Mirror Image

VII: Safe From Harm

Sonic paced back and forth incessantly, swinging his arms, humming tunelessly and clicking his fingers. Shadow felt his eyelid twitching in annoyance, the blue hedgehog's constant fidgeting distracting him from the intricate device in his hands. No matter how many times he had asked, politely at that, Sonic would not remain still for any length of time.

"Are you done with that thing yet?" asked Sonic.

The thing in question, the Chaos Energy Redistribution Matrix, was a poor imitation of Tails' design. The body, dull and grey metal, looked like a military belt buckle with built-in air vents. From each side a rainbow tangle of wires hung down limply, wrapping themselves around something resembling a sink plug. Shadow had removed his glove to tighten the screws with his nails, laughing to himself when Sonic had blushed at the sight of his bare hand.

"Have a little patience," said Shadow, knowing full well Sonic had none to speak of, "I'm working on a shoestring here."

"Is it even gonna work? It looks a mess."

"It's tentative," said Shadow, examining the underside of the assembly, "a lot of these components are stand-ins for Tails' recommendations, plus the flow capacitor is damaged. If this even turns on I'll be amazed."

"How'd that thingy get damaged?" said Sonic. Shadow looked up to glare at him.

"You threw it against the forcefield, remember?" he said. Sonic averted his gaze, shrinking sheepishly away from Shadow.

"Oh yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his head, "sorry about that." Shadow looked back to the component, adjusting the connecting wires.

"You should learn to control your anger, Sonic. You've let it get the better of you a few times recently." Silence descended upon the chamber, and Shadow realised Sonic had stopped moving. He looked up to see Sonic looking at him with an indignant expression, hands firmly on his hips.

"What is it now?" Shadow groaned.

"You're calling me angry?" said Sonic, "maybe you should look in a mirror, buddy. You're always losing your temper." Shadow shook his head, sighing.

"What I do is channel my rage into power during a fight. You just lash out blindly, because you have no self-control."

"I have more self-control than you realise," said Sonic, leaving Shadow wondering exactly what he meant by that, "right now I'm resisting the urge to punch you in the face." Sonic's brash attitude posed no problem for Shadow, who knew exactly how to disarm it. He fixed his eyes on Sonic's and stared intently, keeping a neutral expression on his face. Sonic's face quickly became apprehensive, and he looked away.

That never gets old, Shadow thought, though he wished he knew the reason it was so effective. Their brief bickering over, Shadow turned his attention back to the Redistribution Matrix.

"I think the device is about ready," he said, motioning to the lump of metal, "it's time to break out of this damned box." Standing up, he brushed past Sonic, who reached a hand out to him as he passed, before retracting it cautiously. Shadow kneeled down in the centre of the cell, placing the body of the device on the floor, spreading the 'arms' of the thing out around it. Small green lights on the top began to blink slowly.

"What happens now?" asked Sonic, staring at the curious device.

"I'm going to try Chaos Control again," said Shadow, "In theory, when the forcefield tries to reflect the Chaos energy back on me, it should be redirected to the device."

"Is it gonna be safe for me in here when that happens?"

"I would keep your distance, just to be sure," said Shadow, noticing Sonic's uneasy look. Shadow knew the device was a shoddy knockoff; he wasn't certain the twisted mass of electronics wouldn't just explode, but he felt they had no other choice. Concealing his doubt in the face of necessity he strode confidently over to Sonic and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. Sonic looked up, seemingly reassured by Shadow's touch.