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Description
“Well, well. What have we got here?”

The low, husky voice that came from behind Amy was like a bucket of freezing cold water on her head. She broke out of Shadow’s grip with a gasp, whirling around to come face to face with Rouge Bat.

She was leaning against the door frame, her arms folded over her breastplate, one booted foot crossed over the other. Her expression was one of surprise, bemusement, and when she saw Amy’s face, confusion. Her painted eyes flicked from hedgehog to hedgehog, and she frowned.

“Rouge! What, uh, what are you doing here? How did you get in here?”

Ignoring the pink hedgegirl for a moment, Rouge focused on her partner’s stunned expression. Now how did this happen I wonder? Shadow is the last person I would expect to be in a lip-lock. Her gaze slid over to Amy. Least of all with her. What’s Blue Boy’s biggest fangirl doing kissing Shadow? “I let myself in. That door lock was laughable.”

Shadow’s eyes blinked, and in an instance assumed a disinterested expression. “Answer her first question.”

Rouge turned her gaze back on the obsidian hedgehog. “You haven’t been answering your comm since you turned it back on, so Command sent me to find you and bring you back. Thankfully, at least you kept it on this time.”

Shadow frowned. “Command knows full well that if I am away, there is a reason for it.”

Rouge nodded, her expression falling. “Yeah, well, things have changed in the last five months. You would have been informed, but that’s kind of hard when no one knows where you are.” She glanced over at Amy, who was looking back and forth between them in confusion. “What I would like to know, is why you are here.”

Amy scowled at the pale-furred bat’s tone. “I live here. Not that that is any of your business Rouge!”

Rouge’s eyes widened and she half-smiled as she looked at Shadow. “Is that so.”

At Rouge’s knowing tone, Shadow scowled. Reaching into his jacket, he withdrew his Chaos Emerald, which instantly, albeit briefly, captured her attention. “We’re leaving.”

Amy swallowed. “Wait!”

In the time it took for her to say the word, Shadow had crossed the room, one hand clapping over the bat’s mouth to silence her, ignoring the cross look she shot him. Turning, he glanced at her expectantly.

Unconsciously, Amy’s hands slipped behind her back, and she suddenly felt incredibly nervous. “When....uh....I mean.....am I going to......”

Rouge noticed, much to her own confusion, a rather strange look appear on Shadow’s face. He almost looked confused and....longing?

“Maybe.” And with that, both G.U.N agents disappeared in a flash of blue light, leaving Amy alone in her room.

For a moment, Amy simply stood there, staring at the place that the pair had been. Sitting down on the edge of her bed, the enormity of her previous action struck her. “I kissed Shadow?”

“I KISSED SHADOW?”

-

When the world before her eyes abruptly changed to that of Shadow’s G.U.N quarters, a wave of vertigo slammed into Rouge’s mind. Shoving his hand from her mouth, she braced herself against the closest wall. “Crap, a little warning next time would be nice!”

Shaking her head, she glared at him, and the angry expression promptly vanished. Shadow appeared as if he hadn’t heard her, but was rather completely absorbed in a world of his own. He was staring blankly ahead, his expression puzzled and contemplative. His hand came up and touched his lips, his puzzled expression growing more pronounced.

“AGENTS SHADOW AND ROUGE, REPORT TO THE CENTRAL OPERATIONS ROOM IMMEDIATELY FOR BRIEFING.”

The booming voice over the intercom snapped Shadow from his thoughts, and he crossed to the door, exiting before Rouge could say a word.

Frowning at the closing door, Rouge sighed. Great, getting anything out of him is a pain in the ass. As she crossed to the door, she paused as she caught sight of something unusual.

Propped against the wall beside the low-set bunk, head down, was a large red and yellow hammer. The hammer head, consisting of a cylindrical block of red metal, was easily as thick as her neck, and each flat side was covered in a yellow steel cap. The handle was a slim yellow rod, almost as long as her arm and slightly thinner than her wrist.

Frowning, Rouge looked at the hammer for a long moment. Isn’t that Amy’s hammer? Her painted gaze switched to the door. This is.....getting very interesting.

Shadow’s Darkness skates clicked lightly against the metal floor as he moved down the corridor, ignoring the other agents around him. He was still puzzling over what had happened. Having never kissed someone before, or been kissed by anyone, he wasn’t sure how to take it. At the very least, he couldn’t say that he didn’t enjoy it, though why was beyond him.

Why did she do that? Why did I let her? What does it even mean? He sighed, rubbing his brow, a faint memory of the intense emotions that had charged him in that moment flashing through his mind. Dammit, why am I feeling like this? This is so.....confusing!

A faint breeze brushed through his spines, and he turned his head as Rouge touched down beside him. “So, why do you have Pink’s hammer?”

Shadow stared ahead, not meeting her eyes. “I’m keeping it......for now.”

Rouge gave him a long look. “Why?”

Silence was her answer, and she sighed. “Come on, Shadow. I’ve been your partner for two years now, what’s going on? You disappear for five months without warning, and then the next time I see you, you’re practically on the verge of getting hot and heavy with Blue Boy’s biggest fangirl. One of those things is not like you, so what gives?”

Shadow closed his eyes, sighing. “I don’t know.”

Rouge frowned. “You don’t know? What do you mean you don’t know?”

He glared at her in warning. “I just said, I don’t know Rouge!” He sighed, rubbing his brow again. “Sorry.”

Rouge’s concern deepened. Shadow never apologized for anything. “Are you alright, Shadow? You’re starting to worry me.”

He stopped, gazing at the wall next to him as other agents passed around them. For a long moment, he remained silent, almost chewing on his words. “Things have.......changed, but I don’t know how or why.” He turned his gaze back down the corridor and continued walking. “Let’s just get to the briefing.”

“Shadow!”

He stopped and turned, looking behind him in irritation and confusion. Rouge was pointing down a separate corridor. “Central Ops is this way.”

He frowned. “It’s always been this way.”

Again, Rouge’s expression fell, and she grabbed his wrist. “As I said back at Pinky’s place, things have changed in the last five months.”

-

Amy sighed as she walked down the street, her gloved hands thrust into the pockets of her pink jacket as she idly kicked a pebble, her pink boots scuffing against the pavement. Her thoughts had been stuck in a loop ever since Shadow and Rouge had left, and she didn’t know how to break out of it.

Why did I kiss Shadow? Why would I do something like that? I mean, I’m not interested in him that way, am I? Am I? I mean, sure, he’s unusual........and he’s had it rough........and kinda hot...... She blushed deeply, her head bowing lower. Oh, what am I doing? He probably isn’t interested in me that way. She blinked. Although, he did say that he felt the same way I was..........and he did kiss me back...........could he possibly...... She gave herself a light slap. Enough Amy! Thinking like that was what got you in that trouble with.......him. She sighed. No, it was thinking that those tarot cards were right which got me into all that trouble. Stupid cards.

“Amy!”

Blinking at the voice, Amy stopped and turned around. Running up behind her was Tails, his twin tails trailing behind him from beneath his yellow jacket. Beside him was a tall black and grey robot. A three pointed yellow crest projected up from his brow, beneath which were a pair of deep set red and blue eyes. The eyes were have covered by the crest, giving the robot the appearance of scowling. A pair of yellow fins adorned his black cylindrical forearms, and each knee was covered by a similar fin.

Amy smiled, though Gemerl’s ominous visage still gave her a slight shudder. “Hey Tails. Hi Gemerl. I was wondering why I didn’t see you at Cream’s party last night.”

Tails smiled as the pair caught up with her. “I was doing some maintenance work. I was hoping that I would be done by Cream’s party, but it didn’t really work out that way. We were just on our way over.”

Gemerl raised one grey hand, pointing at Amy’s head. “Amy has been injured. How did this happen?” Tails frowned. “Yeah, you didn’t have that bandage last night. What happened?”

Amy smiled as she touched the pad on her head. “I’ll give you one mustached guess.”

Tails grimaced. “Eggman. So he is back.”

Gemerl nodded. “I have been assisting Tails and Sonic in locating and tracking the Chaos Emeralds. There are currently only three Emeralds accounted for: Cyan, Grey and Yellow. We have been unable to locate the other four Emeralds. We believe that Dr. Eggman has been locating and obtaining them for his own purposes, though we do not yet know what that purpose is.”

Amy nodded as the group continued walking. “Well, I can tell you that he has at least one, but I don’t know which one it is. Shadow and I were attacked by some kind of robot last night when we were heading over to my place. Whatever it was, it was fast, and it could use Chaos Control.”

Tail’s eyes widened. “Uh oh. That’s not good. What did it look like?”

Amy shrugged. “I dunno. I never actually managed to be able to see it, and I got right up against it too. It’s like it was invisible. All I know is that I think was a little taller than me, and it felt like it was built like Gemerl.”

Gemerl’s eyes flickered. “Not good. What ever this machine is, Eggman must have made some new advances in technology.”

Tails grimaced. “I’ll see what I can do. If that robot was using a Chaos Emerald, I might be able to track it. If I can, then we might find out where Eggman is hiding.” He frowned. “But, that still doesn’t help us with the last three Emeralds.”

Amy smiled. “Well, we don’t have to worry about the Green Emerald. Shadow has that one, and you know how hard it is to steal something from Shadow.”

Tails smiled. “Wow, already?” He suddenly frowned. “How do you know that, Amy?”

She shrugged, tucking her hands into her pockets, though she felt a weird sort of flutter in her chest. “When Shadow and I were attacked last night, the robot seemed to concentrate on Shadow. It only attacked me when I tried to help. After I got hit,” she touched the bandage around her head, “Shadow drove it off with Chaos Blast.”

Tails nodded. “I get it. And Shadow has to have an Emerald in order to use that power.”

As they walked, Tails kept glancing at Amy. She seemed to be preoccupied with something, though he couldn’t tell what. “Amy, can I ask you something?”

Blinking, she looked at the younger fox. “Sure Tails. What’s up?”

He rubbed the back of his head. “Well, I’m just kind of curious about where you’ve been for the last five months. I mean, you practically vanished without a word to anyone.”

Amy considered his words for a moment, then turned her gaze forward. “I’m sorry about that. I just.....after what happened with, you know, I just needed some time away.”

Gemerl turned his head to look at her. “Five months is a lot of time, with no word. Cream was extremely worried.”

Amy smiled slightly. “Yeah, I know. Again, I’m sorry for worrying everyone.”

Tails smiled reassuringly. “It’s okay Amy. I know that it was probably a lot to take in. But you could have sent us a message or something.”

Amy swallowed sheepishly. “Um, yeah. Not really. I was kind of.....remote.”

The younger yellow fox frowned. “What do you mean?”

She paused, scuffing the ground with her boot. “Well.....you see....”

“GEMERL! YOU’RE BACK!”

The piercing shout that echoed through the air was shortly followed by its source, as Cream flew straight in to welcome her mechanical friend home. “Oh, thank you so much Tails!”

Tails grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry for taking so long, Cream.” He glanced at Amy, who simply smiled and made an I’ll tell you later gesture.

Cream beamed at him, then planted a kiss on his cheek. “That’s okay, I know you did your best.”

Amy stifled a giggle as Tails visibly reddened beneath his fur and stuttered. “Awe, that’s so cute.”

Cream smiled at her friend, but it promptly vanished when she saw the bandage around her head. “Amy! What happened to you? Are you okay?”

Gemerl patted her shoulder. “Amy is fine, Cream. Let’s go inside.”

Despite his attempt at reassurance, the robot was rather curious himself about what Amy had been up to since her disappearance. Her physique had noticeably changed, and she seemed quieter than usual. Something has happened since she left, and possibly since she returned.

-

Shadow stared at the images on the computer screen. It was almost like a slideshow of explosions. Various shots of different corridors, taken from different angles, some occupied, some not, would appear fine for a few seconds, then erupt in flame before ending in static and switching to a new image.

“We never stood a chance.” A low, gravelly voice spoke from behind him, considerably elevated.

Shadow turned and gazed at the human behind him. Towering over both himself and Rouge, General Abraham Tower lived up to his name. Broad shouldered and barrel chested, the General seemed to exude an aura of authority and power. Clad in grey military dress pants and dress shirt, with red and gold epaulets and lapels, he stood every inch the military man. “Casualties?”

General Tower sighed almost imperceptibly. “Minimal, and all indirect. Most of the injuries were from falling debris as well, save for those within Central Operations.”

Rouge picked nonexistent dirt from her glove. “And there were plenty of those.”

Shadow glanced at her briefly, his mind whirring. “How long ago?”

“A month and a half ago.”

Switching his gaze back to the General, Shadow crossed his arms as he leaned against the computer console, his fingers tapping at his elbows. “What happened?”

General Tower clasped his hands behind his back, pacing back and forth. “The.....attack, came without warning. The explosions came before the alarms went off. By the time we realized that we were under attack, it had already pierced three levels. By the time we tried to muster a defense, it had almost breached Central Operations. It was consistent. No one ever saw what it was, only what it did.”

Rouge blew on her glove, her eyes hooded and glittering with irritation. “Once it gained entry to Central Ops, it plugged into the central database, and cracked it in under three minutes.”

Shadow raised an eyebrow. Interesting. “What did it take?”

General Tower sighed, and for the first time since the obsidian hedgehog entered Central Ops that day, his authoritative figure seemed diminished. “We have no idea. After downloading whatever it was that it came for, it wiped the entire database clean. After that, it simply vanished.”

Shadow nodded, then turned and gazed at the repeating images on the computer. “Unsurprising.”

General Tower frowned. “What do you know, Shadow?”

An image played on the screen of the Central Operations room. The guards that were posted there appeared ready for a fight, then the wall exploded. A shadowy shape erupted from the smoke, but was not directly visible. One of the guards crumpled to the ground as if struck, followed by two others.

Shadow frowned. The blows appeared to be non-lethal. Eggman’s machines aren’t usually known for their mercy. “At least some of the data that the machine downloaded was the software the G.U.N uses to track its agents. The same machine used that software to attack Amy Rose and me last night.”

Rouge’s eyes widened. “So that’s why she had a bandage around her head.”

Shadow nodded. “This machine is at least as fast as I am. It also uses some sort of adaptive camouflage or cloaking mechanism to conceal itself, advanced enough that it can effectively maintain it even at considerable speed. And obviously it has much the same weapon’s systems that many of Eggman’s other machines possess.”

General Tower frowned. “But how was it able to attack us without warning? Even if it was moving as fast as it possibly could, our early warning systems would still have given us more than enough warning.”

Shadow rewound the recording, watching the guards get struck down again. “Because it attacked here the exact same way I would. We know that Eggman was experimenting with giving machines Chaos Powers.”

Rouge swallowed. “Like Chaos Control.”

A heavy silence descended on the group. All of them knew just how dangerous a machine that could appear anywhere, at anytime, without warning could be in Eggman’s hands.

Finally, General Tower straightened his uniform. “I have to brief the President on this new information. Shadow, how effective was the machine’s use of Chaos Control?”

Shadow rewound the recording a third time. “As effective as my own.”

His words made the general pause for a moment, then departed to his office.

Rouge sauntered next to Shadow, frowning. “Eggman must have sent the machine to steal your Chaos Emerald.”

Shadow nodded, grimacing as he played back the recording again. “Mhmm. It nearly succeeded.”

The pale bat looked at him in surprise. Rare was the opponent who could give Shadow an actual challenge. “Does this thing have any weakness’s?”

Shadow frowned as he studied the incapacitated guards on the screen. “A strong enough energy surge can disrupt its concealment systems. The only reason that the machine failed to take the Emerald is because I used Chaos Blast against it, something that it apparently wasn’t expecting.”

Rouge’s gaze flicked between her partner and the screen he was staring at. “What are you looking for?”

His frown deepened. “When Rose was struck last night, that machine could have easily killed her. Instead, all it did was knock her out. When it nearly took the Emerald, it could have easily killed me with any of the weapon’s that it used in this assault. Instead, it tried to knock me out as well.” He pointed at the screen. “And look at them. None of those guards that were hit appear to have sustained life-threatening injuries.”

Rouge looked at the screen, then nodded. “You’re right. In fact, those guys got off lightest. All the rest of the injured and dead were the result of falling debris.”

Shadow nodded. “Even last night, it didn’t need to engage me at all. All it would have needed to do was snipe me from behind, and it could have taken the Emerald without any trouble.”

Rouge turned and perched on the computer console. “Sounds to me like Eggman’s new toy has a conscience. Another AI maybe? Could a new member of the Metal series.”

Shadow gazed at the computer screen. “Maybe.” He straightened, and turned to leave the Central Ops room.

Rouge leveled a curious gaze at him. “Where’re you going?”

Shadow paused as the door opened, his head turned to one side. “To get some answers.” And with that, he left, the door closing behind him.

The steel toe of Rouge’s boot tapped against the floor, her gaze puzzled and reflective. “To what questions?”

Description
“Well, well. What have we got here?”

The low, husky voice that came from behind Amy was like a bucket of freezing cold water on her head. She broke out of Shadow’s grip with a gasp, whirling around to come face to face with Rouge Bat.

She was leaning against the door frame, her arms folded over her breastplate, one booted foot crossed over the other. Her expression was one of surprise, bemusement, and when she saw Amy’s face, confusion. Her painted eyes flicked from hedgehog to hedgehog, and she frowned.

“Rouge! What, uh, what are you doing here? How did you get in here?”

Ignoring the pink hedgegirl for a moment, Rouge focused on her partner’s stunned expression. Now how did this happen I wonder? Shadow is the last person I would expect to be in a lip-lock. Her gaze slid over to Amy. Least of all with her. What’s Blue Boy’s biggest fangirl doing kissing Shadow? “I let myself in. That door lock was laughable.”

Shadow’s eyes blinked, and in an instance assumed a disinterested expression. “Answer her first question.”

Rouge turned her gaze back on the obsidian hedgehog. “You haven’t been answering your comm since you turned it back on, so Command sent me to find you and bring you back. Thankfully, at least you kept it on this time.”

Shadow frowned. “Command knows full well that if I am away, there is a reason for it.”

Rouge nodded, her expression falling. “Yeah, well, things have changed in the last five months. You would have been informed, but that’s kind of hard when no one knows where you are.” She glanced over at Amy, who was looking back and forth between them in confusion. “What I would like to know, is why you are here.”

Amy scowled at the pale-furred bat’s tone. “I live here. Not that that is any of your business Rouge!”

Rouge’s eyes widened and she half-smiled as she looked at Shadow. “Is that so.”

At Rouge’s knowing tone, Shadow scowled. Reaching into his jacket, he withdrew his Chaos Emerald, which instantly, albeit briefly, captured her attention. “We’re leaving.”

Amy swallowed. “Wait!”

In the time it took for her to say the word, Shadow had crossed the room, one hand clapping over the bat’s mouth to silence her, ignoring the cross look she shot him. Turning, he glanced at her expectantly.

Unconsciously, Amy’s hands slipped behind her back, and she suddenly felt incredibly nervous. “When....uh....I mean.....am I going to......”

Rouge noticed, much to her own confusion, a rather strange look appear on Shadow’s face. He almost looked confused and....longing?

“Maybe.” And with that, both G.U.N agents disappeared in a flash of blue light, leaving Amy alone in her room.

For a moment, Amy simply stood there, staring at the place that the pair had been. Sitting down on the edge of her bed, the enormity of her previous action struck her. “I kissed Shadow?”

“I KISSED SHADOW?”

-

When the world before her eyes abruptly changed to that of Shadow’s G.U.N quarters, a wave of vertigo slammed into Rouge’s mind. Shoving his hand from her mouth, she braced herself against the closest wall. “Crap, a little warning next time would be nice!”

Shaking her head, she glared at him, and the angry expression promptly vanished. Shadow appeared as if he hadn’t heard her, but was rather completely absorbed in a world of his own. He was staring blankly ahead, his expression puzzled and contemplative. His hand came up and touched his lips, his puzzled expression growing more pronounced.

“AGENTS SHADOW AND ROUGE, REPORT TO THE CENTRAL OPERATIONS ROOM IMMEDIATELY FOR BRIEFING.”

The booming voice over the intercom snapped Shadow from his thoughts, and he crossed to the door, exiting before Rouge could say a word.

Frowning at the closing door, Rouge sighed. Great, getting anything out of him is a pain in the ass. As she crossed to the door, she paused as she caught sight of something unusual.

Propped against the wall beside the low-set bunk, head down, was a large red and yellow hammer. The hammer head, consisting of a cylindrical block of red metal, was easily as thick as her neck, and each flat side was covered in a yellow steel cap. The handle was a slim yellow rod, almost as long as her arm and slightly thinner than her wrist.

Frowning, Rouge looked at the hammer for a long moment. Isn’t that Amy’s hammer? Her painted gaze switched to the door. This is.....getting very interesting.

Shadow’s Darkness skates clicked lightly against the metal floor as he moved down the corridor, ignoring the other agents around him. He was still puzzling over what had happened. Having never kissed someone before, or been kissed by anyone, he wasn’t sure how to take it. At the very least, he couldn’t say that he didn’t enjoy it, though why was beyond him.

Why did she do that? Why did I let her? What does it even mean? He sighed, rubbing his brow, a faint memory of the intense emotions that had charged him in that moment flashing through his mind. Dammit, why am I feeling like this? This is so.....confusing!

A faint breeze brushed through his spines, and he turned his head as Rouge touched down beside him. “So, why do you have Pink’s hammer?”

Shadow stared ahead, not meeting her eyes. “I’m keeping it......for now.”

Rouge gave him a long look. “Why?”

Silence was her answer, and she sighed. “Come on, Shadow. I’ve been your partner for two years now, what’s going on? You disappear for five months without warning, and then the next time I see you, you’re practically on the verge of getting hot and heavy with Blue Boy’s biggest fangirl. One of those things is not like you, so what gives?”

Shadow closed his eyes, sighing. “I don’t know.”

Rouge frowned. “You don’t know? What do you mean you don’t know?”

He glared at her in warning. “I just said, I don’t know Rouge!” He sighed, rubbing his brow again. “Sorry.”

Rouge’s concern deepened. Shadow never apologized for anything. “Are you alright, Shadow? You’re starting to worry me.”

He stopped, gazing at the wall next to him as other agents passed around them. For a long moment, he remained silent, almost chewing on his words. “Things have.......changed, but I don’t know how or why.” He turned his gaze back down the corridor and continued walking. “Let’s just get to the briefing.”

“Shadow!”

He stopped and turned, looking behind him in irritation and confusion. Rouge was pointing down a separate corridor. “Central Ops is this way.”

He frowned. “It’s always been this way.”

Again, Rouge’s expression fell, and she grabbed his wrist. “As I said back at Pinky’s place, things have changed in the last five months.”

-

Amy sighed as she walked down the street, her gloved hands thrust into the pockets of her pink jacket as she idly kicked a pebble, her pink boots scuffing against the pavement. Her thoughts had been stuck in a loop ever since Shadow and Rouge had left, and she didn’t know how to break out of it.

Why did I kiss Shadow? Why would I do something like that? I mean, I’m not interested in him that way, am I? Am I? I mean, sure, he’s unusual........and he’s had it rough........and kinda hot...... She blushed deeply, her head bowing lower. Oh, what am I doing? He probably isn’t interested in me that way. She blinked. Although, he did say that he felt the same way I was..........and he did kiss me back...........could he possibly...... She gave herself a light slap. Enough Amy! Thinking like that was what got you in that trouble with.......him. She sighed. No, it was thinking that those tarot cards were right which got me into all that trouble. Stupid cards.

“Amy!”

Blinking at the voice, Amy stopped and turned around. Running up behind her was Tails, his twin tails trailing behind him from beneath his yellow jacket. Beside him was a tall black and grey robot. A three pointed yellow crest projected up from his brow, beneath which were a pair of deep set red and blue eyes. The eyes were have covered by the crest, giving the robot the appearance of scowling. A pair of yellow fins adorned his black cylindrical forearms, and each knee was covered by a similar fin.

Amy smiled, though Gemerl’s ominous visage still gave her a slight shudder. “Hey Tails. Hi Gemerl. I was wondering why I didn’t see you at Cream’s party last night.”

Tails smiled as the pair caught up with her. “I was doing some maintenance work. I was hoping that I would be done by Cream’s party, but it didn’t really work out that way. We were just on our way over.”

Gemerl raised one grey hand, pointing at Amy’s head. “Amy has been injured. How did this happen?” Tails frowned. “Yeah, you didn’t have that bandage last night. What happened?”

Amy smiled as she touched the pad on her head. “I’ll give you one mustached guess.”

Tails grimaced. “Eggman. So he is back.”

Gemerl nodded. “I have been assisting Tails and Sonic in locating and tracking the Chaos Emeralds. There are currently only three Emeralds accounted for: Cyan, Grey and Yellow. We have been unable to locate the other four Emeralds. We believe that Dr. Eggman has been locating and obtaining them for his own purposes, though we do not yet know what that purpose is.”

Amy nodded as the group continued walking. “Well, I can tell you that he has at least one, but I don’t know which one it is. Shadow and I were attacked by some kind of robot last night when we were heading over to my place. Whatever it was, it was fast, and it could use Chaos Control.”

Tail’s eyes widened. “Uh oh. That’s not good. What did it look like?”

Amy shrugged. “I dunno. I never actually managed to be able to see it, and I got right up against it too. It’s like it was invisible. All I know is that I think was a little taller than me, and it felt like it was built like Gemerl.”

Gemerl’s eyes flickered. “Not good. What ever this machine is, Eggman must have made some new advances in technology.”

Tails grimaced. “I’ll see what I can do. If that robot was using a Chaos Emerald, I might be able to track it. If I can, then we might find out where Eggman is hiding.” He frowned. “But, that still doesn’t help us with the last three Emeralds.”

Amy smiled. “Well, we don’t have to worry about the Green Emerald. Shadow has that one, and you know how hard it is to steal something from Shadow.”

Tails smiled. “Wow, already?” He suddenly frowned. “How do you know that, Amy?”

She shrugged, tucking her hands into her pockets, though she felt a weird sort of flutter in her chest. “When Shadow and I were attacked last night, the robot seemed to concentrate on Shadow. It only attacked me when I tried to help. After I got hit,” she touched the bandage around her head, “Shadow drove it off with Chaos Blast.”

Tails nodded. “I get it. And Shadow has to have an Emerald in order to use that power.”

As they walked, Tails kept glancing at Amy. She seemed to be preoccupied with something, though he couldn’t tell what. “Amy, can I ask you something?”

Blinking, she looked at the younger fox. “Sure Tails. What’s up?”

He rubbed the back of his head. “Well, I’m just kind of curious about where you’ve been for the last five months. I mean, you practically vanished without a word to anyone.”

Amy considered his words for a moment, then turned her gaze forward. “I’m sorry about that. I just.....after what happened with, you know, I just needed some time away.”

Gemerl turned his head to look at her. “Five months is a lot of time, with no word. Cream was extremely worried.”

Amy smiled slightly. “Yeah, I know. Again, I’m sorry for worrying everyone.”

Tails smiled reassuringly. “It’s okay Amy. I know that it was probably a lot to take in. But you could have sent us a message or something.”

Amy swallowed sheepishly. “Um, yeah. Not really. I was kind of.....remote.”

The younger yellow fox frowned. “What do you mean?”

She paused, scuffing the ground with her boot. “Well.....you see....”

“GEMERL! YOU’RE BACK!”

The piercing shout that echoed through the air was shortly followed by its source, as Cream flew straight in to welcome her mechanical friend home. “Oh, thank you so much Tails!”

Tails grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry for taking so long, Cream.” He glanced at Amy, who simply smiled and made an I’ll tell you later gesture.

Cream beamed at him, then planted a kiss on his cheek. “That’s okay, I know you did your best.”

Amy stifled a giggle as Tails visibly reddened beneath his fur and stuttered. “Awe, that’s so cute.”

Cream smiled at her friend, but it promptly vanished when she saw the bandage around her head. “Amy! What happened to you? Are you okay?”

Gemerl patted her shoulder. “Amy is fine, Cream. Let’s go inside.”

Despite his attempt at reassurance, the robot was rather curious himself about what Amy had been up to since her disappearance. Her physique had noticeably changed, and she seemed quieter than usual. Something has happened since she left, and possibly since she returned.

-

Shadow stared at the images on the computer screen. It was almost like a slideshow of explosions. Various shots of different corridors, taken from different angles, some occupied, some not, would appear fine for a few seconds, then erupt in flame before ending in static and switching to a new image.

“We never stood a chance.” A low, gravelly voice spoke from behind him, considerably elevated.

Shadow turned and gazed at the human behind him. Towering over both himself and Rouge, General Abraham Tower lived up to his name. Broad shouldered and barrel chested, the General seemed to exude an aura of authority and power. Clad in grey military dress pants and dress shirt, with red and gold epaulets and lapels, he stood every inch the military man. “Casualties?”

General Tower sighed almost imperceptibly. “Minimal, and all indirect. Most of the injuries were from falling debris as well, save for those within Central Operations.”

Rouge picked nonexistent dirt from her glove. “And there were plenty of those.”

Shadow glanced at her briefly, his mind whirring. “How long ago?”

“A month and a half ago.”

Switching his gaze back to the General, Shadow crossed his arms as he leaned against the computer console, his fingers tapping at his elbows. “What happened?”

General Tower clasped his hands behind his back, pacing back and forth. “The.....attack, came without warning. The explosions came before the alarms went off. By the time we realized that we were under attack, it had already pierced three levels. By the time we tried to muster a defense, it had almost breached Central Operations. It was consistent. No one ever saw what it was, only what it did.”

Rouge blew on her glove, her eyes hooded and glittering with irritation. “Once it gained entry to Central Ops, it plugged into the central database, and cracked it in under three minutes.”

Shadow raised an eyebrow. Interesting. “What did it take?”

General Tower sighed, and for the first time since the obsidian hedgehog entered Central Ops that day, his authoritative figure seemed diminished. “We have no idea. After downloading whatever it was that it came for, it wiped the entire database clean. After that, it simply vanished.”

Shadow nodded, then turned and gazed at the repeating images on the computer. “Unsurprising.”

General Tower frowned. “What do you know, Shadow?”

An image played on the screen of the Central Operations room. The guards that were posted there appeared ready for a fight, then the wall exploded. A shadowy shape erupted from the smoke, but was not directly visible. One of the guards crumpled to the ground as if struck, followed by two others.

Shadow frowned. The blows appeared to be non-lethal. Eggman’s machines aren’t usually known for their mercy. “At least some of the data that the machine downloaded was the software the G.U.N uses to track its agents. The same machine used that software to attack Amy Rose and me last night.”

Rouge’s eyes widened. “So that’s why she had a bandage around her head.”

Shadow nodded. “This machine is at least as fast as I am. It also uses some sort of adaptive camouflage or cloaking mechanism to conceal itself, advanced enough that it can effectively maintain it even at considerable speed. And obviously it has much the same weapon’s systems that many of Eggman’s other machines possess.”

General Tower frowned. “But how was it able to attack us without warning? Even if it was moving as fast as it possibly could, our early warning systems would still have given us more than enough warning.”

Shadow rewound the recording, watching the guards get struck down again. “Because it attacked here the exact same way I would. We know that Eggman was experimenting with giving machines Chaos Powers.”

Rouge swallowed. “Like Chaos Control.”

A heavy silence descended on the group. All of them knew just how dangerous a machine that could appear anywhere, at anytime, without warning could be in Eggman’s hands.

Finally, General Tower straightened his uniform. “I have to brief the President on this new information. Shadow, how effective was the machine’s use of Chaos Control?”

Shadow rewound the recording a third time. “As effective as my own.”

His words made the general pause for a moment, then departed to his office.

Rouge sauntered next to Shadow, frowning. “Eggman must have sent the machine to steal your Chaos Emerald.”

Shadow nodded, grimacing as he played back the recording again. “Mhmm. It nearly succeeded.”

The pale bat looked at him in surprise. Rare was the opponent who could give Shadow an actual challenge. “Does this thing have any weakness’s?”

Shadow frowned as he studied the incapacitated guards on the screen. “A strong enough energy surge can disrupt its concealment systems. The only reason that the machine failed to take the Emerald is because I used Chaos Blast against it, something that it apparently wasn’t expecting.”

Rouge’s gaze flicked between her partner and the screen he was staring at. “What are you looking for?”

His frown deepened. “When Rose was struck last night, that machine could have easily killed her. Instead, all it did was knock her out. When it nearly took the Emerald, it could have easily killed me with any of the weapon’s that it used in this assault. Instead, it tried to knock me out as well.” He pointed at the screen. “And look at them. None of those guards that were hit appear to have sustained life-threatening injuries.”

Rouge looked at the screen, then nodded. “You’re right. In fact, those guys got off lightest. All the rest of the injured and dead were the result of falling debris.”

Shadow nodded. “Even last night, it didn’t need to engage me at all. All it would have needed to do was snipe me from behind, and it could have taken the Emerald without any trouble.”

Rouge turned and perched on the computer console. “Sounds to me like Eggman’s new toy has a conscience. Another AI maybe? Could a new member of the Metal series.”

Shadow gazed at the computer screen. “Maybe.” He straightened, and turned to leave the Central Ops room.

Rouge leveled a curious gaze at him. “Where’re you going?”

Shadow paused as the door opened, his head turned to one side. “To get some answers.” And with that, he left, the door closing behind him.

The steel toe of Rouge’s boot tapped against the floor, her gaze puzzled and reflective. “To what questions?”