Chapter Text
The world was always seen as a cruel and unforgiving thing, full of nothing but selfishness and the loathing of others. After the ARK, that is what Shadow had believed. Well, for a certain time. He’d never voice it aloud — seeing as it was an old view, even if it sometimes held truth — it was a useless notion to speak aloud of, especially considering who he worked for. He knew how G.U.N worked, their priorities. He’d known for years, even if he wasn’t exactly awake for most of them. It had been fifty years, yes, but he still knew just exactly how they worked, if not even better.
So when Rouge of all people had stated he was needed for some infiltration mission, he could already tell what it was for. Honestly, if it was for infiltration, Rouge was the go-to answer, but Shadow? He’d only ever been sent on these kinds of missions if it involved the Doctor. He really wasn’t complaining though, he was still pissed about his decievement by Dr. Robotnik, so any chance to cause trouble for the Doctor was welcome in his books.
Shadow had wasted little time in gaining what information was needed for the mission, the files short and simple, surprisingly enough. But hey, whatever got this done and over with, really. But with the information in said files…it was intriguing to say the least.
Dr. Robotnik is presumed to have stolen multiple government secret documents. Said documents are to be found and destroyed in all entirety from the Doctors residence.
Along with a list of all possible stolen files, of course. Seems easy enough, really. And he wouldn’t be reprimanded by Rouge for unnecessary destroyment. If she found out, that is. Hopefully not, he didn’t think he could handle the headache again. Not with the way her voice was becoming more and more shrill each time. Shadow assumed it was due to whatever relations her and that knucklehead had. She kept denying it, but at this point? They acted like some old married couple. In his mind, they just needed to admit their feelings and get over it, simple. But no, they had to drag it out, and at times throw Shadow in the middle of their weirdly tense scuffles.
The Mobian shook his head, ridding his mind of that…unnecessary drama. He couldn’t be bothered with it now, not when he was approaching the Doctors hideout. Which, frankly, was a horrid spot. Right in the middle of a valley, and without trees to hide it from above no doubt. A waste of time in his opinion.
Shadow rolled his eyes at the lack of outward security, the door opening with no trouble at all. Seemed the Doctor wasn’t home, the cameras inside were simply limp, devoid of any semblance of surveillance. It was odd, very odd. And no doubt suspicious, he’d keep his guard up just in case. Well, like he ever let it down in the first place, really.
The base was unusually quiet, Shadow couldn’t even hear the usual faint clanging or shouting of Robotnik tinkering or coming up with plans. It was incredibly unsettling, it made Shadows ears stay pointed, listening, inspecting for anything that could possibly lead him into a trap or go wrong.
He turned corners cautiously, inspected his surroundings with fervent eyes. He wouldn’t dare give chance to whatever the hell was waiting for him. If anything at all, but he knew better than to assume such. Eggman was a thief, a manipulator, and a crafty man. Not to toot the Doctors horn, of course. he’d rather pull his quills out one by one than admit it aloud.
After what felt like hours of scouring and scavenging the place for whatever information he could destroy, Shadow walked himself into a far darker room than the rest. There wasn’t a lick of light except for what came through the open door.
He took a step, then another before he was fully in the room, the door shutting behind him with an almost eerie squeak. Shadows ears pressed flat against his head, the sound of the squealing metal making him feel an ache begin to form in his temples. Whatever, the sooner it was over, the better.
Shadow pulled a green chaos emerald from his quills, letting the strange ‘natural’ light flow from it and into the room. He could see, but just barely. The green lighting from the emerald was providing just enough light for Shadow not to bump into anything.
He continued his way through the room with little trouble, his shoes kicking a screw or a bolt here and there. It was still just so…odd. The Doctor wasn’t exactly known for his cleanliness, yes, but with his machines? He could be considered OCD at best. But it wasn’t Shadow’s place to judge, even if he was doing so anyways.
Shadow shook his head again, his thoughts were just everywhere today, that wasn’t like him. He huffed, closing his eyes tightly for a moment only to snap them open just as soon, a sudden clattering across the room making the place far more eerie.
This was freaky, and not in the usual Eggman fashion. This was like something out of some stupid horror movie. Not that he had willingly watched any, Rouge was more or less a fanatic for the junk.
Moving the emerald in his hand to scan across the room, Shadows eyes widened as he took in the dangling form of Sonic.
Wait, Sonic? No, it couldn’t be him, last he knew Sonic was off on some weird vacation with Amy. And Sonic’s quills and fur didn’t shine like that either. Shadow kicked his heels off the ground with practiced ease, allowing his air shoes to burst to life with the sudden push, keeping him almost hovering in the air to get a closer look.
And this was why Eggman needed all those files. He was fixing Metal Sonic of all things. Even he knew how damn well dangerous this could end up. Metal Sonic was notorious for being the Doctors greatest creation, along with being almost fervent in their gaining of sentience.
If this new and improved Metal gained sentience again, they’d be all kinds of fucked over. From Sonic’s team, to Eggman, and even G.U.N. would be affected by this.
Some newfound curiosity flowed through Shadow at Metals new look, trailing a gloved finger over the new metal plates on the robots head. The claws were sharper, the metal firmer and less likely to even scratch, even the eyes were brighter.
Brighter?
Shadow surged himself back, chaos emerald firmly in hand as he took on a more defensive position. His eyes glared into those familiar glowing red ones. However, from what he could tell, there was none of the usual hostility. It almost felt like Metal didn’t even recognize him.
This was very strange indeed, almost too much for his head to handle. The robot twitched, sparks flying from the wires that had been unceremoniously holding them above the ground. Metals eyes shrunk and grew, almost like crosshairs examining something.
Eventually, one of the robots arms surged forward, earning another jolt backwards from Shadow, only for the Mobian to realize the robot wasn’t coming for him.
They were going for the wires around themselves. Pulling and yanking, tearing and ripping with newfound strength, without a care for whatever they were destroying. It…puzzled Shadow.
Why was Metal not attacking? He would think, due to the Doctors past programming on the robot, that Metal would waste no time in calculating Shadow as a threat. But all the robot was doing was freeing themself, letting them drop the floor with a loud clank.
Shadows eyes narrowed, it was too suspicious to be ignored. However, suspicious it may be, Shadow felt his curiosity take over. This was unlike him, being so riveted in his own curious way. With a huff, Shadow dropped to the floor a few feet from Metal, the emerald still held tightly in his hand.
“You’re behaving strangely,” Shadow said bluntly, placing a hand on his hip. His words earned the whirring of some kind of fan from the robot, like an old computer firing up. Words began to string across where the reds of their eyes used to be.
“I AM ONLY BEHAVING AS PROGRAMMED.”
The familiar monotone voice rang out, echoing off the walls as though they were in a cavern of sorts.
“As programmed? What, so the Doctor has made you peaceful? Or more cunning?”
The robot paused, their pupils returning to enlarge for a minute or two before they vanished with a new string of words.
“I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. THERE IS NO DOCTOR IN MY DATABASE.”
Now this…was a damn shocking revelation. What in the hell did they mean there was no Doctor in their database? Did the Doctor just erase himself from the programming? Or, in a more likely view, Eggman just didn’t have time to program such information?
A question blurted itself from Shadows lips before he could stop himself, having been too lost in his thought.
“But why?”