Chapter Nine: To find an Egg in a Chicken House

"Who is she," Shadow trains his crimson eyes on the quivering bats tawny ones.

"Agent Cocoa," Rouge says, gliding out of the tree, and standing next to Shadow. "One of G.U.N.'s Intelligence officers, a desk jockey really. What she's doing here I have no idea."

Cocoa swallows, "I-I-I was sent to t-tail M-Metal Sonic, I swear!"

Rouge narrows her eyes, "You were always a terrible liar, Cocoa, I don't know why you even try."

"What I want to know," Shadow says, clicking back the hammer on his gun. "Is why she feels the need to lie in the first place."

Cocoa widens her eyes, and her complexion goes from milk-chocolate to caramel. "Oh Chaos," she squeaks, and faints. Reave raises an eyebrow, "She fainted?" shadow points his gun into the air, and shoots, making Spike jump. Cocoa doesn't even twitch in response.

Shadow sighs, "Well she's not faking. Let's get her inside, get Cream to wake her up, and maybe we can get some real answers." Shadow holsters his gun, and walks off. Reave picks up the unconscious Cocoa, and follows after the others.

About an hour or so later, Cocoa's eye blink open. She's on Amy's couch, a blanket wrapped around her, and a wet washcloth folded on her forehead. Cream is standing nearby, Cheese, her pet Chao, standing on the coffee-table.

"Oh, good, you're awake!" Cream smiles down at the bat who smiles back. Cocoa looks past them to see Rouge looking over in her direction.

She gets up, "Thank you, Cream, now I need to have a talk with her."

Cocoa looks around in a panic, her eyes searching for Shadow. She sees him over by the window, examining the fake Chaos Emeralds. He doesn't look over, not interested in the revived agent.

Rouge sits on the couch, "Now, Cocoa, please be honest with me. Why are you here? I'm sorry that we scared you earlier, but we would like to know please.

Cocoa takes the washcloth of her forehead, and wipes her face with it, nodding. "I'm sorry that I lied, but... well... you, and I don't really get along that well. I thought that if I didn't have a better reason for being here, then you wouldn't even try to tolerate me."

"Please," Rouge says, rolling her eyes. "You might annoy me sometimes, but I don't hate you, Cocoa. So come on, tell me the truth."

Cocoa gulps, and starts wringing the washcloth. "Well, with the epidemic the way it is, G.U.N. Is kinda shorthanded, so even office workers like me are being put in the field. You're right, I wasn't ordered to tail Metal Sonic, but I thought I could make it work to... anyways, my orders came in yesterday that I was being reassigned to work with you. I knew that you would treat me like a burden, so I didn't make my presence known right away... I'm so sorry."

"Hey, it's okay, but how did you know where to find us? I was stationed in New York at the time, so how did you get here in time?"

Cocoa scratches the back of her head, "Well I had been told that you were supposed to recruit the Sonic Team to help us, so I thought that I would just rendezvous with you here. Heh, I got here too late though to be of any help."

"Meh, I wouldn't say that," Rouge leans forward a bit. "you had the sense to know where' we were headed. That's you thinking like an agent in my book."

Cocoa smile, but then frowns when she looks at Shadow, "Are you sure it's okay to work with him though? I mean, he..."

"I know," Spike says in a comforting voice, leaning on the back of the couch. "He scares me too."

Reave whacks him in the back of the head, "Ow! Hey, man, don't you ever get tired of that?"

"You have no idea, but for some reason I just can't help myself."

Cocoa giggles, and Rouge pats her shoulder, "I know Shadow looks like a scary guy, but he's a good guy. I trust him."

Cocoa looks at her then nods, "Then that's good enough for me."

Rouge smiles, "Then welcome aboard, Agent Cocoa. This is Reave, and Spike, two of Shadow's associates."

"Nice to meetcha!"

"A pleasure."

"Now," Rouge stands up. "I think Cream is about finished with lunch, better hurry up before it gets... Hey, where did Spike go?"

"Guess," Reave rolls his eyes. He heads for the dining room, and Cocoa gets up to follow. Rouge calls in on her radio, and then joins Shadow at the window.

"Well, did you hear all that?"

"I did," Shadow sets one of the fake emeralds down. "And what's the verdict?"

Rouge sighs, "Well her story checks out, G.U.N. has ordered her to work with us."

A beat of silence, and then Shadow says, "Will she slow us down?"

Rouge frowns, "Most likely, yeah. Cocoa is still wet behind the ears, a total rookie as an agent. Her only field experience was with me, and that was about five years ago."

"Hmph," Shadow picks up the emerald again.

"Maybe we can convince one of the others to babysit her. I'll talk with Reave, if we get Spike to do it she might get hurt while he's showing off."

"Yeah, but..." Shadow is focused on the emerald again.

"...Okay, Shadow, please tell me that there's a prize in that thing, because not liking how much you're zoning out with it."

He looks up at her, and then puts the fake emeralds away. "There's just something bothering me, but I think I'll wait until the others are here."

The doorbell rings, and Shadow looks out of the window. Cream checks the camera before opening the door, and letting Knuckles in.

"Thanks for coming, Mr. Knuckles!" Cream squeaks. "We have lunch in the dining room, grilled cheese!"

"Thanks, Cream," Knuckles glances around before narrowing his eyes at Rouge, and Shadow. He doesn't say anything, but just follows Cream to the promise of food.

Rouge calls them all into the living room when they're done eating.

"Well, I guess there's not much more to explain that you all don't already know. Since Knuckles agreed to join us we're almost set to go. I've called into G.U.N., and they are adamant about wanting Sonic with us. The only thing left is how do we find him?"

The room is quiet, and then Tails speaks up, "What about a Telecast? Once Sonic sees that, he'll come, right?"

"That's assuming he's anywhere near a TV," Reave points out. "If he's out in the country them it will be like yelling at a deaf man."

Shadow recalls what it was like to be all alone in the wilderness, if Sonic was like that, then there was no way to contact him.

"Did he say anything to anyone about what he was planning to do?" Rouge looks around hopefully, but no one has anything to offer.

Knuckles frowns, and looks at Cocoa, "And of course G.U.N. Intelligence doesn't have anything to offer us."

Cocoa sits up, "Well, as a matter of fact, I might have something worth adding." Knuckles turns to her, and she shrinks back a little. "Ahem, um, to the best of my knowledge the last sighting G.U.N. Has on Sonic was a little over half a year ago out at sea."

"Hey," Tails is rubbing his chin. "Come to think of it, that's when I last saw him too. Eggman was trying to capture a oil refinery so he could have all the emergency fuel he could ever need. Sonic had come to me asking for a ride, but I couldn't find him after Eggman had run away."

Cocoa nods, "The refinery is running now, so it's been confirmed that Sonic isn't there."

"He must have left somehow,"Amy says. "But how?"

Cocoa shrugs, "No one knows, or at least G.U.N. doesn't. If we knew, then we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"What about Fatty," Spike says, scratching his head. "How'd he get away."

"Well the Egg-Carrier was there that day," Tails looks up at the others. "You think it's possible that Sonic got beamed onto it with Eggman?"

Cocoa scratches her chin, "It's a possibility, but I don't think we can investigate that lead. First, we probably don't have the time to search it; second, we don't know where it is; and third, Eggman could be behind the epidemic, we could wind up walking into a trap."

"But it's our only lead," Shadow's voice comes from the stairway. "Rouge, we can get permission to go after it if we have nothing else, right?"

Rouge, and Cocoa share a look, and then she nods, "Yeah, I think so."

"Then we might have all that we need out on the lawn. If we can get those piles of scrap back to a laboratory, then we can probably find a flight record." Shadow looks at Tails, "Right?"

Tails nods, "If they're not too damaged, then I might be able to come up with something."

Shadow nods, "Rouge, call it in. Spike, Reave, help me get these things to the kid's lab."

"Hey, who made you the leader?" Knuckles crosses his arms.

"Do you have a better idea?" Shadow stares at Knuckles, who says nothing. "At any rate, I wasn't talking to you. You're free to help if you want, I don't care."

"Um, ahem, w-what about me?" Cocoa stands up.

Shadow looks her up, and down, and then says, "Why don't you come with us? If something happens, Rouge can call you up, and vice verse." Shadow walks outside, and picks up one of the fallen fake Metal Sonics. He watches Spike, and Reave do the same, and then they stop. Cocoa comes out with Tails.

"My lab isn't too far from here, I'll go get the Tornado."

"Maybe it's time you just got a car," Amy steps out, And tosses Tails a set of keys. He presses a button, and the garage opens, revealing two convertible sports cars. One is a hot pink color, and the other a royal blue.

"Let me guess," Spike tosses his Metal Sonic into the trunk of the blue one. "This one was supposed to be for Sonic?"

Amy blushes, "O-of course not! What would Sonic want with a car? I just bought it because it reminds me of him, that's all."

"Right, I'll believe that... never," Spike ducks as Reave takes a swing at his head. "HA!" Spike sticks out his tongue, and Reave gives his chin a light uppercut, just enough to make him bite it.

"Thank you," Amy waves, and walks back into the house. Tails hops into the driver seat while Shadow takes shotgun. Spike sits behind Shadow, and Cocoa sits between him, and Reave. Tails starts the car, and they take off down the road.