WARNING!

Attention! This chapter contains two small paragraphs, that might be too gross and graphic for some people- They are marked like this paragraph. Please don't read them, if you are sensitive, thank you.

END OF WARNING!


3: The stolen heart

Sonic looked past her at hearing that and saw the forest ending, revealing a crossroad several meters behind it. A second way, just like theirs, led in a right angle past them and to the big building on their left.

Where the ways crossed, stood a small hut out of stone, that was open in the front and otherwise enclosed by brick walls.

Wouldn't it have been for the desk and chairs, that fit perfectly in the room, or the doors in all three walls, it would have looked like a very old bus station. Nobody was in the room right now, but on the flat wooden roof sat a very well known red, black and yellow armadillo, his legs dangling off the ledge, his head propped on his right hand, his elbow resting on his knee.

"Mighty!," Tails called excitedly, but the older male didn't react. He just stared into space, seemingly deep in thought. It was odd to see him this quiet.

They reached the hut, that was most likely there to house some kind of guard during rain, but Mighty was still not reacting to their presence. Scythe scowled up to him.

"I'll try waking him.," Tails declared and wanted to lift up, but Scythe stopped him. "Let me." She jumped up from where she had stood and landed easily on the roof, right next to Mighty, who was still oblivious to everything.

She slowly stretched out her hand, hesitated for a heartbeat, before making up her mind, reached him and tapped on his head.

The reaction was instant. Mighty whipped around and had hit Scythe, before he had really realized it. A sickening crack echoed through the following silence, while Scythe got thrown off the hut and landed behind it.

The sound of her body colliding with the ground seemed to wake them all up out of the stupor.

"Scythe!" Silver rushed to his friend's side, where Mighty landed shortly after, pale like a ghost, his blue eyes widened in pure shock. It had been ages, since he had hurt someone – and now, it had even been a friend of his! How could he do this!? How could he EVER look in her eyes again!? In those of his friends? He was a monster...!

"Scythe, Scythe, are you hurt!?", Silver asked, scared, while he knelt next to the still unmoving girl.

Scythe groaned and stirred. "Fine...," she growled, while pushing herself up with her left arm. Her right one was obviously broken, it hung uselessly and in an odd angle from her shoulder.

"Y-your arm!," Silver squeaked in shock, while Mighty turned rather green at the sight, his chest rising and falling rapidly, while he started to hyperventilate, fighting – and losing – to try and get his nerves back under control.

"No worries." Scythe had somehow managed to stand up again. She gritted her teeth, while her broken arm suddenly moved, as if something big crawled around in it, which looked rather creepy and had Amy and Tails back off behind Knuckles, who looked grossed out by the sight.

If Sonic, whose stomach was rumbling uncomfortably while seeing this, had to guess, then he would say, that she forced her bone cells back together with her ability as a shapeshifter.

The movement under her skin stopped after a good minute and she moved her arm in all directions to check the result.

"Perfect.," she grinned proudly. She turned to the silently crying Silver, who still knelt on the ground, and patted his head. "Don't worry so much, okay? Healing wounds like that is easy for me, it doesn't hurt anymore, either." Silver nodded, rubbing his eyes with his fists. "Good."

Swiftly, Scythe whipped around to Mighty, who avoided her glare, still breathing rather fast. "Scythe, I-," he started with a trembling voice, but interrupted himself, not sure, what he should say.

With two steps, the tall hedgette had crossed the space between them, pulled her newly healed arm back and buried her fist in his abdomen.

Coughing, both in shock, and because the hit took his breath away, the armadillo collapsed on his knees, holding his middle.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?," Scythe snarled, towering over him, while he recovered, gasping for air.

"If I hadn't strengthened my bones, I would be mush now! The fox wanted to wake you first – what would have happened to him, huh?" Mighty's breath hitched in shock and Tails', too. He hadn't thought about that...

Scythe crouched on his eye level. "I told you, didn't I? I told you, that if you keep doing this, you would lose your progress – and now, look at you."

"I know." Hissing slightly, Mighty stood up, still holding his abdomen. "You really punch like a girl.," he smirked weakly.

Scythe chuckled, while she stood up, too. "If you say so. Now, do you know a way against your demons, or not?"

"Yeah. I just need to see him once more, that's all.," Mighty explained, straightening. Both seemed to have forgotten, that they had an audience.

"Uhuh. Yeah, I so believe that. You will probably bash in his head and that's it. A less elegant way to solve your problems, though, I'm tempted, too – I just don't want to make the poor lawyers work more.," the hedgette mocked.

"I'm serious here, Scythe.," Mighty insisted. "Yeah, whatever." The tall hedgehog girl shrugged, she obviously had trouble with believing him.

Her right ear twitched and turned a little. "I have no idea, if I'm making it worse, but – he's coming. From south.," she explained, pointing through the hut, along the path, that would lead straight away from the building.

Mighty's glare darkened. "Be back in five.," he growled and ran past the friends, seemingly without noticing it, and down the path Scythe had shown him.

"What's wrong with Mighty?," Tails wondered, once he was out of eyesight. "I thought, that he was fine!," he added, almost accusingly in Scythe's direction.

"Last time I saw him, he was. But Mighty always had the annoying habit to make our problems to his. I should have known, that he would overdo it," the scythe fighter explained, rolling her eyes. Well, that explained, why they had been so cryptic before, she was still keeping Shy's problem a secret.

"Scythe...," Silver's thin voice drew attention to him and everyone turned around. "I...I thought, that you and Mighty...were friends..." Confusion and fear were written in his wide, expressive eyes.

"He is.," Scythe replied, raising a brow. She didn't like it, when someone, who she had come to like, feared her.

"B-but you hit him!" It was obvious, that Silver had some concepts concerning friendship – and violence wasn't a part of it.

"Just to level him. He was spiraling in a panic, because he hurt one of his friends. I know, that only pain helps, if he is like that. We had several cases, where he had almost hurt someone and panicked, so we know, what to do. Besides, I didn't hit him hard, or he wouldn't be running like that."

"So...you helped him?," Silver asked slowly, trying to understand that. "Yes. Sometimes, you have to be hard on your friends to help them. It is a way of showing care."

Silver frowned. "I...I don't think, that I could ever do that...," he stuttered, insecure. "You don't have to. Look, if one of my friends would be sad or need a hug, they would know, that they can't come to me, because I'm not a hugging-type...and comfort isn't my forte, either. But I bet, that all of your friends could come to you for a hug."

Silver nodded rapidly. "Yeah, anytime.," he confirmed. "See? My friends know, that I'll always back them up and that is, why they will come to me, but if they search for comfort, they will come to the likes of you."

Silver nodded slowly. "I think...I understand you now. So, you have to sometimes say uncomfortable things to your friends, too, right?," he asked, as if to clarify it. "Yes, exactly.," Scythe affirmed.

Tails expected Sonic to explain to Silver, that appearing on Angel Island and convincing him to come here was one of those times, but the hero didn't.

Surprised from this unusual stillness, Tails looked for him, to make sure, that everything was alright, but...

"Guys, where is Sonic?," he asked, letting everyone look around for the hero.


Sonic hadn't liked the look on Mighty's face, when he had taken off, so he sneaked … well, jogged after him. The armadillo was so lost in thought and eager to meet this someone, that he didn't notice him anyway.

The way to yet another set of gates was shorter, than that of the path they had come. When the gates came into view, so did a figure, that just passed them.

It was a human, a young, lean man with short black hair, that looked pretty much plastered to his head. He wore a dark blue suit with fitting long pants and had his hands buried in his pockets. He walked, as if the place belonged to him, his pale face had an arrogant, overconfident look on it.

His green eyes landed on Mighty coming towards him and he stopped, so did the mobian and also Sonic, who stood far off to not be noticed, but close enough to see and hear everything.

"Human.," Mighty growled with unusual fury. A smirk appeared on the pale lips. "Beast." His voice was as cold as his glare.

"You have no right to be here.," Mighty told him strictly. "So? Is it suddenly a crime to visit family?," the human asked, his voice now, as if he was talking with a little child.

To Sonic's surprise, Mighty smirked suddenly, too. "No, but it is now a crime for you to come here.," he replied, triumph audible in his words.

The smirk fell off the human's face. "What!?," he asked harshly, all humor gone. "You apparently didn't check your mail today, did you? John's lawyers managed to seek the decision of a judge. You and your siblings aren't allowed to get closer than 150 meters to this property OR her. I would suggest, that you go, or I have to remove you myself." Mighty was enjoying this power he had over the human.

Said being gritted his teeth in frustration, his whole body shaking with barely controlled fury.

At once, he whipped around on his heel, turning his back to the mobian. "You've won the battle, but not the war, beast. This isn't over!"

He made a step towards the gate, before he stopped. "I would be careful, if I were you, beast. You know, what happens to rabid animals, don't you?" He turned halfway around again, pulled his right hand, that was closest to Mighty, out of his pocket, directing it towards the armadillo, stretching his thumb and index finger straight out of the fist, with the tip of the index finger pointing to Mighty's head. The threat was obvious, but he spoke it out nonetheless, "They get shot down." He bent his arm upwards at the elbow abruptly, simulating a fired shot.

Mighty didn't react to the death threat, but the human still smirked, put his hand back in his pocket and turned to go.

He stopped, however, when something small hit the ground just millimeters away from the tip of his polished shoe.

He jerked back, having to pull his hands out of his pockets to stretch his arms out and balance himself for a moment, before he looked up.

Sonic did so, too – and saw eight butterfly mobians with wings of all colors. They were all females, wearing dresses, that fit their wing color. They were fluttering in a circle above the human, their wings not interfering with each other.

Each one had a different weapon, either pointed at him, or held threateningly, ready to use them.

"Did you just threaten one of those we were assigned to protect?," the butterfly girl in dark green asked, her gun still pointed at him.

The human swallowed, he started to sweat. "Let this be your first and last warning, human. If we ever see you again next to the armadillo, you won't ever be found.," the butterfly in orange growled, snapping her whip, the sound letting the man flinch.

"And believe me, we are everywhere.," a third butterfly in light blue with a sword in her hand added. And just like that, they were gone, while the human was running towards the gates.

Mighty raised his head. "Don't tell me, that Blush really asked you to watch over me.," he said loudly and the girls appeared again, in the same formation, but now standing around the armadillo, their weapons put away.

"Of course not.," the light blue one answered. "But why should the human know that? Besides, I'm sure, that Blush won't be too mad, that we did give him another reason to never return."

"Probably. By the way, you ARE aware of the fact, that weapons are strictly forbidden here, unless it's for training sessions, right?," the male asked sharply.

"I was practicing,." the girl in green lied with a grin. "Yeah, right. I'm serious here. NO weapons. Got it?" As an answer, the girls vanished again, leaving it to Mighty to shake his head at their behavior.

He stilled, when the green butterfly girl appeared again, this time kneeling, where the bullet had hit the ground. With a small dagger, she was digging out the bullet.

"Why are you-?," the armadillo started, confused. "We DON'T leave traces, ever.," the girl stated matter-of-factually. Having retrieved the piece of metal, she pocketed it and the dagger and put earth back over the hole, until there was little to no trace of someone digging in the first place.

Satisfied, the butterfly straightened, dusting herself of. "I would be careful, if I were you.," she suddenly said. "I've seen men with eyes like him. He won't give up easily and you are in his way. We can't protect you always." With that, she disappeared.

Mighty sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose. "I don't know, if they try to care, or are just saying this for the protocol.," he grumbled and turned around to freeze upon discovering Sonic staring at him.

"Sonic, what are you doing here?," he asked incredulously. "You thought, that I would just let you go, after this stunt with Scythe?," Sonic replied with a frown.

Mighty showed a weak smile. He was grateful, actually, that Sonic had decided to follow him. He was one of the few he trusted to stop him, should he escalate. He saw staying calm always as an achievement, especially in situations like these with the human and those provocatively acting butterflies – but that also meant, that he didn't trust himself, until he saw the result.

Sonic would have tried to stop him with words first, if he would have lost his cool with the human, and only, when he would have realized, that he couldn't reach him like this, battled him.

"So, care to explain?," Sonic asked, nodding his head to where the others were, indicating, that he wanted to talk on the way back.

Mighty complied and came closer, but keeping, after the incident with Scythe, a distance, that let Sonic's instincts pretty much cheer in happiness, deciding, that they liked Mighty currently the most.

"This...human... was maybe Shy's brother.," the armadillo started. Sonic raised a brow. "Maybe?," he repeated.

Mighty sighed tiredly. "Yeah. Long story, I'll start from the beginning." Basically, he had the same position as Scythe concerning the problems of his friends, but he needed to vent now – and he trusted Sonic to keep it a secret.

"Two years ago, when we reached dry land with Angel Island, a few reporters took a picture of me carrying Shy and published it."

Sonic nodded, he remembered that picture, Tails had shown it to him in a newspaper, while he had been recovering from the whole ordeal.

The armadillo had looked deadly serious on the picture, he still remembered that the most, but the strong mobian had kept his glare away from the camera, cradling Shy's limp form close protectively. The teen's head had been bent to the side, the camera had taken a good photo of her pale, relaxed, yet exhausted, face. A young mouse girl and an older human girl, from Tails, Sonic knew, that they were called Emma and Kari, had been caught on the picture, too, while running after him, both also not looking in the camera.

"I didn't think much of it, I just wanted to get us all away. We stayed in the jungle for about a year, before we met Kylie there and she offered us to work here. It was tempting and we wanted for Ray, Kari and Emma to go to school, so we agreed. And that was, when the trouble started."

Mighty paused a moment to rub his most likely hurting head. "Suddenly, there appeared some guy in a suit, claiming to be the lawyer of a pretty wealthy family and said, that Shy would be the long lost heiress of their money and properties. He said, that he had recognized her because of this picture in the newspaper, she looks apparently like 'the deceased last lady of the family'. I saw a picture, and they really look alike, like sisters. But Shy keeps claiming, that she doesn't know those people."

"This whole story sounds strange.," Sonic stated. Mighty nodded. "It does, it doesn't make sense, so I asked this lawyer for more information."

Sonic grinned faintly – he could imagine, that a stressed Mighty 'asking' for more information included a desk destroyed beyond compare... or well, something along those lines.

"This 'heiress' was called Shyra, like Shy's real name is, too, but she was declared dead, when she was three. Her parents died in a burning car wreck and she had been in the car, too, so they had to assume that. From the girl were never found any traces, but they had simply assumed, that she had been burnt to ashes. Her older siblings had been made to the heirs, although the last will had only wanted the youngest one to inherit everything."

"Maybe she survived..." Mighty shook his head. "Even if that's true, there is still the problem with the age difference. The car accident, that had killed the trio, happened nine years ago. If the girl had survived, then she would be twelve years old now. Our Shy is eighteen. I mean, she is definitely looking it and claims to be, so why shouldn't she? Still, this stubborn lawyer insists, that she is the one and only Shyra Mills, heiress of the Mills-wealth, until the opposite is proven. And since there are no official records of Shy whatsoever, this might take a while."

"Okay...and what do you have against her brother...if he is that, that is?" "Since Shy is refusing any DNA-test, that would prove her as a Mills-family member, or not, the whole money and so on was frozen, and the other siblings only get a little bit of it per month, around one thousand mobian dollars. They want more, though, and pressure her into making this test. Once she is proven to not be the heiress, they would get access to the whole amount again. But Shy refuses, adamantly, no matter, what the others and I tried so far to convince her...or these humans. And this guy, Michael, is the worst. He tries everything to get her to comply. Since he threatened to kill Emma and Kari, if she doesn't obey, I'm very keen of getting him away from them. Seems, as if I was successful at last."

Sonic and Mighty both fell silent for a minute, the others coming just into view. "How much... do you know about Shy?," Sonic asked finally.

Mighty chuckled tiredly. "I asked myself that already. We all have our share of secrets, but Shy and her sisters have the biggest. I know, that they are eighteen, ten and thirteen now, the few allergies they have and a few of their dislikes and likes, especially concerning food and sleeping habits, but that's it. I don't know, where they were born, what they did in the jungle, where we met, how they themselves met and became so close – nothing."

"You'll protect her anyway, right?," Sonic asked with a knowing grin. Mighty was like a dog, once he had met someone he liked, he stayed loyally to him or her. The armadillo smirked back. "Until my dying day."


Shadow had been pretty angry with Sonic for running away like that, but the hero just shot him an annoyed look, cutting his chastising off, and asked Silver to continue their walk.

The younger uke was happy with that, especially, as he loved to report, since he had learned something new about friendship. Sonic let him tell everything on their way towards the building, ignoring Shadow pointedly in the process.

The dark agent had the feeling, that he had done something wrong again, he just couldn't figure out, what. He had just been worried, for Chaos' sake!

Silver was so caught up in his talk with Sonic, that he didn't notice Scythe staying at the small hut, hollering her goodbyes, while Mighty joined the group.

The armadillo was grateful, that Amy and Tails simply ignored his little slip-up and chatted with him animatedly. Knuckles had his guard up, he noticed, but he also knew, how real distrust looked in his eyes and didn't find any.

After a while, the lawn on the sides of their path got replaced by a high fence on their left and high hedges on the right. "This is, where the semes are.," Silver explained, pointing to the completely closed metal fence. "And there are the ukes, and the children, too, usually." He pointed to the hedge.

"Children?," Sonic repeated. Cream and Mephiles had spoken of them, too, but he hadn't really noticed it, too busy with other topics.

"The Uke Shelter is one big daycare. Here come daily about five hundred children, not to mention those of the ukes.," Mighty helped to explain.

"And why are ukes and semes separated?," Rouge asked. "Just outside the building. The semes are usually training and that can become dangerous for the children and ukes. It's a rule here, that semes and ukes aren't allowed in the respective other half.," Mighty explained.

Silver nodded enthusiastically. "That's right!" Suddenly, however, the smile fell off the silver uke's face and he stopped.

"Is something the matter?," Sonic asked, stopping, too, and looking around, but the path in front of them, along that stretched the fence and hedge to form a long hallway, was empty.

Slowly, Silver raised his right hand, stretching it out in front of him, narrowing his eyes in the process.

Sonic blinked, when a part of the air on his right started to move, practically rippling in waves of Silver's turquoise energy. Silver frowned and the rippling got stronger, until there was the sound of shattering and the energy scattered in all directions, creating a blue colored mist.

When it had cleared, they saw a pale human girl with long, unkempt red hair in short blue pants and an orange t-shirt, lying on the ground.

"Kari!" Mighty rushed to her side, but jerked at the last moment back, afraid to touch and hurt her, like Scythe before.

Rouge and Amy both decided at the same time to take over and knelt down next to her, with the bat checking her pulse.

"It's nothing bad, she seems to be a little weak, but that's all.," Rouge explained. Mighty sighed in relief, just when the girl stirred. She opened her eyes and noticed the two mobian girls first. Scared, she scrambled back, until she noticed Mighty behind them and calmed down. "Is everything okay with you?," the armadillo asked.

Her blue eyes filled with tears. "I-I thought, that nobody would ever find me!," she sobbed, trembling hard.

Thankfully, Amy was there to take her in her arms and soothe her and quickly, the girl calmed down again. "Kari, what happened?," Mighty asked carefully, not wanting to make her cry again.

Her eyes filled with tears again, still. "I...I was suddenly in this strange bubble-thing – and nobody saw or heard me! I thought, that nobody would ever notice me!," she cried, leaning into Amy, who patted her back awkwardly.

"Whose abilities did you copy? Who did you touch?," Mighty wondered. The girl just shrugged helplessly. Strange, that she didn't remember, she was usually more careful...

"Did you try to find Shy?," the strong mobian asked next. The human teenager could see auras, the energy signatures, that surrounded all living beings, she would have discovered her adopted sister with ease.

Kari looked away and shook her head slowly. "But why? Kari, it was pure luck, that Silver found you this fast!," Mighty scolded.

The girl glared at him. "As if I wouldn't notice, how bad she is feeling right now!," she snapped.

Mighty frowned. He had often enough seen Shy putting up a brave face, when she was sick, injured or worried, but her sisters weren't babies anymore, they were bound to notice and see through her facade sooner or later.

And since Kari was caring more about others than herself, she would have sat there until...she would have died, or been found, whatever would have come first.

She had been probably too worried about her older sister to remember, in whom she had run to copy his or her ability, too.

Deciding to let the topic drop, he let Rouge and Amy help the girl up and was worried, when he saw her sway a little. Since she hadn't trained at all so far, her limits were laughably low, it was more than just possible, that she was exhausted beyond compare.

"S-Silver!?," Sonic heard Tails gasp suddenly and when he turned around, he saw the fox struggling with holding the silver uke upright, who leaned heavily on him. Silver was suddenly pale and looked about ready to collapse.

By now, the friends weren't surprised, that a light flashed and Mephiles stood in front of them a second later.

Tails gulped and trembled at the sight of the towering seme, but Mephiles didn't even look at him, he just gently pulled Silver off the young genius and to him, supporting his weight effortlessly. "You overdid it, huh?," he asked softly. Silver whimpered and nodded, leaning against him.

Mephiles sighed and looked up to the others. "I'm afraid to end your meeting, but I need to bring Silver to the ward, if he is like that.," he explained neutrally.

"Could you take Kari with you, too?," Mighty asked quickly. The dark being looked towards the girl, who didn't look good, either, and sighed again.

"Fine. Come here." With his free hand, that wasn't holding up Silver, he waved her over and slowly, Kari was swaying closer. She didn't seem afraid of him, although Mephiles wasn't exactly a nice looking person. Once he deemed her close enough, he raised his hand a little and snapped his fingers.


Mephiles didn't appear in the ward as he had said, he had changed his plans after evaluating Silver's condition and finding it not as bad, as he had first feared. He didn't need medical attention, just some peace and quiet – and the wards here were usually the opposite of that, so he changed his plans.

He knew the building like the back of his hand and had therefore no problem to find one of the rooms, which were especially for ukes, who needed to retreat from everything for a while.

He appeared in such a room, a simple white one with a freshly made bed, two big sofas with soft cushions and a small table between both sofas. There was a little shelf with a few books and decoration objects next to the door, that was, as he knew, locked for all semes, but otherwise, there was no furniture. Light came through a big window opposite the door, together with a light breeze, as it was open a bit, the white curtains dancing lazily in front of it.

Kari moved first, she swayed over to one of the sofas, plopping on it, leaving the bed to Silver. Mephiles smirked. Smart girl.

Gently, he picked Silver up and placed him on the bed covers. He knew, that Silver was feeling uncomfortably hot right now due to the excess energy coursing through his body and wouldn't appreciate it to be tucked in. Carefully, he massaged his temples.

"S-sorry...," the younger hedgehog whimpered weakly. "Shh, you have absolutely no reason to apologize, love.," Mephiles soothed.

Silver had somehow overused his powers and lost control over his energy balance – again. He wasn't fully matured, yet and naturally tended to overestimate his limits, it was neither unusual, nor concerning, unless he tried to push further after feeling his limits, like he had done now. If something like that happened, he needed to rest for a while to balance his energy out and to cool down again.

At times, he also needed a special herb, that helped him to level out his energy, but Mephiles had memorized, how his symptoms were, when he needed his medication and knew, that it wasn't necessary right now. He just needed some rest.

"Want me to help you sleep?," he asked lovingly. He knew, that Silver couldn't fall asleep easily, if he was like that and, that he would never ask Mephiles to help him sleep. He just was too shy to speak it out, so Mephiles was used to offer it, whenever Silver seemed to have trouble with calming down.

The uke nodded. "C-Can you tell Sonic? And the others? I...I don't want them to worry.," he asked meekly.

Mephiles chuckled fondly and gently kissed his forehead. "Of course, love. Sleep well, and call me, when you're feeling better.," he whispered against his mate's head and used a little bit of Chaos Energy to agitate the parts of Silver's brain, that would let him fall asleep.

He just touched them for a second, not longer, which reassured him, that Silver would sleep lightly and wake up on his own.

If he wanted him to sleep deeply, which had happened once or twice in the past, he would keep the Chaos Energy there longer, or for as long as he needed him asleep, to have him waking up, when he removed his energy again.

Satisfied to hear the even breathing, he straightened and looked to the girl, who had dozed off, too, lying slumped on her side on the sofa.

With a grin, he turned to the fourth person in the room. "I'm impressed, that you were able to link our energies in the short amount of time I needed to warp, but voyeurism is highly frowned up on, you know?," he smirked towards the dark GUN-agent, who stood close to the door and had been watching him the whole time. "You're always there for him, huh?," Shadow simply asked as an answer.

Mephiles raised a brow. The jealousy and envy in the other's voice were unmistakable. "You're a fool." He shook his head. "It is so simple to be a good mate, yet, you don't get it.," he almost chastised.

Shadow seemed to realize finally, that he had allowed himself a moment of weakness and quickly schooled his facial expression to a neutral mask. "Why did you say, that Perringten might be behind this institution here?," he asked the first question, that came to his mind, everything to not mention the embarrassing moment.

Mephiles smirked. "Who knows? Maybe I know something no one else does?," he singsonged, apparently highly amused, like always, when he had the feeling to have the upper hand, especially towards Shadow.

WARNING!

"What, that he is magically still alive? As far as I know, normal people can't live without a heart – and I for sure didn't dream, that you cut it out, while Fleetway devoured the other...souvenirs.," Shadow replied dryly.

Mephiles' eyes widened for a second, before he put on another emotionless expression. "So, you did watch?," he asked, seemingly not really interested.

Shadow raised a brow himself. "I had the choice between watching you cutting out a heart out of a body and Fleetway eating the second eyeball of said body with the dick being next. What did you think I would choose?"

"I would have chosen the second option...maybe joined in.," the dark being grumbled, his eyes flashing in violet and suddenly, there was violet Chaos Energy surrounding them in a sphere.

END OF WARNING!

Only the two semes were in this 'room' and Shadow could guess, that nobody besides them would be able to hear the rest of their talk.

Looking over Mephiles' shoulder, he saw, that Silver's chest wasn't moving – Mephiles had frozen time and only excluded them of this.

"Impressive.," Shadow stated, though keeping his voice neutral. "You learn a lot, if you spend time with semes of... half your own talent.," the other male shrugged.

"So, what's the reason for this?," Shadow got straight to the point, gesturing to the energy building.

Mephiles turned serious and started to walk along the wall of the sphere, circling Shadow, almost like a vulture – if it weren't for his distant look.

Shadow just stayed, where he was, listening to the steps, in that his voice mixed after a few seconds. "As you know, I am not a normal mobian.," Mephiles started, he seemed deep in thought.

Shadow didn't say anything. "I am a demonic being, rare nowadays, but we still exist. As such a being, I know, that there is more to certain things – and one of those is death. Most people think, that death is...the end, but people like me know, that it doesn't have to be. There are ways of getting deceased back. It isn't ideal, not to mention temporary at best, of course, and all ways I know to achieve this have a negative purpose. The core component for all practices of resurrection is the heart of said person, that's why I took it with me."

"Why should anyone ever try to resurrect an asshole like Perringten?," Shadow asked, irritated.

Mephiles laughed tiredly. "Because he WAS an asshole. My kind tries since the beginning of time to let the tyranny of someone last longer by resurrecting him or her for a second lifetime. Perringten would be their perfect target."

"If that's true, why isn't there a single case known, where such a villain lived longer, or stopped being dead?"

"If you look into history, you'll find, that some tyrants lived very long for the time they lived in – and it wasn't because of their physicians' great work, I assure you. However, this are the exceptions, usually, all tries of my kind fail, because of old rituals, that let them extract and put the heart in a mixture of herbs, that demons can't touch, or because the cause of death had been something, that damaged the heart, something like that. That's the problem with those practices – one scratch on the heart, and about 9/10 of them are useless."

WARNING!

"I didn't see you damage the heart of Perringten, or feed it to Fleetway...," Shadow stated distrustfully.

Mephiles waved his claw lazily. "I know, how GUN treats deceased criminals, whose families don't want to have anything to do with their funeral. You gather the bodies, cremate them and bury them anonymously. The time, until a body gets cremated, varies, however – especially, if you deal with people like Towers. That's plenty of time for a demonic creature to steal the heart. As for not damaging it, as I said, there are only nine of ten practices, who need an intact heart, the last tenth could use a damaged one, but would need a second, intact heart to repair the desired one. And feeding it to Fleetway wasn't safe enough for me. One cell spilled, and someone could take advantage of it."

END OF WARNING!

Shadow rose a brow again. "You are...awfully considerate of everyone's welfare...," he stated, not believing a single word.

Mephiles scoffed. "I have a mate, in case you forgot. The world needs to be a safe place for the eternity I plan to spend with him."

Shadow frowned. "He is immortal?" "He will be. The mates of demonic beings always become immortal after the first mating. I'll explain this to him beforehand...as soon, as he can fully realize, what this means." Mephiles frowned himself.

He loved Silver, but his naivety was making it hard sometimes to talk with him about serious topics. He had absolutely NO idea, how the heck he should explain the concept of immortality and an eternal life together to someone, who barely thought two hours in the future.

"So...where is the heart now?," Shadow changed the topic, before it could come to Sonic's immortality.

Mephiles stopped his pacing, his profile now directly in front of Shadow. "I lost it.," he said after a moment of silence. "You- How in HELL can you lose a heart, that isn't in its body anymore!?," Shadow raged.

Mephiles gave him a dry look, before he continued his way, Shadow following him now with his eyes, turning, whenever he needed to.

"I...kept it in my house...and Silver found it. He didn't understand, what he saw, but the look of a heart isn't exactly a nice one and he felt scared, so..." "He let the house levitate and destroyed it, correct?"

Mephiles sighed. "I thought I told him not to speak about this.," he grumbled. "How else was he supposed to tell us, why you are living here now? However, he only said, that he was scared, he never mentioned a heart..."

The dark being pressed his ears to his skull. "I'm not proud of it...but I changed his memory marginally. His nightmares just wouldn't stop, so I took all images of what he had seen out of his memories and replaced them by the general feeling of fear."

Shadow was, in a morbid way, actually relieved, that Mephiles wasn't the perfect mate either. He himself would never do something like that to Sonic...even if he could.

"When I saw the house in ruins, I only thought abut Silver, who was buried somewhere under the rubble, I never even once remembered the heart. Only when Silver was in safe hands and proven to be out of danger, I returned and looked for it. I looked at every single piece of rubble, but there wasn't even one cell of it sticking to any piece of debris. It's gone and I don't know why.," Mephiles continued. "Why? Apparently some of your demonic friends stole it, right under your no-!"

At once, Mephiles stood in front of Shadow, their noses touching and the dark agent found himself unable to move. He saw, that Mephiles had transformed himself into his far more dangerous form, he was obviously pissed.

"Did you really think, that I would play with Silver's safety by just putting the thing in a jar and be done with it!? I put spells on it, of course! I ensured, that no living or demonic being could ever touch it!"

Shadow rather didn't dwell on the 'living or demonic' part – the fact, that Mephiles didn't have a heart was creeping him out still. "How was it possible to steal it, when it was this good protected?," he asked instead.

Mephiles backed off, releasing his hold on the agent, turning around and staying with his back towards Shadow a few steps away from him. "I don't know. I did as much research as I could, but I found no explanation, besides...my worry wavering my control."

He straightened a little. "I'm definitely not that weak." The wall around them started to dissolve slowly. "You should return now.," Mephiles said dismissively, wanting to end the talk, that had turned to embarrassing topics, now.

"Why would you tell me all that? Last time I checked, you couldn't stand me!," Shadow asked. "Who said I can now? The problem is, that Silver likes Sonic and after all he did for...us, I guess, I can't simply ask him to cut all contacts to him, which means, that we will have to...get along.," Mephiles replied with a neutral voice. "Is that your only reason?," the dark agent asked.

Mephiles chuckled amused. "Clever and distrusting as usual, Agent Shadow." The wall built itself up again, while Mephiles turned around, a smirk on his lips. "For a second there, I thought, that you were becoming soft." Shadow just scoffed. "Yeah, right."

Mephiles came towards Shadow, stopping, so that he was an arms-length away. "Alright, I'll tell you. Who knows, maybe you'll become useful one day?"

In reality, Mephiles still remembered Sonic's immense power he showed off two years ago and by now, he had learned enough about mobian hedgehogs to know, that someone like Sonic wouldn't mate someone weaker than him, so the agent had to be stronger than he had assumed so far.

Shadow, unaware of his thought process, just raised a brow, not amused. "Although I can't explain, how the heart got away, I have to assume the worst. It might be, that Perringten comes back to life, if he isn't already." "Are you scared?," Shadow asked, remembering a few of the man's last words.

You will always be afraid of me, no matter how hard you try to forget. You will always be under me, no matter how hard you try to surpass me. You will never escape me, no matter how far you run.

"Of him? Not a chance. But I'm worried about who might resurrect him and for what." "Just what exactly would he be useful for?" "Information, easy as that." "Information? From this crazy guy? I would expect more information from Fleetway!"

Mephiles shook his head. "You're so naive. You apparently forgot, that he went quite a length to capture and breed us. I doubt, that this is a hobby of his."

Shadow's eyes widened. Now, that he said that... You see, I am...collecting. I collect very rare ukes... He had never told them why.

Mephiles was right. Perringten had planned the whole Island-incident carefully, maybe over years. He had had a plan...for that he now got a second chance, maybe.

"Did you ask Kylie, or John?" "I did, that's why I am worried." Mephiles paused and looked to Silver's still figure. "I never knew, how special he really is, until I learned the whole story.," he mumbled. "Which is?," Shadow prodded impatiently.

Mephiles laughed coldly. "I could tell you, of course, but that would make us friends, and that would ruin my reputation, wouldn't it? No worries, you'll learn the whole truth soon enough. Knowing Kylie, you won't leave this place, before you did."

Shadow suppressed a smirk. He could guess, that Kylie had actually forced him to leave that to her – she was better in telling stuff like that.

"Fine." Shadow got out his Chaos Emerald – that Knuckles reluctantly allowed him to use – but stopped, before he could warp away, when a sudden question came into his head. "Say...is Fleetway a demonic being?," he asked. If he had to describe a demonic being, the light male would be, after Mephiles, the first one, who would pop into his mind...

Mephiles stiffened, obviously surprised, before he chuckled. "Surprisingly, yes, he is. As I said, our kind is rare and I never thought, that I could be caged with another demonic being. You can recognize the signs clearly, demonic beings have an appetite for raw meat, for example, or have uniquely marked body parts, in Fleetway's case his eyes. However, he isn't a full demon, like most demonic beings out there should be, the demon blood in him is pretty thin. Kylie asked me to always watch him from afar, though. Even the thinnest blood can boil, after all. And no worries – he does in fact have a heart.," Mephiles couldn't help but mention. He still had Shadow's reaction to him being a literally heartless being in mind and it was definitely one of his favorite memories...next to all the ones of Silver, of course.

"I see. Well, I'll be off.," Shadow shrugged. The fact, that Fleetway was a demon, wasn't going to change anything – if he caused trouble, then he would simply arrest him, easy as that.

"You're not curious, why I didn't bring them to the ward as I said?," Mephiles asked, amused. He could guess, that it was bothering Shadow not to know that. He was always like this.

To his surprise, though, the dark agent just grinned himself. "I know you well enough by now, you always have your reasons for every little thing you do. I'm not always agreeing to or understanding your actions, but I know, that you do. So no, I'm not asking...although, I do have one last question – are you really afraid of a little mouse girl?" Feeling, that he had gotten Mephiles back, he quickly disappeared, before the other could answer, shattering the dark being's hold on time in the process.

"Hm...someone grew up, I see. Not bad, Agent Shadow, I'm mildly impressed.," Mephiles mumbled in the room, his voice soft enough to allow the two occupants of it to rest further, before he disappeared himself, leaving his mate to recover in peace.


Michael Mills kicked against his desk's leg, again and again, with all of his might, until a staple of papers slipped off the top and scattered across his office's floor.

He saw the letter of John's lawyer fluttering past him, grabbed a random wooden figure and threw it with a scream of rage after the piece of paper. The statue hit the door and broke in half.

"This little beast!," he snarled, crossed the room, picked up the pieces of the figure and strode over to the fireplace between desk and door, staring at the flames and imagining with sadistic glee the armadillo writhing in them and then also the butterfly bitches for good measure. For now, the wood pieces had to do, so he threw them in the fire, enjoying the sounds the burning did create.

The feeling of dried sweat, that had gotten created in his haste to get away from the females earlier, on him only let his hatred flare up again. He had simply fled like a commoner, letting fear get to him...they would pay for embarrassing him like that!

He needed a body to vent for real, but the butlers, maids and other servants were aware of this trait of his and knew to keep away from the wing with his rooms, when he was in a foul mood, unless they wanted to be grabbed out of nowhere and beat, until he was satisfied. Not even the best medical care, provided afterwards by their tormentor, could make the events okay again, so they did everything in their power to stay away without getting fired – the money was too tempting after all.

He looked up, when a knock sounded from the door. "Come in.," the young business man called and moved to sit behind his desk, his face showing nothing but mild interest, which was his face for all businesses.

The door swung open and two of his bulky bodyguards threw in a third man in a worn trench coat, before quickly closing the door. They really didn't want to switch with him. Michael watched, how the trembling man scrambled to his feet.

He was small, so that he could effortlessly place his chin on the top of Michael's desk by just standing in front of it, and pretty fat, his dirty, formerly white shirt looked, as if the buttons would pop off any minute, strained heavily.

His round face, with a bit of greasy brown hair on top of the head, glistened with sweat, his tiny, bloodshot eyes darting around the room and widened, when they fell on the other occupant.

"S-Sir...," he croaked, his badly shaved chin trembling. A thick smell of alcohol waved towards Michael, whose face didn't betray any emotion.

"Figgins, it's nice to see you. As rarely, as we have seen each other lately, I'd say, you're trying to avoid me.," Michael smiled with a silky voice, that let the older, yet smaller, man shiver in fear. "N-no, Sir..."

"No? Considering, that I called you first a year ago, I'd say, that I'm absolutely right. My men really searched the planet for you...to find you in a shabby pub, drinking your liver to death."

"S-Sir, I... I was just-" "Oh, I don't care, what my employees do in their free time.," he shrugged lightly.

His eyes turned ice cold. "However, I could have sworn, that I told you nine years ago, that you are CONSTANTLY on the job!"

The human swallowed. "S-Sir, I...I told you, the...the girl g-got adopted..." "Oh, really?," the younger asked, standing up abruptly, making the other flinch back. "I checked the family myself, and I have to say, you chose the child you wanted to replace my sister with well. The same hair color, the same eye color, really, impressive. You just oversaw a little detail there."

He slammed his hands on the desk. "This 'Jamie' is a BOY! Where is my sister, Figgins!?," he screamed, with the man cowering in terror.

"I-I don't know, S-Sir...," he stammered. "You. Don't. Know? How the hell don't you know!?" By now, Michael stood over the shaking Figgins, who would have given the world for just being able to disappear.

"Sh-She ran away, from the o-orphanage, I-I f-followed her, of c-course, all the t-time. I-I...j-just l-looked away f-for a second, I swear! Sh-she was there, in that alley, doing nothing...and then not. I...I searched everywhere, but the girl was gone."

Michael fell silent for a moment, while he contemplated his words. "How long is she gone?," he eventually asked.

Figgins looked a little green now. "S-seven y-y-years.," he squeaked. Michael stared down on him, as if he had grown a second head. "Do you REALLY want to tell me, that you got paid for seven years for NOTHING!?," he snarled. Figgins just started to hyperventilate, unable to answer.

Michael turned away from him, trying to get his thoughts into order. He should have killed her. He should have just killed this little brat and be done with it.

Nobody had noticed, that Shyra had survived the accident, that had killed their parents and returned home all these years ago, nobody, but him. He could have simply killed her and be done with it, but sadly, he had been a teenager back then, who still had had something resembling a heart. Seeing the terrified, crying child, bleeding from various cuts, bruised all over, he hadn't have it in him to do something to her.

Instead, he had let his bodyguards take her into an orphanage in another country, paid all necessary people enough to keep quiet and hired Figgins to watch over her.

He had actually thought, that Shyra getting adopted would have been for the best, to hide her in front of everyone. Shyra had been so young and he had given her a new name – that he couldn't remember for the death of him –, he had been convinced, that nobody would ever come behind this. And now – that. He should have checked on Figgins more regularly.

He stopped his musings, when the hyperventilating behind him turned suddenly into some kind of choking, before it became completely quiet.

He whipped around and saw Figgins, deathly pale and strangely quiet, lying on his back, his eyes and mouth open wide. Michael frowned, when he didn't see a movement of his chest anymore...

"Yes, he's dead. No worries, I'm sure, someone will take care of the body. Bad employees are worth nothing, don't you agree? Death is actually a relief for the both of you.," a voice suddenly said.

Michael looked around, but his office wasn't spacious, there was no place to hide – and even if, how should they even come in his house without anyone noticing?

He turned back to Figgins, when he noticed a change and watched with widened eyes, how the body dissolved into ash, that disappeared all together.

Fighting to get his rising panic under control, he faced the room. "Who are you!? Come out!," he shouted at the air.

"Hm, interesting. You don't even pretend to have hallucinations, you accept everything you see as real.," the voice stated.

"I didn't ask for your philosophic thoughts! I want to know NOW, who you are and what you do in my office!," Michael snarled, his fear feeding his rage.

"Straight to the point, I like that, so fine, I shall answer you. My name is Jester Perringten.," the voice replied, a smirk audible in it.

Michael frowned, crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned to sit against his desk. "Really? Last time I checked, you were dead.," he stated flatly.

He could handle this. Many people tried to trick him. Being just 25 years of age, people tended to think, that he was an idiot and therefore attempted to betray him. This was just another try to get to him, wasn't it?

"I learned a while ago, that death isn't that much of a dead end as I had thought." "Is that so? Then you shouldn't have a problem with coming out of your hiding place right now.," Michael practically ordered, wanting a proof.

A chuckle was his answer. "You fool. I am not physically there. We are communicating via our thoughts right now, thanks to an ally of mine. Currently, I can't afford leaving my hideout. One of my other allies, however, watched your little disagreement with the mobians earlier."

Michael snarled. "This beast and his mosquito brigade mean nothing!" "Oh, I agree, don't worry. Tell me, wouldn't you like it to crush the pest like the bug it is?"

"If it means working together with someone I can't see? No.," Michael replied with a scoff, crossing his arms. It was tempting, so very tempting, since he had no idea how to make this thing pay properly, but this was all so strange and his gut told him to decline the offer. And he always listened to his gut.

"Too bad, considering the gift I would have for you..." A cold light flashed in front of the young businessman, startling and blinding him.

When the annoying dots in front of his eyes finally disappeared, he looked up to have his jaw dropped upon seeing, who stood suddenly in the middle of the room.

"H-how?," he whispered, amazed. "Thank another one of my allies for that.," was all the voice replied.

Michael moved away from his desk and around the new occupant of the room, before he stopped, his thin lips formed to a smirk. Screw his gut, this was amazing!

"Alright, you convinced me, Perringten, or whoever you are. You gave me, what I want, so I might at least listen to your request." In the voice was a smirk audible as well. "Wise choice."


Shadow appeared exactly, where he had disappeared. "Ah, there you are." He turned his head and saw Rouge and Omega standing behind him. The others were further away, already walking towards the building again.

"Sonic said, that we wouldn't need to wait for you, but I wanted to.," the bat explained. Shadow's ears pressed to his skull. Was Sonic still mad at him for chastising him before? Why wouldn't he wait for him to return?

Shaking off the thought, he just straightened and warped them all closer to the group – the only way for Omega to actually catch up, unless the friends waited for about 15 minutes. He really wasn't a speed robot.

"Blush, not again!," they just heard Mighty scold, when they arrived. Curious, Shadow moved past the friends, so that he could see, what was happening.

They were close to the front door of the building now, just separated from it by a big circle of lawn, around that wound the path in both directions.

On their right side, on another, rectangular piece of lawn, framed on two sides by the high hedge, was a very strange sight.

The butterfly girl Blush sat...on a hedgehog? The brown furred male was on his hands and knees and shaking like a leaf, he was apparently not doing this voluntarily – or the girl sitting on his back was heavier, than she looked.

The quills on his back were strangely pressed tightly to it, which was impossible, if his back was this strained right now. He wondered, how she managed to do this, since the hedgehog was apparently not responsible for this.

A second male stood still like a statue behind her, his belly serving as her back rest. A third one, also on his hands and knees, was her footstool, that she didn't use right now, and the fourth in the same position was carrying a glass with some kind of juice on his back, as well as an open book.

The girl had spread out her wings and a fifth male hedgehog with gray fur in a wide red T-shirt stood behind her, polishing the edge of one of the wings with a piece of cloth, while they watched. Judging by his relaxed posture, he was the only hedgehog, who was actually here by his own free will. The way the female assassin had treated the other hedgehogs, was either not a new sight for him, or he was more courageous, than it seemed.

"Not now.," Blush just waved at Mighty impatiently, as if she wanted to shoo him away, before she turned her head back to the hedgehog polishing her wing.

"As I said, I was just one second at the party, when already this stuck-up bitch pretty much jumped on me and screamed, that I was wearing the same color as her – which is apparently a deadly sin."

The hedgehog giggled. "W-what did y-you do-o?," he managed to ask between his high pitched giggles.

"Since I didn't want to change my dress and killing her would have ruined the mood of everyone, I simply threw a portion of punch on her dress. And voilà, her dress was of a darker red than mine, problem solved.," Blush explained with a smirk, making a show of raising her nose in exaggerated pride.

The hedgehog chuckled, highly amused by her tale and gestures, before he turned serious again. "I...I didn't know, that you...you also...well, protect people, like this girl you accompanied to her prom, or the pupil, who you followed over weeks discreetly. I thought... well...," he let the sentence drop, blushing.

"I know. Everybody thinks, that assassins are just murderers and usually, we are, but stealing, kidnapping or protecting people also belongs to our offers." "B-But...doesn't that make you...criminals?," the hedgehog asked, backing off a little.

Blush sighed and folded her wings. "According to law – yes. But according to morals – no. It's not like we go around and kill people, if someone else pays enough for it."

"N-no?," the hedgehog asked, insecurely. "No. We aren't just stupid killer machines. We check each of our targets thoroughly, before we take any action. Is he/she doing something illegal? Is he/she corrupt, maybe a murderer himself/herself? Should the person just be in the way of our client, but is innocent anyway, we either kill the client, or, if the situation is far more complicated, we see, that we protect all innocents involved."

"And...the kidnapping? Why should you do that?," the shy one asked. "It's usually just the rescuing of someone, who had been kidnapped first, usually children. We just call it 'kidnapping', because our methods are hardly legal."

"O-oh..." Slowly, the hedgehog edged closer again, having found his trust again, it seemed.

"W-which missions...do you like best?," he asked timidly, while he raised his hand with the cloth to indicate, that he wanted to continue his doing.

The butterfly frowned, while she willingly raised her wing to let him. "Hm...good question, I never thought of it, but I guess, I like the stealing the most. Nowadays, people have a lot of technological security, it's always the best training, avoiding all the lasers and stuff."

Rouge actually nodded in agreement at her words, as Shadow noticed from the corner of his eye. She apparently saw it totally like the butterfly.

"Blush...," Mighty growled, clearly frustrated of being ignored. "I think we need to stop our talk. Mighty's in 'big brother'-mode again.," Blush mocked, while the armadillo flushed a little. "Stop saying that all the time. And what did I tell you about making your furniture out of semes?," he chastised.

Sonic couldn't help it, Mighty did really sound like a big brother scolding his younger sibling. If he saw this correctly, then his armadillo-friend was the oldest, if not by much, of all of his female friends. No wonder, that he was so protective over the girls.

"You told me to not do this, UNLESS they deserve it. And they do. This one here, for example.," she poked the one she sat on, "He tried to gift me flowers. This one.," she jerked her thumb over her shoulder, poking it into the white furred body behind her. "This one tried to serenade me."

She took the glass off her 'table' and took a small sip, before putting it down hard, causing a small wince from the orange furred seme. "This one tried to put his arm around my shoulders without permission. And this one.," she dug her heel in her green footstool, causing a wince, too. "This one had the audacity to call me 'Missy'!," she growled, as if that was the worst of the 'crimes' they had committed.

"Wow, I'm surprised you didn't castrate him then and there.," Mighty grumbled annoyed, while the semes stiffened.

"Please, I know the rules. First I warn them...my way, and only after the second time, I can castrate them.," Blush waved him off.

The males were now all sweating and trembling. They had experienced the girl's capability first hand, so they were naturally worried about their manhood. "Blush, release them.," Mighty ordered flatly.

Blush narrowed her eyes and stood up slowly, giving the hedgehog polishing her wing enough time to step back.

She made a show of stretching her limbs and wings thoroughly, before she looked at Mighty again. "Fine, it's time anyway.," she shrugged, bringing herself in the air with a single move of her wings.

She held herself in the air with small movements, while she pulled out four needles and threw them, hitting her victims with one needle each, hitting the exact same spot every time. She had an amazing aim, Shadow had to admit it.

Almost immediately, the males stirred and stood up for the first time in who knew how long – it had been a while, probably, seeing how their knees shook.

"Now you know, what happens next time, so be warned.," Blush told them gravely and they quickly disappeared into the building, the automatic doors closing behind them.

"Disappointing.," the girl stated and shook her head, her feelers trembling due to the movement.

She landed again and turned to the remaining hedgehog. "Thanks for the polishing, it's always so bothersome to try it on my own.," she smiled "You're welcome – but shouldn't I continue? There are for sure still many loose scales, that just wait to get wiped off!," the hedgehog argued. "Without furniture? I'd like to see you try and reach the top of my wings.," the girl chuckled.

The hedgehog looked around and blushed. "Oh..." "How about you try and find a chair? If you find one and still want to, then we can continue.," she suggested.

The young male's face lit up. "Okay, be right back!," he cheered and ran in the building, the automatic doors thankfully opening quick enough to prevent him from running into them.

Blush grinned after him, before she turned to Mighty. "That should keep him busy for a few minutes. Now, what is on your mind? I can see, that there is something."

"There is indeed. Could you please tell your sisters again, that weapons are strictly forbidden on the whole property?," Mighty asked, annoyed still. "Don't be such a bore. I told you, they need to practice.," the girl shrugged.

"NOT on living targets and NOT, where children might appear at any given minute.," Mighty growled.

Sonic was actually proud, that Mighty did see the attack on the person he probably hated the most right now still as a bad thing.

Blush rolled her eyes. "You exaggerate, but fine, I'll talk with them. Anything else?," she asked, bored.

"Actually, yes. Would it be okay, if we have an addition to our night training from now on?," Mighty asked.

Shadow raised a brow in confusion. He had been talking with Mephiles, when the armadillo had told the friends about their training at night in a nearby rocky valley, where they didn't have to hold back.

Mighty had brought this on, because he had thought loudly about integrating Kari, whose copy cat-powers were apparently in need of exercise. After this incident a few minutes ago, he rather tried to get these powers under control.

Blush was silent, letting her glare swipe over the group, before she declared, "If it's the blue one, I'll pass."

"It's not-" Mighty paused and blinked, looking from Sonic over to Blush. "What would be wrong with Sonic?," he asked, confused. Sonic raised a brow. He would like to hear that, too.

The girl snorted. "Please. People with speed are the worst sparring partners ever. I can cancel this little advantage out easily, just like that." She snapped her slender fingers. "And then they're not really a challenge anymore, are they?," she added, smirking.

"You really think so?," Sonic asked, stepping forward. He couldn't help, but feel offended – and she should be proud, Eggman succeeded in that task with far more tries, than she had needed.

"Of course I do.," the girl still smirked. "I've had lots of opponents already, who were proud of their 'speed', if you want to call it that. They all cried like babies, when I was done with them. No one of them had sonic speed, I give you that, but it can't be that much of a difference, now, can it?"

Sonic didn't know, when he had started to move, but he suddenly found himself opposite the girl, they were both standing so, that they showed his friends their profiles. "What, you want to prove the opposite?," Blush asked, still smirking. Sonic's glare softened a little, showing his uncertainty.

"Blush...," Mighty warned. He knew, that it was against Sonic's morals to just attack someone. To fight back, okay, but to actively start a fight, just because he got a little provoked? This wasn't even training, Blush was deadly serious here!

"No worries, I'm not going to tear him apart.," the butterfly waved the armadillo's words off and turned back to the blue hero, while pulling out of the left pocket of her dress something, that Sonic identified as one end of a blue ribbon.

"Tell you what – try and get that ribbon off me, I won't move anything, but my wings.," they fluttered a little, as if to mark her words, "Succeed, and I take my words back. What do you say?"

Sonic contemplated her suggestion. He could simply run past her and grab it, yet, he had the feeling, that something was off, that she planned something.

Shaking off the thought, he got ready. Trap or not, he wanted – needed – to prove himself! And honestly, he didn't see, why this should be a challenge.

"Fine.," he grinned, crouching a little lower – this were just twenty meters, tops, he wouldn't need much preparation. It was a piece of cake.

Blush grinned in triumph and her wings shrunk, until they had half of their size, which reduced the risk of them getting accidentally hurt by the hero. Tauntingly, it seemed, they fluttered once.

"Then come!," the girl practically ordered, giving a start signal at the same time and Sonic started off, running towards the blue ribbon, his left hand already outstretched, but just when his fingertips brushed over it, his whole body froze solid.

His heart raced – he couldn't move ANYTHING! He just stood there like a statue, his right leg stretched out and his left one under his slightly bent over torso, his left hand stretched out and his right one balled to a fist and held next to his body, ready to give him momentum.

"Now, is that all you've got?," the butterfly girl asked next to him, tauntingly, but he was too panicked to react to it. He fought with all of his might against the paralysis, but it seemed to get only worse every second...

"Blush, ENOUGH! Get rid of the poison, NOW!," Mighty roared and the girl groaned, annoyed. "Spoilsport.," she muttered.

Her wings grew again and she moved them, creating a strong gust of wind, that blew away all remains of her invisible poison mist.

She took out a needle laced with the antidote and stabbed it in the hedgehog's neck, before pulling it out again almost immediately.

Sonic managed a small shudder, when the metal left him and he noticed with immeasurable relief, that he could move his body again. Slowly, as his muscles felt a little stiff, he straightened, the stiffness leaving quickly.

He jumped a little, when Chaos Spears raced very close past him and to where Blush was, but the girl brought herself quickly in the air, dodging this way.

"Come down here, so I can kill you, you bitch!," Shadow snarled, practically glowing with red Chaos Energy. "Yeah, because you asked so nicely.," Blush smirked.

"Hey, try to stay calm...," Mighty tried to pacify the raging seme, but had to jump to the side – together with Tails, Amy and Knuckles behind him – to not get hit by another Chaos Spear. "If you knew of this bitch's plan...!," he started to threat, but a voice interrupted him. "Shads!"

Immediately, the seme whipped around to his uke. "Where's Silver?," Sonic asked, which let not only Shadow blink at him in confusion.

"S-Silver?," Shadow repeated, the energy surrounding him disappeared. "Yeah. You followed him and Mephiles, didn't you? How is he now?"

"He...er...he needs some rest, for a few hours, I guess.," the agent finally answered, his brain working again.

"I see, thanks for telling me. Now, should we go, before they close this place for the night?," the hero asked with a grin. That moment was still several hours away, but it did the trick.

Shadow nodded dumbly. "Alright, come on guys!," Sonic waved and turned on his heel to go to the building, but stopped, before he had taken a single step. "Hey, Blush!," he called up to her. "I'd like a second round one day."

Blush's face didn't betray any emotion. "You know, where to find me.," she just shrugged. "Alright, bye." With that, Sonic made his way over to the building, Shadow following him quickly.

The others, however, stayed, reluctantly. "This poison...it isn't going to harm Sonic, right?," Tails asked Mighty, whispering, just in case Shadow was still in an angry mood. "Don't worry. Blush's antidote works perfectly every time."

"But Sonic's not in the best condition, what if-" Tails stopped, not wanting to think further in that direction.

"Do you want to imply, that I am careless?," Blush grumbled, still in the air. "What Blush tries to say, is that her antidote neutralizes the poison instantly, thanks to Sonic's fast metabolism, it goes even faster. You can mention it towards his doctor, but it should be gone now.," Mighty took over. "You should go now, I need to return to my post anyway.," he added.

Still a little worried, the friends complied. As Omega was too big for the doors, he had to wait next to them, like a strange statue.

Once the doors had closed, the armadillo rounded on the butterfly girl. "What the hell, Blush!?," he thundered.

Unimpressed, the girl landed a few feet away from him. "Just what were you thinking?" "What, can't I have some fun?," the girl smirked.

Mighty looked at her with a strange look. "This wasn't fun. It was planned. Sonic's metabolism is fast, but not that fast, the poison wouldn't have worked this soon. If I had to guess, I'd say, that one of your sisters distracted us with the bullet-digging, while another one poisoned Sonic discreetly to weaken his defenses against your poison. And then, you only had to provoke him – an easy task for you, isn't it? – and add another dose of poison to his body to trigger a reaction. Why, Blush? Why did you do this?"

The girl sighed and flipped her short brown hair back. It looked like a normal, daily gesture, but it was actually a sign to her sisters, who had soundlessly appeared behind Mighty, ready to take him out.

Their clan-rules forbid it to let far too clever people live. They could ask, but never expect an answer. That he pried, that he came so close to the truth, to a practice of her clan, was a death penalty. They would simply stage an accident, easy as that – however, with the simple gesture, Blush had put the armadillo under her protection. And as she was the oldest of them here, she had absolute authority. As soundlessly, as they had come, they disappeared again.

Focusing on Mighty, she straightened. "I did it...because I might be looking for a mate." "Sonic's already taken.," Mighty answered immediately.

"Thanks, I wouldn't have guessed that by his mate trying to kill me." Blush rolled her eyes. "Besides, did you think, that I just pick someone as a mate and be done with it?" "Er..." "Ugh, men. My clan didn't stay this long on top, because we simply mated with the first wannabe we met. We select. And to do this, I need to measure. Your friend was just supposed to be another point on my scale. Too bad, I heard, that he could do much more than what I saw just now."

"Blush, my friends are NOT your experiments. Leave them alone from now on." He paused for a moment.

"Why do you want to mate anyway? Didn't you say, that assassins can't have mates, or something like that?"

Blush looked away. "That's true. But...my father might decide to make me a broodmother. That would be the end of my assassin-ways. I can't be both."

"Why should he do that? I thought, that you were the best!," Mighty asked, astounded. How often had she bragged with being 'her father's elite' and that she always would be?

"I was. Until...that happened.," Blush replied, something akin to stress for the first time seeping in her voice. She pointed to her wing, where, as Mighty knew, had two years ago been a hole.

"When you saved Scythe and me? What does that have to do with everything?," Mighty wondered.

Blush had recovered from the wounds after two days and immediately started training again to make up for the 'slacking'.

"Back then, I broke the most important rule of my clan..." "Er...never forget to clean your weapons after use?," Mighty asked, trying to remember the rules Blush sometimes let drop on random occasions and if she had ever pointed one out as the most important.

The butterfly facepalmed. "No, you idiot. The most important rule of an assassin is it to never risk your own life while protecting another.," she snapped impatiently.

"Blush, you wanted to protect us. You didn't think...," Mighty tried to soothe her. "And THAT'S a sin for my people. I could have died, you know? My father will decide soon and I'm very sure, that I know, how it will end."

With that being said, Blush turned around to the young hedgehog Tyler, who just carried a chair out for her, wanting to continue his polishing.

Thankfully, Mighty knew, that Blush could regulate easily, if the scales on her wings were poisonous or not, or he would be worried for the younger one's health. Besides, she liked Tyler, the hedgehog she had saved two years ago first, and wouldn't hurt him, ever.

Mighty watched her taking a seat, spreading out her wings and letting him start, talking with him and not even once looking over to him. He knew his friend good enough to guess, that she wouldn't say more about it, not now and not ever. It was unlike Blush to be so open, to show weakness. She wouldn't repeat a mistake twice, which was most likely the second most important rule of her clan.

If he just knew a way to help her! But she was absolutely obedient to her father, judging by how often she mentioned in her sentences 'My clan', or 'My father'. He should probably speak with the head of her clan and try to convince him to not do this. But Blush was always very closed up, when it came to her birthing place – it was beyond him, why the hell she didn't just call it her 'home' –, he had no idea, where it should be...

He stopped thinking with a crooked smile. He was really a masochist – he had just solved the problem of Shy (at least he hoped, that it was, if only for the time being) and already he was making the next problem to his. Well, he wouldn't want it any other way.

Getting a sudden idea to solve his problem, he whipped around and sprinted down the path he had come.