"Okay... that's the data copied over..." Charmy said tiredly, cracking his neck as a cup of coffee sat next to him. "What's the time?"

Espio walked by and scratched his head. "8:12."

"It's morning?" Vector blurted.

"Good thing we slept in shifts," said Espio. "I'm going to head out to get some breakfast for us. I'll pick up coffee refills on the way. What are people having?"

"I'll have some breakfast burritos," said Vector.

"Just a sandwich and a chocolate bar for me," said Charmy. "Ham and cheese on the sandwich."

"I'll be back soon. Remember, we've just got Tails' stuff to sort out. Back in a few." He left the armoury area and saw Cosmo and Nicole at the front desk, so he went over to them. "How are you two doing with all the work piling up?"

"Well, not as easy as you," Nicole said. "Last night got a bit crazy. At least things are easier with Cosmo back."

"How's the weapon testing going?" asked Cosmo.

"We're getting close. Can't believe we pulled an all-nighter." Espio stretched, feeling his joints pop a bit. "Anyway, I'm off to grab some breakfast. You two want anything?"

"We picked something up on the way here," said Mina. "After last night, we've not really stopped moving."

"What happened last night?" Espio asked. "Did something go down at the Midnight Oil?"

Cosmo was about to speak, then she saw the door opening past Espio as Bunnie walked in. "Probably best to ask her."

Espio turned to the Southern rabbit. "Is... is everything okay?" He looked past her to the car she arrived in. "Where's Antoine? Is he sick?"

"No..." Bunnie said. "There was an attack last night. Jem orchestrated it, and uh... Antoine was shot in the neck. He's on life support. Ah stayed with him all of last night. Ah don't think ah slept a wink."

"Have you eaten, at least?" Espio asked.

"Not since the food from the bar last night..." Bunnie admitted.

The purple chameleon paused for thought. "Did Antoine have anything he'd get you to cheer you up? Like a comfort food?"

Bunnie looked up at Espio. "Usually a basket of carrot muffins. He'd make them at home, though."

"I'll see what I can get my hands on," Espio said before wrapping his arms around the rabbit in a hug. "He's going to be okay. And we're going to stop those sons of bitches, yeah?"

Bunnie nodded but couldn't help her tears. "Ah know..." She pulled back from the hug and mustered up a smile of thanks, but she couldn't help but sniffle as she moved past him to go to her office room. Espio gave a look back to the girls at the desk before going to his car and making a move for the cafe.

Back in the armoury, Charmy was running numbers on a computer. "Okay... so we've run the stuff for Sonic..." He grabbed a small variant of a SIG SG 550 from the rack nearby. "And this was the prototype. Full auto, burst fire, and single shot."

"Modified with an extra magazine, red dot sight, and optional laser guide and silencer," Vector confirmed.

The bee grabbed a SPAS-12 shotgun next. "Knuckles' weapon. Standard firing rate, can also go semi-auto."

"And has an optional full mag dump, along with iron sights and a grenade under-barrel, plus a modified stock for minimising recoil." Vector smiled. "Again, these are the opening options we give them, right?"

"Absolutely," said Charmy. "This was just the easiest stuff for us to use as a reference."

Vector went to the next weapon. "So Shadow's up next, then." He plucked a Dragunov from the wall. "Gas loaded, different ammo types and stock options like the others, also has a silencer, and a scope with up to 12x sight. Although given how good of a shot Shadow is, he might not need that much range." He went to a pair of Glocks. "And that leaves Tails with these."

"Silencers, laser sights, red dot, flared mags... he's not the most likely to fight, but it's good to give him an option," Charmy said. "Has full auto and single shot options, and like the other guns, a lot of different round types." He smiled. "Not bad options far as I'm concerned."

"Remember, we've coded the attachments to their nanotech as well," Vector said. "Should help them put their weapons together easier."

"I'll run over some more tests. You want to take some more shots?" Charmy asked.

"Let's see how much we can get done before breakfast," the green crocodile smiled.

He focused on shots with armour piercing rounds, but he wasn't able to get a lot done before Espio returned. The chameleon walked in with everyone's food and they both noticed the basket of carrot muffins. They didn't get a chance to question it as he'd left to go to Bunnie's room, knocking on her door.

"Free coffee and muffins," Espio said as Bunnie opened the door for him.

"Thanks fer goin' out of yer way to get 'em," Bunnie said as she took the basket and coffee. "I guess y'all are goin' to eat with yer buds?"

"Actually, I wanted to share the basket with you," Espio said. "Keep you company."

Bunnie felt a soft smile touch her lips. "Ah'd like that..." She sighed as she let him in, setting the basket on the table. "Last night was a happy one until that too." She reached into her pocket and showed a ring box. "Ah found this in his jacket while callin' his parents to let them know what happened. Ah... ah think that he was goin' to propose..."

"He actually told us that he was going to," Espio said, solemnly.

"And Shade... poor gal might be shaken up worse than me," Bunnie continued. "Her an' Knucks are expecting a baby."

"Under other circumstances, I'd say that's good news," Espio said. "The way the world is, it's not a good time or place to bring a kid into the world."

"And Knuckles is gon' retire after this stuff with Jem is over. Which ah hope is sooner rather than later." She sniffled a bit. "Shit... ah'm sorry, sugah. Ah just haven't had a chance to pour out since last night and... I can't just call off work because of this. We got to help people."

Espio nodded. "You're right. We do need to help." He took a muffin from the basket and handed it to her. "But not if we don't help ourselves too." As Bunnie started to eat the muffin, the chameleon nodded to himself. "We've both got work to do. A lot of it. But after today's stuff is over, you go and see to Antoine at the hospital."

"Ah will," Bunnie said. "Yer not going to leave, are ya?"

"I will after we've torn through this entire basket," Espio smiled. "You in?"

"I'm in," Bunnie smiled.

After the two had their food, Espio went down to the armoury and relayed the information he'd gotten from Bunnie about the previous night. Vector and Charmy were as torn as Espio was about the news of Shade being pregnant given the situation around the announcement, but the former of the two spoke up first.

"So, our friends are bringing a new life into the world," the green crocodile said. "We'd better make sure it's a safe one."

"I'll call the freelancers and let them know," Espio said. "It's going to be one of those days. I can feel it."

At the freelancers' base, Sonic had prepared the holographic display on the table while they all ate breakfast. "All right, so Rouge said the dealers are in the north end of the city, correct?"

"She did," Shadow said. "And anything about routes or deals, we'll let you know when we get to her."

"What are the rest of us going to do?" asked Tails. "I've got to work on the implants for the delivery."

"Hmm... well, I was going to head up to the bar myself," said Knuckles. "Check on Rosy and if she needs help with anything."

"I might patrol on my own," Sonic said. "I don't have much better to do. I'll check around Little Hill for anything suspicious, though." He feels his phone vibrate and picks it up to answer. "Hello?"

"Sonic, it's Espio," said the purple chameleon on the other end. "First off, we heard about what happened last night. Is everyone okay?"

"We're still a bit shaken up, and Antoine's recovering but we haven't had an update since he was taken to the hospital," Sonic said.

"Well, Bunnie told us all about it. Including Knuckles and Shade expecting a baby, so give him a congrats from us three real quick."

The blue hedgehog turned to Knuckles. "The armoury guys say congrats on the pregnancy."

"Thanks!" Knuckles said.

"He said thanks," Sonic said down the phone. "Thanks for checking up on us too."

"It's not the initial reason I wanted to call, but given last night's events, it just felt right to do," Espio said. "But what we just talked about is in relation to another good thing happening under bad circumstances. Your weapons are all ready."

"Shit, really? That's great news," Sonic said. "But we're all going to be a bit busy so we can't try them out. I'll be the least busy, but I'm going on a patrol around Little Hill for any suspicious activity after the drug deal thing."

"There was a drug deal near the school?" Espio asked. "Shit, dude. I'm sorry."

"Shadow and some of his Anti-Light friends are going to sort that out," said Sonic. "We're not letting this shit go any further than it needs to. So, after I've checked on Amy and the school, I'll come by and test those weapons."

"Sounds good," said Espio.

"See you then. Oh, and give Bunnie a hug from all of us here when you see her next," Sonic said.

"Will do. See you later."

The two hung up and Sonic turned to his friends. "So... update." He went over to the table again. "I'm going to check out Little Hill and patrol around it, check in on Amy too, and then I'm going to the police department to test out my weapons."

"Wait, did they get them finished?" asked Tails.

"Yeah," Sonic nodded. "I didn't get a hard confirmation, but I'll definitely get one later."

"Then let's get a move on," Knuckles said.

"I've got to report to Calvin about last night too," Shadow said. "I'm pretty sure Rouge and Sally have beaten me to it, though. Eh, I'll find out when I get there."

"Fair point," Sonic said. "All right, we've got our orders, so let's finish our food and then get moving."

Meanwhile, in Westopolis...

Manuel woke up at the brothel, turning to his left and then his right to see two nude female Mobians at either side. One was a snake with lime green scales and the other was a leopard with white fur and silver patterns, and he managed to slip out from between them as he went to grab his boxers to put them on. He felt a pair of hands rubbing his back and he sighed.

"Why don't you stay for some extra care, handsome?" asked the voice which he recognised as the snake.

"Sorry, Lulu. Last night was fun, but I've got to get to work." Another pair of hands started rubbing up his right arm and he chuckled. "And hello to you as well, Kimmy."

"We won't charge you extra~" Kimmy said, kissing up his arm.

Manuel closed his eyes and let himself enjoy the moment as the two women kissed around his arms and up his neck, but he sighed and pulled his boxers up. "Sorry... not today. Maybe some other time. Maybe ever tonight unless you're booked already."

"I'm not," Kimmy said. "Not yet, anyway."

"I am, but I can push it back a day," Lulu smiled.

Manuel let out a laugh at that but he heard his phone vibrate, so he reached for his jeans and saw a text from Martin. "Yep... that sucks. I've got to go." He turned to quickly kiss the two ladies before getting some money out of his pocket. "250 each, yeah?"

"Hmm... knock it to 200 each for your performance last night, stud," Lulu winked.

"In that case, can I get 300?" Kimmy giggled a bit. "Fuck... yeah, I'm more than happy with just 200 as well."

Manuel nodded, but gave them 300 each anyway before getting dressed and leaving the room. He thanked the receptionist and told her that he paid the girls directly, and he walked out to see Gerren waiting for him. The black bull walked down to greet him and Gerren opened the front passenger door, and Manuel saw a brown bag with food in it, so he sat down to eat while Gerren got into the driver's seat.

"Straight back to the prison to update Jem?" Manuel asked.

"Yep," said Gerren. "But while you're eating, I wanted to have a little talk with you."

"I'd rather that you just drive so I can enjoy the awkward, tense silence," Manuel stated.

"I want to know what you get out of this?" Gerren asked. "You're helping Jem achieve what he wants and you haven't asked him about it once. Lara and Nack are both dead, and who the fuck knows where Beau went. But you're still here. Is it just to protect your daughters?"

Manuel tensed up a bit. "I want them out of this place, man. I want them to have a good education at a good college. And maybe it could be in Westopolis, but... look at this place. This isn't the kind of place I want to see them thrive in." He let out a sharp sigh. "I don't really give a fuck what Jem's whole plan is. I want to do the work, get the money, and get my girls out of here."

"That's fair," said Gerren. "They know that you're not a saint, though, right?"

"Gerren-"

"Because I don't think they'd appreciate it if their caring father who wants to put money up for a good college fund turns out to have a high body count and a lot of blood on his hands." Gerren looked at Manuel. "And besides, even if you can get that much cash together, do you think nobody will do a background check on you? After the riots, the world's more dangerous and paranoid than it used to be. Even with Martin helping you make new identities for you and your girls, you won't make it last that long."

"It doesn't have to be for me," Manuel said. "It can just be for them. I'm only doing this for them."

"I bet you tell yourself that each night before you go to the whorehouse-"

Manuel punched Gerren hard in the nose, putting a hand on the former Green Hill guard's neck and squeezing as he used his other hand to pull the lever at the side of Gerren's chair, tilting the seat back. He then pulled his gun from the back of his jeans and aimed it at Gerren's mouth. "You don't get to talk about that place," his head gestured to the brothel, "like that. You don't get to talk about me like that. And you sure as shit do not get to talk about my daughters at all."

Gerren smiled a bit. "Point made..." He pushed the barrel of his gun against the bull's stomach. "But if you're going to take that leap, now's the time to do it. I won't give you another chance."

Manuel sighed and let go of his grip. "You won't have to." He sat back and put his gun away, letting Gerren help himself up. "Just take us to the fucking prison."

Gerren put away his own gun and started the car up, driving to the prison with no further prompting. And true to Manuel's word, they drove in tense silence, occasionally broken up by Gerren clearing his nose. It wasn't bleeding, but something had cracked from Manuel punching it, and as he pulled into the car park of the prison, he looked at himself in the mirror.

"Fuck, dude," Gerren said. "I think you broke my nose."

"Then fix it," Manuel said as he got out of the car.

"Fucking hilarious, you are," said Gerren. He got out of his car and knelt to get eye-level with the side mirror, and he squeezed his nose back into place with a sickening crunch. "Ahh, fuck!" He put a finger on his right nostril and shot some blood out before he started breathing again, but more blood started to trickle down. "There are tissues in the glove compartment." He saw Manuel leaving for the prison, so he got them himself before switching the engine off. He rushed to catch up with Manuel quickly. "He's in the cafeteria."

"Suits me fine," Manuel said, turning the corner to go there. He saw Jem sat with Martin as well as the fake freelancers as they appeared to be finishing breakfast, and Martin was handing out some ID cards to the four as he turned to see Manuel. "Ah, there he is. The bull of the hour."

Manuel ignored the crooked cop. "We did the job last night."

"Good morning to you too," Jem said, turning in his seat. "How did it go?"

"No deaths, but someone got hospitalised," Manuel said. "And we have confirmation about the implants." He paused a bit. "They have them. They're just waiting on when to make the deal."

"That is fantastic news indeed," Jem said.

"The kid who makes them said he wants his parents back in exchange," Manuel said. "I guess that's the deal that you wanted to make with him anyway."

"You did a good job," Jem smiled. "I'll definitely put some extra cash in the next time that you get paid."

Manuel paused for a moment. "Thanks."

"But your work isn't done. There's a shipment of weapons coming over. I want you to take the Russians with you to get it. We're expecting two people in one car. West side of the city in about thirty minutes. I want it go to as smoothly as possible, so kill one of them." Jem smiled a bit. "Been a while since you've done it deliberately."

"What are you going to do about the message?" asked Gerren, wiping his nose with a tissue.

"I'm putting you on that one," said Jem. "I haven't recorded it yet, but that's because you're going to do it. And I want you to get the fox's parents involved too. If he's going to take this deal seriously, he needs to fully realise what he'll lose if he doesn't cooperate."

Manuel clenched his fists at that but Gerren simply nodded. "Can do."

"What's our job, boss?" asked Bruno. "You got Martin to make us some ID, so I'm curious as to what we're doing."

"You four are off to Green Hill. I want you to keep watch of the freelancers today and report back as you see fit. Remember to stay low. You'll leave with Gerren after he records the message."

Martin stood and handed an ID to Gerren. "That's for you."

"Great. Manuel got sex, a pay raise, and free breakfast last night, and I get a busted nose and a new fake ID." Gerren dabbed some blood from his nose with a tissue.

"Get moving." Jem got up from his seat. "I am off to the brothel for a bit of fun myself."

"Have fun," Gerren said. "I know that Manuel does." He then left as well, checking his nose in the camera of his phone and seeing that most of the blood had been wiped off. He then went to the holding cell where Rosemary and Amadeus were and saw them sleeping. He rattled the cell bars loudly. "Get up, you two! Rise and shine!"

Rosemary, who was curled up on top of Amadeus on the floor, slowly rose, her husband doing the same. "What...what do you want?" she asked tiredly.

"I just wanted to let you know that your son has come through and he's gathered up all of the implants to trade for you," Gerren said.

"As if he'd give anything to the likes of you..." Amadeus growled.

"Oh, he doesn't have a choice," Gerren said. "Now... I'll need you both to take part in a little video shoot. I've got a message I'm going to send your son and you two are going to help me. And don't worry, I'll make sure that he gets it personally."

"We're not doing that!" said Amadeus, but he was cut off by a gunshot, looking behind him to see a hole in the wall as his ears rang slightly.

"Your son doesn't have a choice. Neither do you." He pressed the record button on his phone. "Hope you two aren't camera shy."

Meanwhile, at Anti-Light...

Rouge and Sally were sat in the latter's discussing the previous night's events, eating some granola bars and coffee, figuring that it would be enough fuel to get them through today. Still, the brown squirrel couldn't hide her nervousness as she spoke up while the white bat was taking a sip of her drink.

"They meant it last night, didn't they?" Sally asked. "Sonic and the freelancers."

Rouge nodded. "I believe so. Those fuckers need to pay on the double, if you ask me."

"Well, what do you suggest that we do?" Sally asked. "I want Jem and all those other guys gone, but not without a good enough plan and not without more than enough backup."

"Best bet is to see what Shadow can get out of Beau, but with how busy we all got after the riots, he's not really been able to do that." Rouge smiled a bit. "It's fun as hell to hear that son of a bitch scream, though."

"Amen to that," Sally said, clinking her mug with Rouge's.

They both took a sip before the bat spoke. "When are we going after JJ?"

"As soon as Shadow gets here," Sally replied. "Oh, speaking of which, did you tell Calvin about what happened last night at all?"

"Oh, fuck... not yet," said Rouge. "I'm guessing that you didn't either." She shrugged. "Shadow can do it."

Sally nodded. "Amen to that." She looked at her empty wrapper and sighed. "I wish we could get a more proper breakfast. Although I don't have lunch plans after we deal with JJ."

"Neither do I," Rouge said. "We can get lunch later if you're up for it?"

"I mean, I'd love to, but what about your job at the jewellers?" asked Sally.

"Someone can fill in for me," Rouge said. "You got someone to sit in for you at Little Hill?"

"Yeah, a substitute teacher," Sally said. "Same one that filled in for me when I busted that den yesterday."

"Speaking of which, are you sure you're ready to go?" Rouge asked. "I know that we've got so much to help us recover from being hurt these days, but also... fuck, they were dealing next to the school that you work at."

"I don't want to hear any bullshit about being potentially triggered by an emotional response," Sally snapped. "I don't need to hear it from you or anyone else. All that I want is to stop JJ and whoever else she's dealing with."

Rouge nodded. "Fair point." She turned as the door opened. "Ah, the man of the early hours is here. How are you doing after last night?"

"I'm okay," Shadow said. "I'm just glad that Antoine's breathing. Are you two all right?"

Rouge opened her mouth to speak before Sally spoke instead. "We'll be fine," the brown squirrel said. "But we do kinda need your help."

Rouge nodded. "Yeah... we sort of forgot to report what happened last night to Calvin, so while you're up there telling him where we're going, would you kindly also tell him about that?"

Shadow sighed, but nodded. "Sure. You two get ready while I'm gone." With that, he left them and made his way to Calvin's office, seeing the black and grey lion finishing a phone call and letting out an almost angry sigh. "Is everything all right?" Shadow asked, breaking the tension a bit.

"Ah, Shadow, good to see you," Calvin said politely. "Just a struggle with getting some weapons in. It's hard to find people to drop them off with all the recent hijackings of supply drops, and because of how anonymous we are, it can be difficult to get the message across."

"You need me to pick some up for you?" Shadow asked.

"No, I'll get someone else on it," Calvin smiled. "But I appreciate the offer." He took a few breaths to calm down. "So, what can I help you with?"

"I wanted to report about what happened last night," the black and red hedgehog said. "We got attacked by Jem again and given a warning. Antoine got shot in the neck, but he's recovering in the hospital."

"Oh... I'm rather sorry," Calvin said sincerely. "From what you've told me about him, he seems rather nice. Is everyone else okay?"

"Yeah, we're all fine," Shadow said. "And we're going to be making that deal with Jem soon too. Tails got the formula right to make the implants useless."

"That's slightly better news," Calvin said. "Keep me updated about that and I'll see who I have on hand to help."

"Thank you," Shadow nodded. "As for today, though, me, Sally, and Rouge are going to take care of this JJ situation. To believe that someone would deal drugs near a school..."

"It's truly fucking disgusting behaviour," Calvin agreed.

Shadow smiled. "Has to be to make you swear like that, huh?"

"It's... it's been a bit stressful. I just want all of this with Jem to be over." Calvin smiled. "Luckily, with people like you to help, we can get that done a lot faster. Especially with the other freelancers on tap."

"I really hope so." Shadow looked down a bit before clearing his throat. "Anyway, I'm going to get going. JJ's location is somewhere in the north end of Green Hill, so if you have anyone there that can help, that'd be great."

"I'm sure that I have some people up there," Calvin smiled. "I have people pretty much everywhere. I'll call some in just in case."

"Thank you," Shadow said. "I'll call you back after the job's done."

Calvin nodded and the black and red hedgehog turned to leave, going back to Rouge and Sally to make sure that they were prepared before going to his room to do the same. He made sure his nanosuit was all ready, and he packed a pistol and knife into their respective holsters before leaving with the girls. The three made it to Sally's car and drove up to the north of Green Hill, playing Jinjer on the way up there to help pass the time.

"So what are we looking for exactly?" asked Shadow.

"All I got was that we're looking for a house painted white with a black garage door," Rouge said.

"Does anyone live there?" Sally asked as the car moved up a bit more, allowing her to see the for sale sign out front. "Huh... not right now, apparently."

"Let's clear out the stragglers before any new tenants look to buy," Shadow said. "There's got to be something here."

Sally pulled up to the curb and stopped the car, and all three of them got out with the squirrel cutting the engine. Shadow tried the front door but it was locked, so he peered through the windows to see that most of the house was empty. There was still some furniture that needed to be moved, but the floors had been taken up and it looked as empty as it felt.

"Any luck?" Rouge asked.

Shadow shook his head. "It's locked and there's nobody in. You?"

Rouge shook her head. "No. The garage door won't open from the outside."

Shadow looked inside the house again. "I think I've got an idea."

He then teleported himself inside of the house, keeping a hand on his holster just in case, and he saw what looked like a path of footsteps. He followed it, and soon enough he found a side door, opening it to an almost pitch black room, and he went over to the black garage door, pulling a cord on the side. Sure enough, it opened up, making a rattling sound as it rose to the top of the frame and came to a halt.

"Does this count as breaking and entering?" asked Sally.

"If no one lives here and nothing was broken, I don't think so," Rouge replied. "But now what do we do?"

Shadow looked around and saw the grey polished floor, and he noticed one of his footsteps had smudged something. He wiped his foot over that spot and saw some beige, so he kept wiping and revealed more. He raised an eyebrow before reaching for the rug and pulling it towards himself, seeing a small hatch underneath with a lock attacked to it.

"Looks like we found our entrance way," Rouge said. "How do we go about it?"

"What the fuck are you doing here?" asked someone behind them.

Shadow looked behind Sally and Rouge to see a bald man of slightly chubby build covered in tattoos, even having some sort of monster inked on his scalp to make it look like hair. "Look, we're not here for any trouble. We're just new movers for JJ."

"I ain't seen you before," the man said, looking at the rug. "If you were movers, you would have product by now and you would have put the rug back and painted over it."

"You painted over the rug to help it fit with the garage?" Sally asked. "That's going to seriously damage this place's resale value."

"I don't want to hear your fucking jokes!" the man said. "I'm going to shoot y-" He started to choke when Shadow's whip suddenly wrapped around his neck, but as he tried to bring a hand up to stop it while still aiming, Sally grabbed his right hand and disarmed him, turning his gone on him before spinning it and knocked him out with the butt of the gun while Shadow retracted his whip.

"Good work," said Rouge, crouching next to the body and searching his pockets, finding a key. "Here," she said, tossing it to Shadow.

"All right, weapons ready," Shadow said as he started to open the hatch. "Three... two... one..."

He turned the key and heard the lock click, reaching for the handle and pulling it up. He revealed what was underneath as the sound of some dark industrial music and the smell of smoke hit his nose. He went down the hatch with the two girls following, Sally closing the hatch on the way down as she was the last one through. The three were in a small hallway that turned a corner, showing a bigger, well-lit room where several people were sat around.

All had a tattoo and piercing of some sort. One was off in a corner smoking weed while another had his nose buried in cocaine, wearing headphones while watching something on a computer screen. There were other people sat around, even a few still asleep, but another door opened from behind them all and JJ stepped out, leaning to the person on the computer and pulling his headphones off of his head.

"First of all," JJ said, "if you're going to watch porn, do it at home."

"Whatever..." the dealer said.

"And where the fuck is Woods? I thought you sent him on a deal."

"I did. He called me to say he'd be back like five minutes ago."

JJ smacked his head. "Then call him back, dip-shit. We can't afford to be exposed after that deal at the school."

"I heard the people you dealt with got busted the fuck up!" said someone else, a female voice this time.

"Which is why I'm worried!" JJ said. "Know what, I'll just go find him myself."

"Just... relax and take some crank or something," said the voice of the young man smoking weed. "And get some snacks too."

JJ sighed. "Curse of being a drug dealer. Everyone's always fucking high." She turned a corner to the hallway and looked up at the closed hatch door. "Shit, the key..." She turned back around to see the key on the floor. So she picked it up and went to open the hatch, seeing that it opened on its own. She pushed it open and saw Wodds' unconscious body before her eyes went wide. "Fuck..." She quickly slipped back down the ladder and went to the main area. "We've been compromised! We've got to leave!" She marched through the room and turned the radio off. "Everyone, pack your shit. We're going!" She looked up to see Sally in front of her, a gun pointed right at her. "Who... who are you?"

"I'm the girl that fucked up your friends," Sally said. "I really don't have the patience for your bullshit today, so either you and you friends here draw your weapons and you die trying to kill us, or you shut up, come peacefully with us, and tell us what we want to know."

"You really think we'd just fold to a bunch of cops?" JJ asked.

"Oh, we're not cops."

With that, the lights went out, and Shadow, Rouge, and Sally got moving. There was a panicked flash of pistol fire, but Rouge was quick to get behind the shooter, seeing that it was the one at the computer, before smashing their head against the screen of it. She repeated it until he was unconscious and his face was bloody, but he was alive as he flopped to the ground next to her. She quickly moved to another dealer and swept them up, tripping them with her legs and capturing their ankle before giving it a twist, making them grunt out in pain. It was a female judging from the voice, and Rouge quickly moved to their back to choke them out.

Shadow, focused on some of the lazier people there, managing to subdue them with ease, and like Rouge, he relied on the sound to guide him through the dark. He then went to the girl that sounded off earlier and reached to put a hand on her gun as she fired, making the shot go low and into the ground and making her yelp. The scent of copper hit his nose and he winced a bit for the girl before removing her gun and knocking her out with the handle of it. He then heard the panicking weed smoker chase up behind him, but a shot was fired and he fell to the ground easily.

"Whoa, did... did you just kill him?" JJ asked.

"No, just a little stun bullet," said Rouge. "Think of it like a tranquilliser, but with an electric shock that knocks them out and hurts them a bit more."

The lights suddenly turned back on and JJ gulped. "What... what just happened? How did you get the drop on me?"

"I can teleport, so I dropped Sally and Rouge off at different parts of the room," Shadow said. "You have a lot of sneaky side doors down here. And since everyone here is either high or asleep, they didn't notice."

"L-Look, I... I don't want any trouble, okay?" JJ raised her hands.

"I thought you'd be this cool and collected type," Rouge said. "But you've been panicking since you first laid eyes on us."

"I am stone cold sober right now," the drug dealer admitted. "Just please tell me what you want?"

Sally shot her in the neck and looked at Shadow. "What do you think? Our place or the station?"

"That was a stun bullet, right?" Shadow asked.

Sally checked her gun and nodded. "Yep."

The black and red hedgehog sighed. "The station. They can all go there."

"I'll call the cops in," said Rouge, pulling her phone out.

Shadow looked over at Sally, and she looked back and sighed. "Look, if you're-"

"Good work," Shadow said, cutting her off, getting amused at her confused look. "What, like I'm going to tell someone else how to do their job when they're emotionally compromised?" He gestured. "These people dealt drugs near kids, Sally. Kids, for fuck's sake. We've had all sorts of shit flung our way lately. Fuck, if you wanted to actually shoot one of them, I wouldn't have minded. I don't think Rouge would have either."

The brown squirrel nodded. "I guess so. At least I got to shoot JJ. Shame that it wasn't with a real bullet."

Shadow felt his lips curl up a bit at that. "Do you feel better now?"

"Honestly, a little bit," Sally said. "Let's get moving, though. I've got a lunch date planned with Rouge."

At that, the white bat finished her call to the station and the three went to leave only to see Woods still standing up and aiming his gun at them again... and Sally shot him with a stun bullet before carrying on to her car with the others, pulling off of the curb and driving back to Anti-Light as sirens sounded off in the near distance.

This was fun to write and I'm glad I got to add in more action. I really wish more people reviewed this one, but hey, I'll take what I can get. I hope you enjoyed reading it as well. Next, Join The Fun, then Beauties Of Remnant, then some requests. Until then, take care, and stay tuned.