Out of the Shadows

Iri-futable

A Spin-Off

~Out of the Shadows~

*Warning: Characters May Be Completely Different*

If I remember correctly, there was someone who made a request for a story where Fang wasn’t able to go on a mission and it was up to Shadow to lead the team.

Sorry I wrote so late, I’ve only had time now. Sorry!

Shadow’s breath got caught in his throat. His hands shook as he tried to think of the most logical thing to do. The ringing in his ears made him deaf to the gunshots around him. He looked around briefly to see where the others went.

Alister crouched behind a toppled desk and loaded his gun. Their eyes met a moment before Alister resumed firing upon their current targets. He targeted the upper balcony as much as he could. Penelope was near Alister using one of her crafty inventions to stun her targets. Her glasses were broken and hung only over half of her face. She crouched down as a bullet flew at her. On the opposite end, Lumin picked off several snipers on the balcony with a water made bow and arrow. Arisa beside him, snapped her fingers causing a blaze of explosions. Her face was marked as a bullet had grazed her cheek earlier.

“Shadow?” Raven called him.

Shadow forced himself to look at Raven. She looked at him from under the cowl of her cloak. Raven’s face was still an emotionless but her eyes betrayed her fear and panic.

“What do you want us to do?” she asked.

Shadow looked down. His hands were covered in blood as he pressed against Fang’s injury to stop the bleeding. Blood continued to flow from between his fingers. He looked at Fang. Fang’s breathing was shallow and his eyes had lost their usual focus.

“Shadow, you idiot, get down!”

Shadow could still feel Fang pushing him out of the way as the bullet flew at him. A few seconds, that was all it took for the bullet to strike Fang in the chest. Shadow saw Fang collapse to the ground. He dropped to his knees by Fang’s side and started putting pressure on the wound.

Raven looked at him expecting an answer. Shadow took a deep breath and tried to think clearly.

“Give me you’re cloak,” Shadow demanded.

Raven unclipped her cloak and handed it to him. Shadow wrapped the cloak around Fang’s chest. He pulled it tight stopping most of the flow of blood. Shadow looked over his shoulder at the gunfight behind him.

“Arisa!” Shadow called, “Take care of the upper level!”

Arisa looked over her shoulder and smiled. She stood up and snapped both of her fingers. The upper balcony exploded and burst into flames throwing everyone forward away from the blast. Shadow looked at Raven.

“You can go with Penelope and get some help,” he said.

Raven turned to Penelope, “Penelope!”

The girl turned.

“Let’s go!” Raven called. “Take care,” she said before she ran off.

Shadow returned his attention to the battle, “Lumin, do you see the man we’re looking for?”

Lumin shook his head.

“Alister, would you clear a path, please,” Shadow managed a small smile.

“Well, Fang said that the landmines I wanted ta bring would weigh me down,” Alister smiled back, “but I think I could make do with these grenades.”

Shadow sighed, “How do you not blow yourself up?”

Alister grabbed a grenade from his belt, flipped the retainer pin, and pulled out the pin with his teeth, “Fire in the hole!”

The grenade tumbled and struck the ground. Sure enough people tended to run out of the way toward cover. Shadow crouched behind a metallic box and listened to the explosion. For a moment the rain of bullets stopped. Shadow looked over his cover and looked around. His shoulders fell when he didn’t see the face he was looking for. Lumin was right. Their target was no longer in the building.

“Will you guys be alright by yourselves?” Shadow asked.

“We’ll be fine,” Lumin stated.

“Hey, what are my parameters ‘ere?” Alister asked.

Shadow looked at Alister, “What?”

“I mean when Fang’s in charge he says that I can’t do this an’ I can’t do that, do I have to follow those under you?” Alister fired at a couple of people hiding behind a forklift.

Shadow thought a moment, “I think you can let loose this once. Just don’t get the rest of us killed.”

A crazed smile spread across Alister’s face, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Keep at it,” Shadow said.

Amber saluted, “Okie-dokie!”

Shadow almost immediately regretted his decision but it was too late and he had places to be. He vanished into the floor and reappeared outside. The lot was empty except for the occasional car. Shadow narrowed his eyes looking for any sign of where their target went or even any sign of Raven or Penelope. He heard the sound of something metal dropping to the ground. A car engine started up and started to drive off.

The only entrance and exit was past where Shadow stood. He walked out a few steps and saw the black car careening down the lane. Shadow smiled and stood in place. The driver of the car continued on its path determined to run the shadowy figure over.

Shadow extended his arm out to his sides and smiled. “Come on, I know you want to,” he said to no one in particular.

The car increased its speed almost as a response to Shadow’s taunting. Shadow stared into the eyes of the driver.

“Let me give you a lift,” Shadow laughed.

The car didn’t hit him. He used his powers to sail through it unaffected. Shadow grabbed the driver and pulled him through the car. Without anyone controlling the vehicle, the car lost control, turned sharply and somersaulted into a fiery blaze. Shadow had not moved from his spot. He held their target by the back of the man’s collar. The man sat facing the burning car while Shadow really paid in no mind.

Shadow sighed with annoyance and crouched down, “You know, you shot my boss. Did you know that?”

The man, terrified and in shock, shook his head.

“If you had stuck around to see where your bullet struck you would have known. You’d better hope he pulls through because I’d gut you if he didn’t,” Shadow looked at the man and smiled, “Got it?”

The warehouse wall blew up collapsing part of the roof as well. Shadow barely flinched as he stared at the man with cold unfeeling eyes. Alister’s insane laughter echoed from the half demolished warehouse just over the riddling sound of bullets hitting the metallic walls. There was an audible hiss as a wave of water swept through the warehouse picking up several men and washing them away. There were a few more explosions but they were not as large as the one before. The wind occasionally carries Arisa’s giggles to Shadow’s ears. Several men ran out into the fresh air. Some caught sight of their leader in the hands of the enemy and raised their weapons to rescue their leader.

Shadow looked at them with annoyance in his eyes. He was already prepared to take him and their target away from there in a blink of an eye. Something stopped him and he decided to wait a moment longer. The men fired upon him but instead of striking him, the bullets were parried. Raven stood between Shadow and the assailants. She carried her sword in her hand, the blade reflected the sunlight. Surprised, they reloaded their guns. But before they could get off another shot, Penelope appeared carrying two guns. She shot stun and sleep bullets from the guns. When they were down for the count, Penelope looked back at both Raven and Shadow and smiled.

“Paramedics are right behind us,” Penelope reported.

Something shot out of the rubble narrowly missing Shadow and exploding a ways behind him. A muscular man walked out of the chaos that was the warehouse carrying, among other things, a rocket launcher, machine guns and a few shot-guns. He was ripped in every sense of the word. He could be his own arsenal with his muscles alone. Raven took a fighting stance, holding her sword in front of her. Penelope vanished temporarily and reappeared beside Raven.

A spout of fire rose from the warehouse and landed to the man’s right. Arisa stood with big and innocent looking eyes. Lumin appeared out of a pool of water near Arisa. He stayed in a transparent water state instead of taking a physical form. Alister walked out of the rubble to the man’s left. His laughter and the crazed look in his eyes persuaded Shadow that he was near or past the line of insanity.

The man yelled and that was all the others needed. Penelope raised her weapons while Raven shot forward. The man raised his guns at her. She zigzagged easily, dodging his bullets. Arisa took a step back and snapped her fingers. She had the biggest carefree smile on her face. Raven jumped into the air and attacked with her sword. The man pushed her to one side in midair. She flew into Arisa; the explosion Arisa caused blew them back further.

Lumin threw out his hand. Water rose from around him and shot towards the man. Some of Penelope’s stun bullets struck the man angering him even more. Penelope shot again but he swatted them away. The stun bullets struck Lumin instead. The electricity rippled through Lumin’s body. He dropped to one knee assuming his physical form once again.

Alister reached for his belt and grabbed a grenade. He pulled the pin and threw it. The man raised a gun and shot at the grenade. The explosion blew Alister off his feet. The man glared at Penelope who was the only one still standing. Petrified, Penelope smiled, dropped her guns and raised her hands high in the air. The man then reached for the rocket launcher that he had.

Shadow looked around for what he could do. He needed to figure out the man’s weakness. Shadow was about to sink into the ground when there was a single gunshot. The man fell to his knees crying out in pain. Shadow stood up as he saw a shadow come out of the smoke and dust of the warehouse. Fang looked annoyed beyond anything Shadow had ever witnessed in their time together. Understandably so, getting shot is enough to put anyone in a bad mood. Fang leaned against a metal bar.

“His type always have knobby knees,” Fang stated as the ambulance sirens grew louder, “They aren’t so scary when you shoot out their knees.”

“Fang!” Arisa cried out.

Fang looked around, “I’m out for a couple minutes and everything goes to hell. More importantly, who’s the idiot who got me shot?”

Shadow tried to maintain an emotionless face. If Fang had truly forgotten then all would be well for Shadow’s immediate future. Unfortunately, Fang noticed the smallest of smiled on Shadow’s face.

“Shadow! Was it you!?” Fang pushed himself off the pole and started to walk toward Shadow.

Shadow let go of their captive and raised his hands in front of his body, “What? Why would I do something stupid like that? I’m pretty sure Alister did.”

Alister got to his feet, “Hey! I’m not taking the blame for this one! It was Shadow! All him! Come on, back me up guys!”

“He’s right,” Penelope muttered.

“Shadow did it!” Arisa smiled.

Lumin looked up, “I’m sure it was an accident. He didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Apparently, his timing was off,” Raven crossed her arms.

Fang raised his gun and before Shadow could react he fired. The bullet passed through his body avoiding any vital organs. Shadow fell to the ground and gripped his gunshot wound. Fang sat down on the ground beside him.

“Ow,” Shadow muttered.

“You idiot,” Fang stated.

Shadow looked up at Fang and smiled, “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Fang looked down at Shadow, “You think I was going to let you get away with getting me shot. I would have come back from the dead to shoot you.”

Shadow listened as the ambulance pulled up nearby, “We might need to look into this at out next counseling session. You don’t just go around shooting people.”

Fang sighed, “Man, I need to retire.”