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Chapter Text

It was once again quiet in the village. The sky was blue with clouds sparsely placed amongst it, and recently saved animals were running free in the trees and grass.

Sonic stood up from where he was laying on Tails's roof. He climbed back into the building through a window and began to scour the place for the most up-to-date document regarding events.

He couldn't find anything recent so he went to where he thought Tails was.

"You looking for something, Sonic?" Tails spun around on his floating chair to face the blue hedgehog.

He pushed his feet together in a V-Shaped outward stance, "Yeah, I got a question. Have we written anything down?"

Tails lifted a finger, "About the recent attacks?"

"Yep."

"I think we've all been too busy," The yellow fox reached into a metal drawer and pulled out an empty folder, "All the other ones are full so we have to use a new one."

"Thanks, Tails!" Sonic ran back to the roof, grabbing a pen and some paper along his way. He sat down, "Right... So the last thing documented was a rise in Badniks being made, I think..." Sonic muttered before he started writing.

Dr. Eggman was back, attacking Sonic's town yet again. He brought Metal Sonic and an army of Badniks of many sorts with him. It was a typical, run-of-the-mill attack of his.

"Does this ever get boring, Eggman? Losing all the time?"

"This time you'll... lose! You little rodent!"

Sonic furrowed one eyebrow, "Really? Is that all you're gonna say?"

Eggman just grumbled to himself and pressed a few buttons, sending the Badniks into 'Destruction and Chaos' mode.

Amy then rushed to the scene with her Piko-Piko Hammer, "Need some help?"

"I guess so!"

They then destroyed all of the Badniks, allowing the animals to run free. It was literally nothing.

"He's planning something, isn't he?" Amy Rose interred.

"I'm sure it'll be thwarted before it even happens."

Metal Sonic then rocketed himself at Sonic, picking the blue blur up into the sky. "Woah! You caught me almost by surprise, Metal."

The robot replica grabbed Sonic by both of his arms and span around in the air, readying himself to brutally throw Sonic back to the green-checkered ground.

Suddenly, Metal Sonic's visor flashed with red. "Metal! You better not be malfunctioning again. If you try actually killing him again, I'll need to fully reprogram you." Metal Sonic stopped spinning abruptly, nearly breaking something in his organic counterpart.

"Goodness -"

Metal sped to the Doctor, who flew away in his 'Egg Carrier' thing, they still didn't know what it was called.

Tails sent a message out to the Resistance, which was previously founded the last time Eggman took over the world.

Knuckles quickly got to reorganising Missions again, in his Commander position that he was still in. He began to send out Rouge and Espio on routine missions to Eggman's bases.

Sonic stopped writing and put the pen down, which then rolled off the roof and landed on the driveway below.

He jumped down, not bothering to pick it up. Before he ran off into the town, he called to Tails. "Tails! I'm just going to go into the village for a bit!"

"Alright! By the way..." Tails came outside the door, "Wave will be coming by soon to look at tech, just saying."

"Alright, cool! See you around buddy!" He dashed forth onto the pavement, leaving a blue energy trail behind him. The wind rushed by Tails a mere 2 seconds after, rustling branches of palm trees and the bristles of the checkered grass.

As the blue blur rushed further into town, the villagers were made aware of his presence.

He stopped by the Chaotix Agency building, he peeked through the window in case anything was happening there.

Vector was busy tapping a pencil on his forehead on the front desk, Charmy seemed to be rambling about something. Espio was nowhere to be found.

He bathed through the door, "Hel-lo Team Chaotix! It seems like you're all busy here."

"Hey Sonic! We're tryna find out where some Flickies have gone!" Charmy quickly relayed the case to the blue hedgehog.

"Sounds like the usual case, right?"

"For sure, Pearl submitted this instead of her grandmother this time, though." Vector tapped his forehead more, tipping his headphones down off his ears.

"I think she's just concerned for her brethren isn't she?"

"They said that the Flickie-Feeder was completely empty of them for two entire weeks. That's a long time, right Charmy?"

"We would all starve to death in that time!"

"That wasn't what I wanted to imply.."

Sonic just hummed along with the conversation, probably weirded out by Charmy's suggestion. He peeped over the table and speed-read what Vector and Pearl wrote down.

"I'll leave you both to it."

"If ya wanna know, Espio's on a mission to watch Dr. Eggman."

"He's been reeeeaal suspicious lately hasn't he?"

"Of course! He has always been!" Vector threw his hands to his sides in a big shrug.

"Anyway, I'll see you all soon!" Sonic ran out of the building, the wind forcefully slamming the front door.

Sonic zipped around town, catching up with his friends and some of the fighters that were present before.

He felt like checking up on Pearl and the rest of Team Fist but he still didn't know where they could be. The Team had received the honour of not being called a 'Group of Rookies' by Knuckles anymore after the ordeal.

After about an hour of catching up with everyone, Sonic appeared back on Tails' driveway. He spotted the pen he dropped earlier and picked it up. "Would it be safe if I threw this through a window..."

He stared at the pen in deep thought before ultimately deciding to throw it through one of Tails' open windows.

"Sonic, that could have stabbed me!" The fox waved out the window in a faked anger.

"Sorry buddy!" Sonic shrugged, chuckling. He then called out again, "Is Wave gunna be here soon?"

"Yeah, anytime now!"

"I hope she sees how much work you put into your stuff, Tails." Sonic shook his head, looking in the sun's direction to the horizon.

"She does."

(End of part)

Chapter Text

Espio crawled silently across the iron ceiling, taking in details of anything the doctor might pull out. He went closer to the screen, it seemed to be written in a code, one that Espio could – inconveniently and surprisingly – not understand.

He peered down at the doctor's desk, and he was leaning on a few papers containing sketches. They were meticulously designed and contained tons of labels.

Espio thought, 'This must be something huge, something worth keeping hidden until the sudden surprise and attack...'

"Alright, that professor's plans must not go to waste. All I need is to put them under my control completely, no way out, quickest option."

Espio kept looking at the papers, intending to get a firm enough image in his head so he could copy it down. 

The Doctor stood up and left the room, a metal door slamming behind him. Espio leapt down from the ceiling and to the floor, still hidden within his invisibility.

He scanned the numerous pages of 'concept art', some diagrams seemed much older and less refined than the others. "What could it mean, all this code and..."

His talking trailed off, reading the labels on the diagrams:

Made of Iron and Steel, for strength'

'If Mobian has abilities, they are to be enhanced for use in forces with the other Badniks'

'Note: Make factions when the forces get big and the land takeovers get bigger!'

Espio grinned, holding back a laugh. He considered just taking them for the Resistance to irritate the evil Doctor. He was about to until he saw the metal door swiftly open, re-revealing Dr. Eggman. Espio quickly and quietly scaled back up a wall and back onto the ceiling.

"Have I moved these?"

'He almost found you. Such shoddy hiding.' Espio furrowed his eyebrows, having nearly alerted Eggman to the presence.

"Eh, don't remember." Eggman went back to typing and sketching. He didn't seem to stop for another hour, thus Espio thought that he had enough evidence of a plan already.

Eggman reached for a small microphone, "Metal! Check up on Subject A-M! Ask how he's doing!"

This piqued Espio's interest, waiting for any doors to open instead of leaving straight away.

Espio climbed along the walls and ceiling, scanning the areas for Metal. Once he found the robot, he began to follow him.

Knuckles paced near the huge screen displaying the different members' locations. Some of them were talking amongst themselves, theorising what Eggman was plotting to do.

"Could it be another huge robot?" Rouge asked, lifting a hand.

Knuckles put his hands on his temples, "Too predictable, and too lazy! He'll be planning something new, I'm sure."

"But what?" Rouge looked away.

"Exactly." He continued to pace, occasionally glancing at the huge display screen. It showed Espio slowly traversing through Eggman's main lair.

Rouge clicked a finger, "Maybe he's going to recruit another god-like entity imprisoned in a gem to destroy us all?"

Knuckles chuckled (ain't no way), "Seems a bit 'out there', especially nowadays!"

Rouge changed the topic slightly, "I saw Ray today," she looked outside.

Knuckles stopped his pace and looked at her, intrigued, "Oh yeah? How is he?"

She furrowed her brows, "Still sad about Mighty. If someone close to me vanished without a single trace I would be like that, honestly." She flew to the other side of the room using her dark-purple wings, tapping on a keyboard.

"What 'you doing?" The echidna moved towards her.

"Sending something to Shadow. I'll get his current updated location while I'm at it." She spoke again. Once it was sent, Shadow's location appeared on the smaller screen in front again.

"He seems to be approaching The Metropolis." Knuckles read the word onscreen, where the hedgehog was.

The bat woman hummed, she went away from the keyboard and back to watching Espio's tracking device. "He seems to be doing well. Just going along with gathering stuff for us."

She sat down on top of a crate, a leg over the other.

"As he always does." Knuckles smiled, thinking about Espio.

In Tails' place, Wave sat on the floor by the fox. The purple Swallow was awaiting him to complete a series of conceptual sketches and annotations. "You really had to come up with something now?"

"Yeah, it's important to get every idea down in case the time comes to it."

"Funny."

Tails dropped the pencil, "And, done!"

Wave stood up in anticipation, and Tails unveiled his latest sheet, "What d' you think?"

She peered closer to it, humming, "A jet-powered plane?"

"Exactly! It's like The Tornado but more renewable! The plane's turbines power the engine, and the engine powers the turbines!"

"Sounds funky," Wave took the paper, "So you'll just spin the turbine around a buncha times and it gets powered up?" She moved the paper closer to her, tilting it in numerous ways.

Tails nodded, looking further at some other unrelated sketches. Wave threw the paper to the side and watched Tails.

"I personally think that we should kill that Doctor guy. It would honestly be so much easy! I can't believe nobody's even tried it at all." Wave folded her arms.

"Believe me, at least two people have tried." Tails grinned, bearing teeth.

Wave looked at Tails, "Hmm... I'm sure that ninja guy has tried at least three times. I hear some death threats slipping out from him on the communications sometimes."

Tails chuckled, "You're very correct, Wave!"

Wave smiled to herself. "Y' think I should get going back to Jet and Storm now?"

"Wait!" Tails frantically rummaged through papers, trying to get something, "I wanted to show you an improved Extreme Gear..!"

He yanked a sketch of a new and improved Extreme Gear board, now similarly designed to the Rogues, with agility and fluidity in mind.

"Much better than whatever the heck you came up with last time, Fox boy! Just remember that you don't have to try to impress me all the time." The Swallow turned around and began to leave.

"Bye Wave!"

(End of part)

Chapter Text

Shadow grinded on the railings that littered the cityscape.
He was in the capital city of the current world, known as The Metropolis. It was incredibly ahead of the rest of it, hardly any solid land was seen in that place. The Metropolis lived in the future, it looked like.

Shadow had gone on his own accord to rescue E-123 Omega, because he had shut down while stationed.

Leaping from a railing, Shadow gilded gently down to the top of another building with his rocket-powered kicks. The hedgehog jumped, skated, and teleported along the cityscape, peering around and round for Omega.

"If only I could send out a signal." Shadow stopped in thought, "I could find a way, perhaps."
He sped through the Metropolis again, boosting past the narrow corners and over the cracks in the building roofs.

Carefully watching the Robot approach somewhere, Espio scaled across the ceiling in silence after him. He thought, 'This has to be the calmest that I have ever seen Metal Sonic. He must know I am here, I'll have to see how this goes...'

Metal Sonic suddenly started to pick up the pace, as if there was an urgency to where he needs to be, to see this 'Subject A-M'. No other clues lead to this, it is only that name. Nothing slipped out at all, he made sure he heard the Doctor right.
No whispers, no mumbles, no curses, nothing. 'Probably a test for the new machine: The "Roboticizer"... how horrible.'

A huge door slid open and Metal practically ran into it, so Espio scattered himself towards the door, as fast as he could crawl while maintaining basic composure.

The door slid back together, separating Metal and Espio.

He gritted his teeth and balled a hand into a tight fist. 'Slow.' Beginning to hear a muddled voice, Espio inches closer to the wall.

"...will get out of here. You can't keep me...
...Nothing is new in this place anymore. I will get out and you all will be sorry when they know."

It sounded like the person was in pain, exhausted, and maybe on something. After turning away for a moment, he looked back at the door, thinking about how much he could discover if he had only just went a bit faster.
Not putting a finger on the voice, Espio, frustrated at the failure of entry, turns back.
'Back to a shaft, where you belong to suffocate.'

Whilst he didn't mean it completely, his sheer discipline and overall mental complex always dug at him.

Gently crawling out of the shaft, the colder air of the outside world hit him. It felt like he was in that place for forever, discovering new information and using his photographic memory to his advantage.

Still invisible, Espio slinked through the numerous Security Badniks that littered the palisade area. The chameleon commented in his mind that it is almost comical how many times he can just leave places spontaneously yet unnoticed.

If they wanted to catch him and finally get some action, Eggman should just install infrared cameras onto them. Then again, with an unclothed, cold-blooded Chameleon it would still be difficult.

He uncloaked himself after scaling up and down the thick metal walls of the lair. "Finally. I can give myself a mental break."

He pulled the tracker from the side of his head and looked it over. It was a small black transmittal thing, no matter how far someone could go, their presence was seen in the Main HeadQuarters.

There were three buttons, of which Wave called each one: "Mission completed"; "Mission is compromised, in need of some assistance"; and "Help, I can see God and he isn't at all surprised to see me."
Espio pressed the first button and merely continued his way to HQ, away from the barren wasteland which, in the past, was heavily polluted and rendered unusable by anyone except for Dr Eggman.

After lapping around the HQ about 3 times, Charmy Bee entered the room that Knuckles and Rouge were.
"Oh hey, Charmy." Knuckles looked at the bee, "Once again checking how far Espio is along?"

"As alwayssss!" Charmy, although bored out of his mind, feined a cheerful tone and threw his arms in the air like he just didn't care.
"Well, we have good news for you, little man!" Rouge jumped down from the crate, landing on her heels, "Espio's on his way back, his mission is complete."

Cheering, Charmy zipped around in circles, "I knew it!"

Rouge flew towards Charmy, "How's Vector doin'? I haven't seen him much these days."

"I think he's been with Vanilla or somethin', it's fine because this place is big!" He expanded his arms to show the size of the Resistance HeadQuarters.

Knuckles kept watching the screen, "We have about 4 more to go around, so get used to it."
As Charmy was about to leave, there was a transmission from the screen Rouge was at, "Must be Shadow!" Charmy buzzed towards that screen, hands jittering in fists.

"You're correct."

——————————
A message from Shadow the Hedgehog read: 'Found Omega, currently trying to recharge him. Will get back in case of any trouble.'
——————————

Rouge softly smiled, "I doubt he'll find much trouble amongst a city of flying cars and wired trains." She stepped back away from the screen.

"We could never dream of going there! There isn't any structure at all, it would make Vector sick...!"

Knuckles went closer to the two, "Not everything is as it seems, Charmy!"
Rouge smirked, "That's the thing with people. you know. You can only think that you know everything about 'em."

Shadow stood in front of the offline robot. He had been trying and failing to recharge him for the past 10 minutes to recharge the robot enough for him to communicate.
Loose wires hung from the gaps in the buildings' walls, humming with their consistently moving electrons.

He once again checked the back of Omega, where a few ports were.
"There may be some clogging."
The hedgehog then investigated the multitude of ports of different purposes on Omega's back, blowing out any potential blockages.

Silently hoping that it worked, Shadow tries the ports again. Now working, he sat down and waited near his friend.

A couple of minutes later, a positive beep sound played from Omega. "This better have worked." Shadow stood up and went in front of the robot.

Omega's eyes switched on and he straightened his posture, "Hello, Shadow."

"Omega, did you find anything?"

"Loose Eggman robots. I had dealt with them accordingly ."

"Good job, but was there anything new and remarkable?" Shadow peered down the building.

"Metal Sonic was soaring in the sky. I don't suppose it is anything normal." Omega looked up at the empty blue sky.

"You're right, that is strange.. Do you have any idea of where he went?"

"He was travelling east. Further details are unknown."

"This place is west of the Ocean, why would he need to go there?" Shadow said to himself, putting a hand on hip.
"Do you have any other business here, Shadow?"

Shadow turned back to E-123 Omega, "We'll be going back to HQ soon, you'd get properly recharged. Follow me."
The hedgehog ran over to the side where a railing was and descended along it. Omega followed behind.
"Do they have Gushers at the HQ?"

"You know they do."

"Sweet."

(End of Part)

Chapter Text

Espio made it through the door of the room.

"Espio! How was the mission?" Charmy flew to him with his bee wings.

The chameleon told him, "I have uncovered some new information, Charmy."

"Cool! Should I tell everyone to get here?"

"Well, Shadow and Omega are on their way back, Vector is babysitting Cream at the Chaotix building, and Sonic is... lord knows where." Rouge relayed.

Knuckles shrugged and went to the panel in front of the massive screen, "We'll just send out a signal, I guess."

Espio was leading a meeting with most of the rest of the Resistance, "I found a few conceptual diagrams Dr Eggman made, but I couldn't collect them because I had to keep myself unnoticed."

He displayed some recreations of them on the table.

Sonic sharply increased his involvement, "I remember something like that! My super-cool Great-Uncle invented that!"

"Yes, Professor Charles Hedgehog. He had invented the 'Roboticizer' for medical purposes in this advancing world."

"This is the second time now, right?"

Espio swallowed a developing lump in his throat, "Yes, Sonic. After he returned, he sent Metal Sonic to check on something."

While Espio took a pause, Shadow asked, "We both saw Metal Sonic, didn't we?"

"We did? Where was he going?" Espio looked at Shadow further.

"He was heading east of Metropolis, over the ocean." Shadow leaned on a crate.

Amy interjected, "If Eggman wants to continue this we'll need to get to planning." She looked at Tails.

Tails looked back at her, "If you want me to try making something to possibly reverse the effects you can just ask me-" with a nervous gaze.

Sonic pounded a hand on the young fox's shoulder "No pressure, Tails, but it'll definitely come to that."

"All-right-"

Vector unfolded his arms, "Say, Espio. Did you follow Metal Sonic? Was that why you took longer?"

"I did. Also..." Espio crossed his arms, "The Doctor told him to 'check on Subject A-M.' Whatever it means."

"I couldn't make it into the prison hold in time, so I have no clue what that name entails."

"Hmm... A-M..." Vector put a hand to the side of his head in thought, "If you switch those letters you get M-A."

"You're right, Vector. Could there be a possibility that... The subject is Mighty?"

The meeting fell into silence, to which Rouge broke it, "I don't think he would have fallen into Eggman's clutches. He's strong as heck, even if I barely know him."

"The rest of the Chaotix are the ones that you should discuss with, Rouge." Knuckles felt some regret. Regret that he left the group all that time ago. He looked to the side.

Espio looked with half-lidded eyes, "If he is the Subject A-M, then I have made an... incredible mistake."

Sonic, forever an optimist, said, "We'll rescue them whoever they may be, Espio! We all have each other's back!"

"I'm sure Ray will be glad to hear this, if he may be here right now." Espio tried to peer over the members upfront, in an attempt to search for the yellow squirrel.

"M-M-Mighty?" Ray was standing further behind some of the taller members. He was shuddering while gripping tightly to a blue duffle bag, most likely containing missing posters and nails.

Espio closed his eyes and looked away, "There is a chance..."

"Then I-I'll go r-rescue him!" Ray stood straighter, furrowing his brows.

Knuckles grinned, "Of course! We will go to save, whoever the Subject is, posthaste! You'll need assistance from the Resistance."

Ray began to run out of the room, "W-we'll need to go th-there now!"

Espio darted towards him, "Ray!" The chameleon attempted to grab Ray by the arm, but the squirrel was too quick for his grabbing.

Vector joined Espio in trying to restrain Ray, "We need a plan before you go! Something terrible could happen, Ray!"

"He's my b-brother! I can't leave him alone and s-scared for any longer!" Ray was consistently on the verge of tears since he was found in the crowd.

"Ray, listen." Espio grabbed the squirrel by the shoulders and looked at him face to face. The squirrel gasped for air. "We need, a plan. More time will be spent trying to stop you."

Rouge chimed in again, "All we really need is an all-out attack so we can take the lair and free anyone."

"Yes. We need as many forces as we can get!" Knuckles punched his fists together.

Ray looked at the rest of them with an anxious smile, "Th-thank you, everyone..." He looked uncertain.

Ray left.

Nearly completely unnoticed as they were discussing.

"I shouldn't have looked away. I shouldn't have let him leave my sights." Espio was pacing around.

Knuckles went over to the chameleon, "You're starting to look like me, Espio. He'll be okay. Even if he's going out on his own, it is out of care and love."

"I told him multiple times that we had to do it together. He isn't the only person who cares about Mighty." Espio tightly held his fists.

"He's just timid. He probably doesn't prefer to work in a group, and just wants to get there faster."

Espio swallowed the lump in his throat and Rouge continued, "I could keep an eye on him, I could find him gliding in the air easily."

"Thank you, Rouge." Espio respectfully bowed to her.

Knuckles reached into a drawer and pulled out a small attachable microphone, "Good idea, you shall go." He handed it to Rouge.

The bat then attached the mic to the side of her head and then flew out of an open window.

"I'll need to go north-west towards the Egg-Lair that Espio went before..." Rouge said to herself before swiftly flying in that direction.

The wind could hardly keep up with her as she soared across the sky, swooping around in each direction around the trees and roofs.

Rouge smoothly descended into a small crevice miles from the Egg-Lair. She spotted Ray gliding down towards the ground below too.

She spoke quietly into the microphone, "I have sights on him."

"Okay, just don't scare him too bad. Approach him quietly and calmly." Knuckles was standing at a panel with everybody watching and listening for Rouge and him.

Once Ray landed and started to run through a secret cave, Rouge spoke up, "Ray?"

The squirrel sharply turned around to her, "Why d-did you f-follow m-me?"

"It's really unsafe to go places by yourself, I'm just here to help you, sweetie." She landed on the ground on her heels.

"I'll a-allow this.." Ray began again to walk into the cave, instead slower than he was before. Rouge accompanied him closely behind.

"They'll most likely be in the Detention ward if we're lucky." Rouge observed the environment slowly changing and shrinking down as they kept walking.

Ray mimed the space shrinking with his hands, "You'll have to squeeze in through a small d-door soon. We are n-nearly there." Before expanding his reach.

"Nice." Rouge felt the microphone.

"Is it going okay?"

"Yes, Knuckles. We'll get there eventually." She softly smiled.

"They're l-listening to this?"

"It's for our safety, kiddo." Rouge came closer to him, "Relax, we all have this situation under control."

Ray nervously smiled at Rouge, quietly laughing, "Thanks!"

Ray and Rouge began to crawl through the tighter space, Rouge added, "I can see the opening."

The squirrel whispered in determination, "We're on our way, Subject A-M...!"

Ray squeezed himself out of the opening and took deep breaths, "W-we're out!"

Rouge followed, "Now, we will need to be extra quiet so they won't discover us."

They inched along behind metal crates, drawers, and just along the wall in an effort to stay hidden.

"If any r-robots do find us, w-we can fight 'em off, can't we?" Ray stopped behind another crate.

Rouge stood looking sideways close behind Ray, "Of course, kiddo. I have a feeling that you could pack a few punches when the time calls for it."

He peeked around the crate. "I can feel a warm presence. I think it's Mighty..." A feeling of uncertainty washed over Ray. Rouge passed him, then she looked around the large opening.

"This is leading to the Detention ward." She whispered.

"G-great...!" Ray's hands jittered in front of him.

Rouge continued quietly. She looked through each of the cells, "Looks like he wanted a whole lot of test subjects... But they're all empty."

"Th-then where is Subject A-M?" Ray looked at Rouge with sadness in his expression, dread slowly but surely shadowing everything about his emotions.

Rouge took a breath, "We'll need to still have hope, Ray. As they said before, it might not even be Mighty."

"Then where could he be at all?!" Ray's voice broke.

Rouge took her hands to the sides of Ray's head, "Kid, I'm sorry but I don't know. I am really feeling bad for you, your best friend is missing, and you must feel like nobody listens to you."

Ray stared at her with tears in his eyes.

"But I understand how you feel, Ray. My best friend's name is Shadow. I had missed him on numerous occasions and we had both been through some things. But we and Omega all return to each other with open arms, as closed off as some of us can be."

Ray blinked and allowed some tears to roll down his face, dripping down to the floor. Rouge smiled at him, radiating with determination and courage, "You'll be okay, we'll all be okay."

"Intruders!"

Rouge turned around with a gasp, seeing security Badniks closing in on their vulnerable moment. Ray jumped up and picked one of them up with a swift glide, "I'll g-get them!"

He threw it to the ground, destroying it.

"Nice moves, kiddo!" Rouge began kicking each of them into the walls and bars of the cells, collaborating with Ray's attacks.

Soon enough they were all destroyed.

Ray turned to the bat, who was grinning at him widely in pride, "I- I did okay?"

"Yes! You did splendidly!" Rouge held shaking hands in front of her chest.

A beep played on speakers across the area, sending the duo out of their happy moment.

"Ahem! Now that I ruined your fun, why are you both here?"

"We're here for this boy's friend, Ivo!"

"Ahhh! You mean... Mighty?"

"Y-yes! You have him, d-don't you?!" Ray looked up at a camera, which wasn't noticed before.

"Eh... I do have him, but you'll have to find him!" Dr Eggman said before laughing with his chest really into it. Rouge covered her ears.

Knuckles, after a period of quiet, began to speak to Rouge again, "Sorry for our silence- did you get caught?"

"Yes, but we dealt with the security bots. It is Ivo we are concerned about."

Ray was overtaken by anger and vengeance, "I-I knew it! We'll s-see you s-soon, y-you evil... guy!"

"Okay that was too far. You really didn't have to call me that, chipmunk!"

"I'm a Squirrel, you b-bitch!" He yelled at Dr Eggman, who then abruptly stopped the connection to that place, ending the conversation.

Rouge held herself back from laughing, "Nice job, Ray..! Goodness, that will be a classic moment."

"We need to find Eggman." Ray began to storm down the hallways.

(End of part)

Chapter Text

They left the detention ward, Rouge thought aloud, "If I were Ivo, where would I be...?"

The two of them ran through the winding hallways of the EggLair. Ray, angry and determined, seemingly knew where he was heading. His strides were long and quick.

"Ray? Do you know where you're going."

"No. Dr Eggman's really starting to t-tick me off!" He pressed his hands on his temples.

"I think I know a place, follow me." Rouge swooped up ahead, surpassing Ray. Flying and running, they both made their way towards a huge door.

They stood in front of it, "There must be a way of getting in." Ray stated.

Just after he said that, the door slammed open, the light from the outside of it caused them to shadow into the room.

They went in, close to each other. The door slammed shut behind them, leaving Rouge and Ray in darkness.

"Stay close, don't move." Rouge basically held him close to her.

A spotlight sounded on.

A large and rotund shadow stepped into it.

Ray looked at him with some annoyance, "Eggman. Where is M-Mighty?"

The doctor began to laugh again, "Hohoho! You both are going to love this." He grinned widely, showing his gleaming white teeth.

He raised an arm and gestured to the left of him. The bat and squirrel waited in expectation and nervousness.

Clanking footsteps slowly approached Dr Eggman. Rouge felt a drop of sweat drip down her head.

'Mighty' revealed himself, being the source of those metallic footsteps. The being was a robot, with a similar physique to the armadillo, but now with a slightly lankier build. The shell, which extended down into a tail, was longer and less articulated than normal.

Everything seemed to be made of metal with an exception to a black visor with red pupils.

Ray held himself closer together, "Where is he, really? You h-have a lot to answer for!"

Rouge interjected, "Are you implying that that is Mighty?"

"My new invention has proved itself spectacularly you see? I have already deceived you by doing nothing."

"Eggman..." Ray stood there, arms shaking, "Why did you do this to him?"

Rouge stood back in a defensive position.

The doctor only smirked at them. The Mecha stood by, unmoving. It didn't even move it's eyes to look around.

Ray leapt at Dr Eggman, "Say something!"

Whilst he was in the air, the robot next to him launched up and brutally shoved Ray to the ground on his back. Mecha Mighty gently landed to the ground in front of Dr Eggman, who was laughing his chest out.

"Y-you're in there s-somewhere... You're completely ou-out of it, aren't y-you?" Ray slowly stood up and went towards Mighty, who stared back at him with the same empty look.

Rouge broke the defensive and gently laid a hand on Ray's shoulder, "Ray.. we have to go.."

"NO!" Ray shook her hand off and reached for the Mecha Mighty.

Rouge looked at the Mecha, "We don't know what we can do- we might get captured too if we stay here any longer, sweetie..."

In the blink of an eye, she grabbed Ray by the hand and ran out of the, now open, door. "Let me go!- Mighty!"

Rouge kept on running with Ray in a vice-like grip, "I'm sorry, we can't stay here.." she tried to gently tell him.

Ray only stared in the opposite direction, "Mighty..." his voice trailed off.

They had both made it through that same opening again and into the cave, "The security bots are probably after us again, so we'll have to hurry.." Rouge told the squirrel.

Stopping when she arrived to the massive crevice again. Grabbing Ray's hands with both of hers, she began to fly upwards with her black wings. "Too bad he could only glide.." Rouge whispered to herself.

Knuckles stood at the control panel with his head in his hands. He had pushed himself far from the microphone after hearing what transpired.

The Resistance was in silence, aside from a few whispers amongst some select groups.

Espio stared straight in front of him in a state of daydreaming, Vector occasionally glanced at him.

"Mission.. failure." Knuckles, regrettably, stated, "They're both retreating back here to HQ."

Espio turned around and left, emotionlessly.

"All these.. poor kids." Vector awkwardly placed his hands on his hips.

Charmy looked up at the crocodile, "What's up with Espio, Vector?

"It's just a sad night, Charmy." He rested a hand on the young bee's head.

His antenna twitched, "I hope we get better.."

Espio stepped outside and sat on the grass on his knees. He could only express these strong emotions on his own, any vulnerabilities could be exploited.

He covered his mouth with both hands, trying to comprehend what he had witnessed.

He tensed up, bending down to face the grass, which he could barely see due to the time of day.

Hearing two people descend to the ground, Espio darted his head upwards to look at them, mouth still covered.

"Are you ill, Espio?" Rouge was holding a distraught Ray.

Espio gestured to the front door, "Y-yes. Go on inside." before continuing.

Rouge, even more concerned than she was before, made her way through the door. A barrage of people were stopped by Knuckles, who had ran to distinguish himself and half the crowd.

"You both go get rest, we have a lot of work to do." Knuckles freed them of any duties of the night, of which Rouge had plenty.

A small Mobian ran outside, unnoticed by the others. Her unnaturally long rabbit ears swayed in the passing wind along her sides.

She stopped when she reached a distance from the chameleon, "Mister Espio?"

"Cream.. go to the quarters, I'd like to be alone for a while." Espio was in the same position, not looking to face the little rabbit.

"Are you sad..?"

"Very. Mighty is gone and I could have saved him before." Espio let his hands hit the sharp blades of the dark grass.

"You had no idea he was there, Mister Espio. And you said you couldn't make it in time, right?"

Espio hesitated, "...Yes. I was too slow for Metal Sonic."

"It's just one mistake. There isn't much harm in one."

Sighing, Espio relaxed his position, "There was all the harm in it."

"How would you know that he was already like that before you made that mistake?"

"Very unlikely." He had to hold himself back from telling Cream that Dr Eggman tortures his subjects both when they were being tested, or just waiting in their cell.

"Mister Espio, Ray cared very much for him, he just has to come back!"

Espio gritted his teeth, gripping onto the blades of grass, "I cared."

A shiver went through both of their spines.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Cream. I think you should head inside to your mother, I think she's looking for you..."

She looked back in worry, "Okay... See you tomorrow, Espio!" Cream ran back inside.

The chameleon stood up and readied to climb up a HQ wall. He gripped onto the side of it and climbed up it, making sure to avoid any windows and possible openings.

He looked behind himself with an eye, the Waning Gibbous Moon had risen from behind a tall mountain in the distance, slightly illuminating the land and causing windows and bodies of water to glisten. He looked back and continued his ascent to the rooftop.

Reaching his hand up again, he realised he made it to the very top of the HQ building.

It was loosely disguised as a regular building along the outskirts of Sunrise Town. A lot of the members had lived in that town, separately from the Resistance.

Espio laid down further from the south of the HQ and just looked up at the stars and pale clouds, in an effort to calm his nerves enough to fall asleep.

The world began to slow down as his eyelids grew heavier and heavier, letting himself drift away.

(End of part)

Chapter Text

Espio awoke in an unfamiliar location, far different than the rooftop. He was now in the streets of a ruined city, the misty air drifted along the slow drafts of wind.

He stood up quickly, looking around. The chameleon, for a millisecond, saw a reflection of himself in a shattered pane of glass. Stopping his look, he crept towards it, picking it up with his hands which were wearing... plain white gloves?

Looking down at them, he also noticed the green and black shoes that he worn on his feet. It seemed as he was dreaming of the past.

Clank... Clank... Clank...

Espio's head sharply turned to the source of the repetitive, yet closing in noises.

A figure stepped out of the mist and Espio couldn't help but stare. They were another chameleon, except they were blue and a fair bit taller than Espio.

He spoke in a slightly croaky voice, "Hel-hello?"

Red eyes flashed on from the other chameleon, making the side he's on known. Espio raised his hands in a defensive stance, but the robotic chameleon only looked at him, through his fixed, cold glare.

The blue chameleon looked slightly upwards, opening it's sharp, gaping jaw, "Forgotten me so easily, Espio?"

Espio was taken aback, dropping the glass and shattering it more on the rough ground. "I... know you?"

The Mecha swiftly staggered to Espio, the world began to go in slow motion as Espio recognised the face. A face that he had severely suppressed from his memory since it happened.

Espio jolted awake, still on the rooftops. His heart was beating out of his chest, it was the only thing he could hear and feel.

He scrambled up onto his feet, which then gave out under him, causing him to go into a foetal position on the flat, yet rough, rooftop.

The sky was still dark, as if hardly any time has passed since he fell asleep. Now he was thinking that sleeping on a rooftop on a cold night was a bad idea.

Through his tired mind, he thought about where the Chaotix's sleeping quarters were. He had half-expected Ray to be there.

Beginning to crawl along the same wall again, he internally noted down where he needed to be.

He turned his body around, so that gravity wouldn't kill him, and looked through where he suspected the place to be.

Through the condensation-faded window, he could see Charmy in his own little bed, snuggled up against his pillow, sound asleep; and Vector and Ray huddled against each other, the squirrel had dried tear stains along his face.

Espio slowly pulled the window towards him in an effort to not make any noise at all. He clambered into the room, spotting the hammock he had installed there himself.

He took off his shoes and gloves and placed them near enough underneath the hammock, then hopped up and climbed into it.

He threw the blanket onto himself and just stared into space for what felt like forever.

The chameleon was nearly completely unwilling to sleep, not wanting to reawaken some distant and traumatic memories like his previous attempt at rest.

He was debating to himself in his brain whether to even sleep, because he would need ample amounts of rest to have a smooth day tomorrow. Either that or it's only to make the day go by slightly easier and lessen the risk of an emotional breakdown.

If he wouldn't sleep, he wouldn't get the rudely awakened experiences of his past, but people are at their worst when they didn't have that time of rest; they get irritable; do their work sloppily and without much precision; and overall just are generally worse people than they were with sleep.

He eventually started to think too hardly about it so Espio actually began to fall asleep unwillingly.

The next morning, Charmy awoke. As he stretched his arms and yawned, he sat up in his small capsule bed. "Yay, another day!"

He stood up and suddenly, he appeared more tired and disheveled. He hopped down from the bed and went towards Ray, who was now alone in Vector's bed.

Charmy sat by Ray's bed in silence, the quietness ever so slightly broken by low snores from the hammock, high up and looming in the room.

It was abnormal for Espio to snore at all, but Charmy was too tired at that time to fly up and check on him.

The bee figured that he could just go find Vector and not inadvertently interrupt the two slumberers.

He hummed a cartoon's introductory tune for about a minute before he found Vector in the kitchen.

"Vector!"

"Oh good mornin' Charmy." The crocodile yawned, "Espio was in bed, wasn't he"?

"Yup, he was snorin'!"

"Must have had a rough night, huh, Charmy?"

"You bet, 'ector! I think Ray and Piyo might talk about it just like we are!"

Vector sighed, "Yeah, Charmy.. I think so too. Want some Honey Nut Cheerios?"

Charmy's eyes widened and sparkled, "You bet I do!" He flew higher into the air, nearly hitting his head on the ceiling.

Rouge, having finished her breakfast, sat outside the Chaotix's quarters. She had taken a peek into the room and spotted Ray still asleep, and had assumed for the past few hours that he was absolutely exhausted by the events of the last night.

She was correct.

Her ears twitched as she heard some light movements of cloth. Rouge stood up, adjusting her gloves.

Ray began to speak, sitting on the bed clutching something. "Espio?"

The chameleon turned around in his hammock, slightly lowering a part of it so he could see Ray. He was half-asleep, "Yes, Ray?"

"Do you think we'll get him back?"

Espio's eyes suddenly widened, remembering something. He laid there in silence, thinking of what to say considering what he had witnessed alone in his mind.

He slightly shook his head, Ray noticed it, "You really think so..?" looking at Espio with disbelief, "Why?"

The chameleon inhaled, "I don't know, I think that Eggman's tightly controlling him. His memories were probably altered."

"How would you know?" Ray stood up slowly.

"I think that is enough talking... Could you go and see the others, please?" Espio groggily calmed his position, going back into rest.

Ray, confused, quietly went outside of the room and was this startled by Rouge.

"Goodness-"

"Sorry, sweetie. How did you sleep?"

"I slept okay... I was with Vec and Charmy for it. I think I'm dehydrated.."

Rouge turned away, "I see, I just wanted to see how you were. I'll see ya in a bit, kiddo. Go get a glass of water or two." She flew away into the hallway.

He quietly walked down to the kitchen area.

Espio didn't intend to talk to anyone despite going to the Chaotix Quarters on his own accord. He put his gloves and shoes on, and after regretting what he said to Ray, climbed down the wall of the HQ.

Jumping down to the ground from a short height, Espio went back inside through the front door.

Amy, who was frustratedly recording where Sonic had ran off to on the previous night, notices Espio. "Espio, I think we might need you again."

"I see, just to survey the doctor again?"

She tapped her chin, "We'll see. It isn't really necessary right now because of how active everyone is this morning!"

The chameleon went over to the massive screen she was typing at and onlooked, "Is it a busy morning?"

"Yeah, Shadow and Sonic have went to a city last night and are still there. Vanilla is there as well."

"I didn't know that she was the... fighting type." Espio crossed his arms, "Vector will be pleased."

Amy shrugged, "It's probably a healing journey, she didn't say much before she went." She began to stroll outside of the room, "Wanna follow me?"

Espio hummed in a positive response, "I hope this situation doesn't get to Ray if it hasn't yet."

"Me too, he'd be great for search and rescue efforts."

"Oh well." The chameleon shrugged and they continued through the Resistance HQ.

Knuckles soon joined them with walking, "Cream told me you seemed upset last night, Espio."

Amy sharply looked at Espio, "Oh yeah. We're all really torn up about what happened to Mighty."

Espio's expression turned to straining, "I don't wish to be rude about Ray, so I shall not state my thoughts."

The two others nodded, Knuckles "I remember when we all met on Angel Island. He was as strong as I can remember."

"How was it like, Knuckles?" Amy interjected, somewhat excited to learn.

The echidna smirked, "I'm sure Vex can tell you all about Esp, he was a smaller lad than now."

Expecting to be embarrassed by the crocodile if they ever decide to bring up those times again, Espio shut them down with a grimacing smile, "I'd rather not."

"About Ray, Cream said that you were upset that you cared about Mighty too, and you seemed rather.. jealous, if it's the right word, of Ray. Was there something going on between you both?" Knuckles side-eyed the chameleon, who furrowed his brows at him in an unsettled confusion.

Mildly disturbed, Espio responded, "What are you getting at?"

Amy smiled mischievously, understanding.

Espio was unamused by them, "If this has anything to do with a 'crush', I am leaving." He sighed and closed his eyes.

Knuckles chuckled and walked further away from Amy and Espio. "I can't wait to see how this comes along, when we get 'em back." She smiled to Espio, with her unfounded hope.

"Me too, Amy." He smiled slightly as well. 

In the later morning, the members who were present at the HQ were called for another meeting by Amy.

"Due to what happened last night, we need a plan to bring back Mighty and actually get rid of Eggman."

Espio quickly looked around the smaller crowd for Ray. Once he found the shivering squirrel, Espio pulled him closer. He inched closer to Ray's right ear, whispering into it, "Please don't leave, we need you here."

Ray's breathing hitched.

Amy continued, "Rouge told us here at HQ that he was turned into one of the 'Mechas', which are robot replicas of our kind created by Eggman. We believe that there were others before Mighty was turned into one himself, but we'll need Sonic and Tails to confirm."

Vector, present as usual, began to speak in Amy's occasional silence, "Ahem, I have something to add."

"Oh what is it, Vector?"

"Espio told me a long time ago that he knew someone who was a Mecha."

Espio's heart dropped, of course he told Vector that night about what he did. He let go of Ray, his hands hung at his sides.

Ray mumbled, "Maybe think about what you say before you bring them up again..." To which Vector heard near completely.

The crocodile thumped a fist on his chest in regret.

"Would he want to talk about it?" Amy put a hand on her hip.

Vector looked to the side, a bead of sweat dripping down his head, "I- I don't think so, nah-"

"Alright. Sonic said that the 'Roboticizer' was invented by Professor Charles Hedgehog for medicinal purposes. I'm getting off topic aren't I – We just need a plan."

Knuckles walked closer, "We're gunna need a lot of forces. I do have a more technical idea if that's fine, Amy."

"Give me all that you got!"

"We could have our technical supporters take control of the Badniks and cut off Eggman's control to them. Then they could do the work for us, is that a good plan?"

"Sounds good, but we have no way of doing that right now. We need a plan as soon as possible."

Vector chimed in again, "We only need a big army to take over the place and take Eggman! It could be as simple as that, for Eggman's sheer IQ size he sure can be predictable."

"Aren't you mostly surprised with anything he does?" Knuckles crossed his arms.

Vector grumbled, "You only see those times and none of the others. First of all, I bet he comes up in his little EggMobile thing and threatens us a bunch, then he pulls out a massive robot which we then defeat in seconds. It is all the same nowadays!" He threw his hands up in the air.

"What are the odds he resurrects another god?"

"He'll never do that, not again. They always end up too powerful and he's 'on our side' again."

"Let's leave our little grievances for our break time. A 'big army sweep' sounds like a flimsy idea..."

The conversation kept on going in circles. Espio hardly took note of much, not since Vector almost mentioned that something. "He always loves to interrupt." He whispered.

Ray responded in the same tone, "Always."

(End of part)

Chapter Text

Sonic and Shadow sped along the green countryside. Considering Vanilla's almost unexplained pilgrimage, Shadow decided upon himself to go to her.

Because of the blue hedgehog's boredom at that time, Sonic tagged along with Shadow.

Boosting in front of Shadow, Sonic turned around 180-degrees to face him, "You seriously wanted to search for her? I didn't know you were that... kind."

Shadow's gleaming third eye glared at Sonic, as the other two kept on looking forth, "It is kind to save someone from hordes of Eggman Robots, Sonic."

"I wonder what even brought her here in the first place."

"It's a big mystery, for everyone."

"You don't think she would have told Cream or Vector?"

"I asked Vector a bit ago, and he, most begrudgingly, said no." Shadow looked to the side. He spotted a sign to a small town as he glared, "The screen said she was here last."

"Alright, let's make this quick!" Sonic grinned widely and sharply accelerated, creating a glowing blue trail behind his quills.

Shadow sighed, also boosting his speed and heading into a different direction in a search for the mother Rabbit.

The windows of the buildings went by the hedgehogs in blurs, the sun flashing between some of the taller ones.

The black-and-red hedgehog could see Sonic playfully jumping up and weaving up above the highest buildings in town.

Soon enough, they had went through the entire neighbourhood before spotting the Rabbit, standing above someone.

Sonic called out to her from where him and Shadow stood, "Vanny!"

She turned around and smiled at them, "Oh, hello! I think that I caught Metal Sonic here."

Vanilla was wearing half-unusual attire for her: a pair of military shorts. Her usual top still stuck. She was wielding a drill wispon.

Sonic ran over there, "Really? Let me see!"

Metal Sonic was sprawled on the ground completely offline, he had seemingly been embedded into the ground in a small silhouette crater. "You really did a number on him.. dang." Sonic looked at the Rabbit, who displayed her usual welcoming smile and closed eyes.

"I didn't know I could do such a thing!" She giggled to herself.

Shadow finally spoke up, "Should we three take him back to HQ?"

Vanilla nodded, "I don't think I'll be fast enough, though."

Sonic clicked a finger, "I have an idea!"

He picked up Vanilla in a 'bridal' style. "We'll just carry you both back. Are you up to the challenge, Shadow?"

The black hedgehog hummed,  half-lidding his eyes. "Sure. I'd like to end this as quickly as possible." He knelt down to pick up Metal Sonic.

"Allright!" Sonic stretched his legs, "Are you ready, Vanilla?"

The rabbit clapped her hands, "Born ready, as you say." She held onto Sonic's shoulders, bracing for the breakneck speed.

Sonic brought himself into a preparing position, grinning and staring to the front of himself. "Shadow!"

Shadow silently readied himself near him, not as enthusiastic.

Sonic tensed himself, "Alright, here we go!" and charged forward, wind rushing in his quills and Vanilla's ears and knotted-up dress.

And so they were going back to HQ, with Sonic carrying Vanilla and Shadow carrying the body of Metal. He sighed, "Why did I agree to this."

Sonic rolled his eyes, "It was because you needed to! It'd be more difficult if you didn't!" He boosted up, to which Vanilla held on tighter and laughed.

"I can see why Cream spends so much time helping you all out, it's quite thrilling!"

"All until your life is at stake." Shadow held onto Metal Sonic's limp body, occasionally glancing at his visor to make sure he hasn't come back online. "How badly did you hurt him, Miss Vanilla?"

"I don't think that badly."

Shadow was kind of astonished by the amount of damage, "He has dents on his body and forehead."

Vanilla said in thought, "I think he was already injured before we fought. I think Dr Eggman may be searching for him."

Sonic sharply looked up, "Or tracking him!" He slowed slightly after the boost, "But then again, he's completely turned off."

"What are we going to do with him?" Shadow asked.

Sonic shrugged his shoulders, "Probably turn him good or something, Tails or Wave could do something."

A beep rang through one of their microphones, "Hello?"

Sonic spoke into it, "Hey Amy! We're heading back with Metal."

"Are Shadow and Vanilla with you?"

"Yeah. They're coming back with us."

Sonic could hear Cream calling out to her mother on the other side, Vanilla chuckled and responded, "I'll be there soon, dear!"

The two hedgehogs kept on running and skating their way to Resistance HQ. Vanilla continued, "I have been concerned about Cream, but you're all just so good at being a little group of heroes!"

Sonic smiled at Vanilla, "We gotta do what we gotta do, Miss Vanilla! I think Vector had a solid time looking after Cream." winking all-knowingly.

Vanilla sighed, "Vector's such a strong and upstanding man, always stepping up for everyone.."

"Have you talked to many people while you were in that village?" He furrowed an eyebrow.

Vanilla chuckled again, "I miss them, alright?"

Wave sat on a chair in the HQ Workshop. Amy Rose had just finished relaying that Sonic and company have found Metal Sonic and are taking him back. Wave spoke, "What shall we do?"

Tails set a screwdriver down, his dual-tails ruffling, "I think to reprogram him. We'll need to listen to them when they return!"

"Yes, but we will really need to prepare in case Eggman's up to something to do with Metal." Wave pounded her hands together.

"I have an idea!" Tails took out a piece of paper and wrote his thoughts down in notes along the side of it.

- Enhance abilities for our use

- Remove anything related to Dr Eggman and his control

- Make him good and cool like us!!!

Wave scanned over the notes, "Alright, complete reprogram, neat."

"Worth a shot." Tails put the pencil gently onto the table, and, as if on cue, the door to the workshop opened to which Sonic and Vanilla stepped in.

Vanilla was carrying Metal Sonic, "Your ingenuity and craftsmanship shall prove us a great favour!"

(End of part)

Chapter Text

Metal Sonic's body laid on a metal table at the Resistance HQ, with Wave looking him over, "This is so strange!"

Tails stretched his fingers and cracked his knuckles, "All-right, we'll need to find an opening into his head, or body, or anything."

Wave balanced a screwdriver in her grasping fingers, "I'm sure he is brimming with circuitry anyway." She turned Metal Sonic around on his front.

As she mentally predicted, there was a rectangular shape of metal keeping some components inside of it. She scanned over the edges of it with her gloves hand and unscrewed it open.

"Absolutely marvelous.." She admired the circuits and wire placements, it was obvious that it had already been tampered with in the past. "Who did this to you?"

Tails looked over, "Probably himself a bit ago." He spotted some blocks containing Eggman's code, "We need to take those out and replace 'em with ours."

The Swallow went at the 'bricks' with a set of tools, "He's attached them tight, didn't he?"

Humming, Tails pulled out a now unattached part and peered closely at it. He said aloud some inscription, "Egg Tracker 5000..."

She waved it away, "Better destroy it." Still focused on unscrewing and severing the Robotnik components. "With all these gone, he'll just be a functioning robot. Here to help and to assist anyone."

"Key word: 'Anyone'."

Once Wave removed what was needed to be, the two took a step back. Tails continued, "Now, I'll need to upload a new subconscious onto Metal."

"And... How do you plan on doing that?"

Tails inhaled to speak, but was interrupted by a signal in a computer. He ohed and observed the messages rapidly coming through.

Wave watched him, confused "What's happening?"

"Eggman's looking for him, I knew it!" He looked back at Metal. "Quick, destroy that tracker!"

Wave swiftly grabbed a wrench and started whacking it hardly, before just throwing it to the floor because the wrench wasn't working effectively.

"I think we will need to operate quickly, we could just make another AI...?" Tails opened some files, containing some past designs and codes for a few devices.

Wave picked up the remains of the Egg Tracker 5000, "Maybe. But it's stupidly hard to do, wouldn't it take literal months? Even for us!"

"I'll just do some copying and inspiration!"

"I have an idea. Espio told me about it earlier."

Typing notes along on a keyboard, Tails grinned, "We're almost ready, I think our time designing and creating this thing was well spent!"

"You mean the AI?"

"Yes, I probably should have told you but I based a lot of his mannerisms on Sonic-"

Wave looked at the screen with intrigue, the black and yellow AI greeted her, "Hey Wave!"

"Hi," she turned to Tails, "So they're going to convince Metal in his brain to.. be good?"

"If that doesn't work they're gonna take full control! I don't think it is that strong just yet, though. But I have a plan for that weakness!"

"You're more smart than I gave you credit for." She was about to continue speaking but a loud set of knocks wrang outside of the metal door.

Wave jogged over to the door, and pressed a button which slammed it open.

It was Jet and Storm, the other Rogues, "We gotta go." The hawk spoke.

Wave exhaled and walked over to grab her Extreme Gear from a wall, "Ah, is it another one of those rescues?"

Storm looked to the side, the three of them held their Extreme Gears under their arms, "Yeah we gotta go now."

"You'll be alright here?" Wave asked Tails.

Tails nodded and the Rogues left.

"You want to download me into this vessel?" Shard spoke, on the monitor screen.

"Yeah, I'll just have to plug him in so you can get in." Tails reached for a wire and plugged it into the side of the monitor.

He then plugged the other end into Metal Sonic's head with an audible click.

Metal Sonic's visor began to glow a soft yellow as Shard the AI made their way into his mind. The body twitched on the metal table as the process kept going.

The fox crossed his fingers and closed his eyes.

When he opened them, the AI had disappeared from their window in the monitor, as they had moved to Metal Sonic.

He went closer to Metal, putting an ear to his head, "Shard, has it worked?"

A small message displayed in a corner of Metal's visor, displaying the word: [ YES ]

"Yes, we did it!" He cheered.

A whirring sound was heard from Metal Sonic's head, and the robot slowly tilted up to sit. His pupils switched on revealing a new cyan glowing colour.

"Solid model he has here, not as different to mine." Shard spoke for him. They stepped off the table, gazing around the room excitedly.

"If it's not a bad question, is everything all right in there?"

"I can hardly see anything unexpected, save for a few orange sparkles in the vision. Everything else is completely normal. The sensors and vitals are displayed."

"Great! So y'know what you have to do?"

"It's in my code, yes. Take over the Egg-head with force and give this planet the peace it deserves." The robot recited a section.

Sonic opened the door of the workshop, and nearly immediately was taken aback by Metal being up and active. "Tails?!"

"Don't worry, we have him under control.. literally." Tails gestured to Metal, who turned to face Sonic.

They waved to the blue hedgehog, "Hello, Sonic!"

"Hey." He turned to face Tails, "So he's gonna take over Dr Eggman? I kinda just accepted Metal as his own person for a bit." Sonic walked over to Metal and peered around him, seeing no recent physical changes aside from the back of his head still being open.

Tails raised a finger, "It's a bit of a mystery, one that it isn't really in our place to solve right now."

"I'd suppose a 'sponsored revolution' won't be so bad." He looked back at Metal, "You're up for it?"

"Of course!"

(End of part)

Chapter Text

"You need to act normal, could you maybe change Metal's eye colour back to red so it's more authentic?" Sonic stood in front of the controlled robot in a thinking stance.

"You got it." Shard said as the visors flashed from green back to red.

"Now you just don't talk while Eggman is around you, that's as much as we know."

Tails walked up to them both, still in the workshop. "We're predicting Eggman to be near HQ sometime today, we'll have to bring you out here before then."

"Cool!" Shard said, pumped to bring down Dr Eggman, "I think I can do this!"

"I think you can too!" Sonic raised a fist in front of Metal, and so they raised a clawed hand and bumped Sonic's.

Tails grinned at them, "The members definitely know at this point, right Sonic?"

Sonic raised a thumbs-up, "Yup, gave everyone the memo to not go after 'im and to make Shard feel welcomed as an asset."

The robot looked at the hand for a brief moment, and then set it down.

"Wanna go see some people?" Tails asked Metal, who then nodded in reply.

Tails sprinted to the door and opened it, "Come with me, then!"

Sonic and Metal walked with Tails. Their main objective is to catch up with people and notify them about what will happen in due time.

Sonic spotted his first victim: a red echidna, "Hey Knux!" He ran over to him and put a hand over his shoulder.

"Oh hey, man, anything new from your end?"

"Just making a good use out of Metal me." He gestured to the fated robot, walking up towards them with Tails Prower nearby.

Knuckles looked at them with intrigue, "So that's what you both did?"

"Yup! Tails mostly did all the work, mostly 'cuz Wave had to leave." Sonic explained to the echidna, who nodded as the blue hedgehog spoke.

He responded verbally, "Yes, I told them to go."

Sonic ohed and awkwardly went to the side, he suggested to Shard, "I believe that you should see the Chaotix now! Come with me!"

He grabbed the metallic hand and pulled him with his speed. "This guy has a rocket booster!" Shard called out as the engine switched on and overpowered the blue hedgehog, now switching roles.

Sonic felt exhilarated, now commanding Shard on where to turn and go, "Go left!"

Grinning widely, he pointed forwards, "Now go outside and fly up!"

Reaching the cool outside breeze, Shard hollered, "Up we go!" He shot upwards.

Sonic's tone shifted, "Wait go back down - we missed it-"

Tails caught up to them, using his two tails as a helicopter.

"Oh okay." Shard slowed to a stop in the air, then descended back to the middle of the wall.

Sonic pointed to the direction of a window, to which Shard followed his hand.

"This is it?"

"Yeah, just let me knock on the window really quick." Sonic reached up to the window and knocked against it.

A familiar yellow squirrel pointed to it from the table he sat at, "Oh look there -"

A large white hand opened the window, "We got the memo, come right in!" Vector said to them.

"Thanks, Vector."

Metal flew in with Sonic hanging onto him, turning the engine off. Tails also flew in close behind. The room was occupied by Vector, Ray, and Espio. "Is this a team meeting?" Sonic asked the group.

Vector nodded, "Yup, just going over some stuff."

Espio went over specifics, "Going over how to get a certain somebody back with us." He stood further from the table, leaning against a wall.

Ray rested his elbows on the table."You both said something about Robotnik using something like the Roboticizer before, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Sonic sat at the table on a plastic chair.

Ray tilted his head, "Did he use it a lot?"

"Sure he did, I think we have some files locked away somewhere." Sonic lifted a finger, "I think I know where this is going."

"Something about a 'deroboticizer'?" Metal stood, motionlessly, not far from them.

"How'd you know?" Sonic looked over at them.

Metal walked closer, "Endless knowledge of this place, Sonic, that's how I know."

"Anyways, they're right, somethin' like that." Sonic looked back at Vector.

The chameleon hummed, closing his eyes, "Yes."

Ray gently put his hands on the table, standing up, "Do you know where we could find anything about it?"

The blue hedgehog shrugged, "I can only recommend a forest around here. It was buried a long time ago when Eggman, or 'Robotnik', went under for the second time."

Tails spoke for the first time in a while, "It's gonna be hard to find, trust me."

Shard looked out the window, the sun was setting upon the town. "I think our plan should come into fruition. I can feel a strong presence.."

Tails shot up, going to Shard. "Alright. Sonic, you can stay here while we set this up!"

The fox winked at the hedgehog.

"No problem!" Sonic smirked.

Espio nodded, "Good luck to you both."

The town's streets were littered with Badniks of all sorts. Silver motorbugs trailed past Shard and Tails.

The blue robot gripped tightly onto the fox's arm, looking around.

"I hear some louder whirring, that must be Eggman." Shard predicted.

Tails smiles, "Time to act."

He suddenly started to look scared, frantically gazing around at the street in wait for the Doctor's arrival.

"Metal!" He called out to them, "You defective little-Get over here at once!"

Shaken, Metal walked over to Dr Eggman in his EggMobile, dragging Tails behind him.

"I see that you captured someone, but it's not enough for the week you have been absent! How did you even get out?"

Silence.

The fox in their grasp thought, 'Good job, Shard! Now it's time that I get out of here!'

He pulled away suddenly, bringing Metal down and forcing them to let go.

Tails ran away in the direction that he came, maniacally laughing with glee. He jumped up and flew away on his tails.

"Nevermind, then! Come with me this instant, you big drum of nothing."

The blue robot silently followed their 'master'. The Badniks, having just received a signal by Eggman pressing a button on his EggMobile, withdrew from their searches and began travelling back to the Lair.

Shard looked with their red pupils along the sides, watching Badniks walk, roll, crawl, and fly along with them and Dr Eggman.

(End of part)

Chapter Text

The sun has set on the EggLair. Recovering from the seizing of his prized Robot, the previous night, Dr Ivo Robotnik set Mecha Mighty offline, standing stiffly in a corner.

He walked over to Metal Sonic, who was laying on a table, online and merely watching the Doctor pull out tools from cabinets as well as a Status Machine.

The Status Machine was a tall stand with a screen on it, which displayed the vitals of a robot plugged into it. Eggman plugged the cord into the side of Metal Sonic's head through a circular port hole.

"Now that the Armadillo is offline, I'll need to see what they did to you, Metal." He watched as the screen whirred and started to display Metal's components and possible issues.

A warning displayed on the screen:

WARNING: VIRUS DETECTED

"What?!" Eggman swiftly looked at Metal Sonic, whose eyes have turned green again.

A voice started to play through the screen and Metal Sonic himself, "Haha! The Resistance have placed me here to take you down, Doctor Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik!"

A silhouette of black and yellow binary code, with a somewhat similar shape to Sonic's, displayed on the screen, walking directly into it and pressing it's face against the barrier.

Eggman could see a black visor with green eyes, and a mouth.

"I'm inside your kid's head. You realise that we only wanna keep the planet and it's people safe, right? You are just a huge pain in everyone's behinds, y'know?"

Catching a glint of a smile in the code-patterned silhouette, Dr Eggman furiously yelled back at the entity, "You fool! I'll get back at you all one way or another. I can just get rid of you right here!"

The entity started to crack away, "Woah, wait!" They called out in a panic, despite Dr Eggman not even doing anything yet. He looked at Metal Sonic, puzzled.

The robot was writhing against the table, eyes interchanging colours in a matter of moments. "Metal!"

The doctor stood back, watching as the replica shakily stood up on the table, seemingly possessed by something.

"Did that thing take control of you?" Eggman took out a remote control, ready to bring out other robots to subdue Metal Sonic.

The robot started to emit a gutteral and harsh cackle. It sent shivers down the doctor's spine.

Calling out to him in a last ditch effort, "Cut it out, Metal!" Dr Eggman pressed a red button on the control.

Badniks emerged from small doors along the sides of the room, ready to subdue the now rogue and feral Metal Sonic.

"Get him!" Dr Eggman commanded the robots. Just as they were all going to pounce on Metal Sonic, the crevices inside of their bodies began to spark with a new electrical current making its entrance inside them.

The previously airborne Badniks fell to the floor, all now suddenly turning offline at the same time.

Dr Eggman yelped in confusion and fear, "What the heck is going on?"

Metal Sonic let out an even more gutteral and unnatural laugh. It was auditorally distorted, moreso than the last time.

The robotic hedgehog sonderly walked towards his creator, eyes now glowing brighter than ever before.

Eggman attempted to scold him, backing away with an anxious expression, "Metal, Cut it out!"

Metal spoke. "This... is me."

The doctor bolted away in the opposite direction, heading towards the exit out of the room.

Metal only walked behind him, well aware that Eggman could hardly leave the lair. "I wouldn't suppose you would make it far."

Eggman shouted in his panic, "Stay away from me!" He jumped into his EggMobile and turned it on.

It's projected screen was orange instead of the usual glowing cyan, Eggman thudded his fist against it in frustration.

"Doctor." 

Metal stood nearby, pupils twitching in orange, Badniks stood at every side of the mobile. Dr Eggman silently stared at his creation.

"Whatever you're thinking of doing, it won't work." He said, beads of sweat dripping down his bald head.

"Watch me."

Metal Sonic leapt upwards, preparing to strike his creator.

Knuckles stood in front of the others, arms folded, "Considering we don't know how the mission is going, we need someone to infiltrate the lair to check on Shard."

Amy shrugged, "I think we know who should do it, really."

That fateful person, being Espio, sighed and said, "Alright. That won't be an issue."

Before he left, Amy rushed up to him, "Wait!"

He turned around to look at her, "Yes, Amy?"

"I hope it isn't much trouble, but... If you could find Mighty anywhere, it would be a huge help for us!" She asked him sheepishly, raising a hand to scratch her head.

The chameleon told her, "Of course, I was planning to do that. We'll see you all afterwards, alright?"

"Okay, see you later!" She waved before walking away from him.

After making sure he had his required equipment, Espio sprinted out of the HQ.

The streets near the HQ and outside The EggLair felt emptier than they normally were. The presence of Badniks and general Robots were always felt, this time it wasn't.

Espio scaled another huge wall along the outskirts of it. Once he ascended to a high level, he turned himself invisible, careful not to alert the Doctor's security systems.

The chameleon climbed atop of it, leading himself to a wide area. He inched past some security Badniks, silently down sets of stairs, and further into the lair.

Bringing himself inside through a ventilation shaft, Espio landed on the metal floor inside of the Lair. Judging by the amount of offline Badniks inside, this was one of the main areas close to the centre.

Considering he had already invited himself in there under his hypothetical cloak of invisibility numerous times before, he exited the room before climbing upwards and onto the ceiling.

He breathed in, and for a moment he could catch a silver motorbug zooming across the floor under him.

It didn't take long before dozens of them came following that one. Something had happened, but Espio had to find out what did.

He staggered along the ceiling and followed the crowd veering and bumping around each other in the corridor.

They all were gathering in a large room, one Espio most certainly came across before on a mission. A faint smell of cooking meat hit his senses.

Thinking about there being few organic matter inside this lair, it concerned Espio.

Now, he saw the robotic Mighty walk into the room, looking over the Badniks. Espio's breathing hitched.

He crawled into the room, still on the ceiling, and looked all around.

He spotted Metal Sonic in the opposite wall to the entrance, in front of a large rectangular container with something burning inside it, supposedly fuel.

Espio climbed along to fully see what was being burned.

For a second, he could see a flash of red fabric, then being charred and burned away by the flames.

Hearing a sound, Espio looked at Metal Sonic. The robot was holding a pair of goggles.

These goggles had small orange lenses with thick eye seals, obviously used in case the user needed to see things up-close.

He recognised them as something Eggman wore regularly.

Putting the smell, the flash of red, and the goggles together, Espio could guess that Dr Eggman was now dead and being 'cremated' in a fuel container.

Espio uncloaked himself, still on the ceiling. He needed to interrogate the controlled Metal Sonic. He inhaled, then uttered, "Shard, was it a success?"

Metal looked up at him, the change in his eye colour slightly felt. "I wouldn't suppose so."

"Isn't the doctor defeated?"

"Yes. Now, it is time for a new era of this Empire."

(End of part)

Chapter Text

Metal Sonic stood on a podium in front of a huge holographic screen. It displayed a transformation he had gone through in the past.

Robotic hands with eyes on their palms, dangling and connected to the ceiling, added the enhancements from the form, save for a few needed changes due to the newer times.

"I believe a familiar face like this should drive fear into them." He said to himself. Metal looked at his hand, now quarter-covered by a strong cuff.

As the process went on, thick quills were added to the back of his head, merging with it.

"How many people live on this planet?"

The screen then displayed a figure of: 3-5 billion.

Metal marvelled at the statistic, "I think that would be just enough for my army."

Once it finished, Metal Sonic, now Neo Metal Sonic, laughed before asking a final question, "Now... Where are those plans?"

He began to walk towards the huge door, but then he saw Mighty standing idly near it. His pupil flickered with green, but quickly returned to their orange state, "Come with me."

The other being complied silently and walked closely behind Neo. Soon after, Mighty sped up, taking them both towards yet another familiar room.

They both entered, "Yes, this is the place." Neo Metal Sonic reached over and pulled out a sheet of paper. It contained sketches and annotations of a huge network of machinery.

Using his mind, he sends a signal to every Badnik across the Lair and beyond, to begin rapid production of more Badniks, and this huge network of machines, transferring these images to them.

Having rushed back to the HeadQuarters, Espio opened the entrance to the main room, where Amy was going over communications and tracking.

"Was it a success, Espio?"

He inhaled, "No. Something has gone seriously wrong with Metal Sonic." He gestured in front of him, the words alerted Amy.

"What happened?" She pulled herself away from the keyboard and screen.

"I think it's the programming – I don't know at all." Espio responded.

"Do you think that Shard would betray us?"

"All we really did is lay out instructions in a script, right? I didn't hear anything besides that." He looked away, "Did we expect them to, on their first day of existence, to pull off such an incredulous task?"

Amy turned away as well, putting a hand on her chest, "I think it was more of a last resort..." She looked back towards Espio, "If something really went wrong, then..."

"Wait." He raised a hand quickly, "Something felt really different. I wouldn't suppose that orange is a regular colour for Metal Sonic, would it?"

"I have never heard of that before!"

"His eyes were slightly orange, I think we'll need to check with Tails, or... something."

"I think so too, let's go!" Amy yanked Espio by the wrist, surprising him, and took him to the main HQ workshop.

"Tails." Amy spotted the fox, who was writing something near the metal table Metal was previously on. She let go of Espio and put a hand near the paper, bringing Tails' attention to her.

"Hey Amy -"

"Espio came back and something has gone really wrong." She put the other hand on her hip.

"Oh, what has?"

"Well, I believe that Shard has faltered and has now taken over the Robotnik Empire." Espio stated, straight-faced as usual.

Tails stood up slowly, "...What?"

"I wasn't there for very long, but I am certain that Dr Eggman has been overthrown and either killed, locked up, or sent far away."

Tails glared to the side in thought. "How? If he really was dead, why would Metal just take over?"

"I think something deep inside him wants... suffering, I'm not sure."

"Sounds correct, he sounded stereotypically evil." Espio remarked. He then walked outside the workshop, just looking outside. "He's thinking of mobilising."

Tails looked back, "We have to warn the others."

Amy sprinted out of the room and back towards where she was before, and Tails and Espio followed.

She held down a button on a keyboard and a small microphone rose out of a circular hole in the table. Amy spoke into it.

"Everyone in the Resistance and beyond, Doctor Eggman has been overthrown by Metal Sonic. His intentions don't seem great. Be aware of any Badniks in your area."

She set the recording to be available for the members to repeat, and sent the recording to everyone with the device. Amy rested her head in a hand, "At least things will return to... Somewhat normality after this."

Tails tapped his foot, "Some peace would be nice for once."

Espio silently walked away, not contributing more to the dying conversation.

Amy turned to Tails, "Where is Sonic?"

He pointed to the large screen displaying the members' tracking systems, "I'm sure he's on his way back from wherever he was before... The place he was at didn't even have a name."

"Somewhere in the forest, I see." After saying this, Amy tugged at the neck of her dress, brows tilted downwards. "Do you think this will turn out okay...?"

"It always does! Everyone will be back here soon and we will all do our best to stop another invasion!" Tails stepped in front of her, tails twirling.

"I'm just glad it isn't another god, or demon, or anything that Eggman used to do."

Just then, the door opened and, in stepped the blue hedgehog, followed by most of the other members, therefore flooding the room with them.

"Heard something big happened." Sonic stood next to Amy.

Knuckles entered the room with Rouge. "Truly big. We need to figure out what to do."

"Remember when we had a huge showdown during the war?" Tails asked Knuckles.

The echidna nodded and replied more, "Yeah, I suppose that doing one sooner rather than later wouldn't be a bad idea."

Espio, having re-entered the place, contributed again, "I couldn't see much in the Lair due to intentionally making my presence known to Metal Sonic, yet I think he is now assembling and making his army."

"I see." Knuckles turned his head to everyone, capturing their eager, nervous, and listening intently, faces. "We need to intervene, everyone."

(End of part)

Chapter Text

Rouge stood in a hole in the wall of the outside of the main sector of the EggLair, her position hidden from the multitude of mobilising Badniks, she spoke into a microphone, "I believe that now is a good time to get going, they aren't quite ready yet, Knuckles."

"Thank you Rouge, we'll be right there!"

Rouge climbed further up the wall and watched the Badniks. She grinned and thought to herself, 'This will be easy as pie.'

Making it to the top of the tall wall, too far for everyone to see in the mist, she could see a crowd of Resistance members readying for battle in the front of a distant city.

She could see the crowd stop moving, and a strong red figure in the distance lifted a fist, Rouge heard him call out to everyone loudly.

"Alright everybody, let's go!"

The army ran forth, heading straight for the area Rouge and a few more spies were. In the cast stretch of land around the lair, it looked much worse than it did a mere few days ago.

The clouds covered the skies surrounding the lair, covering everything in a faint cloak of darkness, and the land was dry as per usual, but today felt different.

Soon enough, the army made it to the Badniks, which also began to charge at the heroes.

Rouge smiled at the scene, of her side destroying and Badniks within minutes. It reminded her that these people are getting stronger and stronger with each passing event.

"Isn't it beautiful?"

Rouge nearly jumped out of her skin, she turned around to see Neo Metal Sonic standing upon the top of the Lair with her, watching everything.

"Watching you villains get beaten sure is beautiful, is it Metal?" She hid her sudden shock behind a smirk.

"You have no idea, Rouge." He kept watching, unmoving, paying her no attention besides talking to her in that moment.

Rouge stood up, stretching her back and wings. An idea sprung into her mind and her ear twitched.

"No idea about what? A secret attack perhaps?" She stood next to him, slightly looking up to his face.

An orange pupil glared at her for a split-second before turning back normally.

She heard something rolling from underneath her, so she then peered over the edge of the building.

"Indeed."

Then, Neo Metal slightly kicked her off the edge, sending her plummeting down.

Rouge yelled out in anguish, "Okay that caught me off-guard!!"

Now falling front-first, she put more weight into the top of her body, still plummeting down towards the ground. As she nearly hit the ground, she spread her wings and started shooting forwards and into dozens of Badniks.

"Goodness me, he actually got me there."

She slowed to a stop near Knuckles, who she then started breaking stuff with. "Hey there."

"I assume there wasn't much luck, huh?"

"He told me he was planning a secret surprise, so I just decided to swoop down and tell you." Rouge said while kicking a 'spike-robot-thing' in the face.

"Knew it." He punched a motor-bug in the face, completely denting it inwards.

Rouge grabbed another spike and flipped it upside down, it writhed in her grip.

She flew up, and back down again, boosting the Badnik into the others.

Once she stopped, she had a feeling. "Knuckles!"

Just after she called out, she saw a horde of robots being obliterated by gunfire. Omega stepped out from the smoke, "I heard the call of battle."

She turned to look at him, a hand on her hip, "Thank Chaos you're both here."

A bulky shadow loomed above the two fighting armies. Just then, a large red eye switched on, illuminating everything it was looking at.

It was a huge, red, tank-like robot, it was standing on 5 long legs like an insect. It had lines of guns along its abdomen in a cross-shaped layout.

She read the numbers on the side of the cross.

204

"Oh..." Rouge stared back up into the eye.

"Get down!"

Rouge sharply turned to her side to see Shadow pushing her away from its sights as fast as he could. She landed on the dry ground, looking back at where she was standing. In her place was a charred crater.

"Thanks, sweetie." She stood up.

"When it looks at you, move away as fast as you can. This could be something horrific." He dusted his hands together.

Blindingly, the robot began to emit a horrible red laser from the eye again. Rouge yelled out, "Omega!"

Thankfully, the robot jetted upwards into the air, missing the huge laser.

Screams and painful beeping erupted from the crowds.

"Oh god!- Everyone fall back!" Knuckles raised his hands in a panic.

A blue glowing blur zipped through the crowd and towards the tank. "Oh snap!"

The laser switched off, and a gutteral laugh was heard from above: Neo.

Sonic looked up at the looming presence, "Metal! What did you do, man?!" with an irritated expression.

Not taking his silence as a proper answer, the blue hedgehog began to go at the tank's legs, tripping it over and sending it stumbling over.

Knuckles, going after Sonic's example, commander everyone to, "Go for the legs!"

"But, what do we do about everything else? It could still gun us down." Somebody, crouched down holding his helmet, said.

The echidna responded, now considering those variables, "Oh yeah, we'll just... destroy it completely, I suppose."

"I got this, don't worry!" Sonic yelled as he spin-attacked directly into the robot as it was falling over on its last leg.

It, of course, had a large battery core in the centre. And so, Sonic began to decimate the robot from the inside out.

A short amount of time passed and the robot laid on the ground, smoke erupting from it and sparks flying around.

The Resistance cheered in victory, and Sonic came out of the broken tank.

"I think this might become a problem." He said as Neo Metal Sonic descended gently to the top of the downed robot.

"You're quite right, Sonic."

"Metal. Why are you doing all this?" Sonic asked him in a serious tone, facing him.

In silence, Metal Sonic peered around at the scene, looking at the injured Resistance members.

"I despise you." Neo coldly admitted. It would have been better if it wasn't directly coded into his spirit, it was more impactful than they had thought it would be.

"My own being was built upon it, I simply cannot allow you and your pathetic friends to keep on thriving as we live in the dark."

(End of part)

Chapter Text

After a monologue from Metal Sonic, the remains of the Resistance left in order to re-cooperate and plot.

They were certainly shaken, their comrades being obliterated and turned into nothing right in front of them had that effect.

They sobbed in the arms of their friends, while unfortunate ones in their own hands. 

Vanilla, with her daughter, rushed to them on her heels, "Is everyone alright?"

Knuckles plainly stated, "No, we could have done more, but we can't lose much more than we already had."

"They've all lost their friends." Sonic sat on a table, sighing.

Cream looked at the floor, "That's awful..."

Knuckles looked around, then went towards Vanilla, whispering close to her, "You all kept Ray here, right?"

"Oh yes, he's waiting in the lounge area for you all to return with us." She gestured in the direction of the room.

"Good, I don't want anything happening to him, like disappearing off again.." He crossed his arms and looked to the side.

"It's... horrible.." Cream chimed in, before asking, "This is really particular but.. was Espio with you?"

"He was spying around with Rouge, and was either kicked off or managed to stick around the place more than her."

Rouge walked by, stopping near them, "I didn't see him anywhere during it at all."

"He'll reappear sometime." Knuckles looked towards the door, "What have you been up to, while we were fighting?"

A red light flashed on a radio.

Sitting down on the pavement, setting his Extreme Gear next to him, Jet repeatedly tapped on a button on his radio.

Wave descended near to him, "You think they did alright?"

"You bet I do."

"Do you guys think that the armadillo might be up to something?" Storm suggested.

Jet turned his head to them, "He was prolly sent out tha' lair for some emotionally manipulative reasons. Villains sure do love that sorta thing."

"Rogues," Somebody spoke from a balcony nearby above the trio, "It wasn't a huge success."

The person was a black rabbit with ears pointing straight up, she wore a white and black bodysuit that went to her elbows and knees.

Jet huffed, "Kid, I'm sure we would have gotten that info one way or another."

"A lot of people were killed, they said it was one of their worst fights yet." The rabbit leapt up and sat on the wall of the balcony.

"They'll bounce back, eh." Wave scowled, "What's your name anyway, kid?"

"Radella, nothing too special." She scratched her head, looking to the side over the small town.

Storm stood up a few seconds after, "We need to continue searchin'." He looked at his watch, scrolling down a list of people that was sent to the each of them by somebody at HQ.

"Cursed list, they get us to look for people and that's literally it." Jet followed with Wave.

A few hours after returning in silence again, Espio tossed and turned in his hammock, finding no position comfortable in his tiredness and frustration. Everything felt too warm.

A small window of light appeared in the room, everyone else in the room was asleep, as Espio was expecting.

But yet, a short shadow made himself known.

The chameleon opened his eyes and slightly tilted the hammock down so he could see who was creating the shadow.

"...Ray?"

He could see the squirrel sheepishly kick something behind the wall, Ray whispered, "Sorry for being loud, I just had to go somewhere."

"You weren't loud, where did you have to go?" Espio whispered in response.

Ray answered him quietly, "To get water."

"Okay... Be back to bed soon, we have a lot to do.." The chameleon turned back in his hammock, tossing the blanket underneath him leaving his body to the elements in the room.

The light faded as the door closed, no footsteps were in the room to Espio's "intrigue". Except, not quite.

His mind felt more at ease than it had for a while at this point, despite everything, and despite these looming threats.

As far as Espio knew around that time, Ray didn't return to the room.

Somebody was poking from below him, "Kid? Kid?"

Those words made it known that the somebody was Vector. Espio sharply awoke, "Sorry, Vector. I don't know what is coming over me. Is there anything you need?"

"We have a bit of an issue.." He pointed with his thumb towards the outside of the room.

"Right, I'll be with you in a moment." Espio clambered to the floor, equipping his gear as Vector left.

Soon after, Espio joined him. Vector inhaled, "Ray's..." He pressed a finger in the middle of his brow, "He's disappeared."

Espio's stance went stationary suddenly. He slowly looked to the side in silence. He closed his eyes, "...When?"

"Sometime last night."

He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. "I always do this. I end up in the middle of something important and I don't even react or do anything to help anyone."

"Espio, you try your best like we all do here, please don't be so hard on yourself.."

"It's true. I had a small exchange with Ray and he never came back afterwards. Did I do anything? No." He turned around facing away from Vector and towards the wall.

The crocodile sighed, "We'll find him, and Mighty too. He's nearly always at the Lair, isn't he?"

Espio nodded and opened his eyes.

"So we'll go get him! We'll get in there and bring him back to us and take Metal down!"

"Nothing is as simple as that, Vector the Detector."

"It's ta' summarise."

"I understand, I'm sorry for being so angsty."

"Nah, it's cool. You don't need to be ashamed of anythin', Esp." Vector grinned at him, putting a hand over the chameleon's shoulder.

Espio glanced further down the corridor, "We need to get to work."

"Espio! Vector!"

Charmy was calling out to them, suddenly flying to them from where he was with Amy at the communications.

"Get up to anythin' fun, Charmy?" Vector asked the young bee, keeping the unfortunate news away from Charmy for now.

He gleefully explained what he was doing with Amy, "Yeah, we were orna–organising where people were!"

"He was really good at it, just so y'know." Amy smiled at the Chaotix.

Her face fell soon after, and she went over to Espio, whispering, "He didn't bring any form of tracking, we have no way of figuring out where he is unless someone sees him..."

"I see... We'll keep our hopes up for him." He weakly smiled at the pink hedgehog.

He listened to Charmy and Vector talk about what the bee learned for about 10 minutes.

"Are you up for a mission, Espio?"

The chameleon nodded, "I think it would be vital to learn some more information. I'll be sure to have my guard up for anything Metal Sonic could throw my way."

"We're trying to get through to anything left of Shard in Metal, but it's been a bit hard due to the distance, so we might have to bring something or someone with you. Is it alright if you could wait until being sent?"

"Of course, anything is necessary." Espio turned around to see Charmy and Vector looking at them.

(End of part)

Chapter Text

Vector was sitting at the main desk in the room, taking a phone call. Charmy listened, as closely as he could, to the descriptions and the circumstances.

"We are just as stressed out as you are, I'm sorry about them!" Vector said wholeheartedly.

Charmy tore the page from the notepad he was writing stuff down on and handed it to Vector, he looked at it while holding the telephone. "I think that this has to do with the Empire. Now, I'd recommend for you and your family to stay inside with all doors leading outside locked, so you don't get captured too."

"Is this serious business, Vector?" The bee asked the crocodile.

He nodded, resting a hand on the vibrating phone, "Yeah Charmy, incredibly serious if you couldn't tell already!"

Returning to the call, Vector continued explaining and reassuring the panicked individual on the other end of the line.

Charmy buzzed out of the room, feet parting ways with the floor. He flew down the stairwell in search of Ray out of boredom. It felt like forever until he saw a familiar face.

"Rouge, have you seen Ray anywhere?"

She was placing devices in a small rucksack, "Don't you remember?"

Charmy thought in silence, then shrugged.

"Ray, apparently, went out one night and hasn't come back yet, I'm afraid. You could bother Espio for a bit couldn't you?"

"Vector told me to leave him alone."

"Ah, well, the three of us are going on another sabotage mission," Rouge gestured to Shadow and Omega, each preparing to set off, equipping their 'disposable' weaponry. She continued, "We might try to get him for us."

"Cool! Good luck!" Charmy waved and flew away in circles.

In the office area, Espio entered the room from wherever he was before. Vector greeted him.

"The cases have been growing in their numbers. We have a firm reason to believe that Metal Sonic caused these."

"For sure," Vector began, "With his brain he would be getting to work on duplicating all those machines and..." He came to a realisation.

"He's taking territory."

Civilians were panicking.

Fleets of Badniks were knocking people and gunning them down. Windows were smashed, doors were broken off their hinges, and it felt as an endless barrage.

At the heart of it were the Babylon Rogues, who were previously there just to find certain people, yet now they were in the epicenter of a grand-scale invasion by Neo's forces.

"Such a foolish display!" Jet yelled out at the machines. The trio of avians could see larger enemy robots looming, gradually getting closer to the town and readying to lay even more of it to waste.

Storm whammed at least 8 robots to pieces with two strayed bricks, "There's too many of them."

"Do you see Metal Sonic around anywhere?" Jet said casually, kicking a Badnik in the face, sending it flying into some others.

Wave looked around, at any tall buildings he could be looming atop of, or literally anywhere else further away, but she couldn't see him. "Nah, he just isn't here."

"Fool doesn't wanna show his face to us!"

A communications device buzzed with a message from the Chaotix, specifically Vector.

"We've been gettin' a lot of cases for the town you're in! If you could just announce to everyone there the bad news, aight?"

Jet grimaced, "God damn." He turned to look at Storm, who then cleared his throat in preparation to shout.

"Cover-" Wave pulled her bandana further down her head and Jet grabbed at the sides of his head with both hands.

"Everyone! If you have a family member or a friend missing, chances are that they have been captured by the attacking force! Stay calm and prepare to fight or flee!"

"You done?" Wave looked at the grey albatross.

He raised his thumb before punching another Badnik down, "Yup."

"Shit. We were spending our time just fighting here while we could be actually helping." Jet cursed at himself.

He grabbed his iconic green Extreme Gear and began circling around the town in search of anybody in need of assistance.

"I take this as a plan to split up. I'll see you both back here, at the fountain." Wave gestured to Storm, who returned it with a thumbs-up.

They went off, all around the town and into shattered windows to aid the civilians.

One of them was a family of black rabbits, huddled in a corner with no ways of defense. Wave swooped in on her board and grabbed the attackers, flinging them out of a different window.

"You okay?" Wave said to the rabbits, now exiting the huddle position they took above the youngest.

"They took Radella!" A woman who was, presumably, the mother, pointed outside.

Wave scratched her head, "Oh dang, we'll go get her, don't you worry!"

"So many are... Dead..." One of them, no older than 10, whimpered, noting the slight abundance of unconscious bodies outside.

Wave peered at them, "I'm sorry.." She rushed out, zooming on her gear once again, in the orange air tinted by the sunset.

The swallow spotted Jet whacking enemy robots with his board, completely enveloped with anguish.

She looked at him concerned.

A strong shadow casted over them.

A glow emitted from the edge of civilisation. The glow was the opening of a cyan portal.

It swirled around in it's place above the ground, causing wind to erupt and bring away anything in the way of the opening. The opening lead to an uncharacteristically bleak future.

One corrupted so heavily, though everything felt normal when he returned.

Nothing was as it seemed to him. He began to speak to himself.

"Although it is gone..."

He leapt out of the portal, landing on his feet with a clank. His smooth, white limbs buzzed back to a strong stance.

He cast an arm behind him, completely closing the portal through time.

"I must help them out."

He looked up with his blank face, now a mere black visor with no other detail aside from that.

The cyan energy kept him together, making him glow in the darkish environment.

"In order to, I need to find them again."

Beginning to glow with the brimming power of his mind, he shot across the landscape in a blurring line.

The five appendages on his forehead bent and curved back as he fleeted over the earth and water.

"The Restoration."

(End of part)

Chapter Text

The robotic white hedgehog stopped closer to a settlement, smoke was rising into the sky from some destroyed parts of the village, however it seemed unusually calm, hardly any noise was heard aside from motors buzzing and fires burning.

Silver peered around for any intact signage indicating where he is now, he spotted a square piece of metal laid out on the ground.
It read: 'Welcome to Emerald Village'

He said with his permanently empty expression, "I haven't been here before.. seems like a bad impression."
Silver looked up. Small pieces of metal littered around the ground, he thought in his head, 'A battle has taken place here.'

He walked around the short and narrow streets, peering through the spaces between the abandoned houses. It was clear that it had been cleared out recently.
The hedgehog called out, "Hello?" Yet his robot voice echoed off the walls.

"If anyone is here, I'm here to help you!"

A brick falling from the left was heard. He sharply turned around to the source, seeing a shadow around a wall, curled up and shivering.

He slowly made his way over, "There aren't any bad guys here, it's fine. C'mon out and tell me what happened here.."

"Get away, Badnik!" The red fox jumped out and tossed a rock at Silver's visor. In shock, he flinched back,  catching the rock in his palms.
They ran away whilst gripping a screwdriver.

"Wait!" Silver nearly went after them, but sighed and withdrew, "It's no use, they're just scared of me because..."

He knelt down and picked up a piece of metal, he gazed closer at it and recognised a certain branding on it, one he had most definitely seen before in his future: the face of Neo Metal Sonic.

He crushed it in his, now glowing, grip, permanently denting it and dropping it back to the hard floor. "They've probably gone off to find someone, or they already have..."

Silver rose from the ground in his cyan glow again, surveying the village and vaguely spotting something red slinking behind a piece of beige cloth.
He clicked his finger positively and floated down to the place.

Silver listened in, to whatever was going on behind the cloth from the along wall.
"I heard that thing again." A small voice whispered in the space behind the cloth.

"Was it somebody?" A softer and confused voice leaned closer to, presumably, the red fox.

"No-no, a Badnik. Metal Sonic made it to fool us to capture us!"

The other one hummed, "Did they attack you?"

"I'm sure they would have, I saw them glowing a lot and flying over here." A hand wearing fingerless gloves opened up the cloth, revealing themselves to the unsuspecting Silver, who was just standing there.

The three of them stared at each other.

"That's the Badnik?" The pink poodle next to the red fox asked her.

The fox suddenly pulled out a burst wispon from behind herself and aimed it at the white hedgehog.
"Woah-" He raised his hands in front of him in defense.

"Okay-okay there's no need for that, Deana-" she pushed the wispon down, grimacing.

"Are you both okay? What happened here?" He politely asked.

"You probably already know but a certain somebody by the name of Neo Metal Sonic is creating another evil empire and lusts for world dominance and submission." The dog explained, one hand twirling in her fluffy ear.

"Dang."

"I have a question, I just connected the dots: aren't you Silver the Hedgehog? The one who helped us out a lot in the war against Dr Eggman?"

"Oh, yeah. The future was kind of screwed when I got there." He briefly looked down at his body.

"We were able to hide here long enough for nobody to find us, but... A lot of our friends have been taken in the first and second waves." She continued.

"I'm really sorry about that, you two. I believe I should get to know your names."

"Oh, I'm Deana," the fox then gestured to the poodle standing next to her, "and this is Sasha, I'm her girlfriend."

"Cool, I have another question. You wouldn't happen to know where the... Resistance HeadQuarters is? I kind of, sort of, forgot."

Deana scratched her chin, "Somewhere along the outskirts of Sunrise Town. I think it had shifted a few months ago, so that's why it's different now, Silver."

"Thank you Deana and Sasha."

"We all need to set things right." Sasha picked up the wispon. Deana nodded, "We'll hopefully see you all at the Resistance again another day."

He remembered, "Team Fist will rise again, all the same, friends." He waved to them and ran off. The partners went back under cover again.

————

Bullets brutally penetrated the evil enemy machines, causing them to go offline. The source of these bullets, E-123 Omega, raced through hordes upon hordes of Badniks.

His closest allies, Shadow and Rouge, were each destroying Badniks just like Omega was just doing.
"Say Omega, could you throw me a quick explosion please?" Rouge smirked in the direction of Omega, she had run out of the bombs she normally uses.

She swooped up out of the way of the explosive that Omega soon threw her way. It combusts and, as always, lays waste to a dozen Badniks.

"At this rate, we could destroy the entire lair by ourselves." Shadow dusted his hands off in a completely empty space.

"Damn, Shadow." Rouge gawked at the sheer casualties he had created.

"I could do that 5 times over."

Rouge smiled again, "We know, we know. We're watching you do that right now, Omega." She looked over.

They were at the outside walls of the lair. It felt as if it had gotten bigger since they'd last been there.
Shadow asked half-rhetorically, "Do you think they have upped their defenses?"

"There are more energy sources in the area." Omega informed the rest.
"As usual." Rouge pursed her lips, "All we're really doing is annoying Metal, right?"

"Indeed."

"This mission we embarked was of our own volition."
"Right." Rouge set herself down on the ground, landing softly on her heels. "Should we make our way inside and do some investigating."

"Me and Omega's expertise are mainly in 'brute-force' missions, should we?" Shadow glanced at the large robot.

"I can be quiet. If not I can blend in with the irritating clanking of the annoying Badniks."

"Alright, let's go." Rouge began to walk to search for an opening inside the lair. It wouldn't take long.

(End of part)

Chapter Text

Amy read a small message on a board on a screen, "Silver has been sighted, Deana of Team Fist has put up."

Sonic stopped leaning on the wall in surprise and intrigue, "Cool! I've been waiting for him to finally show back up."

Amy gazed at Sonic, "It's great but he's been roboticised in his future." She thought of a preposition, "Considering... that Team Dark are off destroying things and the Chaotix are handling their things... We could have an outing?"

"Hmm..." Sonic glanced at the door leading to the workshop, "Is it fine if we bring Tails with us? He's gunna need to get a piece of the action before it dissolves into a liquid."

"Sure, why not. I'll go tell him for you, Sonic!" She rushed off before the blue hedgehog could, who then chuckled and watched.

"Tails, me and Sonic are gonna go out for a bit, is it okay if we just bring you along?"

"Oh sure, of course. Just let me correct this for a moment.." Tails tightened something on a new machine, something that appeared to be a radar.

"I heard ya talking about that earlier, I think we could place it near some sightings. I believe that the Babylon Rogues have encountered him because they haven't reported back since an hour ago."
Sonic slightly furrowed his brows, wondering about what could have happened with the trio.

"Shall we go?" Amy adjusted the white cuffs of her boots.

"I'm ready when you are, Sonic." Tails looked at the blue hedgehog, who then nodded and did a thumbs-up thing.

Sonic stood on the roof of a building, having landed on it after a short minute of running at his incredible speed.
"The last sighting was here.. but it's completely empty?"

Amy soon joined him, boosting up using her hammer. Tails accompanied her using his two tails, "It's obvious that something bad's happened here!" He told them, placing the radar onto the ground.

Amy scanned the surroundings, "The Rogues may have seen him, I don't think it ended very well." She pointed to nothing, nobody was in the streets yet there was evidence of a battle.

"That's a lot of scorch marks." Sonic gestured to the ground below them, he hummed.
The three of them jumped down onto the actual ground, the same one that Sonic had gestured to the moment ago.

Tails suddenly broke away and ran towards something. He knelt down and picked it up, it was a green communications device.
"Did you find something, Tails?" Amy rushed over, peering at the device.

"Of course, this is Jet's." He turned it around, looking at the back for any damages. There were slight burn marks on it, but nothing to damage the communicator.

The fox turned it on and was presented with a short video. The three locked in to watch it.

What should we do now?" Tails rushed under a nearby roof to shelter the radar.
Amy clicked a finger, "I guess it's to wait so you can, y'know, place the radar down to use."

"I think I could transmit in the rain, maybe.." Tails shook the reasons for his nickname around, shaking raindrops all around.
They headed further inside a ransacked building, and Tails knelt down to turn the machinery on.

"I've truly expected more of a grand takeover from Metal Sonic." Amy told the blue hedgehog while Storm fidgeted about 3 metres away from them.

Sonic agreed, "Yeah, it was a huge and grandiose buildup but it doesn't really feel like it will last."

"I have a feeling that Shadow could obliterate Neo's forces within 5 minutes, honestly."

Sonic hummed before nodding, "He's stupidly powerful, I'll give him that."

Strange whirring sounded from the radar as Tails flipped a switch on the small panel behind it. Then, a ping noise displayed itself when a connection was made to a certain robot.

(End of part)