Cream is sitting on the floor in front of Amy. She has Amy by the hands, and is trying to teach her how to stand up. Sonic comes through the front door, slamming it behind him. Cream, and Amy jump, startled at the noise.
Shadow growls from where he still lays on the couch, "It may be your house, Faker, but there's still such a thing as-"
Shadow pauses when he sees the anger of Sonic's face, never has he seen Sonic really angry. What could have happened at the lab?
"Sonic!" Amy squeals in delight, and for a moment Sonic's step falters. He gives her a glance, and then heads up the stairs without a word.
"Oh dear," Cream moans. She hands Amy to shadow, "I'm sorry Shadow, but could you please watch Amy for a little bit?" Shadow takes Amy from Cream, holding her while he watches the peach colored rabbit disappear up the stairs.
Cream stands outside Sonic's room, she can't hear anything. She knocks, "Sonic, are you okay?" Hearing nothing she slowly opens his door to find him sitting on his bed. Sonic doesn't look up, and he doesn't say anything.
Cream sits next to him, and puts a concerned hand on his arm. "Was it bad news?"
Sonic heaves a heavy sigh, "The ray works, Cream, but..."
"But what," Cream squeaks, confused.
Sonic looks up at her, and she recoils from the look of despair there.
"They don't know if it'll work on Amy... So they want to test it on Eggman."
Cream gasps, and covers her mouth with her hands, "How horrible! What if it hurts him?"
Sonic shakes his head sadly, "They don't care, they think it's only fair that he take the risk even though he has no say right now."
Cream starts crying now, afraid for their mortal enemy. It's wrong to out one life before another, no matter who it is.
Suddenly Shadow appears in the doorway, "Is this true?"
Sonic looks up at Shadow, and nods.
Shadow closes his eyes in thought for a minute before saying, "What would Rose say if she could understand what's happening? What would she say if she had a say?"
Cream, and Sonic share a look, and then turn back to Shadow.
"Amy was never afraid to take risks," Sonic says. "But right now... I'm not sure."
Shadow opens his crimson eyes, and looks into Sonic's emerald ones, "We must remember, right now keeping Rose safe is our top responsibility."
Cream looks around with tear filled eyes, "Where is she now?"
"She's downstairs in the playpen. First we need to ask ourselves if we absolutely have to use that ray on Rose."
Sonic clenches a fist, "Blaze says that Vanilla told her that Amy is growing slower, and slower now."
Cream sniffs, "It's true, Sonic. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to worry you, but..." Finding herself at a loss for words, Cream picks up a pillow from Sonic's bed, and starts sobbing into it.
Shadow sighs, "Then the answer is yes, we do have to use the ray. That, or let Rose continue the way she is now, until her growth comes to a standstill altogether. It may eventually become worse than that."
Sonic shudders, he knows that Shadow's right, but he wishes otherwise.
"I don't like this either, Sonic," Shadow says, his voice ringing with sincerity. "But it is the safest, and most effective way to tell if it's safe for Rose."
Sonic balls both his fists, and snarls, "Fine, you go, and help them kill Eggman! I already told them I'm not going to condone this, and I'm not changing my mind anytime soon!"
Shadow glares at Sonic before heading back down the hall. Cream looks up from the pillow in her arms, her eyes red from crying.
"I don't know what to do, Sonic," she sniffs, and sobs. "I'm so confused, and scared."
"Me too, Cream," Sonic stares at his shoes. "Me too."
…
A few hours pass, and almost everyone is gathered in Tails's lab. He, and Blaze explain what's going on.
"Well," Rouge says from the ceiling. "I'll be the first to admit, Eggy may not be my favorite person in the world, but this is a bit much for my tastes."
Knuckles looks up at Tails, "Is there another way?"
Tails shakes his head, "None that I can think of."
Knuckles frowns, "Then I say go for it, it's not like we have that many options."
"That's two votes for yes," Blaze says. "Anyone else?"
Shadow heaves a sigh, "I vote yes as well, we may not have much time."
"That's three yeses to one no," Blaze says, looking up at Rouge.
"I never said that I was voting no, honey. If I have to see either Amy, or Eggy kick it, the I'd rather it be Eggy."
"That makes four yes votes," Tails says sadly. He takes a deep breath, and says, "I don't like this, and I hate to think of what Sonic will say; but Amy is my friend, and I have to save her. I vote yes"
Blaze nods, and all eyes turn to Silver. He meets their gazes steadily, and then says, "I just want to say now that I think this is wrong. But this is either a choice of either letting them both die slowly, killing one while letting the other die slowly, or saving them both. I vote yes."
Blaze nods, "Then it's decided. Tails, how soon will the ray be ready?"
Tails swallows, "Well, like Eggman's ray it takes fifteen minutes to cool down before it can be used, otherwise it'll explode. It's ready now, but we still need a sample of his DNA from before Shadow shot him with the cannon."
Shadow's expression shows that even now he does not regret it, "I'll get into his base, see if I can find anything."
Rouge drops from the ceiling, "I'll come too, it would be nice to have a plan B after all."
Tails nods to them, "I can use anything from a hair in a comb to an old toothbrush. Good Luck, guys!"
Shadow, and Rouge nod before turning to leave.
"Oh, hold up a sec," Tails calls to them, and he pulls the Chaos Emerald from his ray. "Shadow, take this with you, just in case."
"I'll be fine without it," Shadow replies. "Besides, we shouldn't risk it on a simple retrieval mission.
Tails pauses, and then nods before putting the gem back in his invention.
...
Cream watches as Sonic tries to keep Amy amused. She hopes that, for everyone's sake, the test works.
…
INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!
Shadow ignores the alarm as he bowls over Eggman's machines. Without the doctor there to command them, they're even easier to destroy that usual. That's just sad in Shadow's opinion. While Shadow distracts the majority of Eggman's security with his usual brutal approach, Rouge has sneaked in through the air ducts, using an old thieving trick to get around.
She pushes up a vent from the ceiling of the shaft, and finds herself in what looks like a bedroom. Seeings how Eggy is the only one who can actually sleep around here, she must be close to what she needs. She checks for alarm wires with a pair of spy glasses, but doesn't see a thing. With the alarms already tripped, one would think it was a silly thing to do, but most places use thermal lasers to pick up an intruder's location even after the alarms go off.
She does notice something in the nightstand though, it looks like a safe. She grins to herself, Shadow can hold those things off forever, so she's got time for a look-see.
She clicks over, and opens the cabinet door. The safe is protected by a thumbprint scanner, and she chuckles to herself. She knows her way around any sort security system. She takes a breath, and breaths on the scanner. Eggman's thumbprint shows up on the scanner, and the safe clicks open. She opens the door, and gasps. What else would it be, but a Chaos Emerald?
She picks up the golden jewel, and notices a book lying underneath it. Curiously, she flips through the pages, and grins to herself.
"Looks like I hit a double Jackpot," she says to herself, and tucks the book under her arm. First she checks the bed, hoping that there may be a hair, or something on one of the pillows. Then she remembers that Eggy is bald, and heads to the bathroom.
She stills her head in through the door, and looks around. She notices a series of robotic arms hanging from the ceiling over the sink. She crawls up the wall for a better look, and grins. In the grip of the arms is hygiene stuff; toothbrush, razor, etc. After putting her spoils from the safe in a pocket, she takes a small plastic bag from her hip, and empties the razor's hair into it. After sealing the bag, and putting it in her other pocket, she calls Shadow on an earpiece.
"Shadow, I've got the DNA, and guess what else I found."
"A Chaos Emerald."
Rouge blinks, "Yeah, how did you-"
"A few minutes ago I sensed one nearby. Either Robotnik found a way to hide one from my senses, or someone just used Chaos Control to appear nearby."
Rouge smirks, floating down to the floor, "Nice, but now that we have the emerald we can just teleport back to the lab, and end this nightmare."
"I'm homing in on the emerald's signature, I'll be with you shortly."
"Roger that," Rouge says. "Over, and out."
Two seconds after disconnecting, the door to Robotnik's room is blasted inwards, Shadow stepping from the dust.
"Well that didn't take long," Rouge starts walking his way.
Suddenly electricity arcs through Shadow's body. He's blasted across the room, and hits a wall. Rouge gapes from Shadow to the doorway in time to see a large yellow robot stomp through it.
"You must be Thunderfist," Rouge says, backing towards Shadow. "Sonic had a lot to say about you, none of it pleasant."
"Intruders identified; former ally Rouge the Bat, and former ally Shadow the Hedgehog." Thunderfist raises a hand towards them, "You will both be placed in incarceration until further orders come from Dr. Ivo Robotnik."
"Well, seeings how he can't say much at the time, that's not gonna happen," Rouge reaches into a pocket, and drops the Chaos Emerald into Shadow's lap. While a grunt of effort, Shadow puts a shaky hand on the emerald.
He warps, using the emerald's energy to shake off the effects of the lightning. He reappears to Thunderfist's left, and the robot moves to attack him.
"Chaos Spear!"
Three bolts of golden light pierce Thunderfist, symmetrically cutting the robot in half. Shadow rolls his neck, and walks over to Rouge. She takes his hand, and Shadow holds the Chaos Emerald over his head.
"Chaos Control!"
…
In a flash of golden light Shadow, and Rouge reappear in Tails's laboratory. The fox grins at the two of them, before coming over. "How was it, did you get it?"
Rouge passes Tails the bag of hair, and he takes it to his computer to run some tests. Blaze notices some singed fur on Shadow, and asks him about it.
"One of Eggman's robots caught me by surprise," He replies.
Knuckles rubs his chin, "Y'know, I've always wondered how Eggman gets the stuff to make those robots. He can't be doing it legally, otherwise any government would have pulled his money, right?"
"Probably the Black Market or something," Rouge agrees.
Tails looks up from his computer with a smile, "Alright, we're all set."
Their faces fall, and Blaze says, "Now all we need is the Doctor."
