Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

General Abraham Tower looked out over the crowd, a sea of media hounds fighting for the top story and concerned citizens as far as the eye could see. In the back, he could see protestors with signs demanding GUN relinquish its power, or be abolished altogether. They were being held back by police, who had set up a barricade outside the park.

Tower frowned as he saw a fight break out, only to be broken up by police before it could escalate further. The journalists’ cameras flashed so much he could barely keep his eyes open. He kept his composure, hiding his growing frustration at the situation. His eyes turned to the focus of today’s event, Commander Hugo Brass.

“Effective today, I will be stepping down as GUN’s Commander-in-Chief.” Cameras flashed and journalists reached their microphones out. “The confusion was the result of an elaborate scheme by Doctor Ivo Robotnik, however it was due to my own lack of foresight that the situation escalated as much as it had, as well as GUN’s eagerness to prevent another disaster like Station Square.”

“Commander Brass, is it true that you had granted authority for troops to fire on a populated area?”

“Given the circumstances, I exercised my authority to declare a state of emergency, under which citizens were required to return to their homes and remain indoors until permitted to leave.”

“Eye-witnesses report that your troops were in pursuit of Sonic the Hedgehog hours before the heist committed by Shadow took place! Can you comment on that?”

“At the time we had reason to believe that Sonic was working with Doctor Robotnik. I cannot give any more information than that.”

Voices overlapped as people demanded an explanation, but Commander Brass remained stone-faced as he simply pointed to a reporter waiting quietly. “Next question.”

“Scarlet Garcia, Central City News. Independent sources report that the explosion on Prison Island was the result of an attack launched by Doctor Eggman, and that the Chaos Emeralds he had were stolen from the vault you had there. Is there any credibility to these claims?”

Brass furrowed his brow as he regarded the reporter. “Those reports are entirely unfounded. The explosion on Prison Island was the result of an accident, and the facility has never held any Chaos Emeralds.”

“Can you elaborate on this ‘accident’, and how it resulted in the entirety of the world’s largest military facility being completely destroyed?”

“The details are classified, and have nothing to do with the subject of this interview.” More voices raised at the Commander’s dodging of the question. He once again ignored them as he simply picked out the next reporter. “Next question please.”

This went on for a full hour, and General Tower could only watch as the crowd continued to get more riled up with every question that Commander Brass either dodged or half-answered.

“Regarding your stepping down from your position,” one reported began, “Will you still continue to serve GUN?”

“No. I am stepping down entirely, and will be retiring from active duty to spend my remaining years with my family in the countryside.”

“So who will be replacing you as Commander-in-Chief?”

General Tower stiffened and took in a breath.

“A unanimous decision was reached. The next Commander-in-Chief will be General Tower, who has served GUN for over thirty years, and has a long-standing history of military achievements and an upstanding education record. I can think of no other man more suited for the task than him.” Several reporters asked if they could interview Tower, some even directing their questions at the man directly, but Hugo Brass declined. “General Tower’s promotion will be made official one week from today, and at that time there will be a press conference. You may ask your questions there.”

Twelve bells sounded in the distance, marking the twelfth hour of the day. “I’m afraid that that is all we have time for today,” Hugo Brass said. “Thank you all for attending today, and to Sonic and his friends, who were gravely mistreated under my watch, please accept my sincerest apologies.” He stepped out from behind his podium and bowed. Cameras flashed, capturing the image of the ex-Commander bowing his head.

“Well then, that is that,” Hugo Brass said as he stepped into his car, General Tower following behind him. As the door closed behind them, he sighed. “Sorry to leave you with my mess to clean up, General.”

Ever since the incident with the ARK falling towards Earth was resolved, GUN had been in hot water over the fact that they had implicated Sonic as a criminal. A news outlet had managed to air a close-up of Shadow before GUN could suppress the media, and even worse than that, Sonic had risked his life to save the world, with everybody there to witness his heroic deeds. Any chance they had to write off their actions as simple mistakes were now gone. Even the president had publicly sided with Sonic and denounced GUN’s actions.

Retiring was really the only option Hugo Brass had anymore, to prevent GUN from being dragged under and completely dismantled. “Was there really no better way?” General Tower asked. “I understand that Project Shadow was dangerous. Believe me, I know.”

“You were one of the survivors of the accident up on the ARK,” Hugo Brass said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes. He offered one to the General, who declined, and then simply took one for himself. “Project Shadow is, was, the living legacy of a mad scientist. His destructive legacy, that very nearly doomed us all. If I had announced its existence to the public, I would risk widespread panic and public disorder. I couldn’t take that risk.” He sighed as he exhaled smoke, rolling down the window slightly. “I couldn’t have imagined he would help Sonic in the end…”

Tower scowled at that. “Why would he? After everything he’d done, killing all those people aboard the ARK, and stealing the Chaos Emeralds. Why would he suddenly help to save us all?”

Hugo Brass remained silently, staring out of the window as he breathed out another cloud of smoke. “Who knows?” was all that he could say. ‘With this, the last person who knows the truth about Project Shadow is now gone. At the very least, I can take GUN’s terrible secret with me to my grave.’ He glanced over at Commander Tower, whose fists were clenched as he stared down at the floor with a serious scowl. “I guess it doesn’t matter now. He’s dead, after all.” ‘Conveniently.’

“That’s true, but I… This doesn’t feel right. Can the victims of the ARK really rest just with that?”

“You’re going to be Commander Tower soon. I suggest you start focussing on that, rather than dwelling in the past. Take it from me, you’re going to be faced with a lot of situations that ‘aren’t fair’. But if what you want is to protect the people, then you’ll have to accept those situations and simply move on.”

General Tower looked up at Hugo Brass. “Maybe you’re right… Maybe it’s time I let go of the past.”

As Hope walked to school, along the same route that she followed every day, passing the same buildings and people that she passed every day, entering through the same gates she passed through every day, she couldn’t help but feel today wasn’t going to be like every day. All eyes were on her, voices seemed to be whispering about her, and people seemed to be going out of their ways to avoid her.

As she entered her classroom, all talking stopped. Everybody simply gazed as she walked to her desk. Her desk was covered in graffiti and scratches, and had a sizable dent in the corner. Her chair was wet with what she could only hope was simply water as she sat down, hearing some chuckles from her classmates. She put down her bag and stared out the window as she waited. She could feel people staring right at her until the teacher came in.

Everybody else took their seats or returned to their own classrooms as the teacher began reading out the students’ names. Jackie Thomas, Ruby Redwood, Samuel O’Neil, Jasmine Pine… “Hope.”

Hope winced. “Here,” she said in a low voice. The teacher would normally demand the student speak up, but instead he simply continued reading out names. Everybody else had their name read out in full, but Hope was just ‘Hope’. The teacher didn’t even dare read out her surname, ‘Robotnik’.

Ever since the notorious Doctor Eggman launched his attack on Station Square, which resulted in the entire city being destroyed and the deaths of over fifty thousand people, rumours spread that the mad scientist’s true name was ‘Robotnik’. For a long time, Hope was able to evade these rumours, thanks to her friends having her back, and teachers laying down the law. Last week though, Doctor Ivo Robotnik made an announcement to the whole world. It was a declaration of war. He blew up half of the moon, and threatened to turn that same firepower on Central City itself.

As if that wasn’t enough, Doctor Gerald Robotnik, a man who died long ago, launched his own plan from beyond the grave. The ARK plummeted towards the planet, and the world came close to complete destruction, if not for the heroic efforts of two hedgehogs, Sonic and Shadow.

Now, there was no escaping it. The name ‘Robotnik’ was know to everyone, and it had become a symbol of shame. What friends Hope had quickly disconnected themselves from her, and now even the teachers couldn’t help her. Today was her first day back to school since the incident, and it was clear she was not welcome.

On her way to her first lesson, she had been shoved three times in the corridor, and during the lesson itself, when she had dropped her pencil and leaned down to pick it up, she found her textbook had been taken. When she asked for it back, the teacher told her to stop disrupting the lesson. When she finally did receive it back, her notes had been scribbled out and messages telling her to go away – but in harsher words – had been added.

When she had Music class, she was unable to participate because her recorder had been dipped in a tin of paint from the Art classroom. During Physical Education, she was again unable to take part, as her uniform had been thrown into the showers and was too damp to put on. The teacher saw her sitting out of the lesson and when Hope explained why, she was given detention for skipping class.

By the end of the day, Hope had been shoved by passers-by eighteen times, had been kicked under the table twelve times, had been struck on the back of the head three times and had even been threatened by the school’s bully, who wasn’t even supposed to be there as he was suspended two weeks ago!

She finished her detention, where she was made to write out ‘I will not forget my uniform for Phys Ed.’ one hundred times, and then left. Most students were already gone, but a group of girls from her class were still at the main gates. Two humans, one cat and one fox. They stopped their conversation as she approached and watched her, grinning as she passed by them. One stuck out their foot, tripping her over.

“Oops!” she said as they all laughed.

“Careful Sarah,” another one said. “She might try to destroy the city!”

“Or maybe she’ll just go for the whole world!”

The girls laughed as Hope climbed up to her feet, only to have her hair pulled from behind as the girls circled around her. “Why did you even come today? Did you think you’d be welcome here?”

The fox girl punched her in the stomach, and Hope had to hold a hand to her mouth to stop from throwing up. One of the human girls kicked her back, and the girl pulling her hair forced her to her knees.

“Hey! What’s going on?!” The girls stopped as the school’s security guard ran over, glaring at the group. He was the new one, who had only started a few weeks ago. “What do you all think you’re doing?!”

“We’re just playing with our friend,” the girl holding Hope’s hair said. “Right, Robotnik?”

The man’s glare faltered. “Ro…” He looked at the girl on her knees, crying and covered in dirt, staring at him with pleading eyes. He gulped and pulled down his cap. “Uh, s-school’s out. You shouldn’t be loitering here.”

Hope gasped. He wasn’t going to help her! The girls seemed distracted. Taking her chance, Hope pulled herself free, feeling her hairs ripping out of her head, and ran as fast as she could.

“Hey!”

She heard the girls give chase behind her, but she was able to outrun them and make it to her home. When she entered, she found her foster parents in the middle of a conversation. They stopped as she walked in, staring at her for a few moments.

“Oh, dear!” her foster mother, Bertha, called out. “Look at you! You’re all covered in dirt! Really now, you’re not a child anymore!”

Hope frowned. Her mother wasn’t going to help, either. She was smiling, but it was a fake smile. One to simply keep the house from falling apart. Her foster father, Irving, simply watched TV, ignoring her entirely. “I uh…”

“Go take a bath. Dinner will be ready soon.”

Hope simply nodded. Bertha didn’t even question the bruises or the dishevelled hair. As she ascended the stairs, she caught the bedroom door of her foster brother closing. She could hear her parents picking up their conversation below her.

“What are we going to do?” Bertha asked. “Should we pull her out of school?”

“We can’t. They’d cut our funding,” Irving replied. The only reason Hope was even still at school, despite her performing far beyond her grade level, was because her foster parents would receive more funding than if she were to skip grades. “And we’re gonna need that money if I lose my job because of her.”

Hope sniffed, tears welling in her eyes, as she entered the bathroom and locked the door. She was alone now. She turned on the faucet and sat down on the tiled floor, bringing her knees to her chest as she waited for the bath to fill, her sobs drowned out by the running water.

“Commander, we’ve received a report!” Private Jenkins saluted as he approached the Commander. “Harold Robotnik has been sighted in Mazuri. He’s laying low at the moment and appears to be safe.”

“Have a squad sent out right away. Make sure you approach carefully. We don’t want to scare him away, or alert the locals to his presence.”

“Yes, sir!”

Commander Tower made an update on his list. He had been officially promoted two days ago, and since then he had been working on a case involving the members of the Robotnik family spread across the world. Ever since the Eclipse Cannon incident, people with the surname Robotnik had found themselves the victims of bullying and harassment, losing their jobs and being evicted from their residences. Some had even been assaulted, and at least two had been reported dead under suspicious circumstances.

As much as Tower despised Gerald for his creation of Project Shadow, his granddaughter Maria was another story. He had joined GUN and dedicated his life to protecting people because of her, and so he took this case very personally. He made it a priority to track down all members of Robotnik’s family and help them, and so far they had successfully helped a little over half, but many had gone into hiding, making it hard to track them down.

“Commander, I have Agent Rouge on line three,” his secretary called through his phone’s intercom.

“Put her through,” he instructed, and picked up his phone. “Agent Rouge?”

“Hey, I have some information you might be interested in, about that Robotnik search you’re doing.”

“Report,” he stated, only to receive a hum in response.

“I never said it would be free. Commander Brass would usually state his offer right now.” The Commander sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Well, consider this a present, to congratulate you on your promotion. There’s a girl in Empire City who might have flown under your radar.”

A little over one week had passed since Hope’s first day back to school. She had returned three times since then, and on the second day she was cornered in the bathroom and had her backpack stolen from her. The teachers had it returned, but the contents were completely destroyed, and the pack itself was damp and smelled like sewage.

On the third day the suspended bully jumped her and punched her hard enough to draw blood. This time the police were involved, but only because this particular boy already had a record. He was expelled, and Hope was allowed to take the following day off.

Her parents pretty much ignored her completely, only calling her down for meals and making sure she was doing her chores and homework. She hadn’t even seen her brother, who had made it a point to leave and return before her. She hoped he wasn’t being bullied, too, but she had no idea because his school was in the opposite direction, so she really had no chance to ever see him.

Over the weekend, she was asked to carry out some tasks. She went to the store to buy groceries. Thankfully the cashier didn’t recognise her, although a customer did and made a big deal about it just as she was about to leave. She went to pick up a cake at the bakery that her mother had placed an order for, only to be told the price had suddenly increased. She called her mother, who simply sighed and told her to pay whatever she had to. She could practically hear her foster mother ready to cry.

She went to the library to return some books and rent out some new ones, only to be told that her card had been revoked and that she was banned. The library was her home-away-from-home, a sanctuary where she could study advanced material in peace.

Monday rolled around, and she went back to school with her dirty backpack. Her parents didn’t buy her new books, as those would just be destroyed anyway. Instead, she was just given a few sheets of paper to use throughout the day.

She had somehow managed to get through the day without too much taking place. Perhaps the other students were uneasy after seeing that bully being taken away by police? There was still the odd shoving, spitballs being fired into her hair, and nasty notes being thrown across the room. She could still hear people talking about her and feel their gazes. But she was allowed to leave without incident, and made her way home alone once more.

That is, until she felt like she was being followed. She started walking faster, and the person behind her did, too. She started running, and the person behind her also ran. She rounded a corner, and there was a hedgehog boy, probably a couple of years older than her, waiting there. He grabbed her wrists and covered her mouth as he pulled her into an alley, and threw her to the ground.

A girl who looked her age showed up. She was a hedgehog, too. Hope realised that was the one who had been following her. “W-What do you want?” she asked, panicking.

“That’s her,” the girl said. “That’s Hope Robotnik! She goes to my friend’s school!”

Hope scrambled to her feet, only for the boy to rush her and knock her back down. Hope tumbled over a trashcan and felt her heart racing as she clutched her side. “Stop, please! I didn’t do anything!”

“Your uncle did!” the boy said. “He killed our parents! They were in Station Square when he destroyed it!”

Hope’s eyes turned to pinpricks. Until now, she was being bullied simply for her association with her uncle. Now, two people with a vendetta against him had her cornered. The girl was crying, screaming obscenities and calling her a murderer, whilst the boy lifted his foot and kicked her as she attempted to get back up. “I’m not like him! You can’t just lump us together like that!”

The boy didn’t listen. He kicked her again, and leaned down to pick her up by her collar. “Your grandfather nearly killed us all! You’re dangerous!” He raised his arm, ready to throw a punch, and Hope braced herself. A hand grabbed the boy’s wrist from behind, stopping him in his tracks. “Wha-”

“That’s far enough, young man.” A man with blonde hair, wearing a blue jacket and glasses, stared coldly at the boy.

“Let go of my brother!” the girl screamed, running at the man, but a female bat swooped down before her, blocking her path. “Sorry kids, but it’s far past your bedtimes.”

“I suggest you return home, now,” the man said as he released the boy’s hand. “Or we could get the police involved, if you’d prefer.”

“Brother…”

The boy glared at Hope, and was about to protest, but the man's icy stare intimidated him enough to flee with his sister.

“You sure we should let him go?” the bat asked.

“Well, it would only make things more complicated if we turned him in now,” the man replied, and then turned to Hope.

When Hope finally got a good look at the man, she found that she recognised him. “Mr. Stewart!”

Mr. Stewart smiled, offering a hand to help her to her feet. “Well now, I’m surprised you remember me, Miss Robotnik.”

She accepted his hand and lifted herself to her feet. Mr. Stewart was a teacher at the elementary school she attended in Central City, before she was moved to her current foster family. “Um, thank you for helping me, but uh… You probably shouldn’t…”

“Well there’s no way I could turn a blind eye to somebody in danger, especially not one of my former students.”

“But why are you here?” she asked.

“We’re here for you, actually,” the bat said, extending a hand to her. “My name’s Rouge the Bat. You’re Hope Robotnik, yes?” Hope accepted the handshake and nodded. “Eggman’s niece?” At that, she shuddered. “Looks like you’ve been having some trouble. Well, we’ve got somebody who wants to meet you.”

“Who?”

Mr. Stewart and Rouge the Bat offered Hope a lift to her home, telling her that the person who wanted to meet her would be waiting there. When they arrived, she found GUN soldiers standing outside her house at attention. Inside the house, GUN’s Commander-in-Chief was sitting in her foster parents’ living room, across from her parents, along with a female GUN soldier.

“We brought her,” Rouge said. “Just in time, too. She was being attacked by some kids.”

“Thank you, Agent Rouge,” the Commander said, placing down his tea and motioning for Hope to join them. Hope sat at a chair between the two parties. Rouge and Mr. Stewart stood in the hallway, simply watching from the side. “Now then, allow me to introduce myself. I am GUN’s Commander-in-Chief, Abraham Tower. This is Agent Topaz.” The female officer bowed her head. “We are here to discuss the current situation surrounding your foster daughter. As I’m sure you’re aware, recent developments have made living a normal life difficult for her.”

The parents simply grunted in acknowledgement, looking away awkwardly. “You’re… gonna cut our funding, aren’t you?” Irving asked. “Or are you going to kick us out of the program altogether?”

“Please calm down. We are not here for that. In fact, if you are suffering any financial strain as a result of this, I will be happy to make arrangements for your future.”

The parents seemed to relax slightly at that. “Am I… being arrested?” Hope asked, her voice trembling.

“Of course not!” Topaz blurted out, catching herself and regaining her composure. “You haven’t done anything wrong, Miss. We’re here to help you.”

“Miss Robotnik, do you know about the Witness Protection Program?” Tower asked.

Hope nodded. “It’s a program devised by GUN to protect the identities of witnesses when their testimonies would put them in danger.”

“That’s how it normally works, yes. At the moment though, the program is also being extended to all members of the Robotnik family. Ever since Ivo’s announcement, and his subsequent attack on the world, people with the name ‘Robotnik’, as well as those directly related to the family, have been facing hardships and ridicule from their peers. It’s gotten to the point where some have even fled to foreign nations to remain in hiding.”

Hope frowned. “So it’s not just me…”

“I’m sorry it took us this long to find you. Your admission into the Foster Care Program caused you slip under the radar, and we’ve had our hands full trying to locate other members of your family. So far, most of you family have accepted the program, accepting new identities and starting new lives, where nobody knows of their past selves. We would like to offer the same deal to you.”

“You want me to… erase my identity, and start a new life as someone else?” Tower nodded. “But that’s…”

“I understand that it sounds scary. You will be leaving your old life behind entirely, including your former friends. However, given the current situation, I urge you to consider the option.”

“You should do it, Hope,” Bertha said, tears welling in her eyes. “Your father and I can’t protect you. Everybody here knows who you are. I’ve… seen the bruises. You shouldn’t have to live in fear all the time.”

Hope’s own eyes were beginning to tear. She clenched her hands into fists and stared down at the floor. “But… I shouldn’t have to change my name, either. It’s not fair… Just because my uncle and grandpa did some bad things. What about my dad?! Colin Robotnik was a hero! He saved people and was a respected mayor!”

“I know it isn’t fair, Hope,” Abraham said softly. “I know that not all Robotniks are bad. That is why I am trying to help you.”

“I… I’m proud to be my father’s daughter. I loved him, and he always taught me to never give up on myself. That if I put my mind to it, I can do great things, too. He gave his life to save people from a burning building… If I threw away the name he gave me, it would disrespectful to him.”

The room was silent as Hope choked back her sobs. Mr. Stewart approached from behind and put a hand on her shoulder. She immediately grabbed it and began crying, letting out all of the tears she had been holding back. “It’s not fair… Why do I have to give up everything… just because of my uncle?”

The Commander waited patiently, respectfully, until her tears began to die down. When she lifted her face back up and reached for the tissues Bertha had brought, he said, “I won’t force anything on you. However, it will impossible for you to live a normal life with the name that you have now.”

“Then how about an abnormal life?” Rouge said, walking into the room. In her hand was some sheets of paper, which she threw down onto the table, revealing schematics and designs for various types of robots. “I found this in our girl’s room. Looks like she’s pretty talented.”

Topaz and the Commander reached for separate sheets and examined them. “Ah, those are… doodles that she makes in her spare time,” Irving said, beginning to sweat. “J-Just childish drawings, you know?”

“They’re designs,” Hope muttered. “Designs for robots that would work if I just had the parts…”

“S-She’s a smart girl,” Bertha said, laughing nervously. “But she does have a bit of an imagination, I’m afraid.”

“These are… really good,” Topaz said, turning her attention to what appeared to be blueprints for a GUN Beetle. “This is almost a perfect replica of our current models! Where did you get these?”

“I found some videos of Beetle drones used in the field, and just sorta… guessed how it was put together.”

The Commander looked at her incredulously. “You guessed? It looks more like you reverse-engineered one.”

“Well, I already had my own plans for a drone I was working on, uhhh… Here.” She reached for a piece of paper at the bottom of the pile and handed it to the Commander. “The GUN Beetle operated very similarly though, so I figured it was probably designed in a similar way?”

“She has some textbooks upstairs, too,” Rouge said. “Advanced engineering and robotics, far above her reading level.”

“Oh, those are old books,” Hope said with a smile. “I just keep them there for reference but I mostly know the contents back-to-front.”

“Well, this is certainly impressive,” Tower admitted, putting the papers down on the table, “But what is it you are implying, Agent?”

“Well, how about you let Girl Wonder here join your team? You know, the Anti-Robotnik team you’re putting together to stop Eggman. Guess you’d need a new name, though.”

“But, she’s only fourteen…” Bertha said nervously.

“And she’s designing robots almost identical to GUN’s current models,” Rouge said. “Imagine what she could do with the right resources. Plus that way, she wouldn’t have to give up her name, because she’d be under your direct protection. Right, Commander Tower?”

“But there’s still the age issue,” Topaz chimed in. “We can’t employ a minor, no matter how talented they are.”

“No, there is an exception,” Mr. Stewart said. “If she can pass a government-sanctioned exam to prove her talent as a young prodigy, she can be granted permission to work, despite her age.”

“I would be putting her in too much danger,” Tower said, turning his eyes to Rouge and Stewart. “My purpose here today is to protect Miss Robotnik, not expose her to more danger than she’s already in.”

“Wait,” Hope said, and all eyes turned to her. “… If I can pass that test, will you let me join?”

The Commander narrowed his eyes. “As I said, I cannot put you in that kind of danger.”

“Well, I’m already in danger now, aren’t I? Two kids jumped me today, because their parents were killed by my uncle’s actions! Who’s to say more like that won’t show up?”

“Which is why I’m offering you the Witness-”

“And I hate that idea!” Hope shouted, startling everybody as she shot up to her feet. “I love the name Robotnik, because my father made the name something to be proud of! I don’t want to give it up because his brother isn’t the same kind of man he was!”

“Please…”

“If I have to choose between putting myself in harm’s way, or throwing away the name my father gave me, then I’ll choose the former! Which means I either live my life dodging hate and ridicule everywhere I go, or…” Hope eased up, her eyes turning downwards as she got knelt down. “Please. Let me join your team. I want to… I want to help you defeat my uncle.”

The Commander simply watched, as Hope lowered her head to her hands. Her foster parents were sweating bullets, Topaz and Stewart were watching the Commander intensely, and Rouge… seemed to be enjoying herself. “Do you understand that our mission may involve killing him?” he asked, and received no response. “It is possible that a machine you create might end up taking your uncle’s life.”

“… If that’s what it takes then…” Hope raised her head, staring the Commander dead in the eyes. Her eyes trembled, but her face was certain. “I want to remove the stain on my family’s name, and make the name ‘Robotnik’ something to be proud of!”

The Commander sighed, reaching up and scratching the back of his head. “… If you fail the test, you will enter into the Witness Protection Program. But, if you pass it, then I will extend an invitation for you to join the Guardian Units of Nations. Are we in agreement?”

Hope smiled, jumping to her feet as she gave a salute. “I won’t let you down!” It was then that she remembered the presence of her foster parents in the room. She turned to them. They were looking at her with uneasy stares. “… I’m sorry for everything I put you through,” she said with a bow.

The Commander cleared his throat, climbing out of his chair. “Then, Agent Stewart, I will leave the arrangements up to you. Come, Agent Topaz.”

“Sir!” Topaz followed the Commander out of the room. “We will leave a few soldiers outside for your protection. Please don’t leave the house unless it is absolutely necessary.”

“C’mon, let’s give them peace,” Rouge said, ushering Topaz and Mr. Stewart out of the room.

As the door closed, Hope’s foster father got up and approached her. She flinched as he reached a hand out, but then relaxed when he pulled her in for a hug. “No, we’re sorry, Hope. We should have been able to do something to help you but… we were more concerned with ourselves.”

The mother joined in the hug, sniffing as tears fell down her face. “We failed you as parents, when you needed us most. Please don’t feel as though you’ve done anything wrong…”

Hope smiled as she hugged both her parents, the three of them silent as they just embraced the moment. “I’ll write to you,” she said.

Bertha stroked Hope’s hair. “Are you sure you want to do this? You could live a peaceful life if you…”

“I know, but I can’t forgive him for everything he’s done. Not just to me, but to you guys, too.”

Footsteps came running down the stairs, and the three parted as they turned to the source of the noise. A young boy came charging at Hope, tackling her into a hug as he cried into her chest. “Sis, don’t go!” he cried.

“Julian…”

“Don’t leave! I’m sorry I was mean to you! I just d-didn’t wanna get bullied, too! Don’t go, please!”

Hope smiled, embracing her younger foster brother and running her hand over his head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t stay here.”

“That’s not fair!”

“I know… but I’ll write to you, I promise. And when this is all over, I’ll come and visit. I’ll make it so your older sister’s a hero, and we can all go out an celebrate around town.”

The boy sniffed as he began to calm down. “W-Will that be soon?”

“Hopefully,” she said.

He pulled back, wiping his face with his arm. “Then… Then beat that bad guy! I’ll cheer you on!”

“Thanks.”

“Well, since this is our last night as a family together…” Bertha began, “What say we have a big old feast and play some games together?”

“Can we play Plumber Party?!” Julian asked excitedly.

“Want me to kick your butt one final time before I leave?” Hope asked with a grin.

“Nuh-uh! I’m gonna settle the score!”

Irving and Bertha laughed as they watched the siblings squabble and set up the game. It was the first real laugh they had been able to have for over a week. They made for the kitchen to prepare the meal, surprised when Hope and Julian joined them to help out.

“You were prepared for that, weren’t you?” Mr. Stewart asked as he drove through the streets of Empire City, Rouge sitting beside him.

“Aren’t I always prepared?” Rouge said with a grin.

“Why were you so adamant about her joining the Commander’s new team? I get that she’s smart, but…”

Rouge chuckled. “Y’know, last week, there was a breach in the CIA’s security. Somebody had snuck in through a backdoor and accessed sensitive data involving Eggman.”

Mr. Stewart adjusted her glasses. “You’re not saying…”

“Girl Wonder isn’t just good with robots, it looks like. She takes after her uncle in many ways. Thankfully not in personality. In fact, she was so subtle that the only reason I noticed was because I was accessing that same information at the same time, trying to find members of Eggman’s family for the Commander.”

“So Hope hacked into the CIA’s datascape, looking for information on Eggman? Why?”

Rouge gave him a deadpanned stare. “Seriously? If your life had been turned upside-down because of one man’s selfish actions, what would you do with information on the guy?” She flashed some more sheets of paper, similar to the ones from earlier. “I didn’t show these to the Commander, but there were some more recent designs in her room. These robots are armed with all sorts of weapons.”

Mr. Stewart gripped the wheel. “Then, you think she was scheming to take revenge?”

“For now, it’s likely just a way to vent out frustration. But a child as capable as her? Eventually, she would take action, whether she had support or not.”

“So that’s why you proposed that. If she has GUN’s support, she at least won’t be running headlong into danger…”

“Well, that too.” Rouge rested her head on her hand as she stared out of the passenger-side window. “I also figured that this way, she wouldn’t have to face it alone.”

“Ah, so you’re a softie, then.” Rogue jabbed Mr. Stewart with her elbow. “Ah! Hey, I’m driving here!”

“Well, I’ll leave it all to you, then. Now that you know why I went so far.”

“What? You’re not going to help?”

“Nope. I have a date.” She chuckled under her breath. “With one of Eggman’s secret vaults. We uncovered its location recently, and I’m betting there’s something valuable inside.”

The following day, Mr. Stewart returned with the news that the test had been arranged in one week’s time. Hope had been escorted to a more secure location, where she would be able to prepare for the test in peace. Bertha, Irving and Julian were relocated to an apartment in Westopolis, where they could start fresh, without the stigma of the Robotnik name weighing them down. GUN had arranged for them to receive extra financial support, given the circumstances.

In the week that passed, Hope requested so many books that the room she was given started to look like her own private library. She studied hard into the night, often falling asleep at her desk. The test would largely focus around her abilities as a mechanical engineer, but the government also wanted proof that her other studies were at a high level, too.

She was given a small workspace, with resources to practice with. During that week, she was able to put together many of her designs that were previously impossible with just the junkyard scrap she had been working with before.

On the day of the exam, she had presented the designs that she came up with and explained them in great detail. She had also demonstrated her abilities with computers, able to break past dummy firewalls with ease, and proved her knowledge in written tests. Finally, she was presented with a Chaos Drive, and asked to build a robot that could harness its energy without overheating.

A difficult task, to be sure, especially considering that it was her first time ever working with a Chaos Drive. However, Commander Tower had permitted her to study the schematics of various robots used by GUN – in secret, of course – and armed with that knowledge, she knew exactly what she had to be careful of to ensure that the robot would be able to draw out the most energy from the drive without drawing too much at once.

When she was finished, she had put together a simple combat drone. One that was capable of identifying threats and engaging them in combats. It was armed only with a paintball gun, however, it was still able to successfully identify the three Eggman robot cut-outs and ‘neutralise’ them, leaving the GUN trooper cut-outs unharmed.

Passing the exam with flying colours, Hope was approached that same day by Commander Tower, who offered her a place at GUN’s headquarters, under the new team that he was putting together to combat not only Eggman, but any threat to national security. Accepting his offer, Hope Robotnik was welcomed in as the newest member of Team Dark.

Chapter Text

“Shadow androids?” Commander Tower scowled as he read the report to him by Rouge the Bat after she had returned from her expedition into one of Eggman’s vaults. She, together with Sonic and his friends, had helped to stop the advancing Egg Fleet that was being commanded by Neo Metal Sonic, a creation of the Doctor’s that had gone out of control.

Upon their return, they were once again heralded as heroes, and much to the Commander’s dismay, Shadow was among the group that had stormed the Egg Fleet. In fact, Rouge had worked alongside him directly, as well as one of Eggman’s robots, E-123 Omega. As much as Tower wanted to arrest Shadow then and there, the president himself had invited both Sonic and Shadow to the White House to thank them for their service. GUN was in enough hot water after the trouble they had put Sonic and his friends through, he couldn’t afford to publicly side against Shadow now that he was seen as a hero.

He was sure that that was Shadow’s intention, too. He had helped to take down Eggman so that he would have the support of the people. That way, GUN would not be able to touch him, and he would be free to concoct whatever vile schemes he wanted. ‘Amnesia’, what a convenient excuse. But all the Commander could do was wait. Wait and be ready to act as soon as Shadow stepped even one foot out of line.

However, this report had him even more concerned than that. According to Rouge, Eggman had an entire room filled with androids that resembled Shadow, though they were all inactive at the time. Omega had seen to their destruction, but according to him, those were only a sample size. More were being created even then. One Shadow was bad enough, but an army of them?

“What are their capabilities?” Tower asked, looking over at Omega, who was currently being serviced by Team Dark’s Chief Engineer, Hope Robotnik. He had suffered some damage in the battle, and had come to GUN seeking repairs, in exchange for information on Eggman.

“Unknown,” he replied. “The Shadow Androids began production after I lost contact with the Eggnet. I have no information, other than they contain samples of real Shadow’s DNA.”

“And you believe the Shadow you fought alongside was the real one?”

“Affirmative. Rouge is uncertain, but I do not believe the Doctor would have isolated him if he was just another machine.”

“How does that feel now, Omega?” Hope asked. She had been working on his internal structure through a panel on his back, and as she pulled out to put down her tools and wipe the sweat from her brow, she was covered in oil.

“Much better, tiny human, but I still feel blockage in my exhaust valves.”

“Well let’s take a look then…”

As Hope dove back in, Omega turned his attention back to the Commander. “I can, however, confirm the location where the Shadow Androids are being created. It is one of Eggman’s main bases, designated Lava Shelter. That is where you will find the Shadow Android production line.”

“Lava Shelter…” Tower motioned to Topaz, who turned to her computer and began searching.

“It is unlikely you know its location,” Omega said. “However, I do. Accessing it will not be easy. It is deep underground. The only entrance is through a dense jungle, which offers natural defences. Nearby are two of Eggman’s smaller bases, which will come to his aid should you attack the main base first.”

“So we need to launch a co-ordinated attack,” the Commander summarised. “Two teams will need to take out his other bases at the same time, and then we launch our main assault on his main base of operations.”

“We don’t have enough troops for an attack on that scale, though,” Topaz pointed out. “If we pull soldiers away from their posts, we’ll leave ourselves open to a sudden attack.”

“We still have the Egg Fleet to worry about, too.” All eyes turned to Rouge as she entered the room, waving as she approached the group. “We only took down a few ships. The rest got away, and are still ready to launch at any moment.”

“Hiya Rouge!” Hope called out.

“Hey Kiddo. Repairs going well?”

“Yep. Well, as well as they can be with what little I can make out. Eggman’s machines are… weird.”

“So I’ve heard,” Rouge said. “Even Fox-boy has trouble keeping up with them.”

“I still don’t understand how you’re powered,” Hope said to Omega. “It looks like a Chaos Drive, but it’s not Chaos Energy at all. You said it’s a ‘Power Core’?”

“Affirmative.”

“I don’t suppose you’re Chaos Drive-compatible? I’d like to take this out and examine it.”

“Negative. Please do not remove my core. I require it to kill Eggman.”

Hope laughed. “Okay, okay, I won’t. Do other E-series robots use these?”

“Negative. Only the E-2000, but their production line was on the flagship that we destroyed.” Omega rotated his head so that he was facing Hope. “My bad.”

The Commander’s phone rang, causing him to excuse himself as he left the room to take the call. “So, Topaz, you still on for this weekend?” Rouge asked.

“Sure am. It’s been too long since I let my hair down.”

“We’re gonna hit Casino Park and have a girls’ night. You wanna come?” Rouge asked Hope. “No getting drunk, promise… Unless you wanna try your first drink.”

“Rouge!” Topaz scolded.

Rouge simply shrugged. “What? I had my first drink when I was younger than her.”

“Sorry guys, but I already have plans,” Hope said, closing Omega’s panel and turning to the robot. “How’s that?”

Omega let out some steam, and then rose to his feet. “I am now operating at peak performance! You have my gratitude, Doctor!”

Hope laughed, blushing at the compliment. “I’m not a doctor, but you’re welcome.” Turning back to Rouge and Topaz, she said, “I’m going to visit my family in Westopolis this weekend. My foster family, that is.”

“You sure that’s wise?” Rouge asked. “They moved to start a new life. If their neighbours found out who you are, and saw you with them, then…”

“It should be fine,” Hope said. “Mr. Stewart told me he’d made sure my face hadn’t spread across the web, and nobody in Westopolis should know who I am. I’ll still be careful, though.”

The Commander re-entered the room, rushing to his table and gathering his belongings in a hurry. “Sorry, everyone, but I have to leave right away. An urgent matter has come up.”

“What’s wrong?” Hope asked, her face showing the concern in her voice.

The Commander paused for a moment, and then, a smile crept across his face. A proud smile. “My daughter’s just gone into labour. I’m about to become a grandfather!”

Hope gasped, clapping her hands together as she beamed with joy. “Congratulations!”

“You want me to drive you, sir?” Topaz asked.

“No, please stay here and finish your report,” he said. “After that, you may all leave for the day.”

“Wow, generous,” Rouge said with a smirk.

The Commander left, Rouge following moments later so that Hope and Topaz could finish their work. “I must continue my pursuit of Eggman,” Omega said as he too prepared to leave.

“What, on your own?” Hope asked.

“I am a walking arsenal. There is no need to be concerned for my well-being.”

“I just finished fixing you up,” Hope pointed out, “And I know for a fact that there’s only so much you can do on your own. Why not wait, and join us when we launch our assault?”

Omega considered it for a moment. “That would take too long. Eggman might get away.”

“Haste makes waste,” Topaz said, not looking up from her computer. “If you rush in now, you’ll be overwhelmed. Isn’t that why you needed Shadow and Rouge to take on the Egg Fleet.”

Omega paused again. “Your Commander stressed the importance of dismantling the Shadow Android production line. We must make haste.”

“Well, can’t you at least slow down a bit and prepare for the attack?” Hope asked. “Let me look at your weapons. Maybe I can give you some upgrades that’ll uh, give you one hundred percent more destruction. Plus, we have a lot of training facilities here. You can act out some combat scenarios so you’re more ready for the real thing.”

“… Your proposal is tempting.”

“Besides, I’m not even certain my repair job will hold. You are an advanced, complicated machine, after all.”

“I am that.” Omega nodded. “Very well. I will wait, but no more than two weeks. I will push my body to its limits, so as to ascertain whether or not your repair job is sufficient.”

The weekend came, and Hope left Central City early that Friday so that she could catch her flight to Westopolis. Upon arriving, she was greeted by her former foster parents, Irving and Bertha, as well as little Julian. “It’s so good to see you again!” Hope cried as she ran to Bertha’s arms, hugging her mother.

“It feels like it’s been forever,” Bertha said. “Have you been looking after yourself over there?”

“Yeah,” Hope said, rolling her eyes as her mother fussed over her to make sure she was okay. “I’ve been staying with Topaz. She makes sure I eat right.”

“Have you been getting enough sleep,” Irving asked. “Not staying up all night tinkering, are you?” Hope’s eyes shifted to the side. Irving sighed, but couldn’t help smiling. He was happy to see she had been doing well for herself. “Great minds need lots of rest. Make you sure you go to bed at a reasonable time.”

“Kayyyyyy…” Hope turned to Julian, who had been standing there quietly for some time. She was about to say something, when he suddenly ran forward and hugged her. “You been doing okay here?”

“Yeah… But it’s boring without you around,” Julian said as he stepped back. “Mum and dad are too busy to play with me.”

Irving and Bertha shifted uncomfortably. Hope simply laughed and said, “Well, I’ll be here all weekend, so we’ve got lots of time to play.” That brought a smile to Julian’s face.

The family left the airport and drove to the downtown district. Traffic was blocked due to the bustling crowds leaving work, but it was extra busy that day, due to the appearance of the Black Comet, which only appeared once every fifty years. It would be in the sky for a few days, and many were eager to see it as it appeared tonight.

“You guys want to see the comet, too?” Hope asked. She had been curious about the comet since Rouge told her about it the previous week. A phenomenon that most would likely only experience once in their lives? There was no way she couldn’t be excited.

Julian didn’t seem to share her enthusiasm, rolling his eyes. “What’s so fun about a big rock in the sky?”

Irving and Bertha laughed. “We can see it tonight. Our house is near a lovely viewing spot,” Bertha said.

Hope practically beamed. “Will there be a telescope?”

“I’ve borrowed one from our neighbours,” Irving said. “A proper one, not a toy, so you can get a good look at the comet.”

“This is gonna be so cool!” Hope declared, Julian simply sighing beside her.

By the time the family had made it to the restaurant, they were all starving. Thankfully, their reservation held, and they were able to sit down and look through the menus right away. After ordering, Bertha turned to Hope and asked, “So, how has work been? Have you made a lot of friends?”

“Yeah,” Hope replied. “Topaz works there. You remember her, right?”

“Female officer that was with that Commander?”

“That’s her. She’s basically my boss.”

“I thought the old guy was your boss,” Julian said before chugging his orange juice.

“He’s the Commander-in-Chief of all of GUN,” Hope explained, “So he’s like, my boss’ boss. Topaz is in charge of Team Dark’s affairs and reports directly to Commander Tower.”

“What about that handsome young man who helped you take that test?” Bertha asked.

Irving gave his wife a sideward glance, and added, “Or that charming young bat girl?” Bertha gave him a sideward glare as he innocently drank his soda.

“They both work for the government. Rouge sometimes comes by to check on me, though, and works with us on some secret missions.”

“Have you made any cool robots?” Julian asked.

“Not yet. I’ve been maintaining ones that have been damaged in the field. Oh, but there was one that came to us recently called Omega. He has an AI that gives him his own personality. He’s basically a living being!”

“Does he fly? Or fire missiles out of his hands?”

Hope laughed. “Well, not out of his hands.”

“But he does fire missiles?” Bertha asked, somewhat unnerved at the sound of Hope working with such a dangerous machine.

“Not just missiles. He has a flamethrower, machine guns, titanium-tipped claws, grenades…”

“Sounds uh… exciting,” Bertha said, putting on her best smile.

“You are happy there, I take it?” Irving asked, and Hope nodded.

“I’ll admit I was a little nervous, but everyone there is so nice. They don’t care about who my uncle is. I can be myself there, and put my skills to good use.”

“That’s good to hear. That’s what’s truly important to us.” Bertha nodded in agreement.

The food came. As they ate, Julian updated Hope on how he’d been doing at school since moving to Westopolis. “I met this cool kid who’s got like the biggest NiGHTS collection in the world! And I have the coolest teacher, and I’ve learned how to swim, and-”

“Okay, okay, take it easy,” Bertha said. “You’ll talk her ears off, and probably choke on your dinner.”

“I’m glad you’re having fun at school,” Hope said. “I was worried you’d be too scared to go.”

“Me, scared? Pfft! Yeah right!”

Irving and Bertha shared their own stories with Hope. Irving was now working a very successful role in the downtown area, and Bertha was volunteering at the local community centre, helping out survivors from Station Square who had been displaced by the destruction of their home. There were hundreds of thousands of people with suddenly nowhere to go, and no assets to their names, and there simply wasn’t enough that the government could do to help all of them.

Just another tragedy brought on by her uncle and his selfish actions, Hope realised. She wanted to capture him. She wanted to throw him in a cell where he’d be unable to harm anybody else, and then use her talents to help those he had hurt. But for the time being, she was content just being here with her family, laughing and sharing tales of everything she had experienced since moving to Central City.

“We should get going,” Irving eventually said, after realising he and his family had been talking for several minutes after finishing their meals. “We’ll show you our new home, and we can catch up more before going out to see the comet.”

“And I’ll show you my new room!” Julian said excitedly.

After paying, the family left the restaurant. The parents were eager to show Hope their new house, but as they stepped outside, they stopped. The streets were darker than they should have been at that time of day, and everybody around them seemed to be looking up at the sky. Looking up, too, the family could see black clouds gathering, and the sky was now red instead of its usual blue. “What going on?” Julian asked. “Is it an eclipse?”

“No,” Hope said, holding her little brother’s hand, “There’s no eclipse forecasted for today, and besides, I’ve never heard of an eclipse that turns the sky red.”

“Hey, what’s that?” somebody on the street called out.

“There’s something falling,” another person said, snapping a picture with their phone.

Hope squinted. They were right. Some things appeared to be falling out of the sky. Whatever they were, they crashed the ground, causing tremors to occur.

The creatures then roared, and began attacking indiscriminately. Armed with weapons that fired lasers and glowing purple swords, the creatures started killing people all around them, inciting a panic as everybody started running to get to safety.

Drivers stepped on it to get away, resulting in cars crashing into each other and starting fires. Winged-creatures like bats swooped down and attacked, knocking people down or lifting them into the air, only to drop them from a height. Some people tried to fight back, but were overwhelmed by the sheer strength the brutes possessed. Police sirens blared and nearby officers opened fire, but with all the people running to get away, they couldn’t properly aim.

Hope’s face paled at the sight of it all. It was total chaos! One of the creatures turned and looked at her, and her heart leapt. She felt something pulling her arm and found herself running with her foster parents, Julian in Bertha’s arms whilst Irving pulled her by the wrist.

“What are those things?!” Julian cried.

“I don’t know, just run!” Irving shouted, his voice almost drowned out by the screaming all around them.

Lights began pouring from the sky, one landing in front of the family and causing them to stop suddenly. Moments later, laser blasts struck where the lights were shining, creating explosions that destroyed buildings and created more fires. Those fires quickly spread, filling the sky with smoke.

Hope was on her front, groaning as she felt pain coursing through her body. She had been thrown back by the force of the explosion. As she pushed herself up, she found her parents ahead of her, also picking themselves up. She noticed something else, too. Something purple was planted on the ground by her father’s feet. It began to glow.

“WATCH OUT!” she screamed, getting Irving’s attention. He saw the purple thing and gasped, grabbing his wife and his son and running as far as he could before it exploded. “DAD?!” She received no response. She couldn’t see past the thick wall of smoke. “MUM?! JULIAN?!”

“We’re here!” It was Irving’s voice. She breathed a sigh of relief as the smoke began to blow away, and she could see her family on the other side. Only, they did not seem so relieved. They were calling out to her, waving urgently. “BEHIND YOU!”

Hope turned around, shrieking as one of the creatures ran towards her. She began to run to her family, only to stop when she found that an entire section of the road had been taken out! It was impossible to cross!

“Hope!” she heard Julian call.

“Hope, RUN!” Bertha cried.

“Get out of there! Don’t worry about us!” Irving told her. “We’ll meet up later! Just find a way out!”

Hope bit her lip, but nodded. “Okay, just promise you’ll get somewhere safe!” She turned and ran, the creature giving chase. She made it to an alleyway, where she had to run over some fallen bodies in order to reach a ladder that had been lowered. The creature was on her heels, but was slowed by bricks and various other objects that were being thrown from above.

Looking up, Hope found a number of people on the building’s rooftop calling out to her. “Climb! We’ll cover you!”

Climbing as fast as she could, Hope made it to the catwalk that made up the building’s emergency exit. She ran up several flights of stairs, eventually reaching another ladder. After some more climbing, she made it to the top, where she found several people jumping and calling out to a GUN helicopter that was flying around.

“WE’RE DOWN HERE!”

“HELP US!”

Hope frowned as she noticed the helicopter taking fire from the streets below. The pilot had to swerve to avoid the shots and there was no way it come in for a safe landing. It rained bullets down on its attacker, and all they could do was wait…

“More laser strikes!” one person called out, and just as earlier, lights rained down over the city. One of those lights hit the building they were standing on, causing everybody to panic and scramble for the ladder.

Hope instead rushed to the other end of the building. It would be tight, but she had a better chance of jumping to the neighbouring rooftop, which wasn’t very far, than she did of fighting for space on the emergency exit.

“This way!” she called out, but nobody had seemed to hear her. Everybody decided that the emergency exit would be safer, as it was closer to where they were standing. Gritting her teeth, Hope ran and jumped just as the strike came from above. The blast propelled her forward, and she made a rough landing on the roof of the other building.

Groaning, she picked herself up. She was covered in scrapes and cuts, but it didn’t seem anything was broken. She looked at the previous building. It was reduced to about half of its original size, and what remained was completely on fire.

Staying in one place was dangerous, she could see that now. GUN was in the city. She could meet up with them and ask for their protection. Making her way to this new building’s emergency exit, she climbed back down to the streets, looking out cautiously and emerging when she saw that it was clear.

Gunfire sounded in the distance, but it was faint. She could also hear sirens blaring everywhere, and floodlights now illuminated the sky, revealing the large, flying objects that were responsible for the orbital strikes the city had been taking.

A nearby soldier lay dead on the ground. Hope could hardly believe what she was seeing. So much death and destruction, on what was supposed to be just a nice day out with her family. It was enough to make her want to just stop and cry. But she couldn’t afford to stop. She had to keep going, and do whatever it took to survive…

She leaned down and picked up the dead soldier’s pistol. It felt heavier than it looked, and colder, too. Now armed, she ran through the streets between cover, making her way to where the floodlights were coming from.

The sounds of gunfire grew louder. She knew she must have been going in the right direction. Another section of road was missing, but a makeshift bridge had been planted using the remains of a fallen crane. Carefully, she crossed the precarious bridge, taking care not to look down. As she touched down on the other side, her eyes met one of the creatures and gasped.

The creature roared. It raised its arm, which was holding one of the swords she had seen earlier, and ran towards her. She hurriedly raised her gun and fired, pulling the trigger rapidly as she scrambled backwards. All but one shot missed, and the one that hit only slowed it for a second as it merely scraped its free arm.

It took Hope a moment to realise that she has used all the bullets, and that she was now trying to fire an empty firearm. Panicking, she threw the gun at the creature, who merely brushed it off. Her back to a wall, Hope could only look on in horror at the black creature now towering above her, its sword raised in the air, ready to strike!

The sword came down on her. She threw up her arm, screaming… Nothing happened. No pain passed through her body. The sword never connected. Cautiously, she lowered her arm. Where her assailant once stood, now stood a different creature entirely.

It was a black hedgehog, red marking over its body, and a standard-issue GUN pistol in its left hand. It was standing above the creature, keeping it pinned to the ground with one foot. It raised its arm, pointing the gun at the creature, and pulled the trigger. Green blood flew out, the sight of which snapped Hope out her daze.

The hedgehog turned to face her, its face a scowl, yet its eyes seemed… concerned? Was it worried about her? Did this hedgehog come to save her? As she got a better look at his face, she realised that she knew who this hedgehog was. He was on the report that Rouge gave to the Commander. He was on the news over a month ago, when he stole a Chaos Emerald from a federal bank.

He was Shadow the Hedgehog.

Chapter Text

“What the hell is happening out there?!” Commander Tower barged into the control room at GUN HQ, alarms blaring and people running around relaying messages back-and-forth. “Turn that siren off! And can somebody explain how an enemy managed to get into the heart of Metropolis without setting off our early detection systems?!”

“Sir! It’s not just Metropolis! We have reports of attacks in Spagonia, Soleanna and Westopolis! We have also lost communications with Empire City, Chun-Nan and West Island, and are currently confirming reports of Black Alien sightings in Holoska and Mazuri!”

“This attack is worldwide?! What do you mean ‘Black Aliens’?!”

“Sir!” Topaz rushed into the room, saluting as she stopped before the Commander. “Reporting for duty!”

“Where’s Agent Rouge?” Tower asked, noting the bat’s absence.

“Agent Rouge was called for an urgent mission! The CIA’s cyberspace is under attack, and it seems the Black Aliens are after the Chaos Emerald stored inside!”

“Sir, we are receiving visuals from the field of the enemy,” a soldier announced, directing the Commander’s attention to the monitors. There he saw images of creatures of various shapes and sizes, all black with red markings along their bodies, some wielding weapons that seemed out of this world, others attacking unarmed. One image showed a giant picking up a car and throwing it against a building, the force creating an explosion.

The Commander narrowed his eyes. Their appearances reminded him of something, a memory from long ago that he’d rather forget. “Could they be…”

“Sir?” Topaz asked. “What are your orders?”

“… I want you to rally Mantis Platoon, Spider Troop and Team Dark! Be ready to deploy in one hour!”

“Sir!”

As Topaz left to fulfil her order, the Commander took another look at the creatures on the monitor. There was no doubt about it, he thought. This must be related to that time from fifty years ago. The Black Creature that Tower witnessed working with Professor Gerald, the first time he laid eyes on Shadow…

Shadow stared back at the blonde-haired girl looking at him. She was trembling, her arms against the wall behind her. She appeared to be bracing herself to run. When Shadow saw her about to be killed, he rushed in to save her, not entirely sure why until he got a good look at her. The girl looked extremely similar to the one he remembered, ‘Maria’. “Who are you?” Shadow asked. The girl seemed confused by the sudden question. “Your name.”

“O-Oh. It’s… Hope.”

Shadow scowled. It wasn’t her. It wasn’t this ‘Maria’. Of course not. How could it have been? In his memories, he could see Maria being fatally wounded by human soldiers. Not to mention that that was fifty years ago, at least according to what Rouge had told him. There was no way this girl could have been her.

“Um, you saved me… Thank you.” Hope dared a smile, hoping that the Commander’s paranoia was unfounded.

Shadow looked away. “Well, my body acted on its own. Don’t read too much into it.” He turned to leave. “If you don’t wanna die, then get out of here before more of those Black Creatures show up.”

“Wait! Can’t you stay with me?” Hope asked. “I’d feel a lot safer if somebody was with me…”

“I’m heading further into the city, to look for the Chaos Emerald.” Shadow stopped, wondering why he was bothering to tell her this. “… There was a GUN squad just down this road. They should still be there. You can make it if you run.”

“Are you helping GUN fight off these things?”

“… That depends on what I find.” And with that, Shadow was off, skating through the city over destroyed roads and toppled structures. As he moved, he pondered, “She wasn’t her, so why did she feel so familiar?”

Making her way down the road, Hope found the GUN squad that Shadow had mentioned. “Are you okay, Miss? You’re not injured?” A soldier wearing a medic’s armband asked her.

“I’m fine,” Hope said. “Shadow helped me. He took off further into the city, but he told me where I could find you.”

“So that was Shadow,” the soldier mused, looking in the direction that the hedgehog had just ran off in. “It’s a shame he didn’t stay to help. Anyway, we have a chopper not far from here. We’ll evacuate you to a safe location.”

“I need you to take me to GUN HQ,” Hope said, confusing the soldier. “Call Commander Tower, he’ll explain who I am.” But then, she remembered her family. She turned back to where she had come from and started to panic. “No, wait! My family’s still in the city somewhere! I have to find them!”

“Miss, it’s too dangerous for you to go looking for them!” the soldier cautioned. “Don’t worry, we’ll find your family. What you need to do for now is worry about your own safety.”

Hope wanted to protest, but she knew he was right. She couldn’t even take down one of those things. All she would do is get in GUN’s way. At least, she would here. “Then, please take me to GUN HQ.”

Together with some other survivors that had been pulled from the wreckage of fallen buildings, the squad moved slowly through the streets, keeping an eye out for enemies waiting to ambush them from behind fallen debris or inside toppled buildings.

Fire had spread throughout the whole city rapidly, entire sections of the roads were gone, and bombs that had yet to go off lined the streets, along with the bodies of those not fortunate enough to have survived the initial attacks.

“Watch out for the Red Fruits,” one soldier called out. They had to cut through an alleyway to get to their destination, as the road they were supposed to take had been rendered unusable, and Hope saw that the entire path was littered with red, glowing objects. “They explode if you get too close.”

The group had to move one-at-a-time through the narrow path, making sure not to make contact with the deadly fruits. Three soldiers went first, and then four more stayed behind as the surviors filtered through. Hope’s turn came, and she held her breath as she shimmied against a wall, a Red Fruit a mere foot away from her body. This close, she could see why they were referred to as such.

“We have incoming!” the soldiers bringing up the rear called out. “We’ll hold them off! Get the civilians to the chopper!”

One more soldier passed, leaving three behind. They unloaded on an army of advancing Black Aliens as the other four ushered the civilians into the street. “Wait! You can’t leave them!” Hope cried as she was pulled along by one of the survivors.

“Evacuating citizens is our top priority!” one soldier said. They heard a loud scream behind them, followed by another. The gunfire stopped. “We must move, now!”

As they ran through more deserted and destroyed streets, another barrage of laser strikes rained down on the city. “Get down!” The group hit the ground, laying low as explosions roared around them, shaking the ground and unsettling the nearby buildings. One such building began to come down on them, forcing everybody to run despite the bombardment still continuing.

They narrowly avoided being crushed as the building stopped short of hitting the ground, raining debris down on the frightened group. After the lasers died down, more aliens fell from the sky, intercepting their path. They turned to flee, only to find they had been cut off on both sides.

“Protect the civilians!” one of the soldiers called out, and the four surrounded the survivors, guns blazing as the creatures attacked. One fired a blast from its own gun and hit the group’s medic. “Man down!”

“GAH!” A second soldier fell as one of the winged-creatures struck him from above.

“We have to get out of here!” one of the survivors cried.

“How?!” Hope asked. She could see no way out. They were surrounded and it was only a matter of time now.

“WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!”

That is, until something happened that startled the creatures behind them. One-by-one they fell, a blue blur passing between them as it made its way to the group. The blur revealed itself to be a blue hedgehog, a cocky grin on its face as it gave a thumbs-up.

“Sonic!” Hope cried, smiling despite the circumstances. Her cheeriness spread to everybody else there, the hero’s reputation well-known by this point.

“You guys need a hand?” he asked.

“If we could just clear a path…” one of the soldiers began.

“No problem,” Sonic said, rolling into a ball and gathering energy as the Black Aliens approached around them. “READY…” He unfurled, now glowing as one of the creatures pointed its gun at him. “GO!”

In an instant, Sonic bounded from enemy-to-enemy, taking out each one with a single blow. Hope watched in awe as the path quickly became clear, and when the last enemy fell, Sonic landed on his feet, dusting his hands off with a proud smile. “Awesome!” she shouted.

“You guys be careful now! You need any help carrying the wounded?”

“We appreciate the assist!” the same soldier said, saluting with his comrade. He looked to the two that had fallen. The medic was groaning and clutching his side, and the fourth soldier was…

Sonic scooped up the medic, carrying him bridal-style. He frowned as one of the civilians checked the other soldier’s pulse, shaking her head to confirm his departure. “You did good,” he whispered.

Hope wanted to say something, a word of thanks or of apology, but she couldn’t find her voice.

Sonic looked back to the two standing soldiers and asked, “Where are we heading?”

“Just around this corner,” one of the soldiers answered. “We have a helicopter waiting there.”

The group ran through the streets, panting and sweating from both exhaustion and the heat of the flames all around them. They found the helicopter waiting for them, defended by tanks and mechs being piloted by more soldiers.

“Why aren’t you deploying those in the city?” Hope asked as the other survivors rushed to board the helicopter. Sonic gently placed the medic down inside, but turned his head a little to hear what the soldier had to say.

“Our defences are weak, due to budget cuts to support the survivors of the Station Square incident,” the soldier told her. “We don’t get as many Chaos Drives as other GUN outposts, and the city’s roads are too torn-up for our tanks. For now, we’re trying to set up safe zones throughout the city, and we don’t have enough mechs to send out looking for survivors.”

“I’ll lend a hand as much as I can,” Sonic said. “You just find out where the Black Aliens are coming from, and I’ll take the fight right to them!”

“We’re ready to take off!” the pilot called out as the rotors of the helicopter began to spin.

“Miss, please get onboard.”

Hope nodded, running to the helicopter and climbing inside. It was cramped, perhaps exceeding the recommended weight limit, but there wasn’t much else that could be done. As the helicopter lifted into the air, she saw Sonic dashing off into the city, leaving behind a trail of smoke.

She wondered if he would run into Shadow, and if perhaps the two of them would work together again to save everybody. Turning around to face the pilot and co-pilot, she said, “Hey, could you contact Commander Tower and tell him I’m okay. I’m Hope Ro-” She stopped, glancing at the other survivors into the back. “Tell him Hope from Team Dark is fine.”

The pilots looked at each other sceptically, but the co-pilot nodded and reached for his radio. “I’ll try, but we’ve been having trouble contacting HQ.”

As Commander Tower watched the world map updating with the numbers of confirmed attacks, the door opened behind him and a soldier ran in. The soldier stopped and saluted. “The Black Aliens have hit six major cities around the world, and every city is reporting significant damage and casualties.”

Tower lowered his head, his hands shaking behind his back.

“Among them, Westopolis has received the heaviest casualties due to its weakened defence system. Downtown Westopolis has been almost completely destroyed. Unconfirmed sources have also reported seeing a black hedgehog in Westopolis.”

“Shadow?” Tower asked, turning to face the soldier. “Deploy the troops now! And if you find Shadow with the Black Aliens… then kill them all!”

The soldier, taken aback by this, asked, “But sir, isn’t Shadow on our side… sir?”

Tower’s hand clenched into a fist. Everybody thought that Shadow was a hero… Shadow must have thought that would let him do whatever he wants, but he would be wrong. In a situation like his, GUN’s Commander-in-Chief can exercise emergency powers. At that time, Tower’s authority exceeded even the president’s. “I GAVE YOU AN ORDER, SOLDIER! He’s evil and he’s the enemy!” The soldier saluted, and then ran off to relay the Commander’s order.

“You can’t fool me, Shadow! This time, you’re mine.”

Topaz frowned as the order came through. Shadow was now considered to be working with the Black Aliens, and was to be killed-on-sight. No doubt Rouge would have some choice words for the Commander when all of this was over.

She received additional ordered from Tower directly. Mantis Platoon was to go to Glyphic Canyon, where the Black Aliens had been sighted. Most of the places being attacked were cities and villages, the exceptions being the CIA’s cyberspace, one of Eggman’s bases, and this remote location of seemingly no value.

This unsettled the Commander. He wanted to know what they were after there, and to stop them from achieving their objective at all costs.

Spider Troop was ordered to spread out over the major cities that had been attacked, but there was a particular focus on Westopolis, likely because that was where Shadow was sighted.

Team Dark, a group that made up only sixty-two soldiers, including Topaz herself, were ordered to attack Circus Park. She was unsure if now was the best time to launch an attack on Eggman, but with Cryptic Castle under attack by the Black Aliens, it did seem like the perfect chance to catch Eggman with his guard down. If they could topple Circus Park, then Lava Shelter would be left on its own.

“It looks like the Commander wants to take this chance to take out the Shadow Android production line,” she told Omega. “We can use this chance to take down Circus Park while Eggman himself is still coming to grips with all this chaos. After that, we can advance on Lava Shelter itself.”

“I will accompany you,” Omega told her. He looked around. “I do not see Hope. Was she not a part of your team?”

Topaz scratched the back of her head. “Hope was in Westopolis when the attacks happened. I heard a squad found her and are bringing her back now… Say, were you worried about her?” Topaz grinned as the robot seemed to avert its eyes.

“She did an excellent job of improving my weapons. It would be tragic should she fall now.”

“Uh-huh. Well, I’ll let her know you care.”

“Do not push your luck.”

Topaz laughed, turning around to survey the soldiers making final checks on all their weapons. “Anyway, it looks like we’ll be ready to head out soon.” Topaz noted the arrival of several Big Foot models, mass-produced version of one of GUN’s most advanced weapons. “And we’re not holding anything back. You ready?”

Omega’s eyes glinted. “Just say the word. Tonight, we dance on Eggman’s corpse!”

“… Ooookay, maybe tone it down a bit there.”

“I will make no promises. I have waited for this my whole life. Literally.”

“Captain, all checks have been completed!” one soldier reported to Topaz.

“Well then, let’s not waste any time! Every second is vital, people! You have your orders, so move out! And no matter what happens, evacuating civilians takes top priority! Understand?”

“Yes, sir!”

Omega boarded the helicopter bound for Iron Jungle, containing half of Team Dark’s soldiers. Topaz boarded the one headed for Circus Park. Omega noticed the looks of uncertainty and disdain from the crew as he passed them. “I was built by Eggman,” he told them, “But make no mistake, I am his enemy. As long as you do not interfere with my revenge, we can be allies.”

As the helicopters all started up, a man ran into the hangar and approached Topaz’s. “Captain Topaz, new orders!” he shouted. “A helicopter leaving Westopolis has been taken down, and has crash-landed in the nearby forest! Commander Tower wants you to send a small squad to recover her!”

Topaz jumped out of the helicopter suddenly, startling the young messenger. “Don’t tell me that ‘copter was carrying…”

“We’ve confirmed that it was the same one carrying Hope Robotnik, sir.”

Topaz turned to the men behind her, and pointed to the three nearest to her. “You three, with me! The rest of you stay put! Your orders still stand!”

“Is there a problem?” Omega asked over her intercom. He wasn’t close enough to hear the conversation over the whirring of the helicopters’ rotors.

“… No problem. You stay where you are,” she told him. “We’re just going to lend a hand to the Westopolis team, that’s all.”

“Very well. I would have stayed here, anyway.”

Topaz led her team to one of the remaining helicopters, smaller than the rest being used, and started it up. As the other teams left to fulfil their missions, Topaz took off in the direction of Westopolis, veering only slightly off-course.

“Please still be alive,” she muttered to herself. “We’ll be there soon.”

Chapter Text

Deep in the forest outside of Westopolis lay ancient ruins from a city, one that died thousands of years ago. The ruins stretched for miles and, despite degrading over the years, were still structurally stable, thanks in-part to the efforts of the nearby city, but also to the large trees that grew all around it, acting as support for the crumbling city now known only as Death Ruins.

It was here where Hope wandered all alone, dazed and disoriented after having been thrown from the helicopter as it came crashing down. Thankfully, there was plenty of freshwater running through the ancient aqueducts, allowing her to tend to her wounds. The Black Aliens were nowhere around, so she had time to rest and gather her thoughts.

Seeing smoke in the distance, Hope surmised that that was where the helicopter had crashed, but the issue was getting there. These ruins may have been stable for the most part, but certain areas were fragile and would likely break if she tried crossing them. Not only that, but it seemed it wouldn’t even be a straight road to get there; the roads twisted and turned and crossed over, and some roads simply seemed impossible to traverse unless you had wings or superspeed.

“If I had a mech, I could probably make it, but there isn’t a GUN presence around here…” Hope dug into her pockets, but all that she had on her were her wallet, her wrench, a handkerchief and some rubble. Surveying her surroundings, she noticed some rubber-like plants hanging between the trees. Curious, she pushed herself to her feet and walked closer to inspect the plants.

As she neared, a shadowy figure jumped down from the canopy, starling her. However, she calmed when she saw that it was just a monkey. “Hey, you nearly gave me a heart attack!” she scolded, though she smiled as she watched it jump up-and-down, howling wildly. “What’s wrong little guy?”

Another monkey jumped down, and then another, and another. Soon, Hope found herself facing what appeared to be an entire troop, and had to cover her ears at how loud they were as they bounced around, screeching and howling into the distance.

“Geez, what’s gotten into all of you?!” The monkeys calmed down suddenly, and as Hope lowered her hands from her head, she could hear something different. What sounded like explosions in the distance… No, gunfire. She heard other sounds, too. Sounds that she recognised from Westopolis, from the guns those Black Aliens carried. “Oh no…”

A blast of purple energy flew past her, and the monkeys went into a frenzy as they rushed towards the rubbery plant, jumping headlong into it. Hope watched as the plant stretched down over the edge of the road, towards the base of the forest, before coming back up and flinging the monkeys into the distance. “It’s like a catapult!” she realised as she followed the monkeys soaring in the air. They landed on another road in the distance and, after bouncing and howling some more, ran off.

More monkeys jumped into the plant, using it to hurl themselves to safety. Hope watched nervously as she wondered if there wasn’t another way, but the sounds of gunfire drawing closer, followed by sightings of Black Aliens through the trees, forced her to act. She joined the next group of monkeys and jumped into the plant, bracing herself for a ride.

As the plant shot up, Hope flew through the air, screaming as she felt the wind rushing against her body and saw the ground on the other side drawing closer. As the monkeys landed on their feet, Hope landed on her backside, causing a shock to pass through her body, and she winced. “Ow…”

Steadily, she righted herself. She looked back to where she had come from and was happy to see that the Black Aliens were unable to reach her… That was, until the bat-like creatures came. Fighting the pain, she began running alongside the monkeys. “Get away from us!” she cried as she heard the bats screeching right behind them. One of them swooped down at her, pushing her down to the ground. As she rolled onto her back, she saw a second one coming down to attack.

Hope pulled out her wrench and swung it, smacking the creature out of the air. She groaned as green blood splattered over her body, but she had no time to dwell on it as the first creature came back for another attack. Jumping to her feet, Hope brought up her arm to shield her face and, as the creature latched onto her arm, she hit it with her wrench, causing it to pull back and fly away.

Turning around, Hope continued running. She noticed another ledge coming up and looked around. Her eyes landed on a dangling vine. As she reached it, she gave it a few tugs to ensure it was sturdy. Although it wasn’t a thorough test, time wasn’t on her side as more of the bat-like creatures came for her.

“Here goes nothing!” Hope latched onto the vine and jumped off of the ledge, swinging through the jungle, around one of the nearby trees. She was elated when she saw solid ground running beneath her, and released the vine to land safely. Taking a moment to catch her breath, Hope heard the screeches behind her again. “Oh, come on!” Hope ran, although her speed had drastically decreased, and it didn’t take long for the Black Aliens to catch up to her. One of the bats nipped at her head, whilst another swooped down and clawed at her back.

Through all the chaos, together with her exhaustion, Hope tripped. The road took a sudden dip, and as she lost her footing, she tumbled down the slant. The world span around her and sharp rocks dug into her, but she was getting away from the Black Aliens at least. The tumbling stopped as Hope felt her body suddenly being submerged in water, and no sooner after she stopped rolling had she began moving against her will down one of the ruins’ aqueducts.

As Hope finally managed to get her thoughts together and see what was ahead of her again, she saw that the slide passed over the crashed helicopter. Struggling against the water’s strong current, Hope rolled herself onto her side and readied herself to jump off. As the slide passed directly over the helicopter’s wreckage, Hope pushed herself to the side, tumbling down to the ground and landing on her front.

“… Well, I found a way here…”

Back at GUN HQ, a soldier was running to the commander centre with an urgent report for Commander Tower. He rushed into the room, stopping to salute, but was unable to speak as Tower was issuing commands to several squads spread throughout the world.

“Tell the soldiers in Westopolis to keep pushing! We’ve gained ground and have to keep up this momentum! I want a report from the team at Circus Park! Issue an order to withdraw from Empire City at once and to regroup at GUN Outbase Gamma!”

“Commander, we’re receiving a report from Captain Guilford at Glyphic Canyon! He’s reporting that the ruins are lifting into the air, and changing shape rapidly!”

“What?!”

“Our troops are being cut off from each other, and are now fighting on uneven terrain! The Black Aliens have them at an advantage!”

“Order the troops out of there! Tell them to withdraw at once and observe from a safe distance!” Tower turned around and acknowledged the soldier behind himself. “Report.”

“Sir! We’ve received word from the ARK Defence Squad that the Black Aliens are approaching the Space Colony ARK. They are approaching in vast numbers and can travel freely through space.”

The Commander clenched his fist. “The ARK? What are they- They couldn’t be… after the Eclipse Cannon, could they?!”

“Sir,” one of the operators spoke up, “With the CIA’s mainframe down, the Eclipse Cannon’s security is compromised! If the Black Aliens reach the cannon with enough Chaos Emeralds, there would be nothing to stop them from firing it!”

“Get Falcon Team up there immediately! I want Blue Falcon guarding the Eclipse Cannon as our last line of defence! Divert the ARK’s power to its security systems!”

“Sir, if we do that, the ARK’s structural stability could-”

“I know, but we’re short on options! We must keep the Black Aliens from reaching the Eclipse Cannon at all costs!” Tower sighed as he turned back to the monitors. Distress calls were coming from all over the world, and the Black Aliens’ mothership had still yet to be located. He looked at Westopolis’ location on the map, the sight where Sonic the Hedgehog had last been sighted. “I hope Agent Rouge can catch up to him in time…”

Topaz shot down some more of the Black Aliens as she and her troop pushed through the thick jungle. They had located the crashed helicopter from the air but were unable to land due to fire from the enemies below, and so they were forced to land further back, behind their own lines, and advance on-foot.

Unfortunately, the ruins were not in the best of shapes, and simply navigating it proved to be difficult, let alone under enemy fire. They would receive support from their allies from the Westopolis squadron but they would regularly find themselves engaging with the Black Aliens at every turn.

“Proceed with caution! These ruins aren’t stable!” she told her troops as they advanced single-file over a precarious bridge made of stone. They spotted Black Aliens on the other side and Topaz fired, forcing them to retreat as she took two of them down. “Keep moving!” she said as she made it to the other side, running to nearby cover as she avoided shots from the enemy.

She heard a soldier groan, followed by another calling for a medic. As she turned, she found two men pulling a wounded soldier behind their cover. He was hit in the shoulder and bleeding badly. The medic had taken cover elsewhere, along with three other soldiers, and they were completely cut off from each other. Topaz signalled for him to move, and that she would cover him, but as she peered her head up to assess the situation, she was met with heavy fire from a large number of Black Aliens.

“Not good! We’re pinned down here!”

As the sounds of energy blasts against their cover echoed in her ears, Topaz reached to her hip and pulled out a grenade. “Frag out!” she shouted as she threw it backwards, towards where she had sighted some of the aliens. It exploded, but they were still firing on them. “It’s no good! I can’t get a good visual!”

Suddenly, the firing stopped. Carefully, Topaz peered out from the side, expecting to have to pull back immediately, but she was met with no more gunfire. Instead, she spied Black Aliens laying on their backs, littering the area and facing away from the group, as though they had been attacked by an enemy from behind…

“What-”

“Hey there, girlfriend,” a voice said behind Topaz, startling her as she quickly turned and pointed her gun at the new guest. “Whoa! Take it easy there!”

Topaz breathed a sigh of relief and lowered her gun. “Rouge! Don’t sneak up on a soldier like that, especially when you’re on the field!”

Rouge shrugged, shaking her head in disapproval. “That’s the thanks I get for saving your life? Well, whatever.”

The group’s medic rushed over and began tending to the wounded soldier. Topaz gave out orders to the rest to secure the position, and then turned back to Rouge. “What are you even doing here? This isn’t your field of expertise.”

“New orders,” Rouge said as she sat down opposite to Topaz. “After the CIA’s mainframe fell, the Black Aliens made off with the government’s Chaos Emerald. They loaded it up in a tank in Westopolis and transported it out of there, and now it’s somewhere in this forest.”

“The Black Aliens have a Chaos Emerald? Things just keep getting worse… We’re here looking for Hope. She’s lost somewhere in this place.”

“The kid? That’s a shame. I really liked her…”

Topaz slammed a hand into her face. “Don’t talk as if she’s already dead…”

“I mean, if she does survive it’ll be impressive, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. She might be good with robots and machines, but out here in nature?”

“She’ll be fine,” Topaz said with a stern look. “She’s strong, and she’s got determination.”

“If only it were that easy,” Rouge said with a shrug. “But if she is still alive, I’m sure you’ll get her out of here. Well, good luck!”

“You’re not gonna help us?” Topaz asked as Rouge started flapping her wings, lifting into the air.

“Sorry, but I’ve got a date with a Chaos Emerald. Besides, the Commander also wants me to meet up with Sonic, and if I know him, he’ll be where the action is. Hope will be where the action isn’t.”

Topaz was disheartened, but she understood. This was a battle that affected the whole world, and Rouge had her part to play. “Alright. You just leave Hope to me! She’s alive, and I’ll get her to safety!”

“Then let’s meet up after this is over, all three of us! We’ll have that girls’ night!”

“It’s a date!” Topaz replied with a thumbs-up. As Rouge left, she turned to the wounded soldier and the medic examining him. “How is it?”

The medic shook his head. “I’ve done what I can, but he can’t continue like this. Those shots eat through body tissue something fierce. He needs to be taken to a hospital.”

“Understood. You two.” Topaz motioned to two of the soldiers surveying their surroundings. “Take him back to the GUN squad we passed earlier and ask for evac. The rest of us will continue ahead.”

“Yes, sir!” the soldiers replied as one lifted the wounded man over his shoulders, carrying him on his back. The other soldier led him back through the forest the way they had come, keeping an eye out for hostiles.

Topaz led the remaining members of her troop through the forest, heading towards the wreckage they had sighted earlier. As they navigated the ruins, they found many fallen Black Aliens littering the path. It didn’t appear as though they had been taken out by bullets, though.

Topaz ordered the group to halt, noticing some indentations in the ground. They seemed familiar to her, but she wasn’t sure… “Sir, those appear to be imprints left behind by a GUN Jump Vehicle.”

“You’re right,” Topaz said, remembering now where she had seen these types of tracks before. But what was a Jump Vehicle doing all the way out here? Some were sent out to Westopolis to assist with the evacuation, but she was certain none had been brought into the jungle. She looked up to find a path high above them. “It must be them,” she said, looking into the direction of the helicopter. “Let’s press on.”

“Shouldn’t we check up there, sir?”

“And how do you propose we get up there?” she asked, and received no answer. “If there was one, there were probably more. Let’s check the wreckage and hope for the best. If there’s nothing there, we’ll have to find another way!” She paused to look up at the high path one final time. “And pray that whoever’s up there can survive long enough for us to reach them.”

Hope watched from the canopy as a group of Black Aliens down below began planting Red Fruits into the ground, marking their territory and making it harder for GUN to pass through the area. She aimed carefully down the sights of the alien rifle she had picked up, and waited for the right moment. The Black Aliens stopped moving, and she fired. One of them fell, and then another as she fired a second shot. The third looked around, trying to find the sniper, but was taken down before he had a chance to spot Hope.

The remaining two looked up and began firing into the canopy. Hope put the rifle aside and gripped the controls of the Jump Vehicle. She bounded into the air, avoiding the shots fired at her, and came crashing down on one of the aliens. The impact caused the other to fall onto his back, and before he could scramble, Hope pulled out her rifle and shot him.

She took a moment to catch her breath. Since finding the broken radio in the wreckage, Hope realised that she would have to make her way back on her own. She salvaged the least-damaged Jump Vehicle that she could find stashed in the back and fixed it up, at least enough to make it through the ruins. Then, after quite literally jumping a couple of Black Aliens patrolling the area, she took one of their weapons.

She wasn’t going to make the same mistake that she had made in Westopolis. She was going to calm and compose herself, and if necessary, she would shoot down any of the Black Aliens that blocked her path. Their weapons were quite effective, and not all that different from Earthen ballistic weapons, she had found. The biggest benefit was that there was no need to reload, but she couldn’t work out how to check how much ammo, or charge or whatever, she had left, so she was taking a huge risk every time she opened fire.

Still, she thankfully had her trust Jump Vehicle to help her move now. She might not be very athletic, but the Jump Vehicle is designed to move swiftly and efficiently through any terrain, and after a quick crash course with the controls, she was able to use it to make up for her lack of physical prowess.

It was hard at first, shooting at living creatures, even if they were the monsters that had been killing people left-and-right, but the fear of being killed herself, combined with the adrenaline rush of manoeuvring through this dangerous terrain, helped her to get used to it. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing but at the very least, she was thankful that she could fight back.

As she made advanced through the ruins, attempting to meet up with the GUN troops pushing the Black Aliens through, she caught sight of a white figure flying overhead. “Rouge!” she called out, suddenly ecstatic at seeing a familiar face amidst all this chaos. Rouge didn’t seem to have heard her, however, and kept flying deeper into the forest.

Hope followed after her. Even though she was moving away from where the GUN soldiers were earlier, there was no guarantee that they would still be there, she thought, while meanwhile she knew that Rouge was dead ahead. Plus, Rouge could fly, even when carrying another person’s weight.

She hopped up to a large, open area, and found Rouge standing before one of the Black Aliens. Only, this one looked different. It was a small, floating creature, one eyeball in the surrounded by many tentacle-like appendages. It didn’t appear to be very aggressive or dangerous.

“So you’re supposed to be the one behind all of this?” Rouge asked. “How about you just hand over that Chaos Emerald? It’s far too precious for a creep like you.”

“You humans do not deserve the power stored within these Emeralds.”

“Take good look, buddy. Do I look human to you?” Rouge replied.

“It matters not. Soon, you will share in their wretched fate. All life on this planet, is nothing compared to the might of the Black Arms.”

The Black Arms? Was that what these aliens were called?

“Oh really? Because from where I’m standing, it looks like we have you guys on the run.”

“There is nothing more that we need here. The Chaos Emerald has been secured, and your city reduced to rubble. Do not delude yourselves into thinking you are winning this battle.”

“Sounds more like you’re just a sore loser, and I hate guys that can’t own up when they’ve lost.” Rouge readied her steel-tipped nails as the floating eyeball simply laughed.

“Tomorrow, everything will be made clear to you lesser lifeforms. Our ritual will commence, and your planet will meet the same fate as the cities we have already destroyed!” The ground began shaking, and from behind the eyeball, a larger creature rose up. It was huge, bigger than even GUN’s armoured trucks that were the size of houses! “Black Bull, show these fools your true strength!”

As the creature roared, the floating eyeball fled the scene, leaving Rouge to fight the monster alone. “I gotta help her! But I…” Hope shook as she watched the creature throw its weight around, crashing into the ground to try to crush Rouge beneath its body. What could Hope do against something like that?

Rouge took to the air and circled around, attacking the creature’s big, blubbery body, but the attacks amounted to nothing as they harmlessly bounced off. “There’s gotta be some kind of weak spot!” A laser blast passed before her eyes, startling Rouge and forcing her to come to a stop in the air. This allowed Black Bull to slam her back down to the ground.

Hope gasped, gripping onto the controls of her Jump Vehicle. “I have to try! Everyone else is fighting, I have to do what I can!” She pressed on into the fray, jumping high into the air and landing onto one of the Black Arm soldiers firing at Rouge. As she crushed it beneath her mech, she pulled out the alien rifle and fired it at the other alien, taking it down before it had even realised she was there.

“Hope?” Rouge asked as she pushed herself to her feet, quickly jumping to the side to avoid another attack from Black Bull.

“Rouge! I’ll give you cover! Find a way to beat this thing!” Hope noticed that more Black Arms were approaching, she jumped out of the way of their shots to reach a higher position.

“You got it, but don’t do anything reckless!” Although she had said that, Rouge was thankful for the help. She was beginning to wonder where Sonic or Shadow were, or heck, even Knuckles would do in this situation, but she had to take whatever help could get. She noticed Black Bull was focussing on Hope. “Hey, eye up here, pal!” Rouge used her drill dive to attack the creature’s eye, and it let out a louder roar than usual. “Okay, looks like that one registered!”

Hope took care of the aliens on the ground and jumped back down. After realising that Black Bull’s eye was its weakness, she lined-up a shot and fired. Black Bull roared once more, and then tried to turn away, but Rouge was on the offensive now and she wasn’t going to let it get away.

“Wonder how much more you can take?” Rouge delivered a kick to the creature’s eye. In retaliation, Black Bull reared its head and gathered fire into its mouth. She watched as it then dipped its head down, and realised what it was doing. “Hope, get out of there!”

Hope readied her Jump Vehicle, only to receive a sudden jolt as an attack from behind fried the battery in the back of the mech. She moved the controls, but there weren’t responding! She watched as fire rained down onto the ground and made its way towards her. She closed her eyes and waited… Suddenly, she felt herself being lifted into the air. And she opened her eyes, she found herself in Rouge’s arm, soaring high above the battlefield.

“That was close,” Rouge remarked as she watched the Jump Vehicle explode from the flames passing over it. “Hope GUN didn’t want that back.”

“Rouge, it’s preparing another attack!” Black Bull gathered more into its mouth, and this time it aimed up, to where the two girls were. Hope aimed her rifle and pulled the trigger, hitting the creature’s eye and causing it to miss and it shot its fireball off to the side.

“Okay, let’s finish this before it has a chance to act again!” Rouge flew directly over Black Bull, and Hope held on tight as she dove directly down, driving her boots into Black Bull’s eye and delivering kick-after-kick.

After she was done, she flew back and landed on the ground, watching as Black Bull squirmed and lowered its altitude, before crashing down onto the ground, its body falling limp and its eye slowly closing. “We did it!” Hope cheered, though the excitement was short-lived as the remaining Black Arm soldiers moved towards the two.

“We’re not done yet,” Rouge said as she readied herself to take off. The Black Arms raised their weapons, and a series of shots rang out behind them. The aliens fell one-by-one. Then, footsteps could be heard as a squadron of GUN soldiers ran towards the two, being led by Topaz.

“Are you two okay?” she asked, ordering her soldiers to form a perimeter.

“Topaz!” Hope jumped out of Rouge’s arms and ran over, being careful not trip over the fallen Black Arms. She jumped up and tackled the captain with a hug, surprising her. “I’m so glad! I thought I’d never see you again!”

Topaz smiled, resting a hand gently on Hope’s head. “It’s good to see you, too. But we’re not out of danger yet. We’re here to extract you.”

“… Topaz, the other survivors…” Hope began to tremble. “They…”

“I know,” Topaz said, her voice a mere whisper. “We found the crashed helicopter, and we… Well, I was just glad that you weren’t there, but then I was worried that you were out here all alone.” Topaz turned her attention to Rouge. “What happened out here?”

“Just a run-in with the big boss of this whole invasion,” Rouge replied. “He set one of his lapdogs on us, but I guess he didn’t know who he was dealing with. Right Hope?”

Hope laughed, nodding her head. “That’s right. He didn’t know he was picking a fight with Team Dark!”

“By the way, Topaz,” Rouge started, “What’s this I hear about Shadow being lumped in with the Black Aliens?”

Hope gasped, taken aback by what Rouge had said. She also turned to Topaz for an answer. Topaz sighed. “The Commander ordered it. He thinks that Shadow is a threat, and has ordered all soldiers to take him out if it appears he’s working together with the Black Aliens.”

“Shadow saved the world, twice,” Rouge said, crossing her arms.

“I know that. We know that, but orders are orders and, well, right now’s not the time to question them… Shadow should be fine though, right? He’s strong, after all.” Rouge simply shrugged and sighed, walking past Topaz. “Oh, we received word that Sonic is nearby. If you get high enough you should be able to spot him.”

“Thanks, though I guess it’s not much use now. Looks like the Chaos Emerald is already in their leader’s hands.”

“Rouge, we’ll see you later, right?” Hope called out, slightly worried as she watched Rouge take off into the sky.

Rouge waved behind her as she left. “Sure, we’ll catchup later!”

As Hope waved goodbye, Topaz ordered her troops to be ready to move. “Okay, we’re going to make our way to a nearby site to rendezvous with the evacuation helicopter,” she said. “It’s not far, but we’re still in hostile territory. Pay attention to your surroundings and no matter what, Hope’s safety is the top priority, understood?”

“Yes, sir!” the troops replied.

Hours had passed since Topaz had set out to recover Hope from the forest outside of Westopolis. Commander Tower was starting to become anxious, but he had no time to worry on just this one matter. He had to co-ordinate troops all over the world in the largest-ever attack that GUN had ever witnessed.

So when he received word that the mission was a success, he was happy. At least one less burden was now weighing on his mind.

“Commander!” Topaz ran into the room, Hope following behind her, both stopping to salute. “Commander, we have returned! The rescue mission was a success.”

Tower nodded. “I’m glad to see you are both alright. Were there any losses?”

“Just the team that escorted Hope out of Westopolis,” Topaz said, frowning as she noticed Hope averting her eyes from them. “Along with a few civilian casualties, sir.”

Tower was silent for a few moments. He cleared his throat, and then said, “Unfortunately, the battle is far from over. Please report to the hanger in five minutes. I want you ready to head out then.”

“But we just got back,” Hope said.

“Not you, Hope,” Tower clarified. “I was speaking to Agent Topaz. I want you to stay by my side.”

Hope turned to Topaz, wondering if she was going to protest against being sent out after having just returned from a dangerous mission. However, she simply saluted and accepted the Commander’s orders, and then turned to leave without so much as a goodbye. ‘I guess that’s the life of a soldier…’ Hope watched as the Commander held several conversations at once, issuing orders to sectors all over the world and juggling so much information that just hearing it all started to make her head spin.

“Commander, I can prep some robots ready for deployment,” she said. She was not be a soldier like Topaz, or a leader like the Commander, but she was an engineer. There was still something that she could do to help, however small it may be.

“No, Hope,” Tower said.

“But I-”

“I need you here, because we need your help to bring our systems back online.”

Hope raised an eyebrow. “Our systems? But they seem fine,” she said, noting how all of the computers seemed to be working, communication was running normally, and there was no sign that the base was running off of auxiliary power.

“It’s the CIA’s mainframe that is down. This doesn’t affect us directly, however, the Eclipse Cannon’s security system is tied directly into it. The Eclipse Cannon’s firing mechanism is locked behind several barriers, and the only way through them is with codes randomly generated by the government’s mainframe every minute. Right now, the Black Aliens have access to those codes.”

Hope gasped. “So if they reached the Eclipse Cannon, they could fire it?”

“Precisely. We need to restore access to the mainframe ASAP.”

“And you want me to do that?”

“I want you to help the team currently working on it. I hear that you’ve hacked your way into the government’s systems before…” Hope gave an innocent smile, turning slightly red as she turned away. “At the very least, we need to secure that section, or find some other way to cut off the Black Aliens’ access to the ARK’s security codes.”

Hope nodded. “Got it. I won’t let you down!” She ran over down to the lower section of the command centre and helped herself to one of the consoles not in use, putting on a pair of headphones.

Chapter Text

It had been several hours since the first attacks around the world began, and in all that time, Abraham Tower had not stopped to take a break. He had remained at GUN HQ, issuing orders to his troops around the world. The Black Aliens, who he now knew to be the ‘Black Arms’, were not relenting in their attacks. However, an unforeseen development had taken place.

Glyphic Canyon, which had taken to the air, began to advance towards Central City, before being intercepted by the Egg Fleet. Tower ordered his troops to pull back, seeing it better to let their two foes destroy each other. It gave him more room to breathe, and allowed him to focus his efforts on defending the capital.

Hope had also been working tirelessly. She and the other technicians had been trying to restore order to the CIA’s mainframe, and she refused to break away from her screen for even one moment. “How is it going?” he asked her as he offered her a cup of coffee. It was the only thing either of them had drank this whole time.

“It’s not good,” she told him. “The damage is too much, and they’re still in there causing more trouble. Our firewalls have been hijacked so it’s a fight just to get in there.”

“Hmmm… Let’s hope the ARK’s defence team will be enough to repel the invaders.”

“Commander, incoming transmission from E-123 Omega.”

“Put it through.”

“This is Omega. I am calling in as requested.”

“I take it that you’ve reached Eggman’s base?” the Commander asked.

“Negative. We have just reached the outer perimeter, however, Eggman has returned from his battle and is now retreating. I am beginning my pursuit.” Gunshots rang out over the transmission.

“Are you okay?!” Hope asked, jumping out of her seat in a panic.

“Your concern is unnecessary. Shadow is merely killing his inferior copies.”

Tower’s eye twitched. “Shadow? He’s there?!”

“Affirmative. Is that a problem?”

“You know that I’ve ordered Shadow to be taken out! Omega, forget about Ivo for now! Destroy Shadow!”

“… You are not my superior. I am not one of your agents. And I will not prioritise anything over Eggman’s destruction.”

Tower gritted his teeth. Hope gulped, silently sitting back down. The entire room was tense – nobody had ever seen him so angry before. “I’m ordering you to destroy him! If you refuse, then you will become our enemy!”

“Bring it on. I am not afraid of your feeble forces. Shadow’s goal coincides with mine, therefore, I will not terminate him.”

“You-”

“I am ending all further communication. Do not call this number again.”

“OMEGA!” The line went silent, and Tower slammed his fist onto Hope’s desk. “Damnit! Order all troops at Iron Jungle to focus their efforts on Omega and Shadow!”

“Sir, we lost contact with the Iron Jungle team thirty minutes ago,” one technician reported. “It appears communications are being jammed. I can only surmise Omega was able to contact us because he’s an Eggman robot.”

“Why are you so focussed on killing Shadow?” Hope asked, flinching as the Commander looked down at her. “H-He saved my life in Westopolis, you know?”

“… Don’t be fooled by him,” he told her. “Shadow’s no hero. Whatever he’s planning, it’s for the good of the Black Aliens. He’s humanity’s enemy, and don’t ever forget that.”

“But he-”

“Hope, please stay focussed on the task-at-hand,” Tower said, a hint or irritation in his voice. A soldier ran up behind the two of them.

“Commander, your transport is ready,” he reported.

“Thank you. I’m heading out right away.”

“You’re leaving?” Hope asked.

“Central City has become too dangerous. It’s been decided to evacuate the president, and I will personally escort him here.”

Hope turned back to her monitor. The situation was truly serious. She didn’t have time to argue. She just had to do whatever she could. “Okay. I’ll keep working here.”

Tower nodded, and left with the soldier to head out into the field. It was the first time he had left this room since the invasion began.

As Hope failed again to bypass a security wall, she sighed. She wanted to do all she could, but what could she do? The Black Arms had a tight grip on the CIA’s mainframe. Even an elite team of hackers couldn’t get through. Maybe if they had all the time in the world, but the longer they took, the closer the Black Arms got to firing the Eclipse Cannon.

And on top of that, she was worried about the team at Iron Jungle. Omega probably hated GUN now, and Shadow… She was glad that Omega refused the Commander’s order, but she still wanted to be sure they were both okay.

“… Sorry Commander, but I think my talents are needed elsewhere at the moment.”

Omega and Shadow chased the Egg Balloon through the metallic runways stretching through the jungle. As they fired at its reinforced armour, the Egg Balloon itself fired back, destroying parts on the runway and forcing the two to find new paths through.

Suddenly, Omega felt a strange sensation in his circuits. He paused, wondering what it was.

“Hello? Omega?”

“Hope?” Omega looked around, but found nothing. “Does not compute.”

“Sorry Omega, but I had to do a trace on your last transmission to call you back.”

“I cut off communications. It should not be possible for you to be talking to me right now.”

“Well, I used the data from when I was working on you to find a backdoor. Please, just hear me out. The Commander isn’t here right now, and I promise that I won’t ask you to attack Shadow.”

“… I will give you a chance. I owe you that much, for the repairs.”

“Thanks. I don’t know why the Commander thinks Shadow is evil. He saved my life in Westopolis, so I know he’s a good person.”

“Omega, aren’t you coming?” Shadow asked.

“Affirmative,” Omega said, to both of them. He and Shadow resumed their trek through the area.

“Omega, sorry to ask you this, but can I tap into your optical sensors? I want to see what’s going on there.”

“I will allow this. You must be curious to see how your weapon enhancements fare in the field.”

Hope laughed. “Sure, that too. Say, about what you said earlier, when you mentioned Shadow was fighting his ‘inferior copies’. What did you mean by that?”

As if to answer her question, the two stopped as a group of Shadow Androids dropped before them. “This is what I meant.”

“Shadow Androids?! But I thought they still weren’t ready!”

“They are not. Eggman is desperate. But even incomplete, they still pose a serious threat to you and your human forces. I will exterminate them all.”

“Hold on Omega. Can you try to leave one of them whole?”

“Why?”

“You can link up with them, right? See if you can extract any information about the area.”

“… Shadow, hold your fire,” Omega said as Shadow prepared to take on the androids. Omega rushed ahead and grabbed one, slamming it to the ground and pinning it down as he unleashed a rain of bullets on the other two. He then peered down at the remaining android and exchanged one of his gatling guns for a jack plug. He inserted it into a slot on the back of the android’s neck. “The data is here, but it is encrypted.”

“That’s fine. Patch it through to me and I’ll decipher it.”

“Affirmative. We shall continue pursuit.” After finishing the Shadow Android, Omega continued his pursuit, Shadow racing ahead of him. They fired at the Egg Balloon as they ran, prompting it to retaliate with missiles and bombs that scattered along the runway.

Shadow shot down an army of Eggman robots that intercepted their path, and grabbed the rocket launcher that one of them held as he ran through the wreckage. He swiftly turned and fired its salvo at the Egg Balloon, causing one of the turrets to explode.

“Egg Balloon is descending,” Omega pointed out as the airship began to lower its altitude, heading towards a tunnel too far for either of them to reach.

“We’ll have to cut it off,” Shadow said. The two advanced but came to the end of the road as they entered a room. The only way to go was down, into what was clearly a trap… but neither one was concerned. They jumped down, welcoming whatever ambush Eggman had planned.

Shadow Androids fell from above, greeting them with a barrage of lock-on missiles. “Beware of fake Shadow’s missiles!” Omega cautioned as he dodged a salvo and returned fire.

“Damn imposters, out of my way!” Shadow ran into the centre of the group of androids and brought his arms over his chest. “Chaos…” Omega stopped firing and retreated to a safer position, behind some containers. “BLAST!”

A shockwave shook the area as an intense light filled the room. “Omega, what’s going on?!”

“There is nothing to fear. Eggman’s forces are no match for us.”

When the attack was over, the Shadow Androids remained nothing more than piles of charred metal. Shadow looked around and spotted a switch, connected to the elevator that sat at the centre of the room. “Let’s get moving.”

“Omega, wait.”

“Shadow, wait.”

“I’m just looking at the data you’ve sent me, and… there should be a door somewhere in that room. There’s something in there that will help you.”

Omega scanned the room and found the door. “I see it. Proceeding to break it down.” Omega unleashed a barrage of missiles at the door, blowing it open. He and Shadow found a small storage space inside, and up against the wall lay four Tank Cannons, each one loaded and ready to fire. Omega picked one up, holding it with ease. “Heavy artillery acquired.”

“That should do some damage,” Shadow said with a grin. “By the way, who have you been talking to, Omega? Somebody from GUN?”

“Affirmative. Her name is Hope, but she is not like the others. She says that she met you in Westopolis.”

“Westopolis… The girl who looked like-” Shadow shook his head. “Never mind that, let’s get moving.” Shadow ran back into the room, activating the elevator. Omega followed and the two rode up, exiting the room to find the Egg Balloon off in the distance. “Alright, let’s see what this can do.”

Shadow took the Tank Cannon from Omega and knelt down, positioning the barrel at the Egg Balloon. He fired, feeling the recoil as a shot burst through the air and hit the Egg Balloon directly. He fired the remaining shot, and this time the airship exploded.

“Egg Balloon has split into two,” Omega reported.

“Where’s Eggman?” Shadow asked.

“Activating thermal sensors.” Omega studied the two compartments, and then pointed to the front end that was still heading towards Lava Shelter, albeit losing altitude fast. “Eggman is in there.”

“Well then, enough games. Let’s go finish this off.” Shadow discarded the spent cannon and raced on ahead through the jungle, Omega right behind him.

Soaring high above the sky in one of GUN’s fortified battleships, the President of the United Federation sat in despair as he thought about the city he was leaving behind. He understood the importance of his survival, but to think that he would run away and protect himself, while his people fought bravely against these alien invaders.

“We’ll arrive in one hour, Mr. President,” Tower reported as he entered the room, standing at attention. The evacuation of Central City is going smoothly, thanks to the assistance of Knuckles the Echidna. The Egg Fleet has fallen, but the time it bought was more than enough to rally our troops and push back the initial wave of Black Aliens.”

“To think that I would owe my gratitude even to Eggman…”

A soldier ran in behind the Commander. “Reporting! The Black Aliens are in pursuit! They have started to attack our surrounding ships and are making their way here! We believe that their target is the President, but this is still unconfirmed.”

“I feared this might happen…” Tower said. The President hung his head as he sighed.

“We’ve also received a request to board from a small aircraft, piloted by Miles Prower!”

“Tails? Grant him permission to dock at bay eight!”

“Yes, sir!”

Tower turned to the President. “Don’t give up hope yet, sir. We’ve already planned for this eventuality, and with Tails’ help, we should have nothing to worry about.”

“I don’t like the idea of children fighting on my behalf,” the President began, “But Tails has proven himself more than capable on several occasions.”

“His quick thinking and ingenuity saved Station Square from Eggman’s attack, and though I hate to admit it, he has even proven a match for GUN in the past. I have confidence in his abilities.”

As the nearby bay doors opened, Tower escorted the President away to another room. Tails landed in the battleship aboard his Cyclone, greeted by a squad of GUN soldiers who all saluted him. “T-There’s no need to do that, guys,” Tails said as he departed his plane.

“It’s the least we can do,” one of the soldiers said. “You’re practically a hero! The way you fought off the Egg Fleet before it could advance on Central City.”

“And the way you and your friends stopped the ARK from falling down to Earth,” another soldier said.

“And that time you stopped the Battle Bird Armada from launching its invasion!”

“Wow, you even heard of that one?” Tails laughed, nervous as the soldiers crowded around him. “Ah, there’s no time for all that! I saw the Black Aliens heading this way, with several gunships! I heard the President’s on-board. How can I help?”

“We’re glad you’re here, Tails,” Tower said as he approached the Cyclone. “We have a plan to get the President out of here, and we would certainly welcome your help to pull it off.”

Tails nodded. “I’ll do what I can!” He looked behind Tower, at the GUN soldier standing behind him, a tinted visor over his eyes. “Is that…”

“It’s good to see you again, Tails,” the President said, extending his hand to shake the young fox’s. “Commander Tower suggested I wear a disguise.”

“If the Black Aliens are really after the President, then it would be for the best if he didn’t stand out.” Tower began to lead the group out of the room. “Come, this way.” They walked through the ship’s corridors, to a large hanger where several small planes sat ready to be deployed. “These escape crafts have been prepared in the event of a sudden emergency. They’re not very fast but they’re heavily armoured, able to withstand even several blasts from a tank before showing any damage.”

“The Black Aliens are relentless, though,” Tails said as he studied the crafts. “Their ships are way too fast. You’ll never get away in one of these.”

“Unfortunately, you’re right. That’s why we’re going to send one through the battleship as a decoy.” Tower motioned towards one craft that was being prepped. Standing outside was a man wearing the President’s suit, with a wig that reflected his hairstyle. “Agent Stewart will act as the President’s body-double. In the event that the Black Aliens make it aboard, he’ll buy our troops the time they need to create an opening, and escape in the real escape craft.”

Tails nodded. “Okay, just leave it to me! I’ll keep the Black Aliens busy, and lead them far away from the President!”

“I knew we could count on you,” Tower said with a smile. He handed Tails an earpiece. “You can use this to keep in contact with us and Mr. Stewart.”

Tails put on the earpiece. “Hello? Can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, Tails,” Mr. Stewart responded. “And might I say, it’s an honour to be working with you on this mission. I’m putting my life in your hands.”

Tails laughed nervously. “Well, I’ll do my best…” The battleship rocked suddenly, causing everybody to lose their footing. “W-What was that?!”

“Sir! The Black Aliens are breaking through our defences!” a soldier reported. “They are landing on top of the battleship and are cutting their way through!”

“Already?!” Tower turned to the President. “Mr. President, we must move to a more defensible position.”

“Lead the way, Commander.”

“We’ll do our best to draw their attention away,” the soldier said with a salute.

Tower pointed at three of the soldiers. “You’re with me. No matter what happens, keep the President safe!”

“Sir!”

Tails flew down to the decoy escape vehicle, where Mr. Stewart was getting ready to board. “I hope they’ll be okay,” the President said as he looked down at the two.

“They’ll be fine. They’re stronger than they look,” Tower assured him. “Mr. President, we need to get moving.”

The President nodded. “Yes, of course.”

The Commander led his squad and the President out of the room, leaving the remaining soldiers to run down and join Tails in defending the decoy craft.

When Shadow and Omega arrived at the crash site, they had found that Eggman had already retreat and promptly gave chase. They arrived at the entrance to his base and busted down the doors blocking their path. Inside was a large, arena-like area with several paths branching from it.

“Great. Which way did he go?” Shadow wondered as the two approached the centre. Suddenly, the pathways receded, and in the centre of the arena, a large, mechanical contraption appeared. Eggman was in the head of the robot, looking down on the two of them. “Doctor!”

“Shadow and Omega? Why you traitors! You two are going to stop me?! Move aside!”

Omega readied himself to fight, but Shadow seemed less certain. He held a hand out to stop the robot and stepped forward. “Doctor, please! I need to know… Those androids, the ones that look like me… Am I-”

Eggman grinned, a glint appearing in his eye. “Yes!”

Shadow took a step back. “What?”

“You and Omega are my creations! But you betray me as you stand here before me!” Eggman sat down, and his robot began to move. “So now, I will destroy you both, turning you into scrap metal!”

“Eggman, I will defeat you once-and-for-all!” Omega threatened.

Shadow fell to his knee, staring down at the ground as he tried to process this new information. “I’m an… an android…”

“This is what you get for turning against your master!” Eggman’s robot fired two laser beams, prompting Omega to pick up Shadow and move aside. “You won’t get away!”

“Shadow, snap out of it!”

“Omega, I’m picking up movement near you! Robots are coming in!”

Omega noticed several robots coming up from the floor. He tried to gun them down, but another attack from Eggman forced him to move Shadow again, the hedgehog still out of commission.

“Regain your senses already, or else I will be forced to leave you!”

“What does it matter?” Shadow asked, looking down at his hands. “I’m just a useless hunk of metal, after all. I have no memories. My life is meaningless…”

“… Is that how you feel about me?” Omega asked, moving Shadow to avoid another attack from Eggman.

“Stop that!” Eggman shouted.

“I am not organic, either. And yet, I would consider myself far from worthless. Being fleshy is overrated.”

“Omega, can you make it possible for him to hear my voice?”

Omega turned and began firing at the robots approaching them. “I will put you on speaker.”

“Thanks,” Hope said. “Shadow, can you hear me?”

“You’re… the girl I saved.”

“That’s right. Shadow, I don’t know what you’re thinking right now, but are you really going to just accept the Doctor’s word? Rouge told me you’re looking for your memories. That you’ve been looking since your battle with Metal Sonic. Isn’t it a bit early to jump to conclusions?”

Shadow gritted his teeth and clenched his hand into a fist. “What do you know?”

“I know that the Shadow who saved the Earth from total destruction, was a hero, willing to sacrifice even his own life to keep us safe!”

“That Shadow’s dead! I’m just a copy!”

“I don’t think you are! Because you did the same thing all over again. You saved me in Westopolis, too, and I don’t think it was just an accident! Whether you’re real or a robot, you’re Shadow the Hedgehog! Are you going to let that creep get in your head, and call it quits before seeing things through to the end?!”

“Shadow, I am going to leave you if you do not move!” Omega warned as he watched Eggman prepare another laser attack.

“Shadow, I believe in you! Please, don’t give up!”

Shadow gasped. “Maria?” Jumping to his feet, Shadow lifted Omega with one hand and circled the arena. “Maria, you received the data Omega extracted earlier, right? Do you have anything on this guy?”

“It’s designated ‘Egg Breaker’, and it’s packed with powerful attacks, but the cockpit is largely undefended! If you can get high enough, you can disable it!” Hope paused for a few seconds. “By the way, my name is Hope.”

“Uh, right. Sorry.” Shadow noticed a launchpad nearby and stopped, letting Omega down.

“Carry me like that again, and Eggman will be the last thing you need to worry about.”

“Can you hold off the robots for me?” Shadow asked, ignoring the threat. “I’m going to use this to get up to Eggman.”

Omega readied his gatling guns and opened his chestplate, revealing a missile salvo ready to launch. “Affirmative!” He began firing, taking down robots rapidly as they charged towards them. “… Shadow, it is good to have you back.”

Shadow found the latch to ready a rocket and pulled it. “I’m not giving up here. Whether I’m real or fake, I’m going to see this through to the end.” Shadow grabbed the rocket and held on as it launched. “But one thing I’m sure of…”

Eggman gasped as he saw Shadow in the air, high above him. “S-S-Stay back!”

“I’m nothing like those lifeless machines! I’m Shadow the Hedgehog!” Shadow spun into a ball and crashed down into the cockpit, pushing the Egg Breaker down off its pedestal and onto its back. He bounced back and landed next to Omega. “I’m the one who will find the truth about my past, and forge my destiny from there! That’s who I am!”

Eggman righted himself and stomped around the arena, glaring at the two as he raised his robot’s right arm, the end of which was affixed with a large mace. “Ugh, you asked for it! No more Mr. Nice Guy!”

The Egg Breaker leapt into the air, and came down fast on the two of them. They split off into separate direction, avoiding the attack and the shockwave that ensued.

“Take this!” Eggman shouted as the robot spun, firing explosives that scattered all around the arena. “You know what they say: the more the merrier!”

Shadow took cover behind a sheet of metal, whilst Omega kept running, weaving between the unrelenting explosions. “Omega, my data shows he has an excessively large stock of those things! He’s not gonna run out anytime soon!”

Shadow Androids appeared in front of Omega, forcing him to gun them down as he also tried to focus on evading the explosions. “Recommendations?”

“Hold on, I’m reading through the data and… Okay, it looks like you can disable it if you apply enough damage to the front of the robot. There should be a glowing spot.”

“Leave that to me!” Shadow shouted as ran out from his cover, a Chaos Emerald in his hand. “Chaos Control!” Shadow warped ahead, appearing before the mech in an instant. He found the spot Hope was talking about and delivered a devastating kick, forcing the mech back and ceasing the never-ending attack.

“You-” Eggman, but he was unable to continue as he began receiving shots from behind.

As Omega attacked from behind, Shadow jumped up and delivered another blow to Eggman’s cockpit, this time smashing the control panel.

“Curses! Next time we meet, you won’t be so lucky!” Eggman pulled a lever, and was ejected from the robot moments before it exploded.

“Eggman is escaping!” Omega noted as he watched the Doctor’s hovercraft moving swiftly through the air. He attempted to fire, but a Shadow Android shot him from behind, throwing his aim off.

“Omega!” Hope cried.

“Bastard!” Shadow rushed the android and kicked it, sending it flying off of the arena and into the jungle below. “Omega, you alright?!”

Omega picked himself up, checking himself before responding. “All systems are still functioning. Damage is superficial… But Eggman has escaped.”

“You can still catch him. Topaz’s team are on their way, and can join you in Lava Shelter.”

“You go on ahead,” Shadow said, crossing him arms. “I have no more business with that lying Doctor. Me, an android? I don’t buy that for one second!”

Omega tilted his head. “Were you not just moping because you believe the Doctor to be telling the truth?”

Shadow turned his head away, sweating. “A secret we’ll take to our graves.”

“… Agreed, as long as you do not reveal that I allowed the Doctor to escape by letting down my guard.”

“Agreed.” Shadow and Omega shook on it, the hedgehog grinning. “Anyway, I’m done here. The Doctor was a dead-end, so I’m back to my original plan. The Chaos Emeralds are the only way to get my missing memories back.”

“Will you be okay on your own?”

“There’s no need to worry about me. I’ll be just fine.” Shadow turned and left, leaving Omega alone in the room full of busted-up robots.

“Shadow is stronger than any other organic lifeforms I have met,” Omega said. “Your concern for him is unnecessary.”

Hope laughed. “You’re right. I’m going to have to break contact now. The Commander’s on his way back.”

“Understood. I will give Eggman one good punch for you.”

With that, Omega left to pursue Eggman into his base.

The battle had been raging on for ten long minutes now, and to the President, it felt even longer. The Black Aliens had yet to show themselves to him, instead chasing the fake President through the fortified ship. Tails contacted them frequently to update them on the situation.

The Commander directed and observed the attacks on the Black Alien ships outside. There were two that were in the perfect position to gun down any escape craft that tried to leave. If they could be taken out, then they could safely evacuate the President! The problem was that they were heavily defended, not only by other ships, but also by the flying aliens that could fire some sort of projectile attack. There were swarms of them out there and it made approaching the enemy ships difficult, almost impossible, even.

But the Commander was not one to give up just because something was ‘impossible’. “J-1, J-2, fall back and regroup with H-Squad. Focus your attacks on the flying creatures and create an opening for H-2 and H-4.”

“Roger!”

“S-Squad, continue advancing and don’t let up. Break the enemy’s position and flank them.”

“Roger that!”

“Watch your altitude! The Black Aliens’ gunships are stronger against enemies that are below them!” It was something that the Commander had noticed from studying footage of the gunships in action. Their weapons were designed to lay suppressing fire on targets below them, specifically on cities and foot soldiers. But when GUN’s fighter jets arrived at Westopolis, the gunships struggled to retaliate and were forced to retreat. Perhaps the aliens weren’t used to fighting a species that could rival them in aerial combat? If so, then it was a weakness that the Commander was all too eager to exploit.

“… Commander, I realise that now may not be the best time, but there’s something I wanted to ask you,” the President said, drawing Towers’ attention.

“What is it, Mr. President?”

“Regarding your order, that Shadow is to be killed-on-sight. Why did you give out such an order?”

Tower brought his hand up to the bridge of his nose. Even the President disagreed with his decision, but he knew he had to stand firm. “Mr. President, Shadow is-”

“I understand that you must have mixed feelings, considering it was GUN who designated Shadow a threat to all of humanity.”

“I don’t need GUN to tell me that,” Tower responded. “I’ve seen it with my own two eyes! The monster that killed all those people on the ARK. My parents, and Maria!”

The President was taken aback by this. “Shadow? You… are sure you’re not mistaken?”

“I’m sure,” the Commander said. “There’s no way I could ever mistake the horrific sight of that black hedgehog, being created in complete secret…”

“And you saw him… kill the people of the ARK?”

“I was there when the outbreak occurred,” the Commander said. “I was one of the ones lucky enough to survive.”

“That’s not what I-”

“Reporting in!” Tails said suddenly through the radio. “We’re almost at the front of the ship. The craft can’t take much more!”

“I’ll be fine,” Mr. Stewart assured, though his shaky voice suggested otherwise. “But I don’t know how much longer we can keep them focussed on us. As soon as this bird lands, they’ll know I’m not the President.”

The Commander slammed his fist against the window. The battle outside was a stalemate. They needed more time! He glanced across the room and caught sight of the Cyclone, still parked where Tails had left it. “… Tails, return here as fast as you can!”

“But the decoy-”

“Has done its job, but it’ll be pointless if we can’t take down the gunships pinning us down. Your cyclone should be nimble enough to get the job done, but you’re the only one who can pilot it!”

“Okay, I’m heading back n- WHOA!”

“What happened?! Tails!”

The President froze as the radio fell silent. His head slowly hung as he fell back into his seat, a nearby soldier rushing to steady him.

“… Sorry about that,” Tails said, though there was a lot of static on the line. “The decoy craft is down. Mr. Stewart got away, but I’ve lost sight of him. I’m returning now.”

Tower breathed a sigh of relief. “Please hurry. This may be our last chance.”

Two minutes passed as they waited, and continued watching the battle outside unfold. “Commander, enemy forces incoming!” a soldier reported as he ran into the room. “There are five of the smaller ones and three of the giants!”

The soldiers moved into position as the President took cover behind a wall of bulletproof glass. The Commander grabbed a nearby rifle and joined his troops. “Mr. President, when I give the signal, hit the emergency lever to your side. It will drop you into the service tunnels. Make a run for the escape crafts, board the nearest one, and leave right away.”

The President nodded, holding his hand near the lever. He watched tensely as the soldiers stood waiting for the coming attack. Then, bullet began firing. One soldier threw a grenade, and the explosion echoed loud. Another soldier was hit and fell to the ground. He wanted to run over and help the man, but he had to stay put. It was infuriating, but these brave men were putting the lives on the line for his sake. He could not dishonour that by recklessly endangering his own life now.

“Hold your fire!” Tower shouted suddenly. The President heard the sounds of large objects being thrown against steel walls outside, and wondered what was happening. Then, Tower and the soldiers ran back into the room and approached the Cyclone.

Tails and Mr. Stewart ran in shortly after, the latter panting as he rested against a wall. The President ran out from his cover. “You made it!”

Tails grinned, scratching his nose the way Sonic would. “Nothin’ to it!” He turned to the exhausted agent still catching his breath. “Actually, it was thanks to Mr. Stewart. He showed me the fastest way through the ship.”

“Tails, we must hurry!” Tower said, wheeling the Cyclone into position. Tails rushed to his plane and jumped in. “There are two gunships that need to be taken down.” The Commander pointed them out, and Tails nodded.

“How is he going to leave with all that going on?” Stewart asked, noticing the countless numbers of Black Aliens flying around outside.

“We’re going to drop a number of escape crafts to draw their fire. It’s not much but it’s the best we can do.”

“That should be plenty,” Tails said as he booted up the Cyclone. “Okay, ready when you are!”

Tower reached for his radio. “Drop the cargo!”

“Roger!”

Outside, the Black Aliens and their gunships began laying supressing fire on something below the battleship. The GUN mechs and fighter jets took advantage of this to start thinning out their numbers. The bay doors opened, and Tails blasted forwards, making his way towards the gunships as he avoided incoming fire.

He managed to slip by the Black Aliens and circled around the first gunship, locking onto various points along the top and unleashing a barrage of missiles. The ship took heavy damage and began to lower its altitude, but Tails positioned himself behind it and charged his frontal cannon. It fired, and it caused an explosion that triggered a chain-reaction, causing the entire ship to fall apart in the sky.

The soldiers onboard cheered as the first ship went down, and Tails quickly moved to the next one. This time, however, the Black Aliens had noticed him and had focussed their efforts on taking the fox down. He tried to blast his way through, but any aliens he took down were soon replaced.

“There are too many of them!” He tried to launched missiles through the holes in their defences, but the aliens would just move to block them, with no regards to their own lives. “It’s like they’re a hivemind. They act as one unit and self-sacrifice means nothing to them.”

“Tails, we have more of the Black Aliens on the way! We’re going to go on ahead to the escape vehicle! Please clear the way for us quickly!”

A tall order from the Commander. Some GUN units had arrived to help, but there was just no getting through the swarms of Black Aliens to reach the gunship. Not without some sort of distraction…

“Tails, is the route clear? Please confirm!”

“Can you drop more escape crafts to cause a distraction?”

“Negative! We only have one left!”

Tails held his head. What could he do? He needed something to distract the Black Aliens, something they couldn’t resist… “I got it! Hang on just a little longer!”

Tails flew back to the battleship, towards the hatch where the President’s escape craft would be launched. He flew inside and landed next to the Commander’s group, who were confused to see him back. “Mr. Stewart, you’re still dressed as the President!” he cheered.

“Uh, yes. There hasn’t been time to change.”

“Tails, what are you planning?” Tower asked.

“We need something to distract the Black Aliens so we can take out that gunship. Well, what’s more distracting than the exact thing they’re looking for?”

Mr. Stewart gasped. “I see! You’re thinking if the Black Aliens see me, they’ll think I’m the President and will chase after us!”

Tails nodded. “Everyone, get onboard! We’ll have the way cleared in one minute!”

Tower nodded, and ushered his team aboard the escape craft. Mr. Stewart joined Tails aboard the Cyclone and the two left to return to the battle. As they neared the gunship, the Black Aliens fired relentlessly. “I think they saw me,” Mr. Stewart said, keeping his head low.

“Now let’s hope they follow us,” Tails said as he blasted past them. The Black Aliens turned and gave chase, leaving behind an opening large enough for three of GUN’s fighter jets to break through. “It’s working!”

“Great, but now how do we get them off our backs?”

“No problem! Just watch this!” Tails pressed a button, and the Cyclone began to change shape. It became more sleek, and its weapons were retracted in favour of a more streamlined formation, as well as two additional engines at the back.

Tails performed a 180-degree turn and the two watched as the gunship began to fall. “COMMANDER, NOW!”

“Roger!”

The escape craft left the battleship, and although many Black Aliens attempted to stop it, it withstood their attacks and quickly outpaced them. The other gunships were not able to reach the craft before it got ahead of the convoy.

Tails and Mr. Stewart cheered as they raced through the skies, quickly catching up to the craft. “We did it!” Tails sang.

“Excellent work! We’ll return to GUN HQ and plan our next move!”

Mr. Stewart sighed, removing his wig and slumping into his seat. “I guess it’s not over yet.” As the two soared through the skies, he gazed out into the horizon, now painted a fiery orange from the setting sun. “What a beautiful view.” Tails nodded in agreement. “Might be the last time we ever see it…”

“We’ll make it though this. All of us.” Tails gripped the wheel as he stared out into the sunset. “Still, I can’t shake this feeling that something big is coming… I guess I’ve always taken sunsets for granted. I’m afraid of nightfall, tonight.”

Chapter Text

The Commander hurried into the command centre, the President and Tails right behind him. He prepared a seat and offered it to the President. “You’ll be safe here, Mr. President. Is there anything you need?”

The President sat down, releasing a heavy breath as fatigue started to set in. “Never mind me… What about the people of Central City?”

“No need to worry, sir,” Tower responded. “Orders were issued yesterday and everyone has been evacuated to the safe zone.”

The President breathed a sigh of relief. “Very good, Commander.”

“Commander, we have an urgent report from Wolf Squad. The Black Aliens are storming Prison Island, and are freeing the captives we’ve taken from the field.”

“‘Captives’?” the President asked.

“We believed if we captured some of the aliens, we could learn what their goal was, where they came from, or even their weaknesses,” Tower explained. “Unfortunately, they don’t seem capable of even basic speech.”

“Reports have also come in that Shadow the Hedgehog has been sighted with the Black Aliens,” the agent continued.

The President leaned forwards in his seat. “Shadow? With the Black Aliens?!”

“It can’t be,” Tails said.

“He has stolen the Chaos Emerald that was being held there, as well as one of our shuttles. His current destination is the Space Colony ARK.”

The Commander couldn’t help but laugh, despite the situation. “So, he wants to end this where it all began…” He turned to the agents behind him. “Mobilize Diablon!”

“But sir, it’s not ready yet!”

“I don’t care! We have to stop Shadow at all costs, and protect the Chaos Emeralds!” Tower pulled out his pistol and checked it. “Shadow, damn you! It’s been fifty years… Justice will finally be served!”

“Where are you going?” the President asked as Tower walked away.

“I’m going up there. This time, Shadow won’t escape. I’ll see to it personally. Prepare the shuttle! I’m leaving in ten minutes! Recall Wolf Squad, tell them to abandon Prison Island and return to the base! Tighten security and put the whole facility into lockdown! Above all else, keep the President safe!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Commander, please,” the President began, rising to his feet, “Things might not be what they seem. Don’t rush into things. We need you here, defending our people, not chasing the enemy into space.”

“Mr. President, this single battle could very well turn the whole tide of this war around.”

“Are you sure? Or are you acting out of a personal vendetta.”

“… Miles, can I count on you to keep the President safe?”

Tails hesitated, but eventually nodded. “Yeah, but I think the President’s right. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions without having all the facts first.”

The Commander didn’t respond. He simply left the room, the door closing behind him. Tails and the President both sighed. “Um…” The two turned around, and were surprised to see a young girl standing behind them. She looked uncertain, and fumbled a salute after meeting eyes with the President. “Sir.”

“At ease,” the President said, giving the girl a warm, gentle smile. “You’re… quite young. Are you the Commander’s daughter?”

“No, sir,” the girl replied. She lowered her hand but her body remained stiff. “My name’s Hope. I’m an engineer, here at GUN.” She turned to Tails, pausing for a moment, before asking, “D-Do you think you could help us?”

“Me?” Tails asked. “Uh, help with what?” Tails asked.

“We’ve been trying to restore order to the CIA’s mainframe for hours now, but the Black Aliens have it heavily guarded. But, maybe you could find a way through?”

Tails smiled. “Sure, I can have a look.”

The President watched as the two ran to an empty terminal, and Hope began explaining to Tails what they had already tried as other technicians began to gather around them. “Everyone’s giving it their all, and I’m just sitting here being protected. This is not what I envisioned when I ran for presidency…”

Looking around, he found that everybody was distracted by some task or other. He swivelled the chair around and reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone. He dialled a number and waited. “Chaotix Detective Agency, Vector here! We’re in the middle of something so if it’s not urgent-”

“Vector, it’s me,” the President said, softly.

“Oh, our client! We’ve gathered some intel from Prison Island and we’re investigating Eggman’s network right now, and we think you’re right! There are definitely records of these Black Aliens visiting Earth before.”

“I thought so. When Rouge reported to me her findings on Project: Shadow, she mentioned that the government had covered-up an incident relating to ‘Monstrous Blacks’, but there was no further info, save for a rough photograph of a creature resembling these aliens.”

“I don’t think we’ll find out much else, though. Even Eggman doesn’t know anything other than what’s in his grandfather’s diary.”

“Gerald’s diary?” The President paused to think. “Vector, there’s a very strong possibility that Gerald Robotnik made contact with these creatures. His data might have vital information to help us defeat them.”

“But it’s all corrupted. These disks weren’t exactly stored well these past fifty years, and that explosion certainly didn’t help. I don’t think we can restore the data with what we have.”

“What about using the ARK’s computers?”

“The ARK? Yeah, that might work. We can cross-reference what we have with what’s in the ARK’s servers and put the data back together!”

“Do you need a shuttle?”

“Nah, we can just borrow one of Eggman’s. He owes us for rescuin’ him, anyway!”

“Alright. Good luck, and please hurry. The people of Earth are counting on you.”

As the President ended the call, a soldier ran into the room to report. “We’ve received word that Topaz-” The soldier noticed the President, and looked around confused. “C-Commander?”

“He isn’t here right now,” the President said. “Give me your report. I’ll see to it that Commander Tower receives it.”

“Y-Yes, sir! Agent Topaz has infiltrated Lava Shelter, but she’s been cut off from her team! She has made contact with the Eggman robot E-123 Omega, who is also pursuing Eggman. He’s uh, been listed as a target, but he’s also willing to help us, so we’re not sure what to…”

“Tell her that Doctor Eggman takes priority, and that Omega is not our enemy,” the President said, earning some relieved sighs from those working nearby.

“Yes, sir!” The soldier ran back out of the room.

“Can you do that?” Hope asked.

“The Commander left his post to pursue Shadow, therefore in his absence, I am taking charge until his return. I trust that is acceptable to you all?” Everybody exchanged glances, and nodded. “This is not a grab for power, and I will be counting on each of you to support me, and not to be afraid to challenge my decisions.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Hope, we have an opening!” Tails exclaimed. “Everyone get ready! I’ll blast a hole through their firewalls to create an entry point. We won’t have long.”

All the technicians ran to their consoles. Hope took the console next to Tails’ and glanced over at his screen. “I see,” she mumbled as she observed his actions.

“Is the virus ready?” one technician asked.

“Yes, we’ve had it ready for a while now!” another replied.

“We’ve designed a virus that will completely kill and reset all our defences,” Hope explained. “It will leave us vulnerable, but it’s the best way to kick the Black Aliens out of the mainframe.”

Tails nodded. “Be ready to upload on my signal.”

Topaz wiped the sweat from her brow as she took cover behind a barricade, shielding herself from a barrage of bullets from Eggman’s robots. Omega covered her as she took the time to remove her jacket, leaving her in just her white vest, and she took a large gulp of water.

“You should leave,” Omega stated as he fired a missile barrage at the robots. “The heat will only get stronger the more we advance. Without a mech, you might dehydrate.”

“No, I can handle it,” she said, reaching down and cutting her trousers with her combat knife, converting them into shorts. “I just need to dress more appropriately.”

“You are exposing more of your skin. You will be more vulnerable.”

Topaz cocked her gun and jumped out from her cover, finishing off the remaining robots. “Then I’ll just have to not get hit. Let’s go.”

Omega watched as Topaz ran on ahead, balancing along a thin rail with no fear for the lava below her. “It appears that not all humans are as weak as I had thought. I will adjust my data.”

As they advanced, the base shook from the attacks of the GUN forces outside. Topaz was the only soldier to make it inside before Eggman sealed the place shut. She was thankful to have found Omega, although she was worried when the robot had told her he was no longer working alongside GUN. Hope seemed to have smoothed things over with him, though, and he was willing to abide her company.

Shadow Androids barred their path as more Eggman robots attempted to activate some sort of machine ahead of them. “Device will raise magma levels, making it difficult to proceed.”

“Then we’ll have to stop them,” Topaz said, taking out her combat knife. “Can you keep the Shadow Androids off my back?”

Omega pointed his gatling guns towards the androids. “They won’t stand a chance.”

As Omega began firing, Topaz pushed forwards and jumped onto a nearby rail, grinding along it to get around the Shadow Androids and reached the device. She grabbed one of the robots and stabbed her knife into its beck, short-circuiting it.

Another robot turned to face her, but she was already driving her boot into its face before it could attack. She pulled the last one away from the device and suplexed it, smashing its head against the floor.

Omega joined her after taking care of the Shadow Androids. “I can see why Rouge likes you.”

Topaz wiped the sweat from her brow. “We have to hurry. Eggman’s getting away.”

“Roger.”

As the two fought together through the base, they stopped several more attempts by Eggman’s robots to raise the magma level. The base began to shake more violently, GUN’s outside assault taking its toll.

After riding along an extended railway deeper into the volcanic base, the two found themselves standing in a large, empty room. “Shadow Android production line is up ahead,” Omega declared. “Eggman is preparing to leave!”

“What? How?”

“He has prepared a ship.”

Topaz picked up the pace. As the two entered the launch room, the found the ship firing up its jets. Omega fired on it, but it was protected by a forcefield. “Eggman in possession of a Chaos Emerald.”

“You’re too late, GUN cronies!” Eggman declared. “But please, feel free to have some fun with my Shadow Androids!”

An army of Shadow Androids fell from the sky, facing the two and approaching them. The ship took off, leaving through an opening in the ceiling. Topaz reached for her radio, but found that she still had no signal. “Damn, by the time GUN find this opening, it’ll be too late!”

Omega scanned the room, and pointed to a small shack in the distance. “Control panel is in there. Use it to keep the skylight open. I will stop any pursuers.”

“All by yourself?”

“Who do you think you are talking to?”

Topaz nodded. “Okay, then keep me covered!” Topaz sprinted past the Shadow Androids. Some of them turned to chase her, but were gunned down from behind by Omega.

“Keep your sensors on me!” A couple of Shadow Androids jumped at the robot. Omega reached out and grabbed their legs, spinning them around and knocking down other Shadow Androids before letting them fly off into a nearby pool of lava.

Topaz spotted some badniks manning the controls in the shack and pulled out her rifle, firing before they had noticed her. The badniks jumped and panicked, but they had nowhere to go and fell quickly. As she entered the room, she looked over the control panel. Looking up, the ceiling was already closed. “Now, how do I operate this thing?”

A Shadow Android entered the room. It ran at Topaz, preparing to strike. Topaz ducked to the side and shot at the android, knocking it back. She then charged at it and pushed it out of the window, down to the bottom of the launch area.

Looking over the controls again, Topaz found a lever below an image that resembled the doors on the ceiling. She pulled it down, and surely enough, the skylight opened. She ran back outside to tell Omega, only to be met by an ambush of Shadow Androids. Before she could ready her weapon, they unleashed a barrage of missiles that forced her to take cover inside the shack.

“Omega, I need cover!”

Meanwhile, Omega was struggling to keep up with the never-ending army of Shadow Androids entering the room. He was surrounded, and could only concentrate on so many at once. He noticed that Topaz was in trouble and tried to offer assistance, but was caught by surprise when one android kicked him in the back and forced him to the floor.

“Foul play detected. Shadow Androids utilise cheap tactics to acquire victory!” Omega fired grenades all around his body, prompting the Shadow Androids to scatter and giving himself a chance to get back up. He replaced his gatling guns with flamethrowers and locked himself into position, pivoting his body as he unleashed his flames.

Meanwhile, Topaz was trapped. She only had one more grenade left, and two more clips for her rifle. Her knife would be no good against such fast opponents, and the shack was starting to fall apart. She considered making a run for it, but suddenly, she heard gunfire just outside of the shack, and the barrage of missiles stopped. Poking her head out, she found GUN Beetle robots firing down on the Shadow Androids.

Taking her chance, she jumped out and offered assistance. The Shadow Androids started to fall, and couldn’t decide who to focus on. As they attempted to reorganise, GUN soldiers began to rappel down into the base. Some made it down to the shack and saluted Topaz upon seeing her.

“Sorry we’re so late, Captain!” one of them said. “We’ve come to back you up!”

“Glad you’re here! The Shadow Android production line is near here, but as you can see, the enemy is defending it well.”

“We’ll see about that,” the soldier said. He motioned to somebody behind him, and a large, muscular soldier stepped forwards, carrying a large minigun that would usually be attached to a mech or mounted on a turret. “We brought along our ace.”

Topaz grinned. She loaded her gun and said, “Let’s show them what we’re made of.”

The soldiers ran out. As the large man lay supressing fire on the Shadow Androids, the remaining soldiers backed him up by taking out any stragglers. They soon made it to Omega, who was just about done taking down the androids that had him pinned.

“Eggman has escaped,” Omega stated, “But we can still destroy this base. It will have to do, for now.”

Topaz nodded, and ordered her soldiers to sweep the base and find the production line. “I don’t suppose you know where he’s headed?”

Omega looked up at the sky, thinking for a moment. “Ship was prepped for atmospheric exit. There are only two possible locations: Space Colony ARK, and the comet designated Black Comet."

“The Black Comet?” the President asked the soldier who had given him his report. “You’re certain?”

“Yes, sir! Scouts have confirmed sightings of the Black Alien gunships entering and exiting the comet! A team went in to investigate but contact was lost. Their last transmission told us that an entire army was waiting for them inside.”

The President was shocked at the news. “So, that’s where they’re coming from…”

“The Black Aliens are retreating!” a technician cried out, prompting the President to turn to the team securing the CIA’s mainframe. “GUN forces are moving in and securing the central core!”

Tails and Hope exchanged excited glances. “We did it!” Tails declared, and the room erupted into cheers. “The Black Aliens are leaving the digital space and returning to the material world!”

“We’re receiving word from the ARK that the Black Creatures are withdrawing from the Eclipse Cannon chamber,” a technician announced. “Blue Falcon has defended the cannon and now, with no access the firing codes, it seems they’re giving up.”

The President’s face brightened at this news. At last, they were seeing some solid victories. But the battle was not over yet. They needed to keep up this momentum and start turning the tides. “If only we knew where Sonic-”

“Someone say my name?”

Everybody turned to the door to find Sonic and Rouge entering the room, the former waving as all eyes fell on him. “Sonic!” Tails called out, running to meet his friend.

“Hey, Tails! Heard you’ve been keeping the President safe.”

“Sonic, I’m glad that you’re here,” the President said, greeting the hedgehog with a handshake. “We’ve just secured the Eclipse Cannon from the Black Aliens, and now, I think it’s time to take the fight to them.”

“Easier said than done,” Rouge said. “We don’t even know where they’re coming from. The mothership still hasn’t been located.”

“We actually received word just before you got here,” the President began, glancing to the soldier still standing at attention. “Scouts have confirmed that the Black Aliens are coming from the comet, the one that passes every fifty years.”

“The Black Comet?” Rouge sighed. “That explains it then. We were all so focussed on finding a ship, we missed the obvious. This all started when that comet neared the planet, didn’t it?”

“We’ll be preparing a team to go up and attack the Black Comet. I was hoping you would-”

“Sounds like an adventure. Count me in.” Sonic turned to Tails. “You up for smashing some alien heads?”

“You bet!”

“Got a shuttle we can borrow?” Sonic asked the President.

“There’s one in the hanger, please help yourselves.”

“Guess we should swing by Central City and pick up Knuckles on the way.”

“Amy and Cream are also there,” Tails said. “Although I think Cream’s already evacuated with her mother by now.”

“And we should probably find Shadow, too.”

Tails and the President exchanged nervous looks. “Shadow’s… already gone on ahead,” the President said. “He’s currently aboard the Space Colony ARK.”

Sonic grinned. “Couldn’t wait for us, eh? Well, guess we’ll just meet him up there.”

“Sonic,” Tails began, “Shadow is-”

“He’ll be fine on his own,” Rouge said, giving a dismissive wave. “Let’s not worry about that guy. We need to hurry, before the Black Aliens have a chance to rally.”

Sonic and Tails nodded, and the three left the room, heading towards the hanger.

Chapter Text

The Space Colony ARK was the most advanced research centre in the history of mankind. It was first-ever Bernal sphere space colony, and was the pride of the United Federations’ growing prosperity. Headed by Professor Gerald Robotnik, dubbed the most intelligent man in the world, it was used to research new medical techniques to treat incurable illnesses. In particular, the terrifying disease Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or NIDS, was the biggest focus of the colony.

The disease was caused a genetic birth-defect, and would usually start to manifest in late-teens. It became severe in the mid-twenties, and sufferers could either die before they hit thirty, or live to reach as high as seventy with the right treatment, but there was no real cure.

Thus, Gerald’s research team worked around the clock, living on the colony with many of their patients. Abraham Tower, or ‘Abe’ as he was known, was not one of those patients. Instead, he was only there because his parents were part of that research team. At eight-years of age, Abe could not be left to live on his own while his parents live in the ARK, and as there was nobody to look after him, he lived up on the colony with his parents.

He was the only member of the crew who wasn’t a researcher or a patient, and if it weren’t for Maria, he would be the only child on-board. Maria Robotnik, Gerald’s granddaughter, was also a patient, whose symptoms had started to show much earlier than they typically would. She was only twelve, yet she was so mature for her age that Abe at first thought she was much older. She was the only friend he had on the ARK, and was the only reason he hadn’t gone crazy yet.

“And that’s how you solve this type of problem,” Maria finished. While she was fun to play with, she would also regularly help Abe with his schoolwork, showing him how to solve problems he didn’t understand or checking his homework for him. Not that it really mattered, though. His parents simply gave him some textbooks and a schedule to follow. He had no official teacher, and he wasn’t graded on any of his work.

“Wow, thanks!” he said, and worked out the next problem on his own. “Is this it?”

“Let me see… Yep, that looks right!” Maria patted the boy’s head, causing him to flinch and bat her hand away. She laughed as he protested.

“Hey, cut it out!”

The door to the room opened, and Gerald Robotnik walked in. “Maria, sorry to bother you. I’ll be needing your assistance later for erm, you-know-what.”

Maria nodded. “Sure, Grandfather. I’ll be down as soon as I’ve finished helping Abe with his homework.” Abe didn’t know what ‘you-know-what’ meant. He only knew that, of all the patient on the ARK, Maria was the only one with access to the restricted areas, and was involved in some sort of project that even some of the doctors didn’t know anything about. He asked her about it once, but she only said that she couldn’t tell him anything. ‘Confidential’, she called it, whatever that meant.

Gerald regarded the boy. “I trust you are keeping well to your studies?” Abe nodded, keeping his eyes averted and not saying a word. Gerald always made him nervous. “Good lad! Your parents are some of the finest minds I know. Keep it up and you may well be like them someday.”

Abe huffed, though Gerald didn’t notice as he was already leaving the room. “I don’t want to be like them,” he muttered, now frowning as she looked down at his homework. He was suddenly far less eager to finish it.

Maria sighed. She reached out and pulled the boy into a hug. He failed his arms and tried to pull away. “I know you wish your parents would be around more, but what they’re doing is important.”

Abe stopped struggling. “Yeah but, the only times we ever talk is in the morning, and all they say is ‘have a good day’. I don’t even see them before I go to bed anymore.”

“I’m sure they want to talk to you, too,” she assured him. “But they also want to hurry and rid the world of this condition that makes people suffer. That way, even more families will be able to spend lots more time together. And then, they’ll be able to give you their full attention.”

“You think?”

Maria nodded. “When the cure is finally found, you’ll be able to make up for all the lost time together. So until then, be strong for them, and show them that you’re just fine. That way, they can work without regrets, and finish their research faster.”

Abe smiled. “Yeah, I can do that! I’m a boy, so I can be strong! Plus, I got you!”

“That’s the spirit!” Maria giggled. “Now, is there anything else you’re having trouble following?”

Abe glanced over his homework. He understood the rest of it, but he knew that if he told her that, she would be off to help Gerald with whatever it was he was working on. “Uh, this stuff here…”

He pointed to a random problem that he easily could have solved. Maria looked at it and picked up her own pen and paper. “Okay, so for this one…”

As Abe walked through the ARK’s hallways, wearing earbuds that played the latest popular music from the Earth, he peered into the rooms he passed by, where doctors and patients were performing their regular check-ups. Nothing serious, simply asking them questions about how they were feeling, and if there was anything that could be done to improve their lives on the ARK.

Through one door though, Abe saw two researchers that he recognised as friends of his parents’. They were on Gerald’s special team, the one that usually stayed in the restricted areas, and they didn’t seem to be with any patients. Curious, Abe removed his earbuds and crept towards the door.

“Shadow’s really coming along, isn’t he?” one of the researchers said. “To think we all laughed at the idea, and now…”

“It won’t be long now until he wakes up. What if he’s violent like the last one?”

“The Professor seems to have something up his sleeve, involving that granddaughter of his.”

“Maria? I know he dotes on her, but isn’t he letting her get a bit too close? She knows more than even us researchers.”

“I know what you mean. And hey, have you heard those rumours about a mysterious visitor helping the Professor? What’s that about?”

Abe wasn’t sure what he was hearing; they were talking so fast and using a lot of words he didn’t fully understand. What he did understand though was that it seemed to be related to whatever Gerald and Maria were working on.

“Hey!” a third voice shouted, making Abe jump. The door slammed shut suddenly, and the voices inside became muffled. “What are you doing, talking about sensitive information here?!”

“Sorry!”

“Get back to the lab. Your break’s over!”

Abe listened a little longer, but the voices were gone now. Shrugging, he put his earbuds back in and continued to walk.

Abe ran through the ARK, laughing as he rounded a corner and stood against the wall. He peered around and saw Maria chasing after him. “I see you, Abe!” she said, and he bolt down the corridor. “Get back here, you scamp!”

Abe peered behind and stopped to taunt Maria, blowing a raspberry and smacking his backside. “You’re too slow, Sis!”

Maria caught the boy and held him in a headlock. “Gotcha!” she laughed. He managed to wriggle his way out and continued running. “Hey!”

“Try again!” he sang, rounding another corner and crashing into somebody, falling to the floor. “Owww…” As he rubbed his head, Abe looked up to find one of the patients, an elderly woman, also on the floor. “S-Sorry, Miss…”

“Ohhhh, my hips…”

Maria gasped, rushing to help the lady to her feet. Abe also offered a hand. “I’m so sorry, ma’am. You’re not hurt, are you?” Maria turned to Abe, giving him a stern look. “Abe, you need to watch where you’re going.”

“I’m sorry,” Abe repeated, now flustered as he averted his eyes from Maria’s. She was usually calm, and sweet, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t get angry. And when Maria got angry, she got angry.

The old lady began to laugh. “Now, now, it’s all fine. It was partially my fault. I was on my way to the Bingo Night and I started rushing so I wouldn’t be late. Were you two playing a little game?”

Abe nodded. “Well, sorta. There’s not much to do up here.”

“Not much fun with all us old folks, eh?” the lady asked, laughing again. “It’s nice to see youngsters so full of life. I can no longer keep up with such high-energy games. If ya ever get tired of running, you’re more than welcome to come and join us in the lounge.”

“That could be fun,” Maria said, turning to Abe. He didn’t seem to agree.

“But, Bingo’s for old people,” Abe protested. “What’s fun about ticking off numbers?”

“Oh-hohohohoho!” The lady wiped a tear from her eye. “You remind me of my grandchildren! Well, I’d best be on my way. Oh.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a couple of sweets, offering one to Abe and one to Maria. “Here you go. Have fun, and try to be more careful around those corners.”

“I will, and thanks!” Abe said, waving goodbye as the old lady walked away.

“Are you sure you’re feeling alright?” Maria called out. The lady simply waved back to them as she laughed again. Smiling, Maria said, “I guess she’s fine. I’m glad. But, maybe we should play somewhere less obstructive.”

“Like where?” Abe asked. “This place is boring. It doesn’t have anywhere fun to play.”

“Well, it is a research centre,” Maria said with a shrug. “Maybe I can ask Grandfather if there’s a room we can set up to play games in. Until then…” Maria reached out, grabbing Abe while his guard was down. “Gotcha!”

“Wah?! No fair! I didn’t know we were still playing!” Abe tried to struggle free, but she wasn’t having it this time.

“Too bad! This time, it’s my win.” She let him go and checked one of the nearby clocks. “How about we go back now and do some reading? Can’t crash into somebody in a book.”

“Hey Maria, what’s ‘mysterious’?”

Maria tilted her head at the sudden question. “Huh?”

“Like, what does it mean?”

“Hmmm… I guess it means, something you don’t know much of anything about? Like, how do magnets work? It’s mysterious. Or who swiped extra dessert from the kitchen last week?” She emphasised that last question with a knowing grin. “A mystery.”

Abe whistled innocently and turned around. “Dunno what you mean.”

“Suuuuuure,” Maria teased, roughing up Abe’s hair. Abe pushed away, laughing as he straightened it out. “So, why do you ask?

“Well, I heard one of the researchers says there was a ‘mysterious visitor’. What was she talking about?” Abe noticed that Maria was simply staring at him, and hadn’t said anything for a few seconds. “Maria?”

“Huh? Oh.” Maria held one of her hands with the other and darted her eyes around. “W-Well, I’m not sure. We get a lot of visitors, usually from the government, to check on Grandfather’s progress. Maybe it was one of them?”

Abe saw that Maria was acting funny. She was fidgeting, and suddenly seemed very uncomfortable. “Are you okay?”

“I-I’m fine,” she said, putting her usual smile back on. “Um, actually, I think I’m a little hungry. How about we go back and get something to eat?”

Abe watched as she walked past him, now concerned. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” she insisted, taking the boy’s hand. “Come on, let’s go back. I wonder what they’re serving today.”

Abe still wasn’t convinced, but he could tell she wasn’t going to tell him anything, so he decided to drop it.

One day, Abe’s curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to explore the ARK whilst Maria was with the doctors getting a check-up. When the GUN soldiers on-duty were distracted, Abe crept by them, using his smaller size to sneak by unnoticed, and entered the restricted areas of the ARK.

He ventured through the forbidden hallways, which seemed bigger and more vacant than the ones he was used to, until he stumbled upon a room surrounded by glass. Inside that room he could see Professor Gerald, and somebody else. The other person wasn’t human, though. Or at least, it didn’t appear to be. It was a large, black creature with three eyes and no mouth, horns where its ears should have been, and to top it all off, it was floating!

The two seemed to be talking, and then they moved over to a console and watched something on a monitor. Abe walked closed, peering into the room through a window on the door. There, he saw a pod, and there appeared to be something inside of it, but he couldn’t tell what.

Suddenly, the pod began to move. It raised up, and Abe could see the thing inside clearly. It looked like a hedgehog with black fur, and red stripes, suspended in a green fluid substance. It opened its eyes, startling the boy and causing him to jump back with a fright.

Turning around, Abe was about to run, but he stopped when he found Maria standing in his path. She had been shot in the chest, and her body was covered in blood. “Abe…” she said, staring at the boy. “Abe, run.”

“Maria!” Abe ran as fast as he could, but for some reason, he wasn’t making any progress. A gunshot rang out, and Maria fell to the floor. Suddenly, was in his arms, bleeding out as the last of her life faded from her eyes. “MARIAAAAAAA!”

Turning back towards the room, Abe now found himself standing in a large, pitch-black area. Bodies lay scattered before him, draped in white lab coats that were stained in blood. Among them were his parents, and standing above them all, was Professor Gerald Robotnik, grinning menacingly. The black hedgehog walked out from behind the professor, a blood-stained pistol in his hands.

“All you ungrateful humans, who took everything away from me, will feel my loss and despair!”

“NO!” Abe shouted, falling back as the hedgehog pointed its gun at him. “STOP IT!”

“ALL YOU UNGRATEFUL HUMANS, WHO TOOK EVERYTHING AWAY FROM ME, WILL FEEL MY LOSS AND DESPAIR!”

“STOOOOOOP!” Abe held his head in his hands, tears streaming down his face.

“Abe,” Maria’s voice echoed inside his head.

“Son,” his father’s voice called out.

“Abe,” his mother’s voice said.

“Commander,” the hedgehog said as he pulled the trigger.”

“Commander. Commander!”

Abraham Tower woke up, looking around to find himself inside his shuttle. He took a moment to calm down, wiping the sweat from his brow as he remembered where he was, and what he was doing. So it was all just a nightmare… A nightmare of that day, fifty years ago…

“Commander, we have located a landing position! ETA: five minutes!”

Tower looked over to the soldier reporting to him. “How long was I asleep?”

“About twenty minutes, sir!”

“That long?”

“The ARK’s structural stability has been compromised, and with al; the fighting, we’ve had to keep our distance while we looked for a suitable place to land.”

The Commander grumbled. “Why didn’t you wake me sooner?”

“Apologies, sir, it’s just… you haven’t slept at all since this all began, right? We thought you could use the chance to-”

“I’m not sleeping a wink until this is all over!” the Commander shouted. “When Shadow and the Black Creatures are dead, that’s when I can finally rest! Until then, I’ll stay awake, and see this whole thing through!”

“Y-Yes, sir! Um, about that, Shadow appears to be racing Sonic the Hedgehog along the crumbling ARK.”

“So we know where he is, then. Music to my ears.” The Commander stood, and began to undress. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been on the field, but I still remember how to fight. Shadow, I’ll be the one to finish you off.”

“Diablon is prepped and ready for launch!”

The Commander hung up his formal attire and took out a slim, black combat suit from a nearby wardrobe, designed for elite soldiers that allowed greater mobility at the cost of some protection. It was also made of a shock-absorbent material that would offer greater protection inside of the experimental mech, Diablon. Grabbing a shotgun, a sidearm, and three grenades, the Commander moved to the back of the shuttle, where Diablon awaited.

As Shadow grabbed the Chaos Emerald, he closed his eyes, a familiar feeling washing over him. “Sonic, now I remember. That day, we fought here aboard the ARK.”

Sonic skidded to a halt before Shadow. “Well, looks like you won this one. That makes it one-to-one.”

Shadow put the Chaos Emerald away. “I seem to recall defeating you in our last encounter.”

Sonic scoffed. “Please. Your memory really is all jumbled up. I totally won that time.”

“Sonic!”

Sonic pressed his earpiece. “Yo, Tails, looks like Shadow’s got this one. As long as Eggman or the Black Creatures don’t have it!”

“… Sonic, you realise that, depending on what my memories reveal, we might end up being enemies.” Shadow entered a combative stance as he waited for Sonic’s answer.

However, Sonic simply shrugged. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Although, I get the feeling that, no matter what happens, you’ll do the right thing. You always have done so far, at least.”

Shadow didn’t say anything. He simply eased his stance and chuckled under his breath. “I’m still sensing an Emerald here on the ARK.”

Sonic gave a dismissive wave. “That’d be Eggman’s. I saw him approaching earlier. You go do what you gotta. Tails and I are goin’ over to the Black Comet to finish this off.”

Shadow nodded. “Well then, we’ll meet up later. And when we do, you’d best be ready for whatever happens.”

Tails pulled up next to the two in the shuttle borrowed from GUN. Sonic jumped aboard, waving Shadow goodbye as they took off. Getting inside, Sonic sighed. “Man, he’s really letting this get to him.”

“I thought he’d already come to terms with it before,” Rouge said, “But I guess it still bothers him. All this time with no clue who he is…”

“Shouldn’t you just tell him?” Knuckles asked.

“I’ve already told him what I know,” Rouge answered. “He’s Shadow the Hedgehog, created fifty years ago. He tried to destroy the world, but then in the end, he saved it. And that’s all I can tell him. Information on Project: Shadow is limited, and at the moment, anything more would just be speculation. Educated guesses at best.”

“It must be sad, being all alone in the world without knowing your place,” Amy said, gazing out the window to where Shadow was moments ago.

“He’s not alone,” Sonic told her. “This is just something he needs to do right now. He needs closure, even if it comes from that creep, Black Doom.”

“You met him in Westopolis, didn’t you?” Knuckles asked. “So, how about it? You think there’s any connection between him and Shadow?”

“I’d be lying if I said I couldn’t feel anything,” Sonic admitted, scratching his ear. “But that feeling is where the similarities end. Even at his worst, Shadow was never a monster who preyed on the weak. He even helped Rouge out at Prison Island, remember?”

“How could I forget?” Rouge said with a wide smile. “Wasn’t exactly what I’d call a gentleman, though.”

“Guys, head’s up,” Tails said. “We’ve got company.”

Knuckles cracked his fists and Amy pulled out her hammer as they all turned to find a swarm of Black Creatures flying towards them. “Alright,” Sonic said, “Let’s do it to it!”

Shadow grunted as he came back to reality, holding his head he tired to process what he had just seen. His journey through the ARK had brought him to this familiar-looking room, and upon entering, images began to flash through his head. Images of that girl, Maria, and himself. Together, they ran through the ARK, battling the Artificial Chaos alongside GUN soldiers. Professor Gerald was there, too.

The vision he had been shown earlier showed him that humanity was his enemy, that GUN had mercilessly killed the people of the ARK, and Maria, but now his memories were telling him a different story, one where he and GUN worked together to protect the people of the ARK.

“Damn it! What does it all mean?! These memories… The Doctor’s actions and words… Nothing makes sense!” Shadow looked down at his hands, which were trembling. “Was it real?”

The sounds of a jet propulsion system prompted Shadow to turn around. There, he found a large GUN mech facing him. “It’s been a long time, Shadow,” the Commander said from inside the mech’s cockpit.

“Who are you?!” Shadow asked, taking a defensive stance. “And how do you know my name?”

“I know you… Shadow the Hedgehog! You killed everyone I loved… My family… Maria! I’ve been waiting all my life for this day!”

“What?! Me… and Maria?”

“Maria was like a sister to me.” The Commander’s hands trembled. “She was the only family I knew! I witnessed it all… The plan to create that horrifying evil creature, that that Black Creature and insane professor unleashed!”

“So the Professor created me… with Black Doom?”

“You don’t fool me! Thanks to you, everyone I knew and loved was killed when the ARK was destroyed! Worst of all, my family! Finally, justice will be served!”

The Commander fired an energy beam from the mech down at Shadow. The hedgehog swiftly evaded the shot and ran around Diablon, jumping up to attack it, only for his kick to be deflected by an energy barrier. “What?!”

“Your attacks are meaningless! This is GUN’s latest accomplishment, an advanced mech unit that is one-of-a-kind!” The Commander swatted at Shadow, knocking him back and sending him flying against a wall. He fired another laser, but Shadow managed to recover and avoid it. “This is the end of you, Shadow the Hedgehog!”

Shadow pulled out his pistol and fired at Diablon, but the bullets bounced off harmlessly. As he wondered how he could get past the mech’s defences, his eyes caught movement through a nearby window. Looking outside, he found Doctor Eggman leaving the ARK and heading over towards the Black Comet. “That’s-”

“Don’t you dare turn your eyes away!” the Commander shouted as fired another attack. “You face justice head-on, and repent for what you’ve done!”

Shadow used his spindash to avoid the attack, and as he did so, he noticed something. For just a moment, the Commander’s energy barrier was down. “I see, so that’s it.”

“Hold still, you devil!” The Commander slammed the mech’s hand down, trying to crush Shadow, but he dodged aside.

“Damnit, I don’t have time to waste here!” he shouted, and watched closely as he waited for the Commander to strike again. Another laser attack came, and as it did, Shadow saw the shield go down. It wasn’t enough time for any normal person, but for the Ultimate Lifeform, it was more than enough. Dodging the attack, Shadow jumped towards the mech and delivered a powerful kick to its floatation unit.

Diablon fell, now hovering only mere inches from the ground. “Urgh! Damn you! I’m not going to hold anything back!” The Commander pulled the mech away as electricity began to discharge all over it. “Anti-matter cannon, fire!”

Shadow gasped as he watched the blast making its way towards him. He turned and skated as fast as he could, narrowly making outside of the blast radius.

“Energy charge commencing. Just you wait, Shadow!”

Shadow charged Diablon, this time baiting the Commander to try striking him with one of the arms. He did just that, raising one of and attempting to grab the hedgehog. As he did, he left himself open once more, and Shadow took advantage of that to fire on the cockpit. He caused some damage, but the glass was reinforced and wasn’t going to break so easily.

As Shadow landed, the other arm caught him by surprise and pinned him to the ground. “Energy charge complete! Now it’s time to end this!”

Shadow tried to free himself, but the mech was putting its full weight onto him, keeping him trapped. He gritted his teeth and began to glow red as the rage built inside of him.

“Anti-matter cannon, FIRE!”

As the Commander unleashed the devastating attack, Shadow pushed against the mech’s hand and freed himself. “CHAOS… BLAST!” Shadow’s own attack met with the Commander’s, and pushed it back, overwhelming the mech’s systems and forcing them to fall offline.

“No!”

Shadow jumped on top of the mech and punched his way into the cockpit, shooting up the controls and causing the mech to lose control.

“This can’t be!” Tower cried as Shadow jumped off of Diablon, landing some distance away. The mech lost all power, and fell to the ground, completely lifeless. “R-Reboot all systems! Damn, they’re all-” He gasped as he saw Shadow approaching him. Reaching for his sidearm, he opened the hatch and scrambled out. “S-Stay back!” He fired, and then Shadow was gone.

As he looked around for the black hedgehog, a voice from behind startled him. “If what you say is true, then I will respectfully accept my fate.”

Tower turned around, pointing his gun at Shadow. However, as Shadow looked into his eyes, his finger eased off the trigger. Those stern yet gentle eyes, full of resolve… ‘Maria?’ Shaking the thought away, Tower told his hand to pull the trigger. However, his hand trembled. He knew that Shadow was lying, he had to be. And yet, something in Shadow’s voice just… didn’t sound right. “You mean to tell me that you really don’t remember a thing?”

“But I just need some time,” Shadow continued, turning and walking away. “To uncover the real truth.”

As the Commander watched Shadow leave, he felt his heart beating faster than ever before, his legs trembling, and his resolve crumbling. Shadow was the monster who killed everyone aboard the ARK, so why was he now just walking away, sparing the Commander’s life? Was it another trick? But then, who was even around for him to fool? It was just the two of them…

Tower thought back to that time, fifty years ago. That horrible day, when GUN troops suddenly stormed the ARK. Everybody was scared at first. All the patients and doctors were ordered to evacuate down to the planet. It would only be two days later that GUN revealed the reason why, and why he was unable to find his parents or Maria in the crowd.

An accident had occurred aboard the ARK. Unbeknownst to everyone, Professor Gerald Robotnik was using his research grant to manufacture weapons of unspeakable horror, weapons that were deemed human rights violations! There was a containment breach, and his experiment killed everybody in the restricted section of the ARK. All the researchers… and Maria. The only member of Gerald’s team that survived, was Gerald himself, who had been on the planet that day, reporting to the government.

The mad scientist was arrested, tried and executed for his crimes against humanity, and that was the end of it… for all but the young boy who had seen Gerald’s horrific creation first-hand. Little Abe Tower was the surviving member of the ARK incident who knew Gerald’s deadly experiment as more than just an unfortunate accident. He had seen the face of the vile, disgusting monstrosity that had taken his family from him. His foster parents believed he was just making it up for attention, and his therapist believed there were nightmares fabricated to try to make sense of all that happened.

Fifty years later, Tower would have positive confirmation that that monster did exist, when Shadow broke out of Prison Island, where he was being contained. Now, he had the chance to finally avenge his parents, Maria, and everybody else he had lost. But that face… that voice… and those actions. Nothing was lining up with what he was expecting.

“What is this? Why am I doubting myself, after all this time?” Tower asked as he fell to his knees, staring down at the floor. “Shadow… The ARK… Was everything that happened that day really as it seems?”

A long time passed in silence, before a voice called out to the Commander through his radio. Slowly, he got up and approached the fallen Diablon. Reaching in and taking his radio, he answered, “Commander Tower here.”

“Commander?” It was the President’s voice. “Are you hurt? You sound kind of…”

Tower cleared his throat, standing tall and answering with a firm voice, “I’m fine, Mr. President. I’ve uh, been unable to locate Shadow, or the leader of the Black Aliens.”

“I see. Commander, we have a situation down here. The Black Aliens are approaching GUN Fortress and in large numbers. Your troops are scrambled and I'm co-ordinating them as best I can, we need you down here.”

The Commander sighed, slapping himself internally. How could he have been so blind? While he was so focussed on getting his revenge, he left his soldiers to fend for themselves without appointing a clear leader. Heck, he’d left the President alone in the middle of a crisis! All for the sake of carrying out a personal vendetta…

“Of course, I’m on my way back now. I’m… sorry for abandoning you, Mr. President. Rest assured, I’ll be there soon.”

Ending the transmission, Tower reached into the cockpit and pulled out his shotgun. After ensuring it was loaded, he triggered Diablon’s self-destruct sequence, taking no chances of it falling into enemy hands.

“I have to make things right,” he told himself as he exited the room.

Chapter Text

“Come in, I don’t read you! What’s your status?!” Tower ran through the ARK, trying to reach his escort ship through his radio, but all he was receiving was static. “Damn, what’s going on?!” He rounded a corner, finding a few of the Black Aliens waiting for him. He aimed his shotgun and fired as he charged them, dodging their own shots in the process. He dispatched them quickly and made for the landing site, but as the door opened, he almost fell as he found the path he had taken earlier was now gone.

“What’s going on?!” Peering down, he found the broken pathway floating in space. The wreckage of his transport was there with it, but there was no sign of his crew. “I’ll have to rendezvous with Mantis Platoon and-”

Before the Commander could finish his thought, another shock rocked the ARK, and he found himself suddenly falling down, the ARK quickly rising up above him. Looking around, he found a pathway with a GUN Jump Vehicle falling alongside him. Grunting, he turned himself around and reached out for the broken walkway. He just about managed to reach it and pulled himself onto the solid ground, but there was no time for rest as more debris was raining down from above.

Boarding the mech, Tower looked up and found a way through the falling debris. He jumped up to another falling path, and then to another, and another. Eventually, he found his way to a doorway that would lead inside the ARK. Once inside, he climbed out of the mech and took a moment to catch his breath.

Reaching for the radio, he attempted to contact Mantis Platoon, but all he got was more static. “Looks like I can’t reach anyone. All the fighting is causing the ARK to fall apart…” Running down the hallway, Tower found the bodies of both GUN and Black Arm soldiers alike littered throughout. Thankfully, the lights were still on so he didn’t have to worry about tripping over any of them, but it pained him to see how many of his men had fallen in this battle.

Coming across a door, Tower looked inside to be sure there wasn’t an ambush waiting for him. The room appeared to be a cafeteria at one point in time, and seemed quite empty. He continued down, finding another door and checking it as well. This one was an office of some kind, for a doctor, judging by the medical equipment inside.

“Hold on…” The Commander looked back down the hallway. He knew where he was! He had played in this section of the ARK with Maria, and if he was right, there should be more offices along the hallway, and then a storage room for various medicines and medical equipment. At the end of the hallway should be the lounge, and if he took one of the elevators there, he could reach… “The Observation Deck!”

Tower hurried down the hall. The ‘Observation Deck’ was the unofficial name given to the large, empty room that was set aside for emergency evacuation purposes. Well, one of them, at least. It had no function other than to hold escape pods for passengers to get back down to the Earth, but it became a popular spot for patients, doctors and researchers alike to just sit and look down at the planet together.

He remembered that Maria loved to go there often. He never found it interesting and rarely joined her, but in his current state, the idea of just looking down at the peaceful planet and thinking about all the happy people down there sounded like a fine way to pass time. “Maria, I will protect the planet you loved so much!”

Tower had to stop suddenly as he opened a door. The path had been submerged in a glowing green fluid. It must have leaked out from all the damage, and though he wasn’t sure what it was, he knew he didn’t want to touch it. The Black Aliens seemed to agree, as they were also in the room, hovering above the fluid atop small, flying saucers.

Some of the bat-like creatures were also there, and when one of them took notice of the Commander, it alerted the rest. “I don’t have time for this!” Tower ran forwards and jumped onto the nearest of the flying creatures, firing his shotgun at one of the humanoid aliens to knock it off its saucer. He leapt across the flying creatures like stepping stones, firing at the saucer-riding aliens along the way. A shot grazed his shoulder, but he managed to make it over to the other side with no serious harm, and he continued running as the Black Aliens gave chase.

Reaching the lounge, Tower found that the elevators were still functioning, but he had to call one down. The Black Aliens chasing him entered the room, and he took cover behind an overturned table as they fired at him.

“It’s just one thing after another!” Taking one of his grenades, Tower pulled the pin and threw it out. It exploded, and the firing stopped, but he could still hear the grotesque sounds of the Black Aliens approaching cautiously through the smoke.

Emerging from behind his cover, Tower took advantage of the Black Aliens’ confusion to thin out their numbers, taking them down as he ran from one cover to the next. He threw a second grenade and checked the elevator’s progress. It was almost there, he just had to buy a little more time.

Springing out, Tower took a shot to his left arm and groaned in pain. His left arm hurt too much for him to continue using it, so he tossed aside the shotgun and took out his sidearm, using just his right arm to take out the Black Alien that shot him as he ran to find more cover. He dove behind a sandbag barricade set-up by GUN, finding two of his soldiers lying dead. One of them was holding a riot shield.

The elevator arrived, and Tower readied himself as he grabbed the shield with his one good arm. He took a deep breath, and sprang out, deflecting shots as he ran for the elevator. The doors were closing as he neared, forcing him to throw the shield in order to just barely slip inside before they closed completely.

He pressed the button to go up and sighed as the elevator moved, the Black Aliens attempting to fire on him but being unable to pierce the glass with their weapons. He had to admit, Gerald Robotnik knew what he was doing when he built this place. The elevator’s glass was made of the same material that the ARK’s windows, meaning that they were designed to withstand even the force of high-grade explosions without shattering.

As the elevator continued its ascent, Tower took the time to sit and collect his thoughts. Could he really trust what Shadow said, about accepting his fate? Even if Shadow was suffering from amnesia – and by this point, he was willing to give him that benefit of the doubt – would the real Shadow be so honourable, once his memories come back? Just what was Shadow’s connection to the Black Arms, anyway? Did he really save the Earth to protect it? Or was it indeed an act as Tower had suspected?

So many questions ran through the Commander’s head, and he felt that the answer might not be so simple, or to his liking. But all of that could wait, because what mattered right at that moment was returning home. Returning to GUN HQ, and keeping his people safe.

The elevator reached its destination. Tower climbed to his feet and hid as the doors opened. Nothing happened, so he took a glance outside and found the room empty. Running over to a nearby control panel, Tower was delighted to find there were still escape pods left. It seemed that one had been launched in the last few months, which confirmed they were still functional.

He called one of the escape pods and set the destination. Since HQ was being invaded, he knew the automatic systems would open-fire on any unknown craft attempting to enter through the air, so he had to set his destination to somewhere nearby instead. Hopefully he wouldn’t run into the Black Aliens before he could make contact with his troops.

Stepping into the escape pod, Tower took one last look around the room. He then remembered, in the months leading up to the disaster, this room would often be made off-limits to all living on the ARK. All except for Maria. It confused him at the time, but he didn’t think much of it, given her grandfather ran the whole facility. He figured she must have just wanted some time to be alone, but was that really the case?

“Shadow and Maria… Did they come here together, back then?”

The pod closed, and Tower braced himself as it was ejected down to the planet.

Back at GUN HQ, the battle to ward off the Black Aliens had grown intense as the invaders had breached the outer defences, and began to storm the facility. GUN soldiers mobilised throughout the base, locking down entire sectors and setting up defensive positions.

Hope watched as soldiers rushed through the halls outside, scrambling to intercept the Black Aliens that were pushing further inside. Reports were coming fast of breaches in various sections, along with requests for reinforcements.

“We need more men to cover the East Block-”

“They’re coming in through the western car park! We need backup-”

“We’re down to our last mech! The enemy is- GAAAAHHHHH!”

Hope covered her ears, trying to drown out all the sounds of soldiers desperately calling for help. General Morgan was doing her best to co-ordinate the troops in Commander Towers’ absence, but the battle being spread all over the world left them little with which to defend themselves.

“We’ll have to pull our forces further inside so we can tighten our defences,” Morgan said.

“Sir, if we do that, we’ll compromise the defensive cores,” one soldier stated. Three cores existed in GUN HQ that powered its external defences. They were the reason the Black Aliens gunships weren’t able to simply fire on the facility itself, or rain troops in from the skies. Instead, they were forced to enter on-foot. If the cores fell, the facility would surely be lost.

“The rate things are going, we won’t have any choice,” Morgan replied. “Our numbers are too few, and our communication lines are in chaos at the moment. We have to cut our losses and defend only what we can.”

The President sighed, hanging his head low as he listened to the brave men and women fighting, while he simply sat and waited for a report from the Chaotix. A report that, at this point, might do no good, anyway.

“Sir, we’ve detected something falling to the ground! It seems to be a craft of some kind!” an agent reported. “It’s out of range for our automatic defences.”

“Do you think it belongs to the Black Aliens?” Morgan asked, approaching the agent and checking his monitor.

“Unknown, but it landed far from where the Black Aliens are.”

“Could it not simply be the remains of a ship or a fighter jet that had been destroyed?”

“Negative. It’s equipped with a Chaos Drive and there are signs of life inside.”

Hope gasped. “If it’s a Chaos Drive, it must be one of ours.”

“The Black Aliens have been hunting the Chaos Emeralds,” General Morgan said. “It wouldn’t be strange if they also had Chaos Drives, or something similar.”

“Yeah, but…” Hope approached the agent. “Where did you say it fell from?”

“Projecting calculated flight-path…” The monitor showed that the craft was likely to have come from space, but rather than coming from the Black Comet, it was coming from the Space Colony ARK.

“The Commander!” Hope smiled. “He must have used one of the ARK’s escape pods! They’re all equipped with Chaos Drives.”

“We don’t know that,” Morgan said, “But if there’s even a chance, then I will send out a party to scout it out.”

“General Morgan,” another agent began, “That won’t be possible. The Black Alien gunships will shoot down any craft that leaves through the hanger.”

Morgan gritted her teeth. “Sending out a ship would take too long… Blast! We can’t risk leaving the Commander alone out there!”

Hope tried to think. Maybe there was a mech that could make it outside, pick up the Commander, and then return? … No, the only ones that could possibly make it outside were too slow. There’s no way they’d outrun aerial bombardment. What if they took out the gunships? If they could do that, they wouldn’t be in the situation to begin with…

“We need a craft that can exit through the back, make it to the Commander, and return, while being fast enough to evade the attacks from above,” she muttered, and then it dawned on her. There was such a craft right there in the fortress.

Hope grabbed a laptop and ran out the room, racing down the halls. General Morgan called after her, but she kept running, taking turn and following the directions towards the South Hanger, where the Commander had landed earlier with his team.

By the time she reached the hanger, she was out of breath, and her legs felt heavy. There was no time for rest, though, so Hope ran across the large room. Engineers were prepping mechs and waiting for orders to send them out to squads that needed them, and pilots were on standby in the event that it became safe to fly.

On one of the landing pads at the back, Hope found what she was looking for. It was Tails’ plane, the Cyclone, parked alongside the escape craft that the President had used. She jumped inside and looked over its controls as she tried to figure them out. She found the switch to power it on, and was met with a screen asking for a password and a retinal scan. “Sorry Tails, but I need to borrow this.” She plugged the laptop into the Cyclone and attempted to breach its security.

The Cyclone detected the hack and tried to shut itself down, but Hope was able to bypass the security feature and deactivated the protocol. She was still locked out of the unit itself, though. Tails’ security was top-notch, but not unbeatable. With enough effort, she found a vulnerability that allowed her to create an entry point, and from there, was able to input a new line of code that told the system it no longer needed to confirm the pilot’s identity.

When the Cyclone’s systems came to life and welcomed her, Hope could barely contain her excitement. “Alright, now let’s see what this can do.” She studied the controls for a minute, and once she had a good idea of what did what, she pushed the button to convert the plane into a walker mech. Carefully, she moved the mech forwards, and was surprised at how simple it was to handle.

“If I can make it to the South Dock, I can launch safely and reach the Commander.” Hope left the hanger, earning many surprised looks along the way. She marched through the base in the walker mech, passing GUN troops on standby as she made her way to one of the large elevators used to transport mechs and large vehicles.

She booted up the map of GUN HQ on her laptop and found the fastest way to the South Dock. She needed to go down, and then it would be a straight run there under normal conditions, but with the base under lockdown, she may have to take a detour. Hope boarded the elevator and rode it down, and as she did so, she found Black Alien creatures flying into the room, shooting down laser attacks towards her.

“I won’t just run away this time!” Hope locked-on to the flying creatures, and then launched a missile salvo. The creatures tried to evade but the missiles followed after them, taking them down in no time at all. “Wow,” was all she could say as she looked down at the mech’s control panel. “Laser-guided missiles that home in on their targets! I wonder how they do it? Heat signatures?” She attempted to dig through the mech’s data, but was alerted by the sound of the elevator locking into place as it reached its destination.

“I’ll have to ask Tails about it later,” she said. “I have to focus! Still though, this walker mech is awesome! Even I can fight in one of these!”

As she marched down the next hallway, she found a group of GUN soldiers engaged with Black Aliens. She attempted to lock-on to just the aliens, but the system was also targeting her allies. “That’s no good. Um, let’s see… Ah, here!” Hope abandoned the missile barrage and instead activated the mech’s ballistic capabilities, firing its built-in machine gun to clear out the aliens as she charged forwards. Their own shots were deflected by the mech’s shields, which she found were charged by Power Rings. “It has everything!” she sang, stars appearing in her eyes.

“Hey!” one of the soldiers shouted, jumping out in front of the mech. Hope hit the brakes and leaned over the side of the cockpit. “Wait, you’re not Tails?”

“Sorry, I’m just borrowing it for a bit!” Hope said. “I need to get to the South Dock! The Commander might need rescuing!”

The soldiers exchanged glances, and then nodded. “Understood! The way has been sealed so you’ll need to take a less-direct path. We’ll provide cover!”

“Roger!” Hope dove back into the cockpit and checked the controls. She found a way to identify friendlies and set it to recognise the GUN soldiers as allies. “Okay, should be safe now…”

They pushed through the facility, swiftly taking out Black Arm forces along the way using Tails’ Cyclone. Hope noticed that only the smaller aliens had been coming, not the giants or the worm creature that had been sighted in other areas. The soldiers noticed this, too, and suggested that the aliens were probably launching a desperate assault.

In that case, they just had to be aggressive. With some newfound morale, the troops pushed hard, forcing the Black Arms to retreat and pinning them down. They met up with other units, who assisted them in reaching the South Dock. There, they found Admiral Lee’s troops fortified at the end of a pier, using the surrounding water as a barrier to bottleneck the Black Arm forces attacking them.

“Admiral Lee, we’re here to lend some assistance!” a soldier called out as the squad began firing on the aliens from behind.

Caught by surprise, the Black Arms scattered and attempted to retaliate, which gave the Admiral’s squad a chance to advance. Trapped between two enemy units, the Black Arms quickly fell. Hope breathed a sigh of relief and sat back in the mech, wiping the sweat from her brow. Suddenly, her hands began shaking, and she got a chill down her spine. “T-That was kind scary… Exciting, but scary…”

“Thank you for the assistance,” Admiral Lee said as she approached the soldiers, looking at Hope in the Cyclone. He turned back to the troops. “If you’re looking to use of our ships, you’re out of luck. Bastards dropped something nasty in the waters up ahead.”

“‘Something nasty’?” Hope asked.

“Worms,” the Admiral answered. “Giant ones. Turns out they can hide underwater, as well as underground.”

Hope nodded. “Well, I wasn’t planning on going by sea anyway…” She was about to push the button to turn the mech back into a plane, but felt a hand on her arm.

“Will you be okay on your own?” a soldier asked, looking up at her sternly. “You might be good in that thing, but you’re still just a child. You’re not a soldier like us.”

Hope wasn’t sure how to answer. Truthfully, she was terrified of going out there all by herself, with no guarantee that the Commander would even be waiting there for her. An explosion from further inside startled everyone, and it snapped Hope out of her thoughts. “Everybody else’s putting their life on the line,” she said, pulling her arm away. “I’m not a soldier, but I’m still a GUN operative!”

With that, she pushed the button and blasted off in the Cyclone, leaving the facility and taking to the skies.

Chapter Text

“Sir, we have a craft leaving the South Dock.” Turning to General Morgan, the agent reported, “It’s Tails’ plane, sir.”

“Tails?” the President asked. “I thought he and Sonic had-”

“Hope,” Morgan said, breathing a sigh, though whether it was a sigh of relief or exasperation, she wasn’t sure. “That girl, what is she planning? I can’t keep her safe if she runs away like that.”

“You’re going to leave her to fend for herself?” the President asked.

“It’s not a matter of helping her or not. I can’t send any troops to support her at the moment.” Morgan closed her eyes, taking in a sharp breath. “All we can do is pray for her safe return.”

“Sir, we’re receiving a transmission from Commander Tower!”

After dodging the initial attacks by the Black Alien gunships, Hope was able to get out of range of their attacks and made her way to the craft’s estimated landing site. After some searching, she eventually found one of the ARK’s escape pods laying in the centre of a smouldering crater. It was open, and empty. Hope landed the plane and transformed it into its mech form.

“Which way did he go?” Hope looked around, but couldn’t find any hints that would help her track the Commander. She didn’t exactly know much about tracking, and there were no obvious signs like footprints around. “Okay, let’s think. Where would the Commander go?” Hope gasped, looking back the way she had come from. “He’s heading back to headquarters!”

Turning around, Hope moved as fast as she could. Since she was heading back to where the Black Aliens were, she anticipated a fight, and so she kept the Cyclone in its mech form. As expected, she encountered some of the Black Aliens as she reached the top of a hill. She locked-on to them and fired some missiles, taking them out before they could react to her presence.

In the distance, she could see more aliens advancing on GUN HQ, as well as the gunship that was dropping them off. “If I get too close, I’ll be in trouble. But I need to keep going… I wonder if there are any other weapons I can use?” Searching through the mech’s data, Hope found that there was one more attack, one that required a great deal of energy to perform.

Looking up, she decided that she had no choice. She had to find the Commander, and that meant the gunship had to go down. Bracing herself, she initiated the program and took aim. The mech roared and vibrated as energy was gathered at the nose, and then fired in a large, violet beam of light. It struck the gunship and caused a huge explosion, that caused the entire thing to start falling.

“Yes!” she cheered, but her celebration was short-lived as her attack attracted the attention of the Black Arms. They began firing, and with the mech still recovering from the attack, its shields were weakened. “Uh-oh! Gotta move!”

She began firing back as she moved to the side, but there were so many of them that she was struggling to lock-on to them all, and many shots were getting through before she could stop them. The mech began beeping, warning her that its shields were going down. Looking around for cover, Hope realised that she was out in a large, open field. She wondered if she should try to revert back to plane form and fly away. Would she have time? Perhaps a full-frontal would be better – catch them off-guard. But that would be dangerous for sure.

As she thought, another hit on the mech caused it to rumble and fall to the ground. “Oh no!” Panicking, Hope tried to reboot the systems. The Black Aliens charged towards her. “Come on! Start!”

Several bangs rang through the air, and Hope looked over to see the aliens falling one-by-one. They stopped and looked around for the ones firing at them, but found only one man, standing out in the open with a pistol. They retaliated, but most of their shots missed, and the ones that didn’t were easily avoided.

Hope blinked, amazed by what she saw. The Commander was so far away that it was only natural the Black Aliens were unable to reach him, yet he had no problem nailing every single one of his own shots.

Eventually, the Black Aliens turned and ran away, realising the futility of this battle. After waiting for a few second, Tower ran over to where Hope was sitting in her fallen mech. “That was too close,” he said as she approached. “Are you hurt?”

“No…” Hope looked down at the mech with a frown, “But the Cyclone…” Hope noticed that the Commander was breathing heavily, and that his arm was bleeding. “Commander, you’re-”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ve suffered worse injuries in the field.” Tower briefly examined the mech. He saw dents and burn marks, but it didn’t look like it was too badly damaged. “Can you repair it?”

“The issue isn’t the damage,” Hope told him. “The Cyclone’s shields allow it to deflect almost anything, but doing that drains an enormous amount of power, and that’s the mech’s weakness. If it gets hit too much, you lose power and it becomes unable to function.”

“So it needs more power,” Tower surmised, reaching into his jacket. He pulled out a small, glowing vial. A Chaos Drive. “This was in the pod I used to return back to Earth. Can you use it?”

Hope jumped out and took the Drive. “Maybe…” Opening up a panel of the side of the Cyclone, she studied the inner workings to find how exactly it drew its power. “Yes! It looks like it was designed to harness the power of a Chaos Emerald, so this should work fine!”

Tower nodded. “Good. Then we can use this to return to the base.” Clearing his throat, he added, “Though I cannot say I approve of you leaving on your own to come and retrieve me. I asked you to stay in the Command Centre, where you would be safe.”

“Well… there was no other way for us to reach you, so I…”

“The ends don’t justify the means! If I was even a second later, you could have died just now.” Hope stopped working, and her head fell. Sighing, Tower continued. “But, you have saved my life. So I thank you, Hope. Just… try not to do something so reckless again in the future. If you were to get hurt on account of me…”

“… Yes, sir,” Hope said, her voice low. She resumed working, not saying anything further.

Tower saw this, and he wanted to say something more, but he wasn’t sure what. Normally, a GUN operative acting on their own authority would be grounds for immediately dismissal, so he was right to scold her like that. At the same time, he couldn’t deny that she had made a good call. He wasn’t sure if anybody else could have piloted a mech designed by Tails, and it was the only way for anybody to leave the base.

Turning around, Tower kept a watch, making sure the Black Aliens didn’t try to come back. “… When I was a boy, there was a girl who I saw as like an older sister,” he began. He heard the sounds of Hope tinkering stop as she listened. “I wasn’t particularly close to my parents, and I had no other family to speak of, so it was almost like she was all I had. She died. I was unable to do anything about it and it’s haunted me ever since.”

“… Commander?”

Tower sighed. “It’s been fifty years, but I still remember her clearly. You are the spitting image of that girl. I suppose… some part of me is trying to make up for my past failings, by keeping you safe.”

There was a moment of silence between them. “I’m a GUN operative,” Hope said, and she continued working on the mech. “I’m happy that you care about me, but I have to do all I can, just like you, Topaz, Rouge, and everybody.”

“I know that, just…”

“I’ll be more careful from now on. Promise.”

Tower turned around, and found Hope smiling at him. He smiled back. “And I promise I’ll treat you more like the accomplished engineer that you are.”

After a few minutes of working with the Cyclone, Hope was able to install the Chaos Drive. She hopped into the cockpit and was delighted to see it had power. She reactivated it and turned it back to its plane form. Commander Tower climbed into the passenger seat behind her, and they took off, heading back towards the South Dock.

“This is Commander Tower,” Tower spoke into his radio. “I’ve met up with Hope and am en route to the South Dock. Confirm status, over.”

“Commander, this is General Morgan,” Morgan replied from the other side. “A team is waiting for you, but I lost contact two minutes ago. Please use another entrance, over.”

Hope clutched the controls and slowed down. “The South Dock was the only place we could get out from,” she said.

“We’ll check it out, but keep your distance,” Tower told her. “If the enemy has seized the South Dock, we’ll have to find another way.”

As the two flew over the entrance to the South Dock, they found a shoot-out between the forces there and the Black Aliens. Though there weren’t many enemies, they were being led by a large, flying creature that took up most of the dock’s space.

“That’s Black Bull!” Hope couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She was sure it had died back in Death Ruins. “That was the creature I told you about before. Are there more of those things?”

“It’s possible, but we shouldn’t focus on what-ifs. Let’s just defeat the one that’s here now.”

“We’re gonna fight it?”

Tower nodded, checking his guns. “The Cyclone has weapons, and we still have men down there. If that thing gets into the facility, it would be catastrophic. Let’s capture it from two sides now and take it down.”

Hope grinned. “Okay, here we go!” Hope circled around, allowing the Cyclone to approach the dock from a better angle, and she readied the weapons, locking-on to the smaller Black Aliens that were with Black Bull. “Its body is too strong for most attacks. Aim for the eye.”

“Got it.” Tower readied himself and, as Hope unleashed her assault, he jumped out of the side of the plane, rolling as he landed on one of the piers. The missiles took out the bulk of the alien forces, and as Black Bull turned to face her, Tower wasted no time firing at its eye with his pistol.

Hope turned the Cyclone back to its mech form and rushed to Black Bull’s other side, aiming for the rest of the smaller Black Arm soldiers. The GUN troops defending the dock rushed out to help, taking advantage of the opening to push back their advance.

“Commander, stay away from the water!” Admiral Lee shouted.

Tower looked behind himself, and just caught shadows under the surface of the water before several large worm creatures shot up, roaring at him as they fired smaller worms from their mouths.

“Watch out!” Hope locked-on to the smaller worms and fired, intercepting most of them as Tower rolled to avoid the rest. He quickly began to run along the dock as more attacks were fired, and Hope intercepted as many as she could.

Black Bull roared and spat flames out beneath itself, forcing the GUN troops to retreat as they quickly spread. Hope gasped and turned the mech as fast as she could, but was barely able to get away before the flames reached her and damaged its shields.

Tower, seeing the flames approaching, moved to the side and grabbed a nearby ladder, climbing up to a catwalk above him. Black Bull kept its eye on him and roared again, summoning some of the bat-like creatures to go after him.

“Protect the Commander!” Lee shouted, and he and his troops fired on the flying creatures, taking them down as tower hurried up the ladder.

Once he was safely on the catwalk, Tower ran along to get closer to Black Bull. The beast charged him, ramming its body into the catwalk and causing it to collapse behind him. He took the chance to jump over the side and onto Black Bull’s back.

Black Bull started to crash itself against a wall, attempting to throw the human off of its back. “Hey!” Hope yelled, firing a salvo to draw its attention. As it focussed on her, Tower ran down its body and pulled out his shotgun, unloading into Black Bull’s eye.

It roared one more time and shot more fire down, which spready quickly to Hope. “Hope, get out of there!” he yelled.

Seeing the flames approaching, Hope jumped out of the mech and ran as fast as she could, taking cover behind some steel containers. Watching the mech become engulfed in flames, she frowned. “I hope Tails won’t be too mad… Huh?” As the flames died, Hope noticed that the mech was still standing. When Black Bull turned its attention back to throwing the Commander off of its head, she ran over to it and found that it was still functional. “Amazing…”

Tower tried to keep his balance as Black Bull thrashed about. Admiral Lee wanted to help but more Black Aliens began to enter from the water, forcing him and his troops to focus on keeping them at bay. After one final crash against the wall, Tower lost his footing and fell off of Black Bull, falling to the floor below. “Damn!” Picking himself up, Tower noticed a sealed door beside him that required certain clearance to open. “Wait, this is…”

Black Bull turned its attention back to the troops and hovered over to them, ready to lay waste to them. Hope climbed back into the Cyclone and rushed out to intercept it. “This time, I have a Chaos Drive. Let’s see you shake-off this!” Hope charged the Cyclone’s energy cannon and fired. Black Bull stopped and backed-up as it took the full force of the blast. It turned away, attempting to retreat.

“You’re not getting away!” Tower ran out and intercepted Black Bull, armed with a Tank Cannon from the sealed room. He aimed it and fired, stopping the creature in its tracks. He fired again, and its roars echoed through the dock. One final blast, and Black Bull started to fall, crashing to the ground and causing a tremor.

Everybody simply watched in silence, not lowering their guards as they waited for Black Bull’s body to move again. When nothing had happened for several seconds, the first cheers erupted from Admiral Lee’s troops. Tower threw the cannon and aside and breath a heavy sigh, his arms trembling.

“Men, we’re not finish yet!” Lee shouted, bringing order to his troops. “We need to push the Black Creatures out of our waters and secure the South Dock!”

The soldiers saluted. “Yes, sir!” They ran ahead, firing at the worm creatures and forcing them to retreat. Some ran to ready the battleships that were still floating, whilst a couple ran over to the Commander to ensure he was okay.

“I’m fine,” Tower assured them as Hope also approached. “I need to get to the Command Centre, right away.”

“Shall we escort you, sir?” one soldier asked.

Tower shook his head, climbing into the Cyclone. “No, you continue securing the dock. We should be just fine. Make sure you restore communications. I’ll let the General know you’re all alright.”

“Yes, sir!”

As the two left, Tower reached for his radio. “General Morgan, do you read me? The South Dock has been secured, we are-”

“Commander,” Morgan began, her voice shaking, “The situation has turned dire… Please hurry.”

The Commander and Hope exchanged uneasy looks, and then hurried through the facility.

Rushing into the Command Centre, Tower relieved Morgan and allowed her to re-join the fray as he returned back to his post. The situation inside was chaotic as people rushed everywhere relaying information. “Everyone,” he began, “I’m sorry I left you all so suddenly, and at such a critical time. What’s the latest development?”

“Sir, the Black Comet has warped down to the planet, and has attached itself into the ground!”

A visual of the comet anchoring itself in the heart of Central City showed on the monitors. Black Aliens were swarming the streets, capturing GUN soldiers who were simply standing there, not fighting back. “What’s happened to our soldiers?”

“Probably the same thing that’s happened to us,” Rouge said through the radio. “We’re inside the comet. We found their leader, but we’re unable to move because of a gas that the Black Comet emits.”

“A paralysing gas? Do we have any soldiers ready to mobilize?”

“Spider Troop’s second division are currently on standby,” an agent reported.

“Order them to regroup and head to Central City! There should be gas masks at the outpost near their location!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Shadow’s the only one not affected by it,” Rouge said.

“Shadow?” Tower closed his eyes, hesitating before he asked, “And… what is his current status?”

“He’s going after their leader, Black Doom.” There was a pause. “To finish him.”

Tower exhaled. He wasn’t sure if he was relieved or concerned, but what mattered was that Shadow was helping them. With the situation so grim, he needed all the support he could find. “If only I’d seen that sooner…” he mumbled.

“I’ve given him the fake Chaos Emerald,” Tails said, “So he should at least be able to use Chaos Control, but…”

“Black Doom has the real ones!” Amy continued. “I know that Shadow’s strong, but I’m still worried.”

“You guys are thinking too much!” It was Sonic’s voice. “It’s Shadow we’re talking about! He’ll pull through!”

“He’s right,” Knuckles said. “What we should be worrying about is how we’re gonna get out of this!”

Before Tower could say anything further, the monitors started acting strange. The images were turning to static, and some distorted audio started playing. “What’s happening?!”

“It looks like an outside signal is hijacking our feed!” a technician reported.

“The Black Aliens?”

“N-No, it’s coming from the ARK.” The technician turned to look up at the Commander. “I’ve seen this signal before! It’s-”

Hope’s sharp gasp filled the room, startling everyone. As they looked to see what was wrong, they saw her face pale as she stared at the monitors. Following her gaze, they found that the screens were now showing an image of a man long-dead. A balding man with grey facial hair, wearing a white lab coat.

Professor Gerald Robotnik.

Chapter Text

“Shadow, my son. If you’re listening to this, then the worst has happened… You need to know the truth. The government plans to shut down this research facility. The government plans to cease all of our research… and imprison all who know about you. I made a terrible mistake, Shadow. It’s all my fault… making contact with that comet.”

As they watched in silence, Commander Tower was perplexed by what he was seeing and hearing. “Professor Gerald?” What was this message? Looking at the background, it was clearly recorded aboard the Space Colony ARK, and unlike his final message to all of humanity, the Professor seemed healthy, and far less menacing.

“The government… shut down the ARK?” Hope asked. “I thought the ARK was shut down because of an accident.”

“That was the official report,” the President confirmed, “But to be honest, even I don’t know that much about it. Details about that incident are hidden, and what little is there is vague.”

Tower didn’t want to admit it, but he was right. The incident on the ARK was kept top-secret. Even when he was a General, there was little he could find regarding that day. Of course, since he had seen it all first-hand, it was never really necessary for him to read the report itself. But what Professor Gerald was saying… “They must have known about Project: Shadow before the disaster happened, and were simply too late to stop it.”

“Now, listen very carefully…” Professor Gerald continued. “In fifty years, the Black Comet will return… They plan to harness its powers to destroy this planet! The only way to stop them, was to develop a way to use the very power they intended to use against them.”

“That’s it! It’s brilliant!” Eggman’s voice sounded over the radio.

“The very power they intended to use…” Hope mused. The Black Arms were hunting Chaos Emeralds, so that means… “The Eclipse Cannon!”

The message continued. “Shadow, it’s up to you, and only you can stop them! I developed the Eclipse Cannon… It’s the only weapon that can destroy that Black Comet. Shadow, you are the only hope… to save mankind as we know it. The future of this planet, depends on… you!”

Tower held a hand to his forehead, trying to make sense of all of this. Shadow was created to save the planet? But if that was the case, how did that explain what had happened on the ARK? The Eclipse Cannon – a weapon powerful enough to destroy planets – was built for good? This all had to be a trick! Professor Gerald was the mad scientist who had tried to destroy the planet, there was no good reason to take him at his word!

“Don’t worry, Grandfather!”

Tower gasped. “Maria!”

Maria appeared beside Gerald in the video as the static began to worsen. “Shadow and I will protect this planet. Right, Shadow?”

Static overtook the rest of the message, and the signal was soon lost. Tower felt like he was having a very bad dream. Nothing made any sense to him. Maria herself believed that Shadow was going to be this planet’s protector, and with what the Professor had said about the government planning to shut down Project: Shadow, even before the incident had taken place…

“My great-grandfather…” Tears welled in Hope’s eyes as she stared at the now-blank screens. She wiped them away quickly, and turned to the Commander. “He was… trying to save us.”

“That can’t be…” was Tower’s response, his voice so low that Hope couldn’t even hear it. “If that was the case, then what was the that tragedy fifty years ago?”

“I think things are about to get worse, before they get better,” the President said with a great sigh. “One thing’s for certain, though… it might already be too late. The Black Comet has already reached our planet, and now-”

“Don’t give up just yet, Mr. President!” Sonic’s voice sounded over the radio.

“We can move again!” Amy chimed in.

“The effects of the gas must have only been temporary,” Tails concluded. “We’re evacuating the comet. There’s not much we can do right now, but we still have Shadow!”

“Shadow… Will he really be enough, all on his own?” the President asked.

“Do you even hear yourself?!” Eggman shouted. “Shadow was the finest creation of my grandfather, the most brilliant mind of his time! If he made Shadow to save us, then there’s nothing to worry about!”

Hope nodded. “He’s right, for once! Shadow is… someone who won’t give up, no matter what! I believe in him!”

“Commander, Mr. President!” an agent shouted. “We’re receiving a feed from Central City! Something has appeared in the skies, above the Black Comet!”

An image was shown on the monitor, of a titanic-sized, two-headed creature floating in the skies, two large wings the sizes of planes keeping it afloat. As it roared, buildings, cars and other bits of debris were lifted and surrounded it.

Just then, a golden glow shot out of the Black Comet. After enhancing the image, everyone could see that it was Shadow, powered into his Super state using the seven Chaos Emeralds.

“There he is!” Hope cheered.

“Good luck, Shadow,” the President said, clenching his fist.

The others in the room joined Hope in cheering Shadow on, shouting words of encouragement despite knowing he couldn’t hear them. Tower simply watched in silence, his mind a maelstrom of thoughts as he tried to make sense of the events fifty years. As he tried to come to any conclusion, other than the one he desperately wanted to avoid.

Shadow fired a volley of Chaos Spears at the debris and made his way to the creature, who had identified itself as Devil Doom. He fired a charged spear into the eye on one of its head, and the eye quickly retreated to the other head. Shadow gave chase, but was cut off by a barrage of laser blasts that knocked him away.

Devil Doom initiated Chaos Control, and moved himself elsewhere over the city. Shadow grunted and gave chase, using his Chaos Spear to blow away more debris that was thrown into his path. Devil Doom raised its head, and then shot a jet of flames at Shadow, enveloping him in fire. This did not phase Shadow, though, who simply charged another Chaos Spear and launched it at the eye, which retreated again to the other head.

“I see… I seem to have underestimated the true power of the Emeralds,” Devil Doom’s voice roared over the feed.

Tower narrowed his eyes as he noticed something. Black Alien gunships began to approach the site where Shadow and Devil Doom were fighting, and he rushed forward to give new orders. “Signal all troops in and around Central City!” he shouted, surprising everybody. “If they can move, tell them to shoot down those gunships! Furthermore, I’m rescinding my previous order to shoot Shadow on-site!”

“Yes, sir!” Agents scrambled to relay orders to all squads that they could still reach in the Central City area. Soon, fighter jets deviated from their previous flightpaths to intercept the approaching gunships, and soldiers in Central City that could move again started to direct their turrets upwards.

“Even if it’s only a little, we need to buy him every second that we can!” Tower gritted his teeth. “If his Super form runs out before he finishes this battle, then all hope will truly be lost…”

Shadow noticed the gunships approaching, and was preparing to avoid them, but before they had a chance to fire on the hedgehog, GUN’s own ships began shooting them down, and support from the surface slowed many of the rest of them.

Devil Doom noticed this as well, and began firing large pieces of debris at the GUN crafts, as well as raining fire down on the streets below. Enraged, Shadow used the opening to reach Devil Doom’s eye and fired another Chaos Spear. It retreated again, but Shadow chased it down, deftly avoiding the lasers now that he knew they were coming, and fired again.

Devil Doom attempted to use Chaos Control again, but Shadow reached him before he could and charged energy for his own attack. “CHAOS… BLAST!”

Everybody in the Commander Centre covered their eyes as the intense blast of light blinded them. When it was over, they could see Devil Doom scrambling desperately to keep Shadow away.

“This is the end of you!” Shadow shouted, charging one final Chaos Spear. He fired it. “And the end to my cursed past!”

As the spear struck Devil Doom, he began to writhe and fall down towards the city. “Im… Impossible! I am the supreme being that rules the universe! I am the immortal lifeform! I am the ultimate power! Gaaaah!” Devil Doom continued falling, his body falling limp and his eye closing as he crashed down to the streets below.

In the Command Centre, silence washed over everyone. Then, a single soldier shouted, “HE DID IT!” and that was enough to send the room into an uproar. People began hugging and high-fiving, the news was spread to soldiers stationed all over the world, and the President finally let out the breath he was holding.

However, Commander Tower wasn’t ready to celebrate just yet. He noticed on the monitor that Shadow was now standing atop the Black Comet. Then, Shadow used Chaos Control, warping the comet somewhere… Suddenly, he asked one agent, “Do we have control of the mainframeback from the Black Aliens?!”

The agent stopped her celebrating and stammered, “Uh, y-yes, sir. Miles Prower helped us-”

“Send the launch codes to the ARK right now! Hurry!”

The agent jumped to it and started mashing keys. The President was about to ask what he was doing, before a communication came in from one of the soldiers aboard the ARK. The Black Aliens were suddenly retreating, and they were able to make contact with the surface again. And, even more significantly, the Black Comet was back in space, placed right in the Eclipse Cannon’s firing path.

“Receiving a live feed from one of our soldiers!” The monitors displayed an image of the Black Comet drifting in space below the ARK, heading towards it. “Report from Blue Falcon, sir! Shadow has just been sighted at the Eclipse Cannon’s controls!” an agent reported.

“Tell him to stand down!” Tower ordered.

“The codes have been transferred, sir!”

Tower nodded, and then waited a few seconds. Then, the Eclipse Cannon began to glow. Energy was gathered at the base of its barrel, and then was fired at the Black Comet, shattering it to pieces that scattered in every direction.

With that, the celebration was in full-swing. The alien leader was dead, and their flagship was destroyed. Reports started coming in that the Black Aliens were falling, not by GUN’s hands, but simply that they were toppling over on their own.

Now, Tower could finally breath that sigh of relief. It was truly all over. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to face the President.

“How ironic…” the President began. “After the way we all treated him, he saved us all in the end. We were all wrong about the Professor.”

Tower had no response. He simply hung his head, ashamed at his actions… and afraid of what these new revelations meant. “He was a hero,” Hope said. She was smiling. “My father always said he was… but I didn’t believe him. I lumped him in with my uncle, but now…” Hope took in a deep breath, and let it out. “Now, I have even more reason to stop Doctor Eggman, and restore our family’s good name!”

The President nodded. “Let us pay homage to Professor Gerald. Let’s work to ensure peace and prosperity for a brighter future! What do you say, Commander?”

Tower looked over to Hope, who smiled back at him and nodded. He looked over his troops, who were still celebrating in the Command Centre. Then he turned back to the President. “Excellent idea, Mr. President. But before that, there’s one more thing we must do.”

Hope tilted her head. “There is?”

Tower circled round and descended to the lower level of the Command Centre, Hope following after him. “Professor Gerald’s shed some light on truth behind Project: Shadow, but not everything is crystal clear just yet.” He approached one of the consoles. “I have to know. Otherwise, I can’t continue being GUN’s Commander-in-Chief.”

Hope frowned. “But isn’t it enough to simply work for creating a better future?”

“… If I don’t even know who my enemies are, how can I be expected to lead anyone? Project: Shadow… This dark chapter in GUN’s history must be closed, before it’s completely lost to time.” Tower sighed. “And I won’t deny a level of personal interest to see this case finally come to a close… Hope, would you please lend me your expertise, and help resolve this matter once-and-for-all?”

“… Okay, Commander!” Hope hopped into a seat and logged into the terminal. “Let’s do this! Let’s bring those accountable for Great-Grandfather’s death to light!”

The President watched as the two began to work, when he received a sudden transmission from the ARK. “Hello?”

“Finally, we got through!” It was Vector’s voice. “Hey, we found the data you were looking for! Did you see?”

“Yes. We all did, and I thank you deeply for your efforts. You will forever have my gratitude.”

“Aw, it was nothin’! So uh, now that the Earth’s no longer in danger, I was thinkin’ we could talk about, y’know, the payment?”

The President froze, and then let out a hearty laugh.

Chapter Text

It had been seven days since Shadow had destroyed the Black Comet. In that time, rescue efforts all around the world had been working around the clock, searching for missing persons, relocating those who had lost their homes, and rebuilding key sections of the cities that had been destroyed. If there was one bright-side to this whole catastrophe, it was how it had brought the whole world together in their attempts to pick up the pieces.

Thankfully, Eggman’s treasury in Circus Park had been secured by the GUN forces that had raided it, and went a long way towards helping the reconstruction efforts. As did the salvaged remains of crash Egg Fleet battleships found in the now-relocated Glyphic Canyon.

The Acorn Kingdom had managed to avoid much of the fighting, and had donated a lot to the reconstruction efforts in Central City. The Chaotix were rewarded handsomely for their part in ending the conflict, and made out like kings! Then, Vector generously yet reluctantly gave away that fortune to help support those who had lost everything.

“Easy, Charmy!” Vector grabbed the large chunk of rubble that Charmy was shakily carrying. “I know you want to help, but stick to what you can carry!”

“Awww, I can handle it!” Charmy protested with a pout. “Besides, I wanna get this over with already so we can go back to the agency!”

“Not everyone was as lucky as us,” Vector said. He looked over the ruins of the street stretched out before them, just one of many in Central City after the long battle with the Black Arms. “Seaside City wasn’t attacked at all, so we got out with all our things-”

“What little we had,” Espio interjected.

“Point is, these people lost their homes and everything else. Someone’s gotta help them get back on their feet!”

“But why us?” Charmy asked.

“Because it’s the right thing to do, and the Chaotix never turn down people-in-need! Understand?”

“Yeeeeeeees,” Charmy replied, sighing as he returned to the destroyed house and lifted a smaller piece of rubble. His stomach growled as he flew alongside Vector and Espio. “Can we take a break soon? I’m hungryyyyy…”

“Well, it sounds like we arrived just in-time,” Vanilla said as she approached the boys, carrying a cooler. Cream walked alongside her with a large picnic basket in her hands.

“We brought refreshments for everyone!” Cream declared. “We were just about to meet with Mr. Sonic and the others. Would you like to join us?”

Vector jumped to attention. “Oh, o-of course! That’s so thoughtful of the two of you, and it’d be rude to turn down such a generous offer.”

Espio noticed that Vector’s eyes were stuck on Vanilla, and sighed. “Let us dump off this last load, and we’ll come to join you.”

“Yeah! Time to eat!” Charmy cheered as he zipped past the rabbits.

“Hey, slow down!” Vector yelled as he ran after him. “You’re gonna crash into somethin’ again!”

After unloading their rubble into the nearby dumping site, the Chaotix joined everybody else at a hilltop that oversaw the neighbourhood. The sky was clear, making it a beautiful day for a picnic, and many others must have thought that as well as many blankets were laid out over the grass.

“Hey, ya made it!” Sonic called out as he saw them approach. With him were Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Cream and Vanilla, as well as Cream’s two Chao friends, Cheese and Chocola.

As Vector sat down, Vanilla offered him a drink from her cooler. “Oh, thank you, Miss!” Vector swiped the drink, his face turning red as he accidentally made contact with her hand, and he quickly proceeded to gulp it down.

“Gee, Vector must be thirsty,” Charmy said.

“Indeed,” Espio said with a grin.

“I can’t believe the scale of damage,” Tails sighed as he looked out into the distance. “It’s like Station Square all over the world.”

“Don’t sweat it, bud,” Sonic said, reaching for a plate of chilli dogs. “Once I’m fuelled-up, I’ll have all this cleaned-up in no time.” He took out a Chaos Emerald and flashed a grin. He and Shadow, armed with Chaos Emeralds, had been helping out around the world by using Chaos Control to transport large piles of debris and heavy equipment. Tails smiled back.

“Um, excuse me.” The group were approached by a young girl with blonde hair, wearing a pink shirt and blue overalls.

Tails recognised her as the girl from GUN’s Command Centre, who had helped him regain access to the CIA’s mainframe. “Oh! It’s uh… Hope, right?”

“Mhm,” Hope replied, happy that Tails remembered her.

Sonic moved aside and patted the ground next to himself. “Sit down. We were just startin’.”

“Oh, I don’t want to intrude-”

“It’s no problem,” Amy said. “I saw you earlier. You’ve been working hard today, haven’t you?”

“No, I’ve not done much…” Hope replied with a nervous laugh. Truthfully, all she had done was arrive a part of a three-person team to deliver equipment for clearing rubble and stabilising buildings for repair, and to teach volunteers how to safely operate them.

“Every role is important,” Espio told her. “Without your guidance, somebody might have hurt themselves. And it certainly makes our work much easier.”

“I guess.” Hope sat down next to Sonic, and was offered a can of juice by Cream. “Oh, thank you.” Turning to Tails, she said, “Actually, I came here to apologise.”

“Apologise?” Tails asked.

“For the Cyclone…”

“Oh! I left it at GUN HQ!” Tails exclaimed, facepalming as he realised he had not retrieved his plane yet. “Wait, what do you mean you want to apologise for the Cyclone?”

“Well, I kinda… borrowed it for a bit, and it got damaged…” Hope gulped, nervous over how Tails or his friends might react, but he seemed more surprised than angry.

“You borrowed it?” Tails asked incredulously. “How? There should’ve been a security system in-place to stop anyone but me or Sonic from turning it on!”

“Only you or Sonic?” Amy asked with a glare. “What, you don’t trust me with the Cyclone?”

“Uh, that’s not what I-”

“No offense, Amy,” Sonic began, “But did you forget the time you took the Tornado out for a spin?”

Amy pouted and crossed her arms. “It wasn’t that bad. I kept it in one piece, at least…”

“Well, you see,” Hope said, “I hacked the system to allow myself access and… Um, I’m really sorry!” Hope bowed, completely flustered.

“It’s okay!” Tails insisted, equally flustered. “It was an emergency, right? I’m just surprised you were able to do that. That was some of my best work.” Sighing, he added, “Guess I’ve still got a ways to go.”

Sighing with relief, Hope raised her head. “I’m happy you’re not mad. Anyway, that walker mech was so cool! D’you think you’d be able to teach me how make one?”

“Well, maybe not right now, but perhaps when things settle down a bit,” Tails said.

Knuckles eyed her curiously. “You… look familiar. Have I seen you before?”

“Yeah, I was thinkin’ that, too,” Vector said. “I’m sure I’ve seen you somewhere recently.”

“Ah!” Amy cried, her hand over her mouth. “You look just like that girl from the video! You know, the one that was with Professor Gerald?”

“Now that you mention it,” Knuckles began, narrowing his eyes, “You’re right! So wait, does that mean…”

Hope felt nervous, but she clenched her fists and steeled herself. “My name is Hope Robotnik,” she said. “She was my aunt, Maria.”

“‘Robotnik’?!” Knuckles, Amy and the Chaotix called out in unison.

“You mean you’re Eggman’s-” Knuckles started to ask, but Hope cut him off.

“I’m Professor Gerald’s great-granddaughter,” she said with a smile. “I used to be ashamed of that, but not anymore!”

“Well you ask me, there’s nothin’ to be ashamed of,” Sonic said, giving a thumbs-up. “Doesn’t matter where a person comes from. It’s what they do that matters. You helped us, so that makes you cool in my book!”

“Same here!” Tails agreed.

Knuckles closed his eyes and thought. “Well, I guess so. I’ve sure got no right to judge someone based on who their family is… It’s still pretty surprising, though.”

“I know what you mean,” Amy said before turning to Hope. “Compared to Eggman, you’re way nicer, and have much better manners, too.”

Cream clapped her hands together. “Well, since they’re related, maybe that means there’s still hope for Doctor Eggman, too!”

There was an awkward silence over the group, before everybody else waved their hands at the nation. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s gonna happen,” Vector said.

“We have a better chance of getting Sonic to learn how to swim,” Amy joked.

“Anyway, I brought the Cyclone with me today,” Hope told Tails. “It’s with the GUN soldiers who delivered all the equipment today. They’re watching over it until you pick it up.”

“Thanks. I’d better go right after we’re finish eating.”

Finishing her drink, Hope rose to her feet. “Are you leaving already?” Cream asked.

“Sorry, but I’ve got an appointment to keep,” Hope said. She turned to the rest of the group and bowed. “Thank you for helping us defeat the Black Aliens, and for letting me sit with you.”

“It’s no big deal,” Sonic said. “You helped us, too, and it’s not like it’s strange to let a friend join us for lunch.”

Hope was taken aback by this. “‘Friend’?”

“You don’t wanna be?”

“No no! I’d be honoured, I was just surprised you’d consider me a friend so easily.”

“Well, wanna make it official?” Amy asked, holding out her phone. “Here, let’s exchange numbers.”

Hope took out her own phone. “Sure.” The two exchanged contact information. “By the way, do you all know where Shadow is right now? I want to thank him, too, but nobody can seem to find him.”

Sonic shrugged. “He’s helpin’ out, too, but he never stays in one place for too long. Says he’s doing some training to get stronger.”

“I see…” With that, Hope said her goodbyes. As she left, she looked down at her phone, a wave of joy and excitement racing through her body. She’d made her first friend, that wasn’t a part of GUN or the government, since everything that had happened at her old school.

“Chaos… Control!” Shadow moved the toppled building off to the side, clearing the road so that people could transport reconstruction materials through. All around him, people clapped and cheered. Shadow quickly moved before they could thank him, traveling through the decimated city to find where he was next needed.

“Y’know, you could at least let them say ‘thanks’ before you go racing off,” Rouge said, swooping down and landing in front of him.

Shadow stopped, glancing off to the side. “Not yet,” he said. “It’s my fault things got this bad. From the start, I should have been fighting the Black Arms, not looking for the Chaos Emeralds.”

“But it turns out gathering the Chaos Emeralds was exactly what Gerald wanted you to do,” Rouge pointed out.

“But I wasn’t gathering them for that. I was simply looking for them for my own selfish-” Shadow stopped as he felt a finger flick against his forehead. “Ah! What-” He turned to Rouge in surprise, and found the bat-girl sighing directly in front of him.

“Listen, you, you’re just one hedgehog. Even if you had helped us from the start, do you seriously think that would’ve made a difference?” Shadow was about to answer, but Rouge cut him off. “Seriously, you and that Commander just love to take on all the world’s problems, don’t you?”

“But that-”

“What I’m saying is, try letting your friends carry some of that weight.”

“You and Omega?”

Rouge smiled. “Well, yes, but there are also others. There’s one girl in particular who really wants to talk to you.”

Shadow thought it over for a few seconds. “… Okay.” He grinned. “I guess it has been boring, being on my own. Certainly not as fun as our previous adventures.”

The two began walking down the road together. “You mean like when we raced through that town that was a giant casino? Or that forest with the frogs that could summon the rain?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of when you got yourself trapped in a vault that was about to explode, and I had to bail you out.”

Rouge shoved Shadow, puffing her cheek as she glared at him. “Oh, of course that memory didn’t stay lost forever!”

Shadow used his skates to pick up speed. “Come to think of it, I had to save you from Omega, too. That’s two you owe me.”

Rouge started running after him. “I saved you that time, so it’s only one!”

Back at GUN HQ, Hope was putting the finishing touches on Omega’s repairs, bringing him back to his full glory after the damage he had sustained at Lava Shelter. As he looked over his body, Omega gave an approving thumbs-up. “Your repairs are adequate, Doctor. Now I can continue crushing Eggman’s robots!”

Hope and Topaz laughed. “Please just call me Hope.”

“Don’t you ever think about anything else?” Topaz asked. “Y’know, like having fun and unwinding?”

Omega turned to Topaz, confused. “Killing Eggman’s robots is having fun.”

“What about going shopping or watching movies with your friends? Or maybe just kicking back and playing some games?”

“This unit is not designed for such menial tasks.”

“Ah, but that’s because my uncle designed you that way,” Hope pointed out. “So if you do those things, you’ll be defying his expectations, right?”

Omega considered it for a moment. “Your point is valid. Very well! I shall ‘kick back’ and ‘unwind’, to prove I am the superior E-Series robot!”

Topaz and Hope exchanged glances and laughed to each other. “Sounds fun,” Rouge said as she walked in. “Then how about we go see a movie tonight? My treat.”

“Only if it is one about a robot that maims and destroys,” Omega said.

“Sure, there are actually a lot more of those than you might think,” Rouge responded. She then turned to Hope and waved. “Hey, Kiddo. Got a visitor for you.”

“Yeah?” Hope asked, reaching for a cloth to wipe the oil off of her fingers. It was then that Shadow appeared, surprising her and Topaz. “Shadow?!”

“You said you wanted to see him, right?”

Hope leapt out of her seat, running to Shadow and startling him as she grabbed his hands. “I’m so glad you came! I’ve wanted to thank you since that day!”

Shadow took a step back, surprised by the girl’s energy and enthusiasm. Rouge simply chuckled. “Uh, yeah, well… I wasn’t about to let that creep just kill everyone on the planet. Even if some are bad, I know not all are-”

Hope shook her head. “I don’t mean just that. I mean, for showing everybody that Professor Gerald’s work was done to help people, not to hurt them.”

“Oh, I see. You’re uh, Hope, right?”

Hope nodded. “Hope Robotnik. Professor Gerald was my great-grandfather!”

“Robotnik… Then you’re Maria’s…” Shadow smiled as it suddenly dawned on him. “I see. That’s why you remind me so much of her.”

“The Commander told me about Maria. She sounds like she was a great woman…”

“She was… But that’s in the past now. I’m going to carry out her wish, but I’m going to do it by looking forward.”

Hope nodded, and then ran over to her workbench, where a long, black object lay. It was shaped like a rifle, but with sharp points that resembled Shadow’s spines. She ran back over, offering the object to Shadow. “That’s why, I wanted to give you this. As a thank-you, and a way to help you fight evil.”

Shadow accepted the present, and looked over it. “A gun?”

“It’s a special gun. I designed it using the footage of your battle against Black Doom.”

“So that’s why you’ve been rewatching that battle so many times this past week,” Rouge commented.

“It’s powered by a Chaos Drive, and uses Chaos Energy to fire. As a result, it doesn’t require any ammo, and is extremely powerful, but only people like you or Sonic, who can naturally harness Chaos Energy, can use it.”

Shadow grinned. “So even if it falls into enemy hands, it’s useless. Not that I would ever let it, of course.”

“Does it work?” Rouge asked, and as though to answer her question, Shadow fired it at a nearby crate, incinerating it in an instant. “HEY! Don’t fire that thing in here!”

“It works fine,” Shadow said, brushing off Rouge’s outrage. “Thanks, Hope.”

Hope blushed at the praise, and smiled brightly seeing that her weapon worked.

“There’s more where that came from,” Commander Tower said as he entered the room, approaching Shadow from behind. Everybody turned to face him as he stopped, and he looked down at Shadow with a stern, intense look in his eyes. “If you were a member of our team, our resident engineer here could provide you with all sorts of gadgets and weapons to help you in your fights.”

“Commander,” Topaz began, “Are you saying…”

Tower cleared his throat. “Shadow the Hedgehog… I would like you to… No, I would be honoured, if you would join our Team Dark. I know that there is a lot of friction between us, but I am working to reform GUN so that it is the force for justice that it was always meant to be. I can’t do that with Doctor Eggman still running around, though. If you help us, we can supply you with whatever you need… Weapons, soldiers, a home…”

“A tempting offer…” Shadow looked at those gathered behind him. Hope Robotnik, the girl who resembled Maria, whose goals were very much aligned with his own. Omega, a weapon designed by Eggman who had defied his programming. The two had fought alongside each other several times, and had formed a connection on the battlefield. And then Rouge the Bat, the first person he ever saw when he woke up in Eggman’s stasis pod. He remembers that he once threatened to end her life, and yet despite that, she accepted him as a friend.

“About Gerald, I-”

“I accept,” Shadow said. Tower gasped, and Hope was about ready to jump for joy. “Under one condition.”

Tower swallowed, beginning to sweat as the hedgehog shot him an intense look. “O-Of course. What do you need?”

Shadow crossed his arms. “There was this motorcycle that I rode in Westopolis, one that belonged to GUN…” The Commander gave him a confused look, whilst Rouge simply giggled.

“Well, we can offer you a motorcycle, but uh…”

“Oh!” Hope shouted, running around Shadow to look him in the eyes. “Leave it to me! I’ll put together a custom one for you! One that’s faster, stronger, has a compartment for your new weapon, all the works!”

Shadow grinned, nodding his head. “Then it’s a deal,” he said, offering his hand. Tower sighed, laughing as he reached out and shook it.

“Welcome aboard, Agent Shadow.”

“Well, guess I don’t need to worry about what you’ll be doing,” Rouge said, and Topaz smirked.

“You were worried about him?” she teased, poking Rouge’s arm.

“Of course not!” Rouge answered with a defiant turn. “Anyway, good for you. You got one more member on your team.”

“You should join us, too,” Topaz suggested.

“I’d already tried to recruit her,” Tower told Topaz, “But she turned down my offer.”

“You don’t wanna join?” Hope asked, frowning.

“Rouge, I thought we were a team,” Shadow said.

“Hey, don’t you two go trying to guilt me into this!”

“Rouge should join. I would have no objections,” Omega said.

“Wait, are you saying you joined, Omega?”

“There were more guns in it for me,” Omega told her, opening his chest to show the new minigun installed in it. “And more intel on Eggman’s movements. Plus, Hope is the only human who can repair me sufficiently.”

Rouge sighed, pondering on it for a while. “… Well, I guess someone needs to keep the two of you in-line…”

“Alright!” Hope cheered, holding her hand out in front of everybody. “Let’s all do our best to stop Eggman and protect the world!”

Shadow joined her, placing his hand on top of Hope’s. Topaz was next, sighing as she joined. “Is this an elite team or an after-school club?”

Omega joined too. “I do not know what significance this has, but I would like to be involved.”

Rouge joined, despite still being somewhat annoyed. “Well, as long as there’s treasure in it for me…”

Everybody looked at the Commander expectantly, who simply stared back with an uneasy look on his face. “Yes, well,” he said, already stepping away, “It’s good to see you all getting along so well.”

“Commander, it’d be bad for morale if our leader left us hanging” Topaz said with a grin.

Sighing, Tower reached out his hand joined the others’. “Team Dark…” Hope began, and then she threw her hand up, the others joining her. “FIGHT!”

“FIGHT!” Topaz and Rouge shouted together. Omega was still confused at what was happening, and whilst Shadow enjoyed the camaraderie, he still found the cheering to be too much. The Commander quickly stepped away, his face red.

“Commander!” a soldier rushed into the room, stopping to salute. “We’ve just received word! An arrest warrant has been made and transport preparations are complete. Uh, is everything alright?”

“Good work,” Tower said, ignoring the question.

“An arrest warrant?” Rouge asked.

“Sorry everyone, but I’ll have to leave right away. There is a matter of great importance to attend to.” Tower followed the soldier. “You’re all dismissed. You can take the rest of the night off.”

“Well then, guess we might as well go catch that movie,” Rouge said. “I know a place that’s near a karaoke bar. We can head there after.”

Shadow folded his arms. “Should we really be partying right now? There are still people who need our help.”

“You need to unwind, too,” Topaz said with a sigh. “Soleanna wasn’t built in a day, you know. We’ve all been working tirelessly this past week. Taking one night to enjoy ourselves is important, so we don’t get burned-out.”

“Plus, we can make this our welcome party for Shadow and Rouge!” Hope pointed out. “Hey, you mind if I invite my family, too? I know Julian would freak to see a robot like Omega!”

“I am not a child’s plaything,” Omega pointed out. “I am an instrument of death.”

“Aw, please?” Hope asked, putting her hands together and staring at Omega with puppy eyes. “My family’s house was damaged in the invasion and he’s been down ever since. It would really make him happy!”

Omega stared back for a few seconds, trying to formulate a response. “… Is this part of that ‘kicking back’ that you mentioned?”

“Sure,” Topaz said.

“Then… I will… comply,” Omega ultimately relented. “But just this one time!” he quickly added.

“Thank you!” Hope jumped out and hugged Omega, the robot unsure of what to do as he looked between Rouge, Shadow and Topaz nervously. All three simply grinned back at him.

“Well, we’d better head out now if we want to beat the sunset,” Rouge said. The others agree, and they all head out together, turning off the lights in the lab as they left.

“Commander, we’ve arrived,” the pilot said, but he did not receive a response right away. Looking back, he found Commander Tower simply staring out of the side of the helicopter, into the distance. “Commander?”

“Mm,” was Commander Tower’s reply as he stepped out of the helicopter. “… Excellent work. Please keep the engine ready for immediate departure.”

“Yes, sir.”

Tower stared ahead at the man who he had served under the better part of his career. The man who had promoted him to the position he now held, who himself was now retired and living a peaceful life here in Apotos, relaxing by the pool as he gazed out into the vast, calming ocean in the distance.

Tower ordered his men to stay put as he approached the former Commander-in-Chief, Hugo Brass. Hugo sighed, rising to his feet and turning to face Abraham. “So, you’ve come to pay me a visit.”

“You were expecting me, I’m sure.” Hugo Brass nodded. “… After the Black Arms knocked out the CIA’s mainframe, a lot of information began to surface that would have otherwise been buried so deep, it might never have been found. Files from fifty years ago, detailing the exact series of events surrounding Project: Shadow. The conspiracy led by the government, the mass-murder led by GUN, and the cover-ups that ensued.”

Hugo Brass folded his arm, staring down at the ground as he tried to find the words. “Fifty years ago, the Commander of GUN was none other than my grandfather. He’s the one who orchestrated the raid on the ARK, and the cover-up of Project: Shadow, under the President’s orders.” Hugo closed his eyes. “When he stepped down, he was succeeded by General Cunningham, the man who piloted the experimental mech, Heavy Dog, and led the assault on the ARK. And after that came my time.”

“How much did you know?”

“At first, nothing. I was selected for promotion because of my relation to my grandfather, and that’s all. They thought that if I knew the truth, I would do my best to keep Project: Shadow under wraps. If the truth ever came to light, my own reputation and livelihood would be at stake.” Hugo sighed. “And, as shameful as it is to admit it, I was too young and too scared to challenge them. I allowed myself to be used by my superiors, and by the time I had the guts to speak out, I was already in too deep.”

Hugo Brass picked up the bottle of wine next to his chair, as well as the two glasses he had laid out, and offered one to the Commander. “Would you share one final drink with me, Commander Tower?”

Tower looked at the wine with a solemn look on his face, and shook his head. “Apologies, sir, but it is against policy to drink while on-duty.”

Hugo Brass laughed, placing the glasses back down and pouring a drink into just one of them. “Yes, that’s the kind of answer I want to hear from the man who succeeded me.”

Tower raised an eyebrow. “You were testing me, sir?”

“It’s not ‘sir’ anymore,” Hugo said, taking a large gulp of his wine. “And, well, I was hoping you’d bend the rules, just this one time. But if there’s one thing I don’t regret about my time as Commander, it was choosing my successor. When Shadow broke out of containment, I did all I could to try to keep the incident under wraps, instead of doing what was right, and finally revealing the truth to the world.”

“You tried to pin the incident on Sonic,” Tower reminded him. “I went along with it because I was convinced that you had our best interests at-heart. That letting the public know about Project: Shadow truly was too dangerous.”

“I won’t ask for forgiveness. In the end, I became just like my grandfather… I let my personal desires drive me, instead of my sense of justice. But when Shadow seemingly died that day, it was as though a great weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Now, I would no longer have to worry about keeping the truth buried. The last connection to that cursed incident from fifty years ago was gone, just like that!

“At that point, I knew what I had to do to atone for my crimes. I wanted GUN to have a true leader, one who valued justice above all else, and would go to any lengths to protect the people. I wanted you, Commander Tower.”

“Then I’m sorry to say that I let you down, sir,” Tower said, drawing a confused reaction from his former-superior. “I was unable to live up to your expectations. When the time came, I too chose personal matters over doing the right thing. My actions nearly cost humanity its one hope for a brighter future, and it was all because I let myself be controlled by my own feelings.”

Hugo Brass frowned as he listened. “I see…”

“… But I’m not giving up, either. I’m going to do all I can to make up for my mistakes. And not just my mistakes. I’m going to make up for all of GUN’s wrong-doings. GUN exists to protect the people, and from this point on, that’s exactly what it’ll do, even if it means making difficult decisions and putting my own desires second.” Tower pulled out a pair of handcuffs. “And as a first step, I’m placing you under arrest, for conspiracy and treason.”

Hugo Brass put down his glass and approached the Commander. He held out his hands, offering no resistance as the iron cuffs were locked around his wrists. “It won’t be easy.”

“I know,” Abraham said, and for the first time since landing, he smiled, “But GUN has excellent soldiers, and I have a great team that will offer me their support. And there’s one more thing… The hope that Professor Gerald left us is still alive.”

“I see. I’m looking forward to seeing the brighter future you and your team create.”

Tower led Hugo Brass to the helicopter. The two sat opposite to each other and the helicopter lifted off from the ground.

Chapter Text

Two months had passed since the war against the Black Arms was over. Reconstruction around the world had made great progress, and many people were beginning to get back to their daily lives. Team Dark had continued training together in preparation for their first major mission related to Eggman, who had been silent for the most part.

One day, Commander Tower awoke bright-and-early and headed straight to the Command Centre. There, he found Shadow and Rouge waiting for him, along with Hope to the side. He had asked them to see him first thing in the morning for an assignment, but wasn’t expecting them to beat him there.

“Well, look who finally decided to show up,” Rouge teased, climbing out of the Commander’s chair. “So, you have a job for us?”

“For you, yes,” Tower stated, before turning to Shadow. “Agent Shadow, you’re to remain on standby for now. I want Agent Rouge to go in alone for this one.”

“Just one agent?” Shadow questioned.

Tower nodded, and motioned to Hope. She opened her laptop and displayed an image of a city on the screen. “While the Chaotix were snooping around in Eggman’s cyberspace, they found details of his next plans. They were encrypted, and it’s taken us some time, what with the focus on reconstruction around the world, but we’ve finally managed to decode them. It seems Eggman has his eyes set on Soleanna, and on one of its royal artifacts called ‘the Sceptre of Darkness’.”

“What does it do?” Shadow asked.

“As far as we know, nothing. But if Eggman wants it, then we don’t want him to have it.” He turned to Rouge. “Unfortunately, as Soleanna is not a member of the United Federation, sending in troops will be met with resistance. That’s why we’re opting to go with a more quiet approach.”

Rouge winked. “I can do ‘quiet’, but I usually target jewels, not trinkets.”

“We’ll have Agent Topaz posted nearby, undercover as a tourist,” Tower stated, “However, if things go bad, it’ll be on Shadow to go in and clean up.”

“When do I leave?” Rouge asked.

“Right away,” Tower answered. “We would give you more time to prepare, but spies have reported Eggman activity near Soleanna, in the White Acropolis area. He may have already started to make his move.”

Shrugging, Rouge turned to Shadow and said, “Enjoy your day off. I’ll be back with that sceptre before you know it.”

“I’ll prepare to head out, as soon as you need rescuing,” Shadow retorted, earning a punch from his partner. Rouge and Hope headed out together, discussing the details of the mission. Shadow followed soon after, whilst Tower stayed behind to tend to his other duties.

“… Shadow,” Tower called out, stopping the hedgehog just as he was about to leave the room. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you, about Maria. Did she…” Tower fell silent for several seconds. “No, you focus on your mission…”

“… For what it’s worth, she died with a smile,” Shadow said, and as he turned to leave, he added, “Her final words were, ‘bring hope to humanity’.”

“… Thank you.” Tower offered Shadow a salute as he left the room, the door closing behind him. Tower hung his head, closing his eyes as he pictured Maria’s face. “‘Bring hope to humanity’, huh?” He laughed. “Yeah, that’s just what we’ll do. Together.”

Chapter Text

As Commander Tower heard the bell ring, he took a moment to compose himself before opening the door. There stood Shadow the Hedgehog, a bottle of wine in his hands. “Well Commander, I made it. Despite your directions.”

“Ah! Shadow the Hedgehog, welcome! I hope you’re prepared for an unforgettable luncheon!”

Shadow walked in, frowning as he simply respond, “Yeah…”

As Shadow placed the wine down on the table and took his seat, Commander Tower entered the kitchen. There, he found smoke coming out of the oven and panicked, running to the appliance and looking inside. The meat inside was on fire! “Oh egads! My roast is ruined!” As he thought about what to do, he noticed something out of the window – a Meh Burger shop just down the road! “But what if… I were to purchase fast-food and disguise it as my own cooking? Ohoho! Delightfully devilish, Tower!”

Removing his apron, Tower opened the window and started to climb out, only to hear the kitchen door open behind himself. He turned to find Shadow glaring at him. “Shadow! I was just… Uh… Just stretching my calves on the windowsill! Isometric exercise! Care to join me?”

“Why is there smoke coming out of your oven, Commander?” Shadow asked.

“Uhhh, oh! That isn’t smoke! It’s steam. Steam from the steamed clams we’re having! Mmmmm! Steamed clams!” Tower rubbed his stomach for emphasis on how tasty the steamed clams were going to be.

Shadow, still eyeing the Commander suspiciously, accepted the story and turned to leave. “Phew!” Tower wiped the sweat from his brow and left the kitchen, running to the Meh Burger. He returned and deposited the bought food onto a silver tray, leaving the kitchen with the feast.

“Shadow the Hedgehog, I hope you’re ready for mouth-watering hamburgers!”

“I thought we were having steamed clams?” Shadow asked as he tucked a napkin into his chest fur.

“Oh no! I said steamed hams. That’s what I call hamburgers!”

“You call hamburgers ‘steamed hams’?” Shadow asked.

“Yes! It’s a regional dialect.”

Shadow narrowed his eyes. “Uh-huh? What region?”

Tower averted his eyes. “Uhhh… Central City?”

“Really? Because Professor Gerald was from Central City and he never used the phrase ‘steamed hams’.”

“Oh not fifty years ago, no, it’s a recent expression.”

“I see…” Shadow reached out for one of the hamburgers and took a bite, whilst the Commander opted to take a sip of the wine Shadow had brought over. He realised something odd and removed the bun from the burger. “You know these hamburgers are quite similar to the one they have at Meh Burger.”

The Commander laughed almost immediately. “Ohoho nooooo! Patented ‘Tower Burger’! Oooooold family recipe!”

“… For ‘steamed hams’.”

“Yes!”

“Yes, and you call them steamed hams despite the fact that they are obviously grilled.” Shadow showed Tower the burger he was eating, revealing the marks on the meat that indicated they had been cooked on a grill.

Tower hesitated. “Uh y-” Tower wiped his mouth with his napkin. “You know th-” He averted his eyes. “One thing I sh-” He then stood. “Excuse me for one second.”

“Of course,” Shadow replied as he continued eating his burger, and Tower entered the kitchen, returning a moment later and yawning rather loudly.

“Ahhhh, well, that was wonderful! Good time was had by all. I’m pooped!”

Shadow checked his watch and began to climb out of his seat. “Yes I should be-” It was then that his eyes caught sight of the kitchen behind the door as it swung close. It looked like the whole kitchen was on fire! “Sweet Chaos Force, what is happening in there?!”

“The Festival of the Sun?” Tower responded.

Shadow was flabbergasted. “Th- The Festival of the Sun! At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the world, localised entirely within your kitchen?!”

“Yes!”

Shadow calmed down, the explanation satisfying him. “May I see it?”

Tower thought for a moment. “… No.”

As Tower showed Shadow out, his wife called down to him. “Dear! The house is on fire!”

“No, honey, it’s just a Soleannan tradition!”

“Well Commander, you are an odd fellow, but I must say… you steam a good ham.” With that, Shadow turned and began to leave.

“HELP! HEEEEEELP!”

Hearing the cries of the Commander’s wife, Shadow turned around, but all he found was Tower giving him a thumbs-up to indicate that everything was fine. With that, he continued leaving.

Tower rushed back into the house as soon as Shadow was gone.

A fire truck raced down a nearby street, its sirens blaring.