The Shadow of Winter

Chapter 19

        Shadow gasped, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets as he rushed to the back window. The darkness of the night made it too hard to make out specific shapes down by the lake. Shadow could only assume the worst, knowing there had been no one else with a gun outside the house other than a crony of Lupo's.

        He grabbed the nearest object, a sturdy wood chair from the dining table, and swung it at the middle-aged mobster. The man caved inward with a gasp, clutching his stomach, before falling to the ground and groaning. Agent Shadow kicked at his head, seeing how the eyes rolled back in the skull as if Lupo were possessed. Presuming the criminal to be unconscious, the hedgehog picked up a discarded pistol and used it to smash through the remainder of the sliding glass door. He raced into the cold night, the moon shining overhead like a beacon, silhouetting the event of misfortune below.

        Shadow's frosty breath flowed from his mouth as he darted toward the figure of a man leaned over the smaller form of a child in a wheelchair. The man appeared to be smothering her, despite the gunshot that had previously went off. In Shadow's mind, incomprehensible as it was, he saw the man violating the deceased body, leaving a sickening mark on the agent's reputation.

        "Get off her!" growled Shadow through bared teeth. He tore the advisor, Frank Barone, away from the girl. The man gave no resistance, sliding easily to the frozen ground. Shadow paused, bewildered, at the blood on his hands. Frank Barone was dead, a large and dark splotch soaked through his expensive suit where his heart would be, staining the snow red. The man's gaze was wide and glazed over, staring up at the sky.

        (Name) looked at the striped hedgehog with a pale face, her eyes glistened with fear. Somehow, she still lived. Shadow stared back at her in shock, not sure if he was hallucinating.

        "Suspect has been dispatched, the area out back is clear."

        Special Agent Rouge stepped from behind one of the trees that lined the lake, holding a gun in one hand and speaking into a wrist communicator with the other. At the sight of Shadow's motionless stance, and the blankness of his face, the bat woman rushed to him. "Is she alright? Shadow, do you hear me? Is (Name) hurt?"

        When the hedgehog said nothing, Rouge pushed him aside and crouched in front of the handicapped girl, taking her face in her hands. "Sweetie, (Name), are you okay? I didn't shoot you, did I?" (Name) shook her head, and the bat sighed. She looked over the girl for any injuries, finding nothing except for a broken leg and clothes dirtied with the blood of the man she had shot. Then she stood, turning to Shadow, who watched her with disbelief.

        "How did you get here?" he questioned, almost at a whisper.

        Rouge searched his expression. Usually his questions were snappy, but this one held no force. She was not used to seeing the hedgehog in such a muted state of shock. What happened during the time they hadn't seen each other? she wondered. The last time she spoke to Shadow was just before he left the city with his newly-established responsibility of the human girl. A lot might have happened. Looking on him now, Rouge believed something inside that stone-cold exterior of the hedgehog had changed.

        "Shadow," said Rouge in a gentle voice, her powdery blue eyelids lowered. "Do you really think G.U.N. would give you a free cellphone if it wasn't bugged?"

        The male agent pressed his lips together, perturbed. He had been told off for making calls to Headquarters because there was the chance that the criminals could tap into the private radio tower and listen in. The mission was supposed to be handled with complete stealth, with Shadow being the only person to know of (Name) (Last name)'s location. Listening to the bat woman explain how his phone had been bugged from the beginning, Shadow couldn't help but feel betrayed. G.U.N. were a bunch of hypocrites. The Commander was the biggest hypocrite of them all.