"All right, you're getting it to them, right?" Beau asked as he spoke down the phone. "Okay, good. Just remember to get them to push it further out. We weren't given control over the west side for nothing..." The snake stopped as he looked up to see one if his associates, and he waved at him to sit down as he finished up on the phone. "Okay, just make sure that it's the right stuff. We cannot fuck this up. All right... bye."

"Everything okay?" asked the colleague.

"Yeah," Beau nodded. "What's up, man?"

"I just got Manuel on the phone. Apparently, Nack's been trying to call you."

"Shit..." Beau pulled out his phone as he felt it vibrate, seeing Nack's name pop up. He answered it without thinking further. "Hey there."

"Hey there yourself," Nack replied. "Why haven't you been returning my calls?"

Beau sighed. "I've been busy all day making sure that my stuff gets pushed out."

"And what of the Fokus situation?"

Beau sighed again. "I haven't come across any yet. I paid those I trust the most with the most money to try and find it, but nobody's been able to yet."

"Then how about you stop searching?" Nack suggested.

"Because if I do that, I'll be out of a job," Beau replied. "The economy in Westopolis is less than fantastic, in case you hadn't noticed."

"You didn't let me finish," Nack replied. "How about you make it?"

"I can't," Beau replied. "It's one of the few drugs that I know nothing about."

"Then get your men to do it," Nack said. "You've got enough junkies over there. At least one of them must know about Fokus."

"Well, do you know where to get it?"

"Of course not," Nack replied. "It wasn't discovered until about the time I arrived in Green Hill, so I have no clue where it could be in Westopolis."

"Fine..." Beau sighed. "I'll try to get to work on it."

"Good." Nack smiled to himself. "Don't disappoint me."

The snake grumbled a bit before speaking. "I'll try not to. You take care now."

"You too," Nack replied, hanging up as he looked at his two men in the front seats of the car. "That went rather well, I think."

"Is Beau playing ball?" asked the human who was driving.

"So far, yes," the purple weasel replied. "I don't have any reason to suspect him of anything, but it's always best to be safe."

"Fair enough," replied the other human. "But that does beg the question of why we're going to Lara's right now?"

"I just wanted to drop in on the girl," Nack said. "Also, in terms of progress, hers is always the nicest to see visually."

"I'll bet," the human replied. "Seeing a bunch of pretty girls walking around in basically nothing must really get you going."

"Not girls," Nack clarified. "Women. And not nothing, either. The best dresses made of the finest materials."

"But since this is Westopolis, those materials are imported, right?" asked the human driving.

"Actually, Lara makes all of her own clothing." Nack sighed. "To think, she could have gone into fashion design. I'm almost glad that she didn't."

"Does she make those dresses herself?" asked the other human.

"She helps a lot, but she's taught her girls so much about how to sort themselves out, clothing and makeup a like." The purple weasel then smiled. "I'm a firm believer that a person's clothes determines what kind of person they are. If not, they at least help to establish how someone can be."

"Is that why you wear your suits?"

"It is indeed," Nack nodded. "I want to be more than just a crime lord who looks good doing what he does; I want everything that I say and do to feel dignified. I want my words to be more than just instructions, and I want my actions to be more then violence."

"It's difficult to be dignified when you're trying to push hookers, drugs, and guns around Westopolis, which is the least dignified place in all of Mobius."

"That's why I'm doing what I'm doing," Nack said. "It's like I've said from the start; I want Westopolis to mean something again. I'm going to build it up with those hookers, drugs, and guns that you mentioned. Then I'm going to spread that out to everywhere else like a plague."

"In a dignified fashion, of course?" asked the driving human.

"If it weren't done that way, then I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing."

The human nodded, and Nack relaxed in the back seat as their drive to Lara's continued.

Back with Sonic and the others at the new base...

"And... there we go!" Tails said as he finished making his bed. "That is my bedroom officially all done!"

"Took your time," Sonic replied from his own room, stepping out onto the balcony.

"Well, not all of us can move as fast as you," the yellow fox shrugged, also stepping out. "Let's have a look at yours."

The blue hedgehog shrugged and stood back for his friend to see his room. Tails looked around and nodded to himself before noticing that the dark red paint in his room was still fairly wet on the walls.

"Trying to match the theme of the building, I see?" Tails noted.

"Yeah," Sonic shrugged. "You do the same?"

Tails nodded. "Let's see how the others did."

Sonic nodded, and the two went to the far right room. They had decided earlier which room would belong to who, with Knuckles having the far left, then Tails, then Sonic, then Shadow on the far right.

"You all done in there?" Sonic asked with a knock.

"Just making the bed," Shadow replied. "I'll be out in a minute."

Tails nodded, going over to Knuckles' door. "What about you, big red?"

The room was silent for a little bit, and Sonic put his ear to the door, hearing a light rumbling sound. He shook his head and grabbed the door's handle, opening it to see Knuckles in his bed, which was the only part of his room that seemed to be made, and even that was stretching it.

Shadow soon came out of his own room to see the commotion, seeing the red echidna sleeping. "Goddammit..." he mumbled. He looked around his friend's room. "The place is a sty."

"What do you expect?" Sonic said. "He doesn't have his wifey to clean up his mess after him, and I don't know about you, but I sure as shit ain't doing it."

"Curse his snoring," Tails said. "And the rest of him."

The blue hedgehog shook his head and walked over, then had an idea. He used the pole and went to the kitchen to grab something before coming back up to meet with the others, showing a brush in one hand and a can of whipped cream in the other.

"Um... what are you doing?" Tails asked.

"Waking him up," Sonic smiled.

Due to how Knuckles was sleeping, he was on his back with a hand dangling off the side. Sonic sprayed some cream into his hand before using the brush on Knuckles' nose to tickle him. The red echidna giggled a bit in his sleep before sharply moving his hand up to slap off the annoying feeling... that hand being the one filled with whipped cream.

The red echidna shot up, spitting some of the sweet substance out from where it had covered his mouth, and wiping his eyes to see the others. "Really? The whipped cream joke?"

"It was that or a bucket of water," said Sonic. "And we just got these rooms. It'd be a shame to ruin them so soon... oh wait."

Knuckles looked around his messy bedroom. "So what? I wanted a nap. I told myself that I was going to do the rest of this when I woke up."

"You barely even did your bed," said Shadow. "I don't even think that your quilt cover is on right."

"And besides, all you've done so far today is play a gaming competition with the rest of us," Sonic added.

"And a champion needs his rest," Knuckles replied.

"Shadow won, actually," said Tails.

"Oh." Knuckles then shook his head before looking down to see the quilt in question, haphazardly stuffed into the cover. "I'll sort that out..." he said, reluctantly getting out of bed. He slept in the clothes he was wearing all day, so he kept them on.

"Why nap this early, anyway?" asked Tails. "It's barely even lunchtime."

"I just wanted to see how it felt sleeping in the new place, I guess," Knuckles shrugged. "It's not bad, but it doesn't feel the same without someone to curl up with."

"Want to borrow Tails' teddy bear?" asked Sonic.

"Hey, Muffins was a great bed companion, and you know it," Tails replied, smirking.

"Did you bring him?" the blue hedgehog asked.

"I did," Tails nodded. "But before you start laughing, no, I'm not sleeping with him. He's here more for sentimentality."

"That's right," Shadow nodded. "I remember you telling us at the academy about it when we saw Muffins for the first time. It was the first thing your parents ever made for you."

"More so my mum than my dad," Tails nodded. "She always handled the more delicate stuff better. She's the soul of the Wrench Turner, dad's the heart, and I'm the brain."

"Always important to keep that stuff," said Shadow.

Before anyone could continue their reminiscing, they heard a phone call. The four immediately made way for the living room, sitting around one of the coffee tables there as the phone rang. Sonic pressed the answer button and put it on speaker.

"Who is this?" he asked.

"Sonic? It's Simian," the other voice replied.

"Ah, good to hear from you again, sir," Sonic said.

"Sir's only good for when you're working for us," the gorilla chuckled. "Having said that, I do have a job for you guys."

"What's up?" Knuckles asked through a yawn.

"Um... is he okay?" asked Simian.

"He'll be fine, ignore him," said Tails. "So, what's the job?"

"It's nothing too serious, but it does need all four of you. There's been some rumblings out by the docks, and a couple of our guys are checking it out."

"Any gunfire so far?" asked Shadow.

"Not yet, but there is enough tension out there for violence to ensue. I recommend that you head over there, but proceed with caution."

"We will," Sonic said. "We'll be there as soon as we can."

"Good luck," Simian said, hanging up.

The four stood up, looking at each other before Tails spoke. "Our first mission on our first day as freelancers... why do I get this strange feeling that we've been here before?"

"Only this time, we're mostly on our own," said Sonic. "Come on. Let's get suited up in the armoury."

At the Green Hill docks...

A pair of Green Hill police, a male rabbit and a female pig, were speaking with the docks' owner, a human male in his mid-thirties, who appeared to be rather distressed. "I'm telling you, I don't know anything that you're talking about."

"So, you don't know anything about the rumoured shipments of drugs going around?" asked the rabbit cop.

"Nothing," said the owner. "Why would I know about that? I'm just trying to run a business here. Please, leave me alone."

"It might be best if we take a look around," said the pig.

"What are you hoping to find? We've got wood, boats, and water. That's it."

"And a lot of fishing equipment," said the first cop. "Some of which looks like it's missing. Is one of your boys out on a little trip?"

"Look, my point is, you can't walk in here without a warrant," said the owner, growing more frustrated. "No warrant, no search, no nothing. Now, please leave."

"We've been talking this out with you for a long time," said the pig cop. "Are you sure that you have nothing else to say to us?"

The owner nodded. "Sure I'm sure."

The cops nodded, and the pig spoke again. "All right, fine. We'll leave you be."

As soon as they turned around, they heard a car start to pull up. Both the cops and the docks owner looked around to see a vehicle that was not police sanctioned being driven by four Mobians who weren't in traditional Green Hill uniforms.

The car stopped, and Sonic was first out the car. "You guys need backup?"

"Ah, it's the freelancers," the rabbit cop smiled. "We actually didn't send the call out, no."

The pig cop looked the four up and down. "I'm digging the freelancer armour. It look good on you."

Knuckles shrugged. "It's just to try it out. I'm just glad that it all fits."

Sonic nodded. "So, what seems to be the issue?"

"The issue is that this docks owner has been having some rumours spread about him," said the pig.

"What kinds of rumours?" Tails asked, addressing the owner directly.

"Rumours that one of his workers has been shipping in illegal substances," answered the rabbit. "Unfortunately, we don't have a warrant to search the place."

The yellow fox nodded as he listened before turning back to the owner. "What's your name, sir?"

"Stan."

"Well, Stan, we need your cooperation on this matter."

"But I can't give you my cooperation without a warrant," Stan whined a bit.

"Listen, I get that you don't want to believe that one of your workers could be doing something illegal," Tails said evenly. "But we need to look around."

"And before you bring up the warrant thing," Sonic added, "we're not cops. We're freelancers. We don't need a warrant to look around. Just your permission."

Stan looked hesitant, and thought it over for a few moments before nodding. "Fine. But just you four. I want the cops to stay out here."

"We understand," the pig said, turning to the four. "Good luck, rookies."

Sonic scoffed with a smile as he followed the docks owner to his building. It wasn't a huge affair like the warehouse in Star Light, instead being much smaller, but still enough to have workers be brought in and out.

"So, what do you do out here, exactly?" Tails asked curiously.

"Fishing," Stan replied. "My guys, and occasionally myself, take a boat and go out onto the sea to fish."

Sonic looked at the large nets and rods on display. "You ever catch anything super big?"

Stan grinned and gestured to a frame on his wall. "That right there. It's a replica of a swordfish I caught a long time ago. Turns out that it makes good sushi."

"Impressive," the blue hedgehog nodded. "So... is it cool if we look around now?"

"You won't find much in here," Stan shrugged. "This building is essentially my office, so I couldn't think of where any of my guys could hide anything. If they were guilty, I mean."

"You're very adamant about that, aren't you?" Shadow noticed, looking through some tackle boxes.

"I... I like my workers. They're good guys," said Stan. "None of them have had any instances of this, but lately one of them has been slacking a little bit..."

"And where is he now?" Shadow asked.

"He's out on a trip," Stan replied. "He left a while ago, so he should be back soon."

"How long has he been slacking?" asked Tails.

"For about a week. Mostly it was due to him staying up late, which I can get. Late fishing can be pretty harsh on your sleeping schedule."

"But then you suddenly noticed that it wasn't because of sleep?"

Stan nodded. "One of my other guys noticed that it took him longer to get back one night. We don't go too far beyond our own reef, but far enough where there's fish to be had. Depending on the weather and the tide, it's usually about an hour at most."

"That doesn't seem so bad," said Knuckles.

"True, but on that one night, it took him a good two and a half hours to make it back," said Stan. "The water was calm, and there wasn't many fish that night, or maybe there were and he just got unlucky with the catch."

"What about his attitude?" asked Tails. "Did he appear out of sorts?"

"Just more tired than usual since he stayed up later, but that's it," Stan said. "If drugs are involved, I don't think that he's using them."

"But drugs might be involved regardless, right?" Sonic asked, a hint of regret in his question.

"That could be the case, yes," Stan nodded.

The blue hedgehog nodded back in reply before continuing the search with the others. They soon made it to the small upstairs portion of the fishing building, which had some equipment, as well as the bedrooms.

"Can we take a look around in these rooms?" Knuckles asked.

"Help yourself," Stan smiled. "Like you said, you don't need a warrant."

The red echidna chuckled and went with his friends to look through the bedrooms. Some did have other workers there, but they weren't doing much and were willing to comply with the orders of the authorities.

After searching through the rooms, they found one of the empty ones, assuming it to belong to the possible suspect.

"All right, let's check it out," said Tails.

Sonic nodded, opening the door. Unlike the other rooms, this one seemed a bit more dishevelled. Even though it was still in good condition, it was noticeably messier than the other rooms, with things seemingly rushed into where they would be, such as clothes and books scattered about.

"Looks like this is the dude's room," said Sonic.

Shadow looked around in the attached bedroom, looking through the drawers but coming up short. "I can't find anything in here," he called to the others.

"We've got nothing out here," replied Knuckles. "Whatever this kid has, he probably took it with him."

"All right, let's go back to the owner," said Sonic.

"Wait," Tails said, his ears flicking behind him. "I hear something..."

He went over to the window, the view of which looked over the ocean beyond the docks. He squinted, seeing a boat coming on its way. Without needing to say anything the yellow fox rushed downstairs, with the others following.

Stan noticed the commotion. "What's happening?"

"We think your worker is back," said Sonic. "We saw him through his bedroom window."

"All right, let's go and talk to him," Stan said, standing from behind his desk and walking over to them.

The blue hedgehog nodded, and soon they all left the front door of the fishing building, going over to the docks as the boat pulled up. They waited as the worker tied his boat up and grabbed his net and other fishing equipment.

"How much did you catch?" Stan asked.

"Eh, a decent amount," the fisher shrugged, showing his basket. It had several fish in it that filled just under half of the basket. "Who are these four? Robocop stunt doubles?"

"Not inaccurate, but no," Sonic said. "We're freelance agents, here to help the Green Hill police that you see over there," he finished, curling a thumb in the direction of the aforementioned police.

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"We've been told that you've been acting a bit suspicious lately," Shadow said. "Apparently, your late night fishing ventures have gone on later than they reasonably should, and you've been slacking with your catch."

"This isn't a bad catch," said the worker, gesturing to his net.

"It's a bit below average, but not the worst," said Stan. "Still, these guys need to look over your boat."

"What for?"

"Well, there's been some rumours of drug shipments going around, and we have reason to believe that you may have taken part in it," said Knuckles.

"What reason would that be?"

"We just told you, dude," Sonic said. "Try to keep up. What have you been up to late at night?"

"I'm not talking to you guys," said the worker. "Just a bunch of cops who couldn't hack it. Yeah, I heard about you on the news."

"So, you're aware that we're not cops any more then?" said Knuckles.

"Yep."

"Well, this next part will be easy for us," the red echidna. "We need to search your boat."

"Don't you need a warrant?"

"They're freelance," said Stan. "I know, they said the same to me."

"I don't give a shit," said the worker. "I'm not letting them search my boat."

"Let me rephrase what I said," Knuckles responded, stepping closer. "We're going to search your boat."

The fisher turned to Stan. "Can't you do anything?"

"You're not in my good books right now," the owner shrugged. "Either you let them search your stuff, or I'll fire you right now."

"Fire me?"

"It's better than getting killed over some drugs," said Tails. "Which one would you rather lose? Your job, or your life?"

The worker grunted. "Fine. But you're not going to find anything."

"Thank you," Sonic said.

The four went over to the boat, starting to search through it. Since it was a relatively small boat, it didn't take too long to go over, with the boat itself being big enough to seat at least four or five people.

They were done checking over the main deck, and Sonic went to a small door, trying to open it, but failing. He looked back up at the worker. "You got the keys?"

The fisherman nodded, throwing them over to the blue hedgehog. "Heads up!"

Sonic caught them quickly before turning back to the storage door, placing the key in the hole and opening it up. He stepped inside, soon being followed in by Tails, and the two began their search on the inside.

"Think we might find something?" Tails asked.

"Maybe," Sonic shrugged. "It looks like a bunch of spare stuff to me." He found a tackle box and opened it up, seeing several bait worms crawling around. "Ew... gross..."

Tails looked in the same box. "Yeah... not the most pleasant creatures, but they're harmless."

"It's just a little bit unsettling to see so many crawling around," the blue hedgehog replied. He inspected the worms more closely. "Hey, wait a minute..."

"What's up?" the yellow fox replied.

"It looks like the worms are crawling over something..." Sonic said. "I saw a small gap in the middle. It looked like a bag."

"You want to reach in and grab it?" Tails asked.

"Well, I guess I've got no choice," Sonic nodded. "Hey, Knuckles!" he called out.

The red echidna showed up. "What is it?" he asked.

"Could you search through these worms?" Sonic said. "I saw something at the bottom of the box."

"What, you're afraid of a little slithery pink thing with either two heads or two asses?" Knuckles asked.

"I believe they're just both male and female at the same time, making them the only animals to be hermaphrodites," Tails replied.

"First of all, it's weird that you know that," Knuckles said, searching through the box. "And second of all... bingo." He reached to hand what was inside to Tails, but had to shake off a few worms before the bag was taken.

"It's not Fokus," Tails said, inspecting the two small bags that he was given, "but it's better than nothing."

"It looks like weed," Sonic said. "And a bit of cocaine mixed in there too."

"What's the betting that there are more in the other boxes?" Knuckles suggested.

"Pretty high," said Sonic. "But I ain't going through all of those worms just to check."

"Then you two pansies go outside and talk to Stan, and me and Shadow will search through the other boxes."

"Eh, sounds good to me," the blue hedgehog shrugged.

He and Tails were somewhat rushed out of the boat by Knuckles as Shadow joined the red echidna in the storage room to help him on his search. They both searched through the remaining boxes, but they thankfully didn't have to go through all of them.

As they were doing this, Sonic and Tails were waiting patiently, choosing to hold things off until the other two were done searching. When they were all done, they appeared from the storage room of the boat and locked it behind them.

"We got more of it," Knuckles said, presenting several bags along with Shadow.

Stan turned to his worker. "What's the meaning of this, Carl?"

"Look, I'm not using it!" Carl defended.

"I don't care about that!" said Stan. "What are you doing with it?"

"I'm just holding it for someone," said Carl.

"That's a lot of drugs to just be holding," said Sonic. "Coke, fix, weed, and ice? Do you know how dangerous that shit is?"

"I do, which is why I'm not using it," said the fisher.

"That's not helping your case right now, dude," said Knuckles.

The two cops then came over. "Since you guys don't have jail cells at your new place, we'll have to take him in," said the pig.

"Fair enough," Tails nodded. "But after a few more questions."

"Hey, you're here for backup, not to take over our job," said the rabbit.

"If we left you to do your job, you'd be calling in a hazmat crew just to open one of those tackle boxes," Knuckles retorted. "Just a couple of questions with Carl. That's all that we're asking for."

"Fine," the rabbit grunted. "But make it quick."

Sonic rolled his eyes before turning to the worker. "So, where'd you get them?"

"From out in the middle of the sea," Carl replied. "I always meet with... someone on a boat. It's always a different person, and they never tell me any of their names."

"Any clue where they're coming from?" Shadow asked.

"No," Carl shook his head. "I always meet them late at night anyway, so I never know where they go off to."

"And you just bought these drugs from them?" asked Sonic.

"Yes," Carl nodded. "I haven't sold anything yet. They told me to stock up on them before trying to push them out."

"That does explain why we found as much as we did," Knuckles threw in. "Maybe these deals weren't going on for that long."

"Still," the pig cop said, "we need to take him in."

"And we need the drugs for the evidence locker," the rabbit added.

"Yeah, sure," Sonic said, handing the drugs over. "Although, I do have one final question for Carl here, before you completely take him away."

"Last one. Make it quick," the pig said.

Sonic nodded, turning to Carl. "Do you know anything about someone named Nack?"

The fisher looked bemused for a moment. "I think I've heard the name somewhere before, but what does he have to do with anything?"

"Well, the only person who you could have gotten them from is him, or someone working with him," said the blue hedgehog. "Do you remember anything about the people who you were dealing with?"

"You said one more question, hedgehog," the rabbit said.

Sonic flipped his middle finger to the two cops, ignoring them as he waited for an answer. "Well?"

Carl shook his head. "N-No. Like I said, they never said their names, and always changed the people."

"So, you don't remember anything specific?" Knuckles asked.

"Not really. They all kept themselves covered in masks and stuff." Carl hesitated again before taking a deep breath. "All that I remember is that they were Mobians. They were shorter than normal humans, and I remember seeing tails on some of them."

"Thank you for your cooperation," Sonic said, turning to the cops. "Take him away!"

"Go fuck yourself," said the rabbit as he slapped a pair of handcuffs on the fisher.

"Is that any way to speak to the people who just did half of your job for you?" Shadow said.

"Only half?" Tails added. "That's a little bit low, don't you think?"

"Eh, I tried to keep it fair," said the black and red hedgehog, handing the drugs over to the pig. "Try not to lose them."

"You think that just because you don't have a job any more that you can do whatever you want?" the pig asked.

"Yep," Shadow nodded.

The pig snorted, getting back into the police car as it drove off. Sonic and the others looked as it went away, laughing to themselves before turning back to Stan, who seemed a bit concerned, his head hanging down.

"Everything okay, dude?" Tails asked him.

The owner nodded. "I'll be fine. I just need to take some time to think about this."

"You going to be okay with one worker down?" asked Sonic.

"I've got others," said Stan. "But out of curiosity, will he be gone for long?"

"It depends," said Knuckles. "All of what we've found will make him out as guilty should there be a court hearing. I don't think it's the fact that he didn't sell any of it, but more so the fact that he had a fair amount of drugs. Serious ones, at that."

"It could at least be maybe a month or two," said Sonic. "Maybe more, but it won't be more than a year."

Stan nodded. "Hopefully he gets himself sorted out in that time."

"Yeah," the blue hedgehog agreed. "Anyway, I think that we're about done here."

"Ah, right," the docks owner nodded. "Thanks for the help. I needed it."

"Well, you've got more than enough guys to back things up," Tails said. "You'll be okay."

Stan smiled. "Let's hope so. Once again, thanks for helping me."

"No problem," said Sonic. "Take care now."

"You too!"

The others waved at the owner before getting back into Knuckles' car. "Back to the base?" the red echidna asked.

"I don't see why not," said Sonic. "We may as well wait for further orders."

"And you need to get your room fixed up," said Tails.

"I will, okay?" Knuckles said, reaching down and turning on the radio. "Any preferences for driving music?"

"Stick To Your Guns," Shadow said.

"Good choice," Sonic smiled.

"I know. That's why I picked them."

The blue hedgehog shook his head as Knuckles prepared to play the music, but was cut short when his car's microphone started whirring. He carefully picked it up and looked back at the others in confusion before speaking into it.

"Who is this?" he asked.

"Knuckles! It's Bunnie!" the southern belle replied.

"How'd you get this frequency?" Sonic asked.

"Aw, it was still in the database. We ain't gotten it fixed up to your freelance building yet."

"So, it's kinda like a residual effect?" Tails asked.

"Sure is!" Bunnie giggled.

"So, what did you call us for?"

"I've got a mission for y'all!" Bunnie replied, her voice becoming more serious. "There was an attack that went down a few minutes ago nearby the highway. It was a carjacking."

"We'll get there," said Knuckles. "Thanks for the heads up."

"Any time, sugar!" Bunnie said. "You take care now!" She was then heard talking to someone else before she came back. "Ooh, wait! How'd it go at the docks?"

"Relatively successful," said Sonic. "The guy we wanted to bust got busted, and everything seems to be fine. We were just about to leave and head back to our base, actually."

"Well, it's a good thing that I caught you guys when I did! Now, go get them!"

"Will do!" Knuckles said. "Over and out." He then switched off the microphone and put it back. "Looks like my room will have to wait for a little bit longer."

"You're still not getting out of it," Tails warned.

"Aw, you're so cute when you try to get serious," Knuckles smirked, reaching for the radio again to put on the tunes. "Let's get this done!"

With that, he sped off, the music blasting as they all went on to their next mission.

Back with Nack and his henchmen...

The trio had just pulled up to the front parking lot of Lara's brothel. Despite the poor quality of how most of Westopolis looked, Lara's hotel was a shining jewel. Of course, said jewel was somewhat tainted by what went on inside it, and its name of simply Indulgence didn't help much.

But she had taken Nack's advice when she had taken his money; she had good girls, but she bought better ones. They had good dresses, but she made them better ones. Her interior decoration was the best. And yet, she'd made it better.

Nack and his two men saw this very clearly when they had stepped in. Various dark shades of red adorned the front entrance room of the place, with hints of velvet, black, and gold outlining much of the buildings walls.

"Wow..." the purple weasel grinned. "She really did step it up a notch."

"Like what you see?" Lara asked, coming down the stairs.

"Love it," Nack replied, greeted by a kiss on the cheek from the tiger. He noticed her sheer looking dark green dress, with lovely cyan blue tones complimenting it, and a shining silver pair of heels.

"How are things going with the other two?" she asked.

"I just finished speaking with Beau earlier. He's been having some issues in regards to Fokus, but other than that he's pushing his product to where it needs to go."

"Apparently, I heard that he was trying to get a bit of it across the sea," Lara said.

Nack nodded. "That's an M.O. of his. He always changes the dealer, and always keeps their identities secret. It's good for business."

"If that's one way of going about it, what are others?" the tiger asked curiously as she led Nack around, the two men following.

"Well, there's the always classic method of selling on a street corner," Nack smirked. "But since pretty much everywhere in Westopolis is either a street corner or can have something bad for you sold, the way that he operates now is much more agreeable."

"Would you ever consider shipping overseas?" one of the men asked Lara.

She shrugged. "I could, but humans and Mobians are much more difficult to get across the water than drugs and guns. It's a lot easier to hide those than it is to hide a whore."

"Maybe you hide them in plain sight," Nack suggested. "Take one of your girls and make them dress not like a whore, but like a woman. Make them seem like a normal person. If they don't look like a hooker, then people won't think that they're a hooker."

"Is that why most people don't think that you're a psychopathic genius?" Lara smirked.

"Now you're just stroking my ego," the purple weasel winked.

"We stroke more than just egos here," the tiger replied, catching on to the double meaning without missing a beat. "Speaking of which, would you like one of my girls to spend your time with?"

Nack thought it over. "Tonight, perhaps. For now, I'd like to spend some time with you in your office, if I may."

Lara nodded. "Certainly."

The grey and white tiger led the purple weasel past the large front desk and to the staircase on the right. Nack's two henchmen weren't too far behind, maintaining a close proximity to the other two.

Soon, they had all reached the top of the stairs, and Lara turned the corner to lead the three to her office. She had a pair of bodyguards posted outside just in case, as per Nack's orders to get herself some protection, but they knew about Nack, so they allowed him in.

Lara's main office looked a lot like a smaller, more compact version of her main hall. She sat behind the desk in front of a large window, with Nack taking a seat opposite her, his two men staying on either side behind him.

"You never cease to impress me," Lara smiled.

"Neither do you," Nack nodded. "You really have done yourself wonders. I'm glad that you kept to your promise."

Lara nodded. "As did the others, I believe." She then paused. "Is that why you wanted to talk to me privately?"

Nack nodded back. "Mostly. I trust them, but... well, Beau can be a bit sloppy. He is the youngest, after all. And Manuel often seems too kind to be running guns and holding an illegal fighting ring."

"He damn near killed someone for making advances on his kids," Lara replied. "Kind he may be, but he's not the kind of person that you want to piss off."

"It's rare that you see him pissed off," Nack shrugged. "Maybe that's just a way to do it when it comes to some people; you put the ones that they love in danger."

"Let's focus on Westopolis first," Lara reminded. "We can move on to stuff like that in other cities."

The purple weasel gave a fake gasp. "Are you implying that you can't have loved ones in Westopolis?"

"Short of Manuel and his daughters, you mean?"

Nack inclined his head. "Point made."

The two shared some laughter before the tiger broke it off. "You are going to check up on the other two after you're done here, I presume?" she asked.

"I am indeed. Since you live the closest to the old abandoned prison, we thought it best to come to you first. After you is Manuel, then Beau."

"Maybe we'll wind up living further apart as we take more control of our respective borders," Lara shrugged.

"Perhaps, but that will take some time. All of the best things do."

The grey tiger nodded. "I couldn't agree more." She laid back and sighed. "It is risky, though. Pushing out to other cities so early."

Nack smirked. "If there's one thing that I've learned, it's that even the smallest drop of corruption can poison an entire city. We just happen to right now live in the worst cesspool for it."

"Or the best, depending on your perspective," Lara giggled. "So, speaking of poisoning cities..."

The purple weasel nodded at her trailing off, knowing what she was hinting at. "Like we both said, our police forces aren't the most reliable. But leave them to me, for the most part. We kill two birds with one stone; I get them involved in everyone's businesses, and the force grows smaller and smaller each day."

The grey tiger grinned, although this one was less sultry and appeared somewhat more frightening. "And when we have them all where we want them, we turn them fully to our side. They go from former police here to new police in other cities, and that little drop of corruption spreads and spreads. Am I right?"

Nack laughed aloud. "You are indeed on the money!" He calmed down a bit, but still chuckled. "It just sound so fucking sinister when you say it. I like that. I like it a lot."

Lara smiled. "Any preference for your girl tonight? Oh, and I need to know the time too."

"Is a certain grey tiger with great fashion sense and a devilish smile off the menu at... let's say, 10 PM?"

She shook her head. "She certainly isn't."

Nack nodded and stood up, reaching to shake her hand. She took it, and he pulled her across the desk to kiss her, which she returned. The kiss was full of lust, not love, and felt more like an affirmation of their deal for later if anything, as well as a sign of things to come.

"You take care," Lara said when the kiss broke.

"Will do," Nack replied.

With that, he left, his two men following behind. They made it outside and into their car, starting to head for Manuel's place. As they pulled out of the parking lot, Nack smiled to himself as he sat in the back seat.

"Boys..." he said happily, "today is going to be a great day."

"And capped off by a great night for you, it seems," the human driving said.

"Indeed," Nack grinned, reclining back. "I'm going to take a little nap. You two wake me up when we get there."

"Will do."

The purple weasel pulled his hat over his eyes as he closed them, the grin on his face still present as he rested. Partially because of tonight, but mostly due to how well his plans were being set in motion.

He looked forward to the next few days.

And here it is! Sorry that it took so long. I have no excuse, except for going over some past chapters to correct some mistakes. Some, not all. But anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed it! Next chapter will have a bit of action in it, and it's been a while since I've written a good fight in this story. I'll see you all then. Take care, and stay tuned.