Sonic arrived with some to-go lunch for everyone back in the medical wing to both Shadow and Knuckles awake. "Hey, you're up."

"Yeah, but we aren't aloud to leave just yet." Shadow responded, pulling his nose out of his book. "Yeah, kinda figured."

"So what's up, Sonic?" Knuckles asked, taking the food that was handed to her. "Aw, sweet! Barbecue ribs! This stuff is awesome!" She dug in gratefully, earning a snicker. "Hospital food sucks compared to this!"

Sonic handed Shadow the rest of the bag. "Didn't know what you liked so I grabbed a sandwich. Hope that's cool?" She asked. He nodded curtly. "I'll eat anything."

Sonic stepped away to the chair in the corner by the window that out looked the hall and the room across the way, which had it's blinds closed. There were people passing, too busy or had their hands to full to wave, but they offered a slight tilt of the chin or a smile. Sonic smiled back for a while, before turning to her teammates. "So, I'm sure you'll want to hear this interesting tidbit: We got a bit of a lead on how Rose is getting around."

Knuckles stopped nomming the bone of one of her ribs and licked her lips, staring at her boss. Shadow placed his sandwich down and stared. "What'chu got?" Knuckles asked, staring with curiosity. "Okay, so, Tails found out that all of Rose's goons have a specific know-how of every part of the town: Storm knows the city streets, Espio knows the labs, Silver knows HQ, and Vector knows the prisons. With that, she can get around any where she wants to to get whatever she wants."

"What about that fifth guy?" Knuckles asked. Shadow took a sharp breath. "Dunno, but we suspect that they're part of our group. It could be anyone, even me."

"Y-you say that like you know it's you..." Shadow said, masking the slight stutter pretty well. "Well, yeah, I could be doing it without knowing. I mean, you and Blaze just joined, so you could have ties. Tails is always gone, but she's anemic and has asthma, so she's at the doctors office all the time, but it could be a lie. Me and Knux have had enough run-ins with Rose that she could have tagged either one of us." Sonic explained. "I kinda hate to say this, but I suspect you and myself the most."

Shadow spluttered. "Why would you suspect me?"

"Oh, I have a load of reasons. First, you just seem to randomly disappear and reappear around here, unless you're needed. Second, no one knows where you live, and most of the stuff in your file is left blank. It doesn't even say where you came from or your division before this, hell, it doesn't even say if you're a newbie." Sonic stared.

"You went through my file?" He asked, an angry look crossing his face. "You ungrateful little..."

"Hey, I went through Blaze and Cream's too. You can look through mine any time you want to." Sonic replied, putting her hand up in a, "quiet down," gesture. "Anyway, you also seemed to recognize Storm and Vector, and he recognized you. Plus, there's all these little mannerisms you have when I bring Rose up." she concluded with a glare. "Care to clear your name?"

Shadow was silent as they had a stare off: Shadow's surprised and angry face to her curious glare. Finally, Knuckles sighed and broke the silence. "Ladies, gentlemen, please. You two can stare into each other's eyes later, right now, we have to figure this out."

Sonic blushed, hitting her friend's arm. "Knuckles! I told you I didn't-"

"Do too."

"Do not."

Do too."

"Do not!" Sonic finally yelled. "Whatever, it's not like anyone cares. So, what I was saying was that the last member is part of our team and we need to be on our toes at all times. I'm gonna check on the progress in Jet's lab for why Storm and Silver are all brainwashed and shit... I'll be back later tonight."

She left in a flustered sprint, slamming the door and turning down the hallway, running past the window. Knuckles watched and snickered as she ran back in a hurry, a mess of papers flying behind her. "Wrong way!" She yelled, laughing loudly. Shadow stared at her incredulously, thinking, These people. How the hell did I get put in this division, anyway?


Sonic arrived in Jet's lab to a mess of papers, a scared Wave being interrogated, and three armed and unconscious men. Tables were flipped, bottles and the computer were smashed, there were miscellaneous liquids were splashed all over the floors and walls and was that- Oh god, was that blood?

"Tee hee~ By the time you've found this, it's gonna be late~ Since it is, look to the North Star for guidance~!"

"Wave! What happened here?" Sonic yelled, her stomach still reeling from the bloody note one the wall. What did it mean? Was it Rose? Were her goons here? "Where's Jet?"

"Th-that's just it. He's not..." Wave sniffled sadly and wiped her eyes, waving off the two men interrogating her. "He's not here. We did a test, that HIS blood... And we think..." She collapsed, sobbing into Sonic's open arms. "Please, Sonic! You've gotta save him! First Storm, now Jet! I don't want to see him becoming a mindless fighting machine as well! Save them, please!"

Sonic looked between Wave and the wall, ruffling her friend's magenta-colored hair. This must have been devastating, to have her two adoptive brothers taken away like that... What was Rose getting at? Why was she gathering people? Was she building a... That was it.

"Wave, I'm sorry, but I have to go, right now. I promise though, we'll get Jet and Storm back." She said. "Now listen, I need you to decipher this note, can you do that for me?" Wave nodded, wiping her eyes and smearing her mascara. "Okay, thank you. Go get cleaned up first."


Sonic and Blaze slammed the door of the room open, causing Knuckles to jump and Shadow to grumble in his sleep. "Guys, we got trouble!"

"God, yeah, you think? Jet's missing!" Knuckles yelped, and Shadow rolled over on his side and glared at the three women. "Yeah, I know, that too. So is Tails, AGAIN, and Rose is building an army!"

"Wha- whu- wut- Whaaa- Whattt- What the hell are you talking about?" Knuckles gaped. Shadow yawned. "It's exactly what it sounds like. She's kidnapping people and brainwashing them or sticking some patch on them or something that keeps them under her control. It's like, here is only the first place. She plans on conquering the world."

Sonic and Blaze glared. "How do you know so much?" The lilac-haired girl snapped, taking a menacing step foreword. "How don't you?" He replied.

"Shadow, Blaze, calm down. The other thing was a note that was left with Jet's blood." Knuckles gaped even more and Shadow twitched. Blaze stared at her boss. "I'm having Wave decipher it in a different lab, but if that much blood was lost, we have to find Jet immediately."

"Where do we look?" Blaze asked. "I'm ready to go at any minute."

"I'm guessing that where we find Jet, we find Storm and Silver. We'll wait for Wave to decipher the note. Everyone, get well fed and a nice nap, and you two: Get ready to move. I'm going to have to pull you out of the hospital tonight." Sonic instructed. The other three in the room sat up completely straight, nodding as the orders were give. "Ladies, gents, prepare for a rough night. Dismissed."

She turned on her heel and left the room, heading back to her office. She grabbed her case from the door and pulled the blades from it, slashing a few times before re-sheathing them. Nothing like a good training session to vent some stress. It was gonna be a long night.