Searchlights scanned the area for intruders. Robots blocked the main entrance, readying their guns at the sight of a black figure zooming towards them at full speed. They fired, but the intruder dodged them with skilled ease. He zoomed through the crowd, destroying them instantly. When he made it inside the base, he hid behind some crates as a searchlight zipped by. His communicator beeped, and he turned it on, listening to the incoming message from HQ.
"Transmission from HQ. There's an SOS coming from Dr. Eggman's base. Our last communication with our agent was 26 hours ago. We expect an immediate rescue, Shadow the Hedgehog."
Shadow smirked lightly. "Understood. Initiating the mission now."
He turned his communicator off and teleported into the base.
After rescuing Rouge from Eggman's base, the two walked outside in silence. After a moment, Rouge glanced at the object in her hands and turned to Shadow. "Don't you wanna know what this is?"
Shadow took one glance at the object and turned away. "My assignment was to rescue you, nothing more."
"Fine." Rouge shrugged. "With you, it's always business."
The ground shook, and the two glanced around. Large heavy-set robots of Eggman surrounded them, and Shadow got into a fighting stance.
"It seems they don't want us to leave." Rouge hummed, glancing around the surrounding bots.
Shadow scoffed. "Let's get this over with."
When they teleported into the laboratory, Rouge glanced at the map of the city in front of them. "Ah, Solenna, the city of water. It has a constitutional monarchy, you know. The primary industries are tourism and crafting precision machinery."
Shadow walked over to a painting of Princess Elise as Rouge continued. "The current sovereign is Princess Elise the Third."
"Why did Eggman's base lead to an old place like this?" Shadow mumbled, crossing his arms as he glanced around the lab.
Rouge shrugged. "How should I know?" She pulled the object from her pocket. "I just followed my orders and retrieved the item. Anyway, I have a little favor to ask you. Could you escort me to the GUN rendezvous point?"
"Where's the rendezvous point?"
Rouge pointed to a section of the map. "It's the ancient castle of Solenna, in Kingdom Valley."