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Rouge skipped to the house she had planned on surprisingly visiting but upon getting closer she realized that the front door was left wide open and from the doorway she could see a broken glass with specs of blood on the pieces. She stopped skipping and instead started jogging to look inside the house. On the floor Blue was groaning and rubbing the back of his head while a golden retriever sniffed at the red one helping the small fox up.
"What the hell happened here?" All eyes snapped up to meet her and the three let out relieved sighs when they only saw her standing there.
"Someone took Shadow and we don't know where they might have gone, we didn't get a chance to follow them either cause he shot us with some kind of tranquilizer dart gun." Sonic explained quickly, out of breath as he grabbed Rouge by her shoulders and shook her slightly.
"Ok blue take a breather, we'll find Shadow and he's gonna be fine, just like last time." She attempted to calm him as the fox and the echidna seemed to be discussing something else off to the side.
Before Sonic could respond to her Tails spoke up, catching their attention. "Why don't we call mom and dad and tell them what happened and then try and find the guy who took Shadow." Knuckles simply shook his head. "No need. The man was the one from the bakery that we visit, and if we tell the parents then they will worry and tell us not to go. We'll leave a note for them so they are aware of our whereabouts when they return home and Tails will update them frequently through message if needed."
"That's actually a great plan! Now let's get going, Tails will write the note and I'll clean up the glass so they don't worry too much, then we'll be off and looking!" Sonic sped to get the broom from the kitchen before anyone could answer him.
Tails sighed before grabbing a pen and paper to write a note to Tom and Maddie for when they got back. They were gonna be in so much trouble after all this, why can't they just have a break from all this stuff?
Rouge watched as Tails reluctantly wrote a note and blue hurriedly cleaned the glass and blood from the floor. Today they were all wearing matching plain color T-shirts and equally plain sweats. The three of them made her feel slightly over dressed, as if that was possible.
"Alright now let's go!"
"Not yet Sonic, I'm almost finished." Tails finished the last of the note before turning to the others. "Alright, how about I carry Sonic in the air and you fly Knuckles?" He turned to look at Rouge specifically and she nodded in agreement to the plan.
"But why fly? I can run fast enough to do a perimeter check and if I see the guy I'll be able to get Shadow back no doubt." Tails just gave his brother an unimpressed look before explaining, "Remember teamwork?"
That got a sigh out of the blue hedgehog before they were off to search for Shadow.
-
Shadow groaned as his consciousness slowly returned to him. There was a slight pain in his right hand but he was otherwise fine and nothing felt off internally. He slowly stood and looked around at his surroundings, he was in a dark room, dark enough that even his enhanced eyes couldn't see anything. He walked forward and stuck his hand out, walking till he felt a wall and walked the perimeter, getting a feel for the size and material of the room. It felt like glass and it was big enough that him and Sonic could sit comfortably stretched out and about as high as Maddie was tall. There was nothing in the room, just him, the stale air, and the water soaking unto his feet.
Wait, water?
He looked down despite his inability to see and crouched down to feel the ground, there was a small layer of water barely at his ankles but he didn't remember it being there a second ago. He sat in the shallow water and ran his hands through it. He wasn't sure where he was or what was going on but the water was calming in a way. Well it was calming until he realized that it now fully covered his legs while sitting. He quickly stood back up and felt the water move against his shins, shit it was rising.
Shadow put his hands in the wall again and felt along for anything that he might have missed to get him out of here, but unfortunately there was nothing on the walls, just cold glass. Suddenly a light outside the room turned on and revealed that it wasn't a room at all and was actually just a tank. There wasn't anyone on the other side if the glass just a mirror that was most definitely a hidden window for someone to see what he was doing while making it impossible for him to see them, cowards, hiding away like this.
Shadow glared at the mirror before looking back down to the water, now at his knees. He didn't exactly know how to swim, he could float enough to not drown but the second that water is too high then he's basically useless. He bangs his fists unto the glass holing to break it but unfortunately it does nothing other than make his ears ring with the thudding noises it's repelling. His clothes stuck to his body uncomfortably as the water rises to his lower stomach. Man he was really screwed wasn't he?
In a final desperate attempt he slams his head unto the glass and it does nothing visually but he swears he hears it crack. He continues to slam his head into the glass and ignores the wet dripping from his forehead and momentarily blocking his eyes. As the pain becomes too much and the blood dripping drom his head starts mixing with the water now at his chest, his vision starts going dark and he mentally curses at himself for not being stronger.
The glass subtlety cracks as he losses consciousness and a man behind the mirror smirks. "We've got you now, Project Shadow."