Just a little preview for what you can expect somewhere down the road...


The five were instantly alerted by the sound of a twig quietly cracking deep in the jungle.

Almost instantly, they were on edge, readying their weapons.

"What the hell was that?"

"I don't know, but I fear that we're not the only ones here anymore"

"I'd better check that out. You four stay here and keep eyes on the Freedom Fighters"

Readying his staff, Pluto crept deeper into the forest, towards where the sound had come from.

As the other four gradually disappeared from view, he began to feel more and more nervous.

He readjusted his trigger hand.

Pluto had previous experience of jungle warfare. He knew that in an environment like this, enemies could come from all directions, so he had to remain as alert as possible, always being wary of where an enemy could jump out at you.

Eventually, after a few nerve-wracking seconds, he arrived in a small clearing, with sunlight glaring through the trees.

He relaxed before reaching up to his communicator.

"Guys, it's Pluto. There's nothing here. Must have just been some wildlife".

"Alright then. Get back to us and we can continue with our task"

"Copy that".

However, just as Pluto began to make his first moves to leave, he noticed the glint of something hiding in the bushes, cuaisng him to stop and look at it.

Intrigued, he took a single step forward.

He would instantly regret this decision.

No sooner as his foot touched the dirt, three small disc-like objects leaped out of the ground.

It took Pluto a split second to realize what these were.

With his body reacting before his mind did, the cat turned tail and fled, screaming out a single word as loud as possible.

"AAAAMMMMBBUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSHH!"


"I'm gonna make this simple" Lilith said to the group. "The first thing that I'm going to do, is that unless you five hand him over, I am going to take all of you out. Then, while you're lying on the ground, either dead or dying, I'm going to take Bill and hack his pathetic little head off".

The platypus whimpered, fearing the worst as tears began to roll down his face.

However, as Lilith took a step forwards, the five all moved in front of him.

"Sorry, honey, but things aren't going to be as simple as that" Pluto replied. "You see, what we're going to do is take this guy, get him out of here, blow this entire place to smithereens and then fuck off. However, if you really want to get involved, then you will be beaten and then killed to death"

There was no reply from the cat at first. She just stared at the group. Firstly at each of the five in turn before finishing with a look at Bill.

Then, rather strangely, she began to laugh. It was a quiet chuckle, one that would send a sharp chill down the spines of any other opponent.

However, another look at the determined faces of the five quickly brought the chuckle to an end.

"You're not kidding, are you?"

"Pretty much, no"

She sighed, pulling out her swords.

"You leave me no choice, then. HYAH!"

The cat suddenly launched herself forwards, brandishing her swords high in the air. However, before she could land any sort of killing blow, Khaine intercepted her, quickly producing his two swords and clashing them together with hers.

"You guys get Bill out of here! I'll hold her off!" The fox exclaimed as he and Lilith struggled against each other.

As the other four quickly bolted in the direction of the nearest exit, carrying the platypus with them, Lilith growled out "I knew you were stupid, Khaine. But I didn't expect you to be suicidal as well"

The fox smirked.

"You know, where I'm from, they call me "The Excellent Executioner" Wanna know why they call me this?"

Suddenly the two separated, taking a step back from each other, waiting to see who would strike.

"You're about to find out."


Right there and then, the truth seemed to smack Khaine right in the face.

"No way..." he muttered, more shocked than he had ever been previously. "No freaking way..."

Jasmine didn't even want to ask about what Khaine was thinking.

"Him?! You have a crush on him?!"

The fox promptly burst out laughing.

"Stop laughing" Jasmine muttered.

All this did was make Khaine laugh even harder as Jasmine began to blush bright red.

"Holy crap! Out of all the people you just have to have a crush on, it's him! Heck, the fact that you even have a crush on someone is enough to set me off. The angst levels will be off the chart! HAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!"

As Jasmine stood there, wondering just how things could get any worse, Wilhelm walked in.

"What's going on?" He asked when he noticed Jasmine profusely blushing and Khaine splitting his sides in laughter.

The fox whispered something into the weasel's ear, which caused him to burst out into similar laughter.

Jasmine just rolled her eyes in frustration.

"So immature" She muttered as she stalked off, leaving the partners in crime to their own devices.

"Jasmine and Shadow sitting in a tree! F-U-C-K-I-"

"I WILL SLIT YOUR THROATS IN YOUR SLEEP!" Came a rather venomous reply.


Eventually, the team's saviour climbed out of the bush. The five had expected it to be some kind of grizzled veteran of jungle warfare, caked in camouflage facepaint and brandishing all sorts of close-range weaponry.

This was not the case.

Instead, the five were greeted by a young wolf. A girl. She couldn't have been any older than eleven. Abnormally long canine teeth poked out from her gums as the blood of the legionnaires she had just slain stained her teeth and her cream-coloured fur. Her claws were something to behold as well. Long and sharp, they weren't the kind of things you would expect a pre-teen wolf to have on her.

As the five looked on, shocked and confused, the wolf gave them a toothy grin.

"Hey, don't look so worried" She said to them, licking the blood off her lips. "I heard the sound of fighting, so I went and investigated. Decided to help you guys out when I saw you were outnumbered".

The group didn't say a word. They just shared looks with each other, not knowing what to say.

"A "Thank you" would be nice". The wolf pointed out.

"Well...yeah. Thank you, I guess" Wilhelm replied. "We're just a bit surprised that we got our asses rescued by a little girl".

"Don't worry. I end up freaking most people out when they first meet me".

"So...um...who are you, exactly?"

"Oh, I've gone by many nicknames over the years. The spawn of Satan, a child of the underworld, a night-walker."

She grinned that toothy grin again.

"You can call me Luna".


As Cyrus finally began to stir, he felt as if he had been hit by a train, his head throbbing and his mouth bone dry.

"Urgh...my head..." He murmured. "Did somebody get the number of that bus?"

He tried to reach up to his face to rub his eyes. However, as he tried to do so, he found his hands stuck in the same position, unable to move.

To his horror, he found himself locked into a set of wooden stocks.

He tried to shake himself loose but no matter how hard he tried, the locks wouldn't budge.

"What the...what the fuck?!" He said to himself, desperately trying to break out.

"Oh, you're awake at last" a voice called out to him. "For a moment there, I feared I'd have to send you to the mortuary".

Cyrus looked ahead of him, trying to see who was talking to him as his eyes adjusted to the room.

Much to his displeasure, when his eyes eventually did re-adjust, he found a Mobian Cobra standing before him, his piercing blue eyes seeming to stare directly into his soul.

Grandmaster Mordred Hood.

"Oh. You." Cyrus muttered, calming himself down.

"Yes. Me. Clearly, you know who I am but you see, the thing is, I have no idea who the hell you are". The Grandmaster replied, studying the hedgehog as he writhed about in the stocks. "Care to enlighten me on yourself?"

"You want enlightenment on me? Okay, how about this? I'm the guy who's gonna put eyes in the back of your head if you don't get me out of here!"

Hood sighed.

"So rude"

He then remembered something.

"Actually, I just recalled hearing about some sort of unknown fighting force crippling Dark Legion garrisons. That's one thing. Now, my forces come across you, take you down and bring you to me. I have never seen you before in my entire life. That's another thing. Put those two things together and that leads me to believe that perhaps you are part of this collective. Care to correct me on this?"

Cyrus initially didn't say a word. He just stared angrily up at the legionnaire before eventually delivering a response of "I have no idea what you're talking about".

"Is that so? Why is there something in the back of my mind telling me that what you just said is utter bull?"

The cobra placed a hand on the hedgehog's chin, bringing himself down to eye level with him.

"What I want you to do right now is tell me everything you know. Everything about yourself, your associates, even everything you know about us. Do that and I may let you leave unharmed. You can do that, right?"

Cyrus simply replied by spitting in his face before replying "Get fucked!"

Mordred huffed, releasing Cyrus's chin and taking a few steps back.

"I tried to be merciful. I honestly did. I gave you an easy way out and you throw it back in my face. Well, now you leave me no other choice".

No sooner had he said this, his hood began to project lime-coloured rings, aiming them towards the hedgehog.

Cyrus almost instantly knew what was happening.

"Shit".

His first instinct was to try and wriggle out of the stocks again.

No chance there.

His second instinct was to try and shut his eyes and wait for the others to arrive. However, the harder he tried, the harder he found it to look away, eventually finding himself staring directly into the eyes of the Grandmaster.

"That's it. Just relax. No point trying to fight it. Just relax and let the hood do its work".

Slowly, Cyrus felt himself lose all control over his body as a strange sensation washed over him.

"Are you listening carefully?" The grandmaster asked him.

Against his will, Cyrus slowly nodded.

"Good. Now...Tell. Me. Everything".


Finally, a single figure stepped through the doors of the base.

The smile on Princess Sally's face fell almost instantly.

"Oh no"

She looked in horror at the team's newest member, seemingly regretting even making this agreement.

"Of all the people they could have sent..." she muttered. "...why did it have to be him?"