The ring of a cash register was drowned out by a crowd as a woman handed the cobalt hedgehog the money for the meal she had eaten before walking out the door of the pub.
Three days had passed since Sonic had gone over to Shadow's house, and the information that had been given to him was stuck in the back of his mind. At the moment that was the least of his worries though.
Sonic had just clocked in not even an hour ago and the pub was swamped. Blaire and the other employees were struggling to serve the people planted at the tables while Sonic was having to deal with twenty people that were about drunk all to hell and back.
A sharp whistle caught his attention as he filled up a burly wolf's drink with some brandy. Turning, he found a young male lion holding his glass up to show he wanted another drink.
"Jack on the rocks, Sonic." The lion said in a gruff voice. Nodding, Sonic dumped out the old ice, put in some fresh cubes, and filled the glass with the liquor. "Thanks."
"No problem" Sonic replied as the lion took his drink. The bell on the door jingled as another customer walked in. Groaning, Sonic rushed to the other end of the bar as the new customer took a seat at one of the bar stools.
"Welcome to the Red Mule Pub, anything I can get 'cha?" He asked in a very monotone way as he wiped some condensation off the bar in front of the customer.
"Scotch, mate." The customer said in a heavy English accent. Looking up at the customer, Sonic's ears perked up as his eyes were met by the face of a young human female.
She had long blonde hair that had a slight curl and striking electric blue eyes surrounded by thick black eyelashes. She was wearing a brown leather jacket over a white tank top along with tight jeans and brown knee-high boots. A round bronze necklace with a spiral in the middle of it hung around her neck and a pair of black sunglasses rested on top of her head. She looked about eighteen years old.
Raising an eyebrow at the fact that the bartender in front of her was looking very attentive toward her, she snapped her fingers in front of his face to get him to fix her the drink.
"Oh, sorry…" Sonic muttered once he snapped back to reality.
'Dang, strong choice of drink for a woman…'
Grabbing a glass and placing some ice cubes and filling it with the whiskey, Sonic slid the glass over to the human quickly before rushing off to serve another customer.
Rolling her eyes, the girl took a sip of her drink, her eyes following the cobalt hedgehog as he worked.
Noticing the girl was watching him, Sonic started to feel a bit uneasy, but didn't say anything and continued his work.
For the next two hours, she sat there in the same spot and sipped her scotch, occasionally asking for a new glass, but all the while staring at Sonic.
'Man, she's really starting to creep me out…' he thought silently before excusing himself for a break once he saw Blaire go into the back.
"You see that girl at the bar?" He asked her as he took a Coke and half a sandwich out of the fridge. Taking a swig of a Dr. Pepper, Blaire took out a carton of cigarettes and opened the back door before lighting one in the alleyway.
"Yeah, she's creepy. She was lookin' at you like you were something to eat!" Exhaling the smoke Blaire sighed and shook her head. "I've really gotta get out of this freak-show of a city…"
Snickering at this, Sonic took a large bite of his sandwich and swig of his Coke.
"What's so funny?" She asked, eyes narrowed. Holding up a finger for her to wait for him to stop chewing and swallow, Sonic looked over at her with a small smile on his muzzle.
"No offense, but aren't you kinda part of the freak show? Being able to control fire and all?" Snorting, Blaire took another puff of her cigarette before pinching out the flame and tossing the butt into a dumpster.
"And since when am I the only one in the show, Mr. 'I-can-run-faster-than-the-speed-of-sound?'" She asked with a raised eyebrow before snapping her fingers and lighting another cigarette with a small flame.
Shrugging his shoulders, Sonic finished off the sandwich in a few more bites before taking a swig of his Coke. Crumpling the can and tossing it into a dumpster, Sonic went back into the pub.
Walking through the French doors, Sonic's ears perked up in surprise to find the girl was gone, the glass she was drinking from cleaned, and the money laying on the counter. Picking up the money, Sonic's eyes widened to find instead of just the twenty dollars that she owed for the scotch, a hundred dollar bill was laying with it. A note saying "Tip for blue hedgehog" written in deep red ink in neat cursive on a napkin was laying next to the money.
Pocketing the tip, Sonic grinned widely. This was the best tip he had ever received! And from one person at that!
"Hot damn, Blue! You got lucky tonight!" Blaire exclaimed as she peered over his shoulder as he put the hefty tip in his pocket. "I'll say!" Sonic exclaimed, still grinning.
BRRRRRING!
The animals' ears perked up as the sound of an alarm clock exploded from under the bar. Turning the annoyingly loud thing off, Blaire yawned, her fangs poking out fiercely from the caves of her mouth. Flinching a bit at the sight, Sonic felt a ball of sweat roll down the side of his head.
"Mind pointing those razorblades away from me? You could poke someone's eye out with those things!" Tossing her apron at Sonic playfully, Blaire extended her claws a bit as she went to "pounce" on him.
"Gah! Don't do that! You know I don't-"
"Oh come off it, Blue! I'm just teasin'! Geez, for someone who gets shot at, threatened with knives, and jumped by bad-guys on a daily basis, you sure are skittish!" Blaire laughed as she sheathed her claws.
"Yeah, well because of those things I have the right to be skittish." Sonic replied wryly, chucking the apron back at the tigress in irritation.
"After all," Sonic continued as he took off his own apron. "You try having a bunch of psychos shooting buck-shots, rockets, and who the hell knows what else at your ass practically ever since you were a kid! Now let's see you not be skittish at that!"
Holding up her hands in defense, Blaire's ears folded back in unease as she went to lock the front door of the pub.
"Alright, alright! I get it." Sonic glared at her in a very unfriendly way, totally out of character for him. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you or anything, I was just messin' around. K'?"
"'K." Sonic muttered, still a bit irritated.
Turning out the lights of the pub and locking up the other doors and windows, Sonic and Blaire walked out the back door before locking it too. "See ya' tomorrow, Blue! Tell Amelia I said 'hi'!" Blaire said as she mounted her black MZ 660.
"Will do, Blaire!" Sonic replied as he wrapped a crimson scarf around his neck. "Take care on that thing!" Nodding, she tucked her head inside a black full-face helmet and pulled on her favorite black leather gloves.
Kicking up the kickstand on the bike, the loud putt-putt-putt of the muffler echoed through the somewhat-silent night before Blaire sped off toward her apartment complex on the west side of the city.
Deciding to walk instead of run, Sonic took a shortcut through an alleyway a few streets over.
The alley was hardly lit and litter covered the vacant asphalt. Most people hardly ever went through alleys at this time of night, but Sonic was too tired to worry. Besides, what could some bum with a knife or something do to him, the fastest thing alive?
A loud bang, followed by glimmer of silver zoomed past his eye, barely missing it. Whirling around into a fighting pose, Sonic let loose a low growl at his attacker-no, attackers. Three of them.
The group consisted of a well-muscled grizzly in the front, a rat, and a raccoon. Each of them had that wrong-side-of-town look, a tattoo of a swastika over a blood-red circle was on each of their upper right biceps.
Grinning in a mockingly way, the bear handed the eight-shot revolver to one of his goons before walking menacingly toward Sonic, the other following close behind. "Well boys, look-y here," The bear said in a low, gruff voice. "Fresh meat…"
Laughing, the group charged toward Sonic. Whirling around to race away from these losers, Sonic was stopped short by a 2x4 being smashed into the side of his face. The metallic tang of blood filled his mouth and his vision became blurry as he fell to his knees in pain as a pole then struck him in the abdomen.
Looking up at his attackers with fists clenched and muscled tensed as adrenaline pulsed through his veins, Sonic broke out into a full-blown spin dash, catching them off guard.
"Nab 'im!" The bear roared, a long stream of blood rolling down his face. Before Sonic could dash off, the panther that had struck him with the plank of wood slashed the back of his right leg with a scythe, tearing through muscle and tissue all the way down to the bone.
Crying out in pain, Sonic turned and sent a hard punch to the panther's jaw, a spine-chilling crack following as the cat's head snapped fiercely to the side.
Collapsing onto the cold, bloodied asphalt, Sonic flattened his ears back and hissed as the others approached him. He couldn't run. He had nothing to defend himself other than his hands, and his energy was lessening as more blood pulsed out of the gash in his leg. His vision began to blur and he could barely keep his eyes open.
This was the end.