Chapter Text
Sonic was feeling anxious and jittery as he tapped his foot against the ground and rattled the chains around his wrists. The cuffs clanked against his inhibitor rings, making a reverberating chime that filled the sterile room with noise.
They were late.
Usually the guards would show up at eight o'clock sharp and escort him to the lab for his evening tests, but they were late today. They were never late… unless they were expecting him to resist for some reason. Maybe they were preparing for another examination.
His thoughts were halted when he heard a distant gunshot and the panicked shouts of the guards.
The facility was being attacked?
Sonic tried peering through the slot in the door where they would slide him his meals, but it was no use. The only thing he could see was the boots of guards running past his cell.
It wasn't long before everything went quiet and a pair of footsteps approached the door to his cell. The window on the door was made of one way glass so he couldn't see out, but whoever was on the outside could definitely see him.
“So this is the military's top secret weapon. I was expecting something… larger.” A snide voice came from the other side of the door.
“What you see is what you get, buddy.” Sonic snapped back and the man laughed in response.
“My name's Ivo Robotnik. I have a proposition for you. Something mutually beneficial.”
“Robotnik?” Sonic snarled and glared at the reflective glass. “I'd never ally myself with a Robotnik. You're better off killing me.”
“What a shame. I really thought you'd like my offer-” The door slammed open and a tall sinister man stepped into the door frame. His similarity to Gerald was striking, almost unnerving to the trapped hedgehog who had backed into the corner, quills raised on end. “Especially since it involves your freedom and a chance at revenge.”
Sonic eyed the shining white emerald in Robotnik's hand and cautiously took a step forward.
“Fine… tell me about your ‘proposition’ and I'll consider it.”
The man grinned, a sinister expression stretched across his face.
“I was hoping you'd want to hear more.”
Summers on earth were hot. Especially in Japan. The muggy atmosphere always made his fur stick up and frizz in odd places.
Shadow flopped around on his mattress trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in. He gave up and looked at the clock on the nightstand. It was well past midnight. Maria was probably just waking up, maybe making coffee or making herself breakfast.
He wanted to be done with this mission so he could go visit her and catch up on all the things he'd seen in Tokyo. Not that she really needed to hear about it. They'd been to Tokyo plenty of times since the Space Colony ARK was disbanded.
Maybe he just wanted someone to talk to.
Shadow flopped over again and buried his face in the pillows.
Maria was right, he needed some friends. This was starting to get pathetic.
His ears perked up when a buzz came from the night stand. Shadow picked up the phone and hissed when the bright light burned his retinas. But he answered anyway because there was only one person who would call him at this ungodly hour.
“Hey Maria, what's up?”
“Nothing much. How's your mission going? GUN isn't giving you much trouble, are they?” Concern laced her voice. Shadow furrowed his brow and sat up.
“You’re worried about me? Everything's fine over here. Nothing to worry about. Is there trouble at the lab?”
Maria had recently been promoted to a lead position at GUN's research lab. He was proud of her, of course, but Shadow always worried that it might be too stressful for her.
“No. Everything's fine here, but one of the other labs was broken into last night and a chaos emerald was stolen from the federal reserve bank early this morning. I have suspicions that the two incidents might be related.”
“Someone's collecting the emeralds?”
“Yes, I didn't want to worry you, but the reports are saying the suspect is a hedgehog. Just be careful when you return. You know how Towers is about potential threats, especially if they're related to grandfather’s research.”
“I'll be fine. I'm a grown hedgehog now. I'm not the same baby you used to coddle on the ark.” A smile crept onto Shadow's face when Maria huffed on the other end of the line.
“You'll always be my baby brother Shadow. Now get some sleep. I've kept you up long enough and I know your sleep schedule is already terrible.”
“I'll try, but no promises.”
“Okay, good night Shadow.” Shadow could practically hear her roll her eyes.
“Mmmn, night, Maria.” He hung up the phone and placed it back on the nightstand. Shadow laid back down and rolled around some more. Now he definitely couldn't fall asleep. Between the summer heat and the potential threat back home, his thoughts were running wild.
Someone was collecting the emeralds again and Maria had said it was another hedgehog. Sure he'd met plenty of other mobians since they moved to earth, but he had never met another hedgehog. And certainly not one that could use chaos energy.
Shadow pulled the green chaos emerald from his quills and looked at the sparkling gem under the moonlight from his window. Part of him was curious about the other, but if that other hedgehog was a threat he would have no choice but to stop them.
Eventually his eyes grew heavy and his thoughts went quiet.
Shadow was startled awake by a buzz from his phone. It was correspondence from GUN. Specifically from Towers himself. They needed him back in Central City as soon as possible. It must have been that other hedgehog Maria was talking about.
He quickly rolled out of bed and shoved the phone into his quills before grabbing the emerald. GUN could handle the clean up of the Tokyo mission on their own. Right now he needed to figure out what was going on in Central City.
Shadow drew on the emerald's power and envisioned the lab Maria worked at.
“Chaos Control!” Bright light enveloped his vision and a brief moment of nausea rolled over him before he was suddenly standing half way across the world in Central City.
“OH MY GOD!” Maria dropped her mug of coffee in surprise, the ceramic cup shattering on the floor. “Jesus Christ, Shadow! I told you to call me before appearing out of nowhere like that!”
“It was an emergency. Towers said I needed to be here asap.” Shadow tucked the emeral back into his quills and glanced at the mess on the floor.
“You could've gone straight to Towers and scared the daylights out of him instead.” Maria huffed and swept up the shards of broken glass. “Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you.”
“Protecting you comes first before any of my duties at GUN. That's what I promised to Professor Gerald.”
Maria sighed and smoothed out the quills on top of Shadow's head.
“I'm not a sick helpless girl anymore. You don't have to be so protective. Besides, I'm the older one. Shouldn't I be more worried about you?” Maria tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and Shadow's gaze was drawn to the red streak in her hair. It was a reminder of the Ark, a reminder of the cure. Maria had always been stronger than the credit he gave her.
“Now go do your job, idiot. You have bills to pay, don't you?” Maria fluffed up his fur and quills making Shadow grumble as he smoothed them out again.
“I'm going, I'm going!” Shadow grumbled before using Chaos Control to warp away.
“Another emerald was stolen from Central City's Natural Museum. The suspect was last seen running along Central Highway.”
“En route now. I should intercept the suspect within five minutes. Keep me updated if anything changes.” Shadow tucked the GUN issued communicator into his quills and headed towards Central Highway.
Something felt off about this whole situation. The lack of details, the urgency, the fact that there was another hedgehog who could use chaos energy… it was obvious that GUN didn't want him to know about something.
Shadow was deep in thought when a flash of blue entered his vision and he nearly avoided a lightning fast spin dash.
“You must be Shadow.” The blue hedgehog grinned at him. “They sent you after me because of this, didn't they?”
He tossed the yellow emerald into the air and caught it.
Shadow remained silent as he studied his opponent. Besides the bright blue of his quills, Shadow noticed a tag on his left ear and razor sharp spikes on his forearms. Definitely the kind of hedgehog you’d never forget.
“The ultimate power…” He gazed fondly at the emerald before turning his attention back to Shadow.
“Who are you?” Shadow circled him but kept his distance, wary of the other hedgehog.
“The name's Sonic, and I'm flattered that you're so interested, but I don’t have time to play around.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” Shadow growled and lunged to attack, but Sonic managed to narrowly doge him.
Sonic yawned and Shadow felt his ear flick in irritation.
“Damn… he's fast.” Shadow grumbled to himself and chased after Sonic, only a hair behind the other hedgehog.
“If you thought that was fast, just wait until I get these off.” Sonic held up his wrist and Shadow immediately recognized the inhibitor rings.
“What are you?” Shadow skidded to a stop and so did Sonic.
“That’s none of your business you fake hedgehog.” Sonic's smile dropped and Shadow felt a thrum of Chaos energy building up in the air.
“It's been fun, but I don’t have time for games. Until next time, faker.” Sonic held up the emerald. “Chaos Control!”
And just like that the blue hedgehog was gone and Shadow was left in the middle of the street, gawking.
“What the fuck did he mean by ‘faker’?” His communicator buzzed annoyingly and Shadow rubbed his face. He was going to have to report this to Towers, wasn't he?