Knuckles sat on the side of a road, its edge overlooking the water at the island's shore. Some planks of wood from the City's destroyed docks still floated nearby as a reminder that there was no peaceful getaway from this endless battle.

If only the battle were only against the enemy, he thought, letting out a sigh. Tails had nearly had another meltdown before his midday watch, and handling that always got the echidna's blood boiling. Once the fox had left, Knuckles decided he wanted to step out and cool off so he could do his duty with a level head.

What had started out as stubborn searches for the Chaos and Master Emeralds had turned into him becoming the commander of the Resistance as a whole. For having grown up completely isolated from society, he was pretty good at it! Most of the time, anyway.

He stood up and stretched. His knees popped, and he cracked his signature knuckles, shaking out his hands. It was a good time to head back.

Then the siren went off. It was definitely a good time to head back. He put some skip in his step and headed out to battle.

The automatic door to their control room opened before Knuckles' authori- err, eyes. The room wasn't much – it was an underground bunker with brick walls and no connecting rooms. It was only their control center because it had one of the few generators in the City that was still functioning. As he entered, he saw most of the usual faces gathered around: Silver, Amy, and the Chaotix. That meant Tails wasn't back yet.

"Knuckles! What's the sitrep, commander?" Silver asked.

"Happy to see you're all still alive. I should really be the one asking you that, though. Do any of you know the cause of the alarm?"

"Didn't you get Tails' message?" Amy responded. Knuckles looked sheepishly at his communicator, which he had shut off when he went outside.

"He said he found a survivor from the city. He also mentioned something about Eggman's weapons and being able to harm the Red Mask."

"Harm the Red Mask? Isn't that a little far-fetched?" Knuckles doubted.

"That's a question they'll have to answer when they get here," Espio stated.

It wasn't long before the automatic door opened once again, and in stepped a familiar yellow fox, followed by a shorter red bird dressed like this was a business meeting.

"Ah, there you are!" Vector saluted. "Who's your friend here?"

The bird stood up tall and brought forward a strange red firearm, holding it out in both of his hands. "My name is Ledge the Cardinal, and I present to you what could be the answer to our problems."

Ledge flinched as a yellow-jacketed yellowjacket flew into his face and began inspecting his attire and his weapon.

"Hm… doesn't look like much," Charmy assessed.

"Neither do you, Charmy, but I still manage to find a use for your pointy butt!" Knuckles teased.

The bee giggled.

"And how's that gonna solve our problems?" Vector questioned.

Tails took to the center of the room, and all eyes were upon him. "The story is that this brave fellow survived a battle with the Red Mask when it destroyed those weapons we stole a few months back. He made it out in one piece, with one of the weapons, and was mostly able to restore it to use."

"Mostly?" Espio inquired.

"Yes, uh, well, it had a little bit of trouble when I attempted to incinerate some robots with it. It may or may not have been the impetus of an alarm and robot attack." Ledge admitted.

Knuckles let out a guffaw. "So that was your doing, then? You may want to work on your first impressions a little bit."

"Oh, please, that's not so bad as far as our introductions go," Amy reassured. "I first met the Chaotix by getting in a fight with them!"

"Yeah, I remember that!" Vector added. "We thought you guys had stolen that Chao, but then it actually belonged to one of you…"

The room fell silent after his comment. It had reminded them that they hadn't seen Cream, her family, or Big the Cat since the takeover began. For all they knew, Gemerl had killed them when it went rogue and joined the Red Mask.

"Uh, anyway…" Silver said to break the tension, "this weapon of yours doesn't work, right? How long do you think it will be before we can start using it?"

"Between Tails and myself, hopefully by tomorrow. I had it in working order just this morning."

"Well, we've got no time to waste, then!" Tails said conclusively. "Let's get to work!"

The next few days were a productive turn of events. Tails discovered that what Ledge had thought was a fuel reservoir was actually a fuel generator, and the weapon was an easy fix with that correction in mind. They didn't know how it worked, but all that mattered for the immediate moment was that it did.

Among the few supplies the Resistance had salvaged was a crate full of grappling hooks, and it didn't take long to create and train Ledge in the use of a wrist-mounted one to make use of his naturally acrobatic build.

However, the most important news came when they heard from their spy in Eggman's rebuilt space station, the Death Egg…

Ledge and Espio returned from a joint watch/training session to find everyone else gathered around in anticipation. Knuckles was at the head of the room, pacing around and seeming very antsy. When the door opened, they all stopped what they were doing, all of their heads turning in the direction of the entrants.

"Is there a problem?" Espio asked coolly.

"Quite the opposite," Knuckles answered. "Now that we're all here, I have some incredible news to share! Sonic is alive!"

"No way! That's excellent!" Silver exclaimed, a firm smile appearing on his face.

Amy, on the other hand, burst into tears on the floor. "What?! Oh-ho-ho, thank goodness! I knew it! I knew it! I've been dreaming of this moment!"

Tails and Vector placed comforting hands on her shoulders.

"He's captured in the orbiting prison," Knuckles informed. "Rouge says he's in a solitary confinement cell, and they've been torturing him this whole time."

"That's horrible! We have to rescue him," Charmy suggested.

"I've already thought of a plan. Eggman's space port is located in his northernmost base near Holoska – that's how Rouge snuck aboard. If we can get there too, we can 'borrow' a shuttle. C'mon, guys. Who's up for an old-school style jailbreak?"

It was times like these that Ledge questioned his costume choice. As stylish as his suit was, it provided very little protection against the raging cold of the North Base. He was going to need to use his weapon as a makeshift iron to re-crease it because of how wet it was getting from the snow.

He looked down upon the broad metal complex from the overlooking mountain ridge. From here, it appeared to be a mess of buildings, rails, ports, and runways, but they knew that Eggman would obsess over every detail. It was laid out for efficiency; all of the trains would be on-time and all of their contents would have a purpose. You can't fit the world on the seat of your pants.

Fortunately, that meant they could calculate their own moves around his schedule and expect the same reliability. They weren't able to extract the entirety of Eggman's operation plans, though, so they still needed to figure out where the shuttle was launching from. All eight of them had devised their own route to cover the base's launch pads as quickly as possible.

Knuckles turned and faced everyone. "Alright, gang, you know the plan. We have 20 minutes until the next shuttle launch. Split up and find it. We don't leave without anyone standing here right now. I know stealth isn't everyone's strong suit, but we want to avoid being caught here if at all possible. Any questions?"

Ledge wanted to say something. This was his first mission, after all, and he was really feeling the nerves. Although they had all been living in fear of death for the last six months, the stakes were higher than ever now that they were breaching Eggman's base directly. There was no one left to save the world, so they could not afford any mistakes.

But he couldn't show them that. He had to keep poise. They were depending on him. And for that… he needed to deviate from the plan a little bit.

"All good here," Silver answered.

"Okay! Good luck out there."

Everyone immediately took off in their own directions. They had no time to lose.

Ledge's route went west, towards the supply centers and his real destination, the computer rooms. He hopped and skidded down the snowy slope rapidly, landing on a set of huge pipes that protruded from the mountainside and connected with an elevated bridge that led to the supply center.

He ran along them, but as he got closer, he saw that the pipes sloped downwards towards the ground and ran to the center of the base. When he had read the floor plan, he expected them to attach to the underside of the bridge and he could get on it that way. From all the way down here, the road was much too high to jump up, even with his good jumping ability.

Okay, grappling hook time… it's just like Espio taught you… use your weight and swing around and up… he reminded himself.

He eyed up his shot to a light structure overhanging the road and fired. He watched with bated breath as it tethered to the lights, and he jumped when he felt it begin to pull him up.

Quickly releasing the hook, he landed smoothly on the service road. Because the launch was soon, all of the supply vehicles had already pulled into the base, at least according to the schedule. Naturally, it also came as a surprise to see a bunch of robots lining the road still. They looked somewhat like Egg Pawns, but the main body had more a cylindrical shape and was actually the body, with the head being a tiny protrusion from the top.

Ledge didn't expect that difference to matter once he, at long last, turned up the heat. Holding his incendiary gun confidently in hand, he pressed the trigger, and a roar of flames came out of the nozzle.

He ran down the road, very conspicuously turning all the Egg Fighters from cold steel into hot trash. It sprayed up a cloud of powdered snow ahead of him which quickly sublimed into steam as he blazed past. Ledge was thriving on the adrenaline and satisfaction of seeing his handiwork finally work, for real this time.

Vector: "Stay focused, rookie! We're here to find a shuttle!"

Ledge: "My apologies. I needed to redeem myself."

Up ahead, Ledge could see that multiple roads converged into what he knew to be a checkpoint station, and above that were a series of catwalks that crossed the roads. He knew he would need to sneak up and around, but that's easier said than done when it's a military-grade base and there's a fifty-foot drop beneath you.

Hm… From this trajectory… Aha!

Another shot of the grappling hook and Ledge was swinging between two of the booths that would have noticed his presence if he had walked past them on the roads. Now in the middle of the air, he shot the hook at the catwalk and rocketed towards it. He caught the railing and pivoted his momentum so he would hit the ground running.

There was another line of robots ahead of him, and his flames either sent them careening off the edge or melted them into pools of steel that drained through the grate flooring of the catwalk. Ledge made sure to watch his footwork so he wouldn't step in any of that.

The objective was deeper in the base, though, so he hopped back down onto the farthest roads and pushed further.

Espio: "Espio here. I had to engage enemies in the orbital tunnel. I think I can hold them off, but expect heightened security."

Espio's supposed to be the silent ninja. If he's getting caught, then that can't be good.

Ledge decided that he ought to stick to high places if possible. His next opportunity to ascend was a series of square platforms that he had to guess would be used to lift cargo. Today they were going to be lifting him, and he performed a series of leaps to scale them quickly.

Unfortunately, they didn't lead anywhere. There was a gap between the entrance and the next building complex, and the only notable thing up here was another set of huge pipes that crossed through the middle.

"Here we go again…" he muttered under his breath.

He reached out his arm and watched the tiny claw launch itself at the pipes. When he felt it tug on his arm, he jumped out and swung down. He did enjoy the sensation of pseudo-flying like this, but he'd enjoy it more if it wasn't something he had to concentrate on.

There was no time simply to let the feeling of the wind and the speed of his movement flow through him. Every moment was spent calculating: making sure he was keeping pendulum form, gauging when to release and potentially line up another shot, and sticking the landing without any grievous injuries.

Perhaps he could extend it for just a little bit, though. As he came around to the next platform, he allowed himself to keep going, and he flew back around through the interweaving pipes before letting go and flipping onto the structure. It appeared to be used for transporting cargo, as it was directly attached to some rails that led towards one of the big railroads. That was where he needed to go, so he got a running start and jumped on the rails.

Vector: "Hey, that looks like a freight train!"

Ledge: "I'm near one of the sets of tracks. Is it travelling along them?"

Amy: "Yes, but it's carrying supplies. I don't think it's armed or anything."

Ledge processed this new information. Hm, we didn't anticipate any more trains coming… It must be for the next shuttle or something. But I think I could use it to my advantage.

The rails ended at a loading platform, and he quickly jumped up to the top. Indeed, there was a large train headed down the tracks, and it was going to pass by quickly.

Okay… NOW!

He leaped onto the train as it flew by but found himself sliding on the icy surface. He only barely managed to grip the corner of the cart he was on and pulled himself up. There wasn't a moment to rest, though, as a low overhang was approaching and he would become tenderized turkey in very short order if he didn't move.

Survival instincts took over. Almost automatically, he identified a decent looking grapple point on another set of rails and shot up. As soon as he cleared the rail, he spotted a smaller tram on the tracks, heading straight towards him. He fired the hook to somewhere again and swung out from in front of it. The hook retracted without him realizing it, and he found himself beginning to freefall.

Through the blowing snow, he could identify what looked like solid ground in the distance, but it was very far. He would have to time his grappling hook just right for it to be in range. It felt like an eternity lining up the shot, even though it wasn't more than a brief moment. His aim struck true, and he successfully pulled himself to safety.

With his feet on terra firma, he had to resist the wave of exhaustion that came over him. No time to waste, he repeated mentally. If he remembered correctly, he was close to the computer room, and he began searching for a door to get inside. He found one pretty quickly – an iron door with a handle. It was bizarre that a mostly autonomous facility would have it, but he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. The handle turned, but the door wouldn't open. Ledge wasn't a door expert, but that's usually not how they work.

"Oh, I know. It must be frozen shut," he thought aloud. "Good thing I have a high-power defroster on hand."

Using quick puffs of the flamethrower, he steamed the edges of the door before trying to open it again. It worked like a charm, and he got inside.

The interior was a short hallway that branched from a much wider hallway, one with proper lighting and carpeting. The end of the hall opened into a room with lots of small lights that were unmistakably servers. Unfortunately, there were about ten Egg Pawns on patrol in the middle of them. They hadn't noticed him enter, and they were going around a corner soon. It would be easy to sneak past them.

Amy: "All quiet at the launch pad for now. Grab a shuttle before they sound the alert!"

Twenty optic lights began shining directly at Ledge.

Well they're gonna sound the alert now. Before the robots had a chance to fire, they were turned into fire as the red bird rushed past them into the computer room. His keen yellow eyes surveyed the room and spotted a couple monitors scattered about. He almost sprinted to the nearest one, if not for the other delicate machinery in the room.

The keyboard and interface were not only usable, but actually somewhat dated. Now that he thought about it more, six months was a really short time on a developmental scale. To be able to build the enormous Death Egg and a fully operational base to service it in that time would've been harrowing indeed, even with the Red Mask being able to conjure seemingly anything it pleased. It was reasonable that Eggman may have recycled some old designs.

Fingers typing like lightning, the engineer inquired for any key words that may lead to records of the technology currently sitting in his lap. Obviously, terms like "energy weapon" or "fire generator" would turn up nothing specific because Eggman had a lot of those. What he was looking for was a… a reactor. A miniature renewable energy reactor.

Bingo. Eight files and a folder full of research. He downloaded the directory onto a flash drive he had loaned himself from Tails. There would be time to peck apart the information later.

Vector: "Perfect! They won't mind if we borrow this one for a while."

Ledge was about to rush out of the room, but something else on the desk caught his eye. It was a red capsule with an image of fire on it. When he was rebuilding the weapon, he had found a slot that he couldn't figure out what it did. It wasn't used in the mechanism that fueled the flamethrower, and his best guess was that it was an exhaust port. But this capsule looked like it would slot right in.

Exiting the way he entered, Ledge quickly took off on a long walkway that went straight to the cargo storage area. The original plan was for him to follow the train lines through here to the loading bay for the shuttles. He could see the train from earlier had stationed there now, and a variety of cranes and other service and guard robots were in the unloading process.

Suddenly, a metallic football as large as he was jumped down from above and nearly crushed him with its similarly shaped arms. He stumbled backwards and, in a panic, pressed whatever closest button he could find on his weapon.

Instead of its usual stream of flames, the red cover opened up super wide and unleashed an explosion. The Egg Launcher itself then exploded, its arms being sent flying into and also exploding some of the other cargo. Ledge himself was recoiled back a few feet in the air, landing on his butt.

Ledge: "I regret to inform you all that we won't need to worry about setting off the alarm anymore."

Knuckles: "Rookie! Get outta there as soon as possible! Everyone else is aboard. Step on it!"

Large amounts of enemies were starting to congregate on all sides of him. Fighting them all would be worthless, not to mention he would miss the shuttle if he did. He had to think of something, and fast.

That explosion… it had a lot of push to it. Can I clear a path for myself? Or maybe… yes, that might be crazy enough to work! It's firebird time!

Pointing the weapon at the ground, he jumped and fired it. As he expected, the explosion propelled him a significant distance into the air. Putting his skills to the test, he kept firing, timing the triggers to keep him moving higher and farther away from where he was. Like a firestorm, he erratically travelled across the cargo area towards the launch zones.

And then, a hundred feet in the air, the weapon wouldn't fire anymore. Now tumbling out of control, he struggled to orient himself. There was blurred metal all around him at some distance, so he couldn't tell which direction the sky was, and more importantly which one was the ground.

What did Espio- no, Charmy. Charmy told me how to manage vertigo. He couldn't think rationally enough to remember what the solution was, though. Too many muddled stimuli were consuming his brainpower. He could only remember what he had felt. Just a moment to enjoy the sensation…

Ledge closed his eyes. He allowed the feeling of the wind and the speed of his movement to flow through him. He was flying. Flying through the power of technology, just as the Babylonians have been doing for centuries. Sure, it was, uh, not how they intended it in the slightest, but if they lived, he could, too. It would be an embarrassment not to.

Opening his eyes, the suited avian got ahold of his sense. He righted himself in the air. There was less than half the distance now between him and becoming cold turkey, but he could see a plan. He shot the grappling hook at service pipe overhead, and it caught. He swung down, curling up to avoid losing his feet to the pavement, and landed in a run towards the shuttle that was waiting for him.