A special thanks for the new reviews, one of which was by OG Lancethefox! I was wondering where you were. You were the MVP on Angels.

Well... here's the one that I had gotten stuck on because it really wasn't working out (it clearly takes place before the previous chapter, though its exact position is yet to be finalized.) So this honestly ended up more of just a dumb chapter. The idea (and the drama it logically should have led to) just wasn't coming out as well as hoped so I just started having as much fun with the character jokes I thought up as I could to salvage it. It has moments, but it's definitely not a good chapter at all- maybe I could chop the good bits to other chapters. I'll let y'all just get a few chuckles and exercise your own personal continuity on this one. I think I've got some pretty good drama coming up later in the pipeline to make up for it...

I even consider this one unfinished (the scene transitions are minimal.) I put some polish on it, but right now I'm too busy dealing with my A/C installers who are really jerking me around on repairs or hooking me up with the portable A/C's they said they could float me. I just composed a strategic email that was polite but ended with veiled threats. We'll see how it goes, but I would totally not recommend ABC Heating And Plumbing or whatever else may be in their title. I'm seriously considering calling the manufacturer for their warranty instead because I don't think any other legal recourse will be fast enough.

An urgent call had summoned both members of Angel Team for a mission like several times before, although this time they had a private audience with none other than Commander Walters. "Time is critical here, so I'll get straight to the point. I presume that neither of you has had any recent contact with Shadow or been aware of his actions?"

"No sir," bat and fox answered at the same time. The former added, "Not since the last time. He just fell off the face of the planet." The latter asked, "Why?"

"Because he's reappeared again, along with Robotnik's... robot... that is designated as Omega?"

"E-123 Omega," Tails helpfully clarified.

"Right," Walters said politely though slightly chagrined. "They have attacked several locations that we believe are facilities of Robotnik over the last few days."

"Do we know what exactly their plan is?"

"No. That's why I called you two. I want you to make contact with Shadow and hopefully bring him in. We weren't looking for Omega, but as long as they're together, see if you can bring him too." While robots didn't have genders, if they were, Omega would almost certainly be a 'he'.

Bat and fox exchanged uncertain glances at this vague mission outline. The former asked, "Bring them in? You mean, by asking nicely?"

"Yes. Their cooperation is essential here. They have been our nominal allies in the fight against Robotnik so far, but it would be most preferable if we can make sure that we're all truly on the same page here."

They both let out a sigh of relief. "Good. I was afraid you were gonna ask us to capture them."

"Emphatically not. They're both far too dangerous on their own, let alone together. I certainly wouldn't ask to risk yourselves capturing him."

"Yes, that would probably be a very BAD idea."

"From what I understand about Shadow, he is... not the most trusting of people."

"Yeah, that's one way to put it."

"I don't know what he knows or thinks about the project aboard the ARK and the fallout. I think you two would be the best candidates to approach him, since you've worked with him before." Rouge wasn't sure what exactly had happened either, except that things had gone VERY badly.

While she was mulling over Project Shadow, Tails asked, "Do we know where they are right now?"

"No."

He adopted his thinking stance. "So we have to find them? Could we maybe... get a ping or something on Omega himself?"

"We've already tried that. So far we have had no luck on picking up any electronic signatures from him. All we have to go off right now are the sites that they've already hit."

Tails mused. "Enough to yield a vector?" Rouge racked her brain. Vector? The crocodile? Would he know this stuff?

"Yes, we have enough to extrapolate a logical triangulation, but we can only hope that there actually ARE any more sites to hit within it."

Utterly lost, Rouge surrendered and sheepishly asked, "Uh, what?"

Tails looked her way. "We're trying to figure out where they're heading from the route they've been taking so far," he explained.

"Okay, thanks."

Walters spoke. "We'll find out where they are. You two need to get going so that you can hopefully intercept them once we do. Dismissed."

After a "Yes sir," they exited. "So..." Tails said while walking through the hallway, "I guess this makes us liaisons here."

"So help me if you don't stop using all those fancy words..." She swore that sometimes he deliberately chose to use the most complicated words just to stump her.

"That means our job is to deal with our own kind on behalf of GUN. You know, to establish positive diplomatic relations between us." The description was still fancy, but at least used words she was familiar with.

She laughed darkly. "Us? Diplomats?" Tails looked confused initially at her reaction but seemed to catch onto the irony fast. "They chose US to make friends with our own kind? We were probably tied for holding the record for having the LEAST number of friends on our planet." Everyone hated us... Not that GUN knows that...

"Well, we both have come a long way since then."

"How so? Our reputations have improved as known heroes, sure, though you more than me. But we're both still really bad at making friends. You're still hopelessly shy."

"Yeah..." he admitted. "So I'm really depending on you being the expert here."

"I'm hardly better than you."

"Come on Rouge, you know way more about establishing relationships than I do." He gave her a sly smile. She gave him a kick in the butt. "Ow! Seriously though!"

Several hours and a slightly stomach-churning flight later they were on an aircraft carrier close to the area they hoped to find their targets but was also safely outside any less-than-friendly nation's territorial waters. Several minutes later they were inside their shared quarters. While she understood that space was at a premium on a ship, she was pretty sure that the REAL reason why they didn't get separate rooms was because they both left fur behind in their wake. Tails much more so than Rouge, but the other agents clearly avoided sitting on anything that either of them had previously used. Right NOW they were both looking over their sleeping arrangements, which were recessed into the wall. The younger fox was noticeably a bit nervous. With a playful smile, she remarked, "What's wrong? Aren't you glad we get an actual bed to sleep in this mission?"

"Yeah, it's nice, but it's a bit claustrophobic..."

Fortunately that was a word she had previously learned. "So what? It's not like we HAVEN'T slept together before."

A pair of tails shot straight out in alarm as they always did when their owner got startled. "Did you HAVE to say it like that?"

"Well, what else would you call it? Us lying together, entwined..." Her voice went swoony.

"We've never..." He trailed off, probably realizing that he technically couldn't refute that his tails had been offered as both pillows and quilts for her before... or that they had ended up snuggled a few times.

"Well okay, I was probably always the culprit there," she admitted. "But you can't fault a girl for any actions she does while half-asleep and within arm's reach of a big fluffy fox." A hopeless look from Tails made clear he wasn't going to try responding to that. "Aw, don't be so embarrassed about it..." Admittedly, SHE had been quite embarrassed herself upon realizing who the target of her sleepy affections turned out to be, but got over it a lot faster than Tails did. "Those were among the best nights I've ever had." Now he full-on facepalmed. "And now we've got a much comfier bed! I mean, no offense, but your tails are no substitute for an actual bed and pillows."

"None taken." The response was muffled.

After allowing for enough of a pause, she asked, "So, do you want to be on top or bottom?"

"It doesn't matter to me."

She smiled. "You're letting the lady choose? Well, I'll let you be on top. You're light and soft; I know you won't squash me." He looked at her warily, like he suspected something amiss but wasn't sure. She rolled her eyes. He's too innocent for his own good... Looking back, she just went ahead and dropped the biggest bomb she had in reserve. "Actually, this really IS pretty cramped. Did you want to sleep in different bunks?"

Tails blinked. "Of course! What else did you think I meant?"

Fortunately (or unfortunately) sleep proved unneeded before a sighting had them flying out once more. This accounted for Rouge's slightly uneasy voice. "We're awfully low, aren't we?"

"Yep. We're in the nap of the earth."

She sighed. Somehow Tails had only spoken a few very basic words that she knew and yet had left her with absolutely NO CLUE what the hell he had just said. "Just because you're saying things that are words doesn't mean I can understand them." He does this on purpose, doesn't he?

"That means I'm flying low so as to avoid being picked up on radar." There! Why couldn't he just have said that in the first place? Sure, she still didn't understand why flying low beat radars, but at least she could understand 'because technology'. It wasn't too long before a plume of smoke became visible in the sky. "Well, looks like we found the right spot." The plane banked. "Whoa," he said in a totally calm voice.

"What?"

"I'm getting a Chaos signature. Shadow must have one of the Chaos Emeralds. And if he does, we can track him easily."

"Alright Tails! Your tech is a lifesaver!"

Nearly flying into the smoke, the pilot announced, "We're right on top of the signal. I need to find a place to land though. You want to jump out now and I'll catch up?"

"Yeah, I've got it." The canopy opened and she jumped out. After freefalling for a bit, she spread her wings and swooped down into a safe landing near where the entrance to the facility seemed to be, though it was hard to tell if a door had once been within the span of the gaping hole. She walked through a few halls of wrecked robots before the distant noises that she figured were explosions stopped. Guess we missed the entire show... With no other ideas, she simply started calling out, "Shadow! Omega! You guys there?" I can't think of who ELSE would be... Even though it seemed like a stupid idea that would draw trouble, she kept calling out again every so often, figuring that the danger of any remaining trouble that might find her was less than surprising Shadow or Omega, who just might react rashly.

"You." Shadow's voice, suddenly coming from behind her, made her jump with a start.

"Geez, Shadow! Hi! You sure know how to greet a lady."

"Why are you here?"

"Well, I'm happy to see you too." Any sense of playfulness in the response was overshadowed by her irritation at his unfriendly manner.

"Why are you here?" The intonation of the question was identical to before. A series of thumps got her attention: Omega stomping fully into view, the weapons on his arms out and ready for use.

"Because I'm looking for you, of course."

"Why?"

She decided to skip the flirtatious material and just be direct. "To see if you would be interested in working together again."

"For what purpose?"

"You know, fight Robotnik and save the world. Just like we did before."

"That's not why we were working together."

"No," she admitted, "but it IS what ended up happening."

"Our partnership is no longer needed."

"Oh come on, don't you miss me?"

"No."

She flushed at the blunt answer. "You could at least PRETEND to be nice." I like bad boys, not jerks...

"You would rather I lie?"

She huffed. Declining to answer, she instead asked, "So, what are you two doing anyway attacking Robotnik's bases?"

"Neither of us have yet finished our business with the Doctor."

"Which is what? To destroy him?"

Omega spoke now. "THAT IS MY ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE. SHADOW HAS OTHER BUSINESS WITH THE DOCTOR."

"Don't those two things conflict with each other?"

"WE ARE ALREADY FULLY AWARE OF THE NECESSARY ORDER IN WHICH OUR OBJECTIVES MUST BE PERFORMED. ROBOTNIK'S TERMINATION IS SCHEDULED TO HAPPEN AFTER FIRST SERVING SHADOW'S PURPOSE."

"And you don't think that he might refuse to cooperate if you plan to kill him afterwards?"

"WE WILL NOT INFORM THE DOCTOR THAT HE WILL BE EXECUTED UNTIL THE OPTIMAL TIME." There may have been a sense of insult in that statement; she half-expected a DUH to follow.

This conversation was starting to unnerve her, even though she wouldn't shed any tears over the madman's death. Omega suddenly moved with a whirring of mechanical parts, pointing his weapon-laden arms at something behind her. Having a good guess what it may have been, she said, "Wait! That's probably just Tails!"

"YES. IT IS INDEED TAILS." The loaded arms remained fixated in the direction of the noise, where the fox in question emerged with hands up. Omega's torso slowly rotated to keep Tails directly in front, no other body parts moving while doing so. The fox stopped in place.

"So you don't need to shoot him." When Omega didn't respond, she prompted, "Okay?"

"THAT IS YET TO BE DETERMINED."

"What? NO!" She stepped between the robot and where he was aiming. "Why?"

"TAILS' MORAL ALIGNMENT DIRECTLY CONTRADICTS OURS IN SEVERAL WAYS THAT MAY COME INTO CONFLICT WITH OUR MISSION."

"No! He's not a threat to your mission! Neither of us are!"

"THAT IS INCORRECT. WHILE YOU BOTH POSE LITTLE PHYSICAL THREAT IN COMBAT TO US, TAILS' CAPABILITIES AT ELECTRONIC WARFARE ARE AN UNKNOWN RISK."

She tried to process that. "You're saying you're more scared of Tails than me?"

Shadow decided to make a contribution now. "I do not fear either of you. You would both fall easily before me." God, so macho...

Omega added, "ROBOTS DO NOT EXPERIENCE FEAR." The immediate timing of the declaration almost seemed as if it was meant to regain parity in front of his partner.

"Well... We didn't come here to fight, so you don't need to worry about that!"

"YOU AND TAILS ARE OPERATING TOGETHER?"

"Yes! Obviously!"

There was a moment of quietly whirring internal components- the robotic equivalent of thinking aloud. It took about a second for Omega to come to a decision. "THAT WOULD BE THE MOST LOGICAL EXPLANATION AS TO WHY TAILS AND ROUGE ARE BOTH CURRENTLY PRESENT." She guessed that Omega's third-person manner of speaking was for Shadow's benefit. "THIS COULD SUGGEST THAT TERMINATING TAILS MIGHT JEOPARDIZE ROUGE'S WILLINGNESS TO HELP US AGAIN IN THE FUTURE."

Her jaw dropped. "What? Of course I wouldn't help you if you did that!"

Tails piped up behind her. "I also would totally not help you guys if you kill me."

"DO WE REQUIRE ANY FURTHER HELP FROM ROUGE?" Thankfully, Omega apparently either deferred to Shadow or at least treated the partnership as a democracy.

She pleaded before Shadow could answer. "Come on, you've worked and fought with us before!" After a moment, she clarified, "Fought alongside us! You know we can help each other!"

"THAT MUCH HOLDS SOME MERIT. TAILS COULD BE A USEFUL ALLY ON OUR SIDE."

While the use of Tails' name was a good sign for this discussion, she couldn't help but notice the lack of hers. "What about me?"

"YOUR SKILLS ARE LARGELY REDUNDANT."

"Hey!" she snapped, understanding enough of what was said. "What's he got that I don't?"

"VASTLY HIGHER INTELLIGENCE. ALSO, HIS COMBAT ABILITIES BECOME GREATLY ENHANCED WITH CHAOS EMERALDS."

Ask a stupid question... "Well..." she muttered, not able to dispute that much, "there's still some advantages to working with me..."

Surprisingly, THAT comment managed to pique Shadow's interest. "Like what?"

"Oh, don't make me say it aloud." She casually turned and took a step forward, incorporating a not-too-subtle wagging of the tail (both of them) into the motion. Looking back over her shoulder with a sly smile, she was somewhat disappointed though hardly surprised that Shadow seemed oblivious. Not even Tails would miss THAT...

Hell, even Omega had more of a clue. "JUDGING FROM HER TONE AND BODY LANGUAGE, IT WOULD APPEAR THAT ROUGE IS SUGGESTING A WILLINGNESS TO..." She shifted her look to the robot in a fierce dare that appeared to shut him up. However, it seemed that he had only paused to determine the optimal word to use. "...RUT IN EXCHANGE AS PART OF THIS ALLIANCE."

"Hey!" Now flushing pure red, she looked to Tails, whose shocked expression screamed I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING. "That word mean what I think it-"

"Yes," the fox interrupted.

Her lady side was smoldering at the indignation of Omega's statement. Technical correctness notwithstanding, his statement lacked any sense of... poetry. "THOUGH AS IT SHOULD BE OBVIOUS, ROBOTS DO NOT ENGAGE IN ANY SUCH BIOLOGICAL ACTIONS." She quirked an eyebrow at Shadow, wondering about the possible implications of that. "WE DO NOT POSSESS THE WEAKNESS OF SUCH STRONG BASE DESIRES AS YOU LIVING CREATURES DO."

"Um..." Tails choked out, probably intending to explain that some people practiced more virtuous lifestyles, but the rebuttal ended up stillborn. She wondered if his reluctance was due to discomfort of the subject matter or intimidation of those he would have to challenge.

As everyone else mercifully ignored the tongue-tied little fox, she somewhat hesitantly asked, "What about you, Shadow?"

The Ultimate Lifeform didn't answer beyond a mere furrowing of the brow. Uh oh- his true nature was still a touchy subject. Omega answered in his place. "SHADOW IS... LESS THAN BIOLOGICAL."

Well, that didn't clear up anything she didn't already know. Unless there were some serious sci-fi technologies involved, Shadow seemed at least biological on the outside. Something compelled her to ask, "But... you CAN still... you know?"

Shadow crossed his arms and went HMPH. "I don't need to rut."

She smirked. "Well, rutting isn't only done out of necessity..."

Arms still crossed, Shadow completely turned away now as if offended by the idea. "I have no desire to rut." Is the Ultimate Lifeform a total prude?

"Well fine, I know I can just find someone else instead." The entire response, from the words to her mirroring the arm-crossing and turning away, was instinctive. It was purely coincidental that it resulted in her turning to directly face Tails, who shifted uncomfortably. Instinctively rolling with it as well, she gave another sly look back.

However, Shadow was still facing away. Omega instead spoke. "IF YOU ARE TRYING TO MAKE US JEALOUS, IT IS FUTILE. OUR DISINTEREST IN YOUR OFFER LOGICALLY NEGATES ANY POSSIBLE LEVERAGE YOU HAD HOPED TO GAIN FROM REVEALING YOUR INTIMACIES WITH TAILS."

The fox and bat looked at each other with dropped jaws and repeated, "Intimacies?" in unison.

"ACTS OF RUTTING," Omega clarified.

"We know what you meant!" they exclaimed together, the fox far more embarrassed while the bat was far more angry. "I mean... Rouge and I... we just..." Tails sputtered, once again too flustered to get any further.

"THE NATURE OF YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH EACH OTHER IS OF NO CONCERN TO US."

Feeling conflicted about denying the mistake, she abstained from addressing it and simply moved past. "Good, because we were supposed to be discussing getting the team back together here."

Just like that, Shadow came back into the conversation. "Our business concluded. We each had our reasons for alliance. You used us, we used you. Once you had what you wanted, you left."

"You ditched me!" she countered.

"You were never on board with our true objectives."

"That's not true! You mean that I didn't want to just kill Robotnik?"

"As I said, we worked together to get what we wanted. Nothing more."

Tails surprisingly jumped in now. "Then would you be willing to work with us NOW? We're both looking for Robotnik."

"THE FOX MAKES A SENSIBLE ENOUGH POINT." And I don't? "THERE IS NO SENSE IN FIGHTING UNLESS NECESSARY. THE RISK FROM HUMORING THEIR NEEDS FOR NOW IS MINIMAL."

"Uh... thanks?"

While Omega seemed game, Shadow looked less than convinced. Rouge played her trump card. "You're doing this to learn more about your past, right?" THAT got his attention. "Well, I know some other sources besides the Docter."

"Really? How would you know?"

"It's complicated, but I do know a few things about your time on the ARK... like Maria."

Shadow stepped forward with an especially serious face. "How do you know that? Have you known this since we met?"

Taking a worried step back, she put up a hand in placation. "No... I only know the smallest of details, but I work for someone who knows a lot more..." She fibbed a little. "I was going to bring you in after we were done, but you two ran off." Shadow eyed her suspiciously, clearly angered by the fact she had withheld even as little as she did. "So how about it? I can't promise anything, but will you come hear us out for now?"

The wheels turning in the Ultimate Lifeform's head were almost as audible as Omega's. "I'll accept."

"Great!"

Omega suddenly spoke up. "I OPPOSE US TRAVELING TOGETHER ON THE RISK THAT THIS ARRANGEMENT IS NOT AS IT WOULD APPEAR."

"Come on, you can trust us."

"PERHAPS, BUT NOT RIGHT NOW. I SUGGEST SHADOW TAKE POINT AS MY ENTIRELY ELECTRONIC NATURE MIGHT BE AN EXPLOITABLE WEAKNESS."

Shadow didn't need to think it over. "I agree."

"How are you going to find each other again?" Tails asked.

"I CAN FIND THE GUN BASE ON MY OWN."

"Do you know where it is?"

"AFFIRMATIVE. I KNOW ITS EXACT COORDINATES, THE RECENT DEFENSE MEASURES, AND THE INTERIOR LAYOUT."

"You know all that?"

"AFFIRMATIVE. I HAVE TAKEN THE PRECAUTION OF RESEARCHING THE BASE IN THE EVENT THAT I NEED TO DESTROY IT."

"Uh... good to know..." The fox looked over. "Should we get going?"

They got going. Another fast flight later, with Shadow holding onto the wings like Sonic did, they were back on the GUN carrier. Right now Shadow was speaking to the ship's welcome squad while the fox and bat waited outside, looking over the railing out at the ocean view with a nearly full moon. Once the hedgehog emerged, Rouge made the first move. "Well, what now?"

"I'm going to my quarters for tonight," he answered simply.

"Oh, so Shadow gets his own room?" Tails mumbled.

"And what, just be by yourself?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Aw come on," Rouge pleaded. "You can hang out in our room tonight."

Shadow almost shook his head. "I do not need any company. And I do not wish to be present when you rut."

Both fox and bat jolted at the completely blunt statement out of the blue, her wings shooting out like Tails' namesakes did. She recovered first and joked, "Goodness! It's not like it happens EVERY night. But I'm honored you think so."

"It doesn't happen at-" Tails began to protest but was cut short by her throwing an arm around to pull him closer in what looked like an affectionate embrace, except for her hand subtly landing on his snout and clamping it shut. Or maybe it wasn't so subtle, because Shadow simply stared at them in a displeased manner.

"What's with that look?" she challenged.

"Do all women your age act this way?"

Her smirk faded slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Your behavior seems to be rather..."

While the sentence wasn't finished, she could guess some words that would likely be used. "What? Improper? Unladylike?"

"Yes, I would say those are all accurate."

"Compared to the women you've known?" Had there been any besides Maria? Maybe a couple female scientists on the ARK? Compared to them, she was surely quite a change of pace.

"Yes, but not just that. Tails also seems to disapprove of you openly disclosing such personal details."

"Oh, he's just really shy. I'm still getting him to come out of his shell. You should give it a try too." A second later she realized that the last sentence could be interpreted more than one way.

"I'm fine being in my shell," Shadow announced dismissively. "I'm going to my own quarters now. Good night." He was turning away even while speaking. Now who's being ungentlemanly?

"Okay, fine then! You can just go rut yourself tonight."

Shadow paused, seemingly to ponder. "That would be physically impossible."

"Debatable, but certainly not as much fun." Shadow merely walked away, looking to be almost exasperated. Lacking any ideas for further banter to delay his departure, she simply watched him leave. Then she looked to the fox who had been just patiently waiting the whole time, never even trying to escape either the hold or the muzzling, simply looking at her with a loyal canine's eyes. "Do you think I'm too unladylike?" With mouth still sealed, he responded with what sounded like, "Mm-mm," while shaking his head for clarity. The question was pointless; Tails wouldn't say anything she didn't want to hear. "You want to go back to our room now?" His response sounded the same, but he nodded instead. "Me too. We'll just make some ruts by ourselves tonight."

The fox tried to say something as she practically dragged him down the hall and into their quarters. Still holding him in the embrace, she sat themselves both down on the sofa. Then she grabbed the TV remote and started surfing the channels, gradually loosening the hold until they were simply leaning against each other. Tails just sat and watched for a couple minutes before he finally spoke. "Making ruts... Clever."

"Well, I'm glad you appreciate it, because you're the only guy in a while I've done it with."

DVD Commentary:

Apologies to the Shadow fans, but Shadow is on the jerkish side here. I honestly was never a huge fan of him, so I don't know how to depict him except have fun playing with his serious and occasional arrogant edge. I don't dislike him by any means, but I do think he's better used only sparingly in games since his overall routine of being on the side of good while also having a different way of going about it that leads to direct conflicts with the Sonic Team would just get old. Plus, Tails and Rouge are the focus of the story anyway with everyone else only making small guest appearances when it's relevant to the plot, but Team Dark joining GUN (and Rouge working with them) is far too important of a dynamic changer to just ignore.

As for Omega... I started this story with the original rule of only using innuendo without any direct mentions of... you know. But it was just too funny to have Omega be very explicit (though scientifically proper) in wording, as a robot probably would. He'll be doing a LOT more of that in another chapter. While I've seen it done, I don't remember him prefacing his dialog with 'query' or 'statement' in official media (except maybe Chronicles?) though I could be wrong, but I personally don't care for that style. Wouldn't he be doing that, like, EVERY single time he speaks?

As for Rouge... my (depressing) backstory for her has subverted the nature of her behavior, but I couldn't resist using it in a humorous way here: she's a touch insecure about relationships. It was just too funny to have her go from being horrified at what she had just (inadvertently) suggested (or who with) straight to avoiding admission of any embellishment of her status as a femme fatale.

A far more humorous alternate end to the chapter considered:

Shadow: "I don't need your help."

cue Black Arms invasion- chapter ends.

Aside from just being silly, I didn't want to open that can(on) of continuity worms (would Commander Walters have been the commander from the game in question?) Plus, the whole question of 'is the Shadow from Heroes-onward the original or a clone/android/cyborg/hybrid?' Personally I liked to think he was the latter, and also liked the theory that even SA2 Shadow was a clone (how else does one control someone's memories?) Curiously, the Japanese dub of Sonic X seems to actually outright suggest this (as the capsules were said to have never been recovered- no idea why they mentioned 2 though- ambiguous Japanese plurals?) but it could admittedly be a case of unclear translation, though the fact Sonic X was made at the same time as Heroes suggests a shared idea across projects. BUT THEN SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG GAVE AN ANSWER AND SCREWED IT ALL UP. But if I don't address said game, I can keep the ambiguous nature alive.

Speaking of which, what exactly happened on the ARK is very murky. SA2 only gave us: government creates bioweapons, perhaps gets some cold feet, an incident happens which results in the deaths of many ARK personnel. Going by SA2 (and Gerald's view) alone, it sure looks like a shady affair (except for the fact that not everyone was killed, and Gerald was apparently free long enough to prepare his revenge.) Sonic X nuances it a bit with there indeed being a shady government bureau but the GUN team just pawns caught in the middle (the shooter's even humanized.) In Shadow the incident looks like a Resident Evil-style BOW outbreak, which potentially suggests that the government probably decided to purge the subjects, which might explain why Maria jettisoned Shadow and got in GUN's crosshairs despite them overwise rescuing the scientists. That's my interpretation of what happened. Whew, that's a lot of headcanon discussion that isn't ever going to come up in the story again, but it was worth noting because Shadow does ultimately join the organization that DID kill Maria in a chaotic situation- now there's a subplot well beyond the scope of this story. That's the chapter problem, really: I touched onto subjects that needed more focus than I had any intention of giving. This does give Shadow some trust issues with Rouge to overcome...

Otherwise, I had the idea about Tails and Rouge becoming planetary diplomats of sorts (albeit more for GUN than Earth as a whole since it's not like travel is possible outside of rings anyway) though I have no real ideas for meaningful things to do with that... except that it would give a convenient excuse for the two to be paired up and away from the rest of the crowd...