Author's Note: A couple of quick notes I wish to make:
1. This chapter lives up to its rating, so if you're underage, you've been warned!
2. Anonymous reviews are now enabled, so it's now possible to post your comments without having to create an account.
A very big thank you to everyone who contributed to over 50 reviews received! I'm totally beside myself with glee!! Only a few more chapters to go…hope you enjoy this one!
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Chapter 12 – The Cookie
The cold stare of blood red eyes delivered instant severance to the jovial melody Dr. Garrett carried with him into his office. He stood motionless in the open door, his face flushed in a rush of terror at his unexpected guest. Hood loosely drawn, Shadow leaned forward in the seat where he'd been waiting and folded his arms upon the desk.
"If I could have a moment of your time…." the dry greeting did little to put Garrett at ease. Against his better judgment, the doctor fumbled behind him to push the door closed.
"…What can I do for you, Shadow?" his voice could barely be heard over the clasping latch.
"I want to know what's wrong with me…why I feel so different."
"W…well, your exposure to the toxic gas has caused your blood to-"
"Not that," the hedgehog cut in. "There's something else. Something's wrong with my head." He proceeded to describe to Garrett the horrendous pulsing headaches, which were now not only recurrent but increasing in frequency. Over the seven weeks that had passed since the day he died to Mobius, he'd suffered through five of them, with three occurring in the last eight days alone. What he didn't mention was what followed each and every one—the thoughts and inclinations to do serious harm to those around him. He wouldn't begin to feel like himself again until after the onset of another sensation, a brief, gentle tingling of the brain with which he'd become well familiar since his escape from the ARK. Clearly the two were related, but their source and triggers he needed desperately to determine.
Garrett approached the desk slowly, resting a hand on one of the chairs set before it. "We would need to conduct some tests to get an idea of what's going on and if anything can be done about it."
"I expected as much," Shadow replied, stealing a glance at the wall-mounted clock, "and since it's now closing time I trust we'll have the facility to ourselves." Garrett's passive demeanor gained a chiseled edge as fear began to give way to his long-held bitterness.
"What makes you think you can just walk in here and demand whatever you want whenever you want it? I came to treat you at the apartment as a favor to Sonic and Amy, but there is absolutely nothing obligating me to assist you any further. I have half a mind to turn you over to the authorities just for this," a trembling hand linked the word to a scar trailing up through his right eyebrow, "let alone everything else you've done! Thanks to your little stunt in the Thorndykes' household I'm twenty percent blind in this eye, which doesn't leave me inclined to do you any favors."
Shadow sat very still and grim through the lecture, waiting patiently for the doctor to finish. At last he stolidly explained himself in no uncertain terms, "I'm here...because I need you to help me get this under control before I do something much worse to someone else." Garrett squinted at him as he went on. "I'm prepared to offer whatever will make it worth your while. Gouge out one of my eyes if you wish."
A long silence followed between them.
"Hold your breath and don't move until I say," Garrett instructed as Shadow lay surrounded by x-ray equipment a short while later. He stepped out of the room, and after a quick buzz of radiation, hurried back in. "All right, now let's change angles."
In addition to the x-rays, intricate measurements were made of brainwave activity. Shadow straightened upright just over fifteen minutes into the process.
"It's doing it now. The normal thing."
"Oh my word," escaped under Garrett's breath as his gaze fixed on the monitor. "It's almost like a…." He lifted the stethoscope from his neck to his ears and placed the end on top of Shadow's head. "…I can hear it!" he stammered through an astonished laugh. Gradually the disc crept forth until nearly on his patient's brow. "Whatever it is, it's definitely coming from somewhere towards the front."
Lighted panels illuminated an equally amazing image within the x-rays after the completion of all tests. Garrett studied them as if museum paintings, mumbling to himself. "And here's where the skull was…."
"Well?" Shadow stood behind him with his arms crossed, patience dwindling. The doctor barely hid his excitement as he turned around.
"You have a tiny computer implanted inside your head," he bluntly diagnosed. "Right here." He turned again and pointed to a particularly strong presence in the exposure. "That's the source of the sensations you've been experiencing." The hedgehog's daunted eyes shifted back to him after a lengthy examination.
"W…" he hardly knew what to ask, "…why is it harming me now?"
"Based on what you've told me, it sounds as though it's malfunctioning," Garrett confirmed Shadow's fear. "I don't know if your recent experience had anything to do with it or if it's just a coincidence, but at the rate it's going, it probably won't be long before it fails completely."
"…And then what?"
"What happens after that depends on why it was put there in the first place. Do you have any idea who implanted it?"
Sorting through his mangled memories, Shadow arrived at one that invited him into its ominous depths. Amidst the aftermath of his fateful escape from the ARK, he'd managed to track down Gerald and stood in the grieving scientist's embrace.
"Mariaaaaa," the elderly man wailed, "…my precious angel……her innocent blood…." He sank to the floor as his legs lost their strength, dragging Shadow down with him. Little else could be recalled about that moment except watching his own tears part the thick dust at his feet…and the change that took place in Gerald after that day. He was disturbingly different, rambling on marginally coherent tangents about the world desiring its own destruction—which, knowing what he knew now, made a lot more sense—and beating them to it. It wasn't long after that that he approached Shadow with a strange calm in his frail voice.
"Come with me, Shadow……it's time my project was completed…."
"…Shadow?" Garrett's voice purged him from his retrospect back to the question at hand.
"Y-yeah…but he's…he's dead," the hedgehog uttered, blinking. "I have no idea why he put it in me…." His brow sank with the trailing realization that whatever records of Gerald's work hadn't been confiscated by GUN for its own use had surely been destroyed. Garrett leaned against the wall and drew a breath.
"Well, this is purely speculation, but from its location I'm guessing it was intended to provide some kind of ventromedial moderation…that is, affect your social behavior. Have you noticed any personality changes since these new sensations started occurring?" For the first few seconds, the only reply was an unsettled expression.
"Yeah," was finally forced from Shadow's otherwise frozen countenance.
"Then it's reasonable to conclude that however you're being affected by those instances will become more prevalent should the device fail."
"………Is there anything that can be done to fix it?"
"Not on this end. Brain surgery is a bit outside the scope of the Mobian Research Team," Garrett remarked with a fleeting smile. "But again, this is purely speculation. I can assure you that the device is not vital for life, but how it's actually going to affect you down the road will only be revealed with time. I'm sorry there's nothing more I can do."
Shadow's eyes found the floor as he gave a few sullen nods. "Thank you for your time, Doctor. I'm sure my end of the bargain will be fulfilled soon enough."
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Sonic the hedgehog leaned with a foot flat against the brick wall that bordered the Happy Dragon Chinese restaurant. His eyes scanned the surrounding cityscape, then checked his watch. A block away, Shadow glided rapidly around the corner into view, having come directly from the Mobian Research Center. Sonic smirked and shook his head.
"You have a way with first impressions," he quipped, pushing from the wall and heading into the restaurant. Shadow struggled to catch his breath as he followed him in, his lungs still short of their original capacity.
"I had to…take care of something," his annoyance was lost in the sound of respiration. After snaking behind the counter, both hedgehogs made their way into the kitchen.
"Hey, Hien!" Sonic greeted the manager, who glanced up from the entrée he was stir frying. "This is Shadow." He then turned and reversed the gesture. "Shadow, this is Hien, the owner of the place."
Hien shouted over the wok's racket, "He jus' now get here?"
"Uhh, we were chattin' a little out front," Sonic covered for the latecomer. Hien dumped the prepared entrée into a clamshell Styrofoam box. "This order go to the Ross. Tell them I give them extra crab rangoon for being sut good customer." The box was bagged with a large serving of rice, a container of appetizers, and two fortune cookies, then handed to Sonic, who grinned.
"Got it!"
"Shadow is go with you, right?"
"Right. Be back soon!" After returning outside, Sonic donned a company windbreaker and turned his simper to the trainee. "Shouldn't take you long to learn the neighborhood; the trickiest part is keeping from spilling anything. You ready?"
Arms folded, Shadow wondered how he'd let Amy talk him into this one. Obviously she was trying to keep them all close, but being stuck with Sonic three nights a week was pushing things at best. At least once he'd learned the area he'd get to be on his own.
"Yeah."
"All right, the Rosses are regulars, so I have a little shortcut I like to use for them." He started down the street, picking up speed, then cut into an alley and leaped onto an overhead fire escape. Shadow stayed in close pursuit as he blazed up the metal stairs onto the roof. From there they hopped from building to building and, upon reaching a particularly large gap, ground across on a sharply sloping power line. After clearing four more roofs, they bounced down on a series of awnings like pachinko chips, then made short work of the final stretch to the customer's complex.. On the third floor, Sonic rapped on the appropriate door while Shadow clung to the railing, somewhat dizzy and thoroughly winded. A young man answered, smiling brightly.
"Heeey, Sonic! What took you so long?" he teased. Sonic's grin widened as he pointed a thumb over his shoulder.
"Had some dead weight this time! Heh heh heh! Nah, this is…uh…" he paused upon twisting around and finding Shadow breathing deeply with his head down, then bestowed a more fitting name, "Clockwork Orange…!" He belted out a fit of laughter as Mr. Ross cocked an eyebrow at his hooded partner.
"Is he all right?"
"Oh yeah, he's just a little out of shape," Sonic slipped one more jab in before getting back to business. "Here you are. Hien included a little bonus since you're his best customers!" From inside, Mrs. Ross waved and called out as her husband expressed his thanks.
"Hi, Sonic!"
"Hey, Mrs. Ross!"
"Could we get a couple packets of sweet and sour sauce?"
"Sure thing!" The hedgehog reached into the jacket's right pocket, retrieving a handful of condiments and popping them into the bag.
"Six fifty, right?" Mr. Ross inquired.
"Right."
He handed over a ten dollar bill. "Keep the change."
"All right, thanks, man! Have a great night!"
"You too! Nice to meet you, Orange!" He waved to Shadow, now upright, who blinked and returned a half nod. Sonic enjoyed an extended chuckle after the door was shut.
"You gonna live?" he prodded with a playful nudge, ignoring the consequent glare. "C'mon, we'll walk until you catch your breath."
"…Tell me I don't have to do all that chatty shit," Shadow finally muttered as they reached ground level, eliciting yet another chuckle.
"You don't have to…but it helps," Sonic pointed out, lifting the bill in his fist. "Think of it as that much more food for your kid."
"But you could be…making millions. Everywhere you set foot you end up a household name. It's not like you have to do this."
"Well, no…but the high-profile life isn't all riches and glamour. There's a lot of headache that comes along with it, and frankly, I kinda prefer to keep things simple, ya know? Some things are worth more than all the money in the world."
Shadow nodded once, brooding, and the two continued on for a while with only his wheezing breaths offsetting the silence. Finally Sonic blurted, "Didn't Dr. Garrett give you medicine for that?"
"Yeah."
"Could you use it, please?"
Shadow took a measure of humor. "What, am I annoying you?"
"I'm just sayin', sounds like it needs it!" Sonic laughed back. "I'm not about to carry you if you pass out!" He glanced over as Shadow dug through the pockets of his pullover, pulling out two handfuls of junk. In one, along with the inhaler, there was a set of keys, half a roll of Lifesavers, two crumpled dollar bills, and a Chococat coin purse. Normally Sonic would have busted out laughing at the sight of the cutesy kitty in his possession, but he had an immediate suspicion of where it had come from, and it was all he could do to keep the humor in his voice. "What are you doing with that??" He pointed to it with his farthest hand, twisted palm up.
"Amy gave it to me," the casual reply confirmed. Just two days ago, that same purse had been a gift to Amy, a peace offering from her husband meant to soothe their increasingly rocky relations. What the hell was he doing with it?! Sonic's mind raced to stay its course.
"Ohh, must've been to match your looks!" he cracked through a less than amiable grin. Shadow's lip gnarled as he whipped the inhaler away and cast a sharp glance through narrowed eyes. He grabbed hold of the top of his hood and peeled it back, revealing over five inches of quill growth.
"This look like a cat to you?"
"My mistake!" Sonic continued to chortle. "You's the hawt dawg!!"
"Well considering your familiarity with the doghouse I should think you'd know all about that," Shadow assumed a droll tone with the retort.
The grin remained. "I know what happens to dogs who stick their snouts in other people's cookies." Both hedgehogs laughed, though neither was remotely amused.
Following his shift that night, Sonic was silent upon entering the apartment. Amy sat with her legs folded beside her on the sofa, watching Cheaters on TV. She raised an eyebrow at his stony demeanor.
"How was work?"
"Fanfuckintastic," he snapped, shoving the door shut and disappearing down the corridor.
"What happened??"
"I don't wanna talk about it," was all she heard before he shut the bathroom door. Half a second later, however, it swung back open. "Yes I do." She made a strange face as he strode back into the living room and crossed his arms. "What happened to the little Chococat purse I gave you?"
"I…gave it to Shadow," she admitted after a brief pause, hitting the mute button on the remote.
"Well it's nice to see how much it meant to you!"
"It's not that;" she attempted to explain, "he lost the cap to his bottle of medicine, so I gave him that to put the pills in."
"Uh huh," he patronized, leaning a hand against the entertainment stand, "and what else have you been giving him?" She wrinkled her nose.
"Nothing! What's that supposed to mean?!"
"You sure seem to've had some cozy conversations about how you're runnin' the show around here, letting me bust my ass to please you so you can have a good laugh!"
"Wha…what did he say??" Her face was thoroughly flushed.
"He said enough!" Sonic sufficed. "This is the last time he sets foot in here, and you're not goin' to his place anymore either! If you wanna see Mercury, he comes here, alone!"
Amy balked at the conditions, able after several moments to say but one thing. "…You're being…ridiculous!!" By then he'd already returned to the bathroom and had literally shut her out. She sat huffing, near tears, but the uneven scowl soon deepened into a defiant sneer. If that's all you're gonna trust me, then maybe I should give you a reason not to….
The very next day, Amy secretly took the afternoon off from work and headed straight for Shadow's apartment, having decided she was going to visit Mercury on whatever terms she saw fit. Shadow blinked in surprise to open his door and find her standing there.
"Hey!" she chirped, looking sweet as a cupcake, "Thought you might wanna do lunch!"
"…Uh," the word hung in his mouth, "…you're…not working today?"
"Nope! Sonic's out with Iris, so I thought it'd be nice to hang out with you two!" His brow bent all the more.
"Mercury's with Sonic too," he informed her, to which her eyes fluttered wide. "He offered to take him out today with Misty last night. He didn't tell you?"
"N-no! Wh…uh..." she trailed off, her mind struggling to make sense of it. Shadow's eyes slid aside for a moment.
"Sorry you've come all the way out for nothing."
She quickly blinked back to him. "W—uh, well…if you want, we can still do lunch!" The offer was met with his trademark mulling leer, but she noted it to be milder than it had in years past.
"……All right," he finally decided, stepping out and pulling the door shut behind him. "Any particular place in mind?"
"Uh, I was thinking about trying this new place that opened a few weeks ago downtown. You like seafood, right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay! My treat, by the way!"
"Thank you."
Several blocks from the complex, Amy gestured to a monorail station across the street.
"This way. It's pretty far from here, so we'd better use the fast train." After acquiring their tickets, they descended a long flight of steps to a narrow walkway that harbored a set of tracks on each side. In the distance, the shining eye of a fast approaching engine pierced the darkness of the lefthand tunnel. "Oh, here comes one now!" They stood by in anticipation, but the train did not decelerate, instead coursing past at a ferocious pace. Odd glances were exchanged between the hedgehogs as it quickly disappeared down the other end of the corridor. "Ooooookay…."
"They never stop on that side anymore," a man in business attire remarked. Amy giggled sheepishly.
"Oh, no wonder!"
When at last a train arrived on the other side, another unpleasant surprise awaited. Its doors slid open to utterly jam-packed cars, leaving the pair at a loss as to where to enter. With a sharp sigh, Shadow grabbed Amy's hand and squeezed on board. They found breathing space beside a pole in the midst of the car, but little more. "Wow," she murmured through a grimace, "maybe we should've stuck with the trolley after all!"
"Hmph."
As the train neared its next stop, Shadow flinched and snapped his head down to a new onslaught of knifing pulses. Shit, not now…. He kept silent count, knowing from experience that it would strike exactly eleven times…right before the worst part. Twelve agonizing seconds later, he opened his eyes. Now he just had to make it to the other signal…the good one…. He slapped an open palm against his head, hoping to trigger it.
"…Are you okay??" fear rattled Amy's voice.
"Headache," he growled. She nervously eyed his death grip on the pole.
"Do you need to take your medi-" her question became a gasp as more passengers forced their way into the car, pressing the hedgehogs into each other. Amy cracked an awkward smile at their sudden closeness, sure she had to be blushing. Shadow reached behind him and pulled his shirt off, to her widened eyes. "What are you doing??" Saying nothing, he braced his hands against the pole, took a deep breath, and bristled his fledgling quills. Before she could react to her realization, he set into motion, shoving himself sharply into the person behind him. She cupped a hand over her mouth as the man cried out and lunged forth, sending himself and countless others spilling out of the car like bowling pins. The doors shut moments later, leaving most of them outside. "Shadow!" she whispered in horror through her fingers, hoping none of the remaining passengers had witnessed his deed. He promptly replaced the shirt and ran his hands over his back to wipe the blood onto it from his quill tips.
"I am not riding that thing again," he announced after they stepped off at their destination. Amy was glad to hear it; after that incident, she didn't want to either. They reached the restaurant with only a short walk from the station, to her added relief. Shadow granted himself a couple more knocks to the head once they took their seats inside. She did her best to ignore it as she picked up a menu and cracked it open.
"What are you gonna have?" The moment reminded her of their first dinner together, in a cozy eatery they'd visited at Seabright Beach. Her lips turned upward to its comforting nostalgia; she missed the simplicity of those days. Shadow flipped his menu apart and pressed it flat against the table.
"Clams," he stated simply after skimming the contents. Amy tried to expedite her own selection, knowing he'd be prodding her to make up her mind before long. Minutes passed, however, and he said nothing. Her eyes peeked over her menu, finding him lost in thought. She didn't know about him, but there was only one thing that had been weighing her own conscience that day.
"Hey, Shadow…did you say anything about me to Sonic last night?"
His eyes staggered in recollection. "…I believe you came up, yes."
Her menu came down. "What'd you say?"
"He asked where I got the rubber cat, and I told him you gave it to me."
"Did you say anything about me laughing at him?"
"Not at all," he snorted. "I said no more than what I'd gathered from my own observation."
"Well…he doesn't want you at the apartment anymore…or me at yours." She glanced up at his silence, to a relatively stoic face. "I…guess he doesn't think it's possible for us to just be friends." The silence stretched on as he slipped back into a musing haze, to her growing dismay. "That's part of why I was so surprised that you said he had Mercury. I mean, he said that he could still come over, but it seems weird that he would just…volunteer to watch him, you know?"
"After what you've told me, it makes sense," Shadow cited, his gaze still distant. "He's restructuring the terms of visitation to minimize our contact." A single wry laugh escaped him. "And yet here we are. How ironic."
Amy pressed her knuckles to her lips but couldn't hold back her own giggles. "Now we really are laughing at him!" She was still trying to contain her guilty amusement when a lanky young man stopped at their table.
"Good afternoon! My name is Joseph, and I'll be your server today. Are you two ready to order, or would you like a few minutes?"
"Oh! Oh yeah!" Amy grabbed her menu and began to survey it again. Shadow leaned back and buried his face in his hand.
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"Have a seat on the couch. I'll just be a minute," Amy assured Shadow as she scurried into the bedroom in her cocktail sauce-spattered dress and shut the door. He planted himself on the sofa's left side, as he'd formed the habit of doing during his recovery, but instead of lying down he leaned his elbows into his legs, tense. The tingly "all clear" signal to his brain still hadn't come; until it did, being anywhere alone with Amy made him nervous. A single sordid thought saturated his mind, and he was finding himself decreasingly inclined to suppress it.
Rolling his head to one side, his eyes took notice of a large photo album resting on the end table beside him. He slid it over onto his lap and lifted the cover, stopping breathless at a page filled with snapshots of the newborn Mercury. So tiny and frail, and always crying, the baby was accompanied in each picture by a cut off portion of someone, be it Amy's arms, the hem of an MRT rep's white coat, or Sonic's back. Shadow turned each page with great interest, barely noticing several minutes pass. Finally Amy emerged from the bedroom in a free flowing teal dress.
"Sorry for taking so long! Had trouble deciding," she hastily expressed, a bit relieved to see him preoccupied. Realizing he held the album in his lap, she took a seat beside him and joined in admiring their son. "Poor thing, he was so sick. I was scared to death he wasn't gonna make it."
"He was…?" Shadow's voice was soft. Amy nodded somberly. He closed the book and reached to set it back on the table when something slipped out of it onto his lap. He picked it up and turned it in his fingers, discovering it to be an origami giraffe. Amy broke into a reminiscent smile.
"Sonic made that just before I had Iris."
"Sonic made this…." His eyes narrowed on it. She nodded and started to say something else but gasped short as he crushed the paper figure in his fist.
"Don't!!" She reached to snatch it from him, but he pulled it away, and the next thing she knew she was pinned to the couch with her throat in his grip.
"Remember who claimed you first," he snarled, tightening his hold. She gagged and attempted to scream as she clawed at his hand, but it constricted all the more. The struggle finally ended with her slumping unconscious beneath him. He savored the rush, breathing deeply as her dress was brushed up her sides and her panties were stripped away.
And then came the signal.