Vector's Memoirs; The Chaotix That Was (Part Eight)
VECTOR'S MEMOIRS: THE CHAOTIX THAT WAS (PART EIGHT)
by Foxy Boy
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Once I'd stepped past the threshold, the door swung shut behind me, leaving a full five seconds of echo. There was a switch, mounted three feet to the right of the entryway, but I let it be; After viewing the inside, my first discovery was that I wouldn't need it.
There was no back wall, as it opened straight out to the harbour, and the polished concrete floor reflected more than enough light from outside. From the street, and even the entrance, it had seemed completely dark; I turned on an impulse, and saw a thick coating of tint on the glass. The place was already proving just as offbeat as its owner... Restored from the outside with vague European flair, while boasting a touch only used to make something look abandoned. He had his reasons, but it was good for a chuckle or two.
The place lacked windows, as well... Save for one on each side wall, no more than arm's length from the nonexistant rear. What purpose that could've served, I had no Earthly idea... But there was no telling how the whole block might've been before N had acquired it.
One thing was sure... With the dime-a-dozen high ceilings of an industrial structure, every sound seemed to come alive. I could hear water lapping at any surface it was able to touch, mostly the piers leading out from the rear, and the boats themselves, whose silhouettes rocked back and forth with the waves. I counted eight crafts, and an empty space... The scene of the crime, no doubt, and soon to be my starting point.
The acoustics did alot to remove my confidence. With every step magnified to ungodly levels, working the case while staying out of earshot would be next to impossible. Simply making my way towards the back filled me with new kinds of dread. God forbid the perpetrator should show up... As if I didn't know who to expect.
Now that I was finally in the thick of it, reality struck home more than ever. I was prepared for nothing... No meeting, no questions, and certainly no fight. If N was right, and they made a second act of it, the odds were high I'd be lying face-down in a gutter by morning. There's no easier way to chase death, than to stop thinking... And the whole investigation so far had been one gigantic zombie walk. For the first and last time, I envied Charmy.
The floor near the water sloped gently to meet it. I planted myself on the last bit of dry ground, and peered down through the shallows for any obvious clues. Nothing jumped out at me, literally or otherwise, so my gaze shifted to the piers on either side. Solid wood, held together by stainless steel bolts, coming out from the point where the rest of the floor started downwards. My hopes of an easy night were beginning to fade... Until I leaned in for a closer look.
Both left and right, there were tons of footprints... Sneaker prints. Either the suspect was a sprinter, or we'd been right all along.
My jaw flew open like a trap door, and the camera was in my hands before I could even think about it. I spent five or six shots on every complete print... Anything to make sure I wouldn't need to come back.
After taking what I decided would be enough photos, I turned to check how each still had come out, and deleted the ones with less quality. As I looked up, Lady Luck planted a big, wet one on me; There was something on the ground I'd missed the first pass.
I squatted down to examine it. A hair of some sort, the colour between orange and yellow. It was soon on film, like the prints, but seeing it wasn't much help. As of that moment, I had no idea what it meant.
Moments later, I got my answer, as well as the shock of my life.
As my weight went back to my heels, I returned to the prints... And found bubbles on the water beside them. In a moment of terror, I realized I wasn't alone after all.
Rising air meant I might not be the only one in trouble, and forgetting myself, I almost felt ready to dive in and prevent some stranger from drowning. But before I could act on that instinct, I saw the form coming up from below.
He broke the surface with a huge splash, and I leaped back for my own safety. By the time he opened his mouth to draw in precious air, I knew who I'd come thisclose to saving.
" Tails!?" I cried, more stunned than disappointed.
I guessed that his ears were still waterlogged, as he didn't notice me right off. His eyes were shut tightly for protection, and he spit out a mouthful before coughing up words.
"I can't stay down any longer!", he whined weakly, and shook the drips from his furry head like a dog. Taking a hand to each eye, he wiped clean, and slowly opened them to stare directly into mine.
What followed was the most shrill and horrible boy-scream I ever hope to hear. From his reaction, and my state of mind, I must've looked like the devil himself. I might never know, because I soon felt a prick on my upper back, and in the next instant knew I was getting drowsy. With my control of most everything fading, I mumbled something meaningless, before slumping unconscious on the cold concrete.
"Is... Is he gonna be okay?"
"Yeah. He just hit kind of hard. I think he's already coming to."
" Heh, he dropped like a bomb over Baghdad."
"Shhh! He'll be mad enough without you taunting him."
The voices came at roughly the same time as the God-awful headache. My vision was blurry, of course, but with my eyes fully opened, I could see three distinct figures. All were standing over me, with the single blue-coloured one at my feet. I remember groaning, and reaching a hand up to my neck.
It took two seconds for me to realize it was bare... And only one for my body to practically fly upright, my fist closing hard around his throat.
" WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO WITH MY THOUSAND-DOLLAR CAMERA, YOU THIEVING RAT BASTARD!!?"
I was choking him too tightly to get a reply. With my judgement numb from adrenaline, I enjoyed watching as he winced and turned even bluer... Right up to the moment I was clocked from behind.
The impact brought me to my knees, but I scrambled back up almost immediately. Turning around, I saw the huge fist that delivered the sucker-punch... Throbbing as much as my head, while being slowly stroked by his other five digits.
" Damn , you have a hard head. I think I fractured a knuckle."
I was seeing red; no pun intended. Sonic, I expected... But not his tiny apprentice, and certainly not the same slouch who had shared my last meal. Just when I'd started to think the worst had to be over, I found myself on the losing end of a gross betrayal.
For what seemed like forever, all we could do was stand there. Sonic, looking like he expected another good strangling; Tails, staring me down with his best attempt at courage; Knuckles, still rubbing the fist he'd just injured on me; and yours truly, taking deep, angered breaths to avoid killing them all in a fit of appropriate rage.
After a few good minutes of silence, I was finally calm enough to think and speak at least close to a normal level.
"I'm gonna try to ignore how sweet revenge would be right now, and only remind you of my unanswered question."
I didn't hear a reply. What I did hear, was a rush of air behind me, before the strap came down in front of my eyes. I was about to do a 180, to see who else had joined the party and returned the tool of my trade, when I felt the feminine gloves, one on each shoulder.
"Lose something... Big boy?"
Her voice was what did me in. After that, I almost felt I could forgive Knuckles. This was how she saw fit to repay me for a night of pure pleasure... By dumping me for her usual nature. It wasn't the fact that she'd double-crossed me... Finding the bug had kept that from ever surprising me again. It was who she'd done it for; the worst group in the world to choose over me.
A fuckin' dictionary couldn't hold the words for that moment. Standing there limp, with the camera I no longer cared about hanging lower than my countenance, I was thoroughly robbed of any will to fight.
Essentially, they had me.
"Alright," I sighed with my eyes to the floor, "I'll spare you the embarassment of a grown man's tantrum. I just want to know why."
My empty stare shifted toward Sonic. The scene, as I saw it, would've called for some self-important lecture on the positives of switching sides, with a maniacal laugh or two thrown in for effect. But instead, I saw genuine confusion.
"Uh, why what?", he shrugged, as his comrades looked on with the same sort of puzzlement.
I scowled, at what I knew to be a weak dodge. "Now is not the time for that bullshit. Why you would forget all the people who trust and depend on you. Why you turned dirty."
The explanation seemed to leave him more dumbfounded than before. I'm sure my patience would've left, and made me a liar, if Rouge hadn't stepped in.
She flew calmly over my back, and set down between us with all the grace and poise of a fallen angel. One look from her infamous eyes, and I remembered every reason why she knew the inside of my bedroom.
"Looks to me like you're both on a different page." She gestured towards Sonic with a confident smile. "Maybe it would help if you told him why you're here in the first place."
I didn't fully grasp the weight of her proposal right off... But as it started to hit me, I matched her illicit grin with the look of a tired mother, fielding her child's excuses. "Uh-uh, doll. You can't tell me you'd go to the trouble of eavesdropping through my neck, and keep them in the dark all the while."
Her surprise would've been impossible to miss. "Wait, you mean you knew that I'd-"
"Only since this afternoon," I interrupted. I did an about-face directly after. "Go ahead, see if I'm lying, since you clearly have no problem with pawing at me."
I heard her walk gingerly up to me, and felt her breath on the spot in question. When I turned around, her gaze was suitably shaken; Now that I'd gotten a good start on payback, she seemed to forget the part of her savvy facade that didn't come naturally. "And there I was thinking it only malfunctioned. Congratulations, you've outsmarted the best thief in Central City." Her tone was purely serious; it amazes me what some people use as a compliment. "I was the telling the truth, by the way," she appealed. "They knew even less about your involvement than you knew about mine. I did my own share of explaining before your tranquilizer even wore off." A deadly smirk was born across her lips. "I still don't understand how you never put two and two together, even after I told you to your face about seeing you at Sadler."
For some reason, I blushed. "I was starting to think you might actually care about me for me. I guess it just proves how well you've adapted yourself to heartless greed."
I took the opportunity, while everyone soaked in the gloom of the moment, to light up, which helped me to gather my thoughts. "So if it wasn't for them, then who? 'Cause it's a bit much, going to that kind of trouble just for your own amusement."
As soon as she didn't rebutt right away, I knew I'd hit the nail square on its unsavory head. Of course, once she recovered, she did so with style. "Sounds like I've disappointed you," she observed sarcastically, while picking at her nails. "I take it you haven't thought about how boring life can be when you spend every night trying to drum up a living. A free spirit like me needs something more every now and then; and you can take that any way you want." That's right, bitch, pour on the charm when it no longer means anything. "I wasn't about to spoil it by telling them, knowing you were bound to collide anyway. All I cared about, was being here for the reveal." Her confident glare could've burnt holes through the back of my head. "Am I to think you're so boring that you could spot me talking to some strange dragon in the dead of night, and not even be curious?"
"A dragon!?" Tails piped up, and retracted it just as quickly once he caught my impatient stare. I could hear Sonic mumble something about the end of a mystery.
"I am sorry for how it all turned out," she resumed halfheartedly. "If it's any consolation, I wasn't leading you on the other night. I don't give myself away, unlike certain little pink hedgehogs." Sonic grunted audibly. Her grin was now back stronger than ever. "In fact, I wouldn't mind revisiting the entire date... With no one around to butt in."
I couldn't help glancing over at him, easily picking up on his annoyance at the double slam. But her comments were totally transparent... And she was about to learn my sympathy would never be bought that easily.
"Thanks, but no thanks, " I returned, enjoying the wind it sucked out of her sails. "I think you've had enough fun undermining my case."
Save for the one sentence that Tails had blurted, the trinity of heroes stood back as I'd worked out what I could with her. Now, my attention swung back to them, and their response was to watch as I spoke like a herd of monkeys trying to figure out a drinking fountain.
"But you know, none of that matters anymore. The jig is up, guys; your free ride on the waves has come to an end. I'm past caring about what possessed you, or all the other shit I've been cursed with. If it takes an extra three weeks, or six long-ass months, I'll see to it you account for every piece of the boats you've stolen."
Crickets, and the sound of waves breaking on the piers. While Tails and Knuckles went into some kind of obvious shock, the star of the city began showing more anger than I'd ever seen from him. "Ex-CUUUSE me?"
At that point, I was still sucking down smoke, so I made him wait until I exhaled... Well, until I had the desire to exhale. With that indulgence out of the way, I sighed and proceeded to humour him. "I'm pretty sure I didn't stutter. What did you think I was here for? To join in?"
Still more annoying, shocked speechlessness... From the intended listeners, anyway.
"That was their impression," Rouge butted in, "Before you grabbed him by the vocal cords."
I didn't waste the courtesy of eye contact. "I'm done talking to you. My business is with the popular kids."
If she gave a reaction, I didn't know, nor care. I only looked over Sonic and his pals in sequence, actually glad for Doones' earlier soapboxing. It was a sort of inspiration, for the words that followed. "Hell, I don't know why I'd ever want to address a bunch of thieves... I'm only doing it because I have to. Apparently, none of you suspected me, or thought I'd be the one to bust your little 'operation' here wide open. And don't think I'm a justice whore; I'd still be here right now if honour was nothing to me. I have a huge windfall riding on this, from the owner of this lovely building, and I'm not about to allow our tiny speck of a past to get in the way." I cracked a smile. "But, thanks to Tails and my camera, I have all the evidence I'll need to put you where you belong."
My eyes narrowed, as I reached for the life-saving device. Not because of the vaguely evil feeling that comes with vindication... More due to the fact that it was no longer there. I didn't even have to look down, instead planting my eyes on the usual, voluptuous suspect. "Alright, hand it over, unless you want another charge on your blossoming record."
From what I can only speculate was instinct, I glanced over at Knuckles. Of course, he was insanely pissed... And he wasn't standing still.
He'd started to walk towards me, both slowly and with calculated rage. His expression was borderline-demonic, but I wasn't impressed. I simply let him approach to his heart's content, knowing there was nothing he could do to me that he wouldn't regret once they were all 'defendants'.
That fucker, God bless him, didn't halt until our faces all but touched. Then, with my focus glued to his flaring nostrils, he reached up and took the Camel right out of my mouth. I watched in more shock than any of them as he turned, lifted his arm, and threw it straight into the water.
It was the last cigarette I would ever smoke.
As our eyes met again, the scope of that single, deliberate action hit me, igniting a deeper confidence. Brute strength and attitude weren't enough to break me.
"Well," I said flatly, "Now that you've had your fun, you mind convincing her to give me what I asked for?"
I should've known a mere brush-off wouldn't silence Rouge... Or snuff her pinache. "Really, darling, he couldn't catch me."
I faced her with more composure than she'd ever deserve, to find her pointing a finger to the ceiling. Warily, I followed it, and immediately gave my best impression of a villager in Pompeii, on that certain day in history.
There, hanging by its strap over a metal rafter, was every bit of proof I possessed. Frantic and seething, my gaze shifted back to her, where a cruel smirk was waiting for me. "Got wings?"
If my desire at that moment had been met, her neck and my hands would've seen a grand introduction. But Knuckles was only getting started, and he gave my chest a good jab to let me know. I barely had time to readjust my eyes, before they took spit from his furious words.
"I don't like bullshit accusations any more than the next guy, but you were always cool with us, so I won't beat your sorry ass like we both know you deserve. I have a question of my own, and you will answer it. You feel me?"
The last part was filled with more malice than hell itself, and I'd be lying if I said his intimidation wasn't starting to work. So I nodded, and he didn't kill me, but only enlightened. "Now, did I just hear you say you're being paid by the owner of this dump?"
Naturally, I didn't sense where he was leading me. Still in a spirit of gloating, I answered with pride. "Absolutely. I was hired to find out why these boats kept disappearing. We had our suspicions," I paused and shot an incriminating glance Sonic's way, "But I never thought you'd drag the whole gang down with you." My gaze cut briefly to Rouge, and I sighed at the memory of better times, then resumed my diatribe. "I'd love to how you feel right now, with this huge plot crashing down around you."
I prepared for two reactions: One, that Sonic would fall apart before my eyes, crippled by his last shred of honour; or two, Knuckles would take offense, and my lights would go out a second time.
Still wary of Knuckles, I watched for the latter. But the reply came, with sadness, through Sonic's voice. "Disappointed."
I looked up to see his head hanging limp, a sure sign of remorse. If only I could've been right... About anything.
"I don't doubt it," I chuckled, almost tingling from the high of vindication. Slowly, he raised his head, and every bit of my certainty melted in the face of instant defiance.
"...In you." I suddenly felt the terror of four united stares. "I don't even want to think about how many lies it took to get you here, but it ends right now. We were hired too."
My mouth could've caught flies. The explanation was supplied by Knux, in a low tone that told me how little I was forgiven.
"Three days ago, at the all-night bash downtown; the one you obviously skipped. After the mayor finished kissing our ass, he pulled us aside and broke the news. I'm sure his is here somewhere, reported missing just like the rest." He began shaking his head. "You couldn't've been more wrong if you tried."
At first, I started to feel guilt, and my eyes cut to the side as I pondered. Nothing in particular; the entire chain of events, leading from one night I'd stupidly chosen to miss and stay home. But after I'd weighed all of it against each other, I rejoined the world with a sneer, and a true skeptic's glare.
"Nice effort, but I'm not buying it. What reason would he have in going to you, and not the cops?"
His first response was an eye-roll. "Because he was lucky enough to see it flying away, along with the asshole responsible. Just how would you convince the police that your Sea-Doo was carried off by a pile of scales and wings?"
"A dragon!", Tails interjected, with a piercing yell.
Ol' hugehands grunted in annoyance. "Yes, that's what I was driving at."
"No, no, I mean-"
"-I know what you mean!!" His anger had a new target. "I don't need you to play dictionary for-"
" SHUT UP AND LOOK!!!"
The room went silent. Jesus, I thought. Did that just come out of Tails?"
My eyes darted in his direction, as did everyone else's. Roughly in unison, we saw his trembling finger, stretched towards the open wall. Stars had begun to appear over the bay, clustered around a huge airborne shadow. Rouge, in her single unglamorous moment, screamed bloody falsetto murder as she shared our conclusion... The owner, and my client, was on a collision course with disaster.
There was barely enough time to draw a breath before he swooped in. I couldn't say how Sonic and the others reacted; I was too busy holding my heart, to keep it from beating out of my chest.
Naturally, he didn't share my problem. His feet met the floor smoothly, with a sneer on his face and daggers in his eyes. The latter, he aimed only at Sonic, and it was all I could do not to scream at him for being there; if they hadn't known him beyond a vague description, they sure as hell would now.
The first words out of his mouth echoed my sentiment. "Damn, I either have the best timing in the world, or the worst. I should probably skip the introduction; with all of you here, I'm sure I've been mentioned one way or another."
I wondered if he was even capable of losing control. Curiosity over Sonic's take on all of this was irresistable; and giving in, I found exactly what I would've predicted.
"Who do you think you are!?" he almost growled, eyes narrow.
N didn't even blink; he actually smiled. "I'm going to assume that was due to something I missed, and not a request for my name. You're not exactly in the position to learn it." His gaze shifted to me as he continued, and the smile disappeared. "Enough idle jaw-flapping. I'm here for one reason, and one reason only." He followed with a gesture for me to come. I was rattled, the same as the rest of them, but I obliged. When you're not sure if you have a choice, it's best to assume you don't.
All four of our mutual grievances watched as I made my way over to him. I'm surprised it didn't psyche me out, but N's presence was most of the reason. I just wanted to know what he'd shown up for, on the rare chance it would prevent another verbal war.
Once I was next to him, he leaned down, and drove his familiar rasp through a whisper. "Are you prepared to leave?"
I didn't catch on at first; but it was clear within moments. "Yeah, practically. I've got all the proof I need..." I paused, and stared up at the rafter holding the outcome of the case. "...But it's kind of beyond my reach right now."
He caught on quickly, following my eyes. His grin wasn't far behind. "I'm not even going to ask. On my back."
I didn't need any amount of time to understand that. I started to object, since Rouge's version was bad enough; but he took me by the arm, and before I knew it, I was sailing up to the ceiling amid shouts from below.
We reached the camera in nothing flat, and by some miracle I was able to snatch it as we passed. The noise around us was unbearable; but that's to be expected, when you have four scared and furious voices bouncing off galvanized walls. My grip on N's trenchcoat would put Hercules to shame; it was either hold on tight, or swan-dive to a concrete faceplant from forty feet up. The first few moments -- unsurprisingly -- scared the living hell out of me, but my seat on his back was solid, so the feeling didn't last. I actually laughed out loud as he circled the front sides, then flew right over their heads and out over the dark waters of the bay. The whole of the entourage screamed after me all the while, as if they expected that to make me think twice, or turn back. I wasn't piloting in the first place, and the exit had been only too grand.
How many detectives could honestly say they hitched a ride on their client's back, with the wind in their face and their last worries fading behind them?
His flying was smooth and skilled, but after the trouble it had been to collect enough damning evidence, I'd do anything to remove the possibilities. As we steadily ascended, I held the flap on N's coat pocket open, shoved the camera inside, and buttoned it back.
The experience had full command over my attention; at that point, It completely slipped my mind to ask why he'd come for me in the first place. Thankfully, the same couldn't be said for him.
"I suppose you're wondering about that one reason," he commented, his voice slightly broken with every wingbeat.
"Yes, actually!" I had to yell, in order to drown out the sound of moving air. "I'd pretty much counted on going it alone! Glad you stopped in anyway, since I didn't get that luxury in the first place!"
"I understand what you're doing, but my hearing is excellent." I took the hint. "I'd ask what the whole scene was about, but I doubt my first guess would be off. He must've forged some tight friendships, to keep three accomplices under wraps."
"Well, two accomplices and a voyeuristic bitch..." I sighed as I glanced back at the quickly-receding warehouse. "Fuck it, it's no skin off my nose. They're all headed for hard time, once that camera's in the right hands."
"I assume you have a good hold on it right now?"
"No, but you do. Not that I don't trust your piloting, but I figured it'd be alot safer in your coat pocket." I stopped to enjoy a mouthful of bay air. "It's in there tighter than a gnat's ass stretched over an oil drum, my high-rolling freak of nature."
Without warning, an uneasy pang of instinct swept over me, and I gave the rear view a second look. Once again, my gut proved itself trusworthy. We weren't in the clear at all; Tails was in hot pursuit, and the distance between us was shrinking.
" SHIT!!" I yelled, and felt a hiccup in N's rhythm. "Didn't mean to startle you, but we're being tailed."
"Wonderful. The fox, I'm sure."
"Yeah, and frankly, he has a little more get-up-and-go than you. I'd say we have about two or three minutes, tops, until I'm a sitting duck."
There was a short, unnerving pause. "That's what you think. I didn't plan on doing this quite so soon, but it seems I'll have to."
It took the shortest instant of my life to realize something wasn't right. "Whoa... What does that mean?"
He let loose with a laugh that chilled me to the bone. "The reason I picked you up. And the reason we're heading out over open waters. I have to say, I'm disappointed in you, Vector. From a man of your skill and background, I expected much more."
My eyes narrowed. "Explain. Now."
Even with the wind in my ears, I could hear him draw a deep and vaguely pained breath. "I'm sorry."
A moment later, I felt a tremendous shift in gravity, which continued until he was gliding totally sideways.
I had nothing to prepare me, or save me from the inevitable. Immediately, I felt myself beginning to fall, slipping off his back as I started to scream.
To be continued...