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Shadow winced as he began to stir. His entire body hurt, and he felt like he'd been run over by a train. Although, judging by how badly beaten he'd been by that echidna, being run over by a train would probably be a bit less painful. He opened his eyes and blinked slowly, staring up at the inside of a collapsed building. He slowly pushed himself up, looking around. The echidna was lying beside him, his arms having still been around her when he pushed himself up, and the rubble around them had fallen just right to allow them a small safe area where they could sit up without bumping their heads.

Shadow reached down, feeling for the echidna's pulse, only for her to suddenly bat his hand away, her right hand suddenly shrinking, compressing into a foot-long, double-edged blade. She grabbed him by the shoulder, slamming his back down into the ground so she could pin him, only to freeze when he shouted in pain, arching his back off the ground. She released him, keeping her blade ready as he rolled off of his back, turning it toward her, his body shaking and trembling from the pain. She stared at the wound covering his back. It looked like his back had been hit by a flamethrower that had glass mixed into the flames.

She frowned, looking around and suddenly realizing that she had no idea where they were. She tried to remember, but it was confused. Everything had happened so fast. She remembered choking him and holding him off the ground. She remembered him breaking free of her grip. But then, after that, all she could remember was darkness and heat. She stared at his back. Had he protected her? Had he shielded her from a blast that would have hit them both? Clearly it wouldn't have been a fatal blow, but if she had been hit, half her body would probably look like his back now.

She reached out, gently lifting the spines on his back out of the way, inspecting the wound. "You're a fool. Why would you protect me when I was about to kill you?"

"I don't know," Shadow admitted. "I saw was attacking, and my body just reacted. Are you going to finish it?"

She was silent for a long while before sighing. "No. I won't kill you this time. A life for a life."

Shadow nodded, slowly, agonizingly, pushing himself up and turning to her. "Who are you? What...What are we?"

"You really don't know?" she asked. "We're androids." She pulled her hand off to demonstrate her point. "We're a cross between machines and organics. That other Shadow was also an Android, but it was one created by Dr. Robotnik, not Mephiles, or whoever created you."

"Robotnik?" Shadow asked. "Eggman?"

"Yes," she nodded. "As for me, my designation is Zeta R-02. I was told that my sole purpose for creation was to kill you."

"But...if that's true, why are you letting me live for now?" Shadow asked.

Zeta was silent for a moment. "You protected me. You didn't intend to, and you were trying to kill me, but you protected me. I may be a combat model, and I may have been created for the sole purpose of killing you, but that doesn't mean I don't have a consciousness, or a soul."

"Do you really believe Mephiles created you?" Shadow asked.

"No," Zeta said. "He's many things, but a scientist is not one of them."

"Do you know who created me?" Shadow asked. "I can't remember anything before stumbling across the original Shadow's corpse."

"You didn't stumble across it," Zeta said. "You're from a different dimension. Something happened there and you were launched out of your own dimension. You probably happened across this dimension by pure chance."

Shadow nodded. "What will you do once we're out of here?"

"I'm going to return to my mission," Zeta said. "Phase one is likely complete by now. I need to get back before the beginning of Phase three."

"What is Phase three?" Shadow asked.

"I can't tell you," Zeta said. "I appreciate you protecting me, but you're still my enemy."

"So, you really do serve him out of loyalty," Shadow said.

"No, I simply choose to fight on the winning side," Zeta said.

"But what you're doing is wrong!" Shadow said. "You have to know that!"

"Orders are orders," Zeta said. "I do as I am instructed. Nothing more, nothing less."

"You deciding to let me live disproves that statement," Shadow said.

Zeta watched him for a moment, raising an eyebrow. "Are you trying to convince me to kill you?"

"I'm just stating facts," Shadow said.

Zeta was silent for a long moment. "Mephiles wants you dead, but he's after something else as well. I believe he is trying to go to a different dimension. I don't know which, and I don't know how."

Shadow nodded. "Why does he need people scared?"

"He draws power from the negative energy created by fear," Zeta said. "I'm sorry. That's all I can tell you."

Shadow nodded, looking up at the debris above them. "How do we get out of here?"

Zeta aimed her left arm's barrel up at the rubble, not having put her hand back on yet. She fired a blast of ion energy like a lightning bolt up through the rubble, the lightning cutting through it like water through fog, leaving glowing red stone behind in the hole it formed. Once the blast had ended, she reattached her hand just as a face appeared in the hole, the heatwaves from the sides of the hole distorting it.

"Who's down there!?" Tails' voice called out.

"Shadow!" Shadow called back.

"Hang tight!" Tails said. "I'll have Silver clear the rubble!"

"Wait!" Shadow shouted, Tails returning instantly. "Bring a blanket! There's a girl down here whose clothes were ruing in an explosion!"

"Got it!" Tails said, speeding off.

"Thank you," Zeta said. "But you know they won't let me leave without a fight."

"They will," Shadow said. "They'll be too focused on cleanup to worry about you." He watched her for a moment before sighing. "You know, you don't have to leave."

"I told you," Zeta said. "I fight for the winning side, and I was created for the sole purpose of killing you."

Shadow sighed and nodded, and after a few minutes, the rubble above and around them suddenly glowed light blue, rising up out of the way and creating them a path out before Amy slid down the slope and passed Zeta a blanket, eyeing her suspiciously.

"You know, Rouge and Blaze said that there was a grey echidna that attacked with the others," Amy said.

"Leave it alone, Amy," Shadow said. "Trust me."

Amy glanced at him and her eyes widened as she saw how badly wounded he was. "Oh my God! Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," Shadow said. "Come on. Let's get out of this hole before Silver decides he's tired of waiting."

Amy nodded and the three of them climbed out of the pit, Silver setting the rubble down. Blaze and Rouge both met Shadow with a hug, both of them asking if he was okay and inspecting his injuries. As they were, Shadow glanced off to the side, his eyes meeting Zeta's for a moment before she turned and left, speeding away from the city. Shadow sighed, returning his attention to the two women before him.

"I'm glad you two are okay," Shadow smiled.

"Us?" Blaze asked. "You're the one who fought four powerful enemies all by yourself!"

"Are you sure you're okay, Shadow?" Rouge asked.

"I'll be fine," Shadow smiled. "I'll be healed by tomorrow."

Rouge nodded, sighing in relief, and she and Blaze both hugged Shadow, who held them comfortingly.

"How was your mission, Zeta?" Mephiles asked as she knelt before him in a fresh, unruined uniform.

"It was...unexpected, Master," Zeta said.

"How so?" Mephiles asked.

"It was more...exciting than I anticipated," Zeta said. "During training, I rarely get adrenaline rushes, but the entire time I fought Shadow, I felt...alive. Like I had an endless flow of adrenaline. It was...strange. I've never felt so...focused before."

"That's understandable," Mephiles said. "You were created to destroy him, after all. It's understandable you would get excited in a fight against him. How well did he defend himself?"

"He was unable to keep up, Master," Zeta said. "The next time we fight, I have no doubt I will eliminate him."

"I notice you spared him while the two of you were trapped," Mephiles said. "Why?"

"I...He shielded me from an attack, so I felt...indebted to him," Zeta said. "To repay him, I spared him, that way the next time we fight, I will have no reason to spare him again."

"Good," Mephiles said. "Because if you allow him to live the next time you two fight, I will personally crush you like the piece of scrap you are."

"Of course, Master," Zeta bowed. "I will not fail you again."

Mephiles nodded and turned away. "Go and prepare for phase three. I will not allow anything to delay my goals."

Zeta bowed again, then turned and walked away. She frowned as she stepped into the elevator, finger hovering in front of the button for her floor. Would she even be able to defeat him in their next fight? Especially now that he knew how much power he would need to kill her? She shook her head, pressing the button. She was worrying for nothing. Of course she'd beat him. He may have the power to beat her, but he wasn't skilled or fast enough to actually land a blow, so long as she wasn't careless.

She stepped out of the elevator and walked through the base to her private quarters. She walked over to her bed and stopped, hand resting on the blanket balled up on the foot of it, the same Shadow had asked Tails to get so she could cover herself. He was more of a gentlemen than she had expected. By all reports, he was supposed to be abrasive, independent, and cold, and yet he had protected her, and had specifically asked for something that would help her avoid embarrassment.

She shook her head throwing the blanket into her room's laundry chute. It didn't matter. Her debt was settled already. She walked to her computer and plugged herself in using the port in her left forearm, beginning to run diagnostics to make sure she was prepared for combat. She also pulled up the memory of her fight with him as a video feed from her perspective, studying it to help memorize his fighting style. Once she was done, and the diagnostics were complete she reached over to shut off the computer, only to hesitate. After a moment of indecision, she entered a few keystrokes and watched as a small window opened, switching between dozens of camera feeds rapidly before stopping as a security feed from a restaurant where Shadow and those two women who had been hugging him before were eating. Her eyes narrowed slightly at the memory of the two women all but throwing themselves at Shadow. Then, she shook her head. It didn't matter who they were, or what Shadow was doing. She had other things to do. She reached over to shut off the computer.

Shadow finished off his burger and sighed, watching as Rouge and Blaze ate theirs, eating slower than him, since he was starving from getting his ass kicked. His mind began to drift to his conversation with Zeta, and to his identity. He didn't doubt her about him being an android. He didn't doubt that he was from another dimension either. The only problem was, without his memories, if he was an android, that meant he wasn't Shadow at all, alternate dimension or not. If he wasn't Shadow, he didn't know who he was.

"What?" Rouge asked. "You look troubled."

"It's nothing," Shadow said. "Nothing I didn't already suspect."

Rouge and Blaze looked at each other in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Blaze asked.

Shadow swallowed hard. "I'm...I'm not Shadow. Not just the your one...I'm...I'm not even a living being. I'm an android. I'm a machine from an alternate dimension, who happened to be sent here somehow, and by pure coincidence was able to take the place of Shadow when he died. I'm just a rip off."

Rouge reached across the table, taking his hand. "Shadow, you're not a rip off. You may be an android, and you may not be from this dimension, but you have never been a rip off, or a replacement. You may not be the original Shadow, but you're still our Shadow."

He stared at her as Blake smiled and nodded. "That's right. You're Shadow. You're as much one of us as we are. And you'll always have a place with us."

"I doubt the others will see it that way," Shadow said. "They attacked me for losing control. Once they have confirmation someone built me..."

"Screw the others," Rouge said. "If they refuse to accept you, then who cares what they think?"

"But...they're your friends," Shadow said.

"And so are you," Rouge said. "I promised you I wouldn't turn my back on you, and I won't. If the others are too hung up on what you are rather than who you are, then they're not worth being your friends. You'll always have me."

"And me," Blaze said. "You're important to us, Shadow. She we'll always have your back."

Shadow smiled, sighing. "You should be careful how you word things, Blaze. A man might get the wrong idea."

"Only if I hadn't meant it that way," Blaze said, Shadow and Rouge both staring at her before Rouge smirked.

"I hope you know I don't plan to let you just steal him," Rouge said, Shadow's stare shifting to her.

"What...you mean...you...both of you..."

Both women nodded, taking his hands.

"We care about you, Shadow," Blaze said.

"We'll always be there for you," Rouge said. "So you don't have to worry about losing us anymore."

"We'll be there for you for as long as you'll have us," Blaze said.

Shadow smiled, only for the robot from his nightmare to flash through his mind, Blaze and Rouge impaled on a tentacle. His hands both clenched as his head throbbed, his Chaos Energy beginning to spike.

"Shadow!?" Rouge asked worriedly, able to see the fear in his eyes.

"S-Sorry," Shadow stammered, fighting his power back under control. "I don't..."

"It's alright," Blaze said. "Come on. Let's get back to our cave so you can rest."

Shadow nodded, standing unsteadily for a moment before getting himself under control and following them out of the city.

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