"What the hell is happening out there?!" Commander Tower barged into the control room at GUN HQ, alarms blaring and people running around relaying messages back-and-forth. "Turn that siren off! And can somebody explain how an enemy managed to get into the heart of Metropolis without setting off our early detection systems?!"

"Sir! It's not just Metropolis! We have reports of attacks in Spagonia, Soleanna and Westopolis! We have also lost communications with Empire City, Chun-Nan and West Island, and are currently confirming reports of Black Alien sightings in Holoska and Mazuri!"

"This attack is worldwide?! What do you mean 'Black Aliens'?!"

"Sir!" Topaz rushed into the room, saluting as she stopped before the Commander. "Reporting for duty!"

"Where's Agent Rouge?" Tower asked, noting the bat's absence.

"Agent Rouge was called for an urgent mission! The CIA's cyberspace is under attack, and it seems the Black Aliens are after the Chaos Emerald stored inside!"

"Sir, we are receiving visuals from the field of the enemy," a soldier announced, directing the Commander's attention to the monitors. There he saw images of creatures of various shapes and sizes, all black with red markings along their bodies, some wielding weapons that seemed out of this world, others attacking unarmed. One image showed a giant picking up a car and throwing it against a building, the force creating an explosion.

The Commander narrowed his eyes. Their appearances reminded him of something, a memory from long ago that he'd rather forget. "Could they be…"

"Sir?" Topaz asked. "What are your orders?"

"… I want you to rally Mantis Platoon, Spider Troop and Team Dark! Be ready to deploy in one hour!"

"Sir!"

As Topaz left to fulfil her order, the Commander took another look at the creatures on the monitor. There was no doubt about it, he thought. This must be related to that time from fifty years ago. The Black Creature that Tower witnessed working with Professor Gerald, the first time he laid eyes on Shadow…

Shadow stared back at the blonde-haired girl looking at him. She was trembling, her arms against the wall behind her. She appeared to be bracing herself to run. When Shadow saw her about to be killed, he rushed in to save her, not entirely sure why until he got a good look at her. The girl looked extremely similar to the one he remembered, 'Maria'. "Who are you?" Shadow asked. The girl seemed confused by the sudden question. "Your name."

"O-Oh. It's… Hope."

Shadow scowled. It wasn't her. It wasn't this 'Maria'. Of course not. How could it have been? In his memories, he could see Maria being fatally wounded by human soldiers. Not to mention that that was fifty years ago, at least according to what Rouge had told him. There was no way this girl could have been her.

"Um, you saved me… Thank you." Hope dared a smile, hoping that the Commander's paranoia was unfounded.

Shadow looked away. "Well, my body acted on its own. Don't read too much into it." He turned to leave. "If you don't wanna die, then get out of here before more of those Black Creatures show up."

"Wait! Can't you stay with me?" Hope asked. "I'd feel a lot safer if somebody was with me…"

"I'm heading further into the city, to look for the Chaos Emerald." Shadow stopped, wondering why he was bothering to tell her this. "… There was a GUN squad just down this road. They should still be there. You can make it if you run."

"Are you helping GUN fight off these things?"

"… That depends on what I find." And with that, Shadow was off, skating through the city over destroyed roads and toppled structures. As he moved, he pondered, "She wasn't her, so why did she feel so familiar?"

Making her way down the road, Hope found the GUN squad that Shadow had mentioned. "Are you okay, Miss? You're not injured?" A soldier wearing a medic's armband asked her.

"I'm fine," Hope said. "Shadow helped me. He took off further into the city, but he told me where I could find you."

"So that was Shadow," the soldier mused, looking in the direction that the hedgehog had just ran off in. "It's a shame he didn't stay to help. Anyway, we have a chopper not far from here. We'll evacuate you to a safe location."

"I need you to take me to GUN HQ," Hope said, confusing the soldier. "Call Commander Tower, he'll explain who I am." But then, she remembered her family. She turned back to where she had come from and started to panic. "No, wait! My family's still in the city somewhere! I have to find them!"

"Miss, it's too dangerous for you to go looking for them!" the soldier cautioned. "Don't worry, we'll find your family. What you need to do for now is worry about your own safety."

Hope wanted to protest, but she knew he was right. She couldn't even take down one of those things. All she would do is get in GUN's way. At least, she would here. "Then, please take me to GUN HQ."

Together with some other survivors that had been pulled from the wreckage of fallen buildings, the squad moved slowly through the streets, keeping an eye out for enemies waiting to ambush them from behind fallen debris or inside toppled buildings.

Fire had spread throughout the whole city rapidly, entire sections of the roads were gone, and bombs that had yet to go off lined the streets, along with the bodies of those not fortunate enough to have survived the initial attacks.

"Watch out for the Red Fruits," one soldier called out. They had to cut through an alleyway to get to their destination, as the road they were supposed to take had been rendered unusable, and Hope saw that the entire path was littered with red, glowing objects. "They explode if you get too close."

The group had to move one-at-a-time through the narrow path, making sure not to make contact with the deadly fruits. Three soldiers went first, and then four more stayed behind as the surviors filtered through. Hope's turn came, and she held her breath as she shimmied against a wall, a Red Fruit a mere foot away from her body. This close, she could see why they were referred to as such.

"We have incoming!" the soldiers bringing up the rear called out. "We'll hold them off! Get the civilians to the chopper!"

One more soldier passed, leaving three behind. They unloaded on an army of advancing Black Aliens as the other four ushered the civilians into the street. "Wait! You can't leave them!" Hope cried as she was pulled along by one of the survivors.

"Evacuating citizens is our top priority!" one soldier said. They heard a loud scream behind them, followed by another. The gunfire stopped. "We must move, now!"

As they ran through more deserted and destroyed streets, another barrage of laser strikes rained down on the city. "Get down!" The group hit the ground, laying low as explosions roared around them, shaking the ground and unsettling the nearby buildings. One such building began to come down on them, forcing everybody to run despite the bombardment still continuing.

They narrowly avoided being crushed as the building stopped short of hitting the ground, raining debris down on the frightened group. After the lasers died down, more aliens fell from the sky, intercepting their path. They turned to flee, only to find they had been cut off on both sides.

"Protect the civilians!" one of the soldiers called out, and the four surrounded the survivors, guns blazing as the creatures attacked. One fired a blast from its own gun and hit the group's medic. "Man down!"

"GAH!" A second soldier fell as one of the winged-creatures struck him from above.

"We have to get out of here!" one of the survivors cried.

"How?!" Hope asked. She could see no way out. They were surrounded and it was only a matter of time now.

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

That is, until something happened that startled the creatures behind them. One-by-one they fell, a blue blur passing between them as it made its way to the group. The blur revealed itself to be a blue hedgehog, a cocky grin on its face as it gave a thumbs-up.

"Sonic!" Hope cried, smiling despite the circumstances. Her cheeriness spread to everybody else there, the hero's reputation well-known by this point.

"You guys need a hand?" he asked.

"If we could just clear a path…" one of the soldiers began.

"No problem," Sonic said, rolling into a ball and gathering energy as the Black Aliens approached around them. "READY…" He unfurled, now glowing as one of the creatures pointed its gun at him. "GO!"

In an instant, Sonic bounded from enemy-to-enemy, taking out each one with a single blow. Hope watched in awe as the path quickly became clear, and when the last enemy fell, Sonic landed on his feet, dusting his hands off with a proud smile. "Awesome!" she shouted.

"You guys be careful now! You need any help carrying the wounded?"

"We appreciate the assist!" the same soldier said, saluting with his comrade. He looked to the two that had fallen. The medic was groaning and clutching his side, and the fourth soldier was…

Sonic scooped up the medic, carrying him bridal-style. He frowned as one of the civilians checked the other soldier's pulse, shaking her head to confirm his departure. "You did good," he whispered.

Hope wanted to say something, a word of thanks or of apology, but she couldn't find her voice.

Sonic looked back to the two standing soldiers and asked, "Where are we heading?"

"Just around this corner," one of the soldiers answered. "We have a helicopter waiting there."

The group ran through the streets, panting and sweating from both exhaustion and the heat of the flames all around them. They found the helicopter waiting for them, defended by tanks and mechs being piloted by more soldiers.

"Why aren't you deploying those in the city?" Hope asked as the other survivors rushed to board the helicopter. Sonic gently placed the medic down inside, but turned his head a little to hear what the soldier had to say.

"Our defences are weak, due to budget cuts to support the survivors of the Station Square incident," the soldier told her. "We don't get as many Chaos Drives as other GUN outposts, and the city's roads are too torn-up for our tanks. For now, we're trying to set up safe zones throughout the city, and we don't have enough mechs to send out looking for survivors."

"I'll lend a hand as much as I can," Sonic said. "You just find out where the Black Aliens are coming from, and I'll take the fight right to them!"

"We're ready to take off!" the pilot called out as the rotors of the helicopter began to spin.

"Miss, please get onboard."

Hope nodded, running to the helicopter and climbing inside. It was cramped, perhaps exceeding the recommended weight limit, but there wasn't much else that could be done. As the helicopter lifted into the air, she saw Sonic dashing off into the city, leaving behind a trail of smoke.

She wondered if he would run into Shadow, and if perhaps the two of them would work together again to save everybody. Turning around to face the pilot and co-pilot, she said, "Hey, could you contact Commander Tower and tell him I'm okay. I'm Hope Ro-" She stopped, glancing at the other survivors into the back. "Tell him Hope from Team Dark is fine."

The pilots looked at each other sceptically, but the co-pilot nodded and reached for his radio. "I'll try, but we've been having trouble contacting HQ."

As Commander Tower watched the world map updating with the numbers of confirmed attacks, the door opened behind him and a soldier ran in. The soldier stopped and saluted. "The Black Aliens have hit six major cities around the world, and every city is reporting significant damage and casualties."

Tower lowered his head, his hands shaking behind his back.

"Among them, Westopolis has received the heaviest casualties due to its weakened defence system. Downtown Westopolis has been almost completely destroyed. Unconfirmed sources have also reported seeing a black hedgehog in Westopolis."

"Shadow?" Tower asked, turning to face the soldier. "Deploy the troops now! And if you find Shadow with the Black Aliens… then kill them all!"

The soldier, taken aback by this, asked, "But sir, isn't Shadow on our side… sir?"

Tower's hand clenched into a fist. Everybody thought that Shadow was a hero… Shadow must have thought that would let him do whatever he wants, but he would be wrong. In a situation like his, GUN's Commander-in-Chief can exercise emergency powers. At that time, Tower's authority exceeded even the president's. "I GAVE YOU AN ORDER, SOLDIER! He's evil and he's the enemy!" The soldier saluted, and then ran off to relay the Commander's order.

"You can't fool me, Shadow! This time, you're mine."

Topaz frowned as the order came through. Shadow was now considered to be working with the Black Aliens, and was to be killed-on-sight. No doubt Rouge would have some choice words for the Commander when all of this was over.

She received additional ordered from Tower directly. Mantis Platoon was to go to Glyphic Canyon, where the Black Aliens had been sighted. Most of the places being attacked were cities and villages, the exceptions being the CIA's cyberspace, one of Eggman's bases, and this remote location of seemingly no value.

This unsettled the Commander. He wanted to know what they were after there, and to stop them from achieving their objective at all costs.

Spider Troop was ordered to spread out over the major cities that had been attacked, but there was a particular focus on Westopolis, likely because that was where Shadow was sighted.

Team Dark, a group that made up only sixty-two soldiers, including Topaz herself, were ordered to attack Circus Park. She was unsure if now was the best time to launch an attack on Eggman, but with Cryptic Castle under attack by the Black Aliens, it did seem like the perfect chance to catch Eggman with his guard down. If they could topple Circus Park, then Lava Shelter would be left on its own.

"It looks like the Commander wants to take this chance to take out the Shadow Android production line," she told Omega. "We can use this chance to take down Circus Park while Eggman himself is still coming to grips with all this chaos. After that, we can advance on Lava Shelter itself."

"I will accompany you," Omega told her. He looked around. "I do not see Hope. Was she not a part of your team?"

Topaz scratched the back of her head. "Hope was in Westopolis when the attacks happened. I heard a squad found her and are bringing her back now… Say, were you worried about her?" Topaz grinned as the robot seemed to avert its eyes.

"She did an excellent job of improving my weapons. It would be tragic should she fall now."

"Uh-huh. Well, I'll let her know you care."

"Do not push your luck."

Topaz laughed, turning around to survey the soldiers making final checks on all their weapons. "Anyway, it looks like we'll be ready to head out soon." Topaz noted the arrival of several Big Foot models, mass-produced version of one of GUN's most advanced weapons. "And we're not holding anything back. You ready?"

Omega's eyes glinted. "Just say the word. Tonight, we dance on Eggman's corpse!"

"… Ooookay, maybe tone it down a bit there."

"I will make no promises. I have waited for this my whole life. Literally."

"Captain, all checks have been completed!" one soldier reported to Topaz.

"Well then, let's not waste any time! Every second is vital, people! You have your orders, so move out! And no matter what happens, evacuating civilians takes top priority! Understand?"

"Yes, sir!"

Omega boarded the helicopter bound for Iron Jungle, containing half of Team Dark's soldiers. Topaz boarded the one headed for Circus Park. Omega noticed the looks of uncertainty and disdain from the crew as he passed them. "I was built by Eggman," he told them, "But make no mistake, I am his enemy. As long as you do not interfere with my revenge, we can be allies."

As the helicopters all started up, a man ran into the hangar and approached Topaz's. "Captain Topaz, new orders!" he shouted. "A helicopter leaving Westopolis has been taken down, and has crash-landed in the nearby forest! Commander Tower wants you to send a small squad to recover her!"

Topaz jumped out of the helicopter suddenly, startling the young messenger. "Don't tell me that 'copter was carrying…"

"We've confirmed that it was the same one carrying Hope Robotnik, sir."

Topaz turned to the men behind her, and pointed to the three nearest to her. "You three, with me! The rest of you stay put! Your orders still stand!"

"Is there a problem?" Omega asked over her intercom. He wasn't close enough to hear the conversation over the whirring of the helicopters' rotors.

"… No problem. You stay where you are," she told him. "We're just going to lend a hand to the Westopolis team, that's all."

"Very well. I would have stayed here, anyway."

Topaz led her team to one of the remaining helicopters, smaller than the rest being used, and started it up. As the other teams left to fulfil their missions, Topaz took off in the direction of Westopolis, veering only slightly off-course.

"Please still be alive," she muttered to herself. "We'll be there soon."