Chapter 9 – The Guild of Treasure Hunters.
Nack reached into his pocket, fingers trembling as he tried to extract and light a cigarette. He needed a smoke to try and calm his shattered nerves; one of the most proficient killers he'd ever had the misfortune to come into contact with had been given a free shot at his unprotected back and turned it down! He was blessing the lucky star he was born under that the gun was only loaded with sand shells; they'd sting if they hit you but fail to do much bar strip off skin. Either Seraph was toying with them or he had a seriously twisted sense of humour – Nack's stomach turned as he tried to decide the best way to explain to his impromptu protectors; at least he wouldn't have to warn them about their foe's skill and potential – they'd all just been treated to a first class demonstration of that. Knuckles was keeping a very wary eye on the jungle Seraph had vanished into as the hedgehogs and fox unloaded what little luggage they'd brought with them from their transport and settled down. Rouge approached him, downcast as she realised she'd have to delve as deeply into the past as he was to satisfy the questions,
"What do you reckon?" Nack looked up, biting back the retort that he was tempted to spit out due to shock,
"You know this lot better'n me, so you tell your story first. I know more about the start and about him, so I'll fill in any bits you miss". Rouge nodded and rubbed her eyes,
"Even why we split?"
"Yeah, even that; they gotta right to know".
"I am not looking forwards to this; you know how I got involved right?"
"Yeah" Nack smiled slightly, "wasn't it due to Razzy catching you…"
"Shut up", Rouge shuddered at the memory, "I'm going to have to tell this once today, I'm not doing it twice".
"Am I right; I always thought that was a myth?"
"No, it actually was true; bloody rooster, if he hadn't called at the wrong time I would have missed by inches". Both were interrupted by a shout from Knuckles, the echidna marching up to them and jerking a thumb over his shoulder.
"We're sticking here for now; he can't pull the same trick twice and you said the shells were useless. Now, you two have some explaining to do".
"Alright I confess", Rouge eyes sparkled, "I admit it; I swiped the crown jewels and replaced them with fakes years ago. Is that a crime?" Knuckles staggered back, shocked at this revelation,
"You wha…"
"Gotcha", the bat crowed in triumph, "geez Knucklehead, I've know insects less gullible than you". The echidna's mouth hung open and just for a split second, a tiny hint of darker red may just have been visible under his fur before he turned away, muttering curses both to himself and to Rouge for showing him up like that.
Rouge's euphoria at managing to put one over on Knuckles lasted until she saw the faces of her friends as they sat waiting for her. Their eyes were, to her, piercing if not actually accusatory, and though each appeared at ease, there was a definite undercurrent or tension and readiness. Nack sat down, taught as a bowstring as Rouge took centre stage.
"Right, well I've heard that Knuckles has told you everything he knows, correct?" There was a nodding of heads and Amy piped up,
"He said you arrived yesterday, there was a fight last night then you called us". That had been true; if nothing else the echidna had a good memory. All the better for bearing grudges; she shook off the sour thought and licked her lips,
"Okay, good. Now this guy that's after Nack and me", she indicated the weasel with a wave of her hand, "disappeared seven years ago. I'm about to tell you how but before I do, I have to ask you that everything you hear now goes no further than this. That okay with everyone?" Shadow answered after a quick bobbing of heads,
"Sounds fair…"
"Now get on with it" Knuckles added gruffly, eyes darting around as he folded his arms. Giving the echidna a caustic glare, the bat returned to her story,
"As I was saying, seven years ago I was in a bad patch; I didn't have much of a choice so I, er, I decided it would be a good idea to, er, liberate some gems from a museum display. Only one or two though, just enough to tide me over…"
"How old were you at this point?" Tails asked suddenly, struck by the sudden thought as Rouge furrowed her brows,
"I was, no I'd just turned twelve; any point behind that question or you just being nosey foxboy?"
"Just curious" he admitted, shrugging his shoulders as the bat continued,
"Well, it went well; there was a mysterious power cut just as I got in through a sky light and I was able to get a few sparklers. But just as I was leaving, I saw there was a second guy in here with me. There was a shout to stop and I bolted, thinking it was a guard; just my luck he could fly as well and gave chase. We gave each other a run around until I decided to end it…" Nack chipped in with a well chosen comment, breaking the ice with the others that he didn't know, hoping to make a fair impression on them; before too long he'd probably be relying on them for protection,
"She got tangled in a couple of power lines". The reaction was just as he'd hoped; there was an outburst of sniggers, especially from Knuckles as the mental image sank in.
"Thank you Nack", Rouge added pleasantly, mouthing 'you're dead' as she faced him; this just caused him to laugh a little as she continued, "Well anyway I got caught, but the guy following me wasn't a guard; he was a thief as well. He was a rooster called Erasmus, or Razzy, and we talked for a bit as he set me loose. He invited me back to what I thought was a deserted warehouse, but there as we waited, others came in. It was then that I was introduced to the Guild of Treasure Hunters".
"The Guild of Treasure Hunters?" Sonic rolled the name around in his mouth as though sucking on a boiled sweet, "sounds like an Indiana Jones tribute club" he concluded, eliciting a snigger from Shadow, Tails and a harsh look from both guild members.
"Well it wasn't", Rouge snapped before recomposing herself again, "we were a small body of pros, specialising in espionage, information trading and occasional thievery".
"You were a thief's guild?" Knuckles said, not accusing, merely stating a fact. Rouge nodded slowly,
"If you want to put it like that, but we were good at what we did. We went in, we did the job, no-one got hurt most of the time. Apparently, I'd managed to impress Razzy and was offered to join. Best offer I'd had in a long time, so I did; I went through a long period of training to hone my natural talents and fighting prowess and then was deemed ready to work".
"What was your first mission?" Tails enquired; to the surprise of all concerned, Rouge's face fell and her ears drooped.
"I never had one; two nights before I was due to go on, we broke up and disbanded the guild".
"Why was that?"
"I'll answer that", Nack stood up; he had heard enough from Rouge and prepared to take over, "but I'll fill in some blanks first". The weasel stood up and glanced at Rouge appreciatively before starting.
"The guild was originally five strong; there was me, Razzy, a mouse called Jessie Wheatear, a fox-cat cross called Chalkie and the last one we never got the name of", Nack's eyes soured as he remembered the struggle they'd had trying to get him to sign to the guild policy, eventually settling for an X, "We each arrived at the warehouse about a year before Rouge got involved; we'd each received a letter from someone called the Benefactor telling us to show up. We were introduced and got a vid-phone from him…"
"Who was he; Seraph?" Shadow's mind reacted to this information and arrived at a conclusion, but Nack shook his head,
"Na, wasn't him; we never saw what he looked like, it was just a blank screen and a mechanical voice. He said he'd heard of our talents and he and a select few of his friends were interested in hiring our services for a few 'discreet services'. We saw a figure on the screen and pretty much screamed where to sign. That night, the Guild of Treasure Hunters was formed". Nack broke off for a second, remembering the hope and celebration that had happened as they all signed up and partied long into the night; only two years later it would all end in blood and tears. Noting his silence, Amy prompted,
"So where does Seraph come in to all this?"
"Hmm, oh yeah", Nack cleared his mind and took a deep breath, "well we drew up a code of sorts, a kind of law that we upheld when we were working, so to speak. Firstly, when working for on guild business, we couldn't hurt anyone who was in the way; no collateral damage in a matter of speaking. Then we decided that each of us should leave a mark at the scene of the crime; something whoever was employing us could see on the news. I remember Jessie always left an ear of corn, she was Jessie Wheatear and she said it suited her. I always left a fang on a piece of string and the others each had their own sign. Got all that?"
"Yeah I guess so; what was your sign Rouge, or should I say, what was it going to be?" Amy asked carefully, not wanting to embarrass the bat, but she grinned and smacked her lips,
"A lipstick kiss, but anyway, the signs were important in all this", the bat leaned closer, allowing Nack to take a back seat, "I was told the bit about one of the original five not signing his name. Well, his mark was unique, so we eventually called him by it. It was the outline of an angel, no face or halo, just a black outline. We called him Seraph".
There was a suitably stunned silence as everyone tried to take this in; from the way Rouge and Nack were talking, it seemed they'd know all about the viper in their nest but failed to do anything about it. Knuckles shot to his feet, tone hard and accusing,
"So you're saying you knew this maniac before…"
"No", Nack matched his voice in tone and volume, "he wasn't always like that, well, not at first anyway. Look, for the first year and a half, things went smooth as; we did a little espionage, took a couple of gems and antiques and got a hefty check for our troubles. Then things started to go downhill", the weasel turned away from the rest of them, not wanting to reveal the struggle he was having trying to say this after sealing it away inside for so long, "Seraph changed. Okay, he never spoke much to start with, but then he just went totally dead. He started showing up less and less to meets, we'd just see his mark in the news and assume he'd taken on a job without us knowing; it was first come first served really. But then the jobs we got started going bad; there were a couple of what we called 'beat-ups' among the usual takes and spying. Things started to get really nasty and Seraph's mark started to show up in the aftermaths of some real bloodbaths", Nack considered showing the photo but decided against it for now, "but we were getting paid more so kept our mouths shut".
"You just let it happen; didn't you see he was going off the rails, and you did nothing to stop him? What kind of Mobian are you?" Shadow was nearly shouting, something none present had ever seen him do, pointing accusingly at the weasel.
"The scared kind", Rouge said quietly, speaking up as her tone helped diffuse the pent-up anger at this news, "Seraph, at least when I saw him, just appeared completely detached; he pushed through people who tried to stop him; once he had a proper ding-dong fight with Chalkie that left the fox-cat in stitches. He looked like he could kill, but we were deciding if things didn't improve, that was it, we'd turn him in and split up, forget the guild. But, as things turned out, we left it too long". The bat swallowed, shaking, afraid to continue as the others waited apprehensively. Nack pre-empted the question before it was asked, twisting the hat in his hands until the leather threatened to tear.
"He crossed the line; he went from treasure hunter and spy, to, to an assassin".
The responses to this were varied and interesting; Tails immediately looked round wildly as if expecting a knife to embed itself between his shoulder blades at any second. Amy gasped and covered her mouth with her hands; Sonic, almost unconsciously, putting his hand on her shoulder as he stared wide-eyed. Shadow took several steadying breaths as Knuckles bowed his head, coming to terms with the fact that his island was now polluted with the footsteps of a murderer. Tails seemed to regain his tongue first,
"So, so who did he, I mean, the victim…" Nack nodded at the young fox, motioning him to sit down and gritting his teeth,
"It wasn't a single person either, though that woulda been bad enough", the weasel forced the words out of him, "he killed, no, he massacred an entire family; mum, dad and three kids, in the night and then vanished; they didn't stand a chance. I saw it on the news; the murdering scum had left his mark on the wall in black pen. The rest of us had a meeting that night and ended it there and then; we all went our separate ways. We had a single code that we could say if we heard so much as a peep of Seraph's work. I was going to see Jess a few days ago and the mark was in her empty apartment. I contacted Rouge and then we ended up here". Nack finished, drained by his speech and waiting for the inevitable reaction.
Oh hell, what have I done? Why did I bring Tails and Amy here?
A killer, this is bad news for all of us.
If he gets his hands on the Master Emerald, oh dear gods no!
That poor family, I'll make you pay for this you freak.
We need a plan, come on, think!
Rouge looked at each of the Mobians who had helped her in the past and saw the same emotions reflected in every eye; there was fear, concern and just plain confusion. She had to say something, anything, but there were no words, no speech could ever have delivered the emotion she felt inside at that second, but she had to try.
"I'm sorry". Sonic glanced at her, not seeming to understand,
"Say wha'?"
"I'm sorry", she repeated, louder this time, "I didn't want any of you involved in this, in anything to do with this psycho. I…"
"Shush", Shadow stood up, a movement echoed by Knuckles as he said in a solemn voice, "you couldn't have controlled this even if you wanted to. We're here now and we can't change it; we'll just have to think of something to get Seraph behind bars and the two of you safe again". Knuckles, Amy, Tails and Sonic all nodded assent to this statement and Rouge felt her heart swell in both relief and happiness that finally, after seven years since the guild had split, she finally had people she could truly count on again.
Firearm disposed of irretrievably. Conversation between targets and innocents contained partial truth. They will be prepared. A minor debt must be repaid to a target.
"Nack, wait", Knuckles spoke up after a couple of minutes, his memory recalling something about the battle with Seraph he had endured the pervious night, "did Seraph always wear that mask, even in the guild? Did you ever see his face?" Nack scratched an ear, trying to remember any time he'd seen the killer unmasked but eventually shook his head,
"Na, not that I remember; he was always dressed like that before going on a mission, and we only ever saw him when he was on his way to a crime scene".
"Then how can he see anything; his mask didn't have any holes for eyes". To the echidna's amazement, the weasel grinned and slapped him on the shoulder,
"The hundred buck question; I lost count of how many times we asked him that in the guild but he never said. It looks creepy but we kinda got used to it after a while". Knuckles cursed this fact and tried to think of a place on the island that'd be big enough for them all to hide and safe from Seraph. Meanwhile, Rouge was explaining to Amy the potential danger she had been in, the pink hedgehog and an increasingly shocked Sonic lending a close ear.
"He must have broken in and taken my number, but anyway it doesn't matter now. At least you're safe". That's more than Seraph'll be when I catch the son of a bitch; for once Sonic was in agreement with himself; it could have been Knuckles, Shadow or Tails just as well as Amy but no-one threatened one of his friends and got away with it. The blue hedgehog clenched his fists, trying to do all in his power to stop himself taking off after the leather wearing freak. The information Nack and Rouge had told him screamed that this wasn't something he could rush into and hope to beat with his own abilities; if Seraph was as dangerous as he'd heard, he'd be the one getting hammered. To take his mind of the situation, the blue blur went over to Shadow as the black hedgehog peered all round; this was his first time up here he remembered.
"So, what d'ya think to the Floating Island then Shads? Pretty cool huh?"
What the hell; Floating Island? Nack was befuddled by this statement from the hedgehog he recognised from the news as Sonic. Knuckles noticed this with a stab of panic – the less the weasel discovered about this place the better in his eyes. The echidna quietly approached Sonic and breathed out the corner of his mouth,
"Nack doesn't know the island's in the air; call it Angel Island". Sonic span to face him, only just remembering to lower his voice,
"How the hell could he not notice it, unless…"
"Rouge blindfolded him on the way in" the echidna answered before reaching a conclusion and raising his voice, "right, there's only one place I can think of where we'll all fit. Follow me and stick close together". When the echidna was sure Nack was looking away, Knuckles motioned to Sonic again,
"Don't let Nack know about the Floating Island unless it's necessary. Tell the others, right". Sonic nodded assent and hitched his rucksack over one shoulder, moving to keep Tails within his sight as the kit, realising the walker mode of the Tornado would just leave a trail for their pursuer to follow, moved and activated the security devices he'd built in. As the locks were fully deployed, the fox hopped down to the floor and smiled grimly; he had a few surprises of his own should he get a chance to use them.
The group of seven set off towards Knuckle's supposed haven, Knuckles in the lead and Shadow close behind him. Rouge and Amy were next, overseen by Tails and Nack, while Sonic unusually walked rear guard. The hedgehog was hating this; in normal circumstances he'd have shuttled all of them wherever Knuckles wanted to go in minutes, less with Shadow around, but under these circumstances his supersonic booms would only have alerted Seraph to the destination. He shrugged; he might not have liked it, but he stuck to the job like glue – he had already seen what had happened when their opponent had the advantage of surprise and vowed not to let it happen again. There was too much at stake; Seraph was a killer and if he managed to get a shot at them, at Tails, or even Amy, he didn't think he'd be able to live with himself. As he glanced around the bushes to his rear, Knuckles came to a halt and threw up a hand, eyes narrowed. Shadow stopped in time and whispered,
"What's up?" The black hedgehog tensed for a fight as Knuckles answered in a tone like velvet edged with steel,
"I thought I heard something; get Rouge". His answer was a single nod and a scuffling of feet. His eyes never left the track in front until he heard the bat's voice,
"What is it?"
"Can you hear anything?" he asked, motioning the rest to total silence as the bat strained her ears, trying to catch the faintest hint of any unnatural noise. After a couple of seconds, she shook her head,
"No, nothing out the ordinary, let's keep going". Knuckles waved the rest on as Rouge moved ahead slightly.
"Why'd you do it?" The quiet question caught Rouge off guard; she simply looked at Knuckles blankly.
"What?" The echidna turned to face her, eyes calculating as if sizing her up,
"I asked why'd you do it; why did you jump in front of me and Seraph?" The echidna's voice was quiet and she realised he wanted to keep this conversation private; she moved a little closer to him, pretending to be trying to listen for an imagined sound as her mind desperately tried to remember why. There had been a reason but she'd somehow contrived to have forgotten it in all the excitement of nearly getting gutted like a fish.
"Er, I, um, I did it because", ah, that'd do, "he wouldn't have hurt me". The answer caught Knuckles like a slap in the face; he was completely floored as Rouge came up with a decent explanation on the fly.
"Nack said that Jess had been kidnapped and I realised that Seraph wasn't out to kill. He wants us both alive; he couldn't risk hitting me with a knife, so he'd have to get away". Knuckles tried to reason with this but in the end gave up; it might have made sense, but then; he shrugged and simply said,
"Whatever, thanks anyway". What the hell was I thinking; she'd never even look at me twice.
You idiot – he practically gift wrapped that for you and you still blew it – I, I – I nothing, that was poor even for you, you're afraid of the true answer – why you… Both treasure hunters looked away from each other as Knuckles moved ahead slightly, looking for landmarks that would have shown him he was getting closer to his destination while Rouge maintained her façade of listening. Neither was aware that their entire conversation had been heard and recorded for future reference.
Too close for comfort, Seraph consulted a single scanning device that pinged away merrily, the light green glow from its display lending a sickly pallor to the black of his mask. Switching off the tracker and tapping the receiving bead in his ear, the former guild member swiftly plotted a course that ran parallel to his targets but remained separate enough to avoid detection. Movement was swift and silent, the emotionless monster brushing aside thorn bushes and taking cuts with no complaint; as it had been for the past seven years, any pain he may have felt as the blood flowed was completely crushed by the need for efficiency.
Nack sighed as he moved forwards; at least they were out of that bit of forest now. He felt naked and vulnerable without the gun by his side; it had been a part of him for too long for him not to miss it. Silently swearing every kind of bloody vengeance he could possibly think of on Seraph, he looked up and yelped, springing back as something large and pink bobbed up and down in front of him. Amy looked over the shoulder that didn't have the Piko Piko hammer slung over it.
"What?" Unable to speak for a minute, Nack simply raised a shaking finger and pointed at the so far inert hammer.
"Oh this", Amy mentioned nonchalantly, "this is my hammer; I always keep it close just in case". Regaining his voice, the weasel gave a long suffering sigh,
"Right, any other surprises I should know about; I know you can move quick" he said before Sonic could open his mouth. Tails waited, but as it became obvious Nack wasn't saying anything else, he stepped forwards,
"Well, I can fly a bit". Noting Nack's disbelieving glance, the kit shrugged off his backpack and twisted his tails, taking to the air and hovering in the air for a few seconds before sinking gently back to terra firma. He smiled sweetly as the weasel's jaw worked soundlessly for a second, eyes simply failing to believe what he'd just seen before he squeaked,
"No, no way".
"Yes way", the fox said gently; this wasn't the first time he'd had this reaction to his unusual gift, "useful skill; keeps me outta trouble, you know". The weasel just nodded and decided next time he'd just keep his mouth shut as both Tails and Amy smiled.
Flight capacity noted in one target and one protector. Track down target movement. Plot most likely course of action.
Moving more swiftly than his targets, Seraph had managed to get ahead of them and second guess their strategy. Though they outnumbered him seven to one, the mission had not changed. It would just take more time to achieve his aims; time meant little to him as his final vengeance moved closer to hand. The sight before him was not what he'd expected, but he swiftly realised allowed him to begin his methods more quickly and effectively than he'd previously estimated.
