David blinked his glowing blue eyes, fixing them upon his attacker's face. His night-vision made the details clearly visable.

"My greatest apologies sir. I did not know this area was private."

"Yeah, well now you do." replied Trey coldly. "Now start talking."

The Mobian was, apparently, unaware of the robot's great strength and reactions to rival his own, but David was not looking for a fight. "I am mearly looking for Doctor Dillan Amoz, robotics expert. I detected this structure by density variance in the floor outside, and it occured to me that the Doctor may be in here." His head cocked to the side like a parrot, copying the gesture that he had seen some humans use. "Is he?"

Trey released a lot of the tension within his body and relaxed slightly. The new arrival seemed to speak with a friendly and non-aggressive tone, but it could have all be a faade, and he could have simply been lying. Trey was willing to give him a chance though, after all, he did was Angela and Asher and they had proven friendly and reliable. It was better to make allies in this world rather then enemies, Trey knew that, but still, you had to be careful. He couldnt let anything like what happened just over 4 years ago happen again

Density variance in the floor outside? Trey repeated. How in the world did you do that? Before David could answer or press forth his question again about the person he was searching for, Trey continued to speak. Ive never heard of a Doctor Dillan Amoz, to be honest. And I havent seen anyone like that either, sorry. Trey calmly and slowly lowered his raised right foot and put it down warily.

Dillan Amoz? a voice called out from behind Trey and in front of David, which surprised them both. Trey turned around to look towards the source of the voice and found out that it was Tails. Ive heard of his work before. Hes quite a revered scientist. Tails smiled, beaming slightly. Although I havent seen him for a while, either. Tails raised his index finger to his chin, as to show him deep in though. Umm, who are you and why do you want to find him?

OOC: I'm sorry I haven't posted much guys... I have read when I can and I'll read the rest...Things have been hectic n.n

I just quickly want to say I think you're all doing a brilliant job and it's just really nice that you're taking the liberty to RP with this without having to depend on me for directions, lol. Otherwise I'd be banging my head on the desk X)It's amazing to have all the RPer's be brill in one RP.

Just brilliant! I will update this afternoon
Keep it up! I also like the atmosphere amongst the RPer's. It's a good thing to have ^^

(OOC: Amen to that Ben! This has to be one of the most advanced and complicated RPs I've ever been in, and it's posibly the best I've ever seen because of it! Great, 3 dimentional characters + subplots galore + exceptional writing standards from everyone here + great ideas = an absolutely ground-breaking and fantastic RP! Keep it up everyone!)

IC:
David took a step toward Tails and nodded his head respectfully.

Identity Search===Match Found.
Positive Identification===Miles Prower.

"You are the hero Miles Prower." he stated. "It is an honour."

He continued before the fox could respond. "Doctor Amoz is my father. He created me. But he has gone missing and I am concerned for his welfare. It would be a tragedy if he had come to some harm."

He turned back to Trey. "If he is not here, might I be so bold as to ask a favour? If you do see him, tell him his son is looking for him."

(OOC: Sorry for my disappearance guys)

IC:

Angela cautiously approached David, her hand loosely gripping the metal rod at her side. For a moment, she was lost in the peculiarity of Trey's method of defense; she would've thought him to use his hands instead. She remembered seeing stranger ways of attacking and such, and reasoned that as long as he could fight, it didn't matter how. It wasn't until the name "Amoz" came up that Angel snapped out of her train of thoughts.

"Hm...yes, I do recall mother talking about a Dr. Amoz. Discussing plans and such. But sadly, neither Asher nor I have seen 'em," She said. The striped vixen smiled half-heartedly at the robot before her.

She looked over to her brother, who seemed to be pondering as well. He was staring ahead, a blank look on his face...Angel nodded lightly and turned her attention back to David's spoken request. The vixen bit her lip and opened her mouth, about to say something doubting the survival of Doctor Amoz. She was about to say something along the lines of "He might not have survived the ARK incident, so I'd wisely give up looking if I were you" when Asher cleared his throat loudly.

"Yes..." The tabby said, glancing at his sister momentarily. "If we see the doctor we'll be sure to inform him." He smiled at David, as if to emphasize the truth in his statement.

Trey frowned slightly. It seemed as though David was sincere and not exactly an enemy, just someone who was searching for his father, not sure if he was still alive or not it could be that Dr. Amoz was the only other relative of his that could be alive.

Just like my father, Trey thought, looking to the ground and diverting his gaze from the others. This lasted a moment, before his gaze lifted again and he turned slightly to walk back to the room. Well tell him if we see him. But would he know where you were Trey suddenly just realised, that David still hadnt told them his name. Oh, and dont forget to close the door on your way out. This wasnt said harshly, but in a more of a friendly tone, then his speech before.

OOC: A picture of Trey for those of you who might have been interested in knowing what he looks like. I might colour it in later.
www.deviantart.com/deviation/20129610/

Asher nodded and turned to go as well, giving Angel a stare that said "don't." The two-tailed tabby walked backward back the the little room for a while, before pausing, waiting for Tails and Angela. The two foxes took their cue and began moving forward with Trey and Asher. Or rather...backward in Asher's case.

"Ash, stop playin' around," Angela scolded, raising a little smile of her own.

Ashe shrugged and continued to walk backwards, steering himself in random circles or zig-zag motions. Tails, at this, raised an eyebrow and just stared at the tabby-cat.

"Wierd." He muttered.

OOC: okay, have to agree with EVERYTHING, EVERYONE has said in their OOC's, first off, thank you Erika! you made my day when i read your OOC about how you liked the character interaction, and i must say that i quite enjoyed seeing how 'the cat sisters' conversed amongst themselves too! one request though, could you refer to them all by their referral names, (Ruby, Belle, Ring), just because it'd be easier to keep track of them rather than relying on their initials all the time, it kinda confused me at times during your last post, but i managed to get it after re-reading. sorry if this is a bother, just that i'm terrible with names, and characters with names that are very similar initials sends my simple-mind into a spin! 😛

Pachamac, i agree with your comment to Erika, her posts have been most impressive. Oh, and by the way, i absoloutely LOVE the character Azieral! i got a really cool image of her in my head, and i got an urge to draw her, i hope you dont mind if i do get around to drawing her sometime.

Bentleee, your kind words have been most appreciated, thankyou so much. It is true that everyone here has been able to adeptly progress the RP in their own aspects, which has not only been incredibly productive for the RP, but also unbelievably interesting, as everyone has submitted posts that are a true joy to read. Looking forward to seeing a post from you, we all miss ya! ^^

Wraith (the echidna), amen to YOU my friend! You spoke out my exact thoughts on the RP, the subplots, the detailed original characters, the immersive setting, the outstanding writing talents of every RP-er here, it all adds up! I must say that i am most happy with the Roleplay and it's progression, i could not have asked for a better group of roleplayers, everyone seems comfy with this roleplay and as Bentleee mentioned, the atmosphere is terrific, once again i could not have asked for a better group of roleplayers!

Cheers all! hoping to see more posts real soon! must... have... MORE!
------------------

IC:

As he took one last bite from the core of the apple, Lucent tossed it away into the middle of the road. Every step he took on the sidewalk pavement made an echoing sound, the area was in a ghastly silence... just how he liked it.

He stopped for a moment and leaned against a brick wall facing the road. He reached into his vest and drew out a cigarette and his lighter.

Lucent looked up at the sky... it was early-nighttime. The stars were revealing themselves from their hiding places, and the moon stood high in the sky, glowing with a radiance that never dulled, even after the ARK disaster... it was like a sentinel, overlooking the city, watching everything take place.

Wisps of smoke danced in front of his eyes as he stared at the moon, thinking to himself... asking questions to himself that he often did, but not aloud... only in his head... as if he were trying to hide them even from himself. Questions that disturbed him.

Snapping out of his temporary stupor, Lucent slapped himself in the forehead and cursed himself for his moment of carelessness, his sharp tactical mind knew perfectly well what dangers followed from even the shortest moments of un-awareness. These were dangerous times, and he sought to take advantage of them, not fall victim to them.

He removed the cigarette from his mouth for a moment and held it limply by his waist. He breathed out a wisp of smoke that almost took the shape of a crescent moon... something he had learned to do in another moment of utter carelessness... Lucent just smiled to himself, another of his trademark wicked-smiles, seemingly the only kind of smile he knew how to do.

His smile faded as he brought the cigarette back to his lips again and put his hands in his pockets. He tilted his head forwards a little bit and frowned to himself,

"...Where in the blazes is that spider?"

-----------
OOC: Just a bit of character development, sorry if anyone found it boring 😛 we want blood! BLOOD!

btw, Shadow Lady, that last bit you posted with Asher, that cracked me up X3

btw AGAIN: Pachamac, that picture of Trey is pretty darn awesome! i gotta get on DA and comment on that!

OOC: Heh, no prob, James, Im glad you like her character. You should have been here when Shadows Revenge was still active then, as she really shined in that and the circumstances with her then were quite similar to the ones this time. Ive got no problem if you want to draw her.
Warning: Quite a long post:

IC:
Azieral scouted around the fifth building now. It was fast becoming repetitive now, especially as the night sky loomed above and made things more difficult to see. Although she preferred the dark, even she had to admit it was tricky locating things like a rifle in it, especially when it could have been on any one of the buildings surrounding the bloodbath below her. She would persevere though, after all, she wouldnt want to disappoint her new leader.

And then, finally, she found it. It was resting next to one of Lucents previous men, whose remains were quickly building with a putrid smell that Azieral definitely did not find to her liking. She crouched down and picked up the shotgun, feeling the weight in her arms. She frowned whilst looking down at it she disliked guns, and found that they were weapons not of real skill. After all, anyone could pull a trigger and it was that which she didnt particularly like.

She decided not to waste any more time and quickly make her way back to Lucent, concentrating and identifying his position through her chaos awareness, identifying the Chaos Emerald he held. There were also other stranger readings throughout the city, one that was incredibly powerful, but it didnt matter much to her. She was slightly concerned about it, although she didnt care to have it. It wasnt as concentrated as a Chaos Emerald, and was instead actually spread out much more widely and further. No matter.

Azieral lithely descended down the building, using her arms and hands to grip onto the out jutted parts of the building and scale down it safely. She landed on the ground quietly and in a knelt crouch, stopping to survey her surroundings and make sure she was safe. However, a voice called out, and caught her unaware, as she sharply turned to face it and her body immediately tensed.

Well, well, well. The mercenary Azieral, huh? called out the voice, belonging to a tall, broad man her walked up to her further from the centre of the battle field and cast a large, imposing shadow over her. He wore a distinctive outfit upon himself, but it was fit to burst, it was able to well define his large muscles. He wore fairly standard uniform trousers, and the top of his body wore a white vest, whilst over this was a dark jacket and on the back of it was the single letter G clearly emblazoned in yellow. It was here on his back that a double barrelled shotgun was strapped to and which allowed easy retrieval to use. Although Azieral couldnt see his back at the moment, she knew that it was on there, and she definitely knew the man. Across his belt were two holsters and sitting within them were two Berreta 9mm. He was fully armed and already that made him a dangerous man. Within his mouth was a fat cigar, and trails of smoke was dissipating over his head. A typical macho appearance, but that just indicated the treat.

Captain Warrick Azieral muttered, almost spitting out the words.

Warrick glared back at her, and then turned his gaze towards the battleground behind him and the devastation that laid there.

Lucents work, hmm? I would have though youd have caught up to him by now. Warrick averted his gaze from the land and back to the widow.

Of course Im working on it. Azieral responded, curtly. As she looked at the man she really began contemplating her priorities. Although the GUN military were offering her a hefty reward for the death of Lucent, it was people like Warrick that she disliked and made her question her loyalties. As she had discovered before, Lucent was powerful, and so perhaps it might be better to stay with him and rather betray GUN. Shell have to find out later.

It was against the Dread Painters did you know that? Warrick questioned. Azieral shrugged in response she didnt really care. And in that cockpit whats left of it is Sledge. Quite a job done, in fact. Azieral remained silent, watching at how this was carry out. At any rate, one could say that Lucent was doing us a favour by disposing of these loser gangs that somehow manage to obtain some form of power. Azieral followed his gaze, which rested upon the deserted and lifeless GUN mech. But, as you know, his power is growing too quickly along with some of these other bastards and he has to be snuffed out, Warrick spat out the rest of the cigar onto the ground, and then stamped on the remains, as if to emphasise his point. immediately. You better not fail your job, witch, otherwise youll have more to fear then the Bat if youll still alive.

done acting macho, now? Azieral questioned. Warricks face widened in anger and frustration and he swiftly moved out, and dealt a powerful blow to her stomach with his large arm, which dropped the spider. Show some respect to the true heroes of this world, those that actually give a damn about this world and are willing to give to it for free, and not charge the almost criminal rates you do.

Azieral slowly got up, one of her six arms holding onto her stomach. Warrick looked down, and spotted the rifle along the ground. And what are you doing with that? You should return it now.

Azieral cast one of her arms on the right outwards slightly, and then shot a stream of webbing out of it onto the rifle, and then tugged back, pulling it into her hand. Our conversation ends here, Warrick. When we next meet Ill expect my payment readied, understand? With that, she quickly vanished into the night and the darkness, Warrick cursing loudly. She was a master of the darkness, while he wasnt. There was no way hed be able to find her, and even so, he couldnt do much about it now. She was working for GUN for the time being, but Warrick still didnt trust her.

After a moment of pausing, taking out another cigar and lighting it, he slowly began to walk away towards his vehicle, a motorcycle, and leave towards the secure GUN Headquarters. Suddenly he stopped, something in the corner of his vision, which made him swivel and turn towards it. It was in the air, a shape not, a silhouette, of something within the moon light. A hedgehog. The hedgehog! Warrick immediately drew his Berreta and aimed at the tall building. Although the chance of him actually hitting the target was too low, he had to attempt it, especially considering he was a criminal. Or, at least viewed as a criminal by Warrick he believed that he was the one who assassinated the President. And even if he wasnt, Warrick despised vigilantes as well.

He fired, but he couldn't tell whether he had hit or miss, although his thought was on the latter. Seconds later, the figure mysteriously vanished, dissapearing quickly. Warrick cursed under his breath again. He had been trying to follow and keep on the hedgehog's tracks as best as he could, tracking all the places he went. On this account, he had arrived here, but Warrick was still unable to defeat. He slowly placed away his Beretta, and then continued towards his motorcyle slowly, before speeding off.
---------
And another character! But one Ill probably not use too much, though. Hell mostly be chilling at GUN headquarters, unless a massive gang fights erupts.
Name: Captain Warrick
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Abilities: Strong, skilled use with gun weaponry. A revered leader figure.
Quirks: Warrick is easily angered and enraged by people that show intolerance to him. He has a pro-found dislike and vendetta to the gangs that try to control the city and even the world, but he also immensely dislikes bounty hunters that work on the side of the law for vast amounts of money. He considers these types of people as evil and selfish as those in gangs, but able to mostly get away for their actions.
Is almost always found smoking a cigar to promote his tough guy appearance.
Personality: The same as his quirks! XD lol. Although, he does also have a strong belief at protecting civilians and innocents, which is why he is working within GUN.
Motif: To stamp out criminals and bring the criminals to justice and the true punishment of the law. Most importantly though to capture Shadow the Hedgehog and bring him to justice for the President's assasination.

IC:
Sachio and Morgaine simply stood still as they watched the battle. They hardly moved the whole time, despite the length of the battle.
Indeed the evening air was beginning to pick up a chill, and considering the winter season it was, it was justifiable.
It bothered neither of them. They were immune to such sublte naggings of nature and they felt thick-skinned enough.
Morgaine eventually laughed out loud, before shaking her head.
"Now I know who that winged rodent is..." she said slyly "Lucent... I've heard his name amongst the radio. More and more frequently. Every. Damn. Station..." she said rolling her eyes.
"I've heard of his sociopathic deeds, his ruthless crimes, his butchering... his calls for attention..." she explained, folding her arms.
Sachio frowned, and blinked slowly as he hardened his gaze on the frosty eyed bat, who stole an apple from a stall. The creature appeared to be in his own world for a minute- before snapping out of it and suddenly looking uptight.
"Maybe he has some illusion he'll rule them all?" Sachio asked, before smirking for no particular reason.
"Yes. What else would it be?" Morgaine smiled, adjusting her hands on her hips again, and suddenly scratching her chin with interest.
"Where do you suppose the spider has gone?... and have they become a team?" Sachio frowned, remembering some suspicious interaction between the two.
"I doubt it. They seemed rather hostile towards each other. And I'm not scared of some spider..." she sneered, before opening her eyes fully.
"However, he is going to be a problem. We should take care of him." Morgaine scowled, before looking at her brother.
"Now."
Sachio smiled, before noticing her sister pull out a compact mobile phone.
Scarcely clicking a few numbers, she grinned subtly when she heard her call being picked up.
"Snoop dog, tell Robba and the rest of the gang to bathe the streets before us in high-octane petrol. I want the job done in five minutes. Keep yourself hidden and don't let a certain blue bat see you. Get going. We're gonna burn this place down..." Morgaine spoke, before clicking her mobile and looking at Sachio.
"Have you got a match?" Sachio asked.
"Of course," she smirked "now just keep him distracted. You know... just talk to him... get to know him better... besides, it'll be a chance for you to develope some social skills, hey Sach?"
"Why? I don't need anyone..." he sneered, lowering his ears.
"Course you don't. That's why we're going to kill this bastard. Now make the most of your five minutes."
Sachio nodden briefly, before jumping off the edge of the building. The blue hedgehog took the oppurtunity to break into a dash so as to propel himself forward. As he did so, he managed to land on group of stuck out pipes from various buildings which acted as grinding rails.
On skidding at sheer speed and landing on the pavement with a thud, he waved his hands in a somewhat youthful and clumsy manner due to his young age and not fully enhanced abilities. However, they were keen considering his age.
On hearing the thump on the pavement, Lucent snarled with a prominent fang exposed, before turning around and glaring at the newcomer.
Sachio smiled as he caught his gaze, before letting out a heavy overconfident and reposed sigh.
"Nice evening out... isn't it?" Sachio began "it would be nice if some of the lights were working though..." the hedgehog frowned, as he looked at the street lamps that had been damaged by the bat early through use of his magic.
Sachio turned back and looked at him and blinked slowly.
"That's not to say I'm afraid of the dark..." he explained, donning a serious expression as he pressed his fingers together "...are you?"
As his palms lit a white and pink light, he grinned from cheek to cheek, before throwing his hands back and then forwards, as if to throw an imaginary boulder of power. In actual fact, a manifested orb of Chaos Nightmare had been thrown which was heading straight for Lucent.
Sachio let out a cackle as he watched his attack come into play, looking forward to the damage it would do to him and the hallucinogenic effect it would have once it would hit him...

Elsewhere

The lone black figure, Shadow the hedgehog didn't break a sweat as he dodged that bullet shot. It was a pathetic cheap shot as far as he was concerned.
"Hmp!" he muttered, waving a dismissive hand, before storming off with the gun in his other hand.
He remembered when he first woke up. In a pod. He had had amnesia. He had no recollection or any roots as to who he was, what he was... and why he was here in the first place.
The hedgehog continued to tredge upon the broken rubble, deep in his thoughts as he carried on trying to force together the puzzle pieces that refused to fit.
He was an entity of confusion, angst, anger, resentment, a certain hate, and darkness. And yet something in him wanted to fight for what was right.
He was angry that the people that had promised to be there for him weren't. That no one took a willing moment to explain to him who he really was. That went for Rouge the bat- a certain spy and secret agent who seemed more interested in material things. That was a friend scrawled off his scarce checklist. He can't believe he even used to consider her an ally. The prospect made him want to spit.
Omega, one of Eggman's most advanced robots. He wanted to kill him at first. And he even accused Shadow of being one of Eggman's robots. But why...? He knew he wasn't a robot. And to remind himself, Shadow would glance at his self cut arm, which left a distinct scar only organics would bare. Certainly not a wired robot... or cyborg. As much as it hurt, he needed to know the truth. But why did the truth come and such high prices?
The more he thought about it, the more he choked and wanted to die at the cruel biddings of the damned world.
Damned world was an understatement.
It was a bloody mess. He was at the centre of all the accussations. And he knew it wasn't his fault, didn't he?
All he wanted was some answers... some damn answers. Why was he plagued? Why was his whole life an enigma?
Shadow kicked a large rock out the way, deciding to cut out his thoughts. He knew that there was only so much he could take in his own world of darkness before he would go crazy.
There were certain things for now that kept him from taking his own life.
He only hoped that in all due time, for better or for worse, that these things were worth hanging on to.

(OOC: Say Pach, did Trey actually realise David was a robot, or did he think he was living? Not a problem either way, but I'm just curious...

Bit of a long post. Be warned.)

IC:

Wraith looked around the basketball court warily. The scream had origionated from somewhere in this area, but the question was where?

Ed stepped up to him, also looking around. "No sign of life."

"Darn rat..." muttered Wraith through clenched teeth. "He took too much of our time."

"What were you hoping to find?"

Wraith turned to the Overlander. "For starters, someone in trouble." he replied. "Like I said, the Neo-Freedom Fighters are about justice and protection of the innocent."

Ed just nodded slowly, so Wraith continued. "Also, we're trying to locate and bring back all the heroes that were around before the chaos started. We got a tip off from the paper that one was around here, and that Khaos creature earlier mentioned something that sounded promising."

"But Alonzo stopped you getting here soon enough." finished Ed in responce. "You think he deserves to be punished?" He was still a little concerned that Wraith may go hunting for the rat as revenge for making them miss their target.

Wraith shook his head. "No point." he muttered.

Meanwhile Arista had been scouting around the basketball court, using her heightened sences of sound and scent to try to find clues. She was heading back to Wraith when suddenly she stopped, testing the air with her nose.

Wraith noticed her pause. "Ari?"

Her head dropped and she began searching the floor near her. Then she spotted something and knelt down. "There! Come and look!"

The other two stepped forward and knelt next to her. There on the floor was a small drop of blood.

Arista looked up at Wraith. "Only a few hours old I'd say, but there's no trail leading off or anything." The Echidna had his mouth cupped in his hand, deep in thought.

"A few hours would put it at around the time of the scream. Something happened here..."

============================================================

David watched the figures dissapear into the passageway one after the other. A couple of them showed biological signs that they may be holding something back...increased heart rate, shallower breathing, etc...but he didn't ask. His programming wouldn't allow him. He could only question the word of a person if there was sufficient possibillity that a life was in danger, and the potentiallities didn't fit that situation here.

He turned and stepped back onto the street, closing the door over the hole behind him as he had been ordered to do. His audio sensors had picked up new voices from somewhere nearby! He turned round, looking for the source of the talking.

A way down the street, bathed in the glow of the streetlamps, a small group of three were knelt on the floor, talking. Two Mobiand and an Overlander.

David started off down the street towards them, continuing his search for information. He reached them in mere minutes...

============================================================

Wraith started as he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He stood up and span round, his long leather coat shimmering in the glow of the streetlamps.

A pair of glowing blue orbs were advancing towards them out of the darkness! "Woah!" exclaimed Wraith in shock, automatically bringing his fists up for defence. Arista grabbed her gun from it's holster, preparing to fire.

"My apologies. I did not mean to startle you."

The calmness of the voice caught them off guard! They blinked in suprise. "What is it?" asked Arista, edging backwards.

The robot stepped into the glow from the lamp overhead and smiled a disarming smile. "I am an experimental servant robot created by Doctor Dillan Amoz, robotics expert. He named me David."

For a moment the Mobians and Overlander were speechless, staring in shock at the strange creature in front of them. "Doctor Amoz?" repeated Wraith eventually. "I think I've heard of him."

"You know him?"

"Not personally no, but I've heard of him in the news and stuff. He died when the world went mad, right?"

David's face suddenly dropped from it's warm smile. "Died? Doctor Amoz is dead?"

Wraith nodded. "Yeah, he was killed in a gang war a while ago. You didn't know?"

David's eyes slowly dropped to the floor, his neural net analizing the information. His emotional subrutines activated...sorrow.

His head flicked up to face Wraith again. "How long ago?"

"About five years now."

Wraith was examining the robot closely, not quite sure what to make of it. It didn't seem dangerous, but then, that was only a first impression. It was a robot, and robots often had great strength and fast reactions. It also seemed to be a very advanced robot...able to simulate emotions even! If ever it should get angry...

Arista, on the other hand, was feeling sorry for it. As she stared at it's crestfallen face, something stirred within her, a feeling of sorrow, and of deep empathy. She had lost her parents to the gangs too! She knew how it felt!

"I'm sorry...David, was it?" she murmured, putting her gun away and stepping forward. "You must feel terrible!"

"Doctor Amoz was my father." replied the robot folornly. "I had not been bought by a family yet. Without him, I have no purpose."

Wraith was by now convinced that the thing was harmless. Even so, it's strainge appearence gave him the creeps. "I'm sorry too," he said, "but I'm sure you'll think of something. I'm afraid at the moment we're a little buisy looking for a two tailed fox..."

"Miles Prower?"

Wraith's ears pricked up. "You know him?"

"I have just seen him sir. He is in a secret passageway at the end of the street." He had recieved no orders not to give away the location of Trey's hideout.

"Can you show us?"

David nodded and set off down the street, the other three in hit persuit. Wraith grinned at Arista and Ed as they followed the robot. "It looks like it was a stroke of luck meeting you!" he said to the metal figure ahead.

Ed strolled up alongside the android that the trio were now following. It was certainly a remarkable feat of robotics, even compared to his own family's prowess in that field. He examined the robot at a short distance, admiring the craftsmanship that had gone into the construction of skin - particularly the face - while at the same time marvelling at the apparent complexity and elegance of its programming.

Suddenly, Ed came to a realisation.

"You know, David," he said, "You and I aren't that different."

"Oh?" asked the automaton, turning to look at the man. While, visually, Edward at the moment looked to be just a normal human, David could see things that most others could not. Infra-red imaging detected heat signatures that were only slightly unusual, though pulse induction revealed metallic components whose structure and location could be determined through ultrasound mapping. Finally, Ed also seemed to give off tiny magnetic fields rather like those generated by current flowing through wires. Most of this activity was centred around his back.

(OOC: While we're on the subject of detection methods, since - in this setting - Ed is part artificial chaos, he could probably be detected by anyone able to sense the presence of chaos energy, such as from the Emeralds or Chaos himself, although the feeling would be far weaker for Ed than for the latter).

"Aha. You're a cyborg," realised David.

"Of sorts," conceded Ed, "But that's more to keep me alive than anything and wasn't what I meant anyway. What I really meant is that I, like you, have been separated from family by the events of the last five years."

"Is that so?" asked David, more to politely acknowledge Ed's words than as a genuine request for affirmation.

"Aye, though not my father," continued Ed. "He died of natural causes while I was in cyrogenic stasis. It's actually my younger brother - though he looks a lot older than me nowadays - whom I've been looking for these past years. He's the one responsible for my, er, modifications. However, a fragment of the ARK crashed into his laboratory. I never found him after, but I still hold on to the hope that he escaped and is still out there somewhere."

"Come to think of it, your own father might have met him or at least heard of him. Both my brother and my father were scientists who dabbled in robotics. Does the name Isaac Night ring a bell? Or even Edward Night? I know they'd heard of Dr. Amoz."

OOC: Just as a quick recap, Ed's full name is Edward Night III, Isaac is his younger brother, while their father is Edward Night II.

OOC: a very entertaining lot of posts guys! keep it up! i absoloutely love how everything is tying together.

BTW Bentleee it's good to have you back, and with a whopping great post to boot! Sachio and Morgaine's conversations with eachover are a great piece of writing, it's always interesting to see the differences between the two siblings in both personality and the way they feel about certain situations. Keepy uppy!
--------
IC:

A loud thud could be heard from his right which caused Lucent to look over in that direction. He snarled and exposed a fang as he did so. If that noise was Azieral, Lucent would curse her for being so loud and disturbing his peaceful silence... but it wasn't Azieral.

From the shadows emerged a casually walking figure, a blue-lavender hedgehog. The hedgehog looked overe at Lucent and began to speak, "Nice evening out... isn't it?".

Lucent rolled his eyes, he hated when strangers tried to be sociable to him... it only made him want to kill them more.

"it would be nice if some of the lights were working though..." continued the hedgehog.

At this point Lucent held in a smug chuckle, he knew perfectly well why the lights were out.

"That's not to say I'm afraid of the dark..." the hedgehog explained, donning a serious expression as he pressed his fingers together.

Lucent noticed the hedgehog perform the strange gesture and at first mistook it for some form of greeting, but as he focused on it, his mind came ablaze, memories of magical teachings coming into his head.

"...are you?". The hedgehog suddenly broke out into a wide grin as pink and white light began to emit from his palms. He threw his hands back violently, as if lifting some great force, and then he threw his hands forward, sending an orb of pink and white energy straight at Lucent.

Lucent's eyes widened as the newcomer's attack was executed. He pressed a foot against the wall he was leaning on and shot out into the middle of the road in a short gliding dash, skidding along the ground as he landed. He turned around to face his opponent.

He looked over at where the suppossed magic energy ball had hit the wall where he once stood, the area of wall swirled with a nausiating pattern of pink and white that almost made Lucent dizzy. He looked back at the hedgehog who looked a little disappointed that his attack had missed, yet he didn't look impressed that Lucent had managed to dodge it.

Lucent narrowed his eyes and frowned at the hedgehog.
"seems i'm quite popular today..." mused Lucent, giving a sly grin. Lucent's grin faded and his face changed to a look of curiosity as he closely inspected the hedgehog. Blue fur, lavender highlights, magenta eyes, black hair, magic abilities... It was here that Lucent realised who his opponent was, someone who's name had become associated with words like 'pain' and 'power' along with his sister... this hedgehog who had seemingly come from nowhere...

"...........Sachio..." murmured Lucent. He mentally cursed himself as he realised his situation. It was true that he had wanted any oppurtunity that he could get to fight such an individual, and it was also true that he had wanted to see Sachio for himself... but as it were, he was still partly injured from all his opther fights today, with bruises, minor cuts on his legs, a larger cut on his right shoulder, and scraped wings... and he was still soaked in blood. It had been a long day, with a fight against the reaminder of the Dread Painters, a fight against his newly acquired ally, and now this. Lucent had hoped to be fighting this individual under better circumstances, not that he doubted his own power, but just that he knew that such an opponent is one not to be underestimated, it was prefereable to fight in the primest condition.

The hedgehog reared back his hands again and unleashed another furious attack of pink and white energy. The blast lit up the dark road like disco lights, the two colours dancing against the surface of the road, walls, pavement and other objects.

Lucent quickly raised his palm toward the blast that was heading for him. "Svarminus Paralia!"

Light blue and white energy sparkled into his palm, and a magical comet-like projectile sailed into the air from it's point of origin within the sparkling mass of energy surrounding Lucent's hand. The two energy blasts did not completely collide, Lucent's blast hit Sachio's on an angle, and this sent the two blasts to ricochet in random directions, each hitting a random area of the 'battle-field'.

Lucent drew out his chain and began spinning it by his side, not moving his whole upper body as he did so, as if it was effortless to control such a weapon with only his arm. Lucent felt a sting come from his shoulder and he immediately ceased spinning his weapon. He clasped a hand to the large cut made by a glass shard on his right shoulder, and he saw that it was beginning to bleed again. Once again Lucent cursed himself.

Sachio noticed Lucent stumble slightly and began to cackle again. "Will you look at that?" he mused with an evil smile, "seems the 'great Lucent' bleeds, just like everyone else!"

Lucent looked up at Sachio and scowled, "So you know who i am... how quaint."

He removed his hand from his shoulder and began spinning his chain again, ignoring any pain that might follow.
"I've got some news for you, all these blood stains i have... they're not from my blood. Care to be added to my collection?" He gave a wicked grin of his own.

Sachio seemed somewhat angered by the bat's sudden attitude, he hated when lesser beings didn't act in their place... a trait that he no doubt would have inherited from his father.

Lucent wasted no more time and took a small leap forward, letting his chain fly at Sachio in a snake-like course through the air. He knew he had to conserve energy, he wanted to avoid using the chaos emerald.

OOC: Thanks James ^_~
Lol! Your followup was superb and teh Sach was in character there! =P Ha ha... Lucent was so rude to his greeting X).
Ideally, I'm trying to demonstrate some traits that although the siblings bicker, they probably wouldn't survive long without each other...

IC:

Sachio narrowed his eyes as he watched Lucent make his dynamic and swift dash towards him- whipping back a long spiked chain. The blue hedgehog's eyes shone as he grinned maliciously.
He let himself fall backwards, and spontaneously performed a series of smooth and apt backflips, whilst Lucent continued to jump forwards with a cascade of whiplashes which cut the air viciously with a whining sound on each thrash.
Lucent snarled, but immediatly grinned when he came up with a quick idea. Instead of thrashing the chain from side to side... why not...
Before he thought his idea through, he jumped forwards and brought the chain back- whipping it diagonally with full throttle which caught Sachio by the cheek in his jumping motion and left a vicious gash.
It was not so much the injury which was bad, but the surprise which caused Sachio to fall backwards through a window into another building.
As his back collided with the glass, an extreme shattering sound was heard, which followed by hundreds of dagger like shards to fly all over the place.
Lucent naturally swatted them all with expertise, before any of them could hit him.
Once the air was clear, he took a massive leap to enter the old building through which Sachio fell in. Lucent found Sachio lying there on his back in a slight daze.
"Heh... just as I thought. You're just a child... who can't even take a fall," Lucent sneered "but that doesn't mean I'll be going easy on you... hell no."
With that, Lucent pulled back his chain, read to whip the living daylights out of Sachio.
Before the chain made contact however, a hand spontaneously came out and grasped the chain at one end. Regardless of whether the spikes cut Sachio's hand, it didn't deter him from hardening his grip.
He took the initiative and pulled Lucent down the ground, causing him to stumble.
Sachio suddenly let go of the chain- standing half upright. He caught the falling Lucent by the shoulders before he fell down fully and smiled maliciously.
The blue hedgehog brought back his head, skullbashed Lucent's forehead viciously. Even if it had hurt the blue-lavender hedgehog slightly, it sure as anything would have hurt Lucent more.
Sachio laughed psychotically, jumping up on his feet as he gazed down at the dazed Lucent, who was clutching his forehead.
"You keep a record of your killings by donning bloodstains?" Sachio sneered, as he picked up his last line of conversation "that's disgusting..." he said as his expression contorted.
"Did you honestly think you had a chance against the likes of our gang?" Sachio taunted him "I question your vision when I see how far you have fallen... as have your other gang members. Where are you all now?!" he asked, estimating there to be two minutes left before he would have to take his leave.

Riku let out a sigh and began to walk down the street in the opposite direction. The night wasn't getting any younger and she began to head back home. Suddenly a bright light streaked across the sky and landed in the large piece of ARK, causing a large explosion. She fell to the ground as shockwaves hit the surrounding area and topped several buildings. She saw a shadow fall over her and dove out of the way as pieces of a building fell down. She shook her head and got to her feet. Another streak of light shot through the sky and hit ARK, causing another explosion. Riku ran for cover but tripped over some rubble and turned to see part of a building coming down on her. She closed her eyes and prepared for imminent death.

When she reopened her eyes, she found herself unharmed, dusty but unharmed. She found herself atop a large building and turned to see a cloaked figure behind her. "Chaos Control."

"What?" She asked, looking at him closely. She had heard of the fabled technique but supposedly only Shadow was able to have mastered it. She wondered if that was the cause of the exploding white light.

"I believe I have discovered how to use Chaos Control, though nowhere as good as Shadow," He said, holding up a hand with a burning crescent moon mark. His eyes appeared as two red dots that seemed to pierce into her soul. She looked away and he laughed. "You are afraid. I'm glad to hear that. Maybe that means you will help me."

"Help you? You have to be out of your mind? Are you trying to kill everyone?" She asked. He shrugged and she rolled her eyes. He suddenly lashed out and grabbed her by the neck.

"I am looking for Shadow and I need as many accomplices as possible. You are my first," He said, dropping her to the ground. She got up and looked away. "Or I can continue blasting this place with my new found power."

OOC: Don't worry about powerplaying...this is going to resolved real soon...

"Did you honestly think you had a chance against the likes of our gang?" Sachio taunted him "I question your vision when I see how far you have fallen... as have your other gang members. Where are you all now?!" he asked, estimating there to be two minutes left before he would have to take his leave.

Lucent smiled at Sachio and began to laugh wickedly. Sachio's smile faded and a look of annoyance came over him, "What's so funny?" he scowled.

"Fallen? hardly." retorted Lucent, while taking the cigarette out of his mouth and rubbing it into the ground with his foot, "the game is far from over child... am i confusing you?"

Sachio bitterly snarled and leapt from his position to perform a flying kick at Lucent. Lucent on the other hand, ducked down low, and let Sachio fly right over him before lashing his chain around Sachio's neck.

"Mark my words hedgehog..." said Lucent into Sachio's ear, "your days of glory are numbered."

Lucent was about to release his chain from Sachio, painfully, and then deliver a kick to him, but then his nose caught a strange scent.

He sniffed the air for a moment and then turned his head in the presumed source of the smell, that's when he saw them, out the window, gang members spreading some form of petrol onto the round.

"what in the blazes...?" started Lucent. Sachio took this moment to raise his arm and hit Lucent in the face with his knuckle.

Lucent stepped back from the hit and yanked his chain free as he did so, causing the spikes on it to make numerous cuts along Sachio's shoulders.

Both fighters took a moment to inspect their own injuries and then turned and faced eachover in a battle stance. What followed next was a sequence of punches and slashes being exchanged in what seemed like a one-sided match, as Sachio clearly had an upper hand on Lucent, it could even be seen on the condition of each of their bodies, but Lucent managed to hold his ground.

The fighting reached a face-off again, both fighters breathing heavily. Lucent raised the arm with his chain and prepared for another strike, but then came the pain inside his throat. His eyes momentarily widened and then he stumbled forward, almost falling over. His head was facing down and before he knew it, he was coughing up blood. His mind was still focused on the battle, but his body was unable to comply with his tactics, he had taken too severe a beating throughout the course of the day, and this opponent demanded too much of his strength, more than what he had to spare after all his other battles.

Sachio casually walked over to Lucent during his coughing fit and clasped his hands on Lucent's head, right before swiftly raising his knee to meet with Lucent's chin.

As Sachio let go of him, Lucent stumbled backward and slumped against the wall that he collided with. His head drooped downward and his eyes were half-open... a trail of blood descended from his mouth, a much thicker trail this time.

Sachio took note of the time he had left and then looked again at Lucent with a sinister grin. "Pathetic." he announced, looking down at his opponen, "i could've just killed you myself."

Sachio stepped closer to Lucent and cracked his knuckles. As Sachio approached, Lucent lay still, he was in a lot of pain.

As Sachio came within a metre of Lucent, the once motionless bat sprung up from his position and lashed his chain around Sachio's body, binding his arms to his waist.

Sachio struggled, but only found that by doing so, the spikes hurt him more. Lucent gasped for air as he raised his palm to face Sachio. "like i said..." Spat Lucent.

Light blue and white energy gathered into his palm. "It's far from over..."

He released his chain from Sachio and shouted his magic incantation, "Svarminus Paralia!"

The gravitational comet-blast hit Sachio squarely in the chest, but Lucent aimed it at an angle, so it propelled Sachio upward through the air and he smashed through one of the higher windows, out into the streets.

Sachio landed on one of his gang members who was just finishing spreading the hi-octane petrol. It was a good thing this particular gang member was quite hefty, and softened his 'fall'.

Sachio stood up and clutched at his stomach, spitting out excess saliva onto the ground, "son of a.." he started.

The gang member stood himself up and place a hand to his back where Sachio had collided, he looked over at his superior and spoke, "all's set boss."

Sachio winced and smiled at the same time as he replied to the bulldog, "perfect."

Inside the building, Lucent had collapsed, slumping against the wall again. He was still conscious, but he was incredibly weak. He had even released his grip on his weapon, finding it too much of an effort to hold onto it. His breathing was both heavy and uneasy, his body ached.

His eyes widened and he broke out into another coughing fit, sending more blood spray to fly out in tandem. With a glint of determination in his eye, Lucent raised himself to his feet, doing so very difficultly. He kneeled down and attached his chain to the latch inside his vest, then stood up again in an effort to walk.

As hard as he tried, Lucent could not get his mind to focus, he felt dazed, delusional, and it upset him to no ends. If there was one thing Lucent felt he had that gave him the best edge of all, it was his tactical mind, and now that it was failing him, he was left with no definite means of survival.

He fell to his knees, landing on some glass shards from before. He stared up at the moon through the broked window.

His eyelids became heavy and he fell to the ground.

He did not get up again.

Morgaine suddenly came running, a frown riddling her face as she stopped before Sachio.
"What happened?!" she demanded "you look cruddy!"
"Nothing... nothing... just a scratch... he's as good as dead now..." Sachio sneered, bruised face not doing much to cover up the light situation he had described. Morgaine pursed her lips as she looked at her brother in a somewhat concerned and cross manner.
"Just give me the match!" Sachio snapped, snatching the box from Morgaine's hand.
He swiftly ran a matchstick against the box until a flame sparked.
As a red light flickered, he grinned snidely, before looking at his sister and the rest of his gang.
"Now get the hell out here... I'll handle this... and it will be my pleasure..." he snorted, trembling as he tried to withstand the anger and rage he felt for bat for saying the stuff he did, for dealing the blows he did and the magic he cast. Regardless of anyone or anything as far as Sachio was concerned, no one messed with him and got away with it.
Morgaine nodded, before turning to run, with the other dobbermans running after her. They knew the safest routes, particularly where there were no petrol contaminated areas.
Sachio stood there for a long moment, studying the flame intensely as the illumination highlighted his menacing features.
Without waiting much longer, he turned towards an obvious puddle, where a container had also been left.
"You mark MY words, bat! Because I think you will find that it is your days of glory that are numbered..." Sachio growled under his breath.
He scarcely flicked the lit match from his hand, and took a moment to watch as the stick underwent many revolutions... its flame a hair's breadth from making contact with the high octane fluid.
Before it did so, Sachio immediatly span on the dot, and began to run at sheer speed from the area.
Microseconds afterwards, he listened as the roar of fire errupted- and felt the blast of heat hit his back like an oven keln.
He dashed around the last corner, taking a brief look at the rapid inferno engulfing the area, before donning a distinct victorious and self-conceited smile. Turning around again... he increased his speed and dissappeared from the scene that had endured enough scarring as it had done today.

"Ow! OW ow watch it! ow, damnit, ARRRGGGHHH!!!" groaned Plugg as the bullet in his arm was being pryed out with a scalpel.

"Look, shut up! Lucent hasn't raided a hospital in ages, you want anaesthetic, go take it up with him!" Yelled the one known as 'Nurse' although her real name was Myst, she was a silverish bat with light blue highlights in her hair.
"There done, ya big crybaby" she jested as her yellow eyes made one last pass of the bullet she had removed, just to make sure the thing hadn't fragmented and left anything inside Plugg's arm.

She reached for a cupboard and scrounged around for some bandages, she had one full roll of it left. Good thing she had stressed to Lucent to get a lot when he had last raided a hospital for medical supplies, but that was over a month ago, and with Lucent's constant hostile movements throughout the city, medical supplies were running dangerously short.

Before applying any bandage, Myst soaked a towel in alcohol and touched it to the wound.

"YARRRGGGGHHH!!!" Screamed Plugg, "It hurts more now! GETITOFF GETITOFF!!"

Myst was losing her patience with Plugg, she bopped him over the head with her other hand and spoke angrily, "Okay, lemme explain something. If i DONT put this stuff on, that wound is gonna get infected, and then it's gonna get all wrinkly, and pus-filled and crusty, and sticky, and then it's gonna feel a whole lot worse than when the bullet went in there in the first place, so how about being a man and taking a little stinging pain so that later you can go punch stuff, okay? geez!"

Plugg gulped as she explained the importance of the alcohol then tried to look brave, "well, can ya put more on so that it'll heal faster? i can take it!"

Myst slapped her forehead and placed the towel down, "it doesn't work that way, besides we have to use this stuff sparingly. I am sooo nagging Lucent when he gets back, i have had it up to here with having to work with nearly nothing to heal wounds that god knows how you boys get."

She applied the bandage and looked around for a metal clip to hold it in place. Realising there were no more metal clips she rolled her eyes, "of course... here, i'll tie a knot or something, that's the best i can do."

Plugg got off the small operating table and tried moving his arm. He felt some pain still, but it wasn't as bad, he smiled and tried a punch in the air, but then grasped onto his arm and yelped in pain.

"oh for god's sake, You can't use it yet! and i'm not wasting more bandage to make you a sling, so go on, get out of here!" yelled Myst, pointing toward the door.

Plugg nodded while biting his lip and he limped out of the room. The Nocturne base was merely a ruined hospital, or at least, a section of it. a large portion of the hospital was broken off completely, as the building was set for demolition right before the ARK disaster. The demolition job was never completed, and it was very sloppy, a lot of the hospitals old equipment had still been left inside, seems like no-one much cared about the place, afterall... rumour has it someone was murdered there.

It was an advantage that some of the hospital's equipment had been left behind, as it meant that the Nocturnes took turns to sleep on the hospital beds, and there were numerous pieces of electrical equipment to tinker with.

It was Lucent's idea to occupy the building as a base, just because of the conveniences that came with it, even though the gang had been very reluctant due to the murder rumour. The gang's former base before Lucent took over, was an old carpark with 2 abandoned, run down cars. Lucent hated the idea of being in the open.

Myst looked out the window of her assigned medical room. The moon was in clear sight. She sighed to herself and continued staring at it.

The door to the medical room opened and Myst stepped out to see Plugg showing off to all the others who had been treated.

"Yeah, it hurt, but i just clenched my teeth and took it!" Plugg gestured with his arm... carefully.

The others just laughed at him. "That's not what me ears tell me! you were screaming like a little girl!" said Dirge, poking Plugg on the forehead with his huge paw.

Plugg reddened in the face, "Well... Well you weren't exactly mister toughguy yourself! I heard you!"

Dirge put his hands at his sides, "oh come on, i grunted once cos Nurse's knife slipped! you! you were loud!"

"i had a BULLET IN.MY.ARM! That hurts! a LOT! i'm not Lucent-"

"speaking of Lucent..." interrupted Myst. The group looked over at her, "You told me he was taking care of something and that he'd be back soon. What was he taking care of?"

Plugg looked down at his feet, "Well... y'know, he kinda.. he did that whole, 'looking around and listenin' thing again, like he heard somethin', least i thik he heard someone, i dunno cos then-"

Myst angrily approached Plugg, "and then you left him?"

Plugg put his good arm out in front of himself, "no whoah! wait! He stayed back and told us to run here i swear! What did ya want me to do? Say NO to him? He said he'd kill us if we stayed!"

"god, DAMMIT LUCENT!" scowled Myst, scrunching up her nose and turning around. "Dammit, he's such an IDIOT! why the hell does he do this? why? He's not impressing anyone!"

Plugg looked around and tried to sympathise, "Hey, Nurse, c'mon, this is Lucent we're talkin' about! He can handle himself! i mean, come on he took down a guy in a robot thing today, a robot thing!!!"

Myst saw what Plugg was trying to say, that Lucent was independant, and that he was smart enough to know how to handle himself... but she knew perfectly well that Lucent had a head-strong attitude, he was sure to get himself in trouble one of these days.

"can... can anyone go look for him?" said Myst, turning back to face the group.

Plugg's mind went nuts trying to find an excuse, but Dirge spoke up before he could open his mouth. "Nurse, no-one here is in any condition to go lookin' for anybody. we could get some of the others, but they won't know where to look. And you can't go alone either." said the grizzly bear.

Plugg nodded in agreement, pleased at how well Dirge's speech had come out, "yeah, Dirge is right. How about we wait 'kay?"

Myst became angered by this, "wait? WAIT!? we've been waiting for enough, where the hell is he? i don't see him! do you?" She grabbed Plugg by the collar of his hooded jacket, much in the same way that Lucent had done earlier in the day.

"hey, Nurse! Myst! cool it! even if we could go searching, we wouldn't know where to look! Lucent could be anywhere by now! besides he's pulled all-nighters before, you know he has!" interrupted Dirge, pulling Myst off of Plugg.

"But he's never done an all-nighter alone!" retorted Myst, looking nervous. "he knows better than that..."

She didn't say anymore, instead she walked back into her room and slammed the door shut behind her.

The gang looked around. "so what now?" said a black tabby cat in the group.
"We can't go looking, she knows that!" said Plugg.
"What if he is in trouble?" said the tabby, who ironically, was named 'Tabby', or at least that's what the group called him.
"You bonehead! Stop saying stuff like that! He'll turn up either later tonight or early tomorrow mornin'. he always does!" said Plugg, trying to justify his actions with gestures of his good arm.
"If he goes, then we're all dead. you know that right?" said Tabby.
Plugg was getting nervous and edgy, "look, i swear if you don't shut your mouth i'm gonna get your head and-"
"hey, HEY! STOP!" interrupted Dirge, picking up Plugg by the collar and holding him in the air, kicking.
"No more arguing you guys, knock it off! we gotta start planning, Lucent always plans stuff right?"

The small group nodded. Dirge put Plugg down and continued speaking, "I say we wait one more hour, if he's not back by then, we get some of the others, and we go lookin'."

Plugg shook his head, "are you nuts? Look at my arm, look at it! i ain't going nowhere in the dark with my arm like this!"

"i thought you said it didn't hurt much." said Tabby, smiling.
"oh that is IT!" Plugg was about to punch him and Tabby was about to punch back, but the two were held back by Dirge, and some of the others who had heard all the fighting.

"You see what happens when Lucent ain't around?" yelled Dirge at the two, "One hour. then i'm goin'. if anyone wants to come along, then they better shut up and get themselves ready alright? one hour, that's final!".

Just then, Myst's door flung open and she came running out to the others. "A fire!" she screamed, "A huge fire! come look!"

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

Orange, white, and red danced around the room as the entire building went ablaze from Sachio and Morgaine's set-up.

The flames had spread very quickly thanks to the hi-octance petrol that was spread beforehand. A fire like this would be hell to put out, that is if it could be put out. There was no professional fire department, and no working fire-trucks either. In this city, if a fire started, you ran.

Thankfully, only one individual was trapped inside the fiery building.

Lucent's limp body remained the way it had been even when the fire started. the intense heat had not triggered any of his senses, he was out... very out.

The flames danced dangerously close toward him as they spread throughout the inner reaches of the structure, there was no safe way in, or out.

Lucent's hair was all that was moving, as a breeze from the open window came through. That window had a large section of flaming wooden roof collapsed on top of it. the crevaces that were exposed were not large enough for anyone to pass through.

He almost seemed peaceful, resting amongst all the chaos that surrounded him. Deathly peaceful.

A spark from the burning wall fell near where Lucent lay, and a flame began on the spot. The heat from such a nearby flame would make anyone sweat, but Lucent remained cold, as if he were dead. The flames almost seemed malicious as they creeped toward him, their path lighting the way to hell itself.

Lucent remained motionless.

A fiery ember dropped from the ceiling, aimed straight for Lucent's back. It was hit by a flicker of yellow electricity as it came within a metre of him, and the ember was vaporised in mid-air. It almost appeared as if this angered the flames along the ground, as they approached Lucent faster from all sides, almost intent on reaching him.

The flames were blocked by a barrage of yellow sparks of energy that almost 'tamed' them. In mere seconds, Lucent's body became a centrepoint for a furious light show of yellow energy spikes. His fingers began to twitch, his left leg shifted position. His closed eyes began to quiver. The sparks around him gathered into a single bright focal point of light. The light emitted a shockwave which blew back all the surrounding flames in a circle around Lucent.

Then, the glowing light slowly descended into Lucent's vest, seething back into the yellow chaos emerald from which it came.

Lucent's eyes shot open and he sat upright, clutching his heart with his mouth open wide. The yellow chaos emerald fell out of his pocket, landing in front of him, as if it were an answer. Without question, Lucent picked it up and clasped both hands on it, arching his back as his heart stung at him like crazy.
"Chaos... BATTERY!"
The chaos emerald flickered and a stream of glowing yellow energy poured into his heart. As the energy stream stopped, Lucent stood upright, still struggling due to his injuries, but now he had energy.

He had his head pointing directly up, and his arms limp by his side, one holding the emerald. As he looked up, he began to shudder, then he began to chuckle... then it grew into an almost maniacal laugh. He looked down at the emerald with a grin. There were many times when the emerald had been handy, but never any times when he desperately needed it. This thought made him frown.

He stuffed the emerald back in his pocket and surveyed his surroundings. The flames were intense, and the window form which he came in was now blocked off. And the window that he knocked Sachio out through was too high up for him to reach.

His tactical way of thinking returned to him as he untied the bandana at his left knee and ties it around his mouth, to help filter the smokey air. There was too much fire on the ground level, nowhere was fit for an exit. He noticed a staircase and raced up it.

Just as he had presumed, the flames had already reached many of the higher floors and made them all unfit for an exit point. He was running out of options.

Lucent got up to the sixth floor when he noticed a fire escape door. Without hesitation he dashed towards it. The door was stuck, no matter how many times Lucent tried it, it wouldn't budge. Lucent backed away from the door and pointed his palm at it, smiling wickedly underneath his bandana.

The fire-escape door went flying out into the streets below in a short burts of light blue and white. Lucent looked out and saw that the fire escape to this building was in terrible condition, leaning outward from the building by small hinges. Lucent cursed himself and his wings, if they hadn't been permanently torn in the ARK disaster, he would be able to just fly down, but as it were, he was incapable of flying anymore. Without another moment, he jumped out onto the fire-escape, cursing more as the connections to the building came undone and the whole thing plummetted outward.

The fire escape broke off from the building, being attached only at the very bottom. It was now leaning diagonally from it's former position, it's very top piece was resting on a smaller building across the road. Lucent was dangling from the sides of it. He strafed along it using his hands, moving towards the very bottom of it, which was only about a 2 metre drop to the ground.

Having succesfully landed, he ran into an alleyway on the other side of the road from the building and surveyed it burning. He removed his bandana and gasped for air while he observed the flames. "Damn... Hedgehogs..." he muttered.

A moment later, the entire fire-escape broke apart and fell in pieces along the road, some pieces landing on parcked cars and rolling a fair distance. Meanwhile the burning building stood tall, like a torch for the great city.

Lucent looked once more at the flames and then smiled to himself. He tied the bandana around his knee again and began walking towards base. "You're not my tomb tonight." said Lucent, referring to the inferno.

"And you... like hell you've seen the last of me." he said, referring to Sachio. He laughed as he looked up at the moon, walking casually with his hands in his pockets, "The game is far from over..."

What in the hell happened there? came a voice from behind Lucent, which automatically attracted his attention and he turned on the spot, his mind a race of thoughts, especially those of concern and wear. He was much too weak now, and he certainly did not want to break out into another confrontation

It was the black widow, Azieral, and in two of her arms were held the rifle that Lucent had ordered her to collect. Her eyes were all spread wide with surprise and disbelief at what had just happened, a look of confusion. She wanted answers, and now, looking at Lucents body, her own mind was in a run of thoughts.

No doubt hes just been fighting someone someone who started that fire, but who? Azieral looked at all of his wounds, and began to mentally gauge how strong he was. Would he be able to withstand an attack against her? Probably not. But she didnt know if he had managed to win or lose the fight against whoever had attacked him. That, and there was that massive spark of Chaos energy earlier around here. It was powerful, and she didnt doubt that it came from Lucents Chaos Emerald. Whatever the facts were, he was no doubt extremely powerful, especially if he managed to survive that blaze or even cause it. Perhaps it would be better to genuinely stick with him

What in the hell happened there?
Lucent was somewhat releived to see that the voice behind him belonged to Azieral. He smiled and then addressed the black widow, regarding her question, "That..." he gestured toward the inferno,
"is the result of a run-in with Sachio."

Azieral's eyes widened, "Sachio? as in the gang leader Sachio? you're pulling my leg aren't you?"

Lucent shook his head casually, "I don't joke about such things. It seems my reputation has proceeded me, he just attacked me."

Azieral placed one set of her arms on her hips as she intently listened to Lucent account his story.

"We got into a fight... i got..." Lucent paused a moment.

Azieral motioned with her hand for him to continue.

Lucent scrunched his nose before continuing, "I got beaten down, inside the place. I managed to fend him off though."

Azieral tilted her head to one side, if Lucent was admitting being beaten, then he couldn't possibly have been lying, afterall he did look uncomfortable when mentioning that bit.

"I collapsed afterwards. I woke up later and before i knew it, fire all around me. i noticed some guys outside the building pouring what smelled like fuel onto the road around the building. It must have been Sachio and Morgaine's gang." he chuckled to himself, "seems they had to torch a building to take me down... yet it still wasn't enough".

'Welcome back ego' thought Azieral to herself.

Lucent grinned at Azieral as he completed his announcement, "as it stands now, we are at a significant advantage."

Azieral changed her look to one of curiosity, "what do you mean? they almost killed you!"

Lucent waved her comment away with his hand, "hmph, they were off by a mile! anyway, what i meant was that now, thanks to our little show before, they do not suspect you are a member of my gang, so they have no knowledge that the Nocturne's power has been... significantly increasd."

Azieral was almost flattered by such a comment, she smiled underneath her veil.

"Not only that..." continued Lucent, "but now they believe i am dead. You can just taste the sweet taste of revenge! Sachio and Morgaine are bound to make believe now that the Nocturnes are at their absoloute weakest without their leader, just wait until they find out that i am back to haunt them, and with an elite fighter to boot!"

Azieral admired Lucent's thinking methodology, but perhaps he was being overconfident. It was still somewhat re-assuring to hear that Lucent not only trusted her, but thought highly of her as a warrior, maybe even respected her.

"Ah, so you got it" said Lucent.
"hmmm?" said Azieral, her train of thought was interrupted by Lucent. It took her a second to realise that he was talking about the rifle that she had retrieved for him.

"You weren't very specific with your instructions. It took a while to find this thing." complained Azieral, throwing the gun to Lucent, who caught it and checked that it was in working order.

"excellent." exclaimed Lucent, pleased that the rifle was completely intact. "i won't pester you for ammo, who knows where that idiot dropped his ammo pouch." He scrunched up his nose as a drop of moisture hit it. He looked up and saw dark clouds looming over the city.

"it's going to rain soon." Said Lucent, smelling the moisture in the air. "We're done here."

He carried the gun in one hand and walked away, gesturing Azieral to follow.

IC: Basketball Court

"Doctor Knight." repeated David. "Yes, I have heard the name. Unfortunately I do not have a first name or initial, so I am unable to be specific."

Ed put a hand good-naturedly on the robot's shoulder. "At least you know a little though, eh?"

David nodded, his face cresing into a slight smile. "Yes, my father enjoyed to tell me about some of his past experiences and aquaintences, however the majority of his army history was classified, and I believe his memory was sometimes a little inacurate." He turned to face Edand bowed respectfully, while still walking down the street. "It is an honour to meet you sir.From the stories my father related I gather he held your family in high regard."

At that moment Wraith interrupted. "You'll have to excuse me here guys, but..." his eyes focused on Ed, "...cyborg?"

Ed grinned. "Long story." he replied. "If I get the chance I'll tell you."

Wraith nodded slowly. There was more than met the eye about this Overlander after all!

"There is a fire."

All three looked across at David, who had stopped walking for the moment. They followed his gaze with their eyes. Sure enough the sky in the distance was glowing a bright orange, and even in the dark billowing clouds of black smoke were visable rising into the sky. "I am detecting a high concentration of petrolium waste in the smoke." continued David.

"Great." muttered Wraith. "Arseon."

"Wraith, we should check it out." said Arista in a concerned voice. "If anyone's caught in it they may need rescuing."

"No, we've got to see if what David says about Tails is true." said Wraith grimly. "I'll call the others and tell them to check it out." He reached for his phone.

"I must go." said the robot, his blue eyes still fixed on the flames. "I am programmed to protect life."

"But if you go we won't be able to find this secret base!" said Ed quickly. David turned to him.

"I have no choice. I must help."

"Wait!" said Wraith, worried the robot would suddenly run off. "You can save far more lives by helping us!"

The robot's head cocked to the side. "I do not understand."

"The reason we're looking for Miles Prower is that we're trying to bring back the heroes from before all this mayhem started." Wraith replied. "You'll have heard of them. Miles, Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna...me myself, Wraith the Echidna. We all worked to combat evil in all it's forms, and if we can get back together again we may be able to restore order to this world!"

David seemed about to make a comment, but Wraith continued before he could. "Think about it! Loads of people are killed every day in the gang wars! People die in fires started by thugs! You could save these ones, but what about tomorrow, or the day after? The only way to stop it all once and for all is to attack the scource: the gangs that are doing the damage. But none of us are powerful enough to do that! We need the help of the heroes to gain the upper hand!"

The robot paused, as though running through the variables in it's mind. Then, slowly, it turned and set off once again down the road. "You are right. This course of action preserves the most lives over time."

Wraith sighed in relief. For a moment it looked like the biggest lead they had ever found was going to run out on them and get lost in the city again! "I'll call the others." he said, operating his phone.

A moment later they reached the end of the street. David reached down toward the pile of rubble and once again pulled open the secret door. The other three blinked in suprise as they stared into the dark tunnel beond.

"So..." muttered Ed quietly, "...who first?"

"I will." said Wraith, stepping forward, but Arista put a paw on his shoulder.

"Let me. I may appear less threatening."

Wraith turned, about to say something, but their eyes met, and he sighed and nodded, backing away from the hole. Arista stepped forward and planted a quick peck on his cheek, before taking a deep breath and, using her stealth tactics, stepped into the tunnel.

(OOC: Quick apology to Nuchtos...I'm not very good at RPing other ppls chars, so I hope I played Ed ok here. I'm trying to learn the skill, so hopefully I'll get better at it as I go on. Until then I apologise to anyone who I play for, as I tend to leave them out slightly more than I should, for fear that I make a mistake. I'm trying to get better...)

OOC: Trey thought that David was a human because of the low lighting and the fact that he does look humanish, Wraith.

Moving away from City Street. Department store Lane. Unknown building.

So where exactly is your base located? Azieral asked, interested and curious, plus she wanted as much information as she could in case of anything, such as whether she may have been familiar with it or if it could be dangerous. Mostly though she was just concerned at about how far away it would be, she had done enough moving around for now, she believed.

Treys hideout.

Trey sat down on the bed again, slightly confused and wary after Davids appearance. To be honest, he didnt like the fact that he was able to find them or the hideout, as it came the possibility of others being able to do so as well. He sighed. There was something different about him though, although he couldnt really make it out in the low lighting, and he seemed human enough. That, and this hideout seemed safe enough for the last few years, it would make do. Plus, he couldnt just leave it. There were too many memories contained within it. He turned slightly to his right and looked at two particular photos on it. One was of him, when he was much younger, and the rest of his family, back when his father wasnt as busy and had plenty of time to spare with his family. The other was of him, his saviour and the one who had taught him to survive in this new world. Aaron. It was his beliefs that kept Trey fighting on even now.

So Tails. What exactly happened to the rest of the heroes? Trey asked, breaking the awkward silence that had slowly grown and made him uncomfortable. Tails looked up from the various pieces of machinery that he had been looking through for anything that could help in his blaster, and his expression was one of slight confusion, but there it retreated slightly, feeling a part of sadness well up inside him. I understand that they vanished but how? What happened to them?

Suddenly, Treys body froze once again and his blood felt cold. It was the same feeling as before, when he experienced the strange Overlander Trey automatically turned to look towards it again, hoping that it was nothing and he was just being slightly paranoid. He wasnt. There was someone down there. Not good Trey said, jumping up. Did someone else see that fool go in or out of it?

Excuse me for a second, Trey said once again to his guests, as he darted to the hallway again. Weve got yet again more unwelcome guests

It all happened the same as it did before with David. Trey had swiftly moved through the hallway in a matter of seconds and took the first one down there completely by surprise. (Although Trey didnt know exactly what it was. The lighting was slightly poor down there) He trapped Arista just as he did before, swiftly bringing up his right foot and slamming it against Aristas neck and against the side of the wall, pinning her. Trey was breathing rapidly here this was beginning to be too much now, and he felt distinctly threatened. His eyes were wide and almost full of rage as he looked at the pinned Arista.

Who are you, and why are you here?! Trey called out, agitated and more desperate. As his eyes were focused on Arista, it took him longer for him to notice that there were more people in the hallway, and this made him even more desperate and concerned. Dont move! he also shouted out.

And then, he hesitated, as he finally managed to identify what was trapped by him. It was a girl! Trey weakened his hold on her, feeling slightly bad about it, but then reaffirmed his belief by thinking and considering that she could still be an enemy. It would be best not to take any chances, no matter the sex.

G.U.N. Headquarters.

The tall and brightly lit, extremely modern building stood proudly within a part of the city, surrounded by other smaller buildings that belonged to the G.U.N. military force. What made them unusual was that each and every one of them were in great condition, even more so then the state of buildings were five years ago. This was the central stronghold of the military, and it was outfitted with technological marvels and defences that helped ensure that no gang members would be able to safely attack it. Of course, a devastating attack could be made against it, but it would have to be done so with great difficulty and with great power. G.U.Ns resources were running out, but it still managed to stay in relatively good condition but this was declining quickly. The demand was too high and strains could begin to be able to be seen. But, for now, it was bearing.

A proud figure quickly walked through the corridors of the building, just returning from the city and the devastation that laid there. He had a report to make and he had to keep operations running and ensured. It took no time for him to enter the main control room of the installation, which was covered mostly in darkness, but still appeared quite bright in various areas, glowing from the multitude of computer terminals around. He frowned and gritted his teeth, as he looked around and saw the many technicians hard at work.

Captain, said a voice from behind him. As Warrick turned, he saw it belonged to Bill, an slightly chubby frog technician. I see youre back. What was the situation of the Dread-Painters like?

It was a massacre, Warrick curtly replied. Anybody left there arent going to be waking up. I trust a clean-up crew is leaving tomorrow to complete the investigation and bring in the remains of that G.U.N mech?

Yes, sir. Was there anything else there, sir?

Warrick paused slightly, remembering Azieral, and Shadow too. He didnt want to mention the spider or the hedgehog, but he knew that any mention of rumours and such relating to Shadow had to be reported and further investigated. I had a run-in with the hedgehog Shadow.

What?! You actually made contact with him?!

Not really. I was on the ground, and that fool hedgehog was on one of the building, as he damn usually is. He quickly disappeared. Has an investigation begun concerning with how one of those loser gangs managed to control a G.U.N. mech?

Yes, sir. The frog replied, and then turned to look to his notes. Ah, yes, sir! The frog called up, as if remembering something.

What is it? Warrick replied, becoming impatient.

Weve received reports of a huge blaze along the Department Store Lane area. Its believed that it was instigated by gang members.

But of course it would have been instigated by gang members! Is anyone investigating the site?

Yes, sir.

Warrick sighed. These were troubling and draining times. The only thing that he could find comfort in that latest news was that there could have been the possibility that some of these criminal gang members were caught in that blaze. But, at the same time, innocents could have and just how exactly did a loser group like the Dread-Painters manage to acquire a G.U.N. mech? Warrick wondered if there was an inside traitor within the military organization

OOC: (Ah right, my mind must have just screwed up and misread what Arista said after Wraith said he'd go in first. ^^; I'll edit it. )

OOC: Pachamac, i loved that little sequence within G.U.N, that was very well structured!

Oh, Wraith, i have to tell ya, the character development around David is superb! i'm just wondering what he's going to be getting up to.

---------------------
IC:

So where exactly is your base located? Azieral asked, interested and curious.

Lucent didn't bother turning around when he answered her, he slung the gun over his shoulder as he carried it with his left arm, (his right one has the large cut), "Don't talk. Just follow."
Azieral rolled her eyes and followed.

After about 2 minutes of walking, Lucent turned his head slightly and pointed toward a silhouetted ruined building up ahead.
"That one there, not very far now."

Azieral focused her eyes on the structure, she thought it looked familiar, now she recognised it. "St. Kindlebury's Hospital? That's the one that had the murder..."
She waved some hair out of her eyes and tilted her head to one side, "It figures that you'd choose such a place for your headquarters."

Lucent spat out a trickle of blood onto the ground as they walked, "It's barely a headquarters, but it has it's advantages as a base. Hmph, it's pathetic what resources city-thrivers are willing to just cast aside. Even the smallest needle can be a deadly weapon, we must make use of everything we find to lethal efficiency."

Azieral saw some wisdom in those words, as crude as they may have been. She was beginning to see how Lucent's mind worked, and took mental notes.

---

Upon arriving at the hospital front, Lucent saw that members of his gang were scattered outside in what appeared to be a patrol effort.

The perimeter of the hospital was surrounded by a fence composed of metal spear-like pickets connected by another band of metal, embedded into a waist high brick wall.

First to notice Lucent was Dirge the Grizzly Bear, who instantly stopped patrolling and ran up to greet his leader, the others soon followed and a group formed around the hospital's front gates.

Lucent frowned as he saw his group run toward him, looking awestruck, as if they were desperately hopeless without him.

"Boss! You're alive!" said Dirge, turning to the others who were still running up, "He made it!" he shouted.

"Of course i'm alive, you dult!" snapped Lucent. Azieral stepped out from the shadows and stood right behind him as he shouted.

Plugg saw the she-spider emerge from the darkness and his eyes immediately widened, "Hey, LOOK OUT! BEHIND YOU!" and he jumped straight at Azieral.

Lucent simply stepped aside casually and let Azieral pin Plugg to the ground, almost effortlessly. Lucent laughed with amusement as he watched Plugg struggle, "It's good to see that you're already getting along well with Azieral Plugg. Quite good indeed." He tapped Azieral on the shoulder, and she released Plugg, who got up quite slowly as his arm began to sting again.

"A-Azieral?" said Plugg, "that's a weird name... just what the hell is going on here?"

"Azieral has requested to join my cause. She possesses some formidible combat prowess that i have yet to see any of you numbskulls show me in the face of battle!" Snapped Lucent, turning to face the rest of the gang as he finished his statement.

Tabby looked toward the orange glow in the distance and then turned to Lucent, "Yo boss, you're in pretty rough shape... that fire have anything to do with you?"

A sinister smile came over Lucent that made Tabby quiver, "I ran into Sachio over there. That blaze is his desperate attempt to take me down, he failed miserably but presumes me dead. That's a reminder to use that edge to our advantage, UNDERSTOOD?"

Tabby stepped back a bit and looked down, trying to hide his nervousness.

Lucent crossed his arms, "Now just what were you all doing standing around the perimeter like that hmmm?"

Dirge stepped forward, "We saw the fire and thought maybe something big caused it, we also thought it might have been a distraction to get us to leave the base, so we all went outside and kept an eye out for anyone."

Lucent grabbed the tall grizzly by the furs on his neck and dragged his head down to meet his own, "If you were going to keep watch, you should have watched from INSIDE the building! if anyone passed by and saw you all outside, what do you think their impression will be on the building hmmm? think you might be giving them a clue to our whereabouts? did that thought ever cross you're feeble mind? ANSWER ME!"

Dirge stumbled for an answer, "No.. i.. i wasn't thinkin' boss. just you was gone and all-"

He received a knee to the chin before he was released, Lucent was in a foul mood, "To see the utter chaos you idiots get thrown into when i am not around is SICKENING! Need i say more about my extreme lack of confidence in you imbeciles?". He was about to say more but he broke out into another short coughing fit, spraying blood onto the rough, un-tended grass that was once the hospital's garden.

"you alright?... Boss? you okay?" said Plugg, still keeping his distance from his leader.
"Lucent?" queried Azieral, also wondering what was wrong with Lucent.

After coughing, Lucent stood upright again and wiped off his mouth with his right arm, "I'm fine... Keep in mind we are STILL proceeding as planned tomorrow, i want to know where all these weapons are coming from. If Sledge can get a G.U.N mech, then there is something definitely going on. Now go, NOW!"

The group scattered without another word, heading back toward the hospital. "Now, come along. You need to be shown inside." said Lucent to Azieral, walking toward the hospital while coughing up a small spray of blood mixed with saliva.

---

Lucent was in the middle of showing the gang's designated dorm rooms, when all hell broke loose.

"LUCENT YOU IDIOT!"

Lucent and Azieral turned their heads to see Myst running up to Lucent with a scalpel in her hand.
In a mere second, Myst pinned Lucent up against the wall and held the scalpel up to his chin, ".. The hell? wh-" started Lucent, but he was immediately interrupted by the she-bat.

"Don't you EVER leave us all hanging on like that again, do you hear me? do you have ANY idea what it was like waiting here for you to come back at THIS time of night?".

Lucent annoyingly found himself powerless to Myst, and he almost thought he felt a drop of sweat form on his forehead. Azieral looked at Lucent's situation with a feeling of slight amusement.

Myst exposed her fangs as she angrily spoke, "And you can bet i felt soo much better when i found out you were COMPLETELY ALONE, and that it was YOUR idea to leave yourself so vulnerable in the first place!"

Lucent frowned at her, "vulnerable? VULNERABLE?!? i-"

"who's this?", asked Myst, looking over at Azieral with curioisity in her eyes.

"that's-" began Lucent, but he was interrupted again.

Myst angrily turned back to Lucent, "oh i see now! So THIS is why you were out all alone!"

A look of puzzlement came over Lucent, "What? what in the blazes are you on about woman?"

"Don't give me that!" snapped Myst, "You tell the gang to leave you alone out there because you 'heard something', then you take ages after that to get back here, and 'mysteriously' this new girl appears from nowhere! How long has this gone on?"

a sudden rush of thoughts came into Lucent's mind, and he reached out his arm and slapped the scalpel from Myst's grip in anger, almost cutting himself. The scalpel hurled through the air and Azieral had to swiftly dodge it.

Lucent approached Myst with an angered look, and Myst was backing away... then the unthinkable happened. Lucent closed his eyes and calmed down, standing still on the spot. He opened his eyes and focused them on Myst, his usual expression still evident.

Azieral's expression of amusement faded to one of concern for the situation at hand.

"Do i LOOK like i've had a night on the town?" he said, gesturing towards his wounds, "I had a run in with miss assasin over here", he gestured to Azieral, "only to have her join our cause afterwards, nothing more. And if that's not enough, i got into a deathmatch with Sachio, yes THE Sachio, and they torched an ENTIRE BUILDING, to try and kill me!"

Myst's eyes widened as Lucent described his night. Lucent came within a few centremetres of Myst before continuing, "and then if that all wasn't enough, i return to my base.. MY BASE, to find MY OWN GROUP, MAKING THEIR OWN CONTRIBUTION TOWARD MY DEATH!"

Myst backed up and tears began to swell up into her eyes, "i... i'm sorry. i've just been so worried, i... i didn't know what to think. Please for-"

"out of my way woman." growled Lucent as he stormed off down another corridor, much to Myst's discomfort, it wasn't toward the medical room.

Myst wiped away some tears from her face before turning to face Azieral. "i'm so sorry. really, i'm so sorry. he just... he just left me here to worry about him... he..." She cupped her hands over her face and cried. She slumped against the wall and sat down on the cold tiles as she cried.

"i'm just glad he's okay... he can be such a selfish bastard... ", She took out a handkerchief and used the edges to wipe her tears. Azieral wasn't sure of what to do, something about this situation stirred something inside her.

Myst stood up again and dried away the last of her tears before turning to Azieral, "My name is Myst... *sniff*, everyone here calls me 'Nurse' though, it's because i'm the only one here with any medical experience. *sniff* naturally that means i gotta take care of everyone here."

Azieral listened patiently, she felt more stir within herself, but she could not pinpoint exactly what the problem was.

"You're hurt." Said Myst, pointing at the cuts along Azieral's stomach and one of her arms.

"oh, yes." said Azieral, at a loss for words.

"Here, let me help. It's the least i can do for you after... well, yeah. i'm so sorry you had to see that."

"oh, well-" said Azieral.

"Hey, could you please do me a favor?" said Myst, taking Azieral by one of her arms and leading her to the medical room, "I know it's asking a lot of you after what i said, but it's just... well, could you please tell me what happened to Lucent out there? i'd ask him myself, but he never tells me anything, all he tells me is that he fought people and got hurt, he never tells me about his injuries properly, and it annoys me because then it's harder to know how to help him."

Azieral considered this and wasn't sure how to react.

Before anything else could be said, Myst slapped her forehead, "oh my god, i forgot to ask you your name! oh man, i really am a mess..."

----------
OOC: Pach, i know you probably know this, but to everyone else, those weird sensations Azieral is experiencing may very well be some form of emotion from her past.

(OOC: kk ty Pach^^

EDIT: Oh me and Eclipse must have posted at the same tame. Thanks Eclipse^^ I got the idea for David from Asimov and I-Robot actually, but he's evolving into his own character entirely (Doctor Amoz was kinda a wierd anagramish version of Azimov) Truth is I don't even know where he's going! I'm just trying to view developments as he would see them and act accordingly^^ Thanks for the complemet though

A note while we're on the subject: if anyone is writing for David at any point, a small detail that is integral to his charater is that he cannot use contractions: I've, It's, etc. He always says I have, It is, etc. Just a little detail that I think makes his character more defined...)

Wraith took a step forward menacingly. "You so much as touch her and you'll be embedded in the far wall!" He growled angrily. David had also stepped forward, his programming telling him to be alert for signs of danger.

"I said don't move!" retorted Trey coldly. "Now one of you is going to give me some answers! Who are you all?"

"We don't mean you any harm." said Arista calmly, trying to defuse the situation. "We're only looking for Tails the Fox."

Trey considered for a moment, then his mind flicked back to the beating that Saicho and the others had given Tails. Could these be mercinaries hired by them? Deniabillity was probably the safest course of action.

"Never seen him. What makes you think he's here?"

"But he is here." replied a calm voice. David cocked his head to the side in his mannerism. "I saw him myself."

Trey started when he saw David's figure again! "You!" he spat. "You led them here!"

"Yes." replied the robot on a matter-of-fact voice. "I was not ordered not to. I saw no harm in it."

Wraith was listening to the conversation around him, but he was destracted by Trey still pinning Arista against the wall! He blamed himself...he SHOULD have gone in first! He was the leader of the Neo-Freedom Fighters after all! "I said let her go!" he growled through gritted teeth.

"And I said back off!" retorted the cheetah in just as menacing a tone.

Wraith had had enough. He lunged forward, fist pulled back ready to strike...

A hand closed around his wrist and an arm grabbed his shoulders, locking him in place so that he couldn't move! Wraith let out a cry and looked over his shoulder.

"My apoligies," said David calmly, "but I cannot allow you to injre anyone."

Wraith tried to wriggle free but the robot's grip was like a vice. "It's a trap!" he roared. "They're in leage with each other!!!"

Ed, who had been at the back of the group, had been craning his neck over the other's shoulders, unable to see properly in the cramped passageway. When all the madness had started though, he had taken a step back, trying to work out what was happening. Then he heard Wraith's shout and it all fell into place. Yeah, it DID look like it could have been orchestrated! This robot and the Cheeta looked like they were working together!

He stepped forward and delivered a hefty blow to David's shoulders, trying to make him releace Wraith. He still had one or two lingering doubts about Wraith's trustworthyness, but the Cheetah looked more dangerous at the moment...

Nothing. The robot didn't even flinch. Ed narrowed his eyes. Something a little more powerful was needed, it seemed!

Trey was staring at the scene, confused. Hold on...they thought he was in league with that Overlander who broke in before? Just what was going on here??? In the confusion, he became destracted, not looking at the Vixen who he had pinned against the wall...

Arista saw her chance and grabbed Trey's foot, pushing him backwards. He lost his balance and fell into the wall with a thud, pain bursting through his back. Arista quickly knelt down, trying to grab him and pin him...

...but it would take more than a scrape to stop him! He lifted his leg and rolled, slamming his knee into Arista's stomach. She fell backwards, winded.

Wraith saw it happen, but he was powerless...the robot was just too strong! "Ari!" he shouted. "You'll pay for that you fool! Ari are you ok???"

Suddenly another voice called down the corridor, making everyone freeze in their tracks and turn to look at the small, two-tailed figure silluhetted against the light.

"Wraith? Wraith, is that you???"

Quote:

---

and just how exactly did a loser group like the Dread-Painters manage to acquire a G.U.N. mech?

---

XD I don't know what it is... something about the continueous use of 'loser' on Sledge's gang keeps making me laugh!

IC:

GUN headquarters

"Bidding you farewell..." Warrick mocksaluted to Bill, as he turned on the spot, about to take his leave.
"Sir!" Bill interrupted "I was meant to inform you earlier... we have a new recruit working in the 'weapons and warefare' department."
Warrick blinked, despite not facing Bill. He slowly turned around and faced the frog sternly.
"And you employed him without my permission?" Warrick enquired, narrowing his eyes.
"He had a promising application. He also impressed us with his interview in front of our staff committee. You were absent at the time." Bill explained, as he passed Warrick some papers.
"He goes by the name of C. Shaide..." the frog was began, but trailed off as he saw that Warrick already skimmed through the notes in front of him.

Name: Camron Shaide
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Species: Hedgehog
Weapon (if any): Handgun
Abilities: Fast, agile
Hobbies: Chilling out, socialising, activities that involved manual dexteritory, riding his motorbike
Quirks: Can get passivly aggressive when annoyed. Is an eccentric spender and only likes designer wear glasses and accessories
Background: Classified
Motif if this RP (if needed): Shaide wants to get by by doing something that involves practical skills, such as putting weapons together and testing them out.
GUN having a good name and respectable name in his opinion, he would be honoured to be accepted on his desired lines of employment.
Link to picture of character (if one):
www.teamartail.com/oekaki/pictures/4270.png

Warrick gave a fake smile, before almost shoving the documents back into Bill's hands.
"This form tells me next to nothing about him..."
"We have interviewed him. We believe he will be very handy to us. And I also believe he may know a means of restocking some our weapon supplies."
"I'll believe it when I see it..." Warrick sneered, before rudely walking out of the room, which left Bill scratching his head in an awkward manner.
'Incompetent.' the captain spat in his mind as he walked to the end of the corridor, and punched in a few buttons to the elevator.
As he entered, he let himself fall back on one of the walls and sighed out loud as if to let out his mental frustration.
"Shaide.... Sonic... Shadow.... Sachio..." he thought out loud, speaking their names in a condescending tone "what a carry on."
The bell rang on the elevator, allowing the doors to open.
The captain promptly stepped out, passing through a long dark corridor which was comprised of tall windows on either wall and clad with velvet red curtains. The walls were also lined with a stream of small lights so as to provide some sight into the long corridor.
This was the highest floor of the headquarters and access was only granted to the most respected and highest of authority members in GUN.
It was silent. And almost sinister at this moment.
Not that a minor prospect like that was going to bother the captain.
As Warrick walked to the end of the room, where a desk was situated, a fireplace, and a stuffed bear in one corner of the room, he walked outside towards the window.
As he looked view it, he saw the awe and vast stretch of station square. Almost every building, standing or fallen in the whole city.
It was now night time. Despite the damage the city had endured, a good number of lights still lit up to provide a vast dotted and speckled appearance of the city.
Warrick sniggered, before pulling out a ciggar and lighting it.
Before he struck the light a second time so as to spark a flame, a voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.
"Maybe if you spent as much money on your security as you do on your cancer sticks, you wouldn't have the misfortune of seeing me right now..." said a cold voice.
Captain Warrick spun around on the dot, throwing his unlit ciggar to one side and glared at the silhouette standing before him.
The spiked silhouette stood up tall, and in his one hand, he appeared to be holding a light blue Chaos Emerald. This caught the captain's attention first.
He cast his gaze and finally made eye contact with a pair of unnatural blue-green eyes staring back at him.
It was Frost.
"I want information. Now." he spoke.

OOC: Will update other scenes later on!

OOC: Thanks very much Eclipse, I appreciate it. ^^ The interaction between Lucent and his gang members is done very well and I really feel sorry for Myst. Ill definitely take up the opportunity for the emotions aspect.
And Ben, I loved the description and proceedings of your post of the G.U.N Headquarters. I liked the idea of the Bio as the notes given to Warrick and his reactions were very much in character.

G.U.N Headquarters

As if Id give you anything, damn punk! Warrick automatically replied, reacting on instinct and pulling his two Berettas out of their holsters. He took no time hesitating or second questioning his movements, taking time to consider his actions, just reacting. Of course he knew that the higher officials would no doubt want Frost brought in alive, but Warrick simply couldnt do that here. Frost was dangerous, his existence had to be stamped out as soon as possible and he was carrying a Chaos Emerald. Already that was definitely not good. Die!

He fired the two guns towards Frost, but by the time he had pulled the trigger his target had mysteriously vanished. After the initial shots had been fired, Warrick hesitated and stopped shortly, looking around in his field of vision. Nothing the piercing eyes had disappeared.

Not the answer I was looking for the voice was unmistakable. It was Frost, and already he was behind him. Ah nuts Warricks thoughts trailed off, as he suddenly found himself knocked to the ground by a sweeping kick in the air to the back of his head which knocked the solid man to the ground and the two guns that he held in his hands being thrown over across the room. Before Warrick could think about getting back up, he was pinned by Frost above him, his strength extremely formidable. He couldnt move, as if there was something more pinning him down as well. Ill repeat the demand I want information. Now.

Like what?! Not that Id tell you anything anyway, lowlife trash. Warrick curtly and disrespectfully replied.

St. Kindlebury's Hospital

Azieral hesitated and took a moment to look at the woman and gauge her own thoughts about it. Of course she should tell her name as she was bound to learn it eventually, and it would just be rude not to tell her it. She seemed like a kind woman enough and Azieral had to wonder if when terminating Lucents gang, she would have to kill this woman too. They had only just met, but Azieral felt something within her when she saw her she wasnt sure what it was. Sympathy perhaps after watching Lucents display against her, but she had emotionally detached herself from the world. It was confusing. That, and Myst seemed only to be a nurse, but then she was helping Lucents gang members, so she assumed that should classify her as a member as well. But after the outburst from Lucent to her, she had to wonder why Myst would still be in Lucents gang. Obviously the woman must have had some emotional feelings to the group.

My names Azieral, but thats not my proper name, only my nickname, a codename. the spider said. She didnt go on to reveal her first name, however.

As for what happened to Lucent, what he said is naturally true. We did have a fight but I only wanted to see if the rumours were true and if he was worthy enough a group to join. Although, after seeing some of his subordinates Im not so sure. Her tone wasnt cold though or unfeeling. It seemed a bit disappointed. Still, Im willing to stay and see what happens.

Myst slowly nodded. After that, he instructed me to retrieve a weapon that was left after a battle with the Dread-Painters. I cant be exactly sure what happened to him during that time since I wasnt there to witness it, but Id have to believe his words that he did get into a battle with Sachio, (Another one of my targets, the she-spider thought) And that a building did get burned down. Which leads us to here I admit to dealing a few injuries to him, but I would suspect the majority of it came from the Dread-Painters and Sachio.

Azieral was going to shift the subject to a different topic, specifically why Myst was in such a group, but held against it. She would see what would happen first instead of just asking what could possibly be a personal question.

The wounds arent bad, are they? she said rather as matter-of-factly, and not as question, rather getting reassurance in her firm belief.

Treys hideout

The group within the hallway froze as Tails spoke out the words towards the Echidna. He seemed as if he did know him, although what he did say didnt actually confirm anything so far. He could still be an enemy, so trey was free to continue the fight if necessary, but felt himself holding back, waiting to see what would develop. After all, this Wraith person and his allies could actually be good people if Tails confirmed it, but he was still doubtful

"Tails!" exclaimed Wraith, attempting to step forward. "We've been looking...let GO of me you stupid machine!"

David, who had been about to reach out with his other arm to split up Trey and Arista, swiveled his head to face the Echidna. "I am afraid I cannot comply until I can be sure that you will no longer continue your violent behavior."

Wraith felt like saying something rather nasty, but he bit his lip and calmed his nerves. "You have my guarentee." he replied.

David nodded and released his grip, letting Wraith go free. The Echidna straightened his long coat, thinking about the robot as he did so. He had some impressive strength, that was for sure! Wraith was by no means weak, but he hadn't been able to move David's arm a millimeter! The fact that David actually DID release him, rather than keeping him held, made Wraith re-consider the thought about him being in league with the Cheeta. With his devotion to justice it seemed like, just possibly, he could be a valuable ally! Unless of course his aversion to violence made him stop the Neo-Freedom Fighters from carrying out an important mission in some way...

He brought his mind back to the present. He stepped forward over Trey, giving him a venomous stare as he did so, and bent down next to Arista. "You ok?"

She was winded, but she nodded her head at him slowly. He put a hand on her shoulder, then stood up and looked over at Tails. "It's me pal. How are you doing?"

OOC: Thanks Pach. I'm glad I kept Warrick in character... was doubtful at first.^-^;

IC:

GUN headquarters
Like what?! Not that Id tell you anything anyway, lowlife trash. Warrick curtly and disrespectfully replied.
Frost laughed sarcastically, before grabbing the back of one of Warrick's arms with a firm ice-cold grip. Whilst having him pinned down, he wrenched his arm, which gave off a cracking sound- causing the captain to cry out slightly, though he surpressed it as much as possible.
"You're an idiot! Did you know that? I come in asking you to provide some information nice and calmly. and you spit right back into my freaking face!" Frost hissed wickedly. The hedgehog smirked as he noted that the captain tried to struggle from his his grip, but failed miserably.
"What is the use of all those situps if you can't even handle a latch... hmmm?" Frost mused.
"You went through the same training, damnit Frost! Why do you insist on biting the hand that once fed you?!" Warrick sneered, trying to provoke the hedgehog in some way so that he could distract him and break free somehow... perhaps.
Frost kept him pinned down, and narrowed his eyes as they burnt at the back of the captain's head.
"Hmmmm?"
"You should be thankful that the artificialness of your life exists because of us!" Warrick explained, but in a deragotory manner "you would've been nothing without us."
Frost's temper suddenly snapped, as he clupped the captain around the head with a hard knock. The hedgehog immediatly got up and kicked him several times- each kick cruel and ruthless. He almost winded him each time as he did so.
The Official G.U.N officer breathed heavily as he tried to resume a normal state of mind. He blinked morbidly as he found himself pressed against the window which gave out a view to the city.
Whilst Warrick staggered to get up, he hesitated when he heard a couple of clicking sounds- the realisation hitting him that he had lack of certain defence.
"A highly secure complex, stored with weaponary of mass destruction, and an alarm in this very room to call your highly advanced backup security to take me down and save your sorry self. And yet I won't hesitate to pull the trigger to blow your brains out and watch you fall 500 feet to the ground below- begging to die before the end of it all." Frost explained, pointing both guns at the captain fiercely "now that's fear money can't even buy!" he growled.
The hedgehog smiled curtly as he cracked his neck in an annoying fashion, before giving Warrick an icey stare.
"I want you to tell me how many Chaos Emeralds you have in possession. And I want you to tell me the locations Miles 'Tails' Prower, and a certain black and red hedgehog..." Frost demanded, but paused for a moment. He remembered what Dr. Eggman wanted. He said he wanted to ensure the heroes were never reunited. In addition, he wanted Tails alive. Frost was allowed to kill Shadow- perhaps for the reason he wasn't a true hero. He had Knuckles as a prisoner. But what was that of Sonic? He mentioned nothing of him. Perhaps he thought he was dead?
Frost laughed, before finishing off his 'request'.
"You wouldn't happen to be holding the blue hedgehog in cyrofreeze... would you?"

_____

Trey's hideout

OOC: Wraith... if something here is wrong, let me know and I will edit. >.>;

IC:

Arista was winded, but she nodded her head at him slowly. He put a hand on her shoulder, then stood up and looked over at Tails. "It's me pal. How are you doing?"
Tails blinked, in disbelief but pleasantly surprised to see Wraith alive. He remembered him from when he used to fight with him, Sonic and Knuckles against Eggman. Knuckles had explained to him that Wraith was originally found in stasis amongst the floating Island. Unfortunatly Wraith appeared to have no recollection, except for the fact that he was Knuckles' older brother and that his name was Wraith. It was something at least that the two were reunited. Sonic used to joke about to Tails sometimes how Knuckles was such a loner and that his only friend was the master Emerald. Tails used to find the jokes a bit much. Espicially when he thinks about the remarks today. Five years onwards and Tails had really had a chance to have a brush with the cold and cruel anonymity of loneliness.
Tails noted the other people within the room. That being a red female fox, as well as the previous visitor David, an Overlander... Ed.
Tails finally looked at Wraith and forced a smile.
"I've had better times I think," he replied, suddenly becoming sad as he reflected on the times that the heroes all fought evil, without a drip of fear or angst "I just wish things were the way they were again..."
'Damnit! That sounded so niave!' Tails scholded himself 'five years onwards and I still think like a little child.'
"Wraith... it's like you're back from the dead..." Tails said, finally able to decipher that the Echidna was in fact real and standing before him.
The fox suddenly felt a cascade of questions fill his mind that he wanted to fire at- but for now, he would take his time. He desperately wanted to ask him if he knew where Sonic and Knucles were, most of all. He also wanted to ask him all about EVERYTHING he had gone through in the last five years.
"How did you survive...?" he asked calmly.

G.U.N. Headquarters

Warrick gritted his teeth in anger, but he had to admit the situation wasnt promising. The only way he could mange to survive was by answering the hedgehogs questions, but then what was to stop him from killing Warrick the moment after he had received his information that he was after? Absolutely nothing. So, in short, this was not good.

He decided to humour Frost for the moment, as he tried to formulate a plan as to how to get out of this situation.

Shadows an enigma, Warrick began. Nobody knows where and when hell show up. He always appears at either the most convenient or inconvenient moments, usually the place where the most activity is happening or has just happened. Its no surprise then that I saw him at the end results of a massacre of the Dread-Painters gang, but, as always, he keeps his distance and he never stays there long.

I assume then hell be at the City Street. Department store Lane area when a huge fire just broke out, Warrick said truthfully. Although he might be dangerous on G.U.Ns men since a few would have already been sent to check it out, Warrick was hopeful that there would still be some fighting gang members there and that they, or possibly Frost if he went, would be killed. But youd have to be quick, Warricks smile widened and his teeth shined through at this. Frost wasnt fazed.

As for the Chaos Emeralds we have I cant be certain on the exact number. And, either way, none of them are within this G.U.N. complex. Itd be too dangerous to leave them here in this city especially with people like you Frost. No doubt theyre scattered across the world Frost didnt appear amused by this and emphasised the two guns pointing to Warrick again. Warrick now didnt seem to care. Was what he had been saying true or not? He wouldnt say.

The fox, Miles Prower? I dont have a clue where he is. Dead was the last that I know. Of course, there are reports saying that he is alive, but you cant much take them for granted especially when a lot of those rumours are created by you gang members. Warrick had now by this time decided on a course of action, and was ready to move at any second, and, again, the words that he had said were both true and not. There was no way hed reveal anything he knew to this scumbag in front of him.

And as for the blue hedgehog hell always return in the least expected way. Warrick said, smiling more as he slowly began to stood up. Frost emphasised the two guns he held pointed towards his face, but wasnt firing yet. He still hadnt got all the information he wanted, and didnt believe that there was any way out for the wounded G.U.N. Captain. Just like I will.

Warrick suddenly shifted backwards and jumped through the window, shattering the glass in so many splinters and shards as the cold winds of the night sky found themselves given entry within the room of the G.U.N. Headquarters. Frost had managed to fire the two guns and hit Warrick has he did his backwards dive, but they didnt connect to his face through the sudden movement, but rather his chest.

Damn fool! Frost shouted out as he looked through the gap and aimed the two guns at the ever rapidly falling Warrick, but was unable to fire as a powerful blast narrowly missed the hedgehogs chin. Warrick had managed to pull out the shotgun from his back with his good arm and fire it at him, holding him off and preventing him from being able to hit him, and also an attempt at retaliation. It worked somewhat.

Bah, no matter. Frost murmured to himself. The fool will die any way Frost turned and disappeared, paying no more heed to the doomed Warrick. He had gotten enough information for now, even if it necessarily wasnt true. There had to at least be some truth within it, but he also silently cursed that he couldnt get any concrete information about Sonic.

--------

Warrick was falling too fast, and the ground was quickly approaching way too soon. He had managed to escape the clutches of Frost, but if he didnt do anything soon then all he would be is a splattered Warrick sandwich. He was also too weak now, from the suffering of Frosts hits and the two gunshot wounds to hi chest. There didnt seem to be anyway out of this

Suddenly, he stopped completely, as his descent was controlled and stopped sharply from a helping hand from another open window. The sudden shock instantly dislocated Warricks over good arm and it almost felt as though it would tear off completely and he would continue falling, but it was stopped. He was saved.

Rargggh! Warrick howled in pain, as he tried to look up and see who had managed to save him. He couldnt make anything out other then a blurry figure, he had lost too much blood and he was completely disorientated from the fall and his other wounds. He could semi work out the shape and colour, but could couldnt identify as to who it could actually have been. It was familiar, but not something too familiar.

Easy, guy, said the voice, disorienting the Overlander even more as his saviour pulled him up and lifted him into the silent and quiet room that only the two shared. Warrick immediately sprawled out on the floor, mumbling weakly and getting fit and ready to pass out. F-frost he would mumble, but then all he got in response was another, Easy, guy. Helps coming on the way.

W-who are you? Warrick weakly asked, struggling to control his vision and see the figure. Before he passed out completely he heard the door open and several GUN figures, medics and soldiers rush into the room, beginning to tend to his wounds. The figure managed to speak out once more before Warrick saw nothing but darkness, identifying himself. The names Camron. Camron Shaide.

OOC: Hope you dont mind me introducing your character there, Ben. I couldnt really see any other way of keeping Warrick alive.

OOC: No probs! I liked the intro there actually, thanks a lot You've always done a splended job with Wraith- sorry if I don't say often enough

For the IC at the bottom, here are some references;
I ripped off of the Sandton Sun hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa. Seen the outside but never been in it o_O)
www.bookinafrica.nl/images-product/hotels-sandton-sun-exterior-7424-MAIN.jpg

And this is Lienna, the porcupine on the left. She belongs to a friend of mine. I hope she doesn't mind me briefly Icing her... will have to confirm later on or edit X).
www.teamartail.com/oekaki/pictures/3951.png

IC:
G.U.N Headquarters

Frost had turned his back and stormed down the corridor. He was extremely ticked offf to say the least. But he was glad he got a chance to see the damn fool die. The hedgehog knew how much everyone here had seething hatred for him, the way he was and his betrayal here- but he was pretty sure that Warrick in particular could not STAND him.
The prospect made Frost laugh though. If he really had caused anyone to feel that much loathing, it delighted him.
He was instinctively going to teleport himself away from the scene. As powerful as he was, sometimes just catching someone off guard at some point would've spelt doom for him, and that would have been disasterous. But Warrick's information was next to no help to him. The bastard was ambigeous with his information. Frost needed a little confirmation...
He really wanted to quickly take a look at one or two things whilst he was here as well.
Frost walked promptly down the corridor, taking the stairs as he knew that it was extrememly unlikely that any of the officials would be taking the elevators.
He began to think to himself whilst he walked down the stairs. Although he knew a lot about this complex, he had to admit that it appeared to have been upgraded considerably. He made him question where they got finances to do so considering the ARK incident and that perhaps not much was really running.
"Whatever." he muttered. It wasn't like him to reflect on ephemeral matters.
On coming down the one of the lower floors, he mentally sighed, before pushing open the doors.
He predicted that either his exploration would run smooth... or that anyone crossing his path would be struck severely.

Sandton Sun Hotel

A tall building, a luxurious looking hotel stood near the beach but was still within station square.
The hotel was once a place that only the rich and well-off could afford. But now... it had been taken over by those that were able to bring down the order that once stood. Either that, or the shares had been bought by gangs who had managed to snag enough money to do so. After all... if the bought property looked legitimate enough, it was hardly going to cause any police to come and investigate.
And it was in this building that some of the most powerful gangs stood.
The landlords, being that of Sachio and Morgaine.

_____

Casino Room

"Yay! I win again!" Morgaine chirped as she noticed the silver ball on the roulette had hit the number she had chosen, black 17.
The room clad in luxoury, a buzzling and social environment and abseloutle class. It was hard to place anything that looked cheap in this room. There were neatly stacked rows of slot machines, roulettes, poker tables, the works. The colour scheme was kept to the classic red, black, green and gold of a typical casino. Except this one had more class.
"Hey Mo... your brother's back..." one of Morgaine's friends said, Lienna, a porcupine said after tapping her on the shoulder.
Morgaine immediatly turned around and ran up to the rough looking blue-lavender hedgehog that was her brother.
"You're late!" Morgaine scholded.
"I hung around to make sure Lucy got burnt down with the place..." Sachio said.
"And did he?" Morgaine said rolling her eyes.
"Yeah... bet he did. I beat him up hard enough alright. He's ash by now I bet." Sachio replied.
"Lucy?" Lienna asked confused.
"Lucent. That bat... on the radio?" Morgaine explained.
"Ohhh..." Lienna replied stoically, pursing her lips briefly.
"Well, anyone up for some poker?" Morgaine exclaimed.
"Naw... I think it would be best if I listened to the radio. Perhaps find out whoever or whatever people are making of our little visit at that street today," Sachio grinned, before turning around abruptly and dissappearing from the room.
Lienna blinked slowly, before turning to Morgaine.
"I wish he would get a life." Morgaine sighed.
"He's just scared of being beaten in poker, I guess." Lienna smirked, before the two girls turned around to enjoy the rest of the evening as it were.

(OOC: Yeah everything looks ok there Ben^^ There is a little more to Wraith's history too, but that'll come up later. It wasn't mentioned in the bio, so don't worry, you haven't missed anything. Watch this space for revelations^^ lol)

"It's a bit of a long story." replied Wraith with a slight smile. "We should sit down and catch up fully." He glanced over his shoulder at Trey, then lowered his voice slightly. "Who is this guy? You think we can trust him?"

Tails nodded vigerously. "Him and the others saved my life!" he replied just as quietly. "They're on our side Wraith."

Wraith eyed Trey for a moment, before stepping up to him, arms folded. "Tails tells me you're not our enemy." he said, somewhat stiffly. "I'm sorry for uncovering your hideout like this, but we needed to find out if what David said about Tails being here was true." He extended his hand slowly. "We're from the Neo-Freedom Fighters. We fight for justice and life, and if you have the same values, then that makes us allies. If you would prefare, we will leave, but if we do Tails will come with us. Otherwise, might I sugest we all put our heads together and get to know each other better?" His eyes were still cold. He hadn't forgotten what the Cheeta had done to Ari. But what he had said was true...values like that would make them allies.

And in this world they needed all the allies they could get!

Trey was meeting his gaze calmly. Slowly he looked down at Wraith's outstreached hand, as though considering all the factors...

Treys hideout

and then warmly returned it with his only arm, the one on his right. His smile broadened slightly.

Allies is definitely what we need, Trey said, returning the sympathies. This world needs to be restored to order and not the damn chaos that its in at the moment. I apologise for the actions earlier but Im sure you can understand why I did that. For all I knew you could have been enemies aimed to kill us all. I wanted this place best kept secret, but it look like some guys cant manage that. He said, turning to look to David. He thought he would have had the common sense to know that during this dangerous time. Next time, knock.

Trey began to walk down the corridor and into the fairly large but slightly messy room, leading the way for the new allies and outstretching his right arm to allow access to the guests. As Arista began to walk past, he stopped her slightly.

Im sorry for about earlier there. It was to be on the safe side though, yknow? Im sorry if I managed to hurt you. Trey apologised, hoping that she would accept it, but wouldnt blame her if she didnt. Trey had to admit he was a bit forceful there.

G.U.N. Headquarters

The building was beginning to run into a panic as an investigation was automatically issued within it. An alarm was ringing for the procedure of that or an intruder. Of course it was most certainly odd that Warrick was apparently thrown out of the building and had wounding all over him, so it was no surprise that there was an enemy here. His mutterings of F-frost all but confirmed it.

It was no joke that Frost was immensely powerful and as such all G.U.N personnel had found themselves fully armed and armoured to tackle him, and was on the search for the hedgehog, rising upwards to search the floorings next to where Warrick had once been. Some had gone through the elevators, others still were just about to climb the stairs.

This irritated Frost. Apparently they knew that he was here now and it led him to believe that Warrick was not necessarily dead, as the alarm rang above his head. Damn alarms, making it difficult to think!

Freeze! called out a powerful and forceful voice from down the corridor as a G.U.N squad had turned around the corner and finally spotted him, their weapons trained on Frosts heart. Drop your weapons and put your hands in their air!

(OOC: Hmm...I don't know wether to make it really realistic, as in everyone introduces themselves to each other and everything first, and risk slowing it down a little, or to pretend like everyone either knows each other or isn't bothered about knowing each other and keep it running quite fast >< I'll go for the intro one...keep it realistic. I'll edit it if anyone disagrees.)

Arista just nodded at Trey's apology, her face expressionless. Exactly wether this ment he was forgiven or not Trey couldn't tell. He hoped it was the former.

He jumped as for the first time he saw David in the light. What WAS it???

The newcomers all found spaces to sit, apart from the robot, who took up a station standing near the entrance.

Wraith took of his hat and sat down in the corner, the armour under his coat gleaming in the light. As he sat down he noticed others in the room as well as Trey and Tails. They must have been the ones Tails had ment when he had said "they" before. He suddenly wondered if this was the headquaters of some kind of new gang, but it didn't seem big enough for that.

"Thanks for agreeing to help." he said to Trey, then looked around at the others. "Okay, first things first, I'm Wraith the Echidna, former Freedom Fighter and leader of the Neo-Freedom Fighters." He gestured to Arista, who had taken a position cross-legged on the floor nearby. "This is Arista, my friend and assistant in our gang. We're devoted to finding all the former heroes and restoring law and order to the world." He nodded to the robot stood by the door. "I take it you've already met David." he continued.

(OOC: I'll let everyone else intro themselves, but like I said if it makes it too slow let me know and I'll change it. I just figured realism would be best.)

OOC: All seems cool to me Wraith ^^
IC:

G.U.N Headquarters
"Damnit..." Frost cursed as he saw an intimedating group of G.U.N enforcers in front of him. They appeared to be clad in black uniform, some of them having uniforms lined with thick bullet proof material he guessed. On top of that, some of them wore black helmets with black shielding covering their eyes. No doubt they could still see him, however.
Frost dropped the guns, deciding that they were really of no use here. They fell to the ground, hitting the carpeted corridor floor.
"That's good Frost," commended one of the officers sarcastically "now put your hands in the air."
'Perhaps I should have left... but I really need some answers. If only all these damn people would die...'
Frost suddenly noticed some enforcers coming in from behind. He mentally cursed. He appeared to be wasting too much time thinking.
"I said PUT your hands in the air! Final warning you crazed manical fiend!" the voice repeated.
"Okay, let's just leave the diagnostics to the medical staff, yes?" said another officer.
Frost grinned, before taking out and raising the Chaos Emerald he possessed. On instant reaction, there was rapid firing- a cascade of bullets aiming to hit him in the chest.
However, the bullets simply went straight through a light blue silhouette of a figure- by which time Frost had managed to Chaos control from the spot and reappear behind the first set of soldiers that had initially commanded him to 'freeze'.
"Chaos Spear!" Frost shouted, holding his Emerald towards a set of lights on the ceiling.
After that cry, an azure lightning bolt struck the lighting system- causing a whole layer of glass and light bulbs to come crashing down on the soldiers.
Most of them fell under the weight of it, knocked unconcious or died. A good group however managed to escape it and ran after the hedgehog.
As three soldiers arrived, Frost managed to swing a kick towards the first soldier- causing him to fall backwards and bash into the other two behind him. Consequently they toppled like dominoes.
Another solider came in from the side, attempting to tackle him with his bare hands.
Frost however, caught sight of him- grabbed him by the arm, twisted it and kicked his calf muscle, causing him to collapse.
On instinct, Frost turned to look behind him and his eyes immediatly flashed a blinding bleach blue colour which caused a pair of parallel ice beams to streak their way down the corridor and smack against five enforcers. They all ended up frozen solid. Because the soldiers were that far away and that he had time to power up the attack, he was able to use the ice vision attack- his most special attack.
"This is beta 149... the target is stronger than anticipated AND has a Chaos Emerald... switch on your Chaos energy detectors and give me coordinates when he decides to teleport... and request immediate backup!" said one of the soldiers speaking through a microphone.
"Roger that." was a reply.
Frost turned around and smiled at the man. Frost hadn't necessarily heard what he had reported, but he could still sense the soldier's apprehension.
"Your force dissappoints me... come back when you're worth the while." Frost laughed mocklingly, before taking out the chaos emerald and dissappearing from the spot- a group of spectacle light blue and white lights reminiscent of where he once was.

====

"Okay! Thanks! Bye!" Bill the frog retorted, slamming down the phone. All the commotion was on the injured Warrick... and that traitor experiment hedgehog which they hadn't seen since five years ago.
"Unreal..." Bill said, getting up, about to leave the room. He wanted to check up on how Warrick was and to investigate the scene of the crime.
He stopped short in his tracks however, when he suddenly found a figure materialize before him.
His heart skipped a beat to say the least... when he saw that set loose monster was standing right before him as the blue lights diccipated- leaving the an angry looking Frost standing there with the blue Chaos Emerald.
"I remember you Bill!" Frost growled, as he stepped forward and lifted him up by the scruff of the neck, and slammed him against the wall whilst still holding him.
"You were the one who devised methods of restraining me whilst I was made a captive... yes?"
Bill didn't answer, but simply tried to get over the fear of the patronizing icey hedgehog.
"But I have a soft spot for you, Bill. Once you get to know me, I'm a pretty nice guy!" Frost said, smiling fakely "now I will exchange some information, just to show you how fair I am. In return, you expect you to provide me with some information ."
Bill nodded, still quivering with fear.
"Please don't dishearten me. Or I will be forced to hurt you like I did to that pathetic Warrick, understand?!"
Bill sweatdropped, and nodded once again, livid with fear at this point.
"The traitor in your organization is a certain Dr. Kellerman. He's working for a tyrant-wannabe..." Frost explained "just figure out the last part for yourself."
He remembered that he was told to keep his information confidential. In actual fact, he didn't trust Dr. Eggman, or Dr. Kellerman. But he would work for them until he got what he wanted.
If giving away some classified information might aid him in his quest, then it was all worth it. He had to admit that the slight betrayal from his part amused him.
"Now Bill. I want you, to tell me, whether this organization has any Chaos Emeralds in their possession. If so, and if they're not here, tell me where they are!"

Ed spoke next. "I'm Edward Night, myself," he said to the group in general. "I'm not specifically involved with the Neo-Freedom Fighters in anyway, I just bumped into them earlier and sort of tagged along for the sake of it."

He then got up and started taking a look around his surroundings, idly picking up an arbitrary object from the floor and turning it around in his hands as though he was examining it. After a brief moment, he put it down again without comment.

"So, who're all you guys?" he asked.

G.U.N. Headquarters

Bill automatically nodded as if in some way to appease the dangerous hedgehog in front of him. Unlike Warrick, he wasnt afraid to give information if it meant that he could still live, after all, he didnt see any other way out of this situation. But, perhaps maybe there was.

Theres none in this building or organization here, Frost. None at all. Itd just be way too dangerous, especially since youre around this city. G.U.N. has three, but Im not sure where exactly all of them are. I know where two of them are Bill said, but was suddenly interrupted as Frost snapped at him and automatically shouted.

Well? Where are they?! Frosts tone was of one certainly not impressed, and it simply made Frost all the more afraid.

Okay, okay. He said, anxious and certainly not comfortable. Two of them are located in secret G.U.N Outposts in the most inhospitable places in the world. Bill replied. One of them is in the freezing climate conditions of the Ice Hoven continent up north. Where exactly around there though isnt known safety measures, but its located on that place. Frosts expression wasnt happy. It appeared that even G.U.N didnt tell each of their members and subsidiary groups the whole information. In fact, this could have been a lie too maybe Bill didnt know it, and this was simply information created in case of such a scenario as now. Or maybe it was true either way, it was the only information Frost was really getting at the moment.

Another is located across the Sahanra desert region, an area Im sure you can guess is completely different from the Ice Hoven. And again, where exactly in that vast expanse of desert I dont really know. Again, safety purposes. Two both extreme areas where no person can easily explore, and placed in G.U.N outposts that not even were sure of. Its the perfect system in a way, eh? Frost was not amused. And the other one?! He demanded.

Absolutely no information about that at all. Nothing. We havent a clue where it is, unfortunately. G.U.N is reported to have it, but this is the ultimate means of defence, by not even telling each other where it is. Im as disappointed as you are, Frost.

Sure you are, Frost said sarcastically, dropping the frog on the ground hard.

about Kellerman. Bill started up, which perked Frosts interest. Is he the cause of the spreading weapons through the city? Like the G.U.N mech Sledge managed to get a hold of? That damn traitor Frost didnt answer. He was still not pleased about the whole situation as it was.

The Entrance door to the room suddenly shifted up, after the G.U.N soldiers had finally gotten a lock onto the Chaos energy signature that Frost had created. It appeared that these people were putting up much of a resistance, almost too much now. The soldiers arranged themselves in a formation, their leader at the front squatted down and surrounded by the others, some who were also squatted down, some standing up, so that they all had a decent line of fire against Frost. The leader spoke up in a booming voice.

Internal Defence systems, activate!

Frosts eyes widened in surprise. What was this? Suddenly, whirring at the top of the room which was un-see able due to the height of the room, and thus, covered in shadows, were the turning and activation of several automatic turrets and laser projectiles that all manoeuvred and locked onto Frosts presence, but hadnt begun to fire yet, at least not without the order. This was certainly a surprise, Frost hadnt expected any internal defences like this especially considering the lack of resources, money and energy lately because of the ARK devastation, and if there were any then theyd be outside defending the outer perimeter. But this was an exception, as this control room was considered immeasurably important and where a lot of information and data were placed. The weapons hidden in the shadows only helped to boost their effectiveness and be able to attack unassuming intruders without them knowing from where the attacks were coming from. Another situation that was not turning favourable. Why couldnt these blasted idiots just give him what he wanted?!

Oh well. Perhaps Bill already had and that was genuinely all this organization and branch of G.U.N knew. Or, perhaps they were hiding it all and anything told was a lie. Still, he couldnt expect his enemies to accurately tell him the truth or comply so hed just have to go on what he had got.

We know youre much weaker now after displaying your Ice Beam attack, Frost. Just give it up and surrender! This time though, drop the Chaos Emerald to the floor and then put your hands in the air! The commander shouted.

Frost smirked. This was foolish. If he moved anywhere else in the room, hed no doubt be fired at. If he stayed where he was he wouldnt be shot at because of Bill behind him, but if he thought against them then they would no doubt fire back. The best course was Chaos Control, and he mentally smirked at how stupid these people must have been. Of course he would Chaos Control out of here!

Treys hideout

My names Trey, and this happens to be my hideout, he said, as he noticed the others inspecting it, some not highly impressed by the state. Forgive the condition, I havent really had the time or motivation to clean it especially as there are more important things in the world, eh? And besides, homes home.

And my names Angela, said the sister, speaking up, and raising a hand to indicate hello. Her other was upon her metal rod, although it was in a casual manner. This heres my bro, Asher.

Yo! The cat/fox replied, almost saluting faintly. He was smiling too. How are ya?

OOC: I was justing ICing for SL there since I think she's on holiday.

(OOC: Gotcha Pach. A thought btw...something that occured to me during that last post. I'm afraid I've lost track of exactly where all the chaos emeralds are! Wraith, Frost and Lucient each have one...GUN has 3...did anyone have the other or is it missing?)

Wraith nodded to each of the ones he didn't know in turn. He was secretly still a little wary about them, but Tails seemed to trust them...he had no choice but to do the same.

"And I'm Tails." chimed in the Fox, raising a hand. Wraith grinned.

"We know that you fool." he said good-naturedly. There was a pause as his and Tails' eyes met, then Wraith reached out with his fist. "Dang, it IS good to see you again old buddy. We couldn't find you anywhere and I was starting to get worried!"

Tails reached out with his own fist and struck Wraith's outstreached knuckles. "I was worried for you!" he replied. "How DID you survive?"

Wraith sat back in his chair and sighed. "I was out of the city when the ARK fell." he said. "You know how I like sports. I was on a snowboarding holiday in the Diamond Dust Zone. When I got back the city was in chaos." His eyes became misty, as though remembering the day, five years ago. "It was complete anarchy. Fighting in the streets...looting...death. I quickly phoned up all my friends who I'd gotten to know from my extreme sports runs. Fortunately most of them were still alive. We got together and set up a team...went around breaking up the fights and stopping the violence." He sighed again, and closed his eyes, letting his head drop. "I can't help thinking though...what if I had been there when it happened, rather than off on some dumb holiday? Maybe I could have done something to stop things turning out like they did. Maybe I could have saved so many more lives!"

"That is highly unlikely." stated David suddenly. Wraith looked up at him questioningly. "The likelyhood of a single person making such a big impression on a society as big as this one is very small." the robot clarified.

Wraith sighed again, his eyes drifting back to the floor. "Yeah, maybe you're right." he muttered. There was another short pause, then Wraith raised his head again. "Anyway, then the gangs started up. Suddenly we found we weren't just facing a couple of criminals with a handgun. They became organised, powerful, more dangerous. We realised we'd have to do something similar if we wanted to combat them, so we set up the Neo-Freedom Fighters."

Arista had been staring at the floor like Wraith during the Echidna's speach, sitting in silence. Suddenly though Wraith became aware of her heavy breathing, and looking at her, he saw tears in her eyes.

He nodded. "That was when we saved Ari too." he continued. "She and I had met on a rock climbing holiday a few years before, and we'd kept in touch ever since, but one night we got a text message from her calling for our help. When the chaos started she had been captured by one of the gangs, along with her parents. She managed to escape, but her parents weren't so lucky."

Ari cupped her face in her hands and began to cry. Wraith quickly stood up from his chair and knelt down beside her, and she rested her head on his shoulder, crying into his coat.

Wraith waited until her crying had died down a little, then finished: "Ever since we've just been fighting crime and injustice in all it's forms, and looking for any and all information regarding the whereabouts of the heroes. We've finally found you Tails, so that's one down. We're also looking for Shadow...you know he's been in the news? We think he may know something too."

He looked down at Ari's huddled form, her haid still on his shoulder, her back still shaking every now and then from sobs. As an afterthought, almost to himself, he muttered: "And if I ever find the gang who killed Ari's parents...those Sachio and Morgaine characters...they're gonna pay dearly!"

OOC: Oh, poor Ari. i really do feel sorry for her. Wraith you have developed your characters so well, it really is a pleasure to read about them.

I'm sorry to say that i do have a bit of a sad post of my own to submit here, although i won't go into details just in this little OOC. Seems quite a few sad posts are being made lately, but that is a good thing as it shows that our RP is capable of reaching such emotional depth with both it's characters and storyline, and that means that our adventure here has some qualities that make for the best of storytelling.

This RP never ceases to amaze me, it truly is wonderful to have so much potential at our fingertips whenever we post, and it's moreso wonderful to read what everyone submits! Oh, i'm sorry for anyone in this Roleplay that hasn't received very many compliments from me, but do be aware that although i haven't typed much about everyone, i do believe that every single roleplayer here is doing a professional job on keeping the story thriving with excitement and depth, cheers to all!

One more thing. Does anyone have any bones to pick with me about controlling their characters in my posts? I just have this little feeling that i'm not controlling people's characters right. If there is any problem whatsoever, let me know k guys?
-----------
IC:

Myst approached the door to the medical room and opened it, gesturing for Azieral to sit down inside while she spoke to her.

"Well, first off, your wounds aren't all that bad." she said, inspecting Azieral, "and, that's pretty amazing seeing as well.. y'know, this is Lucent we're talking about. He's done much worse to people before..." Her voice trailed off as she spoke about Lucent.

Azieral observed her behaviour and took more mental notes, there had to be some reason why Myst was amongst such people... afterall she didn't seem like the type to take part in gang brawls, she just didn't seem to belong here, yet she felt welcome at the same time... it was most peculiar.

"As for Lucent's wounds..." started Myst, running her hand through her hair as she spoke, "I won't know how bad his wounds are until i can take a look at him... but he won't let me help him while he's in his mood, he needs a while to cool off. In the meantime, i better patch you up."

Azieral felt no need to have Myst tend to her slight injuries, afterall she was a disciplined warrior who needed no aid in their own recovery. However seeing the current state of Myst, Azieral felt that it would be best not to object to her.

"okay, you don't have any glass shards inside you, that's good." she grabbed a bottle off the shelf and began moistening a clean towel with it's contents, "now, this stuff is going to sting, but it'll make sure your wounds are clean so you dont get infections... ok?"

Azieral nodded and raised her arm so Myst could apply the towel to the wounds. It stung like Myst had said, but it was nothing she couldn't handle.

"wow!" exclaimed Myst as she removed the towel, "you didn't even move! haha, it's nice to have some quiet in here for a change, i don't know where you were when i was helping out Plugg, but my bet is you would have been able to hear him screaming!" She almost laughed while saying that.

Azieral smiled to herself, Plugg was the name of that annoying individual from before that she had knocked to the ground. So much for mister macho.

"None of your cuts are that deep, but do you want me to put some bandage on?" asked Myst.

"no, i'm perfectly alright... thanks." replied Azieral.

Myst placed the roll of bandage back on the shelf and looked out her window. Her eyes stayed on the fiery orange glow that was still visible from that burning building. A tear rolled down her cheek as she stared.

Curiosity overcame Azieral as she observed Myst. This individual intrigued her, and it might be good to know something about her in case she had to kill her in future, 'know thy enemy'.

She turned around from her seat on the operating table and looked over at Myst, "How does a healer like yourself get involved with such people?" upon asking that, Azieral feared that she may have sounded offensive.

Luckily, Myst didn't take it that way, instead she just sat down on the other end of the operating table and looked over at Azieral, wiping away a tear.

"Well... it's kinda weird actually..." she said, tilting her head to the side, her eyes wandering around the room.

Azieral leaned over in interest.

Myst looked out the window again, "Lucent's not always such a bastard, i think there's something else to him." her gaze returned to Azieral, "I used to live with my parents in a pretty average neighbourhood in the city... but that was before the ARK crashed. My Dad and i survived, but my mother died, during the collision a piece of the ARK hit her office building and the whole thing went up in smoke."

She reached over to grab a clean towel and wiped her face with it before continuing, "My Dad used to be a professional doctor before the ARK incident, he excelled as a doctor in so many areas of medicine, but he was most well known as a surgeon. After my Mother died, he became a wreck. He developed some illness in his nervous system, and his hands would constantly shake. Because of this, he couldn't be a surgeon anymore. Instead, he went back to medicine, and i helped him work in a pharmacy that he started in our old neighbourhood." She smiled before wiping away another tear, "My Dad taught me so much about medicine, and first aid. I wanted to be a surgeon just like he was, but for the time being we had to earn a living in our pharmacy."

More tears began to flow down Myst's cheeks, "It wasn't so easy to run that place... our neighbourhood wasn't what it used to be..."

---

(OOC: the following is a flashback sequence, i thought it might be easier to write the bulk of her background this way so that it's not all just what she saw. Sorry if i confuse anyone!)

IC:"Dad, where do these antibiotics go? they're in an orange bottle"

Myst's father, a sky blue wolf named 'Grey', looked up from sorting his counter's bottom shelves and adjusted his glasses, "They go next to the ones in the green bottles dear... no not those ones, the other green ones. that's it."

Myst carefully arranged the orange bottles of antibiotics where her father had told her to. She took note of how few bottles her father had ordered in and sighed to herself. Times were tough, and medicine didn't come cheap.

Grey took out a scrap of paper and scribbled down notes on it as he counted some white bottles with yellow labels on a small rack beside him. "hmm..." he murmured, placing his pencil on his ear, "I don't think we'll be able to order anymore of these for a while. Getting expensive, so this is going to have to last us."

Myst stopped what she was doing as she heard something fall from her Father's direction. She looked over the counter and saw a mess of scattered tablets on the ground, and her father standing over it with a bottle lid in his shaking hands.

"damnit..." he said as he placed the lid on the counter.

"Dad, you're hands. You should've let me do that. c'mon, leave it i'll clean it." Said Myst, taking her father by the arm.

Her father looked at her for a moment and smiled. Myst returned the smile as her father put his hand on her head and ruffled her hair.

"My little girl's going up!" he said with a laugh.

"Dad! Don't be so embarassing!" protested Myst, still smiling.

"What? i'm allowed to say that!" he replied while laughing. His laughter faded as he stared at his daughter, "I wish your Mother could see you growing up too. I know she'd be proud to see you helping me out."

Myst reached out and hugged her Dad and he returned the gesture.

The warm aura of a father and daughter relationship was violently extinguished from the pharmacy as a large Rhino and 5 of his gang member slammed the door open and barged right in.

Grey released his grip on his daughter and frowned as he saw the gang enter. He gestured Myst to tend to some bottles in the further corner of the pharmacy, away from the gang.

"Aw, i'm sorry, did i interrupt somethin'?" Said the Rhino, earning a wave of sniggers from his gang.

Grey turned around to fully face the gang. "Good Morning, Sid." he said in a fake greeting tone, "How are you?"

"well..." began sid, scratching his chin, "to tell ya the truth, i'm a little... ticked off.", he slammed his fists on the counter, but kept his calm expression, even smiled at Grey. Needless to say, Grey jumped at the gesture, his nerves playing on him again. Sid knew all about Grey's nerves and took delight in taking advantage of him.

Sid removed his hands from the counter and crossed his arms casually, "Ya wanna know why i'm ticked off? go on. ask me."

Grey reluctantly replied, "Why are you upset?"

"Well, it all started last night y'see." said Sid, placing one arm against his hip and another in the air in front of him, as if he was re-accounting some age old tale.
"I went to get my... 'protection money' payment from ya, from the usual spot, and i noticed that the amount inside the bag was a little short."

Grey felt his fingers twitching madly as he hid his hands bneath the counter. Myst looked at the gang members with a nevous anger, she hated them but she feared them. This gang had threatened to smash up their pharmacy unless Grey left a payment of 'protection money' at a hidden location at night once a week. It was her Dad'd idea to have the payments made in secret away from the store so that the gang members wouldn't frighten away customers. it was hard enough making money as it is.

Sid continued his story, "Now, when i saw that all my money wasn't there, well... first y'see, i was mad! i mean, really mad! but then, well then i felt hurt y'know?". His gang began sniggering again as they found amusement in their boss accounting his story.

"I was hurt man. I was thinking, didn't Grey care about me no more? Or, was there something about my services that meant that i wasn't worth the full payment these days? That's cold man, that's real cold."

He reached over and put his arm around Grey in a fake gesture of friendship, getting a few more laughs from his gang. "Now, i don't wanna ruin our friendship man, cos y'know, we're pals right?"

He let go of Grey and threw his arms up in the air, "So, all i'm askin' for now is an apology y'know? so go ahead." he smiled, "apologise."

Grey held in a sigh, just in case it angered Sid, and he lowered his head with distress, "i..i-i'm sorry."

Sid's gang took more amusement in seeing Grey reduced to nothing. Myst wiped away a tear as she saw her father be so hurt.

"Yeah, that's nice. that's what i'm talkin' about." said Sid nodding approval. "unfortunately, that don't compensate for all the mental scars that are gonna plague me forever." He slammed his fists on the counter again and grabbed Grey by the collar of his shirt, bringing Grey close to him.

"Tomorrow, i want another payment. A whole one this time."

Grey opened his mouth to protest, "b-but, i cant! i cant get that much money by tomorrow. i-it's hard enough to pay once a week!" he tried desperately to get Sid to understand, "I came up short because i needed money to re-stock. i couldn't even buy as much as i usually do. You're scaring away all my custom-"

"Sid slammed Grey's head against the counter, "DON'T blame this on me! i'm holdin' my end of the bargain, and you're leavin' me out to rot!"

"Dad!" said Myst as she heard the thud.

"it's okay... it's okay.." re-assured her father as he held still, his nose was bleeding.

Sid smiled and released his grip on Grey, letting the wolfd straighten himself up. "okay... tell ya what i'll do." said Sid, putting his arm around Grey again, "because we're pals, i'm gonna letcha pay me with whatever ya got kay? for starters...". Sid let go of Grey and opened the cash register, "i'm gonna take what's in here..." he stopped for a moment and plucked out all that was inside. A single dollar coin. "Is this it?" he said, holding the coin up to Grey's face with a look of disgust.

Grey opened his mouth to reply but he was interrupted by Sid.

"okay then... next i'm gonna get your darling daughter to open up that safe there for me." he said, while pointing at Myst and then pointing at a safe behind Grey.

Myst looked up at her father with nervous eyes. Grey just bowed his head down, gesturing for her to just listen to Sid.

Myst got up and wiped away some tears before opening the safe for a gang member that was waiting near it.

Upon opening it, the gang member shoved her out of the way and began scrounging through it. Sid began strumming his fingers on the counter as he grew impatient.

The gang member came poked his head out from the small safe and held up $5. "this is it boss." he said as he walked around the counter back to the gang and gave the money to Sid.

Sid clenched the hand that was holding the money into a fist, and shoved it into his pocket. "You disappoint me my friend." he said to Grey.

Grey swallowed as he backed away from the counter. Myst approached him and held his arm tightly.

Sid snapped his fingers at a gang member who handed him a wooden baseball bat. "Guess i'm just gonna have to get over my anger y'know? take it out on something else..."

Sid immediately started smashing shelves of medicine and his gang copied. Myst and Grey watched helplessly as their store was being torn apart before their very eyes.

Sid suddenly stopped after he knocked down a clock from the wall and held up his arm for his gang to stop too. As soon as it was quiet he turned back to Grey. "y'know what?" he said, slinging his bat over his shoulder and casually walking toward them with a smile. "i got a better idea."

He made a hand movement toward one of his men, "get the girl". In one swift motion, A gang member pried Myst away from her father and she screamed with fear.

"wait! STOP! what are you doing? STOP PLEASE" said Grey, before another gang member pinned him to the wall.

As Myst was led beside the gang, Sid continued his speech with a grin, "Okay, this is how it's gonna work. You keep your shop, and i keep your daughter for a week. By next week, i want double my usual payment. If i don't get my money, then the girl stays with us for another week and then you'll be asked to pay me five times as much. The longer you take t'pay my money, the more money you gonna owe me. Until you pay up, ya don't getcha daughter back."

"Wait, please!" said Grey as his daughter was being led out of the pharmacy with the rest of the gang. "please, give her back, take anything else, please, give me my daughter! MYST!"

"DAD!" screamed Myst as the gang approached the front door.

An unlucky gang member found themselves smacked aside as they went to open the front door. The door slammed into him as a rugged looking blue bat walked into the pharmacy and crossed his arms as his smaller group of 3 approached behind him.

The bat had a frown on his face, he was not in a good mood. .its Lucent said one of Sids gang members nervously.

Sid felt a bead of sweat run down his face as he kept a stern face at the blue bat named Lucent.

Lucent made a short chuckle before donning his trademark frown and facing Sid, Well, well I thought I smelled something foul in this neighbourhood. Long time no see Sid.

Sid took no heed to the insult and raised his fist at Lucent who didnt move at all, back off Lucent! Im just finishin some business here!

Lucent swiftly raised his leg and kicked the Rhinos fist away, making Sid swear as he shook his hand in pain. now YOU listen to ME you miserable little worm! said Lucent as he glared at Sid, I told you and your gang to get out of this neighbourhood over a week ago! This is MY land now!

Sid blew on his hand a bit and then turned back to face Lucent with a growl. Okay, whatever! Im just finishin some business here, then Im gone alright?

Lucent shook his head and then chuckled, well so long as were all here on business I think Ill finish some business of my own. As soon as the last words were ushered in that sentence, Lucent drew out his chain and Lashed it around Sids neck, right before slamming him into the ground and violently puling out his chain.

Immediately a fight broke out between the two gangs. The gang member that held Myst let go of her and made a frightened run toward the door. Lucents eyes caught him and he lashed the gang member violently in the back of the head, knocking them unconscious.

Myst ran up to her father and grabbed him by the arm, Dad, lets go! NOW! Grey nodded and the both of them made a run for the door.

As they came within two metres of the door, Sid stood up and towered above them. where do ya think youre goin?. He slashed the air with his arm and hit Grey so hard that he flew across the room and hit the front of the counter. Myst screamed in terror and Sid pulled out a gun from his pocket and placed it against her head as his other arm wrapped around arm, locking her against him.

Youre staying with me darlin he said as he began leading her out of the Pharmacy, covering her mouth with his hand.

Grey got up slowly and a rush of anger came over him. His eyes searched frantically around and then stopped on a container of syringes that was torn open. He reached inside and grabbed one, then ran toward Sid wielding it like a dagger.

Sid heard the footsteps and instantly turned around to see Grey heading right towards him. In a nervous reaction, he pointed his gun at him and fired. His other hand dropped from Mysts mouth, and the girl screamed as her father dropped dead to the floor.

Lucents ears picked up the gunshot amongst the fighting and he instantly turned in time to see Grey stumble then fall to the ground and the girl scream out for her father.

He gritted his teeth, exposing his fangs, and he narrowed his eyes. He finished off the gang member he was fighting by snapping his neck with his chain, then he ran toward the Rhino named Sid.

Sid breathed heavily as he realised hed almost been stabbed with a syringe. He turned around and the first thing he saw was Lucents boot about to collide with his face.

Sid received the blow and stumbled back a bit, letting go of Myst entirely. The girl instantly scattered to her father and kneeled down beside him. dad she sobbed. Grey did not move. His mouth lay open with a trail of blood coming out, and his eyes lay shut with a tear running down each cheek.

Sid got his head together and looked around frantically for Lucent. Lucent came up behind him and latched onto his back. Sid tried slamming his back against a wall to hurt Lucent, but Lucent had already climbed onto his shoulders.

Lucent lashed his spiked chain around Sids primary rhino horn, and let the spikes dig into his skin at the base. Sid frantically tried to reach above his head to stop Lucent but the pain threw off his co-ordination. Lucent tugged tightly and pressed the spikes into the horns base, and in a split second, he tore it out from Sids head, sending a blood spray out from the spot.

Sid screamed in incredible pain, but the worst was yet to come. Lucent grabbed the large horn as it twirled in mid air. Upon grabbing the horn, Lucent grinned a maniacal grin and drove the horn into the top of Sids head, piercing his skull and embedding it into the rhinos brain.

Sids body twitched as its nervous system was pierced and then it flopped to the ground. Lucent jumped off and twirled his chain before putting it away, noticing that his gang had the fight under control.

He looked over at the girl, she had fainted, lying over her dead father. Lucent stared at her for a moment, but his train of thought was interrupted by a loud yell from one of his gang members.

Boss, RUN! yelled Plugg as he pointed toward the last of Sids gang members, who threw a grenade into the pharmacy as he ran out, in a desperate effort to avenge his leaders death.

Lucents eyes widened and he began to dash toward the door. He stopped after a step and looked back at the girl. Without another moments hesitation he picked her up and carried her in his arms as he made a dash for the door. Clumsily, someone had actually closed the door on the way out. Lucent realised that this would delay his escape, so covered the girl in his arms with his tattered wings and braced himself as he ran toward the shop window.

Lucent crashed through the glass and rolled out onto the road, a trail of explosive fire and glass shards trailing behind him. He had curled up with the girl in his centre in an effort to soften her collision with the hard road.
As he finished rolling, Lucent kept his eyes shut and released his grip on the girl, breathing heavily and coughing. Mysts eyes opened and she sprang up on the spot. She looked down and noticed the blue bat collapsed near her, she got frightened and scampered a short distance away from him. She then took a moment to stare at him. Her wide eyes turned to the burning building that was once her Dads Pharmacy and then she realised this stranger had saved her. She stared at the flames and tears welled up in her eyes, dad.

Lucent sat upright, opened his eyes and put a hand to his head, cursing randomly and trying to ignore the stinging pain along the tattered edges of his wings which had received a slight singe from the explosion. what the- he muttered as he felt something press against his shoulder. He turned to see the girl he had saved, crying on his shoulder.

A strange feeling came over him, one he hadnt ever gotten before. Not knowing what to do, he reached out his arms and hugged around her.

---

(OOC: okay, back to present now)

IC: Myst wiped away more tears as she tried to smile to Azieral, so basically after that, he asked some questions about me, and told me itd be too dangerous to stay in that neighbourhood, or anywhere on my own and he welcomed me into his group he She stopped a moment and she smiled a bit more, he told me hed look after me until I was able to go out on my own. But i I spent some time here and and I just didnt want to leave. I have nowhere to go in this city. And the Police cant help me, theyre way too corrupt so I stayed here, with Lucent.

OOC: Okay, first of all sorry sorry sorry, that was a VERY LONG POST. I think Ive broken a record. I apologise again because some of you may have found it boring, and it is asking a lot of everyone to read so much just to learn about one character. All this stuff just came into my head when I though about developing this character so I just felt I had to write all this.

(OOC: I apologise to everyone for not posting IC here, but I just have to say...

Eclipse, that was something else!The ideas and the emotions involved...great job man! Incredible!)

OOC: Both were extremely powerful accounts and stories and both written superbly. They definitely carried real emotion within them and were handled fantastically.

Wraith's past was done superbly and it was definitely an interesting scenario to experience during the travesty that was happening around them... that he was on holiday! Arista's past was also handled perfectly and her reaction to Wraith's acocunt.

The characterization of the other characters mentioned in James post were great as well, even though they appeared as only one time characters they definitely had their own emotions and personality, such as Myst's father, and the brilliantly done, Sid. I felt his characterization was particularly good especially as to how he conversed with Myst's father, and his end was both shocking and well deserved. It was a long post, sure, but all of it was fantastic. In both situations, I really didn't know how to react... they were shocking and it was difficult to be able to follow them up.

Emotional scenes like that are good to have though, as it adds much more depth to the characters and also helps to make the story much more interesting. The way their pasts were helps to determine their future, and it should be interesting to see how they react.

Oh, and James, don't feel that there's any problem with the way you control people's characters. In my opinion at least, you manage to do an incredible and unbelievably good job with them in all manners of scenes, action and interaction, as do the rest of the RPers, so don't worry about it.

Saint Kindlesbury's Hospital

Azieral was completely speechless. She didnt know how to react or what to say Mysts story was incredibly powerful, and it began to make her look at Lucent in a new light. True, people do have the capacity to do good, but Lucent had done far more worse things. But then, so had she. She sighed. After learning Mysts tragic story she didnt really know what to think or how to react, but she knew that she couldnt come to harm her if she ever needed to. It wouldnt be right.

But then the rest of these gang members could have their own tragic stories, Azieral thought to herself. Bah, Ill see what will happen when it happens

T-thank you for sharing that, Azieral finally replied, quite quiet. I can imagine how painful it must be to lose a loved one. But at least you managed to find people to stay with. She said, smiling slightly. No doubt other people in this world werent so fortunate.

I dont suppose that this hospital was the one your father worked at when he was still a surgeon? Azieral asked.

Treys Hideout

Trey felt a wealth of emotion swell up within him after listening to Wraiths story about Arista. It was incredibly tragic and depressing, as much as his own past and experiences. Trey fell silent once more, as he looked towards his right and saw the photographs upon the shelf next to him once more. One photo of himself and his family, other damaged photos of his family members by themselves, and one other of Aaron. The person who had took care of him since this world descended into madness and one who was viciously killed by intruding gang members. Trey silently rummaged through his pocket and pulled a chain out slightly. Though the others couldnt see it, he knew it well, a cross, and one that Aaron had given to him

Youre not the only one that has had sad experiences before in the past, Trey commented upon. Everyone else began to look towards the Cheetah, wondering what he would say and if he would share his own experiences. Trey simply grabbed hold of his cloak that went over his left hand side and moved it, throwing it backwards so it would cover his back, and thus show his half dismembered limb. The others looked at this in surprise. Im sure all of us carry scars of the tragedy in our lives. Treys right hand gripped the cross more tightly.

OOC: Ok James, I'll call my chars by their refferal names to avoid confusion 🙂 But when talking they'll still call each other by the initials, sorry ^^'
The Emeralds, if I remember correctly are distributed like this: 1-Wraith, 1-Frost, 1-Lucent, 1-Eggman, 3-GUN; just for a quick recap.

IC:
GUN headquarters
The alarms were still ringing. Troops ran back and forth, but the intruder seemed to be gone. Ruby had been caught by surprise, at first she thought they had found her, but apparently someone else had chosen the same moment as her to sneak in to the GUN HQ. She cautiously walked unnoticed by the corridor's walls, her chameleon suit, which covered all of her body except for the eyes, made her almost invisible to the naked eye, it was a special item she had recieved from Tanita, a Magpie she had known several years ago. The suit changed color according to the surroundings and allowed it's user to walk by unnoticed. A perfect item for thieves. She had left home after Ring had fallen asleep, following Belle's advice; one or two Chaos energy detectors would surely help them in finding those valuable gems. The unknown intruder had unknowingly helped her in the search for these special radars, since the soldiers had apparently been told to get one each, allowing her to discover where they were kept. Ruby ran towards the item stock, she knew exactly where it was after "visiting" the HQ so often.
Carefully avoiding GUN soldiers in the corridors, she approached her goal. The item stock wasn't guarded, nor was anyone in the vicinity. Apparently everybody had been dispatched to other areas of the building to look for the intruder. Ruby glanced at the variety of items located inside. Without wasting time she picked up 3 CE detectors and the same amount of mobile phones, those would surely come in handy. After ensuring noone was near she left the room and took another way out, disappearing like a shadow in the night.

The three thieves' house
Belle stopped reading and placed the book on the table. The radio's volume was just high enough to be hearable. It seemed a great fire had started in the area where her younger sister Ring had been just a few hours prior. The cat stood up and tidied the living room a little. Their home had hardly changed in all this time.. shouldn't they consider themselves lucky? Belle smirked. She knew that soon enough something big would happen, it was a distinct feeling of hers. But she didn't worry all too much, her two sisters had the needed abilities and she had the mind to allow them to live peacefully. Her only regret was not being able to leave home any more.. It would be too dangerous for her, moreover she could not fight. Both Ruby and Ring knew how hard it was for her, every now and then they would bring her a book they had "found". They truly were the best sisters she could have ever dreamt of! Belle sighed and listened to the calm music of the radio.

OOC: I'm sorry if this was boring. I didn't know exactly what I was going to write. ^^''
I loved Myst's story there, James! It was all told so beautifully! I feel so sorry for Myst now!
The action in the GUN HQ was simply awesome, I'm starting to like Frost a lot. I'm glad to see your new character Shaide in there, Bentleee! ^^ And Warrick is a very interesting character, too. I never expected him to jump through the window! You're all doing such a great job! This RP is truly fantastic! =)
BTW, does anyone know where CodeZX is? Or whether he/she's still in the RP? It's because of Khaos, he was such an interesting character, it'd be nice to continue that subplot. 🙂

OOC: o_O I have a lot to catch up on XD

That was a brill scene you wrote there Pach.... fantastic! You really played out Frost well and it's always nice to see people leave open oppurtunities and such.
The action scenes have been fantastic throughout this RP. Everyone's done brill. And then the other aspects are great. Seems to have lots of everything which is great!

I also like is that everyone's taking everyone's ideas into account =)

Well... I still have to read from Wraith's post onwards X)

Bare with me. ^^

OOC2: Briefly read Erika's comment there.
Thank you SO much! That's made my day.

Despite what I have to read through, don't let this put anyone off from posting It is an enjoyable read after all! ^^ Just it may take my time to figure out the next moves e.t.c

OOC: I'm not too sure if CodeZX is still doing this or not. >_> I think they said they might drop out if they weren't given a summary, and while Nuchtos was cool enough to even give one, we haven't heard any reply from them at all, and quite a bit has happened since. I think that they're probably not in this anymore, although I don't think it would hurt if someone contacted them and asked.

OOC: Just to let everyone know, i'm going to message CodeZX and ask him about his participation in the RP.

On another note, i'm not making my next post until a few more other people have posted first, just because my last one was so whopping HUGE (yet everyone read all of it, aw, thanks guys! ^^) and so i don't want to steal the show from the character conversations that are taking place as of current, i'm reading some fantastic stuff people!

Oh, and thanks to Erika about the character-name thingy, that makes things a whole bunch clearer. It's not a problem if the characters refer to themselves that way in their conversation, but thanks for asking.

I'm hoping CodeZX does continue playing, Erika was right when she said that Khaos was an interesting character in the RP.

OOC: Okay, I have caught up... ^^ well, I did last night. I was going to write but then ended up wanting to check one of the scenes of the crimes as it were in London regarding the terrorist attack. The areas were prohibited though and there were a bunch of news reporters.

Anyway, I have an appointment at 1... but I'll be back this after noon =P

Like I said James, excellent post with Myst.
Poor Ari indeed, I really felt that story there and felt sympathy. And I felt the anger Wraith had for the gang that may have killed her parents...
And excellent post their Erika as well... I think I have an idea now.

Ugh... well, see you later. Again, no one ought to be put off from posting right now. But I guess it might be nice if I responded to some scenes and got some factors going... =)

Wraith stared at Trey, suddenly impressed. So that was why he had been using his feet and not his hands before! To keep balance without the help of both arms must take some getting used to!

Arista had calmed somewhat now, but rather than stand up and head back to his seat, Wraith crossed his legs next to her, silently holding her hand to show his support. She glanced up at him through watery eyes and he nodded to her comfortingly.

"So what about you Tails man?" he asked. "Where have you been all these years?"

(OOC: sorry for not posting in a bit. Had a case of writer's block in some stories >< Hopefully be ok now...think I'm getting some imagination back.)

OOC: Wraith, writer's block strikes many a talented writer, and you being amongst such ranks can obviously be presumed to experience writer's block every now and again.

You just post when you feel ready 'kay? you've made fantastic posts before so in terms of participation in the Roleplay you're doing great.

If you're really stuck, dont hesitate to ask me or anyone else for assistance 'kay?

Oh, yeah, before i forget, i am planning to IC quite soon people. Like i mentioned earlier, just letting some others get some posting in.

And in other news, i haven't heard anything from CodeZX yet. My guess is he/she is away for the time being and they haven't had a chance to check their message box. As soon as i get a reply i'll let y'all know.

My last comment for this post is a grim one i'm afraid. Although i am Australian, i would still like to request that everyone spare a moment of consideration in their own time for the terrorist attacks on London. It's been a dreadful blow to the spirit of the English people, but they are still strong enough in spirit to carry on as they normally do, which is most admirable in their time of dis-array. England has my respect and my sympathy.

Thankyou all.

OOC: Thankfully my friends and my brother are okay. I think my brother just about avoided it. The tube got stuck at Westminster and he suspected something was wrong so got off the tube. Just as well as the first incident happened shortly after...

Here's hoping you get over your writer's block Wraith X) happens to me as well and I er... despise it!

IC:

G.U.N HQ

Frost blinked slowly, putting a front on despite the dispairing number of firearms, turrets, and other weapons locked onto him. To an extent, he was impressed with what they remembered about him possibly being somewhat weak after displaying the ice beam attack.
He still had enough energy to Chaos control, however. He have to ensure that he teleported far enough from the complex and the chaos detector ranges.
The information he had got off of Bill was as good as it could have got after all.
"Listen to me, and listen to me good... G.U.N dorks!" Frost announced "I'll get what I want, and I'll get it fast. And when that happens, I will return to reduce you to ruins... and then I'll see you in hell!"
And that threat, a set of firearms where heard being clicked, obviously in to load the barrels with their ammunition and to intimedate the hedgehog. Frost simply smirked again.
"Fear not, for Frost has left the building. Chaos Control!"
the hedgehog cried, raising the Chaos Emerald, and suddenly, rapidly warping from the spot nanoseconds before a screeching load of bullets fired in his directions.
A few seconds after some of the smoke and haze dissepated, the soldiers cursed under their breaths to see that their target had dissappeared.

________

In the meantime, the medics by now had picked up Warrick and carried him to the medical bay to be attended to.
Whilst that was going on, Shaide walked up to one of the forensic detectives that was investigating the scene of the crime.
A tall fox, wearing a trenchcoat, by the name of Dale stood there taking notes.
Dale suddenly stopped writing as he heard his mobile going off and picked it up.
"Conor? Yes... the evidence does indeed confirm that the coulprit was that hedgehog... what? You knew that...." Dale paused, and bit his lower lip as he listened stoically "he got away? Awww shucks... that's not good Conor..."
There was a sigh on the other end, before the caller hung up, leaving Dale to shrug, and thus stuffing the mobile in his trenchcoat and continueing to jot down notes on his notepad.
"So who's the coulprit?" Shaide asked.
"Oh... a dangerous and troubled individual. Specimen 156, also known as Frost. A hedgehog... like yourself. He was ironically created by this corporation a long time ago to serve them. But he had other ideas..." the fox replied, simualtaneously jotting down notes, as he observed the cracked glass on the floor, and some of the blood stains.
"The psychotic bastard's just gonna keep coming back and killing everyone if no one keeps a tab on the geezer..." Dale sighed, finishing his writing and looking at Shaide.
"I ain't seen you around before son... what's your deal?"
"Oh, I'm new here. My name is Cam'ron Shaide... but you can call me Shaide..." the hedgehog said, extending a hand to shake Dale's "...Working in the 'weapons and warfare' department. I'm sincerely hoping that what I have to offer might make that much of a difference," said Shaide with an optimistic and cool smirk.
"Nice one ... Shaide..." Dale forced a smile.
'But naive. You get into these jobs thinking you make a difference... but you don't...' the fox detective thought cynically.
"Sir!" a German Shepherd detective dog said, tapping Dale on the shoulder "you have to come look... apparently we've had stuff stolen!"
"What... from the same guy?" Dale frowned.
"Dunno... but I can say we've lost 3 CE dectectors and some mobile phones..."

______

Trey's hideout

Tails frowned, before blinking as he stared at Wraith. His eyes were becoming glossy from tears he wanted to shed, but he held them back.
"I... I... can't remember..." Tails stuttered.
"It's okay buddy... you can tell us." Trey reassured him.
"I'm serious!" Tails insisted.
"Why's that?" Angela asked "you gots amnesia or something?"
"I... I..." Tails stuttered.
He didn't really remember that much at all. He could tell everyone what he remembered... bit and pieces that wouldn't make much sense to them at all.
"I'll tell you what I remember... that day before I the world changed..."
Everyone quietened down, their eyes falling on Tails as they wanted for him to tell the tale. This made it only ever so slightly more intimedating... but then he forced the prospect out of his mind.
"Basically, I hadn't seen Sonic in a while. So I came to station square to find out where he was..." the fox began.
"Amy was away elsewhere so I didn't ask her. I also didn't know where Knuckles was. I thought I may as well go and see the president. He did tell me and Sonic after all that we are more than welcome any time..."
Tails frowned, as the scene suddenly environment suddenly came into his vision.
"The clouds seemed to be blackening as I arrived at the President's HQ. I was in his garden when I heard a crack of thunder and looked towards the skies which looked abnormally turbulent. Naturally I wanted to get inside as soon as possible..."
"As I ran across the gardens, I suddenly skidded to a halt when I heard a loud gunshot to my left..." Tails said, paling "I heard a girl crying- followed by someone else that gave a dispaired shout. He almost sounded like..." Tails stopped. That bit of information he wouldn't give away in case people would make the wrong assumptions.
"And then I heard a second gunshot," Tails said, biting his lower lip as his eyes shrunk, reduced to fear as he witnessed the day.
"I heard someone fall out the window. I turned to look and it was... it was..." Tails eyes suddenly seeped with moist tears "the president. Fell. He had been shot... so cruelly..." the fox said, rubbing his eyes.
Before anyone could come to comfort him, Tails stood up, walking to one side of the room and facing the wall. He didn't want anyone's pity for now, although it was more sympathy the guests would have wanted to offer.
"And then I ran inside. I had to find out who would do such a thing..." the kitsune said, turning around to face his audience as he shook a bitter fist. But he kept his eyes on the ground the whole time.
"By the time I had got there... outside his room... the door slammed in my face and knocked me to the ground. I fell like a helpless, pathetic ragdoll..." he winced.
"I fought so hard... fought so hard to stay awake to find out who it was that was responsible for this..."
Tails' head hung low, choked with dissappointment- finding it too overwhelming to say what he wanted to say next.
"I saw a black and red hedgehog run out... with a gun..."
There was a long pause, during which time Tails felt numb and almost forget where he was and who he was.
"And after that... I woke up... to this..." he uttered with a hoarse voice, gesturing with his open hands "wandering the streets and finding the answers to what happened. No such luck... no Sonic... no Knuckles... no world..."
Angela blinked, before exchanging a glance with some people in the room.
"So is he saying the president's assisination has something to do with the ARK incident?"
Tails had had enough. He walked out the room. Unburying some of the harsh events had obviously been hard for him.

(OOC: Yeah I'm in England too. Came as a bit of a shock, hearing about that attack, but I'm not worried, partly because I'm a way away from London and partly because I have strong religious beliefs. My sympathies to those caught in it though.)

IC:
There was a pause, as though everyone was shocked speechless by the story, then Wraith stood up and left the room too, following the Fox.

"Curious." muttered David in his almost unwaverinly calm voice. "The only figure in my memory banks matching that description is a certain Shadow the Hedgehog. Data on him is incomplete."

"If Tails was a witness to the murder he could become a target for Shadow." murmured Arista, thinking aloud.

"But he wasn't a witness." corrected Ed. "He didn't see the murder first-hand."

"No, but he did see Shadow leaving the scene. That's got to count for something."

===========================================================

In the corridor outside Wraith came up behind Tails, who was leaning against the wall, his head on his arm. "Hey man," he started, "that's nasty."

Tails shook his head. "I...I don't want to talk about it."

Wraith nodded slowly. "Okay." he replied. There was a pause for a moment, then Wraith grinned. "Hey, you remember that time in the Ice Cap zone when we all went snowboarding and Sonic got stuck in that snowdrift upsidown?"

Tails smiled, despite his watery eyes.

"We couldn't get near him to pull him out because he kept kicking so much." Wraith continued. "Eventually we had to lasoo his foot to drag him out!"

They both chuckled together as they remembered the fun. Then Tails' face became downcast again. "How did it all happen Wraith?" he muttered folornly. "Where did we go wrong?"

"We didn't." replied Wraith, shaking his head. "No one could have predicted this. We aren't to blame for the chaos Tails."

"But...so many have died...so many lives..." Tails' voice became hoarse.

Wraith leaned forward and put a hand on his shoulder. "Tails listen. You can't blame yourself for all of this. You didn't kill them! You weren't responsible! Murder is when you pull the trigger, when you swing the sword, when you throw the punch...believe me, I know!"

Tails blinked and turned to look at Wraith, a confused expression on his face. Wraith sighed, looking away for a moment. Then he raised his head and looked the Fox in the eye. "We never told you because you were young. We figured it best." He pointed to the triangular metal implant on his forehead. "You want to know how I got this?" he asked.

Tails blinked again. He had always assumed that it was just some kind of ancient Echidna ornament, like a ring or a necklace.

"You know I'm Knuckles' older brother." said Wraith. "What you don't know is that origionally I was chosen to be the Guardian of the Chaos Emeralds, not him."

Wraith sat down, leaning his back against the wall. "When they chose me they put me through a series of conditioning sessions to make me less trusting of others...more alert to danger, etc. The trouble was they didn't realise just how far they were going."

His eyes flicked up to meet Tails' again. "They turned me into a monster." he said slowly. "I became paranoid, convinced that everyone I knew was plotting things against me, scheming to kill me somehow. And along with that I started to think of myself as better than everyone else. I actually began to believe that I was some kind of god!" He sighed long and hard. "It steadily got worse and worse, until eventually, it was too much. I was convinced that all the scientists were going to kill me...so...I killed them first."

Tails caught his breath in shock, confounded by the conversational manner that Wraith had delivered it in! "Every one of them," the Echidna continued, "one after the other, in cold blood." Tails was shaking his head from side to side slowly. "What...happened...?" he whispered.

"Eventually they caught me. They tried to control me by implanting this device in my brain, but it didn't work. Finally they wiped my memory and put me in stasis in one of the Floating Island's vaults...that was where Knuckles found me." He folded his arms across his chest, a far away look in his eyes. "When I woke up I couldn't remember it of course, but Robotnik found a way to activate the implant and control me like a robot at one point. We defeated him, but the experience re-activated all my memories." He closed his eyes, as though in some kind of pain. "I still have nightmares. I will for the rest of my life. Their faces full of fear, their screams..."

Tails was staring at him open mouthed. "Wraith...I...I never..."

Wraith shook his head, as though waking himself up from a dream. "Sorry. I didn't mean to go on like that." He stood up, turned to face the Fox and put a hand on his shoulder. "My point is this: I have been a murderer. I know what it takes to be one, what it's like, and I can promise you this, you are NOT a murderer. You are NOT responsible for all of this chaos."

They stood, staring into each other's eyes for a moment, then Wraith stepped backwards and turned to head back into the main room. Just before he left the corridor he paused and glanced back at Tails slowly. "I'd...appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about that...especially Arista." he muttered. "And...I hope that it doesn't affect our friendship in any way..."

He turned and stepped back into the room where the others were, leaving Tails to think about what had been said...

(OOC: Well, there you have it, Wraith's secret past! This story was actually being played out in another RP, but it's kinda fizzled out atm. Hopefully it'll get going again soon. As for the controling implant on his head...well...that might possibly come into play again later on in the story maybe Ben...? The option's there anyway...if anyone would ever wish to use it...

Also I hope I've played Tails ok. It strook me from his charater in the games that he may blame himself for some of the chaos)