Hi guys, I'm back! I'm terribly sorry for letting you wait for so long, I had a severe case of writer's block and it took me a while to get back on track...and editing 28000 words (~40 pages in a document) takes a while, too...

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

WARNING!

You know, what this means. It's just a small paragraph and if you have a problem with gore, skip it. Thanks!

END OF WARNING!


11: Tick, Tock

"Sir, we've landed.," the steward informed quietly. "Good.," Michael Mills replied shortly, closing the file he had been reading. He had been too concentrated to notice the landing, so the bit of obvious information was needed...this time.

He stood up, put the confidential file away, knowing, that nobody in the plane would touch it, if they wanted to live, and left the plane.

"Stay around, I'll be back shortly.," he told the crew waiting for orders at the foot of the stairs and turned away, facing the old wooden hut on a hill he had been told to go to.

"Fancy.," he muttered sarcastically. He would have turned around right now and left this Chaos forsaken place in an instance, but if he wanted their end of the bargain, he had to keep his.

He pushed the rusty, horribly creaking gates in the metal fence surrounding the hill open, wiping his hands against his easily enough replaceable, expensive pants to get the moss off, and marched the hill up quickly, not wanting to spend more time here than necessary.

The door swung open with a long drawn creaking, when he had just reached the wooden steps, but there was nobody visible inside and not even a breeze disturbed the scenery.

Raising a brow, but choosing not to let himself get intimidated by that, he climbed the groaning stairs and entered the musty cavern called a hut.

He stayed in the doorway, observing the room, that was full of dust, but otherwise empty. Not even a single piece of furniture was there to be seen, let alone windows.

His eyes roamed the room and stopped at a staircase, that led into the underground. What hut had a cellar?

Since there was nowhere else to go, he stepped into the hut and went closer to the staircase.

The door slammed shut halfway to it and he whirled around to see, why the room had been empty. Now plunged in darkness, as the door had been the only source of light when open, he could see the strange symbols, that covered the walls, floor and ceiling, glowing in a mysterious, violet hue. To top it off, he suddenly felt something move around his legs, but when he looked down, he saw nothing. When he exhaled in relief, a small cloud came out of his mouth, as if he had entered a fridge. Shadows started to dance across the walls, getting longer and longer, as if they were closing in on him...

Feeling a bit...worried now, he went a bit quicker than necessary to the staircase and descended the stairs, kind of glad, when he lost all sight of the room. Although he wasn't so sure, if the new sight was any better...

The room downstairs looked like an entirely different world. In its middle was some kind of dark violet colored, bubbling and pulsing quagmire, filling the space almost completely and seeming to be radioactive above anything else.

Even more shadows than upstairs seemed to move around in the light, but had no visible bodies, that could cast them.

A silent choir of whispers filled the room, interrupted only by muffled groans, that definitely came from the boards of the stairs, they just had to!

The light, that the strange thing in the middle of the room emitted, was pulsing slightly faster, seemingly growing stronger, while the whispers turned also louder, which wasn't really motivating Michael to leave those stairs and go closer to that...light pool, or whatever. For a reason he couldn't name, he suddenly felt surrounded. "What is this?," he mumbled, without actually noticing it.

"You are staring at the doorway to Hell.," a voice answered, not whispering like the others, and to his horror, a person emerged out of this purple thing, as if leaving a pool. It was a human woman...or well, it once had been.

Now, it was a walking skeleton with long, dirty blue hair, a bluish skin, that was covering the bones tightly, wearing a tattered gray dress, the features of its face were inhumanly twisted to an ugly mask. "Who are you?," Michael asked, feeling braver, than he really was.

The person showed a grin with uneven, sharp teeth, the mouth wandering around the back of the head, up towards the ear opposite from where its mouth started, as he saw, when its lips opened. "Nothing, but a messenger between Here and There. I'm here to instruct you."

Michael's eyes narrowed. The fear vanished and got replaced by anger. Telling him what to do!?

"Now wait a minute! Who tells me, that you'll keep your end of the bargain, when I'll do this...opening of Hell or whatever?," he demanded.

Truthfully, he didn't really believe, that he could open something like 'hell', even if the 'Jester Perringten' in his office had claimed that. He didn't even believe, that there was something like 'hell'. But for his end of the bargain, he'd bend over backwards, if necessary, so he'd play along for the time being.

The creature looked at him with something akin to a frown. As twisted as the face was – he wasn't even sure, if there were eyebrows in this mess – it was hard to say, what was going through its mind. "You deny us our wish?," it asked with a dangerous, low voice and Michael found himself with his back to the wall, not remembering, when he had moved backwards.

He gasped a little despite himself, when the creature's shoulder lit up at once in dark red flames. Slowly, the creature turned its head to the fire and Michael narrowed his eyes. The flame...looked suddenly more like an animal, like a burning pet, a rat maybe, keeping itself on the shoulder with its burning claws. It and the human-like being looked at each other, before the 'animal' pretty much melted, dripping back into the quagmire.

The creature looked back to Michael. "You are in luck, we can wait. You are allowed to have your little dream fulfilled first."

"I didn't ask for permission!," Michael snarled. "Either way, you are first." The creature swung out its arm, and his little price emerged out of the strange pool from behind the creature, the head bowed.

Michael smirked victoriously. He didn't know, from where they had gotten his little sister from all of a sudden, but quite frankly, he didn't care. This meddlesome lawyer wanted Shyra, so he would give him Shyra. Besides, Perringten had promised, that she was perfectly obedient and would do everything told, so he could use her like he wished. Back in his office, she hadn't even recognized him, as if she had amnesia, or something. Perfect. He could mold her brain into whatever he wanted.

Speaking of his benefactor, though... "Where is this Jester Perringten?," he asked suspiciously. "Close, I assure you.," the creature replied.

"Why so secretive? I'm right here.," a new voice piped up from the other side of the railing, under the young business man's feet.

Michael stepped to the railing of the staircase and bent over it slightly to look down on a person leaning against the staircase, his arms crossed.

The purple light colored his hair so much, that it was impossible to tell, what it normally looked like. From what he could make out, the man was about his age, maybe a bit older, but not by much. And the voice wasn't the same he had heard in his office earlier...

"YOU are Jester Perringten?," Michael scoffed. "What can I say? Many things are different from what you expect. Now, as we agreed, you get the girl to do with her whatever you wish. However, in five months, you have to return to this place to fulfill your promise. If you don't, then you will regret it.," the third person explained.

"Are you threatening me!?," the youngest man in the room snarled. "Not at all, I'm merely warning you. You don't seem aware of it, but you can't make a deal like that and not keep your end of the bargain. If you refuse to keep it, you will regret it, until you do.," the creature explained, before it became bright, too bright for him to see.

He had to cover his eyes and when the blinding burning behind his arms finally subsided, there was nothing on the hill, but him and the obediently waiting girl. No hut, no purple quagmire from hell. Just them.

"Don't forget our deal.," the voice of the horrible creature whispered in the wind surrounding them for a moment, before traveling further.

"Pah.," Michael spat and turned to the girl. "We go.," he told her and was satisfied, that she didn't need more orders to do, what he asked.

Luck was finally on his side.


Just when the plane had taken off, the hut appeared again, as soundlessly, as it had disappeared.

The two beings from earlier stepped out the door, to watch the lights of the flying vehicle mingle with the night sky.

"He won't keep his end of the bargain, will he?," the male finally asked. "Of course not, he's a human. Did you expect him to?," she asked back.

"Maybe. Didn't you?" "Of course not." "You didn't?" "Of course not.," it sounded for the third time. "This was merely a test."

"A test?" "If he can find this place. If he can step into this hut without being killed on the spot. If he can reach the gate. He can, apparently, not even the seals hold him back. His soul is just the right mixture of evil and good to slip past undetected." "I don't feel any seals..." "Be grateful, that you aren't a creature from hell, these seals are too annoying. Not even in my vessel can I pass the outer perimeter."

"So...what now?," the male asked. "We prepare, for His return in five months.," she replied. "Prepare? How? And why wait so long?," he asked, not knowing of this part of the plan. From what he knew, the man from earlier should have opened the gate today, he had not shown his surprise, when he had been ordered to say something different to their visitor earlier.

The female showed a smile, that nearly sent her head falling off forwards. "Why? Because it'll make everything SO much sweeter. He would be too weak, if he was freed now. No, we'll prepare properly...and make sure, that there is nobody to interfere anymore..."

Seeing confusion and understanding both on her companion's face, she showed a dark, cold smile. "Just sit back and watch.," she grinned with a sadistic tone in her voice, that promised only the worst for the world, before they both disappeared in a dull black shine.


When Kylie had given her phone number to Shadow, she had guessed, that she would regret this decision one day. She just hadn't known, that this day would be the very same one.

After prying Tails from Snow and their inventions, which had taken a good 30 minutes, prying Knuckles from the reliefs – which Rouge had made quite easy with a small kiss to the guardian's cheek, that had the male so flustered, that he had pretty much fled from the storage room – and giving her number to her remaining friends (at least the ones, who wanted it), they had gone home with Chaos Control and Kylie had assumed, that she could end her working day now with researching how to handle Fleetway tomorrow. She had had half the mind to talk with DJ about her messing around with the scanner, but decided against it. She would do it again anyway.

Kylie should have known, that people like Shadow just didn't know, what 'decent times' meant.

Just about an hour later, he had already called her for the first time. Apparently, Sonic had taken the prescribed bath – and in mere seconds, the bath water had turned deep black.

A quick research – since this had never happened before – later she had been able to explain, that this could only mean, that Sonic's body was getting rid of the drug remains far faster, than Nicole had estimated and already gave it out via his skin. Alphas worked apparently differently to other ukes and made calculations quite useless...which she rather not told the AI. Even artificial creatures could fall into depression.

Shadow had then seen it as his duty to report all fifteen minutes to her, how Sonic was doing and anything special happening, like the bed sheets, where Sonic lay after the bath, turning slowly black, since his body was apparently still busy with getting rid of the drug remains, or the bruise Sonic got himself earlier in the Shelter forming visibly. He even called, when there was nothing to report, just to report exactly that...

The frequent calls had stopped around midnight, when Alex, fed up by the annoying noise, had taken over the phone. She didn't know, what he had told him, since he had left the room for the ten minutes the talk had lasted, but it had taken effect. Shadow hadn't called again...until 8 am the next morning.

The ringing of her telephone – whose ring tone she really didn't want to hear again, ever – woke her up. Rubbing her eyes and sitting up, she slowly came to awareness. Trying to stand up, she sent several books flying to the ground, that had been lying next to her on the mattress.

She grimaced. Alex would chew her out for sleeping in a nest of books again. She always tended to research and learn, until she fell asleep out of pure exhaustion and Alex had never made a secret out of how much he hated that.

He had a fantastic memory, one look at a book page and he could recite it flawlessly, but his mother couldn't. She needed longer to learn, which cut her sleeping hours often short. He had so many times offered to do the reading, to make notes for her to shorten the learning time, but she didn't want that too often. It was her job, after all, not his, and he was still in school. She didn't care, if he needed less than an hour for his homework, he was supposed to enjoy his life – not to learn stuff he would probably never need for someone else.

Following the sound of the telephone to the kitchen – she vaguely remembered, that Alex had left it there last night – she picked it up and answered the call. "Yes?," she yawned in the device.

"He's having a fever again.," a voice she remembered to be annoying for some reason greeted her.

"Huh? Who's having what?," she asked blearily, while pushing a button to get the coffee machine to work, so it would do its job – producing her and Alex' life essence.

She yelped, when the person on the telephone, that she had already forgotten to be at her ear, suddenly screamed, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'WHO'!?"

"Wah!" Kylie literally threw the device up in shock and had to fumble a bit to catch it again. Composing herself, she put it back against her ear. "Okay, I just woke up, so let's take this a bit slower. Who is on the line?," she asked, a little clearer in the head after the rude wake up-call.

A low growl answered her and just when she was convinced, that she had been called by some kind of bear, a voice followed the growl. "It's...Shadow."

"Ah. Hey, Shadow. So, Sonic has got another bout of fever?," Kylie asked, keeping the phone between her ear and shoulder, while starting to prepare the table.

Thankfully, there was no school today, so she didn't have to worry about her little ones missing it. Although Hope was technically two years old, she went to preschool with five year old children.

"That would be...correct.," Shadow answered, apparently confused, that she didn't need more time to understand, that Sonic was bad off.

"Alright, how high is his temperature?," Kylie asked. "Er...," Shadow trailed off and Kylie heard someone mumble in the background. "38,2 °C.," he repeated the answer.

Kylie stifled a small yawn, before answering, "Okay, that is just a slight temperature and probably serves to help his body getting rid of the drug remains. Does he still give out those?"

"No, he stopped with it a few hours ago, I already changed the sheets.," Shadow answered, while Kylie took out two big mugs and filled them with the bitter black liquid, one a bit under the edge, the other not as full.

Grabbing the fuller one, she took a quick sip, before speaking, "Good. Well, the temperature shouldn't be so bad. It might even rise a bit still, for the next two to five days, as a reaction to the removal of the drug remains. If the fever doesn't break by the end of the fifth day, you should bring him to the Shelter – or a hospital, it's the same, really – to get checked out. Also, bring him here, when the fever has broken. I'd like to scan him again to see, if there are still drug remains in him."

"Mommy?," she heard a small voice and looking up, she saw Vanessa in the door frame, rubbing her eyes.

"Hold on a second.," she told Shadow curtly and then smiled at her daughter. "Good morning, my love. Did you sleep well?," she asked sweetly.

"Uhuh. Can we have pancakes for breakfast?," she asked. "No, you know the rules. If you had sweets for dinner, then there's only bread for breakfast. But we can make pancakes tomorrow.," Kylie explained. Yesterday, she and the others had eaten so much ice-cream, that it had become their dinner, they had been simply full.

"Okay.," Vanessa grumbled, put out a bit, because she wouldn't get her wish, but complying. "Go wash and wake your siblings, then we'll have breakfast.," Kylie went on. "Okay.," the girl repeated and trudged over to her brother's room, apparently wanting to complete the second order first.

Smiling after her for a bit, Kylie went back to her conversation. "Alright, I'm back.," she explained.

"Yeah, I noticed.," the dark furred hedgehog grumbled. "Is there something I should do, to help him?," he asked.

"Just what you usually do, when he's sick – minus calling me all five minutes for updates.," she added, annoyed. "It was all fifteen minutes."

"And we'll extend them to not at all, unless there's an emergency. Keep him hydrated, make sure he rests and give him some of the soup, that is suggested in the book I gave Sonic, the one to help replenish the energy. You have the necessary herbs and should be able to cook it without a problem. If things get nasty, you can use the herbal pills or come to me. Anything else?"

"...I don't think so.," Shadow muttered. He seemed irritated, that she told him what to do, although he had asked for it, literally. "Alright then. Mind giving me Tails for a sec?," Kylie asked.

"Er...sure. And thanks...I guess.," the agent mumbled and a few seconds later, she heard Tails' small voice. "Kylie?"

"Hey, Tails, how are you holding up?," the woman asked and waved to her son in a silent greeting, when he came stumbling into the kitchen, looking, as if he hadn't gotten any sleep. She looked probably the same.

He grabbed the other mug and took a sip, using the bitterness to get awake, before digging through the refrigerator for the milk, that he usually drank his coffee with.

"...I'm good, I guess. Just a bit worried. You know, about Sonic, getting worse.," the fox explained and she was sure, that he was playing with his tails right now.

"It's alright, it's just a bit of fever. I already told Shadow, what to do, so he'll be fine.," Kylie soothed.

"...Can I call you still...if I have questions?," the fox asked shyly. He had probably heard, how Shadow got chewed out by Alex yesterday. "Of course. At least I can trust you with knowing, what decent time means." Tails giggled a bit.

"Tails, be honest, have you slept at all last night?," Kylie asked. He sounded a bit like when she had saved him and his friends from the fake Uke Institute, when he had been fairly exhausted. It wasn't as bad as it had been back then, but he had definitely a need for a little sleep.

"...I guess not, no. Shadow and I were up all night, until Sonic fell asleep, but then, he got this fever..."

"In other words, someone needs a nap." "But-!" "Tails, you won't help Sonic, when you get sick, or collapse from exhaustion. Shadow is there and will take care of Sonic. You just relax and take it easy for a bit, okay?," Kylie replied with her motherly scolding tone.

The fox sighed in defeat. "Yeah, okay. Bye, Kylie. And thank you, really." "No problem. Bye, and sleep well." With that she hung up and took a big gulp of warm coffee.

"So, you're raising other children now, too?," Alex asked, while stirring his milk into his coffee, having apparently listened to everything. He didn't sound upset, or annoyed, just... knowingly amused.

"His big brother is down for the count, he needs someone to guide him a bit. Shadow isn't really big brother-material.," Kylie shrugged.

"Right.," the teen growled, picking with his spoon in the coffee now, as if trying to stab it. "I know you don't like him, but Sonic is his boyfriend, you won't be able to have one without the other.," Kylie reminded gently.

"Yeah, I know. Don't have to like it, though. This arrogant, little... Should build a rocket in the Garage to shoot him to the moon..." He swallowed every other insult down and Kylie let him. She knew, that he didn't mean Shadow, not at all.

"What are you even working on in the Garage?," Kylie asked, while continuing to set the table up. "You seem to spend most of your time there."

"Oh...er..." Nervously, Alex stirred his by now empty mug, the spoon clinking wildly against the edges. "I...er... Gotta go!" And he was out of the kitchen in an instant, leaving his coffee mug on the counter.

Kylie smiled fondly after him. Since over a year now, Alex was always fidgety, when it came to the Garage-topic. He probably liked it so much, that he just didn't know, how to put it in words without making a fool out of himself...or he was in love and trying to impress his crush with an invention.

She chuckled at her own thought process. Okay, that last one had been simply wishful thinking. So far, Alex had shown no romantic interest in anybody. It didn't bother her, not in the slightest, he was still young, after all. Since she had been the one to become pregnant with eighteen, her children had her personal blessing to wait for love as long as they wanted.

"Mommy!" The twin shout reminded her, that she needed to hurry with preparing breakfast, if she didn't want to have two very moody girls at her hands.


It was dark around him, nothing could be made out. He wasn't even sure, if his eyes were open, but opening them brought no difference.

"Hello?," he called, hearing his voice echo, as if he was in a huge, windowless room. Figuring, that he would find something – and if it was a wall – when he started walking, he did so, but he had taken just one step, when the ground disappeared underneath him and he fell – to land in the last thing he wanted to land in.

Water.

He sank like a stone, pretty much kissing his life goodbye already, when he noticed something bright behind his tightly closed eyelids and he opened his eyes to find himself out of the water and hovering above a planet. Well, not any planet – Mobius. And his eyes widened upon seeing the whole thing on fire. While he watched, the complete planet was swallowed by hot flames!

"NO!," he called, but he couldn't move from the spot. His friends, his family, they were all there!

"What would you do?" Hearing a foreign voice behind him, he turned around quickly and saw a cloaked figure standing there, the cloak getting ruffled by a breeze.

"Tell me.," the person said calmly. "If it was real, what would you do?" "I..." He found himself backing off, scared for a reason he couldn't name.

"If you don't know, then don't bother coming back." And suddenly, the figure was so close to him, pushing against his shoulder, making him fall backwards, but he didn't touch the floor, he rather kept falling, falling...

With a gasp, a certain blue furred hedgehog sat up straight in his bed. It took him a few rapid heartbeats to realize, that he was in his room.

Groaning, he let himself fall back in the pillows. "Great, I thought the nightmares were over. Well, at least it wasn't like the others this time.," he thought, feeling his cheeks heat up a bit at the last part.

Frowning, he looked up at his ceiling, thinking. What had this dream been about? Why hadn't he known, what to answer the stranger? It was so easy. If the world would burn, then he would save everyone he could. Why couldn't he say that?

Feeling cold suddenly, he quickly grabbed the thrown off blanket and buried himself in it. Why was he so cold now?

A small knock on the door let his ear twitch. "Sonic?," his mate called out quietly. Not in the mood to move, he just mumbled, "Yeah."

The door got opened and footfalls were audible, until Sonic could see his love, coming into view and carrying a tray. That got his attention – and that of his stomach, that decided to growl, when Shadow put the tray on the nightstand. Letting go of the object, the male turned to his beloved uke.

"Hey, how are you feeling?," he asked with a smile. Sonic fell silent for a second, listening to his body's signals.

"Tired, hungry, cold – and I think I'm getting a headache.," he listed up. "So, no nausea?," Shadow inquired.

Sonic grimaced. After getting sick more than once in the Uke Shelter yesterday and feeling nauseous for hours last night, until he had been finally able to sleep, this question was rather justified.

According to Kylie – who had probably gotten more calls than she could possibly want from his boyfriend last night – that nausea was normal, since most of the drug remains were centered in his digestive system.

It had taken them a while to get rid of the feeling and Sonic felt pretty guilty, that Shadow and Tails had had to stay with him all the time.

Shadow could take a few sleepless nights, no problem, but Tails needed his sleep. He had tried to convince his little brother, that he would be fine, but that wasn't so effective, when you hugged a plastic bin to yourself, because you felt so miserable and just about ready to turn your stomach inside out and kept soaking bed sheets with black liquid. The fox had stayed at his side, until sleep had claimed him.

"No, at least not until now. Where's Tails?," he asked. "Sleeping. Kylie played mother and sent him to bed. I just checked on him, he's still out like a light.," Shadow replied, while taking a seat on the mattress and placing a glove-less hand on his forehead. He had known, that Sonic would ask about the young boy and had therefore taken the minuscule detour on his way to this room. "I think, your temperature rose a bit. I'll take it in a minute. Do you want to eat first?," he stated and asked.

Sonic cuddled even deeper into the mattress. "Don't wanna move.," he whined. "What are you, a lazy hog?," Shadow asked, sounding amused. Well, that hadn't been a 'no' to food, though...

Gently, he grabbed his slightly startled mate under the armpits and pulled him in a sitting position, leaning him against the headboard of their bed and adjusting the blankets, putting an extra one around his shoulders, remembering his claim to be cold.

"Spoilsport.," Sonic muttered upon being moved, but he couldn't help the pleased purrs in his throat and the lazy wag of his tail, showing his appreciation. He just felt loved and cared for and although he liked caring for others the best, he also liked the attention he got right now.

He accepted the tray placed on his lap easily, but frowned, when he saw the plate with the amber fluid, in that swam small pieces of green. "No chilidogs?," he complained.

"Sonic, you heard Kylie. Your stomach isn't used to so greasy food anymore and needs time to adjust. For now, it's only soup. I studied your meal schedule and in three days, I can start adding cooked meat to the soups. Until then, absolutely no meat. Just try it, maybe you'll like it.," Shadow scolded lightly and then coaxed gently.

Sonic frowned at the fluid a bit longer, before, to his seme's immense relief, taking the spoon, scooping up a small amount of soup and tasting it. His eyes widened, when he tasted the delicious flavors and his brain, stomach and instincts for once didn't rebel against the warm dish after weeks of only fruit and vegetables in a raw form.

In mere seconds, the plate was empty and only Shadow was able to tell, that he hadn't thrown its contents out of the window, not at all. "More!," Sonic demanded, holding out the plate and Shadow was eager to comply.


Sonic ended up emptying the whole pot, that Shadow had cooked for the day, before he was satisfied and declared, that he didn't need more for now.

The 'for now' worried Shadow a little – cooking the soup had taken quite a while, since he didn't really know, how to cook – but he was glad to see his mate full and happy for a change.

Taking his temperature, though, some worry returned, as the fever had indeed risen, if only by a little bit. He really hated it, when Kylie was right.

The fever caused Sonic no discomfort, yet, he was just tired, sluggish and unwilling to move (which even extended to being carried to and out the bathroom by a flustered Shadow), but the seme couldn't help it, he wanted to call Kylie again, even if just to hear, that this was normal and no reason for worries.

Knowing, that he was too dependent on the woman, he restrained himself eventually, but kept a firm eye on his mate.

Sonic was currently lying in Shadow's arms, head resting on his chest fur, snuggling closer now and then, purring happily and tail wagging. He had taken a painkiller against his headache and fever and now just enjoyed some quality time. After being for weeks apart, he desperately needed the contact to his mate. It made him feel safe and complete, as if he belonged right here.

Shadow was also enjoying the closeness, to have Sonic in his arms, sitting here on their bed – which he would never take for granted again after those last few weeks – and he honestly didn't want to move, never wanted his beloved mate to leave his side. He knew, that it was impossible, they had their work to do – and he should probably start with lunch; knowing Sonic, he would demand more food soon – so he would just enjoy this, while it lasted.

A knock coming from the window let him look up to see a falcon with pristine white feathers fluttering in front of it, knocking softly again with its beak.

Frowning, Shadow entangled himself from his boyfriend and slowly went closer to the window, being extra careful, since his mate was in no condition to protect himself in an emergency. Opening the window, he allowed the bird to land on the windowsill. The animal looked at him for a minute, tilting its head, before turning a bit to the side and lifting its wing, revealing a piece of paper tied to its leg.

"The carrier pigeons seem to get bigger these days.," Sonic snickered, having seen the paper as well from the bed. Carefully, Shadow untied the piece of paper and, seeing Sonic's name written on it, gave it to him. Curiously, Sonic unfolded it and read its scribbled, rather dryly formulated content.

As promised, I let you know, how Pinky is doing. She has hammered and cried her frustration out and is now busy with burning everything with your face on it...or with a blue or green color. Just thought I'd let you know, that we'll make a little trip starting tomorrow to find her a new purpose in life. Shouldn't take too long, Pinky isn't THAT hopeless.

"It's from Scythe, Amy is fine.," he explained towards Shadow, who closed the window after the departed falcon. "Hooray.," Shadow grumbled sarcastically. Sonic just shook his head. He got, why Shadow didn't like Amy, so he didn't bother with scolding him. He was rather sure, that Shadow wouldn't hurt her, should she ever want to contemplate coming closer to him again.

Sonic's ear twitched suddenly and he raised his head from the letter to look towards his door. "Tails?," he asked, although it didn't sound, as if he had called for him.

Shadow didn't need to strain his hearing to detect, what Sonic had been listening to. Barely audibly, a whimper sounded from the other side of the door. It amazed the dark agent, that Sonic had caught the sound first, since it was so soft. Even their breathing was louder. Did he expect the sound? Or was that part of him being an Alpha and caring for his colony, to that the fox belonged?

He saw Sonic try and leave the bed, but it was only thanks to the agent's speed and quick reflexes, that the hero's attempt of standing up didn't end with a crash to the floor.

Catching him, he noticed the tremble of his mate's body and the sweat soaking his fur suddenly. Seemed, as if the fever got worse, because he strained himself too much... with standing up.

"Sonic, you need to rest.," Shadow scolded gently, placed him back on the mattress and put the blanket over him.

"But-!," the hero wanted to argue, already moving to stand up, before he was interrupted. "I'll look after Tails for you, okay? Just stay here and take it easy." And with that, Shadow had left the room, leaving the door open.

Sighing, Sonic let himself fall into his pillow again. He knew, that this was most likely normal for his recovery, but not being able to be there for Tails for this long was really grating on his nerves and testing his mood and patience.

Noticing the telephone on Shadow's nightstand, he reached for it, putting the letter down next to it first, and went through the contacts, not surprised to find Kylie's number already saved there. He dialed it and was shortly after connected.

"Shadow, what did I tell you just five hours before?," Kylie greeted in an exasperated tone. "Sorry, I don't know.," Sonic chuckled.

"Oh, hey Sonic.," Kylie replied, not missing a beat. Since she wasn't embarrassed at all for confusing them, she had either known, that he would call, or... "...Are you busy?," the hero inquired.

"You have no idea.," the woman sighed. "Only in a place like this one can you have such problems. So, how are you? Still a fever?," she changed the topic after the small rant.

"...Shadow told you, didn't he?," Sonic grumbled, not having to think about her source for long.

"Of course, he was worried. Probably still is. Now, an answer?" "Yeah, still a fever. It even got a bit higher. Can't stand up."

"Then you shouldn't. Why don't you take a nap? It'll speed your recovery up." Sonic sighed. She was right, but...

"I'd like to hear about Scourge and Fleetway first.," he explained his motive for calling in the first place. Kylie snickered. "I wondered already, when this would come."

The sound of her door on her side being slammed open interrupted her, as well as the shout of "Mama!", that he already knew from yesterday. "Oh, who are you talking to?," he heard Vanessa ask curiously, whispering loudly.

"Just Sonic.," Kylie replied honestly. A huge gasp followed her answer. "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!," Vanessa immediately begged.

Kylie chuckled in a 'should have seen this coming'-way. "Sonic, would it be okay-?" "I don't mind, go ahead.," the hero grinned.

It felt like a lifetime, since he made a child (or children) happy. Due to his illness and his instincts, as well as the rumors about his 'stay' on the Island, he had avoided his fans just as much as his friends, if not more. It was high time to get back to normal...well, as normal as his life was.

"Hi, Sonic.," Vanessa greeted excitedly. "Hello, Vanessa.," the hero replied with a smile. He could imagine her cutely excited face right now. "Oh, is everything okay? You sound a bit off! More so than yesterday.," Vanessa added thoughtfully.

"Vanessa.," Kylie reprimanded lightly, while Sonic didn't know, what to say. "Sorry. That was impolite, wasn't it?," the girl questioned sheepishly.

"It's...it's okay.," Sonic quickly reassured. He was actually impressed. The girl was very observant for someone her age. His voice barely sounded different to normal and only his closest friends would notice the tiredness he tried to hide. Even if Vanessa was his biggest fan, she should normally not be able to catch the tone from speaking with him in person two times in two days.

This would explain, however, how she had been able to catch up so easily on the hatred Kylie's family faced for adopting Hope, despite the woman's efforts to hide it from her. Vanessa was obviously very mature already, just because of this ability to observe more than others. "I'm just a bit under the weather.," he quickly added. "So...heroes can get sick, too?," Vanessa asked, innocently surprised.

Sonic had to bite his tongue, so he wouldn't laugh out loud. The girl reminded him a lot of Tails right now. The young fox wasn't always as observant as Vanessa, but he was clever in many ways and taught Sonic as often something as the older him.

Despite his intelligence, however, there were still a few things, that Tails reacted to according to his physical age. One of those was romance. Whenever they watched a movie, in that appeared a kiss-scene (even action movies could contain those), Tails commented them with an "Eew!", or a "Gross!"

Even when he witnessed something like that in public, he just stuck out his tongue in disgust. At least he was polite enough not to disturb the couples by voicing his complaint overly loudly.

Sonic knew, that his own interactions with Shadow were no exception. He didn't understand, yet, just why they kissed on the mouth, why they fought about stuff he saw as trivial, or cuddled without a real reason (Tails sought out the physical comfort after a nightmare or after a very intense fight, or situation, like his recent sickness, but otherwise, he thought, that he was "too old" for cuddling already. Understandable, that it confused him, when two even older persons cuddled on their own free will).

He was respectful enough to not voice his complaints, but Sonic had overheard him lamenting in front of Cream sometimes, his only ally in this manner. Being younger than him, Cream was the only one he knew, who would be just as confused by the show of affections between two adults (or, well, older ones than them). They both agreed, that kissing each other on the lips was just gross and unnatural. It was actually adorable, because they would change their opinion one day, they just didn't know it, yet.

"Yes, heroes can get sick, too. It's thanks to my healthy diet, that I don't get sick that often.," he answered Vanessa's question, slipping easily enough in the role of the role model.

"I thought, that you just eat chilidogs!," Vanessa wondered. Sonic sweatdropped. So much for being a role model. He heard Kylie trying to stifle a snort in the background.

"I just do that to help the economy. Would be a shame, if nobody sold chilidogs anymore, you know? At home, I eat other stuff, too, like vegetables and fruit." It wasn't a lie, he just liked chilidogs best – and why not eating, what he liked the most every day? With Tails' physical development in his mind, he had changed his diet to get the important nutrients and vitamins in the fox's developing body, which had worked far easier, when the hero had joined the healthy meals.

Although Tails could tell by now himself – if necessary, even with a scanner he built – what his body needed, the balanced diet had stayed stuck with them and they followed it more or less often in their own four walls.

"...So, when Mama gives me broccoli, it's not because I did something bad?," Vanessa asked slowly.

"No, not at all!," Sonic quickly reassured. "Your mother loves you and wants you happy and healthy. Vegetables are not as tasty as sweets or chilidogs, but they are important for you to become strong.," Sonic went on. Kylie would kill him, if he, as Vanessa's currently strongest role model, couldn't convince her daughter to eat healthy food.

"...Okay. I don't like vegetables that much, but if you say so... Oh, before I forget – will you come over today!?," she asked excitedly.

Sonic grimaced. "I'm sorry, but I don't feel so good, I'd rather rest.," he apologized. He hated disappointing people – especially children.

"Aw, but tomorrow, I have to be with my father and then I have school and homework...," Vanessa complained. "...Don't you like your father?," Sonic asked gently, trying not to pry too much.

His instincts were mildly confused, actually, that Kylie's former mate was still allowed close to her children.

Mobians weren't this merciful. When mates broke up, then their children stayed with the mother and accepted the next partner (the family would need protection, after all, so there usually was a new partner) more or less easily as their father. The real father was never mentioned again and had no right to even look at his family. The instincts rarely granted a chance for making up, since it took usually a lot to break up in the first place.

"I do! But...he always...he always says mean things about...you." Her voice became softer and Sonic was sure, that, although he hadn't heard her yet, Hope was standing right next to her, listening. "He even...ripped the autograph I have from you in half.," she whispered sadly.

A clatter sounded in the background and he was sure, that Kylie had just dropped something. She heard this apparently for the first time. Poor Vanessa was really not envied right now, she suffered too much for a child her age...which was sadly another parallel between the girl and Tails, before he met Sonic, at least.

"Tell you what, how about I'll come by your home, or even your school someday and give you another, better autograph?," he suggested, earning a huge gasp from the girl, before the little one quickly told him her address, her school's address and her timetable, so fast, that Sonic was probably the only one listening, who could follow her flawlessly.

He would have liked to tell her an exact date and time for his visit, but his life just wasn't plan-able.

What he usually embraced and enjoyed, as it kept his life interesting and exciting, was a pain in the behind, when it came to dates and appointments.

Sometimes, he could almost swear, that Eggman (or another villain for that matter) knew, that he had something planned and chose this very day to cause so much havoc, that he wasn't even fashionably late anymore, once everything and everyone was safe.

It became therefore a habit of his to keep his agenda free of as many appointments as possible and to just plan randomly, so he wouldn't disappoint too many people. Besides, children loved surprises, didn't they?

"Can we play a bit, when you come?," Vanessa asked, after having finished with describing when and where they could meet. She sounded careful, as if one wrong word of her would make Sonic take his own offer back.

"Sure, I'm certain, that there will be time for a game or two.," he smiled. "Yay, thanks, you're the best!," Vanessa cheered and he heard, how the phone was given back and then, how two madly giggling girls quickly left the office, slamming the door shut behind them.

"I'm not entirely sure, what you told her, but I didn't see her this excited since Christmas.," Kylie chuckled. "Just promising her a new autograph and a day of fun.," Sonic grinned.

"I thought as much, there isn't a lot, that can make her this happy. Thanks, I owe you one.," she smiled.

"Think nothing of it.," the hedgehog shrugged. "Say, is it normal for humans, that the father still has contact with his young?," he changed the topic.

"It's 'children', and yes. Unless the child is fifteen years or older and declares clearly, that he/she doesn't want the contact, the parent – it doesn't have to be the father, you know? – doesn't want to have anything to do with their offspring, or the parent is a threat to the child's well-being, there is no reason to deny the parent this right. While Alex despises his father and is old enough to decide, where he wants to stay, my ex always wanted to have Vanessa at least sometimes over. Hearing this now, however, I'll see, if I can get this contact to stop. Van doesn't seem too fond of it anyway.," Kylie growled the last part and Sonic almost felt sorry for her ex-mate. Almost.

He looked up, when he noticed movement in the door and had to bite his tongue so he wouldn't start to laugh.

He could see the tip of his brother's tail peeking into the room from the doorway. It reminded him of the beginning of their brotherhood, when Tails didn't know, how to act around him. He had always made his presence known by hiding next to the door frame and peaking all few seconds in the room, sometimes just with one of his tails, until Sonic had acknowledged him loudly and asked him to come in.

He had lost the habit soon enough and become braver, but the recent events – and their similarity to the Island-incident – let the insecurity and old habit surface again. As if Sonic being an Alpha and an uke would make him someone else. Well, time to rebuild the lost trust.

Sitting up, he tried to bring himself in a relaxed looking position, before calling his brother's name, signaling Kylie on the line this way, that he would interrupt their talk for a while. Placing the telephone to the side, he watched Tails coming in, his posture speaking of his insecurity. "Hey, buddy.," he greeted. The nickname alone put the fox a bit at ease. "Nightmare?," Sonic inquired gently.

"Yeah.," Tails nodded, sitting himself on the edge of the bed, like he always did, when he was younger. "And I guess, that Shad didn't help with that.," Sonic continued. Tails bit his lip, his tails swaying a bit and his eyes turning to the mattress he sat on.

It reminded Sonic again of their beginning, when Tails had been reluctant to speak his opinion, in fear, that Sonic would punish him or kick him out, if he said the wrong thing. Until now, Sonic wasn't sure, which one of the two possibilities would have been worse for the fox.

He didn't need to think for long about why Tails was so nervous. Now, that he thought about it, they never had had this talk...

"Tails, you know, that me being together with Shad won't change anything between us, right?," he asked gently.

Tails didn't look up, which wasn't a good sign. "I...would like to believe that, but...when Kylie said, that you couldn't infect us, you...turned to Shadow.," the younger almost whispered the last part, becoming more and more silent with each word.

Sonic's eyes widened, when he realized, what Tails meant there. He could actually kick himself for not realizing that earlier. His little genius brother was...jealous.

It was understandable, actually. Tails had had for years the privilege of any only child – undivided attention of their caretaker. Even though Sonic was a busy hedgehog, saving the world at least once a week, meeting his fans and his friends on a nearly regular basis, Tails had had, at the end of the day, his brother for himself. They rarely had had guests overnight, so it had been just them mostly. To top it off, there had been no one in their unusual, assembled family, who had been as close to Sonic as the fox. Not even Cream, which was mostly, because Sonic had to force himself to engage in her girly games. Amy's overzealous hugs and everything had never counted in the first place, since it had been obvious – to anyone, but the girl herself –, that Sonic didn't like those.

And just after being separated for days, two years ago, when they had both gone through their own personal hells, they hadn't even been able return to their routine of being together as brothers.

Sonic had been in Healing slumber, Tails had been injured and sick and they had had guests. Tails had been a good host, helping, where he could – and had gotten rewarded with a permanent house guest, who hogged his older brother.

It wasn't, as if Sonic had turned everything down, that Tails had suggested since then. Quite the contrary, Shadow had been the one, who had had to toss his plans for the both of them in the trash, when Tails had had a suggestion. Not once had he turned away from his brother with a sentence like, "Sorry, but Shadow and I have other plans".

However, lately, he had started to tell Tails right during their breakfast, when he and his mate had planned something. As if he had wanted to suffocate any plan on Tails' mind immediately...

And as Tails had never wanted Shadow to join (and vice versa), the fox had been for sure discouraged to try and force himself in the plans of the two hedgehogs. Also, he was just too polite to be a brat and demand Sonic to stay home with him or to include him in a date of the two speedsters.

He wouldn't even say something, if he was against Shadow all together, now, that he thought about it, just suffer quietly. He may not understand, what that feeling between them was, but he got, that it was there and important to keep his brother happy. Had he ever asked, if it was okay for Tails, that Shadow stayed with them now?

No.

He had simply integrated the agent in their lives, never asking for Tails' opinion on that matter, just assumed, that they would get along.

He hadn't thought much of it. Being new on the romantic relationship-terrain, he had assumed, that it wasn't that different to getting a new friend. That Tails would get used to the newest addition of their family, just like he always did with all of their friends...who didn't move in after just stepping into their lives.

Scolding himself for being so stupid, the hero bent forward and grabbed his brother to pull him in a tight hug, startling the fox for a moment, before he calmed down, the scent of the older easily connected with safety and comfort.

"Not even one hundred Shadows can change the fact, that you are my little buddy. I'm sorry I never considered your feelings in this.," he mumbled in the younger one's fur.

Tails just sniffed, trying not to cry.

"If you want to, I can get Shads to move out.," Sonic continued. It wouldn't be a big deal, really. With their speed and Shadow's warping, it would be hardly a disruption of their habits, just a delay of five to ten minutes, tops.

He was still relieved, when Tails shook his head. "N-no. It's okay. I'm just glad, that you are alright.," Tails whispered. His stress was already beginning to fade, making it easier to think clearly. He couldn't ask that of Sonic, but that he had offered it, told him, that he was indeed still his big brother, thinking about everyone's (especially his) well-being and happiness before his own.

"How about we do something next weekend? Just the two of us?," Sonic suggested gently, figuring, that they needed some brotherly time together to fix their small problem completely.

He couldn't reverse time and change, who he turned to yesterday – and quite frankly, he wasn't sure, if he would change it: in this moment, he had needed the comfort only a seme could provide an uke (or a female) with... – so this would have to do.

Tails seemed ready to jump at the chance, but hesitated at the last second. "Will...Shadow be busy next weekend?," he asked, for sure assuming, that Sonic had chosen this weekend, because Shadow didn't have time then.

Sonic smirked. "Don't know, don't care. This is our time.," he answered, getting a happy giggle from his brother in return.

In seconds, the giggling turned to even breathing and Sonic didn't need to look down to know, that his little brother had fallen asleep. Seemed, as if Shadow didn't know, yet, how to make out, if Tails was just feigning sleep. Well, it was his job anyway.

Adjusting his hold, Sonic picked up the phone again. "Kylie?," he called her silently. "Brotherly bond restored?," Kylie asked gently, not even pretending, that she hadn't heard everything.

"We're getting there.," Sonic grinned, chuckling, when Tails snuggled closer to his heat source, like he used to do all the time, when he was younger and had crept in his bed.

"I'll let you join him in dreamland, but I already know, that you need at least a little summary on Scourge and my progress concerning Fleetway."

"An Alpha-thing?," the hedgehog asked. "You bet.," Kylie replied easily. "Now, Scourge is well. There were no problems throughout the night and his vitals have stabilized satisfyingly. I also got the results from his blood sample and judging by that, he should wake up in five to eight days."

"That long!?," Sonic exclaimed, causing Tails to growl unconsciously in annoyance. "Why so long? I thought, it was a matter of one to two nights!," Sonic whispered, while calmly stroking Tails' back with the hand of the arm, that held him, luring him back in a deep sleep.

"To get stable, which he is now. But some of the drugs Scourge took are highly addictive. It pretty much needs one small dose and you're hooked. I researched the Healing slumber for a while now and found out, that mobians, who entered this state because of or while being on drugs, stayed in it for up to four weeks longer, than those without drugs in their bloodstream. This way, the body tries to avoid the full impact of the withdrawals, that will follow the loss of the regular stream of drugs. As fast as Scourge's metabolism works, he shouldn't need more than a few days to overcome those withdrawals."

"I see. And Fleetway?," Sonic asked, feeling relieved and rather sleepy now. Kylie seemed to notice it, which was, why she kept her next answer short. "I found a few stories about an Alpha mating a seme of the Lightning Class. I'll try out his tricks and tell you later how it worked, okay?," she suggested.

"Sounds good.," the Alpha agreed tiredly. "Alright. Sleep well, you two. Bye." With that, the woman hung up.

Sonic did so, too, yawning, while putting the telephone back on his nightstand. "Sonic?," Shadow asked quietly and when the hero looked up, his mate stood there with a glass of water and two of his pills against nightmares.

Shadow didn't exactly know, why he needed them, but he understood, that he needed those, so he would give them to him as often as necessary.

"Thanks." Willingly, Sonic took the objects and swallowed them. He already enjoyed the dreamless sleep over the strange dreams.

"Sonic...I...never wanted to interfere with you and your brother...," Shadow started to apologize.

Of course he had heard the conversation – and he had been mildly distressed to hear, that Sonic had contemplated to have him move out for his brother's sake. He was relieved to hear, that the fox didn't want him gone, but part of him – probably his instincts – wasn't even surprised to hear the proposition in the first place. It seemed quite obvious, that the boy meant a lot to his mate and he had been part of the colony first. He knew unconsciously, that Tails had an established relationship to his mate, so to say older rights, while he and Sonic struggled with building an even deeper one. And he also knew, that, even if they succeeded with that, the fox would always be special for the blue hedgehog, probably long after the genius' death.

"Don't blame yourself, this is my fault. I kept you separated, although we are a family. We should do something together soon, the three of us. It's high time you two get to meet properly.," Sonic replied tiredly, while making himself and his precious cargo comfortable.

"...That sounds good.," Shadow found himself agreeing, although interacting with people wasn't exactly something he enjoyed. But for Sonic, he would do a lot, even that. And maybe the fox wasn't all that bad, Sonic had a good feeling for people, after all. Hesitating a moment, the agent went on, "Sonic, I need to tell you something. You are-"

He got interrupted by soft snores and sighing, he looked at his beautiful, slumbering mate. "-deeply asleep.," he ended and rubbed his forehead in mild frustration. It wasn't Sonic he was frustrated with, but the situation. Just when could he tell Sonic about his immortality? And now, he also wanted to integrate the fox more often in their activities, which would reduce his chances to get him alone...

The communicator around his wrist, that he wore even during his days off out of a habit, beeped suddenly and he quickly silenced the device, so it wouldn't disturb the two sleepers. From the looks of it, though, little to nothing would rouse the duo anytime soon.

Looking at the device, he recognized Rouge's ID. Meaning, nothing important. She probably just wanted to tease him over playing 'Nurse Shadow' for Sonic, so this could be ignored.


Kylie steeled her nerves, as the last seconds before Fleetway's arrival ticked by. She knew, that he would be punctual – but that was the only thing she knew for sure.

Semes of the Lightning Class were unpredictable after all, she couldn't foresee, how Fleetway would react.

Although she felt reassured by her new knowledge – and the Mephiles-clone, that was currently hiding in her shadow, ready to take action, if necessary – she couldn't help the rapid beating in her chest. Being more or less alone with a seme like Fleetway was like being shoved in a cage with an untamed, hungry tiger.

She almost jumped out of her skin, when a knock sounded at her door. "Come in!," she called, wiping her moist palms against her jeans. The door opened slowly, as if the person entering was afraid to break it, before a yellow furred head poked in. "It's...3 pm.," Fleetway stated meekly.

His current submissive behavior was reassuring her like her knowledge and her secret bodyguard, although she didn't trust the former to last.

"Indeed, you are punctual. Enter and take a seat." She pointed to the chair in front of her desk.

Fleetway was quick to obey and looked anxiously at her. "Scourge...is better?," he asked hopefully and almost shyly, as if any wrong word could end their deal. For now, Kylie didn't intend on changing this line of thought.

"He is stable and should wake up in due time, approximately five to eight days.," the human female explained, waiting for a reaction.

Fleetway narrowed his eyes for a second, before cocking his head, looking rather lost. "Does this always take this long?," he asked carefully. Ironically enough, he was far calmer about the matter, than a certain blue furred Alpha.

Kylie explained to him, what she did to Sonic, watching, how the seme's face turned darker and darker the further she came.

By the end of her report, Fleetway was clenching his fists and silently growling. "I know, what stuff you are talking about. I'll kill Fi, when I get my hands on her!"

It sounded like a vow and Kylie didn't want to be in the fox female's fur right now. "Scourge never cared for drugs. Said, that they didn't work on him that well anyway. That he rather stayed fully awake on his terms. Only Fi could get him to do something so stupid. Where is this bitch now!?," he snarled, the red in his eyes glowing.

"In jail, for owning and consuming illegal drugs.," Kylie replied, having one of John's lawyers check on her, since Scythe left her in the hospital, in that the two got their stomachs pumped out.

The doctor had apparently called the police, while Scythe had been still there (as she had started to clean her scythe only off blood in front of the dark haired woman, while telling her the whole story, Kylie couldn't blame anyone for wanting the police there) and the greenette had been clever enough to make herself and her charge scarce the minute Scourge was done, but she had left the female behind as she had been still treated back then.

Fleetway paled a little upon hearing that. "Does that mean, that Scourge has to go there, too?," he asked, worried. He would go crazy in there! Not to mention, that there wasn't a jail for ukes only, as far as he knew...

"From what I heard, Fiona takes the blame alone.," Kylie replied. "She claims, that she bribed Scourge to take those drugs. It'll heighten her sentence, but it'll keep Scourge out of trouble."

The seme sighed in relief. "Thank Chaos. Fi and Scourge are really good friends, I sometimes forget that. Gotta visit her later, maybe bust her out somehow," he smiled absentmindedly.

Kylie narrowed her eyes, for now ignoring his plans, when she remembered something Scourge told her on those rare occasions, when he had opened himself willingly. He's like a tornado. His emotions go from left to right and then upwards and diagonal... At times, I can barely keep up. It's... scary, that I can't foresee his next step...not even his next words at times.

"Are you even aware of that?," she asked, almost to herself. "Aware of what?," he asked, confused.

"First you want to kill Fiona, then you want to thank and help her. Do you even notice, how much your moods swing?"

"What does that even mean?," Fleetway scoffed. For some reason, he felt insulted. "That is one of the things Scourge told me. Your extreme moods, that change in the blink of an eye, they scare him."

The seme blinked at her in surprise, seemingly processing, what she said, before his face twisted in an expression of pure rage. "How dare you say, that I scare my mate!?," he snarled and Kylie's eyelid twitched, which was the only reaction she showed on the outside.

His emotions weren't swinging, they were a damn wheel of fortune! It was impossible to say, how he would react, indeed. And yes, that scared her, too.

Since she had nothing to lose – besides her life, if the Mephiles-copy wouldn't interfere on time – she decided to follow the strategy the Alpha she had read about had used.

"Fleetway, enough of this.," she ordered with the strongest voice she could currently muster. It was surprisingly effective. Fleetway had tried to intimidate her and her lack of fear confused the instinct-controlled male.

The Alpha in her book had been able to tickle out the conscious-side of his mate by using a simple strategy... that could be seen as suicidal, nonetheless. Basically, she would try to lure out Conscious Fleetway by cutting off Instinct Fleetway right at the knees.

So far, Instinct Fleetway was still in control, but taken aback by her behavior. His beast-like mind was trying to process, how he should follow up her lack of fear. Since there were only the options attack and flight left for him, she could imagine, what his next step would be.

And really, just as she finished the thought, the light seme threw himself at her, claws extended through his gloves, teeth bared, intent on ripping her throat out – just to be thrown back by an invisible force, that had him smash into the book shelf next to the door, causing several books to fall on his head.

Kylie felt her heart beat hard against her ribs and used the time Fleetway needed to recover to get over her own shock. She knew, that Mephiles had built a barrier around her earlier, she had just forgotten about it, until it had taken effect.

Quickly, she schooled her face in a neutral expression, just when Fleetway righted himself, rubbing his head. "Ow. What the fuck was that?," he groaned.

"An invisible barrier Mephiles put up before you came, just in case. And I expect you to clean up this mess.," she growled, pointing to the books.

"Yeah, yeah.," the hedgehog grumbled and turned to sit on his knees, picking up two books and looking at them. Even with his back turned towards her, Kylie could imagine the sweat he started to build.

"They are in an alphabetical order, if that helps.," the woman explained. "...Right..." Strangely, that didn't help Fleetway in the slightest. If anything, it made him even more anxious, actually had him trembling, while he tried to concentrate.

Kylie frowned. Could it be...? "Fleetway...can't you...read?," she asked carefully. It wouldn't surprise her that much, Fleetway didn't act or look, as if he had ever been inside a school. And the streets were teaching people other stuff than that.

"I can read enough!," the male snapped over his shoulder, before turning back with a huff of indignation. Apparently, he had learned a few words by heart, just enough to not stumble by accident into a police station or a similar facility while searching for a place to hide or raid.

"Enough to read the titles?," she asked in a voice, that suggested, that she already knew the answer. Fleetway gritted his teeth audibly. "If you want, I can read the title for you and tell you, where they have to stand.," Kylie offered. "Er...reading the titles will do. I'll figure this ABC-thingy out on my own.," Fleetway quickly replied, wanting to save the last bit of his dignity.

"Alright, as you wish.," Kylie agreed, grinning inwardly in triumph. That went better, than she had expected – she had found a way to keep Conscious Fleetway out for a while.

Instinct Fleetway didn't know the alphabet, maybe not even, how to pick up a simple book. He was forced to leave that to his conscious-side, just as she had hoped.

The Alpha in her book had used logic puzzles, that had kept his mate's mind occupied. To be honest, until Fleetway had revealed his little flaw, she had had no idea, if she could actually get Conscious Fleetway out. She just didn't know him well enough. Now, however, she could imagine, that challenging him would work in the future. He was apparently willing to try this task and not keen on giving up.

Not wanting to let him wait and get impatient, she read out the titles of the two books he held out to her and watched him struggling to figure out, which letter came first and where they belonged between the books, who had stayed in the shelf. "Why does the thought of you scaring Scourge enrage you that much?," she asked after a minute.

Fleetway stopped his movements for a long second, before he resumed them, putting the books in the shelf as if to see, if it looked correctly. "...Because we've been there already, I guess.," he answered, taking two new books and showing them to Kylie. Reading out the titles for him, Kylie asked, "What do you mean with that?"

Fleetway sighed, while working quietly. "When Scourge joined the gang, he was eight. I was ten and already pretty high in the hierarchy."

Kylie's brows rose. Not only, because Fleetway was opening up so fast, but also, because there were only two years between the males. The seme had always seemed much older (and at times even much younger) than Scourge to her...

"Our former leader was interested in Scourge, especially, when he saw his speed – and that had been just a tiny part of his real potential back then. He started to give him more and more presents, the better bits of the food, real shoes, that he let his men steal for him. He even got the most comfortable bed in each of our hideouts. Even the leather jacket he wears until today. Sometimes, I really want to rip the thing apart.," he grumbled the last part.

Kylie narrowed her eyes, grabbed a note and a pen, scribbled something on it, crumbled the paper and threw it discreetly over her shoulder, knowing, that Mephiles' doppelganger would catch and read it.

"Let me guess, you got all those things before?," she asked. Fleetway snorted. "Yeah." "So you were jealous?"

Fleetway stopped for a minute, before he resumed his work. "That's not all. I was with the gang since I was six, when I murdered for the first time."

A gasp behind him let him turn around and he felt actually a bit satisfied to see the pale face of the woman and her wide eyes.

"What, surprised I killed already?," he smirked. Slowly, Kylie shook her head, fighting for composure. "Rather...that you were so young, when it happened.," she managed to get out.

Fleetway frowned, the smirk falling off his lips. "Ah, that.," he muttered and turned his back to her again. "I'm not proud of it, or anything. And I didn't want to kill...at first. I was thrown in the streets as a baby, you know? An old geezer living in this particular alley found me in a dumpster. He could've sold me for money on the black market, but he didn't. Although his life was tough and he had barely enough for himself, the crazy guy decided to take me in and raise me."

Kylie smiled at the fondness in his voice. "It must have been harder than it looked like, but he never complained. Not once. Only said, that we street rats had to stick together. Was kinda ironic, since he was a rat mobian and all. And then, when I was six, those thugs came. Claimed they owned the alley with our home in it now and wanted us to pay for staying there. We had no money or something along those lines and Geezer told them that. The two bastards then suggested to give me to them for some 'quality time'."

Kylie shuddered at the mere thought. "I didn't know back then, what they meant, or how to read those perverted grins, but Geezer refused harshly and then they attacked. They had knives, I was paralyzed with... fear, I guess. The old man wasn't so bad, he must have been a great fighter once. He even managed to disarm one of them, but the other got him by surprise, in the neck. He bled out, but they didn't stop kicking him even then, making him suffer while dying already. I noticed the knife Geezer had taken from one of them next to me. I remember picking it up, then nothing. The next thing I know, I'm standing in front of the mauled bodies of those thugs, splattered with blood and bloody knife in hand. Geezer had died by then, too. I bawled out my eyes for hours, until the leader of our gang found me, while looking for his men he had sent in this district. The ones I killed."

"HE sent them!?," Kylie gasped in bewilderment. Fleetway chuckled. "Hearing that, I almost committed my third murder of the day, but he could explain himself. He had really taken over our district a few days before, but not sent his men to collect in money, but to ask every homeless they found, if they needed something."

Understanding Kylie's silence as confusion, he explained, "The Boss was special in a way. He worked for everything he had and understood the pain of having nothing. That's why he shared with others and expected only their loyalty in return. Either by joining him in fights with rivaling gangs and in thieving acts, or by not snitching on him when asked. Trying to get money from those under his protection had been absolutely unacceptable for him. He managed to calm me down and took me in. Since I had no place to go, I followed him. He became my home, my second father."

He rubbed his eyes quickly. "And if you ever tell that to someone, I'll-" "I have no reason to. This story and everything else we speak about here will stay exactly in this room. That's a courtesy I show all of my friends.," Kylie interrupted the threat quickly. Fleetway stiffened at the last word, but didn't turn around.

Kylie smiled weakly. It was hard to believe, that she would ever call him a friend, but since yesterday, she had started to see him in another light. He wasn't just out for blood and trouble, he simply wore a hard, strong shell out of aggression and his instincts. Once you could look behind the facade, you found a relatively good and strongly caring guy, who just had a few flaws concerning behavior and manners...and general knowledge.

"So, if you weren't only jealous of Scourge, what else was there?," she changed the topic. "Huh?" Fleetway jolted upright, as if she had interrupted his train of thought. "Oh, right. Well, Boss was apparently fond of Scourge and the gang was everything I had left. I was always afraid of getting kicked out, or being sent in another district of his network because of him, to people I don't know. On top of that, Scourge just pissed me off back then.," he chuckled fondly. "He got more and more cocky the more Boss cared for him and started to tell how he 'killed countless people' already and stole 'so many treasures' in one day."

"Sounds like typical children's talk.," Kylie mumbled. Van and once Alex had also a vivid fantasy and could spend hours with picturing colorful stories, from slaying dragons and saving princesses to having a tea party with unicorns. Usually, they told those while talking with other children to show off, or to make her happy, when she was sick, or sad. Just like she would, if necessary, invent fairy tales for them. Scourge had just craved for attention, when he had been telling those lies.

Fleetway snorted. "Of course it was, I just didn't realize that. I was mad, that he spoke so lightly about death. After my own experience, I didn't see killing as something anyone should be showing off with. He went so much on my nerves, that I tried to be extra harsh towards him. Looking back, I regret it deeply, but I wanted him gone."

Kylie nodded thoughtfully. Scourge had once told her a few things from their past experience in the gang and also, how mean Fleetway had been at first towards him: tripping him, throwing knives, so that they 'accidentally' hit their mark very close to Scourge, spitting openly in his food, leaving 'mysterious' stains on his mattress and accusing him of things he didn't do.

Although all this had sounded like they were enemies worse than Sonic and Eggman (they had to live together, after all, and no room to cool down), Scourge had listed those things up with his eyes soft and his voice dripping with nothing but fondness. It was clear, that he had forgiven Fleetway long ago.

"What changed?," she asked. Fleetway's ear twitched. "One day, two years, after Scourge had joined, he was sent on a simple thieving mission. Just a few boxes from a storage outside town. Food and basic supplies, nothing more. Unfortunately, he ran into a guard. I don't know, what exactly Scourge did, but he somehow ended up killing the man... Well, at least he thought he did. Turned out later, that he just knocked him out, but in the given situation, he thought he did something worse. He brought the desired boxes still, but I noticed immediately, that he was different than usual. I followed him, when he climbed the ladder to the roof of our hideout. I...I'm not sure anymore, what I wanted to do up there, but I forgot it completely, when I saw him crying for the first time ever. He probably always went there, when his tough image became too heavy to hold up.," he added thoughtfully, before holding out two more books for Kylie to read out to him.

She did so and then asked, "What happened next?" "Well, for the first time, I saw him as someone like me, a fragile child wearing a tough mask. I joined him and let him tell me what happened, then I told him my story. Over time, I realized, that we weren't that different and became friends eventually."

"Did you fall in love with him then, too?," Kylie inquired. Fleetway faltered, having to catch the books again, when they almost slipped through his slack fingers.

"I don't think so, no. Scourge was always like my best friend and partner. ...Business partner, you know? I liked having him around, to drink and celebrate with him, but I never thought about him as anything but a dude. I didn't even know about this whole uke-thingy and I wasn't interested in something like sex anyway. The Boss made sure, that I knew about STDs, when I grew up and he was so...descriptive, that I kept a safe distance from the girls in the gang ever since."

Kylie sweatdropped. What did this guy tell Fleetway? "And to have sex with another guy never crossed my mind. Since the Geezer told me about his own girl, that died shortly before he landed on the streets, I never thought about other men, only about girls as potential partners – and well, I wasn't that interested, yet."

"Then, what changed?," Kylie asked. She was even more surprised, how easily she got Fleetway to talk about so personal topics.

As if to prove her last thought wrong, Fleetway stalled suddenly by letting her read out the last ten titles he needed to return into the shelf and busying himself awfully long with trying to find the right order.

Kylie watched him talking – or better: babbling – to himself for a minute, before she decided to break the stupid charade. "Fleetway." The seme went stiff, sitting straight at once, all movements frozen. "Why don't you answer my question?"

The male was silent for a bit, before he exhaled. "It's just...pretty personal, don't you think?," he mumbled, barely audible.

"More personal than talking about your childhood and how you became a member of the gang?," Kylie countered.

Even from her place, she could see the seme flush in embarrassment. He HAD been pretty open so far...

"...Fine. It all changed...on Paradise." Kylie couldn't help the slight flinch hearing the name of the damned island. Besides the Island, this was the name she wanted to hear the least ever again.

"When I stepped out of this container, all the semes and ukes were acting like they were crazy.," he started.

THAT was an understatement. Highly drugged, the semes and ukes had immediately searched out each other and start to mate. The ones Fleetway had met had either tried to kill him as a rival, or offered themselves to him for release. For him, who had stayed, as one of the few exceptions, sane, this had had to be a disturbing experience.

"I looked for a way off the island and away from those nutcases, when I could smell Scourge nearby. And...I was... scared.," he ended, almost thoughtfully, as if the thought only occurred him now.

"Scared?," Kylie repeated confused. Fleetway ran a hand through his quills in embarrassment. "...That he was in the same state. It was bad enough to see strangers like this, but seeing him like that..." He trailed off, pretty much horrified by the mere mental picture.

"But you looked after him.," Kylie stated. "Of course I did. And when I saw three of those assholes cornering him against a tree, I just saw red.," he growled.

Kylie remembered the bloodshed he caused that day, she had had to treat several ukes back then, who had landed in the crossfire. Poor things had been lucky to be still alive – if being on the Island still would have been actually something good.

"I thought I would lose him, when this asshole finally let us to them. He sounded so... broken.," the seme mumbled, remembering their time with the other two couples, in the cushioned cell. Scourge had seemed ready to end it all...

"You care about Scourge, don't you?," Kylie's voice cut through his thoughts. He scoffed, putting the last books in their – hopefully – right places. "Of course I do!," he growled.

"Then why aren't you considering him?" That let the male turn around to her. "What?," he asked, too baffled to be angry.

"Since you stepped into this room today, you threatened to kill his best friend and to destroy his jacket and you reacted with violence to my observation, that your mood swings unsettle him. Why? By the way, the first and third book, the seventh and eleventh book and the fourth and fifth book need to be switched for the order to be correct.," she mentioned.

As expected, Fleetway busied himself with the books again and tried to get them in the right order, while he answered, "Well, Fi is definitely a bad influence on him, this piece of cloth definitely means too much to him, since he can't go without it at all – and to assume, that he is ever scared is just a ridiculous thought. He's Scourge, he's scared of nothing!," he exclaimed the last part with conviction.

Kylie blinked at his back, before sighing and shaking her head. "You apparently don't even realize, that you sound like a small child saying this, do you? Although, wait – not even my eight year old daughter thinks, that being someone makes them fearless. Scourge can get scared, just like everyone else."

Fleetway growled, hunching a bit forwards, his claws extending and his back quills raising, his instinct-side was on the verge of taking over. "And about the other two things – have you ever tried to see them from Scourge's perspective?," Kylie quickly went on.

The growling ceased and the male turned again to look at her. She had his attention, alright. "'Fi' is a bad influence according to you – but maybe she is the only one, who can understand the pain he is in."

The seme's eyes widened, when he heard that. She was right. Knowing, what he knew now and learned yesterday, Fiona was indeed the only one, who could relate to Scourge's past suffering – she had been raped and abused by her parents and had fled her home and on the streets at a young age as well, since she had had nowhere else to go. She had found her own way of dealing with her past and had no problems with telling her story to anyone, who asked for it. Now, that he thought about it, Scourge had begun to hang out with Fi after hearing her story. Before, she had barely caught his eye...

"As for the jacket – have you ever considered, that he values it so much, because it is a gift of the one he sees as his only real father figure?," Kylie went on.

While she spoke, she placed the article of clothing in question on her desk. She had asked Mephiles' copy in her note earlier to retrieve it and give it to her. It had rested since a while now on her lap.

Fleetway's jaw dropped, while he stared at the fabric, one of the sleeves hanging from the edge of the desk. She was right again. How could he forget?

It had been the first cold day after Scourge had joined the gang and the Boss had ordered some of his men to get winter clothes for the newbies.

By some stroke of bad luck – that he had enjoyed back then – Scourge hadn't fitted into any article of clothing. It had been either too small or far too big to offer any protection against the cold.

It hadn't helped, that the too small clothes had restrained him so much, that his sharp back quills had risen on instinct, when he had tried to force himself in the fabric, which had resulted in shredded clothing.

Finally fed up with the waste of resources, the Boss had shrugged off his beloved leather jacket, that had been the first thing ever he had bought legally and had had therefore an emotional value for him, to give it to the young boy. It had been too big, but not enough to be unpractical. It had suited him in a way, actually, especially over time, when he grew in size and muscle to fill it out. He... actually loved seeing him in this jacket, not only because it suited him, but also, because it, too, reminded him of their deceased father. It felt, as if Scourge wore a piece of him and the smell put him always at ease, even when his instincts took over, or when he was worried about the future of their gang. Something he only realized during the time he had had to lead the gang alone...

Sneering at his own stupidity, he balled his fist and started to hit himself against the forehead. "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!," he chanted in a more and more aggressive becoming tone, his hits getting harder and harder with each repetition of the word, quickly drawing blood, that ran in thin, warm rivulets down his face and splattering the carpet and walls.

He would have probably bashed his own skull in, if it hadn't been for Kylie, appearing suddenly in front of him and grabbing his arm, halting its movements. "Stop, are you insane!?," she yelled.

With a feeble effort, Fleetway shook her hand of and bowed his head, dripping blood and tears on the carpet. "I don't deserve him.," he muttered with a trembling voice. "All I do is causing him pain, I don't consider him at all! I-"

Kylie was fed up and hit the seme hard on the head. Due to his head quills, this was about as painful for her as it was for him, but she didn't care. "Stop with this nonsense already!," she growled at the male.

Fleetway didn't look up, he just shook his head. "What's wrong with me? Why can't I think for even a minute?," he asked himself desperately. "Because you let your instinct-side take over too much.," Kylie explained.

Fleetway raised his head and looked up at her with shiny, teary eyes. "Huh?," he asked, confused. The woman explained to him, what she had explained to Sonic the day before about instincts and conscious-sides.

The difference with those two was, that, while Sonic had shown signs of recognizing some parts of her explanation and had been able to use her information to his favor quickly afterwards, Fleetway stared at her, as if she was talking in a foreign language. "...So, I'm crazy?," he asked slowly.

Kylie sighed and facepalmed. "No, you aren't." She was tempted to answer with the opposite, but decided to be professional about this.

"Your instincts are there to protect you and they should take only over, when your conscious-side is at its end.," she explained. "Your problem is, that you are apparently not aware of your two sides. They switch backwards and forwards and you don't notice it." "And...that's, what scares Scourge.," Fleetway concluded sadly, ready to return into his depressed state.

Kylie bit her lip in thought. "Currently, it does. However, you should see it like that: until now, you often acted on your instinct, probably most of your life."

Fleetway frowned. "I came to that conclusion, when you told me about this incident with your first father. You let your instincts take over, when you killed those two and since your...life... wasn't exactly a stable and safe one, it was better for you to depend on your instincts for as long as you grew up. Now, you are an adult and have a problem, because your instincts are still there and have a rather...aggressive way of getting your mate to love you...and dealing with other stuff."

"Then, what do you suggest?" "We need to find a way to make you aware of your two personalities. It should help you to push your instincts back and to actually be yourself."

Fleetway grimaced. "And what if Scourge doesn't like 'myself'?," he asked. Kylie smiled at him. "Fleetway, he already likes the bits of your personality, that surface behind your instincts, its just the rest, that frightens him."

The male stared at her, his jaw slack, considering her words. "...What can I do?," he asked, finally convinced. "I think, that meditation might be a good start.," Kylie thought out loud.

The seme cocked his head to the side. "What's that?," he questioned. "It means, that you sit still and try to listen into your own mind and soul.," the woman explained.

To her surprise, Fleetway started to laugh. "No, seriously, what is this 'medi-thing'?," he chuckled. "I already told you.," Kylie deadpanned.

The seme looked at her, his jaw dropped. "R-really!?," he gasped, sounding horrified. "Don't worry, I'll ask a friend of mine, Zen, to guide you in this. He'll help you to find your conscious-side." Kylie was sure, that Zen wouldn't be too thrilled, since the seme wasn't exactly a patient person and patience was kind of essential for something like that. She would owe him big time...

Fleetway pouted, but sighed. "Fiiiine.," he agreed. "Good. Come here tomorrow, at the same time, then we'll start with getting you to meditate.," she declared and stood up to return to her desk, taking a seat.

"Tomorrow already?," the male asked with dread in his voice. "Actually, you will start today. I want you to try and think about something nice and relaxing before you go to sleep."

Fleetway blinked. "That's it?," he asked. "Meditation isn't that hard. I think, that holding still will be your greatest challenge, not the part with imagining stuff."

"...Okay... Can I go now?," the hedgehog asked, pointing to the door. He seemed motivated to bring some distance between himself and the human. She had worn him out mentally, although he would never admit it. Still, in her own way, she gave him hope for a future with Scourge, and he was grateful for that.

"In a second. Here." Kylie returned to her desk, pulled something out of a drawer and threw it like a rectangular Frisbee over to him. Fleetway caught it easily enough, looking at her questioningly. "Remember? I promised you to give you those, if you behaved." The Alpha she had read about had also used rewards to keep the motivation up – he had used rather...physical methods, though, which she wouldn't do, no matter what.

Fleetway realized, what she meant, the letters that came probably from Prince and were meant for Scourge, and he quickly looked at the card. It was decorated with fancy symbols, that made the card most likely very expensive alone and the writing on it had been printed in a golden color, in a font, that he could barely read properly as the letters were swung to foreign forms...which didn't help his illiteracy.

Finally giving up on trying to make sense out of that, he turned to Kylie. "What did this asshole write?," he asked.

The woman smiled lightly. She was glad, that those short texts kept sticking to her memory, so she had no problem with repeating the last one's message flawlessly. First things first, however. She decided to try something risky again.

"Before I recite that card, you have to promise not to touch my children or Silver again, even if you mean well.," she ordered.

Fleetway raised a brow. "What do I have to do with your brats or this Silver-guy?," he asked. As predicted, he didn't remember a thing of yesterday's incident.

"Just promise it.," Kylie insisted, hoping, that both sides listened to her for once. "Fine. I still don't know, why you want this, but fine. Now, the card?," the seme grumbled, holding up the thing.

"Of course.," Kylie smiled and cleared her throat. "'My lovely Green Daisy, I can't wait for the day to see you again. I fall asleep each night thinking about your firm flesh under my hands. Why don't we meet up in the park, tomorrow, at 8 pm? I bet your fur will sparkle like an emerald in the setting sun.'," she ended the message, cutting off the 'Forever mine' at the end of the anonymous letter. She would like to keep her office the way it was.

"So he'll be tomorrow in the park?," Fleetway asked, while the card lit up in flames, his Chaos Energy flaring. There were several parks close to the Shelter, but he'd just search them all.

"No. On almost every card is a place and a time written, but all people I sent to go to this 'date' didn't find someone suspicious there – and believe me, they looked thoroughly. Scythe even went to the places as Scourge several times, but no one approached her, even after three full hours of sitting on a bench and pretending to be distracted. These places and times either serve to put Scourge under more stress by pretending to be in the city, or Prince is currently satisfied with pictures made by someone hidden nearby the designated locations.," Kylie explained, angry herself. It was frustrating not to know, what this maniac planned. ...If he was this one, even.

"Thank you for that. See you tomorrow.," the seme growled stiffly and left the office, leaving a small pile of ash on the carpet.

Kylie sighed and turned to the silently appeared person next to her, who healed her hand in this very moment. "Please tell me, that you have something to clean this mess up.," she sighed, while dialing Mighty's number – which was the only way of reaching Scythe, who didn't like technology and refused to have any kind of device with her, unless she was on a mission.

She would need her help, Fleetway would for sure appear tomorrow in any park he could find and she needed someone to keep the innocents safe. ...Maybe having Blush and her sisters roped into this wouldn't be so bad, either.

Looking up, she found her office clean from any traces of ash, blood and tears. Not bothering with thanking the creature – Mephiles had told her, that it would leave after Fleetway – she waited for a connection to the armadillo.


Fleetway marched down the hallway, feeling, as if he was boiling inside. How dare this asshole writing to his mate like that!? No matter, what Kylie said, he would be tomorrow in that stupid park! ...Whichever park was meant. Chaos, if he had to, he would search every park on Mobius!

Reaching the foyer, he approached Mali and slammed his hand on her desk, scaring the poor woman. He wasn't even aware of the fact, that he was hovering over the ground, bringing himself easily on the human's eye level. "I need to learn how to read – and pronto!," he growled at her.

Despite being grateful for everything Kylie had done for him, he would strangle her, if she would ever quote another of those cards.

"Um...okay?," Mali replied and went to sign him up in the next course for reading and writing for semes.


A few days later:

"Hey, Tails, check this out!," Sonic called towards his brother flying in his plane above him and ran into the outskirts of a forest, where he was still visible from above.

He jumped forwards, curling up in a ball with practiced ease and bouncing off the tree he had aimed at, then at the one opposite of it, a bit further ahead and so on, looking a bit like a pinball, leaving a blue streak in a zig-zag-pattern behind, that disappeared quickly.

After about fifteen trees, Sonic ended his performance with a back-flip and was back on track, grinning up at his brother. "Cool! Watch this!," Tails shouted and let the Tornado rotate like a drill, before righting the vehicle effortlessly.

"Great job, buddy!," Sonic cheered, showing a thumbs up. "My turn!" And he already looked for the next opportunity to show off his speed and acrobatics.

Shadow trailed behind the brothers, giving them space and privacy. He knew, that they weren't just showing off their tricks for fun or for making up for the lost time, when they hadn't have that much contact. No, this was mostly to reassure each other, that they were alright.

They had spent the last days almost completely at home, which was rare enough. The brothers had slept the whole first day away, both only waking up for lunch and dinner. Sonic had also awoken from time to time, when his medication had worn off and nightmares had disturbed his sleep again.

He had used one of these waking phases to check up on Kylie, who had been apparently successful with Fleetway, although she had kept the details a secret.

Otherwise, the brothers had barely left Sonic's bed and Shadow had stayed by their side, grateful, that he didn't need much sleep – he wouldn't have liked it to sleep on the couch, which he would have been forced to do otherwise.

On the second day, both brothers had been more active, especially Tails, who didn't have that much sleep to catch up on. Sonic had stayed up for longer periods, but still in bed. The slightly dropping fever had forced a few naps on him, too. Over the course of another few days, he had managed to recover more and more, though.

Today morning, his temperature had been broken and they were now on their way to the Uke Shelter as they had promised Kylie. Tails had insisted on coming with them, to hear firsthand, if everything was alright again with his older brother. He had hovered the whole time around Sonic and although he could see, that he would have loved it to see Snow and the Garage again earlier, he had denied himself this to be with Sonic, no matter what his older brother had told him.

All too soon for the brothers' liking, who hadn't have that much fun in quite a while, they had reached the Shelter and needed to round it to find a suitable place to land the Tornado.

A certain mobian butterfly helped them. Blush had no problem with keeping up with the plane and showed the young fox a plateau on a hill just outside the Shelter's property, from that he could take off again without a problem.

"You know, I have the feeling, that this was built for you.," Sonic heard Blush say, when he and Shadow arrived at the plane.

"Why?," the fox asked, while jumping off the plane. "Well, the hill had been built by some semes and nobody ever used this thing as landing spot, until now.," the girl shrugged.

She raised her wings and brought herself in the air. "Feel free to use it, whenever you like. I gotta go, bye!" Waving shortly, she took off.

"Er...thanks!," Tails called after her, but she didn't turn around. The fox turned to the hedgehogs and was worried to see Sonic...sweating and slightly out of breath. That was usually only the case, when he had to strain himself a lot – and the short run and the acrobatics shouldn't count...

"Sonic, are you okay?," he asked carefully. "Yeah, I'm just a bit tired.," Sonic shrugged. He smirked at his brother. "Mind if I hitch a ride back home?," he asked.

Tails beamed at him, always happy to fly with Sonic, pushing his worry back, until Kylie had a diagnosis. "Not at all!," he grinned and giggled, when the older threw an arm around his shoulders before they went to the shelter, Shadow trailing behind them once more.

The seme felt the ugly head of jealousy rising again and had trouble with fighting it. He KNEW, that the fox wasn't interested in his mate, but a part of him seemed still convinced of that. He just wondered, how he could change this. ...Maybe he needed this class Kylie had forced him into... It would be in five days, so he could plan this visit properly.

Stepping in the foyer, he focused back on the present and approached Mali's desk with the other two. She was sitting there and laughing loudly, doubled over, while Zen was sitting on her desk and talking animatedly. "-and then I told him to breathe easy. In and out. Shouldn't be so hard. But what did that idiot? He didn't breathe at all! When I told him that, he actually said 'Sorry, I forgot'. What kind of idiot forgets to breathe!?," the uke ranted.

Mali just laughed more, unable to answer, until she had caught her breath again. "You poor thing. The stuff you have to go through.," she tried to fake sympathy, which didn't work too well due to the giggles still shaking her body.

"Ha, ha.," Zen replied dryly. "Well, I rather try to meditate for real, until my students come for their lesson later.," he shrugged and jumped off the desk. "See you later.," he grumbled and marched away, not even noticing the trio behind him.

Mali, however, did and smiled at them. "Good morning.," she greeted. "You're here for Dr. Ellen, am I right?"

"Yeah. Is she in her office right now?," Sonic replied. "I'm afraid, you missed her by about fifteen minutes. She went out, but should return shortly.," Mali replied.

"Do you know, where she went?," Tails asked. "No, she didn't clarify it, but judging by her look, there's something with her kids."

Seeing the horrified looks of the brothers, she quickly amended, "She would have been more upset and worried, if it would have been an emergency. Trust me, I know, how she looks, when something's really wrong with her kids and this wasn't one of those moments. Whatever called her away, it wasn't that bad. Anyway, take a seat, Dr. Ellen should pass by here.," she smiled and pointed to the seats.

"Alright, thanks.," Sonic thanked her and they went to the seats. Tails was overjoyed, that the blue hero plopped on the seat between the two other males, not keeping a distance any longer.

"Oh, before I forget! Shadow, your friend Rouge called here, she asked you to call her back.," Mali addressed the dark agent, who sighed.

The whole first day had she tried to reach him, so that he had turned his communicator off eventually. Her curiosity could really go on his nerves. He hadn't bothered with turning on his communicator ever since.

And now, she even bothered others? Had she known Sonic's number, she would have called him most likely. ...He actually wondered, why she hadn't, yet. It wasn't, as if she had problems with gathering information.

"Forget it, just delete the call. She's just curious.," he eventually shook his head. "Alright...all 450 ones of them?," Mali asked.

All three males looked at her in confusion. "What?," Shadow asked. "Your friend asked for you 454 times in total since the day you were here first.," Mali replied. Okay, that was a little excessive, even for the white bat...

"Man, do you even have any free time?," Sonic asked with wide eyes, stunned by the number for a different reason.

Mali giggled. "Sure, lots of it. We work in shifts, it's just coincidence, that you meet me again.," she grinned.

In that moment, Shadow stood up. "Excuse me for a second, I'll just call her.," he mumbled and left the foyer quickly.

He retreated in a secluded corner in front of the building and switched the device around his wrist on.

Almost immediately, Rouge's enraged face appeared on the screen. "FINALLY! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW OFTEN I TRIED TO REACH YOU THESE DAYS!?," she screamed, that it was a miracle, that he didn't become deaf.

Shadow looked at her form in the small screen, trembling with badly suppressed rage and stress. She looked tired, as if she hadn't slept in days, her fur disheveled, her make-up messy. He had never seen her in such a state.

Usually, Rouge watched her appearance, especially, how it reflected on her emotions. Something terrible must have happened for her to present herself like that...

"What happened?," he wondered silently. "I'm okay.," the bat huffed, still mad. "Where are you now?," she asked, unusually serious.

"At the Uke Shelter, Sonic needs a check-up. Listen, I can come over immediately, I would just need to inform So-"

"No, no need!," Rouge quickly interrupted. Too quickly for his taste. "Just stay with Sonic and bring him home, then you can come to GUN HQ.," Rouge practically ordered.

Shadow frowned. Did she just say this, because she knew, that he couldn't concentrate, as long as Sonic was here, or...? "Rouge? ...Is...Sonic in danger?," he asked, surprisingly calm.

And he stayed calm...when the bat didn't answer. "J-just do as I said. See you later.," she said and ended the connection. Leaving Shadow to find a way to deal with his newly building anxiety.


Shadow wasn't gone for long, when the doors opened again. Instead of the dark hedgehog, however, there entered an elderly human man.

He walked hunched over, had short, white hair and dark, dull eyes, that were only halfway open, with large bags under them. The corners of his mouth were drawn down and it didn't look, as if he could smile to save his life. He wore an old pair of black pants and a gray shirt, that looked too big for his haggard frame. All in all, he didn't seem to belong here.

Nonetheless, he made his way over to Mali, who looked up and smiled a bit. "Good morning, Ed. Late as usual, huh?," she asked, her smile turning to a smirk.

The man, Ed, just grunted, while he came to a stop. "You haven't seen my bag by any chance?," he asked with a gruff voice, that suggested, that he didn't talk much.

"No, I haven't...but I think, he did.," Mali added and pointed to the door, to that all three males turned, to see a hedgehog with dark brown fur coming in, dragging a long black piece of fabric behind him, that looked, as if it had been destroyed by wild animals. A strap in the same color being dragged after the rest of the fabric, just barely connected to the rest of it, showed, that it had been a backpack once. It left a wet trail behind it for some reason.

Marching over to the human man, the hedgehog held out the piece of fabric to him. "I... er...found your bag. Swam in the lake of the chaos. They weren't happy.," he added thoughtfully.

"Hm..." Ed took the wet thing and held it up, letting it drip freely. He searched through the cloth and pulled a handful of what looked like wet paper out of an intact pocket.

Looking it over, he smirked almost evilly. "Well well, looks like the semes thought they could get rid of my tests. There will be dire consequences for this.," he smirked coldly, almost sadistically.

The hedgehog trembled a little and swallowed and Sonic and Tails found their furs standing on end, their instincts warning them to stay on guard with this human. "W-what will you do to th-them?," the foreign hedgehog asked, sounding scared, his quills rising.

Ed looked down on him for a minute, before his lips formed a lazy grin. "I let the semes write a test yesterday. Since the results dissolved, I'm forced to think about new questions and since they seem not too fond about paper, they will have to answer the questions out loud. Is for sure quite embarrassing, if one of the answers is wrong and everyone hears it...," he mentioned with a shrug.

The three mobians relaxed upon that answer, feeling the truth in his words. Their instincts retreated, telling them, that the human was okay. He had a strange humor, but was otherwise harmless. The quills of both hedgehogs relaxed again, considering the danger passed.

The foreign hedgehog, for sure an uke, even smiled a bit. "My mate is in your class, he will most likely curse you to the high heavens today night.," he joked lightly.

Ed shrugged again. "I'm just trying to squeeze some knowledge in their tiny brains, what they think about it, is their decision alone.," he muttered.

Still smiling and even laughing a bit, the hedgehog nodded, waved and left the foyer the way he had come.

He was just gone, when Mali rounded on the older man. "What the hell, Ed!?," she hissed at him, while the man calmly looked over the remains of his backpack, almost, as if he contemplated, if he could repair it somehow to save the money for a new one.

"Would it be too much to ask to smile from time to time? Especially around ukes!? How can you scare the poor thing so much!?," Mali went on, still hissing. If she tried to exclude Sonic and Tails from the conversation, then she failed, epicly.

"What's the use?," Ed asked in a monotonous voice, while turning the shredded bag upside down, still examining its damage, not bothering with silencing his voice. "Excuse me!?," Mali raged, looking, as if she would jump up, if she would have been able to do so physically.

"What's the use in pretending everything is butterflies and rainbows in here – when out there are enough people, who would like to nail their skins against a wall?," Ed concreted his question and looked finally up to have his suddenly sharp eyes bore into in Mali's widened green ones.

"Don't get me wrong there, I agree with you, that frightening ukes on purpose isn't something anyone should do. Most of them have been through hell because of something they couldn't choose or control. Kindness is the least they deserve.

However, false kindness isn't helping them, either. To slap a grin on the face, whenever they are close, to hide frustration, anger or sadness behind it, will never be helpful. Mobians in general feel emotions and intentions on a level we humans can't and see through those masks we fool our own kind with.

And now tell me: what is worse? When a human appears scary, but turns out to be just gruff in character and otherwise alright – or when a human pretends to be nice, just to ram a knife in their backs the second they turn it?" Mali swallowed thickly, her face ghostly pale.

Ed turned his glare away and started to roll the bag up to a ball. "Don't misunderstand my words, your cheerful attitude is the reason, why most of the ukes coming here for the first time don't turn around on the threshold. But don't expect all of us to act like that. The ukes aren't total scaredy cats, they can take a little insecurity or fear, as long as they learn, that it was or wasn't necessary. And I'm not saying that because of a world-known hero being outed as an uke. I know that, because I saw several ukes getting their annoyed semes after my classes – and they are bigger spitfires than my wife once was."

He smirked a little at the last part, while he finished bundling up the bag. "One more thing, you are also wearing a mask.," he told her, not looking at her.

Mali flinched and grew – if possible – even paler. "It's paper-thin at best, though, so don't worry. The mobians see through your smile, but appreciate it nonetheless. Never stop smiling, it lights up this whole dark world."

He had just ended, when a new figure made his entrance – Fleetway, who came storming out of a hallway. "There you are! Gee, what's taking you so long!? Come on, I want to get out of this lesson of yours, before the century ends, you know!?," he ranted, went to Ed, grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked the human down to lie pretty much on the ground, the fist holding his shirt still the only thing, that kept him somewhat upright. "Let's go.," Fleetway grumbled and dragged the human effortlessly after him, like the uke from earlier did with Ed's backpack. Ed didn't seem to mind the treatment.

Upon catching the three beings in the foyer staring at him, he grinned in this lazy way of his and pointed with his thumb over his shoulder at the seme. "Like the guy. Actually wants to learn something.," he declared, before they were gone from sight.

Mali looked after them and then lowered her head. "A mask...," Sonic and Tails heard her whisper and saw her touch her own cheek in thought. This Ed seemed to have strung a chord. The brothers chose to pretend, that they didn't see and hear anything she did.

The front door opened again and Mali was quick to compose herself and smile at the person coming in. It wasn't as wide as before, but still friendly and warm, Sonic noticed.

He turned around and saw a familiar violet furred cat enter the foyer.

"Hi Blaze, long time no see!," Mali greeted the cat with a wide grin. "Hey, Blaze.," Sonic drew attention to himself and Tails, who waved at Silver's adoptive sister.

Seeing the two had the cat freeze for a second, before she bowed her head in a friendly greeting. "Hello.," she replied calmly, as usual a little reserved, and went over to Mali. "Silver's still in his classes until-"

"I know.," Blaze interrupted the woman quickly. "I'm...actually looking for Kylie." "So? Dr. Ellen isn't in the house, yet, but she should return shortly.," Mali explained. She seemed confused by the cat's motives, but didn't let it show too much on the outside.

"I see, thank you." With that, Blaze sat herself on the seat opposite the row Sonic and Tails sat, crossing her arms and legs, her tail twitching a bit. As she was apparently not in the mood for conversation, the brothers left her alone. Sonic couldn't help but notice, though, that Blaze seemed rather restless. Knowing about her fire powers and how they got worse with her negative feelings, he felt a bit worried.

Before Sonic could ask her about what made her so anxious, a big dark object crashed through the glass door, shattering it to pieces, that flew pretty much everywhere.

The object skidded over the floor and came to a stop in front of Mali's desk, who had ducked behind it with what seemed to be practiced ease.

"Mighty!," Sonic heard Tails gasp, who he had shielded with his body by instinct and turned around to see the male just standing up, casually brushing off the glass shards.

Blaze had jumped up like Sonic and her hands were on fire, but recognizing one of the people saving her two years ago from the Uke Institute, she calmed down again, extinguishing the flames with a small shake of her hands.

"Mighty, not again! I'm getting tired of your way of entering this building!," Mali complained, after she had straightened from her ducked position. "Is everything okay?," Tails asked, sounding worried and went closer to his friend.

Mighty turned to the young fox and grinned, his eyes practically sparkling. "Sure thing, everything's just fine. It takes more to scratch my scales," he replied happily, as if being thrown through glass doors was his favorite hobby.

Sonic couldn't help the grin, that appeared on his own face seeing this expression. Tails joined it, after the shock had worn off.

They both knew, that there was only one thing, that could make Mighty this happy. He had found another someone, who matched his strength. He had shown the same face, when he had sparred against Sonic and Knuckles, after they had become friends.

Mighty could detect the strength of his opponent after one hit in his palm. According to him, those, who managed to make his bones hurt with one hit – or in Sonic's case: a kick – alone, were a match to him.

Well, there weren't much people, who succeeded in that task. Most just hurt themselves with a punch or kick against the rock-hard hand of the armadillo.

Sonic heard glass crunch and wasn't really surprised to see his boyfriend coming in and making his way over, when he turned towards the noise.

He knew, that Shadow and Mighty would be great sparring-partners, but they didn't have the chance to battle until now. No wonder, that Mighty jumped at the chance, when he met him alone.

Shadow's eyes slid over his mate, visibly relieved, that he was unharmed. He had apparently forgotten for a second, just where he threw the armadillo into.

He went to Mighty, who still grinned, as if it was his birthday. "I apologize, that was too much.," the agent started, earning a gleeful laugh out of the other mobian.

"Are you kidding me? I hadn't have that much fun in ages! Now, are you feeling better?," Mighty inquired, still grinning.

Shadow raised a brow in confusion, when he felt, that his anxiety and anger towards Rouge for not telling him whatever he needed to know, had lowered quite a bit. "Unexpectedly, yes.," he replied.

Mighty chuckled at his expression. "It's a seme-thing. When under pressure, we need to relieve it sometimes. And the best and fastest way is a little sparring. Many semes seek me out, because they don't want to risk hurting their mates, even if they are fighters themselves, or semes, too. I'm sure, that Sonic wouldn't mind a sparring now and then, but if you feel, as if you can't control yourself, search for me, I'm usually here."

"Thank you for the offer.," Shadow replied politely, finding it surprisingly easy to not feel jealousy, although he said Sonic's name and was apparently close to him. Did their short fight already help with erasing his feeling of Mighty as possible rival?

"No problem, I'm always up for a good fight.," Mighty shrugged. "NOT in the foyer!," Mali growled behind the strong mobian.

As if on cue, the glass shards flew back to rebuild the door, courtesy of Vremy, who waved shortly at them and then left without a word, as Sonic saw through the newly repaired glass door.

"See? All taken care of.," Mighty grinned at the still slightly unnerved Mali. "Doesn't change the fact, that I spend far too much time with ducking to try and avoid broken glass! The only one worse than you is DJ.," the woman grumbled with a sigh at the end.

Judging by her defeated face, the female cat broke something on a daily basis. From what Sonic heard Tails tell him after their first visit at the Shelter – and his own run-ins with her –, the girl was pretty accident-prone, so he wasn't too surprised to hear that.

A warm light flashing in the foyer saved the armadillo the answer and Shy appeared next to him.

Her appearance looked better than a few days ago, she was dressed in a clean blue t-shirt and a pair of black jeans and her hair was combed and braided nicely.

She spotted Mighty and raised a brow. "Interesting. You seem to have a talent for being almost always, where you need to be.," she observed.

"I need to be here? Why?," Mighty questioned. "Beats me. Kylie called and wanted the two of us to wait for her here. Said, that she is on her way and should arrive shortly. By the way, here."

She threw him what looked like a rather antique, black mobile, that was bigger than average. "Ah, thanks. Didn't notice I forgot it.," Mighty grinned and caught the object.

Tails' eyes lit up. "You still have it?," he asked excitedly, while the armadillo held the mobile-like device to his wrist. A thick band, that had been hidden in it, shot out immediately upon detecting the skin contact to tie it to his wrist tightly, making sure, that it couldn't slip off.

It looked a little unhandy, but Mighty was used to it and had no problems with operating with it. That he actually forgot to wear it, just spoke for the fact, that it didn't bother him at all.

"Of course I do. I'll never find a better way to communicate.," the fighter grinned, making Tails beam. The fox had built the device himself – after Mighty had destroyed three of their regular communicators while trying them out. By now, the armadillo was forbidden from ever going in the young genius' lab unless invited.

Tails had used lots of sturdy materials to build his communicator to match Mighty's strength and although the result didn't look too aesthetic, the device was handy enough for his needs. "I actually thought, that you broke it somehow.," Tails admitted. "As if I would ever do that!," Mighty laughed. "Not from the lack of trying.," Shy added, making the armadillo grumble and Tails, Sonic and Mali laugh.

Sonic's ear twitched, once he had calmed down, and he looked out the door again to see a small group move towards the doors. He immediately recognized them, especially the woman leading the procession.

Kylie was talking with someone at the phone and looked very angry. Whoever was on the other end of the line, Sonic would hate it to be in his shoes right now.

He frowned at the large piece of colorful cloth, like a long and broad scarf, that she had wrapped once around her neck, the rest falling down to her ribs, containing something, that she supported with her free hand, keeping it against her chest.

Seeing Mist walk beside her, switching from her left to her right all few seconds and never letting the bundle out of his eyes, let him guess, what the woman held there.

Kylie hung up just before she entered the foyer. Mighty and Shy turned immediately to her, when they heard her enter, and both paled upon seeing the woman's companions, walking left and right behind her.

After her came in a flying squirrel mobian with yellow fur and a human child carrying a white furred mouse mobian.

"Ray!" "Kari! Emma!" Both, mobian and human, ran to their younger siblings, worry evident on their features.

Ray sported a dark bruise on his cheek, cooling it with a cool-pack, and had some dirt on his disheveled clothes and ruffled fur, but seemed otherwise unharmed.

Kari looked worse to wear, she had several bruises and scrapes on her legs and arms. Her t-shirt was ripped at the front and showed several more bruises and cuts on her stomach. With worry, Sonic noticed, that some of the bruises he could make out, that weren't hidden by Emma, were visibly older than others...

Emma in her arms was completely unharmed from what Sonic could tell, but her orange dress was dirty with mud all over the front and she was crying her eyes out.

Behind them entered Alex, who looked the worst, bruised and bleeding all over, his clothes ripped in several places and parts of them missing. He looked overall, as if he had been run over by something big. It surprised Sonic, that he wasn't in a hospital, he definitely looked, like he needed one. He had a dark scowl on his face and looked, as if he would have liked a few spars with Mighty to cool down.

"What happened?," Mighty asked, while, with utmost gentleness, inspecting the bruise on Ray's cheek. Tails had joined him, worried for his friend. The younger bit his lip, but didn't answer.

Kari moved towards Shy and pretty much fell in her arms, sobbing in her chest. "Hey, what's happened to you?," Shy asked, much more gentle, than Sonic had ever seen her so far. "They wanted to kill us.," Kari choked out, crying harder, along with Emma.

"WHAT!?," Sonic, Mighty and Shy exclaimed. Their eyes went to Kylie, who looked mad at nobody in particular.

"Kylie?," Sonic questioned to get her to talk. The woman sighed in defeat, brushing a hand through her hair. "It's a twisted story. Apparently, Emma left her school for a reason not even she can explain. Kari and Ray saw it and followed her, worried for her safety. They passed Alex' school and he noticed them. Seeing, that something was wrong, he left his lesson and ran after them. It saved their lives.," she explained with a tremble in her voice. "Something was wrong?," Shy repeated with a raised brow.

Kylie turned to Alex, who averted his eyes, staring at the wall to his left with crossed arms. "I watched from my class room, how Emma crossed the street without looking into any direction. A large truck could just stop in front of her, before she could be run over – and she didn't even care. She walked like a zombie. I knew, that something was off, so I followed her and the other two. They went straight into an alley with a dead end, where Emma just collapsed. When Kari and Ray reached her, these thugs came out of nowhere, with metal poles. There were about ten of those. I don't know, why, but they wanted to kill Emma. The other two were just hurt, because they tried to protect her. It took me a while, but I managed to knock them all out, enough to get the three out of the alley.," Alex ended.

He didn't seem proud of himself, although he could be. Looking on his hands, Sonic saw the bruised and bleeding knuckles. That had to hurt.

"And you didn't think about interrogating them?," Shy asked icily. There seemed to be blood lust in her eyes. Sonic could see Kari gripping her shirt's back tightly, as if trying to hold her back.

Alex eyed her for a second, before turning away again. "Of course I tried that, but now comes the twist. Those guys didn't remember a thing. Neither me, the little ones nor how they even got the metal poles. Most didn't even know, where they were."

"Amnesia?," Tails suggested with a frown. "Amnesia, from that ten completely different people suffer simultaneously? I highly doubt it. I was careful, until I met Mom and she drove us here, but nothing was out of the ordinary. Whatever this was, it is over." He let the 'for now' fall, not wanting to jinx it.

"Alex, I can't thank you enough.," Mighty said in earnest. He had kept Ray safe, when he himself couldn't – that was enough for the armadillo to be eternally grateful to the teen. "It's no big deal, really. It was the right thing to do, end of story.," Alex shrugged.

A low growl let everyone look to Shy. She had her head bowed, casting a shadow over her eyes. Her braided hair moved in a wind she most likely conjured right now. "Where are these assholes now?," she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Kari looked up and Sonic could see fear in her eyes. Did she fear her sister? Or what she would do?

"Shy, you heard, what Alex said, they don't remember a thing!," Mighty argued, bringing himself between Ray and Tails and the teen. He knew about her temper.

"Oh, I can for sure jog their memory.," Shy growled, the winds getting stronger, forcing everyone back.

Mist appeared in front of Kylie, for sure wishing to protect her, but it didn't seem to help her at all, the winds just slipped through his form, rippling it from time to time.

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "This isn't about information, though, is it?," he asked calmly, letting Instinct Sonic do the talking, while he stepped closer again, showing, that he wasn't afraid of her. "You just want revenge."

Shy turned around to him, still holding her sisters. "Even if I did, what does this have to do with you?," she snorted coldly.

Shadow behind her balled his fists. His instinct-side told him sternly to keep out of this, but he would still like to teach that brat some manners.

"In case you forgot, I'm a hero. It is my duty to protect the innocent – and you and these men are those innocents from what I heard.," Sonic told her matter-of-factually.

Shy's eyes widened for a second and Kari and even Emma, who had finally stopped crying, turned around to the blue hedgehog, all three staring at him with expressions he couldn't place.

Eventually, Shy turned away and her wind stopped. "I agree with Mighty earlier. Thanks, Alex.," she mumbled and she and her sisters disappeared.

"...Okay...," Alex said slowly, before he turned to his mother. "I'll go and get checked out, so you can stop worrying." He actually rolled his eyes, as if worry for him was completely unnecessary, and went deeper in the building.

"Did these guys hurt you anywhere else?," Mighty asked Ray, too used to Shy's episodes to dwell on her behavior for long.

The squirrel grimaced. "My right shoulder...and maybe my sides and back. I was in charge of Emma, while Alex and Kari protected us. Not many managed to get past them.," he explained silently, for once not stuttering, but neither Tails, nor Sonic felt the need to point it out right now.

Mighty's eyes narrowed in anger, but his actions didn't lose their gentleness. "Come on, let's get you checked out. I'd rather be careful with your injuries.," he explained and started to lead the younger after Alex, thanking Kylie with a nod over his shoulder.

Ray stopped after a few steps and turned to Sonic and Tails. "N-nice seeing y-you, g-guys.," he stuttered with a weak smile. It seemed, as if the shock, that had suppressed the stutter for the time being, had worn off mostly. "Nice seeing you again, too. Get well soon!," Sonic waved reassuringly and the two left.

Kylie sighed behind them. "Mist, I get, that you are worried, but your flickering just gives me a headache.," she grumbled and Sonic turned around to see her kneeling on the ground so the ghost could easily look at her bundle's content.

In it was Hope, curled up and sleeping deeply. Not even the smell of Alex' blood lingering in the air had roused her, which usually would do so with a pup. On instinct, the scent of any kind of blood would wake her, since it was a reason to assume danger. So she wasn't asleep?

"See? She's okay, just tired. You know, that this is a side effect she has to endure.," the woman soothed. Mist was still flickering, out of pure anxiety, Sonic presumed, but it became less and less with each passing second.

"What's wrong with Hope?," Tails asked, having perked up upon hearing 'side effect'. Kylie flinched a little, having apparently not noticed so far, that her friends were there.

Sonic didn't blame her. From what he heard and saw, Kylie had just randomly met her beaten up son and the other three, most likely while getting Hope. Just imagining himself and Tails in her and Alex' places sent shivers down his spine. That had to be horrible.

"It's a side effect of the rings she wears.," she started to explain. "The rings she is wearing regulate her Chaos Energy-input, making sure, that she doesn't take in too much at once and doesn't trigger yet another growth spurt. When something happens, however, that challenges her, her body thinks she needs more energy and strength and tries to make her grow again. The rings block this off – and cause her to faint sometimes. She was supposed to learn a new letter today, I guess, that it was too difficult for her.," she ended sadly, gently massaging Hope's back, earning a relaxed sigh.

"Isn't there a way to program the rings, so that they accumulate to her needs?," Tails asked further.

"I honestly have no idea. John built them and never talked much about it. He's currently on a vacation and unreachable, so I can't even call him."

"Hm...are there any blueprints? Or maybe prototypes?," Tails insisted. "As far as I know, Hope wears the prototypes, but Nicole should be able to give you a copy of the blueprints. They are in the data pool in the Garage. Just ask her to upload them to something.," Kylie replied.

"Okay, thanks. I'll look into it, maybe I can find something to erase the side effect and stop Hope from fainting randomly.," Tails smiled.

At once, Mist was in front of the fox, startling him. The ghost touched his shoulder and Sonic watched his brother's fur stand straight. It had to feel strange to be touched by him.

"Er...no problem?," Tails tried and Mist seemed to notice his discomfort finally and disappeared. "He rarely seeks out physical contact, you know? He's really grateful.," Kylie smiled at him.

The fox blushed. "He doesn't even know, if I find anything.," he mumbled. "But he trusts you, like we do.," Sonic grinned, grabbed his brother and gave him a playful, gentle noogie, making him giggle.

The silent clearing of a throat let everyone turn to Blaze, who approached Kylie slowly. "Hello Blaze. You're a little early for Silver.," Kylie greeted, while standing up, supporting Hope.

"I...I know that. I'm not here because of him." The cat fidgeted a bit. Kylie raised a brow, but didn't pry, giving her time. "If...if it's not...not too late...to take on your offer... Do you...maybe...have a job for me?," she asked finally, looking down, not meeting her eye.

Kylie's expression softened immediately. "But of course.," she answered without hesitation, having Blaze look up in surprise. "Mali, do you have the catalog by any chance?," Kylie asked the secretary, who had already started to rummage, until she managed to find a huge staple of paper, barely held together, that looked heavy enough to kill a mobian should the staple ever fall off the desk and on his or her head.

Blaze went to retrieve it and although Mali gave it to her as gently and slowly as she possibly could, its weight nearly sent the cat to the ground face first. "This is the catalog with all job descriptions offered here.," Kylie explained, while the cat carried the thing over to a seat and let it fall on it with a loud SMACK!

"You seem to be very descriptive.," she mentioned sourly while flexing her for sure hurting arms. "Here are a lot of jobs required. Anyway, just take your time in reading through the descriptions and choose. I have something to do first, but then I'll come to you and we can talk about your employment.," Kylie smiled, starting to lead her friends towards a hallway. "Thank you.," Blaze said, letting Kylie turn to her once more. "After all I said...I'm sorry for that.," she apologized.

"Don't be. It was your right to try it on your own. I just hope, that we find something for you. See you later." With a wave, Kylie turned to walk down a hallway, her friends in tow, leaving a happily smiling Blaze behind.

"Sorry about this entrance.," Kylie apologized. "No problem, really. I would have probably not reacted much differently in your situation.," Sonic quickly reassured.

"Tell me about it. I really hope, that this won't happen again. It worries me, that three children could that easily disappear from a school ground and only a teenager going on another school noticed it.," Kylie growled, wearing the same scowl from before she entered the foyer.

"Who were you speaking with earlier?," Sonic just had to ask. "The director of Emma's school. He better changes some things and fast, or I'll take matters in my own hands – and then heads will roll!"

While Shadow and Tails rather fell a bit back after hearing her passionate tone, Sonic didn't budge, just grinning proudly. Instinct Sonic hadn't have any less expectations concerning his fellow Alpha.

"So, where are we headed?," he asked. "I want to scan you again to see, how much of the drug remains is still in you." "Oh, great. Which one will it be? The one, where I need a foil on me, the one with the hole in the middle, or the one, that almost busted my eardrums?," Sonic asked sarcastically, not looking forward to any of them.

"The last one.," Kylie replied, humor in her voice. "Don't worry, it should go by faster than last time."

"Really?," Sonic wasn't convinced. "Yes. Last time, the scanner needed to do countless calculations to create a new profile for you, this was your first time in it, after all. Now, the scanner just needs to compare your data with the new findings. That's just a matter of five to seven minutes. Plus, now I know, where to look in your body. How are you feeling today?," she asked.

"Pretty good, just a little tired and drained. At least the fever broke and I can eat things again."

Shadow sweatdropped at that. This was putting it lightly. Sonic had made up for the two weeks with almost no food in his system by spending almost every wakeful moment the last days with eating the meals his mate had cooked almost without an end. He had barely left the kitchen over the day during this time. He had even spent one night sleeping in a kitchen chair, when rest hadn't been an option but a need for once.

"Any problems with nightmares?," Kylie continued to ask. Shadow felt strangely detached from their conversation, as if he wasn't supposed to say something in it.

After all, this was a talk among Alphas. Other colony members – even the Alphas' mates – could only interfere, when it was important, or the Alpha wanted it. His instincts were therefore against any answering of questions not directed to him, although he couldn't consciously name the reason for that. Nonetheless, he followed the conversation intently.

"Only, when the dose of your medicine is wearing off.," Sonic answered easily enough. "So? How long does that take?," Kylie asked thoughtfully, while adjusting Hope against her chest a bit. Mist had long since disappeared, either trusting Kylie with her, or not able to stay for now.

"Er...Shads?," Sonic asked over his shoulder. "About 6 to 6,5 hours with each dose.," he answered immediately, getting a gentle smile in thanks. "And how much sleep do you need?," Kylie asked further.

"Uh...Tails?," Sonic asked. Since Shadow was usually out of the house, before Sonic woke up, the fox would know it more likely, than the other.

"Unless there was a fight or we went to bed really late, Sonic sleeps for about eight to nine hours.," Tails answered.

"I see. Interesting, that someone with your metabolism still needs as much sleep as an average mobian or human.," Kylie mentioned.

"Well, Sonic eats a lot, when he has the time. I'm pretty sure, that this makes up for a few hours. And...well, there's always Chaos Energy. When he fights with the emeralds, then he's usually less tired. Otherwise, he likes it to sleep very long, we just don't have that much opportunities for that. Besides, Sonic just isn't the type to sleep his life away, he's too restless.," Tails tried to explain. He was sometimes baffled himself by how less sleep Sonic needed. It had happened several times, that he had fought a hard fight against Eggman and two to three hours later, he had already been awake again and raided the fridge for chilidogs, all because of the Chaos Emeralds being involved. He seemed to enjoy it to beat his baby brother's calculations on a regular basic.

"Okay, that makes sense. However, six hours of sleep won't do and I honestly don't want you to sleep less than you need. It could become unhealthy. So, try to take one more pill in the evening. If you want to take a nap during the day, just take one of the pills. Try that out and tell me in a few days, if it worked."

"Alright. How is Scourge, by the way?," Sonic agreed and asked. "I didn't have the time to check up on him today, but he was great yesterday. He is out of danger either way, so you don't have to worry too much."

"And Fleetway?," Sonic continued to ask, accepting her previous answer. "He makes progress. Slowly. Very, very slowly.," Kylie added with an air of frustration. Zen tried since days now to get the concept of meditation in his brain. It shouldn't be that difficult, but it was. The male couldn't sit still for a minute. The yellow furred uke wasn't done, yet, but Kylie wasn't sure about what more he could try.

"We saw him earlier, with someone named Ed.," Sonic explained. "You probably mean Ed Walters, a teacher for the semes. He teaches them basic knowledge, like history, reading and writing. Fleetway learns reading and writing with him."

"He doesn't strike me as a guy for school...," Sonic mentioned. "Well, he normally wouldn't be, but he wants to read those cards. You know, the ones, that are most likely meant for Scourge."

"And who reads them to him, until he can do it on his own?," Sonic asked. "Usually, Ed. Don't know, why, but he doesn't want me to do this anymore.," Kylie answered, while opening the door to the room with the scanners, much to Sonic's dismay. He noticed, that the scanner, that had caught fire a while back with him in it, was covered by a large cloth and had a sign with 'Out of order' on it.

"WOW!," Tails exclaimed the second he had laid his eyes on the interior and he pushed past his brother to examine the remaining scanner with excitement in his every move. "These are the newest on the market! Where did you get those?," he asked, while trying a few buttons.

He reminded Sonic of a child in a candy or toy store and the hero felt his cheeks heat up. "Er...sorry about that.," he apologized towards Kylie, who walked over to the examination table for the ultrasound and proceeded with taking off the cloth and placing it gently on the table top, building a small nest around Hope and covering her with some of the remaining cloth, before going over to the fox. "I don't mind.," she told the hero on the way and stopped next to Tails.

"From the market, naturally." she grinned, answering the young fox' question. "Having lots of money is a virtue sometimes – especially, when you want the newest of things."

"Can I copy its algorithms on my Miles Electric? I'd like to build one on my own.," Tails asked, scolding himself for forgetting the device.

"But we do have one already, don't we?," Sonic questioned. He wasn't too sure, since Tails had invented so many things already...

The fox looked down, biting his lip, his enthusiasm lost. "This one's better.," he mumbled. Kylie's expression softened. "Because it detected, what was wrong with Sonic?," she guessed. The young genius just wrapped his tails around himself.

"Tails, this wasn't your fault. Despite me thinking that sometimes, you don't know everything – and I don't blame you for not finding out about something so strange. I never will. You did your best, buddy, I'd never expect any more than that.," Sonic told him gently.

It felt strange, that he had to tell his brother something he should already know. Had his sickness made him this insecure?

Well, usually, Tails had no problem with analyzing things and coming quickly to a conclusion. The hero's sickness had challenged him like unknown things always did – but for the first time in ages, someone else had beaten him – and by a long shot, too.

Kylie had known, where to search and how to cure it, two things, that he hadn't been able to figure out. It probably bugged him, that the woman – who wasn't a genius – had outsmarted him.

Normally, he could take it to not know something. He knew very well, that it just wasn't possible to know everything and it was okay. But he had always tried to know everything important, like medicine or how to survive and act under dire circumstances – which was more often needed, than one would think... – and since recently about ukes. There was just the problem of all the hatred and the myths concerning the hedgehogs. Getting adequate information, that wasn't guessed or invented, was hard and the young fox was scared, that, should again something happen to his brother, he wouldn't be able to help. Or worse, he made everything take a turn for the worst with his tries and incomplete knowledge.

Kylie seemed to guess his train of thought. Basically, she thought like this, too. "You know, Tails, we have a few minutes to spare, before we get the results from this scan. I think, there is a room I want to show you.," she mused. "Um...okay?," the fox questioned.


The scan happened just like a few days earlier, but this time, Kylie gave him some earplugs for mobian hedgehogs, that were broader than the ones for humans. Blocking out Shadow, who for sure wanted to know, why Kylie had been so sheepish to give them to him and Tails, who had a million and one questions, that just made him dizzy to listen to, Sonic tried to stay as still as possible to get away quickly.

It worked, in what felt like seconds, Shadow already helped him off the table again. "Can we go now?," he asked, once he stood again and had given the earplugs back. Kylie chuckled, while carefully hanging Hope back in the cloth around her neck. "Sure. Come on.," she waved and they left the room, Sonic being outside, before she had opened the door properly.

"My, what are we anxious.," the woman grinned, while leading them further down the hallway. "I like moving better, so what?," the hedgehog shrugged. "Since you were sick for a while, you should rather take it easy and concentrate on building up muscle mass. Let me guess, the run here was pretty exhausting, wasn't it?," Kylie smirked.

"Okay, how did you guess this now?," Sonic asked, just not getting, how Kylie seemed to know everything.

"You smell like sweaty mobian.," the woman shrugged. Seeing the offended faces, when she turned around, she giggled. "It's not a bad smell, honest. Kind of like wet dog, just not as obtrusive. So?" "Fine, yeah. I just need to train my endurance a bit, no problem.," Sonic shrugged himself. "Good, that you see reason. We're here.," she declared and pushed open a double door, leading to a spacious room, filled with rows of shelves, each one packed with books.

"Wow, that's a huge library!," Sonic whistled. "I know, right? It has all kinds of books to all kinds of topics, from cooking...to ukes.," Kylie emphasized, looking meaningfully at Tails, who perked up.

"Each book was thoroughly checked for the truth of their contents, so they are reliable.," she explained. Tails gasped and began to run between the shelves, quickly learning the order of the books and shelves to orient himself. Thankfully, there was no one he could run into, they were currently alone here.

He disappeared behind a shelf and came a minute later back with both arms full of books. "Can I borrow those?," he asked excitedly. "Sure. Just make sure, that you return them. Usually, you need an ID to get those books, but I'll allow it this once, making the ID takes a day and a few documents." "Thanks, Kylie!," the fox beamed up to her. "Anytime.," the woman smiled.

"Dr. Ellen?" Nicole's avatar appeared out of an ornament in the ground and bowed to them. "I have the test results you wanted."

A screen appeared in front of her, showing a similar picture to the one Sonic had seen before, the silhouette of himself. It still had the bluish dots forming his spine, but most of the others were either gone, or had shrunken to the tiniest dots, showing, that the drugs had almost completely left his body. "I must say, I'm impressed. Your body works faster than I anticipated. One more bath – and everything is out of you, that can leave you actually this way.," Kylie explained. "Great.," Sonic nodded. He really wasn't a friend of baths, but one more wouldn't kill him.

"And another thing, if you would step to my terminal to your right, you can find an USB-stick with the blueprints you wanted to download.," Nicole continued towards Tails, nodding in said direction, where there stood something looking like a ticket machine.

While he looked at it, a small sound coming from it indicated, that something had been dropped in a small, bowl-like bottom compartment, that could be assessed easily by someone of the fox' height. With a dropped jaw, he went closer and pulled out a small USB-stick. "Woah.," he whispered. "You can give out data like that?," he asked, astounded. "Yes, of course.," Nicole replied.

Seeing, that the fox would use that to his advantage if not stopped, Sonic quickly grabbed him and steered him away from the AI with a mumbled. "I think we should go now, I need a chilidog".

Tails noticed, that his brother wanted to leave because of exhaustion rather than hunger and with his health still in mind, he let himself lead out. He could always come back later.


They returned to the foyer after that, Shadow transporting the books for Tails to his room. Kylie went after their goodbyes to talk with Blaze and the brothers left with Shadow towards the Tornado.

"Shads, wanna take a shortcut, or take a ride with us?," Sonic asked on the way. "Actually, I need to go to GUN, Rouge wants me to meet up with her.," Shadow explained.

"Was this, why you pounded Mighty through the door?," Sonic asked, but there was only humor in his voice. He had nothing against people fighting with Mighty – or Knuckles for that matter –, since he knew, that there was not much, that could hurt them.

Shadow grimaced. "Yeah. Sorry about that, but he offered and I went a bit overboard...," he went to apologize, but Sonic just laughed and hung himself to his seme's arm, nuzzling his shoulder. "Don't be ridiculous, love. Mighty said himself, that you can come to him whenever you like, you didn't hurt him!," he laughed. "And I don't hate you for it.," he whispered reassuringly, feeling some of the tension in his boyfriend ease under his hands and cheek.

Reaching the Tornado, Tails jumped in, waiting patiently for Sonic to take a seat as well. "I'll see you later, then.," Sonic smiled and gave his boyfriend one last peck, before he warped away.

"Sonic?," he heard Tails call down to him and he looked up to see the fox peer over the edge of the plane. "What's up, little buddy?," he asked cheerfully.

The young genius blushed a little, like always, when he felt stupid for asking a question, and finally just spit it out. "Do you...think, that...Shadow hates me?," he mumbled quietly.

"W-what? Tails, why do you think that? ...Did he say that?," he asked, heat creeping in his voice. He loved Shadow, dearly so, but if he attacked his brother, even if only verbally, he would kick him once across the complete planet.

"Nonononono!," Tails quickly reassured. "I promise, that's not, why I'm asking!," he quickly reassured. He knew, that Sonic would break up with Shadow, should he ever think or say something like that, but also, that it would make him unbearably sad.

"Okay then.," Sonic sighed in relief, jumping up from where he stood and landing on one of the wings, seating himself comfortably on it to be closer to his brother.

"Why do you think that, buddy?," he asked again, being more gentle now. "It's just...I sometimes get the feeling, that I'm standing in your way...of the both of you...," the younger mumbled, playing with his tails. He couldn't name just yet, what exactly he stood in the way of, but he felt it nonetheless.

Sonic's expression softened. "I see. Okay, I'll be honest there with you. You know, couples like it to be among each other, without anybody around to disturb them. I also enjoy being with Shads."

He noticed Tails shrink in himself a little. "But that doesn't mean, that I love you any less or that I'll move out to leave you on your own. You'll always be my little buddy and my brother and I'll always be there for you. That's something not even Shadow can change.," he declared.

Tails blushed, this time in embarrassment. "Now, how about the promised ride home? I could actually take a nap already right here.," he yawned and let himself fall backwards to lie sprawled out on the wing, his legs dangling off the edge.

"Sonic, no!," Tails immediately chastised, his uneasy feeling from earlier gone. "Remember, what happened last time?" Sonic rolled himself a little to the side to see his brother's disapproving scowl. "Come on, it's a nice day, not like last time – and I didn't fall THAT much.," he argued.

"Because Shadow caught you. And is he here?," the fox grumbled moodily. Sonic chuckled. Sometimes, he really wondered, who the older of them was. It felt good, though, that they talked with each other as freely as they usually did.

"Alright, alright, I give.," he conceded eventually, stood up and jumped in the second seat. "To home, dear sir.," he waved like to a chauffeur and Tails giggled. "Alright, hold on your quills, sir.," he played along and soon after, they were on their way home, laughing and joking all the time.


Meanwhile, Shadow appeared in front of the door of the office he shared with Rouge and Omega. Well, Omega usually just stood in a corner, until he was needed. Rouge sometimes joked, that a broom closet would have been enough for the robot.

However, not today, he could tell. The bat was far too stressed for jokes. That's, why he had warped outside of the office. Being a bat, Rouge wasn't a fan of light flashes. She could suck it up, of course, but when she was under pressure, her tolerance was much lower. He rather didn't try to set her off.

He even knocked at the door, that was big enough to fit Omega through, before opening it and entering.

The office was relatively spacey, with a large window front at the wall opposite the door and two desks – mobian-sized – were in the back corners. Two cupboards for files and a few plants, that Rouge took care of, were the only other objects – if you didn't count in Omega – in the room.

Rouge stood with her back to him, brooding over something on her desk. Omega was in his usual corner on the left from the door. Judging by the frequent beeping, he was calculating something.

"Rouge?," Shadow asked finally, making the bat flinch. She either hadn't heard him knock, because she had been so deep in concentration, or she had expected someone else.

The bat was quick to pull files over whatever she had looked at, before turning around to him, leaning against her desk in what she tried to make look like a relaxed posture. "Shadow. Did everything go well with Sonic?," she asked, almost nervously.

Shadow narrowed his eyes. "Yes, he is almost back to normal and on his way home. What is it you wanted to tell me?," he asked, barely concealing his impatience.

Rouge pushed herself away from her desk and straightened, squaring her shoulders. "We are expected in the conference room.," she told him curtly and started to walk towards the door. Shadow let her pass him and followed her out of the room and down the hallway.

"We have a case.," Rouge informed him calmly, while they walked. She seemed to be more comfortable with talking to him while being behind her.

The seme raised a brow. They rarely had cases, they usually just had missions. Only, when the team first assigned to the case had to face obstacles they couldn't overcome, special teams like Team Dark were activated.

"It's pretty much like a cold case...more or less. It's rather complicated.," Rouge rubbed her head. "A murder case. In the course of...a very long time..., there were several murders, that followed the exact same pattern. Since almost a week, there happened crimes all over the world, that are awfully close to those old ones. The only difference is, that there are several people doing the killing." "Suspects?," Shadow asked, going into his agent-mode.

Rouge sighed, stopping in front of the conference room. "Sadly, it's not that easy.," she explained and opened the door to let them in.

Inside, Shadow saw Topaz, the current commander, sitting at the head of the table, under a large screen. As usual, she wore her brown hair short and her decent make-up. There were dark bags under her violet eyes, however.

At the large oval table, that almost filled the complete room, sat a few more people, most of them humans, but Shadow also spotted a few wolf mobians, including a female with light gray fur and long black hair in a braid, that he had seen several times at GUN. Everyone was stone faced and most didn't even look up, when the two mobians entered.

"Agent Shadow, Agent Rouge, welcome. Please, take a seat.," Topaz greeted them, pointing to the chairs opposite of her, that were still empty. Both mobians obeyed, which Topaz could be proud of. There weren't many, who managed to get Shadow to do something. Shadow liked Topaz, more so than Towers anyway, and respected her as much as she respected them, which was, why he usually obeyed her.

"We are dealing with a murder case, that is beyond everything we experienced so far.," Topaz started, using a small remote control to get the projector hanging from the ceiling to work, showing a picture on the screen.

It was the body of a human man, he seemed to be in his thirties. The throat was cut in deeply, however, no blood was staining the ground around him. His lifeless eyes seemed to stare at the camera.

"This is one of the 30 victims in total, that we have counted since the last five days. The cause of death varies always, there is, however, one thing, that all victims have in common. Their bodies have lost every single drop of blood. The victims, who didn't die from external injuries, show no traces, that would indicate, how the blood was removed."

While speaking, Topaz let several more pictures appear, showing all kinds of victims. The ones doing this had apparently no preferences concerning the victims. Male, female, human, mobian, old, young...there was no pattern.

"Team Alpha researched similar cases and found similar murder cases...since the beginning of crime records.," Topaz explained, gesturing to the humans on her right.

Shadow raised a brow. That was a lot of time, around 2000-3000 years, if his math was correct there.

"Each time, until recently, it was a dozen victims each year, no preferences, mostly cut throats, no blood in the body.," the commander continued.

"Were there ever any suspects?," Shadow asked calmly. "One, you actually heard of him. He's famous as 'The Gentleman Killer'." Shadow raised a brow. So this case? "In the recent ones, however, it is different. And this is the problem."

Topaz paused gravely. "In almost all recent cases, the local police forces were able to arrest the culprits, caught them practically red-handed. However, they all swear by their lives, even after being confronted with unmistakable proofs, that they don't remember a single moment of their doing."

"So? It wouldn't be the first time, that criminals deny their doing, even under the worst pressure.," Shadow replied.

A loud crunch cut off everything the Commander would have said and Shadow – and everyone else – turned to see the female the seme had seen before with her fist embedded deeply in the table's surface, her blue eyes blazing with fury, while glaring at the hedgehog.

"Do you think, that my brothers would have slaughtered their own family in cold blood in front of my eyes and dare to deny it right before me!?," she shouted, looking ready to jump at the male over the huge table.

Shadow spared a quick side glance to the other wolf mobians and saw them hang their heads, their expressions showing obvious shame and trauma.

"Lupe, your wounds reopened.," Topaz stated calmly. "Please go to the medic on this floor and get treated."

One of Topaz' many good improvements since becoming the Commander was the hiring of a group of medics. They were not only responsible for training the soldiers in first aid and medical treatment in battles and under difficult circumstances – which had decreased the mortality rate of GUN-soldiers significantly –, they also had easily reachable wards in the whole GUN-HQ to treat injured, who couldn't – or wouldn't – go to the hospital.

The wolf mobian scowled at her words, but she pulled her hand out of the table, ignoring the splinters and cuts marring the limb, before marching out of the room, her eyes boring into Shadow's, until she couldn't see them anymore. On her way past him, Shadow could see long bloody lines soaking her dress at the back. She had been attacked as well, but survived.

The slam of the door told them, that the female had left the room. "You don't remember any of this?," the hedgehog agent asked the remaining wolves. The younger ones shrunk in themselves, but an older, bulkier one with reddish fur answered him.

"None. We went out to hunt, like always. I remember going in the woods, then nothing. The next thing I remember is standing among the bodies of my pack, my family, with my claws drenched in their blood."

"Was there-?" Rouge put her hand on Shadow's knee, a rare gesture on her side, to stop him.

"Nobody noticed anything out of the ordinary.," Topaz answered for the wolves. "Not even with their very heightened senses could they detect someone or something approaching them, until it was too late."

"And you think, that Team Dark can find something nobody did so far?," Shadow asked. Topaz stared for a moment in his ruby eyes. "Leave us.," she ordered without breaking eye contact and Shadow heard the wolves and humans file out of the room, while Rouge stayed.

"You are right, that I hope for new results coming from your team. However, there is another reason, why I wanted to speak with you." The 'since days', that was hidden in her tone at the last part, was graciously ignored. "I was advised to not do this, but in the given situation, I don't see much choice.," she explained.

Shadow refrained from rolling his eyes. He knew, whose 'advice' she meant. Towers had, during his time as Commander, founded a council of five advisors, that basically just said, what he wanted to hear. As easy as it had been to fire Towers, as difficult was it to get rid of his advisors. Thankfully, Topaz had a backbone and didn't listen to them.

"As you know, all victims lack their blood. What almost nobody knows, though, and which is kept under a very tight lid, is the fact, how the blood was used. On every crime scene were...graffiti-like pictures left behind, drawn with the victims' blood at the walls. Where more than one victim was, were several copies of the same picture found, or a bigger than average version of the picture."

While she spoke, Topaz pressed another button and a new picture was on the screen, showing a simple brick wall, on that had been drawn a picture with red lines, that looked like a master piece. Of course, being there and smelling the blood, the impression would be a different one, but seeing it on a picture, it looked quite good.

It was a strange, rune-like symbol, a geometrical form with perfectly straight lines, that never crossed each other, forming two perfect rectangles, with two circles in each of them and a triangle between the rectangles, looking almost like a joint in a 'bent at the elbow'- arm. And in the created space, half way framed by the odd symbols – dots in three rows. Shadow had seen several versions of that symbol. There were always different numbers of dots. Sometimes three, sometimes eight or a number between those. So far, nobody had been able to find out, what those dots – or the symbol in itself – meant. It looked rather mysterious and menacing, though. "The Gentleman Killer. Interesting. So he operated longer than we thought.," he stated neutrally.

Topaz nodded gravely. "He just didn't murder on this continent all the time, that's why we couldn't make the connection. Until a few days ago, that is. However, the... pictures we found at the recent crime scenes, were different, that's why we believe in a different culprit all together.," the woman continued, hesitated a moment and eventually pressed the button to switch to the next picture. Once it was on screen, Shadow felt his insides freeze.

WARNING!

Painted on a gray house wall, also with blood, was a picture of Sonic. It was unmistakably him, the mobian hedgehog there showed the confident grin Sonic was famous for. The disturbing thing was, that his head wasn't on his shoulders anymore. His body lay in a heap behind his head, his well-known sneakers lying messily next to it, as if a great force had ripped them off his feet. The scene looked too real, the positions of head and body, the wounds marring the body and staining his gloves even in the monochrome picture too realistic to be just fiction...

END OF WARNING!

What made his heart beat up to his ears and fear flood his system for good, however, were the four words, that had thin blood rivulets running down from them, yet made the message all the clearer:

Tick, Tock, Ultimate Lifeform.


And done! ...with a cliffhanger, I know, sorry. I'm already working at the next chapter, but this definitely won't come up anytime soon. I'm having online-university due to the recent events... and this seems to be an excuse for all my docents to throw tons of work at us.

Anyway, I hope you liked it. It appears a little rushed towards the end, probably because it WAS rushed... I just didn't want this to be a filler chapter. I had promised to get the story on the road. And, yeah, I did...on the last 3 of 40 pages...yay. Well, I tried to shorten the chapter, to find any useless paragraph...and in the end lengthened the story from 37 to 40 pages. Went well, really. The next chapter will be better, promise.

Have a nice weekend!