Chapter 1: Sword and Fang
Two years ago
"Have you any idea what has just escaped from this facility?"
"No master what was it?"
"The most advanced killing machine in the universe...perfectly bio-engineered to absolute perfection. He is flawless in every manner of the word, nearly indistructable, leathal with any armament, five times stronger than your average Luxonian, and equipped with the galaxy's only bio-syncronizing hologram. He can look like any animal anytime."
"Why was this thing built?"
"It was meant to be an assassin, my personal hitman...unfortunately it seems that he was built a bit too perfectly. It is hard to make a bio-weapon think the way you want because they have their own minds, this particular one seems to have developed the thought that killing is wrong. There is however a microprocessor in his brain that keeps him working right; if his existence is threatened in the slightest way that processor will activate it's main program..."
"What program master?"
"Self-preservation...
--Chapter I--
Sword & Fang
Katina 4:26am Mar22, 3133ac
"Life is war...war is hell."
-The Skull-
There was a strong smell of both alcohol and vomit in the bar, it was a dank, dark corner of Katina people struggled to forget...only lowlifes and scumbags here probably what drew him in. The fact that nobody would search there as he attempted to cover up who he was made it an ideal spot to hide. He spent his time sitting at the bar staring at the fox in the blade of a large knife, his blood red fur was broken by the white on his muzzle that stretched down to his inner thighs, and tipped his ears and his bushy tail, his long hair stated that he'd not had it cut in some time. The black trench coat he wore was tattered along it's rim and tail, the red shirt beneath littered with several small cuts and holes, a pair of metal dogtags hung against his slightly muscular chest, his old pants were worn near the bottoms with cuts along the knees and black leather boots that had seen better days...the only name he could recall was the one printed on the metal tags about his neck "Sword"...
As he sat at the bar with a drink in his had he wrote something on a napkin and passed it to the bartender who slowly read the message...
"Work?" He almost shouted above the noise of his patrons, "What are you freelancer?"
Sword could only nod...
"Well I don't have any jobs but...there's a guy comes around about 8 maybe 9 in the mornin. He runs a merchant ship from Corneria might be able to help ya."
Sword tossed a handful of credits onto the counter before he headed out of the bar, his motel was not a short trip and he'd been tired for some time. The walk took some time, making his way down the long streets with their monstrous skyscrapers, it was late at night when he finally found his motel. A small, rustic place, with red tiled roofs and a light blue color to it's outside walls. It didn't have many rooms maybe only 500 or so, pretty small for modern day, then again he was in a part of Katina people purposely cast aside. Sword could no longer stand it outside, the biting cold of the winter months did not bother him, but the last thing he wanted was to draw the attention of one of Katina's street gangs...the last time such a thing happened the was living on Titania, and it turned out pretty badly, the scene brought a lot of attention forcing him to leave the planet forcing him to Katina...
For as long as he could remember Sword had always been on the run...not from police...but bounty hunters. He fought them all off but, only out of a strange primal instinct that sometimes scared him. He wanted to get to his room for a small sleep before his nightly routine...room 13...
"Huh lucky number." He thought to himself as he opened the door with a loud rusty creak. Though it was the pitchest of black in the room he had no trouble seeing anything in the room; the wooden desk on the far wall opposite the door with a large mirror mounted on top, the small t.v that sat across from the bed on a small wooden table was older than dirt, still using knobs to change the channels, which suited him fine as he only used it to keep up with the news, the bed was nothing but two mattresses on a metal frame with old drabby linens, the clock on the nightstand to the left on the bed was flashing 12:00 over and over.
"Another black out." He thought to himself, "Wonder what's behind 'em."
He had reason for suspicion as the rolling black outs in the area had grown relatively frequent as of late, some of your more hardcore drug labs often caused such black outs. He despised drugs as well as those who made them ever since he watched a small kit die after ingesting a drug known as "Hype", a multi-use hallucinogen, originally a pill, some crushed it into powder treating it like cocaine, others melted it down and injected it...but any way you looked at it the drug was a potential death sentence, any more than a 'half-shot' as it was called and you had about two hours to live.
He lay on the most uncomfortable bed and dozed off after setting the alarm on his clock to wake him in several hours, about 11o'clock seemed right.
He woke to the obnoxious sound of the alarm clock, which he quickly answered rolling out of bed. He wrapped a small black cloth around his head ting it behind his head by two thin threads of material,this...mask covered his face from the top of his head to the bridge of his muzzle, leaving only his eyes in view. Nobody saw him at night as he stalked through the shadows for the ones causing the undue stress on his telepathic mind...he had always heard the cries of pain and anguish from all those around him and wanted for nothing more than for them to stop. At the moment the only voices he heard in his mind were of a mother's cries for help as her teenage son lay dying in the street from yet another tragic Hype overdose. Fortunately enough Sword found that the boy was soon resuscitated, he wouldn't be the same for some time...Sword was happy that the boy was well but at the moment there was something he needed...
The young fox's room in the hospital was easy enough to get to as it was only several floors up. The boy's mother almost screamed before she saw the face of the masked person in her son's window...
"I-it's you...the Shadow." She gasped, "What do you want?"
The mysterious creature that appeared in the still of night and vanished into the shadows after righting what was wrong. The news often called him 'The Shadow', most people actually liked him for what he did for the city...but there are always those few that don't want a part of any kind of hero...
"Don't be frightened..." A soft voice echoed through her head, "I just need some information from your son. He's the first to see this dealer's face and live."
"Do you mean to kill him?" The vixen asked in a hopeful voice.
"I'm afraid not...but there are things far worse than death."
Sword turned to the young fox in the bed who looked absolutely horrible, and dove into his mind. A jumble of mixed thoughts floated around in the boy's subconcious but, after a few moments Sword found the thing he was looking for...the last image the boy's mind ever took of his would be murderer. A tall black feathered avian with a scared face, easy target...hard to find a raven in this area...
"I've seen him before, the one that did this." His mental voice said to the vixen that watched him.
"Then you can take him in?"
"Not quite...I've seen him because he tried to arrest me before...I guess now I know why. Thank you son when he wakes for me."
She didn't know how he did it but, before she could reach the window to thank him he was nowhere in sight, he now had a target and he knew just how to get his attention. He made his way to the nearest com booth (Like a phone booth) that had nobody near it, he found a lone stranger and gave him instructions then followed the man to the booth, the whole time waving a large roll of credits in the strange pig's face. The pig was in no great hurry to help Sword until he saw the fistful of cash, then he willingly became Sword's puppet. Sword was telepathic to compensate for his lack of the ability to speak but, he had learned ways of getting his messages across, one was through slight mind control...
The pig dialed the number to the police department, and a young female echidna showed up, "Hello, Katina City P.D how can I help you?" She said in a cheery voice.
"I'd like to speak to detective Giovanni Valstern...please, It's urgent." Sword said through the pig's mind.
It was only moments before the image on the screen changed to that of an avian with feathers like fresh pitch, a long jagged scar along the side of his beak was a warning that Sword had given him before when he'd tried to kill him, his suit was dark blue, "Yes what is it?" He asked in an annoyed tone.
This time the voice that came from the Pig's mouth was rattled and much more menacing, "I know it was you...and if you think about it I'm sure you can see right through this puppet." Sword's vocalist replied.
"You...what the fuck do you want?"
The pig grew an almost evil smile, "Payment...I'm a little tired of chacing you down so...the deal is this. Bring me 400k to the top of the Carrsan building and be there by midnight...or by morning I'll have your sorry ass exposed for what you really are, if I have to let everyone know who I am to do it...are we clear?"
The avian held back for a moment, "Deal...but I can't get that kind of cash together until 10'clock...that okay with you?"
"Just bring the money."
As the signal cut out Sword let loose his hold on the pig's mind, who fluttered his eyes as he regained consciousness, he'd remember nothing. Sword handed him the wad on cash he'd been promised and disappeared into the shadows. It took him no time at all to reach the Carrsan building, second tallest skyscraper in the entire city, over 400 stories up. He was forced to sneak into the building and ride the elevator to the top floor where he waited patiently for Giovanni to show up...
It was almost an hour later that the door opened and a lone black figure stepped out into the light given off by the small lamp above the door that lead to the roof. He sauntered over to the middle of the roof where he stood and set down the heavy briefcase he carried...
"Alright I'm here damn it!" He yelled knowing no one would hear him.
"You're late..." Sword's voice pierced the back of his skull.
"Well forgive me but, you make a withdrawal this big at this hour, you tend to get some questions." Giovanni said, "Now come out." He demanded.
To his surprise the cloaked figure of a fox fell from what seemed like the sky to land only a few feet from his position...
The detective instinctively pulled a blaster out swinging it's barrel in Sword's direction and fired, he'd hoped to catch the would be hero off guard, but the bolt of energy that sped from the weapon only pierced the tail of his trench coat. Giovanni froze as Sword closed their distance in the blink of an eye, cutting the blaster in two with an unseen blade that then came to a rest on the raven's shoulder. Giovanni looked on in fear, the slightly long, curved blade was coming from inside Sword's elbow, and was uncannily sharp as it was splitting the fine hair from several feathers...
"Pitty...I thought you were smarter than that." Sword's voice tortured his mind.
Still fixated on the blade the raven managed a short sentence, "What the fuck are you?"
A smile spread across Sword's face, "An informed question...if I knew however I'd probably tell you seeing as you're about to die..." Sword teased him as he took the avian by the collar hoisting him off the ground effortlessly with a single arm.
Sword moved to the edge of the building and dangled Giovanni over the edge, who let out a scream of fear from the impending fall...
"No no we had a deal!" Giovanni yelled.
"And then you shot at me...not too bright..." Sword said telepathically as usual, "...so now your only chance is to tell me who you're working for...I know someone's been paying you off...no cop makes a salary big enough to come up with that much money that fast. So where'd the hand out come from?"
"IIII-I can't they'd kill me..." Giovanni pleaded actually beginning to cry a bit.
"Gio Gio Gio...perhaps you aren't clear on your situation..." Sword said releasing him then catching him with the other hand ushering the avian into full blow sobs, "...you see there are only five fingers keeping you from a 400 story fall...I'd sure hate having to clean that shit up." Sword added with a sadistic smile.
Giovanni couldn't break through the sobs that racked his lungs enough to speak...
"Toni, JB, Garth...Tio." Sword began to go through names of known dealers of the drugs.
"Yeeeeeess!" Giovanni screamed, "Ti-Tio's behind everything...the hype, the...blackouts, everything just please put me down!"
Now satisfied with the information he'd received, Sword set the mind numbingly frightened raven back on his feet where he stood on the ledge trying to catch his breath for his weeping. Sword walked away and picked up the briefcase then picked up the small blaster that had been diced in two. Which he then threw toward the avian, the startled avian lost his balance and in a few moments his echoing screams halted, it'd be well into the morning before anyone found the body in the back alley...at least whatever would be left of it after the type of impact he'd expected, with the hight of the fall one could be assured that it wouldn't be pretty...
Now his attention however was set to Tio...this could be a problem. Tio was know throughout the city; the gray furred feline was his uncle's favorite nephew...his uncle was head of the mafia. He knew from the beginning that the Laronii family at least had their hands in this but, he'd hoped that they weren't the figureheads of the operations, they'd be harder to get to. He made his way back to the hospital where to his delight Sword found the boy awake and in his mother's embrace...there was no doubt that he'd be severely punished for the drugs, once he was healthy enough to withstand a lashing or two, but, for now the vixen was just happy to have her kit safe and sound...
They were both startled as there was no sound as Sword appeared on the opened window sill hanging a single leg out of the building, "I've brought a gift..." He said sitting tossing the briefcase to the bed, "Compliments of Giovanni Valstern..."
"What did you do to him?" The vixen asked not wanting to release her son.
"By now...he's a pasty smear on the pavement. He'll pay for his crimes in the afterlife." Sword said turning his gaze to the kit in her arms, "And I hope you learned something."
The kit just smiled and nodded his head as he continued to hug his mother...
"There's 400,000 credits in the briefcase...why not take a vacation...or better yet relocate, I hear Corneria's a very beautiful planet."
The vixen wiped a tear from her eye, "We've always thought about moving after his father died...but after the funeral we never had the money...maybe now that'll change."
"Well you and your kit have earned every right to that money...you're about to be the last victims of this drug. At the very least in this area anyhow...well I think we could all use some rest I have a long night tomorrow..."
As he did last time Sword slid from the window sill vanishing into the shadows of the night, he'd have no trouble sleeping tonight...it was an exhausting day...
The raising Katinan sun woke him from his sleep...something in his head told him not to even get up but, he had things to do today. He had to meet with this merchant this morning and see about a decent paying job...his night life was rewarding but, as for monetary compensation it was a bit lax...and even heros needed to eat. Hero, it wasn't a term he particularly liked but, so many around the city called him hero that he eventually accepted it. He thought back to what he'd done last night...he could have easily forced Giovanni to turn himself in...he hated killing and secretly hated himself for killing the raven...
"It was wrong but necessary..." He told himself. "With their cover dead the dealers will start to panic...that's when I'll find my lead to where Tio's hiding."
He took a quick shower and got dressed this time in a sleeveless black shirt and a pair of camo pants that were a bit baggy for his liking but caused him to blend in with modern style, the pants legs were made so that the cuff lay under the top of your boots, the ones he now wore were polished black with metal plates across the toe and heel. These boots were designed specially for the purpose of kicking, a properly trained martial artist could kill someone with these boots without much effort at all, a forceful enough shot from them could shatter bone and rupture internal organs. He took a quick glance at his alarm clock...8:45...he needed to hurry. He made his way out of the motel, he'd have to pay again soon as he'd been staying there several months, it would probably be easier for him to just get a place to stay but, he often moved around which made motel rooms a prime location to stay. Here the pay was 800 credits a month...not too bad but a little pricey for such crappy lodging. Before long he was in front of the bar again. The dank smell of urine and booze filled the air, as well as several odors he'd rather not attempt to identify it was at the notice of this olfactory insult that he realized something..."The Pit..." He read from the sign over the door. At least for the most part they told the truth...
Inside Sword approached the bartender who simply smiled and pointed to a lone figure sitting at the end of the L shaped bar, the bartender had always been nice to Sword, he was an older black feline who looked like he could really handle himself.
An older raccoon sat were the bartender had pointed, who's missing left eye was made noticeable by a large scar stretching the length of his face from his forehead to the base of his neck, much of his chestnut colored fur was tinged by the gray of old age, his shirt was dirty as though he'd been working for hours, the red cloth was stained all about from oil spills, and his blue overalls had seen much better days, his hands were covered by heavy leather gloves. Sword approached him and sat down...the bartender also walked over...
"This is the fella who was looking for work." The bartender said, "Forgive him for not talking though...he's a mute."
The raccoon looked Sword over, "Well you look strong enough...ever load cargo?"
Sword nodded in agreement...
"Good...my old back can't handle this crap for long, so how does this sound?" The raccoon asked, "When I come into Katina I'll give you a call and you do the heavy lift'n."
Sword thought for a moment and ran his forefinger and middle finger across his thumb...
The old raccoon looked on for a moment before he caught on, "Oh...how much does the job pay?" He asked receiving a nod, "...what'cha think 'bout...1200 a load?"
Sword did the math for a moment, if he handled it correctly it was enough for his room and food for a while, then nodded with a happy smile.
"Good names Dallas...meet me in hanger 46D at 5 o'clock tonight."
As Sword stood the barkeep told Dallas his name...
"Sword huh? Odd name. Well kid it'll be nice work'n with someone that doesn't complain 24/7."
That actually took less time than Sword had expected, but when he exited the bar into the alley he could see a group approaching the bar. Two vulpine, a frog, and an Avian. One of the foxes he picked out right away; golden brown fur, green eyes, green vest and pants...he'd never seen him before but that was definitely Fox McCloud, to his direct right was a blue vixen with powerful eyes of the same cerulean color, her form fitting uniform was a darker blue with black arms, and black around her abdomen and thighs...Krystal if he remembered correctly was the team psychic, the little green frog that waddled at her right was wearing a red cap and blue overalls with a white shirt and blue vest...Sword had never heard of him, the one to Fox's left however was a blue feathered Avian sporting a silver jacket with red patches on it's shoulders as well as a matching pair of pants...Falco Lombardi, along with Fox nobody didn't know who this bird was. He felt a bit...intrigued to find them walking into the bar and stood outside listening trough the cracked door to their conversation with the bartender...
"Excuse me sir..." Fox's voice said, "...but we're looking for information on this..."Shadow" guy...seems he's been suspected of the murder of a detective named Giovanni Valstern."
"That bastard?" The bartender asked, "Good riddance...everyone in this city knows he's been push'n Hype on the streets round here...sounds like someone just finally decided to do something about it. But as for Shadow...never actually seen him, honestly...don't think he exists."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Sword said to himself.
The blue vixen's ears perked up as he said this in his head and her eyes fixed on his face barely visible behind the door. As she did something tried to force it's way into his mind..."Shit...mind probe." He yelled to himself hurrying away from the door.
As he tucked down into the alley he heard a mass of commotion as the small team piled out of the doors...
"Krys are you sure?" Fox quickly asked.
"Definitely...whoever that is, he's psychic and powerful..." Krystal answered going on the hunt with her mind, "...He's on the roof!" She shouted pointing to a dark figure standing high above them.
"Fuck!!" Sword shouted as he sped across the roof leaping to another rooftop.
As he ran he could barely make out Fox's next words, "Falco get to the roofs and follow him...Slippy get to your Arwing and circle overhead to get a lock on his bio signature...Krys come with me and keep a fix on him."
Within moments he could hear the trample of boots behind him..."Fuck this guy's fast..." He said as he made a massive leap across the street to a slightly lower building. Falco froze for a moment, but did the same almost flying the forty feet from roof to roof...
As he ran Falco's communicator kicked on, "Falco how's it going up there?"
"Not good Fox...this guy's athletic as hell, even more than Krystal. I'm have'n trouble keep'n up with him."
"Just stay on his ass...we're cutt'n him off."
"That's easy for you to say!" Falco yelled turning off his communicator.
As Falco chased him across rooftop after rooftop he noticed that this guy was only getting faster. Soon there was no place to run as they reached a building that was surrounded on all three sides by skyscrapers. Sword tuned as he heard Falco's feet contact the roof and half smiled. Falco froze as he saw the fox bow and then leap into a back flip, but as he began to land again he instead vanished into what was a hole in the roof, that was hidden from Falco's view by the fox's body. Falco followed and chased the stranger through the halls until they reached another window which the fox leaped through and onto another roof...Falco followed only to find his perp was gone, but after a short scan found him in the alley below...
"Fox..." He called on his communicator as he slid down an access ladder, "You...gotta...do something...this guy's...unreal..."
"We're just down the alley from your location and Slippy should be overhead soon. Just try to keep at it a bit longer."
As Sword ran down the alley he smiled as he noticed Fox and Krystal waiting for him. The alley was only about ten feet wide, but that didn't stop Sword. As he ran toward them they were amazed to see him alter his step onto the wall of one of the buildings which he ran across diagonally, as he reached only a foot over their heads he made several leaps from building to building until he vanished through an open window. Falco stopped in front of the two vulpine who were both wearing shocked looks about what they'd seen...
"What?...where...did he...go?" Falco asked catching his breath.
"Up there..." Fox said in an amazed voice as he pointed to a fourth story window.
"Krys...you...gotta fix on him?"
Krystal searched for a moment, "Yeah...he's trying to blend into a huge crowd far down the street we lost him. He's blocking me out now."
Sword walked calmly down the street toward his motel...
"Well...that was kinda fun...that Falco guy's pretty fast." He thought to himself.
He had found the footrace to be quite exhilarating and fun for that matter, he sort of felt bad that it ended so soon, but they were catching up to him and he couldn't let them catch him. He reached his motel without much trouble, where he'd wait until 5 o'clock for his job. He quickly changed into his normal clothes which had been previously washed; his red shirt and black coat smelled nice and fresh, and his black pants had been stitched by a caring hand. That was when he noticed someone else in the room hiding in the shadows...
"You know...just because their clueless doesn't mean that I am too." The voice said from behind him.
He turned to find the lovely blue vixen Krystal standing in his doorway...
"You're him aren't you...this...Shadow everyone talks about. Did you really kill that raven?"
Sword only stared at her...
"You can talk to me you know...or can you even talk?"
Sword simply shook his head...
Krystal sighed, "You know you can't lie to me right? I know you're telepathic so speak up."
"Alright what the hell do you want?" His voice shot through her head.
"I just want to know why you did it." She replied in her natural voice.
Sword sighed as he rolled his eyes, "Fine...if you must know. He was selling Hype to young animals on the streets...I found a kit yesterday that was dying from the stuff...luckily he pulled through and gave Giovanni away. So I set him up, made him tell me who was behind it all and killed him so that he couldn't inform his suppliers that I was coming."
Krystal looked at the floor, "You know I could tell that you weren't a bad person...but you still shouldn't have killed him."
"Public defense...lets just say I did his job for him."
"That still doesn't make it right." She retorted in a stern voice.
"Tell that to all the parents of the kids that have died from that shit in the past year...see if you can still say that as a mother cries as you hand her the body of her only son..."
Krystal froze with a disheartened expression...
"I've seen it...I've heard it. And if it takes every ounce of strength in me...I'm going to set things straight. Even if it means killing all of you to do so."
Krystal could see into his mind, he meant every word, and for the most part she believed he could do it...
"...I'll get the team to back off..." Krystal said opening the door to leave, "...I don't know who you are...but good luck. And stay on your toes Falco's a fast learner...He may just catch you next time."
"I'll enjoy that...our little footrace was kinda fun." Sword replied smiling, "And you can call me Sword."
A/N: Sorry for the lateness...I just started working on chapter 3 when I noticed quite a few mistakes hope I fixed em all.
