As Shadow crossed the concourse, he heard the sound of Abraham slamming his fist against his desk through his earpiece. 'Shadow, you need to disengage and get out of there. Do you hear me?'

The masked figure turned to face Shadow, holding his megaphone in one hand and the placard in the other.

Shadow heard the clang of hands on the rooftop railing far above him. 'Shadow!' Rouge screamed.

The man's mouth was hidden, but his eyes creased in a grin.

The thrusters in Shadow's shoes ignited, and he lunged forward, crossing the concourse in the blink of an eye.

Chaos erupted.

Shadow reached for the man's throat, but his hand closed on air. He flipped and blasted his thrusters at full force to cancel his momentum before he smashed through the ground floor of GUN's headquarters. Screams and panic ensued. He pivoted and drew his hand back for another blow, but then he stiffened.

It was a hologram.

Shadow heard a metallic clatter, and he looked down. The hologram was being projected from a thick metal disk, and something was rolling away from it, beneath the feet of the panicked guards and protestors.

It was a grenade.

Shadow dove forward, yelling over his comms, 'Rouge, reposition! Now!' He snatched up the grenade and threw himself back from the crowd. The world turned green, and time ground to a halt. Rouge had already disappeared, likely already sprinting towards the rooftop door.

Shadow skidded to a halt and looked up at the sky. The stars were already beginning to come out, but this twisted caricature of Maria no longer had eyes to see them.

Why?

He braced his feet against the ground, winding up for the most important throw of his life.

Why?

He'd used to play catch with Maria in the halls of Space Colony Ark. The glass windows had once reflected the sheer, vibrant joy that she'd felt while she was alive, but then those same windows had been stained by countless bloodied handprints – stamps of terror and desperation.

'… Why?!'

The word ripped out of his chest, and he threw the grenade so hard that it broke the sound barrier. The crack echoed in his ears. Time resumed.

The explosion shook the building, and red rained down.

It fell on the protestors and security guards alike. It dripped down on him, and it even misted Scarlet and her crew.

For a moment, his heart stopped. Then it began pumping, violently beating out a single rhythm.

Rouge. Rouge. Rouge –

She flew into sight, spiralling around the building, and touched down in front of him. Her white fur was spattered with red. 'Phew. Have a little faith, sweetheart –'

Shadow pulled her to him and crushed her in a hug so tight that her spine cracked beneath his arms.

Rouge yelped. 'Hey, easy! You know I have a bad back.'

He ignored her and tightened his grip. '… I didn't hear the sound of the rooftop door.'

Rouge leaned into him and hugged him back. 'I knew you were gonna launch that sucker sky-high, so I thought I better take a dive instead.' Her ears twitched, and she cringed. '… What is that awful stench?'

Now that she had drawn his attention to it, he finally realised what the chemical scent mingling with her perfume was.

'It's paint.' He closed his eyes, feeling his muscles begin to burn from the force he'd exerted. 'It's red paint.'

The doors at GUN's entrance slammed open. Soldiers ran out onto the concourse, led by Agent Boulder, and they began rounding up the scattered, panicked protestors. The bomb squad followed hot on their heels, swarming the holograph projector that had ejected the grenade. Shadow turned rigid, and Rouge turned to see what he was looking at.

The hologram of the man holding the placard was flashing erratically, and the projector began to emit sparks and smoke. It must have been damaged by the paint. The placard bearing Maria's bastardised likeness shone against the dark walls of GUN's headquarters one last time. Then it flickered and disappeared.

Rouge's ears flattened against her head. Her tan skin turned pale. Shadow loosened his grip, stepping back, and she turned to face him again. 'Oh, Shadow, you … you're …' She looked down and her eyes widened. 'You're shaking.'

'No, I'm not.'

'You are.' Her voice sounded like it was coming from very far away … as though he was underwater, and she was above the surface.

'I'm fine.'

'You're not.' Rouge shook her head and grasped his hand, squeezing tightly. She stood against the backdrop of GUN's headquarters. The once-grey monolith had been stained red, along with everyone else in the blast radius.

Shadow could still hear Scarlet's voice, but now it sounded like static. His gaze wandered, and he saw her, still standing in front of the camera, splattered with paint, continuing to broadcast with a shaky voice. She glanced at him, and her eyes were wide with shock.

His vision began to unfocus, and Rouge snapped her fingers in his face. 'Look at me.' She forced a smile. 'My eyes are up here, darling.'

His gaze snapped to her eyes. They were a bright, vivid blue – something to focus on in a sea of red.

'Come on. If you've got anything left in the tank, then let's go.'

'… Where to?'

'The biomedical division.'

'I said I'm fine.'

'Well, I'm not,' Rouge said pointedly. 'You nearly broke my back just now, and I need some ibuprofen.'

He materialised the Chaos Emerald and gripped her hand tighter. His fingers were twitching, and tremors shot up and down his arms. 'Chaos Control –'

They reappeared in the biomedical department, and Shadow stumbled away, grabbing the handrail on a nearby cart to steady himself. Scalpels, forceps and other metal tools fell to the ground with a clatter. He gasped for breath, trying to get air back in his lungs.

He expected Rouge to saunter off to the department's pharmacy, leaving him to compose himself. Instead, she rushed back over to him, dragging Verity in tow.

Shadow glared at them both. 'I'm fine –'

Verity looked horrified. 'You're covered in blood!'

'It's red paint!' he snapped. 'It's just … It's just paint, damn it!'

Verity swiftly looked him up and down, noting his shaking hands and shortness of breath. '… It's not just paint, though. Is it?'

'I'm not injured –'

Verity grabbed Shadow by the shoulders and sat him down in the nearest chair. 'I might not be a diagnostician, but I'm also not blind.' She yelled over her shoulder, startling the nurses who were watching from a distance. 'I need an IV line and benzodiazepines! Get me 0.5 milligrams of clonazepam or 1 milligram of alprazolam! Hell, I'll even take diazepam at this point!'

Shadow gritted his teeth. 'I'm fine, I …' He blinked several times. 'I overexerted myself.'

'This isn't just overexertion,' Verity said, grabbing his arm with one hand and taking an IV line from a nurse with the other. 'You're disassociating in front of my eyes – so save your breath and stop arguing.'

'I –'

Verity stabbed his arm with the trochar, and he hissed in pain. 'Stop it,' she said, and wrapped his free hand around his arm, over the cannula. 'Hold this, or I'm going to have to use tape.' Verity turned to Rouge. 'What happened? Is anyone injured? Do we need to send medical personnel out there?'

Rouge crossed her arms tightly. 'Someone hijacked the anti-GUN protest that was being staged outside the headquarters. No one seemed to be injured.'

Shadow's hand twitched, tightening on his arm. 'It was still a horror show.'

'Hey.' Verity knelt in front of him. She tried to smile. 'Want to hear something that will take your mind off things? At least, I hope it will.'

Shadow was silent, and he gave her a confused look.

Despite her obvious concern, Verity's eyes brightened. 'We were able to cross-check your blood samples with candidates from the Central City Children's Hospital.' She squeezed his hands in hers. 'We found matches. Isn't that great? I tried calling you earlier, but you were … unavailable.'

Shadow stared at her. 'So? We still haven't got the go-ahead from the hospital.'

'… Didn't you hear the news?'

His earpiece beeped again, and he heard Bridges's voice in his ear. He sounded sheepish. 'Shadow? Is this a good time?'

Shadow closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall. 'No. So make it quick.'

'They said yes.'

'Who? To what?'

'The hospital agreed to the program. I tried calling you earlier, but I couldn't get through to you.'

Shadow's hand stopped twitching. The drugs were finally taking effect. 'Bridges?'

'Yes?'

'This could have been an email. Someone just committed an act of domestic terrorism in the concourse – I think you and your team have better things to be doing.'

'O-Oh. Right.'

'Now get the hell off my line.'

'Y-Yes, sir.'

Shadow pulled out his earpiece and threw it on the ground. He buried his face in his hands. '… Damn it.'

Verity put one hand on his shoulder. 'Shadow? Breathe for me, okay –'

The doors of the biomedical department slammed open, and Abraham stormed in. 'Shadow! Where are you?'

Verity abruptly stood up and ran forward, spreading her arms in a frantic attempt to block his path. 'Commander Towers, he's not fit for duty!'

'Move aside, agent, or I'll move you myself –'

'Abraham!' Shadow snapped. 'Abraham … I know.'

Verity looked over her shoulder, and her eyes were wide behind her gold-rimmed glasses. Abraham looked equally confused. '… Know what?'

'I know that trying to kill a civilian – even if they turned out to be a hologram – is terrible for our optics.' Shadow tightened his grip until the cannula dug into his arm. 'You didn't have to come down here to tell me that.'

Verity stepped aside, and Abraham walked over, lowering himself to one knee beside Shadow's chair. 'Shadow. I saw everything. We have security cameras in the concourse.'

Shadow looked away. 'Then you saw me try to rip that man's throat out.'

'I saw you intervene in a terror attack,' Abraham said, and his tone of voice was laced with deliberation. 'And that's what it will look like to everyone else.'

'It wasn't even a real grenade.'

'No one could have known that, not even you. If things had been different, that concourse wouldn't be covered in paint … It would be covered in blood. To everyone else, it looked like you were trying to disarm an active terrorist –'

'So what?!' Shadow snapped, and everyone flinched. 'I still lost control of myself and nearly killed a civilian. Who cares if we can put a spin on it?'

'I care!' Abraham shook him by the shoulders and said, 'Optics be damned, Shadow. You were provoked, and you don't deserve to be punished because someone weaponised your past against you.

Shadow finally looked up. Abraham's heterochromatic eyes blurred in front of him as he struggled to focus. 'I still … need to find out who's behind this.'

Abraham let him go. 'You're assuming that this is part of something larger, and not an individual acting on their own –'

'Of course it was part of something larger,' Shadow snapped. 'I'm not stupid, and neither are you.'

'Even if you're right, you're in no condition to deal with this right now.'

Shadow stood up and nearly fell. He had to steady himself against Abraham's shoulder. 'You said you saw what happened. Didn't you see what they … did to her?'

'Yes. I saw.'

Shadow stared at him in disbelief. The afterimage of Maria's vandalised portrait burned in his head. '… Aren't you angry?'

'Shadow, I'm furious.' Abraham lowered his voice, and his grip tightened on the plastic armrest of Shadow's chair until it creaked beneath his hand. 'She may have been your entire world, but she was still my childhood friend.' He cleared his throat and stood up. 'Let us put our intelligence network to work. We'll find some leads for you.'

'I don't need leads,' Shadow spat. 'I need to find the people who did this and punish them.'

Abraham stood back up and gave Shadow a warning look. 'I know you're going to act on your own no matter what I say. But I won't be formally assigning you to this case or offering you GUN's aid until you show me that you can keep your composure.'

Shadow tore the IV line out of his arm and threw it to the ground. '"Keep my composure" – are you kidding me?'

'You need to protect yourself! If you keep going like this, then one day you're going to do something so extreme that even our PR department can't clean it up.' Abraham sighed. 'Look. Even if your actions were justified, this entire scenario felt like it was tailor-made to make you lash out. We don't know who's behind this or what they want. If you were to charge in again, you could be putting yourself at risk … and maybe that's exactly what they want.'

'And what do you want me to do in the meantime?' Shadow snarled. 'Sit back while these people roam the streets?'

'I want you to keep your prior commitments. I heard that the Central City Children's Hospital has given the program the green light.'

'… Are you out of your mind? We have more pressing concerns now. If anything, we should probably cancel the program –'

'No,' Abraham said sharply. 'It would be best for you to stay away from GUN's headquarters until things simmer down, and this is an opportunity for you to do just that.'

Verity tentatively interjected, saying, 'Shadow, the hospital administrators asked if you could reduce your exposure to bio-contaminants by staying on the premises during the program. You're going to be working with immunocompromised patients, after all.'

'Verity is right,' Abraham said wearily. 'Shadow, please listen to me for once in your life – you need to let us clean up this mess and give our intelligence agents time to do their job.'

Shadow gave him a fierce glare. 'Why should I listen to you?'

'Because whenever I ask you to listen to me, I'm only trying to stop you from getting hurt.'

Shadow crossed his arms. 'I'm not injured.'

'I never said you were.'

For once, Shadow didn't have a comeback. He lowered his gaze and realised that his uniform jacket was splattered with paint. 'Fine.'

Abraham watched him warily. '… Good. Rouge?'

'Yeah, yeah.' Rouge sighed and said, 'Let me guess. You want me to team up with your intelligence department. I normally prefer working alone, but…' She gave her paint-stained uniform a disgusted glance. 'You want to catch these psychopaths – and so do I – but I also want to know who I'm supposed to send my drycleaning bill to. Count me in.'

Shadow began to pace back and forth. His thrusters burned, and the scent of burnt linoleum wafted through the air. 'Let's not delude ourselves,' he said, and his voice was rough from strain. 'We all know that this program was designed to invoke Maria's memory in order to whitewash GUN's reputation.' He closed a hand around one of his inhibitor rings, fighting the urge to rip it off and let himself burn until there was nothing left but ash and rage. 'But if it will also give me the chance to set the record straight and remind the world who she really was … and what I was originally made to do … then so be it.'

Shadow turned to Verity. 'Well?' He began to tap one foot on the ground. 'When do we start?'

END OF PART 1

To be continued…


A/N: ... And that's the end of Part 1! Your prize for making it this far is a picture of Shadow in his military uniform jacket 👌 (I can't upload it here on FFN, but Artificial Hope is also on AO3 under the username 'Electrikitty_001'. You can view the artwork over there by going to the end of Chapter 18!) I'm hoping to draw more art for the story at some point, but Sonic characters are 50% hands ... which is every artist's nightmare 😅 I'll mainly stick to writing, I think ...

Part 1 was mainly set in GUN's headquarters and focused on Shadow's role as a 'weapon', whereas Part 2 will be set in the Central City's Children's Hospital and will focus on Shadow's purpose as a 'cure'. I'm currently aiming to write several 'parts', but that's all I'll say for now 😄

Updates will actually be 1-2 weeks apart from now on, despite recently uploading several chapters in a row. I was on a roll! But Part 2 will require more research, though, so updates will now be further apart.

I've also been having a lot of fun reading and responding to all of your comments! Thank you for all your support and I hope you enjoy the upcoming chapters! Please look forward to Part 2!