There was sound everywhere. The sound of guns, sirens, and approaching footsteps. Shadow lived this nightmare one to many times to be afraid of it, however. That didn't stop him from trying to change the end.

"Hurry," he spat through gritted teeth, tightening his grip on his follower's hand. He'd had this dream a thousand times before. He knew Maria was behind him. He knew soldiers followed. He knew she was going to die.

He ran through cold, merciless corridors flashing red in a strobe like effect. It was messing with his vision. Maybe that's why he couldn't save Maria; he couldn't see right.

"Shadow," he heard her cry. She was scared.

Damn, he thought, she was just a kid. But wait… Was that Maria's voice he'd heared, or someone else's?

He didn't bother to think about it, just charged through the door to where the escape pods were. He tried to push Maria in the one in front of him, wanting to change what would happen. But she grabbed and literally threw Shadow in first.

Threw… Maria's not THAT strong. Shadow steeled himself to turn to Maria. But it wasn't Maria. It was Rouge.

"ROUGE!"

Shadow awoke with a start, cold sweat trickling down his face, his heavy breathing disrupting the previous silence.

"Shadow, what's wrong," he heard Rouge say with concern. He turned to look at her. Even with no makeup and nothing more than a night gown on, Rouge was still sexy. He must have just woken her.

Oh yeah, he reminded himself, I'm in Rouge's bed.

"Nothing," he sputtered, embarrassed, "just a bad dream."

A little smile pulled at Rouge's lips. She crawled closer to him and attached herself to his arm and buried her face in his neck. He took a moment to inhale her sweet scent.

"Then I'll protect you from all the monsters in your sleep," she murmured, splaying her left hand over his chest. A flash of moonlight caught the diamond that rested on her finger. He had surprised her by proposing, and she had surprised him by saying yes. He could always see Maria though, staring at him with her big eyes, reminding him of what he had. But that was his past, and Rouge was his future. He wouldn't let anything happen to her. He'd protect her.

Sonic stared at the blood stained walls of what used to be one of G.U.N.'s many headquarters.

"About fifteen survivors," he heard Tails confirm behind him.

"In the ENTIRE headquarters," Sonic asked doubtfully.

"It must have been multiple intruders," Tails voiced, "enough to do this much damage."

"No doubt not all of them got through unscathed. Maybe we could test for blood?" Sonic asked, but he knew the answer.

"There's too much blood," Tails said, making his way further down the corridor, "All we'd find is the guard's blood."

Sonic followed him down the hall, careful not to trip over one of the many bodies. They made their way to their destination, the control room, the one room that the intruders were stupid enough to leave intact. At least it looked that way.

"They cut the power," the G.U.N. officer told them as they approached, "We got nuthin'."

Sonic's disappointed sigh filled the empty hallways.

"Do we know anything at all about the intruder?" Tails asked the question gnawing at his mind.

"The intruder took this path through the base," he started toward the wall, where a fire escape plan hung. He traced his finger down a pretty straight path with a few turns. "He stopped here," he pointed at the main office, "that was Commander Thomas Daniels' office."

"I know him," Sonic said, "we went on an op together a couple months ago."

"He's dead now," the officer stated bluntly. "One shot in the right hand, one in the head. I'll let you decide which one was fatal."

"Was anything at all taking?" Sonic wondered, attempting to make sense of the situation.

"Nuthin'," the officer shook his head, "His only purpose was to kill the commander."

"And the entire G.U.N. population," Tails muttered under his breath.

"Just find his enemies," Sonic pointed out, but he knew it was pointless. The officer didn't even dignify it with a response. EVERY terrorist organization would benefit from this. It'd take too long to bother with tracking them down.

"We'll just go…" Tails gestured toward the door. He was eager to get out. So was Sonic, know that he thought of it. The base hadn't been cleaned yet, and the place smelled of death.

"Yeah, not much to do, I suppose," the officer mused as he led them out, "Unless you want to help me fill out paperwork?"

Sonic was already gone.

657 watched the blue one carefully through her rifle's scope. He was fast, and would prove a challenge. He always had the fox with him, too. That would make things difficult. But 657 would pull through, she always did. Should their deaths be fast, she asked herself, or perhaps I should make them suffer. She had never bothered to think about it before. When she killed the commander she was nervous, and wanted to end it quickly. But the others, maybe she should plan something special. A twisted smile spread on her face and she lowered her rifle. Her mind flashed images of the hedgehogs screaming and crying in agony. Revenge, she thought, is such a sweet, magnificent thing.