Damn I've been gone for a while. Sorry this took so long, I'm working on several other projects at the same time.
Anyway, Sonic and Co. don't belong to me yadda yadda...
Warning: This chapter includes a very pissed off Cat, so expect profanity.
"I'm going to need to see all the evidence you've already assembled, and speak with the pathologist who conducted the autopsy." Shadow cursed silently as he strode back down the corridor, his new partner, Agent Cassie Rahna right behind him. She was reading through the case file without looking where she was going, talking rapidly even though Shadow refused to even acknowledge her, and yet somehow he hadn't been able to lose her.
"Then you'll take me to the scene of the shooting to see if the original team missed something." The lavender Hedgehog continued. Shadow growled as he thumped the call button for the elevator.
"What's strange is that we've got nothing on the victim, no profile, no friends or family coming forward, not even a missing persons report! It's like he doesn't exist!" Shadow sighed in relief when the elevator door opened, perhaps he could lose himself in today's generic tune. His eyes widened when he saw who else was in the elevator.
"Knuckles, what's wrong?" He asked as the two agents stepped into the small room. The red Echidna's shoulders were sagging, his head lowered with red circling his eyes.
"Oh hey Shadow." He croaked back. Cassie pushed the button for the morgue.
"You don't look good Knuckles, what's happened?" Knuckles sniffed deeply and rubbed at his eyes.
"It's just Rouge. She…"
"Is that Agent Rouge Bat you're talking about?" Asked Cassie.
"What about her?" Shadow asked, ignoring the agent next to them.
"She said something had come up. What did I do wrong Shadow?" The ebony Hedgehog glared at his lavender counterpart. He had no doubt what had happened and he wanted to blame someone.
"She's probably been sent on an urgent mission. She'll be back and then she'll explain everything. Trust me." Shadow put his arm around the shoulder of his Echidna friend. Knuckles sniffed deeply and looked at the ebony Hedgehog he had come to know as a friend.
"Thanks Shadow." Smiling, Shadow clapped his friend on the shoulder.
"No problem. I couldn't have you mopping all the time now could I?"
"What do you mean by that Shadow?" Cut in Cassie.
"It means Knuckles here is helping me with this case."
The doors opened and Shadow steered Knuckles down the corridor to the morgue, making a rather annoyed Hedgehog have to jog to keep up.
Slowly she pulled on her black skin-tight jumpsuit. Rouge had done this so often that it was now just habit, leaving her mind to wonder onto other things, like the panging feeling of sorrow and regret in her chest. She finished suiting up, stretched her wings and opened the door, walking slowly towards the waiting aircraft.
She walked silently past other Agents and workers running around with the final preparations for takeoff, and climbed up the loading ramp. She took a seat next to Topaz, her partner and long time friend.
"Something on your mind?" Rouge looked up at her partner. After a moment she looked back down to the floor of the aircraft. "Rouge?"
"Why now?" The question was so quiet Topaz had to move closer just to hear it. "Why did something have to happen now? He asked me out Topaz, and now this…"
Topaz put an arm around the Bat's shoulders, and Rouge rested her head on her friends shoulder.
"This sort of thing always happens. But don't be upset. If what you say about Knuckles is true, he'll wait."
Rouge let a single tear roll out the corner of her eye as the loading ramp rose up and the engines began to roar.
Sheba strolled back into her morgue, a cup of steaming coffee in her hands to find three suited men zipping up the body of the Crow.
"What are you doing?" Startled, the three turned and looked at her. One of them, a green furred Rabbit waved the other two back to work and approached her, pulling a sheet of paper from his pocket.
"We're here to take this body, orders from the head pathologist." He smiled as Sheba took the sheet of paper and turned to one of the sides.
"Well everything seems in order." She said, placing down her coffee. She suddenly grabbed a metal tray and spun round, smashing it into the face of the startled Rabbit, who crumpled to the floor. "Except I am the head pathologist! Security!" The other two, who had managed to get the body onto a gurney, drew pistols from inside their suits. One fired at the ginger Cat as she dived for cover behind a metal dissection table, before following the gurney out of the morgue.
Hearing the shout and subsequent gunfire, Shadow, Knuckles and Cassie started to run down the corridor, Cassie pulling a pistol from its holster as they went. They raced through the plastic sheeting and into the morgue. Shadow and Knuckles sprinted past the unconscious Rabbit on the floor and through the heavy doors at the other side of the room following the commotion. Cassie knelt down next to the ginger Cat, who was clutching her side, grimacing in pain.
"Fucking Bastards!" The Cat bellowed.
"Where are you hit?"
"Where the fuck do you think I've been hit? Where the blood is genius!"
"Alright, hold on." Cassie reached for her radio and called for a medical team.
They sprinted past the glass cubicles of other Agents and forensic scientists, many of whom were either cowering behind desks, or helping injured to their feet. More shots could be heard, and Shadow say two armed Agents under fire from three black suited anthro, covering the escape of two others pushing a gurney.
"Knuckles, help those Agents, I've got the body!" As he ran, Shadow reached into his quills and pulled out his own pistol which he hadn't used since the Black Doom invasion. He sprinted through a cubical and smashed through the glass, ending up behind the three black suited shooters, who he ignored in favour of the two running with the gurney.
Knuckles leapt through the hole Shadow had made and turned on the shooters. Clenching his fists, he sent one flying through another glass cubical before grappling with another for his gun. One of the GUN Agents took advantage of Knuckles' distraction and shot the other black suited anthro in the chest.
The gurney crashed through the door.
"Quickly, get it in!" Shouted the purple Hedgehog from the back of the waiting van. They swiftly and unceremonious threw the remains of the dead Crow into the back. The purple Hedgehog hammered on the ceiling of the van and the engine roared into life.
Shadow shouldered himself through the door to see the van, its back doors still hanging open, drive quickly down the alleyway. He aimed and fired, feeling satisfied to watch one of the black suits fall out of the moving van.
"Shit!" He dove into cover as a hail of bullets pounded around him. The screech of tires told him that they had turned the corner and had escaped. "Damn it!"
He thumped the dumpster he had used as cover and instantly regretted it as pain rocketed through his hand.
He walked back in to find that Cassie Rahna had taken charge and was helping to coordinate a clean up effort. Agents, scientists and medical personnel were clearing through the mess, seeing to injured and attempting to return things to a semblance of normality. Upon seeing him, Cassie waved to Knuckles who had been helping medic with an injured Agent. They both walked over to Shadow, who was rubbing his fist.
"I'm guessing they got away." Said a downhearted Cassie.
"Not all of them, I got one as they were trying to escape." Cassie waved to a passing medic.
"Check the alley for a body." Knuckles looked at the chaos surrounding them.
"What did they want?"
"They got what they were after." Cassie and Knuckles looked at Shadow, both knowing what had been taken.
"But why would anyone want to steal a body from GUN?" Wailed Cassie, running her hand frustratingly through her hair. Shadow shrugged.
"I don't know, but maybe one of our new corpses might have something to say."
"We've also got two breathing. We might get some information from them." Said Knuckles.
"Lets hope so, or this case just got a whole lot harder."
Things start to heat up for Shadow and the team.
The idea for the stealing of the body came from a crime TV series which I can't for the life of me remember.
Any ideas?
Anyway, hopefully it won't be as long before the next chapter is up.
Ttfn.