Shadow's House

"I thought we agreed that you would stop snooping around," Black Cloak growls, clenching his fists in anger.

Sonic scoffs. "And I thought we agreed to trust each other. But my throbbing head says otherwise."

"I told you I would turn on you if you got in my way. You brought this on yourself!" Black Cloak roars as he charges at Sonic. Sonic barely has time to put up his arms before being knocked over. The two tumble back, and roll right into the puddle of crimson sludge that was revealed under the floor tiles. The moment the Black Cloak comes into contact with the slime, the two appear to be sucked into it, with a flash of colorful light.

Rouge is left gaping, alone in the room. Not sure what else to do, she walks up to the ooze, and hesitantly places a hand into it. She doesn't look surprised when nothing happens. "There's nothing I can do now…except report my findings."

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Chaos Project

Season 0, Episode 12

Black Cloak, Part 4: Black Cloak Forever Part 1

Written by ChaosProject

Concept by ChaosProject

Sonic and Black Cloak roll rapidly down a tunnel of pulsating, glowing red, orange, and purple, desperately trying to pull off any blow that they can in the confusion. Within a few moments, they tumble out the other side, another large puddle of the alien sludge, out into a creek and down a small waterfall, creating a great splash at the bottom. Each of them separately stands back up from the fall. Sonic, in confusion, points from the top of the waterfall, to Black Cloak, back to the waterfall. "Did you…just–"

Black Cloak doesn't give him a chance to answer, charging at him once more. More prepared this time, Sonic is able to take a step back and dodge, then throws a blow of his own. Each fighter appears tired and sloppy, constantly dropping their guard yet failing to land a hit. But slowly, Sonic is pushed back step-by-step, until he suddenly finds himself stumbling over the edge of a cliff, flailing his arms for balance. "Whoa!" He begins to tip back, down towards the abyss below.

A red-gloved hand grabs hold of Sonic's arm, stopping his fall. Black Cloak pulls Sonic back onto solid ground. After recovering himself, Sonic awkwardly avoids eye contact. "Uh…thanks. I think we just–" Black Cloak lands a solid punch across Sonic's face, sending him sprawling to the ground. "Ow…"

Sonic tries to get back up, but Black Cloak puts a foot on his shoulder to stop him. "There is no misunderstanding. I don't want you dead. But I can't let you get in my way. This is something that I have to do."

Sonic grunts from the floor, "What're you gonna to do with me, huh?" Not far away, a low rumbling can be heard. But neither one seems to notice it.

"I can just leave you in here. There are only two ways out, and now you've seen both of them. You can't leave this cavern without me."

"Is that really how it's gonna be? Think about what you're doing. Think about the kind of person you want to be. Is this who you really are?"

"I know exactly what I'm doing. This is who I am."

From across the room, a mechanical voice shouts, "Put your hands in the air! This is the King Police Force!"

Black Cloak turns around with a start. "What the–"

A large group of King Androids in police uniforms stand before the rock-entrance to the Cloak Cavern, the rock having been moved away. Their gun-arms are all pointed at the Black Cloak. "You are charged with aggravated assault, destruction of property, and resisting arrest. Surrender immediately."

Black Cloak stands completely motionless, unsure of what to do. Facing just one android nearly killed him the last time. Suddenly, Sonic shouts, "We surrender!" Having stood back up, Sonic slowly walks towards the androids, hands raised in the air. As he passes Black Cloak, he whispers, "You want to see King? Here's how you do it." He takes a few more steps, then gets down onto his knees, still holding up his hands. He motions with his head for Black Cloak to do the same.

Black Cloak still stands, completely frozen. Finally, he begins to mutter out, "The junk robot…we didn't deactivate it…it still had a link to King…it saw us come in here…how could I have slipped up like this…?"

"Slipped up, you have, my irritating adversary." From the shadows of the cavern, behind the lineup of androids, a pair of yellow eyes stare out.

Sonic says with disdain, "King."

"Shut up, you. You are nothing to me."

Sonic sighs in irritation, but obeys.

"And as for you…" Black Cloak remains almost impossibly still. "…you will drop to your knees. Now."

"I…I'm not afraid of you."

"Oh really? Well, you had me fooled. But just to make sure, let's get one thing clear. Get on the ground, or my androids will open fire."

"Your weapons don't scare me. I won't let you control me."

"Oh, they won't fire at you. They'll fire at your little blue friend over there." Suddenly, all the weapons in the room turn to face Sonic. A strangely distant, quiet voice can almost be heard shouting from King's location, "What!?"

Sonic tries to interject, "Don't let–"

"I said shut up!" Sonic bows his head again. "So, tell me, hero. What's it going to be? Your pride? Or the innocent life?"

Black Cloak looks from Sonic, to the androids, to the eyes of King. Finally, slowly, he raises his arms, and drops to his knees. "My life is yours. I surrender."

"Oh, marvelous! I must give you credit, you are an intelligent man. And I am quite impressed at how you've managed to pique my curiosity so. But I must know. I must learn. Androids…bring him here. Let us see who this vigilante really is." Two androids step out of line to grab Black Cloak by the arms, dragging him to the edge of the shadows. He doesn't resist.

King's mechanical arm reaches out from his place in the shadows, and firmly grasps the rim of Black Cloak's hood. Sonic shows surprise at the robotic limb, but a look into King's eyes reassures him. The two androids who broke formation still hold Black Cloak by the arms, but the rest have all stepped out of the way, leaving little resistance between Sonic and King. But then Sonic shakes his head. His eyes are drawn back to the Black Cloak. Little by little, his hood is being pulled back. First to be revealed are the red fringes streaking the top of his eyes. Sonic's eyes fill with curiosity at the sight. "No…"

The hood continues to roll back. Between his ears, another red streak is revealed through his black fur. The streak reaches all the way back to the tip of a hedgehog's spike. Four more streaked spikes are revealed, jutting slightly upwards.

King drops the hood, letting it fall all the way back. He barks, "It can't be!" Suddenly in a rage, he grabs the facemask, and rips it from Shadow the Hedgehog's muzzle.

Sonic shouts in confusion, "Shadow!?"

Shadow's eyes stay locked to the floor. The same unaccounted for voice from before distantly speaks, "Shadow…"

King continues in his high-pitched growl, "Shadow the Hedgehog. Oh, how ironic fate can be! Delivered right into my hands after all this time, and I didn't even know it! No wonder I found you so irritating. You know, I have half a mind–"

Sonic suddenly leaps into the air, first striking the two androids that still hold Shadow. Broken from his sulking, Shadow shouts, "Sonic, no!"

All in an instant, King declares, "Kill them both!"

All of the androids begin to open fire, as the extra voice shouts, "What!? No! Don't kill them!" Yelling so loudly, it is clearly identifiable as Eggman's.

Without pausing for a moment, Sonic continues his surprise attack, hitting King himself just as Eggman finishes yelling.

A mechanical wreck flies out from the shadows, with one mechanical arm clearly designed more intricately than the rest of the relatively simple robot, and a screen for a head. On the screen, the yellow eyes of King flicker out as the robot deactivates. "What!? King was a robot!?"

Left with no other choice, Shadow has sprung into action as well, furiously throwing his Black Cloak weapons as fast as he can grab them, all while dodging the countless blasts fired across the room. "Of course he was!" He doesn't specify any further.

Sonic jumps over a shot from an android, and aims a spin attack at its head, knocking it over. He pounds a chain of bounce attacks right over it, ensuring its destruction, and lands on the ground just in time to duck under another blast. "And you were the Black Cloak the entire time!?"

"Of course I was!"

"And you never told me this!?"

"Of course I didn't!"

"And you–" Sonic is silenced as an android fist strikes the back of his head. He collapses to the floor, and everything goes black.

—–—

?

For the third time that day, Sonic's consciousness slowly begins to return to him. The room is dim and metallic. Sonic hangs suspended from chains bound to his wrists and ankles. Still groggy, he looks to his left. Shadow is hung in the same manner, still wearing his cloak and suit, with the hood down. With a grunt of acknowledgement at Sonic's awakening, he states, "If you keep getting hit in the head like that, you'll get some real brain damage."

Sonic grunts out, "You sure are concerned with my safety all of a sudden. And Rouge's. I guess that makes a little more sense, now." He thinks for a moment. "And the way I remember it, you were responsible for one of these."

Shadow is silent for a moment. "…It was necessary."

"Oh, it was 'necessary', was it? And I suppose keeping such a big secret from us was just as necessary?"

"I have no obligation to tell you anything."

"All we cared about coming in here was finding you! Why didn't you just tell us? You put us in more danger by giving us a reason to stay here!"

"And what would you have done if I had told you? Taken me back in to G.U.N.? I want nothing to do with them. And I couldn't just leave what I was doing here."

"Then we could have helped you, done everything we could, right from the beginning."

"I didn't want your help! This is my problem! These were my mistakes! I left the door wide open for King, and I have to fix that!"

"I could have done something! I could have convinced you! You don't have to be alone! You have friends! I care about you! Rouge cares about you!"

"Great, another one of your pathetic friendship speeches. Is that how you intended to convince me?"

"As I recall, it was a friendship speech that first made you a hero. Made by one more person who cares about you!"

"That was in a past I can hardly remember! I'm trying to put my past behind me, and I can't do that when you keep getting in the way!"

"You can't just ignore your past, Shadow! It's a part of who you are! You can't let it control you, you can't let it define you, but you can't just pretend like it never happened at all! You have to learn from it! You have to remember it, to let it give your life meaning!" Shadow doesn't answer. For a minute, they both remain silent. "…I just don't understand…"

"Understand what?"

"The suit. The weapons. The persona. Why? What's the point of it all? What's the point of the secret?"

"I've already explained all of it to you. Honestly, I can't believe that you didn't figure it out on your own. I told you my approach for fighting King. I needed stealth, subtlety, and above all, fear. If I had gone in as myself, King would've been long gone by the time I found him. If I had told you, word would've spread through the entire city within a day. King would have an advantage against me, unless he had no way of knowing it was me. So I became the Black Cloak. I first needed King to doubt my very existence. Then I needed him to become fascinated by me, enough to make me a target. Then I needed him to fear me, get him to slip up and give me the one chance I needed. And it was all going according to plan, until you came in and started messing things up."

"Messing things up?"

"That's right. If it weren't for your reckless actions back there, I would've been able to choose the right time to strike."

"Well how was I supposed to know King was a robot?"

"He isn't a robot. He doesn't do any dealings in person, let alone walking into the lair of his nemesis. He sent a robot proxy, meant to fool people like you. The arm was accurate, though. That's how he keeps the illusion so easily. It's said that he lost his real arm in the Black Arms attack, and built himself a new one. His first large-scale engineering project. The beginning of his rise to power."

"So wherever King really was…Eggman was there too."

"Does that surprise you?"

"It does, actually. Organized crime doesn't really seem like his kind of thing."

"Well, you can deal with him later. We have to get out of here."

"'We'? Does that mean you do want my help now?"

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"You got that right."

"Alright. So what's your plan?"

"Plan?"

"Surrendering was your idea, remember? You're not saying you didn't have a plan to get out?"

Sonic does the closest thing he can to a shrug in the awkward position he's hanging in. "I thought I would figure it out when I got here."

"Well, here we are." Shadow continues with sarcasm, "What do you propose we do now?"

"Hmm… Well, I suppose we should deal with these chains first. Can you break them?"

Shadow gets a good grip on the chains, and begins to pull with all his might. After a moment, he goes slack again. "Won't work."

Sonic resumes his thinking. "What about your shoes?"

"My shoes?"

"Yeah. They shoot fire, don't they? That's how you run so fast. What if you used the jets in your shoes to melt the chains?"

"That sounds ridiculous. But it's worth a try." Awkwardly, Shadow manages to clasp the chains between the bottoms of his feet. In a moment, the black cloth he wears begins to burn away, revealing his familiar red-trimmed white and black hover shoes underneath. The chains begin to glow mildly as they are heated. "This may take a while. What about you?"

"I think I have an idea." Sonic kicks one foot forward and the other back until the chains go taught. Then he switches feet, kicking the other way. He kicks back and forth, faster and faster, until he begins to gain the appearance of running through the air. With each step, the chains clang loudly. In a moment, the first chain snaps, then the other.

—–—

Shadow lands on the ground, the last of his chains broken. Sonic questions, "What now?"

Shadow walks up to the wall of the room, and puts a hand on it. "This can't just be a box we're stuck in. It has to have an entrance, even if we can't see it." He puts an ear up to the wall and knocks lightly on it. A hard metallic sound reverberates back. He takes a few steps to his right, and knocks again. He continues this way halfway around the room, until his knocking results in a deep, hollow echo. "This is it. There's empty space on the other side." He readies a fist. "Stand back." He throws a full-power punch at the covered exit. The metal heavily dents, but does not give way. Shadow pulls his hand back, shaking it off in clear pain. "It's too strong."

Sonic chuckles. "Why did you even try? Let's just warp around it."

Shadow freezes up. "You mean…with…"

"Chaos Control, yeah. Is there a problem?"

"I…I can't."

"You can't? Well why not?"

"Because…because I…" He shakes his head. "I don't have the Chaos Emerald. King probably took it."

"Well why didn't you just say so?" Sonic pulls out his own blue Emerald, and drops it into Shadow's hand. "He didn't take any of mine."

"Uh–" Shadow stares at the Emerald in his hand. It trembles. "Sonic…I can't use Chaos Control."

"Whaddaya mean you can't? You have the Emerald right there!"

"I mean I physically can't! I haven't been able to for months! I've been trying and trying, but it doesn't work!"

"Shadow…I…I didn't realize."

"That's why I quit G.U.N.. That's why I came here, why I put on the mask. I needed to find myself. I needed to find Shadow the Hedgehog. Without Chaos Control…who am I?"

"I said it already. You can't let your past define you. But you definitely can't let one single skill define you."

"Oh really? And who would you be if one day you woke up and you couldn't use your legs? No more running. Who would you be?"

"I'd be Sonic the Hedgehog, a friend…a brother…and the Controller."

"What!?"

"Yeah, that's right. We have a lot to talk about. I need your help. But we have other things to worry about right now."

"You need my help in matters of Chaos? Clearly you're asking the wrong person. I can't even get the simplest technique right."

"We can figure that out later. We need to find another way out of here."

"Well, you're the Controller, aren't you?" He shoves the Emerald back towards Sonic. "I'm sure you can handle it."

"We've talked about this, Shadow. I don't want to put you at risk like that."

"Well we don't have much a choice, do we?" After a moment, Sonic reluctantly takes back the Emerald, and stares at it. Shadow lets out a sigh. "Look. You have the ability, and I have the practice." He puts a hand on Sonic's arm. "I'll focus on where we're going, you worry about getting us there. We'll do it together."

Sonic looks at him oddly. "Hm. Maybe you really are learning. You're more talkative than usual, too."

"Yeah? Well, I'm not the only one who's changing. Now, let's get out of here."

Sonic gives a nod. "Right." Shadow still holding his arm, he holds up the Emerald. "Chaos…Control!" In a flash of bright light, Sonic and Shadow disappear. In just an instant, they appear again in another flash, Sonic slamming his head into the already-dented wall. Shadow manages to land on his feet, but Sonic is sent sprawling back. He gets up quickly, clutching his head in pain. He wobbles a bit, as if ready to lose consciousness yet again. "Argh… What the…?"

Shadow again puts his hand up to the metal. Sonic's head has left a dent almost as large as Shadow's fist did. "Something's not right about this. That should've worked."

"It must've been my fault. I told–"

"No. You did everything right. So why…?" He continues to run his hand up and down the wall in confusion. "Maybe it's the wall itself… Maybe it's…"

"Chaos-proof?" Shadow gives the slightest nod. "Is that even possible?"

"I don't know…"

"I guess we need another way out then."

One last time, Shadow places his hand into each of the dents. "If it's dented already…it's bound to give way eventually." Suddenly, he readies a fist and delivers another resounding punch to the metal, widening the dents and echoing the loudest sound yet. He shakes off his hand a bit, and then immediately delivers another.

"Uh…Shadow…?"

With each blow, Shadow gives a more intense grimace of pain, yet still he keeps going, denting the metal further and further. After a minute, one final, extra powerful blow from Shadow knocks the slab of metal completely in, and it collapses to the floor, revealing a long hallway on the other side. Shadow holds the fingers of his hand in an awkward position.

"Shadow…are you alright?"

He grunts out, "I'll be fine. We have to go, King probably already knows we've escaped." He begins walking out, and Sonic follows, still wearing a concerned look over Shadow's self-inflicted injury. He stops to pick up a broken piece of the metal, then continues on his way.

—–—

King Industries HQ

"You didn't really think I was going to kill them, did you? It was a fear tactic! You saw how he trembled! I need him to fear me! That's the only way my vengeance shall succeed."

Eggman stutters back, "Uh, yes, of course, I–"

"Your outbursts nearly ruined the entire operation! Consider yourself lucky that your adversary is so gullible." King pauses for a moment. "But that is of no consequence now. You see, I called you here for a very special surprise."

Eggman shifts uncomfortably in his seat. "And…what do you mean by that?"

"Look for yourself." With a robotic hand, King indicates a direction off to the side, where another pair of yellow eyes stare out from the shadows.

Eggman hardly seems fazed. "Yes, I've been dealing with a proxy all this time. I was quite aware."

The real King responds, "Yes, I'm sure you were, good Doctor. That wasn't the surprise." A large shoe steps out of the shadows and into the light. "You see, I'm not quite the man I made myself out to be." As King steps towards the light, the first that can be seen of him is his robotic arm. Then, the silvery-grey fur of his shoulder and face. He appears much like an animoid fox, though with more pointed features, and fur flaring out at the base of his neck resembling spikes. On the side of his prosthetic arm, he also has a long scar running down the side of his face. "In fact, I'm not a man at all!" He lets out a barking laugh at his own joke.

"What!? You're one of them!?"

"Them? Not at all. I am one and only. There is no one like me. I am on no one's side, let alone that wretched Shadow. Wolfric King does not exist. I am King the Wolf."

"Why would you hide such a thing?"

"Oh, don't act so naive, Doctor. You know as well as I do how this world works. My kind aren't expected to get jobs, to integrate into society. Who would have funded my machines, if they believed that my natural talent would allow me to succeed on my own? How would I have gained so much power? Humans are jealous of us. But you, Doctor, aren't like them. You understand me, I can see it in your face."

"So why do you reveal this now?"

"I thought it important that someone knew my secret before the final battle begins."

"Final battle?"

"Oh, yes. The hedgehogs have escaped. I intend to put an end to them. But, in the instance that I should fail, I leave everything to you."

"What!?"

"You heard me correctly. All of my materials. My schematics. My robots. My research. All yours, if I fail today."

"But…but I…"

"You intended to betray me, no? Oh, don't look so surprised, Doctor. I could tell from the very beginning that you had no intention of keeping your promises to me. Hopefully, that will no longer be necessary. Though I warn you, I have been hiding a certain betrayal of my own. I'm afraid you won't be finding any more of your favorite new Chaos-proof material among my supplies. It cannot be manufactured at all. It does not occur naturally on this planet. What little I have was recovered from the wreckage of the Black Comet itself."

Eggman seems stunned, unsure of how to respond to so much information at once. "You…you sound as if you expect to fail today."

"Well, let's just say I'll be attempting something beyond your imagination. All experimental. It's possible that I won't survive the process. But I've run out of time."

"And you're just going to give everything away? To me!?"

"I have no one else that I trust. And I certainly can't let the military get ahold of it. Could you imagine what they could do with all of my technology? Call my donation to you…the lesser of two good deeds." He barks another laugh.

"Hmm…well…who am I to deny such a generous offer?"

"I'm quite glad you see it that way, Doctor. Now, if you don't mind, I have work to attend to." King turns to leave, but then stops. "Oh, by the way. When you look through my documents, I suggest that you take a good look at file number…19910623. It may interest you." With that, he walks off back into the darkness.

—–—

Sonic and Shadow have arrived at what appears to be a stairwell. Without hesitation, Shadow begins to move down the steps. Sonic stops him. "Whoa, where do you think you're going?"

Shadow answers without irony, "Down."

"Odds are, the place we were being held was underground. They wouldn't put us on some middle floor, unless this is an entire tower of prison cells, which I doubt. The exit's going to be up above us." For emphasis, he points up the opposite staircase.

"I'm sure you're right." Shadow resumes his walk downwards.

"This is about King, isn't it?"

Shadow stops again. "If there's something underneath the top-secret prison level…that has to be where he hides. Or at least have some clue of where he does."

"I assume nothing's changed?"

"That's right."

"Then you know I can't let you go down there alone."

"Then let's stop wasting time." He resumes his walk once more, and Sonic follows, eyeing Shadow carefully.

—–—

Shadow is the first to open the door to the wide-open room. Though not very well-lit, the room appears to be some sort of mechanical research lab. Scattered all around are various half-finished machines and schematics, some of them flinging sparks into the air. But the centerpiece of the room appears to be a tall pod with a fogged-over glass cover, topped by an ominously glowing red Chaos Emerald.

"Ah, so glad that you could make it here, Shadow." The familiar yellow eyes stare out at the hedgehogs from the corner of the room. "At last, we can get started."

To be Continued…