*NOTE: I was waiting for this chapter to announce this disclaimer. Please read this before scrolling down.

This is a story that I have adopted from a former writer. Her name was HumansAreTheREALMonsters on , and she is no longer writing. She gave me her core ideas and concepts to me for me to expand upon and turn into a full fledged story. If you see certain terms or lore in the story from here on out that seem similar if not exactly the same as her last story, Have No Regrets (or HNR for short), this is why. She has given me expressed permission and ownership of the lore of that fanfiction, and has fully abandoned any intentions on writing anything else ever again. I will do my best to do her vision justice, while eliminating problematic themes both she and I deemed to be too toxic for an enjoyable read.

Please also keep in mind that any and all characters written in this story are NOT made up. I do not like using original characters in fanfiction. Any and all characters in IOC (Infinity of Chaos) are all somewhere within the Sonic franchise. Whether it's the Archie comics, the UK comics, the games (including the obscure ones that no one plays), unnamed background characters, or unused characters that were planned but never appeared in the franchise, they do truly exist and can be found via an easy search on any Sonic-based Wikipedia. While unused characters of the franchise never had a chance to be written officially into a comic/game/show (and could be considered non-canon at this point), they still were created by the official minds of Sonic's writers, meaning they are still official Sonic characters.

If you've made it this far, I hope you're willing to give me a chance and continue reading!

Please enjoy.

11 - The Small Truth - 11

Morning, 9:55 AM

What did he...Do to...

No.

No...

No, no no no no...

...No.

In an instant, a horrible expression diminished any joy Sonic currently had. He pulled himself away from Shadow's hold and placed a hand over his head. His eyes were shrunken, and he had a tight grimace on his face. Shocked at this sudden reaction, Shadow sat up and reached for him. "Sonic?" He asked cautiously. "Are you-"

Sonic slapped his hand away and stood up, defensively backing away. "I told you not to ask me about that, that's personal!" He yelled, his face unexpectedly panicked and even scared. "You can ask Amy, Knuckles, even Tails, but not me." He hugged his arms to his chest, his eyes darting all over the place, as if he was trying to figure out a way to get out of here. "I...I gotta go." He bent down to turn off his phone and pick up the basket, desperately moving as quick as he possibly could in literal blue blurs so he could get away. His arm was grabbed by Shadow, stopping him from doing anything else. "S-Sorry about this," Sonic tried to laugh it off, but his tone betrayed him. "I gotta do something at home. I'll call you-"

"Are you really running away? From me?" Shadow pressed with a disappointed frown. "We just got here."

"Shadow please," His voice was slightly shaken up, he was clearly upset. The biohog blinked in shock when he felt his limbs shaking within his hold. His eyes looked as if he witnessed something tragic, or absolutely ghastly. Of all the monsters, demons, Gods and other dark creatures he had ever witnessed and fought, what could he have possibly saw that frightened him this badly? Sonic was scared of no one, and even if he was, he'd never show it. He was practically begging him without actually saying it, "Just let it go. We can talk about this later, I swear-"

"Sonic," Shadow placed his hands on his shoulders. His hold was firm, but comforting. "You're afraid of something. I must have triggered something negative inside of you when I asked that, and I apologize. Sincerely." He delicately guided Sonic away from the basket, making him stand on his feet. They both walked over to the blanket and sat back down under the pergola. He kept Sonic close to him, to give him some sense of security. He saw that the hero was now almost fully guarded, he wouldn't dare look at him and his face was darkened. He remembered before that Sonic seemed uncomfortable when asking about what happened to Eggman three years ago, but he played it off a lot smoother. Perhaps because they were so vulnerable here together, he felt trapped when confronted with the question. "Do you want me to leave? Give you some space?"

A frustrated sigh escaped his lips as he lowered his head. "...No." He dragged his hand over his face. "I don't want you to leave I...I wanna be with you. I just can't answer that. I can't." He brought his knees up to his chest. "But I don't wanna hide anything from you either. Damn it..." He cursed.

"You don't have to tell me."

"But I feel like I do." Sonic reluctantly insisted. "It's not like before, we weren't dating. Now we are, and I can't be cool with the idea of me actively keeping secrets from you. Especially since this isn't a small one..." He ran his hand through his quills. "If this was something trivial like some sort of secret kink or controversial ice cream flavor, I wouldn't give a damn. But this—This...What I did, what my friends saw..."

Shadow put a hand onto his knee and stroked it gently. "What did you do?"

The hero's ears flattened. He lifted his head and turned to Shadow. "...I almost killed Eggman."

The biohog's eyes widened, and he suddenly felt a little disturbed. Sonic killing someone? That was against everything he believed in, it was against everything that he was. He was a pacifistic hero, he didn't believe in taking lives even if someone deserved it. Despite promising to take Eggman down, he was going to have him imprisoned, not murdered or executed. His grip on his knee tightened a little. "You were going to kill the doctor?" He asked almost breathlessly. "But why? You don't believe in killing."

"I know I don't," Sonic tersely replied, clenching his eyes shut in shame. "I didn't want to. At least, I don't think I did..." He trailed off with furrowed brows. "Everything—It all happened so fast, I don't even remember much of it." He tried to explain himself, as if he was confessing to some horrible crime in an interrogation room. "It was over three years ago. Eggman had this big ass bot, planning to level the whole continent with it. Knux, Amy and Tails were there to help me. It was hard, but we managed to fight our way through to his lair. He got so freakin' mad," He started chuckling a little, but that panicked look from before quickly returned. "Not gonna lie, it was kinda funny to see. He always spazzed whenever we ruined his plans, but never like this. We all laughed at him, and then...Then he," All the color in his face immediately disappeared, causing Shadow great concern. "He pressed this button, he had these robotic arms with guns attached to it. They aimed at all of my friends. He had them programmed to match my speed, so if I tried anything, he'd shoot them. He started spouting some bullshit about how he was tired of losing, and that he needed to conquer the United Federation. I dunno what he meant by that. Maybe 'cause he's growing old and hasn't made much progress in ruling over the world with us around—I'm not sure." He gulped before continuing. "He told my friends to get out and leave me there, so Eggman could deal with me alone. But then, Tails tried to make a move and-"

Shadow did not like the obvious conclusion of that sentence. "He shot Tails?"

"He shot his arm, it went right through." His voice had absolutely no tone anymore, it was completely hollow and empty. "He was bleeding so much, there was so much blood. Amy and Knuckles ran to him and I...I was stuck. I couldn't move, I didn't know what to do. Eggman wasn't even boasting that he got him, he just told us that this was a warning. If the rest of them didn't leave, he threatened to finish Tails off." Slowly, Sonic was shaking his head. "Something was different with Eggman that day, he was so pissed and I don't know why. He was so tired of me, so tired that I drove him over the edge, and us being there trashing the place made it worse. Everything went dark," Sonic whispered. "I blacked out. I couldn't hear, I couldn't see anything—I just knew I wanted to hurt him, make him pay for hurting Tails like that." A slightly dark smile curled a little on his lips, and he gripped his hand into a fist. "I scared the shit outta him so bad, I think he actually crapped himself before he ran off in that little Egg Mobile. I made sure he'd never do something like that ever again. I can't lie, that part felt good."

Shadow almost didn't want to ask. "But what happened? What did you do?" He repeated.

"I felt a bunch of negative chaos energy dwell within me," Sonic explained quietly. "It was dark, angry, powerful. I think I transformed, but I don't know into what. I don't remember. The only thing I do remember is attacking Eggman. I punched him, broke his tooth, made him cough up blood, and I shoved my foot in his fat stomach. I kept hitting him over and over and over and over..." He could feel Shadow's alarmed gaze staring at him intensely, and he only felt more shame. "I couldn't control myself, I wouldn't stop. No matter how many times I yelled in my head to stop, my body wouldn't stop moving." He looked down at his hands, his gloves perfectly clean. "I had so much blood on my fists. My friends saw all of it, including Tails." He eventually resorted to covering his face with his hands. "He said my eyes were red. They had to scream for me to stop. And when I did, I saw everything I had done. They stopped me just in time, because Eggman almost..." He sucked in a sharp inhale and got into a sitting fetal position. "It's not just Tails growing up or me nagging him—Him seeing what I became that day is why he's acting the way he is. He doesn't trust me, and he hates me for it. He's got a scar on his arm now because of me."

Okay.

Yeah that...

That was a lot.

Shadow didn't know how to respond to that, not immediately. Tails wasn't just moody because he was growing up or because Sonic was annoying him. Their relationship was strained due to what he witnessed his big brother doing that day: Nearly killing someone with his bare hands. He beat Dr. Eggman near to death, and he would never forget what he saw. None of his friends would. Now that Shadow thought about it, perhaps that was why he never saw his friends directly interact with him at the party. They always would in groups with others, but not alone. Were they keeping their distance from him? Considering how welcoming and honest they were with Shadow, he assumed that couldn't be the case. "...Are your friends avoiding you now?"

Sonic shook his head. "No, I distanced myself from them. Me talking with Amy the other day was the first time I actually sat down and talked with her in several months." He lifted his head and leaned his chin on his knees. "They forgave me, and they said Eggman had it coming. Both Knuckles and Amy were almost just as mad as I was, but they didn't expect me to do something like that."

"And you said you transformed, you had all the emeralds with you at the time?"

The hero nodded. "Yeah, I did. Knuckles said that it might be worth having them on hand in case Eggman pulled some outer space stunt again. But it turned me into something bad. That's why I said you might wanna talk with one of them, they remember everything. They know what they saw." He lowered his knees to the ground and placed his hands on the blanket as he looked downcast. "So that's what happened, and that's why Eggman hasn't been showing his face. He's scared of me. Well, scared of what I can do to him. And honestly," He clenched his teeth. "I am too." He confessed, his voice barely above a whisper. "Is this how you felt? All those years ago?"

Words weren't good enough to soothe him, so he knew he'd have to show some physical affection. With great sympathy, Shadow wrapped an arm around Sonic and pulled him close. He leaned his head against his and allowed the hero to cuddle up against him. "More or less, yes. It is. I felt like I could trust no one, not even myself."

"How did you deal with it?" Sonic asked almost innocently. "I'm fine, but every time it's brought up...I feel like I let everyone down, and I feel like I betrayed myself. I don't know how to deal with this. I've never done something like this before."

The biohog exhaled softly. "...You do realize your job may require you to kill sometimes, right?" He was asking rhetorically, but genuinely as well. "Being a hero is probably the heaviest burden one can take. I know you're a pacifist at heart, it's why you never dealt a killing blow to me or the rest of your enemies." He rubbed his shoulder blade, and his upper arm. "But sometimes, there are people so beyond redemption that there isn't any other way. I realized this when I killed my 'brother', the biolizard. And again with my 'father,' Black Doom. Sometimes words just aren't good enough, and sometimes you have to do something you'll probably regret for the rest of your life. Of course," He glanced at the hero. "I can say that easily since I was made to destroy. I felt nothing when I destroyed the biolizard, nor any regret when I killed Doom. They both needed to be stopped no matter the cost. But you," He didn't mean to pity him, but he did. He pitied anyone who had such strong ethics and empathy, because all it did was turn around and bite them in the ass. "You want everyone to have the freedom to pick who they want to be, good or bad. If they're dead, they won't have that freedom anymore. I respected your point of view, I still do. But it doesn't work with everyone, Sonic. One day, you might have to kill the doctor. And if you did, I don't think anyone could truly blame you for it."

"..." Sonic said nothing to this.

"Lashing out is definitely rare for you." Shadow pointed out. "You don't get angry or upset, but perhaps that's the problem. Rage subsides and rests like a sleeping dragon. If you never release it, it will only continue to compound itself until you snap. Then, you turn into someone you're ashamed of." He could feel Sonic wrapping his arms around his waist and using him like an upright pillow. This was probably something else Sonic needed, as he wasn't a very sensitive person. He probably didn't show anyone this side to him, not even the flings he had in the past. He just kept it all to himself until he couldn't take it anymore. Shadow could emphasize with that. "You've never seen your friends mortally wounded like that before, so I see why your rage turned into something monstrous. But," He placed his hand under his chin and lifted it to make him look at him. "What's happened had already happened. It's in the past. There's nothing you can do about it now but learn from your mistakes and move on. Unfortunately, Tails has a physical reminder of what happened on his skin, but that wasn't your fault. Tails will have to learn to forgive you, to see past your mistake. When that will happen, I don't know, but he must see reason eventually."

Lightly blushing from his rarely empathetic deep voice, Sonic placed a hand on Shadow's and leaned his face into it. "I know I'll have to kill one day. I knew it ever since I was eighteen. I knew I couldn't keep up the delusion for long, I just never wanted to admit it." He closed his eyes. "But I also know that this is the responsibility I've kept for years, and I don't plan on dropping it now. I've made my bed, I have to lay in it. I'll do whatever it takes to keep everyone safe, even if it means resorting to that. It goes against everything I believe in, but I can't...I can't keep letting this happen." Sonic stiffened as he raised his voice. "If he had aimed a little more to the right, he would have shot Tails in the heart. And if he did that," He opened his eyes, anger relit a fire in his irises. "I would have—I would have...!"

That was enough.

Shadow shoved a rough kiss into his peach lips, instantly cutting off his troublesome line of despair. Sonic was shocked by this, but he instantaneously melted into Shadow's arms. He was pressing his fingers into Sonic's head, pushing him against his body so he couldn't get away. The kiss quickly became heated, the hero gripping the GUN agent's shoulders and willingly allowing him to dominate the consummation. Slowly, Shadow broke the kiss, before leaning back in to share a much more gentle one. He felt Sonic sigh in bliss, and he could sense his stress was depleting. They broke the kiss again, and Shadow saw how ravenous his green orbs were. He wanted more, he wanted more touching too. They both fell over onto the blanket, this time with the elder hedgehog pinning down the blue blur. Lightly panting, they stared into each other's eyes with great hunger.

Having Sonic underneath him was a dream come true, and he didn't even realize the complete submissive position he had him in. Sonic's face was so flushed, and his body was so willing to be conquered. His figure was lightly moist with sweat from the biome's heat and his own hormones. His legs were opening for him, silently giving him permission to do whatever he wished. "Shadow..." He breathed his name as if it was a forbidden spell, one that was currently cursing him with a bombardment of lustful energy.

The biohog rubbed his nose against the underside of his neck, taking in more of his scent. "...You really talk too much." He really could just try something, but he couldn't. No, this didn't feel right. Not now. Shadow slowly lifted himself away from his prize, and he saw how disappointed Sonic looked. He caressed the side of his face with his hand, rubbing the pad of his thumb on his peach colored cheek. "You're beautiful."

Blushing much more heavily now, Sonic looked away. He was rarely shy, but he looked so cute like this. "Don't...Say stuff like that."

"Sonic," Shadow addressed warmly. "Don't dwell on the past, focus on the present. Your friends forgive you, Tails will come around soon enough." He brushed his thumb against the corner of his lips. "Smile for me."

He watched him crack the tiniest of smiles, knowing that cheesy line would get to him. "That was so corny..."

Shadow smirked. "And yet you fell for it."

"That's different—You're hot, of course I fell for it."

"Oh am I?" He tilted his head with a mischievous grin.

Sonic smirked back. "I only let the best of the best have me, y'know."

"And am I the very best?"

"Damn right."

10:25 AM

Before Shadow could dive right back down and attack him with yet another passionate kiss, his wrist beeped. With a tired groan, Shadow held it up to his lips. "What?" He asked rudely.

An offended sultry female voice was heard in response. "Well good morning to you too, I was checking in to see why you didn't clock in yet."

He just rolled his eyes, knowing the woman clearly didn't check her damn emails as usual. "Rouge, I told Tower I'd clock in later than usual today, I'm busy."

"Don't you get mad at me because I cock-blocked you."

Shadow immediately stood up while Sonic burst out laughing. He didn't tell her they were together yet, how the hell did she figure it out that fast? 'Guess that cat was out of the bag. "W-What!? How'd you even-!?"

"Just because I don't run as fast as you doesn't mean I'm slow, sweetheart. I don't know when you're gonna get that through your thick ass skull."

Well Sonic felt he just had to put his two cents in for a quick second. "Hiya Rouge!"

"Hey Big Blue~ I hope Mr. Sunshine isn't treating you too badly."

"Hmmm, I do feel a little neglected-"

"Don't—" Shadow made an angry whisper as he whipped his head at his boyfriend, who was currently covering his mouth to mask his devious giggling. "Do not agree with her in front of me." He then glared back at the holographics hovering above his limiter ring. "As for you, I will be clocking in soon and you will be patient until I do."

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you over your bitching."

Shadow took in a long, deep breath. "Rouge I swear to Chaos, I will tell that damned echidna that you think that stupid lynx from that brain dead bachelor show you watch is 'attractive'." It didn't take rocket science to know that Knuckles was a jealous type of lover, and she knew this. She told Shadow that in confidence some time ago, and he felt that now was a great time to use that against her.

An alarmed gasp was heard from the other end. "I'll hang you by your edgy ass quills!"

"Try to catch me first." Was all the biohog retorted with before hanging up. When he saw Sonic cackling to himself at the conversation, he wanted to run over there and punch him in the arm. But then he realized: He was smiling. He was happy, he was okay. He wasn't upset anymore, and that's all that mattered. He could yell at him for embarrassing him later. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Screw you, faker." He muttered with a faint smile of his own.

"You guys yell at each other like you're still roommates." He laughed. "I thought me and Tails were bad, but oh my God."

Shadow rolled his eyes and saw him stand up to pat off any sand he might have gotten on his fur. The biohog decided that he should probably leave, as much as he didn't want to. "...Thank you for the date, it was very nice. I'm sorry for upsetting you earlier, and I'm even more sorry if I ruined the picnic."

Sonic shook his head and hugged him from behind. "It's fine, you deserved to know. I still had super fun with you~" He kissed his cheek as he leaned against him. "Good luck at work today."

"Thanks, I'll text you later. Hey," The biohog raised his arm to scratch behind Sonic's ears. "Do you mind if I take some food home with me? It's...really good." When he felt him purr against him again, he couldn't help but make a bigger smile. He hadn't felt this content with someone in a very long time.

"Heheh, what's mine is yours. Take as much as you like."

Empire City, Unknown Location

Infinite's Prison

Evening, 11:00 PM

Tonight was the night it would finally start, and both the prisoner and the GUN agent were hyper focused. Three additional GUN agents were here, two Overlanders to help guard the hidden apartment from the inside, and the second third of Team Dark: Rouge, of course. She was able to hack the transceiver Shadow and Sonic found in the abandoned casino, after it was repaired by a GUN engineer. She also had a laptop with the secret USB they discovered in the hideout inserted. She was sitting on a shabby arm chair that could just barely fit in the space along with the other cheap furniture. Rouge was briefed on what Shadow had put in place for the last week, and was asked to assist him tonight. Before they could get to the nitty gritty however, Shadow needed to go over the evidence he found. Since Infinite was more than cooperative at this point, he had a feeling this line of questioning would be easy with quick but extremely informative answers. Since they were divulging information that Robotnik wouldn't want out by any means, they had to be ready in case he would attack. Plus, should anything happen, Shadow wanted a couple of witnesses to be able to report to Tower. He placed all of the items he and Sonic found on the table near the kitchenette. He and Infinite sat on opposite sides of the small table to discuss them in length.

Shadow pushed forward the journal first, and gave Infinite a look, basically asking him without words to begin spilling his guts like he never spilled them before. The jackal nodded, he understood the assignment. "I keep a journal of some kind on me to detail missions so I can properly communicate a plan to my team. I have a good memory, so I remember almost everything I write. The ripped out notes were important, they were notes that Egg-" He halted himself from completing that sentence. He corrected himself. "The doctor, didn't want me to keep in case I was compromised. And I can't blame him, because they were indeed very critical to his plans. They were intricate notes, because I wrote what he said word for word, which could be bad for him. Though I remember the concepts of what I wrote, I don't remember exactly what he said."

"We can work with that. What do you remember?" The biohog asked.

"He had some elaborate plan to kill Sonic the Hedgehog. Apparently it's because he has some weird 'super transformation' or something like that. I don't get it, but whatever it is, the doctor said it was dangerous and that he had to kill Sonic to get rid of it." He saw that Shadow's expression grew very suspicious of this. "He said he got scared of Sonic because of some incident that happened three years ago, and he used this super form or whatever that nearly killed him." Infinite pulled the journal over even closer, flipping through to look at the torn pages so he could remember from sight alone. "Yeah, it forced him into hiding. But," He raised his gaze back at Shadow. "He said he'd have to kill you too, because he said you had one of those things as well. I remember him saying he wasn't sure if yours was evil or not, but that he'd have to get rid of you just in case. I have no idea what he was talking about, but I'm assuming you do."

Needless to say, the ultimate life form was taken aback. Okay, this confirms Sonic's story, but Eggman thought that his and Sonic's super forms were evil? How? They weren't sentient, they were them, just literally suped up. And they weren't evil, not by any sense of the word. Shadow did some things he wasn't proud of, and he internally admitted that he liked to brood sometimes to appear more daunting than he actually was, but he wasn't evil at all. Once he killed Doom and destroyed the Black Comet, he knew he was a much better person than he initially thought of himself as. Not a great person, but good enough. "Evil?" Shadow repeated in a whisper. "Let's not...Jump to conclusions," He was mostly telling himself that, that needed more probing later. "What else do you remember?"

The jackal flipped to another torn page and closed his eyes momentarily to think. "...Yeah, I still remember. He did some research on your hero and his ancestry, said wherever he comes from is bad news. He called Sonic something, what was it...? Damn it, hold on..." He tapped his finger on the page before snapping his fingers. He had it. "Yeah, that was it. He called Sonic a Chaos Born. Whatever that is, they're apparently so powerful that he was scared of them. He thought about using them for his own plot to take over the world, that whole spiel, but then he chickened out. Said that even he was too intimidated to try that." Infinite closed the journal and leaned back in his chair, tapping his own arm as he thought about his conversations with the doctor. "It felt so weird, I remember feeling like he was spouting some big ass conspiracy theory. Why would Mobius' hero be evil? Didn't make any sense to me. If he was evil like he described, surely the kid would have tried something by now."

Sonic had some secret ancestry? An evil one? And the term Chaos Born, where did that even come from? Shadow was a little worried to say the least, because there was some truth in all of this. When he asked Sonic about what he did to Eggman, he did say that he felt he betrayed himself. As if there was some underlying feeling of actually wanting to lethally wound Eggman. Sonic said himself that he felt a tremendous amount of malevolent energy inside of him before transforming. Negative chaos energy harnessed the darkness of nefarious thoughts, so it could make one do things they would never normally do under the right circumstances and even influence their mind. It's what happened to Chaos, the God of Destruction. Too much of it corrupted him, and turned him into a monster the echidnas didn't recognize. Shadow wanted to pick Sonic's brain about this, but he was very closed off. Hypocritical to say, but it was true and that also might have been another reason why he was attracted to him. If Shadow was tight lipped about his feelings, Sonic rivaled him in that category because he was just as shut off as he was. He just made it seem like he wasn't due to his friendly demeanor.

There was one more thing Shadow thought about. Shadow did indeed do as Sonic said, and asked his friends about what he did that day three years ago. They all were defensive, and didn't want to disclose it without Sonic's permission. Once Shadow said it was okay, as the permission to do so came straight from the source himself, they were reluctant but told him what he wanted to know since they were all friends now. Sonic transformed indeed, but it wasn't a normal super form. He had the golden fur, red eyes, golden aura, all of that. But something was wrong with his eyes...They all said they were "swirling" and that Sonic's voice wasn't even his own anymore. It sounded like someone else entirely. They couldn't see much because that's just how fast he moved, but by the end of it, Eggman was coughing up blood and pleading for mercy.

Knuckles had told him, "I know I talk a lot of shit about him, but Sonic's tough. He got way tougher when he got older, so seein' an enemy get a black eye or two wasn't a surprise. I taught him to hold his strength back, 'cause you might end up destroying something important or worse, seriously hurting someone by accident. But the way he was wailing on Eggman...It was so quick, so I could barely see it, but he was really givin' it to him. Even I didn't like it, 'cause it wasn't even a fair fight. He wouldn't even let him react. He broke his arm, his teeth, his nose...There was a lot of blood. It was a mess, it screwed Sonic up really bad when he saw what he did. It...was a little uncomfortable being around him for a while."

Then Amy told him, "Sonic doesn't get angry, so I was completely shocked. He was almost frothing at the mouth, and his hands...He had all this blood on them. His fur was all messy and rough, and his voice sounded like...Well, a demon. And those scarlet red eyes, they looked hypnotic. And he almost looked like he was enjoying it. I had nightmares for a few weeks straight, to be honest. I didn't tell Sonic because I knew he'd hate himself for it. He distanced himself from everyone after that, I think he was really ashamed and upset with himself. But one thing I know for sure, that was not Super Sonic, that was something else."

Despite his very negative attitude, Tails did indeed talk. "I shouldn't tell you anything since it isn't any of your business, but fine. Yeah, Sonic wasn't quite right that day. The others didn't see it, but I did: This weird, scarlet red silhouette that was in his shadow, it looked like a living monster. I see why Amy called it a demon, because it almost seemed like it was possessing him and using his body like a vessel. And weirdly enough, I never got treated for my wound. Sonic's power did that all on it's own and healed me automatically. Usually Super Sonic has to touch where the wound is to heal you, but I don't even think he knew he did that. It was like his power was so big that it was just unconsciously spreading throughout the entire base. I didn't like it, and I still don't like it. Something's off about him, but my machines can never sense anything wrong. No negative chaos energy, nothing. I still don't get what happened, but I think he does. An inkling at the very least. He refuses to talk about it to this day and he seems different now."

Shadow didn't report any of this to Tower, because he didn't want to out Sonic's business like that. If he did, who knows how he'd look at the hero from now on. It took seconds for GUN to turn on Shadow the moment the Black Arms showed their faces, despite him never cooperating with them in the first place. Sure the man has aged since then and perhaps he's not as narrow-minded as he used to be, but Shadow couldn't take that chance. Sonic was already falsely accused of crimes before thanks to yours truly, the last thing he wanted was for them to try and imprison him again for yet another simple misunderstanding. Sure the other GUN staff in the room could run and snitch to Tower too, but Shadow's authority trumped their word in terms of serious cases like this. First off, they were too intimidated by him to go against his orders. Second, Tower wouldn't listen to a word they said, even if they made an official report. Rouge could read the room and wouldn't tell if Shadow didn't want her to. Only Shadow was allowed to legally report on this, therefore no one else's word could hold any water. So until Shadow could investigate this matter thoroughly himself, Tower would remain in the dark for now. And that went for Rouge and any of Sonic's friends, because this was very personal to the hero. Shadow has no right to make that call.

The biohog kept all of this in mind, and glanced over at the ivory bat. "You find anything on that drive?"

Rouge nodded and turned her chair. "Yup. Some of the files were corrupted and damaged, so I couldn't get all of it. However, I did extract the nucleus of what Eggman is planning. He's aiming to destroy Big Blue first and foremost." That confirmed Infinite's initial testimony. "After doing some immense studying on a place called Christmas Island, the doctor discovered some ancient ruins on the island that told of some...Bizarre ancestry that Sonic is allegedly related to. He's apparently in fear of what these relics suggested and is attempting to get rid of him. Once this is accomplished, he plans on using a mysterious object known as the Phantom Ruby that was found on this island." She made a disappointed frown. "You know I know my gems, but even I gotta admit that I couldn't find a thing about this one. Eggman currently has it in his possession and wants to use it, but only a Mobian can properly utilize it's abilities. A regular Mobian wouldn't be able to withstand it's power, and would physically implode the moment they touched it. Only a strong Mobian can handle it's power and even then, they have to be a willing host for the ruby to take over their body. The doctor found that the ruby shows the user's innermost desires, meaning that he would need someone who has a mutual goal of destroying Sonic in order to see his plan through. Once he gets that part figured out, he'll use the ruby in an attempt to dominate the world and take Sonic out for good. But even he doesn't know the true potential of what it can do."

Shadow narrowed his eyes. He had never heard of such a relic before, and the fact that Rouge didn't know about it despite being a renowned treasure hunter, was worrying. Regardless, it sounded very dangerous and way too powerful to be in the hands of Eggman. "What did the relics on Christmas Island say?"

Rouge made a puzzled expression as she tapped her fingers on a few keys. "I've scanned and analyzed relics from ancient civilizations before, but this one was odd. They told of some apocalypse, the same old doom and gloom any civilization predicts. But this one, according to Dr. Eggman, described a specific race that would assert dominance over the planet. This race apparently dates back way before the echidnas, the Black Arms, the Babylonians, and even the ancients related to Chaos. If his findings were correct, this goes way back to the very end of the original armageddon between humanity and the Xorda."

The biohog winced, good lord was that ancient history. Shadow only knew about this lore thanks to Black Doom, as the Black Arms were going to enslave Earth, but a powerful rival alien race known as the "Xorda" apparently called dibs first and he didn't want a war with them at the time. "You mean the alien race that attacked the planet tens of thousands of years ago?" Again, severely ancient history.

The bat nodded. "Yeah. It's thanks to them and their gene-bombs that humans became mutated, and either became Overlanders or Mobians. Anyway, right around then is where this race seemed to have appeared. I'm not sure if it was right after, or right before the gene-bombing. Apparently Eggman isn't sure himself, but he somehow saw this truth through the ruby itself." She made a difficult expression while shaking her head. "I see why our jackal friend says it sounds like a big ol' conspiracy theory, because this is a little much. Even for us."

She was right, this did sound like way too much confusing and strange information. His head was hurting now. Plus this was a lot of myth, too. He doubted Sonic knew about any of this. He was pretty infatuated with him, that was obvious, but he had to be honest: Sonic was no anthropologist. There was no way in hell he knew about any of this, assuming this was all even true. Even Knuckles didn't know the true depths of history of his own race, and he for sure wouldn't know about anything this far back either. Shadow would have to see all of that for himself. "Chaos, help me..." Shadow mumbled. "Alright," He looked back at Infinite. "Now for the transceiver. Listen to me, and listen well." The biohog instructed firmly. "This is what you are going to ask, and if the doctor has questions, this is what you will say."

Rouge scooted over with her chair to hand Shadow a single piece of copy paper. He thanked her before sliding it over to Infinite across the table. The text on this sheet of paper was typed, so it was easy to read. After looking over the potential lines he would say, Infinite nodded in approval.

"That's it?" The jackal scoffed. "No problem, I'll call him now."

11 - END - 11