A sort of follow up/Sequel to Sunset Showdown, based on another two pics by Tigerfog: art/Shadow-guilty-and-on-the-run-14985031 and art/Shadow-Amy-chased-by-G-U-N-9821028
The freezing night air stung Shadow's throat as he struggled to run in the chains shackled to his wrists and ankles. It felt like he'd been running for hours, his lungs burned as he pressed on.
He stumbled across a lonely road, his feet felt heavy as he made his way into an alleyway. His back fell against the wall and he slid to the floor, breathing heavily, desperately trying to regain his strength.
After a few minutes, Shadow's ears pricked up; someone was coming. It sounded like some heavy machine walking down the street. He'd found him!
Suddenly two huge lights shone down the alley, illuminating every grime encrusted crevice. Shadow's eyes ached as he tried to see past the lights as a silhouette stepped down from the machine and walked towards him. Shadow felt all his hope vanish as the silhouette was revealed to be a young two tailed fox boy.
The boy walked up to Shadow and stared at him with bloodshot eyes. Shadow could tell he'd been crying. Before he could notice anything else Tails' fist struck his face, knocking the dark hedgehog head first into a garbage can. Tails continued to punch and kick Shadow until he was no longer able to. Panting, the young fox finally spoke, "Why, Shadow!? Dammit, why did you do it!?"
Shadow forced himself up, blood dripping from his mouth, "I've told you…I told everyone…I did not murder Amy!"
"Liar! It's been all over the news! We all know you shot her in cold blood and then attacked GUN choppers to try and cover it up!" Tails screamed.
"Look, if you're planning to kill me, I'm all out of energy…so all I ask is that you listen to my side of the story."
Tails paused before nodding and so Shadow began.
3 days ago
Shadow was standing on a bridge over a freeway, staring down at the cars with his arms folded. His ear twitched as he heard footsteps behind him and a familiar cheery voice, "Well well, so is this what you do in your spare time?"
Shadow looked over his shoulder to see Amy Rose holding a shopping bag, "I like watching the cars…is that how you spend your time?" he asked, pointing at the bag.
"Oh, yeah. I just bought a few things, I'm planning to invite Sonic over for dinner." Amy replied with a smile. Shadow chuckled, "You're certainly devoted to him, even if he doesn't show those feelings to you in return."
"Well I'll just keep trying til he does." she said simply.
Suddenly two helicopters wearing the GUN logo flew overhead. A spotlight hit both the hedgehogs and a voice over a megaphone called out; "Shadow the Hedgehog. You are under arrest. Lay down on the ground and spread your arms and legs out."
"What the Hell is this? I didn't even do anything?" Shadow asked.
"I dunno but they seem serious." said Amy, pointing to the two miniguns mounted on each chopper.
"I gotta get out of here." Said Shadow as he jumped up onto the railing of the bridge. The pilot in the chopped shouted to the other, "Hey, you arrest the pink one, I'll go after Shadow!"
"What!? I'm in trouble too!?" Amy shouted, "Shadow, take me with you!" She dropped her bag and jumped at Shadow, who caught her and dove off the bridge, just as a hail of bullets was fired at them.
The two landed on the roof of a truck and sped away. Shadow let Amy down and she curled up, shaking, "Oh God! What's going on? Why're they after us?"
"I dunno, but whatever it is, we don't wanna just give ourselves up. I remember when I worked for GUN a while back, I saw what they did to those they captured."
For about a minute the truck rolled along in silence until the tension filled calm was broken by the sound of helicopter blades whirring. Shadow and Amy looked back to see both choppers following them.
"Oh God, they found us!" Amy cried
"They're gaining fast, we gotta move!" Shadow said as he frantically looked around and saw another truck beside the one they now stood on. "Amy, we have to jump. If we get close to the buildings, I can use Chaos Control to slow down time and we can make a jump to a fire escape or something."
"O..ok Shadow.." Amy stuttered, shivering with fright. Shadow went first, leaping from the first truck to the second. However the pilot saw what they were planning and opened fire. Amy screamed in shock as sparks flew from the bullets piercing the metal roof. She desperately dove across to Shadow but as she flew through the air the bullets reached her. Amy cried out as blood sprayed from her as she was shot all over, her legs, her stomach, chest, even her head. Her lifeless body fell with a thud on the roof of the second truck and Shadow stared down in horror as blood pooled around her. Another innocent girl had now been murdered by GUN trying to get to him. This sweet, innocent girl had nothing to do with whatever GUN wanted with him and now she was dead! Shadow felt something inside him welling up, a familiar sensation; pure rage and hatred. As the choppers continued to give chase Shadow's pupils dilated and his entire eyes faded into milky whiteness. His skin darkened until it was as black as his fur and his blood red streaks turned midnight blue. Shadow felt himself being consumed by his anger and gladly gave into it. In an instant he threw himself at the choppers and proceeded to tear them apart. They both crashes into the road in flaming balls of burning metal. Shadow emerged from the wreckage and summoned all his energy into one glowing ball of Chaos Energy and hurled it at the remains, causing an explosion that destroyed the road itself, sending chunks of rubble and concrete flying in the blast…however after using so much energy, Shadow was exhausted and fell to the road as he blacked out. His last sight being of the black smouldering remnants of the choppers.
When Shadow awoke he was in a glass capsule at GUN HQ, wearing handcuffs and leg cuffs. He looked around and saw he was in a lab filled with computer terminals. Several screens mounted to the wall showed camera footage of his attack on the choppers being played by different news stations. The reporters claiming that 3 nights ago Shadow murdered Amy but was seen by the choppers and destroyed them to hide what he had done. As he listened he felt his blood boil, his name was now ruined if the public believed the bullshit GUN was spouting. He had to get out and clear his name…but how?
Shadow sat for hours trying to plan his escape, which proved harder then he first anticipated; he didn't recognise the area from his time working here. He'd never been to the labs, only ever seen video footage of the experiments taking place in them, and the area was no doubt covered in the force fields GUN had developed to block him warping through with Chaos Control.
As if answering his prayers, he suddenly heard a loud explosion that shook the lab. The scientists started shouting and all ran, leaving him trapped. After 20 minutes of listening to the gun battles and explosions get closer and closer, the door blew off it's hinges and smoke bellowed into the room. Shadow stood up and watched as a blue mech stomped into the room, driven by a small fox boy. "Tails! I'm glad to see you. Have you come to help me out?"
Tails didn't answer, but Shadow noticed a look of hate on the fox's face as he pushed a button on the mech and energy began to form in the cannon. It fired and shattered the glass holding Shadow.
Not waiting to find out what Tails was planning, Shadow immediately broke into a run, or rather the closest thing given the leg cuffs. A second blast from the cannon narrowly missed Shadow and he whirled round in surprise.
"I'll kill you!" Tails yelled, Shadow dove to the floor to avoid a third blast and ran as fast as he could. Almost instantly he knew he couldn't possibly outrun Tails or make it out of the base with the chains holding him, he had only one chance; induce Chaos Control and hope Tails cleared out a path large enough to warp through and out, without getting blocked by the barriers. As a forth blast flew at the back of Shadows head he called out the words and disappeared. He felt himself rush through the base at light speed and finally fell to the floor outside the smoking, destroyed doors to the base. It'd take Tails a while to battle his way back outside, which gave him a good chance to run and hide and so Shadow set off into the twilight city.
Present
As Shadow concluded his story Tails fell against the wall, his eyes overflowing with Tears, "Amy…why would they kill you like that?…" he punched the wall, Shadow could tell it really hurt, given the amount of force he used, "Why couldn't I have been there to save you?"
Shadow sighed, "Tails, I ask myself that exact same question every day about Maria…"
Tails sobbed into his gloved hands, "It hurts, Shadow. It hurts so much."
"I know, and unfortunately it never goes away…not if you truly loved them…all you can do is live your life and remember them…don't let yourself die with her…"
Tails looked up at the beaten hedgehog, "Shadow…I…I'm sorry for.."
"It's alright…I'll live.." he said with a small smile. Tails sniffled as he stood up and turned to walk away.
"Where're you going?" Shadow asked. Tails didn't answer, he just walked back into the blackness behind the mech's lights.
For a minute Shadow thought he was leaving, but he soon heard Tails' footsteps returning. He walked back into the light holding a screwdriver. Shadow watched as Tails knelt down and began fiddling with the hand and leg cuffs until finally they both popped open, freeing him.
"Thank you, Tails."
"Shadow…let me make it up to you…come stay with me until this whole thing's fixed."
Shadow paused, surprised at the young boy's request. He nodded and Tails helped him to his feet and they made their way back to the mech.