There was a small round table Nicole had placed in the middle of her Data Room. There she and Elis sat playing a few games of Poker. She got out some cans of Coke and, as soon as they had got tired of playing card games, both looked at each other with questioning faces, and then looked at Nicole's box.

"I thought you don't need to eat?" Elis inquired when he felt it safe. One thing he hated to do was to insult people.

"I don't," she said. "But I have all nine senses. My artificial body just burns it up by the time it gets to where you would have a stomach," she gave Elis an admiring look. "I want to do everything you do."

Elis nodded to show he understands. He then looked at the box. "Have you ever wanted to know?" he asked excitedly.

"Know what?"

"What's in that box?"

She paused, but showed no signs of thinking about it. "Nope."

This answer made Elis puzzled. "Why not?"

Nicole looked around the room, and gestured that Elis should do the same. "What do you see here, Elis?"

"Well, it is called a Data Room, so I'd say...Data?"

"Data about what?"

"Everything to do with the FFA?"

"I'll give you a half-mark for that," she explained. "These are the most secret files of the FFA, left for me, the most advanced defensive weapon ever built, to defend. I read a lot, and I have a lot to read, and a lot of time to do it."

"So what's this got to do with the box?" Elis interrupted. Not angry, but just confused and impatient.

"Wait for it..." Nicole's calm voice encouraged patience. "There are terrorists and super-criminals all over these files. And it seems the files hide some terrible stories and facts about them, and these files get bigger the more bad that person does. Did Sally ever tell you about my marks 1 and 2?"

"Actually, no."

"I started off as a microcomputer connected to a bigger computer, about the size of you. I was just a handheld device. That was my mark 1. Then I built myself the mark 2, which was the same idea, but I was also a hologram. Then I mastered the use of Nanites, tiny robots that built this city. I can even build artificial bodies for myself when I need to. Before I knew it, Rotor had built me the box of Mark 3, which is what's behind me now."

What's behind her was the box.

"Why did Rotor make you so big?"

"He never told me. He just said the bigger the box, the better he can keep what's in the box safe. Hell, ever since Rotor built me, I've never had one glimpse of the box's contents. And I've never once thought about it, until he jumped the size from just quite big to a quarter of a warehouse..."

"So? Maybe Rotor just wanted to keep you safe from invaders."

"But then I had time to read the data. I noticed how the bigger the file is the more bad secrets it holds. I'm the biggest thing in this room...so I guess my box holds some terrible things. Things that are impossible to imagine,"

Nicole turned to face Elis. "There's just one question I have for you."

Elis nodded.

"What brings you here today?" the question stung him like a wasp. "Don't worry," Nicole then added. "I won't tell anyone."

Elis just looked at her ashamedly. "I guess I just wanted to know what was in my box."

Nicole wasn't really the one for metaphors. "And by box I guess you mean files, right?"

"Right. I just wanted to know who my parents were and how I got orphaned, because King Elias won't show me. And something inside me says this may have something to do with Black Hat..."

"I take it you also want to see the videos he sent the Council?"

"Yeah. I think I need to have a look at them if I'm the one hunting him down."

Nicole leaned closer and her words were quieter. "Well, luckily for you, I've stopped giving a crap about Elias, and that's for reasons relating to your own safety."

"What does that me-"

"I want to help," she teleported around the room. To one file, then back to the table and throwing it on there, then back to collect another. She did this four times, and all ten files looked too heavy even to carry. "These are the files you'll need in order to find out who Black Hat is."

Elis looked suspiciously around them. "But some of these files are files only about Council Members..."

Nicole paused. "...exactly. I've done some research into the Council myself, and what I've found is just plain weird."

Elis used his super-speed to skim through the files, and spreading pages of importance all over the table. She looked down at his mess of papers. "Do you see it now?"

"I don't get it," he muttered in disbelief. "It's like the Council were trying to get rid of everything relating to themselves. There are reports in which there are pages missing, and there's no trace of them all over this room!"

"Right," she agreed. "And check this out..." She looked at the file labelled Councillor Amadeus Prower. "Do you remember this guy?"

Elis shook his head. "I've heard of him – Tails' father – he left the Council, right?"

"It was all over the news when he went missing," Nicole explained. "But look!"

She opened Amadeus' file. It only had three documents. The first began with the initiation of the Council's details. The second was a news article in which the headline read COUNCILLOR GOES MISSING – FAMILY INFORMED. The third was a document titled Confirmation of Missing Person's Presumption of Death, the first name printed being Amadeus Prower and the last being King Elias' signature.

"Behold," she explained. "the only person in on Protocol: Blur who no longer wears an FFA badge. Now, when you hear the messages..."

Nicole turned on the big computer opposite her, and commanded: "Display video message. File – Black Hat – 2."

The computer blasted to life, and then Sally was displayed. She was in the same state as always under Black Hat's control, but looking dirtier and bloodier than the first message. She knew what to do, she was told how in the first message.

"You're running out of time, Blue Blur," she read, sobbing hysterically. "Or should I say the Council. I know what you like to do. You play God and not tell your creation you're theirs. You like to hide me from your people so they don't get scared. You like to hide me from Elis Jameson so he doesn't know...why I do what I do. There is only...one...God...and it's not you...Elias...and he's taking Sally straight to hell if you refuse...to lower your defences and shut down your stupid Nicole machine...is that clear?...You're running out of time...and your stupid...stupid idea of this...Protocol...Blur...can't...stop...me...now...Goodbye..."

The video ends in static once again.

Nicole turned back to Elis. "Notice how Black Hat mentions you a lot?How making you into Sonic is an act of 'playing God'? How making you into Sonic is the reason why he's attacking? But how would he even know what Protocol: Blur really is if he never was a Freedom Fighter of high enough rank?"

"There was only one man," Elis deduced. "who had insider knowledge about Protocol: Blur...that isn't a Freedom Fighter any more."

Nicole nodded. "He was known as an ingenious strategist and hack-tivist when the revolution started...you know, the one that led to the Council starting?"

Elis hesitated, trying to see another way, but there wasn't. "Then we have our man."

"Indeed. But there is one thing I have left to show you..."

Nicole reached for the file labelled Miles Prower FFA. It was full of paperworks titled FREEDOM FIGHTERS ASSASSINATION CONTRACTS, but there was one Nicole wanted to show Elis. She then pulled out a sheet for which the question Victim Name had an answer scribbled out, but the date was familiar to Elis, and the box Fulfilment was ticked.

"Is that date familiar to you?" she inquired.

"It rings a bell," he admitted. "What day is it?"

She turned to Elis so they could have each other's full attention. "It's the day before Miles left to become a Doctor, which just so happened to be the day before Amadeus went missing. A week later, he was presumed dead."

"Then Tails has just as much to do with this as Elias..."

"Of course he does. I take it you have questions for both of them now?"

Elis just smiled at Nicole. She knew the answer.

"Go on, Elis," she insisted. "You need at least a couple hours' sleep."

He began for the door. He didn't have all of his questions answered, but it was enough...for now. Priority was who, then the real reason why will answer itself.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

I hope you all enjoyed this unexpected twist! (Of course, if you read on, and the past over once more, you'll realise this is more than just a cheap plot twist!)

Just like all the time, I'm always open to reviews and even questions about the canon of Blue Blur...but don't worry, I'm still hard at work with the next chapter!

See you all soon,

Ioan "R-Cat" Davies-John