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Warnings and author's message.[/url]\n- [url=https://inkbunny.net/j/389860-KetCriticalDamage-about-among-the-enemy-and-its-characters]About Among the Enemy and its characters.[/url]\n_________________\n\n\nThis chapter came a bit late due to translation issues, and without illustartions for now, but I will do them later for sure!\n\n_________________\nAO3 link: [url=https://archiveofourown.org/works/31925629]https://archiveofourown.org/works/31925629[/url]\nРусская версия: [url=https://ficbook.net/readfic/10278585]https://ficbook.net/readfic/10278585[/url]", "description_bbcode_parsed": "[First chapter]
<< Previous chapter || Next chapter >>


Please, check these journals before reading the fic:
- Among the Enemy. Warnings and author's message.
- About Among the Enemy and its characters.
_________________


This chapter came a bit late due to translation issues, and without illustartions for now, but I will do them later for sure!

_________________
AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31925629
Русская версия: https://ficbook.net/readfic/10278585", "writing": "Despite his words, Sonic had fallen asleep. In the morning he woke up in the cabin alone, and only the food plate left on the table indicated that the black hedgehog had gone somewhere again. The hero pulled out a tablet that had fallen under his back in his sleep , threw it on the floor and with a sigh spread his arms to the sides, staring unseeingly at the ceiling.\n\nLast night's \"incident\" didn't go out of his head. What exactly did he dream about at that moment? Sonic didn't remember. The dream slipped through his fingers, leaving only vague sensations: pleasure, fear, desire, pain - many conflicting feelings that didn't want to form a coherent picture. But even this was enough for the treacherous reaction of his body to betray him and for the second time put him in the most vulnerable light before... his rapist? Rival? Enemy?\n\nWho were they to each other now?\n\n…\n\nWere they anything before?\n\nClenching his teeth, the hero slammed his fist on the back of the sofa. To hell with that. Shadow is nobody to him, and apparently the black hedgehog doesn't care about him either. Judging by his answers, Sonic won't get remorse from him, or at least an apology, and in the current situation, he cannot do anything with it anyway. He should stop thinking about it - it's better to do something more useful.\n\nHe didn't care, didn't care, he didn't care.\n\nDidn’t!\n\nFrustrated, the blue hedgehog sat up abruptly, literally throwing himself up on his arms and hissed in pain: the injured wrists, awakened by an inaccurate movement, began to whine again, reminding that the negligent owner had not treated them properly.\n\nThat's the first task for today.\n\nAfter taking a shower, the hero found a half-used tube with a meager military marking in the first-aid kit and generously smeared the scratches, trying to push as much of the strange blue compound under the bracelets as possible. The pain instantly receded, and Sonic turned the pack in his hands in surprise. The Empire's technology was impressive.\n\nHaving rotated the fetters a couple of times in order to distribute the ointment more evenly, the hero involuntarily thought about how he looked from the outside in only bracelets and a collar. Provocative? Definitely. He immediately wanted to get dressed. Although he was not yet able to remove them, he could hide the hated magnets from direct view, in order to get at least a small barrier from endless reminders of his unenviable position.\n\nThe matter remained small - to borrow some clothes from Shadow.\n\nSonic wasn't about to ask permission. Firstly, it wasn't known how long the return of the black hedgehog would have to wait. Secondly... the first point was enough. Moreover, everything he needed was at hand, and returning to the room, the hero went straight to the wardrobe.\n\nWithout hesitation he pulled out the top drawer.\n\nPaused for a moment, looking at the contents.\n\nAnd then slammed it back shut, folding his ears burning with shame to the head.\n\nThe \"adult store\" assortment was definitely not what he expected to see.\n\nWhat the hell was wrong with this place? Why did he seem to be in a bad porn movie with a stupid plot? He urgently needed to get dressed, before he literally started to go crazy, involuntarily imbued with this unhealthy atmosphere of permissiveness and debauchery.\n\nSonic took a deep breath and cautiously peered into the second drawer, preparing to close it as soon as he saw anything suspicious. But after a moment, he breathed a sigh of relief and pulled the drawer out completely. Just what he needed: gloves and socks. Not quite the usual color, the hero preferred white, but he didn’t have to choose and it was better than nothing.\n\n\"Why does Shadow have so many pairs?\" the blue hedgehog thought, randomly sorting through clothes in search of possibly light-colored ones lying around. \"And how did he get them on the ship? There are at least a few dozen here.\"\n\nBut taking the pair he liked in his hands, Sonic realized that the material was really unusual. Out of curiosity, he pulled on a glove to examine the fabric more closely. Solid, without seams and visible interlacing of threads, it resembled thin plastic, but at the same time it breathed and remained flexible, light and smooth, similar to silk, but sliding even more, apparently due to the fact that it had nothing to catch on to fur. The clothes gave a feeling of strange coolness and were not felt at all on the palm.\n\nWith a shrug, Sonic pulled on the other glove as well. It felt unusual, but since Shadow wore this, why not too? Probably, it was again some kind of imperial thing - he had never noticed such clothes on his rival before, and the feeling from mutual handshakes, from direct blows in the heat of a fight, from accidental touches of his hands was...\n\nSonic shook his head in displeasure and reached for the socks. They turned out to be exactly the same, placing the fear inside the blue hedgehog that the clothes might still inadvertently slip off. After checking, he was convinced that the socks were really easy to remove, leaving behind a pleasant sensation, reminiscent of a light tickle. But overall, the fabric stayed in place, although he should have been more careful since he was left without shoes.\n\nWell, not bad as it could be. The main problem was not to think that Shadow wore them.\n\n…\n\nNot. Think.\n\n…\n\nTask two: eat. Task three: find out everything he can about the Empire.\n\n\"Where did I leave the tablet?\"\n\n\n[center]***[/center]\n\nThe door panel went aside with a usual rustle, and Shadow froze at the entrance, not believing his eyes.\n\nThat idiot got dressed.\n\nGot dressed and lounged freely in plain sight, attracting the eye to himself.\n\nShadow didn't even know what was worse: Sonic without clothes at all, or Sonic in his clothes. And if the gloves, not counting the cuffs, were just as usual white, then the blackness of the socks, standing out sharply on the blue fur, drove the mind of the dark hedgehog into confusion, not allowing him to get rid of the obsessive thought of pulling them off those long, slender legs as slowly as possible, spread them apart and...\n\n‘Stop!’ Shadow angrily snapped to himself, shivering.\n\nThe Hero of Mobius shouldn't wear these clothes. Strange, alien, only outwardly looking familiar. Mockingly easily gliding over his short fur, striving to fly off from too sharp a gesture or movement, reminding every second of their origin and purpose of this deliberate silkiness, causing Shadow to tremble internally from conflicting signals of body and mind.\n\nThe clothes that every day he wished to rip off and burn.\n\nSonic only had time to jerk his ear towards the door, when the black hedgehog was nearby and loomed menacingly over the hero who was reading something again.\n\n\"Take them off,\" Shadow almost growled.\n\n\"...what?\" the blue hedgehog looked up from the book and squinted at him irritably.\n\n\"Clothes. Take them off immediately.\"\n\nSonic in response defiantly crossed his legs and buried himself back in the tablet. \"Not happening. I'm hecking tired of walking around naked.\"\n\n\"Do you have any idea how it looks from the outside?\" the agent waved towards the door with a hint. \"A prisoner in clothes? The whole society here is obsessed with how to earn the privilege of wearing at least something instead of standard suits.\"\n\nIt was ironic that in his search today, Sonic just got to this information. What he took for a military uniform was in fact much more widespread: at the age of five, each resident of the Empire was given uniform clothing, which, due to the locks built into the fabric itself, could not be physically removed in the presence of the opposite sex. Already at this moment, the hero guessed why, but refused to believe that he was right... exactly until the next sentence, where the inadmissibility of sexual contacts outside the official registration of marriage was explained in plain text. Pairs were selected using an algorithm that took into account the genetic code of both partners, for the most effective \"preservation and multiplication of Color\". The Chromes took an oath about this, the violation of which was punishable by forced sterilization and a huge social fine.\n\nAnd the second point was much less worried about.\n\nGetting permission for any other clothes was not easy: it required the right age and level of education to pass the exam and get those \"full chromium rights\" - to prove one's \"decency\" and knowledge of the laws of the Empire. The Grays, however, were not restricted. But they could not pass the exam, forced to wear black and white suits until the end of their days.\n\nWalking completely naked was considered barbaric and was permissible only for \"garbage\": primitives, slaves and prisoners, whose status allowed any \"true\" resident to do whatever they want with them. Sonic fell into two categories out of three and was determined to not stay naked in the presence of crazy perverted hedgehogs for longer than necessary.\n\nAnd in the presence of Shadow, too.\n\n\"You showed it yourself,\" the hero shrugged, trying to keep a straight face, \"No one will come in without permission. So I can take them all off if needed.\"\n\n\"Yes, no one,\" Shadow agreed. \"Except Aidan,\" and tore the tablet out of the hands of the blue hedgehog, ignoring the indignant[i] 'Hey!'[/i] \"So take it off before I do it myself.\"\n\nSonic jumped up from the couch, clenching his fists in rage, causing his rival to take a step back. \"What is your problem?\" he exclaimed, blushing furiously.\n\n\"My problem is,\" Shadow dropped coldly and moved forward, returning to his original place; Sonic unconsciously recoiled. \"That this psycho could show up here at any moment, and the hell knows what exactly-\"\n\nWith a growl of displeasure, the blue hedgehog took off his clothes in the blink of an eye and landed at the metal panel, interrupting that tirade in mid-sentence.\n\n\"Well?\" the hero pointedly twisted his magnetized hands. \"Fast enough for you?\"\n\nFor several seconds, they silently burned each other with gaze, until Shadow sighed and turned off the magnets. Forgetting, Sonic straightened his bracelets and grimaced briefly, realizing that he had again disturbed the abrasions.\n\nGood thing he didn't add any new ones.\n\n\"I don't know,\" Shadow folded his arms across his chest. \"Don't forget - Aidan is pretty fast too. Of course, he doesn't reach our level, but his reaction speed is sharp.\"\n\nSonic snorted defiantly and nodded towards the exit. \"The door doesn't open right away, does it?\" The black hedgehog looked at him inquiringly, and the hero continued the thought, \"It always opens up with this…\" he spread his arms to the sides, \"[i]Whoosh[/i].\"\n\nShadow rolled his eyes. \"It's pneumatics, faker. Of course it will do 'whoosh,'\" he mimicked the blue hedgehog.\n\nSonic decided to ignore his prompting and got up from the floor. \"But it doesn't do it instantly. Plus, there is this sound, so it will just block any of my noise in the process.\" He picked up the thrown off clothes from the sofa and managed to pull on one sock on the go before snatching the tablet out of Shadow's hands and poking it in his chest, \"So don't make me an idiot - I remember everything perfectly and I'm not going to act rashly.\"\n\nThe black hedgehog indifferently met his attack - only fleetingly glanced down - and closed his eyelids. \"Fine,\" he finally gave up; Sonic snorted in victory and began to put on his gloves. \"Just be always-\"\n\nHis warning was interrupted by the sudden \"whoosh\" of the opening door.\n\nShadow barely had time to flinch and open his eyes, as Sonic literally vanished, pausing only for a fraction of a second to shove the tablet along with the clothes into the hands of the black hedgehog.\n\nTimely demonstration.\n\n\"Richie!\" Aidan exclaimed in greeting from the doorway and, assessing the situation, grinned, \"Having fun?\"\n\n\n[b]>>> 1. Out of the corner of his eye, Shadow noticed a sock forgotten on the hero's foot, and immediately drew the lilac hedgehog's attention to himself.[/b]\n\n[url=https://inkbunny.net/s/2911200]2. The smile of the lilac hedgehog turned into a sly grin when he noticed a sock left in a hurry on the prisoner's leg.[/url]\n\n\n\"No,\" he waved the discarded clothes. \"I was going to take a shower.\"\n\nTo his relief, Aidan didn't see how the prisoner deftly pulled the sock off with his other foot and pushed it under himself.\n\n\"I can join,\" the Commander suggested playfully.\n\nShadow snorted contemptuously. \"Perhaps, I'll refuse.\"\n\n\"Aw, how boring,\" the lilac hedgehog grinned, coming closer to him.\n\nShadow automatically folded his arms over his chest, shielding himself, and asked with hostility, \"Why did you come here?\"\n\nAidan raised his eyebrows in surprise and tilted his head to the side. Then he looked at the prisoner. Sonic diligently made a tortured look, lowering his head and quills and hanging on his hands. But boldly upturned curious ears didn't really fit with this image. Shadow mentally cursed.\n\nFucking actor.\n\n“Just to check how you are doing,” the lilac hedgehog drawled with a hint, also noticing this discrepancy.\n\nShadow frowned. \"I'll bring a report in the evening.\"\n\n\"It's not interesting enough,\" Aidan waved off and ominously flashed his eyes, \"I wanted to [i]watch[/i].\"\n\nThe black hedgehog straightened out and rapped out defiantly, \"I'm not going to do anything in front of witnesses. As you say: my toy, my rules.\"\n\nThe Commander gave him a studying look. For several long seconds, in which Shadow sorted through all the worst scenarios in his head, the lilac hedgehog thought about something, without showing his reaction in any way...\n\nAnd then he broke into a wicked smile.\n\n\"Excellent,\" Aidan came close to the black hedgehog and condescendingly hit on his nose, \"We really have reached the stage of rebellion. I was actually afraid that I broke you. In recent days, you have been too calm, and I have run out of ideas on how to stir you up.\"\n\nHe shifted his gaze to the Hero of Mobius, noticing that he raised his head, \"I should thank you for deciding to show up, Blue. With you, the game has become much more fun.\"\n\n\"Satisfied?\" Shadow again drew the Commander's attention to himself and, grimacing irritably, nodded at the door, \"Now get out.\"\n\nBut before he finished the sentence, a lilac hand grabbed him by the ear and jerked it up sharply.\n\nThe black hedgehog hissed in pain. Sonic almost twitched to help him, but stopped in time to avoid arousing suspicion.\n\nWhat the hell was this sadist doing?\n\n\"Rebellion is good, but don't be arrogant, Richie,\" Aidan said in an unctuous voice. \"I can still get rid of you at any moment.\"\n\nHe pierced a dark ear with his claw, squeezing out a drop of blood, but this time Shadow endured the pain without changing his face. \n\nThe Commander leaned closer. \"I thought to have some fun today,\" he said, still deceptively softly, \"but now you'd be punished.\"\n\nAnd with this promise, he let go the dark ear just as sharply, pulling his claw to the side, leaving a long crimson stripe.\n\n\"So get ready,\" the lilac hedgehog licked the bloodied fingertip and turned around, heading for the exit, \"to scream for a long time.\"\n\nShadow followed him with a furious look, clenching his fists trembling from restrained rage. \n\n\"Bastard,\" he spat as soon as the door closed.\n\nSonic quietly froze in his place. A trickle of blood ran down the ear of the black hedgehog, flowing down to the eyebrow, riveting the gaze to itself. Shadow brushed it off with his palm, cursed, smearing the scarlet spot on the white fabric, and only then did the hero dare to call out to him.\n\n\"Shad?\"\n\nThe black hedgehog flinched at his voice, realizing that Sonic had been here all this time and had seen everything, and then sighed. \"Don't think about it, faker,\" he dropped with badly restrained sarcasm. \"If you want to sleep tight.\"\n\nWith a broad gesture, he threw clothes and a tablet on the sofa, with a short touch on the medallion, he released the blue hero, took clean gloves from the drawer and disappeared into the bathroom.\n\nSonic remained sitting, digesting what had happened in shock.\n\nEverything was very wrong.\n\n\n[center]***[/center]\n\nShadow returned quickly enough to let him recover, but not to come to any concrete conclusions. Ignoring the studying look, the black hedgehog passed by and lounged with a working tablet on the far side of the bed. Sonic, in turn, continued to watch carefully, folding his hands in front of himself and not daring to start first.\n\n\"I'm not going to talk about it,\" a displeased voice interrupted his doubts.\n\n\"Shad, but this is…\"\n\n“I didn’t ask for your opinion,” the agent growled, interrupting him, and, without letting him open his mouth again, cut, “That’s it. End of a line. The conversation is over.\"\n\nThere was a tense silence. Sonic twitched his ear uneasily, frowned and, after a minute of staring at his black and red rival, looked down at his hands clasped on his knees.\n\n\"Well, the hell with you then,\" he muttered.\n\nReally, why did he care?\n\nThe black hedgehog nodded in satisfaction, but said nothing in response.\n\nOr he didn’t have time to: the interactive panel at the exit murmured melodiously, and a request came to the black hedgehog’s tablet, which he accepted almost without hesitation, at the same instant sitting up straight on the bed.\n\nSonic just managed to flinch and raise his head.\n\nBarely waiting for the full opening of the door, breathless Clar flew into the cabin. Without allowing any of them to insert a word, she immediately chattered from the threshold, “We intercepted the message, so there were no logs left and I didn’t write to you myself,” the purple hedgehog paused to take a breath of air. “There was a new infiltration attempt,\" she blurted out, \"Another key.\"\n\nThey jumped up from their seats in unison. Sonic rushed for the exit in a hurry, only for Shadow to stop him with a striped hand blocking his path.\n\n\"Where are you going?\" the black hedgehog asked gloomily.\n\n\"Are you serious?\" Sonic was genuinely surprised. \"It could be Tails! Or anyone else!\"\n\n\"Sit down, damn it,\" Shadow growled angrily. \"I'll deal with it.\"\n\nSonic jumped up indignantly and grabbed his opponent by the shoulder. \"Just like you 'dealt' with me?\" he bristled, inflamed, and squeezed his fingers tighter. \"I don't think so!\"\n\nThe black hedgehog's face twisted into a painful grimace. Nervously twitching his ears, he looked at the hand holding him. Took a short breath. And then he looked up coldly, hard in his determination.\n\nIn the next moment, the hero flew to the floor from a sudden sweep. Sonic jerked to the side on a reflex, moving away from the blow, but with a loud sound the bracelets on his legs caught each other, throwing him off balance. His quills fluttered by themselves, softening his fall, and as soon as his back collided with the floor, the blue hedgehog, arching, tried to kick his opponent. Shadow dodged and in the same second grabbed him by the wrists and calves at once, rolled him on the side and magnetized those to each other, almost curling the blue hedgehog into a ball.\n\n\"Stay. Here,\" Shadow repeated with a roar, at the same time tearing off the treacherously slippery gloves and socks from a prisoner.\n\nThe clothes flew to the side, the black hedgehog quickly got up and, unceremoniously pushing out his subordinate, who was watching this scene with interest, jumped out of the cabin.\n\nSonic froze on the floor in disbelief, numb from surprise and indignation at the same time.\n\n\"Chaos darn it!\" he exploded a second later. \"Shadow! Shadow!!!\" But then he caught himself, realizing that wrong ears could hear him in the corridor, and hissed under his breath, \"Asshole.\"\n\nThe hero rolled over onto his back again and fidgeted furiously in place, trying to wriggle out of the shackles. Having failed as expected, he gave up trying to free his clutched limbs, rolled closer to the exit and sat down, leaning back against the door. Then he gritted his teeth and hit it with the back of his head.\n\n\"Screw it.\"\n\nThe pain cleared his mind a little. Sonic took a deep breath, glanced down at the interweaving of magnetized arms and legs, and grimaced unhappily.\n\nAs much as he didn't want to admit it, Shadow was right. He shouldn't leave the cabin if he could be captured so easily by just activating the bracelets. But to believe the words of the black hedgehog? Why would Shadow help his friends if he even left his own for three whole months without explaining where he went?\n\n'But are you better yourself?' his conscience sarcastically reminded. 'You lied to Tails, stole the key from him and ran away without warning.'\n\n'I told him my plan,' the hero tried to justify himself. 'He knew where I would go. And Shadow could also at least have hinted that he had found how to get on the ship! Ask for help! It's not so difficult - [i]I[/i] did it, didn't I?!'\n\n'And what would that change?'\n\n'At least I wouldn't have been raped.'\n\n'Debatable.'\n\nThe blue hedgehog shook his head in annoyance. What's the point of bickering with yourself? What was the use of being tormented in ignorance, not understanding what to do and having no control over the situation? He was caught and chained, and at any moment, if anyone from the crew decided to take advantage of it, he might find himself in someone else's power. He had no friends here, and relying on Shadow... the black hedgehog just showed that it was useless.\n\nSonic took a deep breath and lightly moved his hands. Let's say the rebels found a way to remove his bracelets. Where was the guarantee that they would actually do it? Shadow was so clearly determined to kill the Commander that he could easily change his mind. One imperceptible order - and the black hedgehog without a doubt would leave him helplessly fluttering in his bonds, just like now, to do everything himself.\n\nDamn egoist.\n\n\"They are [i]my [/i]friends,\" Sonic gritted through his teeth. \"[i]I[/i] have to save them.\"\n\nEspecially if he himself put them at such a risk.\n\nFifteen minutes had passed. For the blue hedgehog, nervously tormented in anticipation, it seemed like an hour. He had changed his position several times, had scolded his opponent from head to toe... and also had remembered all the unsightly details told by Shadow about the prisoners. The black hedgehog would not lie about such a thing, but now the hero would prefer to be deceived rather than think about what kind of trap anyone who tries to free him could fall into. The naive thought that had visited him earlier - that his friends would find a way to get him out - seemed more than ever impossible and dangerous to the point of insanity.\n\nAnd if Shadow failed and got caught himself, it was scary to imagine what the imperial psychopaths would do with the \"traitor\"...\n\nWith a muffled sound, Sonic curled up into a ball, pulling the knees up to dig his fingers into his head. When did everything get so confusing? So difficult? Where were those days of reckless adventures, when quick feet and timely collected emeralds were the answer to all problems? Or had he just been stupidly lucky all this time? The raging Chaos could destroy the world, the ARC could fall on the planet, Dark Gaia could completely tear it to pieces, and how many times Eggman had to be stopped before he found the Phantom Ruby and almost turned Mobius into his Empire was hard to count. And again, if Shadow didn't choose the right side - they all would become food for his alien relatives. Each time, a fortuitous set of circumstances stopped the catastrophe in time, but now… what exactly was happening now that he felt completely helpless? His captivity? He had been caught many times. Superior enemy forces? Nonsense compared to the ancient deities. The senseless brutality of the invaders? Albeit on a smaller scale, but it had always been so.\n\n[i]...what Shadow did to him, weakened, broken, frightened, against his will and despite his pleas..?[/i]\n\n…\n\nInhale. Exhale.\n\nInhale.\n\nExhale.\n\nInhale.\n\nCalm down.\n\nNo panic. He would find a way out, he would do everything right, he would save everyone. He just didn't have enough information. Everything was too suspicious and incomprehensible. He just needed to find the reason behind everything, as the answer would appear. And a way to solve the whole situation the way he wanted it.\n\nNobody else had to die. Enough victims. And he would be damned if anything - [i]anything [/i]- stopped him along the way.\n\nThe Hero of Mobius confidently raised his head and straightened up as far as his uncomfortable posture allowed.\n\nBut then the door behind him opened, and he almost fell straight on the newcomer, barely keeping his balance.\n\n\"Shadow!\" Sonic exclaimed as soon as the cabin closed. In his displeased voice, notes of excitement slipped by themselves, but he wrote them off as a consequence of an obvious question, \"Who-?\"\n\n\"Calm down,\" the black hedgehog besieged him, quickly making his way past and turning off the bracelets on the go; Sonic swayed awkwardly forward in unexpected freedom. \"It was just a drone. None of your friends or the Resistance.\"\n\nHearing the good news, the hero breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back against the door. \"Thanks Chaos.\"\n\nShadow, meanwhile, crossed the cabin and bent down to pull something out of the bottom drawer. Sonic followed him thoughtfully, rubbing his stiff limbs.\n\nAnd it's all?\n\n“The drone was automatically destroyed,” the black hedgehog continued as if reading his thoughts. “The access code was the same one you used, and that security breach has already been closed. A good attempt, and most importantly, it was on time: now everyone is sure that someone helped you from the outside and not from the inside.\"\n\n\"They thought it was someone from the inside?\" Sonic repeated, surprised.\n\n\"I got here this way, actually.\"\n\nThe blue hedgehog snorted skeptically.\n\n\"Don't you think I got on the ship too easily?\" he asked a question that suddenly came to mind.\n\nShadow froze for a second with the cloth in his hands, straightened up, threw it over his shoulder and pushed the drawer back with his foot.\n\n\"No,\" the agent walked up to the table with a stamped step and began to type something in the order panel. \"I'm rather surprised you didn't get in here sooner.\"\n\nSonic rolled his eyes, pulled his clothes closer and began to pull them back. \"I've tried. Even asked you for help if you don't remember. But I'm talking about something else: drones are checked only by key? No other way?\"\n\n\"What do you mean?\" Shadow asked; the delivery beeped, and a plate with some kind of salad rolled onto the table, which he set aside, continuing to scroll through the menu.\n\n\"Well, I don’t know…\" Sonic got up from the floor in one jump, \"But what about the visual check? You said there were cameras everywhere, but I didn't see any on the approach to the ship or at the docks. What about the drones themselves? How do they convey information?\"\n\nThe black hedgehog sighed in annoyance and turned in his direction. “They have cameras, if that’s what you mean,” the agent explained in the tone of a teacher tired of questions. \"And the system at the entrance scans any object passing on board. I don't know what Miles did to fool the sensors the first time, but surely his drone would have gotten in today too if it hadn't been incinerated by the shield. You were only noticed in the living sector when the system reported a machine failure - it looked like a glitched bot escaped from the docks.\"\n\nThe delivery beeped a second time and gave out two more plates and a couple of bottles of water. Sonic raised an eyebrow questioningly at the suspiciously plentiful… dinner? Wasn't it too early?\n\nFollowing his gaze, Shadow nodded towards the table. \"It's all for you. With a reserve.\"\n\n\"Reserve?\"\n\n\"I'm leaving,\" the black hedgehog explained, straightening the fabric that he had pulled out of the drawers earlier: it turned out to be a thin dark shirt with green piping on the collar and short sleeves. \"I'll be back tomorrow for lunch.\"\n\nHe slipped his shirt on, pulled up the sharp collar, and headed for the door, fastening the strange semblance of a zipper as he went.\n\nSonic carried out his maneuver with a mocking grin, nodding at the unusual outfit, \"Date?\"\n\nShadow froze in front of him with an unreadable expression. Then he turned away and shrugged his shoulders indifferently. \"Something like that.\"\n\nThe door closed behind him, and Sonic, even the next day, didn't remember the words of the Commander about the punishment.\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Despite his words, Sonic had fallen asleep. In the morning he woke up in the cabin alone, and only the food plate left on the table indicated that the black hedgehog had gone somewhere again. The hero pulled out a tablet that had fallen under his back in his sleep , threw it on the floor and with a sigh spread his arms to the sides, staring unseeingly at the ceiling.

Last night's "incident" didn't go out of his head. What exactly did he dream about at that moment? Sonic didn't remember. The dream slipped through his fingers, leaving only vague sensations: pleasure, fear, desire, pain - many conflicting feelings that didn't want to form a coherent picture. But even this was enough for the treacherous reaction of his body to betray him and for the second time put him in the most vulnerable light before... his rapist? Rival? Enemy?

Who were they to each other now?

…

Were they anything before?

Clenching his teeth, the hero slammed his fist on the back of the sofa. To hell with that. Shadow is nobody to him, and apparently the black hedgehog doesn't care about him either. Judging by his answers, Sonic won't get remorse from him, or at least an apology, and in the current situation, he cannot do anything with it anyway. He should stop thinking about it - it's better to do something more useful.

He didn't care, didn't care, he didn't care.

Didn’t!

Frustrated, the blue hedgehog sat up abruptly, literally throwing himself up on his arms and hissed in pain: the injured wrists, awakened by an inaccurate movement, began to whine again, reminding that the negligent owner had not treated them properly.

That's the first task for today.

After taking a shower, the hero found a half-used tube with a meager military marking in the first-aid kit and generously smeared the scratches, trying to push as much of the strange blue compound under the bracelets as possible. The pain instantly receded, and Sonic turned the pack in his hands in surprise. The Empire's technology was impressive.

Having rotated the fetters a couple of times in order to distribute the ointment more evenly, the hero involuntarily thought about how he looked from the outside in only bracelets and a collar. Provocative? Definitely. He immediately wanted to get dressed. Although he was not yet able to remove them, he could hide the hated magnets from direct view, in order to get at least a small barrier from endless reminders of his unenviable position.

The matter remained small - to borrow some clothes from Shadow.

Sonic wasn't about to ask permission. Firstly, it wasn't known how long the return of the black hedgehog would have to wait. Secondly... the first point was enough. Moreover, everything he needed was at hand, and returning to the room, the hero went straight to the wardrobe.

Without hesitation he pulled out the top drawer.

Paused for a moment, looking at the contents.

And then slammed it back shut, folding his ears burning with shame to the head.

The "adult store" assortment was definitely not what he expected to see.

What the hell was wrong with this place? Why did he seem to be in a bad porn movie with a stupid plot? He urgently needed to get dressed, before he literally started to go crazy, involuntarily imbued with this unhealthy atmosphere of permissiveness and debauchery.

Sonic took a deep breath and cautiously peered into the second drawer, preparing to close it as soon as he saw anything suspicious. But after a moment, he breathed a sigh of relief and pulled the drawer out completely. Just what he needed: gloves and socks. Not quite the usual color, the hero preferred white, but he didn’t have to choose and it was better than nothing.

"Why does Shadow have so many pairs?" the blue hedgehog thought, randomly sorting through clothes in search of possibly light-colored ones lying around. "And how did he get them on the ship? There are at least a few dozen here."

But taking the pair he liked in his hands, Sonic realized that the material was really unusual. Out of curiosity, he pulled on a glove to examine the fabric more closely. Solid, without seams and visible interlacing of threads, it resembled thin plastic, but at the same time it breathed and remained flexible, light and smooth, similar to silk, but sliding even more, apparently due to the fact that it had nothing to catch on to fur. The clothes gave a feeling of strange coolness and were not felt at all on the palm.

With a shrug, Sonic pulled on the other glove as well. It felt unusual, but since Shadow wore this, why not too? Probably, it was again some kind of imperial thing - he had never noticed such clothes on his rival before, and the feeling from mutual handshakes, from direct blows in the heat of a fight, from accidental touches of his hands was...

Sonic shook his head in displeasure and reached for the socks. They turned out to be exactly the same, placing the fear inside the blue hedgehog that the clothes might still inadvertently slip off. After checking, he was convinced that the socks were really easy to remove, leaving behind a pleasant sensation, reminiscent of a light tickle. But overall, the fabric stayed in place, although he should have been more careful since he was left without shoes.

Well, not bad as it could be. The main problem was not to think that Shadow wore them.

…

Not. Think.

…

Task two: eat. Task three: find out everything he can about the Empire.

"Where did I leave the tablet?"


***


The door panel went aside with a usual rustle, and Shadow froze at the entrance, not believing his eyes.

That idiot got dressed.

Got dressed and lounged freely in plain sight, attracting the eye to himself.

Shadow didn't even know what was worse: Sonic without clothes at all, or Sonic in his clothes. And if the gloves, not counting the cuffs, were just as usual white, then the blackness of the socks, standing out sharply on the blue fur, drove the mind of the dark hedgehog into confusion, not allowing him to get rid of the obsessive thought of pulling them off those long, slender legs as slowly as possible, spread them apart and...

‘Stop!’ Shadow angrily snapped to himself, shivering.

The Hero of Mobius shouldn't wear these clothes. Strange, alien, only outwardly looking familiar. Mockingly easily gliding over his short fur, striving to fly off from too sharp a gesture or movement, reminding every second of their origin and purpose of this deliberate silkiness, causing Shadow to tremble internally from conflicting signals of body and mind.

The clothes that every day he wished to rip off and burn.

Sonic only had time to jerk his ear towards the door, when the black hedgehog was nearby and loomed menacingly over the hero who was reading something again.

"Take them off," Shadow almost growled.

"...what?" the blue hedgehog looked up from the book and squinted at him irritably.

"Clothes. Take them off immediately."

Sonic in response defiantly crossed his legs and buried himself back in the tablet. "Not happening. I'm hecking tired of walking around naked."

"Do you have any idea how it looks from the outside?" the agent waved towards the door with a hint. "A prisoner in clothes? The whole society here is obsessed with how to earn the privilege of wearing at least something instead of standard suits."

It was ironic that in his search today, Sonic just got to this information. What he took for a military uniform was in fact much more widespread: at the age of five, each resident of the Empire was given uniform clothing, which, due to the locks built into the fabric itself, could not be physically removed in the presence of the opposite sex. Already at this moment, the hero guessed why, but refused to believe that he was right... exactly until the next sentence, where the inadmissibility of sexual contacts outside the official registration of marriage was explained in plain text. Pairs were selected using an algorithm that took into account the genetic code of both partners, for the most effective "preservation and multiplication of Color". The Chromes took an oath about this, the violation of which was punishable by forced sterilization and a huge social fine.

And the second point was much less worried about.

Getting permission for any other clothes was not easy: it required the right age and level of education to pass the exam and get those "full chromium rights" - to prove one's "decency" and knowledge of the laws of the Empire. The Grays, however, were not restricted. But they could not pass the exam, forced to wear black and white suits until the end of their days.

Walking completely naked was considered barbaric and was permissible only for "garbage": primitives, slaves and prisoners, whose status allowed any "true" resident to do whatever they want with them. Sonic fell into two categories out of three and was determined to not stay naked in the presence of crazy perverted hedgehogs for longer than necessary.

And in the presence of Shadow, too.

"You showed it yourself," the hero shrugged, trying to keep a straight face, "No one will come in without permission. So I can take them all off if needed."

"Yes, no one," Shadow agreed. "Except Aidan," and tore the tablet out of the hands of the blue hedgehog, ignoring the indignant 'Hey!' "So take it off before I do it myself."

Sonic jumped up from the couch, clenching his fists in rage, causing his rival to take a step back. "What is your problem?" he exclaimed, blushing furiously.

"My problem is," Shadow dropped coldly and moved forward, returning to his original place; Sonic unconsciously recoiled. "That this psycho could show up here at any moment, and the hell knows what exactly-"

With a growl of displeasure, the blue hedgehog took off his clothes in the blink of an eye and landed at the metal panel, interrupting that tirade in mid-sentence.

"Well?" the hero pointedly twisted his magnetized hands. "Fast enough for you?"

For several seconds, they silently burned each other with gaze, until Shadow sighed and turned off the magnets. Forgetting, Sonic straightened his bracelets and grimaced briefly, realizing that he had again disturbed the abrasions.

Good thing he didn't add any new ones.

"I don't know," Shadow folded his arms across his chest. "Don't forget - Aidan is pretty fast too. Of course, he doesn't reach our level, but his reaction speed is sharp."

Sonic snorted defiantly and nodded towards the exit. "The door doesn't open right away, does it?" The black hedgehog looked at him inquiringly, and the hero continued the thought, "It always opens up with this…" he spread his arms to the sides, "Whoosh."

Shadow rolled his eyes. "It's pneumatics, faker. Of course it will do 'whoosh,'" he mimicked the blue hedgehog.

Sonic decided to ignore his prompting and got up from the floor. "But it doesn't do it instantly. Plus, there is this sound, so it will just block any of my noise in the process." He picked up the thrown off clothes from the sofa and managed to pull on one sock on the go before snatching the tablet out of Shadow's hands and poking it in his chest, "So don't make me an idiot - I remember everything perfectly and I'm not going to act rashly."

The black hedgehog indifferently met his attack - only fleetingly glanced down - and closed his eyelids. "Fine," he finally gave up; Sonic snorted in victory and began to put on his gloves. "Just be always-"

His warning was interrupted by the sudden "whoosh" of the opening door.

Shadow barely had time to flinch and open his eyes, as Sonic literally vanished, pausing only for a fraction of a second to shove the tablet along with the clothes into the hands of the black hedgehog.

Timely demonstration.

"Richie!" Aidan exclaimed in greeting from the doorway and, assessing the situation, grinned, "Having fun?"


>>> 1. Out of the corner of his eye, Shadow noticed a sock forgotten on the hero's foot, and immediately drew the lilac hedgehog's attention to himself.

2. The smile of the lilac hedgehog turned into a sly grin when he noticed a sock left in a hurry on the prisoner's leg.


"No," he waved the discarded clothes. "I was going to take a shower."

To his relief, Aidan didn't see how the prisoner deftly pulled the sock off with his other foot and pushed it under himself.

"I can join," the Commander suggested playfully.

Shadow snorted contemptuously. "Perhaps, I'll refuse."

"Aw, how boring," the lilac hedgehog grinned, coming closer to him.

Shadow automatically folded his arms over his chest, shielding himself, and asked with hostility, "Why did you come here?"

Aidan raised his eyebrows in surprise and tilted his head to the side. Then he looked at the prisoner. Sonic diligently made a tortured look, lowering his head and quills and hanging on his hands. But boldly upturned curious ears didn't really fit with this image. Shadow mentally cursed.

Fucking actor.

“Just to check how you are doing,” the lilac hedgehog drawled with a hint, also noticing this discrepancy.

Shadow frowned. "I'll bring a report in the evening."

"It's not interesting enough," Aidan waved off and ominously flashed his eyes, "I wanted to watch."

The black hedgehog straightened out and rapped out defiantly, "I'm not going to do anything in front of witnesses. As you say: my toy, my rules."

The Commander gave him a studying look. For several long seconds, in which Shadow sorted through all the worst scenarios in his head, the lilac hedgehog thought about something, without showing his reaction in any way...

And then he broke into a wicked smile.

"Excellent," Aidan came close to the black hedgehog and condescendingly hit on his nose, "We really have reached the stage of rebellion. I was actually afraid that I broke you. In recent days, you have been too calm, and I have run out of ideas on how to stir you up."

He shifted his gaze to the Hero of Mobius, noticing that he raised his head, "I should thank you for deciding to show up, Blue. With you, the game has become much more fun."

"Satisfied?" Shadow again drew the Commander's attention to himself and, grimacing irritably, nodded at the door, "Now get out."

But before he finished the sentence, a lilac hand grabbed him by the ear and jerked it up sharply.

The black hedgehog hissed in pain. Sonic almost twitched to help him, but stopped in time to avoid arousing suspicion.

What the hell was this sadist doing?

"Rebellion is good, but don't be arrogant, Richie," Aidan said in an unctuous voice. "I can still get rid of you at any moment."

He pierced a dark ear with his claw, squeezing out a drop of blood, but this time Shadow endured the pain without changing his face.

The Commander leaned closer. "I thought to have some fun today," he said, still deceptively softly, "but now you'd be punished."

And with this promise, he let go the dark ear just as sharply, pulling his claw to the side, leaving a long crimson stripe.

"So get ready," the lilac hedgehog licked the bloodied fingertip and turned around, heading for the exit, "to scream for a long time."

Shadow followed him with a furious look, clenching his fists trembling from restrained rage.

"Bastard," he spat as soon as the door closed.

Sonic quietly froze in his place. A trickle of blood ran down the ear of the black hedgehog, flowing down to the eyebrow, riveting the gaze to itself. Shadow brushed it off with his palm, cursed, smearing the scarlet spot on the white fabric, and only then did the hero dare to call out to him.

"Shad?"

The black hedgehog flinched at his voice, realizing that Sonic had been here all this time and had seen everything, and then sighed. "Don't think about it, faker," he dropped with badly restrained sarcasm. "If you want to sleep tight."

With a broad gesture, he threw clothes and a tablet on the sofa, with a short touch on the medallion, he released the blue hero, took clean gloves from the drawer and disappeared into the bathroom.

Sonic remained sitting, digesting what had happened in shock.

Everything was very wrong.


***


Shadow returned quickly enough to let him recover, but not to come to any concrete conclusions. Ignoring the studying look, the black hedgehog passed by and lounged with a working tablet on the far side of the bed. Sonic, in turn, continued to watch carefully, folding his hands in front of himself and not daring to start first.

"I'm not going to talk about it," a displeased voice interrupted his doubts.

"Shad, but this is…"

“I didn’t ask for your opinion,” the agent growled, interrupting him, and, without letting him open his mouth again, cut, “That’s it. End of a line. The conversation is over."

There was a tense silence. Sonic twitched his ear uneasily, frowned and, after a minute of staring at his black and red rival, looked down at his hands clasped on his knees.

"Well, the hell with you then," he muttered.

Really, why did he care?

The black hedgehog nodded in satisfaction, but said nothing in response.

Or he didn’t have time to: the interactive panel at the exit murmured melodiously, and a request came to the black hedgehog’s tablet, which he accepted almost without hesitation, at the same instant sitting up straight on the bed.

Sonic just managed to flinch and raise his head.

Barely waiting for the full opening of the door, breathless Clar flew into the cabin. Without allowing any of them to insert a word, she immediately chattered from the threshold, “We intercepted the message, so there were no logs left and I didn’t write to you myself,” the purple hedgehog paused to take a breath of air. “There was a new infiltration attempt," she blurted out, "Another key."

They jumped up from their seats in unison. Sonic rushed for the exit in a hurry, only for Shadow to stop him with a striped hand blocking his path.

"Where are you going?" the black hedgehog asked gloomily.

"Are you serious?" Sonic was genuinely surprised. "It could be Tails! Or anyone else!"

"Sit down, damn it," Shadow growled angrily. "I'll deal with it."

Sonic jumped up indignantly and grabbed his opponent by the shoulder. "Just like you 'dealt' with me?" he bristled, inflamed, and squeezed his fingers tighter. "I don't think so!"

The black hedgehog's face twisted into a painful grimace. Nervously twitching his ears, he looked at the hand holding him. Took a short breath. And then he looked up coldly, hard in his determination.

In the next moment, the hero flew to the floor from a sudden sweep. Sonic jerked to the side on a reflex, moving away from the blow, but with a loud sound the bracelets on his legs caught each other, throwing him off balance. His quills fluttered by themselves, softening his fall, and as soon as his back collided with the floor, the blue hedgehog, arching, tried to kick his opponent. Shadow dodged and in the same second grabbed him by the wrists and calves at once, rolled him on the side and magnetized those to each other, almost curling the blue hedgehog into a ball.

"Stay. Here," Shadow repeated with a roar, at the same time tearing off the treacherously slippery gloves and socks from a prisoner.

The clothes flew to the side, the black hedgehog quickly got up and, unceremoniously pushing out his subordinate, who was watching this scene with interest, jumped out of the cabin.

Sonic froze on the floor in disbelief, numb from surprise and indignation at the same time.

"Chaos darn it!" he exploded a second later. "Shadow! Shadow!!!" But then he caught himself, realizing that wrong ears could hear him in the corridor, and hissed under his breath, "Asshole."

The hero rolled over onto his back again and fidgeted furiously in place, trying to wriggle out of the shackles. Having failed as expected, he gave up trying to free his clutched limbs, rolled closer to the exit and sat down, leaning back against the door. Then he gritted his teeth and hit it with the back of his head.

"Screw it."

The pain cleared his mind a little. Sonic took a deep breath, glanced down at the interweaving of magnetized arms and legs, and grimaced unhappily.

As much as he didn't want to admit it, Shadow was right. He shouldn't leave the cabin if he could be captured so easily by just activating the bracelets. But to believe the words of the black hedgehog? Why would Shadow help his friends if he even left his own for three whole months without explaining where he went?

'But are you better yourself?' his conscience sarcastically reminded. 'You lied to Tails, stole the key from him and ran away without warning.'

'I told him my plan,' the hero tried to justify himself. 'He knew where I would go. And Shadow could also at least have hinted that he had found how to get on the ship! Ask for help! It's not so difficult - I did it, didn't I?!'

'And what would that change?'

'At least I wouldn't have been raped.'

'Debatable.'

The blue hedgehog shook his head in annoyance. What's the point of bickering with yourself? What was the use of being tormented in ignorance, not understanding what to do and having no control over the situation? He was caught and chained, and at any moment, if anyone from the crew decided to take advantage of it, he might find himself in someone else's power. He had no friends here, and relying on Shadow... the black hedgehog just showed that it was useless.

Sonic took a deep breath and lightly moved his hands. Let's say the rebels found a way to remove his bracelets. Where was the guarantee that they would actually do it? Shadow was so clearly determined to kill the Commander that he could easily change his mind. One imperceptible order - and the black hedgehog without a doubt would leave him helplessly fluttering in his bonds, just like now, to do everything himself.

Damn egoist.

"They are my friends," Sonic gritted through his teeth. "I have to save them."

Especially if he himself put them at such a risk.

Fifteen minutes had passed. For the blue hedgehog, nervously tormented in anticipation, it seemed like an hour. He had changed his position several times, had scolded his opponent from head to toe... and also had remembered all the unsightly details told by Shadow about the prisoners. The black hedgehog would not lie about such a thing, but now the hero would prefer to be deceived rather than think about what kind of trap anyone who tries to free him could fall into. The naive thought that had visited him earlier - that his friends would find a way to get him out - seemed more than ever impossible and dangerous to the point of insanity.

And if Shadow failed and got caught himself, it was scary to imagine what the imperial psychopaths would do with the "traitor"...

With a muffled sound, Sonic curled up into a ball, pulling the knees up to dig his fingers into his head. When did everything get so confusing? So difficult? Where were those days of reckless adventures, when quick feet and timely collected emeralds were the answer to all problems? Or had he just been stupidly lucky all this time? The raging Chaos could destroy the world, the ARC could fall on the planet, Dark Gaia could completely tear it to pieces, and how many times Eggman had to be stopped before he found the Phantom Ruby and almost turned Mobius into his Empire was hard to count. And again, if Shadow didn't choose the right side - they all would become food for his alien relatives. Each time, a fortuitous set of circumstances stopped the catastrophe in time, but now… what exactly was happening now that he felt completely helpless? His captivity? He had been caught many times. Superior enemy forces? Nonsense compared to the ancient deities. The senseless brutality of the invaders? Albeit on a smaller scale, but it had always been so.

...what Shadow did to him, weakened, broken, frightened, against his will and despite his pleas..?

…

Inhale. Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Calm down.

No panic. He would find a way out, he would do everything right, he would save everyone. He just didn't have enough information. Everything was too suspicious and incomprehensible. He just needed to find the reason behind everything, as the answer would appear. And a way to solve the whole situation the way he wanted it.

Nobody else had to die. Enough victims. And he would be damned if anything - anything - stopped him along the way.

The Hero of Mobius confidently raised his head and straightened up as far as his uncomfortable posture allowed.

But then the door behind him opened, and he almost fell straight on the newcomer, barely keeping his balance.

"Shadow!" Sonic exclaimed as soon as the cabin closed. In his displeased voice, notes of excitement slipped by themselves, but he wrote them off as a consequence of an obvious question, "Who-?"

"Calm down," the black hedgehog besieged him, quickly making his way past and turning off the bracelets on the go; Sonic swayed awkwardly forward in unexpected freedom. "It was just a drone. None of your friends or the Resistance."

Hearing the good news, the hero breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back against the door. "Thanks Chaos."

Shadow, meanwhile, crossed the cabin and bent down to pull something out of the bottom drawer. Sonic followed him thoughtfully, rubbing his stiff limbs.

And it's all?

“The drone was automatically destroyed,” the black hedgehog continued as if reading his thoughts. “The access code was the same one you used, and that security breach has already been closed. A good attempt, and most importantly, it was on time: now everyone is sure that someone helped you from the outside and not from the inside."

"They thought it was someone from the inside?" Sonic repeated, surprised.

"I got here this way, actually."

The blue hedgehog snorted skeptically.

"Don't you think I got on the ship too easily?" he asked a question that suddenly came to mind.

Shadow froze for a second with the cloth in his hands, straightened up, threw it over his shoulder and pushed the drawer back with his foot.

"No," the agent walked up to the table with a stamped step and began to type something in the order panel. "I'm rather surprised you didn't get in here sooner."

Sonic rolled his eyes, pulled his clothes closer and began to pull them back. "I've tried. Even asked you for help if you don't remember. But I'm talking about something else: drones are checked only by key? No other way?"

"What do you mean?" Shadow asked; the delivery beeped, and a plate with some kind of salad rolled onto the table, which he set aside, continuing to scroll through the menu.

"Well, I don’t know…" Sonic got up from the floor in one jump, "But what about the visual check? You said there were cameras everywhere, but I didn't see any on the approach to the ship or at the docks. What about the drones themselves? How do they convey information?"

The black hedgehog sighed in annoyance and turned in his direction. “They have cameras, if that’s what you mean,” the agent explained in the tone of a teacher tired of questions. "And the system at the entrance scans any object passing on board. I don't know what Miles did to fool the sensors the first time, but surely his drone would have gotten in today too if it hadn't been incinerated by the shield. You were only noticed in the living sector when the system reported a machine failure - it looked like a glitched bot escaped from the docks."

The delivery beeped a second time and gave out two more plates and a couple of bottles of water. Sonic raised an eyebrow questioningly at the suspiciously plentiful… dinner? Wasn't it too early?

Following his gaze, Shadow nodded towards the table. "It's all for you. With a reserve."

"Reserve?"

"I'm leaving," the black hedgehog explained, straightening the fabric that he had pulled out of the drawers earlier: it turned out to be a thin dark shirt with green piping on the collar and short sleeves. "I'll be back tomorrow for lunch."

He slipped his shirt on, pulled up the sharp collar, and headed for the door, fastening the strange semblance of a zipper as he went.

Sonic carried out his maneuver with a mocking grin, nodding at the unusual outfit, "Date?"

Shadow froze in front of him with an unreadable expression. Then he turned away and shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "Something like that."

The door closed behind him, and Sonic, even the next day, didn't remember the words of the Commander about the punishment.
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