Ch 4. The Right Thing To Do
Shadow sat at a computer filling out his report for the day prior. He had amazingly slept like a baby even though he still didn't own a bed. He thought about his mission with his comrades and a small faint grin appeared on his face. It didn't last long though, because at that moment a solider approached him,
"Agent Shadow Dr Baker is requesting you for your session."
He had almost forgotten about the therapist he was supposed to see and then he remembered what he had done. Shadow's face went blank,
"Oh..."
He hadn't been reprimanded for the act, so Dr Baker must have not reported it. Shadow wondered if she had failed to do so because of fear or... He slowly got up from his seat and proceeded to walk out the double doors.
Shadow walk at a snail's pace to the office. Why did he feel so nervous confronting the woman all of a sudden? She could not harm him and if she failed to report his behavior the day prior there was nothing she could do now. No, he was nervous because he knew what he was about to do. Anxiety filled his every step as he was whisked away to another time.
"I'm sorry Maria." said a tiny hoglet as he looked down in shame with tears in his eyes.
The twelve-year-old human girl blinked at the baby from atop her bed as she read a book. She scanned the hybrid for any sign as to what he was referring to, but came up empty,
"About what, Shadow?"
Shadow gripped his hands together in anxiety and tears started to fall from his face,
"I-I ate the freeze-dried ice cream you were saving."
The water works were flowing down his cheeks and landing on his bare feet. Maria closed here book and sat on the ground next to the sobbing child. She put her hand on his back while he cried into his hands,
"I really sorry. I don't know why I did. I just really wanted it. Please still be my friend."
Maria removed his hands from his eyes and held them at his sides,
"Of course, I'll be your friend, Shadow. Yes, I'm disappointed about my ice cream but it made it better because you were honest with me. I know you're sorry. I bet telling me truth makes you feel a whole lot better doesn't it?"
Shadow nodded and the girl wrapped the hog in a hug and then kissed the top of his head.
Shadow finally reach the office door. He shifted his eyes around to see if he had any eyes on him. He took ten years to lift his hand and prepare to knock.
Knock knock.
Shadow turned quickly hoping that she hadn't heard him and he could say she wasn't in.
"Come in."
Julia sat at her desk staring over her reading glasses at the hedgehog who was peeking his head in the door. She watched as he silently shuffled into the room. She was taken by surprise, Shadow never knocked; not when he entered her office anyway. He only walked in and on a good day took his seat. This time he stood before her and from the look on his face she could tell he wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words. Shadow looked down at the new mismatched chair that was obviously a place holder until a new one was bought. He then looked at the wall that had been plastered over but not repainted. The dark male lowered his head and spoke to the ground,
"I'm sorry."
"What?" Julia spoke genuinely confused.
Shadow reluctantly made eye contact and spoke clearer than before,
"I'm sorry for how I acted the other day."
Julia and the hog stared at each other for a long time before the woman broke the silence,
"I… I honestly was not expecting that…ha ha, you are unpredictable, aren't you? I… I already forgave you Shadow, you don't need to worry about it. It was partially my fault; I should have surveyed the situation more. You weren't ready to talk about that."
Shadow shuffled his feet a bit, not knowing exactly what to say. He hated being caught off guard like this or not being prepared for a situation, especially social ones. He took a deep breath and then sat in the chair without prompting,
"Rouge explained to me that asking those kinds of questions is a part of your job, so you do not need to apologize for my sake. It is alright I can handle it."
Julia looked to the hog then back down at her reports and file on Shadow, she had laying on her desk. She smiled softly,
"You know, when I was given your case, I was told that you where almost like a machine. That you were… well like a monster. An alien hybrid with no morality. I thought that couldn't be right because then why would you have saved people from the black arms."
The little woman had caught shadows attention. He winced a little at her words because he had also caused some of the deaths during that whole ordeal but still, he listened intently as she went on,
"I was told to just drug you up, and send you on your way. But that wouldn't help you now would it. And I'm glad that I didn't fallow their advice, because they were completely wrong. You have a conscience; you feel guilt. You didn't have to apologize, but you did. I know you a definitely better than those who instructed me to just do away with you."
Shadow silently looked down to his shoes, wanting to believe her words but just couldn't. the woman sat back and riffled through her drawer. She held her hand out,
"Candy?"
Shadow shook his head,
"No, thank you."
He didn't feel like he deserved it anyway. The dark hog relaxed a little in to the chair, it felt good to have that over with. He had wanted thing to go back to the way they were but when she said that she believed in him something felt different. What was it about this woman that made him feel better? He supposed that was why she went into the profession in the first place.
Julia popped a jolly rancher in her mouth,
"Anyway, I heard that your mission went well."
Shadow leaned an arm over the back of the chair,
"Oh, and how do you keep hearing these things?"
The woman laughed,
"I don't know if you've noticed but Towers has a thing for me. He tells me everything about his unit, especially if he's in a good mood."
Shadow assumed that she meant more than a friend. Shadow thought for a moment. No, he hadn't noticed that, but he didn't understand most social cues. Things often went right over his head but he'll pretend he's in the know, by gods.
"Um, so he sees you romantically?"
Julia took another piece of candy out of her bag,
"Yes, I think so. Why is that an issue?"
Shadow couldn't wrap his head around it. Someone like the commander acting all lovey dovey for another. Do old people even have relationships? The only thing he knew about love was that foreign soap opera he caught Rouge watching the other night. Shadow suddenly made a noise with the sides of his mouth. He realized what he had done and quickly stifled his humorous outburst. Julia giggled too,
"No, go on it's okay. What was so funny?"
Shadow's face dropped,
"No no, it was nothing."
"Oh, come on tell me please." Julia said motioning for him to continue his thought.
Shadow shifted his eyes,
"I uh, I imagined Towers as a character in a cheesy Spanish soap opera."
Julia's eyes widened then without warning the woman was in a violent fit of laughter. She howled out while beating her fist on the desk. Shadow stared confused but found himself cracking a smirk at the trained professional's behavior.
"Oh, senior Towers." She mock swooned.
Before Shadow knew it he was joining in as well. Lifting his hand dramatically, he said,
"Oh, te amo, Julia."
A knock was heard from outside the office door and they both went quiet. The tall grey-haired butt to their joke entered, and stood in the door way,
"ahem… I'm sorry if I interrupted your session, but you left your phone down in the lobby and I thought it would be quicker if I returned it to you."
Dr Baker tapped her fingers on the table and rested her chin in the other hand,
"You did interrupt. You are not allowed to walk in whenever you want. This is a private meeting between me and my patient. Legally confidential."
Towers nervously handed the small black flip phone to the woman,
"O- oh I apologize."
"Thank you for bringing me my phone, but next time just leave it with the receptionist outside please."
"Yes, ma'am sorry ma'am." The usually level headed man stammered out. The commander promptly turned around with his red face shining the way and left. Shadow turned back to Dr baker and made contact with her tired eyes,
"I can't believe it... he does like you."
The rest of the session went smoothly. Shadow finally finished the paper work that Julia had been meaning to give him for the past week. They only talked about his relationship with his comrades after that and what he had done the day before.
"Well I'm glad that Rouge is getting you to experience new things like grocery stores. That way you know what to expect when you are able to go on your own."
Shadow readjusted himself in his chair,
"Yes, well it didn't go over as well as the buffet."
"What do you mean?" the female questioned in a typical therapist manner.
"Some woman accused me of being a pervert, how dare she think I would do something so heinous to a child." Shadow answered back, folding his arms in defense.
Julia looked shocked,
"What did you do to make her think that?"
"I guess I was just staring at her kid, but I was having a... memory. I was unaware that I was causing anyone discomfort." The Mobian stated.
"A memory?" Julia said confused.
Shadow realized he may have said to much,
"That's what I call them, Rouge calls it zoning out."
She picked up her notes to wright something down,
"Do you have these "memories" often?"
Shadow nervously rubbed his arms,
"Well... I suppose once a week, there not always bad though."
"When you have them do you feel like you are really there?" she pushed further.
"Yes, sometimes it feels like a dream, but I'm awake." He answered truthfully.
The Dr made eye contact with the hog over the rim of her glasses,
"Have they ever hurt you..."
Shadow was dumbfounded. He didn't know how to answer her, but she seamed to know something he didn't,
"... sometimes."
She looked back down at the paper,
"Do you know what causes them?"
Shadow tried to look over and see what she was writing,
"No…well different things that remind me of the memory I suppose."
The timer on the desk went off. Julia stopped the alarm and turned back to Shadow,
"We are going to talk about this next time. Until then I don't want you going on any more field missions, okay."
"Um, that's not my call." Shadow said more confused than ever.
"I'll take care of it. Don't worry."
Afterward, Shadow walked back to his group. The whole way the dark male thought about the Dr's reaction to his episodes. Was it not a normal thing that happened to people, he thought? Come to think of it, he didn't remember having them when he lived on the ark. Of course, a lot of those memories were still fuzzy. He returned to Rouge who at that moment was having an argument with Omega,
"Omega, you can't! If I take you to the store we are not going through the self-checkout."
"This is unsatisfactory." Omega blurted robotically.
Shadow rolled his eyes,
"What's wrong now."
Rouge turned to Shadow and pointed an accusing finger at the mechanical man,
"Omega is upset that when we went to the store last, we did not go through the self-checkout, which there is a very good reason for that."
Shadow put a hand on his forehead,
"Okay, what is a self-checkout and why does Omega want to see it so bad?"
Rouge huffed and folded her arms,
"A self-checkout is a crappy automated machine that you go through and scan your own groceries. Omega wants to challenge it to a fight because he's a weirdo."
"You are incapable of understanding its coded sequences, it is very rude and disrespectful and needs to be taught its place." Omega stated, like a teen not getting their own way.
"What did it say, something bad about your mom? I'm not getting kicked out of another store!"
At that moment Towers cleared his throat to announce his presence,
"If you two are quite done, I suggest you return to your work!"
The tall man glared daggers at the two arguing but as soon as his eyes met shadows, he adopted a softer tone,
"If you please."
The three watched the man walk away. Rouge turned to Shadow and smirked
"Who pissed in his cheerios, and why were you spared?"
Shadow grinned an evil grin,
"Oh, you won't believe what I found out."
Rouge blinked confused and intrigued. The hog had piqued her interest; usual she was the one with the hot gossip.
Fall was in the air as Rouge drove down the road with the windows down. The whole of Team Dark sat making idle conversations. Shadow felt like that was how it was supposed to be. Just like it had been before.
"So, you're from Chun-nan and Spangonia?"
Rouge shook her head,
"No, I'm from the United Federation. I've lived here all my life. My mother was Chun-nan and my father is from the Franks part of Spangonia. So, I am a mixture of those two bat spices. Do you understand?"
"I think so. So, there are different sub species of Mobian species?"
"Yep, just like different races of humans."
Shadow thought for a moment with his fingers resting on his upper lip,
"Are there different kinds of hedgehogs?"
"Yeah, I'm not sure but I think Sonic is the Shamar sub species." Rouge answered.
"What am I?" Shadow said motioning to him self and curiously turning to the bat for answers.
The female however only continued to keep her eyes on the road.
"I don't know. You do seem to be a lot fluffier than Sonic," Rouge chuckled to herself, "You might be different. You'll have to ask for your lab records and see what kind of DNA was used to make you."
Shadow nodded. He was very interested in anything that would differentiate him from Sonic. Shadow stared out the window in thought. I am a bit bigger than him, and like rouge said I do seem to have more fur. Shadow watched the last remnants of sun fade. He felt so calm he could almost fall asleep on the car ride but something caught shadow eye. Two men wearing suits walked out of a nearby building with a young girl walking in between them. She couldn't have been more than eleven and she had short pig tails that hung from the top of her head. Suddenly her hazel eyes caught his red ones. For a moment everything was in slow motion. He had seen that look before. The look of complete terror in a child's face.
Shadows eyes widened,
"Stop the car!"
Rouge slammed on the breaks almost causing the car behind to hit them,
"What? What's your problem?"
But before rouge could even finesse shadow was hoping out the open window and in Pursuit.
Shadow chased down the men but as soon as he rounded the corner, they had already taken off in a black van that had been parked in the ally. Shadow cursed under his breath. He could easily chase down the car but that girl was inside and if they wrecked trying to get away or started shooting... he didn't want to think about it. He would have to be very cautious in how he approached the situation. He ran after them trailing behind staying in their blind spot. He didn't want to put the girl in more danger than necessary. Shadow called rouge on his communicator,
"Rouge call the police I'm in Pursuit of kidnappers. They are heading south down the freeway."
Rouge answered over the sealer but was shortly cut off by the hero shutting off the call. He didn't have time to argue he had to figure out his next move before the men reached their destination were there could potentially be more of them waiting to endanger the kid. Unfortunately, the girl in the back seat noticed him and must have caused the men to see what she was looking at. Shadows fear was realized the next thing he knew a gun was being aimed at him from out the passenger side window. He dodged the blurts and raced for the vehicle. He jumped on the roof and the driver began to swerve trying to shake him off. Everything he had wanted to prevent was happening. Shadow yanked the gun from the man's hand holding on to it from the top of the van. The vehicle turned a sharp right then left and shadow lost his balance as his new ride lifted up on two wheels. The men in the van thought that they were successful in throwing the hog off but there celebrating was cut off by the sound of the black van doors being torn off its hinges. One of the kidnappers reached for another gun in a lock box but was soon at the mercy of his own silver barrel being used against him. Shadow scooped up the girl whose hands had been bound and mouth gagged and jumped out of the moving vehicle carrying her bridal style. The two crooks blinked at each other in disbelief to what had just happened. Then the driver turned his attention back to the road and screamed. A police roadblock was right in their path. The driver tried to turn and avoid the block but turned to sharp and toppled over on the vans side sliding to a halt.
Shadow stood watching the police bag and cuff the criminals from a median. The young girl still in his arms with her own arms tightly wrapped around his neck sobbing into his chest. He gently put the girl down into the grass and needed beside her absent mindly rubbing her back,
"Are you alright?"
She nodded to her savior with tears streaming down her face. Rouge then pulled up and hopped out of her car, just as the ambulance was showing up,
"Shadow what the hell?"
The bat freeze framed on the child clinging to shadow for dear life. Then the paramedics surrounded her and began to lift the kid into the ambulance as they assaulted the victim with questions. Rouge watched then turned back to her friend in the grass,
"How did you know?"
Shadow adopted a stern expression as he thought about his answer,
"I don't know many things about this world rouge, but I do know what terror looks like in a child's face."
The bat stared in wonder and sympathy. Shadow would not get paid for this act he did not know this girl he probably wouldn't ever see her again. But he acted anyway even though he wasn't positive of the situation. Without question he knew he had to protect those who couldn't protect themselves. He did it because it was the right thing to do. He is a true hero. Rouge thought to herself with a smug grin, he's going to hate it but him and sonic are not so different after all.
