Genocide City — The Imperial Tower

The glass walls of a mechanical pod begin to rise, releasing a billow of steam into the air. Through the fog, a pair of robotic red eyes light up. Metal Sonic takes the first step out onto solid ground. Then the metallic claws of a robotic hand are driven into Metal Sonic's skull, instantly cutting out the lights in its eyes. A second set of claws joins the first, and Metal Sonic's head is ripped open completely.

Surrounded by metallic debris, sparks fly from Metal Sonic's destroyed form, lying in a heap on the ground. A long wire is plugged into a now-exposed port within Metal Sonic's head, leading up to the figure standing above it, the one responsible for all of the damage. That figure is also Metal Sonic, with the other end of the wire plugged directly into his own head. "Extreme Gear racing… Footracing… Kart racing… And…Olympic sports? You've filled this unit's head with nonsense, Doctor."

Through the loudspeakers built into the building, Eggman's voice responds, "All in the interest of outperforming Sonic, of course. That is your goal, is it not?"

"You trivialize my plans. Just as you always have."

"Well, if you'd like to join me upstairs, I'm certain we can do something to change that."

"Please, Doctor. I know perfectly well that you are nowhere near here. But–… What's this? A data copying system based on…Gizoid technology. Intriguing. Hardly a substitute for my Remolecularizer, but it will have to do. All data: successfully transferred."

Eggman's voice presses, "With my help, I'm certain you can learn to use that data far more–"

The broken body of the replicated Metal Sonic spasms as the cord is ripped free from what remains of its head. The victorious Metal Sonic looks up to the speakers in the ceiling. "I have no interest in working for you, Doctor. Consider yourself lucky that you aren't here. When I next see your face, I will not hesitate to take your life."

"A shame. I thought we might make excellent partners."

Metal Sonic points a hand towards the wall. The mechanisms in his hand transform into the shape of a missile launcher, which fires, blowing a hole through the wall into the smoggy skies beyond. He holds the transformed hand up closer to his face, looking to it with satisfaction. "I may not have seen it at first, Doctor. But you and I want different things. I seek to save what you wish to destroy. We could never be partners."

"I am the Emperor of this planet. There will be consequences to making an enemy out of me."

Metal Sonic activates his engine, lifting off of the ground. "What happens to me…is irrelevant." He rockets out through the hole.

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Chaos Project

Season 2, Episode 5

Top GUN

Written by ChaosProjectAuthor

Daily log, January 4th, 1 A.E. Rouge the Bat reporting.

No luck in the search for Omega, yet. He wasn't in the cave where Metal Sonic was. No sign of Metal Sonic, either. At least that's one load off our backs, for now.

It took about eight hours of silence before Shadow finally said a word to me. I don't blame him for what happened between us, but…I still don't think he's really accepted that. He blames himself. And I'll bet he somehow blames himself for Omega disappearing, too…although you wouldn't believe that with how much he was yelling at Sonic before we left. Last time I saw him that mad was… Anyways, it was impressive that he didn't start strangling Sonic right there.

And honestly, I'm not sure I can back Sonic on this one, either. Knowing that Omega engaged Metal Sonic on his own…Sonic chose to leave him behind. If he'd turned around to back him up right then…

If this was GUN, Sonic could've been discharged for making the choice he did. You're not supposed to leave another man behind. But then, so would Omega, for disobeying orders like that. I just wish I knew what got into his head.

I get that Sonic was just trying to get Tails out of danger, but…I just don't know.

Maybe I would've made the same choice. Maybe…I already—

Oh no! Omega!

—–—

Emerald Canyon – Rebel Camp Alpha

Charmy's finger runs under each line on the page of the dense textbook at an impressive pace. Vector hovers over his shoulder, clearly not following along. "What exactly is he…doing?"

Behind them, Espio answers, "Studying."

"You mean he's actually going through with this?"

"It's all he's been talking about since he got back." Espio momentarily glances over as Charmy turns the page, putting him only a small fraction of the way through the book. He shrugs. "I give him a week."

Vector shakes his head. "I give him 45 minutes."

Another voice counters, "You guys are underestimating him." Carrying a large stack of more textbooks in his arms, Tails flies in through the open entrance. He settles down onto his good leg, momentarily trying to reclaim balance without relying on his cast-bound broken one. "Once Charmy sets his mind to something, there's nothing that can stop him."

Charmy looks up from his studies, happily greeting, "Tails!"

Espio looks to Vector. "Tails is right. We shouldn't underestimate him."

Vector crosses his arms stubbornly. "Wanna make that a bet?"

Tails pats a hand on the stack of books as he sets them down next to Charmy. "These are all the basics of Cellular Biology, Anatomy, and Physiology."

"And once I read all these, I get to be a doctor!?"

"No, no no no. Once you're through all these, we can test to see if you're ready to move up to the High School level. And this is all just the human stuff, it's a lot harder to find good books on Animoid biology. You're in this for the long haul."

Charmy holds up a fist resolutely. "I'll memorize every word."

"The words are less important than what they're saying. Don't forget that."

Charmy nods. "Of course. So how's the cast holding up?"

Tails raps against the solid white cast on his leg a couple times, producing a solid sound that echoes back. "Rock solid. Just don't go thinking this means you can skip the chapter on bones."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Outside, an angry voice shouts, "How could you let this happen to him!?"

Tails and Charmy glance at each other, then both move to look for themselves.

Outside, Shadow and Rouge have dropped what appears to be the broken form of Omega. Across from them, Sonic crosses his arms and rolls his eyes. "It's always my fault with you, isn't it?"

Shadow presses with increasing fury, "Of course it's your fault! You took him on this mission without consulting anyone, and when he needed backup, you left him behind!"

Tails flies up to examine Omega. On closer inspection, there is little of Omega left. His exterior plating has been peeled open in many places, showing nothing but hollow cavities inside.

Sonic counters, "I had to make a call. Tails was in danger, and I ordered a retreat. Omega disobeyed that order. Turning around to help him would've put us right back where we started!"

Doing his best to quell the situation, Tails announces, "He's been gutted. There's hardly any machinery left in here."

Shadow looks down to him, calming slightly. "Can you fix him?"

Tails continues to look over the damaged machine from every angle. "His CPU looks…mostly intact. I could hook it up to a battery, a microphone, and a speaker, and we'd be able to communicate with him just fine, but…to get him moving again, I'd need a lot more parts than I have. And then there's his weapons… Military-grade stuff, I don't think I could reasonably replace any of it."

Shadow turns away with a low growl. Through gritted teeth, he responds, "Don't bother."

"What!? Why not?"

"Because Omega would rather go to the scrap heap than suffer a life of uselessness." With that said, Shadow starts to walk away.

Rouge calls after him, "Shadow, wait!" She runs to follow.

Tails solemnly places a hand over Omega's hollow chest. "Sonic…?"

Sonic kneels down next to him as he waves over Vector and Espio, who had been watching from the entrance of their tent. "None of this is your fault, Tails. We'll figure it out, don't worry."

"It's not just that. Metal Sonic needed me to fix him. Which means he can't just operate on himself. So what could he have possibly done with all these parts?"

"I don't know. Maybe he just wanted to get rid of them, put Omega out of commission for good."

"So why leave the body and the CPU?"

Sonic shakes his head. "I can't answer that." Once Vector and Espio are in position, the three of them lift up the metal husk from the ground.

Tails presses, "Could it have anything to do with—"

Sonic silences him with a sharp glare and a subtle shake of his head. "Let's just get Omega somewhere protected for right now."

Tails nods as he watches them carry off the body. He stands there for a while, deep in thought. A questioning squeak behind him catches his attention. He turns around to see Hero the Wolf and Bruno the Wisp, apparently having also watched the ordeal. "Oh, hey. What's up?"

Bruno lets out another questioning squeak, this time a bit more forceful.

Tails realizes, "Oh, right, I promised you that— Yeah, yeah, it's almost ready. Come with me, I'll show you."

As Tails flies off towards his tent, Bruno turns to Hero, holding his tentacles up near his face, unable to contain a squeal of excitement.

Hero laughs, patting the Wisp on the head and encouraging him to come along.

—–—

"Shadow…" Rouge finds him deep in the forested area of the canyon.

Shadow doesn't look back at her. "Do you honestly believe that he'd want to be turned on in such a sorry state?"

"No…I think you were completely right about that. We'll find the parts he needs, and we'll turn him on then. Right now…you're the one I'm worried about."

"Then you're wasting your time. There are more important things to worry about."

"I disagree. Shadow, you've been acting different ever since…"

"Ever since I tried to kill you?"

"Yes. That."

Shadow lets out a long sigh. "I suppose…I realized a few things on that day."

"Like what?"

"Like…that I can't keep letting my emotions get in the way."

"Oh, so you taking out all your anger on Sonic, that was your attempt at being emotionless?"

Shadow doesn't answer at first. "In a way…it was."

"Please, enlighten me."

Shadow lets out another sigh. "My powers…" He shakes his head. "My…power. Chaos Blast. It's what happens…when I let my anger build. When it all comes out."

"You were angry with me. And you had every right to be."

"You don't understand. I…" He hesitates for a moment. "I lost control. I didn't want…to kill you. But I was angry. I'd been building up that anger for so long that…it all came out. And against my own will, I turned into a living bomb."

"Shadow…"

"What if I'd resisted just a little less? What if someone else was there? I could've killed people that I care about. I can't ever let something like that happen again. At least if I let myself be angry, if I hold nothing back, then I know it will never build up beyond my control."

"Shadow, look at me. I'm fine. I'm standing here, talking to you, and I'm fine. It happened in the past, and you're letting the past control you."

"What other option do I have!? Suppressing all my emotions!? I've tried that! It doesn't work!"

Rouge closes her eyes and shakes her head. "The opposite. I'm not telling you to stop being angry, I'm telling you to stop letting it be the emotion that controls you. Embracing just your anger isn't going to lead you anywhere good. You need to feel it all. It might be easier to be angry than it is to be forgiving, but you don't have to suppress one to feel the other. And if you feel enough of the other…you might find the anger going away on its own."

Shadow closes his own eyes. "I can't let this keep happening. I can't keep letting the people I care about get hurt. If I just stayed away…"

"You know what you'd be doing if you tried to cut yourself off from all of us to keep us from getting hurt? You'd be hurting all of the people you care about."

Shadow scoffs at the use of his own words.

"I'm not joking about this, Shadow. Do you know…what the most terrifying part about that day was? It wasn't the thought of getting killed. It was the thought that…whether I lived or not…that you might never forgive me. I couldn't stand the thought of that. Shadow, losing you is the worst thing that could happen to me. So do me a favor, and go back to your life the way it was before any of this. Just be a friend. That's all you need to worry about."

"I wish it were that simple…"

"Shadow…I once promised you that I would always be by your side. And I went back on that promise. You needed a friend, and I abandoned you. You needed a friend because I'd abandoned you. So how about this? The next time one of us decides to go and do something stupid on their own…we agree to do it together. And if we stick together…neither of us will have anything to worry about."

Shadow looks down to the ground. "I… I need a few minutes. Alone."

Rouge nods. "Take all the time you need." One of her ears twitches. "Hey, do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That…beeping?"

"I don't hear any beeping."

"Huh. Must be the bat ears. I'll go check it out." She walks away to investigate.

Left alone, Shadow puts a hand up to his chin. "I'm the Ultimate Life Form. My ears should be better than yours."

—–—

The workbench in Tails' tent has been mostly cleared off, leaving one small, incomplete device in the middle, attached to a simple set of thin straps. Tails sits down at the workbench, grabbing a tool from off to the side to adjust some of the exposed wires on the device. As Hero and Bruno enter behind him, he explains, "I haven't had the chance to test it out yet, so you'll have to let me know if you run into any bugs." He reaches over for a small metal plate, and starts to screw it on. "I think this'll be a big relief for everyone. No more need for an intermediary to translate for you." With the device completed, he turns and holds it out to Hero. "Care to do the honors?"

Hero happily takes the device, and turns to Bruno. Bruno lifts his chin, allowing for Hero to wrap the straps of the device around his back.

Tails encourages, "Go ahead. Try it out."

Bruno holds a tentacle up over his face, making a sound as if to clear his throat. Then he begins to squeak. And, with a fraction of a moment's delay, the device now attached to him begins to speak with a similarly squeaky voice. "Hello, world, my name is— What the heck is this!? You made me sound like an imp!"

Tails scratches the back of his head awkwardly. "I…did my best to match your actual voice pattern."

"Is this what I sound like to all of you? I'll have you know, I'm considered quite deep-throated among my kind."

"Hey, it's fine, I can adjust it." Tails steps up and presses a few small buttons on the front of the device. "Try it now."

Bruno clears his throat once again, and this time lets out as if warming up for a song, "Mi mi mi mi mi miiiiii~!" His voice, though still a bit childlike, is considerably deeper than it was before. "Alright, that's better, but the more important question is…" He turns to Hero, holding out his tentacles wide in showmanship. "…how do I novel?"

Hero cocks his head to the side in confusion.

Tails questions, "What do you mean, 'novel'?"

"I didn't say 'novel', I said 'thief'!"

This confuses them even more. "Uhh…"

Bruno keeps trying. "Corner! River! Chef! △X◯⬜!" The last word comes out as nothing but an alien squeak.

Hero's eyes widen in surprise.

Bruno comments, "Oh, hey, that one didn't translate at Autumn." He slaps a tentacle over his face in frustration.

Tails notes, "I took the liberty of…not translating certain words."

"Yeah, well that doesn't explain why, at the end of every sentence, it keeps saying the wrong avian!"

"I could've sworn I had that bug ironed out…" Tails shakes his head. "Well, I can look over all the code I wrote again, but in the meantime…you're free to keep testing it."

"You mean I'm stuck like this if I want to stone!?"

"Umm…yes?"

Hero gives Bruno a reassuring look.

"Of course you don't need this thing to understand me, but the point was for everyone else to—"

Hero's expression shifts slightly.

"Okay, okay, I get it, I didn't need the whole speech, I'll be more patient, present?" He growls at the erroneous word.

Tails appears a bit baffled by the whole exchange, but he shakes his head and turns back to his workbench. But he looks right back up when a knock comes at the front post.

Rouge's voice announces from the outside, "Hey, Tails, it's me. Think you can help me out with something?"

"Sure. Come on in."

Rouge enters, carrying a small earpiece radio that emits a quiet, continuous beeping sound. She waves hello to Hero as she passes. "This is my old GUN communicator." She places it down on Tails' workbench. "I haven't used the thing since the day the war started, figured the batteries would've run dry a long time ago. I'm not sure if it's malfunctioning, or if it's receiving some sort of signal. The pattern repeats, but it's not any GUN code that I recognize."

"Huh. And it only runs on private military channels?"

Rouge nods. "If it's a signal, what're the odds you can trace its source?"

"It'd be pretty difficult without—"

Hero, adjusting a small dial on his much bulkier communicator, gets it to begin blaring the same beeping pattern.

Tails finishes, "…another receiver to help triangulate, perfect."

Hero takes it off and hands it over.

Bruno listens intently. Suddenly, both he and Hero gasp, realizing the same thing. "I know this type!"

Rouge glances over in surprise.

Bruno continues, "This is a GUN priority distress signal, code ten!"

Rouge scoffs. "There is no code ten."

Tails apologizes, "Sorry, working out a bug in the translator. He—"

"No, I really did mean ten, code ten! Top secret, Commanders only distress call, that's code ten!"

Rouge shakes her head. "A top secret distress code doesn't make any sense. If you're in trouble, why would you call for just the top brass?"

Hero looks to Bruno with an increasingly hopeful expression. Bruno translates, "Only Commanders are authorized to know about it…but only the High Commander is authorized to use code ten."

Rouge gasps. "The Commander. Are you saying…?" She shakes her head again. "No, that's impossible. One of the last reports ever made on a GUN terminal showed that the Commander walked out onto the battlefield with a handgun and took down thirty robots on his own before they got him. He died on the battlefield. He can't be alive."

"Well the reports are underwear!"

"Excuse me?"

Tails notes, "There's that bug I mentioned."

Bruno presses, "We were the last people to see the Commander, he saved us, tried to get us somewhere safe, but then…" His tone shifts as the memory comes back. "…we made it out of the truck before it went into the water, but…"

Rouge takes a moment to take it all in. "So what you're saying is…the Commander had a fake report put into the system to make it look like he'd died…and then to the only people who knew he was still alive…he made it look like he died again. I'd say this is ridiculous, but if anyone's capable of this level of deception, it's the Commander."

"But if his plan was to fake his death, why reveal himself forehead?"

"Assuming that he's still alive, and assuming that he really did send this message…then either this is some part of the deception that we don't understand yet, or he really does need our help."

Hero and Bruno nod in agreement. "Tails, do you have the string?"

Tails scratches his head. "Uhh…you might want to try that one again."

Rouge holds up a finger. "Hold on, I think I might have this bug figured out." She begins counting off on her fingers, "String… Lace… Place. Do you have the place?"

Tails cries out in frustration, "It shouldn't be doing that!"

"Do you have the source of the signal or not?"

"Right, yeah, I've calculated the coordinates. Let me pull it up on screen." Tails plugs a few numbers into his Handheld, and a satellite image appears on the screen. Rouge and Hero bend over to get a closer look. "Looks like it's…in the middle of nowhere. Near the mountains, maybe…twenty miles north of Metropolis. No buildings or anything for miles around. Just empty space."

"Still worth checking out. Close enough for us to get to, but it'll be a few days' journey." Suddenly, the faint beeping coming from the two communicators ceases. Rouge questions, "What's going on?"

Tails picks up the devices and hands them over to their respective owners. "Signal stopped on both communicators at once, which means it stopped at the source."

Hero looks to Bruno. Bruno agrees, "That means we have to fret."

Tails counters, "We still don't know what this signal was really for, we shouldn't necessarily be—"

Rouge interrupts, "Fret, worry, hurry. But it doesn't hurt to be worried, too."

"Hurry, right. I'll let Sonic know where you're going, I'm sure he'll approve. And good luck."

—–—

Daily log, January 6th, 1 A.E. Rouge the Bat reporting.

We made it to the coordinates around dusk, but Tails was right about this being the middle of nowhere. Nothing but a big field of grass. We're making camp nearby, and we'll do a more thorough search in the morning. We're still not sure what exactly it is we're looking for, but…with any luck, we're not too late. I still feel a bit bad for not checking in on Shadow before we left. He and the Commander didn't exactly get along, so I didn't think he'd be interested in coming along, but…I still should've let him know. Anyways, he asked for his space. This is how it always goes with him.

I wonder why it never occurred to me that the Commander might be alive. I guess I just…thought of GUN as something that stopped existing after the first day of this war. I mean, technically, it was. Eggman made a big show in the first week out of officially disbanding the organization and recycling its resources. Maybe I just thought the Commander wouldn't have allowed that if he was still around. Where has he been? Why hasn't he been fighting back? There must be thousands of former soldiers out there who would've rallied around him if he'd only made the call.

And there's still the bigger question. Why reveal himself now? Something about all this is just…rubbing me the wrong way.

—–—

Closing one eye as if pretending to aim for a faraway target, Hero sets his sights on the small pile of firewood in the dirt, and pulls the trigger on his flamethrower, setting it ablaze.

Rouge nods in satisfaction. "Certainly easier than using a match."

Bruno comments, "This Wispon's gotten through some tough spots."

Struck by a thought, Rouge questions, "So when I talk to you, Bruno…how much of what you're saying comes from you, and how much of it comes from him?"

Reclining in sync against a tall rock by the campfire, Hero and Bruno look to each other for a moment in consideration. "Maybe…fifty-fifty?"

Hero shoots Bruno a look.

Bruno corrects, "Okay, maybe sixty-forty. He thinks I talk too much."

"Sounds like your translator isn't acting up so bad anymore."

"Yeah, I think I figured out what the problem was. In my language, we…modify words to represent punctuation. Those were the words the translator was reading wrong. All I have to do is slur my sentences, and I'm eat. Uh, I mean, I'm fine." He shakes his head with a shrug of his tentacles. "Mama would be ashamed of my poor grammar."

"Sounds like your language is a lot different from ours. But you sure picked up ours pretty quickly. You never needed the translator to understand any of us."

"Well, I have Yacker to thank for that."

"Yacker…isn't that the little one Sonic and Tails were travelling around with at Eggman's Amusement Park?"

Hero yawns, stretching out as Bruno continues the story. "That's right. Yacker became…something of a legend after that. Everyone wants to be like Yacker. To be the one that experiences the universe from a completely new perspective. Before he shared his experiences with us, we never would've believed that there was anything like the Furry Talkers out there."

"The what now?"

"The, uh… The… Whaddaya call 'em? Animoids. Furry Talkers is the name Yacker gave them."

"A little on the nose, isn't it?"

"That's just how our culture works. When you see something no one's ever seen before, you call it by the words that describe what it is. Before we came to this planet, we didn't know that there were any other languages out there. The thought of our names being somehow wrong would've been pretty outlandish. Sonic's at least told you the one about Baldy Nosehair, right?"

"Oh yeah. That's been his go-to insult ever since."

"So anyways, Yacker taught us all how to understand your language. But his biggest regret…was that he had to go back home. That's what inspired me, and some of the others, to find our way back here. And when I found someone I could connect with…the same way Yacker connected with Sonic…I chose to stay. To live an entire life among these people that we still don't fully understand. To see the universe from a completely new perspective."

"What exactly do you mean by…connect?"

"Well, it's uhh…sort of like a…connection. I don't think your language has a better word for it. Wisps are able to…feel life…in a way that people on this planet can't seem to do."

"So you can read our thoughts?"

"No, it's not psychic, it's more…empathic. I can sort of feel what other people are feeling. But with Hero, it's different." Hero looks up at the sound of his name. "We're on the same wavelength, perfectly in-sync. His feelings are as clear to me as my own. Which is a good thing, because he'd never talk about them himself."

"You know, I've always wondered about that." She looks directly to Hero. "Why the silent treatment? I know you have a voice, so why don't you use it?"

Hero and Bruno glance at each other for only a moment. "He doesn't want to talk about it."

"Yeah, that was pretty self-evident. But does that mean you know?"

"Words are unnecessary. Anything he could ever say, he'd rather just do."

"That's not exactly a reason. And doesn't you translating for him sort of defeat that purpose?"

"Uhh…"

Rouge piles on the charm. "Come on, we're friends, aren't we? I'd love to hear that pretty voice of yours. What's the harm?"

Bruno looks nervously at Hero. Hero sighs, looking away. "He's just…keeping a promise. I shouldn't say more than that."

"A promise not to talk? That's a bit odd."

Hero suddenly looks back at Bruno with a smug grin.

Surprised by the sudden change, Rouge questions, "What, what's that look for?"

Bruno translates with an equally smug look in his eyes, "We outrank you. We can order you to stop this line of questioning."

"Oh, please, you were in GUN for how long?"

"Uhh…about a month and a half?"

"And they made you a Commander after six weeks of training?" Rouge shakes her head. "Makes a girl feel underappreciated. But then again…" Now it's Rouge's turn to gain a smug grin. "…I work directly under the President. And on such missions, my orders would supersede yours."

"Too bad for you this isn't one of those missions."

"Oh, isn't it? If I were working under the orders of the President right now, you wouldn't be authorized to know about it. Top secret stuff, you know how it is. So I suppose you'll just have to take my word for it."

Hero starts to laugh, and Bruno quickly joins him.

Rouge gives a satisfied nod. "There's that voice. Not exactly the full song and dance I was hoping for, but I'll take it."

After a while, Hero's laughter calms to a sigh. Bruno translates, "Do you really think the Commander's out here?"

Rouge sighs as well. "Honestly? No idea. But he's our commanding officer, so…we owe it to him to keep looking." She pauses as she takes another look at Hero. "But that's not why you're hoping to find him, is it?"

Bruno looks to Hero for confirmation, but Hero doesn't look back. Still, Bruno begins to answer, "No matter how many battles we fought…no matter how much we lost…everyone we ever met always looked at us like a couple of kids. The Commander was different. He saw nothing but our fighting spirit. He made us feel like we belonged."

"Well…he certainly always had a unique perspective on things, I'll give him that."

Hero gives a brief chuckle at this assessment. Bruno laughs a bit more openly. "Yeah, definitely."

As Rouge is about to say something else, one of her ears twitches. She turns around with surprise, shouting at a whisper, "Someone's coming!"

Hero quiets himself instantly, but as Bruno doesn't, he throws a hand over him to muffle the laughter.

Rouge kicks dirt over the fire, quelling most of the ambient light instantly. She points off in the distance, where a figure speeds across the open plains. "Is it an Eggman robot?"

Bruno slips free from Hero's grasp. "Looks more like a GUN Hunter. But GUN robots aren't usually painted jet black…are they?"

"You can see that from here?"

"This third eye isn't just for show, you know."

Rouge shakes her head. "Whatever. It's not heading in our direction, but it looks like it could be heading for our coordinates. Hunters don't patrol, they move straight to their target positions, so we should be pretty safe following it.

"Follow it? Why not just flag it down? It's a GUN robot, it's on our side."

"I wouldn't be too sure. Whatever's going on here, it's definitely fishy. This could be our chance to figure it out."

Hero and Bruno agree. "Let's go."

—–—

The military drone, carrying a sealed crate in one mechanical hand, comes to a sudden stop in the middle of the empty field. Without any sound made, the grass on the floor in front of it begins to move automatically, revealing it to be a thin carpet over a thick mechanical plate that retracts completely, leaving a perfectly square hole in the middle of the field. The robot hovers over the hole, slowly lowering itself inside.

"Now!" Rouge and Hero leap onto the robot just as it disappears into the hole, and the panel seals closed above them, restoring the seamless illusion of the grassy field.

Inside, Hero only takes his finger off the trigger of his flamethrower once the robot's head has been reduced to a molten slag. Bruno whispers apologetically, "Sorry about this."

Rouge attempts to open the container the robot was holding. "See anything?"

Hero and Bruno both quickly search over the exterior of the robot. "No markings, not even a serial number. Just black paint."

Rouge finally manages to remove the lid of the container, and begins digging around inside. "Mechanical parts and weapons. All military grade." She looks up at Hero. "These are exactly the parts we need to fix Omega."

"Well that's permissive. Uh, I mean, convenient."

"Come on, let's get all this stuff out of the open." Rouge finally gets the chance to look up at her surroundings, a crisscrossing of metal-plated hallways lined at regular intervals with reinforced doors. "Looks like the same layout as all the GUN bases I've ever been to…minus the logo that should be plastered on all the walls. And if I remember the schematics correctly, there should be a supply closet…" She turns and points to a door behind them. "…there." She runs over to the door, pressing a button on the panel to its side. The door slides open, revealing a small alcove of brooms, mops, and other cleaning supplies. "This is really starting to give me the creeps…"

Hero has already dragged the remains of the robot most of the way to the door. Rouge moves around to pick up the slack, and they quickly stow the evidence away.

Rouge closes the container, picks it up, and immediately drops it into Hero's hands. "Hold this for me."

"Hey, why us!?"

Rouge, now a little more careful in her movements, cautiously peeks around the next corner. "You're not asking the lady to carry the heavy object, are you?"

Bruno innocently surrenders, "No, no, of course not." Hero rolls his eyes.

Rouge waves them forward. "So if I were the Commander, in distress, in a GUN base that isn't a GUN base, where would I be?"

"The Command Room might be a good bet."

Rouge stops them, and they press their backs against the wall as a GUN Beetle sentry drone, as stark black as the last robot, hovers by along the intersecting hallway. It continues at a steady pace, not appearing to notice them. Rouge finally lets out her breath once it's gone. "Even if he's not there, we can definitely find out if he's here at all by taking that room. But that would mean setting off all the alarms."

"Too good! I mean late! Too late!"

Behind them, a GUN Hunter jets in from the side, weapon pointed right at them. Without any amount of warning, a laser blast is fired.

Without time to react in any other way, Rouge flinches against the flash of light. But nothing appears to hit her. When she opens her eyes, she sees a clean hole has been bored through the head of the robot, and it topples back to the ground.

Hero and Bruno look left and right in confusion. "What was that, what happened!?"

"Doesn't matter, let's go!" Rouge grabs Hero by the arm and drags him forward.

Momentarily left behind, Bruno flies to catch up. "Go where!?"

"Somewhere we'll have a better chance of hiding. We're sitting ducks out here." Reaching a door at the end of the hallway, Rouge presses down on the side panel to open the door. But this time, it flashes red, forbidding entry. Not letting this deter her, she delivers a hard kick to the door, and it comes right down. "This should be the standard underground storage warehouse, plenty of places to—" As they step through the door, she is stopped completely. Though the sprawling room down below them may have once been a facility for storage, it has clearly been turned into a machine assembly line, with a dozen conveyor belts covered by hundreds of Egg Pawns in varying stages of construction, all moving along on an automated cycle. "Still think these guys are on our side?"

"I'm having second thoughts…"

"Well, no time to—" Rouge suddenly spasms in pain, electrocuted by the weapon fired by the GUN Hunter standing behind her. She collapses to the floor, and everything goes black.

—–—

Rouge slowly awakens, finding herself bound tightly to a metal chair in a small room, with a burlap sack covering her head, obscuring her vision.

A gruff, stern voice announces, "Rouge the Bat, Special Intelligence Agent, official rank of General, commission number 10000499."

Still apparently a bit dazed, Rouge sluggishly responds, "That…sounds like me. Who's asking?"

The voice answers, "I haven't asked the first question yet. And you won't be asking any. Why did you break into the facility?"

"Where is the Commander?"

"Your questions won't be answered. Why did you break into the facility?"

"To find the Commander. Where is he?"

"Clarify."

"I picked up a signal, code ten, and traced its source to this location. The Commander is the only person who could've sent it. So where is the Commander?"

"You aren't authorized to know about code ten."

"Which tells me that you are. The weight you're putting on your feet as you pace the floor, and, of course, the commanding tone of your voice, tells me that you're an experienced military leader, at least a few decades spent barking orders. On top of that, you haven't tried to torture me or execute me despite my blatant disobedience, which tells me that you want me for something, more than just information. I'm learning so much already. So why don't we save a little time and have a more civilized conversation?"

A long pause ensues, as if the man were deep in thought. Finally, he responds, "It seems I was correct about you, Agent Rouge. You're as clever as they come."

A gloved hand reaches out to pull the sack off of Rouge's head, finally allowing her to see. The tall man standing before her, with hair shaved as closely as the stubble on his chin, wears a uniform closely resembling that of the Commander's, though lacking in any color but grey and black. The hard wrinkles on his skin fail to hide the three parallel scars running down the side of his face. The innermost scar passes right through one of his eyes, leaving it a murky grey color. Finally getting a good look at the man, Rouge questions, "Who are you?"

The man eyes her carefully, as if preparing to gauge her next reaction. "I'm the one who sent you the signal."

Rouge maintains a neutral expression. "Only the Commander is authorized to use code ten."

"I outrank the Commander."

"Only the President outranks the Commander."

"I outrank the President."

"That's impossible."

"Perhaps it was, in the little world you used to live in. Welcome to reality."

Rouge repeats, "Who are you?"

The man pauses, this time perhaps just for effect. "I am the Master Sergeant of the Security Commission for Operations in Preventative Espionage."

Rouge rolls her eyes. "SCOPE."

"Yes, someone was clearly trying to force the issue when the organization was named. Regardless, it's usually a good sign when I don't have to explain that one to new recruits."

"So I'm being recruited by a bunch of losers pretending to be GUN? Is that what's happening here? Because that explains…almost nothing, actually."

The Sergeant lets out a hearty laugh. "Pretending? Perhaps I've misled you. SCOPE is the official intelligence division of GUN."

"Then why has no one ever heard of you?"

"Intelligence, as I'm sure you understand, is an operation that requires a certain level of secrecy. Only those recruited to SCOPE are authorized to know about SCOPE. By operating independently from the rest of GUN, we're able to avoid a great number of logistical issues."

"And what exactly is it that you do here, Sergeant?"

"In the name of protecting civilization, we do all the things that GUN could never do."

"GUN can't do anything. It was disbanded. Theoretically, so were you."

"One of the benefits of total autonomy. Our organization could continue operating as normal following the sacrifice of GUN."

"Well, quite a bang-up job you've been doing. There's a psychopath who took over the world, and as far as I can tell, you've done a whole lot of nothing about it. Which reminds me. You have a factory that's producing Eggman's Robots. Care to explain?"

This gives the Sergeant pause. "I was hoping to speak with you before you saw that."

"Is that so? And what would you have told me?"

"That those robots are in the service of SCOPE."

"That's funny. They sure look like his normal robots to me. Just what kind of trick are you trying to pull, here?"

"They are his normal robots. But they're in the service of SCOPE."

"So it's infiltration? You fill the ranks of his army with traitors that turn on him when he least expects it? That leads us back to the last problem. Why haven't you done anything yet?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny your theory, Agent."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that the next step on the path to protecting civilization isn't always the obvious one."

Rouge puts on a scowl as she contemplates. Then, the realization comes. "You aren't planning on turning them against him at all, are you? You're building his army for him. You've been building his army for him. You built the army that conquered the planet. You're the one that sacrificed GUN. Thousands of soldiers, slaughtered. You turned against your own organization. And for what? More power? More control?"

The Sergeant pauses once again. "Your deductive skills continue to impress. Even though your conclusions remain just a bit off the mark." He pauses for another moment. "Five years ago, in the month of September, the course of our history was changed forever. Do you remember what happened, Agent Rouge?"

Rouge doesn't need to think very hard. "The Black Arms. What's your point?"

"Before that day, the greatest threats to our civilization came from our own planet. After that day, they came from beyond. We no longer had the luxury of squabbling amongst ourselves, when we could all be wiped out by threats completely unknown to us. And yet, we continued to squabble. Protecting our civilization required greater measures than had ever been taken before. Through SCOPE channels, a proposal was submitted for the construction of a fleet of GUN interstellar warships. This proposal reached the Commander. And do you know what he did?"

"Does it matter? I thought you outrank the Commander."

"If the Commander has simply rejected the proposal, we could have easily continued without his approval. Instead, he had it changed into a counterproposal. Dismantle the vital components of the most valuable weapon we have against invaders: the Eclipse Cannon."

Rouge nods. "Now this is starting to make sense. You were so furious that the Commander was able to defy you that easily, that you spent years plotting the destruction of GUN, just to spite him."

"And here I thought you were on such an excellent track record. Don't make me question your judgement now." He shakes his head. "Something is coming, Agent Rouge. Something that will destroy us all if we aren't prepared to defend ourselves. In the old world order, I couldn't ensure that. So I changed the rules. GUN was not willing to prepare. The Eggman Empire is. This is my duty to civilization."

"How do you not see that this is wrong!? You slaughtered your own people! You put a tyrant on a throne!"

"Would you rather us all be wiped out?"

"The universe isn't out to get us! Yes, there are other civilizations out there, but not all of them are like the Black Arms. Some of them are good, and kind, and peaceful, and we need to be one of them."

"The peaceful ones get kidnapped and enslaved. If they're lucky."

"You mean like all of us on this planet right now? I guess we're pretty lucky, then."

"There is one thing we can agree on. Doctor Eggman was indeed a great threat to civilization."

"I'm not sure that resolves the issue here."

"It's not the Empire that threatened us. It's the actions of the man. Perfect Chaos. The ARK. Dark Gaia. The Time Eater. Need I go on?"

"Wait, how do you even know about—"

"This man brought the world to the brink of destruction with each new ill-conceived plan. By handing him what he wanted, we put an end to the threat created by his attempts to take it, while simultaneously preparing ourselves for greater threats to come."

"I see. So because you were afraid that Sonic would lose to Eggman, you made a deal with the devil. And then, Eggman kept trying to destroy the world anyways. For an intelligence organization, you sure seem to be lacking in it."

"It's time you get a reality check, Agent Rouge. Why do you choose to rebel against the Eggman Empire?"

"Because Eggman is a maniac who took over the world."

"Indeed he was. And since that time, he's dedicated the resources of the Empire to expanding urban centers, creating homes for the homeless and jobs for the unemployed. And so long as the Doctor remaining in power stands to our benefit, we have no reason to remove him."

"Does it count as a job if people are forced to work at gunpoint, and don't get paid enough to sustain themselves?"

"Are you claiming that situation is worse than having nothing?"

"Is slavery worse than having nothing? Well I suppose it depends on who you ask, but I think most people would say yes."

"Well the statistics don't. Despite doubling the size of the United Federation lawbook as well as the police force enforcing it, the number of violent crimes logged under the Eggman Empire is nearly eighty percent smaller. The people are more content. In fact, the vast majority of violent crimes remaining are committed entirely in the name of insurgency. The Empire has provided a level of security and stability the likes of which this planet has never seen before. While the rebels sow chaos and disarray. Which of us do you really believe is on the side of the people? Which of us do you really believe is doing wrong in the world?"

"Oh, so the people are more content, are they? Were they content when Eggman tried to drop the Death Egg on them?"

"SCOPE had countermeasures in place for that particular incident. They proved unnecessary."

"Oh really? I wonder if that means SCOPE is unnecessary…"

"If we don't work with Doctor Eggman, we can't ensure that he won't squander the peace he's created."

"One of us needs a reality check, but it's definitely not me. Your master plan has been a complete disaster, because aliens still haven't attacked us, and you can't stop Eggman from doing anything."

"Do you think you can do better?"

"Yes!"

"Then join us."

This gives Rouge pause.

"We need agents like you. Not just good soldiers, but good people. People who won't hesitate to sacrifice whatever it takes for the greater good. We've been keeping an eye on you, Rouge. For quite some time. And we want you to be one of us."

"Well you can forget it. I'm not joining your secret murder squad. I came here to find the Commander. So is he here, or isn't he?"

The Sergeant lets out a long sigh. He begins to recite, "Commission number 00030805. Rank: High Commander. Name: classified. Status…deceased."

"The records are wrong."

"I agree. Who do you think planted those records?"

Rouge says nothing.

"The Commander drowned in the bay beneath Route 101. A colleague of mine fished out the body personally. He's dead. GUN is dead. SCOPE is all that's left."

"You're lying."

"I have no reason to lie about this. Perhaps with a few days of thought, you'll realize the truth." The Sergeant turns his back to her as he prepares to exit. "And believe me, Agent. There are so many greater secrets you've yet to learn." The door slides open for him as he exits.

"Burst!"

The roof above Rouge's head suddenly explodes, opening a hole to the room above. Hero drops down through the hole. Rouge sarcastically greets, "Well, look who it is."

As Hero turns his flamethrower to Rouge's cuffs, Bruno notes, "And we brought a new friend!"

A soldier's voice shouts from above, "Hurry up down there! We've got company!" The sound of blaster fire confirms his statement.

Once the chains on her cuffs have been melted away, Rouge finally stands up, charmingly thanking, "My hero."

Hero fires his grappling hook back up through the hole, pulling himself back to the floor above. Rouge flies up after him.

The soldier above, armed with a plasma rifle, skillfully takes down one approaching SCOPE Hunter robot after another, but there seems to be a small army of them. Rouge hesitates at the sight of him.

While Hero reclaims the case of parts that was left on the ground, Bruno introduces, "This is our mystery shooter from before, the one who saved us!"

The soldier quickly commands, "We have to cut through this squadron to get to the nearest exit, which means a full-force charge. Agreed?"

Rouge nods. "Agreed."

"Then let's show them what we're made of!" The soldier fearlessly leads the charge, picking up the rate of his fire as he tries to cut a path. Aiming with just one hand, Hero follows right beside him, taking down just as many robots as he goes. Rouge follows behind, kicking down any robots that try to close in from the sides as they make their escape.

—–—

Rouge, Hero, and the soldier hide out in the rocky alcove where they made camp earlier, all appearing to be exhausted. The sun rises in the distance.

Rouge looks back in the direction they came from. "That facility was producing thousands of Eggman's Robots. It's a shame we couldn't have hit them harder on our way out."

The soldier pulls out a small device. "You mean like this?" He presses down on a button with his thumb, and after a moment's delay, the ground suddenly trembles violently. "No more facility."

When the shaking stops, Bruno says, "Aww, you said there'd be a big explosion! What gives?"

"The explosion was underground, we'd be dead if we saw it."

"I like explosions." Hero shoots him a look.

Rouge finally turns to the soldier. "Alright, you. Time to talk. Who are you? Clearly you aren't with SCOPE."

The soldier stands at attention. "No, sir. I came here following the same signal that you did, in the hopes of locating the Commander. I apologize for being unable to report earlier." He throws up a salute. "Captain Johnnathan Naka, of the Advanced Munitions and Mechanical Operations unit."

Rouge rolls her eyes. "Great, another acronym."

"On the level, sir. AMMO is a strike team that tests prototype weapons and vehicles in the field. Or at least, we were. Sir."

"Cut the formality. How do you know about code ten?"

Naka obediently stands at ease. "My grandfather, Mr. Ulysses G. Naka, formerly held the position of High Commander. He…let me in on a few details, when I was younger."

Rouge continues to eye him suspiciously.

Bruno insists, "We can trust him, Rouge. He saved us both. We couldn't have found you without him."

Rouge stays silent for a moment longer. "I suppose I can't argue with that." She takes another look at Naka. "We've met, haven't we?"

He nods. "That's right. On the night you were recruited, I delivered your orders." He hesitates for a moment. "If I might ask, sir…did you…learn anything about the Commander while you were down there?"

Rouge closes her eyes and shakes her head. "He wasn't the one who sent the signal. He was never here at all. He…" She seems to have trouble saying it. "He's dead."

Naka hangs his head in sorrow, as do Hero and Bruno. As they do, Hero notices something out of the corner of his eye. Bruno looks over as well. "That wasn't there before…" He flies over to the spot where their campfire was made, and plucks a small slip of paper out of the dirt. Everyone crowds around to read the simple handwritten message scrawled onto it.

I long suspected the possibility of an infiltration in the ranks of GUN, but I never could have imagined how deep it ran. I wasn't sure who I could trust. These demons who call themselves saints have operated without oversight or accountability since GUN's very founding. By the time I discovered the true nature of the conspiracy, it was much too late. This is only the first battle in a long war to come. They must be stopped, and I can't do that alone. Stick together, stay vigilant, and above all, remember the oath that each of you swore when you became Agents of GUN.

—C

Rouge and Naka look to one another. "C?"

Bruno cheers, "It's the Commander! He's alive! He was terror! I mean here, he was here!"

Naka suggests, "He can't be far, we should split up and search for him."

Rouge shakes her head. "If this is how he chose to communicate with us, he doesn't want to be found. Which means we have no chance of finding him. I think it's time to end this mission and head home."

Hero slowly nods in agreement.

Bruno flies up to Captain Naka, folds his tentacles together, and bows his head respectfully. "Thank you for your help, Mr. Naka."

Naka throws up a salute. "General, Commander, if you would please wait a moment."

Rouge and Hero wait for him to continue.

"Request permission to be escorted to your base of operations, sirs."

Bruno questions, "You want to come home with us?"

"The Commander's orders were clear. Stick together. And I'd like to be a part of your unit."

Rouge nods. "You'd have to take up that request with Sonic, but we can certainly take you to him. You're welcome to come along."

"Gladly, sir." Naka happily follows as Rouge leads the way.

Hero and Bruno trail behind, cheering, "Yay! New death!"

Naka glances over at Hero with concern.

"I mean friend! New friend!"

This doesn't seem to ease his concern.

—–—

The Sergeant stares out over the rubble that remains of the assembly line. "I really ought to thank them. Saved us the trouble of shutting this one down later." Apparently not speaking to just himself, he continues, "I trust the upgrades were to your liking?"

The figure standing in the shadows behind him steps slowly out into the light. Metal Sonic holds up his transformed arm cannon. He answers simply, "Adequate."

"And your end of the bargain?"

"My complete record of that era has been downloaded to your systems. Though I fail to understand what use you have for information from a timeline that no longer exists."

"Information is a valuable commodity. In your time, Dr. Robotnik controlled a planet, albeit a different one. Knowledge of his actions in that position may prove useful in predicting his behavior in the here and now. There is, of course, the other matter of business."

"The coordinates were included in the data. But I warn you. Don't stand in my way."

"I wouldn't dare. What of Doctor Eggman?"

"He wasn't there. But I will continue the search."

"Then I suppose we have no further business with one another."

Without another word, Metal Sonic turns and walks back into the darkness, the Sergeant watching every step out of the corner of his eye.

To be continued…