When he awoke, he was in a cave of some sort. It was cool, and dark, and it smelled like stone and water. He sat up slowly. What had happened? They had been fighting those ant-things… and then he had blacked out. He looked around. About ten feet to his left, Bane, Sonic, and Tails were talking around a campfire. Bane looked at Omega, and beckoned him to the fire. He stood and sat between Tails and Bane. "What were those things?" Omega asked.
Bane shook his head. "Those things, as you put it, are the result of the same machine that made you what you are. Those things are, as far as we know, Project E-151 c."
Omega looked at Bane, disbelieving his ears. "What," he said flatly.
"I meant what I said. Those things are Project E-151 c. As far as we can tell, they used to be ants."
"So, your organization knew about this? And you didn't tell us?" Sonic demanded.
Bane looked at Sonic, who glared at him. "I couldn't tell you. My superiors wouldn't allow it. But now that I've resorted to this, there's only one thing to do, according to procedure…" he said, reaching into his coat.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa… there's no need for violence, here…" Tails said, holding up his hands.
Bane brought his hand back out of his coat. He was holding 3 badges. "There won't be any violence… procedure dictates that I induct you into the Organization," he said, handing one to each anthromorph. "Congratulations. You're now in the TPO, Anthromorphic Division."
Omega looked at the badge. It resembled a police badge, a golden shield, but with one important difference. Instead of a star, there was an image of the Earth. "What does TPO stand for?" Tails asked quietly.
"We are the Terra Protection Organization," Bane replied. "We are the defenders of the planet and all life on it. I should probably tell you some more about us…"
All of a sudden, the cave melted away. It was replaced with some sort of clear dome, with the ocean outside. "The TPO has been around for millennia, beginning in Atlantis," Bane explained, as the feeling of movement started, and the dome started to move. "We sunk Atlantis ourselves. We were getting too advanced for our own good. So, we withdrew from the world, and waited for it to catch up to us. If we hadn't, the human race might well have died out."
The dome was approaching another, much larger dome, one that was opaque. "We soon found that that was not enough. The human race was just too violent and extreme to survive without intervention. So, we decided to… nudge the rest of the world whenever they headed for disaster. Unfortunately, there are very few agents of the TPO in comparison with the other agencies, and we have no governmental authority. The best that we can do is change the course of one or two people's lives, with well-placed incentives and information. Like I did with you, Omega."
Soon, the dome was only inches away from the other. But it didn't crash. It simply stopped. A tube grew out of the other dome, and attached itself to the first. It expanded, becoming a tunnel from one to the other. Bane started walking, and the others followed him closely. They were in a dome, much like the first, except that this one was made up of a series of hallways, bustling with people. Some of them looked at them as they passed, but didn't say anything. The entire place was eerily silent.
Sonic was not very happy at all at this new development. He didn't know if this Bane character could be trusted. Bane had showed up out of the blue, claiming that it was Omega's birthday, and they had all gathered in one place. And that one place was where they were attacked… and what about the Emeralds? What had happened to them? This was suspicious…
