06 – A Ninja's Betrayal (Part 1)

"WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?"

The whole building shook as Vector's voice boomed through the office like the broadside of a battleship. Charmy nearly jumped out of his skin, practically choking on the cookie he was munching on. He and Espio rushed to Vector, who was staring at his computer screen, mouth agape.

"What's wrong?" Espio exclaimed, his head darting left and right in search of danger.

"Yeah Vector, what's up? That was a loud yell, even for you!" Charmy added, flying to get a better look at the monitor.

The enraged crocodile clenched his fists tight. "Some punk has gotten into my emails." He muttered with a vitriolic growl. "Look what they've done."

Espio and Charmy peered at the old CRT screen. Displayed were all of Vector's recent email exchanges, most of them to potential clients. However, a new message had been sent from Vector's email address to every single recipient, all within the space of a few seconds. The message read:

Good afternoon. My apologies, but I cannot take on your case, as we do not work for creeps, weirdos or ugly people in general. In this instance, you happen to be all three. Have a pleasant day. Kind regards, Vector the Crocodile.

"Uh, Vector? Why'd you send that to all the customers?" Charmy asked innocently. "They won't wanna hire us if you insult them like that…"

"I DIDN'T SEND IT, YA TWERP!" Vector bellowed, causing Charmy to take cover behind Espio. Vector sighed deeply and did his best to control his volume as he looked back at the monitor. "I already did a security check. There's been no breach from outside, and no signs of any viruses or malicious software."

"So, what do you think happened?" Charmy asked, poking out from behind Espio's back.

"There's only one option that remains." Vector stated, his detective persona starting to emerge. "Someone logged in with the password… and the only two people who know it are myself… and the guy who helped me set it up." Vector turned his head to look at Espio, a tiny hint of betrayal in his eyes.

"Are you insinuating that I sent that message to all of our clients?" Espio replied, clearly hurt by the accusation. "Why would I do such a thing? Why would I want to hurt our agency like that?"

"I dunno…" Vector said, obviously not wanting to believe it himself. "But I can't see any other explanation."

"Vector, this is dumb!" Charmy exclaimed. "Espio's been with us forever! He'd never do anything like that!"

Vector's expression softened slightly. "I guess you're right. Maybe I need to update the security on this hunk o' junk after all."

The three friends went about their business once more, hoping that would be the only strange occurrence that day. However, a couple of hours later, the office was once again filled with an unbearable noise. This time, however, it was Charmy doing the yelling.

"AAAUGH! WHAT KIND OF JERK WOULD DO THIS?" His voice screeched through the air like nails on a chalkboard. Vector and Espio scrambled to Charmy's room. He was sat holding a book or, rather, the spine of a book. He was surrounded by shards of paper, torn and ripped violently into confetti.

"What on earth happened here?" Vector questioned, scratching his head in surprise.

Charmy was a mess of sobs and sniffs. "Someone… Some jerk tore all the pages outta my secret diary!"

Vectors eyes widened in disbelief. "You have a diary? I never knew…" he asked, genuinely shocked.

"Well, duh! It was supposed to be secret. I kept it hidden in a special place under the floorboards." Charmy held the destroyed book binding to his chest, his eyes widening with some kind of realisation. "And… there was only one other person who knew I had a secret diary. He… was the one who made the hiding place for me." The little bee looked up at Espio, his eyes brimming with tears.

Espio was stunned. He looked back and forth between Charmy and Vector, unsure how to react. "You… you can't be serious Charmy. Do you really believe I would destroy something that was precious to you?" His hands curled into fists. "I would never betray either of you. We are a team."

"Espio, I'm a detective by nature." Vector said in a cold voice. "I believe in evidence, and right now you got lots of it piling up against ya."

The stoic chameleon frowned and closed his eyes in frustration, resisting the urge to explode in a violent outburst. Vector sighed, hating to see his friend in such a distressed state. Despite the evidence, the thought of Espio sabotaging his closest friends was ridiculous.

"…But I also believe in baseball." He continued, "And so far, there's only been two strikes."

"I'll find them." Espio said, raising his head with determination. "I'll find out who's been messing with you guys, and I'll make them pay."

"How're you gonna do that?" Charmy said, wiping the tears from his face.

"Simple. I'll set a trap." He said, looking confidently back at Vector. "The third strike will be their last."

***** TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2 *****