"Be careful with that bomb."

It was not the first time Shadow had spoken that sentence. In fact, he had stated it many times. His mouth could not keep from blurting the same even-toned words as he stood, arms crossed and eyes squinting as he observed the situation.

Admittedly, Shadow was a little nervous with the idea of his teammate diffusing an active explosive. There was plenty of room for error, considering the ebony hedgehog himself was the most optimal choice to do such a delicate task. Omega, to be blunt, did not have the most graceful touch out of the team. That title actually fell to Rouge; who, by request of her less destructible partners, flew safely above the area with a diagnostic screen and a loaded rifle. It had taken many cross words and logical reasoning to convince the bat to take flight to a standard 90 pace altitude. Once she swallowed her pride and flapped her powerful wings, she found she could focus much better from a distance - watching the numbers on the screen tick down in steady one second measurements.

"I am extremely careful." Omega beeped, gears whirring and pistons hissing as he held the active explosive in his hands.

Team Dark was not a designated bomb squad. As a matter of fact, Team Dark took the title "bomb squad" in the opposite direction. The GUN agents had set more bombs and hotwired more electronics than any other team in the special forces. It was by their sheer efficiency and oddball strategy that the ragtag team of misfit creatures climbed their way up the ranks - becoming underground legends while remaining almost unknown to the general public.

It was this trust that GUN held that led them to their current situation. Under a mountain bridge. In a relatively uninhabited area. With an Eggman explosive.

"Are you sure you don't want me to defuse it?" Shadow sighed, throwing his hands over his eyes. "You're running out of time and your claws aren't exactly built for delicate work.

"You are made of flesh and meat." Omega monotonously retorted. "I am the least likely to sustain damage."

"We both know that's not tr-"

"What are you two edgelords doing down there?" Rouge's irritable voice crackled, sounding from the speaker in Shadow's wristband in distorted waves. "You better not be playing dress-up with that thing; it almost killed the President."

"We are not playing-"

"Rouge, we have this under control." Shadow responded, shooting a dirty look at the airborne agent above as he spoke into his communicator. "Omega is refusing to let me quickly dispose of it."

"Well one of you needs to swallow your pride and get it over with." Rouge snapped, posture and face indistinguishable from the vast distance. "We have less than five minutes to defuse this thing."

Shadow threw his head back, driving his palms into his eyes sockets with a muffled groan. If only Omega would let him take the stupid thing. The E-series robot was far more equipped to be detonating explosives, not diffusing them. It was sheer, miserable bad luck that Team Dark was the most qualified squad in the vicinity to even handle the bomb. There was no time to even get an actual team to properly diffuse the wretched thing.

"There seems to be an issue." Omega whirred, spinning his head one hundred and eighty degrees to look at his hedgehog partner.

"What is it?" Shadow frowned, bringing his hands down and crossing his arms in an irritated huff.

"This explosive was not designed to be disengaged." Omega responded. "And has attached itself to my hand."

Before Omega even finished his sentence, the robot had swiveled his torso around. Shadow could only fluff his fur and extend his arms as he observed the situation at hand. True to his teammate's word, the bomb currently drilled its way into the hard metallic shell of Omega's left claw. Sparks and grinding shrieks filled the air as it burrowed deeper into the hull, beeping at a faster rate than before.

"You set it off?" Shadow shouted, bolting to the robot's hand at top speed and scratching his claws against the explosive in an attempt to remove it.

"It was equipped with a sensor." Omega responded. "It is fulfilling its designed task."

"In your hand!" Shadow growled, climbing up to the robot's shoulder and attempting to remove the arm from its body. "Omega! Disengage arm clamps!"

"Negative." The robot spoke. "My systems have been intercepted."

"Override!"

"Unable to process, please state command code."

" 2!"

"Unable to process, please state access code."

" -"

"Shadow!" Rouge crackled, communicator hopping to life at the sound of her voice. "What's going on? The timer started counting down faster!"

"Unrecognized command, please state access co-"

"Override Delta - 0 5!"

Shadow pulled at the arm, claws screeching against the metal as his hands ignited with chaos energy. Heat exploded from his palms as he gripped the tungsten frame - pulling and pulling against the mechanical hold of the gears and gyros.

"Override denied. Please exit the premises, Shadow."

"Negative! Disengage arm clamp 231!"

"Unable to Comply, please evacuate the premises."

Shadow clamped his hands to the robot's shoulder plate - swinging his body around and slamming his activated air shoes directly into the left arm rod. Flames and heat burning at the metal, Shadow continued. Blow after blow after blow rung through the air as the desperate hedgehog attempted to manually remove Omega's arm. There was no room for error. There was no time for games. Remove the arm. Remove the bomb.

"Disengage arm clam- 231!"

"Unable to comply."

"Omega! Disengage!"

"Please evacuate the premises."

"I'm not leaving! Disengage!"

"Unable to comply. Please evacuate the premises."

"Not without you!"

"Shadow the timer is very close, what's going on down there?"

"Omega! Disengage!"

"Unable to co-"

"I don't care! Disengage!"

"Please evacuate the-"

"Omega disen-"

White.

All Shadow saw…and felt…was white. For a moment, he thought he was dead. Pure illuminance and indescribable airiness greeted his consciousness and bathed his body while he existed, suspended in a void of colorless bright. His body floated - carried in a smooth sweep of motion and momentum. Was…was he dead?

The harsh bite of concrete enveloped his back as the ebony hedgehog slammed against the bridge support. Bits of rock and debris sprayed through the air as the hedgehog screamed out, pain singing at his nerves while the concrete structure began to crumble. Blocks of wire and asphalt rained from above as the agent hit the ground, bridge tumbling down on top of him as the indescribably loud bang of the explosion rang in his ebony ears. Shadow could only watch - eyes half-blinded by the bright flash as the structure collapsed - pinning him under flaming rock and metal.

"Shadow!"

The call was very faint, only barely audible against the unbearably loud screeching and ringing of his ears. Shadow groaned, reacting to the pain of his eardrums knitting themselves together with a strained grimace. His breathing faltered, lungs twitching and diaphragm leaping as beams of steel pinned against his back. Hissing, the hedgehog clawed at the ground, trying and failing to pull his body forward under the heap of rock and ash.

"Shadow!"

Rouge. She was much louder this time. Through the cracks between the rubble and through the haze of smoke, the agent could barely make out her form, flitting about in midair as she called and called his name. Shadow let out a strained gasp, wincing and whining as the beam dug further and further into his back. Smoke and gas filled his nose as fires spread, leaping across stone and steel alike. Head pounding, the hedgehog hissed, feeling his ribs begin to bend from the sheer pressure of the metal spike pressing down on his body. Huffing and panting, Shadow looked around. Nothing but rock and wire greeted his burning eyes as he pulled and pulled against the pinning beam. He was trapped, which meant he needed to use other means to get out of this predicament.

"C-chaos control." He coughed, body flashing blue as he imagined the location he needed to go.

"Shadow!" Rouge cried, catching the agent as he appeared in front of her in a blink. For a second she held him, arms wrapped under his shoulders as he fell forwards, coughing and hacking as his lungs re-pressurized.

"Omega…" Shadow groaned, stumbling out of the bat's firm grasp and back into the field of debris. Anxiously he whipped his head around, red eyes darting left and right for any sign of his teammate. Roaring flames and hissing smoke billowed out of the piles of rubble, blocking any view of a potentially intact robot.

"Omega!" Shadow called, cupping his hands over his mouth in an attempt to boost his voice.

When there was no response, the ebony agent only ran further in - body growing stronger and ears growing sharper under intense healing speed. That robot had to be somewhere. There couldn't be no trace of him. Sure, he was at the epicenter of the explosion, but he was made by Dr. Robotnik himself. Eggman made his robots to withstand the full fighting force of Sonic the Hedgehog! Surely a bridge wouldn't be too big of a deal.

"Omega!" Shadow called, clambering atop a rather large piece of concrete. "Activat E!"

A faint beeping caught the agent's sharp ears. Hurriedly, the ebony hedgehog twitched himself about - trying and trying to find the source of the small noise. It had to be somewhere… it had to be…

A flash of yellow paint caught his ruby eyes, glistening in the firelight like an eye on a winter night.

"Shadow?" Rouge coughed, covering her muzzle with her arm and running to his side. "There's toxic fumes, we have to leave!"

"Go on without me." Shadow ordered, turning to look her in the eyes with a deadpan glare. "I can survive the fumes, just get yourself to safety."

"No way Shadow!" She hacked, seizing his hand and pulling him backwards. "It's too dangerous!"

"I can't leave him - go on - get out of here!"

Without waiting to hear an answer, Shadow broke free of his friend's iron grasp and leapt through a wall of flame - eyes tracked on the yellow paint with brutal accuracy. Almost tripping over grids of iron, the agent pressed on. Angrily, the flames roared at the ebony agent - lashing their tongues and licking at his dense fur. Unwilling to back down, Shadow pressed on - hopping beams of metal and dodging falling debris. He had to reach Omega. He had to find his friend.

Falling atop a pile of stone, Shadow reached for the metal object - finding it covered in rock and rubble. As if he were possessed, the hedgehog clawed at the debris around the painted object; unearthing heaps of gravel and wire until the robot's face was uncovered. Not caring about how heavily he breathed, Shadow kicked away a flaming wire- praying the burning fuel did not stay on his rapidly heating metal skates. Clearing the last chunks of concrete out of the robotic face, the hedgehog felt his heart drop.

"Omega!" Shadow coughed, shielding his eyes from a burst of flame. "System diagnostic!"

Slowly, the LED eyes blinked to life, flickering faintly under intense damage.

"System…running….war-r-r-r-r-ning….operations critical….error…error…"

"Omega…" Shadow wheezed, wiping his eyes of smoke. "I'm gonna get you out of here…"

"Negative."

"What?"

"Damage to this unit is ir-r-r-r-r-reparable. Fatal system error-error will occur within five minutes."

"No..no there's always a way." Shadow coughed, refusing to believe that his friend would die under these circumstances. "I'm going to get you ou-"

"Please remove power source." The robot requested.

"What?" Shadow almost yelled, eyes snapping to look the robot in its glowing optical sensors. "Are you crazy? That will kill you!"

"Nega-g-g-g-gative."

"What do you mean 'negative'?" Shadow snapped, grabbing the yellow painted head with claws drawn. "That's your life source… your beating heart - you can't ask me to do that to you!"

"You will have to trust me, Shadow." Omega beeped, speakers crackling from heat damage. "Th-th-th-there's not much time."

Slowly, the ebony hedgehog moved his stained gloves to a seam under the robot's head. With twitching fingers, he lingered - eyes quivering and breath shaking as he contemplated his next move. Should he do this?

"I-i can't." Shadow balked, pulling his hands away from the metal seam with trembling arms. "There's got to be another way."

"Please remov-v-v-e power source."

"No Omega." Shadow snapped. "I'm not going to assist your suicide dangit."

"You misunderstand." Omega stated. "If you wish to sav-v-v-v-e my life you must remove power s-s-s-s-ource."

"I can't do that to you!"

"You must trust me, Shadow."

"Negative…I-I'm gonna dig you out, just hold tight and I'll-"

"Please r-r-r-remove power-power source."

"Request denied!"

"There is not much time."

"Omega I am not going to kill you!"

"You misunder-under-under-understand."

"Omega I can't do that to you!"

Roaring flames illuminated the silence as gas and smoke rose from the toxic debris. Wheezing from lack of oxygen, Shadow fell forwards, resting his forehead against the heated metal shell of his robot companion. Omega only said nothing, broken eyes flickering with the angry flames as heat and rubble slowly consumed his functioning body. Coughing, Shadow gripped at the yellow painted head, cursing to himself as he growled through the heat and pain.

"You-you-you have to trust me."

"Omega no…"

"Please, Re-re-remove power source."

Shadow only coughed, gripping his hands tighter around the metallic plate.

"Sa-sa-save my life. Shado-Shadow."

"You want me to trust you?" Shadow whimpered, tightening his fingers around the metal seams. "Then fine - I'll trust you..."

Squeezing his eyelids shut, the agent bent at the sturdy metal with a strained grunt. For a second he struggled, fighting the intensely shielded area with a painful scream in his heart. Groaning, he pulled, not caring how the flames bit at his back or how the fog singed his lungs. He had to do this. Just trust Omega. Just trust Omega. Fighting tears from escaping his eyes, the hedgehog groaned and growled through the pressure. The metal bent and creaked, fighting back against the hedgehog's painful struggle. Coughing and wheezing, the agent continued - refusing to give up. Just trust Omega. Just trust Omega. With a final push and a broken yell, Shadow felt the tension give.

Hissing filled the air as a hermetic seal broke, Omega's red eyes powering off with a glitched noise. Shadow felt a single tear break from his eye as smoke blew into his face, reacting to the pulse of air with an angry roar. Falling backwards in momentum and shock, Shadow hit his head against a metal beam, eyes briefly blurring upon impact.

He couldn't back down now. Omega's power source was still in there. If the robot had spoken the truth, the agent needed to get it out as soon as possible. Shielding his eyes from a blast of heat, Shadow pulled himself to his knees - crawling his way back up the pile of rubble to the robot's head nodule.

With a hiss of discomfort, Shadow peeled the yellow cap off the metal head. It had to be in there. It had to be. Wiping smoke out of his ruby eyes, the hedgehog tossed the cap aside, peering into the power cavity with baited breath.

All pain Shadow had felt before melted away in the whirlwind of emotion that swept him away. Feeling dizzy from shock, the hedgehog felt his foot slip - bringing his face closer to the robot's metal in a grinding crunch. Confusion, wonder, worry, panic, all of it felt in the briefest of moments as the agent laid his eyes upon the very thing his partner had been incapable of explaining.

There, in Omega's head nodule, was a red flicky. At first, Shadow wasn't even sure if it was alive under all the wires and robotics within. But as the programs slowly deactivated, it slowly started to move - atrophied legs twitching and beak opening as it took its first breaths of air in what must have felt like ages. A pitiful squeak exited its lungs as the toxic fumes and blazing heat greeted its body, providing a most inhospitable environment for such a small helpless creature.

Sensing the urgency of the situation, Shadow wiped his face of his shocked expression and hurried. Without waiting another second, the hedgehog ripped the chords off of the tiny creature, earning struggled twitching and weak flapping from its underused body. A sense of panic fueling his body, Shadow cupped his hands over the small bird - pulling it out of the head cavity in gentle movements. The toxic fumes and heat alone would kill it if he didn't act fast. Knowing that life was fading out in his fingers, Shadow whipped his head around – sharp eyes scanning the terrain for the fastest exit possible. He had to move. And he had to move now.

Holding his clasped hands close to his body, the agent bolted - running through flames and fog as if his life depended on it. Wires and beams seemed to reach after him - not wanting to let the small creature escape from their skull like shapes and deathly flames. Dodging a falling rock, Shadow slid underneath a fallen support, pulling the weak creature tight against his body in an instinctual curl. Just a few paces more…. Only a few paces more..

Leaping through a wall of flame, Shadow burst out of the disaster zone - fresh air kissing his face and body like a blanket on a snowy night. Inhaling deeply, the agent continued. There was no place to stop. He wasn't safe here. He had to find Rouge. He had to find Rouge.

Head turning this way and that, the agent spotted the white-furred woman standing in a field some ways down the mountainside. Hesitation was thrown to the wind as the hedgehog picked up his pace - bolting to her side in mere seconds as his speed allowed. He had to get to her. He had to make sure she was alright.

Rouge was safe, but also surprised. Her ivory ears and dark wings twitched upon his arrival, hands racing over to grab him as he slid to a halt, coughing and wheezing the gaseous air out of his lungs. Gripping his ash-covered arm, she didn't waste a second before checking her friend over for serious injuries and potential hazards.

"D-did you find him?" She choked out, tears lapping at her eyes as she looked her debris-stained partner in the face.

Shadow was unable to say a word, only holding his hands close to his chest as he breathed great breaths of fresh air. Nodding his head, he sat on the ground, heaving his lungs up and down in massive inhalations. However, he didn't remain.

Feeling the flicky twitching in his hands, Shadow unclasped his paws - allowing the tiny bird its long deserved breaths of fresh air. Its head wobbled about like a newborn, beak open and wide as it audibly wheezed - bits of metal shining in its throat as it coughed on fumes and fog.

"What…What's that…?" Rouge asked, hands covering her mouth as she knelt down to get a better look at the struggling creature.

"O-omega…" Shadow coughed, ears folding back from the force of his breath. "He said it was the….only way…"

The flicky attempted to spread its small wings, muscles twitching and body heaving as the action proved too strenuous for its weak body. For a second it laid there, flat on its back with feathers outstretched looking absolutely tiny in the ebony hedgehog's black marked gloves. Synchronously, the two coughed, leaving Shadow with eyes half lidded and the flicky with a dripping beak.

"Oh hon…" She cooed, taking the weak creature in her own hands as Shadow slowly lowered his head to the grass. "Is this…?"

Surprisingly, the feathered creature was unafraid of her presence. It only closed its eyes and heaved, weak squeaks and pained wheezing huffing out of its underused lungs. Gently, the bat closed her hand around its dull red feathers, providing protection from the outside world as she turned to her exhausted and injured partner on the ground.

"Shadow what is…"

"His power source." Shadow interrupted, closing his black eyelids in an exhausted exhale. "The true form of Omega."