The night was dull, which was perfect. Plans were going well considering the state of Amy's team; far better than she had anticipated.

She let her fingerless gloves reveal the tips of her icy fingers, waiting for the rest of the crew.

They had all agreed on meeting at midnight, just when the security lights were due to switch off. Amy had assumed that the reason for their seven-minute lateness, she couldn't help but glance frequently at her watch. It had begun to smell as she crouched behind a nearby dumpster, Amy was glad that she had chosen to wear her black leather coat rather than the cardigan she had formed a choice between.

Her teeth chattered with impatience, her pink quills draped over her shoulders, sitting dry like her breath. When all of a sudden, Amy's eyes scampered over a blackened figure.

Amy shifted the weight on her knees, squinting and trying to make out who it was.

Knuckles.

Amy's tongue rimmed her thin lips as she stood, her bones cracking as she stretched out her skinny body.

''Knuckles,'' Amy hissed, her voice grim and lower than usual, ''What the hell?''

Knuckles nodded, his angled but soft face growing clearer to her vision. He was taller than her - or perhaps she was short, either way, she felt her eyes looking up at him more than she did have to with Sonic and Tails. Knuckles' face was unapologetic. He wore a matching set, a black coat, and beanie sat upon his scarlet quills.

''Where are the others?'' Amy murmured, her eyes scanning around him.

He pursed his lips in hesitation, the roundness of his face highlighted in the luminous moonlight. This team was a lot less trusting lately than Amy had hoped.

''Tails went to fetch Sonic, I heard from Rouge that he got ruffed up on his last outing.''

Amy shuddered, Sonic was the agility out of the five of them, and they'd be a lot safer if he turned up in better shape than she'd last seen him. That was where the trust came in. Last mission he did alone. A stupid thing to do.

Rouge was the job handling of the team; she set up the operations and gave the team their leads. She had a connection, one all of them found to difficult to be a part of. GUN didn't want anything to do with them. Not since they rebelled. She gave them reason and she had supplied them a place to hide.

Ah, and not forgetting Tails. Tails was the smartest out of her, Sonic and Knuckles. He was also the one who never dared be late unless it was highly unavoidable, so something solemnly bad must have happened to Sonic for him to get held back.

Knuckles' lilac eyes shimmered in the moonlight, sometimes Amy forgot how good it was to have a team with her always, even if they did always try to look out for each other a little too much. It was only hours away from sunrise and the clock was ticking, tempting them with the choice of turning back.

Then the splash of feet in puddles made Amy pull herself together, the shadowy outlines of a hedgehog with his arm draped around a smaller figure. Looks like Tails had dragged along Sonic.

When they both came into vision, Tails looked eloquent in a black coat, blending in with the shadows. His eyebrows were furrowed into one furious line and he stood with Sonic's arm draped around his left shoulder, making his stance uneven.

Sonic, on the other hand, had a pale muzzle and dark eyes paired with a hint of arrogance. He wore a jacket himself, a windbreaker of sorts, his quills drooped like his ears. So much for looking inconspicuous.

Amy snarled, her lip curling.

''You idiot! What the hell!'' Amy growled, her gloved hand whipped Sonic in the side.

''Ouch!'' Sonic grunted, wincing.

''It's after twelve!'' She snapped.

''Tell me about it, Sonic is heavier than you'd think.'' Whispered Tails as she helped Sonic stand on his own two feet. ''He was fixing up your last job.'

''What!?'' Amy stabbed her eyes at Tails, demanding both an apology and an explanation.

''You'd missed something, remember. I went back for it."' Sonic mumbled as he pressed a finger to his temple.

Amy's mind reeled back to her last job, the one with a back gang robbery. They'd found their hideout, they were violent robots and had to be demolished. The four of them had cleared them out or more like lured. Amy had been left in charge to get rid of all evidence that they had been there, just in case the gang leader came back. She'd lost her walkie-talkie around the same time.

According to Sonic's black eye, she could easily figure out what he'd gone back to get.

''Oh.'' Amy murmured, her realisation washed over in guilt. She shook away her emotion and cracked her knuckles, ''are we gonna do this or not?''

Tails nodded, and Knuckles pulled out a walkie-talkie from his bum-bag that he wore.

A red light flashed and reflected upon all four of their faces.

''They're both here, we're ready.'' Knuckles said, talking loudly but cautiously into the speaker.

All four of them waited for the usual husky female voice to echo through the speaker. It did.

''Good,'' Amy felt everyone relax a little as Rouge's voice reached their ears. ''Are you all in gear?''

Amy blinked at Sonic, he forced a finger to his lips as a hint.

Rouge wasn't always so happy if one thing was out of place, and she'd already been annoyed at them both that he had gotten caught. Amy suspected he had kept her mistake under his breath and so she instead said, ''Yeah, we're ready to go in.''

Sonic lowered his hand and tucked them into his pockets, standing fine but slouched. Now that she really looked, Amy could see the purple bruising on his face and the dark shadows of his deprived sleep. He looked more so ill than anything else.

''How do we get in then?'' Knuckles demanded.

Amy watched Sonic's eyes glide over the warehouse they stood outside, Amy knew that he was thinking to simply smash through the door.

''There's a back gate." Rouge replied flatly like she was reading from a script, "climb it and then you can pick the lock to get inside. I'm sure that will be an easy task for Amy.''

Amy smiled and blushed, she'd gotten good at stealth recently without her Piko Piko hammer, she was speedy and efficient at picking a lock.

''Watch out for cameras though, if they spot even one of your faces, you are all screwed. This is a highly secured base used for storing people's property. Remember what I told you?''

''Only take what we came for.'' Repeated Tails, his eyes rested on Amy who simply rolled her eyes. They knew how to work as a team. Sometimes Rouge forgot that.

''Good luck.'' Were the last words they heard from Rouge, the last of their selves having no choice but to enter what lay ahead.

''The gate should be around the back, let's go.'' Knuckles' whole attitude had whipped into leader mode; Sonic may have a louder personality, but they often shared the leadership role.

''Let's go then!'' Tails exclaimed. Then they all headed towards the gate.