Two months had passed since the war against the Black Arms was over. Reconstruction around the world had made great progress, and many people were beginning to get back to their daily lives. Team Dark had continued training together in preparation for their first major mission related to Eggman, who had been silent for the most part.
One day, Commander Tower awoke bright-and-early and headed straight to the Command Centre. There, he found Shadow and Rouge waiting for him, along with Hope to the side. He had asked them to see him first thing in the morning for an assignment, but wasn't expecting them to beat him there.
"Well, look who finally decided to show up," Rouge teased, climbing out of the Commander's chair. "So, you have a job for us?"
"For you, yes," Tower stated, before turning to Shadow. "Agent Shadow, you're to remain on standby for now. I want Agent Rouge to go in alone for this one."
"Just one agent?" Shadow questioned.
Tower nodded, and motioned to Hope. She opened her laptop and displayed an image of a city on the screen. "While the Chaotix were snooping around in Eggman's cyberspace, they found details of his next plans. They were encrypted, and it's taken us some time, what with the focus on reconstruction around the world, but we've finally managed to decode them. It seems Eggman has his eyes set on Soleanna, and on one of its royal artifacts called 'the Sceptre of Darkness'."
"What does it do?" Shadow asked.
"As far as we know, nothing. But if Eggman wants it, then we don't want him to have it." He turned to Rouge. "Unfortunately, as Soleanna is not a member of the United Federation, sending in troops will be met with resistance. That's why we're opting to go with a more quiet approach."
Rouge winked. "I can do 'quiet', but I usually target jewels, not trinkets."
"We'll have Agent Topaz posted nearby, undercover as a tourist," Tower stated, "However, if things go bad, it'll be on Shadow to go in and clean up."
"When do I leave?" Rouge asked.
"Right away," Tower answered. "We would give you more time to prepare, but spies have reported Eggman activity near Soleanna, in the White Acropolis area. He may have already started to make his move."
Shrugging, Rouge turned to Shadow and said, "Enjoy your day off. I'll be back with that sceptre before you know it."
"I'll prepare to head out, as soon as you need rescuing," Shadow retorted, earning a punch from his partner. Rouge and Hope headed out together, discussing the details of the mission. Shadow followed soon after, whilst Tower stayed behind to tend to his other duties.
"… Shadow," Tower called out, stopping the hedgehog just as he was about to leave the room. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you, about Maria. Did she…" Tower fell silent for several seconds. "No, you focus on your mission…"
"… For what it's worth, she died with a smile," Shadow said, and as he turned to leave, he added, "Her final words were, 'bring hope to humanity'."
"… Thank you." Tower offered Shadow a salute as he left the room, the door closing behind him. Tower hung his head, closing his eyes as he pictured Maria's face. "'Bring hope to humanity', huh?" He laughed. "Yeah, that's just what we'll do. Together."
I want to take a moment to thank you for taking the time to read this fic. What started as just a quick, one-chapter story to write Hope into the games' canon became much larger when I realised I could tie her origin story into the events of Shadow the Hedgehog, one of my favourite games in the franchise, and even though I hit quite a few spouts of writer's block along the way, I'm glad that I decided to continue this and see it through to the end, and am appreciative anybody who stuck with it all the way.
So uh, yeah, thanks again and I hope you'll check out my future Sonic works whenever I get round to them. I plan to do a story that ties into Sonic '06 after this, but set AFTER the timeline rewrite at the end of the game. Until then, catch ya later!