Stuck Here With You Of All People|Sonic Prime|Book One

5

"Ohohoho! How exciting it is indeed to finally see the project Grandfather had worked on!" Mr. Dr. Eggman was giddy with joy.

"I'll say..." Said Deep. "I had only heard about it in passing."

The baby babbled curiously.

"Grandfather had been working on this Project for eons. Unfortunately, his life was a cost for the project to be kept under wraps. Though I am not sure why he'd decide a rodent was a good choice for the body." Mr. Dr. Eggman said with frustration, he (like his siblings) had enough dealing with hedgehogs. He turns to Deep.

"Has our little fox friend finished the trackers?"

Deep nods as two guards had escorted Nine in. In one of the android's hand was one of the trackers. It handed the device to the Eggmen as they studied it with great care.

"Now to test it. Bring in the project!" Eggman clapped his hands.

With that clap raised a platform, underneath was an unconscious Shadow. While chained is not the most appropriate word to use, the Hedgehog was locked up.

"Tails, be a dear and put the tracker on our guest, would you?" Deep demands.

"What did you call me-- gah! Hey!" Nine turns as his anger turned towards the robot, who was shoving him closer to Shadow.

He sighed as his gaze turned towards Shadow. He looked out of it. For an 'Ultimate Lifeform,' he sure goes down easy... Nine thinks to himself. As he teeters closer, he notices that Shadow's awake; red eyes staring at him but he doesn't move his body. Nine places the trackers on Shadow's feet first before focusing on the hands, using his cybernetic tails to climb up the ellipse structure.

He whispers so quietly but Shadow picked up on it; "Reverse trackers." Was all Nine said before backing away to his guards.

Shadow winks discreetly to the fox in agreement and remains still and quiet.

"He is all set." Said Nine to the Council members.

"Excellent." Eggman said before pressing a button that sent bolts of electricity to Shadow.

Shadow jolted and 'awoke' in pain, he lets out a long yell till Eggman stopped the torture. Shadow pants at the pain before he turns his head towards the group of Eggmen. His eyes were sharp with frustration.

"Project: Shadow. Correct?"

Shadow rolled his eyes. "It's just Shadow. And what is it that you want from me?"

"Straight to the point! You know, we barely have prisoners who were this direct." Deep said to the others joyously.

"What my brother here is trying to say is that we need your assistance on a few key things." Mr. Dr. Eggman said as he fixed his toupee. "First... Oh guards~! Check his quills." He claps twice.

The pair of robots nodded as they left Nine to search Shadow's quills. To say it was an uncomfortable breach of privacy was accurate yet also not quite the proper experience. "Hey! Stop it!" Shadow demands to no avail.

The one of the robots found the green Emerald and handed it off to the baby, who was curious about the gem as it still glows.

"First question, what exactly are these gems? I believe back home we have a similar gem in our warehouse." Said Deep.

"Just a pretty gemstone. It is rumored to have come in a set." Shadow exaggerates. "An old friend of mine wanted to get the entire collection but age wasn't kind to them."

"Sentiments don't work on us."

Another bolt of energy zapped through him. They don't like lies. Okay. Shadow thinks as the zapping stopped, allowing Shadow to catch his breath.