Infinite leaned against the wall, huffing with each step. Why didn't the doctor put in any windows... around the corner- Ah! Light!
He stumbled crossing the hall to the window, falling against it. Sand... rocks... clouds... shadows from a cliff...The scorching sun broiled the glass, which did nothing for the sweating jackal except confirm he was where Metal Sonic had said. Far from Marnebu... in a canyon, if he had to guess.
Legs quaking, he slumped to the floor, panting. He could make it back, no problem... just let me... catch my breath...
"Hey, you! What're you doing?"
Infinite shook his head as he heard the past approaching. Shoo. Not right now.
"Are you hurt?"
Infinite glanced up at the glittering red eyes. "I'm just catching my breath. Wanted to see outside." He laughed, "I don't want to go outside- almost burned myself on the window."
Metal beeped and sat next to Infinite. "Sorry about that- probably a tactical decision by Eggman, less entry points."
"How long have I been in here?" he panted- being stuck in an artificially lit room with consistent temperature messed with his internal clock.
"It's only been a few days since you woke up, but you've been there for a little less than a month."
"And when I've made a full recovery, then what?" he eyed the blue robot. Probably a favor. Steal some cutting edge weaponry. Kidnap the frontrunner of advanced AI. Sabotage some suppressing component to free the rest of his robot brethren. Vandalize the Resistance's base of operations, if it was still standing.
Metal beeped, shoulders raising. "Up to you."
Infinite snuffed, "You went through all this trouble expecting nothing in return?"
The robot turned his attention to the floor. "I suppose... I understand what it's like to be... cast aside," he hummed. "To be fitted with new tech, and have expectations riding on you. To have your own body fail you when you want to keep fighting. To be...discarded..." The eyes dimmed a little.
The jackal sat in silence alongside the quietly humming android. "I'm sorry about that," he hummed looking at his tail curled in front of his feet. "I'm used to being discarded... it was part of the job. That's the beauty of hiring mercenaries, I guess," he sighed. "When you're done with them, you can throw them away."
Infinite rested on his knees. "And then we go find someone else... maybe it's on the same continent, maybe it's not. Could be a heist, could be a risky recovery operation. Maybe it's not worth your men, but you'd hate to lose anyway." He shut his eyes, grumbling as his mind filled with red haze.
"It's like everything's scrambled..." Infinite answered when Metal asked. "I can't tell what happened during the war, or what happened before..."
"Oh. This might be another side effect of the Ruby assimilation," he suggested. "Well, start with what you do remember, and work from there."
The jackal snuffed, then chuckled. "Sorry..." he admitted, "I'm not used to this sort of thing."
"Being injured?" Metal beeped.
"No," Infinite sighed. "Having a friend."
Outside the window, a cloaked glove rested on the hot window, the microphone-embedded fingertips picking up on the conversation.
"I understand what it's like to be cast aside..." the electronic voice hummed in her eardrums. Her hand flinched, but she kept her fingertips on the glass. To be cast aside... discarded.
"We never discussed conquering this world," she turned to him. "We only wanted to return to it!" Don't you understand? she wanted to scream- Trying to conquer the world is what banished us in the first place!
Her breath started to waver- but if she removed her helmet, her position would be compromised, and all her patience would be for nothing. Calm down, Shade! She took a deep breath, focusing on the incoming feed.
"That's the beauty of hiring mercenaries, I guess. When you're done with them, you can throw them away..." Is that why you do it? No loyalties, able to turn on your former employers with no remorse?
Perhaps he had loyalties, like she did, once. Are you eager to make new ones anytime soon, she asked herself. Loyalties are what are keeping you hidden, right now- mentalities you can't let go of.
"I'm not used to this sort of thing..." Infinite laughed... "Having a friend."
Friends... yes, in our line of work, that is hard to come by.
She shook her head- their lines of work were very different. He did his for money, and violence, while she had done it for the good of her people... at least, she had thought so. In the end, she'd been fueling the same machine.
Different or not, they didn't have friends. Were you an outsider, too, she wondered, staring at the black ears poking up from the window.
While the castra was filled with boys and girls from her precinct, the aristocratic agoge trained the sons and few daughters of politicians and soldiers. Impressing her instructors had got her foot in the door- and she'd managed to get the Imperator's attention with a perfect assessment score... but all her peers could remember her for is that she was just a scientist's daughter. That she was supposed to be improving on sanitation or agriculture, not sitting beside a Praetorian's nephew, or the Imperator Filius himself.
Shade pushed herself to keep up with the elites- to overcome her own weaknesses and surpass her peers. She recalled earning acquaintances, but after she became Procurator, the Imperator became her most frequent companion... perhaps that's why his true goals cut her so deep. That he would forget all the hardships of adapting to the Twilight Cage- why they were banished there in the first place, why all the denizens were banished from their worlds...
"I think Pachacamac's and Ix's ideals are one in the same," a dusty orange echidna hummed years ago, examining a game piece like a gem. "They're fighting for the same goals... total domination. But what for?"
Shade narrowed her eyes at her father. "What for- for our people!"
"We have enough resources to sustain and proliferate our numbers," Maelka reasoned, setting the piece back down on the board, "Our technological achievements are enough to give us an economical advantage. We don't need to encroach on the Knuckles' Clan borders."
"They're warmongering barbarians," she puffed- sounding like her former classmates, and Lord Ix. Shade's stomach tightened. "...I mean... their lifestyle is very...unrefined."
Maelka sighed, and she lowered her head. "I'm worried about what's going to happen to us Nocturnus," he admitted, staring up at the citadel. "I understand defending ourselves from invaders... but belittling others because of their culture... once the dust settles, what will we become? Ravaging other civilizations and people for our own gain... following the whims of our leader blindly, as if he were a divine figure?"
Shade squeezed her fingers into her fists. "I...I would say something if I could... but Lord Ix only asks me for military advice- I wouldn't know how to suggest it to him."
Her father smiled, reaching over and taking her fist. "I know, Shade. Procurator is a heavy mantle... Don't worry about trying to stop Ix. Just, keep in mind what I said, all right?"
But I should have stopped him, she lamented... After Perfect Chaos laid waste to the Knuckles Clan, we should have stopped... why didn't we- were we so blind to what we were becoming?
The feed was silent- the targets gone. Shade climbed off of the building and retreated. Infinite and Metal Sonic were a dangerous combination- but the energy signals were still low. Was the Badnik planning on reawakening the Phantom Ruby within him? And for what purpose? Information gathered from the war suggested that the prototypes needed a substantial amount of energy to be used; no such power source resided in the defunct base.
She settled in for a long reconnaissance...
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