Author's P.O.V.
"How can you not find him?!" The Commander shouted and growled at Shadow. "You're supposed to be the Ultimate Lifeform!"

"I am the Ultimate Lifeform!" Shadow growled back. "But they've been running for a long time, who knows where they can be now?" He shouted in frustration.

"Give us a few more days, we'll find them, sir." Rouge said as she looked at the two boys fight. "There's no way they've gotten that far, we will find them."

"You better do! Or else you're both-" The commander stopped for a second when he realized something. "You will be fired!" He pointed at Rouge as he growled then glared at Shadow. "And you will face double the punishment of a failed mission! Or maybe even triple!"

Shadow gave the Commander a death glare "You can't do that!" It's not our fault you didn't assign us this mission sooner!"

"You can't do that! Shadow and I are doing our best! Fire me and find someone else who can replace me. You are not allowed to do that to Shadow either! That's illegal! He feels pain just like us!" She was furious.

"Do I look like I care?" The Commander looked at Rouge. "You two are getting too close..." He mumbled quietly and started typing something on his computer. "You can leave. You have three days to find Sonic the Hedgehog. If you fail, you'll pay the consequences."

The two agents left the room after that, with Shadow growling loudly and tightening his hands into fists. "He can't do that! It's not my fault suddenly everyone hates them." He mumbled to himself.

Rouge rolled her eyes and flew beside Shadow. "We will figure something out Hun, don't worry." She landed beside him then started walking out. "I'm going to make sure everything's okay, are you coming?" She was heading to Shadow's house. She felt uneasy about leaving them alone there thinking they may have left or have gotten themselves in trouble.

She didn't wait for Shadow's response and simply kept walking as he followed quietly, he also felt uncomfortable having someone at his house without him there, he was hoping they didn't try to get to his office since he had guns and important files in there.

When they reached the black hedgehog's house, they noticed that the place was awfully quiet, which made him worry, but he, of course, didn't show it, he opened the door and looked around. To their surprise, they found the twin-tailed fox crying to the echidna and the pink hedgehog as soon as they walked into the room where the hero and his 'brother' slept at.

"He still hasn't come back. He's usually back by now..." The twin-tailed fox mumbled while he sobbed on the hero's girlfriend as she rubbed his back to calm him down.

"It's okay, Tails. He will be back soon, don't worry. It's Sonic we are talking about." None of them had noticed that they were being watched by the two agents. They had both told the echidna about where Sonic had gone and why he went there, making the echidna mad thinking the hero didn't trust him enough to tell him.

The dark agent raised a brow and spoke up, not caring if e interrupted them or not. "Where did he go?" He asked with a low growl, thinking he had gone to G.U.N. and turned himself in, so they wouldn't get in trouble. "When did he leave my house?"

Sonic's friends gasped when they saw Shadow and Rouge then looked at Tails, who shook his head as he wiped his tears. "He'll be back s-soon, d-don't worry..." He mumbled and looked down.

Rouge rubbed her temples in disbelief. "Where is Sonic? We need to-" She was soon cut off when she heard the front door open and Sonic dashed in.

The blue hero had dashed inside the house, he had a few bruises and cuts that some guards had left on him. He was panting heavily from the fight and held himself up by the wall. He had a deep cut in his right leg where a guard had attacked him, trying to get him to stop running. "Damn it." The azure one looked up and lowered his ears slightly at seeing everyone then glanced at his echidna friend when he noticed he was mad, he knew the others had told him.

"Where did you-" Shadow growled at Sonic but he was cut off by Tails, who run to his best friend and hugged him tightly.

"I was so worried! What happened? Did they get you? Are you in pain?" He kept asking questions as he sobbed and hugged Sonic.

"Yeah Sonic, where have you been?" Knuckles crossed his arms and raised a brow, he was still mad but he was also worried about his friend. "And why are you beaten up? Did G.U.N. find you?"

Sonic lowered his ears and hugged back Tails. "I'm fine buddy. My leg hurts though, they cut me with the swords." He sighed and looked up at Knuckles. "Look, man, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, it's just something in my life that I'm not comfortable talking about."

"Where were you?" Rouge quickly butted in. "Amy, there's a first aid kit in the restroom, go get it and clean Sonic's injuries." After Rose left, she looked back at Sonic. "Who did this to you and where did you go? I'm asking nicely, Blue. Answer me." She said sternly.

"Rouge... I don't..." He shook his head not wanting to say.

"There is no way we'll let you casually leave the house and coming back like this." Shadow growled louder and pulled Tails away from the hero. "We are helping you, Hedgehog. This means that if you get caught, we all get in trouble, so you better speak up before I kick you out." He was about to walk closer when Amy walked in front of him.

"Excuse me, Mr. Perfect. But Sonic made a mistake, we all make mistakes, so what? He's here, he doesn't want to talk about it because it's something personal, something you probably don't know because you need papers to know where you came from, and other people to tell you what to do." She growled back, she wasn't scared of Shadow, she knew that he wouldn't hurt a girl and even if he did, Rouge would back her up.

"I didn't talk to you, Rose." Shadow tightened his fist, getting pissed off at the pink hedgehog's attitude. "You better back off and shut that big mouth of yours, because I'm not scared of your little hammer." He was close to starting a fight with her.

Sonic rested a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder and one on her waist as he pushed her aside. "That's enough, Ames." He sighed and sat down in the bed as he hissed lightly. "The way you act towards us, Shadow, is the way we will treat you. Amy just protected me in the same way you've been acting towards us." He sighed and looked at the deep cut in his legs. "If you want to kick me out, fine. Do so. I have no problem with it because I rather get kicked out than not checking in on my-" He stopped himself.

"Sonic, you can't keep going there... I know it's important but it's dangerous and they don't...-" He was cut off.

"I don't care what she said, that isn't her talking, I know it. There's something wrong here and I'm going to keep going at least once a week." He rubbed his face. He looked up at Knuckles who still looked mad.

"I just can't believe you didn't trust me enough to tell me this. We've been working together, fighting together for years, Sonic!" Knuckles snapped at his friend.

"Enough!" Tails shouted and got everyone's attention. "Can you please shut up and let me take care of Sonic's wounds?" He glared at Knuckles and Shadow. "He's in pain, can't you see?"

"Fine." Shadow scoffed. "But you still need to explain." He pointed at Sonic.