A/N So this is chapter 37. Once again sorry for being slow. I've been mentally drained. Work has been pissing me off lately…. Like one minor one is I ordered a work uniform over a year ago and never got it so I used spares. During the summer rush we had more temps in the building so more spares were taken. I'm kinda small framed so mediums and larges usually were gone for my night shifts. So one night I took a extra large and it got caught in a roller(a small one, so small I was able to resist it and just stand there) Anyway it finally got my supervisors to actually really order me clothes. And after over a year of having no personal clothes for work I get them and the name is wrong…. Not kirk…. Kink…. Fml. Ya so that's a little snippit of my life for ya.
Anyway enjoy the chapter, to anyone that's confused this chapter has skipped ahead a bit.
It had been a month, a whole month of hiding, and gaining strength. A month of Tails collecting scrap building up his supplies, and finding what he needed.
The fox worked everyday slowly restoring what he could, slowly building back his workshop to what it had once been. He'd found so much equipment around the dead city. It wasn't hard, he could look around for years and still not be done with it all. He had almost all the equipment he had back in the day before he moved out.
Fiona of course helped where she could. She even tried to learn how to do some of the specialized work. She figured that anything could help Tails out would benefit the team. She liked welding so Tails had her do that stuff more.
Other than wanting to help out she also made it her goal to make sure Tails didn't overwork himself. That was something she frequently kept an eye out for, the last thing she wanted was for him to drop back into working so much that he didn't get any sleep, or even talk to people. Sure it annoyed him occasionally when he felt he had to do something important, and he since he was still working on his anger issues he had snapped at her once or twice…
"Tails you need to get to sleep, you're over working yourself again" Fiona looked tired as well trying to sty up with the male.
"Not right now I'm almost done" he said fairly calmly.
"I'm not letting you work yourself to exhaustion. Please just go to bed" she almost was begging him because she wanted to sleep as well.
"Just go to sleep… I'll be in bed in a few minutes" he was clearly trying to dodge out of being told to stop.
"We both know that's a lie" she frowned calling him out.
"I don't care!" he suddenly yelled.
… but he'd later apologize and thank her for looking out for him.
Fiona gave up on trying to convince Tails to sleep. He wasn't budging and it wasn't worth getting him too angry about it. Besides she needed to think about her own sleep.
She reached her door opening the door quickly falling into bed.
A few minutes later just as she was falling asleep the door opened and she heard Tails whisper "You still awake?"
The female fox shifted in her sleep and said softly "Ya"
He walked over to the bed and kneeled down next to it and with a small sigh said "I'm sorry for yelling"
"It's ok, I know you want to make things right"
"Doesn't give me the right to yell at you for just looking out for me" his voice had the distinct sound of guilt on it.
"We're all stressed out. You apologized, so it's ok. Just promise you'll get some sleep" she was already slipping into sleep mid-conversation.
"Sure" he nodded before giving her a kiss and walking out quietly closing the door.
She didn't know if he actually did get a decent amount of sleep that night.
Outside of the shop Fiona kept an eye on everyone else too. She knew that staying in the same building for so long with the same people would slowly build tension. It made her begin to feel like a mom. The idea always made her feel old.
Shadow wasn't usually an issue, he kept to himself more and more. Partially because he was always watching out for trouble. He'd unofficially become the look out of the team. He was used to solitude and could stay silent and alone longer than anyone else.
Shadow was the one to suggest they find a way to train to keep their skills sharp, but a lack of open space in the HQ, or safe places outside made that an impossible idea. Unfortunate, everyone liked the idea.
Nicole kept at her job of security, the secondary guard next to Shadow. She monitored activity in the city and kept movement patterns logged and was always vigilant for odd activity. Luckily for all of them it seemed they were entirely undetected inside the city. It seemed hiding in plain sight was working out. That didn't stop Tails from adding traps and security systems when he could.
Silver and Blaze mostly did what they could. They also kept an eye out for trouble but mostly spent a lot of their free time with eachother. Silver was always the guy to call when something heavy had to be lifted so helped out Tails fairly often. He also became the team cook. Blaze helped him out. Besides that the couple kept the HQ clean and generally kept everything organized. Blaze personally kept track of everything, all their supplies, weapons, schedules and rations.
Scourge slowly distanced himself from everyone more and more. People barely even saw him now., and when he was around it was a short amount of time or he was asleep. With everyone working hard and doing something besides him and the fact they all had to live with eachother it start causing some adversity.
Before the month was over it was clear Shadow hated that Scourge was contributing almost nothing and taking up supplies and space. Blaze shared this view, especially since she kept track of supplies, so she knew exactly how much he consumed for almost no work.
That's what everyone slowly started feeling, but Fiona saw something else. Her watchful eye over everyone made her recognize another problem, one she'd already confronted once before.
Nicole, she used to be with Scourge all the time. Besides tending to him and keeping him calm it also kept Scourge under the radar. Now there was a rift in between. Had she caused it when she confronted Scourge about it?
That was a problem that could start effecting things, she needed to know where Scourge was. He was unpredictable and if this keeps up one day they might eggbots on their doorstep because nobody could keep a leash on the green idiot.
But with a month passed things could have been a lot worse. They were still hidden, and as long as that kept up they'd be fine.
For now maybe Fiona could try and get Nicole to talk about her problem with Scourge.
Tails had decided to let Fiona go and do other stuff while he finished up a few things. She decided to use this time to talk to Nicole.
The fox walked up to the main computer and sat in the chair "Hey Nicole, what's going on?"
The PDA that held the Ai was currently hooked up to the main computer, the small projector activated and soon the lynx was standing next to her. Her straight posture and kind smile present like always.
"Things are going well. I haven't spotted any abnormal troop movements, and things seem to be normal" she briefly explained.
Fiona nodded with a smile "Good to hear"
Fiona looked over all the screens and asked "Know where everyone is?"
Nicole paused for a moment then said "You were just with Tails and he has stayed where he was. Silver is taking a nap getting ready for his turn on watch. Shadow is on watch right now, Blaze is reading a book in her room" Nicole stopped but she was obviously missing someone.
"What about Scourge?" she kept her tone more suspicious like she was worried where he was or had run off.
"Well…" she frowned looking away "I…. I…don't know… he usually disappears and I even I can't find him. I fear he leaves the HQ entirely" Nicole averted her eyes more knowing that she'd most likely get yelled at for letting Scourge leave without anyone knowing.
"What!?" Fiona straightened up in the seat "He leaves and you don't tell anyone. What are you thinking Nicole?" Fiona wasn't angry, she was more concerned at the strange loss of logic from the lynx.
She covered her face with her hands "I don't know…. I… I was just afraid you'd all get angry at him" she wasn't crying she was just… hiding.
"Of course we'd be angry Nicole. He's leaving without us knowing. He's also the most aggressive of us all, what if he's blowing our cover right now!? Do you realize what that could mean?"
"I'm sorry I, but I wanted to speak to him about it but he keeps avoiding me and everyone else or sleeping" he ears curled back "He hasn't messed up yet, we haven't been attacked yet, so he must be doing something right….. right?"
"That doesn't matter Nicole. You know what Tails said, nobody goes out alone besides Tails since he had his suit" Fiona said slowly getting more and more angry.
The lynx had nothing left to say and looked to the floor. She felt stupid, she knew that it was dangerous and all the rules, but she still let him go.
Fiona sat back thinking, there was no way she'd find the Moebian now, and the was no way she could keep up with him if she tried to follow him tomorrow. Tails had enough to worry about too. She opened her eyes getting an idea and got up.
Before she left though she turned to tell Nicole "Don't speak of this to anyone. We didn't talk about this, got it?"
The lynx sadly nodded retreating back into her PDA.
The vixen nodded and walked through the halls trying to find someone in particular. Someone fast enough and subtle enough to follow Scourge without him noticing.
Obviously she meant to find Shadow, and luckily for her she knew where he was. He was near the end of his look out shift so she went to the roof.
Being on the roof sounded like a bad idea. Nicole had logged quite a few aerial patrols, but the top of the building had cover and the shadows kept them concealed enough. It also helped that most airborne patrols either stayed relatively away from the HQ or circled the city itself. In fact most of the patrols after Nicole had done some analyzing seemed to be specifically to keep people out and not to search for people inside. Tails guessed that idea was to avoid anyone getting inside and there'd be no need for patrols for the inner part of the cities. It was one of the reasons why Tails could move around the city with such ease.
So like always she found Shadow hiding in… a shadow overlooking the city.
He easily heard her approach and turned his head. His ruby eyes looking to her with his normal stare.
"Anything happen?" he asked, usually people didn't bother him up here.
"Nothing at this very moment but I got talking to Nicole and she told me something…. Worrying" she entered the shadow as well standing beside him.
His posture went rigid as he asked "What about it is worrying?"
"Nicole told me that Scourge has been sneaking out everyday, that's why we never see him" she would have said more after letting the news set in but Shadow quickly spoke back.
"He's what!?" he growled "He's leaving without anyone knowing?... And Nicole has been quiet? How long has this been going on?"
The fox wasn't surprised by the outburst and said "Pretty much since we got here I assume"
"That bastard, I knew we couldn't trust him. He's going to get us all killed, what's he doing?" his resentment towards the Moebian had been festering all month and now he had a reason to be angry with him.
"Nicole doesn't know, he just leaves and doesn't return until much later, but that's why I went to get you. You're fast and quiet, maybe you could follow him?"
"I can do that" he nodded already wanting to get started.
"Unfortunately you'll have to wait for tomorrow. He's already left. And wake up early, he wakes up early compared to us" Fiona explained.
"Got it" he nodded again, although he hated that he'd have to wait over something so important.
Moments later the door to the roof opened again to reveal Silver. It was his shift on look out but he clearly was tired from just waking up.
"Hey" he groaned "Keeping Shadow company?"
"Yup, just until it was your turn" Fiona smiled. She wasn't gonna let anyone else know about what Scourge was doing. Not even Tails, he had enough on his mind already.
"Well I'm here so you two can go back inside" Silver smiled back.
Both Fiona and Shadow nodded and walked back inside. They had a plan, all they had to do was wait until morning.
Luckily it was somewhat close to the end of the day, mostly only time for dinner. Since Silver was on guard duty that meant no cooked meal, so Fiona got something for her and Tails to eat. She was pretty sure he skipped lunch so wasn't gonna let him say no to dinner.
She walked into the workshop and found the fox as she left him. He was doing some metal work so she approached cautiously.
"Brought you some dinner" she said a feet away.
"Oh?" he turned "Oh man I must have forgotten how hungry I was, thanks" he quickly shed his hands of his work gloves and took the plate. Like always he was a bit of a mess by the end of the day. Once again his younger self had thought ahead and had created a water system that would purify itself so they had essentially unlimited water. This meant they had showers which helped them keep clean.
"No worries, you know I'm looking out for ya" she smiled already taking a bite.
He frowned hearing that "You don't have to, we got other things to worry about you know?"
"Yes we do, and that's why I'm working hard to keeo you in good health and keep your mind at ease" she explained "While you work I keep and eye on everyone, making sure everyone gets along. All so you can focus on work. We all got a job and mine is to keep the peace, and unofficially keep you in good shape" She mostly did the second job because she cared about him so much.
He managed to smile "I just hope it's not wearing on you then"
"Nah, it's been fairly good outside a few minor dissagreements" she shrugged back, although as of today that was a lie.
"I know I haven't been the nicest all the time. You're just trying to help and I've snapped at ya, for that I'm sorry" Tails looked down apologizing.
His apology was nice but she needed no apology "It's ok Tails, I know you're still working out some things. I'm patient. Trust me, little fits of anger are ok, especially since you've apologized after anyway"
"Thank you Fi…. Sometimes I wonder how you were able to care for me like you do after everything I said and did when we met up again. I was actually trying to kill you… it's just hard to believe you can look past that is all" The male felt bad for that still.
Fiona just smiled and wrapped an arm over his shoulder "To be honest I thought it would be impossible to even speak with you again after our fight, but revenge kept me going. Then when I finally got in your base I saw bits of the real you, so I worked hard get more and more of it out. It nearly got me hurt once or twice, but I think it's working, right?"
"Yes, I think it is" he managed a smile.
"Good, now eat. We got a long road ahead of us" she nudged him slightly getting back to her food. He did as she said and soon the two began working again. It was only for a short time though, they both went to sleep afterwards. Tails didn't argue tonight, deciding tonight sleep was better than work.
Shadow had been asleep before anyone wanting to rest up for his early mission. Soon he'd be following Scourge and find out what he's been up to.
Luckily for him sleep came quickly, as did morning. The hedgehog woke up taking no time to fully wake up. He couldn't waste time incase Scourge ran off too fast.
So the dark hedgehog found a spot near the entrance to the tunnels. He pretended to fall asleep on a nearby chair since there was no reliable hiding spot.
Five minutes after he sat down he heard someone making their way to the room. He'd have opened his eyes to see who it was, but he couldn't risk being spotted.
His patience paid off as he heard the hatch to enter the tunnels open up. It had to be Scourge. The footfalls were a little too loud compared to Tails' sound suppressing souls.
The hatch closed allowing him to open his eyes and hop to the hatch. Scourge apparently didn't have any suspicion of him. There was no way he could open the hatch without alerting the other hedgehog so went to the main computer.
Before he even sat in the chair Nicole appeared next to him "Good morning Shadow, how may I help you?" it was a courtesy but her tone told him she already knew.
"Which way is Scourge heading" he asked.
The screens changed to a map of the tunnels. The three northern entrances lit up showing the three possible routes he could exit at.
"He is still inside the tunnels about to reach the split. He seems to be at a jogging pace for now" she explained. Her expression looked guilty. Luckily for her Shadow didn't have time for that.
He got up from the seat knowing he could beat Scourge to the exits if he ran fast. It was a little bit of a risk but he left the building and ran to the north. In a matter of seconds he was at a vantage point to see where all the tunnels exited. He really hoped he had made it in time. No dust kicked up from him running off fast so he was sure he made it.
Almost immediately after he thought that he saw a green speck walking out from behind a hill.
There he was. Shadow smirked, the idea of kicking his ass was tempting as hell. Sadly even though he would have loved to, he had to know if Scourge was out working behind their backs, causing trouble and attracting attention or simply trying to just stay away from everyone.
The green hedgehog blasted off into the wasteland. Shadow quickly chased after him and began his chase.
He followed for ten minutes, which translated to quite a bit of distance. The further they went the more worried Shadow got over what was happening. Was he out here meeting with Eggman?
Another minute and Scourge started to slow, so Shadow did as well. Shadow was successfully able to keep himself from being spotted. Scourge stopped and hid in a ditch.
"What's he waiting for?" Shadow mumbled to himself. He'd found his own ditch a little bit away so he could spy on the hedgehog.
The temptation to go and kick his ass got harder and harder to resist. He growled lightly knowing he still couldn't. He'd blow his cover incase the bastard was waiting for someone. H had no choice but to wait.
So he waited for a few minutes, which turned into two hours.
By then Shadow was more than a little confused. If he had been waiting for someone they'd have shown up already, so why was he out here? Was it really to escape and get away from everyone?
Maybe he was out here just trying to keep his mind clear. It was almost enough for Shadow to give up and put a little trust into him, but no he wasn't gonna let him off the hook until he went back and nothing strange happened.
Another half an hour and neither moved both clearly showing that their patience wasn't gonna end anytime soon.
Shadow had been staring at Scourge almost the entire time. When he wasn't he was hiding from his vision. The deafening silence was disturbed by metal hitting the floor.
Both pairs of eyes snapped to the sound. A patrol of eggbots was passing by. Not a very big group, about eight of them.
Shadow ducked more into his cover to avoid detection, but at the edge of his vision he could see Scourge was getting ready to pounce out and attack.
"Don't do it idiot" he said quietly, he'd never have heard him maybe he'd figure out not to attack either.
Sadly that wasn't the case and Scourge was nearly ready to attack. Seeing no other option to avoid detection Shadow pounced from his own ditch and sprinted to Scourges hole.
Just before Scourge was about o make his attack Shadow tackled him back into the ditch covering his mouth as they thud onto the ground.
Scourge clearly wasn't pleased by that and fought back before realizing who it even was who took him down. When he did he slowly stopped struggling and glared angry daggers at the other hedgehog. He got some pretty angry eyes back I return.
His hand didn't move from his mouth, but focused on whether the footsteps were coming closer to them. If they'd seen him they could be in a lot of trouble.
While the footsteps did get louder they never broke stride, no irregular foot patterns, that was good. They seemed to be getting further too. Shadow let out a small sigh of relief before glaring back at Scourge again. He wasn't getting off him yet. Not until the eggbots were completely gone.
He waited another seconds after the silence began before lifting off his hand. It went straight to the collar of Scourges jacket though, right beside the other one. His grip so tight and full of pent up anger he threatened to rip the jacket.
"What the hell are you doing out here!?" he finally growled pinning him to the ground.
Instead of answering the green hedgehog flipped the two over so he was on top "None of your fucking business!" He prepared to punch the mobian.
Shadows quick reflexes kicked in kicking him off. Before Scourge even hit the ground he was back to his feet. If Scourge wanted to fight he'd get one.
Scourge back rolled out of his fall and growled also having no problem with a fight.
Scourge made the first move dashing towards Shadow while picking up some dust along the way. He went in for a punch. Shadow went to the block and counter but the punch stopped before it reached him. Scourges fist opened up spraying the dust into his face.
With the dust in his face Shadow flailed around fighting to see properly again. Scourge took advantage to get in close and landed a left and a right before tackling his opponent. As soon as they landed he threw a few punches into Shadow.
After three hits Shadow managed to catch Scourge's punch then retaliated with his own fist forcing him off from the impact of the blow.
Scourge gripped his jaw for a moment before turning to face Shadow only to look straight into a foot heading for his face.
"Argh!... Gonna wish you hadn't done that" he growled.
Shadow wasn't one for talking in a fight and didn't respond wanting to keep up his attack.
He tried to barrage Scourge with punches, but he was quick, just like his opponent dodging every single strike.
Scourge saw an opening among the blur of punches giving him a swift uppercut. Before the hedgehog could make the small fall for his feet to reach the floor Scourge punched again right into the stomach. It completely knocked the air from his lungs and forced him backwards.
He was off balance and trying to catch his breath, Scourge had the upper hand. Without pause he took it shoulder checking Shadow with his extra speed. The dark hedgehog fell flat on his back still trying to suck in air.
Before he could get the air needed a heavy stomp smashed onto his chest. Scourge wasn't gonna let him breath, he knew if he could keep Shadow stunned then he had a chance of winning. At any moment he could decide to use his chaos powers and beat him with ease. He had only one guess to why he wasn't using them already and that was his fear that Eggman had a way to track chaos disturbances.
So he swiftly kicked Shadow in the head. The blow dazed the other hedgehog no gripping the side of his head. He made a loud growl in pain rolling to his side.
Scourge smirked over the other male. He was standing over Shadow the hedgehog, he'd kicked his ass with relatively no harm to himself. All he had to do was seal the deal.
He raised his leg preparing to stomp down on the male. With swift aggression he slammed his foot down.
Instead of fur and bone his foot met dirt and ash. He registered a flash under his foot and he could already tell what was about to happen.
"Shit"
A sudden strike hit him right in the back of the head, a flash appeared in front of him and a strike smashed into his chin full force. The first strike sending his head forward only making the hit even worse.
His vision was now fuzzy, he was off balance and he'd pissed off Shadow. He wasn't going to win.
Unfortunately for him Shadow was pissed and he could see a red glow in his vision.
Shadow charged a chaos punch to strike him down for good. In one massive strike he struck Scourge in the chest. The chaos energy creating electrical shocks that arced in different directions as his fist impacted the green hedgehog.
The force of the hit caused him to get shot back and slam into the side of the ditch.
Scourge was out cold, few could take that and keep standing, even when in fully healthy condition.
"You fucking idiot" Shadow growled. He was actually thinking about how lucky he was to make all that happen. He really had almost lost. The teleport he nearly timed wrong, the punch's almost missed their marks due to his dazed state and he almost wasn't able to summon his powers for his punch because he was so dazed and confused.
In using his powers he realized he needed to get moving. If Eggman did have a large scale way to track chaos disturbances then he had to get away from the area.
After his investigation it didn't seem like Scourge was working with Eggman, that was just barely enough for him to heft the unconscious hedgehog on his shoulder. After the fight he hurt bad, he was still struggling to breath a little.
"Dumb bastard" he cursed again. He growled hefting the hedgehog onto his shoulder. His legs nearly gave out from the extra weight because he was so weak, but he managed to hold him up.
With shaky legs and still somewhat blurred vision, that was slowly clearing, he began his trek to get out of the area. First he'd have to get out of the small hole they were in. That wasn't too hard. He ignored the pain and pushed Scourges limp body out of the small trench then crawled out for himself.
He got the hedgehog back onto his shoulder and started heading in a random direction. He couldn't head back to HQ, if he was spotted and they saw him walking in that direction they'd eventually figure where the path would lead him and check it out.
So for now, until he was sure he wasn't being followed and also had the strength to run fast again. He was essentially on his own carrying double his own weight. To make it harder it was Scourge, if it had been anyone else on the team he'd happily carry as far as his body could…. Of course they wouldn't be unconscious either.
He eventually looked back found his theory was correct. There was a way for Eggman to track the use of chaos. Back where he'd started the very same patrol that had passed by was now searching the general area. He was glad he got moving quickly. Even though there was a pretty good distance between them it meant nothing when the land was near flat, featureless and empty.
His luck must have been really good that day because they hadn't spotted him yet, and he was able to get behind a small hill before they saw him. He might be here awhile.
He once again looked at Scourge and mumbled another insult at him. Atleast he could nurse his wounds and rest up.
So that's what he did, he rested on that small hill occasionally looking around for trouble. The eggbots were spreading out with time so maybe he could find an opening and drag Scourges ass out of here. It'd be easier if he were awake. He sighed, he wouldn't have stopped had he not knocked him out.
He looked around again, he could see two robots slowly walking somewhat towards them. They were spreading out to his left and right. They'd pass to his left and right, so maybe they'd see him. He couldn't risk that.
Thinking fast found a small rock and peaked over the small hill. This would require some really good timing and some luck. He saw a better hill to hide behind to his right so knew he'd have to throw to his left. He couldn't waste any time, it was a pretty far distance to carry someone to.
Since he had no time to waste once he threw the rock he got Scourge back on his shoulder. He threw the rock far to his left. As soon as he heard a thud of it hitting the ground he started heading right as fast as his weakened body could take him. The rest helped him to move a little faster. He didn't even care to look and see if his distraction was occupying the robots or not. Looking back meant slowing down.
Half way there, his legs burned and protested for him to slow, his brain forced his legs to be quiet. Their temporary pain meant nothing compared to being gunned down.
He reached the hill falling to his knees sliding Scourge off his shoulder. His legs were exhausted. More importantly his bad leg screamed in pain. The pain was excruciating. The only thing keeping him quiet from cursing a storm was the threat of death.
He had to ignore the pain. He grit his teeth and went to peak over the small hill. It seemed it worked out, they hadn't seen him and would pass by without spotting them. He sighed realizing this and went to attend to his leg again.
It hurt so bad, he'd forgotten his pain meds when he got up. He growled lightly as the pain throbbed with every heartbeat.
The eggbots were long gone now. The adrenaline of nearly being caught had long passed, but the pain in his leg seemed to be numbing down. Now he just needed to wait for Scourge to wake up.
He waited for about twenty minutes right before the green hedgehog began to stir.
Shadow watched as the hedgehog looked around confused looking like he was waking up from a really long sleep.
"Finally awake?" Shadow said, the last bit of pain subsiding.
"What?... Huh?" Scourge looked around aimlessly trying to find the voice having no idea what happened for the moment.
"Hey you ok?" Shadow asked showing a little compassion.
Scourge didn't answer with anything coherent. Still rolling around a bit.
"Come on, I know you're gonna be fine" he sighed.
"vvvvmmmm… Fuck you" he finally was able to say slowly remembering how he'd gone to sleep.
"Glad to see you're the same as before" he smirked wathing as the other male slowly started getting his bearings and began to sat up.
Shadow asked "You alright, I hit ya pretty hard?"
He groaned finally in a sitting position "Surprisingly enough, I've had worse" he covered a lump on his head that Shadows last punch caused.
"Why'd you attack me?" Shadow quickly got to work to see if he was going to leave Scourge here or go back with him.
"Because you can just fuck right off and leave me alone" he said deciding to stay quiet still.
"Bad answer, this is me deciding if you can come back to HQ" he reminded him of that.
After he said that he stared at the green hedgehog, and Scourge looked off into the distance.
He waited for about a minute before deciding to speak again, but Scourge cut him off "I was blowing off steam…. Getting away from stuff" he mumbled.
"You're endangering everyone back at HQ with these stunts. You're attacking eggbots not thinking about how you could be followed back. If you haven't noticed, that HQ is the last place we have that can support what we need to accomplish"
"I've been careful… I guess you only know that I've been sneaking out. Ever wonder why I'm gone all day? I fight a group or two then spend all day running around wearing myself out making it hard for anyone to track me" he surprisingly had a plan and it seemed to be keeping their new home secret. Shadow had to give him a little slack for that.
Shadow took a minute to choose his words wisely "As much as I appreciate you going to such lengths to keep our location safe I'd rather you not do this at all" he knew Scourge wasn't trying to get anyone hurt so he tried to be nice.
"I can do what I want"
"No you can't, not when it involves the lives of six other people" Shadow growled. In fact he was positive if they all died everyone else would die eventually.
Scourge went quiet again, he wasn't being as much of an asshole as normal for some reason.
"So what are you avoiding?" he asked after a short pause.
Scourge sighed clearly debating whether or not he wanted to tell him. He crossed his arms refusing to answer.
Even though Shadow didn't seem to noticeably care about everyone problems he actually had been quite observant. He wanted to win fight, he knew he couldn't do that if people were fighting eachother. He realized he'd been a little hypocritical in that regard towards the male next to him.
So he knew who he was avoiding, he;; he'd been doing it all month. Nicole hadn't been herself either. It was obvious something happened.
"Just talk to her" was all Shadow mustered up to say. Anymore and he felt he'd cross territory Scourge didn't want to cross.
Once again Scourge didn't answer, but he didn't protest either. He continued to avoid Shadows gaze staring at the horizon.
"So are we good or not?" Scourge growled.
"Not until you promise to stop, and try to help out around the HQ" His simple demand was all he'd wanted from the Moebian for awhile now.
"And why should I?" Scourge rebelliously asked back looking at him again.
"Because we are the only people on this planet, hell maybe in several universes that want you around. We're your only friends right now" sounded harsh but was probably true.
Scourge looked away again, he was right. Everyone back on Moebius had turned on him, there was no point in going back. All of Mobius knew his name as a bad guy so he definetly wasn't gonna be accepted by any settlement. How Fiona made it was beyond him. He vaguely remembered her explaining it at some point, but he wasn't paying attention.
"So either you play by our rules or you get the hell out and fend for yourself. I'd rather that didn't happen. We need all the help we can get"
Shadow waited for answer, he knew Scourge would have to answer at some point. He could wait, he was still recovering and would need a little more time before he could travel back to HQ.
Scourge thought, and thought, his options were basically nothing. So he had to agree "Fine…. Fine" he mumbled conceding. He didn't like being told he couldn't break stuff, but he wasn't boss anymore. As much as that hurt his pride, he had nowhere to go. Shadow was one hundred percent right. With no warp ring he couldn't even visit other universes. He was stuck here.
"Good" Shadow nodded happy to see Scourge was cooperating. Now we better get moving incase another patrol arrives"
"Ya… whatever" his voice had lost almost all of his signature style. The crushing realization that his only friends were his former enemies made him lose himself a little. He'd be fine, but he wasn't inn his universe… nobody back home was his friend. He strangely felt very alone despite having people he could go to and be around, but only felt like they just barely tolerated him because he was another person they could use. He was just a soldier to them.
He silently got up with Shadow and they began going back. Shadow hid his pain well. He couldn't let people know that he was having problems. That his eg was becoming a problem. They'd hold him back, and right now anything but your best made you a detriment. Atleast in his point of view.
The run back was slower, no urgency to get back, Shadow was able to keep this pace without hurting himself badly. Once he got home he could relax and fully recover.
Since they ran slower it took about twice the time to get back then it had taken to get to their destination. They arrived at a tunnel entrance, looked around for any hostiles then slipped inside.
On the way down the hall Shadow recommended Scourge go and rest off the fight. He wasn't going to hold the fight again Scourge. They both had pent up stress, if anything the fight did more long lasting good than short term damage.
Shadow went to Fiona pulled her aside from some work she was doing and explained what happened. Although left some parts out for privacy's sake. He didn't mention Scourge dropping his walls for a moment and also avoided talking about how the fight hurt him more than it should have. He especially didn't mention his leg.
"So he was just blowing off steam? And he actually thought to spends hours travelling around to avoid being followed?" Fiona asked "Alright, as long as he promised to stop I won't mention it to Tails. If he asks why you guys are hurt I'll just say you went out and did a quick sparring match to let off some steam. I'm sure he'd believe that. I'll even tell him you were careful coming home"
"Good idea, and don't bother Scourge for awhile" Shadow advised.
"Oh I know, I learned to avoid him when his pride was damaged a long time ago" she smiled, though it was laced with some depression as she thought about those days again.
Elsewhere Scourge entered his room and sighed. His head was aching badly and part of his body were very sore, and his ears were ringing slightly. He stripped himself of his jacket, with great effort and groaned as it finally came off. He tossed it onto the bed and sighed again.
All his movement and effort trying to get the jacket off made him oblivious to the door opening.
"Oh my! Scourge, what happened?" Nicoles voice said, the door closed just after. She'd hoped Shadow wouldn't hurt him that much.
He sighed, she just had to come in, just had to come in right as he stripped himself of his jacket.
"Nothing" he growled wanting her gone. He wanted to be alone.
"No, those bruises and… those scars are new" he could have sworn her heard her choke on her words at the end.
"So what?" he continued to face away. The scars came from some reckless choices he'd made over the last month destroying eggbots. He got angry once or twice and… paid for it.
"Because I worry about you. I don't want to see you hurt!" she said raising her voice suddenly. Why didn't he get that, he cared about him and seeing him hurt made her… scared.
"You don't care" he mumbled, still under the belief he was just a soldier, a weapon to all these people to help accomplish a goal.
He couldn't see it but a sudden amount of anger filled up her electronic eyes "Do ot tell me how I feel, you do not know how I feel. And… and.." her anger mixed with sadness "And I bet you don't even care how I feel!"
Something exploded in the hedgehogs mind he turned pointing an accusing finger at her, but the face he met stopped him dead in his tracks. Her face was full of tears staining her fur. She wasn't even looking at him. After her accusing statement she broke. She was trying to stop, but she simply couldn't.
"…Nikki?"
She continued to cry but made no move. Her ears dropped down so far it almost looked like they fall off her head. Her normally happy or inquisitive eyes were now filled with a mix of fear, sadness and emptiness. Her arms wrapped around herself in a futile effort to comfort herself, and despite her long dress he could see her legs were shaking. It took him a minute to notice her PDA was now lying on the floor projecting up at her.
Scourge stood speechless, he couldn't bring himself to move and do anything. Nicole, one of the most positive, happy and full of life people he'd ever met had just lost all of her composure and completely broke down…. Because of him…
"Nikki… I… just…" he didn't know what to do, he froze.
The longer he stared at her the more he knew he needed to help, but he didn't know how to help. All he could do was stand there with his mind spinning around wasting time.
So instead he just let go of thinking and did whatever his body told him. He reached out "Nikki… come here" his voice was probably the softest he'd ever spoken.
The lynx didn't respond and continued to drop virtual tears from his face, only to disappear as they neared the floor, and struggle to breathe.
Scourge's response was automatic, against all of his character he stepped forward slightly pulling one arm away from her and to himself. At first she yanked her arm away, but a second try caused her to quickly hold onto him for dear life and plant for face into his chest.
He gasped, she always caught him off guard with how life like her hologram was, it was like she was actually real… the tears, going from her eyes to his chest even felt real.
But he slowly found his body automatically wrap his arms around her for comfort.
But for all his body did, it stopped, it didn't do more. He wanted to speak but not even the automatic reflex that had gotten him this far said anything.
He didn't speak he just stood there, holding the lynx who seemed to be unable to stop crying.
He wasn't thinking about anything, not of his fight, not of how lonely he felt, how unwanted he felt, or even how they'd gotten to this point. He just wanted the tears to stop.
It took him several minutes to notice a couple of things. He started to rub her back or pet her head, and, that he too had a tear in his eye. He wiped it away though, none followed afterwards.
Her tears eventually began to slow, it was ending. Scourge could feel a large sense of relief realizing that. Her sobbing slowly changed to hitch breathing.
In time she finally, just barely was able to say through her racking breathes "I-I'm… I'm s-sorry"
His eyes went wide, she was apologizing? Why? His chest felt like it had been stabbed with guilt. He almost flinched at the words.
"No… No why… don't be sorry" he said realizing he had to catch his breath.
"I… I sh-shouldn't be ac-cusing you of such thingssss"
He couldn't reply… he could only be silent… and that made him feel even more guilty.
"I sh-shouldn't be-f-f-f-forcing myself into your l-life" she inhaled making a loud hitch pitch noise sucking in air she simply didn't actually need.
He opened his mouth but nothing came again. His voice was gone.
"It's just" she sniffed and snuggled into his chest a bit "Ever s-since you freed me from that prison" another hitched inhaling of air "And I learned that everyone….. dead" she choked on the word "I've been… trying to… get through it…. My friends…. Almost all my family besides Tails… my best friend and s-s-s-sister Sally" she just barely was able to say the name "They are all gone…. Just… gone" her crying commenced again but it subsided very quickly.
"They… they were my world… my family… and they were all just suddenly gone after you told me" her grip around Scourge tightened "Everything I stood for and everyone I stood with… they are gone!" she yelled out into his chest "I…. I have nobody now…"
Scourge finally managed to say something "But what about Tails, he's still here"
Her head shook in his chest "Fiona… she is what he needs… he is healing because of her… I didn't want to get in the way of that"
He gulped "So… so why me?"
She took a moment to answer trying to breath and think "Because…. You and I both lost so much…. I thought…. I thought it would help… if I helped… because we have both lost our friends… our home… our life" Her original programming was an assistant AI, she naturally liked to help people.
"But I pushed too hard… I wanted a purpose… I wanted o replace what I lost and I angered you…. you stayed away… you pushed me away… I'm sorry" she went into a fit of crying yet again.
Scourge took a deep breath and shook his head "Don't be sorry!" he wasn't sure why he yelled "You didn't do anything wrong" his voice was soft again.
"Yes I di-"
"No you didn't…. I'm… I'm sorry" the words flowed out of his mouth barely a whisper "Just…don't cry"
"But I…"
"No… no buts… just stop crying… just don't be sorry. I should be sorry" he couldn't even believe he was saying those words.
Her response was to simply take his advice and slowly recover, catch her breath and dry her eyes.
It took awhile, but she quieted down. She was back to a normal breath. All she was doing now was holding onto him, unmoving.
Her hands went to slide off finally but stopped at a scar on his side. She didn't mean to but her finger slowly ran along it. She only stopped when the feeling caused Scourge to shiver.
"I'm sor…." No… don't say that, he said not to be sorry.
A brief pause came before she completely let go of him and took a step back. Her eyes faced the floor.
It was silent, both didn't move or say anything. Both debating their next move.
It was Scourge who made the first move He wordlessly took her hand and walked to the bed. He sat on the edge and said "If you want to look me over you still can"
She just nodded and looked over the large lump on the side of his head. Her gentle touch didn't irritate the sore lump like he expected.
The inspection was quick, she didn't say anything because nothing would be permanent. Time would heal these particular wounds.
The scars though, they still attracted her attention. She hadn't looked into his eyes since she left his embrace, but she had been staring at all the new scars she hadn't seen the last time she saw him with the jacket off.
Before she knew it her hands was on a scar on his arm and asked without warning "Do they hurt?"
Scourge stared at the floor as he answered "No"
She nodded and pulled away her hand but Scourges hand went to the two large ones on his chest. The ones he got back when he went super scourge, it was never explained why he got them. Nobody new why. But they were now an iconic part of him.
"Sometimes these do though…"
Nicole simply took in the words. She didn't anymore, or do anything else.
The silence was long, it was painful. They both hated it. So it felt like it was all over, so the lynx turned and quietly made her way to the door.
"Stop"
Her ears perked up then tilted backwards.
"Listen…. I… I do care how you feel…. And…. I won't tell anyone about this"
Though she didn't turn the statement just barely was able to make her smile.
She took a deep breath gain back her composure for when she walked out the door, knelt down to pick up her PDA then whispered "Thank you"
He watched her walk out of the room, then he stared at the door. He stared at it for a long time.
He didn't know how long he stared at the door, but he suddenly blinked and snapped out of it. He put on his jacket and went to sleep not caring what time it was.
Unfortunately, he didn't sleep that night.
HOLY CRAP, 8.5k words. That chapter exploded, came out like freaking water off a waterfall compared to the last few chapters. GOD DAMN that felt good.
I truly hope this chapter was good, and you enjoyed it.
This last week has been super stressful because of work. Not because it was pissing me off or making me tired, just… stressful in another way and I think it made want to write a bit. So here, is the 37th chapter. Hope it was good.
Live long and prosper
Admiralkirk