Chapter 182 - Uhhh 7 I Think

It is a crisp, breezy Monday morning. Dusters the Echidna has parked his truck on the corner of Acorn Street and Ocean Bay road. Sitting next to him, in the front passenger seat, is Chris. With a pair of binoculars in hand, he is in the process of surveying one double-story condominium of the many lining either side of the street. They all looked similar in design, but were painted in different shades of "sea" colors varying from aquamarine to light yellow. What could possibly be so special about this one condo?

"Still nothing?" Dusters grunts while tapping his muscular fingers on the steering wheel impatiently. "Just one of these houses is probably worth more than I make in five years, and it kind of pisses me off."

He looks around. It is still early, and every now and then a man or fox or raccoon in a suit emerges from one of the condominiums, dressed in a business suit complete with a tie, or in one case, even, a high-ranking military officer's uniform.

"Look, there's our guy." Jakesays, handing the binoculars over to Dusters, who had been examining a big-busted echidna in her underwear waving out a goodbye from an open doorway.

He looks, and sees that Buzzy has emerged from the front door of the condominium the two had been watching for almost an hour. He is walking at a brisk pace toward his parked Toyota Hybrid. There is the brief bleep of his car alarm being deactivated, then as he opens the car door-

"Wait, who is that? Amy?" Dusters shares an eyepiece with Chris.

They watch as Amy runs down the same path behind Buzzy, and tackles him with an open arm hug before he can fully get into the car.

Jakeleans away from the binoculars, rubbing his chin in thought.

"What could Amy possibly be doing at Buzzy's house?" Jakesays primarily to himself as Buzzy enters the car and drives it out unto the street.

"Hey, shouldn't we tail him?" Dusters starts, gripping the keys in the ignition.

"No. I think we should have a talk with Amy, first."

...

Amy Rose slowly eases the front door shut behind her. She glances her fingers along the edge of the stack of fresh Morphian bills she had just managed to coax out of Buzzy.

What an idiot! This was too easy. Amy thinks, as she tucks the money into the bra she wore underneath her T-shirt.

She plops unto the couch in the living room, sits there with her legs sprawled open lazily.

Leather. It wouldn't be my first choice but still very classy, Buzzy, she thinks.

From that position, Amy Rose reaches for the remote controller set on the coffee table and begins the arduous process of flipping through a menu of over a thousand channels.

She stops at a news program that grabs her interest.

"City Hall, and Mayor Chandler remain under fire for the quality of the Mobian water supply." The news anchor reports stiffly, with the image of rioting forest animals wielding picket signs superimposed in the upper right corner of the screen. "According to leading scientists who have analyzed traces of the city's tap water, it has an abnormally high lead content, which may be putting the city..."

There comes a sudden knocking at the door, and it prompts Amy to turn the television off before the newscaster can finish.

"He isn't here right now, you just missed him." She says, with more than a hint of annoyance in her tone.

The voice of Jakeresponds, saying, "It's Chris. JakeTornbright. And Dusters is here with me. We'd like to talk to you for a bit."

Amy is startled by the announcement. She tiptoes gingerly toward the door. "But why? About what?"

"It's about Zoonic." Dusters says gruffly, oblivious to the shocked expression on Amy's face.

"Oh, in that case sure, come on in..." She says, as she backs down the hall and into the kitchen with her hand gliding against the wall, until it finds the handle of something. She grasps unto it firmly.

Her name is Amy Rose and little do Dusters and Jakeknow, but she is now armed and dangerous.

...

"This better not be some kind of a joke." Spacio says, backing away from the visitor who calls himself Silver. "This isn't a game, you know. So don't waste our time."

Hector cuts in. "Relax Spacio, he could be legit. Besides, the public has been pretty shut up about things since day one." He turns to Silver. "So, who do you think killed Zoonic the Hedgehog?"

"Not think. Know." He says quickly and glares at Spacio, who is standing off to the side with his arms crossed, eyeing him with suspicion. "It was Sheldon the Hedgehog."

"Preposterous!" Spacio exclaims, swinging his arm emphatically. "We retrieved certain samples from the crime scene that are pointing us to somebody else." He pauses for a moment. "Not Sheldon."

Silver appears unshaken by the outburst when he says, "You can choose not to believe me and wait until all of the facts check out, but what the complete and infallible truth of the matter is that Sheldon murdered Zoonic the Hedgehog."

Spacio's phone cellphone to ring suddenly, causing the steely Hendrix detective to jump. He takes it out and upon examining the caller I.D., retrieves his jacket from a hanger and opens the front door to the detective agency.

"What the hell, Spacio? Doesn't this seem kind of a big deal?" Hector bellows, but with a sarcastic grin on his face.

"Sorry. This one's important." Spacio says then ducks behind the door. "I'll leave you to deal with this character."

...

Meanwhile, a certain black hedgehog is practicing his free throws at a basketball court somewhere in the crime-ridden underbelly of Morpheus City.

Sheldon carefully lines up his next shot. He shoots with a grunt, but the ball is deflected off of the rim. It bounces away.

Klunk, klunk, klun- The sound of it hitting the asphalt repeatedly comes to an abrupt stop. Sheldon looks up and is shocked by who he sees standing there, just a few feet away, holding the basketball in two white gloved hands.

"Zoonic?" Sheldon starts, his voice cracking out of fear. "It can't be. You're dead!"

Despite this fact, Sheldon found it difficult to dismiss the creature standing before him as being anyone other than Zoonic the Hedgehog. Nevertheless Sheldon could vaguely sense that something was different about this hedgehog. Perhaps it was the lack of Zoonic's usual smile and positive demeanor, instead replaced by an unnatural frown and two expressionless, unblinking eyes. Or it may have been the overall contrast of his appearance as opposed to his usual bright colors. The blue of his spikes was more dull, and even the red of his shoes seemed lifeless. Whatever it may be, it filled Sheldon with a sense of dread rather than joy in seeing his old friend reduced to this.

This apparition of Zoonic, while holding the basketball under one arm, uses the other to point in a direction. Sheldon's gaze can not help but follow.

He did not see anything unusual, or even remotely odd about the are he had spent the first seventeen years of his life. Rows of ugly grey tenements and apartment complexes, with balconies draped by clotheslines and occasionally occupied by lounging, frowning locals. He picks up the faint smell of burning diesel in the air, and traces it to a van labelled "Aqua Mobi Distilled Water" parked on the curb with its engine still humming noisily. Sheldon recognizes the sound of a one-hit wonder of days passed playing somewhere in the background, and it brings back memories. It was just another day in the projects.

"Hey, what are you point pointing-"

KLUNK. KLUNK.

Startled, Sheldon looks again to where Zoonic had been standing, but stood no longer. It seemed like he had vanished as quickly as he appeared.

The disowned basketball bounces until it hits the chain link wall, then rolls into a corner.

"Who are you calling now? Get the hell over here and help." Dusters hollers at Chris.

Upon entering Buzzy's house, the two were met by a barely conscious and feverish Amy Rose, collapsed on the floor holding a frying pan. Jakehad immediately dialed 9-11 while Dusters struggled to provide some emergency assistance to her.

"Something's coming out of her mouth." Dusters says as he lays her flat on her back, against the cold hardwood. "Jesus Christ she's puking. Get me a towel or something."

Nodding, Jake Tornbright runs down the hall and through Buzzy's bedroom, stopping for a moment to examine the messy state of his bed, in an otherwise impeccable room.

"Ah, so that's what this is about." He says under his breath, then turns and enters the bathroom to find that towel.

Hector retrieves a roll of tobacco from his back pocket, unwraps it, then promptly spits it out into a nearby trash can. He is seated on a stool at the kitchen counter of the Hendrix Detective Agency, Cammy floating and the strange visitor still present, surrounding him.

"You're a federal agent, aren't you?" He says, directed at Silver. "Don't worry, you can tell me."

Silver reveals his badge and identification without any hesitation. "We should share our facts. This thing is beginning to spread.