"Shadow androids?" Commander Tower scowled as he read the report to him by Rouge the Bat after she had returned from her expedition into one of Eggman's vaults. She, together with Sonic and his friends, had helped to stop the advancing Egg Fleet that was being commanded by Neo Metal Sonic, a creation of the Doctor's that had gone out of control.

Upon their return, they were once again heralded as heroes, and much to the Commander's dismay, Shadow was among the group that had stormed the Egg Fleet. In fact, Rouge had worked alongside him directly, as well as one of Eggman's robots, E-123 Omega. As much as Tower wanted to arrest Shadow then and there, the president himself had invited both Sonic and Shadow to the White House to thank them for their service. GUN was in enough hot water after the trouble they had put Sonic and his friends through, he couldn't afford to publicly side against Shadow now that he was seen as a hero.

He was sure that that was Shadow's intention, too. He had helped to take down Eggman so that he would have the support of the people. That way, GUN would not be able to touch him, and he would be free to concoct whatever vile schemes he wanted. 'Amnesia', what a convenient excuse. But all the Commander could do was wait. Wait and be ready to act as soon as Shadow stepped even one foot out of line.

However, this report had him even more concerned than that. According to Rouge, Eggman had an entire room filled with androids that resembled Shadow, though they were all inactive at the time. Omega had seen to their destruction, but according to him, those were only a sample size. More were being created even then. One Shadow was bad enough, but an army of them?

"What are their capabilities?" Tower asked, looking over at Omega, who was currently being serviced by Team Dark's Chief Engineer, Hope Robotnik. He had suffered some damage in the battle, and had come to GUN seeking repairs, in exchange for information on Eggman.

"Unknown," he replied. "The Shadow Androids began production after I lost contact with the Eggnet. I have no information, other than they contain samples of real Shadow's DNA."

"And you believe the Shadow you fought alongside was the real one?"

"Affirmative. Rouge is uncertain, but I do not believe the Doctor would have isolated him if he was just another machine."

"How does that feel now, Omega?" Hope asked. She had been working on his internal structure through a panel on his back, and as she pulled out to put down her tools and wipe the sweat from her brow, she was covered in oil.

"Much better, tiny human, but I still feel blockage in my exhaust valves."

"Well let's take a look then…"

As Hope dove back in, Omega turned his attention back to the Commander. "I can, however, confirm the location where the Shadow Androids are being created. It is one of Eggman's main bases, designated Lava Shelter. That is where you will find the Shadow Android production line."

"Lava Shelter…" Tower motioned to Topaz, who turned to her computer and began searching.

"It is unlikely you know its location," Omega said. "However, I do. Accessing it will not be easy. It is deep underground. The only entrance is through a dense jungle, which offers natural defences. Nearby are two of Eggman's smaller bases, which will come to his aid should you attack the main base first."

"So we need to launch a co-ordinated attack," the Commander summarised. "Two teams will need to take out his other bases at the same time, and then we launch our main assault on his main base of operations."

"We don't have enough troops for an attack on that scale, though," Topaz pointed out. "If we pull soldiers away from their posts, we'll leave ourselves open to a sudden attack."

"We still have the Egg Fleet to worry about, too." All eyes turned to Rouge as she entered the room, waving as she approached the group. "We only took down a few ships. The rest got away, and are still ready to launch at any moment."

"Hiya Rouge!" Hope called out.

"Hey Kiddo. Repairs going well?"

"Yep. Well, as well as they can be with what little I can make out. Eggman's machines are… weird."

"So I've heard," Rouge said. "Even Fox-boy has trouble keeping up with them."

"I still don't understand how you're powered," Hope said to Omega. "It looks like a Chaos Drive, but it's not Chaos Energy at all. You said it's a 'Power Core'?"

"Affirmative."

"I don't suppose you're Chaos Drive-compatible? I'd like to take this out and examine it."

"Negative. Please do not remove my core. I require it to kill Eggman."

Hope laughed. "Okay, okay, I won't. Do other E-series robots use these?"

"Negative. Only the E-2000, but their production line was on the flagship that we destroyed." Omega rotated his head so that he was facing Hope. "My bad."

The Commander's phone rang, causing him to excuse himself as he left the room to take the call. "So, Topaz, you still on for this weekend?" Rouge asked.

"Sure am. It's been too long since I let my hair down."

"We're gonna hit Casino Park and have a girls' night. You wanna come?" Rouge asked Hope. "No getting drunk, promise… Unless you wanna try your first drink."

"Rouge!" Topaz scolded.

Rouge simply shrugged. "What? I had my first drink when I was younger than her."

"Sorry guys, but I already have plans," Hope said, closing Omega's panel and turning to the robot. "How's that?"

Omega let out some steam, and then rose to his feet. "I am now operating at peak performance! You have my gratitude, Doctor!"

Hope laughed, blushing at the compliment. "I'm not a doctor, but you're welcome." Turning back to Rouge and Topaz, she said, "I'm going to visit my family in Westopolis this weekend. My foster family, that is."

"You sure that's wise?" Rouge asked. "They moved to start a new life. If their neighbours found out who you are, and saw you with them, then…"

"It should be fine," Hope said. "Mr. Stewart told me he'd made sure my face hadn't spread across the web, and nobody in Westopolis should know who I am. I'll still be careful, though."

The Commander re-entered the room, rushing to his table and gathering his belongings in a hurry. "Sorry, everyone, but I have to leave right away. An urgent matter has come up."

"What's wrong?" Hope asked, her face showing the concern in her voice.

The Commander paused for a moment, and then, a smile crept across his face. A proud smile. "My daughter's just gone into labour. I'm about to become a grandfather!"

Hope gasped, clapping her hands together as she beamed with joy. "Congratulations!"

"You want me to drive you, sir?" Topaz asked.

"No, please stay here and finish your report," he said. "After that, you may all leave for the day."

"Wow, generous," Rouge said with a smirk.

The Commander left, Rouge following moments later so that Hope and Topaz could finish their work. "I must continue my pursuit of Eggman," Omega said as he too prepared to leave.

"What, on your own?" Hope asked.

"I am a walking arsenal. There is no need to be concerned for my well-being."

"I just finished fixing you up," Hope pointed out, "And I know for a fact that there's only so much you can do on your own. Why not wait, and join us when we launch our assault?"

Omega considered it for a moment. "That would take too long. Eggman might get away."

"Haste makes waste," Topaz said, not looking up from her computer. "If you rush in now, you'll be overwhelmed. Isn't that why you needed Shadow and Rouge to take on the Egg Fleet."

Omega paused again. "Your Commander stressed the importance of dismantling the Shadow Android production line. We must make haste."

"Well, can't you at least slow down a bit and prepare for the attack?" Hope asked. "Let me look at your weapons. Maybe I can give you some upgrades that'll uh, give you one hundred percent more destruction. Plus, we have a lot of training facilities here. You can act out some combat scenarios so you're more ready for the real thing."

"… Your proposal is tempting."

"Besides, I'm not even certain my repair job will hold. You are an advanced, complicated machine, after all."

"I am that." Omega nodded. "Very well. I will wait, but no more than two weeks. I will push my body to its limits, so as to ascertain whether or not your repair job is sufficient."

The weekend came, and Hope left Central City early that Friday so that she could catch her flight to Westopolis. Upon arriving, she was greeted by her former foster parents, Irving and Bertha, as well as little Julian. "It's so good to see you again!" Hope cried as she ran to Bertha's arms, hugging her mother.

"It feels like it's been forever," Bertha said. "Have you been looking after yourself over there?"

"Yeah," Hope said, rolling her eyes as her mother fussed over her to make sure she was okay. "I've been staying with Topaz. She makes sure I eat right."

"Have you been getting enough sleep," Irving asked. "Not staying up all night tinkering, are you?" Hope's eyes shifted to the side. Irving sighed, but couldn't help smiling. He was happy to see she had been doing well for herself. "Great minds need lots of rest. Make you sure you go to bed at a reasonable time."

"Kayyyyyy…" Hope turned to Julian, who had been standing there quietly for some time. She was about to say something, when he suddenly ran forward and hugged her. "You been doing okay here?"

"Yeah… But it's boring without you around," Julian said as he stepped back. "Mum and dad are too busy to play with me."

Irving and Bertha shifted uncomfortably. Hope simply laughed and said, "Well, I'll be here all weekend, so we've got lots of time to play." That brought a smile to Julian's face.

The family left the airport and drove to the downtown district. Traffic was blocked due to the bustling crowds leaving work, but it was extra busy that day, due to the appearance of the Black Comet, which only appeared once every fifty years. It would be in the sky for a few days, and many were eager to see it as it appeared tonight.

"You guys want to see the comet, too?" Hope asked. She had been curious about the comet since Rouge told her about it the previous week. A phenomenon that most would likely only experience once in their lives? There was no way she couldn't be excited.

Julian didn't seem to share her enthusiasm, rolling his eyes. "What's so fun about a big rock in the sky?"

Irving and Bertha laughed. "We can see it tonight. Our house is near a lovely viewing spot," Bertha said.

Hope practically beamed. "Will there be a telescope?"

"I've borrowed one from our neighbours," Irving said. "A proper one, not a toy, so you can get a good look at the comet."

"This is gonna be so cool!" Hope declared, Julian simply sighing beside her.

By the time the family had made it to the restaurant, they were all starving. Thankfully, their reservation held, and they were able to sit down and look through the menus right away. After ordering, Bertha turned to Hope and asked, "So, how has work been? Have you made a lot of friends?"

"Yeah," Hope replied. "Topaz works there. You remember her, right?"

"Female officer that was with that Commander?"

"That's her. She's basically my boss."

"I thought the old guy was your boss," Julian said before chugging his orange juice.

"He's the Commander-in-Chief of all of GUN," Hope explained, "So he's like, my boss' boss. Topaz is in charge of Team Dark's affairs and reports directly to Commander Tower."

"What about that handsome young man who helped you take that test?" Bertha asked.

Irving gave his wife a sideward glance, and added, "Or that charming young bat girl?" Bertha gave him a sideward glare as he innocently drank his soda.

"They both work for the government. Rouge sometimes comes by to check on me, though, and works with us on some secret missions."

"Have you made any cool robots?" Julian asked.

"Not yet. I've been maintaining ones that have been damaged in the field. Oh, but there was one that came to us recently called Omega. He has an AI that gives him his own personality. He's basically a living being!"

"Does he fly? Or fire missiles out of his hands?"

Hope laughed. "Well, not out of his hands."

"But he does fire missiles?" Bertha asked, somewhat unnerved at the sound of Hope working with such a dangerous machine.

"Not just missiles. He has a flamethrower, machine guns, titanium-tipped claws, grenades…"

"Sounds uh… exciting," Bertha said, putting on her best smile.

"You are happy there, I take it?" Irving asked, and Hope nodded.

"I'll admit I was a little nervous, but everyone there is so nice. They don't care about who my uncle is. I can be myself there, and put my skills to good use."

"That's good to hear. That's what's truly important to us." Bertha nodded in agreement.

The food came. As they ate, Julian updated Hope on how he'd been doing at school since moving to Westopolis. "I met this cool kid who's got like the biggest NiGHTS collection in the world! And I have the coolest teacher, and I've learned how to swim, and-"

"Okay, okay, take it easy," Bertha said. "You'll talk her ears off, and probably choke on your dinner."

"I'm glad you're having fun at school," Hope said. "I was worried you'd be too scared to go."

"Me, scared? Pfft! Yeah right!"

Irving and Bertha shared their own stories with Hope. Irving was now working a very successful role in the downtown area, and Bertha was volunteering at the local community centre, helping out survivors from Station Square who had been displaced by the destruction of their home. There were hundreds of thousands of people with suddenly nowhere to go, and no assets to their names, and there simply wasn't enough that the government could do to help all of them.

Just another tragedy brought on by her uncle and his selfish actions, Hope realised. She wanted to capture him. She wanted to throw him in a cell where he'd be unable to harm anybody else, and then use her talents to help those he had hurt. But for the time being, she was content just being here with her family, laughing and sharing tales of everything she had experienced since moving to Central City.

"We should get going," Irving eventually said, after realising he and his family had been talking for several minutes after finishing their meals. "We'll show you our new home, and we can catch up more before going out to see the comet."

"And I'll show you my new room!" Julian said excitedly.

After paying, the family left the restaurant. The parents were eager to show Hope their new house, but as they stepped outside, they stopped. The streets were darker than they should have been at that time of day, and everybody around them seemed to be looking up at the sky. Looking up, too, the family could see black clouds gathering, and the sky was now red instead of its usual blue. "What going on?" Julian asked. "Is it an eclipse?"

"No," Hope said, holding her little brother's hand, "There's no eclipse forecasted for today, and besides, I've never heard of an eclipse that turns the sky red."

"Hey, what's that?" somebody on the street called out.

"There's something falling," another person said, snapping a picture with their phone.

Hope squinted. They were right. Some things appeared to be falling out of the sky. Whatever they were, they crashed the ground, causing tremors to occur.

The creatures then roared, and began attacking indiscriminately. Armed with weapons that fired lasers and glowing purple swords, the creatures started killing people all around them, inciting a panic as everybody started running to get to safety.

Drivers stepped on it to get away, resulting in cars crashing into each other and starting fires. Winged-creatures like bats swooped down and attacked, knocking people down or lifting them into the air, only to drop them from a height. Some people tried to fight back, but were overwhelmed by the sheer strength the brutes possessed. Police sirens blared and nearby officers opened fire, but with all the people running to get away, they couldn't properly aim.

Hope's face paled at the sight of it all. It was total chaos! One of the creatures turned and looked at her, and her heart leapt. She felt something pulling her arm and found herself running with her foster parents, Julian in Bertha's arms whilst Irving pulled her by the wrist.

"What are those things?!" Julian cried.

"I don't know, just run!" Irving shouted, his voice almost drowned out by the screaming all around them.

Lights began pouring from the sky, one landing in front of the family and causing them to stop suddenly. Moments later, laser blasts struck where the lights were shining, creating explosions that destroyed buildings and created more fires. Those fires quickly spread, filling the sky with smoke.

Hope was on her front, groaning as she felt pain coursing through her body. She had been thrown back by the force of the explosion. As she pushed herself up, she found her parents ahead of her, also picking themselves up. She noticed something else, too. Something purple was planted on the ground by her father's feet. It began to glow.

"WATCH OUT!" she screamed, getting Irving's attention. He saw the purple thing and gasped, grabbing his wife and his son and running as far as he could before it exploded. "DAD?!" She received no response. She couldn't see past the thick wall of smoke. "MUM?! JULIAN?!"

"We're here!" It was Irving's voice. She breathed a sigh of relief as the smoke began to blow away, and she could see her family on the other side. Only, they did not seem so relieved. They were calling out to her, waving urgently. "BEHIND YOU!"

Hope turned around, shrieking as one of the creatures ran towards her. She began to run to her family, only to stop when she found that an entire section of the road had been taken out! It was impossible to cross!

"Hope!" she heard Julian call.

"Hope, RUN!" Bertha cried.

"Get out of there! Don't worry about us!" Irving told her. "We'll meet up later! Just find a way out!"

Hope bit her lip, but nodded. "Okay, just promise you'll get somewhere safe!" She turned and ran, the creature giving chase. She made it to an alleyway, where she had to run over some fallen bodies in order to reach a ladder that had been lowered. The creature was on her heels, but was slowed by bricks and various other objects that were being thrown from above.

Looking up, Hope found a number of people on the building's rooftop calling out to her. "Climb! We'll cover you!"

Climbing as fast as she could, Hope made it to the catwalk that made up the building's emergency exit. She ran up several flights of stairs, eventually reaching another ladder. After some more climbing, she made it to the top, where she found several people jumping and calling out to a GUN helicopter that was flying around.

"WE'RE DOWN HERE!"

"HELP US!"

Hope frowned as she noticed the helicopter taking fire from the streets below. The pilot had to swerve to avoid the shots and there was no way it come in for a safe landing. It rained bullets down on its attacker, and all they could do was wait…

"More laser strikes!" one person called out, and just as earlier, lights rained down over the city. One of those lights hit the building they were standing on, causing everybody to panic and scramble for the ladder.

Hope instead rushed to the other end of the building. It would be tight, but she had a better chance of jumping to the neighbouring rooftop, which wasn't very far, than she did of fighting for space on the emergency exit.

"This way!" she called out, but nobody had seemed to hear her. Everybody decided that the emergency exit would be safer, as it was closer to where they were standing. Gritting her teeth, Hope ran and jumped just as the strike came from above. The blast propelled her forward, and she made a rough landing on the roof of the other building.

Groaning, she picked herself up. She was covered in scrapes and cuts, but it didn't seem anything was broken. She looked at the previous building. It was reduced to about half of its original size, and what remained was completely on fire.

Staying in one place was dangerous, she could see that now. GUN was in the city. She could meet up with them and ask for their protection. Making her way to this new building's emergency exit, she climbed back down to the streets, looking out cautiously and emerging when she saw that it was clear.

Gunfire sounded in the distance, but it was faint. She could also hear sirens blaring everywhere, and floodlights now illuminated the sky, revealing the large, flying objects that were responsible for the orbital strikes the city had been taking.

A nearby soldier lay dead on the ground. Hope could hardly believe what she was seeing. So much death and destruction, on what was supposed to be just a nice day out with her family. It was enough to make her want to just stop and cry. But she couldn't afford to stop. She had to keep going, and do whatever it took to survive…

She leaned down and picked up the dead soldier's pistol. It felt heavier than it looked, and colder, too. Now armed, she ran through the streets between cover, making her way to where the floodlights were coming from.

The sounds of gunfire grew louder. She knew she must have been going in the right direction. Another section of road was missing, but a makeshift bridge had been planted using the remains of a fallen crane. Carefully, she crossed the precarious bridge, taking care not to look down. As she touched down on the other side, her eyes met one of the creatures and gasped.

The creature roared. It raised its arm, which was holding one of the swords she had seen earlier, and ran towards her. She hurriedly raised her gun and fired, pulling the trigger rapidly as she scrambled backwards. All but one shot missed, and the one that hit only slowed it for a second as it merely scraped its free arm.

It took Hope a moment to realise that she has used all the bullets, and that she was now trying to fire an empty firearm. Panicking, she threw the gun at the creature, who merely brushed it off. Her back to a wall, Hope could only look on in horror at the black creature now towering above her, its sword raised in the air, ready to strike!

The sword came down on her. She threw up her arm, screaming… Nothing happened. No pain passed through her body. The sword never connected. Cautiously, she lowered her arm. Where her assailant once stood, now stood a different creature entirely.

It was a black hedgehog, red marking over its body, and a standard-issue GUN pistol in its left hand. It was standing above the creature, keeping it pinned to the ground with one foot. It raised its arm, pointing the gun at the creature, and pulled the trigger. Green blood flew out, the sight of which snapped Hope out her daze.

The hedgehog turned to face her, its face a scowl, yet its eyes seemed… concerned? Was it worried about her? Did this hedgehog come to save her? As she got a better look at his face, she realised that she knew who this hedgehog was. He was on the report that Rouge gave to the Commander. He was on the news over a month ago, when he stole a Chaos Emerald from a federal bank.

He was Shadow the Hedgehog.