Secret Freedom Fighters

The Secret Freedom Fighters are a group of Freedom Fighters under the command of Harvey Who. They first appeared in Sonic Universe #41, but was heard of in Sonic the Hedgehog #233. Their mission focuses on taking back the Republic of Acorn from Ixis Naugus without taking actions that would directly oppose the will of its people. Besides the group's members, they also have a list of allies which include Sir Charles Hedgehog acting as an informant, and Lupe being a talent scout for them. They operate out of a Secret HQ, a hidden bunker built by NICOLE in an undisclosed location within New Mobotropolis.

Calling Out A Team
After Ixis Naugus took the crown from Elias Acorn, the ex-king had ask help from his dad's advisor, Harvey Who. Harvey, at first, refused to help Elias, but then accepted his offer for help. Harvey then mentioned that a group must be made to stop Naugus, the present king of New Mobotropolis. (StH #233)

Harvey had found Silver, who just told Sonic about his thoughts of Antoine being the traitor, sitting in a bench the Julayla Memorial Park. Harvey told Silver that although he has heard of Silver's mistakes, he could join the Secret Freedom Fighters. Silver then accepted. (StH #235)

After Lupe was rescued by Team Fighters, Lupe told Leeta and Lyco to help join the Secret Freedom Fighters. Leeta and Lyco were to go to the Council of Acorn by Lupe. Naugus, seeing as a fake message, then kicks them out, but Uncle Chuck had lead them to Harvey somewhere secret. Harvey had asked them to join the group. At first, Leeta and Lyco declined but then accepted the offer. (StH #238 & SU #42)

After being rebuilted by Uncle Chuck, Shard had agreed to be a part of Harvey's group. At the time, as well, Harvey had needed one more member to make his plan. At the same time, Larry Lynx had fell from a stump and then went inside the old Freedom HQ. Harvey then made Larry a member of Harvey's group. (StH #238)

During the invasion Eggman had made at the Feral Forest, Leeta and Larry Lynx were sent to find Elias during the invasion. As Elias' wife, Megan Acorn and others, Elias, Leeta, and Larry had escaped the house but Tails had caught them. Tails noticed the uniforms Larry and Leeta were wearing and Elias had told him that he might never get to explain what he is doing. Tails then pretended to forget what he saw and covered for Elias, Leeta, and Larry. (StH #239)

During Eggman's invasion in New Mobotropolis, the Secret Freedom Fighters helped defeat several Egg Pods and the Metal Series, destroying both Metal Sonic, Metal Tails and Metal Amy, as the latter was helped defeated by Rotor Walrus. (StH #240)

Catching Geoffrey, Spying Naugus
In the Freedom HQ, Harvey had told Silver, Shard and Larry to capture Geoffrey, while Elias, Leeta and Lyco would spy on Naugus' plans. Harvey would check on their status while on the mission. (SU #41)

Silver, Shard and Larry try to find Geoffrey in Soumerca. Instead, they find his Extreme Gear and place a tracker on it. As Silver and Shard argue throughout the whole mission, Geoffrey hears the commotion and realizes he is being followed. The three agents avoid Geoffrey's traps and find a crypt inside the chamber he was in. Silver is shocked that his master is mentioned: "the crypt of Ixis Vale, one of Ixis Mogul's four elite..." However, Silver figures out that Geoffrey was here. They follow their footprints and notice Geoffrey fleeing with his Extreme Gear. Geoffrey fires an explosive arrow and causes a cave-in, trapping the three Secret Freedom Fighters inside the pit. (SU #41)

Meanwhile, Elias, Leeta and Lyco spy on Naugus entering the hole that the Battle Bird Armada made in New Mobotropolis. The three follow him and Naugus opens a cave. Naugus, almost noticing the Secret Freedom Fighters, seals up the entrance and proceeds further into the cave. Elias plants a bomb at the entrance while Leeta and Lyco seek out Naugus, who is talking to the three Ixis wizards inside a chamber. They are telling him that he is weak and that people are following him. Naugus then hears Leeta scream and chases after the twins. Elias feels bad for saying harsh things to the twins when he hears them scream and follows them, only to be nearly caught by Naugus. While Naugus blocks most of the paths in the cave, Elias finds the twins and they try to escape. He then blasts open the entrance and the Secret Freedom Fighters make it out, but Naugus summons a whirlwind to blow the agents back into the cave. Naugus re-enters the cave and seals up the entrance, so no one can come in or out. (SU #42).

Shortly after being buried, Shard, Silver and Larry exit the underground chamber they were in. With a tracker being placed on Geoffrey's board, they take a break. After doing so, Harvey yells at Silver's team for their failure to capture Geoffrey. Silver stands up for the team, saying that although they lost him, there is a tracker on his board, so they have not totally lost him. Harvey, noticing that Elias' squad have not returned, tells Silver's team to search for them. Upon finding them, Geoffrey comes in and mentions a possible "double agent" working with the Secret Freedom Fighters. He also tells the team about Shard's past. His Power Core holds all of his programming and was all that remained of Shard when Geoffrey's team visited the dormant Mt. Mobius. The Power Core was placed in Robotropolis and was later stolen. The stolen Power Core ended up with Uncle Chuck, and he used it to create the Metal Sonic Troopers. The next day, at the Lake of Rings, Geoffrey reveals to Silver that Naugus is planning to "hypnotize" the city into the new Order of Ixis. Geoffrey begs for Silver and his team to stop Naugus from doing so. After telling Harvey Who and the other Secret Freedom Fighters, they all locate Naugus before it is too late (SU #43).

Naugus Ambush
With Naugus preparing the spell to mind control the entire Council of Acorn, a telekinetic force hits Naugus. As he gets back up, the Secret Freedom Fighters enter the Ritual Chamber and start attacking Naugus and Geoffrey, while Elias plants bombs on the chamber's walls. Naugus is weak as his Chaos Emerald wand is stuck in the ceiling, and his attacks are easily avoided by Shard and Silver. Shard then turns the bones of Ixis Vale into dust, thus destroying Naugus' plan to mind control the citizens of New Mobotropolis. The Wolf Pack twins face Geoffrey, but he manages to escape and attack Elias. With Elias' goggles raised to the point where Geoffrey knows that he is the former king, Geoffrey admits the deposed king has "matured" since their former days. They both battle until Naugus spreads fire around the cave, nearly killing the team, although most of them escape. Geoffrey, however, does not escape, as Naugus uses his mind control to keep him inside the chamber as it crumbles. The mission of the Secret Freedom Fighters is finished. (SU #44)

However, the battle was not over, as they must never become known throughout the history books. They were also unable to relax, as Eggman and Mecha Sally were still out there, and Elias, Silver and the rest of the crew must keep their eyes on any danger ahead. Elias decided to check on his family, unnoticed, while Larry watched the Council from a treetop. Meanwhile, Uncle Chuck was spending time with his family, as Shard looks out of the window in sadness. Harvey decided to help Silver out by telling him the traitor he had been looking for the entire time. He gave Silver a large piece of paper with pictures of Antoine, Sonic, Rotor and Sally on it. Three of the Freedom Fighters' pictures (one of them being Antoine) have been crossed out, leaving only one picture unmarked. Silver asks Harvey if this is the truth, and Harvey tells Silver that the one Freedom Fighter not marked off is the true traitor and that he can explain how. (SU #44)

Shard's Missions
Despite the whole team appearing to help Team Fighters, Shard was sent by Silver to check up on the team in Albion during the invasion on the echidna homeland. He had assisted Team Fighters upon helping defeat the Krudzu, which was combined with the metal-version of Knuckles. At first, Sonic, Tails, and Amy were unsure on trusting Shard, considering that Shard nearly killed Sonic and Tails and that he captured Amy. However, Shard was able to convince them that he is a new robot here to help Sonic and co. With this, Shard and Sonic dragged-raced the Krudzu around the island until Amy and Tails set up a plan to use the Devil Dogs to counter attack the Krudzu. Once the Krudzu was defeated, Shard suggests giving the Krudzu to him that way he can alter the Krudzu into a deroboticizing agent in order to save Sally Acorn from her current state. An unsure Sonic then lets Shard take care of "Plan B" after they rescue Sally. Shard then leaves the island, having a tracker device on the Tornado bi-plane, and contacting Silver about the next location of Team Fighters, which indicates that they are heading towards the Northern Tundra. (StH #245, #246)

Several days after defeating the Metal Sonic from the New Mobotropolis attack, Dr. Eggman had sent Metal Sonic v7.0 to lure and attack Shard in order to destroy him. With the new Metal Sonic having a Power Gem and no free will, the Metal Sonic decided to attack Antoine in the Tommy Turtle Memorial Hospital sometime after he receive a coma. Luckily, Shard was able to stop Metal Sonic from getting "vengeance from Antoine killing his brother" and the two set off to the ruins of Knothole Village. With the new Metal Sonic having a powerful and effective personality, it is able to remember the previous memories of Metal Sonics and use the memories to defeat Shard. Shard, to the point of destruction, makes the Metal Sonic hesitate to where Shard can fix himself. The two carry on fighting until the Metal Sonic decides to activate the self-destruct system inside his programming. Shard is caught in the crossfire and is nearly destroyed. He contacts NICOLE to get him before his Power Gem runs out of energy to carry on Shard's life. Shard's fate is currently unknown at this moment, but it possibly he is fixed and alright. (SU #50)

Rescuing the Roboticized Princess
After helping Team Fighters defeat the Krudzu, Shard contacted Silver that Team Fighters is heading towards the Northern Tundra. Silver heads to the contient and helps Team Fighters and the Arctic Freedom Fighters–Guntiver, Flip, Augustus, Sealia, and Erma–defeat the Egg Swats inside the Death Egg 2. Sonic, agitated upon Silver's arrival, tells Silver to leave but Tails lets Silver speak after putting Elias' "secret" he told him and Silver's info on the new traitor he received. Silver then reveals to the Freedom Fighters that the true "traitor" he's been looking for is Sally Acorn. At first, Sonic and Amy charge towards Silver, but Tails lets him continue talking. Silver then moves forwards about how the traitor caused the Freedom Fighters to fall apart one by one until the world had no more heroes, via having Silver's future. Sonic then decides to move on to the Death Egg in order to find Mecha Sally. However, Akhlut and his army of pods attack the Freedom Fighters and they are damaged by Akhlut's attacks. They then find Mecha Sally and begin to attack her. Silver is able to shut-down Mecha Sally, but that was seconds prior to the second Genesis Wave... (StH #247)

Trivia

 * All of the members have codenames based after playing cards.
 * The uniforms worn by the Secret Freedom Fighters are based on the "race" costumes from the Sonic Rivals series. In particular, Silver wears his race outfit from the series.
 * Similarly, the cover of Archie Sonic Universe Issue 41 has a similar appearance to the box art of Sonic Rivals.
 * Shard's recolor also bears a resemblance to Metal Sonic 3.0, a robot who appeared in Sonic Rivals 2.
 * Silver is the only member in this group that appears in the Sonic game series.