Chaos Bond

Establishing Priorities

Charmy put down his cloth as he finished cleaning up the robot that he and Vector had pulled from the sea. It was now hung up in the coffee room at the back of the Detective Agency, hidden behind a curtain that sectioned off the seating area from where they kept the coffee maker and the kettle. Charmy knew it was still going to make him jump whenever he came back here but at least it was a good spot to keep hidden from the accidental eyes of the public.

The rest of the planet were still wary of anything that resembled an Eggman robot and even the G.U.N. were trying to limit how often they used theirs, given that many of their designs were lifted from the evil scientist himself.

It was a good thing that Omega was as beloved as he was otherwise there would be a full on mob with pitchforks storming Shadow's apartment every other hour.

Drifting through from the other side of the curtain came the tinkle of the old piano.

Vector was quite the pianist when he wasn't too busy listening to his own boppy tunes and the Detective Agency always had that classic Film Noir feel to it when he was in full flow.

"What do you think, Vector?" Charmy asked, sticking his head round the curtain. "Think he's worth patching up or is he just a nice piece of decoration?"

Vector was engaged in a slow rendition of some Mozart piece but he glanced up at the sound of Charmy's voice.

"Most of the internal stuff's completely blown," he replied. "If he's gonna walk an' talk again, it won't be us doin' it."

Charmy puckered his lips and thoughtfully looked at the robot. "...Tails could do it."

"Thought Tails would'a been busy with findin' Silver," Vector murmured, getting lost in his piano playing again.

"Oh Silver's back."

"He's what?" The piano was silenced with a firm abruptness in mid-note. Vector was frowning at the bee with amazement.

"Back," Charmy repeated, "Silver's back. Cream told me."

"When did he-?" Vector began but shook his head. Once his initial shock was dealt with, he picked up where he left off and Mozart's melody continued on in the room. "Take it he's alright?"

"Dunno about that," Charmy shrugged, opening the fridge and digging out a can of some kind of fizz. "How alright do you expect him to be after a day with Metal?"

"Mmm," Vector agreed, leaning his head back and concentrating on the notes he was playing.

Charmy took a swig of his drink and then parked down on a chair, idly flicking through a garden magazine.

"...There's another storm brewin', Charmy boy," Vector suddenly announced in an ominous way. "Fine ol' storm brewing."

"Then it appears as though I've timed my return just right."

Vector and Charmy, recognising the voice, looked over at the doorway which connected the coffee room to the main offices and there was Espio, living up to his reputation by appearing out of nowhere. They hadn't even heard the front door bell.

"About time you showed up!" Charmy laughed, throwing his magazine down and leaning back in his chair. "Let him have it, Vec. Go on. Grill him on a spit!"

Vector, who hadn't stopped his playing, raised an eyebrow at the chameleon and smirked.

"Welcome back."

"Good to be back," Espio nodded. He came further into the room and gestured over his shoulder towards the office. "You haven't loaned my desk to anyone have you?"