Chapter 7
Professor Austin typed away furiously at the keyboard, running multiple scans and tests on the still unconscious hedgehog. The occasional bubble floated silently from Shadow's mouth, bursting when it reached the top of the tube.
Even though he was physically unconscious, his mind was still full of anger. In the dark realm of his mind, Shadow stood alone, talking to seemingly no one but himself.
'How dare they do that to me!' He asked himself in fury. 'They fooled with Maria, they fooled with me! They single handily destroyed my entire past. This will be the last time they do this!'
Back inside the tube, Shadow cringed slightly as a number of bubbles floated up from the small mask he had on his mouth.
Laura noticed the behavior and tapped the Professor on the shoulder, pointing to Shadow. "Sir, look, something's happening to him."
The Professor stood up and stepped towards the tube.
'How dare they! How dare they!' Shadow screamed in his mind. 'I will get them for this! I swear I will!'
The Professor moved to where his face was inches away from the tube and looked at Shadow's slumbering form. Suddenly, the dark hedgehog's eyes shot wide open, revealing them to once again be completely ebony.
A bright black light shone from the tube as it suddenly exploded in a giant red flame. The Professor was knocked to the floor, with Laura running up beside him and helping him up. "Sir, what happened?"
"He's awake." The Professor answered, fear tainting his voice.
Through the giant grey cloud, multiple clanking sounds were heard as a dark silhouette became visible in the cloud. Laura and the Professor both backed up slightly as the figure revealed itself as Shadow. A dark black flame surrounded the hedgehog's body and his ebony eyes flashed with evil intentions. The hedgehog was once again on the verge on entering his darkest form ever.
Quivering in fear, the Professor picked up a radio. "Attention, 003 has escaped!"
Immediately, red sirens flared through the base as the demented Shadow looked up curiously with his eyes narrowed. The door slid open as multiple armed soldiers poured through, all aiming their guns at Shadow.
The dark hedgehog lowered his gaze towards the opposing forces and laughed a demented laugh that wasn't his own. "You fools think you can stop me? You have made my life a living hell long enough!"
The dark hedgehog raised his glove-less hand as dark chaos energies began to gather within his palm. With another maniacal laugh, Shadow pointed the hand at the soldiers. The light shone onto his face, making him appear even more sinister then he already was. The hedgehog was about to release when for some odd reason, he stopped. Shadow's ebony eyes widened slightly as he had some kind of vision, an unexplainable vision that took place for some unknown reason. His physical form was in the lab, but his mental form was elsewhere…
Shadow smiled slightly as the young bat woman beside him kissed him on the cheek.
"Mom, dad!"
Shadow turned around and was caught in a tight hug by a little black hedgehog.
Suddenly, the image disappeared and instead it showed what was going on at this very moment. It showed Shadow ruthlessly massacring the soldiers that stood in his way, ignoring their pleas for mercy.
The dark hedgehog turned around when he heard sniffing sounds. Before him, stood the young black hedgehog.
"Why daddy? Why?"
Lowering his hand, the dark energy blast disappeared. The dark aura around him also disappeared along with the totally black eyes. The soldiers were momentarily dumbfounded at the hedgehog's hesitation but the cocking of their guns proved that they had come back with reality.
Shadow didn't know exactly why he stopped, but he knew that if he attacked the soldiers out of blind fury now, there would be dire consequences. Trusting his instincts, Shadow pointed his hand towards the ground and released a Chaos Spear, sending a cloud of smoke into the air.
About to dash off, something caught Shadow's eyes, something white. Shadow smirked slightly as he picked up his old gloves, which were lying on a small metallic table. Sliding them onto his fingers, Shadow tightened them by tugging on them a little.
Then, with great agility, Shadow dashed through the smoke filled with the soldiers and ran out of the door, weaving in an out between the confused humans.
The dark hedgehog skidded to a stop after the door hissed shut and looked around. There were only two paths. One surely led into the depths of this base and the other probably led outside, to freedom.
Shadow decided to take the path leading away to his right and dashed off, with his slightly damp hover shoes blazing beneath him. Red sirens flared all around the dark hedgehog, making him appear a soft brown color. The ebony and crimson hedgehog stopped at another fork in the metallic road and looked around.
Deciding on the left way, the dark hedgehog dashed off again, slightly holding his damaged arm, which had began to bleed again from the lack of rest.
Suddenly, Shadow's sensitive ears picked up the sound of engines.
Shadow looked over his shoulder slightly to see two S.D. mechs chasing him with their light blue jets lighting up the metallic path behind them. Shadow muttered a few curse words and sped up his pace. Shadow smirked. Surely those tin cans had lost track of him.
Just to be sure, Shadow looked over his shoulder to see the two mechs still behind him, only now their hands had been replaced by machine guns. Raising the guns, both mechs opened fire upon the hedgehog.
Shadow ducked slightly out of instinct while still running. The bullets blazed past him, creating tiny holes into the wall and ceiling. Suddenly, Shadow skidded to a halt and ducked as the two mechs blazed past him.
"Alright," He said quietly. "This one has to count. Chaos Spear!"
The yellow bolt shot forth from Shadow's hand and hit one mech right in the head, causing it to explode, with the other mech being caught in the mini inferno, also destroying it.
Shadow smirked slightly even though that one attack took the tiny amount of Chaos energy he had regained away, leaving him once again completely drained of Chaos powers.
Shadow shook the thought out of his head as he started running again, slightly jumping over the remains of the two mechs. Now that the hallway was going straight, Shadow sped up his pace even more, with his hover shoes spitting out fire beneath him, turning the cold gray floor a darker color.
Shadow kept going when he spotted a bright light at the end of the metallic hallway. Shadow's heart jumped at the thought of escape as he passed through the light, finding himself in the small hanger from which he was transported to the base.
Shadow sighed in relief and spotted that the main door of the hanger, which was at least sixty feet wide and seventy feet tall, stood wide open, letting in a huge quantity of bright light. Wasting no time, Shadow dashed for the door and was about to pass through it when suddenly, a huge metal seal fell over the door, completely destroying the light in the room along with Shadow's hopes for escape.
The dark hedgehog stepped back out of disbelief but stopped when he heard an all too familiar laughter.
"Now, 003, where did you think you were going?"
Shadow turned around slowly to see the hated Commander standing in front of twenty S.D. mechs, all with large black cannons raised and pointing directly at Shadow. A light blue light was emitting from all of them, signaling their readiness to fire.
"I'm getting out of this damn place, you wretched human!" Shadow spat.
The Commander mockingly shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that 003."
He raised his hand and pointed at the side of his head. "Not until we know what makes you tick."
Shadow smirked. "Well then, if you plan on keeping me in this hell hole any longer, you'll have to catch me."
The Commander smiled wickedly. "Gladly, S.D. mechs, ATTACK!"
With their leaders command, the twenty mechs charged forward, their cannons spitting out huge blue energy blasts. Shadow darted to the side to avoid the onslaught and raised both his hands at them. "Let's see how you like this! Chaos Spe-damn, I forgot, I have no Chaos powers!"
Shadow cursed himself slightly but got back to reality when he barely dodged another cannon shot, out of pure instinct. The dark hedgehog growled and charged for one of the mechs, kicking it straight in the chest. Shadow back flipped and stared at the now motionless mech. His eyes widened when the mech moved, completely ignoring the vicious kick Shadow had just delivered.
Shadow growled again and charged for one of the mechs in the middle, raising his fist and concentrating all the force and momentum in his body towards the attack. With a giant bang, the hedgehog's fist impacted with the mech, totally destroying the chest plate and back plate, along with all the sensitive wiring and sending Shadow through the giant hole he just created.
The dark hedgehog tumbled slightly but regained his footing, staring at the mech. With a large white explosion, the mech burst to millions of tiny pieces, which fell to the cold steel ground. Shadow smirked slightly when he was hit in the face with another familiar cold fist. The dark hedgehog skidded on the ground, leaving a long black mark before being picked up by another mech.
Gasping for air, Shadow wrapped his hands around the merciless fist that he was caught in to no avail. The mech's free arm transformed into the familiar black cannon as it pointed it at Shadow. Shadow's blood red eyes widened as his face became shrouded in a blue light. The dark hedgehog barely had time to gasp before the mech fired the cannon shot, releasing Shadow from his vice grip and sending the hedgehog into the wall.
The dark hedgehog didn't even have time to let gravity take its effect and slide down from the completely vertical wall before more cannon shots were fired at him. Lacking the strength, Shadow was hit with every single shot.
Smoke began to rise as the dark hedgehog disappeared under the bright blue lights and grey smoke, with only his screams of pain and agony confirming that he was still alive. The metallic wall behind him began to crumble as Shadow was pushed further and further into it, being totally helpless to retaliate against the assault.
The Commander smirked and raised his hand into the air. Immediately, all of the mechs stopped firing and retracted their cannons back into their hands. The smoke cleared to reveal the bloody ultimate life form, still stuck in the now huge crater the cannon shots had created.
His dark fur had been singed in multiple places, revealing tan skin. His left arm was worse than it was before, with almost all of the fur completely missing, showing only skin, bone, and blood. The dark hedgehog's right arm was also heavily damaged, exposing the soft tissue in some places, were the skin had been totally burned off.
The ebony hedgehog's chest and legs were dotted with multiple oozy burn marks as well. Shadow's head was completely covered in blood, almost hiding the ebony fur that resided there. His muzzle was also completely covered in blood as the red liquid slowly trickled down his chin.
Being the sick human he was, the Commander smirked evilly. "Good, now get him cleaned up, and then bring him to the psychiatric room; I have one machine in there that I'm sure will bring him under our control!"
The S.D. mechs did as they were told as two of them floated up to Shadow pried the dark hedgehog from the crater, dragging him back into the base, with the others close behind. The Commander smiled darkly and followed.
Little did he know that would be his undoing…
