Immediately after the attack at the doors of Green Hill Police Department, Cosmo was placed on a stretcher and put into the back of an ambulance while other EMT's check on the freelancers and the reporters alike, with no physical damage done but plenty of fear instilled into them after what happened.

Tails gulped as he sat with his girlfriend in the ambulance, sighing. "I'll stay with you, all right?"

"Tails... I'll be okay..." Cosmo said as she was injected with some morphine. "Although that is... way... better..." She said the words a bit groggily as she was put to sleep.

"She'll be well looked after," said the doctor who injected Cosmo. "She was the only one hurt this badly, right?"

"Yeah, to my knowledge," Tails said with a nod, his hands shaking. "Sorry, it's just... she's never been shot before... or even shot at. She's one of the sweetest, kindest people I know-"

"And I told you, we'll look after her," the doctor smiled. "You don't have to stay with us. And we should really get her to the hospital."

Tails nodded, leaning to kiss his girlfriend's cheek softly, rubbing it with his hand before hopping out of the ambulance. He helped to close the doors and he checked for any other cars coming by before slapping the back of the van twice, the van peeling out onto the road after.

Sonic walked behind his friend and put a hand on his shoulder. "She'll be all right."

"I know," Tails sighed. "I'd love to go with her myself to make sure, but... my parents were kidnapped."

"The higher-ups are getting a meeting set up back in the building right now," Sonic said. "We'll sort something out with them. Avery's waking up too."

"Is he okay?" Tails asked.

"He suffered a bruise from where his head hit the podium, but no concussion, so he's okay," Sonic said. "The dude's a lot tougher than I thought." He felt a slight whoosh behind him and he turned to see Shadow. "Done checking on the inside?"

Shadow nodded. "Nobody got hurt. Nicole and Mina are both safe too. They were both working the desk today."

"I thought I'd have seen Nicole with Lupe and such," Tails said. "I was wondering why she wasn't with them."

"I guess Avery needed some people inside?" Sonic asked. "Just because there were all of these announcements doesn't mean that they weren't still working. And plus, Cosmo was out here with us."

"True, but the point is, they're both safe," said Shadow. "And I need you guys to come to the roof with me." He turned to call over his shoulder. "Knuckles! You too!"

The red echidna, who was helping to pack stuff up, apologised to Lupe. "Sorry. We just got our jobs back. You're the police captain. You know how it is to be busy."

Lupe chuckled a bit. "That'll take some getting used to. I've got to head back inside anyway. We're almost cleared up here and, well, that briefing won't set itself up."

Knuckles nodded, walking over to his other three friends and putting a hand on Shadow's shoulder, much like Tails and Sonic were doing. The black and red hedgehog turned to face the roof and he teleported up there, bringing his friends up with him and looking over the scene.

"Here's the guy who knocked Avery out," Shadow said, pointing to the dead body on the roof. "He had a poison capsule hidden on him, and he swallowed it before I could get any more information out of him."

"Well, what information did you get before he bit in?" Sonic asked.

"He said that he didn't know and he was only told to take Avery out. Or rather just knock him out. He never said anything about killing him."

"Then maybe Cosmo getting shot wasn't intentional after all," Tails said. "Or at least I hope that it wasn't."

"What else?" Knuckles asked.

"That was all I got out of him before he took the pill," Shadow said. He looked near the edge of the roof where the conference was being held, gesturing to a sniper rifle. "Think we can get forensics to take a look at that?"

"We'll ask about it at the briefing later," Sonic said. "Still, that's a very high-tech weapon. It almost looks like something you'd use."

Shadow crouched next to it and looked along the barrel of the weapon. "Actually... this is something I've used. Not this exact one, but I've trained with it at Anti-Light. This is some military level stuff. It's also a very rare one. It's the only thing at Anti-Light that we have that's at this level."

"Jem must have come up with some way to get it," Sonic said. "Unless Manuel is working again after what happened in Westopolis."

"It's been long enough for him to recover from it," Shadow noted. "After all, I did... for the most part."

Knuckles rubbed his arm, remembering where he'd been shot from all that time ago. "I've actually got the scar to prove it."

Sonic pointed to his stomach, lifting his shirt a bit to show the scar still there. "You and me both. Seems like no one goes to Westopolis without something like this happening to them."

Shadow cleared his throat. "We should stay on track. Uh... the last thing is over here." He walked to the left side of the roof, pulling up the rappel rope that the sniper used. "This is how the sniper got up here. He almost used it to escape before I stopped him." Shadow quickly teleported down to the ground, seeing where the rope stopped and turning to see a corner where a camera would have been, only to see that it had been knocked onto the ground, the screen cracked. He teleported back up to the others. "There was only one camera that could have seen him and it was taken out." Shadow went over to the dead sniper's body and checked over the pockets, finding a handgun and a silencer. "And this must have been how." He pushed out the magazine, tipping it to empty some bullets into his hand and seeing some that looked more blue around the casings. "Shock ammo..."

"Just like in police-issued stunner pistols," Tails said. "Could I have a look?" Shadow gave him some of the bullets, and Tails looked them over. "Hmm... there's something off with these ones. They don't look quite as well put together."

"It could be like the stolen implants, then," said Sonic. "Just doing the basics to give it a similar effect. But if these ones did hit somebody, that could have been lethal."

Knuckles' eyes widened. "Damn, that's a thought... Tails, what kind of bullet was Cosmo hit by?"

Tails' own eyes went a bit wide before he shut them in thought. "Hmm... from what I could see on the wound, there weren't any burn marks. It could have been a normal one... and I really hope that it was."

"You'll find out later, right?" Sonic asked.

"Again, really hoping so," Tails sighed. "Let's head inside. We need to get this stuff sorted."

"Let's get some people up here to look at the body too," Sonic added. "And the gun."

The others agreed with him and started moving, moving through the roof's door and making their way to the main office for the briefing. As they get in, Avery is standing near the display screen with Ash holding the remote while Lupe sat in the chair at the top end of the table, just as Avery used to.

Sonic pointed at Avery. "Shouldn't you be on vacation right now?"

"Oh, after this, I'll be leaving for Aqua Lake with my wife," said Avery, smiling. "But we need to get this sorted out. So, Lupe, you're up."

"Oh, thank you, sir..." Lupe cleared her throat. "Or just Avery now, I guess. This captain thing will take some getting used to."

"Well, we trust your word," Sonic smiled.

"I appreciate that," said Lupe. "So, what did you find out?"

"There was a sniper on the roof," said Shadow. "He's the one who knocked Avery out with the tranquilliser dart. Apparently that's all that he was told to do."

"What about Cosmo?" asked Simian. "She got hit pretty badly."

"It wasn't intentional, we don't think," Knuckles said. "Nobody else got shot. Everyone else was just mostly shocked and scared but none of them were hurt. Except for Avery. How's your head, by the way?"

"It's okay," said Avery. "Just a bit shaky still. That dart had some strong stuff in it..."

"At least it wasn't poisonous," Sonic said with a shudder. "I've been down that road before and... well, it almost killed me."

"While we're all glad that it didn't," said Ash, "we should probably try and figure out what happened."

"He's right," Shadow said. "But there really needed to be more security on the outside. They found the least secure route up to the roof, and there was only one camera that could have seen him go up."

"I'll check the footage later," Ash said. "What else is there?"

"From what I could tell, the roof was the only place that could have seen any trucks coming around," Shadow said. "The trucks left too quickly, and I think that, even if any trucks were actually seen, they probably changed their license plates and left."

"It wouldn't surprise me," Lupe replied. "Whoever did it seems pretty meticulous with this sort of thing. Who did do it, by the way?"

"It was Jem," said Tails. "He was sending us a message. And he's going to keep sending more if we don't cave to his demands."

"And what does he want?" asked Simian.

"He wants all of the implants that me and my family were busy making the past year and a half," said Tails. "There's a lot we weren't able to send out so we had to backlog orders."

"Which reminds me, I'm confused as to why he wants them," Knuckles said. "Your family charges a good price for them but it's never been too heavy. If Jem is planning to sell them for a higher price out of Westopolis, where your family's company doesn't have a branch, surely they'd have to suspect something was up."

"Unless he doesn't want us to take them to Westopolis," Sonic said, a smile growing slowly on his face. "And I think that we should go and check out Scrap Metal anyway. We need to find out how the bastard got out of there in the first place."

Lupe nodded. "I'll try and set something up with Alec over there. I know he's a friend of yours. And while I'm at it, I'll send some of our officers out as well, see if anyone's seen anything suspicious or anything that could be threatening."

"When do you think Jem will hit next?" asked Avery.

"I don't know, but I'm scared," Sonic said. "And I am not going all the way up to Westopolis to confront him about it. He's had a year and a half to prepare. Who knows what he'll have waiting for us up there?"

"Maybe he'll tell us where it'll be," Tails said. "You'd think that he would have let us know where it would happen."

"Or he's planning his next message as we speak," said Knuckles. "You'd better put out that call quick, Lupe. I-I mean, Commander Lupe. Sorry. Just a bit stressed."

"Understandable, and thank you for apologising," said Lupe with a smile. "And I will. You just go and get yourselves sorted. Oh, and swing by the armoury really quick. Those three are working on something you might like."

"We just might," said Shadow. "Again, thank you for the help."

With that, the freelancers left the room and made their way down to the ground floor, with Avery walking down with them. They were expecting him to leave right away, but when he stood in the front lobby and looked around the station with a small sigh, Sonic walked up to him and put a hand on his arm.

"You okay, Avery?" the blue hedgehog asked.

"Uh... it's... a little hard, I guess," Avery said. "I put in a lot of time here. 15 years of this. And yet, my best officers are the four that spent the shortest amount of time here."

"Dang. They must have flunked hard," Knuckles said. "Oh, he means us. I get it now."

"I've trained and led some great officers here, and I'm excited to see Lupe do the same," Avery smiled. "I guess... I don't know. I guess I'm not ready to let it go yet. But at the same time, I really need to pick up my wife and drive to the airport."

"In that case, have a good retirement," Sonic said, shaking hands with the now former commander. "You've earned it."

"You will one day too," said Avery. "Okay... I'll be off. And if you find time, swing by Aqua Lake. It'll be nice to see you up there."

The brown bear turned to leave, going to the front of the building where everything from the conference had been all cleared up. He managed to get to his car easily and he hopped in, starting it up and driving away from what had been his place of work for the longest time.

"I'll see you down the line, Green Hill," he said with a smile.

"And there he goes," Knuckles said. "Okay, so, I know we need to see Espio and the others, but something came to me earlier." Sonic and Shadow turned to the red echidna, waiting. "We never asked Tails if he was okay with this whole thing."

"I don't like the idea of having to give away my parents' livelihood just to get them back," Tails sighed. "That's a lot of people that aren't going to get those implants either."

"Especially since, as of today, they're allowed to receive them again," Shadow pointed out. "So... how do we get around that? If we don't, Amadeus and Rosemary could get hurt or... well, way worse. But if we do, then we're giving a lot of something powerful away to a dangerous criminal and we don't even know what he'll do with them."

"True," Tails said. "I'll swing by my parents' shop before I go to the hospital. I hate having to put it off, but I don't think that I have a choice..."

"You do what you have to do to sort it out," Sonic said. "We'll be back at our base when we're all done here, so just come back to there when you're done with what you've got to do."

The two-tailed fox smiled. "Thanks, man. And for what it's worth when it comes to my parents... maybe they'd do the same for me. Even if helping other people should be more important."

"You're their son," Knuckles said. "I don't think that anything's more important to them than that."

"Thanks," Tails said. "I... I kinda needed that. Come on, let's see the mad three."

He brushed past the others and they followed, seeing Charmy busy at work over at a desk, Vector testing a gun of some sort on some dummies, and Espio jotting down some notes. The purple chameleon looked to see the freelancers walk in and he smiled, walking up to them.

"Vector, we got friends!" Espio called, making the green crocodile start firing before the chameleon turned his attention to Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow. "So, I heard about what happened earlier. We were busy working in here when it went down. Is everyone okay?"

"Tails' parents got kidnapped, for one. And Cosmo got shot, but she'll be okay," Sonic said, seeing Espio's worried expression. "She got hit in the arm."

"Ah." Espio nodded, turning to look over at Tails. "She'll be okay, man. They all will."

"I know, because we're going to save them," Tails nodded. "I'm going to see Cosmo later. But we were told that you were working on something for us?"

"We are, and what better time to show it off than to the newly reinstated freelancer agents who need a much easier to say name?" Espio replied. "You should really workshop that."

"It's on the list," Shadow said. "We were busy with actual jobs this past year and a half."

"Well... most of us were," Knuckles muttered.

"What?" Espio asked.

"Nothing," Knuckles said quickly. "So, this thing you want to show us, show us, please."

"Follow me," Espio said, turning to walk over to where Charmy was and heading past him. Behind Charmy was a wall full of weapons, and most of the room in general appeared refurbished and easier to access. "You guys still have your nano-suits, right?"

"Why do you ask?" Tails asked.

"You might need them on," Espio said. "Vector, could you come up here? And bring that gun with you. I need to borrow it."

"Sure thing," Vector said, walking up to his leader and showing off the weapon he'd been using. It appeared to be a single-barrel sawed-off shotgun, and he passed it to Espio.

"Thank you," the purple chameleon said, looking over the weapon rack behind Charmy. "And... this one will do." He grabbed a weapon that looked similar, but also more compact, and he handed it over to Knuckles. "Would you mind stepping over to the weapon testing area?"

"Oh, sure, make the big dumb one the guinea pig," Knuckles sighed playfully. He walked to the testing area and looked at the gun he'd been given. "All right, are you guys going to tell me what the point of this all is?"

"There should be a little pad on the smaller gun that Espio gave you," said Charmy. "It's a thumbprint reader. Put your thumb on it."

Knuckles did so. "All right... and now?"

"Now use your nano-suit," said Espio. As soon as Knuckles did, the chameleon reached for a SPAS-12 shotgun on the weapons rack and walked over to Knuckles. "All right... I want you to turn that gun you've got in your hand into this."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" Knuckles asked. "Just use my imagination?"

"Well... yeah. Exactly that," said Espio.

The red echidna's furrowed look on his brow disappeared and he closed his eyes, concentrating on the weapon on his hand. Slowly, thanks to the nanotechnology in his body, the gun started to grow, the barrel getting longer, the body of the gun shifting as well, and the unique iron sights growing as well. The gun's colouring was pitch black save for some red markings, much like how Knuckles' nano-suit was designed, and he opened his eyes upon seeing it.

"Holy crap..." Knuckles said. "Okay, that rules."

"I know, and here comes the sad news," said Vector. "That one is only meant for you, and it's also the only one we have made. We're working on more for the rest of you, but it might take a while. And we've got something in mind for your hover-boards as well."

"I'm guessing that I can't take this with me?" Knuckles asked.

"As much as I'm sure that you'd love to, you can't take it with you," Espio sadly confirmed. "We'll need it as a reference to design the guns for the rest of you."

"That's fair," Knuckles said. "No way am I being the only one who gets to try this out. This is damn cool."

"We appreciate your altruism," Tails said dryly before turning to Espio. "But seriously, that's pretty cool."

"We'll do right by the rest of you," said Charmy. "And Tails? I'm sorry to hear about what happened to Cosmo."

"Me too," Vector added. "She's a good one. Just like you."

The two-tailed fox smiled gently. "I'm going to see her in a bit. I've got to swing by my parents' place real quick."

"Then we'll let you go," Espio said. "And good luck with your regained jobs. We can't wait to see you guys get back to work."

"Neither can we for you," Sonic said. "Best of luck. We're heading out."

"You guys take care," said Vector, waving goodbye to them.

The four freelancers left the armoury and Tails turned to his friends. "I'm going to go straight to my family's shop. See if I can sort something out."

"Do you have a plan in mind?" Knuckles asked.

"I'll find out when I get there," Tails said. "If you guys are going back to the base, order me some lunch from Jade Mountain?"

"If I still had that friends and family discount, I totally would. But as it is, I'll just have to pay full price," Sonic chuckled. "We'll see you there later."

Tails gave them a wave before he walked to the back of Knuckles' car, the red echidna unlocking the boot for him. Tails got his hover-board out and set it on the ground, hopping onto it and riding into the board lane on the main road before beginning his route to his parents' shop. As he left, Knuckles hopped into his car, ready to drive while Shadow sat shotgun and Sonic sat in the back, the echidna peeling out onto the road and making his way to their old headquarters.

Knuckles parked the car, and the three walked up to their front door, seeing it slightly opened already. Sonic pushed on it and pushed it open, and he looked to the other two, who nodded silently and put their hands to their holsters as the blue hedgehog did. He pushed past and opened the door fully, walking into the living room where lights suddenly switched on and a banner hung from the ceiling. A party popper went off and a party tooter sounded.

"SURPRISE!" yelled Rosy Rose, Amy's twin sister. Flanking her were Shade and Bunnie Rabbot, the latter of whom threw some confetti into the air.

"You almost scared the hell out of us," Sonic said, putting a hand to his chest in relief. "What is all of this?"

"Well, I decided to cash in on a vacation day from the Midnight Oil," Rosy smiled. "I figured that I'd spend that time putting together a party for you guys... although the cute one is missing."

"What do you mean?" Knuckles asked, jokingly. "Shadow's with us."

Rosy rolled her eyes at that. "Say, where is Tails anyway?"

"He's at his parents' shop right now, then he's going to the hospital," Sonic said. "We got attacked after our reinstatement and Cosmo got shot." He saw Rosy's worried look and quickly put a hand up. "In the arm. It didn't hit an artery or anything. She's okay."

"Oh god, I'm so sorry," Shade said, looking down to the floor. "Are you all okay?"

"We... will be," Sonic replied. "But you guys should be more worried." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "There's a good chance that a very dangerous criminal could be targeting you right now."

Shade gulped. "I've learned enough to guess that you're probably right... but we put a lot of work into this party too."

"I know, and we appreciate it," Sonic said. "But we need to sort out a plan of attack or something... which also wouldn't be right since it would need Tails and he isn't here."

"Look, I'm sure that Jem will give us all plenty of time before he lands his next big hit on anyone," Knuckles said. "For now, I say that we try to enjoy the festivities."

"It's not many festivities," said Rosy. "We made a cake for you guys and I got some pretty good beer from the Midnight Oil."

Sonic nodded. "Well... it wouldn't be a celebration without Tails, really. He got his job back too."

"So we'll save him some cake for when he gets back," Knuckles said, putting a hand on Sonic's arm. "I know you're worried. I am too. But Jem said that he'd give us time."

"But he never said how much," Shadow said. "He said that it'll get worse if we keep delaying. And someone's already been shot on accident."

"Oh, will you two relax?" Bunnie huffed out. "We were workin' on this all day! I took a day off for this too! We didn't even get to see the news to see it, but we know y'all got your jobs back... right?"

"We did," Shadow nodded. "Wait, so... does that mean you don't know who the new captain of G.H.P.D is?"

"I don't," Bunnie shook her head.

"It's Lupe," Knuckles smiled.

"Ah. We'll, I'm sure makin' some carrot cake for her when I can!" Bunnie giggled. "I did it for Avery on my first day working for him. Only seems fair."

Sonic's shoulders relaxed a bit. "I guess some downtime wouldn't be too bad..." He then felt his phone vibrating and saw that it was Amy, so he answered it. "Hey, babe."

"Sonic! My god, are you okay?" Amy asked hurriedly.

"Love, I'm all right," Sonic said, sighing softly. "I'm completely unhurt."

"But I saw a report checking my phone and there was shooting. Someone got shot, right?"

"Cosmo did, but in the arm," Sonic said. "Tails is going to see her later. Everything will be all right."

"I sure hope so..." Amy said. "Is everyone else okay?"

Sonic cleared his throat. "Avery suffered a concussion but he's alive. Honestly, Tails has been affected the most by this. His parents were kidnapped first and Jem did it."

"Ugh... Jem..." Amy spat. "I really..." She lowered her voice. "I hate that guy like all hell..."

"What's all hell?" asked a kid next to her, causing Sonic to chuckle.

"Uh, I said all healthy!" Amy responded quickly. "Which is what my medicine makes me to help with my heart condition."

"Good save," Sonic said.

"I've had practise," Amy giggled. "Hey, Lindsay, don't eat the glue, please! And stop dunking Marco's tail in it!" She focused back on the phone. "Anyway, are you all right?"

"I'm okay. Wasn't hurt at all. Just can't believe that Jem prepared something like this, on today of all days." Sonic took a breath. "Are you okay, though? You haven't seen anyone suspicious or noticed anything off about today?"

"I saw the sun going down out the window earlier," Amy said. "I saw the news earlier so I know that winter isn't too far away now."

"I'll pack my parka," Sonic chuckled. "But seriously, if anything feels off or you feel like you might be in danger, call me or any of the other freelancers or the police."

"I'll be sure to," Amy said. "Where are you right now?"

"I'm back at our base," Sonic said. "Your sister prepared a party for us getting our jobs back."

"Ah, that's nice of her," Amy smiled. "It'd be nice if she did her actual job once in a while these days."

"That's a bit harsh," Sonic chuckled.

"She's my twin. It's allowed."

"I've got siblings too. But they're not twins, so."

"See, that's where it went wrong for you," Amy giggled. "You go have fun at the party. And give Tails my best. And Cosmo too if you see her."

"Will do. See you later," Sonic said, hanging up. He turned around to see Bunnie and Shade stood behind him, Rosy sat on the couch behind them and looking worried. "I'm guessing that you heard that part about Jem, huh?"

Shade nodded. "I don't want us to get hurt..."

"And as long as we're around, you won't be," Sonic promised. "Lupe's going to have police patrolling all around the city for anything suspicious and we'll provide backup if need be."

"The police should be the backup by this point," Bunnie said with a huff, causing the blue hedgehog to give her a shocked look. "What? I'm just sayin', you boys get more done. The past year and a half where y'all were fired, even with Avery doin' his best... it wasn't a great time. A lot of criminals slipped, especially in the wake of that riot at the penitentiary. There's a lot of those guys still out there."

"A lot, but not all," Sonic said. "I remember you racking up a good arrest record for those escapees. So don't put down your own police force. You're doing the best with what you have, just like we've had to do since we started this job."

Bunnie smiled and gave Sonic a big hug, making him chuckle. "Y'all are such a sweetie sometimes."

"I'm a sweetie who'd like to breathe again," Sonic said, giving the Southern rabbit a quick hug back before she let go. "I promise, we're going to do whatever we can to help."

"I know," Bunnie said. "But I want you to be careful out there too."

"Same for you," Sonic nodded. "Let's get some cake in our bellies for now, though, huh?"

"See, you should have said that sooner," Knuckles said. "I'm hungry."

"Remember, we're saving some for Tails as well," Shadow pointed out.

"I'll moderate myself," Knuckles said. "No worries. Let's dig in and have some fun."

In Westopolis...

Jem was in the bathroom of the newly renovated prison, the paint a much cleaner looking and dark shade of blue now and most of the prison's imperfections having been fixed. Broken windows and doors were replaced, some moves were knocked in to make room for bigger ones, and even the cells themselves had undergone a restructuring.

Right now, the only people in one of those cells were Amadeus and Rosemary Prower, but Jem was too focused on his appearance in the mirror. He thought back to the time when Gerren helped him break out of Scrap Metal prison, where he had to steal the identity of another guard, being able to copy him almost perfectly except for the eyes.

The red salamander pulled up a picture on his phone, finding a picture of Avery's face. He closed his eyes and focused, opening them to look in the mirror to see that his red and yellow-scaled skin became brown fur. But he looked to see that his eyes were still green slits, and he let out a growl of frustration.

"Fuck... I can't get it..."

He heard a distant knock, so he left his door and walked around the new office he had. It was a more professional looking version of Nack's office, which in turn was the office of a warden Nack had killed many years ago. The room was mostly black with some red paint to go, and a brown desk in the middle with a chair behind it and several more in front of it.

He opened the door and saw Martin. "Ah, good to see you. I trust that you have good news?"

"I do," Martin said. "The Prowers were kidnapped and the message was successfully delivered. And also, the Prowers themselves are waking up in their cell."

"Then I shall go and pay them a visit," Jem nodded.

"Looking like Avery?" Martin mused.

The red salamander cleared his throat and switched to his natural form quickly. "I was practising. That's the thing with the implants, you know. They're like a muscle that grows over time."

"I've heard that," Martin nodded. "And we're going to go and see the people who made them in the first place."

Jem nodded, walking past the blond dirty cop and heading down a flight of stairs to the floor underneath. In the cells were people he had captured over time, all either paired up or alone and having one toilet per cell as well as only one bed. Everyone was also chained to the floor, including Amadeus and Rosemary Prower, who were cuddled together and they whimpered in fear as they heard footsteps.

Jem sighed. "You didn't remove their blindfolds?"

"Best if they don't see how they got here," said Martin.

"That doesn't matter," Jem sighed. "Even if they knew, nobody would be dumb enough to come up here to save them." He looked to Gerren who was stood by the cell and nodded.

The former Green Hill Penitentiary guard opened the cell and reached to remove the foxes' blindfolds. "Welcome to Westopolis."

"What do you want?" Amadeus asked. "Why did you do what you did?"

"Well, it's simple," Jem smiled. "I can't tell you, though. It's between me and my group of friends... as well as Mobius in general. I've got big plans."

"Well, our son and his friends will stop you!" Amadeus said.

"I'm sure they will," Jem said. "I'm also sure that they'll save you. In fact, the message that I sent left them unscathed. I will keep sending them more, however, until I get what I want. And before you ask what that is, that's simple as well. And good news! I can tell you. I want all of the implants that you've been sitting on."

"But why?" Rosemary asked. "They won't go for a lot and Westopolis doesn't have the jurisdiction to get implants to their emergency services. And you already have an implant yourself as well."

"I'd tell you why but that would relate to the part that I can't tell you," Jem smiled. "But trust me, it will be worth the wait. Speaking of... I hope you don't mind doing a bit more of that in the meantime."

"You won't get away with this," Rosemary said.

"Oh, I know," Jem said. "I'm aware that your son and his friends will try and stop me. I have no doubt in their abilities." He leaned close to them. "But the difference between me and Nack is that I'm more opportunistic. I'm not going to wait my turn. Time is not on your side nor is it on theirs. And the more that you wait, the worse it will get." He smiled. "I'm going to enjoy seeing the decisions that your son and his friends make. Hopefully for you they'll be the right ones."

He turned to walk away and was about to head up to his office when Martin pulled on his arm. "Boss?"

"Yes?" Jem asked.

"About that message you sent... I was watching it on the news earlier, and someone got shot. Apparently, they're fine, but-"

"No buts," Jem said. "You remember the rule I gave them. Nobody gets hurt." He rubbed his temples with his hands. "Where are they? The ones I sent to send the message?"

"All downstairs in the cafeteria," Martin said.

"Good. You and Gerren, come with me."

The two followed the red salamander down to the cafeteria, and he whistled around, seeing the thugs that he sent out to Green Hill. All of them were human, and they were all celebrating with some good food and drinks. One of them was even having a scantily dressed woman dancing for him before Jem cleared his throat.

"You lot are the ones I sent up to Green Hill, correct?" Jem asked.

"That's us," said the one sat with the dancing woman, a Sonic mask in his hand. "We followed your orders to the letter."

"I'm sure that you didn't," Jem sneered. "You were supposed to spray and pray that you didn't hit anything. Someone got shot."

"If anything, I'd say that makes the message stronger," said the one with the Tails mask.

Jem shook his head, pulling out a handgun. "Which one of you did it? Hmm?" He aimed at the one with the Knuckles mask. "Was it you?" He turned to the one with the Sonic mask. "You?" He fired into the air. "Come on! Speak up!"

"It was me!" said the one with the Tails mask. "I wasn't paying attention, okay? It was hard to see through the smoke grenades."

Jem huffed. "What's your name?"

"Marla," the woman said.

"Ah. Well, I'm glad I got to know your name first." He aimed right at her legs and fired, putting a bullet through the back of her left knee and causing the other thugs to recoil in shock. "I told you all, didn't I? I told you not to kill or hurt anyone today! And you didn't fucking listen!" He stopped to catch his breath. "You're lucky I'm not doing more because I know that you can do better. So next time, do fucking better!"

"We got those parents kidnapped, didn't we?" asked the thug with the Shadow mask. "Isn't that enough?"

Jem fired a bullet at his leg, going right through his right calf and making him scream out in pain. "You do not get to rest on your laurels for doing ninety five percent of a job. And you do not get to talk back at the man who's paying you to do that job. If you want your money, you'll do it right, yes?"

"Yes," said the one with the Sonic mask. "And we'll find a good replacement for Marla, don't worry."

"Good," Jem said. "And while you're doing that, I'll be sorting out the next message to send. And when I send you to be my messengers, you will deliver as promised." He gestured with his gun to the two fallen thugs. "Get these two cleaned up."

He then turned and walked away, heading back up the stairs with Martin and Gerren flanking him.

Hopefully I'm making Jem seem more vicious because... that's the point. Next is going to be another request, then maybe more of this after that. I hope you've been liking this so far and yes, the other mask wearers will likely get names at some point as well. I'll see you soon. Until then, take care, and stay tuned.