It should have been a simple job- reports had surfaced within GUN about an abandoned base that showed signs of activity. Recon took top priority, only engaging if necessary. Allocating resources was hard enough, and with the military organization and resistance stretched thin dealing with a rising number of Badnik raids... a full-out attack wasn't feasible without a justifiable cause.

The idea of it being a trap had never crossed their minds. It wasn't completely rare for the Doctor or his lackeys to revisit an old base to collect discarded resources, or mobilize a platoon of robots he had left abandoned- even if only to recycle their materials.

It wasn't long after they had begun their surveillance that they had been ambushed by what seemed like endless droves of attack drones that burst forth out of the ground behind them. They practically covered the terrain, the night sky made darker by the sheer number of flying enemies rushing at them. The overwhelming pressure pushed them towards the base, where another armada of drones closed off all chances of escape.

Individually, they would have been no match- but their endurance was ever-so-surely waning as the fight went on. Omega had run out of ammo, resorting to crushing the robotic pests with his clawed fists as his opponents rammed and shot at him. Rouge found herself getting hit almost every time she launched a kick or jab at the hornet-like automatons buzzing around them, something she was getting very vocally annoyed by. Her quips were slowly becoming less frequent, replaced by the audible grunting and hissing as more and more strikes made their mark on her.

Shadow himself wasn't faring much better, his spin dashes and homing attacks constantly grinding against metal in a way that made it difficult to keep up his momentum. True to his namesake as the Ultimate Lifeform, he had barely sustained any injuries. But he couldn't help hearing the clanging of metal and stifled cries of pain coming from his comrades. His eyes constantly darted to the inhibitors around his wrists, and back to the raving masses of robots still moving about. It was certainly possible that he had enough energy in his reserves to annihilate the rest of these Badniks, but... even if that were the case, there was obviously something going on here. It seemed like almost too perfect a solution, especially given his inability to perform the same move once the robots had been cleared out. At the very least, he had a chaos emerald on him as a last resort- he would have liked to simply warp him and his team members away, but that simply wasn't possible. They were too far apart and too busy fighting their own battles

His ears twitched as he heard a loud yelp, turning around to see the white bat get slapped out of the sky and plummeting to the ground. His hesitation immediately subsided, and with a righteous fury he discarded the ring-like cuffs that wrapped around his wrists. Watching as waves of red chaos energy began exuding from his limbs. Almost immediately the entire armada of small-time Badniks rushed to him, obscuring everything in a torrent of grinding metal and explosions. At first, it seemed no amount of chaos energy spears and blasts would do the trick, but thankfully the onslaught began to subside just as his powers began to wane. With a final heave he whipped out the emerald, calling upon its powers to initiate a chaos blast to take care of the robots that remained.

When the dust cleared, he was face-to-face with the Doctor, his unconscious friends held captive.

"Make your next move wisely, Shadow." Eggman taunted, his grin spanning ear-to-ear. "Your friends' lives depend on it."

The black and red hedgehog gritted his teeth, fists clenching so hard that it felt like his fingers were going to tear through the fabric of his gloves.

"I should have known something was off." He seethed, his rage building with every word. "You wanted to wear us down."

Klagens. No one had expected their return- the mad Doctor was loathe to reuse his previous inventions unless he deemed it necessary. Yet here they stood, the two jellyfish-like robots quietly floating next to his Eggmobile, their waving tendrils moving back and forth as they maintained the stasis field keeping his team members captive.

Rouge and Omega looked worse for the wear, covered with scuffs and dents respectively.

"Just so you're aware, hedgehogΒΈ I've made some slight modifications to my Klagens since you last saw them." Eggman proudly proclaimed haughtily, twirling the tips of his moustache. "They can now modify the form the stasis field takes instantaneously!"

"...Meaning?" Shadow impatiently grunted out.

Eggman's smile faded, his tone flattening to one of complete and utter seriousness as he stared down his former ally.

"Meaning if you so much as move a millimeter, the rest of your team will find themselves compressed into a space far smaller than the size of their bodies. Your merry band of thieves will become little more than scrap metal and a rather disgusting pile of bio-organic paste."

Shadow was unable to hide the streak of fear that ran through his mind. The mad Doctor was undoubtedly able to come through on his threats, that much was true. His body burned with anger, his fingers twitching to expel the energy racing through his body as he tried to think of anything he could do to remedy this situation.

His eyes scanned the field of destroyed robot shells and broken electronics. He had no backup- even if he was able to call them, no one could get there in time. Even Sonic...

He shook his head, knowing nothing he could do would remedy this situation. He was completely at Eggman's mercy, a fact that felt like a hot knife piercing his gut. And yet the Doctor remained, patiently staring at him expectantly. It didn't take long for the implication to become clear.

"What do you want?" The hedgehog asked, doing his best to remain stoic despite the raging whirlwind of emotions rushing through his body.

"At last, the Ultimate Lifeform understands that he's in a hostage negotiation." He snidely remarked, clasping his hands. "Is it not obvious? Hand over the chaos emerald."

Shadow reached into his quills, producing the glowing green gem once more. He barely cast it a second glance before tossing it at the Doctor. A retractable claw sprung out of the Eggmobile, snatching the gem from out of the air and placing it delicately in the mad scientist's waiting hand.

"You got what you wanted- now let them go." The hedgehog insisted, glowering at his adversary.

He felt his insides run ice-cold as Eggman's grin returned to his face, abundantly overflowing with malice.

"Now, why would I do that?" He jeered, his grip on the emerald tightening. "I never said that I would, and as far as I'm concerned you just handed me this as a nice gift!"

Without even thinking, Shadow's air shoes revved up, a roar escaping his throat as he leaned forward. "You bastard-"

His rage was immediately quelled again as a metallic shriek pierced the air. The hedgehog's crimson eyes snapped to the source of the noise, the pit in his stomach growing once more.

The entire bottom half of Omega's chassis had been crumpled inward like a wad of paper.

"Don't waste my time with meaningless threats. This will be your only warning, Shadow." Eggman tilted his head up, his superiority in this situation pressing down on Shadow like a heavy weight. "Consider this a form of insurance on my part. GUN can flail about all they want; without you they are completely useless. Now, I want you to tell that blue rodent and all his friends... if any of you come after me again, I will not hesitate to finish the job. Understand?"

Shadow slammed his eyes shut, tilting his head down and away from the Doctor.

"I'll take your silence as an agreement. I hope, for their sakes, that you see it the same way." Eggman grinned, slamming his hand down on the controls of his floating vehicle. The Eggmobile rushed upwards with impressive speed, taking the Klagens and the rest of Team Dark with it.

The moment the mad Doctor was out of sight, Shadow felt his legs completely give out from under him. He clutched at his chest, his heart beating wildly as his knees crunched against the rocky ground. His body trembled with fear, thoughts racing through his head as the full weight of the situation bore down on him. His lungs refused to listen to his commands to regulate his breathing, drawing irregular ragged breaths.

"Fuck... FUCK!" He slammed his fists on the ground, his brain running in circles but giving him no solutions to the situation at hand.

His heart jumped again as Eggman's directive crossed his mind again.

Sonic...

He shook his head again, anxiety clawing up the insides of his ribcage.

There was a significant chance that blue idiot was working on his own plans to stop Eggman. There was no time to waste.

The Ultimate Lifeform shoved himself unceremoniously back onto his feet. There was no time to report back to GUN, making sure his friends were safe was imperative.

He heard the clattering of metal debris as the shattered bodies of the defeated Badniks were blown away by the force of his air shoes. Within seconds the base had disappeared beyond the horizon, the landscape rapidly shifting around him as he made a beeline to his destination, desperately hoping that Sonic was not on one of his impromptu jogs on the other side of the planet.

Sonic had been subjected to his fair share of rude awakenings. Being a globe-spanning hero and all, there had been more than a handful of times that he was pulled out of bed by his two-tailed brother in the middle of the night to take care of an impromptu Badnik raid. He wasn't exactly used to it, but he had grown accustomed to dispelling the initial rush of adrenaline and jumping into his shoes when needed.

Most of his nighttime emergencies didn't come in the form of a frantic pounding at his front door, with a force so strong he could the house jitter from the impacts. His eyes shot open as he scrambled out of bet, practically slapping the shoes onto his feet as he flew out of his bedroom and into the main hallway. He paused for a moment, ears twitching as the door next to him clicked open- a disheveled and drowsy Tails peeking out towards his brother.

"Sonic, what's going on?"

"No clue-"

"SONIC! Are you in there?!" Came a frantic cry from beyond the front door, the voice instantly recognizable.

"Is that... Shadow?" Tails rubbed his eyes, his sleepiness quickly fading.

"That sounds like him, but..." The blue hedgehog hesitated. He'd never heard his rival sound so desperate. Something was very wrong.

"Is anyone in there?! Someone answer me!" Shadow's voice boomed into the domicile.

"You stay here, Tails." Sonic calmly stated, gulping as an unsettling feeling rose in his stomach. "I'll go see what he's upset about."

He paused for a moment, shaking his head as he quickly made his way to the front door. He took a deep breath, before undoing the locks on the door. He threw the door open, putting on a cheery smile as he leaned against the doorframe.

"Heya, Shads! It's a little bit of an odd time for a race-"

The words died in his throat as he took in the visage before him. The black and red hedgehog looked like a complete wreck- bits of metal sticking out of his quills and covered in dust as he couldn't keep himself from shaking. At the very least, it seems that there was some kind of relief upon seeing the person he was calling out for, even if it was quickly washed away by the other emotions he was barely able to handle.

"Sonic..." He choked out, his voice severely diminished from the prior yelling. "I... I fucked up."

The moment those words reached the blue hedgehog's ears, he immediately jumped to action.

"It's okay, buddy." Sonic calmly stated, moving aside to let his rival inside. "How about you take a seat on the couch, and we'll talk about it. Okay?"

The hero's ears twitched as he picked up the faint sound of ceramics clinking against each other in the kitchen. Tails was quick to pick up on the situation as well.

Shadow initially seemed hesitant to enter his rival's house, but he didn't put up much of a fight. He slumped past the blue hedgehog, stopping awkwardly in the middle of the living room.

"I... don't know if I can sit down right now." He quietly admitted, hands slowly clenching and unclenching themselves.

"That's okay. Whatever makes you feel more comfortable." He paused for a moment, chuckling. "If I knew you were finally going to visit, I'd have cleaned up the place a little bit."

Sonic watched as the other hedgehog almost gave the tiniest of flinches from the remark, clearly not taking it well. He felt a pang of guilt reverberate in his head from the poor reaction. He thought to apologize, but... that might backfire too.

Luckily, Tails quickly made his presence known, stepping into the living room holding some mugs, steam slowly wafting from their rims.

"I brought you something to drink. I heard you preferred tea, so... here." The fox held one of the mugs out, waiting for Shadow to take it.

The hybrid stared blankly at the drink for a moment, before slowly taking it from the young genius. "...Thanks."

"Not a problem." Tails smiled back, before handing the extra mug still in his possession to his brother.

"I've never seen you this worked up before, Shads." Sonic began, watching as his rival's grip on the mug tightened. "Anything we can do to help?"

"I..." he trailed off, taking a deep breath to steel himself. "Eggman took Rouge and Omega hostage."

"WHAT?!" The two heroes cried in unison.

Their shock caused another wave of humiliation to surge through Shadow. As it all set in, it became even more clear to him how much of his team's predicament rested on his shoulders. He could barely muster the effort to even talk about it now... and it was clear from their reaction that it was only going to get worse.

"I tried to exchange them for a chaos emerald, but... I was a fool. He's got that too. He told me to tell you that... if any of us try to attack him, he'd..."

The hybrid felt his voice falter as he unsuccessfully tried to force the last of his words out. He glanced up at the people he was talking to, dread filling his stomach as he tried to ascertain their reaction.

They were both dumbfounded from the revelation. It certainly wasn't out of character for the evil genius, and he would most certainly follow through on his threats.

"That's... I can't imagine, Shadow." Sonic finally replied, looking back to his rival with a sympathetic glance. "We're going to make sure they come home safe and sound. Isn't that right, Tails?"

The two-tailed fox placed his hand against his mouth, eyes darting back and forth as he tried to work out the situation in his head.

"Yeah..." He trailed off, voice slightly muffled. "Listen, Shadow, I know you probably don't want to hear this, but we shouldn't rush in without a plan."

"...I know."

"There's at least one silver lining; the fact that he's using them as hostages means he probably won't harm them. He wouldn't have any leverage if he did." Tails offered. "Also... I don't think he's going to start a fight anytime soon."

Sonic gave the fox a puzzled look. "Not sure I'm really following you there."

"Sorry, it's just... knowing him, I feel it's far more likely that he's planning something and needs time to work on it- and this is how he's making sure we don't get in the way."

"I see what you mean. It's got me a little concerned if that's the case."

"Yeah..." Tails trailed off, looking back at Shadow. He was clearly not taking it well, and unfortunately it didn't seem like it would be getting better any time soon. "I know it's not ideal, but... I don't think we're going to be able to act any time soon. There's a lot of work that needs doing, but we have some time on our side as well."

The blue hedgehog nodded at the suggestion before chiming in. "I think for now we should get some rest. We have a lot of work ahead of us. Don't worry about telling the others, I'll let them know to steer clear of Eggman for now. Do you want to crash here tonight?"

Shadow remained silent for a moment, considering the proposition. He eventually shook his head.

"No. I'll try to rest at my own place."

"Not a problem. If you ever need it, our door is open." Sonic reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Tails, go ahead and go on to bed, I'll see Shads out."

Tails nodded. "I'll get to work first thing in the morning. Shadow... we're going to get them back."

The two watched as the fox disappeared down the hallway, out of sight.

A quiet chuckle came from Sonic's throat, catching the attention of the hybrid.

"I'd claim he got that from me, but that's just who he is." Sonic remarked, a sense of pride in his voice. "I don't know what I'd do if he was in trouble. Probably be in the same boat as you."

"...Probably." Shadow muttered in agreement. It felt like his nerves were finally calming down, though it brought in a wave of fatigue with it. "I should leave."

The blue hedgehog nodded, walking over to the door and opening it for his counterpart. Shadow quietly sauntered back outside, only to be stopped by the hero sheepishly calling back to him.

"Ah, Shadow... the mug?"

The hybrid blinked in confusion, before he realized he was still holding onto the tea that Tails had given him. He held it out for Sonic, who took it gracefully.

"I... didn't drink any of it." He noted, a hint of guilt in his voice.

Sonic merely chuckled in response as he tossed the contents out onto the grass. "Ah, don't worry about it, I don't think any of us actually did."

The two stood in silence, neither sure how to exactly end the conversation. Eventually Sonic spoke up again.

"I'm glad to see you're still okay, aside from all the... robot guts on your head. Tails is probably going to have some stuff ready for you by tomorrow afternoon. Are you gonna be able to stop by at that time?"

"Probably..." He sighed, "I still need to report all this to the commander."

"Don't let me keep you then. I'm sure GUN will probably want to throw their hat in the ring, too. I'll talk to you later."

Shadow nodded, his air boots kicking into gear.

Sonic began to close the door, stopping for just a moment to get a final word in.

"Hey, I know we've had the whole 'rival' thing going, but if you ever need a helping hand, I'll always be there for you. I hope you know that."

"I do." Shadow replied, "and... Thanks."

"Anytime, Shads."

As soon as the door closed, the black and red hedgehog raced off, moving quickly in and out of the grassy hills towards Westopolis and the GUN headquarters. It wasn't long before the rolling hills started flattening out, transitioning to grassy plains as skyscrapers rose out of the horizon and loomed higher and higher as he neared the city.

While most of his panic and emotional turmoil had been calmed, there was still a nagging feeling that remained in his heart. He skidded to a stop at a small grassy patch just on the outskirts of the city, taking a moment to just... stand there and stare at his hands.

Sonic was right. Aside from the debris on him, he basically got out of that battle without a scratch. Meanwhile, Rouge and Omega...

Shadow was supposed to be the Ultimate Lifeform. He was made to take the heaviest of beatings and dish it right back out. He was designed to not get hurt.

But if that's the case, then... why is it so upsetting to him?

A/N: Hey everyone! I've been writing for a while and I was recommended to post my stuff here. I hope you all enjoy! I'll try to release regular updates here on this site.

Please let me know what you think! I'm looking forward to reading your replies.