Chapter Three

The Meeting

Rouge continued to drive up the road until she saw the GUN HQ appear in sight. "Here we are Shad."
Shadow, who decided to rest his eyes for the remainder of the drive, opened his eyes and saw them approaching the headquarters. He looked at the clock on Rouge's stereo to see what time it was.

"Didn't take anywhere near as long as I thought. We made good time, especially considering the weather and the extra stop we made."
"Yeah, pretty good time," Rouge agreed as she reached the parking lot of the headquarters and parked in an empty space that was close to the building. "I think because of the weather, not many are out."

She turned the engine off and stretched her body out, relaxing her muscles after sitting in the same position for so long.

"You ready to get out?" she asked the hedgehog as she reached behind the seat for her umbrella.
"Yeah. Let's not keep everyone waiting," said Shadow. "They're not exactly the patient bunch at times."
"You got that right!" Rouge chuckled before opening the door, stepping out, and opening the umbrella.

After closing her door, she ran over to Shadow's side and opened the door for him, holding the umbrella over his head as well as her own. It was then that she saw the semi-tired expression on his face.

"You okay Shadow?"
Shadow stepped out of the car and, picking up on her concern, he gave her a reassuring smirk. "Of course."
Rouge smiled and kept the umbrella over them as he closed the door behind him. "Cool. Let's go."
Shadow nodded and after Rouge locked her car, they made their way towards the GUN HQ.

As the reached the stairs leading to the entrance, Shadow heard the familiar sound of Omega's jet boosters and turns around, seeing the robot landing a short distance from them.
Rouge turned around as well and smiled as she saw their robotic companion.

"Ah, there you are Omega. Quickly, get to the front door before you rust in the rain!" She chuckled at the last bit.
Shadow chuckled a bit as well before he smirked as realization came to him.

"We actually got here before you? Heh, what a shock."
Omega walked towards them, water dripping off of its body. "Both the wind and rain have increased since leaving Club Rouge. The combination of both affected my flight capabilities while airborne. But no need for concern. Thanks to many of my new upgrades, my overall system is intact and fully functional."
"That's good to know," said Rouge. "Though I gotta admit, I'm surprised that we actually got somewhere first before you did. But after hearing your explanation, it makes sense. Now then, come on you two," she said as she lead them both to the front door and swiped her ID card through a slot to be let in. "We better not keep them waiting."
"Yeah," Shadow agreed as the front door to the building opened.
Omega nodded its head and followed both Mobians into the building.
"Phew, glad we're inside..." Rouge said as she closed the umbrella and shook the water off. Afterwards, she turned to Shadow and Omega. "You two alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Shadow answered, smoothing out his jacket a bit.
A couple of beeps came from Omega's body. "Body scan complete," it responded. "No external or internal damage."
"Cool," Rouge smiled. "Come on then. Let's go see the commander."
"Affirmative," said Omega.
"And to see what's so important it was worth cancelling our vacation," Shadow added as he and Omega began to walk with Rouge into the HQ.

Once inside, Team Dark saw that the usual hustle and bustle was going on within the GUN HQ. Agents were all about, running errands of all kinds, just conversing with each other, or like Team Dark was, reporting for duty.
Shadow crossed his arms as his thoughts trailed back to his previous statement. "After all the hard work we've been putting in, I was looking forward to a little downtime."
"I don't understand it either Shadow," Rouge said, sighing. "And I admit, yeah I was looking forward to a little downtime too. We've been working hard as hell around here, probably more than everyone else."

While walking, she began to run her hands through her hair, trying to fix it up so that she'd look presentable in front of the commander.
"We'll find out soon enough," said Shadow before he looked over, saw her fixing her hair, and shook his head. "Don't fret over the way you look. You look fine."
Rouge was a bit surprised at Shadow's compliment towards her. It wasn't very often that she heard him say things like that. Regardless, she couldn't help but smile at his words and blush slightly.

"Thanks Shadow."
Replaying his words in his head, Shadow realized what he had said and in response, he simply cleared his throat and nodded his head at her.
Team Dark walked a bit more, greeting the agents that they passed. After asking one of them where the meeting would be held, they headed down the hallway leading to the room until they reached a set of double doors.

"We've arrived," said Omega.
"Thanks Omega," said Rouge after coming to a stop along with the robot and Shadow.
"Hmm, I wonder if everyone else that was called upon are already here," Shadow thought.
"I wonder as well," Rouge repeated before she knocked on the door. "Let's find out."

A few seconds later, a voice behind the door could be heard. "Name yourselves and state the order of your business."
"Team Dark, reporting for duty," Shadow answered.
"Agents Rouge The Bat, Shadow The Hedgehog, and E-123 Omega," Rouge added.
"Ah yes," said the voice. "We've been expecting you. Please enter."
The door opened and Rouge led Shadow and Omega inside the room where the meeting would be taking place.

Once inside, Team Dark saw many agents inside conversing with each other to pass the time.
"It looks like quite a lot were called in," said Shadow as he looked around, taking into account just how many agents were in the room. "Must be something big for this many to be here."
Rouge nodded.

"Seems like it. Come on, we'd better find us a spot in here and get ready for when the meeting starts."
As Team Dark walked in, several agents looked towards them and acknowledged their presence as well as carried on their conversations.
"Hey Rouge, hey Shadow, hey Omega."
"Glad you could make it."
"Rough weather huh?"
"Tell me about it!"
"Can't believe I had to come in not only on my day off but also in this weather!"
"Sucks balls huh?"
Shadow smirked a bit as he heard his fellow agents words.

"It seems like everyone else shares our feelings on the matter, eh Omega?"
The robot responded by nodding its head and continuing to walk alongside Shadow and Rouge.

"Rouge! Hey Rouge!"
Her ears twitching from hearing her name being called, Rouge looked towards where the voice came from and was overjoyed to see her friend Topaz waving her hand at her.

"Topaz!" the bat said, waving back to her and walking over to her with Shadow and Omega. "Hey there hun! How are you?"
"To be honest, could be a lot better," Topaz answered. "It looks like you got called to this meeting too huh?"
Rouge nodded, placing a hand on her hip.

"Sure did. Was enjoying the time off at home. What about you? What were you doing when you were called in?"
A grin appeared on Topaz's face.

"I was actually planning a cruise."
"A cruise!?" Rouge exclaimed. "Honey, I wouldn't mind one myself! Where were you planning on going?"
"Oh you know, just a week or maybe a couple weeks on a cruise ship, just travelling the sea," said Topaz, a dreamy, far away look replacing her grin.

"Just relaxing on the wide, open sea under the sunny sky, not a care in the world."
Shadow had a seat at one of the empty chairs beside them, keeping his arms crossed.

"Hmm, sounds like quite the vacation."

Topaz snapped back to reality and it was then that she noticed Shadow.

"Oh Shadow!" She looked behind the hedgehog and saw Omega as well. "And Omega! Hey there boys!"
"Hello to you too, Topaz," Shadow responded.
"Good to see you again," Omega added.
Topaz smiled and nodded. "Same to you guys!"
Rouge grinned before she had a seat as well.

"Heh, I bet they both are glad they were noticed."
Both Shadow and Omega turned their heads at Rouge, a look of slight annoyance on Shadow's face as he and Omega heard her comment. Rouge felt the looks and smirked as she turned her attention back to Topaz.

"In any case, I hope that you get that cruise sorted out hon. Who knows, maybe I'll come join you!"
Topaz retutned the bat's smirk and also chuckled. "Here's hoping. So, how about you three? How's things been going?"
"Same old," Shadow answered. "We hardly had the time to get anything started as far as our vacation goes."
Rouge nodded.

"Yeah, what Shadow said. Well, the weather's been awful so it wasn't too pleasant coming in today, but back home I got some tidying up done and got rid of some old clothes I don't wear anymore."

She smiled.

"We just donated them to the Salvation Army before coming here."
That last comment really got Topaz's attention and she raised an eyebrow at Rouge. "You...got rid of clothes?"
Shadow smirked. "Believe me, Omega and I had the same reaction."
"Well, if I'm not gonna wear them what's the point in keeping them?" Rouge asked, shrugging her shoulders in the process.
"Very good point there," Topaz agreed. "It's just that, for as long as I've known you, you like to hold onto everything you get."
Rouge looked over at her friend and winked. "Well, it looks like there's a part of me you don't know too well!"
Topaz grinned and shook her head. "I suppose so."

All of the agents continued to chat with one another for a while until the doors to the room opened.

"Agents, at attention!" called out the agent that was standing near the door.
Everyone looked over and saw two individuals - an elderly male and a middle aged brown dog - walk though the doorway and into the room.
Rouge nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw them.

'Commander Abraham Tower and Commander Samson Montgomery...' she thought to herself before standing up and saluting.
Shadow, Omega, and Topaz stood and saluted along with everyone else as the two commanders made their way to the front of the room, both of them standing on either side of a large screen on the wall behind them.
Samson turned and looked out at all of the agents.

"At ease, everyone," he called out.
All of the agents relax and sit back down in their seats.
"First and foremost," Samson began. "We appreciate you taking the time out of your vacations to attend this meeting."
"We know that it's been a very tiring time for you all," Abraham added. "But we wouldn't have called for this meeting if it weren't of the most utmost importance."
Samson nodded. "Indeed. Thank you all for being here."
Team Dark, along with the other agents, all listened intently, wondering what it is they well called to the meeting for.
Abraham looked around, taking note of how many agents showed up, and smiled.

"I must say, it does my heart wonders to see that everyone who was asked to come is here and accounted for."
All of the agents smiled and nodded their heads. Rouge glanced over at some of them and as she did, her eyes fell on Shadow and she noticed the hard look he hand on his face.

"You okay Shad?" she whispered.
"Yeah, I'm alright," he whispered back. "Just wondering what it is that it calls for not one but two commanders to oversee the meeting. You've been here longer than I have Rouge. Can you recall if anything like this has happened before?"
Rouge shrugged.

"Sometimes two commanders appear at a meeting if there's a large issue happening, but I don't know of anything that is happening now."
"A large issue, huh?" Shadow repeated. "I suppose we'll find out soon enough."
"Now then," Samson began. "Onto the meeting at hand." He motioned to the agent near the door. "Lights, please."
The agent nodded his head and flipped the light switch, dimming the lights.
"Hello?" Rouge questioned as she looked around. "What's going on?"
Topaz shrugged as she did the same. "You got me."

As the other agents wondered just what was going on, the screen between Abraham and Samson turned on.
"What's going on here?" Rouge asked. "I wonder what they're gonna show us."
"Same here," said Topaz as she looked at the screen.
Shadow was focused entirely on the screen, his crimson eyes narrowing a bit.
"Everyone" said Samson as he turned his attention to the screen. "Observe."
The agents did so and a few moments later, a slideshow began on the screen, showing masked individuals.
Rouge narrowed her eyes much like how Shadow did. "Masked individuals? I wonder who they are and who they work for."
"I have no idea," Topaz said before a frown appeared on her face. "They don't look familiar but they do look like trouble."
"Trouble is right," Rouge agreed as she flexed her toes where she had sharp iron on her boot. 'I'd love to give them a right butt kicking.'
Shadow kept the same look on his face before turning to Omega. "You have any clue who these guys are by any chance?"
"Negative," Omega said. "No information available."
'Figured as much,' the hedgehog thought before turning his attention back to the screen.
"I'm not sure if you've all heard," said Samson as he stepped forward. "But for the past month or so, there were ramblings and rumors of a militant group talking about rebellion against us."
"Which means we must be vigilant for any suspicious activity," Abraham added as he stepped forward as well. "Though these rumours haven't been proven to be true, we must keep our eyes and minds open."
Samson nodded. "Indeed. For all we know, this could be a joke. But when you see things like this..." The slideshow goes to a video where it shows one of the masked individuals burning a picture that has the GUN logo on it. "...it makes you wonder."

At the sight of the video, Shadow frowned and clenched his fists in an angry fashion.
"That looks serious," Rouge said, glaring at the video.
Abraham looked at the video of the GUN logo being burned and sighed. "You are right Samson. Seeing something like that does make you wonder, as well as possibly feeling scared and having fear put into you."
The agents began to ponder and think about the pictures and video they seen and some of them were indeed feeling the fear Abraham mentioned.

Meanwhile, the look of anger on Shadow's face was replaced with one of confidence and he smirked.

"Scared?" he said out loud, getting everyone's attention. "If you ask me, if they have the guts to even think about trying something, let alone actually coming here and doing it, they're the ones who should be scared because they obviously have no idea who they're messing with."
Topaz grinned after hearing Shadow's words. "Heh, right on!"
Rouge smirked and nodded, agreeing with her friend. "You got that right Shadow!"
Omega agreed as well by clenching its claws together and placed them into its other claws, simulating punching its palms.

A confident grin came to Abraham's face as well. "Excellent words Shadow. That's exactly what I like to hear."
The other agents looked at Team Dark and, after finding their confidence restored after hearing Shadow's words, all started to rally.
"We're with the hedgehog!"
"Us too!"
"Right on!"
Samson smiled as he saw the agents all rallying together and then looked at Shadow.

"Just the answer I'd expect from you Shadow." He then looked out at everyone else. "As well as the rest of you. Whatever challenge arises that threatens the planet, all that live here, and even us ourselves as an organization, we'll rise up above it and conquer it!"
Abraham clapped his hands. "Well said Samson!"All of the agents cheer in agreement. While Rouge clapped her hands along with everyone else, she smiled over at Shadow, proud of his earlier answer. Shadow looked over at her and returned her smile with a smirk before leaning back into his chair.
Samson motioned for the agent near the entrance to turn back on the lights, which he did.

"Now then, before we close the meeting, is there anything anyone else would like to add?"
No one said a word.
"Very well," said Abraham. "Very well. Remember everyone, to be on the safe side keep a sharp eye out for anything suspicious to attains to what we've all seen today."
Everyone nodded.
"And with that, we close our meeting," Abraham concluded. "You all are dismissed."
"Once again thank you for your attendance and good day to you all," Samson added.
The agents all stand and salute the commanders, who returned the salutes.

Afterwards, the agents all began to leave the room one after another, until the only ones remaining were Team Dark and Topaz."Well, that was...interesting," said Rouge as she looked as she looked over at Topaz.
"No kidding," said Topaz. "I gotta admit, coming into this I wasn't expecting to hear this. I mean, some group trying to come at us?" She crossed her arms and scoffed. "Even if those pictures and videos are jokes, who the hell do they think they are?"
"Tell me about it!" said Rouge. "I secretly hope it's just some immature idiots who want to get on our wick, I mean think about it, if they are just some punks trying to intimidate us, we can just round them up and lock them in the cells, after a serious butt kicking of course!"
The two females shared a laugh with each other. "And there's no way I'm gonna miss out on that!" Topaz added after her laughing subsided.
"Well then..." Shadow began, getting the attention of the two women. "Now that the meeting's over, what're you going to do now Topaz?"
"Dunno," she answered, shrugging her shoulders. "With the weather being how it is, there's not much to do. I'm sure I'll find something to pass the time. I always do, heh. How about you guys?"
Rouge sighed and shrugged, much like Topaz did. "Well if that meeting was just it, might as well head back home. I'm sure Shadow, Omega and I will find something to do. With the weather being way it is, like you said there's not much we can do."
"Yeah," Topaz agreed. "It really sucks."
Shadow couldn't help but agree as well. He was about to say something when he looked over and saw Abraham and Samson walking over towards them.
Rouge saw her friend looking and followed his gaze, seeing the commanders as well.

'I wonder what they want.'
The commanders reached them and Topaz saluted them. "Commander Abraham, Commander Samson. Is there something wrong?"
Abraham smiled at her.

"At ease Agent Topaz," he said, her lowering her hand afterwards. "All is well. Samson and I were hoping to catch you all before you left."
Shadow raised an eyebrow. "And why is that sir?"
"Yes. Why?" Rouge asked after lowering her hand too, just as curious as everyone else was.
Abraham looked at them all, one by one.

"The both of us wanted to personally thank you for rallying everyone during our meeting. It boosted the morale of everyone, the two of us included."
"Well, it was Shadow who did most of it," said Rouge as she smiled over at the hedgehog.
"It needed to be said," Shadow responded. "Whoever these guys are trying to start something, if it is real, everyone needs to know that we're not going to just sit here and take it."
Topaz smirked and nodded. "Yeah, what he said."
"Just the answer I'd expect from you Shadow," said Samson.
"Indeed," Rouge said, still smiling at the hedgehog. "Well said Shadow."
It was then that Shadow turned to Rouge and gave her one of his rare genuine smiles, something he hardly ever did.
"Thank you again, Agent Shadow," said Abraham. "I'm sure that Maria is proudly looking down on you after your words today."
"It was nothing sir," Shadow answered, his smile remaining as he thought of his dear departed friend.
"We'll take our leaves now sirs," said Topaz. "We know that you have a lot of business to take care of."
Rouge nodded. "Indeed. And please, inform us if you find out anything new?"
"Will do," said Samson.
"We will indeed," Abraham added.
Rouge smiled at them and, along with Shadow, Omega, and Topaz, saluted them. "Thank you sirs."Both commanders saluted them back and afterwards watched as they left the room.

Once they were gone, Abraham turned to Samson.

"We have a lot to do concerning the matter at hand, including informing the president."

Samson nodded back at him.

"Yes. Let's not waste any more time and get to work. If this situation is real, we'll have to be sure to be ready for anything."

So that's why Team Dark was called to GUN Headquarters.

Stay tuned for more coming soon!