Mr. Nigel sat in his office. He just finished sending orders to other agents. He disliked the numbers the reports showed him. Over the past month, about almost one hundred A-class agents went missing. Only about ten cases had witnesses, but there was no lead where they disappeared or if they were still alive.

Nigel hated to admit it, but he was sure none of them were breathing. He sighed, standing up. His body was sore and tired. He painfully realized he was getting old for the office job. However, he was the only one who could hold this huge organization together.

His daughter, Sally, was too young to bear such a big burden. He also wanted her to enjoy her life, but she put duty before first, second, and third, nothing else was on her to-do list. He really hoped Shadow would open her a bit. He seemed to be quite a decent person, and their discussions were always full of interesting questions and observations.

He moved to the big window. The time for late breakfast was announced by a growling stomach.

"Big?" he called his demonic friend, but the big cat was nowhere to be seen.

It didn't make him worried. Big was known to wander around for reasons he still couldn't understand. Sometimes he asked himself if he was looking for a good spot for fishing, or just walked around, smelling the shops outside.

With a fist, he massaged his stiff shoulders. 'Guess I'll go to have a meal in the canteen. It will be a nice change from eating here.'

He headed to the door when they abruptly opened, and Silver walked inside in tattered clothes.

"What happened to you?" the leader of The Order barked with wide eyes.

"I have encountered a new enemy," he answered and closed the door.

All thoughts about breakfast left, and Mr. Nigel made tea for both of them. Silver didn't wait for the drink and reported all that happened.

"Demonic limbs you say?" the squirrel asked. "Could he be connected to Dr. Finitevus?"

"That's what I'm thinking." The psychic took the last sip of his tea. "I'll take a research team with me to investigate the area."

Nigel nodded. "Good. Take whoever you want. Try to have results by tomorrow's morning."

"They will be delivered tonight," Silver corrected him with adamant determination and left.

Once he was gone, Nigel turned away from his table and moved to a bookshelf. There he moved and switched places of a few books. Once he pushed the red one on its new place, the heavy furniture rumbled and slid down, revealing a secret passage.

Nigel stepped on the stairs leading down, and the bookshelf moved back. The narrow corridor was gradually lit by crystals embed into the walls as he walked. The stairs ended, and he without the slightest pause proceeded to the center of the room.

It looked bare with stone walls and nothing to set your eyes on. Only big rings put inside of the walls broke the dullness.

Mr. Nigel took a deep breath. His hands started to make gestures and different shapes while he recited words in a different language. His voice gained strength and with it, the floor started to shine and letters floated above the ground enveloped by haze.

All the rings gradually lit up, almost blinding the man in the center, but he continued to recite. After a few seconds the lights mostly died out, and the area inside of the rings turned slightly blue. Nigel stopped his fingers, and let out a sigh. He had to wait for a minute or two before inside of the rings appeared faces.

 "What's the emergency?" a deep voice, belonging to a wolf woman, asked.

Nigel greeted her with a smile and nod. The woman relaxed her posture a bit, but her ears were pointing in his direction.

"As long I can enjoy my tea, I'm fine," joked a bit dog man who appeared just a second after the wolf woman.

The dog man was also greeted with a nod, and Nigel waited until all rings connected.

An older walrus man asked, "Is this meeting because of Dr. Finitevus?"

"Yes, I believe my agent Silver just a few hours ago met his man," Nigel answered.

"Do we have some visuals?" inquired a batwoman with a beautiful tiara.

"Yes, I have a detailed report of how he looks." Nigel cleared his throat. "As we speak, a team is investigating the site and collecting samples. If everything will go well, I can have them by tonight."

A silent growl escaped a bird's man beak. "So we can expect first reports a week later at best."

"We really need to work on the ring technology faster," added fox woman.

"That won't help," disagreed a snake woman, "it could only cause casualties. We have to be completely sure the connection between the two rings will be stable and secure."

"I agree," spoke pig man, "if we can't rely on the newest technology completely, we could get false results or our information would be leaked."

"But this way we are losing our time!" grumpily added a spider woman.

"No worries," Nigel interrupted them, "you will get the finished report in a matter of hours after its completion."

"What?" shrieked one after another, but especially a snake woman was heard with her high pitch.

"What do you mean?" added a horseman.

"I have an agent who is faster than the wind. His name is Sonic." He smiled a bit. "Trust me when I tell you he can do it."

"Sonic?" asked the cat woman. "I think I have heard one of my people talking about a cute hedgehog who handed them the reports," she chuckled.

"Well, yes," Nigel cleared his throat, "he is quick in making new friends and not always thinks about rules."

"I had a chance to notice," snorted the horseman in an amusing way. "Somebody should give him a manual on how to use doors."

"How come?" inquired the dog man.

"He jumped in my window with the last papers."

The room filled with light laughter.

When it settled down, the spider woman added, "We can all agree he is a bit too wild but hardworking."

"How about we hear from you about this new enemy," suggested the wolf woman. "I'll inform my men to keep an eye on him."

All they agreed. Nigel proceeded to describe the latest events. They all were amazed any person could wield demonic limbs. However, it was clear proof this young man was in cohorts with Dr. Finitevus.

It was unclear what his motive for this direct approach was, but it could be just a test. Dr. Finitevus was a mad scientist so it wasn't surprising.

Meanwhile, Silver was already at the site, checking the area for clues. The team he had consisted of ten people. Nobody needed his attention to doing their job, so he was free to explore on his own.

The psychic played the battle in his head over and over. His left hand was made to suck energy from the outside to channel it through the right one in the form of balls. He wondered if that hedgehog could do more like shooting beams.

The way his legs transformed and functioned as airborne transportation surprised him. He never saw anything flying without wings. Of course, he was an exception, but he had psychic powers.

He gnawed on his cheek. It irritated him he couldn't capture him. He was obviously an amateur. The attacks that landed were the lucky ones. Silver was merely caught off guard.

The psychic snorted and flew above the scene. A different angle could allow him to discover something new. Right now he needed a lead, something to latch on to and never let go. Anything that could lead him to that fool.

Silver bared his teeth. The memories of his childhood messed up his concentration as he had to push them away every minute. He should have killed his enemy. Selling his body to Dr. Finitevus, he was already dead anyway.

The wind hit him from behind, ruffling his quills. His head turned around. The area was full of the tree except for the blasted area and top of the stone wall. His eyes shot open. There was Big sitting at the top.

He quickly flew toward the big cat. Big seemed to be docile, almost stupid, be he was actually a demon who helped to found The Order. It was hard to stomach, but right now it didn't matter.

"Mr. Big," he called the sitting cat.

There was no response, and since the cat's eyes were always empty, it was hard to tell if he wasn't secretly sleeping with open eyes.

"Mr. Big!" he called once more. "I have a question."

"Big hears you."

It was weird how he sometimes talked in the third person about himself.

"How long are you here?" Silver tried to calm his heart, but if Big happened to witness the whole fight, he might know where the enemy went.

"A while."

Silver's eyebrow twitched. This wasn't the answer he wanted to get.

"Have you seen anybody leaving?" He tried to rephrase his question to be more specific.

Big's head tilted to one side to move to the other after a few seconds. "Many birds flew by."

"How about a flying person? A hedgehog with green and gray quills." The psychic was already boiling, but he had to endure this.

"There was somebody like this?"

Silver bit his lip, surpassing the burst of anger when Big got up. The psychic watched how he jumped down. He was about to catch the falling cat when he spread a red umbrella and slowly floated down.

It was weird. Umbrellas weren't made to make somebody float. Silver followed him down where Big landed without raising a speck of dust. It was funny. How could he move so lightly despite his size?

There was no doubt it had something to do with his demonic origin, but that wasn't Silver's main concern. Scattered members of the searching team saluted to the big cat as they noticed the duo.

Nobody really questioned what was Big doing here, so Silver could follow him wherever he was taking him. When they left the bloody marks on the ground, Silver started to feel dumb. What if Big was walking in a random direction?

That would tick him off, but then again. He didn't search a wide area, so maybe there is something else somewhere. This place wasn't the only one that hedgehog visited. With this on his mind, Silver made sure to pay attention to everything around him.

After about ten to fifteen minutes, they stopped at the border of the forest. Albion City was in front of them.

"Smells good," Big suddenly muttered and started to sniff around.

Silver stepped back, merely observing the strange demon cat. Big after a few seconds stopped with a smile on his face. The psychic quickly examined the spot Big's eyes were set on.

At first, it looked like nothing, but it was a stone with a visible scratch. Silver lifted it with his power.

"Toe claw?" he asked himself. "Did he leave it here... or somebody else?" he murmured.

He doubted any animal left it. The only demon could create such a mark. He hid it in his handkerchief.

"Mr. Big, do you think you could find more places that smelled like this stone?"

Silver had to curse himself for not thinking about using Eclipse's keen nose. But that demon would distract him with thoughts about torturing him.

"Hmm?"

However, Big managed to tick him off too with his unpredictable way of thinking. The long ears only twitched.

"Eh?" The big cat moved back into the forest.

The psychic followed eagerly to find more clues. Unfortunately, they stopped at a clearing and no matter how much Silver searched, there was nothing.

It was sometime after lunch when Silver finished his report. Now he had to wait for the rest of the team to finish analyze of the blood and stone. A lot of material from the site was most likely useless, but they couldn't allow any detail to slip them.

Nigel gave him an order to see a doctor, Silver ignored it. He had no time to rest or look like a mummy. His quick steps brought him to a gym behind the cathedral. It was protected by a barrier so nobody could see or hear anything coming from it. The psychic craved physical contact with a thick punching bag.

However, he had to settle with a normal one as Shadow was still away. He wondered how his mission was going, and why he wasn't sent to fulfill it. A silent tsk escaped from the corner of his mouth.

He would probably murder somebody if he would have to talk somebody into cooperation. It wasn't his style but gave him somebody to interrogate, and he had the results in a matter of a few hours.

His eyes ignored the people going in and out of the big building, but his nose wrinkled. It was such a long time he visited this place he forgot why he avoided it; it smelled of sweat.

He quickly found the way to the cabins where he changed his clothes. Most of the A and S-ranked agents had their own cabin to store clothes with inner energy locks reacting to their spiritual pattern. The psychic let his mind cover his hands with tape before he left the room.

On his way to the main area, he glanced at many people leaving. All of them gave him a wary look. Nobody wanted to be too close to him.