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Enjoy Chapter 3, here we go!

Chapter 3.

After a brief welcome back, the gang split up and decided to call it day. Tails helped Chuck shut down the computers before heading to bed, Carla visited the Hospital Room to get her arm fixed and Knuckles left for his little hut by the Master Emerald shrine.

That left Sonic and Amy in the kitchens...

Sonic watched the pink hedgehog with an expression close to affection as she took a number of dull ingredients and combined them in a large, simmering pot. She tasted the sauce, dunked the spoon in again, blew and held it out to him. Sonic smiled before tasting, he licked his lips in approval.

" Mmm-hhmm-hmm! Perfecto was always, Amy." He took another spoonful as Amy sliced open a load of finger-rolls, placed warmed frankfurters covered in the chilli-sauce in the buns and set the plate in front of him. " Urm.. haven't you forgotten something?"

"Huh? I-I don't think so. I followed my recipe precisely." She turned away to check the notepad stuck to the cupboard door, missing Sonic's pout. " Nope. I followed it precisely."

" Uh..oh, okay then." He picked up two dogs, " Through the teeth, past the gums. Look out tummy, here it comes!" Throwing the dogs into the air, he swallowed them both whole. He munched his way through the plate while Amy started on the washing up. " AH ! Yum-um-mee!" Bleching loudly, he sat back and rubbed his swollen belly. "Hey, Amy? Leave that for the morning and go get some sleep. You must need it after all you've been through."

" Has to be done." She replied in a flat tone.

"Geez, you're such a cleaning freak! Well, I'm going to bed. Night then."

She didn't turn from her chore to kiss him goodnight, just said in the same flat tone, " Has to be done.."

Sonic left the kitchens, alittle suspicious ( to say the least). He quickly checked in on Chuck and the others before going to his room. He rumaged around before taking a thin,shiny object from his bedside table. He snuck out and headed into the darkness.It had started raining again, and though he really didn't want to get wet, there was someone he had to see before the night was out.

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The main computer bleeped on, there came a cracking of knuckles, then the rapid tapping of keys.

Some static,a clearing a throats, and then," Computer. Access file: SHADOW ALPHA ONE ZERO."

A beep. " Voice verification approved. File SAOZ is password protected. Password please."

" M-A-R-I-A. Maria."

" Password unknown. Level 5 password needed to open file. Password unknown."

A gloved fist hit the desk, " Darn it!"

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Station Square-- Outskirts.

The young lady watched the TV with a bowl of popcorn resting on her lap. A big flash of lighting lit up the darkened room, causing her to scream. The bowl fell to the floor with a clang and hit her foot.

" Oh! Ow,ow, and can I say- OOWW!"

She hobbled into the hallway and the lights went out, she froze. Not another bloody powercut? She edged forward, stubbed her toe on the side-table and yelped.

" You know.." came a voice from the darkness, " you should really have your wires looked at."

It had begun raining, a flash of real lighting lit up the hallway, the girl gasped at the silhouette by the windows. " Y- You're back then?"

"Yeah, came here as soon as everyone was asleep. By your request." The dark stranger walked to the wall and flicked the switch. Green eyes adjusted to the sudden flare of brightness. They smiled, " I'm ba-ack!"

A smile in return, " SONIC!!" She limped over for a hug, " Oh! Welcome home!" She kissed both his cheeks and nuzzled into the warm fur at the nape of his neck.She sensed something was wrong and pulled away." What's wrong?"

" You seem to be the only one who's happy I'm back." A weak grin. " It's great to see you too, Glory."

Glory Robotnik looked at him with narrowed eyes, " You're not smart enough to pull the wool over my eyes, Sonic. What's the matter?"

Sonic sighed, " I'll tell you over a hot chocolate."

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Dawn said hello, the first rays of the sun drifted into the large kitchen where Sonic and Glory sat ,talking the night away and drinking hot chocolate.Serveral mugs later, Sonic sat nursing his luke-warm chocolate, " ..And then she practically threw herself at me. I've never known Amy coming on to me like that before, it was..strange, you know?"

" Strange? "

He nodded, " Yeah, and her chillidogs tasted bland, she didn't kissed me goodnight. I mean right now, she's cleaning the kitchens.. cleaning!? Amy always leaves it till the morning or makes Tails do it. Oh, and she screamed her head off when I hit full speed coming home, she's never done that before.. never. Something's wrong with her."

Glory set down her own mug, " All this after Eggman captured her ? Hhhmm? Mind control? " A giggle, " No, no.. too simple! Must be something more..more complex. Something to get my little grey matter working..." She blinked at Sonic, " And speaking of things complex, I hope you have something for me , Sonic."

Sonic nodded, and reached into his sock, he pulled out the thinest sliver of metal. Placing it onto the table, the hedgehog picked up a cookie and nibbled.

" Amazing!" She slipped on a pair of thick-rimmed glasses and picked up the piece of metal. She tried to bend it, but it just wouldn't go. " Where did you get this from?"

" Badlands."

Her lip trembled and her eyes sparkled slightly." The crater where we battled Celosia? I heard that her remains drifted back to this planet and solidified, but I never... So they named it The Badlands ,huh? Silly G.U.N."

" It seemed to me I wasn't the first one there. There were a lot of digging robots, all bearing the same cheeky-faced logo."

Glory's eyes flashed, " Ivo?" There came a loud ringing that she narrowed her eyes at, " Your quills are singing."

" Huh? Oh, blast!" Reaching for his back, Sonic nearly fell off his stool. He found his phone, flipped the lid, said " Hello?" And covered his ears as Tails started screaming at him from the other end. " What? Level 5-- what? Tails? Tails?!.Damn it!"

Glory sat up at once and started packing a small handbag, " Someone has tried to break into Sir Charles' files. Give me a sec to change and I'll come with you."

He blinked, "W-wha-? Why?"

She stopped as she placed the sliver of metal in the bag, " Level 5 is top secret, Sonic. While you were away, I helped Charles with his firewalls and paswords. Level 5 is Failsafe, nobody can access them, you were here with me so I couldn't have done it, same goes for you. Tails is working on a very important mission on my behalf, as is Knuckles. We need to find who's to blame and quickly."

" Level 5 is about Shadow, isn't it?"

She sighed deeply, " Yes. If the information on those files falls into the wrong hands, we're all in trouble." She headed to her room to change,Sonic sat on his stool and broke his un-finished cookie in half.

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Tails' Workshop.

Glory and Chuck got to work at once, Sonic was standing behind them, every- so-often Chuck would rubbed his chin and shake his head.

" Amazing! The design is near enough perfect.. I mean look at it ! It makes Carla look like a school project."

" Yes. Quite amazing, Sir Charles, amazing. Obviously they thought we'd be too slow on the up-take. As you've pointed out, the design is definitely his style, but that thing... it's so small, how'd it get in?"

Chuck laughed, " Glad you brought that up, Glory, for you see..." He trailed off as he finally spotted Sonic. " Oh.. urm, Sonnie- boy!"

Glory, alittle red in the face, smiled at the hedgehog, " S-Sonic! Excuse me, gentlemen, I have to make a call. Tell Tails to start loading the ship, it shouldn't be long now." She winked at Chuck, before getting out her phone and going over to the otherside of the room to make her call.

" Ok, what the---"

" No time! No time, Sonnie!" Chuck shooed him out the room, ignoring his weak protests. " Go below , find the others and tell Tails that it's time. He'll know what I'm on about."

As Sonic sulked off to the stairwell, he mumbled, " Glad someone does."

He found Tails and Knuckles in a big storage closet, the fox was packing large boxes with all kinds of gizmos and weapons-- handheld guns mostly. He didn't stop to chat because clearly Tails was talking to Chuck via his head-set. Knuckles suddenly grunted into his head-set and went out of eye shot, Sonic didn't see what he was packing next, but when he did come back into view, he gave Tails a very small sliver case.. that glowed.

Amy was easiest to find, for she was still in the kitchens. By now she had emptied all the cupboards, cleaned all the surfaces and was now putting the cans, boxes and other containers back in place according to size and shape. She was paler than when Sonic had left and was talking to herself. Very strange and so un-Amyish.

As Sonic searched the workshop for Carla, he passed the bedrooms and thought for a moment that he saw a whisper- that looked like to him- of a hem of a black coat or robe. He stepped closer, pushed the door ajar and found no one inside, just an open window and an opened black shoe box. His heart hammered in his chest, who had the nerve to dis-respect Shadow's box like this? Panicking, the hedgehog tipped the remainer of its contents onto the bedspread- that was the palest pink- and pawed through it, his heart sank. The most important object in the Friendship Box that Amy had made for Shadow's return was missing.

Shadow's pendent was missing !

And only one of them was missing.

Carla.

The plot thickens..

Anyway, to answer questions, lets just say Shadow will be making a ghost of an appearance, maybe in the next chapt.

Whoops! Said too much!