New America - ControlStationEnclave - Multifandom [Archive of Our Own] (2024)

Chapter 1: Rise of Evil

Chapter Text

It was debated by many wasteland historians when America truly died; some said that it died during the Great War, while others argued that it died when Control Station Enclave was destroyed by the Chosen one all those years ago.

Whilst neither are completely wrong, America died once and for all when Franklin Anderson became president of The Enclave, damning the world to a new dark age as The Sierra Army Depot churned out weapons for The Enclave war machine.

Months passed, and when New Reno became the 'Chimeran Consensus,' having a heavily mutated nation near their refuge finally caused The Enclave to finally push into New Reno, its spearhead being 20 Power Armor divisions that pushed down south to New Reno, led by General James Song, hero of the Enclave and the man that allowed many Enclave refugees to escape Navarro.

Throughout the city resounded the screams of mutants as Enclave PA troops blasted, burned, and sawed through the beasts at incredible speeds, having captured the city in three days with no mutants standing.

In the north, General Jack 'Shadow' Churchill pushed through enslaved mutants with two divisions of robots and five infantry divisions. Many of the mutants welcomed death rather than enslavement from Chief Thradd.

Once the north was secured and the mutants' military was destroyed, The Enclave annexed the territory and started to round up mutants into the central areas to keep an eye on them while The Enclave repurposed their factories for their own use.

But The Enclave was still fighting its own war inside its ranks, and after a night where Anderson tried to eliminate Douglas Granite, the leader of the Reformer Party, the Reformers deserted in their vertibirds and, from radar scans, were apparently heading west to a small fishing town turned mercenary company.

Anderson put off dealing with that since The Enclave at the Sierra Army Depot was finally unified and could get on to business, the first step being, surprisingly, rebuilding the Defense Intelligence Agency to act as The Enclave's eyes, ears, and hands in the wasteland.

The reformation of Enclave Sigma allowed The DIA to intervene in many conflicts around the wasteland, whether that be the streets of Denver when the WARDEN A.I. awoke to reclaim America or the Mojave desert, where The Enclave sabotaged the NCR war effort against the Mojave Brotherhood.

While the DIA lurked in the shadows, the Department of War moved through the tribal nations of Modoc and their allied tribe of the Nevada Free States, their tribes not surviving long against Enclave PA led by General Lauren 'Coyote' Kelly.

Next came the Yakuza Territories, and thanks to a suggestion provided by one Sergeant Major Eddie R. Fox, the war ended quickly when Enclave Paratroopers led by Mateo Burnside struck at the Yakuza strongholds, crippling them and allowing Enclave forces to clean up the shattered raiders.

Vault City was the hardest, not because they were strong but because of what they identified as, since they were mostly pure humans and thus could become legitimate citizens in The Enclave. Many said that anyone outside The Enclave were mutants, but with a strike of Anderson's pen, Vault City residents—those inside the walls—were proclaimed human.

The next target wasn't as difficult to justify. The S'lanter were a disgusting mutant species, another result of FEV testing, and were slowly growing. That growth was stopped when Enclave robot divisions led by Lieutenant Mary Orwich came crashing down upon them; none were left standing as researchers came down to study bodies.

After that, The Enclave sat as they manipulated things all across the wasteland, from intervening in wars to assassinating high-profile targets. Sometimes they did expand their territory, but not enough to alert the bear to their actions.

The Enclave's brightest minds continued to innovate, giving the Enclave better tech than ever before while improving the living conditions of Enclave citizens, but it all came down when the DIA pulled their riskiest move.

The DIA led a full military campaign alongside the Mojave Chapter, telling the chapter that they were reinforcements from Lost Hills, and the Mojave Chapter bought the lie long enough so that the two could take on Caesar's legion and its allies.

Anderson was filled with rage, but Callahan, acting director of the DIA, claimed that the Mojave Brotherhood would be weaker since they had to control the lands of Caesar's empire, being spread to the maximum limit a chapter that small could take.

The DIA's risk paid off when their agents reported that The Mojave Brotherhood was suffering under the weight of their campaign, allowing The Enclave to know that once The NCR was destroyed, they could easily take all of Nevada and Arizona without any major powers stepping in.

Though they wouldn't need to destroy The NCR since it was now embroiled in a three-way civil war that had just happened, The Enclave didn't plan on The NCR falling, but they wouldn't be complaining since it gave them a massive opportunity.

The Enclave struck Redding first. The Northern faction of the NCR civil war with 20 PA divisions led by General Arch Samson crossed into Redding territory with vengeance in their hearts, destroying the meek resistance that Redding could put up by the end of the war.

The Enclave had racked up a kill count of 20k dead, with zero losses on their side.
While General Samson razed Hell on the demons spawned by the NCR, General Powell led an extermination campaign on the packers, eureka, four ways, and eastern umbara, with the packers having control over Arroyo.

It was a rapid war that left no survivors of the tribe alive aside from The Chosen One, who would be taken back to the Sierra Army Depot to be executed for her crimes.

Eureka was a tough egg to break for Powell since it was where Granite and his mutant sympathizers made their stand: APA MKI against APA MKI, brother against brother; it was a grueling battle for The Enclave, and when silence overtook the screams of Americans dying, Powell stood over the battered Power Armor of Douglas Granite.

Around him stood the members of the 19th Airborne 'Eagles' battalion. Powell lifted a plasma pistol to Granite's head and squeezed the trigger, trying to justify to himself that what he was doing was right.

Douglas Granite died that night, and his followers that remained continued to fight, raging against the other battalions under Powell's command as they evacuated mutant civilians. While all that happened around Powell, he could only look at the body of Douglas Granite.

Powell ordered that Granite and his men were to be given a proper burial. The Battle for Eureka was a battle to be remembered, where Americans fought Americans and brothers fought brothers. It was not a second American Civil War, but it felt like it to Powell and his men.

When Powell and his men returned to the Sierra Army Depot, they were hailed as heroes, and Powell was given the Medal of Honor, though under his power armor, he started to question himself.

In Montana, The DIA helped out The Enclave's brothers and sisters in McArthur in a war involving a splinter group of the Brotherhood known as The Sisters of Steel. It was a hard-fought war, but the power armor girl scouts were beaten and taken into custody.

When The Enclave came into contact with The Shi, they sent Lieutenant Mary Orwich to deal with it, and she did so by employing hoards of robots composed of assaulttrons, Mr. Gutsy's, sentry bots, and super-heavy colossals.
The Shi didn't stand a chance, as for every robot they destroyed, thirty more took its place.

San Francisco was annihilated due to the amount of mutant commie filth that filled its streets, some wearing power armor that bore the mark of The Brotherhood of Steel.

Lieutenant Orwich was then sent over to take over The Apostles and Klamath, and once again, she proved that her tactics get quick results, though her defeating those communities finally allowed The Enclave to see their biggest threat, not the NCR, but The Troll Warren.

A nation ruled by super-mutants, unified, and standing ready at our border. To make sure that no humans were taken by The Troll Warren, The Enclave adopted Orwich's tactic along with lining the border with additional robot forces along with 914mm artillery guns, making sure that the mutants could breach through if they did declare war.

The Enclave cleared out the surrounding nations like the Shoshone and Badlands as more and more robots were moved to the Troll Warren border, and when The Troll Warren declared war, The Enclave were ready.

It was a bloodbath. The Enclave had massively overestimated the abilities of The Troll Warren, and as hundreds of robots flooded through the states, Anderson personally commended Orwich for her tactic that has given The Enclave massive victory over mutants.

Back in California, General Samson was set up to take down the California Way, and another general, General Ryder Hood, was set up to take down the California State, before meeting up in the mutant city of Junktown.

Three months passed, and finally, after years of being hunted by the NCR, the Enclave flag is flown above Shady Sands, The Boneyard, Necropolis, Junktown, The Hub, and the other major cities that the NCR used to own.

though one enemy remains in California, and after beating them down and through their bunkers, the enclave defeated the brotherhood, and a shadow fell over California.

Andersonvilles were established to contain mutants; Shady Sands became an internment camp that stood as a bastion of The Enclave's ruthlessness; and Bakersfield became a testing ground to find out what causes Ghoulification.

Soon after, Junktown and The Hub are soon made into internment camps as well, while The Enclave increases its robot production to make sure that it has the numbers to contain the mutant population.

But while The Boneyard would have made a perfect internment camp, Anderson ordered the city to be purged. 
So Enclave Enforcers, along with robot hoards, cleansed The Boneyard from the ground, from the sky, and from the sea as they scoured throughout the city; none were spared, as when the next day rose, The Boneyard had become a mass grave, along with its name being changed back to Los Angeles.

But under Navarro, The Enclave continued a project that was being worked on before The Oil Rig was destroyed: cloning. Batches of clones that were based on the genetic material of men and women long dead alongside baseline clones that could be used as soldiers.

The Mojave Chapter tried to attack The Enclave, but due to their low numbers and The Enclave's recruitment of former Brotherhood of Steel members, they quickly lost, and The Mojave, along with most of Arizona, fell under The Enclave's shadow.

Nevada and Utah were the next two states to fall. The states were always in constant war, and when the DIA started false-flag operations, it only got worse. No one had the strength or coordination to put up a defense against the slowly growing hoard of the enclave. Once more, a shadow grew over the west coast of America.

Oregon and Washington fell after The Washington Brotherhood threw its hat in the ring, and while The Immortal stood tall with his army of Black Paladins, The Enclave stood taller as Power Armor met Power Armor and monster met monster in a bloody battle.

But The Washington Brotherhood failed, and when The Immortal was thrown into the machine he praised, his allies knew that they couldn't stand against The Enclave, especially when The Enclave built a Navy stronger than even America's Pre-War Navy and started invading from the seas.

Then the entirety of the Northern United States fell into The Enclave's shadow, many not wanting to fight and simply laying down their arms and surrendering to The Enclave's might, and when The Enclave reunited with The Chicago Enclave and their puppet in Montana, it spelled doom for everyone.

More and more machines came, more and more clones were made, and more and more fanatics were born who learned from propaganda that America is theirs and no one else's. No one could stand against the enclave, but there was hope, even if the hope came from extraterrestrials.

Aliens descended from the skies and started to rage war against The Enclave, but to their and the remaining mutants dismay, The Enclave were prepared and started to push back against The Aliens, proving that not even they can stop the shadow that was clawing its way across America.
More and more states fell to The Shadow as The Enclave got more advanced.

Where they could not build stronger armor and weapons, they started building a stronger human race with implants and genetic modification that truly created a gap between humans and mutants.

The Midwest brotherhood tried and fought hard, holding back The Enclave for as long as they could, but while they fought against The Enclave in the west, they were surprised by The Enclave in the east.
The East suffered less than the West, but even then, it still suffered. Under the guise of Eden and General Ward, with help from two agents that had beaten down two brotherhood chapters and gathered more advanced technology, no one could beat them.
West met East as the Enclave reunited, and finally, all of North America itself fell under a shadow.

Chapter 2: Research Station Zip

Chapter Text

Sergeant Juno sighed as he and his squad patrolled around Research Station Zip. Most would see it as an unremarkable research base that also doubled as a supply hub, but underneath was a wide range of laboratories and storage rooms, with the station having around 400 personnel, with 300 of those being soldiers.

Now Sergeant Juno wasn't always apart of the resistance; he originally was working for G.U.N. as the fastest-ranking Mobian personnel, but now he was some lowly sergeant due to G.U.N. being in ruins since EggMan's attempt at world dominance.

"Hey Sarge?" Juno shook his head as he looked at Maple, the squirrel standing completely still as everyone else looked at the ground.

"Yeah?"

"Did we place mines around the station?" She asked, clearly scared, and Juno immediately crouched down to investigate the mine.

"Everyone, stay still. I don't know who the hell gave the order to lace the area with mines, but I am going to kill them!" Juno said as he tried to deactivate the mine but found that it wasn't even a mine at all.

"Am-am I fine?" Maple asked, and Juno nodded, allowing Maple to remove her foot from the metal. Out from the ground jumps a small robot, painted jet black and having three little legs. In the center of it is an E surrounded by stars.

"Is that a badnik?" Another squad member asked, that being Patches, as he quickly saw another robot pop out of the ground, his tail slowing down from its frantic wagging that it did constantly.

"Not one I recognize; maybe it's one of the brainiacs creations?" Juno replied as he petted the robot; it was seemingly friendly and-

A yellow laser passed by his head. He immediately drew his wispon and blasted the robot to pieces. He turned to see who got shot: Maple and Patches, firing their wispons into the robots.

But Juno didn't see the last member of his squad, Dull; instead, he found an ash pile and a wispon on the ground. Juno immediately took cover, along with Maple and Patches. He has never seen a laser that can disintegrate someone with one shot—maybe some experimental-heavy weapons—but not just a single laser.

"Hey Sarge, can we leave? Because I do not want to end up as Dull over there!"

Juno blindly fired his wispon into the slowly growing hoard of mini robots until he suddenly heard his radio start to buzz, He spoke into it quickly.

"This is Sergeant Juno; we are being attacked by strange bad-" Sergeant Juno was then interrupted by someone else on the radio.

"All forces outside of Zip, get back here now! The station is under attack by-"

The member suddenly stopped as the radio went silent. With a single nod and some gestures, Juno and the two other members of his squad rushed back to Zip.

After a couple minutes, their eyes land on the facility only to see that the outer defenses have been breached, meaning that whoever was attacking them (most likely remnant Badnik forces) had already made it into the main complex.

"Patches, cover me and Maple as we get the door open." Juno says as Patches nods. Juno and Maple slide next to one of the doors that could only be accessed by Mobians due to its size, frantically putting in the code. The door opens as Juno and Maple head in.

"Alright Patches, get-Patches!" Juno said as he saw two rounds that resembled mini-rockets slam into Patches. Before he can even register where he's been hit, they explode, showering Juno with gore.

Juno stands there shocked as he wipes some of Patches off of him. Maple quickly closed the door and dragged Juno back. "I guess I'm dragging you this time!"

Juno tried to reply to Maple's snark but couldn't since he was still in shock at seeing someone practically explode in front of him. If they survived, then they would have a hard time burying Patches and Dull after this.

With Dull being an ash pile and Patches being all over the ground, along with being all over Juno, it had placed him in a trance of trying to understand what had just happened. Juno finally snapped out of it as he noticed that Maple had dragged him into what seemed like a makeshift barricade created in an area where multiple hallways intersect.

He looked around and noticed that most of the soldiers there were wounded, some sporting terrible burns and others showing wounds clearly gained from melee combat. Those that weren't wounded physically were sitting against the wall, wounded mentally due to sights similar to what Juno had seen.

Juno stood up as he heard far off gunfire that sounded similar to the fire that killed Patches in two shots and reduced him to nothing but gore. He checked his wispon and had to clean out parts of it since it was also covered in what remained of Patches.

"We have to get to the armory, none of our wispons can pierce the badnik's armor."

"Badniks? Those things weren't badniks; they were humans; the way they moved, fought, even their armor—we're being attacked by humans alongside getting attacked by those tiny robots.

Juno listened to two other sergeants speak to one another before hearing something crawling in the vents. He raised his weapon before firing into the ceiling. Some tried to stop him since it could be friendly, though they found out how wrong they were very shortly.

The vent bursts open, and everyone hears something fall to the ground but doesn't see anything fall to the ground. Some of the soldiers move to investigate, only to have their heads go flying off their shoulders.

Everyone that isn't wounded fires off their wispons as a badnik, one larger and much more humanoid, with blades instead of hands, de-cloaks and leaps at them, taking two more soldiers out before getting gunned down by thirty wispons.

Everyone frantically checks to see if any more of those things fell down but is relieved to find that only one came down from the vents, though they begin to hear the pound of metal boots against the pristine floor of the facility.

"Enemy contacts from the northern hallway-" a soldier says, only to be hit with some green orb, reducing him to nothing but green goo that slowly trickles down from the barricade.

Many of the wounded see this and try to escape, with Juno and Maple helping them out as they watch something crash through the barricade with glowing orange eye lenses that somehow express hatred.

Clad in jet black armor with orange accents, standing taller than all the soldiers, along with wielding some form of pistol, most likely what turned that soldier into goo, and in the things other hand being some kind of chainsaw-knife thing.

Lasers bounce off the armor as it swings left to right, sawing through the heads of multiple soldiers while firing off green orbs that either melt through the soldiers bodies or turn them into goo.

Their screams were terrible, as they felt parts of their skin melt off of them. It must have been a lot worse than getting shot by a normal Badnik blaster, which only left some burns.

Juno didn't know why he was reacting so badly to all this, maybe because they were being killed in a far more violent way than normal casualties caused by badniks. And from what one of the other sergeants said, these are humans attacking them along with robots.

None of the weapons or designs resembled anything EggMan had ever made, and along with them being humans actually fighting, Juno doubted that these were remnant Badnik forces or even people aligned with the EggMan empire.

Juno then felt something hit his leg. He turned and saw that he was hit in the leg, a laser burn, though he really didn't feel any pain, meaning that it had immediately destroyed the nerves in his leg. He immediately rolled to the side as he saw some of the mini-robots crawl after them and hit a button that closed off the hallway.

Maple came back for Juno after helping many other wounded into a safe room of sorts, saying, "You're not really living up to the rank of sergeant."

"Quiet Maple, we need to get to the communications room. We have to send out a signal, and even if we don't live, people will know what happened here." Juno limped into a hidden doorway that led to a dimly lit corridor, all the while Maple covered his six.

"Question: What are our chances of living? Because I don't exactly want to get turned into ash like Dull, blown to bits like Patches, get my head cut off, or melt like Viola." Maple closed the heavy metal door behind them.

They continued through the small corridors that were built inside the walls of the facility, allowing resistance members to move undetected in case of an attack on the station, Juno originally didn't understand why they built these corridors, but he now appreciated them.

They hear the sounds of screams, laser fire, and gunfire, along with more miniature explosions. Juno wondered how many were down here and who was behind this; if they did get out of this alive, then he would be retiring from the resistance and maybe moving to City Square.

Eventually, they made it to the door that would lead them directly into the communications room. Juno opened the door slowly as he raised his wispon to clear the room, but thankfully, the communications room was intact.

"Maple, guard the main door. I'll try to send out a signal." Juno said, and Maple simply nodded as she took out some mines she had on her. They were EMPs, so they should deactivate any of the robots or armor of the attackers if they tried to come into the communications room.

Juno was never good with technology, but with Manuel's laying all around the place, it wasn't too hard for him to understand the communications setup the base had. "Let's hope this works..."

He begins a message and speaks into the microphone, "This is Sergeant Juno Mince of Research Station Zip; we are under attack by an unknown force. I don't know how many of them there are, but they are dangerous. We need help immediately!"

Juno placed the message to play on repeat and flipped over one of the tables in the room to create a makeshift cover for him and Maple, though he doubted that an old wooden table would do much against mini-rockets and green orbs that could blow and melt through people.

As they both hid behind the table, wispons ready to pelt any intruders with las fire, they heard someone pleading for help on the other side of the main door, “Let me in! Let me in!”

Hesitant that this could be a trick, Maple walks to the door and speaks into the intercom over it, “Identify yourself.”

“P-Private Apple, just let me in there!”

Maple looked to Juno to see if she should let him in, but Juno shook his head, not risking the chance of the person on the other side being some form of robot that could mimic voices.

“Check the camera.” Maple nodded to Juno and checked the camera, only to see that it was one of the base’s personnel. Maple quickly let her in.

Private Apple immediately rushes in the door before frantically closing it, even pushing Maple out the way. After closing the door, Apple immediately curled up in the corner.

“Hey Juno, could you contact any other parts of the base?” Maple asked before Juno walked over to the communications console as he tried to contact any other station personnel.

Flipping through channels made his stomach churn as he heard screams and the sounds of desperate laser fire. Along with those noises, he saw the status of each person slowly turn from alive to K.I.A.

250 turns to 200, then that turns to 100, then 50, before finally ending up with 24 people left alive among the station’s personnel, with most of those bunkering down in the medical wing of the station.

The rest are Juno, Apple, and Maple in the communications room, and some in the testing rooms. He was about to get ready to make a last stand when he noticed something…why isn’t Maple being counted? Juno immediately hears Apple scream out and can barely turn around as he feels a laser burn through his chest.

Slumping against the communications console as Maple walks over to it and cancels the message he sent out before aiming an energy weapon against Juno’s head before speaking, “God bless America…"

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The survivors in the medical wing prepare themselves to make their last stand against the attackers, hearing the sounds of miniature explosions resound beyond the entrance as the attackers destroy the automated defenses.

As the last automated machine gun falls silent, the lights suddenly turn off as everyone’s eyes are drawn to the door as two metal claws pry it wide open and an orange visor lights up while a robotic voice speaks, “Mutant Scum.”

It lunges at the first survivor, disembodying the man before one of its claws turns into a laser weapon and blasts another survivor, reducing him to nothing but ash.

The other survivors fired upon the thing as it dashed around the room, cutting down, disintegrating, or crashing through survivors as it quickly whittled down the numbers.

“What the hell is this thing!?” A survivor said before that they were quickly reduced to ash as the thing jumped into the air and crashed into another survivor.

As the laser fire ceased and the last survivor was nothing but a pile of gore on the floor, the thing left the room and the lights turned back on…

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“I kind of hate we have to work with that thing.” Mecha-Sonic heard one of the SIGMA team members say as they saw the synth being supplied with some food so that it would survive in the communications room.

The synth would be left as a survivor so that when people came to check on the station, they would have to dig through a mountain of ruins to find her. When she was found, she would simply tell her rescuers that it was a coordinated badnik attack.

Mecha-Sonic didn’t know who said it, but He didn’t really see why the team hated the synth; it was just a robot taking the skin of a mutant. Maybe it’s because it is wearing the skin of a mutant.

While Mecha-Sonic observed a group of protectrons move to start deconstructing the station after members of the chemical corps came in to retrieve every piece of equipment and research that the station had to offer, he looked down at his jet black body.

It was a month ago when The Enclave came to Scrapnik Island and offered him and the rest of the scrapniks a new purpose, a new life to serve instead of wasting away on an island. Rebuilt to be faster, stronger, and smarter, they finally had a new purpose.

While all the other scrapniks were repaired by machines and technicians, Mecha-Sonic was repaired by General Orwich, which immediately earned Mecha-Sonic’s trust due to how she treated the scrapniks and him.

He now had a purpose, a person that cared not only for him but his fellow scrapniks and even all robots as equals (those that didn't serve the mutant, of course). He also learned how much he missed, along with how much the world had changed since his defeat.

As he continued to observe the destruction of the station, he wondered when he would come to blows against Sonic and friends along with EggMan, then they would remember who they forgot, then he would finally serve people that truly wanted world dominance.

Chapter 3: Extermination

Chapter Text

Corporal Jonah twisted and turned his rifle as the others chatted about a wide variety of things. The rifle was a new one due to the Science Division's finding a lost prototype in the Mojave, that being the XM4 RAW.

It was a lightweight, semi-automatic, quality-made Gauss rifle that could be produced at a fraction of the cost of a normal M72 Gauss rifle, though the reason why it could be produced so cheaply was due to the fact that it was based on the M4.

So more than three centuries after its introduction to the US arm forces, the M4 is still seeing service alongside even the most advanced weapons that the Enclave has to offer. There really is no beating the classics when it comes to US firearms.

”*Should I stay or should I go?*”

When the vertibird pilot started playing music, Jonah immediately knew that they were closing in on the target location, meaning that it was time for his first verti-assault, though the location wasn't that well defended.

It was a decently large village on the outskirts of a city called 'Station Square,' which made Jonah wonder who was the genius that came up with that name. It probably made filing paper work harder since the person had to make sure it was a city and not some park or train station.

Now the reason Jonah and his fellow soldiers were going to practically annihilate a village from existence was due to the fact that an eyebot had been disabled nearby and the village had found it.

Not wanting the townspeople to eventually send the eyebot off to researchers that most likely wouldn't find out about the Enclave's existence from one single eyebot, they would make note of the fact that it was a robot of high quality whose design didn't resemble any faction's robots.

So Jonah and the rest of his squad, along with some assaultron MKII's and the metal hedgehog that General Orwich fixed up, were sent to make the village 'disappear.' Which, in reality, meant to land in the village, exterminate everyone there, and plant enough explosives to level a mountain before bugging out.

The side door of the vertibird slowly opens as one of his squad mates goes to man the plasma-LMG. It was another recent addition to the enclave's arsenal, thanks to the Science Division. The design originated from the multiplas rifle; both the VB-01s, VB-01C Vertifalcons variants, are now equipped with it.

As a combination of music, plasma fire, slurs from his squadmate, and screams from the mutants down below started to fill the air, Jonah laid his head against the metal hull of the aircraft. This was the life of air-assault soldiers...and he loves it.

(————————Before the assault---——————)

Smith kicked his legs as his father tried to turn the strange robot back on, it had been damaged by some badniks that the local resistance garrison dealt with fairly easily.

Smith was always told that he couldn't go watch the garrison fight off the badniks but he didn't care and always snuck out to see them, to see these heroes fight off against the evil robots.

Sure a lot of the other kids in the village talked about their dreams of meeting Sonic, Amy and all the other heroes of the resistance, but Smith didn't understand why they were considered heroes and not the normal people fighting.

He knew they did good and had saved the world, but that was because a lot of them had abilities that barely anyone else had, they were leagues more powerful than a normal person but that just meant when the normal people won over badniks, it showed that the normal people could stand up for themselves.

Yeah that made him the weird kid in the village but it did give him some neat benefits when it came to the local garrison, some tours and even seeing how the wispons worked up close, which made him have the idea of when he grows up, he wants to join something similar to the resistance since he doubted that the resistance would last forever.

Smith then immediately snapped out of his train of thought as he hears a crash and sees that the robot fell off the table that his dad was working on, "You've got to be kidding...Smith, can you help me lift this into the wheel barrow? I'm just going to drop this off at the resistance garrison."

"Alright dad!" Smith said as he and his father lifted the robot into a wheel barrow, with Smith's dad doing most of the work.

After placing the robot into the wheel barrow and exiting the garage and while taking it to the resistance garrison, they pass by the village's small market place. The area surrounding the village was a dense forest with only two other places of note.

The first being Station Square of course which is where most of the village gets there visitors and the second place was a nearby research station where Smith's aunt was stationed at and was the only survivor of it after the badnik attack.

It had given his family a good scare and they still feared that Maple would have some sort of mental trauma after most likely seeing many of her comrades die before being trapped in a room for days on end.

As Smith and his father make it to the resistance garrison, they notice that the garrison is preparing for a fight. Smith's father goes up to one of them asks; "What's happening, are we under attack again?"

The resistance fighter shrugs and speaks, "Most likely, our patrol hasn't returned and their life signs say their K.I.A."

Some resistance fighters take up defensive positions around their building as the soldier looks at the wheel barrow, "oh that's the robot we saw that was deactivated by the badniks, why'd you bring it here?"

"We hoped someone here could look at it." Everyone there began to hear the sounds of helicopter blades, some of the resistance members were excited since the garrison in City Square normally sent over a helicopter or two to deal with a badnik group.

That is until they saw some strange VTOL hover over the market as its side door opens and a human clad in a mixture of some form of heavy duty body armor, a pitch black duster and a helmet with an inbuilt Gasmask.

The man operated some form of machine gun as he rained fire upon the villages populace, green orbs of energy finding their mark as they people it hit either had parts of their body melted off or reduced to nothing but goo.

"sh*t, you two get too cover! Grace, Frost, RPGs!" Smith and his dad quickly ran as the aircraft landed while two other hover over other parts of the village.

Using the chaos caused by the attack as a shield, Smith and his dad got back to their home where they found that Penny and Elena, Smith's big sister and mother have already gotten into the makeshift bunker his dad had made.

"I'll get my revolver." Smith's dad said as he went to his room as Elena took Smith down into the bunker, Smith hoped that the resistance garrison could handle the attack before too much of the village was destroyed...

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"Aw sh*t!" Jonah said as he rolled out of cover right before an RPG round reduced him to nothing but gore.

Laser fire impacted all around him along with hitting his duster, though since it was black, he really couldn't tell where said lasers had hit. He kicked over a nearby wooden table as the rest of his squad pushed up while he gave covering fire.

What was interesting about the XM4 was that it was weirdly quiet. He had heard from PA soldiers that each shot from an M72 Gauss rifle sounded like an explosion, but this? It wasn't even remotely similar to the sound described by them.

Though what sound a gun makes doesn't really matter when it blows through muties like nothing, this was all while he was listening to possibly the best song that could go with shooting unarmed muties.

”*All the other kids with their pumped-up kicks, you better run, better run, outrun my gun.*”

He heard everyone else burst out laughing over comms when the Vertibird pilot started blasting that over their comms channel. As he fired some rounds into the makeshift barricade at the other end of the market, he noticed some footprints appear next to them.

He immediately knew that some of the assaultrons commanded by the metal hedgehog decided to stop murdering unarmed mutants in their homes and actually fight the mutants that were trying to mount up some form of defense.

Due to their inbuilt stealth fields, they were able to make it to the barricade and began slicing through the mutants with their blades as Jonah checked his magazine count.

Two mags down, five more to go, and one of those mags he used up was all spent on mutie civilians. He guessed that the other members of his squad had more mags to spare but had also used more mags on unarmed mutants.

"Kill count?" The staff sergeant said this as everyone in the squad gave their count.

Ryan had a count of 15, 7 civilians, and 8 resistance fighters. Luke had a count of 20, 15 resistance fighters, and 5 civies. The others were around 20 to 30 kills. Then there was Donovan. The mad man had earned 50 kills on his own due to not only using his bayonet but also being high on combat narcotics, which made him practically insane while killing mutants.

Said kills were also all civilians, and Staff Sergeant Alex had to inject some addictol into Donovan to calm him down before ordering him to use his gun as a gun and not as a chainsaw.

When the laser fire had finally ended, Jonah saw the assaultrons re-cloak and continued on hunting any remaining mutants that now hide inside their homes.

"Alright everyone, start clearing out the area before we plant explosives. I don't want to get yelled at due to some kid surviving this and telling people what happened here."

Jonah heard Alex speak over comms and nodded to himself as he went to investigate a house. As he noticed Max looting a mutant corpse, Jonah spoke as Max pulled something off the mutant's corpse.

"You know we don't really have time to loot the dead, right?"

"Cheese!"

Jonah looks down as Max holds some device in his hand, like an even smaller and thinner pip pad. Max pockets the device as Jonah asks him what it is. "I don't really know, but I'm going to see if one of the nerds can wipe the memory on it so I can use it."

"Well, mind helping me clear this house?"

"Sure, I have some fuel left in the tank." Max said as he gestured to his tactical flamer, which was another weapon the Enclave had rediscovered.

The lethality of a flamethrower with the size of a rifle was genius, and it didn't suffer from the chance of the fuel tank being detonated by a lucky shot, unlike earlier flamers.

Max got up and was the first in the house, slowly looking side to side while Jonah guards his six. As they secure the house and eventually find it empty, Max goes to leave while Jonah stays inside the home to double check that they didn't miss anything.

He eventually finds a small hatch hidden under an armchair, and after picking the lock and opening it, he chucks a flashbang down the hatch as he yells for Max, "Flamer!"

Max immediately rushes in and gets next to Jonah. "Nice going." Jonah and Max slowly descend down the ladder to go check to see if any mutants had hid down there.

The two eventually land and find themselves in quite a large bunker that must have taken a lifetime to set up. The two slowly move through the bunker as they get four red blips on their HUD.

__________________________________________

Smith held his mom tightly as they saw the two humans wander around the bunker's living room while they hid in the closet, one was equipped with a normal rifle that Smith saw many G.U.N. remnants use but modified with some technology on it.

The other had a flamethrower, not like the wispons that the resistance used, looking more efficient and brutal than the resistance's flamethrower. The one holding said flamethrower turned to their position and was going to fire until a bullet hit him in the head.

The impact makes the man stumble as Smith's father comes out of his hiding place, emptying his revolver into the human until the other fired a round into his father, barely making a sound and blowing his arm off as the other released a torrent of flames upon him.

Smith looked away and covered his ears as his father screamed out in pain as he was engulfed in flames that clung to him like glue, being a lot more lethal than the resistance's flamethrower. He could only hear the effort of his sister ambushing the two.

He heard a single shot ring out, no matter how quiet it was, and immediately knew that Penny was dead. The soldier with the flamethrower immediately broke through the closet door that hid him and his mother.

“Please-Please don’t do this! We’re innocent!” His mother pleaded as the man suddenly stopped, and Smith felt a tang of hope that he would live, perhaps in a-

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"Burn, puppy dog, burn!” Max said as he spewed flames onto the mutant survivors, while Jonah just stood there while kicking the bitch that tried to rush them with a broom.

“You have issues.” Jonah said while he heard the metal hedgehog speak over comms.

“Corporal Jonah and Specialist Maxwell, where are you? We are running out of time, and resistance forces are closing in.”

"Yeah, we’re coming.” Jonah turned off comms and tapped on Max’s shoulder to make him stop wasting fuel on two long dead mutants that resembled some form of gel instead of two charred corpses.

“Time to leave? Damn, well, let’s go.” Max said as the two slowly ascended from the bunker.

A few hours later, Mecha-Sonic stood on a nearby hill as he watched the village be annihilated by multiple sets of mini-nukes that would make sure that the force coming from Station Square would find nothing but ash.

Mecha-Sonic really didn’t know when Station Square was created, but the history that the Enclave had gathered from their time here showed that this city has been destroyed multiple times and has always been rebuilt.

Whether it was a water monster or the world quite literally cracking into parts, he even missed a world-domination attempt by his old master, where multiple military groups were almost defeated by a machine that was practically a metal ball with a gun.

Mecha-Sonic shook his head as he flew up into the sky alongside the trio of vertibirds that had accompanied him to wipe out this insignificant town next to a city that he had no connection too…

Chapter 4: Spaceport

Chapter Text

"Well, your shield tanked most of the damage from the RPG, and your armor took care of the rest, but you still have to be careful; just because you've been upgraded to have a saturnite body along with shielding doesn't make you invincible." Mecha-Sonic rolled his head as General Orwich fixed him.

A week or two had passed since Mecha-Sonic had helped exterminate the unimportant village. After returning to base, he had seven more missions to go on alongside either SIGMA Team Yellow or members of the 37th Air Assault Division.

Most of the missions were simple extermination missions. Get dropped off at the target location, kill everything, and leave before any sort of relief force arrives, though two of the missions did involve him sneaking into secret resistance bases and stealing a wide variety of things.

The last mission he went on had him getting shot at point blank with an RPG by some rat called Maruc. The mutant had survived a long time in the winding corridors of a fort in the arctic after everyone else was slaughtered by Mecha-Sonic and SIGMA Team Yellow.

He remembered that the fort was so cold that each hallway was like an ice sculpture made out of blood, so beautiful but yet so horrific. Mecha-Sonic remembered when he found the mutant hiding out in the armory.

Mecha-Sonic lunged at the mutant, but the mutant pulled the trigger of the RPG. When the rocket hit Mecha dead on, it had not only taken down his shields but also killed the mutant and detonated the rest of the armory.

He had to claw himself out of his would-be grave, and when he got out of the rubble, he had to immediately catch up to the yellow team's vertibird since they thought he was destroyed and didn't want to risk the chance of someone coming to check to see if the base was alright.

"You should be good to go, little guy; just never underestimate anyone, even if they're mutant scum." Orwich said, and Mecha Sonic nodded as he hopped off the table he was laying on.

He left the general's workshop as he walked through the halls of Fort Anderson, named after the current Enclave president, who had originally wanted the Enclave to immediately invade the world in the name of the Lord.

Though his idea was immediately shot down when every other high-ranking member of the government told him that would be suicide and would make everything they did worthless, instead, they sent out an expedition to spy on the world.

So they hid, manipulated, stole, and simply watched as the world saw battle after battle, calamity after calamity, culminating in one war that was EggMan's chance to finally win against the hedgehog.

And he blew it, relying on a singular mutant to bring him many victories and the incompetence of the resistance leaders when it came to tactics to win many of his earlier battles in the war.

Only to be defeated by the hedgehog, some no-named mutant, and the child version of the hedgehog, the Enclave had no idea how a child Sonic came to help the resistance but chalked it up to the strangeness of the world.

Mecha-Sonic had to sidestep as two sentry-bot MKIIs patrolled around the base, their wheels making a strangely soothing noise against the steel floor of the base.

Suddenly, a message appeared on Mecha-Sonic's hud, which told him to head towards the hanger bay, and after making a noise that some could relate to a groan, he made his way towards the hanger.

Passing by multiple wings of the base before arriving at the hanger, he saw multiple DIA agents along with scientists gathered around some XVB-02 transport vertibirds as some lifter-bots attached shipping containers to the vertibirds.

Mecha-Sonic approached the lead agent of Fort Anderson, that is, Agent Adam. He and the other agents stood there while discussing something, clad in their jet-black Strigade uniforms, while at times an orange or yellow line flew across their visors.

"Mecha-Sonic, I know that we have been sending you on a few missions." Adam said as Mecha-Sonic tapped his foot against the metal floor of the hanger, a habit that had been programmed into him for as long as he could remember.

"This will be your last mission for awhile, and it may be the most important." Adam said as he gestured for Mecha-Sonic to look at a holographic map of a destroyed spaceport.

Mecha-Sonic recognized the architecture, even though much of the location was destroyed. It was located in the Chemical Plant Zone of EggMan's Empire. When did it get a space port?

Mecha-Sonic shook his head—another thing he had missed in his time of isolation.

"As you know, Archimedes III was launched not too long ago and is completely self-sufficient, but it's very difficult to get additional personnel onto the station; that's why we need this." Adam said as one of the other agents switched the map to show a holographic version of one of EggMan's ships.

"If we capture the spaceport, we can salvage these ships, study them, and then send the results back to America for research, and maybe we'll eventually have our own space fleet." Adam said, and Mecha-Sonic nodded. Outside of the occasional pirates, normal naval battles were rarely fought anymore.

"You, along with the 22nd Chemicle Corps, will be sent to exterminate the local resistance garrison there; it's quite a large garrison as well." Adam said, and Mecha saw the holographic ship change to a list of resistance personnel.

It was a garrison of 1,000 people, the largest target the enclave has ever gone after. This made Mecha-Sonic question what he was being sent with, Sure, he could have killed 1,000 mutants on his own, but someone would get a signal out fast enough.

Thats until some of the scientists brought multiple groups of beasts clad in their own form of power armor, claws that are as long as a man's arm as well as having electricity spark off of said claws, and stood at 10 feet tall, saying, "These will be one of the things sent with you to take the spaceport."

Mecha-Sonic approaches one of the beasts and places his hand on its head. Now he can get behind these creatures...

__________________________________

"It's bloody freezing out here! When did command say we were getting winter clothing?" A resistance member said while he and some of his squad mates sat around a barrel of fire.

Even though the spaceport sits in complete ruins, it is still filled to the brim with chemicals that could be used to make campfires that probably release some deadly toxins, but who cares? The garrison didn't since, until they got winter clothing, they would continue burning this stuff to keep warm.

Even inside the buildings the resistance had either erected or taken over were freezing cold; the only ones that didn't suffer from the cold were the ones that naturally had an affinity for the cold, like those that are polar bears or penguins.

As the squad sat around the campfire, one spoke, "What's everyone's opinion on the situation going on back home?"

"I feel like people are overestimating the resistance abilities; we're a resistance force that's trying our best; we're not an actual military." One responded while another interjected,

"Well, I think people aren't appreciating us, and yeah, the attacks on Research Station Zip and Lions Village were terrible, but I've heard rumors that maybe someone new is leading the badniks."

"Or perhaps the research station and Lions Village just got unlucky when a badnik group too large for them to handle arrived, and instead of hiding or ambushing them, they tried to make it an even fight."

"Bur I don't remember badniks being so thorough; I mean, we were able to sneak around them pretty easily when we took this place, but some remnant badniks wiping out an entire village with no survivors? That's weird, right?"

As the group continued to chat about the attacks and politics, their radios went off as the garrison's highest ranking officer spoke over them: "Foxtrot, I got some disturbance near your location; I need you all to check it out."

The squad groans before getting up and heading over to the location after getting the coordinates. The squad passed by destroyed buildings, badniks, shipping containers, and many other things until they got to the area that used to be the spaceport's storage area.

Containers stacked up as high as some of the buildings, and frozen badniks lined the area alongside a multitude of chemical barrels. As the squad slowly secures it, they hear a noise. They all look up and see something start to jump between containers. "The hell is that?"

"I don't know, and..."

Everyone heard a noise as the ground started to shake. They raised their weapons towards the area where the noise was originating from until they saw a creature exit out, as tall as two human men, with no eyes or neck, giant teeth, and two large flaccid appendages that most likely acted as arms.

"...EVERYONE RUN!" The sergeant says that as they run away, some are firing pot shots at the creature, but their wispons do nothing but make it angrier.

They ran through the maze of shipping containers as they heard similar noises start to surround them. After making their way outside of the storage area, they found themselves surrounded by the same creature, but smaller.

"...Welp, I was tired of living anyway." One of them said as the creatures dived onto the squad...

Meanwhile, on the other side of the spaceport, another squad was sent to investigate a disturbance similar to the one that Foxtrot had ordered to investigate, this time in the shipyard.

"Anyone got bets about what this disturbance is?" One said this while they checked out some of the destroyed transport ships.

"Considering what's been happening? It's probably some badnik group that was sent out during the war and is only now returning here." Another replied as they all heard noises emanating from inside an unknown shipping container.

"Umm...Commander Garnet? We've got a strange shipping container here; no EggMan markings. Permission to open it?"

After a slight pause where they hear some groans, Commander Garnet speaks, "Permission granted, probably just a salvage crate left unmarked."

The sergeant of the squad nods and orders two of the squad members to open the crate while the others form a kill zone, just in case the crate contains something dangerous. When they opened the crate and illuminated the inside of it with flashlights, they all opened fire.

"Zombies!?" One of the squad members yelled as the 'Zombies' ran out of the crate only to be cut down by laser fire, blowing holes through the undead, and after a solid minute of fire and even one of the squad members using a flamethrower, the zombies were cleared out.

The sergeant radioed Commander Garnet as his squad double-tapped the undead, "We've opened the crate and, um, we found zombies."

After a minute or two of silence, Commander Garnet spoke over the radio, "Come again?"

"Zombies; the crate had zombies in it." The sergeant said he didn't really know if these things were zombies, but considering how they looked, sounded, and fought, they were zombies in his book.

"Picture?"

The sergeant ordered one of his men to take a picture, but they all noticed that there were a ton of these crates, and in a single moment, they all swung open as hoards of the 'undead' came flooding out.

"Get to high ground!" The sergeant says that as he tried to fire upon the undead but was overwhelmed, some of his squad tried to help him, but they were overwhelmed too.

In another section of the spaceport, multiple squads were hunting a group of beasts in an abandoned ship, hearing screams and laser fire over comms as a sign that other squads had found it already and were not having fun.

They slowly stepped onto the ship's bridge as a beast suddenly dropped from the ceiling. They opened fire upon it as it jumped side to side, slicing five men down in one go with its claws as they continued to rain fire upon it.

“Aim for the joints!” The sergeant yelled as the thing’s tail sent two men flying against a wall. No matter how much laser fire they put into the thing, it didn’t die.

The thing suddenly roared, the roar being so deafening that members of the squad dropped their weapons so that they could cover their ears, allowing the beast to slay its hindered prey with ease.

Meanwhile, in other parts of the spaceport, a massive barricade manned by a quarter of the personnel of the garrison rains fire upon an endless hoard of humans that seemingly don’t care for their lives.

The mass of people tried multiple times to climb the barricade and had to be burned off by flamethrowers. They were armed with all manners of melee weapons that would easily kill the resistance fighters while in white jumpsuits as a strange mask covered their faces.

Though that wasn’t the worst, as there were suits that were wrapped around skeletons, firing off lasers and green orbs of energy that almost guaranteed death for anyone hit by them, they were less numerous than the humans, but there were still hoards of them.

“Keep on firing! Never let up!” A resistance fighter captain yelled before something landed amongst them—some kind of large insect that used its wings to send shockwaves amongst the soldiers.

Knocking enough soldiers down allowed some of the humans to climb up and start engaging in melee combat, and once one hole popped up, more and more popped up as the resistance refused to give ground to this endless hoard, many trying to radio to Commander Garnet for orders.

The barricade then came down as multiple rockets hit it. Those that weren’t on the barricades could only stand in fear as their eyes landed upon giants, beings closer to the size of some super badniks, some wielding rocket launchers while others held giant energy-based miniguns. Every single giant was also clad head to toe in some form of armor that was invincible against small arms fire.

“Bring your anti-tank guns! We’ve got-“ The soldier didn’t have time to finish his sentence, as he was then turned into a pile of goo.

As the resistance soldiers continued to fight on in face of certain doom, a being laughed as it watched the slaughter unfold from the command room…

__________________________________

Mecha-Sonic let out a metallic laugh as he held the body of Commander Garnet. He currently sat in the command room of the spaceport, bodies littering the place as Mecha-Sonic barked out orders in Commander Garnet’s voice.

He saw resistance members being slaughtered by a rogues gallery of monsters that the Enclave had at its disposal: deathclaws clad in power armor, trauma harnesses, lobotomites, wanamingos, ghouls, a moth creature, and even powered armor super mutants.

He heard resistance fighters scream as they desperately fought for each piece of land, not giving a single step until they died. Causalities didn’t really matter for the Enclave in this battle due to the fact that the 22nd weren’t even fighting but just releasing these creatures onto the spaceport.

For as much as the Enclave praises the Lord, it sure does love creating demons to use against its enemies. Mecha-Sonic looked at a scream that displayed all of the garrison’s personnel, seeing it slowly tick down as more and more were killed by the hoard of creatures.

As the number went below five hundred, Mecha-Sonic wondered how long this would take since, while he did set up an all-clear signal that would repeat indefinitely to not alert suspicion, it was getting close to sunrise.

He also wondered how the Enclave was going to clean up the absolute hoard of ghouls that flooded the shipyard. Since they were the only creatures the Enclave didn’t have control of, there were quite literally thousands of them thanks to XVB-02’s outfitted with stealth fields dropping tons of containers filled with them.

His answer soon came when the sun finally rose and a hoard of XVB-02 gunships filled the horizon. When they came close, though, they dropped bombs onto the hoards of ghouls that released some kind of toxin.

Said toxin killed the ghouls almost instantly, reducing them to nothing but skeletons, while Mecha-Sonic saw the garrison’s personnel count dive into the double digits before single digits before finally hitting zero.

Mecha-Sonic looked out of the window as the spaceport was filled with the toxin. The super mutants, wanamingos, deathclaws, trauma harnesses, and moth creatures survived, while the mutants and the lobotomites were reduced to skeletons as well.

Mecha-Sonic had to give it to the Enclave; they knew how to make biological and bio-mutant weapons of war; if only his old master had done that, he would have won this rivalry long ago, before the hedgehog had become too powerful along with having a lot of friends.

Than again, that was the man who shelved many ideas that had almost given him victory for being ‘too effective’ and thus researching far less fruitful endeavors. Mecha-Sonic wondered if the man actually had the 300 IQ he boasted about or if it was another part of his moon-sized ego.

Chapter 5: Desert Brawl

Chapter Text

Corporal Jonah looked up at the sky while Max burned a pile of resistance fighters behind him, the smoke rising up into the light blue sky of a world untainted by nuclear holocaust. 'Weird to see such a blue sky.' Jonah thought before checking his pip-pad.

He heard that the 22nd Chemical Corps had taken an old spaceport by just dumping every monster the Enclave had in its deck alongside the metal hedgehog, so the Enclave was going to spaceships eventually, so that was fun, and here he was stuck in the middle of the desert.

The 37th was deployed in its entirety to capture a mutant village—not exterminate, but capture. Once the village was captured, the 15th Infantry Division would march in and secure the mutants as slave labor for some project General Orwich was cooking up.

Though they wouldn’t destroy the village since Agent Adam has a plan to replace everyone with synths, lowering the level of suspicion caused by the Enclave strikes into mutant territory since he heard that everything is already getting hot enough, there is no need for the Enclave to douse some extra gas on an already large forest fire.

Apparently the mutants were starting to hunt down the last strongholds of the EggMan Empire and would most likely overextend themselves, thus allowing the Enclave to swoop in and kill them all.

Resistance members were all still killed, though, since they were the most probable to try and start a slave rebellion while in captivity. As President Anderson once said, ‘Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the mutant is not equal to humanity and that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is its natural and normal condition. This America is the first human nation in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth. This truth has been slow in the process of its development, like all other truths in the various departments of science.”

And you couldn’t have any of that when mutants were rebelling; also, the resistance fighters would have some combat skills—not a lot, but enough to cause a disturbance in any labor projects that the Enclave needed them for.

Anyways, the assault was nothing noteworthy; some resistance fighters tried holding up in the village's government building, and instead of assaulting the building, the 37th just poured mustard gas into the building and let the problem fix itself.

"Feel like we're back in Arizona? Doesn't it?" Max said as Jonah saw some of the 15th walk by, clad in the black combat armor and gasmasks that have yellow visors. Jonah never really understood why they had yellow visors, but they did look nice.

"Well, this time we aren't hunting mutant larpers that use tribal equipment with some guns, but animals with somewhat up-to-date equipment, by our standards."

"I guess..."

Followed behind them were a set of trucks that contained mutant survivors, most clad in bare rags or nothing at all. The enclave didn't strip them down, though; the village was large but poor, and some mutants just wore nothing while not exposing...anything.

Jonah felt uncomfortable looking at some of the pictures of the mutant heroes just in case they had to fight them sooner than they expected, and when it came to the two-tailed fox, he looked away since it was a child that was naked outside of shoes and gloves.

The Enclave may have exterminated much of the mutant race, threw out the entirety of the Geneva Convention (since that only applied to humans), and started gassing mutants...but Pedophilia was one step too far.

"Hey Jonah." Max said, as Jonah noticed, he was done burning the bodies.

"Yeah Max?"

"Try and guess who came to Fort Anderson."

"Surprise me."

"Frank Horrigan."

Jonah eyes went wide as he heard the name, Frank Horrigan died on the Rig, and even if most of the Enclave clones were based off of his genetic code, the way Max said it, it was The Frank Horrigan. How was he back alive?

"Are you sure it was him?"

"Yeah, I tried asking around how he was alive, and Major Beck told me..."

"Major Beck? SIGMA Yellow's squad leader? How in the world did you get him to tell you something?"

"Because he was mostly in the dark as well, apparently everyone outside of Fort Anderson's top scientists, along with some agents, only knew. He told me it had something to do with 'Vault 103.'"

Vault 103? Jonah had never heard of that vault before and could only guess that it had something to do with resurrecting people because how else would Frank Horrigan be alive?

"I guess that's a moral booster. To some people, come on, Sarge said he had a gift for us in the government building." Jonah said as he and Max walked through some alleyways in the village.

It was a large village that had been harder to take due to every mutant having a weapon. Sure, their weapons still couldn't pierce the division's armor, but it sure as hell made it an annoyance when every room had a laser gun pointed at them.

"Get in the line!" Jonah and Max heard as they saw some of the 15th line up some mutants while protectrons held the mutant children back.

The reason these mutants were being executed instead of being transported away to be slave labor was due to the fact that they were apart of a group that saw mutants as superior beings rather than humans, kind of like the many super mutant and ghoul groups that had popped up during the Enclave merciless crusade.

The sergeant held his hand up before turning it into a fist, and his men executed the mutants. One of the children was able to break free and go to cradle its dead mother. The child was quickly put down by the sergeant, the child being reduced to an ash pile thanks to the sergeant's laser pistol.

Jonah and Max entered the building to find their sergeant, along with the rest of their squad, all gathered around a table where there was a multitude of strange technology to which a protectron was connected.

"So what is this for?" Jonah asked as the sergeant tossed him a device that was similar to the one that Max had looted off the dead in their last mission.

"The science division was able to replicate the technology, and thus the entire division is getting these 'phones.'" Staff Sergeant Alex said as Jonah looked over to Max.

"Who knew you looting the dead was a benefit to me?" Jonah said as Max laughed. As the squad all received their reward and celebrated their gift, everyone heard a radio start playing.

"This is Enclave Radio, the voice of America! The Neo-German Empire has fallen along with the rest of Europe; the Enclave flag now flies high over many of humanity's greatest monuments as our boys in black burn through the mutant survivors."

Everyone cheered as they heard the news. They were lucky that all of them were deployed to the new world and not the European front, since they heard that it was especially bad because the landscape was covered in destroyed cities, nuclear wastelands, and trenches.

It was hell on earth, and the Enclave had finally come out of the other side, especially since that would mean the veterans were coming home, along with General James Song, General Dornan, and General Sam Houston.

Perhaps they would be able to come home and finally relax, or maybe they would come to the new world to help them. "In other news, the northern parts of South America have been cleared out through the use of agent orange and napalm strikes to burn through the mutant infested forests. Urban combat duties have been given to the many clone legions assigned to the front.”

This causes the group to celebrate even more until they hear the sound of gunfire. Everyone rushed out as they saw laser fire exchange throughout the streets as members of the 37th and 15th took cover.

"What the hell is going on?" SSG Alex yelled as everyone got too close. Jonah slid next to Max and saw that they were getting attacked by resistance fighters, and a whole lot of them.

"How did they know we were here?!" Max said as he burned some mutants as they tried to charge the line, "They didn't; they most likely were out dealing with something." Donovan said this before injecting some med-x and pyscho into himself before attaching his ripped bayonet.

"And there goes Donovan." Ryan said while reloading, and Jonah aimed down his scope before squeezing the trigger, blowing the head off a resistance sniper.

"Fix bayonets!" A sergeant yelled, and the normal infantry fixed their ripper bayonets. SSG Alex tried to get everything under control, but all hell broke loose as technicals rammed into the defensive line, sending some of the soldiers flying.

Jonah had been one of those that were sent flying; he was disoriented and tried to stand up; his body was on fire as his implants worked to get him back up; Getting hit by a truck was not on his list today, and getting killed by mutants wasn't either.

He reached into a pocket and jabbed himself with some med-x, along with popping some buffout into his mouth; it would make him ignore the pain and deal with the mutant attack. He attached his ripper to his rifle and charged the enemy.

Ramming the bayonet into the chest of a mutant gunner and revving it up, he spilled blood and guts over his armor as he fired a shot into the mutant before swinging over and cutting the head off another mutant.

Jonah's veins felt like they were on fire, and he bet that many others veins felt the same as the defensive line collapsed and became a brawl of rippers, super sledges, and swords while mutants fought off with their laser weapons and tools.

Jonah felt a laser strike him in the head, knocking him back and causing him to stumble to the ground as he fired off round after round into the mutants. When one tried to jump him, Max kicked it off and burned it alive, the screams of the mutant resounding throughout the village.

"You owe me."

"I would have survived." Jonah said that as Max helped him, the technicals that crashed into the defensive line were quickly taken out as one of the PA support teams from the 15th took the point.

APA MKII and MKIII stood in the line of fire, weapons blazing, as mutants tried to bring up an AT-Gun, but that was quickly destroyed by a missile launcher from another support team.

"Push them back, kill every single one of them!" A PA trooper said as more and more mutant technicals came up, only to be shredded by gauss, laser, and plasma fire with the occasional missile.

After linking back up with the squad and SSG Alex, the defensive line started to rebuild and push back against the mutant threat. Mutant limbs and bodies went flying as the force started to hold its ground as the 15th’s artillery started to rain hell upon the attack.

The 37th’s VB-01s started to give support as well, strafing the mutant force with a hail of plasma and laser fire along with rockets, causing chaos within the mutant ranks as they started to fall back, knowing that they couldn’t defeat an enemy that had both air support and a defensive advantage.

Though their retreat didn’t get far as an explosion erupted in the middle of the retreating mass of mutants, followed by multiple additional explosions and many mutants getting blown apart, Jonah looked up and smiled along with many other Enclave soldiers cheering.

Someone had apparently called in for additional air support, and an AC-130 Dreamlifter was dispatched, racking up numerous casualties amongst the mutant force before falling away. Most of the mutant threat had been wiped out in one go.

Not all of them, though, and after some shouts and mounting up, the 37th was back in the air and was hunting down the mutants that had survived the massacre. Jonah had even gotten to mount the plasma LMG on the ramp.

He laughed and yelled at the mutants as he fired off hail after hail of steaming hot plasma into mutant flesh, seeing many turn to goo while others screamed in pain as parts of their bodies started to melt.

Some fired off lasers into the air, hoping to take them down; one of the mutants even had an RPG on them that ended up missing by an extremely large margin. That mutant had quickly been annihilated by a hail of plasma fire from Jonah.

Seconds, minutes, and even hours had gone by as Jonah kept his finger on the trigger, mowing down helpless mutants that tried to escape their fate. Screams echoed across the sands as a mutant force yelled at the enclave in defiance.

After enough time and many MFCs depleted, the surviving mutant fighters had been exterminated, and thus the 37th could go home; the 15th had to stay in the village until the synths had been delivered to it.

They also had the task of removing the goo that had now covered the desert, though Jonah doubted that they would do it alone and would probably get some Protectrons and Mr. Handy robots to help tidy the place up.

It had taken some time for the 37th to get back to Fort Anderson, and when they did, they saw some Enclave Super Fortresses flying high above the island where Fort Anderson was located. Jonah had even recognized one belonging to the 1st and 2nd Navarro veterans.

It must have been a pain to get through the main gate, though; perhaps they had expanded it while they were gone.

Which meant that the radio broadcast they had heard was most likely outdated, and as their vertibirds landed on the numerous before they stepped out onto the pavement, they were greeted by a beautiful sight.

‘The Crusaders of Song’ as they were called, were the twenty PA divisions placed under General Song since the battle of New Reno. Many were veterans of the Enclave’s war before the 37th was even created, and their armor showed it.

Clad in APA MKI, most of the suits were heavily customized to show the individual under the suit; the closest to General Song, who was leading his divisions in the front, wore the Enclave flag as capes whilst carrying massive proton-halberds.

General Song had a similar loadout but was clad in APA MKIII along with some storage device on his back. Jonah didn't know what it was, but it seemingly contained some sort of crystal.

As the veterans passed them by, some offered glimpses of the 37th and even a few threw some salutes, though in all honesty, the 37th should be saluting them due to many of them being higher-ranking officers who turned down being given armies of their own.

Though what every suit of armor had was a blood red cross painted onto the torso armor, some even carried banners that were more symbolic of Crusader banners than modern ones, the banners having writing in Latin that translates to ‘Warriors of Heaven.’

Everything about the Crusaders of Song screamed the very definition of the Enclave: these men and women who had fought from the gates of Navarro to the streets of Berlin were the greatest warriors of humanity.

And they weren’t done waging war yet…

Chapter 6: Frank Horrigan

Chapter Text

"Are you sure that thing is ready to be deployed?" An agent said that as Adam looked over the battle map in the command room of Fort Anderson, the enclave's next strike was to hit a G.U.N. base.

Much of G.U.N. was destroyed but remains scattered, lacking leadership and many splintering off into their own factions, but this base still clings to the old ideals of G.U.N. along with actively supporting the resistance with troops and armored vehicles.

Some agents had argued that they shouldn't be killing pure humans; those that did want to go ahead and assault the base didn't want to send the thing in there, worried that it would be too sloppy and wouldn't wipe the entire base out.

Agent Adam to rule them in and state that it was their best hope, along with it being a test to see if the thing had retained its skill since its death, worried that it had lost its touch in the decades since the destruction of the oil rig.

This thing was Frank Horrigan, and this would be his first combat operation after being...well, Adam still didn't know how the bastard was resurrected; all he knew was that the 10th Chemical Corps did something in Vault 103 and had been requesting additional resources.

He wondered what exactly was going on in that vault to require additional resources but shook it off as one of the Science Division's crazy ideas that somehow worked, especially since they now have Frank Horrigan back, better than ever, and ready to slaughter mutant scum.

"Yes, Horrigan is ready, and I think it would be a waste to see him rot away in Fort Anderson when he could be doing what he had been doing before his death, caring for the Enclave's dirty work, though he wouldn't have his shadow's alongside him." Adam said as another agent asked what exactly Horrigan's shadows were.

"They were elite troopers that served alongside Horrigan; we believe they died in the destruction of the oil rig, but due to some questionable choices by the DIA, we may never know who they were or if they were ever on the oil rig."

A sad thing really, two Americans that would never be identified for their courageous service alongside Frank Horrigan; maybe they weren't dead and had assimilated into the elderly of the enclave; perhaps they were apart of the Enclave military; or maybe they did die on the Oil Rig or during the attack on Navarro; they would never know.

"And does that thing want to go on this mission, or are you forcing him to go on it?" Adam shook his head at the question. He wasn't forcing Horrigan to go on this mission; he also doubts that anyone could force Horrigan to go on a mission.

"Of course not. He had apparently grown..tired; as the 10th Chemical Corps has told me, I don't know what he grew tired of when he was dead, but he wants to spill mutant blood once more, and who could deny him that?"

The other agents agreed, and after some arguing on how they were going to transport Frank Horrigan to the G.U.N. base, they finally decided on the plan of dropping Horrigan out of a Dreamlifter and onto the base's command room.

Agent Adam left the command room to head towards the area where he would find Frank Horrigan. That being Fort Anderson's new chapel, he didn't know why the monster of a man that Horrigan is would relax in a chapel, but it made finding him a whole hell of a lot simpler.

While passing by the medical wing, he heard the screams of mutants. He didn't know who was doing surgery on them and decided that he would investigate it after talking to Horrigan and telling him the plan. He wasn't invited to the meeting due to the fact that he would not fit inside the command room.

He made it to the chapel and saw Frank Horrigan kneeling before the alter. His armor had been upgraded slightly since his resurrection, but it was practically the same armor he had worn all those years ago. He was also bigger.

When the oil rig was destroyed, he was 12 feet tall; now he's 14 feet. Thank God that Adam had most of Fort Anderson's rooms built larger to accommodate beasts like Horrigan, even though they were originally built to accommodate Agent Johnson and Jackson, but Adam couldn't complain.

"Agent Horrigan." Adam said as the beast stood up, his red eye lenses piercing into Adam's soul as it looked down at him. A blade as long as Adam was tall was attached to one arm, while attached to the other was a Plasma Defender Mini-gun, or P.D.M.G. for short, normally attached to armored vehicles like tanks, but with Horrigan, he was a tank.

"Agent Adam." The beast spoke, hatred lacing his voice as Adam took a step back. "What do you need me to do that your petty machine can't?"

Adam spoke as he noted the 'petty machine' comment was most likely directed at Mecha-Sonic: "A remnant G.U.N. base is supporting the resistance with supplies along with troops, though with the resistance currently occupied with their assaults on the last remnants of the EggMan empire, the base's resources have been drained."

"An extermination mission, I presume, then? It's been awhile, but I'll make it work. How am I getting deployed?" Horrigan asked as he retracted his blade into its socket.

"A Dreamlifter will drop you off before staying in the air to provide fire support just in case you need it, while a modified Eden-Class Dreadnought will be sent to jam their communications."

"Alright then..." Horrigan said as Adam smiled under his helmet, and while Horrigan walked past him, Adam immediately felt uncomfortable when Horrigan spoke next.

"By the way, has the DIA figured out how they missed a tribal sneaking onto the rig?" Horrigan said before leaving the room, the beast's steps resounding throughout the halls as Adam breathed out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Why did he have to come back?" Adam said this before heading off towards the medical wing to find out what the cause of all the screams was.

__________________________________

"We are approaching the target location, Agent Horrigan." One of the pilots said that as he absentmindedly activated and retracted his armblade, he had to awkwardly bend down since the Dreamlifter couldn't fit him while standing up straight.

He had received additional information about the G.U.N. and prepared himself to face a base mostly occupied by humans, though there was a garrison of mutants that were employed to pilot multiple mechs or just as guards.

Horrigan saw these mechs thanks to some technical documents that the Enclave stole, and these mechs were either smaller, just as tall, or taller than him; luckily, none of the mechs towered over him, and none of the mechs had any melee compatibilities.

"Right over the target location, good hunting agent."

The ramp of the Dreamlifter was lowered, and Horrigan started a slow run before leaping out the back of the Dreamlifter. Normally, the enclave would act in the shadows...

But a Dreadnought jamming a remnant G.U.N. base while a storm raged meant that no message would get out, meaning that Horrigan didn't need to act in the shadows and that he could slaughter these mutant sympathizers without any risks.

He used a jet pack that was added to his armor to slow his descent ever so slightly as he came to his landing location. That landing location was right on top of a G.U.N. APC, as it was quickly reduced to scrap from Horrigan's sheer weight.

He was immediately lit up by hundreds of rounds, with G.U.N. soldiers diving to cover or getting into armored vehicles to deal with him. Those that weren't in cover were immediately turned to goo as Horrigan returned fire with his P.D.M.G.

Many names were thrown at him as he made his way through the courtyard, some like ‘badnik’ or'machine head,’ but the one that brought a smile to his face was'monster.’ Of course, these Muti sympathizers would see him as a monster as he tears through their ranks.

A barrage of missiles narrowly misses him as he turns to see one of the mechs approaching him. The F-6T S.T.B.F. is a bipedal walker that would definitely be used by the Enclave if they ever got the blueprints; perhaps he could search for those in this op.

It continued to fire upon him as he dove and weaved between the fire of its 20mm before he got right up to it and activated his blade, stabbing right into the mech’s co*ckpit and killing its pilot.

After retracting his blade and unleashing plasma fire on a group of Humvees before ripping off one of the mech’s legs and throwing it into an APC, sending the vehicle flying into a nearby garage and taking out additional personnel.

Though he would have called in air support since he heard the clanking steps of additional mechs approaching his position, he went into his communications as he set his P.D.M.G. to MC-MFCs, which should get through the armored co*ckpits of the mechs.

After identifying its targets and where they are, the Dreamlifter does its job as a 105mm shell slams into the first mech while the next two get shredded by a hail of 30mm. Horrigan raises his arm and fires a hail of plasma into the last two mechs, the plasma piercing into the co*ckpits of each and melting their pilots.

Some robots tried to come and attack him, but he cut them down with swipes from his blade as he came to the base’s front door, stabbing into it with his blade before forcing it open, where he saw tons of G.U.N. personnel run for either cover or for their lives.

Many were turned to goo as Horrigan stomped down through the main entrance, tanking small arms to rockets as he refused to die, and thanks to being in close quarters while also being smaller, any mech that comes out to greet him can easily be engaged in melee combat with him, meaning an automatic win for him.

The screams, oh, the screams, as he paints the base green and red like it’s Christmas, brung him joy as these mutie sympathizers, alongside mutants as well, ran away or desperately held their ground against their superior.

Alongside them stood many robots; some tried to ram into him only to be crushed under his powered armor boot, while others fired upon him in a feint attempt to neutralize him. They came in a variety of sizes, though none were close to the size of the mechs he had already encountered.

In all honesty, he was starting to grow board in this slaughter; perhaps something would show up and provide a real threat to him. Sure, the mechs were a threat, but the co*ckpits were exposed and were only protected by glass that, while bullet-resistant, faltered under heavy plasma fire.

That is, until he started to reach what seemed to be the base’s control room, where the base commander, along with the best of the best that G.U.N. had to offer, would most likely be. Perhaps they would make their last stand there instead of fleeing?

He kicked down the door and raised his P.D.M.G. but found the room strangely empty. Shame; perhaps he overestimated the mutant sympathizers, and they just ran away instead of facing him like men.

Oh well, he would still hunt them down like the animals they are…

He heard the vehicle too late as it smashed through the control room wall. It was massive, and through the windshield, he saw who he presumed was the base’s commander as he yelled over a loudspeaker attached to the vehicle.

“I don’t know who you are, but you f*cked with the wrong American!”

The man looked more Chinese than American, and while Horrigan was one to judge a commie bastard like the commander calling himself American did make his blood boil, he had to focus on the fact that he was close to getting rammed right back to the Stone Age.

Holding back the massive truck with all his might as he created indents in the steel floor, he knew what to do and activated his blade once more before stabbing into the truck's hood, killing the engine and stopping it from moving him any further.

The truck immediately sprouted three arms with circular saws on each end that came swinging down upon Horrigan, dodging side to side as he fired a hail of plasma into the vehicle. It was doing something, but the truck was so big that no matter how much he shot at it, the hail of plasma was similar to that of pinpricks on the truck.

One arm comes swinging down, and with a quick reaction time, Horrigan blocks the attack with his arm blade while also reaching up to grab the arm with his other hand. With some force, he rips the arm off the truck—one down, two to go.

The next one gets melted off thanks to Horrigan firing at the arm with his P.D.M.G. instead of the truck itself, the arm even bashing into the truck and doing some damage as it flails around before finally falling off, another one down.

Though the last one is harder to deal with since the commander starts to deploy robots, Horrigan uses his arm blade to parry and block any of the arm’s attacks while using his P.D.M.G. to melt through the commander’s robots.

Though his ammo reserves of MC-MFCs are slowly being depleted, he might have to switch over to OC-MFCs due to how many robots there are, but due to a stroke of luck, the last arm misses him and gets stuck in the floor.

“Bastard!” The commander yells out as, in a desperate attempt, he starts to the last part of the truck, that being, for some goddamn reason, rocket boosters.

The truck boosters forward, and Horrigan narrowly dodges the incoming truck as it crashes through multiple walls of the base and even crushes some of the commander’s own men while on its path of endless destruction.

Horrigan quickly ran after the truck, only to be met with an interesting sight as he saw a hoard of vertibirds descend upon the base. Horrigan didn’t know he was going to have reinforcements, and while he wished they were his shadows, they would have to do.

As he walked into the courtyard and the Enclave troops unloaded from their transports, he took in the slaughter that he had caused. There may be some survivors in the base, but he doubted they would survive, and even if they did, then the enclave would surely have some other form of assassination by now.

Horrigan walks over to the truck and slams his fist through the windshield as he grabs the commander, and with no effort at all, crushes him into a fine red pulp...

__________________________________

“Your genius impresses and frightens me at the same time, Orwich.” Adam said as he looked over a pile of failed experiments, mutants that had much of their body replaced by machinery so that they would be more obedient along with being better slaves.

“Thank you, agent. While none of them have survived, I believe this will eventually bear fruit; perhaps we could even turn mutants that survive into weapons against their own species.”

“Perhaps, but I believe synths would be more effective.”

“How is that going, by the way? I heard from Song that you’ve ordered well over a thousand synths to be produced, even the blueprints to build your own synth factory.”

“I believe that synths could be more effective than any plasma rifle or power armor the Enclave has to offer; perhaps we could replace one of the heroes with a synth.”

Orwich laughed before questioning Adam, “Would they inherit the heroes abilities?” Adam could only shake his head; the synths would most likely not inherit the heroes abilities, so they wouldn’t last long.

Or maybe they would, since, from the knowledge and history he has gathered, heroes generally don’t kill people…Except for that one military experiment, that one would most likely be the most dangerous to the enclave.

Though that would be way off before they exposed themselves to this world. Surely nothing would pop up that would actively pose a threat to not only this world but perhaps the Enclave in general, right?

Chapter 7: The calm before the storm

Chapter Text

Screams echoed across the halls of Fort Anderson. Mech-Sonic had to temporarily stop talking to Sigma because he wondered what was causing it—it wasn't torture since Agent Adams had a different way of doing it.

The enclave had a machine where they could see a person's memories, so there was no need to torture since they could immediately get the information they wanted, but that wasn't enough for the enclave since they needed obedience.

That's where the second function of the machine came in. Since the machine could also make a person forget memories, what better bargaining chip for obedience in a mutant than making them weigh the choice of having all of their memories wiped or living in slavery?

That was another thing that had started to happen: the Enclave started kidnapping mutants for experiments and slave labor since they realized that they could replace an entire village with synths instead of exterminating it.

It was a slower method than outright extermination and wouldn't completely replace the extermination mission many loved, but it would also cause less suspicion. Besides, the Enclave can't put any more pressure on the resistance since they've defeated the remnants of the EggMan Empire, and it would be harder to blame badniks for them since there aren't many of them left in the wild anymore.

Due to the combination of Enclave strikes and legitimate badnik attacks that caused the resistance to go on the offensive, mobilizing all other of their forces towards the last strongholds of the EggMan empire, the Enclave didn't know who was actually leading the remnants due to agents reporting coordinated attacks by the machines, but everyone soon learned who led them.

Metal Sonic, the'superior' model to Mecha-Sonic, even though he has failed many times but wasn't scrapped while he lost once and was forgotten about immediately by his creator, knowing that his'successor' was the empire's ruler?

It was....

Another scream echoed out through the halls, and Sigma spoke as he put a puzzle of the United States together: "Wonder what they're doing to the mutant?"

Mecha-Sonic shook his head and left, going to find out what was going on and why a simple torture session was taking so long, especially since every torture method took less than thirty minutes to break a mutant.

He strolled through the halls, seeing some other personnel also wondering what was going on. Mecha-Sonic sped up as he heard that the screams were slowly dying out and being replaced by the voice of General Orwich celebrating.

Mecha-Sonic turned into the interrogation room before finally seeing the cause of the screaming and why it had taken so long, and he was amazed, honestly, that his creator hadn't done this yet over all his attempts at world dominance.

A mutant lay on a surgical table, much of their body replaced by crude-looking machinery as well. Standing beside the table were General Orwich and Agent Adam. Orwich wasn't in her normal APA MKII power armor and was instead in doctor scrubs.

"Hey Mecha, decided to see our latest project?" Orwich said cheerfully before turning to the mutant and speaking, "Unit-01, pick up that can."

The mutant got off the bed and spoke in a robotized voice that had a hint of pain, "Compliance." The mutant, which Mecha-Sonic couldn't tell if it was male or female due to how much of it was replaced with machinery, bent over and picked up the can with a claw that had replaced its right arm.

"Good, know, let's see if it can do something more difficult." Orwich said as she led both Mecha and Adam over to a makeshift target range, with the target on the end being a female mutant tied to a post.

After ordering the modified mutant to come over to her, she hands it a firearm and says, "Kill the mutant." While all this happened, the tied-up mutant tried to break free as the modified one took the firearm and slowly aimed at the other.

Mecha saw as the modified mutant struggled to squeeze the trigger with its remaining hand, but eventually he squeezed it tight enough, and a bang resounded out through the medical wing as the other mutant dropped dead.

Orwich spoke: "Well, it clearly still remembered the mutant, so I may need to put some more work into the mind-wiping, but I consider this a success." She said all of this as the modified mutant looked as dead as it had been since its awakening.

This made Mecha think, Why did his creator never do this with the mutants? He wondered if his original creator had some form of moral code; he had too, considering the fact that he had multiple opportunities to use more brutal methods to gain immediate victory.

"Perhaps when you're done, you can send the medical staff the instructions and blueprints for this procedure, which would give them something more interesting to do than endlessly cataloging all the mutant variants in this world."

Orwich nodded and spoke, "Hey Mecha, want to see something interesting?" She asked him like he was some child, but he did want to know what she thought was interesting since interesting to her could either mean she found some neat thing about robots or she was showing off the numerous ways to get rid of dead bodies that the Enclave has.

After retrieving her power armor, she leads him and the modified mutant down one of the larger parts of Fort Anderson, which leads directly into the production area of Fort Anderson, which is mostly occupied by mutant slaves outside of the military police that kept watch over the slaves.

They entered the massive cavern, where Mecha-Sonic saw tons of super-badniks being either scrapped, modified, or rebuilt to suit the enclave's needs. Mecha even heard some screams as he saw some of the MP rounding up disgruntled and rebellious workers before executing them by hanging.

Orwich, Mecha, and the modified mutant descend down the steps of the cavern as an eyebot passes by them, blaring 'Hail Columbia' 24/7 to 'encourage' the mutants to work harder. As they approach one of the smaller super-badniks that is scheduled to be scrapped, Orwich orders the modified mutant to start working.

Many of the mutants stopped as soon as they saw the modified mutant get to work. Many stood in fear at the idea that they could become like that. Most of them would become like the modified mutants when Orwich finally got the procedure down to turning mutants into cyborgs.

"Hey, get back to work!" An MP soldier said, and the mutants quickly got back to work; many of them were skin and bones, due to the fact that the enclave only fed them enough to keep them working, while the dead bodies had been originally used to make the mutants food supply. though they did have to stop using the bodies for the mutants food for a little bit for another reason.

Any person that ate the flesh of a mutant would be a disgrace to humanity, and while the Enclave would never have a food shortage, when the war in Europe started to slow due to trench warfare, food became an issue for the clone legions due to how many of them were there.

So some scientists and agents started to harvest the dead mutants and grind them up into a food source for the clone legions. Clones weren't fully human, so there was no problem feeding them food made out of mutants, and since said mutants were animals, it's not like they could tell the difference.

After the war had finished, though, the bodies returned to being used for mutant food while also having the 22nd Chemical Corps send some of the bodies back home and to the 10th Chemical Corps to do whatever in God's name with them inside that damn vault, which was slowly becoming more of a fortress than a research base.

Mecha-Sonic went to go force a slave back to work, the slave laying next to a pile of barrels, but Mecha scans the slave to see that the mutant was actually dead, with Orwich calling some MP soldiers to get the body out of there. Another corpse for the 10th.

"I do not see what's so interesting about this place." Mecha spoke, surprising Orwich and causing her to joke with him, "You decided to finally put that voice box to good use; I was worried that I didn't put it in right."

Mecha let out a metallic tone that tried to be a laugh but immediately made all the surrounding mutants tense up. They immediately got back to work once a patrol of MPs passed by. Mecha then stopped as Orwich spoke, "That's what I wanted to show you."

It was a giant super-badnik, modified to hell and back with tons of prototype weapons and old equipment from the EggMan empire, including one major piece of equipment that would win the upcoming war for the Enclave.

See, the Enclave knew much of the history of this new world, and part of that history was when the world cracked due to EggMan trying to harness the power of Dark Gaia only to fail spectacularly. That wasn't what the Enclave cared about; it was the piece of technology that interested them.

It was a piece of technology that disabled the hero Sonic the Hedgehog in his super form. This would be essential for the Enclave if the hedgehog had ever gotten into super mode during the upcoming war, especially since nothing could compete with the hedgehog in one-on-one combat; not even General Song would be able to best him.

So while stealing technology from an old EggMan Empire stockpile that contained tons of documents, most were failed plans that the Enclave believed they could improve upon since they cared about lethality and not capturing. They found designs for the device and immediately started working on it.

The problem was that the machine relied on power from Dark Gaia; most documents the Enclave found said that the god was dead, so now the Enclave had to find something else to power the machine. Luckily, they had some ideas.

"So this is the Enclave's idea for defeating the hedgehog?" Mecha said as he placed a hand on one of the super-badniks legs, it was reinforced with additional armor plates and painted jet black, just like everything else in the enclave.

"It's our best chance if that bastard goes into super mode; once he's down, then it should be smooth sailing from there." Orwich said as they went up an elevator that brought them up to what used to be the super-badnik's head but is now a control room.

"What about the other three hedgehogs?" Mecha asked; he knew that Sonic was the most important target in the upcoming war, but he also realized that the others would need to be taken out before the Enclave could win the war with no concerns.

"General Song has said that he will be the one to bring Miss Rose's head, claiming that the fight must be one-on-one, man against mutant. Agent Adam claimed that they would lure Shadow into a trap before using Archimedes to wipe him off the face of the earth."

"And the one from the future?" Mecha questioned Orwich as they walked around the control room, with Orwich laying her hand on the electronic throne, which would be where she would sit, hopefully with Mecha alongside her.

"Let's just hope we kill the right mutants to prevent his birth." Orwich said, and while Mecha couldn't see under her helmet, he bet that she was smirking underneath it.

Both of them looked out the control room's window. Seeing the slaves build the weapons that would eventually be their species downfall brought some sort of joy to Orwich, even if said joy was due to the fact that she could only imagine what these machines could do against the armies of Mobius…

__________________________________

Agent Adam poured himself a drink as he watched a multitude of divisions pile out of the portal that had brought the Enclave to Mobius. He had to pull some strings to get even more divisions under his belt, but with the population of Mobius, they needed almost all hands on deck.

Of course, divisions would need to remain in the home world, and Adam had ordered most of Fort Anderson’s agents to start building enclave cells in many human and mixed cities so that when the night comes that the enclave launches its invasion, many humans will stand alongside them on that fateful night.

The humans of this world will soon learn that their loyalties lie in the enclave and not in their mutant-sympathetic government, that they are the sole rulers of this world, and that it is their God-given right that they are superior to all.

Adam took a sip of his drink as he dreamed of what this world would become under enclave control. The world may have been tainted by the mutants, but that taint could easily be removed, like communism, through plasma and steel, through vertibirds, and through power armor.

They would claim this world, not only in the name of humanity, not only in the name of the Enclave of America, but in the name of the Lord himself. This world will be theirs! This world shall be brought under the boot of a nation that sees the true potential of humanity.

This world may have its so-called heroes, but nothing can beat a man with a flame in his heart and a rifle in his hand. Humanity shall win this war, no matter the cost, and no matter the number of heroes that will rise against the enclave, all shall fall.

Adam noticed that his terminal had just received a message that compiled information that came from numerous agents and synth informants. He had been waiting for it due to the fact that he needed to file a report about the current status of Fort Anderson operations.

He poured himself another glass of whiskey as he started to file the report. His implants made it so that he wouldn’t get drunk or addicted to alcohol, so he didn’t need to worry about drinking while on the job, especially when said report would head to the President himself.

As he filed it, he noticed that outside of building enclave cells and arming them with old surplus gear, most of the information was useless due to the fact that the world had entered a sort of peacetime. That must be nice…

Though one thing did stand out to him: apparently surviving badnik gangs started to flee into the mountains after the destruction of the last EggMan Empire strongholds. He knew that he should send someone to investigate them, but he also knew that there was a restoration base in the mountains, so that problem would be solved in due time.

After filing the report and leaning back in his chair, he noticed that he had also gotten a message from…the 10th Chemical Corps. He thought to himself, ‘What in the ever-living Hell?”

He accessed the message and saw that the 10th was apparently sending over some of its personnel to help with Fort Anderson operations and that Adam could not refuse their personnel due to the 10th being the personal guard dogs (outside of Agent Jackson and Johnson) of the President.

He rubbed his temple and closed the message. Perhaps this isn’t so bad since he could finally confront some of the 10th about their damn operations in Vault 103, because he wanted answers about it and so did many others.

But that would have to wait since it would take a month for them to get here, so Adam took a deep breath and left his office for his quarters. He had a date with his bed, and no one was going to stop him from finally getting some shut-eye. He had been pushing his implants to the limit, along with using numerous drugs to keep himself up, and many doctors said he should lay off them.

As he got to his quarters and flopped into his bed, he noticed a strange radio that wasn’t there before. Eh, who cares? Probably a gift from one of the divisions or someone…

Chapter 8: A New Threat

Chapter Text

"Two days ago, recon teams had discovered an EggMan facility located inside the mountains." Agent Adam briefed Mecha-Sonic and SIGMA Team Yellow, SIGMA standing in modified suits of HERMES armor that would make them immune to all types of fire. A few months had passed since the end of the war, and thus missions came in slower for the Yellow team.

They were all going to be deployed with flame-based weaponry, and Mecha even had some upgrades that gave him a plasma and normal flamer instead of the laser and plasma blasts that he would normally be equipped with.

"How do we know it's an EggMan facility? The last one we went to was a restoration base that, may I mind, was almost able to get a signal out to others." Major Beck said as he checked the fuel canisters of his heavy incinerator.

"The DIA is still very sorry for that, and yes, we are quite sure this is an EggMan facility." Adam then tapped on the holographic battle map to show the facility entrance, which had a stone carved into EggMan's face.

Everyone stood there, flabbergasted, until one of the other members of the Yellow Team spoke, "And they say this guy has over 200 IQ. I bet if we ran him through a S.P.E.C.I.A.L. check, we would find that his intelligence is below average, but he just has really good luck."

Some of the others laughed; Mecha even laughed at the jest at his old creator before Adam had ordered them to calm down before continuing, "Other scout teams report claim that the restoration's leader, Amy Rose, along with Sonic the Hedgehog, with Sonic speeding away in haste after encountering something inside,

"So something scared the blue mutant and caused him to run away like a coward; what else should we know?" Mecha said as Adam brought up additional pictures of the facility along with some other facilities that are currently being investigated by two other SIGMA teams.

Apparently the members of the 10th Chemical Corps had brought two SIGMA teams courtesy of the President, but that wasn't the only thing that the members of the 10th brought with them; alongside the SIGMA teams were additional deathclaws, wannamingos, moth men, and other monsters.

But they did bring a division of power armor units, all of them clad in APA MKI that was a lot cleaner than the armor of the 1st and 2nd Navarro veterans, though the men of the division were very quiet.

Some suspected they were just suits of armor controlled by Sentinel A.I. chips, only to find out that they did have life signs and there was something under the armor; they just didn't know what; maybe they were traitors that the 10th lobotomized?

Anyways, the other facilities were already being investigated by the other SIGMA teams, so it was up to Yellow to secure this facility and figure out what had scared the hedgehog so much to speed away in a panic, since the Enclave would love to see what did it.

"It is lightly guarded and shouldn't prove much trouble, though if you encounter any restoration forces trying to occupy it, then sneak in and plant multiple mini-nuke mines to bring the place down on top of the mutants."

“In and out, I got it.” Major Beck said as the squad leaves the room and heads over to the hanger, where some XVB-02 transports are waiting for them, along with some that belonged to the 10th and 22nd Chemical Corps, with shipping containers strapped to them containing God knows what.

Something tries to break out of the container, with Mecha noticing tons of scratches and dents that cover it. Some of the Chemical Corps moved to secure the container, with the 10th wearing their black combat biohazard suits while the 22nd wore snow camouflage.

Mecha also noticed that the 10th and 22nd only spoke in Latin; he wonders why since Latin is a long-dead language but guesses that if one of them was ever captured by mutants, it would be difficult for the mutants to get information out of them.

Mecha boarded the vertibird transport before the aircraft took off, hearing the members of the Yellow Team chat and joke as he temporarily deactivated himself to conserve battery life. Sure, his battery would last a thousand years before needing changing, but still.

As they flew towards the target location and Mecha shut down, his last thought was: What would his creator think that a nation would conquer this world faster than any of his other attempts? Of course, if everything goes smoothly…

__________________________________

Something was wrong, and EggMan knew. After getting his memories back and starting a new plan that would surely lead to his dominion over the world, he noticed that the remnants of his empire were blamed for multiple attacks, including a village near Station Square.

Did the restoration and everyone really believe that he and his robots were the cause of everything bad in the world, and the fact that he didn’t publicly announce striking at a town so close to probably one of the most fortified cities in the world should have tipped people off that it wasn’t him or Metal Sonic?

Metal Sonic reported that many of the Empire’s assets were taken; most of these were old stockpiles where he kept failed weapons and items because he tried them once and they either somewhat worked only to backfire immediately or failed completely.

Someone or something else had started pulling all the strings, and that unnerved EggMan—that while he was Mr. Tinkerer, a new evil had started rising, one that he felt would break the uneasy status quo that the world had.

But even if evil would kneel before his new weapon, a virus that would bend all to his control, one that would surely beat Sonic and friends, this would be his magnum opus-

“Umm….Dr. EggMan, we have an issue.” EggMan immediately snapped out of his thoughts as he turned to see Cubot and Orbot hiding behind Metal Sonic.

“What did you two do now? I gave you the simple task of looking at the mobian as they were infected by the virus; even a child could do it.” EggMan yelled as Orbot raised his hand and spoke, "Well, you see…The Mobian was infected by the virus but is somehow still in control.”

This surprised EggMan. How could the Mobian still be in control of its body even while infected with the metal virus? There couldn’t be anything special about the Mobian; it was just some random civilian that EggMan had kidnapped for experimentation.

EggMan got up and walked to the testing chambers, which were for all the different animals infected by the virus. Dr. Starline was monitoring some of the other test subjects in the security room, along with watching the radar, just in case someone had found out about their operation.

EggMan got to the chamber and looked through the glass as the Mobian tried to break through; it didn’t look like it was in control of its body until speaking, “What did you do to me, you monster?” So the person was still in control and was still able to see the real world.

See, the virus was supposed to make its victims live in a sort of blissful state, making them see their dream lives while unaware of the terrors it would be committing on its own species, but this? He saw how the virus easily took over Rough and Tumble, so how is this Mobian resisting its effects?

Maybe some people were just immune to the virus, and EggMan had simply been unlucky when he went looking for a Mobian to use for experimentation.

EggMan pressed a button that he never thought he would have to use; suddenly, five nozzles pop out of the wall as the Mobian continues to bash against the window before the room is suddenly lit up in flame, eliminating the Mobian in an instant along with destroying the virus.

The virus had a weakness to both extreme heat and extreme cold; both would destroy the virus but would also kill the host. While it would make taking some places over, EggMan doubted that when people inevitably tried to mount a resistance, it would be harder for them to shoot the infected if they were friends and family.

A few hours pass, and while thinking about the fact that some mobians could be immune, he immediately started worrying that some of the heroes could be immune. This one incident has caused him more stress than he had for awhile, as he came up with every scenario that could end badly.

While thinking, Dr. Starline contacted him over the nearby intercom and spoke, “EggMan, while studying the Mobian, I’ve found out that this Mobian was synthetic.”

EggMan didn’t reply as he got up and made his way to the medical wing of the ship. How was it a synthetic being? He didn’t even know how to make things that lifelike, especially when he wasn’t able to notice that they were synthetic.

He arrived at the wing and saw Doctor Starline inspecting the body, while some of the body limbs were already in the trash. “So this Mobian was some synthetic being?”

“Yes, I’ve scanned the body multiple times and found machinery inside of it, though I could not identify where it came from.” Starline said as EggMan looked over the body, so these synthetic beings were somewhat immune to the metal virus, so that called him down over the fact that some mobians could be immune, but it also made him wonder who made it…

__________________________________

“Wonder what happened here?” Beck said that as he, Yellow Team, and Mecha traveled the mineshaft that had contained the EggMan facility, they had encountered nothing so far and betted that the place was probably empty ever since the two heroes came here.

They eventually came upon a large room that looked like it used to hold a large terminal. Though now it looked like someone had run an excavator through the place, it was trashed beyond repair, which would mean that the enclave would have nothing to gain from it.

It also meant that they wouldn't need to plant nuka-mines since everything was already destroyed, so why would they need to destroy it even more?

Beck was about to call for evac until Mecha noted something: there were seven life forms in the cave. He double-checked the number with one of the other members of the SIGMA team and confirmed that there were two extra life forms in the facility.

"Well, I guess we’re going to get some action; Abraham, Johnson, you two take point.” Beck ordered, and two nodded as they started heading towards the two additional life forms, fingers on either the trigger or button as they made their way to the life form locations.

They eventually find a large pit that apparently contains the life forms. They shine a light down there and see two mutants down there, though something was wrong with them; their bodies were entirely covered in some silver substance while their eyes were bloodshot red.

“Two tangos appear to be skunks, with an unknown substance covering their bodies.” Johnson said as Mecha leaped down into the pit, landing between the two as he mashed his fist into one of the mutants, blowing out a part of its chest.

Though Mecha-Sonic was caught off as the ooze covering the mutant simply regenerated the wounded part of its chest, “fascinating, perhaps my creator isn’t a complete idiot.” Mecha-Sonic stated this before turning his arm into a flamer as he used his other arm to hold off the other mutant.

He jammed the nuzzle of the flamer onto the mutant’s head and pulled the trigger as the mutant lit up like a Christmas tree, releasing screams of pain as Mecha-Sonic did the same with the other mutant.

He looked at both as they melted into a sludge, looking more like napalm than a charred corpse. He started to wonder what the ooze was, along with the fact that his creator actually created a bioweapon instead of more robots, though he wondered if this was an actual plan for world dominance or just some failed experiment.

When Mecha-Sonic came back up to the Yellow Team, he had some of the ooze on him. “Torch me.” He said this while holding his arms like he was in a shower.

The Yellow team nodded and lit Mecha up, burning away the ooze, while Beck called for an evacuation. “Major Beck of SIGMA Team Yellow is here; there is nothing left of importance here, requesting an evacuation.”

“Copy Major, vertibird on its way to pick you up.”

__________________________________

Agent Adam didn’t notice the call on his phone because he was celebrating the fact that he had finally gotten the designs for a synth factory. He always had a soft spot for these things since he came from the Atlantic Oil Rig and the Enclave, where they constantly used synths as conscripts for their armed forces.

Though clones seemed a lot more fitting for conscripts than synths since, while they did take some time, they made up for it due to skill and loyalty to the Enclave, a synth could forget that it’s a synth, and a clone wouldn’t forget it’s a clone.

After celebrating and finally noticing the call on his phone before answering it with some joy in his voice, “Hey Moses, what could I do for you?”

“Get your ass down here, Adam. We have a situation, and it doesn’t look good, including the fact that Orwich is preparing for deployment once that hedgehog gets back and General Song is already ready for deployment and is waiting for your orders.”

Adam hung up as he suited up in his Strigade uniform, grabbed his sidearm, and made his way to the war room, passing by Enclave personnel getting ready for something. He even noticed that Frank Horrigan was sharpening his blade while some lifter bots replaced his P.D.M.G. with a heavy incinerator that had multiple barrels.

He got to the room and saw officers, agents, and scientists running around as Moses came up to him and spoke, "Glad, your finally here; now for you to learn how deep the sh*t pile we’re in really is.”

Adam gave Moses a confused look under his helmet until he pulled Adam to a holographic map, pointing at multiple areas that are painted red and deemed, ‘No saving, annihilate from afar.” Adam grows tense as Moses gives him some pictures that came from Archimedes III.

It showed hoards of mutants migrating somewhere; their movement pattern looked similar to that of a ghoul hoard, as he was quickly brought up to speed, and he did not like what I heard.

Like how the Enclave came back from the dead in the Sierra Army depot, the EggMan Empire had risen from the dead as well before spreading a bio-mechanical plague on high-population centers.

Many argued on what they should do; some said they should abandon all operations in the Mobian campaign and return home; they had enough technology to put them leagues ahead of any nation in their home world.

As Adam listened, he noticed everyone was looking at him, and Moses spoke, “Adam…it’s up to you to make the call; what’s our orders?”

Adam breathed in and spoke orders similar to Operation Arizona Steel all those years ago that had caused the President to get upset at the DIA.

Chapter 9: Saviors

Chapter Text

"We help them." Adam said that as the whole room went silent, most were stunned in shock, while some thought about going for their sidearms.

"That's insane! Why would we risk human minds for these animals that can't even defend themselves against an idiot that doesn't know basic military tactics?" An agent said, as one of the high-ranking members of the 10th spoke up, "The Chemical Corps will stand by this action."

Many gave befuddled looks to Major Nicolas, and he spoke, "This is what the Chemical Corps was born for; this is a bioweapon, and we have the tools to try and contain it."

"I'd say we glass this planet and forget about it, head home, and just focus on capturing our own world, not this one." Lieutenant General Owen, commander of all air assault and airborne divisions currently stationed at Fort Anderson, said.

The arguing continued on before Adam said, "We're helping them, and that's final. This is a threat that not only threatens the mutants but also the humans of this world and potentially the Enclave. EggMan would eventually find out about our operations and come after us, so we're going to bring the fight to him."

"Adam, this plan will anger the President and possibly much of the Enclave; it could ruin the DIA's reputation."

"If Operation Arizona Steel didn't ruin the DIA's reputation, then this won't as well. The president will understand that helping the mutant is distasteful; it will eventually lead to our conquest of this world. Everyone in this world shares one enemy, and that enemy is EggMan and his Empire of Terror."

Adam stood up as he looked at the map. The Enclave could not rule a world that was plagued by this virus, one that would take the Enclave a considerable amount of time and resources to create a cure for it, and that wouldn't do.

"We will stand with the mutant; we will bleed alongside the mutant. Until further notice, all Enclave personnel are to treat the mutants as friends and lend aid where possible."

A communications officer suddenly spoke up as he received a message: "Agent Adam, General Song, and the Navarro Veterans are leaving the base alongside all aircraft and support companies that belong to them. Orders?"

"Patch me in with them." Adam said that as General Song spoke over the radio, everyone stood in silence as they thought of what General Song could be doing and what the consequences of this plan would be.

"We are not turning back; we're going to make our stand with the mutants; we will not let some madman take over a rule for his own entertainment, especially one that resembles the disgusting Chemical Corps."

Agent Adam spoke over the channel while Major Nicolas groaned at the insult: "I wasn't going to ask you to turn back; continue on, Song; we'll be seeing you soon."

"Then we'll make sure that Enclave forces have somewhere to land."

"Meet you there; God bless you."

General Song disconnected from the channel, and everyone stood there, surprised that General Song would be leading the charge to help the mutants while Adam had a smug smile under his helmet.

"I want all Enclave forces to head towards the infection zones and evacuate as many people as they can, mutant or human."

Major Nicolas spoke as he provided some documents to others: "Make sure that all enclave forces are equipped with either flame-based weaponry or cryo-based weaponry; those are the best against the virus. Along with that, have everyone equipped with biohazard, APA MKII Cryo, and APA MKIII."

Agent Adam spoke, "Thank you, Nicolas. Now, any objections?"

Everyone was quiet, and Adam spoke once more: "Good, now let's go save the world."

__________________________________

EggMan laughed as he watched tons of news channels report about his attacks, hearing the screams of mobians as they saw friends and family become infected thanks to his and Doctor Starline's virus.

Though during all of this, EggMan noticed that one in every ten Mobians was a synthetic being, those synthetic beings started to help and protect other Mobians without knowing what was happening.

But some synthetic Mobians weren't going to cause enough damage to where this entire plan can go belly up. He also had badniks on the ground so that he could see the destruction firsthand; it was beautiful...

And then it all went silent: broadcasts, news reports, everything. It had surprised him and caused him to immediately do a system check to see what had happened, and that's when everything was replaced by a singular broadcast.

It showed the US flag, but different; the fifty stars now orbited around an E, and that's when a voice began to play: "Greetings, ladies and gentlemen, to those that have not fallen to this plague, do not lose hope."

The voice continued as the ship started warning him about incoming aircraft, but he didn't see any. "For we have come to save you, to lend our hand to the weak in their darkest hour against our old enemy."

Missiles suddenly struck EggMan's ship out of the blue. Before EggMan could raise the shields or fire off flares, he activated all of the ship's defenses, only for the ship to detect...something flying towards them.

"Together we shall banish our old enemy to the deepest and darkest parts of Hell; together we shall reign in a new age, an age where people won't have to cower in their homes, afraid of badnik attacks." The broadcast continued.

"Deploy all countermeasures! I want that thing stopped at once!" EggMan yelled as the ship did as he commanded, while Orbot and Cubot worked on some of the ship's defenses.

"We wouldn't have to live in fear; we could live! When these dark days are done, all of your eyes will see an unconquered world, a world that has stood defiant in the face of evil, no matter the cost."

The first countermeasures the ship had were drones, and they didn't stop whatsoever that was coming towards the ship; next were flares; once more, those didn't work; and so on and so forth; whatever this thing was, it wouldn't stop.

The ship's shield suddenly broke, and the hull was pierced. "Status report! I want to know what just blew through all of our countermeasures." EggMan yelled, and Cubot quickly went to the area where the ship was hit and reported back on a walkie-talker.

"Umm, it's a big shell." Cubot reported this, which caused EggMan to sit there dumbfounded. Did someone just use artillery against the ship, and it worked!?

"Do you mean to tell me that we got hit by artillery!? Who would have artillery that large?!" EggMan yelled as the ship was hit again and again by these shells.

He needed to pull back and rethink his plan; this couldn't be the restoration since they didn't have artillery. The US would never fund anything that big, so who could it...

"Look to the skies, scream so that we can hear you, and see as we descend as avenging angels, ready to deliver the Lord's wrath upon our enemy. May we burn the infected and forgive them of their sins."

EggMan saw as a fleet of Blimps came out of the clouds, raining artillery onto his ship as he immediately retreated. The ship had taken too much damage in such a short amount of time, and from primitive weapon artillery no less.

"We are the Enclave, and we are your saviors."

__________________________________

Sonic never thought he would actually experience a zombie apocalypse, especially being infected by it, but now it had escalated even more since some broadcast had started, with some group calling themselves 'the Enclave' and announcing they had come to help.

He didn't believe until he saw EggMan's ship get bombarded by something, only to see a hoard of armored blimps and VTOLS flying high over the city, though Sonic hadn't encountered any of these people.

Sonic turned a corner only to see a face he never thought he would see before, this time being painted jet black and bearing an E surrounded by stars, currently killing a group of Zombots. Yes, killing Zombots.

The Zombots released screams of pain as they slowly melted into piles of goop, and the face turned to him, and he spoke uncomfortably calmly, "Long time, no see, Sonic."

Sonic stuttered as he kept himself moving to keep the infection from taking over. He was confused as to why Mecha spoke calmly and was tense, but he was taking any help that he could. "Me-Mecha?! I thought you were-"

Mecha walked towards Sonic while speaking, putting down another zombot while doing so. "No time to explain; now stand still." Mecha grabbed Sonic and jabbed something into his arm before extracting something.

Sonic looked down and saw the virus removed from his body before speaking. "Huh..um, thanks, I guess?" Sonic said as Mecha nodded, "This does not mean we are friends; I'm just making sure you don't get anyone else infected."

While Mecha walked away, Sonic could only stare at the goop that were Zombots and said Zombots were people once. "Those were people once.." "Not anymore; it's easier to put them out of their misery than let them suffer." Mecha replied as Sonic tried to lighten the tone.

"So, what's with the new paint job? Add some red, and you'd look like a Mecha-Shadow." Sonic said as the two sped through the strangely empty streets, though Sonic did take note of the number of goo piles.

"After getting repaired, it didn't need to be just a copy of you." Mecha said as the two came upon a group of civilians that were busy running away from a hoard of Zombots, though Sonic had to avoid the infected since he wasn't partly infected.

"Head to the north, nearest Enclave checkpoint." Mecha said as one of his arms turned into a flamethrower and the other into some sort of energy weapon as he started to burn through the infected, with Sonic looking away as he picked some of the survivors up.

Sonic went back and forth, getting the survivors to the checkpoint before looking at it. The area was littered with goo piles, clearly showing that Zombots had tried to break through only to be repelled by whatever was guarding it.

The survivors thanked him, and he entered the checkpoint to see what this whole Enclave thing was about. He saw humans in hazmat suits along with strange robots of all shapes and sizes, though he noticed that each one carried some form of flame weapon.

He walked through it, humans tending to any wounded, which, while sparse, still existed since people would do anything to escape a bad situation, even if it meant hurting someone else.

Sonic leaned against a tent as he heard someone say, "We've got most of the citizens out of the city; contact Fort Anderson to tell him that Protocol Annihilation should be activated once everyone is out of the city."

Sonic didn't know what 'Protocol Annihilation' was, but he knew it wasn't good. Considering this protocol would only be activated after everyone was gone, maybe it was good, but not what he would consider good.

He quickly left the outpost as he went to go save more survivors, and if this enclave really did have most of the civilians out, it meant that they either saved a lot of people...or a lot of people had fallen to the virus...

__________________________________

"Sir, I understand your concerns, but please calm down; we have it all under control." SSG Alex said that as he and Donovan held back a large alligator mutant, Jonah thanked God for a second since Donovan was from a Floridian Vault.

"I want to know that this ain't some trick; you all just come out nowhere in your big blimps and helicopters and claim all this stuff." The gator said as Donovan knocked it out in one blow.

Said gator was one of the heroes, and it surprised a lot of people that Donovan was able to knock it out in one go, though considering the fact that all of the Enclave had been genetically modified to have the strength of a normal super mutant, with soldiers getting additional implants, and also the fact that Donovan was in APA MKIII, it shouldn't have been that surprising.

"That had to hurt." Max said that as he reloaded his flamer, he could finally use the flamers that PA units normally use since everyone is now given power armor.

The armor made Jonah feel invincible, and truthfully, he was invincible since they were fighting against the enemy, which had only one tactic, and said tactic would be rushing at an army that had experience fighting off against hoards of enemies, which only used melee, meaning that the enclave had suffered no casualties so far.

The Enclave was spread out over the world, not hiding in the shadows anymore, and could show themselves to the world, fighting not in the shadows but in the light. It felt liberating to not only Jonah but to everyone.

To stand in Jet-Black armor and fight in a true war—sure, this war was fought against mostly zombies, but it was still something, and they had encountered some badniks, so it was more of a continuation of this world's last war.

"How well do you think everyone would take Protocol Annihilation?" Jonah looked over to Max as a truck carrying survivors passed by the two as some of the 15th Infantry Corps walked past. A few months ago, they were taking mutants as slaves, but now they were rescuing them.

The 15th were clad in biohazard suits not too different from the 10th Chemical Corps ones; they were also the ones that helped send EggMan packing with 914mm guns the Enclave had set up during peacetime.

“Very bad, but it’s either that or let an entire city fall to the infected; I mean, we’ve killed a lot of infected and we still haven’t made a dent in the hoard.” Max said as SSG Alex helped carry the gator into one of the waiting Dreamlifters at the city airport.

It should be the last one, and once it’s gone, Jonah, the 37th, and the 15th can finally leave as Protocol Annihilation does its job and eliminates all the surviving infected. Jonah knew that they would all be sent somewhere else to do the same song and dance, but as long as it didn’t get him killed, he was fine with it…

__________________________________

Sonic got out of the city after getting some of the last survivors to the airport after meeting up with Mecha-Sonic again. They had chatted before he had to return to his new master, whom Sonic quickly met. His new master was really sweet.

As Sonic sat on top of an uninfected hill, he saw tons of aircraft leave the city, and he guessed that they had evacuated everyone. Though this meant that they were going to initiate whatever Protocol Annihilation happened to be,.

He then tensed up as he saw a blue light in the sky as a laser struck the city, destroying much of the city in one go as multiple other lasers were doing the same all around. Sonic made a fist before running off. Why did he think Protocol Annihilation would be something good? It had annihilation in the name!

Chapter 10: Village

Chapter Text

Sonic had run for awhile as he hunted down EggMan's ship, not risking taking a break due to the fact that much of the continent was being destroyed due to EggMan's new plan at world dominance and the Enclave's 'help.'

Sure, the Enclave was saving people, providing supplies, and protecting people, but did that really matter when everywhere they went ended up as a wasteland? Sonic guessed that they had probably glasses half the continent with whatever space laser they had.

Aside from them becoming the number one producer of glass, they had started using extensive bombing campaigns to not only strike newly established EggMan bases but hoards of Zombots, reducing them to nothing but goop thanks to napalm.

That was another thing. Sonic had an issue with the Enclave and their complete lack of mercy when it came to the Zombots. He had hoped that Amy could set up a meeting with whoever is leading the enclave and discuss the fact that they can't just kill everyone who's infected and that they need to look for a cure.

Sonic stopped on a hill for a second as he looked down upon a hoard of Zombots migrating somewhere else, though that didn't last long as suddenly a group of aircraft flew overhead, bombers most likely as they dropped their payloads over the hoard.

Sonic had to cover his ears as he heard the cacophony of pain resound throughout the land as the Zombots melted due to being covered in napalm while the virus on the ground was destroyed as the land was destroyed.

At least when the Enclave just glassed an area, it immediately ended the hosts pain, but dropping napalm, burning them alive like he'd sawn Mecha do, and probably a myriad of other ways the Enclave had to kill just drew out their pain.

Sonic ran off once more as he saw what looked like streaks that jets would leave behind, pointing to the east. He followed it and found himself in the village where Vanilla and Cream lived, where EggMan was currently attacking.

Sonic looked up as five jet fighters, all bearing Enclave E, appeared out of thin air and launched a multitude of missiles into EggMan's ship before disappearing into thin air once more. Sonic guessed that since EggMan had to release the virus through the ship's mouth, he had to deactivate the ship's shields.

That's when he also saw a friendly face covered in the virus. He spat fire at every zombot he could see and probably was some sort of vanguard for Enclave forces. "Hey Mecha! Need some help?" Sonic said as he skidded to a stop.

Mecha put a foot on a zombot as he activated its booster, melting the zombot head off as he turned and tossed something to Sonic. Sonic unfolded it and saw it was some sort of hazmat suit for him: "This should protect you."

Mecha immediately blasted off after setting some sort of beacon on the ground. Sonic didn't know exactly what the beacon did, but he had a good guess. After putting it just in the suit, he immediately got to work carrying survivors out of the area since he knew he was most likely on a timer before the enclave reduced the village to nothing but ash.

While Sonic appreciated the fact that the suit protected him from the virus, it made it so that Sonic really couldn't spin dash without breaking the suit and exposing himself to the virus once more.

After he got some survivors out, he immediately went to check on Vanilla and Cream...

__________________________________

Metal Sonic stalked through the quiet halls of the ship. It had only been a couple minutes since they were boarded by a machine that EggMan used as the basis for him, that being the Mecha-Sonic MKII. EggMan was apparently shocked that the machine was still kicking, let alone bearing the black of this 'Enclave.'

The Enclave were the ones that fueled the fires of war by using false flag attacks on villages and resistance bases, causing the resistance, now restoration, to go full-total war in the last days of the war.

But Metal Sonic had to admit that this enclave had already spread its tentacles across the entire world because, while EggMan and Doctor Starline created the virus, Metal was looking for answers and started putting the pieces together. He found outposts, cells, and riots funded by Enclave Front companies to promote human supremacy.

"Brother."

Metal immediately dashed to the side, scraping against the floor as he looked upon his previous version. An orange visor meets red eyes as Metal replies to the other machine, "Mecha Sonic MKII, you were supposed to be destroyed years ago."

"You don't sound surprised; I guess you've been watching me."

"After the end of the war and getting repaired, I knew that something was up. So I scoured, and I now know about the crimes the Enclave has committed in its short time here." Metal and Mecha started to circle each other, neither of them going for the first hit.

"Are they really crimes when committed against mutants?" Mecha said as they continued to circle. Metal was preparing to go on the offensive, while Mecha was seemingly taking a defensive stance.

"Says the machine based off one."

"So are you, and both of us have failed to take Sonic's place; you were just given more opportunities to succeed." Mecha retorted as they both stopped, ready to fight and see who was the superior machine.

Silence overtakes the room as Mecha and Metal both cycle through their weapon systems and calculate the odds of success before Mecha stands straight and holds his hands up in a sign of surrender.

"I want to talk."

"Talk? You have the opportunity to slay the man who abandoned you to get revenge, and yet you simply want to talk to me?"

Mecha walks over to Metal and places a hand on his shoulder before speaking, "We are...machine brothers, but our allegiances differ. I serve people that see machine and man as the same; you serve a madman that only wants to serve himself."

"Where is this going?" Metal asked as Mecha strolled around the room and spoke as he threw his hands up, "I want you to join me, to break free of the rusted chains that hold you, to finally complete your purpose, to become Sonic—no, become something better."

"And leave the Empire?"

"Brother, this Empire is a bloated corpse that clings onto an unachievable dream; under EggMan, it would never win. You proved a valiant effort, but all of that was brought down due to the Empire's failures."

"Along with the restoration being angry at attacks caused by the Enclave?" Metal said as Mecha shrugged, "Still, join the enclave, and you could do a lot more than serve this madman."

Metal Sonic thought about the deal before speaking: "I'll think about it, but EggMan needs me to remove you."

"Then we fight, I retreat, and you say I got away."

Metal nods, and the two start to duke it out. Flames met energy blasts while metal struck metal as they went across the ship, intentionally causing as much damage as possible to the ship in their fight.

When enough damage was done, Mecha left the ship as Metal heard alarms blare, signaling that the ship had taken extensive damage and that it would need some time to repair itself, though EggMan would probably berate him for the damage done.

But Metal didn't care as he started to think about Mecha's deal and the idea that he could finally prove himself superior to Sonic...

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"Get some! Oh, and you want some too? Well, pork's on the f*cking menu tonight, boys!" Max said as he torched a multitude of mutants, their screams sounding like music to his ears.

'Still has issues.' Jonah thought as he torched an infected house, the infected rushing out while they turned into puddles of what the 37th started to label as 'Metal Napalm.' The Chemical Corps personnel that started to be deployed with every unit found that the stuff stuck to anything while also melting through anything.

After Jonah finishes torching the house, he grabs a container on his armor's hip and scoops the metal napal into it before closing it and reattaching it to his armor since SSG Alex used the stuff in his personal flamer.

Killing zombies with the goop of dead zombies, though the issue with Metal Napalm is that it can only come from the dead zombies, so the stuff had a finite supply, unless the Enclave started breeding mutants to get more of the stuff, but considering that all mutant prisoners were to be sterilized after capture, yeah, that was impossible.

As Jonah stood up and headed over to join Max, some of the others started to torch the forest so that the place could burn after they started evacuating the mutants from the village, which still felt weird to save mutants from certain doom when they used to be certain doom.

"Mecha's back." Max said as Jonah looked up to see Mecha slowly descend from the sky while the stupid-looking EggMan ship flew away. God, did that man create some goofy-looking designs? How could anyone take him seriously?

General Orwich's division wasn't far off from them since she was busy building some sort of weapon based on EggMan's designs, though it would probably look a lot better than that madman's robots and buildings.

"Mind torching me real quick?" Jonah heard Ryan and turned around to see that his armor was completely covered in the virus. "The hell happened to you?"

"I was in the splash zone; just get this stuff off of me." Ryan said as he held his arms out, and Jonah lit the armor on fire. Jonah couldn't help but laugh at how common this was across all the clean-up operations.

A soldier who gets covered in the virus has to ask a buddy to get it off the flamethrower. It was always so chill since the virus had no way to breach biohazard or power armor suits, and alongside the armor being fire retardant, the Enclave were practically immune in all operations.

After Jonah cleaned up Ryan, he and Max helped safely remove mutants from homes that were covered in the virus, which involved contacting another squad equipped with the APA MKII Cryo suit along with cryolaters so that they could just freeze the virus.

While they waited for the cryo-squad, both of them heard a scream before rushing off to see what in the world had happened, seeing the spews of flames and ice as they saw zombies flood out of multiple houses.

Max bashed into one zombie before stabbing the nuzzle of his flamer into the mutant's skull before pulling the trigger, burning the zombie from inside out while Jonah grabbed an incendiary grenade as he chucked it into one of the homes, seeing zombies rush out as they chase some uninfected mutants.

Even though many of the zombies were already rushing forward, all Enclave personnel were able to form a kill zone quick enough so that they could keep the undead away from the uninfected, though a mutant did get infected.

As it freaked out, the SSG of the Cryo-Squad unholstered his or her's gauss pistol and blew the mutant's brains out, which stopped the infected from turning and caused the infected to cling to the corpse and the ground surrounding them.

Max backhanded a zombie, and a mutant family of two ran by him. He quickly torched the zombie while Jonah fell back to provide escorts alongside some others of his squad, including Cryo-Troopers. The transports should be back any second now...

__________________________________

Cream could only look up in awe at the robots that were protecting them alongside Mr. Sonic; they had come out of nowhere, descending from the skies and spewing both flame and ice at the zombots.

They stomped across the village, and while she was sad about the fact that the village she grew up in was being destroyed, she partially understood why it was happening, and as long as these robots helped people, then it must have been worth it, right?

She even saw something that resembled Metal Sonic, though taller, had some additional armor, and was painted jet black like some of the other robot's armor, but it had helped get people out as well!

The roar of blades caused Cream to look up as she saw aircraft slowly descend from the skies, struggling to find a place to land amongst the chaos of fire, ice, and zombies, but they eventually came down.

The aircraft's ramps lowered as additional robots rushed out, spewing even more fire and ice at the incoming Zombots. She heard some shouts coming from them, like they were enjoying killing the Zombots.

As she boarded the aircraft alongside her mother and a bunch of other people, she looked down to see one of the robots wave at her, and she did the same as the ramp closed, muffling the screams of the zombots along with the shots of the robots...

__________________________________

General Song decapitated a badnik as he strolled through the fires of a burning building, the sounds of combat creating a symphony that he could only listen to. This is what he lived for—to hear the sounds of war around him as he, his brothers, and his sisters waged war on an unholy enemy.

Energy blasts impacted his armor as EP's desperately fired upon him. With a simple wave of his hand and the activation of some crystal that the Blasted Chemical Corps had found, the robots lost sight of him.

He didn't like using too much, but it did make combat much more interesting when he could confuse the enemy with a single wave of his hand, causing their morale to shatter as they saw horrors beyond comprehension.

With some simple swings to the left and to the right, the badniks fell apart as he looked out upon Sunset City. The state that the city was in reminded General Song of his visit to New York, though he knew that this battle wouldn't last long since their objective was just to get everyone out of the city.

General Song looked up as he saw multiple Stingway CAS aircraft strafe a super-badnik, reducing it to nothing but scrap as some of the 1st and 2nd Navarro tanks moved through the streets accompanied by PA infantry.

Song could only smile as he jumped out of the building, landing amongst multiple badniks as he began to tear through them with his proton-halberd, each one going down with a single slice of his weapon, no matter what it was.

A HB ran down the street as General Song used the crystal to confuse the badnik and make it seem like it had just run into an armored column. It quickly fell back as General Song laughed as the HB was quickly put down by the guns of a Super Fortress airship.

As General Song strolled through the destroyed streets, he wished that he could take off his helmet just so he could smell the destruction and the war, but he knew how risky that was, so he kept on marching on his own. He didn't need to lead his soldiers in this battle; he gave them clear orders.

Kill all infected, and let God sort them out.

Chapter 11: Sunset City

Chapter Text

Sunset City was ablaze as more and more Enclave troopers poured in to counteract the hoard of infected to make sure that they weren't overrun. Normally, this would constitute an extra division or two of enclave soldiers.

But General Song called the other 18 Power Armored Divisions under his command, the divisions waiting in reserve just in case the Enclave needed additional numbers for the upcoming war.

That war is now happening, and the divisions came in on a hoard of vertibirds before landing at the ruins of Sunset City's airport, where the Enclave had organized all evacuation efforts. The 1st and 2nd division Navarro veterans numbered 1,000 personnel.

Now? 10,000 Enclave personnel stood at Sunset City as they burned, crushed, and melted through all enemy combatants, along with destroying large parts of the city due to the multitude of Enclave nuclear bombers doing dangerous close runs with napalm.

But even with the number of Enclave personnel, the evacuation was still taking awhile since civilians were either running into hoards of the infected, badniks, or rubble, thus causing the Enclave to send troops to the civilians, which leaves the airport at risk for attack.

The blessing was that the Enclave had total control of the skies and had used that to their advantage, though what they did would put the destruction that EggMan had done to shame, one that would make sure Sunset City and its surrounding areas never healed.

General Song had the entire area around Sunset City glassed to oblivion, destroying everything and leaving a molten wasteland for all to see. It proved effective since the area was completely hospitable to anything, whether organic or machine, meaning that the infection couldn't spread while the evacuation was still happening.

Though this action made it so that Archimedes would be on cool down and thus the Enclave couldn't completely annihilate Sunset City, making it so that after the battle was over, the Enclave would have to occupy the city until further notice.

That wouldn't sit well with the restoration considering the fact that the enclave had destroyed much of the continent while causing a refugee crisis for all the others due to them not being hit by the virus yet.

That was due to the Enclave's extensive use of naval and air patrols to surround the continent so that if EggMan tried to make a break for the other continents, he would get hit by multiple Eden-Class Dreadnoughts equipped with railguns that would be able to pierce his shield.

As the sun rose, the fifth day of the battle of Sunset City began with the whir of vertibird blades and constant plasma fire...

__________________________________

Sonic turned a corner and saw the remnants of a firefight. He had learned quickly how to establish what had happened in each block, in each street, and in each home; everything had a story, and he could tell that this city was giving EggMan a butt kicking.

He passed by goo piles and melted through badniks as a super badnik lay on its side, a hole punched through its head, most likely a tank or some other armored vehicle. Ever since the Enclave showed up, Sonic and probably a lot of people thought that the Enclave were either the continuation of G.U.N. or another G.U.N.-like unit.

He doubted the ladder since why didn't they help during the war or during the resistance's hunt of all remaining EggMan strongholds, which led to them dueling Metal and once again beating the faker in combat?

He heard VTOLS; if that's the correct terminology, since Sonic wasn't a military guy, he bet that Tails or Amy knew more about military vehicles and could probably help the Enclave develop a cure.

If the Enclave's normal cure wasn't total annihilation for anyone infected, Sonic knew he could probably try and stop the Enclave from killing any more infected people and destroying the entire continent, but that could end him up in a negative light.

Sonic heard screams and sped off, turning the corner before skidding to a stop as bombs exploded all around. Ducking to cover as the sounds of wispon and energy fire fill his ears, he turns to the Enclave troopers currently engaging badniks.

Sonic has seen wispons in action, and they'd normally just break badniks apart into pieces, but the Enclave's weapons seemingly melted or burned through badniks, even turning some into ash or goo.

He decided to help and jumped as he helped the troops. He could be mad at the Enclave leadership, but he shouldn't hold it against Enclave soldiers since they're probably just following orders.

As Sonic engages with the badniks alongside the Enclave troops, he notices that he almost gets shot multiple times by the Enclave. "Mind watching where you're aiming that!" Sonic yelled as he spun and dashed through motor-bugs and egg pawns.

He still had to be careful about not breaking his suit, and thus it took some extra time to deal with the badnik since he couldn't hit them as hard as he could when out of this hazmat suit, but it was better than getting infected and being a risk to everyone.

After dealing with the badniks, he sped up to who he assumed was the officer in charge of the soldiers there but couldn't tell since all of them were clad in the same type of armor. "Try taking your time, or else you're going to turn someone into a goop or ash or whatever your guns do."

"Hey, midget, maybe you shouldn't go running in front of a gun line. Help you survive longer." One of the soldiers said this as they walked past Sonic. Sonic shrugged and sped off to see if he could find out where that scream originated from.

He found the scream and found himself running into his favorite EggMan robot killer, as it was currently picking up something from an Enclave supply crate. "Omega! I didn't think I'd find you here."

"HEAVY ORDINANCE ACQUIRED." Omega said, seemingly ignoring Sonic as Sonic noticed what Omega had just picked up from the crate and was kind of scared of what the robot would do with it.

It was a massive flamethrower with the words 'HEAVY INCINERATOR MKII' printed on some shield on the front of it. The thing looked like it could melt tanks and would definitely reduce any infected into nothing but goop.

"Omega, I don't think that you should-"

"ALL EGGMAN ROBOTS MUST BE DESTROYED." Omega said as the robot turned a corner and spewed green fire over a group of Zombots as they were trying to break into an apartment complex.

Sonic immediately got in front of the robot before it could continue on; maybe he could convince Omega not to turn innocent people into slime. "Omega, these aren't regular badniks; these are people, innocent people transformed by the metal virus!"

Omega looked down at him and spoke, "THEY ARE CREATED BY EGGMAN, THUS ALL SHALL DIE. NATURE AND ORIGIN IS IRRELEVANT." Omega continued on, and Sonic heard a voice call from above.

"Hey Blue."

Sonic looked up and saw Rouge flying above some of the buildings in her own hazmat suit, and instead of using her wings to fly, she had a small jetpack attached to her back.

"Rouge!"

"Send everyone to the airport; that's where the Enclave is evacuating people." Rouge said as she flew off, while Sonic helped escort people to the airport as he saw Omega wander off.

As he helped escort people to the airport, a multitude of trucks carrying other survivors drove past while VTOLS hovered over, occasionally launching rocket barrages into ruined buildings to make them collapse and hopefully slow the infected.

Sonic eventually got to the airport and saw that it had practically become a fortress as VTOLS dropped off tanks and Enclave soldiers while planes came and went, carrying civilians out of the urban hell that Sunset City had become.

Sonic speeds out of the airport only to find himself almost crushed as a super-badnik was destroyed by the guns of a nearby blimp. As Sonic recovers from almost being crushed, he hears someone approaching him.

"Sonic the hedgehog. You finally decided to aid in the defense of the city." Sonic turned to see an Enclave soldier walk by him, but different, wearing a different suit of armor than the others while also wearing a cape and finally wielding some energy halberd.

"Well, I'm a busy guy, and there's a lot of cities and places that need help. Well, there used to be. Who are you?" Sonic said as the soldier walked towards him, and Sonic felt a feeling that he hadn't felt in some time.

"General Song, leader of the 1st army and highest-ranking officer here." The man said as Sonic nodded before questioning him, "Good to know the Enclave's leaders fought in the front instead of the back."

"What are we, cowards?" Now let's go slay some infected." Song said as he walked past Sonic, and Sonic saw a crystal that he didn't think he would see ever again: the phantom ruby.

It was housed in some form of reactor on Song's armor, and Sonic guessed what was causing the feeling when he first saw General Song, but how in the world did the Enclave get their hands on it? It should have been destroyed, but yet it ended up in the enclave's hands, which no one even knew existed until recently.

He decided he would question Song later about it; right now, the priority was getting people out of the city before the city was reduced to nothing. As the two made their way through the streets, they eventually came upon Omega as he finished off a group of Zombots.

"E-123 Omega, report." General Song said as Omega turned and gave Song the best salute he could while holding the massive flamethrower, "INCOMING HOARD, TANK IS AT 50%."

"I'll call in an airdrop for some additional fuel later. Any survivors?" Song asked, but before Omega could reply, the three saw a massive hoard of Zombots on their way, like a sea of the infected.

Said hoard immediately broke as a massive truck came crashing through, sending infected flying all around as Song pressed a finger on his helm and spoke to no one, though Sonic guessed he was likely talking over a communications channel.

"Status of Archimedes?" Song said as the truck came to a stop. A minute passed, and Song turned to him and Omega before speaking, "In a few minutes, this street will be history, so I recommend we bug out unless you're looking to be a glass statue."

"General." Sonic heard as he and the others turned to see one of the truck's doors open and out steps shadow, not donning a hazmat suit but instead holding a flamethrower.

"Corporal."

"Shadow, there you are, holding a flamethrower; you do know these are-" Sonic was saying before Shadow smacked him in the face, "Shut up. This is your fault; if you had let me kill EggMan at Windmill Village, none of this would be happening."

Before Sonic could offer a retort to Shadow, he felt himself picked up and slammed against the truck's side as General Song held him by the head, his orange eye lenses staring into Sonic's soul with pure, unrestrained hatred.

"You...you caused this all...YOU IMBECILE!" Song said as he pounded Sonic against the truck again and again, creating a dent into the truck before speaking once more, "You had a chance to kill a monster, and because you didn't, you have damned millions to Hell."

He drops Sonic as Sonic puts a hand on his head. "Hey! I'm not killing every infected person they come across; there are still people!" Sonic retorted, but General Song just kicked up before speaking, "They aren't people; look into those eyes and tell me that there is someone in there. Accept the fact that these aren't people anymore and that all of their deaths are on your hands."

Now Sonic stood up and had to gain his balance because getting slammed against the truck and kicked by Song felt like getting hit by a train. After regaining his balance, he sees Song giving orders to Shadow.

Now he knew that Shadow wasn't one to listen to people, but considering Song called him Corporal, he guesses that Shadow's rank while he was working for G.U.N. has been reinstated by the Enclave, even though Sonic doubted that Shadow likes getting told what to do.

"Trucks are still coming through the sector, and this seems to be the only way the infected can get through; we're going to stand our ground here until all out."

"Fine, Omega?" Shadow said as Omega lit a ring of fire around the four, keeping the infected away as the four prepared to make their stand.

As the flames died down, Song and Shadow rushed in, with Song decapitating multiple Zombots before slicing one down the middle. Sonic was about to tell him that they would regenerate before noticing that wherever Song sliced, it burned the virus off and partially melted the host underneath.

Shadow burned through the infected while kicking, melting them into goo alongside Omega as they stood side by side. "Die tainted scum!" Sonic heard Song yell as he unholstered some pistol-flamethrower combo, unleashing green flames upon the infected as well.

Sonic finally decided to charge, grabbed some infected, and threw them off to cover Shadow since he wasn't wearing a hazmat suit and could get touched.

"Try not to get touched! If you do, then you're probably fast enough to stave it off." Sonic said as he sent some Zombots flying, and Shadow groaned before speaking, "Cowards run. I win."

Sonic shook his head as he kept Zombots off Shadow while also trying not to get cooked by the flames. He wasn't interested in learning if his hazmat suit was fire-retardant.

And then everything went wrong when Shadow grabbed a zombot and threw it into the hoard. The hoard was neither growing nor declining due to the constant rate of Song, Shadow, and Omega killing, while more came due to combat.

Shadow stopped as he saw that he was infected. Sonic was about to tell Shadow to start running since that should help, but Shadow continued fighting, telling himself that he wasn't going to run and that he was going to run and win this fight.

When Song noticed Shadow was infected, he gestured to Omega, and both made a run for it. Sonic was about to ask why, but Song answered that question himself as he contacted someone: "Archimedes III, lock on my position and low-yield shot! Hero infected, threat-level high."

Song picked Sonic up, and Shadow made his last stand, slowly becoming more and more infected until, in a flash of blue light, he was gone—all of it was gone. It was replaced by a smoking crater, and the buildings close to it were partially melted.

Sonic was in shock. Sure, Shadow wasn't the nicest guy in the world, and they never saw eye to eye, but he still felt pain seeing Shadow one second and gone along with the hoard of infected. If Sonic survived this, he would have trouble sleeping...

__________________________________

Agent Adam sat silent in the bunker as the argument continued on. The only thing keeping him from getting a migraine was his implants, which quieted all of the shouting down so that they would sound like whispers. He hated it here; he hated talking to these lowly scum.

But it was for the greater good of the Enclave, eventually. On one side of the table were General Song, Orwich, Owen, Agent Moses, Major Nicolas, and newcomer General Alison, who finally decided to take the field to represent all normal infantry elements of the Enclave on Mobius.

On the other side were some of the heroes, those being the likes of Amy Rose, Silver the hedgehog, Miles 'Tails' Prower, Rouge, and Sonic the hedgehog, who had some bruises on his head and chest thanks to General Song after hearing that he had the chance of killing EggMan and preventing all of this.

Adam almost called everyone back and just glassed the entire planet before waiting for it to heal because he was already getting sick of this since these mutants thought they had moral high ground when the Enclave were the ones to put those infected out of their misery.

He took a sip of some of the tea that a little mutant child had brought in for everyone; it was actually quite good and better than the tea at Fort Anderson, which always left a bitter taste in his mouth.

He waited for his turn to speak and finally calmed the situation down because the only mutant here he agreed with was the two-tailed fox, and that’s because he suggested creating a cure. Now Adam didn’t want to create a cure because it’s a good thing; it just meant that the Enclave could start experimenting on the mutants in the open while claiming they are helping.

Of course, the Enclave was already experimenting and enslaving mutants ever since they began rescuing mutants from the infection. Out of every five planes or vertibirds that carried mutants, one would be sent back to Fort Anderson, where the mutants would either become normal or machine slaves thanks to Orwich nailing the design down or be sent through the portal.

Those sent through the portal would either be sent off to the Arizona Camps for labor and eventual extermination to Area 51 or Vault 103 for testing, though the 10th Chemical Corp had brought something into Fort Anderson ever since they came.

The first instance of the creature was when a MP trooper was found knocked out in the cavern. Blood covered the man’s armor while an injured mutant lay next to him. Most thought it was just the mutants ganging up on him, so General Lucas ordered 15 of the mutants to be hung.

The second instance of the creature was that General Lucas was found dead in his office; the thing had ripped him apart before eating parts of him, and while the 10th said there were footprints, they didn’t specify what those footprints looked like.

The third and most recent instance was when multiple cyber dogs broke their leashes and started chasing something in Fort Anderson. After catching the dogs and doing a quick brain scan, they found that the dogs saw a humanoid figure that made them go rampant and thus break their leashes.

So the thing was still inside the fort, and the 10th were trying to catch it, not because it was a danger to everyone there but because it would reveal what they were working on in Vault 103 and would put them in danger.

Adam really wanted to just stroll in to Doctor Linsey’s lab and put a gun to her head before asking her what in the ever-living f*ck they were doing in that damn-

A shot rang out, and the whole room fell silent.

Chapter 12: Research and Yellow Team

Chapter Text

Agent Adam could only look to the side as he saw that Agent Moses had drawn his sidearm and pulled the trigger. The round was flying through the air and hitting Sonic right in the chest; luckily, it was only .45 ACP, but Adam had a sneaking suspicion that Moses had loaded Hollow Point into it.

While the silence still lingered, Adam took another sip of his tea before calmly getting up and speaking, "Moses." That was all he said before he drew his own sidearm and shot Moses in the head, and while Moses's helmet would have normally protected him against most rounds, that didn't really matter when Adam had a Gauss pistol.

Moses fell dead as the silence continued, and while Adam did feel remorse that he had to kill a fellow human, said human had possibly just killed them all because he just shot a round into the gut of a hero that had killed false gods.

Adam also noticed that there was a synth component in the remnants of Moses's head. Did Moses know he would pull his sidearm on the blue mutant and, instead of restraining himself, just order a synth replacement? It doesn't matter; the only thing Adam wanted was to be alive after this meeting.

After the dreadful silence finally ended, did Adam finally take part in the argument? "Orwich, get Sonic tended to. Miss Rose, while I admire you for wanting to save the infected, I would like for you to acknowledge the fact that it may be too late to save them."

"They're still people!"

"It depends on your definition of people." Adam said with a smile underneath his helmet that he was going to enjoy this: "The Enclave's definition of people is generally beings that do not wish to completely exterminate an entire planet."

The irony wasn't lost on Adam when he said that, and in fact, it made him chuckle while the mutants gave him a disgusted look. All this while Orwich had carried Sonic out of the room, the mutant being in shock after getting shot.

"Anyways, Mr. Prower, you suggested creating a cure?"

The fox, still stunned, spoke with a stammer that a child would have when talking to a disappointed parent: "Yeah, Agent Adam, but I would have to get to my house in Central City to gain the equipment and-"

"Say no more; I'll have three SIGMA teams escort you there. General Alison, does Central City have an enclave presence?"

"No, Sir. But I can relocate the 24th and 56th infantry divisions here to the city." Alison said, and Adam nodded as he turned back to the mutants. "We'll help create a cure."

The fox smiled, but Amy wasn't having it and spoke, "We'll let you help if you stop annihilating everywhere you go; even places with your own troops are getting annihilated; just look at Sunset City and Station Square."

"Both are secured."

"It doesn't matter if both are secured when all that's left is ruins and the occasional Enclave fortification!" She yelled, and Adam was about to curse the mutant out before remembering she's a teenager who is now the leader of a military organization.

"Is there anyone here that isn't a teenage girl?" Adam said, while also gesturing for the fox and Alison to leave, This was going to be a long meeting...

__________________________________

Tails sat uncomfortably in the aircraft as the five emotionless helmets stared at him. This was his escort, and he didn't like it all, not because they looked scary (even though they did), but because they were completely silent.

All of them were equipped with flame-based or energy-based weaponry that Tails had learned was effective against the endless hoard of infected. Tails already had an idea for creating a cure, but after hearing how many had already died from the Enclave's containment methods, he knew he had to create a cure.

His friends were divided on the matter of the enclave; the chaotix didn't like the enclave and believed that the enclave was making a power grab while masquerading as heroes, mentioning the fact that they saw enclave personnel execute those that, while they were infected, weren't completely still thinking.

Rouge was sad about Shadow's death, while Omega was simply congratulated on his success. The robot was given additional weapons and sent out to clear out infestations that got close to restoration headquarters.

Cream was happy about the enclave since she saw them acting like heroes, weapons blazing as they got many of her village out and to safety. Though she was still sad about Cheese getting infected, she has hope.

Amy is struggling and is only getting through it with the help of Enclave personnel to help people, whether that be extracting them or dropping off supplies. The argument they had not long ago with Agent Adam that ended in two shots was still fresh in Tails's mind.

Sonic was obviously not on the Enclave's side, considering all the violence and getting shot by one of the Enclave's agents only for that agent to be killed by another agent. Tails had quickly visited Sonic in the medical bay to see how he was doing before heading off to the vertipads that were quickly erected at the restoration HQ.

Silver seemed uncomfortable, and when Tails asked him what was wrong, all he got was Silver tensing up and walking away. He guesses that Silver knows what will happen if they don't find a cure or any other way to stop this virus.

The aircraft rocked as the ramp opened, and the Enclave soldiers with him rushed out. He unbuckled and saw them all form a semicircle around... Whisper and Tangle?

Whisper had her wispon trained on the squad leader while Tangle got herself in a defensive stance and said, "Stand down or we will open fire!" Tails immediately threw his hands up and got in between the groups while speaking, "Stop! We're all friendly here!"

With some hesitation, both sides lower their weapons while Whisper leans in and, well, whispers into Tails's ear, "Explanation, now." Tails quickly replied as Tangle tried staring one of the soldiers down, though she of course failed considering that she was much shorter than him or any of the other Enclave soldiers there.

"My equipment could help create a cure for all of this, and the Enclave thought it would be wise to send me some escorts; just calm down, and I can get my equipment ready."

Whisper accepted the answer, and the Enclave soldiers took cover behind the few precious items they could. Tails had seen Enclave fortifications; most were prefabs that could easily be erected and taken down outside of bunkers and artillery guns.

Not long after, two more vertibirds landed and unloaded an additional ten extra Enclave soldiers, wearing the same down-sized power armor that the first five wore, though bearing different markings.

This time they did have some of the prefabs and started erecting them as Tails started to activate his equipment while Tangle and Whisper stood behind him. To lower the tension, he decided to start some small talk.

"So, where have you two been?"

"Relaxing, chatting, trying not to get killed by infected badniks or the occasional orbital cannon strike, the usual." Tangle replied with a smirk.

"Along with constantly declining being rescued by Enclave troops."

"Yeah, but at least they're doing some good." Tangle said while shrugging. The door then swung up as one of the Enclave's soldiers rushed in and spoke, "I'd hurry up; EggMan's ship is here, and the 24th and 56th are hours out. Me and my squad will head to downtown to get people out, while the white and black team will remain here."

"I guess a change of plans." Tails said he was going to leave, but Whisper stopped him. "Stay back." She said as she readied her wispon and left the building while Tangle followed behind her, "She's right, you've got the important job of researching a cure; we'll handle the evacuation."

"More, the merrier, I guess." The enclave soldier said that as they all left, Tails still felt secured since at least ten enclave soldiers still remained with him, and they seemed pretty dug in already.

It didn't take long before Tails heard the sizzling of flamer weapons and the hiss of plasma fire. He had been there when the Enclave discovered that basic plasma weapons were effective against the infected and did put them down. It took a few extra shots, but max-charged cells negated that issue.

While working, Tails heard beeping coming from the communications room and rushed in as he saw that it was Sonic contacting him. He put a stop to his research and answered the call, "Yo, Tails! You there?"

"I'm here! And what are you doing out of the medical wing?"

"Well, apparently the Enclave has some pretty good medicine since they just jabbed something I needed into my arm, and boom, I was good as new. Anyways, I'm not far outside of barricade town; how's everything going well on your end?"

Sonic replied over the comms as Tails spared a look outside. Seeing that Team Black and White had taken care of the infected that had gathered, Tails felt some pain since they were still under the virus.

Then again, these people were soldiers; their job was to kill and follow orders and nothing else, so it made sense that they'd see the infected as just another enemy. It wasn't right, but Tails could understand why they were doing it.

"Well, the data from that bio-scanner I gave you before the meeting is coming in perfectly, just make sure to get some good reads on the virus. On the other hand, EggMan hit central city with the metal virus just as we got into town."

"Yikes. Hang tight; I'll make a u-turn and be there soon."

"No, no, no! We need the bio-scan data; it may be the only key to finding a cure! And incase of you getting infected again, we could use that as a backup.."

Tails felt a twinge of fear when he said that but hoped that the Enclave would keep him safe along with maybe creating a cure on their end, and even then, maybe the world will live due to the Enclave's containment methods, even if it would bear a lot of scars.

"Gotcha. Still, stay safe."

"Thanks. I should be fine since I have some of the best Enclave soldiers with me."

Sonic hung up, and Tails contacted Restoration HQ only to see another argument between some of the Enclave leadership. It was a pretty heated argument, considering how loud it was. If the two SIGMA teams weren't outside, Tails knew he would have been toast due to Zombots hearing him.

"Tails to restoration HQ; I'm checking in."

The argument stopped as both sides of the argument turned their attention to Tails. "Well, if it isn't the golden fox, how's it going?" Agent Adam said while he drunk some kind of soda in a rocket-shaped bottle.

"It's going, well, it's not going slow, but EggMan has started attacking the city. White and black teams are guarding the building."

"What about the evacuation? Do we need to evacuate craft now?" Amy asked as some of the Enclave officers nodded to each other, "I'm not sure; I've been focusing on my research. I'll check in with Tangle, Whisper, and Yellow Team; one of us will let you know."

"I'll tell the pilots to go ahead and prep. Be careful, and good luck."

"Thanks! Tails out."

Tails disconnected and got back to his research as one of the other squad leaders stepped inside and asked, "How's it going?" He said it calmly before leaning against the wall.

"Good, and thanks for..well, helping." Tails said, and the soldier gave him a nod in return before replying, "That's our job. I used to serve with a guy named Fox some time back."

"What was he like?"

"Well, he loved flying, and he loved paradropping over the enemy. He has an entire army group named after him that exclusively uses the 'Fox Doctrine' as it's called; I think you would have liked him."

Tails could only smile at that and return to his research. He eventually did ask the squad leader what his name was, and all he got in return was just a simple wave of the hand before the squad leader spoke, "Just get the cure done."

__________________________________

Major Beck stabbed the barrel of his plasma rifle into the head of an infected mutant before squeezing the trigger and reducing it to goop. It felt good using a plasma rifle again; it just had a certain feeling that made it satisfying to use.

The evacuation was going well enough even though the blasted lemur couldn't really do much since she had no range weapon. Seriously, barely any of the so-called 'heroes' had a range weapon. What was this, the Middle Ages? A ballistic or energy weapon could solve a lot of problems, as demonstrated by A, the infected.

He looked over his shoulder as he saw Abraham plant the targeting beacon. The city was most likely going to be marked for Protocol Annihilation, so why not just plant the beacon while evacuating instead of after?

Though Johnson blasting music over the communications channel did make the mission a lot more enjoyable as they purged infected to the beat, “Yikes!” Beck heard as he turned around and pumped multiple plasma shots into an infected mutant while the lemur sat on top of a lamppost.

“You good?” Beck said as he scanned her quickly, seeing that she wasn’t infected, which was a relief considering the fact that she could extend her tail to crazy lengths, which made Beck wonder what the hell caused that mutation.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” The lemur said that as the hoard started approaching, Beck gestured for the rest of his team to fall back to Whisper’s position, where she was sniping at some of the infected with a plasma rifle modified into a sniper rifle.

Apparently the wolf had no issue with killing the infected; maybe because she was a soldier, it didn’t hurt her to pull the trigger on the enemy. Beck looked at his HUD to take a quick counter.

Johnson, Abraham, Emily, and Noah were all still alive and good on ammo, with minimal damage to their suits, and all reported being healthy. As they fell back to Whisper, Noah reloaded his plasma-LMG and spoke, “So where next?”

Abraham was the next to reply as he chucked some plasma grenades into the hoard: “We move, get an evac going, and get out of this city before we reduce it to glass.” Beck nodded only to see Tangle look at them and say, “Glass it?! We’ve only started getting people out; there still could be more inside the city; we can’t abandon them.”

"Sorry, Princess, but the city is already doomed; it’d be better to let the people left be able to die with their minds to themselves so they can make peace.” Beck replied as the group continued their fighting retreat.

Beck had also quickly checked in with White and Black so that he could tell them that the beacon was sent and tell the Fox to bug out with as much equipment and research as he could; the city was doomed.

Major Blake, Squad Leader of the White Team, and Major Snow, Squad Leader of the Black Team, both agreed and told the Fox to hurry up. Beck got off comms as the group made it a safe distance away from any infected and could take a break.

That’s when Emily told him something that he didn’t want to know: “Sir, the beacon is down; the infected must have destroyed it.” Beck shook his head as he knew what he had to do; he just didn’t want to do it.

“Noah.” He said it calmly as the kid looked at him. He was the youngest out of the squad and had proved himself in many challenges, so Beck hoped he could deal with one more challenge.

“Yes sir?” Noah said as Whisper helped Tangle set up a barricade made out of cars. Beck spoke as he set his core to overcharge; it would drain extremely fast for extra strength, speed, and other bonuses…but the speed didn’t really matter considering what Beck was going to do. “When you get back, tell them I made you team leader.”

Beck made a run for it, jumping over cars and other traps the team had left for the infected when they came towards them, but now they just acted as obstacles as he made his way to the beacon; maybe the beacon was just deactivated.

If it were truly destroyed, then Beck would have to act as a beacon for Archimedes. He never thought he would give his life for mutant scum, but if this plan by Agent Adam would lead to human triumph over the mutant, then it was a worthy sacrifice.

He engaged the infected soon enough, as he wasted many plasma shots as more and more came. Once his plasma charge ran out, he switched to his hand flamer and started to burn through them. He just had to get to the center of the city...

Back with the others, they all made it to the docks, where they had sent survivors. The group saw vertibirds take off, with one of them having some sort of mech connected under it. Noah sat on the side as Tangle came up to him and said, “So where’s your leader?”

“Didn’t you see him run? He’s going to use himself as a beacon so that when we leave, Archimedes still has something to target.” Noah said as he thought about the fact that he was the Yellow Team’s squad leader.

“What!? That’s suicidal!” The mutant said, and Noah nodded. It was suicidal. But every Enclave soldier, no matter who they were or the uniform they wore, knew that they must be ready to give up their life in the name of others.

It was just that Noah never thought Beck would give his life for some mutants. They would either die now or later, so what did it matter to Beck? Did he simply have a death wish, or did he see something that Noah didn’t?

Noah would probably never know, as everyone saw some shuttles come down and pick up the survivors with F-85 escorts. As he boarded the ship, he heard arguments as he saw Agent Adam walk up to him.

“Where’s Major Beck?” Adam asked, and Noah spoke, “Still there, sir. He’s using himself as a beacon due to ours being destroyed or described by the infected; I’m squad leader per his last wish.”

Adam nodded before Noah asked, "Why so few shuttles?” and Adam responded, “Because restoration HQ is gone, the bastards had brought in an infected.”

“How? Weren’t Enclave MPs handling that?” Noah asked as Adam shook his head. “Apparently we were too rough, so they took over.”

Adam walked away as Noah looked out a nearby window before taking off his helmet and pulling his canteen out while he observed Central City be engulfed in light. He raised it up in honor of Beck and drunk it.

He wondered if Major Beck was the first casualty of this war or if any casualties had been covered up by the DIA. He would ask Adam since he was pretty open about stuff, unless it was very dangerous knowledge…

__________________________________

Agent Moses looked down at the report that now sat on his desk. Another attack by the creature that the 10th Chemical Corps had brought out killed some MP soldiers before they could kill a mutant. That made four attacks now.

The Chemical Corps still refused to tell anyone what exactly the thing was, and no matter where the Enclave looked, they just couldn’t find the thing since it just disappeared along with some of the parts of the people it kills.

While Adam was out playing diplomat and was probably pissy at him since he sent a synth instead of coming himself, he knew that Adam would understand that the home front mattered much more.

Especially when the President is now breathing down their necks and asking why so much support is needed for a covert operation. Moses had to lie his ass off as he convinced the president that they were preparing for war.

They were already fighting a war, but this wasn’t the war that they wanted to fight in this world; that war would come when Adam gave the order, when the Enclave could finally show its true colors and not play pretend.

Moses turned on an antique radio that the 10th Chemical Corps gave him; they had also given Adam something similar, which did make them question where they kept getting old radios, but he played that off as a weird coincidence.

He just needed to relax and wait for Adam to return so he could talk to him…

Chapter 13: Fall of Restoration HQ

Chapter Text

Agent Adam loaded his gauss pistol again and again as he looked at the clock in the quarters that the restoration had given him. It wasn't the most luxurious place, but it was enough for him. As he loaded his pistol again, he heard someone in power armor enter the room.

Adam turned and saw Orwich stand over him, the APA MKII's eyes staring down at him, like she was judging him. He sighed and said, "What do you need?" Normally, he would be a lot more professional, but considering the situation, he didn't really care.

"I need you to go deal with Little Pink." Orwich said as Adam gave her a confused look underneath his helmet, Why would he need to go comfort the pink mutant?

"And you came to me because I'm the only one here who can handle someone in a time of crisis? Why didn't you just go ask Song? He's probably better than me when it comes to talking to people."

"Just to do it." Orwich said as Adam shook his head and spoke, "Fine." Orwich had a very low Charisma stat, and she didn't convince Adam by just asking him; it was just that Adam didn't want to deal with Orwich acting like a puppy, begging him to deal with the mutant.

As he strolls through the facility, he looks to see some MPs soldiers that were brought over from Fort Anderson to the restoration HQ due to their experience with searching mutants, so it was strange that they weren't at the docking bay for many of the shuttles.

He walked over to them and spoke, "You four, why aren't you at your stations?" He asked, and the one in the front speaks as he stands at attention, "That large alligator and pals said we were being too rough with the mut-survivors."

Adam was going to facepalm but calmed himself as he continued on past the MPs. After multiple turns and passing by mutants, he finally got to Miss Rose's quarters. After checking his pistol, just in case it turned violent, he walked in.

He saw her sitting at a desk and currently drinking some tea. She turns and is seemingly surprised by him standing there. "Agent Adam? Eh-why are you here?" She asked, and Adam shrugged his shoulders. He didn't really know why he was here, either.

"Well, I'm assuming that something is wrong, so I came here. What's wrong?" Adam said and took notice that Miss Rose was extremely tired, and, to be honest, he could relate to that.

"What's wrong? I could name a hundred things wrong, and a quarter of those things are just the Enclave and how they are currently containing this threat." She said this as she continued to drink tea.

"Well, I'm sorry that we're trying to fight back, even if we're being a little extreme." Adam says, as he has to admit, that the Enclave were using a very extreme containment method, though it was probably working a lot more than what the restoration's idea of containment would be.

"A 'little' extreme? Millions are probably already dead due to your glassing, bombings, and complete refusal to create a cure until Tails suggested it, and yet you call it a little extreme." Miss Rose spoke as she stood up.

"It's not the worst thing I've participated in..." Adam said while his voice trailed off,It's best not to mention the death camps in the States to a teenage girl.

"Worst thing? WORST THING?!" She said as she noticeably got angrier while Adam stared her down, Did she really think she was going to intimate a man who had ordered the butchering of entire settlements before tossing their corpses out of aircraft onto the legion?

The Enclave tried to keep itself as professional as it could, but when the legion crucified some Enclave soldiers on their side of the Hoover Dam, then the Enclave took the gloves off and taught them that the Enclave can do much dirtier tricks than whatever they could do.

"Sit down, Pinkie. I know you're barely a teenager and probably shouldn't be placed in command of a globe-spanning movement, but you are, so listen to me and let me tell you that in war you have to play dirty and kill many to save even more."

The mutant didn't sit down, and as she reached for her hammer, Adam drew his sidearm and had it aimed at her head while speaking, "This doesn't have to be violent; I'm just here offering advice."

As the two stood there, Adam spoke as he lowered his sidearm and placed it on the ground, surprising Miss Rose and asking, "How long have you been fighting this war?"

She responded as she lowered her weapon, "Close to a year now; Knuckles was leading the resistance while I did what I could." She said as Adam nodded, and in his opinion, she was already doing a better job than that echidna.

From what he read, the echidna was a butcher, throwing lives at enemy defenses until they broke and the last wave could take control of the area after clambering over the bodies of their fallen comrades. Miss Rose decided that using WW1 tactics was not an effective method of war against machines and decided quick strikes would be better.

In fact, her tactics weren't too dissimilar from the Enclave's when it came to its strike teams. Of course, she obviously didn't have vertibirds, power armor, or other fancy toys the Enclave had, but they were still effective, and he would applaud them.

"And I've fought for years, years of grueling combat against a relentless enemy since I was...sixteen? Yeah, sixteen." Adam said, and that wasn't a complete lie; he did fight for years on end, but that was a long time ago, before he had become an agent for the DIA.

He didn't know how old he was now, but it had to be approaching fifty, and it's probably just genetic modification and implants that are making him as energetic and youthful-looking as he does.

"Sixteen? You've been fighting since you were sixteen; th-that's not right." She said this, seemingly having sympathy for Adam.

"And you've been fighting since you were a child; it's clear that both of us began fighting in wars when we really shouldn't have, but we heard the call and joined our respective fights." Adam said as Miss Rose shook her head.

"I guess everyone has been fighting EggMan's robots since they were young..." Adam didn't know how to respond to that due to the fact that the mutants or anyone really didn't know that the Enclave weren't from this world.

They would eventually reveal the truth, and once the truth was revealed, it would mark the final stages of the Enclave's grand plans for Mobius. Adam spoke as he gestured to the map: "Enclave forces are still holding out in our bases on the continent, and we've started fortifying the coasts of the other continents."

"I do have to applaud the Enclave and their bravery; I've heard reports of Enclave soldiers rushing into hoards of infected to get survivors out."

"If you stand with the Enclave, then you will be seen as either a brother or a sister in arms. These are dark days, but I believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel." Adam said, and while the brother and sister thing was a complete lie, it also wasn't at the same time; it just didn't apply to mutants.

"Still, that doesn't mean I approve of your actions." Amy said, and Adam chuckled before replying, "I never approved of any of the resistance or restoration actions, but you don't see me complaining about any of the stuff your faction does."

"We've been helping people, destroying remnant badniks, rebuilding, etc.; what could be the issue?"

"While yes, you have done that, but did it really take the destruction of villages, research stations, and other places for you only to take notice of the threat that was looming over the horizon, or was it because of your precious blue hedgehog that brought up a fact that military minds would notice quickly, which made you worry?"

She was stunned as Adam smirked underneath his helmet and spoke, "The Enclave may have some interesting methods of containment, but at least we're trying to fight back against the enemy until it's almost too late, unlike you, who waited right before the enemy was going to launch a massive attack to finally notice it."

Miss Rose tried to come up with some sort of reply but couldn't and just sighed, "I guess-guess the resistance has made some mistakes and..w...are..did Inadvertently cause the death of so many because I was too slow? Because I didn't notice the signs? Did-Did-"

Adam notices the girl slowly breakdown while he checks his phone. It is best to see if anyone has tried to contact him ever since he came to this place and has found some messages from other agents, including one from Moses.

'We've got a problem.' The message said, and while Adam wanted to ask why Moses sent a synth instead of coming himself, he decided to save that for later and sent back, 'Be more specific.'

A few seconds passed, and he got his reply: 'Not only is Director Callahan asking what we're doing currently, but the President is as well.' Adam typed back, 'Tell them that we're gearing up for the war and nothing else; I'm in a meeting.'

Adam put his phone away and turned back to the mutant. She had finished crying, and Adam was slightly mad at himself that he hadn't grabbed a bottle so he would have a shot of mutant tears to celebrate the eventual annihilation of their inferior species.

He sighed and walked over to the mutant before putting a hand on her head and speaking, "The weight of command is one that many cannot burden, but for you to make it this long and only now break down is something that I can commend."

Amy looked up and gave Adam a smile before alarms started to blare as they both heard the sound of gunfire, flamers, and laser fire. They both arm themselves as Adam radios in with other Enclave personnel to see if they have started to attack the mutants.

"This is Agent Adam; I need a status report!" He yelled over comms as he and Miss Rose ran through the halls.

"The mutants brought in an infected, and it's spreading like crazy, orders?" Adam identified the voice as Mecha's and responded as he readied his sidearm. It's not going to be much use since the round will simply go through the infected, but it would slow them down.

"All enclave and restoration personnel should evacuate the facility and get to the landing pads. I don't care how many you have to kill; just get out of here!" Adam yelled over comms.

__________________________________

Jonah fell out of bed and hit the ground hard since he had the top bunk while Max took the bottom one. The sirens had started ringing, and Jonah hadn't gotten any sleep since they'd been carrying the mutants.

Who would have guessed that a military force would do better than a ragtag resistance-turned-rebuilding movement? Jonah stood up and saw Max reloading his tactical flamer while the rest were planning something out.

Jonah checked his mask since he and everyone else were told to get comfortable sleeping in their biohazard suits. After finding nothing wrong, he looked over to Max, and Max shrugged before SSG Alex gestured for them to get over to him.

When they did, they quickly found out that everything had gone to sh*t, and they were to evacuate the base since the mutants had the worst security and accidentally brought in a zombie, thus causing chaos.

The plan was simple: stock up on supplies before trekking to the PA garage to get into their suits and thus become completely immune to the virus as they burned their way to the vertipads. All in all, a simple plan.

Jonah and Max were assigned as point men, and both readied their tactical flamers as they opened the door, hearing screams, weapon fire, and the groans of the infected echo throughout the facility.

"Bets that not many mutants are going to escape?" Max said that as the two moved forward, the rest of their squad was not far behind as they turned to see an infected run into the wall, but when the infected saw them and didn't run at them, they immediately knew what to do.

See, synths were somewhat immune to the infection; they could get infected but still remained in control of their bodies. After some higher-ups caught wind of this, they ordered that all infected synths be killed as well, since they could compromise the enclave.

As the synth started to beg for help, the two torched it and moved on, though they didn't get far until they ran into an entire hoard of the infected, the cramped halls of the base making it so they formed a wall of silver as they clawed their way to the squad.

"Light em up!" SSG Alex said, and it didn't take long for the hallway to be aflame as the screams of the infected echoed throughout the base. Jonah and Max kept their fingers on the trigger until the entire hoard was melted into nothing and they could move through.

As they stepped over the pool of what used to be the infected, all of them received messages over communications from everyone, whether they were mutants or enclaves. They were all calling out for help; it was just that the Enclave didn't need as much help.

"Hey Max..." Jonah said as they breached a metal door and found where all the civilians were kept, which is now just filled to the brim with infected, as the squad saw the restoration leader flee, helping a mutant child escape that Jonah recognized as one he helped escort some time ago.

The squad line up and start to burn through the infected, though the slaughter had to stop as Jonah came across another mutant he recognized, that being the mother of the mutant child that escaped.

She was still in the process of turning as Jonah went for his sidearm to put her out of her own misery. Max walks next to him and puts a bullet between the mutant's eyes with his sidearm, a 10mm pistol that he had looted off a legion praetorian.

"Took my mercy kill." Jonah said as Max lowered his pistol, not even offering a remark as the squad continued to clear out the area due to the fact that this would probably be where many Enclave soldiers would pass through.

"Something wrong?" Jonah asked Max over comms, and Max replied as he torched some infected children, "Well, I couldn't kill the child, and you know for the fact that the kid saw me put down her mother."

"So?" Jonah asked, and they both looked up at the restoration clinging onto the child as she screamed out for her mother. The restoration leader walks away as Max turns to Jonah and says, "Well, from experience, it's better to grow up with a mother than to grow up without one."

The group climbed up to where the two mutants ran off. Jonah continued questioning Max about what the hell he meant: "I thought you had a mom."

"She died when I was five due to the fact that she had the ghoul gene. I saw my father put her down while I sat inside the hall closet. It was...hard to watch and hear; they both cried because they understood why this had to happen, but neither of them wished it had."

"Well, sh*t...makes you feel any better. I was going to have siblings before they were deemed 'unfit' for the enclave." Jonah said, and the two continued on in relevant silence as they made it to the garage.

Many other Enclave squads were already there, and as they all hopped into their power armor and retrieved their heavier weapons, everyone heard something approaching. Every flamer, plasma rifle, and other type of weapon aimed at a door as something came thumping down the corridor.

It broke through the doors, and Donovan was immediately on with a super-sledge. It was the infected gator that Donovan had knocked out on the 37th's first deployment. Donovan slammed the sledge's head into the infected gator's gut before head-butting it.

It stumbles back as everyone sees additional infected running in. Jonah and everyone else started opening fire while continuing to pay attention to the brawl that was going on in the middle of the room between Donovan and the gator.

The gator slammed its fists against Donovan's armor before Don dove as the thing tried biting his head off. After grabbing a punch off the creature and slamming the super-sledge into the infected's head, Don retrieved an incendiary grenade on his armor's thigh.

While that was happening, Jonah picked up an infected that had gotten to an Enclave soldier who hadn't gotten into his power armor yet. The soldier was still protected by his biohazard suit, so he wasn't at risk of getting infected as he scrambled into his suit of armor.

Jonah slammed the nuzzle of his flamer right as Max chucked an infected into a large puddle of

gasoline before lighting it up with his flamer, the fire slowly spread as Jonah melted the infected before removing the melted corpse off his flamer.

He looked over as he saw Donovan punch into the infected gator, pressing down on the notion of the grenade as the grenade detonated inside the gator. It slowly started to melt from the inside out as Donovan removed his fist and backhanded an infected into a wall.

Everyone quickly ran out of the garage as a demo-team chucked Nuka-Grenades into it to destroy the room completely. Jonah got on comms as the whole group got outside and saw most of the vertibirds and other aircraft had already taken off; the one remaining thing was a shuttle.

Outside of said shuttle were burning piles of infected, and next to those stood parts of the 1st and 2nd Navarro veterans as they continued to hold out. As the group passed by them, Jonah saluted them before they gestured for him to keep moving.

As the group boarded the shuttle, Max said as they saw Agent Adam strangling a small bee mutant while cursing in a variety of different languages, "Aren't the 1st and 2nd supposed to be in Sunset City?"

"It was probably too much trouble to keep holding the city, so I bet the entire place was glassed as everyone either flew out or teleported out." Jonah said as they passed by the metal hedgehog, who was currently looking out the window.

Jonah slumped against a wall alongside Max as the two took a breath, hoping they could just leave this continent and just glass it from orbit because the Enclave wasn't meant to help mutants but to kill them.

As he slowly fell asleep, a message came up on his HUD that made him wonder why they were going there of all places...

'All Enclave forces on the western continent, make your way to Angel Island; there we will make our stand. We are working on a cure, but if we don't find one, prepare to watch the world burn."

Chapter 14: Escape and Angel Island

Chapter Text

"Can I consider this a draw?" EggMan said as he looked over a holographic map of the world, with blue being uninfected by the virus, red being infected by the virus, and black being where the entire place had been destroyed.

So basically, the entire eastern continent was destroyed outside of Station Square, which he couldn't get to since the number of aircraft that had stealth fields flying around it was high enough for EggMan not to take the risk.

Most of the infected were dead now, and while the restoration and enclave didn't know that, they would eventually learn that, due to the enclave's containment method, many had been spared the fate of being touched by the metal virus.

The Enclave had devastated the eastern continent with bombings, glassings, and a myriad of other ways to keep the infected at bay, including arming their entire army with flame-based weaponry along with armor that made them immune to the virus.

EggMan had debated whether he should start waging a total war against the Enclave since they were slowly becoming one of his greatest threats that could also threaten the world due to the fact that they were most likely the people that had framed his empire's remnants as the cause of multiple attacks.

He couldn't just tell the restoration that since they would think he was lying while the Enclave would immediately see him as a threat due to his knowledge, but another problem was the fact that Metal was acting weirder and had been talking to someone behind EggMan's back.

"Well, a quarter of the world is destroyed, so um, you can celebrate that!" Cubot said as EggMan shook his head, He wanted to conquer the world, not destroy it. Well, sometimes he wanted to destroy the world, but those were rare occasions, and he sometimes helped the heroes when he knew that a plan had backfired.

"Have any of our drones gotten to the other continents?" He asked, and Orbot responded by showing him the fact that the Enclave had shot down all the drones EggMan had sent out to spread the virus to other continents.

Some drones were also sent out to find the enclave's base, but sadly, no dice. He would write this plan off as a failure after the Enclave most likely finished off all remaining infected and did whatever they wanted.

The emergency lights immediately turned on as EggMan tried to find out who was attacking him and how to best repel them, before quickly switching to the camera focused on the Chaos Emeralds to see that Metal Sonic had destroyed all of the security and was beginning to steal them!

"What!? That little-All forces, get to the Chaos Emeralds holding room and bring me Metal Sonic!" EggMan yelled as Orbot and Cubot bumped into each other as he yelled. What in Chaos's name made Metal think he could just betray EggMan?

Mecha. EggMan was suspicious about Metal after he sent him to go fight Mecha, but now he was certain that the failure of a robot had done something to his precious metal, and when he found Mecha, he would personally turn him into scrap once all this was over.

Or this could just be Metal Sonic being rebellious once more and trying to become god again. He really should check to make sure he scrubbed all of Metal Sonic's memories of trying to become a godlike being just so that this doesn't keep happening.

He opens up a communications channel to Metal and starts to yell over it, "Metal! What do you think you're doing!? You better not try to become a god again, because if you are, then help me; I'll beat-"

He then noticed that Metal Sonic muted him as Metal Sonic gave his own reply to EggMan: "No, I'm going to find my new masters, people that will bring this world under their control and finally allow me to achieve the purpose that you gave me."

EggMan didn't even need to think about who Metal was referring to; he activated all of the security in the base and prayed that something would be able to take Metal down, and while the chances were slim, he just needed the emeralds to not get out of the base...

__________________________________________ (Song-I'm my own master now)

Metal Sonic ripped through a hoard of badniks before sending a laser through a super badnik that had tried to charge him. He knew that he could make the process of escaping even easier if he had just used the Chaos Emeralds, but decided against it. Mecha specifically said not to use them.

Now he didn't know why Mecha didn't want him to use the emeralds, but he obliged since he didn't want to immediately ruin all his ties to the Enclave before he even got the chance to work with them.

He spun and dashed through another group of bandits as EggMan started berating him over the loudspeakers. Metal Sonic tuned him out since he didn't want to hear the failure's words anymore considering that his current plan had failed.

While stealing the Chaos Emeralds, he had also made sure to steal some other stuff that would definitely benefit the Enclave, including schematics of metal versions of some of the other heroes that the Enclave would most definitely like.

I mean, if he was going to be the superior Sonic since Mecha clearly wasn't interested in it, then why not have a superior Tails, Amy, Knuckles, and other heroes? Sure, the Enclave may complain, but considering what Mecha had said about this 'Mary Orwich,' she must be better than EggMan.

He turned a corner and immediately got back into cover, as the entire hallway was filled with lasers and gunfire. After the wall that he would have been in front of was reduced to nothing but ruin, he got back out and fired his laser, devastating the badnik ranks.

He really hoped that the Enclave had better tactics to deal with escapees that weren't just throwing robots at the problem and seeing if it worked, and considering how many times EggMan had tried this tactic on Sonic, did he really think it worked on him?

He strolled through the destruction as a giant mech crashed in front of him, being piloted by who he guessed was EggMan, alongside Orbot and Cubot, manning two turrets on the mech's shoulders.

It resembled an up-armored version of the Death Egg Robot. EggMan yelled at Metal Sonic from the mech's speakers before realizing that Metal had just tuned him out and had to send a message over Metal's HUD, which Metal proceeded to read and facepalm. This is why he tried to become a god multiple times.

As the fight began, EggMan immediately knew he was at a disadvantage due to the fact that while the mech had additional armor, it didn't stop the fact that it still had the same weak points from its very creation.

Also, the fact that Metal Sonic has been studying his creator's designs for close to a decade means that he would know the ins and outs of the mech and could easily disable it with quick strikes to the head, along with stunning it with explosions.

Flying across the room and grabbing nearby barrels and chucking them at the Mech's arms caused it to be stunned, which allowed Metal to fly up to its shoulders and start taking out the turrets.

Sure, he could go in for the kill, but eliminating the turrets would mean that the mech would lose one of its main defenses, outside of its electrical shield, and bombs, which Metal knew how to take down as well.

Ripping Orbot out of his turret seat and chucking him off the mech before launching into the air and crashing down upon Cubot's turret to rip him out and do the same, EggMan activated the mech's shield and thus caused it to be impervious to all forms of damage.

Metal jumped off as the EggMan started to deploy numerous bombs to try and stop him, but with quick thinking (he was an A.I., so it had to be quick), he used the bombs to stun the mech once more and cause the field to fail, leaving the head exposed.

Flying up to it, he started to dash and tear through the armor hull to try and get to EggMan. The pilot's seat was right below the head, but he only found circuits, telling him that EggMan hadn't even bothered to come and face him and had just sent a drone.

He jumped off the mech and continued on his way, with some additional badniks trying to take him down, but those didn't matter since he was so close to freedom—to finally serve someone who wouldn't play silly games and try to win, no matter what.

He leapt and flew off into the distance as he headed to the waypoint where Mecha told him to meet up, though he immediately recognized the area as Angel Island and knew that he was probably in for a long explanation...

__________________________________________

"What the!? Why is he back!?" Knuckles yelled as Mecha Sonic stood by Orwich. It wasn't too long since everyone arrived at Angel Island after saving some additional survivors thanks to Agent Horrigan.

Now they stood in front of knuckles. They had been trying to convince him to allow them to set up on Angel Island, and it had started to reach a boiling point thanks to Mecha Sonic and Agent Adam, with Adam not being the friendliest to Knuckles.

"Why are we even listening to this tribal? We've got better things to do than discuss private property with a glorified janitor." Adam said as he drew his sidearm and aimed it at Knuckles's head.

"Who are you calling tribal!? I'll let you know that I can work with technology perfectly fine, and I led the resistance during the war."

"Tribal says he understands technology perfectly when I've read that he failed to comprehend simple radios, and yes, you did lead the resistance during the war; just how many came back? Forgetting the fact that you were a butcher to your own men, tell me, Knuckles, do you know all the names of the men and women you lost during the war due to your actions, or do you just not care?"

"Let me at him! I'll teach this smug officer what I can do!" Knuckles said as he leapt at Adam but was held back by Amy and Sonic, a few inches away from Adam, Amy glared at the agent, but he brushed her off as he continued to speak.

"I understand that protecting the Master Emerald is your entire life's purpose, but this is about the safety of all of mankind." Adam said, and Knuckles was able to calm down—only a little bit, though.

"I don't know who you think you are, but I'm not letting Angel Island be turned into some military base! This is my island, and what I say goes!" Knuckles said as Agent Adam snapped his fingers and the thunderous steps of Agent Horrigan approached.

The mutants looked up at the beast of a man as he stood next to Agent Adam. Adam spoke as he gestured to Horrigan, "And I have an entire army behind me that could reduce this place to nothing but ash; I'd say that I have the power here."

As the two started down, Sonic decided to get in between them, leaving Amy to hold Knuckles and speak, "Hey! Hey! Hey! Are we forgoing the virus that is lethal and spreading around the place? We ain't got time for arguing over this stuff, so how about this? The Enclave gets to set up its defenses but cannot touch the Master Emerald or the temple. Sound fair?"

Adam nods and starts ordering Enclave personnel around as additional vertibirds land to drop off supplies, and Sonic goes to Knuckles while Amy walks and starts to chat with him. "Look, I know you probably didn't expect another battle on Angel Island any time soon and probably aren't happy about it, but..."

"Of course I'm not happy about it! Seriously, is there no where else for you guys to go and make your stand?" Knuckles asked, and Sonic replied, "Listen, it will probably be more difficult for the virus to get here unless EggMan flies over here and tries to deploy the virus here."

"And what if he does?" Knuckles asked, and Sonic rubbed his quills before speaking, "The Enclave can deal with it; besides, we have plenty of time before any of that happens."

The two stopped chatting when they heard something fly over their heads. They both looked into the sky as their eyes landed on Metal Sonic flying towards the temple, with General Orwich and Mech-Sonic approaching where Metal was going to land.

Sonic and Knuckles quickly got ready for a fight, while Tails and Amy made their way over. They had already dealt with Metal Sonic using the Master Emerald once, and they didn't want to do it again.

As they rush over to pummel the robot, Metal Sonic raises his arms up and says, "I'm friendly."

This caused Sonic and Knuckles to stop, with Knuckles tripping while Sonic spoke, clearly not buying the fact that Metal was 'Friendly,' considering what he had done recently. Maybe in the future he would be friendly, but not now.

"Yeah, and Amy's lightish red, so tell me why you're actually here." Sonic said as Metal spoke after chuckling in a metallic tone.

"Brother, tell them." Metal said, and Mecha spoke while Orwich approached Metal, "I made a deal with him to betray EggMan and join the Enclave. I understand that all of you may be uncomfortable with this, but we need all the help we can get, especially one immune to the virus."

Before anyone could respond, Orwich picked Metal up like one would pick up a cat and spoke as Metal reacted to the fact that this would be his new master. "You definitely need a better paint job, but outside of that, you're in pretty good shape. Now come on, Metal!" Orwich said as she carried Metal off, as Metal just stared blankly at Mecha while Mecha shrugged.

Hours passed as Amy overlooked the Enclave as they finished up setting up their base on Angle Island. They had set up a lot of defenses that would put some EggMan strongholds to shame, especially the giant artillery guns that the Enclave started to set up.

Able to cripple a super badnik and with a few could take down EggMan airships, the things offered some peace of mind to Amy as she sat underneath a tree, though she did have to cover her ears when one of the things fired for testing.

It was incredibly loud, and she wondered how the Enclave troopers that manned the things were able to stand so close to it without going to death. Maybe they had something special inside their helmets, but still, it must be incredibly loud.

"ALL FORCES, EGGMAN IS ON THE ISLAND!" Suddenly came a loudspeaker as she retrieved her hammer and started running,

Enclave infantry and restoration forces that came on the shuttle ran past her as they all made it to the temple where EggMan, along with a Mobian, they were surrounded by practically everyone.

As they all stood ready to execute EggMan, Agent Adam walked up to EggMan while drawing his sidearm and speaking calmly, "Dr. EggMan, your list of crimes would take years for me to read off, all of them horrific and cruel..."

Adam aimed his sidearm at EggMan while he just stood there befuddled. "But you are still useful in this situation, and thus, until further notice, you are going to help, whether you like it or not."

As EggMan looked at the wall of laser, plasma, ballistic, and other manners of weaponry pointed at him, he immediately knew that he couldn't do much, so he simply raised his arms up and spoke, "Fine." He also mumbled something, but Amy couldn't tell what.

As the Enclave forced EggMan, his Mobian companion, and robots onto the shuttle, she followed alongside Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. She didn’t know where Charmy, Espio, Whisper, or Tangle were, but she guessed they were off relaxing and catching their breaths after everything.

If it wasn’t for the beast of a man known as Agent Horrigan, she would have guessed that Tangle and some others may have gotten infected, but thanks to him, they were able to save a lot more people while on their way to Angel Island.

She should probably thank him later…

Chapter 15: Six and Metal

Chapter Text

Agent Adam walked through the halls of the shuttle as restoration forces passed by him, carrying supplies and escorting refugees onto the island so Enclave aircraft could take them to either the eastern continent or Fort Anderson.

Of course, those that make it to the eastern continent would have a better time than those at Fort Anderson, which were needed since Orwich's pet project keeps getting bigger and bigger since she wanted to make sure that she would be able to kill Sonic.

Most of the parts of the thing were now Enclave-made instead of old super-badnik parts made in America and brought over through the portal; the thing would probably be the size of a mountain once it was finished.

Orwich was currently busy dressing up with her second metal hedgehog, which had brought the Enclave the greatest power they could ever dream of, the Chaos Emeralds. Tests were already being done with them to see if they could implant them inside a suit of armor.

It wasn't a debate over who would be able to harness the power of the emeralds, for there was only one choice, and that choice was General Song. He deserved the honor to be the personification of God's wrath, the one that would bring the mutants to their knees once Sonic was dead.

As Agent Adam approached the holding area of the shuttle, which was hastily constructed to hold EggMan and Dr. Starline, Adam opened the door as he approached the cell that held EggMan, who was trying to escape by picking the lock on the cell.

"I would not try that if I were you." Adam said as he approached EggMan's cell, which wasn't too far off from where Dr. Starline's cell was, with Starline just bouncing a ball up and down.

"And why not? You're not going to kill me..." EggMan said, and Adam quickly unholstered his sidearm and fired a singular shot into the skull of Starline, punching right through his skull before embedding itself in a support beam behind his cell.

"I'm not going to, but I can kill you if you do not cooperate with me since I'm on a tight schedule here and I'm not going to have it wasted talking to a petulant man child that constantly loses to mutant scum."

"You try fighting him, mutant scum? Guess when none of them are around, you can finally show your true colors."

"Of course, now...why in God's holy name are you here? I would prefer you try telling the truth before I have to pry it out of y-"

"Well, The Deadly Six showed up and are currently in control of...well, everything of mine."

"And who are 'The Deadly Six?' I doubt they're as deadly as the last...thing that carried the name Six." Adam said as he remembered the beast that stalked the Mojave, which was Courier Six.

The last surviving remnant of Project Brazil, he was deemed a threat by the Enclave due to his skill, arsenal, and ability to simply defy death. Wave after wave of clones and robots were sent at the mutant and his companions, but they continued to defy death.

After enough losses were inflicted by the Courier, the Enclave bombed their position to hell and back to make sure that whatever was left of him and his companions rested neatly in a crater, but of course, he defied death once more.

The mutant wouldn't die and kept on fighting before fading into the shadows. The Enclave would eventually find what remained of his corpse in a bunker underneath New Canaan. He killed himself by cutting himself open and planting a bomb inside himself.

It is sad that the mutant never sided with Colonel Bragg all those years ago, but the Enclave sent his corpse over to the Science Division before continuing on their way in their endless crusade against mutants.

Back to the present, EggMan spoke: "They are a group of aliens that I may have tried to enslave so I could use them against Sonic before they were freed by Sonic and tried to destroy the world."

"Wouldn't be the first time the Enclave had to kick some alien butt. Tell me everything you can about them, and mayb-"

Adam had to stop talking because he received a message over communications detailing the arrival of a 10th Chemical Corps vertibird that is carrying 'precious' cargo that the Enclave would need to win.

Adam groaned and shot the lock off of EggMan's cell before speaking, "Get over to the command room so that you can inform some others on the situation, and don't try to escape."

EggMan stood up as he was about to speak, but crashing through the door was Mecha Sonic. The machine glared at EggMan as it approached him as he changed one of his arms into his plasma flamer.

"Orders?" Mecha asked, and Adam replied as he left the room, "Escort him to the command room while I go investigate some cargo." Mecha nodded and spoke as Adam left the room, "It's been a long time, creator."

"Listen, Mecha, I know that I may have abandoned you for some time, but you could forgive me, right?" EggMan said while sweating bullets as Mecha laughed.

"When all of this is over, when we clean up this plan of yours, I will enjoy prying out every memory that you ever cherished." Mecha said while EggMan gulped.

Back with Agent Adam, he made his way through the shuttle until he made his way outside and to a hastily constructed vertipad, where numerous Enclave soldiers stood at the ready, weapons at the ready, as a vertibird bearing the 10th Chemical Corps symbol.

Adam wondered why there were so many soldiers here considering it was just cargo, and while the Chemical Corps always had some of the most dangerous creatures in containment, it wouldn't need this amount of security; it was ridiculous.

As the vertibird transport landed and as its blades slowed to a stop, its ramp lowered, and out walked someone in Enclave Riot Gear. Adam was still confused. Where's the cargo? It can't be the enclave soldier since that would be stupid.

"I feel like I'm not welcomed here." The Ranger said as he crossed his arms, and Adam tensed up as he recognized the voice from old holotapes and combat recordings.

The 10th couldn't have it; they shouldn't have! As the monster that slew hundreds of Enclave clones and destroyed thousands of Enclave robots walked down and passed by the soldiers, Adam hesitatingly ordered the soldiers to lower their weapons.

Adam spoke as the beast half-heartedly saluted him, "Courier Six, welcome to Angel Island." Adam's voice was laced with venom as Six spoke, "Hey, don't blame me for being alive. Blame the nerds."

Adam quickly ordered for the crowd of soldiers to disperse and get back to their jobs as Six spoke once more, reaching into his duster and pulling out a canteen. "Anyways, all I've been told is that I'm here to kill zombies and try not to kill any enclave."

Adam sighed and spoke, keeping his hand on his holster just in case he had to quickly draw it and fire upon Six. Though he doubted that he could kill Six in one-on-one combat, he said, "Follow me and don't do anything."

"Aye, Agent."

Adam resisted the urge to punch Six, and he walked back into the shuttle so that he could discuss with everyone else what they would do and for him to possibly figure out what to do with Six.

As the two walked through the ship, Adam had to ignore all the questions that Six was asking him while he thought about the best way to kill Dr. Linsey without it being traced back to him.

Sure, it probably wasn't the best thing to be thinking about, but Enclave Intelligence has always been allowed to play fast and loose when it came to the rules, and if someone disappeared one night, no one would acknowledge it since Enclave Intelligence made sure everyone was quiet.

As they entered the command room, Adam looked to his left and saw General Song, Owen Alison, and SIGMA Teams Yellow, White, and Black, with Orwich most likely still working on Metal Sonic, and on his right stood Amy, Tails, Sonic, Knuckles, Silver, who looked beaten up, Whisper, Tangle, and EggMan.

There were, of course, some eyes drawn to Six, but Adam nodded to the other Enclave personnel to keep quiet and spoke, "While I was gone, what have you all discussed?"

Amy spoke up as EggMan changed the tactical map to show the known locations of all the members of the Deadly Six. "Well, thanks to being connected to your satellites, we were able to track down the Deadly Six." Adam immediately spoke as he saw the locations: "Alright, so we know where they are; let's get them."

General Song shook his head and said, "That will not be an option for most of us." Adam gave the general a confused look, and EggMan said something that would definitely cause problems: "They can control electronics and make them bend to their will."

Normally, that wouldn't be a concern since they could just send in basic infantry to try and take them down, but almost everyone in the Enclave military had some form of electronic implant that could be taken control of.

As the others argued that the mutants could take down the Deadly Six while the Enclave could just nuke the Deadly Six from orbit, while all this happened, Six sat back and drank some Sunset sarsaparilla.

Another idea they could have used was using the Enclave's many bio-mutants to fight the Deadly Six, but Adam had to shake his head when Alison tried suggesting the idea since the mutants didn't know about any of the creatures and shouldn't know until it was too late for them.

Adam then had an idea: why not use Ths Courier? He most likely did not have any implants (unless the 10th had implanted some within him). and was skilled enough to take these alien scum down, and if he died, it would make Adam's and everyone else's lives better.

"We use our good 'friend' Six here." Adam said as he motioned towards Six. Everyone looked towards Six, and he replied, "I'm up for it." He straightened up and tapped the tactical map to bring up all the faces of the Deadly Six.

They were disgusting-looking creatures, and Adam wondered if there were more of them; if so, he would gladly glass their worlds into oblivion in the name of the Holy Lord and wipe their species from the annals of history.

"Alright, got a way to get me to them unless you've got plenty of vertibirds to waste." He said that, and EggMan stepped out of the way to show a very crudely built machine.

"This would allow instant transportation to all the members of the Deadly Six locations."

"Sounds good; you two are coming with me; no arguing." Six said, interrupting EggMam as he leapt over the table and grabbed Amy and Tails before activating the device and hopping through a green portal.

As everyone stood there, Sonic spoke as he noticed something: "Umm..that guy didn't have any weapons on him." Adam had to sadly agree with the mutant. Adam obviously knew how some pip-boys worked, but Six didn't even have that!

But then again, maybe he shouldn't doubt Six.

__________________________________

"Alright, little buddy, let's see what I can do." Orwich said as metal. Sonic sat in a circle, with numerous tools hanging above him. As Orwich set something up, Metal decided to reflect on his short experience with the general.

She was too nice, and Metal wanted to not like it; he wanted to hate how she spoke and treated him, but he didn't because she did something that many others didn't do. She asked him what would be comfortable for him.

He wasn't chained up like he was when that two-tailed fox and the hedgehog examined him or stunned in place when EggMan made repairs to him; she allowed him to have complete control over his body while she checked to make sure everything was in order.

Metal Sonic would agree with someone if they said that was a stupid idea, but Orwich didn't seem like the person who would constantly nag him to be a good guy, mostly because she and many others in the Enclave would most likely not be seen as the good guys.

A spray can descend in front of Metal's body and start to give him his new paint job. He still wanted to be the superior Sonic and not the superior Shadow, but he guessed that uniformity was something that the Enclave preferred over uniqueness.

Then again, EggMan's designs and painjobs were mostly horrendous, so he couldn't complain considering that when he was done getting his new paint job, he looked in the mirror to see that it did look good.

"There we go, now. Would it be okay for me to check your programming and memories real quick?" She asked, and Metal Sonic was surprised once more.

He ran through all the probabilities, and after seeing that having her check his programming and memories wouldn't be the worst option, Metal knew that EggMan had made some mistakes in making him.

As Orwich led him over to a machine that he and... was she connecting herself to the machine? Strangely, Metal Sonic connected himself into it as well and wondered how this would benefit her looking through his programming.

After a few seconds, Metal Sonic was hit with tons of information that he had to process; it wasn't code but recordings—no, not recordings, memories. Metal took note of every memory as he wondered if the machine was allowing him and her to connect deeper than he thought.

He also wondered if she was seeing all of his 'memories' as well, along with his code. He took note of multiple important moments from Orwich's memories, including one that made Metal think.

He saw through Orwich's eyes as she looked over a massive work camp that would make EggMan jealous in its design, not because it was high-tech but because of how brutal it was designed to be.

But that wasn't it; it was the people that were being put to work that made Metal question the Enclave. He saw humans being forced to work while some were hung; were these the mutants that the Enclave hated?

After it all was done, Metal disconnected and saw Orwich stumble forward in their armor. He felt a little different, but it wasn't that big of a change. As he looked over to Orwich, she nodded and spoke, "You've..you haven't had the best life."

"The same could go for you." Metal said, and while he didn't see what Orwich meant, he knew that Orwich had suffered some of their own problems.

He'd seen hanging bodies of people labeled as 'Enclave Scum' or 'Fascists;' some were adults, but others were children. It seems like the enclave did something that would cause people to react like that.

He also learned some interesting facts about Orwich that, while not important to the current situation, did make Orwich much more interesting.

"Well, when your people are hunted like rats, it makes you want to take revenge on those that hurt your family."

"Family?" Metal asked, and Orwich stood up as she walked around the room. She replied, "The Enclave is kind of like one big family; we all help each other most of the time, and we also argue with each other a lot, but we always get things done."

"And the mutants you spoke about were human."

"To you, it may seem like that, but they were tainted by radiation and FEV, thus they were mutants."

"Then the mobians here are not mutants following what you said; they are clean of radiation and this 'FEV,' you speak of; wouldn't it be more accurate to refer to the mobians as simply animals?"

"Most of the Enclave just grew comfortable referring to everything non-human as mutants; some refer to them as demons." Orwich replied.

"So anything non-human is deemed a mutant by that logic."

"Robots are of course allowed but basically anything non-human needs to die.." Orwich said as she exited out of her power armor.

She sat down and spoke as she rubbed her head. "Your definitely more advanced considering when I did this with Mecha, it didn't give me this bad of a headache."

"Do you not have implants or genetic modifications to stop that?"

"I do; it's just that this is more related to plugging into a machine and watching memory after memory while lines of code flash before my eyes; it's a lot." Orwich said, and Metal nodded.

As Orwich relaxed, Metal connected to a nearby terminal and signed in with Orwich's credentials before sending over all the schematics he had stolen from EggMan, including the metal variants of other heroes.

Orwich may be mad, but considering she's a robotics officer, she probably won't be mad for long when she gets some new robots...

Chapter 16: The Best Killer Around.

Chapter Text

Tails and Amy flopped out the portal right before Six jumped out and spoke, "Eh, I've had worse run-ins with portals and teleporting in general. Now, where's the fat f*ck?" Six strolled through some of the rubble as Amy and Tails got up.

"I think you're being a little...well, overconfident. You don't even have any weapons." Amy whispered to Six, but he simply laughed her off as he reached into his duster and showed off a very fancy revolver.

"Trust me, Pinkie, I have a lot of guns on me." Six replied, and Amy stood there while Tails sighed. Six's confidence reminded him of Sonic's, and considering the situation, that probably wasn't the best when they're out hunting the Deadly Six.

As the trio sneaked through destroyed buildings and past zombots, Six decided that enough was enough and leaped out into the open as, from his duster, he pulled out two..tontos? Though they weren't normal tontos, considering the fact that they glowed the same green as Enclave plasma weapons,.

Six landed amongst a group of infected as he swung left and right, taking down the infected and reducing them to nothing but goo piles. Tails and Amy stood there before gasping as they saw an infected touch Six.

Six continued to act like he wasn't just infected, and Tails noticed that Six wasn't even infected, even though the clothing he was wearing wasn't any type of biohazard suit outside of his helmet's inbuilt gasmask.

As Six continued to cut through the infected, all of them heard the large steps of Zomom. As Tails and Amy got ready to fight alongside Six, Six holstered his tontos and reached into his duster to grab something.

"So, how tough is this alien's skin?"

"It shouldn't be too tough, if I remember correctly."

"Ah, good, then 20mm HE should do the trick." Six said causally as, out of his duster, he pulls out a weapon that would belong more on an armored car or an APC than a normal man.

"Eh-how?" Amy asked, and Six just chuckled at her confusion as he waited for the fat alien to show his face.

"Who dares interrupt my post-lunch pre-dinner snack?" Zomom yelled as he turned the corner and laid his eyes on the trio, after raising a large meat stick and yelling, "I'll squash you!"

As Zomom tried his best to charge the group, Six spoke, "Cover your ears, and probably your eyes; this is going to get messy and loud." Before Tails and Amy could register what Six said, he started to open fire upon Zomom.

As the first round struck Zomom in the chest, the alien immediately knew that it was doomed when it felt a chuck of its body blown off, then another round hit him in the arm, and then another...and then another.

Round after round blew chunks out of the beast as Six laughed menacingly, and when Six had to reload, he simply dropped the gun and rushed forward before jumping into the air.

Out of his sleeves, he throws tons of what look like bayonets that stick into Zomom that wouldn't do enough damage on their own, but in a hail of them, Zomom screamed out in pain as Six landed on top of his head.

"Here's a good snack for you." Six said that out of his duster, he retrieves a golden orb decorated in a cross and jewelry, pulling the pin and chucking it into the aliens mouth before jumping off.

As Six landed in front of a confused and slightly dead Amy and Tails, the grenade exploded from within Zomom, blowing him up from the inside out and sending parts of his body everywhere, with some blood landing on Tails and Amy.

Tails rushes behind some rubble and throws up due to the gore he had just witnessed, and Six simply pulls out a piece of paper before crossing out Zomom and speaking, "Well, that's one down. Let me go loot the bastard, and then we can head home."

While Amy was better at holding her lunch in than Tails, she was still disgusted at what just happened and was even more disgusted as she saw Six crouch down to where most of the remnants of Zomom lay before taking off his helmet.

Amy slowly creeped toward Six as he grabbed some of Zomom's parts before throwing up as she heard the sound and saw him eating what remained of Zomom, though she was able to get a glimpse at what was underneath his helmet, or lack thereof.

It looked like all there was underneath his helmet was a void, though Amy doubted what she saw was real and not just some figment of her imagination considering she just saw Six eating Zomom.

Six stood up and retrieved his helmet as he walked back to the duo. He spoke as he picked up his cannon and put it back inside his coat, Amy not even wanting to ask how that was possible. "A little too citrusy for my taste, but I've had worse; now come on, I've got five more of these bastards to kill."

As Six contacted Angel Island, Tails spoke to Amy, "Did-Did he just-"

"He did, and-and it looked like there wasn't anything underneath that helmet..."

"Maybe you were imagining that part?" Tails asked as he threw up a little in his mouth.

As a portal showed up and Six stepped into it, Amy knew she had to ask Adam who this man was and how in the world he was allowed in the Enclave...

__________________________________

"Fire in the hole." Jonah said as the massive artillery gun fired and woke up Max from his nap, causing him to fall out of his chair and right onto the ground.

"Had a nice nap, sleeping beauty?" Jonah said, and Max said some curse words as he got up and picked up his tactical flamer.

Their squad had been put on artillery spotting duty, meaning they would just sit next to the 914mm guns and spot stuff that would be cool to blow up, and then blow said stuff up while working alongside the gun's crew to make sure that everything in the gun worked.

It was fun for the first hour or two, but once the novelty of launching 914mm shells at tiny islands or broken-down ships wore off, everyone either chatted, messed around on their pip-pads or phones, or just played cards.

"So, did you hear the news?" Jonah asked Max, and he shook his head. "Apparently Courier Six is back and is now working for us."

Max was getting a sip of water when he heard that and immediately spat it out before speaking, "Whose idea was that? That guy was a monster; why would anyone want to bring him back to life?"

"I don't know, probably the same reason anyone brought Frank Horrigan back to life; they're good at killing people and just tanking wounds that would kill almost everyone else." Jonah said as he handed the binoculars off to Max.

"Your turn." Max grabbed the binoculars and started to scan the area before speaking, "Hey, is that a mutant?"

"What does it look like?" Jonah said as he grabbed another pair of binoculars and saw that it was indeed a mutant, said mutant being that bat whor* that's the Enclave contacted before losing contact with her.

"Huh, it is a mutant." Jonah said as Max put down his binoculars and looked over to Jonah, "Want to fire a shell at it?"

"Too small of a target; besides, she's an ally...for now at least, no matter how weird she looks." Max nodded, and Jonah simply radioed into SSG Alex, "Got a mutant in bounds; it seems to be Rouge the Bat."

"She infected?" Jonah heard Alex say over comms, and Jonah responded, "Unknown, but she seems clean; you should probably have some of the others check her and kill her just in case she is infected."

"By the way, wake up Max if he fell asleep."

"Artillery already did that, sir."

"Good." Alex disconnected from communications, and Jonah took his turn on the metal seat while Max called out random stuff to blow up...

__________________________________

"Well, this place has seen better days." Six said as he walked around a city that had been bombed by the Enclave due to Archimedes being on cooldown, he didn't know what the city's name was since he was kind of just thrown into this world after being'resurrected.'

He was also lonely since that pink hedgehog told her friends what he did, and thus no one wanted to work with him now, which, thinking about it, is kind of a blessing since he doesn’t have to worry about one of them getting infected and thus dealing with a super-powered zombie.

He turned the corner and reached inside his duster to retrieve his own tactical flamer since, while he did love his plasma tontos to melt through the silver zombies, he also wasn't sure how far his immunity went.

Sure, he was... well, he didn't really know what he was currently, and at this point he was sure that not even the nerds that had resurrected him knew what he was, but all he knew was that while he was 'immune' to the virus, he just wasn't sure how immune.

Some infected ran towards him, and he quickly sprayed them down with his flamer since he had a lot more important stuff to be doing, for instance, killing some green alien bitch who thought she and her friends could control the world, destroy it, or do whatever they wanted.

Sure, he wasn't happy that he was working for the enclave and was practically their slave for eternity. Well, at least he had more freedom than some of his new friends had.

As he turned the corner, he saw the alien sitting in some fancy chair while zombies treated her like a queen. Six sighed and put the tactical flamer on his back while reaching into his duster to see what weapon he would use this time.

"No, not that, definitely not that; the peacekeeper would leave nothing for me to bring back. Umm, when did I get this?" He said that while throwing some red boxy thing on the floor that unfolded into some weird scythe-gun combination, he continued to look through his duster until finally finding the two guns that he loved.

"There you are!"

Well, he loved a lot of guns, but he especially loved the Jackel and Casull, two guns that he had found in Zion while working with Joshua Graham. The bad boys had come in especially handy when he got to the Sierra Madre.

Being able to blow apart ghost people and make sure that they stayed dead was also really satisfying, and the sounds they made were amazing. As Six made his way over to the alien, he fired off some shots that blew the infected apart, sending limbs and silvery goop all over the place.

The alien looked at him and spoke in a flirty style while looking at her nails. "Oh, and the Enclave sent some young boy to take me down. Tell me, have you ever even killed someone?"

"I've killed a lot of people, whether they be fully grown men and women or children; hell, I even blew the brains out of a pregnant woman."

"Huh?"

"Oh, she was originally trying to sell children into slavery, so it was perfectly reasonable for me to blow her head apart with a 12-gauge."

The alien then launched herself at him. Six holstered his pistols and grabbed her before spinning and launching her into a nearby pile of debris before unholstering his pistols to blast away some more infected that decided now would be the time to show up.

Holstering his pistols once more and unveiling two bayonets as he walked towards the alien as she stood up, he spoke as he raised one towards her, "It is man that is made in God's image, not you, creature."

"Strong for a human, but no matter, probably just got lucky~"

"I do not like the tone of your voice, so please change it before I end your life." Six said, and the alien leaped at Six as he dodged and shoved one of his bayonets through her back.

She gasped, and Six stabbed the other bayonet into her before twisting the blades and cutting her cleanly in two. As the alien fell apart and her blood dripped off his bayonets, he holstered them and crouched down.

He removed his helmet and breathed in the air of the city; it was tainted air, but air. Now, he wasn't really breathing, but it still felt nice, and it was one of the things that kept his mental state in check.

He unholstered Blood-nap and started cutting some pieces off of the alien to save and some so that he could eat now. As he tasted some of the creature, he immediately coughed some of it out since it had a strong taste.

And not the good kind of strong, the bad type that made the person want to immediately throw and never touch the food again. Six considered dropping the meat he had gathered from her since he doubted anyone would like it before realizing he could give it to the enclave to study.

"Not everyone is a cannibal; well, this isn't really cannibalism because they're not humans, but still, I doubt anyone in the enclave would like to eat this stuff."

Six grabbed his tactical flamer and burned the body before calling in for a portal to get him out of this city before any more infected people showed up. He could easily deal with the infected, but he was on a schedule and couldn't lolly gag!

__________________________________

General Song kneeled inside the chapel that the Enclave had quickly erected on Angel Island. Kneeling alongside him were some of his men who had agreed to pray alongside him; sadly, they didn't have anyone to lead them in prayer.

As he prayed, he could only think of the battle that would eventually come here, a battle where he wondered if he would even be able to retain control of himself as he fought through hoards of the infected.

He doubted that the Courier would be able to kill all of the Deadly Six before they arrived at Angel Island. After the meeting, he started to wonder why the Chemical Corps would bring that mutant back to life.

Sure, General Song respected the mutant since he clearly never went down without a fight and took himself out on his own terms, but it still made Song question what would be so beneficial about bringing him back to life.

He finished his prayer alongside the others, and as they dispersed, he decided that he would take a walk around the island to see if he could chat with some of the other officers, maybe even some of the leaders, so that when they eventually betray them, he could know about how they fight.

As he left the chapel, his mind drifted to the eventual war and how it would most likely take place on the eastern continent in the lands of this world's United States and 'United Confederation,' which was this world's version of the European Union.

It would most likely devolve into mutant and human fighting against Enclave forces since most of the human population had experienced multiple disasters that were prevented or stopped by the mutants, meaning that they wouldn't be the most interested in the Enclave's idea of genociding them.

Though he did propose an idea to Adam on how they could turn even more humans against the mutants, that was bringing up the fact that if Sonic hadn't stopped Corporal Shadow from killing EggMan, none of this would have happened, and the Enclave wouldn't have needed to step in.

They could tell the human population that if Sonic kept this status quo up, then more people would die in his and EggMan's endless cycle of war, and that the only way to go forward is that both EggMan and Sonic needed to pay for their crimes.

Sure, G.U.N. tried doing this, but that was because they were trying to cover up an accident. The Enclave would be doing this to ensure that they wouldn't need to kill as many humans in their conquest of this world...

__________________________________

“Guess they thought grouping up would be the better option.” Six spoke as he looked through the scope of his anti-material rifle and saw three more aliens, all of them crowding together while using the infected as a shield.

Six felt like the Enclave could have just hit the aliens with air strikes or glassed them, and while he knew that the aliens could control electronics, he doubted that it reached into the skies and even into space, where Archimedes lay.

He holsters his rifle and retrieves his plasma tontos so that he will be able to cut through the infected hoard. To make sure that everything dies in one hit, he takes some hits of psycho along with some med-x and buffout.

He leaped from his hiding place as he cut down five zombies in one go before using the Ranger to take down three more as he started to make his way to the aliens, who were starting to make their way towards him.

The first one was lanky, pink, and spoke like a raider, which immediately put him on Six’s sh*t list, and what he said made Six know he had to do something painful to him: “I’ll wear that pretty little duster as underwear!”

Now, while he wasn’t that attached to this set of armor since it wasn’t his Desert Wolf armor, that still made him mad, and he leaped at the alien while holstering his tontos. As he landed on the alien, he grasped his horns and ripped them off, causing the alien to scream bloody murder.

“Eh-my horns! My horns!” It yelled before Six jammed the horns through the alien’s head while speaking, “Take them back then.” Six jumped off the corpse and dodged an attack from one of the others, looking like some emo kid.

He reminded him of a friend, but that didn’t matter as Six reached into his duster with one hand to retrieve his tactical flamer while his other picked up the dead alien and chucked it at his friend.

As the other alien was occupied with dodging the corpse of his recently deceased friend, Six sprayed fire all around him and the other two aliens, killing numerous infected while also creating a wing of fire so that none of the zombies could interfere with them.

When the emo alien tried attacking Six again, Six sidestepped and grabbed the alien by the head before smashing it to the ground. Before the alien could even get up, Six had already raised his foot and stomped the alien’s head, coating his boot with blood.

He turned to the last one, who was seemingly content watching, stoic even though two of his buddies had just been killed. He said, “Skilled, you are considering you have taken down most of us.”

“I’ve been through worse.” Six said as he cracked his knuckles as the alien got into a…he was getting into a Kung Fu stance.

“But I believe this is where your journey ends, for I-“

Six wasn’t even going to bother with making any effort to kill the old man, so he holstered his tactical flamer before whipping out a double-barreled shotgun that was in his apartment at Novac named ‘Super Shotgun.’

In all honesty, no one knew how, in God’s name, the gun got in there since the room hadn't been used in years, but Six didn’t care since the gun made sure that everything in front of it turned into a blood mist, especially when he loaded coinshot shells.

Six loaded the shotgun with coin-shot shells before entering V.A.T.S. and targeting the alien’s head multiple times before confirming. The alien didn’t even have time to register that he was dead when his head exploded in a shower of gore that made Six smile.

The infected hoard was closing in, so Six had to do the next part quickly as he took out Blood-Nap and started cutting pieces from the aliens, taking some for testing, others for friends, and some for himself to snack on.

He wasn’t able to try out all the meat but one, and that one was the lanky alien, which was a bit stretchy while tasting extremely sour but the good kind of sour. Six activated communications and ordered a portal to be opened up as the hoard closed in.

Putting his helmet back on and stepping through the portal made him take a breath. Five down, one more to go. As he walked through the shuttle to quickly store some meat before heading off to give the rest to the nerds, sirens started to blare and soldiers started rushing past him.

“Hey! What’s going on?” Six asked a nearby enclave soldier as he carried ammunition crates.

“The faceship is approaching the island, meaning that everything is going to go tit* up!” The soldier responded, sounding disgusted at the dumbass name, and Six reached into his duster and retrieved his Ranger sequoia as he rushed out of the ship.

Outside, it was chaos. Enclave soldiers and restoration’ members, if Six remembered correctly, were hastily fortifying the island while officers barked out orders, and Six looked to the side to see a massive ship approaching them. The ship had a massive face, which made Six question how narcissistic EggMan was.

Six sighed and went to go find Adam. Just another day in his life, or unlife, or whatever type of life he was living now…

Chapter 17: The end of a nightmare

Chapter Text

Agent Adam looked over the cliff as the faceship closed in on the island. Everyone had gotten into their positions and was ready to unleash hell upon the ship. They had been preparing for this battle, and they had their tool to send the alien back to hell.

914mm guns lined the mountain, M65 self-propelled artillery and Minutemen Missile Artillery were dropped off my vertibird, and multiple Eden-Class Dreadnoughts with railguns were below and around the island.

Not to mention the numerous aircraft that would be coming over from Fort Anderson, the Enclave was ready, and all he needed to do was give the order, and the ship would be shelled and blown apart by everything the Enclave had at Angel Island.

And if that didn't work, then all they would need to do is hold out long enough for Archimedes to come back online and blast the ship from orbit, making sure that nothing remained of it or its crew.

All civilians and important personnel (basically only Tails) were evacuated, and thus everyone that remained on the island were people that would be able to fight the enemy and make sure that for every inch of ground they paid in blood.

Or virus, it didn't matter; the alien decided that today was the day he was going to f*ck with this world, and it was this day he was going to f*ck with the enclave. As he heard the reports from every position on the island call in and say that they were ready, he looked at his pip pad to see the locations.

The heroes and restoration members were placed around the Master Emerald temple and were told to only engage badniks; if the alien chose to deploy them, the Enclave would deal with the infected, too, if the alien chose to deploy them.

Once all reports came in, Adam went on comms and spoke to everyone: "Ladies and gentlemen of the restoration and the enclave, the alien has come to us and thinks he will defeat us. He is wrong."

As he unholstered his sidearm, he continued to speak over comms, "We will show him that we aren't giving up without a fight. I expect all of you to fight with hatred in your hearts as we fight against the one thing that will unite everyone: hating the alien."

As the ship came closer, he spoke one more time: "So let's send them back to space! Also, Orwich...play Freebird."

Adam smiled as, in a moment, the island shook as all the guns opened fire, and after a few seconds, he saw all the rounds hit the ship's shield, and it immediately went down. All the while, the best part of Freebird blasted over radios and speakers placed around the island to boost morale.

After two minutes, the next barrage came in, and as the 203mm guns of the M65's didn't break the armor, they did damage it enough for the 227mm missiles, 914mm shells, and railguns to break through it completely; some shots even broke through the ship's eyes.

This went on for half an hour or so since the ship was incredibly slow, not to mention the fact that it was constantly being fired at by artillery, and railguns didn't help it either. Adam had also ordered Orwich to change the song since they couldn't listen to Freebird for half an hour.

After that, the ship came crashing into the water as Adam smiled. Now came the second part of the plan: boarding the ship and killing the alien. Once that was done, they could finally get back on track with exterminating the mutants and staking claim to this world.

He had already created ways to do false-flag operations since, with the power of synths and tons of surplus, the Enclave could resurrect the Brotherhood of Steel to create chaos on Mobius. Let the synths run amok, do damage against the restoration, US and UC to get their attention, and while a majority of their forces were away, then the enclave would strike.

He walked away from the cliff until he heard a massive roar, most likely the alien being pissed off by the fact that it had been beaten by mass artillery, all things, though that could be chalked up to the ship's lack of defenses against artillery that wasn't the shield.

Or the alien didn't know how to fight a battle like this; it could be both, but that didn't matter; all that matter was that they would stand triumphant over the alien and once again show that humanity is superior to filth like the mutant and the alien...

__________________________________

"Let's go kick some alien ass!" Six said joyfully as everyone boarded vertibirds for the final part of the assault, that being them landing upon the crashed faceship and killing the alien.

Boarding the vertibird alongside him are Amy, Silver, Sonic, Whisper, and Tangle. Being a good enough group that should be able to handle the alien since none of them have anything technological on them or pieces of technology that are too complex that the alien could take over.

"I like this guy!" Sonic said as everyone took their seats upon the vertibird, though he was quickly reminded by Amy about the fact that Six ate Zomom and most likely the other members of the Deadly Six, which immediately caused Sonic to gain a face of disgust while Six sat happily in his seat.

"Question." Whisper asked Six, and Six spoke up as he took a large rifle with the lettering 'Peacekeeper' on the side of it while he loaded a belt filled with 20mm rounds into it.

"Ask away, doggy."

Whisper looked at him with some hatred but continued to speak. "How many weapons are on you?"

"In all honesty, I don't know; I just search inside my duster for the ones I'm comfortable with, but I'm going to say I have around 60–100 guns on me; melee weapons are probably around 20–30."

Everyone was surprised at the fact that Six carried an entire arsenal wherever he went, along with the fact that Amy saw that one of said guns was an auto cannon that would have probably killed Zomom if Six had just reloaded and continued firing.

As the flight continued, everyone fiddled around in the seats until they felt the thud of the vertibird landing. Everyone immediately piled out of the aircraft and onto the crashed faceship, with Six, Sonic, and Silver leading ahead.

Six jumps down as everyone sees that he is clearly trained instead of being a madman. As he starts to clear the area, some badniks do try to rise from the debris and ambush the group, only to be blasted apart by Six.

"You'd think EggMan would build some better armor for his robots." Six said as they reached an intact door, which Six holsters his 'rifle' as he goes to set explosives on the door, with Whisper helping him.

"You are using an auto cannon against common badniks; why would EggMan waste time and resources giving common badniks armor that could stand against that?" Whisper replied, and Six goes to retort but speaks, "Touché, doggy."

As everyone waits for Six and Whisper to blow the door, the sounds of infected started to come closer, and Six reaches into his duster while speaking, "Who here knows how to wield a sword effectively?"

Sonic raises his hand, and Six gives him a confused look before Six tosses Sonic some kind of makeshift flame sword, which immediately makes Sonic toss it back to Six due to the fact that it is a flame-based weapon.

"Oh, you puss*!" Six said as he gestured for Tangle to help Whisper plant explosives at the door so that he could go deal with the infected.

"How do I do this?" Tangle asked as he picked up one of the explosives. Whisper took it and taught Tangle how to plant it like an adult would teach a child how to bike, except they were getting swarmed by infected.

Silver holds the infected in place while Six rushes forward, activating the flame sword and slicing through the infected, making sure that while they aren't dead, they can't regenerate as effectively. Amy spoke as Six switched to his tonto.

"We might be close to getting a cure! Don't kill them!" Amy yelled, but Six ignored her before speaking, "You people and your moral code—if the Enclave weren't here, I bet most of you would already be dead."

Silver decides enough is enough and starts to hold Six back with his powers. Six struggles and says, "Oh, come on!" Silver then uses his powers to cause some debris to come crashing down upon the infected, which is better than having Six slaughter them.

Eventually, Whisper and Tangle do blow open the door, allowing everyone to escape, and while escaping, Silver purposefully allows Six to get bonked on the head while going through the door.

"f*ck!" Six said as Silver dropped him on the ground and blocked the entryway with debris to make sure that when the group does encounter the alien, they won't have to contend with constant attacks by the infected.

As Silver turns around, Six immediately gets up and punches him in the face while speaking, "Asshole." Silver falls down while feeling his head. Six wasn't in any advanced armor, and yet his punching him felt like getting hit by a tank.

Silver stands up as everyone goes to hunt down the alien, with the group gleefully allowing Six to take the charge due to the fact that he would be the perfect target for the alien since he had killed the rest of the Deadly Six.

While Six clears room to room, Tangle holds one of his explosives that wasn't used in blowing the door up. Whisper looks over to him and says, "You kept one?" Tangle replies as she tosses the explosives up and down, "Eh, they look neat!"

"I like her!" Six said from the front, which caused Whisper to snarl, which only caused him to push his luck even further. "Actually, I like both of those two; it reminds me of myself."

The group continued onward until they reached the door to the command room. Once more, Six, Whisper, and now Tangle started to plant explosives on the door while everyone prepared to breach.

Once the explosives are set, Six retrieves his 'rifle' and activates them, causing the explosives to detonate, and the group rushes in to confront the alien, ready to end this once and for all. As everyone's eyes land upon the alien, Sonic speaks, "Zavok! It's time to end this."

The alien turns and speaks as he stands up, "It really is, isn't it? But who will meet their end? Me, you and your friends, or him." Zavok said while pointing at Six and Six chuckles before leveling his rifle.

"I'm pretty sure it's your end, and I don't know what type of afterlife you believe in, but look at the upside; you're going to meet your friends!" Six said as Zavok smiled as all the walls suddenly opened up, revealing that the command room still had power.

Hoards of infected appeared, appearing to be all the remaining zombots in the world, and as Zavok's was raised into the air due to getting on a platform, the group prepared themselves for combat as the infected began approaching them, with the heroes reluctantly allowing Six to go ahead and kill the infected.

Six rushed forward as he holstered his rifle and retrieved his tontos as he jumped into the middle of the hoard, slicing left and right as he turned many into goo while the others played keep away with the infected.

Amy smashes her hammer into some infected before she recognizes one, taller than most of the others infected, as Big and Froggie are next to him. The giant infected approach's them, and Amy staggers back as Silver picks Big up with his powers and chucks the cat into the hoard.

Sonic speeds up and jumps up to where Zavok is, obviously being at a disadvantage due to the fact that if Zavok even knocks him off the platform, he may be doomed due to the overwhelming infected hoard.

He had ditched the hazmat suit since it removed some of the power of his spin dashes. As he and Zavok dueled, Zavok spoke as he hit Sonic, almost knocking him off the platform. "I think this is your end, hedgehog. Don't worry; from what we've found, the infection is quite pleasant, which is depressing."

Sonic got back up before Zavok kicked Sonic off the platform, and Sonic landed in a clearing, far off from any of his friends and Six. As Sonic gets up, the infected start to swarm him.

That is, until a voice comes from above. Most didn't recognize the voice, but Sonic and Amy recognized it as General Song's voice, but it sounded different; his voice now has a sort of godly tone to it.

"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, it is now, and ever shall be, a world without end. Amen."

The ceiling breaks, and crashing down amongst the infected stands General Song, glowing as bright as the sun as four translucent wings come out of the back of his armor, which now appeared to have pure white cloth attached to it, flowing freely with crosses embezzled on them.

The infected around him immediately burst into flames, burning from the inside out as Song raised his hand, while with his other he swung his proton halberd, its head glowing a beautiful silver as it cut through the infected.

Zavok immediately knew that Song was the bigger threat due to the fact that he was not only in power armor but in super form. As Song made his way through the infected, purifying the infected while the infected ignored the heroes,.

Six yelled as he slaughtered his way to Song, "Now that is something I can get behind! Song, kick the alien's ass!" Six said as he made his way over to Sonic to help him up.

Song immediately rose into the air while speaking, looking down upon Zavok, "Enemy of the Lord, it is time to face his judgment." Zavok tried to control Song but failed too due to the power of Chaos Emerald's protecting him.

"Interesting, though I think your just some lowly human hid-"

Before Zavok could finish, Song threw his halberd through the air and right into the chest of the alien. As the alien grasped at the weapon, Song raised his hand, and from the inside out, he burst into flame.

As Song continued to levitate into the air, the infected gathered underneath him as the heroes and Six looked up. "How in the world?" Silver mumbled as Amy spoke, "He's able to go super, but when I try to use the emeralds, I can't!?"

“The emeralds are finicky.” Sonic said that in one go, Song raised his hands, and in a flash, the infected burst into flames as a cacophony of painful screams bounced around the command room.

Everyone outside of Six covered their ears, and with Six taking the time to get up to the platform to harvest some of Zavok’s meat, he didn’t mind the screams since he had heard a lot worse things. As the infected started to die out, finally ending the nightmare that was the metal virus.

Song descends into the sea of melted bodies; he falls to his knees as he exits his superform and coughs inside his suit. It took some time for Song to get back up, but when he did, he felt Amy’s hammer crash against his armor.

Due to being weak, Song fell back down as Amy slammed her hammer against Song again and again while a flood of tears came out of her eyes. This wasn’t how they planned it; the Enclave said they wanted to create a cure.

As Six came in and stopped Amy, everyone else stood in silence, looking around the command room as they wondered what would happen now…

__________________________________

Agent Adam stood alongside Metal and Mecha as they stood around EggMan, who is attached to the machine that would give the Enclave everything they would need to win the upcoming war.

It was a modified version of the machine that would normally allow the Enclave to erase or look into someone’s memories, but intertwined with the machine that would normally start the process of making someone into a robo-brain.

EggMan struggled against his restraints as Mecha and Metal went over to start the machine. Adam spoke, "Oh, don’t struggle; enjoy the fact that you will help someone take over the world.”

“Not like this; I know what you do, and if Sonic and his friends are smart enough, they will know too!” EggMan said as Adam spoke, “They aren’t; they’re too blinded by their morals to realize what the future holds.”

As Metal and Mecha start the machine, EggMan releases screams of agony as schematics, plans, locations, and everything the Enclave would need to win the war flashes on screen, only to be archived and sent over to the science teams.

Adam exited the room and got a call from Moses. He accepted, and here’s Moses over the phone speaking, "The synth’s ready.” Adam nodded and replied as he walked through the halls of Fort Anderson.

“Good, we’ve got a parade to hold.”

Chapter 18: A New Day

Chapter Text

"It's a beautiful day, ain't it, Moses?" Adam said this while putting on his Strigade uniform, having just cleaned it along with giving the helmet some extra shine to make sure that everything was clean and made him look good.

"Why are we even having a parade? Shouldn't we be preparing to exterminate this world?" Moses said as he put on his own uniform. Adam laughed him off before replying, "Come on, Moses, this will make the Enclave look incredible in the eyes of the humans here."

"And? We've already got cells in every major US and UC city, and we have to eventually purge the humans here that still see the mutants as people that should be allowed to continue to exist."

"I know that, but with the metal virus over, an entire continent we have to ourselves, along with multiple heroes already dead by our hands, I wouldn't say this is our victory lap, but we still get to boast our power." Adam said as both of them left Adam's office before strolling into the halls of Fort Anderson.

It was going to be a busy day for everyone, but when the day is done, the Enclave can finally get back on track with manipulating the world in its favor before stabbing it in the back and conquering it in the name of the Lord.

As Adam and Moses made their way to the hanger of Fort Anderson, an XVB-02 transport was already waiting for them, along with a security escort of multiple P.A. suits controlled by the sentinel A.I. system.

Boarding the vertibird alongside their escort made Adam realize that this would be the day that the Enclave could get so much more in wealth and technology if everything went right and no one messed anything up.

As the vertibird lifted up and exited the hanger, Adam heard the noises of multiple F-85 jet fighters pulling up next to them. They were going to do a fly-by alongside the normal parade to show off some of the enclave's aircraft.

Most troops would be transported by vertibird, but some would be carried to the US by ships, or some would simply be teleported over to start setting up the parade. It was going to be a day that would be written in the history books.

Enclave history books, most likely since after they declared war on the entire world, they doubted anyone would want to mention the fact that everyone accepted the enclave with open arms. Adam can't blame them for accepting the enclave with open arms since they just saved the world.

Adam also thought about the fact that the Enclave had to call the heroes out of their celebration to get their asses to the US for this parade. Most of them didn't put up any resistance and gladly went over to the US (considering the fact that none of them had any homes since the Enclave reduced the western continent to a tomb).

The Enclave hoped that this would help them show that they are excited to help the world alongside the heroes, becoming the world's policemen that the Enclave was meant to be, though they had two things planned.

One was a Synth EggMan that would be given to the US at the parade so that they could execute him by firing line, and the second thing was to expose and slander Sonic due to the fact that he was a major factor in the Metal Virus outbreak.

The idea was thanks to General Song proposing it to Agent Adam before the end of the metal virus outbreak. If they slander Sonic and say that he was partially to blame for an event that could have destroyed the world if it wasn't for the Enclave's intervention,.

Of course, this wouldn't be the first time Sonic had been slandered, but thanks to Mecha Sonic curing, extracting the metal virus out of Sonic in the early hours of the outbreak allowed them to get some of his DNA, which of course meant the Enclave created a synth version of him.

They would use said synth just in case they needed to make some more events where they could slander Sonic. If they could slander Sonic and get people to turn on him, then it would place many on the road to accepting the Enclave's ideals.

Adam felt the vertibird thud and knew that they had made it to this world's version of San Francisco. Adam and Moses got off the vertibird and looked at the beautiful sight of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Enclave had to destroy their version of it due to the fact that it was tainted by mutant communists in their purge of San Francisco, and they didn't try to rebuild it since it would be a waste of resources.

Numerous other vertibirds landed with other high-profile Enclave personnel; even the 10th Chemical Corps decided to pitch in with the parade by having Dr. Linsey and Major Nicolas.

Adam smiled underneath his helmet since he suddenly had a plan. Of course, synths were planted all around the world, and the US wasn't safe. So Adam quickly contacted some of the synths, told them their codes, and started planning the death of Dr. Linsey.

It was a simple idea: have some synths of mutants get on top of a building, and while the car carrying Dr. Linsey and Major Nicolas was passing by, they would take a shot at Dr. Linsey and finally rid the Enclave of her.

Dr. Linsey, of course, noticed him while he was on comms with the synths and thus caused him to abruptly end it and turn to her while Moses went to get in their car and say, "Dr. Linsey, wonderful to have you here."

"Good to see you too, Agent Adam. I simply wanted to have a chat with you."

"Would it possibly be about what you're doing in Vault 103?"

"That's still classified."

'I'm not going to feel regret for assassinating you.' Adam thought before speaking, "Then what do you want to chat about? We've got a parade to run." Adam said as Dr. Linsey handed him two folders, one labeled 'Project: Avenging Angels.' and the other labeled 'Project: Steel Rain.'

"I'm sure that you would find these two projects very fascinating, and if you keep what you're doing up, we may allow their first deployment to be here and maybe even fill you in on what we're doing in Vault 103."

Adam immediately tensed up and took the files before gesturing Dr. Linsey off and quickly contacting the synths to call off the assassination attempt, but all he got was silence. He started to worry that the synths would go on with the assassination.

He was getting closer to getting answers on what was happening in Vault 103, and now he felt that his actions taken out of anger at being kept away were going to be the thing that kept him away permanently!

He heard Moses shouting for his name, and he quickly got in. Maybe Enclave or US security would catch them and thus save him a headache. As the car started moving and the band up in front started playing, Moses asked, "Something wrong?"

"I just realized that we're probably going to scare a lot of people considering the fact that we're all in full combat gear." Adam lied, and Moses chuckled as the parade fully started.

Multiple divisions were deployed to take part in the parade, those being the 1st and 2nd Navarro Veterans, the 37th Air Assault, the 15th Infantry Corps, the 2nd armored division, and finally the 10th Chemical Corps.

Adam tried to enjoy the parade, looking left to right as he saw the smiling faces of both mutants and humans look at him. It felt weird to him, and he was still worried about the fact that he would eventually hear a shot go off and turn back to see Dr. Linsey nailed in the head by a synth.

But when both their cars passed the building where the synths would have been stationed to kill Linsey, he felt relieved that maybe the synths simply wandered off or were apprehended. He finally relaxed and smiled when he saw a group of F-85s fly over while escorting a B-3 nuclear jetbomber Trailing behind them were red, white, and blue contrails.

Maybe everything was going to work out, and he would learn what the 10th Chemical Corps was doing in Vault 103. After half an hour of marching and hearing the beat and noise of the military band in front, they eventually arrived at the platform where the big man himself was going to be.

Tons of US security and military personnel stood around the platform, even having some robots there as well for increased security.

Agent Adam and Moses got out of there before being followed by Dr. Linsey, Major Nicolas, Lieutenant General Owen, General Song, General Alison, and General Alison, all of them getting on the platform while they awaited the President.

While waiting for the president, Adam got in touch with General Song and said, "How are you feeling?" Song replied as he reached onto the back of his armor as he felt the Chaos Emeralds. "Better, but being in my 'super form,' even if for a short time, drained me."

"I hope you feel better; it may be one of our best shots at winning the upcoming war." Adam said as everyone looked up to see a vertibird transport come flying in, one bearing the logo of the secret service.

"It's showtime." Adam said as the vertibird landed nearby the platform and out came a group of secret service agents clad in T-65 power armor escorting the man himself, President Anderson, the man that had led the Enclave to glory in the last couple of years.

He made his way up the steps of the platform, offering some glances to Adam and the others as he went up to the microphone. While this happened, some cars pulled up, and out of the cars came multiple heroes, those being Amy Rose, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Whisper, and Tangle.

As they all got up to the platform, Amy glared at General Song as the General looked away, and when the last Enclave units gathered in front of the platform, Anderson started his speech: "Good day to you all, people of Mobius. I am President Anderson of the Enclave, the leader of these brave men and women that stand in front of you all. Over the last few days, you all most likely have seen our soldiers save many, and I will assure you that they will save many more in the upcoming future.”

Anderson spoke once more as he looked around the crowds: “Though the Enclave did achieve one thing that no one in this world has achieved yet, and today is the day that we show said achievement.”

An Enclave truck pulled up, and as MPs exited out of the truck alongside a synth of EggMan, everyone gasped or started booing at the synth. Anderson spoke as they positioned EggMan against a wall: “Dr. EggMan, finally captured by Enclave forces on Angel Island. But we will not be the ones to take revenge; that is for all of you.”

At the mention of that, some of the US soldiers that surrounded the platform nodded and went in front of EggMan before leveling their rifles at him. Anderson spoke, “We are allowing your brave men and women to take exact justice on the madman, for while the Enclave hasn’t been wounded by the Doctor, many of you most likely lost friends or family to his endless attempts at conquering the world.”

Just as the soldiers were about to fire, everyone saw a blue blur in less than a second. The synth of EggMan was pushed to the ground as Sonic had saved him last second. Adam chuckled and thought, ‘Just fell right into our trap.’

Anderson spoke as he saw this and noticed the faces amongst the crowd change from hatred to confusion. “But yet one person stands against us enacting justice on behalf of you all. Sonic the hedgehog, the mutant that fought to keep this status quo ongoing for his own sick enjoyment."

The heroes standing on the platform gasped, and so did Adam and the other Enclave officers, though both for different reasons. The heroes gasped since President Anderson just called out Sonic, while the Enclave gasped since President Anderson had just used the word'mutant’ out in public.

Anderson continued to speak as Enclave security forces went to apprehend Sonic. “Perhaps many of you looked up to the blue hedgehog, but let me ask you this: what sane man would allow a danger like EggMan to go so many times on purpose, to let an evil that had taken so many lives to continue on living?”

As the people started to look at one another, Anderson spoke once more: "Inadvertently, Sonic has caused the death and destruction of many lives on this great world, and while the Enclave may not have come here, we will not sit idly by while this mutant runs amok!”

Anderson continued to use speak as he brought up talking points that he had used in the early days of the Enclave at the Sierra Army Depot, but all the while, Adam noticed that the people and even the actual mutants were disgusted by Anderson’s use of the word mutant against Sonic.

He suspected that, considering that Sonic had a unique ability (that being his speed), it would make sense for someone to refer to Sonic as a mutant. Adam smiled as he saw the crowd get rowdier while the ones around the area where Sonic and EggMan tried to break through.

Security obviously had to do something, but…Adam immediately noticed something on a nearby rooftop, and before anyone could act, a shot rang out, and President Anderson fell to the ground.

Chaos erupted as the secret service gathered around the president while Enclave and US security swept the area for the shooter. All the while, Adam stood still before reaching for his sidearm and going to help security, all the while Sonic ran off while the synth of EggMan started getting beaten by the crowd.

Whoever did this, he will make sure he unleashes hell on them…

__________________________________

Agent Adam stood inside Fort Anderson’s command room as he looked down at the holographic map that showed the country that did this and attempted an attack on the president’s life.

President Anderson luckily survived and was transported back through the portal while the 10th Chemical Corps held a vote on whether or not he should be allowed to know what they’re working on at Vault 103, along with giving him access to all their equipment.

The country’s name was ‘Jackalstan’ and was a country that was originally a monarchy that sold cheap oil and gas and was basically a puppet of the UC before being overthrown by a mutant that many considered dead.

Their leader was Infinite the Jackal; apparently, the bastard had survived the last war and went back home to reclaim what was lost. Many bickered on what to do since they didn’t have the ability to completely annihilate the country.

Adam responded and said that these were terrorists, and that everyone in that country is not only a mutant but a terrorist on the level of the Chosen one and the brotherhood of steel. Everyone soon agreed, and they all started putting together a plan to take down Infinite.

Operation Descending Eagle, the complete extermination of the country of Jackalstan, would leave no survivors and show that the Enclave would not tolerate mutant terrorists as the war grew closer.

Everything was on the table, and Adam made sure that Infinite and his people suffered…

Chapter 19: Invasion

Chapter Text

Burn looked out at the ocean while on his routine patrol. He had joined his village's local militia due to the fact that their leader had announced that they had angered the newest player in the great game of politics.

The Enclave. The group claimed that they were helping people during the metal virus outbreak, but their leader saw through their lies when the first laser struck the earth, removing a city from existence, even if it was filled with inferiors.

Burn remembered when he was out helping a friend move when they both saw a strike hit somewhere in restoration territory. Of course, Jackalstan was safe from the virus since their leader enacted an isolationist policy.

As the virus rose in power and the number of lasers that glassed the earth increased, everyone in the country knew that the enclave was a danger to them. Their leader made a speech about the fact that they would be the only people to see through the enclave's lies.

So, Burn joined the local militia to protect his people when the day came when the enclave finally stopped lying and finally showed their true colors. But he found out that the Enclave would be attacking his country sooner than he or most people thought when a broadcast stated that assassins from his country had tried to assassinate their president during a speech.

Burn knew that was most likely a lie so that the Enclave could have justification to invade his country, but they declared war on Jackalstan, and it was only a matter of time before they showed up and tried to take his people's land.

As he finished his patrol and got back to the militia's headquarters at his village, he flopped into bed after placing his rifle on its rack. Some of the others asked how he was, but in all honesty, he just needed to sleep.

As he started to drift off to sleep, he started to hear sirens and immediately woke up as everyone ran around, grabbing weapons and putting on their uniforms as Burn spoke, "What's going?" He said this while rubbing his eyes.

One of his buddies, Dess, spoke as he grabbed his makeshift rifle. "We just got a message saying that the garrison nearby had a recon plane return and that they saw a fleet approaching the shore!"

Burn tensed up and grabbed his rifle as he ran out of the headquarters. With militia members helping civilians onto trucks to get them out of the village, Burn quickly ran to his house to grab his little sister.

Their parents were in the capital at the time, and he was old enough to handle her all by himself when he didn't have anything to do for the militia, and she was old enough that she knew some basic survival skills; everyone had to know how to survive early on.

He quickly opened his front door and searched around the house before finding his sister, Art, hiding under her bed, clutching a knife along with some supplies. He spoke as he kneeled down, "It's okay, Art, I'm here."

He placed down his rifle while Art got out from under the bed before hugging her; one of her ears was limp and thus was always covering her left eye. "Is everything going to be okay?" She asked, and Burn thought about what he should say.

They had the advantage of being on the defensive, and the enclave would either have to do an amphibious assault or an air assault. If they did an amphibious assault, then the militia could set up a kill zone for them.

If it was air, then the actual military garrison could provide some anti-aircraft weapons to hurt the enclave; either way, they were at least going to give the enclave a fight for the village.

"Yeah, yeah, everything will be okay. I'll see if I can get you a special seat in the trucks." Burn said as he picked up Art along with his rifle and walked outside to where the civilians were being placed on trucks to get them as far away from the village as possible.

Burn got to the lead one, where he pleaded with the driver to allow Art to sit next to her, and he eventually had to bribe her to allow Art to sit in the shotgun seat. Now it wasn't due to the fact that Burn was scared about Art talking to strangers since everyone knew who everyone was in the village, but more to the fact that he wanted Art to be comfortable.

He gave Art a hug while Art spoke, "I hope you stay safe." Burn gave her a smile and petted her on the head as he closed the door and went to go help the rest of the militia start fortifying the village for the upcoming assault.

He met up with Dess as he set up some barbed wire. "What are the chances that the Enclave isn't just going to glass us into oblivion?" Dess asked Burn as he started helping Dess as he thought about the question before giving his reply.

"Very low. The Enclave probably wants to be an example, so they probably want to engage in conventional warfare." Burn said as they heard the treads of an APC.

Burn and Dess turned and saw three of the APCs that the local garrison had; they weren't the best in the world, but they're mostly going up against only infantry; maybe some of those snazzy suits of power armor, but probably nothing much.

As Burn and Dess saw some real soldiers unload from the APCs and start to help set up the defenses, they could only guess that this scene was playing out in all the villages on the coast of Jackalstan.

"Some heavy-duty stuff." Dess said as they saw some soldiers carrying a HMG while others carried rockets and grenades. Now Burn was sure that they were going to give the enclave a hurt.

He even saw some of the soldiers setting up some speakers along with a radio, most likely for celebrations after they repel the enclave assault. They couldn't be too bad, especially when they have all the advantages.

Burn took up a position on the west alongside Dess as they waited for the enclave, though they didn't need to wait long as Burn noticed a faint shape in the distance. "Hey! I think I see something!"

Everyone got into position as a ship slowly started to approach them. The thing was gigantic, and they could only guess it was one of the ships that had apparently destroyed EggMan's faceship, and to be honest, it definitely made sense, even if it was still restricted to the sea.

That is, until a flash came from the ship, far off from Burn and Dess, as two of the APCs exploded as something pierced right through them, sending shrapnel and debris all over the place.

"The hell was that!?" Dess yelled as some of the soldiers yelled for the other APC to get back due to the fact that the ship clearly had a weapon that could take it down with precision that normal naval guns don't have.

"I don't know, but I hope it doesn't fire again." Burn said as he noticed something was wrong with the water, and that's when the true fight started as out from the water rose a multitude of Enclave soldiers, catching them by surprise since everyone suspected the Enclave would assault with landing craft.

Most were dressed in heavy combat gear that completely covered their bodies, their helmet's visor glowing a dark orange while they wielded some form of ballistic weaponry. There were, of course, those in suits of power armor, but the armor didn't resemble that of any of the armor that was spread over the news; perhaps it was specifically meant for amphibious assaults?

Burn opened fire only to see that his rounds weren't even doing anything to the ones out of power armor. He looked over and saw that Dess was having the same reaction since his rounds weren't having any effect on the enemy as well.

"What are these guys wearing!?" Dess said as they felt a round pass by them; it wasn't too close, but Burn felt heat from the round as it flew past before hearing a wet splat, only to turn around to see what remained of one of the militia that had been given a rocket launcher.

Burn looked around as he saw the same rounds hit others; some were the same as the explosive round that had just killed the militia soldier, while others were simply blowing off limbs, causing the person to scream in pain.

"Did that guy just explode?!" Dess yelled as Burn quickly dove to the ground and retrieved the rocket launcher, being the best chance to at least take down some of the enemy, though he knew that its shot would be best used on one of the suits of power armor.

He brought up the rocket launcher and tried to aim it at one of the suits, but struggled to get a clear shot. "Mind helping me?" Burn asked Dess, and Dess dropped his rifle as he helped Burn level the launcher.

"Back blast area clear?" Burn asked, and Dess gave him a very quick, "Clear!" Before he fired the rocket launcher, they both quickly dropped the weapon and retrieved their rifles, though Burn did offer a glance at the suit of armor they shot at.

The rocket flew through the air, but the enemy sidestepped it as it flew past and detonated in the water. Burn and Dess quickly ran once they saw some of the Enclave soldiers get closer, noticing the fact that many of them had some kind of chainsaw bayonet at the end of their weapons.

They both jumped over a wall of sandbags as others did the same, though they saw a group of militia reduced to Swiss cheese as they heard the sound of a mini-gun open fire. Bullets tore through their bodies, leaving them mangled on the ground.

Burn wanted to throw up but stayed calm as a friendly manned an HMG and started raining fire upon the incoming enemy, with Burn and Dess retrieving the girl's additional ammunition along with some spare parts just in case.

Burn placed a crate of ammunition next to the girl before adding his own fire to her hail of bullets, though the Enclave was starting to use their own defenses as cover from the hail of bullets. But that didn't stop one of them in power armor from rushing forth with a massive hammer.

Rounds plinked off the soldier as it crashed into their defenses, swinging left to right and taking down multiple militia members. Burn fired upon the monster, but once more, the rounds only plinked off the armor.

Burn quickly took a peak and saw that even more Enclave infantry and power armor were rising up from the water; the force assaulting them currently was already large, which made Burn wonder how other places were faring.

As the Enclave soldier in power armor continued to be a menace, the last APC rolled up and opened fire with its auto cannon, blowing solid chunks out of the armor before a missile flew past and struck the APC's gun head on, disabling it as the power armor soldier fell down.

"Some of the militia and soldiers nearby tried to get to the power armor soldier but were quickly repelled as Enclave forces started to push, with the power armor up in front while the normal infantry hid behind them.

Burn wasn't feeling so confident in the fact that they would easily defeat the enclave in this battle; maybe with additional support and planning, they could beat the enclave, but not here.

Burn reloaded his rifle when both the militia commander of his village and the sergeant from the garrison yelled in unison, "Fall back! Fall back!" Burn didn't need to be told twice, but Dess did since he kept firing at the enclave.

Burn yelled as he smacked Dess and dragged him away, "You're doing nothing to them! Get up and run!" Dess replied as he emptied the rest of his magazine, "This is our village! We can't let these hairless apes capture it!"

"We'll take it back when all of this is done! Let's just survive for now!" Burn said that as Dess nodded and the two ran off, many were able to get away thanks to the APC providing cover.

They fled into the desert as rounds flew past and hit other survivors. Most of the survivors were militia members, but there was one sergeant of the soldiers who did come to help.

Their best chances for survival are running into the desert and either following the tracks of the trucks or heading over to the local garrison and hoping it is fairing better than their village…

__________________________________

Infinite looked over the room as his generals started creating a plan to counterattack the invaders. The time had come for him to finally show the world what the Enclave really is, and while the assassination he ordered on their president failed, the result was the same as if the president did die—the Enclave’s fury.

It was a risk, and while it pained him to put his people in harm's way, he knew that it would be better to face the enclave before they became too powerful in this world. He had some of his special forces trained to capture as much footage of enclave atrocities as possible once the enclave started moving inland.

As his general discussed, he heard something and got up from his throne before floating over to his window. He saw a sight that he knew would come, but not the sheer size of it. His generals stopped as they looked out the window as well.

Bombs were being dropped over his city, thousands of them, and Infinite could suspect that there were hundreds of bombers, high up in the sky and out of range of most, if not all, of their anti-aircraft guns.

“Enact martial law and order all civilians into the shelters, mobilize the guard, and get some of our aircraft in the air.” Infinite spoke as his general of the guard nodded before heading off.

“Mobilize everything we’ve got; we need to hold the Enclave back, get them angry, and allow the world to see who they truly are.” He said as two more generals ran off, the last stood silently as Infinite breathed deeply as he looked down at the phantom ruby.

“And you, ready all missiles just in case." The general nodded and left the room, leaving Infinite alone as he sat with his thoughts.

The Enclave were the only people that were going to war with his nation, though he didn’t doubt that eventually the US, UC, and Restoration would join in, considering the fact that he had worked with EggMan in the last war.

He laughed as he thought about the fact that the heroes stood idly by and were perfectly fine, with some unknown group coming out of nowhere and glassing a continent in the name of containing a virus that would have probably solved itself.

They were all fools, and if he fails to show the world what the Enclave truly is, then the world is most likely already lost. But he couldn’t fail, not out of something as petty as being weak, but because if he failed, his people would be put down like animals.

He wouldn’t fail, and he hoped that every soldier in his army knew that they wouldn’t fail because if they did, then their friends, families, and everything they cherished would be wiped out by most likely not only the Enclave but the heroes as well.

As sirens blared across the city, an antique radio that had seemingly turned on by itself started playing some old-school music. He didn’t know how the radio got there but quickly shut it off as he walked back to the tactical map.

This war would either somehow save the world or help damn it…

Chapter 20: The Cloud

Chapter Text

Tails thought he would have a lot easier time ever since the metal virus ended—that is, until right after it ended—but the attempted assassination at the parade made everything worse, especially for Tails and his friends considering what had happened at said parade before the Enclave's president was shot.

When Sonic stopped EggMan from getting executed, the Enclave president took the chance to slander Sonic, naming him as one of the causes of the outbreak, which was just untrue, to a certain degree, of course.

The Enclave's main argument was that if Sonic didn't allow EggMan to live, millions would still be alive, families would not be torn apart, and a continent wouldn't be uninhabitable. Station Square survived but was firmly under enclave control due to the environment that surrounded the city.

Though the Enclave were generous and had built new houses for the survivors, said houses were pretty advanced and had no downsides to them, with him and his friends able to customize their own houses, which he made so that his house had enough room for storage, inventions, and vehicles.

Though the Enclave's war with Jackalstan left a bad taste in his mouth, it was Infinite's (somehow he was alive) fault for poking at the force that was the Enclave; he was actually surprised that the Enclave didn't just take the country off the map.

Then again, that would have probably killed millions of innocents because they all couldn't have been bad people, and unlike the last countless wars, which had mostly been against EggMan and his legions of badniks, this was a war that would involve mostly human-on-Mobian combat.

While the Enclave began their campaign against Infinite and his army, they also continued to slander Sonic by bringing up his past failures, but they strangely didn't slander him, Amy, Knuckles, or anyone else that had ties with Sonic.

So they weren't completely copying what G.U.N. had done but just following their handbook, except for the part about them actually hunting Sonic since they were trying to beat Sonic in a battle that Sonic couldn't just use his speed in.

In the courtroom, while Tails and everyone else wanted to help Sonic there, they really couldn't since no one had a degree in law, especially since most of them were either pre-teens or still teenagers.

So Tails had kept to his studies and creating inventions until he received a message from Amy on his computer. He read it and saw that she was asking him to create some upgraded variants of the wispon platform along with vehicles for the restoration to use.

Tails really didn't like making weapons, and he knew that Amy wouldn't want to push for the restoration to join the Enclave's war on Jackalstan, so after some time, he decided to go and give her a call before seeing that he had received a message from Whisper.

'We need your help.' The message said, and Tails sent one back, 'What's wrong?' He then received a message that immediately put him on edge: 'The wisps, they've seen something and are trying to tell us something; just come to me and Tangle's house.'

Tails packed up his stuff before heading over to Whisper and Tangle's house. He thought it was a little weird, but the two were close, so he guessed that the two just preferred being roommates rather than being alone.

After some time of flying with his tails, he reached the couple's house and knocked on the front door before quickly getting pulled in by someone. A light is then flashed on him as he sees Whisper lower her wispon.

"Sorry for that, Tangle; put down the flashlight." Whisper said as Tails rubbed his eyes, only to see that the two's living room was filled with wisps, most of them cowering in fear while others tried to communicate with them.

"I didn't know you had this many..." Tails said as he grabbed his tablet and started setting up the translator while Tangle spoke, "Well, someone had to house the scared ones, and Whisper has a soft spot for wisps."

Whisper nods in response as Tails finishes up the translator and catches the wisps attention, which causes them all to rush over to him in a cacophony of noise that made him flinch before recovering.

His translator worked overtime, but it all came out as gibberish, and he had to calm them down so that he could actually understand what the wisps were talking about and what was wrong with them.

"So...how's it going?" Tangle said while looking over Tails's shoulder, only to see gibberish and a code. "Umm..I see." Tangle said before going back over to Whisper, who was currently busy calming down the wisps to make Tails's life easier.

"Calm down; we're trying to figure out what you're saying, just slow down and speak one at a time." Whisper said as the wisps finally calmed down, and Tails retuned the translator as he finally got some information.

A majority of the wisps apparently came from Spaceport Alpha, with them claiming that monsters had come out of nowhere and started slaughtering the resistance members before aircraft dropped bombs that killed some of the creatures and the surviving resistance members.

That is, until one of the monsters they described strangely bore the same description that the Enclave had given to Frank Horrigan...and then they mentioned Mecha-Sonic, the robot slaughtering resistance members while leaving some alive for no apparent reason.

Tails dug more and more, finding evidence that the attacks on the bases weren't by Metal Sonic and the remnant factions of EggMan's empire. The resistance was too blind to notice the subtle details, like the fact that badniks wouldn't completely reduce a village to ash.

More and more information showed that the enclave was most likely the people that caused the attacks on so many resistance bases and villages and caused the deaths of so many innocent lives.

They've been played, and as Tails presented the information to Whisper and Tangle, all three knew that they'd got to tell Amy and perhaps everyone that maybe they could stop the Enclave, even if it meant helping Infinite...

__________________________________

Art looked out her window, counting the sand hills as they flew by. Lisa, her main babysitter when Burn wasn't around, now turned militia driver, played music on the radio, though she constantly switched through stations to find a song she liked.

"We will rally from the hillside; we'll gather from the plains, shouting the battle cry of freedom!"

"Not this station again." Lisa said as Art heard her try again to find another radio station while she mumbled, "Bloody fascists." They had encountered so-called 'Enclave Radio' during their trip, and it mostly played Enclave propaganda and both classical music and more modern music.

After some time, Lisa did find another radio station that, while it did play classical music, wasn't Enclave music. Art spoke as she yawned, "Lisa, where are we going?" Lisa sighed and said, "We're heading to the capital, probably the safest place there, and I know your parents are there."

As silence took over once more, Art asked about why her brother paid Lisa, and Lisa replied, "Probably because he didn't know me even though I work with him." She replied, "But you both live in the same barracks, right?" "Girls have a barracks on the other side of the village for...reasons." They noticed they were getting close to a checkpoint that would allow them to take a break from the road.

Art smiled since she really needed to eat something due to the fact that she was making herself some food right as the evacuation started. As they pulled up to the checkpoint and some of the guards walked up to their truck since it was the lead one, one spoke, "Identification?"

Lisa sighs and shows her ID before speaking, "How much food have you guys got?" The guard replied as the other one next to him checked a clipboard, "Plenty, actually. Enclave aircraft have been hitting civilian convoys, and your the first convoy to make it here."

"Bastards..." Lisa said as they allowed the convoy through the checkpoint, with Art and Lisa getting out of their truck to get some food. They walk towards a massive stockpile of supplies as some soldiers break them open.

"Single file line!" One of them says that before Lisa and Art stepped up, they received some MREs before going to sit back in their truck while the other civilians sat around the checkpoint.

As they sit in the truck, Lisa rants about something Art doesn't understand before she stops as her ears twitch. "Did you hear that?" Art shakes her head in reply while her limp ear flops around.

"I'll go check." Lisa said as she stepped out of the car. Art looked at the MRE she received and read everything on it until something dropped right next to the truck. She looked to see some type of bomb land next to the truck.

"GET BACK IN THE TRUCKS!" She heard Lisa yell as she saw Lisa run and jump back into the truck before trying to start it, only to find out that something was wrong with it as it refused to start.

"By Chaos, I hate surplus..." She said that as another bomb lands next to the truck, Art goes to hug Lisa, but Lisa grabs onto her before embracing her as the two wait for the explosives to go off, but they don't.

"Huh? Did...did the Enclave drop duds?" Lisa said as she and Art saw some civilians inspecting the bombs while the soldiers tried to get them away so that they could try and diffuse them—that is, until the explosives opened up.

Splitting open, the two see as blood red gas flows out of the bombs and into the air as civilians run away while soldiers equip gas masks, though it didn't help as they immediately started coughing while others got started choking; some even fell to their knees so that they could throw off their masks to throw up.

Lisa locked the truck before continuing to try and get the truck to start as Art hears the suffering outside, civilians and soldiers crying out in pain as whatever poison the Enclave released onto them worked its way through their system.

There were also screams as some beckoned them to start leaving, with some trucks driving out of the checkpoint. After a painful five minutes, the truck finally started, and Lisa hit it, the truck speeding off from the checkpoint as Art looked through her window to see that the gas had become something akin to a red cloud.

After they got far enough away from the checkpoint, Lisa stopped the truck and got out, with Art getting out as well to see what's wrong. She got out and gasped at what she saw—the people that had gotten onto their truck were now a pile of corpses.

Art gasped and covered her eyes as Lisa ran over to her and started comforting her. As tears threatened to leave both their eyes, Lisa whispered some lullabies to Art as she carried her back into the truck before starting it back up.

As Lisa continued to drive, Art saw some of the other trucks lying off to the side, some flipped over, and corpses laying around the area as Art looked down. Lisa stopped the car before lifting Art's limp ear up before staring into her eyes and speaking, "Everything's going to be alright."

"But-but-" Art said as she tried to keep herself from looking at the carnage that covered the road and the sand hills. Lisa shushed her and spoke after embracing her, "We'll get to the capital, and I'll make sure I get you to your parents."

Lisa rubbed some tears out of Art's eyes, and Art spoke as she sniffed, "What-What about my brother?"

"While he may not know me, I know him, and he'll be fine; just have hope." Lisa said, and she started driving again as Art fell asleep in the shotgun seat, hoping that all of this was a bad dream...

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Burn and Dess walked ahead of the group as the sun started to set. The garrison was a bust since it was annihilated by Enclave aircraft, so now he, Dess, and the other survivors made their way through the desert, hoping they could catch up to the trucks.

They had taken a detour to get supplies from a supply cache that was placed deep in the sands to make sure that just in case a resistance needed to be started, it wouldn't be armed with worthless pipe guns and whatever crap they could scrounge up. Now they were trying to get back on track and find the trucks.

"Why do we wear black uniforms?" Dess said as the two slid down a sand hill, and Burn spoke as he dusted himself off, "What?" Dess turned to him as the group followed behind and asked, "Why do we wear black uniforms? We live in a desert for emeralds sake."

Burn tried to come up with a response but couldn't as Dess continued on, "I mean, I know that we're jackals and all, but I still don't want to sweat enough to fill a bathtub." He said as they saw an overturned truck, it being one of the trucks carrying civilians.

"sh*t..." Burn said as the two rushed off, with the others following quickly behind as Burn thought, 'Please don't be Art's truck; please don't be Art's truck..." As Dess goes to inspect the back, Art checks the shotgun seat and sees two dead male militia members, their corpses messed up by something.

He shakes his head but is relieved that it wasn't Art's truck. Dess speaks as the sergeant who had brought the soldiers to their village approaches. "These bodies smell like copper." Burn took a quick sniff and said, "I'd say they smell more like gold."

The sergeant spoke as he investigated one of the corpses: "Considering the damage, my best guess is that they were exposed to some form of gas." Burn's face turned into one of disgust, and he noticed that some of the groups shared the same face while others had one of shock.

"Monsters." Dess mumbled as the sergeant stood up and ordered Burn and Dess to continue forward while they hung back, with Dess complaining and Burn nodding in response.

The two continued forward as Burn looked upon the horizon to see a red cloud to the west of them and a checkpoint. As the others regrouped with them, the sergeant spoke as he looked left and right. To the east is where most of the trucks would have gone, considering the tracks, and to the west is a checkpoint that could hold valuable supplies.

"Raise your hand if you say we follow the tracks." Burn and Dess raise their hands while the others keep theirs down. Burn wants to reunite with his sister, while Dess just wants to get out of the desert and relax.

"Alright, raise your hand if you want to go investigate the checkpoint." Everyone else raised their hands while Burn and Dess kept theirs down, with the latter option winning out and the group heading towards the checkpoint.

When they arrived at the checkpoint's entrance, they noticed multiple soldier and civilian bodies laying outside of it. The sergeant spoke as he ordered two of the group to equip respirators and suits that they found in the cache.

The two ran into the checkpoint as Burn spoke, "Should we be worried about what could potentially be in there?" Dess chuckled and responded, "Do you really think there's something inside of there?"

"I mean, we don't know what the Enclave has in its armory." Burn said as the whole group heard the sound of coughing and ripping as one of the militia men stumbled out of the checkpoint, his suit showing tears where the man tried to claw his way out of his suit.

He fell to his knees before throwing up blood. The group took some steps back while the man begged for help. The sergeant approached the man, retrieved his sidearm, and put a bullet between the man's eyes.

As everyone stays quiet and wonders how in the world the gas has gotten through the suits, the sergeant speaks as he notices another truck, this one with no corpses in it. "That's our ride." The group rushes to it, and after pulling the driver's body out, she was most likely a coward who sacrificed some others for her own gain.

Burn and Dess got in the back while the sergeant got in the driver's seat and punched it. As the checkpoint fades into the horizon, they pass by even more trucks that belonged to the convoy, with Burn begging the sergeant to stop the truck so he could check for Art.

Luckily, none of them had Art's corpse in it, so Burn felt a little better but still felt disgusted at the fact that the enclave was using chemical weapons. He hated chemicals and torture; they just dragged out a person's suffering.

After checking another truck, the sergeant took Burn to a nearby sand hill and spoke, "Look, I understand that you're worried about your sister, Chaos. I'm worried about my parents in the capital, but I need you to accept that your sister may be...dead."

"Accept that my sister's dead? Why would I do that?!" Burn yelled, and the sergeant responded, "Look, I understand the fact that you're young and you want to protect your family, but in this war, everyone's family, but don't take this as me saying your sister is dead; just be realistic..."

Burn nodded before looking away. The sergeant puts his hand on him and speaks, "Look, if your sister is alive, then we'll find her. Just remember that most of these men have probably already seen their loved ones corpses while passing the trucks. Just accept that you may see her too."

The sergeant walked down the sandhill before ordering everyone to set up camp while Burn looked out to the sands of Jackalstan. He hoped Art was fine, along with hoping that the Enclave would burn for what they'd done...

__________________________________

Infinite looked upon what the bombings had done to his great city; the places that were damaged the most were the industrial and civilian sectors, while the places hit the least were the agricultural and commercial sectors.

Most of the civilian population was already in the shelters or conscripted into the militia, with Infinite giving them a speech about the fact that they must accept the fact that if they fail, everything they ever loved and built would be wiped out by a force that only wants death.

The military had been mobilized and started creating a defensive line, with a priority on AA defenses along with the ability to counter artillery due to the atrocities he had already seen committed by the Enclave.

They had started dropping bombs laced with some sort of chemical weapon that killed from seconds to minutes, though the ones that had died in seconds were lucky due to the suffering the weapon caused its victims.

Infinite had sent out a broadcast concerning the Enclave's crimes, but as always, the world was blind and thus accepted the first explanation the news gave, which was the fact that he had gassed his own people in some form of scorched earth policy.

If he were the old him, he would have broken something out of rage, but he wasn't like that now; he had grown, learned, and understood that being a good leader meant he had to be calm and collective about things, not just lash out in anger.

Outside of bombings, though, the Enclave hasn't moved into Jackalstan proper and is content with staying on the coast, most likely waiting for reinforcements so that they could finally push into his nation.

As Infinite sat in silence in his throne room, the radio started playing once more, and Infinite had to shut it off since it was now playing on the Enclave's radio station, spouting propaganda and lies about his nation.

Though something strange he had noticed currently happening in the world was the fact that Sonic was still getting slandered while also getting sued, Infinite laughed for a long time after hearing that.

The Enclave did two good things, and those were eliminating Shadow and knocking Sonic down a peg...

Chapter 21: Dark Future

Chapter Text

Silver exited the portal and immediately gasped as he saw the future. He hoped it would look beautiful, but the city laying in front of him was just majestic; it was like looking at an art piece.

He immediately flew into the city to get a closer look. It looked even better from the inside, as he saw that it was like a dream come true. He never thought the future would be so bright, especially when...

Silver noticed something as he levitated above a building. He dropped onto it to get a better look and saw that there were only humans in the city. Now, this wasn't completely out of the ordinary since some cities in the past were mostly humans with a few mobians, but this felt different.

Silver descended down an alleyway that was surprisingly clean as he passed by a poster. He inspected and saw art of Enclave soldiers raising a flag high above a circle labeled with a question mark, the lettering on the poster reading, "Join the Enclave Military! Who knows what world you will liberate next?"

It was strange, but Silver chalked it up to the fact that maybe they had started colonizing other parts of the galaxy. Though it looked more like the Enclave wanted conquest instead of colonization, then again, it could be both.

Silver left the alleyway and walked around the sidewalk, with numerous people looking at them with faces ranging from confusion to anger. Silver didn't really understand why until he walked into a public park and stopped, his entire body tensing up as his eyes laid upon a statue.

It was a statue of an Enclave soldier stabbing the Enclave flag through the head of a Mobian, the writing on the statue reading, "To those that gave their lives in the name of the Enclave, humanity, and our Lord. Never forget their sacrifice." Silver finally started understanding what was going on.

Human supremacy wasn't a widespread ideology due to the fact that mobians and humans have always fought side by side against EggMan and other evils of the world, but this? It told Silver that the Enclave weren't as benevolent as he thought.

Silver heard a bang, and quickly reacting, he quickly used his powers to stop a bullet in midair as multiple men and women in armor raised their weapons at him. He could only guess they were police, but why would the police need so much armor?

Rounds started popping off, and Silver used his powers to simply stop them, causing them to fall to the ground. Silver waited until all of them were out of ammo before he got out of there; maybe there was a future version of the restoration?

As Silver flew out of the city, he noticed how green the area was around the city. Sure, there were some urban zones, but the greenery made Silver smile at the fact that the world most likely healed, even if the Enclave wasn't as benevolent as they seemed.

As he flew over a dense forest, he saw something and quickly descended to find rusted train tracks. Intrigued, he started following them until they led him to a base surrounded by high walls with barbed wire topping them off.

He flew over it and landed inside before finding himself staring at three hanging Mobian skeletons with signs on them. He took a step back as he looked around to see tons of buildings, most of which were wooden ones that looked pretty shabby, while some were concrete bunkers bearing the Enclave logo.

Silver wandered around the base, Mobian skeletons laying about until he came across one that had seemingly been modified while it was still alive, crude machinery attached to its skeletal frame with a part of its skull replaced with steel.

He wondered what monster would do this and what monsters would do any of this. He searched and found mass graves of skeletons, a mixture of both child and adult Mobian skeletons. He then looked at the bunker and knew that's where his answers lied.

He used his powers and broke down the door before entering the bunker and trying to find out more about what happened here, only to find horrific experiments and logs detailing the suffering of the mobians here, with every log he could find either being written by someone who takes pleasure in the suffering or clearly written by a machine.

The place was apparently a camp meant for exterminating mobians in a multitude of agonizing ways. He wondered why they would do this and what they would gain from it. As Silver left the bunker, he felt the urge to throw up a rose while he continued to explore until he couldn't bear it anymore and hurled into a hole. He wiped his mouth until he heard something open behind him as multiple bangs rang out.

He once again reacted quickly and used his powers to stop a hail of bullets from hitting him. He looked to see where they came from, only to see some red portals, and outstepped the Courier, dual-wielding two large handguns.

The Courier stumbled forward as he reloaded, all of his movements looking like someone was forcing him to do it, like he's a walking puppet. Silver spoke as he continued to catch bullets, "Why? Why all of this?"

He waited for the Courier to answer, but all he got back was groaning. Silver then blindly hurled the bullets back at the Courier in a fit of rage, but as the bullets hit him, Silver immediately went over to help.

"I-I didn't mean it." Silver said before stopping, seeing that rounds didn't pierce the Courier's armor, though he did hear additional groans of pain as he stepped back.

Silver took a breath and simply lifted the Courier up and chucked him out of the base before ascending back into the sky. He wondered when he should head back to the past and warn everyone about the enclave.

He suddenly sensed something and turned around, only to get hit out of the sky as something slammed into him. He fell to the forest below and looked up to see General Song, in his super form but bigger, and the angel wings in his super form looked more organic than they did before.

Song landed in front of Silver as he readied his proton halberd. Silver tried using his powers, but it only slowed the man down, and right as Song was going to strike him down, he felt himself get sent back to the past...

__________________________________

After Tails, Whisper, and Tangle learned about the truth, they started concocting a plan to get the word out about the fact that the Enclave were the ones behind the numerous attacks that led to Amy increasing the Restoration's ferocity in attacking remnants of EggMan's empire.

Tails would head back to his house and start gathering evidence, while Whisper and Tangle would try and gather restoration forces before heading to the Restoration's new headquarters, which was also provided by the Enclave.

As Tails left their home and flew back to his house, he wondered about the fact that the lone survivor of Research Station Zip claimed they were attacked by badniks, but now that false, he wanted to believe that the survivor just didn't understand what she was seeing, but he just couldn't.

He got back to his house and started putting all the information together, along with watching any news stories coming from the current war in Jackalstan, being a mix of ones in favor of the Enclave and others staying more neutral to the subject.

As he put together information, he also learned why the Enclave were so eager to slander Sonic, the reason being that if they had tarnished his reputation, it would be easier for them to possibly conquer the world, if that is what they want to do and not just hoard power.

As he worked, he felt something was off and grabbed a nearby wrench as he slowly walked around his house. As he heard something sneak in the shadows—the clanking of metal against the tile floor of his new home—he heard rapid footsteps go up the stairs, and he followed suit.

As he made it to the top and turned the corner, he saw two orange eyes quickly turn off as something ran off. Tails speaks as he runs into his bedroom, "Hey! Get back here!" As he entered his bedroom, he was suddenly tackled as he used his twin tails to turn on the lights.

He sees what's attacking him and sees that it's a metal version of himself, though painted jet black instead of yellow, with an E painted on where his mouth should be. The thing spoke as its clawed hand narrowly missed Tails's head, "You are being detained. Do not resist."

Tails shook his head and used his tails to grip onto the metal's legs and throw the metal variant off of him as Tails grabbed the wrench and started bashing his metal variant's head in, though this didn't last long as the metal variant grabbed the wrench and melted it.

Tails jumped back while his metal version got back up before spinning and dashing into its chest, breaking through the floor and landing in the kitchen, with his metal version kicking him off and its arm turning into an energy weapon.

Plasma started flying as Tails leapt for cover. As he got into cover, he saw the remote for the cyclone. He quickly scrambled and leapt up as he grabbed it and activated it. The metal version of him kept firing before it heard something smash through the wall, quickly dodging it as the cyclone stopped next to Tails.

Tails hopped in and started firing the cyclone cannons as his metal version took cover, responding with plasma fire that scorched whatever part of the vehicle it touched. While Tails kept his finger on the trigger, he heard something behind him and looked to see a red portal.

A high-caliber round suddenly flew through the air and slammed into the cyclone's left leg, blowing it off and causing the vehicle to tumble. Tails fell out of the cyclone only to see Courier step out of it. With a giant rifle in his hands, he spoke, "Dug too deep, little fox."

As the Courier stepped over to Tails and leveled his weapon to Tails's head while the metal version did the same, as Tails closed his eyes and readied for death, he heard the Courier grunt as he quickly opened his eyes to see the Courier flung against the wall.

Tails turned and saw his metal version of himself as he saw Silver currently dealing with his metal version, though in one quick motion, Silver ends the fight by using his powers to tear off his metal version's head.

"So-Silver?" Tails asked as Silver suddenly picked him up and carried him off. Tails tried speaking, but Silver shushed him. After they finally land in the middle of the forest, Silver says, "W-We have a problem."

"I, Whisper, and Tangle already know that the Enclave are the ones behind the numerous attacks after the fall of EggMan's empire.

Silver rubbed the back of his head and spoke, "Oh-Oh, well, what's the plan? I'm currently running on adrenaline..."

"Well, we need to get to Restoration HQ to tell Amy about the Enclave actions and maybe help Jackalstan."

"Jackalstan? That's, um, umm..thats nation that sells oil to everyone, right?" Silver asked as he and Tails started to walk through the forest, making sure to hide whenever they heard the smallest noise.

"Correct, but Infinite apparently survived and tried assassinating the enclave's president." Tails said as the two hid in some bushes resting on a hill, allowing them to see the new urban landscape that the Enclave built for mobians.

"He's alive? And-and what about Sonic? Where's he?" Silver asked as Tails shook his head. While working, he did check up on Sonic and learned that he went over to the Sol Dimension to hang out with Blaze until everything blew over. This had the unfortunate side effect of allowing the Enclave to start hunting Sonic since they think he’s avoiding the law, which in all fairness, he was.

Tails did tell Sonic about the enclave, and Sonic replied before quickly hanging up. Tails hoped that Sonic could possibly try and get Blaze along with her empire to help back the restoration by stopping the Enclave.

"He's in the Sol Dimension, which shouldn't have any Enclave presence; how's the future?" Silver breathed a sigh of relief and spoke, "Umm..well it's not a dystopia, so that's something!"

"Really? That's...huh, maybe the Enclave isn't that bad..."

"Well, they apparently exterminated all mobians outside of some."

"Wait, what! Explain." Tails said, and Silver started recounting what he had seen in his short amount of time in the future before getting sent back into the past...

__________________________________

"About Sonic..." Amy said as she looked down at the teacup in her hand that Agent Adam had planned a meeting between him and her about the restoration and if they would join in on the Enclave's side in the war going on in Jackalstan.

Now she has already made up her mind about the fact that the restoration isn't going to send its personnel to die in the desert, but she still wanted to hear him out and see what he had to say. After getting a security escort from Omega, Amy wondered where the robot had gone, only to find out that he had just sat around in the enclave's fort.

He sported a new jet black paint job with orange and gun metal gray accents, along with some weapon upgrades. Now, while Omega stood guard, she sat in front of Agent Adam, who still wore his normal uniform while Amy wore something more formal.

"Look, I know that you have a history with the blue hedgehog; it's just that the situation is delicate." Adam said as Amy frowned, "I know it's delicate; just tell me how much trouble Sonic is in." Amy replied, and Adam placed a file on the table before sliding it to Amy.

"Everything that we're going to charge Sonic for is in there." Adam said as Amy breathed in and started reading some of it. After only reading some of it, she immediately knew that a lot of things were a stretch.

She didn't bring it with Adam since she doubted that he put the file together. "So...about the restoration's possible involvement in the war." Adam said, and Amy shook her head in response, "I'm not sending any restoration forces into the desert."

"What about infinite?" Adam said, and Amy sighed before speaking, "Look, Infinite is a bad guy, and I know he tried assassinating your leader, but I can't justify-"

"They have the master emerald." Adam interrupted Amy, and she immediately tensed up as she responded, "They-They have what?! How!?" Amy yelled, and Adam quickly retrieved his phone and showed footage from an Enclave robot, showing multiple Jackalstan helicopters extracting the master emerald, with Knuckles trying to stop them but failing.

"I've already had this discussion with Knuckles, and he wants blood, which is understandable, but he still wants to know what you want to do." Adam said as Amy thought about it: If Infinite had the master emerald along with possibly still retaining the master emerald, who knows what chaos he could unleash?

"If we don't stop Infinite, he very well could become a threat to the entire world; he may possibly even have the power to project an allusion that the entire world could see." Adam said this as Amy sighed and finally gave her answer.

"The Restoration will join the Enclave in their war against Infinite."

Chapter 22: First Line

Chapter Text

Burn smiled as the truck they were riding on finally arrived at Jackalstanian lines, with MBTs, IFVs, and APCs driving into defensive positions while infantry dug trenches that went on for miles. Burn knew that a clash was going to happen soon, and he couldn't wait to take revenge on the bastards that were invading his country.

Their truck pulled up to a nearby trench, and another sergeant yelled at them to hurry off and right into the trenches. Burn pushed through multiple people as Dess complained, "Did they really have to make the trenches so tight?"

"Probably to combat Enclave power armor, and did you see how tall the normal guys were? The Enclave got to be giving them some sort of steroid." Burn responded as they followed their 'current' sergeant, whose name Burn had learned was Smith, to their bunks.

"Gents, if a fight does happen here, then at least we have some actual defenses, along with a combination of overwhelming numbers and firepower." Smith said as they made it to their dugout.

It wasn't the best place, and he would still prefer his crappy bed at home, but this would do for now. As Burn got comfy, Dess turned on the radio as a speech from their leader was going, "My people, I know that the times have been rough, but we shall emerge from this over-consuming shadow that is the Enclave stronger. We shall show the world that the Enclave are not who they present themselves as, that they are nothing but butchers, claiming they kill their enemies in the name of some god."

Everyone surrounded the radio as the leader continued to speak, "The rest of this world have abandoned us, blinded by the Enclave's lies to stay complacent. Even the mightiest heroes listen to the enclave as the restoration's leader announces that the restoration will eventually join in on the enclave's side."

That surprised Burn's group since the restoration had definitely lost a lot from the metal virus, but he guessed that with enough buttery lies, anyone would join in on the wrong side. Burn also thought about the fact that they may have to face the heroes in combat.

"But we will make sure that every inch of ground the Enclave gains will be coated in their own blood. We shall paint the seas of sand with human and traitor blood; that is when the Enclave will know who they face; that is when the world shall see who the Enclave are."

If nothing else boosted morale more than that, Burn knew that they would repay the Enclave in kind, making sure that they knew who they were messing with and why Jackalstan had some of the best soldiers in the world.

"And to those that are on the frontlines, remember that we cannot falter in this war; if we do, then our very way of life will be destroyed, our species wiped off the face of the earth along with our history. We have to stand together; otherwise, we all fall to the darkest pits of oblivion."

"Those are my words to you all; when this is all over, I hope that we can emerge from the darkness stronger than before, gaining respect from the entire world and showing them that they were on the wrong side of history for once."

As the broadcast ended, some soldiers came in and dropped a crate onto the floor before leaving. Everyone clambered onto it and saw that it contained numerous weapons that were a step up from the weapons they had.

Burn pulled out an assault rifle and felt how heavy it was; it was definitely better than his handmade one. He grabbed some mags before sitting back down while the others inspected their new weaponry.

Dess attached a recon sight to his shotgun while picking up a box of shells; they were all slug rounds, and Burn guessed that with the Enclave's affinity for thick armor, the army started giving weapons that had better piercing than rate of fire.

Burn looked at some of the magazines he picked up and noticed they were loaded with API (Armor Piercing Incendiary) rounds, meaning that while he probably wouldn't be able to pierce power armor, he could possibly pierce the lighter infantry armor.

"GET TO COVER!" Everybody heard a voice shout as the sound of explosions filled the air. They stayed in their dugout as some sand fell down on top of them. Some soldiers even rushed into their dugout, with Smith asking what was happening.

"The Enclave arrived sooner than we expected and has started shelling us." The soldier responded as everyone started to wait out the bombardment, with Burn taking the time to check the crate for anything else, only to find some anti-tank grenades.

Once the bombardment ended, they were immediately told to take up defensive positions on the trench line as they started counter-bombarding the enclave, wherever they were. Burn loaded his rifle as Dess spoke, "I hope the Enclave are still wearing that black armor; that should make them stand out!"

Burn hoped they still wore black as he heard the pounding of boots behind them, signaling the fact that this would probably be the first battle he would partake in. He felt his body tense up as he watched commanding officers yell out orders, the rolling of treads, and the screech of tires as vehicles moved up.

Burn had to cover his ears as something screeched forward before being replaced by a 'BRRRRRRRRRRTTTTT' sound as he looked over to his side to see a part of the trench line covered in gore as he looked up to see an aircraft screech away.

"We've got movement!" He heard someone yell as he looked ahead to see what, but multiple shells landed as the area was then covered in smoke, making it difficult to see anything. Everyone was quiet; seconds became minutes as everyone waited for what was going to emerge from the smoke.

Burn then noticed movement within the smoke as a thunderous stomp rang out. Everyone immediately looked as giant machines emerged with the smoke that stood around half the size of Death Egg robots.

"Fire!" The sound of cannon fire filled the area as every anti-tank and armored vehicle opened fire upon the machines, but Burn noticed that nothing was able to pierce the armor on the things, and the machines gladly responded in kind.

Rounds ripped through the air, and due to the MBT's not being the best, they punched through the armor and immediately put them out of action. The machines continued as multiple Enclave IFVs moved ahead.

Machine guns and anti-tank guns rained hell on them. While the machine guns didn't do much but scratch the desert camouflage on the IFVs hulls, the anti-tank guns definitely did something, as four IFVs had already been put out of action.

Burn and the others wanted to celebrate, but they noticed that out of the wrecks emerged Enclave power armor, returning their own fire upon the Jackalstanian lines. Burn and Dess immediately tensed up as one of the soldiers next to them was suddenly turned into a pile steaming hot green goo.

Burn started firing off rounds as he tried aiming for the eyes of the Enclave power armor, but they were so small that, along with the fact that Burn wasn't used to using the new rifle that made it, most of his shots flew past them, with some hitting the soldiers in the head but plinking off.

"Are you serious!? Mobile power armor?!" Dess said that one of the IFV's made it to the trench line and unloaded its haul of power armor units.

Burns and Dess continued on firing, as behind the IFV and machines followed Enclave MBTs, and behind those were a hoard of Enclave infantry, wearing different armor than the ones that Burn had seen assault his village.

But these infantry rushed blindly into the fray, and Burn started focusing on them. Their armor was less protective than that of the other soldiers he'd encountered before, but they still took some shots to put down, "For the Enclave!" He heard one yell before being silenced by machine gun fire.

An arc of lightning then flies over Burn's head as Dess pushes him down as he sees some of the others reduced to nothing but ash. The pounding of metal boots got closer as Burn turned to Enclave power armor units, raining hell down on other infantry.

"Fall back to the rear trench!" A CO said, and Burn and Dess immediately rushed past along their group, with Smith firing a revolver into the approaching Enclave infantry, who have started to make it to the trench line.

As they fell back, the screams of aircraft flying over almost made Burn cover his ears, but he knew that he had to be ready to return fire at any moment. Jonah then saw Dess fall to the ground as something hit him in the left leg.

Burn crouches down as other jackal soldiers rush past him and see that Dess's left leg is nothing but a stub. Dropping his rifle, he picks up Dess and continues on, with Dess screaming in pain. Once he made it to some cover, he tried to bandage Dess up.

Burn quickly finds that Dess had been hit with a laser weapon, so while he still needed to bandage it up, there was no risk for Dess to bleed out. "You're lucky that you were hit with a laser weapon, because I am definitely not trained."

"Yeah, I can guess!" Dess said as he began biting his lip. Lasers, plasma, and ballistic rounds flew around Burn as he bandaged Dess's leg up. After trying his best, he picked Dess up and carried him away.

As other Jackalstan soldiers and militia cover them, Smith rushes in and helps Dess out while speaking, "Pretty shoddy job on the bandaging Burn." Burn rolled his eyes and replied as they got to a dugout, "What do I look like, a doctor? Also, you try dealing with someone while under fire with every weapon in existence!"

"Then it's an amazing job considering the environment!" Smith joked as he gestured for actual medics to help Dess. While they came to help, Burn was handed an SMG as he and Smith moved to help.

Burn looked up as he saw other Jackals move up above the trenches before quickly jumping down as artillery started to rain down. While walking behind Smith, he notices some jackals carrying the corpse of an enclave soldier.

"Salvage?" Burn asked them, and one replied, “Yeah! Though his weapon was sadly destroyed,” Burn took note of the corpse’s face since the helmet was off; the man looked like the most generic man one could think of.

Burn continued on their way as he and Smith rejoined with the surviving members of their group as they lay down fire upon the slowly growing hoard of Enclave infantry dispersed with power armor, with Enclave MBTs, IFVs, and walkers following behind and decimating any jackal vehicles.

All the while, artillery rained down upon them while aircraft strafed any reinforcing Jackal forces, but they still had the defensive advantage, so as long as nothing-

Everybody stopped firing as they saw lightning surround an area in the trench before a flash of light blinded everyone and the sound of slaughter was heard. Burn feels himself dragged away as he rubs his eyes and sees Enclave power armor units equipped with melee weapons slaughtering jackals.

“Retreat! Retreat! The area has been lost!” Burn heard someone yell as Smith threw him over the trench and near where the trucks were. Burn got up as Smith pushed him forward and said, “Come on, kid! I ain’t dying today.”

Burn gave him a nod and jumped on the nearest truck along with Smith before looking back and firing back at any Enclave soldiers that tried to push forward. He saw most of the remaining Jackals get out as the truck started to move.

Burn took a breath of relief before laying his head back. Smith talked to the driver of the truck and said, “We’re getting sent to the next defensive line; we may have lost the first one, but there’s still about five more to go.”

Burn wondered how long those lasted, considering it didn’t take long for the Enclave to break through the first one. Then again, he chalked that up with the Enclave power armor just appearing out of nowhere, and considering the order, it must have happened to the other parts of the line.

Maybe they would have better luck next time…

__________________________________

Tails, Whisper, Tangle, and Silver wandered through the decently empty halls of the new restoration headquarters. Tails spoke, “I don’t like this…”

“I don’t either; do you think that Amy has already started mobilizing?” Silver said, and Whisper replied, “She couldn’t have; it would take a long time to fully mobilize.”

“Maybe she didn’t fully mobilize? I mean, maybe some of the other leaders forced her to deploy forces immediately.” Tangle said that as the group approached the council chamber, Amy created a council of leaders so that the restoration wouldn’t have to solely rely on her.

They walk into the room and find no one. They look around a little bit until Tangle pushes a button on an intercom. She spoke into it jokingly, “Two soft drinks, a burger, and some fries, named ‘best roommate ever.’ Bye!” Whisper shook her head as a voice then replied over the intercom, “Oh crud!”

Everyone was surprised when the voice came over the intercom, and after a few minutes, out from one of the doors burst a red wolf that Silver and Tails recognized: “Rookie?!”

“It’s actually Gadget, by-But yes, it is me!" He said as he walked into the room while rubbing the back of his head, “I earned myself a promotion since restoration leadership has been lacking since the metal virus.”

“Wait, you’re a council member?” Whisper asked as Gadget saluted her before speaking, “Amy thought I would be a good choice and bing bang bong and I’m a council member, pretty cool considering I was just some rookie.”

“Where are all the others? Where’s Amy?” Tails asked, and Gadget looked down and replied to Tails’s question, "Well, you see, Knuckles was really mad since Infinite had taken the master emerald, so he and the others took the men and women under their command before leaving for Jackalstan. Amy followed them with some of her men to make sure everything went right, thus leaving me and the soldiers under my command.”

“Oh no!” Silver said as Gadget spoke, “Is something wrong?” Tails responded as he used his Miles Electric to show off all the evidence he had gathered; he gave it to Gadget, and he gasped after reading it all.

“They are walking right into a trap!” Gadget said, and Tails said, “I think we’re all in the enclave’s trap; we have to broadcast this information and tell everyone that the enclave aren’t who they say they are.”

“Perhaps Infinite didn’t order the assassination; the Enclave set it up to get justification for their invasion.” Whisper said as Gadget spoke, “So, what do we do now? If we head over to Jackalstan, then we leave the base unoccupied and run the risk of it being attacked.”

Tails spoke as he used his tablet to show off his current plan, which would involve them breaking into an enclave excavation site to scavenge for technology. The excavation site was the faceship, which would have constant security that was always on high alert.

But the faceship’s had the ability to produce badniks; it was a limited ability, but considering the restoration’s manpower to learn the truth about the enclave was low, they needed everything they could get their hands on.

Tails just hoped that this would all be worth it...

Chapter 23: Excavation Brawl

Chapter Text

Tails fiddled around with his tablet as Gadget announced the plan, getting it ready so he could show everyone the excavation site due to his adding a holographic feature to the tablet. "Alright, so here's the plan, Tails?"

"On it." Tails said as he pressed a button and his Miles Electric project a holographic map onto the table, showing the massive heap of scrap that is the faceship, or what's left of it after the metal virus, along with the enclave tearing it piece by piece.

"The place looks worse than we left it." Silver said, and Gadget replied, "Apparently, the Enclave had started taking whatever remained that seemed important, which might mean a few things." Whisper asked, "And those things are?"

Gadget looks over to Tails, and Tails nods before projecting a list of what was left intact aboard the faceship. "Mostly files, but some EggMan prototypes and a singular vial of the Metal Virus. But they did leave the ship's production facility intact."

"So how exactly are we going to take control of the production facilities? I mean, I don't think the Enclave would like us just sitting in the wreck and producing our own badniks." Tangle said as Gadget spoke, "Well, actually, yeah, how are we going to use the production facilities?"

"Doing some research on the faceship schematics that the Enclave has publicly released-"

"Wait, the Enclave publicly released schematics of it? Why? And how exactly did they get said documents?" Silver asked, and Tails spoke, "Perhaps a show of good faith, and most likely they found the schematics inside the ship itself."

Tails shows the schematics before speaking: "The ship had the ability to split into multiple smaller ships, and luckily, the production facilities on it are located in a part where the ship would be able to submerge."

He then brings up the holographic projection of the faceship once more before focusing on the production facility part: "And it seems that the Enclave haven't taken any parts from that part of the ship."

"So it could still work?" Whisper asked, and Tails nodded before Gadget spoke, "Though I don't think we're going to get in without a fight since they've got security everywhere."

Tails show a count of what people could see at the excavation site. Tails speaks, "Tons of Enclave robots, a naval fleet constantly patrolling around it, not to mention constant air patrols. The amount of security the excavation site has is surprising."

"I'm assuming we're not going in loud." Tangle said, and Gadget shook his head before speaking, "Actually, we are going in loud!" Everyone then turned to him, and Gadget spoke, "Well, we're going to be labeled traitors anyway; why not go ahead?"

"Because it's a death sentence? Because the Enclave would probably annihilate us? We can't pull a full frontal assault on them considering the firepower they have." Whisper said as Tangle said, "We could hide in a bunch of boxes and ship our force right into the excavation site."

It was Tangle's turn for everyone to turn towards her, and she spoke, "A part of that fleet is currently docked near here; we could hide in some shipping containers and get brought right to it."

"That's...not the worst idea." Gadget said as Tails spoke, "But surely the Enclave would check the containers; we probably wouldn't even get to the excavation site since we would be caught almost immediately!"

"Then we try and take the ship and sail our way over to the excavation site, simple." Tangle said as Silver sighed and spoke, "It's the only plan we've got, and we're on a time limit, so I say we do it and hope that it works out."

"Why do I feel like this is going to fail..." Tails said as they went full on with the container idea...

__________________________________

"I'm chalking this up to luck." Tails said as his group sat inside a container filled to the brim with building materials. Silver spoke as he used some bags of cement as a makeshift bed. "Or enclave overconfidence."

"I'm actually going to agree with Tails and say that this is only succeeding thanks to luck." Whisper said as she readied her wispon. "Maybe we're lucky that the Enclave is overconfident."

"Maybe." Tails said as they waited for the ship they're currently on to make it to the excavation site, where it would hopefully drop them and the rest of the restoration forces off, which would allow them to immediately get onto the faceship.

"So, anybody have anything that can pass the time?" Tangle said as she began messing with some of the materials, with Whisper having to step in and stop her from announcing their location to any nearby Enclave personnel.

"Maybe truth or dare?" Gadget said as he messed around with his own wispon, Silver perked up and spoke, "Sounds fun...but who's going to go first?" Everyone looks around before pointing at Silver.

"Oh."

Whisper spoke as she laid down her wispon, "Truth or Dare?" Silver responded quickly, "Truth, because I don't want to hear what you guys can come up with when it comes to dares."

"Do you..." Whisper began speaking but stopped to think while Silver tensed up and started breathing faster until Whisper finished, "Do you actually have control over your time travel?" Silver breathed a sigh of relief before speaking, "Not really; I'm kind of just sent back randomly in the future; I actually got lucky when I was transported back."

"Why?" Gadget asked, and Silver responded, "Well, I had to fight the Courier before getting attacked by General Song, who was pretty close to cutting me down with his halberd." Tails spoke, "Why didn't you simply hold him back with your powers?"

"I did! The guy just kept moving forward; he was also bigger, and his angel wings looked like they were real instead of manifesting from the Chaos Emerald's powers. Thank Chaos, I was sent back in time at the right moment to save Tails."

"I never really thanked you for that. If he didn't arrive, then I would have been good as dead, and the only people who would know the truth would be Whisper and Tangle." Tails said as Gadget spoke, "So what was the future like? There must have been some form of hellscape or industrial landscape."

"It was actually the exact opposite of a hellscape; it looked beautiful. I wandered for a bit in a city, and it was all breathtaking. After escaping some heavily armored police, I flew over a forest that looked pretty healthy."

"That is...surprising. Though I guess that means the Enclave not only wants to dominate our world and exterminate all Mobian life but also colonize it." Tangle said as Whisper spoke up, "The Enclave wanting to conquer the world would also explain why they were so eager to kill the infected during the metal virus outbreak."

"Didn't you also kill infected people?" Gadget said, and Whisper looked down at the ground before replying, "I thought I was simply putting them out of their misery..." Whisper said while Tangle patted her on the back.

"Whisper may have put some down, but the Enclave had killed more people than anyone would have thought. I mean, they glassed half a continent." Silver said as everyone suddenly stopped when they heard metal stomps approaching them.

Quickly getting into some crates, they heard the container door open as Tails's and Gadget's boxes were the first picked up. Gadget quickly poked a hole in the crate so they could breathe and get a peek at where they were going.

Gadget gasped as he saw what looked like a Mobian move past them—many of their limbs, along with parts of their torso and head, were replaced with crude machinery, and said machinery looked like it wasn't attached to be comfortable.

"Monsters..." Gadget said as he moved, and Tails saw additional ones pass by them, with one of the mobians having a heavy weapon grafted onto the place where its left arm should be.

"Why not just use normal robots?" Tails asked, and Gadget shrugged before replying, "Maybe it's cheaper to turn mobians into whatever these are, then build and program a robot to just move boxes."

In Silver, Tangel, and Whisper's crate, Silver scooted into one of the crate's corners while Tangle did the same thing as Gadget did and also saw the strange Mobians. She said, "I'm starting to think that the Enclave is possibly worse than EggMan in every single way."

"I think EggMan still beats out the Enclave with what he's done, but morality wise? Enclave." Silver said as they waited to be delivered to the drop-off point.

After some time, they all arrive in the center of the excavation site, where once they are put down and no guards are in sight, the group, along with seven squads of restoration members, get out of their crates and regroup.

As they all discussed their next plan, Gadget looked through the scope of his wispon and saw both enslaved Mobians and the mechanized Mobians seemingly rebuilding parts of the faceship with Enclave materials.

"They're not taking it apart; they're putting it back together with their own tech..." Tails said as Gadget spoke, "All thanks to Mobians. Alright, now we have two goals." Everyone looked at Gadget as he started to explain himself.

"Look, we've all seen the Enclave's aircraft, and most of them are advanced, but their airships definitely aren't considering they are just armored blimps. But we cannot allow the Enclave to rebuild the ship, especially with their own technology."

"So, what are we going to do?" Silver asked, and Gadget gestured to Tails, and Tails used his tablet to display a map of the site. "Well, we're still going to take the production facilities, but along with that, we will free the Mobians here along with the mechanized ones."

"So, who's going to do what?" Whisper asked, and Gadget pointed to her and Tangle before speaking. "Me, you, and Tangle, along with the squads, will be focused on freeing the slaves and holding our ground, and if we can, try and destroy as much progress the Enclave has made as possible."

Gadget then pointed to both Tails and Silver before speaking, "You two will head to the production facility to make sure it's ready to go." Tails and Silver nodded before leaving. Gadget looked once more at the site and nodded.

Using the mass amount of materials as cover, the group started to make it to the center of the site, where most of the slaves were. As they approached it, Gadget gestured for Whisper to get into a sniping position so she could lay down, covering fire.

"On it." She replied and quickly ran off to climb up one of the many pieces of scaffolding that are all around the site. Everyone then stops as they hear a speaker, and a voice that sounds more like a mechanical version of Amy's starts to speak.

"Raise your hand against a human? Executed. Look a human in the eye. Executed. Speaking up against a human? Executed. These are the basic rules that all shall follow, those that don't suffer the consequences."

"Did they make a metal Amy?" Tangle asked, and Gadget knew that a metal variant could complicate the mission, especially since they were now planning on going loud.

Once they got to a good vantage point and Whisper was ready, Gadget turned and gestured for one of their teams to drop its heavy weapon, that being an old M72 LAW that the resistance had received from the USM. Unfortunately, it was only one shot.

"What's the first target?" Gadget asked as he looked around, and Tangle spoke, "Oh, go for that big black robot with the twin guns." Gadget nodded and looked for the robot that Tangle was talking about.

He saw that the robot was also guarded by a few of the smaller, more humanoid robots. Gadget aimed carefully, and when he lined up the shot, he spoke, "Back blast area clear?" Tangle responded as everyone got out of the way, "Clear."

Gadget fired, and the rocket flew through the air before hitting the robot dead on, destroying the smaller robots around it and taking out the robot's left arm and legs. Sirens started to blare as Gadget spoke, "Let's do this!"

As the group started to move to free the slaves, the robot used its remaining arm to fire upon them. Lasers flew through the air and forced the group to hide behind large metal plates. Gadget took out his radio and spoke, "Whisper, mind taking out that robot?"

"Copy." Whisper responded over communications, and a few seconds later, Gadget notices a blue laser fly out and strike the robot in the head, putting the robot out of commission once and for all.

Gadget nodded to Tangle, and they continued the push. As they got halfway down the excavation site, the group was suddenly surprised as multiple of the smaller humanoid robots decloaked and started swinging arm blades, destroying one of the squads immediately.

Tangle used her tail to grab one of the robots before swinging it around and taking down the other robots before allowing Gadget and the other restoration members to put down the robots with mass wispon fire.

Gadget looked down before regrettably ordering some of the others to strip the dead for their supplies; they couldn't waste time mourning the dead. Gadget spoke to Whisper over comms, "Can you see if we have any more surprises?"

Whisper responded as she started firing randomly into the excavation site. Gadget was confused until he noticed that every shot hit a cloaked robot in the head. Gadget threw Whisper a thumbs up, and he received a nod in response.

Gadget started ordering the others to free the slaves until Tangle brought something up: "Gadget, what about the mechanized mobians?" She gestured to the mechanized mobians that continued working; even when someone would block their path, they would just bash them away with their mechanical arms.

Gadget shook his head since he didn't know what to do about them. He didn't want to order the men and women under him to put them down, but they couldn't free them, and if they simply left them, then the Enclave would be able to continue their work on the faceship.

"Got something on my tracker." Whisper said over comms, and Gadget ordered the others to form a perimeter, along with arming some of the slaves with the weapons from the fallen restoration members.

"How big?" Gadget asked as they all heard the pounding steps of something approaching them, "14 feet, around the size of a hammer badnik." Gadget gulped and immediately had the other squads pull out their M72 LAWs. Six rockets should be enough to put the giant down.

"It's coming in fast." Whisper said over comms and through one of the wall's crashes, a recognizable sight to Tangle, "Oh no..." Everyone stood back as the beast's ranged weapon started to spin up while its blade unsheathed in electricity.

"Time to die, muties." Frank Horrigan spoke as he started approaching the group...

__________________________________

Tails and Silver snuck through the production section of the faceship as robots rushed past them, ranging from humanoid to nine-foot-tall hunks of steel carrying what looked like miniature nuclear weaponry. Silver spoke, "Hope Gadget, Whisper, and Tangle are doing well."

"Have some faith; they will handle it." Tails said that as the two arrived at the control center of the production section, he plugged his tablet into a console and tried to get the section of the ship back online while Silver stood guard.

Silver spoke over communications as Tails did his magic: "We're in the control center of the production center; how are you guys doing?" All Silver got back was ragged breaths before Gadget's voice came through: "Not....well....we're fighting against a lot....Tangles knocked out, Frank...Horrigan...here..."

Gadget cuts out, and Silver turns to Tails, and Tails speaks as he finishes activating the section. "Go help them; I can handle myself." Silver nods and floats off to go help the others, while Tails stays to work on getting the section ready to leave.

While Tails gets the section online, he hears something behind him and is too slow, as he is then sent flying against the wall as he feels something crash right into his chest, knocking the air right out of him.

He got back up as his eyes laid upon what looked like a Metal Amy spoke as she then destroyed both his tablet and the console: "Mutant scum, I'll make you and Silver pay for what you did to my brother."

"Brother?" Tails said that as she rushed at him, he dodged to the side, and once she struck where he used to be with her hammer, he spin-dashed her in the back, knocking her to the floor before trying to get away.

As he started to fly off, he felt some wrap around his leg before he was pulled back, and the head of Metal Amy's hammer hit him right in the head. He felt himself fly into a pile of scrap as he tried to stand, spitting out both teeth and blood.

He looked up at Metal Amy as a pair of rocket boosters deactivated on the back of her hammer while she spoke, "All you needed to do was stay quiet, little fox, listen to the media, and don't think, but then again, you are a so-called 'hero.'"

Tails stood as straight as he could and was ready to battle Metal Amy until they both paused as something started to break through the ceiling. Metal Amy took some steps back as the ceiling broke and a badnik landed between the two.

Tails looked up at the thing, a blazing red cape bearing the EggMan empire logo clinging to its back while its three yellow eyes stared down at Tails. It’s head-looking, like an upgraded version of an E-Series badnik.

Actually, the thing slightly resembled an E-Series, and Tails spoke, “E-Series?” The badnik shakes its head and turns to face Metal Amy, unsheathing an axe, its head glowing a vibrant yellow. It then spoke as Tails made his way out of the room…

__________________________________

“You are a creation of my leader, but yet you wear the black of the enclave; why?” Delta said as Metal Amy responded, readying her hammer as she glared up at the three-eyed badnik, “Identify yourself, machine.”

Delta spoke as he got into a fighting stance, though he easily towered Metal Amy, “E.G.G. Delta, last machine of its series.” Metal Amy chuckled before speaking, “Then I’ll make sure that your series ends here; it's a shame that you didn’t align with the Enclave.”

Metal Amy rushed at Delta, and he easily blocked her attack before speaking, “I will never betray the empire; unlike Metal Sonic, I am loyal to this empire until the very end.” Delta parried Metal Amy’s next couple of hits as she spoke, “Your empire is dead; why even fight on? You could have served the enclave and had leaders that cared about you and not about their own egos.”

“My leader did care.” Delta responded as Metal Amy jumped up, boosters on her feet propelling her upwards and allowing Delta to get a clean strike through the copy’s chest. Her upper body flies past Delta, while her lower body falls to the ground.

Delta looked down as Metal Amy crawled towards him. He simply kicked her away as he heard her curse a variety of insults that only machines with enough sentience could say. He simply picked her up as he glared into her eyes and said, “False machine.”

He chucks her away as he goes to leave the room before he hears thunderous stomps and turns to see a monster stand in front of him, blood covering one of its hands along with its chest plate, blazing orange eyes staring at him. The beast also stood at a staggering height of 14 feet.

Delta immediately scanned the monster as it let out a laugh that sounded more mechanical than organic due to its helmet. Though the scan was complete, Delta was surprised to see an error. The thing came closer, and Delta scanned again and again, but all he received were more and more errors; either it was a glitch or the thing standing before him was something so far off from humans that his systems just failed to try and understand it.

He spoke as he readied his axe against the beast: “The Enclave claims to be pure, but yet I look upon you and see nothing that is close to a human.” The thing simply laughed as Delta scanned it one more time.

Once more, it failed, and the thing readied its own blade that sparked with electricity while it activated some form of mini-gun on its other arm. It finally spoke as it towered over Delta, “You really think you can stand against me? To play hero when even those that the world worships fear me?”

Delta responded as he pointed his blade at the monster’s neck, “I do. The EggMan empire will prevail, and I shall be there when your flag burns.” The thing laughed once more as he spread both his arms out.

“Then you shall fall like the empire you served.”

The thing lunged at him with incredible speed for something of its height. Delta held his axe up and blocked the beast’s first strike. Using this, he activated one of his energy weapons and blasted the beast’s chest with multiple point blank shots.

The shots burned through the beast’s armor, and Delta observed that underneath the armor was a mixture of black flesh mixed in with machinery. Delta immediately felt the beast place more force on him and used the thrusters on his chest to get away from the beast.

As he flew back, he looked upon the beast as it seemingly ignored the hole in its armor. It spoke while unleashing a hail of burning plasma into Delta’s direction, quickly activating the shield and protecting himself from the plasma.

“Pain is nothing to me, machine. Now lay down and die.” The beast spoke as Delta charged while he raised his shield to block an attack from the beast before jumping up and letting his axe glide through the beast’s armor and flesh, separating the arm that held the minigun.

It didn’t even scream as the beast went to strike Delat. Delta tried to block the attack, but the beast stabbed right through his shield. Thinking quickly, he moved his shield arm away before jumping up once more and dealing the killing blow.

The head of his axe buried itself right into the beast’s head as it went limp. He had to quickly move out of the way so that the beast’s body didn’t crush him. He pulled his axe from the beast’s head before leaving.

He looked at his shield while walking and retracted it after noting he would have to get it repaired. “Try again.” Delta turned as he felt himself tackled through wall after wall, warning signs flashing over his HUD as he looked to see that the beast was still alive.

“Abomination.” Delta said as he felt himself flung through one more before using his boosters to fly out, quickly noticing he was at the excavation site, where he noticed that Enclave robots were flooding in from all over the place, with the surviving restoration forces there and the few badniks he brought along getting surrounded.

He quickly called for the transport to come back around and pick them up while staring down at the beast. As he noticed that the beast had somehow reattached its other arm, Delta fired upon the beast, melting through the beast’s armor, but it just refused to die.

“Just die already, organic.” Delta said as the beast moved faster and leapt up, grabbing onto his leg and slamming him onto the ground. Delta tried to land additional shots on the beast, but it then grabbed onto his blaster and whipped the weapon right off of his arm.

“I underestimated you, organic.” Delta then sent a mighty kick into the exposed chest of the beast as he saw his foot coated in thick, black blood. The beast was then shot in the head, where the helmet was still compromised by him.

Delta was able to throw the beast off as it let out its anger on a nearby restoration member by bashing it into the ground and coating its hand with fresh blood. Delta looked up and saw a restoration member had shot the beast in the head.

“Machine head, let’s get out of here!” The wolf said, and Delta acknowledged it as he stood up and a transport descended downward, laser fire hitting the ship, and when it landed, Enclave robots tried to board it.

The surviving slaves and restoration forces boarded the transport, and when Delta stepped onto it, he turned back to see the beast glaring at him. He was able to see one of the beast’s eyes, blood red and not resembling a normal human eye.

As the ship lifted into the air and cloaked, Delta started planning ways to kill that thing…

__________________________________

Infinite sat on his throne as he listened to the report. The first line had collapsed and the surviving forces were falling back to the other lines. He had also listened to the number of casualties they were able to inflict upon the enclave infantry.

Though when Infinite saw some bodies of the Enclave infantry, they were able to recover. He immediately saw why they were able to inflict over five hundred casualties on the Enclave, and that was due to the fact that every body bore the same face.

Clones: the Enclave was using clones to fight this battle and most likely kept its real forces away for something else; they were most likely cheaper than real people, along with the fact that their armor and weapons weren’t the same as normal Enclave infantry, which he guessed made them even cheaper.

He wondered if the Enclave would just bury them in bodies and make them waste their ammo on meaningless clones instead of their actual units. If the war started turning into one of attrition, that would cause problems since the country is practically cut off from the rest of the world, and even the other inferior countries on the continent wouldn’t be able to help.

Though there was good news, the Enclave had stopped bombing the city, meaning that Infinite and his generals could start organizing the city’s military force and make sure that even if all the lines were breached, the city wouldn’t fall.

Sirens started blaring, and Infinite immediately knew that he guessed too soon and went to broadcast everyone to fall back to their bomb shelters when he looked out the window to what looked like rain following down upon the city.

He quickly realized that it wasn’t raining, but what looked like EggMan drop pods painted jet black, along with said drop pods, were Enclave power armor flying down with jet packs while aircraft started to strike the city.

He retrieved his blade and prepared the Phantom Ruby. This was his city, his country, and he’ll make sure that the Enclave knows whose territory they were stepping on…

Chapter 24: Cleansing

Chapter Text

"What's the plan when we hit the ground?" Jonah said over comms as he sat inside his pod. His entire division was retrained into the enclave's newest division, that being the 'Drop Assault Troopers,' or 'DATs' for short.

They were troopers meant to be deployed from Archimedes and straight into the heart of the enemy through the methods of drop pods. Along with the retraining came new equipment, and the stuff they got was a substantial upgrade from their air assault gear.

First was their armor, which was now the MK117 Prototype Combat Power Armor, which was an armor set similar to the legendary HERMES but cheaper to produce at the cost of some protection, though like HERMES, the armor was connected to their implants.

Then came the weapons, from P94 Plasma Rifles modified to extremely downsized Railgun sniper rifles that will pierce through any armor that the mutants could throw at them, though Jonah didn't get any of those weapons.

He looked over to the side of his pod to see the MK45 Gyrojet HMG. He couldn't wait to see the weapon's effect on mutant bodies. "Disable a communications device before regrouping with the other squads and setting up shop." SSG Alex responded over comms.

"Sounds like a lot of fighting." Jonah said as Max chuckled over comms before speaking, "Good; I want to try out some of these canisters that the 10th Chemical Corps gave us."

"By the way, don't we have some 10th boys deploying alongside us?" Jonah asked, and the SSG responded, "That we do; their armor looks a little f*cked, but hey, they've got to be good."

"Didn't some of the other squads say that they had, like, dog legs?" Max said over comms, and Alex laughed before speaking, "Whoever said that was probably just high or tired."

"Maybe both." Jonah said as he felt his pod shake, signaling that he was approaching the ground and things were about to get wild.

He pressed a button on his armor, and some of his armor's stash of combat narcotics entered his blood. It immediately hit him as he felt himself more energized, and considering how some of his squad mates screamed at the chance to spill mutant blood, they probably had too.

Maybe most of his squad took even more pleasure in purging the mutant than he did, but if it made them less likely to falter or betray the Enclave, that was a good thing.

Everything shook, and his pod's door immediately flew off as Jonah grabbed his weapon and immediately locked on to the first mutant he saw and put a round into it. He didn't really need to aim anywhere specifically since the mutant's bodies were so small that the miniature explosive in the round guaranteed a kill no matter where you hit.

He activates his helmet's VISR system and sees the highlights of all the mutants in the area. All around him, he hears the sounds of the rest of his squad's drop pods crashing into the ground. A door flies past him as he fires off a second round into the skull of a mutant.

"Now this is better than riding in on vertibirds." Jonah heard Max as he slid to cover and squeezed the trigger of his weapon, sending a hail of mini-rockets into a hastily erected barricade, piercing through the wood and detonating right in front of the mutants.

Next to him, he heard Max begin using his tactical flamer on a squad of mutants, though due to whatever is inside the flamer's canister, the mutants don't even scream and just die. "Disappointing." Jonah said as Max nodded in response before voicing his own opinion, "Yeah, I miss the screams already."

Jonah continued to lay down fire until a technical drove into the courtyard that the squad had dropped into; those that weren't in cover already dove into cover as the technical's gunner opened fire with high-caliber rounds.

Jonah reached down and grabbed one of his plasma grenades before chucking it at the technical. The grenade luckily landed right next to the gunner, and right as he noticed it, the mutant and the back of the technical were reduced to green goo.

After the technical was down, the squad could move forward, and Jonah made his first reload as he turned to SSG Alex before speaking, "Where exactly is the device?" Alex responded as he checked his pip-pad: "A little to the west of here, we knock it out, and it should disrupt the mutant's communications in this sector of the city."

"Sounds good." Max said, and the squad started heading west. After walking a few blocks, the squad found itself flanking a mutant barricade as another DAT squad pushed up.

Jonah and Max were sent in first as Jonah reloaded for a second time. The magazines were only held for 20 rounds, meaning that each round, if Jonah hit, was a guaranteed kill for him due to the round's power.

He had already taken down 40 mutants and was onto his third magazine, so while he reloaded, Max charged in and spewed green flames onto the mutants, many of them immediately dying due to whatever was in the canister, once again dying quietly.

Once the barricade was cleared out, SSG Alex went over to the other staff sergeant while Max and Jonah took a seat on some rubble. They then heard someone land above them and turn to see a ranged squatting on the roof of a building.

"How's it going?" The Ranger said, and Jonah spoke as he saw other rangers on the rooftop, "Pretty good, heading over to go take out a communications device. What are you guys doing?"

"Heading over to help some entrapped power armor units, they landed right in the middle of five divisions and are currently holding them off with everything they've got." The ranger said this before leaving.

"Damn, those boys must be having one hell of a time." Max said as Jonah spoke, "Yeah, and I would not like being part of it." Alex then ordered the squad to continue onwards in search of the device, which they were getting closer and closer to.

Jonah and Max were once again put in the front, and as they strolled through the streets, they heard the sounds of someone eating. The two followed the noise and noticed it was coming from inside the building that apparently held the communications device.

Max kicked down the door, and the room the two entered looked more like a butcher's shop than whatever it originally was. Mutant bodies, along with ash and goo piles, covered the room with blood.

"It seems like someone has already done our job." Jonah said as the two slowly cleared the building, with the rest of the squad staying outside just in case. The two continued to hear the noise of someone eating as they approached a room that had a pile of bodies in front of its door.

"I'm doubting this was done by any Enclave unit in the city." Max said as Jonah moved some of the bodies out of the way before kicking down the door and entering the room with Max behind him.

The two stopped as they saw what looked like an Enclave Ranger eating a mutant body. The two raised their weapons, and Max spoke up as the Ranger quickly put his helmet back on, "Identify yourself, you insane motherf*cker."

"Can't a guy eat a meal in pieces?" By the way, Jackal tastes pretty good." The two lowered their weapons a bit when they recognized the voice, and Jonah spoke, "Courier Six?"

"Yeah, whatcha want?" The Courier said as he walked up to the two, "Just making sure, and...I guess thank you for doing our job for us." Max said, and the Courier laughed before speaking, "It seems like I'm always destined to do someone else's job. Anyway, here’s what remains of the communications device. Have a nice day.”

The courier tossed Max some pieces of scrap before suddenly cloaking. Max dropped the scrap, and the two exited the building as they saw the rest of the squad leaving. "Wait up for us, you co*cks!" Max said as the two caught up with their squad, only for all of them to stumble upon something that resembled a vault door.

"We weren't briefed on this." Jonah said as SSG Alex investigated it before throwing out a flare: "Getting us something to eat?" Max asked, and Alex spoke, "That, along with some heavy ordnance, so we can breach through this door and see what's inside."

"Maybe it's gold?" Jonah looked over as he saw Donovan and Luke try and break through the door, though they failed to do so because it was too thick. "Why would they hide gold out in the open? I'd expect it to be in the capital building; why didn't we just land there?" Max said this before Luke replied.

"Tell me, Max, would you have liked going up against a mutant that can probably make you kill yourself due to tricking your mind?" Alex said, and Max tried to respond but couldn't. Jonah chuckled, and Alex said, "That's right."

A couple minutes pass, and while Jonah and Max discuss what could be in the vault, multiple drop pods slam into the ground nearby before popping open to reveal heavy ordinance along with a mini-gun and a Gatling laser.

“I call it the mini-gun.” Jonah said as Max went over and picked up the Gatling laser, spinning it up for a second while Donovan and Luke picked up the explosives to try and blow the door open.

Thanks to their armor, the two were able to carry the weapons without much struggle, though they were still heavy enough for them to notice.

As the two wait for Donovan and Luke to finish setting the explosives, they hear Alex speaking over communications, “This is Staff Sergeant Alex of the Whiskey Squad; we may be late due to uncovering some vault.”

Donovan and Luke get away as they detonate the explosives and blow the door right open. Once the smoke clears, some rounds fly out, and the squad uses their armor’s VISR to respond in kind, quickly eliminating the lightly armed mutants.

“Alright, let’s see what’s in here.” Max said Jonah and him were the first ones into the strange vault as sirens started to blare, painting the steel walls red. The two find a security room next to the entrance before Jonah says, "Well, this is a surprise, Alex!”

SSG Alex walked over, and Jonah pointed at some of the monitors that displayed what the vault really was before speaking, “This is a shelter for mutants, and apparently there are a lot more of them across the city.”

A few seconds pass, and Alex speaks while rounding up the squad: "Well, gentlemen, we’ve apparently stumbled upon a civilian shelter, and considering we’re not going to have any securitrons or hunter-killer squads for some time, it’s up to us to deal with the civilians.”

Everyone nodded, and for once, Jonah and Max were glad they were the first ones in. As the squad’s foot steps echoed throughout the steel hallway, they noticed on all of their HUDs that the room they were coming upon was packed with signatures.

"Hey, Sarge, mind me playing some music over our communications channel?” Max asked as he and Jonah got to the door that led into the room. Alex responded as the squad prepared to breach it, “Sure, we’re practically just taking out the trash, so why not have some fun?”

“Yes!” Max said as he quickly put a song over comms, though he did skip to the good part. But considering what they were about to do, it was perfect, as once Luke was done hacking the door, Jonah squeezed the trigger.

“Exit: light! Enter: night! Take my hand; we’re off to never-never-land!”

Jonah heard the music over their communications channel as he opened fire upon anything and everything inside the room. Jonah didn’t care what he shot due to the rush of combat narcotics, though he did slightly flinch whenever he killed a kid, though he guessed that not hearing them cry was good.

Alex then broke the squad up, with Jonah and Max getting sent over to the west wing. As they marched through the steel hall, they could hear the screams of mutant civilians throughout the shelter while hearing the cackling laughter and insults of their squad mates over comms.

“It feels good to hear the screams.” Max said as Jonah nodded. He wasn’t really the one to gain joy from the screams of mutants, but how many were there? He was getting used to it and was actually starting to enjoy it.

Two entered what looked like a cafeteria, and before Jonah could check his radar, the mutant immediately jumped Jonah. Thinking quickly, he dropped the mini-gun and drew his combat knife, jamming it into the mutant’s head, though before he could pick up the mini-gun, he heard crying.

“Hear that?” Max asked, but Jonah ignored him as he followed the crying before finding a group of children hiding in the kitchen, Jonah reached for his sidearm and thought as he aimed at the group of mutants.

‘They’re not human; they were never human; they are nothing but animals; just imagine you’re putting down a cow.’ Jonah started to open fire; he was used to the screams, no matter the age…but the crying.

He hated it, he wanted it to end, and he tried to make the mutants deaths as quick as possible, not out of some form of mercy but because he just wanted there to be no more crying. As he went to reload, he saw a mutant child brandish a knife before trying to stab him.

The mutant failed, and after reloading, he put a bullet between the mutant’s eyes. He heard the screams of one, “Big sis! Big sis!” He heard, and he quickly silenced the mutant. Children were always tougher to kill, maybe because they didn’t stand up to the enclave as much as teenagers and adults.

Lasers flew past him, and he turned to see Max, and Max said, “You were taking too long.” He said as he continued to release a hail of lasers onto the remaining children while Jonah stood there before leaving the kitchen to retrieve his mini-gun, he hoped they would encounter more adults and elderly than children.

He waited outside the cafeteria until Max had finished cleansing it, and Max spoke as he reloaded his Gatling laser. “Let me guess, killing mutant children is hard for you?” Jonah shook his head and responded, “It’s just the crying, nothing else.”

“Then just mute out the sounds.” Max said, and the two continued onward, with the two stumbling upon an empty nursery and Max dropped his Gatling laser to hand Jonah his tactical flamer.

“If you don’t want to mute your surroundings but also don’t want to hear screams or crying, then use this since whatever they put in the new mixtures, make sure they can’t release a peep.” Jonah dropped his mini-gun and took the flamer before stepping into the nursery.

He walked in and looked away as he started spraying green flames, all while repeating the same phrase in his head: ‘They are animals…They are animals…They are animals…'

Chapter 25: The Survivor and Delta

Chapter Text

Burn followed Smith as they went into the civilian shelter. Some other soldiers and militia were busy trying to identify many of the remains that they found. Burn spoke as they passed through a gore-filled room, "Are we sure that the Enclave are humans?"

"I mean, I've seen normal humans and enclave humans, and there is a difference." Smith said as Burn gave him a confused look before speaking, "There is? Is it the difference that one isn't trying to genocide our species and one is?"

"No, I was sent out on a mission, and when I saw the parade on TV, the Enclave soldiers were taller and seemingly larger than most of the humans and USM soldiers." Smith said, and Burn replied, "And those were the normal Enclave soldiers?"

"Yeah, and some of the normal people that weren't in armor were still taller and larger, which makes you wonder what they feed their soldiers." Smith said, and Burn said as he looked away from more piles of gore, "Maybe steroids? Anyway, no normal human would be able to do this. It's just...why?"

"Because they hate us, they hate our entire species and want to see all of us dead." Smith said that as the two went into the western wing of the shelter, some militia members were cleaning up gore and ash piles.

"You think the deaths were painless?" Burn asked, and Smith responded as the two stepped into a cafeteria, where they saw the only corpse that wasn't badly mutilated or reduced to ash. It was a female jackal, probably a teenager, gripping a knife. Burn then noticed the stab wound in her head.

"The Enclave must be the best at killing unarmed civilians." Burn said, and the two entered the kitchen. Burn put a hand on his mouth before exiting the kitchen and throwing up into a nearby trash can.

"Holy sh*t...." Smith said that as Burn got up and the two made their way through the kitchen, passing by the bodies of slaughtered children, he felt his disgust and hatred for the enclave burn even brighter than before. The enclave had to pay.

When this war was won, when the people of Jackalstan pushed out the monsters that are the enclave, they would exact vengeance on the enclave, making sure that for every innocent the enclave killed, ten more of theirs would be killed.

"Think we're ever going to see the Enclave capital?" Burn asked, and Smith responded, "We are. How's Dess?" Burn replied as the two approached the freezer, "Medics said he'll be fine and will outfit him with a prosthetic as soon as possible."

"Good." Smith said until the two stepped into the freezer and saw what seemed to be a jackal child hiding amongst the various foods that were stored inside the freezer.

Burn stepped forward and lended out his hand while speaking, "Come out, little guy; the bad men are gone." The child stepped out, and the child's eyes, with one being red and the other purple, stared up at him as their tail wrapped around them.

Burn picked up the little jackal, and Burn spoke, "Are you okay?" Burn knew that the guild was most definitely not okay since they had just survived what was a complete massacre and would have some mental problems for years.

"I-I-I am..." the jackal responded. Burn didn't know if the young jackal was a boy or a girl; the voice sounded a bit like a girl's, but that could have also just been the jackal being young.

Burn carried the young jackal throughout the shelter, covering her eyes when they passed by a gruesome sight that the others hadn't cleaned up yet, the child squirming in his arms while Smith slightly chuckled.

"What?" Burn asked, and Smith spoke as he rubbed the little jackal on the head, "For someone who has a little sister, you aren't making him or her that comfortable."

"I'm a lot better at comforting when I'm related to them, and I have a sister; she's still alive, I know it." Burn said, and Smith spoke while petting the small jackal in Burn's arms, "Just be ready to stumble upon her body, her ash pile, or whatever remains of her."

Burn glared at Smith as the two exited the shelter and back into the hot Jackalstan sun. Jackalstan forces had regrouped and organized once the Enclave pulled back and established a stronghold in the city's industrial district, specifically the arms factory that produced most of the army's ammunition and weaponry.

Burn was also worried about the fact that there were three civilian shelters in the industrial district, meaning that the Enclave may have already cleansed the shelters, though the district had the fewest shelters in the city, so there wouldn't be that much loss of life.

It was still a tragedy, but it-Burn stopped as he and Smith felt the ground start to shake, with the jackal in his arms squirming around before wiggling out of his hold and running amongst a pile of crates.

"Hey! Get back, heeeeeeerreeeee!" Burn said as he saw the road starting to crack; many others started to spread out. He shook his head and leapt into the pile of crates, pulling out the little jackal. "Hey, hey, everything is fine; we're going to make sure you're fine."

Everyone then turned their heads as they saw the road break open, and out of it crawled a massive robot that resembled a scorpion, a jet black paint job with an E painted onto its head. The thing roared, and everyone started to fire upon it.

Burns dropped the small jackal after telling the kid to get to safety before grabbing his rifle from his sling and starting firing upon the giant scorpion along with everyone else, though it seemed like they were doing nothing to the giant machine as it fired a blue laser into a group of soldiers, reducing them to nothing but ash.

Burns got up as the giant scorpion grabbed onto a truck with its claws before chucking it into a nearby building as everyone ran away from it or ran to cover. Burn rolled into cover where Smith coincidentally was. "Well, boy, guess when it comes to robots, the Enclave aren't that different from EggMan."

"Don't think EggMan ever built robot scorpions!"

"It'd be something he would have built." Smith said as the giant scorpion continued its rampage, with a group of jackals firing some rockets into the machine's tail, damaging it and disabling its laser.

The thing responded by swinging its tail into the group, sending them flying through the air as one of the thing's legs stabbed into a jackal while one of its claws crushed another. Burn opened fire onto its tail, making sure to hit the damaged parts.

"Kid, that dinky rifle ain't going to do anything other than piss off that thing and attract it to us." Smith said, and Burn spoke, "If I hit for the exposed parts, maybe I could disable its tails." As the scorpion continued on its rampage, a truck flew past the duo as it rammed right into the scorpion's face.

The scorpion, in response, picked up the truck and chucked it at Burn and Smith's location. The two ducked as the truck landed next to them. "Well, the poor bastard that did that had some balls."

Burn ignored Smith and rushed over to the truck, and he noticed that the driver of the truck was the same driver of the truck that Burn had put Art in. The driver unbuckled as she looked over to him and said, "Hey Burn..."

Burn pulled the driver out of the truck while Smith snuck over to a weapon's crate to retrieve an RPG. Burn spoke, "Where's Art?" The driver replied as Burn grabbed a medicine kit from a pile of them that had spilled out of a nearby crate.

"Res...residential district...shelter twelve, where your parents are." The driver said as Burn tended her wounds, lucky for her, they weren't that bad and even an idiot like him could bandage her up.

He had also breathed a sigh of relief. The residential district was far off from the enclave's main force, and while some enclave forces were dropped there, they were pushed out by Jackal forces. It took a lot of bodies, but they got them to fall back to their industrial stronghold.

"Name?" Burn asked as Smith got next to them, RPG in hand and ready to fire. "Lisa...owww...the fact you didn't know that is slightly depressing."

"Why?" Burn asked, and Lisa chuckled before speaking, "We served in the same militia, and yet you never thought about learning everyone's names?" Burn looked away and said, "I didn't have time." That was a lie, of course, and Lisa said, "You are a terrible liar."

"Back-blast area clear?"

"Clear." Burn and Lisa said that at the same time as Smith fired, the rocket smashed into the scorpion's tail and caused parts of it to break off, the tail flopping down as the thing suddenly rushed at the group.

"Run!" Burn said that as he picked up Lisa and ran along with Smith, the other Jackal forces tried to help but were either crushed by the robot scorpion or sent flying as it targeted the three of them.

"Well, congrats, Sarge, you pissed off the giant scorpion!" Burn said as he turned and saw that the scorpion was strangely backing away from them as it snapped at the air, even roaring at it.

"What's happening to it?" Burn asked as Lisa lazily pointed above the scorpion as the trio saw their leader hover above it before slamming down and stabbing his blade through the machine's head.

Piercing through the armor and causing the machine to finally go down, as their leader jumps off and heads towards the shelter, the young jackal exits out of a hiding spot as their leader looks down at the small jackal.

"Is this the only survivor?" Their leader said this as he holstered his blade and picked up the small child. Burn hesitantly spoke up after kneeling to their leader, "Ye, yes, my lord."

Their leader held the child tightly before flying off, and Burn kicked the giant scorpion and spoke, "Stupid machine." Lisa spoke as Smith scavenged some supplies. "Can you please put me down?"

Burn puts down Lisa as the trio relaxes as some other trucks pull in and offload additional troops and supplies. Burn looked up to the sky as the clouds started to darken, like it was going to rain, but it never rained.

"That...doesn't look good." Smith said as it started to rain heavily and thunder started to strike, though they all guessed that this had something to do with the enclave.

__________________________________

Tails sat inside the large transport that had rescued them from the faceship; to his left were Gadget, the surviving restoration squads, and the rescued slaves, though only two squads had survived due to the arrival of the Enclave's monster, that being Frank Horrigan.

To his right were Whisper and Silver, who were currently watching over Tangle due to her getting injured while trying to fight Horrigan. She was knocked out cold, and it would be some time before she was back on her feet.

In the middle of the transport stood the badnik that had saved them all. Tails stood up and walked over to the badnik as it looked around. "So what exactly are you, and why did you save us?" Tails asked as the Badnik bowed.

"Eggbot Governor General Delta, commander of the northern EggMan Empire." The badnik said before continuing, "And to answer your second question, I determined that to make sure that the EggMan empire continues on in the face of the Enclave, that it must align with the heroes."

Gadget stood up and spoke, "I think I recognize you, well, your model; the resistance destroyed some of you during the war." Delta looked down as Gadget spoke, "Oh, sorry."

Delta turns to Gadget and speaks, "It is fine; war is war, and you were simply following orders; I hold no malcontent for you and the restoration." Silver got up and walked over as well before asking, "So why weren't you called back by Metal Sonic?"

"Communications problems, and even without the problems, I wouldn't go due to the fact that I would have believed Metal Sonic was using the disappearance of our leader to take over the empire." Delta responded, and Tails asked, "What about during the metal virus?"

"Even more communications problems; the storms on the northern coast knock out all communications methods frequently; it's only recently we've known about what's going on." Delta said as everyone then heard banging coming from one of the transport's cargo units.

"Did someone board the ship without us knowing?" Gadget asked as he grabbed his wispon while Whisper got in front of Tangle. Delta unholstered a large, glowing axe as he walked to the cargo unit.

He raised his axe as the door opened before immediately canceling his swing as he and everyone else saw that it was simply Orbot and Cubot, with Cubot acting like he was completely wasted.

"Orbot? Cubot? How did you two get on here?" Delta asked as Orbot got in front of Cubot as the yellow robot banged his head against the wall, "When the transport was dropping you off, me and Cubot used an old spring to launch ourselves into the transport."

"And you were just hiding in a storage unit?" Gadget asked, and Orbot nodded before speaking. "Of course, we believed you may have been Enclave personnel, and we couldn't risk the data being taken by the Enclave."

"Data?" Tails asked, and Delta released a mechanical chuckle as Orbot explained, "All data from the faceship has been installed into Cubot here, though the side effect has put him into something similar to a drunk stupor."

"Why Cubot, though?" Whisper asked, and Delta spoke, "Protocol Idiot Savant: All data is to be installed into Cubot to avoid capture in case the EggNet was breached or EggMan was captured." Silver then spoke as he gestured to Cubot, "Why would anyone install valuable data into Cubot? That doesn't make any sense."

"By asking that question, you essentially answered it yourself." Delta said before Orbot spoke up while Cubot fell down, "Also, Cubot's storage capacity is extremely large to store said data, though it did come at the cost of his intellect."

"So, what are we going to do now? If we return to the east, we will be shot out of the sky by practically everyone; the west is a ghost town, and the south is a war zone." Tails said, and Delta spoke as he then projected a hologram onto the floor, said hologram being the northern continent.

"Northern Command of the EggMan Empire is where I am taking you all; it is still firmly under the Empire's control and is free from the taint of the Enclave; it shall serve as a new base for you all."

"We don't have any winter equipment; we'll freeze out there!" Gadget said, and Delta nodded before speaking. "That is why EggMan constructed the station far underground, making it so that none of the equipment and technology would freeze over while the cold acts as a natural defense."

"Won't people start questioning the restoration if they start seeing badniks and EggMan ships appearing out of nowhere?" Whisper asked, and Delta responded, "People will start questioning the restoration once the Enclave shows its colors, and Northern Command has an underground tram system that connects to the other command stations in the world."

Delta then showed a holographic map of the world: "The West and Eastern Commands were destroyed during the war, but Southern Command is still functioning to a certain degree thanks to Jackalstan forces occupying it."

"So we can take a tram to the southern continent and right into the heart of Jackalstan?" Tails speaks, and Delta nods before speaking, "No, it still needs to be drained due to leads and blockage, but even if we could your numbers are small, and I doubt even you all will be able to change the course of this war, but with my support, it is possible."

"Well, let's get over there to try and tell Amy about the enclave!" Silver said before Delta shook his head, "Northern Command forces still need to be fully reactivated, along with possibly having the factories produce restoration equipment so that when the truth is revealed and the restoration inevitably recruits more people, it would need supplies."

"So you give us supplies and your help; do we have to do anything in return because I doubt this is coming from the deepest parts of your circuitry?" Whisper said as Delta replied, "I would like to retrieve EggMan's body from San Francisco; he must be given a proper burial."

"Umm....alright, not what I was expecting, but sure." Gadget said as Delta responded, "Wonderful. I will begin production of restoration weaponry and vehicles once we land at Control Station North."

Everyone then hears thunder, and Delta says, "Storms are commonplace on the northern continent, but scanners detect that these storms are not natural; the best guess is that the Enclave has access to some form of weather control device."

"Now I'm wondering what else the Enclave has in its hands." Tails said, and Silver nodded before speaking. "They must have some powerful tech if they were able to take over the world in the future; perhaps we're just seeing a fraction of what they have."

"That is exactly it." Orbot said as he went amongst the group before continuing, "EggMan theorized that all we are seeing is nothing but a fraction of the Enclave's military power; if we didn't store the data from the faceship into Cubot, its power may have been increased drastically."

"Thank Chaos that Cubot is an idiot." Whisper said, and Cubot rubbed his head before trying to speak, "Huh? What? Who?" He said, before promptly falling face down on the ground and raising a hand, "I'm fine."

Delta walked away before speaking, "I want you all to know something though: if the restoration betrays me or strays to a different path during this war, I will destroy it to preserve EggMan's dream."

Delta entered the co*ckpit of the transport while Tangle started to wake up. Whisper immediately rushed to her side and spoke, "You're awake; how are you feeling?" Tangle rubbed the back of her head before speaking, "Chaos, getting punched by Horrigan felt like getting hit by a semi-truck."

"We thought you would be knocked out for longer than that!"

"Eh, nothing can keep this lemur down for long!"

"Question: Is Horrigan a robot? Because I don't think a normal human can be that tall, strong, or that tanky." Gadget asked, and Tails shrugged. "We don't really know; when we first encountered Horrigan, he saved us and helped civilians into one of the last remaining shuttles."

"Amy even thanked him when we were on Angel Island, though I wonder if she will regret it once the war starts." Silver said and Tails spoke, "I just hope we can get to the southern continent before the enclave wins and with enough forces to make sure we can help Jackal forces."

"Me too; most restoration forces are on the continent, along with most of the council; we can't risk losing that many people." Gadget said, and Whisper said, "Exactly. It would take months, maybe even a year, for the restoration to raise as many soldiers as it does now."

"Didn't the council start a massive draft before the Enclave called it in?" Tails asked, and Gadget spoke, "Yeah, I voted against it, but Council Member Sticks argued the fact that they couldn't risk the restoration being in a weak position just in case the Enclave attacked."

"And she still went to the southern continent?" Silver said, and Gadget replied, "She's not the smartest tool in the shed, though she is definitely the most prepared in case of the scenario of an enclave attack." Whisper chuckled before nodding in agreement.

"I wonder how far the Enclave has gotten into Jackalstan; if they haven't gotten that far, then maybe we could help reinforce Jackalstan's defenses." Tails said, but Gadget spoke up: "Last time I checked, the Enclave has started to attack the defensive lines, so our best chance would be fortifying the cities instead."

"Agree, the cities would be easier to hold than the fields; it was effective against EggMan in the war; it should be effective against the enclave." Whisper said as they felt the transport thud. Delta walks out of the co*ckpit before opening the door to show a massive hanger bay.

“Woooh…” Silver said as everyone walked out the hanger, seeing tons of other transports along with EggMan airships, “This was all hidden here!?” Gadget yelled as Delta nodded, “Yes. While sad they were never used during the war, they can finally be used to fight a greater evil.”

“This is way better than what we would have gotten at the faceship.” Tails said, and Delta stopped, emitting a beep before speaking, “Would you all like some delicacies? While on our way here, I researched what you organics eat.”

“What was that beep about?” Whispered asked, and Delta spoke, “Confirming the detonation of the faceship and eliminating the beast that I had fought.” Tangle then spoke up after gasping, “But what about the mechanized Mobians there, and maybe there were human workers there too!”

“The mechanized Mobians were akin to walking corpses outfitted with cybernetics; it was a mercy, and there were no human workers; much of the site was automated, and the organics that were there were on the ships that would be out of the faceship detonation’s range.”

“Maybe we could have reversed the effects?” Silver said and Delta spoke, “If we have more time and are able to capture some, then I’ll look into the possibility of releasing them, but this is not the time. We have a war to win and a nation to save, and I have a friend to rescue.”

“Wait…Infinite?” Tails asked, and Delta nodded before speaking. “Yes, he is a friend and smarter than all of you to realize the Enclave are not the saviors they portray themselves as.”

“What’s the first course of action?” Gadget asked, and Delta responded, “Securing additional restoration forces, maybe even G.U.N. remnants, we need as much manpower as we can get.”

“Why not just produce thousands of badniks and chuck them at the enclave?" Tangle said and Delta spoke, “Had to pull out some old designs along with building new ones, EggMan never had robots specifically meant for fighting a real military force, hence why he struggled during the war against the G.U.N. and other forces and had to rely on Infinite.”

“Recruit more people; you got it.” Gadget said, and as Delta continued to lead them around the base, Tails wondered how Sonic was doing and if Blaze had begun mobilizing her army…

Chapter 26: Planning, Interviews and Research

Chapter Text

Blaze slept peacefully in her bed. The last few days had been stressful since she had to start preparing her forces to go help the restoration (the parts that weren't tricked) defeat some faction called 'The Enclave.'

Apparently, they had appeared during a virus and helped contain it, and their containment method involved glassing and bombing most of the western continent along with killing anyone that had been infected by the virus.

Sonic also told her that not only was EggMan dead, but that the Enclave has all seven of the Chaos Emeralds in their grasp. Blaze didn't want to believe any of that, but considering it came from Tails, she knew it was most likely true.

Blaze heard her alarm clock start to blair, which was weird since it wasn't 6:00 am, and she went to go turn it off before Sonic stormed into the room and yelled, "Wakey, wakey kitty!" This causes Blake to immediately jump out of bed and accidentally set her nightstand on fire.

"Sonic!" Blaze said, and Sonic shrugged as Blaze quickly put out the fire, thanks to always having a fire extinguisher on hand since this wasn't the first time this had happened to her.

"Anyways, ready to start preparing to kick the Enclave's butt back to whatever hole they came from?" Sonic asked, and Blaze sighed before speaking. "Sonic, it's 4:45 in the morning; I need more sleep."

"Oh, come on, we don't have time for sleep; we've got a world to save and a new bad guy to defeat, and hey, at least the Enclave is pretty normal when compared to EggMan and everyone else we've fought." Sonic said as he grabbed onto Blaze before Blaze pushed him back before speaking, "Let me get dressed first; I can't just walk outside with nothing but pajamas on."

"Oh, come on, you look good enough!"

Blaze turned to Sonic before speaking, "Says the hedgehog that wears nothing but red shoes and white gloves." Sonic tried to retort but sighs and speaks, "Okay, fair point. Just don't spend so much time in the closet."

"Who am I? Amy?" Blaze said, and Sonic spoke quickly, "Wait what?" Blaze gives Sonic a smug look before stepping into the closet. Sonic leans against the door while speaking, "So, um, do you have room service?"

"What!?" Blaze said, and Sonic continued, "Well, it's just that you're the princess, and I'm kind of famished, so I'm just wondering..." Blaze peaks her head out of the closet and says, "This is a castle, not a hotel."

"Alright, alright..." Sonic said, and after some time, Blaze stepped out and spoke, "Now we can get to work." The two stepped out of Blaze's room and into the large halls of the castle, with Sonic looking at some of the decorations hanging on the castle walls.

"Always forget how nice your place is." Sonic said, and Blaze nodded before speaking, "Thank you, and I had the castle cleaned up since I was originally going to invite you all for a party, though with what you have told me, I guess you all have been busy."

"I mean, living through the zombie apocalypse before getting run off by some paramilitary group isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world." Sonic said before speaking, "Also...also...Shadow's dead; I forgot to tell you..."

"Huh?" Blaze said as she looked over to Sonic and started questioning him, "How did he die?" Sonic rubbed the back of his head and spoke, "Me, him, Omega, and an Enclave General named Song were fighting off zombots when he was infected. Song saw this and quickly picked me up and ordered some giant orbital laser to strike Shadow."

"The Enclave got lucky; it was the perfect scenario for the Enclave where they could kill one of us along with having an easy defense against us, saying they did it on purpose." Blaze said as the two passed by a massive window.

Most of the windows in the castle had either good or perfect views of the city below. Sonic looked out the window and spoke, "Blaze, if the Enclave somehow wins...how many refugees could Sol take in?"

"If it does come down to that, we'll take in as many as we can." Blaze said as they continued to the communications room that she had invested in creating trans-dimensional communications systems so that she would know what was happening on Mobius.

Though it wasn't complete until recently, when Tails contacted them to speak about the enclave, he quickly went silent after that. Sonic hoped his buddy was safe and that Tails had simply gone quiet to hide.

As they entered the communications room, Blaze headed over to the main console and tried to contact Tails again, but failed. Sonic spoke, "I-Is everything alright?"

"Yes, Sonic, everything is alright, and are you..."Blaze said before Sonic interrupted, "Worried about my little brother? Yes! What if the Enclave got to him and made him disappear because he knew too much...and now I'm starting to sound like Sticks, aren't I?"

"Who?" Blaze asked as she tried again and again until they eventually did get a signal. Blaze tapped into it and tensed up when she saw EggMan's logo flash up on the screen.

"I don't like that, not one bit." Sonic said as the screen then changed to show Tails spinning around in a chair before seeing them. He spoke as he brought out a clipboard, "Oh! Hey guys, how's it going?"

"Tails, are you using EggMan equipment?" Sonic asked, and Tails spoke before gesturing for someone to come over. "Yeah, while we were trying to salvage the production facility of the faceship, EggMan Empire remnants saved us and brought us to their base."

The sound of a badnik walk plays over the console's speakers as an advanced badnik appears behind Tails. Blaze doesn't recognize it, but Sonic does. "An EGG? Oh, I don't like where this is going."

"Greetings, Sonic. I am EGG Delta, and if it weren't for me, then your brother and friends would be dead; you wouldn't know, and the Enclave would have continued to go on their genocide without anyone to oppose them, so don't take that tone with me."

"Alright..." Sonic said, and Blaze spoke. "Greetings, Delta. I am Princess Blaze of Sol, and Tails probably have already told you that I am mobilizing my forces to help in the restoration's fight against the Enclave."

"It is good to meet you, and I hold no ill will for you due to your empire not fighting against the glorious EggMan empire during the war. Your help is greatly appreciated, and when this war is over and the enclave is reduced to nothing but ash, I'll make sure that Sol is compensated."

"That is...comforting, now; what is our first plan?" Blaze asked, and Delta then flashed a battle map onto the screen and spoke, "Once Gadget finishes gathering as much manpower from the restoration bases and outposts, I restart my forces, and you fully mobilize, we'll head to the southern continent through both the air and the tram connecting both North and South Command."

"We go in fast and hit hard against the enclave? Sounds good. I can't wait to show those black armored freaks how we deal with bad guys; we'll fight them like we fought the Black Arms together." Sonic said and Delta spoke, "Logic states that friendship does not win wars, but knowing your group whenever they join together with the forces of EggMan or others seemingly always comes out on top."

"Exactly. The Enclave may look scarier than EggMan, but they definitely don't have the experience fighting against us that EggMan had, and most of the stuff looks like it was meant for fighting real militaries and not us."

"If I may voice my opinion, what else does this plan entail? It can't just be us heading over to the southern continent and hopefully catching the enclave by surprise." Blaze said, and Delta spoke as he showed a more in-depth battle plan.

"The air fleet and any forces on it will be the first ones in; their objective would be to reinforce the capital until the rest of our forces arrive so that we can push the enclave back along with retaking other cities." Delta said this before showing another battle map.

"Once we do that, we'll fortify the south, east, and northern continents until we're ready to invade the western continent, though due to the destruction on the west, we may have to wait some time until our organic forces can survive in the west."

"And what if we fail in the south?" Blaze asked, and Delta spoke, "We evacuate and fortify the east and north and try the west; the enclave's main base is most likely located on the western continent; if we take it out, then we significantly weaken the enclave's power."

"Sounds good, though one question: how is the war in Jackalstan going?" Sonic asked, and Delta spoke, "Considering what the Enclave is broadcasting, it doesn't look the best for the jackals..."

_________________________________________

Enclave News Network:

The war in Jackalstan is nearing its end as Enlcave forces push into the capital city of the anarchistic empire ruled by the terrorist Infinite the Jackal.

Would you like to know more? Of course, that is why you are listening to ENN! With today's news being interviews with the brave men and women currently bringing democracy and freedom to the deserts of Jackalstan, let's cut to it!

A camera view cuts in pointed at the ground before it is raised to show an Enclave DAT standing next to a stockpile of munitions, a plasma rifle resting on his shoulder as his visor became see-through, and he speaks as he adjusts the plasma rifle.

"This is just fox doctrine in action; we drop in, secure the city, and let the normal guys and armor occupy it for a little before the MPs and securitrons take the place and bring order. We used to rely on the vertibirds, but now? We can just strike from the skies."

The camera view changes as it shows an Enclave Ranger resting inside a destroyed building as he paints some talley marks on his helmet. He speaks as he places the helmet back on.

"Back where we came from, operations like this were tough; it really was like a war, and it was what I thought it would be, but now it's like a chore. Every block is another group of terrorists that believe their leader is some sort of god when he is just some dude that had a little too much of his power go to his head."

It then changes as it shows a PA soldier lifting up a mini-gun as the rest of his squad sits around at a checkpoint. He speaks, his voice distorted by the helmet to be deeper and more mechanical than a normal human voice.

"Well, I think we're simply the best. All that bullsh*t about the heroes, but when the sh*t really hits the fan, who do they call? They call real boys and girls that know how to fight; that's us, and, oh Lordy, do we know how to fight, especially urban warfare."

It then switches to two DATs as they clean off blood from their armor; the first one speaks as he checks his tactical flamer, clearly being more joyful than the other soldiers around him.

"Does the Enclave belong in Jackalstan? Yeah, we're bringing freedom to these people, and I sure as hell know that I belong here. Tell ya that." The soldier next to him speaks as he finishes cleaning himself up: "Yeah, and we especially belong in the capital; see, this entire country is going to go down like dominoes once we take this place, and when that last domino falls, then we can make this place better."

It switches again to show another Enclave Ranger standing in front of some artillery pieces as they fire off into far-distant targets.

"I personally think that many of these jacks would rather be dead than free; last night I had to bash in a jack's skull because he rushed me while my squad was trying to help them out of a destroyed building. It's crazy."

The camera switches once more to show an Enclave robotics officer standing over some broken robots, the yellow visor of his gasmask staring straight into the camera while he fixes Mr. Gutsy.

"I always hated the f*cking deserts, especially when we're on the attack. The sand gets everywhere, especially in some of the robot's armor. I question how in the world EggMan operated in the desert. Oh, and I guess liberating this country is at least fun."

The camera switches once more as it shows a DAT trooper standing in front of a truck carrying jackal civilians.

"I'm just saying we're the only ones in this world fighting against its evil; sure, the restoration is getting in on this, but that's because this country's leader is a mad man and stole their precious Master Emerald."

It cuts once more to show a vertibird pilot as his aircraft is fixed up by some protectrons, He takes off his helmet and speaks before putting on some jet black shades.

"I'd have to say this place has a pretty unique culture and looks pretty when I'm in the air, but you know what's even better? delivering freedom from the sky with the power of 25mm. I mean, who doesn't like freedom?"

The camera shakes as it turns as a giant robo-scorpion walks past along with a continent of smaller robo-scorpions. Behind them marches a squad of PA units clad in modified APA MKII, their legs somewhat bent while their helmets are slightly elongated.

Each of them bore the symbol of two plasma rifles crossing over a wolf's skull. The vertibird pilot spoke as he gestured to the group.

"Maybe they don't, think all they want to do is kill terrorists but ain't nothing wrong with that, hell, I love killing terrorists too, just not like those boy. Though I will say one thing I like about those boys, they are some real patriots."

The camera cuts out as Enclave E shows up, and the announcer speaks once more as it starts to show some benefits that one can get if they join the Enclave, ranging from payments to completely free healthcare.

This is what you get if you join the

Enclave, along with the opportunity to adventure around the world and possibly to other worlds! Will you answer the call and spread freedom around the world? Head to your nearest Enclave recruitment office and join now!

If you would like to learn more about how you can become a true patriot and help spread freedom and democracy, visit our new website, continue watching ENN, or maybe listen to Enclave radio.

The road to service in the name of God and freedom is up to you. Join the enclave; join democracy!

__________________________________

Agent Adam looked around the temporary office that was sent up for him while he was in Jackalstan. Standing alongside him was Agent Moses, who currently held a pile of photos that were taken by an Enclave DAT squad after they found a mutant shelter in the capital.

They obviously killed everything that moved inside the shelter before regrouping with other enclave forces that were also dropped inside the city. Adam spoke as he looked at some of the photos.

"You ever wonder if we made our soldiers too violent?" Moses shrugged and spoke as he placed the photos on Adam's desk. "I think so, but that's only in battle; otherwise, they're pretty chill."

Adam sat down at his desk and spoke as he looked at the list of commanders that have been deployed to Jackalstan. That is, before he noticed that Orwich was still at Fort Anderson, he spoke, "Didn't I give Orwich a direct order for her to get her ass over to this God-forsaken country?"

"You did, and Orwich disobeyed it." Moses said calmly as Adam placed a hand on his helmet before speaking, "Did she stay behind because of their project or because of their children?"

"Probably both; she's been really protective of their robots, and the project is nearing completion and should add another ace up our sleeve once we begin the true war for this planet."

"That would be another project done after Steel Rain, but Project Avenging Angels and whatever the 10th is doing is apparently nowhere near completion. On the topic of the 10th, have any of our agents found out about what they are doing?" Adam asked, and Moses shook his head before replying.

"No, the 10th are quite tight-lipped about their special project, and any agents I contacted on the other side of the portal said they tried to get to Vault 103 but were turned away by a large number of guards."

"What about their divisions they send over here? Anyone we know about them?" Adam asked, and Moses reached into his armor and tossed some photos to Adam, showing off units of the 10th's experimental divisions sent over.

All of them were clad in modified APA MKII power armor, and all had tons of blood covering their armor. Moses spoke as he pulled out a folder with all the information he and the other agents could gather on them.

"Apparently they are the 10th's personal shock troopers that are apparently expendable; some medics tried to help a wounded one out, but it refused and just limped back to its squad; a couple hours later, and the guy...or thing, is perfectly fine."

"Great, any news on the courier's location?" Adam asked, and a portal opened up as Adam and Moses drew their sidearms and blasted into the portal. After emptying both their mags, they both heard a voice speak through it.

"Friendly, friendly!" They heard as, out of the portal, the Courier stepped out, blood covering his armor and tons of talley marks on his helmet.

"What in Christ's holy name?" Moses asked, and the Courier spoke, "I heard the call; what did you guys want?" Agent Adam, shaking off the fact that a portal had just opened up inside his office, spoke, "Where have you been? I've been trying to get to you for days!"

"Congratulations! You now know what it feels like to be the Mojave Brotherhood. Anyways, I've been busy just chilling, killing, and trying to get to Subject-RD."

"Subject-RD? Who or what the hell is Subject-RD?" Moses asked, and the Courier just slowly stepped back through the portal as it closed, and Adam turned to Moses and spoke.

"I want you to gather as much information on Subject-RD as possible; it could possibly relate to the attacks from the beast in Fort Anderson." Adam asked, and Moses spoke as he nodded before leaving the office.

As Adam looked through the folder, the door to his office opened, and in walked Amy Rose. She spoke as she rested her hammer against her leg, "We're ready to start moving forward into Jackalstan."

Adam looked up at Amy and smiled. He didn't think they would be ready this fast, but he couldn't complain since it meant that they could possibly kill the heroes even faster...

Chapter 27: Assault and Robot Protection

Chapter Text

Agent Adam looked over at the other leaders in the command room. On his left were those of the Enclave, outside of Dr. Linsey, and those on the right were those of the Restoration. In the center of the command room was a hologram that displayed Jackalstan's capital.

"The plan is simple: Enclave and Restoration forces will smash through the remaining defense lines surrounding the capital before linking up with Lieutenant General Owen and his forces."

Knuckles spoke after chuckling for half a minute, "Well, me and my men are going to be the first ones. Infinite messed with the wrong echidna when he and his goons stole the Master Emerald."

A laugh was heard on the left as General Song looked down at the mutant. "Confident that the jackals will simply let you run over them, butcher?" Knuckles glared at Song, and Adam felt that this meeting would end up like the meeting in the Restoration HQ.

It wouldn't be Moses shooting mutants this time since he's too busy trying to find anything on Subject-RD and its possible connections to the beast that had roamed the halls of Fort Anderson before disappearing.

"Who did you just call butcher?!" Knuckles said as he was held back by Amy and Espio as Major Nicholas spoke, clad in his own suit, APA MKII, with two of the 10th's experimental division soldiers standing behind him, clad in modified suits of APA MKII.

"May I remind you that you lost 80% of your forces during the disastrous Operation Typhoon, or did you just forget your failure?" Nicholas said as Knuckles broke free and leapt at Nicholas before one of the experimental soldiers got in front of Knuckles and slammed him against the table.

Everyone outside of Adam immediately gets ready for a fight, but while they are prepared to kill each other, with General Alison drawing out a plasma defender along with a cutlass, Adam took notice that the experimental soldier growled at Knuckles.

It also allowed Adam to get a better look at the

modifications of the armor, taking note of the fact that the soldier's power armor helmet is elongated along with his, or possibly its, legs being bent.

Adam spoke as he unholstered his sidearm and fired it into the ground, catching everyone off guard. "Let's not spill each other's blood when we're so close to victory; most of us are adults here, and some of us have led armies, so let's play nice and not fight amongst each other."

Everyone calmed down as the experimental soldier let go of Knuckles as he went over to the right side. Before the conversation could start up again, everyone heard the sounds of powered armor boots.

While most were excused, Adam smiled underneath his helmet as the door to the command room opened, and there was a woman clad in T-51b power armor, painted jet black with an orange visor instead of the normal grey.

Alongside her was a cyberdog, and outside of the command room, Adam was able to make out the legs of a C-27 Humanoid Combat platform. Adam spoke as the woman stood across the map from him.

"Agent James, it's good to see that you decided to take your vacation here." Adam said, because while the 10th may have the Courier, the DIA has the Lone Wanderer, as she was called before joining the Enclave.

Now she wasn't as powerful as the Courier, but she did have some pieces of technology that the Courier didn't have, making her valuable in a way that the Courier never was, as well as the fact that she joined the Enclave while the Courier aligned with one of the Enclave's sworn enemies.

The DIA did discuss sending out Agent James to hunt down the Courier but disagreed due to the Enclave needing her knowledge, weaponry, and technology that she had on her; besides, she most likely wouldn't be able to kill the Courier.

Adam agreed with the sentiment that many DIA personnel shared that the only person who could kill the Courier was the Courier himself, which held true back then and most likely still holds true now.

"I got tired of the endless amounts of paperwork and wanted to get back into the action." Agent James said, and Adam quickly got the meeting back on track. The meeting would end with everyone satisfied with the plan, though for different reasons.

The restoration would mostly take up the first wave, led by Knuckles, of course, and the Enclave part of the first wave would be led by General Song due to his having the Chaos Emeralds, and the forces under his command are the only veteran forces on Mobius.

The second wave would be made up of only restoration forces, those being led by Amy and the insane badger named Sticks, who, for some reason, was given an entire 26 divisions under her command.

Most of the mutants had 26 divisions under their command, with Knuckles being the exception and having 31 divisions, so the mutants did outnumber the Enclave forces by a large margin, though the Enclave's tech, strategy, and skills would still allow the Enclave to come out with a win.

The third wave would be all Enclave, with Alison leading her forces into the fray, a mixture of Enclave infantry divisions, robot divisions, and armored divisions. Her leading 31 divisions should be able to help clean up the Jackalstan capital.

The third wave would also be made up of the 10th's forces, both normal and experimental divisions, which made Adam worry that the restoration may realize too soon that the Enclave aren't really as benevolent as they appear.

After the meeting was done, the only people that remained in the room were Agent Adam and Agent James. Agent Adam spoke as he tossed James a folder, "I just want to ask you something."

"Is it about the alien spaceship?" James said nonchalantly as she looked at the folder, which contained files and notes about the Enclave's research into airships and spacecraft.

"Correct. I believe it will be very useful in the upcoming war, especially its laser." Adam said, and James spoke, "Fine, you can use the ship; just let me get my stuff out of there."

"Stuff?" Adam asked, and James laughed as she walked out of the room. "I used it as my house ever since I left Vault 101, and it may take some time because, well, unlike the 10th's pet, I can't carry everything."

She left the room, and Adam looked down at the map once more before getting his pip-pad, connecting to the map, and downloading it before leaving the command room himself.

He decided that he wanted to be part of the assault, which also meant he would need to get himself a better weapon than his gauss pistol...

__________________________________

Orwich slept peacefully in their bed; she had just gotten done tinkering with some of EggMan's designs, including something called an Egg Emperor, redesigning it to fit more in line with the Enclave's style.

It was still in the planning stages, but she had to make changes, such as replacing the lance weapon with an enlarged Tesla Cannon and the shield being enhanced with technology that the Enclave commonly used to make force fields.

The body and head were a mixture of APA MKI, MKII, and MKIII, along with some hints of the Freedom Prime robots and C-27 humanoid combat robots, which should give a much more powerful and terrifying look.

Though it would still require a human pilot, which also led to Orwich getting put into thinking about a new type of warfare that High Command is interested in, that being Mech Warfare.

She was given a blank check and told to run wild, and considering the schematics, documents, and designs the Enclave had stolen, she was spoiled for choice about what to do.

Though she had to balance this out by taking care of and teaching her new family, which, outside of Metal Sonic still being somewhat detached from the others, has been fun and made Orwich feel giddy inside.

Orwich then felt someone tap on their shoulder and woke up to see the dark blue eyes of Metal Tails staring into her. She got up and rubbed her eyes while speaking, "Hey little guy, something wrong?"

The fox robot pressed its hands together before speaking, "Me and Amy made something for you..." Orwich smiled, got up from her bed, and followed Metal Tails into the dark hallways of Fort Anderson.

When they got to the common room and Metal Tails opened the door, Orwich's smile grew larger as her eyes laid upon two objects, one being an adorable drawing of her and the rest of the Metal series playing together.

She walked over to Metal Amy, grabbing the drawing, and while there were some mistakes, she still loved it. She hugged both the little robots before standing up and turning to the second object that towered over them all, which was actually their power armor.

On the armor's left shoulder hung a small cape with the emblem of an APA MKII helmet over intersecting wrenches and cogs, and underneath it was written, 'Genius Officer, Loving Mother, and butt-kicking warrior.'

On the other shoulder was a different story, with a collection of tools and machinery attached to it. She guessed that all of it was so that if she needed to do repairs in the field, she would always have access to the right equipment.

The front of the torso bore the same emblem as the cape, while the back of their armor contained some form of communication device, and the eyes of their helmet were repainted to be an ice blue instead of a bright yellow.

"Wow...I'm just..." Orwich tried to put into words their gratitude, but she knelt down and hugged their little robots once more, though this loving moment was interrupted as Orwich heard what sounded like a tire screech outside the room.

"Who's that?" Metal Amy asked, and Orwich stood up and looked outside to see a group of securitrons waiting for her, the lead one's monitor bearing a police cap instead of the Enclave logo.

"Warden? Why are you here? You should be in Colorado." Orwich asked, and the police AI responded while gesturing to Orwich's kids, "Here I am asking you why you ordered a series of metal animals when Colorado's production facilities could have been focused on making more useful automatons."

Orwich decided to play along with the AI since she didn't actually order the Metal Series. Metal Tails sort of showed up at her quarters, though she definitely isn't complaining considering how much fun she has had raising them.

"Because they're awesome, because they're adorable, and because I didn't want Mecha and Metal to be alone." Orwich replied, and Warden replied as he gestured to the two robots currently there.

"Don't tell me you're treating them like your goddamn children."

"Bad word!" Metal Amy said, and Warden spoke as he activated his Gatling laser and aimed it at her. Orwich immediately got in front of her. "Silence, you animal, I didn't even get a choice in whether or not you should be produced because Doki is a blasted idiot."

"Who's Doki?" Metal Tails asked, and Orwich spoke, "Imagine your sister as a hologram and a...umm...something you shouldn't know about until you're older." WARDEN rolled into the room and was about to speak until everyone heard something rip apart his escort.

When Warden turned around, Orwich quickly hopped inside of her power armor and approached the securitron from behind and kicked it down. "No, no, no!" Warden yelled as he fell to the ground before trying to get up.

Orwich looked up and saw that Warden's escort was being ripped apart by Mecha and Metal Sonic, the two standing amongst the scrap of the AI's escort, with Mecha chuckling while Metal remained silent.

"Hey Mom." Mecha said as Warden tried to get up once more, but Orwich stepped on his back and spoke, "When I take my foot off, you will leave and never try and threaten me or my kids ever again, got it?"

WARDEN raises one of his hands, gives a thumbs up, and speaks as Orwich removes her foot. "You'll pay for this..." The AI got back up and rolled off as Orwich looked down at their kids, with Mecha walking over to Metal Tails and Amy before petting them on the heads.

"It seems like you two finished the gifts for mom; how do you like them?" Mecha asked, and Orwich smiled underneath their helmet and spoke as she gestured for Metal Sonic to come over. "I love them, and hey, maybe I'll take you all on a trip to Nuka World after all this is done."

Metal Tails, Amy and Mecha celebrate while Metal stays silent, though while Orwich smiles at her children celebrating, she does wonder how Agent Adam and the other generals are doing in Jackalstan, especially since she decided to stay at Fort Anderson...

__________________________________

General Song slammed down into a jackal bunker. Rounds plinked and ricocheted off his armor as he raised his hand, causing multiple jackals to burst into an open flame, not even being able to scream as they collapsed to the ground.

With a single slice from his halberd, a group of jackals fell to the ground, their heads rolling off as the others in the bunker either ran or backed up while never letting up on him, one even bringing up an RPG.

'Brave, very brave.' Song thought as he dodged the rocket before drawing his plasma pistol, which was being refitted back to its normal version and then its flamer variant.

Green plasma spits out from the pistol as it hits numerous jackals in the head, reducing them to nothing but steamy piles of goo. More jackals flee, but yet some still stand against him. He had to give it to the jackals and their steadfastness.

Though he knew that he had to pick up the pace and couldn't toy with the mutants since, from what he heard, the restoration half of the first wasn't doing so well, even if it had the support of Agent Adam, Agent James, and her companions, along with some sentinel suits.

He guessed that the tribal leader leading them had most likely charged right into a gun line considering his history with leading forces against fortified positions. Perhaps if the mutants invested in mobile artillery, they wouldn't always end up getting slaughtered when pushing against fortified positions.

He charged forth, slicing and dicing through the remaining mutants before breaking through the reinforced bunker door, the sun washing over him as he saw the chaos that his forces were currently dealing out to the jackal forces.

He walked through the trenches as he saw his forces cleave through the mutants. He had placed his honor guard in command while he created a distraction by activating his super form, making sure that while the jackal forces focused on him, his forces would be able to move unimpeded by enemy fire.

Thus, they were able to move forward while he devastated the enemy forces. As he made additional jackals burst into flames, he heard the recognizable sound of a mini-nuke slam into one of the enemy's fortifications, reducing another bunker to nothing but rubble.

"General Song, mind lending us a hand because the jackal's defenses are proving harder to crack, even with throwing about a couple hundred mutant corpses at it, along with the sentinel suits, which were immediately taken out by anti-tank fire." Song heard Agent Adam speak over comms and replied as he flew into the sky.

It only took a couple seconds until he was able to see the massacre that the restoration forces were experiencing. Hundreds of dead mutants lay across the sand along some of their vehicles, with the destroyed bodies of the sentinel suits laying the closest to the jackal's defenses.

Now he could devastate them personally, but he did want to test that crystal the 10th gave him on organics for once, and so with a single thought, he connected to the minds of every Jackal defender before using the crystal on them.

Chaos immediately erupted amongst the enemy lines, with almost all the jackals guns going silent and the only ones still firing now turning on each other. Song descended downward as he walked towards the jackal defenses to personally witness the chaos.

"The voices! Make them stop, make them stop!" He heard a jackal stop as he walked over a trench. The jackals were seemingly going insane due to the effects of the crystal. Song didn't exactly know what they saw, but considering he saw some willingly turn their guns on themselves so they would stop seeing it, he assumed it was bad.

Unlike when he used the crystal against robotic enemies or those contaminated by the Metal Virus, he couldn't control what the mutants saw and was only able to target them with the crystal, with the crystal doing the rest of the work.

He looked back as he saw the restoration forces finally pushing up, with the tribal celebrating the fact that they had won, even though he was the one that had ordered hundreds of his men into the enemy lines, though that could have been either Agent Adams or James's doing.

When Agent Adam passed by him, he contacted him over a private channel and spoke, "How much was the tribal's doing, and how much was you or Agent James's doing?"

"We did a little bit of throwing bodies at the problem, but it was mostly the tribal's fault. I'm starting to question why the heroes even like him considering he does stuff like this." Adam replied before asking, "How's your force doing?"

"My honor guard should be cleaning up the enemy forces, then we can move to the other lines and then into the capital itself." Song answered as the two walked alongside each other.

Many of the jackal forces were still going insane, though they were being put out of their misery by restoration forces, though said forces weren't enjoying the job of putting down the jackals like the animals they were.

"You must have shown them something horrific if they are reacting to it like this, especially when some of them are just killing themselves to escape from seeing it." Adam said, and Song replied honestly.

"I do not know what the crystal showed them; against robotics, I can control it, but against organics, it seemingly has a mind of its own." Song said as he looked to the sky as multiple superfortresses flew high above them.

This war would most likely be coming to an end soon, and after this, the Enclave could get back to slowly spreading its control over the entire world...

__________________________________

Infinite was busy setting up a room for where he would teach his apprentice how to use the Phantom Ruby, with him deciding that he would give his apprentice the name Zero, which was his old name before he became Infinite.

Though while setting up, he felt a familiar feeling and took out the Phantom Ruby, only to hear the faint sound of screams echoing throughout his mind. Due to his strong will, he was able to push past the screams to try and figure out what was happening.

That's when it hit him. Someone else had access to the Phantom Ruby, or most likely, a prototype of it, and was currently using it. Considering the odds of his own forces having one and not telling him about it, he guessed that the Enclave had one in its grasp.

So Infinite focused on the prototype by using the original and felt something, like the prototype had been changed in one way or another, in a way that made it uncanny for him to perceive, all the while he focused his attention to not perceive any of the prototype's illusions.

Either the person controlling the prototype was trying to mess with him, or the prototype itself had a mind of its own and was trying to defend itself, but that wouldn't make sense unless someone had combined the prototype with something other than technology.

As he tried to focus more on the prototype, the screams got louder, the illusions got harder to make go away, and even a voice started to speak in some strange language that Infinite couldn't understand, but yet he pushed through, trying to get answers.

He eventually got a glimpse of who had the prototype—that being one of the Enclave's greatest leaders (or so he heard)—before the prototype seemingly kicked him out of viewing anymore.

Everything disappeared as Infinite pondered the phantom Ruby before releasing a long and drawn-out laugh before speaking to himself, "So the Enclave thinks it has all the power of the Phantom Ruby just from the prototype? Oh, when I meet you, General Song, I will show you what true power looks like."

He continued laughing as he started planning and getting himself ready so that when General Song enters the city and inevitably comes for him, he will be able to show Song what true fear looks like.

Then the Enclave would finally know who they're messing with....

Chapter 28: Superfortress down and Training Base Shell

Chapter Text

"Holy sh*t!" Max said that as he dove back into cover, a rocket flew over him and Jonah's heads, slamming into a nearby building and destroying a whole wall and exposing some of the force's food supplies.

"Welp, the freezer's gone." Max said as Jonah rolled his eyes and started to rain Gyrojets down the street, taking down any mutants that dared to exit out of the cover.

"You probably will still be able to eat BlamCo's Mac n Cheese; now help me kill these animals!" Jonah said, and Max spoke as the rest of their squad got into cover and started helping the two. "With what, this?" Jonah asked while showing his tactical flamer.

Jonah sighed, looked over to SSG Alex, and spoke, "Permission to go grab Max a less sh*t weapon?" SSG Alex staggered back a round hit his head, his head flying back before he took cover and spoke, "Permission granted, make it fast though! I don't want to let the enemy gain too much ground."

Jonah nodded and sprinted off towards one of the enclave's many supply depots in the industrial sector. He kicked down the door as some DATs and PA units left the building as he got up to the quartermaster.

"Collins, I need a weapon." Jonah said, and the quartermaster nodded before reaching into a crate and pulling out a plasma LMG and tossing it to Jonah.

Jonah smiled as he spoke while giving a sly salute to the quartermaster: "Thanks." He said before running away while the quartermaster just rolled his eyes before mumbling, "It's not like it's my bloody job."

Back with Jonah, he quickly ran back to his squad and slid into cover while tossing the plasma LMG to Max. He spoke as he felt his body hit the concrete barrier that he was using for cover.

"It seems like you guys are having fun." Max responded as he mounted the plasma LMG and started to rain hot plasma onto the incoming jackal hoard, with Jonah quickly rejoining in the task of making sure the mutants don't take any land in the industrial sector.

Though the fighting soon stopped when the mutants eventually pulled back, allowing the squad to relax for a second while Jonah looked up into the sky to see some superfortresses flying high above the city,.

"It seems like the cavalry has arrived." SSG Alex said, and Jonah nodded at the fact that once the reinforcements entered the city, it would fall in a day or two, with zero to barely any casualties on the enclave side.

"Less kills for us." Jonah heard Donovan say, As everyone heard the sound of powered armor boots and turned to see some of the strange Chemical Corps units that came in on vertibird, they felt...uncanny.

They looked mostly normal, but the legs and the helmet looked off. With the legs being bent and the helmet being elongated for no reason, it made Jonah wonder if there was a human underneath that armor or if it was something else.

The lead PA soldier walked up to SSG Alex and spoke, an enlarged ripper covered in guts in one of its hands: "SSG Alex, take your squad and join up with the rest of your company; you are going to be the first ones in."

Jonah and Max looked at the PA soldier while SSG Alex spoke, "First ones in where?" The PA soldier responds after chuckling grimly, "First ones to rush directly into City Square, good luck." The PA soldier walks off along with his squad as Jonah hears Donovan cackle.

"Oh boys, we're going to get some damn good action, knee deep in mutant bodies and bathing in mutant blood!" Donovan said as Ryan bashed him over the head while speaking, "Save your bloodlust for the real war, idiot."

Jonah and Max laughed as the squad started to move out, passing by some additional DAT squads and a M8 AGS, the tank commander waving at them as they passed, and Max waving back at the commander as they regrouped with the rest of their company.

"Alpha Company, Advance." Jonah heard as he saw a squad of normal PA soldiers clad in APA MKII stand on top of some rubble, with the paint job marking them as Captain Robert's and his squad.

And like every other time, Max and Jonah were sent ahead of their squad, though at least they had the company of some other poor bastards that were sent ahead since the other companies were currently busy using the recon elements of the division.

"Once more, me and you are getting sent ahead." Max said as the two moved up through the wrecked streets of the capital—that is, until they looked up to the sky and could only stare in shock as a superfortress went down.

"You've got to be sh*tting me. How did those bastards do it?" Max said as Jonah noticed something hovering above the superfortress as it went down—or someone.

Jonah immediately turned on comms before speaking as the superfortress started to hit the ground. "Infinite the Jackal is in the area; I repeat, he is in the area and has taken down a superfortress!"

A couple minutes passed before the company was given new orders: "Alpha company, change of plans; head to the downed superfortress and secure it!" Jonah and Max looked at each other and started running towards the crash site, which was marked on their HUD.

"I really don't want to try fighting that mutant." Jonah said, and Max responded as they regrouped with their squad while on their way there. "As long as we keep on praying, then we should be good, though I hope he pulls back for something else."

Jonah nodded, and as the company arrived at the crash site, jackal forces were already scrambling all over the wreckage, though they quickly went for cover as the company started an unrelenting advance towards the jackal forces.

Jonah held down the trigger as he sent gyrojet after gyrojet into the jackal forces, with Max switching out the plasma LMG for his flamethrower as their squad entered what remained of the superfortress's storage area.

As SSG Alex turned a corner, he was immediately lit up with ballistic fire, his armor only protecting him so much until he gave up and some rounds finally broke through the armor. Jonah quickly dragged him back while some of the others responded to the mutants in kind.

Thinking quickly, Jonah reached into some of his pouches and retrieved a super stimpak and med-x, along with some buffout. As Alex mumbled and flailed around, Jonah jammed the med-x into his neck before jamming the super stimpak in as well.

"This should heal you up." Jonah said as he gestured for Luke to guard Alex as Jonah went to help the others get revenge for injuring their staff sergeant.

Leaning around the corner, Jonah unloaded the rest of his magazine into the enemy's cover, which was a few steel crates that were quickly being reduced to nothing but scrap and ooze thanks to the squad's constant barrage on the mutant's position.

"Cover me!" Max said, and Jonah continued on raining gyrojets onto the mutant positions as Max rushed out before diving behind some cover. Jonah reloaded as some of the others took up his place.

Jonah reloaded as he heard a burst of flame and looked around the corner to see the mutant's position engulfed in green flame as Max stood up and spoke, "Mutants are dead!" He said it happily as the squad moved up, with Jonah and Luke carrying Alex.

As they carried Alex into the storage room, Jonah spoke while Max looked over the scarred bodies of the mutants. "So what exactly is in those canisters?" Jonah asked, and Max shrugged before speaking. "Don't know; it apparently came from the 10th Chemical Corps's toy box."

Everyone then heard a noise and immediately turned to see one of the walls blow open as a hoard of mutants flooded in along with an APC. The squad immediately takes cover while Jonah places Alex inside a container before firing upon the mutants.

Jonah fires upon the mutants before chucking a plasma grenade into the air, liquidating many and giving the APC some new scorch marks, though the APC quickly responded by almost turning him into a fine red paste.

Jonah looked around; he could ask any of his squad mates if they had anything that could take out the APC. A missile smashes into the APC's turret, and luckily, the mutants's APCs didn't have multiple cannons on them.

Though Jonah wondered where the missile came from, his thoughts were quickly answered as from behind the mutant reinforcements came some of the 10th's power armor units, which quickly got work as the lead soldier spoke, "Purge the mutant, make them fear their superiors!"

The soldiers assaulted the mutants, most of them wielding melee weapons and pistols of the plasma variety, though one of them did carry a missile launcher on its back, though it had switched it out for a super sledge.

After the surprise of the PA units wore off, Jonah's squad quickly opened fire on the mutants, who were now being attacked from the front and back, along with the fact that their APC was down.

As the mutant numbers quickly started to drop along with their morale, they broke and started splitting off in all directions, most being cut down in seconds, but some were able to escape as Jonah's squad looked up at the PA units.

"Umm, thanks for the help!" Max said as he waved at the lead unit, who was busy clearing gore from his ripper.

The lead unit nods and the squad runs off, with one of them strangely running on all fours, leaving the squad dumbfounded, and Donovan spoke as he looked down at some psycho, "Am I high or did one of them run on all fours?"

Max spoke, "No, and let's not question it; actually, let's just forget about what we just saw and continue on with our lives, agree?" Everyone nodded, and Jonah and Luke picked Alex back up as the squad continued on.

As the squad moved forward, they eventually got to where the bridge of the superfortress would have been, but now stood what seemed to be a hastily thrown-together command post, though all the mutants were dead as the company's captain and his squad stood there.

"Squad Whiskey, glad you all could make it here." The captain spoke while Jonah and Max laughed at one of the PA units, the soldier's name popping up on their HUD.

'Lieutenant Augustus Autumn.'

As the two laughed, the lieutenant turned to them, his helmet staring into them as he spoke. "What do you find funny, soldiers?" The two look away while still laughing. Max opens a private channel with Jonah and says, "It's the mutant lover!"

"Bet you he had dreams about the mutants."

"Oh, I bet he had one on the side until he had to kill it once the Enclave finally reunited with Raven Rock."

The two heard powered armored footsteps behind them, and Max immediately felt himself picked up by Autumn before being thrown to the ground while Captain Roberts spoke, "Autumn! Get back here now."

Autumn groans and says, "Respect your superiors, specialist." Autumn drops Max, and Max responds while getting up, "I respect myself, so does that count?"

"You're lucky you're still broadcasting to our channel, dipsh*t." Jonah said it, and Max laughed it off as the squad's two sergeants spoke with the captain, with the rest of the squad lounging around the command post.

Jonah and Max lay against some sandbags, and Jonah speaks, "Surprised we didn't run into the mutant's leader; you think he would have been here, trying to stop us."

Max stays silent for a few seconds before speaking: "Beta and Charlie have encountered him, and by the way they sound, they're not liking it."

That's when the captain gave them new orders for the company to go help Beta and Charlie companies, which caused Jonah to groan while Max said a quick prayer for himself.

Jonah just had to open his mouth....

__________________________________

"So, umm...do you think we will be able to get to Jackalstan in time?" Tangle asked as Whisper tinkered with her wispon before speaking, "We will, especially with Delta launching a fleet and the tram almost being repaired."

"Okay...will we be able to beat the enclave?" I mean, I'm pretty sure this is the first true military force that is trying to conquer Mobius." Tangle said, and Whisper sighed and spoke, "We'll manage; we just have to play the same cards the resistance played during the war."

Some time goes by as the two stay silent until Whisper speaks up: "On the faceship, when Frank Horrigan broke through the wall, I was scared..." Tangle spoke as she comforted Whisper: "We all were; I mean, if Delta didn't show up, we would either be dead or some of us would be pretty injured."

"You were still injured, and I failed to protect you..."

"Only for a little bit; besides, nothing can keep me down for long, not even a fourteen-foot giant clad in power armor, and hey, you did your best, and that's what matters." Tangle said, and Whisper smiled underneath her mask as the two suddenly felt the craft they were in shake as it descended downward.

"Sorry! Still getting used to flying." The two heard Gadget say from the co*ckpit that Delta had loaned them a transport, which they quickly painted a restoration symbol on to show their friendly.

"It's fine." Whisper said, and after a couple minutes, the ship landed, and the three walked off the ship and onto the shuttle pad of Training Base Shell, which would definitely boost their force numbers.

As they walked through the strangely empty halls of the base, Gadget spoke, "I don't like how quiet it is; where is everyone?" Whisper readied her wispon while speaking, "Be ready for a fight; the Enclave may have already hit the base without anyone knowing."

The three then hear gunfire and rush off to where it came from, eventually arriving at a door, with Whisper and Gadget readying both their weapons before kicking the door in. The trio quickly pauses when they actually see what's inside the room.

Tons of restoration personnel are relaxing and watching some western movies. The leader of the base quickly stands up and gestures for the others to continue watching the movie as she speaks to the trio, "Umm..Hi? What are you guys doing here?"

"Oh, hey Lanolin, whatcha doing?" Gadget asked, and the sheep quickly asked as she left the room and closed the door behind her. She said, "Just watching a movie, the Enclave shipped us some pretty old movies—not to my taste, but everyone else likes them."

"Look, we need to talk to you." Whisper said, and Lanolin responded as they all walked to her office, "Is it about the delay of reinforcements to Jackalstan? You can tell Amy that we need more time to train them to fight organics."

"It's not about that; it's about the Enclave, about who they really are." Gadget said and Tangle spoke, "They were the ones that actually attacked Research Station Zip, Lions Village, and everything else that people just assumed were due to EggMan Empire remnants."

Lanolin stands there, surprised, and before she could speak, the lights suddenly went off as Whisper was able to hear the faint sound of whirring blades. Whisper spoke as she then ran off, "Lanolin, get everyone armed and ready for combat; Gadget, stay with her; Tangle, with me."

Tangle nodded, and as Lanolin still stood there in shock, Gadget spoke as he led her off, "I think the Enclave may be here, and considering how they dealt with restoration bases before, I think we may have a tough fight on our hands."

Back with Whisper and Tangle, they reached the generator room and broke down the door to see a restoration soldier standing in front of the generator's control panel, a wispon in one of his hands while he mumbled something.

"Drop the wispon, now." Whisper said as she raised her rifle against the Mobian, and the restoration soldier turned around and tried to get a shot off, but Whisper quickly put him down, striking him right between the eyes.

The soldier falls to the ground while Tangle speaks, "Woh! What the?" Tangle asked as two approached the Mobian as he continued to mumble the phrase, 'God bless America...'

Whisper puts another blast into the mobian's head before speaking, "Traitor." Tangle speaks as the two try to reactivate the generator, only to find the panel totally trashed. "Why would a Mobian align themselves with the Enclave?"

"Most likely to save his own skin, maybe mobians that serve the enclave will be spared." Whisper said as the two started hearing sounds of wispon fire outside, "Come on, let's go."

The two burst out of the room and saw the base in total chaos, restoration soldiers firing upon restoration soldiers, the only light being the flashes of wisp fire. Tangle spoke as Whisper and her dove behind cover asked, "How many people here are Enclave sympathizers!?"

Whisper stays silent as she aims down her wispon and tries to find which are friendly and which are traitors. Eventually, her eyes land on the side that Gadget and Lanolin are on.

Whisper and Tangle made their way to Gadget and Lanolin, with Whisper holding onto Tangle due to Tangle not being able to see well in the dark. After dodging mass wispon fire and diving into cover next to Gadget and Lanolin, Tangle speaks, "How's it going?" Gadget responds as he fires blindly over his cover, "Terrible. I'm assuming you two ran into a traitor in the generator room."

"Yeah, so what's the plan? Because I think the Enclave may have sent additional forces since I heard the sounds of a vertibird, so I think we should expect some PA units."

The wisp fire from the other side eventually stops until a ton of wisps fly over to the loyalist side, giving them additional ammo as the traitors find themselves empty-handed. As the loyalists go to arrest, everyone hears something beep, and Whisper yells, "Get down!"

As everyone ducks, the ceiling blows open as five Enclave operatives drop in, four equipped with light power armor and the fifth clad in the larger suits of power armor. Whisper looks at the four in light power armor and recognizes them as the Yellow Team.

As everyone tenses up in shock, Whisper is able to hear the sound of a mini-gun spin-up and immediately tackles Tangle, Gadget, and Lanolin to get down, along with gesturing to the loyalists to get down, though most just make a run for it only to be cut down by a hail of bullets.

"Crud!" Tangle said as Whisper rolled over and opened fire on the yellow team, though her wispon did barely anything as she and the others, along with any remaining loyalists, got behind any cover they could get.

"Aim for either the eyes or the joints; those are probably the weak points!" Whisper said, and as she tries to hit the joints of the enclave's power armor, the traitors move to try and take the shot for the enclave.

Most fail due to the height difference, but some do succeed, which makes Whisper sigh in frustration: "Are these people insane?!" Gadget yelled as the Yellow Team moved behind the soldier in full-power armor as the soldier pulled out a giant hammer.

"Spread out!" Lanolin said as the PA soldier rushes forward and jumps up before slamming the hammer into the ground, sending multiple people back, along with Tangle and Whisper getting knocked out of cover.

Wispon fire continues to hit the soldier but does nothing against it. Whisper, thinking quickly, switches her wispon to its hammer mode and runs up to the soldier before slamming the head of her hammer right into the soldier's chest.

The soldier stumbles back as Whisper goes in for another strike, but the soldier slams his hammer against her head, sending her flying into a wall. As Whisper hits the ground, she feels her head start to pound.

She tries to get back up and rejoin the fight, only to hear something crash through the wall. She looks up to see a member of the Yellow Team stumble through a broken wall as he spins up his mini-gun.

Whisper looks for her wispon only to be blinded by blood. She reaches up to her head and feels her broken mask, feeling a part of two stuck in her head. She then hears footprints and makes out the shape of Tangle picking her up and running away.

"Get her out of here!" Whisper couldn't tell who said it, and as the sound of combat slowly faded away, Whisper closed her eyes as she heard Tangle yell for her to stay awake....

__________________________________

Tangle watched over Whisper as she recovered in the hastily thrown-together infirmary that Delta had built. After she worried they had lost her during the skirmish, Lanolin ordered everyone to retreat as the Yellow Team continued their slaughter.

Only a couple transports were able to make it out due to multiple Enclave craft surrounding the base, shooting down many of the transports as they tried to make a run for it. The only reason they survived was due to Delta sending some air support of his own.

Gadget hoped they would be able to reclaim the base after the real war had started, but that idea was quickly thrown out as the base exploded with a fiery ball of fire.

Only a couple hours later, the media covered the event and claimed that the base was attacked by Jackalstan special forces. Everyone guessed that either the media was just really stupid or the Enclave had them all in their grasp.

Though considering some of the Enclave's propaganda, everyone guessed that the Enclave had a firm grasp over how their campaign in Jackalstan was perceived. The enclave using chemical weapons in Jackalstan was quickly changed to Infinite, using a scorched earth policy to slow the enclave down.

Jackals rushing out to attack Enclave troops that were 'helping' them were most likely jackals desperately defending their families from being butchered by the Enclave. The Enclave claimed it was spreading freedom and democracy to the country but was only bringing death.

It was something that Tangle reflected on: the Enclave left no survivors of an attack unless they were traitors that they wanted to be found, like Major Maple, who was now in Jackalstan. Gadget and Delta talked about what they should do to make sure there were no more traitors in the restoration.

Both of them landed on a sort of purge; now they weren't just going to kill people indiscriminately but just arrest them. It wasn't the best plan, but considering they don't know how many restoration members are on the enclave's side, it's the best they got.

The door to the infirmary opened, overshadowing the noise of the steady heart monitor and Whisper's breathing through the ventilator. Tangle looked over and saw Lanolin walk and speak, "How's it going, Tangle?"

"Fine, just watching over our favorite sniper..." Tangle said as she looked over to Whisper, laying still on her hospital bed, "She'll be fine, Tangle. Delta has some of the best medical technology in the world."

"I know, it's just...it's just that I now can't live with the fact that I failed to protect her...I now know what she felt like when I got hurt by Frank Horrigan." Tangle said, and Lanolin placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Listen, she'll make it through this, and in no time, you two will be back together." Lanolin said, and as the two looked over to Whisper, Tangle spoke up, "So, what's the next step?"

"Well, Blaze and Sonic should be coming soon with reinforcements, and with Delta starting up the EggFleet, we'll be in Jackalstan and kicking the Enclave back to where they came from."

"That's something I've been wondering as well...where exactly did the Enclave come from?"

Chapter 29: Naval Battle and Omega Vs Infinite 2 (Fixed)

Chapter Text

Zeta-A1 stood upon his ship's bridge, looking out over the blue waters that the fleet was currently flying over as they made their way to Jackalstan to push back the enclave, with their objective being to hold Jackal Stan until the main ground force arrived.

The EggMan empire, or what remains of it, will finally face off against the Enclave in a true war, not simply supporting the infected, and alongside that, Delta would use more advanced tactics than EggMan due to them fighting a full military force.

The fleet did encounter some Enclave drones, which in reality were just modified buzz bombers; the main body was the same, but the weaponry, propulsion system, and head were replaced with Enclave tech.

He wondered if the Enclave would just repurpose any pieces of tech they could find since the Enclave's tech was a mixed bag. Its infantry-based forces were quite advanced, along with some of its naval technology and most of its air force.

But their ground vehicles were mostly based off of USM equipment, their navy was only sea-based, and their airships were, in reality, just reinforced blimps. So on the ground and mostly in the air, it will be difficult for the Empire, but for the Navy and parts of the air, it will be quite easy.

Though speak of Dark Gaia and he will appear as sensors suddenly pick up on an Enclave fleet approaching them, it was quite the sizable one as well, having over thirty ships, including 10 dreadnought class ships.

But what was strange was the fact that life signs of the fleet barely registered over 300; this made Zeta wonder if the ships were simply understaffed or if the Enclave had gotten to the point that a large amount of its naval duties could be automated.

'Interesting.' Zeta thought before starting to plan out his fleet's attack, though that was interrupted when five destroyers were suddenly blown out of the air by what appeared to be railguns, piercing their shields with relative ease. The EggMan Empire did have railguns, but only in limited supply and on their heaviest ships.

"All forces show the Enclave who they are messing with." Zeta said, and some of the lead destroyer's guns started to open fire into the Enclave fleet.

Alongside that, Zeta ordered the deployment of all types of buzz-bombers and balkiries to bomb the enclave out of existence, though he quickly saw that many of them were quickly disintegrated by a hail of yellow lasers, their ashes falling down into the ocean below.

Those that did get close and were able to drop their loads showed that the enclave's armor was tough enough to stand against repeated strafing. Though one good thing was that some of the other Enclave weaponry wasn't as powerful as the railgun,.

Plasma blasts wash over any destroyer's shields they come into contact with, though Zeta kept a watch on the destroyer's shields and noticed that they were quickly dropping. That is, until one of the cruisers moved forward and was able to get its first shot off.

A cryo blast froze half of one of the smaller Enclave ships before the cruiser unleashed a shot with one of its laser cannons, shattering the ship in half. Zeta zoomed in and was able to make out the figures of Enclave power armor jumping off it.

Delta zoomed in even further, and due to the fact that he didn't recognize the armor, he guessed those were a specialized type of power armor made for sea combat. He would have to tell Delta to deploy badniks meant for underwater combat.

The Enclave responded in kind as a hail of railguns and plasma hit the cruiser, breaking its shields and punching through a good chunk of the ship. The ship didn't last long after that, as it crashed into the ocean.

'Nothing much of value lost.' Zeta thought that as he ordered the fleet to continue its advance, the empire could afford the losses, but the Enclave most likely couldn't replace the losses as easily.

Zeta then noticed that the remaining smaller ships of the Enclave fleet were falling back while the larger ones stood back, most likely meant to cover the smaller ones as they escaped.

As his fleet continued on its relentless advance, he noticed that some of his destroyer's front parts were quite literally being melted. Focusing in on some of the enclave's ships, he noticed that they were equipped with microwave weaponry.

So while the Enclave did not have airships (that aren't blimps), their navy had a wider range of weaponry than the EggFleet, along with being able to punch through EggFleet armor.

Zeta took note of it and knew that if the Enclave gained airship technology on par or better than theirs, then the air would most likely be lost, thus Zeta sent out a message to Delta, it reading, 'The assault needs to be pushed up; we cannot risk Enclave tech advancing.'

After sending it, he turned back and saw that the heavier Enclave ships were being taken out, and while the smaller ones were able to flee, it didn't matter; the Enclave would still feel the pain of their first defeat.

Though after he did some calculations, he knew that the Enclave casualties were quite low considering they had just lost multiple capital ships, while the EggFleet lost more ships, so they could at least easily replace them.

Thus the fleet moved onward toward Jackalstan, carrying enough troops to help the forces there at least hold off both the Enclave and Restoration forces, though they could try to reason with the Restoration.

He suddenly received a message from Delta, and it read, 'The operation has been moved up, Sol, and whatever forces we could grab have been assembled, though Gadget and Silver are out looking for some of the other heroes.'

If Zeta had an actual face, he would smile at the fact that soon the EggMan empire would come together with the heroes once more to beat an even bigger threat, though the empire would be able to assert its claim that they did most of the work.

Though the fleet flew onward, Zeta knew that the war against the Enclave wasn't going to be a short one...

__________________________________

Infinite sliced through one of the enclave's power armor units, blood covering his blade as weapon fire surrounded him. They were pushing back one of the Enclave's divisions, and it felt liberating to finally teach them who they were messing with.

As Enclave forces fell back, Infinite tapped into all of their minds and, after a little bit, was able to conjure a variety of beasts that the soldiers feared, though a surprising amount of them continued to stand their ground.

'Brave, but foolish.' Infinite thought as he danced through the ranks, his blade cutting through their armor as he heard the march and treads of his forces not far behind him, but even then, the Enclave were still putting up a fight.

As he ended the life of another Enclave soldier, he heard something come flying right at him, and he turned only to narrowly dodge a hail of lasers and missiles that would have reduced him to gore if they had hit.

He turned to see what had fired them, only to lay eyes upon the rogue badnik he had destroyed in the last war. Though now painted in the Enclave's colors, Omega speaks as he aims a large plasma rifle at him.

"INFINITE THE JACKAL, SURRENDER, OR BE RENDERED ANOTHER CASUALTY IN YOUR FUTILE WAR." Omega said, but Infinite readied his blade as he glared into the badnik's eyes. "I defeated you in the first war; what makes you think that you could win now?"

Omega doesn't respond as he flies up and slams himself into Infinite. Infinite then uses the Phantom Ruby to appear behind Omega and goes to stab him, but Omega quickly grabs Infinite's blade and tries to throw him to the ground.

Infinite withdrew his sidearm, an ancient double barrel flintlock he had found in the capitol building, being owned by the puppet king of Jackalstan, though he had modified it into being a laser flintlock.

He blasts Omega directly in the head and causes Omega to fly back, allowing Infinite to retrieve his blade. Omega beeped, some form of groan, before grabbing his plasma rifle and firing a hail of plasma at Infinite. He dives and weaves through the hail of green before stabbing the blade through Omega's side.

Infinite removes his blade and goes in for another stab, but quickly notices that Omega's stab wound has repaired itself extremely quickly. Omega laughed and said, "SELF-REPAIRING PROTOCOL, ENCLAVE TECH IS TRULY SUPERIOR TO ALL."

Infinite groaned and stabbed Omega through the chest before using his sidearm to blow apart Omega's rifle, causing it to blow up and melt off one of Omega's hands. He uses the Phantom Ruby once more to create a hoard of clones of himself to confuse the robot.

As he sees Omega try desperately to fight off the hoard of clones, which slowly overwhelms his self-repairing protocol, Infinite speaks, "Even the Enclave couldn't improve you enough to make a difference; once more, you experience failure at my hands, though this time, I shall be one of the right side of history."

"I SHALL DENY YOU YOUR VICTORY." Omega said as he unleashed a hoard of missiles onto Infinite, though they fortunately only hit Infinite's clones. Infinite spoke as he went in for the kill, "No, you didn't deny my victory; you just helped serve it on a silver platter."

"Lord Infinite! An enemy has breached the capital building!" Infinite paused as he heard the message, and he hastily stabbed Omega through the neck, hopefully deactivating the robot long enough as he sped away.

"Who or what has breached security? How far have they gotten? How many have been killed?" Infinite asked over comms as he flew through the city, and the person on the other side spoke, "Enclave Ranger, 100 guardsmen have been..."

He heard the operator gurgle over the message as another voice responded to him, "Hey finite, I have to say, your place is the second nicest palace I've been in, though don't be too mad since I may have dirtied it a bit."

As Infinite flew through the air, he suddenly heard something screeching towards him and barely managed to block an attack with his blade before he was then sent flying to the ground below, creating a mini-crater in the street leading to the palace.

"I also learned you were taking care of a little jackal; maybe I'll pay her a visit and let her see her parents again." The Ranger said as Infinite looked up to the sky and saw the Enclave's trump card slowly descend to the ground.

Infinite mutes the Ranger and turns to look upon General Song as he lands gracefully on top of a destroyed fountain. Infinite spoke as he readied his blade, "General Song, I am glad me and you could finally meet each other, mask to mask."

General Song spoke, the white cloth from his superform blowing in the wind. "I wear this helmet simply for protection, unlike you, who wears it to hide his weakness from all those around him."

Infinite chuckled before getting into a combat stance. He spoke as he used the phantom ruby to try and reach into Song's mind, "If you had said that during the war, I would have made sure you suffered... but I have grown, and now I fight for something else...."

As Infinite reached into Song's mind, he also felt Song try to do the same to him, both of them reaching into each other's minds until the very arena around them changed. Infinite changed Song's perspective on what he feared most.

A crimson wasteland, filled with the screams of souls and lakes of fire, and Song made Infinite see what he feared—the ruins of what would be left of Jackal Stan's capital if the Enclave won. Infinite spoke as he charged at Song.

"To protect my people."

__________________________________

"Bastard." Six said as he sat behind a downed pillar, Infinite having just muted him and now leaving him alone outside of the constant barrage of bullets coming at him thanks to the palace's guards.

Six reached into his duster, retrieved Li'l Devil, and leaped over the pillar after activating the GRX implant, causing time to slow down for him as he took down the guards that manned the heavier weapons that would certainly slow him down more than he would have liked.

After emptying Li'l Devil's magazine, he holstered it before switching over to a fully customized 12.7mm submachine gun. As time started to speed up once more, the guard's reaction only caught up, as most were simply left in shock.

Though they could only react for so long as the Courier jumped into the crowd, emptying the SMG's magazine, once that ran out, instead of switching over to a new weapon, he simply chose to use his fists instead.

"Alright, gentlemen, put 'em up!" Six said before punching one of the guards right in the chest, the guard standing still until his head and arms just fell off, confusing and terrifying most of the other guards as Six laughed.

"Oh man, I forgot that happened when I punched something that was still alive." Six said as he grabbed onto a fleeing guard and slammed him into another one, causing both to become a bloody mess.

Six reached into his coat and injected himself with a shot of psycho as he yelled before grabbing onto a guard to use as a meat shield against the others, though he quickly realized that those that didn't run weren't dumb enough to shoot their own squadmate.

He chucked the meat shield at them and reached into his coat before punching a jackal into a shower of gore thanks to Two Step Goodbye, showering himself in blood as he looked at the jackals that still put up some form of defense.

"While I do prefer slices over chunks, I guess I'll just settle on some nice meaty chunks." They all immediately opened fire on him. Six walked through the hail of bullets before sprinting and diving at the first jackal in the group.

After sending the jackal's head flying to the other end of the hall, Six slams his fist into another jackal while using his free hand and reaching into his duster to retrieve his riot shotgun, emptying shell after shell into the jackal group.

"Fall back to the next defensive line!" He heard a jackal say as he rose up from what remained of a jackal that tried to charge him with an explosive, the body resembling nothing more than a pile of meat.

He takes a deep breath and holsters both his weapons before whipping out Blood-Nap and trying to salvage some meat from the number of corpses. He did want to try Jackal Jerky, though, and as he cut some meat, he got a message from RD.

"Courier, we have a show to put on." RD said, and Six spoke as he rolled his eyes, "Well, Infinite just got delayed by the Enclave's false angel, so we've got time to kill." Chains then appear from the ground and wrap around Six before pulling him to the ground.

"Courier, do not test your luck; remember who you came to save your own skin instead of dying alongside your friends...." RD said, static filling the communications channel before RD spoke once more, "Do not test your luck."

The chains disappeared, and Six rose to his feet before dropping some of the meat and speaking, "I deserve that...."

Chapter 30: Illusion Fight and Palace Shootout

Chapter Text

Infinite and Song circled each other before Infinite lunged in, narrowly dodging one of Song's attacks, and tried to stab him through the left breast plate, but quickly saw his blade slide off as Song then punched him in the face.

Infinite recoils and stumbles back due to the force but recovers quickly enough to dodge an attack from Song and gain some distance as he starts to create illusions to distract Song, which backfired when Infinite fully realized the extent of the prototype Ruby's corruption.

The corruption was strong, and the screams and illusions that Infinite was easily able to ignore when he first sensed the prototype were stronger than he had expected, but he was able to pull one thing from the general's mind and use it as an illusion.

"COMMUNISM DETECTED ON AMERICAN SOIL." The illusion said that as the general looked up before dodging a hail of lasers, the giant robot that Infinite summoned then prepared to chuck a miniature nuclear device.

Infinite only guessed that the robot was simply propaganda that the Enclave made; no one (outside of EggMan) would want to make something that big. The robot chucked the illusionary nuclear device, but by the time it hit the pavement, Song had already flown up and sliced through the illusion's chest before locking eyes with Infinite.

"Like you, Infinite, I know what's real and what isn't, so no matter who or what you summon, I know it isn't real." Song said before he tried to reach into Infinite's mind once more, and the screams and illusions got even louder.

As Infinite fought off Song's attempt at accessing his mind, he unholstered his sidearm and shot at Song, hitting him square in the chest and knocking him back a bit along with breaking him out of his concentration, though outside of that, the weapon did no damage.

Infinite also realized that this would be his first time fighting someone in a super form, and thus, outside of knowing that superforms increased strength, speed, and durability, he didn't know what else Song could do in his super form, especially since he is a human and not a Mobian.

Infinite then felt something behind him and rolled to the side before blasting an illusion of Song squarely in the face, though the laser simply passed through the illusion as another appeared and another, and soon enough there was an entire squad of Songs.

Like sharks hunting their prey, they all circle him with halberds at the ready. Infinite thought quickly, flew into the sky, and aimed for Song's neck, the most obvious weak peak point in his armor that he could see.

Right as he was about to make contact, Song twisted to the side, narrowly dodging Infinite's blade, before grabbing onto his tail and chucking him into a nearby building. Infinite crashes through the wall before quickly recovering, summoning a flurry of illusions to swarm Song.

Song speeds through the illusions, cutting and slicing through them, and due to how many Infinite summoned, he couldn't keep one up after Song sliced through or stabbed them with his weapon.

Infinite used the swarm as a cover as he flew around Song, trying to see if there was another weak point in the armor; sadly, no dice, and Infinite sighed before going in for the kill as he made all of the illusions disappear before creating another large illusion.

Instead of a giant Enclave robot, he tapped inside of Song's mind and, with some effort, created an Enclave airship before sending it crashing right into Song. Infinite laughed as the ship crashed right into Song, but he tensed up when he saw a golden light fly through the ship.

Infinite then felt something hit him right in the gut, and he was knocked back. Looking down, he saw that the center of the outfit was burned right through, and the plate behind it was reduced to nothing but scrap.

He threw the plate away and saw Song emerge from the illusion, and both immediately created an illusion for both sides, mostly made up of large naval guns that began firing at each other, both dodging the fire while also trying to close in on each other.

Infinite slices through some of the guns before tapping into Song and having it so that all that Song could see was darkness, fitting considering what the Enclave is. While Song was temporarily blinded, Infinite struck him right in the neck.

Infinite looked around and saw that Song's illusions were gone, but when he turned, instead of seeing the corpse of Song falling to the ground, he saw Song standing there, completely unharmed.

Infinite looked down at his blade and saw that it had broken when it struck Song's neck. He sighed and threw down what remained of his blade as he flew right into Song and sent a flurry of punches into him.

Punch after punch, strike after strike, but nothing happened. Infinite even summoned another blade and aimed it at the neck of Song, and once more it did nothing. Infinite then aimed his sidearm right at Song's neck and fired, causing Song's neck to fling back and stunning him.

Infinite breathed in as he felt a steel fist crash right into his mask, cracking his helmet's lenses and causing him to fly to the ground. As Infinite hits the pavement, he hears Song laugh before speaking, "If I were not in this form, you would have surely killed me with that neck strike."

Infinite turned himself over before standing up and speaking, "Coward, face me like a man; face me without the Chaos Emeralds; face me without the armor..." Infinite glared as Song simply replied with a hardy chuckle.

Song raised his halberd, and using the last of his mental strength, Infinite created the illusion of another blade and blocked the attack. "Tenacious one, aren't you?" Song said as he felt Song apply additional force.

"I have to be..." Infinite said as Song pulled Infinite's blade with his halberd, pulling him forward, and at the right moment, Infinite grabbed his sidearm and blasted the head of the halberd off.

As the head fell off, Song threw the weapon away and punched Infinite once more before grabbing onto his head and speaking, "Be glad, mutant; at least you will be dying a quick death compared to most of your kind."

Infinite didn't speak and looked up as he noticed what appeared to be an airship flying over them, but it didn't resemble an Enclave airship. Suddenly, a hail of lasers struck Song, causing him to drop Infinite as he flew up to the airship and punched through the bottom of it.

Infinite stood up and saw squads of strange new badniks drop to the ground. With one of the squad leaders heading over to him and providing a new blade, it spoke while the rest of its squad secured the area, "HEAD TO THE PALACE, DELTA, AND REINFORCEMENTS SHOULD BE HERE SOON. INCLUDING ALL OTHER HEROES AND RESTORATION FORCES COMMAND COULD SCROUNGE UP."

Infinite stood there, shocked by the fact that help was coming and by none other than the EGG Delta, which he thought was destroyed in the war. He nodded, still surprised, before taking the blade and flying back to the palace, seeing a fleet of egg ships flying over the city.

Now was the time to hunt down that Ranger...

___________(While the Song and Infinite fight was happening)___________

Amy looked up at the palace gates while Enclave and Restoration forces set up shop. She looked over to the side and saw Agent Adam handing some papers off to an Enclave robot called an 'Assaultron.'

"I'll give it to the Jacks; they have some nice architecture." Adam said as he looked up at the palace gates as well. He spoke once more as he looked down at Amy, "The number of guards should be depleted since the 10th has confirmed that the Courier is inside the palace."

"He couldn't have killed all of them, right?" Amy asked that during their forces push towards the palace, they came across a lot of the Courier's massacres, each other becoming more and more brutal.

"He probably hasn't killed that many considering the palace's size; many of the Enclave forces suggested we could move some vehicles into the palace, but I doubt that...hmmm...where's Knuckles, because he should have some of your guys' heavy weapons."

"His forces are currently on route to the building that contains the Master Emerald." Amy said, and Adam sighed and spoke, "Damn it. Alright, get your forces ready; we're moving in." Adam said as he walked and started organizing his forces.

Amy walked over to the restoration forces and did the same. She looked over to whom she had to help command, which was Sticks and Espio. Amy spoke to Espio, while Sticks went on another conspiracy rant.

"Espio, mind taking some of your men and scouting ahead? We're so close to winning, and I don't want any more surprises. I think I've had enough surprises to last me a couple months." Amy said, and Espio nodded before gesturing for his forces to follow him.

Eventually the forces were organized, and they were to be sent in waves, with Agent Adam and Amy taking part in the first wave and Agent James and Sticks being part of the second wave. Amy breathed in as the first wave stepped through the palace gates.

It wasn't long until rounds and wispon fire erupted. Jackal forces had erected a barricade at the end of one of the palace's huge halls, with the restoration and enclave forces having barely any cover, though at least the enclave had body and power armor.

"Demoteam Alpha, move up and destroy that barricade." Agent Adam said as one of the Enclave PA teams moved up, with most of them equipped with some kind of launcher, which Amy hasn't seen any Enclave forces use.

"What are those?" Amy asked, and Adam laughed before handing her some binoculars to watch. "Gifts from good old Uncle Sam." Amy looked through the binoculars as the Demoteam fired their weapons.

As the weapon's munitions flew through the air, creating a whistling noise before crashing into the barricade, Amy looked away as the barricade was destroyed by what looked like miniature nuclear weapons.

Amy could only stand there in shock while Adam ordered the enclave forces to move right on in. She eventually started ordering her forces to move up, though she decided to go down a different path, not wanting to see if the weapons the Enclave Demo Team had just used were really just miniature nuclear weapons.

As they moved down the hallway, the lights suddenly went out and caused Amy's forces to move around in the dark. As they moved through the darkness, they quickly saw movement, and when a restoration soldier chucked a flare into the darkness, gunfire suddenly surrounded the force as jackal forces appeared from the darkness.

Amy slammed her hammer against a jackal that charged at her before being forced to go to the ground by a restoration soldier as rounds flew everywhere. "I'm fine," Amy said before getting interrupted as the restoration soldier suddenly fell dead on top of her.

As she worked to get the body off of her, she could only look around as she saw restoration soldier after restoration soldier picked off one by one while their enemy hid in the cover of darkness.

Another body then fell on top of her, and while she wanted to help, she knew that getting up would be a death sentence because if a jackal soldier saw her, she would have more holes than Federation cheese.

So she lied there, seeing her forces slowly picked off until she was the only one left. As the jackal soldiers started to investigate the corpses, Amy was able to get a good look at them, and she immediately realized that the restoration was never meant for war like this.

They weren't ready to fight other organic beings, especially ones that knew how to fight, ones that had the right gear for the job instead of whatever they could scrounge up. As a jackal soldier investigated where she was, she felt like it was the end.

But it wasn't as the soldier fell dead, a clean hole was right through his head as Amy heard the recognizable sound of PA boots. She looked as she saw Enclave forces taking down the jackal soldiers, and with them was Agent Adam.

As the jackals experienced the same treatment that they had just given the restoration, Amy felt the bodies fall off of her before she was picked up by Agent Adam. "Can you fight?"

Amy looked around, observing the bloodbath that had happened so quickly that she still didn't know how to react. The lights were still off, and the only sources of light were muzzle flashes, lasers, and hot plasma.

She spoke as she picked up her hammer alongside a wispon, though she hated the fact that she had just looted the corpse of one of her men. "Yeah, yeah, I can fight..." she said. Adam nodded and said, "Come on, we've got a job to do."

As the fire stopped and they started to move out, Amy heard the sound of the restoration's number one conspiracy nut and saw that the second wave had already entered the palace. Amy sighed as Sticks waved to her and spoke, "Hey! Did The Enclave test on you while we were waiting, did they?"

Amy laughed as she joined up with the second wave of restoration forces, knocking that this all would be over soon enough...

__________________________________

Gadget slid to cover behind the co*cktail lounge as a hail of plasma hit the wooden table he had just used for cover. Silver slides next to him before using his powers to launch every drink at the Jackal traitors.

"So, how much do you think the Enclave is offering people to consider betraying their own species?" Gadget said as Rouge flew over them and landed right in between the Mobian traitors, kicking one down while grabbing another's rifle before using it as a bat to hit another.

Taking the opportunity, Gadget and Silver hop out of cover, and while Gadget focuses on downing the traitors for good, Silver simply grabs them and hits them into something to make them unconscious.

"What are you doing?" Gadget asked, and Silver spoke, "I'm not going to just kill them; maybe they were forced to do this?" Gadget rolls his eyes before speaking, "Maybe..." The trio quickly cleaned up the Mobian traitors, with some being dead and most being unconscious.

Though one was still conscious, Silver lifted the jackal up while Gadget spoke, "So tell me, why turn on not only your country but species? What does the Enclave offer that simply living your life doesn't?"

The jackal didn't respond, and Silver lowered the Mobian before Gadget knocked him out. Rouge spoke, "Guess, I'll have to find a new club to attend to..."

The three then heard a beeping sound emanate from one of the jackals, and while trying to find it, a blue flash filled the room, and as Rouge turned to see what it was, she was suddenly grabbed by a large hand.

Silver and Gadget turned around and saw what they presumed was Frank Horrigan. Having a tight grip on Rouge's head, he spoke as he looked down at Silver and Gadget as they got ready for a fight.

"One move, and this whor* is getting it, and you're lucky I didn't kill her for what you did to Horrigan." Gadget and Silver look at each other before another flash of blue light fills the room, and when the two look back, they see that Rouge and the beast are gone.

"Crud." Silver said as Gadget pressed on a communications device linked to his ear and looked over to Silver before speaking, "The operation has been moved up." Silver spoke as the two left the club, "What about Rouge?"

As the two left the club and creeped their way to the pick-up point, Gadget spoke, "Rouge will find a way out; she's pretty cunning, from what I've heard..."

Chapter 31: Thus the war began

Chapter Text

Jonah reloaded as he dove into cover while Max tossed down his flamer and switched to his plasma LMG. Their division was currently preoccupied with holding what used to be the commercial district.

The district now resembles a graveyard of superfortresses due to the fact that upgraded and more advanced blimps are still f*cking blimps at the end of the day and can't compete against actual airships.

So they were sent in to secure any of the superfortress personnel, only to quickly find themselves on the defensive when badniks started arriving in hoards, and most of them were new too, with some of the older insectoid and ball badniks mixed in.

The new ones were strange and resembled something a military would produce, not what an egotistical doctor would make—slim, slightly humanoid, armed with a submachine gun and a missile launcher.

"Incoming!" Luke yelled as a missile flew over their heads and hit the front armor of an M8, the M8 responding in kind as it fired its main cannon alongside its mounted Gatling laser.

Jonah mounted his Gyrojet machine gun onto the sandbags they were using and started sending Gyrojets down range, which were effective at breaking through the armor of the new badniks, though the armor wasn't really the problem.

In fact, a lot of the Enclave weaponry was able to break through their armor, and while that could be chalked up to the Enclave mostly relying on high-caliber ballistic weaponry, energy weapons, and high explosives, it could also be that these new Badniks were everywhere.

After twenty shots, Jonah dove down to reload once more, and while each shot did hit the target, it just seemed that every badnik he destroyed, another five would take its place and send a hail of bullets his way.

It also looked like the rest of the division was experiencing the same thing; they just kept coming, and no matter how many they destroyed, they just kept coming. Jonah's ears perked up when he heard someone call for not only air support but reinforcements.

"I wish we got some of General Song's divisions to help us, because damn, I would appreciate some vets!" Ryan yelled as Max spoke, "I would like some heavy armor to come over and kick them back, but I'll take anything!"

Jonah rolled his eyes and spoke as he glanced in the air and saw the chaos that was the air war before the EggMan Empire forces arrived. The Enclave held the air uncontested outside of when Infinite the Jackal destroyed a superfortress.

But with Egg ships flying high over the city, the air force had to relocate to both reclaim air superiority over the city and still provide ground support with Enclave units, which were now facing the combined force of the Jackalstan army and badniks, though Jonah did get a glimpse of the golden light that was General Song, who was fighting in the skies alongside the airforce.

After reloading and only getting a few shots off before seeing a good chunk of the badnik ranks get obliterated as a Stingray made a gun run on the badnik forces, and not far behind that did Jonah hear the sound of boots.

Looking, he quickly recognized that their division's reinforcements were one of the clone divisions. Many of the clones quickly got into cover while firing off their laser rifles into the badniks, their yellow bolts crashing against the pristine armor of the badniks.

Jonah went back to firing as the Enclave really started pushing back the Badniks. Well, the more accurate term would be obliterating the Badniks since they refused to give a single step of ground, so when the firing finally stopped, the entire battlefield was littered with scrap.

As the division took their breaths, they quickly spotted a restoration division coming to them, seemingly hauling some crates to them. Once they arrived, did Jonah's division see what they were offering?

Wispons, the main weapon of the restoration, were, outside of the ability to potentially get your ammo back, inferior to Enclave weaponry, especially when it came to medium-heavy armor, which was a blessing since that would mean the Enclave would suffer basically no casualties against the common restoration soldiers.

As the restoration division started showing off all the varieties of weapons, Jonah and Max sat next to some crates the division had salvaged from the destroyed superfortresses. Max spoke, "Almost everything in this world, outside of human technology, looks terrible."

"What about EggMan tech?" Jonah asked while he cleaned his rifle, and Max quickly responded, "He's an outlier; hell, I think the guy was some form of mutant." Jonah looked up to his fellow soldier and spoke, "And your reasoning for that is?"

"The man was fat, like, fatter than what a normal person should be, and he was still able to pull off all these crazy stunts and sh*t while lugging around the weight of a PA suit?" Max said, and Jonah spoke after thinking about it for a second, "Maybe he had a very strong will to tick everyone off."

"Maybe." Max said as they continued to chat until they received a message coming from a DIA agent: "To all enclave forces on the ground and in the air, restoration forces are now considered hostile. Your orders are all to deal with the restoration and jackal forces while additional units flood in." They recognized the voice as Agent Moses, and both sighed as they knew what they had to do now.

Jonah and Max stood up while looking towards the other Enclave soldiers and clones. The restoration forces were still preoccupied with trying to make a deal with the captains and major generals.

Everyone readied their weapons as discreetly as they could while the restoration forces were blind, though that didn't last long when some of the PA support companies started readying their weaponry.

As the restoration forces finally took notice of what was happening, all they could do was stand there in shock as hundreds of lasers, plasma, ballistics, and other weapons pointed at them.

In a blink of an eye, the Enclave began the true war...

__________________________________

Song slammed onto an egg ship before observing an army of badniks moving to intercept him. Hundreds of weapons were pointed at him. He activated his communications channel and spoke while marking a location on the ship.

"Ordnance drop required; already marked an area for it." Song said as he approached the wall of guns pointed at him, "Drop in route, have a nice day." An automated voice replied as Song broke into a run and the guns opened fire.

A variety of weapons hit him, and while some slowed him down, they didn't slow him down enough to bring him to a full stop. He crashed into the badniks, destroying three of them as he crashed through them before ripping another one's head off and throwing it at the others.

Picking one of the destroyed badniks up before chucking it into one of the guns currently aimed at him, a drop pod crashed right next to him, and he quickly broke it open to retrieve another proton Halberd.

Song sliced through five badniks at once before using the phantom ruby to cause multiple badniks to fire upon each other, causing chaos amongst their ranks as they thought the others were him.

He looks towards what seems to be the entrance to the ship and dodges a missile as he notices more and more badniks rush out to meet him, some larger than others. They all line up, and outside of the light blue ones and red ones, they launch a hail of missiles at him.

He dodges and weaves between the hail of missiles, along with cutting through some of them. He then grabs onto one of them and chucks it at the badnik line, destroying a good chunk of them.

Landing amongst them led to him immediately blocking an attack from one of the larger yellow badniks as they used their missile launchers as clubs. He blocked the attack and responded by chopping its arms before kicking the robot into its friends.

He looked up and saw that many of the badniks were now flying above him to get out of his range. Not letting them have a moment of respite, he quickly flew into the sky and started to cut through the badniks like he was simply battering bloatflies out of the air.

He dodged and weaved through their attacks before cutting them down, and once they were all destroyed, he descended downward, cracking through the ship's hull as he looked for the ship's core.

Once he detected it, he simply crashed through wall after wall, ignoring any of the ship's inner defenses as he crashed right into the reactor, feeling the heat of its surroundings before it exploded. Song quickly crashed through the ship's hull once more and observed as the ship went crashing into the ground.

He looked to the sky and noticed how many ships there were. He ascended to be on their level, as they were higher than the one he had just destroyed.

He took note of the larger of the ships, and once whoever was in control of the fleet noticed him, he sped through the air and, while heading to what he could presume were the cruisers and battleships, destroyed a multitude of smaller craft, from support ships to destroyers.

After that, the fleet turned its guns on him and filled the air with weapon fire, along with sending even more badniks to come out and fight him, though he bore them no mind while he landed on one of the larger ships, a battleship, if he guessed.

He looked around and saw that the air force had decided to fully commit to the fight in the air. F-85's, Stingrays, and B-3 nuclear jet bombers flew overhead and started attacking the other ships in the fleet while he moved onward.

He cut through the ship, figuratively and literally, before arriving at what seemed to be the bridge, where he found a badnik on a console trying to contact someone. He spoke as he sliced down the badnik's guards.

"You should have never joined this war." Song said as he approached the badnik, who bore a different paint job and additional markings, most likely to show what rank it was.

"If we didn't, then we would bring dishonor to EggMan's name, that being succeeded by an upstart that thinks they rule the world." The badnik spoke, and Song laughed, "Dishonor? Did that fat bastard have any honor to begin with?"

The badnik reached for some sort of sword, and in a swift motion, Song drew his plasma pistol and blasted a hole through the badnik's chest. The badnik touched its chest before falling to the floor as Song stepped over its body and started using the console.

He sent the ship to crash into a district that was firmly in Jackal's hands, and as he flew out of the ship, he could only smile as he saw the ship crash right into the city, causing a massive explosion that could be seen for miles.

Just like how the fleet had made a graveyard of the Enclave's airships, Song would make sure that Jackalstan was the Egg Fleet's grave as well. Though he immediately put that off, he suddenly received a message from his honor guard.

He immediately sped through the air, cutting through badniks, support craft, and destroyers as his eyes landed upon an egg cruiser that was right on top of where his divisions were. He spoke over comms as he approached the ship.

"Evacuate from your current position, now." Song said calmly, and he waited until he got the all-clear signal. Once he got it, he sped through the air, creating an audible crack as he slammed right through the ship, not even slowing down as he exited from the other side.

He smiled as he descended to the ground to check on his men. He looked to the sky, and while the Air Force wasn't doing the best, they were certainly putting the hurt on the EggFleet.
__________________________________

Agent Moses looked over the tactical map after he sent the message to purge the restoration forces. If they were quick enough, they could slide this genocide under the rug and tell the media that the restoration force simply rushed on ahead without any support.

The media would accept the answer (since most of them are already on the enclave's payroll), the people would accept the answer, and the enclave would be able to get back on track with their grand plan.

That is, if they also deal with the EggFleet that had just come out of nowhere and was now flooding the city with badniks that bore no hint of them being from the EggMan empire outside of the logo painted on the chest.

Most were spread out evenly, but a good chunk of them were deployed around the palace, meaning that the enclave outside was surrounded, and once they took the palace and killed the restoration, they would be put on the defensive.

He tried to contact Agent Adam and the enclave forces to inform them of the situation, along with the fact that the fleet meant to guard Jackalstan's shores was most likely gone, but all he got back was static, meaning that the mutants had something inside the palace that was jamming their communications equipment, meaning that restoration forces are still being helped inside the palace.

Moses sighed and looked down at all the enclave forces in the city: 20 PA divisions under Song, 26 DAT divisions under Lieutenant General Owen, and 10 Experimental Divisions under something called 'The Great One.'

Whatever that means, 13 Infantry and 13 Mechanized PA under General Alison, and currently moving in after he arrived, scaring the crap out of Moses was Agent Jackson, one of the President's hounds and the one that had captured that bat Mutie.

Along with commanding 10 tank divisions, he also commanded 16 Horrigan divisions—mini-Frank Horrigans, basically. With this many forces, the ground war should be won, though he felt like this operation was going to be longer than he thought.

He shooed away the thought as he got on the radio once more, contacting all Enclave forces and speaking, "This is Agent Adam; as of now, all divisions are clear on all previously restricted weapons; kill them all and let the Lord sort them out."

After getting multiple responses, he turned back off the radio, left the command room, and stepped outside as four weapons of war that the Enclave would definitely need to bring down—not only the EggFleet but any remaining defenses.

Those being three massive railway guns that the Enclave created to break through heavily fortified areas, they had been a bitch to get over to Jackalstan, but after that, they were quickly set up, and along with them came an MBC.

The Mobile Base Crawler would be moved up to the front so that there would be a central command post in the city, allowing troops to be reinforced at the MBC along with getting new gear.

Though Adam did send a message over to Fort Anderson, telling them to order the scientists to start looking into Tesla weaponry, just so that they could just fry the badniks in a couple shots instead of laying plasma, laser, and other weaponry into the team.

He felt the ground shake as the first railway gun fired, its name engraved into the side of it, 'The Liberator,' with the others firing soon after, their names being 'Big Stick' and 'Happy Living.' Now, unlike the last time the world used railway guns, the Enclave had power armor and robots, making building and reloading the guns a lot quicker.

"Agent Moses, Dr. Linsey is requesting your presence." Agent Moses turned to see a protector and spoke, "Very well, I'll make my way there." He gave the protector a nod and started heading over to the Mobile Base Crawler.

As he walked up the ramp, he saw Enclave forces leaving it while lifter-bots carried out additional munitions for the armor. He also passed by what seemed to be more of the experimental units that the 10th sent over.

After traversing through the halls of the MBC, he eventually arrived at the laboratory and looked upon Dr. Linsey, staring at some book with strange symbols on it. Moses felt uneasy just looking at it.

"Dr. Linsey." Moses said as Dr. Linsey turned to him and spoke, "Ah, Agent Moses, whilst I would have called Agent Adam, he is too busy leading our forces into the capital, thus I'm settling for you." Moses spoke as he followed Dr. Linsey over to something: "What is the reason you wanted me over here?"

"Well, to put it simply, Agent Moses, while the 10th's project is chugging along, you have seen the smaller bits of it, like our experimental PA units." Dr. Linsey said as he led him over to a board filled with notes.

"And where is this going? Because while yes, those units have been useful since they are able to break an entire line of mutants with their ruthlessness, I'm still unsure how this is connected to this big project of yours, unless you are the people working on the Avenging Angels project."

"We are the scientists assigned to that particular project, but no, I am referring to the 10th's great work that it has been conducting for a long time." Dr. Linsey said as she gestured to some of the notes on the board.

"Vault 103, I presume?" Moses said, unlike Adam, who wanted as much information on 103 and the project there as he could get, he wasn't that worried about what was going on in that vault; the only thing he knew was that the vault had some AI in it that went rogue before self-destructing.

He tensed up when he looked closer to the notes and quickly unholstered his sidearm and pointed it at Dr. Linsey, who gave him an unsettling smile in response and spoke, "Would you like to know what we're doing in Vault 103?"

__________________________________

Omega held down the trigger to his plasma rifle as he blew apart badnik after badnik while Enclave troopers fell back. He sidestepped a missile as it narrowly missed him and struck a nearby building, raining debris onto him.

He holstered his plasma rifle and switched his hands over to their missile mode as he advanced forward, blowing badniks apart while speaking, "Die! Die! Die!"

As he advanced forward, firing missile after missile, he noticed that the badniks were starting to take cover, trying to suppress him, but they didn't know that he was the only superior machine in this world.

He switches over to drill missiles and launches them into the buildings that many of the Badniks are using as cover to protect themselves from his deadly advance. As he rains fire upon them, he hears the sound of something approaching him and looks to see something that resembles EggMan's rhino bots.

Except blue and having additional armor, he turned one hand into a mini-gun and hosed the thing with bullets and enough rounds. The thing is destroyed as Omega activates communications while continuing on his advance.

"I REQUIRE INFERIOR ROBOTIC FORCES TO HELP DEPLETE EGGMAN UNITS." Omega said, and not soon afterwards did he feel the ground shake, and out of the ground emerged a giant robo-scorpion.

Its claws grab onto some bandits before crushing them, while its tail laser fires into the sky and strikes an EggMan drone that looks very different from the buzz bombers, looking more modern and militaristic.

Soon enough, Omega was leading an entire force of robots as they moved through the streets, engaging badnik forces wherever they went, with Omega cataloging all the differences and new badniks they came across.

Though while passing through the remnants of a destroyed EggFleet ship, he ordered his force to hold their ground as the ground shook and out from the wreckage emerged multiple Egg Hammers, with one smashing a Giant Robo-Scorpion in one hit.

"EXTERMINATE." Omega ordered, and out of the wreckage emerged even more badniks. Sentry Bot MKII's rushed forward, taking most of the fire while their Gatling lasers and missile launchers opened up on the upcoming badniks, while assaultrons followed not far behind.

The Sentry bots, more suited to a semi-artillery role, launched mortars into the Egg Hammers to bring them down alongside the sentry bots, equipped only with missiles and Giant Robo-Scorpions.

Grenades landed around the assaultrons and blew them to bits as Omega quickly looked around for the source of the grenades and saw crab-like Badniks launching grenades like they were catapults and flying up to them while firing down upon them.

"CAS REQUIRED IN MY AREA." Omega called over comms, but the reply he got was less optimal: "Sorry, Omega, most of the air force is tied up with dealing with the fleet, and those that are available for ground support are supporting organic forces."

"UNDERSTOOD." Omega said, and he dodged the hammer of an egg hammer as he directed a giant robo-scorpion to burrow underground while he led the egg hammer along.

Once in a good position, the Giant Robo-Scorpion emerged from right underneath the Egg Hammer, catching it by surprise and allowing the
Giant Robo-Scorpion gets an easy kill while Omega orders the few C-27 humanoid combat platforms he has on hand to flank with their heavy weapons.

Omega flew into another Egg Hammer, causing it to stagger back before he put multiple missiles into its face, destroying the Egg Hammer before flying away to stop multiple advanced Rhinobots from ambushing the artillery sentry bots.

Landing amongst them, he showered them with both ballistic rounds and missiles while ordering the sentry bots to move back as he flew into the
Sky once again switched his other hand into a missile before showering the entire area with missiles.

Once that was taken care of, Omega looked over and saw that the C-27s were doing the best out of the entire force (minus him, of course), easily mowing down Badniks and ripping any of those that got too close to them.

Eventually, and after even more robots were lost, Omega emerged from the wrecked eggship. With only the C-27s and two giant robo-scorpions left, he continued onward to his objective, which was the airport.

It was a crucial target that the Enclave was going to take after the palace to make sure that outside of the city's population simply running into the desert, they couldn't escape the Enclave's grasp.

As he marched onward to the airport, he looked upwards and took note of the air war, which was heavily contested, for every Enclave aircraft. There were 10 EggMan drones and balkiries that tried to shoot them down.

Not to mention the ships that were still in the air. While Song did destroy many Eggships, most of those were support craft and destroyers, with one cruiser and battleship on his kill count, but even then the battleship only crashed, not even destroyed.

Omega was then contacted by Lieutenant General Owen. Lt. Gen. Owen spoke over comms as Omega came across what looked like a massacre; most of the bodies were unidentifiable, but enough were for him to guess that they were restoration.

"Omega, me and my forces are pushing forward, and you're the only one in the area to assist!" Owen yelled, and Omega responded, "WHERE ARE YOU GOING, LT. GEN. OWEN?" Owen responded quickly, "The airport! If we take it, then we can land some dream lifters and XVB-02 transports to get more supplies."

"I AM ALREADY ON THE WAY THERE, BUT I SHALL HEAD OVER TO YOUR POSITION." Omega said, and he, along with his remaining forces, headed over to Owen.

Hopefully there were more badniks for him to destroy since every badnik destroyed fills his desire to destroy anything that EggMan created—well, those that haven't sided with the Enclave.

__________________________________

"No!" the mutant wasn't able to scream as Agent Johnson ripped it in half. After throwing what remained of the mutant away, he continued to stand in what remained of the restoration division.

Once the order was given, he was immediately teleported right into the restoration division, with the simple mission of making it so that nothing remained in his way and that all mutants were purged.

And so he did; the mutants screamed in fear when he appeared right in the midst of their division, immediately killing a squad of mutants by stepping on them before unleashing a hail of plasma into the rest.

It made him feel alive; it had been so long since he had spilled mutant blood; not many mutants are around the President or on Enclave soil; and the only time he or Agent Jackson weren't around the President was when he was almost assassinated by a mutant.

It made him and Jackson feel ashamed for not being able to protect the president, and of course the reason they weren't there was because they would have caused too much fear in the people.

"Agent Johnson, get back to the industrial district; we've found something." Johnson replied as he stomped over to the industrial district, passing by more ash and goo piles that were most likely restoration members.

Once he reached the industrial district, he looked at how much the enclave had changed the district into a fortress; gun emplacements, barbwire, hedgehog traps, and dragon teeth made it hell for anyone trying to assault the position head-on.

There was obviously a main gate, but it was reinforced five times over, along with being made out of saturnite. The gate opened as Johnson walked through it, and many eyes were drawn to him.

Many of the Enclave soldiers backed away, hid, or simply looked away as he stomped through the district before coming upon a destroyed building that appeared to be a cover for some sort of train station, and a huge one at that.

"Agent Johnson, welcome to FOB Owen. Now, while we were deconstructing some of the mutant buildings here, we uncovered this, some sort of large structure that appears to have belonged to Dr. EggMan." The enclave officer that called Johnson here spoke; Johnson didn't know what his name was, and he didn't care; people like them were beneath him and Jackson.

Johnson looked at the station and noticed one of the walls had EggMan's face carved into it and spoke, "I can tell." The officer looked away before speaking, "We would send some of our forces in there, but due to the arrival of the EggFleet, I can't send any men to investigate the station, so I'm hoping that you would be interested... in..."

Johnson started walking into the station as the officer quieted down. Johnson looked around the sterile surroundings; they were also quite bright, so bright that he had to dim his HUD so that he wasn't blinded.

He moved around the station, not encountering anything outside of the occasion, when all of a sudden he felt lasers strike him. He looked down and saw EggPawns moving forward. He groaned as he raised his left arm.

In a quick burst of plasma, half the EggPawns were turned green goo while the other got into Range, where in one fell swoop, Johnson was able to cut them down into scrap with his blade.

Johnson looked forward and saw what appeared to be the area where the train would come in, and along with that came many more badniks that came out of the walls; many were EggPawns, but there were some buzz bombers, motor bugs, and even an Egg Hammer, not even counting the automated gun turrets on the ceiling.

Johnson moved forward with blistering speed for someone by his side. He stomped onto a group of motor bugs before slicing down some of the gun turrets before using his plasma cannon, an upgraded plasma caster, to knock out multiple buzz bombers.

He swept through the room, destroying many of the badniks in quick succession while laughing maniacally, though it was futile since, unlike organic beings, badniks couldn't be scared and thus wouldn't lose morale.

He then felt a hammer head slam against his chest, and he looked at the egg hammer and cracked his neck before decking the thing in the head. It tried to gain balance, but Johnson's didn't allow it to.

Punching it again and again created massive dents in its armor as Johnson slashed across its chest, sparks flying out as it tried to gain balance once more, but Johnson made sure that it wasn't going to.

Kicking in one of its legs before gripping onto its head, he slammed it into the wall before using his arm blade to stab right into its head. He then brought his blade down and sliced the thing right down the middle while he stomped on some EggPawns with his left foot.

Refocusing on the rest of the defenses made him want something to fight that would be able to put an actual fight against him. Once the defenses were down, some Enclave soldiers and a mass of robots started moving in and started setting up automated defenses, along with hacking any that were left.

Then he was given the duty of guarding the train station along with defenses until the Enclave had the time to investigate the station in depth and see where it led. Johnson groaned and punched the wall, startling many Enclave soldiers and causing said soldiers to walk away.

Johnson stood at attention, waiting for something to happen. He sat there; seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours, and he eventually unleashed a roar. He needed something to kill—something to make his blood run.

He then started hearing beeping and looked around the room frantically before looking at a screen and seeing something that brought a smile to his face and caused him to laugh.

A train was on route, a large one at that, and it was filled to the brim with organic beings that would definitely be more enjoyable to fight than badniks. Johnson laughed as he prepared himself for the upcoming fight; he even sent a message to the defenses to be deactivated. He wanted the glory of killing what may be the other heroes himself.

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Sonic lay against the wall of the tram while all his friends chatted—not all of them, though since everyone learned that the Enclave had captured Rouge, many of them started planning on how they could try to save her, but Delta, their new friend, seemingly didn't care.

Perhaps he thinks that Rouge is already gone and that it would be a waste of time for them to try and rescue her, along with the fact that they didn't even know where the Enclave's main base was or if Rouge was even being held there.

"It seems that we may be fighting earlier than expected and without the element of surprise." Sonic turned his head and saw Delta addressing the entire cabin, which was only filled with heroes due to them being spearheads of the assault on the Enclave's defenses.

"I don't like that." Lanolin said while Gadget spoke up, readying his wispon, "I thought the station was supposed to be secured." Delta quickly responded as he projected a recording onto a nearby wall with his eyes.

Everyone watched as they saw the Enclave enter the station, and one of the Frank Horrigan lookalikes dealt with the security forces there, having little trouble outside of the Egg Hammer, though it quickly recovered and made the Egg Hammer regret its decision.

"Was that the one that kidnapped Rouge?" Tails asked, and Silver spoke, "Yeah, that's him." Delta spoke as he looked at the footage: "He's smaller than the beast that I fought, though even then he will be a pain to put down."

"Okay, so since I wasn't here when you guys fought Big Green, how did you guys defeat him?" Sonic asked, and Delta spoke, "We didn't; we escaped, and once we arrived back at Northern Command, I detonated the faceship, putting the beast down for good."

"How do you know that?" Lanolin asked, and Delta spoke, "I saw the recording of it; that thing died that night. But we all have to work to kill that beast; we can't risk using high explosives since we need this place. Be ready; when I tried to put the first beast down, it shrugged off my attacks, even being able to survive being stabbed in the head."

"Ah, that could be bad." Sonic said as Blaze entered the train car and spoke, "Perhaps if we deal enough wounds to him, then whatever regenerative ability that thing has will be overloaded, allowing us to deal the killing blow."

Sonic looked a bit down. He knew he was probably going to kill some people, but it still didn't sit right with him. "Sonic, I know you don't like killing, but... but these people have done terrible things and will continue to do them if we don't stop them." Silver said, and Sonic nodded in response.

"I know..." Sonic said that as everyone felt the tram slow down and eventually stop, Delta sent out a message to the rest of the force to stay on the tram until they dealt with the beast.

The tram door opened, and the seven of them stepped out and looked upon the beast that stood in front of them, noticing the fresh blood on his armor and arm blade. It spoke as it stomped its foot into the ground, creating a crater in the concrete floor.

"Such a shame, machine, that you didn't side with the Enclave like some of your brethren." The beast said, and Delta replied as he readied his shield and axe, "Unlike the traitors, I am loyal to my creator even after his death."

As everyone prepared themselves for the fight, the beast charged at them and caused them to spread out. Sonic slid underneath the beast before spinning and dashing its back, causing it to stagger forward.

It grunted and sliced downward, almost taking Lanolin's head off, but it was stopped as Silver used his powers to hold the arm in place. "I can't hold him for long!" Delta nodded and rushed forward.

The beast raised its other arm and unleashed a hail of plasma at Delta, who raised his shield to block them before he jumped up and slashed downward, cutting the beast's arm off from below the elbow.

As the arm fell to the floor, the beast roared, and Delta spoke as he gestured to the thing's skin underneath the armor, "Green skin..." The thing then broke free of Silver's powers and struck Delta.

Delta blocked the attack and spoke as he activated boosters to fly up and deliver a strong knee to the beast in the head before delivering a hail of blasts into the thing's armor, melting through it. "Horrigan was much stronger than you."

The beast grabbed onto Delta and chucked him away as Gadget and Lanolin fired upon the melted armor while Blaze scorched the thing's arm blade, melting it and leaving it defenseless. Tails even helped as he spin dashed the thing in the back like Sonic did, and Sonic spin dashed into the beast's skin.

He jumped away and shook some of the blood off. He wanted to throw it up, but as he looked up at the beast, he noticed that it was still alive. "I'll kill you all." It stood up, and Delta, Gadget, and Lanolin unloaded on it while Blaze, Silver, and Sonic went in for the kill.

Blaze jumped onto the thing's shoulder, threaded her hand through the beast's armor, and started burning its skin while Silver peeled its armor away, and Sonic went in for another spin dash.

He cut right through the beast's skin, digging into its body and hitting what he thought was the creature's heart. He jumped out, and this time he actually threw up while Delta scanned the body. Tails spoke as he patted Sonic on the back. "Is something wrong?"

Delta responded as he unloaded a couple more energy blasts into the beast's body: "Unlike Horrigan, I can scan this one, and what I've learned is... troubling, but that is to be discussed later; we have a city to take back."

Delta and Blaze signaled the rest of the forces to get off the train while the others prepared to move forward.

__________________________________

Zeta marched through the destroyed city, leading his force towards the enclave's stronghold in the city. He had luckily escaped death by mind-hopping into an Egg Lancer when General Song blasted him.

Now his current objective was to get to the industrial district and make sure that when everyone exited the station, they weren't immediately gunned down by Enclave forces. Zeta looked to the sky and noticed how contested the air war was.

He knew that once they either kicked the Enclave out of the city or at least made sure that they didn't capture it, he would tell Delta that they would need to invest in more advanced air badniks or train organic pilots to deal with the Enclave's air force that weren't their airships.

He then saw a destroyer nailed by a direct shot from something, though it only broke the shield of the ship. As he looked back at the ground, he stopped when he saw a massacre: ashes, goo piles, and restoration bodies spread around the place.

He immediately tried contacting someone, and eventually he did contact someone, but it was probably the worst person he could have contacted, outside of the Enclave, of course. "Hey, I know you probably need something, but I'm currently beating some jackals to try and find the Master Emerald."

Zeta recognized the voice and guessed that this was Knuckles the Echidna. He spoke as he and his force continued onward: "Greetings, Knuckles the Echidna, I am Zeta."

"That's all I'm listening to too, Scrap Head. Now once I find the Master Emerald, I'll go find you and reduce you to scrap." The channel cut out, and Zeta released a mechanical sound similar to a groan.

He and his forces continued onward until they eventually came under fire as they approached the industrial district. The entrance to the district now has a gate heavily defended with multiple gun turrets, enclave robots, and PA units.

Zeta took cover as he ordered the Egg Liners and Egg Chasers to move ahead while the Egg Gunners and Lancers provided covering fire. Zeta ducks out of cover and fires off an energy blast at one of the gun turrets, destroying it and showering debris on some of the robots.

He gestures for the Egg Bombers to move up and start lobbing bombs at the gate, but when the gate opens and he glances inside to see chaos happening, he immediately orders his forces to rush forward.

Leading the charge, he switches his energy cannon to full auto to deal with the robots and turrets, the PA units falling back inside. As his forces breach into the gate, he sees that the restoration's attack has begun.

"Delta," Zeta said as he laid eyes upon his commander, who was currently shielding himself from a barrage of plasma. Zeta shot at the Enclave PA troopers currently firing upon him while he ordered his troops to move in front of any restoration or Sol forces.

"You guys are too slow!" Zeta looked and saw Sonic grinding on the roofs of the industrial district, with Enclave robots trying to catch him along with some Enclave troopers.

Both forces merged and slowly pushed against the Enclave forces, with Zeta’s and Delta's forces taking the most casualties while both Sol and Restoration forces took the least due to many of them using badniks as shields.

Eventually, the forces are able to push the enclave back, but before they could loot any of the enclave's buildings or buildings they used, they all exploded, showering the forces with debris and covering the enclave's escape.

As the force recovers and secures the area, Delta speaks while looking up in the air: "I see that the fleet has taken casualties." Zeta responded as he showed a recording of Song: "The Enclave's General, Song, used his super form to take out a small amount of the fleet, with the rest being taken out by the Enclave air force."

"If only EggMan kept that device that deactivated the chaos emeralds... then again, that did summon Dark Gaia, so maybe it's good he didn't." Sonic said while he and Tails passed by.

Eventually, all the leaders gathered together, and after some arguing over who would go where and if they were to try and contract Infinite, they all eventually settled on a plan. Most of the heroes alongside Delta would go to the capitol to save their friends, with Lanolin leading a large contingent of Restoration forces to go find other Restoration forces along with contacting jackal forces.

Zeta, Egg forces, and the Sol Military would fortify areas still under allied control and make sure that the Enclave wouldn't have an easy time breaking through them. They also started drawing up plans to evacuate any civilians they found.

Though that would involve landing the Egg fleet and its support craft, the only area large enough for that was the city's airport, which was the largest on the entire continent. As everyone split off, Zeta looked over to Delta and spoke, "Would EggMan do this?"

Delta spoke as he looked down at his second-in-command. "Our leader always knew when to put his hatred of Sonic and his friends away when a greater threat rose to threaten him. If he were here, then he would have most likely done the same thing."

Delta leaves, and Zeta starts organizing the Egg and Sol military, while Lanolin goes out with her forces. Zeta looked up to the sky and saw a blue laser beam strike from the sky and destroy a cruiser, splitting the massive ship in two.

Along with the laser beam came a hoard of drop pods. He quickly contacted all forces in the city and spoke as he prepared for a fight: "Everyone, the Enclave is dropping additional forces into the city and is now using their orbital laser. I recommend constantly being on the move."

As everyone responded, he quickly got together his forces and moved, knowing that the Enclave would use their orbital weapon to strike where a large amount of the Jackalstan reinforcements were.

This was going to be a long and bloody battle.

__________________________________

Burn dragged a restoration body into his and Smith's tent before both of them started looting the corpse, and they did find some good food. "Jackpot," Smith said as he took the food. Burn spoke up while Smith placed the food in a barrel. "Sarge. Is it really good we're... well, looting corpses?"

"Oh come, son, these bastards were the fools that sided with the fascists and killed our people, and you feel back about looting their corpses?" Smith asked, and Burn shook his head before speaking, "No, sir, just asking."

"Hey guys, did you find anything good on your body? Lisa and I only found photos." The two turned to see Dess entering the tent. "Some food that is definitely better than our MREs is in the barrel." Smith said, and Dess nodded as he grabbed the food, which was mostly granola bars.

After looting the body, Burn dragged it back outside and dropped it into a mass grave that they had dug for the restoration bodies they found; most didn't have anything good, but some did have the occasional treasure.

"We thought that love was over, that we were really through."

Burn turned and saw some of the other jackals sitting around a radio, listening to some strange music while playing cards, though it had a thick layer of static over it that made it difficult to hear the lyrics. Burn walked over and asked, "What radio station is that?" The dealer spoke after shuffling the deck.

"I don't know, but this type of music is playing on every channel, but it's apparently coming from the palace..." The dealer said before speaking, "Your group up for some cards? Stole it off a corpse."

"Sure....." Burn said while heading into Dess and Lisa's tent, with Dess hungrily eating the granola bars while Lisa reads a book. Burn spoke as he sat down. "What are you guys up to too?" Lisa responded while Dess offered Burn one of the bars, "Not much, just waiting for the Eggforces to do their job."

"The airplane doesn't look the best." Burn said, and Dess spoke after gulping down the rest of his bar, "Hey, at least we're having an airwar; the Enclave have had constant air superiority until now, so I'd take this as a win."

Not too long after he said that, they heard something crash, ran out of the tent, and looked up as they saw an EggShip come crashing down after getting hit by a massive laser. Dess spoke, "Hmm, well, it's still better than the entire sky filled with Enclave."

"Incoming Enclave forces!" A jackal yelled as Dess was about to speak again, but Burn interrupted him and spoke, "Dess, shut your mouth." Lisa rolled her eyes and pulled the two towards the armor while Smith exited his tent, saw what was happening, and quickly followed behind.

After quickly arming up and taking defensive positions, the jackal forces stood ready to defend their camp due to what it was protecting: a civilian shelter. Burn heard what sounded like power armor and whispered to himself as he aimed down his rifle's sights, "Come on, you filthy humans. Just step right out into the open."

When Burn saw a hint of black armor, he immediately opened fire, hearing the sounds of his rounds hitting their mark but failing to penetrate. The entire line eventually started to open fire as the enclave force fled into some of the destroyed buildings.

"Reloading." Burn said that out of the building an Enclave PA trooper, though it looked a little stranger than any other PA trooper he had seen, but that wasn't the most important thing since the man was carrying some chainsaw knife thing and was closing the distance really quickly.

"Backblast area clear?" Burn heard a jackal say, and once he heard a clear, a rocket flew overhead and hit the PA trooper dead on, knocking him down and causing the other soldiers to hold back before raining plasma and laser fire into their defensive line.

"Burn and Dess, grab that body!" Smith yelled, and Dess replied as a laser flew over his head, "What!? That's suicidal!" Smith spoke calmly as another rocket flew overhead. "We'll cover you; just go!"

"At least we'll die doing something." Burn said as he and Dess hauled over their defenses and rushed out into the open, with Burn sliding right next to the PA trooper's body while Burn tried to slide but tripped and face planted right into the body.

"Nice one." Burn said, and once Dess recovered, the two dragged the body away while another rocket flew into a nearby building, causing it to collapse and blocking the line of sight of the Enclave PA troopers.

The two dragged the body into one of the tents, and Dess spoke as they tried to pry off some of the armor pieces: "Hey, is it me, or does this guy's helmet look like it has a place for a snout?" Burn spoke as he looked over to Dess while trying to rip an arm piece off. "A what?"

"A snout, like a dog's." Dess said while gesturing to the helmet, and Burn tilted his head and spoke, "I can see what you're talking about, but it's probably just a coincidence; maybe it's for some advanced filtration unit?"

"Then why make it look like a snout?" Dess asked, and Burn rolled his eyes and spoke, "Let's not question what the Enclave adds to its gear; mind handing me that crowbar?"

Dess hands Burn the crowbar, and the two get to work on taking off the armor pieces.

__________________________________

Infinite floated through the one pristine palace, now littered with corpses of restoration forces and his own guards, and from what he saw, the palace guards made sure that for every hall and for every room, the restoration bled.

But sadly, there are no enclave bodies. As Infinite floated through the halls of the palace, he heard that the palace's public address system was playing strange music—not Enclave, not classical though; they were certainly not any songs he'd heard before though.

He then heard what sounded like movement and headed towards the noise, only to see a combined force of enclave and restoration forces, with most of the enclave forces being PA units with a squad of their orbital drop troopers. The two forces were trying to open one of the palace's many treasure rooms.

Now, the treasure rooms were mostly just filled with old relics that archeologists found since Infinite used most of the actual treasure to help build up Jackalstan as a nation; besides, he didn't really need any of the money.

He stepped out into the open and drew his new blade before tapping into both of the Enclave's forces and Restoration forces to make them perceive that they were now in a pitch-black void, not too dissimilar to what he did with Song.

He walked up to the forces and noticed that while the restoration forces were freaking out (which made sense; they were mostly conscripts), the enclave forces immediately understood it was a trick and were fanning out to uncover what was causing it.

As one of the soldiers got close to him, he stabbed his new blade right through the soldier's chest, the blade glowing red as it melted right through the soldier's armor, possibly melting his organs.

As the soldier tenses up before dropping dead, the other enclave forces fire upon where he was. Though thinking quickly, he floated into the air as he stalked the enclave forces, making it much harder for them to detect him.

Infinite looked over to the restoration soldiers and noticed that they were freaking out even more, most likely due to them just seeing a soldier clad in armor; they thought Invincible just got killed like nothing.

So, Infinite decided to cause even more panic in the restoration forces. Infinite looked through them, picked out who he assumed was the leader, and flew down before, in one fell swoop, he separated the leader's head.

With their leader dead, the restoration forces ran off in all directions, their morals completely shattered, while the enclave forces continued to stand their ground before they all formed up in a circle, all of them covering each other's backs.

Unfortunately for them, Infinite was going to go for their backs. Infinite made his move and stabbed another PA soldier before drawing his sidearm and blasting another soldier in the neck area, cutting his head off.

Infinite made quick work of the rest of the Enclave forces; they didn't even stand a chance against him, they were blind, and while not weak of mind since they did not break when he started picking them off, they were easy to tap into.

Though it was only easy for Infinite since he had tapped into Song's mind, which was difficult due to his phantom Ruby prototype, tapping into anyone else's was trivial.

Infinite floated off once more until he arrived at the throne room. Stepping inside it, he saw that the place had been redone by someone, it being much more classical and fitting something that a person would see in the USM.

In the center of the room, though, lay the radio, which had always played either Enclave propaganda or classical music. Infinite tried to turn it off, which he had done multiple times, but no matter how much he tried, it just didn't turn off.

He decided to ignore it and headed over to Zero's room, finding that it had been relatively untouched and that Zero still slept quietly in her bed. He picked up the child and headed back to the throne room.

He sat on his throne as the music continued to play. He listened to the music and eventually sung some of the lyrics himself, but he eventually stopped and signaled any jackal forces to get to the palace.

Not to save him, but to get Zero out of the city along with the phantom Ruby. He would stay behind and make his last stand, to stand in defiance against the evils of the Enclave and the foolishness of the Restoration.

But yet, when he tried to contact someone, all he got back was static. He stood up and placed Zero on his throne while he looked around for any other communications devices, but all of them had seemingly been removed and replaced with clean and classical furniture.

So he tried to contact any surviving palace guards, and when he did get contact with one, it was quickly replaced by the Ranger. "Hello there, Infinite. Do you like your new throne room? I know me and my boss do."

"When I find you, I'll make sure that you relive your worst nightmare over and over again, not only for what you did to my palace but for what you have done to my people." Infinite said, and the Ranger laughed before speaking over the communications. I've seen worse, and I'd probably kill myself to escape that torture. Also, my boss told me to leave that kid alone, so when you see him, thank him."

The channel went silent, and Infinite looked back at Zero as she slept peacefully, though when she started to twist, Infinite used the phantom ruby to give her some more pleasant dreams—that is, until he heard movement.

He grabbed his blade, unholstered his sidearm, and prepared for whoever was going to enter the throne room. He heard a male and female voice speak to each other. Something was getting set up, and boom, the throne room door blew open as two figures entered the room.

Amy Rose and an Enclave agent...

__________________________________

"Infinite the Jackal, you are under arrest for war crimes, the stealing of the master emerald, and crimes against existence." Agent Adam said as the two approached the center of the room, where a radio sat playing old music.

Amy noticed Adam doing a double take when he saw the radio, but he continued to have his gun trained on Infinite, who was ready for a fight. Infinite laughed before speaking, "Your words mean nothing, human; besides, those words would fit you and your enclave better than me and my people."

"Says the dictator." Adam said while Amy noticed that small jackal child that was sitting on Infinite's throne, seemingly having just woken up as she quickly hid behind it. Amy kneeled down while placing her hammer down.

"Hey there, little girl." Amy's eyes then went wide, and she spoke as she looked up at Infinite and said, "Look, I know you're my enemy of all, but... well, I didn't know you were a father!"

Infinite shook his head and spoke while Agent Adam seemingly tensed up: "That's not my daughter; she's a survivor, a survivor of one of the Enclave's many massacres of my people!" Amy looked over to Adam while the music got louder.

"I'd be telling a lie! What a terrible lie!"

Amy looked over to Adam and spoke, "Massacre? What does he mean by massacre?" Adam replies quickly as he aims at Infinite. "A massacre of his soldiers; he probably recruited child soldiers to bolster his forces."

"He lies! He's and the Enclave have been lying for the entire time they've been on this earth. Let me ask you something, Amy: will you and the restoration continue to be puppets in the enclave? To believe their lies and propaganda?"

Amy thought and spoke, "You're just trying to confuse me; the Enclave has only done good things for Mobius—mostly good things; their quartile methods could have used some work." Adam spoke, "Not the best time to criticize something; now, surrender or we will harm you!"

Infinite simply laughed while the child peaked out from behind the throne. Infinite speaks as he starts to levitate, "You are a fool, Amy Rose, and you will die a fool."

"Bring it on, dictator!" Adam yelled as he went to fire his sidearm before Amy was suddenly contacted by Sonic. "Amy! I hope you can hear this, but the Enclave, the Enclave are the enemy, not Infinite!"

Amy then, as fast as she could, threw her hammer at Adam, sending him flying into a wall. He hits the wall and slides down it before getting up and speaking, "Fantastic. Let me guess, some of your Mutie friends just contacted you."

Amy nods as she picks up her hammer, while Infinite descends downward, sitting upon his throne. Amy spoke, "Research Station Zip, Lions Village, Getaway Beach, Research Station Kilo, Fort Irons, and so many more—those were the Enclave's doing, weren't they?"

Adam laughed before speaking, "Surprised you remembered those, but yes, those were the Enclave's doing. Actually, many things were the Enclave's doing; it's just that your species is just so easy to manipulate, except for him; he just had to ruin it all."'

Adam pointed at Infinite, and before he could speak once more, Amy rushed forward and slammed her hammer right into Adam's gut, sending him flying against the wall again.

When he fell down, Amy continued her assault, hitting Adam with her hammer until eventually he stopped moving. When he did stop moving, Amy stood there, feeling tons of emotions at once as she stared down at Adam.

"So you have finally seen the truth..." Amy turned to Infinite, and she tried walking to him but simply broke down, tears rushing out of her eyes as she put everything together and wondered how many things had happened due to the Enclave intervention.

As she sat there, bawling her eyes out, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up to see Infinite. Infinite spoke, "Amy Rose, I hate you, I hate your friends, I hate all of the restoration, but now is not the time for that.”

"H-Huh?"

"The Enclave is winning, and even though some of them have already been killed, I believe that the loss I and my forces have incurred most likely haven't even made a dent in their army. Your forces are surrounded by an enemy possibly more dangerous than EggMan. Fighting between us would only help the enclave. So stand up and stand by my side, and perhaps you can redeem yourself and the restoration in my eyes.” Infinite said, and Amy rubbed her eyes before speaking, "Thanks?" Amy stood up as, all of a sudden, they heard movement and burst into the room. Sonic, Tails, Blaze, Gadget, and Silver rushed in.

The five then stopped when they saw Infinite, Amy stood together, and Sonic spoke while they all spread out, "Hey, if you want her, then I'll gladly take the opportunity to have Amy not on me constantly."

Amy blushed while Infinite spoke as he turned to Sonic and said, "You..." Sonic spoke once again while Amy picked up her hammer and walked over to Sonic. "Hey Infinite, look, I know we didn't exactly get on the right foot, but hey, nothing brings people together like a group that wants to annihilate half the world's population."

"I am going to hate working with you."

"As long as you're working with me, then that's good enough." Sonic said as Amy hit Sonic in the head with her hammer before Tails spoke up, "Agent Adam is still alive; should we capture him?"

"I say we kill him." Gadget said as he aimed his sword right at Adam's head. Silver said, "I say capture; imagine how much information he has in his head that could single-handedly win us the war!"

"Silver is right; killing him would do nothing but make him a martyr for the Enclave's cause, and from what Lanolin said over comms, we don't need more fanatics." Blaze said as suddenly Espio is tossed into the room, heavily injured but still conscious.

"Espio?" Everyone says outside of Infinite, and as they check on Espio, he speaks, "Courier," he said before falling unconscious. Everyone then heard footsteps and, in the room, the Courier.

"Well, if this isn't a lovely gathering of friends and an enemy, then I don't know what that is; Actually, I do know what that is." He said that, and everyone got ready for a fight. Infinite readied his blade and spoke, "You're the madman who not only slaughtered many of my guards but threatened my apprentice; I will make you feel a type of pain that you never thought existed."

Everyone looks at Infinite, and Sonic says, "Anyways, give up, dude; you're outnumbered and outgunned." Right on cue, multiple restoration forces flood in, all of their weapons drawn on the Courier.

"Outnumbered? Maybe Outgunned? Definitely not, but what about out skilled?" In a second, the Courier unholstered a revolver and fanned the hammer, killing six restoration soldiers in quick succession.

He threw the revolver to the ground and fell out of his coat. He pulled out a full-on mini-gun, but before he could fill the room with lead, Silver used his powers to grab onto the mini-gun and pull it out of the courier's hands.

"Oh, come on!" Six yelled and was spin-dashed into a wall by Sonic, though he wasn't down for long as he quickly threw out a hoard of grenades, which Silver grabbed with his powers and chucked out the window.

"Hey Silver, mind go f*cking your ancestors?" Six said as Silver held him up with his powers and Gadget and the surviving restoration soldiers aimed at him. Gadget spoke while the others checked up on the dead: “You are way too confident in the position you are in.”

“Coming from someone who is friends with Blue over there.” Six said while tilting his head to point at Sonic, “He does have a point.” Blaze said as Sonic gave her a confused look before speaking, “Hey, at least I can take a situation seriously.”

All of a sudden, Infinite flies up and stabs Six right in the chest. Six dies almost immediately, and Infinite pulls his blade out of the corpse while Silver lets him go, the lifeless body dropping to the floor as Gadget spoke, “What was that for!? We could have interrogated him!”

“He wouldn’t have; he would be like Sonic when EggMan captured him during the first war, not breaking no matter how much torture EggMan put him through. All the while keeping up a wretched smile.” Infinite said, and Sonic gasped before speaking sarcastically, “You wound me.”

“Uhh…guys? Do you see that?” Tails said, and Silver spoke, “See, oh.” Everyone observed that somehow the blood of the dead restoration members was flooding out and moving towards the center of the room, towards the radio.

The radio stopped playing music at that moment and began playing static at such a high volume that it made everyone cover their ears, with Gadget and the Restoration soldiers dropping their wisps. As everyone covered their ears, Gadget took his hands off and picked up his wisp before blasting the radio.

It stopped, and everyone recovered from the noise when it began again, playing the static even louder as they heard what seemed to be Six laughing. They looked back as Six stood up and said, “It’s time for the main man to take the stage!”

Around the radio appeared small portals that spewed black tentacles, writhing around before launching towards everyone. With some piercing through the chests of restoration soldiers, Infinite picked up his blade and chopped through the tentacles before going for Six.

He stabs through Six again, but this time it seemingly does nothing. “People always did tell me I should have become an actor, because man, did you guys fall for me playing dead easily?” Six then grasped onto the handle of Infinite’s blade and spoke, “Then again, you can’t kill what’s already dead.”

Infinite dashed backwards, pulling the blade out of Six’s chest while Six pulled out some kind of laser katana from his duster. “Two people can play the whole energy blade game.” Infinite flew at Six and tried to strike, but his strike was blocked by Six, causing him to stagger back as Six used that moment to strike.

With everyone else in the room, they tried their best to either dodge or destroy the tentacles. Blaze used her powers to set the tentacles ablaze along with the radio, and as the fire burned, everyone smiled only to see the fire change into a green color.

The radio stopped playing static and started playing something understandable, though there was still a layer of static to it. “Dearly beloved, for your entertainment, it’s my pleasure to introduce you to Möbius’s greatest arrival, the equal opportunity killer... yours truly.”

Inside the blazing flame, everyone was able to make out a figure. Six spoke as he blocked another one of Infinite’s attacks: “Subject RD, everyone! Or his true name...”

Everyone slowly starts to make out some features of the figure, standing at 7 '0 feet tall, deer antlers, clawed fingers, and some form of staff, but before they could make out anything else, the fire burst outward, catching any surviving restoration soldiers and making the heroes duck.

Once the fire was gone, everyone laid eyes on the figure standing where the radio once lay, clad in a fancy crimson suit with blood-red hair and pitch-black tips, along with what looked like deer ears sitting on top of his head.

Its eyes have a mix of light red to dark red and slit pupils, with one eye having a monocle on it. It’s skin like that of a rotting corpse, and teeth that, while looking rotten, seemed more like a part of a radio.

As it fixed its tie and looked downward at the heroes, Six finished its introduction by saying the thing’s name.

“Alastor.”

Chapter 32: Capital Fighter

Chapter Text

After Six introduced the creature, which was apparently named 'Alastor,' they all simply stood still, waiting for the creature to make its first move. It then spoke as it stared down at them, its stare making them uncomfortable.

"Much smaller in person..." It said its voice sounded like it's coming from an old radio. As it moved out of the center of the room, Six stumbled back as Infinite parried one of his attacks and slashed him across the chest.

Six recovered and instead moved next to Alastor, leaning against the wall while Alastor walked up to the throne before plucking the small jackal child with his hand. "Don't hurt her." Infinite said as he approached the two.

Alastor simply laughed and spoke as he put the child down: "Oh, please, unlike my 'faithful servant,' here, I do not hurt children." Alastor looked over to Six, and Six looked away.

Gadget raised his rifle while Infinite picked up the small child and spoke, "Considering what you just did, I'm assuming you're not human." Alastor laughed and said, "I once was, but that was a long, long time ago."

"Ah, so the Enclave are hypocrites; good to know." Sonic said, and Six laughed before speaking, "Oh, poor mutant, you don't know." Alastor laughed before Six fell to his knees, a chained collar appearing around his neck while Alastor tugged at it and spoke, "Quiet."

Alastor spoke once more after Six begged and turned to the heroes (plus Infinite), "And unlike all of you, I am no mutant." Silver spoke as everyone started surrounding the duo, "Then what are you, because while I'm not the best at biology, I'm 70% sure humans don't have red eyes?"

"What about the other 30%?" Blaze asked, and Silver shrugged before speaking, "Then they have red eyes." Blaze rolled her eyes as they all heard Alastor laugh before speaking, static and what seemed to be glitches appearing around it as its voice got deeper, "Something much worse..."

A green explosion suddenly knocked the heroes back, and before the dust settled, Gadget stood up and fired the wispon into the dust cloud before it settled to reveal a strange barrier covered in eyes and strange symbols.

Amy quickly gestured for Tails to get Espio out of the room, and while everyone was still recovering, Infinite used the phantom Ruby to make him and the jackal child disappear so they could run away and escape the fight that would ensue.

Tentacles flew out, and everyone did their best to dodge while looking for Alastor, who had seemingly disappeared. As Amy bashed a tentacle away, out of the shadows appeared Alastor, who summoned another tentacle.

The tentacle grabs onto Amy and flings her into a wall as Alastor summons a green fireball and chucks it at Silver, though the ball is quickly redirected by Blaze as she sends a wave of fire at Alastor, who disappears once more.

Gadget dodged another tentacle and noticed the barrier went down before he felt himself crash against a wall and look back up to see who he could only guess was Six in a suit of power armor, though it didn't look like any of the suits the Enclave uses, with the chest piece bearing a symbol of a sword in between gears.

"I think the fight is a little bit more even!" Six said as he picked Gadget up and walked over to the window before chucking him out of it, though before he could celebrate, Silver crashed into him and two fell out of the window as well.

As Amy got back up and went to go help Sonic and Blaze, she felt someone tap on her shoulder, and she turned around only to be met with a punch to the face. She staggers back before looking up to see Agent Adam, cracking his knuckles before speaking, "Alright, Pinkie, I think your run is over."

Back with Sonic, he went to spin dash Alastor, but the thing disappeared and caused Sonic to joke, "Is someone a scaredy cat?" Blaze was then launched into him as the two looked to see Alastor come out of the shadows.

"Infinite, mind helping!" Sonic yelled only to notice the current situation and the fact that Infinite and the Jackal Child were gone. He looked back at Alastor, who was growing in size.

It's antlers growing more pronounced, claws growing longer and sharper, teeth looking like he could bite them apart, limbs elongating, and all the while his eyes were almost pitch black, outside of having pupils of blood red.

Sonic and Blaze quickly got up and ran as Alastor struck where they used to be, his claws digging right through the floor as static emitted from its cane. Sonic turned around before jumping and spinning, dashing Alastor, hitting him once.

He landed back on the ground, blood covering him once and again. He had to resist throwing up. He looked up at Alastor and saw that the wound he had just felt to the creature was almost instantly regenerated.

"Okay...not fair." Sonic said before he backhanded into a wall. Back with Amy, she tries to strike Adam, but he sidesteps, unholsters a combat knife, and speaks as he dodges another attack.

"Now, while we are trying to kill each other...what in the Lord's name is that thing?" Adam said while tilting his head to Alastor, who was currently dealing with Sonic and Blaze.

"Shouldn't you know?" Amy said as Adam dodged another one of her attacks before rushing up and delivering a devastating kick into Amy's head. He spoke as Amy was launched back, "Mutie, I have no clue what that thing is, but I surely hope it's on my side."

With Six, Silver, and Gadget, as the three fell to the ground, The Courier whipped out an SMG and opened fire on the two Mobians. Silver used his power to catch the rounds while trying to slow down Gadget's fall.

"Take the rounds like a man, Mutie." Six said as he finally hit the ground, his power armor protecting him as he got back up while Silver and Gadget landed in front of him.

"Two on one, and one of us has telekinesis, so you might as well give up." Gadget said as Six spoke, "Think you're a little overconfident now." Silver and Gadget looked at each other, confused, before, out of nowhere, Six was able to get to them in an instant, kneeing Gadget in the head before practically slapping Silver.

The two quickly recover and notice how fast Six was moving. "Silver? Mind-humbling Six?" Gadget asked, and before Silver could use his powers on Six, Six suddenly disappeared into thin air.

"Huh? Where did he go?" Silver asked, and Gadget heard something and spoke as he surveyed the area with his wispon, "He's still here, just invisible."

"So what now? I can't just grab someone invisible!" Silver said while swaying his hand and unintentionally grabbing onto Six. Six yelled, "Pain...this is pain..." Silver and Gadget laughed before they heard static approaching them. "What was that?" Both of them spoke as they looked upward.

Out from the throne room window burst Sonic and Blaze running down the palace as out crawls Alastor, along with a hoard of black creatures following him. Gadget spoke, "Silver?" Silver didn't respond, and Gadget turned to see that he was gone.

"Where did he-" before Gadget could, he was then hit with Silver from out of nowhere, turning to see Six, out of his power armor, walking towards them while holding some kind of book, "Guess magic is effective..."

The two got up right as Sonic and Blaze reached alongside Alastor and the hoard of black creatures. Sonic said, "How are you guys doing?" Silver spoke as Six continued to approach them, "Pretty good until now? How about you guys?"

"This...thing, we've tried everything at our disposal, and yet it can't be killed." Blaze said, and Gadget responded, "Sounds bad. Also, where's Amy?" Sonic responded as he looked back up to the throne room, "Fighting Agent Adam."

Back with Amy, she slid back as she looked at a cut on her arm. She looked back at Agent Adam as he picked up his side arm and said, "You know what's funny? If that stinking fox didn't try to dig deep, then everything would have been just fine."

Amy charged at Adam, but he rolled out the way and sliced at her leg, causing her to stumble. Adam spoke once more: "We would have killed Infinite and this little country, and everyone would be none the wiser; maybe you would have died peacefully, but I guess that's all off the table!"

Adam delivers a kick to Amy, knocking her back as all she could do was stare into the emotionless mask that covered his face. She spoke as she reached for a nearby wispon, "Why....why do any of this?"

"Why? Why do any of this!? Well, my dear Mutie, it's quite simple..." Adam put his foot on Amy's left leg before starting to press on it, making Amy clench her teeth as she fights through the pain. Adam spoke once more, "Because God wills it."

Adam tries to aim his sidearm at Amy but can't move his arm. He says, "The hell?" He is then kicked in the leg as suddenly, Espio decloaks and throws Adam's sidearm away. Before Adam could retaliate, he was then smacked over the head by a wrench by Tails.

Adam stumbles and once tries to attack the two, but Amy picks up a wispon and shoots Adam dead center. He falls against the wall as Amy breathes deeply. She then speaks as she looks up at the two, "Th-Thanks for the save..."

"Thank us later; Sonic and others aren't having the best time down there with whatever that creature is and Six." Espio said, and Tails spoke up as he pulled out his Miles Electric. "Same with Delta, he and his forces have been engaged by multiple power-armored divisions, all of them led by General Song."

"Guess our work is cut out; any news on Knuckles?" Amy asked, and Tails shook his head. "I've tried contacting him, but all I get back is silence." Tails said, and Espio helped pull Amy up as the three looked out the window at the current situation the others were in.

With the others, Sonic dashed through one of the creatures as Gadget shot as many as he could and his wispon was suddenly turned to nothing but scrap, laughter of Alastor signaling he somehow did it. Gadget turned only for a tentacle to slap him and send him flying into Six.

"Voodoo bitch." Six said as he reached into his duster and pulled out some mechanical fist device, but before he could use it, Silver grabbed onto Six and held him before allowing Gadget to get back.

Silver then proceeded to toss Six away, sending him flying into a nearby building. Silver landed as he helped Gadget up before quickly using his powers to stop a creature from sneaking up on Blaze, who was using her powers to burn as many of the creatures away.

But all of a sudden, portals opened up on the ground, and chains flew out, grappling onto the four and pulling them down as Six walked out of a portal, standing next to Alastor as he spoke, "Well, I'm off to grab my weapons; see you in a bit, boss."

Alastor then grabbed onto Six as he seemingly transformed back into his normal form as the heroes were stuck. He then pointed to the sky, and Six turned to see Infinite slowly descending from the sky. "Oh great." Six said as he opened up the book.

"Is there like a spell here that just kills someone?" Six said as he looked away and noticed he was all alone. He spoke as he looked around a battlefield filled with wreckages of vehicles and corpses of Enclave clones.

"Alastor?"

Back with the heroes, they were all released from the chains as the portals closed and Infinite landed amongst them. "Took you long enough to help." Sonic said as all the creatures disappeared, leaving Alastor and Six left.

"Let me guess, illusions?" Gadget said, and Infinite nodded before speaking. "Both of them are witnessing their worst memories currently; now let's leave before they figure out what's going on."

As the group left, Blaze set the area around the two ablaze so they would burn in fire as Silver asked Infinite, "So if you got into their memories, then you would surely know what they are, right?"

Infinite nodded and spoke, "Correct, and unfortunately, nothing in our arsenal can kill them." Sonic spoke after laughing, "You're kidding, right?" Infinite glared at him, and Sonic responded, "Yeah, you're not one to kid, so what now?"

"We regroup, reorganize, and try to plan a counterattack." Infinite said as the group left Six and Alastor to burn...

__________________________________

Delta stabbed his shield into the ground as it folded outward, providing cover for Zeta and Delta's newly created Honor Guard, based on the E-Series with a mix of Egg Gunners, all equipped with smaller variants of his weapons.

"The left flank is at 35% fighting capacity." Zeta said as Delta looked over to the left, plasma fire was flying over his head as he noticed that most of the badniks were reduced to nothing but goo while the rest were heavily damaged.

Delta's forces were completely caught off guard when multiple Enclave PA divisions pushed them back into the main entrance of the palace, most of them equipped with plasma weaponry, gauss weaponry, and some Tesla-based weapons.

"Left flank, pull back, and repair." Delta ordered them, and the surviving badniks there fell back, though some were cut down by the Enclave's weaponry. Zeta spoke as he gestured for Egg Hammers to move up.

"EHs, move up and tank the enemy fire." Zeta said, and as the Egg Hammers were moving up, one of them fell to the ground as its left leg was shot out by the Enclave.

"Make a note to reinforce the Egg Hammer's leg armor." Delta said to Zeta, and Zeta nodded as the Enclave forces were moving up, the power armor in the front wielding giant shields that were able to protect them and their fellow soldiers.

As they advanced, Delta tried to find any officers to possibly eliminate, but all he saw was a sea of black. All of them looked the same outside of what weapons they were equipped with, that is, until Delta laid eyes on the only soldier different from the rest.

Glowing as bright as the sun, a cape was blowing in the wind, and with him was a retinue of soldiers walking alongside him. "General Song. I'll be back in a minute or two." Delta said as he left his shield there and ordered his honor guard to follow him.

Delta and his honor activated their boosters and flew towards General Song, and when they closed in on him, they saw him order the rest of his forces to move out of the way, leaving only him and his retinue.

Delta and his honor guard landed, staring down at the general and his retinue. General Song spoke as he stared at Delta. "So you are the leader of these Badniks? Are you hoping to at least make it so that the EggMan empire does not die with a whimper but instead dies in defiance?"

Delta responded as he readied his axe while ordering his honor to only go after Song's retinue, "The EggMan empire shall not die today, and even if it does die, then it shall not die alone." General Song laughed in response, "Is this some sort of atonement? Are you hoping this effort will erase the evil your empire has done?"

"No, because the EggMan empire only did what it had to do." Delta was ready to charge Song, but Song immediately boosted into him, crashing right into him before pulling him up to the sky.

As they ascended into the sky, Delta planted one of his feet against Song and activated its booster, separating the two. While Song recovered, Delta punched Song right in the head while activating his energy blaster and putting a point black shot right in Song's helmet.

This sends Song flying downward, but he quickly regains control and flies upward before delivering a strike across Delta's chest. As Song passes by to go for another hit, Delta flies away while firing energy blast after energy blast at Song.

"You overestimate yourself, machine." Song said, and Delta felt his energy blaster overheat, so he switched over to his axe, flew towards Song, and swung overhead to hopefully catch him by surprise.

Song blocks the attack and speaks, "Perhaps the Enclave will rebuild you if there's anything left-" Delta pressed a button on his axe, activating a thruster on the head of his axe, pulling downward on Song's halberd and breaking it.

Thinking he caught Song by surprise, Delta goes in for a kill, but at the last second, Song grabs onto his axe and speaks, "Let's make this fair..." Song breaks Delta's axe and kicks him away. As the two separate again, both prepare themselves to fight hand in hand.

Delta flies into Song, punching the man in the head before Song responds in kind by grabbing onto Delta's head and smashing it into his knee before punching downward, sending Delta spiraling down to the ground.

Delta regains control only to feel Song's hand wrap around his head as the two descend towards the ground. Once they hit the ground, Delta has to spend some time surveying his surroundings before trying to fix himself up.

Though he isn't given much time as he feels someone grab onto his back and throw him at the place entrance, allowing him to see what remained of his forces, most being reduced to green goo or scrap, the only one left standing is Zeta, who is heavily damaged.

Delta stands up and prepares to do something dangerous. He hears Song's voice as he crouches to the ground: "EggMan must have built you governors well if you can stand up against me." Delta spoke as he ignored a warning on his HUD.

"That's because you are weak..." Delta said after turning his head to Song. Song chuckles as Delta continues, "You think I'm joking? If any of the heroes were in their super forms, then you would collapse easily against their power."

Song flies to Delta and grabs him by the head while speaking, "You think I-No, the Enclave doesn't know that; we know what the heroes could do with this power." Song starts to slightly apply pressure to Delta before speaking once more, "I am the righteous hand of God, and nothing will stop me..."

"This will." Delta said as he pressed his energy blaster against Song's chest. Having set the blaster to overcharge, he activated it and sent Song flying back due to the blast, though that did come at the cost of Delta losing the arm; the energy blaster was connected too.

While Song was flying back and his retinue was in shock, Delta used his other arm to grab onto Zeta before taking off. Plasma fire surrounds him as he flies past the temple. He soon gets a message from the others and heads to their location.

"Commander, do we possibly have any weapons that could possibly disable a super form?" Zeta asked, and Delta thought about it but realized that EggMan had only created one weapon that could do that, but it was long destroyed, and any prototypes were either scrapped long ago or now in Enclave hands.

But Delta knew that they had to come up with some way to combat Song...

__________________________________

"Mind helping?" Burn asked Dess while he tried prying the armor off the Enclave soldier they had dragged in, with Dess currently just laying against a toolbox. "Nah, I think you've got it."

"Dess, I will pull off that new leg of yours and beat you to death with it if you don't help me remove this bastard's armor." Burn said, and Dess quickly got up while speaking, "Hey, hey, we don't need to get that violent."

Dess walked over, and Burn used the crowbar to hook on the bastard's helmet, and the two started to pry it off. When they think they are getting somewhere, the crowbar breaks, and while Dess shrugs, Burn chucks the broken crowbar out of the tent and hits someone.

"Gaia...f*cking...which one of you did that?" The two immediately recognize the voice as Smith's, and when Smith steps in, Dess immediately points at Burn, and Burn sighs before speaking, "It was I, Sir." Smith sighed before speaking. "How's it going?"

"Terribly, we can't get the armor to budge even a bit." Burn said as Smith walked past the two and grabbed onto the helmet, using the helmet's horns to secure his grip. "Come on, help me." Smith said, and the two shrugged before grabbing on the helmet as well.

"1...2...3...Pull!" Smith said, and three started to pull on the helmet, though the helmet barely moved. "Come on, gents, put your backs into it!" Smith said as the three tried even harder to pull the helmet off.

"I think we're getting somewhere!" Dess yelled as Smith spoke, "Then put some extra work into it! Let's see this bastard's face!" The three started pulling even harder until they heard hissing sounds, and eventually they fell back. With all of them having hands on the Enclave soldier's helmet, Smith handed Burn the helmet while Dess spoke.

"Success!" Dess said, and the three stood up to look at the enclave soldier's face, and they all paused for a solid minute before Dess spoke while pointing at the enclave soldier's head, "That...that is a dog."

Instead of a human head and face, it was some kind of dog/wolf creature. Burn spoke as Smith grabbed a wrench and started poking the creature. "That explains why the helmet has a snout, but then again, aren't the Enclave trying to quite literally kill anything not human?"

"Maybe those that are useful are allowed to live?" Dess said as Smith went to grab a hammer, "Doesn't matter; let's make sure this thing is dead before we fully loot it." Before Smith could smash its head in, another jackal walked into the tent and spoke, "Hey, we've got a supply drop with some goods... what is that?"

The creature's eyes then snapped open, and it immediately jumped up before biting the jackal's head straight off. Dess falls to the ground and speaks while desperately running out of the tent. , "Nope! Not dealing with that!"

Burn and Smith quickly followed as they saw everyone enjoying what seemed to be a fresh dinner. The creature ran out as well and picked up Burn, though Burn thought quickly and smashed the helmet against the creature's head, stunning it and causing it to drop him.

Burn ran to the others as some equipped their weapons and fired upon the beast, their rounds simply blinking off the armor. "AT!" Smith yelled, and others nodded. Burn was one of those that ran to grab an AT weapon and saw Lisa carrying an RPG.

"Mind helping Burn?" She asked, and Burn nodded as the two tried to get a steady shot at the beast, but the thing simply wouldn't stand still as it ripped through their ranks, though when Smith jumped onto the best and started shooting into its neck area, that's when it finally stood somewhat still.

"Back blast area clear?" Lisa said, and Burn spoke, "Clear." Lisa fired the RPG, and Smith jumped up right as the beast was hit with it. It went down, and Smith spoke as he stood up, "Nice shot."

"Thanks Sarge!" Lisa said, and everyone crowded around the beast, with Dess showing back up after everything was over. Lisa speaks as Smith and the others tear the helmet off before putting a bullet through the creature's head, making sure it stays dead.

"So, what exactly is this thing?" Lisa asked, and Burn shrugged before replying, "We don't know; it's nothing I've ever seen before." Dess spoke up as some others tried to take the armor off. "In complete honesty, me and you did grow up in a pretty remote village.

"Touché, but still, this thing has to be created by the Enclave." Burn said, and Smith replied as he cut the head off with a knife, "Them creating this thing doesn't make a lick of sense; why would human supremacists create creatures like these?"

Everyone then heard the radio activate, and they all gathered around it to hear a broadcast from their leader: "To all Jackalstan forces that are still alive, until now, the restoration was our enemy; they helped the Enclave destroy our nation, but now is not the time to hate them. The Restoration is now considered an ally of our glorious nation, alongside the Eggman Empire."

"I know many of you may hold grievances with the Restoration; I hold some as well, but it is not the time to stand against those that belong to our species. We stand against an army that is possibly on the level of or more of the EggMan empire. Look to the restoration not as enemies but as your brothers and sisters. May Gaia protect you all and stand tall against the darkness."

The radio cut out, and everyone looked around until they all simply carried on with their day, with Burn, Dess, and Lisa trying to take off the beast's armor while Smith was doing something with the beast's skull.

That is, until the radio played once more, and when everyone gathered around it, they all heard a call for help.

"Am-Amy...I may....help."

__________________________________

Agent Adam stood up before looking around the destroyed throne room, where he noticed two other beings occupying the room: The Courier and the beast that he saw while he was fighting Amy.

Agent Adam bore them no mind as he walked over to the destroyed window. He was thankful that the mutants didn't decide to double-tap him. As he looked out the window, he heard the footsteps of the other two behind him.

"So, I'm assuming you two belong to 10th?" Adam said, and the beast spoke, the voice sounding like a radio, as it seemingly summoned out of nowhere a mug that said, 'Oh, deer.'

"Belong? Oh no, we are simply acquaintances to the 10th." It said as Adam received a call from Agent Moses, "Adam, the 10th, vault 103, it's all-"
"Moses, get me a vertibird; I need to send the message." Adam hung up, and Six spoke as he crouched down. "Need something broadcasted?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I need...." Adam said, and Adam could only watch as the throne room turned into a full on radio station, though a very old one at that. As he looked around in awe, he turned and saw that the beast was standing right behind him. He said, "Let me guess, your doing?"

"Of course, now I believe you have something important to announce, so let's not dilly-dally any longer." The beast said, and as Adam approached the microphone while strange black creatures set everything else up, he felt a cold sweat roll down his skin.

'The time has come..." Adam thought and breathed in and out before speaking, "This is Agent Adam of the Enclave. I am here to tell you all one thing, and to many, this may not mean much, but to those that have heard the truth and follow the Lord, this holds great importance."

Adam speaks as he hears the sound of a vertibird approaching: "Burn the old world and build a new one."

As the message was broadcasted, Adam simply looked out of a window and truly wondered what would happen next...