Nack woke up to the sound of his alarm clock. He didn't hesitate to turn it off immediately, knowing that he had a promise to upkeep today. He got out of his bed and headed to the shower, stripping off and getting under the warm stream of water.
He cleaned himself without much issue and turned to leave, putting on a new suit. He settled on a purple and black number, going for a purple dress shirt, a dark grey vest shirt over that, a black and silver striped tie, dark purple dress slacks, black shoes, and a black blazer. Finally, his signature hat topped off the look.
He walked out to his main office, seeing his two henchmen stood there. "You two ready to get this business with Lara sorted?"
They nodded as one spoke. "What do you think that business could be?"
"Like she said, it's serious, but not urgent," said Nack. "Could be anything. Let's go."
The two henchmen nodded, and they all left for the small garage that was part of the prison. They looked around for their usual car, and found it, smiling at the other vehicles and the work that had been done on them so far.
"It's all coming up rather well for the other cars here," said Nack. "Won't be much longer, and we can put them to full use."
"What about the one that we normally use?" asked one of the henchmen.
"We just use that to get from place to place. Just because we stole the damn thing doesn't mean that we have to use it to parade filth around Westopolis," Nack said.
"Right. Good thinking."
Nack smirked and got into the back of his car as the other two joined him, one driving and the other in the shotgun seat. They left the garage, heading out for Lara's brothel, with Nack thinking of what the problem could possibly be.
After a long enough drive, they'd made it there, with Nack knocking on the entrance door of the brothel. Sure enough, Lara was the one to answer it, letting the purple weasel in with a smile.
"So glad that you could make it," Lara said, her deep red blouse and dark pink skirt mixing well. "Have you had breakfast yet?"
"Is that a euphemism or are you offering me food?" Nack winked.
"The latter," Lara smiled, turning to the henchmen. "You two?"
"We're fine, thank you," one of them said.
"Well, I can't let you go back with an empty stomach. A small snack, perhaps?" she offered.
Nack turned. "She won't stop asking if you don't accept."
"We will," smiled the other henchman. "Thank you."
Lara nodded, turning to one of her girls to get some food before leading Nack and the others to the kitchen. In there were several employees, some with customers, others without. They were either sharing food or eating on their own, with some of the girls even delivering around the various tables.
"Very professional in here," Nack smiled. "I never got to see this part last time."
"Well, we had more important matters to attend to," Lara smiled, leading them to a table. "Please, sit."
They did, with Nack sitting across from Lara, and his henchmen sat on either side of the table. Nack ordered himself some toast with jam, and Lara had the same, ordering everyone present a cup of coffee as well as the two henchmen ordered some simple cheese sandwiches as something light.
"So, what is the issue with the girl that you mentioned?" Nack asked. He then realised that she wanted to tell him in private, but smiled reassuringly. "Whatever you need to say, you can say in front of these two as well."
Lara nodded, snapping her fingers. One of the girls sat alone at a table, being a Mobian cat with dark blue fur. She wore a bright frilly pink nightgown and came over to the table. Nack then noticed something else about her; a red scarf with a black butterfly design.
The girl hesitated a bit, but Lara turned to her and smiled. "It's okay, you can show him. He won't hurt you."
The girl nodded, taking off her scarf and showing some light bruising on there. Nack was about to speak, but then the girl shook off her gown, showing herself in black and red lingerie, also showing off some more bruises on her stomach, legs, and arms.
"What happened to her?" Nack asked.
"Multiple men wanted a turn with her," Lara said. "I told them to wait, but they didn't."
"Did they at least pay?" Nack asked.
"They did," said Lara. "That's why nobody stopped them."
The girl whimpered a bit. "P-Please... don't... don't t-tell anybody..."
Lara stood up and hugged her girl, who hugged back. "It'll be fine... it's okay..."
"B-But... I... I just remembered..."
Nack grew curious at this. "What did you remember?"
The girl sobbed a bit more, but Lara kissed her on the cheek gently in a gesture of reassurance before the girl spoke. "One of those m-men... was... m-my father..."
The purple weasel gritted his teeth a bit. "Did he know that it was you?"
"She'd just started," Lara said. "Not even a few days in, and she's risen to be one of the best girls that I've ever had. Unfortunately, many people demand that best too often." She then turned back to her girl. "Is this true? Was one of those men really your father?"
"S-Stepfather..." the girl clarified.
"What's your name?" Nack asked.
"L-Lisa..."
"Well, Lisa, would you mind telling me where your stepfather lives?"
"Y-You... you're not going to..."
Nack shook his head. "No, I'm not going to kill him. All things considered, I probably should, but I won't. I'll just give him a warning."
"H-He lives in an apartment complex not too f-far from here..." Lisa said. "And... the o-other men... they were all f-friends of his..."
Nack turned to Lara. "Did you know about this?"
"No," Lara said, turning to Lisa. "You know I love you, but you can't keep things like that from us, okay?"
Lisa nodded. "O-Okay... thank you..."
"You're welcome," Lara smiled, kissing Lisa on the lips softly. "Now, go to your room. You're off for the day, so go and rest. I'll send some people up with you to help you recover."
Lisa smiled "Thank you..." She then turned to Nack. "And thank y-you as well..."
"It's no trouble," Nack assured her.
As Lisa left, Nack shook his head. Lara noticed this and sighed. "You don't have to do what you're thinking about doing."
"But you'd appreciate it if I did?" Nack asked.
"Without a doubt," the grey tigress smiled. "But try to take it easy on him. I want my customers to be alive and healthy."
"How can you still call him a customer after what he and his friends did?" Nack grunted.
"I meant with the exception of him," Lara said. "I still don't want him, you know, dead."
"It'll be a warning," Nack assured. "A very painful one, but I'll keep calm."
"I hope so," said Lara. "You have a tendency to get violent. Then again, maybe that prick deserves it."
Nack nodded. "Don't worry. I'll try to go easy on him, but not too easy. For now, let us enjoy our breakfast."
Lara nodded back. "Is everything still going well for the plan soon?"
The purple weasel grinned. "Indeed it is. Martin is getting through to his contacts, just for backup reasons. We might not need them, but you never know."
"I've been meaning to ask," said Lara, "how did he get his hands on uniforms from other police forces?"
"I have no clue," said Nack, taking a sip of his coffee. "Maybe a prisoner owed him a favour, or maybe he's surprisingly good at crocheting. Whatever it is, we're thankful that he knows how."
"What about the ID cards?"
"Again, it'll take some work, but he can pull it off," Nack said. "How do you think I got into Green Hill in the first place?"
"Didn't the cops there recognise you anyway?" Lara asked.
"It's hard to keep a low profile when your past from one city follows you around," Nack shrugged. "I'm in more police databases from more cities and jurisdictions than I've ever even been to."
"But you do plan on going to those other cities, yes?"
"Oh, definitely," said Nack. "But, not right now. It's just going to have to wait. For now, we focus on Westopolis and our operation in Green Hill."
Lara nodded. "So, what about Manuel? In regards to his girls getting those drugs."
"I'm sure that they'll be fine for now," said Nack. "He seems to have it handled. But if it does happen again, then I'll find the sons of bitches who did it and I'll wring their necks."
"Can schools not be the one thing that stay safe in Westopolis?" Lara sighed. "Poor kids..."
"I know," Nack nodded, putting a hand on Lara's. "They deserve better than this. A city like this could - and possibly will - eat them alive."
"But not us," Lara followed on. "We're the ones who will take it over. Even if it is with the help of a cop..."
"Hey, don't doubt Martin's ability," said Nack. "He's the best dirty cop that I know."
"A dirty cop is still a cop," said Lara.
"You're starting to sound like Beau," Nack chuckled.
"I just... I don't want a cop's death to come out of it, no matter how dirty he may be," Lara said. "Violence is not my thing. Drugs are not my thing. Pleasure, sex, lust, maybe even love... that's me."
"And yet, you're fine with me punching that poor girl's stepdad?"
"Something tells me that I might be less happy when you do get around to that," Lara admitted. "But I'm not the one throwing my fists. That's why I use my brain and my body."
"You're definitely well-versed in how you use both," Nack smiled. "I don't suppose that we could have another business meeting tonight?"
"Sadly, a large bull of sorts booked me already," Lara shrugged.
"Huh," Nack said. "I never figured him as the type. I mean, I know that he mentioned something about it yesterday, but."
"It's probably just the stress of his new position," Lara said. "You know that he didn't want much part of this. Yet, he's easily the best fighter. He just doesn't want to hurt people."
"He runs guns around," Nack said. "Sometimes, he might not have a choice. Not to mention that illegal fighting ring that he runs."
"True, but at least nobody gets killed in those fights," Lara said. "Just violently concussed or choked out."
"Or a limb gets broken," said Nack, smiling before leaning forwards. "I know that my methods might not be the best, but I am trying to keep myself clean. And believe it or not, Westopolis is the safest place for any of us right now. The cops here won't bother us, the normal citizens here are too afraid to go near us, and cops from outside of Westopolis can't touch us. Not that the cops inside of Westopolis can be bothered anyway..."
"I just... I'm still worried about the risk of this," Lara admitted. "You have to understand that you're not the problem."
"I know," Nack said. "You think that it's Martin. But... why? I've given you every reason to trust me, and you did. But I wouldn't be here right now if it weren't for him."
"You don't fully trust him, do you?" Lara asked.
Nack smiled. "Not fully. But I trust him enough that he'll help me without screwing any of us over. He wants to be a dirty cop on a stained force, and I say let him be."
The grey tigress nodded again, and the two finished their breakfast. As Nack was about to leave, he was stopped by Lara, who pulled him close to kiss him. He kissed back, and as the two stopped, she spoke first.
"Take care, Nack," she said.
"You too," he replied. "And good luck with Manuel tonight."
"I may need it," she giggled.
Nack smiled back and gave on final nod, heading into his car with his henchmen. They started it up, wasting no time in driving away. As they started moving away, the one driving the car spoke first.
"Do you want to take care of that stepfather now?" he asked.
Nack shook his head. "No. Too obvious." He paused. "I want to wait until he gets his friends with him."
"You said that you weren't going to kill him," said the other lackey.
Nack nodded. "I did say that. But his other friends are a completely different matter. We'll take care of it tonight, as that's most likely when they'll be grouped up again."
"Do you think that they'll all go to the same place again?" they asked.
"That's what I'm banking on," Nack said. "And, more often than not, my bets always pay off."
Meanwhile, back at the freelancer headquarters...
Amy tossed and turned in Sonic's bed, feeling around for his body, but growing worried when she couldn't feel anything. Her worries were put aside when she felt movement near her feet, and she lifted the sheets to see Sonic's head at the bottom of the bed.
"Hey you," he smiled, crawling up and kissing her.
"Hey back," she replied when the kiss broke. "What were you doing down there?"
"Well, if you must know," he smirked, "I was planning on waking you up in a nice and rather pleasant way."
"But..." Amy said, extending the word.
"But the others are awake, so they might hear us," Sonic admitted. "Also, it'll be really difficult to explain why you'd have a delirious smile on your face at school all day. You teach kids, after all."
"I can call in sick," Amy winked.
"That may be so, but there's the matter of the three other Mobians that live here," Sonic reminded her.
"Stupid friends..." she joked.
The blue hedgehog chuckled. "Come on. Let's get dressed and drop you off. Your school is pretty far away, so the quicker that we move, the quicker that you get to your job."
"Trying to get rid of me?"
"If I could help it, you'd never be well enough for work again." Sonic then paused awkwardly. "That sounded better in my head."
Amy giggled. "I suppose that we should get some food."
"I suppose so," Sonic nodded. "Getting dressed might help too."
Amy nodded, and the two got dressed, with Amy putting on her clothes from last night as Sonic picked out a dark blue tank top, baggy black jeans, and white sneakers. He smiled as he watched Amy getting dressed again.
"Sorry that you don't have anything else to change into," he said.
"Eh, it's fine," Amy shrugged as the two left his room. "My kids don't know enough about how smells work to judge me."
"Good thing that we have a shower," Sonic smiled.
"Where?" Amy asked.
"At either end of the corridor," the blue hedgehog smiled back. "Anything you want for breakfast whilst you're in there?"
"Well, I can't stay long before I have to be at work..." Amy thought. "What can you ding me in the microwave?"
"We've got some pop tarts, I think," Sonic said.
"Ooh... sounds good!" Amy then giggled and turned to the bathroom on the left, rushing over there. "Thank you!"
Sonic chuckled, shaking his head before turning to the fire pole. He jumped on and slid down, seeing Knuckles eating some cereal in the kitchen, with Tails setting up some coffee and Shadow watching some TV in the living room.
"Yo, Shadow," Knuckles said.
"Yeah?"
"Could you turn up whatever show you've got on?"
Shadow chuckled. "I could. Alternatively, you could also bring your breakfast in here with you."
"I don't want to spill on the carpet by accident," Knuckles defended.
"You don't even use coasters," Tails pointed out.
"Oh, it's a little bit of orange juice," Knuckles said. "Get over it."
Sonic smiled and walked over to them. "Sup, brothers?"
"Brothers?" Knuckles said. "Shadow could be at a push, maybe."
"It'd be a hell of a stretch," Sonic smiled. "Also, our lady guest is using the shower, so don't mess around with the taps or anything."
Tails nodded. "I'll try to get a fix on that so that the pipes don't cross over and such."
"Got any plans for today with Amy?" Shadow asked, pausing what he was watching.
"Just taking her back home. Well, to her kindergarten to teach," Sonic corrected himself. "I'm sure that she'll get home afterwards."
"By the way," Knuckles said, "thanks for not screwing each other's brains out last night."
"Or this morning," Tails added.
"Last night we were too tired, and this morning she's got to leave early for work," Sonic said, going to the fridge. "We've got a job too, remember?"
"How come you guys make fun of each other's relationships so much?" Shadow asked.
"You've done it too," said Tails.
"Not as much as you guys," the black and red hedgehog said.
"Trust the only one here with two girls to not be judgemental about relationships," Knuckles muttered, finishing his breakfast.
"There's nothing going on between me and Maria. Or me and Rouge, for that matter."
"What about both at the same time?" Knuckles asked.
Shadow shook his head. "Give it a rest."
"He's right," Sonic said to Knuckles, putting Amy's requested breakfast in the microwave. "We shouldn't push him so much about his own girl troubles."
"Thanks... I guess..."
"And besides, you guys should focus on getting dressed," Sonic said. "We can't save the world if we're all still in our pyjamas."
"We may as well get it done quick," said Tails. "And we should take showers too."
"I'll leave you to it when I take Amy up to Little Hill," Sonic said.
"You're going alone?" Knuckles asked.
"Yeah," Sonic shrugged as the microwave beeped. "It's not going to be a pain in the ass to take her to her job."
"What do we do if there's a mission?" Tails asked.
The blue hedgehog smiled. "Take care of it. I have faith in you." He put the pop tarts on a plate. "And besides, I won't be gone for that long. I'll drop her off, then I'll drive right back. Simple."
The others agreed, and soon, Amy was done in the shower. She had cleaned herself and came down using the fire pole, managing to handle it pretty well and landing on her feet. She smile as she walked over to the boys.
"You guys really need more feminine products in your bathrooms," she teased.
"I think that you're the only feminine-adjacent thing that we've had in this base, let alone in the shower," Knuckles smiled.
"Well, I've never been called feminine-adjacent before," Amy giggled, picking up some pop tarts for herself.
"He means it as a compliment," Sonic smirked. "Shall we?"
"We shall," she smiled, turning to wave at the others. "Bye, guys! Thanks for having me!"
"No problem!" Tails said, waving back with the others. As soon as they left through the doors, he smiled. "You know, I should bring Cosmo up here at some point."
"And maybe Shade might like it up here too," Knuckles added. Then both he and Tails slowly turned their heads to Shadow, who looked confused.
"What?" he asked.
"Which of your two girls are you going to bring up here first?" Knuckles asked.
Shadow shook his head and rolled his eyes before turning around, going back to watching TV. As he did, Sonic and Amy were getting into the blue hedgehog's car, with the aforementioned blue hedgehog starting up the vehicle.
"Any requests for tunes?" Sonic asked.
"Hmm... no," Amy said. "I want a nice, quiet drive with you."
"Does that mean that you want me to shut up?"
Amy giggled. "Well, you do have a tendency to drag on a bit."
Sonic laughed with her. "Yeah. I've been known to be a bit of a motormouth."
The two pulled out of the small alleyway, making it to the main road, and Sonic set a destination on his GPS for Little Hill, with Amy helping him since he'd never been there before.
"So, can I ask you a question?"
"Besides that one?" Amy smirked.
"Yeah," Sonic smiled. "I was wondering if it hurts."
"If what hurts?" Amy asked, curiously.
"Your heart thing," Sonic said, more serious now. "I mean, is it just this constant throbbing pain in your chest? Does it get super bad if you don't take your pills?"
"Oh," the pink hedgehog replied. "Well, it used to hurt a lot more. My medication helped me to balance it out from an early age. When I was a kid, I had a few fits related to it, but never a heart attack or a stroke. It wasn't until puberty hit that things really started to escalate."
"How come?" Sonic asked.
"High school was a part of it," Amy said. "As a teenager, my condition was more well-balanced, but I still needed more pills then than I do now. The only hour where I could take them was lunch, which was about an hour after when I'm actually supposed to take them because of strict rules in class. Due to that, I wound up throwing up a lot from a mixture of taking them late and... well, the obvious."
"Oh," Sonic said, realising what she was getting at. He then cleared his throat. "Did the teachers or council or anything ever change it up a bit so that you could take them during classes?"
"It took them a while, but yeah," Amy nodded. "Medicinal pills were still classified as drugs, and because I had a lot of them at the time, many people were worried that I'd go around selling them to other kids." She then scoffed. "I'm not that purple weasel guy."
"Something tells me that he's done that before," Sonic said.
"How goes the search for him?" Amy asked.
"Well... we can't really search for him," the blue hedgehog said after a brief pause. "As freelancers, we can't run our own stuff, so that means no looking for the piece of shit that hurt you and Rouge and those other girls."
"That doesn't mean that you're not searching for him," Amy said.
"We're not-" Sonic started, noticing Amy's look. He then sagged his shoulders a bit and spoke. "All right, yes, we're looking for Nack."
"But you're not supposed to be?"
"Pretty much," Sonic said. "This freelancer thing is basically a form of probation. If we get caught breaking that rule, we may never be able to help anyone again."
"So, why are you trying to do it on your own?" Amy asked.
"I'm not on my own," Sonic smiled. "I've got my friends to help me."
"You know what I mean," Amy said. "Won't the police at Green Hill help you out?"
"That's the problem," Sonic shrugged. "The police of whatever city we go to aren't the backup. That's usually what we are. We can't ask for that in return because of what we did..." Sonic paused. "Because of the choice that I made..."
"You made that choice to save people," Amy said. "You made that choice to help me and those other girls, and you made that choice because your friends said that they'd follow you."
"And look what happened to them."
Amy smiled softly. "You really should stop beating yourself up about this. Accident or not, you're all still alive. Be thankful for that."
Sonic nodded, reaching to touch Amy's hand, holding it as he drove the rest of the way. Soon, he'd reached Little Hill, and got out of his car to open the door for Amy, who smiled at the gesture of chivalry.
"Well, thank you, good sir," the pink hedgehog smiled.
"You make me sound like some old school British knight," Sonic chuckled.
Amy chuckled back and leaned in to kiss Sonic lightly on the lips, and he returned it. The kiss broke, and Amy gave him a hug. "Will I see you again any time soon?"
"If I get a day off, I'll let you know," Sonic said as they broke their embrace. "I could be very busy today for all that you know."
"Or you could be at home playing video-games and eating junk food," Amy teased.
"Like I said, busy," Sonic replied. "And besides, we've got a huge gym. I can work the pounds right out of me." Amy snickered, and Sonic chuckled. "That sounded better in my head."
Amy kept her smile and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see you when I see you."
"You too," Sonic said as his girlfriend turned and walked to her building. "Have fun at school!"
"I will!" Amy smiled, waving over her shoulder.
Sonic shook his head, but his little bubble of happiness was popped when he heard phone sound off. He quickly reached into his pocket, searching for his phone and he eventually found it, answering it quickly.
"Hello?" he asked.
"Sonic! It's Espio!" came the voice from the other end.
"Oh, hey, man," Sonic smiled. "What's up?"
"We need you at the station," Espio said. "Myself and the other two have been working on something that you might like."
"And was it authorised by Green Hill Police Department in any way?"
Espio laughed. "Of course it was! Otherwise I wouldn't have a job, or an excuse to pick up Vector's chocolate bar wrappers."
Sonic smiled. "I'll see you there."
He then hung up, starting his car.
Meanwhile, Knuckles, Shadow, and Tails had taken the red echidna's car, as they'd gotten a similar call not long before Sonic did, and they were steadily making their way across the roads of Green Hill to get to the department.
"What do you think that it could be?" Shadow asked, wearing a red and black striped t-shirt, beige jeans, and black boots.
"No clue," Knuckles shrugged, wearing a light blue button up shirt over a white tank top, with blue jeans and black sneakers. "But Espio did say that we'd like it. Good thing that he said that he'd call Sonic afterwards too. Saves me a job."
"Should we wait for him so that we can all start?" Tails asked, wearing a dark grey long sleeved shirt with a superhero design on the sleeves, along with dark blue jeans and tan flat shoes. "Or do we just go in there and check it out for ourselves?"
"Eh, he'll find out when he gets here," Knuckles said, pulling up to the parking lot of the department.
"But that could take him a while," said Tails. "You've got to remember, Amy's school is quite far away from here."
"Good thing that he took his own car," Shadow said. "We'll be fine without him, Tails. It's not like we're on a mission."
"Yeah," Knuckles said. "He'll be here soon."
The two-tailed fox nodded, and soon, Knuckles found a good parking spot before killing the engine. He got out of his car, followed by the others soon after, and the red echidna got around to the trunk of his car, getting a bag out of there.
"Good thing that I brought these," he said.
"You didn't have to bring the uniforms with us," said Shadow.
"I know, but what if this thing is some kind of experiment and they want to use us as guinea pigs?"
"You're being paranoid," Tails chuckled as they walked over to the building.
The doors opened automatically for them, and Tails smiled at Cosmo, who blushed in return as she spoke. "We were told that you were coming, so we went ahead and got the doors for you."
"You can do that from there?" Knuckles asked. "That's pretty cool."
"Where are they?" Shadow asked.
"They're where they usually are," said Mina. "I see that you brought your uniforms with you. In bags, no less."
"Yeah, we thought that it'd be for the best in case we got hurt," said Knuckles. "Will we need to put these on?"
"We don't know yet," Cosmo smiled. "It's cool that you guys brought your own uniforms and we have to wear ours almost all the time."
"Even as secretaries, you guys are still being kept safe," said Knuckles. "Smart thinking from Avery."
"Thanks," smiled Mina. "Now go on and get yourselves sorted. They'll fill you in when you get there."
"Do you guys have any info for us before we go?" Tails asked.
"Nope," Cosmo shook her head. "But I'll give you a kiss for luck, if you want?"
Tails blushed, nodding and moving forward. He and Cosmo shared a light kiss together, and when it broke, the yellow fox couldn't hide his expression. He was brought back out of his spell when Shadow waved his hand over Tails' eyes.
"You all good?" he asked.
"Oh... yeah," Tails said. "I'll be fine."
Cosmo leaned over to hug Tails. "Go on. I'll still be here when you get back," she smiled.
Tails nodded, and he and his friends walked over to the elevator, taking it up to the second floor where the armoury was. After they'd reached their destination, they took a look around, smiling to themselves.
"Place still looks as pristine as it ever did," Shadow noted.
As he spoke, Espio walked out of the armoury to greet them. "Ah, there you guys are."
"Espio!" Knuckles smiled. "Still enjoying the uniform, I see?"
"Yeah, the others are wearing it more too," he said. "We figured that if we're going to be handling the weaponry and such, we might as well get our own armour on to be safe."
"Good priority," Tails smiled. "So, do we get to see this new thing yet?"
"Soon," said Espio.
"You do have a big training area back there, right?" Shadow asked.
"Yep," said Charmy, also flying out to meet them. "Although it's not the roomiest place in the world, but it's good for basic test runs of weapons."
"So, we're getting a new gun or something?"
"Not quite," said Charmy. "Come with us."
"Shouldn't we wait for-" Tails was about to ask, but then his phone went off, so he picked it up, seeing Sonic's face. "Speak of the blue and fuzzy devil..."
"Hey, man," Sonic said. "Just giving you a heads up that I'm almost there."
"Why didn't you text me instead?" Tails asked.
"Because it's harder to text and drive at the same time," said Sonic. "Besides, it's easier to speak when I've got my phone clipped to the dashboard of my car. If I were leaning down to type, it'd just be a pain in the ass."
"Good point," Tails smiled. "How far off are you?"
"I'm almost at the Jade Mountain," Sonic said.
"All right," said Tails. "Meet us on the second floor. That's where we'll be."
"Will do. See you then."
"We can do this without him," said Espio. "Unless you guys want to wait out here?"
"Hmm..." Knuckles thought, looking at Shadow and Tails, who just shrugged. "Nah, we'll check it out."
"Good," Espio smiled, leading them into the armoury. They high-fived Vector as they passed him, with Tails noticing that the crocodile was playing a video-game on his computer before pausing it and getting up from his desk.
"It's kinda cold back here," said Tails. "And dark."
"Allow me to shed some light on the subject," Vector punned as he turned the lights on.
"You're just as bad as Knuckles," said Shadow.
"No, Vector's are worse," said Charmy.
"I'm only letting you get away with that because of how much you helped with this thing," Vector said, gesturing to the centre of the room. "Boys... feast your eyes."
Tails, Shadow, and Knuckles all shrugged, walking over to the centre and seeing what appeared to be a skateboard, but much more high-tech and without any wheels attacked to it. Its colour appeared to be that of the signature silver and electric blue of G.H.P.D.. It was metal instead of wood, and it had a rectangular design with the sides bent inwards, and some triangular looking spikes protruding from the front.
"There's only one of these?" Tails asked.
"There will be more to come," said Espio. "But for now, that's all that you're getting."
"I kinda feel like we can't do this without Sonic now," said Knuckles.
"Are you sure that you want to wait for him?" asked Charmy.
"Are you kidding?" the red echidna smiled. "Look at this! This is... awesome."
"Well... thank you..." Charmy smiled.
"We can't do this without him," Tails agreed. "He needs to see this."
"See what?" asked a voice from behind them. They turned to see Sonic, walking over to them. He was about to speak, but then saw what the others were gathered around. "What is that?"
"This is the new technology that we and some of the science heads have been working on," said Charmy. "We don't have a name for it yet, since it's just a prototype. And we only have one copy."
"That's fine," Sonic said. "It looks pretty damn cool."
"We didn't want to try it without you," said Tails.
"You could have," said Sonic with a shrug. "I would have been cool with it."
"Well, you got here before they could have tried it anyway," said Espio. "What took you so long?"
"Oh, I was dropping my girlfriend off at her job," Sonic said. "She lives in the western part of the city, so it's far away from here."
"Well, damn," said Vector. "Must be a hell of a girl for you to pull that off for her."
"Least I could do," Sonic smiled. "She really is a hell of a girl, though."
"That aside," said Charmy, "are you guys ready to give this thing a test run?"
"Let's give it a shot," Tails smiled. "Dibs on first!"
"Dammit... I wanted to go first..." Knuckles moped.
Meanwhile, at Little Hill Nursery School...
It was playtime, and Amy had let her students out onto a playground not too far from them. It was a small area, with its dark green grass cut down to make it easier for the kids to get around as well as cut down on possibilities of hay-fever and such.
She watched as a pair of her kids played a small game of soccer, passing the ball between each other. She stayed where she was and sighed happily. She took a chance to go through her phone and smiled as she saw a picture of Sonic.
"He's not a bad looking guy, is he?" said a voice from behind her.
Amy froze up and turned around, seeing a brown squirrel with red hair and blue eyes, wearing a blue jacket over a black button up blouse along with blue jeans and light blue boots. The pink hedgehog hugged her.
"Sally!" she smiled. "Oh my goodness! It's so good to see you again!"
Sally hugged back, smiling in return. "You too. And with a new boyfriend who just so happens to be my old one."
Amy pulled away from the hug immediately. "Really?" Her eyes then widened. "I'm sorry, Sally..."
"It's fine," the squirrel smiled. "In all honesty, I'm glad that he wound up with you and not your sister."
"Me too," Amy giggled. "So, are you back for good this time?"
"Yep," said Sally. "Sorry that I was away for so long. I was just taking a nice trip around Mobius, doing some backpacking."
"You teach the highest grade of kids here," Amy smiled. "Some of them actually wanted to go with you."
"I was only gone for a month and a half," Sally smirked. "I would have taken them, though. I love the kids here."
"Me too," Amy smiled.
Sally looked over Amy's students, smiling as one of them waved nervously at her before speaking. "Is Honey still here?"
"Yeah," Amy asked. "Why? Did you miss her too?"
"Just wanted to reconnect with some old friends while I'm here," Sally said. "And that does include Sonic."
"Oh..."
"But you don't have to worry."
"Oh?"
"Because... well, I'm over him now. I've got a boyfriend of my own."
"Oh."
"Is that all that you can say?" Sally giggled.
"I'm just a bit surprised," Amy said. "You come back after a month and a half away and this is what you say when you come back? It's a lot to take in at once."
"Well, I did kinda drop off the face of the earth after me and Sonic split," Sally said. "I wanted to focus on my studies, and part of those studies happened to lead me to being a teacher here."
"I know how it goes," Amy said. "You weren't even her for a week before taking your trip. What happened with that?"
Sally shrugged. "I guess that I needed some time away. With him being in the academy and me wanting to focus more on my teaching after the breakup, it got to me pretty hard."
"I get that," Amy said. "And you can reconnect with Sonic whenever you want."
Sally smiled. "I promise, I won't try anything with him. I just want to be friends with him."
"Well, your breakup wasn't too bad, from what I hear," Amy said.
"It wasn't," Sally admitted. "But it was still hard to live with for a bit. Luckily, studying and training all worked out well for me, and here I am... again."
"It's good to see you," Amy smiled. "You take care, okay?"
"You too," Sally said, kissing Amy's cheek before leaving.
As the brown squirrel left, the pink hedgehog smiled at having her friend back. She wasn't worried about her return, as she'd promised not to chase after Sonic since she had her own boyfriend to worry about.
"I should call him about this..." Amy said to herself. "But after school is over." She then heard the small bell go off. "All right, kids! Playtime's over!"
A lot of the toddlers gave audible noises of disappointment and headed back inside, with Amy following behind them shortly after. She sat at her desk and looked over her kids as they sat down on the floor.
"All right," she said, grabbing a radio. "Now we're going to learn our numbers through song!"
"Yay!"
Amy giggled, keeping her call for Sonic in mind for later as she sang along with her kids to help them to learn their basic numbers. It was a nice relief to be around them, with their infectious energy and adorable nature rubbing off on her and making her laugh along with them.
And that's another one finally done! I would have gotten it done sooner, but the site has been randomly crapping out for me. Anyway... yeah! I hope that you enjoyed the chapter, and that Sally's first appearance did her justice as a character. For those wondering if she'll be some sort of bad guy or do something horrible, then I can safely say that... well, no. I don't like the idea of demonising her, because it's old hat, and also because it's just really lazy by this point. Regardless, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Take care, and stay tuned.