"Wha..." Breech stared at the phone in shock. Then her expression hardened. She still had her kit from visiting Gus. She thought for about three seconds, then grabbed a pen and paper. She didn't have much time.

Keith. Cur. Robotropolis. Don't follow. I love you.

Breech scrawled it down in seconds, then pushed int into James' scabbard, grabbed her coat and ran out the door.

"Son of an A$$," she snarled under her breath. She'd have to run all the way to get there in time, and she'd be in no state to blast everything she saw when she got there.

James heard the door close behind him. He turned around and noticed that Breech wasn't there.

"Breech?"

He looked around the room, finding no sign of her. He looked out the windows, and stepped out the door. Nothing. She just up and left. He sighed and went back inside, feeling miserable. He hurt her, and he knew it. She probably would have been better off without those memories, but like the idiot he was, he didn't think about that. With his head hanging slightly, he walked back indoors and focused on getting the sand out of his fur.

------------------------------------------------------------

The swatbots standing guard near the hover unit heard Breech approach and aimed their blasters as the exausted feline burst into the clearing.

"Remove all weapons and step aboard the aircraft.", one of them droned.

"What, all of them?" Breech complained, "Where's my son? Where's Cur? I thought-"

"Remove all weapons and step aboard the aircraft," the SWATbot repeated.

Breech groaned and started throwing down her weapons. This took some time.

You stupid b!tch, she thought as she threw them down, Cur would never do his own dirty work if it risked his life. Where'd he get the SWATbots and the aircraft from anyway?

She climbed aboard the aircraft reluctantly, unarmed. She couldn't risk Keith's life. He was the only blood family she had.

The craft took off into the air, passing through smoke clouds generated by the burning landscape below. Before long, the craft had flown over the molten ocean and landed on the floating installation, an industrial hell in the middle of the far more natural, molten hell. Cur was waiting there, a big grin on his face as she stepped out, prodded by the swatbots behind her.

"Welcome to volcanic processing facility #01. Currently on loan from our old buddy Snively. Sorry for the inconvenience."

He didn't sound very sorry.

"Now, I do hope your trip with Prower was prodcutive. Where is that chaos emerald?"

"I don't have it," said Breech, "Firstly, because you didn't tell me to bring it, and secondly, because someone else has it. He practically stole it off me."

"Who?"

Breech scowled, "Shadow and Serori have the green and blue Chaos Emeralds that I found. I'm not a sorceress, I'm a fighter. I can't get them, Cur. This whole kidnapping thing was pointless. Now give me my son back before I find some way of killing you with a more unconventional weapon than my gun."

Cur snapped his fingers, the swatbots beside her grabbed her arms by the wrist in iron-hard grips, effectively rendering any struggle useless.

"Ooo...I like that. That's good. That's fun."

He chuckled, enjoying the power that had been given to him.

"Here, I make the rules, Breech. I make the threats."

Cur turned to the side and leaned on the platform railing, looking out at the burning landscape and clouds of rising smoke, the sun trying uselessly to punch through them. His face glowed an eerie red, his eyes look like blazing coals.

"That damned rabbot stole my emerald, and yours was taken from you. No emeralds, after all that trouble I went to. ...No one knows you are here; you wouldn't risk your son's life. Here you are, all alone and unable to escape. Brings back memories, doesn't it?"

He smiled widely, a devilish grin that came from the depths of a nightmare...hers.

"I need compensation...compensation that you can give me. It will be fun. Just like old times."

He turned to the swatbots holding her.

"Take her to my chambers and restrain her."

"WHAT?! Cur, you can't do..." Breech stopped. He could, "If you try to... I'll... I'll..."

"Or what? You'll shout some more?" Cur grinned.

"LET ME GO NOW!!!" Breech screamed at him as the SWATbots dragged her off.

Malice growled as the emerald seemed to float further and further away from his senses. The winds around him picked up and swirled furiously. The wind swirled so fast that it ripped trees from the ground and flattened others. And he took off into the sky leaving a flattening and destraught island behind. Back to the main land and he will get the emeralds...

Cur sighed happily. He loved it when his victims screamed. He casually followed the swatbots, not answering Breech's demands or panicked pleas. She knew, as did he, that nothing was going to convince him otherwise. And she knew exactly what he had in store for her. The thought brought a grin to his face. He turned to another swatbot.

"Bring a holocam and a message drone. I want Prower to see this..."

He laughed, a horribly unpleasant sound, as he continued on his way...

Breech kicked and scratched and screamed at the SWATbots desperately as they dragged her along the metal corridors, but she couldn't make any impression on them, even with her implanted metal claws.

The SWATbots couldn't make much of a job of tying people up with rope, but they were doing pretty well at shackling Breech's wrists together, then forcing them up against the headboard and chaining her to that as well. If she pulled at the chain too hard, the cuffs cut into her wrists.

Breech felt sick, cursing herself for her stupidity. Why hadn't she thought about Cur doing something like this as a double cross? But no, she'd been too busy thinking about Keith. And now she didn't even know whether he was alive or not.

She felt tears spring to her eyes as she watched Cur come into the room, grinning like a maniac.

"How can you do this to me?" she asked him, still angry enough to conceal the fear gnawing at her insides like a dog, "I stopped James from having you killed, I got you out of that prison, and I kept him from gouging out your eyes!"

Cur grinned and leaned in the doorway, looking at her in a very unpleasant, predatory way.

"Because it's fun. Because I'm not right in the head. Because I want to hurt Prower. Take your pick. It doesn't matter, because it is going to happen either way."

The blond fox walked up to the bed she was strapped to and gripped her face roughly.

"Because you are mine, Bridget Loranski. Always have been, always will be. Mind, body, soul, and everything else you have, brat included. You are not and never will be free, no matter what that guardsman does. Prower will not take you from me, and soon he'll know that. Smile, &!%@#, you're on TV, with a special audience of one..."

Cur pulled her face to him and kissed her roughly.
------------------------------------------------------------

James had finally gotten the sand out of his fur when he heard a knock at the door. Figuring that Breech had returned, he walked to and opened the door, but instead of the feline, a small, black orb floated there ominously. The orb suddenly zipped past him into the darkened room. As the thing began to fire up its holographic projector, James realized that it was a message drone of some sort, but who would send one of those to him?

His unasked question was answered when an image of Curtis appeared, that unpleasant grin on his face. A chill instantly ran down James's spine.

"Hi there, Prower. Feeling alright? You must be exhausted by all the traveling you've done..."

"Get to the point, Curtis. I'm in no mood for games.", James snapped.

"Oh, very well...I've got bad news for you."

Judging from the expression on the blond fox's face, he didn't find it to be very bad at all.

"You've failed again. Specifically, you've failed your new girlfriend and her kid, who are now currently having a jolly time at my place."

The camera turned, showing Breech tied up to a bed. James' heart suddenly plunged into his stomach and froze solid, poisonous fear spreading through his veins and numbing him. He could see that Breech was afraid too...no, terrified, and for reasons that James knew, but desperately wanted to deny. Cur again appeared, standing next to the bed, his grin taunting James, helpless to stop what was transpiring in a location he did not know.

"Yeah, it seems I outsmarted you this time, Prower. But look at the bright side: you have the privilege of seeing this special, live program I've prepared just for you. Isn't that thoughtful of me?"

James leaped to his feet and bellowed at the image, his voice breaking, betraying the terror that he felt, "If you touch her, I swear I will...!"

"You'll what? Kill me? You don't even know where I am. And by the time you do find me, I'll be ready for you. And I will have had...hours and hours of fun with my 'ole plaything, Breechy. You lose, sir."

Curtis chuckled and climbed onto the bed, on top of Breech, his paws grouping her roughly, feeling her up, tearing away clothing. Any control and composure she had left disappeared; she thrashing and struggled and fought, trying to get free, to get him off. She screamed, long and loud, the sound full of fear and agony, and it pierced James' heart and soul, scaring it forever. His own screams joined hers as he wept, pleaded, begged Cur to stop. But Curtis wouldn't stop. He kept going, faster and rougher, fueled by lust, greed, and spite, committing an evil far greater than any theft or murder. An enslavement of the mind, a violation of the body, a defilement of the soul.

There was nothing James could do. He could only watch and scream his outrage and grief, making empty threats towards Cur and begging Breech for forgiveness for his ultimate failure. Empty, hollow words. Cur laughed at both of them and cried out in pleasure, utterly enjoying the pain he was inflicting, the horror he was comitting. In that moment, James hated him more than he thought possible; he hated him with every ounce of his heart and soul.

Cur laughed mockingly in triumph, and James roared in rage, leaping at the message drone with his sword drawn and hacked the floating orb to pieces, destroying the hologram. But it was burned into his mind forever. He dropped his sword and fell to the ground, curling up in a ball and sobbing loudly. He sobbed for a long time, attacked by grief and guilt and dispair. As he opened red, tear-filled eyes, he noticed a small piece of paper that had fallen out of his scabbard.

Keith. Cur. Robotropolis. Don't follow. I love you.

That was written on it. A message from Breech. Possibly his last message from her. I love you; those words burned through him, spun through his head over and over. He failed her so utterly...but maybe there was a way he could save her. Just maybe it wasn't too late. Robotropolis. That was where he had to go. He had to try.

James strapped his armor, cloak, and sword on and rushed out the door. And looked up at the sky and screamed, practically vomiting his hatred for Cur at the sky. He would save Breech and Keith.

He would have his revenge...or die trying.

(OOC: Kerry and Trevor are a bit far away)

Artemis winced as he ran outside as he heard James dreadful screaming. "James??" he shouted looking for him.

Breech's throat was raw and her eyes hurt from crying so hard. Her wrist and ankles were bleeding because she'd struggled so hard, as was her lip where Cur had bitten it. Her body was bleeding freely where his claws had dug into her. And he'd hit her around the face several times, so she was bruised there too.

But it was nothing compared to the pain going through her mind.

She kept seeing grey patches rising up in front of her eyes as she slipped in and out of conciousness. Barely any thoughts remained now; they had been stripped away by the flamethrower of Cur's actions. Only two conflicting notions were left; the rising demands made by her body to give in and accept the pain, and the slowly fading hope that James would come.

She became vauguely aware that Cur had paused, at least briefly, and was not touching her, at least for the moment. She opened her eyes cautiously, and saw him standing there, smirking down at her in that particuarly smug way he had.

"James... will come for me..." she croaked through a sore throat and dry, cracked lips.

Trevor stood up, Kerry waited impatiently as the Kydane looked around. Finally he turned back to the camp and started walking.

"Just where are you going?" The wolf snapped out. Trevor didn't turn around as he answered, "The trail ends, he used some other form of travel. We won't find him this way, it is a waste of time. That village had aircraft, we should use one."

"Right..." Kerry said as he quickly followed Trevor.

___________

Lucas blinked as he wondered what Rico would say or do next.

___________

Blade eyebrowed Elias. "So were going to the Archives, right?"

"I know he will. I'm counting on it."

Cur grinned and caressed her check, a mockery of compassion.

"I don't know what either of you see in each other. He's a foolish, idealistic royal guardsman, and you...well, you're a murdering b!%@#. It doesn't make sense, and that bothers me... Well, since we are repeating old times, why don't you tell me how you feel about me? Hmm? Tell me that you love me, Breechy..."

------------------------------------------------------------

"Artemis?", James croaked, his throat feeling like he had swallowed sandpaper.

He looked around for the other guardsman...for Kerry, for Rico, for Trevor, for Sonic...for anyone that could help him. He needed friends and allies...he needed to turn the tables on Cur, take him by surprise.

Breech flinched away from Cur's touch, her chest heaving as she tried to recover her breath, pain still rampaging through her body.

"How I feel about you?" she whispered, her voice catching as tears trickled down her cheeks, "I hate you. I hate you. You're a vile, despicable monster, Cur. I could never love you... After all you've done... how can I even say it?"

"I bet you say it to Prower all the time," said Cur.

"That's because I do love him!" Breech shouted at Cur, "He's more a man than you'll ever be!" With these words, she burst into noisy tears.

He met them halfway, "Take the kid and come on. Somethings gone down, James is bellowing like an idiot." The look on Rico's face at first was very odd. Kevin had to actually nudge his head at the cub to get the fox to willing take him from the gerbil.

"Shouldn't he be resting?" The fox asked bluntly. Kevin raised an eyebrow, "He won't not with you and Prower out running around. You know that Rick, whats going on?"

The fox shook his head, "Nothing." He glanced at Lucas, "Change of plans bud, we're going to go find lover boy." He suddenly looked a little better. Tails felt the older fox squeeze him a little then whisper as they followed the gerbil toward James, "You doing ok?"

Breech could taste bile in her throat, "I... I... I love you..." she whispered, looking away.

Cur slapped her again, "Louder! And look at me when you say it!"

"I LOVE YOU!!!" Breech screamed at him, her voice dredged with misery and despair, "And now I'm your freakin' whore!"

She lay her head back on the bed, exausted, still shaking, still crying, still bleeding.

"Oh gods James..." she whispered, "I'm sorry..."

James saw the group of wardens and children approaching, and he rushed over to them, a shocked expression on his face, his mind stil reeling from what he had seen.

"Please...you have to help me! He took her, he took them both! Have to save them...have to beat him...", he babbled.

"Please...you have to help me! He took her, he took them both! Have to save them...have to beat him...", he babbled.

Artemis queried an eyerow as he placed his right hand on his fellow guardsmens shoulder. "Calm down, relax. Say whats wrong now." he said as he wondered what happened to James in the desert.

Only a mile away Kerry and Trevor ran to the village, Kerry had taken a liking to the warden now.

James took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm long enough to explain.

"Farlis.", he snarled, "He kidnapped Breech and Keith. He did...terrible things to her...made me watch..."

His voice broke, and he closed his eyes, fighting back tears.

"They are somewhere in Robotropolis. We have to save them. Gather up anyone willing to help me."

His eyes snapped open, filled with hate.

"I'm going to kill him."

"If I remember Farlis correctly... he deserves it." he said coldly. He took a breath. "I give you my help." he said as he turned back Rico had arrived and said to James if he is Okay, he slightly sighed.

Kerry and Trevor were almost at Lotherion....

Cur snorted.

"Don't worry...I'm sure that fool would forgive you."

He smirked and tapped her nose.

"Of course, I question wether or not he would ever want to be intimate again with broken goods. ...Although its never stopped him before."

Suddenly, the blond fox frowned.

"Why? I don't understand it...its driving me crazy! Why do you care so much about that idiot? What is it about him that is so much better than everyone else, than me? Why is he the respected one? The trusted one? The one that people look up to and follow? Why do you love him?!"

"You just don't get it, do you Cur?" Breech said miserably, "People respect James because he respects them..."

Cur blinked.

"James respects me... despite what I've done... he doesn't see me like an object, or a monster... maybe he is crazy, or stupid, or both... but he isn't a user..."

Breech felt an enormous weight lift off her chest. Finally, she knew. It had taken brutal rape and several beatings, but she finally knew why she loved James.

"And that's why no-one will ever, ever love you," she finished.

Cur just stared at her for a long moment. For once, he didn't know how to respond. Her words tumbled around inside Cur's head. He examined them from every angle, trying to find this elusive truth that he never could get. He still didn't understand. He narrowed his eyes and glared at her in rage. He lifted his hand and balled it into a fist, prepared to smash her in the face with it.

But then he stopped, crawled off the the bed, and turned his back on her.

"Love is overrated. Prower will fail. ...You will never see him alive again."

He stomped out of the room, leaving her tied to the bed, naked, beaten, cut, and covered in different body fluids. He didn't care. He just wanted to get away.

He couldn't understand why, despite the fact that she was the one tied down, that he felt like he had lost.

Breech closed her eyes and started to cry all over again, the sobs choking in her throat, and becoming wails of misery.

In the dark, and the cold, and with every part of her body screaming in pain, she had never felt so alone or so helpless.

She knew almost instinctively that when Cur did come back, it would be for the sole reason of causing her more pain.

When Kerry arrived back at Lotherion he saw that James was back, but Breech was nowhere in sight. Also near the guardsmen was Artemis, one he hadn't met before and Rico and company. THe wolf eyebrowed the situation and ran up to the group. "James...James" he gasped. "Farlis tranq'd me, and took Keith." he admitted, his eyes still full of worry for his son. James could tell their was a tint of compassion in the thirty-six year old wolf's grey eyes.

Even if James didn't believe Kerry there was a empty tranq dart encased in his neck.

James looked into the wolf's eyes, and for once...he didn't see an enemy. Curtis sure had a way of putting everything in perspective. Probably the only good thing that could ever be said about him. James reached over and patted Kerry on the shoulder.

"I know. Its alright...it wasn't your fault. He got Breech too and is...torturing her somewhere in or near Robotropolis. Help me save them...please."

He turned his gaze to Trevor.

"I know that you and I haven't gotten along well, but I think we can put aside our differences for this. If you want to destroy evil...this is a big chance."

Kerry nodded. A faint smile, not a cocky or smug one waving onto his face. "Breech, too?" he thought as he took a breath. "Damn skippy, I'm gonna help you." he replied as he turned to Trevor. "Its true, Farlis needs to be eradicated." he said.

Kerry blinked as he observed the people around James, were all these people going to help? Wow.

Though, behind Rico hid Lucas. After what the wolf did to him quite a while back he was afraid of the wolf and didn't know that Kerry had changed. ANd even if he did know that he wouldn't be un-afraid.

The maroon kit shivered.

With tears still trickling down her face, Breech wondered what would happen next. Whenever she heard someone approaching the door, she was terrified in case it was Cur, but when they passed by she was almost... dissappointed.

She knew that, despite her insistance to Cur, she wasn't sure that James would come. He didn't know where she was, unless he'd found the note, but she was terrified that he would come, and that he'd get hurt, or worse, see her like this...

She didn't know if Keith was alive, and she was terrified by Cur's threats to hurt him emotionally far more than his threats to kill him. If he was alive, what was happening to him? Knowing Cur, it was unlikely to be pleasant. If he was dead... Cur had nothing to use against her. But it was the 'if' that was driving her crazy.

No matter how Cur had seen her, she knew she was breaking up inside... going insane... she didn't know how much longer she could last... or even if she wanted to.

She was lying in sheets soaked with her own blood and fluids... it was all she could smell... she knew she was losing it...

She didn't know how long it took; time meant nothing in this dark, dank, stinking hole. Nothing changed. She was still tied down like a dog, still as helpless as the child born yesterday, and it infuriated as well as terrified her. But she finally managed to fall asleep.

Less than ten minutes later, she woke up again, screaming.

The two brothers stood silent, intensly glaring at each other. Even with the drama hanging over them there was a thick blanket of tension in the air. Rico's eyes narrowed, and his paws twitched. Trevor's hands twitched as well, ready to draw his sword. Just as James was about to snarl at them the elder spoke. "I heard there has been a death in the family. I suggest when we are done with the insignficant piece of dirt that has the loved ones of these men, we show the responsible party what happens to those who choose to attack the Underwoods."

Rico nodded slowly and delibratly before speaking one word that startled Kevin, "Agreed."

A fragment of a smile crossed the corner of Trevor's muzzle as he spoke, "Then it is written. First the yellow native will die for his crimes against the innocent. Then Malice will befall a much worse fate." He looked grim, "Reguardless of the rodents faults, only the family may cast judgement. Those that interfere may only beg for death, a gift they will not receive lest we see fit."

Rico walked forward leaving Lucas to either follow or run as a dull golden color seemed to dance in the fox's eyes as he repeated the same word, much to the gerbil's already cresendoing fear. "Agreed." Then he added looking at James, "They will both die for what they have done."

Tails looked up with a determined look on his face. The bruises hadn't healed from his encounter with Raven but it seemed Rico's eerie confidence had manifested itself in him as well. The cub wiggled loose of the fox's arms and hopped down looking defiant, "I'm going to help. He's got my friend and I wanna help take him down too."

James looked down at his son and opened his mouth to tell him otherwise, but looking into his eyes, he saw something...different. Something that reminded him of himself.

"...You are a Prower. You were born for this kind of thing. Alright, you can come, but you better keep your distance from Cur. Don't try to fight him."

He looked around at the assembled group.

"I want to deal with that blond bastard personally. He's like a brother...which makes this a matter of familly as well. But I'm sure he'll keep all of us busy. Honor is something he never learned and fair is a quaint concept. He will do anything to win; do not underestimate him. If at all possible, mask your presence. Make it so he doesn't know you are there. I'll draw his attention so you can rescue Breech and Keith and cause as much damage as possible. There's still some aircraft left over from the emerald missions that we can take to Robotropolis. Any questions?"

OOC: Hi all, I'm in London at the mo and will be for the next week until next Saturday. I won't be able to post that often now, but I have found an I-Net cafe very close to where I'm staying. Rick ignore the pm I sent you, dosen't matter with a terminal so close by, and serori? I'm getting sick of being left behind anytime I'm not Rping with Rick, so I'll make a move people can't ignore. Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything extreme, but if there hasn't been any movement in Sally and Ast's conversation by tonight I'm gona move astral to the tower and go in though the shield entrance in the roof. Don't think that 'Serori' can just expel him either like she did James, Ast isn't a psychical object while in spectral form. You can contain him with Spectral Shields or walls, and you can damage him into retreat if you have something that can harm a ghost (in which case he could end up like he was when Josie found him in Miles Apart) but you can't just Zap him out and think he won't come back. And if you do, don't expect him to come back in via the polite entrance. Another note, Ast's body is almost totally vulnerable while he's in Etherial form, so capturing it leaves him in a difficult position, as he is still metaphysically tied to it.

Serori looked out the window that was only visable from the inside of the tower. She watched the group as they mobilized and were readying to leave. "Good ridence..." she said with an evil grin. The white fur on her body became darker until it was black as night and her blue eyes became crimson. "While the cats are away the mouse will play." she looked over spotting the three tail. "An Nienna or as they call you now... Blaise... daughter of Amadeus and Nuria. That makes you branded for death..." Her body became dark and transparent and the robes slipped off. Her body blended into the shadows and disappeared.

----------------------

Blaise stopped for a moment and looked around her ears up and alert. "Craig... do you get the feeling that someone is watching us?" She said looking around.

"Why do you say that?" Craig asked.

"I don't know, i just got this bad feeling in my gut... maybe I'm just under a lot stress... it's probably nothing at all."

"You know if you have bad feelings you should listen to them." a deep female voice said. Blaise froze a sudden fear crept into her very soul. Why did she feel so frightened all of a sudden. It was like she had heard that voice somewhere before. She slowly turned to the direction the voice came from. But nothing just an alleyway between buildings shrouded in shadows. It was only a few seconds she founds something wrong with the picture. A couple of red eyes appeared followed by a slowly appearing body. Blaise's eyes widened for a moment it was like she was experiancing deja vou.

"W-who are you?"

"Aw... don't tell me that you don't remember me Nienna or is it Blaise now... Not that I care what name you go by..." she said not really interested.

OoC: Astral gave me this to post...

BIC:

He saw the wardon leave, from around the corner of a nearby building the kit watched them walking away before pressing his back to the hut wall and sliding down onto his rump as he pondered what he should do now. Sally had practicaly ordered him to bed, knowing the look of insomnia well enought to second guess that Astral hadn't slept in days. However, a messenger had intersepted her half way to the makeshift palice and, knowing he would just get in the way, Astral had slipped away from her to find Rico.

His attention turned to the tower that was ominously stretching into the sky just a block or two away. It was clear now that Rico had no intention of waiting around to sneak into the tower once the shroud of night decended, and the kit had little reason not to take care of matters ahead of scedual. Astral stood up and proceaded toward the hut closest the tower, trying to be as inconspicous as possible while actually managing quite the opposite. As he reached the hut, the kit found a hole in the side that led into the air space below the floor bords. The cub crawled in to what for an adult would have been an inacsessable place. Astral had learnt a while ago that, when outside the sanctuary of the palace, the floor spaces in knothole were equally as safe as the royal abode itself.

Once a good distance inside, the kit sat cross legged as he removed the necklace and began carefuly, almost cerimonialy folding its thin worn string. It was his last fall back plan. If all eforts to return to his body failed, all he had to do was will his body to grab the rune, and its ward would forcibly drag him back. There were, however, terrible consequences to this action, consequences that Astral was not in a hurry to repeat, he would have to be extra careful.

Preperations complete, the cub lay down, being sure to place the rune close to his hand for a quick retreat should it be nessery and then his eyes closed in focused meditaion.
The kit took a sudden gasp of air, his eyes slowly turning a light blue. His back arched slightly as every muscle in his body tensed up and an eerie aqua-green mist began to rize from his fur, gathering above him with a fog like consistancy. For a moment, it just hung there, featureless and barren of purpose. Then sudenly something within it moved, its edges transparent and defined only by the smoke that gathered on its surface. The figure within the smoke quickly gained consistancy, revealing itself for a clone of the kit that lay sprawled below. It almost appeared as though it were floating in a transparant tank of water, eyes blank, yet still bearing that look of innocence, the colorful fog behind clearly visable though the empty sockets.

For a second or two it assessed its suroundings before rocketing off though the hole the kit had crawled though with a single dolphin like kick, vanishing into the light beyond.

Masked by the bright sunlight outside, all that could be seen of the aperition was a shimmering mirage, like the heat rizing from the desert sands, spiraling up to the summit of the looming tower.

--

'Nothing' Astral thought to himself, normal speech difficult, if not impossible in this form. There was no hole in the roof as he had first guessed. It was almost as though the sheild was being projected from somewhere above the tower, simply existing rather then being tied to something. Now the kit was sure, there was somthing going on in the tower below him. At first about to give up, the kit tried a last chance bid at finding an entrace and he circled the tower, touching the stony surface feeling for a rift that might exist in the spectral realm but would only accessable once darkness had fallen. What he actualy found took him totaly off guard. A window, hidden by an ilution of stone. The kit's etherial hand passed right though the seemingly solid brick into open air on the other side. 'wow.. that's ingenious' the kit thought as he passed his finger tips though several times, this would be perfect.

However, what the kit failed to notice as he dived though the portal into the pitch darkness of the room beyond, was the runic encantations on the opposite side of the glass. Only when he turned around, did the kit see them, the symbols glowing and reppelling him as he reached out to touch the now solid surface of the glass. The way was blocked... the kit was trapped...

...

'Oh crap'

James nodded; no one had any questions.

"Alright, Rico and Kevin, you are on transportation. Trevor and Kerry, weapons. Tails and I, intel. We meet at the landing strip in an hour for briefing and takeoff. Let's go!"

James turned to his son and crouched down to look him in the eye.

"Tails, can you establish a link with one of Robotnik's satalites? Getting some aerial photos of the place will be invaluable."

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Cur marched down the steel corridors of his personal industrial hell, hands clasped behind his back. He was naked, but it hardly mattered. The only ones that would see him were robots, and they certainly didn't care. The blond fox was deep in thought, Breech's words bouncing around inside his mind.

She was changed. Different. Not like before. Before, when she said that she loved him, he managed to make her believe it. But now...it was a lie, they both knew it, and there was nothing he could do to convince her otherwise. Her will was stronger, harder to break. In other words, some of Prower had rubbed off on her, and it pissed him off.

He was going to enjoy crushing Prower. Showing him who was really worthy of the rank of Captain. Showing him what he has done to his loved ones. Showing him how deluded he was, unveiling the truth. Oh, Prower was going to suffer, and when it was all over, he was likely to beg for death.

But Cur wasn't nice enough for that.

He would enslave him, keep him alive so that he could watch as Cur killed his son and the royal familly and the freedom fighters and anyone else he ever cared about. Then he would get the chaos emeralds and turn all of Mobius into his own personal playground.

A smile spred across the ex-guardsman's face. He liked that thought. The smile disapeered. He couldn't get ahead of himself; he needed to walk the path yet to get there. And that involved breaking Breech. He made his way back to the room and opened the door.

"Time for round 2."

The door shut with a slam behind him. The audio sensors of the swatbots standing guard outside the door registered the sounds of a struggle and of an organic screaming in fear and agony. Judging from the characteristics of it, the voice was female in nature. Normally, the bots would enter to investigate and attempt to aid their current master, Curtis, as per their programming, but Cur gave them explicit instructions to disregard anything they heard in the room. So the swatbots continued to stand guard, emotionlessly and with infinite patience.

Breech watched as the door opened, shaking with cold and fear.

"Time for round two."

A cruel smirk registered on Cur's face as the door swung to and he turned on a lamp in the corner. The dim light only served to give shape to the shadows.

"No... oh god, please, no..." she begged.

Cur grinned, "So now you think I'm God?"

"NO!" Breech screamed. Taking some deep breaths, she calmed down very slightly, "No... Please... Cur... Curtis... Not again... if you have... any mercy... please let me go..."

Curtis laughed, walking over to the bed. She was begging. That was a good sign, "In here, I am God," he sneered, running a paw down her body while she struggled to pull away from his touch, "I can do anything I want to you... anything... and there is nothing you, or anybody else can do about it."

He suddenly dug his claws into her sides, and she shrieked in pain. Then he climbed on top of her, "And just for the record," he added, his lips very close to hers, "I have no mercy."

Breech began to scream again, writhing under Cur's relentless assault, sobbing as the utter hopelessness of the situation washed over her like a tsunami, causing destruction wherever it went.

OOC: Looks like we got it. *posts Torn's fix in the main thread*

ooc: well i guess it works so i can start posting again.

ic:

Blaise backed away slowly. She knew that she had seen this woman before but where exactly had she seen her? Craig looked from the shadow woman to Blaise. "Friend of yours?" he asked. Blaise shook her head, if she was a friend she wouldn't be getting this feeling in her gut that she was getting.

"Hardly..." the shadow female said lowly. "I could never be friends with a lowly kitsune... Now die..." she said as she raised her hand which sparked with electricity. Blaise's eyes widened and she jumped and pulled Craig out of the way. The bolt of lightning wizzed past them into a building with a loud clap.

"Stay here Craig she's not after you!" She said as she got up and ran in the direction where the group was.

"A milkrun... bah, where are we supposed to get a ride?" Kevin muttered. He turned to see the fox walking away. "HEY! Where are you going?"

Rico looked back casually, "Where else? To kill Malice. Something tells me he was the one that created that clay pidgeon of Him."

Kevin glared, "We're supposed to be finding a way to get at Cur and save the kid. Or did you you forget about that?" The fox smirked, "It's not my problem."

The gerbil was floored, never in all the time he'd known the fox has those words come out of his mouth in a situation involving an innocent. He narrowed his eyes, "What is wrong with you. I know you're upset about Tobe, we all are. But you can't let a kid die just because Toby did. Why are you acting like this? Did Raven do something to you?"

Rico turned around, "No, I beat him, I killed him, and I could have done it before they died if it wasn't for Kenji." The fox glared, "I didn't forget about it, but there seems to be enough heroes around here that they don't need me. If you'll excuse me, I have a demon to slay."

Kevin wrinkled his nose, "You can't DO that. Tails is going and you know he's going to get in trouble. That damn James is always too busy sucking face and cooing to save his kid. YOU'RE the reason that kid's alive. And YOU're going to be the only one that can save the OTHER one! I don't know whats gotten into you but I hate it."

Rico gave the gerbil a cold sneer, "I'm tired of throwing my life on the line for a thanks and a hug and then nothing. After awhile you'd think people would see their luck in having me as a friend... but no. Toby was always saying how I should be more like Kenji. Tails only stays near me when daddy says he can. And you... I don't know why you stay around. You're not going to get in bed with me so why?"

There was dead silence for a few moments as the gerbil fumed. Finally he spat out, "Thats... RRRG! Dammit, I'm done with this, come talk to me when you stop pouting."

Rico sneered, "They don't need me, you don't need me. And finally I've come to realize that I don't need anyone either. Tell 'em I'll be back after Malice is dead." He ignored any response from the gerbil and walked off.

Tails stared as Rico simply... walked off. It was such a change for the fox, to suddenly say "kids can get stuffed"... it didn't seem possible.

"Rico?" he said weakly.

At first he didn't know what else to say, but finally turned to his father, "What's wrong with Rico?"

"He's a total nutcase," James said absent-mindedly, then concentrated on his son, "Can you get arial photos?"

"I could get them standin on my head!" said Tails.

He walked off to his lab, but he couldn't help but look back at Rico, who was just... walking off with a sneer on his face, a sneer that said the rest of the world could get f***ed, a sneer that he'd seen on Breech's face a few times before.

James looked back at Rico for a moment, surprised that the warden was leaving Tails totally with him, on the eve of a big and dangerous mission. It was horribly unlike him, didn't seem right.

Oh well. He wasn't going to bother himself with Rico at that time. He had to stop Cur and fast. He followed his son to his lab, giving him a comforting pat on the back.

"Don't worry...Rico will be ok. He's going through a rough time right now."

Trapped... Like a rat in a collapsed sewer pipe, Astral's emotions boiled as he flew though the vast structure, searching desperately for another way out. There was defiantly something down here. Already he could 'feel' eddies and abnormal partings in the spectral flow, and their consentration was steadily growing. Floating down a dark corridor lit only by torches, the ghostly kit rounded a corner only be sent spiraling backward by an Almighty wind like force. The kit supported himself against the wall as he looked forward in confusion. Slowly he moved closer and slowly placed his hand out before him. Eventually, after a foot or so he felt something pushing on his hand, like the effect when two powerful magnets were placed close together.... a spectral barrier! It had to be. But unlike the one outside, this one was extremely powerful, holding him back so far that Astral couldn't even see the edge of it, the door ahead of him inevitable shielding it from view. So, the which was hiding something.. something very important..

No time left, if he was found here she'd have time to hide what ever it was that lay beyond the door. Quickly the child like apparition turned in mid air and jetted off down the corridors, moving at a frightening speed as he franticly looked for a way out... then, a few floors up he saw it, another window. This time there were no runes on its serface. Inevitably serori missed a spot in her defenses.

Quick as a flash the kit was outside and once again cloaked by the bright sunlight. Time was too precious to waist on returning to his body, he'd only need to project again to get back in the tower. The shimmer passed over hut and tree in its search, looking for the one person he knew would help...

He found the fox walking the path out toward the edge of the village, Kevin engaged in a one side argument with the wardon. Without thought to Rico's reaction, Astral shot down infront of him and in an instant forced himself into the visabe spectrem, appering from out of the blue before the fox...

"rrR-Rico.."

'...oh crap..real subtle Astral'

He jerked to a halt in surprise. He closed his eyes for a minute and gritted his teeth. He'd learned about ghosts before, the renmants of dead creatures that had been connected to the art. Some couldn't rest, they weren't done, and that combined with their magical essence was rumored to form physical forms for them. His heart was already so sore it physically hurt from Toby's death, now he'd let it happen again, and this one was coming back to haunt him.

He managed to fight back tears and open his eyes again. It was still there. He was too far from the others for them to see it so he didn't know if it was real or if his grief was doing this to him. He did mutter one phrase out, "I killed you too, no."

Tails nodded obediently and sat at a computer. He didn't think it was just a rough time... it looked like Rico was ready to have a nervous breakdown or something...

"Okay... satellites..." he muttered, tapping on the keyboard, "Robotnik's satellites... hack into a list..."

This took several minutes.

"Find one for Robotropolis..." Tails tapped some more, "Hack..."

"Where's the image?" James asked.

"I work faster than the computer," said Tails.

An image eventually came up, showing Cur's industrial hell. It enhanced slowly.

"There's about a million SWATbots walking around," said Tails, "Cur must have gotten them from Snivelly, now that Robuttnik's dead... It's not looking easy..."

James looked in wonder at the facility that floated above the magma fields of Robotropolis. Swatbots on patrol all over, hover units covering the air, and there was no definite way of knowing how security was inside, but...

"I see a way you could sneak in. Right here."

He gestured at a point away from the facility.

"This part of the crater has cooled and hardened, so you can move around there in relative safety. It looks like a mine is set up here, and ore haulers are taking the mineral ore to the main facility. Security is light...if you could sneak aboard a hauler, it would take you right into the refinery. You, Kerry, Kevin...you guys will get in through here. I will take the direct approach and fly to the main landing platform. Cur won't shoot me down...it wouldn't be enough fun."

James smiled grimly and nodded.

"Good work, son. Now lets get to that air strip. We have places to go and people to rescue."

The two of them walked out to the air strip and waited for Kevin to round up some kind of aircraft for the infiltration team. James already had his: the fighter he brought from Grenao.

He broke the awkward silence.

"Miles...I know we haven't spent much time together, and for that, I am sorry. I've either been fighting Robotnik like one of his machines, or chasing after emeralds to use against Malice, or doing my best to help out Breech and Keith...and in the process, you got left out and left behind, and that isn't what I intended."