Chapter Text
Shadow stood awkwardly outside Commander Towers’ office. He’d been summoned not long after returning to base. That was never a good sign. He tried to think of what he might’ve done, but honestly, nothing came to mind. He’d already gotten a scolding.. er debriefing.. of a lifetime after the Emerald incident. Unless they wanted to rehash that, his missions had been fairly uneventful since.
“Come in,” came the order.
He let out a breath, time to get this over with at least. Stiffly, he opened the door and walked in, closing it behind him. A quick glance showed that no one else would be joining them for this meeting. That was good. There wasn’t another party he’d pissed off. Usually that meant Commander Towers was less formal and aggressive with him, when he wasn’t putting on a show.
He approached just a few feet in front of the man’s desk and stood up straight. “Sir, you summoned me?”
After a moment, the man’s heterochromic eyes met his gaze. “You met with the Wachowskis?”
He stiffened a little, but immediately countered, “I was forced into it. But I ensured I did not violate the gag order. I never mentioned G.U.N.” Blame Gerald for it, not him.
“Good. And I’m aware Professor Robotnik may have taken some.. unauthorized actions.” He sighed. “But it may be in our favor in the end.” Shadow watched as the man pulled out a sheet of paper. “They trust you?”
He pulled his gaze from the sheet and considered how best to answer. “They do not suspect me… They invited me back.” And that had him conflicted. Deep within his soul he wanted to, but with Maria being so close to waking up, he couldn’t afford an extra distraction. Eventually.
Towers nodded. “Good. I want you to get close to them.”
Shadow blinked, “pardon?”
Towers finally slid the piece of paper closer to him. It turned out to be a photograph of the instant he released the Master Emerald. It was actually quite impressive. Despite all the reports he gave, he’d never actually seen a picture of the events from the outside. That’s what his ‘super’ form looked like? It was.. bright. “You reported that the larger Emerald they kept and the smaller ones that flew off were different entities?”
“Yes,” he confirmed, looking back up. “At least that is what the echidna explained to me.”
Towers nodded, also pulling out some photos of the Wachowski aliens huddled in their garage around some device. They did not appear to be aware.. was that legal? Then again, this was G.U.N. “It appears they’re working on tracking and retrieving them.”
Shadow hummed. That made sense. Leaving those out where anyone could find them could be catastrophic. Despite how easy going the trio seemed, they did appear to be taking responsibility for the Emerald like they claimed. “Have they made any progress?”
“No.” The man frowned. “From the conversations we’ve recorded, it would seem the echidna has the greatest understanding of chaos energy, but it pales in comparison to our own.” He turned to Shadow. “That’s where you come in. I want you to work with them to help build the tracker and recover the smaller Emeralds.”
That sounded oddly like a bit of fun, but, “why me? Your scientists understand the science far better than me. I’m sure they could figure out the Emeralds.”
“That is precisely the problem. And it appears several are already working on it in secret.”
Shadow remembered the unspoken words from the Commander before. The man knew it ought not fall into G.U.N’s hands. Whether that was the Master Emerald or even just one Chaos Emerald. That eliminated any of their scientists, including the Professor. But he could ‘help’ the Wachowskis and leave it with them again.
And now, it was a race and they were starting behind. “Understood, sir. But what about my other duties?”
Commander Towers waved him off. “I will deal with it. This takes priority. Officially, you will be gathering information on the alien trio, especially the new duo. You will be reporting to me, and only me. Understood?”
Shadow frowned. That was unusual. Was there another power struggle happening within G.U.N again? Those were always awful since many saw him as the grand prize. It was a perfect time to be avoiding headquarters. “Yes, sir.”
“You may use Professor Robotnik’s base as your base of operations if needed.”
He smiled. While out on missions, he’d either sleep in G.U.N bases or any quiet spot he could find out in the wilderness. He’d already been planning to spend a while in the Montana wilderness once Towers explained the assignment (he wasn’t going to crash with the Wachowskis. That would be going too far). In contrast to that, Tokyo and Oklahoma weren’t very conveniently located for this mission. But that wasn’t what Towers meant. What he did mean was that he was free to visit Maria or Gerald whenever he wanted.
“Yes, sir.”
“You’re dismissed.”
“Yes, sir.”
He rarely walked into a mission with a smile. The gag order was going to be a pain though.