"For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and provide for it."
Patrick Henry
(…)
My biggest dream was always to become a private detective. I used to think that would be the perfect job… and for a long time, it was. There was a time when a new case, simple as it may have been, filled me with excitement. And the thing that pleased and thrilled me the most was that I would solve it with the help of my friends… but since my friends are gone, things have changed. Being a detective has lost all sense… and it was my fault.
There were three of us at the Chaotix Detective Agency. I was the team leader, my second in command was Espio, the chameleon with ninja skills; and the third one was Charmy, the young bee. Those were good times until that day when everything went to waste.
We were investigating a psychopath who had kidnapped our client's daughter. Eventually, we found his hideout, and due to my eagerness to catch him, I let down my guard and entered the place without checking it first. My friends warned me that it was dangerous, but I didn't listen… and even then, they entered the place with me. The guy knew that we were onto him and set us up: he placed a bomb that detonated two minutes after we got in. Charmy didn't make it… he was just fifteen at the time. Last week he would've turned thirty.
After that, things went from bad to worse. After a while, Espio decided to return to the mountains back to the temple where he had come from and continue with his training. A couple of years later I found out that the temple had been bombed during a local war. No one survived.
And that's how I ended up lonely in this tiny room I use as office and bedroom. Many times I thought about leaving the business, but this is the only thing I can do. Besides, it helps me get by now that my bank account is nearly empty, the same as my wardrobe, my cupboard and my fridge.
However, the cases were being fewer lately and although I didn't want to admit it, I was losing my touch. I came to the conclusion that I would retire after one last case. I was too old a croc to do this kind of stuff.
That afternoon was like usual; I was sitting in front of my old desk playing with my revolver, another artifact which I had occasionally considered using on myself, but never got to actually do it. I was resting my feet over the desk next to a half-empty bottle of whiskey, a phone and a computer, both old and dirty.
Suddenly, the phone rang startling me a bit.
"Another jealous husband…" I said to myself before answering the phone. "Hello?"
"Is this detective Vector?" replied a man with a deep and rough voice.
"Speaking. What can I do for you?"
"I have a job for you."
"You want me to spy on your wife, don't you?"
"Not at all. An artifact of great importance has been stolen from me and I need you to find who's responsible."
"What did they steal?"
"A relic known as the Scepter of Darkness."
"Do you have any idea who stole it?"
"Someone who goes by the name of 'Shadow'."
"Do you know anything else?"
"That's all I know."
"And what is your name?"
"I can't tell you."
"Well then, call me when you can," I said angrily. "I don't work like this."
I was about to hang up when I heard the man's voice again.
"Before you hang up, I suggest you check your bank account."
I quickly typed some things in the computer and the screen showed me my account movements. Someone had just deposited ten thousand rings.
(…)
I put on my coat and my hat, and half an hour later, I was looking for this Shadow guy. I had a bad feeling about this case, but a case is a case and I couldn't give up on it. After all it would be the last.
I looked for Shadow everywhere I could but no one knew him. There were no records, no background nor anything that indicated that Shadow even existed. Just like his name suggested, he was like a real shadow.
After two days of looking for Shadow unsuccessfully, I decided to take on a new course and look for the Scepter of Darkness. There wasn't much information on the matter either, but I was a bit luckier.
I found out there'd been someone who was after the Scepter a couple years ago, although that person hadn't fared so well. So I set off to visit him in Station Square's Mental Institution.
The asylum was a creepy place. The walls, which originally were white, were now dirty and worn out just like the floor. I realized with some sorrow that it reminded me of my office.
An orderly escorted me to the visit room, which seemed to me more like an interrogation room. The only furniture was a large table and two chairs. There were no windows and there was just a door with a tiny opening.
Behind the table, the person I went to see was already waiting for me. He was a tall, grey hedgehog, had two large spines going down to his back and some other smaller spines in his forehead, which resembled a cockatiel's feathers. His amber eyes were lost in the immense. He wore a white robe and I noticed he didn't have a straitjacket.
"Don't worry," said the orderly. "He's always in that state so he's not dangerous. But I do wish you luck getting him to talk."
"I guess if I make the correct questions, I'll get the answers I want."
I sat in front of the hedgehog and started talking.
"I guess you are Silver."
There was no answer, but I didn't expect any.
"I want to talk to you about something… I'm looking for an artifact called the Scepter of Darkness; do you know what I'm talking about?"
He remained silent, but I noticed his pupils dilated when I mentioned the artifact.
"I heard you were looking for it before ending up here."
The hedgehog started trembling and moving his mouth as if trying to say something.
"What happened to you, Silver?"
"Stay away from the scepter…" he said in a barely audible whisper and without looking at me.
"Why?"
"It is cursed… it… took Blaze…"
"Listen Silver, it's my job to find the scepter, so I need you to tell me everything you know about it."
"It… takes them… it needs them… for the trigger…"
"Who takes them? What trigger?"
"The trigger… the Iblis Trigger… it needs life…"
"What is Iblis?"
"Iblis… it needs life… it needs the scepter…"
I noticed Silver was getting more and more nervous and I felt more and more frustrated.
"Alright, I see you don't want to talk, so I'll just go and keep looking for the scepter," I said standing up and turning away.
"NO!"
Upon hearing the scream, I turned immediately. Silver stood up, tossed the table over and ran to me. I tried to defend myself but he was faster. With his hands, he grabbed my neck and pushed me against the wall. He was incredibly strong and had a deranged stare.
"YOU MUST STAY AWAY FROM THE SCEPTER!"
"Let me go… right now…"
"IT WILL TAKE YOU TOO!"
"Please… I can't… breathe…" I uttered almost breathless.
Suddenly, two orderlies rushed in and grabbed Silver taking him off me.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" he exclaimed. "I CAN'T LET HIM GO NEAR THE SCEPTER!"
One of the orderlies pulled out a syringe and gave Silver a shot. The hedgehog started to lose strength.
"No…! You must… stay away…"
I figured it was worth a last try.
"Who has the scepter, Silver?"
"E… E… Eggman…" was Silver's last word before passing out.
Minutes later, the orderly escorted me to the exit.
"What did you say to him?"
"I just asked him what he did before ending up here," I said being careful to not reveal anything important.
"It must have been that," he said thoughtfully. "Poor guy…"
"What happened to him?"
"He used to be a police detective. One day he and his partner were investigating I don't know what and she ended up dead… Really sad."
"His partner's name was Blaze?"
"I think so."
We reached the exit just then.
"Well, thanks for everything and I'm sorry for causing trouble," I said going out without looking back.
(…)
As I walked to my office I kept on thinking over what had happened at the asylum. I still didn't know where the scepter was, but at least I knew it was dangerous… it had killed someone and left someone in the madhouse… another detective, by the way.
Now I had other two things to look up other than Shadow: The Iblis Trigger and Eggman.
Suddenly I thought of a possibility. What if the one who hired me was that Eggman guy…? And if Silver had been a police detective, it was possible that Shadow worked for the government as well. He had to be a member of some special force of sorts. That would explain why I couldn't find anything on him. But I knew of someone who would be able to find him.
In that moment I stopped, and instead of continuing on to my office, I took the bus to this person's house.
Ten minutes later I descended from the bus in a middle class neighborhood. The houses were small but well cared for. I headed to one of them and rang the bell. Seconds later the door opened and a yellow, two-tailed fox with average height and friendly look greeted me. He wore a grey, oil-stained T-shirt and worn out jeans. His blue eyes, framed by square glasses looked at me kindly.
"Hello detective!" he exclaimed. "What brings you here?"
"Hey Tails. I need to find a person."
"I guess the kind of person who doesn't appear in the phonebook."
"You're right."
"I don't think that will be a problem, follow me."
A moment later he took me upstairs to his room.
"And your friend?" I asked.
"Sonic? He's traveling through the country again. You know how he can't stay in one place for too long."
"Yeah, I can tell that."
I met Tails a couple years ago when he hired me to look for a friend who lived with him and was on vacation at the moment. Tails heard that a bomb had gone off where this friend was supposed to be staying. It turned out the guy had changed his mind in the last minute and traveled somewhere else.
Tails was pleased with my work and offered to help me whenever I wanted. He was a successful mechanical engineer, but he was a talented hacker as well, and that was the kind of help I required from him in times like this. Besides I visited him somewhat frequently because even if I didn't want to admit it, the kid reminded me a little of Charmy. Tails was, at much, two years older than him.
"So you're looking for someone, aren't you?" said Tails.
"Yeah, his name is Shadow."
"Quite a mysterious name."
"He's related to an artifact called the Scepter of Darkness and I suspect he works in some government agency."
"So you want me to hack into the government's network, huh…? This should be interesting."
After a while of decoding passwords and jumbling the government's network, Tails stumbled upon a lead. Apparently this Shadow guy worked for the G.U.N. agency, a tactical forces special unit. However upon entering G.U.N.'s network, Tails' computer froze.
"Oh no… you can't do this to me…" exclaimed Tails.
"What's happening?"
"They're trying to block me, but I won't let them."
Tails typed furiously for a while until a triumphant smile appeared in his face.
"Yes! I made it!"
A second later, however, the computer froze again and the screen turned black.
"What!? No, it can't be!"
Tails managed to reestablish the computer but they had already shut him out.
"Dammit!"
"You didn't make it, did you?"
"No… I'm really sorry."
"Don't worry, at least now I know it's not Shadow I need to worry about, but the guy who hired me."
"Who hired you?"
"It seems some guy called Eggman. He didn't want to tell me his name."
"And this is all about this scepter?"
"Yes, apparently Shadow stole it."
Then Tails' gaze turned back to the screen.
"This is odd… Look!"
There was a new email from an undisclosed sender at the screen. Tails opened it and I was quite surprised when I read it. It was barely two lines long:
"I appreciate your perseverance, detective. If you want answers, meet me under the bridge at Station Park tonight at 8:05. Shadow"
"How did he know you were behind all this?" asked Tails.
"It seems I've been followed… this keeps getting better."
"Are you going to that place?" asked Tails. "It may be a trap."
"I know, but I have no choice. I have to get to the bottom of this."
"Be very careful."
"I always am…" I said as I got ready to leave. "Thanks for your help Tails."
(…)
I arrived at the park at the exact hour and went to the place Shadow had told me. I approached cautiously to the dirt road that passed under the bridge and could make out the silhouette of a person leaning over one of the walls, though I could not see him well.
"Good evening, detective," he said with a deep voice.
"How do you know I'm the one you look for?"
"We've been following you."
"And I assume you're Shadow."
"That's right… Follow me please."
Shadow stepped into the light and I could see him well at last. He was a black hedgehog with red streaks in his arms, legs and the spines in his head. He had a tuft of white fur in his chest and his eyes were red. He wasn't as tall as Silver, but by the look of it, he was tougher and certainly more dangerous.
He started walking along the dirt path and I followed. Eventually we arrived at a concrete terrace with a small statue. When we were next to the statue, Shadow stopped.
"Well, what the hell is going on here?" I asked.
"Like I said before, we've been watching you," said Shadow. "We know you've been investigating me and an object called the Scepter of Darkness. We want to know who hired you."
"I don't know, he wouldn't tell me," I stopped for a moment thinking if I should tell him everything and decided that if I wanted Shadow to tell me the whole truth, I should do the same, "though I suspect it's a guy called Eggman."
"That's most likely the case."
"And who's Eggman?"
"Doctor Eggman is a scientist who used to work for a branch of the government. But the guys at the top noticed his hunger for power and fired him. It was then that he swore revenge on us and stole the Scepter of Darkness. We sent a couple of police detectives to get it back but things didn't end up so well."
"You're talking about Silver and Blaze, right?"
"Correct," answered Shadow. "After that, Eggman went into hiding for a while until we finally tracked him down and I was sent to retrieve the scepter. That was when he contacted you."
"And what exactly is the scepter?"
"It's a relic the ancient ones used to make sacrifices to Solaris, the Sun God. However, the legend says that if someone uses it with selfish ends, he will wake the fire beast."
"Don't tell me… Iblis."
"Very well!" said Shadow pulling out a small silver staff with a purple gem at the tip from a pouch. "As you can see, we mustn't let it fall into Doctor Eggman's hands."
"THEN YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE BROUGHT IT!"
Surprised, we both turned when we heard the yell. There in the air, a couple feet from us, in a sort of hovering machine sat an obese, bald man with a notorious orange moustache and an evil grin.
"Eggman!" exclaimed Shadow.
"I appreciate your help in finding my scepter, detective."
"It was my job," I said, "but that does not mean I will give it to you."
"Well, in that case, I'll have to take it by force."
Eggman pressed a button and from his machine came out two lightning bolts that zapped me and Shadow, sending us hurling towards the statue. Shadow dropped the scepter, which flew through the air and into Eggman's hands.
"Thank you very much for your cooperation gentlemen," said Eggman. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a world to take over."
Then he flew his small pod to the other side of the park walls. A second later, I heard a loud noise and saw a larger ship taking off from the street and disappearing into the night.
"He took the scepter!" I exclaimed furiously. "Now what?"
Shadow simply stood up, smiled briefly and pushed a button in a small watch he wore on his left hand. A moment later, a small black ship landed in front of us.
"I knew Eggman was following you as well, so I planted a transmitter in the scepter and waited for him to attack," said Shadow. "The base he used before was abandoned after I first recovered the scepter and we needed to know where he's hiding now."
"So you used me as bait!?" I exclaimed indignantly.
"You know how this is, detective. Sometimes we have to resort to tricks like these, it's nothing personal," said Shadow climbing into the aircraft and then he signaled the copilot seat. "Coming?"
(…)
After some time following the scepter's track, we got out of the city.
"Before we get there," said Shadow handing me a small remote control with a single red button, "this ship has a powerful bomb to use in case of emergencies… if things get ugly, get as far away as you can and press the button."
I nodded briefly and kept the control in my coat. Eventually the scepter's signal stopped at the top of a snowy mountain. When we approached it we found an old military base.
Shadow accelerated and started shooting the wall until he tore it down. The ship descended in the ruined hangar where Eggman had built a sort of pedestal upon which he had put the scepter.
"How nice of you to join the party!" he exclaimed. "We'll begin shortly, but in the meantime, please make yourselves comfortable."
Eggman pressed a button and suddenly we were surrounded by attack robots. We tried to slip through them, but they finally caught us and forced us to kneel in front of Eggman.
"I'll have you know that I need just one more tiny sacrifice to wake the fire beast. Once I finish this, I'll conquer the world," said Eggman. "In thanks for your services, I'll let you witness the show, detective… let's begin."
Eggman stood in front of the scepter and began reciting.
"Through this scepter I offer thee this sacrifice, o powerful Iblis… help me cleanse this world of those who oppose us… now I shall break thy seal… RISE!"
The gem in the scepter started shining stronger and stronger… it was going to get Shadow… I couldn't allow it.
"NO!" I exclaimed with all my strength as I managed to free myself from the robots and started running toward Eggman.
The gem shot a purple lightning that hit me in the chest. Rapidly, I started to feel how my strength faded away. Far away, I could hear Eggman's uncontrollable laughter until I saw from the corner of my eye, that Shadow managed to free himself from the robots and destroy them, and then he pulled out his gun and took Eggman out with three shots. Then he tried to shoot at the scepter, but the energy deflected the shots. With growing despair he looked from the scepter to me and back.
"Do it…" I managed to say with whatever little strength I had.
After a moment, Shadow raised his gun and shot me under the chest. Apparently that was enough to break the bond between the scepter and me. The artifact stopped shining and I fell backwards. Shadow approached me then.
"I'm sorry."
"Sometimes… you have to resort to tricks like these… nothing personal…"
The hedgehog smiled briefly until an alarm went off and suddenly we were surrounded by robots again.
"Get as far away as you can…" I said with difficulty. "I'll hold them off…"
Shadow looked at me for a moment and then smiled again.
"Thanks detective."
The hedgehog managed to knock down a couple robots and ran out of the place.
"I hope the guys don't get mad at me for ending up like this", I thought.
Suddenly I started laughing. I just remembered my oath that this would be my last case… Fate surely had a sense of humor…
"HEY YOU PIECES OF JUNK!" I exclaimed standing up with whatever strength I had left.
The robots stopped following Shadow and started to approach me. Calmly I took out the remote control Shadow had given me.
"Surprise…!" I said smiling.
I squeezed my eyes shut with all my strength and a second later I pressed the button.
