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They’d snuck into the Death Egg on a routine supply ship, whose scheduled take-off happened to fall neatly into a time when both human and hound were physically present on Earth. They’d spent weeks planning, gathering intel as they waited for their opportunity, and now, it was time to act.
Rouge tapped a code into the panel with easy confidence, and the metal doors slid open, revealing a long hall lined with empty cells. “He should be in the lone cell at the end of this corridor,” she said.
Shadow nodded at her before he took off, skating across the tiles. The low hum of his jets didn’t echo as harshly as the clicking of his shoes on the metal did. He swivelled his head to check every cell he passed, but as Rouge had reported, there were no other signs of life.
The corridor finally opened into a large, spacious room, whose hexagonal windows showed a view of the blue planet in the distance. Shadow didn’t stop to sightsee; he made a beeline for the cell, tucking himself up against one wall and leaning over to peer inside.
Behind him, he heard the gentle tap of Rouge’s heels as she landed by his side, but Shadow was no longer paying attention to anything else, his gaze fixated on the prisoner inside the cell, sitting and leaning against one wall while staring out into space. There was no mistaking his familiar blue coat, but—
Shadow gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. The hedgehog in the cell was a ghost of the boy he’d last seen back on Earth. He was bone-thin, every ounce of extra fat wasted away, and he was covered in bruises and wounds. Some of them had clotted over, but were still clearly fresh. Dark bags underneath his eyes, gaze dim and unfocused, spines blunted and missing. Ratty gloves, sneakers worn and dull, both falling apart at the seams. He was cuffed at the wrists with what Shadow suspected to be Chaos energy suppressors. And the stench—it reeked of blood, sweat, vomit, and other things Shadow couldn’t name, but hated all the same.
He could smell the mutt, too. He’d been here very recently.
Rouge touched a light hand to his shoulder. “Shadow,” she whispered, softly, a hint of worry and warning coloring her voice.
Shadow breathed out and shook the tension from his body. He couldn’t be angry right now. They were here on a rescue mission, not to pursue revenge. He looked back at Rouge and nodded. She slipped her hand away and watched quietly as he strode out in front of the cell, leaving her to tinker with the cell’s control panel.
Despite his languid state, Sonic was clearly still alert; he jumped to his feet the moment he heard footsteps. He approached the bars, seemingly on autopilot, only to freeze up when he saw exactly who was standing there.
“Wha—” Sonic’s voice trembled as he stared at Shadow with wide eyes. “Why are you—”
“Sonic,” Shadow said. He reached out a hand and grabbed one of the metal bars, testing it under his palm. Strong and sturdy. He wondered if he would be able to wrench them open. Maybe not, if Sonic hadn’t been able to break out from within. “I’m here to rescue you.”
“C’mon, man, this isn’t funny,” Sonic said, raising his cuffed fists as he backed away from the mouth of the cell. “I thought you’d gotten tired of this shtick.”
Shadow blinked. “What?”
Sonic glared at him. “What do you mean, what?” Then he seemed to realize something, and he laughed. It was ugly and bitter. “Oh, I get it,” he said, mean smirk plastered on his face. “You’ve gotten tired of fucking me, too, so we’re gonna play another of your terrible games instead. Right?”
The realization hit Shadow like a truck. Sonic thought he was Infinite. Infinite disguised as him, playing some sort of mind game using the Phantom Ruby’s illusions.
He growled. “I don’t have time for this.” He pulled out the Chaos Emerald he was carrying—for a second, he wished the one he’d chosen to hold onto wasn’t the red one—and with a mutter of Chaos Control, warped himself inside the cell.
Sonic yelped, jumping and pressing himself back against the wall. “Whoa, hey—dude, you can’t just—”
Shadow offered his free hand. “Give me your hands, and I’ll remove those cuffs.”
“What?” Sonic curled his fists into his chest. “Screw you. I’m not doing this again.”
Shadow bit his lip. He hadn’t been prepared for this—for Infinite to have messed with Sonic’s mind so thoroughly that he didn’t recognize a friend who was right in front of him.
“I dunno what you want now, but we don’t have to do it like this,” Sonic went on. “Just stop wearing his face, and I’ll do whatever you—”
“Sonic,” Shadow said firmly, cutting him off. “It’s me, Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog. Not one of Infinite’s illusions.”
Sonic bared his teeth, ears flattened back against his head and spines bristling. “You’re lying,” he snarled.
“Rouge is with me,” Shadow continued. “We’re here to rescue you, so if you would just—”
“You’re lying!” Sonic shouted at him, forceful enough that Shadow flinched back. “You can’t trick me like this again! I won’t fall for it!”
Shadow took a step forward, free hand spread placatingly. “Sonic—”
Sonic dropped to the floor and curled into a ball, pressing his hands over his ears. “Get out! Get away from me!” he yelled, voice quaking. “You can’t wear his face and say those things to me! You can’t! You can’t!”
Shadow stared at the trembling hedgehog in front of him. He felt like grabbing Sonic by the shoulders and screaming at him. He felt like warping back out of the cell and running as far away as he could. His legs trembled with indecision.
There was a gentle clicking sound, and Shadow turned to see the cell doors sliding open, drawing back into the walls. Rouge stepped inside, her expression tight as she glanced between them.
“I think we should switch places,” she said gently to Shadow. “Let me take care of this.”
Shadow gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. He felt sick. He wanted to find Infinite and smash his mask to pieces, rip his face off, tear him limb from limb, gut him like a fish. He took a deep breath, clenching his hand around the Chaos Emerald to try and still his trembling.
“Fine,” he said, letting his shoulders slump in defeat. “I’ll be on lookout.”
He strode back out of the cell, worry and anger and guilt swirling in his gut. Useless. He couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t save another person. What kind of ultimate lifeform was he?
Shadow did his best to keep vigilant of patrolling robots, but all he could focus on was Rouge gently talking to Sonic, coaxing him back out of his spiked shell. It hurt to hear how much better Sonic responded to her, how quickly he realized she was real, and then watch from the corner of his eye as Sonic enveloped Rouge in a rare hug. See Rouge smiling as she patted him on the head and told him they needed to bust out of this place already.
Sonic seemed convinced that Rouge was safe, but he still eyed Shadow warily as Rouge led him from the cell. Shadow swallowed his bitterness down and turned to face him. “Your cuffs,” he said, offering his hand again.
Sonic shot Rouge a look, and when she nodded at him, he finally placed his hands in Shadow’s. Shadow used Chaos Control to warp the cuffs off, dropping them unceremoniously against the floor like the scrap they were. Sonic stared down at them, flexing his wrists as if unable to believe that they were finally off.
Shadow kicked the cuffs away with more force than necessary. “Let’s get out of here. Rouge, you handle Sonic. I’ll clear a path.”
Rouge smiled. “You heard him, Blue. C’mere.” She scooped Sonic up off his feet like a ragdoll, eliciting a squeak of surprise. Then she frowned. “Gosh, you really have lost a lot of weight.”
Sonic laughed at that. “Yeah, I’ve been on a diet.”
Shadow waited until Rouge nodded at him, and he took off, allowing his Chaos energy to build and thrum through his hands. There was no more need to be stealthy, and the Doctor’s army of robots were good targets for him to blow off steam with.
He blasted security doors off their hinges and speared egg pawns in the face, ignoring the shrill blare of the alarms, while Rouge followed his path of destruction with practiced ease. Sonic clung onto her, yelling and whooping like it was any other day breaking through one of the Doctor’s bases.
“Whoa, we really are in space!” he exclaimed. Then, “Y’know, Rouge, you can put me down, my legs still work,” he began to protest, only for Rouge to shush him.
“You’re the one being rescued here,” she said, “so be a good boy and hold on tight.”
Sonic laughed and winked at her. “I’ve had a lot of practice being a good boy lately.”
Rouge had the tact and grace to laugh along with him. Shadow did not, and he used excessive force in exploding the next robot that tried to intercept their path to the space shuttle.
“Hey, shouldn’t we look for other prisoners?” Sonic said, as they sped into the hangar bay. “There’s gotta be more people up here—”
“Don’t worry your pretty little head about that,” Rouge told him. “We didn’t detect any other life signatures on board.”
“Seriously?” Sonic asked, staring at her in disbelief. “But I can’t be the only one who—”
Shadow cleared out the nearest shuttle of robotic occupants and then tossed out the Eggman-branded cargo with Chaos Control. “Get in,” he told them. “Rouge, take care of the launch.”
“Loud and clear, handsome.” Rouge obediently bundled Sonic inside and then went to work, tapping away at a keyboard as she input launch commands into the shuttle’s console.
Sonic glanced outside. “Uh, guys, we’ve got more company.” He pointed to the end of the hangar bay, at a fresh army of egg pawns that were marching through the doors, weapons in hand.
“I’ll take care of it,” Shadow declared, Chaos Emerald in hand. “Rouge, focus on getting Sonic out of here. If worse comes to worst, I can warp back on board.”
Rouge’s expression darkened, but she only nodded. “Roger that.”
“Hey, wait!” Sonic caught Shadow’s arm as he passed. “Shadow, you can’t just go out on your own—”
Shadow shook him off. “I’ll be fine. You need to look after yourself.”
“But—”
“I’m not losing you again!” Shadow snapped at him, then regretted it when Sonic flinched back in fright. He sighed, ears drooping. “Just wait here,” he said, softer this time, and gave Sonic’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “I’ll be back. That’s a promise.”
Sonic nodded, still reluctant, but he didn’t try to grab Shadow again when he released his hand. “Go give ‘em hell for me,” Sonic said instead, his lips spreading into that familiar cocky grin Shadow had missed.
Shadow smirked back at him, and then he jumped out of the shuttle.