It isn't long before a Resistance Member is able to track you down, informing you that Silver and the others are gathering in the Meeting Room. Apparently a new meeting is about to go down, and your presence is requested.

You're escorted across HQ and to the Meeting Room, while everyone is settling in. You take your seat just as Silver is about to start.

"First and foremost," he says, "Our last mission was a success. Great job, everybody! However, during the last mission, we learned more about Eggman Nega's secret lab… According to Sonic, Nega has several prisoners held captive for experimentation, much like the kind Oydax went through."

The Wisp-Badnik tightens his fist in response.

"Therefore, on top of our last mission, we need to start a new one; Operation: Rescue! We're going to return to Nega's lab, free everyone captured, and then destroy the building once and for all so he doesn't do any sort of experiments anymore!"

The room erupts with cheers of encouragement.

Silver turns to you and your friends. "I'm sorry guys, but we'll still need to hold off sending you back to your timeline a little while longer."

You nod and narrow your eyes. "Fine by us," you reply, "After all, I made a promise to those prisoners that I'd return for them. And I do NOT intend on breaking that promise anytime soon."

"Then I guess it's settled," Silver announces, "Time to put our rescue plan into motion!"

Tech places a small tablet in the center of the table and activates it. A hologram of the map of the western part of the city appears. Silver points up at the map. "Since our last mission, security has increased vastly around the entire city, including the lab. There's no telling where Eggman Nega is hiding now, but that isn't important. As far as he knows, we're still in the dark about what's in his Secret Lab, so he shouldn't have reason to think we're going back to the building, especially since we got what we came for."

Silver backs out of the map, increasing the ratio and showing more of the city. "Since we don't want to give away our position, ergo our plan, we'll need to set up dummy-attacks on all major sectors of the city. Meanwhile, our team will break back into the building and fight our way to the lab."

"AHEM!" Shadow stands up from his seat after clearing his voice.

"Um… yes Shadow?" Silver asks.

"I can't help but notice how much work you're putting yourself through just to get into a building," Shadow replies. "Let alone a lab you were never once able to access, and didn't even know what was in it up until now."

"If you have any better solutions, I'm open to hearing them…"

"As a matter of fact, I do…" Shadow looks over to you, "Sonic, you still have the Chaos Emeralds on you?"

You double check your belongings, then nod. "I do."

Shadow smirks. "I can do Chaos Control."

Silver's eyes widen. "Chaos Control… I think I remember that technique… You could just transport us inside the Secret Lab, couldn't you?"

"If close enough, and given an idea where to go, then yes."

You give a snarky grin. "Well, aren't you Mr. Deus ex Machina."

"That'll make things much easier then," says Silver, confidently, "Our team will make our way through the tunnels near the lab. Shadow, we'll need you to use Chaos Control to teleport us in. Oydax, we'll definitely need you to help hold back any robots in the way, and use your powers to shield us and the prisoners while we try to free them. Then Shadow will teleport us back out when we're ready."

Shadow crosses his arms and nods. "As long as I get a piece of the action as well."

"Sonic, we'll need you to come along too," says Silver, "I know you're just recovering from the last mission, but you know most of the layout of the lab already."

You give a thumbs-up. "No sweat, buddy!"

"I-Volunteer-My-Firepower-As-Well," Omega drones in.

"I should come too," says Shade, "It seems Eggman Nega has made good use of the Nocturne technology left behind. I can help get around it."

"All right," Silver nods, "Everybody else team up with one another. Tech will assign different sectors to each one of you. Remember, distraction is the key. We're not on any suicide missions here. If things get too tough, fall back and return to HQ. Got it?"

"Yes sir!" the room replies.

"Move out!"

Everybody piles out of the room. Before your team heads out, Tech uploads a copy of the map to Silver's own wrist device, then goes off to do his task. Silver then leads you all down the same corridors that had taken you to the lab before.

After another lengthy walk, you all make it to the same spot that leads you to the lab. Only this time, instead of climbing the ladder out the manhole, you gather by the wall. "Well, Shadow?" says Silver.

Shadow closes his eyes and concentrates. "I can feel it," he murmurs, "There's much activity nearby…" He gives a small smirk, "I know exactly where to go."

You toss Shadow a Chaos Emerald. He catches with ease, and holds it up high. "Chaos CONTROL!"

In a flash, you are all suddenly warped from the corridors into a dark but familiar room. Only this time, there aren't any experiments taking place…

Instead, there are armies of robots, all standing in a row, as if waiting for you.

"TAKE COVER!" Silver screams. Everyone dives to the side as gunfire and lasers suddenly ring out. Oydax is the only one who doesn't dive, but rather places up a shield of blue blocks to protect everyone. Omega jumps back and shoots rounds of bullets himself, while Oydax joins in with his own built-in gun.

"Something's not right here!" Silver shouts over the gunfire, "It's like they were ready for us! Sonic, you said you were able to get through without detection. How would they know we were coming?!"

"I dunno!" you reply, "The prisoners were the only ones I talked to. I doubt they'd sabotage their own rescue!"

"Wait!" Shade cries, "Sonic, the other day when you attacked Nega head on… you mentioned something about what he was doing to 'all those people and wisps.' He probably figured the whole thing out himself!"

You think back to that moment…

"You sick freak!" you scream, "All those things you do to those people below… and to those wisps! And now you tried to kill Tails?! NOW it's personal!"

You slap your palm on your face. "D'oh!" you shout, "I'm such an idiot!"

"Yes you are!" Shadow shouts as he suddenly jumps into battle and starts attacking the robots himself.

"Forget it, Sonic," Silver replies, "We'll just have to improvise. Find the prisoners. I'll cover you!"

You quickly scan the room, trying to remember where you saw the cell. You manage to locate the elevator, and recall the prisoners being not far off.

"This way!" you call as you rush ahead. Shade is on your heels, and Silver brings up the rear, holding off any stray attacks with his powers. You make it to the cell…

… only to find it completely empty.

"What?" you cry, "No! They were right here!"

"How much do you want to bet Nega relocated them?" Shade snides.

Silver clenches his fists. "Nothing more we can do right now," he says, "We should just help the others take down these robots, and we'll search later."

The three of you rush into battle. Silver uses his psychokinesis to take down the robots, and Shade's weapons are strong enough to destroy them. You, on the other hand, are having trouble keeping the robots down. These are nothing like Eggman's old robots…

One particularly large robot manages to land a hit on you, smacking you hard to the ground. Fortunately, it doesn't have the chance to finish you off, as you are suddenly surrounded by a shield of blue boxes, just as Oydax destroys the robot with his sharp cricket axe.

"Sonic!" he calls, "The Wisps weren't moved! They're still encapsulated! It's too dangerous to free them, but they tell me the prisoners were moved to a lower lever underneath us!"

"Guess we gotta take the elevator then," you jump to your feet and race to the elevator in the corner, grabbing Shade on your way, "Come on, we need you!" you say quickly as you jump in. Oydax quickly gets in with you, and you ride your way down to an even lower level.

The elevator stops at its location, but the doors don't open. You recall what Serena, the hedgehog prisoner, had told you…

"We need a code to open these doors," you tell Shade and Oydax, "Otherwise we'll end up setting off an alarm."

"Kind of redundant, seeing how everybody in this city knows we're here now," Shade mutters.

"Yeah, good point," you look up to the Wisp-Badnik, "Oydax, if you please?"

"With pleasure!" Oydax aims his arm-cannon at the panel and blasts it to pieces. On cue, the alarms sound, and the doors open. Right in front of you are a line of guard robots, their pistols aimed and ready to fire. Oydax is quick to put up his shields as you and Shade examine the room.

You didn't realize just how many prisoners there were. The cell above was large and everyone seemed crammed in it, but down here, there were two, much longer cells on each side, both with likewise crammed, frightened prisoners.

"Any idea how we're going to do this, Sonic?" Shade asks you.

You quickly survey the situation; Oydax still has his blue-cube shields up while the guards are still trying to attack them. These guards are the same as the ones above, meaning your attacks won't cause as much damage as they would in the past.

But you also consider the fact that if you all go into attack, somebody in the cells could get hit in the crossfire.

Regardless, you know Oydax's cube shield powers will come in handy.

"Okay, first things first!" you call out, "We gotta get these guys out of those cells. Oydax, can you keep these guards under wraps for us?"

"I'll see what I can do," Oydax holds out both hands and makes eight, massive cube shields, which he uses to encase the guard-robots ahead of them. "Okay, do your thing!" he orders, "Hurry!"

You and Shade run down to one of the long cells. "You've returned!" you hear a voice within the crowd.

"Told ya I'd be back!" you grin, and search up and down the cell bars, "Anyone know how to open these?"

"No idea," another prisoner answers, "There aren't any locks."

Shade examines the bars closely. "Nocturne material," she mutters, "Not many things can break through this." She smirks, however, and activates her Leech Blade bracelets. "Lucky for me, I have what it takes to break it."

You step back as Shade leaps up, slashing the bars with her pink energy blades, and slashes below, completely breaking off the bars. Prisoners quickly begin piling out, while Shade rushes to the other side and repeats.

"Good job, guys," Oydax calls, "But now what? These robots are relentless! And once I drop these shields, they're going to shoot everyone and everything! And there's not much room for retreat."

You scratch your head annoyingly. "I… probably didn't think this through all the way…"

"If only there was a way to contact Shadow," says Shade, "He could use Chaos Control to warp everybody back."

Chaos Control…

CHAOS CONTROL!

You have six emeralds on you. And you know how to use Chaos Control!

"I got this!" you say as you pull out the Chaos Emeralds, "Once we're gone, you guys get back upstairs and help the others. I'll be right with you!"

You close your eyes and concentrate as hard as you can, tapping in the emeralds' powers. Like a sixth sense, you're able to locate the corridor you and your team had initially come in, and you focus your energy on the released prisoners.

"Sonic? What are y-?"

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

With the help of the six emeralds, you're able to teleport yourself and every single prisoner from the dungeon to the corridors. Even so, you don't use Chaos Control that often and having to transport THAT many people took a toll on your body. You fall over on your knees and try to stop the spinning in your head.

You're suddenly being pulled upward and brought into a hug. "You did it!" a female voice chimes.

"Serena...?" You break your hug and face the older female hedgehog in the face.

"I knew you'd come back," Serena says with a smile, "Thank you."

You nod and smile. "I dunno the way to headquarters," you tell everyone, "So if you don't mind sitting still for a little while longer, I'll bring back the rest, and we'll take you there."

Another former prisoner stretches his arms. "What's a few more minutes?" he says, "I'm just glad to have room to move my limbs around!"

You smile and nod and then turn and focus your energy once more. "Chaos Control!"

You're back with the others in the Secret Lab, which is much quieter now. The robot guards are all now laying in scrap heaps themselves. Oydax and Shade had joined back with the others, having broken through the elevator door. And the capsules holding the Wisps were now broken, and they were flying around joyfully.

"My friends!" Oydax chimes, holding out his arms. The Wisps fly down and circle the Wisp-Badnik with joy.

"Sonic, what just happened?" Silver asks, approaching you, "Shadow said he felt another chaotic force go through. Was that you? What happened to the prisoners?"

"They're safe," you smile, "I used Chaos Control myself to take them to the corridor safely."

"How 'convenient' of you to suddenly remember you can use the Chaos Emeralds' power too," Shadow grunts as he stomps towards you, looking very aggravated.

"Yes," Shade adds, "I didn't know you knew Chaos Control as well."

You sheepishly scratch the back of your head, "Sorry," you say, "It's not a preferred technique of mine. Shadow does it better."

Shadow crosses his arms and huffs. "At least you're willing to admit it…" He then glances over at you. "If you don't mind, will you use 'my' technique one more time to get everyone here to safety? Silver has asked one last favor from me."

You raise an eyebrow. "What favor is that?"

"To destroy this entire building… with my other technique."

"Other technique…?" You suddenly realize what he means. "Ohhh… THAT technique."

"The one I'm most DEFINITELY better than you at." Shadow waves you away, "Get going! You've got five minutes to get everyone as far away as possible."

"Stay safe, Shadow," you say, before you close your eyes and concentrate once more. "Chaos Control!"

In a flash, you, Shade, Silver, Oydax, Omega, and the Wisps are brought back to the corridors, where all the prisoners are waiting. However, using Chaos Control this many times has taken its toll once more, and you again fall forward on your knees.

"No time to chat, everybody!" Silver shouts out, "Move it! Make your way down this direction! Hurry! This lab is coming down!"

The prisoners don't waste a second as they all turn and start rushing down the corridors. Shade takes you by the arm and helps you back up, but Omega suddenly sweeps you in his clawed hand and holds you tight as he and everyone else race down the corridor with the prisoner.

"Hey! Omega!" you call, "This isn't necessary! I can walk!"

"Life-Sensors-Detect-51%-Decrease-Of-Energy," Omega replies, "You-Can-Walk-But-You-Are-Unable-To- Run. Allow-Me-To-Assist."

You hate feeling helpless, but seeing as you aren't up to running at that moment, you give in and allow Omega to carry you.

At that moment, you feel a sudden, extreme surge of chaos energy nearby. Following that, a loud explosion rings out, and the corridors shake wildly. Everybody falls over, some crying in panic. The built-in lights flicker, and momentarily go out.

Once things finally calm down, the lights blink back on, and the ground settles. "What was that..?" a woman asks.

"Chaos Blast," Silver replies, "One of Shadow's most powerful attacks. He said something about it during the fight against the guards, but it would also be 'overkill', especially since there's too many innocent people around. So I asked him to hold it until the end."

"Anywhere else?"

Everybody turns around to see Shadow casually approaching everybody, throwing the Chaos Emerald you had given him earlier up and down in his hand. "That lab is no more. Nega wasn't in it, however… I could take the rest of the emeralds and turn this entire city into a landfill if you desire."

"As great as that sounds, Shadow," says Silver, "We can't risk any other innocent lives possibly being out there. Plus we can't just blow up all these factories. We may inadvertently cause a nuclear explosion. There's some pretty lethal material laying around the city."

Shadow mutters. "Of course there is…"

"Sorry, Shadow," you grin, "You'll have to wait another day or two before you can go gung-ho on destruction."

He sneers at you. "I wouldn't talk in such a state of despair you're in, Sonic."

Noticing you're still in Omega's hand being carried, you face-fault, then glance away, annoyed. "Touché…"

As you had glanced off, your line of sight falls upon Serena, moving forward, but her gaze is fixed on Silver. The younger hedgehog is floating above, keeping an eye on everybody. It's then you notice something… She has silver-colored fur and golden eyes too.

And you did recall her talking about her son… Brave, sense of justice, optimistic…

Was she Silver's…?

You figure you have nothing to lose just to find out.

"Hey, how you doing over there, Serena?" you say loudly. A lot of people jump at just how loud you were. Serena looks over at you, surprised.

Silver stops in his tracks and whips around quickly. He looks down at you, then over to the older hedgehog. Upon seeing her, he slowly drops to the ground. Serena looks back at him, and grows a wide smile. "Silver..!"

Silver's eyes are as wide as saucers as he stares back. "M… Mom..?"

You quietly snicker to yourself. Yup, you had a feeling you were right.

Tears stream down Serena's cheeks, and she rushes over and engulfs the younger hedgehog in a deep hug. Silver is frozen with shock. But eventually, he raises his arms and returns the hug tightly. The two drop to their knees and hold each other tightly. You hear Serena sniffling and hucking, but surprisingly, you hear a second sniffle and huck as well.

"How sweet," Oydax says quietly to you, "I don't think I've ever seen Silver cry before."

You lower your head. "Dang… I didn't mean to make him cry."

"It's not necessarily a bad thing, Sonic," Shade replies, "Though, we should give them their privacy, don't you think?"

You nod. "Good idea. Oh and Omega, you can put me down now..."

Omega places you back on your feet. You and the others then usher the freed prisoners down the corridor and back to HQ, giving Silver and his mother their much-needed privacy.

"I still say we level the city," Shadow mutters.

"Not right now," you tell him, "We've done enough damage for one day. Time to head back and relax."

TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 4B