Disclaimer: See first chapter.

Security

Whisper knew she was lucky most of the time. She had friends who liked her company, and she liked theirs. She had the wisps, Tangle...Lanolin, even occasionally Sonic and Tails.

She had never enjoyed Shadow's particular company. Both for Diamond Cutter reasons, and because, if she had to be honest, they were surprisingly similar. Not as similar as Sonic and Shadow, which was far beyond 'similarity' and more 'holy crap clone'.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay with this guy?" Cyan asked again as she hovered near Whisper's ears. "He seems the type to just forget you whenever you pose an issue."

"I can hear you, wisp," Shadow responded from a few feet in front of them. It didn't look like he had a translator to Whisper's eyes, but maybe she was just missing something.

"I'm more concerned about the fact he can understand us. This is still Shadow, right? That weird guy who was constantly shouting about being the perfect death machine?" Green asked.

"Ultimate Life Form!"

"Yeah, that," Green answered. It took a moment for the wisps to realize that Shadow had answered them directly, and before long had started to crowd around him.

"Wait, you understand us now!?"

"Now we can make other friends besides just Whisper! I mean, Whisper's great and all-"

"Quick, say something wise so that way we may worship the ground you walk on!"

"It's not natural, he has a thing in his ear...same thing as Whisper's, just smaller."

"Oh well that's no fun. Here I was about to be impressed he could talk our language fluently."

Shadow gave an alarmed look to Whisper through the mirror. "Are they...always like this?" he asked gently. "I don't remember them like this."

"They're just annoying you on purpose. Stop it," Whisper warned. Immediately the talk of the various wisps stopped, and she could just imagine them grinning at each other. "I hadn't realized the translators had gotten so small. I haven't seen other wisps yet."

"They keep to their own groves now. A lot of people have them as pets though, same with chao. Although really its more chao and wisps have the people as pets," Shadow noted. "You might see a few over at the Faker's place."

"Chao or wisps?"

"Yes," Shadow answered. Whisper nodded. That meant the blue blur probably had a bit of each. Not a surprise there, since it was apparently with his assistance that the many chao gardens started popping up. Something about how the chao helped save the day at Station Square.

Whisper was only...what, twelve when that happened? There was so much that had happened in such a short amount of time, and she had been on basically the other side of the continent...

The light on the highway dimmed as the sun set further from the horizon, until it was only because of the warm glow of the motorcycles and their headlights that Whisper could tell where Shadow was. The wisps hung around for a while, if only to annoy the hedgehog, before they went back into their canisters to 'conserve' energy according to Orange.

"They're talkative," Shadow noted aloud. Whisper said nothing for a while, expecting Shadow to extrapolate. The wisps were quite talkative, especially to each other and to others who could understand wisps.

"They're surprised. It's not often that they come into contact with someone with a translator."

"I suppose not. It's rarer now that Tails went missing. Before all this, he'd had plans to market the translator for both chao and wisps, retire on the money."

"I'm surprised he'd have gotten that much for it."

"He was aiming for a good amount of coins for it. And when you consider that the government was going to practically buy them out at first, it stands to reason he would have made a few million sales. Enough for him to retire with his wife and kids, and maybe help out the Faker and Amy."

"You call her Amy and Tails by his name. But never Sonic."

"He is still, and will always be, the Faker to me. He told you how we met?"

"He's mentioned it when he brought Surge and Kit around. Never the full story."

"Not surprised," Shadow responded. "He doesn't like telling it. He was blamed for my actions at first, my stealing of a Chaos Emerald. Then we met each other again in the forested area of Prison Island. Then again at the ARK. Getting in my way at every turn, just as I got in his."

"And you're friends?"

"That's pushing it. Acquaintances at best," Shadow said. "Turn off here, there's a shortcut through the backstreets to the airport," he said, slowly angling off to the side. Whisper nodded, moving to follow.

The back roads were a mess, and immediately Whisper wondered why this was considered to be a shortcut. Miles and miles of potholes and run-down areas. Graffiti on most of the buildings and houses, and more than once Whisper thought she saw gangs of islanders roaming around. Sometimes with humans, sometimes with not.

However once they saw Shadow, they seemingly scattered to the four winds. "They're afraid of you," Whisper noted absently.

"They know of me. Of the immortal holed up in the old Restoration headquarters. They think I patrol around here, and beat up anyone I see."

"Accurate," Whisper snarked. Shadow shot her a glare, his red eyes piercing into the dark. She stared back, steering just a bit to the side to avoid another pothole. It took a long moment but Shadow seemed to realize that she wasn't going to back down, and that he needed to steer as well.

Within a few minutes the dilapidated portion of town had come and gone, leaving now only the long highways and freeways that dotted the area. Signs kept changing words every few seconds, telling how to get to the airport. Some also had ads on them, showing new drinks or food she'd never heard of, or other products which was all lost time.

Shadow eventually pulled up to stop sign, heading into a parking lot. "Restoration doesn't have much in the way of power anymore. GUN has more. But they allow us to park back here for when we need to," Shadow explained, pointing out the numerous GUN vehicles lining the various spots.

"I thought GUN didn't have much of a big presence."

"They didn't. They were on the backfoot when Eggman attacked originally, but given around ten or fifteen years they came back. And no one wants to say no to government," Shadow spat out the last word as if he'd cursed.

Whisper nodded, checking each of canister to make sure each wisp was where they should be, and that her variable wispon was tied to her back like it needed to have been. Shadow too, she noticed, checked the bag that was on his shoulders to make sure nothing dropped on the drive.

Their motorcycles stood out against the green and dark colors of the other government vehicles. But they only took one spot, so Whisper assumed they'd be fine.

Shadow took off into the parking lot, his air skates hovering him a few inches into the air. Whisper wasn't the fastest runner, but the black hedgehog was going slow enough she could keep up if she was sprinting.

Unfortunately that meant by the time Shadow was waiting in front of one of the trolley stops, Whisper was completely out of breath. "You need to get faster," he said simply.

Whisper wanted to say something back, but her lungs were too busy trying to get some air back in them. She settled for letting Orange out, her eyes glaring at the hedgehog.

The shuttle van came by not long afterwards, a few soldiers getting out, each of them staring at Shadow. They ignored Whisper, barely even giving Orange a glance, their attention solely on the black hedgehog.

The van driver was a squirrel, it looked like, who was looking bored. He ignored Whisper's wispon, stilled tied to her back, and ignored the wisp hovering around her head. "Which gate?" he asked tonelessly.

"B3," Shadow responded instantly. The squirrel gave a quick nod before he shut the door. There were only a few others on the shuttle, each of them staring at Shadow as if he was about to lose it and kill all of them. A few of them were in nice suits and hugged their bags closer to them acting as lifelines.

Shadow ignored them, just as he was wont to do. Whisper placed herself between them and him. Hopefully her existence right there would mean they wouldn't do something stupid.

A mother next to her, a young girl on the other side, leaned in close to her. "What are you doing with him? Don't you know he's trouble!?" she whispered towards Whisper.

Whisper slowly turned her head, her eyes unblinking as she looked at her. The mother backed down a moment later, slowly withdrawing into herself. The daughter on the other hand, probably around five or six, was staring at Shadow with obvious amazement.

The driver was a good one, and they made it to the gates with only a small bit of honking.

The last time Whisper had flown on commercial flights, she'd been...seven or eight. A much younger wolf than she was now. She remembered going around to the glass, staring out at all the planes, wondering how they flew.

The airports had been much smaller then, and it hadn't been trouble for her aunts and uncles and grandparents to see them off at the tarmac. Now, though, it seemed like the airport was nothing but an endless line. Most of them didn't look happy to be there, instead their bags being held close. There was no smiling or running children, instead just kids that were kept as close as the bags were. Guards swept past the floor, their eyes glaring at all newcomers and everyone standing in the lines.

"Why the trouble?" Orange asked, looking around. "It looks like everyone here is waiting on a war or something."

"Shortly after Eggman died, a few other groups came up and tried to do the same thing he did. Few had his flair, but they managed to terrify most of the population," Shadow answered. "Things have changed since you vanished."

"I'd say. Seriously, I think Green went by one of the airports while you were sleeping and even then they didn't have this kind of latent fear to them. If I didn't know better I'd say they were all afraid of flying."

"Hey, wisps aren't allowed to be out of their canisters. And do you have a license for that wispon?" one of the guards, a tall dog with black and brown fur, barked at her. Whisper stared without saying anything.

"Of course we are. I'm right here, you know?" Orange snarked. Whisper smirked. The guard wasn't fazed by Orange's words, instead staring straight into Whisper's eyes.

"I'm still waiting for that license," the dog said. He puffed out his chest a little bit, expecting her to bow before his authority.

"She's with me," Shadow said obliquely from the side. "Her license is on file. She doesn't keep one for obvious reasons," he finished.

The guard blinked, before checking a small pad he had on his hip. "Hold on one moment," he said as he typed in a variety of things. "Her license number?" he asked Shadow.

Right, they had licenses for wispons now. And she most assuredly did not have one. She glanced at Shadow, wondering what it was that he was thinking. It wasn't an act, it seemed, as the black hedgehog was even more terse than usual when he answered. "License number 0018A," he said, almost whispering it.

The guard looked at the profile that it pulled up, before he suddenly paled, the dark fur on his face seemingly reddening up as he found something. "Sorry, ma'am. We just aren't used to wispons of that size or variety. What type is it, if I can ask? An orange?" he asked gently.

His tone had shifted one eighty. She gave a glance to Shadow, tilting her head as she wondered how to answer. The hedgehog gave her no hint, instead scowling at the lines. "Variable. All of them," Whisper finally answered.

"Holy shit it is her..." the guard said as he looked at her profile page. "Sorry again ma'am. We'll uh...we'll get you through," he said. He turned around, subtly pushing a few people aside. "Sorry, we got an emergency," he called out as he led Shadow and Whisper inside.

"What was that?" Whisper asked. Orange hovered around her head, the wisps' eyes taking in every angle. She felt a small piece of fuzziness come from her left side as Pink popped out of his canister, staring around.

"Getting us through. I don't work for GUN anymore, but I still have connections. Also, Jewel made sure to make a license for you the instant they became required. You're the only one with a variable wispon license," Shadow answered. "Ever."

"Others have similar."

"None like yours," Shadow answered. "Tails tried. He came close more than once, but he never once was able to break the three wisp trend."

"That's because the Diamond Cutters were cut of the edge," Pink answered. "They may not have been able to understand us for a while, but once they did we told them everything we knew."

"That explains Tails' failures. He never did like finding out others were beating him at technology," Shadow said. The guard led them through the majority of the airport, even through the screening process.

Dozens of tall machines that stood and scanned everyone for any type of contraband. More than once Whisper saw a few islanders and humans taken off to the side, made to explain their unique circumstances to the uncaring guards. Whisper was led straight though it, not needing to since her leader was one of them himself.

One of them tried though, coming up to her after she'd passed. "Ma'am, I'm going to need to see your wispon license-" she asked cautiously.

The original guard dog came back around. "Charlie, it's fine. She's with me," he answered. "That's the variable wispon too! The only one!" he said excitedly a moment later. Whisper could see his tail wag violently behind him.

Charlie, a rat of some kind, just raised an eyebrow. "If she's with you Duke...don't cause trouble. And don't let him fire that thing, he has worse aim than I do," she said, before manning another of the scanners.

Duke sighed, his shoulders hunched. "I get no respect here..."

"Certainly none from us," Pink joked before he went back into his canister again. Whisper smirked, trying not to let it show on her face.

The actual back of the airport was more of the relaxed atmosphere that Whisper was familiar with. Everyone was sitting down waiting for their flight to arrive, and while everyone was watching their bags like mother hawks it was seemingly less of a necessity and more to make sure they knew where it was.

Whisper even heard a few kids in the corner, laughing over a small comic strip that they were reading. Even as much as everything changed, there were some things that hadn't.

"Here you go. Terminal G6. Please wait here until your flight," Duke said, leading them to a couple of seats. "As a reminder, just tell anyone to talk to me if they try to cause any trouble. And can...can I see your wispon...?" he asked gently.

Whisper stared at him for a long moment. "No," she answered succinctly. Duke's shoulders slouched as he walked away dejected.

"How long for the flight?" Whisper asked after another few moments. Shadow had already sat down on the chair, his spines cutting through the fabric holding them together.

"Looks like an hour and a half," Orange whispered above her ears. "You might want to grab something to go. I don't think Shadow eats much."

And he'd probably forget that she needed to eat, too. Whisper nodded. She had her funds still, and got up after a moment to look for a nearby cafeteria. There were a few coffee shops, which she felt almost magnetically attracted to. Tangle would want her to try some of everything, and then take whatever it was she didn't finish.

There was a bookstore as well, along with a few bars and other specialty foreign restaurants. Most seemed like fast food, with a large amount of grease and salt. It smelled good, but Whisper knew it was anything but.

Finally she decided on a small coffee shop, not too far from Shadow but far enough. It wasn't just for the coffee though, but rather that this one advertised it had wisp energy drinks as well. They couldn't live off rations for their entire lives.

The line wasn't long, either, and within minutes Whisper was at the teller. "One normal coffee, no milk or sugar, and six wisp drinks," she stated calmly.

The teller gave her a look. "Uh...huh. Sure. Let me get those for you," she said, reaching down into a fridge built into the counter. She pulled out six tall cans of something. Each one had a picture of a white wisp on it.

"Ooh, it's Yacker! Seems he's doing good for himself," Orange noted absently. "Ooh, I can feel these from here. Wonder where they got the recipe?"

"These aren't all for him, are they?" the teller asked.

Whisper shook her head, opening her cloak a bit to show the other wisps' canisters. He gave a quiet nod. "Yeah, warning, it's bad news for a wisp to drink more than two of these things back to back. My mom had an orange just like yours, but after four of these he rocketed straight into the stratosphere."

"That sounds like something we'd do," Orange stated softly. "But only if we were really unhappy or really, really hyper."

"Coffee shop," Whisper reminded softly. The teller blinked, tilting their head.

"Oh, right, right. Just really, really, REALLY hyper then."

Whisper rolled her eyes, paying an exorbitant amount of the wisp' drinks and only slightly more than her usual amount on the coffee. She was kind of relieved; the price of coffee had not gone up too much in the time she was gone. Although the wisp drinks were expensive. Not that she couldn't afford it, but...

The airport terminal was just as empty as it was before. Shadow was still sitting there, a dark scowl on his face as he stared off into space. Whisper said nothing as she sat next to him, moving a small table nearby as she popped five of the tabs of the wisp' drinks.

Her own coffee was slightly sweeter than normal, but she realized that they must have put some sweetener in. Most islanders didn't like their coffee as dark as she did. Most humans didn't like their coffee as dark as she did, if she had to be honest.

She let the wisps out, handing them small straws as they took to drinking their drinks with extreme gusto. Cyan, joker that she was, decided she'd rather blow into the straw, causing large bubbles to pop out of the can.

Green, after his first sip, took to hiding from the others and floating nearly five feet up. Pink generated small energy spikes to make sure that the others couldn't get his, and he hissed a bit every time one of them came an inch closer to him. Blue was the calmest, instead just making an energy cube around the darn drink and making sure that no one could reach it even if they'd wanted to. And Orange...Whisper looked up. Orange was on the ceiling.

"I think that stuff is like drugs to them."

"If this is drugs, can we do more?" Cyan asked impatiently. Whisper could see small lightning bolts come out from her main energy area.

"Yeah. More drugs for us please."

"Drugs are good!" Blue said softly. Whisper felt her hand on her face.

"Mommy...why are those wisps acting funny?" Whisper heard a small girl ask around the corner. "Because dear, that's what happens when you give them too much of those energy drinks."

"After you finish, burn off the extra energy and try to get some sleep," Whisper commanded. Blue solidified for a moment, which the wolf knew took a lot of energy. Usually most of Blue's cubes were hollow on the inside for conservation. Orange rocketed from the ceiling to other parts of the ceiling, before coming back down in a calm pattern.

Cyan zipped around, actually imbuing herself into Shadow of all people for only a second, before she came out and straight back into the canister. Pink and Green didn't bother with any theatrics, instead just going straight in.

Shadow looked around, his red eyes wild with energy for a moment. "What was that?" he asked.

"Cyan's imbuing. Sonic can do it. It takes a lot of energy in most beings that can't do it natively. Hence, Cyan working off her energy," Whisper explained.

Shadow scowled, once again reminded that Sonic could do something that he couldn't. Whisper wasn't going to tell him why. She didn't really know. They had mentioned earlier that wisp energy and chaos energy didn't get along too well, so maybe it was because Shadow's body was just too lathered in chaos?

She knew why she couldn't be imbued; too much death and darkness in her past. Maybe that was also why Shadow couldn't be imbued. She had figured out a way around that limitation, with Orange and Cyan's help that was. But she herself couldn't be directly imbued either. It was quite a common problem, it seemed.

Green had tried to explain it to her, one day. When a wisp imbues a person directly, they share everything; thoughts, dreams, personalities, everything intermixes. In some wisps, like Cyan, it takes a lot of energy to filter out what was the person, and what was the wisp.

It's what made Sonic easy to imbue, or so they said. Whisper didn't know about nowadays, but he used to have no worries except the present, which made differentiating them from the wisp simple as a snap.

Her concentration was broken as Shadow tapped on her leg. He pointed to a large sign that said 'now boarding'. "We're up," he said simply.

Whisper nodded and pushed herself up. Had she really been lost in thought that long? It hadn't seemed that long. Orange gave an earnest glance towards the way that she'd come from, all the way back in Eggman's base, before she disappeared within the canisters as well.

The flight attendants quickly brought them to first class seats, and brought a small hole ridden pillow for Shadow's spines. They hadn't blinked an eye at the unique wispon on her back, or the wisp canisters in her jacket.

The seat was surprisingly comfortable. There was a selection of movies on the screen in front of her, and Whisper took a moment to look through them. Most of them she didn't recognize, but a few she recognized as sequels to some of her favorites. When she got back to her time, she was going to have to keep an eye out for some of them.

No one else in the airplane seemed to bat an eye at the strange wolf or Shadow, who was peering out the window with a bored scowl. He hadn't buckled up, Whisper noticed. It was the first thing she had done.

She had, after all, ridden in the Tornado when Tails had had to track down Tangle at one point. She had made the mistake of not buckling up.

She wasn't doing that again, ever.

It took far longer than comfortable, but Whisper finally felt herself relax as the plane taxied out of its area onto the runway, and started its acceleration into the air. To Green Hill, and from there to Spiral Hill and Jewel, to where she'd find Tangle and Tails, and then back to her time.

Roundabout, but it'd get her goal done just the same.

Not quite a filler chapter, there's still a few hints in there...

Until Next Time!