Ebony and Ivory Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Shadow Gets a Job

Tick tock went the clock, all the day long. The minute passed, the long hand turned, and began its cycle again.

It was a new day, and once again Rouge had gone to work, leaving him alone in her apartment with hours to burn. He hardly knew what to do with himself when she was not around; she was effectively his definition of occupation, and while she was gone he found himself painfully bored.

His former hobby of experimentation on his prototype milkshakes had lost its lure, as he'd effectively discovered the long lost secret to creating the Ultimate Milkshake. Now that the process of discovery was complete, it could occupy him for mere moments, not hours.

The clock continued to tick in its maddening, never ending rhythm, as he wracked his brain for something, anything to do to pass the time without Rouge. To his dismay, still nothing came to mind, and soon enough, he found himself sitting on the couch, twiddling his thumbs and counting down the seconds until she returned.

'17,000… 16,999… 16,998…' he groaned inwardly and wondered idly where Omega had gone. The robot had been suspiciously absent recently, and Shadow couldn't help but wonder where he went off to during the day when he was all alone.

'I guess I could call that blue moron,' he considered, as he began to reach for the phone. Suddenly he jerked his hand back as if he'd seen a ghost, a look of horror and disgust on his face.

"I can't believe I actually just considered that! Seriously, what's wrong with me?" he growled at himself angrily. "I need to get a life!"

Sulking, he crossed his arms and glared at the door, seemingly believing that perhaps if he squeezed his fists tightly enough and wanted her back desperately enough; the force of his sheer willpower would carry her through the door. The technique proved ineffective, so after a few minutes of attempting it and being no more than a few, agonizing minutes closer to what he wanted, he became frantic in his search for something to do.

Rationalizing that he could cut out at least a few minutes and spend them in less torment than he'd thus far passed them, and that some fresh air might do his bewitched and addled mind some good, he decided to take a walk.

Donning his trademark air-shoes, he stepped outside to be met with the gaudy colors and irritating, flashing lights of Night Babylon, the casino district of the city. Even in the daytime when the neon lights were not lit, the myriad colors came off as intensely nauseous to the brusque obsidian hedgehog.

'Why on Earth, heaven or hell below would anyone choose willingly to live in a place like this?' he wondered as he walked along, an inadvertent scowl upon his face. Then again, where would his ideal home be?

He pondered this momentarily, and the only decisive clues that came to his mind were that he wished to be somewhere near Rouge, and far, far, far away from just about everybody else.

This amused him, and the faintest hint of a smile betrayed itself at the corner of his lips. It seemed the more time he spent with Rouge, the more some inexplicable emotion seemed to grow on him, one he was conscious of, but at a loss to explain.

Shadow had a very analytical, computer-like frame of thought, and while this made him simultaneously vastly intelligent and naïve, it also made him a natural at understanding things. But never in all his life had he encountered something so difficult to grasp. It seemed as if everything else had become simpler with time, but this one thing was different. The more he knew, it seemed the less he knew, the more he learned, the less he understood.

'How can I fail to comprehend what occurs within my own mind?' he chastised himself inwardly. 'This is something… something…'

Growling at himself in frustration at his lack of ability to even begin to properly define what he felt, he threw his fists into the air.

"What is this?" he yelled, attracting the curiosity of some pedestrians. Having thus singled himself out, several of them recognized him, and he was immediately approached by the prodding fans.

"Hey, you're Shadow the Hedgehog!"

'Thank you, Captain Obvious,' he rolled his eyes, but kept his sarcasm contained for now.

"Say, you yelled something a minute ago. Do you need some help, are you in some kind of trouble?" ironically the question stemmed from an elderly gentleman, typically the type who would require the help.

Shadow stared at the eager, imploring faces of the small crowd he'd managed to attract. Even if he'd been into the whole "sharing of emotions" thing, and even if he hadn't been appalled by the crowd in the first place, how could he share his troubles with them if he himself could neither explain nor identify them?

His head hung slightly, and the obsidian hedgehog massaged his temples. Looking around, he realized he'd allowed himself to become lost in thought, and had wandered aimlessly about through the city without a hope of finding his way back without help. Although frustrated that he would have to reveal his (potentially embarrassing) place of residence to them, he was gracious they'd offered to help him in the first place, as now it appeared he'd need it. With a slight crimson tinge inflaming his cheeks, he asked for directions to Club Rouge.

"Well, you can't be going to do any gambling, the casino has been closed for an age. So I suppose you must be a friend of the lady who owns the place," one fellow who seemed to know too much for his own good commented.

"I don't answer questions phrased as statements," the dark hero responded threateningly.

"Ah, a bit defensive, are we? Perhaps a tad more than friends, then? Makes sense; you seem like the type."

Mentally he fought with all his strength to resist the bait, but his curiosity overwhelmed him, and he found himself speaking involuntarily.

"Oh? And what 'type' might that be?" he asked as nonchalantly as possible.

With a laugh came the mocking reply, "The naïve, sweet type. She'll gobble you up, but as soon as she tires of you, she'll spit you out just like a chewed up piece of gum that's lost its flavor. Then you won't be so naïve."

There was absolute silence; even the birds in the trees seemed to stop in their songs, as if aware of Shadow's pure, unbridled fury. Turning to face the taunting fox with piercing crimson eyes that seemed to burn with the very fires of Hell, he inhaled deeply to calm himself before replying simply.

"Get out of my sight."

"Or what? You're a goody-two-shoes now. Do you think anyone actually believe you'll hurt me?"

There was a slight pause, as the distinctive crackle of a Chaos Spear forming within Shadow's palm filled the air, and a golden illumination was cast its dancing shadows over the scene. "You have to the count of ten to haul your carcass away from here, or I swear by God I will splatter you all over this pavement."

The taunting fox remained smug, crossing his arms with a look of victory in his eye.s

"One… two… three…"

His smirk faded, but still the foolish vulpine refused to move. "C'mon now, you wouldn't actually-"

"Four… five… six…"

By now he had broken a nervous sweat, as Shadow stalked slowly towards him, the shimmering orb of light cradled in his fist and level with the target's heart.

Finally convinced, the fox turned to run, his eyes holding expressions of sheer terror.

"Seven… eight… nine…"

Tripping as he fled, the fox pulled himself up with enough vigor that his speed seemed to rival that of the black blur himself.

Allowing the energy of the attack to disperse back into his body as the fox disappeared, he turned to the other bystanders with a shrug.

"Would you have done it?" one of them asked doubtfully.

He turned in the direction of the club without replying, a slight smirk on his face. 'Looks like you can still pull off a convincing bluff. But if I'd have told them I was bluffing, I wouldn't be able to in the future.'

"After all, I've got a reputation to uphold," he chuckled darkly as he walked down the street.

But try as he might, he could not force thoughts of what the fox had said from his mind.

---

Ringing distinctly through the front room, the dull creak of the front door was Shadow's cue that she was back. He'd been flitting about, in and out of a sea of dreamless half-sleep, and as the door opened, his eyelids slowly raised and he awakened.

With her usual, syrupy smile the huntress approached the still groggy hero, sliding down beside him on the couch. After a day of hard work, his presence seemed to her to be like an invigorating breath of fresh air. However, seeming to note how anxious he was, she cocked her head to the side and stared at him appealingly.

"Shadow, what do you do all day while I'm gone?" she half-asked, half-realized.

"Nothing much. Today I went for a walk, but that turned out worse than just saying home and doing nothing," he admitted.

She seemed to be aghast that she had not thought on his behalf of how he would occupy himself. Scolding herself inwardly for this oversight, a thought occurred to her.

"You could get a job," she suggested. "It would give you something to do when I'm not home."

His left eyebrow quirked upward as his forehead creased into an unsure frown.

"C'mon, I'll help you."

Awhile later, the dumbfounded hedgehog sat, staring blankly at a computer screen. His index finger slowly moved towards a key, hesitating as it hung over it, like a looming cloud in the sky.


'Former employment?' he pondered. 'I suppose I worked for the doctor in our plot to conquer Earth… but I should probably… not mention that.'

He would have to skip that part of his resume. He'd skipped several parts already.

"Special talents or interest?" he balked. "This should be no problem."

'Can use the power of Chaos to distort the time-space continuum,' he typed after one bullet point.

'Extensive martial arts training,' was his next line.

Rouge came into the room behind him, dressed comfortably in a pair of jeans and a pink t-shirt with a heart design on the front. She began reading his work over his shoulder, giggling as she did.

"What exactly do you find so amusing?" he demanded without facing her.

Rouge smiled at how clueless he was, and pushing the laptop onto the next cushion, she slid down into his lap, igniting the familiar, burning sensation in the pit of his stomach. She draped one arm loosely over his shoulders, as she pulled the laptop over and reread it more thoroughly.

"Silly Shadow, you'll never get a job with a resume like this," she cooed, noting with sweet satisfaction the scarlet tinge on the ultimate lifeform's cheeks.

"Well," he began with a somewhat shaky voice, "What do you suggest?"

"You could try working with me at GUN?" she said unsurely, thoroughly surprising him enough that for a moment, he forgot that she was draped across him.

This realization returned to him at precisely the same instant as the implications of such employment. 'Working for GUN? I know what they're capable of,' he couldn't help but see a brief image of Maria's violent demise flashing before his eyes.

'But then again, I'd get to do what I do best… and what I do best isn't pretty. Besides, maybe I'd get to see Rouge during the day.'

He glanced down at her to see her expression a pleading one, one he thought to be an irresistibly cute one at that. 'Ugh, why does she look at me like that!'

Unable to summon words while her soft form was pressed warmly into his own, he nodded grimly, as if assenting to being the volunteer for a 'slicing in half' magic trick.

"C'mon Shadow, smile," she pleaded, as she caressed his burning cheeks. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he found himself unable to refuse any request she made.

So he consciously attempted it. Forcing the muscles of his lips into action after so long a period of inactivity felt like a superhuman effort to Shadow. In the end, what he produced was a boyish, lopsided smirk that was nothing remotely expressive or over the top. But Rouge could tell that was his smile, and the moment she saw the silly, crooked grin, her heart melted.

Grabbing Shadow's hand, she pulled him up and out the door to get him his job.

---

The two of them sat across the table from the Commander, whose imperious visage surveyed the obsidian hero with a hawkish gaze. Rouge had brought Shadow to the fortress to see about getting him commissioned as a federal agent. He couldn't help but think that he'd never been a big fan of the organization, or government as a whole for that matter.

But the more they discussed it, the more it seemed to make sense to him. GUN had changed since the Ark tragedy, even since the Black Arms invasion. Besides, hadn't he decided to move past all that? Wasn't his purpose in life now to help people?

The Commander assured him that after his heroics in saving the Earth from Black Doom, that he would receive the same respect and treatment as any other agent – more in fact.

"Through a freak coincidence…" he coughed deliberately, "that had nothing whatsoever to do with me…"

Rouge glared at him, making him cut to the point.

"It seems you'll be paired with Ms. Rouge here. From what I'm told, you two have former experience together, and work well as a team."

Shadow was just about to voice his curiosity by asking what sort of odd circumstances had led to this 'freak coincidence,' but a sideways glance from Rouge made him reconsider.

"I hope these arrangements prove… accommodating," he smirked slightly, seeming to sense the chemistry between the two. "Agent Shadow, please proceed to orientation and briefing. I need to have a word with Ms. Rouge."

From the sad little look in his eyes, you could easily tell that he hardly seemed elated at the prospect of departing from the presence of the ivory huntress, but he urged him on. After he left, the Commander released a lungful of air, as if he'd been holding his breath the entire time. He tapped his finger rhythmically on the desk, as he considered what to say.

"This is highly irregular you know. Usually we don't condone partner changes for such outlandish reasons. If it weren't for the fact that you two have worked together in the past, I'd have no legitimate excuse. Then what would I put on my paperwork? 'They're a cute couple?' It would be my head."

"Well it won't be. Me and Shadow work well together," she remained profession in the face of his unspoken accusation, as if she weren't aware of it.

"Oh, come on Rouge! I may be old, but I'm not stupid. Anybody could see that you could care less what sort of team you two make in the field. It's merely a convenient cover story."

Still she feigned ignorance. "For what, exactly?"

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the sparks. We could hardly get him to pry himself from your side! The poor boy is as smitten as any I've ever seen."

Rouge secretly reveled in the fact that he had acknowledged Shadow's affection for her. "Alright, so what?"

"Well, that's why I did this favor for you, Rouge. I figured it wouldn't be a big deal. But if whatever is going on between you two jeopardizes the mission, it is my solemn duty to separate you."

With a pout, she replied, "Don't worry, we'll play nice."

After the alluring bat had left the office, the Commander turned to stare blankly out the window, his eyes covered in a veil of darkness.

"Good luck, Ms. Rouge. God only knows the beast you intend to tame."

---

Shadow had just finished with his orientation, and was now aimlessly wandering the facility to familiarize himself with the layout. He'd received all the basic, standard issue gear that field agents used, and had been turned loose on the world with instructions to come back tomorrow for his first assignment.

So here he was, peeking into doorways, and encountering an almost disturbing, yet entirely understandable fact: everyone seemed to know who he was… or what he was.

Stepping into an open doorway, he came to find a large screen hanging from a mount on the wall. A lightly colored box was connected to it by several cables, and a green menu of some sort flickered on the screen. His curiosity thus aroused, he slid down into the leather seat, picking up a strangely shaped piece of plastic that seemed to control the image. Growing comfortable with the device, he navigated to an image of a soldier grasping a weapon.

"Modern… Warfare? Must be some kind of… combat simulator," he commented, as he launched the game.

---

Some time later…

---

Rouge came into the room to find Shadow absorbed in his video game. But to her surprise, as she came in, he seemed not to even notice her presence, which was very out of the ordinary. She stared at him for some time, wondering exactly when he would acknowledge her presence.

But no matter how much eyelash batting she employed, she could not wake him from his trance.

Scowling at having to compete with an electronic device for his attention, she noted with satisfaction that the manufacturers had been kind enough to provide her with a means to fight back. Stealthily she crept on her belly to the front of the system, tracing her fingertip tauntingly along the rim of the power button. Still he took no notice, so she pushed it with a sigh.

"But I was almost finished with that combat simulator!" came his instant protest.

"That was a video game. C'mon Shadow, the Commander wants to see you," she rolled her eyes as she pulled the dazed male to his feet.

"Must… kill… more… terrorists…"

After Shadow had been given time to recover from severe video game withdrawal (which included promising he'd get to kill as many terrorists as he wanted in real life) he was left alone with the Commander, who was in a strangely solemn mood.

"You must know, if you work with us, you'll be asked to make some hard decisions. You may have to do things that are in the category of 'morally grey,' even by your standards."

"I'm comfortable with morally grey," he replied confidently.

"That's easy to say, but in order for it to work, we have to trust each other," the Commander opened his desk, retrieving an ancient looking folder that read in bold, black letters on the front PROJECT SHADOW.

"This has been deep in our Top Secret archives for so long, most of it had passed into the stuff of myth. Some believed it… you… didn't even exist. But the project was closed a long, long time ago, and you're all that's left. I feel the need for absolute honesty; this is, in a sense, your file."

"I don't really care what's in that file. Nothing in there can possibly change who I am now; I've moved past all that," he replied level-headedly, as he pushed the dusty folder back across the desk.

"Then, what do you want us to do with it?"

There was a pause as the Ultimate Lifeform stopped at the threshold of the Commander's office, pondering his decision one final time.

"Bury it, burn it, file it away somewhere and throw away the key. Some truths… are too terrible to be told."

With these final, haunting words ringing through the air like the tolling of a great iron bell, he left, and never turned back.

---

Muffled voices floated through the air like brightly colored balloons at a carnival. The atmosphere was peaceful, almost idyllic; one of those lazy, sunny days that give the distinct impression that nothing remotely important could be happening anywhere in the world.

Perfectly trimmed emerald grass swayed slightly in the gentle breeze, which pushed about descending leaves like whirling crimson gliders. A hulking, blood red robot stood at the base of a colossal tree, staring up blankly into the doorway of a juvenile tree house. The structure was easily discernable from its comically bright colors, and looks as if it had been painted in some sort of cruel joke by vengeful clowns.

"C'mon Omega, we can't scheme unless you're up here with me in the scheming tree house!" called the voice of the azure youth that hung upside down in the doorway.

"Negative. Scanners indicate that structural integrity of 'scheming tree house' is insufficient to support this unit's mass."

"You don't think it will hold your weight? Sure it will! How much do you weigh?"

Omega fidgeted a bit, before slowly responding. "Can't we just formulate our strategies at another location?"

'He's sensitive about his weight?' Sonic thought in disbelief. "You sound like such a woman!" he sighed, as he climbed down from the tree house. "Alright, but our top secret base needs to be radically cool."

"I think I may know just the location you seek."

---

Quite some time, and a few muffled screams later…

---

Sonic stood shivering in the midst of the plane of ice, surrounded by packaged and frozen foods of various shapes and sizes. "Omega… a restaurant freezer room isn't… quite what I had in mind when I said cool," he chattered.

"Oh. Can we still formulate battle strategy?"

"It's not battle whatever you said, we're not killing anything, remember?"

Omega looked disturbingly disappointed at the prospect of a non-violent mission, but nodded assent nonetheless.

"Alrighty then. Since we've come to that understanding, let's get down to business. We're almost ready to commence with the second phase of Operation Matchmaker."

"Affirmative. Please provide this unit with instructions and recommendations for Phase 2," he droned, seemingly to be hiding some latent enthusiasm.

"Alright, what we're going to do now is try to encourage Shadow to ask her out. You can help to arrange this in any way you… deem most logical," he finished, knowing Omega would understand that better. "If he's particularly hesitant, send him to me, and I'll give him a pep talk."

"Affirmative."

"Now… Omega, can we go? My toes feel like they're going to fall off."