FicWad

-Chapter 3: A Little Forethought

-Streets of Station Square: That Night

Shadow the Hedgehog walked down Villerns Street with at a slow and steady pace. His eyes caught every movement that happened around him. His senses focused on anything he saw as strange.

It was Friday night. Tonight, half the crooks in the city, petty and otherwise, would be out having a field day. Especially because of the full moon. Crime was always high on these kind of nights.

“The Rocker’s Café,” he said, “I love this place,” he said as he approached a rather small brick building at the corner of the street. Large neon signs spelling out the word “Rocker’s Café” above the entrance to the little hangout.

This was a place for street people who loved rock music. Soft, hard, heavy metal, anything rock. They had the best up and coming musicians there. If you wanted to make it big, this was the place to be discovered.

“I’ll need to see some ID buster,” said the rather large and muscular panther guarding the front door. He wore short blue jeans with quite a few rips around them, as they were too small for his muscular thighs. He had decided to not wear a shirt today. His huge chest and forearms rippled with his muscles as he stalked toward Shadow threateningly.

Shadow, with a sigh, simply removed the old brown hat he had been wearing. It was good for keep a low profile.

“Oh Shadow sir,” said the panther in sudden surprise and in a much friendlier voice, “I didn’t recognize you.”

“It’s ok Ralf,” said Shadow, “your just doing your job.”

“Please come in sir,”said the Ralf the Panther as he opened the door to the café lounge. “Enjoy the music tonight.”

“Who’s playing tonight?” Shadow asked as he walked in and hung his hat on the nearby rack

“Some guys named The Black Moons,” said Ralf casually, “Never heard of them myself.”

“Neither have I,” said Shadow as he looked around.

The café was particularly crowded tonight. Big burly truck drivers, both human and mobian, sat around drinking whatever beverage suited them. A few Goths seemed to have taken interest in a particular corner of the room. One where the lightbulb had burned out, he noted. A lot of average looking people who apparently had nothing better to do on a Friday also crowded around in random places. Needless to say, there was enough alcohol in this room to disinfect some serious wounds at the hospital.

The place looked bigger on the inside than it actually was. In the back across from the door there was a small stage for the musicians. No band was playing, but they did have their instruments set up already, so it wouldn’t be long. To the left of the entrance was the bar. It was the basic bar with the basic bar setup. Behind it was the bartender, another panther and Ralf’s little brother (quite literally)Ken.

“Hello Ken.” Shadow said as he came over to the bar and had a seat on a stool.

“Shadow you old dog. Or hedgehog. Whatever.” Ken said in a light, casual voice as he mixed drinks for customers.

Shadow looked at the people at the bar. Which didn’t take long, as there was only one other guy. Everyone else was at a main table in the lounge. Said guy was already passed out on the table, snoring lightly. Good, there would be less of a wait that way.

“Glad to see business is going good for you,” said Shadow. Ken waved his hands at the selection of drinks behind him, but Shadow just shook his head. “Ken, you know I don’t drink.”

“Haha. You’re no fun Shadow,” said Ken. He was a lean looking guy, with far fewer muscles than his far larger brother. He wore long jeans that were very neatly ironed and washed. His white t-shirt totally clashed with his black fur.

“You look ridiculous in that thing,” Shadow said aloud, though he had not meant too.

Ken laughed, “I know,” said Ken, “But it was my only clean shirt. I haven’t got the time to wash anything at home.”

“Is that why Ralf doesn’t have one on?” asked Shadow.

“No, and you know very well the real answer to that. It’s hard to believe he doesn’t take steroids isn’t it?”

“A natural gift. Useful considering his job,” Shadow retorted, “But enough pleasantries. If you’re not to busy....”

“Say no more,” Ken said, holding up his hand. With that he reached down under the bar and removed from an un-seen place a small silver key. “But first I need some help with this box in the back. Mind a little help for your old pall?”

“No problem,” said Shadow as he hopped down from the bar stool.

“Hey Sara!” yelled Ken. From somewhere Shadow didn’t see (and by the look on Ken’s face, neither did he) appeared a black cat mobian. She was tall, decently attractive, and had a white spot on here left eye and a white muzzle.

She was also very annoyed. “What do you want?” she asked Ken, her voice harsh and bold. Shadow hated to see someone like her. She’d obviously seen many things on the street. Such a loss of innocence.

“Watch the bar for a moment. I won’t be long,” Ken said as he strolled from behind the bar toward the back room door, located near the stage.

Shadow could feel the eyes of that cat on his back as he walked away. From what he saw of her movements before, he could tell she’d seen a few fights in her time too.

With quick but easy strides Shadow made his way to the door in the back, following Ken. The back door was pretty shabby, and looked like the hinges were not long from falling off. “Need to fix this door Ken.”

“I’ve been trying to get Ralf to do it for a week and a half now. It’s ridiculous,” said Shadow’s companion as he unlocked the door and stepped inside. Shadow followed him in.

The back room was dirty. Really, that was about the only real word needed in a description. Boxes were spread out more than the lime green paint job on the floor, obviously a pathetic attempt to make the place look hospitable. Only a single florescent light was there to fight back the darkness. The walls were near sound proof, which was good when private things that regular passer-byes shouldn’t hear needed to be spoken.

Near the back, two chairs sat near a small black fan. One of these chairs looked like it was a car char ripped right out of the vehicle and placed here. Across from it, the second char was a common fold out. The car char, not made to be used as a regular char, and not meant for anywhere but the bolted floor of a car, was placed up against a wall, which was the only thing keeping it from toppling over as Ken flopped himself down into it . Shadow courteously took the folding chair across from it as Ken turned on the fan. The room was hot, so Shadow appreciated it.

“So Ken, do you have it?” asked Shadow, a strange business undertone creeping into his voice.

“Of course I do,” said Ken. His lime green eyes had a faint glow in the dim light. He had a grin on his face that gave away his large incisors. But suddenly, his grin dropped and a sorrowful look creped in to replace it, “But this one’s going to cost big Shadow.”

Shadow didn’t like that. He had very little money to call his own, but this info was crucial. For the last few weeks, he’d began to notice particular patterns. His mind, made for combat and equipped with the ability to read combat styles and movements, had begun to detect a weird pattern in the crime stream over the last few weeks. Assassination in one place, small insignificant crimes spreading police officer’s forces thin at the same time halfway across town. Someone was behind it all, and he had asked Ken to look into it. Ken had all sorts of connections, surely he’d find something important.

He sighed a deep sigh of fatigue. He needed to get more sleep. “How much Ken?” he asked. He knew he wasn’t going to like the answer.

He was right. “200 Rings Shadow,” Ken said gravely.

Shadow cringed. He didn’t have half that. “Ken please. This is important.”

Ken looked at him as if Shadow had just insulted his mother. “Look Shadow, I appreciate everything you’ve done for us over the last month. You’ve kept the riffraff of Station Square from breaking our stuff, you’ve kicked the worst of our customers out, you’ve done a lot. But this is big Shadow, really big. I can’t take a risk without some sort of payback this time,” once again, he leaned back in the car seat and crossed his arms. The argument was over. “I’m sorry Shadow. My price stands.”

“I know Ken. I know. I understand, believe me,” said the hedgehog, his long spiky spines framing his sharp eyes perfectly. “I also appreciate everything your family has done for me. Especially you Ken. But this is different,” he said as he straightened up. “If I don’t find this information, this crime spree will grow and continue. You know what will happen Ken, and you know it will eventually happen to you too.”

Shadow’s words hung in the air like a deadly poison as Ken sat there. The silence was harsh, and it seemed to go on forever before Ken spoke again. “Darn your bones Shadow, you’re right. I can’t deny it either. We’ll work the pay out later ok?” Ken said, his eyes sad with the weight of his business and his weak and old mother floating in his eyes.

Shadow stared back at him, with similar eyes as dark thoughts of the world’s evils whirled though his mind. So much to do.

“Ok Ken,” Shadow said, the weight of the darkness around him breaking and pecking at his mind, “What did you find?”

Ken’s hand snapped like a snake to the pocket of his shirt. From it, he extracted a small piece of paper. “You were right. Some kind of syndicate has taken over every single aspect of crime in the city. It’s kinda like a syndicate, but they’re extremely hush-hush. I had to get this from one of their highest payed assassins. By the way, he asked for 500 Rings for it.”

Shadow smiled and took the note from Ken’s claws. The paper was plain notebook paper and the drawing inside was by hand, and badly he mentally added. But still, it was what he needed, a symbol. A cross shaped symbol with what looked like an H slapped and attacked to the middle. “So there is something behind it all,” he said in a whisper voice, more to himself than to Ken.

But Ken answered anyway, “That’s right. We’re the proud holders of some pretty nasty knowledge right there. If the cops got wind if it, there would be a large manhunt for these guys. Considering how pro they are, they would probably skip town before the cops ever got within sniffing distance of them.”

Shadow nodded in agreement, “And then, when the heat turned itself off, they’d move right back in,” he thought. It was probably an overestimation of their abilities, but they’d kept it dark this long, so he knew they were good. Best not to take chances. “Thank you Ken. I’ll find a way to repay you, I promise. Ok?”

Ken smiled and nodded. “Come on. Let’s go check on Sara and the bar. Hopefully, the band started by now.”

Late into the night, Shadow stayed there. Out there, someone was being hurt, being harmed, being bruised, or maybe being killed. He knew that, deep down within his heart, but he also knew he, the ultimate life form, was just too small a person to handle it all. And for a few nice hours, Shadow sat at the bar, listening to the band play. They were pretty descent.

When the bar’s time to close finally came, Shadow got up and exited the café. On the way out, he caught sight of that cat, Sara, staring at him from behind the bar, Ken cleaning a glass, not looking.

Taking his hat from it’s stand, Shadow turned his back on her and walked out into the cool night air. He had a few hours of night left, and a job to do. He couldn’t bother himself worrying about strange cats.

And as he stepped out into the darkness of the city, Shadow heard the howling of the city train. He thought it sounded sad, as if crying. He quickly shook the notion off though, this was no time for melodramatics. He walked on, all thoughts of the train forgotten.

Had he looked into the train, he would have found something interesting aboard. For at Station Square train station one, a blue hedgehog in red and white sneakers stepped off of the train, a backpack hung over his right shoulder, as to avoid piercing it with his back quills.

Sonic the Hedgehog smiled a big, toothy grin and smiled to himself.

“It’s good to be home,” he said.