The ride was... Quiet.
Shadow just kept on going without saying anything about the mission, he was fairly determined to get the mission done with, but Rouge has different thoughts. She was deep in thought for the majority of the ride, narrowing her eyes constantly and looked down as the concrete of the road was blurry while Shadow was driving.
She kept thinking about what Shadow said before they left, it left her to think that maybe, just maybe, that he may be talking about Sonic's friends. Rouge is no investigator but she is very observant, especially around Shadow, cause whatever the black blur says anything, it was left completely vague for a normal person to understand.
But as Rouge's mind went into her own world of questions and thoughts, Shadow was, calm. He seemed very cool, at least that's what his facial expression was. The tensing on shoulders, the grip on the handle of his motorbike, he was very serious about the mission and he doesn't want anybody crossing him from finishing this goal.
But his dedication to doing the mission was very confusing for anyone who knows him or Sonic, since Shadow doesn't really like Sonic, to a degree. But somehow he knew that, what would the world be without Sonic The Hedgehog? He knew he can just easily be like Sonic, but he also knew his stubbornness can be less effective in trying to be a helping hand.
He wasn't dumb to realize that, he is aware of his personal attributes, but who can blame him? He was traumatized, he was put to sleep for over 50 years, and he has been manipulated by foes. He's been through a lot, especially witnessing the death of a friend that he has known for a long time.
Nobody really noticed his knowledge of the past, all they knew that he was created by Gerald Robotnik, and that was it but there was so much more. Maria was really the only person who made Shadow happy, it may be hard to believe at first glance but Shadow doesn't kid around with his personal life.
But that was before he met Rouge.
His eyes suddenly perked up, he was nearing a small lab in the open space of the Mystic Ruins. It was a quiet place and was perfect for Tails to build a lab here, due to the peaceful and quiet environment. But the two knew the Mystic Ruins, it was once the ancestral home of the Knuckles Clan, a clan that has befallen because of their own greedy leader.
Shadow stopped in front of the lab and got off, with Rouge following behind, while Shadow was trying to find a good parking spot, Rouge took her time and looked around for anything suspicious. But what she's actually trying to do is to get back into thought again, something about the mission just felt... Odd to her.
"Rouge, come on. " Shadow called out, Rouge nodded and followed behind him, Shadow opened the door without even knocking but it only surprised him. The two agents saw Tails and Amy in the lab, seemingly tired from doing something.
Rouge gasped at the scene and quickly ran up to the sakura hedgehog while Shadow went over to Tails, she then carefully lifted Amy's head and frowned, "Amy dear, what on Mobius happened to you??? " Rouge said, startled and was feeling pity towards the female hedgehog, who was groaning and started to yawn. Amy was very tired, her words began to feel depressed and saddened as she tries to stand up.
"Ugh... T-tails... " She muttered under her breath, while also struggling to stand up and get on her feet. But as she tripped, she summoned her hammer and stumbled against it. Rouge widened her eyes and tries to help Amy up, Rouge can feel Amy's fur, it's was so cold.
Amy started to cry and was about to fall to the ground, but Rouge still held the pink hedgehog, not letting Amy fall down. The ivory bat continue to lead Amy to a nearby couch and laid her down, when Amy started to fall asleep again, with her snores coming as signs, Rouge immediately turned to the gold kitsune sleeping on a desk in front of a computer.
She sighed, the feeling of desperation flowing through the lab, made Rouge feel uneasy, she understood what the two must've been through. But still, she needs more answers so she marched over to Tails and shook him, "Wake up!!" She yelled, making Tails yelp in surprise and by instinct, he propelled himself upwards using his two tails.
Shadow, who decided to observe the rest of the ruined lab, was alerted by Tails crashing around the walls, Rouge then flew after him and managed to grab one of his two tails, prompting the young fox to fall down and hit the ground. Groaning in pain, Tails rubbed his head in pain and sat down on the hard ground,
"...what happened...?" He asks, still hurt, Rouge helped him up to his feet, Tails was feeling very dizzy and tried to keep on his feet, he glanced on the sleeping rose on the couch and sighed, "Thanks for letting her sleep, she... Was really devoted to finding Sonic. " Tails said, walking to the nearest chair his hand can grab and sat down.
Shadow and Rouge looked at each other in confusion and walked over to Tails, "What happened here? " Rouge asked, referring to the ruined laboratory, Tails' eyes widened and took a look around his lab, it was indeed a mess.
He sighed in frustration and rubbed his face, still feeling tired, "We've noticed the whole thing happening around Mobius, we noticed Sonic was gone and, " He paused for a moment and looked at Amy, who was still sleeping on the couch before groaning, "Amy... Didn't take it well. She really devoted all of her time into finding Sonic."
"No kidding." Shadow commented, crossing his arms professionally. Tails then led the two agents to a computer and started typing. Rouge began to get curious of Tails' current activity, she can clearly see on the monitor that Tails was trying to locate something or someone.
"What is that? " She asked, pointing towards the screen, the kitsune nodded and zoomed into the small, yellow pinpoint, "Guess you guys should know what me and Amy have been up to, " Tails began to type faster on the keyboard, trying to focus harder and then screen suddenly reviewed the whole map.
"When we noticed Sonic was missing, I already thought of pinpointing his location," Tails hopped out of his seat and flew towards a drawer, he reached down his hand into the drawer and pulled out a watch-like device. It looked very advanced, the mechanics of it were left unknown to Shadow and Rouge but both had speculated that it may have something to do with Sonic.
"If he is carrying this item. " Tails continued, presenting the fine piece of work to the two agents. Shadow walked closer as Tails gave it to him, not really feeling uncomfortable with Shadow touching it. The black and red hedgehog began to observe the tech on his hand, he really was making sure he had covered the whole thing cause he even considered asking Tails more about it.
When he did, Tails began to show the mechanics of the watch. That's when the two knew that it was actually a communicator watch, it can, of course, let the user communicate with several others who have the same kind of tech in their hands, or if someone is trying to talk to them through a computer. The young fox continues to talk about how the communicator would come in handy into finding Sonic.
He convinced Shadow and Rouge that Sonic somehow had his communicator with him in his absence and Tails, along with Amy, had been trying to pinpoint the exact location from Sonic's communicator ever since they first arrived at the lab.
But Shadow didn't believe all of what Tails had explained to him and Rouge. If Tails and Amy had been trying to find Sonic this whole time, why haven't they been trying to find him rather than getting themselves cooped up in the lab?
Shadow had immediately asked Tails of his suspicions, but Tails had immediately provided a pretty solid and reliable answer, "That's what Knuckles told us before he left. " He said, referring to the red echidna, as Rouge perked her head up and looked towards Tails.
"Wait... Knuckles was here too? " She asked hastily, Tails secretly rolled his eyes and nodded his head, "Yep, he was here as well, trying to find Sonic, but he didn't like sitting down in front of a computer all day so he volunteered on ground check. " Tails said, providing more information to the agents.
"And by ground check, you mean-" Shadow was cut off by an alert from Tails computer, the fox instantly went back to his monitor and tried to see what was wrong. Then after he did, Tails sighed with tiredness, "What was that? " Shadow asked Tails, who looked really annoyed by something but worried as well.
"It's Knuckles. He's at Angel Island and he's in trouble." Shadow and Round both nodded at each other before Rouge flew out of the lab, "I'll go get your motorbike ready!" She yelled before she flew out, Shadow looked back at the young fox and grabbed the communicator, "Can you contact with me with this? "
Tails let Shadow take the communicator with him, but before he left he advised Tails to stay in the lab to communicate with him and Rouge, while also looking after Amy. Shadow glided out the lab and, by cue, his motorbike is already in front of him, with Rouge deciding to stick with flying.
The grim anti-hero jumped on his motorbike and drove away with Rouge following behind while flying.
Elsewhere, a red echidna growled lowly, opening one eye before a metal leg stomped on the ground from the opposite side from where he is.