The Shadow of Crawfordsville




http://bethanyhunter.deviantart.com/art/The-Shadow-of-Crawfordsville-565241077

As night fell upon the small town of Crawfordsville, a shadowy figure crept
through its buildings, stalking the town. She leapt from rooftop to rooftop
with exceptional grace. At first glance, one would have imagined her a thief.
The nighttime runner was dressed head to toe in black: a tight fitting black
turtleneck top, black bum hugging shorts, her long legs adorned in black
tights and soft black ballet flats on her feet. Her hair was short and black
and a black mask covered her face. Again, at first glance, a thief. But to
those who knew or hoped she really existed, she was the superheroine defender
of Crawfordsville and it's beloved college: the demon slaying defender, the
Shadow Samurai. And for her it was an unfortunately quiet night. She paused on
the rooftop of her favorite building, the Library. "This doesn't make sense,"
Shadow said. She was in fact speaking with her best friend and partner within
the Shadow Sword she wielded, the Shadow Guardian Rei. "Normally I'd say peace
is a good thing but it's been almost a week without any sightings, not even a
Hellhound."

Fortunately, things were about to get interesting for the Samurai, as Rei
noticed a particular shadowy figure moving through the rooftops as well.
"Shadow, be on your guard. I'm sensing another presence nearby." The spirit
guarding warned, "Ohh? Then perhaps I should investigate. We should make sure
that there's nothing wrong before we head back home." Shadow said, as she
began to scout the parameter. It didn't take long before she spotted the
shadowy figure, an entity clad in a dark hooded robe was moving towards
Crawfordsville University. Shadow didn't hesitate and quickly followed,
sticking to the shadows for cover.

Shadow trailed the mysterious figure, her reflexes ready to strike at any
moment. After ten minutes of jumping through the rooftops, the figure suddenly
stopped in a building close to the university. It seemed that the figure had
not taken notice of Shadow, something she planned to use to her
advantage.Shadow moved silently and discreetly, approaching the mysterious
figure from behind. Before the figure could react, the Samurai lept from the
Shadows and pointed her sword at the figure, "Stand down and tell me who you
are!" Shadow demanded. The figure was startled but managed to retain its
composure, "Quiet down! You are gonna blow my cover!" The mysterious figure
replied. Shadow was confused by the reply, noticing that the voice of the
figure was human. "I only asked who you are, if you are no demon, then you
have nothing to fear from me." Shadow inquired once more, with sword at the
ready. "Name's Hawke. I'm a vigilante of sorts." Hawke replied. "Ohh? I'm not
sure...." Before Shadow could finish her sentence Rei interrupted her, "I
don't think he is lying. I can sense that he is not an otherworldly creature.
Might be good to hear him out." "Well if you say so....Alright, Hawke, explain
the situation for me." Shadow sheathed her blade and crossed her arms, "Hah,
so the local folklore was right. I take it you are the mysterious Shadow
Samurai, huh?" Hawke looked at Shadow, as if scanning her. "Indeed, I am. If
you hear the rumors, then you know I don't take kindly to people who put
Crawfordsville in danger, so state your business." Shadow retorted, "Woah,
calm down senpai. You might wanna redirect that sword at our common enemy,
Helix." Hawke chuckled, "Helix?" Shadow inquired.

"Well you see, I'm from Fortune City, and I along with a good friend of mine,
been fighting the Helix Institute for a while. Now you probably heard of the
charitable Helix Institute and all the wonderful things they are doing for the
community. What you probably haven't heard though, is that they are involved
in a quite a few shady business like kidnapping, human trafficking, drug
trafficking, among others." Hawke replied, "That's horrible! Why would they
commit such atrocities?!" Shadow was visibly disturbed. "I haven't gotten to
the good part yet. They control all this underground community, because they
need a constant supply of human subjects. They been illegally experimenting
with human genetics in an attempt to create the perfect soldier. This has
caused the deaths of hundreds of people all for the sake of profit." Hawke
crossed his arms, "That's insane! We can't allow them to get away with this!"
Shadow replied, "Well that's what I'm here for. As you might have guessed, I'm
following a lead that led me to this place. I could use your help." Hawke
replied, "If the situation is as dire as you describe, I will gladly lend you
my strength." Shadow replied, "Very well then, let me explain the situation.
My friend had me investigate a couple of leads, through that I discovered that
the Helix institute has a "scholarship program" for low income students. That
trail let me to Crawfordsville University, where I discovered that there were
a couple of students enrolled in the program, but that nobody has seen them in
class. I guess by now you figured where I am going with this...." Hawke
himself seem appalled by the thought, "If those bastards do any harm to the
students of Crawfordsville University, I will personally make them pay for
each and everyone of them." Shadow unsheathed her sword once more, "Glad to
hear that, Shadow-chan. Now here is the thing, take a look at those vans over
there...." Hawke pointed at a couple of white vans stationed in an alley next
to the building where they were standing, "Those are helix vans. We need to
tail them to see if we can take us to their headquarters." Shadow nodded and
took a vantage position in the fire escape.

Shadow and Hawke stalked the alley and watched as Helix mercs loaded the vans
with a plethora of black boxes. The boxes themselves look like they were made
from a strong material, which could only mean that what they contained was of
the utmost importance. After a couple of minutes, the mercs finished loading
the vans and prepared to depart. Shadow and Hawke quickly began their chase,
moving through the shadows to remain unseen by the mercs. The vans moved fast
and in a strange pattern, as if trying to avoid being tailed out of
precaution. Nevertheless, Hawke and Shadow remained fixated on their prey,
stalking the clueless mercs, like a tiger awaiting its prey. After a couple of
minutes, the mercs arrived at what seemed like an abandoned factory, Shadow
and Hawke decided to infiltrate the building through the roof, the building
was clearly a decoy, so they had to wait for the thugs to make their move
before they could launch an attack.

Once both heroes were inside the abandoned building, they took vantage
position in the steel beams near the roof. From there, Hawke scanned the area
and the mercs, there were five of them and they were preparing to unload the
boxes. The first merc unloaded three boxes into a hand truck and began to move
inside the building, he traveled for a distance and suddenly stopped at what
seemed like an out of place door; he then took out a keycard and the door
unlocked, giving him access to an elevator. Having figured out what they
needed to do, it was time to strike. As the other four mercs made their way
inside the building, Shadow and Hawke descended from the shadows and quickly
launched an attack. Hawke quickly incapacitated an armed merc with a quick
combination of punches, meanwhile Shadow took out the other armed merc with
her sword, incapacitating him with a swift strike. The other two mercs had
their hands occupied with the handtrucks, so by the time they could get their
hands on their weapons, Shadow and Hawke had them cornered. They quickly
disposed of the mercs incapacitating them by smashing their heads against each
other. With the mercs taken care of, Hawke quickly searched them and took
their keycards. Shadow then hid the bodies in the van, to avoid any suspicion.

Having taken care of the mercs, Shadow and Hawke opened the door and entered
the elevator. Once inside they noticed that the elevator only had one button
and pushed it. The elevator began its descent into whatever the abyss had in
store for the two heroes. "So.......what's the plan now?" Shadow asked, "I
dunno, senpai. I make these things on the fly." Hawke replied, "What?!!"
Shadow was at a loss of words, "I'm not much of a guy with a plan but here is
the deal. We need to gather as much intel as we can. If we can save any
captives, that's a priority. It goes without saying that staying alive is also
a priority." Hawke chuckled, "So we are up against seemingly overwhelming
odds, in a poorly planned mission, to retrieve information that may or may not
be there? Now that's what I call a fun Thursday Night." Shadow chuckled,
"That's the spirit, Shadow-chan!" Hawke chuckled, "Seriously, stop calling me
that." Shadow sighed.

Shortly after, the elevator reached its destination and opened the door to
reveal a laboratory facility. This facility looked nothing like the
deteriorated floor they had come from. Everything looked state of the art and
almost futuristic, the facility was well lit and it seemed to be divided in a
plethora of small rectangular rooms. As Shadow and Hawke made their way out of
the elevator, the first merc was coming back so Hawke quickly took out a smoke
bomb and threw it at the floor, causing a distraction. The merc looked at the
smoke, confused, but before he could react, Shadow grabbed him from behind and
put him in a neckhold that rendered him unconscious. With the merc disposed
and hidden, Shadow and Hawke looked at their surroundings, Hawke took out a
small device and with the press of a button it send a small electric charge,
busting a nearby camera. "Look for any potential cameras, we need to disable
them if we want to move unnoticed." Hawke said, as he motioned her to follow
him. The two heroes moved through the facility by hiding in strategic
positions where guards didn't look and the security cams' range missed. Mercs
were no match for the duo, as they silently double teamed on the unsuspecting
soldiers. While one distracted the mercs, the other flanked and incapacitated
them. It didn't take long before the entire security team had been taken care
of.

With the mercs and cameras taken care of, Hawke began to search the facility
for any possible intel. The duo quickly searched the facility's rooms but most
of them turned out to be storage rooms or empty, much to their dismay. "This
doesn't make sense. It looks like nothing is going on here...." Hawke mumbled,
" You know, there's something bothering me as well. So far we only encountered
soldiers. You would think that a facility like this would have a couple of
scientist running around...."Shadow added. "Yeah, I noticed. Let's try and see
if we can find something here.." Hawke pointed at a room that was right in the
middle of the facility. Without hesitation, the duo entered the room, ready
for a fight. Strangely enough however, there was no security in what appear to
be the command center room. "Bingo.." Hawke said as he took out a small device
and inserted it in the main computer, "This will take a while, but hopefully
we'll get the data we need. Try to see if you can find anything else that
might be useful." Shadow nodded and began to search the room, she found a map
of the facility and all its rooms, "Hey, check this out." Shadow said,
motioning Hawke to take a look. "Interesting. So we were checking the storage
rooms, but apparently the research lab is on our left." Hawke looked at the
plans, "I'll go take a look at the research lab, you stay here and analyze the
facility. Look for any potential ways out , in case we can't leave by the
elevator." Shadow replied, "Here take this." Hawke handed what seemed like a
usb drive, "If you find anything useful, store it in that thing. I'll stay
here and look over the map and security footage."

Shadow nodded and left to investigate. She couldn't help but feel a strange,
as if a presence was watching her. "Shadow, be careful. I have a bad feeling
about this..." Rei said, "You think there are any demons around?" Shadow
asked, "Not exactly, but I'm definitely sensing something strange here. Be
cautious and stay alert." Rei was clearly worried, "Don't worry, as long as I
got you, I can handle whatever they throw at us." Shadow said, trying to calm
her spirit guardian. As Shadow opened the door, she wasn't prepared for the
sight that awaited her. Mutilated bodies laid in surgical beds, blood
scattered all over the floor along with what seemed like mechanical limbs, it
was clear that something terrible had transpired here. Shadow fell on her
knees, shocked by what she had just seen, she was struggling to regain her
composure. "THESE BASTARDS THINK THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH THIS?!!? I'LL MAKE
THEM PAY!" Shadow screamed, "Shadow, calm down! We need to check if there's
anything we can gather." Rei tried to calm her, "I....I will not stand idle
and let them get away with this! They will pay!" Shadow exclaimed, getting
back on her feet. She looked over the bodies, but sadly none of them were
alive, whatever experimentation had taken place have cost them their lives.
Shadow then noticed a desk with a computer, realizing that was her only lead
she quickly searched the computer to see if there was anything they could
salvage. Scanning through the files, she quickly noticed what seemed like a
journal of the project, "Project Alpha, huh." Shadow muttered as she read the
journal, "It says here that they been investigating the possibility of
combining biological entities with mechanical augmentations. Apparently they
are trying to modify human genetics so that our biological body can recognize
mechanical equipment as if it were part of the body itself.....they are
basically creating cyborgs...." Shadow kept reading, but with each entry in
the journal she felt more disgusted by the atrocities that these people were
committing on innocent people. "These bastards are fucking sick! They treated
these "patients" as if they were little more than cattle ready to be
slaughtered." Shadow slammed her hand in the desk, "Use the device Hawke gave
you and save the data, I want to leave this place as soon as possible." Rei
said. Shadow gathered the data and removed the device, as she prepared to
leave she heard a loud boom coming from a nearby room.

Shadow and her guardian quickly made their way out of the lab and searched for
the source of the sound. An explosion caused a fire, triggering the alarm and
waking up most of the unconscious mercs. Shadow quickly drew her sword ready
for a fight with the mercs, however, she was about to face something bigger.
As she made her way to the source of the commotion, she heard the screams of
mercs and to her surprise, she found herself face to face with a robotic
figure holding two blades. The figure was slaughtering the mercenaries,
slashing through them with ease. "What the hell?!" Hawke who had just arrived,
exclaimed, "Oh crap, I know this guy." "You know him?" Shadow asked, "Subject
Alpha, their first successful cyborg." Hawke replied, "Met him once, almost
killed me. My friend also faced him, though she managed to defeat him, lord
knows how." "What do we do?!" Shadow exclaimed, sword at the ready. "Strange
it seems that he is malfunctioning or something. He is attacking his own
people." As Hawke explained the situation, Subject Alpha grabbed one of the
mercs and launched him into the air, "This thing is clearly unstable and if we
don't do something about it, Crawfordsville might be in danger. We have no
choice but to fight!"

Having destroyed the mercs, Subject Alpha shifted his attention at the duo.
The menacing cyborg moved towards them with his blades at the ready,
"You....." he said, targeting Hawke.

"Long time no see, buddy. How ya been?" Hawke retorted,

"I WILL ELIMINATE YOU!" Alpha exclaimed.

The cyborg quickly launched at Hawke, trying to slice him with the blades,
luckily Hawke proved to be a lot more faster than the mercs, dodging his
attacks. Shadow didn't hesitate, quickly intercepting the cyborg with her own
blade.

The Cyborg and the Samurai quickly clashed, each striking the other with the
blade, "Dodge!" Rei exclaimed as Alpha attempted to slice Shadow in half, "To
the left!" Rei ordered, Shadow retaliating with her own blade at the cyborg.
Shadow and guardian were in full synchronization, the guardian proving to be a
master strategist and the Shadow Samurai excelling in combat, however it was
not enough. Subject Alpha had been enhanced after his encounter with Nocturne
left him almost dead; he was now faster, stronger and more armed. Shadow
blocked all his attacks with her blade, but she wasn't able to connect with
her blade either; locking the two of them in what seemed like a perpetual
clash.

Luckily, Hawke was there to turn the tide; with the cyborg distracted by the
clash, Hawke decided to give Shadow an opportunity to strike Alpha by
distracting him. He attacked the cyborg from behind with a pipe, gaining its
attention, Alpha quickly focused on attacking Hawke, kicking him with so much
strength that it actually sent Hawke crashing against a wall. This gave Shadow
an opportunity to connect with her blade, slicing his left metallic arm off.
This however didn't stop the cyborg for a bit, as he continued to attack her
with his right arm, Shadow still managed to avoid his attacks, but he was now
more aggressive than before.

To make matters worse, the hit had left Hawke in a bad state. So while he
recovered, Shadow was on her own battling a furious cyborg. Alpha continued to
attack Shadow nonstop, giving her little window to retaliate. "Use your
environment!" Rei suggested, prompting Shadow to look at her surroundings; she
then focused her strategy on dodging Alpha's attacks in such a way that their
surrounding worked against him. The strategy paid off when Shadow avoided an
attack that caused Alpha to slice a extinguisher in half, causing a
distraction. Shadow took the opportunity slice his other arm off, leaving him
unable to use his blades against her. This should had been the end of it, but
sadly for the duo, the cyborg had been enhanced in such a way that he could
still fight even without his arms. From his shoulders, two tiny machine guns
popped up, aimed at Shadow. Shadow wasn't ready for it and the guns would had
been the end of her had it not been for Hawke's quick tackle that saved her
from the incoming bullets. The bullets however hit a couple of explosive
canisters, triggering another explosion and knocking Alpha in the process. The
fire intensified and there was no way that it could be contained; it began to
trigger even more explosions, soon enough the entire facility would be overrun
by the fire and explosions. Parts of the facility began to collapse and a
couple of debris fell on Alpha, incapacitating him.

"This place is gonna fall apart, we have to leave!" Hawke shouted, "But the
elevator is out, how are we gonna make it out of here??!" Shadow replied. "I
know a way out, but is not gonna be pretty. Follow me!" Hawke began to run and
Shadow followed. The duo was in a race against time, as the facility continued
to be engulfed in fire; in more than one occasion the debris had almost
claimed their lives. "Where are we going?!" Shadow asked, "There's only one
other viable way out of here, though it's a bit unconventional..."Hawke
replied as he avoided and explosion to his right, "We'll have to escape
through the waste disposal tunnel..." "Lovely!" Shadow added. After avoiding
the debris and explosions, Shadow and Hawke made it to the waste disposal
tunnel; without hesitation the duo entered without looking bad.

They arrived in the nick of time, not long after they entered, a large
explosion caused some debris to block the tunnel. Having escaped the facility,
the duo moved through the murky waters of the tunnel, hoping to find the light
at the end of the tunnel. It was a tedious and disgusting trek, but after a
while, they managed to find the exit and escape from the filth. The tunnel led
them far away from the abandoned factory and the facility, where they could
recover from their encounter with Alpha. "You are pretty good." Hawke said,
panting a bit after running through the tunnel, "You ain't half bad." Shadow
joked. "Well, we got what I was looking for, so hopefully my friend will be
happy." Hawke said, "So what do we do now?" Shadow asked, "Well, I gotta go
back to Fortune City and report to my friend, she'll be pleased. This is far
from over, though...." Hawke sighed, "I would like to help, if possible."
Shadow replied, "We could definitely use your help. But it would require you
to leave Crawfordsville from time to time..." Hawke explained, "You put a stop
to the atrocities they were making here. I am more than happy to return the
favor.....besides, I want to teach them a lesson." Shadow crossed her arms,
"Well, the more the merrier I say. I am glad to have you on board." Hawke
extended his hand to offer a handshake, "Then it's settled, I'll join your
team and put a stop to these bastards." Shadow shook his hands. "Alright,
well, you need to get your things here settled and we both definitely need a
shower after that horrible tunnel. So get your things ready and I'll meet you
tomorrow night, where we first met. Deal?" Hawke chuckled, "Deal!" Shadow
nodded.

The two shook hands and parted ways. Hawke's journey have proven useful,
having put a stop to one of Helix's facilities and in the process gaining a
powerful ally in the Shadow Samurai. Helix's reckoning would come soon enough.