"Coolant Liquid. Adjust for blood loss"

"Blood loss minimal at the moment Doctor. Processing target oxygnation levels...Preparing to seperate wires"

"Keep the wires where they are"

"Sir?"

"I don't want this particular friend of those idiots dieing. Keep the procedure going. I want it to run throughout the night"

"Doctor. Target's heart will collapse if the procedure is kept running throughout the night. Suggest change of cooling liquid?"

"No. If this friend can fight me with all that energy...He'll be okay. Wake me up at 08:00 hours tomorrow morning"

"As you wish Doctor"

Crawling through the ducts of the Egg Carrier XI, although she had some dust under her nails (which she didn't like), Rouge the Bat shifted forwards very slowly. 'Even Shadow won't be able to hear me...' She thinks to herself very slowly.

Rouge slowly found herself over another duct. This time with a rather...Interesting view:-

Rouge found her breath in her throat as she saw many machines working (seemingly over-drive) around one table... This normally wouldn't phase her in the slightest...It was who was on the table that made her freeze: Tails.

Tails was not in the same shape as one would normally see him either. He was surrounded by blood underneath him. Wires stuck out of his body and his breathing was as forced as one could manage in such a state. Every now and then he would take in a very deep breath, trying to get feeling in his hands, then a machine would walk over and intravenously inject him. Making him feel numb would be the most logical reason for this.

"I guess Shadow wasn't wrong..."

Rouge didn't know what to do. Shadow's intelligence on Tails being captured by Eggman during the last assault was correct...In all its gruesome glory. She grimaced as she could (after a few minutes) hear Tails' forced breathing.

"How is he doing?"

Rouge looked to the black hedgehog she had just mentioned. He was obviously making sure that Tails didn't go through TO much pain but more importantly...What was HE doing there?

"Target has achieved mechanical level. Mind control being applied"

Rouge watched as Shadow walked to the nearby...Surgical table which made her cringe as to what they had used already...One of the many tools being a drill...coated in Tails' blood.

"What's the next stage?"

The machine faced Shadow while Shadow glanced at Rouge for a second before looking at the machine again. 'Shit...' Rouge thought. Shadow had SPOTTED her! But...he didn't seem to...Well...Give a shit to be blunt.

"Stage 4 is to remove cartilage, replace with mechanical components, then in the morning the Doctor plans to activate him for the test"

Shadow lowers his head. "Against Faker..." He mutters almost such that Rouge couldn't hear him.

"That is correct"

Shadow nods his head. "Alright. Hold Stage 4 until I get back. Understood?"

"But the Doctor-"

Shadow raced forward (with faster reflexes then Chaos Control Rouge guessed) and grabbed the machine's neck, forcing it to stop moving. "You will stop the procedure until I return. That is a direct order. Do you understand me?"

"A direct order from someone we can't trust"

Shadow smirks as he lets go of the machine. "To be fair, Metal, your real counterpart can't trust me either" Shadow growls. "If you touch Tails while I am gone, you will be in pieces at the Doctor's feet. Do you understand?"

Metal Sonic, having only just barely entered the room nods after a few seconds, both Shadow and Rouge (Rouge being in the ducts and leaving the room upon Shadow's split-second nod) leave the room.

Outside Dr. Eggman's base. Around 10 miles away, Rouge turns to Shadow.

"Are you fucking nuts?" Shadow whispers. "You could have been killed in there"

Rouge growls. "Oh, really? YOU could have saved him! By the time you get back Metal will probably have turned him into a...a..."

Shadow sighs. "A monster?"

Rouge nods. "Exactly!"

Shadow begins to chuckle. "That machine in there, knows very well I can break him into as many pieces, as he has processor nodes"

Rouge smirks for a bit then looks worriedly at the base they had left. "What do you think? You can't just leave him there!"

Shadow sighs again. "There's not much I can do right now. All I can do is let you escape"

Rouge blinks for a few minutes. "Wha...What!? You can do better then that, all mighty "Ultimate Life Form"!"

Shadow closes his eyes, feeling his hands going into fists. "Get going Rouge..."

"Huh?"

"Get going! Move it!" Shadow barks at her, his eyes steadily turning red.

Rouge begins to run, then takes off into the air as she hears Shadow (basically) roar like a crazed lunatic.

"This...Isn't good..." Rouge whispers to herself as she races towards Tails' Workshop - Where Sonic and his friends were last reported to be.

Rouge flips out her mobile communicator while she does so. "Come on. Come on. Come on you blasted-"

"Rouge?" A rouge voice cuts her off. "What's up? We're currently trying to fin-"

"I know where Tails is!" Rouge yells as she feels a very strong right boot collide into the back of her right knee, sending her to the floor with a loud yelp in pain.

"Rouge!? Rouge?! Talk to me!"

Rouge looks up as a set of white boots appear in front of her. "Knuckles! Get to the Mystic Ruins' Forest! HURRY!" She yells.

Shadow looks to his right hand, now a fist, then down to her. "Too late...Rouge"

Rouge's eyes closed as she felt punch after punch hit her face then her back...Until she heard a cracking sound...

Then everything for Rouge went black.

"They've got to be around here somewhere!" Knuckles shouts and Sonic nods. "I know!"

Both Knuckles and Sonic look around and then Sonic's eyes settle on someone. "You..." Knuckles' eyes also settle on Shadow.

Sonic steps forwards. "What have you done with Rouge?"

Shadow, currently with his head to the floor, slowly raises his head and looks Sonic in the eye. "Shadow?"

Knuckles, within moments, recognizes what it is - Chaos Poison. "Sonic! We've got to either knock him out or kill him! Let's do this!"

Sonic nods. "Alright, let's-"

Before Sonic could say anything else, Shadow's eyes went normal, confusing both Sonic and Knuckles. "Procedure has been completed. Shadow...Move"

Shadow walks to the right, hanging his head in slight shame. "I'm sorry Faker. I tried to save him"

Sonic's eyes lock onto metallic blue ones. Metal yellow fur. Twin Metal Tails...

It was like Sonic's nightmare come true...

Miles 'Tails' Prower.

Was now...

A machine under Dr. Eggman's command...And unlike last time? It looked like full on mind control...Similar to Shadow with his thoughts of Maria...

Sonic growls and balls his hands into fists. 'I don't want to fight you buddy. I WILL find a way to turn you back to normal...I promise' He thinks as he races towards Tails, with the metal fox jumping over him (with effortless precision) and landing almost exactly behind him.

"Game over - Sonic The Hedgehog" Tails says in his new machine voice, raising his machine-gun/type 6 hand to the back of Sonic's neck.

Shadow races over to Knuckles side and whispers something to him.

Knuckles nods. "Alright. Be quick"

Shadow nods. "Understood" Shadow disappears while the gun charges.

Knuckles could only watch as Tails charged his new gun.

"Any last words Sonic?" Tails asks the blue blur, expecting a simple reaction from the animals of this planet.

"Only three bud" Sonic whispers as he feels tears in his eyes.

"And those are?" Tails asks again, this time Sonic could hear a slight change in the metallic voice, not much of a change...But a change none-the-less...Was Tails...Was he actually trying to fight to be normal again?

Sonic slowly says his next words, trying to give Shadow and Knuckles enough time to do...Whatever they were doing.

"I love you"

Sonic closes his eyes. Hearing the gun building up power.