"So, you've made your return public," Ira was saying, reclining on a lounge seat with a recently emptied wine glass in his hand, "What do you intend to do now?"
"Nothing."
His brother's reply took Ira by surprise. Sensing his younger brother's bewildered gaze boring into his neck, Eggman swivelled round in his high back chair.
"I'll let them stew," he explained, "GUN has no idea about our research. They weren't around during the times when you and I roamed freely, doing what we liked, supporting natural selection..."
"One of us did, Ivo," Ira breathed, his jaw clentching discretely, "One of us lapped up the life of luxury and knowledge whilst the other wasted 5 years trying to find a wretched baby hedgehog."
Eggman sensed the hostility and he smiled at it.
"Well, you'll be satisfied to know that I paid my price in wasting a further 20 years going after the same hedgehog. It should be your turn now."
"Should?"
"I say that because it isn't." Eggman then laughed, wheeling back to finish scribbling down something on a crumpled sheet of paper. "You couldn't bag a little scrap of a hoglet. What chance do you think you have now that he's a grown adult with full control of his abilities? No, you take it easy, little brother; with you at my side again, I feel that I might finally put in some real effort to unearth the secret of Sonic the Hedgehog."
Ira carefully placed the wine glass on the table beside him.
"If I'm not going back out there to finish what I started," he murmured slowly and supiciously, "then who is?"
Eggman leant back, the chair beneath him groaning in protest.
"Well, no-one yet," he murmured back, "But, I suppose the really obvious answer to that..." A cunning shine appeared in Eggman's hidden pupils, and he slowly turned back, cocking an overly bushy eyebrow, "I've never shown you my greatest creation, have I?"
It seemed a rather random question but, since he knew his brother's mind to be constantly in a state of insane flux, Ira had learnt to cope with it. In answer to Eggman's question, Ira shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know. You said that so often about your inventions."
"Ah, but that was before. Even I ackowledge that I have never built anything as great as this since its birth. You must see." The rotuned genius scientist climbed up to his feet and beckoned with a surprisingly elegant hand. "Orbot? Cubot? You come too. Come say hello to the Black Sheep of your robotic 'brotherhood'."
The last thing the two robot lackeys were hoping was to step a servo back in, what they had privately come to refer as, the Crypt.
At the very end of the enormouse chamber, two metal doors were set with no inscription of any kind save for one small keypad with a screen.
"You know, through all the years I've known this place, it remained a mystery to me as to what you kept behind here," Ira had said, hiding his great excitement.
Eggman still said nothing. He gazed into the screen and typed in a code that none of them saw. Then the great doors slid ominously open, years of dust and neglect rising up to water the eyes of the organics as a neon blue glow shone out from the wires in the walls, bathing them all in an unnatural light.
"Cast your eyes on that, Ira," Eggman grinned darkly, pride emanating from his spectacles.
Ira looked.
"...Oh, Ivo..." he sighed in legitamite awe, unable to find the right words.
Orbot and Cubot, who had no breath to spare, simply stared.
"M-M-Metal Sonic?" Orbot chattered, his poor processor beginning to burn from old memories.
In the room beyond the doors stood the grandest capsule of them all - a tall, threatening pod where wires and tubes ran in and out, all connected to the many computers that made up two sides of the walls and the single, sinister occupant inside the capsule itself.
Metal Sonic, in all his deadly glory, was still and showed no signs of life to look at, suspended in the pod amidst the web of wiring that were plugged to his body.
"Oh come now, Orbot," Eggman soothed, uncomfortingly, "You know Metal Sonic, don't you?"
Boy did every robot know about Metal Sonic.
"I know that we weren't allowed to communicate directly with him," the red little android replied, "We weren't even allowed to be alone in the same room together. You... You never told us why."
"Well, after what happened to one of the Beebots..." Eggman shrugged and then winked at his brother, "Let's just say that Metal... He doesn't always get along well with others. Some days, he's fine. Other days? Not so fine."
Cubot shrank away from Eggman's gaze by moving behind Orbot, unable to look up at what he had just seen. "He would have minced the pair of you into spaghetti," he heard Eggman mumble.
"So," Ira then interrupted, not willing to step closer and yet unable to tear his eyes away, "you've kept him offline because...?"
"Metal is... faulty," Eggman explained, rubbing the back of his neck, "By which I mean that his programming is corrupted. I originally had him built to combat Sonic in every way, to appear superior to him... But something seemed to override this. Now, Metal is as obsessed with Sonic as we are - but for different purposes. Metal only wants to prove that he's the real Sonic, the better Sonic, if you will. Sometimes he's okay but sometimes..." Eggman let out a little grunt, "Sometimes, Metal gets a bit too worked up and has been known to attack Sonic without being ordered to. He's inherited the Robotnik Insanity, I'm afraid. For the sake of my other schemes, it was best that I keep him offline until the situation desperately calls for it. Chaos knows that the planet will be screaming on the day I let Metal out to play."
Ira gazed at the robot hedgehog longingly before, "...I want to see Sonic again."
Eggman turned his head to his brother and frowned.
"And reveal yourself?" he asked.
Ira Robotnik slowly nodded.
"Yes. I want him to know that I'm back and that I haven't forgotten him."
Eggman moved his hands behind his back and held them there, looking back to Metal Sonic, appearing as the man who knew great secrets - which, in retroflection, he most likely did.
"Do what you must, Ira..." he slowly drawled, "but don't forget: that hedgehog is my enemy and I'll be the one to deal with him. Understand?"
From the corner of his eye, he saw his younger, thinner, brother bow slightly, a cruel smile twisting its way onto his features.
"...Of course, big brother. Of course."
- - - - -
Rouge looked up as Shadow strode in through the doors of the diner like the Grim Reaper, his face clouded and taught with concern, moving past the tables silently as he made his way towards their booth at the back.
"Well?" the bat asked in low voice, no trace of any merriment present.
"This is going to be harder than I thought," Shadow admitted, "Sonic is very closed up about Robotropolis. What I did learn is that it used to be a city called Mobotropolis. Apparently it was the planet capital."
"I remember," Rouge then nodded, "During my time as a thief on the streets, I remember people talking about Dr Eggman and what he was doing - The Robotnik Plague, they called it. They say the city was cleared out in one evening. Anyone who didn't escape in time were turned into robots. Some life."
Omega had brought food a while ago which Rouge had just finished, not really feeling up to it.
"More food, Rouge?" the robot asked politely, fetching more nibbles for Shadow.
Rouge shook her head, contemplating a dash to the ladies.
"No, I couldn't. I'm full," she replied.
Omega tried pushing a bowl towards her. "Have some iron-rich..."
"I said no, Omega," Rouge laughed, "Stop trying to fatten me up. Feed Shadow, if you must. I'll order drinks."
"No, I shall order drinks," Omega interrupted, his joints clanking as he hurriedly moved to get back to his feet, "I want to order the beverages this time."
"...Fine. Whatever," Rouge sighed, waving a dismissive hand. Omega stomped off in as dignified a manner as a robot could manage, ignoring the looks from other dining Mobians. "So you reckon Eggman could be in Robotropolis?" Rouge tried prompting, stirring the conversation back up.
Shadow rolled an olive between his thumb and finger. "I think not," he growled, "Omega and I searched the place and it hasn't been touched in years. Nothing but desolate castles and abandoned factories. No leftover robots either." The olive went in his mouth. "It's completely dead."
Rouge started playing with her communicator, lost in thought.
"We're getting closer," she murmured, "Eggman can't hide forever. He's made his point clear. Even if we don't find him, he'll find us."
"You mean he'll find Sonic..."
That was when Omega returned, carefully balancing a tray of drinks in his hand.
"Here are the drinks," he proudly announced, depositing the tray down in front of his two teammates. Shadow and Rouge blinked at the tray and glanced up at the robot.
"...Fruit juice?" Rouge smiled, "That's real kind of you sweetie but... well, with a mission like this, I think Shadow and I will need something a little more alcoholic."
Omega's optics flickered slightly.
"...I apologise," he whirred, "I was merely being mindful of your... kidneys."
"Our kidneys?"
"Vast units of alcoholic drinks put great strain upon the kidneys."
"Rouge and I are not intending to get drunk," Shadow muttered, folding his arms and not looking at the orange and mango drink with the orange slice on top.
"Just one drink, honey. That's all," Rouge said sweetly, batting her eyelashes.
Omega looked down pathetically at the two drinks he had carefully chosen.
"...I was given fruit juice."
"The bartender gave you fruit juice?"
Omega let out a little whine. "...Yes."
"Omega," Rouge chuckled, "if there is one thing you cannot do very well, it's lie."
Not knowing what else to do, Omega lifted the tray again.
"...Fruit juice?" he offered.
- - - - -
An hour later, Rouge left for Angel Island and Shadow and Omega went back to their rented GUN apartment in the city of Station Square. It wasn't as good as their apartment in Westopolis but as a temporary overnight stop, it was decent accommodation. Before they reached the apartment block, however, Shadow stopped his friend outside the doors.
"What was all that before, Omega?" Shadow demanded to know, firmly rooting himself directly in the robot's way. There was a clear moment of panic in Omega's eye.
"Pardon, friend? I did not understand you."
"That whole kidney thing," Shadow sighed, "Where did that come from?"
"...I researched an article explaining..."
"Omega? Look me in the eye and tell me the truth."
Omega apparently couldn't look Shadow in the eye and he hung his head in shame.
"...I was bad." His child-like tone surprised Shadow.
"Bad?" the dark hedgehog repeated with a frown, "In what way? What have you done?"
"I have committed an action that Rouge has since wished I not do."
"And what's that?"
"...I scanned her without consent."
"And you've worked out she has something wrong with her kidneys?"
"Rouge's kidneys function well." Omega then went very, VERY quiet. "However, I detected a foreign body... in her womb."
It only took Shadow a second for the penny to drop along with his jaw.
"...Oh Omega..." he groaned, leaning against the wall and pinching his nose.
"It was before she expressed her wish that I not scan her," Omega tried to justify himself, "When we met with the Commander. I have not the information on how to proceed with this development. Organic reproduction is beyond me."
"It's beyond me too," Shadow moaned into his hands.
"How best shall I inform Agent Rouge?"
Shadow wheeled round to him and grabbed him by the robot's enormous shoulders.
"Inform? No, Omega, no, you don't tell her!" he snarled.
Omega looked confused. "I do not?"
"No, you don't breathe a word. You have to let her find out by herself."
"But impending mothers require rest and a healthy diet of rich nutrients. How best are we to supply these needs?"
"We don't. I'm sure it won't be long before she works it out for herself. Until then, we keep quiet."
"May we tell her after she discovers that she is pregnant?"
"Keep your voice down, idiot!" Shadow looked round nervously and was relieved to discover they were alone. "And no, no we don't EVER tell her, got it?"
Omega lifted his head. "Processing... Shadow, I am confused."
"Trust me on this and don't say anything." He then released the robot and, with an enormous sigh, turned away to better deal with this bombshell.
"...Should we tell Knuckles?"