A couple of days had passed since Shadow, Tails, and Knuckles went to Spring Yard City, and they were all back at their base now in the early morning. They'd heard that their fourth member and team leader Sonic was going to be discharged from the hospital, and as it was over the weekend, Amy had elected to pick him up from the hospital and drive him over to the freelancer headquarters.

"How do you think he's doing?" asked Knuckles. "Amy didn't tell us a lot before she left to go get him."

"I'm sure that he'll be fine," said Tails. "I mean, he seemed okay yesterday when we went to go and check on him."

"It helped that his family was there too," said Knuckles. "And Dr. Aston seems like a good dude."

"He really does," said Shadow, rubbing his eyes.

"You okay?" Tails asked.

"Yeah. Just this double shift that Maria has to pull. I stayed over at Rouge's last night, and I still didn't sleep any better," Shadow said.

"I wonder why..." Knuckles muttered under his breath, earning a glare from Tails. "It's adorable that you think that that works on me."

Shadow shook his head. "It's just all this judge mess, you know? It's gotten me a bit restless. Which is the last thing that I needed."

"Well, after the ruling is over, we'll know for sure," Tails said. "Man, it'll be weird trying to have normal jobs after this. If it falls through and we don't get the vote, what are you guys going to get up to?"

"I think I could make a good fight coach and trainer for Shade," Knuckles said. "It'd be good to corner her and be part of more of her classes. I don't get enough time to catch up on them these days." He turned to Shadow. "What about you?"

Shadow shrugged. "A security job, like a bouncer or something. I figured you'd take that, though, Knuckles. You've got the size for it."

"Hell, if I get good enough, I'll join the Green Hill Goliaths and be a hockey player," the red echidna smirked. "And as for you, fluffy man?"

Tails chuckled. "Well, if we get super lucky, I'd like to work at my parents' workshop. Delivery driving, helping with manufacturing implants, all that stuff. Or just something mechanical. I always liked fixing things up."

As they continued their friendly conversation back and forth, the door opened up, and in walked Sonic with the help of a pair of crutches under his armpits. He used his left leg to prop himself up as he moved over to his friends, Amy right behind him to provide a helping hand should any accidents occur. It didn't help that his friends rushed him and almost gave him a group hug, but thought better of it to avoid the worst.

"Good to see you on your feet again," said Knuckles.

"Lucky for me, they didn't get chopped off," Sonic said. "I'll need these crutches for maybe a couple of weeks, but I'll still try and keep up my physical therapy at the gym here."

Tails nodded. "I'll try and get a routine set up for you."

"Appreciate it," Sonic said, patting his friend's shoulder. "So... today's really the day, huh?"

"Yep. It all hands in the balance of the judges," Shadow said. "We've got Avery to help fight for our cause, and I know that Alec has our back too. Hopefully Dingo will come around to our side as well."

"Wait, who are the judges you'll be getting?" Amy asked.

"We've got Judge Ryker from Green Hill," said Sonic. "There's Judge St. Joseph from Star Light, Judge Chau from Scrap Metal, Judge Robben from Aqua Lake, Judge Elmina from Angel Wing, Judge McNeil from Marble Stone, and finally, Judge Quentin from Spring Yard."

"Does Westopolis not have a judge?" asked Amy.

"They barely even have a police force," Knuckles snorted a bit dismissively. "They have a judge, but he won't be at the ruling, from what I've heard. Plus, we've got eight cities, and if they did add Judge... what's his damn name?"

"Caran," said Tails.

"Yeah, him," Knuckles continued, "then we'd be screwed. He pretty much lets any old shit happen to his own city. Why would he give more of a shit about any of ours?"

"Well, what are you going to do for the day?" Amy asked. "You can't answer any calls or go out to do much in terms of saving people."

"We were thinking of doing a gaming tournament and then watching the ruling live," Tails said.

"Will there be junk food involved?" Amy asked.

"Babe, you know that Jade Mountain do deliveries, right?" Sonic smirked.

"Well, I'm staying, then," Amy said. "Let's ask some others over. Make it a real party. We could celebrate Sonic's return from the hospital."

"Yeah, I sure am glad that I don't have to spend a whole damn month in that place," Sonic said. "Not that I would have minded, but I'm just glad I recovered well enough that I can sort of walk. It wasn't even much of an argument with Doc Aston. Dude gave me the all clear."

"And he did give you some pain medication to help," Amy reminded Sonic, reaching into his hoodie pocket. "You haven't even taken any yet." She got a bottle of water out of her bag and handed it to him. "Want me to help you?" she asked as she put the medication in his hands.

"Just with the water," Sonic said. He popped two pills out of the bottle, putting them in his mouth before leaning down for Amy to pour some water into his mouth. He swallowed it down with a small wince. "Ugh..." He shook his head, grimacing, then turning to Amy. "That sound and face of disgust was to the medicine, by the way. Not to you. You look nice today."

"Well, thank you," Amy smiled. "You feeling any better?"

"It'll take a while for the medicine to kick in, but honestly, I'm just happy to be around my friends again," Sonic said.

"Awwww," Knuckles said. "I do wonder how much of that is the drugs, but still, awwww."

Sonic shook his head at his muscular friend and the group all sat down together. As they were waiting for friends and loved ones to turn up, Tails got a call on his phone. He excused himself from the rest of his friends, finding a quiet part of the kitchen to answer it and sitting down.

"Hey, dad, what's up?" Tails asked.

"Tails, son, hello," Amadeus said. "Sorry I didn't get back to you yesterday. I know that you were probably still reeling from meeting that biker group."

"Yeah, it was an interesting experience," Tails said. "But you're worried about Jem, right?"

"Of course I am," Amadeus said, sighing. "But not as worried as I am about later today. Your mother and I are more concerned on this ruling going right than anything else."

"Well, it's an important day," Tails said. "Who do you think we'll have on our side?"

"Well, in terms of police captains, we'll certainly have Avery, Dingo, and Alec. And because it's in Star Light, Dingo could have a bit more influence over there to help."

"We'll take what we can get," Tails admitted.

"Too right," Amadeus said. "Still, seeing all of those police cars forming a perimeter just in case... I understand that it's for safety and security, but I've never felt more vulnerable in my life. We haven't even manufactured any implants since the news broke out of Zayd's death. The fact that something I created could be used for such cruelty..."

"Dad, calm down," Tails said. "Take a few deep breaths. That whole mess isn't anyone's fault, okay? You didn't make the implant that way. The Black Market or whoever it was that stole it, they're the ones responsible. Unfortunately we can't go out and hunt them down because we're basically on house arrest until the trial passes."

"I'll do what I can to help on my end," said Amadeus. He looked around nervously in the hallways of the courthouse, his wife returning from the bathroom. "Your mother's coming back, so I need to leave. It won't be long until the trial starts."

"Well, we'll be tuned in," said Tails. "Good luck over there. And... I love you."

"I love you too," Amadeus smiled. Before he could hang up, his wife got in a quick "I love you!" to Tails, who couldn't hide his smiling.

"They'll be okay," said Rouge from the counter behind Tails.

The yellow fox turned to face her, gasping a bit in surprise. "I didn't even hear you come in."

"Well, that's because you were distracted talking to your dad," Rouge shrugged, sipping a coffee. "It happens."

Tails nodded. "I just wish that we could go over to the courthouse ourselves, you know? Try and explain away what happened."

"Cutie, those judges won't see the reasoning behind it because a man was killed," Rouge said. "If your parents can truly convince the judges that there was no intentional wrongdoing, then we might get lucky. Implants could get suspended to see if people learn from what happened, and it could weed out any potential thieves."

"Yeah, luck," Tails scoffed dismissively. "Rouge, nothing that my family's achieved has been because of luck. It's because of their hard work, their ethics, their principles. It's because of every life that Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow, and myself saved because of how strong we are because of the implants. To me, that means something more than luck. Right now, I don't want us to get lucky. I want us to get back what we've given out."

"I get that," Rouge nodded. "It's not just a popularity contest for you, and yet everyone knows your names. I mean, there's not a day goes by where I don't see someone asking you to sign a stuffed toy of yourself that they own which honestly doesn't do your real fluffiness any justice."

"I do need to talk to the company behind that, see if they can get it right," Tails said.

"The point is," Rouge chuckled, "I understand you. I mean, you know how I got to where I am. I wasn't just lucky myself, and I was in a really rough patch for a bit. But I chose to get myself better because I didn't have a lot left. But you'll be fine after this. Even if this doesn't go your way, you can still help people somehow. And if you don't believe that, then just remember, all of your friends will still stand by you." She put a hand on his shoulder. "That includes me, okay?"

Tails smiled, reaching to touch the white bat's hand and nodding. "Thank you, Rouge. I... I guess that I was just stressed about the ruling."

"Oh, that's starting soon," Rouge said, turning to the front door. "And here comes your lovely lady."

Tails turned to follow Rouge's gaze, seeing his girlfriend Cosmo walk through. She sauntered over to him, leaning to kiss him on the cheek as Rouge left the two alone in the kitchen. The cute couple held hands and enjoyed each other's embrace as Rouge leaned against a door frame, feeling the presence of a figure behind her.

"You know that you can't sneak up on me," Rouge said.

Shadow sighed. "Wasn't trying to."

"All right, well, what's got you talking to me of your own volition?" Rouge said with a small smirk.

"The fact that I can't talk to Maria at all as she's busy at the bank for a huge shift," Shadow admitted, getting a glare from Rouge. His own look softened. "And it's nice to talk to friends in stressful situations."

"And you couldn't have saved it for when the hearing actually starts because?" Rouge asked with an inflection at the end.

"I wanted to talk about Anti-Light," Shadow said lowly.

Rouge's eyes widened, looking around to make sure that nobody else was in earshot. "What about it?"

Shadow sighed. "If... if I join you, it's just me. I don't want the others to know, I don't want you, Sally, or anyone else to ask them."

Rouge rose an eyebrow. "You're really considering it?"

"I wouldn't go that far..." Shadow said. "I just want to make sure that I'm making the right choice before I throw my lot in with a bunch of people I don't know and two people I do know."

"I guess you're spoiled for choice, then," Rouge giggled. "I guess that we'll have to wait and see what happens."

Shadow nodded. "Let's go play some video games and eat some junk food and then watch our futures hang in the balance, yeah?"

"Sounds like a plan."

The two left out of the kitchen, going to the living room, soon followed by Tails and Cream as well.

Back in Westopolis...

"All right, there's a pretty big event going on today, people," Nack said, addressing his lieutenants.

"What's happening?" Gerren asked.

"Today is the day where Sonic's future is decided. There's a judge hearing today at Star Light, and the ruling will be over if people in authority should be allowed to use implants."

Gerren nodded. "Well, damn. That is pretty big."

"You're telling me," Nack said. "I'll be seven judges to keep it fair, and our beloved judge of Westopolis in Caran will not be there."

"That does keep it fair," said Beau. "Of course, that does depend on who the freelancers have on their side. They don't strike me as the type to keep politicians in their pocket, and it would be ironic if they did as they got their jobs for breaking a basic protocol."

"Lucky for all of us, then," Nack said. "And since it's in Star Light, that works for me. None of our products are going there today."

"Oh, yeah," Gerren said. "We've got to go to Green Hill anyway to pick up that girl that Lara sent out, right?"

"Not just that," Nack said. "From what I understand, because of the lack of security today, there's bound to be some places that have a lot of money and little people to stop us from stealing that money."

"Ooh..." Gerren chuckled. "This sounds like a good plan."

"Indeed," said Nack. "And you, my head of security, will be coming with me."

Martin chuckled. "Moving up quickly, aren't you, big fella?"

"I guess so," Gerren nodded, pursing his lips. "Wait, I'm officially a police officer for Westopolis now. Won't I get fired if I'm running stuff in another city?"

"I do that shit all the time," Martin said. "If I can do it without being fired, then you'll be fine. As long as you don't get seen, since you used to work there."

"To be honest, the only one who knows that I escaped with Nack is Sonic. I don't even know if he told his other buddies."

"Still," said Nack, "Martin has a point. We need to be careful. Just because there's a shot that nobody knows that you escaped doesn't mean that you can show up. You'll probably get recognised. They've probably recovered enough after the riots, and if the weekend passes over without any issue, you could be next on their shit-list."

"Well, I guess that we'd best move quickly, then," said Gerren.

Nack nodded, turning to Manuel. "Can you get us some guns to rob with?"

"Damn right I can," said Manuel. "What do you need?"

"Not anything super high grade," said Nack. "Unless we have to kill, we won't do it. Intimidation is a lot scarier than senseless killing."

"I've got some stuff that can work for that," said Manuel. "Even some stun and smoke grenades if you need them."

"Well, it can't hurt," Nack smiled. "All right, anyone else got any objections?"

"Yeah, I have a question," Beau said, raising his hand. "What about Lara's girl?"

"Well, I'll send my henchmen to go and get her," said Nack. "They'll take their own car, then they'll bring her back here."

"Ah, yeah, the two bodyguards whose names we still don't fucking know," said Beau. "That seems like a solid plan."

"It's up to you, dude," said Gerren. "Either make yourself useful and come out to help us, or stay here, get high, jerk off, and watch the judge ruling."

"I can't do all of those at the same time, but I'll give it a try," said Beau. "Besides, I got a big delivery out yesterday. I think I'm good."

"Then it's settled," Nack said, standing up. "Myself and Gerren will go and rob some places, Lara will ride with my two guards, Manuel will give us some guns to use, and Beau and Martin will stay here and be useless."

"We'll hold down the fort for you," said Martin. "Well, I will. No fucking clue what Beau will be doing."

"Probably the things that Gerren suggested," the southern snake smirked.

"Ugh... gross."

"I'll wait until you're out of the room first."

"That does not help."

Nack shook his head, standing up with everyone else to get a move on, Beau and Martin staying behind and turning the TV on to find the channel where the ruling would take place. As the others left to get ready, leaving Nack alone, he closed in on his two guards, hearing them speak a language that he vaguely understood. They turned as he came more into view, nodding to him.

"Did I interrupt you two?" Nack asked.

"No, sir," said one of the guards. "What can we help you with?"

"Well, I was going to tell you about today's plans, but then I heard you speaking Russian and understood some of the words," said Nack. "Sort of."

"What words?" asked the second guard.

"Something about... I think winter. A storm." Nack looked over the two of them. "If you're hiding something from me, we'll wait until after we've gone to Green Hill."

"Green Hill? What's there?"

"Some money," said Nack. "One of Lara's girls too. We're going to pick her up and do some stealing. The police are going to be busy, and more importantly, the freelancers can't do jack shit to us."

"You suspect that they're going to stay put?" asked the first guard.

"I do," said Nack. "They have to obey the rules or they'll be even more fucked than they were before. But still, you two... you will explain yourselves when we get back. Got it?"

"We do," said the second guard.

Nack shook his head, gathering his two henchmen together and heading down to the main garage with them. He saw that Gerren was ready and waiting by the purple weasel's car, and his two guards walked over as well. Nack walked over to the car that Lara was waiting by, helping the guards in before he turned back to where Gerren was waiting and got into the car, his new guard following.

"I saw the tension on your face there," said Gerren. "What was that all about?"

Nack looked ahead to see Manuel finishing putting weapons in the back of Lara's car, then shook his head. "Those two... my closest guards. The ones that always kept me safe... they're hiding something from me."

"That's a pretty fuckin' dumb idea," said Gerren as Manuel finished up. "What are you going to do about it?"

"We're going to wait until we get back from Green Hill, then I'll try and talk it over with them."

"You think that'll work?" asked Gerren. "You don't even know their names."

Nack shrugged. "I barely knew them back when I hired them in Green Hill to help me out of a spot. I just needed muscle and a way to escape, and they were it." He turned to Gerren. "When we get back and I start asking them questions... I want you to stay by my side in case shit goes down."

"Do you think that it will?" Gerren asked as Manuel put some weapons in the back of Nack's car now.

"I don't know," said Nack. "But it could."

Gerren nodded. "You got it boss."

Lara's car then started making a move, and Nack felt the vibration of his car boot slamming down, followed by Manuel slapping the back of the car. Nack then started to peel out, following closely behind Lara as they made their way to Green Hill.

Back at the freelancers' base...

"And that's how it's done!" Tails said with a cocky smirk on his face.

"See, this is why I don't like playing card strategy games with Tails," said Knuckles. "He's too smart."

"He's always smart," Cosmo giggled. "It's part of his charm, along with his eyes and his very fluffy tails." She petted them and smiled as he waggled them.

"They can never get them accurate on his cuddly toys, though," Knuckles sighed. "Oh, what could have been."

"Yeah, you're just looking for a reason to hide your feelings about your loss," said Tails.

Knuckles pouted. "Poker's a dumb game anyways. It encourages gambling, you know! And it's in the form of a video game! That makes it worse!"

Shadow checked the time on his phone. "The ruling is about to start. We should change the channel."

As Sonic set about doing so, Tails turned to Cosmo. "I'm glad you got the day off today. With not as many people at the station, I thought you'd stay behind there to help."

"Nicole can handle it," said Cosmo. "It's mostly damage control at this point anyway, and emergencies. She was always better at sending ambulances and stuff out. I mostly do the crime stuff. As in, I get calls for locations where crime is happening. I don't do crimes, I should specify."

"I got you," Tails said. "However, you are guilty of one thing."

Cosmo looked up at him. "What's that?"

Tails blushed. "Stealing my heart..."

"Oh, my gosh, you two are way too adorable," Amy smiled.

Tails smiled, pulling Cosmo up onto his lap and leaning to whisper in her ear. "By the way, thanks for the hints on that poker game..."

Cosmo giggled. "Anything to help." She looked up at the screen as a news channel appeared. "It's starting!"

"And now, we take things down to the Star Light Municipal Court," one of the anchors said.

The camera cut and switched to a live feed of the inside of the court, which was a circular room with seven podiums in it. There were several other officers and authority higher-ups in different cities already sat down, alongside some news reporters with tape recorders, phones, and microphones on hand for questions during the ruling.

A police captain from each city and jurisdiction was moving up to their respective pedestals. Avery, Alec, and Dingo all took to some pedestals, with Rosemary and Amadeus staying close behind Avery, and four other police captains came up to the final few pedestals as well, all looking across to each other.

"I know Avery, Alec, Whitney, and Dingo," Amy said to Sonic, "but who are the last three?"

Sonic pointed to a blue-feathered falcon first, a female. "That is Commander Babel of Angel Wing." He pointed to the one next to her, which was an African-American man. "That's Commander Talbot from Aqua Lake." He then pointed to the last one, an Asian woman. "And that is Commander Liu of Marble Stone."

"And you're worried about those last ones not being on your side?" asked Amy.

Sonic nodded. "It's not the commanders that'll make the choice, it's the judges. The commanders have to make the best case for themselves, either for or against. In the interest of fairness, the police forces can like us as much as they want, but they've got to put the citizens first."

"Oh, you mean like you and the other three do more actively on a daily basis?" Amy asked with a small grin.

Sonic chuckled. "A bit like that."

At that point, a security guard stood up. "All rise for the honourable judges," he called out.

And in came said judges, with Ryker going to one of the podiums, a tired look on his face. Following that was a female wolf with grey and mauve fur, going to the next podium. After her was another female, an African-American human this time, and after her was a male Mobian kangaroo with a slightly pink tinge to his fur. Following him was a human Caucasian woman with brown hair, after her was an orange-scaled chameleon, and finally to round it off there was one last Mobian, a black widow spider, also male. Ryker was behind Avery, the wolf was behind Liu, the black woman was behind Babel, the kangaroo was behind Talbot, the white woman was behind Alec, the chameleon was behind Whitney, and finally, the black widow was behind Dingo.

The guard then pointed to each judge in their respective seats. "Judge Ryker, Judge McNeil, Judge Robben, Judge Elmina, Judge Quentin, Judge Chau, and finally, Judge St. Joseph."

"Wow," said Cosmo. "They're pretty intimidating all put together like that."

"It just reminds us how much rides on this," Tails said, agreeing.

"All sit for the honourable judges," said the guard. "Now, this is the case of implanted authority figures and if they should be allowed to operate the way that they do. The commanders and any associates may make their statements."

Judge St. Joseph nodded in agreement at that. "He's right," he said in a deep soothing baritone. "This is something that I'd like us all to get to the bottom of."

Avery nodded, standing. "May I speak first, sir?"

St. Joseph nodded. "Please."

Avery sighed, nodding. "For a long time, the freelancer agents have been allowed to operate within the rules of the law. They've been doing it for a long time now, and the last time that I was in front of Judge Ryker with them, they were fired from their jobs as police officers for breaking a frankly old and pointless rule. I understand that today is a much more serious matter than that. But I would like to ask, what does it mean if the vote isn't in our favour?"

Judge St. Joseph nodded. "That is a fair question before we get started, I suppose. What it means is that the freelancers may keep their implants provided that they stop doing freelance law enforcement or any vigilantism or anything of the sort. That also goes for all people who may have implants that aren't normal civilians. Not even police officers or judges would be exempt from this rule, and it would pass over all of the cities. Westopolis included."

"You say that like Westopolis would care about that rule in the first place," said Dingo.

"They will learn to care about it," said St. Joseph. "They barely have a structural political system as it is, but if they're willing to try, they can improve."

"I don't think that they would be..." said Dingo. "Regardless, we should move on. Sorry to interrupt that, Avery."

"It's fine," Avery smiled warmly. "Anyway, yes, I am here to make a case that Sonic the hedgehog, Tails the fox, Knuckles the echidna, and Shadow the hedgehog should be allowed to keep their cybernetic implants that allow them to protect not only the people of Green Hill City, but the citizens of your respective cities as well. I firmly believe that the recent incident that happened is an isolated one, and it hadn't happened before or since. However, I can't say for certain that it was a complete accident as I wasn't there, and the only one who can confirm that for certain is unable to be here as he's not a part of a properly recognised authority force. As much as it pains me to say that."

Alec nodded. "I'm in agreement there. For as long as I've known the lads, they've been nothing but helpful to Spring Yard." He turned to face Judge Quentin. "You've even had a chance to meet them before, if I'm not mistaken."

"Once or twice," said Quentin with a smile. "And I know that you speak highly of them. But we need to stay unbiased and impartial here, Alec."

Judge St. Joseph cleared his throat. "Regardless, we should get to how the incident started."

Avery nodded. "Of course. So, during a secretive mission in Angel Wing, Shadow was interrogating a drug dealer named Zayd. During said interrogation, Shadow had some Fokus on him to use as a way of getting truth from Zayd if he didn't comply, and given that Zayd had a dislike for authority and a tendency to sneer at most questions asked of him, I feel like that was an acceptable precaution. It is also true that, going on, Shadow knew that Zayd had an illegal implant. What Shadow didn't know, however, is that the Fokus he used would have a negative effect and cause Zayd's implant to overload, thus killing him."

Judge Chau cleared his throat. "Did Shadow give a reason why he went after Zayd in the first place?"

Avery nodded again. "The main reason was that of revenge. Zayd had used his implant to hurt Shadow and others as well. Shadow intended to get information from Zayd, that I am certain of. But I don't believe that he intended to kill him."

"And what information was he after, exactly?" asked Judge St. Joseph.

"He was after information on how Zayd got his implant," said Dingo, recalling the story from before. "Zayd's story was allegedly the same as others. People have been getting illegal implants willingly, but they don't remember how they got them. Zayd was among those people who did just that, and from what we understand, he told that exact same story to Shadow."

"Yes, we've heard of people with unauthorised implants tell that story before," said Judge Quentin. "But why did it end up the way that it did?"

"I'm sure that you know already," said Avery. "We don't have to go through that again."

"We do for the purposes of the case, Commander," said Judge Chau. "I'm sorry, but it is required if we're to get to the bottom of this."

Avery sighed, nodding. "From what we were told, he did it because an officer who was helping him was captured by Zayd. He threatened to kill her, so Shadow used his implant which allows him to teleport, he got behind Zayd, and he injected him with the Fokus, thus killing him to save that officer's life."

"Is that officer here today?" asked Judge Chau.

Julie-Su stood up from behind Commander Babel. "I am, sir."

The look of relief that washed over Shadow's face as he saw Julie-Su stand up couldn't be contained, but there was also a shred of doubt deep within him. After all, he didn't mention that it was her for the reason that he didn't want her to get in any trouble. Although he was nervous to see her there, and was thankful that he hadn't noticed her there until that point, he was looking forward to what she had to say.

"What has been said about Shadow is true," Julie-Su said. "I was the one who let him in to Angel Wing Police Department to the holding cells to interrogate Zayd, and I let him in for the interrogation knowing that it was for the purposes of interrogation, not specifically revenge. I didn't know what would happen on that night, and while I do regret the outcome, the truth is that I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for him."

Commander Babel nodded. "She does bring up a good point. And before anyone asks me about it, yes, I did know about it happening. Julie-Su told me about what Zayd had done, about what Shadow was planning to do. I authorised the interrogation, but the only ones who knew about it were me, Julie-Su, Shadow, and a couple of officers who were manning the doors that night. That's it. We never expected it to reach this point."

Judge St. Joseph. "That is very well and good, and I'm glad that you're opening up about this. It is good information for the court."

"Thank you, sir," said Julie-Su, sitting back down.

"It is also admirable that Shadow would protect you from getting involved further, not to mention saving your life." Judge St. Joseph sighed. "Heroics aside... he is the reason why this issue is being brought up. He may not have known what was going to happen when he injected Zayd with the Fokus, and of course, there have been reports of people with authorised implants who have had it injected and been completely normal. But that doesn't change the fact that Shadow used his implant, and regardless of his intent, regardless of which side of the law Zayd chose, Shadow did kill a person." He turned back to Avery's podium. "And let's not forget who makes the implants. Rosemary and Amadeus Prower, would you kindly step up to the microphone."

Avery nodded, turning around. "It looks like you two are up." He brushed past them, whispering good luck to them both before sitting down.

Rosemary seemed apprehensive, and she sighed in nervousness. "H-Hello there. We are the Prowers, and if you didn't recognise us already from the news report the other day, when you might know our name from being on the cybernetic implants which we manufacture. We move this to each city, and their general purpose is to help people with a variety of things. They're usually given to military bases and police departments, and primarily hospitals to help people recover from injuries. However, we understand that that isn't why we're here today."

Amadeus nodded. "We only recently heard the rumours of our implants being stolen. In fact, to see if they were true, I did a delivery drive with my son, and each delivery we made was done all in full. There was nothing stolen, and everything made it. But the fact is that someone is stealing our implants, and while the cause of this hearing isn't to get to the bottom of that, we would like to state that we don't know why it's been happening." He cleared his throat. "We know that what happened is a result of something that we make, but the things that we do are to help, not hurt. We urge you to consider letting us continue our production of implants, and thereby letting the freelance agents continue to operate on their terms."

"Correct me if I'm wrong," said Judge Elmina, "but isn't the freelancers operating on their own terms why we're here today?"

"It is part of the reason, yes," Judge St. Joseph admitted. "And owing to the aforementioned events that led to us all being here today, that gives us all the more reason."

Rosemary nodded. "Well... what do the other cities have to say about what the freelancers have done to help them? And the implants that those cities have used to help their own?"

"Let's ask around," said Judge St. Joseph. "Alec, we'll start with you."

Alec spoke up and nodded. "She's right, you know. Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, and Tails, they're good lads. And it's not that this is a big misunderstanding or mistake. Shadow owned up to what happened. It doesn't paint anyone in the brightest light, I'll grant you, but it shouldn't result in a termination of his employment. He was doing the right thing. He just didn't have the methods to do in the right way."

Commander Dingo smiled over at the tiger. "I'm in agreement there. I'm not going to go out of my way to defend Shadow just because I like him, and I do think that there should be fair treatment given to him. Nobody will miss Zayd, but Shadow... he should take something for this. I don't think that he should lose his job, though."

"Even I'm in agreement," said Commander Babel. "I know that it happened in my prison, in my city, and that is blood that we'll never be able to wash out of our streets. But at the same time, they stopped Zayd there. They found his secret drug stash and even the plans that he had to move more around. Again, they were doing what they thought was the right thing."

Commander Talbot then stepped up to his microphone. "I can vouch for them too. They stopped a major robbery string in my city not too long ago. They even caught a guy who had an illegal implant. And yeah, that guy told the same story as I'm sure that Zayd did, as well as others with illegal implants. We should put in some measures of safety, of course, but I don't think it's worth firing anybody over."

Commander Whitney was next up to talk, sighing. "I can't say much that wasn't already said, and those guys have helped my city out a lot. They even managed to stop that urn that was being used to deliver Fokus on the sly back and forth in my city. That was their operation, and they helped save so many lives by doing that. A major death like this is an issue, yes. And Shadow should not get out of this without something himself."

Commander Liu spoke up next. "Much like Whitney, I don't have a lot to say that isn't repeating anything. But they have done a lot of good for my city. I understand that there's a certain gang that's been going around my city, and they've put a temporary stop to them. That means fewer guns out on the streets, and fewer lives taken so carelessly from stupidity. I don't have much to say on the Zayd incident, but I do agree that Shadow deserves something back."

Judge St. Joseph nodded, looking to Avery. "And you?"

Avery couldn't hide a small smile. "I already said my piece. Those boys were under my command and they messed up on their first day. That was the best thing that could have happened to Mobius. What happened with Zayd is arguably one of the worst things, especially with the riot following that. That was on my time, in my city. I have no excuse for that. But as their former commander, I do hope that you'll take each side equally before you make your decision." He paused for a moment. "For what it's worth, I'm in agreement. Amadeus, Shadow, Rosemary, the other freelancers, none of them should lose their jobs over this. They're all good people who have done a lot of good for the city." He cleared his throat. "Thank you for listening."

Judge St. Joseph nodded. "Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. The other judges and myself have a lot of deliberating to do. We will take a ten minute break to assess what will happen and discuss it amongst ourselves. There'll be nobody in this room except for the judges until we call you all back in."

Watching at home, Sonic breathed out a sigh of relief. "Fuck..." He turned to Amy. "That was tough to watch."

"Well, at least you don't have to wait long to find out," said Amy, rubbing his arm. "You'll be okay."

Shadow smiled at their conversation, trying not to let the results of the ruling and how it could affect them all get to him. He then noticed that Rouge was no longer next to him, so he turned to find her near the staircase that led to the upstairs portion. He went over to see a distressed look on Rouge's face, his expression softening.

"What happened?" he asked.

Rouge cleared her throat, taking a breath. "That... that was Sally. Something happened at the bank."

Shadow's eyes widened. "Maria..."

And that is another one done! The next chapter may well be the final one, so... that'll take a while as I am planning to make it quite long if it turns out that way. I hope that you liked this one, and I'll see you for whenever the next one is. Until then, take care, and stay tuned.