Hey guys, again, sorry for the long wait, school and work heh.

Anyways, on with the story, let me know what ya think!

Thanks for reading,

Alter Chapter 20, The Attack

Rykk and Leo's eyes went wide and they both said in unison, "SHADE?!"

Shade raised a brow, "I do not believe we've..." his brow furrowed a bit as he looked at Rykk. "You... you're older and quite... different... but I know you."

Rykk growled deeply, "I don't know how you're here Shade..." his claws extended, "...but I will destroy you!" He pounced.

Leo yelled, and even though he was injured, he charged at Shade. He threw a punch and a blast of purple energy flew from his hand.

Shade spun and kicked Rykk aside and blocked Leo's blast with a shield of black energy. He spun and did a quick motion with his hands. A wave of black energy flew at the group.

Sly yelled fired some Bide at the blast, pausing it in midair.

Rykk had landed on his feet and raised his hands. A rock wall was raised by his Alter and blocked the wave of shadow energy.

There was a deafening explosion as the wall blew apart from a black, lightning bolt.

"First time in a while I get a decent fight." Shade remarked, "It's only fitting it's with my old enemies."

Sly snarled, "I don't know who you are... but no one messes with my friends!" He swung his staff in a flurry of motions.

Shade raised and swung his Sai and very quickly parried Sly's cane.

Six also snarled and ran at Shade with his knives.

Rykk roared and slashed at Shade with his claws.

Ratchet swung his wrench with a deep growl.

Shade's arms were a blur. He managed to block Sly's staff and kicked Sly back. Sly teleported a short distance away.

Shade fired a blast of black lightning at Six and Leo knocked him down, evading the blast.

Despite his furious slashes, Rykk only hit air as Shade managed to duck and side-step each one. He managed to grab Rykk's wrist and threw him. Rykk yelped as he crashed into Sly.

Ratchet yelled as he swung his wrench and his brother helped him by slashing with his knives.

However, their attacks seemed to only annoy Shade as he was holding them back with no problem. With a quick motion, Shade managed to cut Ratchet's upper arm and his leg.

Ratchet yelled and dropped his wrench as the cuts were deep.

Six snarled and ferociously tried to get Shade. He thrust his knife at Shade's torso and was quite fast.

But Shade had flipped over him and jabbed him in the side with one of the blades of his Sai and then kicked Six in the jaw. The blow was hard and KO'd the lombax. Before he passed out, he saw Carmelita guarding Michelle, Bentley, and Oliver behind the bar.

Rykk and Sly charged Shade at the same time, Rykk threw a chunk of the ground at Shade while Sly fired a blast of Bide.

Shade slammed his fists together and a shockwave of black energy left him. This blast was quite strong as Sly's Bide didn't affect it and everyone yelled as they were knocked back.

Rykk groaned as he and Sly shakily stood up. They both yelped and yelled as Shade made a few quick cuts on their legs and arms and they fell.

"Well, I must say I didn't expect to meet you here." Shade said to Rykk. "I'm not the nostalgic type though." He raised his Sai, one blade above Rykk's chest and the other above Sly's. "And you and your friends are a potential thorn in my side. So..."

Sly gulped and closed his eyes.

Rykk growled.

Shade paused and quickly spun around and blocked a Vector round.

"Hey, who told you to rain on our parade with your ugly face?" Rance taunted and fired another round. "Sorry about being late, heh, was using the little boy's room. That and I think the author wanted a deus ex-machina..."

Shade easily blocked the round. "You've got a mouth on you don't you?"

Rance chuckled, "Famous for it, now how about we dance, tall, dark and ugly?" He yelled and threw a pair of daggers.

Shade didn't look amused as he bent over backwards and then performed a flip. As he flipped, a black ball of energy flew from Shade's foot.

Rance rolled and evaded the attack, "Now that wasn't very nice." He quickly charged and closed the distance between himself and Shade. As he did so, Rance drew a pair of knives and started throwing rapid stabs and jabs.

Shade used his Sai and his reflexes and speed to evade or block Rance's attacks. Rance's taunt was correct in the fact that it did seem like they were dancing. Both of them were incredibly fast and agile. However, Shade was faster and he jabbed Rance in the knee.

Rance yelped but managed to nick Shade in the side with one of his knives. "Well, that hurts..."

Shade grunted and held his side. "Most impressive," he then kicked Rance in the jaw. "But I'm not here to play games." Shade suddenly spun around and threw a slash.

Rykk, Ratchet, and Sly's eyes went wide as Shade's Sai cut Murray's neck. Shade then threw a punch and Murray was sent flying back by a blast of black energy. "Rude beast..."

Sly yelled and his eyes did glow bright red. Bide began to wisp off of him like ink in water and he teleported behind Shade and swung his cane.

Shade parried the blow and threw a kick. "Now this got interesting," Sly rapidly teleported around Shade in a frenzy and swung his staff just as rapidly. Yet, Shade managed to dodge or block all of the blows. He couldn't deliver many jabs with his Sai though. Each collision of their weapons caused a small blast and flash of energy. That and the incredible acrobatics and speed of the two fighting resulted in a dazzling display.

Rykk and Ratchet ran over to Murray but they were too late. Rykk roared in a rage along with Ratchet and they both charged at Shade.

Shade managed to push Sly back and spun. A ring of black lightning flew from him and expanded tremendously fast.

Rykk ducked it while Ratchet leapt over it.

Shade quickly raised his arms and a pillar of black energy surrounded him. The pillar was dozens of feet tall and spun like a vortex.

Sly slammed the head of his staff against it but it did not break.

Rykk tried to slash it with his claws to no avail.

Ratchet's wrench worked just as well as his friend fruitless attacks.

Shade flew out of the top of the vortex and quickly clenched and unclenched his fist. This motion made the vortex blast like a shockwave.

Rykk yelped and quickly shielded himself and his friends from the blast with Alter.

Shade, knowing that he would lose if he kept up the fight, took off and flew away. He hated admitting defeat, but he didn't have much choice. He flew back to his residence in New Elko and sat down on the sofa. They're stronger than I anticipated, huh, so this is what it feels like to underestimate your opponents. Then again, who would've guessed I would have ran into people who actually knew me. Well, next time I will have to be a bit more cunning and not so direct. I at least managed to kill one of them. He stood up and poured himself a glass of wine. Oh I'll get them, and they will beg to die quickly and I will not grant them that. I will make them watch as their friends die.

A knock on his door made Shade freeze. He slowly set his glass down and approached the door. He looked through the peephole before opening it. It was a messenger from the Attero.

"The others want to meet with you."

Shade nodded and sent the messenger away.

Thirty minutes later, Shade arrived at the meeting room. However, as soon as he stepped in, one of the bodyguards for the council opened fire at him. Shade had the faster reflexes and evaded the rounds. He closed the distance between himself and the guard before jamming his Sai into his throat. The guard fell and Shade spun around as six others ran in. He grabbed the arm of one of them, spun him into a one of the others, and drove one blade into the chest of one and the other Sai blade into the back of the other. He shoved them to the ground and ducked a shot from another henchman. Shade quickly made a motion with his hands, like he was pulling something apart and two, black walls of energy formed and knocked down the remaining men. He then lifted his hands and dozens of arcs of black lightning flew from his fingers and began to electrocute the thugs. It didn't kill them, just stunned them badly. Shade ran forward, twirling and slashing with his Sai till they were all cut into a bloody heap, leaving only one alive.

The lombax henchmen groaned in pain. "Please... I beg of you... have mercy..."

Shade looked down at him and kneeled down. "There is no mercy..." He held his palm out and fired dozens of small, black lightning bolts into him. The thug yelled in agony as black lightning coursed through his body. Shade stopped after a few seconds. "...however, you may prove useful too me. Who was the one that set up this hit on me?"

The henchman was breathing heavily as wisps of steam rose from him.

Shade held his hand up, "Tell me now or I will keep inflicting this pain on you until you do."

"P-Peter... it was Peter..."

Shade lowered his hand. "There now," Shade grabbed one of the dead henchmen's communicators. "You will call him and tell him the attack worked, I am dead. Do it, and I will let you go free to your wife."

The thug whimpered but took the communicator. "Sir... yes... sorry he was killed but we managed to take out the target. Thank you sir..." At that he hung up, "Done."

Shade nodded, "Good." At that he drove on of his Sai blades into the lombax's forehead. He yanked his blade free and walked out of the room, cleaning of his blades as he walked. Time to pay Peter a visit.

Rykk lowered his hands and the Alter shield was lowered. The ground was burned from Shade's attack and it was evident that shielding them from the blast took a lot of energy on Rykk's part. He was breathing hard and sweating a lot.

Sly snarled and was in a complete rage. His eyes glowed like a demon's as tears poured and the wisps of Bide coming off of his hooded form gave him a dark appearance. "I... am going to rip... him... APART!

Ratchet too had a look of rage and sadness drawn across his face.

Rykk had only a hint of sadness on his expression. The rest was a distant, mournful look, like he had been through this situation dozens of times. "We need to find Shade and kill him quickly..."

Six groaned and slowly got up. "Ugh, bax that hurt..." He saw Murray and snarled, "WHERE IS HE?! I'll gut him!

Sly looked at Rykk, "How do you know that monster?"

Rykk sighed, "It's a very long and dark tale. First, let's bury our friend..."

Sly's eyes faded and more tears poured. "O-okay... I just... Murray..." At that, Sly broke down.

Carmelita stepped out with Michelle and Oliver. Her eyes were soaked and there's blue flames coming off of her. She and Sly hugged each other and grieved for a few minutes. Bentley broke down the instant he saw Murray, he couldn't utter any coherent words.

About thirty minutes later, the group stood over Murray's grave.

"I can't believe this..." Carmelita said, "We will make Shade pay for this..."

Six was emotionless save for a hint of rage on his face, "He will pay dearly and painfully."

Ratchet growled, "This Shade has no idea what he's done."

Rance stood there in silence, his expression cold and distant.

Sly looked at Rykk, "What can you tell us about Shade?"

Rykk's expression held a deep seriousness and darkness to it. "He is a nightmare..."

Kyle was walking down a street in New Elko, he couldn't leave the city, not yet. He knew that Shade probably had his men on the lookout near the city's outskirts. He had to leave but it would be best doing that undetected. He knew of one person who might be able to help him. The Superintendent as he's called, Kyle thought as he neared a bar. It wasn't fancy or anything, just your average, neighborhood bar. Heard he comes here often, worth a shot.

Kyle entered the bar and ignored the drunken antics of many of the patrons. His business lay with the one providing live music for the bar. He was an older lombax with black fur, no stripes, and silver/blue eyes. He has some longer hair hanging over his face and part of it was graying. He wore a dark brown, unbuttoned vest and dark grey pants. He had started singing The Rock Island Line in the style of Johnny Cash.

Kyle sat at an empty table and kicked back. He listened through the whole song and ordered a glass of water as he listened. He continued to listen to the whole show until it had gotten very late and the band finished for the night. As the singer walked off the stage, and stepped over a few passed-out drunks, Kyle aproached him.

The older lombax smirked a bit when he saw Kyle. He nodded towards a back room and Kyle followed him into it, somewhere they could talk in private. "You're in quite a bit of trouble I hear."

Kyle nodded lightly, "Yeah, hello Garth..."

"Let me guess, you want out of this city but you know that the borders are being watched, right?"

Again, Kyle nodded.

The black-furred, lombax musician chuckled lightly, "Well, I can help. But of course it ain't gonna be free boy."

"I expected that, what do you want?"

Garth shrugged a bit, "Not a lot. You see there's a small shop near Columbia Plaza that helps a few friends of mine run a money laundering operation. However, the new owners of the place have refused to cooperate with me and my friends. I would love if you could go over there and talk some sense into them. Do that, and I will get you out of here quietly."

Kyle sighed, "Alright, what's the address?"

Garth chuckled, "I can show you. You see I plan on going with you on this job."

While it didn't take long for Kyle, aka The Hunter, and Garth, aka The Superintendent, to reach the shop. It did take them a bit longer than usual due to the fact theu had to be very cautious to avoid being caught by the Attero.

The place was a small pawn shop and despite it being near a wealthy part of the city, it looked slightly rundown. It wasn't nearly as bad as those say in the Red Road or Shine districts but it didn't quite seem to match its surroundings.

Still, if he wanted to get out of the city, he had to do this job.

Garth nonchalantly walked past Kyle and into the shop. Kyle quickly followed him. The place was empty of customers and cashier looked up as they approached the counter. His expression said that he knew Garth and why he was there. The sight of The Hunter made his face a tad grim as he pushed a button under the counter. The wall behind him moved and opened, revealing a secret chamber.

Garth motioned towards the entrance, "After you kid."

Kyle glared a bit at being called a kid but he stepped into the entrance. The sound of the wall closing behind him and Garth rang out as they stepped foot into the secret place.

Well, sorry for the lack of content lately, hopefully this chapter makes up for it. I actually managed to make this one a decent length!

Anyways, thanks for reading, let me know what you think in a review. All reviews are appreciated greatly.

As always, stay tuned for more my friends!

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Thanks for reading,

Jerod2447