Sonic zoomed out of the workshop and opened the door, casually greeting his three friends. Amy tackled him in a bear hug, secretly grateful and surprised he hadn't been torn apart by an annoyed Shadow yet. Knuckles only smirked at the pink and blue hedgehogs and walked in without any further invitation, while Rouge hung back until Amy had gone inside as well. When the two were alone on the front porch, she finally addressed him.

"How is he, Sonic?" she asked slowly, images of her partner writhing in pain permanently scarred to her memory. The blue blur gave her a reassuring smile.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" he replied calmly and stepped aside so she could enter.

Rouge hesitantly walked inside to find Shadow exiting Tails' workshop. She noticed that he was moving slower than usual, and the fresh bandages wrapped around his waist caught her by surprise. They made eye contact, and she smiled, hiding all of her worry behind that one simple act. He nodded with an untraceable smile before it faded.

The group took their seats on the two couches facing each other on either side of the much worn coffee table between them, and after exchanging a few words of light conversation, Sonic decided to cut straight to the point of the meeting.

"A'ight, gang, so according to Shads, the war ain't over yet," he began and turned to the ebony hedgehog, "Got anything you can share?"

"First, I would greatly appreciate it if you dropped the nickname. It's annoying. And second, my knowledge is very limited. But I do know for certain that Black Doom is still alive, and that he has something else up his sleeves. What it is, I can't say for certain, so I would say be ready for anything, including another wave of an invasion."

"What if...," Amy spoke sheepishly, drawing all eyes to her, "What it we tried to take him down before he comes back?"

Knuckles liked where she was going with this, "Hit him while he's down and stop this whole second wave business before it starts. I say we find his new hiding spot and finish what we started!"

Shadow listened as the group began to brainstorm ideas of going to space to take on Black Doom, which somehow irked him. Though his knowledge wasn't complete, he knew enough to know that if his biological father was injured, then he would be heavily guarded, as well as wherever he was hiding. But he would have to be within a close range in order to use his hivemind, and that puzzled the hybrid. Black Doom had taunted him only yesterday, which meant that he, or his ever-present eye, was within range to do so, which meant...

Good work, Shadow.

"Oh sweet mother of Chaos," he breathed, and the room suddenly grew quiet as everyone gave him their full attention. None of them had ever heard him use such a phrase before, and he had never heard such an unnerving laughter in his head in his entire existence.

"What is it?" Rouge questioned with a manicured eyebrow raised.

"Doom isn't in space. He's still here."

"That piece of filth is still on this planet!?" Knuckles raged, "How?!"

Shadow looked away uneasily, "I..I don't know."

The red echidna wasn't satisfied, "What do you mean, you 'don't know'?"

"Exactly as I said it," the sable hedgehog glared, and for a brief second, his eyes flickered from red to yellow and back again, "All I know is that he is here, and within a reasonable distance."

"And just how do you this, hm?" Knuckles challenged and crossed his arms. Tails only grimaced at the impending brawl, and Rouge facepalmed.

"I just know, all right?" Shadow shot back.

Very good. It would be best for them to know as little about our connection as possible, Black Doom's voice reverberated in Shadow's skull.

And who said I won't tell them? he retorted sharply, There's nothing stopping me.

Is that so?

"Hello? Earth to Shadow, ya home, pal?" Sonic called and snapped his fingers in front of the agent's face, forcing him to pull out of the mental battle of words. Knuckles grumbled and rolled his eyes.

"Didn't tell us you had focus issues," he mumbled, though it was easily caught by the hybrid. Shadow opened his mouth to reply, ready to tell them exactly what had caused him to zone out, but he couldn't. Instead, Rouge smacked the hot-headed guardian on the back of the head.

"Lay off him, already. He's got enough to worry about without you sticking your face in the middle of it. Now let's act like civilized people, for once, and come up with an actual game plan."

Sonic shot up his hand in agreement, which led to Tails groaning something under his breath. Knuckles, however, wasn't ready to back down yet. If anything, he wanted to push harder.

"What we need to do, is figure out if we actually trust you," he stated with an intense gaze directed at Shadow, who returned it with full force.

See? My name alone taints your relationship with these creatures. You do not belong here.

I belong nowhere. I came to terms with that a long time ago. You're not turning me a second time, Black Doom.

He could hear an amused chuckle echo in his ears that caused his quills to instinctively bristle in response.

We shall see about that.

"Hey! Listen to me when I'm talking to you!" an angry voice pulled him back to reality, and he realized that Knuckles was standing over him, his face only a little ways from his. Shadow instantly scowled and pushed him away. He stood as well, although the action required more effort than he preferred and pulled on his stitches.

"If you have a problem with me, guardian, then say it. I'm all ears," he replied and folded his arms across his chest, allowing his taller height add to the dominating atmosphere pulsing from him. Knuckles wasn't moved.

"I'm just saying, how can we know you're not just leading us all to a death trap?"

"I'm not. There. Now that that's settled, let's get back to the original dis-"

"Oh, we are far from settled, hybrid."

"Knuckles! What are you saying?" Amy interrupted worriedly. Sonic knew, but he wasn't happy.

"Hey, come on, man, chill out. Shadow's cool," he said as he stepped between the two heroes, pressing his hands against their chest to keep them separated.

"I just want to know if he's on the same side as the rest of us," Knuckles accused. Shadow narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"I am on the side of this planet, and I will not change. Not now. Not ever. The color of my blood doesn't determine my loyalty."

Oh, but it does...

"SHUT UP!" Shadow roared, startling everyone in the room, including Knuckles, who stood there dumbfounded.

"I didn't say anything."

Shadow pinched the bridge of his nose, as he realized his mistake, "Not you..."

"What? Do you have voices in your head now?" Knuckles scoffed, while Shadow massaged his forehead with one hand.

"More or less..."

"Shadow?" Tails asked worriedly, "Is it a side effect of the serum?"

"No," he answered bluntly, "I was actually hoping it would take this away, as well."

"What serum? Tails, what do you know about any of this?" Amy asked. The fox kit shuffled his feet awkwardly, unsure about how he should answer.

"I, uh, gave something to Shadow to help his healing factor, because it had been damaged when he was fighting. The serum was experimental, and I wasn't sure how it would affect him."

Sonic mouthed the words "nice save" to his little brother when no one was looking, and Tails was glad the others accepted his explanation.

"That still doesn't explain why Shadow's hearing things," Rouge interjected.

"That part is difficult to explain," the red-striped hedgehog said, "but not impossible. Because of my, ahem, connection, I share a link in the Black Arms hivemind, but it is extremely weak and requires significant effort to maintain. That is why I know Doom hasn't left the planet, because he is still within my 'range' to hear him."

"You mean he's the one making you phase out?"

Shadow nodded, knowing that he may have just incriminated himself more than he already had, but it was still the truth. However, the sudden unease in his chest alerted him to the fact that he had displeased Black Doom, and that made him inwardly smirk. Told you, he thought, Nothing will stop me.

Silence met him, both in his mind and from those around him. No one knew what to say after he more or less admitted that he was connected to the enemy. He turned and walked towards the stairs, deciding to let them continue their discussions without him. The extra movement yanked painfully on his stitched side, and he turned to hide his sudden grimace. Without another word, he entered his assigned room and shut the door. Downstairs, he heard a collection of angry voices and the front door slamming. The rush of footsteps growling closer told him someone was coming. He strode over to the window and stared out at the deepening sunset.

"Shadow?" Rouge asked as she slipped into the guest bedroom. His ear flicked, signalling he heard her, but he made no other action.

"Just ignore him, honey," she soothed and stood beside him, "Everyone is a bit on edge."

"But he is right. I'm a liability as long as I'm here. I'm going after him alone."

Rouge frowned, brushing her fingers across his bandaged side, "No. You need to stay with us. We need you, Shadow."

He shook his head, "I'm a walking beacon to them. Doom is my responsibility. I failed to defeat him, and it won't happen again. All of you are safer without me."

He sounded almost sad as he said those words, knowing that it was true. Rouge gripped his arm, not ready for what was coming.

"I won't let you do this alone, Shadow the Hedgehog. We're partners. If you go, I'm coming with you."

He gently detached her hand, "Sorry, Rouge. This I have to do by myself. Stay with Sonic and the others, keep working with G.U.N. If I can't finish this, I'm going to need you to back me up."

The black and red agent opened the window and climbed on to the roof of the porch.

"Shadow, wait!" she called, and he stopped. She smiled, but her pain was evident, "Don't let me lose you again."

He smirked, "See you soon, Rouge," he replied and jumped, skating off in a streak of red. Sonic and Tails came up a few seconds too late.

"Did he leave?" the blue blur asked, and she nodded.

"He's gonna need our help, whether he admits it or not."

"Don't worry guys," Tails perked up, "He'll be back soon. I'll be in the workshop if you need me," he replied and skidded back down the steps.

"You know, he seems to be really calm about all of this," Rouge mused. Sonic shrugged.

"What can I say? Tails knows what he's doing, probably better than the rest of us. He's probably got a plan to help Shads already in the works."

"If you say so, Big Blue."