A/N: Last chapter, the Freedom Fighters and Suppression Squad entered Moebius, only to find Scourge in his super form. While it was a hard fought battle, no one was able to match the evil hedgehog. However, Sonic managed to trick Scourge into powering down from his form, which left him weak due to the cost of using Anarchy Beryl. Then, as everyone was checking their injuries, it was revealed that Kor was worse than everyone else due to his eyes being heavily damaged from his own attack being reflected back at him. How will he overcome this inconvienience, and just how much trouble are the FF in for defying direct orders? Let's watch.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega except my OC. The Medic belongs to Valve.

As Kor and Tails were heading back to New Mobotropolis, Tails decided to strike up a conversation. "Just out of curiosity Kor, you seem to be taking this rather well..."

"Welp Tails, to be frank, I've suffered from much worse than this." Kor said.

"Was this from your old "mercenary" days?" The kit asked.

"Yeah. I'd tell you more about it, but it might...freak you out a bit." Kor mused.

"Considering I've handled Eggman for years, I think I can handle what you can tell me." Tails stated.

Kor shrugs. "Alright, I warned ya though. You ever been shot, burned, blugeoned, stabbed, gibbed, punch to death-"

"Ok ok. Sorry I asked..." Tails said, nearly feeling himself about to empty the contents of his stomach just imagining the scenarios Kor mentioned. He sees the city in his sights. "We're almost there. Won't be long now."

"I just wonder how the others will take it..." Kor said.

Nicole had been making continuous scans on the city ever since the Freedom Fighters and Suppression Squad went to Moebius. Over the past 3 hours she hasn't detected anything, but she soon saw 2 organic signatures approaching from the sky, making her tense. However, after getting visual confirmation she spotted Tails carrying Kor, but she saw Tails had a worried look on his face and Kor was sporting bandages. She exited her database to meet them.

Tails soon landed in the city. Kor only sighed. "Man being blind sucks. Normally I would've killed myself and come back anew but that was a long time ago."

"Kor...wait, come back anew?" Tails asked, confused.

Before Kor could reply, Nicole materialized in front of them. "Hey you 2 what's-oh my processors what happened?!" She said after she got a good look at the red fox.

"Hey Nikki. It's a looooong story..." He said with a sheepish smile. "No time to explain. We need to get him to the hospital!" Tails said before dragging Kor there.

Nicole floated along with them. "How did this happen? Did the Suppression Squad do it?!" Nicole said with a hint of anger in her voice.

"No Nicole. Scourge managed to gain his super form. Everyone tried to stop him but we couldn't do much. At some point he deflected mine, Boomer's and Bunnie's attacks back at us...and mine happened to hit my face..." The engineer said, ears drooping on his head.

"Oh Kor..." Nicole said with sympathy. "There may be something we can do. We just need Dr. Quack to check him out." Tails said as they reached the medical center.

Once there, Dr. Quack immediately saw to them. Being the main physician to the Acorn Family, he was well known by the other citizens as being the best doctor in the city. Kor explained what happened to his eyes and that he couldn't see anything but a gray haze. Quack took a good look at Kor's eyes, which had lost their redness but his pupils maintained their cloudy state. He also took x-rays of them to determine the cause.

"Hmm, according to these, the attack has severely damaged your retinas, hence the cause of your blindness." Quack stated.

"Is there anything you can do doctor?" Tails asked.

"Well, in normal cases of blindness, corrective laser eye surgery would be best.. But..." He said, taking a closer look at the photos. "Buuuuut...?" Kor asked.

"Your retinas have been so damaged that laser surgery likely won't even work. The only way to fix this would be an eye transplant. Unfortunately...I haven't done such a task before. Sure I have replaced organs like hearts and kidneys, but eye transplant requires great attention and carefulness. Any wrong step can leave the person premanently blind." Dr. Quack explained.

"Well that's just swell..." Kor sighed. He really wasn't keen on the idea of being permanently left blind.

"...Could you give them both physical check ups Dr. Quack? They look rather beat up after the fight with Scourge..." Nicole asked.

"Ah, that I can do. Right this way you 2." Quack directed.

Minutes later the yellow and red fox were given full body scans to determine any physical damage, which thankfully there were none too serious. Tails ached a bit but was given some pain pills and was told to rest. With Kor on the other hand, Dr. Quack found something rather intruiging. The foxes were now sitting in hospital beds.

"Um, Mr. Royce. May I ask you a question if you don't mind?" The doctor asked. "Yeah?" Kor said. "There appears to be some sort of metal device in your chest cavity. It looks to be attached to your heart." Dr. Quack explained, looking at Kor's x-rays.

Nicole and Tails both glanced curiously at what the good doctor said before he showed them the picture. Indeed, there was some kind of metal device in the engineer's chest, right where his heart is. "I always wondered what that was...I knew Kor had something in there but was too afraid to ask." Nicole said.

"Well, it's not a metal heart if that's what yer thinkin', but I can tell ya what it is." Kor said as he laid back on his bed. "That device your talking about is an uberfication amplifier. My old friend Klaus, our Medic, had installed them in each of us mercs so our hearts would withstand the electric current sent during an ubercharge."

"Ubercharge?" Asked Quack.

"An ubercharge is a phase activated by the Medic's medigun. It basically allows people like myself to be pretty much invulnerable for a short period of time. However the process takes time to build. Now the medigun on the other hand, was something Klaus designed and built himself. It could heal even the nastiest of gashes and cuts in seconds. I even built a healing device in my dispensers based off it. It's not as powerful but it works. However, I don't think even the medigun can heal something like blindness..." Kor explained.

"Hmm, it sounds like your collegue was a fond man of medicine himself." Quack said.

Kor chuckled. "That's part of it. In most cases Doc said his job was, in his own words, 'doctor assisted homicide'. He also lacks a medical license and told us that healing was an unintended side effect of satisfying his own rather morbid curiousity." Kor began to laugh, even though Dr. Quack was a bit put off by how Kor described his friend.

"But, at least Medic meant well. He always kept us alive and in some cases if it weren't for him some of the attacks we've made would've failed." Kor admitted.

"Hmm, so that ubercharge effect...is that when your body glows metallic red and your eyes turn yellow?" Tails asked.

"Yeah, or blue if its the BLU team. I think Heavy and Doc did it a couple times back when Gray was still around...wait a sec..." Kor said, stopping himself mid-thought. The others raised eyebrows at him as he sat up in his bed. "I think Klaus is still here on Mobius. I remember he said he wanted to study the biology of mobians. By now he probably has a good idea of how our bodies function, so he might be able to perform an eye transplant."

"Are you sure Kor? After all you said he didn't have a medical license." Quack pointed out. "Well, did I also mention I was awake when he installed this uber implant?" Kor chuckled.

The other 3 became wide-eyed at that, however they didn't want to question him further on that. The doctor sweatdropped alittle. "Point taken...you know where he might be?"

"If I'm right, he should be where I think he is. Got a phone?" Kor asked.

-Meanwhile in Station Square-

Klaus Hans Krueger, also known by his friends as the Medic, smiled as he looked at his work. He had just perfected a medigun that could be used in hospitals to treat those with serious injuries. Now, in what would take weeks to heal could be healed within seconds. Of course though he had dumbed down the voltage so it wouldn't kill the patient while in use. Also it only applied to physical injuries, not illnesses. He was still working on something for that.

After Gray had been killed, Klaus was curious about the biology of mobians and how they came about, along with the humans that were around on the planet as well. So, to satisfy his curiousity he stayed on Mobius for the last few months. He chose to stay in Station Square since apparently mobians didn't like humans much, or overlanders as some were called. Currently he works for G.U.N. as one of their top medical officers. Needless to say he ran some experiments that killed a few people, along with one that, yet again, involved a patient losing his skeleton but he managed to keep that from getting around. His celebration was interrupted when the phone in his lab rang.

"Er, hello?" He said with a distinguished German accent.

"How ya doin' Doc?" It was Kor.

"Ah, Herr Engineer! Iz good to be hearing from you again. How 'ave things been going?" Klaus asked.

"Well you know, same old same old, getting into fights for our lives like almost every day. How are things on yer end?" The engineer asked.

"Excellent! I just finished one of my greatest works. Ze healing gun will be put to use in local hospitals, although I'm really curious as to how they'll affect ze humans here." Klaus heard Kor chuckle on the line.

"Heh, still the same old doctor from our battle days eh?" The fox asked.

"Jawohl. Now, vat iz ze reason you have called? Normally you vouldn't have called if it vasn't under abnormal circumstances." The medic mused.

"Well, got into a bit of a fight with Sonic's anti-self and he deflected my attack back at my face...so I'm pretty much blind here and in need of an eye transplant." Kor explained.

"Raah...reminds me of how ze pyro vould airblast thoze rockets at us...but good to zee you are still functioning. Vhere are you now theze dayz? I heard zat Knothole vas burned to ze ground by that damned Eggman." Klaus said with irritation in his voice.

"We're in a city called New Mobotropolis. Me and Nicole built it months back."

"Ze A.I.?" The medic asked in surprise.

"Yeah. There's alot more to her Doc, a lot more." Nicole hinted Kor was talking about her and couldn't help but blush alittle. "Anyway, how's the whole G.U.N. job workin'?"

"It payz vell. Not az much az a mercenary but it's enough. I vill see if I can be zhere in a few dayz. Don't vorry kamerade, I am villing to do vatever it takes! Also I should check on ze condition of your uber amplifier. It might need replazing." Medic told him.

"Alright, thanks Doc. See ya then." Kor said before hanging up. "Doc said he'll be here in a few days."

"Well that's good." Tails said in relief. "But, I wonder if the council will want to speak with us..." The young kit said nervously.

"Yeah...technically we all defied direct orders about dealing with Scourge..." Kor said.

"I will let the council know you both have returned, and I will inform them you aren't in any condition to explain what went on seeing as your..." Nicole paused, trying to find a word without offending him.

"Don't worry about it Nikki. I'm fine, kinda. Besides I think they're more likely to give Sally an ear full since she's the field commander." Kor pointed out.

"True...I'll be off then." Nicole said before disappating.

"So what do we do now?" Tails asked.

"Well Tails you are free to go. Just make sure to take those pain pills and get some rest. Kor, you have to stay here since you are unable to do much without assitance..." Quack said.

"Ah understand doc." Kor agreed. With that, Tails left the room and headed for his house.

-A few hours later-

The rest of the Freedom Fighters returned, except for Sonic. He was taking Scourge to a place called the No Zone Prison, and to have a chat with someone called Zonic. They paid a visit to the hospital to see how Kor was holding up, to which he informed them there was already a plan set in motion to fix his eyes. Afterwards, Nicole told Sally she was to head for the castle immediately. She was to be put on trial before the Council of Acorn for treason. To be fair, she knew this was coming. While the Freedom Fighters were supposed to be focusing on Eggman, they defied direct orders to take on Scourge instead. But as they argued before, Scourge was a more present threat than Eggman at the time. However, the Council still thought otherwise.

"Alright...let's get this over with..." Sally thought inwardly.

"The Council of Acorn vs. Sally Acorn is now in session." Elias began. "Sally: do you swear to withhold the truth and tell nothing but the truth?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Ok, now then Ms. Acorn, as the Freedom Fighter's field commander, you have been summoned here under the accusation of defying orders by taking on Scourge the Hedgehog while you were ordered to only focus your attacks on Eggman. Is this true?" Hamlin asked.

"Yes. It was under my command that we did that." Sally agreed.

"We also voted for Sonic to be punished after attempting to take back Freedom HQ despite our orders to leave it be for now. Instead, you 2 went and counter-invaded Moebius after meeting with the king. That's leading me to believe this may be part of a royal conspiracy..." Rosemary pointed out.

Sally shook her head. "That's ridiculous! I made the specifics of Sonic's punishment under my authority as field commander."

"So you're saying it wasn't under your authority as princess?" Hamlin asked.

"No."

"So, does that mean you have no power outside of of being the field commander?" The pig asked again.

"...Yes." Sally said after putting some thought into it.

"So let me get this straight: You made your decision as field leader of the Freedom Fighters-a group that answers directly to the Council of Acorn-yet you gave him orders without our consent. Therefore, you have just admitted to us that you went against direct orders of your superiors!" Hamlin pointed out.

Sally became a bit worried but she didn't show it. Instead she countered his argument. "Yes, Sonic's punishment was ordered by the Council, but the specifics of it were left to me. As such, any choice I made would have been approved by you." The chipmunk pointed out.

"The Council wouldn't approve of actions that would undermine our authority." Hamlin countered.

"Well, 2 council members had helped us build new star posts. That seems like obvious support to me." She fired back, folding her arms.

"The star posts were built to go to the Special Zone so you may retreive the Chaos Emeralds, which is still an ongoing mission. Also, those 2 councilors were under your command as the field leader of the Freedom Fighters. Did you have a bigger invasion plan up your sleeve as well?" Hamlin asked.

"No. An opportunity presented itself and we acted. As a result, we've retaken Freedom HQ and prevented a larger invasion from Moebius." Sally finished.

"Hmm...as good as that sounds the ends don't justify the means. If we let you Freedom Fighters just do whatever you want, there wouldn't be much of a reason to have a Council. Not only that, one of your members is currently in the hospital due to losing his sight from your last mission, and as acting field commander that would place you at fault." Hamlin pointed out.

At that moment, Nicole had appeared in the room. "Sorry to interrupt but Kor wishes to say that it wasn't Sally's fault that he's in the situation right now. He says he knew the risks of being a Freedom Fighter and that it was his fault he didn't react quick enough to avoid his current situation. However, he says he has a friend arriving within a few days to help him with this problem, so there's no longer a need to worry about it. Sally's a great leader, but she shouldn't take responsibility for his own injuries." Nicole finished with a smile before dissapating.

At the first they wondered how she kept track of the session but remembered that Nicole was wired to the whole city. With that aside, they continued on. However, Sally knew that she was beaten and sighed in defeat.

"After all things considered...I plead guilty...it was my own decision to act against the Council's orders, but make no mistake I WILL not make that choice again. I won't act or give an order until I have approval from you, even in the heat of battle. You could discount any help from the Chaotix as they are free agents. They aren't in my control so I refuse to give them orders, but you can trust me with the duty I've had my entire life..." She told them.

After that, the Council took a moment to consider her actions. After a small debate amongst themselves, they decided to drop the charges held against Sally in a 6 to 1 vote. The 1 being Hamlin who still thought she should be punished. Rotor congradulated Sally for the turn around, and then he questioned when Sonic might return. Sally didn't know the answer to that, but she said she should thank Kor for his concern so she went to the hospital. When she got to his room, the red fox was sitting on his bed strumming a brown six-stringed guitar. He was playing a song she didn't recognize but it seems he knew it by heart. Nicole was also there as well, sitting in a chair.

She opened the door. "Um, sorry if I'm interrupting anything." They both turned in her direction.

"Oh hey Sal. So how'd the trial go?" Kor asked.

"It went over well. The charges against me were dropped. Nicole also popped in to give the message you sent so I decided to stop by to say thanks." She said.

"Well, it's no problem. Kinda mad at Hamlin for getting into you like that, but you shouldn't take the blame for something that's my own fault. It's part of the job right?" The fox stated.

"Very true...So how did you find out what was going on there?" Sally asked.

"Well, I asked Nicole if she could open up a small mic in the room so I could hear what went on. Speaking of which, why was Hamlin pesterin' you?" The engineer asked.

"It's abit of a long story..." Sally said as she grabbed a nearby chair.

"Some time ago I created group known as the Substitute Freedom Fighters. They were to take our place in the event that our group had either been captured or otherwise. They helped on a few occasions but overall didn't see much action. Three of the Council members were part of that group actually, Hamlin being one of them. However, from what he told me, he was usually left behind on several missions, and while he hasn't been able to fight for the people, he would make sure we would do it correctly." She finished.

"Well, I hope that doesn't cause any problems in the future, even though I'm sure it will..." Kor said. Sally nodded in agreement.

"Hey Sally, did we tell you about the eye replacement Kor will have soon?" Nicole asked.

"Yeah. I've heard that an old friend of yours was coming Kor?" Sally said

"Yep. I'd tell you more about it, but I'm abit tired right now..." Kor yawned slightly.

"Alright. We'll leave you be then." Said the princess. Both Sally and Nicole got up and left. Kor placed the guitar on the table next to him, or at least he hoped the table and not the floor, before eventually tuning everything out to fall asleep.

As they walked through the building, Nicole decided to ask a rather personal question. "Um, Sally? Is it alright if I ask something?"

"Sure. On what?"

"Well...i-it's about Kor. You know how during that time I traded places with you for awhile to experience what it felt like to be a living person..and felt your feelings about Sonic?..." Nicole said, not sure how to state what she was going to say next.

"Yes?..." Sally said, becoming confused.

"Well...I think that same feeling might be surfacing again, but this time towards the former mercenary..." Nicole told her.

A/N: And that's all she wrote. This chapter is certainly longer than the others, but as always I want to leave an interesting cliff hanger. Some would say computers don't have feelings, but obviously they never met Nicole.