Roleplay:Secret Discord/Part2

Back to the overview.

Back to Part One.

Part Two: The Bank

"Well," Clock-Watch said, turning to Splice and the others, "from what I've seen, you guys know more about what's going on than me. Would someone mind filling me in on everything you know about what's happened? I'd like to compare notes, if that's all right."

"Well, I dunno man." Splice said, scratching the back of his quills. "I'm pretty much just as in the dark as you are. I've been trying to catch this mad bomber since day 1 but I haven't really had any luck."

"I'll stick around too, if ya don't mind." Mimic added. "Sooner we find this bomber, the sooner the quarantine gets lifted. And the sooner G.U.N leaves." There was a bit of embitterment in his voice with that last comment.

"And the sooner we can leave," Xavis remarked. By now he and Melissa shifted from hugging each other to standing closely side-by-side, his arm wrapping around her shoulders while her arm wrapped around his waist. "Not sure about the rest of you, but I don't appreciate being trapped in a city I don't even live in by the government I've helped for years."

"You can say that again." Splice huffed, "Anyway, if we're gonna talk, we should get outta here first and catch up with Smash. I gotta feeling he knows more about this than most of us."

"Right," Melissa added, then realizing something. "Man, Mom is going to be furious when she hears about this..." she muttered.

"Lead the way, Spice." Mimic said.

"That's Splice." Splice corrected.

"And, eh, on the way, mind if we stop by somewhere and pick up a friend of mine?" he asked.

"I guess so." Splice shrugged. "As long as it's not too out of the way. Where they at?"

"He'll be at the park." Mimic said. "We arranged to meet back there."

"That's not far. Alright, let's go there first! C'mon, guys! And girls!" Splice lead the charge away from the bank and towards the park. He was already full of energy again even after getting his face pummeled.

"Wait up, Slice!" Mimic shouted as he followed, again mispronouncing the hedgehog's name.

"I'm never going to get any answers, am I?" Clock muttered, jogging after the two. "Wait up! I don't even know who any of you are yet!"

"It's Splice!" Splice yelled back, again.

The Park

It didn't take long for the ragtag bunch to arrive at the park. There weren't many people around at this hour. In fact, it was nearly empty save for them and a set few others hanging around. Compared to the tense air on the streets, the park was very serene.

Reens breathed in the sweet air, letting her quills settle down more and placing her arms behind her head. "It's so peaceful here," she murmured to herself. Looking around, she hid her right arm behind her back, suddenly a bit self-conscious.

"Yes, quite." Clock-Watch responded, looking up at the clouds above. He was squinting at something up in the sky. After a moment, he frowned and began to go back to looking at the fairly serene park. "Fairly empty, too. Makes sense, though; I wouldn't want to be outside during a time like this unless I had to."

"Okay, my friend should be here somewhere." Mimic said, cupping his hands around his pure white eyes like a pair of binoculars and surveying the area. "Keep an eye out for a-" he stops himself, seeing someone at a park bench in the distance. "Oh, there he is. Taking a nap." He lowers his hands. "What is it with cats and naps, anyway?"

Not too far from them, an orange feline with a white muzzle was reclining on a park bench, fast asleep with his arm under his head as a pillow. He wore a blue and gold jacket with a white shirt underneath, white gloves, and a pair of blue and gold boots.

"That's him, huh?" Splice asked, watching the sleeping cat with curiosity. "Well, do you wanna do the honors? Dunno how he'd react to a stranger waking him up."

The mockingbird tilted his neck to the left and then to the right, making a cracking sound as he did so before proceeding to crack his knuckles. "With pleasure, Split." he answered with a mischievous look on his face.

"Splice." He insisted again, with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

Mimic walked up to the sleeping cat and cleared his throat. He then shapeshifted his head into a bugle and blasted a wake up call.

"WHAA-?!?!" The cat woke up with such a start that he accidentally threw himself off the bench and onto the ground face first. The pupils in his electric blue eyes were completely dilated from the rude awakening and darted around to see what was going on. When he finally saw Mimic, he picked himself up off the ground and brushed himself off, an annoyed scowl on his face. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR, MIMIC?!" he shouted, blue lightening crackling down his arms.

"For funsies." Mimic answered coolly, his smirk not wavering one bit.

"That wasn't funny, Mi-" he stops short when he sees the rest of the group staring at him. Suddenly a bit more conscious of how he must have looked, he tried to calm himself. "What's going on? Who are these people?" he asked.

"We're uh..." Splice started, but stopped when he realized how awkward his group was.

"We'll explain once we get to the rendezvous point," Reens replied, letting her arm hang back down. "Besides, the info we do have is pretty sensitive, and we don't want any prying eyes or ears around."

"Those agents from before were quite suspicious, weren't they?" Clock remarked. "As much as I'd like to question them, I think you're right; we really should discuss this information in a more secluded area, just to be safe."

Jewel the Bat stood a distance away from the group, listening intently to their conversation. Being a scoundrel, she liked to be sneaky. And when it came to her smuggling operations, she preferred to keep it quiet. Unlike most criminals.

She had a major freak-out when she heard about the forcefield around the city. She had contraband hidden in her apartment and she didn't want it found. She couldn't smuggle it out of the city- not with that barrier up. But she could try to get information on what was going on.

Finally Jewel decided to reveal herself. She would get more information that way. She approached the group and asked in a somewhat coy manner, "Suspicious agents, hm? Sounds intriguing!"

"Who the what!?" Splice whirled around, placing his hands on his daggers in case this newcomer was a threat.

Reens' ears perked up, and she turned around, her quills flared. "See, this is exactly what I meant by prying eyes and ears." She looked Jewel up and down, her eyes narrowed.

"Wait, what's going on?" Xavis asked as he and Melissa walked into the scene. Apparently they had wandered away from the group some time ago, and were only just now returning. The hedgehog looked between Jewel and Static, and asked "Who're these two?"

Static frowned, now more confused. "Mimic, can't I trust you not to get into any trouble for a few hours? Just once?" he asked, shaking his head as he facepalmed.

Oh, it's OUR fault for getting involved in the plot. Jerry said in Mimic's head. We haven't seen him in two years, and this is the hello we get?!

We just saw him this morning. Tom stated.

I'm talking about wiki time, not roleplay time! Jerry answered.

"Don't look at me." Mimic said, trying to ignore Tom and Jerry as they squabbled. "For once, my hands are actually clean. I didn't even take any money from the bank when it blew up."

"A bank blew up?!" Static asked. "Was it another terrorist attack?"

Jewel eyed Reens suspiciously, then looked at Xavis. Then she turned to Static and shrugged. "So what? Who cares about the bank?"

Melissa kept a suspicious eye on the bat, not trusting her at all. The comment she made on the bank ticked the female avian off, especially considering how she and several other people nearly died in there. Splice on the other hand, was immediately set off. "Excuse me?" he glared at the bat, "An entire building full of people blows up and all you can say is "So what?"!?"

The orange cat glares at Jewel. So what?! he thought angrily, practically agreeing with Splice.

Brutal. Tom commented. Mimic nodded in agreement.

Jewel noticed Melissa, the orange cat and Splice looking at her. She immediately sensed their anger and said, "I'm sorry. It's not that I don't care about the people in there, I just don't really care about the bank itself. It's just a building with a bunch of computers and vaults stuffed inside. But that's my opinion. Anyway, was it a terrorist attack?"

Melissa silently accepted the apology and calmed down.

"That's what we're trying to find out," Reens answered, folding her arms and placing one hand on her chin. "We had two suspects, but we've already figured out Splice--"

"That's me." Splice pointed a thumb at his chest, before Reens continued.

"--isn't the culprit, and I'm starting to think the gal with the red and blue quills had nothing to do with it either. The blue echidna's group didn't have her with them..."

"It wasn't her either," Xavis quickly stated, him having met Gra- Platinum.

"There was another person like me?" Splice asked in surprise.

"Huh," Jewel said. "Maybe it's G. U. N. After all, they've had corrupted agents before..." But that was only a speculation. But then again, she wasn't one to put aside a theory right away. "I don't suppose you have any new suspects... perhaps the G. U. N. agents?"

"Wouldn't surprise me." Mimic said. "Though it'd have to be someone pretty high up. Not every lackey you meet is going to be a mastermind."

Splice began to eye Jewel suspiciously. 'I dunno, maybe you?' He thought to himself. 'This lady just kinda forced her way into the conversation. I can understand people wanna know what's going on, but something smells fishy here.'

"They are the prime suspects at the moment, yes." Clock stated. "They've been quite secretive, even before the city was sealed off." He glanced around the park nervously. "But either way, I think it would be best if we continued this discussion somewhere a little less... Open."

"Seconded" Transford said, who had become increasingly impatient with the group and took the chance to get a word in. With a slight bitterness in his voice, he continued, "The sooner we get to the rendezvous and get everyone organized, the sooner we can figure out whats been going on around here and the sooner that some of us can go home."

Jewel raised an eyebrow, but said nothing in reply.

This was a lot for the orange cat to take in, but he nodded in agreement. He wasn't about to sit this one out. Besides, someone had to help keep Mimic in line.

Reens nodded and gave Transford a thumbs up. "If we're all agreed, I think we should go now." She tapped her foot and looked over to Splice. "Lead the way, Splice."

"Sure, I think we've spent enough time already." He said, with a hint of impatience. He gave one last aside glance towards Jewel's way before heading for the exit. As he started to lead them out the park, he said "Hey so uh, seeing how this group keeps getting bigger, I think it'd be nice if I wasn't the only one here with a known name." He scratched the back of his quills sheepishly. "What's your names?"

"My name is Xavis, and this is my girlfriend Melissa," the brown hedgehog said.

"Hello," Melissa chirped.

"I'm Jewel, and that's all you need to know," Jewel simply said.

"Rain Maricina, but everybody calls me Reens," Reens replied. "Not 'Robo', not 'Blaster Girl', and not... 'Mega Woman'."

"Pffft, can I call that arm cannon the "Reens Buster" then?" Splice chortled, "...Aheh, sorry. I'll stop."

"Please do." Mimic said. "Referencing other media is my shtick. Anyway, Mimic the Mockingbird. Professional theif -er, former thief, at your service. And my orange friend here is Spa-"

"Static." The orange cat interrupted, giving a sideways glare to the mockingbird. He was still a bit annoyed with the rude awakening, deciding to ignore Mimic's rambling about 'other media'. Noticing everyone kind of looking at him, he adds "Sorry, but he has a tendency to call me every name he can think of except what I actually go by."

"You too, huh?" Splice said, feeling his pain.

"And I... am Transford the Hedgehog" Transford said, putting on a fake smile as it was obvious he was annoyed. He put his right arm behind his back and offered his left hand, the one that wore a gauntlet, to anyone who would care to shake his hand.

"Well nice to meet you guys!" Splice said cheerfully. He spun slightly and gave him a high five instead of shaking, as he didn't wanna stop walking, and continued to march on ahead out the park borders and onto the busy streets. "Anyway, we're heading up north-east to that residential area. It's not too too far from here, but we're gonna have to pick up the pace if we wanna get there before dark."

Static proceeded to follow, catching up to Splice.

"Right behind you, Sprite." Mimic called.

"SPLICE." Static and Splice both corrected.

Clock-Watch looked up from his pad after writing down everyone's name to see them already leaving. "I'm Clock-Watch, if anyone cares..." He grumbled, jogging after the group.

"Clock-Watch, hm?" Jewel asked. "That's a pretty unique name."

The Streets

Traffic jams, honking horns, blaring sirens, and the restless murmurs of the many citizens on the sidewalk; Station Square was in chaos. With two bombings in one day, and no way to get out of the city, everyone was in a panic and pushing past each other to get to where they needed to go. In order to bypass the crowd, Splice lead everyone through a series of alleyways and back streets, shortcuts and detours. The backstreets were still somewhat busy, but the alleyways were quiet. The sun was setting and it was beginning to get dark, when Splice called out "We're about halfway there."

"Right..." Jewel grimaced when she accidentally stepped in some garbage on the ground.

"You'll get used to the muck on the ground, don't worry." Clock said, slipping on some trash and landing face-first into a puddle. He pulled himself off of the ground, his quite ridiculous perm now sopping wet. "Alright, maybe that was an exaggeration. But the entire city isn't this bad, trust me."

Xavis and Melissa were around the middle of the group, arms interlocked. Xavis groaned, "Uhhhg. I could've gotten there a long time ago, but you've been holding me down!" Even though he was talking to everyone, he was looking at Melissa.

"Hey, you can't just run blindly into every situation with your fists raised," Melissa retorted, "Besides, I'm fairly certain if you were to fly, you'd be shot down."

"Who said I'd fly there?" Xavis grumbled. Splice just sighed, not even going to bother saying anything.

Jewel glanced at the bickering duo, but said nothing. And she walked right into a dumpster. And fell back onto her rear. "Owie! Come on, already!"

Mimic walked around Jewel, passing her. "Really should mind where you're going, Gem." he warned. "Personally, I prefer taking the high road." Mimic said. "Why not just jump from roof to roof? There aren't any dumpsters up there to look out for."

Static was near the front, behind Splice and near Reens. Upon hearing the mockingbird's suggestion to traverse the rooftops, he cringed at the thought of heights. "I'd rather stay closer to the ground." he objected.

"Me too," Jewel said, standing up and brushing off the back of her pants. "I may be a bat, but I like to use my flying skills for combat more than transportation. And by the way, it's 'Jewel', not 'Gem'."

"Joel?" Mimic asked coyly. "I always thought that was a boy's name."

Jewel tilted her head slightly and replied, "It's 'Jewel', not 'Joel'."

"Stop talking to him." Splice advised in a deadpan tone.

Reens gently pushed trash out of her way with small streams of water. This city isn't all bad. Maybe when I move out from Grandpa, I'll find an apartment here. "You guys stay down here. I'd rather avoid dumpsters." She climbed up a fire escape and jumped onto a roof, walking across it to keep the pace.

"Just don't stray too far!" Splice called out.

"Actually, yeah. Rooftops aren't a bad idea," Xavis said, "At least they're not cramped like these alleyways." He gave Melissa a look, as if he was asking for her permission. "Fine," the female avian said. The two then disappeared in a flash of red light, instantaneously reappearing just behind Reens.

"Oh, hey guys," Reens called over her shoulder. "Teleportation, huh? Cool. Wish I could do that..."

"Eh, I'll be taking the scenic route." Mimic said.

Static sighed. "Just don't cause any trouble, okay?" he said.

"Me? Cause trouble? What ever gives you that idea?" he asked innocently. He then shapeshifted his legs into springs and bounced to the rooftop, landing behind Xavis and Melissa. He then shapeshifted his legs back to normal, proceeding to follow close behind the trio.

BOOOOOIIIIING~! Jerry gleefully sings, adding some onomotopoeia.

"Oh, isn't everyone cool, jumping and teleporting everywhere." Clock grumbled. He had pulled a towel out of one of his inside coat pockets, and was drying his hair with it. "Meanwhile, some of us mortal folk just do this thing called walking."

"Hey I can do that too." Splice said, "I'm just being normal."

Eventually they came out towards the residential area. It was still pretty busy with people hurrying to get home, but you could still walk around without bumping into anyone. At this point it would be rather unethical to jump across people's homes.

Reens stopped on the roof she was on, then started sliding her way down it. She made it halfway until she lost her footing on the guttering and slipped. "Whoa shoot!"

Suddenly, her fall was halted by something wrapping around her. Mimic had stretched his arm to ridiculous proportions and wrapped it around Reens, catching her so she didn't fall. "Next time watch your step, rainbarrel." he said.

"That's the best you could do, Mockingjay?" Reens blushed. "You can put me down now. I'm a little uncomfortable."

Mimic loosened his grip, letting Reens down gently before landing next to her. "If you say so, Bubbles." he replied. "So, that bat-girl." he began. "What's her name? Jelly? Suspicious character, eh?"

Reens shrugged. "Eh, she could be worse." She started walking again, but a bit slower.

Meanwhile Xavis floated down from the rooftop, the soles of his shoes ablaze like rockets. Melissa held tightly onto his back as the two gently descended, eventually reaching the pavement.

Jewel watched all this go on and chuckled. She continued to walked down the alley.

"Not trying to sound impatient or anything, but are we almost there?" Static asked Splice, glancing at each house they passed by.

"Actually, yeah!" Splice answered with enthusiasm. "It's just a few blocks over on the next street. It's a left turn, by the way!" He began to pick up the pace. "C'mon, the sooner we get there the sooner we can sit down and relax a bit!"

"Agreed," Xavis and Melissa said in unison.

Jewel said nothing, and continued walking. It only took a few more minutes before the group arrived at the front gates of a large mansion.

"Here we are!" Splice exclaimed. The gates were already open, and there was a clear pathway through the courtyard leading to the front porch. It was a bright and cheery looking area, despite the chaos in the city around it. The white gates were decorated with flowers and a large trimmed hedge arcing over it like a door frame. There was a large fountain to the right; although it was inactive with only lightly frosted water sitting still in it. Nearby there was a white table with a few chairs under a large parasol. To their left was a fairly large flower garden. The flowers didn't seem to be doing too well in the cold. Near the side of the house, there were a few black garbage bags; the small amount of leaves around them implied that they were full of them.

A sort of melancholy expression replaced Splice's smile as he looked around. "It's only been a few months since last time." He muttered to himself. He shook his head lightly, trying not to dwell on the past as he marched forward. "C'mon, this way." He lead them all to the front door and gave it a few knocks to the tune of "shave and a haircut".

Part Two: Jenny's House

Platinum had arrived at the vacant manor soon after Smash told her to go there. Waiting for the others to arrive, she simply sat in the front hall, legs crossed and meditating. The mansion was large enough to house a fairly huge family. Although it was vacant, it was very clean and well organized; it felt almost as if people still lived here. Even the lawn outside was mowed and kempt.

Roughly 15 minutes later, the front door opened and closed, and idle footsteps could be heard. "Hey...Platinum, are you there?" Smash's voice called out from the doorway. The echidna took off his jacket and hung it on the coat hanger, and walked into the living room.

"Yeah," she said, getting up and walking over towards him. Now that she could be more clearly seen in the light, it was quite more apparent that she had been on the run. Both her quills and clothes had grime covering them. "Nice place, by the way."

Without the echidna noticing, a tall, lean, Spanish human followed him. When they finally got to the house, Max sighed, his legs tired. "So, you're the B-ranked fighter at The Blitz Pit, correct? I think I've heard fighters talk about you." His tone was calm and his tone was smooth, but suspecting this character, he arched a brow.

Almost immediately after he spoke, Smash's fist was stopped inches away from his face. "Who are you? What do you want with me?" He demanded. His eyebrows bounced up as he recognized this person, "Wait a minute, you're that kid that was brawling outside the bank, aren't cha?" He lowered his fist, but not his guard. "Why were you following me?"

The air from the fake punch made Max's hair fly for a second. He sighed before saying, "No no no. You answer me first. Are you or are you not Smash Corliss?" Max smirked. "Assuming you are, you'd be a great detective, from the stories I've heard." Max walked in front of him. "My name's Mackenzie. I don't usually tell peeps this, but since you're named Smash, Mackenzie doesn't sound so bad." Max leaned on the wall, seemingly relaxing. "I'm a GUN agent who was invited to take this threat down, and since you're also tryin to find out about things, I followed you. That explains enough."

His cocky attitude was already getting under Smash's skin, but he kept his cool. "Yes, I am Smash." He answered, watching him closely. 'Don't get too comfortable, Kid. I got my eye on you.' He wanted to tell him that he wasn't welcome here, but the more people on this case, the better. He wasn't sure that he could trust this G.U.N. agent, however...

Upon hearing the words 'GUN agent' and 'take this threat down', Platinum immediately assumed a fighting pose, a purple aura flaring up around her. "Is that so? Because I'd like to say hello! I'm your 'threat', mister agent! NICE TO MEET YOU." She growled through gritted teeth.

"Whoa, STOP!" Smash exclaimed, holding both of his hands out.

Max rolled his eyes. "Now, while I was instructed to attack people like you, due to a recent misunderstanding, I won't." Waving her off and rolling his eyes, he said "You're lucky you met me instead of some other agent."

Still wary of him, Platinum's purple aura subsided, and she relaxed her stance. She certainly didn't trust him, though. Not one bit. She leaned back on the wall, not saying a single word.

"Look, if you're here for that meeting, it ain't happening till everyone gets here." Smash told him, getting annoyed. "Why didn't you stick with the others?"

"What can I say?" Max says, getting off the wall. "I was getting an off-vibe from all of them. Plus, I came here to investigate, just like you."

"I didn't come here to investigate." He nearly groaned, "There's nothing to investigate way out here."

Max's eyes opened wide. "wait what." He silently screamed before facepalming. "So I ran all that way for nothing? Just peachy." With a sigh, he shook his head. "Oh, well. I'ma find something to do." And with that, he left to hopefully find a chair.

Smash felt the air hiss out of his lungs in exasperation. Apparently he wasn't listening to the whole conversation back at the bank and only picked out a few key words. He rolled his eyes back to Platinum, "Anyway..." His expression relaxed a bit, "Mind I have a word? Let's talk somewhere else." He added the last part in a quieter tone.

As Max left, Platinum rolled her eyes. "Sure thing," She replied, folding her arms. "What do you want to know?"

Smash shook his head, "Something I'd rather not let a G.U.N. agent hear." He said in a whisper, before leading her upstairs. After a couple moments, the two walked into a bedroom; A girl's bedroom, it seemed. There was a large bed at the end of the room next to the window, a desk and a chair to the right and a couple dressers, wardrobes and a vanity next to the closet on the left. Smash pulled up a chair and sat down after closing the door, gesturing for Platinum to have a seat on the bed.

"Ah, thanks." She quietly replied, sitting down with her legs crossed.

"If we're going to clear your name, and get me outta this city, we're going to have to work together." Smash said, "But we can't let everyone know; Not G.U.N. and especially not the Hyper Division. They still think I'm trying to hunt you down." He leaned forward in his chair, "They're hiding something. There's something they haven't told me or the others they tried to recruit. They're after you specifically, but they're also afraid of you. They think you have the power to destroy entire worlds. I don't know what kind of power you hold but as far as I'm concerned you're not the one behind these attacks. Someone else is, and I think they secretly know that. When I encountered them again, they suddenly became secretive and weary of someone else on the scene; someone trying to gather information and take notes--presumably a detective of some sort. They fled almost immediately after he approached them; and he seemed to know already that you were innocent."

Smash folded his arms, "You can see why I'm bothered by this. They're up to something; there's gotta be some ulterior motive to them hunting you. I have a hunch it has something to do with that period of time that you can't remember. They told me before that they had you in the Hyper Division a while back, but then they lost track of you. Does any of this jog any memories?"

Platinum rolled around on the bed, scratching her forehead. "Hmmm... I do remember a little bit of how I used to be. I really was freakishly strong, just like they've told you. And I was most certainly not a good person. But neither were they! It's foggy, but I'm fairly certain they were just as corrupt as Granite. Whoever's causing the attacks is certainly in on it, though. They're searching for something, I'm sure of it." She sat back up. "And whatever they're trying to collect, I've got something they want in their collection."

Smash sat up in surprise, "Really? Is that another reason they're after you?" He asked, "Nevermind that, what is it? A Chaos Emerald?"

She shook her head. "No, not Chaos. The power they're looking for is more reliable, more... Harmonic." Platinum responded, fiddling with the pendant she wore. It was a small cube of obsidian on a chain, with a tiny sphere embedded in it made out of some sort of metal, seemingly platinum (ha ha) of some sort. "I'm not sure how they got here, but I'm certain that they're trying to gather a different set of powerful stones, known as the Symphony Crystals."

"The Symphony Crystals...?" Smash's eyes slowly widened. "Haven't heard of those. So they're trying to collect all these crystals, right?" He began to stroke his chin, as his mind went to work. "If that's so, then the reason they set up this barrier around the city was to make sure you couldn't run off with one of them. We know that much for sure, but what really concerns me is why the bomber would be working together with them?" He spoke a bit more to himself than to Platinum, before he felt a lightbulb switching on in his mind. "Are you sure the bomber is in cahoots with the Hyper Division?" He asked her.

"I'm not sure, to be honest." Platinum quills had strangely changed at this point: all of them were red, not just the right-side ones. The style of the quills had changed to match that of the other side, as well. "But I'm certain of one thing: They're both after the same thing, and I don't think we want either of them to gather all six."

"Wait did you just--ahem," He stopped himself from questioning her quills, but not from catching her attention.

"Did I just what?" Platinum asked, tilting her head to the side. After a moment, she realized what he was referring to. "Oh, you mean the quills! Yes, sorry about not explaining this to you sooner! It's kind of a strange thing, so keep an open mind!" She stood up from the bed, and placed one of her hands on her chest. "I am Red!" Her quills shifted to blue, and likewise changed in style. She made a peace sign. "And I'm Blue!" Finally, her quills returned to how they looked when the group had first met her. "We've already been acquainted. I am Silver." Each voice, while sounding similar, all had slightly different pitches, with Blue being the highest pitched, and Red being the lowest. "Together, we are Platinum."

Smash blinked a couple times. "That's...an interesting quirk. Nice to meet you...all?" He said, almost unsure of how to respond. "Split personalities...I won't press on that right now." After a sheepish cough, Smash continued on with his point. "If the bomber wants those crystals, and is frantically destroying everything in the city, I think it's safe to assume that all six crystals are here in Station Square." He deducted, "It would also make more sense as to why the Hyper Division put up this forcefield around the city; they don't want this person to escape with them all should they actually manage to collect the remaining five. But if they are in cahoots, then the Hyper Division is putting up quite the facade here." He rose his eyebrow, "It would break G.U.N.'s reputation if word got out that they were responsible for a series of terrorist attacks."

As Max was sitting in a wooden chair he found nearby, his ears perked up at hearing Smash's voice. "...Hmm?" Listening very intently, he even made his breathing so quiet, nobody could hear him. It was obvious that they didn't want him around; too risky, having an agent. The question was - was he trustworthy? Or a better one - did he want to earn their trust?

Max shook his head, thinking about this. Apparently, this girl was also not the weapon (who saw that one coming?), but... at the same time, she was?! Max took a mental note of this. It would be stupid to simply run over to them, pull out a gun and shoot a possibly innocent civilian. Hearing Smash talking about the suspicious GUN agents worried him, and he agreed; he only knew part of the story. Was it really wise to give specific agents all the info and let the others follow possibly misleading orders? Hmm....

Max was tired of listening. After thinking he heard enough, we walked next to them. "Six crystals, eh? I thought we were going to take down a criminal, not go treasure hunting." Max smirked and chuckled as his eyes glowed red. "I'm in. Platinum, Mr. Corliss, when are the others going to get here? The sooner they come, the sooner we can start searching, and the sooner we start searching, the sooner we can stop all this nonsense."

Smash buried his face into his palm; "First of all, do something about those manners, kid. Most people don't eavesdrop and barge into rooms in other people's houses." He scolded, "Secondly, we didn't even say we were going treasure hunting. We didn't even come up with a plan; stop jumping to conclusions. And finally, I don't know when they'll be here. Probably soon." He leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Though looking for them ourselves isn't such a bad idea, how on Mobius would we know where to look?"

Max grinned in an especially giddy manner. "I can sense energy, y'know. Assuming it's similar yet different to Chaos Energy, I just need one to become familiar with. The sooner I get a taste of Symphony Energy, I can just be a living radar. Makes it a lot easier, doesn't it?" Max laughed. "And two, if you're going to talk about something someone's involved in, I wouldn't just hide the info from them because of their origins. I find that rude, also." With a "Hmph," Max stopped himself from rolling his eyes.

Platinum was about to say something, but she decided not to, as she saw Smash was about to say something.

"I don't trust you. That's all the reason I need to hide info from you." Smash stated bluntly. "I don't need to hear you talking to me about rudeness with you sneaking around behind my back, like that. You're damn lucky I didn't kick you back out the door you waltzed in from."

Max thought for a second, and then spoke in a fierce tone. "Or would you rather have your radar actually waltz out the door it came in. You have to admit; without me, your plan is going to be a lot harder. But hey, if you don't trust me, I guess I could just report to GUN and tell them everything I heard. I could say I found another possible weapon, you guys become outlaws, and I track you down, since I've already locked on to your energy." Max shrugged. "I mean, I could always do that."

Smash stood up, "So is that how it's gonna be?" He asked darkly. He walked slowly over to him, with a very hostile feeling emanating from him as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "Listen, and listen good." He said, tightening his grip. "We'll let you help us out. But I'll be watching you. If you do anything suspicious, give me any reason to believe that you'll put me or my friends in danger, and you won't have to worry about ending any nonsense. Because I will end you, right then and there. Got it?"

Max sighed and gave a smile, a murderous glare coming from his eyes. "Got it. I don't want to end up like Agent Frederick, now."

Before the situation could escalate, there was a loud knocking coming from the front door. Max was this close to just firing a laser at it. He looked at Smash. "Do we open it?" He shrugged and began to walk over to it, but Smash pulled him back by the shoulder.

"I open it." He corrected as he walked out the room.

The Meeting

The front door opened wide to reveal the tired blue echidna. "Yo. What took ya?"

"Sorry about that," Splice grinned sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his quills, "We wound up picking up a few more along the way." Behind him was the gang Smash had been "recruited" alongside, as well as a handful of other figures he only caught a glimpse of once--if at all. "Can we come in?"

"Sure, sure." He stepped aside to let the group in.

Xavis and Melissa quickly entered.

"Hey, Blue, where's the kitchen?" Reens asked politely.

"Uh, it's Smash, by the way," He said before she continued.

"These guys might be hungry and I wanna cook a good meal." She walked forward a little until she saw it. "Never mind, here it is." She walked in, still slightly limping.

"Hey, want some help?" Splice offered, walking up beside her.

"Wait hold up." Smash called back. "I don't exactly have a lot to go around...really, I wasn't expecting to have guests at all." He explained, "So I ordered pizza."

Reens popped her head around the door. "Oh, alright then. Can I at least make dessert?"

"If you can find anything in there you can use, sure." He said with a shrug. He walked back into the living room, gesturing everyone else to have a seat.

"Thanks, Smash." Reens whipped her head back around the door and hit her head on the door-frame. "Ow. Sheesh, I didn't even look. Oh well, let's see what I've got to work with here. Let's see ... flour, a few eggs, some milk - should I use that? - vanilla flavoring ... yeah, I think I can do something with all this."

'At least I don't have to be the stove...' Xavis thought to himself, walking over to a couch and plopping down on it, with Melissa soon snuggling up next to him.

Static, not really knowing what to do, hung out near the entrance leading to the living room, keeping to himself. He didn't know anyone there, and thus felt out of his comfort zone. He casually observed the people in the room, seeing who seemed nice and who seemed like he should avoid.

However, he had a weird feeling. Like, he could sense something. A powerful energy of some kind. It was similar to a Sol Emerald, but different. Chaos Emerald? No, this was a totally different feeling. Maybe he was imagining it.

Mimic, on the other hand, was anything but shy. He walked in without hesitation and proceeded to help himself to a small chair next to the couch, using a small coffee table as a footstool.

Transford entered the home soon after rubbing the back of his head. He didn't say anything, but it was obvious he was aggravated as he walked passed Smash without bothering to hang up his jacket (or even remove his mirrorshades) and slumped down on a chair adjacent to the couch that Xavis and Melissa were sitting at.

"Hey, what happened, man?" Smash asked, surprised to see him here. "Weren't you going off to do your own thing or whatever? What changed your mind to come out here?"

"I was planning to follow along with the other members of the group while you and Xavis had the meeting." The black hedgehog replied, "I didn't expect you would be inviting them here."

Smash suddenly noticed Mimic's lack of manners and shot a hard gaze at him; "Get your feet off there." He demanded in a harsh but hushed tone.

Mimic did as he was asked, but stayed where he was. He pulled out what appeared to be playing cards and was practicing sleight of hand tricks with them.

"Hey, Reens was it?" Melissa called to the female hedgehog in the kitchen, "That was a pretty hard hit. Are you okay? Plus, you're limping."

Reens popped her head back from the doorway. "Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine. It happens all the time," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Was I limping? Guess I didn't notice. Now where's the mixer?" she muttered, going back into the kitchen and hitting her head on the door-frame again. "Holy mackerel."

Melissa was about to get up to do... something to help Reens, but not knowing what, she decided against it.

"Need some ice for that?" Splice offered, holding up a hand. "You should take it easy and slow down a bit." As he spoke, a frosty aura surrounded his hand, solidifying into a block of ice.

Reens smiled and grabbed a washcloth, wrapping the ice in it. "Thanks, Splice," she said, holding it on her temple for a little bit.

Having watched Reens smack her head twice, Static decided to go into the kitchen to check on her. "You okay?" he asked, concerned. "Kind of hit your head hard there."

"Um ... now I'm not so sure," Reens admitted. "Would you mind setting the oven to 350 degrees? I still haven't found that mixer." She put her icepack down and placed a glass mixing bowl on the counter top, adding the dry ingredients she had found together. "Whoops, forgot the salt. Now for the wet ingredients..."

"Oh, sure." Static answered. He proceeded to the oven and set the oven to preheat to 350 degrees. Thankfully, the oven used digital. Analogue controls weren't as easy to read.

"What'chu making?" Splice asked curiously.

Reens looked over and grinned. "I was thinking of a souffle, but I'm not sure now. Maybe a cake?"

"Sweet. Maybe I can help? I've been trying to perfect a personal recipe lately." Splice said, "Though we probably don't have a whole lotta ingredients for that one."

"Sure, we can try it," Reens said with a shrug.

Max looked around at the party of anthromorphs, sighing. So... these are his friends? Guess I should start getting friendly. I don't want to get on that guy's bad side... Walking over to Mimic, Max smiled. "Hello! Who are you?"

Jewel had been silent the whole time. She sat down on the nearest couch, irritated. She glanced at Clock-Work and asked, "So... uh, where do you come from, Clock-Work?"

"It's Clock-Watch, actually." Clock replied. He began to wonder if everyone in the universe was chronically incapable of remembering names. "But what do you mean by that? If you mean where I live, I live right here in Station Square; I work as a defense attorney here, mostly criminal stuff. But if you mean where I woke up without my memory, I came from the dumpster about five blocks that way" He explained, pointing out towards the center of the city, where the Hyper Division headquarters were located.

"Oh. That's interesting," Jewel replied.

Mimic glances up from his sleight of hand and looks at Max. "No one of consequence." he answers. "Weren't you that guy who got his butt whooped by Smite over there?"

"It's Splice, darnit!" His voice called out from the kitchen.

Static frowned. "Might as well get used to it." he suggested. "He does that to everyone he meets. Unless you plan on duct taping his mouth shut."

Max rolled his eyes. "I'd call it a tie. Aren't you the guy who's gonna annoy us all to death?"

"If that's a challenge, I'll certainly try." Mimic answered.

"Not us, we've dealt with worse," Xavis commented.

Melissa scoffed. "C'mon, Alice is not that bad."

"That's only 'cause she plays nice whenever you're around!" the brown hedgehog retorted.

"Alright alright, now." Smash said, taking a seat closer to the unlit fireplace. "Let's remember what we're here for. We got a problem to deal with. But first, let's start with introductions, if you don't mind." His face relaxed as he spoke in a calmer and friendlier tone, "As some people already know, I'm Smash the Echidna. The red and blue guy over there is my friend Splice. We're from Greenflower. We know Xavis here, and Transford there. How about the rest of you?"

Before anyone could begin, Xavis looked to the unlit fireplace and- deciding that it wouldn't cause anyone any harm- snapped his finger, with the fireplace roaring to life a second later.

Melissa cleared her throat. She might as well go first. "My name is Melissa Craw," she started, sitting upright, "I'm a princess from Alcrade, which is an island in the Atlantic Ocean. I'm an Umbrakinetic and a minor Chaos User; and as you should all know, Xavis here is my boyfriend- so don't get any ideas."

As Melissa finished, Max put his hands behind his head and started talking in a slightly irritated tone. "Name's Max Irvaron." He introduced himself with his eyes closed. "I'm an agent for GUN, but currently, I'm having an alignment change. I'm here to stop all this chaos so that Station Square can get back to normal."

"Well, some of you already know me," Reens called from the kitchen. "My name is Rain Maricina, but everybody calls me Reens. I live in Eurish, but I only came here to get some parts for my grandpa. I've got aquakinesis and my heart powers, along with my robotic arm." She poured the smaller bowl into the larger one and grabbed a wooden spoon. "Oh, well. Guess we can do it the old-fashioned way. My hand can't turn into a mixer..."

"Here, I'll--"

"Want me to mix that for you?" Static offered, unintentionally cutting Splice off. "I'm Static, by the way. At least, that's what everyone calls me. Except for a certain mockingbird I could name."

"I think there's starting to be too many cooks in the kitchen." Splice muttered under his breath as he located the cake pans and oven mitts.

Reens nodded and handed Static the spoon. "Sure, let me know when it's thick enough," she added, looking through a drawer for some oven mitts.

"Here," Splice said, handing her a couple mitts after putting down the pans next to Static.

"Thanks," Reens said, placing one on her left hand.

"Hey!" Jewel, still sitting on the couch, shouted towards the kitchen. "Is there a coffee maker in there?!"

Static looks around and sees a coffee maker. "Yeah, there is." he called back.

"My name is Clock-Watch, and I'm a PI-slash-Defense Attorney. I've been looking into some cover-ups recently, and I have reason to believe they have a connection to the events currently transpiring." He was still running the towel through the poofy perm on his head.

Platinum decided to join the group, dashing into the room, holding some sort of crystal in her hand. Her quills were all blue, styled to match. "Hiya everyone! My name's Platinum!" She gave a goofy grin. "But those people over at G.U.N. like to call me Granite."

Xavis gave Platinum a strange look. This was not the same girl he had met earlier. But he decided to ignore it for the moment.

Jewel was startled by Platinum's sudden appearance, but said nothing. Instead, she walked into the kitchen and started to rummage through a cupboard, looking for some coffee beans.

Reens' ears perked up at Jewel. "I thought I saw some coffee beans the next cabinet over when I was looking for the vanilla."

"Thank you," Jewel replied, headed over to the cabinet Reens mentioned. She looked inside and grabbed the coffee beans. Then she set about putting them in the grinder while getting the coffee pot itself ready.

Static took the spoon and began stirring. He was stirring the bowl very quickly, possibly as fast or even faster than an electric blender would have.

Mimic stopped his sleight of hand to look at the group. "Name's Mimic the Mockingbird." he said. "Shapeshifter and thief extraordinaire." He then casually points his thumb towards the kitchen. "My orange compadre in there is Sparky."

"My name is Static!" the orange cat called back. In his annoyance, he began stirring even faster, causing some of the batter to spill over a bit. Upon noticing that he was starting to make a mess, he slowed his speed down.

"Tomato tomahto." the mockingbird shrugged. 

Back in the living room, Smash began to speak. "I know what some of you are thinking," He started, "Granite. That's the name of the red and blue quilled echidna that G.U.N. tried to recruit us to kill. That's the name of the one responsible for this whole mess. Is this person the same Granite that G.U.N. is after?" Smash stood up, "The answer is yes, she is the one they want. But no, she is not the one behind the attacks on Station Square. As for the obvious question that comes next, Platinum can explain what she does with her quills in her own time. We don't know who the real culprit is, but here's what we do know."

Smash placed his arms behind his back as he recalled the conversation he had with her earlier. "A certain government group, known as the Hyper Division, is desperately trying to kill off the powerful individual supposedly behind all these attacks. It's true that whoever's behind these attacks is incredibly dangerous, but the one they described as Granite here, has been falsely accused. Splice also landed in some hot water back by the bank, 'cause apparently someone missed the memo that the target was an echidna."

He shook his head, "At any rate, I have reason to believe that there's far more to this case than meets the eye. I have reason to believe the Hyper Division is aware that Platinum is not the one causing this, and there's someone in this room who caught my eye earlier." His gaze locked on Clockwatch. "You said something interesting earlier, Mr. Clockwatch; something about cover-ups that may link to this case. Kiko and Hikari seemed to actively avoid you, too." Smash then sat down, "Let's hear what you have to say."

After hearing all of this, Mimic messed up one of his card tricks, sending cards flying about and drifting down to the floor. "Whoa, wait a minute!" Mimic interrupted, getting up out of his seat. "So we've got ourselves a real circus here. Princesses, cyborgs, gumshoes, and, worst of all, a G.U.N lackey. Oh, what a hand to be dealt!" he chuckled almost in disbelief before he continued. "Of all the G.U.N agents we could have been stuck with, we had to get a kid. He doesn't even look old enough to drive a moped, let alone be investigating a string of bombings!"

A small crater appeared in the wall Max was laying on as his eyes turned into a crimson hue. His gaze became a lot more fierce; very murderous, in fact. He was so aggravated, so mad, that he started speaking in Spanish in a tone that he only used when holding in a berserk attack. "Una palabra más ... y te haré arrepentir, beakface."

"STOP." Smash barked. "Don't you dare go busting up this house, Max. Shut up and sit down."

"Now let me see if I've got this right." Mimic turns to Smash before continuing. "You're telling us that a super secret part of G.U.N called the Hyper Division is pinning the attacks on her (Platinum) when they (Hyper Division) might actually be the ones behind these attacks? At they very least, they know she's not the bomber, but want her out of the picture anyway. Blowing up buildings and blaming it on someone else seems a tad extreme, even by G.U.N. standards. Is there something else we should know about? Because if all they want is one person taken out, they wouldn't have to be blowing up buildings to do it. They'd send lackies like jar-head over here for a hired hit." he said, pointing to Max.

That was it for him. Max's hair instantly turned sharp and yellow, and his eyes were blood red. He gave Smash a daring glare, before looking directly into Mimic's eyes. "Listen here, Featherbrain. I don't take too kindly about people insulting me, ya hear? So unless you want y'all to become outlaws, I suggest you shut it."

Smash stood up immediately, "If any of you even thinks about starting something in here I will personally beat your faces in till they come out the other side, so can it!" He threatened. "Mimic, that goes for you too! Don't push your luck!"

"Hey, you need to calm down, alright?" Xavis said to Max, standing up from the couch and giving the human a glare of his own, the flames in the fireplace rising with him, "We have more important issues than your petty feelings that we need to focus on right now." He then turned his attention to Clock-Watch. "Anyway, I believe Smash asked you something?"

Max grunted deeply before sighing, his appearance back to normal. Mouthing Deal's off to Smash, he walked over to the door. "Once you're all in cells, just know that Carbomber sealed your fate." and with that, he opened the door--and was immediately stopped by Smash.

"Who the hell said you could leave?" Smash said darkly. "This is the team you so desperately wanted in on. Don't think you can throw a little tantrum and walk out on us. You don't get that privilege." Smash slammed the door back, preventing Max from leaving. "If you can't take the heat, you should never have locked yourself in the kitchen. Now sit down, and grow up."

"Why should I listen to people who I shouldn't be with anyway?" Max said, giving Smash a daring look. "I wanted in to stop a threat. Don't think I'm going to listen to clowns like him. I might as well just do as I'm told." Max pointed his thumb to his chest. "If I want to leave, I shall. I do not give two single damns about what you fools think."

Jewel, who heard every word, raised an eyebrow. "Interesting..."

"Then you'd better give at least one single damn about what I'm about to do to--"

Hearing the commotion from the kitchen, Static flinched as he heard the door shut. "Oh, for crying out loud!" he sighed, stopping what he was doing with the bowl; it seemed finished anyway. "I'm so tempted to kill that stupid bird right now!" he muttered, having had enough of Mimc's shenanagins. He quickly grabs Mimic and begins tying his beak shut with his whip. "Not another word out of you, featherduster!" he orders. He then holds up his fist to Mimic's face, which was now crackling with electricity. "Understood?"

Mimic, unable to say anything, simply nods.

"Good." Static said. He then turns to Max. "I'm sorry he irritated you, but please, let's be civil about this. He won't bother you again. Okay?" he pleaded.

Max nodded apologetically. "Dang right," he whispered before sitting on the floor.

"Thank you." Static sighed, before turning to Smash. "I am really, really sorry about that." he apologized before going back to the kitchen. He avoided meeting anyone else's eyes, not wanting to feel judged for Mimic's actions.

Mimic sat there with his beak tied shut.

Well, you kind of had that coming. Tom said.

I didn't see you stepping in. Mimic retorted silently.

I'm not your conscience; I can't stop you from saying something stupid.

At least it added tension to this roleplay. Jerry added. Was kind of getting stale without a little spice.

Smash sighed aggravatedly and walked back over to where he was sitting. Xavis- seeing no reason to keep standing- sat back down on the couch. "We have more important things to take care of," Transford said, "and Clockwatch, if everyone else is done interrupting, than we can start with you."

Clock sighed, and wiped some of the sweat off of his forehead. Why do I get stuck with the crazy ones? He thought to himself. But no matter. He was used to tense situations like this, and so he stood up to address everyone. "Yes, I'd like to simply inform you on some strange goings-on that have happened over the past month or so. It might give some much-needed context to the situation at hand."

"Please do." Smash said. Meanwhile, Splice was hanging by at the door, looking disturbed by the fight that nearly started. When he was sure that things had calmed down for the time being, he walked back near Reens.

"I get the feeling that not even cake can cut through that tension in the air." He remarked. "I'm starting to feel homesick."

Jewel rolled her eyes when she heard that, but said nothing.

"You think you're homesick?" Reens muttered angrily as she positioned one of the cake pans. "I traveled here by plane, for the very first time, to pick up some parts for my grandpa, who's probably out of his mind worrying about me, only to get sucked into a life-and-death situation with juvenile secret agents and random people I can't even call friends. You can say you're homesick when you don't live halfway around the world, okay?"

Splice was startled initially, unsure of how to respond. "I... I'm sorry. I..."

She sighed and sniffled. "I'm sorry ... I shouldn't have snapped ..."

Static patted Reens on the back in hopes of comforting her. "At least you have a family and home." he said. "I don't even remember where I'm from, or if I even have a family left." he then looks at Splice. "Is there a phone somewhere around here?" he asked. "Maybe she can call her grandfather just to let him know she's okay."

Splice shrugged. "To be honest this is actually my first time inside this house. I don't know." He glanced out the door to the living room. "Maybe after the meeting, we can ask Smash ... But hey, Reens." He looked back at her, "I know the situation's pretty dicey and we're probably not all gonna get along, but we're all in this together. You don't have to call us friends, but we got your back. Let's hang in there, 'kay?"

"Nice to meet a fellow person from the other side of the planet," Jewel finally spoke. "I pretty much grew up in a desert. No idea where I was actually born or anything. Just a bunch of pyramids to stare at while sitting in an oven. Not a literal oven of course."

It was at that moment the oven started beeping, indicating it was ready. "Speaking of ovens," Static said. "Sounds like it's up to temperature."

Reens smiled, wiping her eyes. "Heh, thanks. Now why don't we go ahead and put this baby in the oven?" She filled the cake pan she had with half of the batter, then smoothed it over with a spatula before opening the oven door and sliding it inside. "Should be done in about ten minutes," she chirped, closing the door.

"Uh..." Splice bit his lip. Something was wrong here, but he didn't wanna be rude about it. "Actually...three times that amount." He corrected, as he walked over to the second pan. "Usually takes around 30 minutes. And it's generally a good idea to bake both of them at the same time." He explained as he poured the rest of the batter into the second pan. He repeated her action of smoothing the top with a spatula, and quickly placed it into the oven next to the first pan. "We can check it by sticking a knife down the center; if it's done it'll come up clean." After closing it, he pulled up his glove and messed around with a watch on his wrist. "I'll put a timer on for 30."

"Yeah, I was about to say." Static commented. "10 minutes did seem a bit short. Either that or that's one quick-baking oven."

"Hm..." Jewel was thinking about something.

"Mama never really taught me how to bake. And Grandma's not exactly the best cook, either. I haven't had that much experience, but I can at least put ingredients together," Reens explained with a laugh.

Meanwhile, back out in the living room, Xavis patiently waited for Clock's explanation. He simultaneously kept an eye on several others, however, including Max, Mimic, Smash, and Platinum. Melissa on the other hand had managed to get back into a comfortable position with the hedgehog, and was on the verge of dosing off from his warmth.

It was basically silent at this point. The only sounds were the cooking in the kitchen, and a faint ticking noise that seemed to emanate from Clock-Watch. If one were to look closely, they could see the gears slowly turning, quite literally. Clock looked around the room. Finally, no more interruptions, or at least he hoped so. Perhaps, he thought, I might manage to explain what I want to before something awful happens. He paused for a moment, rubbing his chin. Then again, let's not push my luck.

"Ahem," He coughed. "If there is no other business to be had, I will begin." After a moment of surprising silence, he resumed. "I have reason to believe the same agents you came in contact to earlier are the ones behind the recent terrorist attacks occurring throughout the city. It all starts about a few months ago, when I got my attorney's license. My first client was an electrician at a military base, accused of theft and murder. The details aren't important, but the item stolen was described as a strange crystal of some sort. Strange, but nothing conspiracy-worthy. Cut to three weeks later, when a pawn shop owner is murdered, his store ransacked. The cause of death was unlike anything I've ever heard of; I'll spare you the details, but it was almost like someone had weaponized decay on this poor guy. The most important part is what was stolen, though. Missing from the store was one crystal that the owner had found a month prior. See the thread so far?" He shook his head. "I wasn't thinking to much about it, until a cop managed to retrieve the crystal from the criminal, who was robbing a jewelry store. I got a look at the thing, and man! Those things are packed with energy, holy crap! You could take like, five bottles of raw caffeine, and this thing could probably keep you energized longer anyways. It was certainly something I could see being held in a military base. I realized that I needed to figure out more about what was the deal with this guy. How did he know about these crystals? After some snooping around, I came to learn that the mayor had one in his possession. Naturally, I stuck close to his residence at all times; I'm glad I did, too. Something musta went wrong, because that huge explosion went off. Perhaps to destroy some evidence? Either way, I saw someone in there." Clock paused, maybe to think about something, or maybe just for dramatic effect. "It was the cat. Him, and two other people were wading through the flames, looking for one of those crystals. The only problem was that they saw me, so I bolted as fast as I could. I think I saw some red-and-blue kid as I ran out-"

He was interrupted by Platinum jumping up and raising her hand. "That was me! You looked so silly, running out with your coat on fire. Along with your hair."

Clock grumbled something about damn perms and detective coats. "Anyways," He continued, shooting a glare at Platinum, "I escaped before those crooks could do away with me. And of course, the rest is history. The city was sealed off, and blueberry-strawberry over here got named the criminal. I figure they want to take care of her for some reason, and figured they could stick the blame to her and finish what they started." He sighed and sat down. "I'm afraid that's all I know on the situation. Hopefully this should help a little bit, at least." He turned to Smash. "You seem to be the most informed person here. Could you fill me in on what those agents told you when you met up with them? From there, we can plan what to do next."

Xavis' ears twitched. He looked down to the floor, and began thinking. You could see it in his eyes, which were quickly fluctuating in brightness. Jewel frowned, lost in thought.

Reens slammed her left fist into her right palm. "I knew it. I freaking knew it. I had a suspicion of the agents from the start." Her quills flared, and her cheeks reddened with anger. "No one listened to me. Nobody even dared. Nobody questioned them because they're the freaking government!"

"Don't worry, Reens." Smash called out from the livingroom. He could barely make out what she was saying from this distance it was fine since he already knew how she'd react. "You weren't the only ones suspicious of them." He then stood up before explaining what he knew. "These two agents, Hikari and Kiko, must be the ones that Clock saw. They are part of the Hyper Division, and Hikari was the one who tried to recruit us to take out Granite." He explained, "Picked up a few people off the streets, and yet he knew us. They information on our background, so it's safe to assume that we are no strangers to the Hyper Division."

"They didn't know me, though!" Splice called out from the kitchen, poking his head out through the doorway. "Kinda strange, right?"

"Come to think of it, they didn't have much information on Granite either." Smash stated. "A blue and red quilled echidna was all the information they gave us. However, if it's true that they were the ones behind all the attacks, then they very well could have been deliberately leading us in circles; even though we found her anyway. Granite, or rather Platinum's story seems to add up to your own, Clock. What they're looking for is a set of six gemstones of power, called the "Symphony Crystals." They're supposedly a more reliable source of energy than Chaos, something easier to control and contain. And I have a pretty big hunch that all six of them are in this city right now. We don't know what the Hyper Division wants with them, but we shouldn't let them collect them all." He glanced at Clockwatch, "According to you though, they'd have at least two by now. At most...Four."

"Symphony Crystals, huh?" Clock looked at his hands for a moment. Was he... Counting on his fingers? "Not four. At most, they could already have five. The military base, the pawnshop, the jewelry store, the mayor's residence, and the bank, just now." His eyes widened. "Wait, you said there's only six!? This is awful! They've almost collected the full set! Who knows what they'll do when they have 'em all!" Clock jumped to his feet, a slight bit of steam blowing out of the side of his head. "We need to think up a plan, and fast."

Max raised his hand. "You remember that you have an agent in this room, right?" He stood up and stretched. "Maybe I could get some more info, steal the Symphony Crystals, give them to you guys, and we're all safe." He sighed. "Assuming GUN is immoral, of course. There's the chance that they just wanna keep things secret for a good reason."

Upon hearing this, Mimic attempted to make a sharp retort, but he still had the whip tied around his beak. He tries to pull off the whip, but to no avail.

"Maybe," Xavis said, thinking hard. There was a faint, incessant scratching noise coming from his head. "And-" But he was interrupted by Smash.

"Hah." Smash scoffed, "What good reason would they have? You know how many people died out here in the past few days alone because of these people? If you ask me though, the rest of G.U.N. might not even realize one of their own divisions is responsible for this. After all, you didn't, did you? Though I can't imagine they'd tell a kid like you much of anything." He muttered under his breath. "Either way, the Hyper Division most likely has all but the remaining crystal. Stealing the crystals back would put you at a huge risk. I won't stop you, but don't say I didn't warn you. However, I think one of our main priorities is protecting the last crystal. If you guys have been paying attention, I'm sure you can figure out where the last one is."

Xavis gave the blue echidna a blank stare.

Max shrugged and chuckled, having heard Smash's mutter. "Yeah. The would keep the big boy stuff away from me, as always. But I'm ready to go out on a limb to stop a deranged organization. Even if I hafta hurt a few peeps, send a couple agents to the hospital... I'm sure it will all work out in the end. Besides, nothing could possibly go wrong, and it'll all turn out fine in the end. Right?" Max gave everyone a smile. "Too long; didn't read? I'ma do it; but I don't think I can do it alone."

"Hold up now, let's think this through before you start dragging us along for your crazy ideas." Smash said, raising a hand to make a 'stop' sign. "Our other priority should be to stop the Hyper Division. Stealing the Crystals is a delicate task that'll only solve one of our problems." Smash sat back down, and folded his arms. "Information. That's what we need first and foremost. We don't know for sure that they have all the crystals, nor do we know exactly where they're keeping them. We don't know how many people are in the Hyper Division either. We don't even know for sure where their main base of operations is. There is that building Hikari led us to, but I have my doubts about it. I don't think they'd let us right into their HQ before we fully decided to help them. Either way, we need definite answers before we can start taking action." His gaze fell on Max. "Unfortunately, you're the only person we can rely on for this. Your connections with G.U.N. are going to be vital."

"Well here's a thought: unless there's some kind of special shielding against it, I could do a city-wide scan for the crystals," Xavis brought up, "Only problem is that I'd have to be in the air, and I'm fairly certain I'd get shot down."

"We don't want to put you at risk." Smash declined quickly.

"Aren't we putting ourselves at risk anyway?" the brown hedgehog retorted, "Besides, you barely know anything about me. I'd be fine."

"Perhaps a more strategic route would work better." Clock suggested. "You said that we could figure out where the last crystal is, right?" Clock asked Smash. "But I'm not quite sure how we could figure out where the last one is-" He paused for a moment. After a short beat of silence, he turned towards Platinum. "Oooohhhhh... Yes, precisely. I should have figured from the start."

"Yes, she has the last one. That's why they're after her." Smash confirmed. "That's why we need to look out for her in case they try to jump her again."

Then Splice walked into the room, "Hey so, if Xave here can track down the crystals, wouldn't that lead us right to the Hyper Dudes? That'd answer at least two of your questions, right?"

Static hung out near the edge of the kitchen, listening to the conversation. Upon them mentioning that Platinum had the last of the Symphony Crystals, Static's ears perked up. "She has the last one?" he asked. "That might explain the weird feeling I had when I entered. I can kind of detect Sol Emeralds, and even Chaos Emeralds. So, if the Symphony Crystals are kind of similar in terms of power, I can probably detect them too."

Mimic was still attempting to get the whip off his face. Rather than attempting to pull it off, he got the bright idea to just shapeshift out of it. He quickly changed his beak to be narrower, causing the whip to simply slide off before changing his beak back to normal. "Tell me, Splash." he said, talking to Smash. "Did this Hikari guy look something. . . " he stands up and shapeshifts into Hikari. "Like this?" he finished, with Hikari's exact voice.

His transformation made most people jump, but Smash had to hold himself back from leaping into a battle stance. Xavis, however, was unfazed, and Melissa had fallen asleep. "Yes. Like that." Smash confirmed.

"I think I understand why they call you Mimic, now." Splice added with a hint of surprise.

"Astounding!" Clock gasped. He walked in a circle around Mimic, stopping every few moments to scribble something on his pad of paper, seemingly a sketch of some sort. "You've matched that scoundrel right to the tee! Extraordinary, simply extraordinary! I knew this day would be an interesting one. Hm, I wonder..." The gears began to turn in Clock's head, both metaphorically and literally. A slight bit of steam could be seen flowing out of his hair. "This could certainly be advantageous for us, if we're going to attempt to recover the other crystals."

Mimic shapeshifted back to his normal look, with a bit of a smug look on his face. "That's not even the half of it, Slice." he said in response to Splice's comment.

Max looked confused. "Wait wait wait - if he can shapeshift, why doesn't he just come with me as a member of the Hyper Division?"

"Probably because he can't keep his mouth shut," Xavis commented, then looking to Max "And he did almost cause a fight to break out with you."

"Yeah I wouldn't even think about pairing you two together for something THIS delicate." Smash remarked. "You'd never make it through the front door."

Max nodded and scratched his chin. "Good point, good point..."

"I'm standing right here, you know." Mimic said, arms crossed. "Talk about rude."

"Still, we can't pass up Mimic's abilities here." Smash said, "I'm sure there's a way to put it to good use, so long as you don't say more than you need to." He gave him a warning glance before continuing. "Meanwhile Max is an agent, and he and Xavis can track certain powers. If we're going to have someone attempt to recover the crystals, I'd pair Xavis and Mimic. After all, Hikari "recruited" him, so it wouldn't stand out too much to see them together. Just keep it real and try to not blow your cover. Max, we need you to gather more information on the Hyper Division. We need to know how many of them there are, and what they're trying to do with the Symphony Crystals."

Static frowned. Compared to Mimic, he was starting to feel useless.

"Listen, much as I'd like to square up with Javis, here." Mimic said. " I think we may have more options for getting information. After all, I'm not the only ne'er-do-well here, now am I?" he asks, looking directly at Jewel.

"WHAT?!" Jewel immediately glared at Mimic. She looked about ready to strangle him.

"Alright alright." Smash tried to calm her down.

"I knew something was up." Splice claimed, walking further into the room. "You came out of nowhere and kinda butted into the conversation, tagged along and hung out like part of the group. If I'd realized sooner that this was gonna be such a complex matter full of spies and no-goodniks, I'd-a told you to take a hike!" He stopped in front of Jewel, giving a hard stare. "You haven't had much to say since we got here, either. So spill it; Why are you here? What are you after?"

"I'm a private investigator," Jewel replied, her ear twitching.

"Yeah? So am I." Smash retorted.

Clock's eyes slightly widened at her statement, and he instinctively moved his hand towards his back, patting some sort of object concealed by his coat. "Yeah, right..." He mumbled. Clock reached into the back of his coat, presumably to pull out the object, but decided not to after a moment.

Xavis' ears immediately perked up when he saw this. He watched Clock carefully; the probability of the object being a weapon was quite high, and nobody was dying on his watch.

"Really?" Mimic asked. "Because I found this on your person back in the alley on the way here. " he holds up a small device and puts it on the table. "A portable jammer. Now whatever could a PI need with this?" he asked, raising an imaginary eyebrow. "So, mind explaining why a 'private investigator' would carry this around with her, or do you care to change your answer?"

Jewel's silver eyes flashed turquoise and electricity sparked from her hands. She was really mad at this point. "FINE! You want the truth?! I butted in because I thought I'd have been a suspect too! I'm a smuggler and part-time bounty hunter! I stuck my nose in your damn crap because I was afraid! I was afraid of being discovered! I tried to be subtle. I tried to keep my business quiet. But now, because 'Nickname Bird' here found my jammer, I'm gonna be hunted down like a stinking Flicky! I'll get stuck in prison..." By now Jewel had simmered down a bit. Her eyes changed back to silver and electricity stopped sparking from her hands. 

Jewel's outrage startled Melissa awake. "W-wha...? What's happened?" she asked drowsily. 

"Hey, what's all the commotion about?" Reens called from the kitchen. She popped her head around the doorframe and saw a very ticked-off Jewel and a (what she assumed to be) very smug Mimic, along with the rest of the group being tense. "Um... did I miss something?"

"Basically, Mimic's being Mimic." Static answered Reens. "Apparently, she's a smuggler and bounty-hunter." he added, casually pointing to Jewel.

"If I were you I'd-a lied low till all this blew over," Splice said. "I guess crime doesn't pay though."

"Prison's the least of your worries right now." Smash stated. "Depending on what the Hyper Division is trying to do with all the crystals, we're all in danger. We already know how far they're willing to go to get their hands on them. So, you have two options right now: One, you can fly away and hide somewhere until we deal with this problem. I won't come after you, but I can't guarantee the boyscout here would let you off so easily. Or two, you can stick around and help us bust these crooks. The sooner we deal with this problem, the sooner we can all go home. And who knows, maybe they'll lighten your punishment for doing something good for once."

"Look here," Jewel replied. She gestured to herself and asked incredulously, "Of what use am I to you? None! I'm a smuggler and a bounty hunter- so what?! Does that even begin to make me useful to any of you?!"

"You could possibly smuggle the crystals, if we needed you to," Xavis answered, still keeping his eye on Clock-Watch.

"Of course, if you're not up to it, the door's over there." Smash said calmly, "Your choice."

Jewel considered a moment. "Fine. But if things get too hairy, don't expect me to save your skin."

"Au contraire, my friend! You will be a vital part of this operation!" Clock-Watch exclaimed. Although his eyes seemed somewhat... Mechanical, they had a gleam in them. It was one of those gleams that could only indicate an exponential increase in ludicrousness in the near future. It meant that he had a plan. "Yes, it's all coming together, and we'll need everyone to do their part in order for us to succeed. We have a fighter, a weapon, a shapeshifter, a smuggler, a foreigner, an amnesiac, a government employee, a holistic attorney, and a few other assorted people of various talents. Yes, I'm quite certain that everyone's talents will be needed to achieve our goal. We all have a connection to the current situation, though some connections might be clearer than others."

Jewel just shrugged. "Vital or not, we ought to get started on initiating this plan, don't we?"

"Wait... 'plan'?" Melissa asked, confused. "I didn't fall asleep while you guys discussed the plan, did I?"

"Yeah, you kinda did," Xavis answered.

"Well, could somebody fill me in then?"

"I hope this plan of yours works, Bash." Mimic said, purposefully mispronouncing Smash's name while tossing the portable jammer back to Jewel. "Because we're going up against a part of G.U.N. We screw up, and all of us will be branded criminals. Well, all of us who aren't already."

"Well, if we don't try, there's no telling what will happen." Static replied, tightening his fist. "It's a risk we have to take."

Besides, the good guys ALWAYS win in the end! Jerry added excitedly. Especially in these kind of roleplays!

I wonder, should we mention Robin? Tom suggested. She could be of great help. If she helps us, that is.

Mimic crossed his arms, thinking.

"So let's recap. We need information on the Hyper Division; what they're after, how many of them there are, and where they're keeping the Symphony Crystals." Smash counted off, "We need to recover these crystals, make sure they don't get the last one, and overall put a stop to their plans. For finding these crystals, I'm counting on you Xavis. If you point them in the right direction, Mimic and Jewel may be able to take it from there. What you do after that is up to you three; all I ask is that you don't get caught. Max, Clock, Transford, I'll leave the investigation up to you. Clock, you seem to be the most familiar with the Hyper Division, so I'm counting on you."

(Uh. . . I left a question in the comments regarding whether I should bring Robin in or not. Opinions? ~FtW

P.S. My apologies for not realizing it was SMASH'S idea, not Clock-watch's. I changed it to be more accurate.)

(Oh, I forgot to reply. If you'd like to bring in Robin, I have no complaints! Unless she had reason to be in Station Square, though, her help would indeed have to be off-site. ~Time)

"Wait, so what'll the rest of us do?" Melissa asked, looking to Smash.

"Hm." Smash folded his arms, "What else can we do besides sitting back and being patient? When an opportunity arises, there'll be something for us to do. Unless I'm forgetting something, the rest of us should just hang tight until we hear back from the others; at the very least until we've figured out where the Crystals are being held."

"Actually, I have a plan for that." Clock interjected, walking over to Platinum. "The crystal. May I...?" He asked, holding out his hand.

"Hm? Oh, sure!" Platinum replied. She seemed somewhat deep in thought, her quills now red. Pulling the Symphony Crystal out of her pocket, she handed it to Clock.

Clock-Watch looked at the crystal for a moment, holding it up to the light shining through a window. It was a small object, only a few inches tall, and fairly thin as well. However, it seemed to exude a wispy sort of white energy, almost like the crystal was some sort of magical dry ice. "They're after this, right?" Clock asked. "Clearly, they have some kind of sensor that can locate them, or at least something similar. Now that they have all the others, they'll know where this one, the last one, is. I imagine that's why you've been lurking around the crime scenes, then?"

"You're a lot cleverer than you let on, mister detective." Platinum snarked. "Ya got me. I knew they could track these things, so I hung out around the other crystals, kept 'em from getting a lock on me."

Clock grinned a madman's smile, raising the crystal above his head. "Perfect. The agents should be on their way any moment, so let's be ready. While the rest of us head towards their hideout for answers, we'll need you to keep them... Occupied. We can't have two Hikaris in the same place, can we?"

Smash nearly fell out of his chair. "They're coming here? Crap, what the hell am I thinking!? Of course they'd have a way to track them!"

"What!?" Xavis exclaimed, bolting upright, "N-n-n-n-no! There is no way I'm letting her fight them, not after what happened at the bank!" He gestured to Melissa, who then also stood up.

"Hey, there'll be more of us here than there was there," the female avian retorted, "Plus, we'll be prepared."

"No!" the hedgehog retorted back, "I'm not losing you!"

"Xavis, I'll be fine."

"Melissa-"

"I'll be fine," She interrupted, her eyes turning completely black. The lights dimmed and flickered, and the flames of the fireplace seemed to retract in fear. The two stared each other in the eye, before Xavis caved. "Fine," he said with a sigh, sitting back down, with Melissa following suit.

The lights returned to normal.

"Shoot. And I was looking forward to cake." Mimic said.

Smash stood up immediately. "Alright listen up; Y'all can bust up any building in the city in a tussle, but not here. I draw the line at this house. We're going to have to lure them away from here."

"Wait, I'd rather not cause collateral damage." Static said. "If we can't fight here, is there anywhere we could lure them without putting other people in danger?"

Splice's eyes lit up, "The park! That place was practically empty earlier. It's pretty spacious and there shouldn't be anyone around at this hour. We can lure them there!"

"Yes, that should work nicely. Once those scoundrels arrive at the park, we can abscond with the crystal and locate their hideout, wherever it may be." Clock turned to Xavis, holding out the crystal. "Here. Hopefully, you can become acquainted with the energy before the agents arrive. That way, we can move out as quickly as we can."

Xavis carefully took the crystal, and could immediately feel it's energy's difference from Chaos. He could also begin to feel the energies conflicting with each other in his hand, and quickly put the crystal down on a coffee table before it shattered or something (foreshadowing, anyone?). It was fine though, as he had gotten what he needed.

Smash kind of sensed that something was wrong, but before he could ask Xavis anything, Splice spoke up first. "Alright! Now that that's done, let's get a move on. I'm gonna stay behind for a bit; someone's gotta watch out for the food. But I'll catch up as soon as I can!"

"Right..." Smash nodded, shrugging off his previous concerns. "So Xavis, Mimic and Jewel should head out one way, Max Clock and Transford go another, while the rest of us head to the park. Let's be prepared, since there's undoubtedly going to be a fight."

Clock tilted his head to the side for a moment. "Oh! I almost forgot!" He rushed outside. After a moment, he returned with an ordinary rock in his hand. "Please don't be alarmed- I'm a professional." With a sound that could only be accurately described as a grandfather clock's war cry, a clockwork cannon formed on his left arm in a swirl of brass gears. A silver magatama insignia was on the side of it, shining with what appeared to be real silver. Carefully, he picked up the crystal, placing it in a compartment on the top of the cannon. After that, he held the ordinary rock up to the cannon, and out came the same misty energy, wrapping itself around the rock, empowering it.

Gingerly removing the crystal from the cannon, he set both rocks onto the coffee table. Just as it was formed, he dissipated the cannon. "There we go." Clock stated. "This rock here should throw off their sensors. I'll keep the crystal for safekeeping, so in the worst case scenario, they won't get their hands on it if they beat you guys." Scratching his head, he had an idea. "Hm. And I suppose if you're really on the ropes, you could probably absorb the energy in the stone for a little pick-me-up. But once you do, they'll know it's a fake, so unless you have to, this fake is for show only. Got it? See, this way each of our teams has some sort of Symphony energy with them. So, ideally, we should meet up again eventually!"

Smash picked up the Symphony Stone, examining the fake with interest. "Mr. Clock, you're a smarter and more talented man than I gave you credit for." He said with a smile. He pocketed the stone and turned to him, "We'll meet again; count on it."

Max nodded, intrigued by what everyone had to say. So, he was in a group with brawler, mistaken suspect, thief, annoying bird, electric cat, some smart guy with gears in his head, a hedgehog, an umbrakinetic, a pretty kind healer/aquakinetic, and some guy with a gun. This is going to be lots and lots of fun.

He smiled in a giddy fashion before coming to a harsh realization. His face darkened, shadowing his eyes, and a crimson aura surrounded him. He fell onto his butt. "W-w-we... won't get pizza... and cake..." He rubbed his eyes, clearly stressed. "I didn't know... the Hyper Division... could be so evil."

"Relax, the food ain't going anywhere." Splice said with a shrug. "By the time you guys get back, there'll be hot pizza and sweet cake just waiting for ya!"

Reens, who had had her ears pressed against the doorway for some time now, sighed and rubbed her head nervously. "I just hope they have enough time to get to the park before the agents show up." She left he door frame and paced a little in front of the oven. "Splice and I should be okay by ourselves, right? If something happens we can help protect the house. But nothing should happen, right?"

"Theoretically, everything should be fine." Clock said. "I believe it's time to head our separate ways, my friends. As we said, Mimic, Xavis, Jewel, you guys do your whole sense-y thing, and make your way to wherever those crystals are being held. Transford, Max, and I will return to the building where you first met those Hyper Division people, to hopefully learn more about them. The rest of you... Good luck."

"Alright, c'mon you two," Xavis said, standing up and walking towards the front door. He worriedly glanced back to Melissa before exiting.

"Lead the way, Javis." Mimic replied, putting the cards he was playing with away.

"Should I stay behind as well, or go with you guys to the Park?" Static asked, not sure what to do exactly.

"You're with us." Smash stated, leading everyone outside.

The Park, Again

The small group arrived in the park once more. But this time instead of Splice leading them, Smash was the one hanging around. "Okay, let's figure out how we're going to position ourselves." He said, turning to Platinum. "We know if they see you, they're going to attack right away. They probably already know you have the crystal, so to shape things up, you should hold onto this." He quickly passed her the empowered stone.

Platinum grabbed the stone, quickly pocketing it. "We'll definitely need a strategy to fight these guys. I don't remember much about them, but their powers are... Interesting." She scratched her head. "Ugh! I know what they can do, I just can't remember. Something about wind and... Mirrors? I dunno. Either way, stay on your toes."

Smash folded his arms, "Preparing for the unknown, huh? Well, what we do know is, they're quite capable of blowing crap up if the recent incidents are anything to go by. I think we should try to go for the element of surprise. They'll be here any minute, so the rest of us should try to stake out until they get here. Once they do, we'll get the jump on them."

"I could help with the surprise attack," Melissa said to Smash, walking up to him, "It's already dark, and I naturally work best in the shadows. Just tell me what to do."

"First things first, we need a place to hide," Smash stated, interested in knowing what she was capable of. "Somewhere we can easily pop in and out of without them seeing us. What've you got?"

"Hm, well, I could create a barrier like this one," she said, her eyes turning black, and a wall of shadow gently raising from the ground as she raised her arm, "In the right position, we could be almost invisible." The avian lowered her arm, and the shadows receded into the ground as her eyes returned to their normal caramel color.

"Perfect. I'll leave it to you." Smash said.

Static had been quiet, lost in thought. He almost seemed distracted.

The space around them had begun to darken, a slight fog appearing. Though nothing had shown up yet, a feeling a dread was in the air. Someone- no, something- was coming.

"I'm not the only one who feels that, right?" Platinum asked, nervously looking around. There was nothing visible anywhere, but it was clear she was disturbed by the ominous presence. Something about it was upsetting her in some way.

"No I feel it too." Smash said, going on full alert. His eyes darted around everywhere, yet he didn't see anything. But he could feel it in his gut that things were about to get bad.

The sudden change in atmosphere snapped Static back to reality. "Yeah, I don't like this either." he answered. He got into a fighting stance, taking out his whip and giving it a quick flick. The whip cracked the air, sparking with electricity.

"Same here," Melissa said, her eyes blackening as she got into a defensive pose. She looked to Smash, asking "Shall I set up the barrier?"

"Do it. Do it now." Smash ordered with urgency. It may already be too late, though. He thought as he readied himself for whatever comes next.

Melissa took a second to charge her arms with dark energy, then spreading out and raising them. Shadows began to materialize from the ground, forming a bubble-like structure around the group, encasing them in absolute darkness. "I'm sorry about bubbling us in here," Melissa near-silently whispered to the rest, "but there's currently no way to know which way they'll come from. I hope you all understand."

A guttural growl could be heard from outside the bubble, and an incessant thumping. Something was there, but it couldn't find them. Whatever it was, it was angry; with a shout, it discharged energy all around it, some of it crashing into the barrier. It didn't harm it greatly, but it would probably be somewhat startling.

Even though they were inside a barrier, Smash stood protectively in front of the others. What the crap...This isn't who or what we were expecting at all. He thought nervously. What is that? Some kind of monster...? Smash edged forward a bit, hoping to try and get a better look at what was out there.

Static staggered from the impact on the barrier, pupils shrunk in freight. Because of how dark it was inside the barrier, the iris of his eyes were glowing an electric blue color. "Should I go out, maybe see if I can get a better look?" he volunteered quietly, but was quickly answered by Smash's arm blocking his way.

"No, stay inside the barrier. It's dangerous." He whispered harshly. "That thing...isn't Mobian."

Melissa made some gestures with her still-raised hands, seemingly locking the shadows in place as she was able to lower her arms without the bubble collapsing. "What do we do?" she quietly asked, primarily to Smash.

Smash was beginning to sweat from the tension. On one hand, they came out here specifically to fight. On the other hand, what the hell was that thing? This wasn't part of the plan and he was afraid of endangering everyone for something unrelated...Or was it? Could this unknown creature be linked to the Hyper Division, or the recent incidents? Smash placed his hands on the edge of the barrier, still feeling conflicted on what move to make. He tried to at least get a glimpse through the darkness to see what they were up against, but it was no use. Finally, he asked "How good are you guys in a fight? Can you handle monsters?"

"I've fought robots, but I don't think I've ever fought monsters." Static answered. "I think we-" he stopped, snifling a bit. "Ah. . . ah. . ." he was going to sneeze. No, not now! he thought, covering his nose in an effort to avoid sneezing. If he sneezed, it would give away their position for sure.

Smash shot him a sharp, startled glare; his eyes saying "Don't you dare." But before he could say anything, a noise from just outside the barrier grabbed his attention back. "...Melissa, on my mark drop the barrier." He said quietly. "We're gonna try to get the jump on this thing."

"Got it," the avian replied, re-raising her arms to take control of the shadows.

Whatever was out there shouted again. After a moment of silence, it spoke. "I know you're out there! Just come out and hand over the necklace!" It shouted. It's voice sounded masculine, but like some amateur video editor applied a bunch of filters to it, and layered the same sound over and over. In short, its voice sounded like what a VHS tape would say if you put it in a turntable.

"Necklace?" Platinum muttered to herself. Her gaze shifted to the pendant she wore, and her eyes widened upon seeing it. "I wonder..." She carefully hid it under her shirt.

Static had held his breath until he felt his sinuses relax. Now that the threat of a sneeze was over, he could relax at least for a moment. But then that. . . thing said something that caught his attention. "Necklace?" Static asked. "I thought they were after the crystal." He looks at Platinum, half hoping she would give an explaination.

"Forget about it" Smash hushed, his narrowed eyes fixated on the direction the distorted voice came from. "We're taking this guy down on three. Follow my lead. One.." He made a couple quick stretches before he knelt down.

"Wait, what?" Static asked, still keeping his voice down. "Our plan is just we're going to rush blindly at whatever is out there??"

"Works for me!" Platinum quietly replied. She cracked her knuckles, quills changing to blue.

"Two..." Smash continued, ignoring Static's objections. His stance looked as if he were about to run a marathon. His muscles tensed and his eyes showed a fiery gleam as they locked on to the slight silhouette of the figure outside the barrier.

Static looked nervously at what little he could see outside the barrior. "This is crazy." he muttered. "Should't we at lea-"

"Three!" Smash shouted, cutting Static off.

At that moment Melissa threw down her arms, and the shadows encasing the group quickly receded into the ground. Smash sprung forward, ready to strike the figure with a straight blow to the head.

Not having much choice in the matter, Static followed suit. However, while Smash barreled straight towards whatever was out there, Static veered to the side and fired bolts of lighting at the entity. He would be providing support from mid-range, hopefully stunning the enemy to aid Smash.

Seeing Static's plan, Platinum veered to the other side, shooting powerful waves of blue energy at the mysterious entity. Her intention was the same as Static's: Stun the dude to let Smash's punch really hit home.

The plan fell a little short, though. The quills on the back of the figure's neck slightly raised, and he glanced over his right shoulder to see a bolt of lightning fired straight at him. With a wave of his arm, a multicolor barrier appeared around him, absorbing both the lightning and energy waves. When Smash's punch collided with the newly-made barrier, it shattered, revealing the mysterious figure to the four.

He was a pastel nightmare. From his shape, he was clearly a hedgehog of some sort, that much was apparent. However, his quills shot off in erratic directions, and their color was constantly shifting, his very head a kaleidoscopic mess of colors and patterns. He wore a lab coat, although it was charred and torn in various places. The only thing not chaotic about him was his eyes. They lacked irises, and his pupils were unmoving, his gaze colder than the darkest of nights.

"Well," He spoke, softer than his earlier rant, "I certainly wasn't expecting a welcome party."

"And we certainly weren't expecting a freak like you." Smash retorted, taking a defensive stance. Of all the possible outcomes, this was probably the one he least expected; if only because he felt they debunked the whole 'third party' theory. Whatever this man was, he had to be related to the recent string of incidents; that much he was sure of. "Who are you?" He demanded.

Melissa briefly gave Smash a disapproving look upon hearing his retort, before quickly turning her attention back to the strange hedgehog.

The figure scowled as Smash refered to him as a 'freak'. "And I wasn't expecting a prick like you to insult my appearance." He scoffed and crossed his arms. "You may refer to me as Dr. Fuwa, not that my PhD means much anymore. No university would ever hire me, not anymore. I'd tell you my motivations, but I honestly don't care anymore. The only thing I want in life..." He pointed to Platinum. "Is that necklace right there. You can hand it over, or I can take it from you, I don't care which I have to do."

"W-what!?" Platinum gasped, her hands flying up to cover the pendant she wore. "N-no! You can't have it! You know what that would mean, don't you?"

"Not gonna happen, Doc." Smash straight up denied him. "I don't know your intentions but I'm getting a dangerous vibe from you."

"An explanation would be nice." Static suggested whimsically. "Why's her necklace so important? You're after the Symphony Crystals, aren't you?"

Something clicked in the back of Smash's head. 'Symphony Crystals...wait a second. Her necklace isn't the crystal!' He realized. Back in Jenny's room, when she talked about the crystals, she was fiddling with the strange trinket on her pendant which lead him to believe that was the Symphony Crystal. He didn't think too much about it before, but she pulled the crystal out of her pocket rather than from her pendant when talking to Clockwork. 'So what's the deal with the pendant? What else is going on, here...?'

"Pah! Symphony Crystals? What need do I have for them? All I need is her mystic regulator, so I can finally get back at him for what he did to me." He crossed his arms, disapprovingly glaring at Platinum. "Have you no sense of decorum, Granite? Hand over the regulator to me! It's not like you can't make another for yourself anyways. I'll even leave you exempt from my revenge against the others."

His words seemed to bother Platinum, though not even she was sure why. They seemed so familiar, yet she couldn't quite remember why. "I'm sorry, but I don't remember how to make a new one. I have amnesia. This is all I have, so I can't give it to you."

Fuwa's eyes narrowed. "Oh. Oh really now? Isn't. That. Just. Handy!" With each word he shouted, his whole body shook, like it wasn't fully solid. "I don't care. You are the one person who I can get my life back from, and I'm taking it, whether you want to give me it or not!" A multicolor aura appeared around him, and he glared at Smash. "This woman is a criminal and is responsible for millions of deaths. I will give you one chance to step aside, but if you don't? All of you can die together, for all I care."

Melissa fearfully took a step back upon hearing Fuwa's statement, a thin, shadowy aura surrounding the bird as she raised her arms defensively.

The area around the group seemed to get slightly darker.

"Yeah, everyone's saying that, but I'm not buying it." Smash scoffed, "I don't know what your history is with this girl, but if you ask me this revenge thing can wait. Something bigger's going on around here and I'm going to get to the bottom of it." He stepped in front of them, standing firmly between him and his group. "We don't want any unnecessary fights, so I suggest you just turn and walk away...But if you're so determined that you'd kill for it, you're probably no better than she is."

"Hmpf. You hero types never understand." Fuwa grumbled, cracking his knuckles. "If you try and stop me, you'll regret letting that girl live. All she knows is destruction, and that's what she'll bring." Regret in his eyes, he entered a fighting stance. "I'm sorry, but I won't hesitate if you try and defend her."

"Let's not be hasty here, doc." Static said, hoping to somewhat diffuse the tension. "You mentioned you wanted revenge against 'him'. Are you talking about that guy in Hyper Division?" Static tried to think. "What was his name, started with an H?"

"Hikari." Smash answered for him. 'I don't think its a coincidence that he and this guy both know Granite.' He thought to himself, 'I've got some questions of my own, but I don't think this guy's in a talking mood.'

The mention of Hikari brought a scowl to Fuwa's face, which basically made it look like his mouth was melting (and it kinda was). "I'll get my revenge on him as well. But you don't understand what this situation is like. Let. Me. Pass." With each word, he shook, flecks of his amorphous form dripping onto the ground. "This is your final chance."

Smash took one step back, slightly weary of his deteriorating appearance. "Then why don't you explain what the situation is like? We don't want to fight, but we're not backing down without some answers."

Fuwa laughed, and his whole body shook. "You tried to knock me clean out when you met me, and now you want answers?"

"Answers would be nice." A voice from behind the group noted. "What do you say, Kiko?"

The golden cat and the green fox had seemingly come out of nowhere, arms folded. Both stared at the group with smug grins. Startled, Smash nearly whirled around to face them, but stood his ground with his guard up.

"Yeah, I would agree, Hikari." Kiko said, warily looking towards Platinum.

'Crap,' Smash thought, nearly breaking into a cold sweat. 'I was so fixated on this crazed freak that I completely let them sneak up on us. Just our luck that they decide to show up AFTER the trap's been sprung.' Eyes darting back and forth between Hikari, Kiko, and Fuwa, his mind began to race over several possible outcomes for this situation. 'C'mon, Smash. They were tracking the Symphony Crystal; It was only a matter of time. We were waiting for them to show, but not like this...Gotta try to improvise.' "You look like you could provide some answers yourselves, agents." Smash addressed them. "Care to join our little chat?"

Melissa looked warily between Fuwa and the newcomers, and slinked back a little bit away from the group. The park continued to get slightly darker still, even though it was well past the time for such change.

Static turned to face Hikari and Kiko. The situation was just getting worse and worse by the minute. The orange cat tried to think of a way to help diffuse the situation, but to no avail. The only thing he could think to say was "No offense, but isn't Kiko a girl name?"

"It's an ancestral name from my relatives, actually." Kiko muttered. "Either way, I'm afraid we can't take you up on your offer, Mister Corliss. You see, we really need to get to killing you and taking the last crystal. Sorry, but that's really the way it's got to be."

"Yes, quite." Hikari agreed, getting into a fighting stance.

Smash smiled coyly, against his growing concern for the current situation. "Don't be. As a matter of fact, you just told me everything I needed to hear." Clenching his fists with a noticeable cracking sound, he slid his foot back an inch as he assumed his own battle stance. "Now I know I can fight you without holding anything back."

At that moment, Hikari noticed Fuwa. "Fuwa? Is that you? Oh, how the time flies, doesn't it? Really, I'm terribly sorry about firing you all those years ago. But you know how it is in the Hyper Division."

Fuwa scowled in response. "Yes," He spoke through gritted teeth, "Yes I do." He seemed primed to explode at any moment. Seeing his old boss clearly was not very good for his current emotions.

"Anyways," Hikari continued, "You want Granite's regulator, right? Team up with us so we can kill these jokers, and I'll let you have it free of charge! In fact, I'd be willing to give you your old job back, provided you're a little more... Well... Stable. You were going to fight them anyways, right?"

For a moment, Fuwa looked furious, but his expression turned to one of... Glee? Cruelty? It was hard to tell. After standing in place for a while, he brought up his multicolor aura once more, a wicked smile across his melting face. "I accept."

"Don't tell me you seriously believe him?" Static asked Fuwa, somewhat in disbelief. "Think about it for one second: He cares only about himself and his own ends. What makes you think he'll honor any agreement with you?"

'Uh oh.' Smash thought with a few beads of sweat rolling past his cheek, 'I guess they're not enemies anymore. And I thought that crazed look in his eyes couldn't get any worse...' "There's no use trying to reason with him anymore; he's too far off the deep end. Brace yourselves guys, this is gonna get--"

"Wait a minute..." Melissa said quietly, having just realized something. "You're not going to lay a finger on us," she said slowly, sternly, walking back into the group- specifically towards Hikari. The park gradually continued to get unnaturally darker, even more so the area around the avian.

"Stay calm, Melissa. Don't do anything reckless." Smash warned her in a slightly hushed tone.

At the park's entrance, two figures arrived in a rush and quickly scanned the area. "There, I see em!" Splice pointed at the group some distance away. "Looks like there's another dude over there, too. Weren't there only two Hyper Division people?" He asked Reens. Both of them had to stop to catch their breath, as it was quite a jog from Jenny's house to the park.

"Um..." Reens panted, "I thought there were only two, but I guess tall, dark and inky decided to join them." She lifted up her robotic arm and pressed a button on the side, revealing a small flashlight. "I forgot I had that in there," she murmured. "Anyway, we'd better join the others. I think things are about to get even uglier."

"Right! Let's go!" With that, the two began to charge forward once again.

Hikari confidently looked at Melissa, his arms folded. "Oh, are we, now? That's quite a bold statement for you to make, your Highness." Despite the recognition of her royalty, each of his words remained ice cold. "It would really be a shame if I had to inform your family that you valiantly sacrificed yourself fighting the criminal that was in the city." He chuckled. "Oh, yes, 'I tried to stop her, but she was dead set on fighting to help the people. So noble.'. What, do you think I would be all 'Oh no, the princess has said no! Time to stop the plot I spent all these funds and time on for this arbitrary reason!' Of course, if you hand over the girl and the crystal, I'll let you all go free."

'Princess? What the hell?'Smash stared at her in surprise, somewhat ignoring Hikari's words. He hadn't even considered the possibility that she'd be anyone important, let alone royal. 

"No," Melissa said in a tone even colder than Hikari's, a large amount of dark energy building up around her as she glared the feline directly in the eyes, "Because whatever it is you plan on doing with them is only to further your own nefarious goals. And if you aren't going to listen to someone of much higher authority than you, then fine." She closed her eyes, and for a moment, everything seemed to stop. "I will sacrifice myself to fight the criminals in this city, because I am dead set on helping the people. And if that means breaking up your little tea party, then so be it." She reopened her eyes, which were now pitch-black voids, and got into a fighting pose.

The darkness around the avian became thick and fog-like, and seemed to be slowly draining the color out of the area, gradually making everything more monochrome. And any nearby light-sources, such as lampposts or Reens' flashlight, would spontaneously flicker out and die. Splice began to slow down as he noticed the change in the surroundings. "Uhh...what's happening?" He rhetorically asked her, knowing she probably was just as confused.

Seeing Melissa's strong resolve to stand up and fight on the frontlines reminded Smash of a certain other girl. 'She's just like Luna...' Distant memories came flooding back to him, fresh in his mind as if it all happened yesterday. He began to remember just how long he'd been stranded out here and how much he missed her, before shaking the distracting thoughts out of his head.

'Focus, Smash. Keep your eyes on your enemies--and her, too! She seems to be in control but I still don't have a full understanding of what she's capable of. I can't let her go overboard or it might hinder all of us.' Smash quickly positioned himself beside her, and pointed his thumb to his chest. "Don't take us for cowards, Hikari. We've been 'waiting' for you two to show yourselves so we could beat the crap outta you. We knew the risks when we took this job, so if you want the girl and the crystal so badly, come get em."

"My light's going out," Reens said, confused. "Melissa's darkness must be affecting everything in her radius. As long as she's in her current state, there's no way that either of us could touch them without accidentally hurting one of our friends." She looked down at her chest and shook her head. "No, Reens, it'd be stupid... don't even think like that..."

The Building

Heading in the direction opposite of the park was Clock-Watch, Max and, Transford. The black hedgehog led the way toward the Hyper Division base with his right hand shoved in his pocket, presumably gripping one of his revolvers, while his left hand was behind his back. Max followed, keeping a battle stance and a stern expression on his face, and to lighten the mood, he did karate moves (chops, small kicks, etc.). However, while he was hiding it, he was pretty unnerved by it all. Clock simply walked with his hands stuck in his coat pockets, glancing around occasionally.

After a short walk, they arrived at the entrance. "Well, here we are." Clock said, reaching to open the door. However, upon pulling on the handle, the door stayed stuck in place. A slight frown on his face, he examined the door, before noticing a scanner of some sort next to it. "Ah. It seems we need an ID to enter the building." He turned to Max. "I believe you should have the proper identification."

Max bit his lip as he stuffed his hand in his pocket and shuffled around. After a few seconds, he took a white 'n black card out of his pocket and threw it at Clock. "Here ya go."

(this is just me, but I think it might be best if Max didn't give out his security card. Pretty sure Clock was asking him to use it himself. ~Smash The Echidna~ 23:53, July 25, 2017 (UTC))

(seems pretty in-character to me ~Time)

Clock grabbed the card out of the air with two fingers, quickly examining it before placing it up to the scanner. After a moment, a quiet beep, along with a green light, signaled the unlocking of the door. Reaching out to grab the handle, he held the door open for the other two. "After you." He said. "It's time to go investigating!"

Max walked through the door, his hands in his pockets, obviously forgetting Clock still had his card. "Don't mind if I do!" Transford went through after, briefly surveying the lobby.

The receptionist from before looked up for a moment, before returning to whatever she was doing on her computer before.

"Anyways," Clock said, walking towards the elevator, "Let's return to the room where you guys met those Hyper Division scoundrels. You remember where it was, correct?" He asked Transford.

"Yeah, the meeting room, but we need a printscan to open the elevator." Transford replied to Clock and gesturing to the scanner by the elevator doors before turning to Max and continuing " So you will have to open the door this time."

(Max hasn't responded in a while. If he doesn't respond soon, does anyone have a problem with me just saying that Max opened the door to move this section along? ~Time)

(You might as well since it looks to me like he's just flat out left the wiki without saying anything. -Doom)

Entering the elevator, Clock confidently marched to the buttons, before realizing he didn't know which floor to go to. He turned to Transford with a sheepish grin. "Uh, can you tell me which button to press? I don't know which floor their meeting room is on."

Transford paused for a moment before responding with "Fifteenth Floor" as it was the one he vaguely remembered seeing Hikari press.

"Neato." Clock replied, pushing the button. For a moment, everyone stood in silence while the elevator music played. "So, uh, what brings you to the city this time of year?" Clock asked Transford, in an attempt to break the silence.

"Ehh, a friend of mine wanted me to come visit him before he left town for a month." The hedgehog replied while examining the cast on his left arm, "He hit the road the night before the bombing."

"Ah," Clock said, though his thoughts were more along the lines of 'well, time to awkwardly wait for this elevator to rise'.

After a while, the elevator reached the fifteenth floor with a ding.

Transford quickly shoved his hands back into his pockets as the elevator doors opened to the same meeting room that he and the others had been brought to earlier that day. At first glance, it appeared that nobody else had been in that room since then (even the alarm at the far end of the table was still going faintly), but Transford still took a moment to examine it before exiting the elevator.

Wandering around the room, Clock took the time to look at every seat and even under the table, in case of any stray papers that might be lying around. When a search of the room seemed inclusive, he turned his attention to a small wastepaper basket sitting by the elevator door, filled with shredded paper. He knelt down to examine it, and then picked it up. As he stood up, he found himself face-to-face with... The receptionist from the first floor?

"Now, what exactly are you doing here?" She sternly asked, hands on her hips.

For a brief moment, Transford's sunglasses slid down his face to reveal his golden eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly managed to get a hold of himself, corrected them, and stepped in between Clock and the receptionist. "We were just, uhh, called back for another meeting with Hyper Division." He said, slightly nervous. His eyes kept shifting back and forth as he tried to figure out how exactly they failed to see the receptionist enter the room.

"And that explains why mophead here is holding onto the wastepaper basket, too?" She replied, annoyed.

"Oh, don't mind me. I'm the new janitor here." Clock ad-libbed. Times like this made him happy that he wasn't an organic being, because he would've been sweating bullets if he was. Then again, a faint column of steam was eminating from his head out of nervousness, so it's really the same difference. "The angry yellow guy told me to go throw these things out."

She chuckled at his last sentence. "Yeah, that sounds like him." After a moment, she stared at him more closely, before walking towards the elevator. Before she could open it, Clock interrupted her.

"Have we met before..?" He asked.

"...No." The receptionist coldly replied after a brief pause.

As the words left her mouth, there was a sound of shattering glass, the room darkened, and spectral chains appeared in front of her, held in place by three bright red locks. Clock-Watch knew them well: Psyche-Locks, the mental barriers people place to hide their secrets from prying eyes (and telepathic minds, too). She seemed to not notice them, but both Clock and Transford would be able to see the visual representation of her lie.

Searching for the Crystals

Meanwhile, Xavis, Mimic, and Jewel had left the house and were heading towards some inconspicuous corner of the city, with the hedgehog leading the group. His irises were black and his pupils glowed white, and his ears twitched and rotated in an almost mechanical fashion.

"So Xavis," Jewel asked, "how did you end up in Station Square?"

"Hm? Well, me and Melissa were here to visit a friend before this whole thing started," Xavis answered. "What about you two?"

"I had a client who I was supposed to meet here," Jewel said after a moment, "but he didn't even bother to show up. And now I'm stuck in this wretched city, hunting for stupid crystals and blah dee dah!" She punctuated this last outburst with a snort and continued walking.

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry to hear that," Xavis said sympathetically, momentarily looking back to the bat, "But you know what? You're helping with something really important. And besides, who knows how we might be rewarded afterwards?." He did a shrug-like gesture as he finished, then put his hands in his pockets. "Now, what about you, Mimic?"

"Well, Javis, I couldn't be a part of this little adventure if I wasn't here, now could I?" Mimic replied.

"I... guess that's an answer..." the hedgehog said. He wanted to correct the mockingbird, but knew it wouldn't get him anywhere. The trio continued walking in an awkward silence for a few minutes, the only noises being their footsteps and a faint whirring coming from inside Xavis. The silence was eventually broken by the hedgehog asking, "So, uh, anything else you guys want to talk about?"

"Much as I'd like to keep things interesting, there's not really anything else to go over." Mimic said.

Without a doubt, we got stuck in the boring section of the roleplay. Tom said.

Well, it's OUR job to liven things up! Jerry declared.

And how are we supposed to do that, exactly? Tom asked.

Don't ask me; your supposed to be the smart, sensible disembodied voice. Jerry retorted.

It's "you're", not "your". Tom corrected.

To Heck with grammer! Jerry argued.

"So, our plan's just to walk around aimlessly until you pick up on the crystals?" Mimic asked, wanting to move things along.

"Umm... pretty much," Xavis answered unenthusiastically.

"Well, that's just peachy." Mimic said. "If only that was our biggest problem."

Luckily enough, as the walked, Xavis would be able to sense a faint signal coming from the direction they were walking in. The hedgehog's ears shot upward, and he fixated himself in the signal. "Nevermind, actually," He said, walking a bit faster.

Convenient plot element, right on cue. Tom stated.

"Now we're getting somewhere." Mimic said.

Jewel looked at Mimic, slightly puzzled. Was it just her, or did she telepathically sense an internal disagreement going on in Mimic? Like... an argument?

"Now you're just being crazy," she thought. Jewel shook her head and asked, "So where, exactly, do you sense them, Xavis?"

"Um... about one, maybe two-ish miles from here in this direction," Xavis answered, his eyes returning to their normal coloration now that he had a lock, "I can't tell exactly due to my scanner being kinda out-of-date, but I should be able to pinpoint it once we get closer."

Jewel shrugged and followed behind. "'Out-of-date?' I don't get it."

Xavis stopped for a moment. "Ooh. Uh, right. I probably should have explained this earlier, but..." he paused, finding the right thing to say as he resumed walking, "I'm... not normal- not natural. I wasn't born, but made. Made by a madman as a weapon of mass-destruction to aid in conquering the planet- well, a prototype for one, at least. But I abandoned that life a long time ago. Anyway, my skeletal and nervous systems- including my scanners- are artificial and haven't been touched in over 17 years. So yeah, out-of-date."

Jewel just shrugged. "If anything, I'd say you're not out-dated. More like a hundred and fifty years ahead. I've seen robots before, but none nearly as advanced as you are." Jewel thought a moment, and said, "Most of them weren't even sentient."

"Thanks, but I wouldn't call myself a robot. It's really just my brains and bones, the rest of me's flesh and (highly-toxic) blood," Xavis said with a smile that soon faded. "Anyway, I hope you can understand why I didn't bring this up: I didn't want to be accused of the attacks. Plus, I don't think anyone would trust me knowing my origin as one of Egg-Salad's creations."

"'Egg-salad?'" Jewel repeated, her mouth twitching in amusement. "Who in their right mind would name their child after a food, of all things?"

"No, his name isn't- ugh," Xavis retorted, facepalming, "I was using that as an insult, Jewel."

"Oh," Jewel replied, sensing Xavis' annoyance. "Sorry. I tend to take some things literally."

"So you're one of Baldy McNosehair's creations?" Mimic asked. "Why am I not surprised? Anyway, if the crystals are about two miles from here, that means we'll probably end up at the warehouse district. Typical for the government to hide their top secret stuff inside a run-on-the-mill warehouse."

Well, it is kind of a smart play. Tom stated.

Mimic looked up and noticed that in the distance, the area around the park was getting unaturally dark. It was obvious things were going down there.

Jewel frowned, sensing conflicted emotions again. Instead of commenting on this, she asked, "Who is it you guys keep talking about? Because I haven't the faintest."

(I guess we could jump-cut straight to the warehouse? -Xoph-)

(Fine by me. I've got everything that'll happen there vaguely planned, so feel free to go ahead. ~Time)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It took a short while, but the three made it to the warehouse district. At this point Xavis had a clear pinpoint on where exactly the crystals were being held, and had surprisingly managed to get there without any opposition. Standing outside the building's large, metal door, the hedgehog turned around to face his teammates. "Well, this is it. Anything to say before we head in?"

"Just one thing," Jewel responded. "Why is there no one else here?" She tried to reach out with her limited telepathic powers, but could feel no other presences. It was... unsettling, for some reason.

"Oh, the suspense." Mimic chirped. "How much you wanna bet that when we do find those crystals, someone or something's gonna try to stop us?"

Back at Jenny's House

Splice opened up the oven, and stuck a knife down the center of the two cakes. He pulled it out and gave it a quick glance, "Sweet, right on the money." He said, reaching in and grabbing the two pans out the oven. Just then, the doorbell rang. "Oh, pizza time! I'll be right back. Let the cake cool first before you take it out!" He called out to Reens as he jogged to the front door.

"Sure, will do," Reens answered back. She looked the two cakes over. "We did a pretty good job, if I say so myself," she murmured. She gingerly poked one of the cake pans with a metallic finger. "How long should this take to cool? Twenty minutes?" She shrugged and looked in another cupboard for icing and/or sprinkles.

After a few moments of searching, she found nothing of the sort. As a matter of fact, she'd find that most of the cupboards were empty. Only a few cans of beans and vegetables or old pots and pans remained. She did find a fresh box of Wheaties however, presumably belonging to Smash. "Smash sure didn't hold back on the grub." Splice walked into the kitchen with a stack of extra large pizza boxes. He poked his head out from the side just to see her--and where he was going. "What'cha lookin for?" Splice asked. He set the boxes down on the counter, before going to turn the oven on warm temperatures.

Reens sighed. "Has Smash ever made cake before?" she asked incredulously. "You can't have a good cake without icing and sprinkles! At least, that's what my mom said whenever she bought me one for my birthday." She closed the door of the cupboard that she had been searching through and rubbed the back of her head. "At least we'll have plenty of pizza for when they get back." Course, I'm allergic to dairy...

Splice opened the oven up and stuck his hand in there. After a second he pulled away and began to set the pizza boxes on the racks inside. "Nah, I can't imagine Smash being into baking." He said. "I'm kinda surprised he had as much as he did. I doubt he was planning to stay long, but I guess he figured he'd be stuck here for a while." He then closed the oven door and went to the fridge. "Lessee here....Icing, huh...? I'll figure something out."

"What do you mean by that?" Reens asked, walking over to join him by the fridge. She scuffed her foot gently on the floor, careful not to leave any marks.

"Didn't you know? Smash lives in Greenflower City." Splice answered casually, pushing a couple items aside on the shelf. "This is our friend Jenny's house." He grabbed some butter and vanilla flavored creamer, stopping to think as he came up with an idea.

Reens cocked her head. "Greenflower City, huh?" She went and grabbed a small glass mixing bowl for Splice. "And Jenny just lets him come over whenever?"

EV28 Atonement - The Wonderful 101 OST

Splice sat the ingredients down on the counter next to her and stopped suddenly. "...No. I don't think it's like that." He said, quietly. "Actually I was wondering about it myself, back when Smash told us to meet him here. At first I thought it was because this is a pretty big house, so it'd be ideal for a big ol' meeting." Splice stared blankly at the counter top as he continued, seemingly talking more to himself than to her. "But then when we got here, I was surprised by how neat and well kept this place was, even though it's been vacant for who knows how long. It's been at least three months. I started to understand then why he was in Station Square to begin with..." He blinked a couple times and glanced at her with raised eyebrows, realizing she probably wasn't following. "Ohh. Sorry, I guess you probably don't really know what I'm talking about, huh?"

"I have no idea," Reens replied with a soft sigh. "But I'm guessing Jenny is really important to the both of you." She placed a gentle hand on Splice's back. "And if she's really important to you, then we should do everything we can to help her out."

Splice shook his head. "Thanks, but...There's nothing left we can do for her now." He said. Before she could ask why, he turned away took a few steps toward the door. "I...I think it'd be best if I showed you. Follow me." He'd then lead her outside the house.

The sun had gone down, and the stars were just beginning to twinkle into view. A brisk breeze blew by as they stepped off the front porch, reminding them of the dropping temperatures. As Splice began to walk towards the garden, Reens took a few moments to register, but then everything clicked into place. "Oh..." Her ears drooped as her eyes brimmed with tears. "That grave ... it's hers?" She was right. Splice took her past the flower garden to a small area near the edge of the yard. Just under a large tree were a few gravestones, but the one they had stopped in front of had Jenny's name on it. She covered her mouth with her hand. "I'm an idiot..."

"It's okay." Splice said calmly. "You didn't know. Not many people get buried in their own gardens, anyway." They stood in front the grave for a couple more minutes; Splice wasn't sure what else to say, or if anything else really needed to be said. But now that he was here, he didn't feel like just walking away. "I'm not surprised you didn't know her, since you're not from here, but Jenny was pretty well known in Station Square." He said, finally. "She was the leader of a team of crime-fighters; Team S-Girls... And I still don't know what did her in. We hadn't heard from her in a while, until one day I hear from my friend Violet that she's..." He paused, and sighed with a visible white puff from his breath. "We had no idea when it happened, or why. It's a mystery that Smash took in his hands personally..." He knelt down and touched the fresh bouquet of flowers on the grave. "I didn't think twice about not interfering with his investigation. I could tell it was something he wanted to do on his own. Jenny was his best friend; she meant more to him than I could even begin to understand."

"When I think back on it...I was never really all that close to her." He looked down into his palms, "I never took the chance to get to know her on a personal level. Even though I used to see her almost all the time, since she'd come out to Greenflower and hang out with all of us. She was a friend to us all, but once we'd lost her... Everyone else around me was crying, but me." He closed his eyes, letting his arm drop back down to his side. "It's strange. It's not that I wasn't sad or anything, but someone we all knew and loved just died and there wasn't anything we could do to help her; and yet, I couldn't even shed a single tear. Even now, I think back to that and wonder if there's something wrong with me. It makes me feel like scum. I wish I did more for her when I had the chance; at the very least, let her know that I cared too."

Reens didn't say anything, but when Splice finished, she placed a soft hand on his shoulder again. "I think Jenny knows," she sighed, trying to sound confident. "Even if it didn't show physically, I bet she still knows you cared about her. Some people have a hard time sharing emotions. Me, I wear my heart on my sleeve practically." She lowered her hand, trying not to be awkward. "She knows you loved her, just as much as Smash and the rest of your friends did. You can't let that guilt eat you up. If you want to keep her memory with you, then think of all the good times you had. She loved you all too, more than you could know."

Splice was quiet as he thought back to the old days. He remembered her cheerful smile...and that's all he could really picture. For him though, that was enough. "You're right...deep down, I know she did." He slowly stood up, "Thanks, Reens. Thanks for listening to all that. Sorry for talking your ear off with all that heavy stuff. I just never really...had anyone around to really talk to about this. I kinda needed to get that off my chest."

"It's okay," Reens replied, hugging herself with one arm. "I'm just glad you're feeling a little better now."

"Yeah..." He turned to her with a smile, "Now whaddya say we finish that cake? We may not have much, but it'll be the best dang cake the guys have ever tasted."

Reens nodded ecstatically, grinning. "Gotta work with what we got, right Splice?" They began to head back indoors, "I bet it'll be better than mama's, heh."

"You bet!" Splice agreed. After returning to the kitchen, Splice began to take out a bunch of different ingredients; some butter, sugar, flour, and that coffee creamer. He began to mix it all in a small saucepan and set it on the stove. "This'll be a bit unorthodox, but if it works we can have a make-shift icing to go on top." He explained as he set the eye on medium.

"If it works, it works. If it doesn't, we can try something else," Reens said with a shrug. I hope everyone else is okay. I just hope nothing terrible's happened yet...

As if the universe was mocking her, the sky around the park had darkened, and dull flashes of various colors could be seen emanating from the area. It was likely they wouldn't see it yet, but they'd probably be alarmed the next time they looked out a window.

Reens was quietly watching Splice work the saucepan when something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Turning to look, the hedgehog saw the strange colors and dark sky around the park. "What the heck?" she asked, moving closer to the window. "Splice, you might want to see this. I think they'll need us sooner than we thought."

"Huh?" Splice looked over his shoulder with a puzzled expression. He set the pan off the hot eye, turned the heat off and walked over. His eyebrows immediately furrowed, while his eyelids snapped wide open. "Oh no." were the first two words to escape his lips. "...Let's get going. I don't know what's going on out there but I don't like it!"

"I don't like it either," Reens replied with a small groan, changing her arm back into her plasma cannon. "Let's just hope we aren't too late." Splice lead her outside and down the road in a rush. Just follow the dark, intimidating clouds until we get there... I don't know if Smash or the others have telepathy, and I probably don't, but Smash... we're on our way.