A/N: Woo, I'm excited to get this one started! :) Just a few quick warnings: Updates might take longer, especially since it's the end of the year . . . things tend to get a bit crazy. Also, the chapters are a tad longer than I usually make them. Uh . . . yeah. That's about it. Thanks, all, for the support!
Rouge lay exhausted on a sofa in the main lobby of G.U.N. HQ. Her previous mission had been long and tedious, and it did quite a number on her mind. As of now, she was waiting for her teammates to return from their private conference with the chief. Or maybe it was a recap of the mission. Whatever it was, Rouge hadn't been invited to it. Not that she was bitter about it, or anything.
Sleeping seemed like the most heavenly thing as Rouge's eyes started to droop slowly. She gazed at the pattern of the back of the couch, her eyes creating illusions and changing the colors of the odd design of the upholstery. Closing her eyes, the bat yawned and tucked her arms under the pillow on the sofa, hoping to get comfy while her teammates were gone.
For a split second, Rouge saw something in her half-asleep state—a quick dream. There was Knuckles, sitting across from her on a park bench. His face went from smiling and cool, to horrified; his eyes wide with shock. Rouge's dream self turned and looked beneath her feet as the grass crumbled and the ground split open under her. She had one last glance of the echidna before she felt herself slipping into an abyss.
"Geez."
Rouge gasped as her eyes flew open and she jolted awake. She rolled over with a slight groan to face the source of the sarcastic voice. Shadow towered over her, along with Omega, both staring down at the groggy bat. The hedgehog had his arms crossed-typical.
"Good morning," he said drily, "I take it you slept . . . relatively comfortably?"
"Perhaps we should not have woken her up," Omega acknowledged, "we must have frightened her awake."
Rouge began to slowly sit up and stretched out her wings and arms.
"Nah, it's fine. I'll just go back home where I can sleep in a nice bed. This couch is giving me weird dreams," she said after fluffing out her hair and checking it in a window. Shadow stepped next to her and looked out the window as well, followed by Omega. The hedgehog raised his eyes to the sky, which was beginning to grow dark.
"Thank Mobius that mission is finally over," he muttered, "I thought it'd never end."
"You're telling me," Rouge agreed, "What a nightmare."
"Tracking down those heinous criminals was quite the exhausting endeavor," Omega droned, his own voice box sounding beaten up and weary, "It was tedious in every way."
"I certainly hope we don't have another mission for a long time," Rouge remarked as she looked out at the sunset, "Well, I'm all clocked out. I'm getting outta here, and don't expect me to be back for the rest of the weekend."
Shadow arched an eyebrow, skeptical.
"Get into trouble in that time frame, and you might end up back here for an interrogation—for questioning."
"Ahh," Rouge waved off the hedgehog's warning, "I'll be fine. I don't have any big plans for the weekend anyway."
"A likely story," the hedgehog scoffed.
"All right, maybe some, but I'm too tired to try anything . . . bad. Honest."
Shadow didn't respond. For once, he really couldn't argue with Rouge's exhaustion, considering he was pretty tired himself, though he'd begun to recover promptly after the mission. After a quick goodbye, Rouge headed out the door and went right across the street to meet up with Knuckles, and then they walked down the street and out of sight from the window.
Shadow turned to his robotic colleague after hearing strange clanking sounds coming from the robot's interior. Concerned, the hedgehog opened up the panel on the back and felt the electrical board between the wiring and buttons. It was hot to the touch, even through his white gloves.
"Crap, you're overheating again," he muttered. He wasn't surprised; Omega had been processing a lot of data over the past week from the mission. Shadow shut Omega down completely in order to let him charge enough to boot him back up again. He pulled the robot into the next room, the HQ lounge, where the night employees were enjoying cups of coffee and chatting away. They gave the laboring hedgehog side-glances and some even began to chuckle, amused by Shadow's efforts. The hedgehog curled his lip in what seemed to be a mix of determination and contempt. The scientists and agents continued to stare and silently tease the hedgehog, all knowing too well that he wasn't to be messed with.
Shadow breathed a sigh of relief as he gave the "sleeping" Omega a final shove into a roomy corner. He slid down to the floor and frowned, knowing perfectly well that the employees were all staring at him, even as his eyes were closed. With a flick of his wrist, Shadow produced a small Chaos flame in his hand, quietly making a false threat. He opened his eyes to gaze at it and then turned towards the others.
"As you were, ladies and gentlemen."
The employees, mostly unfazed by the Chaos flame, returned to their conversations as if nothing had happened. Once he had extinguished the flame, Shadow's eyes traveled up to the robot's blackened eyes, hoping that he wouldn't set the place on fire from an overheating episode. He grimly decided that it would be best if he stayed with the robot through the night to make sure that didn't happen. A full half-hour passed, allowing Shadow to partake in the engaging activity of people-watching as they popped in and out of the lounge, some longer than others. Many of them accepted Shadow's presence without hesitation, others would glimpse over at him, some even turning their glances to a scowl. Shadow let it be, though. He was in no mood to deal with ignorant people.
"Shadow!"
Shadow glared at the doorway, expecting someone to force him out of the room, and he was too tired already to drag Omega out again. Instead of an annoyed security guard, Shadow recognized a cheerful blond-haired scientist by the name "Griffith" that he was particularly familiar with. Griffith was one of the only scientists that got along the best with Team Dark, and he often carried on enjoyable conversations with them.
"Hey, Griff," Shadow replied quietly, "are you doing anything tonight, by any chance?"
"Actually, no," Griffith answered, pouring himself a mug of coffee and opening a packet of sugar, "why do you ask?"
"We've just returned from a fairly grueling mission, and I've developed a slight headache from it. I'm going to take a walk in the dark to see if I can clear my head. Would you mind watching Omega until I come back? He's been overheating, and I don't want any accidents."
"No problem, Shadow," Griffith said kindly, "I'll take care of him."
"Thank you," Shadow said. The scientist poured another cup of coffee and offered it to the hedgehog before he walked out.
"Would you like a cup, Shadow?" he asked with a smile, "something to keep you warm. It's a little chilly out there tonight."
Shadow pondered the offer. Although he wasn't too fond of coffee, there was no declining an offer from Griffith. He mumbled his thanks after accepting the small cup, and walked into the front foyer and out into the dark streets.
Shadow reached a small park that was lined with yellow streetlights. The hedgehog found his way in the dark to a bench that rested in between two large trees. He cautiously sat down, hoping that it wasn't covered with rainwater or something sticky; fortunately, it was only a little cold. Shadow took a small sip of his coffee and smacked his lips together, re-familiarizing himself with the taste, considering he hadn't had coffee in a long time. The warm drink traveled down his throat and he could feel the heat pleasantly spreading through his entire body. The hedgehog sighed and relaxed, putting his head back and looking up into the partially cloudy night sky. There hadn't been any recent moments when he could enjoy the sight of countless stars dotting the sky, accompanied by the crescent moon hovering motionless in the eternal blackboard.
Of course, it was different from the surface. The moon was so small compared to when he was in space on the ARK. Shadow could barely look at the sky without being reminded of those days sixty-some years ago. Though he couldn't remember much, he still saw Maria's figure against the glass with the starry backdrop. Within a few moments of thought, the hedgehog's eyelids began to fall with fatigue. As he nodded off, Shadow jolted awake, alarmed. He didn't fall asleep easily; the previous mission had been just that taxing on his nerves and mind to cause lethargy in him. He quickly took another swig of the coffee, which was rapidly beginning to cool down in the chilly night. Shadow licked his lips and checked his G.U.N watch. It had only been about twenty minutes since he'd left HQ, and, even though he trusted Griffith, the hedgehog developed a nagging concern for his metal accomplice.
Perhaps I should return . . . he mused. Omega is a fragile one.
Shadow stood up and plucked the relatively full cup of coffee from its place on the bench. He went to have another sip and then located the nearest trash can. He effortlessly tossed the cup into the open garbage can, making it in. As he began to walk steadily back to HQ, a figure zoomed in front of him and then halted. Shadow wasted no time to fire a Chaos Spear at the figure, who jumped in a whirl about twenty feet into the air to dodge it. Once he landed, Shadow immediately recognized him and let the Chaos Energy in his hands die down.
"Take it easy, Shads, I'm only stopping to say hi!" Sonic the hedgehog said cheerfully. "How ya been, with the G.U.N mission and all?"
"It was absolutely exhausting," Shadow retorted sharply, "I'm not in the mood to deal with you tonight, faker."
"Not even to prove that you're faster than me?" Sonic challenged, rocking back and forth on his heels, "C'mon, how does a little night sprint sound? You and me, right now!"
"Not now," Shadow growled, pushing the eager hedgehog aside, "and I don't need to prove I'm better than you, remember?"
"Oh yeah, because everyone already knows you are," Sonic drawled sarcastically.
"Indeed. Glad to see you've finally come to terms with it."
"I haven't," the blue blur countered, "everyone else has. Come on, one little race? What do you have to lose?"
"My dignity," Shadow replied drily, "I'm not in the right condition, nor do I have enough time to engage in narrow-minded frivolities."
As Shadow attempted to make an escape, Sonic bolted past him.
"First one to G.U.N. HQ is the winner!" he yelled as he left. Shadow curled his lip and considered walking there just to spite the blue faker, but his overconfidence took over and he sprinted after his rival.
The two hedgehogs met in the heart of the city, ducking under tunnels and avoiding passing traffic with great agility. Shadow smoothly slid over the surface of the wide roads and kept his eye on Sonic, who began launching himself in a spin dash to jump over the cars and other miscellaneous objects. Shadow followed suit, jumping over cars and occasionally sliding under them in the age-old competition of proving who was best. Impressed yet particularly cocky, Sonic found his way to Shadow's side and turned to face him while running.
"I thought you said you weren't in the right condition to race me?" he shouted over the sound of roaring traffic and wind in his ears.
"I'm not," the black hedgehog shot back, "but I'm always well enough to confirm that I'm the Ultimate Life Form and therefore superior over a ridiculous thing like yourself."
"Riiiight." Sonic winked and took off forward. Shadow gritted his teeth in determination and darted after him. He chased him through a construction site, zigzagging around debris and the large construction vehicles. Next they passed through another city park, swinging around trees and knocking over the park benches; in short, wreaking a certain amount of havoc. Shadow lowered his head with a death glare in his eyes in attempt to catch up with Sonic. He approached the blue blur and intentionally bumped into him from the side, throwing off Sonic's running pattern ever so slightly.
"Hey!"
"Gotta jet," Shadow taunted, getting ahead of Sonic. Feeling pleased with himself, Shadow turned a sharp corner around a building and looked into the near distance where HQ was. He was winning, as he had smugly assumed prior to the race.
It was too soon to get cocky, but the dark hedgehog found that out the hard way. As he glanced over his shoulder, Shadow's jet shoes smashed into a curb and launched the unsuspecting hedgehog forward.
"No!" he uttered.
Shadow stuck out his hands to save himself from falling on his face, but instead his ankle had twisted on its side and he plunged sideways to the concrete ground, his head scraping against a street sign on the way down. Sonic flew past him, but in a short moment realized that his competitor was down. The blue blur screeched to a halt and went back to help his dazed rival.
"That was quite a fall you took, buddy," he said softly without any trace of boasting, "you all right?"
Shadow had his eyes shut, still processing his fall. Humiliated, he shakily stood up and shoved Sonic aside.
"I'm fine, you little rat," he grumbled, ashamed. "I told you I wasn't in the right condition to race."
"Well, then, you oughta be more careful," Sonic warned as he backed away, "and don't hurt yourself, got it?"
"Shut up," Shadow snapped, "I'm not hurt. Don't get preachy with me, or I'll get violent with you."
As Shadow half-limped back to HQ, Sonic chuckled and shook his head.
Oh, Shads . . . what are we gonna do with you?
With that final thought, Sonic sprinted in the opposite direction, looking for another nighttime adventure.