Shadow left the GUN building to discover that the mech suits had wiped out the number of Eggman robots at the entrance. The building still looked like a charred mess. The panel denoting as the Department of Agriculture was lying on the ground, dented with bullets. The gray building had the black scorch marks of fire from the fight.
Shadow looked briefly down the road where the President's residence was in complete peace. That still did not make sense to Shadow. He tossed the Eggman gun away into the grass near some Eggman robot remains. It looked like the tank troops would be moving to secure the President, so if it was a distraction GUN would still resist.
Shadow did not even salute the troops as they passed. He had to get somewhere fast. No motorcycles and no jeeps. How would he get where he needed to go? The Eggman raid had knocked out military vehicles, but had they hit public transit? Shadow looked once more at the President's residence. No, he decided. There was a train to catch. He skated off.
The train was not very descript or busy. Shadow leaned against a bar in the center of the passenger car with his arms folded across his chest. The majority of passengers had gotten off at the Station Square train station. Not Shadow, his stop was still up ahead. He wondered if these bullet trains would be fast enough. GUN needed the supercomputer and then they needed to find Rouge and stop these Eggman shenanigans. What was the Doctor up to anyway.
"Train has arrived at the Mystic Ruins, as you exit please mind the gap," said the announcer over the intercom in a booming but feminine voice.
Shadow exited onto an older rickety train platform. He hoped his intel was right. The last time he had seen this guy was in Central City during the Emeril mess. He walked down the stairs and turned to look at the train bridge overhead. Should be just past this arch, Shadow thought.
Sure enough Shadow was greeted by a stone staircase in the distance with a barren plain next to him. He could see a building on the top of the hill. He thought he could see a puff of smoke. That was encouraging. Someone must be there. Shadow paused halfway up the stairs, he could feel something in the wind. He shook it off and continued to the door. He knocked on the door.
The door slowly opened and a yellow fox with two tails looked up at Shadow. The fox was wearing a welding shield as if he had been working on something. The visor was lifted over his face so that Shadow could see it. He was wearing an apron and he held a small blowtorch.
"Shadow? What are you doing here?" asked Miles Prower.
"GUN needs your help. Eggman has put a virus in the supercomputer," said Shadow.
"Wait, don't you have agents for that?" asked Tails.
"If I thought they were up to it, I would not be here now. I need you to come to Central City as soon as possible," said Shadow.
"He's not going anywhere, unless it is with me," said a husky voice from behind Shadow.
Shadow turned slightly to see who had showed up. He wore a green scarf and a red hat of some kind. He was a bear, but a white one. Shadow had never seen him before.
"I don't think I know you, sir. If you need my help, you'll have to wait until after I come back," said Tails.
"I don't think ya understand. You are coming with me, fox. My client has offered good money for you. As for you, hedgehog, I thought you had already been captured. No matter to me, I could use the bonus don'tcha know," said the polar bear.
"Captured hedgehog? You can't mean Sonic?" gasped Tails.
"Well I was told so, but it looks like he's right here, unless it is some Eggman clone. Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way," said the bear.
The bear put up his dukes and got ready.
"Tails, get out of here," said Shadow calmly.
"What did you say?" asked Tails.
Shadow knew only one thing about polar bears. They had one weakness. He was about to exploit it.
The polar lowered his punch aimed for Shadow's face.
Shadow dodged forward under the swing and ended up well within the reach of the bear. He aimed a kick low and found his target. The bear crumpled into the fetal position, as Shadow backed off a few steps.
"Why? Why did you kick me there? You might have broke the bone!" screamed out the bear in pain.
"Tails, is there a way to get out of here before he recovers?" asked Shadow. "There has to be backup around here somewhere."
"Yes, we can take the Tornado to Central City," said Tails. He reentered his workshop and pressed a button to turn the top of the cliff into a landing strip. The bear continued to writhe in pain and scream next to them.
"Any room for him? GUN might have questions," said Shadow.
"The Tornado is not big enough for cargo," said Tails. "However we know one thing."
"What's that?" asked Shadow.
"His bark is worse than his bite," smiled Tails.
The Tornado left Tails' workshop with Tails in the pilot seat and Shadow perched on the top wing. This would be much faster than the train.
With goggles on the air rippled through Tails' shiskers and also flowed through Shadow's quills. Tails looked up at the wrong hedgehog occupying that familiar spot.
"Shadow, what is going on? That polar bear mentioned Sonic being captured, do you think he was telling the truth?" started Tails.
"I don't know. I was sent here to get the GUN computer fixed so that GUN could locate Rouge. She's missing too," said Shadow. "Whatever the Doctor is up to, it is big and it is a threat to GUN. That is my concern right now."
"I hope Sonic's okay," said Tails.
"He takes care of himself pretty good. Don't you have a communicator or something that you can call him with?" asked Shadow.
"Oh yeah, one minute," said Tails. There was shuffling in the cockpit and the plane suddenly dove in altitude. Shadow grabbed on to the wing for dear life.
"Got it!" said Tails, producing a yellow panel. The plane straightened out. Shadow showed some relief.
"Tails calling Sonic, come in Sonic!" said Tails into his device. He waited for Sonic's voice but all he got was static. He tried again. Still nothing.
"So?" asked Shadow.
"He's not there. Now I'm really worried," said Tails.
"Well the only way we can find him would be to turn the GUN supercomputer's satellites to scan for him or maybe there is another clue somewhere," said Shadow.
"I hope so," said Tails.
The little airplane descended over Central City. Several anti-aircraft batteries fired warning shots as the Tornado approached the runway for the presidential plane to get into the GUN base. Tails began to get nervous seeing the tracers and flak booming around.
"GUN, this is Shadow. I am on this plane, stop firing," said Shadow into his bracelet. He looked back at Tails, "They may not get the message. I hope you have practice with messy landings."
Tails gulped. Shadow was right, his communications with GUN were still out. As long as the supercomputer was infected, GUN could not coordinate with anything but line of sight. He tried to steer the plane to descend, but the fire got more directed and numerous as he got closer to the strip. Then a shot took out the lower wing of the biplane.
The lurch sent Shadow flying but he grabbed the edge of the wing. Tails decided a conventional landing was impossible so he aimed for a retention pond next to the strip and ditched the plane into it. Before the crash he jumped out of his seat. He used his tails to hover and grab Shadow by his whirling feet. Shadow let go of the plane and it crashed into the pond's water and mud and came to a rest.
Tails struggled to hold Shadow as he lowered him to the ground. He deposited Shadow safely on the runway. The sun was bright looking down upon them and they showed no shadows on the pavement. As Shadow righted himself, GUN troops came from all around and aimed their guns at thee pair.
Shadow prepared for a showdown, but a voice rang out.
"It's Agent Shadow. Stand down, men," said an officer's voice.
The men lowered their weapons. The officer emerged from the crowd. He ran up to the hedgehog and the fox.
"Agent Shadow, I apologize for shooting you down. You have to understand we have set up a no fly zone over the government center of Central City. We are taking no chances. You and your guest are expected by the GUN Commander. I assume you know where to go?" asked the officer.
"Just be glad you missed. Follow me, Tails," said Shadow, motioning with his left hand for the fox to follow. "And…"
"And what?" asked Tails.
"We're even," said Shadow.
Shadow approached the back door. The retinal scanner that would have been there was still broken so Shadow just opened the door and head in. The next few minutes found him and Tails back in the command center. The place had been cleaned up with all the Egg Pawn chunks cleaned up and most of the GUN troops had been revived. The supercomputer was still on the fritz.
The GUN Commander leaned on a railing that surrounded the computer and saw Shadow return. "Ah, Shadow, you are back and you brought the fox with you?" inquired the Commander.
"Yes, he is the only one who can fix the computer," said Shadow.
"Well, son, your country needs you. Are you up for the task?" asked the Commander.
"Yes, sir," said Tails as he saluted. A GUN soldier escorted him to the computer where Tails proceeded to settle down to his task. He cracked his knuckles and then began to type furiously.
"It will take some time for him to get solve it, I'm sure. So let's talk about our other problem. We still have no idea what happened to Rouge. It seems it would be Eggman's doing, but she might have left some clues," said the Commander.
"What is your directive, Commander?" asked Shadow.
"I want you to go to Rouge's house in Central City. See if there is anything you can find there that would tell us where she went. Then come back here and we will decide what to do next. It's hard to know what Eggman wants since he targeted us but not the President, but with him it has never been good before. Splitting the world, shooting the moon, or building amusement parks- he never has been all that predictable," said the Commander.
"I am going," said Shadow.
"Good luck," said the Commander. He turned away to see what Tails was doing to the GUN supercomputer.
Shadow skated away. Rouge's house was part of her club in the Night Babylon district. It doubled as a GUN safe house since no one suspected that a casino and bar would serve as a government operation. Shadow hoped he remembered the password.