Sonic's temper could be described many ways that morning. "Controlled" was not a synonym that came to mind. His feet hit the pavement hundreds of times per second as he raced towards Future City and G.U.N.'s headquarters. Just yesterday he had been there trying to resign from his position as a Special Agent, but now he was racing back to find out why on Mobius they had refused to tell him a deadly assassin was set on killing him. Again.

Needless to say, the poor receptionist who had "helped" Sonic the day before was also scheduled to work the shift he returned. It had taken the better part of the afternoon to clean the room from Sonic's exit that day, and his re-entry blew papers all over the place once again. The young blonde glanced at the trashed room, then at Sonic, and gave him a look that the hedgehog was sure would kill. "You could be a little more careful, you know."

"Yeah, sorry. Where's the Commander?" barked Sonic.

"He's in his office, where-- Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" she called after him, watching as the papers were whisked back up into the air. She slammed her hand down on the phone's intercom system, trying to alert the Commander to his visitor before the hedgehog arrived. "Sir, Sonic Kizer Hedge--"

"I know, Cassidy. Forget it." The Commander was glaring at the blue hedgehog in question from the other side of his desk, the look he was receiving was just as dark as the one he was giving.

"I deserve an explanation," growled Sonic, his emerald eyes burning with barely-contained fury.

"About what?"

"This." Sonic slammed a paper he had brought with him on the Commander's desk, watching his face for a reaction. The Commander paled a little, seeing the article typed in unique Sylfaen font, revealing information he had worked very hard to cover. "Why didn't you tell me Luktani was back?!"

"It's a long story, and I assure you, we have our reasons, but--"

"No buts!" snapped Sonic. "Amy was nearly killed yesterday, by the same assassin who nearly killed me. She's been trying to contact me, and you knew! Why the heck didn't you tell me, dang it?!"

"Calm down, and I'll explain, but you have to promise not to interrupt me until I'm done."

Sonic snorted, but sat in the chair opposite the Commander just the same. After both were settled, the Commander pulled out a file out of a safe under his desk. "These are rightfully yours, so we'll start there. Read them."

Inside the blue folder were at least a score of letters, all typed out, and all addressed to Sonic. Each contained a location, which varied per letter, and a date to meet with Luktani. Every one of them was already past. "What--"

"Shut it. I told you not to interrupt. Now, as you can see, those are all from Luktani, and they all demand a meeting with you. They are not addressed to G.U.N., but to you directly. However, when you signed on for the agency, we reserved the right to go through any mail that comes through here. We saw Luktani was trying to get back in contact with you, and we intercepted the letters."

"Why the heck would you do that?!" shouted Sonic.

"I suppose I'm not going to get through this without questions. If you must know, this was after your friends had resigned and before you told us you wanted to. We weren't quite ready to lose our best agent, especially after your friends left, so we kept the letters a secret."

"Okay, maybe I can understand that, but why didn't you at least warn me?"

"We figured we could keep it under wraps. For whatever reason, when we wrote back to Luktani, she refused to come anywhere near us. She said you were to come to her. Of course, we would not allow that. We tried to send agents to attack her and meet her, but her assassins always intercepted them. We couldn't get close. It was after a few of these attempts when things went south."

"Only then?" muttered Sonic. The Commander ignored him.

"Not long after that, there were murders all throughout our jurisdiction. Each one had a letter more sinister than the last, still demanding you. That's why you never went out on any murders after you returned: we didn't want you finding out about the letters or Luktani's attempts to get you to come out of hiding."

"I wasn't hiding!" protested Sonic.

"No, but she didn't know that. We made sure she had no clue where you were."

"Great. So, she thinks I'm a coward."

"Perhaps she does, perhaps she doesn't. The murders became more gruesome and intricate, as she tried to force normal police to call us. They did a couple of times, but we always sent out another team and refused to send you out into the field. That was when you asked to resign."

"And why didn't you let me? That's still unclear," growled Sonic.

"Well, to tell the truth, we weren't entirely sure that we would be able to keep Luktani back. We knew she was trying to make a mission messy enough for us to be forced to use you. When you wanted to resign, we knew that there was still a chance we'd need you: we couldn't get rid of you yet."

"Nice. And you still didn't bother telling me about all this."

"Not yet. We tried to tell the local police to handle the murders themselves and just pass the files from the crime scenes back to us. We didn't want to be too involved, or otherwise Luktani would know she was getting closer."

"So people were dying, and you were doing all this to prevent me from dying?" questioned Sonic. "Your morals are doubtful."

"I see that now, but at the time, you were a precious resource."

"A resource." echoed Sonic. "Nice."

"In a way, you are. The police knew about the situation, but they didn't stay as quiet as we would have liked. They leaked information to the press, who leaked it to the public of Megalo Station. They began demanding we call you in, but we refused comment and tried to explain to them that the police would handle everything."

"That method worked."

"Your commentary is not welcome. The press continued to learn more information, and 'subtly' leaked out enough into one article, in hopes that you would find it. Apparently you have."

"But what about Amy? Why did Luktani attack her? The note at her house didn't give me a location, but just sent me to that article."

"My guess is she was trying to ensure your involvement in the case. She knew if Amy was killed, you would insist on being part of the investigation."

"But why only lead me to the article? Why not give me a location and date like the other letters?"

"That's easy enough to answer." The Commander reached into the safe again and pulled out a letter. It was typed out like the ones Luktani sent first. "She's giving it to you now."

Sonic Kizer Hedgehog,

While my assassins failed in killing your little fiancé, I'm sure your foxy friend has figured out my puzzle. He's a smart one. If not, I hope G.U.N. has sense enough to involve you now.

I'm sure you're curious as to where to meet me. I have set up a camp of sorts on the other side of Mystic Ruins, in Blue Hill Zone. I'm sure you're familiar with it, since you travel so often. Meet me on the other side of the field in three days. It will be a truce, so you must come alone. We will discuss tactics there.

I know Blue Hill Zone is far off, so I'm going to say this now: you'll want a team. I have only one condition for you: the girl stays back. If she comes, she'll be the first to die. I guarantee you.

Do not doubt me,

~Luktani Aeron

Sonic glared at the letter, and back at the Commander. "You've read this, I assume?"

"You assume correctly. Technically, since we have not processed your resignation papers, we can supply you with a team. And, Luktani said nothing about bringing the fox and echidna."

"But why not Ames? Why does she have that condition?" murmured Sonic, scanning over the letter again.

"I don't know. However, Blue Hill Zone is two day's travel away from here. I will supply the agents to accompany you, and you can ask whomever you want. Although I highly suggest not alerting your fiancé to the situation."

"How the heck can I do that? There's no guarantee I'll come back!"

"It's your choice, and your problem. Meet your team here, tomorrow, at seven in the morning. No backing out."

Sonic glowered at the Commander. "I don't exactly have a choice, now, do I?"

"You always have a choice."