Allo, Internet. Welcome back to the story. Did you enjoy your cliffhanger ending to the last chapter? No. Of course you didn't. That's why you're reading this crap that I put up. Enjoy.
Act I: Scream
Chapter 11: Downfall
Shadow stared at the screen of his phone in disbelief. Impossible! There wasn't even a body to call for! Loathing what he might hear, he opened the phone and raised it to his ear.
"Tsk Tsk, Shadow. I thought that I had made it obvious. Oh well. I suppose that since I haven't killed them just yet, I'll make you a deal. If you can find and rescue the victims before their time runs out, they're saved. You'd better hurry, though. They might bleed out before the timers go off."
Shadow bolted up. "Where are you, you pathetic excuse for a monster?"
The voice gave a smug, "Hmph. The Horizon Tower, you pathetic excuse for an Ultimate Life Form."
Shadow barely needed to hear the dial tone before bursting into the library. Many of the guests jumped in shock. "Sonic!" he shouted. "Horizon Tower! Let's go!"
Tearing through the doors, he heard a cocky, "Finally!"
His jet shoes rocketed him toward the other side of the central district toward a looming building in the distance. This was the Horizon Tower. It was named for its ability to 'expand the horizon' of the city. If you asked Shadow, it was an egotistical display of power and ingenuity.
The building itself was a simple rectangular shape with no rooms, large metal supports, and elevators that carried passengers to the observation decks. The observation decks formed a large golden ring around it made to resemble the golden power rings.
Sonic was following close behind him, tearing off the clothes that they had forced him into. Were he human, he would have been classified as either drunk or insane.
As the hedgehogs approached the building, they saw that the police had formed a perimeter. When they drew nearer, they saw that the elevators had large boxes labeled 'EXPLOSIVES' in them along with a monitor. The monitor showed a timer slowly counting down while playing an audio recording of the killer's disguised voice.
"Do not enter the elevators. They have been rigged to explode if anyone sets foot in them. If they do explode, they may weaken the supports. Who knows? You may have to deal with more deaths than those of the victims up there. I have a game to play and I am very eager to win."
These simple statements were set in an endless loop. The police officers were keeping a large throng back. The most difficult to keep back were supposedly the family members of the victims. They were crying, begging, pleading to be let through, but the officers were wise enough to keep them from killing themselves and possibly others.
Shadow looked at the timer. They only had three minutes and seven seconds until the victims were killed.
"Shadow. If I get enough space, I might be able to run up the side of the building. You use your shoes. I'll get there as soon as I can," said Sonic.
Shadow nodded. "I'll open up the decks with a Chaos Spear. I'll go right; you go left."
"Got it."
Shadow closed his eyes. He summoned as much Chaos energy as he could and began channeling it toward his feet. His shoes began to burn extremely hot in response. With a cry of "Chaos Launch," he was lifted off of the ground and began hurtling toward the top of the building.
Looking down, he saw Sonic running down a long street in order to build up enough momentum to carry him to the top. For Shadow, the top was drawing nearer. The golden ring grew larger as he hurtled toward it faster than a jet plane.
When he had reached a sufficient height, he restricted the flow of Chaos energy to his feet. Though slowing down, he was still rocketing toward the ring above him. With a swing of his arm and crying, "Chaos Spear," he shot a yellow lightning-like bolt of energy at the ring which broke into the interior. Just as gravity slowed him down enough to reach the height of his jump, he reached out his hand and grabbed onto the tiled floor of the observation decks.
He pulled himself up from the layer of concrete and electrical wiring underneath to the main flooring. Looking down, he saw a blue streak hurtling down a long road toward the building. Sonic was using a spindash: a more destructive, but harder to charge means of getting to a high place. The spindash also required a flat surface to support the user, but the user was also protected by it and could automatically cause damage to an opponent.
Soon enough, Sonic had rocketed up the side of the building and was standing on the opposite side of the whole that Shadow had created. They nodded at each other.
Shadow wasted no time in turning to his right and rocketing down the circular hallway quickly enough to cover sufficient ground, but slow enough to notice anything suspicious. In the blur that surrounded him, he could see a few coffee shops, the elevator station, brief glimpses of the city from the windows, facts about the building posted on the wall; the entire hallway had a circumference of almost three-quarters of a mile.
Finally, when he was about two-thirds of the way to having circumnavigated the building, he saw them. Four victims; a human boy, a dark green echidna, a gray fox, and a white chameleon. They were each numbered from 42 to 39. Their gagged faces showed only two emotions to Shadow: searing pain and mortal terror.
They were each completely horizontally suspended from the window with their hands firmly tied around their back. Each one was supported by a noose holding them up by the back of the neck. The nooses were connected at a small device with the timer that read 1:52 One thought came to Shadow's mind: where was Sonic?
Before Shadow could look for him, the killer's voice played through the device. "Ah, good to see you could make it, Shadow. Here's the deal. Each of the victims is only separated from death by a noose and a windowpane to put their feet on. When the timer runs out, the nooses will extend, and they will fall until the rope runs out. If you try to pass the device to reach them, the timer means nothing anymore. You have to disarm the device or they will pay for it. Don't worry about your blue friend, though. He's not going to bother you."
When the voice stopped playing, the victims began groaning through their gags, begging Shadow to save them. "Calm down!" said Shadow, and he began his work on the device.
He wasn't exactly a technology expert, but he knew that he'd have to remove the metal covering at some place. Choosing to remove the timer screen, he saw that it was connected with multi-colored wires that plugged into a small black box. The box was attached to a horizontal winch that held the ropes of the four nooses.
Shadow severely wished that Tails or even Omega were here to tell him which part did what. Thinking quickly, he started to think through his options. Cutting the ropes was out of the question because he would send the victims plummeting to their deaths. He knew that he could not simply cut all of the wires at once because at least one of them was keeping the ropes in place.
The timer was still ticking. He only had forty-seven seconds. Trying to stay calm, he separated the colored wires. There was one red, one blue, one green, two yellow, one black, and one black-and-yellow. With forty seconds remaining, Shadow began racing through his memories in an attempt to remember what each color meant in an explosive. He had been trained to disarm those.
30 seconds; the black wire connects it to the power source. If he disconnects that one, the winch will just unwind and they're done for.
26 seconds; the blue wire inhibits a premature activation. It would be best to keep that intact.
20 seconds; the red wire is a backup in case the original activation fails. He promptly yanked it out.
15 seconds; the yellow wires kept the winch in place until the activation command was given. Those were the ones that he knew he couldn't disconnect.
10 seconds; the green wire prevents an activation or deactivation from an outside source. He didn't want the killer to activate it even if the right wire was severed.
5 seconds...
Which means...
4...
The one that carries the command...
3...
Is...
2...
The black-and-yellow!
1...
Shadow stared in disbelief. In his hand, he held a torn black-and-yellow wire. The timer on the device read 0:00. All of the victims were still supported on the backs of their necks by the nooses with their feet on the windowpane. It was over. He had done it.
Shadow breathed a sigh of relief, but perhaps too soon. A second later, his phone rang. He almost laughed at the 'Unknown' that was shown on the screen. The killer had been beaten at his own game.
He unfolded the phone and put it up to his ear. "Well done, Shadow. Do you hear that? That's the sound of me applauding you saving their lives."
The silence lingered on. "What's that? You don't hear anything? That's because you haven't saved them. They only have a matter of seconds before they bleed out. Ta Ta."
Shadow's eyes widened in shock. He thrust his phone into his pocket and lunged for the window. Since the device had been disabled, he didn't have to worry about crossing the line to set it off.
Careful not to pull them upright and risk having them lose more blood, he grabbed hold of the ends of the ropes and used a Chaos Spear to sever them. Then with a shout of "Chaos Control!" he and the victims entered the warp dimension for an instant.
The very next instant, they were collapsed on the white linoleum floor of St. Tikal General Hospital. Doctors and nurses gasped in shock at first, then wisely began to call for emergency medical attention. The victims, with their faces still contorted in pain, were carted off on gurneys while a doctor helped Shadow up off of the ground. Having to launch himself onto the tallest building in the city followed by a Chaos Spear and teleporting four others in such a short amount of time was rather taxing on Shadow, but he had gotten the victims to safety. They had a chance to be happy; to live their dreams.
Hooray! Probably the first actual happy ending to one of my chapters. So, who is the murderer? Has he truly been stopped, or will he continue? Was that second question incredibly stupid because there's so much yet to be told? Be back next time and find out. (Five points to the house that recognizes the Batman: Arkham Asylum reference.)
