Team Dark was deployed to force peace to a warzone, but rebels did not want anything to do with an ultimate lifeform invading their country. The enemies were not easy, and the place was full of shots flying around.
"What are you doing, you!?" Rouge yelled in a hurt Shadow.
"He is a robot," she continued.
"It is nothing" he said referring to his hurt, "and Omega has no rings," he defended his action.
"That would not have killed him!" the exasperated girl claimed.
Shadow had jumped in front of a shot to protect Omega.
"I still have your ring from ARK." Rouge told him before ordering Omega to carry him through the rest of the route they were using to avoid the crossfire.
He lowered his head because back then, he was given for dead until she found him later.
"This is not how I imagined it when I invited you to enlist," she said to him.
He smiled for pity before telling her, "we do this for the people besides I promised to help."
"You are not a hero, or not this kind."
Feeling nothing could change his companion mood, he kept quiet all the way until they were able to reach safety.
Weeks later, now back at home, Shadow received a visit, it was the Duke of Soleanna and a small team of people. He had his daughter ill, his wife dead and his heart wrenched. The same illness that took the life of his wife it was now in his daughter. The cause was in her liver, too spread for operation.
The small team had scientists that wanted Shadow's help, they wanted to examine his liver and his compatibility with humans, just anything that could give them hope. Sadly, there was a hardship that none of them could overcome. He was focused on one thing only, curing NIDS, and the promises to cure it made by the GUN laboratories, every drop of blood counted, every visit scheduled, he had kept trusting their work.
Not giving up easily, they left him with their contact data. And well, his experience in the ARK showed him that your first point of view may not be the right one. Not wanting to err again, he called Rouge to listen to a second opinion.
"And how much has GUN progressed with the cure for NIDS?" she asked him.
He started walking while remembering the information he had been provided. "They say they have candidates from my stem cells and my white blood cells, we have test with 1 Chaos Emerald, we were planning to go and borrow the Master Emerald after I recover enough for the next test."
"Are you a guinea pig or something? However, this means that you cannot give more blood right now. Have they tested for other diseases?"
With his pride hit, he did not want her to insult his most beloved status. "I am the ultimate lifeform, I can with everything, hah! I am not a guinea pig but the ultimate creation of a genius doctor." Exhaling, he resumed, "My doubt is not about the tests, I know they are all the support I have, neither doctor Robotnik nor another person, have reached to me to offer their help. I will not doubt them now. Still, this feeling that this guy can be feeling the same thing I did for Maria, she is dying right now, and I cannot forget that I promised my sister to help."
"She is dead, could you move on?" Rouge tried to make him forget his promise.
"Promises are eternal," he told her.
"Then accept, all right!" she said knowing that his conscience was still tied to his lost family.
"I will be travelling with you though," she ended the discussion.
Shadow ended up with the following proposal, he would go together with Rouge and be living at Soleanna while the scientist tested for a cure. Their stay was going to be paid, yet their salaries would be lost as the law at Soleanna indicated he could not pay them; his act was altruistic.
He then arrived with Rouge at the airport and they immediately went to the laboratories, where the checkup and any test would be performed. No later than days and the ultimate lifeform fell sick of anemia. To rest he was sent, and Rouge kept him company.
"It is so unfair," the sitting girl mentioned.
"What is unfair?" the bedded hedgehog replied.
Standing up, Rouge approach his side and grabbing his hand, spoke to him, "that you are here offering yourself as a test subject, even though you do not need to."
Shadow shrugged his shoulders. "That is my life"
"At least, you can have me by your side always, remember that?" She put her other hand on his face.
"I will," he answered dryly.
The hedgehog seemed to be immune to romantic words, but not satisfied with it, our girl hugged him. Straight away, she got a nicer effect, a "Thank you," said by our blushed hero.
Not everything could be happiness, the GUN Commander had just arrived at Soleanna, his objective was to visit Shadow. He had received the information that the soldier had broken his recovery time and he was in risk of getting sick and out of commission for a long time. Angry with Shadow, the commander knew they needed him, and what buttons to press.
Shadow was still bedded when the door opened. His visit, the Gun Commander.
"Hello, Shadow"
"What a surprise? To see you here of all places."
Taking seat, the commander went to the point, "Well, you skipped your recovery program. I cannot allow the risk of losing you."
"I have someone to help here" the hedgehog answered while he tried to accommodate himself on the bed.
"And you have a lot of other people to help out there, wars keep happening, and you know our support from member states are not what they were."
Seeing to the window, for an instance muted, the hedgehog spoke, "and if I die?"
The thought of him thinking about his life took the commander by surprise. But out of his experience, he told Shadow, "I understand, we can put you from afar, we can put you as the leader to help our troops decide what to do."
For Shadow, the words of the commander sounded as music from Senoue. With a smile in his face, he accepted the offering.
"Well, and how are they treating you here?" The commander changed the focus of the conversation.
"Paying the stay but not the salaries. They say it is because of the rules in this country."
"Rich and stingy, nothing new. He could have hosted you in another country."
Shadow shrugged his shoulders, "at least they are a new set of scientists."
"Do not doubt our scientists, come on; they make each possible effort to find the cure."
Then, the commander stood and said, "Good, I am glad you are still committed to help; I have to depart back to work. Shadow, take care of your health." Followed by a smile from the commander, a rare view for Shadow.
With their arms locked, Shadow was accompanied by Rouge walking outside. With the anemia gone and free time available while they waited for the results, Rouge motivated him to tour the city.
The winds blowing warm and the sun shining in its morning radiance, she could not stop talking of the difference between spending time at Soleanna and at active duty.
Shadow, quiet as ever, decided to ask her, "Is this what you really want?"
Beep, her smartphone alarmed her of an incoming email. She grabbed it and no sooner than seconds later, her pupils grew bigger.
"It cannot be," she complained.
"Can I read it?" A dumbfounded hedgehog asked.
She gave him the smartphone and he read the news. It was from GUN, she was thanked by her service to the organization, nonetheless she was not needed anymore, she was going to return to work for the United Federations.
"They are firing you?"
"Some similar, they are saying to my country, take her back."
"But that means, team Dark would not exist anymore."
Rouge sighed disappointed.
"I will not let the team be disbanded!" he proudly said.
Rouge turned away from him and started walking away.
He did not understand and asked for a clarification. "What is it?"
Next, probably a sun ray hit his head, as he could elaborate the reason for her frustration. He felt compelled to support her since he thought that GUN still valued him.
Sitting on a bench, he still could not contact GUN higher-ups, including the commander. Trying to appease his annoyed partner, he started a conversation:
"If you go back, can I go too?"
"You do not need that; you would need to find a new job and it would have to be one that fits your promise. Not worthy. Besides what about NIDS?"
"I have realized that there are more teams, companies who can give me another shot at finding the cure for NIDS."
His smartphone started sounding a tone for a very specific person, the GUN commander.
"Hello, Shadow?"
"Yes, commander, it is me. I have an important issue; Rouge is been sent back to the United Federations. She could not work with me anymore."
"Probably her period of service is not been renewed. I am sorry Shadow but there is nothing I could do. Other people manage our service members."
"If she goes, I go with her."
The commander sighted but he carried on, "you cannot follow her, remember that your special passport exists as a member of GUN. If you leave the organization, you will have no authorization to enter any country. It's probably her country taking her back, you know she is pretty good, we can only have her for a set period though."
"Thank you, commander."
"We made a deal, remember that you are too important for our efforts to keep peace in the world, Shadow. Goodbye."
He then turned his face toward Rouge and shake it.
"He denied any part and washed his hand of our problem," the still incredulous hedgehog said.
"He could ask the Duke," she replied before adding, "but I guess that may depend on the results of your tests."
That night, Shadow and Rouge were dining with the Duke and a scientist. The tests had been not exactly a success. The scientist explained how his blood cells were a wonderful thing since they indeed could be hosted by another immune system, but they could not fix the liver of the Duke's daughter. The most important step would be to take a part of his liver to try to transplant it to her. Because Shadow was healthy again, they now wished for him to donate part of his liver.
It was Shadow's turn and he explained to the Duke that they had faced issues with their employer. The threat of GUN revoking his access to countries and Rouge been returned to her country of origin.
This was a surprised for the couple of men, but the scientist brought up an idea. He proposed they go to the newspapers; the laboratory would say that the project is going forward and thanks Shadow for his commitment. Then Shadow could tell the newspaper about his issues with GUN. It could put pressure on the higher-ups of GUN to fix it.
Playing with her fork, Rouge told the Duke, "the minimum you can do is pay him a citizenship in the Caribbean or here in Cyprus."
The duke, still needing the hedgehog, took a deep breath and accepted he could do it in case the newspaper plan did fail, even if that would be illegal in Soleanna.
The scientist tried to protect the Duke by raising yet another problem. The time in this process, he said, takes minimum 3 months. It was quicker to pressure GUN.
Shadow took the word and showed his immaturity for this type of meeting, "I got it!" he claimed. "I can ask to join their medical services."
Rouge's face said it all. She disagreed.
"Exactly!" The Duke told him. "Even if they fire you, you can continue to be here with us while we get you the passport. You can be 3 months in a tourist visa. Perfect, actually."
"I need a lawyer," said the bat.
That was an unexpected answer, however the scientist calmed the tensions saying, "remember this is needed only if they do not listen to our plea in the newspapers."
The dinner then ended, and everyone went back home.
The next day, Shadow was ready to start the press conference, the many cameras in front of him provoked some changes into him like his pumped chest, his smile, his elevated shin even his vertical posture, sadly his glare was unnerving some of the camera crew.
He was going to communicate to everyone that he was an excellent asset for GUN and for anything related to the pharmaceutical industry.
Beside him was a spokeswoman from the laboratories working with the Duke, she thanked Shadow and announced that his efforts to cure a disease affecting many people in the world was getting rejected by GUN.
He said, "I do not want to war anymore, I think I can better serve GUN in the laboratories associated with them and not at warzones."
The spokeswoman ended the conference with her line, "If your reward for a person who is supporting our medical research is to punish him, you are not supporting your member states."
After the press conference ended, Shadow departed with Rouge to visit more places in Soleanna.
That very evening, through their social media accounts, GUN denied everything, except that one week later, the GUN Commander stepped down. In-between Shadow accepted to donate part of his liver to the daughter of the Duke. He finally met the Duke's girl in the hospital, a thin girl of red hair and bad taste in fashion.
After recovery, he and Rouge were finally free from the fear of GUN interference. He was still with GUN and Rouge was not, but no more wars for him. They could be together at the United Federations while they pondered what their next steps would be, maybe to accept any offer for moving to a different country, but the offers that came were only for one or the other. They would probably wait for the next adventure.