I own nothing of the Sonic Franchise or the characters presented here.

7: Corpus Delicti

(Body of the evidence)

He could smell it.

Biting the inside of his lower lip that he hoped Julie couldn't see, his hands akimbo at his belted black slacks, holding back his black suit jacket exposing his dark blue buttoned up shirt, his compact blaster tucked in a black leather holster on his left side, his legs spread apart with a pair of black shoes that looked as if they were for casual business dress, but were in fact meant for maritime assault that Brass had recommended as a everyday shoe incase he needed to run or chase down someone that could take the abuse. As he narrowed his piercing blue eyes through his thin avator sunglasses at the crime scene in front of him, Remington could smell the cordite intermingled with the smell of antifreeze that he remarked smelled almost the same as it had in on Mobius. But the lingering stench he had grown to know from when Eggman had taken Angel Island with the help of the Dingoes. Burned flesh. Fur. Internal organs. Blood.

Death.

It was pungent even underlaying amongst the rest of the corse fragrants.

He looked over to Julie-Su who was also surveying the crime scene. Yellow police tape extended from the west side of the street to behind her, with wooden barricades keeping onlookers and the growing media cameras at bay. In her shooter's white gloved hands was her tablet, holding it just at her waist as she had her head turned towards the split in half black stretch limo.

"Any matches?" he asked, tempering his voice so as not to sound like his former constable self. But it felt as if he failed in that endeavor.

She turned her head and looked down, only shaking her head after lifting it up to him.

And it was just as well, he thought, casting his eyes down to the large boot print in the black dirt in the divided median of grass and trees he was straddling over, his black shoes just behind the curb on the westbound brick street. He had seen this tread pattern before...and it was not native to Earth. And the size was also disconcerting for him. Fourteen...maybe fifteen wide.

Taking his right hand, he let his brown furred fingers trace through his short, yet thick black hair, pushing away his dark brows for which he could thank his late father, Grandmaster Kragok for passing on to him. But no cybernetics. He gave a casting look to Julie with the thought. There, he had to thank her equal for saving him from that misery and for giving his memories back, though the Guardian was not himself when he had. And right there, and he with a heavy hear felt guilty for not wanting it just for Julie's tortured soul, he wished their Knuckles was with them. He could even go for Locke, or any of the other elder Guardian's right that instant. He needed their council for what was foreboding below him.

"It won't find a match, Jay-Ess."

Julie looked up. "How so?"

He only shook his head. "The tread pattern...it's from Mobius." He looked to her. "I'm pretty positive that it's Dingo."

They held each other's stare before Julie turned to look behind her; Remington to his left.

He had seen the picture of the lead SUV on it's side, though now it had been placed back on its flattened, burned tires, the doors open, the windscreen busted, the driver side window caved outward from what he knew was the driver's human head that had slammed against it from the impact. Of what caused it to be blown over on its side; he looked left to where Saffron was hunched over, her yellow dress and bomber jacket on as she was leaning over on the passenger side with a tanned skinned human in a blue crime scene technicians uniform, both wearing latex gloves, picking something out close to the engine bay and fire wall.

The front half of the limo rested in the eastbound street also got his attention, the black hood concaved in from the impact of a male fox. The lead detective, a racoon in a blue suit, of the Station Square Police Department–and a stern, professional individual, Remington added–had said the fox was pronounced dead at the scene before the coroner arrived to take his, and the what was left of the other six bodies away.

Died from a high fall, he whispered dryly in his head.

Looking up, Remington lifted his left hand to shield his eyes even with his dark sunglasses on. He wished he still had his old broad brimmed constable hat to aid. In fact, he felt slightly vulnerable without his E.S.T. badge, only using his new G.U.N. credentials for the first time outside of the base, or CLIP, to gain access inside the crime scene. The building across the street was only two stories tall with Mrs. Baliey's Cupcakes below it. To the right of it was Station Shoes, its display window for outside onlookers blown in with the shards lying on the inside, with a chunk of the wooden shelving smashed, and a hole in the drywall on the other side.

"Something tore through the limo and exited through there," he said, motioning with his right hand. Julie nodded, taking her tablet and snapping another photo of the broken window before taking the stylist and scribbling down his observation.

A thought from her doing this made his head turn to the red furred echidna wearing a blue long sleeve buttoned up top with black pants next to Baliey's Cubcakes front entrance. Teri-Lu was talking to a blue uniformed officer, a black wolf, both looking around at their feet as they did so. Three, maybe five years ago, it was Teri that was his assistant, taking his calls, scheduling appointments. And yet, here in another time, another planet, she was still carrying on her duties from when they all had worked together.

As for his aunt, where his eye strayed to, Was she picking up where she left off?

Ten, maybe eleven years apart by birth, her defection out of love and conscience had her working with him back in Echindalopis. And here...?

He wavered to ask her. He had enough evidence to make speculation. Yet, he could hear his old mentor, Constable Holmes, the elder echidna giving the young officer Remington caution in throwing out speculation on a whim.

The boot print he was straddled over kept scratching at his instincts.

A black car caught the corner of his eye, beckoning him to turn his head to the right passed Julie. It parked just close to one of the news vans about fifty yards and a car length away. The twin red stripes down the center of the black painted sleek body of the car matched the red accents to Shadow's black quills when he stepped out from the drivers seat, closing the door and walking to the police line. Remington saw him present his G.U.N. identification to the perimeter officers from the inside of his black suit jacket. He still wore a black shirt. Still unbuttoned enough to expose his white chest fur, his white air thruster shoes under his black slacks being the only odd piece of his attire.

Checking his digital watch, Remington nearly gave a scoff seeing the time was nearly eight o'clock. "Isn't interesting that we have to be on time, but Shadow can just show up when he wants to?"

Julie turned her head and body from looking at Rykor across the street from behind them to see the black hedgehog nearing the blown out SUV, its tires also flattened from the fire, the doors open, the rear passenger door having a large hole center punched inwards. Remington also followed her gaze as the hedgehog approached–

"Hey, Shadow!" Both Remington, Julie-Su and Shadow turned their gaze to the other side of the avenue towards Rykor, his burgundy fur blending well with his dark blue suit and black shirt. "Can you close the doors to the SUV, please?"

Shadow nodded and did what Rykor had asked, but not before looking on the inside of the vehicle. It took some effort from the hedghog, but the creaking of the door and Remington able to hear it latch shut when Shadow forced the door shut before stepping away from it, still holding a gaze towards Rykor as he stood, observing. Remington did the same, witnessing the former Dark Legionnaire raising his hands up like he was holding a shoulder fired weapon; his right mimicking of holding a pistol grip and trigger, the other supporting the tube at the front. Legion issued ST-Seven's, Remington surmised. He had held and used them himself. Once as the Grandmaster of the Frost Legion...and a few times when he, Julie, and Lien-Da had ambushed an unsuspecting group of Nocturious Clan members on a contested habitation platform in the Twilight Cage. Echidna's like us...

"Thank you!" Rykor called out, giving Shadow a thumbs up.

"At least Rykor is being polite," Julie said in passing, her attention holding to the black hedgehog.

Yet, the hedgehog never nodded or said anything. Instead he walked up to Remington and Julie-Su, watching his steps as he crossed over the raised grassy berm of the median.

"What do we have?"

Remington tightened his jaw and twisted his head down. "Oh, com'on," he breathed in an annoyed, sarcastic tone. "Do you have to state off with that cliche', buddy-cop line?"

Shadow canted his head, furrowing his brow. "What do you mean...I just asked what do we have?"

Remington fought to keep his head from sulking from the comment. "Yeah, I know, and it's just a stupid troupe. I mean," he evened his stare, but let his mouth form an even broader sarcastic gape, "could you just add some sunglasses and take them off when you say it?" Julie was now hiding a smirk, turning her head away from her partner, who was now becoming perturbed with a stern face. "And you suppose to add a little swagger to it as well," Remington went on, dropping his right foot back, bringing up his hand and took off his sunglasses before dropping his breathless voice to a low monotone, "what'd we got?"

Shadow kept his eyes to him, never blinking, never easing his firm visage of annoyance. And Julie nearly lost it when he asked in a voice filled with a tight edge:

"So...what do we have?"

Turning almost in a half circle, Remington kept his left hand on his waist, fighting to keep his own laughter at bay, yet his own annoyance filled his posture. "Geeze, you and my wife must watch the same stupid cop dramas that she's fallen in love with here–"

Shadow took in one breath before he abruptly turned completely around, avoiding Julie's stare, and began to walk away from them and towards the torn in half limo, fist clenched, his shoulders stiff.

A short moment passed between the two echidnas.

"Rem–could you please not piss off my partner this morning?"

It wasn't so much the way she had said it to him that made him nearly turn his head in a sudden manner to her, but it had been her critical eyes to him that pulled him not only back from his newly discovered quipping demeanor, but back further to when he had become acquainted with Julie, even before they knew the truth of their relation to each other. Her brows were furrowed not so much in a scoff...but in a sympatric hurt. He had seen it before; and it grabbed him with a surge that brought with it a whisper of worry. This wasn't some annoyance that she feared she would be working with a pissed off Shadow the rest of the day no thanks to Remington trying to lighten the mood, along with seeing how Shadow could take a little ribbing from him. No, her voice had come off chilled, not bitter or angry. And her stare to him was the same when he made his first demeaning commit about Knuckles' naivety...or about Locke sticking too much to old Guardian dogmas.

Julie had become defensive...and of Shadow; protective of him in her posture and visage.

That...was quick, he breathed with puzzled astonishment in his mind.

Course, he had to reflect on how quick she had become not only part of the Chaotix, but how she filled into the Echidna Security Team back when Echidnolopis was still whole, not a war zone...or now part of lost Zone. It's not lost, he reaffirmed to himself in a plea.

At least...the hope that still lived in Julie-Su that he, his wife Komi-Ko, Lara-Le and the few knowing her plight clung to. Because Knuckles still clings to her.

The gift. The Soultouch...it had never left Julie when her Equal sacrificed himself to save their great grandfather, closing the rift between the two Echidna houses, giving hope of a true unity. Julie never felt him leave, only cried when Remington told her of Knuckles' death. The image of her holding Knuckles dead body nearly brought a tear to him that he fought back.

Then...Knuckles' return.

And then his...but as a mimicry of how his own father was. Remington still felt his left natural arm being the robotic claw, almost the same design his father Kragok had. He remembered it well when he paid his own father visits in his jail cell, even escorting Knuckles to him. And only in the last year he learned he had imprisoned his own father. Remington from time to time wondered if those small visits he had paid to Kragok, if he had looked at his son with detain of being on the other side of the feud., or with affirmation that Remington had become a man of good moral being...if Kragok's purpose of his son being different had been a success.

But Komi...she had her hope.

He could still feel his body being electrified and beamed to the Egg Grape. He could still feel his life being drained, his own life force being used to power Eggman's machines and industry of evil. Then, the freedom when his glass bubble was broken by none-other than Doctor Finitivus. There was, however, no fan-fare from his liberation. Instead, an imprisonment of his mind; not his, but of the Doctor's design.

Until his savior, and his own mind not in his control, freed him...Knuckles. Enerjak.

Komi's hope was then realized when he found her with the rest of the Echidna's, Lara-Le being the first...his future wife close behind. He had not died...for Komi would have known that he had. He'd seen the sudden grab at the chest from others; as if one were having a heart attack. It wasn't far from the truth, only the soul that had been imprinted on the Echidna of their lover being ripped from them. Along with that safety...that security of ever lasting love. A hope ravished from their soul, powerless to stop it.

And Julie had yet to lose her Soultouch. It was what kept everyone's hope alive that Knuckles was still out there!

The stare they held, his thoughts that had resolved in the instant Julie beamed it to him, broke when she turned her head toward the black furred hedgehog, who had made the few meters walk to the rear half of the separated limo, and she sighed to a degree. Remington noted, at least he hoped he wasn't reading her right, her posture shifted from professional to one of caring. Defensive. Protective.

Again, he had seen this before from her.

"He's not always this uptight, is he?" he asked, half mocking, half serious.

She didn't answer, only giving him a stern eye from her dark cybernetic iris and red pupil before returning her attention back to her tablet. It was her way of telling him to change the subject or Miss Legion would come for him.

Clearing his throat, mostly clearing his senses from the heavy stench of cordite and burned fur and flesh, he forced his former Constable tone to return. "I remember you said some time ago that you and Rouge had issues...mostly regarding your Equal?" He placed his hands back on his hips, his jacket pulled back with them, his left hand close to his holster. Julie returned her stare to him, but she allowed a contemplative look come across her. "Are you able to quell any animosity with the Rouge of our time, and help find out what happened to the one in our current reality?"

He had rehearsed the question more than a few times in his head before he had just uttered it since getting the morning wake up call from Tower about Rouge's abduction. And he still felt the color leave his muzzle and eyes when the Major General informed him that she and Shadow had killed four individuals last night. He hadn't gotten all the details, but he was sure he was going to have an upset pallet the rest of the day when he did.

Just the way she let her eyes stray from him before returning them to his told him that she had expected the question when she heard the news from his briefing from their drive to the scene. "She's...not the same Rouge?"

He tilted his head, his own eyes narrowing to a degree with criticism. "At this point, I suspected not...but even if she was...it is our job to still help her."

A moment passed before she inhaled, lowering her head. "We'll have to see, then, Rem."

He felt the urge to push her further, to pull rank, or even suggest what he would have to do with her if she couldn't. But her face returned to the tablet, softening with her attention going to the screen, and his own attention going back to Shadow, his face stiffening in a quizzical frown when the hedgehog stepped right next to the torn roof, the cut glass and jagged metal shards of the frame and sides of the rear half of the limo. As if aligning himself to a height chart, Shadow kept his head turned but knelt down before he tucked his head and body inwards, his arms and hands doing the same, rolling into a ball, his quills outward, stiffened. Examining this for a good moment, the hedgehog stood up, turned and then walked to the front half of the limo close to ten yards away.

Teri-Lu had also knelt down beside the front half of the limo, picking up something that Remington couldn't quite see, and placed it into a plastic evidence bag. Blue, something light in mass, he observed. It hadn't been the first of those pieces she had picked up.

And Saffron was still talking with the evidence tech, both of them digging further into the upright SUV that had two burnt bodies in it. Turning his head further left, he tightened his jaw in anticipation when he saw Hugo Brass nod to a human male standing next to him behind the east police barricade, his grey suit a noticeable contrast to Brass' nearly black suit and dark red shirt under the open jacket. The gentleman had a greying beard, his lightly brown, weathered face remorseful as was Brass', both nearly the same height. Then exchanged a look Remington was all too familiar with–knowing, understanding...bitterness–before Brass then ducked under the yellow police tape, his stride towards Remington and Julie, his head studying Shadow and the rest of the scene.

Turning his attention back to the black hedgehog, Remington shifted his stance more so to relieve his tense legs over his black sueded maritime shoes. He became quizzical again this time when Shadow asked for Teri-Lu to come over, taking his own black suit jacket off, exposing the brown leather shoulder holster with the black grip of his pistol hanging from it, the two spare stainless steel magazines peaking out from their holders under his right arm, and seemingly asking her to hold his jacket, which she did. He must have asked nicely, as Teri actually smiled when she took it. With just his black shirt and slacks on, Shadow aligned his body close to the jagged cuts where the limo had joined seamlessly with the rear half, and pulled himself into a ball once again, his head and eyes tilted over and studying something Remington could not discern.

"Alright," Brass announced, his taller frame casting a shadow over Remington, "what'da we got?"

Julie's snicker made Remington grind his jaw and teeth. Tilting his head over, he give her his best amusing, but barbing look to her. She was laughing, albeit quickly, her face slightly hiding from Remington when she pulled the tablet up to her smirching face.

Brass had caught on. "What's so funny, there Tempest."

She straightened, but Remington answered for her after he had his moment of silent befuddled amusement towards her.

"Sir," he began, his graveling voice coming out with just enough sarcasm that he noted Brass' upturn brow, "what we've got...is a well coordinated abduction using some unsophisticated violence for a town like this."

Brass only looked right toward the rear SUV before scanning his eyes left to the limo–both halves of it–and to the lead SUV. Remington allowed his own eyes to follow...until he stopped and witnessed Shadow pulling his suit jacket on as Teri returned to police the sidewalk of anymore evidence. Both he and Brass studied the hedgehog, not saying anything between them as they watched him stepped toward the business only to stop at the smashed window to scan around and through it, before he walked inside.

Remington raised his left hand and pointed to the front half of the severed limo. "We had a fox by the name of Marcus Davenport fall from the sky and cave in the hood of the eight-cylinder engine compartment–" He then jerked his pointed thumb behind him to the World Finance building while saying "–And a mister Greg Brown was found dead between human resources and escrow account management after crashing through the second floor window...from the outside." Brass only nodded his heavy mutton chop beared face. "I'm still waiting on Teri and Saffron to tell me what happened with the SUVs."

"I have the names of the four occupants," Brass said, Remington noting a hint of sadness mixed with frustration. The echidna had a sickening feeling Brass had known them. And he was correct. "I worked with three of them during the War. One...Brown served with me in Spider Troupe." The olive skinned human turned back to the police line he had come from, nudging his head to the other human male he had talked with. "That is Alejando Cruz. He runs Executive Security. All five Islanders and the one human were his employees."

Remington could see the harsh weight in Brass' stare. He would not leave him alone with it. "I'm sorry," he allowed with a firm, comforting tone.

Brass turned to him; bitterness cresting his face. "They survived the war against Eggman and the Dark Arms...only to come home and be murdered in their own country." He swallowed, his voice sharpening. "The place they help to make safe."

Remington could only breathe in from Brass' words, retreating his face down to his shoes...and to the large footprint in the black dirt amongst the cut grass.

A sigh from Brass brought his attention back up, along with the footsteps coming from behind him. All three looked to find Rykor stepping between Remington and Julie.

"Rocket launcher," the burgundy-furred echidna said with a grimace, his hand pointing to where he'd walked from. "Window to the business below World Finance was blown in. The detective I talked to said their explosive detection device found trace amounts of spent propellant around the shattered window and the building." He then pointed to the burned out hulk of the rear SUV. "The punctured hole in driver-side door is about sixty millimeters in diameter, with the warhead detonating inside almost on contact."

And Remington remarked inwardly that the two Islanders–a Raccoon and Tiger–were going to have closed casket funerals. He tightened his jaw, crossing his arms in front of him, only noting that Julie-Su had turned her attention to Saffron, who was flying up to them. "Anything for us, Ghostrider?" Remington queried, hiding his smirk from the bee's given codename.

The bee landed at their side of the street, extending out her right hand that she opened from her clutch. Carbon scorched copper shards lay in her hand, their fragments rolled into themselves as if slender seashells. "Found these lodged between the firewall and engine. The tech I was working with was pulling more out." She paused as Remington and the rest of Alpha Sigma gathered around and studied what lay in her hand. "He said something about an explosive formed penetrator–"

"An E-eF-Pe," Brass remarked grudgingly. Remington strayed an eye up to him to see a small scowl come across the Lt. Colonel's face under his oddly cut beard.

"And he said there was trace amounts from the explosive scanner of something I can't remember what he said–" Saffron lowered her head in thought "–started with a Pee and–and something nitrate–"

"Mother of Satan," Brass seethed, his tone now noticeably angered. Now all heads were turned to him as his was staring off toward the blown lead SUV. Remington felt a pain, a revulsion, creep up to his throat when he felt Brass' deadpan face sink into him. The brown echidna could see that a sin, though far off in the past, was in the forefront of his mind...a sin that was returning to haunt them. Remington had a seen this look from his old Mentor, Constable Holmes, a few times. Remington himself having a few sins; he understood the look quite well. "P-E-T-N...I can't remember the chemical name, myself, but I do now how it's made." He released his stare back to Remington, Julie and Rykor, nodding to Saffron when he did. Then, his hardened eyes went to Remington. "What's your blue blood saying about this, Constable?"

Studying the scene once more, considering his thoughts, and remembering what his mentor back in Echidnalopis so long ago had asked him the same question. "Has there been a ransom note or message?" he asked, his voice low and raspy. A shake of the head from Brass. "Well, seeing as how the media has just arrived, we maybe waiting until the news has their audience captivated before our suspects begin making demands." He studied the scene more, seeing Shadow was still inside Station Shoes and leaning over, examining something from the wrecked shelves and merchandise. "Or...there may not be one." He sighed. "It's too soon. All we can do is speculate and gather evidence to point us to who might have done this." His eyes drifted to the boot print below him, making him more unsettled.

Silence filtered back between them, only for Brass to look to Julie-Su. "What do you see, Tempest?"

Remington shifted his attention to the rose-pink furred colored echidna. She had let her tablet fall at her side, her gaze also on the scene before them. "Well..." She trailed her voice, but looked to Rykor, her eyes searching for confirmation Remington was sure Brass was also seeking. "It's sloppy...but they knew what they were doing." Her former sergeant nodded, folding his arms under him. Julie then looked to her right and pointed with her muzzle and eyes at the structure that Shadow was still sifting through. "Natural blocking force on the right flank–" She then pointed with her right gloved hand to the marble planter that was split at left ledge, exposing soil and debris around it "–They detonated the initiation of the ambush on the lead vehicle–creating the blocking element to the front–"

"Rocket launcher to the rear SUV from across the street," Rykor added with an affirming tone, "sandwiching the Limo in a kill box."

Julie turned to him, her eyes seeking guidance. Remington could see their old, rough relationship as private and sergeant paying dividends this time in their favor. "Judging from the tire marks and the angle of the contact of the rear vehicle, it looks like they were a little slow in hitting it?"

Rykor nodded. "I'm gonna say they had timed the triggering of this E-eF-Pee device from the speed of the limo to the spacing of the lamp post to whatever the device was in. And a perfect spot too! The whole fucking street is a choke-point!"

And Brass nodded to this as well, with Julie swallowing. "Which means they've been planning this for sometime."

This time Rykor looked to Brass. "Anyway we can search through security camera footage of the past few days? Maybe even weeks? We might be able to ping their surveillance element."

Remington smiled inwardly, it lightly showing on his lips. "So far the lead detective has his hands full just looking through the footage...or lack there of," he relayed, his eyes casting up to Brass. "It seems much of the security footage went dark about fifteen minutes before the incident." Remington had also noted during his interview with the racoon detective that the witnesses were a little light on their information. It hadn't been that they weren't forthcoming, but the violent kidnaping had happened so fast that no one was able to get a good look of what had happened. Which he let slip from his lips. "And the witnesses said they had seen a bright yellow flash after the explosions with a low hum of some sort before it vanished. Sadly, those eyes were still half a sleep and upstairs."

"No vehicles leaving?" Brass had asked in a stunned tone.

Saffron spoke this time. "From what I had asked from the techs, they said no tire tracks of any vehicle leaving the scene on both sides of the avenue."

Brass took in a deep breath. "So, we have a linear ambush that looks as if it was planned, an explosively formed penetrator takes out the lead security SUV, with a rocket launcher at the rear–"

Remington tilted his head before looking up to see Shadow coming to them from the shattered windowed of the shoe business, clasping something small in his hand. "And the biggest question being–what cuts a limo in half–"

"It was a hedgehog!" Shadow announced in an even low tone filled with assuredness as he stepped close to Remington and Julie. He then extended his hand and held out a long quill. "And he was green!"

Julie's face froze in abject horror and trepidation, turning her head away before looking back to the green quill with disdain. "Oh, shit! Not them!"

Remington could only hold a stare, his jaw tightening as past files at his former office–now ash or worse–riffled through his head. He was about to add to the growing realization when Teri stepped up beside Shadow, holding out a plastic bag that read "evidence" in red, but held blue feathers in it.

"Found these scattered around the ledges and flower beds. Lucky they didn't get blown away by the wind."

Again, Remington could only hold his stare, but let his thoughts finally creep from his lips. "Predator Hawk."

Julie pulled her tablet up, touched her finger to something, then held it to the small bag of feathers in Teri-Lu's hand, and touched it again. Remington heard the picture taking sound come from it.

He heard a heavy sigh come from Brass. "Is this where y'all are gonna' piss in my cereal this mornin'?"

Remington looked to Julie-Su, her expression mute as they both held the weighing conclusion that was the size fifteen footprint in the black landscape soil below him. "You know, Su–I've always wondered if the decline of our civilization all started–when the Brotherhood threw that damned Gorilla off the Island?"

She only nodded, her jaw stiffening. "Yep...just not that gorilla." Her tablet chimed, her face tightening. "No matches of the footprint."

Remington turned his head to Brass, pivoting on his feet. "Because you won't find that tread pattern here." He placed his hands back on his hips, but not challenging. "It's from Mobius. And it belongs to a Dingo military issued boot."

Ryokr gave an even nod. "I can confirm!"

"But I take it, it's not from a Dingo?" Brass offered.

And Remington shook his head but in agreement. "No...I'm damn certain it's from a Sergeant Simian from our own planet and time."

"And Predator Hawk?" Saffron interjected. Remington nodded to her.

Something roiled in Julie's mind that Remington saw just from the tilt of her head. "Tempest?" he queried.

"Its..." She shook her head. "From last night...the Islander I was trying to follow–I think he had black ears with raised fur above them."

"Lynx?" Remington pressed. She gave him a nod. "Lightning?"

Again, she gave him a nod, but her eyes said she wasn't sure. "I lost him when the jackal pulled me down."

Remington's eyes went wide. "Come again?" he nearly festered.

"I handled him," Shadow replied for her, his voice even, still holding the green quill in his hand.

"Yeah, but my dreads still hurt," she added, shifting her head over to let her pink furred spines seemingly stretch the ache away. Remington knew the feeling; had a few fights where his were pulled. Echidna cardinal rule!

"But the hedgehog?" Shadow asked, his tone even, yet, Remington detected a hint of a charge with it.

This time, Julie nodded. "That would be Scourge."

And Remington added to it. "The anti-Sonic."

Brass cut in while facing Shadow. "You certain it is a hedgehog?"

A nod. "The cut patterns match close to my quills if I was rolled in a spine."

"Which means the Destrutix are here," Saffron breathed out with an edge of discomfort.

A moment passed, Brass reaching over and taking the green quill from Shadow before breaking the silence. "How long do you think they have been here...or how they even got here?" he asked, turning to Remington and Julie.

Julie answered, Remington already concluding what she was going to say. "A super charged Warp Ring..."

"A what?" Brass stammered to her.

"It's a ring that can read your thoughts and open a portal for you to basically step through to a place you want to go," Julie explained, her stare attuned to malice. Remington knew exactly why; they had both been through one. He thanks to a trick; her and Saffron...cornered–

"And who made that technology?" Remington interjected evenly, seeing the albino echidna's yellow eyes as if he were standing in front of him, pushing away the purple-furred Tasmanian devil...the reason why they were here on Earth.

He could hear the venom in Julies' answer. "Doctor Finitevus!"

"And I'm guessing these Destructors, or some shit, worked for him?" Brass asked, his voice growing more irritated.

Julie tilted her head. "More like a love-hate relationship of convenience."

"Regardless," Remington cut in, his breathing elevated, his eyes critical as he fought to keep his own anger from boiling over, "they are here. The evidence points to it that much."

"So," Saffron began. "Did they bring their weapons with them?"

Remington looked to Brass with a quizzical tone. "Well, a rocket launcher is pretty exotic for a homogeneous society like yours to all of a sudden show up at an abduction?"

Brass quickly shook his head. "You haven't been here for the past seven years." Remington saw the human's eyes level to Shadow. A knowing gaze between them was exchanged. "There's so much weaponry floating around the planet, including here on this continent. We've been from Black Arms invasion, almost having the Earth destroyed, our Moon being slightly destroyed...and Eggman stirring his shit up–" Brass tilted his head, his eyes falling to Shadow, his voice doing the same. "–And the incident with Infinite." Remington noted the red eyes of the black hedgehog narrowing. "No, a rocket launcher here does not surprise me, Remington."

"I take it you've run into some out here, before?" Rykor asked with a hint of sarcasm.

Brass only smiled. "So, last year my team is sent on a bot-hunt for some Badnicks that we missed. We rolled up to this farm about a hundred miles straight south from here. The old dog–I think he was a lab, fur black–was nice and kind. Said he hadn't seen any. And if he did, he'd have their metal parts on the side of the road to be picked up. But..." He tailed off, rubbing his head, "...that wasn't what made us leave.?

"Oh?" Julie eyed.

"No...it was his fourteen year old daughter up in the barn–pointing the twelve point seven millimeter heavy pulse emitter at us from a tripod."

"Well," Saffron asked, her brows high. "Did you take it from them before you left."

Brass bit his lower lip, slowly shaking his head. "No, Ghostrider...we didn't want to find out how itchy the thumbs of a fourteen year old girl were on a butterfly trigger." He let a sly smile form. "And SUV's don't classify as light-armored-vehicles." He grinned to the group standing around the boot print. "Armed society is a polite society."

Remington tilted his head, his spine crawling with the thought Brass had brought forth. "You never had to deal with the Dingoes–"

"Or the Legion," Julie countered.

"And on the same Island," Remington finished with a nod.

A silence filled the air around them, Shadow taking it in, looking behind him, and Remington, Julie and Rykor doing the same.

Brass reached into inside pocket of his suit jacket and pulled his Cryptex phone out. "Shadow, I'm sending you an address to an import-export business here in Station Square–south end." He leveled his eyes to Remington, then Julie-Su. "Constable and Tempest will be going with you. Y'all are gonna pay Ebony Hare a visit."

"Sir?" Remington began almost as a challenge.

"You are to question him about last night from what Julie had recorded from her eye, and what he got from the Livingstons," Brass finished without hesitation.

"Sir," Remington interjected again, "I don't know if you want us to go and interrogate Ebony, considering our past with him...even if it's not the same one." Julie's hardened eyes confirmed his trepidation he knew they both held. He saw Saffron's jaw tighten, eyes narrowed. "I may not be well mannered around him."

Brass gave a small smirk. "I'm banking on it." He looked down to Su. "Tempest, what all did you catch with your eavesdropping eye last night with him and this possible Lighting Lynx?"

She shook her head, eyes closed, searching within of what Remington knew being her small memory bank in her cybernetic lock. "Something about the deal...bank accounts..."

"And a bat problem?" Saffron cut in excitedly. "I caught that when I was on the line with you."

Brass eased in with nod. "Yeah, and two and two right now are equaling up to fuckery being 'ah foot." He looked to Remington, then to Shadow. "Lean on him, hard if you have to. Too many coincidences with this, especially with this attack to get Rouge."

Remington cocked his head. "Easy enough," he quipped, though his law enforcement reserved self was beginning to protest. But...the law for him...it was long gone since being teleported to the glass bubble energy syphon from Angel Island.

Brass gave another nodded. "Good. I'll take Ghostrider and Bruiser back with me," Brass announced, eyeing with a grin to Rykor. "Teri, if you could take Constables SUV back to Clip?"

Remington's former assistant nodded. "Yes sir...just like old times. Cleaning up after him."

Remington let a wry smile out. "Hey, I wasn't that bad!"

"Says you, sir!" Teri laughed. "And here I am doing it again."

"At least you look nice, again," Julie remarked with a sly smile. The red furred echidna gave one back, bowing some with her long blue sleeved top and black pants, her red hair falling forward some.

"Okay," Brass began. "Shadow, hope you can squeeze one more in that expensive company car."

The hedgehog gave a short "hmph", but fought an urge to cross his arms. Remington was beginning to regret his ribbing at him from before. Looking to Julie, he again was surprised at her affirming face toward the hedgehog.

"Then it's settled," Brass said. "Once you are done, get back to Clip. Julie, " he stated, looking slightly stern toward the former pink-furred Legionnaire, "make sure you get your report done from last night–" He then eyed Shadow "–You too. Tower says he needs 'em." He then cocked his head as a reminder came to him. "And if you have your journals, give them to me, and I'll hand them to Chaos."

A hesitant "yes sir," came from Julie, Remington noting her apprehension was still there from the morning.

"Alright...y'all have a good 'un. And happy hunting," Brass lowered his voice, more so in a pensive sadness. "We need to find Rouge." He looked to Shadow, who gave a slight nod, his eyes narrowed. "Some of us have worked with her in the past." He lowered his head, a reluctance from the past forming at his eyes and lips. "And I knew her father...so a lot is riding on this."

Remington stiffened his lips, nodding. "Roger that."

Brass was about to turn, before asking Julie, "Can you give descriptions of these assholes, so we know what to look for."

Julie gave an admiring nod. "I can do one better. If my memory is sharp, I could digitize my thoughts to my cybernetic lock and download them to you."

Brass gave an odd cock of his head. "You can do that?"

Julie gave an sly, affirming smile. "I'm full of surprises, sir."

That, Remington thought, she definitely was. And hopefully she could surprise him.

I hope Rouge can hold out, he stirred inside him. He let his next thought out to the air. "Let's hope Rouge can still hold her own. I just hate the thought of how scared she is." He strayed an eye to Shadow, who was giving him an even, yet affirming stare. "Last night had to have been something for her..."

Again, thank you for reading. I hope I added the detail with this just right, plus move the plot forward. My aim with this chapter was to show how Julie and Shadow were slowly become trusting with each other.

I'm also curious how I did the the part where Shadow was seeing how the limo was cut open before the reveal of who did it.

And lastly...did you all catch the Harambe joke and the KTE: 32 issue with Monk?