Brothers in Arms

Shadow: Guarded Encounter

"You wanted to see me?" I ask uncertainly, hovering in the doorway, and the Commander glances up briefly, typing at his keyboard rapidly. He gestures to the seat in front of his desk, and I hop onto it as he continues whatever he's so urgently working on. I feel a bit of apprehension, knowing that, if this was anything less than an emergency, I wouldn't have been urgently summoned in all secrecy to his office. I open my mouth, about to inquire as to why I'm here, but he beats me to it, dividing his attention between me and his screen.

"Eclipse the Darkling made a radio contact with G.U.N. today. Negotiations were performed, and the framework for a truce with him was completed. Team Dark needs to pick him up immediately." Only my super speed allows my baffled brain to process his words in time to respond, and I still find myself stumbling over all of the possible implications and reasons for those three sentences.

"W-Where is he?" I stutter, trying to ignore my emotions on the subject. In the few moments it takes Tower to respond, I temporarily shut my shocked, babbling mind down, focusing on only the Commander's words.

"Pinpointing places him within a 5 mile radius on the great plains, Nebraska. I've sent alerts for Rouge and Omega to meet you on Sublevel 12 to pick up the Chaos Emerald you're going to use. Teleport directly there. You will be provided with a disabling armband to use on him, and you will bring him directly to my office and stay with him as a guard until told otherwise. I want no one outside of your team to know of this until I have had an opportunity to gather a council. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir." The seriousness of this call surprises me, sweeping away any disrespect or arrogance before the necessity of immediate compliance.

"Good. Go," he orders, nodding at the door, refocusing on his computer. I nod hurriedly, flashing out of his office with a teleportation and reappearing with a crack near the ceiling of G.U.N.'s main Chaos research lab. I land on the floor in a crouch, having beaten both of my comrades there. Omega appears through the door as a scientist notices me and rushes over, and I accept the metal contraptions the latter thrusts into my hands. I recognize both the power controller and the Chaos Detector, crude as they are, having helped in the design of both models myself.

Omega, thankfully, already knows the assignment, and he explains it to Rouge once she arrives. I skim some pictures of the area near Eclipse's location, memorizing them, so I can Chaos Control there.

"Let's go!" I say, waving to Rouge and Omega. I snatch the proffered Chaos Emerald from its resting place in a special container, clutching it and tapping into its energy as fast as I can. The connection takes a millisecond, and my teammates grab onto me as the power I'm drawing reaches its peak. "Chaos Control!"

We flash onto the grassy area I envision, finishing the warp. Rouge and Omega take their hands off of my arms as we scan the flat grasslands. Stowing the dark blue Chaos Emerald in my quills with some urgency, I pull out the Chaos Detector. Eclipse is a negative Chaos Creature, and I know he's powerful enough to use Chaos Snap. This tracker should pinpoint him and the Dark Arms easily.

"Got anything?" Rouge inquires, looking over at me.

"It appears so..." I say, referencing the small beacon winking up at me. "I have a pure Negative Chaos signal and 4 smaller, neutral Chaos signals within a 50 kilometer radius."

"That's GOT to be him." Rouge agrees, nodding her head.

"Eclipse should be easy enough to find; his signal is really close," I explain, putting the tracker away. Firing up my hover shoes, I point NorthEast, the direction Eclipse is. "He seems to be somewhere around that hill." Crouching, I blast off towards the distant, grassy hill in question, scanning the plains. To my confusion, I only see the fresh green of new plants around me. A warm May breeze ruffles my fur, and my eyebrows knit together in my incertitude.