Missed my goal of having this done by Halloween but it is almost finished. The only part left is the conclusion which I'll try to have done tomorrow. In other news, did anyone notice that at chapter three Leporiphobia's word count was 6,661. Coincidence?

Disclaimer: I do not own the Sonic characters.

Chapter 5: Murder

They probably should have been used to it by now. Given what had happened recently it was by far the least unsettling thing that could have occurred. There was also the incriminating fact that it was Sonic the Hedgehog who had done it. Odd behavior, let alone shocking entrances were a major part of his repertoire. And yet there was just something…random about it. It was in its simplicity, utterly ridiculous.

When Sonic popped up from the sewers hoisting a man-hole cover over his head, even Omega gave him a funny look.

The hedgehog didn't seem to mind the pointed stares he had attracted, instead replacing the cover and walking over to the little group as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Hey guys, what'd I miss?"

"…Um, nothing," Tails was the first to answer, the rest continuing to stare, "The door's still locked."

"Cool. Think maybe they'll forget about us and we can call it a day."

"…Sonic, why did you just crawl out of the sewer?" Tails asked, some part of him needing to know.

"Hmm? Oh, that. Well…" Sonic's mouth was twitching and his eyes were dancing as if he could barely contain himself. "I went, heh heh, well you see, ha, I um, pfft, ha ha ha HA HA HA HAHAHAHAHA."

Sonic was holding his sides and laughing like a lunatic, not so much looking as if he needed therapy but rather a nice long stay in a cozy asylum.

"Did they give you anything faker?" Considering what they'd tried to do to him, Shadow didn't find it that outlandish that they may have slipped the hedgehog a less than well tested drug.

"What? No. I-," Sonic stopped to take a few deep breaths and finally regained control of himself. The look on his face suggested he could break into another laughing fit any second though. "I went to see Eggman, figuring he might have something to do with the whole "take this wacky excuse of a psych session or else" deal."

"Why would he be involved?" Tails asked to which Sonic shrugged.

"Beats me, but you can never tell with that guy especially now."

"Anyway," the hedgehog continued, "I ran over to his fortress (which for some reason is now made of cheese) and after some bot smashing, I ran into the head honcho himself. It was going as per usual with Egghead bringing out some old retrofitted destroyer thing and me all ready to cut it to pieces, but then…"

Sonic's brow furrowed in thought.

"Something happened and then we were surrounded by, oh what were they called. Quizals? Yeah that's it. Quizals."

"Quizals?"Knuckles asked. It was getting hard to keep track of all the interdimensional and/or alien species running around.

"I think they're a lesser known people from the Cork dimension." Tails said, ever the walking encyclopedia. "What happened next?"

"Oh, Eggman got married."

It was too much for the hedgehog. At the expressions this statement garnered, he couldn't help but (quite literally) fall over laughing gripping his sides as though his lungs were about to pierce their furry boundaries.

"How in the world did that happen!" Knuckles asked, once Sonic had settled down for the second time.

"Beats me." He said, rubbing teary eyes and sounding somewhat out of breath. "Couldn't understand a word they were saying, but I think old Eggy could based on the look on his face when they started talking. There was some type of ceremony, I think I might have even been the priest, and then Fwoosh. They're all gone in some swirly purple light. And that's about it."

"Wait a minute. That still doesn't explain why you had to come through the sewers." The echidna said, falling back on the matter that had caused this whole crazy conversation.

"Oh, right. I don't know why, but for some reason the fortress exploded and great gobs of molten cheese were falling from the sky. I had to escape underground before I became hedgehog fondue."

"Oh."

"…"

"…"

"I wonder if Eggman is on his honeymoon now."

The atmosphere suddenly grew awkward at Rouge's comment, but fortunately (or unfortunately depending on perspective) the door opened before the thought could be pursued and Bill said they could come in.

And thus the third day of rationalized torture began.

Session 3

For Tails, the second session had been nearly the same as the first with a barrage of insults causing the kit to shrink in on himself. However he did as he'd said he would and started thinking of a solution. Or maybe a better term would be he started plotting. Tails chuckled quietly as he entered the little room and the doctor immediately began his routine.

Yes today would be different.

"You've been cleared. You can go."

Rouge blinked. She'd barely set a foot through the door when the doctor said these words.

"I'm…huh?"

"The therapy was successful. You're done." The doctor repeated.

Rouge knew this was a blatant lie. She was far from "cured" especially since just last night she'd had a run in with a jewelry store and stolen half the merchandise.

She walked up to the desk and stood there as the doctor filled out his notes. She waited until he finally put down his pen and looked at her.

"Is there something I can help you with?" He asked.

"What happened to the necklace?"

"It was returned to the museum. There is no further use for it."

"Then why is it still in your desk?"

The doctor said nothing, which confirmed Rouge's suspicions as she walked around the desk and opened a drawer. Sure enough, resting at the bottom like a butterfly in a cocoon was the wonder of jewel and metal. Rouge closed it with a smirk and walked out the door. Doctor Jones still did nothing. In fact it was probably possible for Rouge to take the necklace and leave without the man so much as twitching. However, for once Rouge felt disinclined to take something that wasn't hers.

Far be it from her to separate a thief from his prize.

Doctor Callahan fumbled with the door handle as he tried to balance the projector in his other arm. He almost fell when it suddenly opened and he had no support to hold his mismanaged weight. The only thing that saved him was the relief of the projector's bulk as someone pulled it from his grasp. With a couple hurried half steps, the doctor regained his footing and turned to see Amy holding up the projector with a concerned look on her face.

"Are you alright Doctor?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

She smiled and put the projector on the desk. It didn't seem strange until Callahan thought about how he had barely managed to drag the thing up from the basement while this little pink girl handled the weight effortlessly. He almost asked how she'd done it but then thought better of it. Instead he started unrolling the screen he'd brought up earlier and then went to set up the projector while his patient looked on curiously.

"Do you want me to talk about Sonic again Doctor."

Callahan flinched. He'd heard so much about Sonic in the last two days that he'd seen blue hedgehogs running around in his dreams.

"No that won't be necessary. We'll be doing something different today."

Amy tilted her head in confusion as Doctor Callahan took out the first of the slides.

"These will show you what happens when love goes a bit too far."

"-a pathetic foot stool of a creature-,"

"Doctor-,"

"-who can't even look people in the eye and-,"

"Doctor can you-,"

"-always needs others to say-,"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP!"

The doctor, startled at the volume of his patient, looked up in surprise. Contrary to the anger he had expected, Tails looked utterly cheerful if not absolutely beaming.

"Thank you Doctor. You've done a wonderful job."

The doctor arced a brow at the kit.

"But you're not-,"

"Oh but I am," Tails interrupted, getting a guilty satisfaction from doing so, "Your method was perfect and I feel better than I have in a long time. I have more self-esteem and feel confident. I don't know how you did it doctor, but you're a genius."

The doctor nodded as if he agreed entirely.

"I'm glad to see we've made a breakthrough. I suppose I can write you off now."

Tails watched as he scrawled his signature across a document.

"I can take that to Doctor Rutabaga for you." Tails offered.

"Thank you," the doctor said handing it over.

"It's the least I can do after all you've done for me."

"Happy to help," the doctor said absently as he returned to his other papers. Tails was almost out the door when he stopped as if he'd forgotten something.

"Oh, by the way I took the liberty of looking up your past history doctor. You flunked out of college for cheating and only got a diploma by black mailing the dean of a different school. Even when you set up a practice, half the time your patients saw no results and the other half made formal complaints of callous treatment. But you're not really mean spirited are you. You just don't give a damn which is probably why your wife left you for another man."

Tails smile only widened when the doctor's jaw nearly hit the floor and two little veins started pulsing on his forehead.

"Good bye doctor. Have fun in your meaningless excuse of an existence."

Weird Smiley Guy looked at his three patients as best he could with one swollen eye. None seemed entirely thrilled to be here. Even the blue one seemed irritated which disappointed Smiley Guy. He'd hoped his newest patient would be easier to deal with than his other two but it didn't seem that way.

"Okay today we will work on a different exercise," He said with glee. He was still smiling and as buoyant as usual although the attitude was a bit more…subdued.

"You each will come up with a phrase that you can repeat to yourself when you're angry. Think of something that will prohibit your fury and write it here." He gestured to the chalkboard next to him which he'd brought up from the basement. After the last two sessions it was the only thing left in the room.

"Shadow, you're first, then Knuckles, then Sonic," he said, handing the black hedgehog a piece of chalk.

Shadow walked up to the blackboard and quickly wrote "I will not try to destroy the world again."

"…Again?" Weird Smiley Guy asked, although he clearly didn't want to.

"Where's this guy been for the last couple years?"

"His happy place" Knuckles said before he took his turn at the board.

Shadow glared at what was written but Sonic just grinned at the words

"I will not strangle hedgehogs? Gee, Knux. And here I thought we were bestest buddies."

"Watch it "buddy". This thing hasn't been tested yet."

He threw the chalk and Sonic caught it deftly before speeding through his own statement. There was shock throughout the room as the dust settled and the room's other three occupants were able to read it. They all stared at the blue hedgehog.

"What?" Sonic asked while dusting off his gloves, "You thought I was happy all the time?"

Knuckles and Shadow exchanged a glance, deciding at the same time to keep a closer eye on the not-so-happy hedgehog.

Omega automatically computed the circumference of the spillage and based on the standard volume was able to come up with the exact measure of the amount. Despite being a robot, even he needed to concede that this cold number did nothing to portray the magnitude of what lay before him. He surmised that an organic's summation of the mess would work better.

There was a lot of blood.

Omega stood silhouetted in the open door, the light of the hallway falling past him and illuminating the grisly scene. Doctor Cumming lay with his eyes wide and unseeing, his face contorted into a visage of pure agony. Omega couldn't identify what wound had killed him as they were too numerous to make an adequate assumption. The body was drenched in its own blood with the puddle pooling around it like some macabre halo. Sitting calmly beside the body, nose twitching in mock innocence, sat the rabbit. Its paws and muzzle were soaked in vivid red, but it didn't seem to mind. In fact it seemed to be reveling in the carnage around it.

Omega watched it in silent horror not sure what to do for once in his artificial life. Then the rabbit went still. In one sudden jerk it looked at the robot.

Omega slammed the door and fled as fast as his thrusters would go.