Brothers in Arms

Sally: Who's Andrews, and Why is He a Chaos Wielder?

"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.