CHAPTER 1
THE OFFER
It was early in the morning. The sun was shining brightly and the sky was calm with clouds floating around gracefully.
In a tall building, inside of an elevator, a black and red male hedgehog was staring out of the huge glass window in front of him. A green male crocodile who appeared to be in his late forties had his back leaned against the metal wall and his arms crossed. He watched as he saw the hedgehog admiring the beautiful view of the city and sky below them.
"Hey, Vector?" The hedgehog called without turning to him.
"What's up, Shad?"
"Don't you think it's weird that Mayor Wish wanted to see us so suddenly?"
The crocodile carelessly shrugged his shoulders. "A little."
The hedgehog spun around to face the crocodile. "What do you think is going on?"
"Who knows", he replied. "Perhaps she wanted to reward us for doing such a great job keeping this city in such good hands."
The hedgehog made a sarcastic laugh. Them and the team of detectives were always out risking their lives to protect the people of their beloved city. However, he knew that most of the credit went to the police or military soldiers. "Yeah that'll be the day she thanks a bunch of low rank detectives for saving an innocent civilian's life."
Vector took his back away from the wall and gave the hedgehog a serious look. "Now Shadow, no matter what goes down in her office promise me you'll remain calm and act professional." He knew most of the time that whenever Shadow had confronted the mayor of Tech City, there was always issues between them.
The hedgehog sighed heavily and crossed his arms as he turned away from him. "…No promises."
He gritted his teeth in annoyance towards the black hedgehog who gave him a careless attitude. "I mean it, Shadow! I won't have you acting hostile against someone who has the power to shut the agency down!"
Once the elevator stopped, Shadow began to walk out without turning to the crocodile. "Stop worrying so much…"
His aggravated eyes flashed over to the hedgehog as he watched him leave him in the elevator. He sighed heavily and murmured under his breath. "Who the fuck shit in his cereal this morning?" He followed him out of the elevator and made his way through fairly big brown double doors in a huge hallway. When he and Shadow entered the room, it was a huge office. There wasn't much in the room. The things that stood out was a huge desk setting in front of a huge glass window that allowed the powerful sunlight to light up the room.
The two froze in their tracks when they saw a yellow fox woman who appeared to be in her early forties. She had brown hair that was held up by a hair clip. Her outfit consisted of a brown blazer with a matching business skirt and black high heeled shoes. She was sitting in a black comfortable looking desk chair behind her brown desk.
A male fox who had white fur that almost seemed to be a silver color was standing beside her. He appeared to be several years older than Shadow. Judging by the military outfit he was wearing, he was clearly a G.U.N. soldier. He wore a white and light blue military trench coat, a black military hat, black skinny pants, black ankle high combat boots, and a military sword was on his side. There was only one golden star pinned to the upper chest area of his coat.
The two detectives gave the yellow fox woman a confused look.
"Um?" Vector started, "…What's going on here?"
The fox woman leaned against the surface of her desk and smiled warmly at the two confused detectives. "Vector…Shadow…how good it is to see you two. It's been awhile. Please take a seat."
The crocodile and hedgehog looked at each other and tried to figure out what was happening. What was going on? Who was the military soldier?
She watched as the two detectives hesitantly sat in two brown comfortable chairs in front of her desk.
"What's up, Sarah?" Vector demanded.
The fox woman arched an eyebrow at the cautious crocodile. "I see you're in quite the hurry so let's cut to the chase shall we?" She turned to the white fox, "Let me introduce you to G.U.N.'s first lieutenant, Gin."
The white fox tilted the rim of his hat towards the puzzled detectives. "Pleased to meet the Chaotix's leader and captain in the flesh."
Sarah turned back to the detectives and continued to explain. "With G.U.N. not having a commander, Gin and another lieutenant have been scouting to find another lieutenant to help balance out the military."
"I won't lie but the military has been fallen short on help and it takes a lot of strong officers believe it or not to keep order within the facility", the white fox explained.
Shadow crossed his arms as he listened to what the military officer had to say.
"However, the budget won't allow us to recruit so many S ranked officers so I've narrowed the playing field out a bit…" His dark purple eyes flashed over to the black hedgehog. "…Shadow The Hedgehog…"
The hedgehog's ears perked up as he spoke his name.
"…Captain of the Chaotix Detective Agency…I've seen what you can do. The power you harness…the power of Chaos am I right?"
Suddenly, Shadow couldn't help but to have a bad feeling.
"You maybe second in command but your fighting tactics and strategies are brilliant while on the line of battle. You are a born leader."
With Gin giving him all of the praise, he couldn't help but to form a small smile. "Thank you."
"Not to come off rude but…why are you working at a D rank detective agency? With the strength and power you possess, you don't seem like you belong there."
With him saying those words to Shadow, something inside of Vector had made him hostile. He pointed at the white fox, "What! You wanted us to come here so you can persuade Shadow to leave the Chaotix for G.U.N?"
Gin held his hands up as he saw Vector acting defensive. "Now, now I didn't just come here to take Shadow from you. I know that he's very dear to you and your team of detectives." His eyes shifted over to Shadow once more, "I just see more potential in him. His leadership skills are far from being low rated and he takes his job seriously. Not only will he be at working an S ranked position but think of the increase pay and the respect he'll get from other officers and civilians. We could use someone like him in our military." He watched as the black hedgehog stood from his chair and gave the white fox a cold glare. "Well you can take your offer and shove it. I despise the G.U.N. military and I could never work for such a shitty and stuck up organization."
Vector and Sarah had their mouth's hung open as they heard Shadow's blunt answer.
"I belong with the Chaotix. I'm happy where I reside and I don't need money or people fearing me just so they'll respect me like the typical soldier."
Gin was quite surprised that Shadow had carried such a deep hatred for the military. It made him wonder why he was so against them. "…Very well. I respect your wishes. I just thought I'd give it a go anyway." He confronted the hedgehog and placed his hand out for him to shake it. "…However I do hope you change your mind, Detective Hedgehog."
The hedgehog made a long pause before he shook his hand, "Don't count on it, Lieutenant Gin."
He took his hand from his and formed a sly smile before he began to walk out of Sarah's office. "It's been a pleasure, detectives."
Once he left the office, Vector turned to Sarah in anger. "Sarah, what the hell?"
"Oh Vector, don't get so upset! Gin wanted me to arrange this meeting just so he could simply offer Shadow the job of a lifetime. Shadow turned the position down and no harm was done."
Vector leaned his back against the chair he was sitting in and crossed his arms in annoyance. "Trying to steal the only and best captain I've ever had! The nerve of him!"
Sarah spun around and turned to Shadow who remained silent and stared down at the busy streets of Tech City with his thoughts lost.
In The Next Chapter...
Charmy: They want Captain Shadow to become a G.U.N. officer? No way!
Tonya: You stepped away from a life changing position...are you sure?
Shadow: The entire military is full of shit. I would never be apart of something like that...