Chapter two
There was another click, but this time from behind Sonic. The bear gave a quiet grunt but made no attempt to move.
"Release the boy." A voice whispered. The bear obeyed immediately and dropped Sonic. The blue journalist spun around to see a green hawk hold a gun to the bear's back.
"Let's get you out'a here." The bird smiled, giving a thumbs-up.
"Why the hell are you here?" The white-haired bat asked Sonic as the three left the slightly bloodied ally way. Between the three of them, none had even a scratch, though the blue hedgehog was still shaken-up. "Especially dressed like you own five houses up-town?"
"I just-!" Sonic tried to explain.
"Forget it." The hawk waved the question off. "Either way you can't be here. We'll keep you alive until we can get you on the next train."
"It'll be hard, though." The bat murmured. "That's outside our territory. There'll be Green Scraps crawling all around the station."
"Green Scraps?" Sonic asked frantically.
"Yeah, Green Scraps. The three you just saw are part of that gang." Jet huffed in disgust. "If you ask me, they're a bunch of perverted freaks with no better objective than to please their own jock."
"We're in the Scarlet Bangs." The bat explained. "The only thing we want is business and a peaceful walk down the street once in a while. We couldn't care less about mugging individuals 'less you deserve it."
"Who are you guys?!" Sonic demanded. His rescuers heaved a sigh in unison.
"Rouge." The bat explained.
"Jet." The hawk said right after.
"Where are we going?" Sonic pressed further.
"We're gonna take you to Shadow." Jet answered. "And don't you think giving your name would be even a small sign of gratitude for saving your ass, metaphorically and literally?"
"I don't have to tell you anything!" Sonic refused.
"And here we are trying to be nice…" Rouge sighed as the three approached a half-destroyed brick building. Inside it was cold and full of cigarette fumes. There were two stationed guards at the door who quickly moved aside to allow Rouge and Jet through.
"Tell Shadow he has a visitor." Rouge told one guard. Then she gestured with her eyes to the blue boy. He nodded and disappeared quickly.
"Who's Shadow?" Sonic asked as the two took his shoulders and guided him through the shadowed building.
"The gang leader." Jet answered. "But I promise you, you'd better not say anything stupid or you'll regret it big time. Just do as he says and answer everything he asks. You might be able to get out of here."
'Shit!' Sonic screamed in his head. 'I can't do this anymore! I'm so quitting the second I get on the train!'
The trio walked down several flights of stairs, walking deeper and deeper into the basement's lower levels. The more floors they walked by, the more faces Sonic saw. They all looked suspicious and gruff, ready for a fight at any time.
Finally they arrived in what appears to be a bar. Compared to the rest of the building, this area was lively. From somewhere there was loud music playing and the smell of tobacco was extremely strong. As they walked by, people glanced over in the middle of their laughter only to notice they had to move and make way to Rouge and Jet.
Finally they stopped when the three approached a doorway blocked off by a red curtain. "Wait here, you two." Rouge ordered past the music before disappearing behind it.
"What are you doing here?" Jet asked after a while. Sonic had taken a liking to standing at a corner and fidget around with his thumbs.
"Just a job…" He explained vaguely.
"If you tell that to Shadow, you'll get shot in no time. You have to be blunt with him."
"I was… told to take statistics of downtown Metropolis about-"
"Gang fights?"
"No. About how many people have jobs other than drug-dealing."
"Ooh…" Jet inhaled with a laugh. "Maybe you should be vauge."
"God…" Sonic covered his face with his shaky palms. "I just want to go home! I don't want this job anymore! I'll never bug you guys again, I swear it!"
"Well," Jet huffed, adjusting his red bandana on his arm. "You should've thought of that before you got yourself in this mess, huh? But don't worry, we'll get'cha out as soon as possible." Sonic looked through his fingers to see Jet rub his beak with his thumb. "I've never had anyone die on my watch, and I'm not gonna let anyone break that anytime soon without a good reason."
Before Sonic could say anything, Rouge appeared. "All right." Rouge nodded. "You two, come here." Sonic's heart raced as Jet hinted him to walk ahead of him. So again he was sandwiched between the two, leading him to God knows what.
"Here he is, Shadow." Rouge smiled, bringing Sonic forward. "The guy I was talking about." Sonic stepped forward and saw an ebony hedgehog sitting in a rather large sofa rubbing a piece of cloth along a black handgun with a painted red stripe. He had strict features around the top of his eyes and his cloths didn't look in any way cheap or worn.
"And what's he doing here?" He asked, not even looking up.
"He got off the wrong stop." Jet answered confidently, entering the room. "We found him being chased by Green Scraps."
"That doesn't explain why he's here."
"Would you at least look up and see for yourself?" Rouge approached the ebony hedgehog and wrapped her arms around him. "He's practically waving a bag of money to everyone." Shadow looked up to see the nervous blue hedgehog shuffle around.
"My God…" He growled, placing his gun and cloth down. "What, are you trying to kill us all you two?!" He yelled, jumping to his feet and grabbing Sonic's chin. "You'd better pray to God you weren't seen walking here." He snarled.
"We weren't followed, Shadow." Jet reassured calmly. "Rouge and I made sure of that."
"He just needs a safe place to be until we can get a unit to take him to the station." Rouge explained, not taking a liking how Shadow practically ignored her seduction. "He'll get himself killed if he walks out like that."
"So? That's not gonna hurt us. That's his own business and own fault for stepping off whatever he used to get here."
"Shadow," Jet calmly reproached the leader. "You're gonna break his chin."
Sonic nearly had tears coming out of his eyes at the pain from Shadow's grip. Shadow held on, staring at his face with hard, crimson eyes before releasing slowly.
"I-I'm sorry…" Sonic whispered.
"Get him out of those clothes." Shadow growled, walking off to another part of the office. "Use the cheaper stuff in my closet. Don't let him look like he's fucking asking for it."
"That went well." Jet sighed as they walked the opposite way. "I thought for sure he'd have to speak. Then we'd be in trouble."
"You two play dress-up." Rouge said as they entered a small storage room with various cases and boxes. "I'm gonna try and get some guys to take him as soon as possible." With that she left.
"Here." Jet offered Sonic a few plain clothes. "Try these on." Sonic took the clothes but made no movement. "Come on!" He urged. "We don't have all day!"
"Umm…" Sonic hesitated with a blushing face. Jet rolled his eyes.
"Damn it." He muttered. "Fine, but you'd better be pretty damn fast. You're not in a five-star hotel, you know. You're dealing with real gangs." Then he walked outside. Sonic took his words seriously and quickly stripped. Well, at least the clothes smell nice. Like cologne. A nice change to the tobacco.
Aaaaaannnnd we have chapter 2! Yay! I'm really liking how this is coming out. It sucks I'm trying to cut-back in detail to get the story to progress, but I'm trying to get things moving.
Aaaannnd we get our first hint of what is to be. ewe Good to know Sonic feels comfortable with Shadow's cologne. xD
So now we have our conflict; the Green Scraps. What possible role could they play in this story? ewe Guess you'll just have to wait and find out. And why was Shadow so easy-going with Sonic's arrival? You can only guess (since this is labeled as yaoi 'n all, yeah. You might not be far-off).
TELL ME WHAT 'CHU GUYS THINK ABOUT THIS STORY! Seriously, I really, really wanna hear it! I love you all and have a wonderful November… Again! xD