Manic and Little John's Hideout, Geno City

Night

They'd eventually made their way back to the hideout where Cortez and Jean were. Johnny had dropped off his shopping earlier, citing a call from Patty to come see her as the reason why but did get the message about tomorrow's expedition before heading on over to her.

With today's confrontation, they have a new reason to explore more of Anton's Palace as soon as possible in addition to their pre-existing one: Resolve the situation before they end up done for themselves.

"...Well, I'm go hit the hay. Gotta get up early in the morning. Night." Little John told Manic and Cortez before heading off to bed like Jean did earlier. Akira having left some time ago to discreetly head on home for the night.

"Jeez... I'm gonna have to sleep with one eye open tonight..." Manic said to Cortez, rubbing the back of his head nervously; "After what happened earlier, I can't afford not to..."

"They don't know where you live yet, so you three should be able to sleep safely for now." Cortez says to him. "We'll just have to not be followed back to here for ours and theirs' sake."

"Right." Manic said with a nod, "I guess then we just gotta be careful."

"You've really kicked up a hornet's nest this time."

"Yeah, we kinda did and technically it's my fault."

"You couldn't help it. They chose to be hostile first."

"Yeah but now I've escalated things no doubt."

"Depends on your perspective. Either it escalates now or eventually..." Cortez would head for the exit. "As much as I'd like to discuss more on it the same way we would discuss what Venus writes in her personal diary in her spare time, I have to head back to my camping place."

"Right. Be careful out there."

"I will." Cortez nodded before leaving the hideout. Manic would have gone to bed but he has a personal matter to attend to and the green hedgehog heads off a minutes later...

Vercua Mansion, Cyber City

Night

The Verucas lives in luxury at a big white spacious house with a sizeable swimming pool at the back and a big garden. For such a beastly lot, they live like lords and in Anton's case; living off the misery of folks in Geno City he has his gang extort money from and Tatiana in her nightgown stood alone at a balcony overlooking the backyard from the comfort of Anton's bedroom as he doesn't even have the decency to let her have her own room in the mansion

Tatiana hates every moment of it because she has to live under the same roof as Anton Veruca, a reptile she'd sooner have dead than to ever accept his seed lest she produces more of his kind through her womb onto Mobius. Folks would hate their partner for screwing around with other women but in her case; she actually prefers him to screw with other women as it means she won't have to deal with his unwanted physical affections. Equating a night with Anton to getting shingles and just as unpleasant.

The tigress under preferable conditions would never seriously put herself in a "relationship" with Anton if it could even be called that. She'd be in a real relationship with someone who'd treat her with respect, treat her with actual love, not treat her like an object for another person's amusement and they wouldn't have a family like Anton's.

Before she could ponder any further, she sensed another person's presence in the room and knew exactly who it is without having to look back at the visitor; "Manic... You should be off to bed at this time of night and you know full well on what he'll do if he finds you up here in his crib."

"I know…" Manic replied, stepping up beside Tatiana from the way he entered the room. "But I had to go see you again. It's been long since I've last seen you Tatiana."

"You should make it your last..." Tatiana stares out to the courtyard. "You've already stirred up a storm with what you and your friends just did today. Akira included."

Manic leans against balcony rail and looking out at the courtyard with Tatiana. "…It's a nice view, isn't it?"

"What are you trying to play at now? You know full well what happened the last time you went up against him and what spawned out of it."

"Except this time I actually have the means and a plan to take him down for good. It's a far cry from last time… A very far cry from that..."

"I had to convince his hotheaded ass to not have you killed then..." Tatiana shook her head. "What makes this one any different from last time? Besides the fact you've dragged a newly arrived person into your personal conflict with Anton and isn't in the know about your past mistakes? Mistakes that even got a few innocent people killed no less..."

"Because... I can't divulge particular specifics but let's just say; I've been gathering evidence of his wrongdoing. Evidence that could very well put him away for good. I messed up then because I was angry and emotional when I confronted him over you. I've learned my lesson since."

"As if they can put him away for good." Tatiana scoffs, her cynicism coming in. "He might just get a slap on the wrist by the court and nothing would change or the evidence goes missing just like Jean's findings against him and Krouch three years ago. By the way, the Jebroni Gang were indeed hired by Anton to attack your friend the other day in case you're wondering if he's got anything to do with it. You're welcome."

Manic shook his head, giving her a reassuring smile. "I have my ways. Rest assured Tatiana, I'm in the process of gathering some hard evidence that will put him away for good."

"For fuck's sake Manic..." Tatiana gave him a disapproving expression, not pleased about his naive response. "Can you stop for a moment to think about the serious danger you're putting yourself along with the others in and stop trying to act like the hero for once? It's that type of mentality which caused no end to your grief and it's because you don't want to feel powerless with him standing over you, taunting you at every step while you have to take it or else he starts getting aggressive towards everyone you care about."

Narrowing her eyes at him; "You wanted payback for the humiliation he had put you through and ruining your life. You blame all of your misfortunes on Anton because it is a lot easier to hate someone like him than acknowledging the mistakes you've caused yourself. Getting sent to juvie changed you."

"And what about you, huh?" Manic responded darkly, getting ticked off by her lecturing him. "You seemed to just give up pretty easily when I went to juvy. Hell, you seem pretty acceptant of the shit Anton puts you through day to day. What happened to the headstrong Tatiana that I knew? The one that wasn't afraid to advocate for herself? What, has Anton housebroken you into some kinda stepford wife and what's next? Are you gonna start cooking him dinner and bearing his bastard children with no other role given to you by him except being his trophy wife?"

"Fuck you Paulie..." Tatiana growled, addressing him by his rarely used given name. "You think I wanted to be his girl of my own volition? I would sooner slit the bastard's throat in his sleep if I could than to bear his hell for love. I loathe him with every fibre of my being. A waste of a specimen and a cancer who wants to be famous but has no talent to make it other than being a punk that happens to have connections in the city underbelly. As for the Tatiana you knew? She grew up..."

The tigress straightens herself with a frown. "She was headstrong because she didn't know any better and she advocated for herself because she thought that's how the world works back then. Freedom, liberty and justice was what she believed this world operated on... When she grew up though, she saw what the world is really like. You take him down and Geno City will still be the crime-ridden craphole the rest of Northamer sees it."

She continues, her tone sombre. "It'll be business as usual for everyone else including the scum he's associated will escape punishment to continue their scummy activities and the public will go back to their ignorant routine, thinking they caught the big fish with him but that ain't how it works. He's only just a cog in the machine. He thinks his family are equals with the other crooks that lives the high life in Cyber City. In reality, they look down on the Vercuas as peasant trash like us. While you're busy playing out your Robin Hood complex with your eyes firmly closed, I saw the truth."

"No matter what you do, he'll either just get a slap on the wrist and his punishment won't be enough for him with the connections he has or another scumbag will just simply take his place and Anton dies under "mysterious circumstances" in custody to ensure he never gets to squeal to the authorities. He is protected because he's making money and that's what runs this city... Cyber City isn't any better or worse without him, you just choose to associate the negativity with him rather than see the bigger picture." She turns away from him. "You're not bringing him down because it's the right thing to do..."

"...You just want to settle your grudge against him, finally get your revenge on him and maybe numbing the pain of your personal loss just a little by taking down something that's got a face on it." The tigress tells it the way as she sees it. "...That's what drove away some of your friends who didn't go join Anton because you allowed your own vengefulness get the better of you and almost costing your own life... He could have taken your life right there on the spot if he had the sense to..."

Manic was silent during her venting and taken aback by it all, looking downtrodden by the harshness of Tatiana's response. He turned his back on her a moment, then clipped a grappling hook to the railing and let the cable unroll down to the courtyard.

"…I understand how you feel and where you're coming from but I promise you Tatiana... Life. Will. Change." He handed her a golden locket that looked old and worn. "No matter what happens… No matter what he does to you… Never forget who we were and what we stood for because let me tell you something; the grime of the streets we grew up on… It doesn't wash off and I won't give up on you..."

He then clipped a safety clip on his belt to the cable and slid down it to the courtyard below, pulling the grappling hook back down to himself. Soon running down to one of the courtyard walls and climbing up over it, making his eventual escape from the area undetected by the courtyard security.

Tatiana looks down at the heart-shaped locket and she gently opens it to be greeted by a picture of herself as well as Manic. A picture taken once by Farrell with both of them smiling, a picture from a time where she truly felt happy in spite of growing up on the streets because she had her sweetheart by her side.

A tear drop fell down upon the worn locket, the damn hedgehog had to remind her of what she was forced to give up years ago to avoid another devastating heartbreak that sees another loved one in her life go into another coffin and reaffirming why she despises Anton Veruca with every fibre of her being. How he has torn their lives apart without showing any ounce of remorse for what he's done. He is selfish, he is spiteful and he is scum.

"...He's your brother Anton!" The tigress hears an intense argument between Anton and Migu outside of the bedroom, quickly hiding the locket away somewhere in the room. "He's family just like us and you used to be a good brother to him as well as the rest of us!"

"Family?!" Anton yelled in the hallway with Tatiana listening in and she can hear the slurring in his words, indicating that he's been drinking heavily tonight. "Tod's a useless deadweight to me and mom outside of the DLA money he'd generate for us!"

"H-How could you say that?! You take that back!" Migu roared back furiously, deeply angered by her big brother's response. "You take tha—!"

Tatiana flinched when she heard a loud smack with an accompanying shriek from Migu and a thud. It didn't take a genius to put together on what just occurred in the hall.

"Shut the fuck up you useless little gossiping goblin!" She'd hear Anton growl at his sister whom was letting out shaky breaths of her own. "Every time I wanted to climb up the ladder of success and be seen as someone respectable, people like him always drags me down by being associated with him while I've got people like you eating away at my hard-earned wealth like a god-damn parasite and I'm sick of it. Mother's right about you Migu; you'll amount to nothing in life if you don't start pulling your weight around. She always wants breadwinners in her family, not losers and that is exactly what Tod is to her as well as to me!"

Tatiana hurries over to Anton's bed when she hears him shuffling over towards his bedroom and lies down on it, pretending to be asleep. She'd hear him come in before closing the door behind him and head over towards the bed.

"Heeey baby..." The tigress hears his slurring obnoxious voice that makes her skin crawl with the smell of his alcohol-flavoured breath breathing down the back of her neck and a hand cupping one of her breasts through her nightgown for a feel, followed by kisses to her neck. "Anton's looking for some sexy company for the night~"

Thankfully for her, the drunk lizard would then pass out on the bed and she immediately shoves his arm away from her. Another night where she's not subjected to his advances and another opportunity to kill him in his sleep but deciding against it and. She doesn't know if Manic or the argument has any part in her taking notice of what's really going on with the family but she felt genuine pity for Migu's situation for the first time in a long time.

Whoever Anton used to be for Migu good or bad, a selfish bastard is all that's left of him now and that's the person Tatiana knows him best as. Caring very little on how he's tearing his own family apart just like how he tore apart much of Manic's life himself and treating his own siblings as nothing more than his punching bags. In light of everything that's happened today, she fears for Manic and Little John's lives as well as Akira's too.

Anton's obsession with Manic is reaching towards its' apex soon and once he's gone; that's when the nightmare encore begins...

Out in the hallway, Migu shakily runs a hand over an area on her face where her big brother has smacked her at with tears running down her cheeks and sniffling to herself. Trying to process what's just happened.

She has been lying to herself about how everything's fine at home before Akira brutally shatters that illusion for her with his choice words and she knew deep down, he was speaking the cold truth. She didn't want to face it nor acknowledge it til this very night when she directly asked an unknowingly drunk Anton on what really happened to her brother Tod.

The response he gave shook her and the two ended up arguing afterwards about Tod's worth as their brother with her caring for him the most, feeling guilt over not doing something about the bullying treatment Tod had been receiving the whole time. All leading up to that slap and her down on the floor afterwards.

With that bitter argument, Migu now remembers on how cold and distant Anton has become towards his own brother Tod over time the more his gang grew in size. Wondering what has her big brother become now and why he's grown to resent his own siblings.

"Mother's right about you Migu; you'll amount to nothing in life if you don't start pulling your weight around... I've got people like you eating away at my hard-earned wealth like a god-damn parasite..." Anton's harsh and unsympathetic words circles around her thoughts. "She always wants breadwinners in her family, not losers and that is exactly what Tod is to her as well as to me!"

She had kept telling herself over and over that Anton still cares about her, Tod and their two other brothers more than their mother ever did but now? She's not so sure anymore.

"I-If y-y-you want me to p-pull my weight a-a-around..." She quietly and shakily says to no-one in particular before narrowing her eyes as she felt her anger brewing in her; "Then I'll do just that big brother..."

Manic quickly headed back to his hideout with his mind on the conversation with Tatiana as well as how unfair on what he had said to her was. He thought back to his confrontation with Anton three years ago...

Anger got the better of the already sour Manic from all the recent headaches he's gone through in the last while and it was all because of one girl Tatiana Tiger. A sweetheart from childhood who suddenly up and left her friends out of the blue. Not even with a goodbye or a message.

From a bogus drug charge that got him sent to juvie to having a number from his gang jump ship to go join those Hooligan punks and torching their old hideout; finding out Tatiana has left him for Anton was the straw that broke the camel's back for him with Little John not even able to stop him and he stormed on down to Kieran on Shōga Street to go confront him at a pool table.

So livid that he didn't stop to see what a bad idea it is until he found himself with a few marks on him and being surrounded by Anton's men including his ex-homies after putting hands on their leader. Hud, Vance and Earl getting in some cheap shots on the hedgehog.

"...You have some nerve coming down here and trying to assault our boss like that." Grady O'Wolf snootily says to Manic with Ryder, Vance, Johnson and Earl at his side as they restrained him before Anton. All defected to Anton's team and mingling in with his guys.

"And you have some real nerves to be talking there you treasonous snake!" Manic snarled back, eyeing the former members of his group with disdainful eyes. "After everything I did for you, this is how you repay me!?"

"We weren't getting paid to be your merry men to make you look good and we just couldn't resist the money he was offering to us to go join his gang." Ryder retorted with a smug grin. "And we don't regret it one bit."

"John was right about all of you. All of you are a bunch of marks and should have known then you gave no damn about the people..." The green hedgehog acidly responded back to him, eyeing the other Hooligans present. "Especially when you're just as scummy as these goons."

Hud sneeringly points his nose down at the hedgehog, standing at Anton's side. "John is a fat ass who needs to cut down on the sugars before he becomes a walrus. Brother, let's just go and we finish this asshole of—"

"I give the orders here Hud unless you wanna make it a problem?" A fierce glare from Anton was all it took to make Hud immediately back down like a coward and cower to his command with a head shake. Always quick to do that when confronted directly by his older brother.

Looking over to Manic; "Bro, you came all the way down here and attacked because of some girl; that's like real sad shit that I almost feel hesitant to have you whacked. I knew jail time would do a number but talk about being whipped, am I right guys?"

"Absolutely." Craig responded, ever the bootlicker with Anton quietly exhaling through his nose in annoyance at being reminded of his existence. Like a turd on his new shoes.

"For your infomercial my good dude, she's with me and I'm..." Anton smirks tauntingly, putting hands behind his head and doing a crotch thrust. "Drilling yo girl reaaaal fine like a true alpha male~"

"Fuck you Anton!" Manic spat out enraged. "Whatever you did to force her to join, she wouldn't gratify a slimeball like you out of affection! What did you do to her!?"

"While you were busy in juvie looking for a shower daddy like a rent boy, she took to taking my products to cope with it and developing a fix for it..." The Hooligan leader grins smugly as he tells him. "Seeing as I am like a vendor for what she's after, she naturally took to corresponding with me before I wooed her over to come join my gang in return to getting a steady supply of her favourite dope. Oh and may I be frank with you for a moment?"

Manic said nothing but Anton continued on anyways. "I had no idea your Tatiana can throat a cock like mine that well with her mouth and oh, I busted a fat one in her mouth a few minutes later. Maybe she sucked yours' off once or twice before but fuck, she's a dream and that's not even going into how she feels in bed~"

"...You are scum." Manic quietly hisses at his crass reptilian rival. "You really are and I know you've set me up too."

"On who's word? That corrupt cop on your payroll? If I recall, she's off the force right now and doing time for misconduct as a police officer." Anton chortles before getting back on topic. "I might have my boys here turn you into a bloodied up vegetable but perhaps it'd be poor of me to not at least make an effort to try and let you see her beforehand. I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere buddy."

Anton snaps his fingers as he walks over to a door that lead to a room where Manic assumes Tatiana is being held at since the bar has three special rooms. "Rough him up a little but not too much."

"Will do." Hud smiled smugly, cracking his knuckles before throwing a few strikes at the restrained Manic. Even throwing in one below the belt that connected with a scornful chuckle and the green hedgehog let out a pained cry. This little show of Hud's tough guy act would end when Anton reemerges from that room with hands in his letterman jacket and stopping in front of Manic.

"I was considering having harm inflicted upon you for laying hands on me and calling me a piece of shit..." Anton says to him before his mouth forms into a toothy triumphant smile. "But I've had a change of heart so to say. I'm feeling... Rather merciful. I shall spare you and your friend's lives over this act under one condition; you're to pay me tributes as compensation for your assault against me. A compromise to show that I'm the bigger man here."

"You're the grown-up here Boss!" Craig interjects with Anton promptly ignoring him. Manic resisted the strong urge to laugh out loud at the irony of that statement considering it's Anton saying those very words.

"Whatever scores you make, you're to deliver me a cut from your take. Whatever loot you seized, you're to pawn off a few of them to me. Whatever mobiums you get in, you hand over a percentage to me. Whatever gifts I want, you're to get me it. Think of it like alimony payments but less financially murderous." Anton says with a mirthless chuckle. "I'm a reasonable and civilised gentleman like that. Sounds fair to you?"

Manic clenches his teeth, exhaling hot air through the nostrils. That smug face staring back at him riles him up even without the infuriating words he spews from his mouth. The eyes looking at him like he's a bug, the curves of his mouth in a twisted smile that reads trouble from all angles and his posture is like that of Doctor Robotnik's victorious aura after conquering Mobotropolis from the Royal Acorn Family. What he sees in front of him is someone who's absolutely ecstatic that he gets to have something to shackle their worst enemy with and holding the key out of their reach.

"...I... I accept..." Manic relents. Hating himself for it.

"I accept what?" Anton leans in with a hard of hearing gesture, smiling widely from ear to ear and wanting to rub it in his face some more. Wanting to milk and savour this one for all its' worth.

"I accept sir..." Manic felt a piece of him die inside while saying that to the reptile.

"I can't hear you my good friend. Say out much louder~"

"I accept sir!" The hedgehog repeated at a higher volume and the leader of the Hooligans let out a rancorous laugh that prompted his men to laugh as well. All directed at the ex-convict's expense.

"For that, you can leave with your brain intact." Anton gleefully chortled to his favourite victim and loving every moment of his self-pride getting marred before him while Hud looked at him with a self-pleased grin begging to be smashed in. "That's more than what your daddy can say haha!"

Ignoring that uncalled for remark, Manic simply asks; "What about Tatiana?"

"Sorry but she's not interested in seeing you right now. Or ever." Anton didn't hesitate to answer him in the most douchebag way possible and goes to head back to his pool table. "I'll let her know you've asked about her. Now get on out of here and out of my sight."

"Let me rephrase what he said in a language you can comprehend in case you didn't follow..." Hud added in a condescending and mocking tone while pantomiming to the son of Farrell. "Now little kid which is you; you go and head on back to a thing called a ho-me and leave us, the grownups here to do grownup things. Tada~"

Manic was forced to refrain from clapping back at Anton's needling weasel of a brother and just had to let him have this one; knowing he's trying to provoke him into throwing a punch for any reason while in the safety of his cronies.

He quietly stood up straight once he was let go and turns to head for the exit, holding his neck up high while he hears Anton's men start gossiping about him with Hud getting in one last jab; "Don't let that door smack your baby ass on the way out loser!"

Once he's out of the establishment and heading out of Hooligan territory, Manic hung his head low and let out a depressed sigh as he sadly makes the trek back to his hideout where Little John will be waiting for him. No doubt to scold him for the outburst. It's his own fault.

Left both defeated and humiliated by Anton Veruca with moistures building in his eyes. His own emotional outburst over Tatiana made him look like a complete fool in front of them and all for nothing except creating even more misery for himself. The only thing he wants to do when he gets home is to curl up in his bed and cry himself to sleep. Feeling utterly trapped with Anton the warden of his new hell.

He knew Tatiana better than Anton ever would. He knew the spirited Tatiana that knew before the weary one that exists now and knew that as it stood now, she couldn't get away even if she wanted to with Anton unwilling to let her out of his sights. Not willing to allow reunions on his watch. Whenever the reptile detects any joy in either of them, he'll seek out and eliminate it with mechanical focus; suffocate the oxygen from that spark until it's gone.

But he knows her, how she was and what she's capable of. Whatever she planned to do; she needs help and more importantly, she needed a good plan. The plan he, Akira and them came up with, he had full confidence in it but if it failed; he at least a backup plan. To change Anton's heart within his Palace.

That in itself was his fallback position and if that failed; he had another more fantastical plan where he was just gonna sneak into the Veruca Mansion, grab Tatiana and elope with her to the sunny coasts of Spagonia to live the rest of their lives in secrecy. Free from this grimy world of Cyber City.

He just wants to be with her again without that monster Anton Veruca, ruiner of lives there to taint it for the both of them. Yet knowing Anton, he'll hunt the ends of the earth for him. Always wanting to have the last word no matter the circumstance and the very thought of them both being happy together would keep him up at night. That's the way Manic knows him.

"...Get the police, hu—AGH!"

"...Sweetie, you gotta call the police! Hurry!"

"...Ren!"

"...Mister Amamiya. Could you tell us a description of what this house intruder looked like, what weapon he was carrying and what make of clothes he wore on him?"

"...Mom... Dad..."

"...I am so sorry about what had happened at your house..."

"...You want to talk about it? I understand if you don't want to speak of it but know it isn't your fault..."

Akira's Apartment, Cyber City

Night

Akira jolted awake in his bed, gasping for air and feeling the cold-sweat on him. He thought he's overcome it but perhaps he has kidded himself into thinking that; just enough to get those nosy bastards from his old life off his back. The youthful wolf always hated the pitying from others because they do little to help with what he experienced that night.

Panting for breaths, he checks his alarm clock and sees it's still late in the night. Several more hours to go for rest. With his heartbeats slowing back down to their normal paces, he blankly stares up at the ceiling and let his thoughts wander; very little motivation to get up out of bed now. He figures he'll tired himself out and be back asleep.

Perhaps when he does, he'll have a peaceful rest this time. The last thing he needs right now on top of everything else he's got going on for him is have that accursed memory haunting him again and leaving him a husk in the morning. Having one of Anton's goons break-in would be preferable than a repeat of that because at least he'll have some power over some two-bit asshole in the real world and he can plaster the face he can vividly remember in his nightmares over that guy's face to get approximation of himself getting back at the bastard.

If he closes his eyes and painted or sculpted a portrait, it's always the same face he sees so often in his dreams and one he's carved so deep into his psyche no matter what happens; he doesn't forget that face... It keeps him well and alive.

Author's Note: That's another day over and we explore more of the type of environment our antagonist fosters. How toxic they can be and how it affects others' around them including loved ones. Even some tidbits of backstory involved.

When going over these chapters and editing them, it can be a lot of work in deciding what stays, what needs trimming or what gets removed while making the story easy to follow from A to D. Balancing both the Sonic and Persona elements while maintaining the existing characters' personalities as close to their source material as possible even when some liberties are being taken with the non-game characters such as turning Tatiana the Tiger, an obscure character from Archie Sonic The Hedgehog #137 with a questionable existence into a key figure from this Manic the Hedgehog's past for example.

Having a plot planned out and a story mapped are two different things as I've come to learn during the writing of this story with a fellow writer. One is where you have a general idea of how the plot will go, what events will happen and what the key characters will be doing in it while flexible enough for any changes to be made but can run the risk of having the readers seeing you're making it up as you go. One is where you detail the beginning, middle and end of the story with the characters' storylines going where you want them to go in to a T with minimal room for revisions depending on the story's structure but makes the work feel airtight in construction.

Both have their own pluses and minuses. Feel free to share your thoughts in the reviews for this and I'll see you all another time.