Issue 9: Gettin' To Know You

## Getting to Know You

**Gettin' to Know You** is the ninth issue within *The Murder of Me* comic series created by Gigi Dutreix, and serves as the conclusion of the First Arc. It was first published in July 27, 2015, and reached completion December 10, 2015. It proceeds **Issue #8: Paradise** and is followed by **Issue #10: The First Mission**.

This is the first issue in **ARC 2: SONIC**.

### Plot

The Triple S have to go through trials in order to prove their worth! At the same time, they try to learn a little bit more about each other!

But will Shadow ever open up to his newfound "brothers"?

## Summary

Sonic wakes to the sound of a voice, which then comes a light that consumes him. Opening his eyes again, he is facing a wall foretelling events of the Past and Future depicting Triple S facing off against Zielo amongst many symbols and images. Turning at the sound of a voice, Sonic sees Fox, whom he mistakes for Tails, kneeling before a mysterious Echidna wielding a knife. He calls out, running to save his friend and intercepts the dagger. Except something is wrong. They both die as a loud voice, Zielo's voice, echoes in his mind, "YOU WERE TOO LATE." They are dead and a trail of blood reflecting Sonic's friend's faces streams out from the slash down his front. Echoes of what had come to pass and glimpses of what has not.

Sonic awakes in his bed with a yell, the entire thing having been a dream. Sitting up, panting, he looks up when Shadow, who is leaning against the wall of their bedroom in Paradise reading a book, speaks to him, telling him that he told him sleeping was a bad idea. Sonic argues with him, Shadow then mumbling about not having to sleep, before Silver bursts in, wearing a towel around his waist, panickily asking if everything is okay. Shadow tells him that Sonic screamed, who argues back in defiance.

He then goes on to describe parts of his dream, Silver and Shadow discussing it with their own levels of 'concern'. Their conversation then returns to their 'mission', which gets Sonic up, exclaiming about how he had forgotten that today was supposed to be their first mission. He then gets his cape on with lightning speed, telling them to "Hurry up, lazy bums!" Silver and Shadow talk of taking their sweet time. Sonic responds with a threat of spin-dashing both of their faces to the wall if they aren't dressed in the next five seconds. Silver and Shadow crack up. They exit their room and walk down the hall.

As they walk, Silver floating using his Telekinesis and Sonic asks if he is excited about eating for the first time, Silver says that he is indifferent about it. They then comment on how Silver has filled out in the last week of them residing in Paradise and how the wound from Zielo on Sonic's face has healed up completely. They open a door that leads to a massive eating hall were many refugees are eating at long tables. As they pass through, Sonic and Shadow overhear Silver thinking about how even though they have been together a week, he barely knows anything about them. Sonic tells him he could just ask, Silver having forgot about the mindlink (the comic's term for telepathy) they now share. Sonic replies with a laugh that he too forgets about it. Silver then asks him what his story is.

Sonic quickly tells them a brief with very little detail story of his past with fighting Robotnik, the Mobian-Human Treaty where he was used as a slave for five years and then was let go. Sonic then asks Silver about his past. Silver gives a slightly more in-depth tale of being abandoned by his parents as a child but then taken in by a group of echidnas, not being about to remember what exactly happened to turn his world into an apocalypse when he was young, and then trying to survive until his world dissolved into nothing. Sonic turns to Shadow and asking him the same. Shadow gives them a look before opening and slamming the door they have reached. Sonic and Silver look at each other, shrugging. They then enter the next room, inside being all of the Demi-Gods seated at a long table, Shadow already being seated. They are greeted by Bunnie who serves them. Silver begrudgingly lifts a fork to a plate of salad and ends up liking it. Shadow, eating only crackers, review what they know about each of the Demi-Gods: Sol, Chaos (who is only immortal and not a Demi-God anymore), Blaze, Mogul, Antoine, and his immortal wife, Bunnie.

Sonic then asks Miss Sol about their mission, which turns into a yelling match when he is told that they are just children who cannot control their power and she fears will turn out like 'them'. Sol then leaves, leaving Blaze to pass judgement. Along with Antoine, they head elsewhere, Blaze and Silver having a confrontation that turns soft. They end up in a wide open area outside of the building, which Antoine instructs them will be their chance to prove themselves with a Power Bonding Technique. They head out and an illusion falls upon them, Antoine reminding them that nothing they're seeing is real.

At first, the illusionary world is empty. Sonic is about to ask if this is their test, until they're ambushed by an army of Soulless, they must fight their way out to end the battle. Sonic starts to complain that his newfound god powers aren't working and yells at Shadow to do something. Shadow soon finds himself cornered by a mass of Soulless. He yells at Silver to help him out, but Silver is busy with his own horde. Desperately, Shadow tries to use his Chaos Blast, only for it to not work. Sonic reminds him that chaos energy is gone, angering Shadow more. The two start to intentionally antagonize him, placing blame on Shadow for being the one who wanted to use their powers in the first place. Shadow breaks and demands that they lend him their powers.

Shadow demonstrates practical mastery with the use of his brother's powers. He uses Sonic's speed to run around and zap the Soulless with his energy pistols, and manages to freeze enemies with Silver's telekinesis. The illusion soon ends after he defeats a stage 3 Soulless mercilessly.

Antoine and Blaze stand shocked as Shadow asks if the display was enough to prove themselves. They say yes, shell-shocked and having never seen that show of power before in their hundreds of years of living. On a sidenote, they reveal that their souls are only slightly coated with god power and that Sol is the only true demigod in Paradise. They then leave with the three, telling them how well, especially the Celios copy, did.

Sonic and Silver bicker about which power Shadow used most and which one is better than the others when the two adults leave. Shadow lags behind the two and starts to explain his backstory and where he's from in his mind. Sonic and Silver quiet down and listen to his story. It's revealed that Shadow was a prisoner trapped in a small white room for 50 years by the human government who he says, "favored his screams". He says the only things he knew were real during that time was his own broken voice and the blood that painted the walls of his room. He says he fled the facility 4 years ago in search for a bigger purpose than wallowing in pity and his own tears.

This incredibly depressing tale leaves Sonic and Silver completely floored, unable to speak or move. As silence consumes the room, Sonic decides to change the energy and grabs Shadow and Silver, pulling them close to himself and proudly stating that they're going on their first mission! Shadow asks if he's gonna say anything about his story, to which Sonic says he really can't say much of anything. Silver adds in that they all seem to have gone through some hard stuff, but they're here now, together, and that's what matters. It ends with Sonic asking what made him want to tell them his story, and if it was because he was beginning to trust them. After being called 'Grandpa', Shadow chases after Sonic, calling each other names, Silver calling them morons in their dust.