I am so bad at updating. Sorry about that. I hope you enjoy this. And review!
The conference room was decorated in such a way that it seemed very official. Probably because it was very official. Navy blue wall hangings decorated the room and a walnut, u-shaped table took up most of the room. There were about forty chairs set up around the table, but very few of them were occupied. One of those that were occupied was occupied by Tails. His legs were curled beneath him, his twin tails surrounded him. His fur was wet with tears, but he seemed frozen.
Beside him was Rouge, doing nothing for Tails but instead staring up at the ceiling. Her face was impossible for Tails to read. Did she even care about the news that they'd just heard?
How could Sonic have killed Amy? It didn't make any sense. They were friends, Amy wanting to be more than just that. Sonic wouldn't kill anyone, much less Amy. This was impossible. But Tails had heard the news from the General with his own ears. A witness from Amy's murder had said it was Sonic. So it must be true. But it couldn't be.
Other agents sat around the table, completely unaware of the reason why they were in the conference room. Tails wished he could be like them, innocent of the harsh truth. It was too late to undo the words however.
The General walked in the room carrying a folder, and the soldiers inside saluted him. Tails made no move to his feet. The only reason Tails could tell Rouge noticed the General's entrance was because her ears perked up. She didn't actually need to look, considering she was a bat so her hearing was much better than Tails's.
The General motioned for the soldiers to take a seat, before sitting down himself at the curve of the table. "I have some very important information to share today, and this is to take top priority on every soldier's agenda. Is that clear?"
The soldiers, in unison, said, "Sir, yes, sir!"
Tails stared frozenly at the General. Rouge crossed her arms, looking at the General with an almost uninterested expression. The General glanced at the two of him for a brief moment before continuing on. "We have a suspect in the murders of Amy Rose and Kora Neils. The suspect is Sonic the Hedgehog. I presume you all know who I'm talking about."
No one said anything to make the General rethink his last statement. "We must capture him and bring him in for questioning—"
The General cut off when Rouge raised her hand. "What is it, Agent Rouge?"
Rouge lowered her hand. "You might want to rethink that plan. Capturing Sonic is not something that's easily done."
"I'm aware of that," the General said coldly.
"Rouge is right," Tails spoke up. "Sonic won't be caught if he doesn't want to be caught. He's too fast."
"We have Shadow, do we not?" the General said.
Tails could easily tell that he and Rouge were not on the General's good side right now. Rouge said, "We have him, but that doesn't change a thing. Part of what I wanted to tell you was that we just ran into Sonic, and Shadow couldn't manage to take him out quickly. Sonic saw an opening and actually escaped."
The General's eyebrows rose. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that on a good day there'd be a major fight between Sonic and Shadow and the outcome would be unpredictable. With Sonic also messed up by Amy's death, he's more violent than usual," Rogue explained.
The General scoffed. "Messed up by Amy's death? He's the one who killed her!"
"That's impossible," Tails muttered. "He would never kill Amy."
Rouge nodded. "I've got to say, this doesn't sound like Sonic at all. What exactly did this witness say? That it was Sonic? Or that it might be Sonic?"
The General glared at Rouge. It seemed like he was debating whether or not to tell Rouge, whether Rouge even deserved to know. Finally, he said, "The witness claimed it was Sonic. The witness explained that the figure was cloaked and carrying a gun, but moved more quickly than other creatures. The witness also caught a flash of blue under the cloak."
"It does sound a lot like Sonic," Tails whispered.
Beside him, Rouge still looked skeptical, but said nothing more. Tails wished he could feel skeptical too, but was there any way that it couldn't be Sonic? No one moved faster than Sonic; the only person who could compete with him was Shadow. But Shadow was not blue. Sonic had that. There was no one else it could be.
"Anyway, Sonic the Hedgehog must be captured and this must be first priority. Sonic the Hedgehog is quick and dangerous, especially with murder in his plans," the General continued.
The General looked at Rouge. "Agent Rouge's team will continue to track him and call us in when the time is right. Is that understood, Rouge?"
"Yeah," Rouge replied, sounding bored.
"Otherwise, we are spreading out across the planet and preparing to capture him if he passes."
"Not the whole planet," Tails said softly.
"What?"
Tails looked up at the General. "Sonic hates water. He can't swim. Any place surrounded by water he can't get to."
The General nodded. "Right. Of course. Islands and several continents are knocked off of where we need to spread out to. Mr. Prower will be part of the team following Agent Rouge's, as will several other soldiers. This team will be a capture team. This is to begin immediately. Is this understood?"
"Sir, yes, sir," said the soldiers jumping to their feet.
"Move out."
The General and the soldiers left the room, leaving Rouge and Tails behind. Rouge stood up and walked over to the General's seat. "He left a folder behind," Rouge said, picking up the manila folder and flipping through it.
It took Tails a moment to find his voice. "Rouge?"
"What is it, Tails?"
"Is there…any way that…it couldn't be…Sonic?" Tails asked.
Rouge continued to flip through the folder. "There is the fact that Sonic doesn't own a gun."
Tails's heart jumped. He had completely forgotten that fact. "And he probably wouldn't have branded his own bullets or anything like that!"
Tails looked down again. "But…then again…what if he's the one who tampered with Kora Neils's crime scene? Maybe he didn't want anyone finding out that he was the real killer."
Rouge shrugged. "It's possible we didn't know Sonic as well as we thought. Or maybe he just went crazy. Like the battles with Eggman finally made him crack."
Tails stood up slowly. "None of the pieces are fitting," he said sadly. "None of this is making any sense. I've known Sonic since I was little, and I never thought that he would ever do anything like this…."
Rouge closed the folder, but kept it under her arm. Tails walked around to the General's seat at the table. "But…it seems like Sonic. The witness was accurate," Tails said feeling defeated.
Rouge smiled. "Well, we can't know until we catch Sonic. Should give Shadow and Knuckie something to do."
Tails pulled on one of his twin tails nervously. How could Rouge be so calm about the whole thing? It felt like Tails's entire world was collapsing. Like everything he had always known was a lie.
"Time to do this," Rouge said, and Tails followed her out the door.