The boy wakes up, sweating and feeling groggy; his turtle comrade lied next to him, still asleep. He looks around and realizes he's out in the hallway and not in the cell; his handcuffs are also off. He feels the hot stone floor with back of his hand, and then he runs his fingers along the rough textured stone walls-opposite of the cell walls. He covers part of his face with his hand, "How did I…?"

"I rescued you…"-Cream said while tending to the other two prisoners, not looking in his direction-"I escaped my cell and noticed that the keys could unlock other cells…so I rescued you and the other prisoners from your cells since the heat was unbearable in there." Cream said with relief upon seeing him wake up. The boy looked over to his left and saw the others that were also freed from their cells-sleeping. Cream felt both of the sleeping prisoner's foreheads, checking if anyone might have a fever. She walks over to him to talk since he was the only person to wake up so far out of the four.

"How did you escape from the cell?" He pointed a finger at her cell once he saw it was the cell with a foot sticking out the entrance.

"It's none of your concern…" She responded, walking over to him.

The boy was fascinated by her, he'd never met an anthropomorphic creature before-nor did he ever think he would. Cream sat across from him, folding her legs and crossing her arms, with a serious expression.

"Do you have any clue where we are?" she asked lifting her right eyebrow and narrowing her eyes, curious to what his response might be.

He shook his head, "I'm sorry, but I'm clueless to where we are…I only remember being captured. It was some snake people that ambushed me while I was delivering some rations to the needy over at a shelter."

"Snake people…"-her eyes dilated as she realized immediately where they might be-"We're in Mamba territory…we're going to be auctioned…" she whispered to herself, though the boy could hear her loud and clear.

"Auctioned…?"

Sweat-drops fell down her face, "We need to escape from here immediately!"

"Why…?"

"I may not know where we are, but I know the reason why we're here; we've been kidnapped by the Mamba family to be used as items for their major auction."

"The Mamba family…? Aren't they a ruthless gang of snakes?"

"Yeah, they do illegal auctions." A voice from the other prisoners spoke; an aardvark stood up and walked over to the entrance of the young boy's cell, where Cream and the young boy were sitting; the Aardvark had crimson red fur, mellow yellow eyes, a shining bald hairstyle, a hunched back and wore torn up brown corduroy pants.

Cream smiled with relief, "I'm glad to see you're up and about."

"It's all thanks to you…"-he bowed his head-"I'm in your debt to you for your kindness."

"So, we're in here because we're getting auctioned off?" the boy asked with worry.

The Aardvark nodded, "Judging from the cast in this room, I'd say that was the intention."

"Look around you, a human boy. A cute young bunny rabbit and another one that's mature lying over there, a turtle sleeping right here, and myself; we're each very sought-after in the underground business."

The boy became frightened, "How…how do you know…?"

"I've been fighting against these guys for most of my life. A turtle will be used for wisdom, rabbits for desire and pleasure, a human for possible business or labor, and for me…probably as a scavenger." He answered bluntly without care.

Cream and the boy shuddered at what might happen to them if they didn't escape; The other bunny rabbit got up and approached Cream, crouching down next her and gazing at her closely.

"My…your eyes are beautiful!" the rabbit said with her hands on her knees trying to get a close look at Cream, their faces nearly touching; Cream's flustered by the sudden compliment and invasion of space, relaxing a little once she stepped back from her.

"T-thank you!" she responded uneasily.

The rabbit had pale yellow fur, vibrant emerald green eyes with purple around the surrounding area, and long blonde hair that extended to her lower back that she had tied in a ponytail; she was wearing a purple t-shirt with very short black tights. Cream studied the rabbit as she took a seat next to them, observing how one of her ears were flopped over while the other stood tall, and how she didn't wear white gloves like her friends.

"I must thank you for getting me out that cell…"-she held her hand out-"My name is Bunnie."

Cream and the others introduced themselves and they all sat around getting acquainted, "So Arnold the Aardvark, Benny, and Bunnie…It's nice to meet you all, albeit we're in this place."

Bunnie nodded her head, "So this place heah is the Mamba estate of the Mamba family…"-she turns around and looks at the door at the end of the hall-"Makes sense since that down the hall is the torture room…Ah would say we're at the deepest basement level here."

"Estate?" the duo of Cream and Benny said jointly.

"Yeah, the home of the Mamba's…you can pass right by it and not know that all of this is on the inside or underground." Arnold added on.

The boy leaned forward facing Bunnie, "How did you end up here?"

Bunnie looked at the floor with a demoralized expression, "Ah was kidnapped from my home island…"

"How about where are you from?" Cream asked, looking to start with an easier question.

"Ah am from West Island of the Acorn archipelago, from a small village called Royal Hills…" she responded in a low tone.

"Isn't that entire place under the control of the Mobian Kingdom now?" Arnold asked; she nodded her head.

"Yeah, ah was a member of the Freedom Fighters; we were rebelling against them, trying to earn freedom…but one day ah was away from my members for a moment and in the blink of an eye ah found myself being attacked by some of the snakes."

"You don't have to go into it if don't want to…" Cream assured her, respecting her if she didn't want to continue; Bunnie didn't want to remember what happened.

"It's fine…"-shaking her head-"the least ah can do is share with you a little about myself…"-she mumbled something under her breath-"I came heah a few days later and found myself in a cell with a smart alligator. The alligator told me everything about this place and that to not lash back at the staff since it would lead being sent to that torture room over there."

"I don't recall rescuing an alligator…"

"That's because…he was sent there earlier."

Cream realized right then, was that was the cry I heard earlier!?

"This world aint kind…" she said, looking at the floor with emotionless eyes.

"So more than likely we'll get sniffed out if we're just hanging around here…we need to break out." Arnold said, demanding a plan.

The four sat in a circle, unsure of what to do. The turtle woke up for a moment, but he soon fell back asleep. Cream felt a little satisfaction, knowing she executed all of this off of practically nothing, so she was sure she could come up with something if she had the opportunity. More than likely, the 11th saint is here too, so I should be careful with this escape since there is a possibility of running into him.

Back at the Rose manor, Sonic and Amy are alone sitting at a table, waiting on the others. Sonic taps the table with his hands as he tried to keep some noise in the quiet room; Amy's lost in thought, juggling a number of issues.

"Isn't it funny? Your sister said your family is an aristocracy with strong ties to the U.F. yet I heard that your family is a mafia just like the Mamba's…"

Amy laughed to herself, "Don't trust my sister on anything she says regarding our family…we're the mafia; simple as that."

"So you have no connections to the U.F.? you're not aristocrats?"

Amy's hesitant on her answer, "Well, that idea is only because we're very wealthy with a ton of power. In this country, we can be regarded as a noble family since we do everything we can to help those that suffer in this country…but what do I know, I haven't been here in years and my dad has been taken by the enemies."

Sonic doesn't reply; Tails entered the room with Lily and Richard, holding the GPS in his hand. He signaled for Sonic and Amy to come over, "I found her location…"

"She's at the Mamba estate…" Lily confirmed.

Amy's tense, "We must head there now then."

"Hold on Mistress Rose…"-Richard interjected-"I apologize for being so rude to interrupt, but we cannot just hastily rush into this situation"

She impatiently taps the floor with her foot, "well…?"

"I began to think…"-Amy interrupts to drop a slick remark-"what if the odds are that the Mamba's took your friend to the same place that they might also have father held…just what if?"

"What about it?" Amy said with an attitude.

"We can kill two birds with one stone!"-She responded throwing her hands up in the air-"But if we're going to rescue both of them, we'll need more firepower."

"And…? Didn't you call for backup?"

"Indeed…our family should be arriving very soon once I told them about the possibility."

Amy laughed to herself with frustration, "So now they aren't busy? I thought they were busy with turf wars?"

"No…yes…well, they were taking care of other priorities crucial to our family like turf wars, but now that we have a possible lead on father's whereabouts…they're all in. before, we had no clue where he could be since they switch around at every place."

"Whatever." Amy rolled her eyes, annoyed with the inconsistency of her sister.

Back at the Estate in a large unknown room, a man with pink fur, round glasses, and a grey beard-dressed in a black suit was tied to a chair in the middle of the room with a group of men pointing their guns at him. A Greenish-Purple silhouette of a snake slithers from the entrance, "Ssseems like today is the ssspecial day!"

"Lycoris…"

"Don't worry Mr. Rose; I'm just here to let you know that Boss Redd and Dr. Garcon will be coming here shortly to have a word with you."

Lycoris slithers back out of the room, shutting the door behind him loudly as the guards block the door and resume their watch on the old man. He can only look at the floor with a cold sweat, knowing his time was soon up.