Restoration HQ, 3 Days Later…

Whisper was ashamed of herself. She went into that Egg base knowing full well Tangle wasn't in her right mind. She went in there with the express purpose of watching Tangle so she wouldn't do anything similar to what she did. She knew that Dark Tangle didn't consider Whisper her friend. But yet, despite all that, when the inevitable came, she still broke down. Unable to help herself, she just waited in that Egg base to…

No, stop. You weren't in your right mind then. Those weren't your true thoughts. Whisper berated herself. But a part of her knew. A small, dark corner of her mind was still whispering that maybe it would have been better to have just… stayed in there. Her one true friend since the original Diamond Cutters, and she betrayed Whisper with barely a second thought. Eggman specifically made sure it would hit all of Whisper's trauma when he put on that… speech.

He made sure Tangle would act just like Mimic did when he betrayed them.

Speaking of Mimic, Whisper thought, turning to glance at the newest occupant of Restoration HQ, quietly leaning against a wall with his eyes closed. He was obviously trying to make his presence smaller, but anyone who passed by him at the very least gave him a second glance in shock. By this point, after the many things he's done, he was a pretty infamous enemy of the Restoration, or at least specifically the Neo Diamond Cutters. Mimic could have taken any shape to be far less conspicuous, but after Whisper was finally back to her proper senses, he told her that as long as he was his good self, he wouldn't be hiding under his shapeshifting when 'facing the music' as he put it.

If Whisper was confused about how she felt about Mimic before, the stunt he pulled in the Egg base really screwed with Whisper's head about him. She remembered after she properly came to, Mimic was only really there to see if she was ok, before he left for Sonic to explain what happened. By that point, Whisper honestly didn't properly remember everything that went down after Tangle joined Eggman, all of it a grief and trauma stricken blur. Sonic told her though, of some of the things he overheard her scream, although it most definitely wasn't all of it. She winced at the thought. The thing that really stunned her though was learning that Mimic carried her out of there to keep her alive, all while she was screaming horrible things at him.

She still didn't entirely know how to feel about that.

She noticed that Mimic was quietly leaving the lounge, no doubt heading back to his new room, which was little more than a glorified jail cell, although it still offered privacy. She remembered how it was briefly suggested that Mimic be put back into an actual prison, but it was overruled. Although, it was a dicey thing at first. Sonic was heavily against it, of course, but for once his opinions were overruled on the matter of Mimic. Lanolin was also adamant that he pay for his past crimes, change of heart or not. Ironically enough, it was Whisper who kept Mimic out of prison, although she suggested the compromise of him staying in Restoration HQ where he could be watched.

Whisper didn't like Mimic. Never would, after all he's done. But Mimic was the one to save her life. He could have left her in that exploding wreck, hell she begged him to, but he still got her out, regardless. Whatever his past actions, that laser turned him into a different person. Whisper was a lot of things, but she just knew she didn't have it in her to hate the new Mimic after what he did.

Besides, from what Sonic confided to me, he already hates himself more than I could hate him. Whisper thought darkly. Around a day after Whisper came back into her proper senses, she started to notice that Mimic rarely hung around, only truly staying in his room, probably brooding. At first she had security concerns, but surveillance only showed him moodily staring at the walls, or on rare occasions, seeing him curled on the ground with a haunted look. By that point, she still didn't want to really talk with him, so she asked Sonic what was the problem.

She remembered Sonic looking reluctant, for once in his life, but he told her anyway that Mimic contemplated suicide, and there was a high chance the only reason he didn't go through with it was because he was saving her. She remembered a small, very vindictive part of her was almost glad at the thought, but the rest of her was just horrified. In fact, she made the conscious effort to make sure Mimic didn't go through with it at some later date.

Credit where it's due, Sonic could give good advice when it mattered. Mimic told her that he wouldn't go through with it, at least until Tangle was saved and this whole mess was sorted, as suggested by Sonic. He made no promises for after, but he said it probably wouldn't matter because this mess also involved potentially fixing him, and by that point he would most assuredly not be feeling the longing, he joked grimly. Whisper didn't find it all that funny. At least he still kind of had a sense of humor.

Before Whisper could spend more time brooding, one of the speakers spoke up in Jewel's voice, "Will Sonic, Tails, Mimic, and the Neo Diamond Cutters come to the meeting room, please?" She said politely.

Whisper sighed, knowing what was most likely about to come. As Mimic said, time to face the music.

Ten Minutes Later

Whisper, Jewel, Lanolin, Tails, Sonic, and Mimic were all crowded around a large holographic map of several Chaos Emerald locations. Three of them were conspicuously X'd out.

Whisper noticed how low the energy seemed, and flinched at the thought. The reason for the lack of energy was obvious, their most energetic member's absence weighing heavily on the minds of everyone inside the room, (with maybe the exception of Mimic). Whisper looked over to Jewel, who frankly looked the worst out of everyone in the room. While the realization of Tangle's betrayal hit Whisper hard, she would argue that it hit even worse for Jewel. Jewel and Tangle have been longtime childhood friends, and now Jewel had to work with the knowledge that she would be going against her best friend? While it certainly wasn't as sudden and as shocking as Whisper's breakdown, Jewel's anguish was a quiet slow burn that lasted for a long time and would most likely last until they fixed Tangle, no matter how long it would take.

The worst part was that Jewel couldn't even be given any time to grieve, as Eggman started to steal Chaos Emeralds almost immediately after his Egg base fell, meaning that his big plan was finally under way. Jewel had to get into 'commander mode' almost as soon as she heard the news. Whisper had a feeling though, that if they didn't sort this situation out soon, Jewel was gonna have her own mental breakdown.

"Let's go over the news so far. Currently, Eggman has three Chaos Emeralds out of seven. The first one was the White Chaos Emerald he stole from Tails, presumably to create his "Morality Switch" laser, which was then used to… um…" Jewel petered out, a look of pain crossing her face, before she took a deep breath and continued, "To convert Tangle to the enemy's side. A little over a day later, the unknown islander along with Eggman's AI daughter Sage seemed to raid the museum that held the Blue Chaos Emerald. By very unfortunate coincidence, the museum's curator happened to find the Red Chaos Emerald, whose location was unknown before that point, nearly right before the raid. He had placed it into the same display case as the Blue Chaos Emerald, resulting in them both being stolen at the same time." Jewel finished, looking around the room.

Mimic quietly piped up, "Are we still sure that the Red Chaos Emerald wasn't just part of Eggman's initial plan?"

Jewel looked at Mimic with ill disguised loathing, before saying in a somewhat snappy voice, "We have already been over this. Eggman may know a lot of things, but he isn't omniscient. The curator didn't even so much as make a post about it before the museum was raided. Besides, the security footage, as choppy as it is, does show something like surprise on the intruder's face when they saw the Red Emerald."

Mimic held up his hands and slowly backed away.

Jewel sighed. "Sorry, it's just. So many things are going wrong right now. Not least of which is this frankly concerning video." She said, before pulling up the video in question.

Whisper took a close look at the surveillance feed of the break in. It was fairly choppy, and the noise was a bit hard to hear, but it was visible enough to show what happened. The unknown islander, which Whisper mentally dubbed as Red, based on their clothes colors, was standing in front of the Chaos Emerald display case, proudly holding up both Chaos Emeralds. She looked like she was about to make her escape, when she was suddenly surrounded by guards holding wispons.

"Give up the emeralds! You're surrounded and we will use force!" One of the guards shouted. Red only looked amused, before she held out the Blue Chaos Emerald right in front of her. "You mean this emerald?" She said cheekily.

Suddenly, a dim blue glow started to surround her, before dozens of transparent blue clones suddenly appeared and rushed at the guards. They immediately opened fire, but the sheer amount of blue copies quickly overwhelmed the guards. The clones seemed weak, but they did go in with what seemed to be the same fighting skills as the original Red. Speaking of Red, after the commotion was finished, she just leisurely walked out of the museum, the blue glow fading from her body. After she left the frame of the video, it suddenly glitched out until all it showed was static and the red Eggman Empire logo.

Most of the group looked at the video with shock, although Whisper noticed that Sonic and Tails gave each other a knowing look. "This video only came in recently, this morning in fact. It was barely pieced together by technicians on site, as it was clearly supposed to be destroyed by Sage at some point. We… Don't know what that was, although Sonic seemed to have an explanation. If you please?" Jewel asked, before gesturing to Sonic and Tails.

"Right so, we never wanted this knowledge to get out, but Me, Silver, and Shadow aren't the only ones who can tap into Chaos Emerald energy, although we definitely can use more powers with Chaos Emeralds than most other islanders." Sonic said, once again stunning the whole group into silence.

Whisper's mouth moved before her mind could, "And you're only now telling us this important information because…?" Sonic had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Well, it's pretty simple really. Besides Shads, who has way more powers to use with a single emerald, nobody else just carries an emerald with them at all times to tap into their powers. And if we need the emeralds in the first place? Well, that usually means thing's have already gone bad and we need Super Sonic, not just an individual emerald's power. Besides, Egg-head can't access that kind of power normally, so it was never really a concern there either." Sonic said, shrugging.

"Does that mean anyone can go super, and they just haven't tried?" Mimic asked, a hint of awe entering his voice. Sonic glanced over to Tails, who seemed more than happy to explain.

"In short? Kinda. There's a reason we delegate that kind of thing to Sonic, Silver, or Shadow. Yes, islanders can go into what amounts to a very weak version of a super form. However, it isn't a true super form. Those are far stronger than what any regular islander can do with all seven Chaos Emeralds. Well, sorta. There are a few exceptions, such as when Knuckles taps into the power of the Master Emerald, for example." And Trip, but she isn't my secret to share, Tails continued in his head, "Regardless, the pseudo-super forms that the emeralds can give just anybody isn't usually strong enough to bother with when we usually have Sonic right there." Tails said, unconsciously pointing to Sonic, who smirked.

"Way to make a guy feel appreciated buddy." Sonic said mock sarcastically. He then cleared his throat.

"Anyway. We don't like revealing that small factoid to people in case the knowledge gets spread out, and any old islander wants a little taste of super. It may be weaker than regular, but it is still a major boost in power, and it could last long enough to do some serious damage, so we just give people the impression that only me, Shadow, and Silver can go super. To be honest though, It's never been a huge priority of ours, since Chaos Emeralds usually spread all over the place and end up in usually secure hands. I mean like, good luck to any islander who wants to break into a GUN base or steal Shadow's emerald." Sonic said, chuckling lightly.

The rest of the group just kinda stared at Sonic in shock of this new revelation. It was a solid, very awkward minute before Jewel cleared her throat. "Well, that is certainly interesting to know. However, that still doesn't explain the numerous clones that the islander used at the museum." She said slowly.

"Oh sorry! I kinda lost track a bit. Ok, so um, each emerald has its own unique power when an islander taps into it. This is another thing that we don't like telling people, and it's also something we keep under wraps far more securely, because this is something that is plausible for any old islander." Sonic said with a serious expression, before he explained that each emerald had its own individual powers, and what each of those powers did.

Whisper could hardly believe what she was hearing. All this power, free to use for basically any islander, and no one had any idea? More shocking still, was the fact that Sonic and Tails, along with who knows how many more, knew this but had somehow kept it under wraps for as long as they did. It made her wonder what other secrets they were keeping quiet, and why.

But when Whisper really thought about it, she realized it didn't really make a difference. She had no reason to use a Chaos Emerald for power, and she certainly didn't care about going super, as interesting a concept that was. Maybe the knowledge would have been nice to know in some specifically dicey spots, but it's not like knowing this was gonna suddenly make Whisper go out and find a Chaos Emerald to add to her arsenal. She already had her wisps, and that was enough. She turned and looked at the rest of the group, and they seemed to be having similar thoughts. She then turned to Mimic, who had stars in his eyes.

Well, the rest of us can keep a secret, but I don't like Mimic knowing about any of this, especially if he goes back to the way he used to be. She thought silently.

Jewel looked like she was about to panic. "So, not only is Eggman going after the Chaos Emeralds for some unknown scheme that probably involves his morality laser, now anyone he converts to his side can use special powers to fight back at us?" she said, eyes wide open.

Sonic seemed to look at her hesitantly, seeming to realize just how much trouble they might be in. He smiled nervously, "heh heh, yeah probably."

Jewel was about to say something else, but suddenly an alert appeared on her holographic map, showing that the Yellow Chaos Emerald was currently in danger of being stolen. She zoomed in and saw that it was situated in a forest that was shockingly nearby, supposedly in an old ruin. She turned to the rest of the group, who had resolute faces.

She knew she didn't even need to say anything, she just gestured at the area and the rest of the group immediately started racing towards the Restoration's hangar, supposedly going to fly to the site to get there as quickly as possible.

Whisper hopped on the jet they were about to use, extremely anxious. She didn't know for sure, but she had a bad feeling that she was about to encounter Tangle. And when she did, Tangle would be her enemy.