"EXCUSE ME?!" Sonic angrily shouted. "You heard me, hedgehog," spat the chipmunk spitefully, "I will not treat that boy any more than I already have." Everyone in the room gaped at him, shocked at this turn of events. Amy was gobsmacked. Cream was frozen, unsure of this new, highly negative emotion that was coursing through her at an alarming rate. Vanilla kept her expression neutral, as did Gemerl who kept busy holding Cheese and Sonic back. Glaring up at his fellow doctors, the chipmunk added, "And I don't care who has a problem with it." The head surgeon, Doctor Westgrove, growled, "What's the meaning of this, Lester?" Said surgeon quickly directed his gaze at the crowd before him and pointed...
...directly at Shadow. "There is no way I will assist one of that murderer's accomplices." The hedgehog in question blinked irritably at the accusation. "What?! Where the hell is this coming from?!" Amy exclaimed.
Lester answered slowly and with a tone laced with hatred. "Since you have a Heal Unit, Shadow the Hedgehog, I can only assume that you have military connections. Tell me, how many innocent lives perished in the Black Arm invasion?" Shadow's ears lowered and his expression hardened, guessing where this was headed. "Five million casualties worldwide, including men, women, children, and military personnel."
Lester nodded in response. "Precisely. My wife was a part of that statistic. I had to watch as those vile creatures literally tore her apart to get at a Chaos Emerald she found in Westopolis two hours before they arrived on Earth." Everyone cringed at the image as Lester continued. "I quickly carried her to the hospital, but it had been destroyed in one of the many explosions caused by those damn monsters. All I could do was sit there, holding Ariel's bloody and broken body, crying my eyes out for three hours..."
He paused to wipe away some tears, but his glare at Shadow remained. "Guess who I eventually saw? You, Shadow the Hedgehog, casually strolling through the wrecked streets, holding my wife's Chaos Emerald like it belonged to you as some disgusting floating eye was speaking to you, projecting the image of a creature. And now I can ask: Who was that creature, Shadow?"
...
"Well!?"
......
"Answer me, you bastard!!"
The guilty party complied, with a glare of his own, "Black Doom, the leader of the Black Arms."
"Yeah, that's what I thought. As far as I'm concerned, you are just as at fault for my wife's death as the rest of those alien freaks. And now, you'll feel what I felt. You all will for befriending this...abomination!" Amy couldn't stay silent any longer. "Now you listen to me, buster! Shadow is not to blame for the Black Arms invasion!" Lester dismissively glanced at her for a moment. "He made some mistakes, sure, but it's not his fault your wife died," Amy continued, "You can't let our friend die because of that! Please!"
Lester scoffed in response. "I'm sorry, weren't you Sonic's slut? What, did you get tired of humping the air he breathes and decide to spread your legs for this murdering scum?" Amy was livid at that crass insult, and soon began glowing wildly. She wanted nothing more than to bring the entire hospital down on top of him, but she forced herself not to. Vanilla kept quiet, shooting daggers at the cruel Mobian and doing her best to shield her daughter's ears from this filth. Gemerl kept still, though he was starting to have trouble keeping Sonic and Cheese at bay.
One of the surgeons spoke up. "Look, Lester, I don't care what your vendetta is with Shadow, Miles needs all of us for this procedure to work, right?" She looked to Doctor Westgrove, who nodded the affirmative. "I don't give a rat's ass (pun intended) if that brat needs the entire damn hospital, Sarah," Lester shot back, "I will not treat him. Any friend of that bastard freak is an enemy of mine. He can die for all I care."
"This won't bring her back."
Lester returned his glare to Shadow. "Excuse me?"
"You won't bring Ariel back by doing this. She'll still be dead, an innocent boy will join her, and you, I assume, will be out of a job."
Lester's expression remained unchanged. "I. Don't. Care. As long as you know how it feels to lose someone." Shadow opened his mouth to finally lash out as the chipmunk's ignorance, but Vanilla spoke up instead. "Doctor Westgrove, does the procedure require the exact skills of a surgeon?" When he nodded, she said, "Gemerl here is a former Gizoid, capable of emulating any movements and skills he sees and scans. He should be able to imitate the techniques of your colleagues well enough to help Miles. Won't you, Gemerl?"
The robot nodded mechanically towards Doctor Westgrove, immediately producing a scalpel. "Oh! Well, that should be sufficient," said Westgrove with a subtle smirk. Vanilla then looked at Lester with a smug smile of her own and said, "Looks like your services will no longer be required."
Lester fumed for a few moments, before regaining his composure, glaring back at Shadow. "Big deal. You really think I'm the only one who's suffered because of you? That your 'adventures' don't have victims? There are hundreds, thousands of people just like me whose lives have been ruined because of 'people' like you. They'll be waiting for a piece of you, mark my words! And when they do, I'll be there, waiting to see the look on your face!"
Shadow kept silent. "Aw, did I hurt your feelings?" Lester taunted, "What are you gonna do about it? Kill me?" The Black Blur simply answered, "No," and handed the blue Chaos Emerald to the Blue Blur. "You want me to time you?" Shadow asked. Sonic replied, "Sure," and grabbed Lester by the collar before focusing his thoughts on the Emerald.
"Y-You're wasting your time with this, 'hero'!" the chipmunk taunted, "You really t-think beating me up will help your friend? Everything I said to him applies to you e-e-especially! Y-You've left miles and miles of collateral damage in your wake chasing down that maniacal dictator around! A-A-And you make it worse by letting him live every time!"
The newly accused bared his fangs as Lester fearfully continued, "A-A-A-A-Attacking me won't help t-that image, you know! You'll j-just look like a hy-hypocritical bully, wailing on an innocent s-s-surgeon!" Sonic, for the first time in his life, gave his trademark grin a dark edge. "Guess I can't be the hero all the time." The two of them were then gone in an instant.
Dr. Westgrove then cleared his throat. "Well, then, that settles that. Gemerl, was it? We'll be counting on you." The robot nodded. As they headed for the emergency room, Gemerl felt a tug at his left arm. It was Cream. "Gemerl...please...you've got to save Tails..." Gemerl patted her head, as he often did to reassure her, and then, with a brief statement - "I will do---what--I--can." - followed the doctors. When the doors shut, the group exhaled in relief. "Geez, that was awful," Amy exclaimed. "I hope Sonic hurts that jerk good." Cream actually nodded. As much as she hated violence, she felt no pity for the hateful Lester.
"How badly do you think he'll be beaten, Shadow?" Amy chuckled as she turned to him. Her boyfriend, however, was in no mood. Despite his intentions, Lester made a valid point. The Black Arms invasion was a nightmare, and even though the aliens were the source of the death and destruction, Shadow was not completely blameless.
He had killed a great deal of soldiers during the ordeal as he was struggling to pick a side. And that's not to mention the officers and soldiers that perished by his hand when he was first reawakened. They, as well as those affected by Eggman's numerous other schemes, all had families and friends. He knew damn well that there were indeed many people like Lester who would jump at the chance to make him suffer like they had, and some wouldn't care who they had to hurt to do it.
'Revenge...a contagious poison I'm too damn familiar with.' Shadow thought grimly to himself. 'I was like him once, obsessed with payback and willing to make everyone hurt... As much as I hate to admit it, he and I are-'
'If you so much as finish that thought, I will do to you what Sonic is doing to that creep.' Shadow jumped a little in his seat, quickly turning to his right to see Amy sitting next to him, gripping his hand tightly and staring deep into his eyes. 'You are nothing like him, Shadow, do you hear me? NOTHING. He is a selfish, evil asshole, and you are not. You are kind, and loving. We know you're dark in nature, and yes, you've made mistakes, but you've gone out of your way to atone for them. So don't you dare compare yourself to someone like that. Ok?'
Shadow stared at her for a few moments. He then sighed and held Amy closer, who embraced him in kind. With the emotional crisis over, they returned to watching the doors to the E.R., hoping and praying for the survival for the two-tailed fox therein.
...directly at Shadow. "There is no way I will assist one of that murderer's accomplices." The hedgehog in question blinked irritably at the accusation. "What?! Where the hell is this coming from?!" Amy exclaimed.
Lester answered slowly and with a tone laced with hatred. "Since you have a Heal Unit, Shadow the Hedgehog, I can only assume that you have military connections. Tell me, how many innocent lives perished in the Black Arm invasion?" Shadow's ears lowered and his expression hardened, guessing where this was headed. "Five million casualties worldwide, including men, women, children, and military personnel."
Lester nodded in response. "Precisely. My wife was a part of that statistic. I had to watch as those vile creatures literally tore her apart to get at a Chaos Emerald she found in Westopolis two hours before they arrived on Earth." Everyone cringed at the image as Lester continued. "I quickly carried her to the hospital, but it had been destroyed in one of the many explosions caused by those damn monsters. All I could do was sit there, holding Ariel's bloody and broken body, crying my eyes out for three hours..."
He paused to wipe away some tears, but his glare at Shadow remained. "Guess who I eventually saw? You, Shadow the Hedgehog, casually strolling through the wrecked streets, holding my wife's Chaos Emerald like it belonged to you as some disgusting floating eye was speaking to you, projecting the image of a creature. And now I can ask: Who was that creature, Shadow?"
...
"Well!?"
......
"Answer me, you bastard!!"
The guilty party complied, with a glare of his own, "Black Doom, the leader of the Black Arms."
"Yeah, that's what I thought. As far as I'm concerned, you are just as at fault for my wife's death as the rest of those alien freaks. And now, you'll feel what I felt. You all will for befriending this...abomination!" Amy couldn't stay silent any longer. "Now you listen to me, buster! Shadow is not to blame for the Black Arms invasion!" Lester dismissively glanced at her for a moment. "He made some mistakes, sure, but it's not his fault your wife died," Amy continued, "You can't let our friend die because of that! Please!"
Lester scoffed in response. "I'm sorry, weren't you Sonic's slut? What, did you get tired of humping the air he breathes and decide to spread your legs for this murdering scum?" Amy was livid at that crass insult, and soon began glowing wildly. She wanted nothing more than to bring the entire hospital down on top of him, but she forced herself not to. Vanilla kept quiet, shooting daggers at the cruel Mobian and doing her best to shield her daughter's ears from this filth. Gemerl kept still, though he was starting to have trouble keeping Sonic and Cheese at bay.
One of the surgeons spoke up. "Look, Lester, I don't care what your vendetta is with Shadow, Miles needs all of us for this procedure to work, right?" She looked to Doctor Westgrove, who nodded the affirmative. "I don't give a rat's ass (pun intended) if that brat needs the entire damn hospital, Sarah," Lester shot back, "I will not treat him. Any friend of that bastard freak is an enemy of mine. He can die for all I care."
"This won't bring her back."
Lester returned his glare to Shadow. "Excuse me?"
"You won't bring Ariel back by doing this. She'll still be dead, an innocent boy will join her, and you, I assume, will be out of a job."
Lester's expression remained unchanged. "I. Don't. Care. As long as you know how it feels to lose someone." Shadow opened his mouth to finally lash out as the chipmunk's ignorance, but Vanilla spoke up instead. "Doctor Westgrove, does the procedure require the exact skills of a surgeon?" When he nodded, she said, "Gemerl here is a former Gizoid, capable of emulating any movements and skills he sees and scans. He should be able to imitate the techniques of your colleagues well enough to help Miles. Won't you, Gemerl?"
The robot nodded mechanically towards Doctor Westgrove, immediately producing a scalpel. "Oh! Well, that should be sufficient," said Westgrove with a subtle smirk. Vanilla then looked at Lester with a smug smile of her own and said, "Looks like your services will no longer be required."
Lester fumed for a few moments, before regaining his composure, glaring back at Shadow. "Big deal. You really think I'm the only one who's suffered because of you? That your 'adventures' don't have victims? There are hundreds, thousands of people just like me whose lives have been ruined because of 'people' like you. They'll be waiting for a piece of you, mark my words! And when they do, I'll be there, waiting to see the look on your face!"
Shadow kept silent. "Aw, did I hurt your feelings?" Lester taunted, "What are you gonna do about it? Kill me?" The Black Blur simply answered, "No," and handed the blue Chaos Emerald to the Blue Blur. "You want me to time you?" Shadow asked. Sonic replied, "Sure," and grabbed Lester by the collar before focusing his thoughts on the Emerald.
"Y-You're wasting your time with this, 'hero'!" the chipmunk taunted, "You really t-think beating me up will help your friend? Everything I said to him applies to you e-e-especially! Y-You've left miles and miles of collateral damage in your wake chasing down that maniacal dictator around! A-A-And you make it worse by letting him live every time!"
The newly accused bared his fangs as Lester fearfully continued, "A-A-A-A-Attacking me won't help t-that image, you know! You'll j-just look like a hy-hypocritical bully, wailing on an innocent s-s-surgeon!" Sonic, for the first time in his life, gave his trademark grin a dark edge. "Guess I can't be the hero all the time." The two of them were then gone in an instant.
Dr. Westgrove then cleared his throat. "Well, then, that settles that. Gemerl, was it? We'll be counting on you." The robot nodded. As they headed for the emergency room, Gemerl felt a tug at his left arm. It was Cream. "Gemerl...please...you've got to save Tails..." Gemerl patted her head, as he often did to reassure her, and then, with a brief statement - "I will do---what--I--can." - followed the doctors. When the doors shut, the group exhaled in relief. "Geez, that was awful," Amy exclaimed. "I hope Sonic hurts that jerk good." Cream actually nodded. As much as she hated violence, she felt no pity for the hateful Lester.
"How badly do you think he'll be beaten, Shadow?" Amy chuckled as she turned to him. Her boyfriend, however, was in no mood. Despite his intentions, Lester made a valid point. The Black Arms invasion was a nightmare, and even though the aliens were the source of the death and destruction, Shadow was not completely blameless.
He had killed a great deal of soldiers during the ordeal as he was struggling to pick a side. And that's not to mention the officers and soldiers that perished by his hand when he was first reawakened. They, as well as those affected by Eggman's numerous other schemes, all had families and friends. He knew damn well that there were indeed many people like Lester who would jump at the chance to make him suffer like they had, and some wouldn't care who they had to hurt to do it.
'Revenge...a contagious poison I'm too damn familiar with.' Shadow thought grimly to himself. 'I was like him once, obsessed with payback and willing to make everyone hurt... As much as I hate to admit it, he and I are-'
'If you so much as finish that thought, I will do to you what Sonic is doing to that creep.' Shadow jumped a little in his seat, quickly turning to his right to see Amy sitting next to him, gripping his hand tightly and staring deep into his eyes. 'You are nothing like him, Shadow, do you hear me? NOTHING. He is a selfish, evil asshole, and you are not. You are kind, and loving. We know you're dark in nature, and yes, you've made mistakes, but you've gone out of your way to atone for them. So don't you dare compare yourself to someone like that. Ok?'
Shadow stared at her for a few moments. He then sighed and held Amy closer, who embraced him in kind. With the emotional crisis over, they returned to watching the doors to the E.R., hoping and praying for the survival for the two-tailed fox therein.
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