A/N - Thanks for all reads, reviews, faves and follows! =D I'll try to get an update posted on time this Saturday, but it might be a little late with Christmas plans. Please bare with me!

Chapter Eight

It was raining.

Heavy, large drops bouncing off the paving flags, and little mucky streams gurgling their way along the gutter as they made their way to the nearest drain. The sky was black and heavy with clouds, blocking out every single star and the pale face of the moon. Yet the city was still bright. Neon signs, billboards, and the light from the street lamps misting against the rain.

Silver stood beneath one of those lamps, eyes narrowed as he tried to spot the familiar spiky form of Metal Sonic. The hedgehog's quills lay flat against his skull, and plastered to the shoulders and back of his heavy trench coat. Water dripped from the hem into the puddle forming at his feet, and it dripped down his muzzle onto his collar. But he didn't care. He'd been following that robot for the past week. Now he'd come this far, why turn back? He clenched his teeth together, searching the doorways for the abhorrent robot. Where had it gone?

There! A flash of red beyond the cracked window opposite him. A rental shop that was still in business, but had received an unfortunate break-in earlier that evening. But Silver's priorities were elsewhere.

Metal Sonic peered from the cracked window, red pixel eyes narrowed as it scanned the street. Silver ducked closer to the lamp but the robot hadn't noticed him. Or if it had, its priorities were also elsewhere.

The sound of a small jet engine kicking into gear, then it leapt from the window, turning to glide down the busy main road like a cat after a mouse. Had it seen something? Silver had no time to hang around and spot it. He gave chase after the robot, while firing out an anonymous email to the Beatdrop City's police force. Just to clear the rental store from his mind.

The rain didn't bother Metal in the slightest. Just like the other robots that spent their time outdoors. Eggman was good at what he did. Rain or shine, his robots had to function, and that went equally for his ace. The rain sizzled as it struck the robot's hot jet stream, creating a steam trail behind it.

Silver was quick, but Metal Sonic was quicker. He almost lost track of the robot as it turned a sharp corner and vanished from sight. But the sound of its engine came from a narrow side-street leading into the residential district.

Apartment blocks graced the street, standing tall and proud, their rectangular windows lit up against the black skyline. Metal Sonic stood at the base of one of the apartment blocks, its roof a perfect round hood providing shelter from the rain. The robot's artificial eyes scanned the empty street. Not a person in sight.

"What are you up to, Metal?" Silver approached the robot, his hands stuffed deep into his pockets.

Metal Sonic turned its head, and its red eyes turned from wide circles into thin lines. It turned its body fully to face him, clawed fingers flexing at its sides.

"Are you behind all this?" Silver asked. "Those murders?"

Metal didn't so much as flinch.

"Looking for your next target?" Silver asked. "Well I'm not about to let you."

The robot's jet engine flared to life and it lurched towards him, claws spread.

Silver leapt to the side, letting the robot glide past him. Then it turned and doubled back. Too quickly. Silver sucked in air as its claws sliced his left ear, and when he opened his eyes again a few spots of crimson rained down among a sprinkling of small, grey quills.

He removed his fingers from his ear and reached into his inside pocket for his laser. He'd never enjoyed using firearms, but if he was going to stand any chance of detaining the robot then he had to disable it in some way.

"I know it's you," Silver barked. "The evidence all points to a robot!"

Metal Sonic glared at him, his only retort a few electronic beeps.

Silver laughed. "What? Couldn't Eggman program you with a language chip?"

The next noise the robot let out was an angered mechanical screech. It lowered its body, flexing its claws as it threatened to launch an attack. Silver wasn't going to give it that chance.

He fired, bright blue beams that streaked through the air like fireworks. Metal leapt aside, dodging each one, its red eyes trained on Silver. Then it lurched towards him again like a bullet. Silver had no time to dodge. The laser flew from his hand as the robot struck him in the torso, barreling him against a brick wall. All air shot from his lungs and he slipped down against the cold, wet stone.

Silence, save for Silver's coughing and the cold rain pelting the floor and bouncing off the robot's metallic hide. Metal stood over him, staring down, almost gloating. No… definitely gloating. Intimidating Silver like a wicked knight standing over a fallen peasant. One that knew for a fact all it had to do was reach down and snap its victim's neck.

All Silver could do was stare back up at him as he wiped blood from the side of his face. Powerless. Everything hurt from that attack, from his body to his already wounded pride.

He coughed a few times, spraying out bloody spittle onto his glove. But he never took his eyes off the robot.

"Go on then," he rasped. "Finish the job."

Metal remained silent. Staring. Not even twitching.

"You started it years ago, so why won't you finish it?!" Silver snapped.

A mechanical string of beeps and whines. Whether it meant anything, Silver hadn't a clue. He groped at the floor for his laser, but it lay several feet away in a puddle.

"Why are you doing this?" He rolled his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. "Why are you just messing with me?"

Metal beeped again, and lamplight glinted off its right claws. Then it jerked its head to the side. Searching. Silver followed its gaze, but saw nothing. Yet it lowered its claws anyway, narrowing its eyes into the streets.

Its blue metallic sheen lit up orange, and the most awful sound filled the air. Roaring flames mixed with a metallic screech, interspersed with the odd beep and clang. Metal Sonic leapt from amongst the blaze, landing on the other side of the road. Its hide was warped and bubbled in places, as if it were covered in boils where the flames had touched. Its eyes were livid, flicking between Silver and the lavender cat as she left the shadows. She didn't even look at Silver, keeping her eyes trained on the robot. Flames licked at her cuffs, reflecting off the rain as it came down like a curtain around her.

Metal Sonic looked between the flames and the two Mainframers, then turned and kicked its jet into gear. It sputtered a few times, causing the robot to stall and flop noisily to the ground. It fired them another glare before the engine finally fired into gear. Then it took off, bolting down the road into the cool rain.

Blaze watched him go, hugging her arms around herself and pulling her ears back as if she'd only just realised it was raining. She shook it off and stooped to offer her hand to Silver. But she refused to look him in the eye. Silver considered ignoring her offer. He still hurt. Sitting in the rain seemed like a much more pleasant experience than having to deal with any painful words from the cat.

"Come on, Silver," she pressed. "You took a nasty hit. You should get it looked at."

"I'm fine."

The pulsing in his ribs was not fine. Nor was the throbbing in his head. Concussion, or the violent reminder that his psychokinetic nerves had been severed.

"You're definitely not fine," said Blaze. "What are you even doing facing him alone? Do you want him to kill you?"

Silver looked away from her, and the entire street blurred and spun in a nauseating kaleidescope of rain, concrete and lights.

"It sure looked like it." Blaze's voice choked. "Look. I'm sorry. Just… please let me get you back home?"

Silver closed his eyes and nodded. Pulsing pain and nausea flooded him and he found himself sinking towards the floor.

"You might want to hail a cab." That's what he'd wanted to say. Instead, it came out as something much more unpleasant he found himself lying face down in.

...

As far as abandoned stores went, Rouge quite liked the little bakery. Despite smelling of dust, there was still the trace of flour and sugar in the air. There was no water running, and all food had been cleared out long ago (although it would have been moldy by now.) The place was damp on its topmost floor, but the ground floor was still pretty dry. Drafts were little to none, and the little nook she slept in, between the old oven and the wall, was pretty cozy.

The rain hammered the boarded-up window, creating something like white noise that had long since lulled the bat to sleep.

Something warm and wet flopped down beside her and looped itself around her waist, causing her eyes to snap wide open. Shadow lay opposite her, his eyes closed and a somewhat tranquil look on his face. Moisture clung to his fur and quills and it took her a moment to process why. It had been a long while since he'd come back from his watch on that video-game streamer's house. Perhaps he'd popped out again without her knowing, or merely left to find a restroom.

Regardless, it was unlike him to come back and huddle up beside her. It had only happened two times in the entire time she'd known him, and one of those times was because she'd developed a fever and he'd flown into a panic with no clue how to deal with it. The other time was a freezing winter's day in a drafty shack.

This was nothing like either of those times.

"Shadow?"

He grunted and pulled her into him, and she lifted a hand to stop her muzzle smooshing against his chest. Her heart raced as she stared at her fingers clasped over the white fur of his collar.

"Shadow!"

His body tensed and he locked wide, crimson eyes on hers. Then he glanced aside and withdrew his arm from her, rolling onto his back. A pink flush spread across his cheeks and he muttered an apology.

Sleepwalking, then? Well that was new.

Rouge sat up and rubbed her eyes as she stretched, yawning widely.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "I've been woken up by much more unpleasant things. You know… like soldiers barging in?"

He scoffed and fired her a glare. "'Unpleasant'?"

A playful smirk spread across Rouge's lips, and he returned it, flashing a canine. But it was only brief. His arm flopped over his face and he let out a small sigh.

Rouge didn't drop her smirk. She watched him for a moment as she rubbed her ear. Sore to touch. She'd slept on it funny.

"So you gonna tell me what all that was about?" she crooned.

"I was asleep and you know it," he said.

She pouted. "Flattering."

Shadow let out a gasp as he sat bolt upright, letting his arm flop to his side. Rouge started, fluttering into the air. Her ears trained on the world outside. But there was no helicopter flying around. No footsteps storming the streets.

"He's dead," Shadow said quietly.

Rouge dropped back to the floor as realization dawned on her. She scooted towards him, but he barely seemed to notice. His eyes narrowed and he pulled his lip back from his canines.

"I don't get it!" he snapped. "I was only there a few hours ago! If I'd not come back, I could have caught that murderer!"

Rouge spread her hands then let them fall into her lap. "I don't know what to say, Shadow. I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "There's nothing you can say."

He didn't look up, instead pulling his knees into himself and folding his arms across them. She reached up and trailed her fingers through his quills. He lifted an arm to shrug her off, then sighed and changed his mind, relaxing against his knees.

"I can't believe it," he muttered. "I don't sleep as often as the rest of you do, and the one time I do… it's cost me. No… it's cost him. I could have saved his life."

Rouge closed her eyes and grimaced. There was a lot of pain in his voice she'd never heard before.

"Look at it this way," she said. "You found out who the killer's next target was before anyone else could even put the pieces together. If you can do that again, then you could let people know-"

"I'm not working with the police or any detectives," he spat. "They all work for GUN."

She sighed at that. But it made sense, given their circumstances. "Then… can't you warn the victim?"

"I'll figure something out," he said. "But I'd sooner catch the killer and destroy him."

He still hadn't shrugged her off. He huddled forward with his face buried in his arms, much more relaxed than she'd seen him recently. She let the silence wash over them as she continued to stroke his quills. Not as sharp as she'd once believed them to be. She scooted closer to him and leant against his side, looping her arm around his shoulders.

"If you want," she said, "I can help you? The two of us together would double our chances."

"No." He looked up at her, his crimson eyes soft and warm. "I want you safe."

"And you don't think we're safer together?" she said. "I mean, there's been times in the past I've thought you're practically bullet proof."

He laughed and leant his head back into his arms. "This is different. GUN are one thing. But we don't know if this killer is a Mainframer or something else entirely." He paused to let out a sigh as she wound her fingers back into his quills. "No… leave this one to me."

She stared at the closed door, mulling over his words. But part of her felt he was covering something up. Possibly the flaw with his teleporting, or that pink mist he'd been giving off. Oh well. If he wanted her to stay behind, then she could take the time to continue her own little investigation. Finding that fox soldier to find out if those flaws had something to do with his tranquilizers. She'd spotted the blue hedgehog on more than one occasion, but so far, the fox had eluded her.

So she nodded and leant her head against Shadow. "Okay. You take this one. I'll focus on keeping us both safe."

...

A large mug of tea appeared before Silver's bleary eyes. He blinked a few times, brining his bedroom into focus. A thin sheet had been draped over his body, and he propped himself up on one elbow as he rubbed his hand across his face.

"How are you feeling?" Blaze asked.

The lavender cat stood beside his bed, her hands clasped in front of her.

"Like I got hit by a truck," Silver croaked.

Blaze grunted. "That's one way to describe that robot."

Silver glanced up at her and reached for the steaming mug. Metal Sonic… it was all starting to come back to him.

"So you actually think it was him?" Blaze asked.

Silver propped himself back on a pillow that had been conveniently laid out behind his head. Blaze avoided his gaze, but there was something about her expression. Worried. Shaken.

He sipped his tea. "I don't know."

"He wasn't happy to see you."

"He's never happy to see me."

"That fight was brutal," she said. "I thought he was going to kill you."

"It wouldn't be the first time."

Blaze looked at him then, a small frown appearing on her lips. "You make it sound like he's tried to kill you before…"

"That's because he has." Silver set his mug down and adjusted himself against the pillow. "I had a feud with him once."

"A feud?"

Silver sighed and rubbed his muzzle. His head was still pounding. Was this really the time to bring this all up now?

"Silver, I'm worried," said Blaze. "If Metal Sonic is behind all this, then that means Eggman might be… and… I don't know… It doesn't make any sense."

"You're right. It doesn't." Silver shrugged as best he could, as the sheer movement made him realise how bruised his left shoulder was. "But does any murder make much sense?"

Blaze dropped her pocket computer onto his lap. A news site was open, and he tapped the surface of it to bring up its holo-screen. Another murder… on the very street Silver had passed out on. No one knew what time it was, but it was not suspected to be suicide.

A gamer known as DotMatrix had been found face down at his desk. He'd promised a stream of the new Assassin Strike game that night, but it hadn't gone ahead, prompting concern from his fans. Everything had been set up, as if he'd been preparing for it. But the computer was off, and everything, once again, was neatly organized in his famously chaotic apartment. Given the stream hadn't gone ahead, that put his time of death somewhere before ten pm.

"It's him, isn't it?" asked Blaze. "It's Metal Sonic."

Silver blinked at the holo-screen. Ten pm… he'd lost track of time that night, stalking the robot. But he'd seen the thing vanish. Wounded… melted… damaged by Blaze's flames. In no fit state to fight. It struggled to even get away from them. If it had wanted to get itself repaired, which Silver guessed it had been doing, then it would have needed to get back pretty promptly to commit that murder. Otherwise it would have risked being caught on camera, and that stream hadn't gone ahead. At all.

Silver shook his head slowly. Bitterly. His lead, or what he'd thought was a lead… had Metal Sonic actually been trying to commit this murder… or was it actually trying to solve it?

"No," he said. "It's not possible. The way it fled… it was off to lick its wounds." He flicked off the holo-screen and sank back against the pillow with a frustrated groan. "I thought I'd cracked it! It was all there!"

Blaze was trembling so much she had to hug her arms around herself. "So you no longer think it's him?"

"No."

"Then… then that means the killer was on that street somewhere when we were. We could have run straight into them." She paused and licked her lips. "We could have ended up the casualties."

Silver opened his eyes again, staring at his closed bedroom door. Had he seen anyone else on that street? It had been empty. The rain was too heavy for someone to hang around. So that meant whoever it was would have either stood out like a sore thumb, or had been lurking around inside that luxury apartment block.

His eye wandered to the lavender cat shifting uneasily beside him, and his heart sank. She'd been there. And she was top-notch at uncovering the clues before he did. She'd even found the VR machine underneath Snow's bed. No… no, it couldn't be her. She wouldn't have killed her own brother… would she? Anti-Eggman unlike her father. Unlike her… And Silver had passed out. Yet she'd attacked Metal Sonic. He shook his head harshly and reached for his tea again. Then paused, fingers twitching by the handle.

Blaze watched him and inclined her head on one side. "Is everything okay?"

He sighed and retracted his hand. "Blaze… what were you doing on that street?"

She blinked a few times, paling beneath her fur. "What are you getting at?"

"You were the only other person I saw on that street," he explained. "That unfortunately makes you a suspect."

"You think it's me?!" she squeaked.

"I don't want to, but you were there. I want to believe you're innocent, but as my job I have to-"

"I wouldn't kill my own brother!" she snapped. "I was following you! You were after Metal Sonic. You can't handle that robot! What powers do you have?!"

Silver brought his fist down hard onto the mattress, causing Blaze to leap back into the wall. It wasn't so much the noise than the livid expression on his face. His head began to pulse and he realised a faint blue light had surrounded his hands. He dropped it and sank back into the pillow, rubbing at his temples.

"You're right," he groaned. "I can't handle that robot. Not anymore. He made sure of that years ago."

Blaze lowered her hands to her sides and took a step closer to him. "He… he hurt you?"

"It did more than that. It almost killed me."

The bed sank beside him and he opened his eyes to find Blaze perched on the edge of it, staring at her hands.

She screwed her eyes shut and shook her head. "Why?"

"Because I was sent after it," he explained. "I used to work for GUN. Or one of its many anti-Eggman branches, anyway. I was supposed to keep an eye on Metal Sonic and report back anything that might pass off as suspicious. Well, one day, it followed me back to the headquarters. Of course, no one was meant to know where we were hiding. Every one of those branches are supposed to be top secret, either masquerading as official GUN branches or hidden underground. This one was underground. So… I had to fend Metal Sonic off. But… it soon turned nasty. He got in some lucky hits, and managed to break out of my psychokinesis. I took a hefty hit to the head. The next thing I know, I'm waking up in a hospital bed after some extreme reconstructive surgery."

A few tears ran down Blaze's cheeks. "So he cost you your powers?"

"My powers, my job… And he leaked the location of our GUN base. Hundreds died that weekend." Silver let out a small sigh. "The doctors couldn't repair my psychokinesis nerves. They run from my head to my hands. The damage was too extensive. I was told they may self-heal at some point, but the chances were low. But I endeavored to try. When I first got out I couldn't do anything with them. But then I started to be able to do little things. Each time I get a pounding headache. It's nothing like I could do before… but it's something."

Blaze cracked a small smile. "You're optimistic."

He let out a harsh laugh. "Oh believe me, I'm nothing like I used to be. He took that from me as well."

She reached out to take his hand then paused, changing her mind. Instead, she slipped from the bed and smoothed out her dress.

"I'll make us both some dinner," she said.

"I'm not hungry." Silver slipped back down under his sheet. "But thank you."

With a nod, Blaze turned to leave his room. Leaving him in a cloud of doubt and worry. Another suspect… and she was in his very apartment. He hoped desperately something would prove his suspicions wrong.

...

There was a lot of chaos coming from the living room. Grunts and mutterings, clattering, drawers and cupboards opening and closing.

Amy crept from her bedroom, rubbing her hand over her eyes. Her other clutched her mallet tightly. Whatever was going on, it hadn't woken Tangle. Whisper hadn't come back to her apartment that night, too busy scoping out her next big scoop. Amy's first thought was that it would be the wolf, but she was never that noisy. Her second thought was Infinite. He'd refused to go out with them that night, and when she'd arrived home he was gone. Just a note saying he'd gone for a walk, and to not wait up.

A faint light leaked in through the window from the neon green cafe sign across the street. A lanky shadow rushed back and forth between the kitchen and the television, and she caught the odd words from its frantic muttering. 'Over here.' 'No, over here.' 'Not that, this!'

Amy reached for the light then changed her mind. The sofa bed was unoccupied. Still tucked away into a sofa, and she caught the shadow's bushy tail as it vanished back into the kitchen again.

"Infinite?" she asked. "Are you okay?"

Silence, interspersed with muttering.

She flicked the switch, flooding the room with light. It didn't phase the jackal in the slightest. He dropped down before the television, adding yet another tin can to a rather intricate structure of cans, jars and teacups. Stacked to resemble an uncanny tower that rose up higher than the television and its stand. As Amy drew closer to it, she found herself staring right at the label of a can of pea and ham soup.

She turned towards the jackal as he rushed back towards the kitchen. "What are you doing?"

He returned to add another teacup to the tower.

"Infinite?"

A jar of jam.

"Infinite!"

Tomato soup.

Amy considered giving him a smack with her hammer, but it was becoming more and more obvious that he was locked in some kind of trance. One that broke as he added a dinner plate to the very top of his structure. He crumpled into a heap beside the sofa. No more muttering. Looking every bit like he'd simply fallen asleep there.

Amy dropped down beside him, tucking her hammer away. She gave him a small shake and his blue eye cracked open, heavily ringed with black, staring at her blindly. He rolled his head to the side, nose twitching, as he tried to work out who it was.

He grunted, then said, "You smell different when you're awake."

She frowned at that and stood up, deciding to brush off his comment. She didn't want to know how he knew that.

"What's this?" She waved a hand at the tower.

Infinite pushed himself up into a crouch and frowned at it. "A mess."

"You were building it," she said. "Why?"

"Was I?" He raised an eyebrow at her, then shook his head as he realised he was missing his mask.

Suddenly the structure was forgotten as he groped around the floor until he found it tucked away beneath the coffee table, muttering a 'who put it there?' as he set it back on his face.

"I think you might have been sleepwalking," said Amy. "Can you remember what you were dreaming?"

He shrugged and stood up, placing his hands on his hips as he scrutinized the tower. "I feel like I've seen this somewhere before."

"It looks a bit like a tower block," said Amy. "There are loads around this city. Maybe you were just building something you've seen before? If you can't remember your dream, then…"

Infinite moved towards the block and began to dismantle it, carefully carrying things back to the kitchen. She couldn't see his face, but the fur along his spine was bristling slightly. Had this happened before? She didn't want to press him about it if it was distressing him.

"Do you need a hand?" she offered.

"I'm fine," he said flatly. "Get some sleep. You need it more than I do."

Amy wanted to tell him he was very wrong. The rings around his eyes were enough to tell anyone that. But instead she nodded, bidding him goodnight, before returning to her bedroom.

Deep down, she couldn't help feeling that something was very, very wrong. And he knew it.

...

A/N - You know when you come across a writing prompt and you just have to use it...? 'You smell different when you're awake' sounded so much like something my AU version of Infinite would say XD

Thanks for reading! I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas!

As always, please R&R! =D