Disclaimer: I own nothing, of course.
9: Remington's Way
Shadow had a gracefulness with driving the Reaper, yet his expression reflecting in the rear view mirror to Julie held one of roughness.
Julie watched him press his foot to the brake when he found a spot to park by the long empty curb of the side street and rotated the shift nob to the P before pressing the ignition button close to the bare carbon fiber steering wheel. The idling hum ceased, yet the radio remained on, though the volume was low. Still watching him from his reflection from the rear view mirror, she saw his red eyes scan the street ahead of them before his eyes went to her in the meager backseat, then narrowed and shifted to Remington sitting in the passenger seat. She tilted her head over to see his whole face; one holding a reflexive musing deep in curiosity and foreboding feelings of the former EST chief.
Being honest with herself, the backseat of the Reaper was surprisingly comfortable, though the ride over with the odd silence between Shadow and Remington had not been. Aside from the road noise and the throaty V-10 engine prowling through the avenues and streets toward the south-side of Station Square, Shadow had the radio tuned to a station playing instrumental music: a piano piece she noted he had turned the volume up for, the title being the same name as Wojtek's dinner from last night in Central City. Claire de Lune, she read on the small screen at the upper portion of the console. It had a gentle tone in the beginning, one that resonated with her heart that she had to stillborned a tear that wanted to conceive over her right eye. It haunted her soul for a reason she couldn't understand, or if she had, she didn't want to approach it that instant.
It was counter to Shadow's outward presence with it. He had relaxed with it, his stare to the passing buildings and life interacting around them far-off to somewhere else. Somewhere deep. Like he had slipped into a pastel world of serenity. Somewhere she felt she would have liked to go with him...if he allowed her.
If it could help her.
Both the hedgehog and the former echidna constable now sat motionless, taking in their surroundings while Julie took in their postures to one another. Granted, she had found it amusing to watch Remington interact with Shadow just an hour ago, but...the defensiveness that welled up from her when her partner turned from them after Remington's ribbing...it had caught her off guard. From the odd look she received from Remington when his eyes found hers after her remark to him; he had been as well.
Her eyes pulled to the black hedgehog, and her mind asking, Why?
Trust with him...like you had with me? Knuckles' deep, yet soothing baritone voice answered to her.
Mentally she shook her head; outwardly she closed her eyes. It's too soon...?
No echo of hope returned to reply, as if her equal had touched her in passing and she missed him–
"This is the news at the top of the hour from Kay-Dee-Four-eS-Que, the voice and classical and jazz station of Station Square. The time is ten-o'clock."
The male stentorian filled voice leapt from the cars speakers, the bass frequency pronounced from the accent-less monotone voice. Shadow reached to the knob on the center console and turned up the volume:
"The twenty-one year old casino mogul, Rouge the Bat, was abducted last night with law enforcement estimating the time being close to eleven-o'clock when it happened. There have been no leads to her whereabouts, with Station Square Pee-Dee reporting that no ransom has been given, or anyone claiming responsibility for the attack. Six men of her security team were killed during the attack, with sources close to the investigation noting the military precision of how the attack was coordinated~" This elicited a scoff from Shadow, with Remington giving a slight smirk that Julie saw when he turned his head to Shadow. "~Station Square Police Department is asking the public's help with any information leading to Rouge's whereabouts, and her safety.
"Mayor Bullyani stated that the seriousness of the attack and abduction indicates that militant factions are still a cause of concern, and said: 'This is another sad example, and the worst we've seen of organized crime infecting our already hurting and healing city and nation.'
A muted pause from the announcer.
"President Vanilla today in the morning press briefing addressed the possible reunification of Central City back into the United Federation with~"
The radio announcer's voice was cut off when the Reaper's auto-timer cut off the rest of the electronics to the car. Remington had drifted his head back around to the passenger window as Shadow still looked on.
Julie couldn't cease the feeling of the foreboding shiver slithering up her spine. It wasn't just the tension between the two males seated in front of her like opposing magnets trying to push each other away, Shadow being the negative source in this polarity. No, it was from the radio announcer's narration of Rouge's disappearance and how they were parked close to the building that possessed their only possible lead. The narrow side street to the warehouses and docks felt like a gauntlet with unknown threats lurking behind doors alleyways and passages. Her Sig P365X being the only comfort to boost her confidence to partake in what was coming...at least she hoped there wasn't violence in play.
Last night saw her first killing of another being, an Islander, on this planet. It had been, what, months, maybe half a year since she took a life, a Nocturnous Clan member...another echidna. It had been in self-defense on the forest planet, what Lien-Da had gauged as a scout. Julie had the feeling he had been hunting them.
What had my step-sister stirred up that got Silver and Blaze to come to us? What did they fear? She, at this point, still didn't have the answers. But the way Lien-Da had been so steadfast, so set in having as many echidnas ready to go after them, armed or not, young and old, male or female...it would have been their own race and culture's self-immolation.
And now? A black furred hedgehog and her nephew were side eyeing each other, Shadow still noticeably brooding from his encounter with Remington's tough love side. She kept her eyes to the rear view mirror, watching Shadow's. He, for a time scanned ahead, then to the brown echidna, their suits matching in color, with Shadow's having more of a smoothness to the fabric, before he looked to her. For a brief instance, his hard red-eyes softened to hers.
And she felt her heart sooth from it.
"How do you want to do this?" he asked, shifting his gaze to Remington, his voice couched disarmingly, leveling as an olive branch.
Remington took it with a breath of pause. "I don't know. This is your home, and I still feel like a guest, here."
Shadow's mouth eased, offering an understanding nod with it. He then stole a glance to her before returning it to Remington and said, "Julie told me yesterday he can't pour piss out of boot with the instructions on the heel."
Remington smiled under his sunglasses before he chuckled, turning his head inwards, his dreadlocks sweeping past the bucket seat. "Oh, yeah! He thinks he's hot shit, but...well, his ears are longer than his I-Que measuring stick."
"Not to mention his choices in cheap suits," Julie added, suppressing a smile.
But Shadow held his eyes and disarming stare to Remington, searching for his words. Julie saw something in him trying to come out, but he fought it. The way his voice came out, he had lost. "Julie mentioned Mina had recognized her from last night."
Remington gave her a side glance between his sunglasses. "Really?"
She nodded slightly. "I think so. There was no denying she saw me, and it seemed..." She trailed off, confusion weaving around her mind and heart.
"Okay," Shadow said, "what are the possibilities, then, if this Ebony Hare is the same one from your time?"
Remington shrugged, instinctively looking out the windshield as if an internal timer from his former law enforcement life commanded him to do so. His head movement was in stark contrast to her slow, sweeping searching eyes as a trained solider, his being jerky and quick. It had always been...
"I give fifty-fifty," Remington surmised. "But it does seem too coincidental that this shit-bag is still running around as some kinda' crime king-pin."
"Wasn't he just pushing drugs, aside from making them?" Julie asked, recalling how they were able to connect him to a certain Reinfield Rodent at the Happyland Amusement Park.
Remington shook his head. "More than that, if I recall."
But Julie did, searching her data banks from the past. "Yeah, I think you were getting close to busting a network with him that was planning to distribute the lemon sundrop. You know, when you officially hired me on with E-eS-Tee."
Again, Remington shook his head, but more out of frustration. "At this point, your memory is better good than mine."
With Remington's response, Julie did have a nice thought come from it. "I did help get Reinfield locked up at our Station Square about a year or two ago.."
On this Remington, suddenly turned his head over. "Oh," he smiled with his gravely voice, saying, "You'll have to tell me about that later. Being...you know...I..."
He didn't have to say much else. No need to replay the horror of being imprisoned in an egg-grape and having your life-force sucked out of you to power Eggman's machine of evil. She had almost endured the same fate, if it hadn't been for Sonic.
And the thought, the electric feeling of having her body taken apart molecule by molecule, ripped apart then fused back together inside a glass bubble–she still felt the searing, burning pain. The pain of seeing the back of her equal when she pushed him out of the way from same fait. When Rouge had swatted her away; when she almost broke her moral protocol and shot the harlot bat for it. Never get between an echidna's equal...ever–!
Knuckle's violet eyes were turned to hers, his body walking away, his face and lips in a sincere smile: I love you–
"I'll let you take the lead, then," Shadow offered, his face sincere.
The two males held each other's stares, Remington nodding. "Okay. But if it's the same asshole, I'm not gonna be real subtle. So...you might need to dial me back."
Shadow looked on, considered what Remington had asked, then shook his head. "No...Time is running out, and Rouge is missing."
Remington latched on to what he had said faster than Julie had, her heart constricting with it with an odd fear that seem right coming from her. Like it was–
He cares for her? she reflected with an odd torment slithering in her.
And Knuckles voice returned to her, caring. Then you help him.
Her eyes widened just for a brief instance when his voice faded from her before she looked away. The why was sitting on her lips, echoing in her heart and mind...but Knuckles didn't answer.
"Okay, Shadow," Remington said with charge of confidence and resolve. He reached up and pulled his glasses off his face, folded them and placed them inside his suit jacket pocket. He then took the silver ring from his left dreadlock, his wedding band to Komi, and slipped it off and placed it in an open tray for cellphones in the center console. "Then let's go talk to this asshole." And with that, he pulled the silver latch and opened the door to the crisp, spring outside air.
Shadow followed suit, climbing out of the Reaper with practiced efficiency while Remington swung out of the passenger seat in a tangle of limbs and legs, letting his hand aid him to stand with the roof of the low-stance sports-car. Pulling the seat forward after rediscovering the latch to do so at the bottom, he extended his hand Julie. She took it, plus her black backpack in her left robotic arm. When she had given Brass her journal, what she had now referred to her journal as her "dream diary", he had exchanged it with an ankle monitor to give to Ebony. It was a small silver ring from which she could sense the radio directional GPS frequency. It wasn't hard to detect those kinds of radio signals with her cybernetic lock hanging heavily over her left shoulder and down her chest. The rest of her dreadlocks swept around the collar of her black and teal blouse, as she looked down to ensure that it was still buttoned up, keeping prying eyes, particularly the rabbit's they were going to talk to, from looking down her chest. He had tried to do it once before, her vest being secured against her from it happening, but it had still unnerved her then.
If it's the same asshole.
Brass had been adamant in his sarcastic way: "Put this on him. I want to know where puss-nuts is after you say 'hi,' and possibly catch up on old times."
There was a ferocity in Brass' steal eyes that echoed deeply within Shadow's presence as he closed the door to the Reaper, searching the street and buildings around them. Something about this Rouge and the drive he and Brass possessed to find her...there was something there between both of them.
Should it matter to me? She asked herself when she stood up from climbing out of the car. Her answer was a slam when Remington shut the door. Shadow reached into his pocket and locked the Reaper from the fob.
Remington took the lead, his stride taking them forward with a mission being formulated with each step. She had known him that long to notice this with him. Looking behind her, Shadow was scanning around them, looking for threats, his gate confident...ready.
You should be as well, Knuckles' voice affirmed to her in a guiding whisper.
Looking down consciously, she only saw the hump of the hilt of her compact blaster riding in the holster tucked in the belly band she had worn last night from the side of her blouse. It was tight against her abdomen, but so far it hadn't chaffed her fur or skin, and was surpassingly comfortable. Still, she felt under-gunned without her double barrel proton blaster...her new one that Section Nine had in their possession in order to blueprint and source an energy cell replacement for her on Earth. Her new one she had to construct in the Twilight Cage; her old one lost on Angel Island back on Mobius.
She could still see her right gloved hand mere inches away before Thrash hit her and Saffron with his sonic yell...the roar that flung her through the super-charged warp-ring. Then...it closed on them before they could jump back to–
Remington rounded the corner of the two story white painted building that was their target to an open gate that lead to a tall three dock platform. Three doors were open to the bright day and inside she could see a small fork-lift, absent a driver, with shipping crates disorganized in size and placement on the large warehouse floor area. A stair led to a closed door that read "shipping and receiving." And that was where Remington led them.
His back was straight when he climbed the six steps up, Julie stepping on the bottom step when he topped the last. His shoulders weren't broad, but his stride made it seem they were. Looking down to make sure her footing was solid, she looked up to find Remington's shoulders gone. In their stead, red-furred broad shoulders rolled, ready for a fight, constantly looking for one. And his fist balled, his white mittens with his twin spiked knuckles thirsting to drive into something, or someone.
Knuckles?
She blinked the image from her eyes as she stepped onto the dock. Looking back, Shadow was right behind her, nodding to her, his eyes turned, his brow knitted.
And a charge rolled into her body. She felt her arms become full of might and energy, her own chest firming, her hands rolling into fists with the strap of her backpack being suffocated as it rode her seemingly broadened shoulders. As if...Knuckles had become her.
Look right.
Her head turned from the affirming command of her equal's baritone voice. He was riding with her–a passenger to the unfolding reality. Are you sensing something?
She internally shook her head–but her eyes caught the grey fur of a tall...Mobian. His jowls were large, his eyes focused on a wooden clipboard in his hands, his short ears flopped to either side of his head. Bulldog. His black suit looked to have been freshly pressed, a black tie hung down from the collar of his white shirt, trapped in his buttoned up suit jacket.
Blackjack, her mind festered with hate. She pivoted on her high soled black shoes, changing her stride from a walk, to a march.
The grey bulldog lifted his eyes from his clip board, Julie knowing he caught her movement. He was in an alley of crates and boxes, almost just as how she remembered seeing him for the first time in Echindolopis. She had paid no attention at this moment to the rest of her surroundings. Her eyes were burning, her fists balling tighter. Even with her vision tunneled, she heard the metal klacking of Shadow's air thruster shoes pivoting and following her, yet, not quicken in pace. She thought she heard Remington's soft soled shoes behind as well.
The bull-dog's his eyes lit up in instant surprise–shock–but then produced a smile with them...a knowing one.
Knuckles' leveled, charged voice filtered into her mind. Uh–huh...yeah'...
Blackjack turned to her, widening his stance and with a sneer. "Well, well, well–" Julie dropped her backpack off her shoulders to the ground. "–Ready for another flying lesson, there, toots."
Her body was far from her own control. She felt her feet plant onto the cement floor, her shoulders rolling back, her arms coming up, even hearing the actuators in her ears from her left cybernetic arm, along with her pounding, energized heart. Blackjack raised his clipboard up in his left hand, attempting to ball his right in a fist.
But Julie had already calculated what type of swing he was going to use, and where he would try to land it: a right hook directed at her face just behind her left cybernetic eye, close to her cheek.
And he was too slow.
Anchoring her legs to lower herself, she lifted her right arm up to block on instinct. Blackjack's body towered over her. Being short, this time, had its advantage. She swung up with her left, cybernetic arm, fist balled, the metallic knuckles under her white glove extended out. She gave the nero-command to pump as much of her blood into the synthetic muscles, creating the hydraulic ram that she punched up in an upper cut that landed square in the bulldog's crotch. She felt his testicles smashing together before they were thrusted upwards toward his pelvis from her follow-through of her punch through the nero-nerves in her robotic hand.
For males, getting punched in the loins doesn't elicit a scream but instead a heavy groan of air being gasped in. In Blackjack's case, the blow had enough force to not only do just that, but to weaken his legs and constitution to stand. He fell toward his left side, his hands not bracing him for the ride to earth but instead, clutching his testicles. His body hitting the cement floor was louder than the crash of his clipboard. Julie smiled, almost filling her full face, seeing the bulldog's head nearly smashing into the wooden crate beside him as he hit the deck.
She stepped over him, his moans loud, almost a howl, straddling him, not caring if he were to see her black panties under her knee length skirt.
"Where's you're fucking boss!" she shouted with a direct tone that was almost a growl.
He didn't answer, his mouth gapping to breathe, his eyes wide with pain. His chest rose and fell rapidly, his hands still holding his crotch.
Leaning down, she grabbed the bulldog's collar with her cybernetic hand and began to lift him up to her face. "Start talking, asshole, or I'm gonna find out how robust this arm of mine really is by naming parts of you I'm going to start ripping off!"
Footsteps came behind her. Even with her angered attention at Blackjack, she noticed they hadn't rush up to her. She was now expecting hands to grab at her arms and shoulders to pull her off of him.
None came.
"I'd start listening to her, Blackjack," came Remington from her left side. She saw Shadow's black slacks and his shoes step with the inhibitor rings peaking underneath the cuffs to her right. Just by the movement his body, he had just folded his arms.
Still, the bulldog kept struggling to breathe, exhaling moans followed by groans when he inhaled.
Shadow spoke, his voice measured and low:
"Do...as...she's...requested."
The fear from his words leapt into Blackjack's eyes, darting to her right to look up to Remington, before focusing on her. "He's–" he moaned as his gathering nerves and blood were still filling the vacuum she had created from smashing his manhood. "–He's in his office, down that way...upstairs." He didn't raise his hands, but instead, pointed with his eyes and head and nose to their left.
Satisfied, Julie released her grip on his suit jacket collar and rose up, stepping over his fallen body. Before she could take another step, Shadow thrust her backpack at her chest. Looking at it, and taking it, she looked to his red eyes. For once, he was actually offering a smile. It was faint but she couldn't deny it. She smirked with it, taking her bag over her right shoulder.
Remington stepped forward, straying a scathing eye to Blackjack who was beginning to roll onto his right side, placing his forearm down to steady–
The brown-furred echidna placed his black shoe on Blackjack's shoulder and pushed him back to the cement floor. "I don't think so, slick!" Julie popped an eye to Remington, finding his voice had changed to an accent she had only heard slip from him only a few times. Now...it was full on. "You...are gonna' stay right h'ere until we leave with Ebony..." He held a short silence for effect. Blackjack's eyes drifted to him, wide. "Or without." Remington then cocked his head as if asking the bulldog if he was clear in his terms.
Blackjack nodded with a stutter from his head, looking away.
Twitching a grin from his broad muzzle, Remington stepped over Blackjack, Julie taking up behind him, noticing the steady bounce in his tail with his stride, with Shadow following behind her.
Game.
Remington's eyes followed the track of his reflection of his head as he passed the stilted, white chipped wooden paneled windows of Ebony's office. Spying the black rabbit with white fur around his face, his tall ears slightly bent with a golden ring close to the center of his right one, Hare for once had his heavy suit jacket–black, double breasted with white pin strips evenly spaced, black buttons–hung on a standing coat hanger. He was intent into his paper work on rather large metal desk that made Ebony look small in comparison. His white long sleeve shirt complemented his black fur pelt, a black tie with bold blue slanted stripes was tucked under a black, three button vest creating the accent to his–at the moment–relaxed facade. Remington's mind zeroed on his technique that he was going use to unload on the former convict. Blackjack's reaction on seeing Julie-Su was all he needed to confirm that the two former inmates were indeed from Mobius.
A quick look behind showed she was following with a determined, firm stare. As for the black hedgehog, his visage still remained indifferent, yet he could see the cold calculation behind his red eyes beamed toward the occupant in the large office.
The door approached with his fast, walking stride. Back straight, face leaning forward with a menacing grin scrawled across it, his left hand found the brass door knob of the chipped white painted door, his eyes narrowing through the middle window of the door, and flung it open when his foot kicked it.
"Ebony!" The rabbit nearly jumped from his brown leather chair, his pen flying from his right hand, papers ruffling from his shock and when the door banged against the wall with a shutter from the glass panels. Remington just kept his stride at his driving pace to his prey, to the black-furred rabbit at the desk. "How 'ya doing, ole buddy, ole pal!?"
Eyes! A pair of sunglasses lay on the slightly disorganized desk, Hare's naked blue eyes wide. Remington smiled inward with Ebony's surprise. It had been recognition.
The rabbit began to rise from his chair.
"Oh," Remington beamed with an emphatic smile, sarcasm bleeding from his voice, "I'd give you a hug, but I don't want what kind 'ah funk you picked up from prison." Giving a frown of disgust from his mouth, he looked at his hands as if they may have been contaminated with something alien. "Scumbags like yourself require inoculation before I even think of touching you."
Julie-Su strode past him to his left, Remington finding Shadow stepping to his right. "Hey, asshole!" she announced with a tight voice.
Ebony kept his stammering mouth opened, his two white buck teeth visible, his eyes wide with confusion. Then, Remington saw the career criminal find his profession somewhere in his plague pumping heart. "I–who–who are you? What business do you have with me?" A smile formed on Remington just from hearing the high Casino Night City accent come from Ebony.
Julie dropped her bag on the left side of his desk, sliding her rump on the dark walnut top under the steel desk just forward of Ebony's white coffee mug that read "Best Boss" on it. Julie lowered her head, her eyes looking at it with a devious smirk. Taking her tail, she lifted it over and flicked it hard, sending the mug crashing to the wooden floor. It broke–along with the silence–with what was left of its contents splashing on the wooden laminated floor.
Looking up to Ebony, she drew her face with malic intertwined with a glee of revenge. "Oops...silly me."
Remington centered himself at Ebony's desk, stifling a laugh, concentrating his harden eyes on the rabbit.
Ebony festered, rolling himself back in his chair. "What! Hey, who are you to barge into my office and break my–"
"Cut the parsha-shit, Ebony!" Julie bit back.
Remington followed her lead in kind. "Don't give us that 'I-don't-know-who-you-people-are, crap!'"
Ebony began to rise from his chair, his large three tow feet finding his footing, his face nearly wanting to scream at them!
But Shadow rounded his desk, grabbed him by his shoulders and slammed the rabbit back in his chair before his knees could straighten. Pushing him forward slightly, Shadow leaned into him:
"Keep your seat!"
"Yeah!" Remington added, lowering his voice to a gravel pitch, "might even want 'ta belt yourself in, 'cause it's about to get a little bumpy for 'ya."
Still holding an open mouth of unbelieving, Hare reached for the phone to Remington's right. "I'm–where's Blackjack!–"
"Probably trying to swallow his nuts back down his throat," Julie growled. "That's if I hadn't popped them!"
The shock was still there, but Ebony's face's began to show signs of defeat. Remington leaned over the desk, placing his palms atop it. "He's downstairs, Ebony. And I imagine regretting that he offered Su here another flying lesson. "Which means," Remington then sneered, standing back erect again, "you–are–squared fucked! Your muscle just dimmed your cotton tailed-ass out that you are the fuckee we seek!"
Hare kept still, his mouth open, only offering silence with his aghast look. But slowly, his face began to morph to one of defeat, then resentment...then familiarity mixed with disdain. He cocked his head slowly, clasping his black furred hands in front of him before leaning back and casting a knowing look to Julie-Su. "I believe they are called horses, here, bitch."
Remington saw Julie nearly jump from her plot on Ebony's desk, but recoiled, her eyes narrowed to daggers. Looking to Shadow, Remington gave him curt nod and look, the black hedgehog stepping back some, folding his arms over his chest. The former constable smiled some by the way Shadow let his black suit jacket open just enough to show the hilt of his pistol tucked in his shoulder holster.
Set.
It was if he had unlocked a previous life. A surge went through Remington that had him tilt his head slightly, releasing a persona he thought he had long left behind when he had been awarded the brown, broad brimmed hat as Constable of the Echidna Security Team. Swallowing, he called up his youth, his up bringing...his East Echidnaolopan accent back to the forefront.
"Al'right, slick," he began, couching his voice evenly, "Let's see, the last time I saw you, you were just sentenced for fifteen years on–" He held out his right hand and began counting his digits with his left index finger "–racketeering. Extortion. Conspiracy to defraud the Echidna Treasury on taxes...and," he leaned in some, his left eye narrowing, "accessory to manslaughter of a one Mello Bee."
Julie cleared her throat with a grunt. Remington saw the fire of hate from what he guessed was three, maybe four years ago, if what Lara-Le had said to him had been accurate. A conversation he felt guilty in holding back from Julie.
Holding a beat for effect, he continued, tucking his hands under his suit jacket at his hips. "They led you out the court house to start your time in our prison back on Mobius–where was it again–oh," he brightened his eyes to Ebony who still sat in his chair, devoid of emotions, save his knitted brow to Remington, "Sandopolis zone–close to the Forbidden Zone across the river, if I recall."
Rising, Remington went on, "You sweat it out, for what, a year and half? Then you get an unexpected pardon by Eggman and the Dingoes–" He suddenly stepped forward, purposefully kicking Ebony's desk that shook it "–then you roll in some depraved shit against the guards and other echidnas for a little revenge!" He paused, letting his anger set in to the rabbit. "And all of a sudden...I'm here–" Remington stabbed his fingers at his chest, then pointed them to Ebony "–and so are you? Not only in a place called not-Echidnaolopis–but shit, a place not even called Mobius!"
Sliding some to the left, Remington looked to the black hedgehog who was starting to tilt his head to his right shoulder. "What would you call this, Shadow?"
"Not-coincidental?" replied the hedgehog, his arms stiffening before walking towards Ebony.
Remington eyed him, though Ebony was in the forefront of his direct tone. "And I sure as shit don't believe in that hoop-la of fucking coincidences!"
Shadow stepped behind Ebony, who was still seated in his leather chair, and started looking at the papers pinned on the cork board above the rabbit, slightly pushing Ebony's long ears away from him with a dismissive gesture.
Flustered with irritation, Ebony tried to turn in his chair and rise up to meet the hedgehog. "Hey, you can't just look at those! You need 'ah damn warrant–"
The violent turn, his gloved hands landing on the rabbits shoulders, and the forceful manhandling Shadow gave to the rabbit had been surprising, yet, Remington couldn't help but smile with it. Shadow bared his red eyes to Ebony when he shoved him back in his leather chair:
"When I want something from you, or out of you, I will get it from you in due time!" the black hedgehog seethed with his bearing red gaze as he squeezed Ebony's shoulder hard, Remington seeing the pain Shadow inflicting with it when the rabbit's eyes slammed shut. The hedgehog then rose back up, scanned the small pinning of papers on the board, then walked back to where he had been standing. This time, he let his hands relax slightly, cupping them to half-fists and let them hang at his side. He let his eyes go to Remington before ever slightly shaking his head.
Nothing.
Julie shifted some at the edge of Ebony's desk, her eyes still beaming a cursed look to the rabbit. She took in a breath as Remington eyed her, before she asked with an even voice, though he could hear the acid behind it, "How did you get here?"
The rabbit, still in a bit of shock, held his silence.
"She asked you a question, Ebony!" Remington barked. "I'd like 'ta know, too, in how we've been graced with you smearing your piece of shit-self all ov'ah this fine planet?"
And here it came. Remington knew it was only a matter of time and with the barrage of assaulting questions before the jail-house lawyer would appear.
"Hey," Ebony festered, darting his head at each of them, "I have rights!" He looked to Shadow with accusing eyes. "An–and I know them!" He then darted his scathing stare to Julie-Su. "And they're close to what you echidnas had–"
"Watch your fucking mouth when talking about our people!" Julie fired back, rising, closing her left hand into fist while pointing with her right.
Ebony countered her with wide eyes seemingly like he had his victory awaiting him. "You're 'ah long way from Mobius, darling! And I have rights here that you's can't violate like you're now."
Remington reached with his left hand and found Julie's right arm before she could shoot up and quite possibly beat Ebony to a bloody pulp. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly from her breathing through her nose, her eyes wide with rage. "You know, Ebony," he stated, looking to Julie, who relented and looked to him, before turning his head, feeling his dreads shift over his shoulders, to the now crossed armed hedgehog, "you're right. We are new to this planet. Hell, even new to this Station Square and the United Federation. So...Shadow," he nodded to the hedgehog, who met his sly stare, "if you wouldn't mind in obliging us–and Ebony here–about what his rights are."
Shadow held his stare to Remington. He never dropped his indifferent gaze or visage to him, only glancing to Julie before he took the few steps, almost like a stalk with his back straight, toward Ebony. Stopping right beside the black-furred rabbit, he reached into his suit jacket and retrieved his leather wallet holding his credentials.
Leaning down, he opened it and pressed it near Ebony's wide eyes. "Can you read this?" he asked with a lowered, measured voice.
Ebony looked down to the open ID wallet then back to Shadow. "Yes?"
"And what does it say?"
Ebony's eye twitched across the identification card. "It–it say's your name is Shadow Akira–and–you work for GUN?"
Shadow let his face consume Ebony's space as Remington tilted his head down while crossing his arms. Shadow's voice was still low but like a knife at the rabbit:
"No..." he paused, "it says I get to do whatever the hell I want."
Remington's eyes lit up, Julie's doing the same as she sat back on the edge of Ebony's metal desk. "Why, "Remington smiled, "I think–I got one of those credos as well." He looked to Julie. "You?"
The pink echidna nodded her head, a smile beaming with it. "Yep! Got mine just yesterday," she nearly sang with exaggeration.
"Oohh," Remington chorused, "Ebony...it sounds like your rights are up a shitty tributary, and you–" This time he pointed at the rabbit who was nervously shifting in his chair as Shadow was still breathing gently over him "–you're about to get washed over the Island. And it's a long–long fall–which is what?"
He looked to Julie for his answer, which she was more than willing to give. "Seven-thousand and five hundred feet down!"
With this, Remington clapped his hands with a loud SLAP that broke Ebony from his wide eyed look from Shadow. "Splash!" Remington yelled as he leaned forward, his hands back on Ebony's desk. "Unless you're over land...then, well either way, for you, it's the sudden stop that kills 'ya!"
"Who–who said anything about killing!?" Ebony stammered.
Shadow backed away a few steps, straightening his posture, his eyes and face still turned down to Ebony. "Almost you...and last night."
Remington smiled, closing his eyes for a mere second, turning his head to-and-fro before sending his gaze to Shadow. "Ebony, meet your savior from last night," he said, gesturing with an open hand outstretched to Shadow. "He saved your scrawny-ass and Blackjack from getting drilled in the back by a bunch of jackals."
Shadow widened his red eyes, his voice pitched high this time. "Run?" he said with a reminding tone.
Ebony blinked, his mouth slightly agape. "I–I don't follow."
"Oh, shit, there he goes again with that selective amnesia!" Julie-Su bit out, crossing her natural and robotic arms over her chest.
"C'mon, Ebony," Remington interjected quickly, "you were doing so good, there! Now all of a sudden your brain just takes a fuckin' shit on us!"
The rabbits eyes were now darting, but his brow was furrowed. "I–I don't–"
"The Havana Club?" Julie went off loudly. "Central City? Everyone dressed nicely? Except of course, you and your shitty cheap suit?"
Remington held out his hand to steady Julie's temper–marginally. "Now hold it, Tempest. Ya' can't be judgin' a man by the caliber of a suit he can afford."
Ebony sat up in his chair. "I ain't cheap, you assholes. This here, it's a style that fits who I am!"
"What? A bastard?" Shadow cut in evenly, his eyes boring a hole in the rabbit's chest.
"Hey–that's!" Ebony looked around the room, eyes searching through the large tiled windows for reinforcements.
Remington held his arms crossed, his eyes steady, checking behind him to make sure Blackjack, or whoever, wasn't coming to crash their party. "What? The truth?" Remington saw the hit pierce into Ebony. After all, he had been a fatherless child growing up before the first war with Robotnick had started. Before he wrongly decide the echidna's were people he could trifle with.
Again, the rabbit faltered, his mouth open. Then, releasing his agitation and anxiety, Ebony let a smile beam from one side of his face to another. "Wait...I know what this is." He pulled himself over to his desk before resting his elbows on it, clasping his hands in front of him, and started to laugh. "Heh! What y'all trying to do here?" he said slyly, like he'd found the key to a puzzle. "You's tryin' that good-cop, bad-cop gimmick on me? Man, I've been around the cell-block enough times for that shit to not even phase me!"
Remington squinted his left eye, flicking his nose with his right hand, his left still on his hip. "Good-cop...bad-cop?" Ebony gave him a slow, smiling nod. "Good-cop, bad-cop routine, eh?" Remington took a look to Shadow, then to Julie, before returning it Ebony. "I got news for 'ya, slick. One, we ain't even in that fuckin' precinct of which cop is who. Hell, we ain't even on the eastside of Echidnaolopis where I grew up." He tilted his head, his heavy black brows scrunching with annoyance. "No, slick, try bad-cop, scary-cop!" He glanced to Shadow with a pensive stare. "And I ain't the scary one you should be worried about."
Shadow didn't let his face betray a smile, nor a frown. It was still dead even. Still indifferent. Turning it to Remington, his voice matched his visage. "Tick-tock."
Remington nodded. "Yeah, Ebony. Time is slowly ticking away from you," he continued, his voice lowered, still gravely.
"And you haven't even answered one damn question, yet." Julie said with an annoyed tone.
Ebony was about to stammer something to them, slouching in his chair, before Remington stopped him with a roar. "So stop wasting our mutha' fuckin' time, Ebony!"
The rabbits eyes were now wide, yet his hands were fighting to throw any gesture up to induce calm around his occupied office. "Hey–hey–hey–you've given me way too much to–"
Remington grabbed the overhang of his metal desk and lifted it up. Even with Julie-Su sitting on it, he was able to get a few inches off the ground before he let gravity have it back. The slam shook the rabbit, Julie grabbing the desk to steady herself all the while beaming a devilish face toward Ebony. "C'mon! They ain't hard! How the fuck d'you get here? What the fuck you've been doin' here? What did you fuckin' buy from a broken family in Sunset City?"
"Let's start there," Shadow slipped in, his tone sequestered unlike the scowl in his eyes.
Remington gave an exaggerated look of musing to Ebony. "Okay," he said, returning his voice to a sense of normalcy, "let's start there, then." Hands back to his hips, fingers now touching his holstered pistol on his left side he was now sure Ebony had noticed under his open suit jacket, he shifted his weight onto his right hip. "You bought some junk from a young boy and his grandmother, what–" He looked to Julie-Su "–a week or so ago?" She nodded while resting accusing eyes on Ebony. "What was it?" Remington pressed.
Ebony gave a thought then shrugged, relaxing his stiffened posture, taking his hands close to him. "What you said. Junk." He looked to Shadow. "Is that a crime to–to buy-and-sell junk from honest people?"
"Someone's junk is another person's treasure?" Shadow retorted. Remington noted it was as if the hedgehog had mostly quoted it from someone by the look he gave Ebony.
"And at few-thousand bucks," Julie dug in, crossing her arms, "which you paid them. Sure seems like it was expensive junk?"
Remington followed with a scoff, "I sure as shit don't have a few-G's to throw at some cube."
Shadow took a half step forward, looking down at Ebony. "So...what was it?"
Remington could see Ebony fighting to keep his composure. Shrugging his shoulders and hands, arching his brows innocently, his ears rising with them. "I dun'know? Saw a happy kid on Smilebook needing money to help him and his poor grandmother. Figure...you know, do something charitable–you know, like those people who put hundred-credit tips for them overworked waitresses."
His answer lingered in the air. Remington was searching for a new course of questions to fill the silence with before Julie shook her head and gave a leering sneer, her eyes doing a quick dart to Shadow.
"Jeez, you're still so full 'ah shit–!"
And Shadow followed her with his own sneer. "I imagine he sloshes when he walks."
At this juncture, and seeing the exchanging looks from the hedgehog and pink echidna, Remington took a figurative step back, yet he placed his left foot forward, he now crossed his arms and faced Ebony. Recalling the report Julie had written yesterday morning about hers and Shadow's investigation and questions, he'd let the two take it from here on the rabbit. It was also a chance for his curiosity to see if his aunt–the girl who had found them, along with a emotionally wrecked Saffron, in the Twilight Cage and helped in their search for answers and the Brotherhood–and this Shadow had truly found a level of trust with one another.
Ebony, on the other hand, let his mouth come agape again. "What'da mean? I did nothing wrong with what I did!"
"Buying and selling Eggman weapons and devices in the open market, under section one-ninety three?" Shadow said, his voice slipping out like a knife from its sheath.
Ebony this time raised his white-furred right cheek as if he could care less, his right eye arching. "No, it wasn't anything from the war. And," he added, extending a finger to Shadow as if he found a new thought, "besides, they live in Sunrise City...not the U-F!"
Julie shifted from her spot on Ebony's desk, her eyes drawn with pain behind them. "Did..."
Ebony's cocky smirk left him, his skyward pointed finger falling. "I–I don't follow."
Shadow leaned in from beside Ebony's chair, pushing his broad face into the rabbit's slender visage. "Their house was leveled yesterday due to radiation contamination. You know, the house you visited on West Archie Lane about a few weeks ago?"
Ebony blinked, fear became apparent in his eyes. "Three..." he trailed off. Remington could now see Ebony was forming his own questions now.
Julie stood up and walked to the corner edge of Ebony's desk and leaned her hand and herself onto it, her tail resting limply down over her black skirt. "Jeffery Livingston?" she said, her voice trilling with a mournful hint behind it. She waited, Remington attuned to the rabbit's dour expression. Gesturing to Shadow with her stiffening face, pain flashing on it as she shut her eyes, she wetly continued, "We saw him yesterday in a blocked room. The windows were lined with something I couldn't see through with my synthetic eye–" Remington caught the tilt of her head to her left, no doubt knowing she had narrowed her lightly blemished eyelid to the rabbit "–you know I didn't have this the last time you saw me."
Surprisingly, Ebony blinked at her, his mouth open seemingly from an honest amount of shock...unable to even nod to her. "Wha–what of the kid?" he asked, a genuine tone of empathy coming from him.
Shadow held his posture over Ebony, but his face had relaxed to one of remorse. "He passed away yesterday morning."
Julie straightened, letting her right hand fall at her side, her cybernetic left arm close to her middle, her voice almost a whisper. "His last moments were wrapped up in bandages–his fur completely gone–and his blood bleeding out from his eyes and nose and mouth."
Shadow's red eyes sought Julie's before he drifted them to Remington's then returning them to Ebony. "He died alone," he said with a quiet murmur. "His grandmother was downstairs in intensive care...and she's suffering from the same sickness."
Ebony, for all of his faults, sat in stunned silence. Remington swallowed, taking his hands back to his hips, feeling the rabbit's shock echo to him. He could for once see a flash of remorse come from him. A remorse Ebony neglected to show the day he had been convicted for his crimes on Angel Island. Something from when he shut his mouth to turning his eyes away as if seeking a corner in his soul to reflect on what he may have involved himself with that had now taken another life–not to mention the four jackals from last night–Remington could see the searching Ebony allowed himself to undertake.
He let him wallow for a spell before taking in a shallow breath, disciplining his tone, and asked:
"How many more young bodies are you gonna leave in your wake, Ebony?"
Ebony shuddered when he lifted his head. Remington could see the past nightmare of repercussions from past deeds playing out in his eyes. Yet, he held his silence.
"How are the grandmother's chances, Shadow?" Remington asked, shifting his stance and head to the black hedgehog.
Shadow leaned back, giving Ebony space seemingly for his conscience to breathe. "I'm not certain. It was the kid that slept with it as a comforting light."
"The grandmother told us," Julie began, swallowing her emotions, "that Jeffery had a horrible fear of the night thanks to Eggman's bombings." She lowered her gaze, yet her eyes still locked to Ebony's. "Said his parents were killed in one."
A moment of silence filled the rather large office. The waft of air from the central ventilation could be heard, and maybe Ebony's heart trying to find untainted blood to pump through his body. Remington could only hope the rabbit had the bitter serum to sober his guilty conscience to confess.
Sadly, he only got halfway when Ebony finally spoke.
"I–I thought chaos energy wasn't harmful like that?" he stammered with a quiet dwell.
Shadow, however, didn't find the sympathy Ebony had let drift out. "Who said anything about chaos energy?"
Ebony's eyes widened to Remington's when the realization of what he'd offered them in his spontaneous utterance.
Bingo!
"Losing any fur as of late, Ebony?" Julie now asked with a directed tone.
Shadow leaned back into Ebony's space. "Particularly large clumps of it."
Remington smirked. "Be rough to start having bald spots in places no Mobian should have."
"Wh–what was in that device?" Ebony stuttered to asked.
"First–answer us–what was that device?" Remington countered.
Ebony frantically shook his head, his eyes filling with dread. "I–I don't know!"
"What'da you mean you don't know?" Remington barked. "You paid an ass load 'ah money for it–"
"Before you turned around and sold it again last night!" Julie cut in.
Air, hot and charged, lingered over them. Remington leaned over Ebony's desk, placing his hands for support, his eyes now boring into the rabbit's black vest, tie and white shirt. "Meanwhile," he began, returning his voice to a gravely, husky drawl, "meanwhile–does not track."
Remington could see Ebony's chest rising and falling from his quickened breathing. His eyes were now in full-blown panic, his mouth opened just enough to let air in to try and calm himself. What was curious, and a mannerism Remington had seen once before from the rabbit, was Ebony was gripping the sides of his black pants like he was strangling something to not let live.
To not divulge tales against him.
"Ebony," Remington slowly said, the conspiracy forming in his mind, and now flowing from his lips, "were you used as an intermediary?" The rabbit's eyes flashed wide before furrowing as a mask. But Remington already knew the answer. "Why...yes you were."
Turning his face, Remington looked to Shadow, who was still slightly leaning over Ebony. "Tell me, Shadow...do you feel any chaos or radiation coming from our dear fuckee, here?"
The black hedgehog gave Remington a delightful treat. He flashed a smile before returning his visage to an indifferent posture. Remington briefly saw a twitch of a smile come from Julie as well.
"Right now," Shadow observed, "the only thing I can sense from him is a lack of intelligence."
"Oh," Remington gave out with a mirthful sneer, his eyes exaggerating sarcasm back to Ebony, "that's either good–or bad for you. And I don't know–" He shrugged his shoulder and head "–and quite frankly, I don't care which."
Ebony stared only at Remington, the brown echidna seeing the rabbit knew he already had the answers.
Shadow crossed his arms again.
Julie sat back on the corner edge of Ebony's desk, then leaned down and grabbed her black backpack, opened the top zipper and pulled her tablet out. Turning it on, Remington side glanced to her when she turned her attention back to Ebony. "Last night...we saw you at the Havana Club," she said. "With Blackjack. And you two met with someone upstairs."
Ebony arched his right brow, his hands relaxing some on his black slacks. Both Remington and Shadow held their postures, both keeping their expressions mute. What Julie was about to do, Remington knew he was about to hear it for the first time.
She touched the screen with her natural right index finger through her shooters gloves before looking up to Ebony with a content, even face. The sound was thin but Remington made out the heavy beat of the electronic pulse of the music coming through the small speaker on the tablet.
"~~~~~~The price is firm~~~~~"
Ebony's ears actually twitched. Remington shunted a grin from coming, instead, holding his stern face at the rabbit. Julie's eyes were still narrowed to Ebony as she sat on his desk. Shadow barley shifted.
Then a girl's voice sang through the speaker.
"Walls around your heart–"
Remington's ears perked with the slow beat and the girl's smooth timbre, trying to discern if Komi had played this very song in their two bedroom apartment. He was pretty sure, drawing his eyes to Julie, becoming slightly jealous of what she was able to do last night. Komi would have loved that.
"I wanna get in–I wanna know you–"
Yes, Komi had played this. Remington tried to remember from when and what they were–
"~~~~~~deposi~~~~here~~~~~"
Ebony's voice was apparent, even through the static. Julie tapped the tablet's screen, the music stopping. Remington pressed up from the metal desk before crossing his arms. "Okay, Ebony. Deposit what?"
"Umm," the Rabbit festered. He looked shocked. Like his very sanctum had been violated. "I don't know how you got that."
Remington stepped one foot forward, rolling his head around as if searching the very air for his sanity. He found it when his eyes met Shadow's, giving the black hedgehog a faint smirk. "Okay, dip-shit," he spat out, eyes locking to Ebony's, "I'm thinking of a number between one and–"
"Two–" Shadow blurted out.
"Okay, two!" Remington now leaned forward over the desk. "And after two–" He pointed to Shadow with his left hand crossing over toward him "–this guy is going to have his way with you." He took in a deep breath for a pause that grabbed Ebony's full attention. "And Hare, I'm going to be up front with you–he fucking scares the shit out of me."
Ebony's eyes darted to the black-furred hedgehog just standing off from him. Shadow this time twisted his lips in a bitter announce, red eyes now widening, his right hand moving over his left wrist, his white gloved fingers starting to pick at the gold bands around his wrist. Still, Ebony held his tongue.
Julie slid her finger on her tablet before tapping it. Static with the music returned to the air, along with a different male voice:
"~~~~It's as~~~adverti~~~~to~~~~payment~~~~"
Shadow clicked his left wrist's ring off and closed it, sliding it between his index and middle finger to hold. Remington noting the hedgehog was eyeing Julie-Su, giving her a small nod this time.
Again, she tapped the tablet, the girl's voice returning:
"Pull me in tonight–"
Then Ebony's voice filtered in, scratchy and broken from the bass and harmonics distorting the feed.
"~~~to these accounts~~~~perat~~~~~~"
Remington's ears and mind clued right in onto the two words that snapped an uneasy, disappointing frown over his face. He raked his fingers through his heavy black hair over his head. "Ebony! You're right back at it!"
"At what!" Ebony fired back, his eyes baring this time.
"One–!" Shadow threw his inhibitor ring in front of Ebony on his desk. It spun, rolling on its edges before gravity slowly pulled it flat, the doppler sound fading in a quick, metallic swirl. Ebony's eyes were now wide at the gold ring on his desk.
And Remington didn't even let him breathe. "Give me a fuckin' break! You think you can out smart echidnas, again!? You thought you were safe from your past–even here!? And you think you can just plug and play your old vocation here without catching eyes–" Thrusting his hand out like a knife, Remington roared "–don't wait for your pee-picking brain for the translation–fucking answer us!"
"I don't know what you mean!" Ebony shouted back.
"You're wiring the money to different accounts to avoid earnings taxes! It's what you did in Echidnaolopis three-fucking-years ago!"
"No, I wasn't!"
Shadow now inhaled deeply, his voice not steady or measured, but nearly in a roar. "No...you're keeping the transferred money amount low so it doesn't trip the mandatory reporting amount of large wire transfers from the banks!"
"And why would he even do that?" Julie attacked from the other end.
Shadow snorted. "To keep the United Federation's anti-terrorism finance division from getting suspicious." Shadow then side-eyed Remington, his face still twisted with anger. "And the Federation Revenue Service!"
"So, how much is the cut-off?" Remington asked, returning his focus to Ebony.
Shadow sniffed the air, taking a step closer to Ebony. "Three-thousand."
Tilting his head Remington rolled his jaw while standing erect. "And how many accounts do you have Ebony?"
Shadow moved his left hand to his right wrist, Ebony's eyes catching the movement.
Still the rabbit held his silence.
Kicking the desk hard, Remington raised his voice once more. "How many!"
"And where do we find them?" Julie bit in, her right hand nearly snapping the tablet her grip seemed so tight with anger. She looked to it, sliding her finger across it again before tapping it.
His voice returned:
"~~~~transf~~~~~~~"
Remington's stare narrowed. "Did you take a computer with you?"
Shadow answered when he turned around and went to the coat rack. He was quick, yet thorough, searching through Ebony's suit jacket before producing a black smart phone. Looking at it, then over to Julie, he tossed it to her.
Catching it, she powered it up, looked at for a moment, then dropped it into her backpack. "I can figure it out!"
Ebony's eyes became wild. "Hey, that's mine–and–"
Shadow took the four steps to close on Ebony in his chair, spun him around, grabbed his collar so harshly Remington thought the hedgehog was going to reap clumps of black fur from the rabbit. He shot his left hand between Remington and Julie-Su, his inhibitor ring once on it still on the desk. "Since I've walked into this building...into your office–everything you've owned, held dear, or thought as treasure–" Shadow leaned into the rabbit's turning face, his expression of fear and searching "it's now mine! So, you can make our lives a lot easier if you'd kindly point us to your laptop–before I start thinking it's in your pathetic body!"
There was no fanfare, nor did Ebony look away from Shadow's hard red eyes. He merely pointed with his right hand at the bottom drawer of his desk.
Julie leaned over, her eyes guided by Ebony's shaking arm, pulled the drawer open and retrieved a silver laptop. Looking up, she asked with an even face. "Password?"
Remington thought the rabbit was going to hyperventilate when he spoke, his voice having an edge. "Horizon-one."
"Any number of chances I have with wrong answers before it locks down behind a firewall?" Julie asked, but smirked while shaking her head and winking her right eye slightly. "Y'know what–I'll figure it out."
"Tick-tock!" Shadow repeated. He stood up from the chair again, his left hand climbing back to his right wrist.
And Remington nodded. "Time, Ebony. You've been wasting it. Time you don't have."
"We're still on one, right?" Julie rhetorically asked. Shadow nodded to her, his face becoming expressionless.
Remington cleared his throat, finding it parched. We've been at this too long, he festered inside himself.
"So...who were you selling it to, Ebony?" Remington asked, easing his voice.
This time, Ebony answered, his tone even and quiet. "You–you're not going to believe me."
Julie-Su scoffed at the air. "Really? Try us! Fuck, I couldn't believe you of all Mobians was even here when the old lady described you and said your name!"
"Something," Remington interjected, "we'll get back to."
"But," Ebony stammered, "they could come back and kill–"
"They tried that last night!" Shadow now interjected. "You're close protection dog didn't see the jackals trailing you...hunting you?" Ebony looked to him, shaking his head, his mouth opened in bewilderment. "It was me who called your name. To warn you! I stepped through the jackals who were about to kill the both of you."
"This guy you dealt with, what species was he?" Remington added in, throwing Ebony off his train of thought, which had already derailed several questions ago.
"Uh–lynx!"
Shadow gave a sequestered smirk from his cheek. "Now we're getting somewhere."
"Did you know him?" Julie now asked rapidly. Remington noted her driving tone this time; she knew who it was. Remington as well.
"Yeah–I–I couldn't–it was–" Ebony's face seemed to melt "–it was Lightening Lynx."
Remington's eyes grew wide. He crossed his arms. "And he just contacted you out of the blue?" he quizzed with an ironic tone.
And the rabbit actually nodded his head jerkingly. "Yeah...yeah, he did. Like I said, I couldn't believe it. I never thought I'd see him here!" His eyes were now almost pleading. "Then–well, you walked in," he said directly to Remington.
Remington reeled back his voice, coaching it once more. He had Ebony in a state that if he pressed too hard now, he might loose him to the insanity of fear. "Okay? When did he contact you, and how?"
"Um..." Ebony looked down at his hands, then at Julie's back. "It was odd," he seemed to confess, his street drawl pronounced this time. "Like...it was a number, but from on the other side of the planet." He looked up, eyes still pleading for a mercy. Remington wasn't quite buying it just yet. "I looked it up, see. It came from Soleanna–"
Shadow's eyes widened, his posture straightening with this. Remington kept his question stifled, darting his eyes back to Ebony. "And what did he want? How did he know where to find you?"
Ebony shook his head. "That's the thing...I don't know. They even knew what I deal with–"
Remington tilted his head as if expecting more of the answer from Ebony, but the rabbit had locked up, fear eclipsing his face, incrimination hovering behind his lips and eyes. With this, Remington softened his glare. "I'm not here for what front you have. Right now, slick, it seems it's the three of us keeping you safe from whatever you had agreed to."
The rabbit looked around the room, Julie softening her own expression to Ebony, yet Shadow still held his indifferent face to him, rolling his right inhibitor ring around his wrist. Remington recalled the time Julie had worked with the Echidna Security Team, the income she earned, and the skills she took too, that Remington had been hesitant to teach, but she adapted well from her Legionnaire experience and past. There was a comfort and affirmation in that she hadn't lost her touch, though she lost her left arm and her natural eye. But her drive and focus was up-front still. "What was it that they asked you to do?" she inquired with a leveled voice. One that seemed she was offering as an olive branch.
"I–I didn't even know it was a they?" Ebony confessed. "But...they wanted me to keep tabs on some of Eggman's junk. They didn't say what they were looking for." He looked up from his hands still grabbing at his pants. "In fact–it was Lightening that sent me the link and for me to broker the deal with the kid and his grammy."
Remington cocked an eye from the way Ebony said grammy to them. He'd heard inflections of voices like Ebony's before. A guilty conscience poisoning the well of deception. It was like a rung for him to climb up, almost a helping hand from the suspect to get closer to the top of a mountain of a crime. "How do you know Lightening from Mobius?"
Ebony shook his head. "I did some scrounging work from him before I got pinched by you, on Mobius," he said grudgingly.
"He didn't threaten you back then?" Remington asked.
"No."
"Yet, now you're a loose end to them," Shadow added, easing his confrontational tone.
The rabbit darted his worried face around the room. "What–what do you mean them?"
Remington held his own tongue this time, casting his eyes to Julie then Shadow, both of them giving him confirming stares to hold what they knew. "How much did Lightening pay you for the device?" Remington finally asked.
At this moment, Remington was nearly shocked with the openness Ebony answered them, inhaling his courage in one breath. "Forty–it was forty-grand..."
"What?" Julie said in shock and disgust.
Remington's own eyes widened, looking to Shadow who had a hurt expression on his own face. "You–" Remington closed his eyes and shook his head. "–You got paid forty-thousand for a device you paid a few grand for?"
Ebony nodded, his face now reposed with guilt and dread. "Yes...I–he paid me the front money to make the deal with the family–four thousand. I–I thought to short change them, but seeing how the grandmother was to her kid...and the kid saying he needed to help." He looked down at his hands, examining them as if his answers were in his fur. "I gave them all the money Lightening sent me to make the deal." He swallowed. "I–I didn't know what the device was or what was in it?"
"If you had?" Remington asked.
"I..." Ebony trailed off, Remington seeing his eyes reverting back to deception. He was now being protective of his inner-designs of criminality again.
The large office was silent, Shadow shifting in his posture, breathing in loudly.
Julie took her tablet, moved the time-line on her recording, Remington side glancing it, before she hit the play button. The music returned with a pause in the measure.
Ebony's voice came through clearly this time:
"~~~~~looks~~~good~~~~~"
Then the girl's light voice came through:
"–to you cross the great divide!"
Another pause in the music from the girls echoing voice floating before Ebony's came back with a little static in it:
"~~~~And about my bat prob~~~~~"
And Julie pressed the pause icon just as the down beat launched from the small speaker on the tablet. Remington saw Shadow's red eyes now focused with a burn to Ebony he never thought he'd seen from him before since meeting him over a few weeks before.
"Bat problem?" Julie now asked with an ironic tone.
Remington's own eyes widen. He uncrossed his arms and leaned back over Ebony's desk, his hands supporting him. "A bat problem?" Ebony's own face was frozen with indifference. "Ebony...Ebony does this have anything–and I mean fucking anything to do with a girl named Rouge?"
"Who?" he asked, taking his hand up to his right tall ear like he misheard the brown furred echidna. Both Remington and Julie cocked their heads seemingly at the same time.
Shadow stepped closer to the Ebony's chair.
"Who?" Remington said with a knifing voice. "Who?"
"What are you?" Shadow said with his own sharp voice, "some kind'a owl?"
"Nah, he's just going back to playing fucking dumb!" Julie scoffed.
"Okay gang," Remington said as if rediscovering his footing. "Let's try it like this, Ebony. Last night, Rouge the Bat was brutally abducted from her security caravan–" He slapped his hands together with his left hand firing forward to Ebony "–cut her fucking limo in half, and killed her security detail to get to her." He straightened on his now aching legs. Time was closing in on all of them. "And now–right fucking now–I'm hearing your joke of a high voice on a recording from last night–asking about your bat problem...and now Rouge the Bat is missing?" He widened his eyes to the black furred, and now sweating, rabbit. "Kinda seems–well, pointing towards you."
"I–I've never heard or met her before," Ebony retorted quickly, his brows rising, his hands spreading open as if he had nothing to offer.
And Shadow took another step closer.
"Never–seen her before?" Remington asked with a slight exaggerated tone and face.
Julie looked back down on her tablet and scrolled the time over on the audio feed and pressed play once more. The scratchy voice of Lightening Lynx came through the small speaker:
"~~~~It is~~~dealt~~~~~tonight~~~~"
Julie pressed the pause icon; Remington cocked his head. "You know, a girl with big, tall ears? White fur? Short cut hair–same color? More skin than fur the further down her figure you go?"
Ebony shook his head slowly.
Shadow stepped closer to Ebony, placing his gloved hands on his waist.
"Nice black wings on her back?" Remington pressed further, still holding his face quizzically.
Again, the rabbit shook his head. "I may have seen something–"
"Has a pleasing form to her body?" Remington cut in, now rising up, placing his own hands on his waist.
Shadow now took a step inside Ebony's space, sliding his left leg between Ebony's legs, drifting his crotch close to the rabbit's face to the point Ebony had to lean over to keep his condescending stare at Remington. He shook his head with a meager frown.
Julie blew a sigh from the side of her mouth. "You can't be this fucking blind. Shit, I'm almost jealous of her figure." Julie nearly launched herself off Ebony's desk. "She walks like this?" she remarked, taking a few steps, throwing her hips out with each step, her tail bouncing counter to them, her left cybernetic hand on her left hip, sashaying with every step. "No?"
Again, Ebony shook his head. "C'mon, I've seen many a pretty dame–" Ebony's eyes leered to Julie with a hint of lust behind it towards her. "You being–"
Shadow now pressed his full-body into Ebony's face, hands still on his hips, suit jacket tails back, his groin now completely in the rabbit's space that Ebony now had to turn his head away, his face showing anxiety and disgust.
Remington let Ebony take it in before he gave a quick smile to him. "You know. I think I'm missing something about the girl. Something big that should really help you remember her?" he said, like he was thinking out loud.
Turning to Julie-Su, he cocked a quizzical eye to her.
She had received the hints.
Her hands went to the sides of her breasts that were secured under her black and teal blouse, squeezed them close and pushed them up high on her chest. With this, she cocked her head over, widened her eyes to Remington, and twisted her lips to one side and her jaw the other to give him a "these" indicated expression!
And Remington let loose a wide, gaping smile. "That's it!" He turned fully to Ebony, Shadow still holding his crotch to the rabbit's face. "She's got–" spreading his hands out wide and making two large half-circles in the air with them, he roared "–large tracks of land!" His eyes were widened to the stops of his sockets. "And a disgusting piece of shit like you just wants nothing more than to get his face buried deep inside them!"
It was pure shock that had scribbled over Ebony's face now. Shock that made Remington think he might've gone too far with the rabbit, or that Ebony had never seen a side of him like this. The former Constable was very certain it was the latter, as he too, taking a step back from himself, has never remembered being this overbearing, or outlandish, towards a suspect.
But then again, and if Remington was in Ebony's brown shoes, he would be better off being a suspect, than being a co-conspirator.
Or not having a black hedgehog's package stuck in his face.
"You see that, Ebony?" Remington asked as a matter of fact. "What's being stuck in your face, right now. That's big C energy," he observed, his tone nearly a sneer. "That's big Chaos energy sticking in your face...and I'm glad I'm not you...sitting in that chair."
Shadow, without warning or inclination, reached up to his right wrist and unsnapped his inhibitor ring and threw it on Ebony's desk like it meant nothing to the black hedgehog.
"Two!–"
And with a suddenness that was nearly a smack at Remington's senses, Shadow with his left hand grabbed Ebony by his shirt vest and tie at his upper chest, and with one fluid motion, picked the rabbit up from his seat in the chair, and thrusted him towards the back wall. The force knocked the leather chair over on its back, Shadow grabbing the rabbit's left arm for support. The hard slam of Ebony's back on the wall nearly forced every once of air from the rabbit's lungs.
With the shock gone as quickly as it came, Remington impulsively with a seeming easy leapt and bounded onto Ebony's desk, took one step to cross over it, and jumped down to the laminated floor, staying upright to nearly run to the other side of the rabbit. It was either on instinct, or just pure motivation to do Ebony physical harm that Remington took his left hand and clasped it around Ebony's throat, allowing his forearm to press and hold him up against the wall.
It had all happened in one single fluid evolution. The shock of it had Ebony in a complete panic.
"What's your problem with Rouge!?" Shadow roared out.
"Was there another deal you had with Lightening involving her!?" Remington yelled to Ebony as well.
"She–I–"
"Your time is up!" Shadow bellowed.
And with his remark, Remington started to feel a surge of energy coming through him. His first thought was to release Ebony, but he held the rabbit up, his right hand grabbing the belt line of the now pinned convict to help Shadow steady him. Remington's eyes started to widen when the rabbit's white fur on his face, and the black fur on his ears head, began to stand up like a field of static electricity was hovering around them. Looking at his hand, Remington's fur was also starting to do the same.
Game! Set! Match!
"Ebony–you better start answering questions before you are going to owe me for dry-cleaning my suit!"
"Huh–I–Rouge–she–"
"Spit–it–out!" Shadow hollered in Ebony's left ear. "I'm losing patience with you!"
"Ebony!" Remington began, "you are about to have your back wall turned into a weird painting from your exploded body when Shadow has had enough of you. You're going to become–um–" he looked to Shadows burning red eyes "–what's the one artist that has the weird splashing paintings that I've seen here–"
"Jackson Pollock!"
"Yeah–" Remington continued, measuring his voice. Ebony's eyes were wide with terror, locked in a struggle with Shadow's. "So, you best start talking on why you want Rouge either dead, or taken out of the way!"
Ebony couldn't answer as his chest was rising and falling so quick he was hyperventilating from his nose and out his mouth. Remington reached with his right hand, releasing Ebony just briefly, to give Shadow a press at his back to slacken up his force some. To his surprise, and a added level of trust with it, the hedgehog did.
And the rabbit finally found his voice through his exertion. "She–she had done some shell accounts for me–accounts I had used to move funds around. And–and there's these rumors...see–that she's going straight!" His wide, panicked eyes meeting Remington's cold stare. "And–there has been others that are wanting her dead...and Lightening...said she needed her."
"So," Shadow bent in, pressing harder into Ebony's body. The rabbit's black fur continued to puff further out, "part of your finder's fee was to have her gotten rid of...for what?"
"To–to get peace of mind that she wouldn't dime me–or others out!"
"And what does Lightening want with her?" Julie-Su now asked close to Remington's side.
"I–I–I honestly don't know," Ebony nearly cried out. Remington could feel more of the energy surging between him and the rabbit.
"Alright," Remington allowed, his voice calm, but still gravely. "Alright, Ebony...we'll take your word for it." But before he turned away, to let Shadow still hold him up against the wall, Remington gave a hard gaze to Ebony. "But first...how the fuck did you get here on this planet? At this zone?"
Ebony slowly let his gaze go Remington's, a slight smile formed at his quivering lips. "You–you miss Mammoth Mogul?"
The former Constable this time took a full sidestep away inside himself. In it's place, Remington felt his lineage...his father, Kragok, become his passenger. "Yes," he answered, Ebony's face melting to a form of shock again. "Yes, I do, Ebony–but my aim's improving."
If the rabbit had any color underneath his white furred checks, they would have faded. Remington could even feel the blood leaving from Ebony's features. "What," Ebony began, his voice devoid of tone or pitch, his eyes wide with a sorrow that took Remington off-guard, "what happened to you, Constable?"
Remington shifted in his stance, his face frowning in repose, his eyes searching. "What do you mean, Ebony?"
The rabbit swallowed. "You?–What changed. You–you had been the example...the law that–you'd never treat even someone like me like this."
He gave thought to it, seeing Ebony's blue eyes wide with actual terror. He had scared him through and through...and with it, maybe even himself. "Ebony–I've borne witness to my people being slaughtered–murdered. And what I have left–I aim to protect it now with a vigor...that honestly, I can't explain."
Not giving Ebony any more thought to answer, he pressed on, "So–what deal did you strike up with Mammoth that got you here? And I know you don't have any special abilities to make a big zone jump from Mobius to here."
Ebony nodded, his eyes darting to Shadow's. They still hadn't moved or softened, yet, his fur was starting to fall back to its natural state:
"I–I started having–second thoughts with what I was doing for Eggman back on Mobius–"
"Which was?" Julie asked with gritted teeth, stepping closer to Remington.
"I–I helped him find echidna technology. But–but when he started incorporating it into the Dingoes–he ordered them to use it on innocent people." He cleared his throat. "And not just echidnas. I–I just wasn't up for that."
"So you split from Eggman?" Julie pressed in.
"And he started hunting you?" Shadow added.
Ebony nodded. "And I found Mammoth by chance when I got off Angel Island. He was setting up something in Casino Night City. He knew what I had done–why I was put in prison, see."
Remington eased his left hand slightly on Ebony. "So, he considered your skills and then what?"
Closing his eyes and taking a breath, Ebony let his voice become a murmur. "He said he knew of a place I could go. Start clean. And set up a small financial mill he called it, to have an escape. He said he was seeing something happening on Mobius, and he didn't trust Sonic...or anyone to fix it."
Fear now welled in Remington's throat, his eyes turning to Julie's, her violet hue with her black irus and red pupil growing in fear as well. Fear of reconciliation of what had happened. Why–and the secret he felt guilty in keeping from her–they couldn't find a way back. For Lady Lara-Le had told him to wait for her to tell her.
"So, how did he get here?" Julie asked with a direct tone and stare. She was standing off to the side from Remington. "I mean, we know you don't have any zone jumping abilities."
"He doesn't seem the type to have it," Shadow pressed along with his hand against Ebony's throat.
The rabbit struggled, blinking quickly before taking a heavy breath. "He–he had this Chaos emerald...but it was weird looking." Remington cocked an eye, Ebony seeing it. "It was like a dark purple–"
"Magenta?" Shadow pressed again harshly, but his brows were knitted with alarm.
Again, Ebony nodded. "It–it gave this weird light...and the feeling I got when we were inside it. I felt–guilt."
"What do you mean, guilt?" Remington asked.
Ebony shuttered. "I-I don't know. Like–I can't explain it." He stared off, then he looked to Shadow. "But, that was how he got me here."
Remington looked to Shadow, finding a haunting expression on the hedgehog, like clues were not only being discovered, but connecting behind his red eyes. Remington looked over his shoulder to Julie, finding her eyes looking at her partner's, her expression of curiosity and abstract foreboding with Shadow's. "When–when was the last time you saw him?" Remington now asked, turning his attention back to Ebony.
There was no stammer, yet, his voice reflected a feeling of abandonment when he spoke. "Three–three years ago. I was suppose to see him a year ago–but he never returned."
Taking a breath, Remington then asked, "So, it's just been you and numb-nuts down stairs this whole time." Ebony nodded. "And you've just been stock piling money for when–or if Mammoth returns?"
Again, the rabbit nodded. "We–We didn't help this Eggman, I swear," he confessed. "Not after what happened on Mobius...and the Metalvirus–"
Ebony cut himself off, Remington seeing a loss somewhere behind the rabbit's eyes that at that point, there was no need to press or use against him. Breathing in, and giving a sigh of resignation, Remington was satisfied they had all they needed from him. Turning his head to Shadow, the black hedgehog broke his infernal stare at Ebony, and also gave a nod to Remington.
But stepping between him and Shadow, Julie kneeled down at Ebony's shoe covered feet, and she snapped a silver ring around his right ankle.
"Wait–what's this?" Ebony immediately festered.
Remington tiled his head over in exaggerated puzzlement. "Why, Ebony. Did you forget the other part of your sentencing? You were suppose to have five years of monitored probation after release." Remington looked down at the ankle monitor, Julie stepping away from them with a smile. "Consider this your first day of probation."
Taking a step back, Remington released his hold on Ebony with Shadow just dropping him to the floor. The rabbit didn't have time to prepare himself for the landing, and instead, he just collapsed in a clump by the white wall. Giving a courtesy, Remington reached down and flipped Ebony's leather chair back on its five wheels. Shadow for his courtesy, reached and nearly manhandled Ebony up off the floor and sat him back in his chair. Remington saw the forceful hands, and the hard stare from the hedgehog before turning away. Grabbing his inhibitor rings, Shadow shackled them one-by-one back over his gloved wrists.
"Thanks for you corporation, Ebony," Remington said with a broad, sarcastic tone.
Julie-Su reached down and grabbed her pack after zippering the laptop and phone up inside it. Slinging it over her shoulder, she followed Remington, Shadow close behind her, his head searching over his shoulder to Ebony.
And all Ebony could do was slide down in his chair. He tried to calm his breathing. He tried to muster back his hope and nerves. They returned when Shadow closed the white and chipped painted door behind him. And for a moment, he was locked in with his silence and his heart beating through his large, tall ears. When the three agents of G.U.N. disappeared from the windows looking out to his warehouse floor, he then felt secure to wish it had been the police instead of not only them, but the shock of it being Remington, and Julie-Su–faces he had never thought in his worst nightmares to ever see again. Ebony then allowed himself to close his eyes just for a moment before he had to command himself to go downstairs and search for Blackjack and–
The sudden opening of his office door, the blinds wafting violently from the forced entrance, shot Ebony's eyes wide to–
"And one more thing, Ebony!" Remington shouted across the void to the rabbit sitting at his desk, replete with shock across his face. The echidna's eyes were burning with anger, wide with range, his left hand extended out with his index finger fiercely pointing at him, "don't you fuck with me, 'ya hear, mutha' fucker! Don't you dare fuck with me on this–or I fucking swear to Aurora I will fuck you up!"
Remington let the his blasphemous remark hold in the air before he turned through the threshold and slammed the door shut so hard, the blinds over the blocked windows flung off of it and crashed to the floor.
His stride was long, his back rigid...his focus to Ebony still aflame until he lost sight of him when he passed the windows.
I had a blast with this chapter, but I also had to pay strict attention to the flow and to make sure I revealed what I needed to reveal to progress the plot. I channeled Vincent Hannah from the movie Heat into Remington, plus a little bit of Alejandro from Sicario through Shadow.
