CHAPTER 8

A FRESH START

Meanwhile, military soldiers were lined up across the big and white hall inside of the G.U.N. military facility. The soldiers saluted and smiled warmly towards the red echidna woman who was gracefully walking down the hallway.

She wore a black military hat, a long black and purple colored trench coat, black leather knee high boots with a slight heel to them, and she wore a black skin tight leather bodysuit underneath her trench coat. She had two gold stars that were pinned on the upper right area of her coat. Her hair fluttered gently while she walked past the male soldiers who admired her.

"Good morning, Lieutenant Lien-Da!" One soldier spoke happily.

"Bless you, Miss Lien-Da!" Another soldier spoke out.

She turned to all of the soldiers with a wide warm smile on her face, "Why thank you", she spoke in a soft and calm tone. "A lovely morning to you all too!"

She turned her back and continued to walk down the hall while the soldiers continued to rave about her. When she turned and began to walk down another narrow hallway, she suddenly bumped into someone. "Hey! Watch where you're…" Her sentence trailed off when she immediately recognized who the soldier was. A calm smile formed on her lips as she laid her eyes upon a male black and red hedgehog who was wearing a black and gold military uniform. "Oh", she said while she crossed her arms. "Why hello there, stranger."

When he realized that he had bumped into Lien-Da, the hedgehog immediately started to apologize. "Lieutenant Lien-Da! I-I'm sorry."

A small giggle came from her as she studied how discombobulated he had looked while in her presence. "It's quite all right, Lieutenant Shadow."

Even though he had been called lieutenant more than once already, it still felt good to hear people say it. "I thought I was running kind of late so I rushed a bit."

Before she could speak, they both heard Gin's voice coming from behind them.

"You're not late at all."

The two turned and faced a white male fox wearing the white and light blue trench coat Shadow saw him wear when the two had first met.

The fox gave them both a friendly smile. "You came here just in time to be precise. Now we can get this huge announcement done and over with."

The two watched Gin walk over to a small microphone that was hanging on the white wall and started to talk into it.

"Attention all G.U.N. personnel, there will be a meeting being held in the conference hall. Everyone must attend. I repeat, everyone must attend. Thank you!"

Shadow turned to Lien-Da in confusion. "What's going on?"

"If I recall correctly, you never got the chance to introduce yourself to the entire G.U.N. staff", she spoke.

"So we've arranged one for this morning", Gin finished.

Shadow then remembered that he in fact haven't exactly met any of the G.U.N. soldiers other than Lien-Da and Gin. "Oh, that's right."

"Come on. We should get going."

While Shadow followed them both down the long and narrow hallway, he heard the two making conversation.

Lien-Da formed a small smirk towards the white fox while she walked beside him. "You're acting well spirited today. You must've taken your meds this morning."

He shifted his eyes in annoyance at the echidna woman. "What? Am I not allowed to be in a decent mood, Lien-Da?"

She giggled softly, "Nope! I think you're an imposter!"

He couldn't help but to crack a small smile at her innocent jokes towards him. "And I think you had your daily bowl of crazy flakes."

Shadow saw how the two were acting around each other and it shocked him to find out that Gin and Lien-Da were fairly good friends. At first impression, he thought the two were just strictly business. Soon enough, Shadow had found himself in a huge room that was filled with many soldiers and others who worked within the facility. He, Lien-Da, and Gin had stood side by side in front of the large crowd. As he continued to look around the room, he had to admit that he was quite nervous. He didn't know what exactly to say as a first impression to his new teammates.

Gin stood in front of a wooden podium and directed his attention to the crowd. He lightly tapped the microphone that was set on the surface of the podium to get everyone's attention. He began to talk into the microphone. "Good morning, comrades! Today, Lieutenant Lien-Da and I are happy to announce that we now have a third lieutenant to help us keep order and peace in and out of the facility." He turned to Shadow with a small smile and made a nod letting him know that he was ready for him to say what he needed to say in front of everyone. When he saw Shadow standing beside him, he turned to the crowd once more, "Everyone, give a warm welcome to G.U.N's new third lieutenant, Lieutenant Shadow!"

When Gin, stepped away Shadow had stood in front of the crowd who was clapping and cheering for him. He waited for everyone to stop clapping before he spoke into the microphone. "Thank you all for the warm welcome. Some of you may have heard of me. I used to work for the detective agency, Chaotix but I left on good terms of course. I came here because I know this place has been through some rough times over the years. This place and the people here have been mistreated and misguided."

While Shadow spoke, Lien-Da looked at some of the soldiers and saw some of them having tears in their eyes and sad looks on their faces. She slowly turned to Gin standing beside her and saw him listening to Shadow's speech. She noticed him glaring and biting his lip lightly. '…Gin…'

Shadow continued his speech, "My goal is to help repair this military and the city from these damages. I look forward to working with each and everyone one of you!"

Afterwards, everyone stood from their chairs and clapped after hearing Shadow's heartwarming speech.

Shadow spun around to Gin and Lien-Da and saw the two clapping and smiling at him.

After when the meeting was over, Shadow, Gin, and Lien-Da were sitting at a big table together while they were all in a smaller and more private conference room.

The echidna woman turned to Shadow with an impressed look while she sat beside him. "Shadow, that was amazing! You practically had the entire staff in tears!"

He formed a small smile, "I didn't know really what to say. I just said what I felt from the heart."

"It was very moving." She turned to Gin who was sitting at the end of the huge table. "Wasn't it, Gin?"

He made a small nod towards the two. "I have to admit it. What you said back there touched me. This entire military has suffered for so long…"

After hearing Gin say that, Shadow couldn't help but to wonder how long Gin and Lien-Da has served under G.U.N. "…How long have you guys actually been here?"

Gin had paused for a moment before he actually answered his question. "…As long as I can remember.

"…How long exactly?"

This time Gin remained silent and looked over to Lien-Da letting her know that he didn't feel comfortable with the subject anymore.

Lien-Da sadly looked down at the surface of the table as she began to explain. "A little after Itsuki started running G.U.N. as commander…"

By the way, the two had looked he figured bringing up the past commanders had brought up a lot of bad memories for them. "…So you two did know Itsuki and Fakir?"

A sarcastic laugh came from her. "Know them? Shit…"

Shadow arched an eyebrow in confusion towards her.

She slowly looked away from the surface of the table and turned to the curious hedgehog. "…Gin and I were their apprentices…"

Shadow practically stood from his chair in shock from her words. "What!"

"…That's right", Gin spoke. "In case either of them had kicked the bucket, Lien-Da and I would be forced to take lead of the entire facility."

Shadow was lost for words. He couldn't believe that the two were personally trained by his past arch enemies. If he wasn't cautious about Gin and Lien-Da at first, he knew he sure was now.

Lien-Da saw Shadow's shocked expression and she figured all kinds of things were running through his head. Most of it being negative things about her and Gin. "Shadow, this was before we knew…"

"…That they were both lying pieces of shit", Gin had finished bitterly.

"When we found out…we were devastated…"

"Shadow", Gin had spoken. "We're aware of your past confrontations with them and I know that you're thinking that we must be exactly like them…"

Shadow shifted his eyes away from him slowly in guilt from guessing exactly what he had thought of them.

The white fox shook his head slowly. "…No. Lien-Da and I are nothing like them. We know how you feel. Angry…hateful…betrayed. Itsuki and Fakir screwed us too and this is why we need you, Shadow. We need help to restore G.U.N. and Tech City to once it was."

As Shadow was lost in thought, he felt Lien-Da's hand fall onto his shoulder. He turned to her in sympathy, "When I got here, I said I would do what I must and that's to help this military and the city get to its feet again."

A warm smile slowly formed on Lien-Da's lips as she heard Shadow's reply. "Thank you, Shadow…"

Gin smiled warmly at the two and was relieved to know that Shadow was still willing to continue to work by their side.

Author's Note: Soooo I can't help there is a going to be some slight confusions going on. lol! First off, yes Itsuki and Fakir are being mentioned in this story. However, the events taken place in the stories they were featured in have changed. Such as Rouge and Shadow being alive and Kayla will not be mentioned as this specific story is being told by a whole another prospective. And yes this is a sequel for Longing if any of you didn't guess it already. If you got any questions, you can always shoot me a message!

In the Next Chapter...

Lien-Da: Come on, Shadow! I can't wait to show you around!

Shadow: I had no idea so many soldiers admired Lien-Da...

Gin: What can I say? She has a way with communicating with all of the soldiers here.

Lien-Da: I have a feeling your girlfriend doesn't like me very much...