Rouge had gotten up in her room at Anti-Light, her phone vibrating as her alarm went off. She rubbed her eyes and got out of her bed, going for a quick shower and getting changed before exiting her room and walking a few doors down to Shadow's room. She spotted a light shining out of it, and she leaned against the wall to wait for him, her left elbow pushing against the door and, to her surprised, pushing it ajar.

"Huh... I thought he'd lock up when he went to sleep," Rouge said, gently opening the door. She heard his shower and nodded to herself before going over to where his room was, looking at the side of his bed to see the picture of Maria that he had. As she picked it up, she sat down on the bed, sighing to herself. "You know, Shadow... he's been putting himself through a lot lately. Working for two sides, drowning his sorrows in drink each night, being more gruff and unsociable than usual... and he gets the job of torturing one of the people responsible for it. I'm trying to set him straight and I'm just barely breaking through to him. Last night was the first time he's been sober in... I want to say a year?"

"So you're talking to ghosts now too?" Shadow asked from behind.

Rouge turned around, trying to focus on Shadow's face and not look at his chest as he had his towel tied around his waist. "I'm sorry... I just wanted to check up on you after last night."

"Ah." Shadow nodded.

"How long were you standing there?" Rouge asked.

"I think I came out to you calling me gruff and unsociable. I hope you said some mean things about me too."

"Oh, come on, there's no need for that," Rouge said. "Also, please put some clothes on."

"All right, get out of my room, then," Shadow said.

Rouge huffed and did so, leaving his dorm and waiting as Shadow got himself changed. He walked out dressed and turned to her, and she folded her arms under her chest. "What did I do that was so bad?" she asked. "I thought that we were making some progress after last night."

Shadow grunted. "Yeah, well..." His voice then suddenly turned light in tone. "You're right. I needed our conversation last night." He couldn't help his smile at Rouge's look of disbelief. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself."

"Oh, you fucker, you had me worried!" Rouge said, giggling through some of the words.

"And I heard all of it," Shadow said. "You're right. Last night was the first sober sleep I've had in a long time. It wasn't an easy rest, but owing to our past, it's not the worst sleep that I've ever had."

"Well, at least your sense of humour is still there," Rouge said. "You pretty much just gas-lit me for five minutes. You scared the shit out of me."

"I'm sorry," Shadow said, chuckling a bit. "Hey, uh... how about tonight we head to Midnight Oil? Knock a few shots back and have a nice chat, just you and me."

"Why, are you trying to get me drunk?" Rouge asked, smirking herself. "Sounds good, though."

They heard some footsteps and saw Sally walking towards them with a smile. "Well, you two seem happy. Did something happen last night?"

"No, nothing like that," Shadow said.

"Well... it's none of my business, and I have to be a school teacher today, I'm afraid," Sally said.

"You know, for a fake teacher, you're really great with the kids," Rouge said.

"Most of teaching is bullshitting your way through the day to teach kids," Sally said. "Luckily, the kids that I teach are all very small and hyper and focuses on colouring and writing. It's nice that they have that freedom."

"Then we'll do what we can to protect it," said Shadow.

"I know that," Sally said. "Oh, uh, you should go and see Beau as well. And then Calvin needs to see you too."

Shadow turned to Rouge. "You coming with?"

"I would, but I can only take so many days off of selling jewels before people get suspicious," Rouge said. "But we'll still be on for tonight."

"Ooh... are you two going on a date?" Sally asked.

"It's just drinks at the Midnight Oil," Rouge said. "It's nothing too special."

"Just as long as you two kids stay-"

"Can it," Shadow interrupted Sally, unable to hide his own smile. "All right, I'll go and see Beau. I can't wait to turn up absolutely nothing again."

"Good luck," Rouge said. "That son of a bitch is damn near unbreakable."

"When I get what I need, I'll break him," Shadow said.

The black and red hedgehog then left past the two girls, who both wished him luck as he went to the cells where Beau was being held. He used his key and nodded to the nearby guards to guide Beau over to the table in the middle of the room, and Beau smiled up at Shadow as soon as he got a good enough look at him, letting out a small chuckle.

"Why, there almost appears to be a pep in your step today," Beau said. "You seem excited."

"Let's just say that I've got some plans for tonight," Shadow said. "And do you know what would be a great start to my day before I reach what's going to be a nice night?"

"What would that be?" Beau asked.

"You telling me what else you know about The Black Market," Shadow said.

"Ah... well, looks like your day's not going to start out great," Beau said. "I can't tell you anything that I don't know. And I already knew so little. You've got to remember, I'm the lowest guy on the totem pole."

"And yet you still made it to the totem pole," Shadow said. "That means that you were important to Nack when he was around."

"And again, he never liked me much," said Beau. He then sighed loudly. "How many times are we going to have the same damn conversation?"

"I just want to know exactly what you know," Shadow said.

"I've told you at least once a day, everything that I know about The Black Market so far, you know too," Beau said.

"I'm not talking about The Black Market. That's not my concern right now. I want to know if you had any involvement with the street implants."

"How do you mean?"

Shadow wiped his nose with his thumb. "Nack told us that when we all..." He paused a bit, thinking of that day and remembering the lives lost. "When... we were up there last time..."

Beau smirked. "Ah, that's true. So you knew about the street implants. But I promise you, I didn't know that it was them that were doing the implants. They didn't tell us what they were for or why they were doing it. Fuck, we didn't even know until that very day."

"Did they tell you where they were going next? Or who they were giving the implants to?" Shadow asked.

"If they were going to tell anyone, it sure as shit wouldn't have been me," Beau said. "Jem, Manuel, Martin, and Gerren might be the only ones who know."

"And what do you know about them? What are they up to nowadays?" Shadow asked.

"Fuck if I know," Beau said. "Manuel seemed in a bad way after Lara died, but the others seem to be their usual selves. Or they were the last time that I spoke to any of them which was before I wound up in this shit-hole being asked the same questions every fucking day for a fucking year."

"Hmm... maybe I won't need those tools to torture you..." Shadow said. "But it'd make me feel pretty fucking good." He nodded to the guards and they went to inject Beau's neck before Shadow shook his head. "Just take him back. He can't escape. If he tries, I'll kill him."

"But he's the best asset that we have against Jem," said one of the guards. "Why would you risk killing him?"

"If he's that low down, nobody will miss him, right?" Shadow said.

"Wait, you're not just going to kill me," said Beau.

"Well, what reason do we have to keep you around?" Shadow asked. "You said it yourself so many times over this past year and a bit. You're low on the pole. You deal in the most damaging vice that there is, and we can't just let you get back to it." He smiled and leaned close. "And when my toys come in, I can promise that I'm not going to kill you... but I will make you wish that you were dead."

The black and red hedgehog turned to leave, giving a casual wave as the guards walked Beau back to his cell. Shadow made a turn to where the elevator was, taking it up to Calvin's office and seeing him on the phone before taking a seat, listening to the end of the conversation.

"And you can get them in a couple of days?" Calvin asked. "Great. Well, he just arrived, so I'll let him know. All right... thank you."

"That sounds like good news," Shadow said.

"It is," Calvin replied. "A friend working for Scrap Metal Police Department has come through with your toys. They'll be here in a couple of days."

"Two days, huh?" Shadow asked. "That's fantastic. In that time, Jem could have killed at least twenty more people, and those are just the ones he actually aims at."

"Now is not the time for you to be facetious," said Calvin. "Or grim. Did you have another bad night last night?"

"Actually, I was sober," Shadow said. "I only got in... one drink, maybe? If that. I fought off some drunk dickheads who were harassing Rosy. It wasn't even that hard. They were so sloshed, I barely even had to touch them. And the ice and snow helped too."

"Ah, so you traded alcohol for violence," said Calvin.

"I was defending Rosy and her bar from a bunch of ass-holes who deserved what they got," Shadow said. "They're in G.H.P.D's holding cells right now anyway."

Calvin smiled. "Tell me, when was the last time that you did something like that? Just helped someone for the sake of defending their honour?"

"It has been a while... especially since it wasn't a job," Shadow said. "But it feels like we can't go a day without getting attacked since we got reinstated. And Rosy's a good friend too. One that doesn't need our protection, but... yeah, it was nice to be there."

"Well, that's all that you need," said Calvin. "We may operate more in the, if you'll pardon the phrase, shadows, but if you get the chance to protect someone, you take it."

"Is that why you wanted to talk to me?" Shadow asked.

"I actually wanted to address your behaviour as of late and ask how you're doing," said Calvin. "I know that you've been out drinking almost every night since what happened, and being a freelancer as well as an Anti-Light agent can't make things easy on you. I just don't want you to stretch yourself too thin."

"Huh," Shadow smiled. "It's funny. Rosy keeps banging on about not being my therapist, and it's almost like you're trying to fill that role."

"Oh, I'm no professional myself," said Calvin. "I do see a therapist online, though. That way it stays anonymous so that it doesn't interfere with my job."

"Looks like it's going well," Shadow said. "I should go and check in with the others, though. Unless you have any missions for me?"

"Actually, I do," said Calvin. "A contact in Star Light has reported something from over there. They're thinking that there might be an attack going after Dingo."

"How do they figure?"

"My guess is that they heard of something to do with the relief efforts," Calvin said. "Do you have any other plans today?"

"No, I'll bring that up with the others," Shadow said. "Wait, am I allowed do to that even though they're not Anti-Light agents?"

"Well, they know of us existing so I'm okay with it," the black and grey lion said. "But if they have anything else, let me know and I'll try and compensate."

"I appreciate it, boss," said Shadow. "I mean, Calvin. I know that you hate the formal stuff."

"Glad you're catching on," Calvin said. "Good luck with your day today."

Shadow thanked the Anti-Light leader and left, getting outside and hopping on his hover-board to go back to the freelancer headquarters.

In Westopolis...

Jem was in his office, with Martin and Gerren sitting across from him as Sacha and Grigori stood behind him. "I'm thinking we go out for breakfast."

"Where would we go?" asked Martin. "Westopolis doesn't have many great restaurant chains. At least none that aren't also fronts for something shady."

"I own some stakes in a couple of those places," said Jem. "Mmm... steak... now I'm hungry. But steak's more a dinner thing."

"I can just order in," said Gerren. "Or I could go out and get us something. It might be cold by the time that it gets back, though."

"Do you think that the brothel is good at food?" Martin asked.

"Oh, they've got some good cooks over there," said Gerren. "And there's a good chance that Manuel will be there."

"Great," Jem said, sitting up. "We'll go and say hi. Bring the four fake freelancers as well."

"Wait, we're going right now?" asked Grigori

Jem stood up and walked past Gerren and Martin. "Right now."

The five left Jem's office, with Martin quickly relaying to Bruno, Marla, Jude, and Taylor. The four joined their superiors as they drove over to the brothel, and they spoke to the receptionist to get Manuel's whereabouts, hearing that he was in the building's attached kitchen eating food with Ava. So, the seven went to see Manuel, seeing him and Ava enjoying some breakfast together.

"I didn't know that morning aftercare was a thing," Martin said.

Martin turned his head to see them. "Ah, gentlemen and lady, good to see you. What brings you here?"

"We were wondering if we could get some breakfast and talk to you about what happened last night as well as the plans for today," Jem said, looking to Ava. "Sorry for this, darling."

"No, it's okay," Ava said. "I've got a client waiting on me for a lunch date, so I should go and get ready." She got up out of her seat, kissing Manuel's cheek quickly. "Girls! Get these people some breakfast. Keep it simple."

As the girls around them got breakfast ready, Jem sat across from Manuel and smiled as the others all took seats at other nearby tables. "So," Jem began, "you spent another bit of money here."

"I did indeed," said Manuel. "I figured that I'd get myself a treat for a job well done."

"I'm glad that you think that way," Jem said. "After all, I don't trust someone who doesn't have vices. Better the devil you know and all that."

"Yeah, so, what do you want?" Manuel said.

"I want you to behave yourself and do your job again today," the red and yellow salamander said. "I've got a message ready for the freelancers, as you know. I want you to take the four fakers and deliver it."

"Sounds easy," said Manuel. "Go to Green Hill again, stir shit up, deliver a threat."

"It is easy, yes, but now that we know of supply drops and have attacked one, I want the feelers put out."

"That's usually up to your other two Russian bitch monkeys," Manuel said, focused on his breakfast. "Ask them to do it."

"Oh, they will," said Jem. "Because they can follow orders and they're not distracted by pussy all of the time."

"So you need me as an enforcer?" Manuel asked. "That's it? What about casualties?"

"We want to limit that as much as possible. But if anyone dies via collateral, well, they were stupid enough to be in the way."

Manuel rose an eyebrow. "You know, I don't get it. You want to mitigate the amount of civilian lives taken but you attack cities constantly, and if anyone does die you see it as some twisted form of Darwinism."

"What's your point?"

"My point is that I'd like a reason why you're doing all of this," said Manuel. "What's the goal? Just beat the freelancers? And then what, you're going to do what Nack did and turn cities grotty as hell? How long is that going to take?"

"Oh, it's something big, don't worry," Jem said. "You can be a part of it, if you'd like."

"I'm not being part of a plan that I don't know a fucking thing about," Manuel said. "I'll carry out your attacks but I'm not going to roll over and take it just because you tell me to."

"So you'll do the job today?"

Manuel sighed. "Yes."

"Excellent," said Jem. "So we're going to wait until tonight to deliver it, but I want you to take the four fakers with you."

"So I guess that I'm waiting until I fully know what's up, huh?" Manuel asked. "Just like yesterday, then. Are you hoping for anything different?"

"No. And remember the rule about casualties if you can manage."

"Mitigate them but don't worry if they happen," Manuel said. "I get it."

"Good. Now get your breakfast down your neck."

Later, everyone had finished their breakfast, and they'd all driven back to the prison headquarters so that Manuel and the others could get prepared. While they were doing that, Jem went to the holding cell where Amadeus and Rosemary were, seeing the two cuddled closely and tapping on the prison bars to get their attention.

"I have a question for you two," Jem said.

"W-What is it?" Rosemary asked.

"If your son is so brave, why isn't he doing everything in his power to come out here and save you?" Jem chuckled. "And if he's so smart, why hasn't he given me what I wanted?"

"Why do you even want them?" Amadeus asked.

"Ah, see, I can't tell you as it's a secret," Jem replied. "But I'll think about telling you when I get them. Although lately, I've been thinking of a way to ensure that I have your son's attention... hmm..." He snapped his fingers. "How about this? I'll give your son two more days to get me the implants. If I don't get a response by then, I'll... ooh... whose fingers should I cut off? Or maybe I should torture one of you and show him a picture of your bloodied bodies? I'm not really picky on who."

"You're a sick monster," Amadeus snarled.

"That's been established, but I really just need the implants for something important. For science, you understand." Jem smiled. "Those are my terms. You two have fun here."

"W-Wait..." Rosemary said. "Could... could we... get some food?"

Gerren sighed. "I'll go pick something up..."

"No, Martin can," Jem said. "I need to talk to you."

"Okay?" Gerren rose an eyebrow.

"I'll get them some food and drinks," said Martin.

As he left, Gerren joined Jem in his office. "What's up, boss?"

"I'm going to need you to go and keep an eye on Manuel for me. I trust him and the others to do their job, but I need you there to make sure that it goes smoothly."

"I'll go when I find out where the freelancers are," said Gerren. "If they're staying in Green Hill, no amount of fake ID is going to stop me from being recognised as the guy who helped two well-known criminals break out of prison."

"And I am thankful for it, but I need you to go out there and keep an eye on them. Do it in plain sight, if possible. Let them know you're there but don't let them know why. However you choose to do it, remember to tread lightly."

"I'll go when I know," said Gerren.

"And you'll know when I do," said Jem. He then felt a buzz and pulled his phone out. "Manuel and the others are heading out. Give them ten minutes and follow them to Green Hill. Find a place to stay low and don't reveal yourself until you know where to go next, if there is anywhere to go."

Gerren nodded, and after the time had passed, he left the room and went downstairs, passing Martin as the former cop brought food up for the Prowers. Gerren got into a car from the garage and made his way down to Green Hill, putting on a disguise that was in the car courtesy of Martin's contingencies.

At the freelancer headquarters...

Shadow had arrived at the headquarters, parking his hover-board and doing the usual security checks before going in, seeing Sonic washing some dishes and Knuckles watching the news about what happened the previous day with the supply truck takeover and the response from the civilians.

"Oh, hey," Sonic said, turning to see the black and red hedgehog walking in.

"Hey," Shadow replied. "Where's Tails?"

"He's not here yet," Knuckles answered. "We haven't seen him since yesterday."

"He hasn't called us," said Sonic. "I was actually thinking about leaving to go to his place to see if he was there."

"Well, it'd be better if we all went because I think that I have a plan of where to go next."

Knuckles flipped past the news and found a martial arts TV show. "What's the plan? Where are we going?"

"A friend of Calvin's from Star Light's gotten wind of a potential attack on Dingo," Shadow said. "It could be a follow-up to what already happened to Avery."

"It would make sense to attack the police commanders," Sonic said as he was drying his hands. "I don't agree with it, but we're still in the fallout of the attack on Avery. If Jem is going to go after the rest of them, now would be the time."

"I disagree," said Knuckles. "I think it's smarter that he holds back."

"Either way, it sucks and we should do all that we can to stop the attacks from happening," said Shadow. "But yeah, are we going?"

"Sure, we'll pick up Tails on the-"

"I did it!" Tails yelled from the doorway, running in. "I figured it out!" He paused, taking a breath and going over to the couch.

"Jeez, calm down, bro," Sonic said, dashing over to his friend. "Did you run all of the way here?"

"Halfway then I remembered that I have a hover-board," said Tails. "But it doesn't change the fact that I had a breakthrough last night!"

"That's great news, dude," Knuckles said. "What is it?"

"Well, I figured that if I can find a way to mess with the formula of Fokus and can put that into an implant, that'll make them practically useless by the time that we deliver them over to Jem."

Sonic gave an impressed smile. "That's actually a really good plan."

"Thank you," said Tails. "I... I did run into a problem, though."

"What's up?" Shadow asked.

"I called the department last night to see if they could help, but the only have half of the ingredients. I need DiPT and Devil's Breath. The department only has the ingredients for speedball."

"What about krokodil?" asked Sonic.

"I'm cutting that completely out of the equation," Tails said. "It's the most damaging drug anyway. If that gets mixed in with what I'm trying to do with the Restarter, it's not going to go well."

"At least you had that forethought last night," Shadow said.

"I actually only decided on it this morning," Tails replied. "I was a bit late trying to figure out what to cut out from the whole thing, and krokodil seemed like the most logical thing. Plus, if it stayed and if it did work with the Restarter, it'd completely kill the implants. And if it didn't kill those, it'd make things too obvious and Jem would catch on instantly."

"One step forward, two steps back," Shadow sighed. "Where are we even going to get the other drugs? They can't be easy to come by anyway due to how rare they are, especially DiPT."

"And with the riots, anyone could have any of those drugs," Knuckles added. "Worse, they could all be used up."

"Or they could be hoping to mix it to make Fokus," Shadow posited. "But we need a lead on something."

"All that I have is that Devil's Breath comes from a plant that's native to, of all places, Aqua Lake," Tails said. "The place where Avery is vacationing now that he's retired from police work."

"Well, isn't that just our fucking luck," Sonic said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We've already got one place to go today."

"What do you mean?" Tails asked, going over to the table in the living room to turn on the display.

"I got word from Calvin that shit might be going down in Star Light," Shadow said. "There's rumours of an attack on Dingo about to occur."

"What do we do, then?" Knuckles asked. "Split up into two groups of two? Two of us at Aqua Lake and the other two at Star Light?"

"No, we need to stick together," Sonic said. "Getting the Devil's Breath is more important, but we really need to find where DiPT could be. Aqua Lake isn't a place known for its drug culture. They don't even use the plant that makes up Devil's Breath over there as Devil's Breath."

"You'd think that we could just pick up any random criminal and ask them where drugs are," Sonic said.

Shadow's eyes widened. "Holy shit." He snapped his fingers. "Beau would know." He smiled. "How do you guys feel about coming over to Anti-Light?"

"Right now?" Knuckles asked.

"Right now," Shadow said. "You can meet Calvin. He's honestly a pretty cool guy."

Sonic looked at the others before nodding. "As long as we don't waste too much time up there, I don't see any harm in it."

"Are we even allowed at Anti-Light?" Tails asked.

"Well, Calvin knows that you know about it," Shadow pointed out. "But I guess that you've never been in the building before." He looked over at Knuckles. "Are you coming with us?" He teleported over as Knuckles turned up the television.

"And yesterday, the freelancers helped in the aftermath of an attack on a supply drop from Spring Yard," said the reporter. "Around half of the casualties sadly passed away in the incident, but several have survived and are recovering from their injuries at Green Hill Hospital."

"I thought that the reports would be over," said Sonic. "There was already a report about it yesterday."

"We wonder if the city can be safe these days," the reporter continued. "Ever since the freelancers have returned, there's been an attack once a day in Green Hill, and there seems to be little effort to mitigate the fallout of the riots which still continues to this day, a year and a half after a guard who worked at Green Hill Penitentiary allegedly helped former crime lord Nack the weasel to escape."

"Hey, we're doing our best," Knuckles said, turning off the news. "I never thought that our hometown news would slander us so."

"Well, you need people on both sides," Sonic said. "We're pretty popular right now because we just returned. It stands to reason that not everyone will like us."

"Fair enough," said the red echidna. "Let's get going."

The four all got up to leave the headquarters, with Sonic letting Shadow take the lead to take them to the Anti-Light agency. They didn't take long to get there, and Shadow opened the door and let the four in, making sure that they all parked their hover-boards inside as well as he walked to the centre hall, smiling.

"Well, what do you think?" the black and red hedgehog asked.

"Wow... it actually looks a lot better on the inside," said Tails. "You wouldn't know about any of this stuff just on the outside."

"That's the point," Shadow smiled. "We stay low but we work pretty big... well, as big as we can work while staying under the radar."

"Did you check this over with Calvin?" Knuckles asked. "He doesn't mind us being here, right?"

"Of course I don't," Calvin said from behind them. "You'll have to excuse me. I was grabbing a quick brunch and just heading back to the office. It's nice to meet the freelancers in person." He looked over to Sonic. "You must be their leader."

"I am," Sonic nodded, reaching to shake Calvin's hand. "It's nice to meet the man keeping Shadow in line."

"I do what I can, but he can be a bit rebellious at times," Calvin smiled.

"Don't we know it," Knuckles said.

"We're not going to be staying long," Shadow said. "We need to see Beau."

"Again?" Calvin asked. "But I thought that you talked to him this morning already?"

"I did, but some new information just reached our ears and we need his help," Shadow said. "This time he may be able to give us something useful for a change."

"Well, good luck," said the black and grey lion. "I've got to head to the gym and go to work."

"Wait, you have a job outside of this?" Tails asked. "I thought that you owned the place."

"I'm a personal trainer when I have free time," Calvin said. "Some of the other gym staff are undercover for other Anti-Light branches as well."

"Huh. Nice. Well, have a good day at work."

"I will, and good luck to you," Calvin said, giving a respectful wave before turning to leave.

"Wow, he is ridiculously nice," Sonic said. "But who's going to run stuff while he's out at the gym?"

"He's still running it, he's just not doing it from here," Shadow said. "The other agents at the gym with him will fake needing the bathroom or going to get equipment or water or something to relay stuff back and forth."

"Ooh, nice," Sonic said.

"Yeah." Shadow nodded. "Anyway, come on. Let's go see our old friend, the snake."

The other three followed the black and red hedgehog to the cells where Beau was being held, and Shadow nodded over at the two guards to wake Beau up. The Southern snake stretched a little bit and he rubbed his eyes when he looked over to see the other freelancers standing next to Shadow.

"Huh," Beau said. "Am I dead or did you bring some friends with you to help?"

"Nice to see you too," Tails said.

"We need your help," Shadow said. "You seem like the only option that we have."

"At this point, I literally am your only option," Beau smirked.

Shadow teleported over to grab the scruff of Beau's neck and he pulled him over to the table in the centre of the room, holding an arm behind his back. "You are so damn lucky that I'm getting some tools in very soon to torture the hell out of you, because I was kind of getting sick of breaking your nose over and over."

"This is a bit unwarranted, isn't it?" Beau asked, his eyes attempting to look up at the other freelancers. "You guys have to agree that this is a little bit excessive, right?"

"No," Sonic shrugged. "I mean... you've sold so many drugs to so many people. I'm really not feeling too sorry for you right now."

"If you had a good motivation that wasn't just following orders and because you like doing it, I might be able to forgive it," Tails added, "but you have to remember, I worked under you for a bit. I've never felt clean again since."

"Yeah, and I just do not fucking like you," Knuckles added.

Shadow gave a twist on the snake's arm. "You're going to give us some good information and you're going to give it to us now."

"Fuck, all right!" Beau said. "Don't break my arm over it! Just tell me what you want!"

"We need the ingredients for Fokus, and you seem to be the man who knows where to get them," Shadow asked. "Is this true?"

"I-It... could be..." Shadow gave another wrench to his arm. "F-Fuck, okay! I know!"

"Tell us."

"Okay, ahh... all right... the best place to get Devil's Breath is Aqua Lake..." He grunted as Shadow let off some of the pressure only to punch him in the side. "Ow, what the fuck? I'm telling the fucking truth!"

"I know, I just wanted to do that," Shadow said. "What about the rest of it?"

"Speedball can be easy to find in Scrap Metal if you know where to look," said Beau. "Krokodil is a bit trickier and it'll cost you a trip to some of Marble Stone's seedier parts to find the good shit. And DiPT is super hard to come by, but there's a seller in Spring Yard who knows how to shift it. A Mobian monkey named Persephone, or Persi for short."

"Is that it?" Shadow asked.

"Y-Yes, for fuck's sake!" Beau grunted. "You can get the ingredients for Speedball on any street corner since it's just coke and heroine mixed into one thing. But if you need the full package in one, you go to Scrap Metal."

"Do you have names for the sellers in Scrap Metal, Aqua Lake, and Marble Stone?" asked Tails.

"N-No, I never went that far out," Beau said. "Or I never got the chance to before I got caught..."

"Well, thank you for your cooperation," Shadow said, releasing Beau's arm and shoving him over to the guards so that they could put him back in his cell. "Congratulations, you dirty snake, you were finally useful to me for the first time since we caught you."

"Yeah, yeah, fuck you too," Beau grunted.

Shadow gave a sarcastic bow, much to the snake's chagrin, and he turned to leave with the others following him. The four of them were soon outside, waiting on their hover-boards before heading off for their headquarters. They soon got to the table in the centre of the room, all standing around it as Tails brought up the display.

"Okay, so, we're not going to Marble Stone since we're not using the Krokodil for what I've got planned," the two-tailed fox said, marking the cities that they were planning on going to. "And we have to go to Aqua Lake anyway."

"And of course Spring Yard is the key place to get the hardest drug of the bunch," Sonic sighed.

"So what's the plan, big man?" Knuckles asked.

"Well, we've got to go to Star Light first and make sure that Dingo is okay," Sonic said, reaching to pull Star Light up into focus, doing the same with Aqua Lake as well. "If we can squeeze it in, we'll go to Aqua Lake after. But when we do, we must do all in our power to not bother Avery and his wife. We're only going there to get some drugs anyway."

"We've got a lot of calling ahead to do, then," Shadow said.

"I'll make the calls," Sonic said. "Oh, and Shadow, good work with Beau today. I may not always agree with your methods, but I can't disagree with your results."

"I appreciate the compliment," Shadow nodded. "So, are we ready to go?"

"As long as we pick up some Jade Mountain on the way there," Knuckles said.

"They have a branch in Star Light," Tails pointed out.

"Oh. In that case, yes, we're ready," Knuckles replied.

Tails closed down the display and the four freelancers left their headquarters, locking it up and starting their ride towards Star Light.

And another chapter is done with minor action but still, it was fun to add in. I hope you liked this one as I always have fun with this story. Next will be a one-shot request and then after that will be more of this. Until then, take care, and stay tuned.