Prower's Castle-Dining Room
Knight Island, American Coast
October 23rd, 1922, 8:50PM
William Needlemouse, Dewitt Highcastle, Master

It was quite late now, at least it was for the 1920s. The candles had began to burn out and only a small, warm glow remained. Most of the guests were not preparing to leave and were collecting any artifacts to take home in their bags. Reporters for the newspapers were finishing their scribbles into their notebooks for their editors in the morning and some of the women were staring hardly and coldly at the machines on the stage, trying to think over what had happened and what could be done about it. William, having sobered up a bit, was now sitting straight up and staring at his watch in worry. It had been many hours and not a single trace of this Amelia was to be found. He was getting annoyed, seeing as this was his job and it was all that was standing between him and filing for bankruptcy. And he couldn't put young Jules through that. He sat up, holding his legs and groaned.

"You okay, William?" Dewitt asked, sitting down besides William.

"Y-Yeah," William said with a hearty sigh, "I mean, it's just that we haven't found this Amelia woman and time is running short."

"Yeah, gave up the slip didn't she?" Dewitt said, opening the last bottle of whisky on the table, "What a waste of time. Well, apart from THAT."

William looked to the location that Dewitt had begun pointing to and it was indeed directed towards the machine again. William sighed again, "You know, I've been thinking...this Amelia woman, you think she used the portal to come through to hide here?"

Dewitt looked forlorn, "Perhaps. The only other guy who could was that Master bloke, and he doesn't seem to NEED that thing. But that brings up an interesting fact: if this Amelia has used up all this energy just to escape someone, that someone must be one of the WORST Hedgelatti I've ever heard of."

This musing was suddenly cut short by a crash. The door at the end of the room was flung open and nearly wretched off it's hinges. It was Master in the doorway, looking angry and a little pale. He approached William, grabbed the pistol out of his shoulder holster and gave it back to him, barking, "Get up."

"Why?" William asked carefully.

"JUST GET UP," Master barked again, "I've found Amelia. And so has her 'boyfriend'. Sod the agreement, we need to get her out of her NOW. Come on!"

William got up and helped Dewitt to his feeet. Before long, both were running, guns in hand, behind the sprinting Master. He seemed serious and enraged in some way, running through the corridors like a sort of animal and ramming through the doors in multiple ways. One was a ram, another was a slam, another perhaps a smash, leading to a wonderous and violent finalie of ripping the door straight off it's hinges and throwing it away. He was silent, his brow furrowed in grim determination, with just the odd growl when bashing through a door or tripping over a stray rock. Finally, he opened a final door and saw the balcony. From there, his frown turned to a gasp of surprise. He stepped back slightly and then the anger returned to his face and he growled once more. As he contined spriting towards the people on the balcony, his Deagle was pulled and aimed at the duo before him, with a quite audiable "DON'T YOU FUCKING MOVE!" escaping his throat.

For there, in front of them, was the "Amelia" in question. Jules was nearby and it obviously looked like he was kicked aside in some manner (but the kick was gentle enough to simply bruise him), crawling away and crying somewhat. Amelia herself was trapped; her legs and arms were tied with rope once more and duct tape had been placed over her mouth. She was attempting to cry for help from the Master, but alas her paniked shrieks were but a muffled scream. And there, holding this poor woman by her disgustingly crusty bonds, was Delago. He was a tall hedgehog with dirty brown fur and a bent back, almost like a bananna. His teeth were bucked and discoloured, obviously showing a sort of broken brace of some kind. He wore almost nothing apart from a pair of gloves and shoes, with socks so stiff and solid that you could almost hear a crunching sound as he walked briskly to the edge of the balcony. His gloves had two ball gags wrapped around them as a sort of bracelet, along with another on his right ankle. Apart from that were glasses, showing obvious repair with duct tape and superglue, and breath with the purile stentch that would befitt only a man such as himself. William and Dewitt were already disgusted by this man, without a single word being uttered, and almost instantly amied their own handguns at his form. Master had already had the displeasure to meet this man and was already squeezing his finger on the trigger. A crowd, enticed by the Master's brutal entry and exit, had now formed at the doorways, Charles and Eliza included.

"Master, Master, Master..." Delago chuckled, "What AM I going to do with you?"

William winced at the man's voice. He sounded almost like...himself, but with a high, raspy tone to it. He also spoke in an almost-posh British accent, as opposed to Master's more...commonplace dialect. For what he was and what he was there for, he seemed totally calm to everyone, never screaming or yelling until the bitter end. William noticed what he looked like in a heartbeat.

"You...you're...my grandson?"

"Gold star, Mr Needlemouse, gold star..." Delago wheezed, "I am. Another version, from another universe, with different looks and goals. I only seek to...help these poor defenceless females and make their last hours...well-meaning."

"How could you think of it that way?" Dewitt asked in a disgusted tone, "You make me SICK."

"Thank you," Delago grinned, "Now then, I'll say now. I'm impressed Master; you try to make her bondage-proof, I undo the altering. You teach her to fight back, I fight back harder. You employ BODYGUARDS to protect her AND move her to an alternate universe..." Delago pointed at William and Dewiit at 'bodyguards', "But after all that? I still win. You had me at almost EVERY TURN and I still win. It amazes me that you still try. And no matter how many times I die, no matter how many times you kill me with the sharpest of blades and the hottest of bullets, I come back. I come back STRONGER. I come back SMARTER. I come back BETTER. I'm your worst nightmare."

Master began to approach Delago and Amelia with his gun in hand, his finger ever inching closer to the final 'click' to send the bullet straight towards his nemesis. However, Delago smirked again and quickly whipped out an M1911A1 pistol and put it to Amelia's temple. She shrieked again, tears streaming down her cheeks, and Master stopped in his tracks. As he did so, there was a large, loud and long sound of cutting air and a helicopter rose from the waters below and flew to gun level with Master. The miniguns attached to it's nose meant trouble for even someone like him, and Master stopped.

"Oh dear, it seems that shooting me won't be so easy this time," Delago taunted, "I've got a gun, you've got a gun, it's got a gun, WE ALL HAVE A GUN! Now, back down, all three of you! Or your target's brains end up as chum! And Master?"

Master growled at this. He stared at his gun, then Amelia, then William, then back to his gun. He growled again and threw the gun across the floor, skidding to a neat stop at William's feet. Delago grinned again.

"No...way...you're related to me!" Willaim said, somewhat feebly, through clenched teeth.

"Oh, I'm not," Delago said once more, "I defected from your family of hicks and backwaters..."

"And made an ARMY full of 'em!"

"Ooh, I'm wounded," Delago returned, "Now then, after that pathetic attempt, I made my own group of peeps who...know a good woman and a good time when they see one. It's not MY fault you see my stuff as WRONG...it's YOURS. Too arrogent and closed-minded to appreciate the true beauty that a bit of rope and a ball gag can bring out in a lady. Besides...it's not like you'll make me bring her back."

"And I'll guess you're the contact?" William snarled, walking forward, "Master was a pawn. Dewitt was a pawn. And you're the one with the antidote for my WIFE!"

"You're on top form today, aren't you?" Delago said yet again, "And trust me, I've been real close with her lately. Boys?"

On a click of the fingers, the helicopter turned sideways and the door began to open. Inside were a few soldiers, all wearing black combat gear, and a pale-blue hedgehog with a white dress. An IV drip was attached to her arm and she was very pale. She looked miserable and weak, being held by the soldiers by her arms and looked seriously ill. She tried to reach out to William, but to no avail. She too had the bruises and rope marks and she looked somewhat traumatized.

"Mary!" Willaim called out, reaching out to her also.

"William..." Mary said weakly as she was hoisted to the castle floor. She weakly pointed to Delago, "If I wasn't like I am, I'd kick your ass so hard!"

"Well, tough," Delago said, his gun quickly trading hands from left to right. He turned to Master and William, "Master, William. For what you are, and for how high up in modern sociaty you are, you have no power. You couldn't stop your past mistakes. Your wife's illness, your glassing of an entire planet. The Archie Incident, the Sonamy Incident. You both had a hand in that in some manner. And Master, you and me; you're powerless to stop me just as much as you're powerless to stop yourself. You see me as a sick individual who kills and maims for his own sexual gain. But what about you, destroying worlds for long lost sisters? Killing Amies and Knuckles WORLDWIDE for what it? Letting another Amy die a horrible death while letting this one slip away? What about the Archie Incident? Was there a lack of ass in your 'verse? I'll tell you now, you're hypocrtical and near uncaring of your status and responabilities. You only do what you wanna do, and that's often killing anyone and anything which displeases you. And thusly, you couldn't rule a line, let alone what they've given you!"

"Cut the crap and give me the antidote!" William yelled, raising the gun to Delago's head, "My wife is very sick!"

"Oh, I know," Delago said, his gun finally resting, "Very sick indeed. A thought-uncurable disease. But, luckily for you, I have the antidote to fix everything. And now, I prove. Prove my power. My will. My strength. Even if you could, Master, you could not stop this."

For a second, he seemed to giggle psychotically. William noticed that the smirk betrayed his actions and his gun was slowly inching towards a different target entirely. He let out a hand and a scream of "NOOOOOOO!", but it did nothing. A gunshot whipped the air and the blood spurted high. Mary's time on this plane was cut short almost instantly, slowly landing in a puddle of blood and brain matter. William screamed in rage and grief and attempted to sprint towards Delago, but was held back by Dewitt.

"Don't do it," Dewitt yelled, "He'll kill you too!"

"I'LL KILL HIM!" William screamed, "I'LL FUCKING HIM! I'LL SKIN HIM ALIVE, I'LL TEAR OFF HIS HEAD AND USE IT AS A TOILET BRUSH! I'LL SEND YOU HOME IN A FUCKING BOX!"

"Ooh, childish William. Tsk tsk. And I thought that what I just did would be considered a mercy killing," Delago said. He then walked towards Master and forced him on his kness, dragging him to Amelia and grabbing her with his other arm, "Now then. Master, I think I have suitably shown that I have the power here. Not you. You wanted to save that Amelia woman and Mary both. To redeem yourself. But redemption isn't something you can order and just BUY...didn't want another life on your conscience, did you?" he removed one of the ball gags from his wrist, "We're going to have quite a lot of fun. You'll be delighed with the amount of...swimming...you'll be doing."

He could attach it, yet another crack of a gunshot wracked the air, this time one of bigger sound and power. Master and Delago were both perforated with the bullet and both fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Behind them, however, was Amelia. Her stomach had also been perforated and was showing a much bigger hole, showcasing some of her guts as they slowly spilled on the floor. She have a final sob and a throat-wracking scream and then tumbled backwards off the balcony. Master dragged himself to the edge to see her body falling...falling...falling...ending with a solid and life-ending THUD as she hit the ground. Amelia was dead, well and truly.

"No..." he whispered silently. Delago sprinted over to the side and he became scared.

"But...I had Master by my side! Who did this?!"

Someone coughed. Everyone looked to see the origin of the sound, including the now petrified audience. And there, holding Master's Deagle in shaking hands, was William. He was bloodstained, tearstained, weary and hunched over. He sunk to his knees and dropped the pistol, which clattered to the ground out of sight.

"You..." Delago began to scream, "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

William didn't look up. And he didn't need to, "...It was a mercy kill. Just like yours. You...BITCH."

"But...I...I NEED HER!" Delago screamed, running for William with a knife in hand. He got almost halfway before Dewitt had tackled him to the floor and knocked him out with a punch to the neck.

"Gotcha, asshole," Dewitt sighed and turned to William, "So...what now?"

"No doubt the police would want to hear this," Charles said at last, "This is gonna ruin me! What have you DONE, William?!"

"...Saved her. Saved him. And damned that Master!" William sprang up and grabbed Charles by his shoulder, "Let me tell you now. I'm gonna just...go. No-one would want me and everyone would like me dead. Now, take care of Jules for me...and make sure that Master ROTS in damnation. As soon as you can and for as long as you want..."

No-one was quite sure what had happened at this point, but a glowing green flash soon erupted out of the air and William was gone, with just two shoe-shaped scorch marks on the ground to show where he stood. Jules, who had watched the entire ordeal with crying eyes, rushed to Master and tugged on his sleeve, "Where's Daddy? Where'd he go?"

"I...don't know, little one," Master said, returnting to his depressed state and looking like he would start crying, "I don't know."

"I wanna go home!" Jules began bawling, "I wanna go home!"

"Well...I'll help you. But I'm not sure you'll like it when you get there."

"You'll do NOTHING of the sort," Charles said, disgusted.

"Why're you getting angry at ME?!" Master said, "It's DELAGO who killed her!"

"Maybe, but he wouldn't be here without you," Charles said, "I see what he is. A mirror to you. And perhaps you AREN'T so different. I don't even care anymore. All I know is this; get out of here. Run as fast as you can and don't look back. If you even BREATH near this place EVER AGAIN..."

"I GET IT!" Master yelled, "FINE! I'm going...I'm sorry..."

There was another flash and a portal appeared. Master sighed and, soon, he was gone.

"...The government ain't gonna be happy," one of the crowd-bearers said.

"What's going to happen to us?" Eliza asked fearfully, "And what're we gonna do with William's children?"

"I'll look after Jules and Frank," Dewitt spoke up, "It's all I can do, seeing as I don't have children of my own at the moment. Might pick up a few tips. But in all...seriousness, there isn't any other choice."

"Well then," Charles said woefully, "I'll try to scavenge what I can about this. The sooner that Amelia is buried, the better. May Chaos have mercy on her soul."

Charles sniffed and walked back inside, followed by most of the crowd. Dewitt picked up Jules in his arms and slowly began to pick up the lollipops that had been scattered on the floor. As he did so, however, he saw another hand appear to do so. Dewitt looked to his side to see one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. She had orange fur with a ponytail and an eye-covering fringe, with little black highlights on the tips. She had a furry muzzle and a single fang sticking out of her mouth to compliment the single red eye that was visible. She also wore a brown, almost leather dress with a matching corset with a white upper part and long sleeves that dropped off her hands and around her waist. Dewitt was taken aback by this women, as did she for reasons truly unknown (beyond incredibly bad writing, of course. I apologize for that).

"...Hi..." she stammered at last.

"...Hello," Dewitt said back, "You are?"

"My name's Zoi," the woman said back, "Servant to Charles and Eliza. Well, for now anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Well..." Zoi sighed, "You know this ain't going to end well. You saw the They're gonna lost their cred, they're gonna lose their money and I'm gonna lose my job. But...I have nowhere else to go."

Dewitt's mind began to race. She looked almost identical to his grandson, Lowell. Perhaps she was the one? The wife that Lowell couldn't mention. Perhaps it was near fate that this would occur? And all the other so-called "romantic" pish-posh like that. But even so, there was the feeling that this was always to be. That this was pretty fate altogether. And besides, if he didn't. Where would she go? What could she do? How could she survive? He didn't want to know and he didn't want that sort of thing on his conscience. Not like that Master guy, and the road he went down.

Dewitt contined to stare into Zoi's eyes, "Say...I don't suppose you could...help me with this?"

"...Sure," Zoi said quietly, a small blush across her face, "Not like I have another choice," she reached out her and and Dewitt helped her to her feet. She eyes the silently sobbing Jules and the carnage around her, with Delago now being taken into a small cage to be disposed of later. She became fearful, "That...Master guy. What happened to him. What'll happen to us because of it? Will we face a similar fate? Mr Highcastle...are you afraid of God?"

Dewitt looked forlorn and then handed Jules to Zoi. He then stepped over to the edge and looked over the barrier. Amelia's body was still in a crumpled heap on the ground with people slowly approaching, shovels in hand. Even at that height, Dewitt could tell some of them, Eliza included, was crying. A perfect waste of a life with so much potential, all squandered by a feitsh-driven man and his psychotic, hair-trigger temper equal. Just because of a little squabble. Dewitt turned to Zoi, who was now holding an asleep Jules in her arms.

"No. Our God is Master, and he is harmless...", he looked over the side again, almost as if he was talking to Amelia:

"But I'm afraid of you."

Finally. And a lot quicker than the last one. Anyway, last chapter coming up. And I apologize in advance if it's a load of arse.