And after a two-month hiatus from this, I'm finally back on this story... Am I going off-topic in this story? No, I am not, I know what I'm doing, and I promise, the ending will be worth the wait. So, now that I'm finally back on here, let's continue where we left off two months ago, shall we?
Olivia had dropped her katana and immediately held her ribs.
Shadow yanked her collar and pinned her against a wall. His blade stuck out right to her face.
"Tell me where your mother is and I promise I'll make your demise swift!"
"Shadow, retreat now! Cops are on their way to your location! RETREAT, NOW!" Alastor shouted in his earpiece.
Shadow dropped Olivia on her rear end and soon jumped onto the building sign and ran away.
Soon, most of the Vigilantes groaned as they started to sit up in pain, with their suits all messy, teared, scratched, and cracked around the metal parts.
Olivia was unable to get up at the moment. "Guys!…" She ached in pain. Spinelli slowly got to her feet and walked over.
"C'mon, girl! Let's go!" She helped her up.
Swoops soon arrived with the Hyperjet overhead of him. He screeched.
"I know, boy… AUGH. Thanks." Gerald told him as tethers from the Hyperjet lowered.
Soon, everyone grabbed a rope to be brought up.
At HQ
The Hyperjet's landing gear soon came out once the jet entered the lair. The loud engine sound started to die down as several people walked to the garage room/area.
The Hyperjet soon landed while the engine soon shut off. Soon, everyone started walking out.
"Montgomery, Flyer, thank you." Stella spoke up. Ariel and Travis would only nod as they walked away from the battered Vigilantes.
"You guys look terrible." Miles pointed out. All of their suits had tears, scratches, and a lot of damage. "We feel terrible." Nadine sighed.
Miles, Stella, Rhonda, Brooke, and Buckley were all standing in front of the battered fighters.
Stella cleared her throat. "Will someone tell me why on this green Earth is my son missing?!" She asked angrily.
Rhonda then noticed her daughter was scratches and cuts on her face. "Wait a sec, why the hell does my daughter look like she fought a damn tiger AND LOST?!" She asked, upset. "OLIVIA, GET OVER HERE!"
"Y- Yes, Mother…" Olivia slowly walked over to her.
"Is anyone going to speak up or will I have to BREAK YOUR SKULL OPEN AND SEARCH FOR THE ANSWER MYSELF?!" Rhonda shouted.
Spinelli grimaced. "I- I uh… I think I can explain why." She spoke up.
Rhonda approached her. "I swear on everything on this Earth, if you're the reason he went missing… I'M GOING TO MAKE YOUR LIFE A LIVING HELL!" She clenched her torn collar.
"No! Just listen to me! It was from the tranquilizer dart that your mother shot him with!" Everyone looked at Brooke.
She was blushing furiously in embarrassment. "Honey, I- I can explain!"
"Save it!" Rhonda told her. "Continue." She looked at Scarlet.
"That dart he was hit with three weeks ago took effect on him tonight! His teeth grew out fangs, his eye color was red, and now he's turned against us! He even has a different suit of armor!" She was about to continue, but Swoops screeched to call everyone over to where he was. The main monitors.
"Swoops, this better be important for you to interrupt me on making this cure." Phoebe crossed her arms.
Swoops screeched once while everyone came over. He then hit a key with his beak.
An image showed on the monitor, specifically of Shadow's new suit. He pressed another button with his talon to zoom in on his shoulder. Mainly what was on his shoulder.
"A MILITIA SYMBOL?!" Rhonda gasped in disgust.
"Wait a second, THAT'S IT!" Phoebe snapped her fingers and started typing away.
"I've been looking at this wrong this whole time! Instead of focusing on the manufacturing process, I should focus on WHAT chemicals it's made out of and how to reverse the effects! It's as simple as that!" She explained.
"Easy for you to say since we're not science nerds." Rhonda scoffed. "Be nice, hun…" Stella lowered her eyelids.
"There's nothing more they can do. Until Phoebe makes a cure, they'll have to wait for another shot at bringing him back." Miles soon told them.
"What?!" Rhonda looked in shock. "Sweetheart, there's nothing we can do right now!" Stella calmed her.
Rhonda briefly stuttered on her words, "UGH!" She then started to walk away frustrated.
"GET OVER HERE, OLIVIA!" Rhonda yelled. Olivia yelped and soon followed behind her.
"You four, get cleaned up and treated." Stella told them. They only nodded as they walked off.
"How long until you have a cure?" Miles asked.
"If I do this right, it should be within 45 minutes." Phoebe replied while typing and swiping at the screen.
Spinelli sighed. "How did I allow this to happen?" Her hands were on her face in disappointment as she took off her utility belt and let it drop to the floor as she made her way upstairs.
50 Minutes Later
Nearly an hour passed by, Shadow was still missing but Phoebe was just about ready with an antidote.
Everyone met her down in the lair.
"Alright, the antidote is just about ready, it'll be up to you guys to find him and inject it into him." Phoebe said
"Precisely inject it?" Nadine asked.
"Well, it can go one of two ways. Either get him injected with it or have him be able to drink it despite its nasty flavor but you and I both know that's not happening." She briefly chuckled.
Soon, a cylindrical vial popped out from the desk. Phoebe grabbed it and turned around.
"Alright, this sample is extremely rare and hard to make, you have one shot at this or else… We'll lose him for sure…" She started. "Who's taking this?"
"I will." Nadine stepped forward as a tentacle grabbed the vial. "I can make it easier on us. See?" One of her tentacles formed a needle at the end.
"Impressive." Gerald pointed out.
"Alright, guys," Stella started. "Get out there, find my son, and bring him back home! Now!" She sternly ordered.
"Apologies for the interruption, but I've picked up something rather ominous." Impulse soon spoke up.
Police helicopter footage was soon displayed. A fire formed of a V symbol on a rooftop was seen with a black armored figure with a black facemask and red eyes. "I don't think you guys may need to search for long."
"Looks like Impulse just gave you guys a break." Miles started. "Now stop standing around like a bunch of children and go get him!" He ordered.
Minutes Later
"That's the lit symbol alright…" Spinelli mentioned. They were just above the rooftop with the flaming V symbol.
"I'm not waiting anymore." She soon jumped out of the Hyperjet's rear.
"Hot head." Sapphire rolled her eyes and flew out.
The three masked Vigilantes dropped near the flaming V symbol, with their lost leader awaiting there.
"I take it you guys couldn't stay away." Shadow looked up with his eyes flaming red. He was on a knee with his sword on the ground. "If you guys insist on gettin' your asses kicked, then so BE IT!" Shadow got up and slashed his blade in front.
The three of them got into their fight stances. Spinelli pulled out the hidden syringe in her suit filled with the antitoxin. She managed to negotiate with Nadine about who would have the antitoxin.
Shadow made a wave saying 'Come at me'.
"Aye! Just get him in position, and I can bring him down and you'll have a few seconds to inject him." Trickshot told Scarlet and the others.
Gerald was dropped off at a different building rooftop with his two handguns formed into a sniper rifle. A scope modification was added by Phoebe.
"Try not to shoot us." Scarlet rolled her eyes and jumped at Shadow.
Swing after swing, Shadow dodged all of Scarlet's attacks with ease. Suddenly, he yanked her away, making her face away, and then kicked her away forcefully.
CRASH
CLANG
THUD
The rest jumped at Shadow while Shadow also jumped at them…
Two Hours and Ten Minutes Later….
After sending Sapphire in Nadine's direction, Shadow barrel rolled and shot several repulsor shots at Scarlet.
POW
The shot of a sniper missed… Gerald was now left with one bullet since they missed so many opportunities.
"This guy literally just won't give up!" Spinelli and the others were exhausted, while Shadow was completely fine despite the little damage to his suit. "We tried just about every strategy and yet he won't even sit still!" Sapphire added.
Shadow stored away his blade. "I know all your techniques, all your skills, your weaknesses, everything about you! I raised and taught all of you!"
Nadine immediately jumped at him but instead jumped over him. Trying to scratch him from behind with her tentacle, Shadow did an immediate 360 spin.
SLASH
Shadow had sliced off her tentacles in the blink of an eye. He immediately turned around again and punched her right in the chest.
"AUGH!"
CRASH
THUD
Sapphire flew at him but then did a 360 several times, passing him, but yanking him directly by the throat and slamming him into the ground. Throwing a punch at his throat to weaken him…
"Steady…" Gerald looked through the scope of his sniper with his finger on the trigger. Lining up his shot, he only had a few seconds before Shadow reacted…
POW
The bullet shot out of the sniper, zipping through the air and directly at Shadow. Sapphire was trying to hold him down as long as she could.
The bullet zipped through and finally hit Shadow in the quad.
"GAH!" Shadow head-butted Sapphire and then kicked her off him. Despite slowly getting up, his missile barrage was charged up and immediately fired at Star Sapphire.
KA-BOOM
BOOM
CRASH
BOOM
KA-BOOM
After the missiles hit Sapphire's shielding wall, after she let her guard down, Shadow took advantage. Immediately jumped at her, smashing his fist against her face and knocking her back.
CRASH
THUD
Shadow got on one knee after the bullet shot through his left quad. Holding his quad, he had a sharp stinging pain from the bullet even he couldn't resist. Spinelli then saw it as their only opportunity.
Dropping her weapon from both hands, she walked up to Shadow slowly.
"Looks like even a bullet is your weakness." She started.
"You-" Shadow tried to speak, but Spinelli kicked him in the face. "Shut the hell up and sit down!" Spinelli exclaimed after dropping him on his back. She walked on him and kneeled, grabbing his collar and then punching him hard once.
"Time to come home, bitch!" Instead of immediately injecting him, pressing a button on her facemask to retract, Spinelli pressed her lips against his, knowing her crush was still in there somewhere…
With the small distraction ensuing, Spinelli had the syringe slide down from her sleeve and into her hand. And then, she immediately injected Shadow in the neck, well, stabbing the syringe with little remorse. Finally, she started injecting the antitoxin into Shadow, hoping she got it in in time.
After the syringe was now emptied, Spinelli stopped kissing Shadow and then pushed him away. She got up as two strange red, white, and gray helicopters arrived overhead.
The new leader of the Militia came sliding down on the tether rope, Alastor. The Hyperjet finally arrived overhead the helicopters.
"NO, NO, NO, NO, NOOOO! YOU RUINED EVERYTHING! HE WAS MINE! HE WAS MY KEY, MY INSTRUMENT TO RULING THE WORLD!" Alastor yelled while Scarlet stood her ground. "ALL I NEEDED WAS HIM UNDER MY WING AND I COULD'VE GOTTEN RID OF ALL OF YOU! AND WITHOUT YOU IN THE FRAME, I WOULD'VE RULED THIS COUNTRY! I WOULD'VE RULED THIS WORLD!" He yelled.
A tether line dropped down. A raven-haired woman dropped down behind Alastor.
"As long as we're standing, you will never rule this world. This world is under our protection!" Rhonda yanked Alastor's shoulder and punched him away toward Spinelli.
All she did was kick him away as Shadow finally stood up.
Rhonda kicked him away. Spinelli walked out of the way. Alastor stumbled right into an uppercut by Shadow.
After getting upper-cutted and flipped into the air, Alastor's mask was also punched off.
THUD
…
CLANG
Alastor's mask was off, and revealed who was under the mask all along…
That'll do it for this chapter! Now, I can't say for certain right now, but I feel like the ending of this story will be within five to ten chapters away. Again, I'm uncertain when it'll be but it should be within those numbers. Now, I hope you enjoyed this chapter along with the return of this story, and I'll see you in the next chapter!