The Space Colony ARK
Teleporter Room

The two were soon transported to a lone room with a series of computers, complete with a door bearing the One-Planet logo. Fang kept his eyes open and sniper armed, while Bunnie worked at the nearby computer.

"Got it!" Bunnie smiled. "Just got control of the ARK's teleporter."

"It can't be that easy…" Fang sighed worriedly.

Bunnie assured, "When your Bunnie tried to hack my robot arm and legs, she exposed her security protocols."

"Meaning, you stole her password," Fang said, surprised, "I'm starting to like you, sweet cheeks."

Bunnie grinned, "So you say?" A few seconds later, she noticed Fang was venturing out. "Hey, where are you goin'? The plan was to—"

"I won't be long," Fang assured with a grin. "Trust me. I'll be back."

Fang's departure from the teleporter room left Bunnie to grumble to herself. She was needed here to keep an eye out and communicate with the Insurgency from a place where they could be ready to leave at any time.

She just hoped Fang wasn't doing anything crazy.

Later, at the ARK's Central Hub…

Fang the Sniper grinned as he stood hidden in the shadows. He was not alone as two Regime operatives, Miles "Tails" Prower and Vector the Crocodile, were busy monitoring the room's screens while talking about the current situation the Regime was in. These two would be easy to take out now that Fang had a few new extra tricks up his sleeve. He began to quietly lay his trap without Tails or Vector noticing.

"I don't know…" Vector admitted. "If he said it was good enough for the world, it was good enough for me."

"I feel that this conversation should be going the other way around." Tails replied with a shrug. "I mean, Sally isn't the only one involved in the accident five years ago, but the Chaotix, too. Almost the whole team died from the explosion, making you the only member left… So I asked myself, what if what happened to the Chaotix, happened to the rest of us?"

"That's what I'm talking about," Vector recalled with a nod. He then sighed, "It made sense at first. Bad people got what they deserved. But now… it's going too far."

"Sonic's not actually gonna kill that other Shadow," Tails assured. "He's just bait, to catch OUR Shadow."

"And then what?" Vector questioned. "Remember what he did to the others? To Espio?"

Tails couldn't answer him, but Vector swore he could've seen a twitch on the right side of his lips. When he finally showed an expression, Tails examined something on the holographic schematics.

"Something's not right," he pointed out. "The teleporter's offline."

"Somewhere you need to be?" Fang emerged out from the shadows.

"How did you…?!" Without thinking too much, Tails decided to catch Fang by spinning his two tails. However, he failed to notice the landmines beneath his feet which exploded, sending Tails into the way of the rest of the mines which sent him down a crater in the floor. Vector dashed towards Fang, only to have another bomb above his head explode and send him crashing to the hangar bay. Fang jumped down with his bouncy tail and looked at Vector, who was beginning to stand, albeit a bit dazed.

"You're gonna lose, 'hero,'" Fang grinned.

STAGE 1: FANG THE SNIPER (INSURGENCY) VS. VECTOR THE CROCODILE (REGIME)

Vector made the first move by hitting Fang with a clothesline, causing him to fall. Fang kicked back with his foot, sending Vector into the air, and unloaded twin laser guns before Vector collapsed. Fang puts her laser guns away as Vector got back up, and Fang took out his handy minigun rifle and repeatedly shot Vector. Vector countered by grabbing Fang and slamming him repeatedly on the floor. In return, Fang slammed Vector in the nose with a headbutt before shooting him in the chest with a shotgun.

Vector got back up, only for Fang to swing his sword, knocking him backwards. He landed near a button which had a bunch of Regime planes behind it. Swinging his sword again, Fang hit Vector so hard in the chest that it sent him smashing through the planes until he fell over the side of a cliff, as the final plane began falling after him. Vector landed on a vent and looked up to see the plane falling at him. There was no time to react as Vector was pounded by the plane, sending him smashing through another floor below and into the ARK's reactor core, the Cannon's Core. This reactor core was operating similar to a beating heart, and though it was virtually indestructible, it was vulnerable to overheating from the inside, just like when the Biolizard attempted to crash the ARK into the planet when all seven Chaos Emeralds are gathered to power the Eclipse Cannon. Vector fell at the center of the Cannon's Core, taking a major pounding from the energy waves. The core's energy pushed Vector out and landed on a catwalk a few feet away, and Fang arrived to finish the job.

The Sniper got into a crouching position and sliced Vector with his sword. He then threw the sword into the air and continually fired at the crocodile with twin handguns. Finally, Fang charged away from Vector, leaped into the air, and kicked his falling sword into Vector before finally finishing with another barrage of twin sub-machine laser guns. Vector got up, only to fall to the ground, defeated.

Vector smirked as he took his sword out, "Still just a stupid crocodile." He overlooked the Cannon's Core and the computer terminal on the catwalk, "It's payback time."

Up above, Tails rubbed his throbbing head. He looked at the destruction caused and suddenly remembered.

"Fang…" Tails muttered. He ran to the nearest elevator. He got off to see Fang fiddling around with the controls to the ARK's reactor core. As soon as Fang finished, Tails stopped him too late.

"Whatever you're doing, stop!" Tails demanded.

Fang smirked at Tails as a red alarm flashed, accompanied by a warning buzz which filled the area. "It's not what I'm doing," he explained, kicking Tails aside. "It's what I've done."

STAGE 2: FANG THE SNIPER (INSURGENCY) VS. MILES "TAILS" PROWER (REGIME)

Fang began first by knocking Tails in the face with his sword, bouncing him off a nearby Artificial Chaos prototype and back towards the Sniper, who kicked him in the chest. Fang managed to block some punches from Tails before grabbing his shoulder with one arm, and punching Tails in the face with the other. Tails screamed in pain as Vector forced his hand behind his back and kicked him from behind, sending him flying forward. Tails got back up by rotating his two tails, only to have Fang repeatedly knock him in the head with the butt of his sword.

Tails got back up and managed to get a few punches before Fang kicked him, sending him into the computer terminal, the impact cracking the screen. Fang then delivered a series of quick blows before head-butting Tails and shooting him in the chest with a laser gun, as he had done with Vector. He performed a flying spin with his sword, which sliced across Tails' chest. Fang prepared to hit him again, but Tails blocked and pushed him back.

"And here, I thought you're a genius," Fang readied his sword.

"I still am!" Tails said.

The two clashed with Fang striking first and sending Tails back. He then delivered a series of blows before finally taking him down. Tails fell to his knees and fell to the ground unconscious.

"The big finale's comin' up," Fang grinned. "And you've got a front row seat."

Back at the Teleporter Room…

As Fang returned, he could see Bunnie wasn't looking so happy right now.

"What did you do, Fang?!" Bunnie demanded. "The reactor's gone haywire!"

Fang explained, "First rule of warfare: take out command and control. This space hotel's one out of a few keys we need to take out Sonic's regime."

Bunnie yelled, "Darn it! You've jeopardized the whole mission!"

Fang interjected, "Sonic's my priority, not your Shadow."

Bunnie quickly opened a communication link, "Black sugar-hog! This is Bunnie! We've got the ARK, but we've got a problem; the reactor's gonna blow, and the whole ARK with it!"

"Can you stop it?" Insurgency Shadow's voice asked over the link.

Bunnie turned to Fang, who shook his head from side to side, before she answered, "It's a runaway. You've got ninety minutes at best. To make it short and sweet, three hours."

"We're almost in position," Insurgency Shadow assured. "Shadow out." With that, the communication hung up.

"Ah'll have to teleport everyone off…" Bunnie began working on the computer.

Just then, a holographic image of Insurgency Finitevus showed up. He congratulated, "Well done, you two."

"Got mah hands full here, Doc White Knux," Bunnie said, clearly annoyed. "Whadya want?"

"I need to borrow Fang," Finitevus asked.

"For what?" Fang raised an eyebrow.

Finitevus explained, "I've discovered that Sand Blast City has prototype technology that may allow me to re-weaponize the Chaos Neutralizer."

"Does black sugar-hog know about this?" Bunnie asked.

"No," Finitevus shook his head, with regret clear in his voice. "He would have insisted on using the weapon himself. I need to be the one to do it."

Bunnie looked surprised as he continued, "Shadow the Hedgehog is the face of the Insurgency. If he dies, it dies with him. Someone else needs to take the shot against Sonic. I might as well be the one."

Bunnie said, actually impressed, "Doc Finitevus riskin' his life to save black sugar-hog… Now that's something you don't see or believe every day."

"Send over the coordinates. And any information on what you need," Fang agreed.

Station Square Sewers…

Accompanied by Espio, the Insurgency leader pushed the communications link button in his ear and gave a command, "Hope, Colin, get your people into position. Occupy any law enforcement you can."

"Yes, sir!" Snively's voice responded.

"We're on it!" Hope's voice responded.

Meanwhile, at the Insurgency's Secret Base in Central City…
Prison Cell

Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik was in a bit of a pickle. The Snively of this world was nothing as he thought he was. He had assumed his nephew to have fully embraced his destiny as his successor to the Eggman Empire, but it turned out he was just a sniveling little boy taking orders from Shadow the Hedgehog, and his 'followers' went along with it. Even with him being locked up in his cell.

Finally, there was a clicking sound. He noticed Snively had unlocked the door. Eggman stepped out as Snively looked at the floor, not able to look him in the eye.

"He's going to kill me," he whispered.

"I'd worry less about him if I were you," Eggman replied, bringing his nephew's chin up to look at him. "Let's go. We've got a lot to catch up on."

As he left, it seems Snively was not happy with his uncle. He was blissfully unaware of the glare given to him.

Mobius Prime…
Freedom Fighter HQ

Sonic, Sally, Nicole, Tails, and Rotor were continuing to try and fix the Special Zone Treadmill, but one thing was clear.

"I don't know if we're gonna fix it, guys," Tails admitted.

Nicole agreed, "I would have to concur. Parts of the control panel constructed by my nanites were designed to function with energy drawn from the Special Zone portal."

Sally shook her head, "We have to keep trying, Nicole. This may be their only way home.

Alternate Mobius…

Sand Blast City

Regime Julie-Su was called to meet with Regime Bean at Sand Blast City, a former despot of Dr. Eggman's tyranny until the Freedom Fighters facilitated its freedom, now one of many settlements representing the One-Planet Regime.

"Make this quick, Bean," Julie-Su said sternly. "I'm needed at Prison Island. And isn't Bark with you?"

Bean explained, "Bark's getting me some chocolate chip ice cream. He'll be back later. Anywho, back to the Report Swingin' Show!" He motioned to a nearby computer, showing a map of New Mobotropolis covered in some areas with an infra-red color. "The big screen TV's discovered dots. Lots and lots of dots."

"You mean like anomalies, tears in the fabric of space-time," Julie-Su rolled her eyes. "Okay, I get the message. Just get to the point."

Bean pointed to an area on the map, "I think these little dots are places where the bad guys came from. One of them's got to be the source-course."

"The Insurgency?" Julie-Su asked.

"How should I know? It's just a theory, like the laws of physics!" Bean joked.

"The High Councilor doesn't want theories," Julie-Su shot at him. "He wants facts. Why'd you have to bring that up?"

Bean was puzzled at first, before Julie-Su sighed in annoyance, "Go send your 'source-course theory' to Tails. He can confirm theories faster than anyone."

Bean did so, unaware of a sudden punching sound behind him, "You got it, boss-lady. Anything else?"

He turned around to see Fang, standing over Julie-Su who was now handcuffed.

"Nice detective work," he remarked sarcastically. "But you're too late."

STAGE 3: FANG THE SNIPER (INSURGENCY) VS. BEAN THE DYNAMITE (REGIME)

Bean threw dozens of lit bombs at Fang, who bounced across the area, dodging each explosion. Fang took out a shotgun, but Bean dodged a few shots. Fang stopped bouncing with his tail and landed as Bean succeeded on hitting him in the face with an unlit bomb. Fortunately, Fang swung his sword around, repeatedly slashing Bean. Fang jumped back and took out a laser minigun, repeatedly shooting Bean's projectile bombs. Before Fang could attempt to shoot again, Bean surprisingly knocked him to the ground with a rolling punch.

Fang managed to get back up and tail-bounced, doing another spin with his sword and slicing Bean again. Fang was then knocked down by an elbow to the face by Bean. In response, Fang swung his leg around, knocking Bean. The two got back up and Fang grabbed Bean by the shoulder, slugging him hard in the chest, and then shooting him point-blank with a shotgun. The blast sent him back, and Fang threw a series of grenades at the Dynamite. Fang fired two shots from his laser machine gun, zapping Bean to the chest. The Sniper went in for another strike, but Bean and sent him back a few inches.

"BOOM, BOOM BABY!" Bean cried cheerfully.

"Bomb-head," Fang cracked, readying his sword.

The two clashed and Fang won, sending Bean back. He delivered a series of quick punches, followed by the shot of his sniper rifle which made Bean fall to his knees, exhausted and defeated.

"Too easy," Fang smirked. "Your tactics are so-so like a wacky cartoon."

"Yes, they are," Julie-Su's voice called from behind him. Fang turned, to his slight surprise, that Julie-Su broken broke free from her restraints.

Fang said, "I knew my cuffs wouldn't hold you for long, toots." In response, he took out a laser handgun and unloaded at her.

"Chaos Field!" Julie-Su chanted, and she blocked all the shots by generating a red force field, the last shot knocking the gun out of Fang's hand.

Julie-Su pointed out, "You were offered amnesty, Fang the Sniper. You should've taken it."

"And miss my chance to battle one out of two of Sonic's lackeys who tortured me a while ago?" Fang asked with a smirk.

"Oh, you want a fight?" Julie-Su scowled. "I'll give you one!"

With that, Julie-Su fired a large Chaos Particle Beam from her hand, but Fang dodged by rolling under and hitting her arm below with his elbow, disabling her attack.

"You Echidnas are so predictable," Fang pointed out, readying his sword. "C'mon, give me a real challenge! Impress me!"

STAGE 4: FANG THE SNIPER (INSURGENCY) VS. JULIE-SU (REGIME)

Julie-Su zoomed to punch Fang, but he punched her in the gut, spun around, and kicked her in the same area, sending her back a little bit. He lunged forward, spinning his sword as he sliced Julie-Su across the body. Julie-Su attempted to hit him, but Fang took out his laser minigun, repeatedly shooting her in the chest. Julie-Su recovered, only for Fang to throw a boomerang from his pocket. The boomerang hit her in the head and she stumbled back. Fang took his opportunity of her being dazed to swing away with his sword, which knocked Julie-Su back.

Fang knocked her in the face with the butt of his sniper rifle. Julie-Su punched him, but he responded with another sword lunge which sliced her once more. Julie-Su then grabbed a nearby lone air fighter missile and slammed it into Fang, the explosion sending him flying back a few feet. Fang got up and shot her again, only to have Julie-Su pick him up by the throat and slam him down. Fang pulled back his sword, knocked her back, and delivered a series of kicks and punches before Julie-Su blocked him and pushed him back a bit.

"Ya sure Chaos Energy hasn't dulled your reflexes?" Fang smirked as he readied his weapon.

"I'll rip your head off, scum," Julie-Su shot back, her hands glowing with red energy.

The two charged at each other. Fang got the first hit and sent Julie-Su back a few inches. He delivered another series of blows, punches, kicks, and laser shots. After a hundred blows, Julie-Su finally knelt over in exhaustion.

"Nope, wasn't impressed," Fang shook his head in disappointment.

After his brief dispute with the two Regime operatives, he entered the secret storage room, as instructed by Dr. Finitevus. Stored there was various military equipment, but at the center of the room was the thing Finitevus had requested. It was a small rocket launcher fitted with a substance containing a particular fitting spot.

"This is Fang to Bunnie," Fang spoke through the communications link. "I got the package. You figure out how to use the main teleporter yet?"

"Yup," Bunnie's voice replied. "Now Ah can easily teleport ya anywhere without usin' a portal."

"Alright," Fang nodded. "Send me to Doc Finitevus."

The Space Colony ARK…

"Hope it's worth it," Bunnie muttered, finishing the transporter. Now that Bunnie has gained access to the Space Colony ARK, she would have to make sure to teleport everyone else off before the colony self-destructed. She opened one more teleportation link to ensure the others were all prepared. "Black sugar-hog, ya ready? We're down to 45 minutes."

The sewers beneath Prison Island…

Meanwhile, Insurgency Shadow and Espio came across a ladder which would lead them directly to Prison Island. He was letting Amy and her friends know that this was the point of no return, and things would indeed get ugly in there. Espio nodded towards Shadow, letting him know that he and his comrades were with him all the way.

With strong resolve, Shadow gave the word to the rest of his team through a shared communications link, "We're in position. Commence assault."