Metal stares at the group "This is the best I can do. This is exactly what I wanted. All of you against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?". Sonic looked to Shadow "Well, like the old man said. Together". Knuckles roared as the Mechas charged and swarmed around the church. The Chaotix circled the core and fought off the Mechas as best they can. Blaze flies up and grabs a Mecha Knuckles who melts in her hands. Sonic and Sonia start running around the church at top speed managing to destroy a lot of the Mechas. Knuckles is taking on dozens at once with no struggle. Metal flies in and smashes Blaze into a wall. She extends both her hands and shoot fire out of her palms throwing Metal back out. She continues to fire at him as Sonic leaps out in a fiery spin dash and hits Metal against a wall. Razor joins in with Blaze firing lightening at Metal. Sonic's power ring protects him and the barrage from all three breaks Metal out of his super form and his body begins to melt. Sonic moves away, Blaze and Razor stopped firing. Metal stood up badly damaged, Knuckles suddenly leaps out and punches Metal away. He then glares at the remaining robots who all lower their weapons, run away and fly over the edge of the city "We can't let them leave, not even one. Mighty" Sonic said. Mighty followed the group "Oh, no. I didn't say you could leave. Mighty's coming at you!". He broke through most of them, but Blaze then appeared burning more. She suddenly turned pink, and her arms phased through the chest of one of them and tore it apart. Mighty stared confused "What?".
Shadow was still in the church with the others "We gotta move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guy get to the boats. I'll sweep for stragglers. Be right behind you" "What about the core?" Whisper asked. Silver stepped forward "I'll protect it". He looked to Whisper "It's my job" they nod and leave. Sonia then runs in and Silver turns to her "Get the people on the boats" "I'm not leaving you here" "I can handle this". He casually destroys a Mecha Rouge running towards them "Help me once everyone else is off. Not before. You understand". Sonia looks annoyed and starts walking away but then turns back smiling "You know, I'm 12 minutes older than you". Silver gives a slight chuckle "Go".
Sonic flew underneath the city "Sir, power levels are way below-" "Reroute everything. We get one shot at this". Near the edge Metal stumbles towards the landed Tornado.
Whisper was driving a car with Rouge flying beside her "I know what I need to do. The dining room. If I knock out that east wall, it'd make a nice workspace for Tangle, huh? Put up some baffling. She can't hear the kids running around. What do you think?" "You guys always eat in the kitchen anyway" "No one eats in a dining room". They stop near one of the lifeboats when they hear Knuckles roar "We don't have a lot of time" "So get your ass on the boat". Rouge flies through one of the buildings and finds Knuckles punching a Mecha. She approaches him "Hey, big guy. Sun's getting real low". Whisper was waiting on a craft when she saw a human woman "Costal! We were in the market". Whisper looks out and sees a small boy in the distance stick under some debris. Whisper sighs and runs off the craft.
Sonic climbs through the innerworkings of the thrusters "Razor, I'm gonna need you back in the church. You know, this works we maybe don't walk away" "Maybe we don't".
Rouge holds up her hand and Knuckles slowly approaches her. He reaches out to touch her hand when machine gun fire comes down on them. Knuckles shields Rouge and then sees the Tornado fly by being piloted by Metal. Whisper nearby helps the boy "Come on. Time to go". The Tornado fires down on Razor and Shadow forcing them to take cover. Whisper carries the child but then sees the machine gunfire coming towards them. Whisper holds the boy's face against her shoulder so he can't see and then closes her own eyes. She suddenly hears a whooshing noise, and the gunfire stops. Whisper opens her eyes unharmed and sees a car in front of her that shielded her from the bullets. She turns to see Sonia standing next to the car swaying weakly. Whisper looked down and saw that she had multiple bullet wounds. Sonia forced a smile "You didn't see that coming?". She falls down dead.
In the church Silver was fighting a Mecha which he destroyed. He suddenly stopped and his eyes opened wide. He felt Sonia's mind fade. More Mechas run in as Silver starts to scream and fall to his knees. He sends out a blast of energy which completely disintegrates all the Mechas.
Shadow runs to Whisper who was crouched over Sonia's body. Whisper looks up to him. The human child was leaning against the car and stared at Sonia's body. Whisper stands and picks the boy up as Shadow carries Sonia's body.
Knuckles was carrying the disoriented Rouge as he made a large leap from the city onto the top of the Egg Carrier. Knuckles sets her down on the runway and then leaps high into the sky. Rouge watches him as he leaps into the back of the Tornado and throws Metal out and he crash lands into a train.
Sonia's body is placed down on the floor of the lifeboat. Whisper returns the boy to his mother who cries as she holds him tight. Whisper then groans and clutches her hip which was bleeding. She lies down on a row of seats and a paramedic come over "No, no. I'm fine". She looks down at Sonia's body.
Silver enters the train carriage as his body was glowing cyan. He approaches the badly damaged Metal. He stares back at him "Silver. You have to go. If you stay here, you'll die". Silver didn't say anything and raised his hand. He scowled as Metal's body suddenly convulsed. His chest teared open and three chaos emeralds flew out, Metal's body shut down.
A mangled Mecha Sonic crawled up to the core in the middle of the church. Near the lifeboats Shadow was standing on the edge getting the last of the people on. He heard a noise and quickly backed away onto the boat as the city suddenly plummets down. The thrusters on the top activate and launch it down. Sonic was at the bottom of the city being pushed against the rock from the speed. He spin dashes into the core "Razor…. NOW!". Razor lands in the church and summons lightening down. Silver was still on the train holding on for dear life when Blaze suddenly flew in and grabbed his arm flying him to safety. Razor brings his sword down on the core. The energy goes down to the chaos energy which releases a massive blast of energy obliterates the entire city. Sonic flies to safety as debris falls around him.
Knuckles still feral was in the Tornado when a hologram of Rouge's face appears on the console "Hey, Red. We did it. The jobs finished". Knuckles slowly approached the console "Now I need you to turn this bird around, okay? We can't track you in stealth mode. So, help me out. I need you-" Knuckles turned off the console. He sits down resigning as he looks out the cockpit windows.
Rouge stares at the blank screen, tears form in her eyes, and she tries to keep her composure.
A battered Mecha Sonic climbs out of the crater where the city was and limps through a forest. Blaze calmly lands in front of him and the two eye each other. Blaze has a look of sympathy "You're afraid" "Of you?" "Of death. You're the last one". Metal slumps towards her "You were supposed to the be the first. First of a new race. Sonic asked for a saviour and settled for a slave". Blaze slightly smirked "I suppose we're both disappointments". Metal laughed "I suppose we are" "The Mobians, the humans. They are odd. They think order and chaos or somehow opposites and try to control what won't be. But there is grace in their failings. I think you missed that". Mecha glanced away "They're doomed" "Yes". Blaze stares thoughtfully "But a thing isn't beautiful because it lasts. It's a privilege to be among them". Metal cocks his head back "You're unbearably naïve" "Well… I was born yesterday". Metal leaps towards her but Blaze shoots fire at him destroying him for good.
At Tangle's house the two children were in the living room. Ava was reading a magazine while Raynor was watching TV. Tangle was in the kitchen when they heard the door open. She turns to see Whisper standing at the door. Tears form in Tangle's eyes as she smiles. She runs to Whisper and the two hug.
Sonic was in a car heading to a large facility with a C on the side, new Chaotix Facility in upstate Station Square. Inside Topaz was walking with Relic as they were in a lab full of scientists. Elsewhere Ellidy was instructing a group of colleagues. Rouge was standing alone in a room looking at a phone that showed a video of a white baby hawk. She wore a shirt saying "Sonia the Hawk" "Look! Say hi to Auntie Rouge" she heard Tangle say. Rouge smiled "Traitor". Tower entered the room "One of our tech boys flagged this. Splashed down in the sea. Could be the Tornado. But with Sonic's stealth tech, we still can't track the damn thing". Rouge nods "Right" "Probably jumped out and swam to Angel Island. He'll send a postcard". Rouge pondered "You sent me to recruit him way back when. Did you know then what was gonna happen?" "You never know. You hope for the best, then make do with what you get. I got a great team" "Nothing lasts forever". Tower hands her a pad "Trouble, Ms Rouge. No matter who wins or loses, trouble still comes around".
Shadow was walking with Sonic and Razor "The rules have changed" "We're dealing with something new" Sonic said. Shadow nodded "Blaze is an AI" "A machine" "So, doesn't count?". Sonic shook his head "No, it's not like a person lifting the sword" "Right, different rules for us" "Nice lady. Artificial". Razor rolled his eyes "She can wield the sword; she can keep the Mind Gem. It's safe with Blaze. And these days, safe is in short supply". He stared seriously as Shadow looked deep in thought "But if you put the hammer in an elevator…" "It would still go up" "Elevator's not worthy". Razor patted Sonic's back "I'm gonna miss these little talks of ours" "Not if you don't leave" "I have no choice". The two walked outside "The Mind Gem is fourth of the Phantom Gems to show up in the last few years. It's not a coincidence. Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us. And once all these pieces are in position…".
The two walked across a field of grass "Triple Yahtzee" "You think you can find out what's coming?". Razor nodded "I do. Besides this one…". He gestures to Sonic "There's nothing that can't be explained". He steps forward and looks back to the two before raising his sword. Chaos Control opens and disappears leaving a burnt symbol in the grass. Sonic shook his head disapprovingly "That man has no regard for lawn maintenance". The two strolled towards a car "I'm gonna miss him, though. And you're gonna miss me. There's gonna be a lot of manly tears" "I will miss you, Sonic". Sonic shrugged "Yeah? Well, it's time for me to tap out. I will be here if you need me. But for now, maybe I'll take a page out of Whisper's book. Build Amy a farm, hope nobody blows it up". Shadow smiles "The simple life" "You'll get there one day" "I don't know. Family, stability… the guy who wanted all that went in the ice 75 years ago. I think someone else came out". Sonic nodded and got in his car "You alright?". Shadow heard a drill sergeant in the distance "I'm home". Sonic smiles and drives away.
Shadow entered the room where Rouge was standing in silence "You wanna keep staring at the wall, or do you wanna go to work? I mean, it's a pretty interesting wall" "I thought you and Sonic were still gazing into each other's eyes. How do we look?". They walked together "Well, they're good. They're not a team" "Let's beat them into a shape". The two enter a large room where the new Chaotix were gathered including Super Mighty, Bark, Blaze and Silver. They all looked up to Shadow awaiting instructions. Shadow faced them "Chaotix...".