sardonic success
It was only supposed to be a reconnaissance mission, get in, get the layout, and get back out. It had been going fine, and probably would have stayed fine if GUN’s “top soldiers” weren’t all trigger-happy morons. Shadow nearly yells this at the youth to his right, the two of them crouched down behind solid crates that were, so far, holding beneath the blast of bullets, but he decides to save his breath. After all, the kid isn’t the reason they’re being shot at and lost two men already.
But even if this kid isn’t going to be getting an earful, someone will be.
“How many are there?” Shadow asks, waiting to peer around the side of his crate until he has at least some details. “Did you count?”
“I haven’t been able to get a clear look,” the youth responds. “They’re evenly dividing their shots, though, because Marks and Walker over there are held down, too. They must’ve seen you and I dive for cover, because we haven’t even shot yet! Marks got off at least four bullets, though, so—”
“You’re giving me a long-winded version of I-Don’t-Know kid, and you need to stop,” the hedgehog interrupts harshly. “Just keep quiet and let me…..”
His words trail off and he waits. The kid listens well, because Shadow gets full silence from everything except the bullets piercing the other side of their defense system. He concentrates on the pattern, the sounds, the moments in-between until he has it— a delay every few seconds, calculated to the nearest form of perfection for their adversaries.
Bullets only last so long, but they aren’t all firing the same amount at once, so only some are reloading while the others fire. Shadow nods once he gets the pattern right and then turns to the GUN cadet.
“Radio Marks and Walker,” he says. “Tell them to open fire on the… four people firing at them after every few seconds— tell them to listen for the drop in bullet fire, that’s two of them reloading. I’m sure they’ll pick up when you and I fire, but just to be on the safe side.”
She looks at him for a moment, and then nods as well, muttering a quiet “why didn’t I think of that?” before doing as told. The cadet speaks into the device on her chest and gives the orders, looking back to Shadow afterwards.
“Same situation for our guys?” she asks, nodding her head in the direction of their attackers.
“Starting now,” he responds with another nod, his voice quiet. “We have to lean up and fire at them on my signal, get ready.”
“Got it,” the youth mumbles.
Shadow and the GUN cadet turn and lean up just enough to get their weapons up and let loose, causing disarray or the small group of four hidden behind lower standing objects. The two firing get down, and the two reloading stay down— Shadow’s even pretty sure they hit one of the shooters. He looks over after making such an observation, a brief look of approval on his face when he sees the other two GUN soldiers had their attackers pinned as well.
“All right, listen up!” Shadow barks, aiming a quick shot at the very edge of the barrier protecting his and the youth’s opponents. It’s close enough to the very edge that it drives a nice little hole through it, and he even hears a low gasp, maybe even a stifled exclamation of pain following it. “We have more soldiers in the surrounding area, they are not far off. If you think I’m bluffing, I dare you to take a shot right now!”
Marks and Walker and Shadow’s cadet friend all stand now, their weapons aimed right at the tops of their enemies’ barriers, just waiting for someone to take the hedgehog up on his offer. No one does.
“We want the hostages, and if you continue to resist, we’re going to kill more of you,” Shadow continues. Quickly, he leans over and asks in a low mutter what the names of the fallen GUN soldiers are, and once he gets an answer, he shoots right back in, barely skipping a beat, “I would be more than happy to send condolences to Kirby and Rusty’s families with a nice little ‘don’t worry, we killed more of them than they did us’ attached to it!”
There’s a brief quiet and then a voice calls from across the area, “How do we know you government scum won’t kill us anyway! Once we hand over the goods, you have no use for us anymore!”
“Well, on many other occasions, you are correct,” Shadow responds, “we wouldn’t need you, and most likely would kill you. However, we need questions answered and at least some form of justice for all your acts so far... How does that sound?”
Another brief silence follows.
“…What are your terms?”
Shadow’s arms cross over his slender chest as he observes the moving of the hostages. There’s at least twelve of them, half G.U.N member relatives, and the other half random civilians. That’s the part he’s somewhat confused about— why would they go so far as to find out who their enemy’s family were, and then get random people as well anyway? It couldn’t have been random that they snatched several of the people related to G.U.N’s people, could it? As much as he wants to ignore it, he really can’t.
“Excuse me— Shadow?”
He doesn’t look towards the voice, though he acknowledges her with a nod. It’s the same cadet from earlier. Cassie Li is her name and she’s apparently some new recruit, recently out of training.
She moves to stand at his side, the both of them watching as the rescued victims are tended at the multiple ambulances called in. It’s not even been an hour since the enemy surrendered, which also added itself to the stack of suspicious things Shadow didn’t understand. They’re all either stupid and cowardly or planning something. And he doesn’t know which he hates more.
“Commander Tower called from HQ,” Li begins. “He said that you had a call from Sonic the Hedgehog, and that they need you for something important— he said that Sonic only said that you would know where.”
The hedgehog pauses here. “Cadet Li, what is the date?”
She seems a bit puzzled by the question, but she responds, “Six-nineteen, sir. I-is… something the matter?”
He’s quiet again, but then a loud groan leaves him, followed by a soft “damn.” All he tells Li, however, is that it’s nothing. He can tell she wants to pry, but she doesn’t, and he rather appreciates that.
After wrapping up the surprisingly successful mission, Shadow clocks out, with permitted leave. It’s already evening as he’s skating down the sidewalk, dodging the random passerby and thinking about how the commander had been acting. He’s pretty sure Tower knows what’s going on, too, and it annoys him, even just considering Sonic let him in on the ‘special occasion’. That’s what it’s going to be referred to as.