Author's Note:
This is the point where I stopped for 8 years. These next two chapters were mostly fleshed out before I went on hiatus so it follows much of the same style as before, but I made some improvements before releasing them. Other than for spelling and structure errors, I will not go back and change the previous chapters in major ways, even though I don't like a few things. It's too overwhelming and time consuming. The new stuff in chapters 15+ will likely be a little different, as I will be writing them from an outline I created many years ago. I hope it's still up to your standards.
The lyrics in here are from a trance song called As the Rush Comes (by Motorcycle). When I originally wrote this I was obsessed and listening to music as I wrote; oddly, now I can't do it.
Chapter 13
Rouge the bat sat in the back of one of the GUN helicopters, in the dark, fingering Shadow's gold band in one hand. She was again dressed in form fitting black, ready to go on a mission.
'Don't worry… I'll have you yet.' she thought seriously as she lifted her right fist and opened it. In it were two minuscule, ivory colored, fang shaped capsules.
'You're just the way I like 'em… feisty, dark, and associated with jewels…' she flipped the ring around her wrist and took a capsule in each hand. Carefully, she raised them one by one to her fangs and slipped the capsules over it; they fist seamlessly.
'I won't let you get away until I've at least had some fun…' she clamped her teeth shut, the fangs sticking out slightly when she smiled.
…
"SLOWLY PLACE YOUR WEAPONS ON THE GROUND, AND PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD." ordered an important sounding male voice over a megaphone, "WE REPEAT. SLOWLY PLACE YOUR WEAPONS ON THE GROUND AND PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD."
"Humph…" Shadow stood his ground, swiveling a piercing glare around the gathered troops, searching for an appropriate exit.
Juli-Su and Shadow stood relatively back-to-back in the circle of various GUN mobile weapons that had created a wall around them. The three helicopters and a dome of GUN beetles hovered above them, blocking any chance they had of retreating to the rooftops. Juli kept her laser pistols out on either side of her, head twisting this way and that, trying futilely to keep an eye on everything at once.
"YOU ARE SURROUNDED." (Juli yelled up to the chopper, "No kidding!") WE REPEAT. SLOWLY PLACE YOUR WEAPONS ON THE GROUND AND PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD."
"I found something. A small opening in their barrier…" Shadow said quietly, "…but it's in a difficult place… even if I make a dash for it, they're likely to close it off or nail me before I get there."
"Planning on leaving me behind?" Juli grinned.
"It crossed my mind." Shadow said resolutely.
Juli emitted a "Hah!" indignantly, and her grin faded back to a determined scowl upon realization that he was serious and not flirting with her, "So what do you propose we do?"
"THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING! SLOWLY PLACE YOUR WEAPONS ON THE GROUND AND PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD. WE WILL OPEN FIRE IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY."
"Tick tock tick tock…" Juli hummed as she shifted her weight uneasily, fingers itching to pull the triggers.
Shadow calmly looked around once more. There was a lot of firepower around them…
"Look," Juli didn't feel like just standing there and getting her brains blown all over the pavement, "…there're not here for me, they're here for the Ultimate Life and that emerald. You go for the opening and I'll cover you."
"YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS!"
"Hum…" Shadow liked that idea. He would be on his own for a while (provided he made through the gap), and Juli's deadly accurate aim would help keep the GUN bots off his tail.
"Fine." he stated neutrally as he bent his knees slightly, looking at the risky exit out of the corner of his eye so as to not attract attention to it, "Just say when."
"NINE!"
Juli-Su took a small step away from Shadow and lowered her pistols slightly as an idea struck her.
"EIGHT!"
The spotlight was close and hot enough that it was making them both sweat; or perhaps it was just the tension in the humid city air.
"SEVEN!"
"Uh… any time now?" Shadow growled impatiently, gripping the emerald tighter.
"SIX!"
"Hold up Shadow…" Juli glanced down.
"FIVE!"
"I have a better idea…" she stepped back and put her pistols away.
"FOUR!"
"What was wrong with the original plan?" he flared testily, eyes flashing as he whipped around to see what she was looking at. It was a manhole cover.
"THREE!"
Speaking rapidly, she whispered hoarsely, "At one, I'll open it, and you dash through it."
"TWO!"
'You might as well shoot me in the face. It will save them the trouble.' Shadow thought as he put his free hand to his forehead, feeling a painful death was imminent.
"TWO AND A HALF!"
"Just trust me…" she urged.
"Wha-Alright!" disquieted, Shadow's temper was boiling nicely now, "Just do something!"
"TWO AND THREE QUARTERS!"
Juli raised two dreads in anticipation. Neither of them looking directly at their new escape possibility.
"TWO AND—oh what the hell… ONE!"
Without Shadow's tremendous speed it would not have been possible; As GUN opened fire in a flash of burning yellow laser death, Juli had only flipped the manhole cover open. …but by the time the lasers hit the ground where they stood, Shadow had grabbed her arm and hauled them both into the sewer. When the light and smoke faded, it appeared that the two fugitives had been incinerated, as the drain cover was back in place and they were nowhere to be seen.
Down in the sewer – which fortunately had a small ledge to one side of the flow of sludge – both spared no time in waiting for GUN's reaction. Shadow unceremoniously released her arm as they ran away from the short tube they had leapt down, footfalls splashing in the sludge, and Shadow in the lead.
After a few seemingly random turns, Juli asked in an unnecessary whisper, "Do you even know where you're going?" while occasionally looking over her shoulder to see if GUN had picked up their signals again, "There's a reason I wanted to go down here, you know."
It didn't look like Shadow was going to reply, but he suddenly stopped (followed by Juli), as they reached a cross ways in the drain. He had not listened to a word she had just said – he was instead having trouble deciding what smelled worse, the varnish from earlier or the sewer at present.
"What was wrong with the original plan?" he asked, fighting to push his temper back down. He would have loved at this moment to pick her up by the neck and slam her against the sludge lined wall to make his point clear, but figured that he'd do best to avoid being flung into the sewer water by her cybernetic dreads – she was probably too heavy to lift with one hand anyway. So instead he spoke quickly and sharply to let his displeasure be known, "I could have made a break for it up there, but down here… we're trapping ourselves. They'll have every output in the city covered."
Juli raised an eyebrow, "You give up too easily." then sighed decidedly.
"Well GUN doesn't." he said matter-of-factly, getting rapidly annoyed that she was completely un-intimidated by his barely contained fury. All he needed was another Rouge, another Sonic, another wannabe hero questioning his authority. He shook his head and turned away from her, looking down the dark tunnels ahead. Where would he go now? The emerald was slowly growing stronger, and GUN would surely track him down until they found it.
'Should have gone for the exit when I had the opportunity…' he thought with great resentment. Why on earth had he listened to her?
"I thought this way would be safer… easier for the both of us to get away. The odds may seem overwhelming, but what if they can't see us?" Juli offered, "If we suddenly disappeared from radar?" she looked behind herself again, hands clenched into fists as she assured herself no one was following already.
"…and how would we do that?" he sneered, putting extra loathing on 'we'. He concluded he had been a fool to trust her… to even give her an unspoken chance to impress him.
Juli was a little disappointed at the contempt he had put on 'we', but assumed a tough manner regardless, "We'd go to the sanctuary of outlaws..."
"What are you going on ab—" Shadow started but suddenly froze, face going blank as he flicked an ear, "What's that… pulsating?" There was a slight pulsating in the air. Was it rumbling footsteps? Explosions? No. More like a subwoofer blasting its bass…
"Listen. If we go deep enough in the Metropolis' labyrinth of drains, they won't be able to track the emerald's energy signal, nor see us on radar." she paused as he took that in, his face twisting again in angry impatience and annoyance. Why was he even bothering to—
"Can you keep a secret?" she asked, interrupting his thoughts as she folded her arms.
"If it inconveniences me, no." he thought about that, ever irritated, then changed his mind, "Depends. Why?"
"Well, you said yourself you're neutral." she cocked her head to one side
So she had been listening to his little dialogue with Sonic?
"…and because of that, I'm assuming you wouldn't mind keeping the place I'm about to show you a secret from Eggman."
"Why?"
"…because you nor Eggman nor anyone else outside our little niche in echidna society is supposed to know about it."
"Well, too late… now that I know there's a secret—." he smirked, cutting himself off to leave the possibly open to her imagination; and even though he was turned away from her, Juli could tell Shadow thought himself witty.
"Not really. You don't even know what to look for." she retorted.
"Humph! I could soon find out." he whipped around to face her, almost menacingly, though it was an empty threat …and she easily picked that out that by the wily glint in his eyes and his outward turned ears.
He paced a little to her left, not averting his eyes from hers.
Juli tried again, "Well? Can you keep the secret?"
Apart from the distant booms there was a short silence as Shadow's smirk faded and he turned away again, then, "Why do you trust me?"
"…because I've no one else to trust." She shrugged, "Kind of in a tight situation that calls for a bit of desperation anyway, wouldn't ya think?"
Yet another short pause as Shadow mentally agreed with that.
"Huh." he huffed, added under his breath, "…right." then thought for a moment before speaking again "Before I give you my word, you must tell me one thing…" he clenched a fist.
"Mmm?" Juli had been looking over her shoulder for GUN again.
Shadow slowly turned around to face her once more, "Why does the Dark Legion, your own team, hate you so much?"
Juli's face jaded and her eyes fell to the floor, "Ask them."
It was Shadow's turn to tilt his head, "Not a very good answer."
"Well I'd say it's a bit of a personal question." she snapped back, "Not like I know about all your personal problems." then she added mentally, 'Not that I'd really want to know how screwed up you actually are.'
Shadow waited – After a while he turned back to face the crossroads of icky tunnels – Still he waited… this was not a question he'd let slide.
After looking back down the tunnel a few more times to see if they were being followed yet, she felt an increasing urge to get moving… so Juli spoke, voice weak sounding, "They hate me just because…" she cleared her throat and spoke up, "They have no real reason… they just hate."
Shadow slowly looked over his shoulder, smirking, not devilishly as per usual, but with more of an irritated edge, "Still not a good answer, but I will keep your precious secret just because… I have no real reason to… but I will."
Juli tried to remain apathetic in the face of his mockery, "Then just follow the beat…"
Shadow raised an eyebrow, and turned resentfully to cup his ears towards the noise – resentfully as it made his eardrums twitch almost painfully.
Into the darkness they plunged, their pupils expanded to their full size, trying to get the most out of the very faint light flowing off the emerald, which just barely outlined their surroundings. Shadow listened for the echo of the beat, taking several twists and turns, almost falling off ledges in the dark ('…' nearly swore but didn't think it was worth it), hitting his head on low pipes and ceilings ('Inane, disgraceful pipes…'), occasionally stepping on things he'd rather not identify ('What the hell was that?'). The beat got louder… he could feel it in the air now.
"How's the emerald?" Juli asked, the sudden breaking of the silence between them and his angry concentration making his fur stand on end for a second.
"…weak." he replied after quickly composing himself. The light in the center had grown stronger but he could only barely feel the energy in his hand.
"Good. The others probably won't bother you then. Just be sure to keep it out of sight, okay?"
"Why?" he asked, for the hell of it. Perhaps if he were terribly annoying, it would teach her once and for all to keep conversation with him to a minimum. …but then he realized there could actually be some merit to pressing details from her, "…and what about 'the others?'"
She replied swiftly, "Some of others in this place are Legionaries like me. Some of them are just bad news. Assassins, spies, thieves, you name it. All considered criminals..." and let the last few words roll off her tongue venomously, "You probably wouldn't want them to catch a glimpse of your precious emerald."
Well of course, but Shadow really couldn't think of a reason to be wary of them. If anything, those who knew who he was would probably be wary of him. …and it's not as if he looked like a pushover; sharp red eyes, twisted spines, fairly dominant air, the colors of evil; black and red.
"So there are others like you. Only partially robotic…cybernetic?"
"Yeah." she sighed, she did not want to talk about it.
Shadow was confused at her apparent disappointment, and also, "Why don't they hang around Eggman's base with the rest of the Legion?"
"Can't say…" she stated seriously.
"Humph." Shadow rolled his eyes; this was useless.
"I'm in enough trouble as it is." she defended, "This mission wasn't supposed to take so long, and surely they've noticed I'm gone by now."
Shadow said nothing to that. It was none of his concern anyway.
"…and now I'm taking you… here." Juli stopped for a moment and looked up ahead, "I'm not supposed to do this but we're a bit desperate right now."
A dim blacklight could now be seen at the far end of the tunnel, its purple glow dimly illuminating a small, grungy metal door. They moved quickly towards it.
The pulsating noise had grown into music. Shadow didn't like most music in general, particularly epic genres like opera, and deep lyrics – reason being that a lot of music seemed to tap into his soul, bringing out unbearably strong emotions when he heard it; feelings of unreasonable intensity. …kind of like holding an emerald. Similar to letting loose and wailing piteously, getting into music like that felt good in the end, a way to release pent up pain and anxiety; however he didn't care to reveal his true emotions to just anyone... they wouldn't understand. He hoped that he would be able to keep his mind focused for whatever length of time he was in there, but the music was very loud, mechanical and not very complex, so he figured he'd go deaf instead.
They reached the door, Juli-Su walking around him to face it. On the door was some small, graffiti-style scrawl in black indelible marker. Shadow had to tilt his head and squint his eyes a little to read it in the dark light.
'Sanctuary…'
"Here's the deal." Juli said, inspecting the door up and down, "We stay in here and chill until the emerald has enough power, then we warp back to the base. …and remember, try to keep it low profile." she glared at him, though it was a much softer glare than she had intended it to be, and added, "…and don't even think about leaving without me."
"So you give the orders now?" Shadow shot an unimpressed look at her.
She didn't answer that, but it didn't bother Shadow this time, as it was a rhetorical question anyway. He looked to the wall and muttered resentfully in response to her concern, "I won't."
"Just try to blend in and we'll be safe in here." Juli elaborated, "Pretty much everyone in here's in the DL, or on the DL. So people will keep to themselves." she grinned at her play on words, but Shadow took no notice; he didn't even know what DL stood for other than Dark Legion. She continued, "…but there's almost always a few outsiders." she looked at him up and down, "Non-echidna guests with ties or loyalties to members of the Legion. You won't look too out of place, just stay cool."
"Not like I'm not used to feeling out of place…" he mumbled.
"What was that?" Juli had failed to hear his deepening voice.
"Nothing." Shadow leaned against the wall as he waited for her to do something.
Juli-Su knocked on the door exactly five times with a short delay in the middle. They heard someone knock back, and Juli knocked again, only three times now.
The door swung open. Deafening, pulsing electronic music blared out, but all that could be seen was a mauve furred, sharply dressed male echidna, all in black and armed with a laser rifle. He was just a bit taller than Juli-Su and had dark glasses on to hide his eyes. No implants could be seen…
"Hail Dimitri." he saluted lazily.
"Oh! Uh… about him…" Juli winced slightly, as she gave an equally lazy salute back, "Did you guys get the message yet?"
"What… message...?" the door guard tilted his head.
"Erm…" she cleared her throat, and not wanting to be the bringer of bad news, said, "Never mind, it's probably just rumors anyway."
Shadow almost sniggered as he rested against the only likely clean wall in the sewer, eyes half masted. He couldn't believe what a fuss the Legion was making over that Dimitri guy… or was it 'Enerjak' now?
'Out of all the names he could have picked…' he thought.
The echidna just shook his head, then recited, "You've reached the Sanctuary, place of R&R for the great DL and our supporters." he sounded tired, as if he had explained it a thousand times before (and he had…), "Note that no grenades, bombs, or other explosives are aloud on site anymore—"
"What?" Juli was blown away, "Why? What happened?"
"Incident involving alcohol and some firecrackers. You don't want to know." she did want to know, but he didn't elaborate, "However all other weapons are permitted, so show 'yer weapons and you can head on in."
Juli-Su flipped out her two pistols, pointing them to the low ceiling and smirking. Shadow just closed his eyes at her smart-alecky display and pushed himself off the wall.
"Is that all?"
"Yeah," she rippled her three dreads.
"Right. You're good enough to go, but what about this 'un?" he turned to Shadow, suddenly noticing he was there, "Who the hell is he, and what about weapons?"
Shadow just gave him a wicked stare – he did not like the manner in which he was addressed. He subtlety kept the emerald hidden behind his body as the bouncer looked him over.
"He's on our side." Juli said needlessly, throwing a hand gesture in Shadow's direction, "And he only carries himself."
The marsupial took a half step back, a little unnerved by Shadow's eyes, "Ah… right. Then get in here, I need to close the door." he waved them in with his rifle, peering out the door and down the sewer cautiously as they passed.
'That was easy.' thought Juli. Never having entered with a guest before, she had expected it to be harder.
As they entered, the vibrations of the music engulfing them in the thick, dark air, Shadow looked around.
'What the…?' his eyes widened at the sight.
It appeared to be a multi-level nightclub. Shadow had never been to one nor knew what one was however, so he thought what was before him was just ludicrous.
Fans of decorative lasers cut through the air, others flashed to the beat, creating random abstract patterns above the crowd below. Brushed aluminum and concrete made up most of the structure and decor. Jolts of holographic electricity occasionally buzzed from pillar to pillar, lighting up masses of echidna, though most of what you could see was glinting metal, colorful wires, and flailing dreadlocks. For a second, Shadow thought he caught a glimpse of a white creature and thought of Rouge, but he figured he had seen wrong and turned his attention elsewhere.
Three seemed to be four options for these masses; drinking themselves silly at the blacklit bar, dancing in the throbbing crowd on the open floor, resting (or passed out) on the upper levels – which consisted mainly of big comfy chairs and small tables – or fighting and bickering with each other in the little space there was left.
Not knowing where to go or what he was going to do with himself for the next hour or so, Shadow simply followed Juli.
She led him to the bar.
Shadow set his jaw cynically. It was going to be a long couple of hours…
Various forms of cybernetic echidna were seated there, all looked disgruntled, and most were very well armed. Swords, rifles, pistols, knives… on all accounts Shadow thought mixing generally bad characters with weapons and these strange, intoxicating drinks was probably not a good idea. How they managed to stay in business here without constant melees was beyond him.
Shadow felt his arm being grabbed tightly and flinched. When he rounded on the assailant, he relaxed a bit finding it was only Juli-Su, leading him to a seat. He roughly wrenched his arm from her anyway to show it was unappreciated, but she only smiled back. If it hadn't been so dark he could have sworn she was smiling. Shadow let a slow sigh of displeasure out through his nose as he rubbed his temple.
…it was going to be a long couple of hours…
They sat on the end of the bar, close to the wall, Shadow fuming at the events that brought him to his wretched place. He watched as Juli made several bizarre hand gestures to a female echidna who was bartending. The bartender nodded; making the multiple rings in her ears and nose clink together – it also appeared as if both her legs were robotic – the bartender paused for a moment before turning around, as she gave Shadow the once-over.
"You want anything?" Juli yelled over the deafening sound.
"No." Shadow said back, his voice lost to the noise, but Juli reading his lips.
"Of course not." she pulled a small metal card out of her pocket and slapped it on the table, "…but c'mon now… An immortal's got to have some kind of fun in his long life! Am I right? What's your ambrosia?"
Shadow just propped one arm on the bar top and leaned on it, he did not feel like responding to her pointless comments anymore.
Apparently Juli had already forgotten Shadow's earlier comments about alcoholic drinks. Shadow would have left for a more secluded area, but as there seemed to be none he decided to stay. He didn't fancy looking for Juli-su when he needed to leave anyway, and at least here he could pretend to be passed out or something. Then maybe the world would leave him alone for a few moments.
'How much longer…?' he thought, glancing at the emerald, but thinking of how long he had left to live. Shadow saw out of the corner of his eye, the barmaid taking Juli's metal card and swiping it through a small console strapped to her belt. He looked back to the shiny bar top and mindlessly ran his fingertips across it – the lack of friction between the two was a pleasant sensation…
Pointless thoughts. Wasting time.
But all the time in the world when you live forever.
…it was indeed going to be a long couple of hours…
Shadow was just staring to sort and make sense of the noise around him, when something zipped in front of his face, right under his nose. It was a strange triangular glass. He sniffed it gingerly. It smelled…? …he couldn't quite place it.
"No alcohol." Juli explained, still needing to yell to grab sufficient attention from him, "Drinks like that are hard to get here. It's on me, so just give it a try. Maybe it'll make you less cranky. You have to drink something to sit here anyway when it's this busy."
Shadow just shot a moody glare at her, but her attention was already on what she had ordered for herself. He looked over at what she had in front of her, and was very confused by the sight; what must have been ten to fifteen tiny glasses filled with a minute amount of liquid.
'Impractical.' Shadow thought; 'Just put them all in one big glass for heaven's sake.'
Juli threw one back, wincing as she slammed the empty glass back onto the smooth bar top.
Why did she insist on attempting to befriend him?
Shadow was bored. He looked back at 'his' drink. There was a stick thing in it. He daintily sniffed it again, and then pulled out the stick… it was some kind of bizarre plant stalk. After a second or two of chewing on the stringy thing like a cow would its cud, he deemed it bland and inedible, and so threw the celery over his shoulder carelessly, not hearing the cry as it conveniently landed – chewed end first – in someone else's drink.
He lifted the strange glass to his mouth and took a small sip. It was… indescribable, as he was not at all familiar with his own sense of taste. The only connection he could make was that it was somewhat pleasant, and so after a moment's consideration, he drank the whole thing in three big gulps.
As he put the empty glass back on the table, he heard a male hyena next to Juli laugh, "Slow down girl! We gotta long night ahead!"
Juli had just finished her fifth shot, and was already flushing red in the face and looking slightly vacant.
"Ha!" she cackled, "Dun worry… I could drink you under the freakin' table!" …which was a lie.
An echidna next to the hyena leaned in, grinning slyly. His teeth were sharp and made of metal, similar to Metal Sonic's – the sight of them sent an involuntary ripple of discomfort down Shadow's spine.
"I see your hedgehog friend can't even handle a real drink! What's he doin' hangin' out with you, then?" the male echidna jeered in his smooth Australian accent.
"What… this guy?" she jabbed a thumb at Shadow, who was getting more and more perturbed by the second, "Oh he can handle it, alright! Fuck… he could take on this whole bar!" she gestured widely with a tipsy smile, and then downed another shot, holding onto the bar for balance.
Shadow turned the other way and rested the side of his head against the counter, quills scraping against the surface. He glanced at the emerald; unfortunately it was still too weak warp himself away.
"I'd like to see him do it!"
Shadow turned his head over to see where that comment had come from. The echidna was looking from Shadow to Juli intermediately. The hyena was sniggering uncontrollably. Shadow felt his quills rise slightly with the sensation of goosebumps – he wanted to attract less attention, not more, and Julie wasn't helping. She was being foolish! Everything could be compromised!
Shadow's attention was diverted momentarily when he realized he had never seen a hyena in person before.
"Okay." Juli nodded, looked to Shadow then looked back at the two challengers, "Winner takes pride, looser pays for the drinks." she grinned, picking up the next glass, "Who wants to be the victim?"
"What are you getting me into?" Shadow demanded of Juli, indignant, "This is foolish! Leave me out of your petty games."
Juli turned around lazily, putting her hand on Shadow's shoulder for a moment (he sharply brushed it off), but it had been for balance and she tipped on her seat, "Shadow… man… do this for me and I'll never bother you with stupid stuff again. I promise!"
Shadow eyed her warily. The 'do this for me' was poking at an old subconscious habit…
"Pleaaaase Shadow." Juli was completely out of it, "You can totally show them up. It will be hillllllarious!"
"C'mon! What? Are you afraid of loosing?" the male echidna taunted.
Shadow shot a deadly seriously glare at the marsupial – a challenging look.
"Woah…" the hyena had to elbow the echidna out of his trance of shock, "That's one angry rodent!"
"I beg your pardon!" In Shadow's time, 'rodent' had been considered a derogatory, and extremely offensive term towards those of that family.
"Salla?" seeing the look in Shadow's eye, Juli raised an arm as she called the barmaid.
A few minutes later, Shadow was looking at several rows of shot glasses in front of him. He had only tasted a hard drink once… and he had never wanted to do it again. The only reason he had touched that first drink in the first place was because the humans around him were making such a big fuss over it at the gala on ARK, and it seemed to make them happy. He wanted to see what he was missing, especially since his human clothing was making him so miserable. He found out that since alcohol had no effect on him, it wasn't very pleasant.
Knowing he was guaranteed a victory against these obnoxious, insulting challengers (the hyena's non-stop, giddy laughter was also getting very irritating), and the chance that Juli-Su might leave him alone for a while about the matter of drinking, he went for it. Besides, there was nothing else to do in this dismal dungeon.
'Whatever it is they get out of these drinks…' he downed the first shot with a strained look on his face, '…it must be a hell of a contrast to the taste.' he put the glass down, 'Disgusting! Exactly as I recall it.' he looked over to the echidna, who was waiting for him so they could start their second. He had a very cocky look on his face – apparently the echidna had taken that strained look as one of weakness.
'If only he knew.' Shadow thought craftily to himself. He wondered how many rounds it would take to get this guy to pass out.
Three shots and no sign of weakening.
Four shots…
Five…
Six… Juli, fortunately only a spectator to this event, had just finished her last shot at this point and was now very, very drunk. She seemed to sway, top heavy because of her dreads, as she watched the four competitors back and forth (to say something of her state, in actuality there were two). Shadow found it rather undignified to watch as she tottered about on her seat, eyes watery and vacant, face reddened and shiny, muttering incomprehensible things.
Seven… Shadow had been hoping he could ignore the taste after a few, but the bitterness still prevailed. At least the strength of the taste kept his mind from drifting to more depressive matters… but he doubted he could think of anything terribly depressive anyway as Juli's drunkenness was proving to be hilarious to watch.
Eight… The echidna challenger was staring to look a little spacey. Shadow suddenly realized how much fun this was, watching everyone else make fools of themselves.
Nine… Shadow wondered what Eggman would be like, drunk. What about Sonic? His mind drifted to a certain pink hedgehog, and he had to down another drink…
Ten… To drive it away…
Eleven… The echidna was starting to fumble around. Shadow could now fully comprehend what this foul tasting substance did to regular beings, and he gained a new confidence about himself.
Twelve… Juli shouted something about kites (at least, that's what he thought she said) and slammed her head into the bar top, out cold. Her mechanical dreads seemed to power down and dropped lifelessly around her head.
Thirteen… The echidna wasn't looking so good; Shadow was thinking that he could probably make him fall off his chair with a light tap to the head. He was about to try but then…
Fourteen… A tiny ripple of a crowd had gathered at this point. They were watching the spectacle, cheering the almost fallen echidna to go on, patting him on the back to keep him awake as he took his next drink.
Fifteen… Shadow began to build an intricate tower of shot glasses as he waited for the next round.
Sixteen… The echidna was nearly gone; he could barely keep his head up. His hyena friend was now trying to convince him to stop, after noticing that Shadow hadn't even flinched after sixteen shots.
Seventeen…
WHAM! The echidna fell off the bar stool. Some of the spectators laughed as others picked him up and dragged him away.
"Good riddance to that, too!" the hyena resentfully forked over his metal card (clearly some form of payment), which Salla promptly snatched up and swiped before attending to the multitude of empty shot glasses strewn about.
"You're good, man." the hyena took a sip of his own drink, "I'll bet you could get every girl in here drunk and still have your head clear for…" he snickered, "…dessert."
"…" Shadow raised an eyebrow in confusion at his implication. He could sense it was something immoral and was about to ask for elaboration, when he was interrupted by a positively teeth-grinding sensation. He shivered as he felt something just barely brush up his right arm to his shoulder, against the direction of his fur. It tickled so much it was painful to his senses. He whipped around to meet the deep brown eyes of a female, black leather-clad white echidna with a cat-o-nine tails coiled around her shoulder – which had a cybernetic joint. This must have been the white creature he caught a glimpse of on the dance floor. He heard a giggle to his right and turned to see, of all species, a jet-black female hedgehog, with collars of spikes banding her quills messily together at random angles – her eyes were an eerie ice blue. Shadow's grip on the emerald tightened, and his face twisted in a scowl as the hedgehog drew a finger though the white tuft of fur on his chest.
'She's touching my chest fur… why is she touching my chest fur?' this tickled nicely, but he was feeling too irritable to find it even remotely pleasurable – the concept bothered him, anyway. Who were they and why were they touching him? In one blurred movement he smacked her hand away.
"Don't. Touch me." he snarled.
"Oooh a bad boy!" giggled the black hedgehog.
He noticed that the color of his own fur was pale in comparison to hers… he was more of an ivory black than a jet black…
"Don't like drinks or playing with the ladies!" the hyena laughed from a distance, "Man, if you aren't the goodest of the baddest!" but his laughing after that was lost to the music, or perhaps it was just Shadow's temper blocking out what he didn't care to hear.
Shadow bristled to an extreme as he felt the snow-white echidna run her fingers through the quills and long fur that made up the short spines coming off his shoulders – a bold move…
"That was quite a feat you pulled off." she said, "…and you're not even tired… but we could help you there." she tried to turn Shadow's head towards her, but he just swatted her hand away. She continued her pitch anyway, "…help you… relax."
It was like the strange, obscure hinting Rouge was trying back at the GUN prison. … and though these two actually had physical contact with him, there was no bewitching aura around them to weaken his senses.
"…get… …off…" he warned again, wiggling away from her touch, and not knowing how much more he could take before doing something drastic.
The female hedgehog just giggled again as she moved closer to him. She was quite small… couldn't have been any older than Juli-Su, either… how old was Juli-Su, anyway? She seemed really young, especially to be drinking so heavily and toting guns. He certainly felt much older than her, but he didn't have much time to think of it.
"You're cute when you're angry…" the hedgehog leaned closer, avoiding his livid eyes – though whether on purpose or not was unknown. His pupils sharpened to daggers as she leaned back against him, flattening her own quills against her body (a polite gesture among spiny creatures; so they don't impale each other during physical contact) as she rested the bottom of her chin up against his. The echidna now moved in on him, practically in his lap as she breathed a lusty sigh in his ear.
While Shadow has amazing capacity for restraint against violent outbursts when he feels like it, at this moment it wasn't looking so good. Unlike someone more chivalrous, such as Knuckles, Shadow would not hesitate to hit the opposite sex. …but since they were not really threatening him physically, only his sense of dignity and especially stature, he wasn't going to make the first move and put their heads through the wall… just yet.
"Hey you!" a strong voice cried from afar, "Hedgehog!" the voice belonged to the bartender, Salla.
The two females startled and leapt off Shadow – which was a good thing for them, as Shadow had finally decided what he was going to do, and was milliseconds from making projectiles of the two of them; he planned to throw them clear across the room and into the bouncing crowd on the dance floor, where he hoped they would be trampled to a slow, painful death.
"Better move that friend of yours… she's taking up space!" with an empty glass, Salla gestured to the passed out Juli-Su, "I charge for parking, y'know!"
Shadow just sneered back angrily, but Salla didn't see his vexation, as she had already moved to serve a customer.
The hyena spoke again, suggesting simply, "Take her upstairs." he was getting on Shadow's nerves as well, or was that someone touching his tail! With a sudden violent twitch, Shadow whipped his tail away from the female hedgehog's fingertips as he asked the hyena, "What's upstairs?"
"We can show you!" the black hedgehog was suddenly in his face again; overly enthusiastic and filling up the left side of his vision. The white echidna soon filled the right with a very Rouge-esque expression – and he would have been lying if he mentioned that it didn't scare him even slightly.
"Enough." Shadow shot to his feet and moved away from the two in a flash, "Lay off… and get out of my face." he growled as he moved to stand between the hyena and comatose Juli.
The hedgehog protested, "…but it would be more fun to lay on…"
"—you…" added the echidna.
Shadow ignored them, starting to understand exactly what they meant.
The hyena spoke, "Just take her to one of them rooms upstairs. The DL use them for meetings and making deals and stuff I reckon… I've never been involved. …but I do know some use them for… you know…" he raised his eyebrows and took a sip from his drink as he winked.
"No…" Shadow stated neutrally, "I don't know."
The hyena just snickered again, almost choking on his drink, thinking Shadow was being sarcastic (and he wasn't), "She's pretty conked out. Might as well do something with her before someone else does… She seemed to like you enough. All the rooms lock form the inside." and he said nothing more.
Now… it would be helpful to explain at this point that Shadow had in fact been fully taught about the facts of life in his memorable existence. In fact, he probably knew more specifics about breeding in 'technical terms' than someone's whose job it is to know those kinds of things. However, textbook knowledge has its limits. Procreating was simply that to him; procreating. …and so all the subliminal messages in words and gestures, various females' attempts at courting him, the temptation of pleasure, and seductive gestures often directed at him normally went straight over his head –he had lived a very sheltered life, away from the cultures and corruption of the people on the planet below. Only recently, when he had been introduced to a new perspective by the mysterious Rouge, had he just barely begun to put these new feelings together and what they meant. He was unsure how he felt about the whole deal as of yet.
Shadow nearly had a heart attack as he felt a hand firmly grab him by the base of the tail. Swoooo! With a sound like several scythes swishing through the air, he reflexively swiped his quills out behind him as they bristled further.
"Ahhh!" it was that persistent female hedgehog again. She wailed as she cupped a hand to the side of her arm. Small clusters of his twelve to twenty inch, black and red quills stuck out of her skin in three places – across her cheek, shoulder, and upper arm – where he actually managed to hit her at the right angles, and hard enough to make his natural hedgehog defense do their job. Strangely enough, no blood oozed from the piercings.
He was surprised that he actually managed to make a good number of quills stick… the very few other times he had to defend himself in that inconvenient but instinctive way, they'd had just left scratches, pricks, or gashes… but he was quite pleased with the results this time… this seemed very painful.
"What is it that you don't understand?" in a manner of seconds, Shadow had run his gloved hands through his undone quills, meticulously molding and grooming them back into six twisted spines. "Hands off!" he reminded a final time as dropped his arms to his sides, eying them both with a grudging look – but especially the hedgehog.
"What's your problem?" the hedgehog wailed as she pulled out a spine, "If you're gay or somethin' just tell us and we'll go find someone else to play with. You don't have to be so… awful!"
Shadow was confused at why they wouldn't want to play with someone who is happy, and was conflicted at whether to say 'yes' or 'no', as he wanted them to go away, but he didn't want to lie about how he felt about their actions – and it wasn't happy. He had no idea that "happy" wasn't quite what they were referring to.
"I'm not at the moment." He said tactfully.
The hedgehog and the echidna were both actively pulling out those of his quills that were embedded in the tail-grabber's skin. Tiny beads of blood now formed from the pricks.
The echidna, not as upset as she was unharmed, widened her eyes in surprise and excitement, "Oooh! A bisexual! Too bad you're not interested, that could be fun!"
Shadow was ever more confused at the terminology. He decided to resume ignoring the two females, who both resumed working on the quills he had left in one of them.
'Good… that will keep them busy…' he thought, then added out loud before blocking them out of his mind completely, "Disappointing, coming from a hedgehog… of all species you should know better than to push on like that…" and he turned away.
"Well now, that's not something you see every day." grunted a surprised looking Legionnaire two seats down; completely cloaked, taking a swig of her drink, and eying the slightly bloodied, two foot quills gathering in one of the white echidna's hands.
Most of the bar that wasn't passed out or too drunk to care had been watching Shadow's spectacle with intent, and he suddenly noticed this.
Apparently the DJ had not been paying attention, and there was a quiet pause before the music started up again. The sound of someone vomiting onto a cement floor was heard in the background during the awkward lull. It was the echidna Shadow had defeated, but he couldn't tell, nor was he really paying attention to that. The music started up again.
Shifting his eyes uneasily, Shadow forcefully turned his attention to the face-down Juli-Su. A slight puddle of stringy drool was forming around her open mouth, and he could smell alcohol wafting from her direction. Shadow gave the hyena stranger the benefit of the doubt and assumed he had meant that he should lock her in one of those upstairs rooms he spoke of, and go find something else to do – and he figured that was a good idea considering that Juli seemed to be one to attract negative attention; and since she was not conscious to defend herself, she could easily wind up in a garbage bag in a dumpster, dead, or worse.
Personally Shadow did not care much for her either, though he also did not care for her to die just yet, for the fact that he wanted to find out more about her; why she was one of the few who could look directly into his eyes with no fear to hide – there was something else. And why was she so keen to befriend him? He desperately wanted to separate from this uncomfortably crowded main room anyways, and the two hookers (not that he knew exactly what they were) were looking quite angry as they drew near the end of the time consuming quill plucking.
He looked at Juli… she was completely limp, and still face down on the bar.
Shadow grumbled some very negative thoughts mentally as he oh-so-reluctantly lifted her ridiculously heavy body horizontally in his arms. Little did he know, but the ever-increasing energy of the emerald was giving him the strength he needed to do it.
Shadow heard the hyena burst into another fit of laughter as he strode towards the upper level, Juli's dreads and limbs dangling from his arms, almost like a squid out of water. Shadow did his best to block out the laughing and the lyrics that were now intruding in his mind as he trudged up the metal stairs…
Traveling somewhere…
Could be anywhere…
There's a coldness in the air…
But I don't care…
We drift deeper…
Life goes on…
We drift deeper…
Into the sound…
Shadow reached the upper level. There were numerous doors along the wall here, most closed, a few open. On this level there appeared to be some uncloaked Legionnaires… metal arms, legs, dreads, glowing red eyes… One group was watching him intently, but Shadow just ignored them as he walked into one of the empty rooms. As he entered, he heard a male from the staring group comment a girl next to him.
"Lucky guy… I don't think I could get you that drunk even if I wanted to."
COFF! Someone got smacked. Must have been hard, too, as Shadow had been able to hear it over the music.
Traveling somewhere…
Could be anywhere…
There's a coldness in the air…
But I don't care…
We drift deeper into the sound…
Life goes on…
We drift deeper into the sound…
Feelin' strong…
So bring it on…
Click. Shadow closed the door behind him with a foot; it was much quieter now… the room seemed somewhat soundproof.
The room was decorated quite strangely; it was dark, very futuristic and modern. It was bare except for an armchair, and two sofas with a table between them, and there was more brushed aluminum and cement decor. The walls were a dark red, and the fine carpet a creamy white. Shadow didn't bother to look for a light switch. He could manage fine now that he had been in the dark for so long.
Shadow carefully laid Juli-Su on the stiff looking armchair. Her head flopped back over one arm of the chair, legs hanging over the other, and she occasionally twitched or muttered incoherent things in her drunken slumber.
Seeing his job was done, Shadow almost turned to leave, but the sight of her, so serene and prone, drool and all, stirred something in him.
He didn't realize it yet, but the emerald in his hand was getting dangerously close to the point where the energy would expand and try to move through other objects – in this case, up his arm and to his head. At present he was holding it so tightly that his hand was numb, and so didn't feel a thing. His mind was too preoccupied with other thoughts anyway.
Juli gave a slight moan a she turned over on her side, which made Shadow stiffen subtly for a moment.
What was this feeling… this feeling he now felt when females were near… when they touched him or spoke a certain way… when Juli made eye contact with him, or when Rouge simply enveloped him in that strange aura of her's. Even Amy, annoying and bizarre as he found her, had tapped him into it.
It was not love… he recognized that particular feeling as a completely different emotion – one he had shared with only Maria… and she was now gone.
Whatever it was, it made his blood surge uncontrollably, and he didn't like the idea of not being in control one iota.
Shadow stooped down so his eyes were even with the Legionnaire's face. There was something about her… something strange. What he had felt pass between them during the awkward moments of eye contact, could only be described as an understanding.
'An understanding of what?' he thought, intrigued as he watched her breathe, 'What could this alcoholic echidna possibly understand about me?" his eye caught something red in her hand, and he looked over at it.
'Blood?' he hesitantly opened Juli's loosely clenched fist.
Indeed, there was a small, blotchy line of blood seeping across the palm of her glove.
'From the fight with the Guardian?' reasoned one side of his head.
'No… it wasn't there before… not when Metal Sonic had her dangling from his claws. This was more recent.' the other side of his head remembered.
'Then where did it come from?' pressed the fist side.
'Who cares?' passed off the second, 'None of my concern.' and with that he dropped Juli's hand.
As he stood up straight and started for the door, the first side finally kicked in again, 'Just curious.'
Shadow reached for the handle of the door. There was a push lock on the small, chromed lever. He opened the door a crack, pushed the button in so it would lock from the inside when he left, and started to open the door wider, letting music flood into the room. …but something else flowed into the room as well.
Before even Shadow's sharp reflexes and sense of reason could bounce back, a voice cried, "YA!"
SWOOSH! A white boot missed shadow's head by a mere inch when he ducked, but by that it succeeded in forcing him back into the dimly lit room.
The music outside picked up at this point, etching through the room, like a soundtrack to his bloody, pain-filled life.
WHAM! But two hands caught him off guard and pushed him against the wall. He heard a hissing, and felt a sudden, severe stinging in his eyes and was forced to close them. Mace?
"Fuc-mmpfffh!" Shadow's senses finally clicked back into gear with the burning in his eyes, but before he could make an outcry, a slender hand was forced to his mouth.
"Well hello there…" cooed a positively juicy voice.
Shadow bristled rapidly and almost jumped out of his fur as he felt the attacker grab him by the hips and press themselves against him. He opened his watering eyes a painful crack, tears seeping out over his eyelids and streaming down his face; the blurred shape of the ears confirmed his belief of who it was.
"Rouge…" he growled in his deepest, darkest voice as he felt her reach around and grab the base of his tail, "Stop that!" Why did they insist on grabbing his tail?
She obeyed, but complained teasingly, "Oooh… touchy." she slowly drew her hand up his thigh, over his hip, and instead put her hand around his that was holding the red emerald.
With a swift, unexpected swipe of his hand and a rapid shifting of his feet, he slammed her against the wall, pinning her instead, his free hand clamped tight around her neck.
"Gaak!" Rouge couldn't breathe, and the trapped blood was quickly making her face flush.
He needed to deal with her quickly. Already he could feel the pheromones getting to his head, but he didn't plan on sticking around much longer. He blinked rapidly to clear his searing eyes; they were burning so badly that he would rather be grinding them out of his head.
"I'm tired of saying this to you people! Hands off!" and so he dropped her, letting her fall a mere foot to her feet. He stated coldly, "You attack me. You violate me. I need nothing from you. Leave me alone."
Though she had managed to catch him off-guard, Shadow didn't feel particularly threatened by Rouge. He turned and started feeling along the wall towards the door; eyes winced shut, as Rouge took a moment to rub her neck.
'So you wanna play it rough, do ya?' she thought, creeping up behind him and baring her long, sharp fangs, '…play hard-to-get?'
Shadow was about to reach for the door handle (the door had not fully closed when Rouge had entered, and so the music persisted), but Rouge grabbed his arm. He rounded on her furiously, fist coming around for a blind punch, but she ducked under it… her mouth was suddenly at his shoulder. She bit down with her long bat fangs.
Embrace me…
Surround me…
As the rush comes…
"Arraah!" Shadow forced down a louder cry with a stifled whimper and clenched teeth as he pushed her away violently with his arm and foot. He pressed a hand to his new wound. Rouge calmly allowed this and stepped back to admire her work… it was already taking effect. She removed the small coverings she had over her fangs – one of them had contained a strange serum.
Shadow held his neck as he slumped back against the wall, his senses blurring, his strength weakening, "Wha… what was in there?" he slid down the wall with heavy breathing and a stifled groan, "What the hell did you shoot me with! Drugs aren't supposed to… affect me!" his arm slid to the floor as well.
…as the rush comes…
"Really?" Rouge exclaimed, thought for a moment about that, then said, "That was another lie from your dictated past I suppose." she put a hand on her hip as she watched the muscles in his arms and legs twitch faintly, "'Cause from here, baby, it looks to me like you're headed towards…" she started to walk towards him, "…a much more relaxed… calmer mindset." she knelt in font of his quickly drooping head, "You're impossible to deal with otherwise." she tilted her head to one side and appeared nonchalant as she pushed his ever bowing head back against the wall so she could see his face, "Tell me… how do you feel?"
It almost appeared as if all the alcohol he had previously consumed was actually taking effect… his face was shiny red, as if he had a raging fever. Though the shine may have just been from the tears wetting his face.
Shadow strenuously opened his eyes… the white part of his eyes was bright pink from being irritated by the mace, but his scarlet irises flashed brighter still. Shakily, painfully, he raised both arms and gave her a rude gesture. As he let his arms fall limply to his side again, the red emerald barely staying in his hand as the back of it hit the ground, he saw Rouge stiffen irately for a moment before he closed his eyes again. He opened his mouth for easier breathing.
"What's the matter? All out of your big, intellectual words, so you have to revert to childish insults?" was Rouge's indignant comeback.
There was a long pause; one where Shadow snickered and smirked, almost not caring what happened to himself at this point. …but his thoughts were a little fuzzy. Was he just going mad? Rouge braced herself, knowing and almost regretting what she had just asked for. Gathering a breath, Shadow retorted, "Well... if you'd prefer." he took a deep breath in preparation for his verbal onslaught, "You are a selfish, jewel molesting, gaudily dressed, self indulgent whore, who seems to be having trouble deciding who is more worthwhile to seduce; the one with the single, big, shiny emerald, or the one with lots of little sparkly emeralds."
SMACK! Shadow smirk didn't waver even for a second as a well-placed slap across the face sent his head lolling to one side. He was too busy thinking of how enormously hilarious this all was. It might have been the drugs.
Shadow laughed. It was a deep, warm laugh and Rouge was caught off guard for a moment; Shadow had rarely laughed in the all the time that she had known him, if he had at all.
Rouge wasn't truly bothered by the insult – she knew his smears were honest but she was proud of who she was. She resented that Shadow had the nerve to say it that way, however.
After another pause, he managed to gasp out, "So what's your point, Rouge… why are you… here."
The music outside died down for a moment, like the calm before the storm he was so used to sensing, like the short silence between them as Shadow waited for an answer… and he would get his answer shortly.
Music blared again at Rouge thrust her hands against his shoulders, pinning him to this wall. Nervous about what she was going to do next, Shadow squirmed helplessly under her as she crawled into his lap and pressed her mouth to his in a long kiss.
Inside, Shadow was seething, but in his weakened state he couldn't do anything about this violation of his mouth. It was intoxicating nonetheless… or again was it the drugs?
Rouge drew back and sat on her knees in front of him, "To answer your question, I'm just supposed to get you all tired and take something from you, but…" she eyed him up and down as he started squirming again, "You don't seem to be tired enough just yet." she smiled again as she crawled up to him to steal another kiss, meeting less and less resistance as the drug worked its way into his complex system, his senses dulling and mind darkening. She fluttered her wings with glee – this was something she had wanted to do for a long time.
…and yet he could still hear the music; it was even louder now, pounding in his ears, tune arcing over his brain in crescendos as his heart pumped blood aggressively through his deadened body – his breathing quickened. He pleaded mentally for her to stop as the bizarre lyrics repeated themselves… whispering…
We drift deeper...
Life goes on…
We drift deeper…
…drift deeper…
…as the rush comes…
What she was doing was an unforgivable violation, and had he been able to move his arms and think more clearly, without a second thought he probably would have flung her across the room at this moment. Still she persisted, thinking she may never have this chance again as she pulled away from him and gently stroked his face with her gloved hand. Her face had an expression of longing, and almost… sadness.
If he had control of his body… if he didn't feel like a slab of pavement… if he didn't feel so drained and utterly, thoroughly tired, he would have writhed in rage. But he couldn't even do that as Rouge took the emerald and walked away. He could only let his head fall to one side as he watched, wide eyed, as blood suddenly splashed all over the floor… up his legs and to his waist… tainting his black fur and the white carpet around him red… then the emerald falling… flashing and spinning as it bounced slightly on the floor spreading fractions of its red light all over the surfaces around it, almost in slow motion… followed by a muffled thump as Rouge's body crumpled to the carpet.
…It appeared that Juli-Su had woken up…
…and she was quite distressed…
From that point on, Shadow couldn't quite understand what was going on. Everything was sort of mashed together in a blurred memory. Sound irritated him like nothing he had ever felt before – he wanted to tear apart the sources of all the noise around him… if he only knew what was around him.
He was mistaken. It was not Juli-Su who had woken and shot Rouge. It had been someone else – an echidna. She was somewhat pretty, but not tough and quirky-pretty like Juli-Su. She was more of a luscious, seductive beauty like Rouge's. …but unfortunately Shadow wasn't fully conscious to think in more detail than that. As he lay on the floor, he thought it was Juli-Su who thrust the emerald into his trembling hands and said with a cold sharpness that nearly matched what he was capable of himself.
"Warp!"
"…" Shadow couldn't even gather his thoughts to respond. It felt as if acid was being poured on all his muscles and his brain… he could barely breathe without it being painful.
"I said warp!"
SHCRACK! He actually found enough energy within himself to wince in further pain as he flinched, twisting and gritting his teeth as he fell over to his side. Though his whole body, physically and mentally, was just one big mass of searing pain. He could feel a new wound open as his skin burst, a tear of warm blood streak across his arm. He had been whipped.
"Do that again! I liked his reaction." chuckled a familiar male voice.
A whip? Recollections of the night's earlier events snapped to his mind… the snow white echidna? …back for revenge for being rejected, and her friend being quilled? Whoever it was it wasn't Juli-Su, and what about the sadistic male voice?
He felt a hand grab the tuft of fur on his chest roughly – the grabber easily pulled him onto the floor on his back, and then lifted his top half up and off the floor - his white fur threatening to be ripped from their hair follicles. He struggled to focus his sore eyes; only blobs of dark, blurred color were before him.
Blue eyes… cobalt blue eyes. Another flash of a memory showed him the black female hedgehog, with her ice blue irises.
"War-p!" the voice in front of him spelled it out with phonetic exaggeration.
"…" He tried to find his voice again but no sound came.
He felt himself be thrown to the ground once more. He curled onto his side, nearly into a spiny ball as he flinched at muffled voices around him.
"Damned hedgehog… … … our plans…"
"What if … …"
"We … … … kill …"
"This bat… … … spy… and …"
"Take them both…"
His eardrums twinged irritably as there were numerous footsteps around him. He wanted desperately to cup his hands to his ears, but at the moment found no strength or willpower through his pain. The emerald still clutched in his hands wasn't helping either. It was sending a power rush to his head that he couldn't answer, but also couldn't resist. It was trying to bring him from a low to a high… and in his current state, he preferred low. When he was passed out, he wouldn't have to feel. He was getting rather used to that; it brought a certain comfort.
Shadow then felt himself be lifted into he air by two cloaked Legionnaires – one supporting his shoulders, the other his legs. He shut his eyes and felt himself leaving the room, be carried out onto the second level overhang. The cloaks gently swished around him… the very slight wind on his fur making him ache all over again.
The music had stopped… and instead there was anxious chattering. They were talking so loudly! It was agonizing! Why wouldn't they stop talking? Didn't they feel how painful it is? He could hear every single conversation at once… every word and every voice… every whisper and every yell… and it was driving him even further into madness. He twisted in anguish as he forced his corroded muscles to work, to claw at his head… to drive the damn noise from his sensitive ears. He dropped the emerald, and its sharp pinging as it hit the metallic floor pushed him over the edge. He struggled in his carriers' arms, and he soon fell painfully to the floor as they dropped him, wisely avoiding his spines. On the floor he curled into a ball, holding his head, and now howling mercilessly, every fibre of his being trembling and raked with pain.
SHCRACK! The whip again… and even though he had his protective barrier of twisted quills, it somehow broke through with deadly accuracy; he could feel its sting break open a big gash on his back. Whether he needed that or not was unclear, as he suddenly gave up his fight against the pain and calmed, tipping over to his side. He slowly uncurled, allowing the Dark Legion to carry him away.
'That's enough… I'm tired of losing... I'm tried of caring… just accept it...' were his last thoughts as his eyes went blank, as well as his mind.