Summary
The Hedgehog Saga: Nothing was quite as it seemed. Shadow wasn't as 'free' as he would have liked, and Sonic had been acting very strange for some time. But when the two powerhouses cooperate in a plot to take down those who mean to control them, the entire world is turned upside down when the Ultimate Lifeform finally quenches his hunger.
Chapter Contents
Chapter One – Prisoner
Chapter Two – Origins
Chapter Three – Change
Chapter Four – Diversion
Chapter Five – Corruption
Chapter Six – Explorations
Chapter Seven – Instincts
Chapter Eight – Seductions
Chapter Nine – Resurrection
Chapter Ten – Surrender
Chapter Eleven – Home
Chapter One – Prisoner
Shadow The Hedgehog was the Ultimate Lifeform, created in a laboratory aboard the space colony Ark. That was when it was orbiting around Earth, now around Mobius, it still remains home to the mighty Black Hedgehog. He heaved, growling deeply. He was fuming, his temper flaring. He was stood in one of his favourite rooms of the whole of the space colony, staring at the panoramic view of the planet below. It was stunning. The green and blue sphere gentle turning beneath him, as the clouds and weather systems gently moved across it. He used to love the view. Not anymore.
He stood there, his arms folded. His large sleek black body stiff with anger, his white gloved fingers, and on his wrists, his gold Inhibitors Rings upon them, shining. His long red stripes down both his black arms and legs, glistenedin the light of the sun through the window, and his black upturned quills with their magnificent red stripes, on his head and flowing down his back behind him. His white chest fur looking somewhat rough this early of the day. He gained a lot of weight over the recent years, in pure muscle, making the Ultimate Lifeform somewhat board. Across his left shoulder, his call sign, in deep red had been tattooed, quite large, as a means of triggering his memory, if it was to ever be swiped again. He gritted his teeth. He now hated the planet through the window, growling as that this was not what he promised Maria. She'd asked him, made him promise, to help the people of the planet to be happy, to live their dreams, but not if they treated him this badly.
He was specifically talking about G.U.N., the Guardian Units of Nations, a worldwide military and law enforcement organisation, of whom he still worked for. It was fine in the beginning when he first recovered his memories and needed to find his place on the world, but nowadays, after years, not so much. Everyone had grown, including himself, and now he was becoming far more observantof the real truth of what going on. Not so naive, anymore. He recently found out that G.U.N. had been manipulatinghim. Quite heavily, in fact, and only now had he noticed. In order to control him, Gerald Robotnik, had preprogrammed him to respond to orders without question. He'd had intensive conditioning of his mind, a string of code phrases were implanted, and when they used in a certain way, for example, when a order was given, Shadow would automatically obey, regardless of whether he wanted to or not. He knew Gerald was doing this to him, and Eggman, especially while his brain was constantly being swiped, but back then, he didn't care, but when he recovered his memories and got the job at G.U.N., he was given the impression he was free from it.
He roared with anger. He wasn't. He'd been lied to. The programming still remained, and G.U.N., and therefore the Mobian Authorities,had been using it against him. Extremely subtly. Shadow didn't know all the phases programmed to control him, and some of the slightly bizarrewording of some of the orders he'd been receiving from G.U.N. were heavily suggesting this. But there was nothing he could do about it. He obeyed them all, he had no choice, even missions he desperately didn't want to do. If he'd had been told the programming still remained, he might not have taken this so badly, but to imply, even tell Shadow he had freedom, to do as he wished between missions was entirely noticed cameras on the Ark, now realising that G.U.N. watched his every move. He was certain he had a tracker on his person somewhere, telling them exactly where he was, and if he strayed, then a G.U.N. mission would magically appear out of nowhere, forcing him back to them.
He had no freedom at all. Still nothing more then property, despite what he'd been told. He'd been created, not born, he had no legal rights on Mobius, and now, still a prisoner. This all came to light on a mission for G.U.N. when Rouge, his female Bat colleague and friend, got into trouble. He wanted to go back, and G.U.N. refused, so they forced him to leave. Rouge made it out, regardless, just, and accused him of abandonment. Confused, he realised he had no memory of aborting the mission, let alone leaving her behind, which he swore he'd never do. Then he growled as he then realised he had been forced, and knew there was only one way to do it. The programming.
Now he was on the Ark, his temper exploding, knowing he couldn't stay for much longer, otherwise G.U.N. was come looking for him, potentially forcing him into yet another mission. Better to volunteer, at least then he had some control over which missions. But it was very little leeway within his imprisonment. A message did come through, so he returned to the Headquarters, giving no impression at all that he knew the truth of his entrapment, and was now desperately wondering how he was going to break free from it. Rouge knew, but she was the only person other then himself who did, and swore to keep it to herself.
The G.U.N. Headquarters was a underground facility, with extensive caves and tunnels, with rooms, bunkers, and storages warehouses. Shadow gently wondered through it, the others giving him his usual wide berth, as he made his way to briefing. He smirked, he was a professional killer. Deleting people for a living, outside of missions for G.U.N. It was the only element of being forced to work for the Mobian Authorities, he did actually enjoy, plus the money was good. But that all went on maintaining the Ark, which Shadow suspected was still owned by them anyway. He heaved, but the slaughtering, wow, he loved it. The thrill of the hunt, sighting the target, the excitement as his powerful killer instinct kicked in. Pulling the trigger of his revolver, the bullet perfectly landing right between the eyes, the Chaos Aura disappearing, the victim dead. He'd proved time and again, he was the best in the world at marksmanship, still unbeaten, and everyone at G.U.N. knew he'd kill them all, given the chance.
He made his way to the briefing room, and entered. To his surprised, it empty, except for Rouge, who was looking as confused as he was. She was a Bat with white fur, tan skin, teal eyes with eyelashes, and a curvy figure. She has large pointy ears, small fangs, a small black nose on her muzzle with a pink lipstick, a short pointy tail, and a pair of dark purple wings on her back. Only her head appears to have fur, which flares out into six points at the back. Rouge usually wore powder blue eyeshadow and pink lipstick. Her typical attire consists of a black, skin-tight, strapless unitard with a pink, heart-shaped chest-plate with white trim, along with long white gloves and high-heeled boots with pink cuffs. Her boots also have grey soles and feature pink hearts on the toes. She heaved, as she hated being kept waiting.
Suddenly, the door burst open and General Xander, a mean looking, and extremely tall Badger walked in wearing a deep brown suit and shoes, white shirt and a yellow tie. A hard look on his face. He eyed Shadow strongly before Rouge promptly propositioned him. She growled.
"General, what's this all about? Why are only us here?" She spat. Normally for briefings for missions, the room was usually full. General Xander hissed.
"Because I need this mission to be done on the quiet." He leered. "Which I can trust you two can do." He demanded, glaring at Shadow and Rouge. They both nodded, equally as confused as the other. Suddenly, the Badger put in a latex glove and placed a small vile on the table. It was sealed, and contained a deep, thick yellow liquid. Silently, they all looked at it. Rouge stared, but to Shadow, it had the weirdest odour he'd ever smelt in his life. Extremely strong. He frowned deeply, he knew it. He'd come across it before but just couldn't remember where. He stared, bending down to get eye-level with the vile, but Rouge was about to pick it up, when General Xander immediately stopped her. He sniggered.
"I wouldn't do that, Miss Rouge." He smirked. Rouge frowned.
"Why?" She asked. But the Badger sighed heavily.
"Because that vile, Miss Rouge, contains the most potent venom on the planet. There is enough in that bottle to kill absolutely everyone in the entire Headquarters." He stammered. That was hundreds of people. Both Rouge and Shadow looked at each other, but the Ultimate Lifeform frowned.
"From what creature?" He puzzled. "I can't think of any animal on Mobius who's venom is that deadly." He growled. Quite simply, there wasn't. There was venomous wildlife out there, but none of them were this dangerous. There simply was no need for it. But General Xander scowled at them, his teeth gritting.
"It's Vampire Venom." He announced, of which Rouge just laughed. She giggled.
"There no such thing as Vampires." She grinned, but General Xander rounded on her. He roared.
"Yes, there is. Miss Rouge. All the supernatural being used to exist on Mobius, up until fairly recently actually, most of them spending their entire lives in hiding. We have extensive documentation on them. Most of the Werewolves, Sorcerers and Monsters have become extinct, and it was thought to be believed that the Vampires had joined them." He heaved, looking at the vile. He picked it up, shining it through the light. He growled. "It would appear not. The last recorded Vampire family was supposed to have died out fifty years ago, but it appears we have a surviver. Same family, no idea, but this vile had been D.N.A. tested and it is definitely Vampire. Male. Unfortunately, the venom contained little else. We don't know identity or species. Regardless, the venom was being sold on the black market, which was where we found this." He added, to the utter astonishment of both Shadow and Rouge. She gulped.
"But General, if that falls into the wrong hands, it could kill thousands." She stammered. "But why?" She cried. But Shadow growled.
"That's assuming he's doing it willingly." He heaved. "The Vampire could be forcibly milked for his venom." He turned to General Xander. "As you said, he's alone, and if a gang or a syndicate has got him, then, I suspect, they would risk their lives to get the venom, as I think this fetched an extremely high price on the market." He hissed, pointing to the vile. The Badger nodded.
"Yes, hundreds of thousands of dollars." He gulped. "I had to pull some serious strings to get this, which is why I want this mission completed under the radar. Find out who sold this, why, and if you can, find the Vampire." He ordered, but Rouge frowned.
"Hey, what will you do with him. The Vampire, if we find him?" She snapped, but the Badger just rounded on her. He roared at her.
"That's none of your business, Miss Rouge." He spat. "Now see it done." He shouted.
Suddenly, everything went extremely hazy as Shadow's eyes immediately glazed over, and before he could stop himself, he was out of the Headquarters, and on his way, with Rouge desperately running after him, screaming.
"Shadow, stop." She panted, and then finally she got ahead of him, and faced him, flying backwards. She glared at him directly in the eyes. He was not behind them. She growled "Hey. Snap out of it." She shouted, clapping her hands right in front of his eyes. Suddenly, he immediately ground a halt, holding his head, rubbing his eyes. The extremely sharp noise had promptly woke him up. He looked around, frowning, having no memory at all of travelling here. Rouge roared in frustration.
"That dam programming. You really are a prisoner here." She sniffed. Shadow heaved, his temper flaring at having been manipulated yet again. He growled.
"There is nothing I can do, Rouge. I'm trapped, and I can't break free from it. I could reengineer myself, but that would require knowing exactly what Gerald did to me. Getting the list of phases that control me would help, but how they control me, I don't know. But I seriously doubt that the Mobian Authorities would allow it anyway. They watch me like a hawk. They seriously don't want their precious Ultimate Lifeform, Mobius' more efficient serial killer, loose, do they." He smirked. Rouge nodded, a tear in her eye. He sighed. "I learned a long time ago, to make the best I could, with what I had, even if it wasn't much." He added. Rouge looked up and smirked.
"The mission." She grinned. Shadow folded his arms and nodded. His smirk broadening.
"I have to do the mission, I don't have a choice, but the how. That is entirely up to me." He leered. "Plus General Xander said to find the Vampire, he didn't actually say, bring him back to G.U.N." He added, to Rouge's own smirk broadening. Her well-timed question had left that being heavily implied, not actually said, and because Shadow only obeys the spoken word, he had no obligation whatsoever to bring the Vampire back to the Headquarters. They both nodded at each other, but then Rouge frowned.
"But where do we even start?" She asked. "I could track down the sale of the vile on the black market, but I don't think I'll find the seller. They tend to be anonymous and extremely illusive. Plus we are known as G.U.N. agents there, I seriously doubt anyone would help us, especially not on something as potent and as rare as Vampire Venom." She heaved, but then she growled. "Who is he?" She spat. "He could be anyone?" She hissed. But Shadow frowned, deep in thought.
That smell.
The vile. It's odour, he knew it. He'd smelt it somewhere before. But where? He was desperately trying to think. He heard her complaints. The Vampire could indeed be anyone. But it was someone. Someone, Shadow now deeply suspected, he knew, but kept completely secret his supernatural origins. He growled. He had his suspicions, but in order to follow them, he had to ditch the Bat. He rounded on her.
"Find it anyway. The sale of the vile, it might give some leads as the where the Vampire might me working from, if it is him." He ordered, but Rouge frowned.
"Alright." She agreed. "But where are you going?" She asked. Shadow sighed, finally deciding to tell her the truth. She had always been good to him.
"The vile. It had a bizarre odour. One I believed I've come across it somewhere before." He admitted. But Rouge frowned.
"A odour?" She puzzled. "But I didn't smell anything." But then she shrugged. "Ok, but I think your on a wild goose chase personally. Come and find me when you don't find anything." She giggled, and with that, she took to the skies and was gone. Shadow heaved, and he set off in the direction of his bounty. He frowned. How could Rouge not pick up on the odour of the vile? Her sense of smell was better then his. But his nose was immediately all over it, and as he now suspecting, he doubted General Xander caught it either. So why him? What was going on and why was Shadow now suspecting that his and this Vampire's fates were interconnected somehow. He smirked. He didn't believe in fate. He created, not born, destiny didn't apply to him.
But as he ran, his instincts seemed to be steering him towards a very familiar house, just outside of the sprawling city of Westropolis, in the very north of the planet. The headquarters of the resistance against Eggman and the home of a certain two tailed Fox, who never really truly accepted him. To be honest none of them did, except one, and he was the one Shadow was here to see, not quite believing what he could be potentially implying here. He heaved, desperately hoping to be wrong. As he knocked on the door, and when in, no one battering an eyelid at his presence there. Everyone was going about their business, some acknowledging him, others just ignoring, he walked though the lounge and stood in his usual dark, foreboding, shadowy corner. He watched and waited. Finally, he spelt it. The odour from the vile was back, this time extremely faint, but definitely there. His suspicions were correct.
The Vampire was here.