*Shadow's POV*
I watched as Sonic hugged Miles as I was peeking in, making sure they were okay. I had watched the whole thing happen. I knew this would help both of them heal and mend their friendship, so I didn't interfere.

"Shadow?" I turned when I heard Rouge call for me. She was panting lightly, looking exhausted.

"Where are the others?" I raised a brow and walked to her.

"They stayed behind. I found something I needed to show you. Look. It wad on the ground next to Eggmans burned down monitors. One screen was on and working, but everything was deleted." She handed me something which I immediately recognized.

"The commanders patch?" My eyes went wide as I realized what this meant. "He's the one who is controlling them."

"You need to tell Tails to work on Metal and find a way to break his control. Everyone else is looking for the commander already, hoping we get to him before he tries to use Blue against us." Rouge nodded when I looked back up at her.

"The commander." I turned back to see Sonic and Miles at the entrance to Miles's lab. Miles walked with his tools to the metalic copy of his best friend and immediately started working on him. "He's the one that was talking to me."

"What are you talking about?" I asked him confused.

"The dream I had. It was the commander. He was torturing me with the gloves so I would kill all of you." He dropped his ears. "I need to get away from all of you."

"You're not going anywhere, hedgehog. If you leave, it might just make things worse." I ordered, and he stayed quiet. "Miles will work on Metal, then work on your gloves and see if he can maybe find a way to get them off. The rest of us will go out looking for the commander."

"Wait. No." He reached for me as I started to walk away. I stopped when he grabbed my arm. "Stay here." He asked.

I looked up at Rouge, but she stayed quiet.

*Rouge's POV*
I've never seen Shadow so calm before. He wasn't fighting Blue back as he held him and even got close to him.

Shadow looked at me as if asking me what to do next, but in all honesty, I wasn't sure either. It looked to me that Sonic needed him to stay, not only for protection but for reassurance that everything would be okay. I would be lying if I said I didn't notice how close these two were now, which I was grateful for since they weren't fighting anymore.

"You should stay, Hun." I told Shadow. "It's best if we have someone here to protect them. I'll go help the others." He seemed hesitant, but he agreed.

"Be careful." He said to me as Blue still held his arm to keep him there. It was strange but comforting to know that at least Shadow wouldn't end up alone when I were to pass.

I looked at Metal and at Sonic, then back at Shadow, I was worried about leaving Shadow here with them. "You too." I said as calm as I could.

I opened the front door, then extended my wings and jumped, flying back to where I had left the others. Once there, I landed beside Knuckles, who looked like he had found something.

"Is this the commanders?" He asked, and I nodded as I looked down at his gun.

"Why would he want to control Sonic and Metal?" Amy asked as she walked to us along with Silver and Blaze.

"It doesn't make sense." Blaze said as she looked around. The building still smelled like smoke, and we were all being cautious, being aware that anything could fall on us. "Silver, be careful!" Blaze shouted as she tried to run to him once she saw a piece of the roof falling down.

Silver froze when she yelled and looked at her confused, then looked up and tried to run, but it was too late. I flew towards him as everyone else ran, trying to get him away before the slab fell on him, but before we could reach it, it was broken.

Small pieces of rocks fell down on us instead of the slab as we all looked at each other confused. Who had done that? Once we realized it was neither of us, we all got ready for a fight, knowing we weren't alone.

"I'm not here to fight." We turned to look where Silver was standing. Behind him was Mephiles. Silver gasped and turned to face him, then got ready to attack. "Are you deaf? I said I'm not here to fight. Be grateful I saved you." He pushed Silver aside and walked past him. "I'm looking for the commander."

"Why?" I asked as I took out my pistol, pointing it at Mephiles. Knuckles raised his fists, and Amy took out her hammer as Blaze ran to Silver to make sure he was okay.

"He took my chaos emerald. I want it back." He explained as he crossed his arms, glancing back at Silver and Blaze. He kept the distance between us. He really wasn't here to fight. At least not now.

I lowered my gun, deciding to trust him on this, but kept my guard up just in case. "We don't know where he is. We are looking for him too." I explained.

"Why are you looking for him?" He asked as he examined the room.

"He has something that belongs to us." It's all I said, which he understood. we weren't going to tell him more about it and nodded. He started walking around looking for clues as to where he could have gone.

"Mephiles." Silver called to him, I wasn't far away from them so I could hear their conversation, plus I git closer just to hear.

Silver was afraid of Mephiles. It was understood after what had happened, but Silver was too kind for his own good. He stood a few feet away from his own rival, looking afraid and nervous as his rival looked back at him with a brow raised.

"Thank you for saving me." He thanked him with a warm smile, and I swear in that moment I could see Mephiles get flustered.

Mephiles nodded at Silver then gave him his back as he kept exploring. Could it be that Mephiles was softening up too?