Chapter 23

Shadow waited for the return of his Father, with the slaves he would bring forth. His job was to keep an eye on his brother, lying unconscious on the ground as if he was a weak human. He was starting to come to the potential of the Black Arms power in his genes, but he had yet to see the greatness of his true family.

At the sound of a portal opening, Shadow stood up and turned his attention to it. From it, a silver hedgehog with his Father behind him came through. The portal closed within moments of them entering and standing several feet away from him.

"I was only able to get control of one slave. The other one wasn't able to see the greatness of our species. I'm disappointed, he had the potential to be a powerful asset." Black Doom explained what happened. Shadow could feel his disappointment and every other word he said. The one they had would be fine, but that strong one would be stuck in the awful human ways instead of capturing his full power with the Black Arms beside him.

"But that's not what's important. We're almost done putting the plan together. We just need your brother to wake up and for me to make him realize the truth."

"Do you know how to get to him, Father?" Shadow asked him assisting him as much as possible. "He might not wake up as easily as I did-he's a stubborn one."

His Father chuckled at him. "Don't worry. If I know anything about your brother like you do, I know exactly how to convince him."

Of course he did, it was a stupid thing to ask of him. He could and would do anything to get to where he wanted.

"In the meantime," He turned and moved closer to the body. "I need you two to find me the seven Chaos Emeralds as fast as you can. We don't have much time before that chameleon comes back to get what he wants. Only the Chaos Emeralds will be able to stop them. Go."

At that, a new portal opened up between Shadow and the other hedgehog. They looked at each other for a moment before jumping through the portal.

---

Espio blinked the fog out of his consciousness.

"Ahh!" He heard Doctor Eggman exclaim. "Espio, where did you come from? You just appeared out of nowhere."

Espio would have raised an eyebrow at how Eggman was acting and ask him what was going on. But instead, he pushed himself so he was leaning against the surface behind him, the pounding at the back of his head bothering him. "I was with Silver and Black Doom in the future. I thought Black Doom would have killed me after Silver knocked me unconscious."

"Oh..." Eggman trailed off, obvious he knew something the chameleon didn't.

"What do you know about this?" Espio asked, the serious tone he typically carried flowing back in his voice. He then realized the door to the Doctor's lair was blown apart and knew that the situation was much deeper than he believed at the moment. "What happened to your door there?"

"That." Eggman pointed it out, clapping his hands together to stall for time. "Oh, that. You know, maybe the wind was so strong it blew it down? Or Sonic, you know how he always-"

"I don't have time for games." Espio tried to push himself to stand up, but the pain and his instincts commanded him to lean against the wall for support. He realized then he was hit harder by Silver than he thought.

Eggman walked closer to Espio, keeping one eye on him in case he could muster up any surprises. "You should get rest, Espio. You usually aren't like this."

"You don't think I don't know that?" Espio asked the Doctor. "This kind of situation I don't typically enter because of the consequences. I don't get into situations like these most of the time anyway."

"Hey," Eggman held up both of his hands to show innocence. "I'm trying to be nice to you. I'm typically not in this kind of situation either, and I think we both could use all the help we can get."

Espio studied the Doctor, wondering if he should trust this rare act of kindness. He never acted this way unless something bad happened or he messed up majorly.

"You never answered my first question. What do you know that I don't know? Maybe then, I can help you." Espio said.

Eggman waited a moment before chuckling and calling for a care robot. "You drive a hard bargain you know?"

The robot, who mimicked the design of Orbot except with a white exterior, came out with a gurney floating by its side.

"I want to keep safety intact as much as possible since there's not much right now." Espio said, locking eyes with the Doctor to emphasize the seriousness of the circumstances.

The care robot stopped between Eggman and Espio, the chameleon looking up to the Doctor. Eggman cleared his throat before speaking, "You are in no condition to walk if you can barely stand up,"

As much as he didn't want to admit it, Espio settled himself onto the gurney, staring at the blue sky. After a couple of still moments, the sight was changed into the metal ceiling of his base. "Why do you have an infirmary?"

Eggman glanced down at Espio, who was walking beside him on the way. "You have a lot of time on your hands while trying to come up with ways to rule the world." He confessed.

They reached the spacious infirmary in short time. Espio was set on one of the beds, quite soft and plushy considering Eggman. The Doctor sat on a mattress beside Espio's and they both explained everything they knew.

---

"ARRRGGHHH!!!" Eggman screamed as soon as he walked into his bedroom.

"Is something the matter?" Orbot's calm and sarcastic voice came from behind him.

"Do you need your daily cup of herbal tea?" Cubot asked Eggman. Despite how much he could use the drink at the moment, and this was usually when he had it, it was the last thing he could be thinking about at a time like this.

"There's no time for that Cubot!" Eggman turned and yelled at him.

"It's always a good time for tea! It can help reduce stress and it seems like you're under a lot of it right now."

There was silence in the air for a moment as it settled in. "You don't say," Eggman said in a tone that mirrored Orbot's sass.

"You should have some-"

"FINE!" Eggman yelled, which only furthered the point Cubot made. "Just make that tea and leave me alone!"

"You got it, boss!" Cubot snapped his fingers and left the room to make the tea. The room seemed to be infinitely quieter with Cubot gone. Eggman sighed and walked over to the window looking over the entire front of his base, realizing how much his situation changed in the hour.

"So," Orbot started up the conversation, hands behind him and moving towards Eggman. "What happened out there? You sent us to check the security systems, but they all were down by the time we got there."

Eggman let out a sigh that carried tons of weight. "My plan failed. Black Doom betrayed me and now he's taking over the future. He was supposed to unlock Sonic's full potential as a member of the Black Arms and I would use his power and Shadow's to finally take over the world."

"You shouldn't be surprised, Doctor. After all, he isn't the most trustworthy person. And if he is in the future, what's the problem in that it's not happening right here and now?"

"Both Sonic and Shadow were taken by Black Doom. If Black Doom manages to take over the future with the hedgehogs, he will take advantage and abuse their power to the point of their possible deaths." Eggman said, tension at Orbot's stupidity to realize the consequences of the situation.

"Isn't there a way you can stop it? After all, you were the one who started it all." Orbot said, on the verge on sarcasm in his voice.

Cubot came into the room, with a fresh cup of the herbal tea in his hands, bringing it towards Eggman. "I overheard what you guys were saying, and I have an idea, boss!"

Eggman exhaled as he grabbed the cup from his companion. Cubot barely had any good ideas, but the Doctor himself had no plans how he could solve this. "What is it?" He took a sip of the liquid, searing hot but already calming him down. If there was anything Cubot was good at, it was making a cup of tea.

"You made a serum to turn on the Black Doom gene in Sonic, right?"

"Yeah..." The Doctor felt hesitant as he said that, before taking another sip of the tea.

"Why can't you make another one, but this one would turn that gene off instead?!"

Eggman decided half-way through to take a big gulp of the drink, so he would have time to consider it. He turned back to the outside of his base below him.

"Is that even possible?" Orbot turned to Cubot to question his logic. "It sounds easier said than done, perhaps even impossible!"

"It's just an idea! How do you know if it's impossible if you don't try?"

"Well, you didn't give a reason or explanation how it would work."

"I don't know anything sciencey! That's why I suggested it to the Doctor because he could work out if it is possible!"

"Well, I think that it's the dumbest-"

"It could actually work," Eggman said, mainly to break up their argument. He could feel their virtual eyes stare at his back at his response, surprised by his answer. "If I know my grandfather and how much he regretted working with the Black Arms, he might have something on the files about turning off that gene in case anything like this happened."

Eggman walked to his computer, typed in the password and sat down in his chair. He occasionally took drinks of his herbal tea, searching for any files that might indicate what he was looking for.

After about ten minutes of scouring documents, he found it. How he could make a serum that would turn off the Black Arms gene. He had no idea how much power or influence the Black Arms gene in Sonic would have. Despite the fact he was Sonic, Eggman had a feeling he couldn't handle the power of the Black Arms for too long without losing himself.

"I'd just have to give it to Sonic and he should have the gene turned off," Eggman said, stretching his arms behind his head. "I knew you would turn out to be good one of these days, Cubot. And making my herbal tea does not count, but you still are good for that."

Cubot was so surprised at Eggman's remarks, he leaned towards Orbot and said in a whispered voice, "Did he actually give me a compliment?"

"Don't take it for granted," Eggman said in his flat voice, before standing from his chair and heading for the entrance. "Cubot, clean up my cup. Orbot, send a call to the Babylons to come here. I need to send them and Espio to the future to get Sonic and Shadow."

"And I'm assuming you'll start on that serum?" Orbot asked, waiting for Eggman to leave.

"I will as soon as we send them to the future. I have to figure out how to create it with what I have, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem." And with that, Eggman and the robots left the room and went their separate ways.