*The beginning of this chapter involves light sexual content.

8 - Pent Up Tension - 8

July 16th - Empire City

DAY 6: Wednesday

After Dark, 1:00 AM

The striped hedgehog grunted almost painfully as his fist briskly moved up and down below his crotch, moaning and gasping at these new sensations. He never knew that he could experience something like this, touching himself like a depraved high schooler. He looked down to see his tan colored, hardened length pulsing ravenously to be stuck into something. He unfortunately didn't have a fix for that, so his bare hand would have to do. Doing this at home in bed, he was glad he had plenty of privacy. If he had started doing this in Rouge's apartment and was caught, she'd never let him live it down. His face was flushed red, lightly panting as he stared up a the ceiling of his darkened bedroom. All he could think about was that damn blue hedgehog, and that charming yet smarmy little grin of his. The way he hugged him, the way he whispered in his ear. That's all he did to him, and yet he felt so much lust all of a sudden. The moment he got in bed, it happened. He grew hard and he couldn't resist rubbing himself.

All he had to do was imagine those perfect magazine covers that Rouge showed him at the party. Those poses he made may have been for fashion, but for him, they were for something far more inappropriate. He hated how easily he was reduced to a perverted loner who was jacking himself off alone in his room. If only he knew how much he was pent up, how much he wanted him. But why did he want him so badly? He only just discovered his feelings for him and now this? He inhaled sharply at his rising orgasm, his legs spreading wider as he sunk his head back against the pillow. Yes, there it was, the feeling that so many people strived for. It was growing stronger within his abdomen, he could feel it coming. He kept thinking about Sonic over and over. Smiling at him, winking at him, flirting with him. He was so beautiful, he was so much of everything he wanted. "A-Ahh..." He clenched his eyes shut as he stroked himself faster. "F-Fuck...Shit...Ahh..." He pressed the side of his face into the pillow. "S-Sonic...A-Ahh...!" He finally released, his seed making small squirts of white onto his hand. He squeezed his fist on his member, getting every last drop out. "Aah...Ah..." He panted heavily and turned over onto his side.

He looked down at his hand that was stained with his own fluids, confused as to why he was so aroused tonight. He never, ever felt this way before. Why? Was it-No, he couldn't experience mating season. That was impossible, right? Right, of course. This was just some kind of weird reaction to the feelings he was developing for Sonic. Rouge may have had a point, but he refused to believe that Gerald actually wanted him to breed when he got older. And Black Doom couldn't have possibly wanted that to happen since the species of the Black Arms were entirely asexual. It probably didn't even cross his mind when speaking with Gerald, and he was sure the old man didn't care for that either. He just wanted Maria to be cured, nothing else. If Rouge was right, that would mean Gerald wanted Shadow to find a partner and actually reproduce. That he wanted him to have his own private life and be...

...Happy.

He frowned.

Damn it...He didn't want to keep thinking about this anymore.

He should just go to the bathroom, clean up and go to sleep already.

Empire City, Unknown Location

Infinite's Prison

Afternoon, 12:00 PM

Empire City was so congested with metropolis architecture that there was barely any room for forests or greenfields. He was almost convinced this was only one in the entire county if it wasn't for the occasional parks. This old, tiny house was worn down, but sturdy enough to live in. Of course it's electricity, gas and plumbing didn't work but that didn't matter. The Overlander GUN soldiers sitting on it's porch appeared as normal citizens, wearing raggedy clothing. They looked like your average outsider country hicks, rocking on wooden chairs and chewing weeds. When Shadow walked up the porch steps and to the front door, they paid him no mind. As he walked inside, he stopped and looked down. He bent down, placed his fingers underneath three loose floorboards and began to lift. They came up easily, revealing a life-sized hatch with a 6-digit keypad. After putting in the appropriate code, he lifted up the hatch door and slipped down inside.

He used a metal ladder to climb down, his shoes landing on thick metallic flooring. He traveled down the short hallway only to be met with a tall shiny door, one that also had an electric mechanic. Like the doors of GUN's secret prison, this one locked and unlocked the same way. Shadow held up his wrist to the door, heard a beep, and it slid to the side to reveal the space within. It was the size of a crummy small apartment, but it was good enough. Far better than the one square foot prison cell he had before. A jackal with messy dreadlocks yawned as he sat up from his single full sized bed. It had a real mattress, with soft sheets and pillows. He was no longer wearing prison clothes, and like most male Mobians, wore nothing but his socks since his shoes were currently on the floor.

The GUN agent's foot hit a case of that fancy bottled water he had in his cell earlier this week. He saw that it was half empty, but there were a few more stacked in the small kitchenette section of the underground apartment. "Slept well, I see."

The jackal scratched behind his large ears. "More or less, yeah. A real bed's way better than some worn down cot covered with random stains I didn't make." He cleared his throat and turned to Shadow. "So what do I need to do, now?"

"I need you to tell me where you hid that device the doctor gave you. You said you left it in a hideout, where is it?"

"Westopolis." That old place? Can't say that was a bad decision, though. It was close enough to Station Square where they prepared the plan, yet no one would think a criminal would be hiding right next door. Westopolis was more than fully restored after the Black Arms attack, and it was now a busy town just like Station Square. A lot of people lived and prospered there now, never knowing yet another group of villains lay down at night right under their noses. "The hideout's in an abandoned casino. Check one of the slot machines, it should open the way."

Excellent. Short, sweet and to the point. Shadow appreciated that. "Very good. When I get back, I'll go over the plan." He reached within his quills to pull out a green chaos emerald. The appearance of the powerful object caused the jackal to make a double take. "What, never seen a chaos emerald before?"

Infinite shook his head. "No, you don't get it. Him," He still couldn't say his name, the mad doctor. "He was talking about them, about how they were dangerous."

Shadow paused. "Dangerous?" Sure they were, in the wrong hands, but Eggman would never say that.

"Yeah," He narrowed his heterochromic eyes at the hand sized gem. "He was saying how he wished he never used them."

"Excuse you?" Shadow replied in disbelief. "The doctor has been attempting to gather all of the emeralds for himself for years, and succeeded a staggering amount of times. Why in the world would he suddenly change his mind? And what do you mean 'never used'? What were the consequences of him using them in the past?"

Since that was indeed a good question, the jackal took a second. "Well," He tried to give some kind of answer. "He said something like, he 'awakened' something. Like he made something mad and he didn't even know it." It was common knowledge for anyone who knew of the doctor and his ridiculous methods of obtaining world domination— Eggman frequently discovered and played with powers beyond his control, only to trap both himself and Sonic Team into a situation he had wrought in the first place. Hell, Shadow wouldn't even be awake right now if Eggman had just minded his business and didn't pry into GUN's secret files. Sure, it was technically his business since his grandfather was involved, but he could have let sleeping dogs lie. But to be rueful and even scared by what he had done, this didn't sound like the man he knew and detested at all. This would also mean that the emeralds weren't at all what the doctor was after this time, which was odd in itself.

This definitely warranted further investigation, but he'd have to do that later. "...I'll keep that in mind, but we'll discuss that later. Behave yourself, or else." He was going to chaos control, until he saw a peculiar look in the jackal's eyes. "Was there something else?" He asked carelessly. That's when he remembered what Sonic told him yesterday. A serious punch of guilt struck him in his chest. His family could very well be dead, or worse, roboticized. He'd have to tell him about this soon, but he couldn't now. Perhaps he could tell him when he returned. "Sorry," Shadow quickly apologized with a softer tone. "Did you want something? More water?"

"No." The jackal shook his head and looked up at the ceiling. His irises, they were dead in color, as there wasn't a light shining in them. He breathed in and closed his eyes before lowering his head. "Good luck, I guess." That must have been it: The surface. He probably missed the sun and fresh air. However, letting him go was out of the question. Maybe instead of that, he could do something else.

Shadow gave him an alternative. "Under my supervision with handcuffs, I'll let you outside when I return."

A tiny beam of light suddenly appeared in Infinite's irises, a micro bit of hope returning to them. "I...Thank you?"

"Don't be ungrateful." The biohog scolded lightly. "Chaos Control." In a green flash, he was gone in an instant.

The jackal swallowed a gulp he didn't realize he was holding. Why was he being nice to him? How could someone as powerful as that show any ounce of compassion towards him? In all his years of pillaging, robbing, destroying and terrorizing, he never thought he'd meet his match with someone so mysterious. Shadow worked for GUN, yet Infinite could tell he only did so because he wanted to, not necessarily because he had to. Someone strong like that could up and leave anytime he wished without any real consequences. He didn't know much about the hedgehog, only that he was GUN's lapdog and that he worked with Sonic Team occasionally, but not much else. He barely got to speak or get to know him, especially considering his current situation, but he deduced that he was an enigma. Someone in a league of his own. If there was one thing Infinite learned while growing up in the squad, it was that power was everything. It gave you money, respect, influence and an army of people waiting to act on your every whim. It was the only real thing he should ever strive for, the only thing that was worthy of his time.

The only thing that was attractive.

Power.

He looked back up at the ceiling again. Maybe...

...

...No, that would never happen.

Westopolis

Afternoon, 1:00 PM

He phoned that stupid blue hedgehog over five minutes ago.

There's no reason why he was taking so long. They both could race from one end of the globe to the other in an hour at full speed, there's no reason why he should be waiting. Patience Shadow, patience. He closed his eyes and continued to wait with his arms crossed over his chest, but decided to at least meditate in the meantime. Westopolis...He hadn't been here in ages, not since the destruction his "father" caused. He still felt some shame whenever he thought about that incident, how people died and suffered under their assault. If it wasn't for him, Gerald wouldn't have made that deal and they would have never terrorized the planet. Not to mention, he didn't help the situation by picking up a bunch of machine guns and shooting at GUN soldiers and alien brethren. It was a miracle none of the humans died by his hand.

He was supposed to meditate, not lament to himself again. He had to stop doing that and focus-"Hiiiiiii~!" Never mind. Sigh. And right when he was content with him not being here, he shows up. Classic Sonic. He could see him goofily frolicking his way towards him. Was he doing that on purpose because he knew he was late? Asshole. Shadow just paid him no mind and said nothing. "Sorry for being late, I was in the shower. Can't show up to a mission stinkin', ya feel me?" Nope, he wasn't talking to him. "Aww come on, don't give me the silent treatment! I said I was sooooorry." Okay, he was definitely doing this on purpose. "Okay, okay, I mean it. I'm sorry, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night and I had to rush to get myself cleaned up."

"That's all you needed to say-"

"-Sssshhhh."

Did...

Did he just put a finger on his mouth to shush him?

"Less banter, more action. What's the plan?"

An angry glare was his reaction, at first. With a huff, Shadow finally responded after he swatted his hand away from his face. "Infinite claims there's a hideout in Westopolis. An old abandoned casino. I looked over a map and some traffic cameras, and I confirmed that there is indeed an abandoned gambling hall downtown." When he called him, he asked Sonic for help under the guise of assisting him with his mission. In actuality however, he just wanted to spend time with him and had no idea how to ask. Plus, he was on the clock. He could kill two birds with one stone this way.

The hero stretched his arms over his head before reaching down low and doing the same with his legs, one at a time. He yawned and cracked his neck before tightening his gloves. Don't stare, don't stare Shadow. Don't stare at how well figured he was. Don't. "I hate waking up late..." Sonic mumbled. "I've been in my fair share of casinos as a kid, no problem. Since it's info from a criminal, I'll be careful though."

"This isn't an elaborate trap," Shadow was slightly defensive of Infinite, but he didn't mean to make it sound that way. "He was telling the truth, I could tell."

"If you say so, but you usually know what you're doing. Lead the way! Try not to go too slow."

"Tch." An amber red boom immediately threw street dust into Sonic's face, who could do nothing but laugh while coughing. But of course in a mere instant, they were both neck and neck. As they ran, Shadow noticed Sonic was running differently than how he remembered. His form was different, a lot more efficient anatomically. Perhaps because he grew taller and bigger, made sense-Oops. He must have noticed him staring. Shit. Shadow quickly looked away.

Sonic grinned. "Like what you see or somethin'?"

There he goes again with that mouth of his. It's okay, just do what Rouge said. If he wanted to play the flirting game, he'd just racket it right on back. It was just like before when they threw insults at each other. It was nothing different, just a lot more flirty and a lot less volatile. "..." Shadow made a sharp turn, as did Sonic, and when they did, he simply said: "...And if I do?" He could tell Sonic nearly tripped and fell onto the ground at terminal velocity, making the biohog smirk triumphantly.

"W-What?"

"Pay attention, faker." Was all he responded with, not even giving Sonic the attention he desired. He could tell the hero was gawking at him, which means he was successful. Ah yes, apparently the blue one forgot that while he may be the biggest flirt, Rouge was not only older but knew the game far better than he did. He had a great teacher who couldn't be beat. As they passed fresh new tall buildings, clean concrete roads and zipping past highway vehicles, Shadow felt a sense of relief. This place looked great, as if nothing ever happened. They did excellent work, and the people were happy. He heard it took Empire City around four to five years to fully get this place up and running again. However, the damage was still done. People were scarred, and he was even a little afraid to walk around town since he looked like the very creatures that hurt them all so much. He wasn't getting any mean looks or glares, not that they could thanks to their speed anyway, but still. That guilt would eat away at him if someone suddenly pointed and ran away screaming.

Shadow glanced over at his "partner" for the day and saw that he was texting on his phone. His phone cover had tie-dye marks as well, he must have made it himself. He was smiling at the screen and chuckling under his breath. How was he doing that while following Shadow's directions? "Having fun?" He asked blandly.

"I'm just talkin' to Rouge." A ping sounded off from his phone, a notification came up. "Oh, and someone else apparently." The hero replied while scrolling.

"Friend?"

"Nah it's-" Sonic didn't elaborate any further, and he could see his fingers typing away while his smile turned into an annoyed scowl. "Asshole..." He grumbled. "Don't worry, I can feel the wind shift when you make a turn or change your speed. I know which way and how fast you're gonna go." He said as he continued to text and send those stupid emoji things, and those...Confounded GIFs.

He hated that he was feeding into it, but he legitimately wanted to know. "Who else are you talking to? The mayor?" He meant that to be sarcastic, but he knew a lot of public officials actually did have Sonic on speed dial.

"No, some douche bag who won't leave me alone."

Sonic just had a stalker, that wasn't good. "Are they stalking you?" Shadow asked with a little genuine concern. Not that he couldn't handle himself, he just didn't want him to be in danger-Chaos, why was he thinking like this all of a sudden?

"What? No, no...At least, I don't think so. I've had a few of those, to be honest. Most of them are harmless." Sonic spoke about it like it was completely normal. Well, he was a local and technically international celebrity, so maybe it was. Sounded irritating to deal with. "Oh fuck you, dude. Block." Sonic shut off the device and placed it in his quills. He was exasperated at first by whatever he saw on his phone, but now he just seemed over it. He noticed Shadow was staring at him again, so he blinked in his direction. "What?"

"You seemed bothered by that person, are they of any concern?"

Sonic scoffed and shook his head while holding up his hand. "Oh please, he wishes. An ex."

Oh, he dated before? "Oh."

"I mean, not really?" The blue one twisted his mouth around, as he wasn't sure how to describe it without coming off in a bad light. "I uh," Well, there was no easy way to say this. He abruptly got close and shoved his finger into Shadow's shoulder. "Don't judge me, got it?"

"Sure...?"

"I sleep around, one-night stands." He rose a brow at Shadow. "That cool?"

Sleep around? What, he slept in different houses-Oh. One-night stands. Oh. Huh. Well then. Color Shadow surprised, and a little red. Sonic wasn't dating anyone, he was just...Rather, experienced in that department. Nothing he wasn't used to, though. He already had a friend who did that very often when they first met, and only stopped thanks to a certain echidna. Not gonna lie, that was a bit intimidating. Shadow didn't have any experience at all. "Err, I...I mean that's your business, not mine. Rouge did that too, so I know how that can be. Sometimes I'd have to escort someone out of her place. After I lodged a foot up their ass, of course. You're grown, it's your life." He then raised a curious question. "Wait—Why do you care what I think? You never care about what anyone thinks of you."

Sonic made a difficult expression. "You'd be surprised. A rando? No, I couldn't give one shit, but my friends are another story. Y'know, I don't like disappointing them or makin' anybody worried. A lot of them don't like it, and I sure as hell don't want Tails to know. He's a kid, and he looks up to me. I don't want him to think his big bro is a huge whore, haha." He laughed as he insulted himself, but Shadow could tell he didn't actually find it funny. "Amy doesn't judge me, but she thinks I can get hurt. Knuckles hates it for the same reason Amy has, but he's super vocal about it and it's annoying."

Okay, he could see why he was demeaning himself for it but he still felt that it was rather foolish. He highly doubted Sonic the Hedgehog was a slut for hire, he just liked to have fun after dark every so often. To get his point across, Shadow decided to break it down to see if they both could determine if that opinion was actually valid. "Do you have sex with married people and break up families?"

"What? No."

"Do you sleep with someone every single night?"

"Oh God no, even I have limits. To be honest, I haven't done anything with anyone in more than half a year."

"Do you get paid for it?"

Sonic slowly craned his head while glaring daggers into his face. "...Dude, that's not even cool to ask. Do I look like I need to do that for money? As a hero? With a kid?"

Shadow was unbothered by his reaction, as he solidified his point for him. "Then you're not a whore, are you?" Sonic was going to say something back, until he blushed and kept his mouth shut. "A whore is a prostitute, or someone's who's willing to do anything to get their rocks off. You don't do that. Ergo, you're not a whore. Sounds like the only one who's judging you right now is yourself." That redness spread all across the hero's face, who just kept silent without his expression fully visible. He hoped he didn't offend him with his tone, but Shadow knew he was right. Sonic was self-deprecating for a silly reason, out of sheer insecurity. Frankly, he didn't know Sonic had one of those. Nice to know, he supposed. After a few minutes, he concluded that Sonic more than likely was going to stay silent for the rest of the run. That didn't sit well with Shadow for two reasons. One, he didn't need the silent treatment during a very important mission. Two, he...Didn't want to hurt his feelings. It sounded dumb, but he really didn't mean to do that. He was just being honest with him, but Rouge warned him of his tone. Sometimes he sounded very heartless when his words and intentions betrayed him. He didn't want to, but he might have to apologize to him later. It was the right thing to do whether he liked or not.

As of right now, that didn't matter. They arrived at their destination, skidding to a clean stop. The roads here were more split up, not as clean or smooth. There were weeds and other unwanted plants growing in between the seams of the cracked pavement. The building itself had chipping, peeling paint that had long lost its color and texture. The door wasn't even shut, it was banging itself into the doorframe from the wind. Dead leaves and branches littered the surrounding perimeter. The windows were busted, the structure looked as if it was on its last leg. It almost looked like Black Doom had returned from the dead with how much damage the place gathered after a few years. Did the city neglect to repair this building? Hopefully it wouldn't cave in on them when they got inside.

"Let's go." Shadow said.

"Yup, yup." Sonic replied, seemingly normal at the moment. Good, he wouldn't have to worry about that. Shadow traveled inside first, the hero right behind him. It was dark, and there was no electricity. There were cobwebs and eerie little insects crawling up the walls and all across the floors. Shadow even caught a couple of roaches mating, which nearly made him nauseous. The carpet they were stepping on stunk of mold and old dried water, shriveled up and torn. A couple of venue speakers were toppled down onto the floor, their wires hanging from the ceiling or completely snapped in half. Broken glass, dead mice, mold rotting the walls, it was a mess in here. He saw Sonic hold his nose, because it did indeed smell like death. It was hard to see, and as they moved forward, they no longer had the outside light from the open door. Shadow didn't have normal eyes, so he could see in the dark. Sonic however was struggling, and eventually resorted to holding onto the biohog's shoulders. "Sorry, I don't have cat-eyes like you. Can't see."

Shadow didn't expect this but he could see why he was doing it, so he excused his touching for now. It's not like he didn't like it anyway...However, that was unnecessary because Shadow had an idea. He held up his wrist and his holographic device appeared above his limiter ring. He let Sonic know that it was safe as he did so. "It was reprogrammed, meaning no one will be able to hack in and listen in on us." Its red light greatly brightened the pitch blackness. Shadow scrolled through a few settings and found what he was looking for. Suddenly, a bright cone of white light shined through his ring. He heard Sonic gasp and then watched him proceed to poke at his wrist like it was a new toy. He ignored this—admittedly silly but adorable reaction—and pushed away any distracting feelings he was currently developing in his head. He didn't stop Sonic, either.

The feelings he was trying to restrain were getting harder to hold back...

As they walked carefully through the empty casino, they got to a bigger room. There were broken and fallen over slot machines everywhere, along with destroyed or broken chairs. This must have been the main hall. Right, didn't Infinite mention something about one of them? Something about one of them was different, but he couldn't tell. There were hundreds of these things too, so that would take all day.

"Infinite said that there's something strange about one of these slot machines."

Sonic tapped his foot. "Something strange, huh? Alrighty," He tilted his head to the side and brought his hands up to the back of his quills. Shadow watched with a puzzled expression.

"What are you-"

"Hold on," Sonic then lowered his arms to reveal a single, long but thin spine. Must have been a loose one. He then looked at the sea of broken machines, his eyes honing into the middle of the room. Like a dart, he took his fingers and flung the quill into the center of the floor. For a second, nothing happened, until blue sparks of chaos energy suddenly appeared. An entire volt of the power surged through from Sonic's figure to the path of the spine he threw down. Those sparks found the electric conductors they were searching for, and instantly billowed throughout the entire casino. One by one, each slot machine lit up, singing digital chimes before spitting out dozens upon dozens of rings at once. Soon, the entire hall was surrounded by glimmering golden rings. One slot machine though, one tucked in the far right of the entire room, was violently shaking. Sonic could feel this imbalance with his chaos energy and turned to point directly at their lead. "There." Shadow watched him jog away, but he was staggered in amazement. When Sonic didn't hear him coming, he turned to see what the hold up was. "You comin'?"

Even Shadow had to give him praise for that. "...Extraordinary," He whispered. "How did you do that?"

Sonic just blew a raspberry at him. "Oh stop it, like you can't."

"It's not that I can't, I probably could but," He scratched the side of his head. "I never thought to. That's, actually kind of ingenious. You concentrated chaos energy into your quills?"

The hero playfully tugged at a few of his aforementioned quills a couple of times, before letting them fall back against his back. "My quills got pretty long, and I decided to keep 'em that way. But I shed more spines now. Then, I thought about how you spawn chaos spears." He lifted his hand, before swishing his fingers to reveal another smaller spine that was glowing with blue power in between his digits. "Like I said, I'm still not that good at using chaos energy, especially not without a chaos emerald. I took one with me for safe keeping today, so that's helpin' me out, but I can't spawn energy out of nothing that easily like you. If I do, I have to push it into something that can hold it or else I end up blowing myself up and making myself tired. You're right," He flicked the spine before dropping it on the floor. A much weaker spark of chaos energy spat out from it. "I concentrate it in my quills and it travels to the loose spines in my hair. I just pick one out and boom, power surge."

"Does it take a lot of power?"

Sonic grinned. "That's the best part, nope. Barely even a wink. I can throw these bad boys for as long as I want. Don't get me wrong though, it's not powerful by any means. It can't even short circuit a small robot. Buuuuut," He whipped his arm past his own head before readying his arm and throwing four long blue spines at the nearest wall. They stuck within the surface like death spikes. "If I use more than one-" All at once, that blue energy from before surged between all four of them, causing a bigger illumination and a much larger spark. Similar to firecrackers, they couldn't withstand their own power and a small explosion boomed from the wall. "-The energy gets multiplied, and it gets stronger and stronger because they're all individually feeding off of each other. After a while, the spines can't hold it in any longer, and then—bigger boom."

Shadow was more than impressed after he saw the damage it did to the wall, which now had a gaping hole in it. "Innovation taken to a different level, I must say." He passed Sonic a small smile, as he even felt a little flattered since he came up with the idea from watching yours truly. "Nice."

"Psssh, shuddap..." The hero delightedly pretended not to be gratified, but his huge smile and rosy cheeks contradicted that. "Now come on and let's raid this joint!" He jogged over to the machine that was currently blowing a gasket. It was shaking so much that it was lifting itself off the floor. Shadow joined him and noticed that it was indeed thrashing like a full powered water hose. "Oh yeah, it's this one. If there's a mechanism that doesn't mesh well with my energy, even with a small spine, then it's more than likely trying to interfere with something else. My guess—a secret door-" A loud boom was heard, and the pair of hedgehogs quickly turned away while covering their faces with their arms. After it was over, they felt tiny pieces of rubble fall onto their heads. They looked down at the mess of now very destroyed slot machines, including the one Sonic singled out.

It was busted entirely, it's skeleton of wiring and cogs displayed open. Then, behind them, they heard a rumbling. They turned to the wall to see dust and dirt fall onto the floor, with the ruined and burnt up wallpaper suddenly creating a door cut out. It then opened upwards slowly, inviting them inside to an unknown path. They looked at each other, then back at the doorway. "You were right, there was a secret door. So that's what Infinite meant..." Shadow tapped his limiter ring to cut off its flash light. "Let's get moving." He again went inside first, with Sonic following right behind.

The corridor they entered had dim lighting from old electric lamps, but they could still see. They could also feel that instead of flooring, they were walking down stairs. They were steep and there wasn't that much room in the corridor to begin with, so it made walking down them a challenge. It seemed to take forever, too. They couldn't just run down them either, there wasn't enough room-"...!" Shadow suddenly felt a lot of weight push onto him, causing him to lose balance and catch himself against the wall with his hands. Sonic must have tripped. He sighed and tried to push himself off, until he felt something warm against his own, including his hand. Then, he looked up to see that Sonic's hand was holding onto his on the wall. "..." Shadow's face turned pale. He was on top of him. Shadow was underneath him. No way, no way was he up against him like this. He could feel his breath against his neck, and his other hand was trapping him on the other side.

"Shit," Sonic cursed with a deep voice. "My bad." He grunted as he moved to readjust his position, soon pulling his weight off of Shadow. "There was something on the step, some kind of object." He slowly took his hand from Shadow's. "You still smell like coffee..." He mumbled, but Shadow could still hear that. "You good? I'm pretty heavy, hope I didn't bruise ya."

"I-It's," Shadow took a moment to breathe. "It's fine. I'm fine." God...Damn...Stupid...Dumb...blue...Hedgehog. He dusted himself off and cleared his throat. "What did you even trip over?" He asked as he turned around and looked down at their feet. Sonic made a noise of interest, and Shadow saw why. It looked like some kind of two-way receiver but...The GUN agent bent down to pick it up and flipped it over. Both hedgehogs scowled, because there was a big Eggman insignia on it. It was a little scratched off, but anyone could see it clear as day. "This was what Infinite used when Robotnik captured him. He said he could use this to communicate with him. If we bring it back, I can get Infinite to pull some info out of the doctor."

Sonic made an unsure frown. "Ain't them things traced, though?"

"True," Shadow agreed. "If I try to damage it with chaos energy, I might destroy it. We need delicacy." He looked at Sonic. "Think you could fry it? I could have someone at GUN repair and reprogram it."

"No problemo. Let's see," His fingers flicked, and two spines appeared between them. "One might not do it, but two will." He took it from Shadow and shoved his spines straight through the device like claws. They glowed, and those blue sparks returned. The transceiver trembled and screeched, radio static growing louder and louder until the small pop of a miniature bang ruptured from within. Smoke soared from its small container, wires drooping out of the hole the spines made. "Since my energy is in it now, I can tell the trace is gone. A frequency just disappeared, and I can feel that it was really far away."

"Not bad," Shadow commented. "So whatever you hit with your spines, your energy marks. You can sense what happens to the object after it's been tagged."

"Yup! Well, except for stuff like walls and floors." The hero corrected. "It has to be a machine or a living thing. Something that has some version of conductivity, otherwise my energy just fades into the ether."

The biohog nodded. "I see, so if the transceiver was destroyed-"

"I wouldn't be able to keep my mark on it anymore, but I would know when it was destroyed and how strong the impact was to destroy it."

"Amazing." Shadow praised while placing the device in his quills. "Your ability might not be powerful in terms of strength, but it is highly strategic, which arguably makes it better. Your training's paid off, keep at it." When he saw how giddy Sonic looked, he decided to humble him with a more snide comment. "Hmph, you might almost get as good as me one day."

Sonic pursed his lips. "I can throw one in ya forehead, too."

"Oh please," The biohog immediately dismissed him as he continued to walk down the steps. "I've had enough of you and your antics for one day."

"Oh really?" Sonic countered with a sneer. "I haven't had enough of you. I liked having you under me, it's a good place for you."

"...!" This time, the ultimate life form nearly fell completely down the stairwell. A lingering hiss drifted from his lips as a stubborn blush began to color his tan muzzle. He slowly turned to the blue one with a heavy glare. "Something you want to tell me, hedgehog?"

The hero continued to leer at him while comfortably leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "Nope. Do you?"

Steam emanated from Shadow's forehead.

The feelings he was trying to keep under wraps was unfolding, he couldn't hold them back anymore. That shitty smirk of his, that know-it-all attitude, that undeserved arrogance...

...Fuck it, that's it.

He's had enough.

In an amber red streak, Shadow instantly slammed the younger hedgehog against the cold stone wall. He had his arms pinned down, glowering at him with a frustrated expression. Sonic was a little shocked of course, and he even found himself sweating a little, but he was still smirking. "You," The striped hedgehog growled lowly, gripping his fingers into his wrists. Not too roughly, though. "Are you really trying to test my patience? Because you're doing a damn good job of it." He shoved his forehead against his, feeling him attempt to lean back from intimidation. "I'm trying to behave myself for your sake. Do you want me to beat the shit out of you that badly?" When he saw Sonic try to speak, Shadow slammed him against the wall again, causing him to wince. "Choose your next words carefully, faker."

"Heh," Sonic's grin only widened. "Yeah, you could...With something else."

8 - END - 8