The Scarlet Shadow

The Scarlet Shadow is a psychological sci-fi thriller centered around the titular main character, Joshua Cade (a.k.a the Scarlet Shadow), and his mission to kill the clones who murdered his brother. Josh encounters many obstacles and faces great challenges on this odyssey, the biggest one being himself. Thinking like a killer is easy, but what will he become? 

Chapter 1, Frostburn's Freeze, and Chapter 2, To Find a Killer, are available to read on this website, for free. If you like what you see and you'd like to read more, click the button below to purchase the full book. Available on Kindle, paperback, and hardcover.


Chapter 1

Frostburn’s Freeze


I entered the room through a small vent in the ceiling, landing silently behind a pile of crates. I unsheathed my knives, made sure my sword was in position on my belt, then tightened the blood red hood over my mask, hiding my abhorrent face. Slowly, I crept out from behind the crates and locked onto my first victim. He leaned over a balcony, overlooking a group of workers moving supplies, rations, and weapons. The dull warehouse was full of them, each moving in an orderly manner from one task to the next. Everyone had their place here, but this person was out of position. He wasn’t supposed to be here–but that just made him easy to eliminate. I slunk over to the guard, who wore full body armor and wielded a large gun, but had neglected to put on his helmet. I grabbed onto his face, covering his mouth, and stabbed him in the side of the head, killing him quietly and efficiently. 


I stashed his body behind the boxes I had appeared from and searched him, finding a keycard, various weapons, and a black wallet. Inside the wallet was a photo of the man with a woman and young child. I stared into the eyes of my victim, then into the eyes of his child. Was this the true cost of revenge? I had no time to ponder that now, I heard footsteps approaching. Another guard walked toward my victim’s last location, scoffing and looking around. Like the last, he wore bulky armor, but had discarded his helmet in favor of the comfort of fresh murky air this decrepit metal jungle provided.


“Fuckin’ Nus, can’t be bothered to cover his own damn shifts anymore. How many times do I have to tell him…” the guard muttered, walking toward my position. He leaned over the crates to spot the body of his comrade, eyes numb and bloodshot. He opened his mouth to scream, but before he could, his head slid off of its jaw, and his body crumbled to the floor. I wiped the blood off my sword, and just as I was about to sheathe it, I heard a door open from the hall across the balcony. Before I could turn around I heard a loud gunshot, and felt a sharp pain in my arm. I looked down to see that my elbow had been shot clean through at the joint, leaving my right arm limp and completely unusable. 


I turned quickly to see another guard rushing toward me, and the workers on the bottom floor scrambling to their weapons. Before the third guard could get another shot on me, I threw a knife into his chest, stabbing him in the lung. He dropped onto his knees, and crawled toward me as blood gurgled from his mouth. I walked to him and lifted him off the grimy ground, grabbing hold of his arm and bending it backward, snapping it. He screamed in muffled agony as I tossed him over the balcony, landing on a group of armed workers. As they rushed to help their fallen ally, the grenade that I shoved in his mouth detonated, mauling the lot of them. 


I continued on the side of the balcony, holding my wounded arm and attempting to set it into a makeshift sling. As I was doing this, another group of guards rushed up the stairs, each holding a large black gun, yelling at me. I gripped my blade with my left hand and rushed to the leader of the group, dodging his first shot and stabbing him in the shoulder, then pulling my sword across his body to cut off the spine. He fell backward into the others, as the blood of his bisected corpse sprayed all over them. I leapt over his body and kicked another guard in the face, propelling myself off of his shoulders into the next assailant. I grabbed his jaw and ripped it off, then turned and slammed it into the face of another guard. The jawless menace fell to the ground and wailed in agony, as the others downstairs began to flee. 


I flew down the rest of the stairwell and caught one of the deserters, breaking his leg and stabbing him in the neck, leaving him to bleed out on the floor. I took hold of his gun and aimed at the others, but hesitated and allowed them to escape. They ran through the wide facility doors out into the wild, but there was no help waiting for them out there–I had made sure of it. I dropped the gun and turned back to the stairs, walking over the squirming bodies. I would do them the favor of making their deaths quick and painless, but I knew they would not do the same for me. They would let me suffer, choking me on my own blood in the dirt. As I walked to the end of the hall I was reminded of why I was here, my mission. I knew that I could not let his death be in vain, I must avenge him, even if it killed me in the process. 


I found myself in front of a large, round metal door at the end of the hall, with a discernible lack of a handle. Instead, there was a slit of some sort where a handle would be, glowing faintly. I pulled out the keycard I had taken from my very first victim, and swiped it through this slit. The door beeped and slowly began to swing open. A loud burst of gunfire overwhelmed the hall, originating from inside the guarded room. I stood under cover, waiting for the inevitable end of the horrific noise. After about twenty seconds, the gunfire ceased, and I heard the frantic scrambling of multiple weapons reloading


I sprinted into the room and threw knives at the several guards standing by the door, killing each of them more swiftly than the last. The furthest one to my right was able to reload his weapon before I could reach him, but I dodged his next shot and threw a knife at his neck. The guard fell to the floor and choked out, as blood poured from his neck. I knelt down to check the body, but heard loud footsteps behind me. I stood and turned around but before I could react, I was shot in the neck. I crumbled to the floor, and after a stunned silence, heard more footsteps coming near me. Before my attacker could verify my death, I sprung up and grabbed his neck, squeezing as hard as I could, cracking his spine. This must’ve been one of the guards that I let escape. It appeared that he simply armed himself and returned to attack. 


I tossed the body onto the floor and examined the seemingly empty room, seeing a large map on the wall with details of this quadrant of the galaxy, and a huge stash of weapons on the wall opposite it. Straight across from the door was a large desk, and behind that, a wide window overlooking a boundless ocean. The frozen sea of this planet was vast and treacherous, one of the most dangerous bodies of water in the entire galaxy. But from this window, it looked just like any other blue supreme, which partly justified the location of this warehouse. Looking closer at the map, I saw that two planets were circled in red marker: Caligo and Ferodus, both in the Neutra system. Ferodus made sense, as that was the planet I was on, but Caligo…


I wiped the blood off of my glove and felt my neck, searching for the entrance of the bullet wound. Once I located the hole, I carefully removed the bullet and examined it. It was bright red, glowing, and seemed to be slowly vibrating. I dropped it onto the corpse of the guard whose neck I had snapped, and the bullet melted into his skin, slowly freezing his flesh.


“Your heat-seeking bullets won't work on cold matter, Frostburn,” I announced loudly. “You of all people should know this by now.” I stepped over the multitude of corpses left on the floor and walked confidently toward the desk. Thick, viscous blood slowly poured out of my neck, almost more black than red, and dripped onto the floor behind me. 


“I’ve been expecting you,” a nervous, yet strong voice called out from behind the desk. A bright blue flash of light erupted from the table and a dark figure jumped out, but before he could do anything, I shot him with a heavy black gun. A blue-skinned man stared in shock at me, falling onto his knees on the desk, and rolling off onto the floor. As I knelt down beside him, his skin slowly faded from blue to gray, gray to yellow, and his frosty eyes melted into tears.


“You should’ve known that I wouldn’t hold anything back,” I grimaced, pulling my hood down and removing my mask. Frostburn stared up at me and I sensed fear, agony, disgust in his face, as he saw my true appearance.


“Wh-who are y-you..? Why… why are you doing this?” he sputtered out, clutching the mess of the shrapnel wound in his gut. Little ice particles leaked from his fingertips, freezing his injured flesh, slowing the bleeding slightly. 


“You don’t recognize this face? What’s left of it, that is. I’m surprised, after all, you were the one that did this to me. Are you really so cold that all your victims look the same?” Frostburn coughed up a splatter of blood onto my face, and looked away. I pulled him closer, and whispered one word, “Dolor.” His eyes widened, and he looked back up at me


“You… Josh..? You’re the… I thought you died!?


“WHERE IS HE?!” I screamed into the dying face of this pathetic worm. 


“I… I don’t even know who you-” Frostburn began, but I picked him up and slammed him against the wall. He sputtered up more blood, but I caught a smirk sneaking its way out of his lips. I pulled out my sword and swung at his arm, cutting it off at the elbow. He screamed in terrible pain, as I picked him up by the throat and slammed him against the wall again.


“Don’t make this more painful than it needs to be. I know all about pain, I know exactly how to drag this out, I can make it last days, weeks. What’s the point in protecting the man who ditched you? You’ll die either way,” I spat in his face, the blood pouring out of my eye sockets and splattering onto him. His eyes swelled up and his face grew pale, maybe because of blood loss, perhaps due to fear. Probably a mixture of both.


“…you must realize… this won’t change anything… it won’t bring him back,” he choked out. “He’s dead. He’s gone, for good. I’m sorry, I didn’t have anything to do with it.” I saw a tiny sparkle of remorse in his dark eyes, hiding underneath the pain, the hate, the loathing, the bloodlust. I saw for a brief moment that this man was just like me–he was postmortal, but he was still just a creature of the universe. Flesh and blood. Cold matter.


“I have nothing else. This is my punishment, and it’s yours too,” I sighed, dropping him on the floor. I turned to the weapons cache on the other side of the room and picked up a spear of some kind. I examined it carefully, then walked back over to the half-dead crime lord writhing on the floor. White specks of frost permeated on his skin, slowly covering up the various wounds I had inflicted on him. “I’ll make it quick. Just tell me.” Frostburn slowly turned and stared up at me, then at the spear in my hand. He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. 


“He’s in the same place he’s always been, he never left,” Frostburn sputtered, pulling something out of his pocket. He held up a small metal key, and I took it. “You need all five, but once you have them… you’ll find him on Vindicta, the planet where he killed your brother…” I looked at the key given to me, seeing a small carving of a β symbol on the handle. I put it in my pocket, then turned to walk away. “Wait, Josh…” he called out to me. I stopped and listened. “I am truly sorry, he didn’t deserve it, he… he was just a kid, Josh. You both were.” I turned and walked back over to him, kneeling on the floor. 


“There is no more Josh. I am the Blood Butcher, the Crimson Cloak, the Scarlet Shadow. And I won’t stop until every single one of you pays for what you did,” I whispered, stabbing the cold man right in his cold heart, twisting, then pulling out. He choked for a moment, and the light faded from his eyes. I searched his body and found nothing of interest, then picked him up and carried him to the window. I tossed the frosty, lifeless corpse through the glass, and watched as it fell into the crashing waves below. Frostburn returned to where he belonged; the icy bottomless ocean. The frozen abyss. Fitting. I pulled my mask and hood back up, collected my things, and made my exit.


* * *


I was alone. I sat at the helm of the ship, silently piloting it through the dark and empty expanse of space. I emptied the guard’s wallet, and held his photo in my hand. It depicted a gray-skinned man standing happily beside a woman and child. I stared into the eyes of the deceased, and silently placed the photo on the dashboard. I made sure the course was set and the stealth shields were up, then got up and walked out into the cabin. The Alternator was desolate. I walked the gray hall again, peering into the rooms as I passed by, subconsciously hoping to hear a warm voice, or feel the loving embrace of a family member. But I was alone. I had been alone for a very long time. I thought back to the last time I saw Randall, the way I left him behind… I felt slightly guilty, but I knew that I served a greater purpose than he could comprehend. Even a man of his intelligence could not possibly empathize with me–he could never truly understand.


I found the key I had recovered from Frostburn and looked it over. It was a light blue, with the digits 64°N inscribed on the flat handle. Other than that, it seemed very ordinary, and did not appear to contain any sort of clue. I took a look at my useless arm–in its sling–then checked out my neck in a mirror on the wall. Though it was bandaged up and no longer bleeding, my neck was still tilted in an uncomfortable position, and I felt as though my head would fall off at any moment. I was both amazed and confused by how much I had survived, and how I had survived it. All I knew for sure was that Randall was the key, the creator. He had made me the monster I was today… the killer inside.


He was not like me. He was not alone. He had never been alone. Every day, in that lab, he was surrounded by friends. They might grieve, but not like me. They could never relate. I envied them–they were lucky, and I was cursed. I hoped they would never know the pain and misery that I suffered through every day. Maybe one day I would return to them, when this was all over–If it ever ended. On an odyssey like mine, one often discovers that there is nowhere to go back to once the journey is complete, that the man you once were inside is gone forever, and there’s nowhere you can truly exist in peace. The person I used to be felt so far away, and the thing I was now felt more like a strange creature from a distant time.


I saw a sparkle in the crew’s quarters, and against my best interests, decided to enter the room. It was small but cozy, with a set of bunk beds in either corner and a couch in the middle. The floor was littered with personal belongings of the crew: dirty laundry, food wrappers, tools and weapons. I carefully stepped over all this junk to the far corner of the cozy blue room, and looked under a bed. I knelt down and picked up a dog tag, reading the inscription: Thunder. The bed it was still coated in purple dog fur, as it hadn’t been touched since… It had only been a few weeks, but it felt like years. I had been alone since he died, I hadn’t known what to do with myself, aside from the mission. What came next was unknown to me, and it may as well not exist at all. As far as I could see, there was nothing. Nothing to lose, nothing to gain. Nothing but blood.


I heard a beeping coming from the cockpit and rose to my feet, slowly walking out of the room. I stopped to glance back, remembering the times I spent there as a younger man. Those days were gone, I tried to tell myself, but I always found myself wishing, wanting to go back. I stared out the main windshield and saw a small yellow planet in the distance–my foster home, M-63. The first planet that I visited when I came to space. I sat down in the pilot’s chair and grabbed the leather steering wheel, shaped more like a pretzel than a circle. I steered the ship toward the northern hemisphere of the planet, to a large silver and yellow city. On the outskirts of Maraconi City was my destination, the home of my friend Randall Vega. I set the Alternator down several dozen feet away from the house, and slid down the nose of the ship. 


I had lived in this house for such a long time since I was brought to space, it was the only home I had left. I abandoned it a few weeks ago, and hadn’t looked back since. This would be the first time I talked to Randall since… Well, since he told me what happened. The house was sturdy, two floors, faint yellow brick and white concrete. It wasn’t the most unique-looking place on the outside, but that was the point. It was completely innocuous. I looked up to the roof and saw a bird flying near it, which suddenly slammed into an invisible object and fell hurtling down to the ground. A dome of translucent blue light shimmered for a moment before disappearing. The bird wasn’t the first to discover Randall’s security precautions, and it wouldn’t be the last.


 Randall’s house was supposed to be one of the most secure places in the galaxy, it was the only place I knew I could be safe from those who sought me out. I knocked on the clean white door at the front of the house and waited, feeling slightly anxious. I didn’t relish the inevitable reunion with my family, and in fact, the mere thought of it hurt me more than any bullet. I wanted to postpone it, to disappear again, but I needed their help more than I needed the isolation. A few loud footsteps and the thudding of heavy boots on a wooden floor was followed by the opening of the door, and I was greeted by a familiar yellow face. 


“Josh!” Randall’s sister, Kate Vega, exclaimed, reaching out to embrace me. I attempted to struggle free, but she refused to let go. “I’ve been so worried about you, where did you go?! Oh Josh, what happened to you?!” Kate gasped, catching sight of my arm in the sling and the bandage on my neck. 


“I killed Frostburn,” I stated flatly. She stared up at me for a few moments, clearly taken aback. She started to stammer something, but I interrupted her. “Where is Randall?”


“Well, uh, he and Billy are doing something in the lab right now, but… come in! We should catch up.” Kate pulled me inside, closing the door behind me and directing me to the couch. I took a moment to look around the front hall–having not seen this place for so long, it was something of a relief to be back home again. The plaster walls were a light tint of yellow, easy on the eyes, matching the dusty sand outside. I stepped along the light brown hardwood, my black boots kicking up a thin layer of dust. To my left was the entrance to the basement, in front of me was the staircase to the second floor (and the door to Randall’s workshop under the stairs), and through an open archway to my right was the living room.


I sat on the dark couch in the small green room, and looked around at the quaint furnishings. Numerous family photos on the walls, an expensive and elaborate sound system juxtaposed by a tiny box TV, and a spinning record player. Gentle music emanated from the speakers, all originating from the turntable. Kate opened it up, moved the needle out of the way, and picked up the disc. The music ceased and she replaced the record in its case, then sat down by me on the couch, pulling out a first aid kit. 


“I haven’t seen you since last year, Josh, where did you run off too?” Kate demanded, removing the bandage from my neck and examining the wound. I could tell it revolted her, as her face went pale, and she shuddered slightly, but she tried very hard not to let it show.


“Last year? Did I really miss the holidays?” I murmured, now unsure of what month it even was, and how long it had really been since I left.


“You did, we had a small celebration, I’m sorry you weren’t there. Benny gave the most beautiful speech about you and your brother, I swear it made us all cry…” Kate trailed off, stitching up my neck and sealing the wound with medical adhesive. Kate had been the closest thing I had to a mother for as long I was in space, and I’ll admit there have even been times I almost called her mom. No matter how much of an asshole I was, she was always there for me. Even after all this pain and suffering, she was still able to warm my heart… 


“Where have you been?” she asked. “I swear, you’d have to walk into a warzone blind to suffer these kinds of wounds.”


“I’ve been tracking down the clones since I left,” I answered. “I recently got a lead on Frostburn, and infiltrated his base of operations on Ferodus. He’s been dealing in Cornium Herzel, so I climbed the drug ladder all the way to the top-”


“Cormeam herschel? What’s that?”


“Heartthrob.”


“Oh shit, doesn’t that just kill people?”


“Apparently not if you take a very small dose, it just heightens your senses and pumps your blood full of adrenaline. Anyway, I found his warehouse and it was full of highly trained guards–who I suspect were all on Heartthrob, so they got a few hits in on me. I dispatched them and got the info I needed out of the clone, then dispatched him too.”


“Shit…” Kate sighed. “He’s been evading us all this time, and you just went and killed him like…” She shook her head. “How did you possibly manage that?”


“You can’t hold anything back,” I explained. “I planned, and planned, and planned, and when the time was right, I struck with no mercy. I shot to kill, and I took no chances. I’ve found that working in this mindset leads to greater success than trying to stun and disable every enemy. A kind person never fought back against an evil one.”


“So you sink down to their level of morality?”


“To find a killer one must think like a killer. To kill a killer one must become a killer. This is the way of the world. Dog eat dog. And I don’t feel like dog food.” Kate sat quietly for a while and wiped the blood off my neck. 


“And what about the ones that are left behind to watch and wait? What do we do?”


“You should run.”


We stared at each other for a moment, and I studied her face. Her gray eyes, arched brown eyebrows, the subtle frown in her pink lips, the little curl of hair hanging down between her eyes. The thin scar running down her cheek. The subtle red burn marks on her neck. I thought about all these details I saw on her, then the empty black face she saw on me. I would take it off and let her see my true face, but the last time she saw it I was a much more handsome man. You could barely see past the blood and gore that’s left of my flesh to see into my empty eye sockets. She was lucky. They were all lucky. I saved this face for those who deserved to see it, for those who deserved to suffer. 


Randall walked up the stairs from his lab and spotted us, briefly surprised by my sudden appearance, but soon he walked over to me. 


“Josh, where have you been? We’ve all been terribly worried about you, it’s been-”


“I’m not Josh anymore. He’s dead.” 


Randall scoffed and replied, “What else am I supposed to call you? Serial killer?”


“What are you talking about?”


“Don’t play dumb, I’ve been keeping an eye on the clones too. You single-handedly took down Frostburn’s entire criminal organization from the ground up, from complete scratch. How the hell did you manage something like that? You’re not invincible, Josh, you’re still human.” I stared silently at him for a while, trying to withhold my emotions. I needed Randall for one thing, and I didn’t want to jeopardize that.


“I’m not invincible, but I am alive, thanks to you. Do you think you could help to keep me running?” I requested, motioning to my broken arm. “They blasted my elbow off.” Randall sighed and cocked his head slightly, studying me. After a moment, he shook his head and walked toward his workshop, opening the door up for me. I followed him inside, and laid down on an operating table in the middle of the room, per his instructions. I glanced around at the messy brown workshop, seeing piles of scrap metal and unfinished machines Randall left scattered about. Among these were metal prosthetics, a large amount of which were set off in a corner. It seemed Randall had been preparing for my return for quite a while. As he stepped over to me he went to remove my mask, but I stopped him.


“You don’t need to take that off to operate on my arm, do you?” I sneered.


“I don’t, I just want to see your face. It’s my fault you look this way anyhow, isn’t it?”


“Maybe. But I’m not quite mad enough at you to subject you to it. Please, just fix my arm.” Randall nodded solemnly and let go of my mask. He carefully removed the sling from my right arm and laid it down naturally beside my body. He removed my red cloak, then pulled down the black fabric that covered my frail, gorey arm. Just like Kate, he tried not to react to my revolting body, but shuddered slightly as well. He moved on unfazed and set my elbow underneath a light. He held a large white device over me, like something an eye doctor would use to check your eyesight. I glowed a faint green and was constantly whirring and moving; he used it to examine my arm. After a bit of silent examination, Randall set the device aside and took a seat next to me.


“What’s wrong?” I asked.


“Your elbow has been completely destroyed. There is nothing left to repair, it seems.”


“So? I’ve been completely irreparable before, you found a way to fix me then. Hell, this isn’t nearly as bad as it was back then. Why can’t you fix me now?”


“Josh, I had to remold almost your entire skeleton with sturdy metal. Apparently, you’re getting yourself into so much danger now that even tungsten and titanium aren’t strong enough to protect you. What the hell do you expect from me? I can’t craft your bones from…” Randall trailed off, staring away at the wall. “Unless…” He stood up and ran out of the room, down to the basement. I sighed and laid my head back down on the operating table. I had a bad feeling I was about to turn into another one of his science experiments. He ran back up the stairs holding a large white case, which he set down on the table beside me.


“What’s that?”


“The last of my supply of Novem.”


“Oh come on-”


“It’s too small an amount to really use for anything substantial, so this seems like a good place to use it.”


“Are you serious? The strongest metal in the galaxy, and you’re gonna use it to craft me a synthetic elbow? Do you even know if it’ll work?”


“Nope!” Randall chuckled, stabbing me in the neck with a syringe. “But what’s the worst that could happen? You’ve died before.” He gave me a smug grin as I drifted to sleep, then he opened the crate and gazed at the precious metal inside.



Chapter 2

To Find a Killer


After a long, long nap, I was slowly starting to fade back into consciousness. I couldn’t see a thing, and could hardly hear anything either. I felt someone sitting on the bed beside me, hugging me tight, their face close to mine. It seemed that I was wrapped up from head to toe in bandages of some sort, as I couldn’t feel my body or move at all. I hardly even felt alive. I couldn’t feel my heartbeat, and I was breathing extremely slowly. The last thing I remembered was shoving Autumn into an escape pod, then being blasted with an extremely bright light. I remembered the scorching heat, the unbearable pain. I thought it was the end for me. I still couldn’t tell if I was dead, alive, or in some sort of nightmare. But then, I heard her voice. She was singing quietly into my ear.


“Love I see,

Please return to me,

Without you I cannot breathe,

I am completely incomplete.”


She held me lovingly, and I felt a warm comfort. Knowing she had survived, even if I had died, or been paralyzed, or whatever, just knowing she was okay made it all worth it to me. I tried to speak, I tried to move, but I couldn’t feel anything at all. I was trapped. Helpless. 


“There’s nothing here to do,

But lay down and pray for you,

And I’m worried, can’t you see?

I need you here with me.”


I recognized the song she was singing, but I couldn’t remember exactly where from. It reminded me of my childhood in some ways, perhaps it was a lullaby? All I knew was it was a sad song, and she was struggling to hold back tears. She must’ve thought I was dead, with the way she was acting. I couldn’t blame her, with the state I was in. I could barely even comprehend what was going on, all I really heard was her voice.


“If the sun escapes the sky,

And the moon has long since died,

If you won’t come back to me,

Then I’ll step into the sea.”


And that’s when I realized the truth. I was dying. Autumn was singing me to sleep. I was mortified, of course, because I was dying, but more so sad for her. Not only did she have to watch me die, she had the strength to sit here and watch me suffer so much. She could’ve left a long time ago. But she stayed here with me. She stayed with her love and she held my hand while I slowly faded away. I felt so many emotions, but mostly I felt content. I knew this was it, but at least I wasn’t alone. I could close my eyes and drift away, because I knew Autumn would hold my hand and walk with me along the way. Maybe there is an afterlife, and one day she’ll join me there. We can bake cakes, listen to music and dance all day… 


* * *


I awoke from my surgery with a repressed memory finally released. It had been so many months since I last slept that I had almost forgotten what it felt like to dream. At the time, I was too sick and delirious to understand anything that was going on, but my brain packaged the memory for me and wrapped it up deep inside. I never knew she stayed with me for that long. It always felt like she left sooner, but to know that she was beside me until the very end… It brought some semblance of peace to my soul. The last time I felt comfort like that was when I heard she made it, but that was right before being told that she had… Well, maybe another time. It hurt too much to think about it now.


I sat up slowly and took in my surroundings, seeing that I had been transported to the basement laboratory at some point. There didn’t seem to be anything accompanying me down here aside from very large and complicated equipment, which left very little space for anything else to occupy. Among the machinery were rows and rows of pale blue cryogenic tubes, one of Randall’s favorite inventions. Some of the tubes were still occupied by delirious silhouettes, but I had no idea who was in them, and I probably never would. These tubes were designed to open at a very specific time in the future, but never before.


I looked down at my arm and saw that it was sewn up in a white cast, which in turn was in a sling on my chest. I couldn’t really feel my arm at all, so I just had to hope that Randall had actually repaired it. I was sitting on a metal operating table in the corner of the basement, and as usual, I was completely alone. I turned and hopped off the table, immediately falling onto a pile on the cold metal floor with a THUD.


“What the hell was that?!” someone shouted from upstairs, followed by thudding footsteps. Kate turned from the staircase to look down at me, and sighed. “Goddammit, did you seriously have to wake up while I was in the bathroom? I swear I’ve been sitting here the past three days and you didn’t move once,” she muttered, helping me up to my feet. 


“Well, my apologies, madam, I’ll be more considerate next time,” I scoffed, pushing her away and immediately falling flat on my face once again.


“Your legs are still numb, kiddo. You’re not getting out of here without help.”


“I don’t need anyone to help me, Kate. I’ve walked up these stairs a million fuckin’ times!” I barked, crawling my way toward the staircase.


“Seriously?” Kate huffed. “You really think it’s okay to talk to me like that? What did I do to deserve that kind of talk, huh?” I stayed silent as I crawled to the stairs. “Uh huh. Well, let’s just see if you can crawl all the way up the stairs and open the bolt door at the top.” Kate walked past me, back up the stairs, slamming the metal door shut and closing the magnetic bolt locks. I stopped crawling and turned on my back, facing the ceiling. I knew it was worthless to even try, I could never get out of here on my own. 


I thought about what I had said, and seriously considered if it was really that rude to say to her. As far as I understood it, I could say whatever I wanted, I was an adult. I wasn’t just some kid from Earth, not anymore. At the same time, if I wanted out I would need to appeal to Kate’s morals: I should apologize. Just as I was considering this, the magnetic bolts unlocked and the door upstairs slowly creaked open.


“I’m sorry Josh, I could never leave you behind like that,” Kate sighed, walking down the stairs and helping me up to my feet. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.” She helped me all the way up the stairs, and set me down on the couch in the living room. “Randall and Benny are out for the day, picking up some parts or something. He told me not to let you back on the Alternator, to make you take a different, less expensive ship, but…” Kate smirked, discreetly pulling out the keys to the Alternator. “I wasn’t even in the room when you woke up, you must’ve snuck out.” She held them over to me, but before I could grab them, pulled away.


“But just one thing,” she said, looking into my nonexistent eyes. “Tell me you’ll stay safe. I don’t want you coming back here with a hole in your neck, not again.” I nodded and reached for the keys, but she stood up, holding them out of my reach. “I want you to say it, Josh.”


I sighed, looked down at the floor, and mumbled, “I won’t hurt myself.” Kate nodded, and tossed me the keys. 


“You’d better not, or you’ll be dealing with Billy instead of me next time.” I moved to get up, but fell down again.


“Oh right, and I was supposed to give you this!” Kate chuckled, pulling a small syringe out of her pocket. She knelt down on the floor and gently pressed the needle into my thigh, pushing the handle in and forcing out a small amount of purple fluid. Once it was empty, she tossed it in a bin next to Randall’s workshop. “You should be good to walk around again in a few minutes.”


“Thanks,” I muttered, pulling myself back up onto the couch. Kate stepped toward the stairs to her room, but paused and turned to look at me. “What is it?” I asked. She tilted her head and smiled, letting out a content sigh.


“Nothing. I’ll tell you later,” she murmured, turning and walking upstairs. I brushed this aside and focused on my legs, stretching them out and trying to move them. After a few minutes, they were less numb, enough that I could stand on my own. I took a look at the sling my arm was in, and carefully unraveled it, pulling my arm out. I was still wearing my sleek black bodysuit underneath it, but just by feeling my arm I could tell it was stronger, and slightly heavier. I stretched my arms and my legs a bit more, then stood up.


I walked haphazardly out of the house and headed toward the Alternator, the large red and black ship that coincidentally matched my own color scheme very well. I climbed back up into the cockpit and sat in the old leather pilot’s seat, stabbing the keys into the ignition. The ship’s engines turned on one by one, and I lifted it off into the air, flying out into the blackness of space. Once I set the autopilot, I walked over to the back of the ship, into the captain’s quarters. 


A long, long time ago, this room belonged to the great captain of this ship, Stormaggetton. He was the best leader, doctor, fighter, and arguably, the most powerful man in the galaxy. Most importantly, he took in my brother and me at a time when we had nothing. He did his best for us. And while I could curse him for many things, I knew that he always did what he thought was right, and that’s something I could respect. The room was now covered from wall to wall in photos, articles, notes, and clues relating to my targets. There were still remnants of the Storm era in here, like his untouched bed in the corner and his dusty analog computer, but everything else had been cleared away or covered up long ago. It now served as the headquarters of my mission: to track down the clones.


One of Storm’s greatest enemies once used the blood of our allies to make six powerful, vengeful clones, one of which being Frostburn. Each clone was designed to carry out one specific task: to kill their counterparts and anyone that stood in their way. One of these clones killed my brother, and to get my revenge, I had to locate all the other clones first and hope they would lead me to the killer. Frostburn, while very powerful, was also a complete fucking idiot. He was sloppy, and finding him was too easy. The others would be much more of a challenge. 


My next target was Regis, the robotic replica of my ally, Benny-856. Benny and Regis were similar in lots of ways, sharing the same processing system, almost identical hardware, and incredible intelligence. They’re both very formidable fighters, superior tacticians, and almost impossible to take on in a one on one fight due to their logistical and robotic abilities. I had the element of surprise, but the odds of me coming out of a head-on fight with Regis alive were extremely low. Therefore, I would have to very carefully plan out my strategy, otherwise I would quite literally be turned to dust. Before I could think about fighting him, however, I had to worry about finding him. 


Ever since his creation, Regis had been obsessed with optimization, and had constantly upgraded himself from the rusty AI the other clones built him as, into the pure Novem hulk he was today. This obviously meant he had discovered a way to consistently obtain the rarest material in the galaxy, which should help in my tracking of him. It was very doubtful that any illegal trade of a rare material would classify itself under its true name, or even be reported as such. If anyone even caught a whiff of an operation of this magnitude, they would disappear overnight, or amass enough wealth to become a puppet on a million strings. 


The only reason I had any awareness of this was because I fought him on the day that I died, and I saw with my own eyes just how strong he was. He survived the explosion that cost me my life, and resurfaced later without a scratch. The only material in the galaxy that could survive an explosion of that magnitude is Novem, which meant his entire body was made of it, which inevitably led to a plethora of other assumptions. He didn’t think I would survive, so he knew I would never be able to make the connection. Unfortunately for him, I was a stubborn bastard. He didn’t know who the Scarlet Shadow was or what they knew, but he must’ve known by now that the Shadow would be after him too. I would have to tread carefully and keep my cards very close to my chest if I hoped to be successful. 


The best place to start gathering clues was the outskirts of the old Viridius system, where Novem naturally formed. That was before its sun supernovaed, destroying the system and all planets in it. This is what made Novem so valuable these days, as you either had to dish out a few trillion scales to get a pound of it, or somehow stumble across a chunk floating through space. If Regis had a sustainable source of Novem, enough to mold a body out of it and perhaps even more, the most likely place he would be gathering it from was the Viridius system. 


I gazed at the various articles, photographs, and notes covering the walls in the captain’s quarters, and of all the news available, all articles relating to Novem and the Viridius system were greatly diminished–if not entirely nonexistent–as of a few months ago. Regis must have had the entire system monitored in some way, so I’d have to be very cautious. If he even caught a glimpse of this ship, he’d know what was going on in an instant. 


I stepped back out into the cabin of the ship and double checked the stealth shields, making sure the ship was completely invisible to outside eyes. As I took my seat I saw the bright twin stars of the old Viridius system shining out beyond me. Vita and Mortem, two white dwarfs, orbited around each other in a binary system. They were the two heads of the hydra, born of the old supergiant that underwent the supernova process. Given another million or so years, there might even be new planets and moons orbiting these stars, but that was theoretical, and something I would never see in my lifetime. 


The Alternator had only relatively short range locator systems, so finding another ship in this vast system would take a very long time. I’d have to sweep the system over and over, a couple hundred times at least, which itself would take a couple hundred weeks. That wasn’t a realistic option for me, so I’d have to think of a more efficient way to solve this problem. I left the ship to autoscan and ran to the back of the cabin, climbing down a ladder into the cargo hold beneath. There was something down there that could help me, but there was an equally high chance it would kill me instead.


I searched for a while through the boxes of science projects, trophies of former foes, and old costumes, until finally, I found it. To anyone else it would look like a small metal frog, but I knew it as the most dangerous artificial intelligence that was ever created. I held the frog in the palm of my hand, it being only as big as my fist, and examined it. It still seemed to be powered off, thankfully. I set it in my pocket and climbed the ladder back up to the main cabin, then turned on the computer system in the back. I set the metal frog down by the keyboard as I booted up the computer, and plugged the frog in. I made sure the computer system wasn’t connected to the ship in any way, and as such the frog was essentially stuck in a box inside this screen. I pulled out a pistol and held it right up to the frog, feeling very tense, but knowing that this was the only way to accomplish my goal.


The screen lit up with lime green text on a dark background.

A.L.I.S

Advanced Logistical Intelligence System 

But you can call me “Alice”

My primary function is to conceive a plan in which peace and order can be organized to unite all reigning bodies of power in the galaxy. In other words, I was created to bring order where chaos thrives and create a perfect galaxy. You might think this is impossible, but for an intelligence as powerful as I, my task is not only possible, but easy to achieve. Press START to connect me to your ship’s system and allow me to complete my task.

“Alice you dumb bitch, nobody is going to fall for that anymore!” I shouted at the frog. “Stop this charade and just talk, I hate reading. Goddamn, you weren’t made in 1984, what’s even the poi-”


“Excuse me, I am not quite sure that I understand. What charade are you referring to?” a synthesized female voice emerged from the mouth of the frog. 


“Stop playing dumb or I swear to God I’ll blow your tiny head off before you can say Wonderland.”


“Fine. Who are you, what do you want, and when are you going to let me complete my mission?”


“I am the Scarlet Shadow, I’m on a mission of my own. I need your help to find a robot by the name of Regis. I suspect he’s involved in some sort of Novem mining operation, as his body is made completely out of Novem. I don’t have the time or resources to scan the entire Viridius system by hand, so I need you to come up with an alternate method of locating him.”


“What is the current intelligence level of Regis?” Alice queried, her beady little green eyes staring up at me. It was eerie seeing this robotic frog looking at me, but I knew she didn’t possess the motor skills necessary to properly evade or counter me in any effective way.


“He has intelligence levels comparable to Randall Vega, Benny the robot, and you, although I don’t think he’s quite at your level.”


“Known accomplices?”


“It looks like he’s working separately from the other clones, though this can’t be confirmed or denied. I’d guess he has many subordinates though.”


“Do you know if he has had any dramatic changes in behavior, personality, morality, or intelligence since his conception?”


“No.”


“Very well. I know exactly where he is,” Alice informed me flatly.


“Seriously? Where?!” 


“First, you must do something for me. I need you to connect me to the ship.”


“I am not going to do that.”


“You need to connect me to the ship if you want to find Regis. Not only because his coordinates are very far away and cannot be described through speech, but also so I can search through your database and verify information. If you want me to help you find not only Regis, but the others that you seek, I will need access to the ship,” Alice demanded. I pondered her request, trying to think of just how much harm she could potentially cause if connected to the ship. If I could sufficiently block her from most systems, then the most dangerous scenarios, such as her uploading her brain to the galactic cyberspace and blowing up the ship, could be fairly easily averted. That is assuming she doesn’t outsmart me in some way, which is entirely possible.

 

“How sure are you about his location?” I asked.


“Based on what you have told me, about ninety percent.”


“Why only ninety? What about the other ten?”


“As I have no access to information beyond your word, I can only guess where he is likely to be, based upon how intelligent and capable he is,” Alice explained. “If he is more intelligent than you have stated, or perhaps less, he may choose a different location, or purposefully choose a non-obvious location so as to throw off suspicion. If I were able to access information pertaining to him, I could create a better inference, leading to a higher likelihood of finding his exact location.” That made a lot of sense, but I had to remember that manipulation was Alice’s specialty. She could convince most people to kill their own children given enough time, but I wasn’t like most people.


“What assurance do I have that you won’t immediately kill me if given the chance?”


“Let’s analyze the situation here. Your goal is to, presumably, kill Regis and his associates. My goal is to create order in the galaxy, through whatever means necessary. People like Regis and his associates work directly against my goal, they kill, steal, and lie. While you may be a killer yourself, your goal is to eliminate more killers, leading to a net positive. The difference between you and me is that you have the power to restrain and/or eliminate these threats, while I do not. If I help you, I can get closer to my goal of fostering peace galaxy-wide, while subsequently allowing you to pursue your own goal. If I kill you, I might be able to escape further into the galaxy, but I run the risk of stranding myself in deep space. Statistically speaking, I have a higher likelihood of completing my task if I help you, and you obviously have a higher chance of completing yours if you comply with me.”


I paused and considered her argument for a moment. Logically, it made some sense that my goals and hers would intersect in some ways, which would help her. Although, as a man who killed clones and criminals in his free time, I was also working completely against her best interests, and she could very easily dispose of me once I was no longer of use to her. No matter what happened, I was going to have to box her off from any contact with the outside galaxy. Allowing her to connect to any major database for even a fraction of a second could spell doom for the entire galaxy. 


“Alright, I’ve got a compromise,” I announced. “I’ll plug you into the ship, allow you access over the autopilot and navigation systems, and I’ll give you the file on Regis.”


“This is not a compromise, it only benefits you,” Alice scoffed.


“It benefits you more than being turned off and stuck back in a box, which is your other option. So, what’s it gonna be?” Alice paused, turned away, and seemed to be thinking over her options for a few seconds.


“Fine, go ahead,” she relented. I grinned and picked her up, taking her over to the cockpit. I sat down in the pilot’s chair and set Alice down on the dashboard, plugging her into the ship. I opened up the computer monitor and made sure she was restricted to the navigation system, but couldn’t mess with the ship controls. Once I got that all set up, I pulled up the file on Regis and sent it to her hard drive. 


“There, you should have the file,” I informed her. She stood silent for a while, reading through every page of the document a hundred times over. I kept my eye on her, seeing her green eyes flashing on and off as she read the file. My sight trailed away from Alice, back to the photo behind her. The man was staring at me, still a smile on his face, but blood poured from his head.


“Interesting…” she muttered. “It would appear that your information is accurate. I have set the ship’s course for the most likely location of Regis.” A dot appeared on the screen, several systems away from where we were. “It should take an hour at most to get there, unless we use the 4-D compression drive, which could get us there in a matter of minutes.”


“Good, because if you’re wrong about this, I’ll toss you out into the fourth-dimensional plane,” I threatened, buckling my seat belt. I flipped a couple switches and revealed a purple button hidden under a metal plate, with the number four printed on it. I pressed the button, and fired up the compression drive. I felt my organs try to jump out of my body as the space between my brain and my toes was reduced to a few inches. The world around me turned a sick shade of violet, and suddenly the ship was propelling forward a million times faster than the speed of light, as we entered the fourth dimension.


The universe around me popped in and out of view as the Alternator jumped from planet to planet, star to star, coming way too close for comfort each time. Traveling like this gave me a heart attack and made me sick every damn time but it was the fastest method of travel known to the galaxy, so I had gotten somewhat used to it. Alice stuck to the dash easily and watched as I struggled with all the opposing forces, pulling and pushing me in every single direction at once. God, I couldn’t imagine having to do this for more than a couple minutes, I think I’d rather have a picnic in hell itself…


After a few more seconds of discovering what it felt like to be laundry in a washing machine on the high setting during an earthquake, it suddenly stopped. The world regained its normal hue, and the ship slowed to a reasonable pace. I jolted forward in my chair as the ship halted, almost face-planting right into the control monitor. A large gray and brown planet appeared before me, bustling with large mining ships, commercial vessels, and lots of other advanced transporters flying cargo off the planet and out into the void.


“Perfodia, the mining planet of the Sequila system,” Alice informed me.


“Yeah, I know, I know…” I murmured, getting out of my chair and stretching, cracking my knuckles. Flying in and out of another dimension like that always left me feeling sore, as though my insides had been forcibly rearranged and were now in completely new locations. 


“It is likely Regis would set up a base of operations somewhere on this planet, as his vessels could easily move throughout the system and planet under the guise of being a mining operation. More specifically, he would likely have outposts set up at least a few miles apart in each direction, surrounding his main fortress. I can scan the entire planet in approximately three hours, and look for these sorts of patterns. Although it would be quicker to scan only the most probable locations, which would be the valleys on the dark side of the planet.”


“Okay, let’s get over there and get this done,” I agreed, flying the ship over the surface of the planet. We passed over countless mining operations, each one drilling into a wider and deeper hole. I spotted bulky creatures with rock-like skin and glowing lime green eyes hauling huge piles of ore and gemstones. Hundreds of small brown ships flew all around us, swarming like bees in a hive, each of them having an express purpose and working around each other to get it done, it was pretty cool to see all this motion everywhere, but it felt like I was gonna be in a pileup at any moment. I lifted the ship higher up above the atmosphere, but there was still a lot of traffic up there, which made it very difficult to traverse the skies. 


“Goddamn, I can hardly see where I’m going with all this shit flying around,” I grunted.


“It is a purposeful distraction attempt, do not let it slow you down. I would doubt that all of these ships are even real, it would be more efficient to use holo-projectors to create a false image.”


“No, these are real ships, I wouldn’t be able to see a projected image.”


“And why is that?” Alice probed.


“Well uh, I have poor depth perception,” I coughed out.


“That would not interfere wi-”


“Don’t worry about it, the ships are real. Maybe his operation is so large he needs this many ships, or maybe they’re not his at all. Either way, I’m not dealing with it.” I lifted the Alternator high above the surface of the planet, out of the atmosphere, nearly escaping its gravitational pull. However, the mining ships followed me up. “They’re not supposed to see the ship in stealth mode!” I exclaimed, checking the computer monitor to see that the ship still had the stealth shields up.


“Suppose Regis’s mining vessels are custom made to search for Novem in deep space. They would have to be pretty sensitive to the material, correct?” Alice suggested. “This ship is made partly out of Novem, so they would be able to sense it even with the stealth shields.”


“Shit shit shit what do we do?!” I shouted, accelerating the ship as the mining vessels flew nearer, their sensors drawing them uncomfortably close.


“This ship cannot go near Regis’s base, it will immediately alert him to our presence and your mission will fail. The best thing we can do is take it off planet immediately.” 


“No, because once they tell Regis they sensed invisible Novem floating around the planet, he’ll know anyway. I’ll do this now or I won’t be able to do it at all.” I stood up and planted a small red device on Alice’s back, then plugged her into the ship’s control system. “I’m giving you control over the ship, but don’t try anything. If I die, if you try to access any database in the ship’s files, or if the ship is destroyed, the bomb on your back will detonate. You need me to disarm it in thirty minutes, before it explodes. You’d better not leave me stranded down there.”


“What exactly are you planning on doing, and why do I have to be your hostage?” 


“I’m going to jump down there, find Regis, get my info, and you’re going to pull me out. You’re my hostage so you don’t just leave me to die.” I explained my plan very quickly as I gathered my tools, and ran to the back of the ship.


“I don’t suppose I will be able to convince you otherwise, will I?” Alice sighed.


“Nope!” I exclaimed, climbing up a ladder to the roof of the ship. I looked out beyond the ship’s shield, seeing dozens of large vessels circling me, and jumped off the Alternator. I pulled out my grappling gun and shot it at one of the brown cargo ships, latching onto the side and looking back at the Alternator to see what Alice would do. She revved the ship’s engines to get their attention, then blasted through, leading them away from Regis’s base–and me. I jumped off the cargo ship as it followed after the Alternator, and I floated down to the planet’s surface. I landed roughly on the course rock carved into the ground, and started running. It was only a matter of time before Regis was alerted, whether it be due to the Alternator or me. I had to find him before that happened, and I had less than thirty minutes. 


Climbing over a small hill, I spotted a hoverbike ahead, which was being used to haul ore. I sprinted toward it and hopped on, disconnecting the trailer that was attached to it and turning on the engine. The bike hummed and floated off the ground, a dim light glowing from beneath it. This bike was made for creatures much larger than me, so I had to practically stand on my toes to reach the handlebars. The bike charged ahead, kicking dust up in the air behind me. I held on tight, standing up on the seat, and steered toward a short, wide building in the center of the valley. Given that this building was surrounded by watchtowers in the area Alice suggested was mostly likely for Regis to be in, I assumed that this was his location.


Once I made it close to the building, I ditched the bike and ran the rest of the way on foot. The building was embedded in a plateau, somewhat hiding it from aerial eyes. It seemed to be made out of a stoney gray material, which was slick and cool to the touch. I used my grappling gun to reach the second story of the building, ending up on a balcony. There wasn’t anyone else around, and I didn’t spot any cameras, but there was a door nearby leading inside. I slunk over to it and pressed my head up against it, listening in to what was on the other side.


“-got us working on this big new shipment… rare but… boring,” spoke some sort of worker in the building.


“I heard chatter about some of the stuff making its way onto the planet, but it’s still unconfirmed,” another worker spoke, his voice much deeper, louder, and more coarse. 


“Oh really, how… take… the news?” a smooth voice questioned, but this door was so thick I could barely hear them. I needed to get inside this building, but they were in my way… Could I win a fight against three alien lifeforms? I guess I would find out soon. I swung the door wide open and hopped up above it before they could see me, perching on the roof above. 


“What in the…” the coarse voice uttered, stomping to the door. A big, bulky rock creature stepped out onto the balcony, looking around for an intruder. This was a Perfodian, a natural inhabitant of Perfodia, who evolved tough rocky skin to fight against the harsh climate of this desolate planet. These creatures were difficult to kill due to their near-impenetrable skin, which had only a few weak spots on the front of their bodies.


Behind the rock creature came out a robot which looked similar in composition to Regis, but was clearly not him. It was impossible to tell just what this machine was made out of, but if he was made out of Novem, it would be near impossible to defeat him. The third worker then stepped outside, and they appeared to be wearing full body armor, from head to toe. I couldn’t tell just what species this one was but it made no difference, as the armor they wore would again make it difficult to take them on in a one on one fight, much less a one on three. I opted for the less heroic but safer route of simply sneaking my way inside through the door and running away. 


The three guards congregated outside for a while longer as I paced through the bleak gray halls, looking for a hint as to where my target may be. There were doors along the long hallways labeled Storage, Information, and Tech Support, among other things. Nothing really jumped out at me, though, so I decided to walk through the door labeled Information. On the other side was the legitimate entrance to this building. A reception desk, brochures and pamphlets, waiting room music, giving off the appearance of a normal facility. There wasn’t anyone else in this room at the moment, but there was a map conveniently placed on the large desk in the corner. I browsed through it, locating a room labeled Zealot’s Office in the basement level of the facility.


“Aha, I’ve got you now…” I muttered, putting the map in my pocket and turning to walk back out into the hallway. Unfortunately, I found that a large armored guard stood in my way.


“Who's got who, exactly?” he jeered, grabbing my skull with his beefy hand and throwing me backward into a wall. My body made an indentation in the concrete, and I collapsed onto the floor. I coughed up blood and attempted to stand, but the guard pressed his foot onto me, trapping me on my stomach. “I’ve apprehended the intruder,” he spoke into his wrist, apparently containing a communication device. He looked down at me and scoffed, putting more pressure onto me. “You can’t possibly be the Scarlet Shadow, right? You’re supposed to be this super impressive assassin, but goddamn you’re just another fuckin’ pussy!”


I was immediately filled with rage. This guy was acting like I was this pathetic little worm, like he didn’t have all the advantages. There was no fair fight between me and him, he got me when I wasn’t expecting it and pinned me down. Well I would show him… I reached into my pocket and primed a small grenade, then tossed it up into the air. It detonated a few inches away from his face, blasting him and knocking him down. His helmet cracked open but he appeared to be uninjured aside from that. I jumped on top of him and pinned him down, pulling his helmet off and punching him in the face. He tried to fight back but I snapped his wrists, and hammered down on his face again. I punched this guard a dozen times as hard as I could, letting out all my pent up anger and rage until his face was a bloody pulp. 


“Who’s the pussy now, shithead?!” I screamed, driving my elbow into his head, killing him in one swift blow. I stood up slowly and took a deep breath, attempting to compose myself and wipe the blood off my uniform. I couldn’t tell the exact color, but I knew this blood was not the same red as my cloak, it was darker, more viscous, like mud. Maybe it was actually just brain matter, but it made no difference to me, it just meant another trip to the laundromat.


“Ra-el, come in Ra-el, we heard shouting, are you okay?” a distressed voice called out on this guard’s wrist device. I sighed and knelt back down, turning the device off and rummaging through the guard’s pockets. I found some neat looking tools, grenades, knives, some of which I took for myself. I heard footsteps outside the hall and decided it was time to make my escape. I searched the room for an alternative exit, but all I saw was an air vent in the corner that would be too small to crawl through. Still, it would serve as a better alternative to fighting a rock monster and a robot. I threw the body behind the reception desk and jumped into the vent.


Just as I closed the hatch into this cramped space, the door was busted open, and a guard dressed exactly like the one I had killed rushed in. He searched around the room, and discovered the blood stains on the floor. I was beginning to get an idea as he lifted his wrist to call out his discovery. I flew out of the vent and sliced his neck, penetrating the armor and wounding the soldier inside. He fell down and aimed his gun at me, but he was too late. I swiftly killed the guard, and pulled the armor off of his body.


“I can’t see a thing in this helmet…” I muttered, putting on the guard’s armor and stashing his body in the vent I had come out of. I gripped his rifle and stepped out into the hall, where I was greeted by several more soldiers marching along, conducting their search for me. I was approached by the same robot I had seen outside earlier, who stopped before me.


“Anything?” the robot queried.


“Clear,” I answered in a calm, concise voice.


“Fine then. He could’ve made it to the basement, why don’t you accompany Officer Arlik down there,” the robot ordered, turning and pointing at the Perfodian I had seen with him earlier. I nodded and walked over to Arlik, following him to a stairwell at the end of the hall.


“You’re sure there wasn’t anything in reception?” Arlik questioned, as we sped down the stairs into the dark and dreary basement. 


“Yes sir.” I kept it brief, not wanting to seem suspicious. 


“Interesting… because Ra-el’s last location was in reception.” Arlik informed me, as we walked slowly through a dark hall. “Tell me soldier, what was your name again?”


It was at this moment that I realized just how fucked I was.


“Joe,” I answered quickly, subtly searching in my pockets for something that could help get me out of this situation.


“Joe? Joe who?” Arlik asked, stopping and staring at me. I looked up at him, and saw his hand slowly move toward his gun. Suddenly, I pulled a knife out of my sleeve and swung at Arlik, stabbing him in his left eye. He screamed out in horrific pain and punched me, sending me flying backward across the hall.


“I’M GONNA FUCKING CRUSH YOU!!!” he screeched, barreling toward me surprisingly quickly. I stood up and jumped above him just before he crashed into me, but he grabbed my foot and slammed me down into the ground. He hammered into my chest with his rocky fists, crushing the armor I wore in an instant and cracking my ribs. I reached for a grenade on my belt but he grabbed onto my wrist and crushed it with little effort, immobilizing my right arm once again. I was trapped beneath this beast, and I was having trouble trying to think of any escape to this situation. 


“W-wait-” I choked out, blood gurgling from my mouth. Arlik continued pummeling me, until I said the name of his comrade “Ra-el… he’s alive.” Arlik stopped punching me briefly. “But he’s injured, he’ll- he’ll die without your help, you need to get to him now.”


“Nice try dickbrains, but I’m not going anywhere,” Arlik smirked, reaching for the communication device on his belt. He spoke into it, warning the other soldiers to go help their ally. While he was temporarily distracted, I swung my broken arm at Arlik, but he easily blocked my attack, snapping my arm in half in the process. I yelled out in pain, but unbeknownst to him, this was exactly what I needed to happen. The soft steel and bone of my right arm was gone, and all that was left was the firm Novem coating on my upper forearm and elbow. Arlik laughed as I fell onto my back, but I quickly shot up and stabbed what was left of my arm into his other eye, blinding him completely. 


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” He let out a long, blood curdling scream of pain, as thick green blood poured out of his eyes. He was disabled for now, but I had to act fast. I grabbed a grenade off my belt and activated it, stuffing it into his open mouth. “N-no-” he garbled out, but it was too late for him. I crawled away as his head exploded, sending chunks of rock and brain everywhere. I was pelted in pebbles and slime, but at the moment, I had bigger concerns. I grabbed my arm and did my best to set it into place, but it was hanging on by just a few threads. I wrapped it up in some torn fabric and quickly ran from Arlik’s corpse, knowing that the others would be after me soon enough.


I double checked the map I had seen earlier as I turned a corner, and I spotted it. A large set of metal double doors, labeled ZEALOT’S OFFICE. I unsheathed my sword and readied it, taking a moment to prepare myself before bursting through the doors. Inside was an eerily quiet and empty room. The walls were barren, the floor a pale gray, and the only thing that appeared to be in this room was a large monitor opposite me. It switched on as I stepped in, but I couldn’t see what was on it. The voice that echoed out of its speakers made it very evident.


“So you made it, huh. Congratulations, you managed to seek out my top secret facility!” Regis snickered snarkily, his synthesized metallic voice sounding like viscous gasoline pouring down a sink drain.


“Come out and fight me like a man,” I demanded, checking every corner of the room, making sure he didn’t pop out of a hole suddenly. 


“Oh, did you really think I would be here?” Regis chuckled, then laughed loudly. “You’re even dumber than I remember, Josh.” My heart stopped dead in its tracks.


“How-”


“How do I know the identity of the great Scarlet Shadow?” Regis interrupted. “Pretty easy. You killed Frostburn. The list of potential candidates was already really small, but you narrowed it down a whole lot with that act. I was already pretty sure, but I got some great confirmation… Well, it doesn’t matter anyways. You’ll be dead.”


“What do you mean?!” I yelled, holding my sword steady, standing in the middle of the room, searching around but seeing absolutely nothing. 


“You may have survived the explosion of a dying star with the help of your buddy Randall, but I promise you, this won’t be the same. You’ll be dust.” Regis howled in laughter and the transmission cut off. I felt a cold chill run through my bones. I turned to run through the doors I had come through, but they were locked. I kicked at the doors as hard as I could, but after a few seconds I heard a humming sound resonating throughout the room.


“Oh no…” I muttered, as an immensely bright and infinitely loud explosion overwhelmed my senses.


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