Not even the most extensive and grueling training sessions with the Commander have gotten the ultimate lifeform to the point of exhaustion he's in now. It's taken more chaos attacks in the past few minutes than he's conjured in the last year to keep the unrelenting horde of ZomBots from touching distance.

Deep within the weary hedgehog's mind, he knows he is truly not in any real danger. At any moment he can just turn around and speed right up the building behind him, reaching a safe place to rest in no time. Yet, he doesn't move. Not a single ounce of him feels compelled to flee.

"I don't run..." he assures himself calmly, revving up another chaos spear in his right palm before he throws it into the crowd.

The beam of sizzling chaos energy burns a hole through four of the ZomBots' torsos. It does little to slow them down. None of them even acknowledge the blow. His attacks are getting weaker.

Sweat runs down Shadow's brow, damping his fur as he charges yet another attack. He would opt for a more effective chaos blast, but he simply lacks the strength to produce one. He can barely stand as it is.

From the horde, something launches at him. Trained instinct alone is what saves the black hedgehog as he speeds back, out of the way of a ZomBot who lunges from the left side of the surrounding foes, smashing against its fellow infectees. The ZomBot was a small, Mobian coyote. A child no older than five. The sight of him is enough to refuel Shadow's anger. He clenches his teeth with enough pressure to shatter them as yellow energy materializes in his right hand.

"CHAOS SPE- ARGH!"

Shadow drops to his knees- the yellow energy disappearing completely. His head looks up at a towering silver, Mobian Cow whose hand is mere centimeters from making fatal contact with his forehead.

An explosion interrupts the ZomBot's death grab, leaving the infected Mobian no more than a severed hand on the street which immediately begins reforming. The pressure of the blast caused Shadow to fly back into the wall of a comic shop, leaving a painful hedgehog-shaped indention in the wall. Once the smoke of the explosion fades, it doesn't take long for Shadow to locate its obvious source. Who else?

E-123 Omega descends from the sky, landing in between Shadow and the wall of ZomBots who all pay the robot no mind. At best, they seem to recognize him as a barrier- similar to that of a wall or fence. Their small mental capacity likely lacks the means to differentiate a sentient robot from any other form of non-organic matter. Such indifference does little to detour them from attempting to reach their victim.

"APOLOGIES THAT MY LACK OF WARNING CAUSED YOU TO HAVE TO ENDURE MY MIGHTY ATTACK," E-123 Omega comments as his two arms transform into parallel Gatling guns. "THEN AGAIN, IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOUR FOOLISH, FLESHING INTUITION, YOU WOULDN'T BE IN THIS MESS."

The amount of bullets that leave the robot's barrels goes from the tens to the hundreds in a matter of seconds. The newly formed holes in the surrounding ZomBots start making them more closely resemble Swiss cheese, however, the ones who aren't currently being doused with gunfire resume their march.

"What are you doing here?" asks Shadow coldly, getting to his feet.

"Saving you of course," Rouge's voice answers from above.

Shadow eyes her as the smiling bat lands on the ground softly, in the center of both of her companions. Her dark violet wings recede to her back as she turns to Shadow, holding up a dazzling yellow chaos emerald.

"Now that we've got what we came here for, I think it's time to leave, don't you?" Rouge asks.

"Leave me be," Shadow dismisses, struggling to continue standing. "I didn't ask for your help."

"But you clearly needed it."

Both teammates raise their voices slightly so as to not be drowned out by their metal companion's blazing gunfire.

"What are you doing, Shadow?" Rouge asks, finally deciding to cut to the chase. "I took you for the calculating type. And yet, this is easily the most reckless thing I've seen anyone do. And for what? Cheap thrills? Target practice?"

"I SAID GO!" Shadow screams, dropping to one knee. "This doesn't concern you! Leave before you get infected!!"

"We're not leaving without you, Shadow," Rouge crosses her arms. "Whether you like it or not."

"Why do you care...?"

The weakened hedgehog pounds the concrete sidewalk in frustration, unable to fully stand. While Omega has been successfully keeping the ZomBots at bay, he can only shoot so many at a time. It's only a matter of seconds before they fully close in.

Something soft touches Shadow's right shoulder, making him jolt. At first, he assumes it belongs to the hand of a ZomBot who got lucky and managed to reach him faster than anticipated. Not a single part of him is scared upon the realization. He accepts it. He doesn't fear it. But it's not. The hand belongs to Rouge who kneels beside him, staring into his crimson-red eyes.

"I meant what I said last night, Shadow," she admits. "Maybe not all of it, but one thing remains true. Kids with bad luck don't get homes. Kids with bad luck don't get friends or even family. And sometimes that bad luck carries into adulthood, forever trapping someone in a life without people to rely on. People to care about. But sometimes... it doesn't."

Shadow closes his eyes, his breaths becoming heavy.

"I'm just a weapon," Shadow says. "A gun. Someone points me in whatever direction they desire and they pull the trigger. I thought if Eggman was the one pulling it, he'd do so in the direction of the ones responsible for Maria's death. But he's not. No, he's aiming for the world she loved. The people she belonged to. I... I was too blind- too foolish to care. But what else is there? What's... what's the point?"

"Whatever you make it," Rouge answers, meeting Shadow's gaze with a comforting smile. "Live the life she wanted you to, Shadow. You're not a weapon. You're whatever you want to be. Don't let the past control you."

"DIE YOU PITIFUL IMITATIONS OF METALLIC SUPREMACY."

Rouge looks ahead at E-123 Omega and her eyes widen in surprise. The ZomBots are climbing over his body. Despite his blinding efforts to knock as many as he can off, the android is overrun and gets trampled by the stampede of aggressive infected.

Her eyes would remain fixed on the approaching doom if not for the increasing glow of the bright yellow gem held in her hands. She looks down at it, bewildered by its odd behavior. Then, as if it has a mind of its own, it flies free of her fingers and ends up in Shadow's palm, who has now fully risen.

A red aura surrounds him as he grips the emerald harder. He calmly walks ahead of Rouge, his eyes shut.

"SHADOW!" Rouge yells, thinking the hedgehog has embraced death. "DON'T-!"

His eyes open. Their crimson color shines as bright as the emerald itself, nearly casting a light of their own. He holds the gem toward the approaching ZomBots, unfazed.

"CHAOS... BLAAAAAAAAAST!"

The roar of the chaos attack is nearly deafening, drowning out all other sounds in its wake. A blinding, yellow beam as wide as a tanker erupts from the hedgehog's palm, obliterating everything caught in its uncontested power. Rouge stares in awe, her mouth slightly agape.

I didn't know he was capable of something to this magnitude... did GUN?

Once the beam dies out, what's left are puddles of liquid metal. If there weren't up to fifteen ZomBots crawling over E-123 Omega's body, the robot's burn marks and rusted paint would be nothing compared to its condition otherwise. Unsure of what just happened, Omega rises up, and takes a good look at the destruction. A clinic and a food market lined across from where the team stands currently lie in ruin, making the other abandoned buildings look as if they were freshly renovated. He turns around, looking at Rouge and Shadow.

"I COULD HAVE DONE THAT."

Right as the robot finishes his sentence, Shadow falls forward and collapses to the ground. Rouge rushes over to him, worried for his health. Such an attack had to have drained someone even of his power. After placing two fingers on his neck and feeling a pulse, the bat takes a relieved sigh and turns to Omega.

"I've got him. You get the chaos emerald. It's only a matter of time before they reform."

She nods her head to the puddles all around them. On both sides of the street, crowds of ZomBots continue after their prey.

"Let's get out of here."

...