Surge opened her eyes and was greeted by complete darkness. She tried to get up from the bed, only to realize she was floating. Wherever she was, she definitely knew she was not in her dorm room.

"Where am I?" Surge said to herself.''

"Pathetic." a voice responded in a condescending tone. Surge thought it was familiar but couldn't quite make it out.

"Hey! Show yourself!"

"And why should I? Don't tell me you've already forgotten about me." Surge's heart sank. This time, she knew who she was talking to. There was no mistaking the voice that was constantly condescending to her, the voice that deprived her of any real affirmation and care despite her best efforts to have even a taste of them. Dr. Starline finally emerged from the shroud of darkness.

"You again! What the hell do you want?" Surge could already feel herself shaking. Dr. Starline began to walk towards Surge, with both his hands touching each other's Fingertips. Surge tried to distance herself by walking back, but she was still free-floating in space.

"Trying to run away? But, we have something important to discuss." Dr. Starline said, now circling Surge.

"Like what?"

"Hmmmmmm... Let's start with why you're in he heart of your enemey's base?"

"Hey! That's not of your buisness! I'm doing my best here to kill Sonic. What more do you want from me?!"

"What I wanted from you was to LISTEN!" Dr. Starline grabbed Surge by her quills from behind and forced her to look at him upside down. Surge tried to charge up so that Dr. Starline could let go.

"Don't bother, you have no power here. You're nothing but a disappointment. You know, I thought that maybe, just maybe, my death was what you needed." Dr. Starline released Surge and continued to talk.

"That perhaps...I was the bottleneck. That maybe you were strong enough to do what you were made to do, and I was just being too cautious. "Dr. Starline trailed off, standing in front of Surge with his head down.

"I now realized that it was never me. It was you." Dr. Starline said as he stared through Surge's soul.

Surge felt mixed emotions wash over her, and she began to fight back tears in her eyes.

"You had, possibly the best opportunity to kill your rival. You stole the Dynamo Cage from Dr. Eggman and you doubled, if not TRIPLED your power... AND YOU STILL FAILED!"

"I SAID I DID MY BEST!" Surge screamed with tears flowing down her eyes but still trying to fight it.

"YOU BEST IS NOT ENOUGH!" Dr. Starline stomped his foot and continued.

"It's only after I died that you realized you and Kit have a lot more training to do."

Surge didn't bother responding. Dr. Starline took a deep breath and calmed himself down.

"However, I'am interested in this plan of yours, Surge."

Surge remained quiet.

"I have all the time in world, Surge. I won't leave until this conversation is over."

"Right now, I'm working with some people who want to take down the Resistance. Their plan is to take it down from the inside. I already met with one of their members who told me to hang around for a while before we actually start doing stuff." Surge intentionally left some critical details out, hoping Dr. Starline wouldn't press her for them.

"Go on. I'm assuming this helps you with your goal in some fashion." Dr. Starline responded.

"*sniff*" Surge wiped some tears from her eyes before continuing.

"I figured it would be worth a shot to see how Sonic trains and fights. Maybe I'll learn a thing or two, I don't know."

"Having a front-row seat to learning your enemy...hmmmmm." Dr. Starline sat in an invisible space and pondered what he had just heard.

Surge could've sworn he said, "If only I could've thought of that." under his breath.

"Very well. Though I must warn you. Sonic is no fool. If you think he blindly accepted your request to join the Resistance then your plan is doomed to fail," Dr. Starline said sincerely.

"Whether you like it or not, I'm still a part of you and it will likely stay that way until you die or complete your goal. I will supervise you to make sure the latter happens first. I expect an update the next time we meet."

Dr. Starline stood up and walked backward into the curtain of darkness.

Surge suddenly rose in her bed. The moonlight pierced the window blinds as Surge wiped the tears off her face. She looked over to her left and saw Kit fast asleep. She wondered if Kit was going through the same nightmare of having Dr. Starline in his consciousness. She looked towards the window and looked at the Moon through the blinds. If She wasn't focused on the plan before, she is now. She flicked her Scroll for it to show it was only 0133 hours. Surge plopped her head back on her pillow, looking at the ceiling and asking why. Why is this happening to her? What did she do to deserve this? At least there's a solution for all of this end. Kill Sonic. The Sooner she can get that done, the sooner she can live her life. With that thought, she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

The Sun beamed through the window blinds as Sonic stretched and yawned.

"Alright, what's today got in store for me" Sonic said as he checked his Scroll. There were four notifications on his email icon. Sonic tapped on the icon and viewed the new emails briefly by only reading the subject title. One email Sonic recognized as an advertisement that he kept getting now and then. "Delete" Sonic deadpanned. The second email was in the form of a reply regarding an operation in a group email. Sonic flagged it for later. The other two emails were community announcements.

Sonic was about to close his Scroll and start his morning routine when he saw a notification on his messaging icon. Sonic pressed it, and he saw he had received a message from Tails. Sonic viewed it, and it read,

"Morning, Sonic. I was going to call you first, but I figured you would still be sleeping. When you get the chance, call me. It's somewhat urgent."

Sonic decided to call Tails now so he wouldn't forget.

"Hey Sonic!"

"Yo, what's up Tails?" Sonic said before yawning.

"I'm doing fine. looks like you just woke up."

"Yea, I got your message. You said you got something important to tell me?"

"Oh yea! Not sure if you're going to like what I'm about to tell you."

"Just lay it on me, man," Sonic said, getting a bit irritated that his morning routine was still delayed. Whatever Tails had to share, it better be good.

"Surge got into a fight at the C.A.T."

"What? Dude are you serious? What happened?" The news woke Sonic up a bit. He was intrigued more than he was surprised.

"I'm not sure, I just got the news about it about an hour ago."

"Great" Sonic sarcastically said as he ran his right hand down his face.

"I would recommend you figure out what happened and address Surge about the incident. Remember, any trouble she gets into, you would be the first person people will look at since you gave them a chance to be accepted."

"And, I still stand by what I said." Sonic said firmly.

"And, I respect that. But, others may not feel the same way. Especially when Surge is causing trouble for others."

"You're right. Hopefully she's still not mad at me for yesterday."

"Why would she be mad at you from yesterday?"

"I kinda embarresed her."

"..."

"...In front of Whisper..." Sonic finished with a cringed face.

"Jeez, Sonic" Tails said, shaking his head.

"Hey! I was just trying to have a good laugh." Sonic said in self defense.

"That may be true but you have to remember that she's a bit more sensitive and can be easily set off. I don't know what you did as a joke but, you have to be more careful around her. Especially if you want her to not cause trouble."

"Right. Anyway, whatcha up to right now, Tails?" Sonic said, trying to escape the lecture

"I'm working on some experiments at the R&D building."

"Still? Tails, did you even sleep last night?" Sonic said with concern on his face.

"Of course I did! I just went to sleep early and woke up early."

"I hope so. Thanks for the heads up Tails. I'll talk with you later."

"Later, Sonic!"

The call ended. Sonic got up from his bed and started his morning. As he walked out of his dorm room, he remembered that Surge and himself were in the same dorm building and would meet again in the common area. He questioned whether he should bring up the fight at the C.A.T issue or wait until later. He guessed it would depend on her mood and who's in the common area when he gets there.

Sonic arrived at the kitchen and common area and found it empty.

"Perfect. I mind as well start cooking now. Hopefully, Surge would be in a better mood if I cook her some breakfast. I know I would be set for the morning if someone cooked for me." Sonic whispered to himself as he began cooking.

Surge woke up from her sleep. She sat up and saw Kit still sleeping on his side of the bed. She covered her eyes from the Sun beaming through the window blinds. She carefully stood up and walked into the bathroom. She looked into the mirror, immediately noticing the dry tears on her face, and washed it off. She thought about what happened last night and reminded herself to focus on the task at hand. First things first, food. Surge wanted to get ahead of her hunger before her stomach told her about it. Surge walked out of the bathroom and looked at Kit again. Kit was still sound asleep. Surge figured Kit could sleep a bit more before he started his day.

Surge exited their dorm room and began walking towards the kitchen.

As she got closer, a welcoming smell of bacon hit her nose. It made her smile, but it soon disappeared as it meant someone was already in the kitchen. Surge continued and arrived at the common area, where she saw Sonic cooking. Sonic noticed Surge from the corner of his eyes and waved.

"Morning, Surge! How'd you slept last night?"

"Like crap."

"Ok. I'm sorry to hear that. Made you breakfast!" Sonic handed Surge a plate of egg sandwiches with bacon. Surge grabbed the plate.

"I made one for Kit too."

"Thanks. I'll let him know." Surge flatly said as she started eating her breakfast.

"Hey listen, I wanted to talk to you about something." Sonic said as he began eating his breakfast as well.

"What is it?"

"Heard you got into a fight last night at the C.A.T."

Surge paused for a second before she continued to eat.

"What about it?"

"I just want know what happened."

"I was at the gym, doing my workout, right?"

"Right."

"Then this doofus came out of no where and tried to muscle me out of my workstation!"

Sonic nodded for her to go on.

"So I stepped up to him and told him that if wants me to leave then he's going to have to make me. And, the rest is history." Surge explained as she finished her eggs and bacon sandwich.

"And, that's it?" Sonic asked with an eyebrow raised.

"You can go ask the police or whatever guys. It wasn't my fault. I was just doing my own thing when that meathead showed up."

Sonic thought it was more serious based on how Tails talked about it. But, to be fair to him, he didn't know what exactly went down. Regardless, it's still drama that involved Surge.

"Ok. If that's the case that I don't really see a problem with it." Sonic said with his eggs and bacon sandwich finished.

"Wait really?" Surge crossed her arms.

"I mean, if you're telling the trust, which it sounds like you are, then he got what he deserved."

Surge was about to speak when Sonic cut her off.

"But…."

"But?"

"But, you still need to be careful. I'm not saying the situation was your fault but, you need to try your best to stay out of trouble."

"Are you serious?"

"Yea, I'm serious. Look…..I may be accepting of you guys staying here in our base and working with us for as long as you like. But, that doesn't mean that everyone else feels the same way about you. Other members still have their eyes on you because of the recent things you did and rightfully so."

"That's their problem. I don't care what they think."

"No. It's you're problem too." Sonic stepped a bit closer to Surge. "I'm just assuming here but, I'm guessing, that guy picked on you because her recognized who you were."

"And, He found out he bit off more than he can chew." Surge smirked.

Sonic shook his head. "Look…..We both know you can handle yourself. I've seen it firsthand. But, unless you don't mind fighting a fellow member every other day, you should probably shift in the opposite direction."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you should try to help more around the base to show everyone that you actually want to help around here. Again, it's either that or you'll have similar problems like at the C.A.T happening more often."

"Well, how am I going to do that if people recognize me and don't want to work with me?"

"Hey, I didn't say it would be easy. I was just telling you the situation."

Surge turned to the kitchen counter to rest her hands on it and put her head down. It looks like she would have to postpone her main goal and deal with this issue.

"Hey. I may have something that can start you off. If you're willing to do it that is." Sonic proposed.

Surge picked her head up and turned to Sonic. "Oh yea? What is it?"

Sonic flicked his Scroll. "I joined an operation that is led by someone who I owed a favor for. If….I remember…correctly…." Sonic checked his email from earlier that morning that was about an operation. Sonic read the reply email that read.

"Hey Sonic!

The Operation begins in two days, and we still need an extra member. The members who want to join are either inexperienced or unavailable. I understand that joining us makes us even, but if you can find someone who's capable, it would be a big Help!

Respectfully,

Jason"

"Yup, we could use one more member for our Operation. With your help, it would be a peace of cake." Sonic said as he finished reading his email.

"What's the operation?"

"To be honest with you…..I kinda forgot" Sonic said with a weak smile.

"Seriously?"

"Yea, I know. But, I can send you an invitation for the Operation through the Scroll and you can read the info there."

"Do you at least know when it starts?"

"In two days. Should be enough time to get yourself ready for it."

"Ok. I'll think about it. I'll let you know by the end of today."

"Cool! Once we complete the Operation and come back, others will start to trust you. It'll still take time for them to warm up to you but, it's

a start."

"Ok. I'll let you know by tonight."

"Gotcha! Well, I'm off. Make sure you give this to Kit." Sonic handed Surge a plate with an egg and bacon sandwich on it. Sonic waved at Surge as he walked out of the dorm building.

Surge took the plate to her dorm room to find Kit getting out of bed.

"Morning, Surge."

"Hey. This is for you." Surge handed Kit the plate with breakfast on it.

"You made this?" Kit asked.

"No, Sonic made it."

"Oh, well, thanks for bringing it to me." Kit began eating his breakfast.

Surge received a notification on her Scroll. She flicked her Scroll and saw the notification on the Resistance flag icon. She pressed it and saw the invitation from Sonic. She was only focused on the purpose tab, which read "Search and Destroy." She no longer needed to read the rest to understand that this Operation wouldn't be a walk in the park. However, it was probably the easiest opportunity to get some heat off her back.