Damage Limitation

"The press are going to have a field day over this" Two nervous looking military officials walked down a long, richly carpeted corridor. "It should never have gotten out, that Bell idiot should be tried for treason."
"He's a technician. No-one at that facility had high level security, no-one expected to end up using it to torture Shremu"
"That's a bit strong isn't it?"
"That's how the press will see it, there's more than enough people at that base willing to come forward and sing like mocking birds"
"Why were they sent there in the first place?"
"It was the only local base that had the facilities to house Project Shadow; you can imagine we didn't want him waking up in a transport truck"
"Their capture could have gone a little better too… countless witnesses, we didn't exactly make them look like the hostile party"
"There's even comment among the scientific community that Project Shadow couldn't have caused the Skytop fire, we haven't had the full forensic reports back." He looked hard at his counterpart "The cause of the fire was never confirmed the villagers jumped to conclusion. The scientists will go straight to the press if the findings are anything other than crystal"
"Damn modern journalism, what happened to the days when you could fight a war without cameras watching your every move?"
"Since when was this a war?"
"Since that thing got loose"
The other man shook his head "If the conditions in that base become public knowledge-its virtual political suicide, and that means our jobs. The government's gunna have to do some pretty fast talking. I for one want conditions on that base improved, before I end up in one of those cells. That base commander's gunna get his ass kicked. I don't remember giving anyone permission for such behaviour. We're all going to have to hope this Project Shadow heals as fast as the reports say he can"

"My Guardian… what have they done to you?"
With his legs tied Knuckles fell forward as soon as the human released him. He only just managed to catch himself on his freed hands. He knelt in the cell for a moment, dazed, the searing white hot pain in his wrists threatening to overwhelm him. Then he was aware of Shadow beside him, then a moment later his arms wrapped around him. Knuckles wanted to sob, but somehow he held it in, maybe he was too numb, he didn't seem to be capable of anything. He seemed to watch Shadow caress his dreadlocked head as though from a distance. He heard Shadow's whimpering calls as he tried to break through to him, but couldn't respond. As he knelt there the calls became weaker, as Shadow gave him up as lost inside his own skull as he himself had so often been. It was only as Shadow was about to pull away that Knuckles made his limbs respond, and drew Shadow into a one armed embrace. They remained like that for a long time, until Shadow spoke, his voice raspy, devoid of its usual softness.
"You didn't come back for me…"
Shadow half delirious spoke it purely as a statement of truth, but for Knuckles that single sentence stung him worse than a thousand blows. It was only as Shadow felt his chest where Knuckles leant against him grow wetter than it had been that he realised what he'd done.

The door opened again. Shadow and Knuckles uncurled a little to wearily look towards the sound. They were met by a face they both recognised.
"If I had my way you'd be in separate cells, ones not nearly as comfortable as these."
Knuckles attempted to climb to his feet, a difficult task with his legs still bound, in moving he was reminded of how much damage had been done. At the very least he wanted to put himself between Shadow and the human.
"Then whe sshould be thankthul you're not in charge…" Knuckles wheezed
"Insolent little demon" Paul Spencer snarled at Knuckles, and kicked out hard with his heavily booted foot. Knuckles was too slow to respond and took the full force of the blow right in the middle of his chest. He coughed, splattering blood over Paul's shoes and collapsed with a grunt as Shadow moved forwards to him. As Paul left the room Knuckles managed to lift his head enough to speak.
"You'll regret that…" He said past a gurgle of blood.
He was only aware of Shadow's whimpering call as his world again went dark.

He awoke to find his head resting in Shadow's lap, his hand gently resting over that particularly tender spot on his chest. When his eyes adjusted to the darkness he managed to discern Shadow's features, and realised his eyes were closed, he seemed to be dozing. Knuckles left him in peace and attempted to drift off again. If it weren't for the terrible smell he could have imagined they were back home again, nestled in the shell of their half built house… oh for the past, when their lives had been simpler and free. Sleep didn't want to come, so he lay there for a while, trying to ignore the stench. As he sat he realised he could hear something, it took his foggy mind a while to realise it was Shadow's heartbeat. He'd never noticed it before; he smiled to himself, so Shadow did have a heart after all.

Sonic and Tails drew a blank. They'd followed Shadow and Knuckles as far as Allen's church, and got no further. They met Allen following the comments of the locals, by now they'd given up pretending they weren't tracking them. So far they'd found most humans were helpful. Somewhere in the last 24 hours or so public opinion had changed, they no-longer received the scathing remarks concerning them. They'd succeeded in following their trail this far, but now as they spoke to a bemused Allen outside his church they drew a blank. Allen proved more than willing to talk to them, but he'd spent time being interrogated by the police for helping Shadow and Knuckles, and consequently had no idea where they'd been taken, just that they'd been caught a few miles outside the next village. It was when the time came for Allen to do his early service, which turned out to be much larger than normal, mainly accounted by his new found status as a celebrity that one of his parishioners offered Sonic and Tails the answer.
"Hey mummy look its Sonic!"
A little boy ran up to them dragging his mother with him. She starred at Sonic and Tails for a moment before addressing Allen.
"My, my Allen we are mixing with an interesting crowd today"
"Can I have your autograph?" the little boy asked
"Ugh…"
Just then another little girl ran up "Your Knuckles' friend right!" She said eagerly. Sonic nodded, increasingly bemused "I like him better… he's funny looking!"
Sonic and Tails laughed at that "I wanted to meet him, but mummy says the Army took him away"
"Does anyone know where to?" Allen asked the assembled parents.
"Haven't you seen the local newspaper?" the father asked. Allen shook his head. He was confronted with a picture of himself, being hauled into a police car sprawled all over the front page.
"Oh" Allen said simply
"Yeah… you're a proper celebrity… Says they took them to some military facility south of Westover… not a nice place from what I can tell…"
Sonic looked at Tails, and smiled.
"Thanks!" they yelled in unison, before running for the Tornado.

When Paul Spencer arrived at the facility late that morning he got a rather nasty surprise. There appeared to be a welcoming committee. He stared through the window of his fuel guzzling four-by-four, a bully's car. No less than twenty Guardians were standing or sitting at the steps leading into the building. Most of those twenty were accompanied by their Charges, a worrying number of whom were human. Then as he looked more closely he identified Alexander Bell amongst the ranks. For a long time he sat there watching them. He couldn't believe it. Most of them had stood up now and were watching him. He noticed one of the Guardians, with no obvious attachment frowning more intently at him. This Guardian was a dark tan, big, even for an Echidna. Paul shook his head, he wasn't going to let a few measly Shremu, a few animals stop him getting inside. He opened his door and stepped boldly out.

Custos didn't like this man. He walked too proud, as though he was pleased about what they did in the building. Most of the others had dropped their heads when walking past, a few even whispered words of encouragement. Those they had allowed to pass without duress, clerical and maintenance workers mostly, simply there to earn a wage to support a family. They couldn't hate them for that. But this man, Custos felt all the hair on his body stand on end as he approached. There was something… about him. Custos found himself blocking his way.
"Move!" Paul shouted.
Custos realised what it was. He recognised a scent, though old; a powerful nose had been one of the gifts the Shards had given him. This scent was familiar from long back into his childhood. It belonged to one who had been his best friend for a very long time.
"What did you do to Knuckles?"
Paul missed a stride.
"I know you know him, I can smell him on you, under all that human stench!"
He hadn't cleaned his shoes. Paul suddenly regretted kicking the Guardian. "Out of my way!" He cried angrily
A ring of Guardians now surrounded him. Many waving heavy fists.
"You demean both yourselves and us by containing Chaos Controlled and his Guardian in such a repulsive manner" A new Echidna Guardian said, old, his spines tied with ceremonial ribbons.
"I don't hold much to your legends Shremu; your Chaos Controlled is one of the most pitiful things I've ever seen"
"Then you do know them!" Custos growled.
"Get out of my way!"
Paul finally managed to force his way through them. As he swiped his key-card into the door the dark tan Guardian spoke again.
"The Shards are rising human, are there no Guarded among those you care about? Are you sure they're all safe?"
With that the door closed and Custos' voice died away.

Malcolm Spencer was sat at the back of his history class yawning his head off. Beside him, his Guardian, Espine, silently bid him to pay attention. Malcolm ignored him, the ache in the middle of his head that had been there for the last few days was growing stronger. He was terribly thirsty, and fidgety, he was too hot in the small classroom. He wanted to be outside, to breathe fresh air. His teacher glared at him for a moment, before returning to her train of speech, something about the Russian Revolution. Malcolm was becoming increasingly restless. It was almost as though he couldn't breathe. Suddenly the pain in his head intensified. Espine turned to stare at him. Malcolm was suddenly very, very afraid.

Espine felt a wave of energy build up within his Charge. Energy which for all rights should not be there. Energy which Malcolm's puny human frame was not built to withstand. Instinct took over, Espine dived within his Charge's mind, and put himself in the way. As the wave of energy approached him Espine realised with horror it was more than he could stop. This was going to hurt, both of them. With a crash Guardian and Charge fell backwards from their respective chairs, to lie on the classroom floor. Here Espine lay rigid, his body scalding to the touch, beside him his Charge fitted violently, to the screams of their classmates.

Outside the facility a particularly famous plane came in to land. The growing group of protesters barricading the entrance looked up, with mild curiosity. Perhaps only a few recognised the plane initially, Custos among them, but word soon spread, so it was that when Sonic and Tails ran up they were met with a barrage of questions.
"Whoa, whoa! One at a time!" Sonic cried
"Custos?" Tails asked, addressing the tan Echidna. Sonic looked across at him
"We met on Angel Island at Knuckles' Graduation right?"
"Yes, unfortunately the tidings that bring us together now aren't so good"
Custos' manner immediately put Sonic on edge, the last time they'd met he couldn't remember the Echidna being serious about anything. Things must be worse than he thought.
"We followed the press to get here" Tails said slowly "I take it we've come to the right place"
A few news vans had joined the crowd gathered outside the facility.
"Yeah" A new voice said. It belonged to a tall thin and slightly pale looking human "I tipped them off… I just couldn't stand what they do in there, its wrong"
"If you managed to pick this place up on the nationwide press it's a good sign, public opinion should turn against this dump… At least… that's what we're hoping" Custos said gravely
"Shadow and Knuckles are inside then?"
"Yeah, Alex here's seen 'um. And I smelt Knuckles' blood on one of the humans"
Sonic raised an eyebrow
"Don't worry… he wont be going anywhere till I've had my fun with him" A more fitting smile crept onto Custos' face as he pointed with a thumb towards a large car parked outside the building. Its sides had large dents in the formerly pristine black side panels, all the tires were flat. "What can I say" Custos shrugged innocently "We got a little bored out here waiting for them to speak to us"
"Have they spoken to you yet?"
"No" Another voice said. An old greying Echidna stepped forward, his faded red dreadlocks tied with the ceremonial ribbons. "A delegation from Angel Island has gone to speak before the humans' World Senate. I can only hope they have more luck than us. The world is a mess; we need Chaos Controlled to tidy it up for us. There's more than just their lives hanging in the balance"
Again Sonic raised a curious eyebrow.
"This is Master Frios, from the Southern Guardian School. Guardians everywhere are having small nervous breakdowns" Custos chuckled
"Is this something to do with all those reports of people getting strange powers?" Tails asked
Frios nodded in response "If Chaos Controlled and his Guardian are released quickly they can be returned to Angel Island and disaster can be averted… If not… many will suffer… The Guardians are prepared to go to war over this… in a few days all able bodied Guardians will be recalled to their home schools…"
Custos and many of the others stared at him "I had no idea it was that serious"
"Hopefully it will not come to that, but the ranking Masters at each of the twelve schools have voted, the decision was 10-2 for war to attain their release… the deadline is midday on Angel Island the day after tomorrow. General recalls will go out on the message network at dusk on Angel Island tomorrow. I hope to Heaven it doesn't come to that…" Frios shook his head. "For all our sakes…