'Sinister echoes clutching at straws
Letter boxes screaming
You try to pin him to the wall
And you end up on the ceiling...'
(Bauhaus)
"Affirmative, Shadow. Keep on his tail," replied a crackling voice from the radio,"We have a team moving in to intercept."
Shadow darted from corner to corner following the killer's every step. Although he was faster than any human could ever be on foot, he couldn't seem to pin Mr. Black to one corner. The alleyways were like a maze; narrow and legion. It didn't help any that every door in the damned city seemed to 'magically' open for Black.
After several minutes of fruitlessly chasing after him in the slums, the ebony hedgehog decided to take a different approach. Shadow leaped onto the nearest ledge and repeatedly jumped from one ledge to the next ledge above him until he was on the rooftop. From the top of the building, he could see the assassin moving through the corridors. The dark one also spotted several other figures in the maze.
The hedgehog smirked.
'He's heading right into a trap.'
Shadow crouched on the rooftop and watched Black move through a narrow gap between the two shabby buildings. He looked like a ghost haunting the streets with his black jacket swaying in the air as he moved. Just beyond the gap was a cavity of space with a couple large trash bins. The G.U.N. team, what looked like five agents from the distance, hid themselves behind the bins.
The hedgehog jumped off the rooftop and began to make his way, casually and slow, to the enclosed space.
'They got him.'
Mr. Black dashed through the narrow corridor and made a left turn.
"Freeze!"
Black dove behind the nearest bin with his M9 in hand. He only got a brief glimpse of the agents before heading for cover. Three of them were in the open.
"Where'd he go?"
The assassin appeared in a ghostly fashion from his cover and fired the silenced weapon.
FWWP
FWWP
FWWP
Black back stepped and crouched behind the bin once more for cover as he heard the sounds of three bodies dropping dead on the ground. He knew he was being followed, he knew there were more of the agents around the corner, and, most importantly, he knew he only had a few precious seconds to act before his main pursuer caught up with him.
"BLACK, YOU WILL DIE!"screeched a feminine voice from the other side of the bin.
'mmm... G.U.N. agents aren't the brightest bulbs in the box, but they're usually not stupid enough to give away their position... unless...'
Mr. Black peeked his head from his cover to see who was left standing. His sight was met by gunfire.
BANG
BANG
'Yep, that lady's no agent, but she's working with 'em, alright.'
The killer stood up and leaned against the bin for a moment. He unbuttoned the thin safety strap of the holster on his right hip. It was the silver-matte Desert Eagle. Black turned and sidestepped from behind the bin.
FWWP
BANG
A blood-curdling scream could be heard from the mysterious woman as she fell to the floor with a distinct thud. Apart from the two red blotches on her dress's midsection, she was shrouded in velvet black clothing; Victorian-era garments matched with excessive makeup. No weapon visible on her person save for a dagger next to the body. Black imagined that she already looked like the walking dead before he shot.
'I'll deal with you in a moment. Where's the shooter?'
The last agent peered from behind a corner and opened fire. Black simply swayed to his left towards the mysterious lady's body and dodged the inaccurate hail of gunfire. The sounds of the man reloading his weapon, a semi automatic pistol, could be heard from where the assassin was standing.
Cling
Clack
Slack
Ching
Click
Once again, the agent appeared from the corner, but before he could fire the chamber round, his body thundered down to the ground as a heavy .50 slug penetrated his arm.
The G.U.N. agent wasn't dead; just in a hell of a lot of pain and without a functioning right arm. He was completely at Mr. Black's mercy. Black holstered the slugger and aimed the other, more subtle weapon at the downed agent's left leg.
FWWP
FWWP
A shriek of pain followed by the incoherent pleading of the wounded man could be heard through the city streets, but the only being who would care for his pleas would not make it in time.
"Relax, or you'll bleed to dea-"
Black was cut off by the sound of a woman shrieking. The sound that followed shortly after could be comparable to someone biting into an apple.
"Back off!" he yelled in pain. The seemingly dead woman sank her teeth into the assassin's left arm and knocked the weapon out of his hand.
Black struggled to get the woman off her. He jabbed her in the temple with his free hand. After a few good knocks to the noggin, the crazy biter unclenched. She fell on her back, by her knife, and began to cackle in amusement. She cracked a toothy grin at her victim as she sat up. Blood smothered her cheeks and sharp teeth.
Mr. Black grinned back.
"You'll regret that."
Black rolled up his coat sleeve to reveal a black blotch where the woman's teeth had bitten into. The blood on the face of this would-be vampire began to change tint; the claret color was quickly engulfed by a sinister obsidian black.
The black ooze began to dissolve into her face like salt on an ice cube. The cannibal lady bellowed in genuine pain. After just a few seconds, the black slime ate away at her lips and teeth and left part of her mandible exposed and brittle.
"Didn't you get the memo?" he asked the now deformed woman,"Bella Lugosi's dead!"
In a fit of rage, the screaming woman grabbed for her dagger and charged at Black. Her effort was met by a swift left hook to the side of the jaw. A couple of very sharp fangs, followed by the lady, dropped to the floor.
As she was recovering, preparing to charge again, Black drew a shining steel 96 Beretta and produced a silencer from the sleeve of his coat.
The woman raised the dagger over her head as she stood up in an attempt to make one last charge. Before the vampire could make it to her feet, she was battered by a barrage of Black's ghostly gunfire.
Her body fell to the ground for the last time with a satisfying thud.
Black stepped over to her side, knelt down, picked up the dagger, and stabbed the blade through her heart.
"So, you've eaten recently," he said to the now dead undead.
The scene was a bloody backdrop of ruby red vital fluid flowing forth from her wounds and drenching blotches of obsidian cloth.
Ruby red.
Mr. Black couldn't help but notice a peculiar lump near the vampire's chest. Carefully, he moved his fingers through her clothing. He felt for the item and took it between his index and middle fingers. Finally, he withdrew the peculiar object from her shirt. It was a gem. In fact, it was an extravagant ovular ruby. About an inch in diameter, the gem was easily worth a small fortune. The assassin smirked.
'...Only ever cared for one particular pair of rubies.'
He stood up. All but one of his pursuers were down, and the final agent would be here within seconds. Mr. Black had to buy himself enough time to get his gear, and his destination was a good twenty minutes from his apartment on foot. There was the wounded agent on the floor, but there was no guarantee that this pursuer would stop for his comrade. After all, they did hire a mercenary, of the macabre sort, to trap him.
Then it occurred to Black that he didn't know exactly who his pursuer was.
Someone appeared around the corner where Black had come from. He saw the short, black figure; Shadow the Hedgehog. Black took out a small business card and placed it on the corpse's stomach.
'Oh, this is too perfect.'
'He must've put up a fi-'
The hedgehog was a bit surprised to see four bodies lying out on the floor and the assassin standing over one of them. He seemed to have underestimated this hit-man's capabilities. As Black got on his feet, Shadow began to stride his way to confront him.
"You want me?" asked the assassin as he stepped backwards from the body,"Meet me at this location. Don't bring any agents with you," he told Shadow as he pointed to something on the now deceased vampire's body,"Oh, by the ways, you've got wounded."
Shadow glimpsed at the body behind Black. The person was squirming a bit. It didn't look like he could even crawl to safety.
Mr. Black turned and sprinted out of the alleyway. Shadow would have given him chase, but a shiny object caught his eye instead.
'An emerald?'
The dark one took the strange gem and business card in his hand. The gem looked like a red chaos emerald, it had a similar shape, but instead of the conical bottom of a diamond-cut chaos emerald, it was a reflection of the top half. More importantly, the gemstone lacked any apparent energy or power.
'Just a common rock.'
Shadow had half a mind to toss it aside, but instead had a better plan to get rid of it later.
The business card, claret colored corner no doubt from the blood of the body, read 'English Forum'.
"Help... me..." pleaded the wounded agent still writhing from the gunshot wounds.
The ebony hedgehog looked at him. He had half a mind to plant a bullet between his eyes and just continue pursuit of the assassin.
'If only that killer would've finished you off,' he thought to himself as he pulled out his radio.
"This is Shadow the Hedgehog. The assassin has evaded my pursuit, and the interception team is down. Requesting an ambulance; I have one wounded and four dead."
A voice crackled from the device,"This is Colonel Miller. Are you telling me that you LOST him?" it was an American voice.
"Not exactly. For some reason, he wants to meet me at some place called the 'Ole' English Forum'."
"How the hell does he know it was a set up?" asked the frustrated colonel.
"I don't know, sir-"
"Is that contractor still at the 'Forum?"
"I'm not sure, sir."
Miller stared at a computer screen in front of him. His mind was lost in thought for a moment.
"Mobilize the assault teams. This could work in our favor."
"Very well, Shadow. We're mobilizing two assault teams right now. We cannot take any more risks. Head back to base and move out with the assault teams. Do not move in without authorization! Is that understood?"
The hedgehog frowned. He didn't need 'backup' to take on some street thug.
"Yes, sir. Returning to base."
Something wasn't right. Why was there a dead woman, who clearly was not a G.U.N. agent, on the floor? That deformed face gave Shadow the creeps. Why did G.U.N. want this killer? More importantly, why did this killer want to meet with Shadow?