CHAPTER 3

EVIL BURST

That next day, Shadow decided to return to the Chaotix. He was still a little upset from yesterday. He failed to believe anything from the disk. As soon as he walked through the door, Knuckles was there. He was sitting on Tonya's desk looking as though he wanted to start something with him. Tonya acted like she didn't care if Knuckles sat on her desk while she was working. When Shadow walked passed him he knew he was going to say something to him.

"Feeling better?" Knuckles asked.

Shadow faced him with anger, "Shut your mouth. I'm not in the mood today."

"What? I just wanted to see if you were okay. I tried to be nice to you for once."

"Look, echidna. I don't want your sympathy, so fuck off."

Knuckles glared at him. He got from Tonya's desk and started to crack his knuckles, "You wanna fight?"

"If it means shutting you up then I'll do it."

Tonya stood between them, "No Shadow, remember what happened last time? Don't fight him. You'll get in trouble again."

Shadow pushed Tonya on the floor, "Stay out of this!"

Tonya's eyes watered, "Why did you do that?"

As Shadow and Knuckles were about to fight, Rouge ran in the main lobby.

"Stop it, right now!" Rouge shouted.

Shadow and Knuckles faced her.

"Rouge?" Knuckles said.

Rouge walked over to them, "Knuckles, how could you? It's the same thing over and over. Every time Shadow walks through the door you have to pick a fight with him. You're the main reason he's getting suspended all the time."

"Me? What do you mean me? He always hits me first."

"But you always get him upset. If you can't get along with Shadow then we're through."

Knuckles couldn't believe it, "You're breaking up with me?"

Rouge faced Shadow, grabbed his hand and led him into the basement.

Knuckles was filled with rage. He walked out the building, wanting to kill Shadow. "You're gonna pay, Shadow. I swear." He muttered under his breath.

Meanwhile in the basement, Shadow was watching Rouge reload all of their guns. He felt kinda bad for Rouge. He didn't mean to cause any problems for their relationship. "It wasn't your problem back there. It was mine, you didn't have to break up with Knuckles for me."

"Who said I did it for you? I thought about what you said yesterday and I agreed. I don't love him, but I'm pretty sure he loved me."

"So...this isn't because of me?"

Rouge shook her head, "No, besides he was a hothead anyway."

Then Vector called them into the main lobby.

Shadow and Rouge quickly approached him.

"What is it?" Rouge asked.

"It's Lance. We haven't heard anything from him practically the whole month. We're gonna check on him. You wanna come?"

Rouge shrugged, "Why not? It's better than hanging around this dull place." She faced Shadow, "You coming too?"

Shadow slightly nodded as he clenched his fists, 'Maybe today will be the day. Maybe I'll finally kill Lance and get revenge for what he did to my father.'

In a couple of minutes later, they got to the Street Punks hideout. They braced themselves before they entered the building.

Vector took his fist and punched the door open. He saw every single one of them sleeping, until Vector opened the door.

A black and green squirrel pulled out shotgun and aimed it at Vector, "Who the hell do you think you are? Get out!"

The rest of the Chaotix pointed their guns at the squirrel.

The squirrel threw her gun aside.

"Where's your boss?" Espio asked.

"Like we're going to tell you", the brown chipmunk said.

Then a grey fox appeared, "What do you want?"

"Lance, what are you up to?" Shadow asked with anger.

"Nothing, if you must know."

"I don't believe you."

"It's true. We aren't doing anything. I can't believe you losers came to us to start something. I thought it went another way."

Charmy faced Vector, "Looks like they're telling the truth, boss."

Vector began to believe Charmy, "Maybe you're right?"

Lance looked over to Shadow, "Look at yourself, Shadow. It looks like you're ready to kill someone."

Shadow gritted his teeth, "Yeah you."

Tonya looked at Shadow, "Shadow, no."

It seemed that Shadow didn't listen.

Lance continued to pester him, "Looks like you're still mad about what happened nineteen years ago. Ha, your father was a fool. He tried so hard to protect you, but he failed to save you and him."

Shadow couldn't take it anymore. His anger was trying to escape him, "You think this is all a joke to you huh?"

Lance smirked, "Pretty much."

He laughed and clenched his fists as a black energy appeared around his body, "Let me show you what I think about your little joke."

Lance eyes widened as Shadow ran over to him with sharp fangs appearing from his mouth.

"Lance, look out!" Maxcell quickly pushed Lance out the way.

Lance fell to the floor. He watched as Shadow took down Maxcell.

Shadow got on top of Maxcell and started to bite him on the arm.

Maxcell screamed as he bit harder in his arm.

Lance couldn't believe what Shadow was doing, "Dear god..."

A red porcupine helped him off the floor, "Come on we gotta go."

Lance and the porcupine made a run for it.

Maxcell was already dead and yet Shadow was still biting on his arm. He had lost a lot of his blood.

"What's he doing?" Charmy asked frightened.

"Shadow, stop!" Espio shouted, but Shadow kept biting on him. Espio had tears coming to his eyes as he took out his handgun and shot Shadow in the back.

Shadow yelled as the bullet made an impact in his back. He faced Espio with anger.

"Shadow, what have you done? You killed Maxcell and he wasn't a threat to no one."

Shadow then snapped out of it and looked back at Maxcell's lifeless body. 'He's right what have I done?' Shadow quickly got off Maxcell's body and ran out the building.