Chapter 11:

Change of Sides

A slight chill woke her up, she blinked a few times to clear up her vision, hoping to see that either she woke up from a nightmare, and lay in a motel bed accidentally leaving the window open. Or she was lying outside of the building her nightmare took place, lying by the steps, where someone would see her and take her to a hospital and save her life from being tortured any longer from the pain she felt in her head.

Neither one was what she seen…

She was lying in the middle of a huge circular room, with white walls and a slick floor. On to her right, she seen Samiria, Jared, Espio, and Onterage chained by their necks, arms, and legs to the wall, lying on the floor knocked out as well, and lay motionless. One thing Misty noticed was Samiria looked a lot more normal. The deed was done!

The girl hedgehog also spotted Darren beside Onterage, slowly getting up onto his knees with scars and bruises all over, and his silver skin ruined by the blood that stained him badly. She wasn't sure though whether to run over and help him, or to stay and hope she wasn't to be the first killed.

There was a sinister laugh that echoed through the room a few seconds later, and Misty spun her head around to see her nightmare standing just feet away.

"So you've finally awakened Misty." Mince laughed evilly.

Misty quickly leaped to her feet, and stood ready to run, her heart gaining beats, shaking her a little in her chest, "You!"

Mince knew what she was thinking, and started to walk towards her very slowly, "I'm surprised that you've still haven't gotten a scratch, except from me. To see such a young hedgehog here, avoiding everything that came her way is something you don't see everyday, now is it?"

Misty started to walk backwards, keeping the distance between her and Mince the same, "If you think I'm valuable, you're looking at nothing, I'm worthless! So leave me and my friends alone!"

Mince started to speed his pace a little, and got even closer, "It's not just your value, that chip you have is what I'm seeking, and it decides whether you and your friends deserve to live or not."

"Don't do it Misty!" Samiria howled.

The two quickly spun their heads towards the wolf, which sat on her knees and blood drained from her lips.

She snarled, "Don't even do it."

Mince then started his pace again while Misty stared at her for a second, making his steps silent. Misty then turned her head back at the chameleon and stared at him with a menacing glare as he walked towards her, while she stood her ground, and made sure not to turn and run, for now.

The chameleon was just feet away from her, and stopped, "I do not mean of any harm if you're willing to cooperate. So you know. Just give me the chip, and all of, you, including Espio, will walk out of here without anymore harm done."

She stood and stared at him, his tail flicking back and forth with a bit of patience, his hands behind his back, and his eyes looking directly into hers. For some odd reason she felt a little as ease all of a sudden, and loosened up from being so tense.

He stepped forward to her, and knelt on his knees, and stared at her with a bit of a grin, and put out his right hand, "If you trust me, then give me the chip."

Jared woke up, and shook his head to shake the tiredness form his head, and so did Espio and Onterage. When they seen Mince so close to her, they held their breaths, and watched as Misty stood in front of him without fear in her eyes. Darren wasn't calm about what Misty was planning on doing, and knew that the next move she makes, could be her last, even if she surrendered the chip.

Misty stared up and Mince, and the feeling of being at ease grew bigger, and she felt a bit of trust actually be transferred into her. His red eyes seemingly appealing, and she seen some innocence, but not enough to call him normal. She took a deep breath, and reached down into her pocket, and drew out the chip in her hand, the small thing was the size of her fingernail, and looked like a small key of some sort. She made a note in her head about the device that distorts gravity, and knew that if she handed the chip to him, she'd have nothing to activate this device with. But if she didn't, she might not make it out alive from this underground lab.

She raised her hand above his with the chip clutched in it, and took a huge deep breath again. Mince waited patiently, and watched as her hand slowly, his tail now still, and his body heating up. Misty opened her hand, and opened it to where her fingers extended out.

Nothing dropped form her hand.

Mince stared at her, and his eyes quickly went from peace, to an irritation. She smiled, and flicked her hand down towards his belt, using her telekinesis, she snatched the keys she had, and bolted to the side. The chameleon quickly bolted after her, his eyes shifting to black with red slits, and snarled violently as he ran after her. Misty seen that there was no glass to protect the others, and made a sharp left, while throwing the keys to Espio, and shifting to her fox form. The keys slide to Espio's feet, and quickly the chameleon used his chained feet to drag them underneath him, just before Mince screeched to a halt just in front of him, swinging his tail almost across his face.

Misty came to a halt, and stared at the mutant wit her fox blue eyes, and watched the creature stare her down with the evil eyes, and slowly mutating into a larger form. She showed a little of a nervous expression as the chameleon grinned at her evilly, and hissed slightly.

She seen something move on his stomach, and glanced down a little at it, within that second, a large snake head jumped form his skin, and enlarged swiftly to where the mouth stretched open and was bigger than her, with fangs that were just barely smaller than her fox legs. She her legs froze, and she felt like she couldn't move from her position from the sight of the creature that shot at her, since she could move from the shock, and started to panic. She lowered her head, and blue fire lit under her paws, and a ring of blue fire surrounded her, rose around her into a fire shield that made the creature run into it, and forced it back into Mince's skin, burning him severely. Mince grabbed his stomach, and feel to his knees, screeching loudly, slouching over and could barely move from the intense burn.

The mutant then flicked his head up and snarled at her, and jumped to his feet and bolted at her again. This time shifting quickly into a mutant of speed, sleek and slim, his body deforming with muscles bulging through his skin, and veins indenting his body head to toe.

Just before the mutant could land on her, she shot from her placement to her right, leaving a small fire trail behind her that quickly faded just seconds afterwards. Mince then chased her, snarling violently and his hissing deep with lust, making the shape-shifter run around the room, and soon made her run up the walls. Misty ran up the walls with great speed, with Mince closely behind, following every step, and avoiding the burning trail she left behind her, it was like watching stunt motorcyclists in a closed sphere, only in this case, it was a life or death situation.

Quickly Espio grabbed the keys with his chained hands and got close to Onterage, and unlocked her hands. The two then switched and she unlocked his, and unlocked their collars and feet, and moved to Darren first.

The fox then leaped onto a ceiling fan, and ducked from Mince's leaped, making the mutant collapse onto the floor on all fours and spinning back around to face her up on the ceiling. The ceiling fan swayed back and forth from Misty's movements, screeching faintly from Misty's weight, soon making the wire crack from the ceiling. Seeing a chance, Mince shot up his Serpent again, and forced the fox to jump from the ceiling fan, just as the Serpent took a chunk of the ceiling fan off. Mince then shifted to normal, and prepared another range attack from where he stood, which was a few yard from Espio and Onterage's stance.

Darren was release, within seconds, the silver chameleon drew out from behind him his katana, and charged at his brother at full speed, swinging his katana back after taking a large step, then threw the sword forward as he was about to take another towards Mince. The katana sliced through Mince's side like butter, but was drawn back out short, and was taken out before Darren hit Mince's spine. The mutant screeched loudly, his body jolting into a state of shock from the attack, and made Darren back up a few steps. Mince quickly spun around, his side and his back sewing back together, restoring Mince's slice, rejuvenating him greatly.

Misty quickly ran around the two as Darren pressured Mince to get to the center of the room with his katana. The fox then quickly shifted to normal and joined the others, helping Espio and Onterage figure out how to release Jared. A loud bang made then jump from their spots, and spin around, to see a glass wall close them into that spot, and was shielded by lasers that were implanted in the glass, and covered the glass like a large checkerboard. They stared, and seen Darren and Mince alone in the room, and knew that Darren was to stand and fight alone.

The two brothers parted slightly, both backing up towards the longer sides of the room, and giving the others the view of both facing one another. Darren kept his katana up and ready, slowly stepping back a little and watched as his younger brother snarled slightly at him, and felt a slight tremble within his stomach of depression. This was his brother he was fighting, and yet the only to save him was to do whatever it takes to kill him, if it weren't for Huston's guard shooting Mince's wife, none of this would've happened. He took a deep breath, and let a small teardrop trace blood down his cheek from his eyes.

Mince's tail hardened to a black blade with the look of a katana, swiftly he spun half ways and smacked his tail, breaking the hardened part from his tail, and caught the black blade within his right hand. His tail was a smaller, but within seconds, it replenished itself back into the tail it once was, uncurled and whip-like, flicking back and forth like a whip.

The two brothers stood with their weapons in hand, and eyed one another straight within the eyes, standing firmly in their place as the others stared and watched.

The silver chameleon then lowered his katana, and lowered his head, "You're not worth it."

Mince raised his head slightly, and gawked at him with a bit of concern, "Excuse me?"

Darren tossed his katana aside, the sword clanking on the metal floor as it bounced to the wall, and stopped. The barricaded ones let their mouths drop slightly as their ears perked up and their shocked expressions all focused on the older chameleon. This was very unlike Darren to suddenly just drop his weapon aside, and stand open.

Darren clinched his fist, his body strangely constricting in his body, and making the chameleon tighten up, and gritted his teeth, "You're only a waste of time. I can't kill you anyways. Now just let us all go."

The mutant one growled slightly, "Not until you hand over that chip! None of you are going out alive until that chip is mine."

Darren smiled, "I have the chip. Why didn't you say something?"

Misty blinked a few times in confusion, and took out the chip she had and stared at it.

But Darren, I have it!

She stood and stared up at the silver one.

Trust me Misty, I know what I'm doing.

Mince lowered his blade, "Show it then if you do."

Darren grinned, "First I'd like to ask…"

Mince tensed slightly, gripping his blade tightly, "Yes..."

Darren smiled, "You know Klaira?"

Jared took a slight gulp, "He just doomed himself."

Mince then stared at Darren with a deadly glare, "Don't you bring her in this…"

The silver one then grinned, "The reason why she left you anyways, was because I told her that this was to happen, and if she was around, she'd be murdered by you, not your wife. Plus, I told her all about this accident. She imediately turned and ran, crying out she wanted to leave."

Onterage's eyes then stared at Mince with a bit of concern and question.

Mince's mouth dropped and his red eyes went instantly blue, and his insanity seemed to dispatch from his body for a few seconds as he stared at Darren with distress. The older chameleon saw the swift glimpse of what Mince was once, but only for that moment, and glared at him slightly.

Mince's eyes reduced to red again, and he stood straight up, "Y-You made her leave?"

Darren then grinned, "In fact, it wouldn't matter, because she's dead, she committed suicide because she just realized she actually hated you, and since you two went the whole way, she killed herself."

The mutant then dropped his blade, fell to his hands and knees, and lowered his head towards the ground in distress, "No, you're lying!"

Darren took a few steps closer to Mince, "You killed her Mince, you're a murderer! You like the taste of blood dripping from people's veins, you like it when you feel the orgasm you get when pleased by anyone desired."

Mince growled and grasped his head and tried to tune out his brother, "No! I'm not a murderer! None of it's true! Stop lying!"

Darren then kneeled beside Mince and put his face close to Mince's, and growled slightly, "Why do you do this to not only yourself, but to others? Why my brother?"

The chameleon then shouted in agony and curled up with his spine poking through his shirt and his tail curled around him, "STOP! Please stop!"

Darren's eyes then flickered from his natural blue, to a blood red, and grinned, "You want that chip, don't you?"

Mince then slowly sat back up and stared at him with an agonizing stare.

Darren then smiled, and fangs grew from his smile, "I can help you..."

Jared then turned to Samiria, "So uh, what did we miss before this?"

Samiria's expression went to anguished, "You know that cure you supposable stabbed into Darren?"

Jared stared, "What about it?"

"I don't think it actually cured him." Samiria whimpered, "I think it only paralyzed the mutation for a bit, and was slowly growing within him. And now…"

Espio's eyes grew small, as he just released Jared's collar restraint, "Now he's evil…"

Hearing Espio's comment, Misty stared at the boy chameleon, then back at Darren, seeing his red eyes dimmed dark, to where they were black with red slits. A strange sense of evil seemed to tickle Misty's spine, making her shiver slightly, feeling the decieving that has just been done.

He was right!