Crippled [INFIDGET]

Chapter Eight: Clock's Ticking

A/N: Zero song about Shadow.
It's time for Zero to kick some hedgehog ass.

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POV: Zero

My ruby woke me up in the middle of the night, I jolted awake - glancing down at the pulsing jewel, what do you want now?
I gently uncurled my hand that was wrapped around Gadget's and clutched the ruby, wondering what it wanted at such a late time.

The ruby "hummed" as my hand wrapped over it, I yawned tiredly and layed my head back on a pillow, now you want attention? This darn late?
I felt Gadget's arms shift around me but he fell back into slumber, his arms now wrapped around my waist. I stroked his fur softly, his sleepy expression was too adorable for words.

Then I heard the door creak open.

I tightened my grasp around Gadget and lightly growled at whoever entered the room. Dammit, why can't I get any peace?

A pair of bright blue eyes peeked into the dark room, seemingly glancing around before his eyes met my quite furious ones.

"Uhm, I know it's super late but...I need you to come see this" Tails squeaked out. He cleared his throat, but still kept his voice low, "It's important"

I raised a brow, keeping my annoyed glare at the fox. Deciding to follow him, I reluctantly moved Gadget off me making Gadget whine in protest but he fell back asleep, hugging a pillow instead of me.

Turning to Tails, I gently got up from the bed and slipped on my gloves and boots then followed him outside while closing the bedroom door behind me. As we walked, I could see his nerves - whether it be from being beside me or for something entirely different, either way it was still amusing.

He guided me into what I presumed was his laboratory. It was crammed full of projects, some devices varying of sizes and lots of scrap metal that I assume he collected. It was quite a plain room aside from that, the walls were white and there were some cracks while the floor was simple grey metal like the rest of the base. In the corner of the room lay a table with a bunch of computer screens, all displaying some sort of data that I couldn't even bother to analyse.

"I was doing some research on your ruby specifically, and apparently the power of it feeds off ones hatred for something or someone" he explained, typing some keys on the keyboard. I walked up to him, "I already know that, what else do I not know?" I grunted, the tiredness quickly effecting my attitude.

"Your rivalry with Shadow is the main reason why the ruby's power grows exceptionally, it takes that negative energy and strips it down into powerful magic" Tails added. "To sum it up, your ruby's power increases with the hate that is present in your head"

I hummed, "Anything else?" I asked, wanting to go back to bed.

"Your ruby's power rate has grown over the past few days, what's going on?" he asked, concern spreading over his face.

"Nothing apart from ripping Shadow's head off." I muttered, but my ears flickered when a 'beep' came from one of his computers.

"See? The ruby and your mind just added more data into this computer, the data shows a graph that represents the growth rate of your powers, and it just spiked there now" Tails pointed to the computer. It showed a large red graph that recorded all of the ruby's growth since it came into the base, I assume it also recorded my killing spree when I temporarily lost my memory because I seen a huge, horizontal line at the top of the graph, displaying how much I used the ruby then before it plummeted when I came here with my memories restored.

Only recently has it started spiking.

"How do you get this data?" I asked, quite cautious of the fox's technological abilities.

"The ruby's magic, I made a device that can sense when it's activated" Tails explained shortly. "In the long haul, you gotta get this issue with Shadow resolved or it will keep spiking and that's not good for your own mental health, Shadow is bad enough at attacking without thinking so be careful"

I sighed, "Fine, I will." I crossed my arms.

Tails smiled, "Good! Now, I should get some rest; Sonic would kill me if he knew I was up this late" he chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "You should get some rest too"

I headed to the door with Tails, "Goodnight then" I yawned and walked back to the bedroom.

Once inside, I silently slipped off my shoes and gloves before seeing a pair of golden orbs starting at me tiredly.

"Where were you?..." his gentle voice filled the silent room.

I jumped at seeing Gadget awake, "Chaos, you scared me" I chuckled. "Tails came in wanting to speak to me, so I went and now I'm back"

He hummed, holding out his arms like a child needing their parent. Climbing back into bed and wrapping my arms around him lovingly, I nuzzled into his neck, "Get some rest" I whispered. Gadget purred before falling asleep once more. I pulled the covers over us and closed my eyes too, resting myself for what would be a busy day tomorrow.

---

Morning came sooner than I expected. I felt around but couldn't feel Gadget anywhere on the bed, I sat up and listened only for the faint sound of water coming from the bathroom signalled that he was in the shower.

I yawned and stretched; needing to take a shower after he was finished because I quite literally stunk.

Gadget came out after a few minutes with a towel around his waist, "Morning!" he chirped brightly.

"Good morning" I replied.

How are you so energetic in the morning?

"I'm gonna take a shower" I commented; after giving Gadget a quick peck on the lips.

I entered the bathroom and turned on the shower before entering it and beginning to wash down my smelly fur and hair. Once I got out of the shower I dried myself off including my hair - which took some time with a hairdryer.

Eventually, me and Gadget were cleaned and ready for the day. Gadget put on his usual gear while I done the same before we headed out for breakfast in the small cafeteria; where I've never been before. Gadget guided me to it and told me to just pick up anything I liked.

We sat down at a table and ate; Gadget eating a food bar while I ate an apple.

"What are we doing today?" Gadget asked.

"Well, me and Tails had a conversation last night about Shadow, and he wants me to confront him because the ruby keeps acting up; I assume in protest of me not dealing with the problem" I explained, finishing the apple and tossing it into the bin not far from the table.

Gadget sighed, "I'm going with you"

"Gadget, no" I frowned. "I don't want to put you in harm's way"

"I'm involved now, Zero" he glanced into my eyes. "This is now my problem as much as yours, Shadow still hasn't pleaded guilty to...killing your squad yet and you need justice"

"He will kill you" I sighed deeply.

"Not if we confront him in front of the whole gang" Gadget smugly smirked. "He won't hurt anyone so visibly"

"This is Shadow we're talking about, he'll take any opportunity to hurt anyone who opposes him no matter the audience" I looked into Gadget's confident eyes. "The least we can do is get him to admit to killing them, that's a strong start at the case"

"Then let's go!" Gadget grinned in determination and stood up, I quickly followed him.

I hope this runs smoothly...