Earlier that day...

On a corner in Spring Yard City was a bunch of motorbikes parked against a wall. Followed along, said wall led to the doors of the Morning Brew Cafe, and past those doors and inside of the cafe itself were the members of the Babylon Rogues Motorcycle Club, identifiable by the patches on their leather jackets. The design was that of a grinning bird's skull holding a bloody dagger in its mouth, and above the bird was a patch that read "Babylon Rogues" and under the bird read "Motorcycle Club".

The bikers themselves had several patches on their fronts too, and a green hawk wearing patches that said "President" and "Babylon Original" was at the counter, smiling as he spoke to the woman there. "Thanks so much for the discount on the breakfast muffins, Weslee."

Weslee, a blonde human, smiled gently. "It's always appreciated when you come and help us, Jet. Hopefully you didn't run into much trouble on the way here."

"Yeah, we heard about what happened at Green Hill," Jet nodded. "I think that Spring Yard is a bit too far away for any of those guys to have reached this far. I mean, hey, at least you're safe."

"Still, I appreciate you checking on us," Weslee said. "Hence the discount. How long are you going to be staying?"

"We're heading out in an hour. We're on our way to Scrap Metal next, and we'll probably pick up a refuel on the way," said Jet. "We're going to try and get some answers about how I got... well..." He brought his arms up to show the spiky feathers in his wrists, his sleeves rolled up to show them as well as his flame tattoos. "God, that stings."

"Maybe you should consider not doing it?" a voice said next to him.

Jet turned, seeing a purple swallow who was a member of his gang. She had a patch that said "Vice President" on the chest of it with "Babylon Original" underneath it, and she leaned to kiss his cheek before ruffling the feathers on his head. She wore a bandanna on her head as well as some biker goggles, and like Jet, she had flame tattoos on her arms.

"And my lovely wife," Jet chuckled. "You all done with breakfast, I take it?"

"We are indeed," said Wave. "You ready to go?"

"As long as you guys are," said Jet, turning to Weslee. "Thanks for letting us stop by. We'll see you when we see you."

Weslee nodded and waved, and she chuckled as a large shadow loomed behind them. "Oh, hey, Storm."

Jet and Wave turned to see a large grey albatross wearing a sleeveless version of the Babylon Rogues' biker jacket. He had some goggles too, as well as the flame tattoos, and he had a patch on his right chest pocket that read "Man At Arms" with "Babylon Original" underneath that as well.

"Storm, what do we say to the nice lady?" Jet asked.

Storm smiled. "Thank you for the breakfast!"

"There's a good boy," said Jet, chuckling. "Later."

Present time...

Tails was sitting at a table with Knuckles to eat as Shadow was at the counter talking to Weslee. He did get a good smell of the place around them, having grown to enjoy it whenever he'd visit the one in Green Hill. He even indulged in some sweet tasting coffee as he spoke to the owner.

"So that's the last that you saw of them?" Shadow asked. "Nothing else?"

"I saw them yesterday for a little bit, but they didn't even eat. They just grabbed something to drink and needed the restroom," said Weslee. "We didn't get a lot of talking done as they were so busy helping out the police force."

"They seem like good guys," Shadow nodded.

"As do you," said Weslee. "The freelance agents, right?"

"See? I told you, man!" Knuckles called. "Word gets around!"

Weslee smiled. "It sure does." She then flashed a wink at Tails, who blushed and backed away a bit before Shadow clearing his throat got her attention. "Oh, my apologies."

"Oh, it's fine," said Shadow. "He gets that a lot, actually. He's spoken for and proud, but sometimes, what can you do?"

"That's a fair point," Weslee giggled. "But yes, that's all that I can recall. They did say that they were going to refuel first, so you could catch them if you hurry."

"We actually stumbled across them on the way here... sort of," said Knuckles. "They drove past us. Still, the road connecting here to Scrap Metal is a long one..."

"Oh, there's a chance that they didn't go to Scrap Metal just yet," said Weslee. "They probably went to their base out on the road."

"A base? Like a headquarters?" Knuckles asked, confused. "But I thought they were nomadic. They don't usually have a place to stay."

"Oh, they have small places set up from time to time on the roads," Weslee smiled. "They stop by those places to have meetings and make decisions. The highways of Mobius are basically their headquarters. It's just abandoned buildings that the authorities let them occupy whenever they're close."

"Huh." Knuckles nodded. "Well, how far up is it?"

"It's about ten miles up the road," said Weslee. "It won't be a far ride up. And seeing as you have those fancy hover-boards, it won't take much time to get there."

"Well, thanks again for the heads up," said Tails. "Could we get something sweet to go? Oh, and uh, could I take some vegan cookies to go? Two bags?"

"Of course!" Weslee smiled. "You eat clean, huh?"

"My, uh, girlfriend got me into it," Tails admitted with a blush.

"Well, aren't you a sweetie for her," Weslee said. "And if any of you boys need any more help, or just a discount, then swing by whenever you can."

They all finished their food, with Shadow even getting another coffee to go as they left. They hopped onto their hover-boards and decided to follow the route that Tails had tracked with his gun, with the two-tailed fox leading the trip as they followed the signal to reach a gas station on the side of the highway.

With the Babylon Rogues...

Jet and the rest of the Babylon Rogues had left Morning Brew and headed over to their bikes, taking a chance to wave goodbye to Weslee before peeling out from the front of the building. They soon got into a good riding formation with Jet at the front, goggles pulled over his face as they rode out to go and refuel at the nearest gas station that they could find, all parked up and taking turns to pump their vehicles up.

"You know what I don't get?" asked Storm.

"What's that, brother?" asked Jet.

"How you didn't notice anything when you got that implant."

Jet shrugged. "Well, as I was getting it, I was completely out cold. I just woke up the next day after it happened and they told me to not say anything." He patted his jacket pocket, pulling an envelope out. "This was one of the ways to keep me silent."

Storm looked inside, giving a small nod. "Hell of a way to keep you quiet. But still... I mean, does anyone with these street implants know they're getting them? I mean, did you even ask about it after the accident? Or even put out an ad or anything?"

"Not in the least," said Jet. "I was in the hospital for a long time, and I was coming through nicely in my physical therapy. But it was going to take a while until I could fully ride again."

"It happened out in Scrap Metal, right?" asked Storm. "The way that I hear it, that place gets a lot of legal implants from the Prower production company."

"Is that its full name?" asked Storm.

"I don't think that they have one," said Jet. "I think that it's just a workshop used to distribute it more than anything. It's not done for profit or personal gain, and I can respect that."

"I hear that Green Hill ain't far from Scrap Metal. We could pay them a visit."

Jet chuckled. "We can't stop by that place for long. Too much bad shit going down over there right now. We'll help however we can, but I think that the police got the most of it."

"I'm sorry, did you not hear who's out of jail?" asked Wave, walking back from refuelling her bike. "Nack? Purple weasel? Total ass-hole?"

"We ain't going near Westopolis, babe," said Jet. "Don't worry."

"You tell me not to, but what if the answers that you really need are out there, hmm?"

"Well, that's for me to worry about, not you," Jet said. "But Nack just got back, right? He'll probably get complacent. Son of a bitch was locked up for so long that he probably thinks that he can rest on his laurels."

"Maybe Laurel is the name of one of his prostitutes," Wave said dismissively. "But... you know that you can't avoid him forever."

"We're nomads," said Jet. "We can't avoid anyone forever, no matter how we try."

"Does that mean that you'll think about it?" asked Wave.

Jet sighed. "Look, on the very slim chance that Nack's running something around, we could probably follow it back to Westopolis. But we'd all have to go, because it can't just be us three."

Wave looked at the back of one of the bikes. "Maybe we could get more help." She spotted the tracer on the back of the bike, reaching to pick it up. "Ooh... this is pretty good technology... and say, didn't we pass those dudes on hover-boards earlier?"

"That doesn't mean that it was them," Storm said.

"Well, how many people do you know that rock up on hover-boards?" Wave asked. "Nobody else in Mobius has that kind of hardware."

"So, you think that it could be them?" asked Jet.

"I did see two rather fluffy tails," said Wave. "I'd recognise those anywhere from the TV news reports. However, they seem like they're a man down."

"In that case," said Jet, "we'll give them a warm welcome." He pointed to the tracer in his wife's hands. "Keep a hold of that. It could come in useful."

Wave nodded. "Will do."

"Wait, so we're expecting them to pop up?" asked Storm.

"Yeah. I've been wanting to meet them for a while," said Jet. "I guess that it can't be avoided forever." He smirked at Wave, who rolled her eyes but smiled gently.

"Hmm... I don't know..." said Storm. "It could be a bad idea."

"They're freelance agents," said Jet. "They work with the law and help the community. We help with that too."

"True, but we don't soak up all of the glory and go and do all of these interviews and, you know, let dangerous criminals break out of prison and kill people." Storm gripped his bike's handlebars tightly, shaking his head. "Sorry. You... you know how I feel about authority figures. Police especially."

"They're not police," Jet assured. "They're better, from what I know about them. Which, admittedly, isn't a lot, but if they're doing what they're doing, how bad can they be?"

Storm grunted. "This stinks to me."

"That could just be you not showering for a week," Wave said, patting Storm's shoulder gently. "We'd better move before they catch us up here."

Jet nodded. "We're all fuelled up?"

"Everyone's good!" a biker member called from behind them.

"Then let's move." Jet hopped onto his bike, revving the engine. "Rogues!" he called out proudly. "Back to base! Let's hit it!"

At Green Hill Police Department...

Bunnie and Antoine were pulling up to the car park at the front of the building in their commissioned police car, finding a spot to park before getting out. The two were struggling to move a lot as they'd been busy all day trying to help other victims of the riot, and they were lucky to have been able to find most of them still okay. Antoine took a sip of his coffee as they entered the building, letting out a heavy sigh.

"Man, I knew that today wasn't going to be easy, but fuck..." He sighed, arching his back. "Feels like I haven't slept in a while. And I got a full eight hours last night."

"Lucky you," Cosmo said from the counter, a bit colder than she'd intended.

"Are you okay, darlin'?" Bunnie asked Cosmo.

"Huh?" Cosmo rubbed her eyes. "Sorry. Just... there's been so many darn phone calls back and forth... been checking on people, sending units out, everyone back here's been swamped to hell and back ever since the breakout."

An elevator then dinged, and a tired looking Nicole walked out, finishing eating some toast and drinking some coffee as she joined Cosmo behind the desk. "Hey, you get to take a break."

"Thank goodness," Cosmo yawned. "Say, have you heard from Tails or anything?"

"No," said Nicole. "Why?"

"I just haven't heard from him all day," Cosmo said. "He told me what the plan was, but I haven't heard much besides that."

"I'm sure they're fine, sweetie," Bunnie smiled. "Well... I haven't heard anything either. But there's a good chance that they're in Spring Yard right now, so they must have checked on Sonic on the way up there."

"We could just call the man himself," said Antoine. "Sonic, I mean. He's probably the least busy at this point in time."

"Then you do it," said Bunnie, smiling.

The coyote shook his head, pulling his phone out and calling Sonic's number. After an unexpectedly long amount of time, Sonic begrudgingly answered it, his voice sounding surprisingly gruff. "Hey, buddy," Antoine said.

"Oh..." Sonic stopped to take a long yawn. "Hey. What... uh... what's up?"

"Just, you know, checking on you," Antoine said.

"Still alive," Sonic said a bit slowly. "Man, this IV drip feels nice... sorry, uh, yeah, I'm good. Started physical therapy today."

"How'd it go?"

"Again, still alive," Sonic said. "I've just got to keep working on it, but I did pretty well. Damn shame about the implants, though." He cleared his throat. "How are things up your end?"

"I mean... not as rough as they are for you, but we've run ourselves ragged trying to help people," said Antoine.

"Yeah... I get that," Sonic replied. "Seen so many nurses and doctors bring patients in and out. I even heard a firetruck at one point. Made it hard to catch up on my sleep, but it was good to hear it."

Antoine smiled. "I'm just glad you're okay, man. I just wanted to check on you. How are the others?"

"Uh... they seemed fine before they left," Sonic said. "I haven't heard from them since. They're busy anyway, so it's no worries. I've got faith in them." He cleared his throat, drinking some water next to his bed. "Oh, hey, did you get an update on the judges thing? I heard rumours that the trial might get pushed forwards or something."

"We haven't been told anything by Avery," said Antoine. "Then again, we've been out all day helping people."

"And here I've been lazing in bed doing nothing like a sack of bones," Sonic joked. "Actually, it's good that you called me. I heard it from the other freelancers who heard it from Alec that the judges will be going ahead with it."

Antoine froze up. "You're kidding."

"Dude, I'm in a hospital bed, I almost had my legs amputated, my body was poisoned, and I'm just now recovering from it. I couldn't be more serious even with Amy's heart condition."

"Shit... we'd better go talk to Avery." The brown coyote pinched the bridge of his nose. "All right, thanks for the heads up."

"Good luck," said Sonic. "And, heh, that's coming from the guy in the hospital bed. Now, not to be rude, but I really need to catch up on my sleep."

"See you when we see you," Antoine said. Both of them hung up, and he sighed more as he put his phone in his pocket.

"What's wrong?" Bunnie asked, rubbing his arm.

"Apparently, the judge in Spring Yard is going to push for the trial. There's a good chance that it'll reach other cities soon, and even Avery might get wind of it."

Cosmo put her head against the wall. "That's not good."

Nicole nodded in agreement, then hearing the desk phone ring, so she answered it. "Hello? Oh, Commander Avery... yes, some are in the lobby... Antoine and Bunnie. All right... yeah, we're just now hearing a bit about that ourselves... I'll send them up. Okay. Yes, sir." The phone call ended as she sighed heavily. "Well, you probably heard."

"We'll be on our way," said Bunnie. As she and Antoine headed for the elevator, they saw Vector, Espio, and Charmy leaving the armoury. "You guys get the call too?"

"We did," said Vector. "Right as we were reworking the cloaking technology perfectly..."

"You'll get it next time," said Antoine. "Come on. We'd better go see to Avery and get this sorted out."

"This really has been a shitty day, hasn't it?" Espio said.

"You can say that again," Charmy said. The five of them got into the elevator while Cosmo took the stairs, heading to the floor where the resting rooms were and crashing on her bed to fall asleep.

The others in the elevator were growing nervous as they made it to the third floor, all walking over to the main meeting room. They saw several of the other higher ranking officers already sat down. Either they were just as nervous and good at hiding it, or they were more nervous than everyone else there.

"Ah, so good that you joined," Avery said. "We need to talk."

"We think that we know what it's about," said Bunnie as she sat down. "We done heard about that judging thing being pushed forward."

"Well, that's true," said Avery, sighing. "It'll be in Star Light. All of the major cities will be sending their commanders out there to get this sorted."

"It's about the implants, right?" asked Antoine.

"Yeah," Avery said. "I got off of the phone with Dingo who confirmed it with me. It doesn't sound good, and he's really not happy to have it held in Star Light, but his city is the closest. And we'll not just have all of our chiefs, but the judges too. Except for Westopolis. That city won't have a say. Hell, they barely have a police force."

"So, if my maths are correct, and they often are," said Charmy, "that means... seven cities. Seven chiefs. Seven judges. Green Hill, Star Light, Marble Stone, Angel Wing, Aqua Lake, Scrap Metal, and Spring Yard... yep, that checks out."

"We just need more to rule in favour of the implants as opposed to against, right?" Vector asked.

Avery nodded. "Yeah. And considering that the case of Zayd's accidental homicide came about at the same time as the prison breakout... it's just too much of a coincidence. And we need some representatives from each department too."

"Who are you planning on taking?" Vector asked.

Avery looked around his table. "Lupe and Simian, obviously. But all of you are welcome to come along should you see fit." He turned to Bunnie and Antoine. "If anything happens, you two could step in."

Antoine's ears perked up at that. "You... you'd have us help you?"

"Of course," Avery said. "You've been busy all day helping people out. I could say the same about any of the fine officers that work here, of course, but your output as of late has been great."

"We can't save everyone," said Bunnie. "Just the ones we can reach. It's a lot harder without Sonic and the others helpin'."

"Speaking of which, shouldn't they be able to step in on this?" Ash asked. "They're the only people who work with authority who we know have implants."

"With all due respect," Lupe said, "that's probably a bad idea. If the ruling is going to be for or against people with implants, possibly even making them illegal, then the four main advocates for it won't be seen in the best light. Especially given... you know."

Ash nodded. "Yeah. And they're pretty far away too. But we need someone who could help out in that way."

Nicole gasped. "Amadeus and Rosemary! If there's anyone that could help, it would be them!"

"Nicole," Simian began, "I'm not sure that that's such a good idea."

"No, hear me out!" said Nicole. "They can't push anything because of the risk that would lead to. Someone else, whoever's been stealing implants, could steal again and turn someone into another case like Zayd. If they're not making deliveries, they're free to do something else, and they literally make the implants that people use. And not even for powers or anything, just for helping them with injuries. You know, like what they were originally made for."

"She does have a point, sir," Vector said. "It would probably be wise to set a perimeter of safety around the shop. Any workers there can handle small stuff if need be, but there won't be anything made and the cops could be there for security reasons."

"And there's also the fact that Amadeus and Rosemary won't be working there anyway, so like Nicole said, they'd make great representatives and they could help to sway the vote to keep implants in the legal system," said Espio, adding to his friend's words.

"And also," Charmy said, "it's valuable technology and it's helped a lot of people. It would be wise to help the judges to understand that fact. The more of those that we can persuade, the better off that Mobius will be."

Avery chuckled. "I forgot that you three can raise good points. It doesn't hurt that you make great weapons and tech for us too."

"Yeah, we were working more on the cloaking stuff for the hover-boards before we got called up," said Espio. "We were getting so far too."

"I promise, you'll get back to it soon," said Avery. "But... it could still be a risk to take them... and we won't be able to have the freelancers with us as they aren't technically officers..."

"It might be a risk," said Simian, "but it's one worth taking, sir."

Avery shook his head. "All of Sonic's heroic antics must be rubbing off on me. All right, I'll let them know later. I have a lot of phone calls to make, but I had to get all of you in here to let you know the plan."

"And what is the plan?" asked Charmy.

"Try and save the city," said Avery. "I should work on a speech too. I've got two days to do it. And... hmm... Lupe?"

"Yes, sir?" Lupe asked.

"While I'm gone, would you mind being acting captain?"

"Oh, uh... I'd be honoured, sir!" said Lupe, taken aback.

"It's just for a day, but your help is appreciated," Avery said, slightly easing Lupe's worries. "All right, everyone get back to your work. There's still a lot of people to help out there, so get to it."

"We'll get back to work too," said Espio. "Thanks for the heads up."

Avery waved smiled, waving goodbye to them as they left the room to resume their stations. Even Simian and Lupe took leave to their own offices as well, leaving just Avery and Ash in the meeting room. Avery sat back, rubbing at his temple before grabbing his coffee cup, feeling how weightless that it was.

"Well... looks like I'll need another," Avery sighed, turning to Ash. "Don't you have an office to get to?"

"Oh, I do," Ash said. "I just... I wanted to ask something."

Avery sat up. "What is it?"

"I-If it's not too much trouble, I could probably make up a holographic presentation to help support our case when we go to court," said Ash. "I only need a couple of days to make something good, and I've got tons of footage to draw from, even from other cities."

Avery smiled. "That could work. I don't know how much it will change things, but it's a pretty good idea. We can make your plans for it work with my speech."

"I'll get to work on it," Ash smiled. "Thanks, sir."

"You're welcome," Avery said. As Ash left, Avery let his smile drop, burying his face in his hands. "I'm so damn tired..."

Back with the Babylon Rogues...

The group had all parked their bikes outside, mostly leaving them running as they were planning to skip town soon. But Jet had wanted to stay behind to see the freelance officers for the first time, actually excited to meet them. He looked out the door to see them approaching on their hover-boards, and they parked them with the bikes as there was some space left before they found the bike where Tails had first placed the tracer.

"Well, this is where it should be," Tails said, pulling out the gun he'd used. "But this thing is still going off."

Shadow looked at the back of the bike. "It's not there any more. They must have spotted it." He then looked at the gun. "And it looks like it might be inside the building."

"Wait... like... inside inside?" Knuckles asked. "The building with the biker gang in it?"

"No, I'm referring to the inner workings of the bike itself," Shadow said. "Of course it's the building with the biker gang in it."

Knuckle rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, man. Jeez... you really need to-"

"Please don't finish that sentence," Shadow said.

"All right, I won't," said Knuckles. "Should we head in? Get this over with?"

Tails nodded. "Yep."

He turned around with the others to walk into the building itself. As they walked in, they heard the sound of some heavy music, even being surprised that it was a band they'd recognised as well. They saw several of the biker group around, all of which seemed to be birdlike in some way, all wearing a variant of the leather cut with the Babylon Rogues patches, and all having the flame tattoos on their forearms reaching to just under their shoulders.

"Ah, there you are!" Jet said happily, walking out from his office. "I've been wanting to meet you!"

"You must be the infamous Jet," said Tails, reaching to shake hands with the green hawk. "I'd say it's an honour if I knew anything about you before."

"That tells me that you yourself are an honest man," Jet said. "At the very least a kind one." He turned to see his wife walking over, then turning back to Tails. "I believe that my lovely better half here has a gift for you."

Wave handed the tracer to Tails, who accepted it as she spoke. "You've got some impressive technology there. The tracer, the hover-boards, and heck, we've seen some of your weaponry."

"But how?" Knuckles asked. "You're always hopping from place to place."

Jet smirked and pointed behind him. "See that behind us? That's a TV. We get news reports on it. Sometimes those news reports show you guys fighting in action."

"That's two different people who've called me dumb in two different ways..." Knuckles moped, but he then brightened up. "But at least you have good taste in music."

"Yeah, this is basically our set up across the highways," said Jet. "We go our own way, sure, but we always have some things to carry over. Mostly our bikes."

"You're not worried about them getting stolen?" asked Tails.

"Well, we have the keys to them, so no," said Jet. "I mean, Storm did leave his keys in his bike once... in the last month. It's kind of a record."

"Storm... sounds like a big lad," Knuckles said. "Is he here?"

"He's in the rec room, calming himself down with some pool," Jet said. "He... he doesn't do well with authority types. Which means that our meeting will be quite awkward, as we always hold them as a group. That includes if people come and ask us for help, or if freelance cops need some... actually, why are you here?"

"We have a lot of questions that need to be answered, and we think that you might be able to help us," Tails said.

"All right, but let's do it in my office," Jet said. "Just us, okay? You three, and me, Wave, and Storm."

"What about the rest of the group?" Shadow asked.

"It's not a big decision that needs making or anything, so until it becomes as such, we'll just hold our little meeting between us," said Jet. "But don't be put off by all of the dirty looks that Storm is liable to give you. He doesn't do well with suits."

"Then we'd better get this underway," said Tails. "Please, go ahead."

Jet nodded, turning to lead the officers to his main office. Well, the main one for this base, at least. It was large enough to hold a big meeting table, a slab of wood in the middle of the room with the Babylon Rogues' logo carved into it, patches and all. Jet called Storm in from the rec room on the way there, and once inside, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow sat at the bottom end while Jet took the main seat, Wave on his left and Storm finding a seat on his right.

"These the freelancers?" Storm asked Jet.

"You know, you could just ask us directly," Shadow said. "We understand that you don't like us, but you don't have to like us to trust us."

"Let's say that I don't want to do either of those," said Storm. "What would you suggest?"

"Then we won't talk to you, but someone who has the sense to listen," Shadow said.

"Cool it, guys," said Wave. "We're here for a small, simple meeting."

"My ass," said Storm, scoffing. "I bet that these guys are here to try and pin some shit on us. Like you did with that tracer bullet. What good reason do you have to be tracking us down?"

"We just want some help from you," said Tails. "Please, give us at least that much."

Storm snorted, but he saw Wave's gaze fixed on him and backed down. "All right... you guys can go ahead."

Jet turned to his wife. "I love you," he mouthed.

Wave giggled. "You don't have to mouth it. We're married, you doofus."

"I know," Jet smirked, turning to the officers. "But now for you... I'm going to guess that you have some questions. And I'm also going to guess that some will have to do with my implants."

"Yeah," Tails said. "And I'd like to ask the questions, if that's okay. It's sort of a personal stake for me."

"Why's that?" asked Wave.

Tails nodded. "My parents own a string of shops starting in Green Hill that manufacture the implants. They ship them out to hospitals and military bases once tested, and it's all legalised."

"And mine isn't legal," Jet surmised. "And that means that I'm in trouble."

"Suffice to say, but a little bit," said Tails. "But you're not in trouble with any authorities. Or you may not be. It's... confusing. And I don't want to bring the reason up without thinking of a recent tragedy and bringing that up too."

"Should have figured that you'd know something about it," Wave said. "I mean, we've seen you use your own powers before. I'm going to guess that the implants have a say in that."

"And you would guess correctly," said Tails. "And they were emergencies... and legal." He turned to Jet. "Yours were emergencies and not legal."

Jet lifted his hands up. "Can't ride a bike without hands to steer with. I broke them in a bike crash a couple of weeks ago. We were in Scrap Metal at the time, and while the doctors there patched me up, we couldn't afford an implant as part of the surgery."

"And that's when you got the implant anyway?" asked Knuckles.

"Not by choice," said Jet. "It's... the strangest thing. I was out getting something from a store, I think. I was walking down an alleyway that I knew cut through most of the city, but one moment I'm walking through, and the next I see these two guys there. They start asking questions about my hands, saying that they saw my crash and that they could help for a cheap fee. So, I paid what I could and then... well, one moment I'm standing and handing money over, and the next I'm flat on my ass looking at the two of them, wearing masks and holding surgical stuff in their hands."

"Do you remember what they looked like?" Tails asked.

Jet shook his head. "When I first spotted them, they were pretty shady looking. Their coats covered their faces. The second time, my vision was blurry from whatever the fuck it was that they pumped into me to keep me under, and their masks didn't help either."

"Well, that does lead to my next question," Tails said. "There's a possibility that people have been stealing from implant shipments and doing something to rework them, giving the bastardised versions out to people on the streets for cash."

"Don't your parents make money off of pushing the implants out?" Storm asked.

"Actually, a lot of it goes into the funding and safety of the implants," Tails said.

"Well, your parents are doing a shitty job, then," Storm said dismissively. "If their implants keep getting stolen and given out to anybody on the street, then they need better security."

Shadow about snapped at that, teleporting forwards and pushing Storm against the wall behind him. It wasn't his strength that surprised the albatross, but more the speed which added to the impact, and Shadow's dark red eyes looked up at Storm, not a care at all on Shadow's face that Storm was larger and could probably snap him in two.

"With all due respect," Shadow said softly, "we are trying to get advice from your leader. Not you. I'm not in a great mood because something related to this case happened at my hands, and because of that, things are going up shit's creek really fucking quick. So I highly suggest that you climb off of whatever pedestal you think that you deserve to be on and join the rest of us down here. We just want help. Jet and Wave are giving it to us. If you're not going to follow suit, then fucking leave."

"You're not my Pres," said Storm. "I ain't following your order."

"Then follow mine," said Jet. "Storm, if you can't learn to behave, you'll wait outside."

Storm put his hands up. "With this pricks, I can't. Looks like you guys are on your own."

"Storm," said Wave. "Sit down."

The albatross snorted. "I'm sort of held up at the moment..."

Shadow let Storm go. "Sorry for that. It's just been a shitty couple of days for me."

"Yeah... I know what that's like," Storm said. "Just... keep over there."

Shadow nodded, teleporting back to his seat. "Sorry for that. But we do need to discuss another reason why we're here."

"Which is what, exactly?" asked Jet.

Tails nodded, speaking. "Well... uh... our leader, Sonic, is in a hospital bed after his implants were poisoned. He's lucky to be alive." He gulped. "He's... our friend. Probably my best friend. And his implants were, as we discussed, legal."

"And? You can't just get him some new ones?" Wave asked.

"There's sort of a temporary ban on implants," said Shadow. "It's because of me. Someone else had an illegal implant, and because of a mistake that I made, that person is now dead."

"Oh... shit." Jet sat there, letting the gravity of it hit him. "How?"

"I... I injected him with Fokus after I interrogated him. I meant to use it as leverage against him, that's it. He was a drug dealer, and a nasty customer at that." Shadow stood up on the table, propping a leg up and rolling up his jeans. "See that? That was by him. His implant let him spit out acid, and I got lucky myself."

"How does the Fokus play into it?" Storm asked.

Shadow put his leg back down. "Well, like I said, I injected him with it. It was to protect an officer he'd taken hostage. But it caused an instant overcharge in his implants, and they exploded. Shut down his nervous system, frying his brain. It... it was so fast..." Shadow gripped the table, gritting his teeth.

Knuckles put a hand on the black and red hedgehog's shoulder. "We're trying to warn you in case it comes to something worse. Since your implant isn't legal either, that'll cause more than a stain on your good reputation with the law."

"Well, we don't use drugs, and Fokus isn't easy to come by," said Jet.

"That's not the only thing," said Tails. "Remember what Shadow said about implants being temporary? There's a good chance that they could go away permanently."

Wave sat up. "What do you mean, fuzzy?"

"There's going to be a judge ruling in two days," said Tails. "That could affect not only those with illegal implants, but... well, people like us. That doesn't just mean that my family is out of a business, but that puts a lot of people out of jobs, maybe out of homes too. Not to mention the prison riot happening on the same day as Shadow's speech..."

"Well, that is a pretty sad case," said Jet. "And a shitty one. It's a bad deal. One thing that one of you didn't know could lead to something horrible happening. But there's not a lot that we can do. We can't ask judges to swing votes, and we can't ask police captains to convince them either. The best that we can do is help those who need it."

"Then... keep doing that," Tails said. "But do you know anything about other illegal implants?"

Jet shook his head. "Outside of mine and the now dead ass-hole who you just mentioned, no."

"What about a guy named Jem?" asked Shadow.

"I don't know a lot about him," said Jet. "Storm does."

Storm shrugged. "I... I rolled with him for a time until I found the Rogues."

"You know about his implant, then?" asked Tails.

Storm shook his head. "I didn't, actually. But that guy having an implant... that doesn't sound good. It must be new."

"Probably illegal, then," said Shadow.

"What can it do?" Storm asked.

"It allows him to meld his DNA with objects to take on their properties," said Tails. "We were going to go say hi to him, but we wanted to know if you had any information about him first."

"No, nothing," said Storm. "Sorry... for, you know."

"It's okay," said Tails. "Well... I guess that we're rolling in blind. Huh, it's funny. Everyone's heard so much about him but they know so little."

"Then you should see what answers he can give you," said Jet, standing. He reached to shake hands with Tails. "It was a pleasure to meet you, sorry we couldn't be much help, and if you see Alec, say hi for me."

"Likewise, no worries, and sure thing," Tails chuckled.

The handshake broke between the two, and the freelancers headed on their way back to Spring Yard Police Department to meet with Alec again. They noticed that the day was getting darker as they made their move, and they heard some motorcycles revving in the distance before the sounds of their engines faded away.

Well, that took longer than I thought it would. I hope that you enjoyed the group finally meeting the Babylon Rogues for the first time. Next up, yep, the interrogation of Jem, as well as more. I'll see you soon for that. Until then, take care, and stay tuned.