"TARGET ACQUIRED."
Omega taunted, pointing his cannons directly at his adversaries. Eggman finally decided to show, his Egg Mobile settled into a walker similar to the one he used during the Ark crisis. Along with the soon-to-be-eliminated Doctor was Metal Sonic, the pathetic excuse of a robot that he always insisted on bringing along with him. It glared balefully at him while its master spent its time pointing and laughing at the E-Series robot.
Indignancy growing within the traces of his silicon, he immediately opened fire, raining hell upon the man who took everything from him.
The mad genius crouched low in his walker, its embedded rocket propellers sending him careening from side to side to avoid the onslaught of chaos-derived bullets. He still refused to actually taunt the robot, simply pointing and laughing at him harder as the rate of fire increased to no effect. It was as if Eggman was telling him that his efforts were so pathetic that it wasn't even worth the effort to actually form words.
It only fueled the robot's rage further, as he diverted more energy from the emerald into the bullet feeder system. He watched as the bullets began to glow brighter, leaving small mini blasts upon impact as they struck the ground and surrounding landscape. The distance between his blasts and Eggman's walker rapidly began to close-
And right before they were about to hit their target, something crashed into his side, knocking him off balance. The pathetic mockery of that blue hedgehog couldn't even muster a proper strike, only deigning to attack him in a feeble attempt to protect his precious master.
Omega swung his arm around, pointing it directly at the robot. It dodged out of the way just as a volley of bullets shot out, demolishing the building behind it. It must have been mission critical structures, as the blue machine paused to look back and forth between him and the smoldering base facility. He launched another volley, but just as he fired, the metal hedgehog grabbed his arm and pushed it upwards, making the bullets fire uselessly into the air.
The E-series robot watched as Badniks began to pour out of the buildings en masse, scrambling to hide themselves deep in the surrounding forest like the worthless consumer models that they were.
Metal Sonic had turned to look back at the other robots. It would prove to be a grave mistake as Omega rapidly spun his torso in place, smacking the smaller robot square in the side of the head and sending him flying to the other side of the clearing.
Omega only felt more indignant at the fight. Metal Sonic was barely doing anything, and Eggman had yet to do anything besides point and laugh. They were teasing him, clearly only messing around because they thought that he wouldn't be able to put them in their place.
He would make sure they sorely regret that line of thinking.
"Shadow, I could really use your help!" Sonic called out, clutching his head as he pushed himself to his feet.
The hedgehog in question remained frozen, staring quietly at the E-Series robot that just tried to mow him down. His attention was torn away as the stomach-turning peals of laughter Eggman was known for came from above them.
"What's the matter, Shadow?" The Doctor taunted, his Egg Mobile hovering far above the village. "Having cold feet fighting your friend? He is one of my creations, after all!"
Shadow felt his jaw clench so hard that he felt like his teeth were going to crack from the pressure.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" He screamed, pointing accusatorially at the man.
"What I did?" Eggman asked sarcastically, placing a hand over his chest for dramatic effect. "I only made him. But if you're wondering what I did to make him fight you..."
The mad Doctor leaned forward, his floating vehicle tilting downwards to give him a full view of the hedgehog.
"It's quite simple! You see, your former friend over there has been using his neural accelerators in ways I didn't even think possible when I put it in him." He pointed towards Omega. "You and that bat made him a better killing machine than I ever could on my own! In fact, as far as he's concerned, he's still working as your killing machine!"
"...What?"
"Oh, Shadow. If only you were as smart as the man who made you." Eggman shook his head. "After analyzing how complex his neural network is, I decided it would be a shame to tamper with something that was so promising. Instead, I just added a small extra layer to his external sensor processing that allows me to alter what he sees to my specifications."
The black and red hedgehog quickly glanced back at the robot, a realization of horror dawning on his face as he watched the bulking machine trade blows with Sonic.
"He's..." He trailed off, unable to form the words in his mouth.
Eggman cackled, slamming the side of his cockpit with enough force to make the entire vehicle jostle.
"It's ironic, isn't it?!" He taunted the hedgehog. "Omega thinks he's fighting me to avenge your death! And he's not going to stop until you and every single one of your friends is dead! Speaking of... I told you what would happen if you tried to interfere in my plans, rodent."
The evil genius produced a remote with a large red button on it, slamming it without hesitation.
"I hope you didn't plan on seeing the bat anytime soon-" He cut himself off as an error message popped up on the console of the Egg Mobile. "What?! When did you-"
"You know, Egghead-" Sonic began, pausing momentarily to launch a homing attack at Omega. "You have a really bad track record on keeping people held hostage."
Eggman groaned in anger, folding his arms across his chest as he tossed the remote aside.
"Well, it doesn't matter anymore. I have what I want, so I'm going to sit back and relax while your friend kills you in your own name."
Omega was sick of this metallic hedgehog's feeble attempts to stop him. The scant dents he was able to put into his reinforced armor plating were inconsequential to the hellfire he fully intended to unleash upon the Mad Doctor and all of his inferior creations.
Metal Sonic's engine revved up as he circled around the E-Series robot, speed increasing faster and faster until he was little more than a smudge of blue light. The wind kicked up around him, but despite its howling gale it was not enough to even jostle Omega's heavy frame.
The chaos emerald inside Omega's chest glowed, pulsing a sickly green as its power was diverted to his own optical sensors. They were put into overdrive, the increased rate of processing giving him something similar to a perception of slowed time.
"INFERIOR SCRAP." The E-Series robot spat out, fingers extending as his arm shot out to intercept the speeding Super Badnik.
Within that instant, his clawed fingers latched onto Metal Sonic's head. He yanked his arms up, watching as the other robot flailed around in a desperate attempt to escape.
He would not allow that.
He slammed the metallic hedgehog into the ground head-first, his grip like a vice as he pulled the other robot back into the air. Again and again, he rammed his adversary into the ground, watching as its fingers feebly pulled at his hand in an attempt to get out of his grasp.
He looked to his side, continuing his attack on Metal Sonic as he tried to see how Robotnik was handling the sight of his precious creation being destroyed right before his eyes. The Doctor was horrified, mouth speechlessly held open as he struggled to comprehend what was going on. It brought a sense of elation to his servos, seeing the loathsome cretin brought down so low.
With a final slam, he retracted his fingers, pinning Metal Sonic to the ground with the autocannons that took their place. He reverted the chaos power flow back to his guns, the energy flowing back into his bullet chambers.
The instant he fired his guns, an energy spear sailed into his view, knocking into his arm and nudging it just far enough to miss their point-blank mark. The impact left a smoldering gash in his armor. In bewilderment, he turned back to the Doctor, his own arm extended as if he just threw the projectile himself.
He recognized it almost immediately. It was just like Shadow's own Chaos Spear. Did Eggman find a way to replicate it before he died?
The possibility of such an action only fueled Omega's rage further. That pathetic excuse of a man had no business with such a powerful ability like that, to practically make a mockery of the hedgehog who served as a vital partner all those years.
His attention was drawn back to his other adversary. The sound of crunching dirt and Metal Sonic's revving engine came too quickly to properly react. The metallic hedgehog crashed into him once more, scraping the tear in his arm plating before rushing past and slamming directly into his chest.
If he had the capacity to scream, he would have unleashed a howl strong enough to bend the very trees around him.
The two of them will only leave this battlefield in a casket. He would make sure of that.
Shadow couldn't stop his limbs from locking up as he watched his partner engage with Sonic. It was obvious that the blue hedgehog would not be enough to stop him, but...
Helping out would only end in the destruction of one of the few friends he had.
He glanced down at his hand, breath shaking as he looked back at the damage he dealt with his Chaos Spear. His body had moved on its own, snapping to life on the realization that Omega's attack at that moment would have led to the death of the blue blur. But the moment that ended and the fight returned to normal, he felt the cold paralysis creep back up.
"Shadow!" Sonic called, only to be cut off as a robotic arm slammed into his gut, sending him flying. He flipped around in the air, landing on his feet and skidding backwards as he looked back at the other hedgehog.
The black and red rival only stared back in indecision; mouth open to reply but unable to find the proper words.
"Eggman's just messed with his head, right?!" Sonic gritted his teeth, legs shaking slightly as he tried to reach out to the other hedgehog. "We can still save him! If we can remove his head, I'm sure Tails can fix him!"
Shadow took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he steeled himself. His rival was right- not all was lost... and at this point any alternative would be better than letting Omega continue as a misguided death machine.
"Right!" He called back out, shoving his fears down deep into his gut as he rushed towards the E-Series robot. He threw another Chaos Spear, the bolt landing squarely in the center of Omega's back and partially melting the armor plating.
The robot immediately spun around, autocannons outstretched and ready to fire. His thrusters flared to life, rushing towards the Ultimate Lifeform as a hail of bullets rushed from his guns.
Shadow quickly sidestepped the blast, only to watch Omega follow suit and try to flank him. They began to fly in circles around each other, the bullets only flying faster as Shadow began throwing more spears, deathly careful to make sure they were nowhere near the robot's head.
Sonic quickly intervened in the duel, launching another spin attack that distracted the E-Series robot for just an instant. The other hedgehog saw the opportunity, jumping into the air and launching himself in a homing attack towards his former partner. The impact did little to harm his armor, but the rebound from the attack sent him flying up into the air, giving him more space to launch a volley of spears at the robot's chest, quickly tearing the reinforced plating apart and leaving a hole in its wake.
Omega seemed completely unperturbed by the attack, his hand snapping out to grab Shadow by the ankle and sending him slamming into the ground. He had no time to recover before the robot's other hand was wrapped around his throat, squeezing tightly to cut off all airflow.
Shadow felt his neck bend painfully from the pressure of Omega putting his full weight into the choking grasp, firmly anchoring him to the ground. He could feel the corners of his vision darken as saliva pooled in his mouth. He frantically tried to form another spear, only to watch it fizzle and fade as his brain continued to rapidly lose its oxygen supply.
It wasn't long before his vision was severely tunneled, only able to see the cold, red eyes of the friend killing him, and the pulsing green glow of the emerald deep in his chest, peeking out just enough to taunt him. So close, yet so far...
Shadow felt his hand slowly reach up, desperately trying to reach for the gem. Even with his arm fully outstretched, all he could do was touch the brim of the opening with his fingertips...
The sound of grinding metal struggled to make its way into his head. Omega lurched forward from the impact, a shower of sparks flying off his back as he tried to reach back with his free hand.
As the robot's torso rotated, the black and red hedgehog was able to make out the blurry sight of his blue counterpart spin dashing directly into the hole Shadow had previously made when he began his attack. The moment he ran out of momentum, he jammed his fingers into the tear in the armor as he slammed his feet onto Omega's back- and using them as a lever, he pulled with all his might, gritting his teeth as he tried to open the hole further.
It took a truly herculean amount of strength, but the gash was widened further with the shriek of metal bending against its will.
Taking the E-Series robot by surprise, it unintentionally loosened its grasp on Shadow's neck, allowing air to rush back into his lungs. He grabbed Omega's thumb and index finger, using what strength he had left to yank them off his body. Without a second thought he felt his hand shove itself into the hole in the robot's chest, frantically searching around for the power source within.
The second he felt his fingers clench around the chaos emerald, he pulled with all his strength. He could hear the internal mechanisms bend and crack as he wrenched the gem from its captive slot. With a solid yank he tore it out of Omega's chest, watching the opening burst outwards and widen from the increased size of the gem.
Seeing the emerald free, Sonic jumped onto the head of the still-struggling E-Series robot, fingers finding purchase around the cranial unit. With a shout and a heave, the head was pried from the rest of the robot's body, the wires connecting the two stretching and snapping from the effort.
With that, Omega's chassis ceased to move, unceremoniously collapsing to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Both hedgehogs looked completely winded, with Shadow rubbing his neck and Sonic placing Omega's head on its side as a way to keep him standing.
With a sudden realization, Shadow's head snapped up to where Eggman had been floating- only to find the space empty. The Egg Mobile was speeding off, rapidly shrinking into the horizon.
The Ultimate Lifeform gritted his teeth, his grip on the chaos emerald tightening.
No. This would not be just another clean escape for the doctor.
Sonic watched as Shadow disappeared in a flash of chaos energy. It was only a few seconds before a second flash manifested where he originally stood, signaling his return.
Sonic's eyes widened as the energy dissipated, revealing the black and red hedgehog clutching the Doctor by his collar, apparently unconscious with his head lolling to the side.
Shadow threw him to the ground, waves of disgust and hatred pouring from his crimson irises as he glared at the man.
The blue hedgehog felt a pit form in his stomach. It had been a long time since he had seen his rival sport an expression like that- during the Black Arms invasion.
"H-Hey Shads," He began, voice weak from both his nerves and his exhaustion. "...What're you up to?"
The other hedgehog didn't directly answer, pulling his phone from his quills and placing it to his ear.
He didn't bother with introductions as the person on the other line picked up.
"Commander." He quietly and cordially addressed the person on the other end of the line. "They've been recovered. Eggman has been apprehended as well. Requesting immediate armed transport."
Whatever the response was, it was short. Within seconds, Shadow had ended the call and put the phone away.
"GUN will be here to take Eggman away. ETA is three minutes."
Sonic pensively bit his lip, trying to find the best way to respond. Perhaps... it was still too early to push things. Shadow's at least trying to communicate with him.
"That's pretty fast."
The black and red hedgehog nodded. "There was a rescue team already being mobilized after reports of the village attacks."
Sonic nodded quietly, not really sure how to continue the conversation from there. He quietly held Omega's head in his hands, eyes focused on Shadow as he tried to find any sense of emotion in the cold slate that he so perfectly wore over his face.
The Ultimate Lifeform was, as usual, an emotional mess. It took a lot of willpower to not simply execute Eggman on the spot. The hatred still burned wildly in his gut, threatening to melt him from the inside out.
But succumbing to those urges... it would mean the return of a version of himself he would never want to become again. The promise to Maria, the relationships he had struggled to build up for so long- all of it would go down in an instant. And he could only re-mend those bridges so many times, something that not even his own immortality could help with.
He felt the unease settle into his body yet again. That damned emotion, threatening to undo him from within but refusing to explain what it was or how he could even begin to fix it.
He could feel Sonic's eyes boring into him. It sent another wave of conflicting emotions rushing through the core of his being. He knew that the hero would give anything to help, and that weighed heavily on him. Guilt bubbled within him like a fountain, taunting him for causing such a worrying reaction from the blue hedgehog. Apologizing, or even just acknowledging it, would only cause such a response to flare up again. All he could do is to keep it locked inside, and hope that his rival would just... move on, in his own way.
The sound of helicopter blades slowly wafted along the air, rapidly growing louder as an armored helicopter transport emblazoned with GUN's insignias approached the scene. It wasn't long before the vehicle touched down, a small squadron of soldiers pouring out to apprehend the Doctor and drag him back into the transport. The squad leader was quick to inform the hedgehogs that he will be arrested and taken in for questioning, and with any luck would be indicted on a litany of international war crimes.
Sonic was thanked for his efforts in helping end the crisis and potentially bringing the Doctor down forever. The same courtesy was not extended to Shadow- the squad leader simply passed by him, throwing him a sideways glare as he returned to the helicopter and cleared it for takeoff.
The blue blur looked back and forth between the two GUN officials, but just as he opened his mouth the Ultimate Lifeform was quick to cut him off.
"I'm going to go check on Rouge." He said bluntly, immediately speeding back to the rendezvous point with Chaotix, his rival fast in pursuit with Omega's head in his hands.
The unsettling feeling twisted around in his stomach, giving him no peace as he raced through the forest. A confused anger built up further within his mind, desperate to find the answer.
He rescued his friends. Everyone was safe. Eggman was captured . So why...
Why did he feel like something was still deeply wrong?
He didn't have too much time to think on it as the trees rapidly cleared back into an open cliffside. He raced alongside the rock wall, and after that it wasn't long before he found the detective trio standing not too far from the base's entrance, waving to get his attention.
Shadow cut off the air flow to his shoes, his speed quickly slowing as he approached the team responsible for rescuing Rouge. They looked happy with themselves, but it was clear that there was something more apprehensive underneath their expressions. Even Charmy was not as active as he normally was, quiet as he bounced from foot to foot and fiddled with his own fingers.
"How did things go?" Espio asked, leaning against a nearby tree.
The black and red hedgehog paused, struggling to form words as he gritted his teeth.
"Eggman did something to Omega." He paused, struggling to keep his emotions in check. "The Doctor is arrested. How is Rouge?"
"She's not in critical condition, but she'll need medical attention. We didn't want to risk moving her with the ongoing battle. She's severely dehydrated, too. I don't think she was ever released from the stasis field. We tried getting her to drink some water, but..." Espio trailed off.
"...She won't wake up." Charmy quietly muttered.
Vector looked away, unable to meet Shadow's gaze.
Espio released a heavy sigh, slightly nodding his head. "It's possible she sustained further injuries. We can't tell. She needs to be taken to a hospital. If you or Sonic were to carry her, you could get her to a hospital in the capital within a few minutes."
"Where is she?" The black and red hedgehog asked immediately.
The chameleon stepped to the side, waving for Shadow to walk with him as he stepped into the forest.
"We didn't have a good place to put her, so we found some relatively soft foliage and rested her there. Better than having her lying on a rock."
It wasn't long before they made it to their destination. Rouge was resting on a moss-covered bush, carefully suspended above the ground, unconscious and unmoving.
Shadow carefully reached under her, pulling her off the foliage and into his arms. He and Espio brusquely returned to the others, just in time to see Sonic arrive.
"Hey, Shadow-" The blue hedgehog began, pausing as he saw the bat limply hanging in his rival's arms. He didn't need a recap of the situation to know what was going on.
He quickly shook his head, biting back what he wanted to say. Clearly there were more important matters.
"...Never mind. I'll have Tails take a look at Omega. Go take care of Rouge."
Shadow didn't even bother to respond as he took off, gliding towards the capital as he struggled to make sense of the emotions clouding his mind.
Nothing made sense. It all... just hurt and he couldn't figure out why.
He looked down at Rouge as he ran. There was absolutely zero movement from her- even her breathing was so shallow that it looked as if she wasn't at all.
He growled in frustration as he navigated the forest trails. If he moved any faster, he would be unable to see his surroundings properly, making the risk to the bat's health even higher. The setting sun slowly dimming the environment did not help either.
He tried his best to just shake the thoughts from his head, but all it seemed to do was make their presence grow even stronger. His brain felt like a balloon on the verge of exploding from the pressure within it. He shouldn't even be concerned by this. He was the Ultimate Lifeform, he-
Shadow cut the flow of power to his air shoes, skidding to a stop in the middle of the forest path. His chest rapidly heaved in and out, his lungs demanding more oxygen than they could hold as his heart threatened to burst from his chest. His eyes were as wide as saucers as he unconsciously clutched Rouge's body tighter.
He finally understood it. The uneasy feeling that never left, the unspoken concerns he could never place, the complete mess of emotions that constantly brewed turmoil in his head... all of it.
He felt his knees give out underneath him as his body trembled, buckling under his own weight. It took him every bit of strength he had to not let his partner slip through his hands.
For the first time in his life, Shadow was completely and utterly terrified.