On the outskirts of Station Square was a small brick apartment complex built beside the parking lot of the city's grocery store. Not many people were willing to live next to such a busy area, so the rent was fairly cheap. No wonder a certain weasel had moved into the building! If there was one thing Fang truly loved, it was the driving force known as cash. Normally, he was reluctant to spend any money at all (save for gambling, of course) but he knew some sort of home was necessary. After Fang's little experience with The Hunter, he allowed his sister Nic to stay with him for a while. She had said something about 'making sure he was safe'. Sure enough, a week went by without any sort of danger.
Tonight was like any other ordinary evening. Fang sat lazily on his green sofa flipping through the various channels on the television. Nic hummed "Oh Susanna" as she stirred the boiling pot of spaghetti on the stove. She stole a quick glance at the clock on the kitchen wall, and clicked the stove off. "Nack…dinner's almost ready." With a smile, she brought the pot over to the sink and strained the pasta.
"How many times have I told you not to call me that stupid name! I happen to like 'Fang' better." Fang snapped, and turned his attention back to the television. He whipped out the remote, and continued surfing through the channels. The first one he flipped to was the news.
"Good evening Station Square! I'm Linda Taylor from Channel 5 News. Our top story tonight…" The woman started to blather away about some robbery that had occurred earlier.
"Man, I hate the news." Fang remembered that phony story about the Chaos Emerald that he had fallen for. He quickly changed the channel.
The next channel had Bill Cosby cracking another one of his jokes. "This isn't Burger King; you can't have it your way!" The audience laughed hysterically, and the channel was changed again.
This channel had an old western movie on it. Two cowboys were backing away from each other with pistols in their hands. The first one, a burly man with a brown beard, started shooting the other man.
"I guess this is okay…" Fang shrugged, and headed over toward the kitchen. His sister was just starting to spoon the spaghetti into two glass bowls when she stopped.
"Uh-oh. Um, I think we are out of tomato sauce." Nic frowned, and opened the refrigerator. She peered inside for a few moments in hopes that she would find an extra can, and shut the door with a sigh. "It's official; we don't have any sauce. How are we supposed to have pasta without sauce?" She turned to her brother.
Fang looked at the carpet. "I dunno…why don't we order pizza or something?" He eagerly reached for the phone laying on the counter, but Nic stopped him.
"Wait a second. There is an advantage for living next to a grocery store, y'know. Why don't you head on over there and get some more pasta sauce? I'm kind of busy preparing dinner and it is getting late. Please?" She made a puppy dog face.
"Agh, fine…but fork over the cash, because I'm not paying for it." Fang held out his hand as Nic passed him ten one dollar bills.
"I only have singles. That means you should only buy the sauce! I don't want you wasting all of my money on those stupid scratchcard machines you get so obsessed over!" Nic watched as her older brother waltzed over to the door.
"No worries, sis. You can trust me." Fang smirked as he opened the door and stepped out into the apartment's hallway.
QUICK-MART. The bold neon letters stood out against the fading sunset. Occasionally, the R would flicker on and off from the old lighting system.
Fang burst through the door of the grocery store, intent on getting this errand out of the way as fast as he could. "But first…" His gaze wandered over to the scratchcard machine sitting in the corner. It was covered in gold plastic, and had the phrase 'Win BIG!' stenciled in red on its front. "I'm sure Nic wouldn't mind if perhaps I 'lost' a few dollars." He walked over to the machine, and slipped a dollar into the slot. A small card dropped out, and Fang hastily grabbed it. He scratched off the squares of the card in his hopes that he would win the million dollar jackpot. After all of the squares were scratched off, none of the symbols matched. He had lost. "Dammit." Fang cursed, and stuffed another dollar into the slot. Every single time he got a losing card. He kept feeding the machine more money until only three dollars remained of the ten.
"Enough for the tomato sauce, I hope." Fang left the machine behind and followed the signs to the pasta aisle.
---
Meanwhile, outside of the store, a lone figure waited behind a parked Sedan. He pulled out a walkie-talkie from the pocket of his jeans, and clicked it on.
"Robotnik…I think I've spotted the weasel. He's purple and white with a brown hat, boots, a belt, and gloves on. I think he's got a weapon in that belt, too." He adjusted his glasses that were starting to slide off of his face as he looked through the store's window.
"Well don't just stand there, Joshua! Do you have your proper clothing on?" A raspy voice answered back among the static of the walkie-talkie.
"Yes sir. The jeans, the T-shirt, everything. You wouldn't even know it was me."
"Then get in there and do your job!" The walkie-talkie shut off, and Joshua tucked it away back into his pocket. He snuck around the front of the car, and grinned as he started toward the store's entrance.
---
"I'm missing that western show…" Fang grumbled as he carried the can of tomato sauce toward the checkout counter. He passed countless other things that he would have rather bought; the new Blue Bunny Blueberry Swirl ice cream…that set of NiGHTS playing cards…but he was stuck buying pasta sauce for his sister. He did not want to disobey her again, for she was all he had left of his family. No mother, no father, just her. That was why he was kind of soft toward her…
When he got to the checkout counter, the line was completely empty. The only one there was the cashier, and he looked like he wanted to go home as well. 'Kenny' was written in rather sloppy handwriting on his name tag.
Fang handed the can of sauce to Kenny, who scanned it and dropped it in a plastic bag. "Your total is $2.65." he droned.
The last three dollars were handed over to the cashier. Kenny wrapped up the bag, and gave it to his customer. "Aren't you going to give me change?" The weasel impatiently tapped his foot.
"Oh." Kenny yawned, and pulled out a few coins from the cash register.
Yeah, I thought so. Fang thought, and sauntered over toward the door when a man in jeans rushed in front of him.
"Hey! Are you Fang the Sniper?" The man adjusted his glasses, and smiled.
"Uh, yeaaahhh…" Fang thought this was kind of awkward. Someone he did not even know was acting like they were old acquaintances.
"Oh, I knew it! See, I'm a big fan of your poker tournaments. I'm usually in the crowds watching." The man stuck his hand into one of his pockets, and pulled out a Polaroid camera.
"Ah. A fan, eh?" Fang stared at the camera.
"Of course! Uh…could I get your picture? I've always wanted one, but you leave immediately after you finish your poker games." The man brought the camera to his face, and motioned for Fang to scoot away from the checkout lane. "Okay, now make a pose or something!"
Why not? It's kind of flattering to have a fan. Fang smiled, and brought his pistol out from his belt as he set the plastic bag down.
Oh my God, is he going to shoot me? The man started to panic slightly, but gave a sigh of relief when the weasel made a harmless James Bond pose with his gun.
"One…two…three!" The man clicked a button, and the camera emitted a huge flash of bright light.
"Augh, God!" Fang shielded his eyes and winced. "What kind of fucking flash are you using?" His vision started to cloud over, and soon Fang was completely blind. He gripped the side of the checkout counter until his eyesight returned within a few moments. The man with the camera had vanished.
"Next time, I'll only take autographs…" Fang muttered, and exited the store with the grocery bag in one hand and his pistol in the other.
