Shadow and Finn had still been downstairs at the time, the jackal claiming he couldn't sleep because he felt worried about something, and Shadow trying his damnest to put him to sleep so he wouldn't have to hear about it come morning. Finn didn't even know why he was worried; Sure, the video from earlier scared him, but he was able to sleep. It was a difficult sleep, if nightmares he refused to acknowledge by now, but it was sleep nonetheless.

He woke up with a grumble and looked across the room over to Shadow, just having a pit of worry in his stomach. He silently thanked having the other downstairs with him, as it brought some calm, but still... Rouge, someone he still didn't trust 100% and not having his own room to sleep in just made his panic rise.

When Shadow jolted awake with a quiet grunt, about to repremand the jackal for still not falling asleep after both a story from aboard the ARK and some warm milk, but the other was just as confused as he was. Finn was still on the couch, looking at him with drowsy, concerned eyes as his communicator burned red and an alarm went off. Shadow looked down to it and turned off the alarm, reading the short, automated message, where "GADGET" was inserted before and after the message.

"Gadget's in trouble," he said swiftly, standing and shoving on his shoes. "Stay here and wake up Rouge if you need help."

Finn opened his mouth, but Shadow was long gone before he could say anything. He was knocked onto his back from the blast, leaving probably half of the people nearest to them to wake up a bit confused and very cranky. As expected, Rouge was downstairs a few seconds later, simply looking at Finn with a bit of a frown.

"Do I... Should I ask?"

"Apparently Gadget needs help." He answered. They stayed in silence for about another minute before Rouge openly yawned and claimed that she was going back to bed. Neither really said anything else to each other.

Finn simply nodded and watched her leave, later rolling his eyes and laying back down. He was finally getting back to sleep, and he didn't want to wake up right now. Sure, he cared for the wolf and hoped he was alright and would get here safely, but he was also tired. He had been awake almost all night and it was nearing 4 AM. It got to the point where his solution to the stupid video was to kill whoever made it, and both he and an equally exhausted Shaskw decided on that until they had a better plan.

Finn rolled onto his side, curling his curl around himself so he could hug it and lull himself to sleep.

On the run, Shadow almost quite literally ran into Sonic. They were halfway across the resistance, sailing at an incredible sprint while Amy kept them up to date on Gadget's status. He wasn't doing well, at all. She kept switching lines to tell them that his scratching was getting weaker, and when he was finally able to get his commuicator up and running, he only sent half of a word. All communications to him suddenly cut short.

Fearing the worst, Sonic and Shadow looked at each other and poured all of their strength into their legs. Colours around them spread thinly into a mute grey, and the ground passed silently beneath their feet. Then, the communications came back online to a faint scratch sound.

The two slowed to a stop, Sonic's shooes skidding across the dry dirt while Shadow turned sideways, bending just so he could drag himself to a stop instead as they neared what seemed to be a base. Curiousity was almost quick to win out for them to explore, but a wheezing hiss brought them back to reality*. Sonic quickly looked around the brush while Shadow stood guard.

What was this? And why was it so far out, surrounded by nothing, and why did it seem so familiar? Maybe he passed it while on a run someday? Unlikely, with Finn around he found himself staying home more than he used to. His house was rarely used other than for sleeping and eating until the jackal came along. Then what was this structure? It was dark, but he could see it relatively well. It seemed like the back, or maybe the side, but it also looked like something was build on top of a pre-existing structure, or at least used the same parts of it.

It took him a second to realize Sonic had wandered a bit further from his current line of site and followed him a bit, keeping a good distance so if he was ambushed he'd be able to help, but close enough to be able to see him in such darkness.

Shadow was going to walk a few paces closer, but when he heard a very out of place sound in the near silence other than the normal, if not quite, wildlife, he froze.

It was sniffing.

Not just sniffling, but more of someone trying to scent him. He didn't get to turn before a hand was placed over his mouth and nose and he was pulled back into a fluffy body as a knife was pressed to his throat. He was about to nreak out of their weak hold, but when the blade made contact with his skin, his brain went haywire. It burned, and he jerked, thrashing his head around and splaying out his quills at the sudden, extreme pain. Not even a second into his thrashing, the person jerked, yelped, and dropped him in the same minute he was about to be kidnapped.

He turned just as the person snarled a warning and stabbed, piercing through flesh as they ran away, leaving Shadow hunched over and yanking the burning blade from the middle of his hand. Shadow rocked back and forth, shaking like a leaf and squeezing what life remained out of his non-responsive hand. Sonic chose just then to call out that he found Gadget.

The agent stood, picking up the knife after a second of thought, and hurried after the blue blur's voice.

Gadget was worse for wares, but very much alive. He looked up to the two with adoring eyes and a wagging tail, a bright smile on his muzzle despite his caved in features. Sonic had hacked away the bushed with his quills, it seemed, as he was now sporting the hip new fashion trend of "twig hair".

"Did they not feed you?" Shadow whispered, kneeling to pick up the wolf. When he noticed his hand, he frowned and his tail stopped wagging. Shadow went to ignore that, but Sonic noticed his hand as well and merely sighed.

"Don't worry about that right now. First, we gotta get you back to base. How did you even get this far out?" he joked, helping the wolf to his feet before carrying him up on his back. "Shads, take his bag."

Shadow stopped himself from rolling his eyes as he heafted the bag over his shoulder, picking up the lone shoe that had fallen out to replace it. As he did, he stared down at his hand. It hadn't healed yet, normally it's be a scar by now, but thr glove was steadily being stained by his dark blood and the wound still hurt. He dismissed it to finish what he was doing and dash off back to base, Sonic in tow.

As they were leaving, it finally dawned on him what exactly that base was. It was the previous Jackal Squad base. It didn't look like it used to, and he doubted the jackals would live in that heap of metal. Too technical for them. So where were they? He hoped they were alright, he grew quite fond of them.

When they got back, Sonic carted him off to the Bunker, leaving Shadow to simply head back home to enjoy whatever was left of his night. It took them around an hour to get there and back, and with the sun already beginning to peek in the sky, Shadow dragged his feet back to his house and collapsed on his chair.

Laid back, propped up, and falling into a troubled sleep.

Finn woke up to the sound of the door closing and then the smell of blood, a scent he never wanted to smell again. He traced it back to Shadow, but figured it would be a question best left for the morning and laid his head back down to rest.

xox

fuck my ass this is short and I'm sorry and also no replies today, will double tomorrow. also multiple spelling mistakes.

Uhp, there goes gravity. mom's spaghetti.