Author Note: Thank you for the reviews! I been having quite some fun writing these chapters although some parts is kind a sad. This chapter is quite long hopefully not to long :) enjoy!
Three days earlier
The electricity was now fully back online and shadow was enjoying his free time outside the town. He put his hand on the ebony belly purring softly to himself. The food made him feel so much better and he was tempting to buy some more of it. Well if he even had money to begin with. Last time he tried to buy something it ended up with a failure. It was empty and he wasn't even sure if he even got paid anymore. After thinking about it for quite some time it was decided. He was going to buy some food, Chilidog to be precise. Shadow had located the place sonic had bought the food before. So he went straight for it and hoped nobody would recognize him.
When he arrived he carefully looked around. First of "people" secondly "G.U.N" and third "sonic" there weren't so many humans around so he decided to take the risk.
He went over to the hot dog stand and nervously bit his lower lip. Shadow never had done something like this before.
"Ehm two chilidogs please." He ordered and got a cheerful smile from the worker.
"Alright I am on it." She said either not knowing who he was or didn't care. He waited patiently and soon the chilidogs were placed before him. He gave the woman the card and put the code in. She sighed and gave back the card.
"I am sorry but your card is empty." She sadly looked at the agent who wanted to go straight to G.U.N and demand the money.
"I apologize I didn't know that. I didn't want to put that effort on you to make them." Shadow said and looked down to the ground in shame.
"Don't worry you will get them for free." She smiled and handed them over. Shadow blinked confused why she would do that!?
"Why?" He asked trying to hide the fact that he was happy, but also a bit suspicious. Either she worked for someone and tried to poison him or thought he was sonic.
"Well I don't mind giving it for free to you. I mean you are shadow after all I think it's fair enough that you get free food now and then. You work hard to make our city a better place. Besides you looked awful hungry."
Shadow couldn't stop the tiny smile that formed on his muzzle. He liked this woman already she was sweet just as Maria, Understanding and she wasn't scared.
"Thank you." Shadow replied and how much he liked to see that human smile. He saw to many similarities with Maria. Although this woman had brown hair put in a ponytail and a cap on her head. Typical red and white cloths and a bit of an accent he couldn't place. He could guess her age would be around 20-30 and quite attractive as well. He looked at her and spotted her name tag "Sandra"
"You welcome please tell me what you think."
Shadow nodded and took a bite he ended the first one quickly and looked back to the human.
"It's really good." He answers honestly.
"That's good to hear!" She smiled; shadow wished he had met her sooner. He felt awful comfortable in her company. Before he could take another bite of another Chilidog two black cars pulled over wearing the big G.U.N tag on it.
"Agent shadow you have to come with us or we have to use the hard way." Shadow frowned and took his first bite of the other Chilidog.
The woman decided to interact and got out from the hot dog stand. She looked anything but happy.
"You!" She pointed at the man who gave her a cold glare.
"I know your organization very well and I don't like your methods this is my place and you are not welcome here!"
Shadow gulped as the woman had dared to face them. He shoves the rest of the Chilidog in his mouth and gently pulled back the female.
"Don't worry I will be fine." Shadow saluted to the one in charge feeling no need to fight back. He assumed it was just one of these "missions" again. And when he was at it he could ask for the money he was promised. But he wasn't really in shape for missions, but he does rather go with them than make a fuss about it. Could possibly ask for more time but he was certain the commander didn't have that patience. The card must have given off his location but he didn't mind that.
The man however picked up his communicator.
"Sir we have a situation..." He turned around and talked with the "commander" shadow assumed. Instead of eavesdropping the soldier he turned his attention to Sandra.
"I will pay back when I got the money." Shadow assured making the woman smile.
"No silly it was for free you can stop by anytime for more." She said and reached out to shake his hand but didn't get that far before a loud 'PANG' was heard. Crimson eyes widened as the woman fell. Shadow reached out for Sandra but it was too late, she hit the ground without a sound. The agent in shock stared at her; he just talked to her seconds ago and now... Blood was flowing down her forehead, she was gone he shot her. Shadow tried to progress what just happen why it happen. He quickly went down on his knees trying to locate a pulse. He found none and began to tremble holding back the emotions that was growing.
"Please no..no no." He panicked and couldn't force the tears back, it was too sudden. Shadow gently started to shake the dead body as if she would wake up. She was dead but he refused to admit it. History repeats itself...his vision flashed back to Marias death for a millisecond making him whines. He looked back at the woman he didn't have any time to say goodbye…but maybe that was for the best. She would have suffered if it was a slow painful death.
But there had been a chance to save her if the bullet hadn't struck in such killing spot. He could have saved her! If he just had paid attention to the soldier he could have saved her! Or if he never showed up to begin with she would still be alive! Why did everyone die that got to close to him? He put his head in his hands and sobbed. Shadow the ultimate life form couldn't save ONE human AGAIN! What was all that power for if he could never save the ones he cared for? Yes! He might have just met this woman but he never met any human on earth that was this nice to him.
Anger started to grow but he had to keep it in. If he didn't he might destroy the whole city starting with the G.U.N soldiers.
Shadow gasped as the soldier kicked him hard in the gut sending him flying until his body hit the ground. The agent ignored the pain and manages to convulsive sit up.
"Aren't you the ultimate life form? So why are you crying?" The murderer smirked and pointed the gun at shadow. The crimson eyes stared at the ground he didn't want to see them. The urge to kill them was getting stronger each second. He tried to shut out reality but he couldn't, his mind didn't allow him to. First Maria now Sandra was he really the ultimate life form?
"Mariaa..." He wailed and hid his eyes behind the palms. The ebony hedgehog curled to a ball and tremble. Shadow felt so pathetic stupid emotions! He shouldn't care about anyone or anything. He didn't know the woman that was killed; there was no reason to be sad about? The problem was he was scared not of the soldiers or anyone else for that matter. He was scared of himself, he was on the edge. Keep that anger in control was near to impossible. His quills flexed and pointed threatening upwards. He couldn't control it any longer and snapped out from the curled ball with a wide smirk on his muzzle.
"You want to see an ultimate life form in action? Well you asked for it!" He growled and dashed towards the soldiers and with the mere force sent them flying. Shadow chuckled entertained before he approached the murderer. His subconscious made sure the humans wasn't killed but surely injured.
The killer groaned in pain as he had hit his head on the car. Shadow chuckled at his discomfort humans certainly is fragile. The crimson eyes spotted the gun on the ground and picked it up.
"This is a killing machine...made for only one purpose." Shadow mumble and smirked wider as he pointed it at the man. The human got suddenly terrified and put his hands in the air.
"Pl..please don't shoot!" He begged causing shadow to frown.
"You killed a woman an innocent woman! Just like what happen to Maria! You...you deserve to die." Shadow smirked and was about to pull the trigger but instead froze in the last second. He quickly threw away the gun as if it burned his hand. So close..so close he killed another man for revenge. This was nothing Maria would have wanted! Neither did he! Shadow wished to save lives not take them. Why was it so hard for people to understand that? But being pressured like this...it almost set him off.
"Why..." Shadow growled furiously as the man tried to crawl over to the gun. The hedgehog went over and crushed his back to the ground preventing him to go further. His hand was just inches from the gun and the murderer looked up terrified.
"Why did you kill her!?"
The human swallowed hard as sweat travel down his forehead.
"She was in the way...and...a threat to the community." He answers and groaned as shadow put more weight on his back.
"A threat to the community!? How!? Because she talked to me?" Shadow hissed and trembles in anger tempted again to end his life.
"Tell me!?" Shadow yelled loudly but got no respond. Suddenly another pang and the bullet hit shadows shoulder. The surprise gunshot caused him to fall down to the ground beside the murderer. One of the other soldiers managed to recover from the previous blow. The soldier grinned as he managed to hit the target even with the blurred vision. Shadow hissed in pain and slowly got up on his knees.
"Don't move! or I will shoot again!" The man said while the killer stood up and kicked shadow again.
"Yes she was getting to close to you shadow the ultimate life form. And you are under arrest!"
Shadow growled as a response and before the humans could handcuff him he disappear
He reappears in an alley not too far away but got awful dizzy because of the chaos control. Shadow still wasn't in perfect shape for a teleport especially when he currently only wore two rings.
But what was worse was the guilt. That woman was dead because of HIM! But why was all of this happening? He was working for G.U.N why would they attack him plus an innocent person!? What had he done to piss them off!?
He had to find out what was going on, however wasn't emotional stable at the moment. If he met another of those soldiers he possibly would end them. His thoughts returned to the woman again and he hit the wall in frustration. Shadow shakes his head to get rid of the thoughts. If he got upset again he would lose himself to anger or grief. The ultimate life form rubbed his eyes getting rid of the remaining tears and tries to focus on the situation. He shoves away the thoughts of Sandra along with Maria. Both were to emotional subjects at the moment and he didn't have afforded with another break down.
All he knew for sure was that G.U.N wasn't calling him for missions.
Shadow heard a swirling noise from the sky most likely a helicopter at least two of them. They were searching for him the, G.U.N tag was nicely placed on its sides. But he didn't need to see that to know it belonged to the organization. His heart rate increased they were heading his way most likely using heat cameras.
"All units to Central Square! Unknown Woman Cooperated with shadow is now eliminated! But the hedgehog is still loose." He heard the murderer say making him growl furiously catching their attention to the alley.
But he soon took off quickly skating down the roads. Shadow gritted his teeth as he skate past a couple of soldiers. He never knew that G.U.N had so many soldiers! They were everywhere! Gun bettles swarming the area took chase when he was spotted.
He was almost out from the city but was shocked to see G.U.N blocking the way. The organization had planned this through. F-6t Big Foot was lined up on the roads and fired its missiles when he got close to their range. Shadow growled and made a sharp U turn before anything managed to hit him. He faced the bettles that rapid fire without proper target. Shadow saw no need to hold back against them and homing attacked them one and another.
"There he is Fire!" The soldiers yelled and didn't seem to care that they destroyed the surroundings in the progress. Shadow easily evaded them but didn't notice the Diablon until it fire its laser beam nearby causing him to crash into a building. The agent groaned in pain but got up on his feet quickly as the Diablon charged another beam. G.U.N had done so many improvements on the robots since the Ark incident. It was difficult for him to keep up the pace, Shadow hissed as a bullet brushed past his muzzle.
If he just had his full chaos energy… then he would be able to teleport past the robots and out from the city. Shadow cursed at the fact that he had used the teleport recklessly before. He could fight back and possibly force his way through. But he couldn't risk it; there was no way he would get past unharmed. It was like an army, and he didn't even have the energy to begin with.
He had to find Rouge or Omega quickly that would be the best bet to escape and find out what was going on. Unless commander already sent them away. It wouldn't surprise him at all, because they were his loyal...friends? Shadow bit his lower lip and kept dodging the bullets as he zigzag through the city.
There were other citizens outside but thankfully for them the soldiers was trained enough to not accidentally shoot them. It wasn't like they were storm troopers with aiming skills like a blind kid.
Another Diablon shot at him but missed and instead hit a smaller building. G.U.N didn't care AT ALL! Shadow gasped as it fell down and possibly killed all the citizens in it. After two hours constant chase he found a hiding place to take a breath. Shadow was getting exhausted, G.U.N pressured him to much and the agent didn't want to harm the humans. Shadow growled as the wound in his shoulder made itself known.
It wasn't that bad because it already healed a bit but it hurt no less. His ebony ears perked as a robot approached him. Shadow growled at first as it appearance looked more like a gun hunter. But soon the shape became clear and the hedgehog mentally smiled…Finally some luck.
"Omega!" Shadow relaxed as he got better view of his teammate.
"Could you tell me what is going on? G.U.N been attacking me and others without clear motive!" Shadow gritted his teeth but the robot remained silent.
The hedgehog slowly walked over to the robot and flinched in shock as omegas sharp hands was replaced with rotary cannons. The robot aimed the destructive weapons at the hedgehog without hesitation.
"Omega..it's me shadow..." He put up his hands while slowly backing off. Without warning it fire at him, shadow put up his arms to protect himself. He gasped as most of the bullets went through his flesh and causing him to almost fall down by the pressure. The bullets had hit his arms hips and a bit of his left leg but nothing critical.
The robot reloads but shadow didn't wait for it to fire again. Omega most likely been reprogrammed to hunt him down. Shadow whined as he forced his injured body to return to skate through the city. What did they want!? Maybe he should turn himself in? By the look of it they just wanted to kill him. He couldn't be sure but if they wanted him dead the robot would have done a killing blow. Unless Omega still had some minor senses left.
His chaos energy was getting dangerously low; he had to find another hiding place quickly! He growled as rain drops hit his body. The sky was covered in dark clouds and it soon rain poured down. His black pelt was soaked wet and put more weight causing him to slow down.
But shadow soon enough found an abandoned warehouse and didn't hesitate to jump through the window. Shadow hissed in pain as he realized that the glass had cut him. This weak chaos energy didn't protect his body anymore. Usually he would be able to stand against bullets. Or any other attack for that matter!
But not only damages got to him his emotions was going high wire again, he was so stressed. Shadow closed his eyes and tried to calm down, easier said than done.
He had to know why they wanted him arrested or killed! A sick feeling hit his stomach forcing him to hunch over and puke up the food. His body tried to push out more of it although there was nothing left. Shadow panted loudly and backed off as he tried to regain control of his upset belly, he rubbed his eyes before he wiped his lips.
"Damn it." He groaned painfully as the throat was now burning. Shadow grimace at the aftertaste before he scanned the area, there was a lot of boxes here and there. Didn't look like the place been active for years. But it was just a matter of time before G.U.N located the area. Shadow had after all left blood tracks here and there and it wasn't hard to spot. But then again the rain might wash it away if he was lucky. But luck was the least thing on his side.
He slowly sat down on one of the boxes and turned to tend his damages. Omega was surely a powerful robot, even if he was created by Eggman himself. G.U.N managed to do a lot of improvements on him more than shadow thought they were capable of. The scientist had forced the humankind to put more effort with developing killing machines.
Shadow squeezed his eyes shut as his body rejected the bullets and pushed it out. Now the chaos energy wasn't mainly focused in fleeing it could take its full attention to heal its owner.
Shadow inhaled the dusty air in the warehouse, it was quiet and calm. His good start of the day had turned into something so horrible. He hugged himself and covered the wounds with his hands while tremble slightly.
"I have endured worse..." Shadow whispered to himself but wasn't sure if that was true. He been on earth for three years during that time treated like an invader and a monster. Used for others selfish wishes, manipulating lies and confuse him to get what they want. So many people around him that wanted him dead. Little to no social interaction without involving business. Now a woman he came across he got awful fond with was brutally murdered before his eyes.
Just as Maria…murdered! But when that happen he was launched down to earth after losing everything he had. Then land on the planet just to be forced down in a freezing pod. He had been so scared when those soldiers activated the freezing pod. But the fear along with his true personality got drowned in that amnesia. Shadow became a complete different person thanks to that.
When he finally was freed revenge consumed him to completely destroy earth.
But back then his energy had been at the top. He withstands these types of attacks from G.U.N. As well didn't care to kill someone that was in his way.
How confusing things became when he unlocked his memories. Two personalities in the same person, he still had problem to fuse them together. Sometimes he wished he could just let go of the "good" part of himself. That past innocent version of himself smiling cheerfully just likes the hero himself. That Shadow knew how to use his power but never did the thought cross his mind to inflict it on a living being. The only thing he wanted was to be with Maria, his sister maybe even mother figure. He got her attention and affection ever since he was a hoglet. Shadow closed his eyes in a drowsy way as a flashback played up with Maria embracing him. He remembers the scent the safety and happiness that seemed to shine from her. How her patting would make him purr and wag his tail. Never did his quills harm her in fact they were just as soft as his fur in her presence. Shadow flinched as a lighting struck and forcefully brought him back to reality.
He opens his eyes just to see the dark dusty warehouse. This is what his life looks like now and to compare that with the past just made things worse.
Maybe he should just return to be evil again and fight alongside Eggman. They were after all somewhat related.
Shadow snorted at the thought and got up on his feet. His crimson eyes spotted a dirty fabric in one of the boxes. He went over and pulled it out in hope to find something to cover up his injures. But instead found a arber jacket , shadow sighed he wasn't a big fan of cloths. But he could possibly blend in with that. The hedgehog coughed as the dust was released as he put it on.
It was a human sized jacket so it was covering his legs and he had to roll up the arms. He never realized how small he really was until now. The hood was not big enough though so he couldn't hide his head which he mostly wanted. Shadow walked around pulling out things from the boxes here and there to find something useful. He smirked as he found the perfect cover, an umbrella. Suddenly lighting struck nearby, making the warehouse lit up for a millisecond.
His ears perked up at the sound of an explosion, the lighting struck something. Shadow went over to the window and saw dark smoke further away; it possibly hit one of the many machines G.U.N chased him with. Shadow smirked at the thought the weather was with him. But that didn't mean he was out of the danger zone. The ebony hedgehog went over to the broken window and carefully climbed out. He unfolded the black umbrella and walked casually down the pavement. His fur stood up when he saw the soldiers far ahead coming his way. His heart beat faster and hoped that his shoes didn't give away the disguise; he angled the umbrella to cover his head. The soldiers ran past him without paying much attention.
The hedgehog sighed in relief at their stupidity, but the problem now was how to find Rouge. Sonics home was a bit outside the city and G.U.N already locked all possible paths out from station square.
But then again…he didn't want to meet his rival anytime soon, although at the same time….
needed his help.
