"You mean to tell me they took Charmy?!" Vector yelled; he was furious.

The three remaining Mobians had returned to the Chaotix HQ, having found no trace of Charmy, they didn't know where else to go. The (a/t) had her head down the whole trip back, she had said nothing.

Now, Vector was almost glaring at her, standing behind his desk in an attempt to not strangle the mute Mobian. Espio stood beside her, the whole way he had mumbled a thank you to her or told her it wasn't her fault. But even still, (Y/N) felt terrible about it.

"At least we have the cat." The chameleon turned his concerned gaze to Vector, "We can question him and find out where they would have taken him."

"That's all well and good Espio, but we wouldn't be in this mess if (Y/N) hadn't left Charmy by himself." Vector growled, "He's a child! You don't leave children alone in the city!"

"She was saving us from being shot." The purple chameleon stated, almost too calmly, "We'd both most likely be dead now if it wasn't for her. What would happen to Charmy then hm?"

The crocodile growled, before sitting down and holding his head, "We shouldn't have taken the job... The moment she pulled that knife out, we should have declined."

The room fell silent, and (Y/N) turned her gaze between the two detectives. Quietly, she mumbled a sorry to Espio, before leaving the building. The (a/t) didn't mean to cause this much pain for them. If she knew what was going to happen, she wouldn't have asked for help.

And now an innocent child was in danger, because of her.

Tears filled her eyes and she wiped them away, but she stopped walking. The (a/t) took a deep breath, before raising her gaze to the sky. She had to find the little bee, before he is hurt, or worse.

"(Y/N)." She flinched as Espio called out to her, his feet crunching on the grass, "Don't leave."

She faced him slowly, her ears pressed against her head, "H-How can I... Not...?"

"We knew how dangerous this case would be." Espio stated, "It's not just your fault, Vector and I are both as much to blame as well."

The (a/t) shook her head, hugging her arms, "I shouldn't... H-Have left him..."

"Trust me." The purple Mobian placed an arm on her shoulder, "I'd rather you have saved us. I love Charmy as much as Vector does, but I'm grateful to know that he's still out there, and we're alive to look for him."

"But..."

"We'll get him back, don't you worry about it. We just need to let Vector cool down." He turned her away from the house, "I advised he question the cat while in that mood, so we best leave them be..."

She lifted her gaze again, staring up at the chameleon, "What... What will he...?"

"I don't want to know." Espio said simply, "We've... Never done this before."

"S-Sorry..."

"It's alright, we would get one of these cases eventually. And we'll learn from out mistakes." He offered a smile, "Now lets go look for clues, surely someone would have seen what happened to Charmy."

The (a/t) nodded slowly, smiling at his kindness. If it wasn't for him, she would have left to find her brother herself. If it wasn't for him, she'd still feel terrible.

"Thank you..." She smiled.

"It's no problem." Espio nods, before taking her arm, "Now let's go. It will be dark soon, we should try to get as much information as possible."

Soon enough, the two were back in front of the restaurant, asking strangers if they had seen a small bee flying around town. There had been no such luck, everyone giving them weird looks or telling them no, some even ignored them completely.

It seemed like there would be no leads to Charmy. The (a/t) thought for a moment. She was still sure the people in the black car would have taken him.

"We should ask about a black car..." She mumbled to the chameleon.

"A black car? Not to be rude (Y/N)..." He sighed, scratching his head, "But there are many black cars in Mobius, we won't be able to pin point just one."

The (a/t) pouted, before looking around for any sort of help. She found herself staring at the restaurant, at the people that sat inside, eating an laughing. A pang went through her chest, and she sighed,

"What about the restaurant...?"

"What about it?"

"The people working..."

Espio glanced at her. Why did she seem so... Sad suddenly? A sort of bad aura seemed to radiate her as she stared into the building.

"That's a good idea (Y/N), the people working may have seen the car, or even Charmy, and they might have surveillance on what happened." He walked towards the restaurant, but noticed she didn't follow, "(Y/N)?"

She startled, before nodding and following him into the building. The smell of fancy foods hit their noses, and the two were both suddenly very hungry.

"Should we get something to eat while we're here? We'll think better after eating."

The (a/t) nodded slowly, still looking around the room. Espio could tell something was wrong, but instead of forcing it out of her, he'd ask when they had the time. If she didn't answer, he'd leave it at that.

A waitress walked over and welcomed them, before leading them to a table and handing them both menus. (Y/N) looked over it and her eyes widened,

"I-I can't pay..."

"We'll put it on Vector's tab." Espio shrugged, "We need to eat."

"N-No... He doesn't like me..."

"He's just mad. He'll get over it."

The two ordered their food, Espio asked if he'd be able to speak to the owner of the diner. The waitress seemed unsure, but nodded and went off to find them.

Their food came out, rather quickly, and the two started eating. Their conversation went silent, and an awkward setting took place. Espio kept eating his food, however, and didn't say a word until he was done.

Finally, the owner walked over. He raised a brow at the two, looking as if he was expecting a complaint.

"How was your food?" He asked, arms crossed defensively.

"Wonderful actually." Espio stated, raising his gaze, "I just have a few questions if you don't mind."

"It's not animal meat, if that's what you're asking."

"No no." The chameleon shook his head, "I'm a detective. I'm currently working on a case, a missing person. He was believed to be kidnapped earlier today, just outside your restaurant. I was wondering if we could just look at your surveillance cameras for any signs of the kidnapping."

The owner blinked, before nodding, "Of... Of course. But I'll need proof you're a detective."

The chameleon sighed, "I suppose... I don't have any evidence. I work with the Chaotix, we're friends of Sonic."

"Friends of Sonic huh? Then there is no proof needed. If you're finished eating, I can show you to our security office. It's not much, but it will have what you're after."

"Thank you." Espio stood, before offering his hand to the (a/t), "We'll we're both done, so lets go."

The owner nodded, before leading the two to the back of the building. As they passed other customers, the (a/t) watched them, seeing them eat and laugh, talk, muck around. She sighed, her ears lowering. If only she could have that again.

Espio glanced at her, before then looking at the families and tilted his head. What was he missing? Why did (Y/N) seem so sad around these people?

He stopped thinking about it when they came to a door, the owner opened it for them,

"Down the hall, first to the left. The password is PappasPizza1. Good luck on your case."

"Thank you again." Espio bowed, before walking down the hall and into the room. Once both Mobians where there, they sat down and started looking through the feed. It didn't take them long to find what they were after.

On the screen, it showed (Y/N) sitting with Charmy, before the little bee pointed at a black car. The grey cat climbed out and walked down the ally. (Y/N) turned to Charmy, telling him something, before following the cat.

Charmy looked like he wanted to follow, but the bee crossed his arms, sitting on the ground. Then, a brown cat climbed out of the car and walked over to him, crouching in front of him. He looked around the area suspiciously, talking to the bee.

(Y/N) frowned. The brown cat looked familiar, like one of her brother's friends. What was he doing in that car? Espio frowned as the cat then grabbed Charmy by the arm and wrapped him in what looked like a hug as some people walked by.

Once they were off, he walked back to the car, Charmy still in his hold, before climbing in and driving off. Moments later, Vector ran out, looking around.

"Wow... So he was taken..." Espio sighed, "Poor Charmy, he must be so scared..."

(Y/N) turned her gaze to the chameleon, before resting a hand on his arm.

"We'll save him... Y-You said so yourself."

He looked at her, his gold eyes shining slightly, "Of course. We better report back to Vector as well, tell him what we know. He can tell us what he learnt as well."

"Right." The (a/t) smiled. Finally, a lead, "Get the number plate as well, we can track the car once we report back... Right?"

Espio nodded, "Right."