I'm sorry I've been gone so long folks! Really! Please don't send the secret service after me. Please! I do have a good reason I promise! Kids... Don't play the knife game. (In all honesty I was washing a kitchen knife to make dinner and I slipped and tried to lop my pointer finger off. The cut is about a quarter of an inch deep and dingus me doesn't have health insurance so I'm dealing with it on my own. Don't worry though! I swear my family has an honest to goodness healing factor so it's doing well and I've been exceedingly careful to keep it clean and dry. So far so good!) And I'm going through the learning curve of a new job...
Anywho... Thank you for your reviews! Props go to my most persistent regulars, emzhao07010, AlexJ and JoyoftheStorm! Special thanks also to Shadoweyes of Thunderclan! Thanks for joining us! I will also make sure to say hello on ao3!
You know it! Don't own it! Enjoy!
The field was ready.
After hours of meticulous planning they had chosen a battleground that had only one approach for an army consisting of four tanks, plus the foot soldiers they were able to truck in. The three members of the Chaotix detectives they'd been able to recruit were in position and waiting. Omega was also another concealed ace, and despite having been in hiding already for several days, he had eagerly embraced his part of the plan.
There was just one hang up…
Sonic's quills were starting to rise.
Shadow's glare could have melted steel and the air around him almost seemed to vibrate with chaos energy. There hadn't been any sparks yet, but at this level of anger, Sonic would have made the judgment call to run away really fast. The target of his current ire, however, was standing her ground, arms crossed, blue eyes flashing with an equal amount of wrath.
"You were never supposed to be anywhere near this!" Shadow growled. "What exactly do you think I've been doing this whole time?! This entire struggle has been an attempt to assure your safety! By doing this, you're directly undoing all of my efforts!"
Maria's glare deepened. "Everyone else is contributing to this, Shadow," she said. "They need every set of hands right now! The Freedom Fighters could only give us so much assistance without tipping their hand, and that leaves us frighteningly short on manpower! People are going to get hurt, and it would be irresponsible and unkind if I did not put my skills to work to help them! I'm the only one here with any kind of skill as a trauma surgeon. This goes far beyond my own safety, and you know it! You can't just keep me confined to Tails' workshop!"
"You think I couldn't?" Shadow said, leaning forward aggressively.
Maria stared silently at Shadow for a second giving him a chance to realize the line he'd crossed, and given the way his ears suddenly went flat to his head, he did.
"You could," Maria said mildly. "But you won't." She turned and began walking towards the abandoned cabin they had discovered a good distance from the chosen battlegrounds.
Shadow stared after her, taking an abortive step in her direction, ears still flat to his head, a clear look of guilt and regret in his eyes.
"She'll be fine, you know," Rouge said. "The cabin is decently hidden and the basement is concrete. She's already agreed to stay in hiding until the action is over, and she's got a good head on her shoulders. If something happens, I think she can handle herself. She's not the sick little waif you knew on the Ark. They also don't even know she's alive."
Shadow closed his eyes and he looked as if he was in pain. "I know that…" he started. "But GUN was responsible for her death fifty years ago, and it feels a little too much like we've come full circle."
"There is a difference here you know," Sonic said, approaching a little hesitantly. "This time…" A predatory gleam entered his green eyes. "This time, we're the ones hunting them."
Shadow opened his eyes, but his posture stayed in its defensive slump. "I just hope it's enough," he said. "I hate fighting with her."
Their wrist communicators came to life right then.
"Hey! Guys!" Knuckles said. "They just reached the mountain pass. They're here."
"The rest of you, to your positions now!" Rouge shouted. "Go! Go! Go!"
Tails ran up to them, a light pack over his shoulders. Sonic grabbed his hand.
Rouge turned to them. "I can't send you any backup," she said regretfully.
"We'll be fine," Sonic said. "Frankly, I'm more worried about you guys."
"We'll come back the moment we're successful," Tails said. "I want to back you up with the Tornado if I can."
"Just don't rush it," Rouge said seriously. "We only get one chance at this. Good luck!"
"Right!" Sonic grinned at her, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Be right back! Chaos… Control!"
Rouge took a breath and turned to join Omega where he was stationed.
Maria heard the commotion behind her and turned to look just in time to see Shadow approaching her at speed. He slowed and she could see that his ears were still pinned back.
"I just want to make sure you get to the cabin safely," he said, not quite looking at her. "I promise I won't do anything else." He offered her a hand.
Maria took it, and he looked genuinely surprised. "Sure we fight sometimes," she said. "That doesn't mean I don't trust you anymore."
Shadow's expression softened with relief and their location changed with a flash of light. The basement of the cabin didn't afford much of a view, but the concrete walls would be some protection at least.
"I just want you to be safe," Shadow said quietly.
"I know that," Maria said, and stooped to kiss him on the forehead. "I love you, and I want to make sure you're also safe, but I can't. So this is what's left." She patted the large first aid kit. The large duffle bag was practically bursting with every medical supply she could think of. "Be careful Shadow!"
"I will," Shadow said. "I'll see you on the other side."
He disappeared with a flash of light.
The plain they'd chosen for the fight was decently level, but there was still a little bit of a slope. It appeared completely empty. Rouge and Knuckles had done their jobs well, and though Shadow was reluctant to give any credit to the Freedom Fighters, they had done everything they could short of sending their own troops as back up.
"We're ready," Rouge's voice chimed in from his communicator. "Are you in position, Shadow?"
"Roger that," Shadow said, taking up his position at the center of the empty field just as the rumble of the tanks and the sound of marching feet became audible to him.
Four tanks filed into the valley followed by thirty eight men grouped in squads of four or five soldiers. There were no shots fired yet. Shadow stood there silently with his arms crossed and let them form up.
The four tanks stopped positioned at the head of the army, lined up facing him so they each had a clear shot. It didn't take long before the barrel of each gun was pointed right at the dark hedgehog. The men were still forming up when the top hatch of the second tank from the left opened and Commander Towers himself climbed up to sit on the edge.
"The ultimate life form," Towers said contemptuously. "I don't believe you are even that. In one regard, Dr. Gerald Robotnik's experiment failed. For all your strengths and immunities, you do have one fatal flaw, Shadow. He could not make you intelligent."
"I'm still smarter than you," Shadow said. "At least I know better than to play with things I don't understand."
"I suppose you take issue with my prototype chaos weapon?" Towers said, an amused gleam in his eyes. "Proof enough for me that it works then! And you were still fool enough to come alone."
Shadow couldn't help smiling. "Knuckles," he said into his communicator. "They're all assembled. Blow the charges."
Knuckles responded by flipping the red switch he'd been hovering over for the past few minutes.
The sudden thunder echoing through the valley had the more experienced GUN soldiers throwing themselves flat. Towers scrambled to look back at the source of the noise just in time to see tons of rock fall into the pass sealing them in. A few of the soldiers in the far back had to dodge the resulting landslide.
Towers was purple when he turned back to glare at Shadow. "What is your game, you demon?" he demanded.
"It's very simple," Shadow said. "Not a single one of you is leaving this place."
"Neither are you!" Towers said, and waved a hand forward sharply. "Fire!"
The serviceman sighed as he put the personal item tray back down on the desk after dumping the candy wrapper in the trash. The science types had a bad habit of using the front checkpoint as a convenient trash can. At least they weren't throwing stuff on the floor, but then again, he'd also been present to witness that bad behavior as well. He turned to one of the other guys who'd also been left behind to guard Mt. Freedom while Commander Towers had his rampage. "Hey man," he said, not bothering to hide how dispirited he sounded. "Do you ever wonder why we're here?"
The other guard had just opened his mouth to reply when a blue blur zoomed straight through the metal detector with a yellow flying fox close behind him.
"Comin' through!"
"Sorry, guys!" the fox said. "Keep up the good work, okay?"
The blue blur raced toward the door to the stairway without slowing down and crashed right through it, taking out the door knob and lock. The fox swung the useless door open and let himself in, pausing just long enough to give them a friendly wave.
It had all happened so fast that another thirty seconds passed before it occurred to them that they should probably set off the alarm…
Tails almost ran into Sonic from behind when the hedgehog pulled up short at a door. "This is it!" Sonic said and jumped, curling up. His quills crackled with chaos energy and he destroyed this door as well.
Espio had been able to provide them with precise directions to the lab dedicated to the scrambler. All Tails had to do was follow Sonic. Base security had been as thin as they could have hoped. Towers must have really hated Shadow.
They burst into a lab and a thin fellow with a messy mop of brown hair startled, throwing his clipboard into the air, causing a shower of papers that Sonic rushed around and collected, giving them a glance over before grinning at the guy.
"I'll take these," Sonic said. "And any other notes on the prototype you might happen to have as well!"
The guy stared at them, he was wearing a white lab coat, but he looked pretty young to be in a facility like this. Then again, Team Sonic were all exceptional in varying degrees…
"Y-you-! Y- Oh my god! You're Sonic the Hedgehog! And Tails!" the scientist crowed. "My dudes! I am such a big fan! My name's Ethan!"
Sonic and Tails glanced at each other.
"Ethan," Tails said. "I wonder if you could help us out. We need all the notes on the prototype you've been working on. Hard copies, digital back ups, everything."
"Oh yeah! It's all right here!" Ethan said, gesturing expansively at the lab. "Even the backup servers are in that room."
"That's perfect!" Tails said, and set to work, going to each of the computers and installing a neat little virus that would wipe all the information off the machines down to the very last ones and zeros. There wouldn't even be a bios left behind from the motherboards. It was a little like taking a nuke to a gunfight, but at the same time, there would be absolutely no chance of recovering any usable data.
Sonic went around the lab at the same time and collected all the paper notes he could find and used the base's own incinerator to dispose of them. Soon, all the file cabinets were standing empty. He even erased and cleaned all the white boards.
It was all done within the span of five minutes.
Sonic looked sharply towards the stairwell, hearing the sound of combat boots on the metal grating. "Just one hang up," he said. "But we've gotta make this quick. Where's the prototype?"
Tails peeked out of the closet where he was dealing with the last of the backup servers. "You didn't find it?"
"My dudes, the prototype isn't here," Ethan said. "Towers came in early this morning and took it. I tried to tell him that it's not ready for actual use, but he ignored me."
Sonic and Tails looked at each other in horror.
"The others-!" Tails said.
"I know," Sonic said. "But let's make sure we're done here. There can't be a repeat of this, or they'll have put themselves in danger for no reason."
"Right," Tails said. "I just finished with the last server. There's just one thing left." The fox hustled out of the closet and hopped up onto a counter so he could look Ethan in the eyes. "This is very important. Do any of the scientists know how to build this thing again?"
Ethan immediately shook his head. "We don't even know how it actually works," he said. "It was a lucky find, a bit of Eggman's handiwork that we managed to power up and even that was kind of an accident."
"I guess we're done here then," Tails said, looking desperately at Sonic.
"One more thing," Sonic said, approaching Ethan and gesturing for him to get closer.
Ethan blinked in confusion, but knelt down to Sonic's level.
"Ethan, right?" the hedgehog said and the guy nodded.
Sonic flicked him on the nose. "Get a different job, Ethan," he said firmly. "If you're really a fan, then you're working on the wrong side." He turned to Tails and jumped up onto the counter with him to grab his hand. "Chaos Control!"
They disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Ethan rubbing his nose and kneeling on the floor of a destroyed lab. "I guess that means I'm pretty much fired anyway," he said.
"Soar! Soar!"
Soar the Eagle turned at the frantic shouting and frowned at his assistant who was approaching at speed with a look of panic on his face. "What?"
"Garcia's done it again!" the aid shouted. "We need to go live, NOW!"
"Not again," Soar whined. "Do I have time to-?"
"No! You're up!" the aid said frantically as he interrupted the newscaster, grabbing him by an arm and pulling him along. "I do have some notes for you, but Garcia is out with a crew in the mountains filming a conflict between Shadow and Commander Towers! They only just gave us the heads up!"
Soar pulled his arm free and double timed it to the filming floor. "Dammit, Garcia! This always happens!"
He sat down at the desk and quickly read the starting article, already mentally editing some of the grammar and spelling mistakes in his head from the hasty typing. He glanced up in time to see the camera man counting down from three on his fingers.
"We're sorry to interrupt your program today, but this just in and boy is it a doozy!" Soar started. "Our number one newscaster received a tip that there would be some action in the mountains today. It appears that Shadow the Hedgehog has turned in his resignation with GUN for their questionable practices and it has turned into a showdown between him and Commander Towers. We've got a map on the website for the surrounding areas that might be affected, and there is an evacuation notice in place for a few homes effective immediately! Fortunately, it is an isolated enough area that not many will be displaced. Be sure to check the website for more information, and stay safe! We'll be joining Ms. Scarlet Garcia here in a minute so you can have a look at this incredible footage, but be aware, some of the images you see may be disturbing! Go ahead Scarlet!"
The team switched the feed over to Garcia's camera crew. They were on a ridge overlooking a valley and they had a perfect view of the four tanks heading a large group of men on foot. On the other side was one little black and red hedgehog.
"Thank you Soar," Scarlet said. "For those just joining us, what you see here is the result of a weapon test gone wrong. Anyone whose been wondering about the destruction that occurred in the Green Hills Zone? Your questions are about to be answered. I'm here today with Amy Rose who has been keeping track of these events as they've unfolded."
Amy stepped into the frame, joining Garcia in front of the view into the valley.
"Thank you for being here Ms. Garcia," Amy said. "It truly is important for people to know what's going on here."
"I'm sure the people are also grateful to you for standing up for the truth," Garcia said. "Just minutes ago, some charges went off sealing Towers and his army into this valley. Why did Shadow make this move?"
"Because we have another team making a move on another GUN facility under Mt. Freedom," Amy said. "All the secrecy has been necessary up until this point. This conflict here is just a distraction while another team is destroying the dangerous weapon and all of the blueprints they might have. For their safety, we will not be releasing the names of the people on this other team."
"That's understandable, but why not go to Commander Towers with this concern?" Garcia asked into her microphone. "Why risk life and limb in a direct confrontation? This looks pretty large to be a distraction."
"Quite frankly, we didn't think he would listen," Amy said. "Commander Towers has a bad track record for waiting until the very last minute to call Sonic in to help clean up the mess GUN makes, and this time, we can't afford to let it get that far."
"Which brings us to the prototype," Scarlet said. "What can you tell us about this device?"
"Plenty," Amy said. "For the sake of communication we've been calling it the scrambler because it produces a type of destructive scrambled chaos energy that we've also named pandemonium. Pandemonium is a huge problem because it doesn't just stay in one place. It spreads like an infection, destroying everything in its path. They had a weapons test in the Green Hills Zone just a few days ago and for those who haven't seen it, there are pictures that are being posted on the news website as we speak so you can see for yourselves the level of destruction this thing causes."
"I've seen those pictures myself and I think we can all agree that this is a weapon that no one should have," Scarlet said. She looked as if she had more to say, but she and Amy both jumped out of their skins at the loud roar of a tank firing.
"With that, we are out of time," Garcia said hastily, having to shout over the sound of gun fire. "We will leave this camera here with a live feed on the website, but we need to clear out. Let's go, everyone! If it's heavy, leave it!"
The news crew turned the feed back to Soar and the eagle had to regain his composure quickly. He knew this was going to be big, but Garcia had really outdone herself this time. He cleared his throat. "I think it's pretty clear who is on the right side of this conflict, though it is a little surprising to see Shadow the Hedgehog on the side of altruism. Sonic the Hedgehog may have been correct in his assessment of his darker counterpart. For those of you in Station Square, I'm happy to reassure you that we are nowhere near the conflict, and for anyone who is, we're posting a map with roads that are safe to use now and sending assistance for immediate evac. We will do our best to keep you posted on further developments!"