FicWad

It had been a year since Shadow and Aleena were crowned king and queen of Mobius.



Shadow had kept Robotnik as an ambassador since he hadn't given Shadow any reason to strip him of his position.



Since Shadow was now the king of Mobius, he reasoned he could keep a closer watch on the scientist.



Though, that was admittedly getting harder to do. Among Shadow's many other responsibilities as king, he also recently learned that he and Aleena were expecting triplets.



Today, he was asked to inspect the new technology plans Robotnik had been working on.



Shadow followed Robotnik into his lab and saw a few large robots.



"I didn't give you permission to build these." Shadow said.



"They're prototypes." Dr. Robotnik said. "These are the Swatbots."



Shadow folded his arms. "I told you I don't like machines running anything, especially the military."



Dr. Robotnik shook his head. "You've seen too many Terminator films." He said. "That was all fiction."





"Yet here it is, right in front of us." Shadow said.





"Anyway, there's one more thing I want you to see." Robotnik said, leading Shadow to the next machine.



The machine was a large, tunnel-like device.



Shadow noticed the fumes coming out of all of the machines. "They give off a lot of fumes."



"Don't worry about that; it's normal." Robotnik said, waving his hand dismissively.



"On Earth." Shadow replied. "Maria hated that."



"You really need to move on." Robotnik said. "She was my niece and I moved on quicker than you."



Shadow snorted. "Just what is this thing?" He asked, motioning to the machine.



"The roboticizer I was telling you about." Dr. Robotnik said.



"I definitely didn't approve of this." Shadow replied. "I already told you it's unnatural."



"You do realize Maria could've lived longer if I had gotten this finished in time?" Robotnik asked.



"What kind of life is being a mindless robot?" Shadow questioned. "Just because you can try to circumvent the natural order doesn't mean you should. You're going straight to hell for even thinking this abomination was a noble thing."



"You're as close minded as your father." Robotnik said, shaking his head.



"He wasn't close minded enough if he knew of this." Shadow replied. "Leave here. Your status as ambassador of Earth is over."



Shadow turned and walked away.



"That's what you think." Robotnik muttered.

Shadow walked back to his room, trying to figure out where Robotnik was getting the money to build all those machines. He certainly wasn't funding it and he always double checked the royal finances.



His two loyal guards, Cat and Rotor, never trusted Robotnik either. Even Aleena had started noticing something was off.



He finally made it back to his room.



Aleena was laying on the bed, taking a nap.



Shadow sat down beside her as she woke up.



"Oh, there you are." Aleena replied. "I had a strange conversation with Lady Windermere earlier."



"Oh?" Shadow asked.



"She said a lot of the upper class members of society are funding Robotnik." Aleena replied. "She said they're saying he'd make life better with his inventions and that you're stuck in the past."



Shadow shook his head. "He wants a dictatorship over a mindless cyborganic society." He said. "It doesn't matter. I stripped him of his position."





Aleena eased closer to Shadow and laid her head on his chest. "It still makes me uneasy. He knows too much."



Shadow put his arm around Aleena. "I tried to warn my dad." He said. "You'll be okay. I won't let anything happen to you."



"I know." Aleena replied.



Shadow rubbed Aleena's swollen belly with his other hand, feeling the babies' kicks. "Just a few more days."



A muffled metallic scraping distracted the hedgehogs.



"That's not good." Shadow said.



Suddenly, Argus (the captain of their guard) rushed in.



"Robotnik's formed a coup." Argus said.



Shadow helped Aleena up, then rushed to the hidden door in the room. He pressed one of the bricks to open the door. "Get her out of here."



Argus helped Aleena out of the room.



Shadow picked up one of the laser guns nearby and eased closer to the door.



Some more guards rushed in, among them were Cat and Rotor.



"Sire, what're you doing here?" Rotor asked.



"Letting Aleena get a head start." Shadow said. "We can head out-"



Two robots burst into the room.



Shadow, Rotor, and Cat fired their weapons at the robots.



This didn't even faze the robots. However the two machines noticed each other and fired shots, destroying themselves.



Shadow, Rotor, and Cat ran to the window.



"If this is the best he can come up with, I'm not worried." Shadow said. He reached the window and froze. "Now I'm worried."



The whole city of Mobotropolis was on fire.



Cat nudged Shadow. "Don't just gawk, boy, get moving."



Shadow quickly climbed out the window, onto the roof.



After that, it was a simple matter of scaling down each part of the castle one ledge and balcony at a time.



Then, he'd travel a more scenic route to the safe house to be reunited with Aleena.
**
Days later, Shadow and his two guards arrived at the safe house.



Now, the little cottage was smoldering ruins.



Shadow stared in disbelief.



Cat kept watch while Rotor tried to see if anyone had seen survivors or anyone escaping.

**

An hour later, Rotor returned.



"No one's seen anything." Rotor said sadly. "They figure whoever was here is dead now. Also, that shifty bounty hunter, Sleet, is turning any detectors over to Robotnik."



Shadow hung his head. "She couldn't have escaped on her own." He replied. "She was due any day now."



"I'm sorry, sire." Cat and Rotor said.



Shadow sighed. "I just need one thing from you."



Cat and Rotor exchanged nervous glances.



"You saw me, betrayed me." Shadow replied. "The king is dead."



Cat and Rotor nodded.



"Take care of yourself, sire." Rotor said.



Rotor and Cat left for Mobotropolis.



A while back, Shadow had told them to act as spies for him if a coup should ever form. This was their signal to leave.



Shadow walked away, heading to a village called Knothole, just outside of Mobotropolis. He decided Robotnik would pay dearly for destroying his family.