CHAPTER 32
After Shadow and Espio got finished talking with Razi's old classmate, they both decided to head over to Razi's old neighborhood. They kept walking until they came to an empty looking yard that was distanced from the rest of the houses within the neighborhood.
Shadow held the paper that had Razi's house address written on it. He looked away from the paper and back at the empty yard. "Well this is it."
Espio gave him an unbelievable look as he glanced around the yard. "This? This is it?"
"Yeah that's what it says." He gave the paper to Espio so he could look at the address for himself.
Espio saw Shadow looking and observing around the yard. "You've gotta be kidding me. There's nothing here but grass…lots of damn grass. There's nothing to look at."
The hedgehog turned to the chameleon in annoyance. "Can you just help me to take a quick look around?"
Espio sighed as he decided to help Shadow look for any clues. "Fine!"
Inside of Razi's basement, he and the Raiders practically jumped out of their chairs when an alarm had went off near where the computer monitors were.
Maxcell practically jumped out of his skin when he heard the alarm. "What the hell?"
Razi's heart raced as he dashed over to the desk that had the monitors setting on it. He ran over to the computer and typed a code on the keyboard to shut off the alarm.
Nack and the rest of the group surrounded Razi. "What the hell is going on?"
"We have intruders", Razi continued to type on the keyboard until one of the monitors had showed them a video of the front yard of the house.
Everyone gasped in horror as they saw footage of a purple chameleon and a black and red hedgehog wandering around the seemingly empty front yard.
Razi's heart skipped a beat as he watched them both walk around the front yard. "It's Shadow and Espio! They must've tripped the security system."
Zena grabbed Razi by the collar of his shirt. "What the hell are they doing here? How did they find us?"
The nervous beaver shrugged his shoulders. "I-I don't know!"
"Well get them away from here before they find us!" The panicking squirrel yelled.
Nack held the diamond tightly in his hand with a smirk on his face, "No, let them come. I wanna take this diamond out or a test drive…especially on that hedgehog."
Damon rested his hand on Zena's shoulder as he tried to calm her down. "Chill out. They look like they haven't figured out that the house is camouflaged."
Maxcell pointed at the screen, "Yeah they're backing off. We're in the clear."
Razi shook his head, "No, we're far from being in the clear. They're getting suspicious. They know something's up." He turned to the group in worry, "It'll only be a matter of time."
Maxcell nervously watched Shadow and Espio walking away, "No, we can't get found. We came so far! I can't go back to prison!"
Nack turned to everyone who was panicking. "Everyone calm the fuck down! It's obvious they're getting closer to putting the pieces together. Looks like we better start packing…"
Outside of the house, Espio turned back to Shadow who was still staring at the empty yard. He crossed his arms as he began to grow impatient with him, "Give it up, Shad. There's nothing here."
The hedgehog slowly shook his head, "Something's here. We just can't see it…"
Espio saw Shadow beginning to walk away from the yard and start walking back down the sidewalk. He followed behind him. "Hey! Wait for me!"
The next day, everyone was at the Chaotix headquarters. They were all gathered in a conference room taking in feedback from Shadow and Espio's investigation from yesterday. They were all sitting in chairs next to one another around a large table.
Midnight placed a finger to his chin, "That's odd. You both didn't see a thing?"
Shadow stood in front of the group of detectives while they all discussed where The Raiders could possibly be. He shook his head, "Nothing."
"The yard was clear", Espio spoke. "No tire tracks, no signs of rubble if the house was destroyed. It was just grass, grass, and more grass in an already ghetto and halfway deserted neighborhood."
Appex thought it was almost hopeless to find any more evidence that could help them find The Raiders. "Well that sucks. The only evidence we have on those guys is completely useless."
"Not quite…" Charmy had spoken.
Everyone directed their attention to Charmy when he had began to speak.
"If anything we didn't learn from The Villains, we know they were big on advanced technology and weaponry", Charmy spoke.
Tonya scratched the side of her head, "Yeah and?"
Charmy continued, "If we had a device that could pick up massive energetic waves, we could definitely detect if there's something there or not."
Rouge was impressed with Charmy's theory. "That's not a bad idea!" She turned to Shadow and had hoped he had agreed. "Shadow?"
The hedgehog shrugged his shoulders, "I don't see why we can't give it a go." He turned to Charmy, "Charmy?"
The bee turned to the hedgehog giving him his attention.
"You think you could make something like that anytime soon? The sooner we find the douchebags, the better."
The bee made a small nod, "Yeah no problem."
Late that afternoon, it was time to close the agency. Everyone had left and headed home.
Shadow was sitting at the desk in the lobby typing on the computer until Rouge had came behind him and hugged him.
"You still working?" She asked as she pulled away from him and sat down in his lap.
He placed his hand on her waist while she sat on him, "Yeah I'm still hard at work. I'm the manager now. I kinda don't have a choice but to work harder."
"Well even you need a break sometime", she spoke in a seductive tone. She leaned her head closer to his and pulled him into a passionate kiss.
He lifted the bottom of her shirt slightly and began to caress her bare waist as his tongue played with hers.
She ran her hands across his chest gently and felt his hand travel down to the lower region of her body.
He ran his hand over her bare leg and had traveled up the inside of her black skirt towards her thigh. He had then grabbed her butt roughly causing her to escape a few moans. When he felt her hands travel downwards, he noticed that she had tried to unbuckle the belt to his pants. He took his lips from hers and had decided to stop before things had proceeded any further. "Babe, we can't. I gotta finish up."
She wrapped her arms around his neck and heavily sighed. "How much longer are you going to be?"
He slightly shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. I'll probably be here all night."
Her eyes widened in disbelief, "What?" She had then heard chuckling coming from him.
"I'm kidding. I'll leave in another hour or so."
"Do you want me to wait for you?"
He shook his head, "No you can go on without me. I'll meet you at home."
She made a sympathetic look. "Are you sure?"
He made a nod and smiled, "Yeah babe, I'm sure. I'll be fine."
She made a small smile, "Fine, but I expect to see my husband to come home sometime tonight."
"I'll be there I swear. Just be sure to warm up that bed for me when I get there."
She giggled softly, "I sure will, honey." She leaned in to kiss him one last time before she had gotten off of him.
He playfully smacked her butt as she got off of him, "I love you and be careful going home."
A small blush had formed on her face as she turned to him one last time before heading out the door. "I will and same goes for you."
When she had finally left, he continued to work on the computer until he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He just knew everyone had went home. So who was in the building other than himself? Slowly and quietly, he stood from the chair and pulled out the handgun from the black holster that was around his leg. As the footsteps had gotten closer to him, he could tell that whoever was in the building was about to walk out into the lobby. He held the gun tightly by his side and watched as a yellow and black bee approached from behind the corner. He sighed heavily in relief at the sight of the bee, "Oh God, Charmy. It's only you."
Charmy watched as Shadow placed his gun back in his holster. "…Yeah…who else did you think it was?"
"Sorry I thought everyone had already left. What are you still doing here anyway?"
He pulled out a big and gray strange remote and handed it to him. "I was finishing up that energy device for you so you can take one last look around Razi's old yard."
He held the device in his hand and observed it. "You finished it? That's great." He looked back up at him. "Thanks. This'll help us out a lot."
Charmy made a small nod, "You're welcome." He turned away from him and began to walk towards the door. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Shadow called the bee back before he could leave. "Charmy, wait."
Charmy had stopped in his tracks and slowly spun back around to face the hedgehog. He watched him walk up to him with a concerned look.
"…Charmy, are you all right?"
He somehow knew that Shadow was going to ask why he was acting so different around him and everyone else. "…Why do you ask?"
He slightly hesitated, "It's just…you've been acting so…different since Vector passed. It's been months and you're still acting strange."
He made a look on his face that looked like Shadow had offended him. "…Strange?"
Shadow made a small nod, "You're quiet and you're barely cracking a smile anymore and usually you're full of laughter."
"I used to huh?" He spoke bitterly as his eyes wandered away from him.
"You're so distant with everyone now and it's kind of scary…are you okay?"
He shook his head and turned away from him, "…No nothing's wrong." He started to walk back towards the door.
When he saw him about to leave, he refused to let him walk out without finally talking to him about his problem. "Don't you walk away from me, Charmy! I want you to talk to me!"
He turned back around and angrily glared at him. "There's nothing to talk about!"
He had suddenly noticed that Charmy was beginning to act hostile towards him. "What do you mean? Something's going on with you! What's the problem? Why are you acting this way?"
"I said I'm fine damn it!" The bee snapped.
Shadow paused as he was taken by surprise from Charmy's reaction. He had never seen him so fueled with anger before.
"If you want what's best for me then you will stay the hell away from me!"
Shadow couldn't believe how angry and frustrated he was. Something was indeed clearly bothering him. "…What?"
"I don't know what Vector saw in you!" He shouted, "All you do is cause pain and death all around you! That's what got your father, Faye, and Vector killed!"
Shadow could feel his heart shatter from Charmy's sudden and hurtful words. "…Charmy…."
"Do me a favor and just stay out of my life!"
"Charmy!" After being put in shock, he watched as Charmy stormed out of the building.
In The Next Chapter…
Shadow: That was too close…
Tikal: Oh, Nails! I didn't know you were in the shower!
Nails: There's no need to act so shy, sweetie.
Tikal: I-I never done this before…
Nails: This is going to be fun. I promise you…