Chapter 2

Shared Drinks

Shadow finally reached the dwelling of his well-hidden home right outside the massive domain of Central City. Tired beyond belief, he opened the door to his small cottage nestled deep into low hanging trees and high standing grass. It was a small structure made of rock rather then wood. But Shadow preferred the temperature control the stone walls provided rather then easily manipulated wood. He smacked the sweat from his forehead and made way to his couch.

Everything inside looked like ones' standard apartment. A sink, restroom, small fridge, table, chair, and his couch that also served folded out into a bed. He recalled the times Rouge had visited his domain and bugged him to get a TV. Not that he ever did, those human made objects were just addictions hidden in a box. Everyone knows he does not do addictions - at least as far as he stood.

He flopped down on the couch, throwing some pillows out of the way to offer more room. Normally he'd curl up in a tight ball, but his tense tendons needed the stretch. With all for limbs pulled outward, he sighed and went down on his pillow. The leather of this couch wasn't the most comfortable, but it was the only thing he managed to grab with little frustrations.

As Shadow stared at the ceiling fan spin round and round, his mind went back to his encounter with the blue hedgehog from earlier. He swapped sides where his face was buried into the seat of the couch, back towards the door. Maybe he had been to rough with his blue look-alike.

He thumbed his face to massage a temple. Ever since G.U.N. had upgraded their energy readers to be more sensitive to alien energies, they had been sending him on missions as frequent as one would go to a grocery store. Half the time these missions were just scouting regions and filing a report for HQ. It was getting to be more of an annoyance rather then a tolerable duty.

"Man, my back is killing me." He kicked off his shoes, only his black socks covering his feet. Then wiggling his gloves off, he stretched his dark fingers out, only his middle digit matching his crimson stripes. It felt so good to just stretch out and be lazy. Something he usually accused Sonic of being.

"Maybe he's onto something when he screams about 'taking a load off'…" he whispered while massaging his back.

A loud alarm nearly sent the edgy immortal right into the ceiling. He made a blind grab for his discarded communicator. Rouge's name flashed across the buzzing green line that centered the black screen. With an eyebrow raised, he flipped the dial open and spoke into the speaker.

"What is it, Rouge…?" He asked while trying to hide his exhaustion with his everyday sternness.

"Hey Shades," Rouge casually answered with a flirty edge to her call. "Just thought I'd check in on you, haven't heard anything from you since G.U.N scattered some of their agents on this new mission."

"Hm, yea." He glanced over to the clock on the wall reading 4:30 AM. "I've scouted different regions for them, but never crossed anything unusual. They refuse to relay the exact information."

"Yea, not everyday they throw the classified label at their own agents." Rouge emitted a loud slurping sound like someone straining to suck up the last bit of soda from a straw. "So you really have no idea what they're having us search for?"

"No… just a request to search for some kind of energy signature. Haven't found anything yet."

"Think… they're looking for Eggman?"

That name sent a frustrated shock wave through Shadow's very spine. His scarlet eyes burned red from the energy threatening to boil over. He placed a soothing hand to his cranium to calm down.

Rouge picked up on his silence and sighed before addressing his answerless state.

"You've been on edge to, huh? More then usual."

"The doctor's five year long silence does not offer much comfort like it does to some…" His mind went back to Sonic and his friends. How they could go about their daily habits without being alert is beyond him. "Absolutely foolish."

"Shadow, did something happen recently? I can tell your agitated."

"How can you tell that…?" He answered blandly.

"When you start casting doubt on others for not being on edge without proof, that alone says something. So what happened?"

The dark life form groaned and sat up straight. Grabbing a nearby pillow to prop against his middle to get more comfortable so explaining his 'feelings' would be a bit easier.

"Short version, I was out on a midnight run when I saw someone watching me. Ran into the blue annoyance, thought it was him, and…" he went silent, eyes slowly shutting. "I ended up mistaking the situation and lashed out to release the frustration I've been feeling. I regret taking a swing at him."

"Oh Shadow, when you admit to regret I know you're hurting. Maybe you need a break."

"That's why I'm attempting the 'being lazy' at home."

"Oh geez, now you're sounding like blue wonder boy. We need to get you straightened out, pronto! Get some rest, then meet me at the club around 4 pm. Drinks are on me!"

The treasure hunter flipped the communicator offline before Shadow could even protest. Smashing his face into the pillow he hugged close, the pressure continued to weigh his shoulders down.

"Why do people have to be so insistent…?"

He threw himself back down on the couch, closed his eyes, and slowly willed himself to sleep.

- Eggman's Hidden Lair -

Eggman's lab was shrouded in shade from the hours of twilight. Only bulbs bleeping from his many many machines offered any kind of light. Back in the deepest part of his lab, the tank containing the white creature started to move. Inside its water filled womb laid the unknown being. Its heart struggling to repeat its pulsing with the oxygen max forcing shots of air down its throat.

Its red eyes and white iris struggled to see through the tank. All it could make out from the other side of the foggy clear cover was small bright dots. Similar in nature to the orbs that floated around in the water. They stung when it tried to perform any kind of attempted mobility. Whatever they were, they caused pain when touching its bleach white fur.

Pain. It didn't know exactly what that was, but the weird fat man had muttered that word often. When he'd fall or hit his toe, a yell filled with strain would nearly deafen its ears. Those noises were like the sounds its mouth muttered when these orbs would touch it. Often leaving these odd looking shapes on its arms that messed up the flow of its solid white fur.

It knew the word 'pain' must've been related to this feeling… whatever it was, it was to be avoided at all costs. Something bad in nature that disrupted its consistent 'empty' feeling.

Hundreds of long spines laid flat against its back and head. A long spiny tail also snuggled up to its legs. Any time it tried to expand these attached features, the little liquid orbs would shock it. To the point another internal unknown tried to surface. Something that burned its brain, that revved up the blood flow, and created a desire to lash out.

Its muscular frame twitched when one of the orbs grazed its fingers. Breathes getting heavy the harder the mask blew oxygen into its lungs. The pain, empty feeling, and the burning.

How does one make these things go away?

Red eyes shot open in pain as a loud noise riddled its ears.

THUMP THUMP!

The worst pain had returned. In the center of its rib cage, the agony started to expand. Crimson ran free of its mouth and quickly painted the water a matching color. Another blast of oxygen went down the throat. Its lungs struggling to catch another breath before being filled again.

It started to thrash, the orbs shocking its Behr ultra pure white colored spiky fur, trying all in their power to prevent the movement. The restraints locking its neck down started to suffocate it, making the blasts of air spew out of the nose and create large bubbles.

"What in the hell?" Came that familiar male voice belonging to the fat man. "Not again!"

It saw the man with long lip spikes grab the familiar electric prongs and move towards the tank. The same items he often used when its body did something he didn't approve of. Red eyes started to go blood shot the closer he got. Knowing even more pain was about to be inflicted.

No. Not again.

Ivory colored energy started to pulse from its spine the bigger its distress became.

Stay away.

When he lowered the metal teeth to the pipe that led directly into the tank's water, blackish-red eyes lit up to max lighting. The cotton colored energy started to spark like an agitated flare. Right when the two metal surfaces touched, the white light cracked the glass. In the blink of an eye everything exploded. Eggman was body slammed right into the wall, covered in the tank's bodily fluids. He coughed and spit the water out till the white light revved up again. Nearly blinding him.

"Stop you abomination!" He slipped on the wet floors after trying to stand up. "I command you to halt!"

The restraints melted off as the white thermal energy sent shock-waves around it. Blood continued to leak from its mouth before its clawed pink fingers ripped the oxygen mask off its pink snout.

Eggman struggled to see the albino creature that blinded him in the matching light. His creation fumbled, desperate to gain control of its movement before almost falling over.

"Computer!" Eggman hollered out, "Code Red, activate all security measures, don't let her escape!"

The second it took a step towards the exit, a smaller strand of pain zipped into its neck. A long needle penetrated the throat's exposed point and pumped nearly 15 liters of sedation into the veins beneath.

Everything started to get foggy. No, it forced itself to move, to get away from the face that resembled the hated word 'pain'. Limbs became heavier by the second, energy being zapped. Fangs bared, it fought the hazy feeling even harder.

- With Shadow -

"This is so annoying," Shadow muttered with glass of rum sat in front of him.

Multicolored party spotlights nearly blinded him every time the tech crew shifted the beams over him. The club's tame evening crowds rapidly grew into a bunch of late night drunk neanderthals. From people throwing up on others to the rest spazzing out on the dance floor. It was the most pitiful thing Shadow had ever acknowledged to watch.

"Lighten up Captain Emo," Rouge laughed while slurping his wine down, almost as drunk as the rowdy crowd surrounding them. "You haven't even drank that much!"

Shadow didn't even respond as he took a second slow sip of his drink before gagging. Rum, he never liked the taste of it. But it was far more tolerable in taste then whiskey or vodka. Maybe he'd try wine later, but for now he just slowly swigged on his current beverage.

The white bat that wore nothing but super low V cut shirts beamed a flirtatious grin at the black immortal.

"Not feeling it tonight?"

Sighing, Shadow continued to sip his drink.

"I'm drinking, aren't I?"

After a few more speeded up sips with Rouge's prodding, he started to feel heat warm up his face. Cheeks starting to glaze over red, his whole mind started to get a little boggled. Rouge noticed this and gave a big victorious grin.

"Hah! How are you feeling now?"

"Like I want to…" he hiccupped, "bust out the stereo system to prevent further hearing loss."

His best friend snickered and chugged another sip before moving onto her next glass. "The fact you haven't even tried says a lot." She giggled before leaning a chin on her open palm.

Shadow caught this gooey eyed look and rose an eyebrow. "What are you looking…" he hiccupped again, "at me for?"

"Just hoping to see you relax. Even while getting a buzz you're still tenser then a tightly wound wind-up toy."

"A horrible comparison," he finished his drink before waving at the bar tender for a third round. "But getting drunk is not going to erase this problem I.. I… fe-eel." Shadow paused, mind struggling to straighten out his words.

"Is this paranoia really about Eggmans' silence?" She asked a bit more fluidly. Already showing better liquor control then her dark friend here. "Whatever it is, I hate to pry, but don't you think remaining on 24/7 alert is… I don't know… unhealthy?"

Shadow shrugged. "Maybe, but its all I know."

"Point taken," she laid her head on the table, fighting off the urge to pass out right on the table. "Moving away from the Eggman subject, what do you think G.U.N. is trying to find?"

"The only thing I-I could… gather… was the… energy signature properties."

"Like… a chaos emerald?"

He shrugged his shoulders while downing his newly received drink. "No, this is… d-different… we're familiar with the chaos emerald's properties. But this i-is… different."

"If G.U.N. is scowering the globe for this signature and they can't even explain what it is, makes you wonder." She finished her last drink and wobbly stood to her feet and offered a hand for an equally wobbly Shadow to grab. Which is cautiously did, using Rouge as leverage to keep himself stable.

"Talking won't help, just have to wait and see." He almost tripped over the curb as they fumbled out of the club and into the dimly lit parking lot. Rouge was quick to keep him balanced which he gave a thankful nod for.

"Yea, well, I don't think you're in any condition to go home. You can crash on my couch tonight." She led him down the side walk, dodging other humans that watched them curiously.

Shadow sighed but did not fight the rough hand towing him along. Rouge was quite strong for a bat. He silently agreed while following suit.

"Sounds alright to me…"