Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cover Art by Electrikitty

Shadow stood in the lobby of the Transbay Tower. Sirens blared, and panicked screams filled the air as the building’s employees raced down the stairs and out the doors, fleeing for their lives.

Explosive charges were piled high in the centre of the lobby. A timer beeped steadily, counting down the seconds until the tallest building in Central City collapsed.

Sweat dripped down Shadow’s neck, and he stepped backwards. The heel of his shoe hit a block of C4. He took a shallow breath. ‘Rouge?’

The only indication she’d heard him was a twitch of her ears. She was elbow-deep in coloured wires, and the curve of her back was rigid. She pulled out another wire, severing it with a pair of wire-cutters. 

He could hear helicopters circling overhead, and he pressed a hand to his earpiece, locking eyes with some of the GUN soldiers stationed outside the building’s doors. ‘Evacuation status. Now.’

‘There are still people on the upper floors of the tower –’

Shadow swore, and he could feel the plastic of his earpiece giving way beneath his fingers. ‘Don’t stop. Get as many people out as you can.’

Rouge severed another wire. Her laptop was connected to the delay detonator, and it was overheating. The screen’s contents were a technicolour nightmare. If she couldn’t defuse the bomb in time, then he would have to use Chaos Control to drop the collapsing tower in the middle of Golden Gate Park. Sweat trickled down Shadow’s back, and he could feel his hands beginning to shake. If the tower fell on the surrounding buildings, it would be a mass casualty event. If it fell in the park, then it would result in the deaths of everyone still inside the tower.

‘Hey, do you want to go for drinks after this?’ Rouge smiled at him over her shoulder, and her wings were trembling with nerves.

‘You need to focus,’ Shadow growled. But he rested a hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. Her muscles were so tense that it felt like there was metal beneath her skin.

‘I’d be able to concentrate better if you weren’t standing so close to me, handsome.’

Shadow didn’t answer. There was less than a minute left on the clock now. Every fibre of his being was screaming at him to take her in his arms and get her out of the blast zone before it was too late. It would be so easy. It would only take two words to protect her from harm … but he had promised Maria that he would protect the world, hadn’t he?

He steeled his resolve, tightening his grip on her shoulder. It was too late for second thoughts, and he had to have faith that she would pull it off. She would sever the final wire, and the numbers would vanish. The two of them would stumble out of the foyer and return to GUN’s headquarters. She would make it out alive. She had to.

A glimmer stung his eyes, and he turned sharply. He stared through the foyer’s windows. In the far distance, a pinprick of reflected light glittered atop a nearby skyscraper. It was a rifle sight.

Shadow froze. Rouge pulled out one last wire, sliding it between her wirecutters. If he abandoned her to attack the shooter and something went wrong, he might not be able to return in time to save her … let alone save everyone else. 

Shadow stepped in front of Rouge, and the window shattered. A bullet pierced him in the chest. He nearly fell, slamming one foot against the ground to keep his balance. Rouge’s head whipped around, and her eyes widened in horror. ‘Shadow –’

‘Focus!’ Shadow snapped. ‘Finish it!’

As though she had been shaken awake, Rouge wrapped her hands around the wirecutter handles and slammed them together, severing the last wire. The clock froze, and there was only one second remaining.

Shadow gasped for breath. Blood gushed from his wound and splattered on the ground. Rouge dropped the wirecutters with a clatter and got to her feet, nearly falling over herself in her haste. ‘What happened –’

Shadow grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her in close, forcing her to stand in front of him. ‘Don’t move. There’s a sniper with a direct line of sight to us. Stay in front of me.’

With a sharp flash of light, he and Rouge reappeared on the other side of the foyer and took cover behind a column. With each beat of his heart, fresh blood spurted from his wound. It dripped down his chest and hips. Rouge folded her wings in, making herself as small as possible, and pressed her hands against his chest in an attempt to stop the bleeding. ‘Y-You need to heal yourself –’

Shadow gritted his teeth and held out a hand. ‘Give me your pocket mirror. Now.’

Rouge slapped the mirror into his palm, and he snapped it open, angling it towards the direction that the bullet had come from. He could already hear shouts and gunfire outside as GUN’s soldiers mobilised to deal with the threat. The rooftop where the sniper had been was now empty. His earpiece crackled with static as one of the comms officers demanded a status report. He cursed and pressed the mirror back into Rouge’s hand. Her gloves were already stained with blood.

‘Why didn’t you go after him?’ Rouge demanded. ‘Hell, why didn’t you stop him?!’

‘You had a job to finish.’ Shadow could feel his ribs creaking beneath the pressure of her hands. His heart was pounding. ‘And I wasn’t going to risk leaving you in the line of f-fire –‘

Rouge turned white. Her gloves had been dyed crimson, and blood was starting to drip from her arms. ‘I know you can’t die, but you’re going to bleed out at this rate.’

Shadow narrowed his eyes at her and held a hand to his earpiece, looking away. ‘What happened to the shooter?’

‘Our field agents are in pursuit, but we’ve already lost visual contact –’

Rouge turned and narrowed her eyes, scanning the city skyline through the windows. ‘I’ll go, then.’

‘You will not,’ Shadow snarled. ‘They’ve already targeted you once.’

‘I can’t let them get away with this!’

‘And I can’t let you die!’ 

Shadow’s vision blackened, and he slumped against the pillar. He pried her hands from his chest and pressed his own hand against the bullet wound. He could feel more blood welling up with every frantic spasm of his heart. 

He would have preferred to reverse his body’s internal clock and undo the damage, but doing so would take a tremendous amount of energy. He didn’t know what would happen or if they would be attacked again. If he wanted to conserve his strength, then he would have to accelerate time instead.

 Shadow reached behind him, running his fingers up and down his back with his free hand. He stiffened.

‘… What?’ Rouge asked.

‘I can’t find an exit wound.’ Shadow could feel his heart beginning to jackhammer, and blood seeped into his glove. Not only had he gotten shot, but the projectile must have been a hollow-point round, specifically designed to expand and fragment instead of passing through a target. ‘… The bullet’s still in there.’

‘We can dig it out later. But for the love of Chaos, do something before you go into hypovolemic shock.’

Shadow braced one hand against the pillar and took a deep breath. He felt dizzy, and he could barely concentrate. His body’s internal clock began to accelerate, and an ominous ticking filled his ears. He’d done this many times before. His wounds would begin to close, and his body would begin to burn. He would ‘heal’ from his injuries, defying death itself.

But not this time. An electrical charge surged through his bones, and his head felt like it was going to split open. He froze, and the ticking sound abruptly ceased. 

‘Shadow?’ Rouge’s eyes widened with alarm. ‘Sweetheart?’

He tried again, but the same thing happened. It felt like he was being shocked, and his head began to ache. His grip on his chest loosened, revealing an ugly gunshot wound and white fur matted with blood. ‘S-Something’s not right. I c-can’t …’

He tried for a third time, attempting to push through the pain, but his knees buckled. He slid down the pillar and hit the floor, staring at the blood-stained marble beneath his legs. His ears were ringing. Rouge’s panicked eyes filled his vision, and he weakly grabbed hold of her arm. He tried to warn her to be careful, but he couldn’t even hear the sound of his own voice. 

He saw glimmers of red lenses as GUN’s soldiers rushed into the foyer. They scattered in his field of view like bloody confetti. He could feel the fragments of the hollow-point bullet shifting between his lungs with every breath.

‘Don’t … break cover,’ Shadow said as his hand slipped from Rouge’s arm and fell to the floor. ‘It’s not … safe …’

His vision went black, and he slumped forward, collapsing onto the bloodied tiles.

Chapter Text

When Shadow opened his eyes, he was staring at the harsh glow of a halogen surgical light. His head felt like it was burning. His chest was bandaged, and his breathing was laboured. His vision came into focus. The room was filled with monitoring equipment, and several of GUN’s biomedical doctors were present. 

Then he saw Rouge and Commander Tower standing behind the window of an adjoining observation room. Rouge locked eyes with him, and she darted into the operating theatre with a crisp flap of her wings, landing by Shadow’s side.

‘Shadow –’

‘Are you all right?’

Rouge pursed her lips and said, ‘I’m not the one lying in a hospital bed.’ She leaned forward, resting her fingertips on his chest. Her makeup was flawless, but her eyes were reddened. He stared up at her. He couldn’t help but think that she looked … desaturated.

‘Did they remove the bullet?’

Rouge avoided his gaze, lowering her lashes.

‘Yes, they did.’ Commander Tower joined them, casting a sharp glance over the monitors beside Shadow’s bed. The lines on his face were even deeper than usual, and his normally tan face was pale. ‘But there was a … complication.’

‘What happened? Did I have a missile embolism?’

‘No, the bullet didn’t enter one of your arteries.’ Abraham’s expression darkened. His hands were clasped behind his back, but Shadow caught a glimpse of him digging his fingernails into his palms. ‘The bullet contained a potent neurotoxin that was released into your blood.’

Shadow stiffened. ‘Has the bomb threat been fully dealt with?’

‘Yes. Why?’

Shadow materialised his Chaos Emerald in his hands. ‘If it has, then I don’t need to conserve my energy.’ A faint ticking filled his ears. ‘I can rewind my body to a point before all this happened.’

Rouge grabbed his shoulder, saying, ‘Shadow, wait –’

He barely registered her words before his muscles seized, and the Chaos Emerald fell out of his hands. It felt like lightning had coursed down his spine. He stared at his hands in disbelief. It was only now that he realised his hands and arms were tingling. 

He took a shallow breath and looked up at Rouge. ‘W-What’s happening to me?’

Abraham cleared his throat, and Shadow saw a rare flash of concern in his mismatched eyes. ‘Our biomedical technicians managed to isolate a sample of the neurotoxin while they operated on you. Their initial tests show that the chemical compound reacts to Chaos Energy.’ 

Rouge took Shadow’s hand in hers, giving it a squeeze. ‘The harder you try to heal yourself, the more severe the side effects will be.’

Shadow flexed his hand, and he heard a single, faint tick. A dull pulse echoed through his body, and he winced. Then he froze and looked down at himself. ‘… I can’t stop my body from producing Chaos Energy.’

Abraham winced, and Rouge’s shoulders curved inwards. ‘We know,’ Rouge said. 

Shadow sat in silence. Even if he didn’t attempt to heal his gunshot wounds or undo the damage, Chaos Energy would still keep seeping from his internal organs. Even if he attempted to freeze his body in time, he would still have to use Chaos Energy to do so. 

‘… Did they find the shooter, at least?’

‘We’re managing the situation,’ Abraham said flatly. 

‘You could have just said “no”.’ Shadow tensed, and his hackles rose. ‘They targeted Rouge in order to get to me. We have to find out who did this.’

‘This is bigger than just you and Rouge,’ Abraham said sharply. ‘Someone just attempted to compromise our strongest bioweapon. Wars have been started over less. The same person or group of people could have orchestrated the bomb threat in order to target you, for all we know –’

‘It wasn’t just an attempt,’ Shadow said quietly. He spread his hands, and a rush of pins and needles flooded his palms. His vision was desaturating. Rouge’s eyeshadow was a muted blue-grey, and the red stripes on Abraham’s uniform were a muddy brown. ‘They succeeded.’

Shadow silently passed the Chaos Emerald to Rouge, but they all knew that it was already too little, too late. He didn’t know how long he had been under the knife while harbouring the Emerald’s essence, but it had probably made his condition even worse. He stared at the IV lines buried in his arms, and the plastic gleamed beneath the lights. The steady beeping of the medical monitors mingled with the faint ringing in his ears.

‘Shadow?’ Rouge leaned forward. Her eyes normally looked like shallow ocean water, but now they looked like the depths of a cold sea. ‘What is it?’

‘It just feels … familiar.’

Rouge’s expression tightened, and she looked around the room. ‘Abe, let’s get him out of here.’

Abraham gave her a wary look. ‘We still need to monitor his condition.’

‘It can be monitored from Team Dark’s quarters.’

‘If you want him to be relocated, then you’ll need to make adequate preparations –‘

Rouge spun on her heel and stalked off. She grabbed the arm of the biomedical department chief on her way out, yanking the woman out of the room.

Shadow watched her leave, and he dug his claws into his palm – three pinpricks and the nudge of an oximeter.

He couldn’t deny that the situation he found himself in was giving him déjà vu. His memories might be unreliable, but he remembered fragments of his time aboard the Ark … as did Abraham.

‘Rouge doesn’t know.’ Abraham glanced down at Shadow. ‘Does she?’

Shadow shook his head. ‘No. No, she doesn’t.’

Rouge might be a talented spy, but there was only so much she could have learned about his past from the Project Shadow files. She knew that Shadow had been created to help reverse-engineer a cure for an immunodeficiency disorder. What she didn’t know was that the Ark’s scientists had artificially induced Maria’s illness in him, searching for genes that they could use to rewrite her flawed DNA. 

His brain might not be able to remember everything he had been through, but his body did. If the onset was anything to go by, the effects of the neurotoxin were like echoes of his past experiences. In another life, he had lived through everything Maria had experienced … and more.

‘What happens now?’ Shadow asked abruptly. 

Abraham crossed his arms, and an indiscernible expression flickered on his face. ‘You’ll lie low and focus on recovering. Rouge and Omega will keep watch over you, and GUN will secure the premises.’

‘What makes you think that GUN is capable of stopping someone who managed to shoot me?’

‘We’re in GUN’s headquarters,’ Abraham said flatly. ‘This is one of the most secure places in the United Federation. What’s more, you, Rouge and Omega live in a concrete-walled flat 10 floors below street level. I think we’ll manage.’

Shadow wound the IV lines around his finger. It was easier to worry about security than it was to think about what lay in store for him.

‘This is the first time you’ve fought an opponent who can weaponise your powers against you,’ Abraham said. ‘Is there a chance that you could die?’

‘Excuse me?’ Shadow’s ears twitched, and he fought the urge to bare his fangs. ‘I’m immortal, in case you forgot.’

‘I didn’t forget.’ Abraham glared at him. ‘Even if you can’t die, your immortality is the reason why I’m concerned about what’s going to happen.’

Doubt flickered in Shadow’s head, and he spread his hands, staring at his palms. Even if he didn’t try to heal himself, his body would still try to repair the damage dealt by the neurotoxin, creating a vicious cycle. And the harder his body fought, the more damage the neurotoxin would do.

‘… I just have to outlast the neurotoxin’s lifespan,’ Shadow said.

‘“Just”?’

Shadow protracted his claws, and they gleamed beneath the lights. ‘Are you trying to get on my nerves, Commander?’

‘Far from it. I merely find it hard to believe that this is “just” a war of attrition to you.’ Abraham’s brow creased, and he stared at Shadow as though he were a puzzle that he hadn’t solved. ‘Do you really remember so little of your time aboard the Ark?’

‘I know that I survived whatever they did to me,’ Shadow growled. ‘And I will survive this. I don’t care about the details.’

‘… If you insist.’ Abraham turned to leave, but he stopped. Shadow didn’t know why, but something about the commander’s silhouette just didn’t make sense, sometimes. He remembered very little of his time aboard the Ark … but he remembered the image of a young boy in a red shirt who would follow Maria around like a lost puppy. The image was a far cry from the hardened visage of who Abraham was today. ‘I’m sorry, Shadow –‘

‘Don’t.’ Shadow looked away. ‘Rouge and I were just doing our jobs. You sent us out there, but you didn’t pull the trigger.’

‘…That’s not what I meant. I’m sorry that this happened to you.’ Abraham strode off without another word, disappearing between the doors of the operating theatre.

Shadow fixed his eyes on the ceiling. The lights stung his retinas, and the colour was fading from his vision. He heard the clicking of heeled boots on the linoleum, accompanied by the scent of Rouge’s perfume. ‘I got the green light to get you out of here, sweetheart.’ Rouge rested a hand on his shoulder, and her voice softened when she spoke. ‘You should try to sleep this off, if you can. I’ll stay by your side …’

As though her presence had given him permission to lower his guard, he let his eyelids flicker shut. Sleep took him before Rouge could even finish her sentence, and the operating theatre disappeared.

Chapter Text

Shadow’s eyes flickered open. The sickly green walls of the operating theatre had been replaced by cold concrete. He was in his room in Team Dark’s flat, beneath GUN’s headquarters. His military cot had vanished, replaced by the hospital bed that he was lying in. The various weapons crates had been pushed aside to make room for medical monitoring equipment.

He stared up at the electronic panels on the ceiling. Night must have fallen, because they had changed from artificial daylight to a night sky filled with stars.

He rested one arm against his forehead, wondering how many times Maria had stared at these stars from the Ark, longing to see them from Earth. Despite his skittering pulse, the room felt strangely peaceful. Too peaceful.

He narrowed his eyes and slowly sat up, staring at the monitor beside the bed. The wavelines of his heartbeat weaved together in perfect silence. He couldn’t hear the white noise of the air conditioning, nor the footfalls of GUN agents going about their business on the floors above and below them.

Rouge was sitting in the chair at his workbench, fiddling with her flip phone. Her ears twitched, and she glanced at him. Her face was weary, but her eyes lit up when she saw that she was awake. 

She spoke, and her mouth moved without a sound.

Shadow froze. Rouge continued talking, but it was like watching a silent film from the ‘30s. He couldn’t understand a word she was saying. For so many years, her voice had been a comforting source of white noise. It had been a way to avoid being alone with his thoughts. He hadn’t realised how much he would miss it.

He gingerly raised a hand, and his claws gleamed beneath the light. His inhibitor ring felt heavy on his wrist. Rouge trailed off, and she seemed bewildered.

‘… I can’t hear.’

He could feel the words in his throat, but he couldn’t hear them in his ears. Rouge’s expression went blank, and he repeated himself, saying, ‘I can’t hear, Rouge.’ He had no idea if he was speaking loudly enough for her to hear him. 

Rouge’s flip phone fell out of her hands. It hit the ground without a clatter, and the mental dissonance jarred him more than he had thought it would. Rouge raised her hands and began to press them together in uncertain gestures. Then her ears flattened, and her hands fell into her lap. Whether it was because her knowledge of ASL was limited or because she had realised that he wouldn’t understand her, he couldn’t tell.

She stumbled out of the room and returned with a touchscreen tablet. She began to type, then turned the screen toward him.

You can’t hear anything?

‘No.’ He held one hand to his throat, trying to gauge how loud his words were.

You could hear us a few hours ago. Rouge’s fingertips tightened on the edges of the screen. What happened?

‘… The neurotoxin must be causing my condition to worsen.’

But you’re not trying to heal yourself. Right?

Shadow looked down at himself, and a sense of uneasiness welled up in his chest. He was seeing double, and it felt like he was looking at a ghost of himself. ‘No, I’m not trying to. But my body’s natural healing factor uses Chaos Energy. The more damage the neurotoxin does, the harder my body tries to repair itself.’

… And that just makes the effects of the neurotoxin stronger. Rouge grip loosened, and the tablet nearly slipped out of her fingers. This is worse than I thought. Do you want me to bring you back to the biomedical department?

‘No.’ Shadow shook his head and winced. His muscles were aching, and his head hurt. ‘I’d rather be here.’

Rouge’s wings drooped, and she bit her lip. I brought you here because I thought being in a hospital room would remind you of the Ark.

‘I don’t remember my time on the Ark that well. I mainly remember what it felt like.’

Felled?

Shadow blinked several times. ‘Felled?’

Autocorrect. Felt?

Shadow gave her a weak smile. ‘My vision is getting worse. I thought I was imagining things.’

Rouge frowned, and she got up, padding over to him. She flipped the safety rail on the bed down and sat beside him. Her shoulder brushed against his, and she pointed to what she had typed.

Felt?

‘I was exposed to Maria’s illness when Professor Gerald and the other scientists on the Ark were searching for a cure. If they could identify which of my genes were capable of fighting NIDS, then they could use those genes to rewrite Maria’s DNA.’

Rouge tensed, and her fur bristled. Then she placed an arm around him, bringing his head to rest on her shoulder. She typed with her left hand, and he could feel her frustration in every sharp tap of her gloved fingertips. Does that mean you experienced her symptoms?

‘Yes. I don’t remember a lot of it. But this …’ Shadow gestured towards his chest and head. ‘This feels familiar. NIDS is a neuroimmunological syndrome. It attacks your body and brain in similar ways.’

Rouge’s fingers dug into his arms, and she blinked back tears. Why did you take that bullet for me? You’ve already saved my life more times than I can count.

‘I’m willing to take chances with my own safety … but not yours.’ The text on the screen began to blur, and Shadow closed his eyes for a moment. ‘I was created to be an undying soldier. I can survive being shot, and I can survive any illness.’

He felt the taps of Rouge’s fingers on the screen. When her hand fell still, he opened his eyes.

I wish that you had been created to have a happy life.

He felt a pang in his chest, and he gave her an exhausted half-smile. ‘I don’t live for the wishes of others anymore. Remember?’

I wish you would, sometimes. Because I wish every good thing in the world for you. I wish –

Shadow placed a hand on the tablet screen, and an unintelligible string of characters cut off what she was going to say. ‘I’ll be fine, Rouge.’

She gave him a disbelieving look and pushed his hand aside, typing so quickly that the autocorrect couldn’t keep up. What if your bdy can’t withstnd the neurotoxin for the amount of tme it takes fr it to wear off –

Shadow placed his hand on the screen again, glaring at her. ‘Stop that. Are you listening to me? I was created to withstand any injury or illness. I was created for this –’

Rouge pushed his hand aside again and glared back. I’m listening. I’m not the one who’s gone deaf. Don’t you get it? Sometimes it feels like you were just created to suffer, and I HATE IT!

Shadow’s eyes widened, and he stared at his reflection in the screen. Then he pulled the tablet out of her grip. ‘Rouge –’

The muscles in his arm spasmed. The tablet slipped out of his hands and hit the floor. It was silent, but the impact reverberated throughout the metal frame of the hospital bed. Without thinking, he leaned forward to reach down and pick it up, but he nearly overbalanced . 

Rouge grabbed his shoulders, steadying him before he could fall to the concrete floor below them. Her lips moved in perfect silence, and he realised that she could recognise at least one thing that she was saying. 

Shadow?

His limbs felt weak, and he was struggling to draw breath. 

‘… I need you to promise me that you won’t go after whoever did this on your own.’ Shadow took her hand in his, giving it a clumsy squeeze. ‘Because if I become paralysed, I won’t be able to stop you.’

Rouge tensed, and she reached down to pick up the tablet. But at the sight of her reflection in the cracked screen, she hesitated. Then she turned to Shadow and hugged him so tightly that the pressure drowned out the neuropathic pain in his arms and legs.

She buried her face in his shoulder and said something into his neck. He couldn’t hear her, but he could feel the vibrations of her words in his bones.

The colours were fading, and his vision was splitting. He closed his eyes, resting his head against hers. ‘I’ll be fine, Rouge.’

 Her grip tightened, and it occurred to him that he had done this before. He had been both the patient and the companion before. He’d endured these symptoms before, and he’d sat where she was sitting before.

Even though he hadn’t been able to cure Maria, she had always said that his presence was a comfort. He hadn’t understood how that could be enough for her, at first. He had blamed himself for not being able to do enough to help her. But as the minutes stretched out and Rouge made no move to leave his side … he was beginning to understand how Maria had felt. 

Chapter Text

The room was dark when Shadow awoke. A quiet beeping filled his ears, and he sighed with relief. He’d been drifting in and out of consciousness since Rouge had brought him back to their flat yesterday, but his hearing had returned … at least for the time being. He grasped the safety rail on the side of the bed, and his claws clicked faintly on the metal. He could hear again, but everything sounded distant. 

He looked up. The panels above his head must have been switched off, because the room was in total darkness. He couldn’t even see the waveforms on the heart rate monitors.

‘Rouge?’ His voice sounded tinny, and he gritted his teeth. If she had gone behind his back to pursue the shooter, he would hunt her down and drag her back to headquarters … even if he had to limp after her to do it.

He slipped out of bed and stumbled towards the door. He could feel the tug of the IV lines embedded in his arms. His foot slammed into the corner of a weapons crate, and he cursed. He steadied himself against his workbench, and several gunsmithing tools hit the ground with loud clangs. ‘… Damn it.’

He ran one hand along the wall, and his fingers finally found the light switch. He flicked it, but nothing happened. Had his fingers slipped? His muscle strength was failing, and his coordination was worsening. Despite his best efforts – or lack thereof – the neurotoxin was still taking its toll.

He flicked the switch several more times. He could hear it clicking, but the room remained dark. He let out a frustrated sigh and limped towards the door of his room, reaching for the doorknob. His fingers closed on a hardened metal exterior. He blinked. 

He heard a faint whirring, accompanied by a familiar robotic voice. ‘Are you attempting to signal me with Morse code, hedgehog?’

Shadow nearly jumped out of his skin. ‘Damn it, Omega.’ A wave of dizziness forced him to steady himself against the doorframe, and he glared upwards. ‘… How long have you been standing there?’

‘Since Rouge requested that I monitor your vitals.’

‘Where is she?’ Shadow tensed and said, ‘Tell me. Now.’

‘She is performing routine maintenance on herself. ’

Shadow pricked his ears, and he could hear the faint sound of a shower running beneath the whirr of Omega’s processors. He exhaled. It felt like a weight had fallen from his shoulders. ‘… Did we have a blackout?’

‘The parameters of your query are unclear.’

‘The lights,’ Shadow said impatiently. ‘Why aren’t the lights turning on?’

‘They are on.’

Shadow froze. The beeping of the heart rate monitors filled his ears … which wouldn’t be possible if GUN’s facilities had lost power. His grip tightened on the doorframe, and he swallowed hard. 

‘Are your optic sensors malfunctioning?’

Shadow’s hand began to tremble, and he nodded. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t dislodge the lump in his throat. 

Omega clunked and whirred in the silence. Then he said, ‘I estimate that this has reduced your combat effectiveness by 125%. Return to your bed and attempt to rectify this issue at once.’

‘Attempting to recover quickly will only make my symptoms worse.’

Shadow could almost imagine Omega’s eyes flashing red with frustration. ‘Then recover slowly.’

Shadow nodded and turned away from the door. All he could see was darkness. It wasn’t even darkness, though. It was … nothing.

He let go of the doorframe, reaching out for anything that would help him get his bearings. He took a cautious step forward, but his knees buckled, and he fell. Before he could crack his head on the concrete, however, a pair of clawed metal hands grabbed him by the shoulders. 

‘This is a disgrace.’

Shadow stiffened. His condition was disgraceful, but his reaction was mainly due to the fact that it felt like he had suddenly been trapped in a metal vice. ‘Let go of me.’

‘Negative. Rouge will have me dismantled if you sustain further injuries while under my care.’

Without ceremony, Omega lifted Shadow off the ground and trudged into the room. Shadow heard the sounds of more gunsmithing tools falling to the floor, as well as the crash of a weapons crate falling over. 

Shadow winced and said, ‘Put me down –’

‘Affirmative.’ Omega dumped Shadow onto the hospital bed. A moment later, Shadow heard the faint sound of metal on plastic. He felt a tug on his IV lines, and he realised that Omega must be trying to untangle them with his clawed fingers.

‘… Rouge can do that.’

‘She is not here, and this entanglement is reducing your mobility.’

‘What mobility?’ Shadow dug his claws into his palms. ‘I can’t even walk.’

Omega abruptly hit Shadow’s hand, and his fist clanged against Shadow’s inhibitor ring. ‘Do not harm yourself. You are already injured.’

‘You nearly broke my wrist just now –’

‘Do not whine. I am losing patience, and I do not have any to begin with.’

Shadow wondered if he had enough grip strength to lift up one of the weapons crates and throw it at Omega. He fell back onto the pillows and sighed. ‘You don’t normally talk this much.’

‘… The bat frequently starts unnecessary arguments with you as a means of distraction. I am employing her tactics.’

Shadow wound the IV lines around his fingers until they cut into his skin. ‘I don’t need to be distracted.’ 

As soon as Omega noticed what Shadow was doing, an alarm tone blared from his speakers, and he pulled Shadow’s arm above his head. ‘False. You are cutting off your circulation as a coping mechanism. Cease this at once.’

Shadow tried to free himself, but he didn’t even have the strength to pull his hand from Omega’s grip. Normally, the two of them were very evenly matched, as anyone who had watched them spar in GUN’s training grounds could attest to. What Omega lacked in technical skill, he could more than make up for in sheer durability. But now … Shadow didn’t even know if he would be able to put up a semblance of a fight against his teammate.

Omega suddenly let Shadow’s hand go, and his internal motors revved. ‘This is unacceptable.’

‘What is?’ Shadow asked wearily.

‘This entire scenario.’ Omega’s monotone digitised voice always sounded angry, but now he sounded furious. ‘I will locate the shooter and deprive them of their limbs. I will kill them –’

‘You will not.’ Shadow began to massage his temples with his fingertips. He had a splitting headache, and it wasn’t just from the argument. ‘Whoever they are, GUN will want them alive for questioning.’

‘We have violated GUN’s orders before. We can do it again.’

‘Forget about GUN, then. I need you to stay here to protect Rouge … because I can’t do it in my current state.’

‘I only take orders from the bat. She is the team leader. You are not.’

Shadow glared in the direction of Omega’s voice. ‘In her absence, I’m the next person in the chain of command, damn it.’ He slumped against the pillows and said, ‘What that person did was the equivalent of a foreign power bombing one of our missile silos. GUN and the United Federation will probably deal with it before any of us can even –’

‘I cannot cure you, Omega said abruptly. ‘I cannot expedite your recovery or restore your combat effectiveness. I can only avenge you.’

‘Revenge can wait.’ Shadow looked up at Omega, only to remember that the simple act was pointless. ‘And I’ll be fine. You weren’t made to cure people, but I was.’

‘You are omitting key datapoints. Elaborate.’

Shadow drew his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs. ‘I was used as a test subject to reverse engineer cures for untreatable illnesses. I’ve survived situations like this before, and I can do it again.’

Omega’s processors whirred. ‘… Your creators intentionally sabotaged your combat effectiveness?’

‘Despite how you may see me, I wasn’t just created to be a weapon.’ Shadow’s ears drooped. He could say the words, but it wasn’t always easy to believe them. He still allowed himself to be used as a weapon to this very day, and he continued to let GUN put their finger on the trigger. ‘Professor Gerald hijacked Project Shadow to save his granddaughter’s life. He gave me a heart and free will.’

Shadow heard a mechanical clicking as Omega turned his head. ‘… You were created to fight illnesses.’

Shadow rested his head on his knees. ‘Yes.’

Omega placed one clawed hand on Shadow’s back. ‘You have fought enemies like this before.’

‘Yes.’

‘And you have succeeded before.’

Shadow winced. His chest was aching, and he knew it couldn’t be wholly attributed to his gunshot wound. ‘I couldn’t cure her, but I didn’t die. I didn’t succeed … but I didn’t fail, either.’

‘Parameters defined.’ Omega’s grip tightened, and his claws encompassed Shadow’s torso. ‘Do not fail. I will not permit it.’

Shadow folded his arms over Omega’s metal fingers, laid his head down, and closed his eyes. His body felt like it was burning up, but the metal felt like cool ice on his skin.

‘Can you … stay?’

‘Affirmative. But I must verify that the bat has not drowned in the shower cubicle. She has been in there for 23 minutes.’

Shadow expected Omega to let him go and trudge out of the room, but the robot slammed his free hand against the wall instead, shaking the foundations of GUN’s headquarters and eliciting a startled screech from Rouge.

‘She is alive.’

‘Of course I’m alive, you idiots! As soon as I get dressed, I’m going to come in there and beat your asses!’

‘Action not permitted. The hedgehog’s biointegrity is already extremely compromised.’

‘I’m going to compromise your exterior, Omega, I swear to –’

Rouge cut herself off with an outraged scream, and Shadow realised that Omega must have blasted an ultrasonic frequency from his speakers. A weak chuckle escaped his lips. ‘Thank you.’

‘You will not be thanking me once she returns.’

‘Not for that. Thank you for staying.’

‘Please endeavour not to become incapacitated like this again. I should not have to hold the Ultimate Life Form like an infant who is incapable of sitting up on his own.’

Shadow’s eyelids began to droop. ‘You don’t have to hold me.’

‘… This course of action has caused your vitals to begin stabilising. I will suffer this indignity so you may return to the battlefield as soon as possible.’

Shadow attempted to give him a weak thumbs up, but sleep overtook him before he could even raise his hand.

Chapter Text

‘Sweetheart?’ 

Shadow’s eyes flickered open. The familiar concrete walls of his room filled his vision, clouded by a filmy haze. His arms lay limp by his side, and he recognised the familiar burn of sedative drugs seeping into his bloodstream. 

Rouge was slumped in the chair at his workbench, and her flip phone dangled from her fingers. She gave him a forced smile. ‘Are you well enough for a visitor?’

‘I’ll be able to hear them, at least.’

His voice sounded slurred, and they both winced. Rouge got up and stumbled out of the room, giving someone standing outside a nod before she fell into one of the armchairs in their shared living space.

After rapping sharply on the doorframe, Abraham stepped into view. He looked even more rigid than usual, and he was holding his hands behind his back. ‘Agent Shadow –’

‘Have you caught them yet?’

‘Who?’

‘The shooter.’

‘No.’ Abraham glanced at the chair that Rouge had vacated and took a seat. It looked almost too small for his broad frame. ‘We’re making progress, but I didn’t come here to give you an update.’ He removed his hands from behind his back and placed a small bunch of white lilies on the hospital bed. His movements were stiff, reminding Shadow of a windup doll that Maria had used to play with.

‘What is this?’ Shadow asked warily. ‘Do you give a token of your appreciation to your agents every single time they get injured?’

‘No. Not that you would know if I did. In your case, you always heal yourself before I can so much as say “get well soon”.’

Shadow stared at the flowers, and his brow creased. ‘… Why are you giving me these?’

Abraham didn’t answer right away, and he stared into the middle distance. ‘I was talking to my daughter-in-law yesterday. She told me that the first time most men receive flowers is at their own funeral … and it occurred to me that you can’t have a funeral if you can’t die.’

His words were so forthright that they took Shadow aback. ‘Y-You never know,’ Shadow muttered. ‘One day, GUN might do something that makes me snap and fake my own death just to get away from all of this.’

Abraham raised an eyebrow. ‘Hopefully, that won’t be during my tenure.’

‘If you keep doing your job properly, then that shouldn’t be a concern.’ Shadow narrowed his eyes. ‘I trust that you’re doing everything you can to look out for Rouge and Omega while I’m incapacitated.’

‘Of course. A significant amount of GUN’s resources is going towards security for both you and Team Dark while you recover.’

‘Hmph.’ Shadow hesitated, then he reached for the flowers lying on the bed. His fingers twitched feebly, and his arm remained motionless. He swore under his breath.

Abraham’s gaze snapped to Shadow’s twitching hand, and he looked bewildered. ‘Are you all right?’

‘I’m fine,’ Shadow grunted. ‘I woke up paralysed from the neck down earlier today. It did eff-all for my hand-eye coordination, as you can see.’

Abraham’s face turned white. ‘Are you being serious?’

‘Quite.’ Shadow gave him an irritated look. ‘The biomedical department staff have been coming and going at all hours of the day and night. I thought you would have been getting constant reports about my condition.’

‘I-I have been, but I’ve yet to read this morning’s reports.’ Abraham stood up, placing one hand on the flowers. ‘Where do you want these?’

‘… On the workbench.’

Abraham turned away for a moment, placing the flowers beside a partially disassembled gun. He leaned forward, resting one hand on the back of the chair. ‘A Heckler & Koch USP?’

‘What of it?’

‘Nothing. I just thought you used a M1911.’

Shadow cast a glance over the stacked weapon crates and various firearms in the room. ‘I use a lot of different weapons, if you hadn’t noticed.’ He felt the familiar urge to dig his nails into his palms, and he had to settle for biting his lip instead. ‘… I thought I’d be able to use some of this time to clean and maintain them.’ A weak, bitter laugh left his lips, and he closed his eyes. ‘That was optimistic.’

‘Does this bring back memories for you, Shadow?’

Abraham’s change of topic and tone startled him, and he tried to sit up, to no avail. He couldn’t even operate the remote to raise the head of the bed. ‘What do you mean?’

‘My recollection of the years that I spent aboard the Ark is … imperfect.’ Abraham held one hand to his temple, saying, ‘Albeit for different reasons than you. But I still remember a little of what you went through for Maria’s sake.’ He crossed his arms over his chest and exhaled. ‘I didn’t want to see it, if I’m being honest. I didn’t want to become sympathetic towards you.’

‘I don’t remember much. If anything, what I remember has been triggered by … this.’

Shadow tensed, trying to keep his thoughts in check. He had been trying not to think about Maria’s experiences while he was ill. He was already unstable as it was without reopening old wounds. But Maria’s sweet voice came back to him, echoing in her head as it had in the depths of White Space.

On the bad days… sometimes I can't see. Sometimes it's hard to move, or to hold things, or to think clearly. 

Her words had resonated with him at the time. He couldn’t remember experiencing those symptoms himself, but he realised that he must have done so during the course of Professor Gerald’s research. And as his health continued to deteriorate in the present, his memories were being continually triggered, falling back into place like dusty puzzle pieces. 

He remembered stumbling through the halls of Space Colony Ark in pure darkness. He remembered being unable to get off an examination table unaided. He remembered not being able to hold Maria’s hand. He remembered not being able to imagine a life without her.

‘I’m sorry,’ Abraham said.

‘You didn’t owe me your sympathy then, nor do you owe it to me now.’

‘No, that’s not what I was talking about.’ Abraham’s shoulders slumped, creasing his starched uniform jacket. ‘You may have been created to endure, but I’m sorry that you had to endure what you went through aboard the Ark.’

Shadow didn’t respond for a moment. ‘I know that you never trusted me or Professor Gerald.’ He waited until Abraham looked him in the eyes, then he asked, ‘But what did you see that was terrible enough to make you offer me your sympathy more than 50 years later?’

Abraham’s fingers dug into his upper arms. If he weren’t wearing gloves, then his knuckles would probably be white. ‘I saw the Faustian deal that the professor struck with Black Doom, and I became convinced that if I found out more, then I could change things. If I could prove you were a threat, then I could save everyone.’ He shook his head in disbelief. ‘I know it sounds nonsensical, and that’s because it was. I was a child –‘

‘I don’t care what you were,’ Shadow interrupted. ‘Your memories are still more reliable than mine. Tell me what you saw.’

Abraham fixed his eyes on the IV lines trailing from Shadow’s arm. ‘I stole my father’s access card and broke into one of the labs. I saw the professor and some of the other scientists were performing a vivisection on you.’ His eyes widened, as though he were reliving the memory rather than recalling it. ‘You were laid out in pieces … and you were still conscious.’

A cold chill seeped into Shadow’s bones, and a strange sensation echoed throughout his body. ‘What else?’

‘There’s nothing else. I left the lab and never went near you or the professor again.’ Abraham rested his head in his hand, and he looked exhausted. ‘I tried to put it out of my mind, but it was too late. I couldn’t avoid you altogether, and I couldn’t help but see hints of what you were going through for Maria’s sake. It … complicated things.’

‘Commander, I  –’

Abraham got to his feet, adjusting his gloves with sharp movements. ‘I’ve said too much,’ he muttered. ‘You’ve gone to such lengths to move on from your past, and here I am reminding you of it.’ His eyes flickered, and he gave Shadow a reluctant look. ‘You may not remember everything you did for her … but thank you nonetheless.’

‘I couldn’t cure her.’ Shadow stared at the flowers on the workbench, refusing to meet Abraham’s gaze. ‘I couldn’t save her.’

‘The two of you were inseparable for a reason, you know. You were a comfort to her. You gave her hope.’ Abraham cleared his throat and said, ‘… Thank you for doing what I could not.’ He strode out of the room, saying, ‘Get well –’

‘Abraham.’

The commander stopped as though he had been yanked back by a leash, and he gave Shadow a wary look. ‘Yes?’

‘I asked you to tell me.’ Shadow forced a smile, and he wondered how many times he had forced himself to smile for the sake of the people he had cared about … only to forget. ‘I would rather hear about the past than be reminded of it. I would rather have a choice.’

Abraham nodded stiffly and left, slamming the door of Team Dark’s flat behind him. 

Rouge padded into the room, picking up the flowers with a frustrated sigh. ‘I was about to kick him out.’

‘Just because I can’t move doesn’t mean I’m not capable of telling him to leave,’ Shadow said. ‘And I did ask, Rouge.’

‘I know, but …’ She buried her face in the blooms. ‘You need to focus on recovering. You don’t need unnecessary stress.’ She set the flowers down on the workbench again, beside the disassembled gun. ‘I know I was just complaining about him, but these are lovely. What a shame that he’s already married.’

‘Do you like older men?’ Shadow asked dryly.

Rouge smiled and sat on the edge of the bed, giving Shadow a kiss on the forehead. ‘Yes. I like an age gap of around …’ She tilted her head to one side, giving him a bemused smirk. ‘… Around 30 years, give or take.’

Shadow’s face began to burn. If he were capable of moving his arms, he would bury his face in his hands. ‘Get out.’

‘But darling –’

‘Out!’

Chapter Text

Shadow opened his eyes. The room was dark, and it was strangely quiet. He tried to lift a hand, but he couldn’t.

He cleared his throat, and panic welled up in his chest. His head was splitting, his muscles were spasming, and his body felt like it was on fire. He tried to speak, and even though he couldn’t hear himself, he could still feel faint vibrations in his throat. He could still talk. It was a meagre consolation, but at least he wasn’t trapped inside his own body with no recourse.

He took a deep breath, but his lungs were beginning to struggle, and his voice came out so weakly that he couldn’t even feel it. He called the name of the one person in the world whom he trusted with his life, but he had no idea whether she could hear him. 

Nothing. Only silence and darkness. It occurred to him that this could have been his existence for 50 years. Instead of falling asleep in one millennium and waking up in another, he could have lived through every moment that he had been in stasis. He could have relived Maria’s death over and over –

He gritted his teeth, desperately trying to keep the voices in his head at bay. He normally had ways of coping with his anxieties. He would listen to Rouge’s nonsense and use it as white noise. He would throw himself into his work, knocking out assignments until GUN ran out of things for him to do. He would repair his guns and maintain his bike whenever he had a spare moment. But all of that had been stripped away from him in an instant … with a single bullet.

He could feel the bandages around his chest with every breath, and he could feel his pulse quickening. He had been created to endure, and he couldn’t die. 

So why was he so afraid?

A gloved hand clasped his, interlocking their fingers together. He felt a soft kiss on his cheek, and Rouge’s perfume washed over him.

A silence ensued, and he realised that she didn’t know that she couldn’t hear him. ‘I can’t hear.’ Her hand twitched, and her claws pressed into the back of his hand. ‘I can’t see. And I can’t move.’

Her hand went limp. Then she jerked and tightened her grip so strongly that he could feel the bones in his hand shifting.

‘I’ll be fine, Rouge.’

She gave his hand a sharp tap, as though warning him.

‘Can you hear me? I said I’ll be fine –‘

She tapped his hand twice and used her finger to write out a word in block capitals on his palm. Her movements were frantic, and he could feel her claws through her gloves.

LUNGS.

Shadow lay in silence, and his heart began to pound. If his paralysis continued to worsen, then his lungs could fail, and if his lungs failed … his body would do everything in its power to heal itself, potentially killing him in the process. 

He didn’t know if it was possible for him to die, but they might be about to find out.

‘R-Rouge –’

She held a hand over his mouth for a moment, and she didn’t need to spell it out for him to know that she was saying to save his breath. She held two fingers to his neck, measuring his pulse, and he could feel her hand shaking. He breathed shallowly. It was reflexive, and he had no control over it.

He wished he could tell Rouge not to worry, but she had already warned him not to speak. It wasn’t fair that she should have to go through this amount of stress and anxiety because of him. Anger began to burn in his chest. He’d told Omega that revenge could wait … but it couldn’t wait forever. He had to survive this, and he had to hunt down the person who had put them all through this nightmare. He refused to accept any other outcome.

Rouge tapped his hand once, and he felt the vibrations of pounding footsteps, swiftly followed by the sensations of plastic and metal being fitted to his face. Oxygen and air were forced into his lungs, and if he had any control over his body, he would have gasped with relief.

Air began to fill and leave his lungs with a steady rhythm, punctuated by the sting of needles being placed in his arms and the pressure of monitor straps being tightened around his chest. The footfalls finally disappeared, and Rouge’s grip loosened on his hand.

He wanted to ask her to stay, but she had already been through enough for his sake. He swallowed hard, using what was left of his faculties to tell her what she needed to know. ‘… I-If I become completely locked in, I won’t be able to speak. If that happens, I won’t be able to tell you if I need anaesthetics or sedatives.’ Fresh oxygen hit his lungs, and he said, ‘If you realise that I can no longer talk, then you need to tell them to put me under until this is all over.’

He fell silent, exhausted from the strain of talking, and Rouge squeezed his hand in response. Then the hospital bed shook slightly. She climbed onto it, curling up beside him. She slipped one arm behind his shoulders and used the other to fold his arm over his waist, placing her hand on his. She buried her face in his shoulder and began to write on his palm, one letter at a time.

Say ‘yes’ if you can understand me.

‘Yes,’ Shadow said, and the word burned his throat.

She closed his eyelids with her fingertips and placed her hand on his again.

I love you.

His mind went blank. If he weren’t hooked up to a ventilator, his breath would have left his lungs.

She kissed his shoulder and wrote, You can complain about this to me once you’ve recovered.

He wished that he could squeeze her hand in return, but he could only lie in silence. If their circumstances had been any different, he would have chalked her affections up to a moment of tactless self-indulgence at his expense. But that wasn’t what it felt like. It felt like there were so few ways left for her to reach him. So many of his senses were failing … but he could still feel her touch.

You said that you often use my nonsense as white noise. I know you can’t hear me, but you can feel me, can’t you?

She dotted the question mark with her fingertip. His chest felt tight, and not just because of the monitor straps. Every word took several seconds to write, and some sentences took her minutes to spell out. He could tell that she was writing slowly for his sake.

‘Y-You don’t have to do this.’

Do you want me to stop?

Air flooded his lungs again. He couldn’t hear himself, but he could only imagine how weak and vulnerable his voice must sound. ‘… No.’

Good.

She kept writing, and her touch was gentle.

You don’t need to talk. Just rest.

As she continued to write, his concentration began to fade. Her words filled his head in fragments as she talked about everything they would do once he was well … because he would get well, she insisted. She refused to believe otherwise. Her heartbeat echoed in his bones, grounding him. 

Rouge began to shiver, and he realised that cold air was blowing from the vents above their heads. His body felt like it was burning, but he hadn’t realised that he had a fever. He gathered the last of his strength and said, ‘K-Keep yourself warm.’

She continued writing, and he could feel her flirtatiousness coming through in every letter that she wrote… Are you asking me to get into bed with you?

He grunted, unwilling to dignify her comment with a real response. After a moment, he felt her voice vibrate in his body, as though she had called out to someone. Almost immediately, heavy footfalls shook the room. He didn’t need the rest of his senses to know that it was Omega who had joined them.

Rouge slipped beneath the covers and pulled them up over their shoulders. She laid her arm on top of his again and delicately wrote on his palm. 

Omega will alert us if you need attention. GUN’s biomedical technicians are monitoring you as well.

Shadow felt Omega tap him repeatedly on the shoulder with one of his metal claws. He recognised the patterns as Morse code, and he mustered the remaining shreds of his concentration.

You must expedite your recovery. I will assist with maiming and dismembering your assailant, but you should be the one to land the killing blow.

Shadow scoffed weakly. Rouge knocked Omega’s finger away, and he could feel the echoes of her voice. She was probably scolding Omega for demanding Shadow’s attention just to talk about revenge. 

Rouge rested her head on his shoulder, but he could feel her hesitate.

Do you want me to give you some space?

‘No.’ He could feel his voice rasping, and he could tell that his strength was disappearing. ‘This darkness … It feels like being in stasis.’

As soon as the words left his mouth, Rouge wrapped her arms around him, hugging him so deeply that his ribcage began to compress. She began to write on his palm, one letter at a time.

I’ll always remain by your side.

I’ll be here for you when it’s all said and done.

I’m worried about you.

Her fingertips began to slow, along with her heartbeat, and he could feel his consciousness fading.

I love you.

He tried to respond, but his lungs could barely hold air, and he didn’t know if she could hear him over the noise of the ventilator. He didn’t even know if she was still awake. 

He took one last breath and fell unconscious.

Chapter Text

Shadow opened his eyes and saw a metal ceiling. He pricked his ears and sat up with a wince, glancing out the window. The stars glowed like countless unblinking eyes, and his fur stood on end. His body was covered in bandages, plastic tubing filled with blood trailed from his arms, and he could hear monitors beeping all around him.

His head hurt, and his body felt like he had been lying on an open flame. His central vision was blurred.

‘Shadow?’ With a sharp click, the door of the room slid open, and Maria scurried in, clutching an access card. Her face brightened and fell at the sight of him, like a candle being doused with water. ‘There you are!’

She darted forward, but Abraham leaned around the doorframe and grabbed her by the back of the collar. ‘Hey. Give me that.’

‘Sorry, I forgot.’

Abraham rolled his eyes, taking the card and stowing it in his pocket. ‘You only need it to get in. Not to let yourself out.’ His gaze landed on Shadow, and his expression twisted. Then he pushed Maria into the room. ‘Don’t tell anyone I did this for you. If my Dad finds out that I stole his keycard, then I’m going to throw that precious pet of yours out of an airlock –‘

Maria balled her fists and said, ‘He’s not my pet –‘

Abraham stepped back and slammed a hand against one of the buttons outside the door, sealing it shut. 

Maria groaned and walked over to the bed, taking a seat on the edge of it. ‘Try not to become as grumpy as him, Shadow. You’ll never make any friends –‘

‘You shouldn’t be here, Maria.’

She blinked several times. ‘Y-Yeah, I know.’

He coiled one of the IV lines around his fingers, watching her warily. ‘Then what are you doing here?’

‘Well, Grandfather wouldn’t give me a straight answer on when I could see you again, so I thought I’d just … let myself in.’

‘Your grandfather doesn’t want you to see me in this state,’ Shadow said. ‘You shouldn’t have gone behind his back.’

‘But I was worried about you –’

‘That’s no excuse!’ Maria flinched, and he realised that his words had come out far harsher than he’d wanted. His ears drooped, and he lowered his eyes. ‘I’m … sorry. I’m just tired.’

‘I think you’re more than tired.’ Maria leaned forward, taking his hand. ‘What’s with all these bandages? It’s not Halloween yet.’ 

His fingers twitched, and his hand fell back to the mattress. They both stared at his gloved fingers, and Maria turned pale. ‘Shadow? What happened?’

Shadow drew his knees up and folded his arms over them, reluctantly meeting her gaze. ‘Your grandfather is trying to find out which of my genes are resistant to NIDS.’

Maria’s eyes flickered. Then her pupils constricted until they looked like twin black holes in a pale blue sky. ‘D-Does that mean … You have NIDS now?’

‘I acquired it. And I will heal from it, given enough time.’

‘B-But what about the symptoms?’

Shadow forced a smile. ‘They’re not that bad. I’m tougher than you are.’ But his smile soon faded, and he dug his fingers into his legs to keep them from trembling. ‘But I don’t understand how you do it.’

‘Do what?’

‘I may not feel them as strongly as you, but the symptoms are … debilitating. Yet somehow … you’re still the kindest and most patient person I know.’ The stars began to blur, rotating in circles as though time was beginning to accelerate. He stared at her, and his voice sounded weak when he spoke. ‘Is it because of your heart?’

Maria looked confused. She almost appeared to be flickering. Her dress shifted in hue, almost infinitesimally. Her eyes softened and hardened. Her headband changed in texture, as though it hadn’t been rendered in yet. ‘My heart?’

‘Yes. And if I have your heart, then why am I like this?’ Sadness began to well up in his chest. He could feel reality beginning to tear apart at the seams as his lucidity returned. ‘How did I become so twisted?’

‘Shadow, what are you talking about?’ Maria moved and sat beside him, wrapping her arms around him. Her bones felt frail, but they still held a surprising amount of strength. ‘You’re not twisted. Why would you think that?’

Shadow sat in silence, staring at the walls of Space Colony Ark as though he were truly seeing them for the first time since he had awoken. His eyes began to burn. ‘I … had a nightmare. I lost you, and it changed me. I lived for years without you, and I thought it was all real.’ He held her close, and his hands began to shake. ‘I thought this was a dream.’

‘Oh, Shadow. I’m so sorry.’ Maria rested her head on his, and she hesitated. ‘You know, I’d like to think we’re all born with good hearts, but I don’t think that’s actually true.’ She sounded disappointed, as though it hurt to say the words. ‘I think our hearts become what we make them … and the kindest people I know are the ones who endured the most pain.’

Shadow said nothing for a moment. Maria felt like a doll in his hands – brittle and pliable at the same time. She didn’t feel real … because she wasn’t, despite what his mind would have him believe. ‘I don’t understand.’ He let Maria go, and she gave him a questioning look. ‘If suffering is meant to make you kind, then why aren’t I more like you?’ His voice cracked, and he asked, ‘Haven’t I suffered enough?’

‘You don’t need to be more like me, Shadow.’ Maria rested her forehead against his, and she felt cold to the touch. ‘You can just be yourself. You can shape your own heart, and you can build your own character.’

‘… You have too much confidence in me. You, your grandfather, the scientists – everyone – and I can’t even cure you. His voice was choked. ‘I was created from you and because of you, and I can’t even cure you. I’ll never be better than what I am now, because I was created to be perfect, but I can never surpass the people who created me  –‘

Maria wrapped her arms around him, and he could feel her begin to shake, trembling beneath the weight of decades worth of trauma. ‘Shadow, please stop. You’re being far too hard on yourself.’ She met his gaze, and she looked desperate. ‘I’ll ask Grandfather to pause the experiments. I-I don’t think being under this amount of strain is good for you.’

‘What do you mean?’ Shadow stared at her in bewilderment. ‘I was designed for this. How can it be bad for me?’

Horror dawned on Maria’s face, and she looked panicked. ‘Y-You should have a choice, at least.’

‘I think it’s too late for that.’ Shadow spread his hands, staring at them, and his chest tightened. ‘I wasn’t given a choice in my creation or purpose.’

‘B-But I don’t want you to suffer for my sake –’

‘That’s what I was created for, Maria.’ Shadow’s shoulders curved inwards, and the stars outside the window began to glow red, disappearing one by one. ‘I was created to cure an incurable illness. I was created to fail. I was created to watch you die. I was created to outlive everyone I had ever known and will ever know, regardless of whether I had been able to save you or not. I was created to bring light and hope to the very people who took those things away from me.’ He couldn’t bring himself to look her in the eyes, but he raised one hand, cupping her cheek with his palm.

‘I’m so sorry.’ Maria’s voice wavered, and she said, ‘If it weren’t for me, then you wouldn’t exist, and you wouldn’t be going through all of this –’

‘Your grandfather is the one who created me,’ Shadow said quietly. ‘My existence is not your fault.’

‘… I hope you’re given an opportunity to make your own choices one day.’ Shadow looked up, and Maria was breaking into pieces, like fragments of luminous glass. ‘And when that time comes, and even if it’s hard … I hope that you can choose to be happy.’

‘What happiness am I meant to find in a world without you in it?’

‘I’m not that special,’ Maria whispered.

‘Your grandfather thought otherwise. He thought you were too precious to be left to suffer. He said you were his legacy. He broke every conceivable moral law in his efforts to bring you home.’

‘And what about you? What do you think?’

‘I think that I don’t know how to live without you.’

Maria blinked rapidly. The rivets of the room’s interior were coming undone, and the light of the broken moon seeped through the cracks. ‘As much as I hope that you do have a heart of your own, I hope that a trace of me is still there. That way, when there are times that you can’t be kind to yourself, you will still feel an echo of how much I loved you.’

‘Is it really that strange that I wish I were more like you?’ Shadow met her gaze, but she was wholly fragmented now, and her irises shone back at him from shards of glass. ‘Even though my memories are unreliable, and even though this is only a dream, you’re still the kindest person I’ve ever known.’

‘You are kind. Your kindness doesn’t have to look the same as mine. You’re allowed to be your own person. You’re allowed to be more than what you were made for.’ Shadow closed his eyes, and he felt the cold burn of glass as she kissed him on the forehead. ‘You’re allowed to be happy.’

He heard the sound of breaking glass, and with a gasp, he woke up.

Chapter Text

When Shadow opened his eyes again, he was lying in his room in the depths of GUN’s headquarters. The lights were dim, and the beeps of the monitors were painfully loud. His limbs felt weak, but they were no longer burning. Omega seemingly hadn’t moved, and his lenses flashed when he registered the fact that Shadow was awake.

Shadow felt a warmth against his side, and he looked over to see Rouge curled up beside him. She was dressed in a crinkled cotton shirt and shorts. Her lipstick was a different colour, and she had deep shadows under her eyes. He turned onto his side and placed one arm around her. Her eyes flickered open, widening as she saw that he was awake.

He removed the respirator from his mouth and gave her a forced smile. ‘Did I miss anything?’

‘… Only me being more devoted than the wife you don’t have,’ Rouge retorted. ‘I haven’t left your side in over a week. If I’d known how long you were going to be in a coma for, I would have brought in another b-bed …’ Her eyes began to water, and she threw her arms around him, bursting into tears. ‘I d-didn’t know if you were ever going to wake up! Just let me get shot next time, damn it!’

Shadow closed his eyes and hugged her back, ignoring the sceptical whirring coming from Omega’s direction. ‘It was my choice. What good are my powers if I can’t use them to save the people I care about?’

Her claws pricked his back, and her wings stiffened. ‘That’s the entire reason why we’re in this mess. They used me and your powers against you.’

‘It’s not going to happen again.’

‘How do you know that?’

Shadow sat up, wincing, and Rouge followed suit. ‘Because once I deal with the person who did this, no one will be brave enough or stupid enough to try anything like this ever again.’

‘They haven’t even caught them yet.’ Rouge reached up, tapping her earpiece with one ear. ‘I have bugs and wiretaps throughout all of GUN’s offices. We normally use bullets to trace the perpetrators of gun crimes, but these bullets were unique. It’s been slow going …’ Her hand stilled, and her eyes narrowed. ‘Wait.’

Shadow’s ears pricked up. ‘What is it?’

Rouge’s eyes flickered. ‘Something’s happening. They’ve identified the shooter. It sounds like they’re deploying a strike team to bring them in.’

Shadow abruptly threw his legs over the side of the bed and pulled his IV lines out of his arms. ‘Where are they?’

‘You’re not going –‘

Shadow yanked the earpiece from her ear and held it to his own ear. Through garbled static and tinny audio, he could hear orders being given for agents to convene in one of GUN’s hangars. He held out his hand to Rouge. ‘Give me the Emerald back.’

‘Not on your life. Shadow –’

He growled and slid off the bed, stumbling over to the workbench. He cleared the surface with a sweep of his hand and yanked a drawer open. Tools and gun parts clattered on the ground, and he held up the fake emerald that he had retrieved from Space Colony Ark.’

‘Chaos –’

‘You’re not going!’ Rouge yelled, lunging at him. Her hand closed on his arm at the same time as Omega’s hand clamped down on his shoulder. His reflexes weren’t as sharp as usual, and he barely registered their sudden movements before the second word left his lips.

‘– Control!’

They were enveloped in a flash of green light and promptly spat back out into one of the labyrinthine corridors of GUN’s headquarters.

Rouge punched him in the shoulder, and he nearly fell. ‘You idiot! What the hell do you think you’re doing?’

‘I’m going after the shooter!’ Shadow snapped.

The tromping of boots filled his ears, and they turned to see Abraham walking down the corridor, accompanied by a squad of special ops soldiers. He saw Shadow and gritted his teeth. He looked like he wanted to turn on his heel and leave, but he kept walking. ‘You’re not fit for duty, agent.’

‘I’m alive, and I’m standing on my own two feet,’ Shadow countered. ‘What more do you want?’

Abraham drew to a halt. ‘I want you three to stop blocking the corridor. Move.’

Rouge arched an eyebrow. ‘Omega and I had nothing to do with this, Abe. This stubborn bastard brought us with him.’

‘It was an accident,’ Shadow said. ‘My reflexes aren’t as sharp as normal.’

Abraham narrowed his eyes. ‘You’re hardly making a convincing case for why we should let you join the strike team.’

‘I don’t need to “make a case”.’ Shadow glared at the soldiers and said, ‘I’ll be going after the shooter myself, and you can’t stop me. Dismiss your men. They’ll just get in my way.’

‘I will not.’ Abraham’s expression darkened. ‘You’ve already cheated death once. Don’t be in such a rush to sit back down at the dealer’s table.’

‘I can’t die –‘

‘Do you really want to bet on that?’ Abraham stared at him and said, ‘You might be standing on your own two feet, but you’re barely standing. You haven’t even fully recovered. If you get shot with another one of these projectiles, you might have to worry about more than being incapacitated. You’re not going after the shooter. We are.’ He turned to the soldiers and motioned sharply. ‘Continue to the hangar. I’ll join you in a moment.’

The squad leader looked up at Omega. Omega’s lenses gleamed beneath the lights, and machinery began to clank and whirr within his arms. After a moment, Shadow gave Omega’s foot a subtle kick, and the noises stopped. The soldiers left in single file, squeezing past Omega’s clawed hands with wary glances upwards.

Once they had left, Abraham fixed his gaze on Shadow. ‘I know that you have grievances over Rouge being targeted, but there is a time and place –’

‘This isn’t just about her,’ Shadow snarled, and Abraham’s eyes widened. ‘ I didn’t know if I would get my sight or hearing back. I didn’t even know if I was going to survive. Whoever this person is, I went through hell because of them. I’m going to find them, I’m going to make them suffer, and then I’m going to kill them.’

‘Kill?’ Abraham asked

‘You want to talk about time and place? This isn’t the time for moral grandstanding,’ Shadow said. ‘If I don’t kill them, then GUN will execute them once they’ve wrung them for information.’ Abraham stiffened, and Shadow knew that he’d correctly guessed how this was supposed to play out. ‘That’s not good enough. I need to be the one to do it. I need people to know what will happen if they target my teammates again, which is why I have to –‘

‘Enough,’ Abraham said. There was an unusual weight to his voice. He glanced up at the security cameras. ‘Rouge, we’ve been having problems with the cameras in the detention cell block. We need you to have a look at them.’ He paused. ‘It would be unfortunate if someone exploited the flaws in the security system in order to access our high-risk prisoners.’

Rouge arched an eyebrow. ‘… Sure, Abe. We can’t have anyone undermining the infallible justice system of the United Federation.’

Abraham exhaled through his teeth and strode off, brushing against the wall in order to give Omega a wide berth. He gave Shadow a sharp look as he left. ‘You’re the only one who these bullets can affect. If you want to confront him, then let us disarm him first.’

Shadow crossed his arms tightly and said nothing, listening to Abraham’s retreating footsteps.

Rouge clasped her hands behind her back and leaned forward, giving Shadow a searching look. 

‘What?’

‘Are we killing him?’

Shadow braced a hand against Omega’s exterior for support. He’d maintained a facade while speaking to Abraham, but he’d only just regained consciousness, and exhaustion was rapidly setting in. Using Chaos Energy still had physical repercussions, albeit less severe than before. ‘I’m killing him.’ ‘Do you have a problem with that?’

‘I’ve never questioned your methods. If you want to send a message, then I’ll give you a megaphone.’

‘I’d prefer a gun.’ Shadow took a step forward, and he could barely lift the weight of his own shoes. ‘Or a knife. Guns are for business, and knives are for personal matters.’ He met her sea-green gaze, and he hesitated. ‘This is … personal to me. To say the least.’

‘What about Maria’s wish?’ Rouge said. Her expression was unreadable.

Shadow gave her a scathing glare. ‘The shooter had the chance to walk away without shooting at you and me, but he still pulled the trigger. He already had his damn chance. Do you actually want me to let him live?’

‘I just don’t want you to do something that you’ll regret. I know you, and I know that you’ll have to live with your regrets forever.’

Shadow took another step forward and nearly stumbled. ’I only kill when it’s necessary. Making sure that you don’t come to harm because of me is necessary.’

‘If you say so.’ Rouge shrugged. ‘Second chances are nice, but …’ Her smile faded, and her eyes were chillingly cold. ‘… Not everyone deserves them.’

He nodded curtly and took another step. But this time, his leg buckled, and Rouge grabbed him to steady him.

‘Are you all right?’

‘I’m fine –’ His other leg buckled, and Omega’s claws clamped shut around his torso with a metallic click, preventing him from collapsing.

‘“Standing on your own two feet”, my ass,’ Rouge muttered. ‘This is the sickest you’ve ever been, and your condition has barely stabilised. Omega?’

‘Define query.’

‘Help me get this dumbass out of here, would you?’

‘Request acknowledged.’ Without warning, Omega picked Shadow up and held him in his clawed hands, trudging off with clunking footsteps.

Shadow buried his face in one hand and hissed in embarrassment. ‘… I’m going to fry your circuits once I’ve fully recovered.’

‘You must not.’ Omega looked down, and his lenses flashed. ‘I want to assist with dispatching your assailant, and I cannot do so if I am non-functioning.’

Rouge’s wings fluttered, and she sat on Omega’s shoulder with a sigh. ‘Honestly, I don’t know why I was surprised. If you spend enough time with Omega, homicide inevitably becomes the default solution to every problem.’

Omega whirred in approval. ‘It is extremely effective.’

‘Of course it’s effective. It turns the source of the problem into a red smear. It doesn’t mean it’s always the right approach …’

Shadow closed his eyes. He hadn’t realised how much he would miss Rouge’s constant chatter until he had lost his hearing. It was a comforting source of white noise. He was also beginning to feel drowsy, and the constant movement of Omega’s walk cycle wasn’t helping matters.

‘Are you all right?’ Rouge asked.

‘I’m fine.’ He opened one eye briefly and cracked a smile. ‘I told you I’d be fine, didn’t I?’

‘… You insufferable brat.’ Rouge was trying to sound irritated, but she reached down to rest a hand on his head, and the fondness of her touch betrayed her. ‘You always have to be right about everything, don’t you?’

‘Hmph.’

‘Sleep well,’ Rouge said. Even though his consciousness was fading, he could still hear a hint of frost creep into her voice. ‘Once you’ve rested up, we’ll have work to do …’

Chapter Text

Shadow leaned against the wall, staring at the doors of the high-security detention cell block beneath GUN’s headquarters. Heavily armed guards stood on either side, holding semi-automatic rifles. ‘How long do I have?’

’Seven minutes,’ Rouge said. ‘Do your worst.’

The security cameras above his head looked like red eyes in the dim light. And with a sharp flash, they went dark, lowering one by one. Shadow lunged forward and crashed through the doors with his shoulder before the guards even had time to shoot. As they pivoted to fire on him, he slammed both feet back against the double doors, sending the two men crashing into the corridor wall.

‘This would go a lot more smoothly if you used Chaos Control,’ Rouge said pointedly.

Shadow strode down the hall, ignoring the screeches, yells and calls of the inmates. ‘If the cameras are down, then none of this ever happened –’ One guard stepped into his path, and Shadow sent him flying into a cell door with a swift roundhouse kick.

‘Stay focused,’ Rouge warned.

‘You stay focused,’ Shadow growled. ‘I need you to keep the systems from rebooting.’

He slammed open the door of an interrogation room and hauled the supervising officers out of their chairs, ripping off their headsets and throwing them out of the room.

There was a lone female officer on the other side of the one-way glass, sitting at a steel table, opposite the shooter. Shadow held up one of the confiscated headsets, and her frustrated voice crackled in his ear. ‘Listen, I’ve been doing this for a week. If you keep this up, I’m going to hand you off to one of my colleagues … and they won’t be so patient.’

‘If you have someone who’s capable of making me talk, then why haven’t you sent him in yet?’

With a green flash, Shadow appeared in the interrogation room, standing behind the shooter, and clamped one hand down on the man’s shoulder. ‘… I was indisposed.’

The officer recognised his silhouette, and she turned pale. ‘You’re not supposed to be here. You’re not one of our interrogators.’

‘You must be new here.’ Shadow gave her a glare. ‘I’m the one they call in when your best interrogators come up short.’

She bristled, folding her arms over the tabletop. ’We have limits for a reason.’

Shadow bared his fangs at her in a sharp, humourless smile. ‘You might, but GUN doesn’t. And this man still has all ten of his fingernails.’ He circled around behind her and hauled her to her feet. ‘Get out.’

‘I-I was told to instruct you to leave if you came in here.’

‘And I’m instructing you to leave through the door before I throw you through the one-way glass.’ Her hands began to shake, and Shadow lowered his voice. ‘The cameras are down. You can tell them I threatened to kill you. Go.’

With one last look at the shooter, she strode out of the room, and Shadow slammed the door closed. He glanced at the shooter, and he realised the man’s face was pallid. ‘What’s the matter? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’

‘Y-You’re supposed to be dead.’

Shadow stiffened. ‘Unfortunately for you, I’m not.’ He raised one foot to the steel door, and blue flames whorled from his shoes, welding the door shut. He turned and stalked over to the table, bracing his hands against it.

The man looked … normal. Average build. Dark hair. Caucasian. Nothing that would distinguish him in a line-up. He didn’t look dangerous, yet his wrists and ankles were clamped to a steel chair.

Shadow took a seat at the table, and his chest burned with anger. If Maria had known that people like this existed, would she have still wanted him to give everyone a chance to be happy? … But she had known. She had died of a gunshot wound, but her dying wish had remained unchanged.

‘I’m not going to give you a chance to be happy,’ Shadow said, slowly, tapping one finger on the table. ‘But I’m going to give you a chance to tell me everything you know.’

‘Y-You’re going to kill me anyway. Why should I tell you anything?’

Shadow removed one of his gloves, examining his claws. He didn’t need a gun, a knife … or even a pair of pliers. ‘I can give you several reasons. 10 of them.’ He glanced down. ‘Or 20.’ The man began to pant shallowly, revealing a sliver of crooked teeth. ‘… Or 52.’

‘A-Are you really just going to do GUN’s dirty work for them? Like their loyal dog?’

‘Don’t change the subject,’ Shadow muttered. ‘And you’re one to talk about dirty work. You’re just a brat with a rifle. I’ve seen the interrogation transcripts, and I know you’re not capable of acting independently. You’re someone doing someone else’s bidding, and you had one chance to tell me who that person is.’

‘… Had one chance?’

Shadow lunged across the table, and a syringe glinted in his fingers. He stabbed it into the man’s forearm, depressed the plunger, and a green liquid disappeared into his bloodstream.

Rouge was a thief first and foremost, after all. Stealing a vial of the neurotoxin that GUN’s scientists were analysing was child’s play for her.

A scream rang in his ears, followed by a heavy banging on the door. ‘Agent Shadow?’ Commander Tower’s voice came over the intercom system, and Shadow knew that he must be standing on the other side of the one-way glass. ‘You’re not authorised to engage with this suspect.’

Shadow sat on the edge of the table and snapped off the needle in the man’s arm, breaking the syringe with his fingers. Shards of glass tinkled on the floor. ‘I’m not authorised to engage with any suspect, but somehow I always find myself back here when one of your damn prisoners won’t talk.’

‘You’re too emotionally invested in this case –‘

The intercom crackled and died, and Rouge’s voice filled his ear again. ‘Sorry, sweetheart. I figured I’d better let him do his spiel so he can have plausible deniability.’

‘I gathered as much –’

A loud slam made his fur stand on end, and he looked back to see a dent in the metal door. The guards must have found an enforcer – a portable battering ram – and were trying to break down the door. He didn’t have much time … but neither did the man sitting in front of him.

‘What have you done?’

Shadow leaned forward, sinking his claws into the man’s forearms. ‘You already know. You’re just too afraid to admit it to yourself.’ Chaos Energy seeped into the man’s arms, crackling as it violently reacted with the very toxin that he had tried to kill Shadow with. ‘You took my sight, my hearing, my agency … you nearly took my life. You targeted my teammate.’ His claws sank in deeper. ‘By the time I’m done with you, you’re going to wish that I had sent you to a black site instead.’

‘D-Don’t do this.’ The man’s eyes were already turning grey, and his hands were twitching. His nerves were frying, and his senses were failing. ‘Can you hear me? Don’t kill me, please. Please!’

A rhythmic banging punctuated the silence. Shadow slowly tilted his head. ‘… You want to live?’

‘Of course I don’t! No one wants to die!’

Shadow’s shoulders slumped as he watched the man in front of him begin to decay in front of his very eyes. ‘Believe it or not, sometimes death can be a mercy.’ Then he withdrew his claws and narrowed his eyes, severing the flow of Chaos Energy. He materialised his Chaos Emerald in his hands. ‘… Chaos Control.’

The world turned grey, then gold, and a clock began to tick as time reversed. He watched in silence as the effects and traces of the toxin disappeared, and once time resumed, he got off the table.

‘… Had one chance?’ the man repeated.

‘Yes.’ Shadow drew his glove back on and glanced back at him. ‘.Thanks for your cooperation.’

The man stared at him in horror, then looked down at the broken needle in his arm. ‘… I told you?’ He began to sweat, shaking so violently. ’He’s going to kill me once he finds out what I’ve done. Kill me. For the love of God, kill me. Make it quick –’

‘He?’

The man blinked several times. Then he threw himself forward, and the steel chair nearly toppled. ‘You mangy cur; I’m going to tear your throat out –‘

With a final slam, the door buckled. But it wasn’t due to the aid of soldiers with an enforcer. It was Omega. He tore the door off its hinges and entered the room, bending and breaking the metal doorframe. ‘Hedgehog. I have been instructed to defuse the situation.’

Shadow and Omega stared at each other. ‘… And how exactly do you plan to do that?’

‘By reminding you that you must not kill the target before we acquire additional intel.’

Shadow glared at the one-way glass. Omega’s job had been to keep anyone from interfering before Shadow could kill the shooter. But Abraham had to look like he was attempting to stop Shadow, and Omega couldn’t completely ignore the man’s requests.

‘I’m not going to kill him,’ Shadow muttered. He stalked past Omega, glaring at Abraham, who was leaning against the glass with a weary look on his face.

‘What? You don’t want to do the honours?’ Abraham asked flatly, and Shadow could tell that his words weren’t an invitation.

‘The situation has changed.’ He nodded at the headset in Abraham’s hand. ‘You heard what happened in there. He needs to be interrogated further before he’s executed … if GUN chooses to execute him.’ Shadow hesitated. ‘And I …’

Omega looked up. His lenses zoomed in, focusing on the broken door. ‘The situation may have changed. But my priorities have not.’

Abraham narrowed his eyes. ‘Excuse me?’

With a loud, mechanical clunking, Omega strode through the broken doorway and braced the fallen door against the hole, welding it shut again with a blast of fire that turned the interrogation room into a furnace.

Abraham slammed one hand against the console outside the interrogation room and turned the intercom on again. ‘Omega, stop this –’

Shadow’s heart began to pound. He grabbed Abraham’s arm, pulling him back from the glass. ‘Don’t.’

‘It’s one thing for you to be insubordinate, Shadow, but –‘

‘You don’t understand.’ Omega’s footsteps shook the walls, and Shadow’s chest began to heave. ‘He was created to keep me in check. And after everything that happened, I’m not in any condition to stop him. And if I can’t stop him, then no one can –‘

Artillery fire ricocheted behind the glass, and Shadow tackled Abraham to the ground. The glass above their head began to crack. Rouge’s panicked voice exploded in his ear, mingling with hoarse screams coming from inside the room. He caught a glimpse of long, clawed shadows reaching across the wall inside the interrogation chamber, and Omega’s hands closed around the man’s head.

The glass shattered, and Shadow felt a pair of gloved hands cover his ears. He looked up, expecting to see Rouge, but no – it was Abraham. The shoulders of his jacket were covered in broken glass, and despite the man’s best efforts, Shadow could hear the faint sounds of bones and sinew slowly being torn asunder.

With a loud snap, blood sprayed through the broken window, drenching them both. The two of them sat in stunned silence. Abraham let Shadow go and held up one hand, warning the soldiers in the external doorway to stay back. The welded door collapsed, and Omega emerged. His exterior was drenched in blood. He rotated his head, staring down at Abraham and Shadow.

‘… Omega?’ Shadow whispered.

‘I said that I would assist with dispatching your assailant. I have completed my objectives.’

‘We hadn’t even learned who he was working for –’

Omega whirred loudly. ‘I obtained the necessary data. Tell the bat to review the audio files.’

‘… We can tell people that you were operating under outdated directives,’ Abraham said, and his voice was measured. ‘But that was still an unsanctioned execution.’ He got to his feet and hauled Shadow up. ‘You committed murder, Omega.’

‘Irrelevant. I have always intended to murder Doctor Eggman when the opportunity arises. And I require the hedgehog to be fully functioning in order to aid my efforts.’ Omega looked down at Abraham, then walked off, dragging Shadow with him by the arm. ‘Threats to the bat and the hedgehog will be summarily dealt with.’

The sounds of horrified whispers arose from the soldiers flooding into the interrogation room, and Shadow gave Omega a wary glance. ‘… And?’

‘Elaborate.’

‘You weren’t merely trying to further your own goals in there.’

Omega whirred, almost angrily. ‘You and the one known as Gemerl have the same weaknesses as those meat sacks. I wanted to let you deal the killing blow, but you refused.’

‘I made a choice –’

‘As did I. You have a conscience. I do not.’

‘I wasn’t just created to kill and destroy –‘

Omega clamped his hand down on Shadow’s shoulder. ‘But I was.’ Blood dripped from claws, soaking Shadow’s fur. ‘You do not have the luxury of ignoring threats. You must learn to delegate.’

Shadow closed his eyes and continued to stumble forward ‘There could be consequences,’ he murmured. ‘GUN could try to reprogram you.’

‘… They may attempt to do so. I will terminate their software technicians with extreme prejudice.’

Rouge stalked around the corner, and he caught a glimpse of a knife in her hands. ‘Well?’ Her voice was hardened. ‘How did we go, boys?’ She took one look at the blood on Omega’s exterior and the glass shards in Shadow’s fur, and her face paled. Then she swiftly hid the knife behind her back and forced a smile. The blade reflected her shaking fingers.

Shadow’s eyes widened. It dawned on him that this had never been about whether he chose to let the shooter live or die. The fact that someone had nearly killed GUN’s undying soldier could never be made public … and one way or another, everything and everyone related to the case had to disappear, whether by his hands, Omega’s or Rouge’s.

Rouge sauntered up and fell into step with them as more soldiers ran in the other direction, towards the interrogation chamber. ‘Looks like you two should hit the showers. Those cameras aren’t going to stay offline forever.’

They passed beneath a dead security camera, and Shadow eyed it as they walked past. Some things about GUN never changed. As long as there was no record of the organisation’s atrocities, it was as though those atrocities had never occurred.

But some things had changed. He had a choice. He was capable of protecting the people he cared about, but they were also capable of protecting themselves. But either way, their misdeeds would light up the night sky of Central City every so often, like a bloody firework that disappeared as quickly as it came.

‘… Thank you. Both of you.’

Omega’s lenses flashed, and Rouge glanced at him, twirling the knife in her fingers. Then she grinned, and the three of them disappeared in a flash of green light, leaving a trail of blood that ended at the doors of the detention cell block.

Cover Art by Electrikitty