"Will you get the phone for us, Sonic?" Sally asked as a chiming ringtone sounded, pouring orange juice for Tails as she sat down for breakfast with the Freedom Fighters.

"On it," the azul hero said happily, setting down the plate of hash browns he was carrying and casually zipping to the computer in the next room. Sally watched as he answered the communication, the blue hedgehog grinning widely as soon as he saw the caller. "Oh, hey, long time no see!" Sonic listened for a moment, tapping his foot as the person on the other end of the line spoke in reply. "Yeah, sure. Nah, we don't mind. Oi, Sal," he called, causing Sally to glance up as she took a bite of her omelet. She had been pretending not to listen, but she was curious who was calling so early. "It's Shadow."

"Mmh!" She replied through her full mouth in response, chewing faster and swallowing. "Put the communication through to the screen in here."

"Gotcha," the blue speedster replied, doing just that with a few deft movements and zipping back to drop into his seat at the table. Sally wiped her face with a napkin, composing herself as the screen turned on. Sure enough, an enormous version of Shadow the Hedgehog's torso filled the wall, his arms folded as usual.

"Good morning," the dark hedgehog greeted politely, surprising Sally. She had conversed with Shadow a few times before, and, while he was certainly capable of manners, he usually abstained from social practices in favor of being pragmatic--usually at the cost of coming off cold and rough. Sonic had told her that Shadow was lightening up several months ago, but she hadn't seen him since. Perhaps his years on Mobius were starting to warm his frigid manner.

"Good morning," the Freedom Fighters chorused in return, herself included.

"What's up, Shadz?" Sonic questioned as he stuffed his face with a chilidog, apparently not seeing the early hour as a reason to consume anything other than his favorite food. Sally winced as Shadow's eyebrow raised minutely, but he didn't otherwise note the informal nickname. "We've been worried about you. Haven't done anything dumb lately, have ya?"

"There's been a lot going on," Shadow replied simply, stepping back slightly to let Rouge the Bat into the frame. Sally felt her fur bristle at the bat's presence, having had bad dealings with her even as a G.U.N. agent, and she could see Amy's hackles do the same across the table. Both refrained from speaking their minds, though, and Sally took a silent breath to relax herself, reminding herself that Rouge was technically an ally. "If by 'dumb' you mean foolish, then I'd say you'd be better served looking in a mirror than looking at me."

Sonic grinned at the answer, clearly unoffended, but the white bat beat him to a response.

"If you mean nearly getting himself killed, then yes," Rouge added, and Shadow gave her an annoyed look. He didn't look injured or otherwise harmed, but Sally felt a prickle of concern for the dark agent, and she decided this wasn't the time to make jokes.

"We've been concerned about the lack of contact from G.U.N. this past month. Have there been problems for you?" Sally inquired seriously, doing her best to be politically sensitive but legitimately wanting to know. The perking ears around the table told her that the others had also been wondering at the human organization's apparent silence, or, at least, Team Dark's absence.

"There was a significant breach in security, so sensitive communications were all but shut down," Shadow answered, and Sally found herself appreciating his frankness, reminded of Commander Tower's better qualities. She had no doubt that Rouge would have given no such straight response, though she noticed Shadow had avoided answering the implied question about what had happened to him.

"I see. I trust you're alright now, whatever happened?" She queried, letting her concern color her voice so Shadow could tell she wasn't asking to be a pain.

"I'm completely fine. Rouge was referring to something that happened weeks ago," he replied with a minimal shrug, apparently not bothered by the event. "We'll tell you about that in conjunction with our other news. We would have told you this sooner, but, again, security was hardly guaranteed."

"Ah, come on, don't leave us hanging, Faker," Sonic quipped, downing more of his favorite junk food. Sally glanced to the ceiling with a quick plead for patience with her chattery teammate, wishing that Sonic could have some inkling of situationally appropriate tone. "Whatcha callin' for already?"

"Yes, right," Shadow continued, a slight warning in his tone as he side-eyed the grinning blue hedgehog. "We're calling early because we figured you'd want to talk to the person this concerns at some point today."

"Huh?"

Sonic's confusion represented the whole of Sally's team, and Shadow glanced at Rouge in an apparent moment of uncertainty.

"You go ahead and tell 'em, hun; it means more to you, anyways," she said easily, a complete contrast to Shadow's serious personality. Sally internally wondered how the two were compatible at all. Proximity and circumstance, she would guess. She couldn't imagine them getting along any other way.

Shadow turned back to the screen, crimson eyes alert and piercing as they focused again.

"Team Dark has a new member," he announced, low voice projecting more than usual.

"Whoa, seriously?" Sonic's reaction, as usual, beat everyone else's, and he grinned widely from his seat. "Does he fit your anti-hero motif?"

"He's reformed, yes. He's changed his allegiance, and he's now a dedicated protector of Mobius," Shadow confirmed, nodding decisively. Although Sally was instinctively cautious of the ultimatum, she couldn't help but trust Shadow more than his thief partner.

"Not tha' I doubt you, sugah, but ah you sure?" Bunnie Rabbot asked, voicing the slight skepticism Sally could sense from everyone. "Askin' for clarity."

"If we had any doubts of his loyalty, he wouldn't be an agent," Shadow stated, seeming unoffended.

"Mmh-hmm, G.U.N. would be very involved if he went rogue, and we don't want that anymore than you do," Rouge added from beside Shadow, smirking slightly. "He was hard enough to deal with the first time."

"And," Shadow jumped back into the conversation, acting far more talkative than Sally remembered, "he reached out to us of his own accord. G.U.N. didn't force him to join--it wasn't even his original intention to. That's just how things have worked out. He was also, incidentally, the indirect cause of the security breach. An outside organization was attempting to get its hands on him, which is one of the reasons the breach caused us so much trouble. We can tell you more about that later, though; it's a complicated story."

"Who is it?" Amy queried, curious. Shadow's face smirked slightly now, too, though the expression looked more pleasant on him than Rouge--if that was saying much.

"Do you have any guesses?" He questioned slyly, which Sally definitely hadn't expected. She could see Sonic and Amy's reaction, as well, who both knew Shadow far better than her, and neither of them were hiding their surprise at the dark hedgehog's notable change in character.

"Er... Can't say I do, Shadz," Sonic replied, sounding impressed that his rival was lightening up this much.

"Can we have some hints?" Amy asked, and Shadow looked thoughtful for a moment.

"He's not someone you would have likely expected to reform. And, he's not someone you've met, though you have heard of him. Only one Freedom Fighter has met him."

"I don't think I have an idea, then..." Amy said, studying her plate. "Nope. I can think of a lot of options, but I don't think any of them are right."

"Is he actually a 'he'?" Tails piped up from beside Sonic, looking determined to answer the riddle.

"Yes. Well--" Shadow paused, then shook his head as if dismissing a thought, which confused Sally. "For all purposes, yes."

"Okay, then he's either met or fought someone on our team, and he's important enough to be sought after by another group..." Sally could practically hear the gears working in the young fox's mind, his murmured words audible to everyone. "Is he a Chaos Creature? He must be, unless he's really skilled at something."

"He's a Chaos Creature," Shadow confirmed, and Tails' eyes lit up.

"Well, depending on how powerful he is... And, his reformation means more to you than he does to Rouge..."

"Means more--you did say that!" Shadow exclaimed, turning to Rouge and folding his ears back slightly. "That practically gives it away!"

"Sorry, hun," the bat shrugged, hands deceptively dainty in their white gloves as she gestured. "It's true, though."

"Means more, huh? Is there something you're not telling us, Shadz?" Sonic teased, and Shadow's face immediately turned as red as his stripes, a sight that was almost surreal for Sally.

"No!" He rejected forcefully, shaking his head mightily, and Rouge giggled.

"Not on your part, at least," she said to her comrade, and Shadow's ears pinned down.

"That's not funny," he replied, teeth gritted into an expression Sally's survival instincts wouldn't want aimed at her. "That had nothing to do with romantic interest. It was just... sexual compatibility, that's all. Nothing else. He regrets making that offer as much as I regret hearing it."

Sonic snorted loudly, halfway between shock and a laugh. Much of the table appeared to have the same reaction, including Sally, who had no idea what to make of that information.

"Sexual compatibility?" Tails asked enthusiastically, and Sonic jumped, giving a frantic 'no more' sign at Shadow and Rouge. "So, he's a powerful Chaos Creature?"

There was an audible sigh of relief that Tails' takeaway was so harmless, and Sally thanked the stars she didn't have to have the 'talk' for at least a little longer.

"...yes," Shadow affirmed, albeit a little more grudgingly than before.

"That pretty much narrows it down, then," the young fox noted, winding his tails together thoughtfully. "I can't say I would have expected this, but I'm only thinking of one candidate for all of that. Is it--sorry, I forgot his name, but--is it the Black Arm guy? The last remaining one?"

"Eclipse," Amy gasped at the same time Shadow offered the name, and Sally's instincts pricked up.

"Oh, that's who," Sonic laughed, looking amused. "Heh, has Eclipse considered apologizing to Knux for the Master Emerald? I think Knucklehead might combust upon hearing he's joined G.U.N., otherwise."

"Don't remind me," Shadow grumbled, expression flattening somewhat. "Eclipse has already expressed regret over his actions, but getting him to apologize to Knuckles will be like trying to make Omega wear a tutu. They had an angry clash on Angel Island."

"Yeah, we've heard. Knux was up in a flurry about it during the tournament," Sonic smiled, and Amy frowned at him from across the table, glancing at Sally.

"He was understandably upset," Amy replied to the blue hedgehog, looking annoyed that he was downplaying the threat of losing the Master Emerald.

"Well, sure," he responded, sounding uncomfortable. "Amy, I'm just joking. I know Knuckles was mad for a reason."

"I don't think we should make it a joke," the pink heroine stated, turning to Shadow and Rouge to enforce her message.

"We don't treat it as a joke," Shadow placated her, lifting his hands to show his concedement. "I don't joke about the world's safety. But, before we continue, I want to make one thing clear." The black hedgehog's tone had shifted into a gruff, not unmenacing warning that made Sally's fur stand on end.

"Anyone has a problem with Eclipse serving G.U.N., they come to Commander Tower, Rouge, or me. Eclipse has worked hard and sacrificed far more than you know to get where he is, and he doesn't deserve to be ridiculed for it. You may not trust him, and that's understandable, but we don't want anyone insulting or belittling him or his loyalty. Discussing the validity of his position is the Commander's job."

"We understand," Sally replied, holding the dark agent's gaze with her blue eyes, and Shadow nodded seriously in acknowledgement.

"It's funny, because you could never make Omega wear a tutu, but Eclipse would probably wear one of his own accord," Rouge commented, snickering in a very tone-inappropriate way.

Chaos, she's worse than Sonic, Sally thought with annoyance.

"I'd pay to see that," Sonic laughed, not helping matters. Sally shot him a look, becoming frustrated, but the grinning blue hedgehog didn't seem to notice."So, we gonna meet this guy, or what?"

"Well, we were going to explain what's been going on first, unless you want him to help," Shadow responded, looking somewhat taken aback at Sonic's apparent hurry. Sally, having cleared her annoyance with a few deep breaths, paused thoughtfully at the black hedgehog's answer, suddenly getting an idea.

"Would you like to come for dinner in a few days?" She inquired, before Sonic could reply to Shadow. "Of course, Team Dark as a whole is invited, along with Commander Tower if he would like to come. It would be nice to talk face to face, and we could meet Eclipse in person." Sally knew she'd be able to make a better judgement of the alien's character in such a situation, as well as G.U.N.'s sincerity in hiring him.

"I--maybe," Shadow said, sounding almost impressed. Sally gathered he didn't get invited places particularly often, since the offer seemed to surprise him so much. "I'll ask the Commander, thank you for the offer."

"Of course," Sally smiled, finding it nice to deal with Shadow's newer, politer persona rather than his previous gruff one. "If you've just fixed a security breach, it might be better to discuss things in person, as well."

"You're likely right, though we're pretty sure we got all of it," Shadow nodded, and Amy cautiously held up her hand to gain his attention. "Yes?"

"Is--is there anything in particular that we should serve for Eclipse?" She questioned, obviously trying to be inoffensive but legitimately asking.

"No, he eats normal food," Shadow replied, a slight smile tweaking his lips. Amy returned the smile, apparently relieved she hadn't inadvertently insulted the alien by asking.

"Well, what passes for food here," Rouge grumbled, making a 'yuck' face. "It ain't exactly fine dining."

"Yes, well," Shadow sighed, recrossing his arms. "You'd like to talk to Eclipse, then?"

"Sal?" Sonic looked to her, wanting to see if she had anything to add first, and Sally considered it for a moment.

"I suppose, sure. We don't need to take up too much of your time, though."

"Don't worry, we blocked out as much time as you want," Shadow smirked lightly, tapping something rapidly on his communicator. "He'll come as soon as he can. I'm pretty sure he just got back."

"Got back from where?" Sonic questioned, curious like everyone else.

"He had a mission earlier today," Shadow said by way of explanation, and Amy's ears pricked at the same time as Sally's.

"By himself?" The pink heroine asked, voicing both of their thoughts.

"It was an emotionally important assignment. Commander Tower didn't want us tagging along unless it was really necessary, so Eclipse went with Spider Troupe, another unit," Shadow responded, flicking his ear as he shifted his weight. "I don't know exactly how it went, but it ended successfully."

"How did you know that?" Tails inquired, head tilting as his mind worked through clues.

"I can tell," Shadow shrugged, looking mildly uncomfortable, and Tails nodded enthusiastically.

"Through the hivemind?" The young fox asked, excited despite the implications of the connection, which made Sally's eyebrow quirk with concern. It wasn't that she didn't trust Shadow to make reasonable decisions about Eclipse; it was that she couldn't help but worry, just a little, that the alien was influencing Shadow's opinion of him. She supposed that Commander Tower would have found a way to monitor that, though, before trusting Eclipse enough to be an agent...

Sally relaxed back into her seat, sure that was true. Commander Tower had his flaws, but he would never put the world's safety, or his best agent's integrity, at risk.

"Essentially," Shadow replied, lifting an uncharacteristically embarrassed hand to the back of his head. "I can tell he's happy, and that's pretty much it. He's simply projecting his emotions, not actually trying to contact me."

"Sweet," Sonic grinned, and Sally remembered to start composing herself. This wasn't just getting an impression of Eclipse; this was giving Eclipse an impression of the Freedom Fighters. She took a deep breath; she needed to be welcoming to him, showing herself to be a competent leader and a respectable ally. "Sounds useful."

"Yeah, actually. It's helped us out a lot, though that's more thanks to Eclipse than the hivemind itself. Speaking of whom," Shadow added, glancing back.

Behind the two agents, a metal door opened, and in walked the alien.

Sally's immediate impression of Eclipse was that he looked a lot more like a Mobian than she'd anticipated. She'd never had the misfortune of seeing a Black Arm in person during the first invasion, as the aliens had focused on attacking human cities, but she'd seen many pictures. She was sure none of them had looked remotely like Eclipse, save for their coloring.

The reformed alien crossed the distance between the door and the camera, walking with a cautious confidence, and Sally started piling up secondary impressions. He did have his own look beyond resembling a Mobian, certainly, with glowing, fiery yellow eyes that held a literal flame of intelligence. Sally had looked into the eyes of many geniuses in her time, and she recognized the gleam of clever shrewdness. It was similar to her own powers of strategy and people-reading, she thought, but she was already focusing on other elements.

The caution was an odd mix; the carefully clasped, two-fingered hands spoke of nervousness, but Eclipse was more slinking than walking towards them. She couldn't hear his footsteps despite trying, even though both ends of the connection were silent, and she noticed he had a long, agile tail that reminded her of Ken and Espio's--he obviously had incredible balance. His shoulders were straight, conveying the confidence she'd picked up on so quickly, as if the alien was challenging those who look down on him despite his reserved body language.

Overall, Sally's impression in those first few seconds was that of a sharp, canny hunter with abilities based in stealth and shadows, different from the brutish or beastly enforcer type she'd automatically expected.

Then, as he walked up to stand beside Shadow, Eclipse opened his mouth to speak.

"Hello," the alien greeted, and Sally's every expectation was thrown immediately and unceremoniously out the window. "It's nice to meet you," he continued, smiling hesitantly, but Sally just sat in shock.

Eclipse's voice was, perhaps, the most singularly unusual one she'd ever heard. She'd thought, distorted and gravelly would certainly be how he'd sound. And, there was some of that. But, the element of slight vocal distortion was overlaid by a lilting accent in a middle register, perhaps exactly between Sonic and Shadow's voices.

It was actually incredibly pleasant. In a slightly hoarse, last-day-of-a-head-cold way.

"My name is Eclipse," the alien said, somewhat more nervous, and Sally realized with a jolt that no one had responded to him yet.

"Nice to meetcha'!" Sonic replied, giving a thumbs up and grin from his seat. Although Sally was glad he'd gotten over his shock in time to save the introduction, she worried that Eclipse, who was acting very polite, might not take well to the casualness. "Name's Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog! And, this here's my little bro, Tails." Tails, looking a good bit less confident than Sonic at talking to the powerful alien and a bit like he was trying to disappear beneath the table, meekly waved.

Eclipse looked at the kitsune with a quick smile and returned the wave with a two-fingered hand, a nice gesture Sally would never have expected from anyone on Team Dark. Although the gesture could have been ingenuine, Sally couldn't deny feeling a bit more friendly towards the alien. She doubted she would be able to tell how honest the alien's actions were until she met him in person, but he didn't seem to be forcing the politeness, even with the bit of understandable nervousness in his body language. Putting her fading suspicion to the back of her mind, Sally leaned forward to gain his attention and spoke.

"It's nice to meet you, too. I'm Princess Sally Alicia Acorn, leader of the Freedom Fighters, but please call me Sally," Sally offered, and Eclipse nodded once in acknowledgement.

"I'm Amy, Amy Rose," Amy said with her best smile, apparently also appreciating Eclipse being nice to Tails, and the greeting passed to Bunnie and Antoine. A lot of the Freedom Fighters were elsewhere on Mobius, leaving those two as the only ones who hadn't yet spoke to the alien.

"Nahce to meet ya', sugah. M' name's Bunnie Rabbot-D'Coolette, an' this 'ere's mah husband, Antoine," Bunnie greeted cheerfully, Antoine ducking out of speaking like Tails.

Eclipse blinked at the statement before nodding again, evidently surprised. Sally was interested that his facial expressions were so Mobian; she wondered if he'd adapted them during his time on Mobius or if he'd always expressed himself like this.

"It's nice to meet you. I like your accent," the alien complimented, and he seemed like he meant it. "Mine was similarly thick, once."

"Ah, well, t'ank you," Bunnie smiled, and Rouge snickered.

"Smooth," the white bat noted with a smirk, and Sally could tell the two agents had interacted a lot when Eclipse gave her a brief look of annoyance.

"I just spent an entire day dealing with Andrews; I don't need you in addition," the alien said, sounding rather exasperated all of a sudden, and Shadow visibly startled beside him.

"Oh, how did that go? I know you just got back," the black hedgehog added somewhat apologetically, and Eclipse turned to address him with an exhausted sigh.

"It was Chaos, literally. I nearly got my arm sliced off by one of his Chaos attacks," the alien grumbled, and Shadow's face rapidly transformed into concern.

"What? But, your arm looks fine," the dark agent said, leaning in to check both of them as he spoke. Sally couldn't help smiling slightly, seeing Shadow look so worried about someone, even though she had no idea what they were talking about.

"Oh, that's right, you never heard the results of the heal test. I don't have your weakness to energy damage," Eclipse replied, and, while Shadow clearly understood and appeared surprised, even Tails looked confused at the words. "So, my arm's fine now, but it hardly was earlier. Couldn't beat him at first--I didn't know he was a Chaos Wielder, and I wasn't skilled enough to match him. At least," the alien added, grinning toothily--Sally felt her fur stand on end as a row of massive fangs revealed themselves with the expression. Now she was starting to see the resemblance Eclipse had to his alien brethren. "Not until Blurk broke free and negated his advantage."

"Really?" Shadow asked, interested, and even Rouge was paying attention now.

"Yeah, Spider Troupe fired on their restraints when they covered me--which scared the Chaos out of me, I was terrified they'd hit them--and they got loose. We took him down so fast, he didn't know what hit him!" Eclipse crowed, obviously proud of his triumph over...whoever it was.

"So, the Dark Arms are all fine, then?"

"Yes, thankfully. I was so worried about them," the alien agent sighed again, this time in relief, and Sally's confusion reached a new level.

"Wait, the what?" Sonic questioned, interjecting with a baffled tone. "Who's Andrews, and why is he a Chaos Wielder?"

"Oh, no," Eclipse laughed, chortling in a way unlike Sally had ever heard. "Andrews is a human captain. I was deployed with him because Shadow and Rouge weren't available." Shadow and the white bat exchanged a knowing look at the alien's statement, and Sally was pretty sure this was the first time she'd seen Rouge look happy over something that wasn't thievery or troublemaking--was the bat actually closer to her teammates than she'd thought?

"He's a bit of a pain to deal with," Rouge added after a moment, and, to Sally's shock, Shadow nodded confirmation. "You survived, though."

"He wasn't too bad, actually, but it wasn't cool finding out Finitevus was a Chaos Wielder on arrival. Andrews didn't even know that he was," Eclipse groaned, and Sonic responded before Sally could gather her thoughts.

"Finitevus? What happened with him?"

"He tried to kidnap my little ones," Eclipse answered, and Sally could have sworn he snarled after, like a hissing kettle. "Served him right when they helped me kick his--"

"He means the Dark Arms, Wisp-Black Arm hybrids that can grant their powers to anyone with Black Arm DNA," Shadow explained, tactfully cutting off wherever Eclipse had been going with that sentence. "Which technically includes me, but they don't like me."

"Well, they didn't. They're less angry now, you should talk to them," Eclipse suggested, but Sally's mind was back with Finitevus and 'little ones.'

"Are--are they your children?" She asked before she realized she was talking, stunned into perpetual confusion by all of these developments. She wasn't sure she'd ever felt so lost in a conversation.

"No, but they were my idea. So, sort of, in spirit," Eclipse responded cheerfully, and Rouge made a quick 'nonono' gesture to his left.

"No one in their right mind would consider you fit to be a father," she said pointedly, and Eclipse rolled his glowing eyes. Sally couldn't help but find the expression extremely odd, feeling like she was looking in the eyes of Cassia the Pronghorn, Storm the Albatross, or--ironically--Finitevus himself.

"Well, who would you suggest, then? Shadow?" The alien retorted, more joking than aggravated.

"I do not volunteer for that," Shadow interjected, holding up a finger. "That's not my job."

"True," Rouge acknowledged, musing. "I suppose it's Abe's job?"

"I mean, he's a great leader, but he's not overly father-like. Other than being stern," Eclipse replied, and Sally found herself distracted by just how much he was... moving. Shadow was almost always still, and Rouge only moved to enhance her appearance, so it was strange to see Eclipse tapping his fingers on his arms while his tail moved to punctuate words and ideas--right now, Sally could have sworn it was shrugging. On one hand, Sally supposed it meant the alien was becoming more comfortable, not slinking around like he was before, but it was quite an incongruity between what she would have expected Eclipse to be like and who he seemed to be.

"Well, we certainly wouldn't pick Andrews," Shadow remarked, smirking.

"Speak of the devil..." Eclipse said as he looked backwards, sounding almost impressed. Sally's momentary bewilderment disappeared for a new kind when the door opened again and a red-haired man entered, wrestling with several small gray creatures.

"Oi, Darkling, get your offspring under control, will you?" The human man complained, releasing the creatures as soon as the door closed. "They've been going crazy since you left."

"Little ones, I told you to wait for me," Eclipse sighed, but it didn't take Sally's developed powers of observation to see he wasn't actually upset with them. One of them, shaped like a musical note, chimed and hurried over to the alien, nuzzling his hand in a way that was truly quite adorable. Sally was sure these must be the Dark Arms, and she watched, interested, as the other three did the same, letting out happy sounds as they crowded Eclipse.

"Well, anyway, I'll let you handle them for now," the man noted, looking relieved to be free of the excited Dark Arms. "Have fun with the meeting or whatever it is. Don't introduce yourself with 'it's nice to beat you'!" The ginger soldier laughed loudly, and Eclipse smirked slightly.

"Oh, don't worry; I didn't," the alien replied cheerfully, and the man's eyebrows knit together before his eyes flicked to the screen. Then, in almost comedic stages, his expression rapidly went from confused, to comprehending, and, finally, to an exaggerated 'yikes.'

"Oh, sh--"

"Right, so this is Captain Andrews, who we mentioned earlier," Shadow interrupted loudly; Sally bit her lip to keep from laughing as she realized it was almost a job of its own to cut off all the swearing from his comrades. She was sure he took it up himself, and she appreciated it, seeing as Tails was sitting at the table.

"His timing is usually like this," Eclipse added, chortling in his odd way again as he continued petting his Dark Arms, settling them as they floated and chirped around him.

"I didn't realize you were doing it now," the captain muttered, and Team Dark as a whole exchanged a glance. Then, in perfect sync that couldn't have been choreographed, they all said:

"Smooth."

Rouge and Eclipse exploded into laughter, and even Shadow laughed a few times; members of the Freedom Fighters looked at each other with pleasantly amazed expressions before Sonic started laughing too, drawn into the humor.

"Well, then, I'm off to go do important things like being appreciated," Andrews said pointedly as the laughter faded, and Eclipse smiled at the man with surprising warmth, an expression that looked very odd on his alien face.

"Thank you for escorting my little ones up here," the alien replied with a double thumbs up, and the captain blinked in surprise.

"Sure," the man answered, and he raised an orange eyebrow at Shadow and Rouge. "Funny how the alien has the best hold on basic etiquette of you three."

"Well, being 'Tower's pet freak' and the 'resident alien hybrid thing,' I think I have plenty of excuses to be uneducated," Shadow responded with an impressive amount of dryness. The phrases made Sally's ears prick, though the black hedgehog wasn't acting overly insulted.

"You're still on about that?" The red-haired Captain questioned, and Sally felt taken aback when he smirked. "I knew I hurt your wittle feewings."

"Oh, great, now I'm getting New Black Comet flashbacks," Rouge complained, cutting off the beginning of Shadow's reply, and Eclipse turned to raise a crimson eye ridge at his teammate.

"Oh, you are, are you?" The alien asked exaggeratedly, and Rouge smirked at him.

"Sorry, are they not traumatic enough to count?" The bat queried lightly, and Eclipse snorted, grinning.

"Hardly. At least Shadow had the decency to almost die," the alien replied, jabbing a thumb towards the black hedgehog, and Shadow stiffened.

"That was a joke," the black hedgehog quickly clarified, seeing the expressions on the Freedom Fighters. "Probably not the best time for dark jokes, Eclipse."

"Er, fair point," Eclipse said, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Sorry. We make a lot of those. It's easier to laugh at things than to take everything seriously all the time."

"We all need humor, just not...too much," Shadow continued, and Sally, despite her discomfort with the recent topic, was impressed at how kindly he was managing to chastise the alien. "But, where were we? Do you have any questions?"

"I did," Amy answered, shrugging with a light smile. "But, you seem to have answered a lot of them."

"You guys have quite the crew," Sonic added with a grin, looking over the four of them.

"You have no idea," Rouge replied dryly, pointing to Shadow and the still-smug captain, who was looking at the black hedgehog. "These two get on like oil and vinegar."

"Does that make me the salad?" Eclipse questioned, grinning at his teammate.

"Andrews is the oil, and you're the flame," she deadpanned, and the alien laughed.

"He does have a knack for setting things on fire," Shadow observed, and Sally wondered with a bit of concern if he was joking.

"Hey, I controlled it today!" Eclipse said, miffed, and Shadow smirked briefly, quickly composing himself to give the alien a cool look.

"Today," he emphasized, and Eclipse became visibly offended, crossing his spiky arms.

"It happened one time!"

"One time too many," Shadow responded, and Sally couldn't help an amused smile as Eclipse made a snarky face to mock him. The black hedgehog cracked a smile, as well, giving Eclipse a small grin to show he was joking.

"Yeah, well. Maybe I'm not a crippling perfectionist like someone in the family," the alien replied sarcastically. Shadow blinked in some surprise, apparently not expecting the jab, and she noticed how the Dark Arms had settled to lay on the ground at the alien's feet. She guessed Eclipse was a bit more bedraggled than he was letting on, especially with the growing air of irritation he hadn't had earlier--she was sure the mission earlier had left him emotionally weary, even if he was physically alright, and even the strongest individuals couldn't keep going forever.

Of course, G.U.N. was a high pressure environment, so she could understand why Eclipse was pushing through. But, she'd led the Freedom Fighters through many an exhausting situation, and she could see that he needed a break. She could imagine Team Dark hadn't gotten many of them in the past few months; she found herself glad she'd offered to have them over.

"Family...?" Tails murmured quietly, clearly devising some sort of question, and Sally quickly jumped in--she knew Tails could enthusiastically quiz Eclipse for hours.

"Well, we'll let you go," she said, smiling in a polite, friendly manner. "I'm sure you're all tired, and we need to get on with our day."

"Thank you for taking the time for us," Shadow answered, and she could see the relief in Eclipse's shoulders and tail as the alien relaxed. Shadow noticed the change in body language too, and he sent her a small smile of appreciation, which Sally returned.

Tails, on the other hand, looked alarmed that he wasn't going to get to ask his question, and Sally knew she'd have to reassure him, too.

"We'll set up a time for the meeting later, then?" She queried as a reminder, and Shadow nodded.

"We'll talk to the Commander, you can call at any time."

"Alright, we will. Stay safe," Sally said in farewell, and the Freedom Fighters quickly echoed her response. Shadow, Eclipse, and Andrews repeated the words in a staggered chorus, and Shadow reached out to end the call. Eclipse waved one last time, grinning friendily at Tails while Rouge made a 'toodaloo' gesture beside him, and the screen went dark.

And Sally needed a break now, too.

Author's Note: And Eclipse takes his next step to being a hero of Mobius! Team Dark'll be having quite the time to come, so look forward to seeing their adventures as they introduce Eclipse to the world. The darkling has a lot to navigate, but he's faced worse before... right?

Sorry for the wait--this past month and change has been super busy, but I'm working on finishing chapters and figuring out the epilogue. I understand that a month feels a bit too long to wait between each chapters, so I'm aiming to have an update every three weeks. Sound good? It'll be a bit of a push, but I think I can manage it. In the meantime, what do you think Eclipse's biggest challenge ahead will be? I'd love to hear what you think and have a nice chat--it gets me in the mood to write! So, drop a comment or a PM, and I'll be happy to get back to you! Counting on you, heroes.