"You Precious Moon" Aperture Science Psychoacous Labratory
"Pairbond - Bioshock 2 Theme" Sounds from the Lighthouse (Aaaand now we're back to Bioshock, folks...)
Chapter Eleven
"Are you crazy?" Kat exclaimed.
"Tails, just try to shake this thing loose!" Shadow glanced back out the window at the object on the engines.
Tails ignored them and let the ship be pulled by gravity. The nose of the X Tornado slowly turned until it was facing the ocean, which was rushing up to meet them faster than expected. The thing on the ship was weighing them down. Tails tried to think of a way to get it off without turning the engines back on, but before he came to a conclusion, the thing pushed off the ship.
Tails grabbed the controls as the force from the push sent them falling fast. He pulled up with all his strength, trying to pull the nose of the ship away from the planet.
A grassy field was where Tails was aiming to land, but the X Tornado seemed dead set on the vast ocean that the town was placed by.
"Tails, whatever that thing was is still following us." Shadow growled, glancing out the window. The leathery creature was just a black bullet, it's wings tuck to it's back as it shot through the air towards the ship.
The fox let go of the steering controls, letting the ship fall towards the ocean.
"Oh my god, what are you doing now, you crazy mother fu-" Kat's hysteria was cut off as two jet black things that crackled with electricity just barely missed the ship. "What was that?"
Tails waited until the ocean was close enough that he could see each individual wave. He had to be careful and make sure everything was timed precisely.
"Tails," Kat growled "Turn the engines on."
"Hold on." Tails narrowed his blue eyes, watching the ocean speed towards them.
"No. Not hold on. Turn the engines on now. If we hit the water, we'll crumple like a tin can, the force is too great."
Tails waited a couple more seconds, waiting until he could hear the ocean from inside the ship. The the engines burst into life and the fox instantly pulled the controls up. They were so close to the water that droplets landed on the windows from waves. Tails skimmed the surface of the water, trying to gain altitude.
He pulled up and just as the ship was less than a foot away from the water, there was a massive splash. The X Tornado veered up, towards land, avoiding the after wave. Tails realized he'd been holding his breath the whole time, and exhaled.
"Well," He said after a moment "There you go. It's gone. Problem solved."
Shadow and Kat were staring wide-eyed out the window, heads pressed into the head rests.
"So, what was that thing?" Shadow growled. They stood beside the X Tornado, Tails making some quick, minor repairs to the engines with the emergency tool kit that was in a hidden compartment on the ship.
"I wasn't able to make anything out of it. All I could see was the wings." Kat leaned against the side of the ship.
"Well, whatever it was, it was certainly powerful." Tails grunted as he took a step back from the engines. "If I hadn't reacted the way I did, it might have ripped the engines straight out."
"Well, we don't exactly have a great track record when it comes to our plans and your crafts..." Kat muttered, though no one seemed to hear, so she crossed her arms stubbornly and tipped her hat lower.
Shadow was silent for a moment, his arms crossed, staring down at the ground. His red eye flashed. "You don't suppose it was...?" He trailed off, not looking up from the ash-lined grass.
Tails wiped oil from his hands and slipped his gloves back on. "If it was Mortuus, then we were lucky to get out of that alive."
"I wonder why he didn't kill us." Kat said distantly. "If he's in Shine, then he would certainly have enough power to do so."
"But that doesn't make any sense." Shadow looked up at Kat. "If Mortuus has taken over my sister, then my sister would have attacked us, not some bat-creature."
"It did have wings..." Tails thought aloud.
"But Shine's wings have feathers!" Shadow insisted.
"Shadow," Tails looked at his old friend "Remember when Mortuus possessed me, and I attacked you?"
The black and red hedgehog cringed at the memory. "Yes."
"Do you remember how it mutated me? Morphed me into something I wasn't?" Tails went on. "After all, how could you forget?"
Shadow's eye softened. His hand fluttered up to his blind eye, then dropped. His eye glazed, which was unusual for him nowadays. "Then how, do you suppose, are we going to get Mortuus out of Shine's head?"
Tails looked out at the distant town, smoke still wafting gently into the sky. "I don't know." Tails murmured. "I hate to say it, but there may not be a way."
Even Kat didn't object, her eyes somber as she stared blankly at the ground.