=Chapter 27=

While Sonic and Rouge were setting up the detonators for the mines, Shadow and Fiona were engaged into a tight dual. Fiona was half and half glad to see Shadow; while she was irritated to see him alive, she was happy to take this opportunity to kill him.

"Well, well, finally came out of hiding, Shadow?" the vixen taunted.

"I never went into hiding, wench." Shadow growled.

The ebony hedgehog slammed his sword right against Fiona's morphed demonic arm which was armored, causing sparks to fly whenever Shadow's blade made impact.

'Hmm, it appears the infidel has gotten desperate.' Fiona thought. 'Serves him right.'

She flew towards the roof of a nearby warehouse with the midnight warrior closely following.

"Your pathetic friends will never succeed." she leered. "I don't believe the Deathdealer Corps. will allow it!"

Shadow's red orbs widened with the realization that Deathdealer Corps. were making steady progress towards Rouge and Sonic.

'Damn!'

The cerulean speedster quickly noticed them while he and the ivory bat were finishing setting up the detonators.

"Crap, we've got more company." Sonic cursed.

"Cover me. I'll get the rest of the mines set." Rouge told him.

"Right."

He took out his shotgun and started blowing away the Deathdealer Corps. While it seemed to work at first, but then they started healing instantly from their bullet wounds. Meanwhile, Shadow was still in the midst of fighting with Fiona. He couldn't afford to pay any mind to his comrades at this point because he was intent on destroying the Bride once and for all. Fiona was surprised that the crimson-splashed male wasn't rushing to help his mortal friends which it seemed out of usual character for him. Nevertheless, she would kill him, this time for good.

"Why don't you just give up already?" the vixen taunted. "You'll never reach Mephiles."

Shadow suppressed a growl and in a burst of anger and energy, he conducted a massive swipe slash with his katanna. Fiona barely managed to dodge it in time and avoided getting cut. That was a close one. Even the slightest cut could be fatal to her if the blade was stained fresh by Shadow's blood.

'Bastard!' she mentally cursed.

Shadow panted for breath, feeling almost exhausted from all the effort. Then his vision started to blur out to which he tried to shake himself out of.

'Dammit! Not now!'

It didn't take long for the red-furred female to notice that the ebony hedgehog was having a difficult time trying to stay awake. Then she suddenly realized what was happening to him.

'What luck! He's going into his hibernation cycle! Killing him should be simple now...'

The vixen launched herself at her enemy and punched Shadow violently in the gut with her chiroptera arm, knocking him into another warehouse. Silently cursing himself after landing, the crimson-splashed male struggled to get up. Fiona wasn't the only one noticing that Shadow was having difficulties. Sonic slightly cringed when he saw him land.

"Shit! Rouge, are you done yet?!" the cyan hedgehog ranted. "Shads is in desperate need for back up!"

"I just have two more!" the ivory bat shouted back.

Frustration was running high in Sonic's mind. They had Deathdealer Corps. on one hand and Shadow getting his ass handed to him on the other. At this point, things couldn't possibly get worse.

"SONIC!" Rouge screamed.

Sonic barely had time to see that a single Deathdealer Corps. lunging itself right at him and ready to kill. However, at the last second, it was blown away by another shotgun blast. The cerulean speedster spun around to see a rather familiar face armed to the teeth.

"Knux!" Sonic shouted. "You son of a bitch! Am I glad to see you!"

"You can thank me when this operation is other." the ruby echidna replied.

Now with an extra man, Rouge was given more time to place the last mine.

"That's it! Let's go!" she exclaimed.

As Knuckles and Sonic kept the Deathdealer Corps. at bay, the trio made a break for it in order to get to a safer distance.

Meanwhile, Fiona went looking for Shadow who never came out of the warehouse. Inside, there was a large below-ground silo and conveyor belts with cranes. It was also dark, as the lamps around the building were not lit. Shadow didn't seem to be anywhere much to the vixen's annoyance.

"No use hiding, Shadow." she leered, hoping her mocking tone would goad him to come out. "It's rather a bad time to become cowardly is it not?"

Shadow, who was concealed in the darkness, bit his tongue and swallowed his pride. He needed to remain calm and collected now because blind rage would ruin him. Finding his center, the midnight warrior focused in on the sound of blood pumping in and out of her veins. She could very well do the same thing with him, but because he was a King and she only a Bride, Fiona could not hone in on his exact location. Then through that, Shadow suddenly picked up on another Bride. She was nearby, but it wasn't Alicia. It was Mina. This revelation made him think. She was rather late to help Fiona now. Unless...if she wasn't here to do just that. Never mind. The vixen was nearly close enough to strike. By the time the mongoose would arrive, it would be too late.

Suddenly there was a huge explosion that nearly illuminated the whole building. It distracted Fiona long enough for Shadow to make his move. Before the vixen knew it, she felt her arm get hacked off.

'Wha...What?!'

Fiona was briefly in a state of shock. She couldn't believe that her rival was able to outmatch her. Like Sonia before her, the red-furred female instantly began to crystallize. But she wasn't about to go down that easily. Fiona quickly grabbed ahold of Shadow and pulled him down the below-ground silo.

'Damn!'

The ebony hedgehog frantically tried to pry Fiona off of him, but with her limbs turning into solid stone and crystal at a rapid rate, it was almost near impossible. Then out of nowhere, another creature crashed through the ceiling of the warehouse and down into the silo. It was a fully transformed chiroptera. Shadow almost didn't recognize it until it called out his name.

"...Shadow!"

It was Mina. She flew straight down, got ahold of the crimson-splashed male and took off from the warehouse into the sky.

"MINA! YOU TRAITOR!" Fiona screamed as she descended into the darkness.

Shadow finally went under as Mina ferried him into the air.

XXXXXXX

Sonic, Knuckles, and Rouge barely managed to get to a safe distance when the mines went off. The explosion was so huge, that it took quite a few other warehouses down along with the one that was rigged.

"Jesus Christ, Rouge." Sonic sputtered. "Just how many friggin' mines did you say we had again?!"

"So a few people lose some of their things. It's better than turning into monsters in the long run is it not?" Rouge fired back.

"Just stow it, you two." Knuckles interjected. "We need to get the hell out of here before the authorities show up."

Picking themselves up, the trio started to make a mad dash out of the warehouse district.

"Wait, where's Shadow?" Rouge suddenly said.

That's when they heard the shattering of glass from a skylight. A fully formed chiroptera had crashed through the ceiling window of a warehouse and went into the air. Dangling in its claws was a comatose Shadow.

"Oh crap..." Sonic bemoaned. "That's not good."

Knuckles pulled out a shotgun and attempted to bring down the creature. But as soon as one shot was let out, it started dodging them.

"Stop! You're going to hurt Shadow!" Rouge cried.

"Yeah but-"

Before anything else could happen, the chiroptera disappeared with Shadow in tow.

"Shit." Sonic cursed. "The hell are we gonna do now?"

Rouge pulled out a device and started punching buttons.

"What are you doing?" Knuckles inquired.

"Before Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome left us, I managed to place a tracking transmitter on him." the ivory bat explained.

Sonic blinked. More so than Knuckles.

"Wait, when the hell didja do that?" the cerulean speedster asked.

"I'm a woman of many talents, Sonic." Rouge grinned.

XXXXXXX

In the Soleanna country house, Mephiles was watching closely over a deeply sleeping Amy Rose. Rosy of course was close by, although practicing her singing notes. Then Alicia came in with a solemn look on her face.

"My dear, I'm afraid I have some bad news." the auburn squirrel declared.

"What is it?" Mephiles asked in a rather bored and uninterested tone.

Rosy perk her head up while Alicia deeply sighed.

"We retrieved Fiona." Alicia began. "However, we will have to replace most of her body parts with prosthetics. Mina it seems has left us. But we haven't located her as of now."

A look of restrained rage and annoyance came over the chiroptera King's features.

"Never mind. I don't want Fiona anymore." he pouted like a 5-year-old. "It's the price she pays for being overbearing. And Mina...she can do as she pleases for all I care. It doesn't matter to me what happens to her."

Alicia gave a low stare. While getting Mina back into the fold was somewhat out of the question, Fiona was still rather useful. It wouldn't hurt to keep her around behind Mephiles' back for a little while longer.

"Very well, my dear." the brownish furred female said.

Rosy then began to giggle almost uncontrollably.

"Somebody's in trouble!" she sang teasingly.

XXXXXXX

Hours later, Shadow finally awoke from unconsciousness. He found himself in a darkened room. The style of it was very bourgeoisie or classical, the ebony hedgehog couldn't tell. Mortals changed their tastes so often, it was hard to keep up sometimes. After remembering what had happened earlier, he jolted upwards. Then he found that he had been lying in a bed. The crimson-splashed male wracked his brain for answers as to how he got there.

A few moments later, a door opened, letting in light from the hall. The person standing on the opposite side of the door was Mina. Back in her normal form of a mongoose.

"Ah, I see that you're finally awake." she said sweetly.

Shadow wasted no time in confronting her. It was there that he quickly discovered that his coat was missing and that he only had his loose shirt and his outdoor pants on. Even his boots and weapons were missing.

"What have you done with my things?" he demanded.

"There's no need for apprehension, Shadow." Mina calmly replied. "They're in the parlor safe and sound."

Shadow relaxed a bit, but he didn't completely drop his guard.

"Why did you bring me here?" he asked again.

"Well I sure wasn't going to leave you in your condition." the saffron mongoose replied eloquently.

Shadow became quiet.

"There was no need for you to do that..." he said solemnly.

"Oh but nonsense." Mina said rather cheerfully. "I am willing to help a fellow chiroptera."

The midnight warrior made a rather disparaging look. Then he gave another suspicious eye at his 'savior'.

"Does Mephiles and Alicia know that you are here? And assisting me?" he asked point-blank.

It took Mina a few moments to answer.

"No they probably don't." she admitted. "But it shouldn't matter that I am helping you."

"But it does." Shadow interjected. "We're sworn enemies."

The violet-haired female let out a sigh.

"Again with that? Shadow, dear, I don't wish to fight you any longer."

"Somehow I don't believe you."

"Well believe what you wish. It's the truth."

The crimson-splashed male continued to frown sternly at her. This had to be a trick.

He shoved himself past Mina and went straight towards the parlor. But his fainting spells began acting up again. He staggered backwards and fell to one knee. Mina quickly rushed to his aid.

"Not so fast!" she exclaimed. "You're in no condition to be up and about."

Shadow, regaining his bearings, pushed the saffron mongoose away.

"Why are you helping me?" he asked in a raspy voice.

"I already told you. And I shouldn't have a reason to help a fellow chiroptera." Mina protested.

"But you're Mephiles' Bride! I should kill you where you stand."

Mina's ears drooped a little when the ebony hedgehog mentioned her King again.

"I...left Mephiles, Shadow."

Shadow's ruby red eyes widened in surprise.