A/N: I am oh so very sorry about the update time. My Wi-Fi was out, and still is... so…yeah. Well, here you go.

Relic was walking out of the entrance of Sky Patrol when Knuckles stormed passed her and went inside, a cloud of walking rage. But one very quiet, for a powerful manservant.

Shaking her head, she said, "Can't say I didn't warn 'em… Now, where'd Fixit go?"

"No, we are not telling Knuckles. That's final." Sally glared at Sonic.

"He has a right to know, y'know!" he protested angrily. "Finitevus is his archenemy, not ours. Besides, if he's alive, who's to say that other echidnas aren't alive as well, huh?"

"Because—" Before Sally could defend her side of the argument, she noticed a red figure standing in the doorway, and she paled considerably. "…Knuckles! Uh… how much did you here?"

"All of it." The echidna replied angrily.

"Oh dear…"

Eggman stood in the heart of the Death Egg, where the Cosmic Reset Button and the World Roboticizer once lay. Now, the World Roboticizer was still their, but the Reset Button… it was… different. The same, but different.

"Right…" he grumbled to himself "I need something to power this thing…I need a Chaos Emerald…"
Doctor Eggman reached for his com. "Metal Sonic! I have a mission for you. How far away from Angel Island are you?"

"E.T.A twenty minutes."

"Twenty minutes? Good. Extraction mission only; one Chaos Emerald. Do not engage if you can avoid confrontation. Clear? Good, now get going!"
He grinned evilly (eggily), and rubbed his hands together, as was the villain tradition. "It's only a matter of time now…"

Silence reined supreme in the room. No one said a word. Until Sonic, being who he is, broke the ice.

"Since he already heard everything, why don't we—URK!" While trying to break the ice, he had also broken through Knuckles' calm demeanor.
Knuckles proceeded to grab Sonic by the neck, put him into a light choke, and lifted him off the ground.

"How long?" he growled.

"Wha—"

"HOW LONG!" He was yelling now. "HOW LONG HAVE YOU HAD YOUR MEMORIES, HUH? HOW LONG WHERE YOU GOING TO KEEP MY MEMORIES FROM ME?! DID YOU THINK YOU HAD A RIGHT TO KEEP—" He calmed down considerably. "Who are you to keep memories secret, huh? They're not yours to begin with, and not yours to keep." Having ranted long enough, he put Sonic down.
The hedgehog then proceeded to gasp for air and leaned against a nearby wall for support. "Jeez, dude…"

Knuckles then focused his glare on the princess, who glared back.

"Now…" he said. "What were you saying about Finitevus being alive?"

Before Sally could reply, an alarm went off, signalling a forced entry. Rotor quickly moved to a computer, while Sally shouted for Nicole.
The Holo-lynx appeared next the princess, speaking rapidly. "Metal Sonic broke into Sky Patrol! He seems to be heading to the vault with the Chaos Emeralds…"

Sonic immediately rushed out of the room, followed closely by the guardian.

"Yo, man, why're you tagging along?" Sonic asked.

"Metal Sonic is on my island. The last time that happened, he tried to take the Master Emerald. I'm going to make sure he gets off this floating rock without it."

A few moments later, the duo ran across Tails, who was heading in the same direction was them.
"I gather someone's heading for the Emeralds?" he asked mildly. Sonic nodded in reply.
The threesome then continued down the hallway.

Metal Sonic was trying to pry open the vault when the cursed hedgehog spinballed into his back. He turned his attention to the bothersome vermin who now stood before him. He studied his foes for a moment, before turning away from them and simply ripping the vault door open. Without pause, he sped into the room, leaving behind bewildered and angered heroes.
By the time they caught up, Metal had already obtained the red Chaos Emerald. He powered up his chest laser and blasted an exit hole through the roof.
Hovering above the reach of Sonic and Knuckles, and holding Tails at bay he looked at Sonic and said to him tauntingly, "Your too slow."
With that, he powered his main propulsion system and took off.

The three mobians could only look on as Metal rocketed away from Angel Island.

"Well," Sonic said to his companions. "That was swell."
The three friends (or two friends one frenemy, currently) turned away and headed back to the rest if the Freedom Fighters.

"Well, I can't exactly blame you for losing the Emerald. I'm sure you did your best," Sally said despondently. "But what could Eggman possibly want with it? And why only take one?" She then looked to the mechanic walrus. "Rotor, how's the fuel supply?" she asked.

"Reserves are at full power, and after an extensive search, I found some Rings hidden in places they shouldn't have been. All in all, we're good to go."

"Then go." Knuckles grunted. "You need to leave, now. I don't need any more Eggman attention brought to the Island again."

"Knuckles..." Sally began. "I'm sorry for not telling you, but I thought—"

"You thought wrong. Now leave." he said warningly. "Or I'll make you leave."

Sally sighed to herself. That's what I get for trying to lie to one of my oldest friends… "Come on, guys. We're leaving. We need to get back to New Mobotropolis, restock, and get on Eggman's tail. Then again, the tail is a long one…"

As Sky Patrol took off, Relic walked up besides Knuckles.

"I trust you figured out what they were hiding?" she asked.
Knuckles nodded in reply. "Yeah, but I got more problems on hand. I spoke to my father."

"Your fa—"

"I'm not going to get into details. I may be gone a few days, so I need you to watch the fake Master Emerald."

"Fake? But didn't Shadow—"

"You didn't think I only had one fake, did you? Anyways, can I count on you, Relic?" Knuckles looked into her eyes.

"Y-yes. Yeah, you can. G'luck, guardian. Have a splendid trip…wherever you're going."

"Unfortunately, I doubt it."
As Knuckles turned to leave Relic, she noticed that he was carrying six objects. "Hey, what're those your carrying, mate?" she asked curiously.

Knuckles glanced back at the pica and grinned. Juggling the Emeralds, he said, "Oh, these?" he said. "Nothing much, just a bunch'o shiny rocks."

"Metal Sonic reporting in: mission successful.

Eggman leaped gleefully, and hurried to his robot, who handed him the Emerald. "Heh heh…The puzzle pieces are falling into place. Soon, hedgehog, soon…" He twirled away from his creation and headed over to his command chair. "Wonder how Snively's doing?" he pondered. Reaching for a keyboard, he typed in Snively's com number. "Snively! Pick up, you runt!"

"Uncle Robotnik? Is that you?"

"Who else would it be? Now, is the Duke on our side?"

"Yes, doctor. He actually wants to speak with you right now."

"Oh? Put him on."

There was some background noise as the com switched hands. "Hello, hello?" came a voice.

"Duke Midnight, so glad you could join us." Eggman said coolly.

"Glad to join." The Duke said in reply. "Listen, whatever you planning to do, I have the perfect opportunity to do it. The President of the U.F. is coming back home tomorrow… I have spies on the airship he's arriving in… And I have armed soldier cells all over Central City."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Eggman smirked.

"If your thinking, 'Van Sluis Spaceyards,' then yes." The Duke replied. "If you can send me the things, I can get them to my spies. Besides, I have a little 'show' for the United Federation tomorrow…And I'm sure you'd be willing to guest star in it."

"I would be delighted," Eggman grinned. "Let Operation Endgame begin."

A/N: One of four chapters I'll post today