I own none of the original characters here. Alexis, Flamme, the locksmith, and others are mine. Ventuss is property of sprx777, who I also gotta thank for writing a big part of the battle on this chapter.
Chapter 4: Investigation, day 2
Alexis entered the Showtel for the third time in three days. Shadow was already there, discussing with a butler. When the black hedgehog saw the coyote enter, he walked to him. "Alexis, good news and bad news. The…"
"Me first," Alexis began. "Before entering this hotel, I got some information. Apparently, during the party, some people outside saw a fox and a hedgehog enter the hotel by the emergency door. You know, the one people would use in case of a fire…"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Who told you that?" Shadow asked.
"Little birdies told me."
"Tell me SERIOUSLY, Alex. We don`t have time to joke here. We`re on a crime scene. Who was it?"
Alexis sighed. "Okay… It was Jet, Wave and Storm. They were doing some Extreme Gear stunts outside. And on your side, anything new?"
Shadow pointed toward the butler, who was lazily reading a people magazine on a chair, in the huge ballroom. "I asked him a few pointers on what we saw yesterday in Quadrina`s room. Apparently, the staff isn`t doing repairs or decorations of any kind, which means the pot of paint I found in Quadrina`s closet had actually nothing to do in there." He paused, and continued. "Next thing he told me is that there were very few people on the first floor during the ball. Almost everyone was dancing in this same room we`re standing."
Alexis scratched his head. He began walking toward the first floor. That case was getting more and more complicated every hour. He and Shadow entered Quadrina`s room again, the scent of dried blood filled their nostrils. The chalk-drawn silhouette was still on the floor, but it was now surrounded by yellow ribbons on which were written "CRIME SCENE – DO NOT APPROACH". Everything was at the same place as it was when they left the day before. The cops had enough memory to register what was where, and see what could have been moved during the afternoon. Overall, the room was the same; but both cops noticed a change on the desk. The beauty products were almost all gone from the desk, the only thing that had been kept there was the green lentils.
"The case has reached a whole new level of complicatedness," Shadow pointed out.
Alexis grabbed the lentils and put them in a plastic bag. He theorized that, if someone had broke in the room last afternoon and had brought or hid everything else than those lentils, then it means they had some importance… but that also meant that either the murderer was back to rob the victim from more of her possessions, either the cops had a witness or a helper who was helping them into finding more clues.
Shadow stared in the large mirror on the desk. It could be flipped. Shadow flipped it and found a key card behind it. It was clearly written "Room #167" on a side of it. "Looks like we got two more clues," Shadow added. The detective walked to the closet and grabbed the pot of paint. He read what was the color`s full name was. Strangely, it was "Crimson Cobalt Blue". But even stranger things were in the closet; after further inspection, Shadow saw a key that wasn`t there yesterday. He also picked it up, hoping that someone would know what it was supposed to unlock.
"That makes four more clues, actually. Well, it also proves that we have an ally of some kind; who would willingly leave clues behind?"
"Well, clues are clues, and if anything is wrong with them, we`d better check them out. The Showtel is close to Four-Lakes` downtown. There`s a locksmith by there. I`ll try to find out what this key can unlock. As for you, I think you have a room to check," Alexis resumed, throwing the key card labelled "#167" to Shadow.
"Is that an order?" Shadow asked.
"No, it`s a suggestion. I know Four-Lakes better than you do. That`s why, while I go to the locksmith, you could go and try to find clues in room 167. Even better, you could just go ask who had rented that room."
Shadow sighed and frowned. "Fine. You better come back with answers."
"Count on me."
Alexis left the Showtel and drove to the locksmith. Shadow walked back to the front desk where the owner, an old, dislikeable human named Dunning, was lazily reading a book on entrepreneurship. Shadow rung the small bell on the desk, and the old man stopped his reading. "What can I do for ya?"
"I`m Shadow the Hedgehog, detective from Station Square. I am on a case that requires me to know who…" He presented to him the key card. "…rented this room on the night of the murder."
The man searched into his papers, finally took out an old book where he most likely held the names of past clients from the last month or so (Seriously, hadn`t he ever heard of a computer?), flipped the pages to the date of the ball, and looked for the room number in the list. "The lady ya`re lookin` for is a certain miss Flamme the Hedgehog. I think she had red quills."
"Um… thanks. Do you happen to know her address?"
"Sorry, Sir, all we can ask for in this hotel is a phone number. But if ya really need it…" He ripped off the page in his booklet. "…then, you can try calling her, but I can't guarantee she`s gonna answer. I`m not checking on all my clients after they left, y`know."
"Thanks anyway." Shadow left on that. His job was over in the Showtel. Now, all he had to do was to call Flamme and get some answers.
Alexis entered the local Locksmith, whose door had "Open" written in luminescent letters. The place was dusty as can be, and the only furniture seen here was the front desk. A male bird was standing behind, staring at all the keys hung to the wall behind him.
"Excuse me…" Alexis began.
"Yes?" the locksmith said.
"I`m on a case right now, and I need to know what this key is made to unlock. I think you know what every key you have behind you unlocks, right?"
"Yes, let me have a look at it please. Hand it to me." The locksmith compared the key to all the keys behind him, and turned back to Alexis with a house number on a paper. "This is the place you`ll find what you need. Some pieces of the puzzle might be discovered here."
"Um… uh… thanks," Alexis said, trying to speak like the locksmith.
"Come back anytime, mister Alexis," the locksmith finally said as Alexis was leaving.
Halfway through, Alexis just realized what the locksmith said. "Wait… how do you know my name?"
"I read your detective badge," the locksmith muttered.
Alexis left the shop, calling himself an idiot for not guessing that one out. Once outside, he called Shadow. He told him what he had found out. He told him about the weird locksmith that looked rather suspicious, about the location that key was made to unlock, and he told him to join there in an hour. On this, he closed his cell phone and left to the house that would seemingly hide some remaining "pieces of the puzzle".
Shadow took deep breaths and finally rung to the door. After two or three minutes, someone came and answered. It was a red hedgehog, clearly a woman, as she was wearing a dress. "Miss Flamme?"
The hedgehog went wide-eyed. "…aren`t you… Aren`t you Shadow the Hedgehog? The real Shadow? Wow!"
"Hey, calm down, please. It`s already bad enough that Sonic has crazy fans always around him, I don`t want to have that trouble too. I`m a married hedgehog."
Flamme got a little mad from what Shadow said, as he clearly called her a crazy fan. But she kept calm, and answered to his question. "Yes, that`s me. What are you here for?"
Shadow took out his detective badge. "I`m from Station Square Police Department. I am presently trying to stop a conspiracy against King Sonic the Hedgehog. And one of the clues has linked us to you."
"What the Hell? Are you accusing me?" Flamme yelled.
"NO! Of course not," Shadow said. "Let me explain."
Shadow told everything to the hedgehog he had in front of him: Quadrina murdered, Sonic framed, the clues found, the trial, and then the second part of the investigation that morning, with the new clues discovered in the room. "One of the clues was a key card; that one key card was used to unlock the door to your room. Since there is apparently no connection between you and the murder, I do wonder how your key card could have ended up there."
Flamme sighed. "Well, I have no idea how it got there," she admitted. "However, I know what happened on that night. Horrible murder, even I heard it from my room."
"…That means you were on the first floor when the murder occurred?"
"Yes…" Flamme said, blushing redder than her quills. "That night, I was alone. I had a break-up with my boyfriend a week before. I was alone during the ball. I just spent my time drinking at the bar."
"What does it have to do with the case at hand?" Shadow said.
"Well, while I was still in an okay state of mind, someone began flirting with me. He was speaking funny. It was something like broken French, as if he wasn`t too good with it. Anyway, he offered me a few drinks, and when I got drunk enough, he told us we could get more intimate in my hotel room…"
"I see where it is going…" Shadow pointed out.
"Anyone could have seen where my story`s going. Anyway, he and I did it, and when I fell asleep, he left. Beats me why he disappeared. But when I woke up because of the scream, he was gone. I don`t know where he was gone." Flamme began crying.
"Do you… do you remember what that flirter looked like?" Shadow asked.
"Sadly… no, sorry."
"Well, thank you for this information. I hope it will help," Shadow said. "I have a bad feeling that the guy who went to your room is the same one who killed the victim in this case."
Flamme was crying even more now, but from knowing she might have spent a night with a murderer. "I hope it helps you too…" She grabbed some tissues and dried off the tears on her cheeks. She was crying because she wasn`t the one-night stand kind of girl, and she had been tricked into that.
Shadow turned back to her before leaving. "Miss Flamme, if you remember more details about what happened, please call my cell phone number." He quickly wrote a series of numbers on a paper, clearly his cell phone number, and handed it to her. "Thank you, miss." Shadow left Flamme`s house, and his cell phone rung. He quickly answered it. "Hello?"
"Hey Shadow." It was Alexis. He told him about the weird locksmith, the "missing pieces" the locksmith talked about, and told him to join to the location in an hour. Shadow would be able to run to there in less time than that. As for Alexis, he`d take Shadow`s car to get there. Once his cell phone closed, Shadow skated away to the location Alexis told him.
It didn't even take Shadow fifteen minutes and he had already reached the place. Alexis had the key, so it was useless to try and enter. …or maybe he could try to unlock it with an unfolded paperclip. And he realized he didn`t have any.
Shadow looked around. He had nothing better to do until Alexis arrives; what if it was a trap? Two cops are better than one to face this kind of ambush – well, if it was one. If a whole gang of thugs were in there, no matter how strong Shadow is, he might have troubles defeating them. It might be worse if they have powers. He needed the random factor on his side; Alexis` moves could be totally unpredictable. While looking around, Shadow noticed that house was close to a plateau. More like a mountain`s base, which would be approximately fifteen feet high, and then a large field atop this. It could be the perfect place for a fight, if there was going to be any.
Shadow also thought about Flamme`s confidences. It didn`t seem to have anything to do with the case at hand. Then, why was that key card in the victim`s room? Something to mess their investigation? And what if-TCHACK!
Shadow stopped thinking when someone or something crashed onto him, throwing him off-guard. On the ground, Shadow tried to see whoever or whatever had attacked him. And when he finally saw the person, he couldn`t believe it, for the simple reason that the character had been gone for more than ten years.
Cool shades, black leather shirt with flame designs, and a green fluorescent-like color for the quills. That couldn`t be HIM. It couldn`t be Scourge the Hedgehog, king of Moebius!
"Long time no see, emo," the villain said with an evil smirk.
"Never thought I would see you again, faker," Shadow commented. "How`s life on Moebius?"
"Fine enough. I`ve kept myself in a battle shape by conquering more Zones of my world. With evil outta yer world, no wonder yer` not as strong as before, emo!"
Shadow rose to his feet. "You`re going DOWN!" And he skated full speed toward Scourge.
Scourge could only smirk as he ran towards the black and red hedgehog. Both clashed with their fists hitting one another, and they were face to face. Shadow was a little less than happy at being called an emo. It wasn't his fault that he had black and red fur. Either way, he quickly went into a spin dash and knocked Scourge to a wall. Scourge grunted from having his back quills slam against the bricks of a house, but he got over it long enough to counter with a spin dash of his own. Shadow, being a veteran of combat, evaded with some grace added to it when he landed on his feet, completely unharmed.
"Just because it's peaceful, doesn't mean that I am not tough enough to take you on." Shadow said coldly to the emerald hedgehog.
Scourge returned to standing state and looked down at Shadow, "Oh, puh-leese! Ya couldn't take me on if it were my world. Besides, ya'll just be another stepping stone I'll take into conquering this world."
"That dream again? Hate to burst a hole in your dream boat, but that will never happen. Or do I need to remind you of that incide-", Shadow started before seeing Scourge charging down at him with another spin dash.
Scourge landed a hit this time and sent Shadow into some trash cans, "Shut up about that crap. You think you`re so cool just `cause ya and those other hedgehogs stopped me, but you`re really mistaken." He charged again with a spindash.
Shadow sighed and just kicked the spinning Scourge into other trashcans and said, "Can we save the banter for later?"
"Gladly!" Scourge said while whipping some crud off of his jacket.
Both went into spindash and began clashing with one another. To be honest, Shadow was just toying with him. He knew he could end it with a few good punches to the gut, or a kick to the head, but considering that things have been boring as of late, he wanted to enjoy another good fight. The two continued to clash for a few minutes with one spin dash after the other. Both suddenly spin dashed toward the plateau located behind the house Shadow was about to check. When they were on this high yet flat piece of land, they got back to their feet. In less time than needed to say "piece of cake", Shadow ran to Scourge and punched him hard enough to make him fly up. "You have no idea how satisfying that was."
Scourge gritted his teeth and looked up at Shadow's hand that was holding the Chaos Emerald. He grew angry and started bombarding the hedgehog with faster spin dashed and a few good kicks for added measure. But Shadow continued to evade and toy with him. However, at one point, Scourge bluffed in his manoeuvre and actually attacked the other way than Shadow was thinking the green hedgehog was going to do. And just before Shadow could react, Scourge threw the Chaos Emerald off Shadow`s hand. Now strongly weakened, Shadow began thinking about a strategy against that dangerous opponent. First thing he had to do was catch that Emerald again. Shadow punched Scourge in the face, threw him off of him, hurried to the emerald and picked it up. Scourge was massaging his bleeding nose when Shadow yelled "Chaos spear!" A blast of energy appeared from Shadow and struck directly the green hedgehog.
"Ouch!" Scourge said. "Ya`ll pay fer that, ya emo!"
"Give me your price, I`ll send a check!" Shadow replied, already zooming again toward Scourge. He began a kicking move to Scourge`s head, but the king of Moebius avoided it before it could hit; Shadow, having thought about that, Chaos Controlled only a few inches from where he was previously and this time, successfully hit Scourge in the face. Shadow approached the now weak Scourge, pulling out a gun while doing so.
"Nice jacket, loser," Scourge said. "But mine has the same use!" Scourge rolled into a ball and zoomed far enough to avoid Shadow`s gunshots. Once at a good distance, Scourge took out from an inside pocket of his jacket another gun. This one was unlike anything Shadow had seen before. It looked almost like a mix between an Uzi and a flamethrower, which made no sense… When Scourge shot, however, Shadow found out what was that weapon`s use. Few hundredths of a second after the trigger was pulled, the bullet had begun blazing up, probably by the friction of air, and became a fireball. Shadow barely had time to Chaos Control away from that ammo.
"Quit moving," a voice said behind Scourge. The green hedgehog felt a gun touch his temple and a handcuff over his wrist. "Try anything, and your next destination will be a morgue." Alexis had just arrived. Shadow had Chaos Controlled on the other side of Scourge and was also pointing his gun to the despicable character`s other temple. Alexis passed the other handcuff to Scourge`s free hand, finally getting him caught.
The king of Moebius swore. "If I knew emo would`ve teamed up with a goddamn son of a gun… If I knew he`d have teamed up with anyone at all..."
"People change over eleven years," Shadow replied. "Alexis, take that greenie to prison. I`m gonna check in that house."
"Uh, sure…" Alexis said, throwing the house's key to Shadow. "Try anything, Scourge, and I`m gonna use your weapon on you. I`m really good at driving and watching an outlaw at the same time."
Shadow saw his own car leave, with Alexis driving it, and with Scourge on the back seat. He really wondered whether that was a good idea. Anyway, he really had to check in that house. He unlocked the door and entered. Suddenly, he heard a voice from downstairs. "Scourgey? Is that you?" If he wasn`t mistaken, that voice reminded him of someone. Not Princess Sally (it if had, then that girl might have been Anti-Sally)… the voice was different. Actually, it sounded like Fiona Fox.
"Sorry, he won`t be here fro some time," Shadow said.
It wasn`t long before the red fox came from downstairs. "What the Hell are you saying?"
"He`s gonna be imprisoned for attacking a cop. Luckily, we could stop him before any real harm. Now, he`s being driven to Four-Lakes prison, and he`ll spend the night there."
"SCREW YOU!" Fiona screamed, homing a punch toward Shadow. Shadow grabbed Fiona`s fist, and in a strong move, succeeded in throwing her to the ground. "How the hell did you find us here? We`re not even in goddamn Station Square!"
"It just so happens that my case was here, in Four-Lakes," Shadow explained. "I had the impression I`d find you and anti-Sonic here. Mostly because of King Sonic`s passing by to this Zone for a speech… turns out he was framed for murder on a squirrel woman. He is presently on trial. And after all that, we find you two here… kinda lucky for a coincidence, huh?"
"Do you want to tell me you think Scourgey might have been the real killer?"
"I`m not thinking it, I claim it."
"Screw you, damnit!" Fiona fox tried to kick Shadow on the belly, but Shadow deflected the move with his ankle.
"Useless to try and defeat me, you should know that I`m indestructible. Now, unless you want a beating, tell me how you ended up here."
"Why you wanna know that?"
"Because, in the news, all portals leading to and from Moebius had been destroyed forever. Am I right?"
"You are. But you didn`t know some scientist in Four-Lakes had created another method of dimension-traveling. That dumbass scientist didn`t know Scourge and his Queen – me, that is – were also spreading terror on anti-Four-Lakes. When we discovered about that portal, we entered it. We kicked the positive scientist out and took his house as headquarters on Mobius."
"Then comes the conspiracy," Shadow added. "Anyway, we`re gonna bring you along. You`re not as destructive as the King of Moebius… but you could be a great witness to help us in court in getting Scourge to prison."
"Do what you want with him. He has screwed enough with my emotions anyway. He can go to jail, I don`t give a shit."
Shadow smirked. "Nice way to talk about your boyfriend."
"That Casanova cheats on me while I`m totally aware of it… he can go to Hell."
"Couldn`t agree more," Shadow nodded, "but to me Moebius is already Hell, and he`s the great leader of it. Anyway, here`s a deal. Since even you seem to dislike Scourge the Hedgehog, I won`t imprison you along with him."
"You`re too nice…" Fiona said on a tone filled with sarcasm.
"…However, if we hit a wall during the trial and we don`t know whether he is guilty or not of a conspiracy against his positive self Sonic, I might come and get you here to tell us the truth about Scourge`s plan. Deal?"
Fiona sighed. "Deal… I can`t believe I`m accepting this, but deal anyway. A final thing…"
"What is it?"
"Tell Sonic that while he has been quite inactive, making peace around, Scourge is still top-shape from warring, so the King of Mobius shouldn`t try and battle his Moebius self."
Shadow left the house and, before leaving, began thinking. Maybe Fiona Fox knew about Sonic being king because she had read it in newspapers, or maybe because they were at the ball. They had to be at the ball-wait a minute, were those two the people Sonic said he thought he had recognized in the crowd during his speech? Then, it means Scourge and Fiona might be heavily implied in the conspiracy!
To be continued…
Author`s notes: I`m sure it was easy to guess. I mean, all the clues were leading to Scourge. But do the detectives have all the clues that will help Ventuss into proving Scourge is the murderer of Quadrina? You`ll see in next chapter!