Chapter 6 - Bloody Information
The shuffle of card bored boxes, polystyrene and wooden crates echoed among other various objects that filled the large were house room. The grey vixen took a deep breath as she stood back and brushed the dust away from her nose and she tired to breath without sneezing. Cass leaned back against one of the hard wood crates as she watched the brown wolf drag a newly opened crate across to the other pile behind him.
"Maybe we could take a brake, Rex. I mean, the police have no clue so there isn't any worry, right?" Cass suggested as she helped him out with the large and rather heavy crate.
"I guess we should check in on Rouge and Shad." The wolf answered as he dusted off his hands.
"And what are you going to do with them soldiers now?" The fox questioned as she lifted herself to the crate they had just moved and sat herself down comfortably on the wooden surface.
"Nothing a little gasoline cant fix." He them commented with a mischievous smirk as he lifted an unopened can from a box beside him and set it down besides two newly sealed crates, they held two of the soldiers in each one.
Cass smiled at the idea and leaned herself forwards onto the edge. "We should go. You can torch them after we check up on Shadow and Rouge." She spoke as she pushed herself off. Rex nodded as the fox began to make her exit with the brown wolf close behind.
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Meanwhile, Rouge leaned back on her chair slightly, folding her fingers firmly together and outstretching her arms causing the joints of her fingers to click to place loudly. The dark hedgehog laying on his side on the comfortable bed as he played with a small black feather, watching the white bat as she was typing. He had gotten bored of the quiet downstairs, and had run out of small glass marbles to throw at various cats and birds, and any other animal that had been occupying the back garden. Or more like ran out of living targets to hit, and had decided to aid the ivory bat in her report.
"Well that's the last of it." Rouge smiled with relief as she span around on her chair to face the darker hedgehog who was inspecting the small ebony quill.
"So what was the whole report about?" He inquired as he pressed his hand down onto the soft mattress to help him sit himself up.
"Nothing too important." She replied, lifting herself from her seated position and walked over to her small alarm clock at the bedside. "You see, a few years ago a bunch of scientists and genetic researchers came up with a theory. An idea that they felt could change the genetic code of animals to create new, super animals or something.."
"..But like always something went wrong. Am I correct?" Shadow finished. Rouge nodded and pulled her chair towards her and sat herself back down in front of the hedgehog.
"Most died after an accident that occurred, a generator over heated and blew the place sky high." She lingered for a brief moment as she made herself comfortable on her stiff chair that she currently resided.
"And, what happened to what ever survived?" Shadow was very curious as too know every thing he could about the strange incident.
"GUN took any animals or objects that survived to be immediately terminated. Then Dr. Eggman took the idea on, but he wasn't so successful either." She finished explaining. Shadow pondered for a moment and nodded, lifting himself up and walking to the window.
It wasn't so wet outside anymore, it was only a quick shower after all, and by now few cars had passed by the house livening the street a little more, with few people pacing the sidewalk. Two figures making their way to the house caught Shadow's attention as he smirked at the sight of his two other companions.
"Here comes Rex and Cassy." He commented as he turned to see Rouge opening her bedroom door.
"Come on then." She called as she motioned with her hand for him to follow her. The darker hedgehog began to walk her direction, the ivory bat then turned and strolled down the hallway and made her way down stairs to the front door.
"Hello Rouge, how has Shadow been?" Rex smiled as the door in front of him opened to reveal the waiting Rouge and a dark hedgehog making his way down the stairs behind her.
"I'm fine thanks for asking, Rex." He smirked as he reached the door, leaning himself against the banister.
"You took your time." Rouge commented as she parted herself from the door and allowed the two canines too enter.
"Sorry if we took long, we had to take care of a few things." Cass told as she made her entrance, the four of them walking into the front room and sitting down.
"Right, now with most delays out of the way, the crystal." The wolf moved on, changing the subject. "We now know where it is, now we need to figure out how we are going to get to it, and get it out as quick and as safe as possible."
The trio around him nodded confidently together with understanding.
Rouge stood from the other members of the group and walked over to a small cabinet against the wall and took a folded piece of paper from a draw, setting it down on the coffee table in front of the others.
Cass smiled as she realised what it was. "Awesome, a map!"
"Wow.. That was hard to figure out." The darker hedgehog besides her spoke sarcastically with a slight hint of laughter, he then folded his arms neatly across his chest as he leaned forward for a closer look as he inspected it.. "A map of what though?"
The grey fox sat for a moment as she gave Shadow a cheeky smile. "cheeky hedgehog" she laughed as the two male members of the room broke to a smirk as they awaited her to continue. Her large fluffy tail swaying eagerly from side to side as she unfolded the paper out on the coffee table for all too see.
"I took it from Knuckles yesterday." Rouge smiled as she observed the other three members of the room as she too folded her arms. "I thought it might help."
Shadow, attempting to ignore the swaying annoyance in front of his face, examined the many lines and small text that filled the paper. He could figure out most of what the inside would have looked like, but this was just a rough idea of what the first floor looked like.
"All the floors look very similar. The layout of the rooms, stairs and elevators are all in the same sort of place. Except the 21st floor which is the General's office." Rouge explained as best she could as she leaned over and pointed at the various spots on the map giving the trio around her a good idea of what the place would look like.
"Ok, I suppose they have a very high security?" Cass questioned as she sat back a little. Rouge smiled.
"Yeah, that's why I need you too disable the security network as best you can too allow Shadow and Rex to get inside." The white bat pointed out. "You are going to need at least two people to get inside, going alone is suicide. So I need Rex for his power and his little ability to be able to think on his feet…"
"Thanks" the brown wolf mentioned as she paused. Rouge nodded and continued.
"…And Shadow to back him up with his speed. As you most probably will run into a fight" Shadow nodded.
"And here I thought Shad was 'all bite and no fight'." The vixen giggled to her self and she glanced back at the dark hedgehog who did nothing but smirk at the cheeky comment that had been replied to his earlier remark. Rex and Rouge couldn't help but laugh along, the wolf holding up his hand to Cassandra as she turned and gave him a quick high-five.
"Chill you two." Rex chuckled as he leaned back in his seat and sighed. "I miss when we used to do this."
Cass looked at Rex puzzled at what he meant. "We used to do…?" She paused awaiting him to end her sentence.
"Sitting around a table to plan what ever place we go next. Have a laugh about our passed adventures and live life without a care in the world, and then Jasmine and Violet…" He paused as he directed his gaze to the floor. Cass patted his back softly as her smile faded. Rouge didn't want to ask anything as she knew it must have been something really bad to make Rex upset so easily, but she felt she had too find out.
"Could I ask… what happened?" She spoke softly as she sat down across the small table from the two canines.
"Back before we met Shadow. My sister, Jasmine and Rex's sister, Violet, used to travel with us a lot." The grey fox explained as Shadow turned his head away, Rouge listening with too much interest to notice the dark warrior move from his seated position to stand at the window a few feet away.
Rex decided to pick up from there as he smiled softly. "Once, we where in Romania. Jasmine and Violet had gone out for a walk in the park at night." He began. "There wasn't anyone around at night so we presumed they would be safe... And when they didn't return for a few hours we started to get suspicious so we went out after them." Rouge nodded slowly as she awaiting one of them to continue once more. Cass doing so.
"We searched the streets for hours until we found a dark blue cat, so without thinking twice we confronted the cat and he led us to an old house. He didn't go inside as he said his friend had instructed him to stay away."
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"Please, I only pray I am not too late for you." The dark sapphire cat spoke as he began to back away from the two worried canines.
"I thank you dearly." Rex called as he rushed to the door with the vixen at his side. Hastily grabbing the door handle and turning it quickly while pushing it open with all his might. The room was dark as he rushed in, but the dim candle light was all he needed once his eyes adjusted. The pair gasped at the scene they saw before them, their younger sisters chained to the wall by their now bleeding wrists where they apparently had tried to struggle free from the shackles.
A dark hedgehog bend down at the side of a chestnut coloured wolf, next to her a purple fox, both covered in blood from a bleeding wound on their necks and from their wrists, other than that they looked as if the two females were sleeping peacefully. A cackle of laughter grabbing their attention as they turned to see a dark scarlet bat sat in a large chair, well more of a throne than a chair it seemed. His long, sharp fangs that almost overlapped his bottom lip as he grinned, sending a chill down Rex's spine as he moved Cass with his hand to stand behind him.
"So frightened, I see. A shame that emotions come to destroy the soul so easily." He chuckled as he tilted his head to one side to inspect the two young canines in his presence.
"What in God's name are you and what have you done to our sisters?!" Rex commanded as he gritted his teeth together in an attempt to block out his overpowering fear and hatred.
"A shame that even angels can come to fear God. Don't you think?" He laughed once more shifting a clawed finger towards the two. "I was only planning on having one meal tonight but it seems you can stay for dinner."
The ebony hedgehog rose from the floor as he turned his head to face the two confused and fearful canines. His muzzle stained a deep crimson with long scarlet fangs peering from his mouth as he approached the two with a deep growl of interest, the fox and the wolf steadily backed away from his deep black eyes that watched them carefully.
"Quickly! Get out of here!" A voice from behind called as the two canines turned to face who stood beyond the open door. Rex was slightly relieved and surprised to see that the sapphire cat from a few minutes ago had returned with a black and white cat. In his hands he held a small white crystal. That was the last thing on Rex's mind at that moment as he grabbed Cass' hand and began running away from the small building and the ebony hedgehog behind him. He didn't want to leave the sisters behind but he had no choice. He wasn't going to lose Cassandra too.
The hedgehog simply smirked as he parted his sharp fangs from his blood stained mouth and dashed at the feline with speed, but the black cat quickly stepped out of the way as the creature came to a halt about two feet away.
"Go to hell." The cat spat as he jumped towards the hedgehog as it turned, pressing the sharp point of the crystal deeply into it's throat as he began to choke in pain, unable to remove the bloody object. He slowly dropped to the ground with his own blood dripping down his nightly fur of his chest as he attempted to claw the object from himself, backing over to the house as he did so.
"What on Mobius are these creatures?!" Cassandra cried as she watched the now defenceless hedgehog drop to his knees with a loud growl.
"They are but demons." He growled as he inspected the weakened hedgehog, the small crystal in his neck turning a deep red and fading into a jet black. "He's a night hedgehog. A vampire."
"Drano, I haven't seen you in a good hundred years." A deep voice came from the house. The cat turned to face who it was as he recognised him instantly.
"Let them go, Drake." The black cat growled as the red bat bent down to the nearly unconscious form of the hedgehog, panting slightly to try to help himself deal with the pain. He reached over and removed the small crystal with ease as he inspected it closely.
"Come now. Draining a vampire of his power isn't a very nice thing to do." Drake smiled as he patted the ebony hedgehog and stood up. "Shame I have no time to play as the morning is nearing." He chuckled while slipping the crystal into his pocket and vanished in a flash of red light. Drano bend down beside the black hedgehog and was happy to see that the small wound on his neck was healing allot slowly than it would have normally. But Rex and Cass had another ideas as they rushed inside the home and freed their sisters, both still weak but alive.
"What are you going to do with this one, Drake's strongest night hedgehog?" The sapphire cat questioned as he too allowed his eyes to inspect the small wound.
"Give him a few days and we shall see if it helped or if he turns back again." Was all Drano spoke for the time being as he stood. "If he dose turn evil again we shall have to destroy him. You know that there are only two of them crystals on Mobius and now Drake has one of them."
"So he's not evil anymore?" A soft weak voice came from beside him. Both cats turn to face the purple fox that leaned against her older grey sister.
"No, he is nothing more than a shadow of his former self. For now." Drano spoke adding the last part quietly.
The fox smiled. "Shadow. That's a nice name." The cat smiled faintly and nodded. "Its not his fault he's the way he is, please have kindness in your heart to allow him to live." Again the cat nodded. Cass smiled as she began to help her sweet sister down the wooden step from the door.
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Again Rouge nodded. She wasn't shore what to think for the moment. She felt both happy and sad about it as she saw that Rex and Cass had began to smile softly as they thought back to what Jasmine had said.
"And that was that. We took Shadow back and Jasmine took him under her wing. They where so sweet together, she was always nice to people, ya' know? She could see the good in people."
Rex laughed slightly at the comment. "Yeah. And then when Jasmine and Violet decided it would be safer if they went home, Shadow stuck with me and Cassandra."
Shadow smiled to himself as he watched the few cars pass the street. "We had some fun times over the years." He acknowledged.
Rex and Cass nodded. "Yeah.." they spoke together.
"Then Shadow began to get headaches every now and then, and he would have this weird craving for blood. And he would go out at night and come back covered in blood and being unable to remember anything about it. This was only from time to time but lately it's been getting more frequent and we're worried he may be slipping."
Rouge felt she understood. "I see, that explains allot." She nodded as she watched the dark warrior come to sit down again. "Looks like we are going to have to get going."
Cass smiled as she sat herself up right. "Ok. Lets make a plan!" She explained excitedly, the other three of the room joining her in a small cheer.
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A/N - Well only one day over what I was going for but at least I got the explaining out of the way. Lol quiet a twisted bloody background but hey, I feel evil today :3 -evil laugh-