Hello Readers!

Sorry for the long wait! It's been a hectic time for me, and I have also had a bit of writers block. Mostly Let's Go Home is kicking my butt, I can't seem to get those two lovebirds moving after that final scene... well my plan is to have another chapter for LGH uploaded by the end of this month, so keep your eye out for that!

Thank you to my lovely Beta Laineybug04 for taking a look over this chapter and helping make it amazing! Also thanks to my friends BitterKiss and WolfsLegend for their continued support of my stories and writing dreams.

Thank you to all my lovely reviewers on this story! NIndraNInja, Heartless demon wolf, janaynoodle, mewfatima, SonamyKitty, CherryTheRose, shad-amy01, Abril378, Amefloza13, justdance4ever, NeckBreak, Angel-kohai, MistyVoid48, Libra de best, Pirilaxa, champion lyra, ThePurplePyroHedgie, Janttun3n, Dreamwalker44, I LITERALLY LOVE YOU GUYS! For real! You make me sooooo happy and your comments are better then money! I really hope to hear from all of you again about this chapter :)

Guest: Thank you for taking a little time to leave me a review! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

***World Fact Reminder*** I am basing this story on the two world theory. And for the purposes of plot, time flows the same in both worlds. Main difference is that Earth is in like the 2000s (Sonic X times) and Mobius is more advanced in their technology.

Well I think that's it for now... I look forward to chatting it up with you guys!

Happy Reading!

EPISODE 6: Ghosts of Knothole Past – Conclusion

Eggman's Knothole Base – East Knothole Forest

~September 11, 09:12~

"Get your head in the game, Pinky!"

The hissing voice in her ear dragged her from the nightmares of her past, and Amy looked to her left with a shocked gaze. Shadow was crouched facing her, and his ruby eyes were ablaze with irritation. She blinked several times, until finally the ringing in her ears settled enough for her to make out the sounds of battle coming from the tower. She shook her head, and took a deep breath.

"Sorry… I blacked out there for a second."

Shadow raised a brow and scoffed, his face unamused and annoyed, "I'll say. This isn't a time to get starry eyed for that Blue Speed Bump. We have a mission to complete."

Amy felt the acid boil in her stomach. The possibility of running into Sonic was wreaking havoc on her nerves. As the initial shock faded, she gave Shadow a glare and abruptly stood up.

"I can assure you that I am fully aware of our task, and I am more than up to the challenge."

She huffed, and turned to make her way to the cliff, not waiting for him to say anything else. She looped her thumbs through the straps of her pack, and walked with long strides towards the brightly lit cliff face. She tried to ignore the familiar, and intoxicating shouts coming from a blue streak that was making slow progress through the multitude of badniks that had swarmed the entrance. Instead she tried to feel grateful that such a distraction was happening, allowing them to enter the base undetected.

When she reached the cliff, she turned and saw that Shadow was right behind her, his crimson eyes annoyed. However he silently nodded to her, and motioned for her to follow him. She paused in her tracks to allow him to lead, knowing full well the male liked to be in charge. She had no reservations with this, as it was better than him trying to get her to stay behind.

They reached the base of the tower, and Amy craned her neck back in awe at the sheer massiveness of the thing. They had been several yards away while they waited, and the distance had skewed her perception of it's true size. The sun had been up for a good two hours already and it still being the end of summer, the metal was already beginning to heat up. A couple more hours and it would've been impossible for her to climb it without burning herself. Although not impossible for him, the realization running through her as she glanced at the male next to her.

Shadow was peering around the curve of the tower trying to make sure that no eyes were on them. She was once again struck with awe when she thought about all the things he could do that would be impossible for a regular Mobian to attempt, and she realized now why that made him such a valuable asset to G.U.N. regardless of his shortcomings.

"The Big Round Ass himself is out there now, so I think it's safe to say we can start the climb."

His voice drew her from her musing, and she nodded in silence when he turned towards her once more. She unlooped one of her straps and turned the pack to her front. Unzipping it, she pulled out the rope and grappling hook from it's confines, before holding them out for him to grab.

Shadow's head tilted as he looked from the offered tool to her expectant face.

"What do you want me to do with that?" He asked, his tone stern and quizzicle. Amy blinked, her own confusion filling her face.

"Um… don't you want to throw it up there?"

The question seemed to amuse the ebony Agent slightly, as a small smirk played on his lips as he folded his hands nonchalantly behind his head.

"No. Can't say I'm too interested in doing that. The rope is for you, or have you forgotten I have Chaos powers? I usually need to have been at the place I want to teleport to at least once for it to be accurate, but with this close proximity it should be fine."

Amy narrowed her gaze, as she looked the arrogant hedgehog up and down. She scoffed, and placed a hand on her hip.

"Have you forgotten about Mission Swan Walk?"

Shadow's sneering melted from his face, and his arms dropped as he stared at her.

"What? How do you know about that?" He asked, his voice cautious and sharp. She grinned, and twirled the rope in her hand as she began to silently calculate the velocity and arch of rope needed to get the hook up 20 feet.

"It's public record – well public for most G.U.N. Agents – and I asked Chief Snow for reports of Team Dark's past missions when I heard I was going to be placed on your team. I wanted to be prepared, and I wanted to get an idea of how you guys do things, so that I could adjust myself to your style…"

A look of hurt crossed her bright jade eyes, as their comments of her inferiority and incompetence filtered through her mind. The look and the admittance of the care she had put into researching the team, made that small pang return in the bottom of Shadow's stomach. But he attributed it to the coffee.

"Anyway," She continued as she shook her head, and started to tie the rope to the hook, "Mission Swan Walk was another surveillance mission turned attack mission – which I noticed happens constantly with you guys – because Eggman had the brilliant idea of implementing Chaos Surge detectors into the very fabric of his base. He detected you the moment your ass appeared inside."

She raised a brow, and a satisfied look spread across her face, as she noticed the fire in his eyes dying. He couldn't argue against solid data and evidence.

"And if there truly are very important things in this base, and the Doctor went to such lengths to keep it hidden, don't you think it is likely he has done the same with this base?"

Shadow growled in response, irritated that she had outmaneuvered him, and there was no grounds for him to argue with her. This girl was so very obnoxious. The bile within him rose even more as she grinned at him with a knowing look. Even if neither of them ever acknowledged it or admitted it, Amy had won.

"Now…" She continued, her voice holding a slight gleeful tone to it, "I can understand your hesitance to throw the hook – as we only have one shot without fear of being detected – so I will gladly take the burden of responsibility from you, Senior Special Agent Shadow."

She smirked at him, as she tossed the hook up into the air without waiting for a response or looking at the vent. Shadow resisted the instinct for his muzzle to drop, as the tool flew surprisingly gracefully through the air, arching just a little above the vent, and falling perfectly into it. The hard metal head easily breaking through the flimsy metal of the grate, and with one small tug, Amy secured it in place.

Her grin never wavered, as she stepped back and pulled the rope towards him, "After you, Sir."

If looks could kill, then Amy would've collapsed to the ground as Shadow stalked towards the rope, and angrily snatched it from her grip. He only obliged her offer because he had no desire to see her ass in his face as he waited for her to make her way up. He started up the rope, grateful he had left his jacket with his bike as the lack of clothing helped his mobility. He hoped she was watching with admiration at his upper body strength and the ease with which he scaled the wall. However, when he reached the top and turned, he saw she'd already started up the rope, and wasn't even looking at him.

Whatever.

The vent was large enough for him to crouch within it and he scooted back to allow her purchase once she'd made it up. When she was sitting before the opening and pulling the rope up, the tower shook from an explosion and they heard the unmistakable screech of Eggman's shouts of anger.

"We better get this over with quickly," Amy casually observed as she finished stuffing the rope in her pack, "Sonic is working faster than usual."

Shadow rolled his eyes, and turned without a word to begin crawling through the vent. It took under a minute for them to find a smaller vent in the ceiling of the hallway of the base, and Shadow wasted no time kicking it open and dropping down to the floor. He heard a soft thump, as the pink girl landed fairly quietly behind him. He tried not to feel impressed, he had expected her to be the same fumbling and loud girl he remembered.

However as he looked behind him to observe her, he was struck with a sudden realization that maybe, just maybe, she really had changed. She was currently standing in the dimly lit hall, and she was looking at the screen on her watch with a hand placed under her chin. He had to admit that she definitely looked different, and it wasn't just her matured body. She held herself with controlled grace, and her movements were deliberate and seemed thought–out and planned.

This was a stark difference from the girl in his memory, the small ball of fury that impulsively smashed through walls screaming her head off, and could barely aim her hammer correctly let alone a clumsy grappling hook.

Her preppy, long ponytail – another difference from her past shortly cropped quills – swung merrily as her head turned her attention to Shadow, and her voice came out hushed, but just louder than a whisper.

"Omega just sent me some floor plans of the higher levels that he's been able to scan," she held her wrist out so that Shadow could take a look, and surprisingly he felt himself lean forward. He found himself standing as close as he could to her as she scrolled through the diagrams.

"It looks like most of the floors follow the same pattern. A circular hall that has doors in the inner portion leading to various rooms."

She continued in the same hushed voice as another rumble was heard on the ground level a floor below them. Amy looked down and Shadow noticed that she clenched her jaw. That same panicked look twitched at the corners of her face once more – uncovered from the usual neutral expression she tried to maintain – and he wondered briefly if she was afraid of the building collapsing around them.

"I–I don't think we'll need to go on the ground level, as most of the time Eggman just has robot storages there as a first defence." She lifted one corner of her mouth in a half smile, and glanced nervously at Shadow for his response.

No. She wanted to avoid the first floor only, he decided, but why? What is on the first floor that has her in a panic?

Sonic and his team were on the first floor…

Shadow shrugged and turned, starting down the left curve. As much as he would love to get under Amy's skin for this, he wasn't too keen on running into Sonic either. Sonic was someone who got under his fur even easier then the pink female next to him, and it was likely that he would drag Shadow into some pointless pissing match. Who cares why she wanted to avoid the hero, Shadow would just take advantage of it for now.

"That's fine by me. If we get questioned on it, we'll just say it was too active to get around undetected. Go that way. I'll take this end. We'll meet on the other side."

She nodded as he turned his attention away from her and sped down to the nearest door. Shadow almost smiled as he rounded the corner to the next door. Peace at last. Now they could do things his way instead of listening to her protocol nonsense. As if she could do things better her way.

Amy stared after him for a moment before starting down the hall, her camera out once more to scan for any potential movement in the interiors. She barely made a sound as she moved through the tower, she'd been sure to wear her sound absorbing tennis shoes, and she'd learned in the academy how to walk on the outside of her foot to create as little noise as possible. It was so ingrained within her from intense training, that now she simply walked this way normally.

Amy reached the first door, and tried the knob, but it was locked. No surprise there, she looked over to the digital key access screen, and saw that it was lit red. She pulled her pack to the front once more, and rifled through the contents until she felt the item she was searching for. She pulled out a small grey colored case, before squinting and leaning close to the key reader screen.

Looking at the input hole in the bottom of the device, she determined it was W4R receiver, and was happy to note that she carried it with her. She snapped the grey case open to reveal several different shaped and colored microchips. This had been an invention of her own design. She hadn't made it herself, but she'd come up with the concept for a surveillance group project in the academy.

She chose the correct chip, and inserted it smoothly into the key reader. It took all of 2 seconds for the program to identify and take advantage of the flaws in the system, and the screen illuminated green before the door clicked open. Smiling she retrieved her chip and placed it carefully back into the case. Her group had gotten the best grade in the class for a reason.

Entering the room, she looked around as the motion detector lights flickered on one by one. There wasn't much in this rooms except for some crumpled metal sheets, and gutted robots. She shivered as she looked at the inner functions of a badnik that was hanging from the ceiling, its anthropometric body unnerved her. Most likely another of Eggman's attempts to create a Mobian–like bot.

She almost turned to leave the room as nothing seemed to be of value in it, when she noticed an old looking computer in the back corner of the room. The desk it sat on was covered in papers and mechanical parts, but what caught her eye was the fact that there wasn't a layer of dust on it. The other surfaces in the room had a very thin almost undetectable layer of it. The room seemed to be abandoned, but the lack of dust on the computer told Amy that it had either been accessed very recently, or was in constant use.

She made her way over to it, and took a look over the machine. It was blocky and huge, and colored a musty tan. The screen's glass was thick, and when she clicked the power button, she could hear a soft, staticy ringing as the pixels came to life one by one. Damn Egghead! What's with the archaic tech? I don't think I have ever seen a computer like this…

She paused in her thoughts, as the screen came to life in shades of green to match Omega's own outdated arm monitor. But that wasn't what caused her heart to beat a little faster in excitement. No, it was the fact that she had indeed seen a computer just like this one, but it hadn't been on Mobius.

Sneaky Doctor has an Earth computer. She grinned, she'd hit gold. Earth tech may be less advanced then Mobian tech, but the planet did hold its own fair share of secrets, any one of which could be within the harddrive of this computer. Eggman wouldn't have gone through the trouble of retrieving this piece of junk unless it contained something of value.

She waited for the desktop to completely wake up, and mused over the complicated and near impossible task of trading and receiving goods from the human world. It was possible, and given the fact that the planet is so similar to their own, large corporations spent much time and rings to streamline the process. Through the harnessing of fake Chaos Emeralds, and other power sources, G.U.N. had been the very first organization to achieve this feat. G.U.N. was obsessed with collecting and hoarding as much information as possible, and most of their dealings were with the parallel Earth G.U.N.

Amy rolled her eyes slightly as she thought back to one of her classes, where it taught most of these 'fun facts' of why Mobian G.U.N. was far superior to any other intelligence and military agency. She heard the sound of the desktop's welcome bell, and snapped her attention to the screen to see four different shaded boxes and a word beneath it that read in human english 'Windows.'

She was surprised there was no password protection, but figured that the thing was so old, that it hadn't even crossed the earlier developer's minds. Looking through the surface files, she didn't see much of value, and she started to feel a little frustrated that perhaps she'd just wasted her time. She could practically hear Shadow angrily tapping his foot in irritation at her delaying their progress.

Amy sighed angrily and almost left, when she noticed the trash icon was empty. She smiled, her confidence in her find restored. There was only one real reason someone would take the time to empty out the trash regularly, and that was if there had been something in there they didn't want restored. However, usually there were ghosts copies of any file ever created on the computer's hard drive.

She pulled the large monitor towards her, and took a look at the back of it. It was an all in one device, moniter and computer smashed into one bulky mass. There were several inputs visable, but as she feared, there was no inputs that matched anything she carried on her. Not even the hand–held hard drive would connect to such an outdated and foreign model. So the next best thing was to detach the physical computer drive.

Reaching into her pack once more, she pulled out a small screwdriver kit, and got to work on deconstructing the outer frame. It took longer then she would've liked, but finally after about ten minutes of fiddling cautiously with the plastic, it came off. She quickly set about the delicate task of disconnecting the drive, and once she was able to, she stepped back with a sigh, with a heavy drive in her hand. She turned and as fast as she could, she headed towards the exit while stuffing the precious cargo into her red backpack. Nervous about how long it had taken her to recover the piece of tech.

Entering the hallway, she just about jumped out of her skin when she saw red eyes and dark figure standing before the door. She knew she'd been a while, but she hadn't realized how long until she saw Shadow standing in the exact position that she imagined he would be in. Arms crossed and right foot tapping, glaring at the room she'd just exited.

"Finally decided to do your job, did you? Have a nice little break?" Shadow snarled, his ruby eyes narrowed, and his muzzle in a sneer.

Amy rolled her eyes, and sighed, "Oh, get off your high horse, the computer in there wasn't modern or Mobian, so it took a moment longer to get its info."

Shadow scoffed, his judgemental look intensifying, but he merely growled before jerking his head to the side,

"Come on, then. Let's get this mission over with, I'm sick of babysitting you."

"Wait… what about the other rooms…?"

"Already cleared. KEEP UP!"

He started down the hall and Amy glared as she followed him, I couldn't agree more.

Eggman's Knothole Tower Base

~September 11, 11:03~

The group was quiet as the three Mobian Agents followed behind their robotic companion as he finished scanning the lower floors. Shadow, Rouge and Amy had finally met on the same floor, and now all that was left was for Omega to scan the rest of the tower to ensure they hadn't missed anything. The sounds of battle had quieted, and they'd witnessed several badniks retreating from their storages, as Eggman – unsurprisingly – abandoned the base.

Omega had happily destroyed several of them that had been leaving with tech in their arms, or running data wiping programs in the computers. But the other Mobian Agents had just watched him, like unamused parents observing their child in an amusement park. There was no concern of lost information, as they'd already collected it all. So now they were moving in dead silence, preferring to be in their own thoughts.

Shadow and Rouge were both thinking similar trains of thought, fuck Amy Rose. Shadow was pissed that he hadn't been able to find any flaws in her abilities or completion of her tasks in the mission. Even though she was a little slower than him, she'd been thorough. He had to begrudgingly admit that he wouldn't have thought about removing the hard drives from out–of–date tech. It was something that he already knew she'd be praised for back at HQ.

Rouge on the other hand was feeling nervous. She had been so sure that Amy would've abandoned the mission the exact moment that Sonic had appeared, but she hadn't. In fact the hedgehog seemed completely unaffected by the fact that the hero was there. This did not bode well. It was also not a good sign that this mission had been completed flawlessly. Neither Eggman nor Team Sonic had been aware of their presence, and they'd gone through the whole tower without incident.

Amy, on the contrary, was feeling higher than the moon. With a wide grin plastered on her face, the sour moods of her teammates didn't even begin to bring her high down. She knew she'd done well, maybe even better than well. She could only hope that even if her teammates couldn't get over their disappointment in being forced to have her, that maybe they would at least quiet their complaints of her addition to the team.

They reached the second level, which left only the ground level to get through after they were done. Amy was practically skipping as Rouge and Shadow exchanged twin looks of mild disgust, when suddenly Omega stopped dead in his tracks causing Amy to smack into him mid–skip.

She gasped in surprise, and rubbed her head where she'd connected with his outstretched arm. She felt tears of pain tickle the corners of her eyes, and she started to walk around the badnik,

"Oh jeez, Omega! That hurt, what's going…" She trailed off as she came face to face with what had made the robot stop. Bile rose quickly to the base of her throat, and panic burst through the door of her heart and settled in to stay.

"Omega detects neutral Mobians in the immediate area, delay in detection due to operation power being directed to scanning building…"

She barely heard him as her entire body was frozen in place and staring the male in front of her with a mirrored look of shock and confusion.

Sonic the Hedgehog was the most still anyone in the hallway had ever seen him, his emerald eyes bright with shock, and his leg lifted in the air mid step. His muzzle was open slightly, and there was a soft uuhhh coming from his throat. She heard her frantic heart pounding in her ears, a concoction of conflicting emotions ran through her as she stared at the love of her life, who looked like he wanted to melt into the ground.

"Oh! Big Blue himself!" The cheery voice of Rouge broke the silence like the shattering of glass. Everyone could hear the elation in her voice, but what had Amy scared was the look of pure horror that replaced shock in Sonic's emerald irises. His eyes flicked back and forth between her and Team Dark, and she could almost see the gears turning in his head.

Amy gulped, ignoring the cold sweats developing all across her body and the prying eyes of her team as she took a step forward.

"Sonic, I –"

There was a loud BOOM as the male hedgehog disappeared at top speed in a blue light. The Mobian Agents clamped their hands over their ears, their eardrums nearly burst from the close proximity of the sound barrier being broken. Omega simply watched the events unfold, waiting for an opportunity to continue with his directive.

"Damn!" Rouge exclaimed, her teeth gritting as she stepped into view of the stunned pink hedgehog.

"I knew Sonic had an aversion to you, but I didn't think it was that bad! That boy didn't even take the time to build up to a sonic boom! What did you…" She had started out with a teasing tone, but it quickly died off as she watched tears the size of grapes fall from jade eyes.

The bat's maternal instincts kicked into overdrive as she looked over the girl before her. The pink Agent was frozen solid, her face set in stone, and her body as still as a mountain. The only thing that moved was the water that spilled from unblinking eyes. It was unnerving.

"Amy, wha –"

"Knock it off Knuckles! I'm tired of hearing your complaints! We have to find Sonic and then finish our recon before –"

Around the curve of the tower came a young fox teenager and large muscular echidna. The echidna had his arms crossed and his purple eyes looked irritated, while the fox's tails twitched in a similar emotion with his impatience at the large guardian's obvious desires to leave. However when the two males stumbled, quite literally, onto the scene, both their faces melted of all emotions and their expressions mirrored Sonic's earlier shock.

Amy snapped out of her daze, and she quickly turned before they could notice, wiping at her eyes furiously. That was the only movement for a moment before a loud bellow filled the space and aggravated already sensitive ears,

"YOU! What are you doing here BAT?!" Knuckles pointed a finger in the direction of the thief, his large physique puffing outwards.

Rouge flinched, but her eyes came to life as she forgot all other worries, and instead she gave the echidna a smizing look.

"Oh my! It's been a while, Mister Guardian." She sauntered closer to the male, her wings fluttering ever so slightly, "Fancy meeting you here in this dreary place,"

A finger popped out of her own fist to lightly graze through the white crescent fur on his chest, "You keeping my Master Emerald safe?"

Knuckles growled and smacked her hand from his pecs, but he couldn't hide the soft blush beneath peach fur on his muzzle. Immediately, the two treasure hunters devolved into a bubble of their own as the rest of the party stood at a stand still.

Shadow had been observing Amy very curiously as he hadn't expected this kind of reaction from either hero hedgehog. He didn't feel pity or worry for the obvious trauma she was experiencing. No the most he could say he felt was a tingling – almost obnoxious – morbid curiosity.

He watched as she finished wiping her eyes, pretending like she was looking at her watch, and then he cringed as an almost unrecognizable honeyed voice came forth as she turned her attention back to a glaring fox.

"Hey Tails! Long time no see! How have you been, buddy?"

Mentioned genius seemed to snap out of a trance, and his ice blue glare deepened as his arms folded across his chest.

"Amy." He replied shortly, he was taller than the last time she'd seen him, and she felt that all too familiar feeling of lost time stretching between them. She hadn't seen him for... even longer than her last meet up with Sonic. She gulped before trying again,

"So… um, h–how have –"

"So you're really with G.U.N. now, aren't you?" The fox interrupted, his voice calm, but his eyes burned as he looked over Team Dark. A smirk formed on his lips as he made eye contact with Shadow.

"Makes sense you'd be on the same team as Sonic's rival."

Amy flinched, and suddenly there was a chill in the air that caused even the good natured bickering of the two treasure hunters to cease, and turn their attention to the two Mobians standing like gunman in a showdown.

"Tails I –"

"Amy?!" Knuckles exclaimed loudly. Everyone's head snapped to look at the red echidna who stood with his mouth wide open and his amethyst eyes bright with shock.

"Whoa! It's really you!" A large smile spread across Knuckles face, and he pushed Rouge roughly away. Everyone in the hall blinked with comical looks of confusion as the large male rushed over to her and picked her up in a lung crushing hug.

"I didn't see you there! I feel like it's been years since I last saw you!" He bellowed, and Amy felt all the air in her lungs escaping like wildlife from a fire.

"Kn–Knuckles! I can't breathe!" She managed to squeeze out and immediately the crushing muscular arms released her.

She stood panting for a moment, leaning towards the ground and bracing herself on her knees while she tried to make sense of the situation. By the reactions of both Sonic and Tails, she had assumed that all the people in her past hated her, but to have this sort of reaction from the crimson guardian? Well she would be lying if she said she didn't feel like crying. She was surprised, however, that Knuckles would react in such a way. Sure they were friends, but it wasn't like they'd hung out much in the past, and the main times she'd seen him were because it had something do with Sonic… and when Sonic was in the picture, she'd had little care for much else.

Amy took a deep breath to calm the conflicting emotions that were swimming in her stomach, and finally looked up. Her teammates looked just as frazzled as her at the scene; Knuckles wasn't known to be the lovable type, and was that a spark of jealousy in a certain albino bat's eyes? She would've studied that interesting train of thought if it weren't for the look of pure disgust that Tails was shooting her way. She gulped, her eyes flicking back and forth from the fox to the echidna.

"Um, hey Knux… it actually has been years, so maybe that's why?" She offered, trying to put a light tone to her voice and a little giggle at the end that sounded more like choking.

He blinked at her for a moment before a look of understanding lit on his face, "You're right…" He agreed, "Sometimes time flows differently on Angel Island and a year feels like a minute, or a minute like a year. But now that I'm looking at–cha, I can tell."

A smirk curled on his lips as his eyes moved up and down her frame, "You look... different."

Amy's cheeks burst into flame from the unspoken compliment to her physique, and she laughed nervously, "So do you. Have you... gotten stronger?"

If possible, the smirk on his face widened, and he lifted an arm while flexing, "You noticed?"

A loud cough was heard, and suddenly an annoyed bat was shoving her way between them. Amy stepped back and almost stumbled over Omega again, but the robot was ready this time and caught her. Rouge gave the girl a nasty sneer before she flipped her head and gave Knuckles a sultry look with a snap of her hip.

"As heartwarming as this little… reunion is, we have a mission to complete," the bat huffed and as she turned to saunter down the hallway, she made sure to flick Knuckles in the face with the tip of her wing. This succeeded in angering the echidna, and once more his attention was solely on the bat.

With the lack of a large, red shield, Amy was once again in the line of fire for Tails' stabbing glares. In fact she could practically feel the hatred coming off him in waves. She glanced over at Shadow, hoping that the anti–social hedgehog would pick up on the situation and help her escape. Shadow just stared back at her, his eyes unwavering and his face unreadable.

In fact, the dark hedgehog was actually quite interested in the scene playing out before him. It was for purely educational purposes, since he thought he might be able to pick up something he could use against her in the future. Watching her suffer just happened to be a bonus, really.

"So you're just going to ignore me then?" The irritated voice of the young genius snapped their focus back to him.

Shadow watched as Amy flinched at the harsh tone, and shut her eyes.

"No… I… I just don't know what to say…" Her hands flew behind her, and Shadow saw them twist and fidget frantically, an outward reflection of her nerves.

"You don't know what to say?" Tails reiterated, his tone bitter and his sky blue eyes like thin icicles, "Somehow that doesn't surprise me. I mean if you'd had something to say, then we would have heard from you these past few years, instead you've been completely absent."

Amy flinched visibly, and suddenly everyone could feel a prickly and uncomfortable energy in the air. It was like a switch had been flipped, Shadow could swear he heard it snap. He watched as Amy's hands immediately ceased their fidgeting and moved to hang stiffly at her sides.

"Absent? I was absent?" She growled, and even with her back turned, Shadow could feel the heat of fury coming off her in waves.

"Why was it on me to reach out? You, Cream, Sonic… you all seem to be blaming me for what happened."

Tails took a step back as Amy took a step forward, her finger raised and her quills beginning to bristle. She couldn't believe this was happening to her. This was ridiculous, why did everyone see her as a bitch? As the one who is being unreasonable?

However, just when she thought she'd burst into anger, a sudden chill of environmental awareness washed through her. Her gaze flickered to those around her, and she realized everyone was holding their breath to see what she was going to do. She saw curiosity and worry in Knuckles eyes, and eagerness in Rouge's, but the gaze she could not bring herself to meet was the cold calculating stare of ruby irises. She couldn't make a scene… not now. She was so close…

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, and when they opened again, the mask she had spent years perfecting was covering all her emotions. She smiled politely at the fox, and turned to walk past him. That's right, she wasn't the same emotional girl from before, seeing Sonic had rattled her, but he wasn't even here anymore. She didn't owe anyone an explanation, least of all the arrogant teenager before her.

"You know what, it isn't even worth it. I'm not here on personal matters, so if you wish to speak with me, you can set up an appointment through my office." Her gloved hand flicked out in front of his shocked face, and between her fingers was a business card for G.U.N.s main reception line. When the fox didn't immediately grab the offered card, she opened her fingers and allowed it to fall to the ground.

She started off down the hall being sure to keep her head held high, but just before she was out of earshot, she heard a bitter scoff.

"I guess Sonic is right about you, you've become callous, and selfish. A malicious, unfeeling person."

She froze. Her heart squeezed, and she felt a part of her that she tried to hold back cry out in agony. She wanted to disappear, she wished that she had never agreed to go on this mission. She'd known it would be tricky getting this close to her hometown, why had she agreed to come? Because if you hadn't, they would've never accepted you… keep your eyes on the prize Agent Rose.

Without turning back or uttering a single word, she continued down the hall until she could no longer hear the mummers and bitter curses.

Keep your eye on the prize…