Bet you're shocked I posted this. I am too...but you all have Misty the hedgehog to thank for that X3 I've been writing with her for a while and figured I might as well finish this and move on to others.

So we've got this snazzy new feature of adding sotry covers, huzzah!

Chapter 10: Almost Out

Poppy grinned at the two mobians that sat in the room. She had switched into her jeans and shirt since Unknown had captured the detective. She hated the clothes the nicer side of her wore, but had to tolerate it while she was dormant. But, on the bright side, the nice version of her had unknowingly helped capture one of the detectives that was tracking her down; or so she had been told by Unknown and Malice.

She walked over to the chameleon and looked her over, "You need a name." She told the teenager. The girl did not respond. "How about Julie?" She asked.

Still no response.

Poppy crossed her arms, "Well you're no fun are you?" she half growled, "At least Dawn whined a bit when I got her."

OoOoO

"Are we almost there?" Charmy whined from his place on Vector's shoulder.

"Just shut up." Unknown growled, "You asked that five seconds ago."

"But it's taking to loooooooooooong." The bee complained.

"Just quiet down, Charmy." Vector said, "You're not the one walking the whole way."

"But it's booooooooooooooring!"

The trio could hear their guide grumble something, but made no response to it. "Just another ten minutes." The black chameleon said. "And you better not be getting any smart ideas, ninja boy." He added in a growl.

"I'm doing nothing of the sort." Espio replied calmly.

Unknown looked back at the three with a scowl, they were blind folded so could not see it, but he knew they would have been wearing dirty looks if they could see him. Vector had a hand on Espio's shoulder and the ninja chameleon's hand on the assassin's shoulder. It was much easier than telling them what to avoid and be sure they weren't walking off somewhere else on accident and looked more mature then leading them along by some rope for them to hold onto like a kindergarten or first grade class would do.

OoOoO

Unknown walked up to the building his boss called a hideout; the building used to be storage for a technology and research company, but was abandoned once the business shut down. The chameleon's boss, Malice "Blackjack" the Rabbit, had taken it over and used what was left behind to make various inventions or find anything interesting popping up in Station Square.

The black chameleon stopped at the door, "Stop." He told the three detectives, and they did. Unknown keyed in a quick code and the door opened with a click. "Alright, we're here." Unknown told them as they stepped in and shut the door behind them then kept walking. "If Malice catches us, you forced me to bring you here, got it?"

"Yeah, whatever." Vector shrugged, taking off the blindfold once they had entered the building.

"Poppy's "special" room is down that hall, it'll dead end, just push on the wall." The black chameleon told them, walking down the hall and disappearing from sight as he turned down another. He appeared a moment later, "Oh, and if she yells 'security' just run." And disappeared shortly after his advice.

The croc had to admit the inside of Malice's hideout was more homey than he had expected it to be; it was nothing like a normal living place, but where he imagined metal or concrete floors there was a carpet, granted, nothing luxurious, but a carpet all the same. The walls were the metal he expected them to be and each door seemed locked with similar metal doors with keypads mounted by each one. One of the few unclosed doors went into a modern kitchen with plenty of space to cook or work with a long island counter surrounded by tall, sleek black chairs.

The three detectives walked down the hall silently; not wanting to set off any security Unknown may have failed to mention. It did not take long to reach the end of the hallway and the dead end Unknown told them would be there.

Espio carefully pushed on the wall, letting it move enough to give them an inch of space to see into the room. The three crowded the crack they had made to see into the room; inside was the brown rabbit girl Espio recalled seeing in the mall and the phony sending address; instead of her shirt and long skirt, she wore the clothes the Chaotix had seen her in when walking with Unknown.

They couldn't make out the words she was saying, but could clearly see she was talking to two girls that sat on metal, very Frankenstein-esque chairs connected to a single machine. The males instantly recognized the chameleon as their lost detective and the second girl as their client's daughter.

"Vector, isn't that the necklace that guy wanted us to find?" Charmy asked, spying the ruby necklace around Silver's neck.

"Looks like it, kiddo." Vector nodded, then backed away from the wall, followed quickly by Espio and Charmy, who huddled by Vector. "Alright, boys, she's just a little girl, so no use fighting her. We're just gonna go in, get the girls and leave, okay? Don't even bother with Poppy."

"Rodger." Espio nodded.

"Okay!" Charmy agreed.

The two reptiles and bee burst into the room, clearly catching Poppy by surprise and made quick work of the straps keeping Kaity and Silver in place.

"Put them back!" Poppy screamed once she had recovered from the initial shock. She followed the three as they carried her dolls away, barely acknowledging her. "I said stop!" She pulled on the big crocodile's tail, but he didn't react.

The brown rabbit snarled and shouted, "Security!"

I'm finishing up in the next chapter, I can't wait to have this one and move on to another story. X3