Manuel was waiting on the motorway with the fake freelancers in the back of the car, his fingers impatiently drumming on the steering wheel as the traffic was backed up. He needed to wait for an opportunity in the form of a call from Jem to update him, and he huffed out a breath and scratched the back of his head.

"How long do we have to wait?" Marla asked, impatiently kicking the floor of the car.

"We'll give it another half hour, and then if we don't see the freelancers come up here, we'll just go to Green Hill to wait, right?" Bruno asked.

"No, that'd be a stupid plan since we're still under heat for the supply truck attack yesterday," Manuel pointed out. "Did Jem not tell you guys what we were doing?"

"I remember he told us to wait until tonight," said Jude.

"He said to wait until tonight to deliver it," said Manuel. "We still need to prepare, though."

"That explains why we're stuck in this traffic jam," Marla huffed. "I want to get some food... I'm hungry as hell."

"And we still don't know where the freelancers are," Taylor added. "It's pointless. We're sitting on our thumbs and we could get recognised."

"You all wear masks," Manuel pointed out. "And we all brought some with us. Also, if you sit on your thumbs all of the time, you're surely going to get recognised. That's a weird habit."

"We should still go get lunch," said Jude. "There'll be an opening in the traffic jam... ah, there we go!" He looked ahead to see some cars moving forward."

"All right, there's a burger place in Green Hill," Manuel said. "We'll swing by, get food, and get out."

"We are also hungry," said Grigori. "Burgers sound good."

"I don't know if I have the money to get us all burgers," said Manuel.

"Then just get us some road snacks from a petrol station," said Taylor.

"The next one isn't for miles," Grigori lamented.

"Fine, you want burgers? We'll get your fucking burgers," Manuel sighed.

"We have money to pay," said Sacha. "I'll take charge as well. It makes us less suspicious."

"Good plan," Manuel said. "All right, hop up in the driver's seat, big guy."

Sacha quickly hopped out of the car and went to the driver's seat, switching over for the black bull and taking the driver's seat. When there was a bit of space in the traffic, he peeled out and made his way for Green Hill, driving to the nearest small burger place that he could reach. He took a quick order in and paid for the meal at the drive-thru before stepping on the pedal and making his way fast to a hiding spot near the motorway.

"All right, this is a good place to park up," said Sacha. "Let's eat first before we move."

"You guys can eat if you want," Manuel said. "We've got a mission to do."

"So, what, you're not hungry?" asked Grigori. "We can wait to find out where they're going."

"I'm just saying, we need eyes on the freelancers to find out where they're going," Manuel said.

"Well, how about one of us asks around?" Bruno suggested. "We could see where they went."

"Then one of you will have to do it," Manuel said. "I might get recognised. And we don't exactly have the technology to tap into radio waves or anything." It was then that his phone rang, and he picked it up and answered it. "Hello?"

"Manuel, it's Gerren," the former penitentiary guard said.

"Gerren? What the hell are you calling me for? And how did you get service from all the way out there in Westopolis?"

"I'm not in Westopolis," Gerren said. "Jem sent me to watch out for you in case you needed backup."

"I've got six other people in this car with me," Manuel said. "How the hell did we not notice you tailing us?"

"Jem told me to give you a ten minute head start," Gerren shrugged. "Anyway, I'm giving you an update on where the freelancers are. I spotted them on their hover-boards and followed them up the motorway a bit. They're heading for Star Light."

"Any reason why?" Manuel asked.

"Well, I would have asked but I think that they would have noticed me," Gerren said. "Where are you?"

"We're under the bridge eating lunch," said the bull. "I'll save one of my burgers for you."

"Ooh, I appreciate that," said Gerren. "I'll wait for you to come up."

"Later," Manuel said, hanging up and turning to the others. "That was Gerren. Jem send him as backup and we just got an update. The freelancers are at Star Light."

"We better move," said Taylor.

"We can wait until tonight to send the message," said Jude. "But we likely don't know if they'll be in the same place..."

"We'll head up and gather information," Manuel said with a sigh. "Eat up."

The group all finished their food as fast as they could without rushing it, and Sacha eventually pulled up to the motorway, driving up the road that led to Star Light's entrance. On the way there, they saw a car up ahead flash its lights, so Sacha hit the brakes as Gerren gave a wave from the car that flashed. He drove in front of them, essentially leading them down to Star Light City proper. He'd given an ID in, as did Sacha when he passed through, and Gerren found a car park to settle at with Sacha following suit.

They remained in their cars before Gerren got out of his and went over to Manuel and the others. "So what do we do now?"

"We need to track the freelancers," said Grigori. "Find out what they're doing here and where their path is."

"And do you suggest that we just ask around?" Gerren asked.

"If we ask the right people, then maybe," Manuel said. "I'm pretty sure that some of the people that broke out of Green Hill Penitentiary have wound up here."

"We have time to do it as well," Taylor pointed out. "We're sending the message to the freelancers tonight, after all. We don't have to go after them right now. Seeing what they're up to could be a great way to kill time."

"All right, but we play it safe," said Manuel. "Three hours. That's the time I'm giving you guys, and even after you find out what's up, you find other ways to fill that time unless something comes up."

"We should split into teams, then," said Gerren. "Four teams of two. Manuel, I'm with you."

"I won't argue with that," the bull said. "The Russians can stick together too."

"Actually, we will be the anchor point," said Sacha. "We'll hang back and report if we see anything close by."

"And also," Grigori added, "we're the most likely to get recognised by the freelancers. We need to stay low more than anyone, even with Martin's fake IDs and disguises. We can't hide our accents too well."

"We should get Martin to look into some voice coding of some sort when we get back," Taylor said. "Anyway, I'm tagging with Marla."

"I'll go with Bruno, then," said Jude.

"Three hours," Manuel pointed out. "Be back here by then. Grigori and Sacha will call us if shit goes down."

He then left with the others all following suit, Manuel and Gerren heading more north of the city, Taylor and Marla going west, and Jude and Bruno going east as Grigori and Sacha sat back in the car, keeping their heads low so that they wouldn't get recognised in case the freelancers stopped by.

In the heart of the city, the freelancers parked their boards up outside of the Star Light Police Department and looked at the building from the outside. There appeared to have been signs of a struggle as one of the front windows was shattered, and Sonic took a look inside to see the receptionist finishing a call and putting the phone down with a sigh, a small smile touching her cheeks as she saw the freelancers.

"It's good to see you boys," she said. "I take it that you heard of the situation?"

"We heard that Dingo might be attacked," said Knuckles. "Did we miss it? Is he okay?"

"He will be if you follow my instructions," said a voice.

Confused as to the source of it, Sonic turned to look behind himself. "Hello?"

"Sonic," Tails said, tapping the blue hedgehog's shoulder and getting him to turn around to see the front desk.

From behind it, a familiar figure rose, an African American male who Sonic recognised as Keegan. He rose up and held a handgun to the receptionist's hip, standing up with her and putting his own face more in the light. He appeared to have a bit more scarring on the left side of his face, and he gave a twisted snarling grin at the freelancers.

"I can't believe that you dumb fucks fell for it," Keegan said. "I set the bait and you bit like the worms that you are."

"What do you want, Keegan?" Shadow asked. "We put your ass away a long time ago."

"You did, and after the Green Hill riots, I got busted out of prison," Keegan smirked. "I've been pretty busy in the time between, selling drugs, killing fuckwits who try to stop me from selling drugs, the usual." He leered at Shadow. "I heard what you did to Zayd. That was fucked up, man."

"Hey, I didn't-"

"We've been through that," Sonic said. "That wasn't down to him. He didn't know what would happen and he's been pardoned for it."

"I don't give a shit if he was made the new patron saint of the planet!" Keegan yelled. "But you guys arrived just in the nick of time."

"How did you even set this up?" Shadow asked. "There's no way that you could have known about... uh..."

"The Black Market?" Keegan offered. "I started hearing about it pretty quick after I got out of prison. I rolled with a couple of groups here and there to push shit around but didn't stick with any of them for too long. But you know how it goes. Someone tells someone something who tells someone that same thing... eventually that found its way to me. I heard someone in Star Light was associated with it, so I rolled with a group of other dealers, most of whom escaped from Green Hill Penitentiary. One of them wanted to set up an attack on the police station here but he got caught out by some snitch... so I'm carrying on the plans."

"What did you do with the snitch?" asked Tails.

"Oh, he's upstairs right now with some of the others I'm rolling with. They've got the commander all tied up. And if you all come quietly, this'll be over nice and easy."

Sonic was about to object, but he heard guns cocking behind him, so he closed his eyes. "I'm guessing that we don't have a choice." He put his hands up, the others following suit.

"Upstairs. Now."

Shadow felt a nudge against his back which he guessed was a gun, and he followed the others up the stairs, trailing behind the others as Keegan took the receptionist up as well. They kept going up the stairs, eventually being led to Commander Dingo's office which looked in a state of disrepair from a struggle. Dingo himself was on his knees with several guns pointed at him, and several officers were with him, including the familiar faces of Spencer, Walsh, and Cameron.

"Good to see you, mates," Dingo said. "Sorry it's not under good circumstances."

"How have things been going?" Tails asked.

"Pretty great, apart from these cunts breaking in, smashing up the station, and taking me hostage," Dingo replied, getting a smack in the side of the head.

"Shut the fuck up," said a thug.

"What's even the plan from you guys?" Cameron asked.

"Hold you all for ransom and make a ton of money," Keegan stated simply. "But first, I want the snitch to stand up." He walked to a young Mobian dog wearing clothes that seemed to match those of the thugs, and he stood him up. "Tell them what you did."

"I... I let slip that one of these guys wanted to attack Dingo. But they got to me first and put me up here with the others."

"Maybe we should just start shooting now and save time," said the gunman behind Shadow.

"I agree," said the one behind Knuckles.

The four freelancers were knocked to the ground by the men behind them, and all four of their attackers aimed guns at the back of their heads... before aiming them up to fire at Keegan's thugs. They didn't miss and managed to knock them down, and the dog that had been lifted up by Keegan ducked to the ground as the other Star Light personnel also kept their heads down.

Shadow looked up in the middle of the gunfire, seeing any remaining thugs falling to the ground, and he was surprised to not see any blood before reminding himself that nonlethal rounds were a possibility. He saw Keegan picking up Dino, and the drug dealer put a gun to the Star Light commander's head and snarled.

"Stop firing or I put an end to him!" Keegan yelled. "I don't know what the fuck you guys are thinking, but I will plug him right here!"

Shadow shook his head and teleported forwards, appearing behind Keegan and grabbing his gun arm, pushing it behind his back and twisting it before spinning him and tripping him over, taking his gun from him in the process. He stood over Keegan and aimed his own gun down at him, pulling back on the hammer.

"Look," Shadow said, "we've got a lot of places to go, a terrorist crime lord who keeps killing people and has some very important people locked up, and we're facing a lot of bad publicity as time keeps going. One thing that I did not need today was your bullshit, so you'd better tell us what you're doing here."

"I told you, we were here to attack the commander," Keegan said.

"What for?" Sonic asked as he and the others were helping the other officers get up. "And where are the other officers in the building?"

"They're off out helping with supply runs," Dingo said. "It's been a problem, lately. Every department's been sending their own people out to help with the relief efforts, but it leaves them understaffed. We sent some help out to Aqua Lake today, which is a long trip around."

"And you did that knowing about the rumours of an attack?" Sonic asked.

"I didn't know about any attack," Dingo said. "Star Light has one of the lowest crime rates of any city. I didn't hear anything about it."

"I wanted to tell you," the dog said, "but I got caught out and wound up a hostage with the rest of you."

"Yeah, I only heard about it when I started rolling with the guys that you all just killed," Keegan said.

"They're not dead," said one of the gunmen behind the freelancers.

"Who the hell are you guys?" Keegan asked.

"Well... legally, we can't tell you," said the gunman. "Shadow?"

The black and red hedgehog sighed and put Keegan into a choke, holding onto it until he went to sleep before letting his body lay unconscious on the floor. "Is that good enough for you?"

"I'll admit, I'm as curious as that dickhead was," Walsh said. "Who are you guys?"

"You don't need to know," said the gunman. "You just need to know that we're on the good guys' side. Same with that dog."

"We've got to go," said one of the other gunmen. "We need to report back."

"No, no, not yet," Dingo said. "Mates, I was being held for ransom and I could have been killed. I thank you for you help, but I'd like to know who you are. And how do you know who Shadow is?"

Shadow turned to the gunmen, smiling as he saw their faces and finally recognised a couple of them. "Can I... you know?"

"All right... but it doesn't leave this room..."

"Yeah, we said that when Shadow told us about you guys," Sonic said with a chuckle.

"I work with them," Shadow said. "We're part of a secret group, sort of black ops kind of stuff named Anti-Light. They were made to try and stop The Black Market, but they help others as well. It let me find some form of bounty hunting work after the freelancers had to go into forced hiatus because of... yeah."

"Wow," Dingo said. "Well... you have my word, mates. I won't tell a soul."

"Neither will we," Spencer added, looking over at the dog. "Are you with them too?"

"Yeah... I'm new," the dog said.

"We'll be taking Keegan with us as well," said one of the Anti-Light agents. "We know that he's on your soil. He's literally in your station, in fact. But he knows about The Black Market, so we need that information from him."

"Hey, as long as it helps, you can take him," said Dingo. "It's the most work we've had in a while anyway. And thanks again for your help. We won't tell anyone about you."

The agents nodded and picked up Keegan, taking him out of the office and carrying him with them to a car that they had parked nearby. They put Keegan in said car and drove away from the station, Shadow looking out of the window to see them driving away before his eyes found Rouge looking up at him. She gave a wave to him and he gave a small nod as a way of saying thanks.

"I'm glad that you boys showed up," Dingo said. "I don't think we would have had an exit strategy if things properly kicked off."

"How did you even hear about an attack anyway?" Walsh asked.

"A friend at Anti-Light told us," said Shadow. "I'm guessing that the young dog was the one who conveyed it."

"Shame about what happened, though," Tails said. "Is anyone hurt?"

"Thankfully, no," Cameron said. "Just a bit roughed up but nothing that requires a hospital visit."

"I'll go call some people to help fix up the windows," said Spencer as the other Star Light officers started taking the thugs down to the holding cells.

"I'm surprised that Keegan didn't try to break anyone out of the cells," said Knuckles.

"There's hardly anyone down there," said Dingo. "There's only a couple of prisoners. But Keegan didn't even seem bothered at all with them. He just stormed up with his men and took us all up here until you showed up, pretty much."

"I can't believe that we fell for his trap," Knuckles said. "It was just a delay from what we're actually trying to do."

"What is that, exactly?" Spencer asked.

"Well, did you hear that Tails' parents were kidnapped by Jem?" the red echidna asked.

"I did," said Dingo. "Sorry about that, mate."

"Well, Jem wants all of the implants that Tails' family were sitting on, but our smart two-tailed fluffy friend here is coming up with a plan to get Fokus to mess around with the implants."

"That way, they won't work as Jem wants them to, if at all," Tails said. "He's also working with people who gave out street implants before. So the fact that he's stepping up to properly factory made ones really worries me. And the fact that he's putting my parents' lives in his hands to try and get them..."

Dingo put a hand on the fox's shoulder. "Mate, we'll help however we can."

"Thank you," Tails nodded. "I wish the jurisdiction rules were all but banished. I hate that you can't go outside of it to help us."

"If you need backup or anything to help, we'll take that risk," Dingo said. "You know that."

Tails smiled. "Yeah... I do. We don't deserve people like you sometimes, Dingo. Oh, and thanks for sending Alec those whips."

"Ah, you're quite welcome," the Star Light commander replied. "Have you figured them out yet?"

"Not really," said Sonic. "We need to set something up with Vector and the others, but we've got to head out to Aqua Lake next."

"That's a long trip and I won't keep you any longer," Dingo said. "And if you bump into Avery over there, give him a hello from me."

"We're actually hoping to let him enjoy his vacation," Sonic said. "But... eh, it's probably going to happen anyway. You take care, all right?"

The commander gave a wave to the freelancers as they left, hopping onto their boards and preparing to ride off to the Star Light docks to get to Aqua Lake. They went to the shipbroker at the docks and managed to rent a boat for Aqua Lake, and despite how far away they were from the city, they began their trip over there as Sonic pulled out his phone to call the commander.

"Hello? Butcher?"

Butcher answered on the other end with his usually cheery voice. "Hey, Sonic! It's good to hear from you! It's been a while. I hope things are going all right."

"They are, yeah," Sonic said. "We need passage into Aqua Lake, but we won't be there long."

"Passage is granted," Butcher replied. "Where are you? You sound pretty far out."

"We just left Star Light, we're on our way to you," the blue hedgehog said. "It's awesome that you got promoted to commander, by the way."

"Same to Lupe," Butcher said. "That's a big load of work to take on, but I have faith in her. See you in a few, friend."

As both men hung up, Shadow smiled. "Always nice when he speaks up, huh?"

Meanwhile, stood on the edge of the docks were Jude and Bruno, the latter of whom pulled out his own phone and waited a few moments before Manuel answered. "Hello?"

"What do you have for me?" asked the bull.

"The freelancers just left the docks. They're going to Aqua Lake. What's the plan?"

"The plan is to stay put until they get back," Manuel said. "Come back to the car park. I'll let the others know."

Bruno nodded and hung up before relaying the information to Jude, and the two would walk their way back to the car park where Sacha and Grigori were parked down. On the way over, they saw a couple more supply trucks coming and going, but they knew that they had to keep their heads down, and they soon made it back to where the Russians were parked as everyone else joined them as well.

"All right, situation report," Manuel said. "Go."

"Me and Marla didn't turn up a lot," said Taylor.

"Me and Manuel were bone dry as well," Gerren replied. "I know that this city has a low crime rate, but it's so damn boring when nothing happens."

"The freelancers are going to Aqua Lake," said Bruno. "We don't know why as we only caught them leaving the docks, but they wouldn't go on a boat just to back to Green Hill."

"Do we follow them up there?" asked Marla.

"No, we should hang back," said Manuel.

"Well, we can't stay in the car park all day," said Bruno. "People are going to get suspicious."

"We'll go to Green Hill, then," said Manuel. "We still have time to deliver the message, and there's no point launching an attack if they're not going to be over there long."

"And there's no point attacking a place where they're not," said Gerren. "So... what do we do?"

"We split in half," said Manuel. "Four of us will stay here, the others will go to Green Hill. Whichever city those guys go back to is where we'll attack."

"All right, who goes where?" asked Grigori.

"I'll stay here," Manuel said. "And... Sacha, Marla, and Taylor are with me."

"I'd like to sub in for Taylor, actually," said Gerren.

Manuel rose an eyebrow. "I'm not saying no, but I'd like to ask why."

"Does it matter? We've got capable enough people at both ends," said Gerren.

"I'm fine with the swap, as confused as I am about it," Taylor admitted.

"Fine, just get moving," said Manuel.

Taylor, Jude, Bruno, and Grigori left to get into one of the cars, starting their drive out of the city as the remaining four people gathered around the other car, with Manuel getting in and driving it out of the car park and heading towards the docks. They found a place to stay low where they wouldn't get noticed, and Manuel cleared his throat before turning to look at the people in the back of the car.

"Sacha, Marla, would you two mind leaving for a bit?" he asked. "I need to have a talk with Gerren."

Gerren looked over to the bull as the other two left. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Manuel scoffed. "You've been insisting on sticking around me all day. You weren't even told to come out here by Jem at first, so I've been wondering why the fuck you're here since you met up with us on the motorway."

"What, I can't come out here and support a friend?" Gerren asked.

"No, because we're not friends," said Manuel.

"Wow. Hurtful."

"Stop deflecting and joking, for fuck's sake," Manuel huffed. "Why are you even out here?"

"Okay, Jem sent me," Gerren said. "Just to watch over you."

"Watch over me?" Manuel asked. "Does he not trust me? I've carried out his instructions as I've been told."

"You've also been hiding from the world and seeking refuge in whores every night since Lara died," said Gerren. "You can't blame the man for thinking that you're not ready to come back yet."

"Did he say that to you?"

"Not directly, but I get why he's worried. If he even gets worried. I'm surprised he hasn't gunned you down yet, honestly."

"You really know how to lift someone's spirits," Manuel sighed.

"Well, I'm about to make you really happy," Gerren said. "Because if you fuck up today, you don't have to worry about Jem killing you. I'll do it myself."

"Can we bring the kids back in now?" Manuel asked.

"And you accuse me of deflecting," said Gerren, peeking his head out of the window. "We're done talking. You can come back in the car now."

"We were talking and we want to get some food while we wait," said Marla.

"Yes, we'd like some snacks," Sacha agreed.

"This isn't a fucking stakeout," said Manuel.

"It isn't?" asked Gerren. "We're sat in an out of sight place in a car waiting for someone to come up to the docks. I'll bet that Grigori's group got snacks."

"Okay, fine, we'll get some snacks," Manuel sighed. "It's like driving a bunch of kids around, I swear."

At Anti-Light...

Calvin stood in his office as Sally spoke to him on the phone. "We can't do that, I'm afraid."

"I know, because we can't give ourselves away," Sally sighed. "But we can't just let Tails' parents rot in Westopolis while he runs around trying to get what he needs to screw over Jem."

"There's a reason why we're underground," said Calvin. "This is more than a matter of us getting seen. We could lose a lot of agents."

"You sent people up to get Maria's body when she was killed up there," Sally said.

"And you weren't one of those people," said Calvin. "You were hurt, remember?"

"Sonic was in a car accident with his friends and they got fired from their jobs as soon as they got them!" Sally yelled. "But they got the chance to make things right. Even with their recent and horribly misplaced bad publicity, they're still heroes. We just provide backup or kill important targets. I feel like a glorified hit-woman."

Sally sighed. ""I'm not saying that we need to go out there and put our faces out there and become media darlings, but if we want more people to help, we need to do something."

"All that we can do is help and plan," Calvin said. "Jem is a very dangerous man with a very dangerous implant. And we have a man of his own in our cells here."

"A man who doesn't know anything," Sally said.

"Look, the plan to get him here in the first place took a lot of careful planning," Calvin said. "It wasn't as simple as dangling a carrot in front of him and waiting for him to bite, especially after Nack and Lara's deaths."

"Yeah... you're right," Sally sighed. "Ooh, the nap is almost. I need to keep being a responsible teacher."

"Have fun," Calvin said.

"Weirdly, I often do," said Sally as she and her boss. She smiled at the kids as they woke up. "Who's up for some finger painting?"

The kids all cheered, and they were happy that their last lesson of the day was another fun one. A couple of hours later, their parents had come to pick them up, and Sally got her stuff packed as well as she saw Amy walking outside. She gave a wave to the pink hedgehog who was on the phone herself, so the squirrel walked closer to listen to the last bits of the conversation.

"Wow... it's a long way out," Amy said. "Okay... yeah, I'll order in. Let me know whenever you get back... okay. I love you." She smiled when Sonic said it back. "See you later."

"And they call it hedgehog love," Sally sang, teasingly.

Amy shook her head. "That was my man that used to be your man. He's out in Aqua Lake right now."

"Aqua Lake? What's he doing out there?"

"Apparently, getting drugs," said Amy. "Something to do with the implants that Jem wants."

"Huh," Sally said.

"Oh, and they went to Star Light. The station got messed up pretty badly, but nobody was killed," Amy said.

"Thank goodness," Sally said. "So, I take it that you have plans?"

"I'm just going to vegetate at home for a bit, maybe do some cleaning, might swing by the Midnight Oil and say hi to Rosy before I order in for me and Sonic," Amy shrugged. "You?"

"I'm heading to the Midnight Oil myself to see Shadow and Rouge," said Sally. "We're going to seeing how the black and red miser's been doing lately."

"He does have a good reason to be sad, you know," Amy said, checking her bag. "Shit..."

"What?"

"My medicine... I've only got tomorrow's ones left. I need to go pick some up."

"I would come with you, but I really need to report back to Calvin," Sally said. "I'm going to go meet Rouge anyway, which is pretty far from the pharmacy."

"I appreciate it anyway," Amy said. "And also, we got here in separate cars. It'd be weird to just take one to get my pills." She went to her car and got in, starting up the engine. "See you tomorrow!"

"Take care!"

Sally waved as the pink hedgehog drove off, soon getting into her own car and making her way into the city. She drove over to the Emerald Gem Jewellers where Rouge worked, and she parked outside before walking in as someone was buying something from Rouge. The white bat smiled and thanked the customer before he thanked her back and turned to leave with what he'd purchased.

"That guy seemed happy," said Sally.

"He scraped up the money to get his other half an engagement ring. A pretty pricey one at that." She smiled. "It was in the same price line that Sonic's ring for Amy cost."

"Ooh, that is a hell of a rock," Sally said.

Rouge lifted her lip in a half-smile. "So... you ever think about it?"

"What, getting married?" Sally asked. "Eh, maybe one day. If the right man comes along and all that."

"How do you know that it wasn't Sonic?" Rouge asked.

"What me and Sonic had was fun, but I wanted more than he was willing to give. And of course, by then, Anti-Light roped me in." She chuckled. "What's bringing this about?"

"I guess I'm just jealous that you're not jealous of Sonic being with Amy," Rouge said.

"Did you ever get jealous when Shadow was with Maria?"

"Not really," Rouge said. "Anti-Light basically served as a form of rehab for me after we broke apart. We were never in a proper relationship, and I was way too immature to be in one."

"Well, what about now that you're sober and more mature?" Sally asked. "Plus, you both work at the same place."

"There are times where I have thought about it," Rouge replied. "But after Maria died... it's not been easy on him."

"Hopefully tonight will help him feel a bit better, then," Sally said. "We're still on for that, right?"

"We sure are," Rouge said. "Unless you've got any plans that changed?"

"No, but I'm worried that Calvin might be angry at me," Sally said. "I tried to convince him to push an attack on Westopolis."

"Well, that was stupid," Rouge giggled. "But he's not an angry person. He just wants to maintain a level of professionalism."

"I know, but I just want us to do something more," said Sally. "I mean, Sonic did it on his own."

"Yeah, and he was poisoned as a result and he almost died," said Rouge. "That's sort of his thing, isn't it? Take big risks and just barely succeed with his life."

"In that case, I wish him and Amy the happiest of marriages."

"I'm telling her you said that," Rouge giggled.

"You bitch, you... actually, you totally would," Sally smiled.

"Yep. And I totally should get back to my fake work," Rouge replied. "Unless you want to buy something?"

"Hmm... no, but maybe we could work on a present for Shadow?" Sally suggested. "Tomorrow, though. I should get back to the base."

"I'll talk with Alphonse and see what I can get done." She looked behind Sally to see Antoine walking up to the counter. "Ah, hello, officer. How can I help you today?"

"I'm looking for an engagement ring," Antoine said. "I... I want to marry Bunnie."

"That is so precious," Sally gushed. "I'm so happy for you!" She hugged the coyote and smiled. "It sucks that I have to leave, but give Bunnie my best when you see her!"

The brown squirrel then walked out and got into her car, starting it up to drive back to Anti-Light. She got in to see some people walking down the hall which led to the cells, and she curiously followed them as they carried someone to a holding cell opposite of where a sleeping Beau was being held.

"Who's this guy?" Sally asked.

"Keegan," said one of the guards. "He was trying to take over Star Light Police Department. We had some backup out there to stop it."

"Keegan... as in the drug dealer that worked with Zayd?" Sally asked.

"The very same," said the guard.

"Well... this just got a lot more interesting."

And another one of these is done. Felt like a bit of a filler chapter in places but I'm happy with how it turned out. Next is another one-shot request and then some more of this after that. Until then, take care, and stay tuned.