"Do you know why you've been brought here, newcomer?" Targes' arrogance laced voice rushed into Knuckles' ears. Knuckles squinted as the golden reflectance of the sunlight radiated all over the marble walls of the room, penetrating his line of sight.

"Where's Vector!" Knuckles growled, ignoring the question. Targes made an irritated sigh as he paced back and forth in the luxuriously furnished quarters. The daily busy activities of the Mearynites could be heard outside through the tall glass windows and open door, which lead onto a large platform sized balcony. Knuckles's eyes shifted back and forth from Targes to each of the guards that surrounded him. He knew he would be able to overpower them all easily, but he wasn't so sure he would be able to escape the towers occupied by the seers without being detected. He decided to appear to listen to what Targes had to say, though he was certain that all that would follow was idle bribes and threats.

"You do realize that I have the authority to have you imprisoned for life, worked as a slave, or put to death?" Targes asked, raising his chin superiorly. "To me, you are a bug. I could end your pathetic existence right here and now. But I won't, because I've got a proposition for you."

Knuckles shook one his dreadlocks out his eye and glared at Targes as only he could, and for a second, Targes looked slightly fearful before regaining his normal higher than thou composure.

"Your friend is being held in sanction for the time being. What happens to him depends on you," Targes said. "Agree to help me, and I promise no harm will come to him." Knuckles looked at him with distrust while Targes folded his arms and tapped his fingers along his upper arm.

"What exactly do you want from me?" Knuckles demanded. Targes curled his mouth into an unpleasant smile.

"I knew you could reasonable," he sneered. "The ongoing conflict with the Goribes has no doubt been brought to your attention by now, I presume? Both diplomatic and aggressive means of attempting to rectify these numerous disputes have been very costly to Mearyn. You may have noticed that with the exception of the educated and intelligent elite, many of the Mearynites live in trying conditions." The way Targes had emphasized the word intelligent made Knuckles' skin crawl. Rubbing his spiked fists together, he half-heartedly listened to Targes continue.

"You may think that living with comfortable amenities and having Mearyn's forced at my disposal would secure my position as a political and spiritual leader, but there have been difficulties. There have been incidents of open defiance against the council's will…most notable within my own family," Targes muttered acidly. "Despite this, I care greatly about the wealth of this realm. Do not think because I have not given up my privileges that I do not pay heed to state of Mearyn's people."

"No one would ever make that connection," Knuckles replied, his voice saturated with sarcasm.

"Power and authority must be concentrated within the council," Targes pressed on. He turned his back to Knuckles and proceeded to walk toward one of the windows. "It has been this way for centuries and this order must be maintained. A third agent is required to achieve this. That's where you come in." Targes turned toward Knuckles, while Knuckles looked at him in humorous disbelief.

"You expect me to be your Rottweiler in keeping your entire territory in line so you can keep living a pampered lifestyle? I think you're so called visions are turning into daydreams, pal," he chuckled. Targes' expression hardened.

"You misunderstand me. I need you to be in charge of protecting members of the council only for a short period of time. The third agent in question has been deceased for hundreds of years. A prominent and glorious figure in Mearyn's history. And a ritual is being prepared to restore this figure into a living, corporeal being once more. With the power this entity possesses, the traditional role of the seers will be sustained and we will be able to wipe out the Goribes once and for all." Knuckles raised one his eyes.

"Why should I care about any of this?" he asked.

"Because if you don't comply, well…your friends' futures may be in doubt. In addition to the one named Vector, I believe you also know of a certain winged lady also from your world? It would be terribly unfortunate for something to happen to someone so pretty," Targes mocked. Knuckles gritted his teeth and glared at him with an intense loathing.

"Where are they?" he snarled angrily, resisting the urge to rush at Targes and smack the answer out of him.

"Oh they're quite safe, let me assure you," Targes said mischievously. "And as long as you do exactly as I tell you, they'll stay that way. So, warrior, have we got a deal?" Targes extended his hand out toward Knuckles, who shook it reluctantly.

"Deal."

Rouge took a few steps back from the 30 foot tall fortification that stood before her. She had masked herself entirely in black except for her eyes, blending in quite well with the dark surroundings and as such had avoided being seen by the tower guards without much effort. She had also covered her wings up so that in case she was seen, her wings wouldn't be a dead giveaway to her identity. Slinging a small bag over her right shoulder, she sprung onto the wall and began her ascent.

If I had known it was going to be this easy, I would have tried just strolling through the front door, Rouge thought as she somersaulted and flipped her way her way over the wall's various ledges and battlements. Landing firmly on all fours, she reached the top of the wall within less than a minute and straightened up against its battlement facing outward. She could hear guards patrolling, and decided it would be best to move along the outer curtain until she could be sure the coast was clear.

Phaidra had made it clear that once she had gotten inside the tower wall, she would have to enter the tower itself through its drainage tunnel. He had pointed out an entrance to the tunnel on the extreme north side of the tower's grounds, which, if the map she had was right, was just on the other side of the of the wall she was on now. As the voices and footsteps of guards faded further into the distance, Rouge peered over the battlement she was pressed up against. The scene was deserted, and Rouge wasted no time sprinting across to the other side. Finding various footholds, she was quickly able to travel down the inward side of the wall and land softly in the bushes. Luckily, the tower wall did not glow under the night sky as almost all the other buildings in Mearyn did, as she would have stuck out like a sore thumb climbing up and down it.

Pulling out a pair of night vision goggles, Rouge abruptly began looking for the drainage opening. I knew carrying my supplies from G.U.N. around would pay off,Rouge smiled to herself. Feeling out the radial-like changes in elevation, she soon came across a circular metal covering bolted to the ground among the thick brush growth. Realizing that the covering could not be removed without some kind of machinery, the bat took a few steps back and leapt forward into the air. She stuck out one of her feet and she came down on the metal covering full force. The covering bent convexly and its bolts loosened considerably. Seeing the impact her kick had, Rouge stomped on covering a few more times, but more weakly. The covering gave in and fell off its bolts into the pool of darkness below. It landed several feet below with surprisingly little sound, and no sooner had it done so than Rouge descended after it.

The tunnel had a rectangular shape and was had barely any water inside at all. Normally, the underground interior would have been pitch black, but even with the her goggles Rouge was confident she would be able to see perfectly. Following Phaidra's instructions, she turned to the left and bolted down the stone corridor, making tiny splashes in the thin veneer of water on the floor.

Coming up on a tiny crack of light from above, a metal staircase soon became visible below it shortly afterwards. Rouge stopped running for a moment, and listened carefully. Muffled voices were audible beyond the top of the stairs, and the bat slowly crept up the stairs one at a time to get a better estimation of how far the voices were away from the trap door.

"Sometimes I really feel as if our jobs are pointless," one voice said.

"Tell me about it," another agreed. "The militia and the watchmen' jobs are actually useful. This tower is making me crazy. No excitement at all."

So they want excitement huh? Rouge thought deviously. She contemplated kicking the trap door and demanding to know the exact location of Vector's holding chamber, but decided to remain stealthy. The two voices continued to talk about subjects which Rouge found painfully boring to hear, and slowly but surely, their footsteps traveled away from the trap door and down the above corridor. Once trying to life the trap door up, Rouge found it was locked.

"You have got to be kidding me," she groaned to herself. Lying down on her back on the top stair, Rouge kicked up her feet to break the lock on the other side, but not too hard. Nothing. Kicking successively harder and harder until the lock broke loose, Rouge winced a little when it did, hoping to make as little noise as possible.

She crouched down and lifted the door up slightly. With the corridor seemingly empty, she opened the door all the way and jumped up onto the floor in a swift movement akin to a grasshopper. The hall was lit by large glowing spheres attached to the walls and was quiet in both directions. Taking in her surroundings and direction, Rouge shuffled her way along the edge of one of the walls in the orientation the trap door's hinges had faced. Phaidra had informed her that all prisoner holding chambers were on the lowest floor of the tower as well as giving her a foundation map of the tower's underground levels. Pulling it out from a bag, she plotted her position on the map relative to where Phaidra had said an entrance to the overhead pipes was, while using her makeup mirror to look around corners in case any more guards came along. After a few uneventful twists and turns, Rouge spotted a small opening located on top of a wall right below the ceiling about 10 feet up. Sealing her shoulder bag up again, Rouge jumped up to the opening and gripped her fingers on its bottom. She pulled herself up with a slight grunt and crawled onward into the cramped overhead tunnel .

There were several pipes crossing and zigzagging over each other, and had she not been as flexible or keen eyed as she was, the bat may have had a difficult time maneuvering through without making too much noise and drawing attention to herself. Pulling out the foundation map once more, she followed the pipes' tunnels over to the holding chamber's area, and was about carefully descend to scope out the different rooms when she heard a creaking noise. Looking at her feet, she saws the concreted material began to crack beneath her. Before she could run in another direction or even grab onto one of the pipes, it gave way completely. Falling into a lit room below, Rouge desperately tried to grab onto anything she could see to pull herself back up, but to no avail. Before hitting the floor some odd feet down, she saw something moving above her. A swirl of jolted movements identifiable by a red and black contrast.

Hitting the ground on all fours, Rouge looked up to see guards rushing toward her and immediately went on the offense without thinking. She had to get out of here. Her life depended on it. Flipping and kicking her way past the guards, they readily became too many for her to evade.

"What is it?" she heard one of the guards ask.

"I don't know, but try and hold it down!" another commanded.

Try as she might, Rouge found herself being apprehended and had her mask taken off. She continued to struggle ferociously as the guards held her arms when she heard someone clear their throat a short distance away. She opened her eyes and looked straight past the guards, surprisingly noticing for the first time another non-echidna standing across the room.

"Yo, batgirl," Vector grinned at her.