Disclaimer: All non-original characters are property of SEGA or their respective creators.

Inescapable Past, Act 31: Quercusville Blues

Giggling grade-schoolers poured out the gates of Queen Martina Park, ushered by Perci. With a public holiday on the morrow, the park ranger was taking no chances with one of Station Square's most popular picnicking spots. She'd helped clean up after enough impromptu raves to understand the perils of leaving a park unlocked overnight.

Heaving the tall black wrought-iron gates shut, the bandicoot pulled the bolt across, then reached for the ring of keys on her belt. Her fellow rangers said it made her look like a jailor in some cartoon, but their jumbles of keychains made her queasy.

Click!

Perci breathed a sigh of relief as the ancient lock engaged without a hitch. Hopefully the other park gates would be as cooperative.

Just then, it struck her how quiet it was. Those giggling kids had gone awfully quiet all of a sudden.

Perci span on her heel and marched around the imposing bronze statue of Queen Martina Acorn to find the children clustered on the edge of the sidewalk, gawking at a parked motorcycle.

"What's the matter?" she said to the group at large, "Haven't any of you seen a sidecar before?"

"That's not it, Ranger Perci!" replied one child.

"Someone left the keys in it!" replied a second.

"They left a note, too!" added a third.

A fawn in a green gingham dress at the front of the huddle waved a scrap of paper over her head. Perci waded through the youngsters to take a look.

To whomever should find this,

Enjoy the ride!

All the best,
The Chaotix Detective Agency x

〜

"How much further?" asked Tangle, tiptoeing around the spilled contents of an overturned trashcan on the sidewalk.

"Can't handle the suspense, huh?" replied Rouge.

"No, my feet hurt," said the lemur flatly.

"Oh," uttered the bat, flashing a contrite smile, "It's just a couple more blocks."

Tangle managed a weak smile of her own, not that she felt much like smiling right now. Rouge had taken her and Amy from the King Maximilian Acorn Free Hospital to a neighborhood in downtown Station Square that was shattering the lemur's cherished illusions about the Acorn Kingdom's capital.

Quercusville, it was called, named after Quercus, a semi-mythical ancestor of King Alexius, founder of the Acorn Kingdom. The trio had passed a statue of the warrior chipmunk a few blocks back. His bronze head had been freshly anointed with Flicky droppings.

The reek of sunbaked garbage in overflowing dumpsters. The steam belching out of every drain grate and manhole in sight. The tents pitched along the sidewalk. The wizened Mobians sitting around outside them, dressed in jackets bearing Acorn Royal Militia insignias, swigging from bottles of Solaris-knows-what.

All of it flew in the face of what she'd always imagined Station Square to be: a squeaky-clean antidote to the infamously grimy metroplexes of the United Federation. How could the House of Acorn have let somewhere on their own doorstep get this way?

What she didn't know was there had once been plans to rebuild the neighborhood from scratch, block by run-down block. Then came Perfect Chaos's attack, leaving whole swathes of Station Square in a far worse state than Quercusville. That, alas, was how the money intended for New Quercusville had been spent instead.

Just then, Tangle doubled over coughing as a trailer-truck passed by, miring the sidewalk in thick exhaust fumes.

"Are you okay?" Amy piped up, peering around Rouge. The spluttering lemur gave the hedgehog a thumbs-up.

They'd both been holding Rouge's hand since leaving the hospital. Between their school uniforms and the bat's purple jumpsuit, Tangle figured they must look like cousins out for a stroll with their cool aunt. Still, this unplanned break from interaction with Amy hadn't been entirely unwelcome.

It'd been nice to be able to mull over what'd happened at that crosswalk without being on the lookout for another kiss. Not that she minded what Amy had done, nor did she mind that Amy had been the one to do it. Sure, she was only twelve, but she was more mature than Tangle had been in seventh grade.

The thing playing on the lemur's mind was what Amy had said before they left, implying how she might keep on kissing her without warning. There was something…brazen about it. Maybe even a tad ominous. Didn't the kid have sense of boundaries? it.

"Here we are," said Rouge, stopping abruptly in front of a tower block.

Tangle looked up at the concrete colossus. The bare stone façade looked as gray and grimy as everything else she'd seen in Quercusville. The only splashes of color in sight were the overlapping graffiti tags coating the first-floor entrance.

"What's 'here' though?" asked Amy.

"Shadow will only stay in that hospital for so long, sweetie," said Rouge, "Knowing him, he'll probably discharge himself the first chance he gets, and he'll need somewhere to crash."

"You're sticking Shadow in this dump?!" blurted Tangle.

Rouge and Amy's gazes converged on her. The fifteen-year-old clapped her free hand over her mouth.

"You're very welcome to wait out here," said Rouge, keeping ahold of the lemur's left hand.

"I'll come," murmured Tangle.

"Then what're we waiting for?" chirped Amy, running ahead to open the graffitied front door, "How high up is it?"

"Right at the top," said Rouge as she and Tangle reached the entrance, "Apartment 31A."

"Race you!"

With that, the hedgehog bolted across the lobby and off up the stairs.

Seeing the cringe on Tangle's face, Rouge smirked. "Don't worry, sweetie. The elevator works."

"Oh, uh, should we maybe give her a head-start, then?"

The bat scoffed. "In your dreams."

〜

Deep in an alleyway on the north edge of Quercusville, Kemlo stepped back to admire his handiwork. A few minutes ago, sixteen posters of Geoffrey St. John's face had graced the brick wall. Now, there were sixteen Antoine D'Coolettes staring pompously at him.

Kemlo had nothing personal against the skunk. He was too young to vote in the election for Governor of Station Square anyhow. It just so happened that the D'Coolette campaign were willing to pay high schoolers like him to slap the coyote's face over every 'Vote St. John' poster he could find.

As far as his parents were concerned, he was down at the skatepark. Listening to his dad grumble about being forced to choose between two candidates from the Acorn Kingdom's aristocracy had put him off saying anything. For what he was being paid — about five times his usual allowance — it wasn't worth the risk.

Just then, the ground shifted beneath Kemlo's feet. The doberman leapt clear, landing on his backside with his necktie up over his face. Too stunned to move, he hugged his poster-stuffed satchel tight as the manhole cover he'd been standing on was pushed open from below.

"Oh," said Mighty, noticing the cowering schoolboy as climbed out into the alleyway, "Was that you just now?"

Kemlo didn't reply, too busy worrying about his BMX propped up against the opposing wall

Mighty turned to help Espio up out of the manhole.

"Check it out," said the armadillo, nodding towards the sixteen Antoines, "Think the princess saw that coming when she gave up—hey, wait up!"

He ran after the chameleon who'd gone storming off up the alleyway.

"What's up, scales?" he asked, clapping a hand on Espio's shoulder.

Espio shrugged it off. Undeterred, Mighty tried again, whereupon Espio whirled around, pushed the armadillo clean off his feet, then carried on up the alleyway.

He didn't much feel like seeing Mighty's face right now. Not that after their minor odyssey back from Metropolis.

What looked like a manhole was, in actual fact, an access point to a secret network of travel-tubes installed by the Acorn Royal Militia in the early days of the war with Robotnik. They'd been intended for use by ARM guerillas in the event of Station Square being overrun by Badniks.

Such an assault never happened, and the secret of the travel-tubes had been kept well enough for most Squarians to consider them an urban legend. Mighty knew better, thanks to his ties with Sonic and the Knothole gang. However, he'd only thought to bring them up after they'd spent two hours in traffic on King Sebastian Boulevard.

Remembering how casually the armadillo had broached the subject, Espio clenched his fists.

Mighty knew as well as he did how it was just a matter of time before the armadillo hit the road again. It's just what he did. How dare he waste their time together like that.

Then again, their interminable motorbike ride through the Great Forest had been good for one thing. He finally thought he knew why he'd really been so eager to help out Shadow and Amy: between Charmy moving to Soleanna and Vector always hanging out at Vanilla's, he'd forgotten what it was like to have regular company.

Drawing near to the alleyway's entrance, Espio shot a fleeting glance over his shoulder. Mighty was trudging along behind him, about five paces back. Good. That was a respectful distance. A few blocks of this should be punishment enough.

Pissed as he was at him, he still wanted to spend a little quality time with the hobo.

〜

"And this will your room, I guess," said Amy, waving a cellphone around the larger of Apartment 31A's two bedrooms.

As a reward for beating the elevator to the top floor, Rouge had entrusted her with shooting a video tour of the apartment for Shadow. She'd tried to film one without commentary, but she couldn't help but talk. Hopefully Shadow wouldn't mind.

Would he agree to move in, though? She couldn't help worrying that might be too stubborn to accept help from Rouge, no matter how beneficial it may be for him…or her. It sure would be nice to have another friend in town, what with Tangle due to head back to Spiral Hill. Unless…

No. She'd pushed her luck far enough with the kiss. She wasn't ready to be rejected again just yet.

"Well, that's pretty much it. Pretty cool, huh? Hope you like it."

Thumbing the Record button, Amy sighed and plodded out into the apartment's hallway. It was a nice little place…if a tad too beige. She would've expected bolder colors in a place owned by Rouge. Maybe she could help Shadow pick out some new wallpaper.

"Rouge? Tangle?"

"Out here, sweetie," called Rouge.

Amy followed the bat's voice through the loungeroom and out onto the apartment's balcony. She approached the white plastic chair Rouge was sitting in to hand back the cellphone.

"You better keep hold of that," said Rouge, waving away the device, "Someone's going to need to get that to Shadow."

"Huh?" uttered Tangle over by the balcony's railing.

"Aren't you coming back with us?" asked Amy.

"Sorry, girls. It's anyone's guess how long those doctors will want to poke him for, and that ambulance won't drive itself back," said Rouge.

"What if we go back right now?" said the hedgehog, "Shadow sure seemed okay. If I ask Elias nicely, I'm sure I can, like, get us in."

"Sweetie, it's a hospital, not a nightclub," said Rouge as she stood up, "Besides, I think that poor hedgehog's seen about as much of me as he can take."

"What do we do now then?" said Amy.

"You don't have somewhere you need to be?" said Rouge.

Amy exchanged glances with Tangle. She was pretty sure Hershey didn't plan to drive to Spiral Hill overnight. She was less sure about how Sally might be feeling right now, what with them vanishing from the hospital. Then again, did it really matter? Station Square was her home, too. It's not like she could get lost.

"Not really, no," said Amy eventually.

"Then why don't you hang out here for a bit?," said Rouge, "Get a feel for the place. There's enough ramen in those kitchen cupboards to last a month."

"Umm…okay."

"Let me give you these, too."

Rouge reached a set of keys out of her cleavage. Amy promptly tucked the cellphone into the waistband of her pleated gray skirt and held out her good hand.

"Look after Shadow for me, okay?" said Rouge, lowering the keys into Amy's hand.

"I will," said Amy.

"Good girl," said Rouge, straightening the hedgehog's red necktie. Then, she turned to Tangle.

"As for you," she said, stiletto heels clacking on the concrete as she strode to the balcony's railing, "Next time you feel like running away from home to work for a shady millionaire, don't."

"Sure thing," muttered Tangle, rolling her eyes.

Rouge threw an arm around the lemur's shoulders and pulled her into a half-hug.

"There's a number for me on that phone if there's anything you forgot," said the bat.

"I was pretty thorough, but thanks," said Tangle.

"What's Infinite going to do without you to boss around?"

"I'm sure he'll find someone to be mean to. It's sort of his thing."

"Well…better them than you."

With that, Rouge withdrew arm, placed both hands on the balcony's railing, and vaulted clean over it. Shock took Tangle's legs out from under her as the bat fell out of view. Amy ran to the railing and saw Rouge gliding away over the rooftops of Quercusville.

"Good thing those wings aren't for show," she said, offering Tangle a hand up.

"Nice of her to let me know," the lemur muttered, slumping over the railing.

Amy sidled up beside her, resting her head on one of Tangle's hunched shoulders.

"That's some view, huh," remarked Tangle. From their vantage point, they could see all the way to the sea.

"Not bad for a dump," said Amy.

Tangle groaned. "I already told her sorry, okay?"

The hedgehog giggled softly. "How did someone as nice as you used to get in so much trouble?"

The lemur scoffed just as softly.

"Used to?" she said, "I told you what I'm in for when I got home, right?"

"Mmhmm," hummed Amy, biting her lip.

There it was. The perfect moment to ask the question she promised herself she wouldn't ask. Focusing on the dwindling form of Rouge, she let the moment slip slowly, silently away.

"So…have you, like, cooked ramen before?" asked Tangle.

"Oh, uh, sure, loads of times," replied the slightly startled Amy.

"Awesome. I, err, might need you to talk me through some of it."

"How much?"

"Like, all of it."

"Okie doke," said Amy, planting a lightning-quick kiss on Tangle's cheek before heading inside.

The lemur hung back, rubbing her pecked cheek pensively. She sighed, then smiled.

Boundaries schmoundaries.

〜

"Mr. Espio!"

Standing on the hood of a purple station wagon, Cream waved wildly at the chameleon and armadillo at the top of the street.

"Friend of yours?" asked Mighty.

However, Espio had already taken off down the sidewalk. As he neared the station wagon, Cream sat down and slid off the hood.

"Welcome home, Mr. Espio," she said brightly.

"Th-thanks," he said distractedly, eyes darting between the station wagon's open trunk and the open door of the brownstone townhouse it was parked outside. Frosted lettering in a first-floor window read 'Chaotix Detective Agency'.

"Whose car is, uh…who're you here with you, Cream?" asked Espio, pausing to soften his tone.

The beaming six-year-old wasn't one of his streetwise informants. There was no reason to speak to her as if she were.

"Mr. Vector and Ms. Bunnie, of course," said the rabbit, like it went without saying.

"Of course," the chameleon echoed under his breath.

"And who's this?" asked Mighty, drawing up alongside him.

"Hello, my name's Cream," replied Cream, sticking out a hand, "What's your name?"

"My friends call me Mighty. So can you."

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Mighty."

Mighty smirked as they shook. "Now that's a name I could get used—"

"Ms. Bunnie, look whose here!"

All eyes converged on the townhouse's doorway. Bunnie Rabbot was making her way carefully down the steep stoop, carrying two wooden boxes stacked one on top of the other. Espio went to meet her at the bottom of the steps.

"Thanks, sugar," she said as the chameleon relieved her of the upper box.

Espio was too busy examining the box's contents to acknowledge the thank-you. It contained heaps of CD jewel cases. Not just any CDs, either. He could hear the songs just from glimpsing the cover art. That was how much Vector played these particular discs.

"What're you doing with all these?" he asked, looking up at Bunnie.

"Mr. Vector's coming to live at Mommy's house," Cream piped up.

Espio's gaze snapped to the younger rabbit, then to the elder rabbit, then to the top of steps. There, with a boombox under one arm and a keyboard under the other, stood Vector.

"Would someone care to explain what the hell is going on?" said the chameleon levelly.

Bunnie glanced up at Vector. Vector proceeded down the stoop in silence, heading straight for the car. Espio stalked after him.

"Speak to me, dammit," he hissed.

Stoically, the crocodile loaded the boombox and keyboard in the station wagon's trunk. Then, he turned to the chameleon…and went to take the wooden box off his hands.

CDs spilled onto the sidewalk as Espio dropped the box and grabbed Vector's gold chain. He wrenched the brawny reptile down to his eye-level.

"What're you doing?" he demanded in a low growl.

"Th-this is something I've gotta do—"

"Why?"

"I'm the only one who can."

Espio's brow furrowed. "But I thou…what about Bunnie?"

"I got the wrong idea there, too."

Espio's grip on the chain slackened.

"What's the problem?" asked Vector flatly, "I'm not quitting the Agency on you. This won't change anything."

"How can you say…"

The chain slipped from Espio's grasp as he trailed off.

"I wish you well," he whispered, then bolted for the townhouse.

Vector trod on a CD as he gave chase. He got as far as the stoop.

"Sorry, big guy," said Mighty, putting out his arms to block the crocodile's path, "Better leave this to a pro."

The armadillo held Vector's narrowing glare as he reversed up the steps and inside Chaotix's headquarters. The door closed behind him.

"What was all that, sugar?"

Vector looked to Bunnie. She was still holding the other box of CDs.

"A misunderstanding…I hope."

The rabbit nodded.

"Let's give them a few minutes. He'll come around."

Vector suppressed a scoff. "You don't know him like I do."

"Maybe I don't need—"

Bunnie stopped short as she heard a sniffle. The pair of them span round to look at Cream.

The little bunny's brown eyes glistened. "Was it something I said?"