Royal Secret Service

The Royal Secret Service is an independant faction of the Acorn Kingdom Army that undertakes personal missions from the current King, and safeguards the land against threats that affect the entire planet. The Service, much alike the rest of the Army itself, was disbanded during Dr. Ivo Robotnik's military coup and its remaining members joined the Rebel Underground to fight alongside the Freedom Fighters. However, the Service was reinstated after the return of King Maximillian Acorn from the Zone of Silence. The Service's members were, in the beginning, generally arrogant and narrow-minded, believing themselves the ultimate protectors of Mobius and no other military group has their kind of experience or expertise. However, this is generally not the case, as the Knothole Freedom Fighters, particularly Sonic the Hedgehog, prove themselves better than the Service time and again. (StH: #20, #46, #61, #62, #70, #96)

Great War and Disbanding
During the Great War between the Kingdom of Acorn and the Overlanders, the Royal Secret Service was commanded by Ian St. John, with Colonel Sommersby serving as his top aid. Their final mission was a flight intended to carry Queen Alicia and Prince Elias Acorn to safety, only for them to be shot down by Overlanders and crash land on Angel Island; subsequently, only Sommersby, Alicia, and Elias would survive. (KtE: #19, #20)

Reformation
Following the end of the First Robotnik War, Ian's son Geoffrey was called upon by Maximillian Acorn to reform the Secret Service. Ironically, the group was to complete the mission their predecessors failed to: bringing Queen Alicia and Prince Elias to safety. Geoffrey quickly selected his team: Valdez the Chameleon, Wombat Stu of Downunda, Hershey Cat from Mobotropolis, and renegade creations of Dr. Robotnik, Heavy and Bomb. After several training missions in Mobotropolis, they made their way to Angel Island, where despite strange weather conditions and treachery amongst the Brotherhood of Guardians, they were able to accept charge of the royal family members. They would then return them to Mobotropolis, where they were greeted gratefully by the king. Subsequently, with the disbanding of the Knothole Freedom Fighters, the Secret Service became the Kingdom's primary special force, taking on a mission against several escaped convicts from Devil's Gulag to save the Overlander Nate Morgan. Despite the admirable performance of the Service-and the unexpected aid of Sonic the Hedgehog and Elias-several of the criminals escaped due to the interference of a giant Mutate awakened by Robo-Robotnik's satellites. (StH: #61, #62, #63, #64, #68, #69, #70; KtE: #19, #20, #21)

The rise of Dr. Eggman forced the Secret Service into full-time combat duty, their first mission being the evacuation of Mobotropolis. In the chaos, Valdez was taken prisoner, and was later found to have been Roboticized after Hershey and Geoffrey infiltrated Eggman's headquarters to discover his fate. After the Freedom Fighters were reformed, the two groups worked together on a number of occasions. This came to an end after the Secret Service was captured while trying to retrieve the Sword of Acorns from Robotropolis. While there, Heavy and Bomb were reprogrammed to serve Eggman, whilst the rest of the Secret Service were infected with nanoprobes that left them helpless as the robotic duo attempted to assassinate the Royal Family, only to be destroyed by Sonic. Subsequently, the team was taken off active, and its membership was reduced to two as Wombat Stu returned to Downunda to rejoin his original team, the Downunda Freedom Fighters. (StH: #75, #78, #93, #97, #99, #125, SSS: #11)

New Methods
The Secret Service was temporarily in danger of losing its leader when Geoffrey considered resigning in the face of his past mistakes. Hershey, however, persuaded him to stay on, and the two went back on duty to locate a missing Elias Acorn. They managed to locate him in the Feral Forest, but were then attacked by Dr. Eggman's forces and had to be saved by the Freedom Fighters. The two would then join in the battle against the Xorda to destroy their Quantum Dial weapon. Following Sonic's apparent death, they continued espionage efforts against Eggman, only to be captured by him shortly before Operation: Triple Threat. Luckily, Sonic returned in time to save the two, and to carry the information they had gathered back to Knothole. Arriving in time for Mina Mongoose's victory concert, the two stayed briefly before leaving for an unofficial mission: their honeymoon. Following Knothole's destruction, the Secret Service would be relocated to New Mobotropolis, working out of an office at the top of army headquarters. Geoffrey would then be sent on a cooperative mission with GUN agent Rouge the Bat to investigate Mammoth Mogul's Casino Night Zone. (StH: #118, #121, #125, #130, #134, #176, #187, #188)