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Post by Mistica on Jun 20, 2012 10:48:08 GMT -5
So this will be the thread for my newest fanfiction, Broken Halo which will also be featured upon my site and my DA page.
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Post by Mistica on Jun 20, 2012 10:50:48 GMT -5
Chapter One
It was a dark night…not like it was different from any other really. Upon the highest point of the city bridge sat a female hedgehog, purple in color. Looking at the moon, she remembered the past but then shook these thoughts away.
"Honestly Angel, stop daydreaming." She told herself.
That was her name, Angel, the daughter of the late Angela and her imprisoned husband, Andrew. At the age of eleven, she was street smart, living without parental jurisdiction and also, quite fast on her feet…although she wasn't on her own.
"HEY!"
She looked down below to see a gray fox looking up at her from the street as he leaned against a motorcycle. Giving him a smile, she grinded down the metal railing and landed right in front of him.
"Looking for me?" she told him with a smirk.
"Yeah, you could say that", he answered her as he tossed a cigarette to the ground and stomped it out, "Come on, gotta get going before it gets too late."
An hour passed as they sped down the streets of Station Square, Bullet as he was called looked back at her as he noticed that her gaze was lost in her thoughts. "So…you thinking about them again, right?"
"Hmm", she hadn't even realized that he had spoke to her, "You mean Sonic and Shadow?"
"Yeah and of course your little boyfriend."
"Hey come on Bullet, he's your cousin you know, maybe you should be nicer."
He laughed a little, "Just because he's family doesn't mean shit…besides, how do you know if he isn't seeing somebody else?"
"Somehow, Tails doesn't seem to be the type to approach another girl…not that it matters, I mean, I haven't seen him in some time so he's free to see whomever he wants."
"You say that…but you don't mean it."
They soon drove out of city limits and were heading towards the direction of the forest. When they were deep enough within, Bullet stopped his bike and touched a tree, revealing that it in fact had a hidden key pad and after pressing a few buttons, a strange door opened up from the ground. Bullet revved up his bike as he and Angel went into the entrance which quickly closed and seemed to disappear, almost like as if it was never there. Once inside, it turned out to be a small underground base where they had been calling home. Bullet and Angel then saw a black echidna who happened to be building a house of cards and a pretty high one at that.
"Seriously? You've been doing that since I've left and to think that I thought that you were playing solitaire." Bullet told him.
Without taking his concentration away from the cards, he simply answered, "Yes but it wasn't much of a challenge really despite the fact that I even shuffled the deck of cards nearly three times. Oh…which reminds me, explain again to me Bullet about why your deck has…how should I put it, skimpily dressed women on them?"
The fox grinned, "Heh, sorry Socks, don't like the gals then buy your own deck then."
The echidna sighed, "While I would love to do that, unfortunately I have no money on me."
"Can't you use your spiritual powers to poof something here?" Angel asked him. Socks gave her a slight glance, "I'm sorry but even my powers are limited especially when I'm within the mortal realm. My powers are not like yours where all I have to do is just think it and it shall be done, I'm afraid that living amongst the mortals is enough to cause my powers to nearly deteriorate but that's the price of being mortal I guess."
Angel felt a little sorry for him, ever since Socks chose to no longer live within the realm of the underworld and instead live here on Earth with her and Bullet, it did have a price. Socks' powers had grown terribly weak to where the few things that he could do was try to mix up a potion or even his special sight to see into the times of the past and future…but sadly, that was it. Otherwise than that, he was almost no different then they were, completely mortal. Still, there was one thing that he also could do which was his special connection with Knuckles but Socks had stopped using it ever since the three had left on their way some time ago. Either way, they weren't living the best life that you could ask for.
***
"All right new recruits, we'll start assigning you to your superiors. They will accompany you and be your guide on your missions…so let's see."
The following day, a new group of G.U.N. force soldiers were preparing for their assigning, this was just the last step before they could become full fledged agents. The years spent in the academy seemed to last forever but it was finally paying off. The other seasoned agents were standing on the side as they waited to see what was to become of the new recruits and who was assigned to whom. Rouge whispered under her breath, "So Shadow, think I might have to put up with one of those rookies?"
"Hmm, maybe, of course you were a rookie once as well."
"Doesn't mean that I would want to be stuck with one. Of course maybe if they pair me up with someone cute, it might make the whole process of 'baby-sitting' much easier."
"You two, that's enough. No matter whether you are paired with a rookie or not, we are considered as examples to them so please, be on your best behavior." Agent Topaz told them.
Rouge gave the human a wink, "Oh come on, don't be so serious Topaz, we're only joking."
Shadow looked at her with a smirk, "Joking? I actually thought you were being serious about this?"
For the next fifteen minutes, the rookies were assigned to their respective superiors. Shadow, Rouge, and Topaz deep down were relieved to see that they would be rookie free. Not that there was anything wrong with working with new recruits but it wasn't a pleasant experience when it came to working on missions. The black hedgehog took a good look at the new young agents, knowing that someday he could be paired up working with one. If they made it this far when it came to their training then it was clear that they were serious about working for GUN. Although, there was always the possibility that if they went on a mission that goes awry then some of them may not make it back. Still, that was the risk you took when you worked for GUN, they knew and understood that well.
***
Inside of a prison, a local guard was pulling along a large cart on wheels which seemed to be loaded with dirty laundry of the inmates. Nobody really gave him too much notice as it seemed that he was taking it outside where a large van was waiting. He pulled it into the van, closed the back door, and then chose to change into a different uniform. With that done, the guard now climbed into the driver's seat and then drove the van towards the entrance gates. Once he made it past security, the van drove some distance down the road but then parked itself into an old parking lot. The driver then climbed into the back as he helped a dark colored hedgehog climb out of the cart that he had wheeled into the van.
"Hey, don't forget, you owe me big time for this Andrew, you bastard!" the guard told him.
"Yeah, yeah, I heard ya'll the first time. I gave you the routing number to my bank account, you can wire your payment from there, alright?"
"Fine, just don't get yourself into trouble again, I'm risking enough just helping you."
With that said, Andrew watched as the van drove off down the street. He held a sly smirk, "Hmm, wonder how long it'll take him to find out that the number I gave him was fake…oh well."
He felt rather relieved to be out of prison but then his next priority was to find Angel. He couldn't help but feel a slight bit of fury because it was all because of her and that damn Shadow that he was sent to jail for a second time in his life. He made it clear to her that if he ever got out, she was best to hide and he meant it. The problem was that where would he find her, it wasn't like putting out a missing persons report for his daughter was an option.
"Wow, you're still causing trouble, Andrew?"
He froze in his tracks at the sound of the voice of what seemed to be a woman. The worst part was that he knew whom the voice belonged to, "Malevolent?" He turned around to see a female black echidna, staring darkly at him with a wicked grin on her face.
"Hey, long time no see…the last time I saw you was way back…you do remember that time, don't you Andrew? It was back when you were causing just as much trouble as you are now…and you said out loud to yourself that you would do anything for a second chance. If I recall, I gave you that second chance and in return you were to give me…now, what was it, oh yeah…your soul!"
Andrew became nervous, he remembered this demonic woman but there was one thing on his mind. "Why are you bothering me about this now?" he asked.
"The big man downstairs feels that it's best if we gave you a courtesy call, your time is up and I'm here to collect payment!"
"What", he nearly screamed, "No wait, I…I need more time, you can't come for me yet, I just got out of jail and, I, this is a bad time right now, ya know?"
"You've had more than one lifetime to live your life and everything must come to an end, don't make this any harder than it needs to be." she argued. Malevolent watched as she saw the fear instantly wash over his face, this was the part of her job that she loved the most.
"I just, I just have to tie up some loose ends first, that's all. Can you find it in you to allow me that."
Well, she wasn't surprised, it was very common for a person to have regrets when it came to death. "You're very lucky that I'm feeling generous so fine, whatever last goodbyes you need to make, you have until about…" Then she noticed how the sun was slowly getting more orange in the sky as the afternoon was passing on. "Okay, you have until the end of this coming sunset, by then you'll pass on from this world."
"Thanks…so how is it going to happen, is it going to be like a heart attack or something?" he asked her curiously.
"Not quite." she told him.
Within a cloud of smoke, a handgun formed in her palm and without a second thought, she fired the gun. It hurt but the pain wasn't normal pain, it was the most excruciating pain that Andrew had felt in his entire life. The pain was so horrible that Andrew nearly doubled over, it burned so much like fire.
"Clock's ticking Andrew, you better hurry up before you waste this chance too." With that said, Malevolent disappeared in a flash of dark light as she left him there.
He couldn't believe it, one minute he's out of jail and then the next he's preparing for his death. It was more than rotten luck but now since it was clear that he only had a few hours to live, it allowed him time to think. He thought about his daughter Angel, he wasn't sure where she was now but there was a strong chance of her still living in Station Square. He thought about how he had treated her during his life, how horrible he was to her. Then he started to question why he was even thinking about that, was he feeling sympathy for his crimes? Was the fact that he was dying the reason why he was even thinking about this at all?
"Well that's perfect, now you decide to grow a conscience." he scolded himself.
He wondered if other people were also the same way when they knew that they were going to die. Then he thought about how he ended up this way, it wasn't like his parents raised him this way. Well, actually, his mother was from his more fond memories of childhood while his father was more like the negative. He was about Angel's age when he remembered how his dad had treated him, it wasn't any better that was for certain. In fact, Angel was still very much young and needed someone to be there to guide her. There was only one problem, Andrew had no living family left and his late wife only had one brother who nobody ever heard from since their marriage.
"Wait a minute…that Shadow fella did show some concern for her last time we met."
Andrew wondered if maybe there was some way to contact Shadow with this special request. From his time spent in prison, he knew that Shadow worked for GUN as an agent now. He learned that information from a few criminals that Shadow helped put away. Even if he could get a hold of Shadow, it was clear that going back to the police wasn't going to work. Well, maybe going to a hospital would do the trick, they could easily get in touch with GUN he was sure of it. So it was settled, Andrew needed to get to the nearest hospital and see if there was anyway they could get in touch with Shadow for him.
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Post by Mistica on Jul 28, 2012 23:05:20 GMT -5
Chapter Two
A strange cloaked figure upon a horse seemed to make his way through the forest until he finally made it to a clearing. Before him stood the highway and beyond that was the expansive city of Station Square. His blue eyes seemed to shine beneath his hood, the black horse kicking at the dirt, almost as a sign of impatience. Using his gloved hand, he petted her, “Easy girl, we’ve made it and that’s what matters.”
Giving the reins a slight tug, the horse took to making a slow trot as they continued their way towards the city and across the bridge. This stranger was a sight for the cars that passed by, it wasn’t everyday that you saw a rider on a horse in the city. He didn’t even glance at the drivers, simply kept his mind focused on his destination and most importantly, his target. Even as some drivers decided to honk in his direction, he just continued to ignore them. Finally after crossing the large bridge, he was within the city itself, looking up to scan the horizon before him. He pulled out of one of his gloves a folded up picture, it was of a female adult hedgehog. On the back was written a name in black writing, he knew her name and had it memorized to heart but he kept the picture just as a reminder. Even though he knew that she lived here, he unfortunately had no idea of where she was living but he knew of the woman’s husband. She had married a male hedgehog known as Andrew or better yet, his father. He knew from what information he found out that she had a daughter, a wretched girl bestowed with abilities that no god would ever be foolish enough to grant. This adult hedgehog, she was his target, she was the reason why he had traveled all this way. She was the reason why his father had left their family behind. He didn’t care about her precious daughter and for now, not even his old man because she was the main objective.
Unfortunately, he must have attracted more attention to himself when he heard a low siren of a police car. The car slowed to a halt as an officer got out and slowly approached him. The officer eyed the rider a bit before speaking, “Young man, I’m not sure if you realize but animals such as your horse here aren’t allowed within city limits.”
“My apologies officer, I’m afraid I’m not from around here and I wasn’t aware of that law. I can easily take her out of here and come back without her if that’s what you prefer?”
“That’s fine, yes, I would appreciate that and since there’s no harm done, I’ll just let you off with a warning.”
“Before I do that”, the rider asked, “Could you be so kind just to direct me to the police station. I’m looking for someone who I believe is still living here.” The officer gave it some thought and shrugged, “Alright, but you need to take the horse right on out of here when you’re done. I’ll lead you there, just follow my car, okay?”
“Of course, thank you so much officer.” The cop car made it’s way down the street with the rider and his steed following him on the sidewalk.
Andrew wasn’t sure of how much time he had wasted but finally he made it, he had found himself a hospital. Immediately as he made his way through the double doors, a nurse ran to him and shouted for another to pull up a stretcher. Before he knew it, he was being bombarded with nurses who were asking him tons of questions which he couldn’t answer. His vision almost seemed to be going on him but he rubbed his eyes and finally got his mouth to speak.
“I need a piece of paper and a pen, please, it’s real important!”
“Sir, the doctors are about to take you into surgery, we have to get that bullet out of you now!” the nurse explained.
“Please, I just need to make a special request!” She looked at him for a minute, ran over to the front desk, and gave him what he asked for. “Fine but please be quick about this, the doctors need to operate on you and soon!” Andrew was grateful to her and tried to waste no time, he could feel his hands get weaker as time was drawing near. Once he finished, he looked and read back to himself what he wrote just to make sure that it was legible. When it seemed decent enough, he folded it and handed it to the nurse, “If something happens to me, I need you to do exactly what this says, understand?”
“That’s fine sir, now just lie down and don’t worry, everything is going to be alright.”
The doctors quickly wheeled him to the operating room, working quickly on removing the bullet. He could feel the anesthesia kick in but yet at the same time, he could hear his own heartbeat in his head. It wasn’t long before the noise of the doctors working began to fade. Then the moment came, the head doctor had the bullet and pulled it out without any problems. Just then sunset had passed, the minute that darkness seemed to take over a long beep could be heard from a machine. The doctors were shocked because it seemed that Andrew’s heart had stopped! Then they spent the next half hour working frantically, trying to get him breathing again but no matter what they tried, nothing worked. When it became clear that he was long gone, the doctors stopped as the head doctor decided to go find the nurse who had seen him first. Watching from outside was a black female echidna who smiled so darkly as she stared at his body. She had kept her side of the agreement and at the end of sunset, came to get what was hers. Nobody seemed to notice her as she walked around a corner and just vanished out of sight. When the nurse listened to what had happened to Andrew, she then looked at the request he had written out. Going to the phone, she dialed the operator, “Hello, I need to get in touch with GUN please, it’s an emergency.”
Arriving at the police station, the rider left his horse to wait for him outside as he was led by the officer who had stopped him earlier. Following the officer inside, he went straight to the front desk. “Hey Chuck, help this guy out, he’s looking for someone.” the officer told the front desk.
“Sure thing”, turning his attention to the rider, “Who are you looking for?”
“I’m looking for a female hedgehog by the name of Angela, she’s married to another known as Andrew.” he answered.
“Okay, sure, just take a seat and I’ll call you if I find anything.”
The rider nodded as he went ahead and did just that, sitting on a small brown chair against the wall. He scanned the look and appearance of the police station, finding it somewhat pleasing of a sight to take in. Then he noticed a small stack of magazines, might as well do some reading to pass the time along. He picked up a hunting magazine first, taking note of the pictures of humans and their gaming prizes. He wasn’t much of a hunter or at least not in the same way as how humans thought but for the moment, he was. “Hey, young man?” The rider got up when he heard the officer at the front desk call to him, “Yes?”
“I found something about this Angela hedgehog you’re looking for, I’m afraid it’s not exactly good news. Seems that she was killed a few years ago, murdered by her husband who according to our reports should be serving a sentence in prison right now.”
“Really? That’s unfortunate…does she have any other family besides him?”
“Uh…let’s see…she’s got a daughter but I’m afraid that CPS haven’t seen her since her father’s arrest. She’s possibly somewhere in this city though…goes by the name Angel, a young girl actually.” The rider gave this some thought before answering, “Thank you for your help, at least now I know.”
The officer watched as the young hedgehog walked out of the station, feeling some sympathy for him considering what was found. The hedgehog got on his horse, lightly tugging on the reins to turn her around. “Well girl, it seems that our original target is no more but no worries though. The sins of Angela will be atoned and the one to pay that price shall be none other than her daughter.”
Shadow and Rouge entered the hospital, making their way over to the front desk to meet with the nurse who had apparently called them. She seemed to be rather relieved when she saw them, “Thank you for coming out here.”
“If you don’t mind”, Shadow began, “Is there anyway that I can see the body of this hedgehog first, just to make sure that he is Andrew.”
“Of course, this way.” answered the nurse. She led them to a small hospital room where a stretcher was in the middle, a sheet covering whatever was on it. The nurse slowly pulled the white sheet to reveal Andrew’s body underneath. Shadow’s eyes got wide for a bit, it was Andrew and judging from the dried wound, he was indeed shot.
“We tried to do what we could but unfortunately, he was lost during the operation. He had left a last request to contact you in regards to his daughter.” Shadow’s attention turned to the nurse again, “What was his request?”
“He requested that you take over as her caretaker if anything were to happen to him, are you related to him somehow?”
“No but he has no other family to care for her so that’s probably why he asked such a thing of me. His daughter does know me, I’m no stranger to her.”
The nurse simply answered, “In that case, I take it that you’ll be in charge of funeral arrangements. While it‘s not much, I hope that you can accept my condolences as I’m very sorry for your loss.” With that said, she left the two there to give them a moment of peace. Rouge looked at the black hedgehog, “Well, now what? We don’t have any idea of where Angel is right now. Chances are she’s hanging out with those two goof balls Bullet and Socks.”
“If I recall, they had themselves a base located within the middle of the jungle…I’ll look into it first thing tomorrow morning, at the very least I need to find Angel so that way she can be told about Andrew’s passing. He wasn’t a good person in life but he was still her father, she has the right to say goodbye to him if she chooses.” Shadow looked back at Andrew’s lifeless body, he still couldn’t help but wonder though, why? Why would Andrew ask this of him especially since he helped Angel in putting the hedgehog away for the second time in his life. Then there was the issue with Angel, Shadow had a feeling that she wouldn’t like the idea of him becoming her new…father.
The next day, a group of police cars were racing through downtown Station Square as they gave chase after a small group of troublemakers. Angel was speeding through the streets but was slowing herself just a slight bit so that way Bullet and Socks could keep up with her.
“Damn cops!” Bullet yelled. He was tempted to pull out his pistol but Socks warned, “We’re already running, don’t make things worse!”
“Guys come on, more running, less talking!” Angel yelled at the two.
She made a sharp left turn as Bullet barely made it with his bike, Socks struggling to hang on. After running for the next fifth teen minutes, it was obvious to Angel that they weren’t getting any distance between them and the police.
“Hey guys, new plan! We’ll split up at the next light!” Angel instructed.
Bullet didn’t like this plan but she did have a point, she could use her full speed if she wasn’t worrying about them. When they hit the next light, Angel darted down an alley as Bullet and Socks shot down the street to the right. One of the cars still was after Angel as the rest chased down Bullet and his bike. She was sure that she was home free since the car clearly couldn’t fit but when she was reaching the end of this alley, she didn’t count on one thing. Apparently one of the other cars had taken a back road and had blocked the other side of the alley. She skidded to a halt, freezing as the cops had filtered around her from both in front and behind.
“Hands up where we can see them!” an officer yelled. Knowing that she didn’t have too many options, she complied as she saw a female officer walk over to her with cuffs. She was really hoping that Bullet and Socks had gotten away despite their little escapade. The officer put Angel in the back of the car, taking her away to the local jail.
Meanwhile, Shadow and Rouge had tracked down the possible location of the base within the deep jungle. Shadow had found the keypad hidden upon the tree, which in turn led him to notice the secret hidden door upon the ground. Rouge glanced at it, “I think that I can probably figure out the password pretty quickly.” Then she heard a loud ripping of metal, “No need”, Shadow answered her.
“You didn’t have to do that, I could have easily hacked this thing no problem!”
“I’m sure that Bullet can fix the door, we’re here for Angel, remember?”
The two slowly walked down the ramp inside what appeared to be some kind of garage, random tools and parts were around. Then they noticed a wooden door at the far end of the room, which opened up into a hallway. “Alright, guess we better start looking.” Shadow instructed.
Back at the local jail, Angel sat bored within a small cell as she then listened to the conversation that the officers were having. “We lost the other two.”
“Great…just great but what about her?” a fellow officer asked.
“Well, she is a minor…we’ll go ahead and contact her parents.”
“Don’t you know? She’s Andrew’s kid, he’s serving his time out in prison or at least he was last I heard.”
“Maybe we’ll just hold her over night.”
“What did she do anyway?” another officer asked.
“Caught her and her buddies trying to shoplift from a store.”
“Did they actually take anything?”
“We’re not sure, that’s why we were hoping to catch all of them, not just her.”
“Then we could just let her go.” the officer suggested.
“Hey, she needs to realize that what she did was wrong. Overnight is not going to kill her, at best she’s safer in here than out on the streets.”
Angel seemed both relieved and kind of upset at the same time, she was happy that Bullet and Socks got away but yet it was at the cost of her getting caught. Although, judging from what the officers were saying, they would let her go by morning and it wasn’t like they were going to put anyone else in here with her.
Back near the base, Bullet and Socks had lost the cops and were coming upon the hidden entrance. “Think that Angel made it?” Bullet asked.
“Well, we still haven’t seen her since we separated. At best she’s hiding somewhere within the city.” Socks explained.
“Wait”, Bullet froze, “Somebody’s been here.”
He examined the ripped door or what was left of it then his eyes focused on the ramp below. Leaving his bike near the entrance, he and Socks carefully made their way down the ramp, taking notice of the door left ajar. Pulling out his pistols, he motioned for Socks to follow him as they slowly headed down the hallway. They walked until they reached his room, he kicked open the door to see it empty. Then they continued down the hall to reach the room that Socks slept in, kicking it in as before to notice that it was also empty. Socks quickly hid behind Bullet, “Angel’s door is open and the light is on,” he whispered.
As the two slowly snuck over to Angel’s door, they could hear a pair of voices. “She’s not here, maybe we should wait until they return or something.” spoke a female voice.
“We don’t know how long that will take, might be better just to leave a note or just check back later.” spoke a male voice.
Bullet nodded at Socks as he mouthed for him to wait right there then with a swift movement, he jumped in front of the doorway. “You better run motherfuuuu…hey, wait, the hell you two doing here?!”
“Huh”, Socks questioned, “Who is it?”
He joined Bullet at his side to see that it was none other than Shadow and Rouge. “Hey guys, sorry for barging in like this but we really need to see Angel right away.” Rouge explained.
“That depends, who’s the asshole who broke the damn door out front?” Bullet growled.
The bat just simply pointed at Shadow as he showed no expression on his face.
“Figures, you feel that you can do whatever the hell you like just because you’re a cop now.” Bullet remarked.
“My apologies then but where is Angel?” Shadow asked.
“I’m afraid that we don’t know, the three of us were being chased by police and we split up about halfway through the chase. Bullet and I made it back to the base but we haven’t seen Angel since then.” Socks explained. Shadow couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Angel had gotten caught, if so then there was only one place that she would be at right now.
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Post by Mistica on Dec 20, 2012 1:53:36 GMT -5
Chapter Three
The horse snorted, in annoyance obviously, almost as if she was complaining about where they were now. “Come now girl, you heard the officer. We can’t stay within the city simply due to what you are. Besides, I prefer this jungle more as opposed to the crowded city.”
As the horse came to a stop, her rider jumped right off, landing with a low thud upon the ground. He pulled off a pack that was hidden underneath her saddle, having within it some interesting weapons. The first thing he pulled out was a hand pistol, opening it to reveal that it wasn’t loaded. Then he pulled out a pack of bullets, carefully loading one bullet at a time into the gun. He looked around to see exactly what he could test it out on then he pulled out of his pack a glass bottle. He tossed it up in the air and with a quick shot, blasted the bottle into shards. Satisfied with his results, he then loaded the pistol within his holster on his belt.
Then the second thing he pulled out was a small hand blade, unsheathing it then putting it in its rightful place next to the gun. Then he pulled out one final thing, a sword of some kind. The horse gave a slight whinny, “Yes, it’s been too long since we’ve seen the beauty of it”, the rider remarked. “The lone katana…hard to believe that it used to belong to my mother’s father. She only kept it as simply decoration, clearly unaware that it could do more than look pretty on a mantle.”
He held the sword in his hand but held it sideways, with the blade pointing out to his right. The rider then took a few practice swings, using the blade almost as if he was fighting some kind of invisible enemy. He wasn’t sure if he would be using it but then again, you never know. Sheathing the weapon, it was the last thing he attached to his belt then he turned his attention back to the bullets. He poured them into a small cloth bag which he then tied onto a loop next to his gun holster.
“It seems that we have ourselves a new target, Nightingale. This daughter, if my memory serves me, has the same strange abilities as her mother. Those unearthly powers of the mind…”
He knew that chances are, Angela’s daughter would look just like her mother, he knew that much from his own personal investigation. “For the while, I feel that some undercover work is best…if we want to find Angel. She will atone for the sins of her mother…the sins of forcing my father to choose between his proper responsibilities and infidelity.” He took into consideration the hour, “Cleary night is our best time…the sooner I find her, the better to cleanse the stain of sin itself…but there is no mistake, girl. She will suffer a strong and painful death…I will make sure of that. A death similar to how my own soul seems to suffer even now after the unfortunate choice that my mother made years ago…maybe for now, resting is our better option.”
He sat himself against the trunk of a tree but then he focused upon his brown leather gloves. He pulled one off, revealing that his hand underneath was immensely scarred. Faded gashes could be seen both on his palm and the top of his hand, clearly some were rather old and some, not so much. “Yes”, he spoke to himself, “The sins will be atoned…even my own once I find her.” *** “So what do we want to do now?” Rouge asked. Shadow wasn’t entirely sure, considering how late it was, there could be a chance that the police wouldn’t release her to them but then again. “Let’s try the police station.” he answered.
“Shadow, even if they hand her to us, then what? How are you going to explain to her about all that’s happened?”
“Rouge, I’ll figure it out alright? We won’t know until we talk with her.”
It became clear that the decision was made, the two boarded the motorcycle and took off towards the station. The officer in charge of watching Angel had fallen asleep as she had tried to occupy herself with blowing around pieces of dust that collected on the floor of the cell. When that eventually became boring, she laid onto the small bunk in her little prison, hanging her head upside down as she stared at the brick wall on the other side. She figured that time would pass faster if she fell asleep, the only problem was that she wasn’t really tired right now. Also, the snoring of the officer in charge wasn’t helping her either. Then she heard the door open, she wondered if that meant there would be somebody else that they would put in the cell next to hers. Shadow quickly shook the officer by his arm, immediately the human awoke in shock, “Huh, what the…oh, um hello, may I help you?”
“Yes, has anyone possibly brought in a young girl hedgehog?”
“Description please?”
“Oh, well, dark purple, long hair, about this high perhaps?”
The officer gave it some thought then his face showed some expression, “Oh yes, actually I believe some of our boys did arrest a young girl earlier. She’s spending the night here in one of our cells actually.”
Shadow cocked his head, “For what exactly?”
“Suspicion of robbing a store, sir.”
Shadow and Rouge exchanged glances for a bit, “Anyway you could release her to us” Rouge asked.
“I’m sorry ma’am but as far as we know, she has no other caretaker besides her father and he’s serving a sentence if I recall.”
“Actually”, Shadow began, “That’s why we’re here. I’m afraid that her father had an accident and we needed to get a hold of her as quickly as possible.”
“Oh, wow, is he alright?” the officer asked, concerned.
“No, I’m afraid he isn’t and he asked me to watch over her due to the circumstances. If you can’t release her now then can I at least pick her up tomorrow?”
“That won’t be necessary, let me go get her for you.” answered the officer. Angel heard footsteps as she then saw that the officer in charge was surprisingly letting her go. “Guess what, looks like you’re getting out early, a friend of yours is here to pick you up.”
“A friend?” she asked.
Angel didn’t understand, she knew that Bullet and Socks would never step foot in a police station. Who was here to pick her up if it wasn’t one of them? Well, whoever it was didn’t matter, at least she could go home now. When the officer walked her to the front, she was shocked to see none other than Shadow and Rouge! “What are you guys doing here?” she asked.
“We’ll discuss that once we get outside.” Shadow remarked.
“Thanks, we really appreciate it.” Rouge told the officer. “No problem, ma’am.”
Once outside, Angel figured that now they could talk, “Well, thanks for getting me out of there so…yeah, I’m gonna get going now.”
“Angel, we didn’t get you out of there just for you to run off again.” Rouge answered.
“Okay then, so why did you?” she asked. Shadow figured that it was best if he explained, “It seems that your father has gotten out of prison once again but he apparently made a run in with somebody who wasn’t too happy to see him…your father was at the hospital, he…died of a gunshot wound while they were working on him.”
Angel’s eyes were wide with disbelief, it almost seemed surreal in a way, “He…died…somebody killed my dad?”
“Angel, I’m very sorry about this…I’ve decided to go ahead and arrange the funeral but I felt it was best to tell you in case you wanted to attend.”
“He’s…he’s dead…” she whispered. Shadow became just a little concerned, he wasn’t sure of how well she was taking this considering now how distant she was acting. “How am I going to be able to attend a funeral…CPS will find me…they’ll take me away from my friends, my home, from everything!” she whispered.
Rouge shot a glance at Shadow, almost as if she was saying that maybe they needed to say something further than what they had said.
“They’ll drop me off with some asshole probably”, Angel continued, “Probably some pedo who’ll think that they can tell me what to do! I don’t want my life to change just because he’s gone! I’m not going to live with some family just because they want me to!”
“Angel, listen” Rouge answered, “Actually your father-.”
“I’m sure that everything will be fine” Shadow interrupted her, “If you want while we’re working on this, you can just stay with me for a little while. If CPS thinks that you have another caretaker then they’ll leave you alone.”
“They won’t care.” Angel told him.
“I am an agent for GUN, I’m sure that I can pull a few strings and once everything is taken care of, you can go home and they won’t be the wiser.”
“Really? You would do that?” Angel questioned.
“Yes, you should be given a chance to grieve for your father and be able to put him to rest as well.”
“Okay, sure, if you want to then yeah, that’s fine.” It seemed that everything would be okay, somehow Angel felt some relief but then her stomach growled, “Oh...heh, oops, sorry about that.”
“That’s okay, you can get something once we get back to my place.”
“Shadow, a word if you will.” Rouge remarked. When she was sure that she pulled him out of earshot, she whispered, “What do you think you’re doing?! Andrew asked you to watch over her and after that little speech of yours, how are you going to do that?”
“I still am, what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that you made it seem like her stay is temporary! You should have told her about what her father wanted you to do!”
“I will Rouge, it’s just…look at her, she was very upset from his passing that I wasn’t sure if she needed anymore news than that!”
“Okay, ultimate life form, so when are you going to tell her?”
“I’ll find some way to break the news to her when I feel the time is right.”
“Well, you better find the right time soon because it won’t take you guys very long to arrange the funeral, let alone bury the man!”
“Don’t worry about it” Shadow scolded, “I will find the right time to tell her, I’ll handle it just don’t say anything further to her, okay?”
“Fine…fine, if you say so.” Then she turned her attention back to Angel, “Well, it’s getting late, I’ll just take the skies so I guess I’ll see you two around then.” With that said, Rouge took off but not before shooting a glance back at Shadow.
Once she was gone, he then focused on the girl, “Okay, my place isn’t too far from here.” He boarded a black and red motorcycle but then he noticed the odd looks that Angel was giving him, “What’s wrong?”
“Why do you have a motorcycle for, you like going through a mid life crisis or something?”
“A what now?” he asked. When it became clear to her that he didn’t understand, she shrugged it off, “Never mind.” Without another word, she boarded the bike right behind him and he took off. He still couldn’t help but wonder what she meant by that but figured that he could look it up later. Shadow’s apartment wasn’t exactly a normal apartment per say, it was more like a very small house squished in between two other buildings of a similar color. When he pulled into the garage, he then led her to the front where a dull stoop was the entrance to his apartment door. He found the key to the front door and opened it, she walked inside and was surprised to see that the apartment wasn’t that big.
“Uh, you said that you work for GUN, right?” she asked.
“Yes, why?”
“It’s nothing…just, I don’t know, I just figured that you would have a much bigger place, that’s all because I’m sure that they pay you guys pretty good. At least I thought they would.”
“Since I’m the only one living here, I didn’t see the need to pay for anything over the top. It’s just a two bedroom apartment, as long as it’s a nice place to stay then I have no complaints.” he explained. Angel couldn’t help her curiosity, she decided to look around for just a little. The living room was the first place which oddly had the kitchen attached right behind it. Then there was a hallway, the first door to her left she opened, inside was obviously the laundry room. She thought it was funny he had a washer and dryer considering that all he ever wore were gloves and shoes. Then she noticed a door on her right, opening it to reveal that it was the bathroom…a small bathroom. Sure it had of course a sink, toilet, bathtub which also functioned as a shower but still…it was small for her standards! The next door on her right she opened to reveal that it was, well, from her guess it was Shadow’s bedroom. Nothing too fancy but it had a small tv but then again, the only other rooms she had been in were Socks and Bullet‘s. Socks had something similar to this with junk that looked like foreign country sort of things and Bullet’s room was pretty much a mess covered in naked girl posters. At least Shadow didn’t have anything like that on his walls which Angel had to admit was a relief. Then she opened the door that was across which was basically just another bedroom, probably even a guest room. The room had a bed in the middle with a pair of night stands on either side, a dull looking headboard then across from the bed was a dresser with a large mirror on it. She opened the closet to reveal that it was kind of small but still functional and then she noticed the window, not too bad of a view. Maybe this would be where she would be spending the nights here until after the funeral. The room was kind of boring to look at but what did she expect, if guys taught her anything it was that they knew nothing about decorating a room…well, except for Socks, he actually did.
Following her to the guest room, Shadow cleared his throat, “So, do you want just a sandwich?”
“Yeah, sure, a PB&J is fine.”
“We also have ham if you want?” he told her.
“Nah, that’s okay.”
She followed him into the kitchen as she went scrounging through his fridge, “I can make it for you”, he explained.
“No, it’s cool, I know how, no biggie.” she told him.
“Well, okay, the peanut butter is in the first top drawer.” he told her.
Once she got what she needed, she then started looking for a knife but then Shadow handed her a butter knife. “Thank you.” she told him. He watched her as she worked on the process of making her sandwich, the first thing he noticed was that she had put a little too much jelly. Chances are she would be needing a napkin if any of it spilled onto the counter. Then she put just as much peanut butter, well, at least peanut butter didn’t function the same as jelly. When she put the two pieces of bread together, sure enough some of the jelly spilled onto the counter when she picked it up.
“Oh…sorry.” she told him.
“That’s okay, we’ll just clean it up.” he explained.
Once that was done, she then went looking through his kitchen drawers and pulled out a large drinking glass. She got herself the milk and nearly filled it up to the top, Shadow couldn’t help but wonder why. That was definitely a lot of milk for one sandwich, then she asked. “Do you have like chocolate mix?”
“Uh, yeah, it’s in the same place as the peanut butter.”
She pulled it down and with a spoon, she poured into her milk one spoon ful…then two…and then three! She mixed it which resulted in the milk turning a very dark brown color. Once it seemed like she was settled, she sat herself down and proceeded to eat her sandwich. Shadow was just a tad bit shocked at the amount of chocolate mix she used, he probably used maybe one and a half at the most but never enough to make the milk that dark of a color! He knew one thing though, that was a lot of sugar she was consuming in just one glass and then when you take into account the sandwich. He just hoped that despite that, she would be able to sleep, the last thing he needed was a teenager on a sugar high. As she continued to eat, Shadow started to wonder of how he was going to break the news to her. He knew that Rouge was right, eventually he would have to explain to Angel what her father had asked of him. What did seem to hold him back was her whole attitude, how she reacted when he had first told her. It was almost like the idea of being adopted to her was like hell on earth.
“Hey Shadow?”
He looked up at her, she had finished the sandwich and at least half of her milk, noticing his lost stare. “Something up or what?” she asked.
“No, just thinking about what will have to be done to arrange the funeral. While you’re staying here, you’ll be sleeping in the guest room, alright?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Maybe in the next day or so, we can go pick up some of your things from the base.”
“I’m just staying for a little while, we shouldn’t waste our time.”
“Angel, it wouldn’t hurt considering that we don’t know how long the process will take. I just figure that if you probably pack some clothes and the necessities then that should hold you over until after the funeral.”
“Okay fine, whatever.” She finished the milk and with that, headed to the guest room, “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow morning, good night.”
Shadow simply nodded, watching her walk down the hallway and then close the bedroom door. He pulled out of his glove the note that the nurse had given to him. He read it again, trying to somehow understand exactly why…why did Andrew ask this of him? He stared at the paper, hoping that maybe somehow he could understand the meaning behind the words but still nothing. He gazed up at the clock, he really needed to get to bed considering that it was getting later. After he placed the glass into the dishwasher, he walked his way over to his room and just laid on the bed thinking until eventually, he fell asleep.
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