Jayde the Hedgehog • By Your Side [3]

2: My Roof!✔️

Music: Heatstroke - Doctor Vox

Jayde had just sat down, munching on an apple when the two agents came crashing into her house. A small shriek of surprise came from the hedgehog, falling back off the edge of the sofa and onto her butt. She looked up and pouted, "Aw man, my roof!"

Small groans were heard through the rubble, soon followed by, "Ugh, great landing Shadow."

Jayde placed her hands on her hips, watching as the ebony hedgehog gave her an apologetic grin, "Explain?"

"Let's just say GUN won't be proud of us this time." Rouge mumbled, flapping her wings to remove the debris.

Sonic walked out from the bathroom, wiping his hands before glancing up at the newly formed hole, "Hey, uh, I know you wanted a ceiling window JJ, but couldn't you have waited for Tails?"

Jayde glowered at him, "I didn't ask for a hole in my roof!"

"What happened?"

Jayde looked at Shadow with a sigh, watching him massage his sore arm. The female walked to the freezer, grabbing an ice pack and throwing it across the room. It smacked straight into the ebony quilled head, a grunt leaving the hedgehog. She grabbed a bottle of water and walked back towards the trio, "Let's just say Shades and Rouge decides to drop in."

"And you had to come through the roof?" Sonic asked, "There's a door right there."

"More than I can say for your shack, Faker." Shadow muttered, placing the ice pack on his arm.

Jayde sighed, looking at the hole in the ceiling. A few bird flew by, some deciding to land by and take a peek inside. "Speedy, when's Tails back?" She asked, taking a sip of her water.

The blue blur shrugged, "Not till next week sometime."

Rouge grinned, "That's okay, you can crash at Shadow's while you roof is being repaired."

The grey quilled hedgehog choked on her water and a small tint of red came on the Ultimate Lifeform's muzzle, "W-What?"

"Well, you certainly can't stay here." Rouge replied, "Amy is currently staying with Cream and I only have a one bed flat above my club. Shadow is the only option."

"Do I get a say in this?" The victimised male asked.

Rouge shook her head at him and continued, "And you certainly don't want to stay with Sonic right?"

"Hey!"

Jayde shrugged, "I'm not really bothered."

"Then it's settled! Jayde will be Shadow's roommate for the next week."

"Hey, wait a minute!" Shadow yelled. It's not that he wouldn't want Jayde around for a bit. Him and the female had grown closer with each passing day - it was clear as day.

The azure hedgehog chuckled, "Good luck, guys." And he shot out the door before the red striped male could grab him.

"Yeah, goodbye to you as well, Sonic." Jayde muttered.

"Right, Shadow. We need to get to headquarters, the Commander won't stop ringing me." Shadow was slightly phased out, not sure whether to be shocked or angry that Rouge had just invited the female hedgehog to stay at his house for a week, with or without his permission.

"Okay, I'm just gonna tag along. That hole's gonna bother me otherwise." Jayde mumbled.

———

"Unacceptable. You blew up the facility and lost the main guy!" The commander gritted his teeth. Shadow couldn't care less what he had to say and sat, arms and legs crossed, with his eyes closed. He would catch that criminal one way or the other, with or without GUN. Jayde sat back in the corner, snickering slightly as the two 'highest ranked' agents got yelled at. The commander took a glance over to her before focusing his attention back.

"Sir, we had him. His take off was one thing we were not prepared for." Rouge muttered.

"If you had given us more information rather than 'he stole something very important from GUN', we'd have more to work with and would've been more prepared." Shadow stared.

The commander looked at them, "You should be prepared for anything."

Shadow grunted.

The commander dragged a hand down his face, "All we know that he's on the far south of Metropolis. He had a second base there." He grabbed a controller and turned on the TV behind him. A red cube showed up on screen, causing Rouges eyes to widen.

"That's a-"

"Yes. It is a Phantom Cube. After the Sonic team defeated Infinite and the Phantom Ruby, only a few cubes of the power remained. We don't know what happened to the actual ruby, however the Dark Creature has one of those cubes and is using it in worse ways than just illusions."

"The Chaos Emeralds were powerless against the Phantom Ruby - they won't be any more stronger for the Cubes." Shadow spoke, finally actually paying attention.

"It's a good thing you brought Jayde." The commander muttered, "We have reason to believe that the Shards may be able to cancel out the effects."

Jayde frowned. But that would involve gathering them all up again and she couldn't risk it because of the Phantom Ruby afterpieces. Before she could speak, however, the ebony hedgehog spoke up, "No."

"Excuse me?" The commander glared at him, even the ivory bat was surprised Shadow refused.

"I said no." He stood, fists clenched slightly. A sudden wave of protectiveness had just washed over him, "I will not allow Jayde to include herself into this. She has been through too much these past few months and deserves a rest. Those Shards are staying right were they are."

Shadow grabbed the pile of papers from the desk before walking out. Jayde was quick to follow, "Shades, wait!"

Rouge was about to leave until the commander called her back, "Rouge, might I speak with you privately?"