chapter 3: No more!

(WARNING: This chapter contains violence some readers might find upsetting! Read on your own risk!)

Rouge was starting to lose hope. Her escape attempt had failed and she couldn't hear anyone outside the room. She was once again shackled to the cold, metal table, her pregnant belly fully exposed to the evil doctor, who was planning to cut it open and take Rouge's child and most likely kill her in the process.

"Thanks to that stupid stunt of yours, we lost time!" hissed the evil doctor "Let's hope your stupid husband and that annoying blue rat wouldn't get here any time soon!"

Rouge was hoping for the opposite to happen, but even though she was trying to convince herself that Shadow would arrive soon, she was preparing herself for the worst, that was getting more and more likely to happen with every second.

Feeling desperate, Rouge couldn't keep herself from crying anymore. Tears started forming in her eyes, and she started sniffing.

Eggman noticed this "Ohhhh, don't cry, Rouge!" said he with a very sweet and innocent voice "I promise that once I take that baby out of you, I am going to stitch you up and you will be as good as new."

But Rouge knew better than to believe him "No, you are not going to do this!" said the bat with sad, yet angry voice.

A cruel laughter escaped from Eggman "HAHAHA, OF COURSE I AM NOT GOING TO DO IT! I am going to leave you here to bleed to death. You will serve as a good example for what happens to those who oppose me!"

The doctor then started moving his hands, and sure enough, the robotic hands above Rouge started moving as well. The scalpel was now inches away from the bat's belly.

"Goodbye, Rouge!" said Eggman with an evil smile "I hope you'll face a slow and painful death!"

Knock Knock

A loud knock came from the doors. Eggman stopped and he and Rouge looked at the door. Nothing was happening and it didn't sound like somebody was trying to open them.

Then, a voice came from the other side "Hello, I got a pizza delivery!"

Rouge and Eggman knew the owner of the voice.

"SONIC!" both the bat and the human exclaimed. Rouge -happily, Eggman - angrily.

"It's says the pizza is for Mr. I-haven't-seen-my-feet-in-years." Sonic's voice came again.

Eggman's face became red "THAT'S NOT FUNNY! IT HAS NEVER BEEN FUNNY! AND IT WILL NEVER BE-"

BBBOOOOOOMMM

A big explosion came from the left side of the door. After the smoke cleared, Eggman and Rouge saw two figures standing in a big hole. The bigger one was Omega, whose hands were now rocket launchers. Next to him was Whisper. Her wispon was in rocket mode. It was Whisper, who had figured out that just because the doors were made of Robotnik steel, it didn't mean that the walls were.

Behind the robot and the wolf stood Shadow himself. Without wasting a second, he entered the room and started destroying the badniks that were in it. Whisper and Omega joined as well.

"SHADOW!" Rouge exclaimed happily.

"Another failure!" said Orbot, who didn't seem surprised at all.

"I think we should retreat, sir." offered Cubot.

"You think!?" responded Eggman as he and his lackeys started running towards the escape pod that was located in the back of the room. But they stopped, because their way was blocked by Sonic, who had also entered through the hole.

"Going somewhere, Eggman?" asked Sonic sarcastically.

"Away from you, animals!" said Eggman, evident fury in his voice.

Meanwhile, Shadow, Omega, and Whisper had managed to destroy all the badniks in the room. Omega and Whisper then turned their attention towards Orbot and Cubot.

"Now, let's be reasona-" Orbot trying to say, but Whisper didn't let him finish. She blasted him with a rocket before he could finish his sentence.

"ORBOT!!!" exclaimed Cubot in horror. But before he could run he was grabbed by Omega's massive hand.

"DON'T WORRY, YOU WILL JOIN HIM SOON!" said Omega, and then proceeded to crush Cubot in his hand. He dropped the smashed Cubot and stepped brutally on his remains.

"Great! Now I'll have to build new underlings!" said Eggman, apparently not affected at all by Orbot and Cubot's demise.

Shadow didn't pay attention to the execution of the two robots. He was too busy with freeing Rouge.

"I knew you would come!" smiled Rouge through tears. Happy tears.

"I will always come for you!" responded Shadow as he finished tearing up the shackles.

Once Rouge was completely free, she and Shadow hugged tightly and kissed passionately.

"What did he want from you?" asked the hedgehog when the kiss was done, even though he already had a pretty good idea.

"He wanted to cut me open and take our baby!" explained the bat, still in shock from the events "He wanted to make a weapon out of our child!"

Shadow was furious and Rouge could see it in his eyes. She knew this look. The look Shadow had, when he was about to kill.

Sonic heard what Eggman was planning and he was horrified. Tails had suggested it, but Sonic hoped that there was another reason. But now he had a conformation. He knew Eggman was vile, but this was monstrous. Sonic was so deep in his thoughts, that he didn't notice that Eggman was pulling something out of his pocket.

"Yeah, that's what I tried to do and failed. But guess what: YOU ARE NOT GOING TO HAVE THIS BABY EITHER!" upon saying that Eggman pulled his lazer gun out of his right pocket and pointed it at Rouge. But before he could pull the trigger-

BUZZZ

The first thing Robotnik felt was pain coming from his right wrist. He looked at it and saw that it wasn't there anymore. It was now on the floor, still holding the gun.

"UGHUAAAAA!" screamed Eggman as he dropped on his knees and grabbed his bleeding limb. He looked up and saw Whisper, standing there silently, with her wispon in saw mode.

"YOU NASTY, STUPID- UGH" before Eggman could finish his insult, he was given one left hook by Omega.

"THAT FELT GOOD!" said the robot, as happily as possible for him.

Shadow eyed the bleeding doctor and then said "Sonic, Omega, Whisper, take Rouge back to the ship! Tell the others I will be there shortly!"

"What? Why are you staying?" asked Rouge as Omega was picking her up.

Shadow took a deep breath and then answered "I will make sure he would never hurt anyone, even again!"

Eggman (who now had a blackened eye and bleeding nose and mouth from Omega's punch) realized what Shadow ment and immediately turned to his worst enemy.

"Sonic, you can't let him do this!" shrieked Eggman with pure desperation in his voice "You know me, there is good in me! Please, save me!"

Sonic turned to face Eggman and once their eyes met, the human froze. There was pure contempt in Sonic's eyes. He didn't have a cocky smile on his face. Instead, he was frowning.

"I am sorry, Eggman, but you went too far this time." said Sonic coldly "It's time you pay for your actions!"

"What!? YOU CAN'T!" yelled Eggman, but Sonic was no longer listening to him.

"Omega, Whisper, let's go!" the blue hedgehog approached the robot and the wolf.

"AFFIRMATIVE!" responded Omega.

"Wait!" Rouge said suddenly. She looked at her husband "Shadow... do what you have to!"

Shadow nodded in response.

Sonic and Omega started walking away, but Whisper didn't.

"Whisper, let's go!" urged the blue hedgehog, but the wolf didn't move.

"I am not coming!" said Whisper coldly "I want to watch this!"

Sonic looked at her with worried eyes "Are you sure?" he asked.

Whisper responded with a nod.

Sonic nodded back "Alright then. It's just you and me, Omega."

Sonic then looked at Robotnik, one final time "Goodbye, Ivo, I wish things were different."

Sonic opened the doors and soon the robot, the hedgehog and the bat (who was carried by the robot) left the room.

Once they were gone, Shadow stared walking towards the beaten and bleeding Eggman. Seeing him made Shadow release all the anger and hatred he had stored over the years fighting this man. And he was now finally going to end this.

"No, no, Shadow wait-" but Eggman's begging was silenced by the Ultimate lifeform.

He kicked Eggman in the face and then picked him up by the collar. The hedgehog pressed the human's body against the wall.

"Shadow, please don't!" begged Ivo, even though his mouth was filled with blood and he was missing a few teeth "Think about my granddad! Think about Maria-" saying that name was a fatal mistake.

Shadow was even more furious now. How dare he use Maria's good name to save his own skin!? Shadow grabbed Eggman's head and brutally slammed it against the wall. He then started hitting him in the face. Laft first, right fist, left fist, right fist.

When he stopped, Eggman's face was all swollen and bloody.

"P..pl..plea..s" that was Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik's last word.

Shadow grabbed the human by the neck with his left hand and started hitting him in the face with his right hand. Blood started covering Shadow's face. Eventually, the blood completely covered Shadow's eyes and all he could see was a red curtain. But he continued hitting.

(Yes, this is Zeus' death for 'God of war'. I just love this death, especially when it happens to villains who deserves it, like Eggman and Zeus.)

Shadow didn't know how long he had been doing this. Puch after punch after punch. He couldn't see anything due to the blood covering his eyes. Finally, he was snapped out of his vengeance.

"SHADOW, STOP!"

"SHADOW, THAT'S ENOUGH!"

He recognized the owners of the two voices: Knuckles and Sonic. Despite their presence, Shadow kept hitting, until he was restrained by the hedgehog and the echidna.

"Stop, he is dead!" said Knuckles as he washed the blood away from Shadow's eyes.

The Ultimate lifeform could see now and he could see Eggman. He was dead, that's for sure. It looked like his skull was mostly intact, but it was hard to tell, since Robotnik's face had been reduced to a bloody pulp.

"Shadow, we have to go!" urged Sonic "The base is falling apart. It will probably explode soon!"

"Rouge is safe! She is waiting for you on the ship." Knuckles' words finally made Shadow come to his senses.

"Let's go!" said the black hedgehog as he, Sonic, Knuckles, and Whisper started running out of the base. Sonic was right, the base was falling apart. Explosions were happening everywhere and they were getting closer and closer.

Relatively quickly, the four made their way outside. The air ship was waiting for them, ready to fly away.

"COME ON! HURRY!" yelled Lanolin, who was waiting at the ship's door. Once everyone was inside, she turned to the pilot, who was Tails "Get us out of here, Tails!"

"On it!" within seconds, Tails managed to get the ship out of the base, just as it exploded.

But nobody was paying attention to the explosion. Everybody was looking at Shadow. Amy, Lanolin, and Tangle were covering their mouths with hands. Whisper, Sonic, and Knuckles were looking at their feet. Once Tails was done putting the ship on autopilot, he and Rouge came.

"I am so glad yo-" Rouge got ready to hug Shadow, but stopped when she saw her husband.

"What's-" Tails started asking, but then he looked Shadow and he got it "-wrong..."

Shadow could see the horror in Rouge's eyes. He tried getting to her, but then, suddenly, she fainted. Luckily, she was caught in time by Amy and Tangle.

"We should put her down on one of the army cot beds." said Amy as she and Tangle started doing so.

"Let me he-" Shadow started saying, but was interrupted by Tangle.

"It's fine!" snapped the lemur, who was clearly nervous "Amy and I got this. You... better wash yourself before we reach the HQ."

Shadow looked at one of the windows of the ship. It was night by now, so the window was more or less like a mirror. It certainly served well enough as one.

Shadow finally realized why everybody was looking at him like this. Almost the entire front said of his body was covered in blood. His right arm in particular was red all the way up the shoulder. He couldn't blame Rouge for fainting.

"Water!" whispered the Ultimate lifeform. Tails handed him a bottle and he dumped the liquid all over his body in an attempt to wash some of the blood off. It didn't get rid of all the blood, but it was still a start. When the cold water reached his right hand, Shadow felt a sharp pain.

"Ugh!" hissed the hedgehog as he eyed his fingers. No doubt punching Eggman to death must had done some damage to his hand, but he couldn't yet tell how bad it was.

When Shadow looked up, however, he noticed something on the floor. It was Metal Sonic, or rather, what was left of him.

"Why is that thing here!" snapped Shadow.

"We couldn't leave him in the base." explained Knuckles "There is still a chance someone might find him and fix him."

"So we decided to take him to the Restoration's HQ for safe keeping until we find a way to destroy him for good." added Lanolin.

"Hum, Yes, that's... reasonable..." said Shadow, but it was clear that he wasn't thinking about this anymore.

All he could think about was Rouge. He wondered if this accident would change their relationship somehow. He wondered if she and the baby were really okay. Rouge looked fine, but the baby's well-being was still uncertain. He also feared that from now on Rouge would be afraid of him.

But right now, all he could do was wait for them to arrive at the HQ and see a doctor. Shadow hoped everything would be alright, but deep down he knew that today's events would have consequences. Eggman was dead. That surely would have had an effect on the world...

(to be continued...)

(I don't own any of the characters or the locations! They all belong to SEGA! )