Duality [INFIDGET]

Chapter Thirteen: Tough Decisions

Zero and Gadget were just about to go to snuggle when they heard voices from above the underground base, they sounded...robotic? Gadget sat up, "Who do you think is up there?" he asked. "I don't know, let's check it out" Zero replied and went to put his clothing on - including his mask as he didn't know who or what was out there.

Zero teleported them to the ground above and found a yellow and a red robot scanning around, Zero recognised this robots immediately. "Orbot? Cubot?" he huffed and crossed his arms.

"Ah! There you are, Infinite!" Orbot exclaimed and looked at the jackal. "And who is this?" Orbot inspected Gadget - only to be smacked away from him by Zero. "What do you want?" Zero got straight to the point.

Orbot straightened himself, "The boss wants you to know that he is ready to progress to the final stage in the plan" he explained, while Cubot scanned Gadget. Gadget growled at the robot and tried backing away, only to be followed by the small yellow robot, being pestered was something Gadget hated.

"Hey! Hey!" Gadget shouted as Cubot touched the ruby in his chest, he swatted the robots hand away and snarled, he was gonna rip that robot into shreds soon.

Zero growled, Orbot got the message and quickly dragged Cubot away from the angered wolf. Gadget stopped his snarling but growled lowly at the robots.

"Why does he have a ruby like yours in his chest?" Cubot finally spoke, recieving a quick slap on the back of his head by Orbot, "Ow!"

"None of your business" Zero responded. "Tell the doctor that I am happy to proceed" he grunted. "And don't ever bother my wolf again" Zero spawned a spear, threatening the robots.

Orbot and Cubot nodded fiercely and flew off to the doctor's base immediately.

---

"Boss? Infinite said that he is happy to proceed" Orbot spoke to Eggman in the chair.

"Perfect. Now, we just need to herd the resistance into a large group, exposed" Eggman stroked his long mustache. "I know how to do that" he chuckled.

---

Gadget sighed, "I hate those robots already." he grunted. Zero chuckled, "I could see, you'll get your hands on them eventually" he patted Gadgets head.

Gadget chuckled, "Thank chaos, that yellow one was really interested in me" he looked at his masked jackal. Zero hummed, "Too interested" he walked off to the woods. "You coming?"

"Why not, nothing else to do currently" Gadget shrugged and followed Zero into the woods. They walked side by side with eachother, Zero kept his mask on for he knew they could come across anything.

As they walked, Zero picked up on soft whimpering in front of them, he crouched low and his ears flicked under the mask. Gadget looked at him in confusion but Zero just gestured for the wolf to get low.

Zero crawled over to the bush where the whimpers came from and used his claws to move the bush out of the way, what he came across shocked him like a stab through the heart.

There, in the bushes, lay a tiny, dark grey coloured wolf covered in a small blanket and a note attached to the blanket. Zero cautiously approached the baby, staying alert in case it was a trap. He took his mask off to sniff the little child, for if there was a scent of another Mobian on them then the child wasn't alone for long and the parents were nearby.

Gadget wondered what was taking Zero so long and decided to crawl up to him, "What's wro-oh my!" Gadget gasped and covered his mouth. Zero shushed the scarlet wolf to not scare the baby and took the note, he sat down and read it, with a wolf looming over his shoulder to read it too.

'To whoever finds this child...
I am writing to you in means of pity, I cannot keep this baby, and so I leave her to your care. She doesn't have a name so please take her as your own.

As I'm writing this note I know my time has come, this war has changed everyone - myself included. I ask for you to not seek me, for I would already be dead.

Keep her safe.'

"Oh my chaos..." Gadget gasped softly.

"Gadget.." Zero sighed and looked at the baby, who was sucking her thumb and looking at him. "We can't leave the baby alone here" he looked at the red furred wolf.

"I know" Gadget sat beside the jackal. "We could adopt her" he blurted out.

Zero blushed gently at the thought of being a parent in such a war-torn time like this, he had business to take care of, heck, even world domination! But alas, even as a worldwide villain, he couldn't muster the thought of this baby staying out in the cold any longer. Zero picked up and cradled the baby and looked down at her, she was freezing, even with the blanket wrapped around her, "Poor thing.." he sighed.

Gadget looked at Zero, hopeful that he would adopt the child with him, he had a particular soft spot for children after all. Zero thought it over, "Hmm...alright then" he decided and nodded. The small being played with one of the jackals gloved fingers, trying to reach for it and bite it.

"Yay! What shall we name her?" Gadget hugged Zero from behind and grinned widely.

"How about...Aurora?" Zero suggested and let their baby bite his gloved finger. "Feisty little one" he chuckled.

Gadget nodded, "A wonderful name, let's head back and get her warmed up, we still need to check and see if she is okay" he stood up and picked up Zero's mask as Zero held Aurora.

The new father nodded and stood up too, cradling Aurora in his arms as they walked. Zero teleported them into the base and walked to the bathroom with Gadget putting Zero's mask in their bedroom. Zero sat on the edge of the bathtub and took off Aurora's blanket, he noticed that the baby was hungry, simply by the fact that she wouldn't stop biting Zeros fingers.

Apart from that, Aurora was well and didn't appear to be sick or hurt in any sort of way, her fur was dirtied a bit but nothing a bath won't wash off. Zero wrapped the blanket around Aurora as she fell asleep in Zero's arms, he chuckled gently and walked to their room.

"She's tired" Zero spoke gently and smiled as he layed down on their bed with Aurora on his chest, sleeping. Gadget curled up to the pair and smiled warmly, "Cutie" he stroked Aurora's fur.

"I love you, Gadget" Zero kissed his lover softly.

"I love you too, Zero" Gadget returned the kiss and rested with Zero and Aurora.

It was at this moment the pair knew their lives would be changed forever, whether it be for the best or for the worst the lovers knew that they had eachother to lean on, and their new bundle of joy was there to keep their spirits up.