Scream For Me

-9-

"Look out below!" A dark panther Mobian dropped down from the top of a building, rolling to his feet and brushing himself off. "Man, I should have said 'geronimo'."

"Where are they?" another Mobian, a slim cheetah female, asked.

"Lost them," the panther said. "Don't worry, mate. They can't lose me for long."

"I know." She patted his back then disappeared. The panther took off down the street, using a grappling hook to get back onto the rooftops for a better vantage point.

Their targets?

Shadow and (Y/n).

It had been a week since the warp gun incident and they had been trying to stick to the shadows to avoid messing anything up from their time, but apparently there were people in the shadows who were meant to track down people like them and bring them in. So now they were being hunted by some sort of agency.

Problem with being stuck thirty years in the past with old tech and no Tails? (Y/n) had to seriously limit her screaming to avoid burning out the earbuds too fast for Shadow, and that was proving to be difficult, being stuck with the emo hedgehog who seemed to want her to fall in line and do what he said.

Which she did...most of the time. And she considered it a win that they hadn't been caught yet so she kept up her pattern.

Currently, she was huddled in an alley, watching the panther leap over her head, completely spacing the alley. She stood up and trotted out, pulling her hood over her head and walking down the street with her head lowered. Where was Shadow? She had no idea. She just trusted at this point he would either find her or ditch her. The former had been his own pattern, but he was rather unreadable, so she didn't rely on it.

There was a sort of electric sound and someone ran past her, bumping her shoulder. She glanced up and saw the cheetah agent, running down the street. That one could teleport and it had apparently made Shadow very frustrated that he couldn't do the same without his Chaos powers. They still had yet to figure out why.

"G'day mate." (Y/n) jumped and turned around, carefully lowering her hood. The panther agent landed on the ground and bowed carefully to her. "You wouldn't happen to have seen a black and red hedgehog?"

She shook her head. How do they know what he looks like? "Well, unfortunate," the panther said. "Thanks anyway!" He took off after his partner and (Y/n) hissed in frustration. She slipped into a nearby shop. The attendant was not at the desk, leaving an older computer open and unlocked. She jumped over the desk and over to the computer.

Dino tech, she thought. But I can figure this out. She opened a new program and began entering code. She took out her AI comm and studied its mechanisms. Then she typed in a certain code and turned on the speakers. "Who is this?" a familiar gruff voice said.

"Shadow," she typed in. It would patch through as the AI and he would identify it as her.

"(Y/n)?"

"Yes. Where are you?"

"Looking for you at the edge of town."

"You know that agency that is hunting us?"

"Yes."

"They know who you are."

"I know."

"Really?"

"I was created fifty years ago from our present time. As Project Shadow. The Black Arms came looking for me but I was sent away before they could get ahold of me. Currently, I'm out in the open. They must assume that I'm here on Mobius, now."

"So, you're twenty already?"

"Yes."

"Hold that thought. I'll meet you at the edge of town." She cut the communication, grabbed her AI and darted out of the store just as the attendant returned.

How are we going to get back to our time? she wondered. There's no way to contact anyone since they haven't been born yet, so that option is dead. And if me and Shadow keep this up, then we're not going to get any farther anyway. She huffed, swallowing a small scream. Stupid Eggman and his stupid conquest.

She reached the edge of the city and spotted Shadow as he waved her into cover. He peered out after her then ducked down. "Are you alright?" he demanded. She nodded. "No one followed you?" She shook her head. "G-"

"Sorry, but it's pretty easy for me to follow someone," the cheetah agent said. "And go unnoticed." She lifted a gun and pointed it at Shadow. "You're coming with us, Project Shadow."

"'Us'?" he growled.

"Us." The panther agent slipped out from behind his partner. "Hello again, miss." (Y/n) gritted her teeth and shoved Shadow down suddenly, leaping over him and releasing her scream. Both agents cried out in surprise and dropped their weapons, clamping their hands over their ears.

"CRIKEY!" the panther yelled over the noise. (Y/n) grabbed Shadow's arm and jerked him to his feet.

"Those skates of yours still work, right?" she asked. He nodded and swept her off the ground, taking off.

"Not so fast," the cheetah shouted. She disappeared and reappeared in front of them. Shadow dropped (Y/n). She jumped out of the way as the dark hedgehog rammed straight into the agent, causing her to huff and stagger back. The panther agent ran over to them but (Y/n) whipped around and sent another scream his way.

"Blast it!" he screeched with his hands over his ears. He flattened himself to the ground and pressed his ears flat to his head and clasped his hands together. "Teleporter! Out of the way!" The cheetah disappeared and the panther threw an object at Shadow and (Y/n). She cut her scream off and Shadow darted in front of her just as the object detonated, sending them both flying back. Then they were out of the air and the explosion was gone, replaced with a dark room.

"Put up a fight, don't you?" the cheetah said. She disappeared again then reappeared and clamped a muzzle around (Y/n)'s mouth. "Just to keep you quiet for a little bit." Another disappearance and reappearance. She then injected Shadow with something. "And that will calm you down for a little bit." Then she teleported her friend into the same room.

"Loud, aren't you, mate?" the panther said. (Y/n) now took the time to study their captors. They were both wearing sleek black suits with gun holsters on both legs with a number of other items attached to them. The cheetah was taller than the panther, who had an Australian sounding accent.

"If you cooperate, we'll take the muzzle off and you can explain yourself," the cheetah said. "But first, we have some business with Project Shadow." She straightened. "Detonator, take her to the holding rooms." The panther grabbed (Y/n)'s arm and held them behind her back, cuffing her.

"Only brief, don't worry," he said, walking her out of the room. "For now, we'll just assume that you had no idea who this crazy bloke was." (Y/n) shook her head, her jaw aching as another scream tried to work its way out. "Don't work yourself too much, milady. He'll be fine unless he doesn't cooperate."

That's inevitable, the (a/t) wanted to say. But she just couldn't find her voice.

"It'll be alright," the panther said as they reached the 'holding rooms'. "Just try and relax." He dropped her off in an empty room except for a shelf and a bed.

Nuts, she thought as he closed the door. Now what?