Dynamiteboom12345: Yup. :P

Chapter 21: Into the Labyrinth

"Ya sure this isn't some trick?" Fang asked as he and Fiona looked around, both dripping wet.

"Stop gripping, Nack." taunted Fiona as she tried to shake the water out of her hair, "I can already sense that Emerald near by so it can't be too far." she told him, holding her flashlight so they could see in the dark.

Fang was in no mood about complaining about his name, he pulled out his own flashlight as he and Fiona ventured into the Lost Labyrinth Zone, although the 'Lost' part was only because the entire Zone was restricted by the Zone Cops and G.U.N. Not only was sneaking by the boundaries bad enough for the mercenaries, but the Marvelous Queen was too cramped to fit and maneuver through the maze effectively, so they were forced to wade knee deep in water and the only light was the few breaks of sunlight and their flashlights.

"The hell does Sonic go through shit like this?" Fang mumbled, the duo having been walking for an hour.

"Ya know whining like a little bitch won't help anyone." Fiona said coldly.

"Up yours."

The two had been bickering since they entered the zone. Both at the other's neck and both wanting to shut the other up. Fang contemplated shooting Fiona in the back of the head, Fiona thought about breaking Fang's legs with his arms. To say the least, they were tense and stressed and the lack of light and the constant feeling of being knees deep in water wasn't helping.

"And would you stop breathing down my neck, Nack? It's hot enough without you." complained Fiona.

"What are you talking about. You're the one breathing on my neck." responded Fang, "And don't call me-"

The air grew tense as both Hooligans realized they were on the other's side. Meaning that neither couldn't have been breathing down the other's neck.

"If you're not..."

"Then the hell is..."

Both turned around and shown their flashlights to see, a large indescribable monster of water. The creature appeared to be a Mobian Shark, only created purely of water and made alive as its jaws were opened, as if waiting for the right moment to snap down on the Hooligans.

"Oh hell no!" Fang shouted as he pushed Fiona back and jumped back, avoiding a deadly collision of those killer jaws as the water creature roared in some primal rage as he sprinted right for the sniper, who pulled out his custom pistol. "Chew on this!" shouted Fang as he opened fire on the water monster. It roared in agony, despite not having no sense of matter for the bullets to hit as the chaos energy seemed to be what was causing it pain before splashing down into a puddle and retreating into the cracks.

"What was that thing?!" Fiona shouted as she got up, dusting herself off as she looked around with her flashlight.

"I don't freaking know, but that Emerald better be freaking close!" shouted Fang, keeping his firearm close to his side as he pulled out his other Chaos Phantom, tossing it to Fiona, "Hold that. Your gonna need it." Fiona caught the gun and held it tightly, knowing she wasn't as good a shot as Fang. But who needed it when those weird water creatures would just try to get close anyway?

"Anyway, the Emerald isn't much further. Just a few-"

CLICK!

"Feet..." Fiona looked down and saw that she had stepped on a trick tile! Both treasure hunters heard rumbling as they looked up to see boulders and stone debris falling from the sky like rain as they both made a jolt to get away. Fang had opted to shooting down falling rocks as Fiona followed his example. Just when they thought things were turning green, another click was heard as as arrows began shooting from the wall, forcing the two of them to hit the dirt, quickly sprinting up and moving forward to avoid more rocks as the two narrowly avoided a visit from death.

Once the two had said goodbye to the falling rocks and shooting arrows, both Mobians were panting heavily, exhausted.

"Y-you...OK?" panted Fiona.

"Yeah. Barely." panted Fang, "No wonder Eggman's willing to pay top dollar."

"Yeah. No way his fat ass could get through this." grunted Fiona as they both shared a quick laugh, as they looked ahead and kept moving, "So, Fang, why did you form Team Hooligan?"

"Why else? To get rich quick." shrugged Fang as he looked around with his flashlight.

"No, I meant with Bean and Bark." Fiona corrected, "I mean, there's a thousand mercenaries, crooks, and thugs out their, why did you pick those two?" Fiona had to admit that she had worked with the two in the past, but that was purely for survival. Back in those days, she didn't have a lot of options and little to no rep to flaunt and get other criminals.

But Fang was known around Mobius as one of the baddest criminals on the planet. One of few to go toe-to-toe with Sonic the Hedgehog and actually be a threat to him. He was on G.U.N.'s most WANTED, an extremely difficult list to get on. So out of all the dirt bags in the underground, why Bean and Bark?

Fang shot her a toothy grin as he slowly began chuckling, "What can I say? We've got history." smirked Fang as he elaborated, "When you ditched the two of them some time ago, the three of us began to work on petty crimes. Bean was practically clueless and Bark just seemed to be stuck with the guy. But we managed to get some things done. But we were complete ameatures . But during those days, if you knew anything, you could make the big times."

"So why'd you guys break up?" Fiona questioned.

"Eggman hired me to kill Sonic in exchange for cutting my sentence. I agreed if he'd spring Bean and Bark." he told him, "After that, we lost touch. I kept finding myself on more assassination missions and those two did their own thing. And then we met at the Bottom of the Barrel and the rest is history." he explained, "Not much to it, really. I work with them cause I know them. I ain't trusting some no good snake who'll stab my back." growled Fang.

"So...why trust me?" Fiona asked as she sensed themselves getting closer to the Emerald. Really close.

"Bean vouched for ya." Fang said bluntly, "And that was good enough."

Our heroes stopped the discussion when another water creatures came right for them, the duo narrowly avoiding the attack as the water creature took on the shape of what could be a Falcon, screeching an ear bleeding screech as its claws and talons looked sharpened and ready to cut bones as it flew right for them again.

"More of these?!" Fang shouted as it shot at the water creature, but it was too fast and avoided his shots as it raked its talon up against his chest with a kick as Fang was knocked on the ground, his wound bleeding.

"Fang!" shouted Fiona as she ran to her partner, the Water Falcon going right for her. Fiona tucked and rolled out the way as she opened fire on the bird, scoring a direct hit in the back and right wing as it cried out in agony, falling onto the ground and splashing into a small pool. Fiona sighed as she ran to her partner to get a good look at the deep cuts.

"Geez...what are those?" she mumbled.