[WolfEx]

At this point Shadow appeared cornered, and his options were running out. He could either comply, or raise all hell. But he did feel quite intruded by the second robot showing up and he didn't take that gesture well. He didn't think his threat would have done much, but it looked like the robot's emotional programming was much more in tune than he thought. Eggman was getting smarter. He wondered if he would cease if they would take him directly to Eggman or simply lock him up, or maybe even escort him out of the building entirely. He didn't want to take the chance. Regardless, criminal activity wasn't ever good, and tolerating it made Shadow no better. He was down a dark road once before, and he didn't plan to go down such a road again. He took a breath, closed his eyes, and remembered the wonderful memory of his dearest Maria. He thought about what she would do in such a situation, but it only angered him more. But in that moment, he hatched a grand idea. "You know, I don't like listening to toys." He took out his Cerebral Sphere he received from Samus not long ago which created wonderful illusions of the past, and he tosses it up into the air without a second thought.

Suddenly large groups of various enemies from Koopa Troopas, Goombas, and Bob-ombs all appeared around the robots looking as real as ever. And during that distraction Shadow pulls out his pistol and fires directly at both of the robot's eyes aiming to break their vision sensors so they couldn't tell what was in front of them. Immediately after he did that, he kicked on his jet boots and dashed to the next hallway where the other robot had appeared hoping it would lead to Eggman, at the very least a machine that would overload and shut down the robots. His heart was beating quite fast, and he was running mainly off of pure adrenaline now. He made sure he was zig-zagging with his movement jumping from wall to wall gaining speed with his boots so he would be a harder target to hit as he covered the premises. Worse comes to worst, he would turn into a ball and roll around for even more oomph.

[Mr. Game & Watch]

“Finally, somebody with some sensibility” Eggman praised the Skull Kid. “Don’t you worry, I’m aiming for you to complete the mission you were set out for. Only difference is the generator I’m giving you is non-functional” he continued as his trademark Egg mobile popped out of his gigantic robot’s cockpit and he hovered in place for a short moment. The small aircraft zoomed away from his death weapon and closer to the tiny scarecrow boy. The round scientist remained floating in front of Skull Kid, but left a decent amount of distance between the two.

Dr. Robotnik held up a small cubbish device that he got after he searched his high-tech craft. He tossed the device over to Skull Kid, not worrying too much about its safety since it was quite durable. “I’ll spring in an extra reward for you, I’ll double what he’s giving you. All you need to do is tell him that the mission was accomplished and no one will be the wiser. Besides if that dolt ever got his hands on my real generator he wouldn’t know how to work it anyway.”

An Egg Pawn sprung from the sidelines and rushed over to Eggman’s side. “Dr. Robotnik, we have an intruder” it warned. “Yes, yes, I know. He’s in front of me right now, why are your logic circuits so slow to process?” Eggman returned to the robot. “Negative, it has been reported that Shadow has attacked the upper levels” the pawn answered. “Hmph, of course when else would he attack than when we’re most vulnerable. I have no time for his theatrics, escort him out of my building” he commanded. “Authorization for lethal force?” the robot asked once more. “Negative, our enemies are Bowser and K Rool. No one else, don’t make me explain this to you again” Eggman warned with a rise in his tone.

“Affirmative, will pursue with extreme caution” the robot complied as it ran back to its machine brethren.

“Diverge all fire to Bowser troops” the pawn behind the desk commanded as the illusions made their showcase. The two unloaded a full clip against the fake minions though their logic systems screamed error when their bullets passed straight through their targets. Their confusion was short lived though as Shadow shot out their optics leaving them blind and unable to pursue him as he escaped down the nearest hall.

Unfortunately the hallway ended with a large gate that looked to be made of the strongest steel that Eggman could find. The only way through seemed to be a touch pad near the door that no doubt required a pass code of some kind. Fortunately for him though, the door didn’t stay closed for long. On the other side of the door however was an army of Egg Pawns prepared to apprehend the black hedgehog. “Cease and desist” they all commanded at once as they raised their giant clunky orange guns.

[Deleted]

Skull Kid attempted to catch the fake generator, almost dropping it, but managing to grip it with both hands after a few seconds of fumbling. Double what K. Rool was paying him? Plus, what K. Rool was going to give him initially, since he will end up bringing him the "generator". He wondered if that meant he would be getting three barrel cannons and three Helirin assist trophies, or if Robotnik's items would be something different but of equal value. This was going to be a massive payout either way.

And was K. Rool truly such a fool that he had been found out so easily? He had seemed like he had everything together and figured out, and nothing could go wrong. But here, Robotnik had not only heard of his plan, but produced a plan of his own to counter it, and do damage to K. Rool and his crew. Skull Kid knew nothing about the third gang leader in this fight, but the Doctor here seemed to be far more capable of a Master Plan than K. Rool. Was this a good thing or a bad thing? Would he use these master planning skills to attack the Life Sphere authorities and take over the city? Or was he intelligent enough to realize that he truly needed to fight the threat outside their home in order to preserve civilization? Hard to tell.

Just then, one of the robots came and reported an intruder in the building. Skull Kid was puzzled by this. Had he not already been noticed and dealt with? What was this robot talking about? Dr. Robotnik said something along those same lines, and the robot corrected him, saying there was a new intruder. Shadow. This was entirely unexpected. Shadow had not signed up for this mission. Was he possibly part of another mission sent to stop the gang activity, or had he come here of his own accord?

The exact reasons didn't really matter. Shadow was definitely not on Robotnik's side, and now, indirectly, Skull Kid was. His new practice friend would find him on the opposite side of the battlefield. If he saw him, of course. Skull Kid had to escape now, without being seen by Shadow. He needed to get the fake generator to K. Rool, collect the reward, and return home as quickly as possible, before his connections were discovered.

"Robotnik, I accept your offer, but I need to know two things really quick. First, I will need to know where to collect your "double pay" after all of this. And second, I need to know where Shadow is, and which way i need to go so as to not run in to him. It is in everyone's best interest that I avoid him entirely."

He tried to sound serious, which came across well, he thought. The last thing he needed was for Robotnik to brush him aside now, to go and run his errand. He had a real problem on his hands withnthis new intruder. He didn't have to worry about Shadow's well being though, as he had heard the orders given. No lethal force. Shadow just needed to be removed from the premises.

[WolfEx]

Going down this new hallway at high speeds he was stopped in his tracks by a large metal gate and a keypad nearest him. But it wasn't just a gate that was blocking his path, it was a whole army of robotic creatures waiting to capture him. He knew Eggman wasn't going to try and kill him, he was an interest to him, and one of the few links to Sonic in which he could use against the blue hedgehog. Knowing he was an experiment that Eggman could manipulate Shadow had the advantage of survival on his side. But just what lengths would Eggman go to in order for Shadow's capture was uncertain. Shadow knew Eggman's temper wasn't the best, and an order to kill would be next on the agenda. Shadow paused to think at all his options this time around, he could turn Hyper and attempt to obliterate them all, but would be exhausted later and he didn't know how many more there were, or he could use Chaos Control to appear behind them and run away, or he could bust up the key pad stopping them from entering further and backtrack. He decided to do a mix of things.

Shadow smashed the keypad with his fist breaking the circuitry and then used Chaos Control to teleport behind the army and instead of turning Hyper afterwards, he took out his pistol and shot the legs off of a handful of them creating a makeshift road block for the other robots. And seeing that his tactic of destroying the keypad hopefully kept the gate closed, he now made it difficult for them to follow him with another obstacle in their way of a pile of legless robots. He then kicked up his jet boots again and dashed away as fast as he possibly could keeping an eye out for a generator or a power source for these robots. He had to be close he thought, because the robots were appearing near him faster and faster and in large numbers. Eggman wasn't going to get away with whatever scheme he had in mind.

[Mr. Game & Watch]

The metallic gate snapped shut as quickly as it had been opened, the emergency shut off switch for the keypad was activated after Shadow had smashed it. It left the army of robots confused for a moment because the movements of the hedgehog and the door were too fast for the machines to process. It wasn’t until they heard the gunshots behind them that they fingered out what had happened. The Egg Pawn at the far back were instantly crippled from Shadow’s pistol, but they were quickly shoved out of the way since the Egg Pawns were relatively strong.

Their speed was outmatched by the red tipped hedgehog however, so the best they could do was to slowly chase after him despite how useless such an action was. The best they could do was to contact their counterparts that were back in the generator room and cut him off before he reached it.

Dr. Eggman continued his hover over Skull Kid as he waited for the boy’s acceptance of his offer. At this point there was no other option for him, unless of course he thought Shadow alone could make a big deal of a difference, but that would be some wishful thinking. Eggman grew a big toothy grin once more. “Don’t you worry about that, I shall send your reward straight to your apartment once I know that K Rool has gotten my package. If I knew where Shadow was I would be delighted to tell you, but all my systems are down. I know no more than you do.”

Another Egg-bot scurried from the sidelines toward the Egg mobile once again. “Dr. Robotnik, Shadow’s bypassed the gate, he’ll be here within the minute” it warned as it pointed to the nearest hallway across the room. “Blast that hedgehog!” his shout bounced around the room. His mobile sped back over to his Egg Breaker and wasted little time to dock back into its cockpit. “I want half of the Egg Pawns in the area around that generator right now! The other half close off that entrance, if Shadow so much as gets a toe into this room I’ll be melting the lot of you into scrap metal!” he loudly commanded as his monstrous machine’s eyes glowed once more.

“As for you, I recommend you go back the way you came in there are very few ways in or out of this place” Eggman finally answered the tiny figure.

[Deleted]

Well, Skull Kid didn't live in an apartment, but Robotnik would be able to figure that out later. Frankly, the most important thing now was that Shadow did not see him here. He hadn't moved much since he landed in the room, so he knew the waiting room was still directly above where he stood, and it would only take a quick jump and a teleportation and he'd be there. Shadow was to be in the room in less than sixty seconds , so he had to do it now.

"Alright, I'm going."

He hopped up and grabbed Tael, then immediately teleported upwards as high as he could. He landed in the waiting room, which was also bathed in deep red light. He located the front doors to the building and immediately made his way over to them. They could not be opened manually though, so Skull Kid would have to teleport through them as well. He did so, still holding Tael and, once outside, he decided in which direction the place he'd first met with K. Rool was and headed that way.

"Almost over with." he whispered to himself as he made short work of the path leading back to the meeting place.

[WolfEx]

As Shadow kept his eyes open while running at max speed, he spotted a hallway up ahead. He couldn't see any other paths or anywhere else to go, so he aimed for it. Feeling the rush of speed at nearly its maximum levels upon Shadow's dashing feet, Shadow inherits the power of the velocity he was feeling and uses it to propel himself into his balled form and aims himself at the nearest hallway ahead. His plan was to toss himself into the air and stay airborne so he could easily glide over any enemies nearby and launch himself upon finding the generator to tear it up with a solid punch upon landing hopefully destroying it in the process and shutting down the machines so he could have a chat with Eggman. His intentions were not to entirely beat Eggman to a pulp, though he would enjoy it, but to try and find out Eggman's motives and hear his point of view for committing trouble during a time of great war and grief. Shadow needed alliances, support, help in general, not criminals with hidden agendas making everything worse than it already has become. The people of Life Sphere needed heroes, not enemies. And Shadow was going to force Eggman to join the cause, or else.

Shadow was just about at the hallway ahead now. Before jumping into his ball he shoots a few bullets behind him from his pistol for good measure to throw the robots off a bit more, then gradually rolls into his circular posture and hurls himself into the hallway going off of sheer willpower and adrenaline to make it at the other end of the corridor without falling short. He had all the speed in the world to keep him going, but all it would take was one robot shooting him with precise effort to take him down and land him in the middle of a battle. He was relying completely on himself right now and his instincts, like most hedgehogs do, he let the wind and the speed of his body do the talking, and he felt so free doing it. Whatever happened next, he didn't regret it. This was the first time in a while that he had such adrenaline and excitement rushing through him, he wasn't cooped up in a bubble and forced to obey laws, he had a reason to cause chaos, and this was going to be salvation for him. He was finally going to stretch his legs and get his feet wet with a purpose, not just for fun. There was no excuses to be made, just a hedgehog on a mission.

[Mr. Game & Watch]

The Egg Pawns proved to be of little challenge toward Shadow in a foot race, which was to be expected since the robots were not build for speed. They were no Metal Sonic that was for sure. That doesn’t mean they didn’t put all their effort into chasing down the black menace, they were just horribly outmatched. It didn’t help that Shadow shot back at them every so often to catch them off guard, which worked on a majority of them, but plenty still followed through after him. It was tricky to apprehend an intruder without fatally harming them while they continuously took pot shots at them.

The Pawns at the other end of the hall had prepared themselves for Shadow’s appearance by cluttering the entrance with their bodies. To prevent the hedgehog from simply jumping over their blockade again, a group of Egg Pawns clung to the overhang of the tunnel which left a very small gap in between the two. It was hardly big enough for Shadow to squeeze through without colliding into either row of Egg-bots. The ones that clung to the ceiling were equipped with their basic guns and sprayed the area in front of their target to try and off balance their foe before he gained enough momentum to break through their wall.

The Egg Pawns at the generator circled around the device, their guns pointed toward the entrance waiting for their chance to fire at anything that passed through.

As for Eggman, he was busy prepping his machine for a fight. He wasn’t sure what it was that his father’s creation wanted, but given how much he knew about the black rodent it was tough to predict. It could just be another mood swing of his and he was unlucky enough to be the target of his venting. The colossal machine slowly paced itself over toward the entrance, though with the speed it was going at it wouldn’t be able to reach it before Shadow did by a long shot.

Back at the surface, the black market was no different than how Daisy and Skull Kid had originally left it. There were still plenty busy bodies scuttling about in the herd of mysterious creatures each of them with their own intents and dark goals. K Rool was still lingering in the place and picking him out from the crowd wasn’t hard. He was situated at a vendor, mingling with the kremling behind the stall.

[Deleted]

Once he had come upon the street where he had met K. Rool earlier, he began to scan the crowd for the giant reptilian man. He spotted him almost immediately near a stall, speaking to the owner, who looked like he and his cronies. Skull Kid was about to go rushing up to him to hand him the fake generator, when he realized that probably wouldn't play out too well. He needed to act like there had been no issue getting the generator, because, according to the Gang Leader, the mission should have been the easiest thing in the world. So he stopped and took a breather. His breathing needed to be completely normal and his demeanor calm. All he had to do was give him the fake generator, sell his story, collect the reward, and go. The sooner he got back to the calmer part of the Life Sphere the better.

After finally catching his breath and putting on a totally non-chalant face. He approached the stall K. Rool was at and stood beside it in plain view.

"Got the generator." he let out and placed the replica on the stall surface in front of the Mob Boss. "When can I expect my reward?"

[WolfEx]

As Shadow went soaring through the air at high speed in his ball form he could hear the clanging of robots clumping together along with glimpses of clusters of them forming together through his small eye sight peeking from his rotating spines. Even at such speeds, he would be unable to plow through them and vulnerable to gun fire. He received a last minute idea through all the velocity and wind of his jumping maneuver and spread his arms out wide using a Ray gun he received from a previous mission in one hand, and his pistol in the other, he started blind firing in front and below of him cutting off the robot's spraying with his own and damaging if not destroying the others with the second gun. He was a whirling ball of bullets at this point. Then, once he cuts through enough of them, and turns his whirling ball of gunfire into an arched dive firing off a giant Chaos Spear slicing anyone else left over in front of him.

If he was successful with his combination, he'd aim to land near the generator and use his Metal Box item he possessed to turn himself into Metal Shadow for a short time so any remaining gun fire would bounce off of him and he could easily obliterate the generator machine. Shadow's Metal Box item had been nuzzling comfortably in the maze of his spine's spikes connected to a small necklace dangling underneath his fur. He has had it for so long he has yet to use it on a mission until now. He was well prepared for what was to come and he wasn't going to stop until Eggman's creations were destroyed and Eggman himself was confronted with whatever scheme he was devising underneath Shadow's nose.

[Mr. Game & Watch]

K Rool ceased his chattering once the boy he sent off finally returned, lugging the piece of technology the crocodilian king sought after. The lack of his partner didn’t matter much to K Rool in the grand scheme of things, the generator was nearly in his possession and that was all that mattered. A ghoulish grin grew all along his snout when the device was placed onto the vendor’s stall.

“Ha ha, alright. You’ve kept your part of the bargain, so I shall mine in return” the corrupt king answered more gleefully than he had ever sounded previously. He reached behind his cape and pulled out a familiar pink and white pill shaped capsule and proceeded to hand it over to the stick-like individual. “Everything I offered should be in there, your partner will get her cut once she returns to me” he continued as his fingers slipped back over to the false generator.

Shadow may have cut straight through the first row of guardians, but there were plenty more waiting behind the wall of Egg-Bots waiting for his approach. The area was basically the active hive in the nest that was the building, which meant a good majority of Eggman’s army was within sprinting distance. Speaking of which, the Egg Pawns that were chasing after the illusive rodent were charging down the hall, not even 10 meters away from rejoining their brethren.

The Pawns on the other side of the wall of now turned scrap metal were armed with their generic arsenal, though a couple had lances readied to swing at Shadow like he was a birthday piñata. Even if he powered through the small army surrounding him, the generator he was seeking to destroy was still guarded by another squadron aimed and ready to unleash another barrage of bullets in his direction.

With Shadow’s inevitable break in, Eggman tried to speed up his sluggish machine as much as he could. It still couldn’t move nearly as fast as he wanted it too and he couldn’t sit idly by while the hedgehog tore up his base again. He had no other option, so his Egg Breaker leapt into the air covering a lot of ground before it landed in front of Shadow’s path toward his prized generator. With the distance that there was from the floor to the ceiling there was no issue he had with his movement.

“That’s far enough, Shadow!” he commanded while pointing at him from the cockpit of his oversized Egg Pawn. “Go any further and I’ll have no choice but to report you to the Life Sphere’s officials. Ever met a Toad before? Like dogs of war, they are.”

[WolfEx]

Shadow's speed and adrenaline stopped in its tracks as soon as it had begun. He managed to obliterate a good chunk of the robots, but he was bruised and battered in the process of all the rolling and bashing through the machines. They were mainly minor scuffs from smashing into metal, but he still felt the sting of the aftermath. He put away his pistol and Ray Gun still keeping the Metal Box he had possessed in mind to use in case of an emergency. But now he had what he wanted, Eggman was in front of him, and he was going to get his answers. He panted slightly from all the running and fighting he was doing, and took a few breaths before speaking. "You're going to report ME to the authorities? I'm not the one committing a crime here you fool, you are. I've heard the word on the street is you are starting a little mini gang war when there's already a much bigger one out there to fight. I am here to warn you Eggman, to cease all operations immediately or face the consequences." Shadow's relationship with Eggman was bittersweet. At times he took his side for the right reasons, other times, like lately, he saw Eggman growing more and more spiteful prodding more than helping these days.

Shadow needed to prove a point to the so called doctor that he was not someone to mess with. In order to do that he had to make a slight mess of things, and by now, he was sure Eggman got the picture. "And if you expect me to help you, don't bother. You're just as selfish as you ever were...." Shadow had sympathy for Eggman over very little, Sonic The Hedgehog's menacing was an exception, but everything else Shadow had no compassion for Eggman about. Sonic was the only thing both of them shared a hatred for equally, any other ideals were very different between the two. Shadow wasn't particularly singling Eggman out either. He was going to let Bowser and K.Rool have their share of violent pep talks as well, but presently, Eggman was the priority because he knew him best and was familiar with his tactics making him an easier target to start with. He was going to let Eggman choose his next words very carefully before continuing his parade of chaos. The mad man could still potentially save his hide while Shadow was winded. This was his chance to fess up, or fight.

[Mr. Game & Watch]

Dr. Eggman’s palms continued to grip his console the more he listened to Shadow. He was just fortunate enough that he was able to stop the speeding hedgehog before he reached his generator. The purpose of Shadow’s sudden appearance was one that Eggman was trying to wrap his head around, if he was here for just blind fury and to vent out some anger he wouldn’t have stopped to talk. Unless of course he needed to buy some time to reload his weapons and evaluate the area further. He couldn’t be working with Skull Kid given that the boy wanted nothing to do with Shadow, unless he wanted the cut all for himself. The only thing that reassured Robotnik was the fact that Shadow would never work for someone as simple minded as K Rool.

Eggman snickered at Black Doom’s spawn as he reasoned that he was the one in the right. “Oh, I see. You ignore the law against breaking and entering, given how many of my bases you’ve destroyed in the past I wouldn’t say that’s far off. I’m trying to run a business here and you tearing up my walls isn’t helping” he retorted.

When Shadow accused him of having clouded judgment though, that was when he finally lost his temper completely. He slammed his fist against the console in front of him and stood up out of his seat for the first time in a long while. “You don’t think I already know that!? Don’t use that moral high ground stuff on me! You don’t even know what this war is about do you!? This isn’t about power, this isn’t about who rules who! Not for me! I can’t stop this war any more than I can stop the Starvia itself! Mario and Sonic aren’t the only ones at each other’s’ throats with their own plans on dealing with the infected creatures!” Eggman lividly shouted.

[WolfEx]

As Shadow was hearing Eggman's plea he started to tense up as if ready to strike due to Robotnik's outburst of anger. Eggman was dangerously close to his controls from his machine, and with all the banging and blundering about he was doing this caused Shadow to worry not knowing whether a bullet or a rocket was going to fly at him any time soon. When it came to working and tinkering Eggman was always quite content, at least to him, but when it came to communication of any sort and things not going his way even in the slight bit, he flips a lid. Shadow was lucky enough to expect that this wasn't going to go well, but there were still no attacks between them exchanged, so it was going as well as it could go for the present time. "Then please do explain fat man, what exactly you're doing if I am so oblivious. You've stopped my rampage, now get to the point before I make your angry tantrum look like a child's fit compared to my own rage." Shadow was not going to let Eggman win the angry contest, the hedgehog was far more steamed than Eggman was right now, and he wasn't going to dumb it down any time soon.

Shadow could have sworn he heard a small quiver of truth in Eggman's voice as he finished speaking, not only truth, but concern, fear, guilt. Could it be that Eggman had good intentions in his meddling? There was only one sure fire way to find out. "And everything you do is always with bad intent, what makes this time any different? Prove to me you mean well by exiting that machine of yours and speaking to me face to face." Shadow had to test Eggman, he had to know that he can trust Eggman's word, but to do that, Eggman had to trust Shadow's. The hedgehog may have been born of darkness, but he fought the evil inside his own heart, and if he can do that, then Eggman could too. But Dr. Eggman's evil was far different than other kinds, it was more based off of wit, lying, and deceit than true power, destruction, and hatred. Eggman's villainous personality could be changed with a little work, but that was going to be his call entirely.

[Mr. Game & Watch]

After his outburst, Eggman sat back down in his seated terminal and began to soothe the top of his hairless scalp with the palm of his gloved hand. His ability to control his temper was never the greatest, though that seemed like a common trait he shared with the other gang lords. Eggman was quite passive toward Shadow’s next attempts at insulting him, his permit nickname was Eggman there was little to get riled about when people pointed out his overweightness. Besides, comparatively his proportions made more sense than the incredibly top heavy hedgehog.

Given the distance between the two and Eggman’s frilly mustache blocking the view of his mouth slightly, Shadow probably couldn’t notice the calculating look on his face. The egg shaped doctor wasn’t sure if he could trust the rodent on his offer. He knew well enough that Shadow wasn’t above fighting dirty, he could easily take him out once he was vulnerable. Then again, yelling at him from the top of his robot was going to get him nowhere. Enough encounters with Sonic had proved that much to him.

He nodded finally as his giant mech took two steps backward, the room rumbling in accordance. As the Egg breaker ceased its movements, the egg mobile split itself from the cockpit once again. “You know the same could’ve been said for you” he spoke as his fighting machine powered down and his hover craft floated in place. The small craft gently flew over to Shadow’s position, though kept at least a two meter distance above the red tipped creature. At this point he knew the maximum height that Sonic and Shadow could reach off the top of his head. “Alright, make one false move though and you’ll be flatter than road kill. Why would I be plotting anything in our most desperate hour?”