CHAPTER 12

DETERMINATION

Shadow, Gin, and Lien-Da were sitting across from each other while they rode in the back of a military truck.

Trevor was driving the truck. He had looked back from time to time to see what they were all discussing.

Shadow and Lien-Da listened while Gin explained the dangerous mission to them.

"Okay, guys. Listen up", Gin had began. "It appears we have an armed psychopath who's attempting to blow up an orphanage."

Lien-Da gasped and placed her hand over her mouth in shock. "My God…how awful!"

The fox made a nod as he agreed with her. "We can't figure out the reason why they would want to do this. Not only that but they have hostages inside of the building. This nut job is unpredictable. If we don't approach the situation carefully, he could possibly blow that place and everyone in it sky high."

Shadow and Lien-Da listened to the details of their mission carefully.

"The cops can't get close. A few officers have already been shot because of reckless acting. This entire mission is in our hands now." His eyes shifted over to Shadow. "Shadow, you control the power of Chaos. You're also a pro at controlling time and space am I right?"

The black hedgehog crossed his arms and made a small nod. "You're correct."

He formed a smirk, "Good. So here's the plan…"

When they got to the orphanage, the building was surrounded by police and huge crowds of concerned citizens. When Shadow, Lien-Da, and Gin got out of the truck, they studied the building. The building was old and appeared to have been around for a long time. It was pretty big for an orphanage. It had to have at least three floors. Maybe more than that.

Gin had approached one of the police officers. "We're here. This is G.U.N. business now." He turned to Shadow who had Trevor standing by his side. "You're on, Shadow."

The hedgehog made a nod and spun around to Trevor. "You ready?"

The lion nodded, "Yes, sir!"

"Chaos Control!"

Gin and Lien-Da watched as Shadow and Trevor vanish within a flash of green light.

"He's amazing. Isn't he, Gin?" Lien-Da spoke in surprise.

He nodded as he agreed with her. "…Yeah."

Trevor found himself standing beside Shadow while the two were inside of the building. The room they were in was kind of dark, and had holes and cracks in the floors and walls. He figured it was an old and unused room. He suddenly heard a loud clicking sound coming from behind them.

"Well, well what do we have here? Dogs of the military?"

When he and Shadow spun around, they turned to a white male mouse man who appeared to be in his late thirties who was dressed in all black.

Shadow caught sight of two little girls who had a gun pointed at them.

Tears streamed down their faces while they sobbed.

Shadow gave the man a cold glare. "Let them go", he demanded.

The man made an evil smile towards the two, "Oh I'll let them go…"

Trevor's heart raced when he saw him take out a small hand held remote control and press a button on it. He then saw him shove both of the frightened girls at them.

"I'm gonna let it all go…in a bang!"

The lion gave the man a hateful glare when he realized that he had activated the bomb he had set within the orphanage. "Why are you doing this?"

"If I told you, it wouldn't matter. We'd all be dead in the end anyway."

It was certain that this man was obviously psychotic and crazy. He needed to be stopped. Before Trevor could approach him, Shadow had held him back.

"I'll take care of them. You find that bomb. Got it?"

With hesitation at first, he made a nod and started to search around the room for the bomb.

The man let out an amused chuckle, "Good luck! You'll never find that bomb!" Before he could even blink an eye, he was suddenly struck in the stomach by a powerful punch from the hedgehog.

"Why don't you worry about yourself, asshole!"

While everyone was waiting outside of the building, Gin bit his lip as he anxiously waited to hear anything from Shadow or Trevor. His eyes widened when he saw a male white mouse man being tossed out one of the two story windows.

Everyone watched as he fell to the ground with glass falling behind him.

Before he had the chance to get to his feet, police officers surrounded him and took his body off of the ground.

"What the?" When Gin saw a flash of green light appear at the corner of his eye, he spun around to face Shadow who had the two frightened little girls with him. "Shadow!"

The two crying girls ran over to Lien-Da for comfort.

Shadow turned to Gin. "I have to go back. Trevor's still in there with the bomb."

A worried look had formed on Lien-Da's face. "What? Trevor's still inside?"

"I'll be back."

Before they could say anything else, Shadow had once again vanished.

Trevor scurried around the huge and seemingly empty room. Sweat poured from his head as he tried to find the bomb. "Come on damn it!" He spoke in a frustrated tone, "Where is it?" When he paused for a moment, he heard a faint ticking sound near him. He followed where the sound was coming from. He stopped in the middle of the floor where he heard the ticking getting louder and louder. He looked around and didn't see any obvious places where it could be at. When he took a step forward, he noticed that a piece of wood on the wooden floorboard under him was a little weak. 'It couldn't be…' He kneeled down to the floor and quickly ripped apart the weakened piece of wood from the floorboard. His heart skipped a beat when he saw a small, black, metal object with a two minute timer on it hiding under the floorboard. "…Oh fuck…"

Before he could touch the bomb, Shadow had appeared behind him.

"Did you find it?"

He made a small nod, "Yeah but it'll go in two minutes if we don't act quickly."

Shadow saw him place his goggles over his eyes and take out a pair of red pliers. "You think you can defuse it?"

The lion shrugged his shoulders uneasily, "I've done a few but most of them were just practice."

The hedgehog arched an eyebrow at him, "So you mean to tell me you're not a bomb expert?"

His eyes shifted towards the timer that had went under a minute. "Who the hell ever told you I was an expert?" He studied the wires on the bomb. There were three wires. One was red, blue, and green. His hand shook as he became nervous. He had to admit to himself that he wasn't quite sure which one to cut. He shut his eyes and found it hard to swallow. "…I-I don't think I can do this…"

"Yes you can!"

The lion slowly spun around to the hopeful hedgehog.

"I know you can do this! I won't leave your side! I promise…"

After hearing Shadow giving him so much support, he couldn't help but to feel like he had more strength and will power to attempt to defuse the bomb. "…Lieutenant Shadow…" He made a small nod towards him and turned back to the bomb that now underwent thirty seconds. He held the pliers up at the red wire and then at the green wire. He shut his eyes tightly and quickly cut the green wire. A few moments passed before he cracked open his eyes. He was alive. He and Shadow were still alive. He looked down at the timer of the bomb that had stopped at two seconds. He let out a sigh of relief at the sight of it. When he felt Shadow's hand being placed on his shoulder, he turned to him with a wide smile.

"I told you, you could do it."

He nodded and continued to smile warmly at the black hedgehog.

After when Shadow and Trevor had made it out of the orphanage, they reported their situation to Gin and Lien-Da.

Gin smiled warmly at the two as he was pleased to hear how everything went for them. "Good job, guys." He turned to Trevor with a proud look on his face. "And I'm really proud of you, Trevor." He made a salute towards him, "Good work, soldier!"

Trevor felt like Gin had never admired him or his work until now, and he couldn't help but to feel more proud of himself. He gave him the same salute back, "Thank you, sir!"

While everyone had gathered around Shadow and Trevor, the white mouse man used the opportunity to try to escape. He snatched a handgun out from a police officer's holster and hit him hard in the face with the end of the gun to knock him down. He then pointed the gun at the rest of the police officers and G.U.N. soldiers as he started to run off. "Get back! All of you!"

Trevor's mouth hung open as he saw the man running away. "He's getting away!"

Lien-Da had taken out a long black whip from her belt. "Not on my watch!" She lashed the whip out towards him.

The whip wrapped around his legs causing him to fall to the ground.

"Good work, Lien-Da!" Gin spoke.

While she was getting praised for her work, Shadow's jaw dropped when he saw the man pointing the handgun towards her back while she wasn't looking.

"…Fucking bitch…" He said in a weak voice before he pulled the trigger.

"Lien-Da!" Shadow shouted.

When she heard Shadow's alarmed voice, she quickly spun around only to see Shadow shoving her out of the way. She fell to the ground in confusion. When she turned, she saw Shadow kneeling to the ground while holding his bleeding arm. Her face became filled with shock as she stared at the wounded hedgehog. "Shadow, no!"

Gin ran up to the armed man, kicked the gun from his hand and sent a powerful kick to his side. "You son of a bitch!"

While police officers and soldiers surrounded him, Lien-Da got off of the ground and kneeled next to Shadow in worry. "Shadow, are you okay?"

He looked up at her with a small smile letting her know that he was okay. "I'll be fine. It's just a bullet wound."

"But, sir!" Trevor exclaimed, "You're bleeding!"

He in all honesty had gotten shot plenty of times before. The gunshot still hurt but he knew it would take more than that to take him completely down. "I said I'm fine. Stop worrying."

The group looked up at Gin who approached them. "Our job is done here. Let's get the fuck out of his hellhole."

In The Next Chapter...

Lien-Da: Let's make this interesting...

Shadow: A game?

Lien-Da: Did you want to talk about what was bothering you earlier?

Shadow:...It's nothing...

Lien-Da: I've never had anyone take a bullet for me before...

Shadow:...Lien-Da...