GUN's Requiem: Choir of Shadows

Alright, Chapter two... If you're squimesh, I advise you look away... NAAAHHH, keep reading!

BOOM BABY!

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DAMNIT! How could I be so foolish!? How could I let this happen?!

I knew I shouldn’t have done it, I knew this would happen!

Still… I’d be lying if I said I regretted it…

I let my guard down… I let myself become weak, become vulnerable, I can’t allow that to happen.

No… no it’s not weakness… he told me so…

But they must have followed me, they must have traced me…but how?

Oh god… did I…?

I did…I lost my cool, and released a surge...

They must have tracked it…they followed me here…

Well… I guess I’ll have to do something about that…

But… it’s not right… I shouldn’t… their lives matter…

They’re getting closer… I… I have to… I must…

It’s in self-defense… I need to defend myself…

Yes… I’m defending myself… that’s alright… he’ll understand…

Defending myself…

---

“Higgens, hold your position, Davidson, tell Alpha to get over there, now!” Sergeant First Class Matthew Kain ordered quickly, drawing his attention to the area the two soldiers were located in.

He could see them… just barley, but he couldn’t see the project, not from his direct view. But from Higgen’s video feed, he saw the create lie dead still, his chest did not even seem to move.

Private Davidson gave Kain’s command over the comm.. “Orders from Sergeant First Class Kain, report immediately to Corporal Higgens and Corporal Slay’s position, double time!” he said somewhat nervously, he wasn’t used to giving commands, even if they were from someone else.

“Acknowledged, we’re moving, Locke out!” Sergeant Locke replied, and the other 3 FOF tags began moving towards their destination.

Kain turned to Wolf, “Corporal, get your ass over there, move it!” The SFC commanded.

Wolf saluted, “Yes sir! Hauling ass, Sir!” He complied and ran out of the room, heading strait for Higgens.

“Davidson, you’re staying here with me, I need someone to watch my back” Kain said as he moved to the window, searching around the glass.

“Me sir?” Davidson asked, slightly dumbstruck. Why him? Why not another Sergeant, or one of the Corporals? “Why me?”

Kain turned to him, “Because Private, I said so” He said, “And like I said, I like you, and I feel I can trust you.” Kain had always been a great judge of character, as well as potential. It was instincts like that, that has kept him alive all these years. He’s hunted down spies, flushed out vital information, and saved people’s lives, all with those instincts that he’d learn to trust with his life.

And right now, those instincts were telling him to keep Davidson close, he had a feeling he’d need him.

Private Davidson clenched his M4 Carbine in a white knuckle grip, “Yes sir, I’ve got your back, sir!" He said, pride filling his voice.

Kain smirked, well, at least he’d made someone’s day. “Sergeant Kain, sir, we’re in position outside the Project’s immediate location” Sergeant Locke reported in, the now 6 man team crouched near the “entrance” to Shadow’s “room.”

“Understood, hold your position, and tell Wolf he’s been kicked into Alpha” Kain responded, “When I give the mark, enter the room and neutralize the Project”

“Affirmative sir” Locke responded, and ended the chat.

Kain turned his attention back to the dusty window and looked it over, “Davidson, help me look for the latch, we need to get this thing open” Kain said, the private immediately came over and began looking.

They searched for a few moments, until Davidson spoke up, “I think I found it sir, the latches are on the top”

Indeed they were, Kain grunted in annoyance as Davidson and he undid the latches, and pushed the window open. It ground and wrenched as it opened, sliding back over their heads and giving a clear, although dark, view of the building.

"Train your sights over their location, be ready for anything" Kain told Private Davidson as he raised his own rifle.

Kain continued to see what Corporal Higgens sees, and with everyone in position... he gave the order...

"Fire Team Alpha... make your move..."

Sergeant Locke nodded, and gave the first command, "Sergeant Slavik, move in and neutralize the project"

Sergeant Slavik grinned, "Yes sir..." He said with a dark wisp, and quickly moved into the room. He passed the stands and items, and stood within close proximity of the bed. He raised his MP5 and took aim... there was no missing at this range.

"Game's over, freak" Slavik muttered as he squeezed the trigger.

Ching...

For a moment, Slavik wasn't sure what had happened... that is, until he saw the Biohog standing upright, and clenching...

A grenade pin?

Shadow vanished, and for a brief second, the Sergeant didn't understand what had happened...

Until he saw the primed flashbang on his chest…

“SHI-!” Slavik yelled, but his curse was cut off by the thunderous roar of the flashbang. The mind-numbing grenade exploded right in his face, with his night vision still active. The flare was lethally intense, his visual receptors were overloaded, and he felt his eyes burning right out of their sockets. He screamed as blood flowed down his face, but he was deaf as well, he couldn’t hear his own cries.

Fire Team Alpha cursed as they turned off their night vision and shielded their eyes, they were out of the grenades immediate radius, but the effects still reached them in the silent, pitch-black warehouse.

Sergeant Locke cleared his eyes and activated his night vision, just in time to see the limp corpse of Sergeant Slavik fly past him. The soldier’s body crashed against a stack of boxes, knocking the tall stack over backwards.

“Man down! I repeat, we have a man down!” Locke yelled over the comm. He turned and aimed in the room, but he was met with nothing. The room was empty, the target has disappeared. The entire team was rigid and alert, they franticly scanned the area, their weapons drawn and sighted.

Kain watched this spectacle in horror, he scanned the area as well, searching through all the nooks and crannies that he could see from his position. The project had started his rampage...

Private Davidson was, however, not as attentive as Kain is at that instant, because unlike Kain, who had moved to a different position, and ended up not catching any of the flashbang's affects, Davidson had been staring right at it. He rubbed his eyes vigorously, grunting and hissing in pain.

"Damnit! Sir, I can't see!" Davidson shouted quite obviously.

"No shit, Sherlock!" Kain replied.

Davidson finally cleared his vision, the dark blurs slowly fading. "Target located, engaging!" Locke screamed over the comm. Alpha squad opened fire on the hedgehog, who had suddenly appeared in front of them.

The hedgehog darted off, leaving not even a blur in his wake. Alpha ceased fire, they had completely lost the target again, but were did-

"Alpha, move! Now!" Kain screamed over the comm. He raised his rifle and took aim at the threat. The project had appeared above Alpha, standing on top of a large stack of crates.

Kain pulled the trigger, the muzzle flashing brightly. His shot missed, Shadow warped once more, and the bullet hit the far wall with a sharp PING, "Alpha, get back to the command post" Kain shouted.

Locke screamed, "Move it!" and sprinted through the building, his team in tow. Kain and Davidson sweeped across their field of vision, looking for any trace of the creature. Davidson was the first to notice the purple light that was hurtling towards Kain and him.

"Sir, get down!" Davidson screamed and ducked for cover. Kain noticed it a moment later, and complied with the Private's wishes. The two braced themselves against the walls, the blast flew strait though the window and obliterated the wall in front of them. The two where knocked off their feet by the attack, and dust enclosed them, but they stumbled up.

The door and the entire entrance wall was gone, a giant hole in it's place. "Private, you okay?" Kain asked, coughing from the dust.

Private Davidson coughed as well, "Just fine sir.." he replied.

Kain gripped his rifle and returned to the window. There, on top of the boxes, he spotted him. He squeezed the trigger again, this time however, he missed, hitting the crate instead. Shadow twisted and jumped off the box, giving it a kick as he did

The boxes tumbled, 30 feet of boxes began to fall... right onto Fire Team Alpha. "Take cover!" Locke yelled, and the team dived to escape the crates.

Corporal Slay however, wasn't so lucky. He didn't respond quick enough, and before he could escape it, a huge crate fell flat onto him. His body was crushed under the mighty weight, the box hit the ground with a sickening Squish. Blood leaked from the underside, forming a large crimson pool.

"Don't look back, keep moving!" Locke screamed as he returned to his feet and continued his dash. He had no time to mourn for Slay's death, nor for Slavik's, they had to keep moving, they had to reach a dependable position...

Kain saw the death of another soldier under his command, it was a feeling he'll never forget. He couldn't do anything but stay up here and shoot at a vanishing target that was killing his squad. Davidson spotted him this time, he took careful aim, zeroing in on the target. his slowly clenched the trigger...

BANG!

The target was gone... but he hadn't pulled the trigger. Looking over, he saw Kain had already taken the shot, and as before, the creature vanished.

"You need to be faster then that kid" Kain said as he fired again, Shadow was showing himself more and more... was he taunting them?

Fire Team Alpha arrived at the stairs and began to run up them. They were almost all at the top when another blast of chaos energy seemed to come from nowhere struck the stairs. They crumbled and collapsed instantaneously, destroying the the entire staircase...

Along with Corporal Duggs...

She was still on the stairs when it exploded, her body was vaporized instantly, with nothing but ash left behind. Charred bits and pieces of her gear were abandoned in the ash, dead and useless.

The blast knocked the team over, but they got up and kept moving, now sprinting across the catwalks. Kain and Davidson were busy, they kept getting glimpses, mere traces of Shadow, and they were doing all they could to hit the creature. Muzzle flashes and cracks of gunfire illuminated their position, and their shots continued to hit the wall.

SFC Kain looked behind him, they had lost nearly half of the room, was this place any safer then out there? He made his next dissection on impulse, "Alpha, new plan, get the hell out of the warehouse, clear the parameter" He shouted over the comm. "We're pulling out!"

There was a momentary pause before Locke answered, "Y-Y-yes sir! We're getting THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" He shouted, fear evident in his voice. He and his team looked around for another way down, and they saw another flight of stairs farther off, "Team, Let's go, move, move, MOVE!"

Private Davidson stopped shooting and turned to SFC Kain, "Sir, we're retreating, after all of this?" He asked, disbelief in his voice. "What about the others, their sacrifice, don't they deserve to be avenged? We can't just-"

Kain cut him off by grabbing his shoulder roughly, "Listen to me!" He said, his voice tense and on edge. He shook the private, "What matters now is us, our lives! There will be a time and a place for revenge, but damnit, this isn't it!" "I am not going to let you throw your life away over this, it isn't worth it, so we are going to get the hell out of here, and live to fight another day! Do you understand?"

Davidson didn't respond, Kain pulled the nervous soldier closer, their faces on inches apart, "I SAID, DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?" Kain shouted.

Davidson's body shook tremendously, and for a moment, Kain thought he might be going into shock, until the private squeezed his eyes shut and shouted, at the top of his voice, "SIR, YES SIR!"

Kain nodded and backed away from the man, and it wasn't until now that Kain truly noticed something about him, he was just a kid...

19 at the most, he could see it now. The kid was fresh, and now that he though about it, this was probably his first mission... why the hell was he even here? How could he possibly be picked to go after a threat like Shadow The Hedgehog?

For a moment, Kain was tempted to ask him this, to simply ignore the chaos that drew closer, and to figure out who this boy was...

But he couldn't, that could wait until later, right now, he had to get the hell out... and to make sure Davidson did as well...

His face turned stern, and Kain said, "Let's get the hell out of here"

Kain turned and exited through the giant hole in the wall, Private Davidson in tow. he looked around,there was a flight of stairs nearby, so they headed strait for it. Kain broke out into a dash, and he could hear the other behind him. "Locke, report!" Kain yelled into his comm".

"We've reached the ground floor, we're heading for the exit, and we're- OH SHIT!" Locke screamed. Fire Team Alpha stopped dead in their tracks as the ground in front of them exploded, sending dust and debris everywhere. Corporal Higgens fell over backwards, her visor cracked by a flying piece of concrete.

Wolf ran over and picked Higgens off the ground, "No time to stop, keep moving!" Locke shouted, and ran strait through the smoking crater. The other two followed suit, Higgens was slightly disorientated, but Wolf carried her along.

Kain and Davidson reached the stairs and ran down as fast as they could. They reached the bottom and looked around... might as well follow Alpha...

KABOOM!

"FUA-!" Locke screamed in pain, he had almost made it to the exit when the ground had been hit by something again... only this time, he wasn't clear of it.

He had been blown off his feet, landing hard against the steel wall, cracking his helmet on impact. Wolf and Higgens weren't as close to the blast, so they kept their footing. Wolf let go of Higgens, and she ran over to the downed Sergeant as Wolf raised his MP5, he had seen where that one came from.

Higgens reached the Sergeant, he was blown a clean 10 meters from the crater, and he looked it. His legs were torn to shreds, bloodied and destroyed, they lie motionless on the ground. Locke panted heavily, his eyes closed tight behind his visor, he was sweating bullets, and he couldn't feel his legs...

"SIR! Sir, can you hear me? Can you move?" Corporal Higgens asked, what she got in reply was a grunt of pain and frustration.

"No! I cannot FUCKING MOVE!" He shouted, and looked down at his legs, "And what the FUCK happened to my LEGS!?"

Corporal Wolf shouted, "AH-HA!" as he pulled the trigger, he had seen the creatures silhouette against his grainy green vision. His muzzle flashed made him wince, and as the bullets sailed through the air, the silhouette vanished, and his rounds hit the wall. "FUCK!" Wolf shouted, and he turned to assist the others...

And ran right into Shadow...

He had no time to respond, and in an instant, it was all over. No sooner had his brain registered the creature's presence, did he feel the most terrible pain he had ever felt shoot through him. He doubled over and tried to scream, but he couldn't...

He looked down, and noticed half of the project's arm was missing, disappearing into him... Shadow had slammed his fist right through the Corporal's stomach.

Blood dripped from his mouth, and his vision turned red. The project looked up at him, and made eye contact. Wolf met with the most terrifying sight he'd ever seen... it was like staring strait into the pits of hell...

CHING

Shadow vanished, and Wolf fell to the ground. With what little strength he had, he brought his arm quickly to his stomach, and felt the massive hole that was now there. But there was something else... something he noticed right away...

In those last few seconds of his life, Corporal Fellium Wolf finally understood... what exactly he understood, he wasn't sure. But he knew, whatever he had discovered in those fleeting moments, it was the key to happiness... the answer to all of life's questions... and the finality of it all...

The grenade planted in his stomach exploded...

Sergeant Locke and Corporal Higgens shielded themselves from the oncoming shrapnel. They were oblivious to what had just transpired, Wolf's death blocked by a thick shield of smoke. They were splattered with blood, and only then did they realize what had just happened to their teammate.

"Wolf! Wolf, come in!" Higgens said over her comm... no response...

She cursed and turned back to the Sergeant, doing her best to ignore the blood on her,"Damnit Adrian, get up! You're tougher then this! Remember the Himmerton operation?" Higgens asked, recall one of their past missions together.

"Hell yeah... 3 stories, and right on top of a flatbed... hurt like hell, but I kept on walkin..." Locke grunted, recalling the moment...

"And remember Operation PERMAFROST?" Higgens asked.

"Lost for a week... still finished the mission..." Locke replied, laughing ever so slightly through his pain.

"This is nothing, you can make it, we'll both make it..." Higgens said, smiling warmly behind her helmet.

Locke was still for a moment, until he nodded and coughed, "You're right, this is nothing..." He said. He put his arm around Higgens shoulder as she lifted him up, "Let's get out of here..."

Locke spoke over the comm., "Kain, the area is hot, do not attempt to exit through the forward position, head for the back exit" He said his CO, "We've lost Wolf, Higgens and I will proceed the exit, Locke, over and out"

Kain halted in his advance, as did Davidson. They were closer to the forward exit, but if Locke's report and the explosions were anything, they needed to make one hell of an about face. He turned to the private who's life he had taken into his own hands, and addressed him, "New plan! We go, thataway!" Kain said, pointing off to the other side of the building.

Davidson looked nervous, he had heard the message, and he didn't like it. Kain turned and ran the other way, and for a split second, Davidson stalled, but he quickly followed his only chance of getting out of the chaotic warehouse alive.

The two ran and weaved though the maze of boxes, moving closer and closer to their goal. Half of their team was dead, and the other half could quite possibly join them very quickly, they couldn't afford to waste any time. The project was stalking them, all of them, he could simply kill them all in the blink of an eye if he wished... but he didn't. Instead, he toyed with them... playing his own sick game of cat and mouse.

Kain could only wonder how much longer until he pounced...

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Ah yes, Shadow goes psycho and fucks everybody up... he's really on the road to recovery, isn't he?

Ah well... get ready for the next chapter, with even more explosions, running, shooting, and questionable work ethics then ever before!