Shadow huffed as Detonator dragged him up into the rafters, embarrassed. This would be so much easier with Chaos Control. And the panther was apparently very strong to be able to pull the dark hedgehog up without Shadow doing any work.
"Alright, mate," Detonator said, peering down once Shadow was safely in the rafters. He lifted his head and pointed. There was an air vent, padlocked, on the wall in front of them. Shadow glanced down at the event below, Mobians milling around. He searched the crowd until he spotted (Y/n) and he tightened his hands into fists.
Teleporter was walking around calmly, talking amiably to other Mobians while the (a/t) was stuck with the head of the operation, nodding as he showed her around the facility.
"Psst! Mobius to Shadow!" Detonator hissed. He wrapped his tail around Shadow's leg and tugged. "Let's go! They'll be fine! And even if they're not, she can just scream and everyone will run away." Shadow levelled a glare at the panther. "It's the truth. Now let's get on with it. The faster we go, the faster you can get back to your girl."
"She's not-"
"Whatever you say." Detonator scampered along the beams with expert balance while Shadow took his time, cursing the lack of Chaos energy.
They reached the air vent and Detonator closed his fist momentarily. When he opened it, a tiny one of his navy blue bombs lay in his palm. As Shadow had discovered, the panther could generate bombs as he willed. Hence the name. It was a sort of modification he'd gotten before becoming an agent.
Detonator wedged the bomb into the padlock and set a sound muffler around it. The padlock burst open a moment later, though silent. Shadow caught it as it fell and placed it against the wall as Detonator pulled the vent off the wall and placed it next to the busted padlock. Then the agent climbed in, Shadow following.
It was a squeeze, especially for the hedgehog. His quills pressed together uncomfortably while Detonator slid through easily. Shadow suddenly bumped into the panther when the agent suddenly stopped. "Lasers," Detonator whispered. He unclipped something from his leg and set it against the wall of the vent, the device suddenly filling with red as the lasers were filtered into it. "Easy peasy."
"Wait," Shadow said. "Let me go ahead of you."
"You do you," Detonator said, flattening himself impressively to the floor of the vent. Shadow pulled himself over and crawled ahead. He pushed his hand out.
"Of course," he said, quickly withdrawing his hand. "If the lasers stop projecting, radiation comes from vents inside of the vents. They close them to keep them from contaminating the rest of the area, but in a few seconds a security alarm will go off and someone is going to come after us."
"Of course," Detonator said. "These are Chaos Emeralds we're talking about. No one would leave them that easy to get to." Shadow turned to back to the vent.
"I can still get to them," he said.
"Are you crazy? That's radiation! We need to get out of here! Abort! There's no way we're getting through that!"
"If I get to the Chaos Emeralds, I'll be able to get us all out of here."
"If. You may not get there!" Shadow huffed and started moving forward but Detonator grabbed his wrist. "I'm not letting you go down there, mate." Shadow glared down at the panther's hand, then noticed the Inhibitor rings. "Oh no. You've got an idea, don't you."
"It's a wild try," Shadow said, reaching for the ring.
"And if it works? You could blow us out of here and then we'd be blown for sure! You're full of wonderful ideas right now, aren't you?" The panther hissed and covered his eyes and Shadow took the rings off. The result was rather underwhelming. "Well then, I guess that's the end of that."
Shadow cursed and slammed the rings on the vent. There was no energy at all! "Sh," Detonator hissed. "If we get out of here, we can just go back to being at the party and make a peaceful exit."
"I'm not leaving without the Emeralds." Shadow put the rings back on and slid forward, lowering his head.
"Crazy bloke!" Detonator snarled, but he didn't follow. Instead he turned around and quickly began backtracking. He slammed his comm. "Abort! Abort the mission! Shadow's gone rogue!"
Down below, in the crowd, the girls heard the call, (Y/n) lifting her head and meeting Teleporter's eye. "This isn't good," the AI said.
"No," Teleporter agreed quietly. "Detonator, where are you at?"
"Heading to the exit. There's radiation coming out of the vents but Shadow wouldn't leave!"
"He's the Ultimate Lifeform," (Y/n) pointed out. "He probably thinks that he can stand it longer than the average Mobian. My best guess is not, because he's lacking basically everything but speed right now."
"Give me a visual," Teleporter said. "Describe it to me as best you can and I'll get him out of there."
"No way," Detonator said. "He's on his own now." (Y/n) shifted uncomfortably, catching her escort's attention.
"Are you alright?" he asked, looking worriedly at her. She shook her head, pointing at her throat and then making a vomiting gesture. "Oh, of course, the restrooms are that way." He pointed and she nodded thankfully, darting off.
"(Y/n)? (Y/n), are you okay?" Teleporter asked.
"I'm going to scream." The cheetah was beside her in an instant and rubbed the (a/t)'s back comfortingly.
"Just hold it in for a little longer," she said.
"Did anyone see you teleport?"
"No. I'm good at covering it." She sighed and pressed her comm. "Shadow, come in."
"I'm here," the dark hedgehog said.
"Get out of the vent. The radiation could kill you, especially with no Chaos powers."
"I see the Emeralds." There was a thump through the comm that made (Y/n) wince and Teleporter stroked her back again. Another thump. Then a shriek of metal.
"Shadow, what's going on?" Teleporter demanded.
"I'm with the Emeralds."
"Really? Give me a visual. I can come get you."
"Sterile white room, glass container right in the middle. Several security measures around them, cameras everywhere. If we didn't disable them, the security knows we're coming for them."
"Oh, honey," Teleporter said. "Of course I got the cameras disabled. That's the first thing I did." She closed her eyes.
"What happens if you don't get the visual right?"
"I either don't go anywhere or I get stuck in a wall."
"Has that happened before?"
"No, but I came very close." The cheetah disappeared and reappeared, breathing out a sigh of relief when she saw Shadow standing in front of her. The Chaos Emeralds were in the case in front of them, lasers all pointed at it and besides the squares of tile they were standing on, every step looked like it would trigger something. There was no way to get to the Emeralds without a security pass.
"You're not getting those," Teleporter said. "I'm not getting them. I can't teleport into a case that small, and the lasers are reflecting on the inside of the glass, which would make it dangerous anyway." She glanced at Shadow, eyes widening. "You idiot!" He groaned, his legs giving way. "You got us this far, but at what cost?" She disappeared, reappearing beside (Y/n) and setting the hedgehog down. "Detonator, report."
"I'm out of the vent. I'm okay. What's going on?"
"I got Shadow. There's no way we're getting the Emeralds. Let's just get out of here while we still can." Teleporter looked at (Y/n), who had clamped her hands over her muzzle, biting her lip hard. "Please, hold it in just a little longer, okay? Help me get Shadow out of here. I have to go get Detonator."
She nodded, taking deep breaths and wrapping her arms around Shadow. "Get him as far as you can," Teleporter said. "I'll come back for you." Then she disappeared, finding her partner and teleporting him to the car. He settled down, looking fatigued. The radiation must have gotten to him as well.
Then the cheetah returned for (Y/n) and Shadow, picking them up and returning to the car. "Another night," she said. "We'll get those Emeralds, one way or another." She pressed her hands to the boys' heads. "But for now, we need to recover and regroup." (Y/n) nodded quickly and stared out the window. She did want to go home, but now she knew at just what lengths Shadow would go to do so.
"He's a headstrong idiot," she said, glancing at him. He appeared to be unconscious. "And if he's not careful, one of these days, it's going to get him killed."