Chapter 9: Shadow and Shade

The scene was grim: Connor looked as if his death was a fact. His face was pale and his eyes were filled with fear, but his body wouldn't move. Everyone was so focused on the grim scene in front of them, their bodies held fast by the vampire among them. Nobody heard the sudden humming noise and the instant snap of chain wrapping around the vampire's neck, pulling him roughly away from Connor's motionless self.

"Seriously now...You have to work on your perception, Vlad..." The Vigilantes' hearts rose as they heard the voice of their leader, a sort of mocking tone. The chain loosed around Vlad's neck and he gasped for air, his ebony hair disheveled a little from the attack.

"Damn you..." He hissed. "Michael...you accursed deserter!" He spat at the air, which remained silent. Another hum struck the air as the tip of a chain seemed to come out of nowhere. It sliced the air, just missing Vlad by less than an inch.

"Now, now...you Twilight reject...calm down...I'm willing to walk away if you are, after all." Vlad's face was twisted with rage and his fists were clenched, hardly the figure of elegance that he had been a few seconds ago. He hissed once more and took a lunge for Connor, only to have his neck wrapped by the chain again.

"You never learn do you?" Michael still hadn't appeared anywhere, and nobody could find the source of the chain right away. It was Andrew that had spotted it, a warping sort of tear in the middle of the air though which black light was shining. The chain was flowing from the very center of it, and every once in a while a sort of purple orb of light leaked outwards a short distance from the tear and then dissipated. There were noises like the screaming of millions of people which grew louder the longer he stared at the opening, but he couldn't help himself. It almost seemed to be calling out to him...he was holding out by a small margin as the hole closed, the chain retracting within.

The vampire was furious at this point hissing and raking his claws through the air, hopeful of hitting something. The air whistled as his arms flew this way and that, seeming to tear the air apart. There was a whipping noise as Vlad recoiled, his arm sprouting a large deep gash. Blood settled to the surface of his arm and flowed freely but he didn't care as he continued his onslaught of the sky. Another two whipping noises and his other arm and one of his legs joined the list of injuries, but he was still stuck in his blood-lusting rage.

The whipping continued, time and time again striking the vampire. 'Please, Vlad...stop...! I don't want to have to kill you!' Michael thought to himself as he continued to send his favored weapon swirling through the void. Vlad and Michael had actually been part of the same group, the same team even, when he was still part of the spec ops. A group of Animalians hand selected for their rather interesting and unique talents, the group was tasked with finding other Animalians and shipping them to the city. Michael had mused to himself more than once that the group he had sent out for the heroes would have definitely been added to the spec ops unit in less than a heartbeat.

He and Vlad were considered the two star characters of their group, known as Shadow and Shade. They worked so well together, one causing the fear while the other caused the damage, their targets never knew what had hit them until it was too late. They continued to bicker up until the end of the group who was actually the stronger of the two. Now Michael and Vlad had the chance to figure out the answer. Michael retracted the chain one last time and smirked as he stepped out of the void not ten feet away from Vlad.

"All right. You want a piece of me? This is it, Vlad. For the game." He said solemnly as he grabbed the chain from his side and held it in both his hands, twirling the end. Vlad hissed in acknowledgment and lunged at his prey. The air crackled with electricity as the two connected their attacks, claw upon chain. They stood in a rapidly explosive expanse, struggling against each others' strengths. Suddenly the chain slackened, leaving the vampire with less than a second to think as he heard the click of a gun's hammer just shy of his ear.

"Ah, Vlad...you've slipped in your years of hating me." Michael said simply, and his arm dropped, the gun's hammer snapping impotently against an empty chamber. He sighed aloud as he holstered the gun and looked to his defeated opponent, a prisoner of his own power. His fear had frozen him solid, making a grim new statue at the opening of the park, blood dripping down his arms slowly. Michael looked around at the still frozen heroes and vigilantes and sighed openly. Reaching a hand into his pocket he pulled out a simple tuning fork and grimaced.

"If you could, I would tell you to cover your ears..." He simply scoffed as he tapped the fork on the ground. A dull ringing pierced the night air. The frozen people's muscles began to loosen and as quickly as they could they were all clamping their ears with their hands. Michael grimaced at them all as he put the tuning fork away, dampening the sounds coming from it.

"It's the only way, I'm afraid. And as for you, Vlad, walk away nicely and we'll forget this whole thing ever happened." He addressed the now unfrozen Vlad who was sneaking away slowly. Once he had been caught, however, he acted as if he was doing nothing of the sort. He harrumphed and dropped his arms tightly to his sides, lifting away to reveal his wings as he shot up into the air. Finally Michael looked to his group with a smile.

"You know, for taking on such a high rank Animalian, I'm surprised things didn't happen more negatively..." He absentmindedly smiled at Cody, as if he were silently looking through his pupil with a very critical eye. Cody only nodded in response, his face screwed up in a sort of nervousness brought about by their end of mission meeting in the midst of such a strange place. Michael quickly turned his attention to Andrew, then Lane, Connor, and finally Mary. His eyes shined with warmth as he smiled broadly and began his speech.

"Lady and Gentlemen, I am proud to announce myself as Michael, Leader of the Vigilante Group, The Gleaming Fang." He pulled into his ever theatrical bow as Andrew cleared his throat.

"Um...I don't mean to be insensitive...but...what the hell are you talking about?" The theatrics fell away as Michael looked up into Andrew's eyes, a look of disbelief on his face. This kid hadn't heard about the Vigilantes and Villains yet? Just what were people posting on the news lately? Although admittedly he already knew the answer to most of this, he continued with his introductions.

"Ah, um right. Anyway, yeah, Gleaming Fang, Vigilante Group, yadda yadda yadda...oh yeah! I was wondering if after all the crap you've all been through if you'd like to join me and my...ah...group." He seemed a lot more timid when dealing with the heroes than he had with his own squadron. The truth was that he knew he had to do this delicately, and the fight going on just in front of them had been as delicate as dropping a piano down the stairs of a china store perched on top of a land mine. He cleared his throat and coughed a little, trying to get rid of his bashfulness as he awaited their answer.

"You're the leader of a vigilante organization called The Gleaming Fang. You apparently have many followers, judging from the five others behind you...so why do you need us?" Michael perked up to the question and he finally spoke.

"Ah, there's the deal. You see...as much as I know you four absolutely love this town as it is, I'm sorry to say that things are a little more than gray scale around the building of this place. What everyone on the ground thinks is that this place is meant as a sort of holding place for Animalians, making sure that they can't harm anyone, et cetera et cetera...but the truth is...well, you know Vlad there? He was my partner at one time. We were both in the same battalion of 'Animal Hunters' as they're called; people specially trained to combat Animalians and their powers. Well it turns out that one of the best ways to combat powers is with powers of your own, so they began feeding us into the system, trying to bring things to a quicker end."

Nate, Cody, Amy, Collin, and Jessica all turned to their leader with a look of shock. The four heroes stood even further on guard, expecting him to suddenly bind them and turn them in. Nobody seemed to notice the troops heading in a circle around them as Michael continued his story.

"It was hell, rounding up the Animalians that we did... Some of them had harmless powers...others still had devastating godliness. But, one by one they all fell. I thought I was doing the right thing; thought that they were really looking for cures...but I was wrong." Amy and Jessica gasped, and Mary's face fell into a sort of frown while Andrew, Lane, and Connor's faces all softened a little.

"They were hunting everyone down to kill them. Get rid of the legacy that is the next step of evolution, quite literally." At this he looked and pointed at Andrew and Lane and nodded his head back towards Nate's direction.

"You three are the prime example, aside from me. The changes you're all undergoing, while painful at first, will diminish over time. And I can tell that you, Connor, are close to starting up yourself. Mary, on the other hand... she's been ready to change for a long time now. Maybe even earlier than me!" Mary looked confused as she searched herself for any sign of transformation, as if expecting it to happen the moment he had mentioned it. Michael chuckled slightly as he held up a finger to get her attention and basically say 'Hold on'.

"After I found out what was going on with that military branch I was less than amused. I thought that if I had somehow found a way to talk to them about it, I could have stopped things...yet again I was mistaken. I was thrown out, and if it hadn't have been for..." He cut himself short. He wasn't sure that his group was ready for that piece. "If it wasn't for a friend helping me out, I never would have survived the base. Chances are they've long since changed location since I left oh-so-long ago. But I digress, after all this explaining, what do you think? Want to join me?"

He held out a hand shakily, and Mary was one of the first to accept. Lane and Andrew agreed at almost the same time, and Connor wasn't much slower in joining the rest. The three agents and two tag-alongs all breathed a sigh of relief as the deal was sealed.

Michael then turned to face Collin and Jessica with a grin and the two nervously looked back at him. He walked up to them and looked down at the two, only slightly taller than Jessica and much taller than Collin and he laughed.

"You two... never had I thought that anyone could adapt so quickly to being in the field. Collin, what you did to those guards in the middle of the gate was amazing, nothing short of it! And Jessica, you might want to focus more on the smaller objects next time, there was a hammer sitting right next to the tool box that would have done the trick nicely. Although I have to admit, Keanu Reeves could have taken some pointers from you and those darts." Collin and Jessica both stared wide-eyed. He had so glibly criticized battles that they had fought alone. How had he known what Collin and Jessica had done, and what else did he know about? Soon this had Cody wondering if he had even been there when he and Nate had had their...moment, and he began to blush brightly.

It had seemed that everything was in order when there was a snapping noise in the distance. Andrew jumped into action, about to fling a rock that direction when Michael simply held up an arm to stop him. He nodded to Cody who scanned the area with his power before silently cursing at the multitude of red spots seeming to float in midair. He had seen this once before and knew exactly what to do as he edged closer to Michael and kept constant contact with his shoulder. Amy looked over to Nate and the other now-agents and nodded covertly to follow his example.

"Michael, Michael, Michael...You really are still alive!" Michael’s face contorted to anger as he watched a portly man in a finely cleaned suit walk in from the darkness nearby. He had a large green ring on his fat ring finger, which had the insignia of a lion reared backwards. His black shoes glinted in the light of the nearby street lamp, and they made a soft clacking noise as he walked along the pavement to stop a few yards away. His chubby face was pulled back in a tight grin, as if greeting an old, old friend, but Michael wasn't as happy.

"Graham. Figures they'd send the Vulture out to take care of a group of kids. YOU LISTEN TO ME!" He yelled as Graham had absently began turning around looking at nothing in particular. The fat man jumped in mock fright as he cowered a little before standing back to his full 5 foot height and belting out a laugh.

"Me? Listen to a non-person like yourself? You betrayed us, you filthy fox, and you're about to pay for it." He raised a heavy arm into the air and the cocking of numerous rifles could be heard. Michael's face fell as he heard the sound of live rounds being loaded and he yelled out to Andrew and the others.

"TO ME, NOW!" the group wasted no time as they quickly ran for him.

"What are you doing?" Andrew asked as he placed a hand on Michael's arm.

"We're going for a ride." He simply answered. Lane grimaced and Mary decided to ask the question he was waiting for.

"Where are we going?" Michael was about to sneer when he heard Graham give the order to aim.

"To Hell, if we don't change our ways!" He clenched his eyes shut in massive concentration as the first round fired. The world around the entire group rippled and faded away as what used to be a dark park at midnight turned to a hopelessly black nothingness. Michael was letting out muffled yells, his mind slowly eroding away from the strain as the entire group traveled through the nothingness. A sudden slam of feet on tiles marked their arrival at the Vigilante headquarters and Michael promptly crumpled to the ground.

"Leader!" Cody yelled out as he rushed to Michael's side and checked his pulse. He let out a sigh of relief until he saw the blood leaking from his leader's nose.

"He pushed too hard...! We've got to get him assistance, NOW!" He yelled as Nate and Amy nodded in agreement and rushed out the nearby door. The fluorescent lights above them flickered slightly and the table on the other end of the room shook as the massive movement of people had disturbed the very air around them.

"What the HELL just happened...?" Andrew threw the question to the air, and almost as if answering him, the lights above flickered a little more violently. In fact, the table began to shake more violently as well, and soon the entire room was shuddering with energy. The four heroes looked to each other and then the leader lying flat on the floor. His ears were flat against his head and his tail was puffed out, the shaking only increasing.

"What's going on here?!" Andrew cried as the entire room rose to earthquake proportions and the others started to panic. A blue scaled dragon woman strode purposefully into the room and looked down at Michael, a look halfway between pity and disbelief posted on her face. Quickly she dropped down to her knees and stuck her head at his chest, hoping to hear a heartbeat.
"God, Mikey... what the hell were you thinking?!" She smacked him hard across the face and his eyes flew open, a sharp inhale following close behind. The room ceased to shake and he groggily looked at his surroundings, focusing on the dragon in front of him. He gave a goofy smile and laid back down on the floor, and the other heroes gave him a strange look.

"Oh...Kristin. What'd I miss?" He giggled. She suddenly stepped on his stomach and he let out a sharp cough. She stepped and then stomped on his belly, forcing another two coughs.

"You're a dork, Mikey." She sighed theatrically as she looked over to the new additions. She was dressed in what looked like a red sari and her tail was pierced two times with small rings looped through. She was pretty tall, about the same height as Michael himself and she had square framed glasses resting on her snout just in front of her eyes, which were feline in appearance and colored a light blue. There were three horns on the very tip of her tail, and her hands sported retractable claws. She looked around the shaken room for a while longer before finally addressing the heroes.

"So you're the four he was willing to die for, huh?" She smiled warmly and bounced over to them.

"I'm Kristin, I'm one of Michael's first friends, known him ever since we were kids, but didn't start talking with him 'til high school." She held out a hand to Mary, who readily accepted the offer and shook her hand. She went down the line, greeting each of them warmly.

"Looks to me like the fun is about to begin."