[Terni, Italy G.U.N. Command Facility]
The sleek, angular building of the G.U.N. Terni Command Center rose against the stormy skies, its reinforced glass shimmering with the reflections of flashes from distant explosions. Inside, monitors lit the darkened operations room with constant streams of information, alien incursions, local reports, and multiple unidentified signals pinging from across Europe.
Abraham Towers stood at the central console, his brow furrowed, hands gripping the edge. Beside him, several officers moved with precision, coordinating defensive strikes and civilian evacuations. The faint hum of Chaos Drive assisted drones pattered against the reinforced floor.
"Report," Abraham barked, his voice cutting through the chatter.
"We have already begun to classify and exterminate the aliens. Both SHIELD and SWORD also have their people on the ground dealing with the threat. We also started the search for the Chaos Emeralds in different locations." A soldier spoke up on the big screen and four signatures were shown.
"Have our soldiers find and collect them before Shadow does. I won't allow him to collect anymore." Abraham announced as he walked towards the research lab with mixed thoughts. It had been only hours and six cities were in ruins. Only New York was saved because of the numerous heroes patrolling and with how many alien attacks they already suffered from it didn't need his concern.
"So Black Doom has made his move. Currently major cities around the world have been attacked but most concentrated in five spots. And after a strange surge of Chaos Energy around the world the rest of the emeralds lit up like beacons on the old device Gerald used to track them down. Tennessee, New York, and London we know those cities have emeralds. We don't know their exact location in Italy or Japan but our people are searching everywhere." Abraham clenched his fist behind his back. "The one in Tennessee was the first to be collected but by the time we got there Shadow had already collected it. Once he got his hands on it the signature disappeared meaning he must have the other three. We already have the emerald from London in headquarters that was simple enough. If my sources are right then he's going to New York for the next one."
He walked in for a scientist to walk forward and saluted. "Commander Towers, how may I help you today?"
"Have you labeled down the alien threat and given information to our forces to deal with them in an efficient way?" Abraham asked and the scientist nodded.
"Yes we have, From what was recorded and salvaged from the team in Tennessee they are known as the Black Arms or and their leader is known as Black Doom like you've already told us." The scientist explains stopping at a room with a subdued Black Arms inside chained down.
"From this captured subject we took a dive into its head and learned that they are a hive mind. Black Doom is believed to be the center. They're all mindless except Project: Shadow who seems to have his own will but is also most likely being influenced." The scientist said.
"I don't care if he's being influenced, he is still a threat that we must locate and contain him again." Abraham said. The restrained Black Arms creature thrashed weakly as the reinforced restraints pulsed with suppressor fields, its obsidian carapace glinting beneath the lab lights. The hum of psionic dampeners filled the room like a low metallic drone.
"Can it hear us?" Abraham questioned and the scientist shook his head.
"No, if it did then this base would be storming with the creatures." The scientist said and Abraham nodded, turning. Good anything done in here had to stay secret or Black Doom would find out.
"One more thing, these things seem to have a very weird healing factor. Normal weaponry won't affect them much and they'll heal quickly but if you blow off the head they crumble into dust. Also our mechs Chaos Energy plasma guns seem to weaken them the more concentrated the blasts are." The scientist said demonstrating. A small Chaos Drive was placed into an energy modeled pistol with two settings. Wide spread and straight shot. He pointed it at the Black Arms. He switched it to wide spread and fired a shot, hitting its chest. The skin rippled for a second and it continued to thrash violently. Then he changed it to a straight shot and fired again. The skin rippled again but it began to slump with a pain whimper a small trail of green blood spilling out until it healed.
"Good to continue your research and a way to contain this threat I have more business to attend to." Abraham said and the scientist nodded as he left. These Black Arms are looking for the Emeralds and he needed to keep them away from it.
He walked down the wall going over to one of their communications, everyone pausing to greet their commander.
"Have you convinced Reed Richards to trust us with the emerald in their possession?" He called.
"No sir, he proposed to let him keep the emerald to study. They also suggested that their defences were far more advanced than ours." A soldier reported and Abraham cursed under his breath..
He knew that the moment someone like Reed Richards got their hands on an artifact like the Chaos Emeralds their curiosity would not allow them to let it go easily. That's why GUN barely used the mechs now protecting the cities around the world; their Chaos Drives were limited after the ARK was shut down and Gerald's execution.
"Patch Richards through again," he ordered. "I want a direct line no intermediaries." He asked and the comm technicians exchanged uneasy looks.
"Sir, the Baxter Building is in lockdown. Even SHIELD can't get him on the line." The soldier reported. Abraham's jaw clenched so hard a muscle twitched. Of course Richards wouldn't hand over the Chaos Emerald. The world's smartest man couldn't resist the world's most tempting power source.
"'Far more advanced than ours,' my ass," Abraham muttered under his breath even if he knew it was probably better this way. With Shadow on the prowl it was probably best to let the fantastic four hold it. Shadow knows nothing of this generation full of heroes and for that he might falter but he wouldn't risk it.
"Send a group of soldiers to New York and prepare for Shadow's arrival." Abraham said. The soldier who'd delivered the report quickly nodded and walked away.
"Commander," a voice called from behind him. It was one of the intelligence officers young, nervous, clutching a datapad like it might explode. "We have something you need to see."
Abraham turned slowly. The officer swallowed and tapped the pad, projecting a hologram. It was Shadow.
Captured on a traffic camera somewhere on the outskirts of New York blurred motion, orange streaks, glowing energy distortion trailing him like a comet.
The officer hesitated. "Should we alert SHIELD or SWORD?"
"No," Abraham said, deadly calm. "This stays between us."
He stepped toward the main console, glaring at Shadow's projected figure.
"Shadow is no hero. He is a biological weapon. And I will not let him determine the fate of this planet." He turned sharply.
"Prep containment squads. All available ones For Shadow," Abraham stated. "If he's going after the Emerald there, we are intercepting him first."
He paused. "And aware The Fantastic Four immediately but make sure if they incapacitate him he's brought to us for our next course of action." Abraham said.
Shadow was on the move; he couldn't let this opportunity go to waste. He needed to make sure that he didn't escape their grasp again. He won't allow any other soldiers to die at Shadow's hands, not after what happened on the ARK.
[New York City]
Shadow moved swiftly through the debris-littered streets of New York, his senses heightened by the chaos around him. The distant roar of collapsing buildings, the flashes of alien weaponry, and the screams of civilians blurred into a tumultuous backdrop as he tracked the faint residual energy signature of the Chaos Emerald. He saw a few weirdly dressed people fighting around the area like a guy with a spider on his chest, a man with a red suit and devil horns, a man with a skull on his chest, and a man dressed in all white and was talking to himself. He didn't interact nor help them after all he needed to focus on the task at hand.
Though after whatever that Black Mist was he now subconsciously knew what all of the Black Arms were now. Those flying ones were named Black Wing, Black Volt, Black Hawk, and Black Salvo. The fast ones are Black Flash. And the bulky large ones are Black Assassins, Black Warrior, Black Oak, Black Wall, Black Bull, Hammer Oak, and Black Macho. Honestly those names made his look original. But it wasn't like he cared after all Black Doom had instructed him to kill any in his way and so he did. Not to mention they had no problem attacking him so why care about their lives.
His eyes flickered with red light, scanning every alley, rooftop, and shadowed corner for any sign of his target. Despite the chaos, Shadow's mind remained focused. Black Doom's words echoed in his head as the next emerald was in the Baxter Building. One problem was that Black Doom never told him what the building looked like but if it had the Chaos Emerald it had to be important.
He ran into an alley and jumped, parkouring up a wall with ease and landing on the roof as he looked around at the area he was in. Black Arms were everywhere though not as many as in that other city. He felt something poke in his mind and tried to shake it off. He had no time for this weird feeling in his head again just like what happened in the other city. But eventually it began to give him a headache making him rub his head in annoyance. He looked up to see Doom's eye moving in a certain direction and started to follow.
Before anything else could continue he dodged a blast from one of those GUN mechs. He glared as he moved closer dodging a few more blasts then kicked the head off. Then he stabbed a Chaos Spear into its chest causing more spark to appear as he ripped open its chest and took out the Chaos Drive absorbing the energy with a content sigh.
God why did it always feel so good to absorb more Chaos energy? He didn't know, probably the Chaos Emeralds recognizing that this was a piece of their energy and wanting it back.
The eye slowed down until it was flying just in front of him. "It seems we have an issue. The building that the humans spoke about apparently has a barrier around it. Unfortunately none of our kind can get through it. We also have a torch killing them before they can do anything." Doom explained as it stopped and Shadow stopped as well as they saw Black Arms being burned to a crisp by a man on fire.
"What the hell?" Shadow muttered and Doom's eyes turned to him.
"Take out the flying torch and get rid of the barrier." Doom ordered as it flew away leaving Shadow to stand there. Shadow sighed, rubbing his head as he felt a familiar presence behind him landing in a crouch.
"... Why are you here? I thought I told you to leave me alone." Shadow said, turning. It was inevitable he knew that somehow some way they would meet again but never this soon.
"Well I didn't mean to find you, I just so happen to be in the same city as you." Rouge said, walking over while Shadow turned back to the Baxter Building.
"What didn't miss me? I thought a few days on your own would make you miss my company. Imagine my disappointment." Rouge replied and Shadow grunted, making her giggle in delight at annoying him.
"What's with the outfit?" Shadow questioned looking at Rouge new outfit with confusion.Rouge now wears a black bodysuit which includes a skin-tight and strapless low-cut unitard that sports a pink, heart-shaped chest plate outlined with thin white-trimming. She also wears elbow-length white gloves and thigh-high high-heeled boots with pink cuffs to match them, with the latter featuring both gray soles and heels, along with steel toes in the appearance of pink hearts, matching her leotard's chest plate.
"Oh don't worry this is just my regular Jewel thieving outfit. Fits me better huh?" Rouge said doing a little twirl and Shadow rolled his eyes disinterested in the outfit. It wasn't like it'll help him do what he needed to do.
"So, mind telling me why you're working with these things?" Rouge asked, pointing at the Human Torch himself burning some of the flying Black Arms to a crisp.
"There leader… They know my past, so I kind of made an agreement. If I collect all seven Chaos Emeralds and bring them to him then he would reveal my past to me." Shadow told honestly, not finding any reason to lie. It wasn't like Rouge could stop him. But Rouge looked at him with surprise and… Was that worry on her face? No couldn't be it was probably just the dark clouds making it harder to see her expressions.
"So you're just going to trust this guy blindly." Rouge questioned crossing her arms
"No, I just want my memories back after that I won't bother with him." Shadow replied, turning away. Rouge wasn't the priority he needed to do this… He needed to know who he was even if it was for better or worse.
"... Fine I'll help" Rouge said casually and Shadow's head snapped to hers with surprise making her laugh as he scowled.
"What!?"
"You're face haha… Oh I never expected you to ever have that face!" Rouge giggled out before she composed herself.
"Yah, why not. I did make a promise to help you get back your memories. And if you need help stealing this emerald then I'm your girl." Rouge said with a cheeky grin making Shadow feel… What was this feeling? It made his shoulder less tense and breathe easier. Was that, relief? Gratitude? He didn't know but nodded at Rouge.
"I… I appreciate it." Shadow told her and Rouge winked.
"Don't worry about it, handsome." Rouge replied, walking over and patting Shadow's shoulder. But she noticed he flinched and stopped putting her hands in the air in mock surrender though she did look a little apologetic.
"Sorry about that I should have known you weren't a touchy guy." Rouge said almost apologetic for entering Shadow's personal space as they watched The Human Torch burn more of the Black Arms stopping their path.
"So, any plans to get in?" Shadow asked, catching an ear comm that Rouge had thrown at him. He simply placed it in his ear knowing they would have to communicate.
"I've only broken into the Baxter Building once and barely got out without getting caught, but I never managed to collect what I wanted. The barrier is definitely new though probably created by that Invisible Woman or technology either way I don't know. They're now on high alert. So you distract Bright Star up there and take down the barrier and use that energy of yours to drain the power in the building. Then you can leave the rest to me." Rouge replied and Shadow nodded thinking that it could work.
"Alright I can comply with that plan." Shadow agreed as he looked up at The Human Torch and teleported.
"Come on, is that all you guys got?!" Johnny Storm questioned as he flew around a Black Volt as it shot lightning out its mouth dodging more blast from Black Salvo. They were easy to take out barely an inconvenience but the problem was that they just kept coming no matter how many times he burned them to a green mist. It had come out of nowhere like no build up to this invasion just Red clouds appearing in the sky and these things falling out of them.
Reed as always immediately went into action once they started to swarm the Baxter Building to grab some stupid emerald. Reed and Sue stayed in the building to keep the security up and protect the emerald while he and Ben dealt with the ones outside the barrier. Good, it's been a while since he had some nice target practice.
But then a flash of lighting came from behind and before he could move a kick was slammed into his back sending him flying to the ground barely being able to catch himself. He groaned in pain, that kick to the back really hurt. What the hell were they wearing metal boots? He got his answer as he turned to see a guy who couldn't be older than 20 standing there. Wait this was the kid Reed had talked about after getting a call from an organization called GUN. This was the kid that had shaken a militaristic organization so much.
"Well, hey there. You really know how to pack a kick huh?" Johnny joked lightly as the flames around him became brighter. It was easy enough to see his shoes even after kicking his back were still intact with no damaged delt to them.
Shadow scowled as he rushed forward and Johnny took to the air. "Hey easy there alright! I'm not a fan of hurting kids so can you calm down and talk to me! Like why are you trying to steal that emerald?!" Johnny asked, throwing a few fire balls that were countered by Shadow's chaos spears.
Shadow could feel the heat of the balls as soon as small embers fell and knew that those would cause burns. He dodged more as he ran in the opposite direction, Johnny in hot pursuit. He sent more fire balls as Shadow dodged them as he ran up a building and moved from rooftop to rooftop throwing Chaos Spears back at Johnny.
"Hey can you stop running, this will go quicker if you just stay still!" Johnny called but Shadow didn't respond instead he waited as he threw more spears at Johnny until he got his chance. Johnny had lowered to be at the same height of the building. It was simple from there.
"Chaos Control." Time paused once again as he ran towards Johnny and slammed a knee into his jaw hoping to break it so it would be harder for the annoying fire man to speak and flipping over him to throw four Chaos Spears aimed for the heroes back not enough to kill but definitely incapacitate the flaming man. He ran off as time resumed. Johnny first felt the knee then was sent to the ground as four spears hit his back falling to the hard earth with a thumb and a groan of pain.
Shadow simply teleported him and Rouge passed the barrier with minimum effort and ran across the halls in the building; the security wasn't enough to stop his path. He went straight for the security room Rouge spoke about. Rouge in the meantime would go looking for the emerald.
As Shadow continued to run he began to slow down, something felt off. Eventually he stopped in his tracks and walked with a frown. Now he knew something was off and it felt like he was being watched. His eyes took in every detail of his surroundings as he tried to pinpoint where the feeling was coming from. Then he stopped completely looking in front of him with a scowl as his hands sparked. He slammed a punch in front of him slamming into an invisible barrier. He took a deep breath as he tried to lock his pursuers position.
Shadow then turned, throwing a Chaos Spear hitting a barrier but it broke through as a woman was sent flying to the ground with a small shout of pain. Shadow frowned as he walked towards her. Was this that invisible woman Rouge talked about. It didn't matter, he would deal with her. His hands clenched as they sparked as he winded up a punch. This was so pathetic especially for…
Two blue eyes stared into his red ones. He stopped frozen in place, why did he stop? His body just froze up as one thought infiltrated his mind. "Don't harm Maria." But this wasn't Maria. Who even was Maria? It was just some girl from his past. Why would he hesitate to take out a threat just because they look like a ghost.
"Shadow… What do you think the earth is like?" Shadow eyes widened at that voice in his head, a flash of a smiling young girl popping up only for a second before disappearing. Why did it hurt so much to look at this woman and feel guilt for even harming her. She wasn't Maria, she was a threat and threats needed to be eliminated. But would Maria want him to harm someone?
"Sorry about this but I can't let you take the emerald." Sue Storm said apologetically as a barrier surrounded Shadow again. Shadow, still stunned by the woman's appearance, couldn't help but compare her voice. It was kind, almost gentle just like Maria's but it was way too old, way to be determined to be the soft spoken excited Maria he once knew. He just shouldn't deal with this right now he needs the emerald. So what if he lets someone live? She won't make a difference.
He immediately teleported out and ran off. He couldn't, even the pang in his head telling him to fight was silent for once. Just find the security room, take out the security and let Rouge do the rest that's all he needed to do.
"Reed, he's heading your way." Sue said from a comm. The boy had not only seen her but was able to break through her force field. She wondered what made him stop though. Whatever hit her paralyzed her body for a short amount of time he could have killed her if he wanted but stopped. His eyes seemed… Haunted like he had seen a ghost and it really had shaken him. She would have to talk to Reed about GUN and what happened to this boy to cause such a reaction.
Shadow made it. Finally he made it and now he could get rid of this security. It only took a well placed Chaos Spear. "The security is out, what's next?" Shadow asked as the coms came back up.
"Good to hear I'm already at the lab and I have the emerald in sight. Unfortunately Mr. Fantastic is here. Can you give me a little distraction?" Rouge said making sure to keep her voice wasn't heard. These vents were very tight and uncomfortable if it wasn't for her flexibility then she would never fit. But her wings were killing her.
Shadow made his way to the lab and kicked down the door quickly to see a man close to the Chaos Emerald. This emerald was a Dark Blue like staring into the depths of the sea.
"Hello you must be Shadow right?" Shadow stopped as the man spoke so… Calmly like he didn't know how much of a threat Shadow was. The man spoke again.
"I'm Reed Richards, GUN had told me that you were coming though I didn't expect you to be so… young." Reed said, taking in Shadow's appearance. "They only told me you were sealed away fifty years ago. I might say your creator must have been a genius to create you at such a time." Reed finished while Shadow snarled.
"I have no time for this, just give me the emerald and I'll leave." Shadow said as his fist sparked. If Reed noticed he didn't show.
"For what reason do you need the emeralds?" Reed questioned.
"You don't need to know that." Shadow said with a glare. This man was starting to get off his nerves.
"Is it to collect something that you have long since forgotten?" Reed asked and Shadow flinched letting Reed know his question hit home. "So I'm right. What I don't know is the thing you forgot. Could it be your memories? After all, being locked away for fifty years could make it harder to recall what happened back then. If that is the issue then why not go to a telepath of any category and request aid?"
Shadow scoffed at the thought. He already hated Black Doom in his head but at least he somewhat trusted the sadistic starfish to give him what he wanted. No matter how painful it was, it was still his memories and that's what he wanted to know. He didn't even trust anyone but Rouge. Because she was at least willing to help him gain back his memories.
"I hate people in my head." He replied simply deciding that time was up. His body sparked as he rushed at Reed only for his body to suddenly fly past his falling to the ground completely paralyzed.
"Sorry I got here late dear." Sue said as Shadow tried to move but couldn't move. Reed smiled at Sue giving a small peck on her cheek.
"It's alright dear. Now for you." Reed said, walking over to Shadow's body and kneeling down. "If I could I would help you regain your memories, but you decided to work with an alien race and harm my family. I can't forgive that. GUN will arrive shortly to take you into their custody. Shadow glared as he tried to move.
"Don't try to move, I placed a forcefield along your nervous system to stop your movements. If you keep trying it might cause you pain." Sue said and Shadow glared. He knew he should have just killed her. Wait, where did that thought come from? It would have been simple to put more power into a Chaos Spear and burn her nervous system. What the hell, why is he thinking that?
Shadow eyes turned up to the vent seeing Rouge who gave him a thumbs up a bomb in her other hand. He wanted to smirk but knew if he did they would know something is wrong.
"Tch, and you think GUN will just lock me away in some prison? If you do then you're naive. They're going to lock me back in stasis. And you just will allow that?" Shadow asked and Reed sighed.
"It's not that simple, you were created by GUN and therefore I have no control over what happens to you. By all means and I hate to say this, you are GUN's property." Shadow's anger boiled at the thought of being considered property of those bastards… Why did that thought anger him so much?
"I would have preferred you going to a rehabilitation because at the end of the day you are a child." Reed replied and Shadow rolled his eyes.
"Hmph, I'm the furthest thing from a child." Shadow muttered.
"And yet here you are acting like a teenager." Reed replied and Shadow glared up at the man.
Rouge slowly opened the vent slowly and dropped a heart shaped grenade letting it hit the ground and split into five smaller bombs. Reed immediately went on alert as smoke filled the room. Rouge immediately flew down and before Sue could put up a barrier Rouge heels slammed into her back knocking her to the ground. She immediately grabbed the emerald then moved over to Shadow grabbing him.
"You just had to get caught huh?" Rouge said as Shadow slowly regained movement in his body. He grunted a response causing Rouge to roll her eyes as they made their way out. The barrier had dropped as they made their way away from the Baxter Building.
Doom's eye watched with irritation as Rouge placed Shadow down. It flew over and Shadow glared at the eye. "This is disappointing. Needing the aid of a human." Doom said his projection appeared.
"Tch, we got the emerald didn't we?" Shadow replied while Rouge pointed at the eye.
"So is this the guy who wants the emeralds? You're actually going to trust this alien who apparently likes Starfish." Rouge said and Doom felt his irritation grow.
"Shut it tramp! Now as for you." Doom said, making Rouge mouth drop in shock at being called a tramp. Sure her clothing was slightly revealing but was nowhere close to other peoples clothing. "Though you did get the emerald even if you needed assistants from this… Bat woman but I'm not satisfied with this. So you'll get your reward after this." Doom said and suddenly a black mist came from behind. Shadow almost panicked if it wasn't for the fact that a Black Bull appeared. But it was way larger than the regular one.
"Black Bull do as I bid!" Black Doom announced as the Bulls mouth inflated before it spewed lava balls at the two. Shadow jumped off the building and grinded down the side of it and Rouge followed.
"What the hell is wrong with that thing?!" Rouge demanded as the Black Bull drilled through the building destroying a chunk of it. Shadow jumped off the building landing on another as the Bull followed. It was far faster than any of the others. It made sense as its body more resembled a Bull Shark now instead of a flying blob.
He moved through the city having to dodge large globs of Lava it spewed at him while Rouge was close by throwing bombs at the massive thing small holes appearing that healed. Shadow through multiple Chaos Spears that seared its skin but it healed.
"Hey, any idea's how to kill this thing?!" Rouge shouted as she followed Shadow.
"Try to make it eat one of your bombs. Blow its head off and it should stop!" Shadow replied as he had to grab Rouge's hand and teleported away as a massive amount of lava nearly hit them. He stopped in his tracks on a rooftop as the Black Bull looked around for them. Rouge covered her mouth to avoid letting the contents of her stomach spilling out. Getting teleported like that felt like her first flight when she wasn't used to doing barrel rolls in mid air.
"Are you ready?" Shadow questioned and Rouge stood up shaking her head.
"Yah… yah I think I am, but warn me the next time you decide to teleport us alright?" Rouge said and Shadow didn't respond as he skated off the building the Black Bull immediately following. Rouge flew above the two. Shadow took a sharp right and skated on the side of a building as lava spewed nearby. He then flipped, throwing Chaos spears at the massive fire balls that nearly hit him. Some burned his clothing and skin but in a split second the flesh repaired itself. Shadow teleported again landing on a street light as the Bull charged at him but teleported to a different light. He repeated this four more times until it got too close making him smirk as he jumped up landing on its back and stabbing a Chaos Spear into its skull. It roared and thrashed violently but Rouge had followed the entire time throwing two heart bobs into its mouth. It only needed a second before its body exploded, Shadow getting off before it could blow him up as well.
Shadow and Rouge landed near its disintegrating body. While Rouge was glad to see it slowly disappear but then Black mist came off the body and immediately went after Shadow. Shadow grunted in pain and grabbed his head and chest feeling a burning sensation once again falling to a knee. Rouge immediately was at his side.
"Shadow?!" She questioned as Shadow's breath became erratic as he coughed violently slamming his chest to try a breath properly as his vision swimmed again.
"Shadow! Hey Shadow!!" Rouge demanded as she tried to get his focus.
But Shadow found himself this time surrounded by destroyed roots. Blood ran down his head as the skin netted back together. His right leg had multiple burns going from the thigh to his knee and one had landed a blast to his chest near the left lung searing the skin but wasn't enough to damage the organ. His skin mended itself as more robots had appeared.
"Test 20." A voice over the entercoms spoke, making Shadow snarl at the sound of his voice. God he hated these tests because the robots just got harder and harder. It infuriated him to not only be tested on but to be forced to fight for his life all he wanted was to give them a piece of their own medicine, but if he did Gerald would get punished for not being able to control his creation. He would be fired and forced to return to earth with Maria who would die without the low gravity the ARK provided in space. He couldn't be the reason that she died; he was created to protect her, not cause her doom. Just this last one and then he could rest.
Unfortunately he was wrong as he had 30 tests this time. Maria nursed his wounds even as they healed, placing bandages that weren't needed. Tears were in her eyes and Shadow had to constantly reassure her he was fine that they didn't burn even though they did, that the stab to his shoulder wasn't painful even after it minded leaving no scars.
"I don't get why she bothers with you." Shadow turned to a young boy with mismatched eyes. He thought it was called heterochromia. By this time he had just finished his test with Gerald finding himself in a bad mood because of the lack of progress that Gerald made with his DNA. Some cure he was. If it was that it was this hard to decode his DNA at this rate Maria would never get to see earth.
"What?" He asked simply.
"You're a freak and I don't get why she bothers to tend to your wounds! They heal all the time and she keeps bandaging you like you're a normal person! But you're not! You should just stay away from her or you'll just get her killed!" Abaham shouted as he glared at the taller boy.
"If you have a problem then save it. I was created to protect Maria. I wouldn't let harm come to her. If you can do better, than be my guess to try." Shadow said, crossing his arms glaring back at Abraham. He knew he was a freak of nature being created in a lab proved as much. He didn't have a mom or dad, he's just a clump of cells mashed together. But he would never let harm come to Maria and this brat thinking saying this actually ticked him off.
"What's going on? I heard yelling." Maria asked, walking over as both boys stopped there glaring, turning to Maria.
"Nothing." Both boys said and that made Maria sigh.
"You two never agree so easily. So what happened?" Maria asked gently.
"... I don't understand why you care so much about him. Everyone knows he was created to be strong so why do you bother to help his wounds when they heal in a few minutes?" Abraham asked with frustration and Maria smiled. Walking over to Abraham to pat his head.
"Welll, that's because--" Maria voice cut off but her mouth continued to move. Shadow blinked as slowly the room became red. He looked around in confusion as the sound of footsteps rushed towards them. He then felt a deep seated panic in his core turning to Maria who was still talking as if nothing happened. He tried to grab her until he noticed his hands were covered in blood. He looked down in shock then looked back up but Maria's chest was bleeding and Abraham looked at him like he did it.
"MONSTER, MONSTER, MONSTER!!" Shadow grabbed his head as the word repeated in his mind covering his years but not even that stopped the voices. He wasn't a monster right? RIGHT?
In the present Shadow coughed more as Rouge held him up as his breathing became more stable as a small trickle of blood came out his mouth Rouge wiping it away.
"Easy there Handsome, keep breathing. In and out slowly." Rouge said soothingly not even knowing why she was doing this. It would be so simple to leave him and take the emerald so why the hell was she helping him when he seemed to be having a panic attack.
Shadow took a few more deep breaths as he slowly recomposed himself.
"What the hell happened to you? What was that mist? And why didn't you try to escape?" Rouge questioned as Shadow managed to stand up on his own.
"Black Doom… He uses it as a way to regain my memories." Shadow explained as more blood seeped out his mouth going from green to red again but he wiped it away before Rouge could notice not minding the metallic taste in his mouth.
"Really because I don't recall regaining memories to cause you to cough blood." Rouge said sarcastically not liking this one bit. Shadow sighed as he started to walk Rouge flying next to him.
"Well it works. It brings back a good chunk of my memories but not all of them. I've only been exposed to it twice." Shadow said. Even if it was somehow worse than before because the previous time just made him angrier this time he just felt a load of pain. His body felt numb even if he could move on his own.
"Are you sure you can trust that thing?" Rouge asked and Shadow scoffed.
"Of course not. I don't trust the thing for a second but he doing something that I want. My memories are coming back and that's all that matters right now. I need to know what happened to me." Shadow said. Shadow's breathing slowed as the last echoes of the chaos energy faded from his mind, leaving behind a hollow silence that weighed heavy on his shoulders. His body trembled, not from fear or exhaustion, but from the relentless surge of memories and emotions threatening to drown him. Rouge kept a steady hand on his back, her concern palpable even beneath her tough exterior.
"Shadow… you okay?" Rouge asked softly, eyeing his strained expression. He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he clenched his fists, feeling the residual Chaos Energy crackle around them. His mind raced, trying to piece together the fragments of his past, the girl Maria, the experiments and the blood that stained his memories. Each revelation was like a shard of glass piercing his psyche anew.
"Yes but I need to keep going…" Shadow said and Rouge nodded.
"Fine, but I'm going to help you out." Rouge and Shadow turned ready to protest. "Relax handsome, I'm a spy, remember. I know how to get in and out of places including GUN's main tracking facility in London. I'll go see if they have any of the emeralds meanwhile you go and find the rest." Rouge said and Shadow paused.
"... Fine." Shadow said as he ran off.
Rouge watched and frowned before her wings spread and she flew off. "Don't die Shadow. You owe me a lot after all this is said and done."