Disclaimer: I'm not saying it again. You want to hear it? Go back to the other ten chapters and read THOSE disclaimers!

Random Official: Sorry NM, you have to say it.

Fiiiine... -grinds teeth- I don't....own....Sonic or the others. Just Asaro, who is partially my sister's, ChaosHavoc (shamelessly I advertise), and is based off of the evil wickedness that is my dear Daddy.....dude who wrote this script?! I never call him Daddy....

Shadow: -cackles, reading-

What is up with you...? And what are you reading...?

Sonic: -reading over Shadow's shoulder- Oh...wow.....

Okay, if Sonic's reading it, it's gotta be something completely wrong and stupid...

Shadow: -holds out book to her, still grinning-

-glances, then pales- ARGH!! VAMPIRE SEX!! MEIN EYES, THEY BLEEEEED!!!! -runs away to save her eyesight and what is left of her sanity-


Chapter Eleven - Run, Run, As Fast As You Can!!


It was always all my fault
and I reveled in the pain
Truth is lost forever
And the innocence now stained
We were meant to live forever
Yet somehow the line was seared
I told myself it wasn't true
But you still disappeared...

- Yuki Somora, 'Disappeared'

"That...that can't be right...." She mumbled, and his ears twitched slightly. She gazed at him, knowing that it was true, but at the same time, unable to completely believe him. He fit the description, and there was no doubt he was fast and strong, but Shadow the Hedgehog, as she had been told by Knuckles, had fallen from space, through the atmosphere, and according to Sonic, had vanished in a flash of light. Shadow the Hedgehog was no more....Shadow the Hedgehog....

"You're......dead....."

Tikal, at first, had expected a different reaction. Perhaps denial, possibly an admittance that he was not, in fact, that Shadow. Maybe even a show of a fierce temper, like Knuckles, or even more likely, Chaos, would've portrayed. Instead, she watched as his face twisted into an array of different emotions, before finally settling on an angry sort of amusement. His dark brow was slightly raised, and his lips quirked in a strange smirk, as though he was remembering something pleasing, yet somehow he seemed to be tensing at the memory.

Tikal suddenly felt very apprehensive of the look he was giving her, but somewhat through her as well, not unlike he was seeing someone else in her place. She watched him settle back slowly into his usual self, calm and collected, yet keeping the smile, even though it had shrunken to an almost unseen size.

"I am far from dead, Tikal. One such as I does not...cannot die."

She let him turn back to his work at the now somewhat dented console, where he studied it for a moment then frowned. His fingers flitted across the keys, and his frown deepened, as though he was very troubled by something, and could find no answer to this problem.

"It seems...that you have already received the operation. Whatever abilities you had before will not be of any use to us then..." He drew back and sighed, running a gloved hand through his streaked quills.

"What operation?!" Tikal burst out, concerned. What had these people done to her in her sleep?!

"They have implanted a special chip in you...us. Whatever it was originally designed to do, one of its affects is the cancellation of Chaos Energy." Shadow stepped aside to offer her a view of the console, which she moved forward to examine. However, none of the symbols she saw in the flickering screen made sense to her. She couldn't understand at all what the lit-up box was trying to tell her, and Shadow seemed to perceive this almost instantly.

"It says that they did it the moment you arrived. I suppose they felt it couldn't wait; your cooperation must be very important to their plans if they didn't even examine you first..." He reached out and pushed a button, the scene changing to bring up a different set of squiggles and dots.

"Hmm...that's odd."

"What is?"

"The file..." Shadow said, moving in front of the monitor again. "It repeatedly refers to the Guardian, Knuckles. But yours seems to be the only information provided here....it's as though they believe you to be--"

"Guardian!! We know you're in there! Bring Subject number 3374 out and surrender yourself and it, or we will be forced to...um....force you out!!"

Nicely worded, and with such great timing... Tikal thought as Shadow raised an eyebrow.

"You told them you were the Guardi--"

"They made the assumption. I simply didn't feel the need to disprove it." She defended herself haughtily, while Shadow gave her an admiring glance.

"You have five seconds to come out!!"

At once, Shadow's eyes narrowed, showing just how extremely annoyed the powerful hedgehog could become in a matter of moments. Tikal instinctively backed away, but was stopped when he turned fully and went toward the door. She latched onto his arm to stop him, and tried to plant her feet, though without surprise, found he could pull her added weight along quite easily.

"What are you doing?!" Tikal hissed softly as he practically dragged her to the door. The moment he stepped to the threshold however, he shoved the physically younger, smaller furry away hastily and shushed her.

"Stay here.." He mumbled.

Then he withdrew from the room.

In seconds, the sound of gunfire reached her ears, and the following screams were practically deafening. Tikal, against her better judgment, peered out beyond the doorway, hoping she was ready for whatever she saw.

She wasn't.

Shadow was basically mutilating the terrified guards, lashing out left and right, sparing no one his wrath. Broken people flew everywhere, and the injured and dead lay at odd angles across the floor and against the walls, the former moaning loudly, or shrieking, in pain. Tikal gaped horror stricken and stepped out into hall, staring at the gore taking place.

Her companions never fought like this, not that she knew of anyway. This was pointless killing, he didn't have to rip them apart like this, limb by bloody limb. And the screams, the screams were beyond horrible, echoing in her mind over and over until it was almost all she could hear. She could no longer stand by and take it.

"Stop! Please, stop it!"

She ran to Shadow's side and grabbed his hand to keep it from knocking away the head of another victim, the last man standing, or rather kneeling. He stared horrified at them both, brown hair ruffled with the loss of his helmet, skin waxy pale, and it was obvious he was afraid of them, the cold-eyed hedgehog and the female Echidna who wish to help him. The soldier sensed his chance and turned tail, fleeing the scene with surprising speed for a human, but then again, his life was at stake and that always prompted people to move a lot faster than one would expect.

Especially, Tikal felt, if your would-be killer was only seconds away from breaking loose and nailing you anyway.

To the Echidna priestess's surprise however, the by-far stronger hedgehog did not pull away and pursue his prey as she feared he might. Instead, he stood almost calmly where he was, staring after the escaping human with an unreadable glare in his smoldering crimson eyes. She swallowed slowly and loudly, unable to force herself to release his arm. The dark head turned to look at her, eyes hardening when she came into his sight-line. She flinched under the cold look, but still did not pull away.

"Why..." He breathed softly, as though trying to quell his anger from forming in his voice, and creating an emotionless, and even more unnerving, effect. "...did you stop me...?"

Tikal's brow furrowed. "Life is sacred, Shadow. One does not dispose of it at one's will." He glared more fiercely and she lowered her eyes, watching the floor as if for some salvation. "...they stood no chance against you…it…it was man-slaughter."

"I'd prefer to deal with them now, before they start gaining some actual intelligence and equipping their officers properly." He growled. "They would have done the same if I was as unimportant to them as they are to me."

"It does not matter what they would've done, only what you did do. And you killed them. Without remorse, or a fair chance, you murdered them..."

"Do not speak to me of remorse! Of fair chances, of murder!!"

He jerked away and narrowed his eyes at her, showing his disapproval as bluntly as she hers, scarlet eyes flashing with the reflected light from the ceiling. Tikal drew back, bringing her hands halfway to her face as if expecting a blow of some sort. His hand indeed transformed itself into a fist, and he was clenching it as though to hold himself back, but he never raised it.

"That human will alert his authorities to our whereabouts..." He hissed, turning his back on her. "We should keep moving." He started away, his footfalls heavy.

"And don't interfere again."

Tikal watched him move farther away, and soon convinced herself that he wouldn't stop and wait for her. She sighed, knowing full well that though his morals could use some purifying, he was the only one here, chances were, who would be willing to help her. He was her only chance to get out of this madhouse and back to her friends, or at least to staying alive until they came to rescue her.

Ch-Click!

Tikal hesitated, and turned her head slightly to look behind her, body tensing up as if it knew already what was to come, even if her mind had not yet come to a full conclusion. All she saw was a brief flash of metal before she heard the shout.

"Watch out!"

He was at her side in a moment, and in the next had scooped her up off the ground and dodged with her to the opposite side of the hallway. Tikal squeaked in surprise, but didn't protest, mostly because she was too busy staring. A rain of sparks hailed down, striking the ground where she'd been standing only seconds before, and it took a little while before she was able to fully comprehend that they were in fact, bullets.

Someone was trying to shoot them...

"How fast can you run exactly...?" He asked, cutting off down a different hallway, thankful that the chip GUN had implanted didn't affect his speed, since that, at least, didn't require his now-cancelled out Chaos Energy. She was clinging onto him for dear life, eyes scrunched closed in fear.

"N-Not very fast," She admitted, opening one eye slowly before screaming right in his ear.

"TURN! TUUUURN!!"

Shadow's attention snapped back to the hallway before him, and took note. A good ways down the corridor, and rapidly coming closer, was an armed squad with obvious intent to stop him and the girl they supposed was the Guardian. Shadow believed he would've laughed out loud if it had been in his nature, but after all the grief GUN had put him through, his smiles and cheerfulness, whenever they did occur, were bitter with memories.

Tikal screamed in fear and tightened her grip when Shadow suddenly leaped, in a strangely fluid motion and zipped his way up along the wall to move past the soldiers in an arch of sorts. He gained speed with each second, but kept himself from going too fast by reminding himself he was carrying a passenger at the moment. It was apparent from her harsh, gasping breaths and cries at each sharp turn that she was not used to this.

It was made even more evident when he skidded to a halt, since she forgot to hang on and tumbled out of his arms when he reached a full stop. She rolled a little and ended up face-down, heaving as she tried to push herself up. He made his way to her side and grabbed her forearm, hauling the female to her feet and letting go, telling himself she would manage.

Tikal teetered dangerously, but forced herself to stand on her own. Walking just yet, she was sure, was out of the question. Shadow didn't seem to care, since he was already starting on his way without her.

Or perhaps he did care, for after a number of steps, he paused and looked back at her.

"Coming...?"


All right people that is a wrap and all that stuff you say at the end of something. -rubs at eyes- I'm a little better, but I've learned a valuable lesson about my curiosity today...

Nameless Muse: Mind your own business...?

No. Have you check first. -shows him book-

Nameless Muse: AGH!!! MY EYES!!!! -tries to claw them out-