For how Long will the Red Rose Grow

Infiltration

Using Chaos Control to teleport always left Sonic with a strange, tingly feeling. He knew the hands on his left arm were Silver's, as the hedgehog attached was wobbling around. It took a moment for his vision to catch up with the new space he was in, and he ushered Silver along after Shadow who was marching on ahead.

They were in the Buzz Bomber Hangar, from what Sonic recalled. His heart fluttered weakly when he remembered that day, and how he'd slipped up and revealed his illness to the one person he never wanted to tell. He ducked behind a crate beside Shadow, so close their fur brushed, and tucked Silver behind him. It didn't take much longer for the dove grey hedgehog to recover from the teleportation. "You're the one who's been here before," Shadow hissed to Sonic softly, watching a Buzz Bomber fly by with alert eyes. "Lead us."

Sonic furrowed his brow and squinted, trying to remember the route they took when it was him and Tails. "This way, I think." After checking that the coast was clear, he made a quick dash to another set of crates to hide behind as he made his way to the exit. Shadow teleported there behind him, and by the way Silver used his psychic abilities to zip after them, he might as well have teleported also. They let another outgoing patrol buzz monotonously out the door leading to the polluted exterior, before Sonic bolted to the inner door. He rounded the corner to his right, ducking behind a structural support pillar. Shadow teleported behind him against the wall, and Silver across the hall. Shadow's chest fur brushed the quills protruding from Sonic's shoulders, and he shuddered.

From that point, Sonic wracked his brain. Right or left? He couldn't remember clearly, but assumed right. He slipped behind another beam, and another as he made his way down the blank white and grey corridor. Shadow followed closely, staying one pillar behind him while Silver trailed along across the hall. They had one close encounter with a Buzz Bomber patrol, but they otherwise snuck through that hallway just fine. They reached a crossroads in the path, however, with a hall leading straight and one stretching across right and left. Sonic groaned, his ears flattening to his head.

"What's wrong?" Shadow grumbled softly from behind him.

"I can't remember which way." Sonic replied, his voice barely above a whisper. "I didn't pay attention to our direction when we were here last." Shadow sighed heavily.

"We should've brought Tails," Silver groaned from across the hall.

"Think, Sonic." Shadow hissed quietly. "Try to recall the steps towards where the Chaos Emeralds were."

Sonic groaned in frustration, closing his eyes and thinking back. He pictured the halls in his head, all sterile white and monochrome. He pictured Tails sneaking in front of him, of the rooms through large, steel grey doors they passed to where he was with the other two now. He focused in on where they went after that, his feet subconsciously carrying him down the hall. He opened his eyes, waving Shadow and Silver along with a soft "This way."

He dodged the monotone hum of Buzz Bomber patrols, weaved around the winding corners until he finally stood across the hall from the mysterious padlocked door. "That should be it," he whispered to his companions, "over there."

"It's very," Silver paused briefly, "in the open."

"We'll have to be fast putting Tails's device on the lock." Shadow concurred, pulling the small jamming device from his quills and turning it over again. He glanced over at Silver, then to Sonic, then to the door again. "After that patrol buzzes by, we go."

Sonic took a deep breath in, nodding his head and staring out at the door with Shadow. "Silver, you match the floor a bit better than us. Maybe you could zip out and use the device." He looked over at the other hedgehog. "Then once its open, we zoom in."

"I can do that, yeah." Silver smiled, taking the device from Shadow when he handed it over. They all quickly hushed as the patrol droned by, watching them with cautious eyes. Once the Badniks were gone, Silver zipped to the door with a quick burst of psychokinetic energy, flattening his back to the wall behind him. Sonic held his breath as the other hedgehog held the jammer to the padlock and pressed in the green button Tails told them to.

The lock shorted out, sparking and smoking as the signal was jammed. They heard the lock click open, and Sonic, joined by Shadow, made their way over to Silver across the hall. Sonic's hand closed around the handle, and he took a stabilizing breath in before pulling the handle down and pushing the door in. The door groaned and creaked against the doorframe, tight and grinding. It gave with a little helping shove from the Ultimate Lifeform, and it moaned open on rusted hinges.

Sonic peeked his head into the pitch black room, squinting with effort to try and see anything in the inky blackness. Shadow was the first to venture into the room, probably with night vision that he was most likely created with as an ultimate weapon. Silver snuck in as well, with his hands glowing faint cyan. Sonic followed last, closing the door to a small crack behind him. He found a small wooden door stopper in the darkness, and wedged it carefully between the door and its frame.

"Found the lights," Shadow spoke from the darkness, "brace your eyes."

The lights sprung on, temporarily blinding Sonic. He winced and blinked multiple times, lifting his head as he pawed light-induced tears from his emerald eyes. His eyes adjusted slowly to the light in the stark white room. Sonic looked around, scanning for any sign of the Chaos Emeralds. He found various robot scraps, power cores, hinges, and cans upon cans of machine oil. He looked over to where Silver was, watching him sift through baskets of loose parts, and over to Shadow shifting large slabs of sheet metal to peer around behind them. Tentative steps were taken as Sonic made his way around to the center of the room. He saw a hatch on the floor and one to match on the ceiling, and a silhouette on the center of the floor hatch. He gasped softly, Shadow and Silver joining him shortly after.

"How did I know you'd come back here?" Growled the figure standing there, tall and rotund with a remote in one hand, and something small, delicate, and red in the other. Sonic's heart skipped and sunk into the sea of vines constricting his chest, as the silhouette turned around to face the trio. "Hedgehog."