Return of Gerlad's Legacy

Chapter 13: Beta Site

As the dome sped through the underground, Shade trained with his father. He was more than fast. After Shade's embarrassing incident with Emily, Shadow had Omega scan Shade and Crystal. Both of them had inherited his Chaos energy and speed and their mother's strength. These abilities had just remained dormant until their bodies were strong enough to handle them. Now he could teach them how to combat the Black Arms.

"Shade, you need to focus," his father urged. "Reach out for the energy and let it flow through you." Shadow stood by and watched his son try to access the potent deadly energy Shade had had a little success in summoning his power, he had large reserves so he didn't have to worry about running out; his problem was sustaining it. He could grab the energy but it enjoyed slipping out of his fingers.

"Chaos Control!" Shade yelled inside the dome, and closed his eyes dreading the results. He opened them to see a frozen world. Everyone was moving so slowly that they might as well be standing still. "This is amazing" he cried into the motionless world. "I could do anything I wanted and no one would be the wiser!" Shade sped up beside his father. Strapped to his side was the S-32. Shade looked at a powerful weapon with a mischievous glint his eyes. He has always wondered what it was like to feel the titanium grip and the sensation of the cartridge blasting out of the barrel.

Shade put his hand forward to grab the matchless gun. That's when, once again, the Chaos power slipped through his fingers. A hand leisurely rushed forward and grabbed Shade's hand. 'Not bad, son. But no cigar."

Shadow trained with his children more and more as the dome sped through the underground passageways. According to Tails, they had been traveling underground for five days. Not anybody could tell to begin with. And from their contact on the surface and the remaining satellite data streaming towards them, they discovered that now that Umbra had revealed himself, he using ever possible advantage he had gained from his time as Robert Eclipse. Not only had Prower Command been bombed, but every GUN bunker had been raided one after another. Most of the land lost to GUN had once again reclaimed and soiled by the Black Arms banner. Much of Asia was no under the control of the mad space demon. Europe still fought holding the Arms much at bay, but most of Africa was now the largest portion of the world under the Enemy. But America still stood, though badly wounded, still fought with rage and fury that the young country had never revealed to the world. Their were men left and right all joining together to join GUN and fight off these invaders on not only American soil but these monstrosities had dared to even set claw on Earth.

But even down here with his family, Shadow felt useless. His family was safe from the danger of his brother, yet he could not sleep anymore for now he saw the mangled bodies of soldiers he could help but instead he remained down in the second ARK. He could not bear it. The effects of his internal struggle showed themselves in his appearance and stamina. Huge bags were under his eyes. He was unusually tired, something Sonia had not failed to miss. And he would come to bed at night instead would sit at a computer terminal and would work on some project that was only known to him. When asked what he was doing, he was just say that he was writing a letter.

The dome suddenly stopped and everyone except Shadow and the robotic sentries was thrown out of their sleep and most of them onto the floor. There were strings of curses that followed most of them coming Cream which surprised everyone. She was usually so quiet and now see saying that Tails is a #!& )(&. Surprising no? Shadow sighed and gave a knowing look over to Charmy who had never been so scared in his life.

Shadow walked past the rather scary scene over to his wife who stood there with her eye twitching. Shadow smiled slightly and kissed her on the forehead. She immediately jumped out of her state of shocking bliss. She looked up to her husband and once again blushed like a teenage girl. "I wish you would stop doing that," she said muttering. "I feel so embarrassed."

Shadow let out a chuckle and whispered, "You look so beautiful when you're embarrassed." He kissed her and Tails ran right past them to the door of the dome.

A whistle rang throughout the dome, Shadow and Sonia broke their embrace and Cream stopped screaming. "Everybody!" Tails shouted. "We're here! Right outside this Plexiglas window is the base. Please step lively." Tails pressed a button and the glass slid apart to expose the Beta Site.

Everyone stepped out to see the technological wonder that they beheld. All around was stainless steel machinery that looked at least twenty years ahead of its time. All smooth and curved. Like something from an old depiction of the future. Similar robots to the ones inside the dome marched into lines to form a pathway to a single chair. All of them together looked like a formidable force. Ready to destroy whatever got in their path. The base was vast with hallways and robotic workers moving machinery and operating terminals.

"Welcome everyone!" Tails shouted to them, St. Petersburg, Russia."

Everyone turned to him. Did he just say what they think he said? "RUSSIA!" Vector yelled at the fox. "What the hell is the base doing in RUSSIA?" There were more mummers of agreement. Why Russia?

Tails had a bit of a lopsided smile. "None of you recognize this place do you?" He waved his hands around as if trying to signify some great truth. "This is the Shadow Android factory where Shadow first fought Umbra. I rebuilt it from the bottom down. The Russians left the rubble from the explosion to honor the great warrior who 'died' here."

Shadow chuckled a bit and started to let his eyes explore as much of the base that he could see. He looked over to a left wall to see a bunch of cryogenic containment tubes. Under some of the ice that had frozen over the glass, he could see red and black quills. He chuckled again. Eggman could never make a perfect replica. All around were even more pieces of advanced technology. Many Black Arms weaponry but others that looked man/anthro made but was far beyond what he knew. Even with his birth place being the Space Colony ARK, he still recognized little of the machinery. "Tails," Shadow spoke softly, "under all this, how are we going to conduct a counterstrike against Umbra?"

The color drained from Tails face. "That's what I've been working on its just hit a snag that I know that you won't like. You see, when we lost Prower Command 1, we also lost many many robotic soldiers. The ones here are extremely powerful for they were designed by me and Omega, but there are simply not enough of them. We need all of Prower Command 2 to assist with the counter assault." Tails' eyes wandered through the children. "They need to learn the ropes."

There were many sounds of rebuking this idea. "They're too young!" "They don't stand a chance out there!" "The Black Arms would eat them for breakfast." These were just a few of the chidings of the idea.

"I'm sorry, everyone," Tails answered, "but there is no other way. Besides, many of us started fighting Eggman before we were even their age."

There was another mummer of agreement. But Shadow ceased them with slamming his fist on the wall. "Yes, Tails, but Eggman is not as cynical, sadistic, malicious, or psychotic as Umbra Eclipse. Black Doom could only match his cruelty. I should know. We can't send the children out there. To do that to them would be the same as torturing them ourselves. They won't go out there!"