This is the intro of my latest piece of the A Winner Is Two tournament. I've decided to take up the left-for-adoption Enforcer Shadow to further my mysterious goals.
Disclaimer: As always, I do not own Shadow or any of the other characters used. I only own Death By Chocolate and the A Winner Is Two story.
A Winner Is Two: Chiaroscuro
Persons of Mass Destruction
Shadow skidded to a halt outside of a set of steel double-doors built into the mountainside. This extra-wide entrance led down to the ATV garage and was probably the single most-used entrance to the building. "I'm here," he said into his walkie-talkie. "What do you need?"
"There's a demonic presence in the building and we need it stalled or destroyed," Ofdensen said. As always, he spoke levelly, but he had discarded the occasional halts that normally dotted his speech.
Shadow swallowed as he swiped his keycard. "Is it Black Doom?"
"No, it's nobody you know. My men are facing it now, but taking heavy casualties and not really damaging it. I need you to arm up and sweep the base. Take out any hostiles of any sort that you find, alright? And absolutely go after anybody who smells like chocolate."
"What?" Shadow dashed down into the hangar, and found not only Solidus's agents mobilizing the remaining ATVs, but all the gunships as well. "Ofdensen, how serious is this?" Shadow dodged out of the way of several ATVs, each holding two armed men, as they sped toward the gates.
"We're in over our heads, Shadow. I'm leaving, and so are Sakyo and Solidus. You can collect your Emeralds at any time from the generator room – we don't need the shields anymore – and then if you're willing to follow orders during the trip, you can leave with any of us. In fact, you SHOULD take the Emeralds – you'll need the power."
"Okay, over." Shadow cut the connection, then looked around and immediately turned the radio back on. "Uh… where's the generator room?"
Ofdensen was very calmly seething at him. "You didn't memorize the layout or get a map?"
"…No."
"Alright, there's a map at the armory. You remember where THAT is, right?"
"Yeah," Shadow grumbled.
"Good. Over."
---
Shadow had made it about halfway to the armory when a pack of red… things of about his height blocked his path. They had cloven hooves for feet, clawed hands, no clothes, a stooped posture, upside-down red bat wings, and silly expressions, but there was a look of wiry, brutish strength about them. They also had a distinct unnerving feel to them, like they were slowly sucking Shadow's very soul towards them. "This is the demonic presence?" Shadow asked rhetorically. "Alright, guys, time to eat lead!" He drew the pistol he had been carrying on him. The creatures immediately tensed up, and they began to gibber incoherently.
"Hey, hold up!" A human woman, short-haired and chubby, waved at Shadow to stop. He lowered his pistol, and the gibbering slowed. Shadow recognized her from around the base – she dressed unusually, and he had seen her in the break room once or twice. "You're Shadow, right? That super-fast Enforcer?"
"Yeah," Shadow said. "You're with BORED?"
"Uh-huh. I'm Gilly. Hey, where are you headed?"
"The armory."
"Perfect! I've just been summoning up these guys to go fight that monster upstairs. They'd do a lot better armed, though. As long as you're down there, could you grab any spare knives, clubs, and other Dethklok stuff that you can carry a short distance and rush it over to my little boys here?"
"Uhhh… alright, but I don't have time to make more than one trip."
"Thanks!" Gilly poked one of the imps, and they scrambled to make room for the black hedgehog. "You're a life-saver!"
---
Ofdensen was nearly clear of the suspended-over-lava part of the base when Shadow called again. "Alright," the hedgehog greeted, "I'm at the armory. Where's the map?"
"The ceiling," Ofdensen replied. He noticed a small scuffle among his quickly-gathered retinue, and put his hand over the mouthpiece. "What's wrong? What is it?"
Two of the Klokateers had grabbed a third, smaller one, by the shoulders. "My lord," began one of the captors, "This man does not have a Gear brand." The smaller one lowered his head and grabbed the speaker's machete out of his hand, driving it into the other captor's throat. The one who had spoken tried to punch the small one out, but his foe ducked and drove an elbow into his groin.
"Who are you?!" Ofdensen asked sharply, drawing the last Klokateer standing behind him. This one had a spear, and leveled it at the faux Klokateer as he snapped the neck of the faithful soldier who exposed him.
"I am justice," the short Klokateer replied throatily. "And I've been waiting a long time to get into this base." He tore off his mask to reveal a new mask, a form-fitting white one with a shifting inkblot pattern. Rorschach recovered the machete he had stolen, gripping it expertly in his off-hand.
Ofdensen sighed and punched a glass panel in, allowing him to grab a fire extinguisher off a wall. "Shadow, something's come up. You're on your own for the moment. Over."
---
"Thanks again, sir!" Gilly said. Shadow dropped off a dozen combat knives, a small spiked mace, and a pair of hatchets with her. For himself, he had kept a pair of pistols – one automatic, one a high-calibur magnum – and a belt holding clips of spare ammo, as well as an empty grenade bandolier that proved well-suited to holding the Chaos Emerald he already had on his person. He also hooked Travis's old Tsubaki onto the ammo belt.
"Don't call me sir, I have no authority here." Shadow checked each pistol before loading and holstering them.
"Sure you do. In emergency situations, authority is determined by keycard clearance and you Enforcers are Gold."
Shadow looked up. "That's good to know. But if you'll excuse me, I need to find the generator room. You should find one of the ways off this rock while you have the chance." He dashed down the winding hallways, leaving Gilly and her imps behind. At first, he encountered nothing but henchmen racing this way and that. Soon, though, he came across an empty hallway near the generator with a large but narrow gash in the ceiling. It had obviously been torn open from the floor above, and blood was steadily trickling down through it. Shouts of pain and anger could be heard in the room above, along with the unmistakable sounds of gunfire. "That's definitely new."
Shadow skated down the hall, careful to dodge around the blood. He had just made it to the other side of the room when the gash was caved in entirely, sending a wrestling pair of forms to the floor. One was a huge, red frilled lizard enveloped in flames, and the other was a brown horned humanoid, who quickly melted due to proximity with the former. "Who the hell are you?"
"Oh, you're one of the Enforcers!" the lizard shouted, getting up on his hind legs. One of his arms ended in a ragged stump, and once he was standing he clutched it gingerly. "I'm one of Sakyo's, no worries. I could use some help with this guy, though."
"What, that puddle?"
"Yeah, he's actually a really tough chocolate demon."
"You're mocking me, aren't you?" Shadow asked, his eyes narrowed.
"No, really! Listen to the words coming out of my-" Shadow sped off. "Fine! DAMN you, then! Now to finish – hey! Where'd you go?"
---
The shield generator room required gold clearance. It was also swelteringly hot, one of the rooms that naturally hung lowest toward the lava, so Shadow took extra care not to waste time.
The room itself was cylindrical, made of unpainted metal, and dominated by the device in the center of the room – a large gyroscope that was no longer rotating, and an array of crystals and lightning rods all around it. The metal surfaces that didn't feature some sort of natural protrusion or connecter port were scrawled with painted-on runes that Shadow didn't recognize, although they reminded him a bit of Angel Island. The device itself had no apparent interface, but there were display screens and control panels all over the walls, along with several cables running across the floor and into the machine.
A lone man in a lab coat and opaque glasses ogled at Shadow. "Who the hell are you?" he snapped, smoothing down his black combover.
Shadow snapped right back, "I'm an Enforcer. Where are the Chaos Emeralds?"
"Oh, you're… okay. Solidus didn't say you'd be a…"
Shadow didn't let the question hang in the air for long. It was too hot for that. "Hedgehog?"
"Really?" The scientist took off his glasses, rubbed them, and put them back on. "Okay, hedgehog. They're at the bottom of the gyroscope, but they're not cool yet-"
Shadow completely ignored this last direction, jumping on the device as soon as he heard "Bottom of the gyroscope." There they were, glittering blue and yellow on either side of the metal rod that acted as they gyroscope's base. Wasting no time, Shadow grabbed an emerald in each hand. The result was a rather explosive shockwave that tore Shadow and the emeralds lose from the device, knocked both him and the scientist off their feet, and sent the gyroscope spinning whimsically.
"Oh, that's just great!" the scientist snapped. "My glasses are cracked! And you've probably given me radiation poisoning or something! You are so lucky I signed a non-litigation clause when I signed up!"
Shadow ignored him and just lay skewed against the wall, his mind buzzing. The emeralds must have still been live with energy from recent use… was holding them supposed to feel this good? He shook his head clear, slotted them into the grenade bandolier, and checked for damage. His ears were ringing, his chest fur was on end, and his gloves were charred, but for the most part he was fine.
"Are you even listening to me?" the scientist griped.
"Alright… I'm ready to roll," Shadow muttered, dashing out the door. It slammed shut behind him.
"Bah… I guess not," the scientist muttered. He became aware of a gurgling, percolating sound. "What's that?" he asked nobody in particular.
"Don't mind me… I'm just investigating the energy spike." A brown viscous substance oozed out of the ceiling air vent and collected into vaguely humanoid shape on the floor. "Huh… guess I missed the party."
"You… you're…" The scientist turned to bolt, only to realize the chocolate shape was between him and the door.
It turned to him and smiled. "You stayed just to keep me company? How sweet." The scientist didn't have time to remember how to activate his communicator.
End of Chapter
I hope to take Shadow further in the direction his character wants to go rather than in the direction required of the Sonic main universe. I promise that I'll take him as far down that path as I can… before some upstart Contestant takes him down. Next chapter, the gloves come off!
I like that Solidus's scientist guy can't muster up the suspension of disbelief necessary for the Sonic fandom, when Shadow's own skepticism just aggravated an emergency situation. Skepticism can kill! The scientist, btw, is nobody specific. He's physically modeled after a Team Rocket Scientist, but he can't be one of those, otherwise he'd immediately recognize Shadow as a pokemon.
Do you want Rorschach to not die a storyline death? The deadline to adopt him is March 15th!