Love Struck Eternal

by mT Shadow

Change is not always for the better. Eighteen years have passed since the events of the second most major war for the middle east had come to a close. Leaders have come and gone, society itself has changed, and those who seek a different outcome have gone dark. The focus is now on one person. Yet her story will change the world forever. Following down her father's dark past.

39. Chapter 39

Love Struck Eternal

Chapter 39 - Progressive talents.

Sam's POV.

I've been good the last two days. I've been keeping to myself considering the situation. Esteban had the city on lockdown and the military was actively looking for anyone suspicious. News about Violet had reached the presses and some were already in a panic. Mostly Esteban who I figured would act this way. He's been closed off in the capital for the last forty eight hours and I doubt he'd come out till some progress had been made and that wasn't going well either. No one knew who killed her. No one saw anything. Not even the cameras. Which made me happy considering what I had already done.

"Sniff! Sniff!"

I was celebrating a little early by getting myself a gram of blow to indulge myself with. Roslin was with me though and I saw the look he was giving me. So after I fully enjoyed my hit, I looked back at him to wonder.

"You want some?"

"What is it?" He proceeded to ask me back which got my full attention now. Giving him two wide eyes, I replied in some confusion.

"Coke? Cocaine? Have you heard of it before?"

Shaking his head he replied.

"It rings a bell, but it was probably called something different back when I had any reason to care."

"So you know it's a stimulant right? A party drug if we want to pull hairs. It's so fucking good. Makes my hair stand up. Really helps me relax."

"Relax? Look at you. You look like you just had three cups of coffee. Nah, I'm good. I don't want to get involved in that right now. Enjoy the rest of it if it really helps you unwind. But I didn't take you for a druggy. When did you get involved in this?"

Looking back at the last line I had, I replied while bending over to take it.

"About a week after I left my dad's house. After the fight. I needed money to leave Iraq and I knew a few guys from my old school that were big up and coming drug dealers. So I decided to go swing a few lines back with them to see if I could convince them to give me a chance to start selling their product. Once I had some trust built up between them, they gave me some product and I tended to typically make a habit of shaving off a line for myself before selling it to a buyer. No one checks the weight. They just see a rock and they lose their minds."

"Did it take effort to become a thief? Or was it natural?" He asked me back as a joke. With my head feeling like heaven, I replied a moment after I could think.

"I could ask you the same thing. Did it take effort to get that body? Or was it natural?"

For the first time I think I made him blush. He was so caught off guard by my question that he took a second to observe himself. After such a brief intermission he questioned.

"What? My body? Do I look bad?"

Laughing now, I replied.

"No! You look amazing! That's why I'm asking! You're so well developed for your species. I've never seen an echidna like you."

I was making him melt inside. I could feel it as he went on to say.

"Probably because this isn't natural. Nor is your body development; now that you got me on the subject."

"What do you mean?" I wondered as I fixed my hair and took a sip of water out of a nearby glass I had sitting next to me on the table.

"Look at yourself. I don't care what anyone tells you, but you're built above and beyond what you may remember about your past self. The military put on the weight, but what I gave you in the form of becoming my demi; it transformed that weight into pure muscle and attraction." Now I was the one blushing as he went on to state.

"I know you're concerned about hiding what you do to your family when you go see them for the wedding. But regardless of what you say, they'll discover with their eyes and they'll come to realize that you are nothing like that girl who ran away. You're a god Samantha and you look the part. Only person with a body like yours is your father. For the same fucking reasons too. You, me, Marcus, and him are the only four people in this realm that have that in common."

He was absolutely right. Thinking back on it now I was in a class above the rest of the girls in my training camp. Some of which I could tell fell in love with my body the more they got to see it develop over training. Others were just looking at me as if I screamed for attention.

I weighed about one hundred and sixty pounds when I went into basic training and when I got finished I weighed a little over two hundred. All of that came in the form of muscle like he said. Compared to my life before leaving Iraq. I was now a completely different wolf. I had arms that could snap a neck in under two seconds and a very well rounded six pack. Dressed in full uniform, I was an even more attractive package to some. Including myself to be honest. I loved my new body. It gave me so much more confidence in myself.

There was one thing wrong with what Roslin just said though. I wasn't worried about seeing my family and friends back in Iraq. I was excited just to see their reactions. For all they know; I completely changed my body for the better while I was working away from them for over the last year now. They wouldn't know the truth. So that's why I was excited. I'm sure both my mom and my dad would be shocked. The scars would bring about another form of shock, but I'd find a way to play that off. The eyes though? I don't know what to do about that considering my dad had a pair of his own to match.

Taking my mind off of the subject, I quickly got myself ready for the gym. I planned to go there now while I was still coked up just to see what I could do. I was pumped. Roslin however still laughed when he thought about the idea. What was the point in training when I wasn't gonna ever get any more in shape then what I was in now? I just liked it as a form to get all my energy out. Simple as that. I thought to myself as I threw on some loose gym clothes. In the form of a simple black set of sweatpants and a sleeveless black tank top.

Last thing I did was take off my dogtags, which after training became a pretty big set considering it now had three sets of tags to them. My father's, Shadow's, and now mine.

Leaving them with the rest of my gear, I took a small moment to check my nose to make sure I was all cleaned up. Roslin couldn't help but chuckle as I came back out from the bathroom to inform him.

"I'm going to the gym. You gonna be here waiting for me by the time I get back?"

"Maybe. Might take a moment or two to go visit Esteban. I'm curious about his location."

Slightly lost, I questioned.

"He's at the capital. Why do you suddenly care?"

"Well you haven't taken a look for yourself these last few days to see what you're up against. So I'm gonna assume you're thinking about asking for my help. I might as well go see what I'm working with. Who knows? I might learn something that'll help you."

Giving my master a small smile, I decided to urge him for his own safety.

"Just be careful about it. I know what you are and what you can do, but the military isn't taking any chances with people they don't know. So if you go looking around the capital for whatever reason, I'd do your best to stay out of sight."

"Sam? I'm always out of sight. Don't worry about anything. Just….just go enjoy your workout. I'll see you later."

"I'm gonna be looking forward to it." I informed him back as I threw my bag over my back and proceeded to leave the condo. Once at my car, I got onto the road and onto the way to the gym.

During the drive, I contemplated his assumption about why I wasn't putting effort into Esteban's assassination. Part of me knew that I made this too difficult to work with on my own. Without his help I had a good feeling that I wasn't gonna be able to do this. Had I become reliant? I had to wonder as time seemed to pass on the way to the gym. After minutes of thinking, I pulled up and parked without really even noticing that I had in the first place. Goes to show just how distracted I was. Hopefully my workout will go just as smooth. I thought to myself as I gathered my things and proceeded inside the building to get started.

Almost instantly my powers had informed me that I was slowly becoming the center of attention again. So many dudes looked at me like I was just a piece of meat. Some were twice my size and that was massive in comparison. Some from the other visit I had here a few days ago.

I did my best to ignore it all, but I kept an eye out just in case I had to talk to anyone while I was here. I prayed that wasn't the case since I made sure to have earbuds in. Hopefully all these dudes would catch a hint.

Taking my first exercise seriously, I got right onto the first bench I saw open to begin lifting. The bench press was always a reliable way to get warmed up. I planned to spend a few hours here so I'd need the easy start if I wanted to keep to my regiment. So with my focus on that, I just proceeded to get lost in my lifting. Music in my ears would help guide me as I pushed through it's rep.

Ace's POV, Thirty minutes later.

I kept my eyes on the prize. Two days into searching for this contractor and so far I've noticed nothing but the same old bullshit going on around the city; despite the military being out in full force. People were still being people. Jackassess were still being jackasses. Very few caught my eye as I walked the streets for the third time today. I wanted to bring something back to share with the others, but I knew I couldn't push it. This is a very delicate operation. Didn't help that we had no information to really go on just yet. I thought to myself as I came to a stop outside one of the many public gyms the city had to offer.

At first I planned to keep walking, but as I crossed a few of the windows that allowed me to peek inside, I stopped in my tracks to spot a very interesting looking wolf. Actually…..now that I looked at her closely I realized she wasn't just interesting. She was fucking beautiful. Those arms for example? They were bigger than Dusk's. And don't even get me talking about the rest of her body. She was…..she had me speechless as I took in her actions from afar.

She was lifting it seemed. The weights she had on the bar however were at least a combined total of three men her size. How the hell was she doing that? I had to wonder as I took a moment to break my focus and scratch at my ears. This fucking sun was brutal. I thought to myself as I decided to take a detour from this walk and instead enter the gym to get a better look at this woman in action.

Now from what I was seeing it was clear this wolf wasn't native to this city. The way she was holding herself up had me wondering if she was military of some origin. Doubt she was with the locals. G.U.N maybe? I asked myself as I took a seat inside the main lobby of the gym to continue watching her work.

I wasn't going to assume too much just yet, but that all changed when she turned to look at me all the sudden from out of nowhere. Our eyes crossed for a few seconds before she broke contact and went back to lifting. During that time I noticed her right arm.

Wrapped around her skin was a tattoo, but not just any tattoo. She wore a badge of honor from the mob over in the US. I only know of two other people who had that tattoo in history and both of them are dead now. That left me with one fact and this wasn't an assumption. It was a fact.

She was interesting. I had questions and I'd be damned if I let this girl slip the net. Even if she wasn't the person I was looking for. I had a reason to give her my full attention now. Next concern to me now was this. How to get closer without scaring her off?

With my mind covering an array of ideas in under a few seconds, I widened my eyes when I just decided to be bold of all things. Standing up from the chair I was in, I collected my figure and approached. The wolf was still down on the bench lifting as I got within feet in time. Once I came to a stop about three feet to her left I saw her eyes glance over at me again. I smiled of course, but I didn't say a thing. She had earbuds in so what was the point? I asked myself as she did one more rep before putting up the bar and sitting up.

As she did I really got a good look at her body. Jesus fucking christ. She was jacked. None of my close friends compared at all to her.

With her eyes and mine finally locking onto one another, I quickly realized she was waiting for me to say the first sentence. So I started off by stating to her as nicely as I could without coming off as too creepy.

"I'm sorry to cut off your workout. I just couldn't help but introduce myself to you after witnessing your little display. My name is Ace. Nice to meet you."

I threw out my hand to her in the hope that she would shake it, but for some reason she declined me nicely with a small shake of her head. Yet she didn't say anything again. So I put myself again in the front of this conversation to ask her.

"Are you from around here? I haven't ever seen someone quite like you before. What's your name?"

Giving me a small glare, she replied in a language that caught me off guard. It was Russian and at first I hadn't registered what she said because I almost didn't hear it. So in confusion I asked her back.

"I'm sorry. Can you repeat that? I didn't hear you."

In the same language she replied.

"I don't speak english."

Now the only reason I understood that was because of my education. I was fluent in Russian, Italian, French and English. Thank god too, because I was actually able to speak them all pretty well. So in Russian I said back to her.

"That's fine. I speak Russian too. My name is Ace." Her eyes widened as I proceeded to ask her again.

"What's your name?"

Keeping her accent on she replied.

"Sam."

"Short for Samantha?" I asked nicely back which got her to again shake her head and reply.

"No. Just Sam."

I nodded and for the first time she asked the next question.

"What do you want Ace? I was in the middle of my workout."

It was clear we were gonna keep speaking Russian so I proceeded to get more comfortable by taking a seat down on an empty bench alongside her. Once I had I replied.

"I couldn't help but stop and speak to you. I've been walking the city for the last two days looking for someone interesting to talk to and I can't say I've ever met someone much like you. Are you from around here?"

Shaking her head she replied.

"Yeah." She mumbled.

I figured she was lying. I doubt she only spoke Russian too. She was covering up and that assumption came from the knowledge I had before entering this conversation. I also had a good reason to assume that everyone in this gym had no clue what we were even saying. So putting my foot a little further out, I said back to her with a smile of my own.

"Really?"

She nodded and took a moment to wipe her forehead off of sweat using one of her nearby towels. As she put it back down I said to her calmly.

"You got a very detailed tattoo there."

She briefly looked at it before replying back.

"Thank you."

"What hurt more do you think? Getting that tattoo? Or drinking that wine?"

I knew it the moment I finished asking that question. She was indeed a special case and most certainly one I wasn't planning to run into, but she was now my concern. Things were starting to add up in my mind and as it did more assumptions came with it.

Giving me a dead serious stare back, Sam went on to question.

"What are you talking about?"

Shaking my head once with a soft chuckle, I replied.

"Don't play dead. You know what I'm talking about. There isn't a person on this planet that has that work on them. Even less are the people who know how to give it. The last two people who had that ink on them are both dead and they've been dead for years now. Only one other person who has that brand and from what I know they're the only person left alive from a little meeting in Los Angeles."

"I think you got the wrong idea, friend. I don't know what you're talking about. I've never been to Los Angeles."

"Of course you haven't and I'm not a cop or with the military, so why bother hiding it? We're just talking here. And hey look around. None of these idiots speak like us. So forget about it. Even more reason to not be concerned? You could rip me in two with those cannons on your arms if you don't like what I gotta say. So relax a little and just talk to me for a few minutes. I promise you won't regret it."

Sam at this point contemplated my words. Soon she took out her earbuds completely and proceeded to say back to me.

"What do you want?"

"I'm just curious about a few things."

"Like what?" She then asked which got me to say back.

"Let's start off with a fresh coat of paint; so to speak. I know you aren't from this city and I know you've been to LA and had a few run-ins with the mob there just by looking at that ink you got. So I just want to know why someone like you decided to run all the way to a city out here after pulling off what you did?"

She was still hesitant so I pushed more by stating to her.

"You helped that country more in one day than in the eight years it took Hecan Moore to get kicked out of office. You also got away clean with no accurate descriptions and no police records. You could have settled back down in LA for all the world cared if you really wanted too. So why come all the way out here? You have to have millions now in your pocket. I doubt there was a second person there who got that wine tainted and managed to live through the toast. So please don't try to convince me otherwise."

She was giving me such a staredown, it challenged even Gwent's when I got to talking to him. So keeping myself together I said to her.

"You're dangerously smart for a kid your age. Network contractor and you somehow have a blacklisted file on the site which is also covering your tracks from any retaliation. God knows what else you've done. But why are you here now, I wonder?"

With a tone held to a standard above mine, the wolf replied.

"I'm on vacation. If you're not a cop and if you're not with the military or with G.U.N for that matter; then why do you care why I'm here at all?"

"I care because that kind of work is impressive. And I like impressive people to boot. Let's just say this to make things easy between us. I work with a very specific group of people here in Azerbaijan. Let's just say we would be interested in seeing what we could do for one another. More specifically, I'm interested."

I gave her a moment to take in my statement and during such time I had a notion that maybe this could be the very person I was set out to find in the first place. My only question then was why? Why would she go from LA after pulling off what she did and come here to start fucking with the Azerbaijin government? Either she had some more personal matters concerning it, or maybe she was simply a true believer in this world's justice system and was acting on her own. If it was the latter, I'd see to it that she accepts my invitation.

Seeing that she was deciding to remain quiet now, I mumbled as nicely as I could to her.

"Are you looking for work?"

She took a good look around the room before looking me back in my eyes to reply.

"Depends on what you can offer."

This was my que to move our conversation out of the gym. So with a smile on my face I asked her back.

"You want to take a walk with me?"

The wolf continued to look me up and down. After a few moments she replied while reaching over for her bag.

"Sure."

Throwing the bag over her shoulder as she stood up, I for a moment acknowledged her height. She was very tall and that body she had didn't help her seem any less intimidating when looked at from this angle. Yet I had to lead the way outside. Once we exited the building and began to walk side by side down the sidewalk, I said to her bluntly, still in a Russian tongue.

"Don't get any wrong ideas from my offer. As you can imagine we aren't in the business of legality. It's contractor work. Something I'll assume you know a thing or two about. But for this to work I need honesty. So please answer my questions when I ask them. I wanna start by asking you for your background. You're on the network's website, correct?"

"I am, but only as a solo contractor. I don't work for anyone specifically and so far my name remains clean. No one wants me gone so I don't have a contract to my name if that's what you're curious about." Sam informed me as we passed by a few fellow joggers. Once they passed I said back to her.

"It was a question I had to ask sooner or later, yes. So I'm glad you said something before I had to inquire. Now onto the next topic. Where are you really from? You can't be native here in Azerbaijan. It wouldn't explain your natural accent or your ability to speak perfect Russian. What other languages do you know? You can't play this by me. The mob wouldn't have wasted time getting a translator together if they knew their guest only spoke one language. So out with it. What else do you speak?"

Her eyes this whole time were facing off into the distance in front of us as she replied to my last question.

"I speak English, but Russian is my first language so I prefer to keep it that way between business and personal time. Does that suffice?"

That could be true what she just told me, but it was good just to know she could talk if needed to. So with that out of the way I went on to ask.

"Besides your business in LA, have you done any other hits since leaving the country to come here?"

Nodding, she replied as we turned down another street together.

"I have, but again I don't see the point in asking."

"The point is because I need to be able to trust you can handle yourself in a straight up fight. Like I just got done telling you, our business isn't legal. It's contractor work and we need to expect contractor size trouble to come with it. I need to know what else you've done."

Sam's POV.

This guy was good. That was the first impression I got from him when we started talking back at the gym. For a rabbit he held himself up very well and given his size I had a feeling he could handle himself if he really needed to. It wasn't like that with Jari. Jari is too sweet to fight, but Jari isn't my concern right now. This rabbit. Ace? I've never heard of him and I sure as shit didn't expect him to come up to me like this. My only concern was figuring out who he exactly worked with. This could be one of Dusk's men for all I know and if that was the case this moment came a lot sooner than I expected.

My powers helped me get a gauge on him and his intentions. In his thoughts I picked up on a lot. He only mentioned one name within his mind and that was Gwent, another person I didn't know. Maybe Dusk's friend as well. He could quite possibly be the hedgehog I picked up on his trail back up the mountain.

The other thing I quickly understood was that Ace was very well educated and he wasn't stupid. He picked up on my lies almost immediately after I said them. Even though he knew I was hiding things from him even right now. He knew about Violet and Roman. He thinks it was me too. He just didn't have any proof and he desired to find out somehow. In time I'll have to tell him, but he was more interested in making sure I accepted whatever offer he laid on the table for me. I could use that to my advantage here coming up in our conversation.

Looking Ace back in the eyes, I stated calmly back to him.

"I can handle any problems that arise. I can assure you of that."

Giving me two concerned eyes back he questioned.

"Assure me? I'm not looking for assurance. I'm…..?"

Cut midway through his sentence we got a car horn blown at us from behind. Both Ace and I stopped to turn and look towards the oncoming car, which turned out to be a black SVU. I didn't need these powers to see we were about to have trouble.

Inside the car were five men. All dressed in casual attire and all different species. I quickly looked over to Ace to see that he was genuinely confused. When the men all got out of the car, all but two of them decided to stay by the truck. All of them however were looking at me. Stopping within feet of us, the main dude who was this black echidna urged me in a cocky voice.

"I'd skedaddle sweetheart. We got some business here that involves the rabbit. Here. Take this and get a move on. You saw nothing."

Going into his back pocket, the man threw me a wad of twenty dollar bills and gave me a nod and a smile when I caught it in my left hand. I took one good look at Ace as he just had these two disappointed eyes on his face. I knew he wanted to say something, but instead he urged me as carefully as he could with his originally english speaking voice.

"Do what he said. We'll talk another time. Let me handle this."

The three dudes next to me all broke out into laughter. Ace lost his disappointed eyes when the echidna stated happily.

"There ain't gonna be another time. Not this time Ace. Now come on. Get in the fucking truck."

Looking back at the rabbit, I growled back in Russian.

"You can't be serious?"

Ace just gave me a small stare back as I took a chance by looking back at the echidna to ask him now in english.

"What did he do?"

Again starting to laugh, the echidna replied.

"Better question to ask is what didn't he do to us? The fucking kit here is a rat. Sold one of our boys out the day after we cut business ties."

"We cut ties for fair reasons, Jent. You agreed to it." Ace informed him which got the echidna to shout back.

"I agreed to probation! Not forty to life! That was my fucking brother! My brother!" Ace had his ears slightly back from the screaming he just received. After that though Jent ordered him.

"Now get in the fucking truck. Don't make me take you by force."

"Your crazy Jent. Your brother fucked up his life the second he got caught. Now I was fair and when I called the cops, I also called him and told him to run. Did he listen? Are you?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Jent asked him back as I pocketed the money finally. A moment after I heard Ace reply.

"He's in jail, yes. But you're not. Your brother was smart. He could have sold you out too, but did he? No. No he didn't. Why? So you could live and move on. He's given you a chance to change. Now look at you. You came halfway across the city, somehow managed to catch me off guard like this, and you're about to commit kidnapping because I'm not getting in that truck with you. Now that can get you life Jent. You wanna go to jail too?"

Jent looked furious as Ace went on to suggest.

"You're acting out of emotion. Something you should never do. Now I've already dropped our business. You have my word I won't be seeing you ever again after this. Just take my advice one last time and please…get back in the truck….with your friends. Get in and go back home. Move on."

Tension was at a high point now. My eyes were on Jent as he considered Ace's advice. However after said consideration, Jent took a big leap forward with his arm drawn back. Ace widened his eyes when he was not so suddenly punched square in the face. The whole left side of his head snapped back and he nearly fell backwards after a short stumble. Lowering my gym bag, I widened my eyes when one of Jent's buddies decided to grab me and push me back in the other direction of the action while urging me with a smile.

"Get a move on gorgeous. Leave your buddy in our hands. We'll make sure he ends up somewhere safe."

I was conflicted. On one hand I wanted to help. Ace wasn't gonna be able to stand up to this. Jent was already hitting him a second time across the face.

With my bag still down in my right hand, I watched as Ace continued to keep getting hit. One punch after the other. I had to watch while considering my options. During that time one of Jent's friends urged him.

"We should get out of here man. Just grab him and let's go before the cops show up."

Jent hit Ace one more time, but this time with a kick to the gut. I saw Ace cough up blood a moment after.

"You heard him Ace! Let's go!" Jent grabbed the rabbit by his neck and with a hard throw he forced him to the truck. Looking over at me with a swollen eye I took what little time I had left to look at Jent who was making his way over to me. This time with something else in his hand. Getting right up on me, he cupped my hands together and whispered into my ear.

"You didn't see shit. Remember that."

He pulled a few inches away from me just so he could see my face. I gave him a wicked look back as he smiled and laughed under his breath.

"Good girl."

Jumping into his truck a few seconds later, I watched as they pulled away. Once out of my sight I looked back at my hands to see Jent had slipped me a pretty sizable portion of cocaine. It was as white as snow and with my interest peaked, I quickly opened the bag and took a little dip in it with my finger. Once back in my mouth, I quickly realized I had another reason to act. So with time of the essence, I ran back to the gym to get into my car.

I knew what direction those guys went in and I knew I had the skill to track them down using nothing but Roslin's gifts. However, locating the exact car was tough considering the situation. This was my first real time using this for something important. The whole time I drove in their direction and hoped sooner or later they would come to a stop, but after thirty minutes I was nearly out of gas. The energy it took to keep the power going was almost too much for my body to handle and when they did finally stop I realized I had some blood leaving my nose from the ordeal.

"Fuck." I whispered to myself as I quickly used my bare arm to wipe it off.

We ended up in a shady looking neighborhood. Clearly this was more residential for the lower income families of the city. Graffiti everywhere, fire barrels under the freeway with homeless lined up in tents, and not a cop in sight.

The truck pulled into a driveway to a one level house. It couldn't have been any bigger than my dad's place, but it was in such bad shape it really reminded me that this was the ghetto. Outside sat one of Jent's friends. The same motherfucker who threw me back there. He was smoking a joint it looked like while also on his phone at a small metal wired table they had sitting outside the front door. The rest had to be inside. I thought to myself as I reached back for my gym bag to check and see if I had my Luger packed.

"Shit. Of course not." I mumbled to myself as I found out I hadn't.

Letting out an annoyed sigh, I looked back at the house to just stare at the man outside the door. He was in his own zone which gave me the room to plan on how to handle this. In about a minute I had a plan. Reaching back into my gym bag, I pulled out a hoodie I had and quickly threw it on over my shirt. Using both hands I forced my hair back and pulled the hood over to cover most of my face. Once that was done, I opened my car door and also popped the hood using one of the interior switches.

Stepping out from the car, I walked around and put my back to the house by leaning over the now open hood. With my keys in one hand I hit the alarm button and prepared myself for all the noise to come and come it did. It was so loud that I managed to get guy's attention off of his fucking phone. Now all I had to do was act dumb and pretend to try and fix this distrubance.

I could sense the man behind me and after about twenty seconds he decided to finally run over. Without looking back at him I heard him ask as loud as he could over the alarm.

"What's wrong with you!?"

He was soon right next to me, but he at first didn't look right at me. He went right for the keys I held in my hand to try and shut off the alarm. It was at that exact moment that he tried to take them from me and I decided to quickly grab him by the neck with an immediate lunge with my right arm.

"Aghh! Ugggk!" Using all I had I threw him to the ground and dragged him around the car so that he wasn't gonna be in sight of the house. It took a good twenty seconds to choke him out, but when he passed out I knew he wouldn't be up anytime soon. So my eyes went right back to checking my surroundings. Thankfully no one was around and once I managed to turn off the alarm, I got a good idea of what shape I was in. Fighting wasn't gonna be easy now. I had barely enough energy left in me to choke this guy out. I doubt I had enough to fight four more.

Searching the guy I just took down, I found that he had a switchblade tucked in his front pocket. It would have to do. I said to myself as I opened the blade up and began to jog right up to the house.

Pressing myself to the side of the front door, I used my ears to see what I could hear inside the building. I nearly shit myself because the second my powers kicked back in, the door itself opened and behind it stood the driver of the truck I saw earlier. He widened his eyes and left me no choice. As fast as I could I grabbed him by the neck much like I did his friend, except I pulled him out of the house so fast the door barely had time to start shutting.

With the knife in my offhand, I resisted the urge to stab him and instead I decided to spare his life. The only problem with that was the fact that I didn't have the strength left to choke him out. So using what I did have, I threw him head first down onto the wire table. It made quite the crash, but it got the results. He was lights out and I was none worse for wear. I was pissed that I was this weak. I should be able to keep this up after everything I've been through. Why was it so draining? I wondered as I questioned my abilities.

Catching my breath, I tried to listen one more time since I could no longer sense properly. This time I heard a voice scream out in pain. I knew it was Ace, so I entered the house with my intentions on figuring out where he was being held. I didn't have much to work with in this house. It was small enough inside. The kitchen and living room were together and no one was there so I looked towards three other rooms that were to my left of the main entrance. Two were open and as I approached slowly I found out one was the bathroom and another was a small closet where the washer and dryer were being stored. The only other room had to be the master bedroom and inside had to be the other three guys I had left to contend with and lucky for me they left the door a crack open.

Very gently I took a look inside the room by slowly parting the door more open. Ace was the first one I saw, but that didn't last for long. Jent had him held by the throat and pressed up against the wall. He only had to use one hand to do that which allowed him to use his other to punch him in the gut. The little rabbit coughed up on some spit as I slowly took a step inside the room to see the other two dudes standing behind him. None were looking at me so I quickly took a look to my sides to find a nearby lamp. It had the pole so I knew I had more than enough reach to take one of these clowns out easily. It was then gonna be a matter of speed.

Upon fully entering the room behind them, I kept my eyes on Ace as I reached out to grab the lamp by the center of the pole that held it up. Ace then finally managed to look past Jent who was in his face to widen his eyes for a split second. He wasn't expecting me at all and if he was then he was stunned I got here as fast as I did. Now however was my chance to focus and call upon my venom since I had no energy left to use Roslin's gifts. I felt my body warm up and with it came a burst of adrenaline. Ace kept looking back and forth between Jent and I, but by the time Jent noticed I was already swinging the lamp at one of his friends who was a taller fox.

The lamp itself shattered the second it hit the back of the fox's head and as expected the dude went down. Jent panicked and with all his strength he threw Ace over the bed that was to his direct left. By the time he was fully facing me I had hit his only other comrade with the base of the stand. I knew what power I had hit him with and I knew from the sound of his skull hitting the stand that I had turned his lights out. No pun intended. The kid fell backwards onto the ground leaving me with Jent who I had already managed to switch my full focus onto.

Ducking his swing, I grabbed the inside of his shoulders and kicked him as hard as I could in the shin.

"Agh!" He screamed as I saw his leg snap backwards.

"Wait!" Ace shouted as I took no chances and decided to punch the crippled echidna twice in the right side of his face with my right fist. Each time I connected the man fell further onto his back.

"Don't you fucking move an inch!" I ordered Jent as he had blood covering his teeth as he shouted back in agony.

"You broke my fucking leg! Aghhhh! You fucking bitch!"

Biting my tongue, I threw another hook downward hitting him this time in the left eye. Jent this time didn't say anything back. He just took his beating as I decided to make a point towards Ace who I knew was watching.

Using the pocket knife I had in my offhand, I stabbed him right in the other leg.

"Aghhhhhh! Fuck!" Jent screamed out as I threw one more heavy hook down into the same eye again. Once I heard his head crack, I decided to push him back down and onto the floor. His head bounced off the carpet as I pulled a foot back to look at Ace who was struggling to stand on his own.

"Are you okay?" I asked as he was using the bed to support his weight. Using his shirt to wipe the blood off his chin, he looked back at me to reply.

"I've been worse. Give me a minute."

I nodded and went right back to Jent to ask him.

"What the fuck were you thinking?"

"Me!? What the fuck were you thinking you fucking bitch!? I told you to stay out of this! Carlos! Mark!" He called for his friends who he must have thought were outside the room still. I just chuckled and gave him a sinister smile as I informed him bluntly.

"Your friends aren't coming. So shut the fuck up!" I threw one more punch at the man and this time I think I might have knocked him out. He stopped moving and his body went motionless as I took a deep breath before hearing Ace ask me curiously from the other side of the bed.

"Did you kill him?"

I was unsure so upon checking his pulse I replied confidently.

"No. He's still breathing."

Ace was clearly in pain as he slowly came around the bed to stop at my side. His face was all black and blue and his pure white coat of fur was speckled with blood now. His stomach on the other hand was the main problem. He might be older and bigger than Jari, but regardless of age he was still a rabbit. They aren't physically able to take the kind of punches Jent was throwing. He has to have a few broken ribs and I wouldn't be shocked if he had some internal bleeding judging from the blood he was coughing up.

"You need a doctor." I informed him as he bent over to grab onto the knife I had jammed in Jent's leg. I watched curiously as he looked back up at me to reply.

"I've been beaten worse, trust me. You mind?" He was referring to my distance to Jent. So I calmly took a step backwards to listen as he informed me with a small grunt of more pain coming from his chest.

"I can handle the rest from here."

He followed up by ripping the knife out from Jent's leg. Instantly the echidna reopened his eyes from the pain. He screamed a little and widened his eyes as he soon saw Ace standing above him holding the tool that crippled his only escape. I saw the fear enter his body as Ace calmly informed him.

"I warned you. I gave you a fucking chance Jent. A chance to leave this alone and what the fuck did you go and do? I didn't want to do this."

"Ace? Man? Man I'm so fucking sorry. I…..I lost control man."

"Oh I get it." The rabbit replied as he slightly grinned before stating menacingly.

"Cause so have I."

I didn't expect this to come next. Without wasting another word on the man the rabbit went full psycho mode and jumped down on top of the echidna to begin rapidly stabbing him in the chest.

"Aghhhhh! Aghh! Aghh! Aghhh!" Jent screamed for nearly ten seconds before dying from the damage he was being dealt. Ace however didn't stop. He stabbed this guy about twenty times before coming to a stop. His breaths were heavy and once finished extracting some revenge he stabbed Jent one final time in his throat to make sure he had a nice spot to keep the knife. I just remained perfectly calm as he looked over his shoulder to see my expression. He seemed somewhat happy that I wasn't questioning his decision to kill. He just let out one more sigh before asking me from the ground.

"Can you help me? I can't feel my legs right now."

"Of course. Here." I got right down next to him to allow him to wrap an arm around my waist. Then it was just a matter of keeping him on his feet. As he stood up for the first time he asked me curiously.

"Did you kill the other two guys?"

Shaking my head as I began to walk us out of the room, I replied.

"No. Didn't see the point in it."

Nodding his own head as we reached the front door, I stopped just short of the outside world before asking the rabbit.

"Did that guy sell coke?" Holding his gut Ace replied.

"You kidding? Look at the dump we're in. Of course he sold."

"Where does he keep it?" I then asked him as he went on to question.

"Ahhh…in the kitchen. Draw under the oven I think. Why?"

"Cops are gonna find it when they get here later. No sense in leaving it for them."

"Ughhh….if you want it; it's all yours. Just please make it fast. I need to sit down again real soon."

I proceeded to go check the exact spot he told me of and found two keys of coke waiting for me; all wrapped up in tin foil. So grabbing a nearby plastic bag that littered the floor of this house; I dumped the coke there and made my way back to Ace by the front door with the bag held now in my left hand.

Using what I had in terms of strength, I made the decision to carry the guy to the car. He panicked at first simply because he wasn't expecting to be lifted up off his feet in that condition, but by the time I had him in my arms, I knew he was grateful that I did decide to do this.

Our first step out of the house we were greeted by the other two men who were still fast asleep. The one by my car got Ace to question as I got him in the backseat.

"How the hell did you track me down so fast? I've been here for maybe five minutes."

I didn't want to answer any questions till we were away from here and he picked up on that pretty fast as I got into my seat to restart the engine. Once I got us back onto the main road, I said to him in all seriousness of the statement.

"How I did it doesn't matter. What matters is the fact that you're still alive at all. You didn't want assurance? Well I'm sorry but you don't get a choice in that matter. What's done is done now."

Nodding as he continued to grunt in pain, Ace replied while looking over at me.

"You're right when it comes to that. What's done is done indeed and I owe you now. So consider me in your debt and…and thank you."

"Don't worry about it." I urged him as he then had to ask.

"Should I consider the fact that you went out of your way to save my life a good sign that you're still interested in doing business?"

Giving him a quick chuckle, I replied.

"I never said I wasn't interested in the first place. But we can always talk about this another time. For now I need to get you patched up. You want me to take you to the hospital? Or do you have another place in mind?"

Giving me a nod of his head, he replied a moment later after feeling his own jaw which was swollen much like his eye.

"No hospitals. Doctors are likely to call the cops if you drop me off in this kind of shape."

"So what then?" I asked him as he thought over his options. I didn't have the energy to listen in so I just had to wait. After a few seconds he asked me back with some embarrassment to his voice.

"I don't really know. Believe it or not but my friends and I don't have a whole lot of other friends within the city limits. A doctor among those. Is there any chance at all that you know a thing or two about patching a guy up?"

Pulling up to a light, I replied while looking back at his small frame.

"I think I can manage, but I'm not a doctor. I don't have anything for internal bleeding and I'm not trying to offend you, but it's just a fact. You rabbits aren't known for endurance."

Chuckling slightly, he replied back as the light turned green.

"No offense taken, but I think I'm good. I'd feel a lot worse if that was the case. And medication? What do you take me for? You didn't want that coke back there for no reason. Give me a line when we get to where we're going and I'll let the dust do the rest."

With my destination clearly my condo now, I focused on driving and by the time we arrived he said to me as sweetly as he could.

"Your english is really good by the way."

I laughed again as I exited the car. When I got around to his side and helped him out I replied.

"Thanks, I guess, but I'd prefer to go back to what I'm more accustomed to. Do you mind?"

Offering him my arm, Ace reached out to take my hand. At the same time he groaned out in pain.

"Not at all. Thank you."

With the man in my care, I prepared myself for what was to come. My condo wasn't normal by any means. I knew he would have a million questions the second he saw the living room. I didn't have anything crazy posted on that map I laid across the walls. To him it would hopefully help him believe that I was nothing more than a very well organized contractor. Nothing to tip him off that my real mission was to track down Dusk or one of his people. If he knew that I was hoping this day would come then I'd assume the worst would come of it.

Going back to speaking Russian as we entered the condo, I said to him as his eyes immediately went to the wall.

"Don't say a word about it. Just sit down somewhere while I get my first aid kit from the bathroom."

Placing the rabbit on the couch, I quickly ran to the bathroom. When I came back out to the living room I saw that he was already looking back at the wall from the couch. When I got closer, he said to me in an astonished voice.

"Jesus Christ. I ain't never seen a contractor with this much prep work put into their personal business. You're the real deal Sam."

"Thank you, but I don't want to talk about that right now. Just let me focus and look at me."

"Of course. I'm sorry." He replied as I took a pad of gauze, some alcohol and clean rag to his swollen face.

I was doing my best to stay as functional as possible right now. I was truly exhausted, but I couldn't let him see that. I needed him on my side. Hopefully once things have calmed down we could talk about business that didn't involve his personal safety.

mT Shadow.