Shadow piloted the Tornado through the mountains. Maria out of the suit was staring down at the floor "What's gonna happen to your friends?". Shadow stares straight ahead and sighs "Whatever it is. I'll deal with it". Maria looks thoughtful "I don't know if I'm worth all this. Shadow". Shadow glances back at her "What you did all those years, it wasn't you. You didn't have a choice" "I know. But I did it".
At a hospital Mighty was lying on a bed that slid into a CT scanner. Blaze was watching from behind glass when Sonic paced up to her "How did this happen?" "I was distracted". Sonic scoffed "I didn't think that was possible" "Neither did I". Blaze continued to watch Mighty, as Sonic left. He met Rouge outside who looked equally concerned. They walked out onto a balcony "The doctors say he shattered L4 through S1. Extreme laceration to the spinal cord. Probably looking at some form of partial paralysis". Rouge stared out in the distance "Shadow's not gonna stop. If you don't either, Mighty's gonna be the best-case scenario" "You let them go, Rouge" "We played this wrong". Sonic scoffed "We? Boy, it must be hard to shake the whole double agent thing, huh? It sticks in the DNA". Rouge glared at him "Are you incapable of letting go of your ego for one goddamn second?". Sonic looked away "Espio told Luger what you did, so, they're coming for you" "I'm not the one who needs to watch their back" she walked away. Sonic's phone rings and he turns it on revealing pictures of a dead rat "What am I looking at, Nicole?" "Priority upload from Twilight police". Sonic's eyes opened wide "Fire up the chopper".
The helicopter flew over the ocean and Nicole showedSonic the rest of the images "The Task Force called for a psychiatrist as soon as Maria was captured. The UN dispatched Doctor Theo Broussard within the hour". Security footage of the doctor getting in a car with Vesper "He was met by this man" "Did you run facial recognition?". Nicole sounded annoyed "What do I look like" "I don't know. I imagine a lynx" "You must have me confused with someone else. The fake doctor is actually Colonel Vesper the Wasp. Spagonian intelligence. Vesper ran Echo Scorpion, a Spagonian covert kill squad". Sonic examined the pictures "So what happened to the real Broussard?" "He was found dead in a Twilight hotel room. Where police also found a hoodie and facial prosthesis approximating the appearance of one Maria Kintobor". Sonic sighed "That son of a bitch. Get this to Luger".
Vesper stepped out of a snow mobile that took him to the mountains of Ice Cap. Vesper searched and found the metal doors to the Black Arms base. He chips away the ice around the panel. He then takes out the book and uses it to type in the correct code" the doors started to open. Vesper slowly enters and searches the base. He eventually finds a file room. He searches until finding a file marked for 1991. Vesper then entered a large room while holding a cassette tape. The room was filled with five large yellow pods containing the frozen Black Arms super soldiers.
Sonic's helicopter flew towards an island with a large structure "This is Prison Island Control. You're cleared for landing, Mr Sonic". The chopper lands and Sonic gets out to enter the prison. He met with Luger "So? You got the files? Let's reroute the satellites, start facial scanning for this Vesper guy" "You seriously think I'm gonna listen to you after that fiasco at the airport? You're lucky you're not in one of these cells". The two enter an operations room were Sonic sees surveillance of Silver sitting on the floor of his cramped cell with a blue jacket restraining his arms. Sonic walked through alone into the cell block. Sonic looked around when Whisper who was sitting beside her bed started clapping mockingly "The Futurist, gentlemen! The Futurist is here! He sees all! He knows what's best for you, whether you like it or not". Sonic walked up to her "Give me a break, Whisper. I had no idea they'd put you here. Come on" "Yeah, well, you knew they'd put us somewhere, Sonic" "Yeah, but not some super-max island pokey. This place is for maniacs. This is a place for…". Whisper glanced at him "Criminals?". She stood up and faced him "Criminals, Sonic. That's the word you're looking for. Right? That didn't used to mean me. Or Bark, or Silver. But here we are" "Because you broke the law. I didn't make you".
Whisper turned away and pretended she couldn't hear him, "You read it, you broke it. You're all grown up; you got a wife and kids. I don't understand, why didn't you think about them before you chose the wrong side". Sonic walked away and Whisper hit her hands against the bars "You gotta watch your back with this guy. There's a chance he's gonna break it". Sonic glares back at her for a second before passing another cell where Manic was eyeing him "Arthur always said your family couldn't be trusted". Sonic glanced at him and raised his eyebrows "Who are you?". He walked away and Manic sighed disappointed "Come on, man". Sonic stopped in front of Bark's cell where he was standing with his back to Sonic "How's Mighty?" "They're flying him to a medical facility tomorrow. So, fingers crossed". Sonic paused "What do you need? They feed you yet?". Bark turns to him with his arms crossed "You're the good cop, now?" "I'm just the guy who needs to know where Shadow went". Bark walked right up to the cell door "Well, you better go get a bad cop because you're gonna have to kick my ass pretty far to get information out of me". Sonic pressed a button on the communicator on his wrist "Well, I just knocked the A out of their AV. We got about a minute before they realise it's not their equipment. Look". He showed him an image of the dead doctor "Because that is the fellow who was supposed to interrogate Maria. Clearly, I made a mistake. Bark, I was wrong" "That's a first" "Shadow is definitely off the reservation but he's about to need all the help he can get. We don't know each other very well. You don't have to-". Bark shook his head "Hey, it's alright". Bark thinks for a moment and sighs "Look, I'll tell you, but you have to go alone and as a friend" "Easy".
Sonic walked back to his chopper as Luger followed "Sonic, did he give you anything on Shadow?" "Nope. He told me to go to hell. I'm going back to the compound instead, but you can call anytime. I'll put you on hold. I like to watch the line blink". Sonic gets in the chopper and nods at Luger as it flies up. Sonic waits until the chopper is out of sight of Prison Island and then presses a button on his side. A super ring is absorbed into his hand turning Sonic gold. The seat then opens up and drops Sonic out of the chopper and he flies away. However, he doesn't notice a strange looking craft following him. The craft was being piloted by Espio.
The Tornado landed outside of the Black Arms bunker. Maria was loading the Omega suit with ammo before turning them back into the four discs. The two of them stood at the doors of the Tornado staring out at the snow. Shadow glanced at Maria "You remember that time we had to ride back from the beach in the back of that freezer truck?". Maria smirked nostalgically "Was that the time we used our train money to buy hot dog?" "You blew three bucks trying to win a stuffed bear because you thought the vendor was cute". She chuckled "What was his name, again?" "Don. You both kept flirting while I stood there" "He's gotta be a hundred years old right now". Shadow shrugged "So are we" he touched her shoulder reassuringly. She put on the discs which formed the suit around her. The two walked out and entered the bunker.
The two arrive on the lower levels and slowly walk out. Shadow went super and Omega had her gatling guns ready. The cautiously walk through the corridor checking corners as they did. They heard a loud thud coming from double doors. They turned "You ready?" "Yeah". The doors were forced open by Sonic. He stepped through and walked towards the two of them. Shadow stood surprised but Omega didn't lower her guns. Sonic stares at Shadow "You seem a little defensive" "It's been a long day". Sonic looks up at Omega "At ease, Soldier. I'm not currently after you" "Then why are you here?" Shadow asked bluntly. Sonic shrugged "Could be your crazy story's not so crazy. Luger has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself" "Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork". Shadow relaxed "It's good to see you, Sonic" "You too, Shads". Sonic then noticed Omega was still holding up her guns. He sighed "Hey, Gundum, you're killing me. This is a truce here. You can drop the…". Shadow nodded to Maria who lowered her guns.
The three entered the large chamber where the capsules were waiting. Espio was hiding at the door watching the three of them. Sonic used his lenses "I got a heat signature" "How many?" "Uh, one". The group walk up to the capsules bewildered and find that they are all dead. Shadow wiped the glass and saw that they were shot through the head. A voice came over the speaker "If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep. Did you really think I wanted more of you? I'm grateful to them, though. They brought you here". Vesper appears behind glass, Shadow throws a spear, but it does nothing "Please, Agent Shadow. The Overlanders built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets" "I'm betting I could beat that" Sonic said. Vesper smiled "Oh, I'm sure you could, Mr Sonic. Given time. But then you'd never know why you came". Shadow stepped towards the glass "You killed innocent people in Spring Valley just to bring us here?". Espio frowns on hearing this. Vesper stared right at Shadow "I've thought about nothing else for over a year. I studied you. I followed you. But now that you're standing here. I just realised there's a bit of green in the gold of your eyes. How nice to find a flaw" he chuckles. Shadow ignored it "You're Spagonian. Is that what this is about?" "Spagonia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell. No. I'm here because I made a promise". Shadow studies his face "You lost someone?" "I lost everyone. And so will you".
He presses a button and a screen next to Shadow turns on. Vesper watched the three of them intrigued "An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumbles from within? That's dead. Forever". Sonic walks over to the screen and recognises the date of December 16th, 1991. The footage then shows a road which made Sonic's eyes shift anxiously "I know that road. What is this!?". The footage plays showing the car that Maria crashed to get the serum. They see Maria arrive on her motor bike next to the wreckage. Shadow watches Sonic as he slowly gets more uneasy. The driver's door opens and out crawls an injured Jules the Hedgehog "Help my wife. Please help" he begs. Maria coldly grabs him by the quills and forces him up. Jules looks into her face and his eyes narrow "Sergeant Kintobor?" he says confused and horrified. Sonic's face slowly formed into a scowl when he heard his mother's voice "Jules!" she cried. Sonic looks up to Omega who glances at him before looking away. Sonic looks back to the footage, Maria punched him repeatedly in the face with her metal arm crushing his skull "Jules!". Sonic breaths heavily as Maria places Jules's dead body back into the driver's seat with his head against the steering wheel to make it look like he died in the crash. Sonic's eyes open wider as he sees Maria move to the passenger side. He can hear Bernadette cry as Maria starts to do something to her, but Sonic couldn't see what. The cry slowly faded and then silence as Maria shoots the camera.