CHAPTER 9: Investigation

"Any answer yet?" Amy called back to Espio as she drove, still slightly shaken from nearly being shot and burned.

"No. It's ringing but there's no answer." Espio said as he hung up Amy's cell phone. "Vector usually sits by the phone until closing time, unless we got another call, so odds are we won't be able to reach him for a while."

"Well that's great!" Amy shook her head. "We need him to do something and he's not around when we need him. Wonder what he could be doing."

"Either a staring contest, or Vector's trying to persuade Charmy to enroll in school and Charmy's raising hell over it," Espio grunted. "Or they got a case, like I said."

Vector and Charmy were sitting, noses almost touching, staring right into each others' eyes. The phone was ringing off the hook beside them, but neither one made a move to get it for fear of losing the staring contest.
Espio hung up. Amy said, "We'll stop by once we leave this thing with Tails. Hope he can find out who it came from."

"Is he supposed to be some kind of technological genius or something?" Espio asked.

"You kidding me!?" Sonic burst out. "He's probably better than Eggman was!"

"I'll take your word for it," was all Espio said.

"I'm coming!" Tails yelled out as he heard a knock on his front door. Then he added, quietly, "I'll probably never manage to get that comfortable again, now." He pulled open the door: it was Sonic.

"Tails," he said, "we need your help. Amy and I just nearly got our heads blown off by this robot. We managed to take it down, and stuffed it in her trunk. We need you to check it out and see if you know who sent it. It looks like Eggman's design, but..."

"You've got to be kidding," Tails said. He walked out to the car where Amy was standing with the trunk open. His feet weren't hurting as bad, but he was still feeling every step. "Let me get a look here." He took a look in the trunk. The robot was taller than the trunk was long, so they'd apparently had to shove as much of it in there as possible and tie the rest down. It was covered in shiny black armor. It looked like it might have already been a dark color before it was fried by the power line, though. The arm with the flamethrower was blown off: no one had heard it over the crackling, but the volatile substance inside had exploded in the shock. The arm with the automatic sniper rifle on it was intact, but not much better off than the other arm, as the ammo had exploded as well. The robot's rounded head was small compared to the rest of its body, and its torso was large and also rounded off. Its legs were about one foot in diameter, with no remarkable features, besides being fried.

"It attacked us in the park," Amy said. "If I hadn't nearly tripped on something, I would probably be in a body bag right now."

"You got lucky," Tails said while he looked over the robot. "You did a number on this guy too. What'd you do, shock him?"

"Yeah," Amy replied. "And everything I ever heard about not sticking my fingers in electrical outlets came flooding back to me, too."

"Looks more like a power line," Tails observed. "I'll be able to find out more if I can get this thing inside." Tails, Sonic, Amy, and Espio(invisible) all grabbed ahold of the robot and lifted it out of the trunk, then began dragging it to Tails's apartment. Once they got it inside, Sonic closed the door and Tails sat down on the floor next to it and started looking it over.

"What're you doing now?" Sonic asked.

"Looking for some kind of emblem or anything," Tails replied. "In case the person who built this wanted everyone to know who was behind it. Anonymity is good if you're worried about police, but someone apparently isn't. This robot doesn't look like it can move very fast, and this gun here doesn't look very good for prolonged fights. Did it only have one arm?"

"No," Sonic replied, "it had a flamethrower on the other arm. I guess that blew off or something."

"Must've happened when you zapped it," Tails said thoughtfully. "Well, that proves my point. Heavier weapons would probably have been better suited for a shootout with police. Whoever sent this wasn't worried about them." Upon looking over the rest of the robot, Tails frowned: no emblem or anything.

"Maybe all the burn marks are covering it up," Amy suggested.

"Maybe," Tails said. He went out into the kitchen and grabbed a rag off the counter, then returned to the robot and began giving it a once-over with the rag. He'd just started on the chest when he noticed a dark blue line that wouldn't come off. He cleaned off the robot's torso as best as he could, and uncovered an emblem that covered the machine's chest area: a skull.

"Well," Sonic said, "I guess it's safe to say that's what you were looking for."

"The emblem fits, that's for sure," Amy said. "Thing nearly blew my head off."

"I'll see if I can't pull a few of its memory chips and find out who sent it and why," Tails said. "But odds are, they'll be fried too. It'll take some time, so you'll probably have to come back tomorrow."

"I need to use your phone" Espio's voice rang out. Tails about hit the ceiling.

"Who was that!?" His head darted around the room, looking for the person who said that.

"My guardian angel, let's just say," Amy said to him.

"Oh," Tails sighed with relief. "Yeah, go ahead, it's over there." He pointed to a cruddy brown phone. It HAD been white, but the crud had turned it brown. Espio walked over, picked it up, and dialed his office's number. After just half a ring, Charmy's excited voice came over the line.

"Thank you for calling Chaotix-" was all he managed to spit out before there was a struggle on the other end and Vector's voice replaced his with loud sobbing in the background.

He began to say, "Thank you for calling Chaotix-"

"I know the rest Vector," Espio said, slightly impatient. "Look, I need you to find as much info as you can about Dr. Eggman. I know he's dead, but I need to know if he had any family."

"Alright, I'm on it," Vector's voice said. "Mind telling me why?"

"Our client was attacked in the park earlier by a robot similar in design to the ones Eggman used," Espio replied. "Why, I have yet to figure out."

"Is she okay?" Vector asked.

"A little shaken, but otherwise fine," was Espio's reply. "Now, get on it. And tell Charmy that if I come back and he's touched any of my throwing weapons, he's going to pay."

"He already touched one," Vector said before he hung up.

"He dies at dawn," Espio growled as he hung up the phone.

"I take it you got ahold of them this time," Amy observed.

"They're working on it," Espio said. Amy looked at the clock and her eyes went slightly wider than a second before.

"Wow, THAT late already!" she exclaimed. "I need to get home pretty soon."

"I'll go with you," Sonic said. "Just in case."

"Okay," Amy giggled slightly. "See you later Tails."

"See you," Tails said absentmindedly: he had a screwdriver in his hand and was removing screws from what appeared to be a plate on the robot's back.

Wow, he IS good, Espio thought. He reached the door first and pulled it open, then walked out, followed by Sonic and Amy. Just as they reached the car, a loud explosion came from the inside of the apartment. Sonic and Amy rushed back inside before Espio even figured out what he'd heard. Inside, Tails was sitting up five feet away from the robot, coughing. A huge cloud of black smoke came from the destroyed robot.

"What happened!?" Amy demanded.

"Looks like they were ready in case you guys thought of me," Tails stated, coughing afterward. His fur was slightly singed from the explosion. "I think the guy who made this put some charges inside it in case someone tried to tamper with it."

"Are you alright?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Tails climbed to his feet and sat down on the couch a few feet away. "Just a little shaken. I was NOT expecting that." All three of them looked at the robot's remains: a huge hole was blown in its back, its head was gone, and the screwdriver fell down from above and nearly hit Amy: it had been blown into the ceiling in the blast. "I was lucky though. If I hadn't been blown away, the screwdriver could've found itself lodged in my skull rather than my ceiling." He shuddered at the thought.

"But you ARE okay?" Sonic repeated.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Tails shrugged. "Nothing a shower and a decent night's sleep won't fix."

"Speaking of which," Amy cut in, "I've got to get home and get to bed pretty soon. I've got to go in and start sorting things out at work."

"Go on ahead and don't worry about me," Tails said. "I'm fine, really. It just startled me and tossed me a few feet, is all."

"Well-" Sonic began to say, but changed his mind. "Alright, we'll see you later. Again." This time Sonic and Amy actually got outside and in the car before they heard anything.

"So, what happened?" Espio's voice asked.

"The robot went up in smoke," Sonic said. "Tails is okay though."

"Good," Espio said. "If my hunch is right, there'll be a lot more where those came from." Sonic and Amy exchanged horrified glances when they realized just how right Espio could be. Across the way, looking out a dark window, was another figure.

"Number 34 has failed. I must inform Boss."

"Finally home," Amy said as she cut off the engine. "What a night."

"Can't say it wasn't interesting," Sonic said. "I WOULD say it was fun, but being attacked by an assassin robot and having it nearly blow my friend's screwdriver through his head kinda ruins it every time."

"No kidding," Amy agreed. "I would've liked our first date to go over without a problem."

Our FIRST date? Sonic thought. Well... I guess other than the robot attack, it was a pretty good evening overall.

"Hopefully Vector will have some information for us sometime tomorrow," Espio cut in. "Unless he's fighting with Charmy again."

"I said go to BED, Charmy!" Vector said in a somewhat louder voice than he'd normally use.

"NO!" Charmy shouted back. "YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!"

Sonic got out of the car first, followed by Amy, then Espio, and then all three of them made for the front door.

"Maybe we can try going out again once we've dealt with whoever sent the robot," Sonic said on the way there.

"Sounds good," Amy said with a slight smile which quickly faded. "But we have to be sure it IS only one person, and not several."

"I don't even want to think about THAT," Sonic said, losing his normally cool manner. "I'm used to dealing with Eggman's robots, but that one was just too smart and too well-armed. Whoever built it is certainly no moron."

"Well, we'll worry about that later," Amy said. "Right now we have other things to worry about, or at least I do. I knew running a business would be a bit tough when I got into it, but I never counted on murder..." Her voice trailed off as the murder came back to mind.

"It wasn't your fault," Sonic said after a few seconds passed. "Only advice I can offer about it is, let the police do their thing, and don't get in their way."

"Right," Amy said absentmindedly.

"Once we figure out who sent the robot, we can see to it the police have a turn with him," Espio said, leaning on Amy's front door.

"Yeah," Amy said to him, then she turned to Sonic. "I take it you plan to run home, right?"

"Yep," Sonic grinned. "Never needed a car. Cuts down on costs, for sure."

"I see what you mean. Good night, then."

"Good night." Sonic turned around.

"Sonic?"

"Yeah?" He turned back around, and before he realized it, Amy kissed him. His first instinct was to try to push her off, but he didn't. Instead, something else inside took over, and he actually kissed her back. At that instant, he knew that this wouldn't be the last time he kissed her. The kiss lasted about five seconds, then Amy backed off about half a step. Both of them were at a loss for words, but both of them knew the other was thinking the same thing. After a few seconds, they both said good night again, then went their separate ways.

Wow, this one was a little long. Lotta dialogue too. Anyway, what a chapter. Here's a recap: Sonic and Amy had their first date, which got ruined by a robot attack from someone who put a skull emblem on the robot. The two of them, along with Espio, take to robot to Tails for him to check out. While at Tails's place, Espio calls Vector and tells him to start researching Eggman, even though the crazy asshole's dead. Upon almost leaving, Sonic and Amy wind up back in the apartment after the robot's failsafe explosive kicks in and nearly blows a screwdriver through Tails's head(ever hear of Phineas Gage?). That would've sucked, but he lucked out and it missed. After Tails tells them not to worry about him, they leave the complex so Amy can go home and get some sleep. Outside her front door, she and Sonic shared themselves a 5-second kiss(yummy). But who's that dark figure seemingly watching Tails? Why didn't Rouge hear any of this, since she lives in the same complex? Or did she even care? All will become clear when I feel like it's time.