CHAPTER 9

EXCURSION

"Oh come on, Gin!" Lien-Da had begged. "It'll be fun!"

Shadow, Gin, and Lien-Da we're standing outside of Gin's office in a huge hallway.

Gin had his back against the cold concrete walls and had placed his hand up. "I told you, Lien-Da. I'm just far too busy right now." He turned to Shadow with a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry Shadow, but it looks like Lien-Da will just have to show you around for now."

Shadow thought with Gin being the first lieutenant he had far more important responsibilities to attend to. "It's all right. I understand."

The three of them were interrupted when they heard a shy and calming feminine voice.

"Lieutenant Gin?"

They turned and caught sight of a brown cat woman with blonde hair that was at shoulder length. She looked extremely young. She couldn't be no older than eighteen. She wore huge round glasses on her face, a fitted white long sleeve collared shirt, blue skinny jeans, and black sneakers.

The young woman had a nervous look on her face as she was in the presence of the three lieutenants. For some reason, it was hard for her to look Gin in the eyes. "I have those reports you had wanted."

The white fox crossed his arms, "Well, it's about time you got here, Sierra. I'm already running late as it is." He watched her walk over to him and hand him a clipboard full of papers.

"My apologies, Lieutenant Gin…" she spoke in a low and soft voice. Her eyes wandered over to the black hedgehog standing next to him. Just by the sight of him, she felt like she couldn't take her eyes away from him.

Gin noticed her constant staring at Shadow. "Sierra?" He called. "You went to the meeting earlier didn't you?"

She made a small nod, "Of course."

"Well? Don't be rude! Show your new third lieutenant some respect!"

"I'm so sorry!" Flustered by Gin's outburst, she quickly stood in front of the hedgehog and bowed her head towards him. "Good morning, Lieutenant Shadow. I look forward to working with you!"

Shadow couldn't help but to notice Gin's crude behavior towards the woman. He snapped out of his thoughts and focused his attention back to the brown cat woman. "It's a pleasure to meet you too."

Lien-Da flashed her eyes over to Gin and saw him giving her the same look.

Gin focused his attention back to Sierra. "Okay enough of this. Did you get my coffee?"

Sierra's heart skipped a beat before she could reply to him. "…I forgot it but please don't be mad! I'll get right on it, sir!"

"You had better", he growled. After when he watched her walk away from the group, Gin turned back to Lien-Da and Shadow and shook his head. "Damn teenagers", he murmured under his breath. "Anyway…"

Shadow watched as Gin pointed at the echidna woman.

"…Don't screw up on showing Shadow around."

She placed her hands on her hips. "I'm only going to show him around the facility! How am I going to screw that up?"

"Oh, you'll find some way knowing you…"

She arched an eyebrow at the fox, "Geez! Thanks for the support!" She spoke sarcastically. She turned from him, wrapped her arm around Shadow's and began to lead him down the hallway. "Let's get started, Shadow!"

"I'll catch up to you guys, later!" Gin watched as Lien-Da practically dragged the hedgehog down the hall. A sweat drop formed on the side of his head, 'Why does she intend to be so damn headstrong?'

While the two were walking together, Shadow had soon enough realized that Lien-Da's arm was still wrapped around his. It honestly made him feel quite uncomfortable. It almost looked like the two were practically holding hands. Before he could do or say anything, he saw her suddenly take her arm from his. He stopped in his tracks when Lien-Da had stood in front of him with a teasing look.

"Sorry about that. I just wanted to find every way possible to irritate Gin. Even if it means showing off in front of him."

He arched an eyebrow in confusion. He couldn't help but to think that maybe Lien-Da was only acting interested in him just to simply annoy Gin. He then had the thought that she maybe had a thing for Gin. He walked past her with a sly smile on his face. "Don't you think he was irritated enough?"

She gave him a confused look, "What do you mean?"

"That girl."

"Oh! You mean Sierra? She's Gin's personal assistant", she explained. "She's friendly and all but she's very shy and timid. I personally think she's adorable but Gin gets frustrated with her apparently."

"How old is she exactly?"

"She's eighteen. She's a college student and works here in her spare time."

"So she's only here to take orders from Gin?"

She could tell from the tone of his voice that he sounded completely disgusted with Sierra being Gin's assistant. "I know…Gin pretty much treats her like shit and it's not right. But she's so shy. She needs to stand up for herself you know?" She decided to drop the subject about Sierra and Gin. "Anyway, let's get this tour started…"

The two kept walking until they walked into a huge room that was filled with tanks, strange weapons, and combat robots The room had looked like a giant laboratory filled with war machines. Soldiers and other members of the military staff were hard at work on the machines.

Lien-Da continued to lead Shadow throughout the room. "This is where we make our one of a kind combat equipment."

Shadow looked around the room in interest. He couldn't believe he was actually standing in the room where they made their very own weapons. He was quite impressed, "Interesting…" He suddenly noticed a lot of the workers and soldiers praising and talking to Lien-Da.

"How are you, Miss Lien-Da?"

"You're radiant as always, lieutenant!"

She was not only getting praised by men but by a few women as well. A few of the workers had talked to him as well but he was really shocked to find that Lien-Da was adored by quite a lot of her co workers. He saw how she laughed and smiled warmly towards the soldiers and he could see why she was so loved by them. Her gentle smile was calming and radiant.

While everyone gathered around Shadow and Lien-Da, a male yellow lion who seemed to be in his early twenties with brown hair had sent a cold glare towards the two lieutenants.

Much later after when Lien-Da was done showing Shadow all around the military facility, the two were standing beside each other outside of the facility on a small balcony. They were watching the sun set while a warm breeze from the wind traveled the air.

Shadow turned to Lien-Da who leaned against the railing of the balcony while she smoked a cigarette. "I didn't know you smoked."

She slowly turned to him and gave him a sly smile as she glanced at the cigarette in his mouth. "There's a lot you don't know about me…"

He made a nod and leaned against the railing of the balcony as well while he blew out some of the cigarette smoke. "Well, we're working together now. Looks like I'll have to get to know you."

She made a small smile and blew some smoke from her mouth, "Likewise, Lieutenant Shadow."

Shadow had then decided to bring up more about Sierra. "So, what makes Gin so special that he has his own personal assistant?"

A small giggle escaped her, "Because he's stuck up and a total douchebag."

By the tone of her voice, he knew that she was only joking. "So I have to walk around with a stick up my ass to get my own assistant?"

As she flicked her cigarette onto the concrete ground, she giggled softly towards his remark. "I guess that explains why I don't have one either then."

He had to admit to himself, Lien-Da seemed no where close to being the slight bit cruel to anyone. She was way too nice.

"Well, Gin is the first lieutenant. He's the one who calls most of the shots. Not me."

So now things were beginning to make sense. He had a feeling that Gin was the main one who controlled G.U.N. However he still had a bad feeling about him. Something about him wasn't right.

"You and I basically have to make sure everything is in order and nothing gets thrown out of place."

He tossed his cigarette to the ground. "I see…" He then saw her about to turn and walk away.

"We should start heading back inside. I still have some things I want to show you…"

His eyes widened as he saw her about to trip and fall.

Before she could try to catch herself, she suddenly found herself in the arms of the black hedgehog. A deep red blush formed on her face as the two stared into each other's eyes.

It took a minute but he had finally snapped out of his thoughts and helped her to her feet.

She slowly pulled her body from his and gave him a gentle smile. "My hero", she spoke with a soft giggle.

He tried not to show any signs of him blushing as well but just having that thought of him holding her close to him like that kept repeating in his head over and over. "…You need to be more careful. Are you all right?"

"Yeah", she spoke as she stood beside him. "I guess I just lost my footing…thank you."

He still found it hard to look her in the eye after all of that had happened, "It's no problem."

"At first I wasn't sure about you, Shadow…"

He slowly turned to her in confusion.

"I thought you didn't give a damn about this facility but when I heard your speech…it touched me…"

His heart raced when he saw her reach out to him and touch his hand gently.

"I'm so happy you decided to give Gin and I a chance to prove that we're good people. I'm glad you gave this military a chance. You won't regret this Shadow, I swear."

He saw her body getting closer and closer to his.

"I know you probably think I'm interested in Gin but I'm not. He's not really my type. He's too old for one thing. I like guys who are down to earth. Someone like you…"

His heart raced as she leaned closer and closer until her lips had met his.

When he felt her lips on his, he wanted to return the kiss back. However, the image of Rouge was still in the back of his mind and he began to realize what was going on. He pulled away from her and gave her an unbelievable look. "…Lien-Da, I'm…sorry but I'm in love with Rouge."

She had a look of disappointment on her face at first but then made a small nod. She stepped away from him and turned from him in embarrassment. "My God…I'm so sorry, Shadow. I didn't mean…" She sighed heavily as her words trailed off.

He didn't know what to really say to her during that situation either. All this time, he had thought that she was really friendly. Well, now he knew for sure that she indeed had liked him in more than one way.

She finally had the courage to turn back to him. "I didn't mean to make things awkward for us. Let's just pretend this never happened okay?"

Still, he didn't know what to exactly say to her so he just made a small nod as he agreed that never speaking of it again would be best for both of them.

When they both heard footsteps approaching, they turned and saw a white male fox stepping out onto the balcony.

"There you two are." His eyes shifted over to Shadow's, "Shadow, I take it you enjoyed your tour with Lien-Da?"

Shadow glanced over to her and then back at Gin uneasily. "…Um, yeah."

"That's good to hear. We should head back inside. I wanted to go over some more things with you guys."

"Sure thing, Gin!" Lien-Da spoke before she walked back inside.

When Shadow saw that she had left, he stopped Gin before he followed her. "…She's something else isn't she?"

Gin turned to the hedgehog with a small smile. "Heh, yeah. Lien-Da's a real character."

"…She's admired by a lot of people here…"

"Well", Gin began, "She's really open and friendly. If you're a lieutenant and you have an attitude like that, you better believe everyone will bend over to kiss your ass." He chuckled a bit, "I guess that explains why I don't have a lot of fans like her."

When he saw Gin make his way back inside, he slowly followed behind him with still having the uneasy feeling about his situation with Lien-Da.

In The Next Chapter...

Shadow: I don't believe this...

Rouge: I just don't want to lose you, Shadow...

Shadow: You're pissing me off with this jealousy thing!

Rouge: I don't trust her...

Shadow: You just don't trust me! And I'm getting sick of it!