Finally! This was a chapter I wanted to write for a long time, as it introduces the last member of Team Dark - E-123 Omega!
I hope you'll enjoy it!
Entry 42
Mission: Omega
''E-123, you didn't know – now I'm gonna show you the power that is me. You try to take me down- stop the show, seems you've never tasted fear- or loss of control. The power lives in me- The power that is me!''
– This Machine by Sonic Heroes (Team Dark Theme Song)
xXxXxXx
''Seriously?! He wants you to do that!'' Minami exclaimed in surprise.
''We were just as surprised,'' Touka said.
''I wonder what Egghead is going to say about this,'' Sonic said with a devious smirk on his expression.
Touka, Shadow and Rouge had earlier in the day a briefing with the Commander in regards to their mission, and once they were done with it, they quickly went to Touka and Shadow's room to call Team Neos about it. They were told that ARMS had found one of Eggman's bases and wanted to send the three for a recon mission, clearly seeing the Doctor as a huge threat. Team Neos' reaction to this was… strangely positive, with Sonic even looking excited. The three ARMS Agents figured that this was because they would be dealing with a familiar foe rather than some random Irregular. Not to mention, Dr. Eggman was currently their ally until they resolved this situation with ARMS, so they could discuss their next move.
''I hope you better have some good news if you're calling me!'' Dr. Eggman finally appeared on the screen, looking as irritated as ever.
''It depends on what you define as good news, Doctor,'' Rouge said, pressing a button on the holographic screen, opening a map with coordinates. ''ARMS is targeting one of your bases, specifically the one located here.''
''What?!'' Dr. Eggman said, less in disbelief and more because he couldn't believe the audacity of the organization to go after one of his bases. He looked at the location, a bit lost in thought as he tried to recall which one of his bases this one was. ''Huh, never expected they'd find this one.''
''Is it important?'' Lucas asked, with the whole of Team Neos staring at him in curiosity and anticipation. Dr. Eggman just waved him off.
''It is actually a storage facility for my E-100 Series of robots. I haven't used it in ages. As a matter of fact, I had discontinued it a while ago,'' he explained.
''Why would you discontinue them?'' Tails asked.
''I moved on to different projects, but I might revisit this one,'' Dr. Eggman said, suddenly grinning deviously as he turned to the ARMS Agents. ''You said that ARMS is targeting this Egg Base?''
''That's correct,'' Shadow answered, not liking the look the Doctor was giving them. ''This is supposed to be a recon mission.''
''Ho ho ho, that's excellent! Let me guess, they're hoping to steal some information from me,'' Dr. Eggman said, with the ARMS Agents nodding, slowly starting to regret their alliance with the mad Doctor. ''Then, I have the perfect answer for this situation.''
''Which is…?'' Makoto trailed off.
''I recall that your idea was to blackmail ARMS, wasn't it, Kinomoto?'' Dr. Eggman turned to Lucas, who just nodded in response, furrowing a brow as he wondered where this was going. ''Well, let's just say that I had been inspired and had been working on a special virus that cannot be detected, and once it enters the ARMS network system, it would start to download all of their sensitive data to the EggNet, and eventually delete itself once it is done.''
''That's… Is that even possible to be done?'' Silver asked.
''Of course it is! Don't question my genius!'' Dr. Eggman shouted back in indignation, getting several eye-rolls in response. He groaned, but decided to continue, ''Regardless, I will leave the virus at the computer within the Egg Base Omega, along with some dummy data that will send ARMS on a wild goose chase. All you have to do is to download it and make sure it is uploaded into the ARMS systems. The virus will take care of the rest. Understood?''
''Loud and clear, Doctor,'' Touka responded in a snarky tone. Dr. Eggman shot her a glare, with Touka sighing. ''I suppose this shouldn't be too difficult then. We'll be in and out in no time.''
''That's what you think.'' Dr. Eggman's comment caused everyone to stare at him suspiciously. ''I don't plan to make this easy for you just because we're in an alliance. As a matter of fact, since you'll be breaking into my property, I'll make sure that all of the defenses are activated.''
''I guess we should've expected that,'' Lily suddenly said. ''Not to mention, if ARMS keeps tabs on the Egg Base, they would get suspicious if there isn't some kind of retaliation.''
''Lily's right,'' Amy said. ''If things are too easy, they might want to know why.''
''Tch, do I look like care about that?'' Dr. Eggman interrupted her, grinning. ''While having your teammates succeed would benefit me in the long run, that doesn't mean that I wouldn't relish in them being beaten by my robots.''
''No one is surprised by that,'' Lucas commented. Dr. Eggman just narrowed his eyes, but then disconnected, figuring this was enough information he had provided them with.
''I don't trust him,'' Knuckles said once the Doctor was disconnected.
''None of us does, Knux, but we all have the same goal now,'' Sonic said.
''Honestly, while I agree with Dr. Eggman's plan, I don't like the idea that he would be the one who have full access to such sensitive information,'' Lucas said.
''Well, if we knew where exactly this information is being uploaded to, I suppose we could create an encrypted file that Eggman wouldn't be able to access,'' Warren said. ''Actually, I'm sure that a file protected by a password or several of them would be enough to ensure that Eggman wouldn't be able to get through it, considering the poor security of his own network.''
This caused several of his teammates to chuckle in amusement, with Tails adding, ''Unfortunately, we won't be able to do this from here, as we would need a more direct access to the EggNet and the virus itself, but you guys could do that.''
''What do we have to do?'' Rouge asked.
''Once you have access to the computer at the Egg Base, you'll use the program we sent you and follow the instructions we've written down. If everything goes well, the program will trace down the location of the file, and you'll be able to encrypt it,'' Tails explained.
''No problem,'' Rouge said, glancing at Touka and Shadow, who just nodded in acknowledgement.
xXx
Shadow's ears flicked as he heard soft buzzing and opened his eyes, reaching underneath his pillow and taking out the AR Visor he kept hidden there. He turned to the bed on the other side of the room, taking note of Touka being fast asleep, her back turned to him and then sat up, throwing the blanket over his head before answering the call.
''Sonic, why are you calling me at 2AM?'' Shadow stared at the small screen that was showing Sonic, who was lying in his bed. Sonic, in turn, gave him a sheepish smile.
''I couldn't really sleep, so I wanted to check on you,'' Sonic replied innocently, having realized the moment he saw Shadow's annoyed expression that he really shouldn't have called his rival this late. However, he spent most of the night tossing and turning in his bed, until he decided to call Shadow for his own peace of mind.
''Well, I can sleep and you just saw me a few hours ago during the team meeting,'' Shadow replied in a matter-of-fact tone, his eyes narrowed as he wondered whether there was something more to this conversation. ''Is there anything you want to talk about? I sincerely doubt that's the only reason you had called me.''
Sonic fell silent for a moment, then sighed, a small smile forming on his lips, as he should've known that Shadow would be blunt about this. ''It is really dull without you.''
''I suppose you just got used to us having our daily sparring matches, so it is not surprising that you would feel like that,'' Shadow replied, keeping his voice in a whisper to make sure that Touka doesn't wake up.
''Yeah, you're right…'' Sonic trailed off, wondering if he really should continue the conversation. He knew that Shadow had a mission tomorrow and he probably shouldn't interrupt him like this, but on the other hand, he was genuinely happy to see him and hear him.
''Sonic?''
''Huh, yeah?''
''You're staring at me.''
''Oh, sorry.'' Sonic was flustered to be caught like this. Was it really that obvious?
Shadow sighed, wondering what this situation even was. His mind was still occupied with the mission, so having Sonic call him out of nowhere to talk to him was a bit jarring, albeit not unwelcome. Perhaps having someone to take his mind off the things that troubled him would put him at ease, if only a little bit. ''How was your day?''
''My day? Well…'' Sonic had to admit that he was genuinely surprised that Shadow would initiate small talk. ''Lucas, Warren, Tails and I had talked to Loki, the wolf Commander of the Hunters, and he knows about ARMS, but doesn't trust them because of an accident where an Irregular like us was taken by them and never appeared again. I don't think that the Hunters are too familiar with ARMS.''
''I wouldn't be surprised,'' Shadow said, narrowing his eyes. ''After all, ARMS treats Irregulars like dangerous weapons. They even wanted me to absorb as much of Touka's BioEnergy as possible, so I was forced to use Chaos Surge to stop it.''
''Are you okay?'' Sonic asked worriedly. ''I know that you're not to keen on using BioEnergy, even if it's for a Chaos Surge.''
''I'm fine, since Touka has also recovered from the ordeal. I'm concerned what ARMS might do if they attempt to investigate my Chaos Surge ability. They might go after the rest of Team Neos,'' Shadow told him, rubbing his temple as he felt an oncoming headache.
''Don't worry about us, worry about yourself,'' Sonic told him, giving him a confident smile. ''I wish I could just bust into ARMS HQ to get you out.''
''If it weren't for the current circumstances, I would've done it by myself,'' Shadow told him. Sonic gave him a sympathetic look.
''You know, I am a bit jealous that you get break into Eggman's base,'' he said, smiling cheekily. ''I bet it's going to be exciting.''
''You could join us,'' Shadow suggested. Sonic sighed.
''I wish I could, but you know, that would blow up our cover. I also don't want to get my friends into trouble by doing something stupid,'' Sonic told him. Shadow rose an eyebrow, giving Sonic a scrutinizing look, leaving the latter confused. ''Uh, Shadow? Is something wrong?''
''I believe that's the first time I heard you say something sensible. Maybe you aren't the real Sonic and were replaced by a look-a-like,'' Shadow told him. He couldn't help but smile when he heard Sonic groan in annoyance and saw him roll his eyes.
''I know I can be reckless, but this situation is different,'' he said in an exasperated tone, then muttered, ''I also talked to Lucas about there being a possibility to break in, and he told me that we can't do that.''
''There is a reason Lucas is the leader and you aren't,'' Shadow said in a teasing tone, only to add in a more resolute tone. ''Not many would have enough sense to admit that.''
''Not many have the humility to admit that,'' Sonic said proudly.
''Humility? Your ego is the size of a skyscraper,'' Shadow said, with Sonic snorting in amusement.
''Right back at you, Shads. You aren't better than me, Mr. Ultimate Lifeform,'' Sonic told him. Shadow rolled his eyes, but Sonic could see the faint smile on his lips, making it clear that the dark hedgehog was amused by their banter. It made him feel quite happy to see his rival being this relaxed. ''In any case, you have to tell me what happened once you return from the mission. I want to hear all of the details.''
''I will, because knowing you, you'll probably spam my inbox with questions about what had happened,'' Shadow told him in a dry tone. Sonic gave him a sheepish smile.
''Sorry about that,'' he said, knowing well that Shadow was referring to the event right after their meeting with Mephiles and Toshiro, where Sonic just wouldn't leave him alone. ''I guess I should let you sleep now.''
''I didn't mind having a conversation with you, even if it was this late,'' Shadow said, surprising Sonic, who smiled back warmly as he looked at the screen. ''Good night, Sonic.''
''Good night, Shads. I miss you,'' Sonic said, the holographic screen before him turning black. Sonic then lied back down on his back, taking a deep breath, only for his brain to finally process what he just said to Shadow. He turned on his side, a faint tint of red spreading across his fawn muzzle, his emerald green eyes wide as he placed his gloved hand on his chest, feeling his heart race as if he just returned from his nightly run. Wait! Why did I tell him that? I mean, I do miss him, but that wasn't necessary! I just hope Shadow hasn't noticed anything, because that was just weird.
Meanwhile, Shadow placed the AR Visor back under his pillow and lied down, pulling the blanket over his shoulder, turning on his side and staring at the wall, his mind in a disarray. Unfortunately for him, the image of Sonic giving him a soft and kind smile just wouldn't get out of his head, and he groaned, furrowing a brow as he tried to fall asleep.
''Of course that idiot misses me,'' he grumbled under his breath, trying to ignore the wave of warmth that spread through his body and the tint of red appearing on his tan muzzle. ''Who else is going to be his rival?''
xXx
''We are at our location, but I can't find a place to land.''
''Then, we'll get out here!''
''W-What?!''
The pilot of the ARMS helicopter turned his head around, stunned to see Touka, Shadow and Rouge get up and stand in front of the open cabin door. Before he could even say anything, Rouge leapt out of the helicopter, spreading her wings and flying down. Shadow was the next one out, using his air shoes and nearby trees to cushion his fall. Touka was the last one to leave, taking off the hoverboard that was attached to the strap on her back and jumping out, placing the hoverboard under her feet and descending down to the ground safely. The pilot just shook his head, flying the helicopter away from the dense woods he couldn't land in. Touka, Shadow and Rouge observed the helicopter as it left, with the three exchanging glances.
''I guess we're on our own now. Let's go!'' Rouge said, flying up and through the woods. Touka and Shadow followed her on the hoverboard and skating via air shoes respectively until they had reached what appeared to be a building built into a hillside. It had a steel gate with an Eggman Empire insignia on the front, with Egg Pawns patrolling the area. Touka took out a pair of binoculars from her waist bag, carefully observing the area.
''From what I can see, there are at least five Badniks on patrol,'' she said, giving the binoculars to Rouge, who hummed in interest.
''Eggman did say he won't make it easy, but this still feels a little disappointing,'' she said, offering the binoculars to Shadow, who shook his head, declining the offer.
''We should still be careful. We don't know what the Doctor has in store for us,'' Shadow told the two. Touka and Rouge nodded, with Shadow suddenly dashing forward, drawing the attention of the Egg Pawns. Touka and Rouge then followed closely and split up, with Rouge joining Shadow in fighting the Egg Pawns, while Touka went to the keypad panel at the front gate to type in the passcode Dr. Eggman had sent them to enter the Egg Base Omega. When she turned back around, she only saw scrapped robots lying on the ground, some being smashed to pieces and others having visible scorch marks.
''That was easy,'' Rouge said in a confident tone, grinning at Shadow.
''We're not done yet,'' Shadow reminded her, joining Touka at the entrance. Rouge shrugged, following the two into the Egg Base.
''Considering what Dr. Eggman had told us, this place is probably filled with Badniks,'' Touka commented as they walked down a narrow corridor.
''You know, I wouldn't mind exploring this place a bit more once we're done with our mission. Eggman said that this is a storage, so he might be hiding something more than just robots here,'' Rouge said, smiling at the thought of there being a secret treasure inside the Egg Base.''
''Don't lose your focus,'' Shadow told both of them, walking a bit ahead of the two and keeping an eye out for any enemy Badnik. However, as they walked deeper and deeper into the Egg Base, they came to a chilling realization that they hadn't seen any Badnik aside from some scrapped parts.
''What happened here?'' Rouge asked as they stopped at a pile of robot parts, with Shadow examining it, lifting a piece of the broken torso.
''It looks like something or someone had blasted them apart,'' he said.
''So, someone had been here before us? But, that shouldn't be possible,'' Touka said. ''We know that ARMS was just observing this area before they sent us here.''
''You're right,'' Rouge said, narrowing her eyes. ''It is possible that whoever had done this is not affiliated with ARMS, and it is also possible that they're still here. Although, if they destroyed the Badniks inside the base, why not destroy the ones who were patrolling outside?''
''I don't know,'' Touka said. ''However, I believe we'll find out soon.''
The three continued walking through the base, finding more and more destroyed robots, like some kind of macabre marking that led them towards their destination – the control room with the main computer. However, just as the door to the room had opened, they heard gunfire coming from it and hid behind the entrance so they wouldn't get hit by a stray bullet.
''Worthless consumer models!''
As Touka, Shadow and Rouge peered inside the room, they saw a sturdy black and red robot with red eyes, a yellow head casing and wristbands studded with large spikes, and a large red ''Ω'' on the front of the left and back of the right shoulderpad, a jetpack on his back, destroying the Egg Pawns that were inside the room with the rotary cannons his arms had turned into.
''I guess that's one of those E-100 Series robots Eggman was talking about. At least this solves the mystery of the destroyed Badniks,'' Rouge said, exchanging glances with Shadow and Touka.
''You two try to get to the computer. I'll deal with this one,'' Shadow said.
''Okay, but be quick. I have a bad feeling that this berserk robot is going to tear the whole place apart,'' Rouge told him. Shadow nodded, getting quickly inside the room and taking advantage of the robot being distracted to attack him, while Touka and Rouge sneaked inside, trying to get to the computer. Unfortunately for them, even though Shadow kept the robot distracted, he kept blasting his weapons around wildly, trying to hit the elusive dark hedgehog and forcing Touka and Rouge to crawl behind some machinery to not get hit.
''Must eradicate all Eggman's robots!''
''Huh, this one is committed…'' Rouge commented, only for Touka to quickly grab her by the shoulder and pull her away when a loose missile hit the machinery before them, causing it to explode.
''Are you okay?'' Touka asked her.
''Yeah, I am, but that one was close!'' Rouge replied, glancing back at Shadow, who tried to distract the robot, spin-dashing into him to knock him back. Rouge narrowed her eyes. ''Something's not right…'' She turned to Touka. ''Make sure that the computer didn't get damaged. I'll try to stop these two from blowing us up.''
''Got it!'' Touka nodded, and once there was an opening, she dashed towards the computer, while Rouge flew towards Shadow and the robot.
''Hey, hold up!'' Just as they were about to clash again, Rouge suddenly appeared between them and intercepted the attack, pushing both apart to break up the fight and breathing heavily as her gaze shifted from one to the other. ''I think we have a misunderstanding here!''
''My name is E-123 Omega. I am the ultimate robot. All who get in my path will be crushed!''
E-123 Omega pointed his cannon arms at Rouge, with Shadow stepping in front of her in a protective manner.
''Stay back!'' he said, but Rouge pushed past him.
''My name is Rouge and this is Shadow, and the girl over there is Touka. From what I've seen, you want to destroy all of Eggman's robots, right?'' she asked, with Shadow giving her a questioning look.
''Affirmative!'' Omega responded.
''Fortunately, none of us are Eggman robots, so how about we all calm down now and discuss the situation,'' Rouge suggested. Shadow shifted his gaze from Rouge to Omega, at whom he glared apprehensively, while Omega just stared back at them intently.
''Registering the presence of a human and two biodigital lifeforms. My sensors are overdue for a maintenance,'' Omega said, turning his arm cannons into arms with four-fingered silver claws.
''Is that supposed to be an apology?'' Rouge asked, a little confused. Shadow remained silent, still wary of Omega, considering how the robot had no issues fighting him just a moment earlier.
''Guys, I'm in!'' Touka called out, drawing their attention. Fortunately, the computer had survived the onslaught, with Touka placing an USB stick inside that the Commander had given her and started downloading the dummy data and the virus Dr. Eggman had sent. Shadow, Rouge and Omega had joined her, looking at the monitor. ''Okay, I think we should use now the program Tails had sent us.'' Shadow took out the AR Visor, with Touka connecting it to the computer and activating the program, following the instructions that were in it. Soon, a file had opened and she opened another window that enabled her to password-lock the file. She turned towards the three. ''So, what kind of password should we use?''
''I believe that we agreed that there would be multiple passwords,'' Shadow said.
''What do you plan to do with the data?'' Omega asked.
''It's a long story, but we currently have a temporary alliance with Eggman so we can deal with a different organization named ARMS. Once we're done with that, we'll go right back to being enemies with the Doctor,'' Rouge explained, her arms folded across her chest.
''You are enemies of Eggman?'' Omega asked, clearly wanting a proper confirmation.
''Correct,'' Rouge replied, tilting her head. ''Why are you so mad at Eggman?''
''Dr. Eggman has sealed me inside this base and abandoned me. I desire revenge!'' Omega said firmly, with Rouge, Shadow and Touka exchanging glances, all of them having the same thought on their mind.
''You know, you could come with us. Once we're done with ARMS, you'd be free to go after Eggman instead of wasting away at this base,'' Touka suddenly voiced their thoughts. There was a moment of silence as they all processed what she just said, only for Rouge to break it.
''Then it's settled! Now you two make up so we can finish our mission,'' Rouge said, pulling the wary Shadow and Omega closer, and placing Shadow's hand over Omega's and then motioning for Touka to do the same, as she placed her hand over their. ''Aw yeah, baby, this makes us a team! Now, all we need is a team name.''
Shadow and Touka exchanged glances, both of them feeling somewhat familiar with this scenario, as if they were experiencing some kind of déjà-vu. Shadow then sighed, feeling as if he was about to say something he was going to regret. ''How about Team Dark?''
''Team Dark, eh? I like the sound of that,'' Rouge said, elbowing Omega. ''What do you say, Omega?''
''Team name is acceptable,'' Omega replied. Touka just smiled at the trio.
''The only thing that remains is to explain the Commander why we have returned with a rebellious Eggman robot. However, I think this might get interesting,'' she said.
xXx
''Boss, we've got activity at Egg Base Omega,'' Orbot said, reporting to Dr. Eggman.
''Good, that must mean that Kageura, Shadow and Rouge have gotten inside,'' Eggman replied, smirking. ''What about the defenses? I hope they had a lot of trouble passing through.''
''Actually, someone else had destroyed your robots before they had even arrived,'' Cubot said, only to get startled when Eggman suddenly turned towards him.
''What?! And you're telling me this now?!'' he yelled at the cube-shaped robot assistant.
''Well, you never asked,'' Cubot replied, shrugging. Eggman groaned.
''Orbot, pull up the footage from Egg Base Omega,'' he said, with the orb-shaped robot assistant doing as he was told.
''This is footage from a few hours ago,'' Orbot said, with the three observing the huge computer screen before them. Eggman narrowed his eyes as he saw one of his robots, recognizing the individual as E-123 Omega, booting up and starting to tear through the facility. The Egg Pawns that were stationed around attacked back, but they were easily destroyed.
''Eh, I think this E-100 Series robot is really angry at you, Boss,'' Cubot added as they listening to Omega's declaration about destroying Eggman.
''I know that!'' Eggman growled, turning his attention back to the screen, with the footage now showing him Touka, Shadow and Rouge getting inside and meeting Omega. ''Why did I even create- Ah, right… It was all part of the game.'' He leaned back in his seat, leaning his chin against his hand in thought. ''I suppose this is what happens when you are an evil genius with the memories of your other self. While it is insightful, it is also incredibly troublesome...''
While Dr. Eggman was musing over the situation, Dr. Starline was standing at the entrance, peering silently into the room. While he would usually fawn over his idol, he did feel a slight sense of concern in regard to this situation. He certainly wasn't happy about the alliance with Team Neos, let alone allowing them inside one of the Egg Bases, as he felt that this was giving them too much freedom. Why should they even sacrifice their own forces to aid his enemies? It just didn't make sense.
Starline turned on his heel, walking away. ''Still, I have great faith in the Doctor. I assume that his mindset is that there need to be sacrifices to achieve a greater goal, but an alliance with the enemy is still too much. There had to have been a different way to get this done.''
''You're being really loud, you know.''
Starline was startled by a familiar voice and quickly turned around, only to see Ferra being leaned against a wall, her arms folded across her chest. Metal Sonic was standing next to her.
''Don't you have something better to do than scaring people?!'' Starline shouted at her. Ferra just smirked back.
''It wasn't my intention to scare you like that,'' she told him, with Starline wondering if she was being genuinely apologetic. ''Not gonna lie, it was fun to see you make that expression.''
''Tch, you have absolutely no manners,'' Starline responded, continuing to antagonize her. He didn't even see Metal Sonic's red eyes flaring up and him glancing at Ferra, who just shook her head in response. Unfortunately, Starline was their ally, meaning that he couldn't beat up the platypus for insulting Ferra… yet.
''You shouldn't be talking so loud like this, especially when voicing your concerns. People might think you're conspiring against the Doctor,'' Ferra told him. Starline gasped dramatically.
''Conspiring against Dr. Eggman? How dare you to suggest even something like that?! I live to serve him!'' Starline responded angrily. Ferra shrugged.
''If that's the case, then you'd follow him every step of the way, right? No matter how nonsensical the plan is,'' she said.
''Well, of course-'' Starline cut himself off, a sense of doubt creeping into his mind. He certainly admired Dr. Eggman, but he had to admit that he felt that he believed that there was always a different approach to a certain situation, one that required… a different way of thinking, to put it simply. Or, to make it precise – his way of thinking. He then huffed, walking away. ''I will not discuss this any further. You are simply trying to get a raise out of me.''
Starline then walked away, lifting his head proudly, while Ferra kept an eye on him until he was out of her sight. ''Dr. Starline is going to get kicked out of the Eggman Empire if he doesn't keep that beak shut.''
'Indeed. I hope I get the honors of kicking him out,' Metal Sonic replied, causing Ferra to snort in amusement.
xXx
''Ugh, this place is awful,'' Shiro muttered under her breath, entering an old warehouse. ''A proper lady like me deserves to be at a place much more luxurious than this.''
''You're absolutely correct, Shiro.'' The kitsune Irregular suddenly turned around, spotting a teenager sitting on one of the crates stored inside the warehouse, one of his elbows propped on his knee as he gave her a mischievous grin. ''After all, most parasites in society tend to be high up on the hierarchy ladder.''
Shiro gritted her teeth and lifted her fan to attack the teenager, only to get immobilized by a bunch of purple and light pink crystals that shoot out from the ground. She felt her heart racing as she realized that the sharp tips missed her only barely, else she would've been impaled on them. She looked up at the teenager, whose eyes were now glowing in a dark periwinkle purple colour, realizing that he was the one who had summoned the crystals.
''Let me guess, you had no luck in finding more victims so you decided to turn on me,'' Toshiro said, sounding quite amused. Shiro didn't respond, instead just glaring at him. ''I'll take that as a positive answer.''
''It is your fault that there are so many Hunters patrolling the city!'' Shiro yelled at him. ''You had forced me to lure them out and now my own life is at stake!''
''Yet, you still failed at your mission.'' Shiro suddenly turned to the other person in the building, a shadow-like figure whose eyes were glowing in the same dark periwinkle purple colour as Toshiro's, and his body was crackling with energy. ''The Irregular Hunters were never our target.''
''Then all of this was for nothing?!'' Shiro screamed, only to quickly shut up when one of the crystals' sharp tips touched her neck. She knew that if she moved, she was dead.
''Fortunately for you, it wasn't a complete failure,'' Mephiles said. ''The Hunters can reach their breaking point if a powerful Irregular causes enough chaos within Neos City.''
''If that's all you wanted, then you can let me go now…'' Shiro hissed, holding her head up to avoid being impaled by the crystal through her lower jaw. Toshiro leapt down from the crate, glancing at his partner.
''I don't know, Mephiles… Should we really spare her life?'' he asked, a smile of pure malice appearing on his expression. ''After all, she had hurt many people.''
''At your request!'' Shiro yelled in protest.
''You could've simply refused and we would've been merciful enough to make your demise as swift as possible,'' Mephiles pointed out. ''Besides, you would be lying if you claimed you didn't enjoy at least part of your task.''
Shiro suddenly felt a chill flowing down her spine. She had no idea how she had managed to get herself involved with these two, but she remembered how she believed that she could manipulate them similarly to Ao. Unfortunately for her, Mephiles proved himself to be way more dangerous than she had anticipated.
''On the other hand, it would be an act of cruel mercy to let you live,'' Toshiro said. ''You have enemies everywhere, and the Hunters know what you have done. Your life, which had been so comfortable at this point because you had others working for you, had become a game of survival. I suppose we could let your someone else decide your fate… someone who has a more personal connection to you.''
Toshiro then waved his hand, the crystals disappearing and Shiro fell down her knees, shaking and her eyes were wide in horror. Toshiro and Mephiles just walked past her, leaving her in the warehouse.
''This was quite disappointing,'' Mephiles commented.
''She won't last long, that's for certain. Besides, we currently have more pressing matters to focus on,'' Toshiro told him. ''We need to force ARMS to finally reveal themselves to the public, and to do that, they need to have a target that can challenge them properly.''
