Chapter 10: Sonic ~ Blaze
"Without looking at the actuarial tables, I'd say the average should be around 60."
"T-this hedgehog is over 250 years old!" I exclaimed, attracting the other visitors' hissing attention.
"Outliers are statistically insignificant when you're conducting a federation-wide census."
The bluntness in the archivist's reply shocked me nearly as much as the revelation. I looked her dead in the eye, hoping for solace, but all I got was bureaucratic indifference. Come on, lady! Hedgehogs weren't supposed to live that long. They're not tortoises…
"I'll be taking that," she said before lowering the report into the paper shredder.
I saw the sensational data go to waste along with the rest of my composure. "No, wait!"
The archivist smiled at me, obviously enjoying my plight. "We are closing. Feel free to apply for a new entry permit tomorrow."
I dragged my hands along my face to contain the seething rage. Truly, bureaucrats had more respect for superficial numbers than the people those numbers represented.
"Fine," I grumbled, turning to leave.
When I thought I'd have a moment to gather my thoughts, she stopped me. "One more thing…periodic donations are preferred."
No amount of coffee could wash down the bitter taste left by my visit to the Federal Census Bureau. Even the flowers I've found on my bed back at the hotel failed to cheer me up. The cynical pragmatism I encountered during my research was out of this world. Had they cared about the data instead of extortion of funds, they could have fixed their abysmal website. Whatever, I got what I wanted…sort of.
I had expected to gather information about Shadow Corp rather than its uptight CEO. Now that I had all of this data, I felt lost. I should have foreseen something weird would come up due to the company's anomalous nature, but not the kind of sensation that could land me in an insane asylum. Perhaps, that was what had driven Amy nuts in the end?
Dr Nega was right: I shouldn't have come to Central City. Robotnik was also right to feel disappointed. Anything they had found was of great use to further their understanding of Shadow Corp. However, they had no motivation to share that knowledge. Everything pointed to the same being applicable in my case. Urgh. Big was going to lecture me for the flop.
Hence, I decided not to tell him. My trip to the capital went swimmingly and I got plenty of interesting guff about Shadow Corp's past. That's what he got from me when I returned, and that was the direction we agreed to work in.
Big rushed me to draft a leader, for some reason. Such articles took time and effort, so his anxiety puzzled me. In fact, I needed to do other things to get my mind off the topic because it had bordered on obsession by that point.
The fact I needed to go to Amy's funeral didn't help. It only gave the darker thoughts more vibrance to ruin my mood. I hated being wrapped in black, but there was no other acceptable colour for a funeral. Hopefully, the ceremony would be over quickly and I'd get tipped off on a positive story. I needed something positive to come up once in a while in order to function.
No such luck: I encountered a few people I had no connections with at the funeral. The formalities were expedient and I had no interest in staying any longer. She was buried in one of the more remote graveyards outside Station Square. Those present seemed to be her family and Amy had a bit of red echidna blood in her. Who knew? Were the circumstances different, I'd have gladly mingled with them because they had raised a real peach. That day, I had already consumed a double dose of dread mixed with paranoia.
Shaken, not stirred, to be swallowed in a shot glass. Cue the headache.
I suppressed the tears for as long as I could, which involved staring at the ground to avoid any eye contact. Her family shared my sentiment because they were related to a suicidal hedgehog. I had no idea why Sonic behaved that way, though.
Sonic T. Hedgehog had the audacity to show his face at the funeral despite being largely responsible for Amy's death. If he had known how to treat a woman, the situation would not have occurred. The bastard couldn't even let go of her properly without making her heart bleed all over, desperate for something to cling onto. Then, he yielded to temptation and I didn't want to know what happened afterwards.
The police told me that she had assaulted Sonic before pressing back against the window and falling to her death. All of the injuries found on her body were self-inflicted. The authorities identified the gashes from the evening she had gone ballistic in her apartment. Her hands would have been dripping crimson were it not for the gloves. Forensics told me it was a classic case. The girl had an overactive imagination, which made it easier to put a crazy idea into action.
At least, they had no reason to distort the truth. Sonic, on the other hand, had every reason to look apologetic and embrace with everyone present to show his condolences before departure.
He seemed more hesitant when he saw me. I snorted once he gathered enough courage for a hug.
"Condolences," he said.
I stifled the burning sensation in my throat as I fought the urge to punch him. "Won't bring her back."
He moved closer to whisper into my ear, "I am leaving Station Square next week. Come with me to Soleanna. You'll be safe there."
"What?!"
Sonic looked around nervously, but it wasn't because he feared me. He didn't go to the funeral alone, and he had more than regular security personnel to watch his back. I heard Charmy holler in the background. The bee was already in the car and must have asked someone to fetch Sonic.
"We're running late, sir," one of the guards said.
The hedgehog patted me on the back. "Amy had faith in you. Take care."
I didn't have a chance to respond because he was whisked away by his entourage. I could only watch his SUV disappear in the distance.
"Strange…" I muttered to myself.
Sonic was in a great hurry, but he found the time to give me more than a line of grief everyone else received. While I had no intention to trust him, considering where it had gotten Amy in the end, he sounded sincere. Amy must have told him enough about me to warrant the tip, and I had to agree that I didn't feel safe in Station Square anymore. Ever since I started working on my Shadow Corp article, these little coincidences happened every day. Even Big's constant rushing seemed suspicious. It was as if the others knew something I didn't.
Which made Sonic's suggestion very timely. Doubtless, he had a lot on his chest and wanted to share it with a person who wouldn't betray him. The marker must have landed on me because I had less triggers available compared to his regular companions. Plus, I had a more personal motive to learn about his brother's activities.
The two hedgehogs must have had a spat of sorts because Shadow always kept Sonic at arm's length for reasons beyond my comprehension. I'd have loved to capitalise on their misfortune if it weren't for the consequence of being tangled in it myself. Then, I realised another unpleasant coincidence...
My visit to Futuretech was scheduled for next week! If I skipped that to see Sonic, it'd bite me in the foot later on. Unlike the corporate-approved R&D tour, Sonic's alternative seemed very private, in a way that would make it unlikely for others to know my exact location.
I decided to see someone before making the choice. The puzzle involved sensitive information, which I couldn't share with my colleagues. If they found out the extent of my knowledge, I'd be in deep trouble. To make things worse, some people were already aware of my snooping, so I had to keep a low profile.
That was why I considered it safe to pay one of them a visit. Dr Nega was pleased to be the one despite the meeting taking place in a hospital. He hadn't recovered since our previous conversation, apparently.
Bedridden, yet perfectly conscious, Dr Nega asked everyone to leave the suite. Tanaka stood outside the door to make sure no one would disturb us until the next IV drip session.
Dr Nega reached out for his bed's controls to assume a more upright position. Modern equipment aside, this was just another private hospital room.
"Pardon me for the lack of hospitality. Doctors consider it a distraction."
I smiled at him for the humour as I sat down on a chair next to the bed. "Don't worry, sir. Tanaka offered me tea on arrival."
He inspected me carefully. Tanaka forwarded him a few updates before letting me enter, so I knew the man's mind was sharp enough to consider them. Just that physical suffering made it challenging for him to hide anything now that doctors had taken his shades away. Dr Nega's face exposed fatigue, but the kind you can fix with a good night's sleep. My fatigue was entrenched deeper than that.
"You seem troubled, Blaze. I assume your trip to Central City went well."
I shook my head, smiling in disbelief at what I was about to say. "Better than I could've imagined, Dr Nega. The things I found out are…unbelievable."
His eyebrows furrowed. "I don't like unbelievable findings, which is why I was sceptical of the trip's utility. If you grow delusional, I'll have negative returns on my investment."
At least, he was being honest about it. While I didn't owe him anything, I wanted to get the job done and leaving a good impression on him would benefit me, considering that he represented the kind of person who would read the article on Shadow Corp. If I didn't have the material to make him believe me, someone with less knowledge of the matter would dismiss my claims entirely. Bullion State would come under pressure from hostile PR firms and face public ridicule.
Dr Nega broke the silence with a hearty laugh. "You are a perfect listener, Blaze. Feel free to speak candidly. It has been a while, after all."
I looked at his shot at optimism and sighed. "I've been meaning to ask… How much am I going to lose by playing this game?"
The optimism faded away in an instant. Dr Nega grumbled audibly, wanting me to continue, so he would have a better idea how to undo my resignation.
"I have reason to believe you are up to something Robotnik is privy to."
His chest rose upon hearing those words. It was a heavy accusation, I admit, but he deserved it. The feeble body contained a cunning mind that would give me the answers if prodded carefully. Or presented the prospects of me quitting.
"Does it concern you?"
I was concerned about subversion, yes. However, the question was not about me.
"No. It concerns Shadow and his brother," I said. There was fleeting a moment of silence as I gathered the right words. "They've had a conflict during my stay in Central City."
He chuckled, looking at me as if I were a naïve child. "What makes you think the conflict wasn't there before?"
"Why, I…"
That one took me by surprise. Dr Nega weighed his words as carefully as I, so the tip contained a clear instruction at the very least. Sonic had always stayed in his brother's shadow because he respected the black hedgehog. That was how I understood their arrangement. That was how everyone else understood it, too. Both hedgehogs acted supportive in public for a time too long to be a mere PR stunt.
I needed to verify a few details. If Dr Nega wanted to throw me in the wrong direction, he succeeded, but it'd take me just a few hours to find out. He wouldn't risk annoying me; the man was in no condition to afford losing progress.
"Blaze, you should pick a vector that will help you write the story. If you concentrate on underwater currents too much, you will end up in my condition at a much younger age." It would have been enough to convince me, but he continued, "You're up against a corporation, not a hedgehog."
Like before, I thanked him for his time and ran off to do my job. Assuming that Sonic hated Shadow's guts and the feeling was mutual, there had to be objective reasons for those two to stick together. A family falling out wouldn't have affected the stock price much and Shadow had enough experience to cheat someone out of their influence, so a part of that theory didn't hold water.
To reach a definitive conclusion, I needed to do a bit of investigative journalism. I had no one to interview because everyone involved carried gag orders on their lips, but official sources helped me get past the red tape. As a publicly traded company, Shadow Corp had to publish a lot of information. One type of disclosure involved its management's shares. Every time a top manager bought or sold shares, he or she had to make the news public to avoid insider trading accusations.
Shadow was constantly increasing his stake in the company, amounting to a staggering five per cent after the OTC purchase that fateful Monday. For a single individual, it was impressive to directly own a tangible part of an international giant's voting rights. He probably owned more via the remaining SME shells at his disposal, so the exact figure was likely between five and ten per cent.
On the other hand, Eggnamco had 30 per cent, which consisted of the bank's initial stake combined with the shares bought from Dr Nega and Mephiles.
A hardliner manager like Shadow must have found Eggnamco's influence threatening. Robotnik had the clout to throw Shadow out of office if the bank had the backing of other shareholders. It would have been difficult, considering that a million rings' worth of shares made up a fraction of a percentage in a giant like Shadow Corp. He'd have to approach a number of minority shareholders to initiate the reshuffle, which could fail without a qualified majority at his disposal.
The only shareholder able to provide the required support was Sonic T. Hedgehog with 34 per cent of votes. Unlike Shadow, Sonic had never bought extra shares. He inherited everything from his parents, according to IPO appendices.
I stared at the computer screen wide-eyed. Sonic, Shadow's idle supervisor, was chosen to inherit the family business instead of his results-orientated brother? It didn't look like Shadow had any capital when that happened and the implications fuzzed my brain up. No one had paid attention to the origin of Sonic's shares because they were always assumed to be dead weight that, in reality, belonged to Shadow. It was customary for power brokers to give shares to their family members to conceal the extent of their own influence. Proxy voting agreements rendered the official owner unable to affect any decision of their puppet master. Sonic had made such an agreement with Shadow, only no one knew its terms or expiry date. Given their family bond, it was indefinite.
Unless, of course, Sonic was about to fulfil his legal obligations and give his brother a 180 in the face. Speculator gossip sites had no useful information on the topic whilst the press skipped the peculiar what if scenario completely.
The sensationalism died down when I realised I had only discovered the major shareholder distribution and my assumptions couldn't rise above their current status. To change that, I needed to get to the source myself. The requirement worried me.
Amy got too close and paid the price. I'd have to be a fool not to see the connection. If what Dr Nega had said was true, he also suffered from going against Shadow Corp. Against its CEO, to be precise.
Thus far, Sonic was absent from my equation, but he clearly wanted to be a part of it. If I agreed to see him, though, I was unlikely to get anything from Shadow or Futuretech. The difference between those two was that Shadow represented the current state of affairs. If change was going to occur, Sonic would have to take the lead with Eggnamco's backing.
As the deadline approached, I came to realise that there was no win-win. No matter the choice, one of the hedgehogs was bound to be unhappy. I couldn't forfeit because it was the only way to put the question of Amy's fate to rest.
In a moment of hopelessness, I asked Big for advice. He called me a dreamer. The frog whisperer criticised me for not being pragmatic enough!
Perhaps, I needed to stop contemplating on the alternatives. Dr Nega was right: I'd benefit from focusing on what would make a difference. Sonic had the spirit, but Shadow possessed everything else.
The messed up voting rights distribution was another question. Both hedgehogs held the answer. I was sure of it. The key was approaching one of them in a way that didn't erect a defensive barrier.
Having confirmed my travel itinerary with Shadow Corp, I started to realise that Sonic looked better on paper if I factored in trust. Without trust, I had a greater chance to succeed by going to Futuretech as per my agreement with Big, Dr Nega and Shadow. Fulfilling their expectations would give me a better short-term result than going ahead with Sonic's plan I knew nothing about.
I was going to disappoint all of them at one point or another, given how awful I was at following hidden agendas. Starting with Sonic looked like the safest option in that respect. He'd have to be far too crafty to reach me from Soleanna.
A huge distance from Futuretech's industrial complex in Mazuri, the heart of Shadow Corp's research and development schemes. Shadow eXtreme was developed there among other revolutionary products that sounded silly until you tried them. Like Happy Juice, marketed as pure joy tickled out of fruits. I evaded the stuff because it was a soft drink with more water and citric acid than actual juice, but the kids loved it. Shadow Corp's shareholders loved the profits those kids generated.
I preferred not think of the toys they had for upmarket adults. It made the whole idea of visiting the savannah less romantic. In fact, if it got any less romantic, my indifference complemented by a pair of shades I had bought as a souvenir in Central City would evolve into disgust.
Upon our arrival, the company's reps guided the fifteen of us reporters into a cavernous building that spanned horizontally as far as the capital's skyscrapers did vertically. I imagined the corporate-sanctioned tour would take some time, so I decided to take five until something interesting would pop up.
Futuretech's head of research and development Wave T. Swallow welcomed us at a visitor centre we didn't expect to find in an establishment as restricted as this one. Apparently, the locals had the luxury of school field trips to the research facility and knew all about the production process of their favourite consumer goods, from gummy bears to washing powder.
Ergo, we'd get the prepubescent school kid treatment. Looking at my colleagues, the decision was spot on. I yawned throughout the introductory slideshow of self-serving hogwash. We were not allowed to ask any questions, which were reserved for the taste test culmination of the entire event. The itinerary suggested we'd need to travel a considerable distance across multiple buildings and underground compounds to recognise the full scale of Shadow Corp's research activities.
The impressive scope piqued my interest. If anything, I'd get to write about products the company was yet to release into the market, an assumption the twin-tailed tour participant standing next to me was quick to confirm. This fox boy, who grumbled about the name Miles Prower written on his guest pass, seemed awfully familiar. I only hoped the feeling wasn't mutual.