Well here is the second chapter, I hope you all like it and let me know what it is you think :D All is revealed! Well maybe not all, and there will be some questions at the end, but what the hey!
Oh and Shout out to Ryoshiro who is the first follower of this story thank you very much, hope to get more :D
Scouring the entire headquarters was not easy for her. Shadow was very predictable when it came to where he was, usually the gym or out in the yard where he would practise his skills with his fellow teammates. When Sonic came that stopped. Shadow was responsible for him, which often lead to them being in places Shadow usually wasn't. Today however, Carlie got a break in the form of a certain kid prodigy. Hope Kintobor was the mechanical genius of the place, someone who Carlie was extremely close too, both of them being pretty young.
"Hey Hope, have you seen Sonic and Shadow?"
"Yeah, I saw them heading towards the little hiding spot we found, you know the one," and boy did Carlie know it. When they first arrived at this huge building, both of them were inexplicably drawn to this spot the two hedgehogs now currently resided in. Thanking her friend, Carlie made her way through the corridors and into a secret passageway. Upon reaching the end she was greeted by the light of the day, pleasantly surprised by the sun that shone in the sky, warming her skin as she emerged from the tiny entrance. She saw Sonic sitting on the edge, legs hanging over the side, which didn't surprise her at all; this was like the blue hedgehog. Shadow was standing up, leaning his shoulder against the rocks that made the edge of this made-shift balcony, careful not to let his bandaged side touch the sharp edges.
Gently clearing her throat to get their attention, she gradually made her way to sit next to Sonic on the ledge. Eyes fixated on her, now was definitely the best time to get it out the way with. "Something wrong Carlie?" Sonic asked, his head slightly cocked to the side. Carlie couldn't help but giggle at this action, but quickly recovered herself as she started to tell the tale.
"Well I was putting Shadow's DNA into the system and I came across a little snag," she explained. Both hedgehogs looked at her in confusion, but Shadow soon turned away, not really interested in whatever technical issues she was about to tell them. Sonic would have shared this sentiment, but he didn't want to be rude to her.
"What kind of snag?"
"Well, I told the data to search through the database rather than entering it,"
"And?"
"Erm, it kinda came up with a match," here Shadow started to take an interest, coming out of his thoughts and turning to face Carlie.
"What's wrong with that, isn't that what it's supposed to do?" Sonic asked, completely unaware of the situation,
"I thought you said that I hadn't been entered in the system yet,"
"Yeah you haven't,"
"Then how is that possible?" a frown was etched on the tan muzzle and narrowed eyes were coming from the dark hedgehog with the question,
"It isn't, but I still got a match; a partial match,"
"Partial?" Sonic asked, brow furrowed in confusion.
"Yeah, meaning half of your DNA matches someone else's, like with a child and their parents,"
By now she had both of the hedgehog's full attention, and when she turned to look at Shadow, she could see the look of shock and possibly disgust on his face. Sonic however, was genuinely surprised in that someone shared the same, or at least similar, blood to the ultimate life-form.
Rubbing the back of her neck with her hand, Carlie struggled to get her words out straight.
"Are you going to tell me who the match was to?"
After a deep breath, she looked Shadow straight in the eyes and said, "Sonic," and that was all she needed to say. Shadow's eyes widened at the news, stepping back slightly. Sonic looked equally as shocked, but then a look of confusion soon replaced this.
"Wait, how am I in the system?"
Now it was Carlie's turn to widen her eyes. "Well.. erm..." she started,
"When the Doctor cornered you and an experimental robot exploded," Shadow finished for her, not sharing her sheepish feelings or having the patience for anything at the moment.
"Oh I remember, yeah I got knocked into a cliff-face,"
"Precisely,"
Carlie watched as Shadow explained what she wanted to say, and cleverly took the moment to try and sneak away from them, not wanting to make things anymore awkward than they already were. Shadow noticed and was about to say something when he felt a hand on his arm. Turning around he saw Sonic, shaking his head, so Shadow left it for now.
"I don't believe this," Shadow growled, pacing around the little balcony. He waited, expecting to hear some kind of witty comeback, a one-liner, anything really. He stopped pacing when he realised that Sonic had said nothing yet. Since when was he not talkative? Shadow carefully walked over to Sonic, seeing a far-away look in the lighter hedgehog's eyes. He shook Sonic's shoulder gently, trying to get a response; after all it was too weird not too. He might have asked for him to be quiet, but never once had he ever responded in the asked way. Sonic soon snapped out of it though, turning to face the older hedgehog, "What's up?" he asked,
"You're being quiet,"
"Isn't that usually something you want?" a smirk found its way onto Sonic's muzzle,
"And there is the banter that I cannot seem to rid myself of,"
Sonic chuckled and paused before looking up at Shadow from the ledge. "Shadow, do you think it's a computer glitch?"
Shadow watched as Sonic swung his legs back onto solid ground, sitting with them lying to his side. He was curious, and Shadow knew that. But the darker hedgehog couldn't miss the look of compassion in the other's soft, caring eyes. Sonic knew how much talking about the past affected Shadow, but he wanted an answer, and not just to the question he had just asked.
"It has to be, you were not there when I was created,"
Sonic gave a nod to acknowledge this, before gazing his look upon the entrance.
"We should probably get going, Carlie's probably told The Commander by now," Shadow said, after seeing Sonic looking at the entrance, "Unless she doesn't quite know how to," Sonic replied. The pair stood and took their leave, straight to the main command centre.
Carlie arrived before them, finding the person she knew she needed to see. The Commander was overseeing one of their latest operations, giving commands to the computer techs in the hall below his viewing box. There was a sheet of glass covering the walls of the box that allowed him to see them. Sitting in his rather large chair that he used, only to be used by another if he was important enough, The Commander of GUN was barking orders left and right to the timid workers below. Everything needed to go off without a hitch, and he was the one to make sure that this happened.
Walking slowly towards him, Carlie cleared her throat to get the Commander's attention. He turned slightly and nodded to acknowledge her presence, but returned to the others and shouted another order. After doing so, he pressed a button on his chair and it turned itself to face the cat.
"What can I do for you Carlie?"
"Well sir, you see I had Shadow come into my wing and he was hurt and I got some of his blood," she started, speaking rather fast and mumbling slightly,
"Get to the point girl!" The Commander said, massaging his temples whilst trying not to shout. Carlie jumped slightly, but continued, "I accidently ran Shadow's blood through the database and it came up with a match,"
"A match?"
"Well a partial one,"
"That's impossible, you know that he hasn't been entered in the database yet, it's just a computer glitch," he said, standing up and waving the back of his hand
"I'm afraid it isn't sir, I ran a diagnostic,"
The Commander was at a loss for words; he started rubbing his chin and looked down at the floor before returning his gaze to the small cat and speaking up.
"Who is it?"
"Pardon?"
"Who did Shadow have a partial match to?"
Carlie was about to reply when the two hedgehogs came in. Sonic knocked on the door lightly, while Shadow just walked in, standing next to the Commander and saluting. Sonic made his way next to Carlie and gave a quick wave.
"Ah Shadow, I assume he has been informed," Carlie nodded meekly
"Now, an answer would be nice," the two hedgehogs looked at each other in confusion, before the lighter one realised that Carlie had yet to tell the Commander who the match was too.
"An answer?" Shadow asked
"Yes!" The Commander barked impatiently, "Who matches my agent?!"
Sonic looked at Carlie, who could only gaze back, eyes full of anxiousness. He walked forward a few steps slowly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand and slightly raising the other when he said, "Me,"
The Commander all but fell back into his chair. Shadow watched as the Commander turned away from the rest, seeing the mix of shock, horror and disgust on his face. He knew how angry and aggressive the Commander could be and silently hoped that he wouldn't take it out now.
Sonic looked back at Carlie and smiled warmly, she returned with a small one of her own, briefly meeting his eyes. She held her breath when she saw the Commander's hands balled into fists and tried to hide her fright when he turned around. Sonic even saw Shadow with a half worried look on his face.
"You?" his voice was dripping with a feel of disgust and Sonic could tell, while it hurt a little he kept his face clear of fright, free of emotion, and kept looking at the human straight in the eyes.
"Yes. Me,"
The Commander turned away again and waved the back of his hand. Shadow and Carlie knew this meant leave and they went to do as asked. Sonic stayed put. He caught Shadow's gaze and watched as the darker hedgehog shook his head and sent a knowing look. Carlie took his arm and pulled it gently, to which the hedgehog obeyed.
Leaving the Commander, Carlie said goodbye to the two hedgehogs as she made her way back to her medical wing. The pair headed outside, wanting to take a stroll around the grounds of the headquarters, finding their way to the tree they were at earlier.
Sonic saw the look in Shadow's eyes, he was having trouble processing what he had been told. He thought he was special and no-one could compare to him. In truth that was right, Sonic couldn't match the level of power that Shadow could, not that he would admit it. He wanted to comfort Shadow, he really did, but didn't quite know what to say. What do you say to someone who shares a part of you?
Whilst Sonic was trying to express concern, Shadow on the other hand was fuming. How could he share DNA with the blue hedgehog, the faker? It was embarrassing to say the least. Shadow stole a look at Sonic when he was wrapped in thoughts of his own and saw how he felt. Still even the kindest, most caring look in the world could not make Shadow consider this a good thing, and that look could not be given by the hero now in his presence. Only one person had ever had that effect on Shadow and she was no longer around.
Seeing that Shadow was preoccupied in his thoughts and didn't seem to be paying any heed to Sonic, the lighter hedgehog decided to spend the time a better way than brooding. Standing up and stretching, leaning backwards slightly with his hands at the small of his back and tensing the muscles in his legs; Sonic flexed his hands before jumping up to a branch on the tree the pair were situated at. Shadow took little notice when Sonic stood up, but glanced upwards slightly when he felt the presence of the hedgehog disappear. Sonic continued climbing it, using his arms to find his way upwards until he reached the top. Shadow couldn't help but wonder why on earth Sonic was climbing a tree. It was a childish action, one that Shadow had questioned before, but the answer he was presented with was not what he wanted to hear. Looking down, Sonic saw the confusion on the older hedgehog's face and smirked, for once he knew something the ultimate life form did not.
"Why don't you come up and take a look for yourself," he called down, only to get a scoff and crinkled snout. This was the answer he always received, it was puzzling, but Shadow refused to follow the hero in his childish ways.
"Suit yourself," he heard. The older hedgehog took to pacing around the tree, lost in thought, until he heard a familiar noise coming from his person. His watch was beeping, which meant someone was calling him. He looked at the ID and relaxed, knowing it was someone he trusted.
"What do you want?"
"Ooh, that's not a nice way to greet your teammate,"
"I don't have time for this, what do you want,"
"No need to get all huffy with me darling I was just checking up on you,"
"I'm fine, was that it?"
"My, my, we are in a rush, heard about what happened,"
"The fight was nothing, the Doctor is,"
"I didn't mean the fight, I meant the DNA match with big blue there,"
Shadow looked up to see that Sonic was still at the top of the tree, in view of his watch. He didn't say anything for a while, nor did he meet the caller's eyes.
"Shadow?" he heard
"Yes?" by now, the darker hedgehog was getting frustrated, pretty soon everyone in the agency would know.
"Don't take it out on him," Shadow scoffed again, rolling his eyes at his friend,
"Bye Rouge," he said, hanging up before she had a chance to argue or answer.
Sonic looked down from his current position, perched on top of one of the high branches. He had listened to the conversation between the two. Why he didn't know, either it was because they were talking loud enough for Eggman to hear, or it was just too quiet around there. He swung his legs down over the branch, peering at Shadow, who didn't really seem to be paying attention. Jumping down swiftly and landing with a soft lump on the grass, he brought Shadow out of his brooding and attention back on himself.
"Why do you insist on taking part in such childish actions?" the black hedgehog asked, but quickly regretted when he was met with his reflection's trademark smirk.
"I've told you, you gotta see to know that Shads," was the reply,
"And I didn't think you held enough intelligence to be cryptic,"
Shadow turned his back to the blue hedgehog, and failed to miss blue ears droop slightly and a frown replace a smirk. That hurt Sonic. He knew that he wasn't as smart as some of the others, especially compared to his two-tailed fox Tails, but he could have his moments.
"So, you think we taught Eggman a lesson?" he asked, trying to divert the subject to anything else.
Shadow raised his brow and shook his head slightly before answering, "Yes, the doctor should know to stay away from those woodland creatures,"
Sonic nodded, but couldn't find anything else to say.
They stood there in silence for a while before a second beeping sound got their attention. Shadow looked down again, and identified the caller again. This time it was the Commander.
"Yes, sir,"
"Ah Shadow, Dr. Eggman is attacking downtown Metropolis with some kind of machine, we need you to get on it,"
"Right away, sir,"
"Oh and Hope did a scan of the area and there was a reading of Chaos energy, so either there is a chaos emerald in the vicinity or,"
"Or the doctor's machine is being powered by one,"
"Exactly, I trust that you will be able to manage, and I would appreciate it if damages were kept to a minimum,"
"I understand, sir,"
With that the Commander hung up and left all to his best agent. Shadow turned around to find that Sonic was running on the spot, no doubt warming up for a fight. He caught the smirk on his face and, with one on his own, sped off without warning.
"Hey!" Sonic called, speeding off after the dark blur and Sonic could swear that he could hear a chuckle coming from it.
Yeah I just had to add that little bit of payback for Shadow! Well this is pretty much just the aftermath of the news and then some more! Another little cliffhanger, but its only small, only gotta wait and see how they handle the 'Ole Egghead :D
