A/N: This one's pretty long folks, and it gets pretty interesting towards the end methinks, I don't know it might be a bit controversial, cheers and thanks for the love and the reviews.

BUNNY PLUS BLACK

When Bojak suffered err, he'd find himself retreating to a mental scape where his guilt could be rectified. Usually, he'd avoid such an outcome by forcing a smile on the faces of his victims. Those that perished with a frown left a dreadful reminder of the judgment that awaited him; he'd rather shed his ankles with a grate than dwell on such matters.

After all, Bojak was only a dwindling child in the grand affairs of the COJ order, a scrapper to be summoned when nobody wanted to get their hands dirty. If he were to maintain some semblance of innocence, he had to ensure that his own vile acts could be presentable to his own conscience. At times like these, his own hypocrisy suffered reveal in little notches, forcing him to confront his own inner demons.

The porcupine growled, furrowed his charcoal brow, and tightened his lips. "You're mocking me."

Cream clasped her fingers and drew them to her chest. "I was just surprised at what you said."

"Well trust me, it'll be much easier for the both of us if you focus on the details of your mother's whereabouts, not what my words indicate about my less-than-pleasant past."

Cream didn't quite understand the delicate nature of Bojak's emotions nor his sensitivity to even the most subtle expressions. "The world doesn't have to be so cruel, does it Mr. Bojak?" she whispered.

"I wish it didn't Cream, but here we are."

Those hazel eyes expected so much more from him. These were the most woeful of all emotions; shame for a fellow mobian.

The opportunity to escape hadn't presented itself and if he didn't get back in touch with Jebediah soon, the uppity canine would dispatch another assassin. In fact, given Jebediah's messy trust record, it was very possible such had already occurred, and given Bojak's current restriction, he'd have no way to tell. And so he sat, bound to the wall with half-shut silver-eyes, a slouched frame leaning to the pipe he was chained to and charcoal-black fur barely lit by the window above.

Chapter 13: New Man

Espio executed a repeated succession of diligent muscle twitches to aid him with his pain. His escalated breathing had turned his peach chest into a pacing balloon. The scenery around him blurred in and out of focus at a sporadic pace. A few inches forward from his collapsed body were the blotched spots of red, drenched from his severed flesh and behind his arched back lay the toppled remains of Vector's office chair.

He tried to align his breathing to the wind's rhythm. A common theme in ninja training was self atonement with mother nature. Those who mastered this would find her bosom to be of great comfort in their time of need. Eventually, he found room for extrospection.

Charmy's wrangled body had been plucked and slumped over the shoulders of that looming carcass. Did the monster think Shadow would be less willing to lay a finger on him if that bee was around? That'd be foolish, the hedgehog didn't have an iota of care for anyone but himself. Isaac might have been luckier if he got to Cream first, and even that as a hostage choice was still questionable.

The chameleon kept his breathing on a strict natural tempo, giving his body the much-needed time and space to adapt to its new dwarfed respiratory system.

The top and bottom floor of the bunk was separated by thirty-four grey steps. The stairway was a U-shaped cement grey-scape and each room lay at the edge of every consecutive bend. Charmy had zapped through it enough times already that despite his current position, being swung around like a knapsack on Isaac's back, he could tell exactly where they were in relation to Shadow's position.

He had the undying urge to scream his way to freedom but was withheld by the hunks of copper that kept him bound. He didn't know what was more aggravating, Espio's unorthodox downfall or his attacker's smug behavior. Charmy swore upon the next available opportunity to turn the man into a walking fishnet. "I hope you know what aloe-vera is freak, once I get my stinger free from this dumb contraption, I'll-" another zap from his neurons cut him short.

"Don't bite your tongue now," Isaac muttered. He moved with an inclined rib, holding his wounded abdomen with a bloodied left hand whilst carrying Charmy's shackles with his right. "If I feel anything roll down my back; blood, spittle, or urine, I'll turn you into a yellow-fold origami." He passed Charmy's door, which had a plastered photo of Ashton King's political smile. "I'm serious, I'll rip your skin and use it like a wet rag."

"Bees don't have absorbent skin you doo-head," Charmy grunted, closing his eyes in anticipation of the next shock.

"Don't test an opportunist Charmy," Isaac reached for the doorknob at the end of the stairwell and swung it wide open, creeping into the scene like a perverse cluster of cells.

The crew lacked sufficient funds for a proper dojo, so they made do with some cheap decorations and an empty wooden room. Linoleum carpeting, a cheap substitute for a tiled wooden floor, had been layered across the dusty wood fillings. Various photos of eastern legends the chameleon greatly respected had been plastered to the walls using crooked nails. A series of racks, some of which had clearly been lifted from the basement, were lined up against the wall by their stairway entrance. They carried an ensemble of crudely labeled cardboard boxes, kunais, shurikens, nun-chucks, all of which felt quite dated. The dojo had two other exits, one leading to the yard outside and the other leading to the basement; this was at the far end of the room, opposite the stairway entrance. Suspended ropes hung from the ceiling too, most of which were only accessible by Espio himself. He'd installed a hammock between a pair in the center, where he'd rest after his worrisome days of training.

The room's height provided much-needed space for Isaac's lanky legs. He stretched his knees and mocked the lack of proper financial wisdom. "Alarm systems people, alarm systems!" he said, "if you'd invested in those and not your ridiculous personal artillery, then perhaps you won't be so open to visits like mine." He approached the hammock's shadow, cast by the dim sunlight pouring through, slumped forward, and threw Charmy over his shoulders, tossing the powerless child face-down to the ground. "Then again," he pondered, using his right foot to roll Charmy to his back-side. A ruptured nose artery coated the bee's upper lip with a red stream. Isaac chortled and continued his monologue. "Then again, the greatest home defense systems have never stopped me from killing a family or two."

If Charmy dropped a single tear during this bout of torment, he'd hate himself for the weeks to come. He despised the notion that came with being powerless, so much so that he'd convinced his own childish mind that the concept of danger was almost nonexistent. That's why the likes of Shadow were nothing to him, he'd taunt them all, in life or death. "You're a horrible monster. No one's looking out for you because nobody likes you, because you're evil and stupid-looking."

Isaac stooped and placed two sharp nails on Charmy's abdomen. He moved his hands upwards, imitating the walking cycle of a predator with his index and middle finger.

The bee yelped. "Get your hands off me!" Isaac ignored him and slid his claws softly through the black stripes. "I'll bite your finger off and chew it!" Charmy bellowed. His orange eyes quivered as he felt his personal space being invaded by this towering pale-colored monstrosity. "I s-swear."

The assassin stopped his fingers just on the tip of the bee's rib cage. "You're not going to do anything kid, you've got nothing but shallow words to back you up."

Charmy could only muster an agape wince. Don't be scared, don't be scared, what would Espio or Vector do? he repeated to himself. It was just him, his killer and a soundless clock ticking its way to oblivion.

Isaac grinned, purposefully oblivious to his own terrifying stature. "There's so much underneath the skin that reveals the intimate details."

A slow rumble wobbled the bee's chest. Isaac's accent was as clearly spoken as any educated graduate. An enigmatic spirit beat within this foul creature, a dormant soul that juxtaposed the fleshly horror outside. It pranced its fingers around Charmy's chest, emitting a glacial sensation on the bee's rib cage. The rumble intensified, turning Charmy's heart into an overlap of angry thumps. He resorted to a frightened stammer. "S-Stop it, this is uncomfortable you f-freak."

"Gggooodddd," Isaac growled in a dragged tone. "Once the heart panics, all the organs in the fleshly abode make themselves known, revealing the valuable cruxes in your little mobian body." He dragged his fingers to the base of Charmy's gulping neck. He'd start here, and take whatever allowed him to repair his own broken bones.

Vector defended his proposal by speaking thrilling things of yesteryear's historical pieces. His information came in sparse packets, like that of a conspiracy theorist relegated to questionable sources. If the matter at hand was irrelevant, his hedgehog acquaintance would've shut him up with a rude verbal gesture, but for now, Shadow listened, trying to pinpoint the key details in this sea of intellectual sludge.

Accelerationism was a desire to better the world by awaiting its downfall. When negatives became a natural occurrence, humanity (or mobianity) would be forced to radicalism, and from that behavior would apparently come a better future. Shadow wasted no time in expressing his current unconcern.

"So, it's another group of religious anarchists with their pathetic dreams of creating a world in their image," he said, "Hmph, how pitiful." He was surprised he'd feigned any interest in the subject. "I can't believe I wasted my time listening to you Vector, that was almost certainly useless."

Vector exposed his sharp whites with a look of dismay and pointed an accusatory index finger to Shadow's shorter frame. "Well if you paid more attention to how your enemies operated on the inside, you'll learn that things are a bit more complicated than that crap baby talk. I'm telling you Shadow, I think there's something more going on here, you heard about the themes of repetition right?"

"Who cares?" Shadow pointed his right thumb to his chest, staring Vector down with resolute red eyes. "I exist to ensure the idiots on this backwater don't destroy the only home they've got. Tolerance towards their beliefs is merely an excuse to delay justice."

Cream eased into the scene and shut the refrigerator door with a gentle clank. She gripped the crank and clicked it back into place, finalizing her task for the day.

"And the same goes for you lady," Shadow added, redirecting his discipline, "I hope you're not garnering sympathy for that pathetic creature."

The bunny nervously conveyed her denial with trembling ears. Bojak had ended their conversation with little more than an eye-opening revelation but any attempt on Cream's side to push for more information was met with impenetrable silence. The porcupine simply refused to cooperate any further.

"You've finished already?" Vector asked, remembering his throttled earpiece. "Oh shoot, I guess we missed the end of that eh Shadow?"

"Doesn't matter," Cream murmured, "Mr. Bojak doesn't want to say anything, I think he's hurt by something I did."

"Dammit, did he at least tell you what they wanted Vanilla for?" Shadow sneered, frustrated he'd missed it for Vector's rambling tirade.

"The icon, he was talking about an icon thing." Cream raised her voice as best as she could. "They want to marry her off to it, they want to make my Mom a b-bride."

"Ah," Vector droned. Vanilla fit the bill: quaint; little defensive capabilities and asocial enough to hardly be missed by the world around her. The perfect prey for cultish perversion. His cheery glee dimmed. He rested his gator jaw on a right fist and entertained some murky thoughts. "Oh, dear."

Shadow felt the same. "Disgusting," he said.

Cream, burdened by a sense of misguided guilt, slid her cold back against the steel door and fell to her backside. She crossed her short-sleeved coated arms and made a painful groan. "I don't know what to do," she whimpered, too weary for tears.

"You can start by getting back on your feet," Shadow said. He approached her and stretched his right hand forward, giving her something to grab onto. "I told you, we're in this together."

She looked up again with a subtle glimmer of hope in her eyes. "Promise?"

"Promise? You never gave me much of a choice," Shadow said. He rested his other hand on his waist and tilted his head, mocking Cream's doubts with his expression. "I allow your feeble hands to pluck a bullet from my chest, and you can't make up your mind on who gets to save your Mom?'

"Did he say where this thing would be located?" Vector asked. "You did ask that dude for an address right?"

Cream slid her right palm into Shadow's offered hand and pushed herself up to his chest. "No Mr. V," she sighed, "nothing left on his end but silence. But, I think he might be thirsty, if we give him something to eat maybe he'll talk?"

"Ugh, that's just whopping isn't it." The crocodile unequipped his ear-piece and threw it to the open crate. He wiped his snout and stormed to the stairwell. "I should have known things would get this bad!"

"Calm down you green oaf," Shadow said, "we have their names and their goals, that's enough to start somewhere."

Vector gripped the edge of the door-way and barked his concerns. "I'm supposed to be the one telling you to calm down dude. If only you'd focused on the graveyard, maybe things would have turned out differently."

"Wait, hold on," Cream said, pushing forward. "That wasn't his fault."

"Oh trust me baby when I say that doesn't mean diddly squat. Do you have any idea what they do to girls like Vanilla in these things?" Vector sputtered, breaking into the coldest sweat a reptile could manage.

"It's nothing worse than what happens when the Earth cracks into pieces or a government project is unleashed upon humanity," Shadow said, "the stakes might have changed but as long as we're here to stop it, disaster can be prevented."

"And pray tell Shadow, what if they've already ruined her?" the crocodile asked. Cream froze.

"They wouldn't-" Shadow stuttered. He arched forward and intensified his pitch. "Listen, I was there when that crazy cat lady was talking, they might be off their rocks, but they're bound to their beliefs. They wouldn't lay a finger on her fur if they considered her some sort of saint."

"Doesn't mean they can't drug-"

Shadow blazed forward, caught the crocodile's jaws, and held them shut before he finished. In a second the two were staring each other down by the open doorway, surrounded by fluttering files and an ear-deafening discharge caused by the hedgehog's burst of speed. "You bellowing dolt," he grunted, using his upper body muscle to subdue the talkative reptile. They became like huddled masses struggling for control. Vector, astonished by this close call, and controlled by impulse, pushed himself against Shadow's restraint. The hedgehog kept firm, planted his feet, and warned him with a whisper so silent as to not disturb the troubled furry child. "Why would you say that? What's wrong with you?" He had no intentions of threatening Vector and merely wanted to keep such cruel words out of Cream's mind, lest her bad memories returned.

She was already perturbed by her mother's fate; the idea that her only biological attachment to this world was being used to fulfill someone's deviant desires. Cream drew to herself quickly, hugging her shoulders with widened eyes glued to the cluttered ground. The temptation to gnaw her gloved fingers became tantalizing once more.

"Calm down," Shadow whispered, taking note of her visual distress. Vector broke free from the hedgehog's grip and smudged his sore jaw with his left palm. "And you!" Shadow said, "you're supposed to be more familiar with these people than I am, and here you are opening your yap like some uncivilized miscreant."

"You're the one who started this!" Vector fought back, refusing to be made a wimp in his own home.

"I didn't start anything, I only wanted to wander this city like a lone wolf delivering justice where I pleased, but due to circumstances beyond my control, my so-called friend of a bat pushed me into a caretaker job." Shadow pushed his widespread fingers into his white tuft and tried to compensate for his height difference by leaning on the tip of his shoes. "Before you know it, my heads being clamped by some femme fatale with a wine fetish."

Cream snapped. She squeezed her ears like a pair of pulleys. "Shut Up!" she yelled. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" The two ceased their bickering and turned their attention to the frothing mess in their presence. She was losing it, engaged in a triple barrage of experiences that sent her mind tumbling off the edge of the planet. "I don't believe it," she cried, "nothing in this world has a lick of sense! Why does everyone keep fighting, why do you keep fighting?" She was beginning to realize the futility of trusting the system, although that was an emotion she herself was going to have issues developing. "I've told both of you already, there's a kid my age in there who's thirsty and whose own pops sold him for - I don't know what! He wants to murder me and you're here arguing again and again about what happened in the f-f-freaking graveyard!" she screamed with a crackling high-pitched voice. "Nobody cares!"

"Eh," Vector nervously groaned, "it's just proper procedure Cream."

"Well whatever, okay, it happened, alright?" she asked. "Is this what adults do? Do they just keep fighting each other, hoping things would turn out just dandy? Bojak, Charmy, and now him, you couldn't even leave Ruskie's place without looking like some black pinata, Shadow. No wonder nothing gets fixed!"

Shadow seized this opportunity, expecting support for his deranged ideals. "And now you understand the importance of dealing with your enemies permanently, and the deal with providing second opportunities."

"It's not doing jack for anyone is it!" Cream shrieked.

"It would if you people let me be," Shadow said. "Where was this agitation when this happened the last time?"

A sensitive inquiry. Cream fought the urge to admit the chest subject was the root cause for this sudden change in personality, but even with that mindset she'd be mistaken. In reality, her new behavior was simply some unorthodox form of maturity taking place. An error in the usual plot had mutated into her mannerisms, like a nuclear fallout modifying the genetic make-up of its victims. Had fate been a little kinder, the shoreline ride would have left her all the same, through and through. No curiosity, no desire for change, just another leporid subjugated to the critter cliche. But now, things were changing, slightly, and from this event would spring a myriad of unforeseen developments.

"I don't know," she murmured, dead brown shade backing her pupils.

Vector likened the interaction to Charmy and Espio's skirmishes, where the former would clash antennas with his mentor's horn when his rebellious phase kicked in. This would have to be rectified at a more convenient date. He shrugged, groaned, and resumed his trip to the dojo. "We'll deal with this later, I'm calling our blue friend, he'll get Tails and we'll let things sort themselves out."

"Like hell you are," Shadow said, inconvenienced at the idea that he might be replaced soon. "We don't need him."

"Bro. You're implying you'll do anything better when your vibes have been nothing but unsavory," Vector noted. The croc slipped his headset back into place. "If you care so much why don't you just tell us and quit being salty with your emotions."

"I don't care, I just, well I- " Shadow paused. A slow stream of introspective thoughts poured into his mind.

"Ah, thought so."

Why did he care? Here he was, protecting the ears of a bunny he'd hardly known from somber words, teaching her the basics of interrogation, and filling her ears with words of encouragement. If he could, he'd drive his fingers into his eyelids. This wasn't right, he'd gone too far, become too extroverted in these affairs. He laid his back against the dusky plastered walls, allowing his quills to catch the cobwebs that had gathered by the doorway's frame. These emotions were hardly new, nor anything to be naive about. He just had his own reasons for disliking them. "Maria, what am I doing?"

Cream stood idly by with a defeated downward gaze, sharing a different yet parallel outlook on current events.

Vector pushed the dojo door forward and left it open for the youngling and her agitator. He flexed his right shoulder, smacked his lips to rid his jaw off the awful sore and looked beyond to the scene that awaited him.

Nightmares were a rarity for the croc, but when they did occur, he'd awake to some hollow husk devoid of his closest allies, either missing or gone on to better things. The dreaded realisation of inadequacy followed; he remembered how difficult it was to fund their crusades of comfort, how each would express constant dismay in their financial situation. Regardless, the Chaotix Crew would stick through and through, out of some external necessity to seek justice. Their misshapen hearts fit perfectly in their individual palms and each understood the importance of their own reliance despite their often bashful intent to sort things out of their own accord.

And here was a key factor in that unit being teased with his own demise.

Charmy's pierced fleshly abode lit the room's cluster of cast shadows. The trickling stream of crimson from his open chest slid down the sloped crooked floor, kissing the mat-tips with a slight reddish glow. His mind struggled to keep itself bound to its current world as his eyes flickered to kingdom come and back. A good chunk of him was hollow now, hollow enough for Isaac to keep digging in for extra pieces of flesh to gnaw on. All came with the added misfortune of Charmy's unsatisfactory demise. Isaacs blood contract never brought closure to its victims, not until he was satisfied with the results. The assassin froze, and without moving the rest of his body, shot his blue eyes upwards. A wet tongue blurted from his clasped lips and licked the blood from his right cheek.

Vector said nothing.

"You read like the boy's father, and a good one too, seeing you got here before he was completely devoured." Isaac licked his other cheek, leaving a swathing blob of musky spittle. "But, you're not Shadow are you? Too green to be anyone bearing that name."

"Ch-Charmy?" Vector stuttered.

A bolt of metal erupted from Isaac's right side, it circled the crocodile's feet, smacked him head-first into a dizzy slam, and hauled him to his demise. The dark shades of the dojo blended into a reddish-purple as the croc's scales ripped through the carpeting. The assassin angled his left fingers into a claw-like pose and swung his right elbow too and fro like a disjointed limb, rapidly shortening the distance between him and his victim. The crocodile released an ear-piercing cry and closed his eyes just before death struck. A black burst of fur with golden trims covered his head. A crimson glimmer showered the scene as Isaac's claws shot forward. Its wielder bared his fangs in rage.

Incredible, Isaac thought, eyelids widening.

Shadow held Vector's right shoulder firmly. His skewered hand cast a thin assembly of finger-shaped shadows on the crocodile's tingling face. Droplets of blood dripped to the top of Vector's snout, coating it in blotched splatters of red. A few painful seconds passed before either of the three understood the situation. The hedgehog slid himself under Vector's dragging frame and protected him from death's end with a sacrificial block.

Isaac's lower jaw hovered in awe, "Shado-," and immediately suffered a heavy blast of red-lined metal that sent him stumbling back. Shadow's jet-shoes burst with bright-red intensity; he tightened his grip on Vector's arm and shot their muddled bodies towards the opposite wall.

With a heavy click to the ground, the hero ground himself to a halt and used the remaining momentum to burst into a somersaulting departure from his reptile rescue. He twirled his shaded limbs into a graceful pose, landed on his feet, and shook the red grains from the bursting veins in his right fist. Vector, now gripping his head, braced for impact and struck a nearby socket with a soft thud.

"Beautiful," Isaac muttered, he sucked a ruptured vessel into his nasal cavity and cracked his neck, relieving his tendons of the surprise impact.

"I can't say the same for your wretched appearance," Shadow murmured. He took note of the grim golden and open boy besides him. The red trail and shallow pants for air immediately bode the worst for Shadow's thoughts. Isaac spotted the hedgehog's expression of despair and slid his slithering hybrid feet between Charmy and his target's gaze.

"Eyes on me Shadow," he said.

Not even the bee deserved such a crude fate. Shadow clenched his fists once more, preparing for battle. "Any last words you want inscribed on your tombstone, before I rid this world of your hideous face?"

"Last words, like a departing message?" Isaac laughed. There were so many to choose from. He rested his chin between his thumb and index finger and made jest of the subject. "How about, Ice-Cold Stock Broker?"

Shadow wasn't amused. "I was jok-"

"Or, or! Sexiest Investor on Square Street, Risk-taker for the ages!"

"What the hell are you-." This foolish tirade irked the hedgehog immensely. "Shut up!"

Isaac ignored him. "No wait, I've got one you'll like, hold on. We could go with-" He rolled his eyes. "The Man who killed the Ultimate Lifeform?"

It took Shadow a few neurons to realize the impact of that phrase. "Who told you that?"

"An old fling," Isaac said, thinking back to Verkas's fight in the graveyard. "But don't fret it, you see, I'm here for the dog Jebediah, the one who apparently shot you dead." Isaac changed his smug expression to one of false curiosity. He raised his eyebrows and made a simple request. "But before we get to that, do you mind if I show you something?"

The tip of Charmy's gloves scraped the ground and coated his finger with the veins of his flesh. His missing organic components would soon prove to be permanently damming if they didn't rush him to an ICU.

"Bark! Bark! Bark!" Isaac Alterman bent both his elbows, turned his upper body to the right, and hovered his left arm above the other. He pushed his knees slightly forward, balanced his lengthy bones on the tip of his toes, and produced an off-putting sound from his bloodied jaws. "Bark! Bark! Bark!" he yelled. He turned his blue eyes towards Shadow, whose now quivering pupils indicated his lack of mental fortitude. "See what I'm doing here? An earlier victim did this for me at my cruel behest."

"Wh-what is this?"

"I'm acting like a dog you dummy, a big skelly dog with teeth ready to gnaw at his prey. Put a thick collar around my neck and feed me delicious treats! Baku! Baku! Bark!" Each canine yelp reverberated through the scene, drowning out Charmy's whimpers. "It's not very convincing is it?" Isaac remarked, easing the tension in his upended limbs, "the truth is Shadow, I'm not actually a dog, that's an identity I just conducted to cope with my own failures as a human being. And-" he turned his upper body forward and made a pistol-shaped pose with his fingers. "You're not the Ultimate Lifeform, you're a maniac doing the same, albeit much longer than I have."

The hedgehog's patience was quickly reaching its limit. "Damn your esoterics and tell me what you want before I blast you into oblivion!"

A soft patter of quaint footsteps emitted from the open stairwell. "Mr. Vector, Shadow, what's going on-" Cream stuck her little head out, and only had a sliver of consciousness before Isaac reacted. A copper bolt from a quickly timed shot struck her head, shattering her skull and causing her left eyelid to rupture. She screamed and tumbled down into oblivion.

Deus Ex-Machina, Isaac whispered. He'd missed her brain just by the tip of her eyebrow.

A black storm quickly engulfed his vision, and an explosion of wooden splinters burst forth from the ground beneath him. He averted his gaze to save face and immediately suffered a raging fist-sized bullet that broke his skull in half. Another blast shot into his chest, sending a rib into his right lung. Isaac fell back. A damning flux of fury had erupted before him, almost twisting reality as it unleashed a barrage of attacks that could hardly be anticipated or countered. A ghastly roar escaped the pulsating linings of Shadow's throat. He struck again and busted Isaac's guts open with another thunderous jab. "You're going straight to hell!"

An important adage from Verkas's many lessons struck, yet it was more akin to a motivational hazard than an actual defensive tactic. Isaac had to memorize something, anything before the deathly blow. Another jab struck his chin, rupturing his underdeveloped fangs. He got it. Immediately, he formulated the physical bearings of Shadow's movement as he did Espio's, fluttered his fingers with the speed of a cheetah's limbs, and caught the hedgehog's right fist with a web-shaped copper trap.

Speed is nothing without control, just as you've trained yourself to predict the faults of economical internals, so you must train yourself to anticipate your enemy's flaws.

Isaac's vision returned with a reddish fade. He could barely perceive Shadow's pearl fangs as they clamped with the beating intensity of his flaming eyes. The hedgehog shook like a bound animal, frothing over his wet lips as he struggled to reach for Isaac's, only restricted by the copper steel that kept him bound. His green friend watched in dismay from the background.

The assassin shoved his right foot between himself and the howling hedgehog, bent his knees, and shot the animal forward with a thrust. After making distance, he jumped back and inspected the visceral segment of his lower face. "Yew thufing thathole, you thoke my thaw!" he spurted, bone fillings erupting from his mouth. "Thuck thou!"

Shadow caught himself, and tugged at his now copper-lined wrists, desiring to break free and continue his rampage.

Isaac gripped his lower jawbone and forcefully readjusted it, spouting test phrases to indicate audible progress. "Grouth conthrol to majhor rhom, Groum comrol to major thom…" He affixed its joints with a hair-raising crack. "Ground control to major tom! Ground control to major tom! Yes!"

An intense sensation of warmth touched the tip of his third ear, he snapped his broken head upward and quickly sloped his waist, dodging a drop-kick from his attacker. Shadow's rage allowed little room for error. He struck the wall behind Isaac with a timed clank and bounced back into an upside-down flip kick. Isaac drew his next chain into a bridge connecting both upper limbs and blocked the attack. Shadow pressed on; released another burst from his soles that sent his own body head-first into the ground; he caught the carpet with a hand-stand and struck Isaac with an upside-down ax kick.

I'm digging it, I'm digging it, Isaac thought. The hedgehog made use of his jet-propelled sneakers to keep up with the height disparity. This would be one of the hedgehog's many facets of offensive conduct. He also seemed apathetic to the chain's conductive effects. Isaac studied this and constructed the appropriate counter. The ball would soon be in his field.

He ensnared Shadow's next uppercut with his copper chain, pulled the hedgehog close, and butted him in the head. The assassin summoned another line and lassoed the hedgehog's ankles. With another draw, he squeezed a double-tailed knot around his target's neck. Shadow fought the bondage and tried to hit back with another jab, but could barely do anything with all these new restrictions. Isaac side-stepped the attack and struck the hedgehog with the base of his right foot, sending him to his knees. He proceeded to clutch the end of all the chains he'd plucked from his waist and held the stubborn dog down.

"You're bursting!" Isaac blurted, tongue slurping up cocktails of calcium and iron, "I can't tell what burns brighter, your ego or your emotions towards that little girl! Regardless I love it, I love all of it. I love you so much, man!"

Thick points of pressure clamped the bones in Shadows windpipe, turning them brittle. All four of his limbs were restricted in a dance of brute copper metal. No escape, bar the unshackled motor in his sneakers. He unleashed a throat-grinding groan, poured forth another burst of energy from his jets, and propelled himself into Isaac's ribs. The burst shattered the wooden surface behind them, causing the two to break through the house's confines and land with a heavy bang on the wet grass outside, scattering the monoblocs and flinging wet pieces of steak over the moist dandelions.

A cloud of dust clogged the dojo. Vector snapped back to his senses and rushed to Charmy's aide. "Charmy? Charmy!" The crocodile kept the floating wooden grains from his lungs and drew his right hand through the thin streams of crimson, palpating for a heartbeat. "Damnit Charmy, speak to-" There were hardly any signs of an open cavity on the boy's skin. Everything felt intact, like the murder he'd interrupted was nothing but an illusion, and yet, there was enough blood in the scene to jump-start a small donation. What is this? Vector scrunched his eyebrows in confusion and tensed his fingers. "What did he do to you?"

A navy thicket swam through the blue skyline. Isaac peered upon its beauty with a nostalgic twinge. An old peninsula in Station Square, the behemoth of his achievement that became nothing once the crash hit. He drew his limbs through the mushy mud beneath him and tried to find his bearings. Jebediah, you dog, Jebediah, you dog. This mission was turning out to be anything but easy, and he loved it all the more. Isaac cherished his more resilient victims, they made his encounters in this hellscape worthwhile. He rolled to his knees, coughed up a waddle of spittle, and looked forward to the young hedgehog, now collapsed in a choked-out state by the yard's front gate.

"Oi!" Isaac shouted, "wake up dumbass, I'm not done with you." The assassin's bony feet could hardly sustain his bastardized body. "I've always hated animals like yourself, so arrogant, thinking they can operate off the suffering of their peers, always showing off their so-called physical or mental advantage."

Yellow tips from the dandelion patch tickled the tip of Shadow's nose. No amount of mockery during this round of the fight. Victory belonged to the animal that could finish the job.

"You want to know why?" Isaac asked. "Because you remind me of me! Except this time, the universe wasn't cruel enough to give you the punishment I got for being a prick. No, no, you guys can act like you're so high and mighty because you're cute and adorable." He stormed over to Shadow's nearly comatose body, dragged the last chain from his waist, and folded it two times over. "Do you hear me Shadow!"

The hedgehog pulled himself to his knees and was met with an instant shot of metal to his face, flinging him into a right twirl that landed him on his back.

"Ultimate Lifeform, what a load of baloney. I m-mean come on! Who the hell do you think you are!"

Death again, for what, third time this week? Why did life have to be so cruel? Shadow slammed his right fist into the mud, struggled upwards with a face full of dirt and an upper lip coated with blood. Another bolt of metal struck his forehead and sent him flying into a nearby fence. His mercy was thinning out.

"Well," Isaac panted. "It doesn't matter, does it? Because like all kings bearing the crest of royalty, a splatter of blood on their robes dashes their dynasty to the walls. You bleed Shadow, and that makes you as human as I am."

"I'm, n-nothing like you," Shadow stuttered. "Y-You're a monster."

"A monster?" Isaac dropped his chain to the ground. From this second forward, both men would settle their differences with skin and phrases. He drew nearer to Shadow, slapped both knees on the mud, and touched the tip of the hedgehog's chin. He pulled Shadow's battered red eyes to meet his own blue pair and asked "Want to know something interesting?"

Shadow shook his head.

"The dog thing isn't a joke, I used to dress like that as a kid."

Shadow chortled, making a minute series of congested wheezes. Isaac shut him with a slap. "It's not funny, dogs are pretty cool. Hedgehogs though? Not so much, they feel like porcupine rip-offs."

The situation was bewildering. "Why would anyone ever hire a crazy person like you?" Shadow asked.

"I don't know, honestly I don't know why people still tolerate me in that loser cult. Damn, you should see the kind of nerd crap they pull there. They think I care but really, I-I just want to eat people." Isaac laughed. He pulled his wrist close to Shadow's chest, emitting the same glacial sensation that cursed his most recent three victims. "I'm not a very complicated person Shadow, the best religious experience I had was when I witnessed that sea creature destroy the business I'd spent eons investing in."

A cold shot penetrated Shadow's chest. His whole body convulsed on the spot. His hands fluttered about, desperately trying to get a hold of Isaac's right hand as it plunged deep into his body.

"Hey! Hey!" Isaac yelled. "Calm down, this is the easy part." Isaac slithered his fingers through Shadow's insides, rubbing his short fur on the pulsating masses in the hedgehog's dense spaces. The familiar tempo of his desired organ drew his fingers to the center. "There we go, yes yes-"

The assassin's chest erupted with a burst of his own insides. From his heart protruded a thin steel shape that cut through his body, emerging victorious as it slew its victim. Isaac cried out in fear, unable to move or pluck his arm from Shadow's body. He'd been torn asunder by an unforeseen spirit, a factor he didn't anticipate.

"Gaah!" he cried, "how dare you, how dare you!" He twisted his neck and caught a glimpse of that accursed purple thing with a double-hand grip clutching the end of a long katana blade; holding him up like a mannequin was his other target, the bunny he'd shot down the basement stairwell.

"Thanks, Cream," Espio muttered, still short of breath. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"I'll get used to it Mr. Espio," Cream said. Her left eye was completely bloodshot and her right could barely manage with all the gore pouring from Isaac's shattered spine. "We all do, isn't that right Un- Mister. Shadow."

"E-Espio," Shadow stuttered, fighting for every breath as Isaac's glacial limbs slithered his heart. "What have you done?"

"I just saved your life you idiot, and don't belittle me for bringing the girl over, she came on her own accord."

With a battle-ending cry, the ninja-chameleon finished his kill with a horizontal slice, cutting open Isaac's body from his chest to his waist. For a second, the situation seemed bitter-sweet, as such was the case when victory was achieved at a high cost. But then came the final mark of oblivion for the day.

There was not a single soul in the COJ that could match the resilience of Isaac Alterman; he'd live up to his title, in the deepest abysses of hell or the shallowest plains of earth. With a snap, he dislocated his other arm and swung it to the duo's position. Cream saw the incoming attack, chucked Espio behind her, and tried to dash backward by flapping her ears.

"Tough luck you piece of trash," Isaac said. He caught the bunny's feet, threw her to the ground, and before she could react, lifted his hands above her little chest and slammed his fingers inwards, grabbing her heart like one would a ripe fruit. "Ahhhhhh!" he screamed with joy, "I got you, Isaac Alterman always gets the job done and you can't do jack about it!"

A white light flashed before his eyes, and a thunderous cut tore through his neck. His head jumped off the rest of his body and landed on the grass with a wet clump. It rolled towards the dandelion patch and watched the rest of the scene.

"Oh dear," he muttered, as his life began to quickly fade from his eyes. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear."

Espio collapsed by the fence. That was the greatest leap of faith he could manage. Isaac's blood dripped off the curved edge of his blade and plated the mud with a blotchy splat. The remnants of his body still remained, cursing the front yard with its eerie presence; one arm lay embedded in Shadow's chest, and the other gripped Cream's heart with a dying hold. Both Mobians remained frozen in some hellish dimension of pain.

"I had such a beautiful home."

The chameleon pulled himself to his feet and began to study this lower half of this hybrid, searching desperately for a solution.

"I had everything a man like me could ever want. I'd wake up every day to the greatest riches you'd ever seen."

"And look where it got you," Espio groaned, he felt for the right shoulder, wondering if it'd be safe to just yank it out of Cream's chest. "One head out the door."

Isaac laughed, his severed tendons pulsated with every chortle. "At some point, I just stopped caring, and then that thing happened, the thing with the C-C-C-"

"Chaos?"

"Yesss flooded an investment I bet the better half of my future on. I-I-I lost everything and then the sharks came."

Isaac's body began to twitch. His biceps tensed and tugged on their targets, causing both to howl out in agony as their hearts were pulled from their chest. Espio gripped his blade once again and desperately sought a solution. "Damnit, damnit, hold on!" He readied himself to slash at the elbows, ignoring the possible consequences of such a feat.

"I'd never felt so much physical anguish…"

Espio's heart gave out, he froze, unable to complete the task at hand. This was as far as his brittle body would allow him. He collapsed onto the ground and suffered some heart attack akin to a soft seizure, forced to watch Isaac's corpse complete its master's dying wish.

There had never been such a pair of unearthly cries in the Yulch district. Torment, akin to the kind ones would experience during extreme torture gushed from Isaac's wriggling victims as their hearts took a forced exit from the base of their chest. Shadow tried desperately to hold on to his, punching the dismembered upper-arm as it pulled. Cream couldn't even lay a dent in hers. With a plop, both their organs came flying out, affixed to the end of each open palm; the heart of a warrior in one, and the life-force of a sweet thing in the other. For a while, all remained silent, like the Earth itself was admiring this sacrifice brought upon its plate.

"It's not enough, it'll never be enough."

Oblivion still remained at the end of a long stretched hallway. The blood-contract would never finish the job unless both enemies were completely devoured. Modern medicine, with all its miracles, could easily re-attach both pieces and render Isaac's work moot. And he didn't even need to factor the mountains of other available mythical ways available to repair one's organic faults. Charmy and Espio would survive, but this?

This had to be permanent.

"Let Mobian physiology sort you idiots out."

Both limbs swapped places, and slammed the hearts of each in the other's chest, filling their bodies with a new surge of life. Their veins snapped out of line and reconnected to new vessels, their blood flourished as their genetics began to rapidly suffer drastic mutations. All in all, the sensation was horrifying. At first, their fleshes tried to devour themselves to damnation, as a white blood cell would do a foreign agent. Shadow's cells nearly subjugated Cream's heart into obscurity, and hers could barely land a dent on the hedgehog's artificial strong hold.

"Forgive me Verkas," Isaac mumbled. These would be his departing words. His blue eyes faded into a navy thicket and slumbered into the afterlife, where damnation awaited.

A few more minutes of writhing passed, before the two collapsed from the ensuing shock. Slowly both bodies accommodated, allowing the heart of each to make its abode amongst the other organs, each settled into a comfortable flow, blessing and cursing their new bodies with a variety of features from their opposite side.

A bird from the feathery clouds above began to make its way to a nearby tree as the rain cleared. It was the dusk of the day now and with the morrow would come a new slew of mysteries.

Soon, Vector, the only one untouched by all this mess, would find their comatose bodies and dial the nearest hospital, hoping they wouldn't ignore him despite his lack of a proper health plan.

She rubbed the bristles through her golden strands, gazing upon the myriad of stars outside the glass window. Usually, there'd be a helping hand accompanying her.

"H-Hello?" Cream said.

"Oh, hello," Maria muttered, inviting the rabbit with a pair of warm blue eyes. "Um, where's ... Shadow?"

"I-," Cream looked at her gloves. No blood, no scratches, as if the events of the last hour were only illusory. "I think he's sleeping?"

"Huh, welp." Maria gyrated towards the furry child and beckoned her closer, "I guess since you're here, you won't mind helping me with these strands right?"

"No, not at all."

"Good." The girl chucked the brush to Cream. Something about it felt oddly soft. "Shadow usually helps me with these but I guess the lard can't be bothered to at the moment."

"Yeah?"

"Yep!" She wasn't supposed to be here. Not in this of all places. "Well, what are you waiting for, silly, come on! We can watch the stars together while you work and if you're lucky you'll get to see the blue giant itself."

"O-okay."

Her blue eyes were so inviting, such a blessing to rest one's gaze upon. Cream joined this enigmatic human-angel as the galactic backdrop passed on by.

A/N: Well, that's it, I hoped ya'll liked it. It's not over of course unless something else happens but as usual do tell me what you think.

And, I may have gone too far in a few places...