...Oh...this isn't good...

[Relic Drake]

A very pained look over came Priscilla's face as Shadow's words, as his tone, set into the white wolf's head. She grit her teeth letting out a very low growl.

"You know this impudent cretin?" her words dripped with venom. "Then you could explain to him he's declaring HIS OWN DEATH WARRANT!" she pointed her her sword at the figure. Her eyes wide with rage, a very displeased scowl twisted her lips. her entire snout twitched in anger.

After a second to compose herself, she softened the scowl but remained in the same position. Though even in her fluster, she still caught 'chaos emerald' in the dialogue.

"Choose your next words wisely, whelp. For there are many things in this world that contrast death as paradise itself." Gone was the flare of rage from before, now replaced by seething contempt.

[Shadow]

"Is that a threat?" Shadow called down, his scowl deepening ever so slightly, bright red eyes narrowing to a cold glare. "You're in no position to threaten me." His statement might seem cryptic or even downright silly to her, but to Nail, who had a sense of what Shadow could do, it would be obvious. A slim, clearly not physically inclined girl of supple body but weak arm threatening the Ultimate Life Form with the sword equivalent of a tooth pick was almost laughable. Even as he stared her down the thought brought the slightest of smirks, twitching at the corner of the hedgehog's mouth as he tried to resist the temptation to taunt her.

The hint of a smile left his features as his eyes turned to Nail, ignoring Priscilla's hollow threats in favor of dealing with the problem at hand: the escaped convict. "I have no idea who you are, convict. I don't know who Sarath is and I've never seen you before, let alone received a Chaos Emerald from you." His cold glare softens for the slightest of moments, and from body language alone one could almost hear him sigh, though no such sound was made. "You aren't a bad guy? They don't incarcerate people for nothing. What did you do?"

[Nail Strafer]

As Nail got rather pointed statements from the other two, he tried to speak, but could only stammer out mutterings.

The situation seemed to only be getting worse and worse as he stood here. If Priscilla thought he was friends with Shadow, there went his chances of getting her to help him. But the two of them would definitely lose if they tried to fight him.

Keep calm Nail. Just relax and work with what you've got...

An idea struck him as he watched Priscilla continue to threaten Shadow. He honestly didn't care who won as long as he got out of here without getting caught by the law. So if he got them to fight, he could slip away into the city while they were busy.

The hybrid eyed the pink shopping bag, which he hoped had the clothes he asked for. He could snatch it and run once the battle started. Not to mention the chain was weakend from that first strike. If he could find a hack saw or something he could probably finish the job in several minutes, given a little peace and quiet.

His course of action chosen, he made a sideways comment to Priscilla. "He's not a friend of mine. We just happened to run into each other several years ago."

And then he responded to Shadow's question with a comeback.

"Who are you to judge, Shadow? You used to be bad too, you know! I'm only wearing these for things I've already reformed for."

He knew it was a really ballsy move to say that, but he had to keep up the impression he was on Priscilla's side until the invevitable battle started.

[Relic Drake]

Priscilla 'true' sword was due to arrive now. Like a comet from the heavens, the coal black figure landed in the alley with a mighty impact. Relic had launched himself from one of the near by rooftops, knowing full well Priscilla demanded he make a grand entrance when she called. Every part of Drake was a weapon to be used, including his mere appearance. Sowing dread and fear at the first sight of the vulpine knight.

As the relic from the past began to rise to his his full height it became clear to both Shadow and Nail he completely dwarfed the two. Barely coming off a knee he was already taller then Nail, who until now had been the tallest one here. He kept rising to his over 6 foot stature. The suit of armor expanded and contracted as he took breaths of air.

He was clearly a fox, yet his armor bore draconic designs. The frills on his full helm, his taloned grieves, his claw like left gauntlet. A weapon in itself, the fist it made was as big as shadow's chest. It didn't look less brutal when he opened it revealing the dagger like digits.

Drake's unholy appearance was complete when he unfurled his dragon like wings. Instead of skin stretched over the 'skeleton' it was it in fact chain mail. The dread knight took a step forward, the metallic talons making a hard clack sound as the met the stone floor. A stone floor that now had two large cracks in it.

When Relic arrived Priscilla had a grin on her face. Almost to the point of being silly. 'Duke' may have showed some reservations about fighting this Shadow, with his chaos emerald. The wolf, on the other hand, had no doubt in her mind Drake could meet and exceed anything Shadow could out put.

Priscilla gave Nail a sort of kissey face.Now that Relic was here, her anger had completely subsided. "Such a wise choice, Remaining in my favor will prove quite the boon." she let out a small chuckle as she never stopped observing, even when angry. "You're not planning on leaving me, Pet? Not after completing your end of the bargain?!"

When Priscilla asked the question, Relic's complete attention turned to the hybrid. The jaw on the helmet seemed to shift, but no other movements could be seen from the knight.

"Relic." Priscella calmly said with out turning from Nail. The knight shifted in response. "The cur on the rooftops" Relic turned his attention to shadow. Forming his left gauntlet into a giant fist and then relaxing. "If he's ever in grasp" her tone became very serious "Break him."
She gave the order for Shadow's death likes she was having a side dish from a restaurant. Completely lacking any passion behind it.

[Shadow]

"Who are you to judge, Shadow? You used to be bad too, you know! I'm only wearing these for things I've already reformed for."

Raw rage and disgust overtook Shadow's features for the briefest of moments, but long enough for Nail to catch it before his signature scowl returned. Exerting all his self control, the hedgehog refrained from addressing the direct attack on his character. "Reformed? Which is why you're running around unguarded in prison clothes and handcuffs, I'm sure."

Fortunately for Nail both his offensive behavior and Shadow's resulting anger were eclipsed by the entrance of what at first appeared to be something launched out of a catapult. The first thing the hedgehog noticed, obviously, was his size. Even the Ultimate Life Form was taken aback for a moment by the stature of the beast, easily towering over the short hedgehog. Not that he hadn't fought bigger... the Biolizard immediately came to mind, and Shadow couldn't help but smirk. There were a surprising number of similarities, actually. Huge and physically imposing, clearly possessed of tremendous strength (if he hadn't catapulted himself here that meant he had jumped, that alone was an incredible feat), and of course extremely heavily armored. The Biolizard was the second toughest enemy he'd faced, second only to the Blue Blur himself. But it had fallen just the same.

"So you call in your henchman to deal with me for asking a simple question," he said, the smirk still spread across his lips though his voice held no amusement. "Not very sporting."

Abruptly his entire demeanor changed. The smirk vanished, his eyes grew hot, the red irises almost seeming redder as they glinted in the moonlight. Where before he had been scowling, for the most part emotionally neutral beyond some variety of displeasure, now his look was one of focused hatred, directed only at Priscilla.

"You harbor a criminal, respond to inquiry with threats and aggression, threaten your own colleagues, sentence strangers to death without thought and yet let those more capable than you do your dirty work while you cower behind them. You are a heartless coward and for that you deserve to die." The stoic calm his voice usually held was gone, replaced with the simmer of rage. Everything about him emanated anger and hate, like everything good and heroic about the Ultimate Life Form had been extinguished like a candle. Nobody, not even Sonic, and certainly nobody here, had seen him like this before.

"I'm giving you a head start. Run, coward. Be gone before I return, or this will be the only mercy the likes of you will receive from me." His glance shifted to Nail for just a moment. "That goes for you to, convict. You're next." With those words and a flash of light, the hedgehog was gone.

[Nail Strafer]

For the second time in a couple minutes, Nail fell flat back on his tail as the giant slammed into the alleyway. Flash of light, psycho hooker, Shadow, and now a monster out of a fairy tale. This wasn't a dream, was it? But dreams usually didn't hurt this much, as he stumbled back onto his feet and gazed up at the beast still standing up and getting taller and taller.

Honestly, he didn't hear a word anyone else said after that thing appeared. It had captured his full attention, and filled him with a deep dread as it dwarfed everything else in the alleyway. When he looked at Nail, the hybrid's blood ran cold.

Only the flash as Shadow vanished woke him up from the trance, as he reflexively turned to face the light.

"Chaos control!"

Even though he didn't actually consider the other two his allies, he reflexively called out to help them since they were temporarily on the same team.

"He's warping! Watch out! He could be anywhere!"

Nail, for his part, slammed his back against the wall so that Shadow couldn't get behind him. His foot brushed against something, and saw that he'd ended up standing right next to the bag of clothes.

At least THAT'S worked in my favor. Also, Shadow sounds like he wants to go after Priscilla and this guy first before he goes after me, and even though he's Shadow I think it'll take a while for him to take that beast down. I just have to wait until the battle proper starts, and then run like hell. Bet the fight'll last for hours...

His handcuffs still jingled on his wrist though. Meekly, he spoke to Priscilla again.

"Could you please get these off me? If we're to fight, I'd be much more help without the chains."

[Relic Drake]

Priscilla didn't seem alarmed at the fact that he could be 'any where.' The wolf had become proficient in two forms of magic. Shields and teleportation. "I think you look much tougher in those shackles." she joked with Nail. She couldn't afford the half wolf from slipping away from her just yet.

The wolf started making her way out of the alley. Relic gave Nail a stern looking, motioning for him to go to. The gigantic fox would take care of the rear. If Shadow wanted to attack any one's rear he'd put himself right in Drakes sights. Each of the knight's arms began to cackle with energy. His left gauntlet gaining a blue hue as his right arm was over taken by crimson electricity.

"You'd think you would have had your fill of combat, wait you think he would actually attack?"

"Perhaps, Fear is the mind killer." Drake's tone was very grave, as if he had reservations in actions. He would truly take no satisfaction in killing shadow, he silently hoped that the hedgehog had run off.

[Shadow]

Unfortunately for Relic, and perhaps even moreso for Priscilla, Shadow had not run off. And Shadow was not afraid. He only needed a moment to make his appearance match the mind within.

As Priscilla began to move out into the street, the Crimson Knight watched her. "Not running fast enough," he muttered under his breath. "As if I'd let her escape regardless."

The hedgehog stood a ways down the street, shrouded in the shadows in the center of the road where the dim glow of the streetlamps don't shine. His black fur rendered him nearly invisible, but the glint of metal would betray his position to a searching eye. Gloves had been forsaken in favor of gauntlets, and his Air Shoes sported armor plates. The silver-white triple chevron pattern on his breastplate gleamed brightest in the moonlight, and his face was masked by the wide six-slotted faceplate of his helmet. He had forsaken his cloak for the time being: it would only get in the way here, and intimidation clearly would not aid him in this fight. Finally, a blade rested in his grip, a wide, curved sword with a wider guard, almost as long as the Crimson Knight was tall.

"Foolish woman. You use your henchman to fight for you and yet you set yourself in front of your allies. You aren't even a good coward." The words were too quiet for her to pick up from this distance, but soon she would hear a different sound: that of the subtle rasp of shifting metal and the hiss of rushing air as the Crimson Knight went from standing still to sixty miles an hour in an instant, rocketing down the street, sword held high to deliver her the killing slash before the fight could even begin.

[Nail Strafer]

As Relic nodded at Nail and filled him with a fresh dose of terror, the half breed wondered if he would have been better off just staying in prison. Meekly, he picked up the shopping bag and followed after the two.

So much for quietly sneaking out the city... Now I'm walking around with a creature straight out of a gothic horror story.

Since Priscilla now knew his backstory, he supposed there'd be no harm now in asking some questions. As they walked into the street, he quietly started talking to her, but only just loud enough to be heard over the ponderous footsteps.

"Did you get here in a bright flash of light, like I did?"

It would definitely explain why she and her minion felt so out of place compared to their surroundings. But before she could answer, he spied someone about Shadow's height and build standing in the middle of the street.

True, the hedgehog had deliberately chosen to stand in the darkness to hide, but it wouldn't be much help considering Nail had a wolf for a father and could see through the dark. And it would probably be the same case for Priscilla as well. But now he looked like he was wearing armor...and had a sword...

"I think I see him again," Nail spoke quietly, so that Shadow wouldn't hear.

Oh crap, where did he get a SWORD from? I don't remember this!

He sidestepped off to one side of the road, hoping Shadow would go after Priscilla first as promised. And it looked like he was right, as Shadow darted down the road straight for Priscilla.

Big guy better win, or I don't know what's gonna happen to me...

[Relic Drake]

Relic was sworn to protect Priscilla, he'd never have her out of arms reach. Lunging his arm forward as he took a step towards his master he placed his left gaunt on her shoulder. Wrapping the knife like digits around her Shadow's sword found an armored wall of steel instead of Priscilla's supple flesh.

Priscilla was completely unmoved by the event. She hadn't really expected Shadow's attack, not had she anticipated the speed at which he could deliver it. She admitted to herself she had under estimated the black hedgehog. What she had also failed to do was over estimate Relic's ability to protect her. Never had she seen him fail to guard one from damage, even at great harm to his own being.

Given the chance to speak to the hedgehog now that he was in ear shot.

"Cur, do not think you can simply ignore the ageless relic."

The white wolf motioned to pushed the gauntlet off of her. With a surge of power Drake violently heaved his gauntlet off Priscilla. If Shadow had not taken his sword back quickly, he'd find it uncontrollably thrust to the side. Drake could not be directly contested in strength.

"Does it sting knowing you're but an ant before such power? power that I alone wield?"
She shot a look back at Nail. "Power that can turn on you in a whim."