Meant to Bee (A Chaotix Detective Agency fanfiction)

You Will Bee Found

   Espio the Chameleon was moments away from finding the hideout.

   The Chaotix Detective Agency had been on the trail of these thugs for days. Now he had them in his sights.

   He stayed to the shadows when he could, his scales always blending perfectly into his surroundings. He'd been following them for five blocks now. They still hadn't spotted him. No one could when he was in stealth mode.

   The two thugs turned into an alley. Espio hastened his pace, but by the time he reached the opening, they were out of sight.

   He slipped into the alley and pressed into the shadows, silent and motionless. He listened.

   No footsteps or sounds of movement. But as he strained his ears, he heard... something. Something coming from deeper in the alley. He couldn't quite figure out what it was.

   He slipped along the rough brick wall, staying blended against its colors. He paused once he'd gotten a little further. There it was again. A soft noise, almost a humming, or a buzzing.

   It seemed to be coming from a cardboard box against the alley wall. Espio looked around, and once he was sure he was alone, relaxed and changed back to his normal shade of purple. He stepped closer to the box and peered inside.

   It was... a baby.

   A tiny baby bee lay in the box, wrapped in a dirty, tattered blanket. Its eyes were closed tightly as it continued to make little buzzing sounds, like it was trying to comfort itself.

   As Espio's shadow fell across it, its antenna twitched and it opened its big, honey-colored eyes. It blinked a few times upon seeing him and began to cry, stretching its arms towards him.

   Espio jumped back and glanced around in a panic, looking for someone to help. He had no idea what to do with a baby.

   He was alone. Of course. He'd already checked for that. Besides, this was an alley. Even if there were someone, he wasn't going to trust some random person in an alley with a baby.

   Well great.

   He stepped back to the box. The baby was still crying. He carefully reached in and scooped up the baby.

   Once he got it into his arms, the crying stopped. It rubbed its fuzzy head against his chest, tickling him with its tiny antenna, and buzzed softly. Espio began to feel strangely warm for a cold-blooded animal.

   He shifted the baby into one arm and pulled out his communicator. "Vector. We've got a situation"

   Vector's gruff voice crackled over the speaker. "What's going on? Are you okay? Do you need reinforcements?"

   "No, I'm fine. It's not about the case." Espio stared down at the tiny bundle snuggled in his arms. "I... got sidetracked."

   "You, sidetracked? You're a ninja! You're the most focused person I know!"

   "This was important."

   "More important than solving this case and getting our rent money?"

   "You'd be surprised." Espio awkwardly bounced the baby with one arm. "I'll meet you back at the office. You'll understand when I get there."

   "This better be good," Vector grumbled.

   Espio almost chuckled. Well, it was certainly going to be a surprise.