CHAPTER 11

It was later on in the evening and Tikal, Espio, and Tonya were gathered at Nails' magic to meet up with Nails who had just returned to Tech City.

Nails leaned her lower back against a long brown table that was set in the middle of the store and had her attention directed towards Espio, Tonya, and Tikal. She had her arms crossed and let out a heavy sigh after hearing them explain to her what was happening. "So", she began. "It's happened again huh?"

Espio made a small nod as he confirmed the information he had just given her. "I'm afraid so."

Nails placed her hand on the side of her head and let out another heavy sigh, "Damn..."

Tikal stepped over to her and hugged her for comfort. "I know and it's really scary. I even think they're both after Spike."

While Tikal embraced her, she had returned the hug while she continued to direct her attention to Espio and Tonya. "It seems that way. When I flew back in earlier, I came back to the apartment completely trashed." She looked down at Tikal while she continued to hold her close to her. "I'm so glad you weren't there last night. They probably would have tried to kill you."

Tikal made a small nod. She was relieved that she had thought ahead about what would happen and stayed at the Chaotix for safety.

Even Tonya knew deep down that Shadow and Rouge would hit Nails' apartment to find some kind of clue to where Spike was. "Well yeah. It's no mystery they have their sights set on Spike." She placed her hands on her hips, "We need to act and fast."

Espio again made a nod as he agreed, "Yeah it's only a matter of time."

"Right." Nails could only imagine what would happen once Shadow and Rouge found Spike. She was determined not to let them succeed with whatever they had planned. Before she or anyone said anything else, Freya had slowly entered through the door of the shop.

Tonya spun around to turn to her and watched her close the door before making her way towards them. "Oh Freya, there you are. We were starting to get worried."

She slightly scratched the back of her head while she approached the group with a small and nervous smile. "Uh, sorry. I wanted to be sure Spike was taken care of before I left the house." She directed her attention to Nails and gave her a warm smile, "Good to see you made it back safely. Sucks your vacay was cut short though."

Nails shrugged her shoulders carelessly, "Hey it's no big. I can make up for that anytime. What's important now is that I'm here and I'm gonna do everything I can to save Shad and Rouge."

Tonya arched an eyebrow as she watched as Freya made a nod towards Nails. "Hey, Freya? Are you doing okay with Spike? I thought your mother was helping you out with him?"

She turned to Tonya who looked like she had concern for Spike. She made a nod towards her assuring her that Spike is doing fine in her care. "Oh she is. She honestly won't put him down. She's practically attached to the little guy."

Tikal had wondered what Freya had said to Joyce when she suddenly brought Spike to her house. "What did you tell your mom when you brought Spike over?"

"I just told her that the boss and Miss Rouge were super busy and they asked me to look after Spike awhile", Freya simply explained.

"Wait why would you tell her that?" Tonya gave her a confused look and crossed her arms."She doesn't know about what's going on?"

Freya slightly shrugged her shoulders, "Well I didn't want her to panic or anything..."

Tonya took a step towards her and rose an eyebrow, "...Hold on." She paused for a moment and placed her hands on her hips. "Your mother...does she even know that Shadow is a demon?"

With a small hesitation full of guilt, Freya had adverted her eyes from hers and slightly shrugged her shoulders. "That actually never really came up..."

Espio's eyes widened in shock. The entire time Joyce knew Shadow, she didn't know he was a demon all along? He didn't understand why she didn't tell her. "Wha-what! Freya, your mom doesn't know Shadow is a demon!"

A sweat drop appeared on the side of Tonya's head as an uneasy look appeared on her face, "No wonder Joyce was always so welcoming towards Shadow. She thought he was just another average everyday hedgehog."

Tikal took her body away from Nails' and turned to Tonya with a finger to her chin. "I mean he never really flashed signs that screamed demon. Unlike Ker anyway."

"Freya!" Espio was still in utter disbelief that Freya didn't tell her mother about who Shadow really was. "What the hell were you thinking? Why haven't you told Joyce about Shadow?"

Freya spun to him and held out her hand in confusion towards him. "Hey! Why was I supposed to say anything? The boss should've told her too!"

"What! Can you just imagine him telling your mom what he is? Like over dinner or something?" He took a quick deep breath before he began to speak sarcastically, "Oh hey I'm Shadow. Your daughter's boss. By the way, I'm a flesh eating half demon. Hope you'll still invite me over for dinner sometime."

With a moment of silence, Freya placed her hands on her hips while she gave him an annoyed look. "...Fine! I can see why it wasn't his place to say it but still! You can get why I never really mentioned it to her." She took her hands away from her hips and sighed heavily, "My mom really likes the boss and I didn't want her to be on edge whenever he came around." She rose an eyebrow and slightly shook her head, "She still hasn't gotten used to Ker being around her. She gets weird when it comes to the subject of demons."

Tonya could completely understand why Freya didn't mention to her mother about Shadow. After all, Luthor was Freya and her mother's first real encounter with a demon. A high ranking demon at that and he did enough damage to terrify Joyce for almost the rest of her life. "I know Joyce is nervous when it comes to demons in general but still...she had every right to know about Shadow."

Freya sighed heavily and directed her eyes down at the floor, "You're right. She needed to know." Especially when the two were fairly close with each other.

Espio sighed heavily as he placed his hand on the side of his head and rubbed it in worry. "God I hope they don't find Spike. I'm really fucking worried about your mom, Freya."

Freya wanted to believe that everything would be fine and Shadow and Rouge wouldn't end up finding Spike. However Risa's words from earlier had continuously haunted her mind. She looked back up towards Espio, "Look she'll should be fine. Besides they're not gonna find out where Spike is. We'll put a stop to them before they even think about looking there." Freya turned to Nails with a assured look on her face, "Right, Nails?"

Nails wanted to believe that they would stop them in time as well. However she couldn't be certain she could do that. "Right. I'll find a way to save Shadow and my sister. Count on it."

Tikal made a nod and turned to the group while taking her fist and hitting it into the palm of her hand. "Right! Let's hit the books!"

Later on at the Chaotix, Grace walked over to the front desk within the lobby with two white mugs of coffee in her hands. She set one on the mugs on the desk in front of Charmy while he was sitting there writing on a piece of paper.

He paused when he heard the mug being set down on the surface of the desk in front of him. He looked up and saw Grace standing in front of the desk with a warm smile on her face. "Oh thanks, Grace."

She watched as he reached out towards the mug to pick it up to take a sip from it. "It's no problem. I thought you could need it."

After he took a sip from the mug, he made a slight nod and placed the mug back down on the desk. "Yeah. I'll admit I haven't gotten much sleep since everything happened."

Appex who sat at another desk set across from Charmy looked over to him while he used his thumb to point towards himself. "Hey you and I both. How can any of us sleep while knowing Shadow could pop up at any moment?"

Midnight who sat on a black stool that was set against the wall looked over to Appex. "That's true..." Midnight knew everyone was physically and emotionally exhausted. No one could get any rest without them all fearing Shadow could show up at anytime to attack them. He like everyone else was on edge as well.

Grace in all honesty still couldn't get over what was happening. She just wanted to pretend that none of this was happening but it was a sad fact that it was. And just observing everyone's worry just made her a nervous wreck deep down. She turned to Midnight while placing a finger slightly to her bottom lip. "What if he does show up? What do we do?"

"We fight", Ker spoke as he slowly walked out from the backroom and out into the lobby with both his hands in his pants pockets. With a serious look on his face, he turned to the worried group. "And not hold back. That's all what we can do."

Even after hearing Ker's answer, that didn't exactly make Grace feel any safer.

Midnight still saw the nervous and worried look on Grace's face and attempted to try to ease her. "Hey don't worry. You got us here after all and besides..." He pointed towards Ker, "We also have a demon trump card here. If anyone has a fighting chance with Shadow, it's definitely Ker here."

Grace's eyes shifted over to Ker and glanced him up and down. "Oh that's right. You're a demon too."

Charmy crossed his arms and rested his back against the desk chair he sat in. "Midnight's right. Ker's the only fighting chance we have even with his powers being halfway tame." He knew out of everyone else on the team besides Shadow, he was the next strongest out of them all. However after when his inhumanity had been taken from him, he wasn't at full power like he was. Nevertheless he was still strong. "Which leads me to think..." He slowly shifted his eyes over to the group. "I hope The Dark Alliance isn't planning on doing what I think they're trying to do."

Appex knew what he was getting at. If The Dark Alliance's goal was to restore Ker's powers as well, it wouldn't be good news for them. "If so, we're beyond fucked", he spoke bitterly.

Ker had always worried deep down that if The Dark Alliance strived to turn Rouge and Shadow, there wouldn't be a doubt in his mind that they probably had their sights on him as well. He clenched his fists against his sides in determination, "Don't worry. I won't let that happen."

Midnight let out a small sigh with a hopeless look on his face. "No offense. But Shad said the same and look what happened..." He wanted to have faith that The Dark Alliance wouldn't get to Ker but with the situation being as dark as it was, he couldn't exactly stay positive.

Grace had then saw Ker turning away from them and nervously looking around the lobby. "...Ker? What's wrong?"

Ker remained silent for a moment as he continued to scan the lobby around them. "...We're not alone."

Charmy could tell from the way he was acting, that Ker was sensing a demonic presence. He quickly stood from the desk chair he sat in and nervously looked around the lobby as well, "Damn it", he swore in a low tone. "A demon's nearby."

When Appex saw everyone else looking around and being on guard, he had done the same. "Or in the fucking agency."

Grace bit her lip as she anxiously looked around and took a step back. "Is it...is it Shadow?" She was startled when she and the group had heard a sudden feminine voice speak out throughout the lobby.

"What? Are you all just expecting to die?"

The voice sounded like it was coming above them. They all looked above them and up on the balcony they spotted a white bat woman wearing a black bodysuit standing above them.

Midnight gritted his teeth at the sight of her casually and calmly leaning her body against the railing of the balcony. "Rouge..."

Rouge looked down at the group with a calm yet devious look on her face. "My, my it's been quite some time hasn't it?"

Ker took a small step forward, "...Cut the crap", he spoke bitterly. "Where's Shadow?"

She rose an eyebrow as she was curious to know why they were so set on confronting Shadow. "Wouldn't you like to know..."

Judging from her reaction, Midnight figured he clearly wasn't with her. As he looked up at her, he wanted to believe that the old Rouge they all knew and loved was still deep inside of her. "Rouge, I know you're still in there somewhere. Please listen..."

"Shut up!" She shouted as she angrily narrowed her eyes towards the wolf. "I work for The Dark Alliance now and that's how it's gonna stay!"

Everyone stepped back when they saw her suddenly jump down from the balcony and confronted them. They quickly drew their weapons and pointed them towards her.

While pointing a handgun towards Rouge, Charmy turned back to Grace who had a worried look on her face. For her safety, he didn't want her near Rouge. "Grace, get back!"

Grace did as Charmy wanted and stepped further away from the fight that was about to take place.

Rouge slowly began to step forward towards the cautious group. "Now then...let's get down to business..." She placed her hand on her hip while having an evil smirk on her face. "Tell me where my son is and I'll spare your lives."

"Oh you can forget it!" Appex figured she would either be after Ker or Spike. Other than that why else would she even show her face at the agency? "We're not gonna give him up to you!"

"Why do you want him anyway?" Midnight asked angrily. "He's just a baby!"

The devious smirk widened on Rouge's lips, "Shadow and I have huge plans for him. Spike will become the strong demonic being he was born to become just like Shadow."

A disgusted look appeared on Ker's face. Like he thought, they were planning to turn Spike into a demon. "What! You're not gonna turn Spike into a monster!"

An evil chuckle escaped her as her eyes shifted over to Ker, "You're so funny, Ker. You're still a full fledged demon but yet you chose to give up your inhumanity." Her eyes glanced at the rest of the group, "Just to protect these stupid mortals." Her eyes shifted back over to him, "Just look at you. You've grown so weak. I can help you fix that if you want me to..."

"No!" Ker shouted angrily with his fists tightly clenched. "I won't! I won't go back to being a bloodthirsty killer!"

She slightly scoffed under her breath as she expected his angry reaction towards her. "Then it's your funeral, sweetie."

With him thinking she would attack him first, she swiftly made her way over to Appex, Midnight, and Charmy. She quickly struck them all with powerful punches and kicks causing them to drop their guns to the floor. She grabbed Appex by his wrist and took his body to throw him into Charmy. When Midnight tried to grab her from behind, she took him by his wrist and tossed his body across the room as well. Right when she laid her sights on Grace, Ker quickly grabbed her by her wrist and used his fist to forcefully punch her in the face knocking her away from him.

Ker watched as she was knocked away at a pretty far distance away from him. He glared towards her with his fists still clenched. "I don't want it to be this way, Rouge."

She wiped some blood from her bottom lip and smirked evilly towards him. "Too bad." She pointed towards the rest of the group. "You may be stronger than they are but you're not fighting at your full capacity and you know this!"

Ker paused and knew that she was right. Without his inhumanity restored, he was fighting at average demonic strength. But he refused to let that happen to him again.

She noticed him hesitating and appearing deep in thought. She slowly and calmly held her hand out towards him. "Don't you want to leave this life and become strong again?"

While laying on the floor, Appex took note of their conversation and turned to Midnight who was beside him. "She's actually gonna try to restore his inhumanity?"

Midnight's eyes fell upon Rouge who was trying to persuade Ker. "Should've saw this coming from a long shot. If she succeeds and forces him to drink her blood, we're all fucking done for." He wanted to believe that Ker would be strong enough to fight her off.

Ker slightly shook his head as he directed his attention towards her. "There's always a price to pay for having power and I've been there. It only causes more pain and suffering. And I don't want that for anyone anymore."

She figured Ker was determined to stay the way he was and it frustrated her to know that Ker would give up power in order to protect his loved ones. She clenched her hand into a fist slowly. "If you won't fight with us then like these mortals, you're against us", she growled under her breath before she came charging towards him.

"Do your worst", he spoke lowly under his breath. When he saw her reach into her black holster belt that was around her waist, he was prepared for her to reach for a weapon. He then saw her quickly throw something towards him. He used his hand and smacked whatever she had thrown at his way. Before he had the chance to see what she had thrown his way, she had continued to come towards him with both her fists clenched. He stopped her from punching him by grabbing her wrists to hold her back. He struggled just holding her back from her trying to break out of his grip.

While figuring she would be able to break free from his grip, she took her knee and used it to strike him in his stomach making him loosen his grip from her. When she got her wrists free, she took her leg and kicked him in his side to knock his body down onto the floor.

When Ker hit the floor, he caught sight of the strange device she had thrown towards him and quickly grabbed it. When he saw her approach him once again, he quickly stood from the floor and was prepared for her to strike him again with another close encounter attack. When she tried to punch him once again, he again grabbed her by her wrist and held the strange device up towards her chest.

When she felt the device being pressed against her chest, a sudden powerful electric shock was felt throughout her body.

He watched as the electric shocks were weakening her. He used this as an opportunity to kick her body away from his. Once she was away from him at a good distance, he held his hand out towards her and blasted a white light towards her. The blast was powerful enough to make her back hit against the wall and knock her down.

When she fell to the floor, everyone had noticed that she wasn't moving. She had probably fell unconscious. Everyone stared at her body to see any movement from her but they saw nothing happen while she laid there.

Appex stood from the floor and turned to Ker with a worried look on his face. "Holy crap, Ker. You killed her."

Ker lowered his hand down beside his waist as he turned to Appex and Midnight who gave him uneasy looks. "I didn't want to use that attack to bring her down. But what choice did I have? She is wearing the gunsuit after all and I didn't know what else kind of heat she was packing in that thing."

While Appex, Midnight, and Charmy had their attention to Ker, Grace slowly and carefully stepped over to Rouge's unconscious body. "Is she...dead?" She asked herself in a low tone under her breath.

Charmy turned away from Ker and the others only to see Grace standing in front of Rouge's body. His eyes widened as he saw her kneeling down to her, "Grace!" He shouted, "Get away from her!"

Before she could react, she was suddenly grabbed by her neck and felt a sharp and cool object being held against her throat.

The group heard her terrified scream and saw that Rouge had her in her grip with a knife held against her throat.

Charmy had a terrified look on his face as he saw Rouge having Grace in her possession. "Grace!"

Grace's tearful eyes had looked back over to her. "Oh God! Please, Rouge! Please don't do this!" Her mouth was then silenced when she placed her hand over her mouth.

"Shut up!" Rouge demanded as her grip tightened on the handle of the knife. She looked back at the group who had uneasy expressions on their faces. "Nobody move and I won't slit her pretty little neck."

"Rouge, no!" Appex shouted as he stared at the sight.

As Charmy saw the blade of the knife getting closer and closer to Grace's neck, he had gotten more and more panicked about the situation. At this point, he was willing to do anything for Grace's safety. Even if it meant telling Rouge what she wanted. "Wa-Wait! Don't do it! I...I know where Spike is! Just don't hurt her!"

Rouge rose an eyebrow as she heard Charmy's sudden outburst. "Oh really? He wouldn't perhaps be at Freya's house would he?"

Charmy's heart raced. How was it even possible? Did she know about where Spike was the entire time? What exactly was going on? "...Wha-what? H-How did..."

Ker was also thrown into confusion. If Rouge knew about Spike then why was she there at the Chaotix? He clenched his fists angrily, "If you knew then why? Why are you here? What...what is this?"

The evil smirk on her lips had slowly widened as she held Grace's body closer to hers. "A distraction..."

Meanwhile, Joyce had just got done washing the dishes in the kitchen of her her home. She walked away from the kitchen sink and made her way over to the small blue towel that was hanging off of the handle of the oven to dry her wet hands. Once she got done drying her hands, she heard the doorbell ring. Her eyes glanced up looked up at the clock on the wall and saw that it was almost nine. She turned away from the clock and looked towards the door. "Hm? I wonder who could be here at this hour?" She then made her way over towards the door and placed her hand on the doorknob. When she opened the door, she saw a male black and red hedgehog standing at the doorway. "Oh? Shadow?"

A small smirk formed on his lips while he leaned his body against the doorway and had his red eyes locked into her yellow eyes. "Hello, Joyce..."

Author's Note: Well this can't be good! Shadow made his way to Freya's house while Rouge is keeping the Chaotix busy! Will Rouge succeed in turning Ker? Will Shadow manage to finally get his hands on Spike? So many questions but all will be revealed soon enough!

I probably won't end up posting another chapter before Christmas so with that, Happy Holidays! I hope you guys have a fun and safe holiday! And I will see you all on the flipside!

In The Next Chapter...

Charmy: Leave Grace alone!

Ker: You won't get away with this!

Tonya: Freya!

Joyce: Sha-Shadow? What's going on? What's...what's happened to you?

Shadow: I want to taste more of you...

Freya: Mom, no!