"Shadow," I growled to myself. I couldn't get him out of my head, "That was the hedgehog that ruined everything. If he hadn't shown up that day, Zero wouldn't have pushed me away!"

"Hey, Artemis you okay?" asked Silver, snapping me back to reality.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I huffed, waiting in the briefing room with everyone, "Just want Knuckles to tell us why he summoned us so suddenly."

"Listen up everyone!" shouted Knuckles getting all of our attention, "We just got word that Eggman's forces are undermanned at his headquarters in Metropolis!"

"They are probably staging somewhere else as part of Eggman's plan," analyzed Espio, "This could be our only chance to take the city."

"Exactly!" nodded Knuckles, "That's why we're focusing on a full-frontal assault on Metropolis! I'm calling it Operation: Big Wave."

"Who cares what it's called," said Silver, "What's important is to have a well thought out strategy."

"I thought of this strategy in about a minute and a half," smiled Knuckles.

"How did you get the role of Commander?" I sighed.

"We're going in hard and fast," continued Knuckles, "We're not going to stop until Eggman's army is destroyed. Sonic is busy fighting Shadow, but the rest of us can do this! We've got the strength and the spirit to win. There's no finer group I'd want to fight with."

"Ha! Great speech," smiled Vector, "Let's give Eggman an old-fashioned beat down!"

"Hold on, are we even sure if this is the best idea?" I argued, "This is still Eggman's headquarters we're talking about."

"They have more in sheer numbers," explained Tails, "So the idea of a quick, focused attack isn't bad. We also have Sonic-- I mean, the other Sonic-- so I have no doubt that we can do this! Also if we can destroy the Phantom Ruby, we should be able to send the other Sonic home! At least I hope so... This is all new territory for me..."

"Okay, let's head straight for Eggman's HQ!" cheered Knuckles, "Time to save the world, people!"

"I have a bad feeling about this," I sighed.

"Don't worry Artemis," smiled Silver, "If Tails is on board too, then it might not turn out as bad."

"I'll take your word for it," I said, but I couldn't shake the feeling that this was a mistake.

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Everyone got into position, Knuckles was planning on everyone to strike from the main entrance of Metropolis. My job was to run into the city and do recon into what Eggman would throw at them, and if I could stop it. Even though Knuckles is excited about the assault, it's good to see that he hasn't lost his sense. I'm no good in frontal assaults, doing recon and sabotage are much more suiting for my skills.

"Rookie," called Knuckles as I waited at the top of one of the buildings in Metropolis, "Did you manage to hack into the security system?"

"Almost," I said typing quickly on my holo keyboard, "Got it now. I have eyes everywhere now."

"All right! Time for Operation Big Wave!" cheered Knuckles, signaling the fight to begin, "We'll surge forward and sweep the enemy away!"

"Heads up guys!" I called, "Looks like Eggman is sending out his robot army."

"Copy that Rookie," acknowledged Vector, "There should be too many of them, according to our intel."

Suddenly I was under fire from purple, flying, wasp-like robots. Closing my holo screens, I dodged the attacks. Then used my Asteroid to fire my cube-clones at them. The clones destroyed them, only to have more appear.

"Not good," I growled, "I'm compromised here."

I used my wires to attach to the closest building and pulled myself through the air to escape. As I flew through the air, I sensed something flying next to me. Looking beside me, I saw Infinite, taking a glance at me. My shock was subsided by the glowing gem on his chest.

"That's the Phantom Ruby!" I realized, "He attached it to his body, that's where this newfound power came from!"

Infinite zoomed ahead before using his power. The illusion changed the whole city, creating giant snake-like monsters of himself. It wasn't just the city that changed, but even my center of gravity changed. I panicked as I felt myself fly up into the sky, I quickly used my wire to pull myself into a building so I wouldn't get pulled into space.

"Everyone stay calm!" said Knuckles, "What you're seeing isn't real!"

"It's no use!" responded a soldier, "Our troops are scattering in the confusion!"

"This is bad," said Silver, "Our forces were all gathered together, and now they are plunged into chaos!"

"Rookie, do you have eyes?" asked Knuckles. I pulled up my holoscreen, but because of Infinite the screen was all bugged and I couldn't get a read on anything.

"No, the illusion is messing with my equipment!" I said, frustrated, "I don't have eyes on anyone or anything!"

"This is Eagle Squad! We're caught in enemy crossfire!"

"Snake Squad, requesting reinforcements!"

"This is Fox Squad, we can't hold out much more!"

"80% of our forces have been wiped out!" reported Amy, "And we've lost contact with the rest!"

"One flip of the Phantom Ruby switch and everything falls apart on us!" said Vector.

"Grr, we can't go on like this!" growled Knuckles.

"As much as it pains me to say it, the best thing we can do now is to live to fight another day," said Espio.

"Run for it!" cried Charmy.

"Hang on guys!" I called running through buildings towards them, "I'll regroup to help with the escape!"

"Our Big Wave has washed out," sighed Knuckles.

"We haven't lost," said Silver, "Let's fall back and regroup!"

I jumped out of a building, then all of a sudden, gravity returned to normal along with Metropolis. I wired to a bridge and began to run towards the Resistance, but someone stood in my way.

"Infinite," I said, shaking.

"Are you going to fight and die here?" he asked as he rushed next to me almost whispering into my ear, "Or run away in fear like the rest of them?"

Startled, I backed away slowly, unsure of what to do. My legs started to feel like jelly and I felt my courage leave me. I didn't want to fight Zero, but I needed to stop Infinite. Trembling like a child won't help anyone. Collecting my courage, I made a fist ready to fight.

"Fine, I will teach you fear, then pain and then," mocked Infinite as he raised into the sky, "Well, at the least the fear and pain will end."

Infinite rushed towards me and threw me into a nearby building with an open room. I picked myself back up, reminding myself of who I was dealing with.

"Zero doesn't waste any time taking out his enemies," I analyzed as I dodged an energy attack, "But he's holding back a bit since he doesn't see me as a threat."

"You must be a straggler who got left behind," laughed Infinite, "The strong will always vanquish the weak. You have only your own frailty to blame. No matter I will end this quickly."

Suddenly part of the ground glowed red, I jumped back to dodge as a giant red cube-like wall appeared where I was standing. Then Infinite appeared charging towards me. I quickly put up my cube ring to protect myself from the blow, knocking Infinite backward.

"Well, well," said Infinite, "It seems behind all that fear is a spark of defiance. And those eyes... I feel like we've met before."

Infinite then created more red cube walls around me, cornering me into a spot. Then I realized that I've seen this tactic before. This is the same type of move that Zero had the Jackal Squad do, "The squad would serve as a distraction, while Zero would come from behind!"

Without missing a beat, Infinite appeared behind me but I was ready for him. In a split second, I grabbed his arm and slammed him into the ground, making my small ruby fall out of my pocket. The blow seemed to knock the wind out of him for a second as the red cube walls disappeared.

I was out of breath, exhausted from the dodging and fighting, cautious I approached Infinite. He then began to laugh, startling me I jumped back ready for another attack.

"Only one person knows how to counter me that quickly," he laughed floating back up, "My Huntress."

"Zero, what the hell are you doing?" I asked crying, grabbing the ruby off the ground, "Don't you see that this is wrong. What that ruby has turned you into?"

"Zero is dead," he said, "Only Infinite remains. The old me was weak and pathetic. This ruby gave me the strength to conquer all my enemies. Just when I finally realized my frailty, you ran."

"You shut me out!" I cried, "I tried to help you! If you just listen to me, we can work this out. Go back to how things were, before Eggman, before that ruby!"

"I know," Infinite said, surprising me, "I know that if I give you the chance, you'd talk me out of this. Going back to the weak self that I was. That is something I cannot allow. This is good-bye, my dear Huntress."

Infinite then summoned multiple cannons all around me, unable for me to dodge or escape my fate. I clenched the ruby, unable to accept that this was as far as I could go, "Zero!" As the cannons fired, my ruby glowed and the cannons attacks went straight through me.

"What?! How is this possible? It can't be... How did you?" questioned a shocked Infinite, before gazing at my hand, "A Proto-type? No matter. They only have two days left. Let them contemplate the inevitable until I end this once and for all. I suggest if you wish to survive that day, you cling tightly to that. Farewell, my Huntress."

Infinite vanished, leaving me to my thoughts. My knees collapsed, trying to wrap my mind around what happened, "Zero let me live? He's still in there, inside that monster he calls Infinite. I know I can reach him. I just have to keep trying."

"Artemis!" called out Silver as he floated down next to me, "Are you okay?"

"Silver? What are you doing here?" I asked.

"After we called a retreat, we lost contact with you," explained Silver, "I'm glad to see your okay. What happened?"

"I ran into Zer... Infinite," I said, "Infinite cut me off, I managed to escape."

"Come on," said Silver, putting my arm around his shoulder, "Let's get back to base before he comes back."