Chapter 4: Getting Acquainted

The alley behind the hotel Sonic and Tails had booked was dark, wet and smelly – precisely the kind of place people would avoid at night. Which was probably why it made sense for that cop to ask them to meet her here. They'd arrived shortly after leaving The Heart of Asia. Sonic, confident that nobody had seen them coming here, was tapping his foot with his arms crossed, while Tails continued to make the inactive tracker on his WRID work.

A few minutes later, the sound of a car horn caught their attention. They turned to the alley's nearest exit to see a blue Ford Mondeo approaching, before slowing down with its left side before them. The front window rolled down, revealing the familiar face of the female cop earlier. "Get in, quick!" she said quietly but with a hint of urgency to them.

After Sonic took the front passenger seat and Tails the rear, the vehicle sped off. "Thank you for coming," she began, "you were right about that place being too crowded. This way is better. I'm Detective Rebecca Cheuk."

"Nice to meet you again, Miss Cheuk," Sonic said warmly, trying to smile despite the circumstances, "uh, did I pronounce that right?"

"It's close enough," Rebecca replied nonchalantly as she turned a corner, "anyway, I've asked you here because, to be frank, I need your help."

"Anything we can do, ma'am," Tails said from the back, "but what's with the secrecy?"

The detective sighed before she started her explanation. "I'm worried that there may have been an information leak from my department. What happened at that club…something's very wrong with it."

"Hmph. Amen to that," Sonic said, sounding less than pleased about the affair, "but what's the problem exactly?"

"I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but…my boss believed that someone needed to watch over you while you were in the club to make sure you weren't about to do something…problematic."

She was instantly faced with blank stares, although she kept her eyes on the road. "W…what? Me? Why?"

"When the FBI contacted us a week ago for information on Wong Heng, they had to allow, in exchange, a select few of us in my department to watch the video you recorded, Tails."

The mobians were silent after hearing her answer. The last thing they wanted to be reminded of was the horrible memories of that day, which Sonic knew was rather paradoxical considering he had invoked it just half an hour ago to be able to meet Wong Heng. "I…I see."

They were now on a relatively empty street. "I was in the club when you both entered, and I saw you enter Wong's office. I couldn't get any closer to know what was happening in there, but this is where it gets suspicious. Shortly after a man with a cap and coat entered and exited the room, those gunmen barged into the place."

"Oh yeah, we noticed that too," Sonic quickly said, a lot more interested now. "That part's been bugging me too…but there's even more to it, right?"

"Yes. The gunmen seemed to be from the 16K Triad, Wing Seng's largest rival…but I saw the way they used their weapons and how quick they were. They weren't just gang members - they showed signs of having police or military training. Not to mention Wing Seng and 16K were having poor relations last time we checked. Someone's trying to start a gang war."

"Huh, no wonder," Sonic commented with a frown, "those guys moved plenty fast…coming from me, that's saying a lot. So it's definitely got something to do with the guy in the cap."

"That brings me to why I'm here. Either that man must have signaled for the others to come in, or they had somehow known what he was there for, or knew who he was, and someone tipped them off. Only a few of us even knew that this operation was going on. And there's one final thing."

Sonic and Tails just looked at her expectantly, hungry for the information she was giving.

"The Triad who told you Wong's name before he died, in Mazuri…he was one of ours. Undercover. Again, only known to a few people. I'm starting to suspect that the whole group may have been killed just to get to him."

Silence again. Like food, too much surprising news taken in at once tended to overwhelm the duo. "Well, damn."

"So you see where I'm going with this?" she continued, now letting herself sound more troubled.

Sonic nodded, acknowledging, once again, the seriousness of the situation. "That's why you want to talk to us off the record."

"Indeed. I've told my boss I'm headed home, but…" Rebecca slowed her car down to a stop to the side of the road. The area they were in was isolated, with grass and streetlights in every direction, and the lit-up Hong Kong skyline in one of them, but not much else. "…not that soon. Now we can talk more without any fear of eavesdropping or me needing to report to anyone…at least not yet."

"So what'd you like to know?"

"Same question as before, really. What went on in that room before it happened? What did Wong say?"

As it turned out, the lack of prying eyes and ears made it a lot easier for Sonic to speak. "He said that he had no idea what those guys there in that base where up to, and that his men were supposed to just ship cargo on behalf of some anonymous person, though he didn't say what cargo, exactly. He also had someone find out who the person that made the deal with him was, and the guy in the cap, he'd just given us the USB drive with the info about it just seconds before the shooting started."

"So Wong didn't know who it was?"

Sonic just shrugged. "Apparently. He didn't want to know before that because he thought it would be dangerous…guess he was right."

"And the USB drive?"

"That…they took it before we did," he replied glumly while scowling again. "I can't believe we didn't just take the damn thing before we left the room. We thought we'd be able to just mop those guys up and that everything would be back to normal right away."

"You didn't know what they were going to do," Rebecca replied, trying to be assuring, "nobody did. Although it doesn't matter anymore. All I know now is that they got away on a white van. I've reported it in with its license plate, but there has been no sighting of it since, maybe the plates were fake and they'd ditched them. They just…vanished. Great." Oh well, it was worth a try.

A quick, high-pitched 'beep' sound then came from the back seat without warning, almost causing the two in front to jump. "I got it!" Tails said loudly, looking at his WRID with excitement in his eyes and voice, "the beacon's working now!"

"What is it?" Rebecca asked, as curious as she was hopeful, knowing what the genius fox was capable of.

"I launched a tracker onto their van before they escaped, 'cause of the shooting I heard from upstairs. Took me a while to get it working, unfortunately…" His smile disappeared as his disappointment appeared, but that was reversed very quickly, "But better late than never. Quick, you know where this is? Seems quite near." The fox took the device off and handed it over to a stunned Rebecca.

"Uh…" For a moment the detective was bewildered as she stared at the map display on the small screen, but quickly realized what, or rather where, she was shown. The red dot was blinking next to a body of water, Victoria Harbour, with the blue dot representing the WRID's own location just a few blocks away. "Yes, that's not too far away from here," she said with renewed vigor as she shifted the car into Drive again, "thank you, you've been very helpful. You mind if I keep this in front of me for now?"

"Sure, no problem. Would have been more so if it had worked from the very beginning, though."

"Hey, come on, bud, you did something that I never would even have thought of doing," Sonic replied, actually smiling again. "Don't miss the forest for the trees, or something like that, ya know. You did good."

With that, Tails smiled back too. "Thanks."

"So you're both riding with me? Thought you'd want to get there before I do," Rebecca pointed out.

"Well, normally we would, yeah," Sonic replied as he scratched his head, "but this city's kinda hard to navigate, to be honest, and if both of us just rushed in, they might see us coming. Best to find a place to observe them quietly. It's still not moving, right?"

"Correct, still in the same place," she answered after giving a brief glance at the WRID's screen, "should be there in three minutes if traffic's good." There was a pause before she continued more quietly, "by the way, one more thing."

Sonic sat up in his seat. "Hmm? What's that?"

"I know the two of you were in Mazuri, and what happened to those children…it was horrible. I'm sorry for what you experienced there. I know you did your best to help them out, and I promise to do the same for you."

Immediately the hedgehog looked away, glancing up at the sky covered in stars and by streetlights, his hands fidgeting. "Hmm…well, it's appreciated, but…you don't have to," he replied, almost in a whisper.

"Regardless, you have my word that I'll watch your back the whole time," Detective Rebecca Cheuk Mun-yan said confidently, "even if there are people out there who want to stab it."

They decided to stop a ways before they actually reached the marked location, as it became clear that the area was a small, isolated dock next to a flat expanse of concrete with few objects to really serve as cover for any eavesdroppers. Their best choice, as far as they could see, was a big, thick tree up a small hill next to the road.

Not taking any chances, Rebecca parked at least fifty meters away from the tree, and had already turned off her lights long before that. The three then jumped out, quietly stepped over to their chosen vantage point, and looked.

The white van from the nightclub was indeed there, with its occupants outside standing next to it, a few of them smoking, other looking around. Rebecca noticed, without surprise, that the license plate was no longer the same as it was back at The Heart of Asia, and they'd even managed to cover up the few bullet holes she'd put on the vehicle's rear door with tape, placed to look like some swirly artistic pattern so that it didn't look out of place. They appeared to be waiting for something or someone. "Don't see anyone else around," Sonic stated as he rubbed his palms together, looking and sounding prepared to strike, "come on, Tails, let's hit 'em before they even-"

"Wait," Rebecca cut him off, with a tone suggesting that he lower his volume, while pointing to another set of approaching vehicle headlights on the opposite side. The supposed Triads were now also keeping their eyes on the same thing. "Let's see who they're dealing with before we make our next move."

Sonic simply huffed reluctantly as the other vehicle came closer and into a better view. It was a large, silver Lexus sedan, license plate KR 8800, and the sight of it noticeably took Rebecca back, blinking. "What is it?" he asked her curiously, putting his impatience aside.

"That car…it seems familiar," she answered, sounding uncomfortable now, though she still tried reasonably hard to stay calm.

Then the passenger in the car's rear seat, a man in a business suit, got out, and it only got worse. "Who is that guy?" Sonic asked a now wide-eyed Rebecca.

"Do you…have binoculars?" she said in return, not really sounding like the level-headed detective she was just a minute earlier.

"Here," Tails replied, eagerly handing over the WRID again after setting it to its camera on maximum zoom. She took the device quickly, put it up to her eyes and watched the men before them intently as they approached the person they'd been waiting for. After a few seconds of observation, she lowered the tool, now looking even more stunned.

"Gin gwai," the detective muttered almost inaudibly, "that's Yeung Chiu-wah."

"Huh, really?" Tails also seemed rather surprised by the answer.

Sonic, on the other hand, expressed only confusion. "Uh, you guys feel me in here, please?"

"Yeung is the CEO of Fenglong Industries, a local energy conglomerate," she answered after steadying herself somewhat, "one of the largest in China."

"I've heard his name before while working with GUN," Tails explained, "they basically said that Fenglong has been doing something similar to what I've did, that is, small fusion reactors roughly based on the Chaos Emeralds, and that they're pretty much GUN's main rival in this area."

"But why would one of the richest men in Hong Kong meet up with the Triads like this?" Rebecca wondered aloud. Using the WRID again, she noticed that Yeung had produced a laptop, letting the Triads insert a USB drive into it, the one Sonic and Tails had mentioned. The angle of the laptop's placement was good enough for her to take a peek at its screen, and sure enough, it looked like the drive contained photos of Yeung meeting up with the same men before him now, taken secretly from faraway positions, and likely other information as well. "Looks like Yeung really does have some dirt on him," she remarked, now sounding less surprised and more vindicated, apparently. "You don't mind if I take some pictures, do you?"

"For something like this? Go right ahead," Tails said with a nod, and Rebecca started snapping away.

"You sound you've suspected that guy for a while," Sonic pointed out.

"Not just me. Yeung has been hit with accusations of dealing with the mob from local media in recent years, though they've never been able to prove anything. But now, look."

The interactions between Yeung and the Triads got more interesting as the former closed the laptop, but one of the latter was still holding onto the USB drive, saying something that made the CEO frown. "If only I could hear what they were saying," she said with a sigh.

"No problem," the fox immediately replied, taking the WRID back and turned on some other function on it before handing it back. "Now aim it directly at where they're speaking."

Rebecca couldn't help but smile a bit. "Just full of surprises, aren't you? The good kind."

"Don't worry, I say that to Tails all the time," Sonic said, grinning as well, for the first time in a long while, as Tails simply stood there looking sheepish.

Back to business, the detective followed the instruction she was given and aimed the WRID right between Yeung and the Triad member he was conversing with. Instantly their voices were playing on the device. Rebecca was startled at first, afraid that the noise would give them away, but quickly realized it wasn't much louder than how they themselves have been speaking – Tails had lowered the volume properly to make sure of that.

"So what are they saying?" Sonic asked curiously.

Rebecca began translating as she listened to the rapidly spoken Cantonese. "The Triad says that they need the USB as 'insurance' because of their 'line of work'. Yeung is protesting, saying it's not what they agreed to."

After a few seconds of silent consideration, the older man nodded reluctantly. "Fine."

"We'll be back to the hideout until the next time you need us," the Triad said, "though I hope we get a better place soon. I'm tired of that pig sty."

"Oh, don't complain so much," Yeung snapped at him, "you guys are supposed to be professionals, right? Regardless, you have done well today. Keep it up and you'll get what I promised."

The other man crossed his arms. "Very well," he replied, sounding more cynical than flattered.

Yeung checked his watch. The time, as well the amount of it that had passed, caused him to frown. "We should both go home now. We've been out here too long."

"I agree," the Triad said before turning and walking back to the van, "although, Mr. Yeung…"

"What?"

He gave the old man an odd stare, one filled with caution, and had a similar tone when he continued speaking. "Be careful when you get home."

Yeung stared back, apparently confused at first, but it lasted briefly before nodding. "Of course." And with that, he turned and got back into his own car, closing the door.

Sonic, Tails and Rebecca wasted no time getting down the hill back to the Ford as the other vehicles began to drive off in different directions. "Alright, we'll follow the van first," the detective told them as she seated herself, "Yeung's penthouse apartment's location is hardly secret. But with these men, we can't take the chance. We may have the tracking beacon, but maybe they'll park the van somewhere far from where they're actually hiding and proceed on foot, like most people here do. We'll go after them."

"Why don't Tails and I just go after them ourselves?" Sonic asked. Meanwhile, the car's engine roared to life.

"Well, you're free to try, but good luck trying not to let anyone see you, even if you use rooftops. If you're spotted, people will make a big fuss out of it. Those gunmen will know you're onto them and likely run someplace else and not their hideout, which is what we're looking for. The only way you can blend in is staying in my car."

Sonic and Tails tried to think of a good counterargument, but realized that Rebecca's reasoning made sense. Hong Kong had an incredibly high population density, with most people living in apartments, giving them elevated views of the shorter buildings and streets that were still heavily crowded at this hour. It would take only just a few excited tenants or passers-by to shout out Sonic's name, and the resulting attention would give them away to the mystery men they wanted to pursue. "Guess you're right," the hedgehog admitted reluctantly, "let's get going."

"By the way, I'd suggest not talking to me while I drive," she told them, hoping it didn't sound rude, "following a vehicle like this demands my full attention. Conversation will distract me. Hope you understand."

Sonic let out a small sigh. So not only did he have to stay in a slow car, he couldn't make conversation while doing so either. "Sure, no problem."

It was true. Following the van by driving was also a challenge, as Rebecca had to make sure to be neither too close nor too far away, which wasn't easy with the traffic being what it was right now. Nevertheless, she was confident that she could manage, as it wasn't the first time she'd done this.

After a few minutes of silent driving, she found herself entering Ma Tau Wai, one of the older areas in Kowloon. There had been buildings on both sides of the car for nearly the entire trip, but the ones around them now were clearly more rustic looking, with decaying plaster on the brick walls, unlike all the modern steel and glass a few streets ago.

Next to one such building, the white van finally came to a stop. The men jumped out, some of them carrying large bags, which undoubtedly contained the firearms they had used earlier.

It became clear, however, that they hadn't parked near where they actually stayed, as the men began squeezing through a crowded, brightly-lit night market area. Rebecca, who had stopped by the roadside, unbuckled her seatbelt. "Alright, leave this to me," he told the mobian pair, "this place is packed - you'll never be able to make through it without everyone going crazy. I'll follow them to their hideout, you stay in here and let nobody see you, okay?"

"Got it," Sonic replied promptly while Tails nodded, both hiding their reluctance.

"I'll be back soon." After lowering one of her windows slightly for ventilation, Rebecca shut the engine off once more and got out, approaching the night market at a brisk pace.

The men were at least twenty feet ahead, and she had to shove her way through several times in order to keep them in her line of sight, ignoring the angry remarks hurled at her. She apologized as much as she could on the way, but on an assignment like this, manners were of secondary importance.

Eventually her targets entered one of the rundown apartment buildings in the area, going up the stairs. Rebecca started running – she had to close the distance between them and herself now. The building was small, and being too far away meant she could easily lose them if they turned just one corner.

Inside, Rebecca made her up the decrepit stairwell, whose walls were mostly covered in graffiti, all the way up to the third floor. She wasn't worried about making noise – she knew better than to wear heels while on duty. At various points she found herself holding her nose due to the foul stench of trash in the corridors. No wonder the Triad complained about his accommodation earlier.

Finally, still in the stairwell, she saw the men enter one of the flats, though she had to shirk away briefly as the last one in the group checked his surroundings. It helped that the light above her happened to be broken. After hearing the door close, she took a good look at the number of the flat before going back down. What she got was enough – no need to risk going nearer and be discovered if one of them suddenly came back out to smoke or check something.

A few minutes of squeezing again later she returned to her car, which was luckily not surrounded by any big crowds, meaning Sonic and Tails had managed to keep themselves hidden. "Got their location," she said the moment she got back into her seat, "room 313, the left-most building on the block directly in front."

"Gotcha," Sonic replied as he let out a yawn. He couldn't help it. "If we know where they are already, why not just let us loose?"

"The market runs around this entire area. No matter how you approach that building, they'll be tipped off by the public reaction to your presence and take off with the pen drive and maybe their other stuff, while also finding some corner or store to hide in, which are everywhere here. They've chosen a pretty clever spot, actually, even if it's dirty as hell. We want both the men and whatever they're hiding."

The hedgehog frowned. "Okay…then why not just call your buddies to get in there?"

She sighed regretfully. "I'd like to…but until the mole or source of the leak in my department is discovered, it's too risky. They could get a heads-up call and then scram."

Sonic simply looked at Tails, blankly, and got the same reaction back. While Rebecca's worries were understandable, they now had to wonder if she was letting them take control of her. "Isn't there anyone in the police that you can trust? You know, your partner or something?"

The detective closed her eyes and placed a palm on her face. Somehow, she seemed bothered by the question.

"Hey, uh, what's wrong?" Tails asked quietly.

When she opened her eyes again, they were no longer the same focused, determined ones that belonged to a professional cop, now filled merely with uncertainty and lack of confidence instead. "I did," she replied, voice barely above a whisper. "He was the one who told you Wong's name in Mazuri. His name was Jason Mak."

No response. Not vocally, anyway. Sonic and Tails were blinking in surprise.

She shook her head. "I didn't want to tell you earlier, but…"

"Hey, hey, it's alright," Sonic quickly said, suddenly feeling bad about his ideas just now, worried that he may have been pushy or overeager. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she replied, steadying herself, "we weren't romantically involved or anything…but on the job, he was the one I always turned to, for years. When he was chosen to be the mole, I was constantly worried about what could happen. And with the way he died…I just need to solve this right, if you know what I mean," she continued, looking softly back at Sonic, "I can't afford any mistakes."

"I…I get it," Sonic replied with a nod, "it's alright. In that case though, what do we do?"

"You'll have to wait until later, until the market's cleared," Rebecca answered, slowly sounding more business-like again.

"When'll that happen?"

"Around here? I'd say 4 A.M., just to be safe."

That elicited a whistle from the hedgehog. "Seriously? Man…guess we should go back to the hotel or something."

She shook her head as he turned her keys again. "No. The police are watching it right now, hoping to talk to you more again, perhaps even bring you back to the station for questioning. I understand why they're doing that, but the fact is it's inconvenient for you if you want to sneak out late at night. And the mole will likely use it to his advantage too."

Sonic grunted in annoyance. "Great…then where do we go?"

A brief pause later, Rebecca put on her seatbelt and shifted into Reverse. Then, for the first time since they met, she smiled, even if it was a small one. "My place."

Rebecca's apartment, fortunately, was not the ancient ruins that the mystery men stayed in, being a relatively clean, affluent place with cleaners and security guards. Entering the adjacent parking lot building, she parked at her designated place and turned off the engine, hopefully for the last time tonight, but didn't get out yet. "Okay, I live on the twentieth floor. We'll just take the elevator, simple enough, except…"

"What is it this time?" Sonic asked.

"I don't know, my neighbours…they could be up and about right now, maybe chatting with my mum. I can trust her to keep secrets, but my neighbours, not so much."

Sonic sighed. "The stay-out-of-sight thing again, huh? Any ideas?"

She sat motionlessly to think about it, and soon had one. "Well, there is one way…not sure if you'll like it. But just bear with me."

Minutes later, the elevator doors on the building's twentieth floor opened up, and Rebecca stepped out. Her apartment was just down the corridor, and just as she had predicted, her elderly neighbours were indeed standing around in front of their doors doing small talk, when they noticed her.

"Hey, ah Yan!" one of them, Mrs. Chan, called out happily, "you came back so late today?"

"Hi, Auntie Chan," Rebecca said, showing a friendly smile, "yeah, just had to, uh, shop a bit."

"Oh, you finally decided to buy those toys too?" another one, Mr. Lau, asked, sounding pleasantly surprised. "They seem so popular right now!"

Rebecca glanced down at the Sonic and Tails 'plushies' that were on her shoulders somewhat guiltily. "Yeah. Not for myself though, it's for my cousin who lives in Canada. I think he'll like them."

"Wow, you're so nice!" Mrs. Chan's grin grew wider. "You even bought the full-size versions, as big as the real Sonic and Tails!"

It took a lot of effort not to blush at that one. "Well, there was a discount."

"Hey, do you need me to open the door for you?"

"Thank you, but it's not needed," Rebecca replied as she reached into her pockets for her keys after reaching her door, hoping that the two mobians could remain motionless just a bit longer.

"Hey, so how is work these days?" Mrs. Chan asked as she got up beside her.

"It's okay, a bit stressful…" She gently turned the handle after unlocking it. "I guess that's why I bought these toys. Maybe I'll play with them a bit before mailing them."

"Stress? No worries, remember to come over to my food stall if you need anything," Mr. Lau offered.

"Thank you, Uncle Lau. See you tomorrow. Good night."

"Hey, before you go in, could I take a look at them?" Mrs. Chan asked eagerly.

"I'm quite tired now, Auntie Chan. Tomorrow, okay?"

"Oh, no problem. Good night!"

Whew. Rebecca was glad to have gotten through that, though there was one more person she had to deal with, one she couldn't avoid no matter what.

"Ah Yan!" Mrs. Cheuk came out from the kitchen, dressed in an apron and holding a ladle. The room was filled with the smell of stew. "Finally you come back! I was worried about you."

"Hi, mum," she said, genuinely pleased to see her mother again after the day she'd had, "sorry I came home late."

"You went shopping?" she said, pointing at the apparent stuffed toys on her shoulders, "you had time for that after work?"

She laid Sonic and Tails down on the couch carefully one by one, which wasn't as easy as it looked since they weighed a lot more than their stuffed counterparts. "Ma, I need to tell you something," she said, lowering her voice, "it's very important."

"What is it? You're talking very seriously suddenly."

"Ma, you need to keep your voice down and promise you won't shout, okay?"

Mrs. Cheuk looked very puzzled as the crooked lines on her forehead seemed to become even more so. "Okay. Why?"

Rebecca finally switched to English and faced the mobian duo. "Okay, guys, you can drop out of it."

Sonic and Tails ended their charade by taking in deep breaths, caused both by reflex and relief. "Whew, man," the hedgehog said facing Rebecca, "hope you didn't say anything embarrassing about us back there."

"I was more worried about that happening to myself, honestly," she replied before turning to her now speechless mother and continued in her native tongue, "ma, I've brought Sonic and Tails along tonight. I hope you don't mind."

As if on cue, the two went up to the elderly lady to offer a hand shake. "Good evening, Mrs. Cheuk," Sonic greeted, smiling.

As was Tails. "Hi, there," the fox said with a wave, tails twirling.

Rebecca's mom stood there with her mouth open for a solid ten seconds before breaking out into a big smile. "Oh! Wow! It's nice to meet you!" she said in Cantonese, and not quietly, taking Sonic's hand.

"Ma, please!" Rebecca quickly replied while looking at the door, worried that Mr. Lau and Mrs. Chan may have overheard.

"Ah, sorry." Mrs. Cheuk proceeded to do what most human beings did when they met Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles 'Tails' Prower: hug them tightly. Here, she knelt down and did it to both of them at the same time, made possible by her wide frame.

After she was done, she got back up and faced her daughter. "Hey, ah Yan, it's nice that they came, but why are they here, actually? How come you don't want to tell the others?"

"It's a bit complicated," Rebecca answered, sounding a bit uneasy again. "I'll explain in the room, come with me." Switching languages, she said while walking away with her mom without facing the two , "hey, just take a seat for a while. It'll only be a moment."

"Sure!" After the door closed, Sonic and Tails jumped back onto the couch, sinking into the fine leather, and for once just relaxed.

Or at least, they tried to. They found themselves taking a good look around the apartment, which had a richly colored wooden floor covered with soft mats. The furniture were all mostly high-end, and the only thing they didn't recognize was the small dark red box near the TV, placed on an old-looking cupboard. It appeared to contain the jade figure of some Chinese deity. Otherwise, the place exuded modernity and freshness, which fit Rebecca well.

Thinking about the detective caused Sonic to face the young fox. "Hey, Tails, uh…what do ya make of Rebecca so far?"

Tails appeared mildly surprised at the question. "What do you mean?"

"I guess, well, she takes her job real seriously, I can understand that, but do you feel she, like, kinda hamstrings us here and there sometimes?"

The fox took a moment to consider Sonic's claim. "Well, maybe…but I can't blame her. What happened in that nightclub was a bit, well, scary. The timing was really too exact, and those guys knew exactly what to do to cut us off. I'd be cautious too."

Sonic leaned back all the way, glancing at the ceiling in the process. "Good point. I just wish I could just get going, like, right now. We know where they are already, and you know how I am. I can't just wait around. My feet are itching, bud, not just to run, to kick some butt too."

"I'm just as eager as you are, believe me," Tails replied, sitting closer to him, "but looking at that area just now, I have to agree, even if I fly us both in there, we'll still be really visible due to all those lights, and those guys are probably being vigilant too. If they see us, they could scatter, and we might catch only one or two of them at best. We should wait until the night market closes, at least, to approach this carefully."

The hedgehog didn't know what to think, what to say in response. One half was screaming to just rush out there and zoom in on that little cubbyhole, all those witnesses be damned. The other urged him to listen to Tails' advice and Rebecca's observations. And when he thought about it, things had always worked out better when he worked together with Tails to plan them out, whether on Mobius, Adabat. And when they didn't, the result was Mazuri.

That memory caused Sonic to shudder, as if from coldness. He did not want another Mazuri to happen again. Could not. No way. If only they'd remembered those guards outside that tunnel…

In the end, it was clear to him which side of him won the argument. "Okay, we'll take it carefully, just like you said," Sonic replied quietly, looking at Tails with eyes of trust. The same kind Tails normally gave him when the fox had his own doubts. "We're gonna plan this properly, Tails. Mazuri ain't gonna happen again."

Even though mentioning Mazuri usually made him cringe, Tails was able to smile this time. "Yeah. That's what I think too."

The door on the other side of the room opened up, and their two hosts came back out. "Alright, my mum understands now. You two can stay for the night," she told them, "and the best part is, she invites you to try out her stew."

"Oh?" Sonic got off the couch, with Tails following suit. "That's nice. Both of those, I mean. Thanks."

What followed for the next fifteen minutes was the four of them sitting at the dinner table, trying out the stew, while Sonic and Tails answered a few questions from Mrs. Cheuk, some a bit embarrassing, such as whether they'd dated any of their fangirls. Rebecca acted as translator, and couldn't help but laugh occasionally.

Despite that, Sonic was surprised to find that he did genuinely enjoy the time off for once, without feeling like he had to be somewhere else right now. They got to learn a few things about Mrs. Cheuk as well, such as how she used to be a semi-trailer driver, which explained her burly arms. When Tails mentioned having leg pains again, she recommended a local acupuncturist. Warming up to her was easy overall.

After they were done, Mrs. Cheuk bid them goodnight, and went to sleep first. Then it was back to business again. "Okay, so you know what to do?" Rebecca asked them right after her mother went into her bedroom.

Sonic shrugged. "I guess so. We wait until the right time, right?"

"More or less."

"Hey, uh, could I use your computer?" Tails asked. "Just thought I'd check a few things that could help." Although his WRID was useful, the fox still preferred using an actual computer to check certain things online.

"Oh, sure." Rebecca went into her own room and returned with a Lenovo laptop, which she then logged in using the guest account. "Go right ahead."

"Thanks," Tails said as he put the device on his lap.

"No, thank you," she said back to them, "for helping me out on this. I don't know who else I could have turned to. Good luck."

"Likewise," Sonic told her. "So, you're sleeping now?"

"Yeah. Long day ahead," she answered before heading back to her bedroom again. "Night."

"G'night."

Once they were alone in the living room, Sonic got up next to Tails, looking at the computer screen together. "So whatcha checking out?"

"Maps, mostly. Just need to check some locations."

It took a moment for Sonic to notice the plural. "Locations? Thought we were hitting just that one apartment."

"Well, I thought of something, that maybe we should be hitting two instead." He then zoomed in on a marked point on the 3D map, which didn't look like the place Sonic had just mentioned.

"What's that fancy looking building?"

Tails smiled. "Yeung Chiu-wah's penthouse apartment."

Sonic stared at his young friend. "You're gonna break in there?" he asked in hushed but still surprised tones.

"Hey, don't look at me like my face melted off or something," the fox replied, chuckling slightly. "But, seriously? Yeah. Because I figured this is really all about him, isn't it? If he has a connection to the Triads, or even Robotnik, there should be something in there, on his computer, maybe."

"But…isn't that, like, illegal?"

"Well, that's why I didn't tell Rebecca," Tails admitted, but continued, "that said, though, I might not necessarily take anything out from there, just see where it leads me to. I need to check if Fenglong has made any particular shipments to and from Mazuri in the last several months. If I defeat the security systems properly, there'll be no proof that I even entered there. And if you can get evidence from those gunmen, Rebecca might be able to launch an investigation against Yeung, and I can tell her that she should use a warrant to search Yeung's apartment, because there might just be something there that they should see…" He winked.

Sonic still seemed skeptical. "I guess the idea sounds good when you put it that way…that's a lot of 'if's though."

"I should be fine. I got experience with Robotnik's bases back on Mobius." Then his smile disappeared. "Although…I admit that I hope this doesn't become a habit."

"Hopefully. Security companies and rich guys around the world will freak out," Sonic commented, chuckling, until he thought of something that made him stop. "Hey, actually…since we're here, why don't we look up something else too?"

"What do you want to check?" Tails asked curiously.

"Yeung himself. Like, is there anything in his history that could be a motive or something that could make him likely to work with the Triads or Robotnik. The reason I wanna know is, well…I don't want the same thing with Guerrez to happen all over again."

"I understand. Alright." Tails began typing in the approximate spelling of Yeung's name since he hadn't actually seen it written before, and fortunately was close enough that he eventually was led to the result he wanted. "Okay, let's see here. Born in a small village called Chunnan in southern China, moved to Hong Kong at age 10. Graduated from business school and eventually took over Fenglong Industries, left to him by his father after he died. The company itself, which is active in energy production and military technology development, has seen its stocks fall slowly but steadily ever since I started working for GUN, in fact it lost like $500 million over the past year, but Yeung has proclaimed to be coming close to what I did.

"As for connections to Mazuri, they've wanted to set up shop there for some time, but have been hampered by the civil war that's been going on there in the past four years. He's said that they will not give up, though, that it 'represents a significant investment opportunity.' Whatever that means."

Sonic crossed his arms as he considered the information. "Let's see here…company performance starts declining right after you start working for their main rival, working in the same type of industries that Robotnik would be interested in, apparently innocuous comment on war-torn country…" He tapped his fingers contemplatively. "Yeah, I got a bad feeling about this already. You should go check him out. Just be careful, though. We're not the ones that are supposed to break the law here."

"You feel it too, huh? Anyway, if I'm breaking in there, I need to download some stuff first, mainly hacking software. I don't exactly hack into people's computers every day, you see."

"Got it. Let's hope the next time you do that is on Robotnik's systems." As Tails searched for what he required, Sonic got up and looked out of the nearby window, at the illuminated skyline of this city of secrets, under the illuminating moon and stars. I don't know what you're up to, Yeung, the hedgehog thought with a determined gaze and rolled up fist, but we'll find out sooner or later.