Chapter Sixteen
When the two hedgehogs got back inside, they were confused to see everybody surrounding Tails. He was sitting on the couch, click-clacking away on his laptop with the device seated next to it, a cord connecting the device to the laptop.
"What's going on Tails?" Sonic asked him as they both approached.
"Hacking into this thing's camera feed." The fox answered.
A chill ran up the blue hedgehog's spine as he and Shadow both shared a look. "Camera feed?"
"Mmhm. You see this big glass piece at the top? It's a camera lens. Whoever built this thing was trying to catch something with that sound, and I'm curious to see what. So I'm hacking into its recordings to see if it caught anything interesting."
Suddenly, the green loading bar on the screen filled up and a video file popped up.
"Is that it, Tails?" Cream asked.
"It must be. Let's take a look."
Tails clicked on the file and immediately a video recorded underwater started to play. In the background, they could hear the cries of the lure looping over and over. Sonic gave Shadow a discreet look of fear. If they didn't do something, they were going to see Sonic in his merhog form.
"Look, something's approaching the lure!" Knuckles pointed out.
They all looked at the video, trying to figure out what the creature was. Sonic and Shadow both immediately could tell it was the Siren, but due to the darkness and bad quality of the video, the others luckily couldn't figure it out.
"What is that thing?" Amy frowned. "It looks like some kind of fish."
"It's tail fin is moving up and down." Rouge added. "A dolphin maybe?"
"No, too bulky to be a dolphin." Tails frowned as the creature came closer. "Let me see if I can enhance the video quality."
Sonic and Shadow both shared a look. It Tails fixed the quality it would be game over. Suddenly, Shadow had an idea. Being discreet as possible, Shadow feigned curiosity of the video, putting his hand on the table near the device as he pretended to keep his balance as he leaned closer. Suddenly, he slipped and knocked into the device, making it fall to the floor and shatter on impact, the cord connecting it to the computer ripping out of its side. With the device completely broken and the video feed corrupted, there was nothing on the screen but a blue error window.
"Shadow!" They all scolded him as Sonic went to help him stand up.
"Sorry everybody, I slipped." Shadow shrugged.
"You klutz! Now we'll never know what was on that video!" Knuckles growled.
"Is there any way you can save it, Tails?" Amy asked as the fox connected the cord again.
Tails messed around a bit and shook his head. "No. The file is completely corrupted."
"Are you alright, hun?" Rouge questioned the ebony hedgehog, crossing her arms as she looked at him in concern. "You're not usually this clumsy."
"I'm fine. I'm fine." Shadow waved it off. "Just having an off day."
"Yeah right." Knuckles huffed. "I think you better get yourself checked, Shadow. You don't get off days. I bet you broke that thing on purpose."
"I did not!"
"You know what fine stands for, right?" Amy frowned. "Frightened, Insecure, Nervous, and Emotional."
Shadow frowned. "Come on, that's ridiculous."
"Lay off him, guys!" Sonic finally snapped. "Everybody has those off days. He didn't mean to break the lure. It was an accident."
"That's right." Vanilla nodded. "Accidents happen guys. And besides, I thought we were trying to figure out who made the lure. Not what's on it."
Tails sighed and looked at the device. "Well, I was hoping that the video could give us a clue on who made it." As he looked closer at the pieces, his eyes widened and his ears perked up. "However, we may not need the video."
The twin-tailed fox suddenly grabbed a screwdriver and started taking more pieces apart. He kept working and working on it until he was able to pull a panel off, revealing a very familiar logo engraved on the lure.
"Eggman." Sonic growled as he looked at the evil doctor's signature mark. "I should've known."
"What could possibly be in the water that Eggman wants?" Amy frowned.
"And more importantly, what could he possibly be torturing to record such a sound?" Shadow questioned, glancing on Sonic to see his reaction.
The blue hedgehog was shaking, his fists balled up at his sides, his head hanging low. He had been tortured by Eggman before, and the thought of him doing the same to Ryn infuriated him.
"Sonic?" Shadow questioned him cautiously. "You ok?"
Sonic shook his head, his anxiety boiling up inside him. He needed to release it, and there was only one way he knew how he would get relief fast. Sure, it may cause some damage, and his friends would definitely question him, but he wasn't thinking about that now. Right now, he just needed to scream.
He took one big breath, and before Shadow could stop him, he let it out in one long high pitched note. A Siren's scream.
The window panes shook from the resonation. Glass shattered around the house, and Sonic's friends all covered their ears, cringing in pain as they were brought down to their knees.
"Sonic!" Shadow called, trying to get his attention, but the blue hedgehog continued to scream. Shadow managed to stand up and he went up to the screaming hedgehog. He wrapped his arms over his shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug, ignoring the screaming in his ear. "Calm down! Calm down!" When he was ignored, he groaned. There was only one way he knew how to shut him up.
He suddenly pulled away, grabbed his face, and kissed Sonic on the lips, silencing his screams.
Sonic stopped abruptly, his eyes widening in shock from a second kiss from his rival, but then he lowered them halfway and kissed back, purring from the attention. After a few seconds, when he was sure Sonic was calm, Shadow pulled away and petted his ears, whispering softly so the others couldn't hear him. Not that it mattered since their ears were ringing.
"We'll find her Sonic. I promise."
"... Thank you Shadow."
"What the hell was that?!" Knuckles demanded as he and the others stood up again.
"I've never heard you scream like that, Sonic." Tails added. "What was that?"
Sonic blushed and pulled away from Shadow, rubbing his arm a bit. It didn't seem like they noticed the kiss he and Shadow just shared, more concern about his screaming.
"It… that's what happens… when my anxiety gets the best of me." He started. "I call it a Chaos Scream. I don't use it because of the damage it causes but… I just couldn't keep it in. I've been tortured by Eggman before. And the thought of him doing the same thing to that poor creature on the recording just… got to me."
Sonic's friends all looked at each other, understanding where the blue hedgehog was coming from now. They looked back at him with sympathetic expressions.
"It's ok, Sonic. We understand." Tails assured him.
"How about instead of screaming your head off and bursting all our eardrums we go to Eggman's base and rescue this said poor creature." Knuckles suggested, pounding his fist into his palm to resemble that he's ready for a fight.
Sonic nodded. "Yeah. That sounds like a good idea." He looked at Shadow and smirked at him, giving him a wink and a thumbs up. "Come on. Let's go save that animal!"
Shadow rolled his eyes. All that talk of keeping his species a secret and the blue Siren in disguise hadn't even thought up of a plan to save Ryn without his friends finding out.
Oh well. Guess it was up to him to think of one now.
