"Phone, Miss Director."

When the small intercom on Jewel's desk buzzed with the voice of her secretary, she winced as if struck. She'd been having a stressful morning full of stressful people; letters of complaint from Ice Cap about the length of time it was taking heaters to get shipped to them, a village representative from Riverside fretting about someone stealing food from nearby farms, and multiple reports of Belle falling flat on her face and destroying various things in the machine shop today. She had only just managed to get a moment aside to herself for a little bit of tea.

Ah, well. No rest for the wicked. Hovering slightly out of her chair and still holding a steaming teacup in one hand, she pressed the intercom button: "Patch it through, dear."

There was a pause and then a click and a small amount of feedback as the call was put through to the speakerphone on her desk. Jewel heard the familiar voice of Lanolin on the other end: "Director Jewel?"

Relief settled its way into her body; not another peeved representative from someplace or another. It rather bothered her that she could never convince really anyone to just call her "Jewel" without a title of some sort appended, but she was happy enough to receive the sheep's report that she hardly cared. It meant she also got to hear about her friends.

"Hello, Lanolin. Making your report? I trust everything went fine?" the beetle took another sip of the steaming bergamot tea. She couldn't imagine it not going well. The Diamond Cutters were far and apart their best workers, outside of… Well, Sonic and friends. But it was hardly fair to compare that group to anyone, they were more like superheroes than soldiers.

There was a long pause. Long enough that Jewel's eyes, which had been closed as she relaxed, opened to look at the speakerphone to see if something was wrong with it. The red "ON" light still flashed repeatedly indicating no malfunction.

"Lanolin..?" Jewel called.

"I'm here, Miss Director. I…" She paused and trailed off. The earliest bits of a knot were beginning to tie themselves in the beetle girl's stomach, "...We've run into an issue. The mission is bust. And.."

"And?" Jewel was beginning to lean forward in anticipation.

"Director, Tangle's gone. Killed in action." Lanolin's voice was collected and calm, but the weight of what she was saying was betrayed by her tone As the words crackled out of the phone speaker, it was Jewel's turn to fall silent. Her mind reeled and the world suddenly felt like it was plunging through a narrow tunnel as her peripheral vision started to darken. She just stared blankly at the speaker. They remained like that for a good ten seconds or so, Lanolin not daring to push her to speak.

"A..Are you sure? That can't be right," the beetle's voice finally came trembling out, "There's.. No way…"

"I'm sorry. What we saw… You couldn't survive it." Lanolin said, hoarse and uncomfortable. And sad. Oh, so sad. As the tears started to pin themselves to the corner of Jewel's eyes she did her absolute best not to let it bleed into the way she spoke. It was maybe the hardest moment of her entire life then and there, trying to play Director when she wanted to begin to bawl.

"Is Whisper all right?"

"We fell back to a local hotel. She, um... She hasn't left her room since we got here."

"Check on her, and then get back here. You two are to withdraw immediately."

Lanolin sounded unsure, "Ma'am, Whisper isn't going to like t-"

"I'm sorry, but there's no alternative here. We've already lost too much." Her voice was cracking. She had to be strong; be the director. She couldn't let this keep going, "Get back to Headquarters and we'll figure out what to do from here. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am."

The red light flickered to black once more. Jewel sat in her chair, tears streaming silently down her face for what felt like ages until a shattering sound interrupted the peaceful vaccume of nothing. Her hands had been shaking so badly that she had dropped her teacup. Red-black liquid seeped into the hardwood, little white pieces of porcelain scattered in a heap. Never to be put back together. Beyond repair.

She began to sob at last, resting her head in her arms atop her desk.

Lanolin sagged in her chair, head in her hands. Every day Lanolin spent on this job, she felt a little bit more like she never should've become someone that worked in the field.

Prior to talking Jewel into letting her create the Diamond Cutters as a rapid response team, she had been something akin to an unofficial secretary, first for Amy and then for Jewel. It was a job that was simple enough, productive, and almost seemed made for her; she followed rules by the book, got hard work done, and went home when the lights turned off to get ready for another day of the same tomorrow.

Leading a field team had been a chance to go beyond that, though. It had been a desperate attempt to do tangible good, and after a shaky start, she had really begun to feel like she was making a difference alongside Tangle and Whisper and Duo. She'd even begun to talk herself into thinking she was pretty efficient as the group's de facto leader. Whenever she faced doubts, Tangle had always been there to pick her up.

But now Tangle was dead. Duo was the one who had killed her, after Whisper had tried to warn them all about what had seemed like an insane conspiracy theory at the time. Could the team have fallen apart worse?

She didn't know if she exactly considered the other members of the team friends, at least not on the level of what Tangle and Whisper had with each other, but she had considered them trusted comrades. She liked them, which was something Lanolin found she had difficulty achieving with most people.

And she had utterly let both of them down, one of them fatally. If she didn't lose the trust of the other for not letting her take out Duo when she had the chance, she would be shocked. Thoughts of resigning were swirling in her mind; she felt she was closer than ever to doing it when they got back to HQ. And this time, Tangle wasn't going to be around to talk her down from it.

"Tangle…"

The name breathed sadly out of her as she stood up. It felt impossible that she wasn't here; it seemed like some sort of elaborate prank. Like any minute the lemur would just prance right into her hotel room and cheerfully ask if they were going out for dinner or getting takeout tonight. The sheep wasn't the crying type, but the fact that she was never going to see her smiling face or scold her about running off on her own… It was getting her close.

She would give herself a little bit more time and then go get Whisper to tell her they were going home. She had no idea exactly how the wolf would react, but she couldn't imagine it would be good. She had sobbed into her shoulder the entire tram ride back to the hotel, and when the tears had run out she had just kind of… Been there, but not been there. She was like a puppet with her strings cut.

Just as well that they were leaving. Whatever her reaction, she didn't think Whisper was going to be in a condition to do much of anything after what she had seen.

Whisper's wisps swirled around her, all speaking nervously to one another. She didn't understand a word of it; her mask could translate the aliens' speech patterns, but she had taken it off not long after coming into her hotel room, locking all the doors, and settling down onto the bed. The wolf had been there for almost two hours now lying on her side, knees drawn to her chest and curled into a little ball.

"I don't like this," Orange hovered by her head sadly. The explosive wisp, the one who had been there with her since the very beginning, was refusing to leave her side even when it was being ignored. It had seen the wolf in all manner of states before, but this was different. Whisper had become utterly catatonic, some level beyond sadness that they couldn't really comprehend. Her eyes gazed emptily at a plain wall, recognition nor emotion on her face.

"It can't be helped. You know how much she cared for Tangle. And she had to watch as…" the pragmatic Cyan trailed off. Usually they seemed a tad bit haughty, but the lightning-like wisp had been more quiet and distant than usual. After all, it had seen Tangle's terrified face as the worst had occurred right as they stopped themselves

"I liked her a lot," Green, meanwhile, was even more mopey than they usually were. It fluttered around Tangle like a dejected jellyfish.

"I think we all did," even Pink had lost all of its typical pep. The wisps had tried all they could, but if Whisper didn't want to use her mask and the translator therein, all they could really offer were hugs of encouragement… And this situation seemed to be immune to those. All they could do was hover about her and fret, casting off colorful globes throughout the otherwise dark rooms.

"Whisper, please. We're worried about you," Orange pleaded. He remained right by her face, not caring if she couldn't understand them. The wisps had always been there for her through thick and thin, just as she had for them. But with her mind in a different place altogether right now, they felt like helpless observers to a disaster.

"You're scaring us, Whisper. Whisper...?"

"Whisper?"

The wolf snapped back to attention; she had begun to doze off that warm summer afternoon, whether Tangle had been there with her or not. It was just so peaceful, and it felt like letting her guard down just sort of made her finally feel as tired as anyone else would have been in her position.

Things didn't used to be like this. In the time after Mimic's betrayal, Whisper's sleep became infrequent and what little she did get was riddled with nightmares of dead friends. Even when she let her walls down somewhat and became friends with Tangle and the rest of the Restoration, she still avoided it as much as she could without it affecting her performance at work.

But eventually, Tangle had pulled her aside and more or less forced her to start taking off days with her now and then. And to her shock… The nightmares had begun to disappear. She was even able to fall into naps like this here and there. Such was the power of the lemur.

"Sorry. Dozed off."

"I nooooticed," she was lying on her stomach in the grass beside Whisper, wearing her thousand dollar smile as she spoke that just automatically made your own lips start curling upwards whether you wanted to or not, "Ready to admit to me how awesome off time is? Nothing in the day to worry about except hangin' out, passin' time, and feelin' good.

Increasingly she was beginning to respect the lemur's point of view, but Whisper changed the subject in a futile attempt to avoid any further gloating: "Thought you of all people would be bored with something like that. Wouldn't you rather be out adventuring?"

"I mean.. Adventuring is great. It's a part of who I am!" She thumped her chest with a palm proudly and proceeded to roll over so that she was beside Whisper on her back, hands behind her head and looking up at the cloudless blue sky over the hilltop they had settled down on mid-stroll, "But I guess lately I've started feeling like taking it slow with the people you care about is just as important sometimes."

Whisper didn't respond, just quietly observing the other girl. Watching the sky reflected in those lively amethyst eyes, she herself reflected that Tangle valued freedom. What was more free than the ability to just not worry about anything for a time? She herself hadn't quite obtained that sort of freedom yet, because even if she was beginning to be able to relax and stop working now and then, there was always this nagging little voice tugging at her heart that was telling her what she was doing was wrong. Mimic was still out there. Eggman was still out there. Disaster always loomed.

Tangle was used to gaps in conversations with the wolf and didn't press her on it or make her uncomfortable. Eventually, she glanced over to her though and continued speaking: "So, I was thinking maybe we should take a little bit more time to do that than usual?"

Whisper tilted her head, uncomprehending. The confusion was only redoubled by Tangle beginning to squirm a little awkwardly, scratching her cheek with one finger, before clarifying after a pause: "I was thinking a nice trip to one of the bigger islands. Or even somewhere kind of exotic. Spagonia, maybe? Y'know, like… a vacation?"

A longer pause.

"With um, you?" Tangle averted her eyes awkwardly, still smiling.

"With me?" Whisper asked blankly. When the wolf nodded enthusiastically, she brushed a hand through the bangs that covered one side of her face, "You're silly, Tangle."

"But you like, silly right?" Tangle chuckled. As self-serious as Whisper could be, she had to admit the answer was yes. As unlikely as it could seem sometimes, though, the lemur was more than just silly. After a moment of silence her face took a slightly more serious expression.

"I just, uh… Whisper, we've been working really hard at things lately and it's felt good, but we're always busy. I feel like even taking a day here and there, there's never really a chance for any us-time, y'know? At least not enough. I want to spend a good, long time with you where neither of us have to think about anything but being happy."

The lemur was blushing as she finished the explanation. Whisper studied her, from the grin that looked more nervous than usual to the clear embarrassment in the way she was fidgeting. And then, something finally clicked in her mind as to the intentions of what Tangle was asking. She wanted a getaway. Just the two of them, together. Living for themselves and each other.

She wanted her.

"Mimic is still alive. He wants to kill you," the nagging voice of duty recited cruelly inside of her, "And if she's with you, he'll want to kill her too."

"Jewel wouldn't like it." Whisper said, turning away from Tangle, downcast. She hated how quickly she was yielding to the demons of her past.

"Jewel was the one that put me to this in the first place! She thinks you're working too hard just as much as I do!"

"Lanolin wouldn't like it."

"When is Lanolin ever not grumpy?" Tangle countered. Whisper thought she was going to get angry at that point, but her friend's shoulders just sort of… Sagged. She rubbed one of her biceps self-consciously as if the conversation had been a mean little punch, "Sorry, Whisper. I, um… I get it. I get it, y'know? Getting stuck with me for a bunch of days on end would probably be a hassle."

With anyone else, Whisper would have taken those words as a guilting routine, but she had known Tangle long enough to recognize that she was genuinely beating herself up about it. Almost as much the wolf was doing herself, shamefully enough.

Was she really going to let that agonizing little voice win? Was she really going to let her past dictate her life forever?

"I just… I really like being with you, Whisper… Oh, man, I'm bad at this. I sound so lame! I-"

"Tangle."

"I should have just asked you to go to the movies or something like Amy said. Why the heck didn't I listen to her? Chao in Space 4 is coming out soon and-"

"Tangle!" she rose her voice, which was an uncommon enough occurrence that Tangle froze mid-spiral and looked up with wide eyes. Whisper coughed, blushing slightly as she continued, "I just need to think a little about it. That's a big step for me. But not because of you."

The wolf was hesitant about the next step she took, but she ultimately went for it with a little bit of boldness as she reached out and took Tangle's hand. Her claw-tipped fingers, a bit bigger than the other girl's, laced around it tightly and gave it a squeeze, "Because of me. I don't mean to be a pain, but… I can be complicated. So at least give me a little time before I answer. Okay?"

Tangle was momentarily stunlocked, her mouth sagging open just a little as she looked between Whisper's face and the hand encircling her own. And then, as if someone had thrown a switch to reboot the lemur's goofball-engines, she beamed and shifted her own palm to return the squeeze, "A..Ahaha! Of course. I'm uh.. Sorry. I've never really, um… You realize I was asking you out, right? I'm not just sounding like a crazy person right now?"

Despite her own trepidation, or perhaps in outright defiance of it, Whisper couldn't stifle a tiny little giggle at Tangle's awkwardness. The sound made the lemur's heart soar as Whisper simply nodded with a quiet response: "You do sound like a crazy person. But that's okay, I understood."

"O-Okay. Good. I'm pretty sure that was the hard part. Compared to you thinking I was just a weirdo… Waiting is easy."

They looked into each other's eyes for a brief but meaningful moment, both of them facing the situation with their own form of bravery. In those blissful seconds, Whisper felt her heart swell a little. Maybe it would be okay? Everything didn't always have to be bleak, and her back didn't always have to be against a wall. Maybe, for the first time since the Eggman War, she could accept a happy ending that the universe was offering her. She had never thought it at all possible, but maybe there was a chance to finally stop fighting and start living with someone she had become increasingly sure she liked as more than just a friend.

"Take as long as you need to decide, and I'll be right here." Tangle's fur was bright in the sunlight, her hand warm, her smile precious and worth protecting, "We've got all the time in the world, right?"

Whisper uncurled from that pitiful little ball, silently. The wisps all floated backwards away from her, surprised yet curious as they cautiously gibbered in their untranslated tongue to her. They stopped as they watched her move though, stepping from the edge of the mattress and stalking into the bathroom across from her as silent as a ghost in the fog.

She made her way to the sink, turning it on as she stood hunched over it. The wisps stopped at the doorway, watching with concern as she cupped her hands beneath the faucet and splashed her face with cold water time and time again. It stabbed at her senses, waked her up and washed away some of that weakness that had caused her to utterly shut down in the face of trauma.

When she finally stopped, she looked up at her own reflection. The dark-ringed eyes, baggy from crying. The messy fur, soaked and dripping. The trembling muzzle, teeth bearing and concealing alternatingly as she saw herself. This creature of trauma and death that folded in the face of loss, shaking and terrified because she had so little lose as it was . The person who stood by with tears in her eyes as she watched everything she ever loved turn to dust.

"I'll be right here."

Her hands, resting on the edge of the sink began to curl into fists. There was a person she hated more than herself right now, and it was the man who seemed to only live to take everything away from her. A man who was out there right now somewhere without a worry, living free as a bird as she fell apart yet again.

"All the time in the world."

She let out a furious scream as she swung a fist at the mirror in front of her. Glass exploded, shards bursting outward in a ripple from beneath the leather clad hand that had come down it like a hammer and falling to the floor like glimmering tears.

The wolf marched back into the bedroom, going over to the bedside where Lanolin had left her gun and mask when she had brought her here. The wisps nervously followed her path as she began to get her gear together; the Variable Wispon had been damaged in the earlier fight, but the deadlier functions it sported still worked. She could take a look at the hover module later and see if she could do something for it if the damage wasn't too extensive, but even if that was beyond her means it wasn't going to stop her.

As she began to tie on her cloak, the wisps began to speak once more. To their relief, she picked up her mask and placed it upon her face, pressing a few buttons.

"Whisper, we were worried!" Orange began, but the wolf cut them off as she placed a hand atop the creature gently to cut it off. They dipped down with the added weight, looking a little afraid.

"I have a mission I need to carry out. It's not going to be fun. None of you have to come with me if you don't want to."

"You know we would follow you anywhere after what you did for us, Whisper," Cyan spoke, "But what are you planning to do? We haven't received our next orders yet."

"No time for orders," she said icily, "What happened today can't happen again. We're not going to be hunted anymore. It's time to hunt."

The wisps all looked between each other; she could tell they weren't terribly enthused about her explanation, but moments later the rainbow of aliens turned themselves into shimmering lights, and into the wisp canisters under her cloak they went. That was answer enough for her.

"Thank you… Thank you all. I promise you won't have to fight too much longer." Her voice was resolute. Angry. It didn't sound like her own voice to her anymore. Maybe that self had died of heartbreak here in this hotel room; at this point, she didn't know or care.

All she knew was that she had someone to track down. Someone who knew more about what Mimic was doing in this city than the Diamond Cutters had. An informant who was only willing to let their tongue loosen just enough to keep themselves out of harm's way with their criminal contacts. Unfortunately for him, the situation had changed. And pretty soon, he was going to realize that he needed to stop worrying about his contacts and start worrying about her.

The boarding ramp for the small air car thumped down onto the pavement of the landing pad in West Side Island's defunct Chemical Plant, and Mimic stepped out not too much later. Immediately, the acrid smell of oil and assorted toxic substances filled his nose, and he was reminded that he couldn't stand this place. He was, however, far too irritated to care at the moment.

The welcoming party for him was a small contingent of badniks; egg pawns, he thought they were called. Seeing them normally made him uncomfortable as being on Eggman's hit-list as he was normally meant they would gun for you had they not been reprogrammed as they were. His focus was entirely on the figure standing behind them, cane in one hand with his arms outstretched to either side. A gold tooth sparkled gaudily in the middle of the aging opossum's sardonic grin.

"Welcome back. You've brought what we discussed, I trust?" Clutch, the head of Clean Sweep Incorporated, might have been dressed to the nines and speaking with a refined tone, but Mimic knew he was the scummiest person he had ever met (and that was saying something!) He had no patience for propriety with him right now.

"Don't act like you did nothing wrong. You were supposed to meet me at an agreed place, at an agreed time! I almost died because of you!" Mimic shot back at him. Several of the egg pawns milling about the pad were taking notice of him and beginning to approach, the aggression in his voice clear.

"Now, sir, please. I understand your frustration." Clutch said in a placating tone, holding out a palm, "Unfortunately, plans changed. We got an air car to you, didn't we?"

"An HOUR LATER! Those fake Diamond Cutters were waiting for me instead! I almost died, and you almost lost your prize!" Mimic did everything, in his estimation, in the most cautious way possible. Very few things made him angrier than having careful planning that he had prepared anxiously for hours for getting undone. The pleasure he got from gutting that troublesome monkey wasn't even enough to not make him want to charge through Clutch's guards and make him pay.

But it was that same caution that stayed his hand, ultimately. This was serving as Clean Sweep's current headquarters, and starting a fight in here would ultimately end with him drowning in laser bolts even if he got a shot off on the slimy old man.

"Mimic, I understand your frustration," Clutch began to walk towards him quite unconcerned, each step accompanied by the tap of his cane. His voice had all the hollow geniality of a salesman, and yet it was hard to be genial when a flank of killer robots had organized around him just in case Mimic decided to do something stupid.

"I'll take the blame… But if I'm being honest, the reason I didn't show up was because I received a little heads up that one of your associates had been talking to the Restoration."

"One of my…?" Mimic blinked, and then his anger faded into a thoughtful storm cloud of hatred as he realized exactly who had double crossed him, "You aren't accusing me of-"

"Now, now. Have no fear, I know you had nothing to do with it. In fact, I've already sent some of my associates to pluck that particular fly out of the ointment, so to speak. But I'm sure you understand my position, as a fellow gentleman with a love for caution. Putting myself out there would have done nothing but compromise my working relationship with the Restoration if they found me. Even sending out communication to you would be at risk of being intercepted. So the most logical conclusion would be to put faith in my employee who has made a living off of hiding and escaping, no? You did your thing, and we picked you up in the end."

Clutch watched him patiently for a reaction. Mimic knew he was being buttered up, but there was no point in calling him out for it, really; he was right. With a defeated sigh, the octopus reached into his cloak and undid a button on one of his sleeves that went to a hidden pocket. A small data drive slipped out onto his palm, which he held extended to the possum. Clutch gave a delighted little laugh and clapped his hands together, and the egg pawns that had been encircling him on approach parted to allow him to step forward.

"You better pay as well as you say you do. As fun as killing one of those idiots was, it isn't a substitute for money. I plan on disappearing for good this time," Mimic rumbled as the drive changed hands.

"Oh, believe me," Clutch leered at the little gadget held between his index finger and thumb as if he were appraising a diamond, "Our current business model covers your expenses well enough, but our amateurish competitors have no idea how to make money with the things they're collecting. The classic flaw of the straight and narrow path."

He paused, closing his hand protectively around the drive and looking to Mimic with a raised eyebrow, "Did you say you killed one of them?"

"The lemur. If the hole I put in her didn't kill her, the fall would have, straight down into one of those big holes in the ground in Metropolis."

"Excellent work. That should put your new 'friends' in even more disarray. If I may ask, though… Did you make sure?"

Mimic glared at him, clearly a little insulted: "Would have been hard to make time with the other two chasing me." Why was he even worried? They had the data, and the octopus had made a clean getaway. Who cared if that moron was crawling around in the dark somewhere, bleeding out as they spoke?

When the possum didn't respond and seemed to become lost in thought, the octopus decided that was his cue to leave, "Double check if you want to waste your time and look at a corpse, old man. Remember- when we're done here, I want my payment in full." Mimic walked past Clutch, heading into the plant. After that ambush, a nice relaxing stay in friendly territory was deserved.

Clutch put a hand to his chin, licking his lips. He had a call to make, one that might have been totally unneeded, but the opossum hadn't lived this long on the wrong side of the law by failing to be cover his bases.