AN: Hey guys, I'm back! Thank you so much to Destinyxo, Janttun3n, aliciathewolf45, guest, Little Fudge and CrimsonLove16 for the reviews. They keep me going and give me inspiration and a drive to update faster. I hope you like the next chapter. Remember to leave me a review!
•~•
The next morning, Amy woke up from a good night's sleep and headed downstairs in her sky-blue nurse scrubs and towards the kitchen. When she got downstairs, she noticed how eerily quiet it was. When she walked into the kitchen, she saw Rouge dressed in similar feminine biker attire from the day before, and sitting on a stool at one of the kitchen counters enjoying a hot cup of coffee. "Morning," she smiled.
"Morning," Rouge mimicked, raising her cup of Joe. "Did you sleep well?"
Amy walked over to the coffee pot and grabbed one of the cups from the cabinet and poured herself a cup. "I did actually." She took a cautious sip. "So, are the guys out for the day?"
"Some of them," Rouge replied. "Mighty, Gadget, Locke, and Manic are in the repair shop working on some client's vehicles, and Shadow, Mephiles, and Knuckles are out conducting a business run as usual."
"Oh, I see. So, in the meantime, is there anything I can do around here?" she offered.
"No worries, hun. Since you don't have any patients feel free to work on your courses, or you could always organize your office to your preference," Rouge suggested. "It'll be pretty quiet around here at times, but you'll also have some very hectic moments, too. Trust me on that…" she chuckled.
•~•
Meanwhile, far off from the compound, Shadow, Mephiles, and Knuckles stood before a crime scene of their burned storage unit that carried and stored their illegal arms. It was located far off the outskirts of the city and had been burned to a crisp. Smoke continued to bellow off the ashes leftover on the ground. As the group of guys walked around assessing the damage, a few of them took observation on something rather sketchy. All of their weapons had been taken and they had not been able to find any remnants of burned guns anywhere on the premise. Standing behind the yellow tape was thirty-five-year-old Vector, a tall, green, muscular crocodile in a white button-up shirt, black trousers, red tie, and dark knitted trench coat. He jotted down notes on his small note pad as Shadow and his crew approached him.
"What's the deal here, Vector?" Shadow questioned.
"Ah, Shadow! It's about time," Vector proclaimed.
Shadow crossed his arms over his chest. "Get to the point."
"Well, right now, we're saying it was a propane gas leak," Vector commented. "However, I know that this here is arson," he whispered using his hand to keep his voice down from his co-workers overhearing.
"And where is our merchandise?" Mephiles questioned, looking for charred remains.
"That's the issue here," a purple chameleon interjected as he sauntered over. He was Vector's assistant detective and partner. "It appears whoever burned down your facility did a clean sweep of all your supply before burning down the place to cover their tracks."
"…Shit," Shadow cursed. "We don't need G.U.N's A.T.F sector coming out and sniffing around. They're already chomping at the bits to get us," he grumbled with irritation.
"Hey, Shadow, man. You know we're on your side here," Vector gestured with a sly grin. "Espio and I know how to stray the path to keep your club outta trouble. You know that we've always got your back," he winked.
"I know, I know," Shadow replied. "You've helped us for years now. I'll wire some more money to you on Friday."
While the group stood before the crime scene, Knuckles watched as a young teen bee navigated through the rubble with a pair of gloves and facemask on off in the distance. "Aye, who's the kid?"
Vector turned around to look at the young bumblebee. "Oh, him? That's just Charmy. He's our three-month intern. You don't have to worry about him, he's harmless," he dismissed.
Mephiles eyed the young boy suspiciously. "He's not some valiant, justice-seeking, golden boy we have to worry about?"
"Not particularly," Espio noted. "He's mostly just an oblivious little idiot."
Vector nudged his assistant detective and laughed at his observation. "He's right about him, but let me tell yah, the real person you want to watch out for is that guy," he pointed discreetly. The three craned their necks in unison only to spot a silver hedgehog in a police uniform strutting about the crime scene with an eagle eye and directing other officers.
Knuckles shuffled his hands into his pockets and raised a brow. "What is so concerning about him?"
"He's new to our patrol. He was transferred over from Soleanna and was top of his class. He's been working his way up the ranks and has a keen eye to detail. He's not the type of official that can be easily persuaded," Espio explained carefully. "He's your basic justice fighting hero and he's already gotten a few sniffs of your scent," he alluded.
Mephiles grimaced by the information. They had always been able to get away with a lot with their insiders on the police force, but every now and then they'd have to deal with a new officer just like this one—moral, correct, and fair. They especially didn't need to deal with this in such a crucial time for their business endeavors.
The officer they had been gossiping about spotted the group of bikers staring in his direction and walked towards them with a confident stride.
Keeping his composure, Shadow refrained from showing any hesitancy. The grey hedgehog raised his black aviators away from his eyes and hooked them onto the front of his collar. "So, this is the infamous Brothers of Chaos, huh?" he observed eyeing their decorative matching biker jackets.
"You a fan?" Shadow cracked passively with a smirk.
Silver kept his neutral expression as he eyed the other males. "Not quite. However, I have heard a lot about your club. You seem to have been involved in a lot of victim crimes, yet, it shows in your files that you're always clean from any involvement of retaliation," he noted skeptically.
"Reading up on us, huh? Kind of sounds like a fan to me," Shadow noted. "What's your name again, officer? I don't believe I caught it."
"My name is Silver," he introduced, extending his hand out.
Shadow shook the officer's hand. "I'm Shadow, the V.P of the club."
"And I'm Mephiles, the President," he introduced and moved his brother to the side. Mephiles stepped forward to take over the conversation. "You see, sir, we're just a group of friends that formed a brotherhood bond," he replied innocently. "We enjoy riding our bikes and doing auto repairs for our town, that's all."
Silver eyed him skeptically. "…Yeah, I bet," he nodded with doubt.
"Ahem," Vector interjected looking to Silver. "Sir, we've gathered all evidence that leads us to believe this fire was based on a propane leak."
Silver took Vector's notebook and scanned the notes. "Huh, that's funny, because my guys covering the south end of the C.S have found bullet casings and a few burnt illegal semi-automatic rifles left behind, leading me to believe they were being held in this warehouse of yours," he noted, eying the group accusingly.
"If you're trying to insinuate something, you're wrong, officer. Our warehouse held spare auto parts shipped from overseas," Shadow defended calmly.
"I didn't find any remains of automobile parts," he countered.
"Perhaps, whoever did this, stole them and tried to set up the scene to look like a gas leak and set us up," Shadow surmised calmly.
Silver placed his sunglasses back over his eyes, shielding his pupils. "Well, if I do my job, correctly, I guess we'll both find out the truth, won't we, Shadow?" The two stared each other down in a heated stare off. Both of them knew Shadow was bullshitting for some illegal agenda. Silver was way too smart to fall for their tricks and seeing what he was up against, it'd be hard work to get enough substantial evidence to book them.
"…Yes," Shadow finally replied. "I assume we will," he rebutted. Espio and Vector eyed each other watching the exchange go down. Their job protecting the club was about to get a lot harder from here on out.
"Right," he nodded backing up and keeping his eyes locked on the vice president. "Well, nice meeting you, boys. We'll notify you if we find anything else. In the meantime, I'm sorry for your warehouse. I hope you have decent insurance to cover your losses." With that, the hedgehog wandered off, leaving the group alone again.
Once he was out of earshot, Knuckles exhaled a sigh. "Well, he's gonna be a HUGE pain in the ass…isn't he?"
Mephiles frowned at his retreating figure. "Most definitely…"
•~•
Returning to the house, the boys headed into their dining room area to discuss their assumed suspects of interest. With a map laid out of the city, Mephiles' finger traced the map of possible locations where their stash of weapons had been taken. In the meantime, in the kitchen, Amy sat on one of the stools at the bar area with her laptop. With some books laid out on the countertop, and a pad of paper beside them, she worked diligently on her studies. However, unbeknownst to the boys, she had a pretty good position of eavesdropping in on the biker's meeting.
"Now," Mephiles began. "We have three possible suspects: The Babylon Rogues, the Suppression Squad, or the Deadly Sixers."
"The Babylon Rogues have always been known to play dirty with their transactions and obtainment of merchandise, it'd be easy to assume they were the ones that stole our supply," Shadow deduced out loud. "Yet, they're not as showy with their robberies."
"Yeah, but maybe, that's what they want us to think," Manic piped in.
"You know, as idiotic and conspiracy theory concluding as he is, I think Manic may be onto something," Mighty added. "The Rogues are an easy scapegoat. They're known for their theft and it'd be very clever for another group to have us go at them and start another war with an opposing gang, even if they're innocent."
"If this is true, then that leaves us with the Suppression Squad and the Deadly Sixers," Mephiles motioned.
Shadow stroked his chin as he contemplated his theory. "The Deadly Sixers are strong in muscle, but they're not very good for their strategic play. They'd be more the type to rob us in person more so than in clandestine."
"I think I must agree with my younger brother here," Mephiles concurred. "We've been tight competitors with the Suppression Squad for years now with selling our merchandise."
Knuckles glanced at his phone, "We may be onto something, fellas. Intel from our local snitch insists that he overheard the Suppression's plan to sabotage our warehouse."
"Let me see that," Shadow commanded.
Knuckles handed over his phone and allowed Shadow to read the message exchanged between him and their intel operator.
In the kitchen, Amy seemed intrigued by the conversation happening in the next room over. It sounded like they had some sort of gang war happening with opposing biker clubs. Whatever it was that this club sold, it must have been something rather pricey if they were getting this wound up over it being stolen.
Back in the dining room, Shadow finished texting back for more info. He received another message on Knuckles' phone and glanced down at the map on the table. "He just sent me the location for their alleged temporary warehouse unit. We'll make a plan and attack tonight to get our supply back."
"Sounds good. We have about three hours to get ready. We'll gear up and meet outside at eight," Mephiles announced. "Meeting dismissed."
"Do you need me to come?" Locke questioned. "It's just, my back has been acting up all day…"
Mephiles shook his head. "No, you can stay back on this one. I think we've got it covered."
Hearing their meeting come to a close from the kitchen, Amy scrambled and grabbed her phone and headphones and plugged them in to pretend she hadn't been listening. Right on cue, Shadow sauntered into the kitchen and spotted the pink female reading from a textbook. He paused in the doorway, wondering how much she had overheard. "Hey, you," he spoke, trying to catch her attention.
Amy reached up and unplugged her earbuds innocently, feigning ignorance. "I'm sorry, did you need something?"
Shadow eyed her suspiciously for a moment before shaking his head. "…No, never mind." He walked past her and reached for the fridge handle and opened it up. He eyed for the beers and reached in for a cold one. Grabbing the bottle, he used the edge of the counter Amy was sitting at to crack open the beer cap. Amy gasped as droplets of beer splattered onto her textbook along with the loose cap. "Hey, watch it! This is an expensive book."
Shadow showed no empathy and instead stared at her before taking a swig of his drink and exiting the kitchen. Amy glared at his retreating figure before getting off her stool and grabbing some paper towels to blot up the fizzy substance. "Jerk," she mumbled under her breath.
"Ignore him," another voice piped in. Amy glanced up from her cleaning only to spot Rouge casually leaning in the doorframe. "I don't know what crawled up his ass, but he's not worth your time."
She tossed the used paper towels into the bin. "I haven't even done anything to him, and I can already tell he has it out for me."
"Shadow's always been very particular when it comes to new people. It takes a long time for him to trust others," she explained.
Amy rubbed her left arm awkwardly as another thought crossed her mind. "Hey, Rouge…"
"Yeah?"
Her ears lowered. "I, um, heard you defending me last night to him. I've never really had anyone do that for me, let alone, practically a stranger."
Rouge looked surprised to learn Amy had overheard the argument she and Shadow had last night. "Oh, geez, I'm sorry you had to hear what that dick said, but I still stand by my belief. On paper, you are a good medic, Amy. Don't let this one guy try to run you out of here, okay?"
Amy nodded. "I've had plenty of patients in my experience that have tried to tear me down. It's just a bit different when I'm living with them 24/7," she smiled uncomfortably at the thought.
"Well, he's gonna have to get used to having you around."
Suddenly, Locke appeared in the kitchen and looked at the two girls. "Sorry to interrupt your conversation, ladies, but I was hoping I could get some assistance from Ms. Rose."
Amy rose from her seat. "Of course."
•~•
In her office, Locke sat on the edge of the examination table shirtless, while Amy did a basic examination on the echidna. "How long has your back been bothering you then?" she inquired politely, while she listened to his heartbeat with her stethoscope.
"My back has always given me issues," he replied. "But for the last two days, it's really flared up. It's because I'm old I'm afraid," he chuckled.
Amy removed her stethoscope and rested it around her neck. "Even young people can have back problems, it's not always necessarily due to age," she informed. "Where specifically is it bothering you?"
He moved his right arm behind him and pointed with his finger. "Right here, especially."
Amy moved around him and noticed it was his lower back mostly located on the right side. "Tell me, do you feel a shooting pain run down your leg or up your back ever?" She placed her hand in the location and pressed lightly on and around it to search for anything peculiar.
He nodded. "Chaos, all the time. It's especially bad when I stand up sometimes."
"Well, I'm happy to inform this is more than likely nothing but a flare-up of sciatica. It's just nerve pain. Luckily, there are a few stretches I can perform today that should alleviate some of the pain without you having to take any medication."
Locke shrugged. "Hey, I'm up for anything to help this damn back pain."
Amy smiled. "Lay down on your back for me and I'll perform the stretches on you."
Carefully, Amy helped ease Locke back down onto the examination table before heading for his feet dangling off the edge. She lifted up his right leg and bent it up at a ninety-degree angle. "I'm just going to move your leg back and forth from completely straight into this bent position. Okay?"
"Alright."
"Let me know if it hurts," she reminded.
While Amy performed the stretches, Locke looked up at the ceiling with thoughts lingering on his mind. "You know Ms. Rose…have you ever considered what you've gotten yourself into by working for this club?"
Amy continued to bend his leg in and out. "I have weighed the pros and cons," she confirmed. "Why?"
"It's just…I've been in this club for a long time. I was here at the very beginning with Shadow and Mephiles' father when he ran the club. It has changed an awful lot over the years under Mephiles' reign and it's become more precarious too."
"I'm sure I can handle whatever is thrown my way," she assured as she moved over to the left leg to perform another few leg stretches. "But what was their dad like?" she questioned, eager to change the topic of her safety.
"Oh, their dad was great. He made this club to unite us all under the idea of brotherhood. He wanted us to do volunteer work and give back to our community," he reminisced. "Boy, those were the good old days…"
Amy moved over and helped flip him over onto his stomach. Her hands began to knead his back in the area that caused him pain. "What happened to him?"
"Ah…he died in a bad motorcycle accident I'm afraid," he informed. "I lost a great life-long friend that day," he sighed sadly.
"I'm so sorry for your loss," she replied.
"How did his sons take his death?" Amy inquired curiously.
"Shadow took it the hardest, but Mephiles seemed to recover quickly. Mephiles has always been more stoic with these types of things. Shadow acts brave, but he's deeply emotional."
"I see…"
"It's been at least eight years since he's been gone. You would've liked him; he was a great fella." Locke reached back and placed a hand on his lower back. "Hey, you weren't kidding about those stretches. I'm feelin' better already," he beamed.
Amy giggled. "That's great to hear. If it flares up again let me know and we can do the stretches again."
Locke moved back into a seated position and faced Amy. "Thank you nurse for tending an old man, like myself."
"It was no problem," she smiled.
•~•
Later that night, the Brothers of Chaos drove out to the inner city, where they'd find the Suppression's warehouse. Instead of riding their bikes out to the location, the group decided it'd be best to drive one of their vans to appear more inconspicuous. That way, they'd be able to load the merchandise and arrive in disguise. Once arriving together as one unit, the group parked their large white van out back behind the warehouse. Shadow opened the back doors of the van and hopped out with a Glock 19 drawn and at the ready, Mighty, Gadget, and Manic hopped out behind their V.P following closely behind and armed.
Meanwhile, Mephiles remained in the driver's seat, while Knuckles sat up in the passenger's seat. The two got out once Shadow's group rounded the backside of the building and disappeared. Mephiles and Knuckles walked straight ahead armed with their own Glocks looking for a side entrance. The plan was to find two different entrances and meet up to ambush potential guards inside.
Knuckles and Mephiles stopped from rounding the corner and ducked down behind some wooden crates when they spotted two-armed Suppression guards on duty in front of the main entrance. A brown and black lynx stood with a compact rifle drawn and ready as he scoped the scene. Next to him, was his partner, a green, dodgy-looking frog, carrying a similar weapon at the ready.
"Shit," Knuckles muttered quietly.
"Hey," Mephiles whispered. "Don't get worked up over two guards. We're here to take our shit back and send a message. Let me handle this."
Knuckles watched as Mephiles reached down and picked up a rock off the road and then an old looking dirty sheet. He handed Knuckles the rock. "Throw this at the dumpster when I give you the signal, okay?"
Knuckles nodded and watched as Mephiles rushed over to the said dumpster, laid down on top of some full garbage bags sat next to the dumpster, and draped the sheet over him to conceal his presence. Mephiles stuck his hand out and waved in Knuckles' direction to signal him. Obliging, Knuckles chucked the rock at the dumpster making a loud echo. The two guards came running around the corner to confront their potential threat. Knuckles aimed at the frog as he kept himself concealed behind the wooden crates and successfully shot the frog in the head taking him out.
The lynx slammed on his brakes as he looked at his fallen comrade before aiming his weapon out in front of him looking for the threat. His eyes were met with an empty alleyway, but his heart sank when he felt cold metal press up against the back of his neck. "Don't move," the voice commanded. It was Mephiles who had snuck out of his hiding position while the lynx had been looking for Knuckles.
"Look, I don't want any trouble," he vowed, raising his arms slowly.
Knuckles came out from his hiding position with his weapon aimed in the lynx's direction.
"Yes, I'm sure you don't. Now drop your weapon," he commanded.
Growling, the lynx dropped his assault rifle onto the road and kept his hands raised.
"You don't steal from the Brothers and get away with it lightly."
BANG.
The lynx crumbled to his knees as he was shot through the throat. Knuckles watched as a pool of blood formed under his body. However, their revenge wasn't long before another two shots rang out. Knuckles howled in pain as he was shot twice in the back. Mephiles aimed his weapon to another Suppression member standing at the far end of the alleyway behind Knuckles with his weapon drawn.
Mephiles was quick to shoot though and managed to shoot him in the leg, hindering him temporarily. The president rushed over to his friend to assess the damage. "Are you okay?"
Knuckles groaned and nodded quickly. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'm wearing the bulletproof vest tonight thankfully…"
"Chaos…" His reptilian eyes shot over to the wounded male writhing on the road. "Now, as for you." He strutted over to the other end of the alleyway to get a good look at his next victim. It happened to be just a young boy, perhaps a new recruit for the biker gang. He was a green duck with a name patch sewed into his jacket that read: Bean. "No mercy for the wicked here." BANG.
Mephiles took another clean shot straight between the kid's eyebrows.
Shadow and the other three came running out from around the corner. "Chaos, we leave you for five minutes and you already get into trouble," Shadow panted as he saw the two.
Mighty looked at the three bodies they had taken down. "Damn, looks like it was a party over here."
Shadow eyed Knuckles clutching his right side. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Shadow. I got shot twice and I'm going to have some rather painful bruises on my backside, but I'll be fine."
"That's good to hear. Speaking of which, all our stuff is here plus some of their own supply. We can pull the truck around back and start loading."
Mephiles looked intrigued as a wicked thought came across. "Excellent, now I say we take half of their supply for our expense and then burn their warehouse down to the ground just like they did to ours," he suggested.
"Isn't that just going to cross the lines and really set the tone for war," Shadow theorized, not as keen on the idea. They were here to get their stuff back, not try to ignite the flames even more.
"They messed with the wrong people. We need to show some dominance in this, brother," he tsked.
"Yeah, but I just think-"
"—Ah, ah, ah," Mephiles cut off condescendingly. "Who is the president here?"
Shadow turned his head away in defeat. His brother would have the last say in this. "…You are," he droned.
"That's right, now be a good boy and fetch the car," he instructed.
Shadow walked over to retrieve the car while Mephiles looked at the rest of his crew. "Now, the rest of you let's head back inside and start loading up."
•~•
Watching TV in the living room, the two girls, plus Locke watched some television together. Locke sat in one of the lounge chairs, under a blanket, and completely out in a deep sleep for the evening. Amy's ears twitched when she heard the sound of motorcycle engines making their way into the compound. Rouge placed her right arm over the back of the couch and turned her body slightly to look behind her. "Sounds like the boys are back."
On cue, the front door opened and Mighty, Gadget, and Manic were seen carrying in large wooden crates. The two boys plopped the crates in the living room and headed back out, seemingly to get more. The next two to bring in another round were Shadow and Knuckles who also wandered into the living room to dump their load. Rouge blinked in surprise and stood upright. "What in the hell is going on here?"
Mephiles walked in next and put his hands out. "Now, now, don't get your panties in a twist, my dear. This is only temporary," he pledged.
Amy eyed the boxes suspiciously. Just what exactly was in these crates anyway? This must have been the supply she kept hearing references to from earlier.
"We cannot harbor that shit here," she bellowed. "It takes one innocent visit by a customer or an officer and we're done!"
Knuckles walked over and placed his hands on her shoulders to calm his wife down. "Babe, we know," he assured. "But because our warehouse was destroyed, we need somewhere to keep goods until we can find a new home for assembly and distribution."
"He's right," Shadow piped in. "I sure as hell don't want this stuff lying around but we really have no other choice. Come tomorrow, we plan to start scoping out for a new place to store them."
Rouge crossed her arms over her chest and glanced off to the side. "They better be out of the house in one week…"
"We promise to have them out in five," Mephiles pledged before turning on his heel and leaving along with the others.
"Five?" Rouge repeated in astonishment. She began to follow after the bunch. "Now, just wait a god damn minute, Mephiles!"
Watching the rest of the group wander out of the room. Amy was left alone with her curiosity getting the best of her. Glancing over to Locke, who was still completely out, she quietly tip-toed over to one of the crates and lifted the lid up to see what was inside. At first, all she could see was shredded bits of mulch but eventually, her hand grazed something cold and metal. She gripped ahold of whatever was inside and lifted it from its disguise only to realize it was some sort of automatic rifle that was disassembled into pieces. So that was it then, they were selling guns!
She quickly placed the lid back and backed up. Just then she heard a breaking news signal from the T.V. She walked closer to the television and saw the live video footage of a burning storage unit. A newscaster stood in on a corner as the building burned in the background shot. Firefighters were busy putting out the fire.
"I'm standing on the corner of 38th street and main and as you can see behind me a local storage unit is currently burning. Authorities were called to the scene only fifteen minutes ago and they're already calling this a homicide. Several bodies of the notorious biker club The Suppression Squad remains were found behind the burning building. Names have not been identified, but police are currently begging the public to call if you have any information regarding the murder and arson that took place here."
"What a shame…" a voice said from behind her.
Amy spun around only to spot Mephiles staring at her. "That building has been here since I was a boy. I wonder who could've done such an atrocity...?" he hummed innocently before walking off. Amy watched him wander out of the room. It was strange, just by his tone, it seemed like Mephiles wanted her to figure out their true career path. He was practically egging her on to continue being curious.
•~•
At that same time, back in Tech City, things were quite gruesome in an apartment complex. Lying face down on the floor, a green seedrian nurse laid dead in her kitchen. With her eyes still open, despite her demise, her neck harbored fresh strangulation marks—the indication of her death. In the living room, her attacker rummaged through her belongings. Cosmo's wallet, keys, and any other items found in her purse were strewn all over the room.
A gloved hand reached into her purse finally finding the item they were looking for—Cosmo's cellphone. They walked over to Cosmo's dead body and unlocked the cellphone by using her fingerprint. Once it was unlocked the assailant scrolled through the contacts list searching desperately for a specific individual. Eventually, they came across the contact: "A.R." Pulling out their own cellphone in their other hand, the figure quickly copied the phone number into their own contacts list. Once finished, the figure dropped her cellphone back down onto the carpet and snatched up her wallet and placed it in their back pocket. They wanted this to appear like a robbery gone wrong.
The figure walked around the apartment complex looking for a few other prized possessions to steal to keep up the act of robbery, before stopping by one of the walls in the hallway. As they looked up, they noticed one of the photos of a pink hedgehog embracing the now dead female seedrian in the kitchen. Their eyes narrowed as they stared at the picture before continuing down the hall.