Chapter Text
"Congratulations, everyone! We've finally managed to turn the tables to our own gain. Our empires shall now be able to kick in throughout the eons that are yet to come without any threats."
"Cheers!"
The resonant sound of glass clinking could be heard inside the chaos council's mothership combined with the boisterous yet sickening laughter of its members. The five variations of the once thriving and menacing Dr. Eggman were sitting in their respective tecno-chairs at the ship's main room. The strong odor of red wine had since long ago given the ambience of the room a relaxing tune and so the council was able to let themselves enjoy their victory to the fullest.
"I was right from the very beginning. Since the moment we captured that annoying pig, everything was able to finally fall to its right place! Imagine the trouble we could have avoided, having not been for us to let that rat get away in the first place," Dr. Done-It remarked as he took a big gulp of his drink, pride evident on his face, before instantaneously taking another. And yet another. The other members, except Dr. Babble, tried their best not to sneer at how the elder chugged his whole drink.
Mr. Dr. Eggman cleared his throat in order to alter everyone's attention from the in-one-sitting man and chuckled, "Now, now, Dr. Done-It. I believe that we should forget about the past and focus more on the present. The main point is that Sonic is caught and the Resistance has finally crumbled. We have nothing to worry about, but to just celebrate for today. Tomorrow we shall set our mission to retreat the shards."
And while everyone appeared to see eye to eye with the plan, Dr. Done-It rolled his eyes, "Sure. My point though still stands. Maybe I should be the one calling the shots here, sonny."
"Who said that grumpy was the one calling the shots, grandpa? Last time I checked, we all had a say," Dr. Don't took his eyes off his game and scowled at the older, who didn't hesitate to narrow his own eyes at the forced eye contact.
"Why yes, how could I forget? But since you fools can't seem to know what's best for our cities, I might as well take matters into my own hands."
Mr. Dr. Eggman facepalmed from his place at the commotion, "Dr. Done-It, I would appreciate it, if you didn't insult us straight to our face at this kind of occasion. Or do you want me to remind you that you might as well be a fool yourself with your own mishaps?"
He then smirked and turned to Dr. Deep, "Perhaps your partner in crime would like to share with us a couple of entertaining stories where you messed up."
Said man broke into a huge grin, "Ohhhh, I would definitely like that!"
"Hah, as if I had any failures during the past couple of missions. For my old age, I'm doing perfectly well. Unlike the new generation," Dr. Done-It commented rather callously and dared to take a peek at Dr. Don't and Dr. Babble's side.
Both the baby and teenager glared at the old man, the former not wasting any minute to defend himself with a series of grumbles, while the latter squished in his grip the juice he'd been drinking nonchalantly a prior minutes ago.
"You did just not!" Dr. Don't sat up from his chair, discarding the tin can on the floor and pressed a button on his console. An eggforcer zapped its way beside him and took a fighting stance. Meanwhile Dr. Babble carried on grumbling and whining, slamming with his hands the form of table that his chair provided him.
On the sidelines, Dr. Deep took from under the table a bag of popcorn as he spectated with pure vigor his allies bantering, intrigued not to be the one involved in the dispute and for once being a watchman.
The munching of the snack got Mr. Dr. Eggman's eyes twitching in discomfort as the man began renting his mustache, however, neither the elder nor the youngsters noticed the fumes of frustration that emitted from his ears. On the other hand, Dr. Done-It jumped out of his chair and pointed his cane to the robot.
"Oh, so you wanna fight to cover up your insecurities I see. Well then bring it on. This grandpa is not afraid of you, weaklings!"
"Not my fault then, if you break your back, old man," Dr. Don't divided his console in two halves and got into an identical position to the eggforcer's. Dr. Babble went to call for his equipment as well, wanting to give the egoistic doctor a piece of his mind, but the frantic scrap of metal didn't let him as his and the rest's attention got quipped at Mr. Dr. Eggman, who had decided to throw his chair out of his nerves.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!"
The four doctors were taken aback by the piercing look that the usually composed doctor gave them from the table's epicenter, his hands gripping with rage the high tech furniture. Dr. Deep gulped from his seat, watching the shallow breaths of his fellow ally with great caution, not wanting to be the cause of yet another breakdown.
Huffing under his breath, on the contrary, Dr. Done-It hopped into his chair and groaned, "Just when I could teach those brats a good lesson." This earned him the disapproved stare of the rest of the council's members, who didn't want a second round of that unfortunate cry.
Mr. Dr. Eggman sighed as he felt somewhat more of himself and took a deep breath, before eyeing his comrades, "Who cares who was wrong and who was right. Right now we should be grateful that we even managed to find a way to exert that hedgehog's energy without the shards' aid or else the resistance might have won. It is purely a miracle how the hedgehog even ended up in that miserable state to begin with."
Murmurs filled the place as begrudgingly all doctors agreed with the second oldest's statement. Dr. Don't shooed the eggforcer away, when the bewigged man's eyes fell upon him and he went back into his game, "Tsk, whatever."
The moment after, the mothership was shaken and the system's alarms' ringing blared on the council's ears.
"WOH!" Dr. Deep and the rest grabbed onto their chairs and table to prevent them from falling and rolling over to the floor. Dr. Babble instantly began crying at the violent shake, whilst Mr. Dr. Eggman saw red, "What now? Don't tell me that we hit an asteroid again?"
"With a pilot like Dr. Don't, I see that happening," Dr. Done-It rubbed the back of his head that had slammed against the metal of his chair and the startled teenager scoffed.
"We didn't hit an asteroid. One of our engines just exploded," Dr. Don't replied coolly, inspecting the damage via his console, though Dr. Deep and Mr. Dr. Eggman begged to differ, as their eyes widened in shock, "Exploded?!"
With speed that would leave a certain hedgehog flabbergasted, Mr. Dr. Eggman ran to Dr. Don't's side and his mouth immediately went agape, "How in the Prism's name did this happen? Not to mention twice in a row!"
There was no way that this was just a fluke, was it?
Not when they were in the void.
Something was definitely lurking out there and it apparently loved to mess around with their engines.
That or they had pure bad luck from the mirror, which Dr. Babble had broken, when wishing to tear down their base out of spite.
"Twice you say?" Dr. Done-It, after finally deciding that the ship was stable, asked and raised an eyebrow as he sat up to go to see as well what the problem seemed to be. Dr. Babble knotted his brows together, recalling perfectly well the time where the ship's engines had once more given up on them during their time in the void and didn't waste time to share that disaster with Dr. Deep and Dr. Done-It.
"Then what are you waiting for? Scan the perimeter to see what is provoking our engines to pop like they are bubblegums," the samurai lover placed his hands on his hips and delivered a face that screamed from miles away a 'duh' attitude. Dr. Don't gritted his teeth, not enjoying being bossed around, however he didn't have much of a choice.
Nodding, he turned to look at the outer-cameras that they had established for cases of intruders looming outside their ship. The other members peeked from behind Dr. Don't, all wanting to learn the author of the damages.
However, none of them had time to process the images, as the mothership got shaken once more and the ones not sitting in chairs went tumbling down, officially crushing the poor teenager and his console. From his seat, Dr. Babble laughed at the tangled mess of the other doctors.
"It appears that our other engine has given up as well," Mr. Dr. Eggman murmured with a grumble and Dr. Deep rolled his eyes with a deadpan, "Really? What makes you think so?"
"My console! You crushed it!" Dr. Don't mourned the loss of his tech as he eyed with teary eyes the crumbles of the once liveful device. Dr. Done-It on the other hand didn't share his ally's distress, "So? It was just a box. You'll grow over it."
"I'll grow over it?! Do you know how expensive it was? Not to mention that my record is now forever lost!" Dr. Don't shouted and for a minute Mr. Dr. Eggman expected him to tackle the grown up man and struggle him to death, but then the ship's windows broke.
Will you look at that indeed the ship's windows broke. Nothing unusual out of it. The eggforcers would fix it, no problem at all.
Wait a minute?
The ship's windows just literally broke!
Which begs the question-
From what?!
All variations of Dr. Eggman cried out in shock, when a golden blur smashed right beside them and when it bounced towards the ceiling they immediately untangled themselves to move out of the spiky ball's way. Seeking shelter from the unexpected foe they took cover under the table or hid behind their chairs.
"WHAT IS THIS?" Dr. Deep yelled as his eyes trailed right after the bizarre hue that the ball had right on its trail. Dr. Don't yelped, when said ball almost crushed into him, but thankfully he managed to roll just the last second.
And while everyone panicked, trembling when the lights were nothing, but unrecognizable pieces of metal, Dr. Babble pointed with his finger at the blur with a sharp glare, "Aboughwa, bler, Shwax!"
"Hmm… not bad for a baby," a deep, gruff voice broke into the stressful environment and the ball unfolded right in front of the door that led to the testing grounds to reveal a familiar black and red hedgehog to the council.
Mr. Done-It was the first one to comment, bravely forcing his face to abandon the safety of his chair, "IT'S THE OTHER VERSION OF THAT BLASTED RAT!"
"HOW DID HE EVEN MANAGE TO PASS THE EGGFORCES?! Dr. Deep screamed as well, but didn't make an attempt to get out of his comfort zone.
"Those scraps of junk?" Shadow crossed his arms rather dismissively and when his eyes picked Dr. Don't reaching for his communicator, he huffed, "Don't even bother. Most of them were already out of their shape. It took only a few kicks to shut down completely. Looks like you don't take good care of your tech like you claim."
"Grrr… you-!" the teenager glared at the hedgehog from under his hiding spot. If looks could kill the Mobian would have by now been obliterated, though no such luck for the pouting -in Shadow's opinion at least- kid.
Dr. Babble began throwing a tantrum, when he realized that no one could bring him his equipment to smash the living brain out of their uninvited guest. Dr. Deep's face sullened too, knowing that his case was similar to his comrade's.
This time he wouldn't be able to cut the vermin in two.
Nevertheless, Dr. Done-It looked unfaced by the whole situation, "So what if there are no eggforcers here? We can still take that salamandra down, just the five of us should be enough." His eyes then shined with connivance as an idea entered his mind, "And once we have him immobilized and at our mercy, we can do to him what we did to the other vermin. If with him on our asset we succeeded in replacing the missing shards' energy then imagine what we would be able to do with this one!"
All doctors' eyes who had had a say with the black hedgehog awed at the elder's idea and didn't try to hide their excitement, when such a thrilling outcome was at their doorstep knocking sweetly through their brain's window.
The snarl that escaped the Mobian didn't go unnoticed and the menacing frown that replaced the previously collected posture gave the chills to the council.
"How sick…" Shadow offered his opinion, disgust adoring his features.
An offended gasp escaped from the grown version of Eggman, not missing the beat to contradict the negative critic, "Excuse me?! What do you find sick in my brilliant masterplan?"
"Everything," if Shadow's eyes had yet to take a darker tone of color now was definitely the time where they changed from amber to threatening crimson. Shuddering, Dr. Done-It had to break eye contact, when he felt the weight of the atmosphere heavier than ever.
"He's right you know," Mr. Dr. Eggman, who at last found the courage to get up and face the black hedgehog, surprised the rest of the council, evoking them to blink in shock at the risen man. Dr. Deep stuttered at his speech, when said man started flouncing his way over the hedgehog, who if he deemed fair could kill the doctor with one go, "You've gone nuts, right? There's no way that you're agreeing with him!"
The baby titled his head, when Mr. Dr. Eggman replied with a genuine smile to his ally's question, "Indeed I have not gone mad, dear Dr. Deep. I simply see eye to eye with the hedgehog's opinion, which is well respected as it is supposed to be."
Dr. Don't and Dr. Done-It shook their heads in disbelief.
There it was. Finally the man couldn't take anymore pressure and the camel's back simply broke.
Typical Mr. Dr. Eggman, if you asked them.
The gone-mad-in-question doctor, after taking his precious time to walz towards the hedgehog, took a place next to him and carried on, when the silence didn't break, "What's with the stares, my friends? That is not a way to treat a guest. Moreover, a guest who can turn into a good ally."
"AN ALLY?!" all the rest of the doctors couldn't believe their ears. Even Dr. Babble appeared as lost as everyone else, which almost got him crushed into a wall. On the other hand, Shadow didn't even spare the man beside him a look, preferring to look out of the window instead.
"Yes, an ally. An ally who deserves our utmost respect, if I do say so myself," Mr. Dr. Eggman grinned and took a closer step to the Mobian.
When he placed his hand atop the other's shoulder, the elder of the room saw red.
How much of this degradation could he take anymore? Everything had its limit and he was over his.
"I will not respect nor have a rat as an ally, which has an IQ lower than an egg's, no scratch that, even eggs seem to have more IQ than it will ever have- AHHH!" Dr. Done-It barely dodged a spear that abruptly got shot right into his head, drawing out rather a high-pitched scream that turned almost everyone in the room deaf.
All eyes instantly fell on the panting Mobian, who glared with his everything towards the grandpa's direction. The hand that had been placed on his shoulder was long ago taken away by Mr. Dr. Eggman, whose face now sported beads of sweat.
"Don't you dare to address me again as an it, because next time, I'll not miss," Shadow growled and didn't bother to stay anymore with these lunatics. He turned on his heel and got out of his quills a card, which he swiped over to the small screen near the metallic crimson door.
"DR. BABBLE'S REQUESTING TO EXIST THE FESTIVITIES'S ROOM. REQUEST ACCEPTED," a click followed suit and the red light above the door turned to green, before the door sliced and opened for the Mobian to pass.
Meanwhile a wild-eyed baby searched panickingly for his card in his pockets and when he took notice that the card in Shadow's hand was indeed his, he burst into tears. However no one dared to soothe him or even chastise him for his childish demeanor as all the hiding doctors had once more taken cover in their hiding places.
Huh, cowards, Shadow thought to himself with satisfaction.
Before the hedgehog could take a step outside the room though, he was stopped by two hands getting a firm hold on his shoulders. Not only his right one this time, but his left one as well.
Shadow didn't appreciate being touched like that, however he would let it slide, if he wished to achieve his goal.
The small chuckle that Mr. Dr. Eggman offered, didn't make the situation at all better. Opposite to popular belief it did everything than to calm his nerves.
"Shadow, was it?" Mr. Dr. Eggman asked with a polite smile and began walking himself and the Mobian out of the room, the rest of the doctors seemingly forgotten as none of them tried to even look at the terrifying hog, let alone intervene into his business.
Once the door closed, Shadow felt cold and exposed, the mask of indifference that he had adopted slightly dropping at the unerring aura that the doctor beside him possessed.
On the other hand, Mr. Dr. Eggman carried on happily with leading Shadow where he wanted him -the hedgehog having a pretty good idea of where they were heading-, portraying the epitome of naivety.
Both him and the doctor of course knew otherwise as the fingers of the man dug deeper into black shoulders.
"You and I have a lot to talk about…"