a/n: Another idea I've cooked up. Enjoy as always.
Rouge opened her eyes slowly, blinking at the sky above. She felt like she had been thrown for a loop ten times over…probably was the case, considering how the driver was acting. He was slumped over the steering wheel, knocked out.
She sat up and looked at the scene around her. The wheels of each of the trucks in the military convoy were torn apart. Their wheel discs glowed red hot from the friction of sliding along the asphalt after being stripped of their stability.
Trained soldiers lay in scattered heaps on the ground, their weapons in pieces around them. Pistols, shotguns, rifles…all were now useless.
The white bat stood up on her unsteady legs, looking into the night for the cause of this chaos…if he were still around. She eventually spotted him, standing on an overturned truck. His unmistakable appearance was silhouetted in the full moon behind him.
"Sonic."
She wanted to say his name with contempt, but the sheer awe and confusion she felt prevented it. He had attacked the rest of them quickly enough…why not her?
"Long time no see, Rouge."
He wore a smile, as he always did. It wasn't that goofy grin this time, but a rather…subdued greeting this time around. Maybe he felt that it would be out of place to sound too cheerful.
Sonic jumped down from the truck, red and white sneakers treading lightly on the pavement. Rouge took a wobbling step back, anticipating the worst.
"If I was going to attack you, I would have done so by now," he said.
She hesitated a moment before sliding to her knees, feeling the energy disappear instantly while the tension remained. She produced a small flask and unscrewed the top, drinking from it quickly. A warm shiver flew down her spine, and she finally relaxed, if only for a little bit.
"Want some? For the nerves," she offered.
The hedgehog shook his head. "No. I'm good, thanks."
"It'll be another two hours before anyone gets to us. That's assuming someone set off the distress signal," she said while playing with the flask's cap.
"They probably did."
"Probably. This is precious cargo." She looked up at him. "Why…did you do this? Is this how you get off? Fighting Eggman not enough for you?"
He didn't look at her with coldness or contempt, as she expected. But he was filled with a seriousness she had never seen in him before. It was intense, yet so intriguing. Drawing her in.
"Do you know what your cargo is?"
"No. I don't have that information. It's likely that none of us did – only the sender and the receiver."
"That wouldn't be the Supreme Commander, I'm assuming."
"No, it wouldn't be. I can tell you that much," she said as she took another sip from the flask. Another wave of soothing warmth hit her, and she sighed.
"Know who your client is?"
"No. That's classified, too."
"Hm." He walked over to the upturned truck and kicked in one of the broken doors. After pulling out a black box, he carried to Rouge and dropped it in front of her.
"Tails came across it one day, while doing some tracking for G.U.N as part of his volunteer work. An odd shipment with an odd method of delivery and an odd delivery time. So he checked it out. Wasn't too hard, considering he's a genius and all that. We found something interesting. Go ahead and open the box."
"I can't. It's a breach of protocol. Do what you want to me, I don't care."
"I told you, if I was going to do something to you, I would have done it."
Sonic opened up the black box, and Rouge's eyes widened.
"Those are...diamonds..."
"Yeah. They were rerouted on a special order. Of course, these are special diamonds – some of us call 'em 'conflict diamonds'." He shut the case. "Others like to be a bit more graphic, and in that case, they're blood diamonds. One of your higher-ups was knowingly peddling these as what they call 'petty bribes'. Don't seem so petty to me."
"Bribes? To…to who?"
"Tails said it would be people like…I dunno, dictators, business partners, officers of the law. Those sorts."
"Oh." Rouge took another sip from the flask, feeling too sobered by this for her own tastes. The entire convoy was carrying and protecting blood diamonds. It was almost surreal, but…not inconceivable at all. They were the little pawns on the chessboard being used as sacrifices for the 'greater good'.
She stared into his eyes, looking for regret or some kind of hesitation. Nothing came up, and she felt so fascinated by that fact. He knew what he had done was wrong, absolutely criminal, and most likely an act of treason.
"You're supposed to be the Boy Scout, you know? The Good Samaritan, the protector, and all of that positive stuff. I thought that was your thing, saving the day from the bad guys and evil monsters of all sorts. Being the role model that everyone looks up to."
He snorted, an indignant look forming in his eyes. "I didn't pin any of those labels on myself. I do what I can to help people, yeah. No matter who or what they are. It doesn't matter what people say or think about me."
"Word about this will get out. They'll cover it up, make it look like you're the bad guy. Everyone will peg you as evil."
"Yeah? That's good, then…they can call me the devil himself, for all I care."
"I see…"
"I am what I am, and I do what I have to do. That's all it is. You can call me the hero or the villain, whatever you please. I'll bring my own brand of justice to town, one piece at a time."
Admittedly, Rouge hadn't thought too much of him when they first met…he was just a cocky hedgehog who happened to match Shadow in terms of abilities. As she got to know him, she saw him as brash, impulsive, comical, witty, brave, and courageous, among other things. But this wasn't a side she knew he had. He always did the right thing.
What was the right thing, though? Was it following the law to the letter? No…not to him, it wasn't. He saw justice in a different light. He lived by his own set of rules and stuck to them, taking on the costs as he did. He believed in himself and was confident in whatever he did.
Doesn't that just make him an extremist, Rouge? A terrorist?
No…it didn't. Terrorists did what they did to inspire fear in the hearts of others, for their own gains and agendas. But Sonic was hope personified. He never asked for anything when he saved the Earth again and again. He never made demands for his sacrifices. He gave up himself every day for the greater good, never getting anything in return…or at least anything good.
He lived life on the edge every second…something that Rouge loved to do herself, in her spare time. The thrill of skirting the law, of playing by one's own rules, of beating the odds and feeling so good when it was all said and done…
"You okay, Rouge?"
How interesting…such a simple one, this Sonic the Hedgehog, yet so impossibly deep in how he lived his life. Like a work of art that you couldn't pull your eyes away from, staring deeper and deeper into it, looking for more and more detail.
She sipped from her flask again, a smile etched on her face.
"I'm just fine…"
"If you say so."
"You know…I've taken a liking to you."
"Good to hear," he said with a smile. "Was it my devilish good looks?"
"Possibly," she said with a grin. "And we have quite a bit in common."
"Oh?"
"Mm-hm," she hummed as she rose to her feet, closing the flask and securing it on her hip.
"Well, I've always had a liking for you, Rouge. You seem laid back, you know? My kind of gal."
"Really? I wonder what your friend Amy would think of that."
"Not too much of it, methinks. But like I mentioned…the opinion that counts the most happens to be my own."
"Touché."
"So," he asked curiously, "what do we happen to have in common?"
"Well…" She walked to the overturned truck, poking at it with one of her boots. No driver, which meant no hassle…
A mischievous sparkle appeared in her eyes as she threw a side kick at the roof, sending the truck skidding across the highway road and through the guard rail. It tumbled down the slope and into the lake at the bottom, sinking like a stone.
"We both like to live…a little dangerously," she finished with a smile.
"Sheesh…you're something else, Rouge."
"Well, you know me. They do say that justice is blind…might as well help point her in the right direction, no?"
The hedgehog smirked as the armoured truck sank beneath the waters.
"Couldn't have said it better."