Westopolis City: Black Cloak's Cavern

Somewhere deep underground, the Black Cloak sits in a meditative stance on a flat stone platform. At his feet lies a glittering white Chaos Emerald. Not far out in front of him, the stone platform ends in a steep cliff, dropping down an immeasurable distance. At his side, a small stream flows, sourced by a soft waterfall down the side of the smooth rock wall behind him, and flowing out over the cliff in front of him. The water produces the only sound in the room, save for an odd, quiet static.

The Black Cloak takes a deep breath in, and out. The creek continues to babble, and the static begins to crackle a bit. He takes another breath. Without opening his eyes, he reaches out and slowly picks up the Emerald. He holds it close to him, and takes another breath. He begins to tighten his grip. He takes yet another breath, this one shuddering a bit. He continues to hold tighter and tighter, as if to crush the gem with his hand. Suddenly, he shoots to his feet and chucks the Emerald straight at the ground. "Arrgh! Why won't you work!?"

The gem makes a pleasant tink sound as it bounces across the stone floor and comes to a stop. Black Cloak pants heavily in anger, but slowly begins to calm down. He takes one last deep breath, and walks over to pick up the Emerald once more. He stares deeply into it. "What was I even expecting…? Nothing's changed…not yet."

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Chaos Project

Season 0, Episode 10

Black Cloak, Part 2: Black Cloak Rises

Written by ChaosProject

Concept by ChaosProject

Westopolis City: Downtown

Sonic appears to be on the phone in his hotel room. The sun has only just recently risen outside. There is nothing particularly lavish about the room. There are two single beds, both a bit torn, one of them recently slept in. On the nightstand between them is an old lamp with a slightly dirty lampshade, and the old phone which Sonic uses. "Hello, Vector? It's Sonic, I– … Whaddaya mean 'Sonic who'? Sonic the Hedgehog! … Yeah, I have a job for you and the Chaotix. … Really? Oh, fine, I can pay. … Yeah, a missing person. … Last seen in Westopolis, that's where I am now. … Westopolis costs Double!? … Yes, I know how hard it is to get in. Fine, whatever. … You can meet me here, I don't intend to step back and let you do all the work. … Alright, how much is that gonna be? … What!? You want me to pay you how much!? … Even I don't have that many Rings! … Your loss, pal!" He slams the phone back down on the hook. He shakes his head and sighs. "Guess I'm on my own, then."

Just at that moment, a knock comes on the door. Sonic looks at the door in slight confusion, but he shrugs and walks up to it. He turns the knob and opens the door.

Waiting on the other side is Rouge the Bat. "Sonic!? They told me I'd be meeting an undercover operative!"

Sonic shrugs. "So, you're the backup operative, Rouge? Well, G.U.N. isn't very big on the whole 'honesty' thing." He opens the door wider. "Come on in."

She accepts the invitation, and immediately begins looking around. She comments sarcastically, "This is quite a place you've got here."

"Actually, it's supposed to be one of the nicer inconspicuous places in the city."

"Pretty rough city. So, who were you on the phone with?" Sonic gives her an odd look. "What, I could hear you from halfway down the hall. You certainly didn't sound too happy."

"Oh. That was the Chaotix, I wanted to bring them in on the mission." He shakes his head. "If greed were gold, those three could retire in luxury."

"Hey, careful who you talk down on greed to. I'm a jewel thief, remember? Besides, we don't need those losers."

"Hey, the Chaotix may be unorthodox, but they're good at what they do. They single-handedly cleared the name of Professor Gerald, after the entire world thought he was a genocidal lunatic. That takes some doing. I trust them."

"Yeah, whatever." She sighs. "We're avoiding what's important here. Have you gotten any sign of Shadow yet?"

He shakes his head. "Nothing yet. But there's…a lead I'm looking to follow."

"Well, I won't get in your way, then. I'll start taking a look around town, see what I can dig up."

"Just don't let the robots catch you. 'Private investigation is not permitted in Westopolis'."

"Trust me, I know all about it."

"Good. Let's get started, then." The two turn and leave the room. Through the grimy window, on the roof of the building across the street, a distant figure also turns to leave.

—–—

Central Westopolis

Sonic stands high atop a building, perhaps the tallest in the whole city. Behind him, a huge red sign reads, "The Daily News." Behind the sign is an incredible view of a great city, full of more tall buildings, and crisscrossing roads. But in the direction that Sonic stares off into, a different story is told. Just as many buildings are in shambles as in fair repair. Sections of road are torn from the ground, lying in rubble or twisted into all sorts of impossible ramps and loops. Massive fissures in the ground appear regularly, just a few of them with makeshift bridges stretched across. Wrecked cars still lie on many of the undamaged streets.

"What are you doing here?" The Black Cloak stands behind Sonic, cloak billowing in the wind.

Sonic doesn't seem surprised at his sudden appearance. "The fact that you're here tells me you already know the answer to that question."

"How did you know I would come?"

"It's a pretty tall building. You can see the whole city from here. Look." Sonic points off to an area on the outskirts of the city, with a nearby welcome sign. "You can even see where we fought those robots together. If someone were in trouble, there or anywhere else in the city…you could see it from here. Seems like a pretty good spot for your line of work."

"It's certainly not the tallest building." He points off to another building not far away, on the border of the thriving city and the ruined one. Many stories taller than the one they stand on now, the sign reads, "King Industries."

"I figured you wouldn't be thrilled if you had to hang out there often."

"You aren't wrong about that." He is silent for a moment. "…I saw that you've brought a friend in with you. She shouldn't be here. It's too dangerous."

"So you've been spying on me? No wonder you got here so quickly. Rouge can handle herself just fine. There's someone else I'm worried about. That's why I'm here. That's why I want your help."

"Help from a dangerous vigilante like me, for the great Sonic the Hedgehog? You must be desperate."

"I'm not that kind of person anymore. There are things that matter a whole lot more than my reputation. Like my friends." Sonic pulls out the folder the Commander gave to him, full of everything known about Shadow. He tosses it forward, and it slides across the building, coming to a stop at Black Cloak's feet. He picks it up and begins looking through it. "His name is Shadow the Hedgehog, you've probably heard of him. Especially around these parts. He went missing a few weeks ago, without a trace."

Black Cloak stays silent for a long moment. "…And you think this 'Shadow' is here, in Westopolis?"

"It's the only lead we have."

Black Cloak tosses the folder back. "I don't do personal jobs. I have bigger things to worry about. But I'll keep an eye out. If I see any sign of your friend, I'll be sure to tell you. Do you have anything else to waste my time with?"

"Are you sure you don't know anything about him? Where he might be?"

"I'm sure that I haven't seen his face since…since before I started working here."

"If I ever need your help again, can I meet you here?"

Black Cloak turns and starts to walk away. "Don't count on it."

"But how will I find you!?"

He stops on the edge of the building and looks back. "You won't." With that, he leaps off the side. Sonic runs up to the edge and looks down after him, just in time to see him pull out some sort of grappling gun, which he fires at some distant object, and swings out of sight and to safety.

—–—

Downtown Westopolis

"Private investigation is not permitted in–" Sonic wastes no time in crushing the police bot.

"Just can it already."

"Having fun there, Sonic?"

Sonic turns around to see Rouge standing behind him. "I certainly didn't see you stepping in to help."

"You looked like you had it covered. So, how did that lead of yours turn out?"

"Nothing yet, but I'm still looking into it. Did you turn up anything?"

"Oh, only this." She pulls out a piece of paper with a lot of small writing on it, and an illegible signature on the bottom.

"What is it?"

"It's a proof of purchase, for a house in Downtown Westopolis, payed in full by one Shadow the Hedgehog. It was a steal of a deal too, I'm impressed."

"What? Shadow bought a house?"

"Hey, I'm as surprised as you are." She looks up at the sky, and the afternoon sun. "It's not far from here, and we've got time. You wanna go take a look?"

"What're we waiting for? Let's go!"

—–—

Shadow's House

Sonic pounds a fist on the old wooden door, one among many in the dim, litter-strewn alleyway. "Shadow! Shadow, are you in there!?" He starts knocking again. "Shadow, open up!" He gives it up with a sigh. "Well, it was worth a shot." His hand goes down to the doorknob, but it doesn't budge. "Locked."

"Stand aside." Rouge steps forward. "No locked door can stand in the way of Rouge the Bat, government spy and world-famous treasure hunter!" She kneels down and starts examining the doorknob and lock, as if preparing to pick it. Suddenly, she leans back and kicks the door down in one blow. Sonic gives her a surprised look. She shrugs. "Whoops, it just opened on its own. These darned old doors don't keep out anything." She goes right in, and Sonic follows.

The falling door had kicked up a massive cloud of dust, which only just begins to settle. In every room, a thick layer of this dust covers the floor. The living room they stand in is almost completely empty, save for a stained, tattered couch, and a tall old lamp that doesn't appear to be plugged in. The ugly wallpaper is peeling off of the wall in several places.

Rouge comments, "Ugh, I guess I was wrong about that deal. You couldn't pay me to buy a place like this."

"There's no sign that Shadow was ever here. Not even footprints in the dust."

"You keep looking around here, I'll check the next room over." She walks out of the room.

Sonic starts to take a closer look around. After nothing catches his eye, he begins to walk around, careful not to stir up too much dust. He stops near the back of the room, in front of the couch, and bends down to look at the floor. A few feet out in front of him, he notices two large depressions in the dust. He slowly circles around to the other side of the marks. Finally, he steps onto them. Each is almost exactly the same size as the soles of his shoes, clearly left by another pair of feet. He looks around from this new vantage point, hoping to notice something new from the position where this last person stood. Nothing is within immediate reach. No special pattern can be seen on any of the walls, or the floor, from this new angle. He crouches down again to look at the floor. It is paneled with wood in a regular pattern underneath the dust. Left with nothing else, Sonic reaches down and begins to slowly feel across the seams between the wood panels.

"Hey, Sonic!" Sonic gets up and turns to walk into the room where Rouge has been searching. On the floor, just a few inches from where Sonic's hand had been feeling, four much smaller, almost unnoticeable marks in the dust exist over a seam, perhaps made by a group of fingers.

The room Rouge searches in appears to be a kitchen, just as dusty, with tile floors, and a few overhanging cabinets in a state of disrepair. "Take a look at what I found," Rouge invites. She proudly displays a softly glowing, purple Chaos Emerald.

"Where did you find that?"

"It was just sitting there, right here on this counter." She indicates the countertop she stands next to. She takes out something else, a sparkling yellow Chaos Emerald of her own. "And now I have two of these beauties."

Sonic ignores the second comment. "There's no way! Why would a Chaos Emerald just be sitting there?"

"Well…what if…what if Shadow left it here on purpose, for us to find? What if it's some kind of message, a clue to help us find him?"

Sonic thinks on that for a while. "…No, I don't think so."

"Well, why not?"

"Just think about it for a minute. Based on what you're suggesting, Shadow had to have been aware that he was going to disappear, and that we'd be looking for him. That means one of two things. Either he knew that he was in some kind of danger, that he might disappear against his own will…or he disappeared on purpose. If he were in danger, he would have kept the Emerald for himself, he has better use of it than either of us do, he could have used it to escape later. If he wanted to disappear…then why would he leave something to help us find him? He wouldn't want to be found."

"I guess you're right… But, what does that leave, then? What is the Emerald doing here? Do you have any idea at all?"

Sonic sighs. "Maybe…no, it couldn't be. I've got nothing."

They're both silent for a while. "…I think we've seen all we can here. Let's get going." The two make their way outside silently. The sun has almost completely set. As they leave, they pass a street sign that reads "Emerald Way."

—–—

Complete darkness has ensued. Black Cloak stands on the top another building, he and his billowing cloak silhouetted against the full moon. Below him, the intersecting street signs read "25th St." and "Emerald Way." Just on the other side of the road, one of the many great fissures of city lies. He says to himself, "It should be any moment now…" He continues to wait, staring down at the intersection. After a while, a pair of footsteps can be heard, slowly approaching. Soon, a person in a hood steps into view, walking slowly. The person stops under the street sign, and looks around. "That has to be him." Black Cloak leaps off of the building and lands silently behind the hooded person. "Looking for someone?"

An odd voice comes from the hood, without turning around. "That depends…"

"On what?"

"Nevermind." The person in the hood begins to walk away.

"Hey!" The person stops. "I know that you are a messenger for King. I want to know where his hiding place is."

"How unfortunate." The person turns around, revealing a face of something that is not a person at all. It is mechanical and skull-like, wearing atop its head a single crown, the mark of King. But it also has several mechanical protrusions coming from its upper-lip, resembling the long mustache of Eggman. It lifts and points its arm at him, revealing an attached gun. It fires, and Black Cloak barely dives out of the way in time, throwing one of his own signature red projectiles, which buries itself deep into the robot's skull. For the first time, a small part of the projectile can be seen clearly. It is flat, like a throwing star, and a single curved protrusion like a spike can be seen coming out of its semi-circular center.

The robot lifts its gunless hand to its face, rips out the projectile, and tosses it to the side, down into the fissure. It lifts its gun-arm up for another shot. Black Cloak is shocked by the robot's tenacity.

"Look out!" Sonic the Hedgehog slams a spin attack into the robot, knocking it to its side. Black Cloak regains his composure, and strikes a powerful kick at the robot's head. Rouge joins in as well, and strikes the robot square in the chest with a downwards screw kick. For a moment, all is silent. Then Sonic comments, "So, you're a real person after all."

"What are you talking about?"

"I saw you slip up back there. You would've been killed if I weren't here."

"Don't be so dramatic. I would have been fine."

Rouge steps forward. "Sorry to interrupt this lovely conversation, but who in the world are you!?"

Sonic answers, "Rouge, this is my 'lead'. He goes by the name Black Cloak."

"Black Cloak? The vigilante?"

"That's right."

Rouge is taken aback. "You're really serious about this. I must say, I expected you to be taller. My name is–"

"Rouge the Bat."

"You know me?"

Sonic steps back to let the two talk, while Black Cloak answers, "Yes. Treasure hunter and government spy, Rouge the Bat. And you shouldn't be here."

"What's the matter? Worried I'll get hurt?"

"Yes."

"Aw, well isn't that sweet." She suddenly takes on a stern face. "Well you look here, Mr. Big-time Superhero. My friend has gone missing without a trace in this city, and I'm not leaving until we find him, so you can either help us find him or get out of my way." She moves right up to his face, and stares into his large, black eyes as she speaks.

He says right back without flinching, "I'm not a hero, and you're in danger here. Having Sonic there is bad enough, but if King gets word that there's a G.U.N. agent in the city, I can promise that you won't live to see the morning. You're not going to find your friend any faster that way."

The two stare each other eye-to-eye for a long moment. Suddenly, Rouge takes a step back. "Are you wearing…contact lenses?"

Black Cloak seems shocked by the question, but he never gets the chance to answer before a far-off person suddenly shouts, "Look! It's Sonic the Hedgehog!" Within seconds, a cacophony of indiscernible voices have joined in, "Sonic the Hedgehog?" "He's here?" "The rumors are true!" "And he's with the Black Cloak!" "They're working together!" The voices grow to a chatter, as people file out from buildings and around street corners, gathering into a crowd around them.

Black Cloak seems almost disgusted by the sudden attention. "I've had enough of this." He reaches back to his belt behind his cloak to grab some device. Before he can pull it out, Sonic suddenly, wordlessly tackles him, pushing him out of the way of the gunshot just in time. The smoke bomb Black Cloak was holding drops onto the floor and detonates, throwing a thick fog into the air as the two tumble down into gaping chasm that separates the roads, and plummet into the darkness. The crowd panics and screams, many having coughing fits in the smoke, and most of them scatter away. In shock, Rouge turns to the wrecked robot, which somehow still functions, barely supporting its nearly-severed upper torso on one arm, and still pointing its gun forward with the other, its red eyes gleaming through the mist. She completely smashes its head with her foot, deactivating it once and for all. Then she runs up to the ledge of the fissure, and looks down into the abyss, where the other two have already long since disappeared.

—–—

King Industries HQ

Several hours later

Wolfric King's high-pitched growl again speaks from the darkness, "Your report?"

Sitting across from him this time is a stern-faced woman with short-cropped hair. She seems very nervous, and slightly confused by the request. "Sir…the android engaged the vigilante as planned, and nearly succeeded in defeating him…however, he was joined by two others, and the android was not capable of combating all three of them at once. We have confirmed one of the two to be Sonic the Hedgehog, and we believe that the other one to be an agent of the Guardian Units of Nations. Both had destroyed several police bots and made their way into the city over the course of the previous twenty-four hours."

"Anything…else?"

"Yes, sir. A large crowd of citizens witnessed the destruction of the android, and appeared to be supporting the vigilante and the hedgehog."

"And here, we have encountered our problem. You see, that android was perfect. Or at least, it was supposed to be. My designs certainly were. As were the Doctor's contributions. Which means that the problem must lie with you. I have trusted you for a very long time with overseeing the construction of my robots, and I'm sure you've learned that I am a very forgiving person. A manufacturing error like the one that you have surely made would be perfectly excusable." Suddenly, his voice takes on an entirely different tone. "But you let an entire crowd of people witness your failure, which they thought was mine! You gave them reason to support those scum called heroes! You!" Just as suddenly, he calms down again. "As I'm sure you can understand, I no longer have need of your services. Your employment for King Industries has been terminated." He leans forward, placing his robotic arm into the light and onto the table.

"Of course, sir." She bows her head, and starts to get up.

"Hold on, I'm not done with you yet." She sits back down. "You see…you understand a lot about the inner workings of King Industries." As he speaks, the mechanical parts in his hand begin to shift and change. "And I'm afraid that I can't have you blabbing any of our secrets to the outside world." His hand completes its transformation, into what is clearly some sort of laser weapon, pointed directly at her. "So allow me to reiterate what I said earlier. Your employment…as well as the rest of your existence…has been terminated." The laser fires. Outside, from the roof of the building, a group of evening birds take flight, off into the night.

To be Continued…