-Rouge's POV-
Sonic holds his hands over Tails' eyes, staring in horror at the screen. I had dashed over the second I heard Shadow's voice, but I'm wishing I hadn't. My stomach is flipping over in my torso, threatening to make me vomit, and even Knuckles seems shaken. "How could he do this?" I finally choke out, breaking the silence. I'm trying to keep a lid on it, but my tears are threatening to spill over onto my cheeks, ruining my makeup. Tails is crying too, even though he can't see anything--the very second Shadow got a pair of gardening shears to the gut, the azure hedgehog had clapped his hands over the orange fox's eyes, but he himself couldn't bear to turn away. None of us could, bound by a morbid curiosity brought on by concern for the black and red hedgehog. Behind me, the tech I slapped onto Robotnik's machines beeps, letting me know that the hack is complete, but none of us can move. Even Sonic the speedster is frozen, staring at the screen, despite the fact that it's not displaying anything anymore. The robot turned itself off after it finished torturing Shadow, standing by the doorway. Its job was done, but at what cost?

"W-We need to get going," Sonic stutters, finally letting go of Tails, who immediately turns around and plants his face in his azure brother's chest, sobbing.

"What did they do to him?" He whimpers, terrified.

"N-Nothing, Tails," the blue hedgehog answers, trying to comfort the small fox. "Don't worry about it. We--We're going to save him." Determination flares into his eyes and he turns to face me. "Have you hacked the system yet?"

"Ah, yeah," I jolt back to reality, still feeling ill; with one hand I brush my tears away, hoping no one saw them. "The machine dinged, which means it's found the place they're relocating the beam to." I walk over to my device, pulling it off of Robotnik's computers and reading the data on the screen. "We've got the coordinates, but you're not gonna like this..."

"What?" The sapphire hedgehog tilts his head to one side, confused. "What's that supposed to mean?" Even Tails pulls away from his brother to look at me.

I let out a sigh and turn to face him. "It's Eggman's orbital base. The one we cleaned out over a year ago."

He growls, hackles rising. "I thought that place was just a pile of space-junk now!"

"That's what we thought about this place, too," Knuckles reminds him. "Turns out Eggface's been busy lately."

"I'll say," I snort. "I don't even know how he managed to harness the Master Emerald's power. But, speaking of that, we need to take this place out of commission so that the Chaos energy isn't getting to him anymore."

"How do we do that?" Tails asks me, wiping his eyes. A pang of sympathy shakes me--he shouldn't have had to even hear the awful things that robot did to Shadow. He's definitely going to have nightmares.

"Well," I answer cheerfully, "that's more up Big Red's alley here." I snicker as Knuckles glares at me.

"Don't call me that," he snaps.

"Whatever you say, hun," I answer, "but either way we need to destroy everything in here. That should stop Robotnik's energy transfer in its tracks." Pulling a phone out of my pocket, I continue, "While you three do that, I'll call my superiors and let them know we need a jet capable of space travel." I pause to punch in a few numbers on the cellphone, then add, "By the time it gets here, we should be done trashing the place."

"Got it," the fiery echidna replies with a grin, cracking his knuckles. "Leave it to me!" Lunging forward, he crashes a fist through a nearby machine, and it showers sparks. Rolling my eyes, I turn around, covering one ear and pressing the phone to the other.

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-Shadow's POV-

About an hour later, I was sitting in a different room, my legs crossed tightly, taking up as little room as possible. I don't feel comfortable sitting in the middle of the room despite how tiny it is, since I can't tell what is behind me, but the man had said not to move, and I was more scared of him. His mustache looks like it might eat me alive if I dare disobey him, and he'd had the blonde lady in tow. Shivering, I squeeze my legs closer to me, twisting my shoulders such that my arms were pressed impossibly close to me. If I can make myself small enough, nothing will notice me, and I won't be hurt.

The blonde woman had tried to bandage my wounds, but I couldn't stop shaking long enough for her to do it properly. She just growled and gave up, and I wasn't going to call her back over. Blood still trickles sluggishly from some of my injuries, but I don't pay attention to it. Something tells me bleeding is going to be a regular occurrence. Lifting my head, I stare at the ceiling. The room is a dark steel, but unlike all of the rest of this building these walls are all one panel, hewn together at the corners. Behind me is a door, and in front of me there's a television, but it isn't on right now, and when it had been on, it didn't make any sense. Where am I? I don't understand...

----------------

"Can't this plane go any faster?" The azure hedgehog complains for the hundredth time.

Rouge sighs. "For the last time, Sonic, this is all it's got!" Her ears twitch in annoyance. "Honestly, how do you two put up with him all the time?" She turns to her co-pilot, Tails, while Sonic snorts and turns around, irritated.

"It's just, uh, part of his charm!" Tails answers, though he doesn't sound too confident. Twisting around in his chair, he addresses his blue brother, "Don't worry, Sonic, we're almost there. Once we get past this cloud layer, it should be in view!"

"Great," Knuckles interjects, grinning. "I can't wait to smash Robotnik's face in."

"Slow down, big guy," the white bat chuckles, "our first priority is getting to Shadow."

"Yeah, but afterwards I can smash Eggy's face in, right?" The red echidna looks uncertain.

"Yea, afterwards you can." Rouge adjusts something on the dashboard, and the plane shivers slightly, its secondary thrusters roaring to life for extra boost. "Hold onto your teeth, everyone!" The plane soars up above the stratosphere, clearing the clouds, and the passengers get a full view of Robotnik's massive, egg-shaped Space Base.

"Man, everything is eggs with him, isn't it?" Tails remarks, looking unimpressed.

"Yep." Sonic replies with a grin. "Any chance we can just dock at one of his ports unannounced like last time?"

"Nope," the snowy bat answers, "he won't fall for it twice. Fortunately, their shield isn't up, so we can just land straight on a roof--Don't worry, his orbital base has its own cloud of atmosphere around it."

"How does he keep it from dissipating?" Tails asks, puzzled.

"Well, he's probably using the Master Emerald's power for that. Or maybe he's figured out a way to manipulate gravitational force in order to keep it in place?" Rouge muses, shrugging. "It doesn't matter so long as it works, right?"

"I guess so, but I'm still curious." The orange kitsune crosses his arms, chewing on his lip. "I just gotta know how he did that."

"Maybe we'll find out," Sonic buts in as the plane enters the base's atmosphere cloud.

"I hope so!" Tails grins at his older brother eagerly, and the azure hedgehog smiles back, secretly relieved that the young fox was back to normal. For a while, everyone had been rattled, but all three of them are determined to keep Tails from being scarred; little did they all know, each of them were just putting on a brave face for everyone else's sake, including Tails. The ship growls as it begins to decelerate, slowing down to land on one of the roofs of a building--the Space Base is built like a tiny planet, clusters of buildings all interconnected. With a jolt, the jet's engines stop, whining as they shut off, and Rouge flips a lever, standing up. Above them, the ceiling lifts; the cockpit is also the exit hatch.

"Let's go!" Sonic cheers, leaping out of the ship energetically. His three friends follow suit; Knuckles launches himself out by grabbing onto the side of the ship and vaulting from it while both Tails and Rouge start flying, one by spinning their tails and the other by flapping their wings. All four together set off for the nearest door, determined to find Shadow.

-------------------

"Hello, child," the blonde woman croons in a soft and sinister tone, walking around me. I shiver, slowly and stiffly turning my head to track her movements. "We're almost done with you, and then you'll be perfect." She pulls a needle out of her pocket and my shuddering intensifies. I'm so afraid. So very, very afraid of that needle. I know what comes along with it--the black liquid that makes my vision all fuzzy. At least, I think it's black. This room is so dark.

"Wh-Why are you doing this?" I stammer, leaning back. She grins down at me venomously while prepping the needle, and doesn't reply. I turn my head away, lowering my eyelids, ears flicked back, fur bristling--I know better than to fight by now. To my surprise, however, she snags my face, and I stifle a yelp of surprise, my ears rocketing back up.

"Watch," she hisses, digging her black-painted nails into my skin, and I whimper as she shoves the needle into my wrist roughly. I feel it tear into my veins, the chilling black fluid mixing into my blood. Terror flashes through me. Something's different this time. Something's wrong this time. I can feel the icy-cold liquid flowing through my veins, and I stare down, wide-eyed. Its chill moves up and down my arm simultaneously, wrapping around my fingers, my bicep, and within a few moments the freezing sensation is spreading across my body. She steps back, removing the now-empty needle, watching me with hungry eyes as I lift my right hand, flexing it--despite the cold sensation, there's no numbness, no pins-and-needles. I can move perfectly fine, and I suppose that once the cold floods my entire system I won't even notice it. I feel the icy blood reaching my brain, crawling up my neck, and dizziness floods me as I adjust, squeezing my eyes shut and desperately trying to breathe. When I open them again, my vision is unusually sharp, tinted with red. The room seems brighter, tiny little things more easily seen--even from here, I can see all of the details in the wall behind her. It's dented ever so slightly near the edges, close to where the two different surfaces intersect. My heartbeat thuds in my ears, and I can't hear anything but its thumping, musical rhythm. A dull ache throbs in my left ear, and my breath rattles, seeming loud and yet nigh-inaudible at the same time. The woman says something to me, gently pulling me to my feet, and I silently let her lead me out of the room. The hallway is bright compared to the dark room, and I squeeze my eyes almost entirely shut, disgruntled. The pitter-patter of my bare feet dashing against the metal floor breaks in past the drumming in my ears, and I glance down, intrigued. I don't know what's going on, but as the sound of my heart pounding fades and my vision loses its rosy hue, I know something has changed.

-------------------

"Okay," the orange fox whispers to his azure friend crouched behind him, "Robotnik should be in that room up ahead. All we have to do is take out his guards, then get in there and block the exits." He twists, looking over his shoulder at his friends. "Rouge, you need to fly to the second-to-last door. Knuckles, you'll take the door we're entering in, and I'll take the one next to it. Sonic will take the door furthest from our entrance because he's fast enough to get there in half a second." Each nods as they receive their directions, determined looks on their faces.

"Ready, boys?" Rouge purrs, spreading her wings.

"Ready!" All three yelp, springing into action. Sonic dashes for the door, taking out all five of the robots stationed there; he slips into the doorway just as his friends round the corner, dashing into the room. By the time the other three walk in, the azure hedgehog has destroyed every single guard, leaving a terrified-looking Robotnik in the center of the large room. It's a cylindrical and largely empty steel room, with red and green lines tracing across the floor, leading from one doorway to another.

"It's over now, Eggface!" Sonic shouts, stepping forward and jabbing one finger at Robotnik, who was oddly standing in the center of the room. Something is off about his posture--it's unnaturally stiff, inhuman, but the azure hedgehog is in too much of a rush to notice as he barrels on, "We've got you cornered! Tell us where Shadow is, and what you were doing to the Master Emerald!" Knuckles cracks his knuckles, growling menacingly, but the 'terrified' Robotnik doesn't react. In fact, he stands frozen like a statue, and after an awkwardly long pause, Sonic clears his throat. "Uh, hello?"

"You want to know where Shadow is, do you?" Robotnik's voice cackles from above, and the four whirl about, startled. Rouge's ears perk up, and she swivels her head left and right, trying to track the noise, but to no avail. It seems to be coming from directly above them, yet in several different places... Tipping her head back, she squints at the ceiling, then gasps.

"It's a trap!" She starts backing up, "Robotnik isn't here at all!"

"What?!" Sonic twists to face her, looking frightened, but before he can say anything else a loud mechanical rumble sounds; all four stumble as the floor starts to rise rapidly. The doorways rapidly disappear as the ground rockets upwards. "Whoa! W-What's going on?!" The azure hedgehog yelps, staggering in an attempt to stay on his feet. Above them, the ceiling opens, revealing the outdoors in a blast of wind knocking Sonic down. The sapphire hedgehog tumbles head over heels, crashing into his red friend as the moving floor comes to a halt. Rouge leaps up, using the momentum of the lifting plane to help accelerate; with a flap of her wings she's airborne, hovering several feet above her friends. From her vantage point, she can clearly see the structure in front of them; it's a room that looks like a cube tacked onto the rest of the roof, out of place and unusual. She swoops down, intrigued; the exterior is smooth white plastic like the rest of the buildings, a clean snow color akin to her own fur, and purely aesthetic in purpose. There's one window near the top of it, and it's one continuous long tinted band stretching around half the building, from the midpoint of one wall, across another, and stopping at the same midpoint on the parallel side. She snarls angrily as she comes level with a familiar, disgusting face.

Robotnik and a peculiar blonde woman in black scrubs stand tall and proud, surrounded by machinery in the flawless steel room. Eggman wears his trademark evil grin, and the woman beside him smiles coyly. Rouge recognizes her instantly. "Doctor Medusa?!" She cries in disbelief, flying backwards.

"You know that lady?" Tails queries, surprised. The three were on their feet and ready to fight, looking slightly apprehensive.

"Yeah, she was a G.U.N. doctor!" Rouge answers, landing elegantly beside the kitsune. "I don't know what she'd be doing here, though." She frowns, furrowing her brows in confusion and looking forward blankly.

"That's an easy enough question to answer," Medusa purrs, and all four creatures turn to face her, bristling. The blonde human holds a microphone in her hand, the type that ships have--a little handheld speaker attached via a cord to the structure. "I'm here for Shadow, of course~!" She winks at Rouge, drawing a growl from the bat. "By the way, didn't you four want to see him?"

"Where is he? What did you do to him?" Rouge spits, furious, crouched in a fighting stance with her fists clenched. "If you hurt him, I swear to God, I'll--"

"Now, now, Rouge," Robotnik chastises, waggling a finger at her. "Threatening us isn't the best idea, seeing as how we have complete control over your darling hedgehog." He grins massively, and Rouge fights the urge to scream at him as he continues, "Besides, we haven't injured him--if anything, I'd say we improved him, wouldn't you, Medusa dear?"

"Indeed," the snakelike doctor giggles, wrapping her microphone's cord around her fingers, "but if they want to see him so badly, let's not get in their way!" Placing the speaker back on its hook, she murmurs something to Robotnik, who also puts away his intercom, saying something back. The four are too far away to read their lips, let alone hear them, but after a second, Eggman presses a button in front of him. Beneath the nefarious duo, a rectangular plate in the wall slides open with a hiss; the four furries standing on the roof flinch away involuntarily. The wall had seemed solid, but clearly it wasn't, and before they could even begin to react, a light flickers on to reveal a familiar silhouette.

"Shadow!" The snowy bat gasps, stepping forward with a smile on her face; it melts off the moment the black-and-red hedgehog steps into the light. He stands oddly, leaning a little to one side with his hips set forward slightly, and his eyes are wide, with dilated pupils despite the ambient light. His gloves and shoes are gone, with only the gold bands around his wrists and ankles left. His left arm is crossed behind him, its corresponding hand gripping tightly to his right elbow. His right arm dangles as if useless, and it oozes blood down his right palm from somewhere in his black fur. His neck holds a collar formed of three medium-sized silver bands wrapped tightly around it, resting just above his scarlet-splotched chest fluff. Trails of dried blood snake down his chin from his mouth, which hangs open slightly. His eyes hold a vacant sort of look, and they drift lazily over to her, looking puzzled.

"Shadow?" He echoes, his voice soft and light, the polar opposite of his normal dark and snarling tone. "Who...?" He tips his head slowly to one side, the opposite direction from the rest of his body. Behind him, the door whooshes shut, but he doesn't seem to notice.

"Shadow, it's me!" Rouge cries frantically, looking frightened. He just stares with that same vacant expression, but slowly his brows draw together, though his eyes are still stretched unnaturally large. "Shadow, please, don't you remember me? What did they do to you?!" She tries to walk further forward, but Sonic grabs her by the arm, pulling her backwards.

"Something's wrong with him. Look, he's hurt!" The azure hedgehog points to the dark crimson liquid dripping off the dark-furred hedgehog's fingertips.

"All the more reason to help him!" She snaps, shoving him off her. "Please, let us help you!" She begs of Shadow, extending a hand to him.

He steps back, bristling, but not from anger or indignation. Terror fills his eyes as his brows raise, and he starts to tremble. "Who are you?" He cries out, stumbling backwards, his arms no longer behind him. "Why do you keep talking like you know me? I don't know you," he rambles as Rouge's mouth falls open, shocked; even Knuckles seems disturbed by this outburst, "I don't know how to deal with people who act like you do, just cut it out, stop staring at me like that!" He cowers, pressing up against the wall.

Robotnik's voice suddenly snarls, "What are you doing?"

"I don't know you. I don't know anything but the agony. Just leave me alone!" He presses his hands to his ears, whimpering and bent double. "How do I deal with them? I don't know how to handle this!"

"Shut up, you fool! Just kill them!" Eggman snarls, enraged, and Shadow stiffens. Clicking off the microphone, he whirls around and hisses at Medusa, "I said not to ruin him, to just break him!"

"I didn't ruin him," she growls back. "Just watch!"

"Oh," the black-and-red hedgehog breathes, dropping his hands. "I can kill them? I wish you had said that from the start." He lifts his head, wide pupils trained directly on Sonic, who was now standing in front of Rouge. A rakishly tilted grin spreads across his face, and fear flashes into Sonic's eyes as Shadow's pupils suddenly contract into impossibly tiny slits. "I know how to kill things," his voice is unsteady, eager and frightened at the same time. "I know how to deal with that..." Lifting his head, he straightens up, beginning to lurch towards the four creatures gathered before him.