Late night stumbling
He didn’t know how long he wound up staying at that small, 24-hour bar, but Shadow indulged more than a ‘little bit’ after he finished his jog. He figured, why not, he deserves to treat himself right? Right.
The barkeep didn’t seem to mind, but the moment the darker hedgehog walked into his establishment, he didn’t exactly have a keen eye for him. Money’s money though, and he didn’t care whether or not this punk drank himself stupid or even better- dead. It wasn’t just him thinking this either, anyone who payed half a second of attention to the news knew of this guy. Worked for Eggman, tried to destroy everyone, tried to destroy their Heroes. And now, after that was all said and done, he’s.. back again? Pronouncing around with Sonic like they’re teammates. No one could believe it, and plenty of people were mad. The barkeep himself figured this was some sorta brainwashing scheme, but. Well, its not like any common folk could do anything about it except watch on in horror or hatred, namely both. If he could, he’d poison the damned hedgehog.
But, he does the next best thing, and just kicks him out once he’s fed up looking at his face.
Shadow, thankfully, doesn’t put up much of a fuss. He’s too fuzzy in the head to anyways. So he stumbles out, unsteady on his feet, but still able to keep from falling right over. Or well, that’s the hope at least. He yawns, rubbing his eyes tiredly... what time was it? Mm.. he should go back home and just pass out, that’d be good right about now.
He puts his hands behind his head and walks unevenly, with an uncharacteristically goofy grin on his flushed face. Ooh, he better not let himself indulge too often, lest he gain an addiction.. or, well, would it even be a big deal? He’s just having a good time, its not like no one’s getting hurt.. besides, isn’t he like, immortal? Or.. whatever Sonic said to him, he cant really remem-
THUD-!
“Hrghk!...Ghuh..” Shadow squeezes his eyes shut for a moment before opening them back up bleary. Everything’s.. sideways, wait what just-
He feels his quills being pulled from behind him, forcing his head up from the ground, just barely able to make out someone squatting in front of them.
“Youse really though we were all gunna jus’ letcha run round town? Like ye owned the place? Listen, we ain’t know what yer plannin, but we Dont like it.”
“Heheheh! Yeah! C’mon, c’mon, can I already?”
Shadow doesn’t hear any verbal response, but the next thing he knows- his head is being slammed repeatedly into the concrete. Hahhh, well, immortal or not, that was painful. He tries to scramble up, but someone much larger than him is easily keeping him pinned to the ground. His finger tips claw at the ground frantically, wearing down his barely visible claws.
It hurt, it HURT-
STOP-
“Oi! Can- can, hahahh. Hows about we take a little, souvenir? Right? I mean, we’re gonna be heroes! Right?!”
“Shut it, I heard ya the first time! If youse wanna, go ahead, I ain’t gonna stop ya. Carve ‘im up good!”
The talking stops and is replaced by laughter, and for a moment Shadow gets a brief moment of peace from his face being repeatedly slammed into the ground. Hfff, hff... He tastes blood in his mouth, one of his eyes stings too bad to open, and his world is spinning so badly he can’t see straight anymore. Was- is it over? He moves his arms under him to try and push himself up, but he’s roughly shoved back down, and-
“Hhe.. hey, what... what’re....” “SHUT IT!”
Shadow winces as he’s yelled straight into his ear, his ear which is. Being very firmly held by the brute above him. “Hehehehhh, ohh, yer gonna feel this. I hope that stupid face of yers finally lets out a good scream.”
He tries to process what exactly is happening, and then it happens. Sharpness cuts partway through his ear, attempting to sever it from his head. For a split second he can hardly even react, that is, till a scream is ripped from his throat.
Panic and Fear cuts through him like the knife against his ear and out of instinct the chaos energy within him wells up, fueled by fear and pain.
A blast of energy spreads outwards from him, slamming his captors into nearby walls, rendering them swiftly unconscious. The threat is neutralized, but his panic isn't, and neither is the build up of chaos energy in his body. He scrambles up onto all fours and before even he knows what he’s doing, he takes off running, only to disappear entirely a few meters away.