"Any signs of him?" Silver asked. Espio shakes his head.

"Tails can't track him and Sonic has searched everywhere for him. There's not even a trace left of him. He just... vanished." Silver's ears fall slightly. A black wolf with sharp, blue eyes and a white muzzle steps forward, slamming her hand on the table. Three, wide, long scars ran diagonal across her eyes. She wore assassin like armor that was completely black except for a silver hawk on the neck of her shirt.

"Look, as much as it pains me to say this, Shadow is lost. We need to forget about him to continue fighting this war. After this war is over and we won, then we'll go looking for him." Sonic sighs.

"Wolf's right. We can go looking for Shadow after this is all over." This caught everyone in the room by surprise. Sonic, giving up on finding his rival. Giving up on finding anyone. Wolf nods slowly.

"Look, we need to plan our other plan of action before they strike. Any ideas?" No one comes forward for a few seconds, but the sound of heels clicking made them look up at Rouge.

"I have an idea."

A piercing cry of a hawk shreds the wind as it circled the base. A short whistle made the hawk look down. A faint, dark gray figure stood on the roof, holding his arm out. The hawk circles again before diving and gracefully landing on the masked figure's arm. Infinite pulls out a strip of meat and tosses it above the hawk's head. The hawk looks up and grabs the meat with his beak, soon swallowing it whole. Infinite gently strokes the hawk's head.

"Good boy." The hawk gave an almost quiet screech. Infinite walks over to the edge of the building and sat down. The hawk hops off of Infinite's arm and looks over the edge as well. A small group of figures came into view and that's when the hawk screeched. A warning call. Infinite follows the hawk's gaze and growls as he sees familiar faces. 

"Of course." 

'Why not just call a truce?' Infinite frowns under his mask as he looks over at the hawk. He then growls.

"Shut it."

'Hey, just giving some suggestions.'

Wolf looks around, her eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Why are we here again?" Charmy asked. Wolf rolls her eyes before turning towards the black and yellow bee. 

"We're trying to find a vantage point into the base along with ambush spots. Did you not hear a word Rouge said?" Charmy chuckles nervously as he rubs his neck. Wolf just shakes her head before turning back towards the base. There, on the roof, was an all too familiar figure.

"Guys, we have a visitor." She growled. The others stopped as they follow her finger. Silver bristles as he sees Infinite. 

"Do you think he knows what we're doing?" Silver growled. Wolf shakes her head.

"His hearing is good but not that good. He won't know a thing."

"What do you hear?" Infinite asked into the open air. The hawk was perched in a tree close to the group. 

'They're looking for a way to get in along with an ambush spot. By the sounds of it, they might try to lure you out into a trap once the time's right.' Infinite nods.

"When do you think they'll attack?" The hawk cocked his head to one side before replying.

'At this rate, they'll probably be ready in a few weeks.'

"Hmph. Thought so." Infinite watches as they walked around mindlessly. It was almost entertaining to the gray jackal. The sound of distant thunder made him look up at the sky. Clouds were gathering and off at the horizon, dark clouds flashed with lightning.

"Come back. We've got planning to do."

'By we, you mean you, right?'

"Just shut up and get back!"

Amy looks up at the sky due to a sudden pick up in the wind and could see thunderclouds rolling towards them from a distance.

"Uh, guys. We should get heading back. That looks like some nasty thunder." Wolf looks up and nods, some drops of rain making it onto her face.

"She's right. Come on, lets move out." Wolf led the way as they sprinted back to base. By now, the storm has already came and rain poured down onto the group. They made it to the base with no incidents. As the elevator doors opened, the group walked in, dripping from nature. Rouge looks up from the table.

"Found any good spots?" Wolf was shaking her head before Rouge finished.

"Negative. Though we did find Infinite spying on us." Rouge tensed.

"Did he hear anything?" Wolf shakes her head again.

"Nothing. He was too far away." Rouge looks to her right anxiously before releasing a sigh and relaxing. She open her mouth to ask another question but they quickly shuts it. No one has seen a trace of Shadow, even after so many months of searching, so why ask?

Infinite sat against the wall, balancing a pencil on his finger. A rather large cat laid curled up next to him.

"So what's this plan of yours?" The cat asked, peering up at Infinite. The jackal grabs the pencil before glaring down at the cat. 

"Is that mockery in your voice?" The cat's ear twitched before he laid back down with a sigh.

"I was only asking." Infinite rolls his eyes as he started twirling the pencil between his fingers.

"But seriously though, what do you have in mind?" Infinite doesn't look away from his hand as he shrugged. 

"I'm still thinking about it." The cat sat up and stared at Infinite through half-lidded eyes, disbelief dancing in them.

"You don't have a plan, do you?" Infinite bristles as the pencil falls out of his fingers.

"I do too!" The cat purred, a smirk on his snout. Infinite growls before crossing his arms and looking away.

"Wipe that smug smirk off of your face! We have a lot of work to do." The cat rolls his eyes.

"What's with this 'we'? I thought you never liked working with anyone else?" Infinite growls yet again.

"You are my guardian, right? You're supposed to help me and guide me through the rest of my life, yes?" The cat nods.

"Well then, why aren't you doing it? Yes, I get it that you don't like what I do but you're supposed to help me despite that." The cat holds up his tail, his eyes shut as he started to think. Infinite surprisingly obliged as he shut his mouth and waited patiently. The cat finally started to speak.

"Yes, I know what my duty is as your guardian but there's a reason why i'm not helping with this 'plan' of yours." The cat climbs into Infinite's lap and put his paws against his mask. He starts pushing it up and eventually got to the point where he could see Infinite's muzzle.

"What's that?" He asked. The cat sits back down, curling his tail around his paws. 

"From what I've heard, they are going to try to lure you out of here so that they can capture you. But why let them? Here's my plan."