Espresso With Penumbra

"--- So I wasn't expecting the cops to open the curtain," Nikki mumbled nervously between sips of his peach-flavored energy formula. Penumbra chuckled. "Guess it was a pretty weak hiding spot. And now I'm known as the sole survivor of the Casinopolis outbreak because I was apparently 'showering through all the carnage'. I was trying to keep my alter-ego on the down low, too."

"I always found showering in public tacky," Penumbra stated, guzzling her piping hot coffee fancily. "Almost as tacky as bringing one of those trashy energy drinks to the best cafe in town."

"Hey, this place used to be NAMED after me," Nikki whispered. "I can do what I want." He coughed out some poorly-stirred powder.

"So there was nobody in Casinopolis but you and the Silhouettes, you say?" Penumbra asked. "The PTOH sure is a crafty little sucker. Nobody's even seen them without being lost to the Graying Pandemic, all we have seen is the fallout of their attacks." Nikki felt a sting of guilt as Penumbra sighed. "To think that we need to wait for people to first have their hearts stolen in order to even have an idea of where the perpetrator has been… Kinda sucks, no?"

"You got that right," Nikki replied. "Speaking of which, you got any other 'leads'?"

"Not really," Penumbra answered. "PTOH's been a lot more shy lately. The outbreaks have slowed down, but they haven't stopped. PTOH always gets away well before any units arrive on the scene. But there's no way we can prevent future outbreaks if we don't even have a single suspect." Penumbra finished off her coffee. "Why the long face? It just means we have some time to kill."

"I suppose you're right," Nikki sighed. "I'm not too worried 'bout that. I know we'll figure something out. It's just weird being back here after all this time."

"Don't worry your pretty head about it. Since I'm free, I can introduce you to the detectives the PD and I are working with," Penumbra replied. "It's best to get you involved in an official capacity so you can help on future gigs without staying hidden. Plus, you'll get paid by the PD."

"Sure. I can work with that," Nikki agreed. "Lead the way."

…

"Thank you both for riding with C-uh-rrrrazy Taxi!" Their taxi driver hollered as Nikki and Penumbra stepped out of the loose left door. The cabbie drove off, taking its rock music with it into the distance. Nikki and Penumbra came face-to-face with a run-down shack in the middle of Seaside City.

"Is this the place?" Nikki asked, disappointedly. "Yeesh… you can really tell we're in downtown Seaside."

"Shh!" Penumbra hissed. "That's so rude. You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"Relax, not like I'm above living in places like these," Nikki replied, walking up the squeaky wooden stairs to the front porch of the shack. He knocked on the front door.

"Who is it?!" A squeaky voice called from inside.

"It's Penumbra, dear. I brought a friend, so I hope you don't mind his company," Penumbra called.

"I don't mind! It's my brothers that might have a problem with it," the child's voice groaned. "But yay! New playmate! New playmate! Righty-diddly-do!" Nikki could hear frantic buzzing from inside. It sounded like the busiest street of Honeycomb Highway all in that one little house.

"'Righty-diddly-do'?" Nikki asked Penumbra under his breath.

"It's a thing he does. You get used to it," Penumbra whispered back.

"Ohhh boy. I'm sure I'll have to," Nikki sighed.

"Buzz off, Charmy!" A croaky voice called. Suddenly, the door swung open, revealing a crocodile, a chameleon, and a bee. "Hey there, Penumbra. How's the investigation going?" The croc with the croaky voice asked, crossing his arms and smiling, bopping his head to some dulcet tones blasting out of his headphones.

"Poorly," Penumbra sighed. "How about you, Vector?"

"No luck," Vector the Crocodile replied. He looked to Nikki, then back to Penumbra. "Come in, come in. Bring your friend, too."

"Thank you," Penumbra replied, walking into the Chaotix Detective Agency Clubhouse. "C'mon, pal." Nikki cautiously entered the house in her lead.

"So what's your name?" Charmy asked, flying right by Nikki with his bee wings.

"N-Nikki Hedgehog," Nikki replied.

"Isn't Nikki a girls' name?" Charmy asked.

"Yes," Penumbra answered.

"It is?!" Nikki cried, shocked. "Darn…" His eyes were pulled over to a trash heap of robot parts. They looked to all be of the Heavy and Bomb series. "What happened here?"

"Those Bankniks keep coming by to collect rent. Something we can't give 'em," Vector groaned, sitting down on his squeaky spinning chair. "They're a huge hassle. You think you're rid of 'em and they keep on comin' back!"

"Yeah. Keep on comin' back!" Charmy exclaimed, punching the air.

"But! Solving this case could really get us back on our feet and get the bank to stop harassing us," Vector muttered, spinning away from Nikki and Penumbra and clasping his hands together. The overhead solar-powered light didn't quite reach his face, leaving him in the shadows. "It's a dangerous line of work, but we gotta do what we gotta do, right Espio?" The ninja-like chameleon looked over, then away.

"Yes," Espio the Chameleon agreed bashfully.

"That's what it's all about," Penumbra sighed, leaning onto the desk.

"If you need any more hands on deck, I would be happy to help," Nikki offered, reaching his hand towards Vector for a handshake.

"Buddy, I hardly know anything about you," Vector replied, looking at Nikki weirdly. "But if you survived Penumbra long enough to become friends, you might just have what it takes. I guess it couldn't hurt to let you onto the investigation." Vector shook hands with Nikki. "Now… make yourself at home. We got everything, even a piano. Just don't use the upstairs bathroom and you'll be fine."

"Noted," Nikki replied. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"Ah, great. Twenty bucks says it's more Bankniks," Vector grumbled, looking towards Espio. "I'll get it."

"We don't have twenty between any of us," Espio mumbled in response. Vector opened the door, and looked all around. Nobody was there.

"Hey, gumshoe! Down here," a girl's voice shouted. Nikki's heart skipped a beat. That voice… Vector looked down towards a frog girl and a wooly mammoth boy. The frog girl was holding her hand up demandingly, requesting… something...

"Whaddya want, kid?" Vector asked. "It ain't Halloween, and it certainly ain't no federal holiday. Means I have work to do, so get lost."

"We're here on a field trip to collect your rent," Susie the Frog growled, clawing her hand and giving Vector a death stare. "The Heavies and Bombs the Twelfth National Bank of Seaside City sent haven't returned. You haven't been doing anything funny with 'em have you?"

"No!" Vector lied. "I would never damage a Banknik."

"Move," Susie ordered. Vector practically slammed himself to the right of the doorway, allowing for Susie and Pico to enter the clubhouse.

"What's the bank doing sending BOMBS to a guy's place anyways?!?! This is a violation of my rights!" Vector shouted, as Susie glanced down disappointedly at the heap of Banknik parts. Pico stared down at the Heavies and Bombs blankly.

"If you keep this up, the bank will probably kick you out… Since nobody is gonna want this rickety old shack, it'll probably be torn down and replaced with another chemical plant," Susie stated, writing something down in a spiral-bound butterfly notepad. "Pico, how do you spell 'failure?'" Susie handed the notepad to Pico, who scribbled in the correct spelling with pink crayon. A vein popped out on Vector's head in anger. "You have two weeks. Then we'll be back to evict you all." Susie walked out of the clubhouse's front door. Pico held the door open for her. Still wasn't the kind of door that would close on its own. He followed her out, running slowly with his arms out to the side.

Vector groaned, as he walked over to the grand piano in the room next to the lobby. Espio and Charmy looked over to him, sadly. Penumbra tilted her head to the right, staring at Vector as he began to play a beautiful song on the piano. Nikki didn't quite know what to do. "Effed up world," Penumbra sighed. Vector frowned, closed his eyes, and nodded slightly.

"Yeah… so effed up," Charmy repeated, his wings buzzing out a low note as his antennas drooped. Espio leaned back onto the wall.

"What? A croc can't rock the keys no mo'?" Vector asked, feigning offense as he looked to Penumbra without missing a single note. He smiled a little. "Seriously, though. This is part of the reason I want to close this case. If we can seize this opportunity the PD gave us by catching the PTOH, we'll finally be able to get on our feet again."

"It's not cheap to live in the Robotnik Empire," Espio muttered. "But we have no other option unless we want to be deported back to the countries we were born in." Nikki made a mental note to get registration for his new persona. "If we lose this house, and this company, my brothers won't be able to follow me back to Iron Dominion."

"We won't let that happen, bro," Vector replied, ending his song suddenly and glancing at Espio. "Enough worryin' about the future. We gotta solve this mystery right now so that it doesn't get to that point."

"You're right," Espio agreed.

"Sorry for getting you two involved in our family drama," Vector apologized to Penumbra and Nikki. "What's your phone, Nikki?" Nikki looked up to the Tails Electric chip in his glasses.

"... I don't have one…" Nikki lied.

"What? Oh well. Guess I can just call Penumbra. So don't go far from her," Vector told Nikki. Penumbra nodded.

"We'll split up and look for clues, then," Penumbra then laughed. "Nah, not really. Nikki and I should probably rest up. Good luck, gang!" Nikki and Penumbra went out the doors while the Chaotix waved goodbye. Nikki still couldn't shake that feeling of guilt. In fact, it felt like it was getting worse.