Cop and the Thief

Chapter 03

"Oh no!" Nebula gasped, "Silver, I'll handle this. Just get back home with the food. Now!" she tells him to do what she says.

"Got it!" Silver nods and ran away.

Nebula stands in bravery to fight Shadow, "Come and get me!" she said and cracks her knuckles.

"So be it" Shadow said and ran at her, ready to punch her. But she dodged him and punches him in the face, then kneeing him in the gut.

"Ugh!" he groans.

"Hmph!" Nebula took this chance to run away from the parking lot before Shadow tries to recover.

"You can run, but I can run faster" Shadow groans. He activates his boots and ran after her.

Nebula jumped up on some washing lines and between balconies. Shadow jumped as well between the walls and chased Nebula on the rooftop.

"Damn it!" Nebula growled and keeps running, jumping from one building to another. She spots the lower building that can help her get down to the bottom. She jumps to the edge and leaps to the dumpster lid, jumping off and ran in the alley path.

Shadow does a spin-dash and when he dives down, he breaks the dumpster apart and continues to run after Nebula.

On the way, Nebula knocks over some barrels with oil. Shadow then ran on the puddle and trips over. But he got up covered in oil. After a few minutes of chasing, Nebula came to a dead end.

"You got to be fucking kidding me" Nebula growled and looked over her shoulder to see Shadow walking up to her.

"Dead end, thief. You're going to jail" Shadow smirked and held out the cuffs.

"Hmph, you really don't get it, do you?" Nebula glared and crossed her arms.

"Give me your hands, you can explain that on the station" Shadow said, cuffing Nebula.

"You dumbass! You still don't get it" Nebula growled, "Let me go!"

"Just shut up" Shadow growled and cuffs her wrists, dragging her out of the alley.

Silver saw Shadow taking Nebula in and knew he had to do something.

"Man, I gotta save her. Don't worry, big sis. I'll find a way to get you out of jail" he said.

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Later at the interrogate room, Nebula was still cuffed and she was not very happy. Shadow came in with a coffee cup and sat in front of her, turning on the recorder.

"Okay, tell me now" Shadow said.

"Hmph! Why should I tell you? You just think I'm lying" Nebula turns her head away.

"Come on, thief. Just tell me" Shadow said.

"Fine, just to shut you up" Nebula glared at him, "My name is Nebula and I'm a street hedgehog. I don't steal money from people or from the bank. I steal things from the store to survive in the streets. I have a little brother out there worried about me right now" she explained her story.

"You're homeless?" Shadow said.

"Yes I'm homeless! Please let me go! I can't leave my brother out there alone! I'm a feral hedgehog!" Nebula screamed and sobs out loud.

Shadow was thinking of something and scratches his neck, "I will tell those you stole from that you didn't steal on purpose, only for survival. Many poor people or so called feral are common today. So I will say you're innocent" he said.

"Even though I don't like stealing but I have no choice! I've been a feral for almost 10 years! You don't know what it's like to be homeless on the streets! Please don't put me in jail!" Nebula crying out loud.

Shadow decides to help her and Silver to have a home, he then got an idea.

"Nebula. You're not going to jail. You and your brother can live at my apartment. But there will be rules there" Shadow said, turning off the recorder.

"I don't know if I can fit in, cop. I've been a feral my whole life! I'm not like the people that are not homeless! Not even my brother can handle this" Nebula sobs.

"Easy Nebula. You'll learn by the time that pass. And by the way, my name is Shadow" Shadow said. He placed one hand on her shoulder.

"I know who you are. You're the badass cop that catches criminals by yourself" Nebula said and looks away, her sobs began to slow down.

"Heh, I'm not the only one. My colleague Sonic is a bit faster than me. But I'm better at using guns, he uses his spin-dashes more than me" Shadow said.

"Fascinating. Now get these damn cuffs off me. They're hurting my wrists like hell" Nebula growled.

"Okay then" Shadow un-cuffs the handcuffs and Nebula rubs her wrists.

"And I hope you're being serious, badass hedgehog. Because no one has ever helped me and my brother for hospitality. Nor have we ever learned about civilization or society, whatever how to describe it" Nebula glared.

"Don't worry. Little learning will do. Like you can learn math at my home" Shadow said.

"Dude, I know some knowledge. I can read, write, count, and speak English" Nebula crossed her arms, "But I'm still a feral hedgehog. A wild hedgehog. Its gonna take years for me to understand civilization. Perhaps you should come to my hiding place and understand my world" she suggests.

"Very well, Nebula. I come with you" Shadow said.

At the abandoned apartment

Silver was using the warm thick blanket to keep himself warm from the cold breeze. Surviving in the season of autumn wasn't that easy. He was still worried about his adoptive big sister and he can't even break into the police station.

"Ah-choo!" he sneezed and he was getting a sore throat.

His ears perked up from the sound of a vehicle pulling up near his place. He peeks out from the window that it was a police car, "Oh, shit" his voice was raspy.

Silver growled like an animal and walks out of the apartment to fight the cop but he doesn't know that the cop has Nebula with him.

Shadow comes out from his vehicle and closed the door. Nebula also comes out too but she shivered when she felt the cold breeze blowing in her face. From the past three days she's been feeling sick but it was minor.

"Just don't scare my brother. He's very wild and he doesn't trust strangers. Try not to--..." Nebula was cut off when Silver tackled Shadow down.

"Grrrr!!!" Silver snarled in his face.

"Whoa! Easy! I got your sister back" Shadow pushed him off.

"You took my sister away from me and now you take her back suddenly?" Silver asked him seriously.

"Silver, calm down! He didn't arrest me!" Nebula said but Silver was too protective.

"Sis!" Silver hugs her but snarls at Shadow, protecting Nebula from him.

"Silver, what are you doing?" Nebula asked.

"Protecting you from Shadow" Silver said to her.

"She told me she's stealing only to survive like you" Shadow said.

Silver still didn't believe him and just as he was about to attack the cop, he coughed horribly.

This made Nebula gasp in concern, "Oh, no. Silver, you're getting sick!"