A loud groan comes from the stirring, now-conscious black hedgehog. Moving, even just a little, exhausts his aching body. To measure how overboard he went, Shadow would recount how many chaos attacks he conjured, but recalling each one is near impossible. So by that logic, obviously too many.
"It seems the roles are reserved, huh?" A familiar feminine voice comments off to the hedgehog's side.
It dawns on Shadow that he awoke in the same empty, blank storage room he and Rouge spoke in earlier. He lies on the silver table she was propped on while she slept her battle damage off. And of course, leaning on the doorway is that same spy, her comment of this moment being an inverse of the conversation they had earlier ringing true.
"I thought you said that was creepy," Shadow questions, managing to sit up. His bruised legs dangle above the floor.
"Only when you do it," she teases. "You're scary."
"Please, as if anything frightens you."
The ebony hedgehog's recollection of the vague memory before his black-out is of the grab for the emerald and the blinding white light that proceeded it. Everything else is a blur. He looks up at Rouge, hoping she can clear things up.
"What happened?" he asks plainly.
"You happened. That chaos blast you summoned nearly wiped Omega off the face of the Earth. I'm surprised you don't remember."
Despite his attempt to visualize this attack, the hedgehog draws blanks. Either way, what Rouge is saying has to be true. His strained muscles are proof enough.
"After that, we picked you up and took you back to the Egg Carrier," Rouge continues. "Thanks to you, the ZomBots weren't much of a problem."
That one word shifts Shadow's focus entirely. He thinks back to the horrendous, permanently enslaved Mobians down in the cursed city. The countless infected civilians with past lives... the children... all shells of their former selves. He snaps his head in Rouge's direction.
"The emerald-?!"
"Don't worry," Rouge holds up her hand reassuringly. "We did our job. Eggy has it now."
Delivering the news of yet another "job well done' visibly leaves the bat disappointed. And for once, she's not alone. The Mobian child he took the head off of flashes in Shadow's mind.
"Rouge... I've been a fool."
"Oh?" she grins. "Well, there IS a reason I'm the brains of this outfit."
"Be serious," Shadow tells her, managing to get to his two feet and maintain a stand. "Eggman's rein won't give me what I'm looking for. I'm sure nothing will. But that's not what's important. We can't let him succeed."
Rouge's grin fades. She walks deeper into the room, the door sliding shut behind her. Once she gets close enough to her teammate, she holds out her hand. Smiling, Shadow grips it.
"Together, we can stop him," she says. "He's relocated the safe, but I can find those emeralds in no time. And hopefully the rest of my pay," she winks.
"Don't bother," Shadow replies, pulling away his hand.
Rouge crosses her arms.
"Look, Shadow, I get saving the world is important, but a gal needs her jewels."
"That's not what I meant," Shadow clarifies. "The Doctor always has a trick up his sleeve. He's likely anticipated a possible mutiny. If we attack him, or he figures out we're hunting his emerald stash, we'll be trapped here with hundreds of SwatBots and badniks targeting us. I don't know about you, but I'm in no shape to fight."
The ultimate lifeform grits his teeth. Admitting as much wasn't ideal, but it's the truth. Right now, he's struggling to manage a walk.
"Well, there has to be something we can do," Rouge protests.
"There is," Shadow responds, placing a hand on his sour torso. "We do one last job. We go to this last location, find the emerald, and take it somewhere neither he nor his army will ever find it."
"We'll be hunted for the rest of our lives," Rouge points out, smirking. "Sounds exciting."
"I CONCUR."
Both of the Mobians jump at the sound of E-123 Omega's voice. Somehow, neither of them noticed the hulking machine standing at the open doorway. He marches into the room, stopping before his two teammates.
"Omega!" Rouge gasps, surprised one of Eggman's own creations isn't unleashing a hail of bullets after overhearing the plan to overthrow its master. "Are you... in?"
"AFFIRMATIVE."
"Why-?"
Shadow only gets out the first word before the robot interrupts.
"THAT UNGRATEFUL, GOOD-FOR-NOTHING FLESHING HAS OVERLOOKED MY REMARKABLE VALUE FOR FAR TOO LONG." He snaps. "THIS LOPSIDED RELATIONSHIP IS OVER. I AM PUTTING IN MORE THAN I AM RECEIVING."
"Huh," says Rouge, a little baffled by the unit's outburst. "In that case, whaddya say, boys? Is Team Dark due one last victory?"
"ABSOLUTELY," E-123 Omega answers, raising a fist in the air.
"It will be our greatest yet," Shadow nods, a confident grin on his face.
...