CHAPTER VIII – ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE

"I get it," he said with a nod. "I get it. Now… let's try it."

She couldn't physically nod back (yet), but through the speakers, she let out a loud sigh and waited for Tails to plug her new body in.

CLICK!

The USB was in place. It "tickled" CREAM when he put it into her slot. Kinda like a—. Nope! Not going there! CREAM cursed herself for having her head too far in the gutter. Ever since that time she blabbed to everyone the night she got plugged into Tails's computer….

"Up to you," Tails said confidently.

"Huh?" CREAM asked having spaced out. Good thing she didn't have a mortal body. The fox surely would've seen an embarrassed blush to with the tips of her ears burning. But enough mental imagery, it was time. "Oh, sorry."

Here went nothing.

She focused on the connection to the USB port and nervously began the download process. She could sense her AI subconscious make its way through the wiring and into the long-crafted machine. Her mind began to race at that moment. She would be able walk again! She could hug people like Tails and Sonic! She could run across fields and pick the wildflowers, and—.

PEW!

ERRRR! ERRRR! ERRRR!

She immediately halted the transfer and reversed her protocols back into the computer where she promptly ran the diagnostic programs.

"Oh my god, CREAM! Are you alright?!"

"I'm okay," she said in annoyed tone.

"Dammit!" Tails yelled as his slammed his fists together. He groaned shortly after since his rash action caused his knuckles to clash at an awkward angle. "I don't get it! What went wrong?!"

"Calm down. I'll tell you in a moment," CREAM shot back as she focused on getting the results. "You heard something go 'poof' in my body, right?"

Just then, Tails looked back at the head of her Mark II vessel and saw some smoke coming out of her ears, not unlike how a cartoon character was tricked into devouring something diabolically spicy. All that was missing was a painful yell with a breath of fire and Bugs Bunny grinning like a stinker.

"Did the wireless link blow up?"

"No, that's still functional. Well, potentially functional to be more accurate since I'm still not in the body."

Tails then stopped and pondered the possibilities, trying to troubleshoot the problem. He was talking to himself without knowing it, going over every scenario in his head, even the more infinite, endless possibilities. Then he saw it, and it hit him like a ton of bricks as shown by him smacking his face and gripping it.

"I think I can guess what happened," Tails said in self-berating tone as he opened up the cranial apparatus. The smoke then poured straight into his face, making him gag at the awful smell of toasted circuitry. Seriously, burnt rubber smelled better.

"And I think I know what you're thinking."

As soon as he fanned the bad air away, Tails queried, "Memory bank overload?"

"Memory bank overload," she repeated and affirmed. "The poor thing's probably fried."

"Like beer-battered bluegill on a Friday night," he added before salivating. "Mmm… beer-battered bluegill… with a slice of rye… and a light beer…."

"Tails, the matter at hand?"

"Right," Tails said with a little embarrassment and hankering for lunchtime. "We ran the numbers! How is 500 terabytes of memory not enough?!"

"Let me check something… ah. That's what went wrong." She then pulled up a figure with her old body linked to the computer. "When I accidentally made my way into your computer the first time, my memory banks seemed to merge with your computers programming and protocols. Not just that, but I linked up to all the gadgets as well. The wrist grapples, the lenses; all that stuff."

"Which means we'll need a memory system that is just as powerful—if not more powerful—than the computer you're stuck in," Tails added. He then fell ungracefully into his chair is disgust. "I should've known to account for that. Fuck me for trying to just put your memories and mannerisms into a smaller-memory server!" Yet another hand smacked him in the face and slowly made its way down to his lips.

"Tails, don't beat yourself up about it," CREAM said in effort to calm him down.

He shook his head and said, "So 500 terabytes of memory won't do it. Maybe 1000?"

"A full petabyte of memory would…," she trailed off as she crunched the numbers, "yes, a petabyte would easily cover it with room to spare since they'd have identical memory banks."

He sighed. "That kind of hardware doesn't come cheap or that small." Then he smiled. "It's a good thing Rotor at G.U.N. owes me a favor. Might as well put in an order for two to upgrade the computer too."

"I mean, you might as well do it while you're at it. But now that I think about it, if I am to keep a connection to your computer, physically or otherwise, I believe that my body's memory banks should always have identical storage space to your computer so that this won't happen again."

"Isn't that what I just said?"

DING!

The door for the secret lab then opened. Looks like Sonic had finally woken up from his long night. Unsurprisingly, his godparents at the Acorn Media Group were willing to let him recuperate. Ever since Halloween, Sonic had been more beat up than usual. "We'll pick this up later, CREAM."

"Pick what up later?" Sonic asked as he walked and stretched himself out, still feeling the aftereffects of the previous week's escapades. Then the smell of torched hardware crept across his nose. "Woof, what reeks?!"

"CREAM and I were on the verge of transferring her conscience into her new body… until we overloaded her memory banks and caused them to short-circuit and explode."

It was too early in the day for Sonic to hear anything technological or electronically sophisticated. "Oh, well of course," Sonic replied feigning knowledge of the situation as he continued to stretch.

"It's the only thing keeping us from finally getting her in there."

"How are you feeling, Sonic?" CREAM asked in a motherly tone.

Sonic held up one finger, signaling her to wait a moment. Okay, just reach back, and….

CRAAAAAAAAAAACK!

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," he moaned. "That needed to happen."

"Was that your spine?!" Tails asked disgustedly.

"No, it was me breaking bread with the 12 Apostles."

"Well, his sense of humor is back at least," CREAM commented. "What's on your itinerary today?"

"We could try and find Scourge," Tails offered.

"Good luck," CREAM and Sonic said at the same time.

"What? Why?"

Sonic was the first to respond. "Because Green was trained to be a master of stealth like me. He'll blend in; disappear like a thief in the night. Or a fart in the wind if you're in the mood for toilet humor."

"He's right," CREAM added. "I should know. I trained him."

"In toilet humor?" the fox replied. "Don't answer that. So how are we supposed to find him?"

"He has to make the first move," Sonic said. "Green'll try something we wouldn't expect and be discreet about it. 'Like a thief' as I said earlier. Until then, Tails, I suggest you keep a low profile down here."

The fox raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"Because Green knows about Amy. Probably knows about you too. Oh, and he knows where we live."

"He knows where—? Never mind, I'll take your word for it. Are you saying I'm in danger?"

"I'm saying you might be. Same for Amy. Now until he moves, we'll hafta wait. And as much as I love your guys' company, I need to go."

As he walked toward the bench, CREAM shot back, "And where are you going?"

"I got cabin fever," he said as he grabbed the Air Shoes, a pair of contacts, the bracelets, and the Fluff. "I might try and snoop around to see if anyone knows anything. Who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky."

"That's not a smart idea, and you know it. You are in no shape to do any heroics."

"I said 'snoop,' not 'brawl,'" he replied as he quickly turned himself into Shadow. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to make a coffee run."

WHOOSH!

Typical Sonic. Leaving before CREAM could rebuke him.

"You really think he'll stay out of trouble?" Tails asked half-heartedly.

"Oh, please. You'll have an easier time getting a germaphobe to willingly catch malaria. Y'know, Amy and I were just discussing last night that work ethic of his that Eggman put him under."

"That's our Sonic," Tails said in a brutally honest tone. "Always looking for action."

"Alright, thanks," she said as she hung up the receiver. The bat then grabbed her face and moaned as her fingers harshly ran down her eyelids and onto her face. "Oh, damn," she said as she turned around to see her reflection in the window. "Nice one, Rouge." Teal eyeshadow had forcefully been smeared around her white-furred face like a kid drawing on white drywall with red and green crayons.

Grabbing the necessary materials, she headed off to the bathroom to (hopefully) quickly fix the self-imposed error that was her makeup. She missed a cellphone call when she was in there. Whatever. She was having an exterior crisis. She wished that was the only crisis she would have today.

RING! RING! RING!

That ringtone was different seeing as how it was the office's phone going off this time. She finally put the finishing touches on and sped to the ringing machine.

"Hello?" she answered. "Hello?" The sound of a dial tone is very specific and frustrating. "Oh, fuck me backwards and with a lead pipe!" Shaking her head, she checked out her personal dialing device to see who had left a voicemail. "Better be someone with a good lead." Her eyes perked up when she saw who had left it and with a text message to match. "What's 'Big Red' calling me for?"

RING! RING! RING!

Her old partner at G.U.N. could wait. "Hello?"

"There you are, commissioner! We got a tip regarding Fiona."

She let out a huge sigh of relief and sat back down. "You are my new favorite officer for the next few minutes, Espio. What do ya have? Hold on, lemme write it down." As the chameleon explained, she jotted it down in her best chicken scratch, scribbling out her typos as they happened. "Thank you, Espio. Now… do have anything on that other guy?"

"Other than the robbery and last night, no. Vector's still working on it."

"I don't suppose I need you to tell ya to keep me in the loop?"

"Goes without saying."

"Well, thanks anyway. I'll relay it to Sonic."

"Okay, hold on a sec," the wolf said as she reached for a pen and paper. "Give it to me. *SCRIBBLE SCRIBBLE* Alright, so $187.43? For three cheese, two sausage, three sausage-and-pepperoni, one veggie, one meat-lovers, two supreme, and twelve orders of breadsticks? … "Hahaha! 'And a partridge in a pear tree.' Heh… that's a good one, Lorenzo. But yeah, that sounds exactly right. … Yep, you betcha. Alicia and Max gave their card. I'll be waiting when your boy arrives. Thanks, Lorenzo. Tell the wife and kids I said, 'Hi.' … *SMOOCH* And give 'em a kiss for me. Alright, bye."

CLINK!

GRUMBLE!

"I knew I shouldn't have missed breakfast," the wolf said as her stomach howled like her ancestors.

THUMP! CLUNK!

She looked up at the desk and swore that she had died and gone to heaven. A tall, dark, and handsome hedgehog had magically bestowed upon her the smell of a fresh, Bavarian-cream donut with a tall, iced coffee with a distinct green straw (along with three other identical cups for three other people).

"Double-shot of mocha and caramel with a splash of Irish crème. And a donut if you want it."

She immediately pounced on the small bag and woofed down the delicious pastry, surprising Shadow considering how quickly she jumped at the chance. "I missed breakfast," Lupe said. "Don't judge me." And then she took her coffee which was easily the largest cup of the bunch. And it finally hit her. "Holy Chaos! You're back, Shadow!"

The wolf ran out of her seat and around the desk to nearly tackle the ebony hedgehog with a bear hug. The look on Shadow's face was that of pure agony. She gripped him tighter, making him painfully mouth words that would make a sailor blush.

"It's so great to have you back!" Yep, she still had the hots for him. Shadow began to tap on her back viciously. She took it as him finally declaring his love for her when he was trying to tap out like an MMA fighter.

"Lupe, please let me go!" he forced out as his body screamed.

"I haven't seen you in so long! I heard you were in a car accident!"

"And you're making my injuries hurt like hell!"

Her eyes immediately opened wide, and she let him go to watch him stand in place and take the physical pain like a man. She should've known he'd still be hurting (even if he hadn't actually gotten into a car wreck).

"Shadow, I'm so sorry!" she defended. "I should've known you wouldn't be 100%!"

He placed a hand on the desk to sturdy himself, taking in deep breath in the process. "It's… perfectly fine, Lupe. I'm okay."

"Shadow, I really am sorry. I heard you got T-boned! Amy told me she and Tails got you out of the hospital. Hold on. Why are you here? You're not planning to work, are you?"

"That was the idea. I told Max and Alicia that I'd be here. They didn't seem happy about it, but I'm here."

"But you're in no shape to work!"

"Yeah, physically. It's a good thing my job deals more with computers than heavy lifting."

Her face softened. "Just take it slow, okay, hermoso?"

He nodded and picked up the other coffee cups. "Will do, Lupe."

"It's great to have you back, Shadow." Chaos, she was his biggest fan. As stoic as his Shadow persona was supposed to be, Sonic couldn't help but blush.

"It's good to be back," he said as he made his way toward the elevators… slowly.

"Call me if you need anything!"

He turned his head and nodded. "Just an ice pack," he said under his breath as he reached the elevators. "And a few bottles of Aleve."

CLICK!

DING!

He quickly hopped in and watched the doors close.

"You are not…," he heard through his earbuds. Amy did not sound incredibly pleased.

"Tell Sally and Ken that I come bearing gifts of caffeinated delight," he replied in his usual voice.

"Door's open when you get up here."

DING!

A quick step outside the mobile room and he was into the hall. Room 0923. And he could see a pink figure waiting on the other side of the window. He opened the door and there sat an inconvenienced lady sitting at her computer. She wasn't mad, but she wasn't exactly happy either.

"You should be at home resting," Amy said. Shadow then offered her the tray of coffee. She took one look at her partner, then to the cups of joe, and then back to him again. She plucked out the appropriate cup, eyeing him all the way, and took a healthy sip. When she was done, she eyed him up again. "All is forgiven."

"Glad I'm still on your good side," he joked as he pulled up a seat. "I miss anything?"

"Just the memo that you're supposed to be taking it easy," Amy barbed.

"I am taking it easy!" he defended. "I got you coffee!"

"I meant that you should be resting your body."

"Oh, there's nothing strenuous about this job! Besides, I'm getting bored of staying there. I feel like I've been under house arrest because of my injuries."

She shook her head and cursed his impulsive nature. "I'm just worried that you'll burn yourself out or hurt yourself further," she said as she lowered her tone.

"I know, I know. But trust me, I want to do something that doesn't involve me lounging around 'recuperating.'"

"Even the most physical people need a rest day every once in a while. Just sayin'."

KNOCK KNOCK!

"It's open, Sal."

On cue, the blue-blazer wearing hostess of the morning and evening news walked in and went straight to Sonic. Miss Acorn looked a bit heartbroken if not overly concerned. And as if her face wasn't enough, Sonic caught his godparents' façades as they followed their only daughter in. Poor Alicia. She looked too much like Sally in every way, and her look matched her daughter's. Max's was… well… more unsure. Granted, he wasn't the best at voicing emotions like Alicia, but Sonic could tell that something was not kosher. Too bad for Sonic he knew about the elephant in the room. Stopping at the hero, the trio of Acorns gazed at Sonic as if someone had died. Or in this case, someone had come back from the dead.

"Lose the Fluff," Sally softly demanded. Sonic shook his head in understanding. With a click, his fur went from black-and-red to cobalt blue, and his eyes went from red to grassy green. Now the Acorns saw the hero as he actually was, and they all came together to hug him. Sonic knew that this would be coming soon enough. He was a little surprised that Max and Alicia took this long to come to Sonic given the developments in the last 24 hours. Sonic sighed and hugged his "family" back, reciprocating their support even if his battered body was telling him otherwise. "I'm sorry, Sonic."

Sonic let out a deep breath. "I've been hearing too much of that recently. Or at least it seems that way." On that, the Acorns let him go. Sonic turned to his godparents.

"How could this happen?" Alicia asked with red eyes. "How?"

"You said you saw Eli die," Max added, calling his other godson by his birthname.

"If you saw him fall down an elevator shaft, you'd think so too." Sonic groaned and turned away from them. "I just don't get it. I should've saved him. I didn't react fast enough to catch him. And he just throws me around like I killed a man." Turning back to his godparents, he said, "Whatever it takes, I'll find him."

Max said, "You'd better." That came out a bit harsher than he would've liked, but Sonic still got the message.

"Are you feeling okay, David?" Alicia asked. "Did you want anything?"

Sonic shook his head. "I'm alright for now."

"Hey, A," Tails said through the room's speaker system. Count on a brother to butt in at a bad time.

"We should go," Alicia said. "Come on."

Max followed, and Sally took the tray with the drinks. "I'll take this to Ken. Thanks again, Sonic," Sally said.

"Anytime."

On that, Sally left and shut the door behind them. Sonic and Amy then focused on the screen where the yellow fox was now being shown on candid camera.

"What's up, T?" Amy asked.

"R said she's gotten a tip. I'm patching her in now." With a few clicks on his end, the TV screen was split down the middle with Tails showing up on the left side. After a second to allow CREAM to obtain and secure the transmission, the ivory bat appeared behind her desk.

"And why are we at the AMG?" Rouge queried.

"Don't bother talking him out of it, R," Tails said. "He won't change his mind."

"Well, allow me to try anyway."

"What've you got, R?" Amy asked.

"We have a possible lead on our mutual vixen friend." That line earned a collective raised eyebrow from the group.

"How reliable is the tip?"

"It's the only one we have," Rouge said matter-of-factly. "Espio is good when it comes to turning up leads like this. He said that a new meeting has been established for tomorrow night."

"This soon?" Sonic asked with a tone of skepticism in his voice. "After last night?"

"Allegedly, nothing is going to be exchanged, but rather a get-together with some of Fiona's contacts in Mercia."

"Any big names come up?" Tails interjected.

"One. Lord Mordred Hood, otherwise known as Ian Schlange."

"'Schlange?' What was Lyric's real name again?"

"Boomer Schlange," Amy answered. "I'm going to assume there's a relation?"

"Lyric's dad and Mordred's mom were siblings. A few of my old G.U.N. contacts said that the Lord has a suit like Lyric, just more conservative down to blend in with everyone else. Because of the family ties, they occasionally did business together. The way I see it, we can look at this meeting two ways," the commissioner began by handing up as many fingers. "One, Mordred may be meeting with Fox to possibly cook up some revenge for what we did with Lyric. Then there's the other option which—."

"Means that it's a straight-up trap," Sonic guessed.

Rouge shook her head with a smile. "Exactly." The cerulean speedster took a step back and pondered the discussion's details. "Whatcha thinking?"

"I'll bet it's the other option. Errr… the second one, I mean."

"I think you're right. Either way, Fox is going to be at 2006 Longhorns Avenue tomorrow night."

"The northside of Amusement Mile," Amy stated as she began typing something into her computer, pulling up a news story soon after. "Interesting. That area belongs to the New Atlantis Brewing Company. Looks like they're building a new brewery there, replacing the one in the Industrial District. Construction started a little over a month ago." She then looked at Sonic. "They just started putting up the girders for the place, so you should be able to have a great angle of the meeting."

"Assuming it isn't a set-up," Sonic replied. "Can we start planning for it now?"

"It can wait a little while. I need to return a call to one of my old G.U.N. colleagues first. I'll be in touch."

"Have fun with that."

CLICK!

Two more pills. One swig of water. It would have been easier to take them when he had woken up. However, he forgot about it until it came screaming back just before they left. Pill swallowing in a car driving on South Res's shoddy streets was like trying to eat Jell-O when it kept falling off the spoon.

GULP!

Oh, dear. Don't you love it when water goes down the wrong pipe?

His coughing was violent for the first five seconds. When he was done, he groaned loudly and rubbed his head, now aching more than before by a country mile. Why were they so frequent? It had been like this since he had woken up in that… "hospital."

"We're here."

The car pulled into the small garage from the previous night and descended into Miss Fox's modern lair. Was that the right word? "Lair?" It was more like an overly cautious safehouse.

The green hedgehog got out when the elevator stopped moving and walked into her office accompanied by the sleuth dawg and the flight-less frog. The vixen was turned around in her office chair, her back to her cronies. Scourge couldn't make out exactly what she was saying either. It sounded foreign.

"Mi aspetto di vederti domani sera," she said. "E non preoccuparti. La tua linea di sangue sarà vendicata. … Sì. Fino a domani. [I expect to see you tomorrow night. And do not worry. Your bloodline will be avenged. … Yes. Until tomorrow.]" Fiona let out a sigh after hanging up. She spun her chair around and grabbed her glass of scotch.

"Didn't know you were a cunning linguist," Scourge offered.

"It's my ancestors' native tongue. They spoke it when they first came to this city."

"So…," he began as he sat down, "what was that all about?"

"Lyric has family that he infrequently trades with. Despite being cousins, they aren't exactly friendly. Coming from the same criminal family will do that. Attempting assassinations against each other and the like."

"Was that who you were talking to? Why were you talking in the first place?"

Fiona took another sip. "Because he's a part of this now."

"A part of what?"

She groaned. She wished he could pick on things quickly, but only being involved with a criminal organization for less than 24 hours will result in such things. "Lyric and Mordred—BTW, that's his name—are still blood at the end of the day. He heard his older cousin was dying and beaten, so he wanted in on revenge. The details have already been leaked as we speak."

"That wasn't what I signed up for," Scourge said lowly as he leaned in over the desk.

"As I recall, you work for me. Your input means about as much as dick means to me. Besides, we needed to give the commissioner and Sonic something to draw them out. You do realize how good of a cover story it is for another international, underworld meeting in the city with me, right? Sonic won't be able to resist."

Scourge rolled his eyes. "As long as this Mordred doesn't get in the way."

"He's the bait. And he knows his role. Now… let's go over yours."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I promise things will get more interesting next chapter. And CREAM's body will get a proper introduction in time. I know you're waiting patiently, but it needs a more... grandiose lead-in if you're picking up what I'm laying down.

We'll have proper action and not setup/filler like these last two chapters have been. It's one of the things that's bugged me about writing SP2. The pacing has always seemed a little off to me. It's not flowing like a good movie would, but rather like a TV miniseries. Actually, that's kind of perfectly timed given what's going on with Disney+. I mean, it worked gangbusters for WandaVision.

And typical Sonic. We all know someone who's a workaholic. You can thank my dad for that inspiration. He's almost 60 years old and still works two jobs. AND he still makes time for me and the rest of my family. If you've read some of my one-shots, you'll read snippets of my dad's life that actually happened to make it to the cutting room floor. It's fascinating that not only does literature inspire literature, but the mundanity of real life does as well. Maybe that's why I like slice-of-life series. Maybe it's why I love Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4 a lot.

Anyway, back to business. Special thanks go out to jurrassicdinodrew, 000Marie198, and FlameShadowDragon again for dropping reviews for chapter 7! The schedule will be as such for the nest few chapters: Ch.9 on 4/13. Ch.10 on 4/24.

As always, the characters used in this story are the property of SEGA, Sonic Team, and Archie Comics. Everything in the story is being used strictly for entertainment purposes. And as always, I will talk to y'all later.