"What are you looking at, Surge?" Kit asked.

"Nothing, Don't worry about it." Surge flicked her Scroll and collapsed the holographic screen. She decided she would look at the operation in detail another time.

"Ok. So, what are we doing today? We haven't really gotten a whole lot done as of lately."

"I know. First thing first, clothes. Tired of wearing these basic stuff."

"You did mention that a couple of times. There should be some clothes stores or tailor shop somewhere in this base. I haven't checked yet, but there shouldn't be a reason why this base wouldn't have it."

"Then I'll check for it."

"What do we do after?"

Surge thought about it. Kit was right. They had yet to do much since moving in, and they needed to catch up for the lost time.

"I don't know. How about you learn more about Tails and the stuff that he makes. I'm sure we can get something useful from him."

"Sure, I can do that." It was a start. Kit knew Surge was trying to sound like she knew what she was doing, but this idea wasn't bad at all. While Surge learns about Sonic, he could learn about Tails. Maybe he could also discover blueprints and future projects the Resistance worked on.

"Great. I'm going to try to train again at the C.A.T. some time today."

"You sure that's a good idea? You just had a fight there less than forty-eight hours ago."

"I'm sure those losers got the message. If they want to throw down, I can do it anytime, any place."

"If you say so...Hey, have you heard from Mimic lately?" Kit asked as he finished his breakfast.

"No. Not really. It's not like we need to talk with him anyway. I feel he'd speak with us if something important happened or is about to happen. For now, we still play our part."

"Gotcha. You want me to come with you to find the tailor store?"

"No. I'm sure I can find it on my own."

"Ok. If you need me, you have the Scroll."

"Yeah yeah, let's just get this day started." Surge walked out of the dorm room to exit the dorm building

Kit grabbed his breakfast plate to clean it in the kitchen and followed suit. As He exited the dorm building, he flicked his Scroll. Kit composed himself and called Tails. After a couple of seconds, Tails answered the call.

"Morning, Kit!"

"Hey, Tails! How's your morning going?"

"Not too bad! I'm over at the workshop in the R&D building. How's your morning going?"

"Just finished eating breakfast. I was wondering if I could join in."

"Of course! Come to the workshop whenever you're ready."

"Ok. See you soon."

The call ended. Kit began walking North towards the R&D building and thought about his new goal. He kicked himself mentally for not coming up with it earlier, but it doesn't make that much of a difference now. Surge will find a way to defeat Sonic while he finds a way to defeat Tails. If he plays his cards right, Tails might even share some information on Sonic. Maybe Surge can do the same on her end and learn about Tails through Sonic.

Surge wandered around the Resistance base with a plastic bag in her hand containing her clothes in search of a tailor's shop. The clothes at the dorms were convenient, but they were good for just being a supplement.

After some time, Surge found a tailor shop. She was so focused on finding the place that she wasn't sure where she was. All that mattered to her was that she found it. She looked up and read Sesamie's Tailor Studio. The shop looked like your typical tailor shop. It had a glass door and two display windows, allowing you to see the interior. Surge opened the door, which rang a bell. She walked to the front desk and didn't see anyone.

"Hello? Is anyone running this place or what?" Surge didn't hear a response. She saw a bell at the desk and rang it. Still, no response. She rang the bell multiple times.

"I'm coming. Just give me a second!" a female voice called out from within the shop's depths.

"It's about time." Surge whispered to herself.

Surge waited about a minute until she heard footsteps from the back room. A black cat emerged and approached the desk.

"Hey, I'm Sesamie. What can I do for ya?". Surge noticed something about Sesamie's speech but couldn't figure it out.

"Ya, I was wondering if you could make more of these clothes.". Surge placed the plastic bag on the counter and took out her clothes.

"Let me take a look at these." Sesamie examined the clothes. Surge noticed Sesamie's face cringed a bit.

"What is it?" Surge asked.

"You didn't think to clean these before you gave em me?"

"Oh, crap. My bad."

"*sigh* It's cool. Wouldn't be the first time". Sesamie continued to examine the clothes.

"Is that a lisp I hear, or am I just going crazy?"

"I do have a lisp, a lateral one. It's that obvious huh?"

"Not at first, but after a while I kinda picked it up."

"Haha, I figured. Anyway, I could make these clothes for you. How much do you need?"

"I don't know, maybe ten?".

"Gotcha, I'll say the order should take about two to three weeks."

"THREE WEEKS!?". Surge slammed both her palms on the counter. "I'm going to need those orders a little sooner than that."

Sesamie looked unfazed by Surge's little outburst and crossed her arms. "Look, whatever your name is, I don't know what to tell you."

"It's Surge..."

"Ok, Surge, If you want these orders done right, I'm going to need time."

Surge growled under her breath. "Look, I have something coming up in two days and I need some clothes for it."

"And that something is….?"

Surge took a deep breath to calm herself down. "I'm looking to join an operation soon. I could really use my clothes."

Sesamie closed her eyes and pondered for a moment before speaking. "You're not good with time management are you?"

"Actually I just joined the Resistance about two days ago."

"Really? wait...what was your name again?"

"Surge. Surge the Tenrec."

Sesamie continued to look indifferent. "Oh, I heard about you. You're that electrical girl with that little fox boy."

"Yea? What about it?"

"Nothing. As long as you don't fuck up my shop, a customer is a customer."

"So, about that order?"

"Right. Look, I won't be able to make ten of these within two days. It's just not happening. But..."

"But, what?"

"I could give you some of the clothes set that I have finished before your operation."

"If you could guess, how many would you make?"

"I'd say two. Plus the original one, so you'll have three."

"Ok, That'll work."

"Glad that works for both of us. Now, I'm assuming you have money?"

Surge's heart almost sank. "Shoot, I don't have any money on me."

"Bad time manager and a liar? Wow."

"What are you talking about?"

"Every new member starts off with a minimum of two thousand credits to their account."

"Really?"

"Uh yea. So, it's either one of three things. One, you're lying to me. Two, you spent all your money within the few days you've been here. Then there's three, you didn't read your email yet about your starting cash."

Surge's face was that of shock and she stood quiet.

"Judging by your face, I'm guessing it's number three."

"So, how do I pay?". Surge rubbed her left arm in embarrassment.

"Same as everywhere else in this base, through your Scroll."

Sesamie pulled a scanner from under her counter, and Surge flicked her Scroll.

Sesamie scanned Surge's Scroll. "There, the receipt will be emailed to you. You should really

check your email more often. "

Surge rolled her eyes. "Thanks. when should I come back for the clothes?"

"Comeback either tomorrow night or in the early morning the day after tomorrow."

"Got it, thanks."

"No problem, if you have any questions just email me. If you know how to even do that." Sesamie whispered the last part under her breath.

Surge walked out of the store. "Ok. That's taken care of. Guess there's nothing else to do other than to go to the C.A.T."

Surge walked around to get her bearings before heading to the C.A.T. It was noon, and the day was still young. Although Surge was usually ready to fight anyone and anything, she hoped there wouldn't be any drama when she worked out. Surge entered the main lobby of the building. There weren't as many people the last time she was there. Probably because it's in the middle of the day and the other members are busy with their assigned duties. Despite that, Surge still got some looks while she walked to the front desk. Not that she cared; in fact, she expected it. Surge approached the front desk and signed in with her Scroll. Surge walked to the left and entered the gymnasium. The gymnasium itself was even more empty. Most of the members were closer to the entrance. Surge could walk far down the gym and be alone if she wanted to. "Looks like I won't be bothered...Hopefully."

Surge walked further down into the gym and began her workout.

Kit approached the R&D building. The facility looked more like a warehouse and ran down than the C.A.T. Moss and vines were attempting to cover and control the walls from all four sides. Kit knew that the exterior masked what was going on inside. Well, at least what was going on in one half of the building. The facility didn't even have a sign or indication that the building was being used. Kit couldn't tell if it was done on purpose to disguise it or if the Resistance didn't care much about the advancement of technology. Kit opened a heavy steel door and entered it. Kit walked down a dark brick hallway until he reached a fork that branched into a T shape. Kit took a left and continued to walk. He approached a wooden door at the end of the hallway and opened it. Kit entered the garage workshop, with Tails at the workshop bench like yesterday. Tails looked like he was tinkering with a small circuit board.

"Hey Tails!"

Tails looked over his shoulder to see Kit and waved. "Hey Kit!"

Kit walked over to Tails. "What are you working on?"

"Nothing special believe it or not. I'm working on someone's Scroll that got damaged from water."

Kit looked at his Scroll. "Really? The Scroll looks sealed to me. How could water get inside?"

"Yeah, the Scroll can hold its own when it's raining. But, not so good when it's submerged underwater."

"Oh."

"I know. I'm working on having the Scroll withstand that as well. I'm just backed up on so many projects that the Scroll isn't that high on the priority list."

"Don't you have other members to help you out?"

"Not really. I used to have a partner working here and we would split the workload."

"What happened to your partner?"

"He was a great partner but unfortunately, he didn't enjoy the work. He moved on to something different that he enjoyed doing."

"I guess that's fair. But, don't you think it would be more productive if he helped you with these projects? It could help the Resistance win the war and with less casualties."

"True but, I didn't want him to feel he had to keep doing this if he wasn't enthusiastic about it. I would rather have him live his life happily than to work here where he feels forced."

Kit was left in thought.

"Anyways, just let me finish this real quick, Kit. We can continue where we left off after."

"Ok."

Tails finished working on the Scroll and placed it in a nearby cardboard box labeled as Requests (finished). "Ok, where did we leave off last time?"

"We were working on your energy cannon."

"Oh. I finished working on it after I dropped you off at your dorm."

"Well, what can we work on next?"

"Hmmmmmm, let me check my list." Tails flicked his Scroll and opened his notes app. "Right, I almost forgot!" Tails got up and went to a larger box that was labeled Requests (unfinished).

"What is it?"

"There's an important operation that's going to be executed in about two days. The leader of the operation made a request that I make a couple of pieces of equipments for him. A couple of thermite charges and binoculars."

"Can I help you with that?"

"Sure! It would make it significantly less tedious for me. In fact...where did I put it." Tails practically used two hands to dig through the box until he found what he was looking for. "There it is!" Tails pulled out a pair of binoculars. "I'll give you the easier task since you're volunteering. I don't want to take up too much of your day." Tails returned to the bench and placed the binoculars in front of Kit.

Kit took the binoculars and looked through them. Kit was able to see perfectly fine with them and was confused. "What do you need me to do with them?"

"The binoculars work fine, there's nothing wrong with them. But, the leader of the operation made a special request that the binoculars have the features of being able to measure distance and being able to identify any material it's looking at."

"Ok, what do I have to work with?"

Tails smiled and raised his arms. "Everything! Haha. You have the entire workshop to work with. As long as you don't take apart something that's already working . If you have any questions about what you're allowed to use or not use, just ask. But, pretty much you're free to use whatever you need."

"That's not so bad! I'll get right to it. What about you?"

"I'll work on the thermite charges."

"Ok."

Tails and Kit began to get to work, unaware that their products would be involved in an operation that both of their respective partners would be a part of.

Surge was halfway into her workout and was resting in between sets. She decided to work on her legs and hoped they wouldn't stay stiff on the day the operation started. As she was resting, she felt like someone was looming over her.

"Working out with no headphones? Are you working out to avenge someone?"

Surge looked over her shoulder and saw Sonic. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Uh, it's a public gym? well, you need to be a member to workout here but you get what I mean."

"I mean, what are you doing here talking to me?"

"I saw you set up near me and just thought that I say hi."

"Oh, guess I should've walked a little further down the gym."

"I'm not here to bother you. Just wanted to say hi is all." Sonic walked away.

Surge looked as Sonic walked to his station at the fly machine. Surge wondered how she didn't notice Sonic when she was looking for a place to work out. Either way, she's almost done with her workout, and it looks like Sonic will leave her alone, so she might as well stay and finish what's left to do. Once she finished her workout, Surge was about to walk out when she noticed she was being waved by Sonic, who signaled for her to come over. Surge walked over to Sonic.

"What's up?"

"I know it's not the end of the day but, have you made up your mind about joining the operation?"

"Yea, I'm joining."

"Awesome! I'll let the group know. You can join the operation whenever you have the time, but I needed to let them know as soon as possible.

"Yea, sure."

"Cool. Also, You should check out the combat wing if you haven't yet."

"Actually, I was just thinking about what was on the other side."

"The other side are cut into two sections. One is for practice where you fight dummies and the other where you spar with other members. You'll see what I mean when you walk in. Just don't go all out and hurt someone."

Surge chuckled. "I'll try not to. I'll head in there when I can."

"Sure thing. Catch you later!"

Surge walked away and exited the building. The Sun was setting as Surge tried her best to walk as normally as possible with her stiff legs. Eventually, she arrived at her dorm room and took a shower. After wearing a new generic clothing set, she sat on her bed and flicked her Scroll. Surge figured now was the time to catch up on anything she missed in her email. Surge checked her email app. The oldest email was a welcome email. Surge opened it and quickly skimmed through it. From what Surge had gotten from it, the email was just about how thankful the Resistance is to have a new member and how there's so much to do in the base. What caught Surge's eye was the attachment file to the email. The attachment was a map of the base. "Definitely could have used that earlier." Surge whispered. She decided to save it for later when she was going somewhere she hadn't been before.

The second email was something about her account. Surge opened it and skimmed through it. The email was to notify Surge that her account was created successfully and that credits had been added to her account. Surge stopped skimming and started to focus on the email letter. The email stated her starting amount was twenty-five hundred credits and if she would like to look at her financial assets, she would have to look at her bank account. Surge closed the email and decided to look at her bank account later. The third email was from the C.A.T., which Surge couldn't care less about. There were two other emails which were from Sonic about the operation invitation and the receipt she had gotten from sesamie's tailor shop.

Surge decided to read more about the operation now that she had much free time. When Surge got to the operation's screen, she noticed something odd. The operation that she wanted to join didn't exist. Surge closed the operations app and opened it again to receive the same result. "That's weird." Surge whispered. Surge opened the email of the invitation from Sonic and the email brought Surge to the operations screen with the information she needed. The location tab was even more odd to Surge. Instead of having the name of a place, the information tab had longitude and latitude coordinates. Surge then opened the leader tab. What showed was a blank profile and the word Confidential next to it. Surge opened the party tab and saw two blank profiles with the exact confidential text.

Surge was so focused on what she was reading that she nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a knock at the door. She opened the door to see Mimic. Before Surge could say anything, Mimic quickly walked inside. "Nice to see you too," Surge said as she closed the doors.

"Where's the boy?"

"Kit? He's at the workshop I think. Why?"

"Was just curious. Anyway, how are you two doing? I heard about the fight at the C.A.T."

"Oh boy this again? Look, it wasn't my fault."

"Even if that's true, that's not what I meant when I said to keep their attention. If you get thrown out, all eyes will be on me again."

"I don't know what to tell you. I was just doing a normal thing that everyone else does and someone wanted to fight me."

"Just try to be more careful."

"Yea, whatever. What are you really here for anyway? I know it wasn't to scold me like I'm a kid."

"No, it wasn't. Just checking in if you have any new information worth sharing."

"I got nothing. Not sure about Kit but, I'm sure he doesn't have anything either. We have only been here a couple days."

"Hmmmmmmmm." Mimic looked somewhat disappointed. "Very well."

"What about you? "

"None of your concern. If it was important, I would tell you."

"Well look at that. I got nothing for you and you got nothing for me. Don't see a reason why you're still here. Unless you want to hang out like we're friends or something." Surge was getting annoyed.

"I was just leaving." Mimic exited the dorm room.

"NonE oF yOuR CoNcErn," Surge mocked Mimic as she closed the door and returned to bed.

Surge flicked back to her Scroll and was brought back to the operations screen. She looked at the Join button for a moment before deciding to press it. The screen turned green and displayed a text stating Operation Joined. Surge closed her Scroll and lay down on her bed. She was about to lose herself in a nap when her Scroll vibrated. She flicked her Scroll and saw a notification that she was added to a group chat.

Surge opened the messaging app and saw one conversation bubble. She pressed it, and the chat showed she had been added to the group chat by someone named Jason. Before Surge could even process what was happening, she received a call from someone named Jason. Surge answered the call and was met with a brown fox. Surge couldn't help but notice a thick Scar over Jason's left eye.

"Good evening, Surge."

"Uh Hi. Who are you supposed to be and why are you calling me?"

"Right. My name is Jason and the reason why I'm calling you was because you voluntarily joined my operation."

"Oh, You're the guy who's leading us?"

"Yes I Am. I'm just calling you to welcome you to the operation. Sonic was talking a lot about you."

"Oh yea? What did he say?" Surge is now sitting up.

"Nothing but good things and that you would be a perfect fit in our group."

"That's what I thought."

"I don't normally allow a new member of the Resistance to join an operation of mine but, if Sonic says you're good then I'll give you the benefit of the doubt."

Surge rolled her eyes. "Before I joined the operation, I couldn't see anyone that was in it. What's up with that?"

"That's because this operation is confidential and the information is sensitive. If anyone who's not involved knew about this operation then, it would put our lives at risk."

"Really?"

"Really. I urge you to not share anything about this operation with anyone."

"Not hard to do when I know nothing about it."

"Don't worry, I will conduct a briefing before we execute the op. If it helps, I could tell you your role."

"Sure, shoot."

"You're going to be part of a distraction with Sonic."

"What?"

"That's all I can say. Everything will be explained during the briefing. Make sure you keep your eye on the group chat from time to time for updates. Enjoy the rest of your day, Surge."

Jason hung up.

"Well that was a whole bunch of nothing. Distraction with Sonic? What are we doing?" Surge said to herself.

Surge hesitated for a moment before calling Sonic. After a while, Sonic answered. Sonic looked like he was walking outside.

"Hey, Surge! Saw you joined the operation and got invited to the group chat. I'm guessing you just talked with Jason."

"Yea. he was less helpful explaining things. The only thing he said that I cared about was that we're going to be working together."

"Is that a problem?"

"Why did you keep that a secret from me when you were trying to get me to join the operation like you were a car salesman?"

"Because I knew you wouldn't join if I told you. And, to be honest, it really doesn't matter. You still haven't answered my question."

"Ok well, I joined. Can you tell me what we're doing?"

"I could tell you but, it would have to be in person."

"Fine, where do you want to meet?"

"I Just finished my workout and I'm heading to my dorm room. Meet me at my door."

"Ok."

Surge got off her bed and walked to dorm room 1. She waited in the hallway for about a minute before she saw Sonic walking down the hallway. Surge stepped to the side for Sonic to open his door, and they both walked in. Surge took in the view of Sonic's dorm. His room was pretty much the same as Surge's. Some clothes were on the ground, and some were on a random chair.

"You want me to take these clothes off so you can take a seat." Sonic asked.

"I won't be here for long. Just tell me what we're doing."

"You sure you can't wait until the briefing? It's not like we're waiting a week or something."

Surge closed the door behind her and leaned on it with her arms crossed. "Talk."

Sonic laid on his bed. "Ok. Just a heads up, it's not that deep. Jason located a Robotnik factory within twenty miles of our base which is uncomfortably close."

"How did Jason found out about it and how did no one spot it sooner?"

"I don't know how Jason found it and frankly I don't care. I'm going to take a wild guess and say the reason we couldn't find it sooner is because it's hidden beneath a mountain."

"And, we're going to destroy it?"

"Damn straight. Not only that but, we can also scavenge the base as well after our operation. We can get a lot of sweet resources from it and can make a lot of runs since it's so close.

"So, what's our role?"

"Jason tried doing recon on the base but couldn't get much since it's obviously underground. We don't know how many tin cans are in that base which might make it risky to sneak in. Jason thinks it would be best if there's a distraction to draw out whatever defenses are in the factory while two members sneak in from the other side. Those two that are sneaking in would do what they need to do to destroy the factory from the inside. That's pretty much it."

"We don't know how many robots are in the factory but Jason want's only two people as a distraction?"

"Sounds dumb when you put it that way but, when you know that it's the both of us as the distraction. Then it doesn't sound so crazy. We fight for hours before we start breaking a sweat."

"I can't argue with that. Why was it so hard for Jason to tell me this over the phone?"

"Because you never know who's pretending to be one of us." Sonic gave Surge a stare.

Surge began to feel uncomfortable and her heart rate started to go up. There was an awkward silence in the room.

"Ha., I'm just messing with ya."

Surge calmed down.

"Seriously though, It was for security reasons. Operations like these can get us killed if we're not careful."

"If you say so"

"Good. Now I'm going to ask my question again." Sonic sat up on the edge of the bed to face Surge. "If you have a problem working with me, I can switch with another member in our group. So, do you have a problem working with me?"

"I don't have a problem working with you."

"Then why did I have to ask you like three times for you to-"

"Thanks for the info. I'll see you at the briefing." Surge opened the door, walked out and slammed the door.

"I hope there won't be any trouble when we're out there on the battlefield," Sonic said to himself.

Sonic was about to head to the shower until his door opened. Sonic turned around and saw Amy at the door.

"Hey, Ames"

"Hi, Sonic. Is everything ok?"

"Yea why?

"I was going to stop by for a visit and I saw Surge walk out of your room."

"Oh, that? She had some questions about an operation we're doing together. Nothing to worry about."

"What operation?"

"The ones that I can't share about until it's done. We've had these conversations before Amy."

"Oh"

"Yea. Listen, I'm going to take a shower real quick and we can enjoy the rest of the day like we planned ok?"

"Ok, Sonic."

Sonic walked into his bathroom, and Amy heard the shower turn on. Amy couldn't help but let her mind think about if Sonic was actually telling the truth.