The next day, Omega awoke at the stroke of noon. As he looked at his arm, he cursed. He had forgotten to turn it off… it would probably keep running for a good long while, but that was no reason to waste energy by having it constantly running. Too late now. He'd just have to cope. He stood up, and looked at the computer. It had Internet access, judging by the cord running into the wall. And according to the labels, it was DSL.

He turned it on, and began to surf the web, searching for references to the Eggman, Doctor Robotnik. What he found was profoundly disturbing. Mostly it was confirmation of what he had been told by Sonic and Tails, although there wasn't anything about Mobius. He didn't really expect there to be. The majority of the references seemed to be about the space colony ARK, and some sort of doomsday weapon that the Eggman helped to stop after he activated it and it got out of control. Apparently this all had happened only a year and a half before… interesting.

Also included was the brief mention of a second anthromorphic hedgehog, named Shadow. It appeared that he had sacrificed himself to save humanity and the earth. He, Dr. Eggman, and a white bat named Rouge, together stole all 7 Chaos Emeralds from where they had been originally. But this didn't seem to pertain to him, in particular.

Just then, someone knocked at the door. Annoyed, Omega got up and opened the door. "Yes?" he said to Chris, who was looking at him with concern.

"Sorry to bother you, Omega, but there's a package here for you…" he said as he pointed out a large box in the hallway. "It was from someone I've never seen before. He said he met you in the city, and that you'd know who he was."

"Really? He never actually told me his name…" Omega replied, as he dragged the big package into his room. "Thanks for telling me about this."

Chris nodded, and closed the door. Omega sniffed at the package suspiciously. The man he had met hadn't told him his name, or anything about himself. He had only spoken of other people. That in itself was suspicious. But the package smelled all right. There weren't any explosives in there he could smell, just metal, grease, foam, and paper. He slit open the packing tape holding the cardboard closed with one claw, and opened it. On top, there was an envelope labeled, in capital letters, OMEGA. Directly underneath were packing peanuts. He opened the envelope and took out the letter.

"Dear Omega," it read. "Congratulations on your change of sides. I know that such a decision wouldn't have been at all easy for you. I'll bet you're wondering how I know about all of this, and who I am. I am an agent for a special organization, not like the government. We are not GUN, either, pretending to work with the government. Nobody knows about us, they simply suspect. Not even you will be told what we are called. It would be too easy for you to tell someone else. But we are an organization concerned with the well being of the human race, not simply of one country or group of individuals. We have not contacted Sonic with information, simply because he has too many friends that he would confide in. You, on the other hand, won't confide in anyone.

"Enough about us, though. Enclosed within are parts for a new arm, with enhanced neuronet capabilities. The actuators for your current arm are well out of date, and that leads me, and my organization, to believe that you weren't meant to actually defeat Sonic. This new arm will certainly be more battle-ready than your old one.

"Also, your new arm will possess a free wireless internet uplink, courtesy of my organization. Do not attempt to track us via the arm's specifications. It would be impossible to do so. Be assured; your battle with the Eggman is not done. It probably won't be done for a while.

"Sincerely yours, Agent Bane."

So… the man he had met was Agent Bane, whatever that meant. It was getting more and more curious by the second. A secret organization, for the well being of mankind? That was unlikely. But he'd have to find out more before he could judge. The Eggman business had taught him that much.

Omega dug through the packing peanuts, brought out mechanical parts, and set them on the workbench. Examining them, he found that the parts did, indeed, seem to belong to a mechanical arm, one of much higher quality than his own. Complex instructions were included with the parts, and a list of instructions of a different sort, that would only apply after he actually installed the arm. Then, it occurred to him… he had absolutely no idea how to get his original arm OFF. Oh, well… he could deal with that later. For now, he wanted to build this new arm, if only out of sheer curiosity.

He began to build, from mechanical fingers with extendable claws to the shoulder, which could rotate in a nearly spherical range of motion. It had something like a wristwatch on it, which was, according to the instructions, the Internet uplink. And then, there was the difficult part… getting the old arm off. Omega started taking the skin off of his arm, and found something intriguing. All that was holding his old arm on were three bundles of wires and 10 bolts. They weren't particularly strong bolts, either. Further evidence of the Eggman's lack of care as to what happened to him.

Of course, this meant that he would have to get rid of the last bit of biological tissue on his left arm… but this didn't particularly bother him. He detached the arm, and lost any and all feeling from there. He plugged the wires into the new arm and tried to flex it, before bolting it on. The arm moved. Omega smiled. He then moved it into position, and bolted it in with stronger bolts, included in the package. They had certainly done their research… the wires were configured to fit in perfectly with the Eggman's outdated design. It was strange, how well it worked. In fact, if he hadn't searched the entire thing for control/override chips, he would suspect that Agent Bane was Eggman's lackey…

The cyborg cat glanced at the instructions. In order to activate the wireless Internet uplink, press the wrist device once. He did so, and something odd happened. Superimposed on his vision was a screen, showing a search page. He heard a voice… the voice of Agent Bane. "Hello, Omega. I am Agent Bane. Do not be alarmed. I am speaking to you directly into your brain, through the wireless uplink and the neuronet system in your arm. This is the search page for your Internet connection. You can find anything here. Your arm will translate your thoughts into data, and respond appropriately. You can, effectively, surf the Internet at the speed of Thought. If you have a question for me, ask via Email, Goodbye, and good luck."

Omega shook his head, and pressed the button again. His vision cleared of the search page. The room was devoid of anything but what he had put and found there. This was obviously advanced technology. Where had they gotten it? Had they developed it themselves? These seemed to be good questions to ask Agent Bane… later. Right now, he noticed a growing need… he was VERY hungry. He had had 4 pieces of bacon and various small forest mammals for all of his nutritive needs for the past few days. Although this had kept him alive, it really wasn't filling.

Omega opened the door and stepped out into the hall, closing the door behind him. He looked at a clock across the hall, and blinked. It was 6 P.M. He had spent 6 hours surfing the Internet and putting his arm together… well, at least he was in time for dinner.