CHAPTER 2
MARK
"Here we are." I sighed, looking at the blank side of the building. No security cameras in sight. This seemed too easy.
"How do we get in?" Monica asked. "I don't see a door."
"That's because it's around the other side of the building, Smart One." I playfully punched her in the arm and made my way around a corner. "Found it."
We all huddled around the door, trying to come up with a plan.
"I'll go with Tails, Knuckles can go with Mark, and Monica can go with Silver." Sonic said. "We'll split up and meet back here at some point. Monica, be careful with the Emerald."
"I'll try." Monica muttered.
"So our main goal is to figure out what exacally the Nanobots do and how they work. The more information we get on these things, the better. And an added bonus is we rescue Shadow and Blaze." Sonic said. "Let's say…one hour and then we'll meet back here."
"Sounds good." I said. "Let's go!"
XxXxXxXx
The poor lighting in the halls seemed right out of a horror movie of some sort. At every sound I paused, trying to figure out of it was coming from the pipes in the walls or someone coming our way. Knuckles wasn't as careful.
"Mark, relax," He hissed. "no one's around."
"You never know." I hissed back. "And besides, they could have security cameras. They could be plotting how to kill us right now."
"Until that moment comes, stop being so paranoid."
"That's one way to put it…"
We reached a hallway that split off in two. I pointed left. "We'll try that way."
The hallway stretched for about thirty paces and then came to a dead end. Two doors were set into the wall at the end of the hall. I carefully approached the first one, but didn't hear anything inside. The second proved more interesting.
"I don't understand it." Someone was saying. "Why do they keep dying?"
I motioned for Knuckles to be quiet and listen in. I hoped that they weren't talking about our friends…
"It's obvious. They resist," Came another voice, this one I knew. It sent a shiver down my spine. "if they resist, they die."
Ice.
"No one's issued the Nanobots to kill them. I checked." Came the first voice again.
"It could be a number of things," Ice sounded bored. "it could be that they're too weak, it could be an improper amount of Nanobots were injected into them, it could just be a mistake we're making over and over again. Take your pick."
"Sir…what if it's there's too many Nanobots clustered in their hearts? The added weight could eventually kill them. The stress of the Nanobots could burst-"
"That is a possibility." Ice said thoughtfully. "But unfortunately we've measured and re-measured the amount we give them. It's based on their age, weight and stability. You know this."
"Sir, what if even we don't fully understand the Nanobots?"
That brought a huge blanket of silence over the room. I held my breath in case I was breathing too loudly.
"Even if you don't understand anything about them, I do. Who invented them? I did. I know more about them than I'll let you in on. Except this fact…there are Nanobots inside you. There are Nanobots inside everyone in this facility."
I heard Ice's assistant give a startled gasp.
"That's right. I had everyone injected the second you entered this place. Remember that vaccine that would shield us against any alien diseases?"
I pictured the assistant nodding slowly.
"It was loaded with Nanobots."
Hard, loud footsteps. The doorknob turned. I jumped backwards away from the door and pressed my back against the wall. The door opened just as Ice said in a dangerous voice:
"Niño Del Muerto."
The assistant fell, hitting the wall in front of him. He looked like he wasn't much older than me. He had light brown hair, thick black glasses and wide, scared eyes. He caught sight of me before his eyes glazed over and he moved no more.
"Child Of The Dead."
I couldn't take my eyes away from the dead assistant's face. I only moved when Knuckles grabbed my arm and began dragging me down the hallway. I blinked hard and began to run. I just wanted to get away from there…
XxXxXxXx
MONICA
Silver and I hadn't run into trouble …yet. The only close call we had was a guy walking down the hall, humming to himself. We dived into an open door and stayed there until he was long gone.
"That was sort of close." Silver whispered.
I could only nod.
Now we were creeping down a rather long and dark hallway, hoping that there were no security cameras or anything. A door caught my attention:
" 'President'" I read.
I waited for Silver to say something, but when he didn't I continued on. "Do you think Ice would be in here?"
"He is in charge…but he could be busy somewhere else." Silver whispered, staring down the hallway.
"Well, if he is somewhere else, we can go in there and see what he's got planned."
"That might work…"
"Is he in there, or not? You're the psychic one!" I hissed.
"Oh. No, he's somewhere else." Silver was still staring unblinkingly down the hall.
"What's wrong?" I asked, almost dreading an answer.
"There's someone down there."
"Who?" I reached into the bag I was carrying, trying to find the Emerald.
"I don't know. But someone's there, probably watching us."
"Does the guy seem like a threat?" I asked, trying to make out a form in the darkness.
"Look…He's right there." Silver pointed.
"I don't see anyone," I protested. "just darkness."
"Monica, he is the darkness."
XxXxXxXx
Shadow was trapped in the worst place anyone could be trapped: Their own mind. The Nanobots had nearly forced his consciousness completely away, leaving him barely able to know what was going on around him. He could hardly hear what the Nanobots made him say.
Although a name stuck firmly in his mind. If it was true, and he was here, then Mobius might stand a chance if the others team up with him. And of course, wherever he was, his sister wouldn't be far behind.
Mark. Monica.
Their mission wasn't that hard…just save the entire planet.
XxXxXxXx
I took a step backwards and tried to make out any shape in the dark ahead of us. Nothing. No one.
"I think your eyes were just playing tricks on you." I said at last.
"I can sense him," Silver protested. "if I were completely blind I would still be able to tell that there's someone ahead."
"Who is it, then?" I countered, still nervous. My hand was in the bag, but I couldn't find the Emerald.
"I don't know."
I turned my attention back on the door in front of us. I re-slung the bag over my shoulder and reached for the knob. It turned with a loud squeak and opened into a semi-dark room. The only light came from a dimmed computer screen. No one was there.
"Come on, let's make this quick. You're worrying me." I stepped into the room, waiting for my eyes to adjust.
Silver still hadn't moved or blinked, from what I could tell. He was still staring into the darkness.
"Silver!" I hissed.
That got his attention. He jumped backwards, cast a startled glance at me and then scurried into the room, shutting the door behind him. "He's gone, Monica. I don't know where he went. When I looked away he was gone…"
"It's just a trick." I said more to myself than him. This was no time to be paranoid.
I went over to the computer and saw it was password protected.
"Any idea what the password could be?" I asked, typing a few letters into the bar.
DENIED.
I tried 'Nanobot/Ice'.
DENIED.
"Try 'PN1545-3921/TRIAL/MOBIUS'." Silver said after a moment's hesitation. "Capitals for the words."
I typed it in as fast as I could and hit enter, hoping for some outcome that was positive.
ACCEPTED.
The blue password screen vanished to be replaced by a 4GB file. I began to scroll down the page. "Where to start…" I mumbled.
The words 'Chaos Emeralds' caught my eye. I stopped scrolling down and began to read:
PT 9t/29M: NANOBOT POWER
Once in the desired host, the Nanobots will drain power through diffusion. The increased number of Nanobots in a small area will greaten the chances of death over a long period of time. The power of the Chaos Emeralds is sufficient for powering both the Nanobots and their host. Rate of survival is significantly higher, around the 78 percentage. All hosts without this extraordinary power are likely to die within approximately 168 hours-
I could only gape at the words written on the screen. If what was said was true, then Shadow was safe…for the moment. He lived off the power of the Emeralds, but as far as I knew he didn't possess any Emeralds at the moment. Blaze couldn't use the power, so she was more at a risk…
…Approximately 168 hours…
"How long ago since all this Nanobot crap began taking place?" I demanded, making Silver jump.
"About… about four days ago."
"We need to stop them before Blaze dies." I locked the computer again and began looking around the room, hoping for anything that could help us defeat Ice and his Nanobots.
"Dies?" Silver squeaked.
"The Nanobots will eventually drain her of her energy, killing her. Shadow's fine…for now. He lives off the power of the Emeralds, so he's fine. But if we don't get him near an Emerald soon, then we might have a probablem on our hands." I found a stack of papers and began to go through them. "Although we want to stop this as soon as we can. Blaze only has a few days left. Come over here; you glow and I need light."
Silver leaned against the table I was looking over, spilling blue-green light over the papers. One of the caught my eye. It looked like a drawing of some sort of satellite…
"Oh my gah…" I mumbled, realizing it wasn't what I thought it was. What I was looking at was a greatly drawn Nanobot, obviously not drawn to size.
It was the shape of red blood cell, but slightly curved over. Its back was covered with some silver-ish material, like tinfoil. A small arrow drawn from its back to the margins of the paper explained that that was its main power converting center and where the diffusion took place. Its sides were sleek and dark red, making it seem like blood was painted onto its sides. Another arrow explained that this was where it received instructions. A small green patch on the front of it was for its limited memory. Apparently the scientists programmed them ahead of time to either head for the brain or the heart.
And what I guess I would call its underbelly was covered in tiny, sharp blades covered with a very thin glassy material.
"This is incredible." I muttered. "All this technology…and it's being used for evil."
Silver could only nod.
I continued looking at the drawing and notes. Apparently the Nanobots would enter the cells in the heart and root themselves somewhere around the Nucleus. There, they would wait in case they were needed. But in doing so they used up so much of the organism's energy. The ones in the brain would also root themselves in, although there'd sometimes be six of them to a cell. They'd crowd out the cells and cause damage to their host. I hoped that this would not be permanent...
I head the squeak of the doorknob. Silver jumped and I spun around and dug my hand into the bag again, desperate to find the Emerald so I could warn off our attacker.
The door opened slowly, spilling yellowish light into the room. But no one was there. No one was there…yet a long shadow spread over the threshold.
"That's the guy," Silver muttered. "the guy I saw earlier."
My fingers brushed the Emerald, but I didn't feel any power like earlier. I hoped against hope that it wasn't just a one-time thing. "Who's there?" I said in a hoarse whisper. "Show yourself!"
A strange, low sound originated somewhere around the door. It rose in volume and pitch until I realized our mysterious visitor was laughing. Chills shot up my spine. That was one of those Ha-ha-ha-I've-cornered-you-at-last laughs. The kind of laughs you should only find in horror movies.
"You've done well to get this far,"
I could only describe this as the voice of evil. Before, I had thought Ice had the most cruel voice I had ever heard, but this one took the cake. This one hinted at schemes and death.
"Sadly, you won't be going any further," The voice continued. "I'll make sure of that."
"Show yourself!" I growled.
Silver took a step back, whispering, "He's here. Monica…he's everywhere here!"
"What?" I didn't have time for riddles and I just wanted this guy to show himself. I grabbed the Emerald and lifted it out of the bag, shedding bright yellow light around the room.
Was it just me, or did the shadows nearby literally melt away from the glow?
"What do you want?" I demanded, feeling confident. "Tell me."
"I don't want anything," The voice was behind me, next to my left ear. I didn't dare turn around. My heart was thumping so hard I thought It'd break out of my chest. "I don't want anything, but Ice does. And… he ….wants…..YOU."
I felt power flare up my arm and all over my body. The rage I felt earlier when Shadow attacked Mark was back at full force. I was determined to defeat this threat. I spun around, sending a Chaos Spear crashing into the table with the drawings on it. Something was different this time…the rage was mingling in with fear and hatred. Hatred for Ice, for the mysterious attacker, and for letting this happen. Fear for both Silver and I and for the others. Rage…I couldn't explain rage. It was just there…
"You won't stop me that easily." The voice said again, this time up above me. I looked up…did a shadow just move?...nothing there.
"Show yourself!" I nearly shouted, sending another Spear where I though the darkness had moved.
Silence. Nothing moved.
"Monica, he can't be defeated." Silver said at last. "He's everywhere where there's darkness. If we make light, then he'll be forced to take a form, and-"
He was cut off as what looked like a rope made of darkness wrapped around his neck and pulled tight. Another curled around his arms and legs, securing them tightly and lifting him off the ground. Three more encircled his chest and stomach, squeezing what little air he had out of him.
"LET HIM GO!" I screamed, throwing Spears into the darkness behind my friend. Where the light from the Spears hit, the darkness retreated…and then seemed to grow back once it realized the threat was gone. Silver couldn't breathe, only manage small choking sounds that were steadily growing weaker…
My attention shot towards the door. If what Silver said was right; about the dark, then there should be a light switch somewhere.
"Drop the Emerald and he will be spared," The voice said. "but don't take too long deciding—he doesn't have that much time left."
I shot a Spear at the light switch, blasting it to bits but switching it on at the same time. Light flooded the room. The dark tendrils wrapped around Silver released him, sending him crashing back to the floor. He began gasping for breath.
Now the darkness was in a corner. Nowhere to go unless it wanted to be burned by the light. I thought I heard it groan.
Almost against my will, I dropped the Chaos Emerald into my bag. The rage, power, fear and invincibility faded, leaving me almost feeling weak. The darkness in front of me laughed again, but it didn't seem as evil and as confidant as before.
"You've won this battle, but not the war." It said.
"Who are you?" I hissed. "And don't bother lying. We both know who's got the upper hand now."
The darkness swirled upward and became a vortex that seemed too fast to be possible. It became a little over half my height before it began to take a shape.
"Shadow?" I asked, incredibly confused. "What's…what…"
No, this wasn't Shadow. This guy had dark blue markings where Shadow was red. And his eyes were bright green and catlike. He didn't seem to have a mouth…
"I'm Mephiles. Mephiles the Dark." The darkness said.
XxXxXxXx
MARK
I still couldn't get over the shock of seeing someone die right in front of me. Knuckles dragged me down hallway after hallway, but I didn't even notice where we were going. Ice was mad…just killing like that was inhuman.
"Mark!"
I snapped back to reality. "What?" I asked Knuckles.
"We need to meet back up with the others and get out of here. If Ice discovers we're in the lab, there's a good possibility that he'll use Shadow and Blaze against us. We've got to bail."
"Right…" I muttered. I was still sort of in shock.
"Come on, Mark. You've been through worse." Knuckles dragged me around another corner. "We all have." He added.
I tried to recall the past horrors…but none came close to this. Never before have we seen anyone killed. More than once before we've been threatened with death, but now I knew the full weight of the curse.
"Where do you think Monica and Silver are?" Knuckles stopped at a corner, trying to see if anyone was coming. When he was certain no one was approaching, he began dragging me again.
"They're probably in one of the rooms, digging into the information on the Nanobots." I knew what my sister would do in situations like this. "But they would be near the exit, just in case. Monica always plots out escape before doing anything else."
"Then we can worry about them later. We need to find Sonic and Tails."
Down another hallway. I tore out of Knuckles' iron grip and quit stumbling now that I was more coordinated. None of the doors we passed seemed eye-catching or likely to yield any useful information. But then again…
An alarm began to blare. Harsh streaks of red light lit up the hallway. "Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" A computerized female voice shouted over and over.
"Crap," I muttered.
Knuckles threw open a door with frosted glass covering a window on it and we stumbled into the room. He managed to shut the door just as the shadows of at least ten men ran past. We didn't dare move for about a minuet.
"Who do you think was discovered?" I whispered at last.
"I think the question that should be asked is 'How are we going to get out of here?' or 'Will the others escape quickly?'" Knuckles began to slowly make his way through the room, occasionally bumping into a table. "Where the heck are we?"
Over the blaring alarm, I managed to make out a low, deep humming coming from the back of the small, boxy room. Once my eyes adjusted to the next-to-nothing light, I made out the shape of what appeared to be either a large generator or a tank.
"What do you think that's for?" I asked.
"Something either extremely evil, or something extremely extremely evil," Knuckles decided.
I made my way back to the machine. The humming grew louder and I found a few small blinking lights on the sides. I felt a small tugging around my neck and whirled around to see who was there. No one was. Now the tugging came from behind me.
I saw the metal tips of the pull strings on my sweatshirt nearly sticking to the sides of the machine. I pulled them back, but they popped right back up again, trying desperately to get to the thing.
"It's magnetized," I whispered.
"The Nanobots are tiny robots, right?" Knuckles asked slowly.
"Yeah." I thought I knew where he was going with this.
"What if magnetism will deactivate…kill them? What if this generator thing is keeping the magnetism in this building next to zero, keeping the Nanobots safe?"
Of course.
"I wish we thought of this sooner." I muttered, backing away from the de-magnetizing contraption. The pull strings on my sweatshirt lost their attraction and fell limply on my chest.
"The hard part will be getting everyone together to tell them this." Knuckles said. "Because for now, we're stuck in here and I don't want to risk getting caught if I hammer this thing."
More shadows crossed in front of the frosted glass on the door. "We might as well try to hide," I pointed under the tables. "hide and hope that no one gets caught."
XxXxXxXx
MONICA
Silver had curled into a small silvery ball and refused to move. I had managed to drive the strange shadowy being who called himself Mephiles from the room, but I knew sooner or later I would have to confront him again…or some guards. The lights in the room were bright. Bound to attract attention.
An alarm began to blare, startling me.
"Come on, Silver! Guards could be here any second!" I pleaded.
"I …c-can't, Monica." He sounded terrible. I didn't blame him.
"Why not?" I asked.
"…It still hurts."
I knelt down next to him and put my hand on his back. "Come on, Silver. We really need to get out of here before…" I trailed off as I noticed something a bit odd.
I parted Silver's fur and made out tiny puncture wounds, smaller than a pinprick and oozing a single drop of blood, circling his body…Where the tendrils of darkness had nearly squeezed the life out of him.
"Ow,"
"Sorry." I smoothed his fur back. I would have to worry about that later. "Silver, please. Come on!" I stood up, trying to find anything that could be useful as a weapon. I wasn't about to use the Chaos Emerald again. The power of the thing was slightly unnerving. I was crossing over to some tables when Silver started whimpering, uncurling and curling back into a ball.
"Silver, what's wrong?" I ran back to him.
He started shivering violently, pain choking his words. He managed to give an agonized moan but nothing more than that. Feverish heat rolled off him in waves. He finally lay still on his right side, breathing shallowly and unsteadily.
"Silver!" I risked shouting. "Silver! Say something!"
The red and agitated skin was so warm it felt as though I was touching some furry heater. Panic swept through me. I could address and bandage anything from cuts to bullet wounds, but this was beyond me. if I knew at least what was causing this I might be able to do something…
Twenty guards found me there, trying desperately to wake my companion.
XxXxXxXx
MARK
The alarms blared for a full twenty minuets before finally shutting off. I could still hear them ringing in my ears, but it was better than the full blasting noise.
"Finally," Knuckles said.
"Tell me about it." I could feel a small headache coming on. But I would be forced to ignore it for now.
"Should we risk it and head out?"
"I don't know. I don't hear anyone." Truth was I could hardly hear anything over the ringing in my ears.
"I think we should try," Knuckles crawled out from under the table he was hiding under. "at worst there'll be guards. At best we'll find everyone else out there."
"Correction: at worst we'll find Ice. At best we'll find chocolate cake." I snickered.
Knuckles shot me a weird look. "This isn't a time for jokes."
"Just trying to keep the mood light." I laughed nervously.
Knuckles opened the door and peeked around the doorframe. "No one's there. If we're going, we have to go now."
I crawled out from under my table and joined him at the exit. "Let's get out of here."
We began heading quickly yet carefully down the hall. Twice someone was coming our way and we had to duck into a nearby door. Three times we were nearly discovered.
"I have a question," I finally said at last. "where the heck are we gonna get a giant magnet?"
"We'll worry about that later." Knuckles said. "Right now our biggest concern is getting out of here, alive and uncontrolled by Nanobots."
I had to agree with that.
Someone was coming up ahead. Knuckles grabbed a nearby doorknob and turned it. Locked. The door next to that one…locked.
"Back here!" I hissed, pointing back the way we had come. We darted down the hall and into the door we had just hid in. The person walked past our door and down the corridor.
"That was too close." Knuckles hissed.
"No duh."
He tried to turn the knob but the door didn't budge. It didn't even rattle in its hinges. My eyes had adjusted to the room, making out a small window that was letting in a very small amount of light. Computers lined the far wall, their screens dark and towers switched off.
"Mark, what's wrong with this damn door?" Knuckles yanked on the knob, but this time the knob didn't even budge.
"I don't know…but look! There's a window. Light's coming from it…it's our way out." I walked over to the window and brushed aside the shades.
It wasn't an outside view I was getting. Instead I was overlooking a brightly lit lab. A huge glass tank seemed to hold darkness until I realized what it really was.
Trillions upon trillions upon trillions of Nanobots.
"Whoa," I took a step backwards. "Knuckles, you've got to see this."
Knuckles stopped yanking on the door and came up beside me. His eyes grew wide as mine had and he whispered, "They really are trying to take over our planet."
"And probably many more in the future," I said hoarsely. "that's more than enough for this planet."
There was a stunned silence broken only by this spoken by an unknown voice:
"It's more than enough for this planet…and yours."
I jumped backwards, ready to fight. "Who's there?"
A cold laugh seemed to envelope me. It was all around…I turned but didn't see anyone. Knuckles apparently heard the voice too. He got into a fighting stance and hissed, "Show yourself!"
Was it just me, or did that shadow just move?
A sharp, pricking feeling came over my hand. I jerked it up and away from..whatever…and discovered a small drop of blood on the end of my thumb.
"What was that?" I asked nervously. I knew I was no match against a ghost or whatever was confronting us.
Knuckles jumped backwards and started rubbing his arm. "What just poked me?"
This time there was no mistaking it. A shadow underneath a table moved towards me, covering my shoe and most of my leg. Angry pricks covered every area covered by darkness. I yelped and jumped backwards, trying desperately to drive the darkness off.
Instead I tripped and fell to the floor, where it began to cover my head. More pricks. I couldn't see…
Then blinding light everywhere. The darkness retreated visibly into a corner. The pain subsided. I looked at my leg to see what appeared to be an allergic reaction of some kind; bright red and slightly oozing blood.
"Are you all right, Mark?" Knuckles hauled me to my feet.
"Yeah…Yeah, I'm fine." It took me a second to realize that he had thrown the light switch. "What is that?" I asked nervously, pointing to the dark.
It began to swirl upwards until it was about the size of Knuckles. Features began to take shape. What was standing—yes, standing—in front of me was an almost perfect replica of Shadow, except for red stripes this…thing… had dark blue. Its eyes were a deadly, poisonous, catlike green that seemed to stare into my soul.
"Who are you?" Knuckles demanded.
The thing laughed. I became aware that it...he… didn't exacally have a mouth.
"I'm Mephiles," he said at last.
"Well, Mephiles, you're going to wish you've never attacked us." Knuckles rushed at him, fists extended.
I wasn't quite sure what happened, but I was pretty certain that Knuckles shot through Mephiles and hit the table behind him, overturning it and sending papers everywhere. Mephiles then turned and sent a wave of darkness at him, blasting him off his feet and into the wall.
"Don't underestimate me again."
Knuckles fell back to the ground hard. I almost ran to him, except I was worried about what Mephiles would do to me. Instead I sort of stood there and probably got a horrified look on my face, because Mephiles said, "That's right, human. You're obviously smarter than your friend here."
He was still facing the wall, but his head turned completely around to stare me down. I nearly gagged.
Mephiles laughed again and turned his attention back to Knuckles, who was struggling to get up. This was my chance…
I scanned the nearby tables, looking for something that could be useful to scare off our attacker. There were an abundant number of pens and pencils, paper, calculators and rulers, but there were also syringes, books, tape, flash-drives…and a mirror. Perfect.
I lunged for it. Mephiles just barely turned his head around again before I had the mirror in my grasp and aiming light around the room.
As the bright, reflective beam hit him, Mephiles began to back into the corner, trying to get away from the blinding light. Particles of darkness vanished and then… regrew? It was odd…
"Good thinking, Mark." Knuckles managed to get back on his feet. "Come on, we need to think of getting out of here."
"You won't be able to escape," Mephiles hissed, raising his hand to stop the light from shining in his eyes. His hand started to fade and then come back with a new ferocity, and then fade again. "you won't be able to escape…without your sister."
I felt a wave of fear wash over me. The mirror's beam wavered. Mephiles lunged forward and turned back into a dark shadow, diving into the shade cast by a nearby table.
I instantly directed the beam of light where he had fled, but he was ready. With surprising speed he jumped out from under the table and flew at me, taking a solid form as he went. I just had time to gasp as his fingers wrapped around my throat and shoved me backwards…
…out the window.
Glass broke around me and I was suddenly plunging at least two stories to the ground. Mephiles let go of my throat and zipped back up to the window, leaving me free falling.
Until my skydiving experience was cut short by a table loaded with papers. I think that was the only reason I was still alive. One of the legs on the table snapped, sending me sliding to the ground, dazed and bruised but otherwise unhurt.
A shout was cut short from the window I had fallen out of. Then silence. I was about to try to figure out how to get out of the lab when a sharp stabbing pain started in my ankle. It seemed to be spreading up my leg…my forehead began throbbing with pain, only it began to move down my head.
My knees buckles and I collapsed, gripping my leg and head and trying not to scream. White light flashed in my vision…then red…blue…green…
And then nothing at all.
XxXxXxXx
A/N: How's that for suspense? I worked hard on this, so I hope you all leave nice comments (HINT, HINT) Don't worry, no one's gonna die…yet. *Evil laughter* but there will be more suspense and stuff. Believe me, it just gets better as you read on.
Oh, and supershadower, your OC is in the next chap…his name's Spade.…