Well it's been awhile. College, work and other fun stuff keeping me from writing BUT I've got some cool news to announce - a dub of Sonic the Hedgehog: Secret Identity has been made.. Rate and comment, give them your feedback and admire some of the cool work they've done. Simply search 'Sonic the Hedgehog: Secret Identity (a STH Audio Drama) EP1: Pilot.

Finally I spend a lot of my free time running a fantasy roleplaying site known as Thelotia: City in Crisis. So if you're interested in writing and hanging with me, give it a try. There's an intense amount of lore and a lot to do there. If you're looking for it search Theloita: City in Crisis Proboards

Without further advertising I'd like to thank everyone for the continued support for this fanfiction. I was about 15 when I first started Secret Identity and now I'll be 21 in June. A bit nostalgic as of late I guess, anyway - ENJOY.

The storm had kept New York bogged down for weeks now, washing into the streets and flushing any source of movement at all. It had been years since the city had seen such a long lasting storm and nobody in their right minds were taking to the streets.

The only people who dared to enter the roads were those who had no choice or the foolish who doubted the force of the storm. Which brings us to the Prowler family who were intent on making the journey out to New York City to visit their parents for the coming Easter holiday. 'Hell or high water' the father would start, 'We're making it!' So despite every warning not to go, they set off onto the streets. But things were getting dark now and the storm seemed to only grow with each passing second.

Which brings us to the second family, the one who had to be on the road. Having left earlier in the day when things had not been so bad, Sonic and his father were now making the venture back to New York City. Sonic's father tried to keep a bright smile for his young son, but not being able to see a couple of feet in front of you was horribly bothersome! What he didn't realize was that just a small distance away was the Prowler family's old station wagon, having an equal amount of tough time keeping on the road.

"Perhaps we should pull over," Piped Mrs. Prower, her eyes locked on her two young children in the back. Mr. Prowler merely waved off her comment, perhaps afraid if they were to pull over his pride would be lost at the hands of nature.

"We'll be there in a bit." He added.

He lied. They were a good forty minutes from the city.

"In no time at all, you'll see."

He lied again.

The next few seconds were merely a blur, something ran out in front of them causing Mr. Prowler to slam the brakes which merely caused the car to slide against the deep puddles of water that covered the road. They slid into a rock that tipped the car over, with a helpless scream from the children and a yell from Mr. Prowler the car landed on its back, still having a bit momentum left to slide further... right off a small hill. The car rolled a bit before tumbling into a tree, causing a crunch sound as the car suddenly met its end at the hands of a large tree that merely shuttered against the force.

This was all witnessed by Sonic and his father who stopped their car a good distance away as they helplessly watched the car tumble off the hill. Sonic's dad didn't think very long, he threw on the brakes and leaped out of the car, phone in one hand and the other trying to block some of the incoming rain.

"I'm coming with you!" The thirteen year old Sonic yelled out, unlatching his door only to receive a sharp look from his father.

"Stay in the car!"

Sonic didn't want to listen, but truthfully he was happy he didn't have to rush out into the darkness. Leaning onto the dashboard, classical music still humming in the background as he watched his dad slide down the hill. With his father out of sight his heart began to race, the young Sonic could barely sit still, squirming nervously in his chair as every and noise fueled the many scenarios running through his mind.

As Sonic stayed in the car his dad made it to the wreckage, having called the emergency services he did what he could to check on the family. Throwing open the driver side he came to the sight of a mangled mess that remained of Mr. and Mrs. Prower. He cursed, about to stand up when he heard the small cries of two children. He quickly threw open the back door, revealing the two young children in the back who were dazed and in tears.

Sonic's father bit the front of his lip as he saw the two children, part of him leaping in joy that there was life while the other mourning the fact they were now seemly without parents. He took the two children away from the car, climbing the small hill before returning to his car. He opened the back door and had the two children crawl inside the car. Sonic, who craned his head to look at the two beaten up kids, gave a weak smile.

"Don't worry, everything's going to be okay. Alright?" Sonic assured as the rain patted ruthlessly against the car. To the younger child his words meant nothing, it was all muted to her as she cried out for her parents. But through the tiers of the six year old Miles, he heard Sonic's words and for some reason believed the young teenager.

Staring up with wide eyes, Sonic spoke once more...

Chapter Five: "Nothing bad will happen. I promise."

"Yes!" Exclaimed Miles who quickly leaped up from his desk chair, a burst of joy filling the nine year old boy as he seemly reached the goal of his work. "Haha, I knew this 'bee virus' wasn't as good as it was made out to be."

He cracked his fingers and bent over his computer, giving a couple more taps on the keys before freezing in place, his eyes scanning the screen as his smile quickly fell to a frown. "Oh no..." He muttered as he tapped a few more keys, inputted a few lines of code before cringing at the sight, "No,no,no,no!"

Alas, another dead end. "Have I been defeated!?" Miles exclaimed as he ran his hand through his messy blond hair.

"No, no, I have to keep working. Too much is riding on my success here. Besides, it's only..." Miles paused as he suddenly noticed the sun peaking through the blinds. "What time is it?"

Suddenly the door to his room burst open with such a loud thud Miles was sure the door handle had gone through the wall. With the full force of the morning sun now shining into his room Miles could only shield his sleep deprived eyes from the burning light that flooded into the room.

"Miles!" Screamed his younger sister, Cream Prower.

"ACK, stay out of my temple of zen!" Miles ordered as the 'blinding' light shined into his room. The young girl marched in wearing a rather large sun hat, polka dotted dress and white sandals. Her face had an expression straight out of hell.

"It's time to go!" The little girl demanded, hands at her hips and eyes squinted at her older brother who merely stared at her with a blank stare that meant he had no idea what she was talking about.

"Uh..." Miles started, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes, "Where?"

"Don't joke with me Miles, you don't ever forget anything." Cream pouted, "Grandma made you promise you'd take me to the park today!"

"Oh." Miles blinked, the memories of such events suddenly washing back to him, "I was wasn't I?"

"Yes!"

"Well I can't!" He quickly added, swiveling his chair back to his computer, "I'm far too busy!"

"Miles!" She yelled, stomping her foot down as if the force of her action would make him get up and take her. "You promised!"

"This is more important than a morning at the park!" Miles defended, "Now go away and close the door, you're killing all the mold I'm growing with the light you're letting in!"

"Grandmaaaaaaa!" Cream cried quickly rushing down the hall.

'Oh please ignore her...' Miles hoped as he waited for a reaction by his Grandma. A little bit of time went by, perhaps she decided to side with Miles this time!

"MILES!" Suddenly came the booming voice of his Grandmother, echoing into the room with thunderous proportions.

'Oh perfect...'

Before Miles could voice any opposition he was out the door and on the streets, laptop in one hand while the other was being held by Cream (who to make Miles's defeat worse insisted that he hold her hand). The early morning sun stung his sleep deprived eyes causing him to squint in attempt to see anything beyond four feet.

"I can't wait to get to the park," Cream started in her usual excited tone of voice, "First I'm going to swing because last time I was there I just started to learn how. I don't plan to go very high because that will make me scared, will you be there to catch me if I fall off, Miles?"

In his head were scrolls upon scrolls of code, constantly repeating over and over. It was so expansive, Miles knew what every combination of code meant but was unable to understand what it was trying to tell him.

'Keep scanning,' Miles thought, his brain working like a overwhelmed computer.

"Miles!"

'Figure out the patterns...'

"Miles!"

"What!?" Miles exclaimed, the numbers in his head suddenly interrupted by the virus known as Cream. Except there was a legitimate reason as to why she broke him out of his trance, standing in front of the two was a tall, attractive red headed fifteen year old girl that had been living in Miles's neighborhood for as long as he could remember – her name was Amy, and Miles had not been expecting to see her at all.

"A-Amy!" Miles exclaimed, quickly running his hair through his messy hair in attempt to look somewhat respectable. "W-What are you doing here!?"

"You're out in front of my house, Miles."

"Yeah, I know that. My question still remains."

Amy gave Miles a confused look who quickly regretted his fumbled line of questioning. He quickly glanced away, "Uh, yeah..."

Amy looked over at Cream and gave a soft smile before speaking again, "So where are you two heading?"

"Comic book store-"

"The park!" Cream exclaimed, leaving her poor brother trying to scramble away his embarrassment. Although why he felt a comic book store was a way cooler place to hang out is rather unusual.

"Yeah, we're heading to the park..." Miles sighed, giving a defeated look.

Amy glanced back at her house, you could hear shouts from her parents escaping the weak walls of her house. "You don't mind if I come with you, do you?" Amy asked, to which Cream, oblivious to the yells quickly piped in.

"Of course! You can push us both on the swing!"

"I-I don't need to be pushed on the swing!" Miles fought back defensively.

"Of course!" Amy nodded, taking Cream's hand as they began to walk towards the park.

"Guys, seriously. I can swing by myself..." Miles voiced, as if repeating it would help, "Guys..."

"Come on..." Miles hissed as he sat crossed legged on the bench, laptop resting on his legs as Amy and Cream played in the sand. "How can this Queen Bee be so good!"

Time seemed to pass without a notice for Miles who busied himself on trying to track the code back to the user. He didn't even notice Amy approach him and lean in to look at his computer.

"Watcha working on?" She asked, causing Miles to fumble and quickly exit out of the program.

"N-Nothing!"

"Nothing?"

"Well, I was checking my Facebook... messaging people..." He trailed off as a disbelieving Amy stared on, "I was messaging Sonic. Okay?"

Well that's at least believable... you get wi-fi around here?"

"This is New York, there's always someone's wi-fi I can hack into." Miles shrugged off the question with a small chuckle, as if suggesting such a thing was ridiculous.

"Oh..." Amy accepted that, which of course was the actual truth. She leaned back onto the bench, watching Cream closely as she played with other kids her age, "How is he?"

"Who?"

"Sonic, silly." Amy said with a laugh that made Miles quickly regret asking such a question.

"He's fine..." Miles nodded, "Busy. He's always busy..."

"What's he do that make him so busy...?" This line of questioning was going deeper than Miles had hoped it would, honestly he couldn't think of an excuse as to why Sonic was so busy all the time.

"Oh, well, he's always flying out to see Maria." That wasn't a complete lie, Sonic had gone out there once or twice to visit. Yet Sonic had admitted that is seemed like he just reminded her of the past events, so he stopped going out to visit her, not wanting to make the pain already felt worse.

"Oh..." Amy trailed off, "He's changed so much. I don't even see him at school anymore."

"Yeah..." Miles agreed. Sonic had changed so much since the attack by Chaos, seemly consumed by his 'image' he seemed completely oblivious to his life outside Sonic the Hedgehog. It was like he didn't even care about hanging out anymore, his job consumed every moment available he had.

"Oh!" Amy snapped her fingers, "You know what we should do? We should have a big movie night like we used to, he can even invite those two friends of his, what were their names...?"

"Dart and Tikal..." Miles said, closing his eyes in thought.

"Yeah, he can invite those two! It'll be fun!"

"Amy..." Miles began, choosing his words carefully, "Tikal was killed in the attack on New York last year."

"O-oh..."

"Yeah..."

"A lot of people were lost there." Amy nodded, remembering the events correctly. Nobody could forget the terrifying moment that changed the world.

"Too many..." Miles muttered, shaking his head to try and move the memories away.

"B-but that still doesn't mean we can't get everyone together. You should text Sonic, okay?" Amy asked, to which Miles thought a good long time before nodding.

"Yeah, I'll try to get him to agree. I'm sure he'd like that."

"Excellent." Amy said while clasping her hands and giving a sweet smile. Amy gave Miles a pat on his shoulder before sitting up from the bench. Placing her hands on her hips she looked forward as Cream called for Amy's attention, "Well it looks like Cream wants to swing. You in?"

Miles adjusted his glasses awkwardly as he stared up at the beautiful redhead, "Uh, no, I don't swing. I'm nine now, you know."

"Oh alright," Amy huffed in a playful tone, "Suit yourself."

Miles gave a sigh of relief as Amy walked away from him. He always found it difficult to talk to any girl (well, ANYONE actually) that he wasn't super close to. Miles had always been really close to Sonic and Maria and the days they'd spend hanging around in Sonic's house were some of his favorite memories... Miles would give anything to go back to the simplicity of those days.

But those days were gone, the innocence was washed away by the bloody confrontation with Chaos that aged the entire city. Even the laughter in the park today wasn't how it used to be...

Miles typed away on his laptop as the noises around him began to fade away once again, thankfully he wasn't as absorbed in his work to miss the sight of a hulking man start walking in his direction. At first Miles ignored it and figured it was just one of the many people in the park, but the look on his face was so... so very intimidating.

He felt uncomfortable by the man's presence (didn't exactly have a kid walking around did he?) and Miles dug himself further into the computer to keep from staring at the hulking figure of death that man presented. Of course he couldn't stop, ever couple minutes he'd peak up from his laptop and make a glance to see what he was doing. About the third time around when he peaked up from his laptop he noticed the man was actually gone.

"Well... that was weird..." Miles chuckled, about to go back to working when someone suddenly sat beside him. That same, hulking man as before. Miles felt his gut clench and his fingers tighten around his laptop as the man stared directly at the young boy.

Without a word the man dug his hands into his jacket pocket, 'what is that, a knife!? A gun!?' No, it was an envelope and he handed it directly to Miles before getting up and walking right away.

"Okay... no THAT was weird." Miles exclaimed as he watched the man walk away. Glancing at the envelope he cautiously opened it up, pulling out the paper and unfolding it...

...It was an add, for a new casino that apparently opened up last year in Las Vegas. The building was a most unique looking thing – as was many casinos in the city – built as building that stretched high into the air with a white dome on top, painted white with flashing ears that protruded from the top and flashed a neon pink. Miles thought it was an ugly building, but a building that would surely have caught the eyes of anyone who passing by. There was a note written on the back of the add, written in some of the most refined and beautiful handwriting Miles had ever laid eyes on that it actually took him a moment to stop admiring the writing and instead read what it was written.

'You don't know who I am but I know you. More importantly, perhaps, we have a mutual friend. I was simply shocked when I saw the news – I didn't see it, I was informed and I later saw the highlights – that our mutual friend had been beaten in such a cruel and humiliating way. As it happens... we share a common enemy as well as a common friend and I propose we meet. Bring Sonic with you, as we have much to discuss'.

At the bottom of the page was the imprint of a kiss left in rich red lipstick. Miles read the note over several times and was honestly flabbergasted at the entire thing. He thought he should know who it was as it seemed so familiar.

"Espio?" Miles echoed out, wondering if this was some sort of elaborate trap. He brushed it aside, knowing that he was far too careful to have made a mistake. Far too careful for some other hacker to find him.

This was something he couldn't push away though or hide and Sonic needed to know about this. Miles gritted his teeth and brought his sight back up to Amy and Cream. The two girls seemed happy and had an abundance of energy playing about... that unnerved Miles; he had work to do... people to find... and Sonic to help.

"You think it's a trap?" I asked, glancing over the note once more in some fruitless attempt to try and decipher some hidden message.

"I was hoping you could tell me that." Miles said, tilting his head to the side and fixing his glasses. I had come back to Miles's place later that night after receiving several texts from him. I had wanted to return earlier but I had spent a great deal of last night getting put back together in some dingy clinic and I had to spend some time at home as to NOT worry my parents. Hiding my wounds was a painful experience and the talk I got about keeping my grades up and being responsible was even worse. They have no idea what I do... the level of responsibility I undertake and the amount of people I save EVERY day. They would have me focusing on mathematics and English like every other kid.

I look up from the paper, setting it down as my frustration surged. My head felt dizzy – perhaps more from the pain meds I had received than anything else. "I honestly have no clue who this could be."

My first thought that it was a trap, than in some weird turn of a thought I imagined it might have been Maria but that didn't exactly make sense GIVEN SHE DIDN'T HAVE A CASINO. My thoughts then turned to Dart... and I was even more confused as to why I would even have considered that as a possibility. Clearly I wasn't thinking right.

Miles motioned to his computer screen, "Well I did some research; the owner of the company belongs to one Drake Gallham."

"Sounds like a dude."

"A pretty good assumption."

"I'm smart like that." I shot a smile towards Miles as the kid dug through internet pages.

"But there's really NOTHING on this guy. No pictures, no previous investments and barely a school record that I could reasonably believe to be this man. I don't think he exists."

"So it's for sure a trap." Espio was looking to finish the job, was he?

"Kinda sounds like it..." Miles sighed, "But... there is something so familiar about that note and I'm pretty sure it's not Espio."

"...What are you suggesting?" I asked.

"That, we you know... take a trip to Las Vegas and take a closer look at this place." Miles said with a weak chuckle and cheesy grin. I narrowed my eyes and it dropped, I might have scolded him for rushing me into a trap so early after getting my ass handed to me... yet I couldn't possibly be mad at him. My narrowed, annoyed look turned softer and my own grin appeared.

"Okay..." I give Miles a nod, "But first... first I'm gonna need some sick new shades."

"...What for?"

"AND A BLACK TURTLE NECK."

Miles and I lock eyes before we both proclaim, "BECAUSE ALL GOOD SPIES WEAR BLACK TURTLE NECKS."

Well hell... if we're going to be doing some spying might as well fit the part, right?

Yet in the back of my mind I wondered what would happen if Espio was there...? Could I really take him on...

Some foreign feeling swirled in my stomach – doubt... and maybe even fear.

My head was spinning and I felt a bit sick but there was no turning back now.

Whooooaaaa, who is the messenger?! Will Sonic and Miles blend in as spies!? Find out... sometime. ;)