Hey, look another chapter! There's a section in here that I'm particularly proud of. Please review! Those comments are a fanfic writer's life's blood! (I don't have a problem! You have a problem!) I don't own anything.
Their plan was to approach HQ separately. The fact of the matter was, they needed Rouge to stay where she was if they had any chance of finding the blueprints to the chaos scrambler, so it meant they could not be seen presenting a united front in the matter of getting Shadow out. Rouge had a contact she trusted and wanted a little time to find her friend and get them to be the one personally handling Shadow's paperwork. Then Rouge would lurk in the base until Shadow showed up and they would have a "disagreement" about him wanting to leave team dark. Rouge would storm off, Shadow would proceed to Commander Tower's office and the paperwork would go straight into the hands of their trusted associate.
The grand facade of the HQ building had a distinct air of menace today as Shadow approached. Despite having reported there for an entire year, the place suddenly felt unfamiliar, as if he could go inside and find that the direction of the halls had changed, lounges and conference rooms in different places, and so, finding it unchanged gave it a dreamlike quality. That did not distract him from the general tension in the staff working in the building which only got worse when they saw him.
There was a decent enough crowd near Towers' office to ensure an audience. Everyone in the building would know that Shadow was leaving as fast as the rumor mill could spread it, though he wasn't looking forward to the shouting match…
Rouge was lurking near Towers office, drawing a good deal of attention with her obvious pouting. Shadow resolutely held coarse, heading for the door to Towers' office, halting only when Rouge slid between him and the door, hands on hips, a steely look in her eyes, displeasure obvious in her expression.
"You're being selfish," the bat said loudly.
"We're not doing this here," Shadow said. "Step aside, Rouge."
"And where are we going to do this?" Rouge said, cutting the air angrily with a hand. "You can't just announce you're leaving without giving us a chance to discuss this! What about Omega? What about me? Have you even given any thought to what you'll be destroying by walking out like this?"
"I don't expect you to understand my motivations," Shadow growled. "I don't need to justify my actions to a thief like you."
"Shadow! We're your team!" Rouge said, raising her voice a notch. "Does that mean nothing to you?"
Shadow crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes as he glared silently at Rouge.
The bat let the anger slide off her face replacing it with a very real look of hurt and betrayal. If Shadow hadn't known for a fact that it was fake, it might have been enough to make him break character. "Step. Aside."
"Fine," Rouge said, features closing down, turning aloof and cool. "Go then. See if I care." And with that, she stormed off.
Shadow shook his head with disgust and knocked on the door.
Towers was sitting at his desk, his usual glower of disapproval had deepend to pure hatred. "Agent Shadow," he said the moment the door was closed. "I was just about to mark you down as AWOL. And what is this I'm hearing about you resigning? I have an officer who reported you for misconduct on the field, and you're just going to run away?"
Shadow hopped up onto the chair opposite the commander and set down two separate documents. "I'm not sure what the other agents put down in their reports for that mission, but here is mine," he said. "It also explains the reason for delaying my return. You should review that first because it is relevant to my reasons for resigning."
Towers brushed aside the mission report as if it had slime on it, and briefly glanced over the other document. "And… your resignation papers."
"You won't persuade me to stay," Shadow said firmly. "And by law, you are obligated to sign."
The lines of disgust on Towers' face deepened, but he picked up a pen and flipped to the back of the document where his signature would end Shadow's involvement with the organization. The man stopped, though, and stared Shadow down for a moment, and the hedgehog narrowly resisted the urge to ball up his fists.
Aboard the Ark, Shadow had been entirely too used to people using his status as an artificial being as an excuse to say rights didn't apply to him, and he wondered if Abraham remembered any of this happening. If Towers didn't sign, there was still a paper trail at least. At long last though, Towers finally put pen to paper and left his scrawling signature, handing both documents over to the agent who approached his desk.
Shadow didn't think much of the newcomer until she turned and winked at him outside of Towers' view. Ah, Rouge's associate was already on top of the situation. Some of the tension in his chest loosened.
"I saw the footage of what happened aboard the Ark," Towers said, and Shadow's attention snapped back to the Commander, who stood slowly and turned to look out the bay window gracing his office. He folded his hands neatly behind his back. "It's your fault she's dead."
"You think I don't know that?" Shadow couldn't help growling. Even though she was alive, the accusation still caused a stab of agony.
"I think it is about time that you understood," Towers said. "You were born from evil, and that is all you will ever be. It's all you're capable of."
Oh… So this was how it was going to be. Towers was just trying to get into his head, play on his doubts, knock him off balance. Somehow, the fact that Maria was alive and still loved him undercut that entirely. A few days ago, this might have worked. However… It could be fun to act as if this struck its mark.
"Maria never thought that," Shadow said, hoping he wasn't playing up the hurt anger too much. "She had faith in me!"
"Right up until the end," Towers agreed. "And look where that got her." The man turned back to glare at Shadow. "She was a child, Shadow. Children make mistakes."
"I'm finished here," Shadow said, hopping down from the chair to storm off. He left the office making sure to slam the door behind him. There were too many people in the hall, unfortunately, so he couldn't pause to listen to Towers' reaction. All that was left though was to walk out of the building. He kept up his show of anger until he was out the front door but he didn't feel as if he could relax just yet. His play might have been over, but something about this just didn't feel final. Perhaps it would sink in when he was out of the shadow of the building. He glanced back to look at the place one last time and it was about three seconds before he spotted something reflecting light from the roof of the building.
He realized what it was and had just started to move when the sound of a gunshot shattered the afternoon peace and it felt like something punched him in the shoulder, hard. He'd been hit by bullets before, he knew exactly what had just happened, and if he didn't break line of sight, his head was next. Gathering what chaos energy he had, Shadow made a small jump, placing himself in the very next alley, where he fell to his knees breathing hard. His shoulder was starting to hurt, and he could feel hot blood sliding into his fur.
So that's what their play had been. Honestly he felt like he should have seen this coming. Fiery pain lanced through him as the nerves in his shoulder truly caught onto the fact that he was injured and began to scream. Cradling his arm, Shadow glanced over the wound and discovered that the bullet was still lodged in his flesh. It couldn't have been a through and through, of course. Maria knew what to do with bullet wounds. He needed to find Maria.
He pushed himself to his feet fighting back a wave of nausea and ignited his rocket shoes, carefully keeping a building between him and the GUN headquarters at all times. He would have to find something to stop the bleeding. The last thing he wanted to do was leave a clear trail leading to his sister.
Maria sat down with a sigh of relief and took a tentative lick at her ice cream. It had only really been three hours, but it felt so very much longer. Amy had proved herself to be an extremely thorough wardrobe designer, though to her relief, the pink hedgehog had actually listened to her request for more active wear. Dresses were nice and all, but her illness was gone, and she wanted to do stuff!
"Honestly!" Amy was saying, rolling her eyes in aggravation. "The guy at that last store had no idea what he was doing!"
"He seemed fine to me!" Sonic said, setting down the last shopping bag he'd been carrying. He and Tails were both looking a little beleaguered, and while neither of them had been required to try on clothes, they still seemed immensely relieved to sit down to an ice cream break.
"Whatever!" Amy groused. "You two wouldn't know fashion if it hit you in the face!"
"Hey!" Tails protested. "I know how to dress up!"
"Anyway, you guys owe me a story!" the pink hedgehog said, plunking herself down onto one of the stools beside Maria. "So how'd this all happen? And was Shadow doing there, anyway?"
Where to even start?
Maria stared at her ice cream, turning it this way and that as she considered what she should say. "Now that we're here, I don't think that this is a good setting for this conversation," she said at last. Oh yeah, by the way, I'm the girl that died aboard the Ark fifty years ago. That would go over real well.
"Honey, are you in some kind of trouble?" Amy asked gently, setting a hand on her wrist.
"I might be," Maria admitted. "I can at least tell you this. I don't have a paper trail anyone would currently believe. So I essentially don't have any records."
"Hmm, that is a problem," Sonic said. "Nothing a cover story and some hero clout wont fix. But you're right. We'll have to address that at some point. An alias would be a good idea as well."
"Why? What's wrong with Maria Robotnik?" Maria asked.
Both Tails and Amy choked on their ice cream and began to cough and splutter. Sonic's ears went flat.
"Maybe we should catch you up first," Sonic said, glancing around furtively.
"You're related to-!" Tails began, but Amy clapped a hand over his mouth.
"On second thought, maybe this should wait till we're behind closed doors," Amy said in a rush.
"Maybe we should be done shopping," Maria said. "I have enough clothes to last for a few weeks."
"Tails and I won't be able to carry much more anyway," Sonic said.
"Shadow never said anything about a meeting spot," Maria said worriedly.
"If all else fails, he does know that you're staying at my shop in the Mystic Ruins," Tails said.
"Tell ya what," Sonic said. "Let's go home for now, and if Shadow doesn't show up by dinner time, I'll come back here and start asking around. I know a couple of folks who are good at finding people."
"Rouge would be a good one to ask," Amy agreed.
"Right," Maria said, smoothing down the front of her dress with the palms of her hands. "And Shadow can take care of himself. He's pretty tough. No one knows that better than I do!"
"There ya go!" Sonic said. "Come on, I'm sure he'll love to see some of the things you found."
They stood up, gathering the bags between them and stepped outside. The sound of a gunshot had the ears of all three mobians standing at attention. Sick dread settled over Maria's heart.
"...Firework?" Amy suggested lamely.
"No way!" Tails said, shaking his head.
"Little strange for that to be going on during daylight hours, either way," Sonic said. "And I think we all know it wasn't the fun version."
Before they could deliberate further, the jet engine whistle of Eggman's Egg Mobile had them all looking up.
"I think our day just got more complicated," Tails said, glancing worriedly at Sonic.
"Ooooohhhhhh Sonnnniiiic!" Eggman called as the round craft came into view.
"I thought it was about time for you to crawl out of the rock you've been hiding under," Sonic said, leaning casually against the nearby light pole. "What do you want now, Eggface?"
He looked relaxed, but Maria had experience in calling Shadow's bluffs. She could see a tense line in Sonic's shoulders, and his weight was centered forward on the balls of his feet. This was a hedgehog ready for a fight.
"Just thought I'd drop by and let you know that it's your favorite day!" Eggman said maliciously.
The mobile lowered enough that Maria finally got a good look at this Eggman character and she felt her blood rush into her feet. He was almost the spitting image of Dr. Gerald Robotnik, her grandfather.
"Trash day!" Eggman crowed, throwing his head back for his classic hooting laughter. "Hoo hoo hoo! What will you do now Sonic? As we speak, my various scrap pieces are beginning to swarm the city, and there are a lot of them this time!"
"Looks like duty calls," Sonic said, making a show of popping his knuckles. "Ames. Go back inside and ring up our friends. I think they'd like a piece of this action, too!"
Amy grabbed Maria by the arm and hauled her inside. "Come on, I've got some phone work to do!"
Sonic glanced around to find that Tails had already disappeared, no doubt to grab the Tornado or his latest Mech.
"See, Eggface? It doesn't matter what day of the week or even time of day you try to catch us," Sonic said proudly. "We'll always be ready to stop you!" And with that, he bolted off to begin organizing the city and to smash the robots.
Shadow would blame it on the shock of his injury that he didn't realize people were screaming till a good thirty seconds had gone by. He had nearly made it back to the tramway, but when he looked up, he realized there would be no avoiding this. A group of Moto Bugs were closing in on several people, blades flashing wickedly. Dammit, he didn't have time for this!
Shadow growled and threw himself into the air. Curling into a ball of spikes, he managed to take out three of them in one swoop, but it left his shoulder to scream in protest. After treating the last two to his chaos spears, he turned to the people and pointed down the clear alley way. "Go find shelter," he told them. "NOW!"
He could hear more screams in the distance. Of course the doctor had to choose today of all days to wreak havoc. He skated off towards the shopping district, blood running cold at the thought that Maria could still be in the city. It was a relief to see people were actually helping each other. There was a group of men out each armed with various improvised weapons ranging from a metal baseball bat to a bicycle chain. Mobians with some slight chaos abilities had also stepped forward to defend the weak.
A larger mech trundled into the area and the group hesitated.
Shadow did the math. Brave as they were, this group was no match for this particular robot, even damaged as it was. Without pausing he performed another spin dash, cutting right through the machine's central processing unit. He emerged on the other side, stumbling into a crouch as his world darkened around the edges of his vision.
Sick pain gripped his entire shoulder, stealing his breath and throwing the world into a spin. His jaw muscles tightened and he swallowed convulsively, only just managing to get a lung full of air. He straightened back up and attempted to regain his bearings.
"Was that Shadow?" one of the men asked.
"He's bleeding," another observed.
Shadow ignited his jet shoes with a little effort. He needed to keep moving. He needed to find Maria. The shopping district was just ahead.
To his utter relief, he caught sight of a familiar blue blur. Sonic was bouncing back and forth from robot to robot like a pinball in an arcade game. Parts were flying, and the sound of dying machinery was almost a constant downward hum. If there was one thing to say about the blue speedster, it was that he'd turned robot destruction into an art form.
He uncurled, landing on his feet and stood for a second, breathing hard, though he smiled at Shadow and snapped off a saluting wave. "Heya Shadow," he said. "Great you could-. You're hurt!"
"It's nothing," Shadow said, resisting the urge to turn his shoulder away from the other hedgehog. "Where's Maria?"
"Inside," Sonic said, pointing at the Ren and Larry's ice cream shop. "Nothing's gotten past me yet! I promise!"
"I'll take over guarding the shop," Shadow said. "Can you establish a wider perimeter?"
"Ask and you shall receive!" Sonic said and zipped away, taking out several robots further away.
They worked together, briefly exchanging notes and covering each other's blind spots. It was all going well until a specialized mech turned up. It was an upright bot on treads with missile boxes on its right and left. Three larger missiles hung threateningly over its head. The yellow lens that served as the camera was cracked, but that did not appear to have affected its aim in the slightest.
"I got this!" Sonic yelled, taking off. He got close to the thing, taunting it until he was certain he had its attention before making the attempt to lead it away from the buildings.
The bot turned on him and let loose a salvo of missiles that turned out to be guided. Sonic took off scraping them off on traffic lights, bus stops and other handy things. Shadow could see that he was struggling a bit, but his efforts were working.
The last missile though…
It was one of those moments of slow motion. Sonic made a tight loop around a tree on the sidewalk in an effort to ditch his last follower, but the missile followed him perfectly. Shadow opened his mouth to shout a warning the same instant Sonic noticed and put on a burst of speed. The missile struck the concrete just behind him and exploded. Shadow was already moving as Sonic's body flew through the air and struck the wall of a building. The blue hedgehog bounced off and hit the ground rolling to a stop where he lay still.
The bot loaded up another missile.
Shadow reached for his chaos energy, but he'd already spent so much it was like dipping his entire body in boiling water. The chaos spear left his hand in an unsteady lump of sparks, but it still did the job. The bot stopped cold with a mild explosion, its lights going dark.
Shadow approached it, holding his bleeding shoulder, giving it a hefty kick that finished off the connectors on one set of treads and the thing finally crumpled. He turned. Sonic was still an unmoving ball of slightly scorched blue fur on the sidewalk. "Idiot!" Shadow growled, bleak worry rising in his chest. "Get up! You don't get to do this!"
He dropped to his knees beside the blue hedgehog and turned him over with his good hand. Sonic's eyes were closed, but his chest rose and fell with regular breaths. Shadow sat back on his heels feeling dizzy with relief. He breathed for a bit, but his head continued to spin. When had everything gotten so dark? Then the pavement rose up to meet him.