I Am...All of Me

The Real Shadow (Boom!Shadow) (Heavy AU)

  Author's Note: If you haven't see the Sonic Boom episode with the mirror dimension and Shadow almost destroying the universe, then you probably won't know what's going at first. It doesn't play a huge role in the story, but it will give some context.

   Just know that Shadow doesn't win for an entirely  AU reason in this little fic.
........
"Dimensional crisis averted, handsome. The two humans are where they belong. The one that stayed seriously won't shut up about you. How's it looking on your end?" Rouge's voice purred from the mic clipped to the GUN agent's ear.

    "I have eyes on him. He has no idea his plan's already been foiled," he replied with a slight smirk from his vantage point on the town hall's roof. He briefly glanced up at the dissipating purple clouds before glaring at the dark hedgehog antagonizing a mottled group of teens.

      "All right. Rendezvous at your location."
............

     "—I've decided to take revenge on this whole pathetic universe," Shadow declared with a wicked sneer, "Good luck finding them in time."

    Sonic clenched his fists and prepared to charge his dark rival. But just as he took the first step, Shadow flickered away in a flash of blue light. Panic rose up in the blue blur's chest. He didn't have time to hunt Shadow and find the two Eggmans.

   He didn't have long to wait though, for as soon as Shadow disappeared, he reappeared just as quickly. However, his form kept flickering in and out of view like a computer glitch. The black and red hedgehog growled and clutched his chest.

     "What—is—happening to—me?!"

  "I think you've done enough damage in my name," an almost identical voice stated cooly.

    "Who dares—" Shadow didn't get to finish. His form became solid, and his crimson eyes widened in shock.

   Then there was the sound of metal being crunched, an explosion of smoke, and the ebony hedgehog fell.

     "Shadow!" Sonic exclaimed and raced to his rival's side. Emerald eyes doubled in size as he gaped at the fist-sized hole in his counterpart's back. But what really froze him in place were the wires and sparks protruding from the hole.

     "What?" Sonic breathed, "....how?"

"The android has been neutralized. Caught it before it could complete chaos control."

Sonic's head shot up at the sound of Shadow's voice coming from the fading smoke, but something sounded off about it. When the smoke cleared completely, the team of heroes all felt their jaws hit the dirt as Shadow gazed right back at them. Only, it wasn't their Shadow.

Physically, he looked identical to the...android on the ground. The same height, same black and red fur, crimson eyes, and white chest fur—he was almost identical.

But there were several stark differences, and the most obvious was the dark gray, almost black, military jacket he was wearing. A gold badge hung from a chain around his neck, and a small metal earpiece was clipped to his ear.

Another, more subtle difference though, were his gold bands. The Shadow they knew only wore them for cosmetics, and it could be seen in how the ones around his wrists were smaller than the ones on his ankles. This Shadow's bands were all the same size, and they emitted a very faint glow, which meant they probably weren't there just for decoration.

"You're going to catch flies if you keep staring at me with your mouths wide open like that," the Shadow copy retorted and folded his arms. That's when Sonic pinpointed another difference. This Shadow had a Mainlander accent. From which part, he couldn't tell, but it was obvious this hedgehog wasn't from Bygone.