Chapter 54: Recompense

"It can't be," Shawn said, recognizing the man who held a gun to his head. "Bobby?"

The man lowered his pistol slightly. "Shawn?"

"Yeah," Shawn responded, folding his arms. "What made you think I was Shadow?"

"Forgive me, it's just that…you're wearing the same clothes as Shadow when he was in suspended animation."

"So I take it that you know all about the massacre onboard the ARK."

"Of course, Shawn. I'm now the commander of G. U. N., so I know everything they did. Plus, I was there when it happened."

"Then why did they spare you and not Marie?"

"If Shadow hadn't launched Marie into that capsule, they probably would've spared her as well."

"Oh, really? Then why did they put me into suspended animation?"

"Because you were possessed by Shadow, and at the time G. U. N. perceived him as a threat."

"Then why didn't they just kill him?"

"Gerard knew that killing Shadow would kill you as well, so he begged G. U. N. to spare your life. I would tell you to be grateful, but now I see that the only reason Gerard kept you alive was so that you could exact his revenge on the world for him by helping Eggman activate the Eclipse Cannon and cause it to fall toward Mobius."

"I had nothing to do with that! Shadow's the one you should be blaming, not me."

"Then how do I know you're not possessed by Shadow right now?"

"Do I have hedgehog ears? Does my voice sound like his?"

"No, but I can't let you live." The Commander readjusted his grip on the pistol. "You've been seen helping the Black Arms aliens in numerous locations, and collecting Chaos Emeralds along the way. Now I don't know what your game is, but it ends here."

"Do you really think shooting me will solve all your problems? I don't think this is about the Black Arms. You just want to avenge Marie's death by killing Shadow." Shawn warped behind the Commander and took the Red Chaos Emerald which was sticking out of the Commander's back-pocket. "But in order to do that you had to kill me. So you lured me here with a Chaos Emerald because you figured I was warping to wherever the Chaos Emeralds were."

"Why, you little—

By the time the Commander turned around, Shawn had already warped away.

###

After the blinding flash that followed, Shawn found himself in a dark place with rocky walls that glowed purple and could hear strange noises in the distance.

"Where am I?" Shawn wondered.

"Welcome to the Black Comet, Shadow the Hedgehog," Black Doom said as he emerged from the floor in front of Shawn. "Have you got all the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Sure thing," Shawn said, reaching into his jacket-pocket. "But first, you need to tell me about my past dealings with you."

"Well, aren't we a little anxious?" Black Doom said, and pointed his middle finger at Shawn.

Immediately, Shawn flinched as his arm moved on its own and pulled out the Red Chaos Emerald from his jacket-pocket. Afterwards, Shawn raised his hands reluctantly and the other Chaos Emeralds flew out of his pocket and circled around him. Then after a few seconds, the Emeralds floated toward Black Doom who waved his hands over them and shouted, "Chaos Control!"

There was a brief flash of light, and then the whole structure shook causing Shawn to loose balance.

"What…did you just do?" Shawn said as he tried to get up but he was held down once Black Doom motioned his hand down.

"I transported the Black Comet to the surface of your planet using Chaos Control in order to release toxins into the air that will paralyze every living thing so that we may harvest their energy more efficiently."

"You used me," Shawn muttered, struggling against the unbearable weight that kept him down. "You tricked me into collecting all the Chaos Emeralds just so that you could take over Mobius and turn it into your own personal energy-farm."

"Precisely," Black Doom responded. "Though I'm surprised you weren't suspicious considering that I almost did the same thing the last time we met, but you betrayed me after going through the effort of collecting all the Chaos Emeralds for me and destroyed my previous self."

"Your previous self?"

"I am merely a copy of the original Black Doom who was created on the Black Arms' home-planet after our humiliating defeat on this world before it was reformed. We had returned fifty years ago and made contact with the ARK in secret since our Black Comet was not powerful enough to penetrate your planet's atmosphere. The human in charge of that space colony, Professor Gerard, agreed to find the Chaos Emeralds so that we could use them to teleport the Black Comet to the surface in exchange for a sample of my blood so that he could find a cure for his pathetic granddaughter."

"So you're saying that…my grandfather betrayed the human race…just so he could cure my sister?"

"Exactly, Shawn Robotnik, adopted grandson of Professor Gerard."

Shawn's eyes widened. "How did you—

"I have control over your mind and body, remember? Once I saw your memories, I knew you weren't the real Shadow but a mere vessel for his spirit which lives inside you. And now that you have fulfilled your purpose, here is your reward."

Shawn cried out as his body started to stiffen from the feet up and his brain burned like fire. In front of him, Black Doom vanished and in his place stood small creatures with slug-like bodies and one eyeball each. As they advanced toward him, Shawn concentrated hard and repeated Shadow's name constantly in his mind. When nothing happened, Shawn sighed and closed his eyes.

###

When Shawn came to, he was in a laboratory onboard the ARK with a large glass window that overlooked the planet below. A rectangular control-panel to his left reminded Shawn that this was the same place where Marie was launched into space by Shadow who had been possessing him at the time. As Shawn walked toward the window, he heard a door opening and closing behind him.

"Well it's about damn time you showed up. I thought those memories I sent would give you a hint."

Shawn turned around and beheld Shadow, who looked exactly like him except he had slanted red irises, white gloved hands, and a pair of black hedgehog ears with a small tail poking out behind him.

"Shadow," Shawn said, and pointed an accusing finger at him. "I've been looking all over the world for you, and I want answers."

"Then you'd better start asking," Shadow replied, folding his arms. "Time's running out for the both of us, and I'm not a very patient guy."

To be continued…