Back at the house, Sonic was coming back from an unsuccessful surfing attempt. Espio, having found no lead about the unsanctioned yacht, had come back with him.
"Come on Espio! Why won't you do it?"
"Because it's low, immoral and bloody disgusting."
"Aw Espio come on! You disappear, go in and take some pictures. It won't take a second."
"For the last time Sonic…" They stopped. Someone else was in the house. To be precise, in the computer room. Espio pulled his kunai off his belt. Sonic had nothing. "You don't have a spare, do you?"
The two of them crept down the hall. Another sound resonated from the room. It was laughter! An elated, joyful sound that was full of life. Espio listened carefully. The voice was male, adolescent and slightly gruff. There was something else, something familiar about the voice. As they came to the doorway Espio signaled for Sonic to wait. Concentrating, he allowed his skin to disappear, making him invisible to human sight. Now safe, he took a look into the room. What he saw was neither frightening nor threatening, but simply shocking. Even with his rigorous training, Espio still let out a sound of surprise.
"What is it?!" Sonic hissed. He pushed past Espio's form and peeked inside. He gasped in shock as well. In the room was Shadow, but not the Shadow they knew. He was leaning back in the chair in a relaxed position, and his hands were behind his head. This couldn't be the uptight, serious Shadow they knew. But there was something more. He was smiling! His face looked relaxed, serene. If Sonic didn't know better he'd almost say he was happy. A pair of headphones and a mike was connected into his laptop, and Sonic could just make out a webcam perched on top. Shadow's body blocked the screen, so whoever he was talking to couldn't be seen.
"You can't be serious!" the two eavesdroppers heard Shadow say. "There's no way he'd do that!" Espio strained to hear the reply, but the headphones were too good quality, so no sound escaped. Shadow laughed again, the same melodic and joyous note they'd heard earlier. Shadow pressed the headphone close to his ear, listening carefully. "Hold on, I'll go check." He took off his headset and began to turn. Sonic was out the front door at just short of sonic boom speed, and Espio wasn't much slower.
Safely on the front porch, Sonic turned to Espio. "Who do you reckon that was?"
"Don't know," he muttered. Sonic gave him a suspicious look. There was little Espio didn't know, and SPEED members private lives weren't the tightest kept secrets. Espio saw the look. "You investigate Shadow's private life, you're walking a knife's edge."
"Meaning?" Espio gave a sneer.
"He'll kill you if he catches you. Or worse." Sonic gave an involuntary shiver at the thought of what Shadow could do.
"Come on though, you must be curious." Espio waggled his finger at him.
"Let me give you some advice Sonic. The secret to being good at something is to know when to quit." Espio walked back inside.
"Coward!" Sonic yelled after him. Shadow walked into Espio as he went back into the computer room.
"What's he yelling about?" he asked. Espio shrugged.
"No clue."
The sun began to set over the beach, sending fingers of orange and red lights shining on the tropical waters. From the roof of the flats, Blaze stared out to the horizon, barely noticing the beauty of the sunset. She'd been sitting up here for most of the afternoon, trying to recover her thoughts from the events on the beach. She wiped tears from her eyes. Why did it always have to come to that, people teasing her because of her powers, her body, anything! She just wished they'd accept her for who she was, not tell her what she should be.
"Here you are!" Surprised, she looked over at the edge of the roof. Silver was attempting to pull himself up. Deciding it was too much work, he just used his powers to levitate himself up. He walked carefully across the roof and sat beside her. He didn't say anything, just stared out to sea and waited. If she needed to tell him anything, she'd tell him whether he asked or not.
"They were taunting me again," she said.
"Uh huh," Silver had already found this out from the crowd.
"Why do they do it Silver? Why do people choose to try and hurt others for fun?"
"I don't know," he replied. "People fear what they can't understand, and sometimes this fear turns into cruelty. They see what they think is weakness, and exploit it to make themselves feel strong again." There was a pause as the island wind whistled past.
"I didn't really hurt them, did I?" Silver chuckled, which gave Blaze her answer. She moaned.
"Well, the guy you nailed first can't walk properly anymore and none of them are going to go near you again," he smiled. "From what I heard they deserved it." He put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"They thought I was ugly," she nearly whimpered. She turned to Silver. "You don't think I'm ugly do you?" The question took Silver by surprise. His face blushed pink.
"I…err well…I think…"
CRASH!
"SONIC!!!"
Blaze leapt up. "I'd better go check that." She gave Silver a quick hug. "Thanks Silver, you're the best." She did a quick run, and then somersaulted off the roof and swung into the third story window. Silver smiled for a few seconds after she left. After he was sure she was gone, he gripped his head, looked to the sky and screamed with frustration.
"UUUHHH!" Why hadn't he just said it? Just a few more words from his stupid, god damned nervous lips! Why?! Why couldn't he just say it?! He gave another frustrated grunt.
"You need some work Silver." Silver snapped round. Espio was leaning against the chimney stock, smiling with infuriating smugness.
"How long have you been standing there?" Espio kept smiling.
"Long enough." Silver's head flopped into his hands.
"How much do you want?"
"What?! For my advice?"
"No, for you not to tell Sonic. Or Amy." Espio gave him a hurt look.
"Come on friend. What type of man do you think I am?"
"What type of man spies on his friend trying to talk to a girl?
"Hey, I wasn't up here to spy on you?!" Silver's look said he doubted that.
"If you're not up here to watch me, why are you up here?" Espio pulled out his binoculars, pointing to the boat in the bay.
"I've been trying to work out what that boat's doing there," Silver gave an exasperated sigh.
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe the only illegal thing they are doing is being there?" Espio handed him the binoculars, angling them perfectly.
"If they're so legit then why are there armed guards?" He was right. A group of heavily armed natives were gathered round the few entrances to the wharf the yacht was anchored at.
"So what are you going to do?" Silver asked his curious companion. Espio shrugged.
"I'll work that out tomorrow," he took the binoculars back and kept watching the ship. Silver went to go back inside. "Silver," Espio called as he went to the roof's edge.
"Mmm?"
"Just tell her how you feel straight out," he told him. "She'll appreciate you more for it." Silver grinned at him and jumped off the roof into the madhouse.
The next day, Sonic was no closer to finding out who Shadow's mystery contact was. He'd tried looking through Shadow's bags, no pictures. He'd tried checking his E-mails, no dice. He even tried hacking the GUN database to trace the connection, but he gave up at the sight to the 13 place password. But would he consult defeat? No. He just needed some outside help.
"Let me get this straight." Tails was sitting in the room he and Sonic were sharing. A welding mask was stuck over his head and parts were scattered over the bed in various stages of repair. As training was Espio's way to relax, fixing stuff was Tails'. "You want me to hack into a government owned system, breaching my confidentiality contract, for what?"
"There's some surfing tips in the network I need for tomorrow's comp," Sonic lied. Tails looked at him suspiciously.
"Why don't you ask Espio?" he questioned. "He the professional hacker."
"Espio's a dick! He won't help me."
"How long is the password?"
"Thirteen digits." Tails' eyebrows shot into his fringe.
"Thirteen digit passwords are used for space projects and spy intelligence. You're telling me that GUN surfing tips are as well guarded as a mole's identity?!"
"Are you going to help me or not Tails?" Tails groaned.
"You know, if we get caught I loose my access creditentials." Sonic shrugged. "So glad you understand," Tails muttered as he went to the computer room. Once there, it didn't take long for Tails to get into it. His initial skepticism was lost in the excitement of trying to crack the problem.
"Know what to do?" Sonic asked him. Tails' fingers flew over the keys typing and accessing different programs.
"Let's try the override code," Tails muttered to himself. He typed in 'CHAOS'. The computer beeped a negative. Unperturbed, Tails continued typing, muttering suggestions to himself. After a good ten minutes, Tails gave a small smile. Sonic, a bit drowsy, didn't notice for a second. Then the digits began to show up on the screen of their own accords. Sonic's eyes fluttered open.
"What did you do?" Tails smile widened.
"Residue memory," he explained. "The computer 'remembers' the last time the correct password was used. This means I can retrieve that memory." The computer gave an encouraging ding, along with a green 'access granted' sign. "We're in!" Tails nearly cheered. A list of contacts ran down the screen, all the same address. Sonic leaned in to read it.
"The Ark? What the hell is that?"
"Hold on a sec," Tails continued to type. Sonic looked over his shoulder, a reaction people have when doing something dangerous or illegal. He was damn lucky he did, otherwise he wouldn't have seen Shadow walking in. Quick as lightning, Sonic hit the cancel key. The screen went blank. Tails was stunned. "Sonic, why'd you do that?!"
"Damn! Sorry Tails!" Sonic said. "I accidentally cancelled your game." Shadow began to come over.
"What are you talking a YOWW!" Sonic's leg whipped out into the smaller boy's shin. Shadow, obviously thinking it wasn't important, left. Sonic sighed in relief. Then let out a yell of pain as the computer chair rammed into his leg.
"What was that for?!" Tails looked angry, nearly frighteningly so. His voice came out in a menacing whisper.
"Sonic, tell me what's really going on. Now!"