It had only been a day since we rescued Sonic from the Death Egg. I was sitting in my room, sitting on the bed, waiting for my next mission briefing. Taking the time to figure out this Sonic guy. I still wasn't sure what to make of him. The way everyone described him as this magnificent hero, I just didn't really see it. He was too lax, he doesn't seem to take this seriously. So anytime I hear him talk, it infuriates me.

"Everyone here is working to stop Eggman for one reason or another and he seems to treat this like a game!" I growled as I grabbed a screwdriver and threw it against the door. Only to have Silver walk in the door shortly afterward.

"Woah!" Silver shouted as he quickly reacted and froze the screwdriver mid-air using his psychic abilities, "You doing alright there Artemis?"

"Just swell," I huffed, clenching my scarf in my hand after taking it off.

Silver, concerned, walked over and sat next to me on the bed, "You sure? It seems like you have something that's bothering you."

"At least something is bothering me, instead of nothing at all," I growled.

"Sonic huh?" Silver realized.

"Is it that obvious?" I asked.

"To me, it is," laughed Silver, "Probably Knuckles too. We are most likely the only ones who know how you feel."

"Oh really?" I questioned, "Seems to me that you two are all buddy-buddy with him."

Silver laughed again, "Seems that way, doesn't it. In all actuality, we've both fought Sonic at one point or another. Artemis, however Sonic may behave, he does care. He truly is what we need to win the war."

"I hope your right," I sighed, "For all our sakes."

"Come on," smiled Silver standing back up, "Knuckles is ready for the next briefing."

"Good, hopefully, it's something that will take my mind off this Sonic business," I said following him out of the room.

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As Silver and I walked into the briefing room, we noticed that Knuckles, Sonic, Charmy and Vector were there waiting for us. Sonic was situated next to Knuckles near the front of the monitors. Vector and Charmy stood next to some boxes in the corner of the room. Silver stood next to the metal table in the middle, while I sat in one of the chairs at the table, balancing the chair back on its two legs.

"Sonic, finding you alive is the best news we've had in months," started Knuckles, "And here's the bad news. Our intel indicates Eggman's got a weapons factory in Green Hill, pumping out munitions for his war effort."

"A factory?" said Silver, "We can't take out Eggman's home base in Metropolis if he's got a factory supplying him."

"I'd say taking out that factory should be our next course of action then," I suggested.

"No kidding," agreed Knuckles, "Look Sonic, I know you just got back, but we are spread thin. Can you take care of this? We need that factory in Green Hill destroyed. Take the rookie with you."

"WHAT?!" I cried as I fell backward in the chair.

"You sure about this?" asked Vector, "The kid was shaking like a leaf the whole time we were at the Death Egg."

"Speak for yourself!" I growled standing back up.

"That's because it's cold in space!" said Charmy, "The factory is nice and warm!"

"It will be when it's burnt to the ground!" said Knuckles, "Sonic, you take the lead. Rookie, just make sure you take good notes."

"I've got six months of payback I'm just dying to spend!" smirked Sonic, "This sounds like a good start!"

"Fine," I growled, "Let's just get this over with."

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It didn't take us long to make it to Green Hill, Sonic lives up to his name, so we were there in no time. Looking ahead, we saw the giant pyramid covered with tech.

"That must be it," I said, "Question is, how do we get in?"

"Don't know," answered Sonic, "But we'll figure it out on the way."

"Shouldn't we come up with a plan first?" I suggested, "You know before we just jump in there?"

"You think too much," smiled Sonic, "Don't be afraid of what you don't know."

I burned red with anger, "Who said I was scared? I'm not afraid of anything!"

"Heads up you two!" called in Knuckles, "The enemy's factory is inside that pyramid. I can send reinforcements if you don't think you can handle it."

"No need!" quickly answered Sonic, "The two of us are more than enough! We'll blitz the place and open up a path for the resistance. Right, partner?"

"Yeah sure," I huffed, frustrated with this blue furball.

"Rookie you still have those explosives?" asked Knuckles.

"Yeah, I have them," I responded.

"Good, plant them at the center of the base," explained Knuckles, "As soon as you're clear blow that place sky high."

"Roger that," I smiled.

"It's time for the two of us to team up," smiled Sonic as he stretched his legs, "It doesn't matter what obstacles they put in our way, we'll blow past everything they throw at us!"

"I'll pass," I growled, "There's no way I would ever team up with someone that is just looking for a thrill. You don't know a thing about me or why I fight! This may be just a game to you, but to me, I'm fighting to save him!"

"Save who?" he asked.

"Damn it," I cursed to myself, "It doesn't matter, I'm planting these bombs, with or without your help."

"Tell you what," smiled Sonic, "How about you go on ahead and just call if you need me?"

"What?" I asked, surprised by this suggestion.

"You said you're gonna do this with or without me. So I'm curious what you can get done on your own," smiled Sonic as he started to relax on the ground.

"You just want to take a nap," I growled then huffed, "I don't care, do what you want. I'll have this wrapped up in no time."

I immediately started running into the base, "I'll show you who's afraid!" The path ahead was almost like a conveyor belt leading to the pyramid.

"I can just take this straight to the base," I thought smiling, "Bet that blue furball wouldn't have thought about this."

Jumping onto the conveyor belt, I rushed through. Suddenly an alarm rang out across the base, as multiple robots appeared in front of my path.

"Guess they found out I'm here," I thought, grabbing my wispon, "Nothing I can't handle!"

I used cube-clones as well as my rope to destroy the oncoming robots. All the while I could hear Zero mocking me in my head ringing out so loud that I couldn't hear anything else.

"You pathetic insect!"

"I can taste your terror child."

"Give in to your fear, flee, screaming and I'll let you live."

"I'm not afraid! I'm not afraid!" I chanted in my head trying to drown out his taunting laugh as I smash the last of the robots. After the last one was destroyed, I sat at the top of the pile frustrated and alone.

"Zero," I thought, thinking of all the happy moments that he gave me, "Why can't we go back to how things used to be."

The alarm rang out again as more robots appeared, "More of them? How many robots are here? This factory is just spitting them back out, destroying them isn't going to get me anywhere. Guess I've got to try to run through them. Maybe I should try and call....No! I don't need him!"

After my outburst, I started to run straight for them. I grappled my rope onto the nearby railings above the conveyor belt.

"If I just stay above them I should be fine," I thought, trying to concentrate on where I was swinging. Suddenly I robot grappled me to the ground, right in the middle of all the robots as they started to charge their attack. "I can handle this."

The shot began to fire, I was able to dodge most of them, but a few lucky shots hit, tearing my clothes. "If I don't get away soon, it'll be more than my clothes damaged."

The robots had me completely cornered, I was running out of options. I wasn't going to fall here, I couldn't. I just had to hope that he would come. Taking a deep breath I called, "SONIC!"

The robots closed in to finish me, I kept my hand over my head hoping for him to grab it.

"Please," I prayed.

"I've got you, kid!" I hear a voice ring out, as the blue furball grabbed my hand, pulling me out, "Hang on!"

The next thing I know we are zooming through the robots destroying them all the way to the pyramid.

"Bingo! Found a way in!" smiled Sonic, as we began to climb the side of the pyramid so quickly and effortlessly.

"Through the top!" I realized.

"You've got it!" Sonic nodded.

As we arrived at the top we jumped straight down, without giving it a second thought. It was a long way down, but that didn't scare me. What scared me was the laser grids activating.

"Heh. This should be fun," laughed Sonic as he gracefully navigated around the lasers. When we touched the ground, I took a second to catch my breath.

"You alright there, buddy?" asked Sonic.

"Yeah, just needed a second," I explained, "I've never gone that fast in my life."

Sonic smiled before looking around the factory, "So there building weapons here, huh? Making everyone work like robots. It'll be Eggman's turn to get pushed around when I get a hold of him."

"For once I agree with you," I nodded, "Eggman took someone very important to me away. I'm itching for some payback."

"Sounds good to me," he smiled as he held out his hand, "Ready to blow this place?"

"Born ready," I smiled as I took his hand and the two of us sped through the factory. We searched the whole factory before we came upon the center of his operation. I gave Sonic a few of the charges to place, while I set the rest of them.

"Everything looks good," I said arming the explosives.

"Awesome, push that button and let's jet," Sonic smiled.

"We have to wait till we are clear first," I argued.

"Trust me," he said with a smirk on his face.

After I moment I sighed, "Alright."

I closed my eyes, nervous about the outcome and pushed the detonator.

"Hang on tight!" said Sonic as I felt him carry me swiftly out of the pyramid. When I opened my eyes, we were back outside, with the pyramid blowing to pieces behind us.

"That was a cakewalk," mocked Sonic.

"I don't know why I was even worried," we heard Amy say over the coms. Relieved that we hadn't died in that explosion, I felt a wave of exhaustion flow over me as my vision went dark.