8. The Last Chaos Emerald
The Doctor's teleport unit brought the three neatly down to his hidden base inside a pyramid. "Hidden in plain sight, like the purloined letter," he had explained to Shadow. "GUN's crawled all over the ruins but they haven't found me yet!" He led Rouge and Shadow to a small, robot-piloted aircraft. "This will take you to Station Square. Once there, you can locate that pestiferous little fox and retrieve the Emerald from him. I'll monitor things from here until you return."
"He's not actually in Station Square," objected Rouge. "He lives in a suburb of Central City, and he has a workshop there as well. I looked that up after I found the article."
Eggman glared at her a moment, then adjusted the controls on the plane. "Fine! There, now it will take you to Central City, and then you can find Tails."
"Tails? What tails?" Shadow was suddenly lost. "I thought we were looking for a fox cub named Miles Prower."
"We are, but his nickname is 'Tails'," Rouge explained. She looped an arm around his shoulders and guided the startled hedgehog into the plane. "I'll explain as we go..."
Shadow pulled away from her. There was a seat behind him, but he chose to remain standing. "You just did. And why do you keep doing things like that?"
"Like what?" She held her innocent expression a moment, then grinned at Shadow. "Oh, all right. It distracts most males, or at least keeps them off balance, which enables me to get what I want. Or find out what I want to know." She considered him for several moments. "You, though, are about as easy to get hold of as your namesake. And quite the mystery man as well."
Shadow watched her warily as she sank gracefully into a seat across from him. "Meaning?"
She said nothing for a moment, crossing her legs and half-reclining in her seat. He waited stolidly while she studied him through half-closed eyes. "For instance," she said finally, "are you aware that you have two voices?"
"What?" Whatever he'd been expecting, that wasn't it. The red-striped hedgehog finally sat down in his seat. "What do you mean 'two voices'?"
"Hmmm, well we haven't really talked much, but when you're talking for yourself - like now, or when you said you came back for the Chaos Emeralds, not for me - you have a...live sort of voice, that changes with your thoughts and moods. But whenever the subject turns to the Eclipse Cannon or the Chaos Emeralds your voice goes all smooth and cool, like a frozen pond in winter. That was when I really noticed it actually, when Dr. Eggman came in and interrupted our conversation, and your voice just...changed. Like you were another person, or" - she eyed him closely - "hypnotized."
Shadow frowned. He had a feeling there was something important in her words, but - "What's 'hypnotized'?"
"Hypnotism is a method of putting people into a trance and telling them to do things," came the reply. "It's misunderstood a lot, but if you're susceptible, or there are some drugs that can make you susceptible, you can be instructed to do things that you wouldn't normally do. You can't actually be made to do anything against your nature - that's one of the common misconceptions - but if it's not something you can't do, just that you wouldn't usually do, you'll do it."
Shadow felt a chill run down his spine, but kept his expression unchanged. "But... wouldn't you remember being told? I mean, wouldn't you know you were doing... whatever it was... because someone told you to?"
"Well, no, because usually the last command before waking someone from a trance is 'You will remember none of this' or something along those lines. The post-hypnotic suggestions - whatever you were told to do, like stay away from cigarettes, or ...oh, squawk like a chicken when you see a girl in a red shirt, say - those stay in your subconscious, but the whole episode is blotted out from your conscious mind. You think you're acting on your own initiative, although you don't know why if you think about it."
"Oh." That sounds...too similar for comfort. Wait...what did she say? "Squawk like a chicken at a girl in a red shirt?" Surely he hadn't heard that correctly?
Rouge giggled. "There are a lot of self-help hypnotists - things like weight loss or stopping smoking - but there are also a lot of stage hypnotists, who call for audience volunteers and set them up to do something stupid like that." Her expression became suddenly solemn. "But there are some serious military and governmental uses too, like flash training they give soldiers and deep operatives. And some uses that aren't so benign.
"Oh, look! Here we are." She turned away abruptly, swiveling her chair to stare out the window as the plane descended. Shadow frowned again; he had the impression she had said more than she meant to, or had come close to it. He shook his head and turned to look out his own window.
Once on the ground, the pair split up. Rouge headed off to rent a car - she'd offered Shadow a ride to Tails' house but he'd declined - and then search the fox cub's laboratory. Shadow was to check the house first and then meet her at the lab unless she radioed him first.
As it happened, no one was home at the Miles 'Tails' Prower residence. It was actually a slightly unnerving place, shaped like a giant fox's head. It also proved to have some sort of electronic lock. Shadow merely ducked around back, out of sight. He idly caressed the green Emerald, which he'd removed from the Cannon and brought with him, as he peered in through a window. Then he teleported himself into what appeared to be a bedroom.
It was reasonably neat, the bed approximately made and a single empty glass on the bedside table. He moved through the rest of the small house cautiously; he knew the last Emerald wasn't in the vicinity, but was looking for a possible clue to its location. Most of the house resembled the bedroom, there were a few signs of occupancy, but the house felt like a place that was slept in by someone who lived somewhere else. The one exception was a small room with a desk that was buried under plans, diagrams, robotics guides and the odd bit of machinery; the room's wastebasket was similarly overflowing with discarded notes and sketches. Strongly reminded of Professor Gerald, Shadow teleported himself back outside and headed for the fox cub's lab.
He got a call from Rouge before he'd gotten half a block. "Tails has the Emerald in his plane, and I'm in pursuit. He seems to be heading for the Pumpkin Hills though. Shadow, can you get there first? There aren't really any roads through there."
"Got it," answered Shadow, looking at the map of the area she'd given him as they left the plane. "I'll be there." He wondered which voice he was talking in. Presumably the 'live' one. I don't feel that certain-ness right now. But if I think about the plan... He could feel it waiting, even thinking that indirectly about it. So what is...'it'...after? He remembered the vow he'd made on the top of the bridge. Revenge. Revenge for Maria and the researchers and doctors on the ARK. 'I promise you revenge,' I said, but... Maria wouldn't– The doubtful thought was suddenly overridden by the images again of him and Maria running for their lives, dashing into the lab, her desperate lunge towards the capsule as the fatal bullet found it's mark. But, I'm in the scene, it can't be my memory, his mind protested faintly, but another, stronger voice overrode it - Remember what they have done, Shadow; what they have taken. Remember Maria and your promise, and be revenged on the humans who took everything from us. Shadow felt the rage kindling again as the scenes in his mind repeated. He knew the voice, and he knew the plan. They must not be allowed to get away with it; they must be made to pay for their crime. Yes, he answered the voice. I will get the last Chaos Emerald and carry out your plan, Father.