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(OOC: Yeah, the seventh chaos emerald, the grey one, is in Wraith's posession. And with regard to the one Ari has, I don't think GUN will have found it...if you refer back to when she got it from Lucent on the way to Sachio and Morgaine's hideout, she hid it very well where few would think to look.)

GUN Reaserch Labs: Robotics Department.

Frost stood on the brink before the smouldering, ragged hole in the wall, watching, waiting, staring into the gap with his cold, icy gaze for any sign of his mechanical target. Hissin steam from the surrounding pipes obscured his vision into the shadowy depths slightly, but he could see enough to see movement in the area...of which there wasn't any. It seemed to robot was out of commission.

Slowly, he let his tightly clenched fists relax...

A sudden whirring noise as two burning scarlet points of light flicked open in the shadowy gloom, gleaming with terrifying intensity, and like a bullet from a gun David lept back out of the hole, a metal hand closing like a vice on Frost's forehead as the hedgehog was thrown backwards, slammed into the oppisite wall of the corridor in fury! He raised his right hand to try and wrestle the robot's grip off his face, but David's other arm lashed out between them, grabbing his wrist before he could fight back. Not to be outdone, Frost's left hand closed around the robot's neck in a subzero grasp, and all at once the two combattants were locked together in a twisted, tense ballet, unable to extract one another from the enemy's grasp!

David immediately launched into a spin, looping the hedgehog clean around his body to slam him into the wall once again, but Frost bent his knees behind him as he touched the smooth metal, placing his feet squarely on the wall as his legs absorbed the impact. Then, with a roar of anger, he kicked off, launching them both back across the corridor and impacting David's metal form against the oppisite wall. Letting go of the robot's neck, he smashed his arm against David's limb that was holding his head, knocking the robot's grasp off his forehead, before launching a massive punch at the gleaming red eyes before him.

David dodged to the side as the blow impacted on the wall behind him, and using the leverage he still had on Frost's wrist he turned the tables, spinning the hedgehog so his spines were pressed against the wall instead of the robot himself. A metal elbow dropped towards his face, but Frost ducked his head out of the way, a loud CHUNG of metal echoing down the hall as the blow punched a hole clean through the wall. Another blow came flying towards him, and again he ducked, David's arm smashing into the superstructure of the building clean up to the elbow! The robot seemed to pause, however, as his fist became stuck in the debris, unable to pull back out of the hole.

Frost saw his chance, and delivered a massive kick to the robot's chest, propelling him backwards at speed as his arm was torn from the hole with a metallic grinding noise, the plastic skin coating it's length shreadding like the peel of an orange, and the hedgehog immediately pressed his advantage, launching a volley of devastating blows that sent David spinning down the hallway, his metal frame clattering and grinding against the walls and floor as he fell! Frost darted forwards in persuit, pulling back his fist for another punch, but David's metal arm lashed out with inhuman speed, catching his fist before he had the chance to throw it. The next thing he knew his arm was twisted almost out of it's socket as the robot's grip rotated, forcing him into a painful crouch as his arm was pulled over his back, then a metal heel smashed down on the back of his head as David kicked him forwards, his body impacting on one of the large metal doors on the wall of the corridor and smashing clean through it into the room beyond! He rolled down the few small steps in the large, open space, coming to a stop at the bottom as he slowly began to pick himself up, and as he did so the gleaming metal form of David stepped through the bent and mangled doorway, his burning red eyes swiftly scanning about the room for any sign of danger. An experiemental robotics lab, full of inanimate machine parts and tools - very little danger.

He, however, was an unknown. The machine's gaze fell upon the tall, thin man with long greying hair sat in a chair at the back of the room, his eyes wide as he viewed the scene that had just invaded his makeshift cell. Slowly, hesitantly, he stood up from the chair, his own eyes fixed squarely on the robot before him. "D-David? Oh no...w-what have they done to you?"

Frost was already climbing to his feet again, his fists clenched tightly by his sides as he clenched his teeth in fury, but the Overlander raised an arm to wave him away urgently, shaking his head. "Stay back!" he called. "I might be able to control him, but if he percieves you as a threat he won't listen!" With that he took a step forward, placing his hands on his hips as he strook an imposing stance in the middle of the room, keeping the machine's attention. "Protocol Origin Zero-Seven Alpha!" he commanded boldly. "Recognise doctor Dillan Amoz, creator, system ident eight-zero-one-zero command root control. Acknowledge!"

David seemed to freeze for a long moment, his gleaming vermillion eyes locked on the man with an air of what could almost be defined as confusion. "Protocol Origin Zero-Seven Alpha!" Amoz repeated, his body tense. "Acknowledge!!!"

For a long, drawn out moment, there was silence, then slowly the robot's white plastic features shifted as his mouth opened. "Potocol Origin Zero-Seven Alpha acknowledged." he murmured in a voice quite different to his usual innocent, gentle tone...a voice much deeper, darker, more robotic, grating with mechanical distortion and purely functional in it's implementation. "System identification acknowledged. Doctor Dillan Amoz - recognised. Awaiting priority commands."

=====

GUN Cell Block.

"So is that good enough for you or are you just going to leave me here to rot in this cell, either way it doesn't really matter to me!"

As Celey spoke, another figure had stepped into the doorway too, a tall, thin vixen with firey orange fur and gleaming blue eyes. She seemed to be listening even more intently than Max to the racoon's words, and as Celey finished she and the bulldog exchanged a knowing glance together, both looking somewhat impressed.

"Okay..." Max responded smartly, giving Celey a curt nod. "Let's get moving." With that he turned and left the cell, Agis following close behind him, but the vixen stepped forward, offering a paw for Celey to take.

"Hi, I'm Arista. It's good to have another member on the team."

"Celey." Celey responded, taking the outstretched hand and shaking it. "Thanks for your help."

"I couldn't help but hear your story." Ari murmured, her voice full of empathy and feeling. "You aren't the only one to feel that way, many of us have had a similar expreience." It was clear from her pained expression she was speaking of something she knew well. "You aren't alone."

"Thank you." Celey responded, touched by the fellow feeling in Arista's voice. "Do you think it's possible...for things to finally work out? For everything to go back to the way it was before?"

Ari paused for a moment before replying. The question had caught her off guard, and her mind wondered back to the time she had been staring down the barrel of her own gun, held by Lucent...the time when all her hope had seemed lost and her beliefs destroyed. At that point she had given up on the ideals of the Freedom Fighters, realising just how impossible they really were, and in the ensuing confusion and chaos she hadn't really had a chance to give it any more thought. Now...what did she believe? Had anything changed since that moment? Was there any hope at all for their ideals? "I've wondered the very same thing myself..." she spoke up in a voice little more than a whisper. "Sometimes I've been terribly discouraged. Sometimes I've felt like giving up, like the fight is impossible and can never be won." Lucent had had that effect on her - the dark, twisted evil of the Nocturnes leader, cold and somehow mercyless, completely selfish and brutal to his own ends. Yes, what hope was there for the world when chaos such as that reigned?

But something had changed. She could see it now, clear as day, and cursed herself for not recognising it before. Her lust for revenge against Morgaine and her brother had blinded her to it, leading her off on a path to darkness, a darkness like Lucent himself, an evil, selfish shadow that forsook all else. But now, it was different, and she knew why. There, in the alleyway with Lucent, her world had seemed empty because nobody around her cared. Just as Lucent himself, every member of the gang were out for themselves, sticking together only out of a selfish motive of self-preservation and fear that had no real meaning behind it. But during the battle with Morgaine in the boathouse, when she had found herself looking into Jet's deep gaze...during the breakout of their own cell just moments ago with the rest of the Freedom Fighters...during all her time with Wraith, seeing his noble descisions and the bold, selfless resolve in his steel grey eyes, she could see the change, the small gap between the world of Lucent and that of Wraith that made all the difference.

"But then...I think of my friends." she continued, her voice swelling with warmth and determination. "I think of the comradeship we have with each other, and the respect and resolve we share...and I realise that nothing can defeat that, nothing can stop it. It doesn't matter how long it takes, or how hard it will be - so long as we stand together, and look out for each other, we will succeed. We will prevail." A slight watery quality came to her eyes as she looked up at Celey again. "I've learned that the hard way."

Celey was quiet for a moment as she considered the words, her own eyes deep with emotion. "I've been alone most of my life." she responded slowly. "I don't think I've had the chance to learn that at all."

"Well you aren't alone any more." Ari stepped forward, putting an arm around the racoon's shoulders as they began to step towards the door. "We're in this together, and together we can get out. Come on, let's not keep the others waiting."

In the corridor outside, Max was organising the rest of the gang. "We can't exactly go wondering through the halls of GUN as a group." he called out over the crowd. "We'd be taken out or rounded up in seconds. What we have at the moment is the element of surprise, they don't know we've got out. For that reason, most of you are gonna hole up here and lie low. If anyone comes in, capture them and put them in the cells with the other guards. I'll take a small team to get our bearings and find us a smooth way out. We'll keep in touch with the rest of you via radio." He held up the radios they had taken from the two guards earlier. "So, who's with me?"

"Count me in." Agis spoke up immediately, stepping forward. Max glanced towards her, looking at her arm hung up in it's sling, but she shook her head with a wry smile. "I don't need my arms, remember? It's my feet that do all the work."

"Alright...if you're sure." Max relented. "Anyone else?"

"Uh...you may need someone who knows their way around computers." The short figure of Aaron pushed his way through the crowd, the Freedom Fighters' electronics wizard and data administrator who had a crush on the kickboxing lynx. "I guess...I could be there too...i-if you think you can use me."

"Yeah, good point, you're in." Max responded, and the short figure, a racoon like Celey smiled a somewhat nervous smile as he stepped forward to join the smaller team.

"I'm coming too." Arista called as she exited the doorway of the cell with their new ally in tow. "I promised I'd help you all get out of here and I intend to stick to that." Max simply nodded in responce.

"Okay I'll take one more to watch our backs. You..." He pointed a thick finger towards Celey. "...you have any combat experience? You think you wanna come along?"

=====

East Side River.

It seemed Athena wasn't particularly keen on the idea of travelling together.

And neither was she. Tech and Amanda she could perhaps deal with, but these two newcomers were nothing but trouble in her book, particularly the vixen. Ianthe regarded Athena coldly as they stepped down the street, watching her for any sign of danger. This was why she preferred to be alone, aside from the danger she could potentially pose to any friends she might make. There were so few people you could trust in the city these days, and even seemingly amiable friends could turn out to be dangerous if you trusted them too much...

...some perhaps more than others she thought wryly as her glittering emerald green eyes watched the strange fennec with a cold, mistrustful gaze. Athena was currently walking ahead of her, so couldn't see the look in her eye, but it was so intent and piercing that the vixen could almost have felt it burrowing into her back like a drill, digging deeply into her soul as if to scritinise her innmost thoughts and feelings and watching her for any small slip, any move that could be dangerous.

The hedgehog...we was more of an enigma than a danger right now, and to a degree Ianthe could identify with him not knowing who he was. There had been times when she had felt the same way thanks to her condition, times like when she had woken up the next morning with blood on her hands from an unkown source, or come to in an area she had never seen before. Probably this Shadow had different reasons for his confusion, but the similarities were clearly noticable. Not, of course, that this ment she trusted him in any particular way - trust was a very rare commodity for her nowadays.

"So what exactly does anyone know about GUN?" she announced suddenly, looking round at the rest of the group for their reactions. Athena was the first to show a responce, turning to look at her with a sly humour.

"What, you been living under a rock for the past five years?"

"I wasn't old enough to care before all this happened." Ianthe responded, meeting the snide remark with an even, collected exterior. "And since then I've not had any reason to find out about them. I know they're some kind of private army dolled up as a peacekeeping force, and that they have a monopoly on all kinds of equipment and technology, but beyond that I have little to go on. Perhaps some of you could enlighten me."