“We are screwed,” was G.U.N Agent Fisher’s only coherent thought as he ducked in time to avoid having his head taken off by a large bolt of violet plasma. “Very screwed,” the increasingly small voice of reason in his mind muttered after seeing the large chunk of concrete and brick removed from the side of a collapsed building by the shot that nearly took his head. Agent Fisher looked to his right as he leaned back against the sandbags his team had set up. Westopolis was in flames. Nearly his whole squad was gone, and what was left of it was being slaughtered by… well… he wasn’t really sure. Large black creatures, twice the size of a normal human, some as tall as the streetlamps they occasionally used as makeshift clubs, and some with wings, grabbing people in their jaws and dropping them from the skies… and their eyes... It was like staring into hell, and hell was staring back with a plasma rifle in hand.

“Damn it,” Fisher called over the roar of screams and gunfire, “where the hell are those reinforcements?”

His squad mate, Agent Garcia, looked at him from across the street, also taking refuge from the rain of purple death that awaited him beyond his barricade of debris, part of what used to be the bar where they would go to watch the game together after work. Now it was a torn down mess, any patrons inside where dead or dying. The owner, a long time friend, had helped defend it when the aliens began their assault, using a shotgun from his own days in G.U.N. He thought it would be a great mantle piece for the bar, something to tell customers stories about. Now it lay beside his body, blood smeared on the barrel.

“They aren‘t coming,” came Garcia’s reply, as another shot missed just above his makeshift shelter. “Command had to reroute reinforcements to Empire City and the Capital, we‘re cut off!”

Yep,” Fisher muttered to himself, “we‘re definitely screwed.”

It was just him and Garcia left here, the rest of their squad was taking shelter in a nearby building, trying to provide fire support for them and another unit nearby. Fisher had done the numbers in his head, two guys left on this street, six in the building, and maybe twenty tangos in the street advancing on their position, a few coming out of the buildings, not to mention the flyers… the odds were very much against them. “What about air support?”

“Nearest Vulcan fighter is still twenty minutes out, and all the choppers are downtown at city hall!”

“Tell them there isn‘t going to be a city hall if they do-”

And then something caught his attention. There was movement out of the corner of his eye, and for a moment, Fisher thought his old friend from the bar had gotten up again, but no, he was still there, where he had fallen with his-

Wait, where was his-?

BOOM!

The shotgun that had been on the ground less than a second ago was now going off right next to his-

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Peering over the sandbags, Fisher was just able to glimpse three large, black and red bodies crashing to the ground. And there, standing over them… that couldn’t be… he was dead…

Shadow the Hedgehog was a blur of black and red, and with every movement, another black creature fell to the ground, dead. He was everywhere, killing left and right, ducking, diving, getting close enough for another shot, and then with another resounding blast of gunpowder and shrapnel, another body hit the floor.

Fisher looked over at Garcia, and even through their visors, they both knew what the other was thinking. Garcia leapt from his barricade, his MP5 spewing it’s burning lead into the face of the closest alien he could find, charging up the street. Fisher propped his G3 assault rifle against the sandbags and laid down suppressing fire, ducking his head down as another alien took aim and fired, missing Shadow as he leapt forward, twisting his body in mid-air, and fired back, splashing dark red liquid all over what used to be a hideous black creature’s head, and letting it fall, resting near his feet as he landed. Shadow looked up, as though offended at this futile attempt to harm him and then disappeared in a flash of blue light, and Garcia and Fisher stood still in amazement as nearly fifteen large, demonic soldiers almost simultaneously had their necks snapped, skulls crushed, and internal organs splattered all over the pavement. Shadow blinked back into time a few yards from the two soldiers, standing over the bodies as someone would stand over a grave, head tilted down, shotgun held limply at his side.

After a solemn moment of stillness amidst the background rush of war, the dark warrior seemed to breathe at last.

“Hmph.”

And he began to walk away.

Fisher finally worked up the courage to turn to Garcia, who was still staring in amazement at their dark savior. He turned back to the hedgehog. “Hey!”

Shadow stopped in his tracks, loosely gripping his newly acquired shotgun.

“Uh… ,” Fisher wasn’t sure what to say. He half expected that at any moment his own forehead would have that blood covered barrel pressed against it, but weakly managed to breathe a single word as he held his rifle close to his chest, as if to shield himself.

“Thanks”

Shadow hadn’t turned to look at him, not even his head, but after a second, he tilted it just a few degrees, enough that Fisher could see a blood red oval staring back at him, and he quietly muttered a single syllable, in a tone one might hear from someone who almost felt regret or remorse, maybe even anger at something they had just done. As if they were conflicted.

“Yeah”

Shadow turned and walked away, before vanishing in another blue flash.

Garcia and Fisher looked at each other, stunned. Having removed the threat from this street, they could regroup and press further into the city.

But not before their suit radios chimed in with a message from command.

“All active units in Westopolis, Priority message, bring in Shadow the Hedgehog, dead or alive. He‘s been spotted in your AO. Suspected of terrorist activities.”

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Well, there you have it, my best artwork to date, and I even gave a shot at writing a little story to go with it.

You may all download this for use as a desktop, or for any personal use, just please give a link back here if you can, and maybe some credit?

Please leave reviews, I LOVE reviews. ^^

And if anyone cares to, would you guys please spread this pic around a bit? You know? Get it out there? It's nice when you can have a lot of people appreciate your creations, and I'd be very grateful if you guys could help expand the number of people who review my pics. Thanks. ^^