*The beginning of this chapter contains slight sexual content.

18 - The Broken Egg - 18

Empire City

Afternoon, 2:00 PM

Giggling and lightly swishing water echoed from within Shadow's bathroom. The black tiled floors were marginally moist from soapy water slightly dripping out of a shiny, black square-shaped bathtub. The inside was red, spacious and had two small spots inside for two people to recline. The water was filled with floating bubbles and sweet smelling scents, foam and suds piling on the ends of the tub. A blue hedgehog smirked hotly, his peach arms wrapped around his elder lover's neck as they shared passionate heated kisses. He sat directly on his lap, happy to be the center of his attention. Black and red striped hands felt upon the hero's ample behind, rubbing and softly groping it before giving it a hard smack. Sonic moaned in the kiss as he was spanked, his tail wagging considerably. Shadow groaned with pleasure as he felt the younger one grind against him beneath the water, guiding his hips to move faster. Their tongues danced together roughly, grunting and moaning softly. Shadow thrusted harshly against him, causing Sonic to break the kiss with a startled moan. "I-I thought you said you weren't up for another round...?" He panted as he hopped up and down in his lap, causing the water to splash a little over the tub's edge. "A-Aahh...I almost forgot how big you were...It feels like I'm grinding against a yard stick..."

Shadow licked his lips hungrily with a sexual growl as he watched him. "I never said that," He sultrily reminded him. "You said you weren't ready, yet here you are bouncing on me like a dog in heat. I thought I couldn't keep my hands off you, but perhaps you can't get enough of me either, hedgehog." He suddenly sharply inhaled when he felt Sonic slam himself on top of him. "F-Fuck..."

Sonic gripped his chest fur tightly as he moved his pelvis back and forth against his crotch. "Keep talkin' shit and I'll make you eat those words, faker. Mmn," He used his other hand to grip the edge of the tub. "You feel so good..."

Hissing with lust, Shadow spanked him again. "Move faster, and don't stop unless I say otherwise."

A loud vibrating noise was heard from the bedroom, causing them to pause for a brief moment. They slowly looked at the open door leading back to the bedroom, making Shadow sigh in exasperation. He knew what that was, and it annoyed him. "That your phone, babe?" The hero asked. Shadow just answered by lightly tapping Sonic on the ass to silently gesture for him to get off, as much as he didn't want him to. He couldn't ignore that call, could be an emergency. Chuckling at his frustration, the hero sensually stretched his body upwards, similar to a feline, before stepping out of the tub. Water dripped down his blue fur, his quills weighted down from the liquid. He reached behind his head to shake some of it out of his hair while Shadow reluctantly climbed out. "Don't yell at 'em, they didn't know you were gettin' to the bone-zone."

"If it's Rouge, I'm gonna set all of her heels on fire." Shadow grumbled as he walked past the towel rack on the wall, snatching one off before entering the bedroom. He used it to dry his head and his own quills off as he walked inside, careful of the slippery wet tiles. His feet hit the black carpet of his bedroom. He really did not feel like talking to anybody right now, so he attempted to remind himself not to be rude. He stood in front of the nightstand to pick up his smartphone and swiped his thumb across the screen. He held the device up to his face with a tired expression. "Hello." His ear perked up to the sound of Tower's voice. "...Tower?" His voice sounded panicked and extremely worried, which wasn't like the old man at all. Shit, that wasn't good. He muted the phone real quick before calling for Sonic. "Sonic." He watched his blue lover step into the room with a towel around his shoulders, a concerned expression on his face. He knew Shadow wouldn't call him like that unless he really needed him. He motioned for him to come closer, but be silent. The hero nodded and stepped closer to the bed with anticipation as Shadow placed the call on speaker phone. "Tower, repeat that again."

"We haven't told the local news or any public figures. Only GUN and the faculty of Prison Island know this: Dr. Robotnik was just arrested."

Both of their eyes dilated. "What...?" Shadow asked in disbelief."

The Overlander sounded absolutely bewildered on the phone, as if he was blindsided by someone. "Shadow, it just happened late last night but I was only just informed about it this morning. I had to look into it myself before I decided to tell you and a few other trusted agents." He heard a heavy sigh, almost as if the man was dragging his hand over his face. "Of course, this should be reported to Sonic the Hedgehog as well. As much as I hate to admit it, this was his nemesis to defeat, not ours, regardless of our views. I know he'll be pissed at us for a while, a pain in my ass for sure." Shadow saw the hero roll his eyes with an irked scowl. "Even the warden of Prison Island, a high ranking GUN soldier, is confused as to how this happened. Someone—we don't know who—somehow captured Robotnik and escorted him to the prison at its front gates." Both hedgehogs shared a look of shock and worry, this was almost unbelievable.

"Are you sure it wasn't Infinite?" Shadow asked.

"To be honest, we don't know." Tower confessed. "I suspected as such due to your current mission, and yet...Something feels off, I don't think it was him. This is just a theory, but I believe this is a third party, someone who has nothing to do with any of this." Shadow darted his eyes to Sonic, who instantly knew what he wanted. He pulled off his towel to place it on the bed and walked away to the other side of the bedroom. "The man was passed out and when he came to, he was completely confused. There was a single bruise to his head, one not intended to kill. It seems he doesn't know his own attacker or even how he got there in the first place. Even after questioning him, he claims he has no idea what's going on and my interrogators felt inclined to believe him. I need you to get over there ASAP. Find out what you can, and have Sonic come with you. If you can't pry it out of him, he might be able to." Sonic came back over with Shadow's shoes, gloves and limiter rings. He had already dressed himself in his own iconic footwear and gloves, standing by until the biohog was ready. "Shadow," Tower addressed seriously. "Be careful. Many GUN soldiers have reported a strange sense of dread or uneasiness ever since I received word of Robotnik's incarceration. Whoever this person is, they were strong enough to not only penetrate Eggman's defenses, but delivered him to Prison Island practically wrapped in a bow. They are not to be trifled with."

Shadow pulled off his own towel and placed down the phone while putting on his shoes. "And if I were to find this person?"

A scoff was heard from the other end. "Frankly, I'd tell you to neutralize them and bring them into GUN custody. But," The old man trailed off. "This person—They don't seem like the normal international criminals and top secret crooks I normally give you. This person is undoubtedly extremely dangerous. Do not engage if you do not have to. If you do," Tower hesitated in continuing. "Retreating is not frowned upon in our line work."

Do not engage? Retreating? Tch, who did he think he was talking to? Of course, if Tower was warning Shadow of all people, then his concerns were somewhat validated. However, he felt a little underestimated. There was no one in this world who could beat him, except for only one blue idiot that he was pitifully infatuated with. And even then, he could only attempt to truly defeat Shadow on a good day. He admitted that it was indeed troubling that someone slipped in and out of Eggman's defenses easily, with the doctor in tow at that. And he didn't like the idea of everyone in GUN reporting a shared sense of danger approaching, despite the majority of them not knowing anything about this incident. So fine, Shadow would keep his guard up as usual, but he wouldn't run away from this. The biohog stood up while holding the phone in his hand. "I appreciate your concern, but I promise you Tower, I don't plan on losing to anyone. I'll have the hedgehog with me when I interview the doctor, and after I do, I'll be going after this so-called marauder."

"Good luck, special elite agent Shadow. I'll need a full report, of course."

"Likewise. Over and out." He hung up the phone and placed it in his quills before looking at Sonic. "You heard all that, right?"

Sonic nodded once. "Yup. I don't mind going on a trip down memory lane, you?"

"Hmph," Shadow made a small smirk. He grasped Sonic's hand. "Chaos Control."

They were both gone in a green flash.

United Federation Territory

Prison Island, Prison Lane

Afternoon, 3:00 PM

The elder hedgehog had to admit that it was a little weird being here again of all places, the very place where he was placed in cryostasis for so many years. This was where he was awakened, where he and Sonic fought for the second time, and where he first saved Rouge's life. It was an important location to his origins, not necessarily to him personally, but he couldn't ignore it's significance in his infantile start at being...More humane, for lack of a better term. Of course he still blew the joint sky high, another one of his regrets that he had nearly forgotten about. However, the island was rebuilt and there were no lives lost that day. He couldn't have asked for a better result, so at least he could walk the prison's grounds without too much guilt. When they teleported to the entrance of the prison itself, the guards were understandably startled. Once they saw it was GUN SEA Shadow and Sonic the freakin' Hedgehog, they immediately lowered their guard. In fact, they were pretty friendly, if not a little guilty-looking for once having Sonic imprisoned over a certain someone.

One of them looked psyched that he was there actually, and Shadow quickly saw why—They were one of his colleagues who attended the party a week ago. His proper military stance instantly broke and gave the blue blur a fist bump, saying how he had an amazing time. However, this isn't the only reason why this agent was chummy with the hero. "Oh and don't worry, we got that guy who was stalking you locked up nice and tight. One of them Jackal Squad guys or something, right? Well, he won't be pulling something like that again." This was the soldier who helped Sonic have his stalker arrested, who just so happened to be a spy for Infinite who was keeping an eye on GUN. Sonic gave a thumbs up, as he was glad to be rid of the second-grade mercenary. Needless to say, the two hedgehogs were let in effortlessly into the prison. They walked into the main corridor down the various entrances of the prison sections, before being escorted to the west block by another GUN soldier. This one, Shadow personally knew well.

Agent Topaz, Rouge's favorite and a gal pal of hers apparently. She too was at the party, she was the one Sonic had to escort out of the building due to her getting sick from taking too many shots without eating. She gave them a warm smile when she saw them and began escorting them to Dr. Eggman's cell. "Everybody's been on edge since they dragged him in," She said, her voice becoming more troubled as they walked. "It's weird, you know? I've never felt this kind of tension before, nobody gets it. And weirdly enough, even Eggman's been real tense. It's not just because he's gonna be put away forever, but because of something else. He's scared of something, but we can't imagine what." After a few minutes of walking past armed guards, showing off badges and using key cards to access certain parts of the block, they finally arrived. She took a few steps back while nodding to the hedgehogs. "He's there. Don't be surprised if you don't get anything outta him. We're not sure if he's faking it or not, but he's way too spacey to talk to at length." She bowed her head before exiting the corridor.

This entire hall was dedicated to only one large cell. It was unlike any other, and was see-through. Not with the typical iron bars, but with glass. When Shadow knocked his knuckles against it, he realized just how tough this material was. "This is AM-III glass. It's hard enough to scratch diamonds, nothing can get through this." The cell was fitted with nearly the same crappy set up Infinite had in his holding cell. Seeing Robotnik in orange was a little unnerving to say the least, as it just didn't belong on him. He probably hoped that one day either Sonic or his own inventions would take him out, not a prison cell. It almost felt like a high-tech hamster cage. After Shadow knocked on the window, the fat human inside slowly lifted his head. He was sitting on a large cot, its sheets a mess. He looked downcast, beyond depressed and lost. The only thing he kept on his attire were his pair of glasses. He simply scoffed at the two hedgehogs. Since Eggman was possibly the most dangerous criminal in the world, they couldn't go inside to speak with him. Instead, there was an intercom on the side of the cell.

Shadow pressed the button to speak. "Doctor..." He addressed slowly, still in disbelief that he was finally in prison after all these years. "...Is that you?"

"Who else would it be?" The Overlander spat. "I admit, I'm shocked that one of you managed to slip right into my base like it was nothing. Not even Rouge or Espio of the Chaotix could have made it that far, not with the defenses I prepared. The things I had planned, the machines I had inside lying in wait, just patiently expecting the moment an intruder would enter my domain...No one could have survived the trap I would have sprung, not even with chaos energy. Not even if you transformed with the emeralds. And yet," He sighed and looked away. "Here I am."

The hedgehogs both shared a worrying glance. Neither of them did this, they were with each other all weekend. "Doctor," Shadow addressed somewhat respectfully. "Neither Sonic or myself ever approached your base. We didn't do this, everyone else is just as baffled as you are. In fact," He saw the human furrow his brows at this revelation. "We're here because we thought you could tell us who it was who arrested you."

The human glanced up at the walls of his cell before answering, as if trying to remember that night. "It's strange," He said. "I know something happened, and I know there was an intruder. And yet, I can't remember anything. I only remember being conked on the head and...I woke up here. They tried interrogating me, to which they failed quickly. Nobody can play mind games better than a genius of a three hundred IQ." He scratched the top of his bald head, frowning. "But I truly don't understand what happened. I don't know who hit me, I don't know who took me. I know that the only two people in this world who could ever find some way of trouncing my defenses would be one of you two, yet you claim you weren't there. As much as I don't want to, I can't help but believe you. After all, I would have remembered if it was one of you." He stroked his mustache curiously. "I can't even remember what that bastard said to me before they hit me. Not even their appearance. It was like they were never there at all."

"Was it perhaps Infinite?" Shadow asked.

Eggman shook his head. "No, no I don't think so. Infinite was hooked up to machines, tubes passing through several points of his body, submerged into liquid chaos. There was no way he could have gotten out of his pod." He then shrugged and threw up his hands. "If you two don't know anything, and if I don't know anything, which is rare, this is going nowhere. 'Guess you wasted your time for nothing." He made a bitter laugh. "You might as well go back home, unless you'd like to watch the great and mighty Eggman's historic and tragic fall from grace a little longer?" He then whipped his head in Sonic's direction, his frown turning into a heinous scowl. "I'm sure you're eating this up, you blue rat."

Sonic gave him an unimpressed stare. "I'm just sad I wasn't the one to put you in here myself, baldy."

Eggman ran towards the window and threw out his arm, pointing a rigid finger at the hero against the glass. "If anyone should be in here, it should be you! You demon!" He shouted with great anger.

In silence, Sonic's face just slowly contorted into an expression of rage beyond anything Shadow's ever witnessed. "..."

That caught him off guard for a moment, he never saw Sonic look like that before. "Sonic?"

Then, a small chuckle fell from the blue one's lips. "Heheheh," He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned close towards the glass. "Hey Eggface? We investigated that island you went to, Christmas Island. How you found out where I was born, I'll never know. How you dug up those ruins and managed to get that shitty little micro drone inside of that cave, I'll probably never know that either. But I'll tell you something I do know." He tilted his head with a taunting smile. "After all these years of scheming, plotting, nearly killing me, nearly killing my friends, manipulating Shadow and using him as a weapon, blowing a hole into the moon, splitting up the entire planet into checker pieces, enslaving an entire alien race, turning me into a damn werehog, unleashing wrathful ancient gods for your own amusement, attempting to steal some magic rug, making a robot version of me that nearly wiped out the entire globe and so much more that I can't even name—It's nice to finally see you in some orange." He took a small inhale from naming only the tip of the iceberg of Eggman's wrongdoings. "I was so stupid as a kid, letting you run amok. You've made so many people's lives hell, but now you'll never hurt anyone again." His voice deepened as he narrowed his green eyes down at the Overlander. "I thought you were better than to buy into some bullshit about some alleged bloodline of mine. You know who I am, yet you're acting like you don't. For that, you deserve whatever happens to you in here, and I mean that."

After a brief moment of silence, Eggman continued to glower back at the hedgehog. "If you went to that island like I did and found those ruins, then you know why I'm a lot more hostile towards you than usual." He retorted. "If only I knew that squirmy, portly little hedgehog pup I met decades ago would be the key to world destruction. You're even worse than the Black Arms, you devilish little wretch. I should have killed you when you were young, that way none of us would have to endure the hell that would come. But," He made a knowing smirk. "I have good reason to believe that Infinite will stop you in your tracks soon enough, and then everyone will know just how evil their hero is."

Okay as riveting as this conversation of slinging mud was, Shadow had to step in. "First," The ultimate life form curtly interrupted. "You will not insult him in my presence. I think we're all a little beyond playground insults at this point. Second, your words are false. Faker isn't anywhere near as demonic as your actions have proven thus far. He saves the world, while you only wish to dominate it for your own gain. We did indeed examine the ruins, and we did find some text claiming some vague, cryptic concept of a domineering ancient race. Nothing however, explicitly points to Sonic as being some harbinger of the apocalypse. I think you got your notes wrong, doctor."

"Oh please, you're barely worth trusting either, project." Eggman hissed.

Shadow gritted his teeth and took a threatening step forward. "The hell did you just call me?" That word was a huge trigger for Shadow, practically a slur in his perspective. He was no longer some experiment, he was a living person and he'd be damned if he let some washed up mad scientist call him as anything less.

"You and that blue rat must be in cahoots, I just don't know how." Eggman stepped away from the glass with his arms behind his back, pacing around the cell. "I know you were able to read everything on the island thanks to your chaotic abilities, but I didn't need to do that. The moment I landed, the ruby was waiting for me, right then and there on the sand. Of course, the island attacked me for it, these strange hands made of chaos slaughtered my robots and nearly took me out along with them. But I got what I needed. Once I touched that cursed ruby..." His expression grew from frustrated, to fearful in seconds. "Ever since I touched that thing, it's corrupted my mind. And when I got captured by that interloper, something broke. Every time I even try to think of an idea to escape this confounded place, everything goes blank and I get this terrible headache. The entire time, I only saw visions in the ruby and it never harmed me. It's like the ruby's influence only triggered my psyche the moment I was arrested. It won't let me think anymore, it won't let me leave this prison. And then...the things I saw...The things I could see through that ruby...With you," He glared back at Sonic. "Being at the center of it all, I saw everything. Your lineage, your ancestry, and the very things that spawned you. No doubt Infinite will see that vision too, and he'll do what he can to stop you."

Sonic just shook his head. "I don't even know what you're talking about-"

"Like hell you don't, you disgusting rodent!" Eggman screamed while pointing again. "You say whatever you want about me, but I never wished for genocide! I only wanted the world for my own. You...You and your repulsive bloodline...You all want nothing but death and subjugation! Whoever doesn't fall in line dies, regardless of whether they're friend or foe." He lowered his voice significantly. "I may have done terrible things to you and your precious world, but I never, ever, lied to you about who I am. I never let you believe a lie for decades to lull you into a false sense of hope and security. That's a level of evil even I can't respect. You betrayed everyone, including your stupid little friends. You made everyone, including me, think you were a hero, when you're nothing but a tyrant that even I can't bear to look at in the eyes. You're an even bigger monster than me."

"...I'm not-"

"Yes you are!"

"I am not!" Sonic yelled back, slamming his fist into the glass. It cracked, its veins of damage spreading throughout the cell's perimeter. This act of anger caused Eggman to flinch, taking a few steps backwards with caution. "You're using that as evidence to paint me as some comic book villain? Are you fucking kidding me!?" He shouted. "I would happily die before I ever stooped to your level, you fat lard! I am nothing like you, and I'm sure as hell not worse. And the worst part is, you should know better. You've known me since I was a child, and you really think I'd pull something like that? I have people I love and care about, and I don't plan on hurting anyone any time soon. As much as I'd love to cave your God damned chest in through your old, shriveled up lungs," Sonic turned away and lowered his fist. "I won't. 'Cause I don't like hurting bad people like you, either. You're not worth the sweat or the blood." He closed his eyes as he spoke tersely. "I didn't transform that day because I wanted to kill you. I transformed because you nearly killed my little brother and I'm so sorry, but yeah, you pissed me the hell off. More than you ever had in my entire life. And I'll be honest," Sonic suddenly said. "I'm sorry I almost killed you, I really am. I don't like instilling that kind of fear into anybody, not even you." Then, he scoffed scornfully. "But you sure as hell deserved it. Have fun in your new home, you old fool."

After he said that, both Shadow and Eggman watched as the hero walked to the other side of the corridor. He leaned against the wall, looking at nowhere in silence. He had enough of this conversation and at this point, was just waiting for Shadow to wrap this up. Sighing, the biohog turned his attention back to Eggman. "I don't know what you or Infinite saw because of that ruby, but I guarantee you, something is amiss. Sonic would never do such a thing, and that's coming from me. I don't get fooled easily, and unlike the rest of you, I don't have a familiarity bias with him. Like he said, you two have a long history that goes beyond any of his friends. He's been fighting you since he was small, you two should know each other better than anyone else. If anything, you should be the one debunking this and defending him, not me." Shadow aptly pointed out. "I've only known him for much lesser years than you all have. I knew Sonic was a good person the moment I met him, and I can tell he doesn't have an evil bone in his body. He couldn't kill anyone even if he wanted to. For example,"

He gestured for the doctor to look over at the hero, whose posture and demeanor was very agitated at the moment. "..."

"I killed Black Doom and destroyed my bio-brother without hesitation, so I suppose one could label me as a killer." Shadow continued calmly. "As such, I know when someone has blood lust. And right now, he wants to bust into your cell and rip your head off, I can sense it. But he won't, because he can't. He doesn't have it in him. Even when this whole transformation incident took place a few years ago, he still didn't kill you. He held himself back despite the fact that you nearly murdered his family right in front of him. And if he's not willing to kill someone like you," Shadow leaned closer towards the glass. "The person who's constantly hurt everything he ever held dear, what makes you think he would ever destroy the world?" He stepped away from the glass and held his hand up to the intercom. "I'll find the person responsible for this, and I'll get to the bottom of this Phantom Ruby nonsense. But I'll leave you with this: Infinite and I have been working together for a while, he was never on your side." He saw Eggman's glasses flash with an unreadable expression. He must have known he was backstabbing him the whole time. "Just like everyone else in the world, he despises you, especially for what you did to his family. Now that he has the ruby and accomplished his end of the mission, I'm sure he'll have no issue with telling me what the hell's going on. And even if it all turns out to be true that Sonic is related to a race of evil beings, I promise you, he won't turn out like them. And if he needs to, he'll fight against them. Just like I did with Black Doom." Shadow turned away and uttered a few more things. "Goodbye, Dr. Robotnik. Your grandfather would be ashamed of the evils you caused, but for the many milestones you've made in scientific technology, he'd be more than proud." He pressed his hand on the button to cut off audio from outside of the cell, and walked away.

Eggman watched this, his words echoing in his head.

...

...He returned to his bed and sat down to stare at the wall.

Shadow gently placed a hand on Sonic's shoulder, who lifted his head and glanced at him with an unknown expression. He didn't know what the hero was thinking. Shadow at least knew Sonic was a little upset, though. Sonic knew Eggman wasn't pulling anything out of his ass just to insult him. The doctor may have been scared of death or losing, but he was never scared of a single person or thing. So the fact that he feared whatever he saw in that ruby, must have had some truth to it. Sonic knew this, and he knew he couldn't deny this. Something was wrong, and it involved him whether he liked it or not. He hated this, because Eggman never lied not once in their entire conversation. Sonic looked shameful, upset with himself most of all, but Shadow couldn't tell for sure. "You don't have to comfort me y'know, I'm fine. I'm not a little kid." The blue one mumbled dismissively. "It's fine." A lot of unspoken emotions were displayed in that shouting match they had, Shadow could tell. Like Tower said, this is immensely personal for Sonic. Nobody fought against the doctor longer than he has. He felt a strong betrayal from Eggman as well, feeling that the doctor should have known better than to think his old nemesis would ever be that evil. They always held some level of respect for each other, so perhaps he figured the doctor should have had more faith in him? The biohog wasn't too positive, Sonic was so closed off about stuff like that. Sometimes, he acted far more mysterious than he looked. Shadow placed a soft kiss on his lips. Sonic immediately blushed and panicked. "Y-Yo, there's cameras in here!"

"I don't care." Shadow quickly replied. "Just remember our promise."

"I do, I won't break it."

"Come on," He grasped his hand. "We'll go home and-" His ring beeped. A red holographic appeared, and a name popped up in bold semi-transparent letters. "That's not good," Shadow muttered as he realized it said: "Rouge." Why was she calling him now? He held up his wrist to his muzzle and began speaking. "Rouge, what's wrong?" She would never contact him like this if it was something simple. Plus, it was the weekend, they were both supposed to be off right now. Usually she'd be hanging around with Knuckles or doing her normal casual activities.

"Shadow, we might have a problem. A big problem." Her voice was a little nervous, and she sounded as if she was running.

This alarmed Shadow greatly, this was Rouge he was talking to. She never got anxious about anything. "What's going on? Are you safe?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm okay." She surely didn't sound okay. "I'm okay but...someone was just here in my apartment. They just walked right in my kitchen and asked me if I knew where you or Sonic was. The door was locked, and there was no sign of a break-in. It was like they just teleported inside, like Chaos Control."

Teleported? So this person could use chaos energy? And they broke into her house without her even knowing? GUN's best spy? That definitely wasn't good indeed, but still nothing he couldn't handle. However, now it was Shadow that was a little pissed off. Someone invaded his best friend's privacy and clearly frightened her. They would pay dearly for this. "Did they hurt you?"

"No. Honestly, they didn't seem interested in me at all. But then, they mumbled something about going to Angel Island. Shadow," She added with a slightly more anxious tone. "Knuckles, Amy and Tails are there. If that person shows up, who knows what they'll do to them. They're probably going to ask them about you two. They didn't do anything to me, but I don't know if the same will go for Sonic's friends. Plus, the Master Emerald is there. They might want it for power." He could hear heels clicking against a floor, she was probably leaving her apartment. "You need to stop them before it's too late, I already reported this to Tower. Go there now, get Sonic."

"Already a step ahead of you," Shadow replied as Sonic gave him a troubled grimace. "If you're going, don't get reckless. If it gets too dangerous, escort faker's friends off of the island as fast as possible and wait for back up. This person did something to Eggman, and they've even made Tower nervous. Everyone's been sensing that something big is going to occur. If that happens, I want you miles away. Do you understand?"

Reluctantly, Rouge sighed. "Yes, I understand. But you be careful too. Both of you."

"I'll meet you there, stay out of sight until then. Over and out." He looked at Sonic and tightened his hold on his hand. "You heard her, right?" Shadow asked, watching the hero nod quickly. "Your friends are in danger and this marauder scared Rouge. They're on Angel Island, which is bad. If they get their hands on the Master Emerald, this can get far worse. We don't know what they want, and they efficiently had Eggman captured and arrested. From the way Rouge described it, they might be able to use chaos energy. This means they're stronger than your average thug." He stared at him considerably. "Are you ready for this and whatever else that may come?"

Sonic gazed at their joined hands, feeling the warmth in Shadow's palm. Sonic knew for a long time that something was going to pop off, he just didn't think it would all turn out like this. Then he thought about everything Eggman said, including everything else they've discovered so far. If something really big was going to happen right now, he couldn't look back. He couldn't get cold feet and he couldn't flinch. He had to come at this head on, and with Shadow behind him, he believed he could do anything. No one would be too tough for them together. He looked into his amber red eyes with a charming smile. "If push comes to shove, besides the one you have to chaos control, I have all the emeralds on me already. If we gotta bust 'em out and take this loser down together, so be it. They've got our family in danger, after all." His smile became more determined. "I wanna go back to our cozy little weekend getaway at your place, and do nothing but laze about and mess around. So let's finish this quickly, alright?"

Shadow nodded, that's all the confirmation he needed.

"Chaos control."

18 - END - 18