Following the directions of the Emerald Radar software she'd procured from Tails' data, Cyber soon reached the desert caves where the blue Chaos Emerald was hiding. It was funny, *the three of them had nearly died here barely even two months ago, but she felt...Unafraid. She supposed it was because the end didn't matter so much to her anymore, so long as Infinite went down first.

She darted her eyes to the left very suddenly, realizing she'd almost subconsciously seen Raccoon off to her side, scouting ahead on all fours with his enhanced sense of smell, like he always had on missions like this. She could almost feel Jack's warm presence, guiding their small team to victory.

But no, she was alone...Or so she thought.

"Hey!" Spike yelled out, standing in the hilltops ahead, trudging her way down with her Spike Wispon in tow. "-What? Here to stop me? Good luck with that.-"

"Well, not so much 'stop you,' I can't really do that. But I CAN keep you in line." The hedgehog finally came face-to-face with the cyborg canary, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Look, Jack and Raccoon were MY friends, too. And the best way I can honor them is to ensure that their favorite pretty bird doesn't get in over her head. Get me?"

Cyber looked down at Spike's hand on her shoulder, then casually brushed it off. "-Fine. But if I get a shot at the kill, I'm not hesitating.-" She then pointed a finger at the nearby hills. "-Uninvited guest at 8'o clock, by the way.-"

"I SEE 'IM!" Spike shouted, shooting her Wispon at the target, who let out many expletives as he tumbled down the hill. "GAIA BELOW, SPIKE! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE POINTING THAT THING!"

"Edge?" Spike said, in disbelief at the sight of the mustard yellow wolf at her feet. She hadn't seen him since **he'd broken out of prison in some misguided attempt at freeing ECS Units. Jack had managed to get him back into custody, but something had reportedly happened to his prison transport. "Where have you been all of this time, Edge?"

"I...Can't tell you." Edge replied, nervously rubbing the spot where a mechanical implant on his spine was. "But...I am here to help."

The two women looked at him skeptically.

"Listen, I understand that I'm not the most trustworthy individual. But Jack was the one guy who stuck it out for me, and while I didn't get along with the jungle boy that much, Jack cared about him. So, for what it's worth, let me lend my sword to this fight." He held up his custom blade at that last part, showing its mechanical engineering for all to see. Cyber simply stepped forward.

"-I get the final blow. Got it?-"

"You're the boss." Edge affirmed, not even needing Spike to translate, for some reason the hedgehog didn't bother asking about. Cyber nodded, then began proceeding into the cave ahead. Edge followed, and after a moment's hesitation, did so too.

*The events of Deserted.

**The events of Those Who Left Us Behind