47 - Red & Black - 47

2:00 PM

He always hated conference rooms, even in the HQ. They were stuffy and smelled faintly of old tattered plastic. He stared out the tall windows of the room, the sounds of the politician and his posse of white collared sycophants going from one ear and out of the other. He didn't care about what they were talking about, and he really wasn't in the mood to even be in here. He wished he could skip it, but it wouldn't look good on paper and he couldn't damage his perfect record. It was more of a pride thing at this point, but still, he didn't feel like the headache a negative political reputation would cause him. If he could, he'd fall right asleep on them all without a care.

As a shadow leader of an entire city, active general of the world's strongest intergalactic military, and being the warden in charge of some of the multiverse's worst entities to ever exist, Zhadow the Hedgehog was an incredibly busy man-err...hedgehog. He had many documents to fill, many people to meet and shake hands with, many meetings and many responsibilities. With so many important jobs, he was loaded with wealth beyond anyone's wildest dreams. If he had children, his money would last at least ten generations of descendants a lifetime without so much as even making a slight dent into his savings. If he really wanted to, he could build a pool deep enough to hit the planet's core and fill it up with nothing but rings and bills to quite literally swim in it. He didn't think his abnormal life would turn this way, and he never sought for it. He didn't expect to be an intergalactic police chief slash general, he didn't expect to be a shadow world leader, he didn't expect to find out that there were other versions of himself living their own lives, and he surely didn't expect to fall in love. He obviously created a nice life for himself, and for that he was proud. However, he always had a lingering question floating in his mind...

...Is this what he really wanted?

He knew he wanted Zonic, that was obvious. He'd never question that, and he wouldn't change it even if the world's safety depended on it. His love for him was too engrained to ever doubt. No, what he wondered was if he really wanted to be the General of No Zone Corps. Did he really want that? Did he really want to be the Warden of No Zone Prison? Did he really want to be one of No Zone's powerful shadow politicians? He didn't expect himself to be dedicated to such slimy occupations so thoroughly, but then he disgusted himself, because...Of course he took to these jobs effortlessly. Slime, corruption and deception was all he was good for. Did he think he was repenting by working all of these responsibilities? He wasn't sure, and again, he didn't even know if this was what he wanted. He was just going day by day, doing the tasks he knew he had to do without even thinking. His body's been on auto pilot for decades, it was hard to think differently. He wished he could talk to Zonic about it, but he was too busy and stressed with his own destiny. Not to mention they weren't on good terms anyway-

"General Zhadow? General Zhadow, are you even listening?"

He sighed.

Life was never simple. Sometimes he wished it was, but perhaps that'd take the fun out of it-

"General Zhadow!"

Ugh.

Irritated from being mentally interrupted, Zhadow made a deep frown and leaned further back in his seat. A vein appeared on his head, but he wouldn't let them know he was annoyed. He'd handle this professionally as usual. Through his shades, he glared at the scrawny middle-aged thylacine who was angrily glowering right back at the hedgehog. God, weren't those things extinct? How did a strand of that specific animal DNA create a Zonian? Yuck, and that blue suit was not doing him any favors. And what brand of cologne was that? It smelled like a trailer park, with a side of feline ammonia. The No Zone general rolled his eyes, he didn't care at this point. Bastard still looked as ugly as he was unscrupulous. "My apologies," Zhadow finally said. "Did you say something or...?"

"Unbelievable!" The thylacine yelled while standing up out of his seat and pointing directly at the general. "First you grace us with your lackluster appearance over thirty minutes late, you rudely forget my name and you're not even paying attention to this meeting! Do you have any idea how important this conference is?" He slammed his fist down on the boat-shaped boardroom table. "We have to figure out the financing for this city, the largest and most profitable district in No Zone, might I add! This is crucial, because we've had to splurge money on repairs all across town thanks to your former warden!"

Zhadow was painfully bored. "I genuinely don't see how this is my problem."

"You're the damn leader of this city!"

This made the commander chuckle a little, what a bold faced lie. "No, you're the leader of Parallel City." He roughly noted as he watched the marsupial growl under his breath. "Need I remind you that I am the shadow mayor of this city? We made a deal that I would only step in when absolutely necessary, which was authorized by our esteemed president. As of right now, I don't see a reason to assert my authority over a mess that you can very easily clean up." He crossed his legs and folded his hands over his lap. "So you ran out of a little money, who cares? I don't."

The mayor of No Zone grew impatient at Zhadow's uncooperative attitude. "You should care, because without that money, we won't be able to finance critical components of Parallel City's government!"

"Okay, so stop splurging on expensive dominatrix gigolos and put that money towards those that lack funding."

The thylacine's face grew red as he took a few steps backwards. His colleagues around him raised their brows and slowly turned to him with shocked, amused and disgusted expressions. "...! H-How dare you!?"

Zhadow twiddled his thumbs in an impatient manner. "Well there aren't any reporters in here, and there's no shame in sexual gratification so long as it's legal, consensual and not inherently morally repulsive. I won't judge you for what you do in your spare time, it's quite frankly none of my business." A vexed dark red glint shined from behind his sunglasses. "What is my business however, is your pathetic neglect on my city."

"How about you quit acting so arrogantly, and do your job as a shadow mayor, then?" The marsupial yelled.

"Oh I'd be absolutely delighted to," Zhadow retorted with a sarcastic smile. "But I don't think you or the powdered wig higher ups would appreciate what I have in mind. Besides, that goes both beyond my agreement and diminishes my time dedicated to other important matters. Do you have any idea how busy I am? I already have to do most of the work for you idiots, but I also have an entire intergalactic military and a supreme maximum security prison to run." He smirked as he began to glare at the rest of the flock of ass-kissers. "God forbid some of the funding for No Zone HQ was suddenly pulled, or we might not have enough soldiers to watch over those scary criminals you all fear so much. You're pulling me thin all because you don't know how to do the very job you signed yourself up for, due to your own massive greed and lust." Zhadow shrugged. "It's simple: Stop being a selfish prick."

The marsupial began to march his way over to Zhadow's chair from across the table. "That's it, I've had enough of you!" He suddenly made a nauseatingly crass smirk. "I'm sure we'd all rather Vice Leader Zonic replaced you. He's far easier to work with..." He mumbled something no one else could hear. "...and to look at..." He cleared his throat and normalized the volume of his voice. "But we're unfortunately forced to deal with the likes of a negligent dictator like you. I've got the president on speed dial, and I assure you that you'll be hearing from my lawyers-"

A crashing sound.

One of the windows was instantly destroyed as a No Zone armored policeman was thrown directly into the boardroom, crashing into the table and destroying anything on top of it. Laptops, phones and tablets were dropped or immediately damaged beyond repair from the harsh collision. The unknown officer struggled to get up, as that landing was very brutal. Everyone suddenly panicked, stood up out of their seats and began to scream or sprint their way out of the room. In only seconds, the entire room was a complete mess, with the boarding table crushed in the middle, office chairs toppled over, electronics glitching and destroyed on the floor, and the dust of rubble staining the hardwood mahogany. Meanwhile, Zhadow continued to sit in his seat completely unbothered, almost as if the impact's range didn't get close enough to touch him. A small bunny of dust fell onto his leg, and he simply plucked it off while keeping his comfortable position in his chair. The mayor was sprawled on the floor, his suit now stained and blood pooling from his head. Some rubble had hit him during the commotion.

He slowly raised his head with a groan, before opening his eyes and looking up at the mess. "W-Wha..." He then quickly scrambled to his feet and hollered in stark shock. "What the hell just happened!?"

A pair of air shoes stepped from the destroyed window sill to walk into the room and glare down at the unknown No Zone officer, who was beginning to stand up. Shadow panted, that mystery person was no pushover. He needed to find out how this was so he could inform Zhadow that there was a mole in their ranks. "Son of a bitch...If I can just get your damn helmet off-" He readied himself for another barrage of attacks, before he noticed out the corner of his eye that Zhadow was sitting right in the middle of the room unscathed. "General Zhadow...?" He didn't expect to see him in here.

His lookalike just made a small casual wave. "Ah, hello there Shadow prime. Lovely day, no?"

Before Shadow could respond, the strange Zone Cop suddenly raised their hand in the air, fully armed with the baton-model handgun. Before Shadow's eyes, it transformed into what looked like a machinegun. They then turned around and aimed directly at Zhadow, making Shadow yell for the commander to get out of the way as fast as he could. "Get out of the room, now! It's too dan-" The bullets fired at the general, who easily smacked away every single bullet that was fired in absurd speeds with his own No Zone issued baton. He did so all without breaking a sweat, or even moving the rest of his body. "-gerous." Shadow blinked slowly, and then felt a little dumb. This was another version of him, after all. "Huh. I don't know what I expected if you're another version of me, of course you're capable of handling yourself." He commented as the rain of bullets ceased, as they weren't doing any damage at all. Zhadow twirled the baton in his palm before placing it back onto his belt. He then just readjusted his glove and continued to lean back in his seat. Sonic was right, this guy was intense. "You really don't take anything seriously, do you?"

"You get used to stuff like this when you're a Zone Cop, honestly. Don't worry," Zhadow suddenly snapped his fingers, and in a light blue flash, the mayor suddenly appeared right next to his chair. Shadow was caught off guard by this. Was that a form of Chaos Control using cyber energy? The marsupial was beyond shocked, gasping and looking around frantically for a way to escape, but Zhadow reached out and gripped the back of his cut up collar very tightly. All without moving out of his seat, once again. "I'll keep the mayor safe, you just keep doing what you're doing. I see this opponent of yours has our uniform," He suddenly frowned dubiously as he stared at the mysterious enemy. "However, I can see that it's been hacked. All armored uniforms run on cyber energy, but this one was severely altered with some kind of virus. If I had to guess, Zobotnik's doing. In that case, this person is no soldier of mine at this point. If you can capture them, get their helmet off and find out who it is, I'd appreciate it." He tossed the mayor down below him and raised his feet up, before slamming them down onto his back. The mayor cried out in pain, his face now pushed against the floor that was scarily riddled with broken glass. "It's alright if you use chaos abilities, just try not to aim at any houses or neighborhoods. Don't want to hurt the civilians. Buildings like these are fair game, it's just collateral damage at the end of the day."

Shadow watched as Zhadow basically used the mayor as a recliner for his feet.

Holy shit, this guy was like a jovial tyrant. Wasn't that thylacine beneath him someone important? Did anything bother him? Even Shadow felt a little unnerved by his twin. "Err...Thanks-Augh...!" He was too distracted, and was sucker punched right in the cheek. 'Guess the traitorous officer lost interest in Zhadow and went after their original main target. Growling angrily, Shadow dodged the next swing and uttered the name of his most notable attack. "Chaos Spear!" An amber red arrow comprised of chaos energy spawned into Shadow's palm, and he swiftly used it like a bladed melee weapon to swipe at his attacker. They didn't expect this attack and moved backwards quickly, but not without being slashed directly on their helmet. Sparks of that candy red power surged throughout the helmet, causing the traitor to wobble around side to side while the Chaos Spear dissolved. They groaned in pain, causing Zhadow's ear to perk up. They were then kicked directly into their stomach, before being seized from behind. In a quick side step, Shadow now had his arms trapped around them, keeping them from moving and escaping from his grasp. Shadow then huffed as he hauled them upwards, before swinging them right out of the broken window he had just recently thrown them in from. They were tossed through the shattered entryway but didn't fall. They activated the accelerators in their boots to keep them hovering in the air and stared down at Shadow. They then propelled themselves forward, ready to attack the ultimate life form once again.

Watching the two go back and forth, Zhadow was blissfully entertained and a little impressed. When Shadow made a scathing uppercut, he snorted a small laugh. "Heh, nice."

"W-What the hell is this, General Zhadow!?" The mayor struggled to crawl out from his previous position and stood back up to confront the general. "Your actions have proved to be far too dangerous to go unchecked. Do you have any control over what happens in No Zone HQ or what!? This is the second incident that someone's-!" He was suddenly yanked back down to Zhadow's eye level, his fist gripping his throat very tightly to the point where the thylacine couldn't breathe at all. He made a strangled gasp and reached his hands up to his neck to attempt to pry Zhadow's grip off, but he didn't have the slightest bit of strength to even attempt such a feat on a single finger. "Ghh...Ngh...!"

Zhadow tilted his head, the smile on his muzzle gone and now a flat line. "Why don't you shut up and watch closely at what a Zone Cop has to deal with everyday outside of No Zone? Maybe that'll give you a new found appreciation for me and my corporation. My soldiers work very hard, and so do my most trusted allies. Shadow prime is a treasured guest of mine, and I already promised him and his partner that they would be treated as such by all inhabitants of this reality. He'll handle this as quickly as he started it, I assure you." He then shoved the marsupial back down onto the floor beneath his steel-toed boots, and planted them right back onto his spine. This time with a harder impact. He coughed and hacked, his back more than likely permanently hunched over from the general's harsh stomps. "Trust me," Zhadow said calmly. "It'll be a good one."

"B-But, why is there another-"

The commander's quills began to raise upwards, and he slowly pulled off his sunglasses to lean down and stare directly at the mayor. His entire face was darkened, only his dark red glowing eyes and pearly white fangs were visible. The pupils were sharpened, the growls of a disturbed goliath of a beast rumbling in Zhadow's throat. "One more word out of you, and I'll rip out your tongue and strangle you to death with it. It'd be a nice replacement for that overpriced tie you got fastened to that utility pole of a neck. You're loud and that annoys me, so just relax and enjoy the show." With a sigh, he placed his glasses back onto his muzzle and leaned back in his seat, his monstrous aura gone. "Oh and by the way, you'll be using the funds of your offshore bank accounts to keep the city running." He felt the mayor flinch, because he didn't know that the general knew about that. "If you won't, I'll happily have you arrested, along with your lawyers and anyone else who tries to cover up your bullshit. That is," He sadistically stomped onto his back one last time for good measure, causing the public official to wail in agony. "After I beat the shit out of you for my own amusement."

Sweating profusely and in horrible pain, the mayor could barely speak but still had one last thing to say. "Y-You do realize you're just acting like a tyrant at this point, right? You can't strongarm your way through everything!"

"You may be right about that, but I'm not the president of this country, nor the sole leader of this world. Yes, I am a general of a terrifying military and police force, but I am only the shadow mayor to Parallel City and that's it. I don't have any true political power, at least not publicly. And anyway, No Zone Corps is not corrupt nor broken. We had a few mishaps, but it's nothing we can't fix. So don't worry, because I don't intend to use my power to hurt the little people." Zhadow smirked, but it was more ill-will than anything. His tone was merciless, and not at all compassionate nor lighthearted. "Hurting the weak is a boring waste of time, and I have someone at home waiting for me who wouldn't much appreciate it if I suddenly went rogue again. No, I want to use my power to hurt the bad people, because it's far more satisfying and entertaining. The shitty," He stomped on his back again. "Pathetic, vile, immoral hedonist whelps. People..." He chuckled darkly. "...Like you."

The mayor could feel his heart beating out of his chest, and he couldn't breathe very well anymore. If he didn't stay quiet, he was almost positive Zhadow would either send him to the hospital or kill him. "..."

"Now get used to your new position as my stool, and shut your fucking trap already."

The marsupial had no choice but to obey the general's commands, there was no fighting him because he was too powerful. "Y-Yes...G-General Zhadow..." He meekly whispered.

"Excellent." Zhadow mused as a stray, small beam of chaos energy blasted right past his head, causing his quills to blow back a little. "Be sure to say hi to the president for me when you get home, we'll be having lunch next week."

Meanwhile, Shadow was having a little trouble with this traitor.

He was currently in a battle of endurance with them, their fists caught in the others' as an attempt to push each other down for an opening. Their armor was profusely scratched and battered, but there was no real damage. And every time Shadow knocked them down, they clearly weren't able to recover too well. It seemed as if their body was on overdrive despite being exhausted, because he could hear heavy panting from underneath their helmet. They sounded winded and in pain. When Shadow quickly glanced at their lower body, he could see that their knees were trembling. They weren't properly built to fight against someone as strong as the biohog, but was forcing their body to overperform anyway. He had overwhelmed this person easily and more than once during this battle, yet they wouldn't stand down. And the eerie thing is, Shadow could tell they very much wanted to. It was like they were being physically forced to keep attacking no matter what, only giving them a few seconds for a breather, if that. Something was off here, but he didn't have time to try and figure it out. This traitor needed to go down, he couldn't let them roam freely. Shadow suddenly let go, causing the Zone Cop to lose balance and fall forward. The biohog lifted his leg to slam his knee directly into their chin. The force was so strong that it knocked them upwards into the air, and stuck headfirst through the ceiling. Their body hang from the ceiling like a dangling holiday ornament. They moved their legs to try and get themselves out of their current position, while Shadow charged chaos energy into his fist. The moment they'd get themselves loose, he'd go for the kill.

Zhadow watched this closely, and he was very captivated by the use of his Mobian counterpart's powers. He had fought against criminals who could use chaos before, but none of them were ever skilled like Shadow, not even other Shadow templates. The traitor used their boots once more to boost themselves completely through the ceiling, a large hole stuck within the structure. Sunlight beamed through, and Shadow could feel that they were up to something. There were some noises of thrashing and loud thuds, as if they were destroying the upper floors. The biohog's ears slightly craned upwards, and that's when he heard it. They were coming back down, and fast. Just as he anticipated, the rogue officer boosted themselves back down from the hole, but with a large and torn up metal ceiling beam in their hands. The swung it down onto Shadow's head, and he blocked the hit just in time with his wrist. Keeping themselves ascended in the air, they swung at the ultimate life form rapidly without end with the piece of rubble, desperate to knock him down with one blow. While still charging chaos energy in his palm, he used his other hand to block every hit. However, he had to be careful. If he didn't handle this correctly, he could accidentally blow this entire building sky high. Suddenly, light appeared underneath Shadow's shoes before he too was boosted into the air. Amber red chaos energy traveled from his fist, down towards his right foot. Zhadow clapped his hands at this, the traitor must have forgotten he had jet boots too. He swung his chaos infused leg down into the officer's head, knocking them down back onto the floor. However, the force was heightened by the power of chaos energy, which was strong enough to slam them through several lower floors below. Both hedgehogs heard several thuds before a final resounding slam echoed in the building.

Zhadow sat up in his seat and applauded louder. "Ha! Perfection."

Shadow walked over to look through the second hole he made with their body, only to see that there wasn't a body there at all.

Shit, where did they go? Shadow darted his eyes towards the broken window and ran over to look out. He could see the rogue officer still walking drunkenly out onto the streets, holding their damaged helmet before sprinting away in a candy red streak. People were screaming, and other Zone Cops had already arrived to investigate the building and escort civilians out of it safely. "Damn it," Shadow would have to catch them. He lifted his leg onto the window sill, until his shoulder was grasped. "...?"

Zhadow was now behind the biohog, his eyes curiously obscured thanks to those shades. He couldn't tell what the commander was thinking right now. "I noticed something rather interesting while you were fighting." He placed his hands in his coat pockets. "That particular model of armor our new friend has is outdated. When our engineers first created the current model of our armored uniforms a few months ago, they mentioned that the prototypes have a dangerous glitch in them. Should the suit be hacked, it could glitch the helmet into physically manipulating the wearer."

Shadow's eyes dilated. "Are you suggesting that this person is being mind controlled?"

The general nodded. "Indeed. It was a glitch that was corrected with the improved models, and we destroyed the faulty ones to use them for scrap metal. This would have to mean that someone got their hands on the prototype schematics of the suits, and used it to control that officer. In other words," He looked past Shadow to peer out of the window as well. "I was wrong. That officer isn't a traitor, they're being used against their will through that helmet."

Damn, that made things pretty complicated. "That's unfortunate, because I know I've broken a few bones by now."

"Maybe," Zhadow carelessly replied. "But it can't be helped. I can, though."

Shadow watched was the general stepped onto the window sill and kept perfect balance. "What are you doing?"

"I'm the one who patented the suits and watched over the entire engineering process. I know all the weak points of the current model of uniforms, and the same goes for the prototypes. Only I and a few other high ranking officers tested the suits, so we know how to destroy them. In fact, Zonic was wearing a prototype helmet when he visited you in Angel Island, which was why it was so easily destroyed." He then turned to the side to glance down at Shadow. "I believe at this point, I'll have to step in to assist you. How well can you hone those chaos laser beams of yours? They're quite extraordinary."

The way he put it made it sound lame. They weren't just "laser beams," they were energy based projectiles-Oh. Damn, that kinda described exactly what a laser beam was, didn't it? "Uhh," Shadow was still so put off by the general's lack of concern for literally anything. "Yes, I suppose I could use them, but I'd have to be extremely careful. One wrong move, and I might accidentally blast them in the face."

"I see, I have a remedy for that." Zhadow tapped the tip of his boot into the window sill. In baby blue light, a No Zone-grade motorcycle digitized before them in the air just outside of the window. It hovered, waiting for it's driver to take control. Unlike all the other motorcycles, this one was more advanced and a little bigger. The lights surging through the motorcycle was dark red, including it's under glow. A matching symbol was marked onto the right side of the bike, specifically on the main body's fairings. When Shadow glanced at it, a wave of negative nostalgia suddenly hit him. This vehicle reminded him so much of his own abandoned Harley back at GUN, but that wasn't all that grabbed his attention. Why did the symbol on the bike...Look so familiar...? He blinked in shock. Was that the Black Arms symbol? Shadow wanted very much to ask the commander about this, but there was no time. He'd have to remember to probe him about this later. Zhadow simply hopped from the window to the seat of the bike, before seizing his hands on the handlebars and revving up the bike. "Hop on, this won't take long." Shadow made a determined expression and without a word, jumped on the back of the bike. As unpredictable as his counterpart was, he knew he could hold at least some small level of trust for him. He hadn't lied to him once, he never said anything disrespectful, and he was more than welcoming to both himself and Sonic. He even reiterated his respect for Shadow to the mayor himself, albeit very violently, but Shadow could appreciate that.

Teaming up didn't seem like such a bad idea.

The bike roared loudly as it thrusted away from the ruined national building.

Shadow could feel the winds smack against his face like a battering ram, this thing was going exceedingly fast! He could have sworn the other bikes didn't go nearly this quick before. Perhaps the general's personal bike was in a league of it's own. Shadow held onto the commander's abdomen as his quills flung backwards. They zipped through the town's square in less than two seconds, and sped through right to the very end of the district. The vehicle zoomed past several buildings and skyscrapers, dipping and diving under utility pole wires and soaring above the townsfolk who looked up and pointed in awe. Before Shadow knew it, they were already tailing the traitor, who was currently running down a very long highway. He could see yellow signs surrounding the entrance to the highway, meaning it was under construction. It seemed to be almost finished though, because they didn't see any workers or upturned concrete. Shadow could feel that his counterpart slightly decreased the speed of the motorcycle so they couldn't rush past them. That in itself was amazing, because that meant it could go faster than their culprit. And Shadow could tell this wasn't even the fastest it could go. Zhadow revved up the bike and quickly glanced from behind at Shadow.

"Alright, here's the deal. Like I told you before, cyber energy and chaos energy work like oil and water. The moment you penetrate the suit with that power, it'll combust and kill the soldier within the armor." It's a good thing Shadow never aimed to stab the person with his Chaos Spear, then. "We don't want that, so you'll have to be more precise." Zhadow suddenly reached for his belt, and handed something over to the biohog. "Focus your energy into the gun. Aim at the weak points of the suit, and I'll tell you where to shoot."

The ultimate life form's eyes became as small as peas.

"...You're...giving me a gun?" He scanned the weapon with slight fear, fear of himself.

He hadn't used a gun in years, and he swore to himself he'd never use one again. He caused so much terror and destruction, he couldn't use one again. Not again. He couldn't go back to how he used to be. What would Sonic think? Would he be angry? Would he be ashamed? Would he...break up with him? So many memories were flowing through his mind. This was the very type of weapon that killed Maria, this was the tool that caused him to injure so many innocent soldiers and massacre his own brethren.

The blood, the screaming, the yelling, the bloodlust that he felt...

He couldn't do this.

"...I can't-"

The traitor from below had a weapon of their own, and aimed from behind to shoot right at their assailants. They used the machinegun model from before, dozen of bullets instantly shooting towards them. A slew of metallic bangs rang out into the highway from both sides, and smoke drifted into the air. Dented bullets fell onto the road below them, having been deflected by an opposing barrage of bullets from another source. Zhadow used one hand to lift up his gun from where he initially aimed, while his other hand kept it's hold on the bike's handlebar. It was jet black, and trimmed with dark red metal. If he hadn't shot back, they would have been impaled by several bullets to the face and body, or the motorcycle would have gotten damaged in very vital areas and blew up. Zhadow sympathetically gazed at Shadow from over his shoulder. "I know you've had a hard life, Shadow prime. Zonic told me everything that you went through a long time ago. You should know that I've met other Shadows, and I've noticed that we all have a similar, tragic slew of events that always transpires at some point in our lives. And it always begins with a single, helpless, human girl."

Shadow flinched.

Did he...have a Maria, too?

...

...No

From the way he was talking, he had a Maria.

"Believe me," Zhadow understood his hesitation, more than he would ever know. "It's hard. It's the worst pain any Shadow can go through, you're not alone. We've all felt it, and any Shadow who hasn't felt the pain yet, will very soon. It's almost like a rite of passage for us, because most of us are destined to feel this despair. I'll be the first to admit that it took me months before I could pick up a gun again after what I witnessed-" He suddenly honed in on the target below, before aiming his gun and pulling the trigger several times to deflect more oncoming bullets. "-However," He briefly let go of the handlebar, reached up to take off his shades and placed them in his coat pocket. He then returned his hold on the vehicle. His eyes focused on the puppeteered soldier as he continued to speak to his Mobian twin. "You're letting your trauma hold you back. You love Sonic prime, don't you?"

Shadow blushed a little, but nodded firmly. "Yes, yes I do."

"Then you need to use that love you have for him to smother out your lingering doubts and guilt. I-" He suddenly drove the vehicle to the left, then back to the right to avoid more projectiles. "-Am in love with Zonic. I will happily place a bullet in my own head if it meant I could stay with him forever. I used that drive to demolish the pain I felt from my own loss, and I know you can do the same. After all, you're one of the strongest Shadow templates I've ever had the pleasure of meeting." He claimed with familiar pride. "And even if it was only for a few hours, I know for sure that you have an almost limitless untapped source of potential sleeping within you. Both of you, I can sense it. But you can't utilize that potential unless you push yourself through the pain. Darkness resides in all Shadows, it's a curse we have to live with. If there's nothing we can do about it, then instead of allowing it to be a curse," He reloaded his handgun. "Make it a blessing."

Turn his curse and despair...into a blessing and hope.

Not gonna lie, that was a hard task.

But Shadow was the Ultimate Life Form. He caved to nothing and he could do anything he wanted.

Even the impossible.

He tightened his grip on the weapon that was given to him, fitting in his hold like a glove. He took the gun off of it's safety and began to spread chaos energy within it. The gun lit up with amber red aura, the color glowing from the barrel. He aimed beside Zhadow's head, and readied both his arm and his eyes. It's crazy how easy it was to pick it up, it was like he never stopped using them. His eyes narrowed, and his body was no longer hesitating.

He was ready to do this. "...Tell me where to aim."

A confident grin drew upon Zhadow's face. "That's exactly what I've been waiting to hear."

He dived the motorcycle down to the empty road, no longer soaring in the air. The wheels rubbed it's rubber friction against the concrete, the speed of the vehicle never waning. Zhadow placed both hands on the handlebars, still keeping hold of his own gun. The traitor noticed that they were getting closer, and were now grounded as they were. They lightly jumped in the air, their feet hovering a few inches off the ground with the jet boosters in their boots. They aimed their weapon as well, prepared to shoot. Candy red corrupted energy surged erratically throughout the armor, but they didn't wince.

"You need to shoot it in a specific order to make it all come apart, at least three areas." Zhadow pointed out loudly over the motorcycle's engine. "I can tell from that specific model of armor that this is a high ranking soldier. In other words, they're no where near as strong as me or Zonic, but they're still pretty tough. They'll be quick, and they might even try to attack the bike. Listen to my instructions very carefully, got it?"

Shadow was ready. "Just tell me where to shoot."

The corrupted No Zone soldier immediately began firing once more. "I'm moving to the right. Hit the left shoulder blade!" Zhadow yelled as he maneuvered the bike to the right. The GUN agent pulled the trigger without any ounce of reluctance, and the single amber red glowing bullet traveled all the way towards their enemy. It smacked directly into the left shoulder, and easily slipped halfway through the armor's material. It didn't destroy this part of the suit completely, but it did damage it. Cracks began to form around it, and a few pieces of the black uniform fell into the wind's momentum. Thankfully, it didn't hit the body since it didn't go all the way through and there was no blood. Zhadow praised Shadow's bullseye. "Not bad. Next, you'll need to hit the-" He unfortunately couldn't finish that sentence since the traitor began to shoot at the bike. The large bullets bounced off of most areas, but it chipped and scratched at the body. It wouldn't do any damage now, but if they kept shooting in the same place, it'd would eventually weaken the parts and soon hit vital components of the vehicle. "Tch, of course." Zhadow mumbled before revving up the vehicle. "Hold on tight!"

Shadow thought he was prepared for a sudden boost in speed, or perhaps even an ascension back into the air.

But that's not what General Zhadow did.

Unbelievably, the bike suddenly raised the front end into the air, while the bottom end's wheels suddenly bounced against the road. Shadow looked down and saw that those weren't normal wheels, there were hydraulics installed into the motorcycle. The small sudden jump caused the vehicle to dodge the bullets and completely miss their target. Soon, the front end wheels extended their hydraulics as they descended back down, creating the exact same motion as before. The rubber of the tires were so strong, that it forced the bullets to bounce off of them. Both ends of the bike took turns in doing this over and over to dodge the projectiles, until Shadow realized what was happening:

Zhadow was bucking the motorcycle...

...like a horse.

Shadow slowly turned to Zhadow in shock, because he couldn't believe this right now. "Are you bucking the damn bike like an angry bull?" That was something Sonic would install, not another version of him. This was ridiculous. Of all the things he expected out of his incalculable counterpart, it most definitely wasn't this! This was absolutely ludicrous. This was inane, stupid and this was...

...Fun.

Was this how Sonic felt during his adventures? Was this the adrenaline he lived for all of his life? Because Shadow could feel it. With all the stupid recklessness forged in Zhadow's actions, all while riding on a death defying vehicle of astronomical speeds, he felt the thrill. He felt the rush—the absolute joy of danger. It felt liberating, even. This was what Sonic preached, this was the joy of life he valued more than anything else!

His counterpart chuckled with dark amusement as the bike front wheels craned in the air, almost like a neighing stallion. "Haha. There are hydraulics built into every No Zone issued motorcycle, that help give the vehicle a boost without ascending it into the sky. I don't mean to sound my age, but back in my day-" He swiftly swerved the bike to the side in a circular direction to get another angle on their target. The bike was incredibly fast and was now on the other side of the road. The officer was too slow in turning around, giving Shadow enough time to aim his next shot. "...They called me the Dullahan of No Zone."

The biohog couldn't help but smirk at his counterpart's enthusiasm.

This was completely nonsensical and he was loving every second of it all.

Shadow wasted no time in aiming his gun-

"Aim at the right foot!"

-And pulled the trigger.

47 - END - 47