took him by such surprise that he didn't even have the sense to grab at the wall of the cliff as he fell.

Robo Knux reached out and grabbed Mecha by one arm, and the resulting jolt nearly tore his anchored claws out of their crack. Mecha slammed into the cliff and swung back and forth, coughing. When he looked up at Robo Knux, there was silver blood at the corners of his mouth. "Thank you," he said thickly, and coughed again, doubling up.

"Stop that," snarled Robo Knux. "You're making me lose my grip."

Over the network, Mecha said dryly, "I apologize. Another biological reaction I cannot seem to help, especially when injured internally."

Sonic and Shadow appeared at the top of the cliff, gazing down in shock. "How do we pull them up?" said Sonic. "A teleport won't work on a cliff."

"Mecha," said Shadow through the network, "are you all right?"

"I must rest for several hours," Mecha replied the same way. "Every movement I make until then makes the wound worse. I have not felt such pain in ... months."

Shadow turned to Sonic. "We need a rope."

"There's some down by the dock," said Sonic. "I'll get it, be right back."

He teleported, and Shadow stood looking down helplessly at his master and his enemy.

Robo Knux looked up at Shadow, then down at Mecha. His eyes narrowed. "You know," he remarked, as waves crashed against the rock and coated Mecha in spray, "if I dropped you, I would be rid of you quite effectively."

"Yes," said Mecha. "But then the two up there would not pull you up."

Robo Knux gazed thoughtfully down at Mecha, and at the rocky sea beneath them. "I don't want to die," he said. "But I do want you to die. The irony is almost amusing."

Sonic appeared on the dock, panting, and ran to the Tornado, where Tails was sitting with his head in one hand, watching the radar screen with his thrall sphere in his lap. "Tails," Sonic said, "got a rope I could use?"

"Uh, sure," said Tails. "Use the one we're tied up with."

"Cool." Sonic unwound it from the piling, and Tails untied it from its eyelet on the boat. "What's happening?" Tails asked as they worked.

"Oh," said Sonic, "Mecha and Robo Knux are hanging from the cliff out by the helipad. See you!"

He teleported away as Aleda wailed, "WHAT? What's he mean, hanging from a cliff?" She leaped out of the Tornado and ran up the dock, and Tails climbed out and ran after her.

"Aleda, you have to stay here," he said, catching her and picking her up.

She struggled and fought, crying, "Mecha hates water! If he falls in he'll die! I have to do something!"

Tails grabbed her flailing paws. "Aleda, you're a chao! You can't do anything!"

Sally stepped out of the speedboat and hurried up. "What's wrong?"

Tails explained over Aleda's cries, and Sally looked at the chao, then up at the cliff walls that hid the drama from view. "Tails," she said, "she's a chao. She CAN help." She reached into her vest pocket and pulled out the violet chaos emerald. It glowed in her hand with warm purple light, and Aleda hushed and stared at it. "Here," said Sally, holding it out, although it was a wrench letting the gem go. "Take it. I've seen how chao love their owners, and if you love Mecha like that, then ..."

Aleda took the emerald in her paws, and Tails set her on the dock. Aleda gazed at the gem in sober fascination, then grabbed it in her mouth and bit down.

Sonic reappeared on the clifftop with the rope. "Got it," he panted to Shadow, and dashed off to tie the end to a tree. Shadow looped the rope around his robot arm, and threw it down to Mecha and Robo Knux.

Robo Knux looked at the dangling rope, then at the dangling Mecha. "You know," he said quietly to the blue android, "I did think about saving you, really. But I'm not hampered by any of your pathetic mercy. Do say hi to Maria for me, assuming robots are let into the afterlife."

Mecha's eyes widened in disbelief.

Robo Knux flung Mecha out away from the cliff, and grabbed the rope at the same time. Sonic and Shadow saw Mecha plunge into the white surf, and both of them screamed, "NO!"

Shadow slashed through the rope with his steel claws. Robo Knux's look of triumph turned to a look of terror as the rope went slack. Then he, too, plunged into the sea he had feared for so long.

When Mecha struck the water and plunged into the icy darkness, he knew that he was going to die.

The water stung the wound in his back and belly with salt, and his raw nerve endings overloaded. Mecha wanted to scream with the pain, but he kept his mouth tightly shut. He must hold the air in his lungs for as long as he could. He thrashed and kicked, and the current tumbled him over and over. He was being dragged down and backwards, into the deeper chaotic depths of the ocean. He opened his eyes and could see nothing but darkness, and the saltwater burned his eyes.

The direction of the current changed, and the sea lifted him and hurled him forward. His head broke the surface, and he gasped for breath an instant before the water smashed him into the rocks. He clawed at the rocks as the water sucked him down and backwards, but they were coated with moss and slime, and the sea dragged him under again, swallowing him alive.

Mecha fought to stay conscious, but the impact had damaged large portions of his body, and his lungs were empty of oxygen. Like Robo Knux, he found himself thinking, "I don't want to die, please don't let me die!"

A deeper blackness than the ocean obscured his vision, and he fought it. No, he was not going to drown, he was going to survive this! He fleetingly remembered Tails talking about communicating with the Master Designer, and Mecha directed his internal cries to whatever deity might be there. "I do not want to drown, please do something to save me before I ..."

The currents flung him to the surface and beat him into the cliffs again. Mecha's flailing claws lodged this time in the jagged rocks and anchored him against the sucking tide, and he lay half in, half out of the water, gasping and coughing, the world dimming, then brightening, then dimming. Water was pouring out of his mouth, and he tasted his own blood. He must have inhaled without knowing it.

He was so tired that he could hardly force his hands to grip the rocks, and there was a roaring in his ears that was not entirely the surf. When the next wave came, it would wash him off the rocks, and he would not survive another collision with the cliffs. "Your quest is in vain," he thought, lying his head against the cold, hard rocks. "If there is a Master Designer, he either doesn't care that you're drowning, or he can't do a thing to save you."

Something flickered in the corner of his vision, and Mecha turned his head. Something was flying over the ocean. It looked like a moth the size of a motorcycle. It swerved and flew toward him, racing the next wave as it roared in to claim his life. He turned away and tightened his grip on the rock, and the wave struck him and closed over his head. It lifted him off the rock, breaking his grip, then ripped him backward and -

Mecha was yanked to a halt, and the angry water roared over him. Then it was gone, and he was lifting his head, still on the rocks as foam gushed away in rivulets worn in the boulders. A long, slender creature was holding him, a creature with limbs as thin and hard as wire. Its eyes glowed red, but its face made no sense to him.

As he looked up at it, it said, "Mecha, you're so hurt! I was calling and calling, but you couldn't hear me! I'm sorry I wasn't faster!"

He recognized her voice, and his senses began to return. "Aleda?" he whispered.

Her head bobbed up and down. She had transformed into some sort of insect, and he wondered where she had found a chaos emerald.

"Can you get up?" she asked. "I tried to lift you, but you're too heavy."

He moved his limbs and realized that he was in such pain that sections of his pain sensors had shorted out completely. He grabbed one of her slender legs, and found to his shock that it was made of metal. He pulled himself upright, and felt her claws on his arms, helping him up. "Here comes the water," she said. "Up here, quick - "

She dragged him up higher, over barnacle-encrusted stone that scored his damaged body with fresh scratches. He tried to help himself along, and this time when the wave crashed in, it splashed over them both, but couldn't dislodge them from their perch.

Mecha looked over his shoulder at the waves, each one rolling and cresting and crashing in toward land. The sight terrified him, and he looked up at Aleda. Her head was turning this way and that, red eyes flicking back and forth. She released him with one hand and drew it close to her narrow, stick-like body, and Mecha realized what she was. She was a praying mantis made of blue metal. How utterly unique! At once he was immensely proud of her.

"Mecha," she said, her plate-like jaws opening and closing, "Robo Knux is over there."

He straightened and followed her gaze, and saw an angular shape that was Robo Knux lying facedown on a tumble of boulders twenty feet away. The waves had deposited him there, and they were threatening to wash him away again.

Robo Knux had thrown him into the ocean! The thought outraged Mecha. He was in mammoth pain and had almost died because of Robo Knux. It served him right to short out and drown in the undertow. Mecha thought of the horror of being sucked under and hurled against the rocks, and recalled thinking in Robo Knux's words, "I don't want to die ..." Robo Knux had experienced the same thing, except without the pain. He might be dead even now.

Life is precious. It had been Mecha's mantra, and now he was faced with the reality of that mantra. Was the life of a loathsome backstabbing assassin precious, as well? He had a nanite brain. He was at least as alive as Mecha. Despite his crimes, even Robo Knux's life was worth saving, because it was a life.

"Aleda," whispered Mecha hoarsely, "pull him out of the water."

Sonic and Shadow ran along the top of the cliff, staring down at the water. It was difficult to see anything in the darkness, but the primary moon was rising in the east, and Sonic and Shadow kept stopping and looking down at the crashing waves.

Sonic was kicking himself for letting his jealousy get the better of him. It shouldn't bother him if Tails wanted to be friends with Mecha. There had been a time when Sonic had tried to make friends with Mecha, himself. And now Mecha was gone, and there was nothing Sonic could do about it.

Shadow had not made a sound since throwing Robo Knux into the water, but he ran and hunted and scanned with a fervent desperation. He gripped the chaos emerald in its cage on his arm, wanting to teleport to wherever Mecha was, but entering the water would be as lethal to Mekion as to Metal Sonic. Every second that passed brought Mecha that much closer to death, and every wave that struck the foot of the cliffs was like a countdown.

"Shadow!" Sonic shouted, waving. Shadow looked up. Sonic was thirty feet away, looking over the edge. Sonic pointed. "Look at that!"

Shadow sprinted to him and looked. Flitting over the water was a gleaming insectoid shape, and a dark shape lay on the rocks near it. "That's him," said Shadow, and teleported.

A second later he returned, supporting Mecha with one arm over his shoulders. Mecha sank to the ground, shivering, and Sonic and Shadow knelt over him. "Thank you, Shadow," said Mecha, rubbing the salt out of his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Sonic asked.

Mecha looked up at him, then struggled to sit up. He would not lie down in his enemy's presence, not again. Mecha was not defeated this time. He clutched his stomach wound and growled, "I have never been better, hedgehog."

"Liar," said Shadow over the network.

"Shut up," Mecha replied the same way. Aloud he said, "Robo Knux is on the rocks nearby. One of you must retrieve him."

Sonic and Shadow exchanged an incredulous look. "After what he just did to you?" exclaimed Sonic. "Did you hit your head real hard or something?"

Mecha bared his teeth in a snarl. "He is alive, fool. And because of that, he is worth saving. For now. Retrieve him before it is too late!"

Sonic stood up, shaking his head, and looked over the cliff's edge. The insect-thing was hovering over another dim shape on the black rocks. "Hey Mecha," said Sonic, "there's a giant bug-thing down there."

"It is Aleda," said Mecha, struggling to contain a cough. "With a chaos emerald."

"Dude," said Sonic in surprise, and teleported.

A moment later he returned, dragging Robo Knux by one arm and Aleda by one of her sickle-shaped foreclaws. She hurried to Mecha, striding along on her four back legs with her two arms held bent in front of her.

"You never cease to surprise me," said Mecha, looking at her.

"Thank you!" she said, pleased. "Are you hurt awfully bad?"

Mecha cast a glance at Sonic. "Merely a fleshwound. It appears that you have taken damage as well, hedgehog."

Sonic looked down and saw that the bullet scratch across his stomach had bled all down his torso and legs, looking much more horrible than it was. "Oh heck," said Sonic, wincing. "Sally's gonna flip."

"And Tails, as well," said Mecha. "Tell him that I apologize for not being able to say goodbye in person, but revealing myself to GUN is a remarkably bad idea."

"Right," said Sonic, eyes darkening. "Why don't you guys keep in touch, instead of going off and getting into trouble on your own?"

"Our affairs do not concern you," said Mecha, turning to Shadow. "Retrieve Nox and we will depart."

Shadow nodded and teleported. He returned a few minutes later with an ecstatic Nox clinging to him, then teleported himself, Mecha and Aleda away in a flash of light.

Sonic was left alone with Robo Knux in the moonlight on the cliff. Sonic nudged the robot with a toe and rolled him over. Water poured out of the holes in Robo Knux's torso and arms, and his eyes were closed. He certainly looked dead. "Hey stupidface," said Sonic to him. "Can you hear me?"

Robo Knux did not respond.

Sonic knew better than to assume that the robot was offline, however. He bent down and grabbed Robo Knux's foot, and teleported down to the dock. To his surprise, there was no one there. After a moment's consideration, Sonic teleported to the Lincanna.

Here were lights, noise and people. The five scientists were huddled in a group at the stern, and a medic was inspecting them. Tails stood in the bow, watching as the Tornado was hauled on board by several humans with ropes. Robo Knux looked ugly and incongruous, sprawled in a tangle on the clean deck. Sonic stepped away from him, an old wound on the back of his leg tingling.

He felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned to see Sally standing there. Without a word they embraced and held each other. It was over. They had won. Then Sonic winced and released Sally as pain seared through the cut on his stomach. "Sorry Sal," he said, "but you know how these missions are ..."

Sally looked down and saw the blood that matted his fur, and cried, "Sonic Hedgehog! What happened to you?"

"Bullet scratch," said Sonic, inspecting it in the deck lights. "It didn't hit anything vital, honest."

"You come over here and let the medics look at you," said Sally, grabbing his arm and guiding him across the deck. "I can't believe you and your pain tolerance! Why didn't you abort and come back?"

"I was too busy," said Sonic. "And it doesn't really hurt, anyway."

Tails saw him being marched across the deck, and Sonic grinned sheepishly. Tails grinned back and trotted up to him. "Nice cut, Sonic," he said. "Are Mecha and Shadow okay?"

"Yeah, they were pretty banged up, so they left," said Sonic. "Mecha said he was sorry for not being able to say goodbye in person."

Tails looked down at the deck for a moment, then looked up with a smile. "He didn't threaten to kill me or anything, did he?"

"Nope," said Sonic, wishing he could say otherwise.

"Cool," said Tails.

Sally grabbed his arm. "Let's have the medic look at you, too, young kit. You don't recover from shock that easily."

As Sonic and Tails sat down on a bench to await their turn, Tails whispered, "You propose yet?"

"Nope," Sonic whispered back. "Something always happens."

"You could ask her now," said Tails, watching Sally as she spoke to one of the medics, a human in a white uniform.

"Naw," Sonic whispered. "She'd knock me over the head."

The medic approached, eyes widening at the amount of blood that Sonic had lost, and opened the medkit.

Across the deck, Nick lifted his head and saw Robo Knux, who was surrounded by wary GUN soldiers, even though he still showed no sign of life. "Hey guys," he said, nudging Lintel with his elbow. "Look what the cat dragged in."

The others looked up, saw the robot, and exchanged looks. "I wonder if they'd let us claim him," muttered Touis, rising to his feet. He padded across the deck to the soldiers, and the other four followed him.

"Stay back," warned one of the men. "This thing is still dangerous."

Nick cocked his head and gazed at the robot's face. One of Robo Knux's eyes was open a slit, and the green iris glowed through. Nick glanced at Touis and said, "This robot belongs to the Analytech firm."

"Yeah, it does," said Touis, catching on. "It's laboratory property."

The soldiers looked at them doubtfully. Nick motioned to Robo Knux. "Ask him."

One of the soldiers said, "Identify your owner, unit."

Robo Knux opened his eyes, and took in the scientists, then the soldiers. "Self-unit is property of the Analytech firm," he said in his best robotic monotone.

"Fine," said one of the soldiers. "Then you get this thing cleaned off the deck."

The five scientists gathered around Robo Knux and hoisted him to his feet. His motion control center was shorted out, so they had to carry him to the passenger benches across the deck, but his eyes flickered from side to side, absorbing everything.

"Thanks," he whispered.

"Don't mention it," Nick whispered back.

Shadow awoke two days later.

He was lying on his cot in the mountain base, and the familiar darkness shrouded him. Nox was curled up in his usual place beside Shadow's head, and Mecha was standing in the far corner of the room. He had been standing there when Shadow had fallen asleep two days ago, and he didn't appear to have moved.

Mekion was quiet, but he still felt resentful, even if he said nothing. "Greetings Mecha," whispered Shadow. "Am I repaired?"

"I have been working on Mekion remotely for nearly forty-eight hours," Mecha replied. "I have repaired some of the damage, but a large amount remains."

Shadow sat up and moved his leg. It had healed and no longer pained him. "Mecha," he said, stretching and yawning, "didn't you rest?"

"Yes, of course," said Mecha, frowning. "The trouble with a stomach wound is that I cannot lie on my back, front, or sides without pain. I can only stand."

"Are you still in pain?"

Mecha looked down and touched his stomach. "The outer wounds have closed, but my power core is taking extra time to regenerate. I am no longer bleeding internally, but it ... hurts." He spoke the last word with bewilderment, as if he could not comprehend why his body had not yet repaired itself.

Shadow stood up and was struck by a wave of dizziness. He sat down on the edge of his cot and held his head. "What's wrong with Mekion?" he asked.

"You shall have to ask him," said Mecha wearily. "Robotnik so damaged the three laws operating system that my repair patches error before they are installed."

Shadow said to his mechanical half, "Mekion status?"

"Mekion 100 operational," Mekion replied.

Shadow asked, "Who is registered as Master?"

"Data error," said Mekion.

Shadow raised an eyebrow at himself. "What about the three laws?"

"Three laws are intact," said Mekion.

Shadow looked at Metal Sonic. "The laws work, but we have no master."

"Better none than Robotnik," said Mecha. "Again, I sincerely apologize for putting you through this. I should never have conducted the mecha-fusion experiment on you."

Shadow was moved by his master's humility. "Do not punish yourself, Mecha. With no master registered, Mekion will have no call for aggression."

"Possibly," said Mecha. "He might also become much, much worse." He stepped out of the corner and walked toward the door, limping slightly. As he passed, Mekion's claws whipped out like lightning and tore three silver gashes in the side of Metal Sonic's head.

Mecha leaped sideways, hit the wall and almost fell, spinning to face Shadow. Shadow looked down at his claws in horrified disbelief. "Mecha, Mekion did it by himself!"

Metal Sonic stood still as the cuts on his head shrank and disappeared. "As I said," he murmured, "Mekion might become worse." He turned and strode to the door.

Shadow addressed his own mind. "Why did you strike him? He's not an enemy!"

Mekion's silence was ominous.

Mekion behaved himself as Shadow went about eating and grooming himself, but any time he crossed paths with Metal Sonic, that robot hand managed to hurt Mecha with a random lightning-quick cut. After the third time this happened, Shadow fled to his room and shut the door. What was wrong with him? Mekion was out of control!

"Nox," he whispered to his chao, who had followed him in, "what's wrong with me?"

Nox looked up at him thoughtfully. "You're angry, and scared. And Mekion is ... cold. Just cold, nothing else."

"Cold," whispered Shadow, looking at the walls as if seeking an escape from his own body. "I can't let him keep hurting Mecha, Nox! Mecha's hurt enough as it is." He clenched both fists. "I swore that I'd be nobody's pawn if I ever got out of that lab. That includes being Mekion's pawn. He's using me, and I'm sick of being used!" He began to pace back and forth in the small room.

Nox watched him. "But how do you keep from being used?"

"I need to get stronger," said Shadow. "I have to conquer Mekion from the inside. The control rankings are gone, so it'll be a war. But he doesn't have the power that he did. He must be running in my subconscious, which is how he controls the attack reflex." He snatched his orange chaos emerald off the shelf above his bed, and jerked it out of the claws of the testing cage. "I have to leave until I master him."

"Can I go?" said Nox.

Shadow gazed sidelong at the chao, and said, "Very well. Mekion bears no ill will toward you. Come on, I need to explain to Mecha."

Mecha was in the control room with the heaters turned on, gazing absently at the computer screens, standing, as usual. He turned stiffly to face Shadow as the hedgehog entered.

Shadow stood just inside the door, ten feet from Mecha. "Mecha," he whispered, "I have to leave."

Mecha gazed at him, and lowered his head. "Yes. I thought it might come to that."

Shadow stared at the floor, ashamed of himself and Mekion. "I have to learn to control him, and until then, he might use me to destroy you."

"Yes." Mecha's voice was flat. He drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. "If you must leave, please accept my assistance." He took an object off the control panel and flipped it to Shadow.

Shadow caught it and saw that it was Mecha's debit card. "No, Mecha, I can't take this."

"I can get another," said Mecha, his voice curiously dry and dead. His face was empty of expression. "I would not have you wind up in prison for stealing food and supplies. I can keep track of you by your purchases."

Shadow opened his mouth, but Mecha raised a hand. "I made you what you are, and I am responsible for your welfare. I cannot resume my quest until spring, anyway."

"You're continuing your search for the Master Designer?" said Shadow.

"Yes," said Mecha, turning to the computers. "My previous journey opened new avenues of research that I had not considered. Perhaps in four months you will have overcome Mekion."

"Maybe," said Shadow, feeling the hollow in his head that was his robot half. He looked at the debit card, and realized that Mecha was being kind. The sort of kindness that Shadow had only seen in him in glimpses and flashes. What had happened between Shadow's abduction and rescue? He almost asked, but he was aware of Mekion watching for an opportunity to strike, and knew that he had to get out of here. "Thank you, Master," he whispered.

Mecha didn't look at him, but one hand clenched into a fist, then relaxed. "For the last time, Shadow. Do not call me Master."

Shadow picked up Nox in one arm, and teleported away.

Aleda found Mecha in the control room half an hour later. Mecha was leaning on the control panel with his head in one hand, but it wasn't until she reached his feet that she realized that Mecha was crying in silence. He picked her up, set her beside the keyboard and stroked her with one hand.

She reached up and wiped away his tears. "Don't cry, Mecha. Does it still hurt that much?"

"Shadow is gone," said Mecha over the network. He could control his internal voice, while at the moment he was not sure that his external voice would function. "Mekion is so damaged that there was nothing else that he could do. And I am a wretched fool for making him what he is. I have heaped torment upon torment on Shadow, and now I do not suppose I will ever see him again."

Aleda gazed into his glistening red eyes. "He left because he didn't want to hurt you?"

Mecha nodded.

Aleda said, "Well, once he won't hurt you anymore, he'll come back. He may not agree with you all the time, but he does love you. Nox told me so."

"Love," said Mecha bitterly. "Do not bother me with things I do not understand. I am a robot, Aleda. There is nothing about me to love, and as I cannot understand it, I cannot return it."

"Then how come you're crying?" said Aleda, putting her paws around his neck.

Mecha had no answer for that. He stroked her soft blue head and swallowed his tears. There was no time for self-pity, anyway. He had his next foray into the wilds of Mobius to plan, and Aleda had brought back the violet chaos emerald. He wanted to learn to use chaos energy. He had mastered it once, and he was certain that he could do it again.

Nick lay on a gurney with his shirt off, and watched the computer screens beside him.

The Analytech firm was back in their old lab for a while. Downsizing to one airlock chamber had been tough, but none of them complained. The old lab felt positively homey compared to the Deimos Island one.

Now his four colleagues were running tests on the nanites in his bloodstream to see exactly what Robotnik had done to him. Nick had wanted to check in to a hospital, but Touis talked him out of it. "Nobody else has the facilities to test for nanite effects, and a regular doctor would just tell you that you have an infection and slap you with antibiotics."

So Nick was lying here with sensors stuck all over his chest to monitor his vital signs. Barlet was running a blood sample through their testing machine, and Kray, Touis and Lintel were seated at the computers, viewing the analysis results.

"Any word yet?" he asked them.

"No," Kray growled. "If you ask one more time, I'll tell the cops that you died of leukemia."

Nick laughed.

He watched as more results appeared on screen, along with computer-generated images of nanites and blood cells. Touis whistled softly, and Nick turned his head. "What? What?"

"Look at this," said Touis. "The nanites have ... augmented your white blood cells."

Nick squinted at the images. "They what?"

Touis pointed. "Look! See how this nanite is attached to the side of the white blood cell? It's acting like a virus, but unlike a virus, it's not trying to destroy the cell. It's like ... it's made it stronger."

"So is that good or bad?" said Nick.

"Could go either way," said Lintel. "Sometimes the immune system can turn on the body itself."

Barlet lifted his head from the microscope. "Guys," he said, "I think we should test him with the chaoscope."

There was a moment of silence. The chaoscope showed chaos activity and chaos auras, like an x-ray, and no human had ever turned up positive on it. "Might as well," said Nick. "Look at it this way. I should have died and I didn't. The nanites have boosted my immune system. If I have a chaos field, then we know that Robotnik's experiment succeeded."

The Mobians exchanged glances. Touis shrugged. "Okay, fine. Lintel, unhook his sensors."

Five minutes later, Nick was standing on a metal pad in front of an illuminated panel on the wall. Touis pointed an object like a telescope at him, adjusted it, then pressed a button. There was a click, and Touis turned to the computer screen nearby. Nick stepped off the metal pad, and they all gathered around and looked.

Nick's body appeared as a silhouette, and encircling him was an uneven white glow, like a halo around a bright light.

Touis turned and shook Nick's hand. "Congratulations. You are the first ever chaos-positive human."

Nick smiled uneasily. "So what's that mean?"

The Mobians looked at each other. Lintel grinned. "We have no idea what it means. But it'd be cool to find you a chaos emerald and see what happens."

Nick looked even more uneasy. "Right. Thanks, guys."

In the corner, a red robot on a table called, "And stay the heck away from Dr. Robotnik!"

"That goes without saying," said Nick.

A few days later, winter arrived in the form of a snowstorm. It dumped several feet of snow on the mountains around Mecha's base, but left only six inches over Knothole. When the villagers awoke that morning, they discovered that the barren trees and dead grass had been transformed into a soft white fairyland.

Sally stepped outside with a gasp of surprise, gazing at the clean whiteness that made all other colors look dark and vivid. Village children ran about, giggling and shouting, and the snow was marked with blue footprints. Her winter coat was grown in, and the cold felt mildly pleasant, but she returned inside for a pair of mittens. Then she went looking for Sonic.

Sonic had left his hut, as she could see by the footprints in the snow. She followed them to Tails's hut, where another set of footprints joined Sonic's. Then both sets of tracks galloped straight through the woods toward the meadow. Sally followed them, smiling at how far apart the prints were - they had been racing.

Presently the trees thinned, and Sally stepped out into the meadow, which was now a glittering white expanse with the sun shining on it. Sonic and Tails were two dark figures against the snow, and she squinted and shaded her eyes.

Tails was holding a baseball bat at the ready, and Sonic was crouched down, rolling snowballs. Then he jumped up and threw several as fast as his arm could go. Tails swung furiously, hitting the snowballs, which exploded into white fragments that scattered around him. He missed one snowball, which hit him in the side of the head, and he laughed.

"A point for me!" Sonic yelled.

"Five to two," said Tails, wiping snow out of his eyes. "Hi Sally!" He waved.

Sonic turned and called, "Hey Sal, want a turn?"

"Sure!" she replied, crunching forward. She accepted the bat from Tails and swung it a few times as Tails walked to Sonic. The pair whispered together as they made snowballs, then stood up with their hands full, grinning mischievously.

"Two against one isn't fair," Sally called. "Don't you guys dare - Sonic, don't you - NO!"

The fox and hedgehog pelted her with snowballs, and Sally shrieked, laughing and swinging the bat as if swatting flies. She felt it connect with several snowballs, but most of them struck her and exploded. All three of them were laughing. She threw down the bat, grabbed handfuls of snow and packed it into balls, then hurled them at her attackers.

"Hey, no fair!" Sonic yelled, shielding himself.

"Is too fair!" Sally yelled. "Just like two against one!"

By the time their snowball fight was over, ten minutes later, all three of them were covered in snow. Panting, they brushed each other off, and Sonic picked up the baseball bat. "I love days off," he said, eyes glittering like the snow.

"Me too!" said Tails. "I wonder where the sleds are?"

"Ah, just make the Tornado turn into one," said Sonic, and they laughed.

Sally saw Tails elbow Sonic, and Sonic seemed to remember something. "Oh, right." He turned to Sally, his eyes still dancing. "Sal, I have a question."

Sally couldn't keep from grinning. "The same question you were going to ask on the Lincanna?"

"And a million times before that," said Sonic, glancing at Tails. Tails was laughing with both hands over his mouth.

"Get on your knees!" Tails said in a stage whisper.

Sonic's grin widened. "C'mon Sal, don't make me kneel down in the snow."

She pretended to think about it. "Is your shoe unbuckled?"

Sonic looked down. "Hey, it is!" He knelt down and pulled off one glove, revealing a ring on his little finger. He slid it off and held it up to Sally. "Marry me?"

She reached for the ring, but hesitated. "Is that a hypothetical question?"

"Nope," said Sonic. "I'm afraid it's the real thing."

She took the ring and said, "And I'm afraid the answer is yes."

He jumped to his feet, laughing. "Knux went on about how hard that was!"

Sally pulled off a mitten and put on the ring, and looked at it on her hand. "Sonic, this is an emerald!" She went into peals of laughter.

"Well, what else should the wife of Sonic Hedgehog wear?" he said, grinning.

She stepped up and hugged him, and Sonic put his arms around her with uncharacteristic tenderness. "Hey Sal," he said, and she looked up at him. "Kiss me?" he said. She tilted her head forward and he kissed her on the lips for the first time. Sally felt herself melting - she had waited so long for this.

As they parted, Sally said, "And if you teleport away, the engagement is off."

"C'mon, Sal!" said Sonic, pretending to be offended. "Running's what I do!" He dusted the snow off his knees. "Well, that's out of the way, and I'm starved. Let's get some chow." He offered one hand to Sally and the other to Tails, and took off running for Knothole, towing them.

Their laughter faded into the distance, brightening the change of seasons with joy.

The end