A hot cup of tea was sitting her desk. Though by the time she would actually drink it the soothing elixir would probably have gone cold. Aunt Maria's gleaming pale blue eyes, stared intently at the newspapers on her desk. She shifted the pile with one hand and plucked up one of the papers from the bottom of the stack. The headline, read in bold black letters, "MYSTERIOUS FIRE BURNS DOWN STORAGE SILO!"
She raised a brow, "hum, not a bad cover up," She thought, before letting the paper flop back down onto the desk.
She should be happy, all of the scrubbing had already been done by Scourge's lackies, as he didn't want the conflict out to the public just yet. So, that was less work for them. Things since then were working out as well, Mari and Angie had been taking on more duties with the resistance. Such as delivering information, and gathering evidence; nothing too dangerous. There was just something that wasn't right, something that she missed, something that didn't click with the rest of this pleasant picture.
She picked up another paper, this one dated a few weeks ago, "FAMILY SAVED FROM HOUSE FIRE BY MYSTERIOUS BLUE STREAK," she picked up another paper, "BLUE BLURR STOPS BANK ROBBERY," and finally, "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG SIGHTED; IS THE HERO BACK BEYOND THE GRAVE!?"
She shook her head, knowing she should have expected this. She had been watching the boys work for the last few weeks from a far, and it was perhaps time that she approached them. While, they're endeavors, although dangerous, we're clearly done in good intentions. Sadly, no matter how good said intentions were, she couldn't let this continue.
The traffic noise was clanging in his ears, while the crisp chilly autumn wind made his quills twitch. Zephyr leaned over the rooftop's edge, as he looked over Refuge City. The night time view wasn't the best on Mobius, but that didn't really matter at the moment. After the last full moon, Zephyr pondered for days on how he could practice being in the field, without doing the level of missions that Angie and Mari were now doing every other week.
He was getting nowhere until he asked himself, 'What did his father do when he started out?' Sadly, he didn't have a Dr. Eggman around, so for the last few weeks he had started stopping robberies, and saving people from house fires. Honestly, had it felt nice doing something that could help people with his powers; it was fulfilling. Now, he wasn't entirely stupid, he took precautions to help keep him and his identity safe. He always did this at night, wore the make up that made him look like raccoon, and even got a ground control.
"Zephyr?" Speaking of…
"I'm here, Sparky," Zephyr said into his communicator, "What do you got for me?"
"You're going to like this one. Kitten up a tree, on the corner of 63rd and 5th."
A cheeky grin split on Zephyr's face and he started towards the trouble. Honestly, his superpowers made it incredibly easy to get around any environment (especially since he'd learned to run up walls). So, getting to those who needed help wasn't really a problem. And solving the issue was perfectly easy, grab the kitty (or whatever it was), and drop it into the arm of the owner, and get away before anyone sees his face. It was quick, and secretive. But how he wished he could stay and watch the reaction of the people he'd helped.
He ducked back into a dark alley, hiding himself once the deed was done. He pressed his back against the cold rough brick wall, and took a settling breath. His dry throat swallowed with confusion and his brows creased.
"Hey, uh Sparky," Zephyr said into his communicator.
"What's going on? Are you okay? You sound freaked out."
"Well, for starters…"
"…that cat, wasn't a cat."
Sparky's fingers, paused their typing on his laptop's keyboard surprised, "Wasn't a cat? What do you mean it wasn't a cat?
"It wasn't a cat."
"What was it then?"
"A snake! It was a pet snake. What made you think it was a cat?"
"The report, stated the animal was named 'fluffy'. Who names their snake 'fluffy'?!"
A hand suddenly touched the young fox's shoulder. His two twin tails frizzed as he squeaked with surprise. Spinning his chair around, Sparky was quickly met with the disapproved face of Aunt Maria. He just sat in his chair, staring up at his caretaker, with the look of a child caught sneaking in to the cookie jar painted on his face.
"Sparky? You, okay?" Zephyr said through the comms.
Sparky only glanced over the commlink, before his eyes went back to Aunt Maria. He felt frozen; his body to scared to move. Aunt Maria raised a brow, before she reached behind him to patch the link through.
"Sparky?"
"Zephyr, I would appreciate, if you would return to the mansion," Aunt Maria said.
Some fumbling came through the line, "Hey Aunt Maria… How are you?"
Sparky flinched; his ears drooping.
"Zephyr, return to the mansion. I need to have a talk…" She turned towards Sparky, "…with both of you."
Sparky watched as she shut off the comm, and left the lab. There was only one word for their situation.
Busted.
Zephyr couldn't look Aunt Maria in the eye. The elder hedgehog had mastered the ability of the disapproving parent stare down to an art form. The atmosphere was tense as he and Sparky stood at one end of Aunt Maria's office, while she stood in front her desk at the other end.
"Look, Sparky was only helping because I asked him too. I'm the one to blame!" Zephyr suddenly said.
"Zephyr don't, I agreed to do it!" Sparky said.
"No, Sparky. This is my fault. I'm not letting you get punished too!"
Aunt Maria cleared her throat, "Boys," She said calmly, "Do you know why you are here?"
"Because, you're mad at us?" Zephyr, said, his ears flopped down and his almost turquois eyes darted towards the floor.
"I'm not mad, yet," Aunt Maria said, "I just want to what you were doing, and why you were doing it."
Zephyr glanced over to the younger fox standing next to him. Sparky's ears were down, and his tails were curling around himself. As much as the fox said that he should be blamed as well, it was clear that Sparky didn't like being in trouble. The young hedgehog's heart ached with regret for getting the young inventor into this mess.
"I needed to practice," Zephyr said.
Aunt Maria raised a brow.
"I'm not like, Mari or Angie. I'm not numb to all of the violence, or a trained fighter. I-I know that I'm getting lessons in combat and tactics, but it's not enough. My Ma told me, that ever skill needs knowledge and experience to master. I'm getting plenty of knowledge here, but it's not…" He sighed, "…The last mission for me, was more then I thought. I figured that if I started with smaller things, I could get used to it. So, I asked Sparky if he could help me find lower-level crimes, and emergencies in Refuge City."
Aunt Maria's face remand, solid and hard, "Sparky you're dismissed."
The little fox looked around confusedly, before slowly walking out. The heavy door closing with a click from his exit.
Aunt Maria sighed and rubbed her forehead, "I understand what you are trying to do, Zephyr. Really, I do. But this wasn't the way."
"What else was I supposed to do? Not sleep after every mission you give me? When you start giving them to me again. I know that Mari had said something about my performance on the last one because, she and Angie are constantly out of mansion now. While I'm still cooped up," Zephyr retorted.
"Zephyr, what you're trying to do, is exactly what I need you to want to do, but like I said this isn't the right way."
"How?"
"Well, for starters, you were seen. Blowing our cover is not something we can afford right now."
"Blowing cover? I stuck to the shadows and kept out of sight. I even wore that stupid eye makeup."
"You may have kept your face hidden, Zephyr. But that doesn't mean you weren't seen," Aunt Maria grabbed some of the newspapers on her desk, and handing them over.
"Some reporters saw me?"
"Yes, Zephyr they did. Which is a problem."
"How? These guys think I'm my dad."
"I know, but that's not a stable cover."
"You think that someone might try to dig up his grave?" Zephyr raised brow.
She shook her head, "No, the only tribute to your father's memory is his pillar on the spire, as his death left no body to bury."
"Then why are you worried? They can't prove I'm not my dad. So, if people go looking, they technically aren't looking for me."
"Zephyr, other than you, there have never been another hedgehog with your father's abilities. Sure, there were those who could match his speed, like my brother, but they usually achieved this with technology, or through some other artificial means," She sighed, as she started walked closer to him, "On the off chance you get caught-which in my experience, will happen- when they see a blue hedgehog. A hedgehog with the same powers as one of the great lost heroes of the past. A hedgehog who is just the right age to be born not long after that hero's death. They will connect the dots."
"What so wrong with that? It might give back some people hope. I saved those farmers, they're alive, with their families, and probably confused. Wondering about who save them from whoever was in charge of that silo. What would be so wrong for them to get some closure?"
"Zephyr, after you were born, we didn't get a chance to announce your birth, like we did with Mari's and Angie's," She sighed, "When your mother ran away, and we learned of her capture, the chances you being dead were more than likely. The world was still reeling from your father's demise. We couldn't tell them about his child being lost as well, and by that time Scourge had gathered quite a following. If you were still alive, and that monster learned of you, he would've torn Mobius to shreds looking for you."
Zephyr felt his stomach drop. Someone like how the others described Scourge to be, a murderer, a killer, a monster, hunting him down. It was a terrifying thought, but there was also confusion mixed in. Only one word came to his mind.
"Why?" Zephyr asked.
Aunt Maria sighed once again, "I don't know. But Zephyr, I don't want you to go outside, because I can't let him find you."
Zephyr glanced at the floor, "Maybe he has a reason for doing all of this. If we just talk to him, maybe…"
Aunt Maria shook her head and chuckled bitterly, "Your parents were the same way, they always looked for the best in people. In your father's case, often trying to befriend his enemies. Sometimes it worked, but other times…"
"Maybe it will work this time too."
"It won't. We tried, Zephyr, we tried. Tails was the first to follow in your father's example and try to reason with the mad hedgehog, but…" she turned away and frowned, "It ended with Scourge clipping Tails's plane's wings mid flite, causing him and Sparky's mother to die in a fiery inferno."
Zephyr watched, as for a brief moment, the tired veil that usually rested in the elder hedgehog's eyes, fell away. In its place was a spark of agonizing, emotional pain. Sorrow, fear, rage, all for quick glimpse, was on display for the world to see.
"Zephyr," Aunt Maria began, putting a hand on his shoulder as the veil went back up, "I know you want to help people, and one day you will. You are a bright shining star of hope that the world needs, but right now the most you can do to help is learn. Your destiny is uncertain, and I know how frustrating that can be when your eager to help. But sometimes, you need to slow down. You might not understand why just yet, but one day you will. It just takes time."
She took her hand off of his shoulder and started for the door. The clack of her cane, drew Zephyr's gaze to it, more specifically, the handle.
"Chaos control," Zephyr said.
"Hmm?" Aunt Maria stopped halfway through the door, "What was that, Zephyr?"
"Chaos control. You know it. Mari has been taught it. Both our dads knew it too. When am I going to learn it?"
Aunt Maria pressed her lips together firmly, and glanced down at the floor, "You won't."
"What? Why not?"
"It's not in your best interest…"
"That's not a good reason. Chaos is one of the most powerful magics on Mobius. If we're going to have to take Scourge down, the more chaos wielders we have the better shot we have. My dad knew how to use it, why shouldn't I?"
"Zephyr, I'm not going to teach it to you."
"Why?! You just told me that the best thing I can do right now is the learn! Why not chaos control? Do you think I can't..."?
"No," she shook her head, "I'm sure if the chips were down, you could. Your father used a fake emerald the first time he did it, for crying out loud. You'd probably get it first try."
"Then why not?"
"I have my reasons Zephyr. You won't be learning it and that's final," She snapped.
Aunt Maria exited her office. The heavy wooden door closed with a subtle click, while the muffled thumping of her cane slowly, yet steadily became quieter. Leaving Zephyr standing in the silent atmosphere of the empty office, his mind filled with rabid confusion.
Neavel's leg kept twitching up and down, a nervus habit of his and it was for good reason. The bright blue flash, the quill he found in the prison, and now the past few weeks newspapers, the evidence was piling up. Yet, the old raccoon wanted nothing more than to NOT see the patterns. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one, the local news was going into a frenzy over the recent events. One of the papers theorized that it was the legend known as 'Sonic the Hedgehog' making his big return or some other moldy hay bales.
Though, unlike the poor soul that had written that article, Neavel hadn't forgotten what happened to the blue hero. The memories still felt fresh in the old raccoon's mind. The newscasts had been sudden, and didn't give many details, but they had delivered their message. Mobius's great boy in blue had died in a freak accident, leaving behind nothing but a widow and a small home in the Greenhills countryside. Many of the locals, including Neavel himself, were deeply saddened by the news. One of the reasons why many of the citizens of Refuge City, and the farmland beyond them, were even still alive and well was because of the speedy hero.
He sighed, bringing up a hand to rub his temple, feeling an awful headache coming on. As much as he would want to believe it, he still couldn't. Besides, reporters were always jumping to conclusions, right? His experience in the prison suggested otherwise. What he saw couldn't possibly be anything else, could it?
Neavel wanted to scream, for some reason he just couldn't drop this. He was missing something; some piece of a newly discovered puzzle, and it was important. There was something going on, and he didn't know what. He was living in a play, where the real story was happening behind the scenes. He rubbed his eyes, feeling like he was going crazy. At least he hadn't told anyone about this yet, then he would really become 'Old Crazy Neavel'.
"Neavel?" Came a soft voice from the entre way of the dining room.
Well, almost everyone…
He looked up to see, his wife. The female raccoon's lavender coat had greyed in the last few years, and her deep blue eyes had long lost their youthful luster, but Neavel's heart still skipped a beat every time he saw her. She glided over from the entre way, and stood behind his chair.
"Is everything alright?" she asked.
Neavel shook his head, "I don't know, Sara. Somethings just aren't making sense anymore."
Sara, wrapped her arm around his neck, "You were just held hostage a few weeks ago, it's alright if you still feel shaken up."
"That's not just it," he shook his head.
"It's this blue blur stuff, isn't it?"
He nodded.
"Well, if he is the one that saved you, I would sure like to thank him."
"How, do you know it's a him?"
"Well, you aren't the only one reading those papers, people are pretty convinced that he's back."
"He was buried, Honey. Dead as a doorknob. Everyone knew."
"Maybe he just needed to get away, do something else with his life."
"I don't think so."
"You're talking like you knew him."
"I didn't know him. But if someone is constantly jumping into danger for others, there's usually a reason behind it."
"Things have been good and peaceful these last ten years, maybe he lost his reason."
"Then what's changed? Why is he back know?"
Sara hummed, "Does make you worry, doesn't it? You don't think…?"
"That it might have something to do with the guards, that locked me up? Sure, do."
"So, you think that King Scourge might have brought him out of hiding to find if there were any sort of corrupt generals in his ranks?"
"No, something else is going on."
She raised a brow, "What do you mean?"
Neavel sighed and plucked the long, curved quill from his shirt pocket, "I found this outside of my cell."
Sara gingerly took the quill in her gloved hands. Her fingers traced the small quill, the touch so light as if she was cradling the spring's first newborn bloom in her hand. Her sapphire eyes, sparkled with awe, horror, and concern.
"Darling, why are you getting so invested in this?" she turned her pleading eyes to him, "You were captured, someone saved you, and now your home. Your safe, that's all that matters."
"Because we're missing something, Sara. I don't know what it is, but we're not seeing something. Something that's important."
"Why do you need to see what ever this is? If it's something were not supposed to see than maybe, we shouldn't go poking around," she shook the quill in front of him, "This is something that higher ups should know about, not us! If we were supposed to know we would've been told!" she quickly left the room and stormed into the kitchen in a panic.
"Sara…" Neavel followed her.
"Neavel we shouldn't have this," She gestured to the quill, which she had put on the table, "Why didn't you turn this into the cops right away? If they find this, and they hear you taking about this something we've missed, they'll take you to some crazy house! Take you away from me and the girls!"
"Sara…" he took her into his arms as the tears began to flow from her eyes and her ears dropped.
"Why does this matter?! I can't lose you again! Me and the girls were worried sick when you didn't come home for dinner! What if you walk out that door and never walked back in!?" She sobbed.
"Sara, honey, I think that something big, something dangerous is happening. I need to know what it is."
"If it's something dangerous then you shouldn't be looking for it."
"If I don't know what it is, then how can I protect you and the girls from it," he cupped her cheek, "I'll be careful, but I can't protect you or the girls, from this if I don't know what's going on."
"Neavel…"
"Sara, the quill isn't from an adult."
Her ears pricked up with confusion, "What?" she looked down towards the quill in her palm.
"The quill, it's too small. It couldn't come from an adult."
"What? How is that possible? It has to be his…"
"Honey, when he died, he was 25, now a days he'd be around 35. At both those ages he'd still be full grown. The quill it's too small to belong to an adult."
"Are you saying there's a child running around out there?"
"I'm afraid to find out. I know that most kids tend to leave home early but…"
"If there's a small kid jumping into fires, we can't just sit by."
"Not just that, but if there's a small kid attacking King Scourge's troops, then they know something that we don't. No parent would let their kids play these type of games."
"But mobius has been at peace…"
"Might not have been as peaceful as we thought."
"Are you saying that war might be right at our doorstep?"
"I'm saying that there might be something changing."
"AGHHH!" Griz, screamed, throwing his arm into the nearby tree, his eyes narrowed at the smoldering pit that was once the silo, "SO, close! How could this happen! We took every precaution! We Followed every rule! We never stored any explosive in the basement!"
Leo huffed, and rolled his eyes, "Calm down. Attacks like these have been becoming more common with the League Followers losing their numbers and resources."
Griz shook his head angerly, and growled, "We were a storage silo! Maybe something else one day, but nothing that should be a target to them!"
"We were also the closest ever built establishment to the forest boundaries. Likely they felt threatened, and acted accordingly."
"How did they even get inside!? Everything was solid!"
"They were fast, efficient, and didn't have a problem with getting blood on their gloves. Some of the more intact cadavers had visible stab wounds."
Griz yelled again, and took out his anger on a nearby rock. Leo tried hard not the roll his eyes again. While Griz was a good partner, he still had the tendency to fly off the handle, and it could be quite a bother. The jackal would honestly be more of a help if he could put all of the rage into rebuilding the silo, but Leo knew better then to try to reason with Griz once he became this upset.
Instead of getting into that mess, the rabbit focused his attention on to the laptop on the folding plastic table in front of him. Griz may have been good with strength, but someone needed to be the brains of the operation and that wasn't going to be the hotheaded Jackal. Which left Leo to be the thinker. It's not like the rabbit hated this job and he was good at organizing anyway. A sudden call came up on to the lap top, needing something to distract him from Griz's yelling, Leo answered.
"Sir?"
"The reason for your call soldier?" Leo asked.
"Sir, we just finished going over the camera footage…"
"Good, what did you find?"
"Well, sir, almost nothing..."
"Nothing? What do you mean nothing?"
"Someone had scrubbed the camera system."
A hacker? Great, so the League Followers weren't completely unorganized like they had thought. "When?"
"Long before we got to it. Whoever was hacking our systems was good, there's no evidence to suggest there was someone there."
Leo raised a brow, "So, we have a hacker, and at least one physical intruder. Great." He hummed, "Did you check the backup cameras?"
"Backup cameras, sir?"
"We set them up in the prison block, once the farmers were placed there. They aren't connected to the main system, so the hacker might have missed them."
"We'll look into it, give us a second."
The call cut, and Leo leaned back into the folding chair he was sitting in. Griz soon stomped over, having finished his tantrum. Leo cased a glance over to the jackal but didn't mind the company.
Griz sighed, "So, what did I miss?"
"There was a Hacker involved with the attack."
"How do you know?"
"The cameras were scrubbed clean."
"So, we got nothing?"
"Not yet, we still have one last lead."
Then the call patched back through, "Sir?"
"Speak soldier," Griz ordered
"The backup cameras, they were…fried."
"Fried?" Leo's eyes widened.
"Yes, sirs, all of the cameras in the prison block are. The scorch marks look electrical, but the last image the recorded…w-we found…There's something you need to see."
"Send the file over," Leo stated.
"Yes, sir."
The call cut out and, a new file was sent over. Leo opened the file, and pressed play. The voice seemed normal for a moment, just an upward view of the prison block…then the bright blue lighting bolt shot through the hall and the screen went to static. Griz's and Leo's eyes widened at the screen.
"Did you see that?" Leo asked.
"Yes, I did, but that's impossible, he's dead," Griz said.
"Maybe not as dead as we thought," Leo shut the laptop.
"What are we going to do?"
"Well, we can't handle this on our own," Leo picked up his phone and started to dial.
"You have a play?"
"You may have burned all of your bridges when you got us kicked out of the main army, but I didn't."
"Meaning?"
"You fight fire with fire. Don't you?"
A/N:
Sorry, this took so long! Holiday junk, and life Junk. I had to go through lifeguard certification course, because money. And then I go sick, and you can't really write while you throw up.
SO, read review, good day!
