Chapter 10

Retribution

20 minutes before the end of last chapter

The building that Shadow and Rouge had called their home was now nothing but a pile of rubble and twisted steel. Sparse fire dotted the area. Everything was quiet and still. Death was present in the lot. A tiny shiver of movement was the only thing that appeared alive. The shiver grew larger and larger until finally a large piece of rubble moved to show Dusk the Hedgebat gasping for breath and surrounded by a violet aura.

"How did I survive that?" he asked himself before looking at his hands

"Whoa. What the heck is this?" he wonders. Is this how I survived the explosion?

He looked up and saw the Egg Carrier in the sky.

"I have to get up there" he said.

"Gun." He pulls up the rifle that he picked up from the mercenary, now a twisted hunk of metal

He sighs "Useless" and throws it away.

He sits down on the ground. he was finished he couldn't do this alone. Hope was gone. He was out of ideas

Then it hits him.

He goes into the rubble and finds the right place. He digs into the ground and pulls out a box. He had buried this here without anyone knowing (Even the readers) just in case something like this would happen.

"I promised myself when I buried this that if this life worked out I would never unbury my past. But it looks like I will never be able to do this. I will always have to fight."

He pulls a GLOCK, His personal favorite- the M1911 pistol, M-4 assault rifle, RPG-7; a large sized combat knife, and a few grenades out of the crate. His own private arsenal. Time to put that training he had obtained all of his life to use.

He has two side arm holsters on each side of his waist. A shoulder strap held his M-4. He has a back strap to hold the RPG and his sword, crossed. The combat knife was sheathed on his leg in his combat boots that he wore instead of his usual sneakers. On his face He had black and brown war paint. On his vest he placed extra mags and grenades.

"Let's lock and load." He cocked the rifle.

$%$^^^&&

"The time for mourning has past. The time for progression is now." Eggman says as he reenters the room. "We had a problem with an intruder but we sorted it out. Time to continue with my plans."

"What are you going to do to us?" Sonic asked.

"I'm glad you asked Sonic. You see, I have created a new machine. It took me 16 years but I have finished it. I need an energy source powerful enough to power it. I have tried the Chaos emeralds but they did not have enough energy. Then I thought why not use the boy he is full of Chaos energy. So I built a machine that can take the energy out of a living being a change it into electrical and other energies. And you are all in it"

"Wait." Shade said "You don't mean..."

"Yes. I'm going to suck the life out of you."

Knuckles and his sons struggled against the bonds. "You won't get away with this Eggman!"

"I think I will Knucklehead, because there is no one to stop me this time."

"I WOULDN'T SAY THAT!" a voice yelled drawing there attention.

-
Eight minutes earlier

Dusk had a plan. It was risky but he would do it anyway.

First he got a little jumping start. Then he ran for the building next to the empty lot of rubble he was standing in. He was moving so fast that he was actually moving up the side of the building. On his way up, he proceeded to grab the RPG from his back and shot the Egg Carrier with it, creating a nice hole in it. He didn't however go into said hole instead he waited right outside of it while the alarms rang inside.

$ $%

Same time

"I can hear alarms." Rosy said.

#%^&!

Jeff the Hedgehog, a mercenary was one of the ones who came to the blast site to see what had happened. When they got to where the hole was, his captain decided Jeff should go up to the breach and investigate. He slowly made his way up to the hole. As soon as he got 5 feet from it he saw three spherical object come into the hallway. By the time he registered what they were, they exploded causing the whole hallway to shake.

!*# &$(

Right after the grenades blew, Dusk jumped in to the hole and shot the only remaining soldier. Three shots to the chest, POP POP POP. He made his way through the hallway until another squad spots him and opens fire. He opens up too, clipping a merc in the shoulder. He falls like a rock. Dusk's riffle clicks, out. A mercenary takes out a grenade and lobs it at Dusk. It land right next to him. As fast as he could, which was pretty fast, he throws the grenade back. Detonation occurs killing everything. He moves forward, reloading his rifle as he goes. He sees some stragglers of the squads and opens fire. They turn and fire on him as well. Some of their buddies decided to join the fun. He unloaded his rifle on them, taking a few out. He threw the assault rifle down and pulled out his GLOCK. Things appeared to be going well until they brought in the rocket launcher.

"Oh c-"

The rocket launcher fired it's payload and blew the section of hallway where Dusk was standing to hell.

The soldiers walked up to the spot where the rocket hit and looked around. There was nothing there.

"We aught to tell Eggman that there was an intruder, and that we took care of it."

"Right," another said.

"Well go Private" the first one said.

"Oh right." the Private said and he ran off.

"Come on boys let's go." the commander said

Dusk sighed from his place in the air duct. He had evaded them. He began to crawl towards what he read on the blueprints in his hand as the experiment room. For a little extra security he pulled out his M1911. He was almost there when he heard voices, Shadow's and Eggman's. He was almost able to make out the words. He finds the end of the air ducts but stays hidden, because he wanted to here what is going on.

"-too much like his father for his own good." Eggman.

"That thing is not my son! The only way it was related to me was by DNA alone."

Wait who was he talking about?

"Shadow Shadow Shadow, naive as ever. You believe everything you hear, even if you heard it from the boy himself."

Wait. Me. They are talking about me. What is Shadow talking about "his son".

Then he heard Eggman talk about gamete cells. What were those again. He remembered his biology lessons years ago. Gamete cell were reproductive cells, what you used to make children.

But I'm a clone aren't I? I didn't come from gamete cells.

Then he heard Eggman say the most chilling thing

"- Not a clone. A son."

Son? Is he saying that I'm not a clone? Is he saying that Shadow is my... father? But if Shadow is my father who is my mother..." He gasps Rouge

They are his... parents. He felt a happiness that he had never known.

He also felt very pissed.

What else had Eggman lied about?

As lost in his thoughts as he was, H reacted when Eggman came back into the room and said

"- I'm going to suck the life out of you."

No, he wouldn't let him do that. He unscrewed the grate on the air duct and climbed out. He had to get to higher ground he saw some crates that he could climb on. He got on top in time to hear Eggman say

"-their is no one to stop me this time."

The hedgehog in him just compelled him to say "I WOULDN'T SAY THAT!"

All of the heads in the room turned to him "Dusk!" they all said, Rouge the happiest. She was literaly in tears.

"I'm not going to let you do this" Dusk said as he descended from the boxes.

"Dusk we thought you were..." Rosy said.

"Don't worry, Rosy. Everythings going to be ok-" He felt a searing pain in his shoulder as he heard gun fire above him. He fell to the ground, hearing Rosy and his mother scream. He crawled behind some crates. He had been shot in the shoulder. He began to fire his sidearm from cover up at the catwalks and at the ground floor. He didn't notice something coming up behind him.

"I have been waiting for you" Dusk twisted around too late as Kunoi picked him up by his neck.

"I will have your head for a trophy." Kunoi said, squeezing his neck.

Dusk just laughs and drops something.

"You know I'm not such a bad thief myself" he said loud enough for Rouge to hear.

Kunoi caught what he had dropped. A grenade pin. Kunoi dropped Dusk to get the grenade off of him but was too late. He exploded.

Dusk gets up "Time to finish this." he growled.

"Couldn't agree more my boy." Eggman said "While you were busy I had time to finish the Energy transfer sequence. BEGIN!" He pushed the button.

His parents, Rosy and everyone there started to cry out in pain as their life force was sucked away.

"NO!" Dusk yelled and ran for the machine trying to break it, but when it got close it shocked him and knocked him back.

After a second they all went limp.

Dusk sank to his knees. He was too late. He had failed.

"Ha Ha Ha you failed boy." Eggman laughs.

"No. I will save them. I will defeat you." Dusk growled, gritting his teeth.

"Just you try, boy. Allow me to introduce you to my newest creation." he presses another button causing a giant battle robot to come out of the ground.

"Say hello to... The Egg Overlord!"

A.N) OH MY GOD That fight scene was awesome right? I mean how much more awesome can you get than guns grenades and BIG ASS ROBOTS. Any way tune in next week for the next chapter

BTW- I decided to change Dusk's theme to When I'm Gone by 3 Doors Down. I just think that it embodies Dusk's inner struggles and his outer battles.

To God alone be the glory

Now into the shadows I go

DTH