Note: Here it is, an announcement that Pybro2 beta-read the chapter.

As the group noticed the man before them, Omega spoke, "EGGMAN DETECTED, PREPARING TO ELIMINATE!"

Shadow put out his currently clawed hand, "Hold on just a moment, Omega." He immediately went into 'bad-cop' mode, "Usurped by your own machines again? Some things never change, huh Doctor? Now…" He broke out the Cube Wispon, "Tell us what's going on here why don't you?!"

They then noticed with more light in the room that Doctor Eggman was sitting crying into his legs. It seemed the threat had gone unnoticed. So Shadow smacked the ground with the hammer as hard as possible. In response, the doctor was startled, "Huh, what…Oh crap! Please don't hurt me!" The Doctor retreated to the corner in fear.

Shadow continued forward with Whisper following behind, "Then talk! What are you up to?!"

He responded, "Up to?! I don't know anything and haven't for a while! I know what I look like but can I really plan anything down here?!"

Shadow then shot an empty wall with the Rocket Wispon, "Last chance. Explain yourself or ELSE!"

The mad doctor then bowed to the ground kneeling in desperation, "Please, please, please don't kill me Guardian Angel! I just want to get out of here!"

That name struck a nerve with Whisper. Shadow, however, was at his last straw and was about to swing at his head. In the rush, Whisper Chaos Snapped in front of Shadow to shout, "WAIT!"

Shadow, caught off guard, demanded an explanation, "This monster turned us into each other as a twisted form of psychological torture and now you're demanding I stand down?!"

Whisper shook her head, "No, there is only one person who calls me 'Guardian Angel'." She looked at the mad doctor's face, asking with tears in her eyes, "Silver, what has he done to you?"

Silver looked up, "Wait, Guardian Angel? You're Shadow now?" He hugged her and lifted her up, "Oh, you've saved me! Thank you so much!"

She whispered back in pain, "Please…Silver…not so tight!"

He quickly plopped her down, "Sorry, not used to having such strength…or being this tall!"

Lanolin closed her eyes with a stern expression, "I'm sure you aren't. But, if Silver is stuck with Eggman's body then that means Eggman is…Fill in the blank there!"

Whisper's eyes widened at the implication, "Oh no…"

Shadow picked up on that immediately, "She's right! That would mean Eggman went with Tails and his friends to Scrapnik Island!"

Omega heard that, "SCRAPNIK ISLAND?! THAT SOUNDS LIKE HEAVEN! WHEN MAY I GO TO THIS ISLAND?!"

Silver mused, "I don't think that's a good idea…"

Whisper insisted, "...We need to go there. Now!"

Shadow nodded, "Agreed."

Lanolin tilted her head, "And how will we do that?"

Whisper glared at Shadow, "You're the Chaos expert! You tell me!"

Shadow thought about it, "Unfortunately, this body is too weak to get us there, even with my emerald. But…If you can lend my natural power, I may be able to channel it and get us there. It'll be risky, but…"

Whisper insisted, "If we don't, who knows what could happen to Tails and the others. Please, Shadow, I've let Eggman kill and torture far too many of my friends. I refuse to allow him to harm any more."

Shadow nodded, "On it. Lanolin, do you have the coordinates?"

Lanolin sent them to Shadow's communication device, "Okay. Let's get to the surface of the island!"

As they walked, Silver noticed how much easier these steps were with Eggman's tall and lanky body. Once they were to the top, Shadow pulled out the emerald, telling Whisper, "We have one shot. We screw this up, who knows where we'll go. So: Put both hands on this emerald and lend it and me all of my power!" She did so. Shadow took a moment to feel the power building. Higher, higher, and higher, until he finally felt Chaos energy at a level he hadn't felt since being forced into his current body. This was when he knew they had enough power and shouted, "CHAOS CONTROL!" And the swapped duo teleported away.

Silver mused, "I never knew Whisper could do that!"

Lanolin reminded the former hedgehog, "Remember, that's Shadow in her body. Sheesh, now we just need Amy and every Hedgehog will have lost their bodies this week." She then sighed with a palm to her face, "Explaining this to the restoration will be such a pain."

Omega scanned her, "PAIN RECEPTOR ACTIVITY APPEARS NORMAL."

Lanolin groaned, "I hate you so much…"

The trio of Tails, Mighty, and Ray waited for the storm to subside from an island outside the storm vicinity. Tails and Ray spent the time flying around, Ray gleefully shouting, "I forgot how fun it was to fly with friends!"

Tails eagerly commented back, "You should meet Cream sometime. She can fly with her ears!"

Ray smiled, "Cool!"

Mighty had been watching the storm as he noticed it start to cease. As that happened, they got a message from Silver, "Come on in, the weather should be good now!"

Mighty shouted to his two friends, "Hey guys! We're clear to go in!"

Tails and Ray flew back to the Tornado and they continued their flight. As they arrived, Silver and Sigma eagerly awaited their arrival. Silver waved cheerfully, "Hey, you guys made it!"

(Suckers…)

Sigma acknowledged them too, "GREETINGS AGAIN, YOUNG MASTER TAILS. YOUR RETURN IS A WELCOME SIGHT INDEED!"

Tails was giddy as can be, "Oh, It's so good to see you again too. How did you guys handle the Climate Disruptor?"

(You will never understand it!)

Silver smiled, "Used my psychic powers to stabilize it. It was surprisingly simple!" Silver suggested, "Now how about we go find that 'Egg Noggin'?"

(These fools are now hostages!)

Mighty walked forward, "Sure, but don't get any ideas, you robots got that!"

Sigma was intimidated, "WOULDN'T DREAM OF IT,...MIGHTY, WAS IT?"

As the five were about to head in, the swapped wolf and hedgehog made their appearance. Shadow panted after that Chaos Control, admitting in his head, Ugh, that was tiring. I can't wait to return to normal! Seeing that the 5 were about to enter the ruins of the Death egg, Whisper chased after them, Shadow not too far behind. Whisper shouted, "Tails! Wait!"

Tails heard and turned around, "Shadow? I mean Whisper?"

Mighty pondered, "I'm betting these two came for a reason."

Silver looked alarmed at their presence, "Oh, hey guys. Why'd you rush here so fast?"

Both gave him the most vicious glares they could muster, Shadow starting, "Cut the crap Doctor. The jig is up!"

'Silver' tilted his head, "What?! Do I look like a doctor?"

Shadow broke out the wispon to take aim, "Don't play dumb! You're Doctor Eggman!"

'Silver' feigned shock, "All I've ever wanted was a peaceful future." He then faked a cry, "How could you accuse me of something so heinous?"

That caused Whisper to open her eyes wide in vicious anger as she shouted in vitriolic rage, "HOW DARE YOU CITE HIS TRAUMA LIKE YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THAT!"

'Silver' began to lift some small objects nearby to emphasize his anger at these accusations, "How do we even know you're still yourselves? You could just as easily be his robots given their bodies! Do you have proof or are you just making baseless accusations to prove your feigned innocence?!"

Ray was concerned, "Tails, you got a way to prove who's lying here?"

Tails pondered it, "I'm not sure. I haven't spent a ton of time with Silver."

Mighty, however, had an idea, "I've got this." He folded his arms with a confident smirk worthy of Sonic, "I like to keep up with my closest friends, and there's one member of my favorite detective agency you should know well. Care to name him?"

'Silver' was taking a moment, Detective agency? I don't remember no detective agency…Wait…Oh yeah! He mentioned, "You mean the Chaotix?"

Mighty nodded, "At least you know their agency. Now come on, you know which one is a close friend of yours, right? He told me you hugged him!"

'Silver' looked like he was struggling, Ugh, if only I could remember their names! So he bluffed, "Uhhh…Could you give me another hint?"

Tails was looking at Mighty, "Will you?"

Mighty then scowled, "Nope, I have all the info I need." Mighty then accused him, "I barely met Silver, and I already know you're a phony! Jig is up, Eggman, you'll pay for what you've done!"

'Silver' sensed his cover was falling apart so he asked, "Come on, Tails. Are you really going to trust someone you haven't seen since Eggman empowered robots with the Phantom Ruby?"

Mighty smirked, Bingo.

Tails smirked with his own grin worthy of Sonic himself at that remark, "Got your Phantom Ruby incidents mixed up, huh? Thanks for confirming your identity, Eggman."

Ray looked at his two friends, "If they know you're a phony then so do I! It's time to take you down!"

'Silver' however, had one last ditch effort desperate question, "Guys…This is ridiculous! Eggman HATES hedgehogs! Why would he ever become one?!"

Shadow then re-entered the conversation to drive the final nails into the coffin of this charade, "Simple Doctor. You were afraid. Last time Metal Sonic gained autonomy from you, he hijacked your empire and nearly conquered the world on his own." Eggman was seething at this accusation, "So you took the body of the one person with any hope of keeping him under control." Then Shadow smirked, "Heh, except for me. But you feared my powers' learning curve, so instead you went for psychologi-"

Eggman, knowing his cover's been thoroughly blown, used his powers to freeze his enemies, "SHUT UP!" He saw that the powers had successfully done so, "I don't waste time conversing with the dead!"

While he was ranting, Shadow and Whisper nodded, having figured out a plan for dealing with 'Eggman the Hedgehog' while Mighty put the screws on him. The first move was Shadow firing the Rocket Wisp at Eggman, which he reacted in time to catch, "Heh, nice try-!" At that moment, Whisper Chaos Snapped behind him to kick him. From there, Shadow Chaos Controlled into position with the Hammer Cube Wispon ready to go smacking him into the air. From there, it turned into a combo of the duo teleporting into places to keep the combo going.

As Tails was freed from the Eggman's stolen powers, he asked Sigma, "Can you help us get the Egg Noggin?"

Sigma, however, had his body hijacked by a hostile AI installed by Eggman, his original one only able to get out, "MASTER TAILS…FORGIVENESS REQUESTED." As the hostile takeover finished, he started firing at them.

Mighty got into place to take the shot. He walked towards him as Tails threw a bomb at the hijacked Sigma, aiming to disable him. It didn't quite work, but gave them the opening to take down the hostile robot and do just that. Tails went over to the Disabled Sigma, disconnecting his head and turning it off for safety.

The Chaos duo finished with Whisper kicking Silver's stolen body into the ground and then Shadow finishing with a blow to his head. Shadow snarked in confidence, "Watch your blind-spot next time, Doctor!" Shadow and Whisper promptly fainted to the ground, having severely overexerted themselves by using such large amounts of Chaos energy.

Tails was alarmed, "Shadow, Whisper!" He ran over and tapped them, "Wake up! Please wake up!" But it proved no use. Tails then stood up, "It's okay, we can still get the Egg Noggin!"

Ray, while that was going on, looked out to the horizon, "Wait…Is that…Mighty, could you throw me real quick?"

Mighty put his hands together and announced, "Gladly!" He then grabbed his buddy and threw him way up high. From this height, Ray saw them more clearly: Eggman's fleet was approaching the island rapidly.

So Ray flew back down as quickly as he went up to announce, "Bad news, Eggman's boats are approaching fast."

Tails began crying, "And I was so close!"

Mighty put a hand on his shoulder, "We won't get through this by self-loathing."

Ray nodded, "You still have us and many more to help fix this. Now let's escape!" They loaded up the Tornado, placing the KOed duo in the back seats alongside Sigma's decapitated head.

As they flew back, Whisper woke up. She looked behind to see her own face, something she found unnerving, but kept it to herself. During the entire flight back, Tails struggled to keep from crying himself into closing his eyes for too long, "I still can't believe I led him straight there!"

Whisper, being awake again, consoled the sad fox, "I understand. I trusted someone until it was too late, several times. We all make mistakes."

Mighty was surprised, "Oh, he-I mean she's awake." He followed it with a shrug, "Such is the nature of trust Tails: There will always be those eager to abuse it."

Ray prodded Whisper about that, "But how did you fall for the same person so many times?"

Whisper straightly answered, "Shapeshifter."

Ray widened his eyes, "Ohhhh…That makes sense."

Mighty also consoled the fox, "We'll make it right, I promise!"

Whisper then smiled, "At least you won't have to explain coming back with 'Eggman' like Lanolin will."

Tails gave a brief giggle, "Oh boy, that sounds rough. Thanks Whisper. Hearing you say that with Shadow's voice somehow made it funnier."

She wasn't sure how to feel about that. She still was frustrated, realizing she still didn't understand Shadow's powers nearly as well as she hoped, and it still felt very wrong. But, as was her nature, she kept the struggle to herself.

Back in Twinkle Park, the 5 friends left had quite a doozy to contend with: A Kit with an entire pool's worth of water. Amy picked up Sonic's Phone and Tangle inside it off the ground before getting grabbed, Tangle Asking, "Amy, what's going on!"

Amy quickly explained, "Sonic kidnapped by Surge and Kit took the pool's water! Talk more later!"

He had each wrapped in multiple tentacles, eyes glowing brightly. Trip asked, "Who are you, and why are you doing this?!" Kit remained silent, Trip pressing further, "Don't like talking? I understand. But is this what you really want to do?"

Kit angrily spat, "What I want…Is to serve Surge, no matter what!"

Amy sighed, "Trip, good try, but Kit is beyond reason."

Knuckles boasted, "If we can't reason with him…" He began trying to punch his way out of the tentacles, "We'll just have to punch him!"

Kit just replaced the punched through tentacles with new ones, "Your escape attempt is futile." As the Echidna refused to stop, he shoved water tentacles down his throat, "You will drown in your failur-" Right as that was spoken, he was hit in the face by a boomerang, which distracted him, "Ow…Who threw that?!" Sticks waved and did a taunt by pulling down an eyelid and sticking out her tongue. That caused him to focus on the badger more.

This gave the other 4 a chance to escape the tentacles in their own ways, Rouge kicking, Knuckles spitting out water as he began punching, Amy swinging her hammer, and Trip spinning. Knowing this opportunity could not go to waste, Amy ran over to Trip, "How about I smack you into him!"

Trip nodded, taking her wheel form, which Amy launched into the fennec. Knuckles followed that up with rolling into a ball for Amy to launch afterwards and unrolled to deliver a punch of his own. Rouge attacked with a flying kick. After all those attacks, the Fennec still had access to his full water supply, "Nice tricks, but I have my duty and will carry it-."

But he wouldn't get to finish that sentence as Rouge had sneakily stuck him with a wireless taser device and triggered it on him, shocking him into submission and forcing him to drop the water. Amy, Knuckles, and Trip quickly got everyone in the vicinity of the water out of the way to safety. Trip was confused, "How is he so vulnerable to electricity?"

Rouge took a seriously angry look, "So he'd be easily cowed to Surge's will."

Trip was disturbed by the implication, "You say that like he was designed for someone…"

Amy gave a similarly angry look, "Short answer: Yes."

Trip cried, "That's awful! Who's his family? Do they know?"

Rouge frowned, "Unfortunately, we haven't found any conclusive links. Surge is the closest he has to any."

Sticks put an arm on Trip's shoulder, "Some people are really desperate or negligent, sadly."

Trip, however, had noticed a name come up a lot, "You keep talking about this Surge person, who is he?"

Knuckles agreed, "Whoever he is, we're gonna pound him for what he did to this guy and will do to Sonic!"

Tangle then spoke, "Firstly, Surge is a she…" Then she had the horrible realization, "...And we better get looking. Who knows what Surge could do to Sonic!"

Next thing Sonic knew, he had awoken in the ruins. He knew that Surge must have knocked him out with a shock, but was nowhere to be seen. He knew that wouldn't last.

Surge noticed the waking and began taunting the former hedgehog, "So you've become your girl friend?"

Sonic flusteredly dismissed, "She's not my girlfriend!"

Surge smirked, Worth it. She then prodded further as she raised an eyebrow, "Did I say that?" She disingenuously shrugged, "My bad…Still, glad your body finally matches your pathetic girly attitude."

Sonic had grown to HATE being reminded of how out of sync his current body was with his identity, so he had to bite his tongue at the implication it was what he deserved, "Isn't that reductive?"

She soberly insisted with an angry expression, "If you weren't so high on your flower-power…" She then did a friendly face imitation, "'Let's be fwiends' idiocy, maybe I'd still have a life. Face it!" She ran up to his face, "Your incompetence gave birth to me!"

Sonic suddenly flustered furiously as he tried to keep composure, finding a way to twist it back, "My rivalries have birthed friendships too." Then he flicked the tail to emphasize, "It's a tail as old as-"

Surge shocked him in unamusement, "Smart alec. You know I'm not here to be friends."

Sonic gave a shrug, "I tried." He then did a tongue in cheek salute as he stretched the tail up to a tree to shoot away, "Guess I'll see you later!"

But, as he began to launch, another bolt was launched to interrupt it. This sent Sonic tumbling, forced to use hands to slide to a stop with. But, he didn't come to a full natural stop as Surge brought him to a forceful stop by stomping Tangle's female butt, flustering him to the extreme beyond all words.

Surge gave a feigned pity, "Awww…No response?" Right before Sonic could find his words, she sniped back, "Don't pretend you're so high and mighty, you did it first. Doesn't feel so great does it?!" Then she kicked said butt to launch the current lemur again. Sonic tried to slingshot again to reduce velocity, but Surge was quick to zap it again at the anchor point, making sure the landing hurt as much as possible.

Sonic as he stood up, called out her behavior, "You're not fighting me seriously. You're playing with me."

Surge smugly smirked, "Exactly." Then she walked up with electricity ready to shock again and did so, "It's not like you're any better!"

Sonic processed how outmatched he was and started to play for time, asking a crucial question, "Don't you at least want to know how I ended up like this first?"

Surge thought about it, He's playing me…But who cares. This ought to be entertaining. She complied with his request, "Why not?"

Sonic smirked confidently, "You see, Tangle and I touched a meteor, enjoyed each-other's powers for a day and a half before Eggman stole it from us."

Surge broke out in a laughing fit for several minutes. As she calmed down, she snarked, "What a way to say you're trans without saying it!"

Sonic rolled his eyes, "How many times must I tell others that I! didn't! choose! this!"

Surge smugly countered, "Oh, but you did. You had plenty of time to fix this, and now you're dealing with the consequences for once. Accept it: You've 'trans'ed yourself. Not that it matters." She delivered a sudden dash punch to his gut, "I'm more of a man than you ever were."

Sonic grit his teeth in response to this, "What messed up definition are you using?"

Surge shocked him again, "The kind that solves problems." She followed with a rapid-fire punch combo, "Not let them fester freely!"

Sonic felt very attacked right about now in more ways than one. It pushed him to wrap the tail around himself to create a protective barrier then expand it to push Surge briefly away, countering, "Those 'problems' have helped me save the world!"

Surge slid back briefly, smiling, "Clever, you've gotten real used to that tail, huh?" Sonic was beginning to launch the slingshot punch, only to get shocked out of it and Surge to hold out a fist to the face, "Too bad you can't solve me!" Sonic layed on the ground, struggling to get up. Surge further taunted in the struggle before her, "Oh, what's the matter, the truth hurts too much? Realizing how pathetically submissive you really are?"

Sonic insisted even as he struggled to find the strength to stand, "The last thing I will ever do is submit to a bully!"

Surge dismissed the insult, "This isn't bullying, this is justice being served!"

Sonic was infuriated and stood up in a struggle to rant to the Tenrec, "You want JUSTICE?! Then let me emphasize: Eggman stole what did this to me! And my robotic double stole my body from Tangle!"

Surge opened an eye with a frown on her face, "And that's my problem because?..."

Sonic got serious, "He's inflicted this upon others. Such as Shadow and Whisper."

Surge continued her smug attitude, "Why should I care about your friend's girlfriend?"

Sonic mused to himself, Maybe if she could take a hint. He then snarked back, "Last I talked with Whisper…You know what, none of your business."

Surge shocked the former hedgehog to insist, "Oh, please do tell. I need to know these juicy details."

Sonic glared viciously at his tormentor, "Over my dead body!"

Surge winked, "But you're not in that, remember! Are you really going to let me kill you as you are to keep her potential spouse's secret?"

Sonic side glanced, "Like that was ever going to stop you. But, before you do that, one last warning."

Surge looked at her concealed nails, "Fine, I guess we got time before I end you."

Sonic gave his most serious expression yet, "I know Eggman's stolen Silver's body, and that terrifies me."

Surge elbowed him in the gut before asking, "Whose fault is that?"

Sonic felt nailed by the accusation, "Touché. But, I know you could help stop him. Don't you hate Eggman at least as much as me or want to stop my stolen body?"

Surge folded her arms, "They'll get theirs in due time. But for now." She cracked knuckles as she delivered another shock to the former hedgehog. "I have one target on the chopping block. Enough stalling, you'll be dead soon!"

Sonic, sensing he could be dead in moments, simply sighed as he looked sadly to the side, "Fine, but I assure you this won't be nearly as satisfying as you hope."

Surge glared in anger as she unleashed another shock, "This isn't about satisfaction. It's about putting a reckless moron in his place. Or her place."

Sonic was starting to find it increasingly difficult to keep awake, but fought through the pain to continue, "Maybe I do deserve this, but what about Kit? What about everyone else? I suffered for 6 months of torture last time Eggman took over. I understand your pain, but-"

Surge suddenly grew enraged and let another vicious shock out, "HOW DARE YOU PITY ME! You will never know what it was like for me!" She unleashed another shock, "To be left to rot!" She did it again, "To be shocked constantly into submission!" She unleashed another, "With the knowledge of who you were or could have been erased from memory!"

Sonic, struggling to put together coherent thoughts in the agony that was being inflicted upon his current body, but got out, "You deserved better, I'm sorry."

Surge delivered another shock, "Sorry isn't good enough. You'll pay with your life!" Surge then kicked him into a canyon wall, with his current head hitting it squarely. She confidently gloated, "If I can defeat you, I can defeat him. Now…To finish the job!" She began to prepare a final electrical attack.

The lemur's body was unconscious and unable to respond. Right as she was about to deliver a final blow, a big purple cat was roaming the forest as he suddenly noticed this vicious abuse from a great distance. He caught her off guard and launched her miles away before she could. Big looked down at the severely battered lemur that sat before him and picked her up, "You don't look too great. No worries, I'll get you some help, isn't that right, Froggy?" His frog companion let out a ribbit.

As he walked towards his hut, which had Cream fishing and Gemerl attending to her. Cream waved at him as he came, "Hi Big, what…" Her eyes shrank at the sight of a barely familiar Lemur, "Oh no, what happened to Ms. Tangle?"

Big sighed, "I don't know Cream, but she's hurt real bad!"

Gemerl looked at the battered Lemur in concern and announced, "SCANNING" running a scan on the Lemur's body. He gave a diagnostic result, "SEVERE ELECTROCUTION AND HEAD TRAUMA. HEAD BANDAGES RECOMMENDED."

Cream asked Big, "Do you have those?"

Big nodded, "Sure thing." He went into his hut to find them and wrapped the head, plopping her down on his bed, "Get well, miss."

Gemerl stood on guard, watching vital signs of the badly battered lemur. On the outside, Big requested as he noticed how late it was getting, "That's enough Cream, time to get ready for bed!"

Cream nodded, "Sure thing, Mr. Big!" Cream set up her sleeping bag while Big chose to lay out in front of the cabin. It had been a challenging day as he had been entrusted with taking Cream on a camping trip with Gemerl watching over in case of emergency. He was concerned about Tangle, but also looked forward to getting to know a new friend.

Lanolin was flying back with Omega and Silver, who was now stuck with Eggman's body. Omega demanded, "PERMISSION TO KILL?!"

Lanolin was forced to reply, "No!"

Omega demanded, "WHY NOT!"

Lanolin exasperatedly explained, "You wouldn't be killing Eggman!" Before Omega could object, she insisted, "And no, having his body doesn't actually make him Eggman. I get your robot brain can't handle the concept…I struggle with it myself."

Omega sighed, "FINE…ASSAULT MODE DISENGAGED."

Silver however, was depressed, looking at his absurdly huge hands, "How could I let him do this to me?"

Lanolin walked back to put a hand on his back, as the shoulder was too high to be reached, "You didn't, he stole your body. I suspect it was after Metal knocked you unconscious."

Silver was frustrated and crying, "My powers are so strong, how is my body so weak!"

Lanolin smirked, "Your psychic powers keep you from needing a tough body…Maybe that's what does him in! We'll get our revenge Silver, just wait."

Silver also pondered, I always keep coming back through portals not of my choice…If someone's creating them, might they have some words for Eggman?

Omega then cut short the thought by announcing, "BASE ARRIVAL IMMINENT."

Lanolin sighed, "Let's do this. Omega, please keep him back until I give the go-ahead." Lanolin messaged Jewel to explain the situation, "We rescued Silver, but he's stuck with Eggman's body."

As they arrived at the bay, a message over the intercom went out from Jewel, "Attention Restoration, if you see Eggman walking around, do not be alarmed, he is not hostile. Silver the Hedgehog has gotten his body hijacked by Eggman."

Lanolin stepped out, the members receiving them were uneasy. Belle was among them, and walked back in his presence, "Lanolin, why do you have…him?!" Silver looked sad, which quickly tipped Belle off, "Eggman doesn't do public displays of sadness…" She then muttered under her lack of breath, "At least not the current Eggman…"

Lanolin patted her on the back, "That's because he's really Silver."

Belle clenched her teeth in unease, "Oh. sorry."

Silver sighed, What do I expect? I can only consider myself lucky I wasn't shot dead on arrival…

Shortly thereafter, Tails and the others arrived on his tornado. Lanolin noticed and asked, "I'm guessing you couldn't retrieve that…'Egg Noggin'."

Tails frowned, "No, unfortunately."

Mighty hopped out holding Whisper's unconscious body containing Shadow, "And Shadow overexerted himself to help us escape."

The medical crew took him there. Tails then saw Belle and asked, "Oh, Belle, nice to see you. How's the Metal Sonic repair going?"

Belle smirked in confidence, "Better than you could imagine." She then video conferenced with the Chief Mechanic, "Wanna show Tails what we've done?"

He smiled with confidence as he displayed what they'd done: it wasn't simply a repair of Metal Sonic, it was Neo-Metal Sonic's form, standing uncomfortably still due to a current lack of an intelligence to pilot it.