Veil of Shadows

Chapter 4. Cold Metal

Pro walked through the courtyard of King Notch's castle, contemplating life. She noticed a small slime caught in a rose bush. Grinning, she walked toward it.

The slime looked up at her curiously as she carefully moved the thorns away from it, enabling him to escape unharmed. Quickly, the slime jumped out of the bush and onto the path.

Pro let the thorns fall back in place and moved to the slime, kneeling down beside it. "Cute little thing, aren't you?" She said, stroking its head gently. The slime closed its eyes and purred, almost like a cat.

Pro giggled softly and picked up the slime. "I will name you Squishy and you shall be mine. You will be my Squishy." The slime gave her the 'seriously' look, and Pro revised her name.

"Okay, fine. How about Maximus Prime?" If a slime could be said to facepalm, this one did. Pro sighed and said "How about I think about the name? I'm bad at naming things."

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her arm.

Looking down at it, she saw a feathered dart sticking out of her shoulder. Her eyes widened, and she yanked the dart out, but it was already too late. Her vision swam, blurring.

The slime tried to hop away, but someone - Pro was in no condition to identify them - grabbed the slime and put it in a large bag. Pro fell to her knees, holding her head.

The headache was unbearable. Soon, she blacked out.

Later That Day...

Pro woke slowly, and when her vision returned, she let out a yelp of surprise. She was locked to a cold metal table; straps bound her arms and legs to the table itself.

A deep voice said "Greetings, Pro."

"How do you know my name?" Pro shouted defiantly, and the voice chuckled. "I know everything about you. All your weaknesses, all your strengths...all your memories."

"What are you going to do with me?" Pro asked, and the owner of the voice stepped out. He wore a long black cape that brushed the floor as he walked toward her.

That wasn't what scared her, no, what scared her was the purple and black helmet that hid his entire face except for his eyes and part of his mouth. "Who are you?" She whispered.

The man replied "I am Shadow."

Pro watched uneasily as Shadow pulled out a syringe with a long needle attached to the end. That looks painful. "What's that for?" She asked cautiously, testing the straps that held her down.

"My informant told me that, unlike several of your friends, you are not a hybrid...yet." Pro immediately understood what he meant, and pulled against the straps with all her might, to no avail.

"Stop struggling." Shadow snapped. "You'll only make it worse for yourself." Pro gradually stopped struggling as she realized she couldn't break free, no matter how much force she put into breaking the bonds.

Shadow laughed softly. "You seem to have taken a liking to a certain slime." Pro's eyes darkened. "Don't you dare hurt Maximus Prime." She growled. Shadow stared at her. "Yes, I know how ridiculous that sounded."

Shadow shook himself slightly and his sadistic smirk was back. "Since you seem to like slimes so much, I have taken the liberty of taking some DNA from your terribly named slime."

He held the syringe over her arm. Pro couldn't take her eyes off the enormous needle. Thank the Lord that Ranger wasn't here, or the situation would have been a lot worse.

Ranger was terrified of needles.

"Ah, enough stalling." Pro felt the needle jab into her arm and had to grit her teeth to stop herself from screaming. The last thing she saw before she blacked out - again- was Shadow's emotionless stare.