Shout outs to Hawk, AlexJ and emzhao07010. You three have been my most consistent reviewers since I picked this story back up! So, thank you! As always, drop a review, and I will be sure to include you with the acknowledgments up here.

You know it! Don't own it! Enjoy!

The two hedgehogs and their overlander friend disappeared from the cafeteria in a flash of light.

"I wish I could do that," Bunny said.

"Nicole, did you get any clear footage of Maria's face?" Sally asked.

"Yes. Would you like me to run facial recognition software?" Nicole asked.

"Please do," Sally confirmed.

"Do we really need to pry into their business?" Bunny asked. "I don't think that sweetheart is any kind of a threat."

"They're hiding something," Sally said with absolute certainty in her tone. "Overlanders generally have surnames, but Maria didn't give us hers, and when I asked about her past, Nicole gave me an alert that her heart rate was starting to climb. I don't think she lied directly, but that was an awfully vague answer. I think Shadow must have noticed because he immediately changed the subject."

Bunny frowned. "He did, didn't he," she said. "Turned the attention right back to the Freedom Fighters."

"Then Sonic surprised me by bringing up Stripe," Sally continued. "I don't think he even meant to say it out loud."

"He was being jumpy somethin' awful," Bunny said thoughtfully. "Come to think of it, he'd been making an attempt to get out of joining us for breakfast when Maria elbowed him and accepted the invite."

"Interesting," Sally said, glancing curiously at her wrist console. "Did you also notice the way Shadow was hovering near her? He doesn't have attachments. It doesn't fit his profile."

"Shadow cooperating with Sonic is strange enough," Bunny commented thoughtfully. "Shouldn't we have those results? Nicole's usually got somethin' for us by now," she said, coming over to hover over Sally's shoulder and look at the device as well.

"Nicole, is something interfering with your search?" Sally asked.

"Interference is not the nature of the problem," Nicole reported.

Sally exchanged a glance with Bunny. "Then what is?"

"Disbelief," Nicole said. "I have just finished running the search a second time, and the results are the same."

"What did you find?" Bunny asked.

Sally held her wrist out in the open and a projection popped up. It was a profile, and the girl in the picture was most certainly a dead ringer for the Maria they just shared breakfast with.

"I found this in a GUN database that has been opened to public record," Nicole informed them. "Her full name is Maria Robotnik, and according to this database, she died on the Ark in an unfortunate training accident along with twelve others. This was a little over fifty years ago."

Bunny's mouth was hanging open in shock, and Sally was having to put some effort into keeping her wrist still.

"Please confirm her relationship with Dr. Ivo Robotnik," Sally said.

"They are cousins," Nicole said.

"They can't be the same girl, can they?" Bunny asked. "Fifty years is such a long time!"

Sally closed down the projection, and shook her head, lips pinched in disapproval. "This can't be a coincidence," she said. "Somehow, that is Maria Robotnik, and she now has sway over two of the most powerful beings on this planet."

Maria saw the flash of green light even from a distance. She stopped and turned to look back the way they'd come.

"That had to have been the Master Emerald," Tails said, reaching for his wrist communicator, and after a moment he looked up with a smile. "Yep, they're just trying to find us at this point."

"Is there some way we can tell them where we are?" Maria asked.

Tails reached for his pack. "Gotcha covered!" he said, pulling out what looked initially like a single shot large caliber gun. There was an interesting coil around the barrel "It's a flare gun," he explained. "But it's reusable, because it just converts chaos energy into a, well, I'll just show you."

The fox pointed the flare gun at the sky and squeezed the trigger. It was a lot quieter than she'd been expecting, though there was still a pop. A stream of white light shot into the air with a hiss. It climbed to a decently impressive height and hung there, glowing brightly for a good minute before winking out.

"I don't get pure white very often," Tails said, sounding a little surprised. "Because it's chaos energy, sometimes the flares are different colors. I think I might have a method to make sure it comes out a consistent color every time… but I kinda like it this way, it's just a pretty light."

"Wait, you made that?" Maria asked, looking closer at the tool. Its base color was black, but the barrel and the grip were a sunny yellow that matched the fox's fur. On the cover plate just above the grip was a circular symbol with two fox tails in it, the very same that was painted on the tail of the Tornado. "That's amazing Tails!"

"Haha," Tails laughed a little bashfully. "It's just a flare gun," he said. "Nothing huge."

"I don't think you understand what you have there," Maria said seriously as she knelt down to talk to him. "I think every explorer, soldier or first responder out there should have one of these. They don't require ammunition, so there's no risk of running out of flares before you're found, and there's no fire involved, so no risk of forest fires during the dry season."

Tails looked back down at the flare gun as if just seeing it for the first time. "I kinda thought it was just a neat toy when I made it," he said. "But when you put it that way…"

"These could save a lot of lives," Maria said.

"Wow! You're really good at this!" Tails said. "I wonder what else I've made that might actually be able to help people!"

"I might have to dig through your workshop," Maria said. "And let's also make sure you get the patent on this."

"I know some people," Tails said. "The patent might be the hardest part, but we could market this to practically any manufacturer out there because you're right. Police men, and search and rescue teams would all benefit from having them. That's already a guaranteed customer base!"

Maria looked up as she began to hear the hiss of Shadow's shoes. She stood back up and waved excitedly. "Shadow!" She waited until he'd come to a stop before giving him a big hug. "All in one piece?"

"Winded myself pretty badly," Shadow admitted. "Nothing more exciting than that."

"Where are Sonic and Knuckles," Tails asked, he had one of his tails in hand and looked just a few seconds away from wringing it anxiously.

Maria watched Shadow take in Tails' nervous posture and smiled when his quills, normally always at about half mast, began to lie flat in an unconscious effort to appear less threatening. He even stooped down a little to look him in the eye. "They're safe," he said. "And they both made it through uninjured. Knuckles just wanted to take the Master Emerald back to Angel Island."

"Oh good," Tails said, visibly relaxing, although he was still acting just a little shy. "Are we meeting back up at my workshop then?"

"That's the idea," Shadow said, pulling out the white chaos emerald.

Maria couldn't help the broad smile on her face as she grabbed Shadow's free hand. She knew this method of travel couldn't be that different from when Sonic did it, but still! This would be the first time she'd be seeing Shadow using this ability, and it was exciting!

Shadow glanced at the fox and offered him an elbow to grab.

Tails approached hesitantly and grabbed Shadow's arm.

"Chaos… control!"

The Mystic Ruins was as peaceful as they'd left it, though it felt like an entire week had passed since they'd taken the tram to Station Square.

Tails let go of Shadow at once, and hustled up to unlock the door for them.

"There are going to be a lot of people over tonight," Tails said. "I might have an air mattress somewhere, but that's not going to work for you, Sonic or Knuckles."

It was pretty clear that the fox was already panicking. Maria started to follow him. "If it helps," she called. "Shadow and I don't mind sharing a bed. We did it all the time on the Ark."

"That does simplify things," Tails said, fur starting to lay flat again. "Sonic doesn't mind sharing with me either, so if Knuckles doesn't mind taking Sonic's room, that's everybody." The fox left them in the living room and hustled into the kitchen.

"You're forgetting that we have another advantage," Shadow said. "If anyone doesn't wish to stay, I can get them home in seconds."

"Oh, right… chaos control," Tails said.

Maria sighed. Something was wrong, and she was fairly certain it wasn't the guest situation. "Tails, can you come here for a second?" she asked.

Tails entered the room, but stood just inside the doorway, clutching one tail still. "Is there something you need Maria?" he asked, gaze darting nervously towards Shadow.

"Come here," Maria said, dropping to her knees and giving him an encouraging smile.

Tails made his way towards her, ears starting to fold back.

Maria held out her arms for a hug and the fox huddled into her almost as if he was taking shelter. "What's wrong Tails?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing's wrong-!" he started to protest, but Maria shook her head.

"You just seem really nervous," Maria said. "I'd like to fix it if I knew how."

Tails sighed and lost the battle with his ears and they went flat against his head. "It's just easier when Sonic's around," he said quietly. "I really don't mean anything by it, it's just that Shadow's kind of a scary guy, and I have bits of stolen GUN equipment in my workshop and I know he's not with them anymore, but I just don't want him to be mad at me!"

"What?" Maria asked.

Shadow sighed. "The latest in my list of mistakes," he said. "After the Ark incident with the biolizard. I didn't want to take the chance that I could be making the same bad decision, so I enlisted with GUN in an attempt to reform them from the inside. I handed in my resignation just yesterday."

"But the stolen components!" Tails said.

"They weren't even missed," Shadow said, in an attempt to reassure.

"So you're not mad?" Tails asked, ears starting to unfold.

"Of course not," Shadow said. "In fact, I think it's a little funny."

"You do!?" Tails said, emerging from Maria's arms finally.

Shadow's smile held a note of mischief. "A lot of what I saw in your workshop has either been tagged missing in action or destroyed," he said. "They have no idea that it's here. Either, they genuinely believe it was destroyed or they just didn't want to admit that they lost dangerous equipment."

Tails giggled. "Alright, that is kinda funny," he admitted. "And sorry about before, I always feel braver when Sonic's around."

"You don't have to apologize, Tails," Shadow said, looking ashamed. "I know I haven't made the best decisions since I woke up."

"Well you're here now," Tails said, sounding more confident. "You're not bad like Eggman is, you just needed a little time to find your way!" The little fox disappeared back into the kitchen again looking far more cheerful.

Shadow's posture was now slumped and tense all at once. "He's afraid of me," he said quietly. "And he has every right to be."

"Prove him wrong," Maria said, moving over to hug her hedgehog. "And I know you feel bad about it, and I'm pretty sure that Tails forgives you, so make sure to forgive yourself, alright? I know that's the hardest part."

Shadow finally hugged her in return and Maria knew that he'd be alright. It might take a while, but she'd be there to make sure of it.

Sonic and Knuckles arrived at the workshop not too long after and they all took the chance for some much needed self care, though Knuckles disappeared beneath the building to inspect the foundation.

Shadow was in the living room enjoying the feel of a full tummy when Maria emerged from her turn in the shower. She was swimming in a baby blue hoodie that had to be three sizes too big for her with black sweatpants beneath. Her hair was still hanging in damp clumps, but he thought she still looked absolutely adorable.

"I'll have to thank Amy," Maria said, smoothing down the hoodie the same way she did with her dresses. "She says that every girl should have an oversized hoodie, and I think she's right. This is the most comfortable thing I've ever worn! It's perfect!"

Hmm. Perhaps the pink hammer swinging maniac wasn't so bad after all. Maybe he could be more… tolerant in the future.

The couch bounced a little as Maria plunked herself down next to him. "So how are you doing?" she asked.

"Tired, but alright," Shadow said. "I used a lot of chaos energy today."

"Mind if I look at your shoulder?" she asked.

Shadow had shed the bandages when he'd taken his own shower and hadn't bothered to replace them. He was still a little sore when he stretched his arm in certain directions, but that was all that remained of the injury. Maria had done a good job. He turned his right shoulder towards her anyway.

Leaning in close, Maria parted his fur, and gently pressed her thumb over the remaining mark. "Yep," she said quietly. "It's not even gonna scar."

"Tails had a pretty good scratch," Shadow said.

"I talked him into letting me put some antibiotic ointment on it," she said. "He'll be fine. For how much it bled, it doesn't even need stitches. I really need to put together a first aid kit if we keep having adventures like this."

"I think that's a fantastic idea," Shadow said. "Hmm maybe tomorrow though." The last thing he wanted to do was pull himself out of the couch that was currently attempting to swallow him.

"Definitely tomorrow," Maria agreed.

They lapsed into silence, and Shadow realized he was going to fall asleep right there if nothing else happened, but a faint scratching noise caught his ear and he sat up listening.

Maria turned her head to look at him and silently reached up to touch her ear, asking without words if he'd heard something and he nodded.

Shadow stood up, motioning for her to stay where she was and followed the sound to the window along one wall. The shades were down and the curtains drawn to darken the room for the TV. Shadow carefully drew the cloth aside and took hold of the pull string for the shades. In one swift move he pulled down hard, opening them all at once revealing a very startled looking Rouge the Bat.

The bat crossed her arms and stuck out her lower lip in a pout. She hadn't even managed to remove the fly screen.

Behind him, Maria sighed with relief.

Shadow slid the window open. "Can't you use the door like a normal person?" he asked.

"Well hello to you too, hon," Rouge said. "Glad your shoulder's doing better."

"Do you always break into Tails' workshop?" Shadow asked.

"A thief should always take time to practice," Rouge said. "I just shouldn't have underestimated your ultimate hearing."

"Well maybe go ring the doorbell," Shadow said. "I don't want to talk to you through the window."

"Stick in the mud," Rouge taunted.

Shadow closed the glass on her and dropped the blinds, closing the curtains again for good measure, much to Maria's amusement. He was about to walk away when that scratching sound started up again. Good thing the blinds were those cloth ones. He turned and punched the glass through the fabric hard enough to make a good noise.

They both heard Rouge yelp in fright.

Shadow snickered.

Rouge used the front door in the end.

"Heya, Rouge!" Sonic greeted her. "Glad to see you're in one piece."

"Hi there, big blue," Rouge said, giving Sonic a brief hug. "Is everyone here?"

"Lemme get Knuckles," Sonic said and zipped off.

They gathered in the kitchen around the table.

"How's it been at HQ?" Shadow asked.

"Predictably, Team Dark's been suspended," Rouge said. "We're under evaluation until they decide whether we're still a functional team or not. I've been keeping Omega off base."

"That's a good decision," Shadow said. "Does he understand why I left?"

"I had to persuade him not to storm HQ when I told him," Rouge said. "We're all in your corner Shadow, so don't worry that pretty little head of yours."

Ah, there it is. She still managed to get under his fur at times. Maria was smiling, casting half amused, half concerned looks at him. Shadow took a breath. "Did you find what we needed?" he asked.

"That's where it gets complicated," Rouge said. "They're not storing the scrambler, or the blueprints at HQ."

Shadow frowned. "Where else would be secure enough?" he asked.

"As it turns out, HQ isn't even HQ," Rouge said. "Turns out the GUN facilities here in Station Square are only the tip of the iceberg."

"There's more?" Tails said, a horrified look on his face.

"Enough with the dramatics," Knuckles said. "Just give it to us straight. What are we up against here?"

Rouge shot a look at Knuckles and sighed. "You really have no sense for theatrics do you," she said.

"I don't think I can take anymore," Tails said. The fox was clutching both tails in front of him and was almost hiding his face in the fluffy white tips.

Rouge sighed. "Oh alright," she said. "The Station Square location is kind of a front. The real headquarters is in a much larger facility under Mt. Freedom. When I couldn't seem to find anything on their toy gun beyond the mission reports, I started to wonder if they were keeping it at a separate location, and it turns out that was it exactly."

"That answers a lot of questions," Shadow said. "I always suspected they might have an alternate location, but nothing this big."

"When I figured out what was going on, I had to cut my losses," Rouge said. "I got the coordinates of all their active locations and split. Though I did confirm that they're sending the scrambler back to Mt. Freedom for further lab testing."

"We still need to get it away from them," Sonic said. "When Eggman got me with this thing, it was contained in a field that he tricked me into running through, but GUN set it up as a projectile weapon, and in this form, it doesn't just affect the target but the ambient chaos energy where they fire it as well. There's a dead dirt patch in Green Hills that goes a mile across, and if we hadn't caught it, it just would have kept expanding. The stuff is worse than a forest fire."

"That's a lot of damage," Rouge said, eyes wide. "I guess we need a plan."

"We really do," Sonic said. "Problem is, I'm wiped. The last few days have been tough, and I don't think I could plan my way out of a paper bag at the moment."

"I think I still have enough beds to put everyone up," Tails said. "I'll just have to dig out the air mattress."

Sonic and Tails ended up in Tails' room, and Shadow and Maria doubled up in the guest bedroom. Knuckles would have given Sonic's room to Rouge, but she'd refused on the grounds that she didn't want to discover loose quills at two am in the morning. So the bat ended up on the air mattress in the TV room.

Shadow woke up and stared at the ceiling. It was still dark and when he glanced at the clock, it told him it was still only one thirty am in the morning. That was still the middle of the night as far as he was concerned. So what had woken him up?

There was a faint sniffling sound coming from the kitchen, and the seal on the fridge door popped as it got pulled open. A quiet hiccuping sound had his ears twitching again. It was the sound of someone desperately trying not to cry or make noise, but who? He listened more closely and was a little surprised when he picked up that tell tale rapid heart beat. Sonic?

He sat up, looking at the partially closed door, wondering if he should go out there, not that he had even the slightest idea what to do.

"Shadow?" Maria asked in a breathy whisper. She'd always been such a light sleeper. "Is something wrong?"

"Maybe," Shadow said. "I can hear Sonic in the kitchen. He's crying."

"Sonic?" Maria asked, sitting up. "I'm gonna go see if he's alright."

Shadow helped her off the bed feeling a little relieved. Maria was so much better at this than he was. He found that he couldn't go back to sleep though, so he padded silently after her.

Maria wore a pink nightgown that glowed softly in the kitchen light. She looked like a princess, but then again, she always did.

Sonic was staring into the fridge with his back to them, but Shadow could see that his ears were pinned back and his shoulders were trembling. Scratch that, the entire blue hedgehog was rattling like a leaf. This wasn't sadness. It was fear.

"Sonic are you alright?" Maria asked, and Sonic bowed his head, slumping like a child who'd been caught in the middle of a naughty act.

"Didn't mean to wake you up," Sonic said without turning around. "It's fine. I'm just gonna get a snack and go back to bed."

"You've been staring into the fridge for the last five minutes, hedgehog," Shadow said. "You're not fooling anyone."

Sonic jumped like a scalded cat and finally turned around, eyes wide with fright and brimming with more tears. "Shadow! You-!" he faltered and his gaze slid to the floor, now looking ashamed. "It was just a bad dream."

"This looks like maybe a little more than that," Maria said, dropping gracefully to the floor. "You don't have to talk about it, but… would you like a hug?"

Sonic clenched his teeth hard to hide a tremble, and he glanced back and forth between the two of them in uncertainty.

Shadow tilted his head towards his sister slightly and nodded.

That seemed to be what Sonic needed, because he approached Maria slowly hunching further and further in on himself, but his eyes were filled with hope. He flinched slightly when she reached for him, but he stayed still and let her fold him into her arms. Sonic hiccuped again and buried his face into her shoulder.

Maria's face was filled with concern as she smoothed down those blue quills, and began rocking him back and forth. "What do you need Sonic," she asked him softly. "How can I help?"

"W-well I… just," he faltered and took a deep breath. "Just tell me, that I'm safe, and that I'm not there anymore."

Maria silently locked eyes with Shadow, her expression having turned from concern to worry.

Shadow himself felt a chill settle in his chest. Where and what was "there" exactly? And what had happened there?

"You're safe," Maria said, putting conviction in her tone. "You're safe, Sonic. You're not there anymore. It was just a bad dream. You're safe."

Shadow's ears were threatening to pin back at the muffled sobs now coming from the blue speedster. Sonic was trembling so badly now that Maria murmured a little warning into his ear, and scooped his legs out from beneath him so that she had all his weight. She stood slowly, and began walking smoothly back towards the guest room, carrying Sonic with her. She kept up a steady stream of reassurances.

Shadow helped her back into the bed, which fortunately was large enough for all three of them.

Maria nestled Sonic in between them, and continued to speak softly and rub his ears, and eventually, the sobs died down to shuddering sighs, only for them to discover that the blue hedgehog had cried himself back to sleep. Though his features were relaxed, and there was a peaceful limpness to his form. Perhaps they had helped after all?

Maria was still petting him softly as she met Shadow's gaze again. She shook her head in confusion, worry still plain on her face.

"I don't know," Shadow whispered. "I've never seen him like this. I know he's been through a lot… but…"

"We'll just have to be here for him, then," Maria said, her expression thoughtful. After a bit she reached over to the lamp on her nightstand and turned it off.

Just outside the door, Rouge frowned, before making her way back to her own bed. Sonic's first debut as a hero had been in the Green Hills Zone where he'd managed to completely halt the advance of Dr. Eggman's robots in one astonishing solo act. She'd wondered of course where he'd come from, but had reasoned that he must have been from nearby. Thinking back though, she realized that Sonic didn't talk about himself. Or at least, he himself never brought up anything from before his first official appearance. Perhaps the question of his origin was more relevant after all.