After months of nothing… I present to you…the next part of the story! So sorry for not getting this out sooner…I had a bit of trouble with writing and then there's all the college work and whatnot…especially finals when it was Finals week. ^_^

Sonic: It's about time!! You left off at a critical point in the story…!

Shadow: That was the point…

^^ Suspense is good! Makes people want more… And by the looks of the reviews that I got, apparently people really really like this story a lot. ^_~ I appreciate it a lot.

Sonic: You just like torturing us.

Nah…

Enjoy!

            Time seemed to slow down. It was like watching everything in slow motion. The chair slammed against the glass with as much force as Shadow put into it. A crick from the tube was heard as the chair seemed to slowly descend. Cracking sounds quickly followed. The chair clattered against the floor as the tube exploded; shards of glass went everywhere. Shadow shielded his eyes as the water poured out, dragging his friend's limp body to the floor with it. An alert alarm went off as soon as the tube was destroyed, but Shadow's fist soon found the panel, destroying it quickly before the main alarms went off. The blue hedgehog flopped to the ground, shuddering. His body was racked with pain as the air bit into his untended flesh. Trails of blood flowed from his wounds, seeping onto the trickles of water that ran down his fur and onto the now wet floor. Shadow wasted no time in removing the sensors from his friend's body quickly, but also trying not to hurt Sonic any further. Oh yeah, sure…like taking the tube out of him isn't going to hurt like a bitch… A frown appeared slightly as he carefully took the mask off of Sonic's face, reaching for the tube. Sonic was very unresponsive to anything, even Shadow's touch barely caused any reaction. It was hard to tell if Sonic was just heavily drugged or so out of it that he wasn't going to be his normal arrogant self anytime soon. Shadow assumed the latter. Just make it quick so Sonic doesn't have to be tormented anymore… He yanked the feeding tube out of his friend's mouth, causing him to jump and twitch a little bit. Shadow threw the hellish thing aside and turned Sonic over onto his side as he vomited. His green eyes flickered with a sign of life afterward.

            " Sonic? Can you hear me…?"

            A small nod came from the hero. He could barely talk but his senses were starting to come back to him, very slowly.

            " Don't worry. I'm going to get you out of here…"

            It was safe to assume that the azure one was not going to be able to walk on his own, although he tried to use his legs when Shadow had him somewhat stand. His knees wobbled and he almost fell again, but Shadow held his arms, holding him up. This is going to be tricky… I don't want to have to drag him… Shadow's only option was to carry Sonic. He seemed to protest, being his stubborn self, but Shadow wouldn't let Sonic weasel his way out of this one. He did, however, give him a choice of being cradled or being on Shadow's back as he ran. Sonic instantly went to the piggyback idea, since he felt incredibly weak and helpless whenever he was carried around when he was hurt. Knuckles had to do it often when the arrogant hedgehog would push himself to the limit too much when they trained together. The guardian was always bringing the battered hedgehog home like that. Sonic didn't like fact that it made him look so weak, so he managed to convince Shadow into letting him hang onto his back. Shadow didn't seem exactly keen on that idea, even though he did offer it to his friend, for he was worried that the GUN officials would fire upon them whenever they did get to running around. I really don't want Sonic getting hit by some stray laser fire or something…but I suppose this is the way it's going to have to be.

            " Are you sure you're going to be able to hang onto me while I'm running?" Shadow asked as Sonic's arms went around his neck as he helped him onto his back.

            " Yeah, if I slip or something, you can just grab my hand…" Sonic's voice was still very soft and hard to hear, due to the ripped skin inside of his throat because of the feeding tube. His chin rested on one of Shadow's shoulders, looking at his friend with half lidded eyes. " Right…?"
            " Right…" He looked at his friend for a moment, then turned his vision back to the path in front of them. " Just be sure to hang on… I'm sure the main alarms are going to go off soon…" Shadow started off and out of the room, being careful to look for GUN security.
            " This seems…familiar…" Sonic chuckled a little bit.

            A small smirk appeared on Shadow's face as he nodded slightly. It was true that it was familiar, only that when the tables were turned, Sonic had just carried Shadow since he was so out of it. He wondered if he would be able to use that elevator to get out of the building, but it was very unlikely.

            " Sonic, when you rescued me from here… which way did you take? The elevator is not an option really…"

            The weakened hedgehog coughed a little bit and nodded.

            " Yeah… we're on one of the top floors…so I got you out from the vents…kind of clichéd, isn't it?"

            Shadow's smirk grew slightly.

            " Perhaps… which way though? I'm afraid I don't know much about the building."

            " There's a vent…right near the elevators… that's the one I used…but…"

            " But what?"

            " I'm not sure if…you'd be able to run down the side of the building…like I did when I got you out of here…"

            So the vent leads straight to the outside of the building… A small nod.
            " I'll make do… First, I have to get you to the vent and out of here."

            " I'll…be able to tell you which way we have…to go once we're in the ventilation system…"

            " That's fine. Just try to rest up as best as you can."

            Shadow quickly looked about the lab that the two of them were in, just in case he found something that he might be able to use in order to defend themselves from GUN staff and robots. Unfortunately there appeared to be nothing. Hmm…

            " You're able to hang onto me by yourself, right?"

            " Uh…huh…" Sonic tightened his grip a little for example.
            " Okay, good." The hedgehog grabbed the large fire extinguisher that was attached to the wall. " Just in case." He headed for the door, slowly, waiting for it to open when he approached it like all the other doors did. It swung open quietly, allowing Shadow to peek out into the hallway. Glance to the right. Glance to the left. There was no sign of any form of GUN official. Hot damn! Still carrying the fire extinguisher, Shadow slowly moved out into the hallway, with Sonic clinging to his back, and headed to the left where the elevators were. It's a good thing that I was able to shut off that alarm before it triggered the main ones…or else this place would be swarming with more GUN officers… Red alarms started flashing, casting their light everywhere. Shadow jumped a little, feeling Sonic do the same. What the fuck!? I swear it's like someone hates me up there…!!!

            " Hang on."

            " Right…"

            Shadow took off for the area with the elevators, which was just around the corner. Sure enough, the vent was there where Sonic said it would be, but it was quite high off the ground. Oh great… I don't have enough space to make a running spindash up there…let alone that wouldn't be good for Sonikku in any way…Shit. What do I do…? Sonic's not strong enough to open it…but I think that's the only way…Damnit…

            " You wouldn't be able to stand on my shoulders… would you?"

            " I could try… but I'm not sure…" Sonic said weakly.

            What the hell am I thinking? Of course he wouldn't be able to…he couldn't stand before…

            " How'd you get out before…?"

            " Spindash…"

            " Doing that now would hurt you more."

            " Most likely…"

            Gah! So fucked over…We don't have time for this…Shadow sighed a little.

            " I knew I should have taken that damn chair…"

            Sonic chuckled a little.

            " Just spindash and get up there… I'm sure you could break it…"

            " I'm not going to do that. You're already hurt enough as it is."

            " We still need…to get out of…here, Shadow…Just do it."

            " …No. I'll figure something else out…"

            " Damn it…Shadow…come on…we're gonna get caught…again…"

            " Over my dead bod---?!"

            The black hedgehog was cut off as the left elevator door opened, with GUN personnel ready to try and capture them again.

            " There they are!" One said, pointing. " Subdue them!!"

            " Shadow…!"

            " Fuck off!!"

            Shadow pulled the pin on the fire extinguisher, aimed it, and fired the white chemicals at the personnel. The officers were pushed back slightly in surprise, falling over each other as they were covered with the slippery substance.

            " MY EYES!!" One screamed, his hands groping at his face.

            " Stop them before they get away…!"

            Running his hands down every button on the elevator panel, Shadow quickly ducked out of the elevator before the doors closed. Sonic whistled quietly.

            " That was…a good move…"

            " I hope they have fun riding it to every floor…" He frowned slightly. " But this leaves us right back where we were…"

            " Just…spindash…and let's get out of here…"

            The hedgehog shook his head.

            " I'll just run back to the room and get the chair…"

            " There's no…time for that, Shadow…"

            " I'm not going to let you get hurt any further, Sonikku."

            The blue hedgehog blinked a little bit, almost in disbelief. Why would… he… I mean, he never seemed to care before…

            " Okay…Shadow…whatever you say…"

            It was Shadow's turn to be surprised. Sonic never gave up that easily when it came to arguments. He was as stubborn as they came, and Shadow always knew this. Perhaps it's because we don't have any other options… He turned to race back to the room when he heard the right elevator ding. Oh shit!

            " Sha---!" Sonic blinked a little as Shadow covered his mouth and zipped back down toward the hall, turning a corner and bent down. He set Sonic down on the floor behind a few canisters. " Shadow…what are you…?"

            " Shush." He said in a hissing tone. " I'm going to deal with them. Stay here…"

            " But Shadow…"

            He ignored Sonic's words as he re-entered the hall, stopping and waiting to see who or what had come out of hiding. His ears flicked a little bit as he waited, gripping the fire extinguisher tightly. Three GUN robots stomped out from the elevators, slowly. Their sensors were flicking about, trying to get a readout on the two escaped prisoners. Each focused on Shadow, pausing, almost if they were waiting for their next commands. They appeared to be very similar to the robots from the testing area, so Shadow had an idea on how their patterns were, as well as that he had to steer clear of their blasters. The energy charges from the blasters stunned opponents, leaving them open to a pitiful death or capture, as Shadow had learned before when he was writhing on the floor. He waited for one of them to make the first move. Electronic eyes flickered about, looking for Sonic. Please don't let them be able to see through walls… The whirring noise from the sensors stopped as all three robots focused on Shadow again. Here we go…

            Shots rang out, startling Sonic in his hiding place. He watched as the blasts hit the wall, dispersing in magnificent bursts of light. Shadow was on the move, dodging shots and zigzagging his way toward the trio of bots. Racing through a gap in the line, Shadow caused two robots to fire onto themselves, causing them to malfunction and stop with their pursuit of him. He grinned a little bit, kicking both of them to make sure that they wouldn't be able to fire at him again. The red electronic eyes flickered and soon died as the hum of mechanical life diminished. That was easier than I thought…The last robot had stopped firing, waiting for its commands of what to do next. Its mechanical eye flickered about again, scanning the area for where Shadow was, then fired again. The hedgehog easily dodged the fire, jumping to the side and then upward a little. He raised the fire extinguisher over his head and brought it smashing down onto the robot's head, denting it severely. Electricity crackled from the top of the robot's head, causing smoke to come from the cracks in its metal frame. Soon, it too fell over, shutting down.

            Shadow was panting a little bit, still holding the now dented fire extinguisher in his right hand. He looked about at the robots and then at the right elevator door. Hmm…The hedgehog hit the down button to it, which caused the doors to open again. Good…It wasn't called back down in order for more GUN toys to be sent up at us…He set forth in making sure that the elevator would not be going down anytime soon by pushing one of the offline robots

into it halfway, but he did not enter it himself. I'm not sure if they have cameras in the elevators…and I don't want to risk letting them know that I've dealt with the robots already… The doors could not close and therefore, the elevator was not going down any time soon. Shadow smirked a little as the door tried to close, only to hit the robot and open again. He turned and looked at the other robots. Looks like I don't have to go and get that chair after all…Setting forth on the new task, Shadow dragged one of the offline robots to the wall where the vent was. Once it was there, he went to the other one and proceeded to drag it over to the one next to the wall. After a few minutes of carefully stacking, Shadow tested the robot pile to make sure that he could reach the vent. Alright! Now I just need to get this vent cover off and we are out of here…!

            CRUNCH.

            Crimson eyes blinked. What the hell was that?! He looked over his shoulder toward the other hall. His eyes scanned his surroundings, finding nothing. Sonic was looking about himself, trying to figure out what it was, since he had figured out that there had only been three robots now that the chaos had calmed. The azure one stayed quiet though, unsure if he should call out to Shadow or not, just in case. Shadow looked down at the robot pile that he had made. My weight shouldn't be that heavy to make that loud of a noise… His eyes went to the left elevator. They couldn't possibly be back already…His ears flickered about. I know I heard that noise…but where did it come from…?

            It was then that he had glanced at the right elevator…and noticed the huge footprint that had formed on the fallen robot's chest. Nani?! He blinked a little as he heard another resonating sound just a few feet away from him. OH SHIT! Something grabbed his throat, causing him to gasp and grip at the invisible attacker. His feet were suddenly not touching anything as he was lifted up, gagging, into the air. Can't…breathe…! His hands clawed at the grasp and soon he saw the opposite wall swarming up to greet him. Stars flooded his vision as he was slammed into the wall; his body flailing. Shadow coughed a little as he felt a warm trickle run down the side of his head and felt the attacker pulling back in order to smash him against the wall again. Soon after a few rounds of the bashings, Shadow was lifted up into the air again, putting strain on his airway again. Blood was running down his head in many little rivulets of sanguine. He groaned loudly; his grip on the invisible grasp at his throat was greatly weakened. Shadow blinked a little and found himself airborne. The grip was gone and he barely saw the blackened wall coming up to meet him before he collided with it. He landed with a whump on the floor, trembling slightly as he tried to force himself to get up again. The hedgehog could just barely hear his friend calling to him. The ringing in his ears and the spinning world was not helping him whatsoever.

            " Shadow…! Are you okay…?!" Sonic's voice seemed far away to Shadow.

            " Shut…up…or else it'll find you too…" He said weakly, straining to get up again.

            Sonic looked over the canisters to try and see down the hall. He could hear the attacking thing moving, but couldn't see it. GUN must have come up with some sort of cloaking device…His ears twitched a little as he heard it getting closer to Shadow.

            " Get away…or it'll pummel you again…!"

            " B-better me than you." Shadow said defiantly, standing up on weak legs.

            Emerald eyes widened a little. Shadow… Sonic's ears flickered about as he tried to determine where the thing was in comparison to Shadow, and started pushing on the canisters next to him. Shadow's own ears caught the noise that Sonic was making.

            "…What are you doing?!" It took almost all of his strength not to look at his comrade and acknowledge his presence to the attacker.

            " Helping…your….stubborn ass!"

            Sonic pushed as hard as he could on the canisters, sending them toppling over and into the hall. A few rolled, where one or two of them bounced, hitting whatever it was that was attacking Shadow. A shield flickered, showing off a huge robot, with strong looking plates over its frame. It turned slightly, looking at where the canisters had come from, and spotted Sonic, now that he was out in the open. Oh shit. The robot's cloaking shield reestablished itself and was soon gone from both hedgehogs' view. Shadow cursed now that Sonic was easy prey to the invisible robot but he had an idea. If that fire extinguisher is still usable…I can cover it with foam and then I'll know where to attack!

            Easier said than done. The second Shadow moved, he was sideswiped into the floor, skittering across it and back into the wall that he had just been thrown into. Sonic couldn't help him at all, since he still couldn't walk on his own as it was. Shadow heard the stomping noise of the robot coming up to him. Shit…I'm in trouble now… He winced a little, awaiting his fate.

            Clang!

            The vent cover went clattering to the ground. Sonic looked around the corner, only to see a hint of red come flying into the hall. There was a loud screeching sound as the robot came into view again. Its shield appeared to be damaged as it fizzled and crackled, and slowly disappeared, showing the whole robot.

            " Not so tough now that we can see you, eh?!"

            Sonic blinked.

            " Knuckles!"

            The Guardian grinned a little, sporting his sunglasses over his eyes as he lifted his fists again. He braced his feet a little bit. Shadow blinked a little as he saw Rouge hop out of the vent that they were trying to escape in. She too was wearing her scope, which allowed both her and Knuckles to see cloaked things.

            " Holy shit!" Her eyes widened a little bit at the new GUN robot.

            The robot was about three times the size of Knuckles was, so it was very close to touching the ceiling on its own. It was bulky, but appeared to be well reinforced with metal plating all over its body. Its sensors scanned the newcomers and viewed them as a threat, so it soon went into a new position of attack. This one looked like it was made to kill, unlike the beating mode that it had gone into with Shadow. Rouge's eyes slanted slightly.

            " Rouge, get Sonic and Shadow out of here… I'll deal with this creep."

            She blinked.

            " You're not going to be any match for that thing by yourself! Look at what it did to Shadow!"

            " And they're sitting ducks while we're sitting here arguing! Just do it, okay?!"

            How dare you, you jerk! The white bat moved a little to the side, waiting for Knuckles to make his move to distract the behemoth of a robot. He waited for a minute and sprinted forward as it moved to attack with a long swipe from its arm. He evaded it easily enough, slamming a fist into part of its shoulder, then jumping back before the other fist could hit him. Rouge took this opportunity to head past the robot toward Sonic. The robot was too busy dealing with the Guardian to notice her as she stopped next to the blue hedgehog.

            " Are you okay…?"

            " I've….had better days…." His arrogant smile was plastered on his face once more.

            Rouge couldn't help but smile a little herself.

            " Shadow, are you going to be---?"

            " Get Sonic out of here first. He's worse off than I am." Shadow interrupted.

            She nodded and scooped Sonic up in her arms. He groaned a little, whining about how weak he must look. She shushed him quietly and waited for her opportunity to dart past the robot again. Knuckles was doing the best he could to keep it busy, weaving and bobbing like the pro he was. She waited another moment until the robot's back was turned, then darted back toward the vent opening. Normally, I'd just fly past it, but one would think that the sound of my wings might alarm it and bring attention to myself… She began to help Sonic into the ventilation duct, only to be swatted away like a fly. Sonic was already inside the vent as she went sailing into the wall, but he couldn't help but cry out in surprise.

            " Rouge!" Knuckles noticed her get hit by the robot, ducking the other arm and trying to pull off his uppercut move.

            Shadow saw her fly into the wall, but noted that she appeared to be okay, since she was already cursing up a storm as she rubbed her head. He forced himself to get up in order to do what little he could against their metallic foe. His ears picked up the noise of whirring, only for his eyes to catch the robot's arm reforming into another gun. Oh shit! Knuckles saw it too and instantly knew who it was aiming at. He called to Rouge to get out of the way as he tried to tackle the robot at the knees to set it off balance. The crosshairs were still on Rouge though, keeping its aim on her even as she tried to get out of the way.

            Sonic could barely move as it was. He hated feeling helpless and knowing that his friends needed his help was driving him insane. God damn it! I have to help them but I can't do a damn thing…! Shadow looked around, noticing a small glass door in the wall, not to far away from him. I wonder… Knuckles dodged another swipe as he heard the blaster charging, making another mental curse in his head. Rouge had attempted to get around the robot, but it had swiped at her with its gun arm, keeping her blocked from getting away. Oh this is just great…I have to try to get out of the line of fire! The bat dashed straight for the robot, in hopes that she could slide underneath its legs. A crack to her jaw sent her sprawling again. The Guardian saw her skid away and growled, trying to latch onto the arm so the robot would pay attention to him and get away from Rouge. It flung him into the opposite wall, causing stars to flood his vision temporarily.

            " Gak!"

            Rouge shook her head a little bit and rubbed her jaw.
            " Knuckles, are you…!"

            " You guys have to get out of there!" Sonic called to them. "It's going to shoot you!"

            The white treasure hunter looked up and was practically staring down the end of the gun's barrel. She froze. This model is too quick…I'll never be able to get away from it in time…

            " Rouge!!" Knuckles cried, trying to get to his feet in hopes he could do something.

            There was a sound of shattering. The robot pulled backwards a little, almost as if it was in pain. Its shot went into the ceiling, taking out two of the lights and spraying glass down over Rouge. She quickly covered herself with her wings, trying to protect herself a little bit from the falling glass. Purple eyes flew to the robot, where Shadow was on top of it, raising an axe for its head.
            " That is…NOT…how you…treat a LADY!"

            He brought the axe crashing down onto the robot's face, shattering its eye and frying circuits. The hedgehog left the axe buried in its head as he jumped off of it before it crashed onto the floor, landing near Rouge, who was uncovering herself with her wings. Knuckles was at their sides, double checking that they were alright.

            " I'm fine." Shadow said, his blood drying on his face by now. " Are you two okay?"

            The Guardian had extended a hand to help Rouge up. She almost swatted it away, but took it at the last minute for him to help her up.

            " I'm alright…" She said quietly.

            Knuckles did not say anything that pertained to his injures. " We need to get out of here, now."

            " Agreed."

            " Shadow, are you going to be able to move through those vents?"

            The ebony hedgehog nodded.

            " You'll have to help Sonic move then."

            " No problem." He was already trying to climb into the ventilation system after Sonic.

            Rouge blinked a little, almost in disbelief. Did I just hear that out of his lips…?

            " Ladies first." Knuckles piped up, after he heard Sonic and Shadow on their way through the vents.

            She felt a little heat go to her face.

            " Oh no, you can go first."

            " Something wrong…?" His grin and the tone of his voice were teasingly familiar.

            Her eyes slanted at him.
            " Just go, Guardian! Or do I have to give you a good kick to the ass?!"

            He held up his hands a little.

            " Okay okay! I'm going…" And he was soon up and in the vents, making his way back out.

            The white bat waited for a moment, then followed quietly, trying to hide her blush that was appearing on her face by now.

***

            Tails was still waiting in the cockpit of the Tornado, worried beyond belief. He had to do rounds around the building, or else the security sensors would pick his craft up and possibly shoot it down. The small fox was in a hover mode next to the vent where Knuckles and Rouge had disappeared into, waiting. He looked at his watch. They've been gone a long time… I hope they're okay… A tattered gloved hand grabbed a hold of the side of the vent opening. The small boy looked up at it, moving the Tornado closer a little.

            " Guys?"

            " You don't know…how happy I am to… see you, little guy…" Sonic's weak voice said as he pulled himself up to the vent opening.

            " Sonic!"

            Shadow popped his head into view. He had one hand on Sonic's shoulder.

            " You have no idea how heavy you get after dragging you through those vents…"

            " Shut…up." Sonic said, with a small chuckle.

            Tails moved the Tornado closer to the building.

            " Are you guys going to be able to get into the biplane?"

            " Not without… some more help…"

            The black hedgehog crawled over Sonic and quickly pushed off of the edge of the vent. He grabbed a hold of the tail of the Tornado, bracing his feet on the back of it as he reached out for Sonic's arm. After a few minutes of careful navigation, both hedgehogs were stuck in the back of the biplane.

            " Ow…watch where your quills are going!"

            " You shouldn't have… shoved me in here then…!"

            " I see you two are getting along fine." Knuckles said as he jumped from the vent and glided upwards slightly.

            " Where's Miss Rouge?" Tails asked.

            " Right here, scout." The bat said as she swung out and buried her claws into the side of the building.

            The Guardian eyed her a little bit and then nodded at Tails.

            " Get going, kid. We'll be right behind you."

            " Aye aye!" Tails said, beaming a little that they had helped Sonic and Shadow out.

            The fox pulled a little on the controls, to get the Tornado away from the wall before turning it away from the building. He pushed a few buttons on the console and flew off, ascending high into the clouds so the GUN security sensors wouldn't know which direction they were going. Knuckles smiled a little and looked at Rouge, who was still clinging to the wall.

            " Coming?"

            " Well…"

            He blinked a little.

            " What's the matter?"

Shadow: Thank god, we got out of there…

Sonic: Is that it?

Of course not! ^_^ There's still more to come.

Sonic: Nani?! ::whines:: But…when is this story gonna be over???

Shadow: She's a novel writer…you should know this by the other 30+ fanfictions that she has written over the years…

Sonic: ¬¬; Yeah well, she never got this much praise about them until she put YOU into one…

O_o; Well, yes this is the first story I ever wrote with Shadow in it…

Shadow: Exactly. And people like it more than her other ones because I'm better than you. ::grins at Sonic::

Sonic: ::sputters:: What?! How dare you!

o.o; Oh dear… ::sounds of fighting are heard:: ^^; Anyway, please tell me what you think and I should be writing more soon….(hopefully…@.@;;;) Thanks for sticking by me though with all of your praises. ^_^ It helps me out a lot to know that there are people who like reading my work…

Shadow: Take that, bitch!

Sonic: OW!!! WHY YOU---!

…Um, don't mind them. ^^;;;;;