Return of Gerlad's Legacy

Chapter 23: Heritage

Cosmo looked back at the screen. It was four in the morning. She was only awake on pure drive with the help of Diet Coke (with the caffeine, how else is awake) and chocolate chip cookies. She really hated working late, but Shade was still out of it and this radiation was really bothering her. She had never seen, read or even heard of this sort of malady. Shadow's blood work had showed that he had a similar radiation signature in his blood work. Sonia had a very faint signature but it was there. Yet it was in none of the other Hedgehog Triplets.

She turned back to Shade. She nearly screamed.

All around him was a dark red and black mist. Yet Shade was not harmed at all. The Computer showed that he seemed to grow stronger. She pressed the ALERT button, and there was a shrill sound. In the hall she could see the CHAOS droids take up position in the hallway.

Tails and Sonic ran inside the room their faces livid with panic. "What happened?" Tails blurred out.

He didn't' have to look much further He took one look at Shade and his heart almost stopped. He floated up with what looked like the mist pushing him up. His eyes opened to show black, completely black eyes, full of anger and . . . power.

Shade raised his left arm and then swung it back. Tails and Sonic flew back through the door into the steel walls. Shade floated down and walked straight through the doors. The CHAOS droids didn't bother him. He was in their programming not to harm. Instead they called two GERALD class to pick up Tails and Sonic and sent them to medic droids because the infirmary computers were sending them the signal that it had been damaged.

Shade walked through the corridors not troubled by the sentries. If they came too close the red/black mist would set upon them and crush them. The Alarm had awoken the others as well.

Crystal looked out into the hallway, in a pair of pink with red hearts pjs; her eyes were full of sleep. What she saw awoke her as much as pure injected caffeine would.

Her brother strutted down the steel the hallway with the eerie red/black mist around him. Immediately she felt power come from him but she could feel what it wanted her to do: destruction, death, power, fear.

"Shade!" she yelled at him.

He turned to face her. She now could see his eyes. They weren't his natural crimson color any more. They were black. Even more black than his own fur. He spoke to her in a voice that was his but wasn't. It was a combo of his and something as cold as the very void of space. "Stay out of my way or I'll kill you." The dark mist rushed forward and pushed her inside her room. She landed with a soft thud on her bed.

Crystal looked back at the door. The mist was still there but Shade was nowhere to bee seen. She tried to charge through but it was a like a solid brick wall and she couldn't get through. She picked up her cell phone. If she couldn't get her body through the mist, she would just have to get her voice through.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

This is . . . exhilarating. All this power coursing through him. It was like nothing before he had ever experienced. This was what Shadow had been keeping from him? The fool. This was too good to be locked up. He could do whatever he wanted. He was the most powerful being on the planet now. Umbra would never be able to commit the atrocities he had in store.

"Halt."

Shade turned around to see a squad of five CHAOS class droids. This would be too easy. Shade stretched forward his hand and the mist obeyed it master. The mist rushed forward and wrapped around the droids like a python. And fulfilling it resemblance it began to constrict. The creaking of metal was proof enough for Shade so he marched forward again. As he got closer and closer with each step, the mist became stronger and stronger. Shade just past the hulking droids when he heard the explosion. The mist protected him from any flying shrapnel and the force of the explosion. He could feel the satisfaction of victory. A real victory.