Tails removed a small panel and looked inside and then replaced it. "No, he is in stasis lock. He can maintain that for about twenty-four hours. After that his life functions will expire."
"Then go get Amy's hammer. We have a machine to drain," said Shadow. He fired two more chaos spears and then summoned his red chaos energy aura. Like Omega, he was not going to leave any power untapped.
Eggman saw the challenge. "Now there's the Shadow the Hedgehog I remember. Good show, Shadow, but you better make it count."
Shadow prepared more chaos spears. If he had even a single emerald he could have tried a chaos blast. He began flinging them at Eggman as the Titan barreled toward him swinging. Then it stopped for a second.
Tails had hit the windshield with Amy's hammer. It had done nothing, but it did distract Eggman. Tails tried to fly away, but the Titan grabbed him and flung him to the ground. Hitting the cement, Tails bounced painfully, ending up in the grass near Amy.
Shadow was close to losing his cool. Eggman had hurt or tried to hurt Amy, Tails, and Omega. Now it was just him and Espio trying to drag out this fight as long as possible. Espio repeated his move where he clung to the windshield until Eggman brushed him off with the Titan's arm for a second time.
"It feels so good to take a swing at you Chaotix," said Eggman.
"Because of that time you stiffed us? Or the time you captured us?" asked Espio.
"Trust me, I have unresolved anger toward most characters in this universe," said Eggman.
Shadow tried to do the math in his head. He could barely maintain his transformation for five minutes the first time. He was also much smaller than the Titan. This battle felt like it taken forever already.
"Espio, how long did it take you to beat this guy the last time?" asked Shadow.
"Maybe seven minutes but no more than ten. Of course that was before he was shiny," said Espio.
They had been at this for maybe thirty minutes so far. Longer than any stage had a right to take. They had to hold on a bit longer. Shadow flared more chaos spears. After Eggman shrugged them off, he tried to grab Shadow. Shadow resisted with chaos power in his hands. The contest of wills lasted for about a minute and Eggman had Shadow where he could squeeze him to death.
"Last words, Shadow?" asked Eggman.
"Tell my tale to those who ask…tell it truly, the bad deeds along with the good," said Shadow.
"Stealing from Shakespeare or Scott McNeil?" asked Eggman as he increased the pressure.
Shadow kept up his chaos aura. It was the only thing preventing Eggman from finishing him off, well that and Eggman's flair for the dramatic. Espio appeared and tried to beat the fists loose, but he was having no luck.
"It didn't end at Mad Matrix, it won't end here. Hold on Shadow," said Espio.
"This is not the internet, chameleon, I am quite real here," said Eggman.
"Save yourself, Espio. Get the others out of here. Reunite with the Chaotix, fight again another day," said Shadow, straining under the pressure.
"Yes, Espio, the more the merrier," said Eggman.
Shadow closed his eyes. In a minute it would all be over. He done his duty for Maria, for GUN, for the others. He could go clean. He waited for the release. Then there it was. Shadow fell down down into the ground with a plop, which caused him to open his eyes.
Eggman's robot had powered off. He was jamming at the controls trying to restore power. Shadow weakily walked over to grab the hammer where Tails had dropped it. He pulled it back and whacked the windshield, exposing Eggman. Eggman managed to get the Titan's arms moving enough to ward Shadow off, but he heard the sound of metal slicing through metal.
Espio had cut into the mech with a giant star and removed the chaos emeralds from the machine. A shadow came over the hangar area and Eggman climbed out of his latest attempt to conquer the world. It was the Egg-O-Matic with Metal Sonic at the controls. Metal Sonic fired the small lasers at Shadow. When the smoke cleared, it was Super Shadow who emerged. He glared at Metal Sonic.
"Oh no, I think he's mad," said Cubot.
"Idiots, fire at the fox and the girl," said Eggman.
Metal Sonic did just that, firing the small cannons at the two motionless forms on the grass. Super Shadow had to move to intercept. While he did that, the Egg-O-Matic picked up Eggman and began to fly away. Super Shadow judged that they were a little far away considering that he was not at full strength. He fired a concentrated chaos spear that followed the Egg-O-Matic and appeared to shoot it down.
He came down to ground level. "Good thinking, Espio," he said. He remembered that Sonic could share his power in super form. He headed over to the hill. Tails was pretty beat up with wounds just about everywhere. Super Shadow placed his hand over the fox's body and Tails' eyes blinked open. He still didn't move very well.
Next was Amy. This was easier since she was not wounded just drugged. She looked glad to see Shadow in his super form, but he ignored her to walk over to Omega. The infusion of energy brought the robot out of stasis lock. Omega messed with his fingers before firing a missile at the heap that was the titan.
Espio, Tails, and Amy all seemed to want to talk to Shadow, but he ignored them all and walked back into the hangar. He passed through back into the prison.
"Hey, is that Heavy and Bomb? What happened to them?" asked Espio.
"They chose the wrong side this time," said Omega.
Super Shadow found the cells where Rouge, Sonic, and now Big were occupying. Rouge was awake and she was thrilled to see Shadow return with Omega. Super Shadow shared his energy with her and she was able to fly once more.
Then Shadow shared his energy with Sonic, and the blue hedgehog awoke from his drug induced slumber.
"Hiya there, Shadow. You went super? Oh Big is here? Watch out he is evil now. I could not bring myself to hurt him so he had me shot with tranq darts. Dull party, man," said Sonic.
Super Shadow went to Big and shared energy with him. That seemed to bring Big around. Shadow released the chaos emeralds and they scattered. Then he collapsed on the ground, all he could hear was a collective 'Shadow!' as he lost consciousness.
He woke up in the GUN headquarters hospital bed with an IV plugged into his arm looking at the face of Cream the Rabbit. There was a Chao sleeping on his shoulder. This seemed too familiar. Except before Cream had stayed in the chair, not daring to sit next to his bed.
"Was it all a dream?" he asked Cream.
"Was what a dream, Mr. Shadow?" asked Cream.
"Frog Forest. Metropolis. The Center. The Hangar. Big. The Doctor," said Shadow.
"I didn't go to any of those places, Mr. Shadow. But you seem to have gotten yourself hurt again," said Cream. "You must have done something, because you have a bunch of visitors."
"I don't think I want to see visitors," said Shadow.
"But they want to see you, Mr. Shadow. They know if they wait til you get better, you will run away again," said Cream.
"Darn, they figured me out," said Shadow.
"Let me go get the first one," said Cream. She went and opened the door. In came Vanilla, Gemeril, and the GUN Commander.
"Cream, you aren't bothering Mr. Shadow, are you?" asked Vanilla. Cream shook her head. "Well thank you for helping us, Shadow," said Vanilla.
"Thank Tails and GUN," said Shadow.
"The Commander warned us that you were no good at receiving compliments. Just know you are welcome any time even if you just want to drop in on Gemeril," said Vanilla.
"Mrs. Rabbit, if would excuse me for a moment," asked the Commander as he ushered the other three out.
"You know I need a report," said the Commander as he sat down in Cream's chair.
"Disturbance discovered. Metropolis pacified. The Doctor defeated. Chaos Emeralds recovered," said Shadow.
"I'm sure they will write it up just like that when it comes time," said the GUN Commander. "You know you were right."
"And wrong. The Doctor was behind it in a way that even Omega could not put together," said Shadow.
"White is black, black is white, right is wrong, wrong is right," said the GUN Commander. "Sound familiar?"
"No," said Shadow.
"Thought it would," said the older man.
"What happened in the cleanup?" asked Shadow.
"We arrested Fang, Bark, Heavy, and Bomb. I imagine we have to put Bomb in a padded cell," said the GUN Commander.
"Big?" asked Shadow.
"We have arrested him to, but we have encouraged the judge to put him into counseling and probation rather prison. It was not really his fault, after all," said the Commander.
"Please tell me that you are the last of my visitors," said Shadow.
"Fat chance, but I can quarantine the room to get everyone out of here. However quarantine can only last for so long and I have a feeling they will still be there," said the Commander.
"Eat the frog first, right?" said Shadow.
"That's the spirit. I'll send the next group in," said the Commander.
Shadow braced himself. Somehow Cheese was still sleeping on his pillow through all the commotion. He looked as the door opened and his hospital room was invaded by Team Chaotix. Shadow almost instantly regretted his decision.
"Hey Shadow! I heard you did a bang up job. Espio told me all about it," said Charmy Bee. "I wish I could have been there, but Vector and I had this important job watching frogs."
"Well pro bono, but we did find the frog in question," said Vector.
"You actually found Froggy?" asked Shadow.
"Sure did," said Vector.
"Where was he?" asked Shadow.
"In the computer room," said Vector.
"What?" asked Shadow.
"The computer room of the ranger station at Frog Forest," said Charmy Bee. "We went there to try and contact GUN."
"There's a chance that GUN will give us some kind of reward," said Espio. "But working with you was reward enough for me (Let's not get crazy, interjected Vector). If you should ever need us, Shadow, Team Chaotix is here."
"Just don't forget we don't work for free," said Vector. "Now let's go see if GUN will give us some money."
Shadow rolled his eyes as they left. Well Big had his frog at least. If that mattered. Next to come in were Rouge and Omega, his old teammates. He would have smiled, but he could not summon the strength.
"Shadow, thanks for coming after me. I realize it was your job and all, but it meant something to me," said Rouge. "Every girl needs a friend like you, whether you accept our friendship or not. Loyal and unassuming. I hope one day you can accept that."
"Or robot. Too bad we did not get to be the three amigos this time. Maybe there is more to life than revenge," said Omega.
"What will you do now, Omega?" asked Shadow.
"I will join GUN and learn what protecting others is really like," said Omega.
"You know, Rouge, we might need that Master Emerald in the future," said Shadow. "Especially since you know the password."
"Stay naïve Shadow, don't poke around where you're not wanted or I'll have to take back all those nice things I said," said Rouge. After that statement the bat and the robot exited and their places were taken by Tails, Sonic, and Amy Rose.
"You've got pretty comfy in here, Shadow. Chao and everything," said Sonic. "But let's get down to it. You did good back there. I knew you had it in you."
"Your friends deserve you, Sonic. I once saw them as your burdens and a thing that prevented you from true greatness. They really are assets," said Shadow.
"Hey is that Shadow throwing around compliments? Now I know you're not better," said Sonic.
"How are you feeling, Shadow?" asked Tails.
"I'll live, thanks to you and her," said Shadow. "We got more than we bargained for."
"Yeah, I thought was going to fix a computer," said Tails.
"You did do that," said Shadow without much color in his voice. "And wrecked Sonic's plane."
"What? Tails, did you take the Tornado? Well I guess I have a standing work order," said Sonic.
"Hey Sonic, can we talk to GUN about airplane parts? They have some neat ideas," said Tails as he essentially dragged Sonic out of the room.
That left Amy in the room. She walked over and bent over and kissed Shadow on the top of his head.
"What was that for?" asked Shadow.
"Saving me from Fang twice," said Amy. "And trusting me to free the prison."
"That didn't exactly go well," reminded Shadow.
"That's not the point. You're worse than Sonic sometimes," said Amy.
"I think we ended up even. You did tell me how to beat the Doctor," said Shadow. "Which reminds me, you should really stay away from that Doctor."
"Ha ha. I think I've proved that I don't just stay away, Shadow the Hedgehog. Besides, we're friends now. You'll be seeing more of me for sure," said Amy.
"You mean when you're not chasing Sonic," said Shadow. "I think the airplane garage is to the east."
"So long, Shadow the Hedgehog. It's been fun," said Amy. She slowly closed the door behind her and lingered in passing by his window.
Shadow relaxed. He looked at the sleeping Cheese. Who am I, he wondered. Have I changed or am I just showing more of who I always was? The answer came to him suddenly, "I am…all of me." He drifted back to sleep, suddenly interested in tomorrow.