Gear groaned and slowly opened his eyes to see that he was lying on a bed in what looked like a medical room. The walls were made of worn-down bricks, which didn't resemble a G.U.N. medical room at all.
"Oh, your awake." He heard a males voice. Gear turned to his right and saw Christopher Thorndyke, or Chris for short, was sitting on a stool next to a computer. He was a tall brown hair man wearing a lab coat with a yellow shirt and blue jeans. Gear met when he joined G.U.N. and helped Gear discover his builds. When the war started, Chris came along to do everything he could to help the mobians. The human works as both a scientist and liaison between the G.U.N. and the Resistance.
"Hey, Chris." Gear greeted, happy to see a friendly face. "Where are we?"
"We're at the Resistance Base. After the Mecha Beast crumbled apart, Knuckles pulled you out from the wreckage, and we brought you here for medical treatment. Speaking of which, are you feeling any pain or exhaustion." Chris asked.
"Um... no, Chris. I feel fine." The Dire Dog glanced down, hesitating for a moment before asking Chris. "Chris, was anyone hurt? Or…"
Knowing what Gear was going to ask, Chris quickly cut him off. "No, Gear. No one was hurt. And I believe we have you to thank for that. When the Mecha Beast was about to attack, it quickly turned and fired away from us. It was struggling to attack us directly as if it was being held back."
'It was probably when Phage and I were fighting.' Gear thought to himself.
"It wasn't long after that we got your radio message. While the Mecha Beast was preoccupied, Nicole asked us to use the data transfer beam Eggman built to transfer into your nanite." Chris explained
The Dire Dog's eyes widened when he remembered the holo-lynx that helped him. "Speaking of who, where is Nicole? Is she alright?"
"I'm here, Gear. Thank you for asking." Gear heard Nicole's voice. He looked around, but couldn't see her. It was only Chris and him in the room. "Raise your hand." Gear lifted his right hand as the circuits on his limb lit up by themselves. Just then, above his hand was a small holographic form of Nicole. "Hello, Gear. I'm glad to see your alright."
Gear was stunned that Nicole appeared on his hand. "Um, you as well, Nicole. But are you in my nanites?" It was the only explanation Gear could think of that explains how Nicole's hologram appeared over his hand.
"I am. After we defeated Phage, there wasn't anyplace for me to transfer out of the nanites, so I'll be staying here for the moment." Nicole explained.
Gear looked at Nicole and felt a little down that the holo-lynx was stuck rescuing him. "I'm sorry, Nicole. If I hadn't lost to that jackal, you wouldn't be in this situation." He turned to Chris. "Everyone too. You all had to risked so much for me."
Chris looked at Gear with sympathy. He got up and sat next to the Dire Dog. "Gear, you can't blame yourself. That masked jackal is Eggman's strongest creation. Besides, if you hadn't fought him, he most likely would have gone after our other forces. Especially the evacuees."
"He's correct. From what I heard, it's thank's to you that everyone that were able to escape safely." Nicole cheered him up.
Gear didn't say anything at first but gently smiled. He always thought that since he had powers to create machines, people were counting on him to succeed in the most difficult tasks. That belief has caused him to be stressful from time to time. "Thank's everyone." Though he sounded grateful, some part of him still felt he still caused trouble for them. Though hid it well enough human and holo-lynx to not notice.
"We should let everyone else know your awake." Nicole said.
Gear nodded in agreement and got out of bed. He saw his woodland camo bandana on the table next to him and he put it on.
"They should be in the command room. I'll take you there." Chris said as they left the Medical Room.
Chris and Gear headed through the halls of Resistance HQ. Along the way, the two of them past along some humans talking to a few Mobians. The humans were wearing the new standard exoskeleton. These are used to give humans super strengths, as well as various functions. Such as shields, stems, boost jumps and others. Gear kept getting glances from the other mobians and humans. Nothing bad as far as he could tell, just curios and amazed looks. Along the way, a small boy pigeon with blue feathers ran up to Gear excitedly.
"Oh my gosh! Your Gear!" The child said happily. Gear was a bit confused at who this kid was.
"Gust, where are you!" A pigeon woman with dark blue feathers called out as she found her son ran next to him. "There you are. What did I tell you about running off."
"I'm sorry, Mom. I heard Gear was here and I really wanted to meet him." Her son apologized.
Gear looked at the two and suddenly remembered them. "Hang on. Aren't you two from the group I saved from debris at the city?"
"Yes, thank you so much for saving us. I'm Chirp. And this is my son Gust. " She introduced themselves.
"You are so amazing." Gust suddenly exclaimed. "You flew out of nowhere and blam! You shot the rocks to peaces. And when that big robot blasted you out of the air, you just got back up like it was nothing and fired your big cannon at it. It was so awesome!" Gust said excitably.
"Well, I'm glad to see you two safe, but I have go report to the Command Room." Gear told them politely.
"Of course. Come along Gust, let's go see your father." Chirp said.
"Okay, bye Mr. Gear." Gust said as the two walked away.
Chris couldn't but smirk. "Well, looks like someone got a fan."
"Um, yeah. Gear replied, not sure how to feel. People have been grateful to him before, but not like that.
They continue their walk until they came across a metal door leading into the Command Room. Once it opened, they saw Topaz talking to some of the heroes of Mobius.
Knuckles, a red furred echidna with spikes coming out of his fists. Amy Rose, a pink hedgehog wearing a red dress. Vector, a green scale crocodile with a headphone on his head and green chain necklace. Espio, a purple chameleon with a yellow horn. Charmy, a black and yellow bee wearing a flight suit and helmet. Silver, a whitish silver hedgehog with white fur on his chest. Last but not least was Topaz, a human woman with peach colored skin, violet eyes, sandy brown hair, and wearing a dark blue combat suit.
While seeing the heroes of Mobius was an honor, there was one person in the room that caught Gear's attention. He was a red wolf with long, pointed ears, orange eyes, and peach fur. He wore black glasses, a yellow utility belt, and green army gloves and boots.
"Gadget! You're here too." Gear said surprised.
The red wolf nodded, happy to see him again.
"Yeah, after Eggman attacked City Heights, me and a couple of my friends joined the Resistance." Gadget said.
Knuckles then walked up to Gear. "So you're the guy that's been trashing Eggman's robots lately."
"Yes, sir. I'm Grayson Howl, but people call me Gear the Dire Dog. Whichever you all prefer." He introduced himself. "And this is Nicole."
The Dire Dog raised his hand as the holo-lynx's hologram appeared over his hand. "Hello, everyone. It's a pleasure to meet you all."
Most of the people were a bit surprised by Nicole's hologram until Amy spoke up.
"It's nice to meet you too, Nicole. Sonic and Tails told me so much about you and the Freedom Fighters?
"The Freedom Fighters?" Chris asked.
"They're a group of Mobians that formed after Eggman's take over of Mobotropolis years ago in the Acorn Kingdom. Sonic and Tails were once a part of the group for a while." Amy explained.
"Speaking of whom, I was hoping I could contact the Freedom Fighters to let them know I'm safe." She requested.
"I'm… afraid that's not possible." Topaz told Nicole, getting the holo-lynx's attention. "Eggman set up large jamming towers across the boarder of the country. With the exception of the Eggnet, we haven't been able to contact anyone outside the country."
"Oh… I see." Nicole said disheartened.
Everyone in the room could all see she was very disappointed. The Freedom Fighters are Nicole's closest friends. Gear especially felt very sorry for the holo-lynx. It was the same feeling he had when no his parents disappeared.
"But in the meantime, could you explain to us why you were at that Eggman Facility?" Silver asked, changing the subject. Truth be told, the rest of them were just as curious. Especially why she wasn't with the Freedom Fighters right now.
"Of course. But I need to check something first. Gear, could you place your hand on the computer console?" Nicole asked.
Gear looked at Knuckles and Topaz, both of whom gave their approval. Walking to the computer, Gear placed his hand on the console as circuit lines appears over it. A moment later, Nicole appeared on the computer screen. Gear looked as his hand for a moment then back at Nicole on the screen.
"Nicole, Did you just transfer yourself to the compute software from my nanites?" Gear asked, never realizing his nanites could do something like that.
"Correct. Thanks to the Control Nanite, or Omega-2 Nanite as I've learned. Not only does it let me store myself into the Nanite, but also act as an organic to machine interface, which I can use to transfer into other softwares." Nicole explained. "Now then, about what happened. It was almost half a week ago, when Eggman's forces kidnapped most family members of the Royal Houses. Including King Acorn. Sally Acorn, who leads the Freedom Fighters, was his daughter and we attempted to rescue him. We raided a communication outpost to access the Eggnet in order find out where he and to other members were being held. But it was a trap. While I was hacking into the Eggnet, badnicks swarmed the outpost and an E-Series robot destroyed my handheld device, which I originally stored myself on. Luckily, I was able to transfer into the Eggnet, and used it to open an escape route for the Freedom Fighters. But, the cyber security measures activated. I was forced to travers deep through the Eggnet to escape. While looking for a way out for days without being detected, I came across files by Eggman himself. It had information concerning Gear and his abilities." She told everyone.
"Hold on, when Gear was captured, we got an anonymous tip on his location. That was you." Topaz asked.
Nicole nodded her head. "Yes. Unfortunately, I had great difficulty bypassing the cyber security of that facility. By the time I did…"
"Phage was already inside the Omega-2 nanite. Turning me into the Mecha Beast." Gear said, still feeling ashamed it happened.
"After you, um… the Mecha Beast destroyed the facility's outer wall, I contacted the G.U.N. and Resistance to explain what happened." Nicole continued.
"As well as your plan to use the laser data blaster to transfer yourself inside the Mecha Beast and help you with Phage." Chris said.
"And you all trusted her like that. I mean, I'm glad you all did, but why?" Gear asked.
"Amy convinced us Nicole could be trusted. That and we didn't have any alternative ideas to stop it." Vector told us.
"Yeah, even though the Mecha Beast was struggling, my telekinesis could barely hold it." Silver said.
"Not to mention its armor was extremely tough." Knuckles added.
"But what about the Freedom Fighters? Were they able to get away?" Charmy asked.
Nicole only had a worried look. "I don't know. I want to believe they did, but I wasn't able to stay to see if they succeeded or not."
"Well, I'm sure they're alright, Nicole. If they're anything like what Sonic told me, they'll be alright." Amy said with a hopeful voice.
The holo-lynx thought about it before forming a smile on her face. "You're right, Amy. The Freedom Fighters likely escaped and retreated back to one of our hideouts. And seeing that I can't reunite with them yet, I'll stay and help however I can."
"Thank's Nicole. We appreciate any help we can get, Nicole." Knuckles said, happy to have a recruit like the Holo-lynx with them.
"Now, I believe we to discuss about Gear?" Espio said, getting everyone's attention.
"What do ya mean?" Vector asked his partner.
"I'm concerned about the fact that Gear can turn into an uncontrollable mechanical monster." Espio said in all seriousness.
Gear thought to himself on the topic. 'He's not wrong. It was bad enough the first time, and everyone will be in danger if I ever transform into the Mecha Beast. Not to mention they already risked so much for me.'
"Espio, you know that wasn't Gear's fault. It was the failsafe built into the nanite." Chris tried to reason
"I'm not saying he was at fault, but if he turns into the Mecha Beast again, we may not be able to stop him." The Chameleon replied.
'I don't like it, but Espio's right. I don't even know if I could control the Mecha Beast if I turn into it again. Maybe it would be best if I sit out the rest of the war. Especially if Eggman attempts to extract the Omega-2 Nanite from me.' Gear thought, depressed that he's become a burden to everyone.
"Actually." Nicole said, getting everyone's attention. "You all won't have to worry about that. As I told Gear earlier, the Omega-2 Nanite underwent a complete reboot. That means the failsafe protocol is no longer functional."
Gear let out a sigh of relief he didn't realize he was holding. He was beyond relieved that he'll never turn into that horrible monster again.
"But… I'm afraid the function that creates your builds is also rebooted." She added
Just like that, the Dire Dog's hope quickly turn to shock. "What! You're saying I can't generate my builds anymore!" Gear exclaimed.
"Not exactly. The Omega-2 nanite analysis your biometrics to generate which build you want, but when Phage forcibly took control of it, that function also underwent a hard reboot. You can still generate the Smack Hands, but it'll be some time before you can create your other builds.
"Oh... I see. Thank you for telling me, Nicole." Gear said. 'At least I'm still useful.'
Nicole saw the look in Gear's eyes and tried to lift his spirit a bit. "But if it make's you feel better, I discovered that the Omega-2 is capable of creating it's own nanites. This allows you to create his builds even if they're destroyed. There is another function, but it's locked down. And I don't believe it was cause by Phage."
"Yeah, Phage mentioned something about a function of the Omega-2 nanite was locked. And that it was thousands of years old." Gear said.
"On that, she was telling the truth. The last information I discovered is that the Omega-2 Nanite is roughly almost four thousands years old. As for the locked program, I can't access it without an authorization code." Nicole said.
"Hold up, if the nanite is that old, how did it end up inside you?" Vector asked.
"I... I don't know." Gear said. "Sir Charles believed that the nanites have been dormant until... and incident."
"Sir Charles? You mean Uncle Chuck?" Nicole asked, surprised that Gear knew him.
"I'm sorry, Uncle Chuck?" Gear replied confused.
"Uncle Chuck is Sir. Charles nickname Sonic gave him. He lets me and my friends call him that." Nicole explained.
"I think I've heard of Sir. Charles. He's the inventor of the Roboticizer for medical purposes right?" Chris asked.
Nicole nodded. "Yes, at least before Eggman twisted for his own use." She said with distain she turned to Gear. "So Uncle Chuck helped you with your nanites."
"He scan them, yes. When it proved that getting the nanites out of my body was impossible, he created a harness to keeping them suppressed. But when Eggman's Badniks attacked my home, I got desperate and removed the harness. It was then that I felt the nanites and figured out how to use them to create my builds." Gear answered.
"So you learned through trial by fire." Knuckle commented, having some respect for the Dire Dog. "I think I speak for everyone we'll need that strength to when this war." The red Echidna handed Gadget a burst wispon. This wispon uses a fire wisp that can throw out extreme fire that could melt metal with ease. "Here kid, take this. We're depending on you three. Okay, let's get going, everyone! The world isn't gonna save itself!" He rallied.
Everyone in the room cheered in agreement. They were ready to bring the fight to Eggman and his new weapon.