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There was a knock on the door to the Chaotix Detective Agency.
At 3:44AM.
In the middle of a thunderstorm.
"Espioooooo," Charmy grumbled, smushing a pillow over his head, "Go get the door."
Espio let out a sigh as he dragged himself out of bed. It didn't matter how loud the banging on the door was, Vector was a heavy sleeper. There was no way that he would've heard it. So, unless he wanted to stay awake for the next three hours, he had no choice but to go and answer it.
He put on his best polite face as he reached the door.
"Chaotix Detec-- Oh, it's you two."
There, on the other side of the door, stood a black and red armadillo, who had an arm wrapped around a yellow flying squirrel. Both were dripping wet with rain.
"That's it? Just 'Oh, it's you two'? Not 'Oh my gosh Mighty and Ray it's been so long I missed you so much!'?" Mighty scoffed, offended.
"Pardon me if I don't look... elated, but it's practically 4 in the morning," Espio let out a yawn, "...and storming."
"Yeah..." Mighty looked down at his waterlogged boots and then over to Ray's sopped fur, "You don't say..."
Ray cleared his throat, sending the chameleon a nervous smile.
"S-sorry to interrupt, but can we come in?"
---
The three of them sat in the agency's living room.
Espio let out a yawn.
"You two can sleep on the couch tonight. Apologies, we don't have a room prepared. The other two are currently asleep right now, and I wouldn't bother them either. It's... been a long day."
"Aw, don't worry about it, man! It's our own fault for barging in your house so late... early?"
"Y-yeah! We're sorry for waking you up. We can dry ourselves off and t-take care of ourselves on our own. Y-you can go back to sleep now." Ray rubbed his face with a towel.
"Say, won't the others be wondering what the loud noises downstairs were?" Mighty inquired, helping Ray dry off.
Espio let out a sigh.
"No. Vector's a heavy sleeper and Charmy was half asleep when he asked me to come down here."
"Wait, so you weren't p-planning on telling them we're here?" Ray stopped drying himself momentarily.
"Correct. They can surprise themselves in a couple hours for not opening the door themselves." He yawned again, "That being said, I'm going back to bed. Goodnight."
"'Night, Espio! Sorry for waking you up, again."
---
Vector let out a yawn as he made his way downstairs. One glance at the closed door in front of him with no sunlight seeping out from below told him that neither Charmy nor Espio were awake yet.
Which was weird, since Espio was usually up first.
Either way, breakfast wasn't going to make itself.
Or... was it?
He could smell and hear the sizzling noise coming from the kitchen.
Confused, he made his way to where the sound was coming from.
His jaw dropped almost immediately.
"Mighty! Ray! What're you two doin' here?! When did ya get here?"
Ray jumped, nearly dropping the plate he was holding. Mighty, the one in charge of the savory smell and sizzling noises only smirked, flipping the pan multiple times.
"We've been here since... hm, let's see." He glanced at the clock on the wall. "Approximately three hours ago."
"Wait, what?"
"Yeah, we got caught in a thunderstorm and decided to crash here for the night. Hope you don't mind?"
"E-Espio let us in." Ray chimed in, still gathering plates.
At Vector's confused stare, Mighty let out a snicker.
"Man, he was right about you being a heavy sleeper. You seriously didn't hear any of that?"
"Hear any what?"
"The knocking? Or, banging, I should say. I was knocking on the door so hard that I was afraid I was going to punch it right off the hinges!"
"Er... no. I did not hear any of that." He paused, "Was it really that loud?"
There was a loud gasp from behind the three of them.
"MIIIIGHTYYYYYYYY, RAAAAAYYYYYYY!"
Vector ducked just in time to avoid being barreled into by a hyperactive bee. Mighty, however, only managed to put the pan down in time before getting knocked off his feet.
"Ooof-- Hey, you're getting strong, kid! That was a nice tackle right there!" The armadillo chuckled, rubbing the bee's head.
"When did you get here? Can you tell me about your adventures? Is that bacon? Can I have some? When did you come back? Hi Ray!"
"Alright, alright, give them some space, Charmy." Vector pulled Charmy off of Mighty. "Is Espio still sleepin'?"
"Ah, yeah, we kinda woke him up in the middle of the night. Let him sleep, he looked like he needed it." Mighty rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.
Charmy giggled excitedly, sneaking a bite of bacon while the two were distracted. Ray let out a gasp, but Charmy shushed him with a single look.
"How long have you been in town for?" Vector asked, pulling Charmy away from the food.
"We just arrived yesterday, actually. We meant to find shelter earlier, but the storm dropped on us unexpectedly. Luckily, we still remembered how to navigate around the city and found the agency again! You guys were actually the first ones to know we're back."
"Hey, why don't you go surprise Sonic and the others?" Charmy piped up, mouth full of bacon, "I can think of a really good way to surprise them!"
"You know what? That sounds like a great idea, actually. Mind if I hear your plan?"
"Yeah! So basically, what we're gonna do is this..."