﻿A Dangerous Weapon part 3






Rouge was searching around for any signs of Shadow over at Mystic Jungle. With Shadow’s last confirmed location being there Rouge went in with no intent to attack, only stealth and observation. Rouge flew around the jungle, hiding within the neon lights illuminating the jungle trees. She could see from the paths that Eggman had what looked like a token defense force still patrolling around. Even if she could go through the area without any sense of subtlety, there was the undeniable possibility that whatever could take on Shadow and force him to be off comms for so long required absolute caution.


Rouge couldn’t risk anything if she went through the way Sonic and the others often do. Rouge looked at her scanner and was pinpointing the exact spot where Shadow made his last call from.


While she flew and eluded Eggman’s forces, her thoughts went to Shadow. She felt genuine worry about him. Thoughts of how much he meant to her sent her nerves into an inner cannon fight within herself. She had to drop somewhere secluded to let herself regain control.


Rouge was staring down at her hands, seeing them shake, her body following suit. But she didn’t let this control her for long. She thought about what Shadow would be telling her: “Don’t let the fear of what might be happening control you. Focus on the objective then work to the next one. I’d place my faith in you any time.”


Those words to herself coming as if from Shadow allowed her immediate comfort. The stress almost instantly washed away and she could return her attention to task once more.


Rouge made it to Shadow’s last comm ping where he spoke to her from.


The area was nothing too special on its own, apart from a weird spiral shape on the floor, but she knew she had to search for something atypical from everything else.


Rouge put on her old eye scanner from her days infiltrating Eggman’s gang when she first met Shadow. A bit of practical approach but mixed with a hint of nostalgic humor.


She ran her scanner looking around if maybe any lingering energy was left behind. Or signs of a struggle.


Rouge kept scanning around until she noticed one of the pillars that were lined up together was broken. One in the middle right collapsed over. The rest were still standing.


“Ok so someone was thrown through here. But where did they land?” Rouge said in her head piecing together the scene.


Over near the broken pillar, she saw some dirt piled up in a way where someone was clearly forcibly thrown through.


Rouge scanned that spot for who made the print. And her scanner found traces of hair fibers not listed to anyone in known records.


“Ok, Shadow must’ve had a moment to kick whoever it was through this pillar. From the looks of it, maybe a sneak attack or counter attack. Can’t tell.” Rouge continued.


Scanning for more clues, Rouge saw a burnt mark on the side of the hill where she was.


“Looks like an energy projectile hit there. Can’t tell if it was from Shadow or someone else. And there’s multiple scorch marks around here. Impossible to tell who had the upper hand. Not without something to give me a better picture.”


Rouge knew something had to be around to tell who came out of this. Something maybe Shadow could have left or hidden. She knew if he was overwhelmed and couldn’t relay it immediately he’d have to leave something behind.


Rouge spent almost three hours scanning every inch for a clue there. She wasn’t leaving until she found something to tell her what happened.


Rouge was ready to expand her search when she noticed something odd about the dirt nearby. It was hard to see but she noticed part of what seemed like an arrow point made by a finger scraping against the dirt.


She looked to see some kind of receiver from Shadow’s commlink.


“Now I know what happened, Shadow was able to get the drop on… whoever he saw. Their fight was evenly matched. Shadow didn’t expect this, and ultimately he must’ve been overwhelmed when reinforcements arrived or they used something that took him by surprise. But Shadow wouldn’t have been beaten without leaving something behind. His comm link receiver, it can help us find him. Give us a location where he is.”


Rouge flew right out and was on a one way flight back to Sonic and the others. As she flew she was thinking more about Shadow and how he meant to her. She thought about how while they didn’t need many words to convey how they felt, the thought of not outright saying it to him made her want nothing more than to tell him herself. Rouge was on a mission to tell the hedgehog she loved how much she loved him.

Meanwhile, Knuckles had managed to escort Sonic back to Rouge’s G.U.N. compound in Central City. Finding it was not hard, I mean, how could someone miss a giant, metallic gray military building planted in the middle of the city? Most civilians wouldn’t dare to come close, because of the military signs all over the fence surrounding the building, only a few kids would dare to cross the barbed wire but never actually go inside. 


Knuckles opened the door for Sonic and walked him inside for the final steps before he crashed on a nearby couch, groaning in pain as the wounds from his previous fight were still healing.
“Ya really got yer keister handed back to ya, eh Sonic?” asked Knuckles, folding his arms and just looking over his friend and rival.

“Mmmf, that’s… one way to put it… But I’ll be fine… Just need to… lay down a bit and… clear my mind…” Sonic grunted slightly, but still smirked cockily. He couldn't let the facade drop, even despite learning that both Tails and Shadow had been gone missing, the latter for six months apparently.


“Okay, so… guide me through… What happened to Shadow?” asked Sonic, still laying down and pouting his hands behind his head.

“Beats me. All Rouge could tell me was that last time he was heard, he had been sent by G.U.N. to apprehend Dr Eggman for his various crimes. However, the last thing he said was that something was happening in his lab. Both she and G.U.N. know nothing else.” Knuckles replied, shrugging.

“Don’t they have drones or something? Surely at least one of them would’ve seen something, anything!” Sonic raised his voice a bit.


“They were the first thing they checked. The footage ended up… corrupted.” Knuckles explained, huffing.

“...Corrupted?” asked Sonic.

“Rouge has shown it to me and, yeah. Definitely corrupted, but… by what, she still doesn't know. The audio was completely absent and the video was so damaged that we could only see Shadow dodging attacks by an unseen enemy but… nothing else.” the echidna answered, with a small shrug.

“Mf… Great… Just peachy… And the only one who might be able to fix those videos is gone…” Sonic sighed and, as he went back to think about Tails, he felt that ugly feeling in his stomach again. The same burning feeling in his stomach that told him that Tails was… really gone. He pushed it down for the time being, now there was no time to let himself go down into a spiral. Now it was time to think. 


The enemy Sonic faced, that Infinite, possessed a power the likes of which he had never seen before… but that feeling of deja-vu, of having seen him somewhere before, refused to leave his mind. An older enemy from the past? An ally turned foe? But… who could it be? And, why work for Eggman and target Tails and Shadow, of all people? The list of people who had a grudge against him, both friends and foes, was too big to really think about, at least not while he was still recovering.

Almost on cue, Amy came in.
“Sonic!” she shrieked in shock and ran over to them, kneeling down.
“Are you okay?!” she asked, always so concerned about him. He couldn’t help but smile.

“Oh yeah, just… Got my daily dose of Vitamin G… which stands for Getting my butt kicked…” he chuckled, groaning soon after as his body continued to recover.

“...I’m sure that creep just got lucky. Next time you see him, you’re gonna show him what’s what!” she said with determination in her voice. He giggled and raised his fist towards her, to which she giggled back and gave him a fist bump.

“Atta girl.” he chuckled and got seated.
“Well, at least my back isn’t killing me anymore, so… Uh, I don’t really know… I’m not a plan guy, I’m the “rush headfirst into danger” guy.” Sonic said, rubbing the back of his head.

“Well, this time, we do need a plan, Sonic. This guy… he’s of a whole ‘nother league compared to the other bad guys we’ve faced so far.” said Knuckles, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah. You don’t have to do everything on your own. We can help you.” said Amy, nodding and placing her hand on his other shoulder. Sonic looked at Amy and Knuckles and smiled, making a small ironic sigh as he grabbed their shoulders.
“Ooh, fine! You know I can’t say no to these faces.” he said giggling, which made the others chuckle back.


Rouge then flew in from the window with her body language conveying the urgency of what she’d be saying next.


“I need someone to get this to our communications network. I think Eggman has Shadow and whatever it is that’s been helping him plan his worldwide takeover is strong enough that Shadow LOST to it.”


Sonic and Knuckles both raised their eyes wide in shock as they knew not just anything could go toe to toe with Shadow and be the victor. 


“Amy!” Knuckles called her over, “Bring the receiver coordinates from that now!”


Amy didn’t waste any time. She got to work while Rouge and Sonic had a mutual look of concern seeing how the stakes have risen exponentially knowing that Shadow being out of commission is as serious as it goes.










Rouge looked at the layout of recent Eggman bases and saw one was just freshly set up near the old Chemical Plant zone. Seeing the opportunity of fresh intel, Rouge didn’t even waste time letting the others know where she was going in person. Soon as she flew out of the base, Knuckles got her on the comms and in his typical mood was roaring at Rouge’s impulsive venture.


“Rouge! We need you back here, we don’t know what kind of forces we’re dealing with!”


“If there’s a new Eggman base it is bound to have the latest intel on everything Eggman is up to. I’ll slip in and out like I did before and we’ll know where Shadow is.”


“Mystic Jungle was months ago. Eggman probably didn’t have anything he expected to be learned or found there. But he’d be expecting something in this case.”, Knuckles tried to talk sense into her.


“It’s cute that you care, Knucky, but a woman’s got her own rules she has to go by. And right now I’m following them.” she scoffed and cut the comm.


Knuckles sighed in frustration, “Ugh… That batgirl never changes, I tell you.”






On the way to the base, Rouge then got a sudden message from GUN.


“Agent Rouge, come in.”


“Tower? What’s going on?”


“We have a situation over in Sunset Heights. Our recent reports indicate a massive attack is imminent there. We need you to verify.”


Rouge didn’t even second guess her next words to her superior, “Sorry but I’m unavailable. I have to look for someone missing in the resistance.”


“Agent Rouge we have strong intelligence to suggest whoever kidnapped agent Shadow may be in that vicinity.”, he pressed.


“Shadow? I’m on my way there now. I’ll call the resistance for backup.”


“Acknowledged, agent Rouge.”


Rouge got in touch with the resistance right away.


“Everyone, GUN sent me a priority message saying there’s an attack about to happen in Sunset Heights and they suspect whatever fought Shadow—zzzrrgghshhw”


Suddenly the message cut out before she could speak further.
Sonic and Amy looked at each other, worriedly.
“Knux, me and Amy will go after Rouge. You should go back to Angel Island. Eggman probably wants the Master Emerald, so you need to be there and do what you do best: be its Guardian.” said Sonic.

“A’ight, but call if you need me and I’ll be there as soon as I can.” said Knuckles before darting out the door.

“Ames, you should probably stay back… I don’t want you to get hurt…” said Sonic, placing his hands on Amy’s shoulder.

“I’m not a child, Sonic. I can handle myself. But, uh, thanks for caring.” she said smiling and blushing a little for being so close to her hero.

Sonic rolled his eyes but smiled before he and Amy bolted out the compound, heading towards Sunset Heights.

It was on the outskirts of Central City so it didn’t take long for them to reach it, by going at full speed. Sonic wondered if he should go slower to let Amy keep up, but she encouraged him to get there first and that she would catch on. Nodding, Sonic zoomed ahead, showing that his body had indeed fully healed. 


As he arrived at Sunset Heights, however, what he found was ten times worse than Tails’ house. 


The whole city had been completely leveled down. Whole apartments were ripped apart. Stench of sulfur and smoke poured above the air almost like everyone’s throats were lightly choking on it.


They could see how this once lovely area is now stained with an almost iconic look of devastation. Though some tried to avert their gaze, the freshly charred bodies and the lifeless eyes of many others filled their vision.


Sonic walked past the devastation with an undiscernible look. Sure, he had seen destruction before, but this? This felt different. This was a personal jab at him by Infinite, another way of telling him that he failed. He clenched his fists as he passed by the various rubble, helping out whoever was still alive.

Amy joined him soon, and she too was shocked to see all that destruction. Her reaction, however, was more visible. She covered her mouth and gasped in a horrified shock seeing all the desolation and death surrounding them.
“W-What kind of… monster would do this?” she asked, her voice so feeble as if not to break that eerie silence.

“... We’ll take down whoever’s responsible. We always come out on top.” Sonic said through his teeth.
“We get back to the compound and we call everyone. Anyone we can find. We WILL get justice for everyone here today.” he said, his voice rising the more he talked.

Amy nodded, both determined and a bit scared at how serious Sonic was being, when their ears both perked, hearing something break through the silence. A loud, female sobbing. 
They rushed towards the sound, reaching the plaza, and finding another spiral sign right in front of what remained of a house. In front of it was an arctic fox kneeling down on the ground and shivering violently, sobbing loudly on the ground. While sobbing, she called out a few names, probably of her family. Amy’s heart tightened: she was probably the only survivor of her family. 


As the fox cried, however, thunderclouds started to gather, amassing on top of the plaza and turning the sky black, despite the forecast saying that the sky would’ve been clear for the whole day. Then, it started raining. A strong downpour washed onto the city, almost as if it was attempting to clean it off the massacre that unfolded. Sonic and Amy took refuge from the rain, but also kept staring at the fox, noticing that the more she wept the stronger the rain got.


Sonic and Amy looked at each other once more and said at the same time: “We’ll need help.” before they decided to come into the rain and head straight for the girl.

To Be Continued…