( Again, too lazy! XP )
Chapter Eight
Scrapping in the Sand
(A/N: Err…no chatting this time?)
S-H-A-D-O-W-P-A-W
That day went by quickly, or at least to Shadowpaw it did, since she returned to her room and hadn't left it since. She couldn't believe she had opened up so easily when talking to that hedgehog. After all, they were rivals, and she didn't need to make friends with an idiot, anyways. It would just lead to more hurt than help. She had scowled and scolded herself the entire day, skipping dinner to instead lie on her back and stare at the ceiling, thinking. The only time she exited was to go the bathroom, and that was once. Morning came so fast, she didn't notice that she hadn't slept until the alarm on her clock went off. She sat up, sighed, and slammed the snooze button before glancing at it and frowning. Since when did she set her alarm? And why would she set it to five in the morning? That was when she noticed the note taped to the clock's button.
Join the living, cat. – S.
Beside the 'S', there was Shadow's symbol on it, and she rolled her eyes and crumpled the piece of paper before trying to make a basket with it. She missed, but she was too lazy to go over and pick it up, instead brooding on the way her life seemed to slowly spiral downwards. 'And I bet that he snuck in when I went to the bathroom,' she determined as she grumbled and kicked her bed in frustration. She only succeeded in hurting herself, and so she growled and grumbled, "Why can't the world just leave me alone?" She sighed and laid back down on her bed to go back to her staring, quickly finding her favorite patch of space on the ceiling that had a weird star formation-like smudge on it.
She closed her eyes after a while, weariness making her bones and muscles ache. "But no; my mother had to be attacked viciously by the Kingdom scum, and my father just had to be the damn hero and try to avenge her." She rolled onto her side, feeling a bit hollow inside at the thought of Shane's valiant effort to take down the enemy Zoids. "But he couldn't do it, could he? Instead, they both ended up dying, leaving me to pick up the broken pieces of their pride and fame and try to put it all back together." She opened her eyes to stare at the wall, although it slowly got blurry from fatigue and regret. She could just see her father now, grinning down at her and giving her a noogie right before he went to work, and his promise to come home safely…
She narrowed her eyes and spat at the wall, as if it was the source of all of her problems. "There are no heroes in this world," she declared to the ghosts of her parents. "There are only those fools who would believe in such brave and fictional legends." She then closed her eyes to finally get the rest she deserved…
…rrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Shadowpaw sat up quickly at the sound of an alarm with a startled, "What the hell?!" She leapt out of bed and ran through the door to barely miss Shadow with his suit on running down the hallway to the bridge, and after getting her cat-suit on quickly she followed him to come into a room where Rouge was already working away at the several buttons and levers on the control panel. She looked up at them and explained, "There's a group of Kingdom pilots coming up fast from the southwest. They are armed and looking for trouble!"
Shadowpaw grinned at the thought of a battle and said, "Well, 'trouble' is my middle name!"
"I thought it was 'Midnight'," was the only thing that Shadow said before he slipped off, probably to go to his Zoid, leaving the bat smirking and Shadowpaw glaring at his back. Then she reluctantly followed him, after giving the older woman a dark look, and ran down the narrow passageway to get to the mini-hangar. The feline screeched to a halt at the end of the hallway just as the hedgehog leapt into his Zoid and prepared to leave. She ran across the launch-runway just in time, before he was clamped into place by the claws so they could rush him down the ramp and out into the desert. She waited impatiently for her own Zoid to be positioned before leaping in and giving it the 'all-go'. She held on tight as she was launched as well, gripping the seat as she hit the ground with a jolt. Immediately, she searched for the enemy, instead seeing his Shadow Fox racing into the desert. Flipping the switch for her radar and readying her boosters, she ran after him and grinned at the familiar way she sank into the chair. 'Home sweet home,' she thought as she sprinted, easily catching up to Shadow, and she made a mental note to try to train as often as possible on this mission before her radio and radar screen sparkled to life. Rouge's face appeared on the screen, looking at her with a serious look that surprised the feline.
"LS? SF? Respond."
Recognizing the codenames for their Zoids, she looked up to focus on the desert ahead and heard Shadow respond coolly, "SF is approaching the enemy fast." Then, he scoffed almost as if he felt they were taking him too lightly."Apparently, they think we're an easy fight, and only sent out five Zoids."
'Five Zoids isn't exactly something to gawk at,' she agreed, finding something suspicious about the entire thing before shaking it off and radioing Rouge, "This is LS, and I'm right behind SF."
"Ooh, lucky."
She scowled at the bat's face ('Should have known she'd make some comment like that sooner or later…') but chose not to reply, instead focusing on the task ahead. She needed to be 'in the zone', with this being the first battle she's had against the Kingdom since the encounter that earned her Wolf Rank. But she did encourage her Zoid by saying, "I need to earn my other stripes, right, Saix?" She smiled as it gave a battle yowl, and she couldn't help but think of how her father felt in the cockpit. She had asked him before when she was a child, but he had told her it was hard to explain. Was this what he felt? Did he feel as free as a baby chick spreading its wings for the first time whenever he went out on a run? Did he imagine he was soaring across the desert like a fierce hawk? Did he have the power resting in the legs of his Zoid engulf his entire being? What did he feel behind the barrel of the gun?
"LS, watch out!"
Rouge's cry was what snapped her out of it and let her dodge the oncoming Dark Horn that had begun a charge. She leapt to the right just in time, the black dino-Zoid scraping her side vaguely and the sudden movement slightly throwing her off balance. She quickly righted herself, however, and turned like lightning to slice the flank of the enemy Zoid before it could get away. It roared and backed away as soon as possible, to which she smirked before turning and leaping over the Dark Horn that tried to catch her off guard, giving it a taste of her firepower and then smacking it with the Saix's claws. She sent it on its back, and watched in triumph as it wriggled for a moment before turning over and standing up on its four feet. It was the bat's voice again, though, that turned her attention to everything else.
"Oh, dear Lord…"
"What?" Shadowpaw looked down at her and then around at the desert, wondering what she was talking about before suddenly her breath left her. Her eyes widened and she stopped in her tracks to stare in shock and horror.
"No…"
The sight of the curved, razor claws brought back painful memories. Images of a Lightning Saix with its cockpit crushed flashed in her mind, and she could see the electricity flying through the air as if it was really there. She may not have seen the actual Zoid, but that left her imagination to go wild, spraying blood all over the front and dripping down the fangs on the top of its jaw. Her eyes widened, and all rational thought left her while she breathed out something as if subconsciously:
"Geno Saurer…"
S-H-A-D-O-W
He was too busy with the Dark Horns at first to bother to look at his companion, but at the bat's words he turned and got a glance of what else was going on around him. Other than the three Dark Horns surrounding him, there was a Dibison charging towards Shadowpaw, and he cursed to himself before he shot at the black-and-green Zoid's legs while yelling into the radio, "Idiot, start moving!" At first it didn't seem like she had heard, for she stood still for a moment more, but then her Zoid took a step backwards, as if trying to get away from something. At first he couldn't understand what she was doing, here, in the middle of battle, but then the Dark Horn before him moved to give him a full view of what she saw.
"Geno Saurer…"
Her words were whispered almost as if she was just talking to herself. She must have left her radio on or something. The tall Zoid towered over her, not even seventy yards away, and seemed to have its blood red eyes that were devoid of life trained on her. It seemed to know something Shadow did not. Not being able to see her face (let alone her emotions), he slashed at the Dark Horn to his left in frustration and again called out, "Cat! Get a hold of yourself!" When the Lightning Saix stayed stock-still, he shouted, "Do something, dammit!" This was not the time to freeze up in panic.
Then, she seemed to snap, for she growled and leapt forward to attack the Saurer as her Zoid let out a battle cry. It seemed to take the Kingdom pilot by surprise, for it stumbled back slightly as her claws barely missed its right arm. She cursed at her misfortune and continued the onslaught, not letting it have the time to extend its deadly claws. And that was all he saw before his vision was blocked by the Dibison getting back into its defensive position and turning to face him, looking as if steam should be coming out of its ears and nostrils. It stroked the ground once with each of its back feet just as a bull would, and then came charging after him, trapped between the three Dark Horns.
But Shadow always thought on his feet. Or, in this case, off of his feet. He leapt up above all of them, his Zoid having extreme power in its legs, and watched as the bull Zoid crushed the side of one of the Dark Horns while a hole gouged the face of another. Only one escaped unharmed as it tilted its head up to watch him almost glide down to land on the ground beside them before he immediately pounced on it much like a feline. He had the brief image of Shadowpaw doing just that, but it was quickly cast away in the heat of battle. He jerked his Zoid away from the fatal horns on the dinosaur Zoid's nose and let loose a barrage of shots from his gun at point-blank range. He leapt back a bit as it collapsed, its front legs unable to lift its heavy body up anymore. Satisfied, he was turning to deal with the other three Zoids in front of him when he was brought out of his personal battle by someone else.
"Ah, Shadowpaw! Get up!"
He whipped his Zoid around like a hurricane to see the Lightning Saix pinned down by the Saurer's leg. She had most likely been hit by its massive tail, considering the colossal dent in her side, and it had placed its foot on top of her so she couldn't recover. Her mounted back-gun's barrel was pinned beneath her, bent slightly to render it useless for the remainder of the battle. Her Zoid yowled in protest and writhed around on the ground in an attempt to escape as the Saurer aimed one of the guns on its hands and fired at her dead-on.
Cursing everything to 'blasted Kingdom come', he raced forward, letting loose another barrage of shots to try to distract it as he got closer. It looked up curiously, wondering what was trying to assault it, and was surprised to get mauled in the face by the Shadow Fox's claws. It staggered clumsily backwards, freeing the feline who quickly got up and bent low, ready for another assault. It seemed that it was the Zoid's own move, however, for it now seemed to be waiting for her actual command. The damage it had taken seemed not to affect it, but she seemed to be stunned, as if she had just had an encounter with Death.
Shadow withdrew from attacking the Saurer to attack the bull Zoid which had finally gotten its horn out from the Dark Horn's side and turned to face them. It snorted and started to charge up its beam, but a few rapid shots from Shadow was all it took to disrupt the beam and cause it to burst in the bull's face. It fell back, taking cover behind two Dark Horns as he took the opportunity to glance at the immobilized one on the ground behind the Saurer. It was struggling to get up, but it proved to be no threat when he looked at the shredded gun on its back. Shadowpaw had made quick work of that one.
He could only hope that she would keep it up.
S-H-A-D-O-W-P-A-W
Everything seemed to be going too fast for her; one moment, the Geno Saurer held her down and was going to annihilate her, and the next she was standing up and watching as Shadow crashed into her opponent's side, being careful not to be in the line of fire of the claws. She now stood, staring the Saurer down as her mind went blank. She couldn't think, she couldn't plan – her Zoid waited for her command, but she couldn't give one. Not now. She wasn't in control, and she wanted to just curl up and let her Saix fight for itself.
Then, a crackling on the radio made her head snap down to look at the radar screen, and her eyes widened even further when instead of the green grid map or one of her comrades' faces there was the dark image of a hideous monster. She remembered the stories that she had heard other specialists talk about, about the Kingdom's monstrosity of a populace, and she scowled darkly at the screen. 'Black Oak…' She hissed into the radio, "They've hacked into our radio systems!"
"Don't bother, feline," she glared at the screen as it chuckled menacingly, "it won't matter what they do. Soon, we'll slaughter you all, and nothing will stand in our way for total domination!"
"In your dreams," she spat and grabbed the controls to jerk her Zoid forward in an all-out assault on the Saurer, guns blazing and Zoid yowling. She leapt up and brought down her claw, but suddenly the Saurer opened its mouth and let loose a metallic screech that brought her Zoid down onto the ground and forced her to cover her ears. She cursed, but she wasn't able to hear anything as the Zoid towered over her. She tried to tell her Zoid to attack, but it was cringing as well from the sound, and she looked up furiously as the Kingdom pilot's face sneered at her. Although the Tyrannosaurus-type Zoid had closed its mouth, the sound was still ringing in her ears, and she cursed and strained to hear past the harsh noise. Finally, she could hear the Black Oak laughing at her as its Zoid stared down at her, and she forced her Saix up onto its feet (as if that would make a difference) as she shouted, "What are you laughing about, freak?"
It continued to laugh for a while, irking her to no end, but she couldn't charge it because she knew that it would probably screech again, and so she stood there, anticipation making her hands shake as she gritted her teeth and spat at the image on her radar screen. It grinned cruelly, a nasty look on its face when its mouth was dirty and its sharp teeth were covered in some type of disgusting black-ish/red-ish gel-like liquid, and as it chuckled it told her, "You are lucky that the Honorable Black Doom does not want to kill you…yet." Its ugly mug smirked at her scowl. "You are like a rodent in a rigged maze, feline, that is held in the Master's hands." It raised its three-clawed hand and closed it in a tight grip. "He can crush you like an insect at any time."
"Yeah, whatever," Shadowpaw rolled her eyes at the confidence in its voice, and she inquired, "So why doesn't he do that now, if he's so powerful?" She scoffed at the idea, not believing a word that the monster said. Of course it would praise its master. He'd probably die if he didn't. Doesn't mean that it was telling the truth. She got her Zoid into a 'ready' pose, crouching down slightly as the tail swished behind her slowly like a tree bending in the wind. She taunted with a grin, "Come on, I dare him to!"
The monster laughed again, making her growl angrily, and it shook its head at her. "He will not destroy his favorite entertainment. Besides…" Its smirk returned to its ugly face. "There are other ways to crush your spirit than with brute force."
"What?" Shadowpaw didn't understand what he was trying to say. "That doesn't make sense. What could he possibly –"
But then, the image cut out, and the monster was replaced with the bat looking at her worriedly. She shouted, "Shadowpaw, can you hear me?" She looked out of breath, as if she had been yelling for a while now. The feline tilted her head curiously and replied slowly and calmly, "Yes…is that all you wanted to know?"
"Well, sorry for caring – I couldn't get a hold of you or Shadow's radio for a few minutes! It was as if something had tampered it and blocked the signal from the Hover Cargo."
Shadowpaw frowned as, after the bat's words, the Geno Saurer turned to its allies and opened its mouth, but no sound came out. They seemed to have heard something, though, for they all started to back away from them and retreated to the shelter behind it. She saw Shadow's face appear on the screen as he said aloud, "They can't be retreating already." The Dark Horn in the very back of the group was the first to run off across the desert, followed by the other one and the Dibison. The Geno Saurer went as if to follow them, but then it stopped and turned to the incapacitated dinosaur Zoid with its belly on the desert sand. It raised its head as if with hope and let out a grunting sound as it made to move towards it.
The two claws snapped out and hooked onto the flank of the Dark Horn, and it could barely let out a warped cry before suddenly sparks flew and the electricity crawled down the thick cables to incinerate the Zoid on the receiving end of the attack. Shadowpaw's eyes were glued to the sight and watched as the Dark Horn raised its head and started to shriek out as if to tell it to stop, but then with a dark purple and black blur the Saurer's tail slammed into its head and neck with a sickening crunch. Its head snapped back with a crack, and its cockpit was crushed beyond repair. The pilot never stood a chance.
As the claws retracted back into their respective places, the Saurer looked straight at her, as if the demonstration was supposed to show how much deadly force he really had. It stared at her with those glowing eyes devoid of anything but a raptor-like anticipation for bloodshed, and it opened its mouth and hissed at her before turning and retreating with the others. The smoking hunk of metal that used to be a Dark Horn sizzled and crackled in the desert sun, smoldering softly. Smoke poured out of its open and deformed mouth like a silent plea for life.
Shadowpaw stood there for a long time, staring at the melted Zoid and the marks left on it from its comrade as well as herself. She didn't swear, or curse, or shout, or even blink. Nothing existed except for her and the shrapnel on the desert sand, with the smoke rising into the sky to darken it with menacing clouds. The color reminded her of the same clouds that had hung overhead at her parents' memorial, except no tears fell from the sky this time, as if it was tired of crying as well. In her mind's eye, she was once again a little girl, holding onto her favorite stuffed animal as she stared at the empty graves, long after everyone else had left. The only other people left were Sly, Cid, and Kussia, and they all had somber and grim looks on their faces as they watched her. The rain may have fallen on her face and made it look like streams of tears fell from her cheeks, but they all knew that she wasn't crying. She just stared with heartbreakingly solemn amber eyes at the tombstones, which read: 'In honor of Moon, who stood up against impossible odds to protect her honor,' and 'Shane, whose bravery and courage, and love, is deeply admired and truly missed.' In between them, a stone engraved with the following words acted like a ribbon to tie the two empty graves together: 'Raptor Rank Shane Fur and Rhino Rank Moon Paw; partners, lovers, parents, to the end.' After a long time of standing there, Cid had held out his hand and told her that they had to take her to their base, and after a while of silently looking up at him she nodded without a word and took his hand.
She was stopped from walking further down Memory Lane when she heard someone clear their throat. Blinking owlishly, she slowly looked down at the screen to see Shadow watching her. He had been on link for a while now, but the fact didn't register with her as she stared back at him, wondering what he wanted. When it was evident she wouldn't respond, he told her, "We need to get back to the Hover Cargo, so stop daydreaming and come on." He left no room for argument as he turned off his radio, and she looked and saw him turn around and began to run back the way they came. Still a bit out of it, she followed a bit slower, taking a moment to glance back at the wreckage behind them. The eyes, which were one of the only things not completely destroyed, were smoldering with a fire burning within the head, making it look as if there was still something there, watching her with demonic eyes.
She didn't look back again.
S-H-A-D-O-W-&-R-O-U-G-E
Shadow sighed and pushed aside the still-full cup, no longer thirsty. His thoughts were too consuming and questions so demanding that he just couldn't sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee anymore. His mind kept replaying what he had seen and heard at the battle, including his own special talk he had. Shadowpaw wasn't the only one who was being watched by the Kingdom; Black Doom himself had come onto his screen and told him so. Rouge hadn't told Shadowpaw that they could hear her talking, but not what she was hearing, for the most part. For Shadow, however, it seemed Black Doom hadn't let any signal come or leave for their entire conversation; otherwise, the others would have been asking about many things he really didn't want to explain at the moment. Black Doom had wanted him to hear her words, to show that she had some importance to the Kingdom as well. 'But what for,' he wondered, disliking the fact that he didn't know the answer. 'Why would they be watching her? Me, I understand…but…why her? Is it her parents? Her strange bond with the Alpha Rex? Her bond with me?' He scoffed at the last one, but all the same…what was the answer? What did Black Doom have planned for her?
He remembered Doom's exact words before he left his communications link. "I have something special for the both of you, Shadow. Don't keep me waiting." That was when Shadowpaw had started to dare Black Doom to 'do it', whatever 'it' was, and then Shadow had gotten to hear the Oak's reply for a moment. 'There are other ways to crush your spirit than with brute force… What does that mean?' He had been just as confused as Shadowpaw had with the reply, but a bad feeling in his gut had told him it wouldn't be good for either him or her. That was what he hated about the Kingdom and its ugly people; he couldn't read their emotions as easily as he could others, making them an enigma wrapped around a mystery. It made them impossible to predict, and even harder to engage in combat if they were skilled enough. That was what had killed his father and the previous Alpha Rex.
He looked up as Rouge came in and sighed, her shoulders slumped as if the weight of the world was on them. She collapsed into a chair, looking about as bored and troubled as a dog stuck in a cage. She leaned her head back and let it smack into the wall behind her, grumbling a small 'ouch' of resentment as she stared at the ceiling with her eyes half-closed. He guessed what was bothering her and asked uninterestedly, "Is the feline still moping in her room?" He had to admit he hadn't expected anything else, and when the bat nodded with another sigh he came to a decision and stood up. As he strode calmly yet determined over to the door, the bat lifted her head to question him. "Where are you going," she inquired, blinking with confusion.
"To get that sorry-for-herself, self-pitying cat off of her lazy ass and make her do some paperwork," he told her as he left, missing the smirk on her face as she nodded at her good work. 'Perfect,' she took pride at her cleverness and kicked back, putting her hands behind her head and crossing her legs. "Boys are just too easy!"
Meanwhile, Shadow strolled down the hallway to the rooms and stopped at the feline's door. He raised his hand to knock on the door, but was surprised when it slid open and Shadowpaw walked out and smacked her face into his chest with a muffled 'oomph'. Not expecting there to suddenly be a black fuzzy wall in front of her door, she staggered back slightly and looked at her doorway in bewilderment as she held her nose, as if expecting some sort of special force field or something. When she saw him, however, her mouth tightened into a thin line as she flushed slightly in the face.
He raised an eyebrow at her strange behavior. He really didn't think that not wearing a shirt would really matter. But, now that she was in front of him and she was acting this peculiar, he thought that maybe he should do it more often. It seemed to quell the fight in her, if at least for a moment.
They kind of just stood there in silence, staring at one another, with Shadow analyzing her body language. Her knees were locked into place, and her feet were shoulders'-length apart and looked like two blocks of cement, not wanting to budge. Her back was stiff and straight, looking as if she was caught red-handed doing something wrong. Her arms were at her side, yet raised slightly, as if she wanted to do something but was unsure of what exactly. Of course, there was that blush on her face, showing her embarrassment in bumping into him just as she was leaving (and shoving her face into his chest, no less). Her ears twitched, showing she wanted him to say something to end the silence. And her eyes…they were difficult; he couldn't see past the hard gold wall she had built up ever since she had come back from the battle. He knew that the wall wasn't there before, but now it stood, closing off the best source of answers from him. Now, he could only speculate by her movements and words, but even that didn't answer all of his questions.
"May I come in?" He didn't even wait for her answer, instead just walking into the room as she backed up a bit so she didn't touch him again. Knowing that it was rude to leave it open, he closed the door behind him and looked back at the uncomfortable feline. She looked ready to bolt out or something, but her eyes were still shut from him, although her eyelids didn't cover them, and wouldn't give him the reason why. He glanced around the room, noticing that it was pretty neat and yet devoid of any real 'homey feeling' that Rouge had in her room with all of her knick-knacks and precious souvenirs and all. The closest thing to 'homey' was her communicator blinking on her desk.
His eyes focusing back on her, Shadow looked down at her and really noticed how short she was compared to him. He was a good three-to-five inches taller than her, even without his shoes, which was why she had run into his chest. If he tried to put his arm around her shoulder (not like he would), he would have to bend down slightly to rest it parallel to the ground. He realized that if he ever really didn't want to let her have something, like an important document for example, he simply had to hold it high over his head and she would be hopelessly leaping up trying to get it. Nearly smirking at the thought before he waved it away, he looked at her seriously and asked, "Where were you going?"
"Err…" She looked up at the ceiling. "My Zoid…"
"But there's not much damage on it, and the machines are already working on that," he countered, already knowing he'd win the battle. After all, her eyes were so devoid of emotion and her tone was so bland of real meaning that he knew her heart wasn't set on it. She sighed and shook her head, correcting, "I wasn't checking on it; I was going to sit in the cockpit for a while."
"What, your room's too plain for you?" He smirked as finally she scowled, glad that he had gotten a better reaction out of her. If he had to see her get all sad and go mope somewhere one more time, he was going to strangle her. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall as she turned her head to look at a spot away from him. With the way she was looking at it, it was almost as if there was something important behind it and she was trying to bore a hole through the wall with her gaze. But her eyes were still dull; it was like looking at two weathered golden coins that had seen harsher climates.
Sighing, he looked over at his door, knowing that when he was done with her he should get his own work finished. He didn't have as much as he did before they left, but it was still a big pile. 'It would be nice if she did her own share,' he grumbled silently, and he was going to say something of the like when a sudden question came from the feline.
"Do you believe in heroes?"
He blinked a moment, not understanding what she said until it clicked, and then turned his head back to look at her. She now had her back to him, but he could see something hidden in the way she held herself. Or, rather, the way she didn't hold herself. She looked as if she had given up on something, and her shoulders sagged slightly with weariness while her tail drooped on the ground like a piece of wet string. She looked like someone who just didn't have much to live for anymore.
And that irked him to no end.
He couldn't stand people giving up; he dubbed them as too weak and stepped over them before continuing on his way to his own success. If they couldn't deal with the choices they made, they shouldn't have made them in the first place and followed that path as far as they did. They were weaklings that didn't deserve anything, who whined and complained and threw in the towel at the first sign of a complication. They didn't deserve to live.
And now, this feline, who had been assigned his partner and was a stubborn spitfire, was moping and looking as pathetic as a wet kitten on the streets. He scowled at her back, half-glad she couldn't see it. She had more stuff than most other people, and, he grudgingly admitted, she was talented at certain things, and yet she was going to sit in a corner and cry like a wimp. He wouldn't let her, though; she was his challenge, and he wasn't going to let her break her own spirit.
Straightening up with a strange feeling of determination, he looked at her back and thought hard about the question. He was quiet for a while, in which time the cat didn't even move, until he came to a conclusion and answered, "I believe there are people clever enough, or stupid enough, to meet Life and Death face-to-face without backing down." He shrugged, although he knew she wouldn't be able to see it. "If that is what you call a hero, then yes."
She was unresponsive after this, to which Shadow took as a sign that she was considering his words. Her tail-tip twitched ever so slightly in quiet contemplation, and the tension in her muscles revealed that this matter was serious to her.
Whatever secret was hidden under this mystery, he was going to dig it out even if he had to use his bare hands.
Then, she twisted her head to look over her left shoulder at him, her eyes colder than the old ashes of a wildfire. She seemed to be scrutinizing him, as if asking him silently for answers, but she instead looked up at his face and said in a monotone voice, "I think that authority is an excuse for people to lead others with their lies and tricks." It was the strangest and coldest feeling when she said it so detachedly, as if she wasn't really there and was watching something in her mind's eye. "And a hero is just a 'leader' who thinks he can 'change the world with his ideas'." She then turned her body fully around to face him and strode over smoothly, until she only stood a couple of inches from him so he could barely feel her breath on his skin. She raised her face up to stare at his, and now in her amber orbs there was something fierce, almost terrifying in them; hatred. No matter what other emotion was there, anger and loathing covered it all like a bloodlust. Yet he knew, he knew, that there was something else there. She was just so livid at the moment that he couldn't understand it.
"Heroes," she whispered, although it was as crystal clear as her shouting, "are people who disregard others beliefs and follow their own, straight to their demise. At Death's doorstep, they leave the world out on the cold steps and let themselves be enveloped by its sweet, dark embrace." She was glaring at him without actually glaring, as if she was shouting through her words that she hated him so. Her voice grew lower so that he actually had to strain a bit to hear her, "They only think about themselves and leave the rest of the world to wither and die. They lie to the people they love and tell them sugary lies of hope and peace, when in all reality, the whole world is full of darkness."
As Shadow stared at her with a blank expression, he saw how she clenched her jaw slightly and her fists trembled with barely controlled rage, as if it was all she could do not to punch him. She seemed so calm, however, and he wondered how she could, now, at a time like this, have control over her emotions. The only time he felt he really needed to know something, she was about to conceal it and hide it away within her shell. It was like a lizard waiting for the alligator to leave the nest so it could have its feast.
Her voice then returned to its normal tone, with all of its volume and intensity packed in every single word: "Leaders and heroes are only wolves in sheep's clothing, hiding behind their fake-confident smiles and witty catchphrases, when in all reality they can't handle what they are expected to. As soon as it looks too hard for them, they wave the white flag and give up. They think that they are invincible and are perfect at everything, but when they're really needed, they can't even do a damn thing right. They're just a waste of air." She then bowed her head and finished her speech by glowering at the floor, "The world would be better off without them."
It was then that it clicked; she thought of him as one of those 'wolves in sheep's clothing'. A 'hero'. She thought that he was trying to prove that he was better than her just so that he could use her as a stepping stone to fame and money and power. Something seemed to be linked to this, as if someone had done that to her or made her feel as if she was being used. Then, the puzzle pieces slowly began to come together in his mind, and he made his first comment since she started:
"But your parents are heroes, aren't they?"
She didn't move, didn't even breathe for a moment as she kept her gaze on the ground, and he knew that he had just hit the nail on the head on this one. They stood there in silence, with Shadowpaw's head turned downwards as he stared at her, waiting for an answer to his question. And, he got one.
"Were." It was so blunt and sudden that he almost missed it, but then she looked straight ahead and walked past him, slightly brushing against his shoulder as she walked out of her room and down the hallway, probably to get in the cockpit of her Zoid like she said she would earlier. He stood there still in her room, staring at the spot she had stood just a moment ago as he gathered his thoughts. With everything that he learned about this feline, she just got him more confused and each question that she answered made at least two more rise in its place. It seemed that he would never figure her out…
"Women are complex," he sighed and shook his head, before turning and walking to the door connecting with his room, but he stopped as he passed her desk and saw the communicator laying there, the little light still blinking at him. Curious, but cautious, he walked over and picked it up, examining the bold letters on the screen. "One missed call," he mused aloud, "and one voice message. Hmmm…"
