A/N: Hey, hey everyone! I am so glad I got that previous chapter off my chest. It wasn't exactly my best work, but at least it's over with. Now we can focus on the good stuff! By the way, thank you reviewers: Windfield, Daikonran, MysticJon15, RC-sonicCRAZED, and Shadow Stalkr!!!
Chapter 15: Countdown
"Self-destruct? I bet those... things... did it!" Knuckles snarled, walking to Shadow's side, now facing the control panel.
The dark hedgehog was frantically typing on the dusty buttons which glowed with a faded luminescence. Shadow did not even notice Knuckles carefully observing him. He quickly forgot about Sonic's presence, focusing all thought on the codes in front of him. The echidna at his side merely gazed at the technological mastery that Shadow possessed. The last time Knuckles saw Shadow was only a good twenty minutes ago, but his persona seemed different; desperate. Every time the red light periodically flickered on, Knuckles witnessed the fear in his friend's eyes. This was not from the base's imminent danger, but something else. He knew something, and whatever it was had Shadow in utter panic.
Meanwhile, Sonic remained still. He held the role of a spectator. This world he was now in had progressed many years into the future. Everyone he knew was either dead or extremely different. Sonic suddenly understood that as he observed his two allies. They would never return to the people they once were, forever tainted by the horrid vicissitudes of their past. Not to mention, Sonic was absent through all of it, completely ignorant to the true terror of the chaos blade. He was separate from this world and no matter how hard he could possibly try to help his allies, Sonic could not assist them and would remain a spectator.
"Well?" asked Knuckles earnestly, breaking Sonic's trail of thought.
"Well what?" Shadow retorted, ignoring the bleating alarm which blared after the periodic red light faltered.
"Can you stop it?"
"Of course not," Shadow sighed with annoyance. "Robotnik would never design anything with a code to reverse the process. That way, it'll ensure no one can stop his plans. Quite ingenious actually."
"Then what are you doing?! We need to get out of here!" The echidna gasped.
"And where to?" Sonic finally engaged into the conversation, stumbling towards the monitor. "Those water creatures are outside. We'd drown before we could even attempt to escape."
"What water creatures?"
"Long story, Shadow. Sonic accidentally pressed this button and unlocked these... things... with powers similar to chaos'."
"ME?! You're the one who smashed it into oblivion!"
"Do you two really have time for this?!" Shadow groaned.
Of course, neither hedgehog nor echidna listened to reason. Knuckles pounced on top Sonic, but even with his injured leg, the hedgehog dodged the attack. With his cocky attitude, Sonic stuck out his tongue.
"Oh, you're going down now!"
As the two started fighting, Shadow merely sighed and continued frantically typing. He was searching for the portal which Dice described to him. However, as the countdown for self-destruct continued blaring, Shadow realized that even if he discovered its location, the probability of him fixing the machine and escaping into it were beyond impossible. The monitor was switching camera angles madly. Still, no sign of a portal. Or an escape route for that matter.
At last, Shadow regained his senses, and ceased searching for the impossible. Dice must have lied to him, he thought. There was nothing in this base but cobwebs and a lab experiment gone wrong. The dark hedgehog activated the security system and systematically closed off the exits from where the water creatures were.
The screen was now divided in two; one side contained the flashing security cameras, while the other had a diagram of the entire base. Searching for anything possessing Chaos DNA, Shadow quickly saw which rooms were infiltrated with the creatures. One after another, Shadow typed up the new codes, and closed each door. At last, their path to the exit was 'safe.'
Shadow glanced behind him to see both of his visitors still fighting.
"Any time boys."
The hedgehog glimpsed at the monitor to see how much time was left until the explosion. However, Shadow witnessed an odd energy signature on the diagram. It glowed with the same vibrancy and color of that from the water creatures. Though it was separate from the others; all alone and quite far from the exit. Dice?
"Let's get out of here, now," Shadow gasped, as a small disk was ejected from the computer. The dark hedgehog turned around, with the disk in hand, and motioned for the exhausted hedgehog and echidna to move.
"Right," Both laughed with embarrassment.
As they ran deeper and deeper into the base, Sonic could feel the sharp pain of his leg again. "Why are we going this way!?"
"Because you two had to open Pandora's Box."
The cerulean blue hedgehog raised his eyebrow. "What's up with the catch phrase?"
"How cliché?" Knuckles laughed, knowing Sonic's repetitive remarks. The echidna forgot how comical they were. However, his amusement quickly vanished when he saw Shadow stop dead in his tracks at an intersection.
"What?"
"I need to take care of something. Go on ahead. It is quite simple from here. Right, left, left, right."
"The base is going to explode in a few minutes. What is so important to take care of?" Sonic implored.
"Like you said. There's not much time. Go on ahead. I never asked for your help." Shadow coldly responded. He ran to left path, but stopped. "Nice to see you again faker."
"Ditto." Knowing Shadow's obstinate ways, Knuckles and Sonic headed right in escape of the baleful sounding alarm. "We shouldn't have left him there."
"Shadow can take care of himself. After all he survived another dimension and Dice's chaos control."
"You did too."
"Yeah but... Robotnik ordered her to keep some of us alive. Not sure why." The echidna panted, running down the hall. However, he saw immense fatigue in Sonic's face. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Sonic winced. "This leg is bugging me; that's all... I'll live."
Meanwhile, Shadow was headed for the energy signal he saw earlier. By memory, he followed the hallway and its insistent turns. Left, left, right, left, straight, left, right. The deeper he progressed, the darker the passageway became. The flashing red lights quickly became more frightening (not to Shadow of course). The clinking noise from his shoes and the metal floor undermined the fainting alarm. Strange, he thought. The alarm was fading. Robotnik intentionally designed the security not to warn whatever facility was at the end of this hall.
He slid to a stop as he entered a humongous room with a ceiling which extended hundreds of yards upwards. Thick metal pillars were fastened into the floor and stopped abruptly in the middle of the air. Shadow gazed in wonder at the metal web above him. This chamber appeared unfinished, with the visage of a metal house under construction on the inside. High on the 'roof' of this 'house' were dozens of metal bars and ropes, among other things.
Shadow cautiously staggered across the room to see another hallway directly across from him. There were dozens of broken, sparking circuits inside a recess on the opening of the short passageway. He could see a door at the end of it. Confused, the dark hedgehog turned around. Nothing was here. Before leaving the room, he gazed upwards at the metal web one last time.
A hand. A gloved hand was resting limp over one horizontal pillar. She really is alive, Shadow thought. "I am going to kill her for tricking me!" However, despite his choleric reaction, he found himself slightly relieved. The dark hedgehog immediately sprinted up against the metal columns and landed on one of the bars. With his speed, climbing up vertical surfaces was simple.
Dice was resting up against a vertical pillar across from him. Her head was tilted with one arm covering her eyes. Overall, the girl looked diffident and utterly pathetic. The new clothes on her limp body had trickles of blood on them. Especially the palms of her hands. They were scraped and bloody.
"Dice?" Shadow implored, longing to hear her respond. She must be alive... I can't fail her, or Rogue... or Maria, now! One agonizing step at a time, he approached her.
"Go away," She moaned, almost whispering. Her body refused to move, even her mouth seemed immobile. "This place is going to self-destruct... and destroy everything with it."
"... You did it?"
"He told me to."
"He's here!?" Shadow gasped, knowing who 'he' was referring to. However, Dice did not respond. She curled up against the pillar, with her arms wrapped around her legs. However, her black eyelids remained closed.
"We have to get out of here," the dark hedgehog stated, deciding that now was not the perfect time to discuss it.
"You can."
"I'm immortal. If I really wanted to, I could just stay and wait for the explosion, and I'd remain unharmed. You, on the other hand, are not."
"So what? I'm not... cannot go."
"Why not?"
"My orders were to destroy the base, its contents, and two of the four survivors. Since two of you are here in the building, I'll kill two birds with one stone... more like three."
Shadow remained silent, rethinking her words. She knew that Knuckles and Shadow would be able to escape, but said otherwise. The hedgehog looked at Dice again, who still kept her eyes tightly shut.
At last, Shadow came to a revelation. No matter what, Dice is physically unable to stop from obeying orders. However, she can find a loophole in them. If she truly believed that all her targets would be destroyed in this explosion, then there is no reason for her to attack Shadow now. There is no reason for her to try and escape if her mission is already complete. That's why her eyes were closed. If she saw Shadow standing there, she might try to kill him.
Realizing this, Shadow only used vague words. "So, is he here?"
"No, he's gone... to do as he pleases."
"And... what did he tell you?"
"Nothing." Of course, Dice was lying, but this remark told Shadow that Robotnik did not want his conversation disclosed. He is planning something.
"Well, what can you tell me?"
"Nothing. He won't need me soon. So there is no reason to plague anyone anymore."
"What? Why?"
"He told me so; that's all the reason I need."
"Damn it Dice, think for yourself!"
"Just leave me alone," Dice beseeched. Her voice seemed shaky, nervous. Shadow's patience was wearing thin.
"Did he tell you to stay here?"
"No, it's my decision."
"Then stop this absurdity!" Shadow yelled, grabbing Dice by the shoulders. Her eyes remained closed, but a glimmer of a tear dripped down her cheek. "You have a choice to live, so stop it already!"
"And what reason do I have to live?" Dice pleaded to know the answer. Her blue eyes slowly opened, staring through Shadow's. She quickly looked away, at the floor.
"...I ... uh," Shadow stuttered, speechless.
"I have murdered countless lives, destroyed thousands of galaxies, and... I have no control over it. I can't even commit suicide. I have to wait, and let this damn base do it for me."
"What about your revenge?"
"Pointless."
"Don't you want to make it up to everyone?"
"Who? They're all dead."
"What about your happiness?"
"Don't deserve it."
"Listen to me! Throwing your life away is an act of cowardice. You ca---"
"I am a coward. A spineless loser."
Shadow was fresh out of reasons. That motivation was what kept him going after all this time. The anger within him soon transformed into limitless pity.
"You can't throw your life away."
"It's all I want."
"But you can't. You can't always get you want." Shadow was growing more and more nervous. There couldn't be much time left.
"I never got what I want... and I deserved it. But now, I realize... this will benefit everyone."
"But it won't. Haven't you learned through all of this, through all those people you killed, that every life is precious? You can't be a hypocrite and say yours is not. I know, from experience, that anyone and everyone's death is mourned. All those years ago, when I disappeared after ARK, I thought no one cared; that it was better that way. But when I returned, everyone was overjoyed to see me. I found a little boy who looked up to me. I couldn't let him down. Even when I discovered that Sonic was dead... ...at one point, I thought I would be glad to get rid of him, erase him from existence... ...but that wasn't the case at all. Dice, you can't say that your death will benefit others."
"But with that logic, we shouldn't kill Dr. Robotnik."
Shadow sighed; there was no getting through to this girl. "But you can't let him continue killing others."
"He didn't kill anyone. It was me. All me!" At this point, Dice was quietly sobbing, tears flowing over her cheeks.
"Stop it!" Depression was one thing, but Shadow could not handle tears. He shook her shoulders violently until Dice returned to her 'senses.' Shadow squeezed her tight. "Don't listen to this madness. You can't die! I need you to stop Robotnik! You are the only one who knows what he's planning!"
"And my orders were not to let anyone know of them!" Dice gasped. Her eyes began to blink dark red. She was twitching uncontrollably. "Get away from me, Shadow!" The mentioning of the dark hedgehog's name was too much for Dice to handle. The blood coursed hot in her veins. She had to kill him, as ordered.
Shadow released her and jumped back, as the panting girl unsheathed her blade.
A/N: How's that guys? Better? And I updated relatively quickly too. Yay! Oh just a side note: It came to my attention (since I re-read all my chapters the other day) that I have a lot of hinting at possible romances. Just so you know, I never intended it at all. There is no love whatsoever in this story (well except some one-sided love of Amy to Sonic, but that's her personality). Of course if you guys like romance you can interpret it any way you want. I just don't want to have any love matching between Sega characters and Dice. No OC-real character stuff (just in case you misinterpreted the final scene in this chapter). So yah.