Shadow felt lonely. He felt like he was nothing more than a puppet for Eggman and Rouge. Eggman was released early from Sing Along Prison because of good behavior. He felt used. Surrounded by people and no one to call a friend. He did have a friend. But, she's been dead for 56 years.
Her name was Maria. She was the granddaughter of Gerald, daughter of Michael and Rachel, sister of Danielle and Quinn, and cousin of Eggman (real name Dr. Ivo Robotnik). Shadow remembered all the good times they had on the ARK, a space station commissioned by G.U.N. Maria suffered a terminal illness, and was stuck on the ARK. But, when Doctor Gerald Robotnik (PHD, Harvard University) agreed to terminate the project, everyone was ordered to be killed and Maria hid Shadow in a stasis tube, where he remained for 50 years. His physical age is 21.
Shadow wept at the happy times aboard the ARK. When he was still aboard the ARK, he entered quarter midget races on Earth to please himself and give Maria some hope for a cure for her disease. When he was discovered by Rouge, he continued racing to keep the promise he made to become world champion. There was a knock on his door. It was Eggman.
"What the hell do you want?" he demanded. Eggman was taken aback by the hostility. He pushed up his sunglasses.
"I want you to find me something" he said. Shadow looked down. He realized all the things he did for Eggman were for the money. He and Rouge offered him crazy amounts of money for failed missions.
"Tell me. It's another Chaos Emerald to power an invention that will fail" he said. Eggman looked sternly at Shadow.
"This time, it will work. I will pay you 20 million dollars" he said. Shadow glumly accepted the offer. He realized a change was in order. So, he picked up his phone and called up the CIA.
