Chapter Five

Very loud shrieks were heard throughout the small rental building along with gunshots. That was the first few things Taylor heard as she approached the building almost an hour later. She was late; there was no denying that, but she got scared when she heard the gunshots. The raccoon tried to open the door but found it locked, "HEY!!" she shouted, hoping to get someone's attention.

"TAYLOR!! GET AWAY!!"

Taylor's ears twitched as she looked up and saw Aurora's light blue eyes, wide with fear and the way her voice sounded, she could instantly tell that the cat had been screaming for a long time.

"What's going on?!"

"GET OUT OF HERE!! NOW!! GET HELP!! DO ANYTHING BUT COME IN!! EEP!!" Aurora screamed as she ducked and the window shattered, the pieces fell to the sidewalk and Taylor instantly got the message as she darted away from the building, taking her cell phone out and trying out a lot of numbers.

Team Chaotix were on their way back to their home, and they were glad when they counted the rings they had earned. 300 rings; okay sure it wasn't a lot but at least it was better than nothing. They stopped when they heard someone on their cell phone screaming and crying hysterically. Espio motioned for Charmy and Vector to stop and they did. Their eyes widened when they heard the raccoon screaming about a small rental building, and gunshots.

"PLEASE!! SHE'S IN DANGER!! D-A-N-G-E-R!! SOMEONE WAS SHOOTING AT HER!!... I'm being paranoid?! LOOK AT THE PERSON WHO WON'T EVEN DO HIS JOB!! SHE'S GOING TO DIE IF YOU DON'T HELP!" Taylor screamed into the phone as the tears fell onto the sidewalk like waterfalls. There was a long pause before she whimpered, "I don't care... just help her out please!" Another long pause before she threw the cell phone in the trash and she sat down on the curb crying into her hands.

Vector frowned as he walked over, "excuse me miss."

Taylor looked at the trio and she frowned. She said nothing and her white opal eyes fell to the ground.

"What exactly were you saying about someone shooting someone?"

Taylor whimpered out, "she was getting hurt... she was being shot at... she told me to run and do something but then I call my boyfriend who's job it is to save lives and he won't even do it!! For all I know she could be in worse danger because she warned me!!"

Charmy flew over to Taylor and hugged her.

"Don't cry miss. Where was this happening? Maybe there's still time."

Taylor took a deep breath and said, "a small apartment building... um... Team Chaotix's building."

"WHAT?!" the trio shouted as they said, "we're very very sorry but we need to get there!"

Taylor stood up, "I'm coming too!"

After a few quick arguements about bringing Taylor along, they finally accepted her and they all darted toward the building swiftly. When they got in front of the building... there was nothing but dead silence.

"Aurora!" shouted Charmy as he tried to open the door. It was still locked. "Vector! Espio! I can't open the door!"

Espio tried it as well, no luck.

Vector then stated, "stand behind me."

Espio dragged Taylor behind the alligator and Charmy instantly knew the drill and flew behind Vector. Vector let out a yell as he punched down the door.

"Holy... crap," muttered Taylor as she saw Vector's desk turned on it's side, the chairs and couches flipped on their side as well, everything scattered all over the floor. The raccoon was about to go in but Vector stopped her.

"Stay out here... just in case."

"Just in case what?"

No one said anything but Taylor seemed to get the message as she walked over to a nearby street lamp and leaned against it. Team Chaotix then silently made their way into the building. Charmy buzzed around Vector's head nervously and he dodged the swats that Vector dealt out.

"Okay, any ideas?"

"I'll look upstairs, you two look down here. If you see anything don't hesitate to scream," replied Espio. The duo frowned, about to protest until Espio then added, "we need to hurry!"

Charmy flew toward the kitchen, Vector ran toward the living room, and Espio darted up the stairs, skipping almost every other step.

If the living room being a mess shocked Taylor, then the raccoon would've been even more shocked by the condition of the upstair rooms. Espio peeked inside Vector's room and saw that there were a few bullet holes in the wall and glass on the floor, along with a few drops of red liquid... blood. The chameleon didn't bother analyzing Charmy's room; the only thing that seemed strange was the window was broken and glass was on the floor.

"Hehehe," a small laugh came from Espio's room. He turned invisible and looked inside his room; it was hard to miss his room. The door had been knocked down and that's when Espio nearly lost his invisibility.

The window had been shot at, the floor was a complete mess with blood, and shards of his mirror. But what scared him the most was over the unconscious, bloody Aurora was a hooded figure.

"What a shame, what a shame. The little girl lost the game. Too bad you don't remember me at all, because I was your major downfall."

Espio acted quickly, taking out his shirikens and he flung them toward the figure. Two out of the five stars hit the figure and a scream of agony was heard.

"AH!" the blood red eyes looked toward the doorway but when the figure saw nothing a snarl was heard. A few more screams were heard as the figure ripped the stars out of her shoulders and tossed them toward Espio. The stars hit the wall, almost hitting him but thankfully it missed him by a few inches. "I believe you had just earned yourself a break. Consider yourself lucky, because next time you're not going to make it out alive."

Shadows seemed to linger over the figure like a forgotten fog and as the shadows cleared out, the person was no longer there. Espio ran over to Aurora and turned visible lightly shaking her.

"Aurora? Aurora?"

The pale gold cat looked like a complete mess. Blood covered her hands and her feet, she looked like she'd been beaten up for a long time and Espio could see a few bullet wounds in her arm. But sure enough Aurora's once closed eyes opened but they were dull.

"E... Esp..."

"Don't try to talk," he said quickly before he shouted, "VECTOR!! CHARMY!! GET THE MEDICAL SUPPLIES!!"

Vector and Charmy came up quickly with the newly bought medical supplies at hand.

"When did you two go shopping?"

"We didn't. We just saw this stuff in the medical cabinet and we brought it up when we heard-"

"Never mind! Just help me out here!" exclaimed Espio. Vector took out bandages, gauze, tweezers, and the antibiotic spray. Aurora felt tweezers enter one of her bullet wounds and everything went black. She had passed out.

After a little while of waiting outside, Taylor started to cry again out of nervousness. The raccoon walked in and said, "hello? Anyone?"

She heard a small buzzing noise and before she could dodge, Charmy flew into her face. She yelled out of fear that it was the person that had been responsible for the shooting. Charmy yelled as well.

"Why are we screaming?!"

Taylor stopped screaming when she heard it was Charmy, "um..." her face turned pink out of embarrassment. "I thought you were the shooter."

"No, I'm Charmy, part of Team Chaotix!"

"Wait... the chameleon, the alligator and you are Team Chaotix?"

"Of course we are," replied Charmy hyperly. Taylor couldn't help but smile at Charmy. He must've been brave if he can still hold a good attitude when their home had been threatened with a gun. "Just wanted to let you know that we're all upstairs."

"What about Aurora?"

"She should be fine, or at least that's what we're all hoping. She got shot 4 times, and half of her wounds aren't even from being shot!"

Taylor's eyes were wide and her eyes started watering. Charmy realized that and hugged Taylor again, "please don't cry! She's going to be okay!"

"Sorry..."

"It's okay!"

Taylor then asked, "so if she got shot, then there's probably no chance of her being awake right?"

Charmy frowned and nodded. The raccoon sighed, "is it alright if I stay here?"

"Um... I'll have to ask Vector about that."

"CHARMY!!"

"YEAH!?"

"CAN YOU BRING UP A FEW SODAS!!" called Vector. Charmy sweatdropped and so did Taylor.

"I'm guessing that's Vector?"

"You guessed right."

"Why isn't he coming down to get the soda himself?" questioned Taylor as she followed the bee to the kitchen where he opened the refrigerator and paused to look past all the food stuffed in there and grabbed three cans of soda.

Charmy shrugged and replied, "maybe he's lazy?"

Taylor followed Charmy up the stairs and soon they walked into Espio's room. The room hadn't changed much but the floor had quickly been swept to avoid anyone stepping on the glass, and the blood was being scrubbed away by Vector. Espio sat down on a chair by Aurora's side.

"Is she okay?"

Espio looked momentarily shocked but his expression changed as he nodded, "she should be."

"We're hoping," muttered Vector as he kept scrubbing the floor. Charmy flew over to Vector, flying into his face and handing the alligator the can of soda. "Thanks."

Charmy flew over to Espio and offered him a can, Espio took it in silence but didn't open it as he put it on the floor. Charmy flew over to the end of the bed and sat down. And almost as if someone hit a 'guzzle the soda down as fast as you can' button, Charmy had the can of soda gone in less than 5 minutes!

Taylor walked over to where Vector was and she saw an extra washcloth on the edge of the bucket that was tinted pink. She took it and asked, "if I help, can I stay here?"

Vector looked at Taylor and nodded, "I don't see why not."

Taylor's eyes lit up as she got down on her knees and started to assist Vector with cleaning.

"So how bad is she?"

"Well... she was shot 4 times, and most of her wounds look like they were made by a knife of some kind. Not an ordinary kitchen knife either but something larger, even heavier."

"..." Taylor didn't say anything to that as she said, "I'm gonna have to call in sick then."

"Sick? How come? Are you okay?"

Taylor nodded, her face paled slightly and she kept scrubbing the floor. Espio then suggested, "maybe you should rest."

"N-no... that's not it... I'm fine, honestly I am. I just feel really bad that my boyfriend didn't do anything."

"Boyfriend?"

"Yea... his name is Aaron. He's a cop and it's his job to respond to emergencies but-"

"He doesn't sound like a cop if he can't up hold his duty," remarked Espio.

Taylor nodded and she looked at the floor as she said, "I'm gonna dump him."

"That's probably the best thing to do. Maybe the shock will train him to be a better cop."

Taylor smirked, "if you met him, you'd figure it out at first glance, there's no changing him."

Silence followed after the mini conversation, and it fitted the moment just perfectly. After all, what is there really to talk about when someone is unconscious, two people are cleaning up blood, and the rest are waiting for that one person to wake up? Not much that's for sure. About an hour later, Vector and Taylor sighed as they stopped cleaning, they were almost done.

"We need a break," declared Vector.

Charmy had fallen asleep and was now laying on a small spot of the bed that wasn't taken up by Aurora. Espio was about to doze off when he heard that.

"Okay."

Vector walked over to the window and looked outside, he then sighed.

Taylor looked around the room and had to admire it; there wasn't a lot of stuff in here, she loved that. She was brought out of her thoughts as something started ringing.

"Taylor, can you get that? There's a phone in Vector's room," explained Espio as his eyes closed. Taylor nodded as she walked across the hall and into the huge room. She got over to Vector's night stand and picked up the phone.

"Hiya?"

"Where the hell are you Tay?" asked an arrogant voice. Taylor glared, it was her boyfriend. She felt her anger build up and she knew this was going to be a very interesting conversation.

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Hiya guys... grr! I can't slow down enough! Everything seems a little too fast! (Sighs) I'm gonna try to slow down a little so you can at least understand what's going on. Sorry again if this seems out of place, I was in a slight hurry when I wrote this.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Sega related, nor do I own Team Chaotix. I do however own Aurora, Taylor, and my best friend's insane character.