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Omega's first clue that something was wrong was when people stopped running away from him and started fleeing from something else. He'd have felt insulted, but he supposed it was reasonable for organics to be afraid of the rapidly expanding death cloud. War might have been his business, but he could still be reasoned with. Death clouds could not be reasoned with. It was a mindless wave of destruction that had no plan, no regard for guilty or innocent, no loyalty and no honor. It was an error.

The killer robot turned to face the oncoming nemesis. Still, it was something that could be conquered, and he would fight it. His red eyes gleamed eagerly. This enemy originated from Eggman even if GUN was trying to claim it was theirs. He could hardly pass up the opportunity to spit in his creator's eye by proving his superiority here. Knuckles would need a safe path through this storm, and he would provide.

Rouge was kicking herself for missing the moment the scrambler was fired. It had been her job as lookout to locate any threats and call them out to the team in the valley. Now she could only report the growing pandemonium cloud.

"I'm on my way with the Master Emerald," Knuckles responded. "I'll be there soon. Can we get evac started? and where's Shadow?"

"I don't see his chaos energy, he isn't answering his com," Rouge said. "I tried to warn Maria, but she's turned hers off. I think she might be in trouble."

"We'll have to hurry this up then!" Sonic said. "I'll focus on evac for anyone willing, then I'll see if I can get to Maria. We've got to focus on the people in the most immediate danger."

"There's a group on the south side of the valley," Rouge said.

"Thanks Rouge," Sonic said.

The hedgehog appeared in the south end of the valley and Rouge could tell the soldiers were startled, but faced with certain death they seemed willing to cooperate. Knuckles had made it back with the Master Emerald and was gamely fighting his way to the epicenter of the disaster zone. She still couldn't find Shadow, and Maria's communicator was still off.

The situation in the valley had to take priority, Rouge realized with a sinking feeling in her gut. Shadow was going to kill her… Hold on Maria!

It was getting harder to move forward.

Knuckles leaned forward against the pressure of the corrupted chaos energy with a hand shielding his eyes. It was too much like standing in a sand blaster. The Master Emerald was shielding him to a degree, but he was still vulnerable. The storm was picking up speed much faster than what they saw in the Green Hills Zone. If he was correct, this thing would be swallowing up its first buildings within minutes.

Some instinct warned him to get down and Knuckles hit the deck. He didn't see what it was, but a large piece of debris hurtled over him, and he had the distinct impression that it was sharp. The echidna got back up again. This would only get worse the more time passed.

He was about to start moving again when realized something large was in the storm with him. It was barely visible from five feet away, but it was tall and had glowing red eyes. Knuckles hesitated. They hadn't encountered anything like this in the other storm…

It took another step forward, and Knuckles died inside a little. It was Omega. He'd been spooked by a robot.

The mech had found a large piece of metal and was using it as a shield. Omega stepped forward again and lowered the makeshift screen around him. It was a definite improvement. Pandemonium still screamed around them, but it was easier to move.

Knuckles grinned up at his new friend and pressed on.

"I think I see another one twenty meters southwest of you," Rouge directed.

Sonic didn't see anyone but he ran that way. He almost tripped over the guy. The gun soldier raised his side arm with a look of paralyzing fear on his face. This had to have been a new recruit judging by how young he was.

Raising his hands, Sonic backed off a little. "Hey man," he said, trying to shout over the building noise levels without coming across as harsh or angry. "I'm not going to hurt you, but whad'ya say to getting out of here? Your friends are already waiting for you!"

The soldier didn't say anything but the gun started to lower.

"That's it! Nice and easy!" Sonic assured him. "All I have to do is touch your arm… Chaos control!"

He left the man with his buddies and went right back into the thick of it.

"Sonic come in," Rouge said.

"Gotcha Rouge, do you see anyone else?" Sonic asked her, shielding his eyes to look around. The part of the valley not covered with pandemonium was looking pretty empty, but how many more had been swallowed up by that monster?

"I don't see anyone else," Rouge said. "Could you check on Maria?"

Both of Sonic's ears turned forward as he heard a scream coming from the cloud. "Did you hear that?" he asked.

"...Yeah," Rouge said.

Sonic started forward. "Sounds like they're in trouble," he said.

"Be careful, Sonic," Rouge said.

Drawing on the chaos emerald to protect himself from the pandemonium, he ran into the cloud. Visibility was almost zero. Barring the very worst blizzard he'd ever had to operate in, this might take the cake for worst working conditions he'd ever faced. Dirt and other small debris pelted him on all sides. He gave up being able to see and closed his eyes, pinning his ears back against his head in an effort to protect them as well. He was down to hearing and touch.

It took far too long, but his blind fumbling eventually paid off. His hand closed around something slightly squishy and hopefully still alive. For a second he was tempted to use chaos control to get them out, but a terrible feeling swept through him, stiffening his quills. Maybe that was a bad idea. Existing in the cloud was pain, the roar of sound worse than standing next to a freight train with its horn blowing, and he was pretty sure the last thing that flew past his arm had drawn blood. He would just have to find his way back out, and hope that whoever this was cooperated.

After a few frantic tugs the person seemed to understand and began stumbling blindly along. Sonic almost felt that he lost his way more than once, but the debris lessened enough to open his eyes. He'd found the edge! Making another push, he pulled the person along. He could feel it when they got out, and he shoved the soldier along in front of him.

"Go!" he shouted. "We need to get further away!"

The soldier didn't need more urging.

Sonic never saw it coming. All he knew was that something hit him across the back of his legs with terrible force. Rouge would assure him later that he had screamed. Next thing he knew, he was on the ground and the soldier was leaning over him. "I have to move you!" the man shouted over the storm.

Sonic didn't think he could explain that all he had to do was make contact. Searing pain shot through him when he tried to move his legs. He could feel the soldier attempting to scoop him up. "Chaos… control!" he gasped.

Rouge lowered her binoculars with a sense of horror. She'd seen Sonic go down, but the crazy hedgehog had still managed to get them both out of the valley. "Sonic?" she said, reaching for her com. "Sonic please come in."

Tails answered. "Did something happen?" he asked.

"Sonic is down, I think he's injured," Rouge said. "I don't know where he is."

"I'll find him," Tails said.

"Roger that," Rouge answered and turned her focus back to the valley. The pandemonium had just about claimed the entire area, and it was working on climbing the slope on one side. Once it got out there was no telling how quickly it would spread.

A bright green flash had her shielding her eyes. When she looked back, the entire cloud of corruption had frozen. Streams of energy began flowing over the area converging on what had to be the Master Emerald. The dizzying colors faded and all the dangerous pieces of debris fell out of the air. Even the dust was starting to settle.

Rouge punched the air. "Way to go Knuckles!" she shouted. She was reaching for her communicator when Knuckles checked in.

"The pandemonium is gone," the echidna said, sounding a little out of breath. "The situation's under control. Sound off."

"I'm here," Tails piped in next. "I've found Sonic but I think he's hurt, I don't know how bad yet."

"I'm up here still," Rouge reported next. "Maria's com is still off. Has anyone heard from Shadow?"

After a bit of silence, Knuckles chimed in again. "We'll have to look for him," he said. "I need some help."

Rouge looked into the valley again. She was able to recognize Omega's form in the dust. The soft green glow of the Master Emerald was right nearby. She opened her wings. "I've got your position Knuckles," she said. "I'll be right there."

The air in the valley was unnaturally calm after what had just happened. Rouge had to work at staying airborne. Omega ran off just as she was arriving.

"Where's he going?" Rouge asked.

"To get Maria," Knuckles said, still sounding strained. "Looks like more than a few of us are going to need her."

The echidna was on the ground leaning against what might have been part of a tank, but it was so bent out of shape it was hard to tell. His red coat looked ruffled and the white crescent on his chest was brown with dust. There was a jagged looking piece of metal protruding from his side and a trail of blood was making its way down from it, soaking his fur.

Rouge's heart flew into her mouth. "Knuckles!"

"Yeah… I know," he grunted, letting his head fall back against the object behind him. "It happened right before the Master Emerald could calm everything down. You should find Shadow."

"Knuckles-!" Rouge started but the echidna shook his head.

"There's nothing you can do for me," he said. "And I'll be fine anyway. Shadow still hasn't reported in. You should call in the Chaotix team."

Rouge took the canteen of water from where it had been slung over her shoulders and pressed it into Knuckles' fist. "Just… Don't move," she told him. "I'll find Shadow."

Knuckles nodded and closed his eyes. "I'll be here."

Towers let go of her and backed off looking a bit paler. "You're dead," he said. "You died! You- you can't be here!"

Maria's mind raced. Towers was still shaken enough by her appearance that she might be able to take him by surprise. In a fight, she knew she'd never win, maybe her best chance was to run. She bolted for the stairs again. About halfway up them, his hand closed around her ankle and she fell forwards, catching herself on her hands. She kicked at his hold, but he wouldn't let go.

"Maria! Stop!" he was shouting, but Maria kept struggling, her need to get away fueled by panic.

"STOP!" Towers roared.

Maria was so startled she went still, staring down at the man with wide eyes.

Towers seemed to realize what he'd done and his grip on her ankle loosened slightly. He also seemed to realize she was solid. "How is this possible?" he asked.

So she'd have to talk her way out of this… Would he believe her if she played dumb? "I don't know what you're talking about!" she said. "Who's Maria? My name is Sarah!"

Towers' eyes narrowed doubtfully.

"Look! Just let me go and we can forget we saw each other," Maria said. "You shouldn't be here any more than I should, right?"

"What are you doing here?" he asked. He still hadn't let go of her ankle.

"Maybe I'm taking advantage of an empty house," Maria said, thinking fast. "What are you doing here?"

Towers' expression hardened. "So you're a thief?"

"I didn't say that," Maria said, suddenly super conscious of the extremely valuable chaos emerald in her front pocket. "I never did say what I was doing."

"You're pretty smart for a twelve year old," he said, it was obvious he wasn't sold on her made up identity.

She carefully didn't correct him about the fact that she was actually fourteen. Instead she focused on playing her role. "You're bleeding," she said. "Did you kill someone? Is that why you're breaking into somebody's house?"

Towers glanced down at himself. The dark spot on his jacket was unmistakable. "I was looking for a first aid kit," he said. "And I need a phone."

"You didn't answer my question," Maria pointed out.

"You never answered mine either," Towers countered.

They stared at each other silently, and Maria was sharply reminded of the times she and Abraham used to fight when they were both kids. It usually ended in a staring contest because he couldn't touch her, and she always won their verbal spats.

Towers sighed. "Look kid, if I let go, are you going to run?" he asked.

"What do you think?" Maria said.

"I'm faster than you," Towers said. "I'd catch you before you got five feet. That and I'm a military Commander. Do you know what that means?"

Maria thought fast… what would that mean for the juvenile delinquent she was trying to play? It would mean that she'd been caught and the law would get involved. Even if she could prove she hadn't stolen or vandalized anything she was still trespassing. She needed time to think…

"Prove it," she said.

"What?" Towers asked.

"I said prove it," Maria repeated. "What is a military commander doing breaking and entering? And you still haven't said if you killed anyone or not."

Towers ground his teeth a little. "I'm not the bad guy here kid," he said. "And you have time to straighten up your own act still. I'm going to reach into my pocket for my wallet."

Maria watched him fumble one handed. If he was going to let go of her, she would have to play along and wait for a better opportunity.

Towers dug out his ID and held it up for her. Maria pretended to study it closely then let her head hang with a sigh like she'd just been caught by law enforcement.

"So. What now?" Towers asked her.

"That kind of depends on you, doesn't it?" Maria said snidely. "You're the one with all the power here."

"Then how about this," Towers said. "You cooperate with me, and I'll think about some alternatives. Are you going to try to run?"

Maria paused as if to think, but then let her shoulders sag a little in defeat. "Fine," she said, rolling her eyes for good measure.

"Fine what?" Towers asked, raising an expectant eyebrow at her.

"Fine whatever!" Maria said putting as much sass into the word as she possessed, even as her skin crawled a little. Her grandfather would never have put up with that kind of back talk from her.

"You wanna rethink that?" Towers said, genuinely appalled at her recalcitrant response.

"What do you want from me?" Maria said, sneering at him. "You already won! I'm not gonna try to run."

Towers stared at her a bit longer, but he eventually let go of her and stood up. The haunted look hadn't quite left his eyes, but she could see him dismissing the idea of her being Maria. No. The Maria he knew would never have acted out in such a fashion. The dark cargo pants and black hoodie she was wearing were a far cry from the blue dresses that had made up her whole wardrobe back then.

Maria stayed where she was with a sullen expression. If this was going to work, she'd have to stay long enough to lull him into a false sense of security. There was also the communicator on her wrist if she could get even a moment alone to call for help.

The GUN Commander sighed again. "I need to see if I can get a hold of my headquarters," he said. "And you should probably stay inside anyway. There's a storm coming and it's about to get very dangerous out there."

Maria frowned. He didn't mean pandemonium did he? "You're not talking about a lightning storm, are you," she said in an attempt to get a little more information.

"Let's go back downstairs," Towers said. "I need to turn the water on, and you are not leaving my sight."

Maria rolled her eyes again, sparing a brief hope that she wasn't over playing her part, and stomped down each step. At least this would give her a chance to grab the duffle bag. She didn't wait for permission. While Towers figured out how to turn on the utilities, she went under the stairs and grabbed her bag.

Towers eyed the bag questioningly but didn't say anything about it until they were back upstairs. He insisted she stay in the hall while he used the bathroom to fix himself up. So far there'd been a lot of hissing and growling. It was a little startling when he spoke up again.

"So Hannah, what's in the bag?" Towers asked.

"I told you," Maria said. "My name isn't Maria, it's not Hannah, it's not frikin' Cleopatra. It's Sarah. Get it right!"

"Sarah then," Towers said, sounding unbothered in spite of the pain he was causing himself. "What's in the bag?"

"Stuff," Maria said just to irritate him.

"Stuff?" Abraham insisted.

"My stuff," she answered.

"What kind of stuff?"

"Stuff!" Maria almost shouted. "It's. Just. My. Stuff. It wouldn't exactly be very smart if I ran away without clothes."

Towers seemed like he was going to answer, but he hissed instead. This was the worst noise from him yet.

Guilt and sympathy had her clenching her teeth. "...I do also have a first aid kit," she said with real reluctance. "Sit," she said firmly, motioning at the toilet. She unzipped the bag and grabbed what she'd need for what he was trying to do. She washed her hands and gloved up then poured some alcohol over her forceps as Towers watched her every move.

"You seem like you know what you're doing," Towers said and sat slowly down on the closed toilet seat. "Aren't you twelve?"

"My dad's a doctor, okay?" Maria said. "And maybe he really wanted me to be a doctor too." Getting in close was the last thing she wanted to do, but she found she just couldn't stand by. It was a bad injury and the object that had caused it was clearly still in the wound.

Towers examined her as she got to work and she had to resist the urge to duck away from the scrutiny. "I take it you don't want to be a doctor," he said.

It was easy to pick one of her other real interests as an alternative. "Maybe I want to be a dancer instead," she said. "It's a lot harder to lose patients if you never had any in the first place. I've seen what it does to him. No thanks… I can pull this out, but it's going to hurt."

"Do it," Towers said.

The piece came loose with little fuss. Maria frowned at it. It wasn't a bullet. It looked like a piece of torn metal, but it had a golden gleam like brass. "I'm sure you know what to do for the rest," Maria said absently as she walked back over to the sink and held the tips of the forceps beneath the running faucet. Sure enough, with the blood gone, it gleamed like gold or… or something she saw every day, something familiar like Shadow's inhibitor rings. The floor dropped from beneath her feet. Could it…? No! That would mean…

"How did this happen?" Maria asked, hoping he didn't hear the strain in her voice. "Did you get into a fight with an exploding… brass band?"

Towers looked up from the bandage he was pressing to his chest to the golden fragment she was holding out to him with slightly shaking hands. He frowned at the piece for a second before a look of almost stunned recognition crossed his face.

It was all the answer she needed. Shadow was hurt, or possibly even…

Maria nearly threw the forceps at Towers. Instead, she spoke. "Stay here," she said, her fingers starting to feel a little numb. "I need to get you some antibiotic ointment for that." Exiting the bathroom, she broke line of sight with him and shoved her tools into the open bag. Not even bothering to zip it up, she grabbed the whole thing and slung the straps over her shoulders. Forcing herself to walk, she turned away from the bathroom and headed for the front door.

She left the door open as she exited the house in the hopes that the lack of noise would delay his discovery. When she reached the dirt road, she began to run, hastily zipping the duffle bag shut so she wouldn't lose any of those precious life saving supplies.

An angry shout behind her had her picking up her pace. Unfortunately, she knew she had a few things stacked against her. One, she'd never once been what might even pass as fit. Two, he had longer legs. And Three, the mountain altitude was not doing her lungs any favors. The decision to make a break for it hadn't been thought out, but if there was any chance at all that Shadow was alive, she had to try.

She could hear Towers shouting behind her and he seemed to get louder as he got closer. His hand closed around her arm, painfully pulling her up short, but she used it to turn, giving him a hearty shove and he stumbled back, but did not let go. He caught her other arm, and she had to fight to stay upright as he recovered.

"You lied to me!" he accused her. "We were friends and- You lied to me!"

Well, the jig was up. "Abraham! Stop!" she shouted, feeling a bit sick as she remembered arguing with a boy her own age. Was that boy still in there somewhere? Would it even make a difference?

Towers froze, but once again did not let go. "I am not letting you go back to that- that demon!" he shouted. "How long has he been keeping you captive?"

A bolt of anger flashed through her being. "He is NOT a demon, and he is NOT the one keeping me captive," Maria said sharply. "You are!"

Towers shook his head. "You haven't changed at all, have you," he said. "Still blinded by his manipulation!"

"He isn't like that!" Maria shouted, and suddenly they were back fifty years in the past rehashing an argument that had only happened a week ago for her. "Why do you always assume the worst of him? You've had all this time to get to know him and you just… wont! You have never given him a single chance! Not once!"

"You don't even know what he is!" Towers growled. "No. Until you step back and understand that no good can ever come of your grandfather's experiment, you're coming with me!"

"No!" Maria screamed. "I won't! Let me go!"

They had both been so busy shouting at each other that they both missed the giant robot approaching until the clunking sound of his approaching footsteps gave him away.

Towers looked up and relaxed. "Omega," he said. "Why didn't you respond to my summons earlier? Well, you're here now. Pick her up. Keep her in your custody and follow me."

Maria remained frozen as the robot approached, somehow she'd managed to keep a hold of her bag in the scuffle. Towers did not let go of her arm until the machine reached out and scooped the girl up in one set of its fearsome metal claws.

"Good, now follow me," Towers said.

"Access denied," Omega rumbled, bringing Maria safely up out of reach.

Towers turned abruptly back towards them. "What was that?"

"Access denied," Omega repeated, red eyes starting to glow brighter.

"E-123 Omega," Towers said firmly. "Priority override. I am your commanding officer. Follow. Me."

"Unit status: contract terminated," Omega said. "ACCESS DENIED."

Maria was fairly certain the machine was enjoying this, but her heart was in her throat at the possibility that Shadow was hurt. She tapped the robot's wrist and Omega turned to look at her. "I think Shadow's hurt," she said. "We have to hurry!"

Omega turned to start walking.

Towers whipped out his side arm. "Stop right there!" the commander shouted.

The robot didn't even turn to look. "Side arm detected," he said as he began to walk. "Threat level: minimal."

Maria cringed, hugging the duffle bag tighter as she huddled closer to Omega's chest plate at the sound of Towers' wordless cry of rage. She'd be surprised if his throat didn't hurt after that. There would be no changing his mind about Shadow. Fifty years was a long time to let hatred grow and stagnate.