Chapter 5
Shadow ran through the corridor, pacing himself only so Jack could keep up...But going just fast enough to make sure Jack didn't NOTICE that he was pacing himself. "You shouldn't have tagged along. I don't need your help." Shadow said. "Oh really? Is that why you're pacing yourself so I can keep up?" Jack responded.
Damn it.
"Whoever this is has direct knowledge of you and your friends. He's just as much a threat to you as he is to me." Shadow responded with a frustrated sigh, before stopping to survey a doorway in the hall ahead. "What do you mean by 'he?' It could've been anyone talking through that cat." Jack asked, scanning the doorway with his goggles before giving a hand signal to go ahead. "It was what he said...When I was holding him before he passed out...When I asked what they were building, he said 'you.'"
"Yeah, and he was looking at Cyber when he said it. More ECS Units, right?" Jack said, confused. "No. He was losing consciousness before Cyber even approached him. He was talking about me." Jack gave Shadow a look of concern. "If you're implying what I THINK you're implying..."
"I hope I'm wrong...But it's looking likely." Shadow interrupted, before entering the doorway. Inside the room were large storage containers containing tons of Wisps, in some sort of stasis field. Jack checked the controls of one of the containers. "Looks like this was the cause behind all the energy readings. You can't keep these guys locked up for long. We're just lucky they haven't been drained of their energy yet." Shadow promptly went into a series of homing attacks, destroying each capsule and freeing the Wisps inside. As he landed, many of them gathered around him, giving many small hugs and letting out affectionate noises. Shadow didn't seem to like it. "No, I'm not Sonic. We just look similar. Now go away!" He said, in a mostly annoyed tone. Jack looked somewhat amused as all but one of the Wisps, a Laser Wisp, flew away from him. "Happen a lot?"
"When you resemble the savior of their entire world, then yeah, it happens a lot." Shadow said, as the Laser Wisp continued clinging to him. He tried shaking it off. "I SAID, GO AWAY!" he started, before the Wisp started giving him a look, as if it was about to cry. "Fine. You can stay until we're done here. Just...Keep your distance." Shadow said, sighing as if in defeat. The Wisp started floating around in glee, staying close to Shadow's side(but not TOO close)as he and Jack began walking down the corridor again.
Meanwhile, back in the assembly area, Rouge threw one of her bombs at a group of Egg Pawns while some of the ECS Units tried their best to take cover. Some had managed to take down a few Egg Pawns and steal their weapons, but that still left the majority undefended, especially in their weakened state. Cyber was managing to hold back the tide fairly well, shooting a wall of flame with her Wispon, while Omega was unleashing his heavy artillery on some of the larger Badniks, to his personal glee. Omega took only a moment to cool off his arm mounted cannons when his chest unit jammed, likely the result of Raccoon's earlier attack. Omega looked up as an Egg Hammer neared him...Too close for a melee attack to be viable. If his arm cannons could only cool down faster...
Just then, Raccoon managed to climb to the top of the Egg Hammer's shoulders, tearing off its head with one strong motion, before diving inside of its body. Racoon's interference with its circuits caused the Egg Hammer's body to swing around wildly, taking out many of the Badniks around it before falling to the ground. Soon afterward, Raccoon burst out from the torso of the Egg Hammer, seeming quite proud of himself. Omega could only balk at the utter wave of destruction that lay before his eyes. "YES!" He said, raising his fists in triumph before converting them back into blasters. "THIS ONE GETS IT!"