Ch .1 Web of Lies

Shadow stared thoughtfully at the small sea side cottage. One might think he was spacing out given his blank stare, but in reality he was plotting his next move. "Ahh...damn it," he cursed under his breath. Why was he even here shadow thought to himself as he glared holes into the wooden door separating him from his current obsession. To him it was ridiculous. He receives very few off days from his employers, G.U.N, and here he was spending it trying to figure out how he was going to confront the blue nuisance and convince him to " hangout " without seeming to desperate of course.

Oh and how he did not want to seem desperate...

Ever since this little obsession decided to rear it's ugly head shadow has been in constant battle with himself. He is constantly at arms over how much interest he should show in the blue hedgehog without looking like some lost puppy. He would never admit that he actually enjoys the banter and playful remarks between the two sides. Or how he gets a thrill from just being close to the blue one and his cheesy yet charming and caring ways.

Wait...

Scratch that. Shadow shook his head slightly trying to clear it. For being The Ultimate Lifeform he sure had a hard time with the simple stuff, like crowds, or Social ques, or handling emotions...

"Shadow?"

A voice came from a slight distance away, snapping Shadow out of his trance. He looked up to find a confused Sonic the hedgehog with a garbage bag in hand standing outside of his front door. " umm... " the blue hog hummed with a look of confusion and intreage plastered on his face. Shadow's back shot straight up as he scrambled to find words but the only thing he could manage to get out was his usual rehearsed lines of, " well I- it's about time you..." shadow trailed off realizing how stupid what he was about to say was. " anyway, we don't have time for this Faker. We are needed at once." Shadow stated trying to think of what he will say next. To cover up the awkward situation he had carelessly made for himself. " oh... and who may I ask needs us?" Sonic

quickly retorted without a second thought. "G.U.N" shadow blurted out, "rouge and omega could not accompany me for this mission, so gun ordered me to work with you on this one... n- not that I need it." Chaos, he was a terrible liar.

It was true shadow was the worst liar. Everything the dark hedgehog every said, be it sometimes hash, was always the truth, At least he believed it to be true. He believed liars where the scum of the earth... but gods sometimes he wished he could have such a skill.

"Well I didn't get that memo, does G.U.N think that they can just order anyone the they want around now?" Sonic stated seeming slightly miffed. "I agree, absolutely asinine, I thought I would just give you a courtesy call, but I can handle this mission well enough on my own." Shadow was almost out of the woods and could forget this whole string of pointless lies when sonic suddenly said, "nah I'll tag along, might as well, I've got nothing better to do." Shadow's heart sank. "Besides, I'm always down for a Sonic and Shadow adventure." Sonic said as he finally put the bag from his hand in the garbage can, and zipped over to were shadow was standing giving a signature smirk. Shadow turned forward with a grunt, secretly hiding the heat that was spreading across his face.

"sooo... where are Rouge and Omega by the way?" "Hmm?"Shadow looked back at Sonic confused for a moment but then realized "oh um... Rouge is at the dentist and Omega has a ... waxing... appointment." Shadow wanted to face palm... no, he wanted to kick himself. Sonic looked back at the dark toned liar with what looked like suspicion. Shadow thought he was certainty caught in his own web when he could see Sonic's right eye brow start to curve downward, but suddenly it shot back up to its normal resting position. "Oh." And that's all that came out of the blue hero's mouth. Could he have bought it, Shadow thought? Maybe his luck was turning around, not enough though because now the black and red hog had to take the sapphire hero to a mission that does not exist.

Shadow tried to play it cool maintaining his natural poker face as he set off in a random direction confidently. "Um, follow me I'll explain the details once we get there." Shadow said trying to buy himself some time.

They both took off running shadow leading the way. He had an idea of where to go for his faux mission, the problem was that he couldn't make the mission too simple, that would for sure send red flags to Sonic . Holy hell lying sucks, Shadow mentally noted as he sped past bushes and trees, Sonic trailing close behind. Shadow now had his mind being pulled back to the speed demon who started this mess. Why did I lie to begin with, oh yeah, because I was staring at his house from his yard like a creep. Shadow thought to himself, I'm not a creep, am I? Sure he did not want sonic to think poorly of him and he did not want to deal with the embarrassment of reviling his strange "infatuation" to the other. That would be mortifying, he would rather be eaten alive by a thousand black arms larva. Him? Shadow the hedgehog feel something so foreign for the hero. He is The Ultimate Lifeform yet he can't talk to the blue blur without choking up and resorting to lies. What was so special about him anyway. Shadow looked behind him to see Sonic still blazing a trail. Well he supposed that the hedgehog was strong, and a formidable rival... and he had the most brilliant green eyes, and green was shadow favorite color. Sonic also had I comforting smile the kind that annoyed him at first but then realized that he had seen the same smile in his late friend, Maria... not to mention sonic was one of most kind, understanding, and handsome people he had ever ... no that's wrong.

Shadow wished he could cry but he dare not. He is the ultimate, he is a man... men don't cry and men definitely are not supposed to like other men like that. At least that was what he had always been told. Being made in the fifty's and then bing reawakened in the two thousands was a trip. Rouge has had to explain more than her fair share of strange modern oddities to the dark hero. He has also been put in his place a couple of times by her for some unintentionally sexist comments. He now knows why they where wrong thankfully he won't offend anyone else. Lucky for Shadow his best friend, his only friend, is so understanding. Come to think of it why would he still think that way to begin with, Rouge was one of the most capable and strong people he knew and she was a woman?

Before he could question himself any further he realized he had already reached his destination. "Okay, now mind explaining to me why we are at an abandoned egg base in the middle of the jungle?" Sonic stated flatly as his heels screamed to a halt. They both looked out at the monstrous structure, with vines and foliage trying to reclaim every inch of the facility. The sound of distant feral animals and the rustling of leaves filled the silence. "It is a data retrieval mission, Eggman has left behind valuable files at this location," Shadow refused to look at Sonic as he spoke, "we must find the main computer, see if it is still operational, and retrieve the files." Sonic got in front of shadow forcing the dark male to lock eyes with the blue one. "And why exactly would gun want you to have a partner to explore an abandoned egg base?" Shadow dead panned and simply said "protocol, it is mandatory for at least two gun agents to a mission." "Yes, but why me specifically, and I am not a G.U.N agent." Sonic blurted, as shadow sensed a hint of irritation in the blue ones tone. That was to be expected shadow knew Sonic did not get along to well with G.U.N, but then again neither did he. "Because, sources had reported a large amount of ... unknown energy coming from the nearby jungle and well... they" suddenly Shadow was cut off by sonic much to Shadows relief. " oooh, I get it." "You do?" Shadow questioned. "Yeah, they think something big is going to go down or that it could potentially be a trap." Sonic said with a cocky grin as his eyes shifted back and forth playfully. If shadow had not been so afraid of being caught in his rouse, he might have actually have been amused be the sapphire hero's antics.

Shadow quickly turned to the building and away from the other hedgehog, "ahem, shall we?" As he motioned ahead. This time sonic took the lead, and he was pulling out all the stops, he was checking around corners, staying low, and even pressing his finger to his lips to single to remain quiet. Shadow felt like should feel bad but sonic seemed to be having so much fun, even if it was make believe . The dark hog could not help but form a small smile on his tan muzzle. He was already in this mess might as well join in and play pretend too, even though it was very childish to do so. Something about Sonic seemed to bring they carefree side of him out anyway and Shadow just couldn't wrap his head around it. Shadow stayed low just like his blue companion, and began feeling around the walls. " what are you doing?" Sonic whispered. "Checking for hidden cameras" Shadow stated in a hushed tone as well. Sonic looked surprised for a second then shot a thumbs up and said, " good thinking." Both hedgehogs made there way to another corridor that split off in three directions. While sonic was checking out one of the hallways shadow got an idea. He summoned a weak chaos spear and shot it down the opposite hallway targeting a pile of rubble. The crash caused sonic to jump and duck down. Shadow quickly grabbed a hold of sonic and darted toward a nearby room. Once in the room full of machinery and broken robot parts sonic quickly asked " what was that?" Still in a hushed tone. "Not sure," shadow lied through his teeth as he pretended to look for the assailant out a small window in the metallic door.

" well I'm not going to wait for what ever it is to find us," Sonic said with a strange grin on his face that shadow couldn't quite place as to what it meant. Suddenly Sonic was out the door and heading to the supposed danger when not moments ago he acted as though he did not want to get caught. Shadow stayed in the room and pondered as to what had just happened, but dismissed it soon after. He thought he better chase after Sonic before he(CRASH). A loud disturbance shook the base. Shadow dashed through the door sliding as fast as he could carry himself on his hover shoes. When he reached where the rubble had just been all he saw was a spider shaped robot about the size of Sonics house battered and dirty from being buried in the rubble but ultimately brought back to life most likely do to the energy jump start Shadow had given the hunk of junk earlier. Under the beast lay Sonic struggling with rocks pinning down his left leg.

"Sonic!"