CHAPTER 1 - OLD FRIENDS AND NEW FRIENDS.
Rouge sat at her desk, letting her fingers dance over her keyboard as she typed away. She wasn't very fond of her job at GUN but she needed to the money anyway. She thought she had a normal, boring day-to-day job as a mission researcher. All she had to do was research information about different places, objects and people and email it to headquarters so she knew quit a lot about things that went on in and around GUN.
Her typing was interrupted by a phone ringing across the room. She arose from her chair with a deep sigh and walked towards the source of the noise on the small bedside table next to her desk.
''I wonder what he wants now...'' She huffed to herself as she picked up the phone and answering. ''Rouge here.''
''Hello rouge, how have you been?'' A familiar voice spoke from the other end of the line.
She smiled and answered trying not to sound to pleased to talk to her friend. ''Hey knuckles, I'm fine it's just been really lonely here.'' She replied leaning herself back against the wall.
''It must be boring doing nothing but research, huh?'' he chuckled slightly.
''Say that again...'' Rouge sighed straightening herself up and walking over to her computer with her phone in hand. ''So? for what do I owe the pleasure of researching?'' She asked sitting down to her desk.
''Can you just find out about another murder for me.'' Rouge let out a small laugh as she typed.
''Not another one.'' she joked. ''That's the 4Th this week.'' She paused as she scanned a file that came up on her screen. It was a police record of all the murders that had been happening lately. ''I found a file..'' she began as she continued to scan it. Knuckles just stayed silent for a few moments awaiting her to continue. ''apparently they think all the murders were connected somehow, and there's more.''
''Yeah, that's what I thought.'' knuckles said quietly comparing his theory.
Rouge found a few pages with a list of names that they believed may be connected to the killings in the area, but it wasn't just the four names she expected, it was a few pages of names, about 30 different people on each page. ''Hey Knux,'' she said leaning close to her screen. ''Over the past year or so, there has been like.. 20 people killed each month, in different cities around the country, they all seemed to be killed the same sort of way.''
knuckles was deep in thought as he listened to rouge. Neither could come up with anything to say until the red echidna on the other end of the line broke the silence.
''I see.. well thank you Rouge, I must be off to investigate, continue with your work.'' and with that the conversation ended. Rouge sighed and placed the phone back down and leaned back on her chair.
'Some days I wish some one would come along and kill me..' she joked to herself, not realising that she could very well get her wish. 'At least it would be better than having to put up with this stupid job.'
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Later that evening, The white bat walked home from her job at the office, as she had a Computer at home she only really needed to go to work at GUN once a week to get her pay check.
The soft layer of frost that had already laced the pavement shimmered in the golden glow of the slowly setting sun. 'Well at least I can take a brake when I get home.' she thought. As she looked up from the concrete she saw a grey fox standing outside a bar waiting impatiently for some one. She was wearing a blue top and skirt. She smiled as a black hedgehog walked out from the building. He had a long black coat, with a few radish brown stains over the edge of his sleeves and the bottom of his coat. Rouge couldn't really see that much more, except for the top button of his coat that revealed the white fur on his chest, covered with a few small drops of red.
''Took your time.'' the younger girl fox giggled taking a step towards the darker hedgehog, whom didn't say anything. Instead he let out a small groan as he wiped his muzzle clean, as he looked out of the corner of his eye at the white bat walking there way. He smirked as he looked back at the fox next to him. ''What's so funny?'' she asked not noticing that he looked over at the bat coming there direction.
''Nothing, did I say anything was funny?'' he scoffed in a deep voice walking past the fox still keeping eye contact with her until he turn his head away.
''No sir..'' she replied in a soft tone. The darker hedgehog kept walking, soon followed by grey vixen.
Rouge watched as they walked into an alley with the black hedgehog leading the way. she thought to herself turning down a different street.
At the end of the street she came to a large house. She took out her key from her back pocket and unlocked the door, setting down her bag of papers on the floor as she walked in and closed the door behind her, walking over to her crystal white couch that matched her pinkie white carpet. Relaxing herself down into the small pink and white pillows that laced the luxurious sofa.
''What boring a day..'' she complained searching for the remote to the TV. ''I wonder if those two are new to the city, I've never seen them around here before'' Lifting up the remote and flipping threw the channels of the TV.
She stopped on a channel that was talking about the murders that were going on and since there was nothing else on she decided to watch it anyway, in case knuckles may want her to tell him more about them.
she arose from the couch and walked into her kitchen and made herself a cup of coffee as she stood leaning against the counter and watched the TV threw the doorway to the living room.
''The police believe that up to 3 people may be involved in the chain of murders, as 3 different sets of footprints were found at multiple crime scenes, but the crime scenes that find sometimes multiple victims usually found torn into peaces can only seem to find one set of bloody footprints leaving the area.'' Rouge picked up her mug and walked into the living room, planting herself down on the sofa in front of the TV and listening closely taking a few sips of her coffee. ''most eye witnesses describe the suspect to be a shady character in a long black coat. Police are asking to keep a close eye out for him and to report any sightings as soon as possible, and warn that he is extremely dangerous, more on this later.''
Rouge's eyes widened. ''.. That guy..'' She quickly arose from her seat and switched the TV off, placing her mug on the side table and walking to the phone. ''oh god.. what if those two have been behind all this.'' she said talking to herself as she dialled the numbers for knuckles' house. The phone rang continuously but no one answered. ''Damn it knuckle head.'' she growled putting the phone down and walking upstairs. 'I'm going to have to call him in the morning..' she thought reaching her bedroom door and walking in, hoping that she would have a good night sleep.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Rouge sat outside her house on one of the steps leading up to her front door. Her eyes gazed up and down the street. It was morning, the sun was shining bright and the birds were singing. ''what a nice day'' she complemented as she looked down the street at the bar that she had saw the grey vixen and the black hedgehog the night before. It was surrounded by yellow tape that had 'do not cross' repeated over it. Along with four police cars. Rouge thought back to what the news had said about the murders, and she didn't want to be scared about it. She knew that she should tell the police about what she saw, but she couldn't bring herself too, something about that black hedgehog made her feel frightened, yet curious to find out who he was. She rose from the cold stone steps and took a walk down towards the bar, but was stopped by a police officer.
''Sorry miss rouge, I'm afraid you cant come inside.'' he said recognising the white bat. She smiled and looked passed him, trying to get a look inside as to what they were doing.
''What's going on here?'' she asked taking a step forward.
''Another murder.'' He spoke narrowing his eyes at the building. ''Two more people found dead, a girl found with her wrists sliced open, the other a man with his head taking clean off. of course you mustn't tell any one about this, I'm only telling you because your an agent'' Rouge felt sick at the thought and shuddered to think about it. But she nodded.
''Of cores. So? any clues as to who or what may have done this?'' She asked folding her arms to try and make herself feel better.
''Only that both victims seem to be drained of blood, but there was hardly any blood found in or around the room they were killed in, its weird.'' He feel silent for a moment and Rouge didn't want to interrupt it so she just nodded and turned around, walking down the street back to her house and walked back up her stone steps and inside.
''That's weird..'' She said quietly to herself, but was interrupted by a phone call. Slowly walking over to it and answered. ''Hello, Rouge here.''
''Hey rouge, me again.'' It was knuckles.
''Oh hello Knux.'' she replied walking into the kitchen and pulling a glass out from the cupboard and pouring herself a glass of water.
''Rouge, I herd about what happened at the bar the other night'' He began. ''I think you shouldn't be going out, maybe you should come over to my house and stay, until the situation dies down.''
'Nice choice of words..' she thought. ''News spreads fast I see.'' she laughed trying to shake knuckles from sounding so serious. ''I think I'll be OK here, I don't think any killer would attack again in the same street, not with all the police around.'' rouge sounded confident and knuckles felt he could trust what she said.
''yeah your right, but if anything happens tell me ok?''
''I will'' and with that knuckles put the phone down and rouge did the same. She took a small drink from her glass and let out a small sigh as she walked back to her living room, placing the phone back down and sitting on her sofa. When she was interrupted by a knock at the door. ''oh for gods sake'' she growled standing back up and walking to the door.
''this is the house, right?'' a familiar voice said.
''yeah, I'm positive.''
Rouge slowly opened the door and saw the grey fox and a brown wolf standing on her porch.
''hello ma'am.'' the wolf said as a friendly smile came to his face.
''hello..?'' Rouge's eyes travailed from the wolf to the to the vixen standing behind to him. ''your that fox, from the bar last night''
''i see you've met?'' the wolf smirked looking back at her.
''nope.'' she noted scanning rouge from the tip of her ears to the bottom of her shoes. ''but like he said, she saw us leaving. she's a passable threat''
The white bat didn't want to say anything out of fear that these two may be dangerous but she was curious too. ''and you are?''
''oh, I'm sorry.'' the brown wolf spoke turning back to rouge. ''I guess you don't remember me Rouge.'' Rouge's eyes widened as a smile came to her face.
''Rex! I didn't recognise you! god for I moment I thought you were dangerous'' she said stepping back and opening the door fully. ''please come in, it's been a long time'' Rex laughed and walked in, slowly followed by the grey fox. ''what brings you to station square?'' she asked curiously, sitting them down at her dinning room table and making them both a cup of coffee.
''well you know me, I like my adventures.'' the brown wolf took look around the room he was in, he just couldn't seem to drop his smile. ''if you have to know, I'm here looking for something.''
Rouge then sat down at the table and passed across the two mugs with hot coffee. ''what are you looking for all the way in station square?''
''A special gem.'' he announced. ''I thought you might be able to help us, by the way, this lovely young lady is Cassandra, but every one calls her Cass'' A large grin came onto her face as she leaned across the table.
''so, what type of 'special gem' are you and Cass looking for?'' Rouge was very interested in it. She hadn't been out on a search for a special anything in a long while. Cass walked over to the window and looked out at the quite street, one of many that lay around the edge of the city. Rex began to explain in full detail about what he and Cass was looking for and how they came around to looking for it. He explained how he had met Cass and his other darker hedgehog friend but rouge could tell he wasn't telling the whole story about him, Then they had a chat about where they had been and where they were going, taking a few hours to catch up on how the three of them had been over the four years since rouge saw her friend last.
''I see, so a crystal that can help your hedgehog friend?'' rouge said after a few cups of coffee and a very long conversation.
''yes, its rather urgent actually.'' Cass said. She was now sat down next to Rex, leaning back on her chair slightly. She had gotten quit used to rouge now, even though she didn't really like her at first. As there conversation was interrupted by the phone ringing.
''right, well he sounds nice, how about you introduce me?'' the bat asked standing from the table and walking to her phone. ''yeah, this is rouge.. oh hello Knux.. Na i got friends over.. uh huh?.. hm, yes..'' Rex and Cass looked at each other and smiled as they also rose from there seats. ''ok Knux I'll talk later.'' Rouge said placing the phone back down and looking back over at the two canines.
''well rouge, we're staying down the road from here, the large abandoned were house behind the bar.'' Cass spoke walking to the door with her and Rex. ''why don't you come along and we can introduce you too him there.'' Rouge nodded and opened the door as Rex and Cass walked outside.
''it's getting dark, he's bound to be awake soon.'' Rex smiled looking at the grey fox. ''that is if he isn't already''
Cass nodded ''yeah, I better go check.'' and with that Cass ran ahead and down into the alley that lead behind the bar to the were house.
''what do you mean, be awake soon? wouldn't he already be awake, I mean it is the evening'' rouge said trying to get a straight answer.
''you'll understand what I mean once you meet him. He's quite different from normal hedgehogs'' Rex laughed taking rouge by the hand and walking her towards the alley.
'I wonder what that hedgehog is really like..' she thought. but her thinking was heavily disturbed by a load scream from down an alley not to far ahead. The bat's body stiffened at the chilling sound, as much as she wanted to run away she also wanted to see what it was.
''damn it'' Rex growled ''excuse me for a moment rouge.'' Rex ran over to the bar and went down a different alley. Steadily she walked towards the alley the scream came from, part of her screaming to turn around. She slowly reached the corner and peeked around the concrete wall that lead around the alley way. Her eyes widened as they focused on a shady figure of a hedgehog in a long black coat that went down to his ankles. He had the younger grey Cass held against the wall by her throat.
''and here you are, Cassy.'' the dark figure spoke with a calm, dark tone.
''Please I'm sorry! Shad, please!!'' the Cass panicked as she struggled to breath.
The black hedgehog smirked and let a small laugh escape his lips. ''well now.. you didn't try and tell on me again, did you?.'' Rouge could here the horrid sound of the grey fox's throat being crushed slowly as she began to choke, desperately trying to breath under the pressure of the dark hedgehog's grip. Rouge couldn't watch much more as she let out a small gasp that echoed threw out the alley quietly. The ebony hedgehog's ear twitched to the sound as he turned his head quickly towards the frightened bat. 'oh shit! now look what you got yourself into!' she screamed in her head.
''I see we have a visitor Cass.'' he said dropping the girl fox, as she slowly slumped to the floor. Rouge froze as the darker hedgehog walked towards her and stopped, suddenly falling to the floor, knocked out cold from a heavy hit from a baseball bat to the back of his head. Rouge's eyes lifted and met with the person who had hit him.
''sorry about that..'' the brown wolf smirked, placing the bat against his shoulder and looking up at rouge. ''he gets out of hand sometimes.'' He then turned his gaze towards Cass as she stood up.
''thank you Rex..'' she sighed with relief. Rouge swallowed hard and looked back down at the ebony hedgehog. Rex smiled and placed his hand out.
''you alright rouge'' he asked stepping towards rouge.
''yeah I'm fine..'' She found it hard to answer him but she managed to find the right words as she reached her hand out and took a hold of Rex's. The brown wolf smiled and helped Rouge to his side. he turned his head to look at the fox now standing next to him. ''Are you ok Cassandra?'' he asked.
''yeah I'm fine too'' she began. ''what are we going to do with you'' she shook her head as the ebony hedgehog managed to find his way to his feet again as he held the back of his head with one hand and using the other to steady himself as he leaned against the wall for balance, letting out a small growl when he looked over at Rex holding his baseball bat.
''damn Rex.. you didn't have to hit me that hard, I was only kidding.''
Rex rolled his eyes. ''you can't keep letting your self slip like that, you get too far out of hand'' he slid the bat back in his belt.
''if your kidding, I would hate to see you when your serious.'' rouge said calming herself down. The dark hedgehog's gaze met with rouge's as he smirked showing his sharp, pearly-white canines.
''I'm shore you would'' he laughed dusting himself off ''I like to play it serious.''
''yeah, we all enjoy seeing you 'playing it serious', and your not that good at getting a little too serious are you.'' Cass tutted giving him a sarcastic look.
''and who do we have here?'' he asked stepping in the ivory bat's direction. Rouge was quick to take a step back, as she scanned the black and red hedgehog. ''well now don't be afraid of me, I don't bite.. much'' Rouge stood in confusion but took a deep breath, some how she didn't feel so scared of him now that she could get a close up look at him, she actually felt that she liked him.
''well that's a bit of an understatement shad. You always bite.'' Cass laughed crossing her arms and sounding a little cross. She didn't like that shadow was acting a little too friendly towards rouge than he usually do towards strangers.
''I'm Rouge'' she stated holding hand out confidently. Trying her best to ignore Cass and try to trust the ebony hedgehog.
''the names Shadow'' he was quick to answer, placing his hand in hers and shaking firmly giving her a softer smirk than he did before as Rouge's diamond coloured eyes met with his crimson ones as they stood staring at each other in silence for a while.
''OK, now you two have gotten acquainted, maybe we can talk more about that crystal, after all that is why your here rouge'' Cass said braking the silence as they both turned to face her and Rex.
''I have to go out'' shadow's tone darkened slightly as he looked down the streets. Rouge just found it better to stay quite and watch her new friend as he seemed focused more on going out than staying for a chat.
Rex shook his head and gave a loud sigh. ''Shadow.. please can't it wait? besides we cant have you going out all the time, its dangerous, especially with police around'' Rouge thought back to the news she had watched on TV about who they believed had killed all those people, the way they described him she felt that Shadow could very well have done it. But something made her want to know more about this hedgehog, not fear him. She felt that there was more to him than Rex was letting on. Shadow growled under his breath and turned his head away from the street and began walking on down the alley towards the were house. '
''thank you..'' the brown wolf smiled slightly taking rouge's hand and walking with her and Cass, following the dark hedgehog further into the cold alley.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
OK.. first chapter. I know it's kind of random but this is what came to mind. I may add another few chapters or so, passably drag it on into a completely different story or something. I really don't know what the whole story line is going to be but I'll make myself come up with one and finish the story no matter how long it takes. (just as long as it's not forever...) so tell me what you think.. R&R!