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Honestly, Infinite kind of preferred being dead. At least when he was dead, he didn’t have to look at himself.
He eyes the mirror spanning the entire wall to his right. The casual observation in his face shifts, and he begins to glower at it. Getting across the message to whoever watches on the other side is just a benefit- the person his scowl is really directed at is himself. Ugh, he looks like shit.
The ruby is cracked, pulled away from the skin, not enough to actually remove it from his ribcage (though the scientists with GUN certainly tried) but enough to be excruciatingly painful. Just thinking about it makes him nauseous, which brings him to his next point of scrutiny; his lips are pale, his eyes sunken in, his form thin and shaky.
He looks like he’s in withdrawal, and feels about a million times worse.
He looks… bad. Frail. Though he tries to shove the thought into the back of his mind, he looks weak.
So, yeah. Infinite is having a bad day. As the lock on the interrogation room clicks, his eyes drift from the mirror to the opening door. One glance at who enters is enough to make his day worse.
“No, hell no.” Infinite snaps. His wrists strain against the locks keeping him seated at the table. “I am not talking to you.”
Shadow looks just as enthused. He shuts the door behind himself. “Let’s not make this harder than it has to be.” He mutters.
Infinite takes in a deep breath, and backpedals. The corner of his mouth twitches upwards, baring fangs. “I must’ve broken your fragile mind more than I thought if you think it’s a good idea to face me again.”
Shadow takes the seat across from him, laying out a few documents on the table, thumbing through the one that remains in his hand. He pays no mind to Infinite’s comment as he reads out the highlighted section. “It took GUN 256 days to recover the Phantom Ruby. We started the search on August 29th, approximately 22 days after your initial disappearance. The manhunt continued after we found the ruby.”
“Disappointed you didn’t find me dead?” His nails tap rhythmically against the table.
Shadow looks up from his papers, stares Infinite down with that unreadable, stony expression. It makes Infinite want to claw his face off. “If GUN wanted you dead you wouldn’t be sitting across from me right now. You’d be stuck in whatever would remain when that rock was in pieces.”
Infinite’s smile-snarl falters for a moment. Shadow takes the silence as an indication to proceed.
“While we continued to search, analyzing the ruby became priority. GUN was hoping to find how the power is sourced, where the ruby originated. Something useful,” Shadow emphasizes, breaking his clinical tone. “Instead they found you.”
Infinite’s claws bare, and Shadow’s ear twitches and flattens as they scrape against the metal table. “So he does have a sense of humor.” He grinds out, jaw clenched in a sharp smile.
“It took 58 days to recover and reconstruct what was left of your body, another 43 attempting to remove the Phantom Ruby from your body, and another 127 of you on constant life support to wake up. There has been an undeserved amount of time, energy and resources put forth to get you in this room, alive. Do you understand why?”
Infinite gives up trying to add up the days. A year and a half, at least, since he had been awake. The thought makes him uncomfortable, so he shoves it aside. “So they can torment me one last time with your presence, I’d assume.”
Shadow narrows his eyes. “They want you on trial. For every instance of death and destruction you caused. To lock you in the deepest, darkest cell they can find and watch you rot in it.”
Infinite thinks of the ruby. Not even dark, but absent of light. Not quiet, but absent of noise. Nothing. Null. Rotting there was something unfathomable. Something he couldn’t wish on his worse enemy, even if right now that sounds more appealing than looking at his stupid face.
“How pointless. Drag me out of my prison just to put me in a new one. They might as well have saved the resources and kept me inside the ruby.” Metal screeches as his claws dig in further, and Shadow looks close to cutting off the offending hand.
Instead, his mouth curls, like he’s just eaten a lemon. “That’s what Rouge told them.”
Infinite’s ears perk up.
“She offered something more productive you could be doing. She was interested in sparing you from something inhumane. GUN was interested in another bio-weapon in their arsenal.”
Shadow is stared at like he’s grown a second head. “Don’t tell me.”
Silently, Shadow slides over a piece of paper, which Infinite snatches and reads over. It’s held at an awkward angle in his restrained hand. The first few attempts at reading, his eyes glaze over, and he’s not sure if that’s because he can’t fathom what he’s reading or the suspected brain damage the ruby gave him. He’s hoping for the latter.
“They’re offering me a job. To work with you.”
Shadow’s returned to reading over his documents, frown deeper set in his face than before.
“They want you in charge of me.” Infinite laughs dryly, in disbelief. “I’d rather die.”
Shadow heaves out a sigh. “I’d love to arrange that for you. But that’s not my place.” He pulls himself up from the shitty metal chair, and Infinite watches him cross the room. “Give it some thought. If you’re so desperate for the cell, I know someone who’d be happy to throw you in it.”
The door is shut behind him. Infinite stares, watching the shadow cast beneath the door. It doesn’t move, waiting.
So, work for Shadow the Hedgehog or rot in a dark, cramped cell for the rest of his life.
Infinite is sure; He’d definitely prefer being dead right now.