yeet i've really been on a roll lately w these quick updates, huh?

this chapter is a lil intense but nothing out of the ordinary lol


XI.

bedlam (bedləm)

[noun]

a scene of uproar and chaos.


The wind felt considerably colder than before as it lapped against Sonic's face. He trailed behind Shadow in a daze, nearly lagging behind. He was so preoccupied with his own whirlwind of thoughts, and trying to keep up with Shadow's discreet movements around the city, that he didn't even notice they'd stopped until he just about ran into the immobile hedgehog, hiding behind a pile of crates.

Blinking, Sonic shook himself and smiled nervously. "Something up?"

Shadow just continued to stare. "Is everything okay?"

Ah. That.

He wasn't—Sonic was fine. He just. Well. Knowing that machine, that monster was still alive and kicking, roaming the streets, just waiting for him to show his face so it could finish what it failed to do last time, it—it, maybe, made his stomach churn, just a little bit. Maybe he was still just a bit jittery about being back on his feet, on a real mission, beating up robots, for the first time in six months. But he was fine. He always was.

"Yeah. I'm good."

Shadow shifted his footing. He looked Sonic up and down for a moment, then said in a lower tone, "You know, you don't have to do this."

The azure hedgehog faltered. "I—what?"

"This," Shadow gestured vaguely at nothing in particular. Something vulnerable and tender shimmered in his gaze. "I just mean, it… wouldn't be the worst idea if you returned back to HQ."

That sparked something hot and scalding in the pit of his stomach. Sonic frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

With a long sigh, Shadow pinched the bridge of his nose and ducked more into the shade, to further avoid detection. They were still in a dangerous location. They were supposed to keep moving, and reach that badnik outpost while Espio headed off to meet with Rouge. They were wasting time and every second they stood here just talking was another second closer to their likely inevitable encounter with trouble. (Because they always seemed to run into trouble. It's just what they did.)

"You know I don't mean that in any sort of rude way," Shadow said. "But, you just escaped captivity. You're still—covered in scars. Mentally and physically."

Sonic thoughtlessly glimpsed down at himself, something hard settling in his gut. That long, disgusting, pale scar still ran vertical down his chest, a ghost of Infinite, forever clinging to him, reminding him of his failure. His—his fucking arm, metal and fake and so absolutely not him.

"I'm just saying. I wouldn't be opposed to you taking a little while to rest and recover."

He bit the tip of his tongue and grimaced slightly. His steel digits twitched against his will, glitchy and wrong.

No. He was not just gonna—he had to prove them all wrong, Eggman and Infinite and their whole army of robot assholes. He was more than some helpless prisoner. When Infinite beat him and—and took him away, that was just a fluke. He'd get better now. He had to. He could handle this, because he was not a coward. He just… he just had to prove it. Just had to prove that he could do this without any coddling or pity or any of that bullshit.

He was fine. He wasn't gonna let them get the best of him, not again.

"Shads," Sonic muttered, locking gazes with his partner. He locked his jaw and hardened his stare. "I'm not going anywhere."

It was not up for debate.

Wordlessly, Shadow nodded, though not without a moment of hesitation, of fear, of that—that frustrating pity that all his friends always seemed to cast his way lately. Sonic didn't back down, just continued to stare back with his own unspoken urgency. Let me do this. Let me prove I can do this again.

Streaks of blue and black tore down the winding streets of Capital City once again.


Gadget failed to stifle the bubbling laughter that spilled from his lips as he watched Ray frolic around the village. The kid had some aura of unbridled joy and innocence to him, and he spread it wherever he went. It was enough to numb the constant fear and anxiety that'd been stirring in Gadget's gut since day one of the war—even if just for a moment.

A door to some building across the street creaked open, and a giggling rabbit emerged, her eyes wide and sparkling. Shortly after, a coyote followed after her—though this man was significantly more scrawny and short than Guntiver. The white sashes over his chest and grandiose blade attached to his side almost made Gadget wonder if this guy was from some sort of royalty.

Bunnie took the coyote's hand—cybernetic fingers intertwined with fleshy ones—looking at him with something endearing and sappy in her gaze. She promptly glanced to Gadget, and smiled cordially.

"Hey!" she called, dragging the man along with her to Gadget. "How've ya' been, Gadget?"

The wolf shrugged. "Uh. M—Tails is helping out Mighty. I was supposed to follow Ray and look for something else to do, but…"

He gestured helplessly to the squirrel, who laughed jubilantly as he skipped down the dirt road. He was currently preoccupied with chasing a stray leaf in the wind—said leaf was what had distracted him in the first place, almost immediately after he and Gadget exited the workshop. And Gadget almost felt bad, because he should've probably been looking for Sally or something, but… it was kind of nice to just feel the cool breeze tickle his face, and watch the pure embodiment of innocence dart about before him.

Bunnie nodded in understanding. "That kid's a real sweetheart." She then blinked and laughed nervously, glancing to the coyote she still clung to. "Oh! I should probably introduce y'all. Gadget, this is my husband, Antoine. Honey, this is one of the new guys I was tellin' ya' about."

The coyote smiled and did a rather dramatic bow. When he spoke his voice was sharp and distinctly thick with something eastern. "It is a pleasure, Monsieur Gadget."

Gadget returned an awkward smile. "Nice to meet you."

Antoine took a moment to fix his pristine golden locks. They were parted nicely on top of his head. "Perhaps you could assist me with chopping up some of the firewood. There is plenty to get through and supper will be ready soon."

"What about Ray?" The squirrel continued to laugh and run around giddily, utterly oblivious to their conversation. Bunnie shrugged and cracked a lopsided grin.

"He could help y'all. I need to go see Sal, anyways."

Antoine nodded to his wife and made the dramatic gesture of kissing her knuckles. Her face reddened and with a parting peck on the lips, she shooed him off while heading towards that large building Sally presumably resided in, the same one he and Tails initially met with her in. Gadget had the urge to roll his eyes at the obviously very romantic coyote, but fought it down.

—Conversely, the sight almost made his heart ache. Seeing such an open display of affection made him regret not doing the same before—before—

… Yeah.

After the two males caught Ray's attention, Antoine began to lead them to a small clearing in the town, just a few feet from the massive pavilion and unlit bonfire. There was a large mound of un-chopped lumber waiting patiently for them. The coyote hefted up a large axe and began cutting through the logs, and Gadget tentatively took up the role of setting each one in position for him.

"So… you and Bunnie," the wolf began, because Chaos he hated silences. "How long have you two been together?"

Antoine smiled warmly, fixated on his work. "Oh, just over a year. She is my everything. Mon amour." Gadget caught blue eyes peering teasingly up at him. "And you? Surely you have someone to give your heart to?"

All Gadget could really do was just exhale sharply because wow, that was certainly a loaded question. What we he supposed to say, anyways? Yes, actually, I'm dating the insane tyrant that conquered the entire planet. Right. Because that'd go over well.

After a moment of deliberation he settled on an ambiguous, "I haven't seen him in a while," and left it at that. Antoine only rose a brow at him and pursed his lips.

"You are having troubles? I could perhaps give some advice."

Gadget shook his head. "No, I just…" Wait, hang on. "Uh, actually, I could maybe use some advice for something else—entirely unrelated."

Antoine watched him intently. He grunted as he chopped another log in half.

"So." Gadget swallowed thickly. "What do you think you'd do if… If you knew someone, really well, and you loved them—romantic or not. Just, just someone really close to you. But then they did something bad, l-like, really bad. And you didn't know how to tell your other friends without risking them getting mad at you, or—or not understanding. And all you wanna do is help this person you love get better, because you know they didn't mean to do the bad thing, but… nobody else will really believe you."

The other man looked at him with a vague smile, and something distantly sympathetic in his eyes. "That's a rather peculiar situation you're stuck in, ami."

Gadget refused to make eye contact, instead opting to heave up another piece of wood for him to chop. "I'm just scared."

There was a pregnant pause and his chest felt so tight, it felt like it was collapsing in on itself, but—but then Antoine set down the axe and eased a firm hand on his shoulder, smiling charismatically.

"Gadget, these days, everybody seems to be making bad mistakes. We are only human after all. But I feel that if these friends truly trust you enough, they will trust you enough to help you help your loved one, no?"

"And if they don't?"

"They will," Antoine said. "Otherwise you cannot call them friends."

After mulling those words over in his mind, Gadget settled on a half-smile. "Yeah. I guess you're right."


Metal Sonic prowled the streets of Capital City like a feral animal. Espio quickly met up with Rouge, and she'd flown him to the rooftops of some buildings so he could tail loosely after the mech, with the assistance of his ability to camouflage against his surroundings, of course. The bat strayed even further away just to be safe, but still remained in range as a sort of safety net for him, in case things went awry.

But the bot seemed oblivious to the invaders. It just glided along languidly, only hovering a few inches above the ground as its engine propelled it forwards, seeming to lack any sort of destination in mind. It was only patrolling. Perfect for Espio to strike.

He kept his footsteps light and his breathing nearly muted, because that was what he knew. It came easily to him. The chameleon had had years of training, precisely for moments like this. All he had to do was wait for the proper moment to attack and get the emerald in the most efficient manner.

It was then, of course, that Metal stopped and touched down to the ground. It stared ahead blankly for a few seconds, before its opticals became filled with red and began to scan its surroundings. Espio held his breath and knelt close to the edge of the roof. Now was not the time to panic.

Eventually the robot seemed finished and contented with its scans, and looked as though it were about to take its leave. Espio ran an invisible hand down his face. When he looked back down at Metal, his heart leapt into his throat.

It was staring directly at him. "You cannot hide."

His mind began to reel because what the fuck, how did it see him, he was perfectly camouflaged. It shouldn't have ever been able to find him.

And yet it did.

"You organisms are so naïve," it hissed. "Stop pretending like you can avoid me, reptile. I know you are there."

Espio released a trembling sigh, and reached slowly for one of his shoes.

Metal twitched irately. "I said—"

Without another moment of hesitation he flung a trio of ninja stars directly at the bot and leapt over the edge. He maintained his camouflage, in hope that it'd help him at least a little bit in this fight.

The badnik staggered backwards as two flashes of metal swiped past it, and one lodged itself in its shoulder joint. It growled and plucked the star out, tossing it unceremoniously to the ground as its optics immediately trained onto Espio.

With a snarl, the chameleon shed his invisibility (because clearly stealth was pointless, now) and lunged for Metal, extracting a kunai from his shoe and bringing it forward towards its engine. The robot was swift to react, grabbing for the blade and, promptly, Espio's wrist, yanking him forward and slamming him against the hard ground.

Espio groaned and rolled to his back. This street, suspended probably thousands of meters in the air, didn't feel like asphalt or concrete. It felt like fucking titanium. He pushed himself up from the polished surface and threw himself at Metal again, hooking an arm around one of its legs and throwing it off balance. It teetered forward and Espio groped for a stray ninja star on the ground, chucking it against the back of its skull.

It barely made a dent.

The newly forming bruises along his body screamed in protest at him as he staggered to his feet, but he mustered the strength to push through it. He watched warily, a kunai at the ready, as Metal tried to regain its bearings and acknowledge whatever it was that had lightly flicked the back of its head. When it plucked out the measly ninja star, it made some noise akin to a scoff and tossed it over the edge of the bridge. Espio gulped when he never heard it touch the ground. That was a long fall.

Metal idly studied its pristine claws as they glimmered in the sunlight. "How pathetic. You mobians all assume you can even stand a chance against me." Venomous red orbs bored right through Espio's soul. "How wrong you are."

In a sudden flurry of navy blue, overwhelming the chameleon's vision and forcing him to stumble backwards, Metal was right at his throat, bringing up a menacing hand with claws sharper than sharks' teeth. It ruthlessly slashed it down.

A cry of pain tore from Espio's throat as pain flared across his chest and all his lingering strength left with it. When he looked down at his torso all he could see were three twin slashes running diagonal across it from Metal's talons, and blood. So much blood. The pain was quickly joined by a sudden, unbearable cold, that washed hastily over his body. He felt faint and sick.

Espio got one good look into those merciless, glowering red optics, before he was thrown over the edge of the bridge and plummeted to his doom.


"Guys? Guys. We've got a problem."

"Yeah," Sonic groused. "Us too."

There were currently a lot of problems. It started almost immediately upon his and Shadow's arrival to the outpost, where they were stationed in a hollowed out building right beside it, spying out the window. And they'd only just arrived and were prepared to wait for word from Espio or Rouge when alarms abruptly started blaring over their ears and suddenly there was red flashing constantly, incessantly, and everywhere. The mob of badniks padding about the tower started going berserk and some of them had the brilliant idea to start firing their weapons haphazardly in every possible direction—which of course led to a torrent of bullets destroying the very window the hedgehogs had been looking through.

Shadow instinctively tackled Sonic to the ground to avoid getting hit, and luckily his reflexes proved fast enough. Glass rained down over their bodies and deflated bullet shells clattered about the empty, half-constructed room like pattering raindrops.

The fiancés exchanged a knowing glance before rolling behind solid wall where the bullets couldn't touch them to start formulating a new plan. They hadn't gotten very far before Rouge called.

Shadow grimaced. He looked tired. "You don't think our situations are connected, do you?"

Rouge grunted through the communicator, her voice distant and grainy. "I think it's safe to bet that, yeah." There was some indistinguishable noise that Sonic could only describe as a painfully loud crash on the other end. "Fuck. You guys need to get here right now."

Sonic hazarded a glance around the hole in the wall that used to be a window. It was brief because he was not about to risk a bullet to the face. The badniks seemed to be distinctly aware of the fact that he and Shadow were hiding here, and that certainly was… not preferable.

"We're a little preoccupied at the moment," he groaned. Shadow was already exploring the small room, pointedly avoiding any windows in his search for a discreet escape.

"Sonic, Metal knows we're here."

His heart skipped a beat, and the blue blur looked helplessly to Shadow. In the limited time they'd already spent together since both of them were rescued, they hadn't been able to really talk much, but the agent clearly knew just how fucked up Metal was. It nearly killed Sonic. It nearly dragged him right back to Infinite when he was so close to freedom. It caused Eggman to give him a prosthetic arm that only made Sonic want to scream and cry because it was so wrong, it didn't belong on him, it didn't—

Shadow was kneeling in front of him and squeezing his hands, and Rouge was still yelling in frustration over the communicator. "Sonic. Calm down. We're going to help them."

The cerulean male decided to just nod and swallow a greedy gulp of air. He figured if he tried to talk, all that'd come out would be incomprehensible muttering.

It'd be okay. They were gonna get out of here and help Rouge and Espio because that's what they did. They helped people. And Metal wasn't gonna hurt them, not like it hurt him. He'd make sure of it. He would stop it before it even laid a fucking finger on his friends.

After taking a moment to calm down, Shadow pointed to a small hole on the other side of the room that they could slip out of. Sonic swallowed the bile rising sickeningly up his throat, and nodded.

"We'll be there soon, Rouge."


He was falling, falling, falling, and the only word that could come to mind was panic. He nearly yelled but he found his voice had fled him already, leaving him to fall helplessly, forgotten to the world above.

Espio was rapidly approaching the ground and it instilled such a paralyzing fear into his very soul that he nearly forgot how to breathe. He forgot how to function.

It was dark down here, below the winding complex of various roads. The sunlight was completely blocked off and he was left alone to be swallowed whole by torn up concrete in the heart of a skyscraper jungle. He was going to die. He was going to die.

Something linked around Espio's waist, strong and tight, and he spat out a moan of pain because Metal's claws had dug so deep into his chest, and it was bleeding everywhere and it hurt so fucking bad—

He wasn't falling anymore.

Sputtering for air, the chameleon tried to twist around and see what had caught him. It vaguely registered in his muddled mind that the thing linked around his waist was an arm. If he focused hard enough, past the blood pounding in his ear drums, he could hear the steady beat of flapping wings.

"Ah, sorry hon!" Rouge. It was Rouge. She must have been apologizing for touching the gashes across his chest, or maybe for smearing his blood on her arm and his waist. He didn't really know. His vision was kind of fuzzy. "Sonic and Shadow are on their way. Meanwhile, I'm gonna get you to safety and hope Metal doesn't chase after us."

All Espio could muster was a half-hearted grunt.

Rouge beat her wings harder until they began to ascend the length of the skyscrapers again and approach the various roads suspended above. She hastily brought him into one that was devoid of any badniks and settled him on the ground, taking the care to make sure he was comfortable. Espio wanted to protest or—or do something, but all his body wanted to do was take a really long nap.

"Just stay here," Rouge said, her teal eyes blown wide and frantic. "We just gotta take care of the killer robot for a second."

Not waiting another moment to hear any potential arguing, the bat made a mad dash for the opening she entered through, off to the side, and flew around to the front of the building to see the initial bridge Metal Sonic lurked on. Its engine started to swell up with a pale blue light and a hum that grew in a rapid crescendo soon as it locked eyes with her, and Rouge dived down towards the road. It was charging up some sort of laser and she needed to move.

Just as the laser seemed to reach its climax, though, Metal faltered and looked behind the scrambling bat. The light began to fade and the hum died off as its posture shifted. Rouge frowned.

"What's the matter, big guy?" It was meant to sound taunting, but it only came out as a low, uneasy murmur, as she slowly rose to her feet to watch the robot oddly. "… Scared or something?"

Red optics briefly flickered back to her, before Metal lowered into a defensive position. It looked like it was bracing itself for something. "Don't flatter yourself."

She sneered and nearly retorted the thing, when a swash of blue whipped past her, fast enough to knock her off her feet from the mere force of the wind tailing behind it. The blur collided with Metal Sonic and the robot caught it, revealing it to be a rapidly spinning ball made of probably pure tenacity and force. And spikes. Lots of spikes.

Rouge smirked, just as a golden lance of Chaos energy sliced through the air above her, slamming into Metal's leg and causing it to topple under the combined strength of that and the blue ball.

Sonic promptly unrolled from his spindash and gave a resounding kick to the face of his doppelganger, grinning wildly as he pushed off it to land beside Rouge. Shadow touched down at her other side, his fists crackling with golden laces of energy.

"'Sup, Mets? It's been a minute, huh?" Sonic's voice was filled with exhilaration and his typical arrogance, but a quick side glance proved otherwise to the other two. He was trembling, only minutely, but it was still there. He looked considerably pale and jumpy.

Right. His last encounter with Metal hadn't really gone too well.

Regardless, the badnik fell for the bait, its fingers twitching dangerously. "I believe we have some unfinished business, hedgehog. Or do you need me to remind you?"

Sonic failed to suppress the chills that raced down his spine.

Burning light churned in Shadow's palms. "Enough talk."

Metal cocked its head at him. "I like this one."

A lot happened all at once and it seemed to occur in slow motion. Sonic casted Rouge and Shadow a determined look and nod, a signal. Rouge promptly grabbed Shadow's wrist and boosted them into the air, just as Metal decided to charge forwards. Heat exploded from Shadow's hands as he unleashed a barrage of Chaos Lances, raining down on the mech like hellfire, and Sonic leapt to the side as Metal struggled to twist around the scalding blasts of energy.

Time seemed to catch up again, and Shadow let out a trembling breath.

Metal was still wavering on the ground, disoriented and frazzled. The ebony hedgehog took this opportunity to launch himself out of Rouge's grip and try to tackle the robot, but it saw his attack a mile away and caught his ankle, chucking him hundreds of feet down the road like he weighed nothing.

It failed, however, to remember that Sonic was standing right behind it after dodging its lunge and Shadow's barrage of Chaos Lances. It was completely unprepared for the speedster when he pushed it to the ground, pinning its wrists and grinning triumphantly.

"What's wrong, bud?" he taunted, wasting no time to start prying at its neck joint. "Can't handle the pressure?"

When its attempts to wrench Sonic's hands away proved fruitless, Metal was quick to calculate its next best option. It began heating up its engine again, just like before. The fool seemed completely oblivious. An easy target.

Shadow pulled had already gotten back up and was tearing down the winding, unblemished bridge again, horror twisting in his gut upon noticing the growing light from Metal's chest.

"Sonic, move!"

The hero looked up at his partner's words, before he blinked back into realization and stared down at the charging engine. It was probably less than a second away from blasting directly into his face.

With a yelp he threw himself off the robot, rolling to the edge of the road and nearly slipping off. Rouge hastily swept down and caught him.

A massive blast of energy erected from the robot, while it just remained on the ground. It glared at Sonic, almost in annoyance. It didn't seem to be able to move.

Snickering, the hedgehog jogged up to the badnik and planted a foot firmly on the side of its face. The laser was still going, a bright blue beacon that fired endlessly into the sky. He could feel the raw heat emanating from it like an untamed fire. Metal seemed completely immobile, aside from the way it squirmed ever so slightly under the pressure of Sonic's foot.

"Aw, poor Mets, you can't even—"

The laser abruptly died off and Metal seemed to snap back into life, digging claws into Sonic's ankle. He yelled at the pain, but the robot was prompt to not give him a break. It groped for his other leg and pushed him to the ground, taking a moment to tower over him and just glower.

Another Chaos Lance struck its side, and Metal grumbled, before launching itself at Shadow and kicking him square in the gut. The agent heaved as the wind got knocked out of him, discombobulated for a moment, to which Metal thrust itself away again, back towards Sonic.

A few meters away, Rouge had her pistol out and fired bullet after bullet at the speedy robot, but they just bounced off him uselessly. Metal was unwavering in its flight as it snagged its claws around Sonic's throat and slammed him into the ground. But then it paused, to fiddle with the hedgehog's robotic arm, before its optics flickered with something foreign.

Sonic's prosthetic shifted to point its wrist down the bridge, and the metal plating shifted around for a moment before a miniature nozzle rose from the top of his wrist and began charging up a shot.

Except—except Sonic wasn't doing that. He couldn't control his arm. "What the f—"

He glanced to Shadow, where his arm seemed to be aiming directly at against his will. His fiancé was still standing there, dizzy and weak and on the verge of collapse and very unaware of his surroundings.

"Shads!" he cried, his voice raw and desperate, because it was all he could do, Metal still had him pinned down and his muscles ached with every breath—fuck. He was gonna kill the man he loved and there was nothing he could do to stop it, fuck fuck fuck—

Just as a laser rocketed from his violet wrist, Shadow's ears twitched and his eyes locked directly onto Sonic, then the laser. He threw himself to the ground just as a needle of seething purple energy sliced through the air above him.

Metal seemed mildly irritated at this inconvenience, but Sonic was fuming. With his real arm, the one he could still control, he grabbed manically for his doppelganger's arm to try and get it off of him. Metal's speakers fizzled as if it were laughing remorselessly at him and it grabbed his robotic wrist, staring at it in amusement.

"You didn't seriously believe you could ever escape the empire's control, did you?"

He hated it so fucking bad but he could feel tears burning at his tear ducts.

"How pathetic."

He wanted it off. This piece of metal was like a parasite clinging to him, a reminder of his failures and his weaknesses and everything he despised. It was wrong. It wasn't supposed to be on him. It was fake and despicable and disgusting and he wanted it off.

Just then, like a saving grace, a swell of Chaos energy approached out of nowhere and with it came Shadow, shoving Metal off of him. The robot toppled uselessly over the edge of the bridge and Sonic could breathe again, just a little. Shadow hovered over him, wary and almost nervous, like he wasn't exactly sure how to handle this.

Sonic clawed at his shoulder, where metal met flesh. "Get it off. Do something."

Shadow wavered for a second before bringing his foot up and smashing the arm with a definitive stomp. Electricity ricocheted up the blue blur's arm and he whimpered against the screams that crawled up his throat, barely stifling them. The last thing he needed was Shadow's guilt. He could stand a little pain if it meant destroying the arm attached to his side that had a mind of its fucking own.

Regardless, the agent knit his brows together. "Are you-?"

"It's fine," he gritted out. "I don't know how—just stop Metal."

And speak of the devil. The badnik came bursting right for the two with a horrific speed, its engine flaring to life as flames roared from its back like the tail of a comet. Shadow lunged away and Sonic rolled to the side but Metal was too fast. It hooked barbed fingers around Sonic's waist and swung him around, throwing him full-force right into the window of one of the skyscrapers huddled against the bridge.

Glass splintered every which way, a sudden explosion of crystals that glimmered in the sunlight. Fragments of window scraped against Sonic's skin and pain arched up his back and he gasped, helplessly, before he flew across the room and collided against the wall on the other side. He slipped into unconsciousness before he could even take another breath.

From outside, Shadow froze up, regaining his breath and quivering as Metal simply hovered right before the broken window, gazing through it disdainfully. Fuck.

But Metal was distracted. Shaking off his nerves, Shadow skated closer to the badnik, before Rouge converged with his path and wordlessly grabbed his outstretched hand, throwing him directly to the floating machine. Shadow collided into Metal, and they both were thrown into the room as well.

The agent groaned as metal digits fumbled for him, and he tried to behead the damn thing or dismantle it or just do something, because this was going very south, very fast. Rouge surged in through the window and Metal's engine began to light up again. Shadow took that as his cue to push himself off of it, just in time for another laser to shoot from the robot's chest and pierce right through the ceiling.

Rouge tried to start towards the badnik as it lay, frozen, yet again, but the structural integrity of the building was not exactly sound, seeing as it was still part of a construction site, so the ceiling collapsed easily to the pressure of Metal's laser. Chunks of concrete began to crumble from above, and one large piece slammed directly into the bat, throwing her into the ground and effectively crushing her wing and leg.

As she cried out in pain something cold and tight welled up in Shadow's chest. Fuck. Not Rouge too.

He made a mad dash for Metal because he was so fucking close, he needed to end this and get the stupid fucking Chaos Emerald—but the badnik was two steps ahead of him and it cut off its laser as it rolled forwards, knocking Shadow off his feet.

Metal landed a hard, agonizing punch in Shadow's face and for a moment he thought he was seeing stars. Coughing up something wet and metallic and warm, he could only feel his brain stall as the robot scraped him off the ground like he was some useless piece of garbage and catch him in a taut chokehold.

It dragged him closer to the window and Shadow's feet could only skid against the ground until he didn't feel the ground anymore and he was just dangling. A chilling breeze rustled his quills and out of the corners of his vision he could see that he wasn't in the empty concrete room anymore, he was being dangled above the seemingly bottomless pit that was Capital City.

His attempts to suck in oxygen were futile, as were his fingers that worked to try and pry away the metal fingers wrapped around his throat. Metal simply watched him, impassively, like a butcher deciding how he wanted to chop up a hunk of long dead meat.

"You all are so pathetic," Metal hissed. "Infinite will probably be disappointed to hear how easily I destroyed you all."

All Shadow could do was choke and kick and grit his teeth. An unfathomable fury was pouring through his veins as though it were a flood, drowning him entirely.

And, in that moment, Shadow was fully prepared to be dropped to his death and swallowed by the dark, bottomless pit far below, but then—but then Metal just… stopped.

It twitched, sort of, its gaze falling to stare ahead blankly. It convulsed violently and Shadow could feel its grip loosening on his neck. Which was good, but also very, very bad, because he was still being dangled over the edge of the skyscraper. Metal shuddered, malfunctioning, stuttering endlessly over its words.

"N-N-No… Y-You—"

Metal collapsed.

Shadow fell, and shut his eyes as visions flittered through his mind of blonde hair and bright, marvelous blue eyes. At least he'd get to see her again.

And then Shadow stopped. He just stopped falling, altogether. When he opened his eyes there was a hand, and it was shaking uncontrollably, but its grip was firm on his own, nonetheless. There was a soft, almost delirious laughter from above, and a face peered over the edge with honey eyes and a weary smile.

Espio. Espio saved him. Shadow couldn't help but laugh a bit deliriously, too.

The chameleon groaned and his grip loosened just slightly. It was enough to make Shadow's breath hitch.

"Ngh, c'mon, help me out here."

After a few minutes of struggling Shadow was back on solid ground again, gasping for air and staring in awe at the carcass of Metal Sonic. Espio's chest was painted red, and he simply leaned back against the wall, staring at the robot as well.

There was a single kunai wedged deep into its back. Right in the center of its engine. Oil oozed out of it like black blood.

Shadow ran a hand over his face and glanced around. Rouge and Sonic were both unconscious, the former still half-buried beneath debris and the latter slumped against the back wall, but—but they were breathing. That was all that mattered to him.

"Thank you," Shadow murmured. "He was gonna kill me."

Espio huffed and kicked Metal's lifeless body feebly, just for good measure. "It nearly killed me too."

With a grimace, the agent leaned forwards and, with the assistance of a stray shard of glass, pried open the back of Metal's skull. Tucked carefully inside and hooked up to various wires and electrodes was a bright magenta emerald. Shadow extracted it like it was a bomb about to explode, before laying back against the wall and cradling it close to his chest, smiling hazily as its warmth spread into his fingertips. He begrudgingly opened his eyes to look at Espio, who was nearly unconscious already.

"Come on," Shadow said. "Let's go home."


aaah everyone survived & got the emerald! but yikes it looks like sonic's new arm is a bit more problematic than he thought. aand gadget is trying to muster the courage to talk w tails :)

(also i feel the need to clarify: antoine speaks kinda strangely on purpose. he canonically has a thick french accent so that's just me emulating that, i promise i don't suck at dialogue kjdkgjdf)

remember to drop a review, it really boosts my motivation to hear feedback!