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Shadow gasped for breath as he ran through the field he'd found his inhibitor ring in, the sound of humans yelling and guns firing following him as he went. He should have expected this. Mind, he didn't think he'd survive the explosion, so when he'd woken up in a crater he hadn't been expecting much of anything, really. But he'd thought, or at least hoped, after crawling out of that hole, that the humans would give him some sort of break for saving their world. Hadn't Sonic and his friends relayed what happened? Or perhaps they had, and GUN just didn't care. That would make sense. Sonic had other humans to care for him, and make sure he didn't end up in a cryo-tube. Shadow didn't. As far as GUN was concerned, Shadow was certain that they just viewed him as an asset they needed to collect.
He rounded a tree and paused to gasp for air, his chaos reserves nearly depleted, and his body heavily wounded. He'd only managed to find one of his inhibitor rings, as well, so it was risky for him to even try and use what little energy he had left to defend himself. But, at the rate these persistent GUN soldiers were going, he really didn't have much of a choice.
"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE," Shadow screamed, dodging out from his hiding place while throwing a chaos spear at the closest group of soldiers. Not close enough to hit them, but close enough to hopefully startle them away enough to give him space to flee further. He'd tried using his air shoes twice already, but with his lowered levels of chaos, he couldn't get more than a few sparks to emit, so running naturally it was.
~
"It would seem we'll need to take a reluctant page out of Commander Walters' play book," Director Rockwell groused, watching her troops cower back from another blast of chaos energy.
"Sir?"
"Call in the blue hedgehog and his little friends. They managed to corral Project Shadow once. Hopefully they'll be able to do it again."
~
Shadow growled low as frustrated tears welled in his eyes, tucking and rolling behind a large boulder as bullets zipped overhead. He grunted as he fell against the cool stone, clutching at his arm, where a wayward bullet had managed to graze him. Blood oozed from the wound slowly, his chaos energy barely able to close the gash in a timely manner. He was getting tired, and as such his movements were getting sloppy. There seemed to be a never ending supply of soldiers, while he was rapidly fading.
If he didn't manage to get away soon, he would have no choice but to turn to his last resort. He knew now that it was the last thing Maria would have wanted for him, and he would never get to see the insufferable blue hedgehog who'd made him realize that again, but he couldn't go back to GUN. He couldn't bear the thought of being forced into another cryo-tube for who knew how long, to wallow in his memories and mistakes for years on end once more. He wanted to live. He wanted to experience all that Maria had taught him about, and see the world the way she did. He wanted to speak to Sonic again, and see just how much they truly were alike.
But with GUN closing in on him rapidly, he had a feeling that self destruction would be his only means of escape.
~
"Heya, Director lady! Fancy seeing you again," Sonic chirped, stepping through the ring that had appeared next to the GUN vehicles, stationed at the edge of a rather battle torn looking field and forest.
"Hedgehog," Rockwell sniffed, looking down her nose at Sonic as Tails and Knuckles stepped through the ring after their leader.
"What is it this time? Better not be another rouge experiment with a sad back story," Sonic wagged his finger at Rockwell, smirk curling his lips.
"Uh, Sonic?" Tails murmured, stepping up next to his brother, his laptop held aloft in his hand, tilting the screen so Sonic could see it, "I wouldn't make jokes about that just yet."
Rockwell looked startled as Sonic shot her a glare.
"Cover me, boys," he growled, before taking off across the field, shoving soldiers out of his way as he went.
"I believe you have made a grave miscalculation in calling us," Knuckles hummed, arms folded across his chest as Rockwell watched her men get bowled over by a blue blur.
~
"You can do this," Shadow whispered to himself, taking his inhibitor ring back off and setting it gently on the ground next to his hip. He clenched his fists, feeling the small surge of chaos energy he still had left in reserve pulse. "You've made peace with this already. You can do this." He squeezed his eyes shut as red energy sparked over his quills, breathing deep as he tried to pull everything he had left to the surface.
He paused when he noticed that the gun fire and yelling had stopped, and a sharp breeze made his quills dance.
"Well, well. Look who I found."
Shadow blinked his eyes open, his build-up of chaos energy receding as he stared up at wet emerald eyes and a lopsided smile on a peach muzzle.
"You're alive."
Shadow gasped as Sonic zipped to his side, engulfing him in a bone crushing hug, salty tears dripping onto his shoulder. He grunted as he was shoved away just as quickly, the blue hedgehog holding him by the shoulders.
"How did you even survive? That blast was MASSIVE," Sonic asked, shaking his head slightly.
"I…I don't know," Shadow admitted quietly, shrugging, "I woke up in a crater. Everything in between is blank."
Sonic simply stared at him for a long moment, a wistful look on his face, before he abruptly stood, offering his hand to Shadow. "Let's get you out of here, yeah?"
Shadow contemplated Sonic's hand briefly, before taking it and rising onto shaky legs, ensuring to scoop his inhibitor ring up off the ground as he went. "Please."
They strode out from behind the rock, Sonic half in front of Shadow as GUN soldiers were still groggily rising from where they'd been knocked into the dirt. One or two lifted their guns to take aim, but a short glare from Sonic, and a ripple of blue sparks across his quills quickly made them back down.
"Ah, hedgehog," Rockwell greeted as Sonic lead Shadow back to where Tails and Knuckles stood, waiting, "Good job. We'll take it from here."
"Take what, exactly?" Sonic cocked his head quizzically, still half blocking Shadow with his own body as he paused next to his brothers.
"Project Shadow is property of GUN. He is to be detained, questioned, and placed back into statis for the safety of everyone," Rockwell growled, taking a threatening step towards Sonic.
"Are you seriously trying to tell me that you actually think I'd just let you take Shadow, and lock him away again?" Sonic scoffed, his grin turning sharp, "After he saved all of us?
"He was the reason everyone was in danger in the first place," Rockwell shot back, crossing her arms.
"No. Eggman Junior and Eggman Senior were the reason everyone was in danger in the first place," Sonic countered, wagging his finger at the director again, "And let's not forget that GUN is the one who built the giant mega death-ray to begin with!"
"GUN were the ones who killed Maria," Shadow murmured quietly behind Sonic, having no shame in adding fuel to the fire.
"What?!" Sonic whipped his head around to shoot Shadow a wide eyed stare, before turning a hard glare back on Rockwell. "Didn't know the 'Guardian Units of Nations' were in the business of killing kids. Doesn't sound very guardian like to me."
"An…unfortunate casualty, caught in the cross fire," Rockwell sighed, waving a hand through the air.
"Caught in the cross fire?!" Shadow finally stepped forward from behind Sonic, though his hand remained firmly clasped within the others, "Those soldiers pointed guns at her, knowing full well she'd done nothing! Her only crime was being kind, and living in that hell hole you called a base!"
Rockwell threw her hands up in a placating manner, taking a step back as two soldiers stepped up behind her and aimed their guns at the dark hedgehog, the sound of blasters charging the only sound hanging in the air as Shadow flinched back.
"Hey, now," Sonic cooed, tugging Shadow back so the other stumbled behind him once more, waving his free hand at Rockwell, "Let's not get all trigger happy, here." His ear twitched, listening as Knuckles dug into his quills for the rings he knew were stored there. "Look. I know you think you guys own Shadow? But, like, possession is nine tenths of the law or whatever, right? And as far as I can tell, I have possession of him right now." Sonic held up their conjoined hands as Knuckles threw his ring, the portal opening to show the Wachowski's living room behind them. "So, like…you know where to find me, if you really want to go down that road? But, I really don't think you do."
Tails let out a chuckle, while Knuckles guffawed heartily at Sonic's bravado, both stepping through the portal afterwards without much fanfare.
"Catch you on the flip side," Sonic said with a mock salute, tugging Shadow along with him as they stepped through the portal.