AN: Long time no see friends, sorry for my unexpected delay. I had a massive case of writer's block and no motivation, but when this came to me I was immediately proud of it. I always wished they expanded more on the topic of Rouge being Knuckles' spy finding out about Sonic, so this my personal take on it. Please enjoy. Thank you for reviewing, for reading, and for just being you.

02

Grand Metropolis used to be a city full of hustle and bustle before the takeover, so seeing it barren and almost sickly was weird- to say the least. Sneaking around skyscrapers and buildings was an easy task, but the eerie quietness in the air was alarming. The fact that there were almost no metal-headed minions in sight is what worried her the most. Her main objective was to infiltrate and investigate a "hidden" base located in the center of the city that had hopefully already been abandoned. But the keyword being: hopefully.

Rouge snuck around a corner and arrived across from the location her coordinates had led her to. She scanned the surrounding area with her aqua blue eyes, before determining that it was safe enough to cross the street; allowing herself a full minute to be exposed completely. She sprinted to the building, being careful not to crunch the already spilled glass around the perimeter and snuck under a hole through the fence, then reached the entrance and let out a small sigh of relief. She brought up the watch on her wrist to her mouth and called the others for a check in.

"This is Rouge, checking in. Phase one is complete, heading on to phase two now."

As she began to make her way inside the building, she heard the faint crackle of the walkie-watch responding to her and held it up to her ear.

"This is Knuckles, we appreciate the response. Will be on the line if you need us."

She snickered lightly, of course it was that dumb echidna. He could deny it all he wanted, but she knew at the end of any day… he would always have her back.

"My favorite Knucklehead. Wish you were here with me. Smooches!"

She could just see him fuming and blushing profusely on the other end and it made her giddy. I mean he was the one who sent her on this mission in the first place, couldn't she have a little fun with him? The familiar static sounded again making the girl stop in her tracks.

"Knock it off batgirl. Remember basement level first, and be careful. Get outta there if something doesn't feel right."

She smiled softly at their banter, then shook it off remembering why she was actually here. She looked for a way down to the basement level, where Dr. Eggman's main lab had been before he abandoned the entire place- and almost jumped with excitement finding a rusting, yet functional, spiral staircase leading down.

The basement was dim and smelled like copper, and she didn't like that. However, she took a glance at the broken glass, various robot parts sprawled around the room, and the plethora of scattered paperwork and sheets that lay all around the floor and counters of the lab. She was here to find evidence hopefully exposing where the doctor was camping out now or even regarding the whereabouts of Sonic and Tails. She just knew she couldn't get her hopes up. It had already been five months.

Hearing the clink of her heels to the tiled floor was almost unsettling, considering how quiet it actually was, and she felt a tiny chill run up and down her spine because of it. There was the tiniest hum of machinery that made her pause and wonder if this site was truly abandoned, until shaking it off and convincing herself there was no way anything in this junkyard of a place could still be working. She passed by what seemed to be an incomplete roboticization chamber and it instantly made her sick to her stomach, so she turned away quickly but caught a familiar name on one of the papers sprawled on the floor in the process.

Sonic the Hedgehog.

Her eyes widened as she slumped to the ground, grabbing on to the paper desperately and continued reading, trying to soak up the small sliver of hope she had been given. As she continued to carefully investigate the contents of the note, she realized it was almost like a diary entry of some sort.

"Progress shows the hedgehog growing significantly weaker on a day to day basis. The Resistance has no idea where their hero is and I'd rather it stay that way until it's time to eliminate him once and for all. But for now it's fun to watch him squirm. Infinite's illusions grow stronger thanks to the Phantom Ruby, courtesy of me, and the pesky rodent is overwhelmed by his enemy's strength. The move to the new and improved Death Egg is still well into effect, and thus from there we can continue on with our plan. As for now, toodleloo! The continuation of world domination awaits!

-Dr. Ivo Robotnik"

The bat's eyes scanned over the note a couple more times before frantically trying to find something- anything else left behind regarding future plans or Sonic's wellbeing but nothing remained. There were blueprints of old mechs and nuclear codes scattered about, but none of those gave her more information on her friend or anything the crazed doctor was set to do next. She had to stick with this vital piece of information and run with it. The girl brought her wrist up to her mouth, about to inform the others back at base, until her ear twitched at a sudden thump. She carefully tucked away the paper into a safe pocket and listened in for another noise.

She froze in place as the thump grew louder. One thump turned into three, then six, then she heard ten all at the same time and knew that was her cue to get out of there. The thumps were coming from the spot she had originally entered in from, so she had to think of another way out. Cursing to herself about being caught off guard, she almost felt true defeat by almost not being able to find an escape route. She prepared herself for the worst until she spotted a vent on the upper left-hand side of the room. She raced over, flying up into the tiny box-shaped hole and carefully slipped the lid back on behind her. She heard the door to the room she was in, burst open at that exact moment and felt her breath hitch.

She quieted in her spot for a good moment as she heard the Death Bots shuffle about and around down below her and dared not to move. Any single movement could get her caught. Her hands began to sweat and she just hoped someone from base wouldn't try and contact her at this given moment in time, one beep and she would be caught. She didn't know how long she had been so still for. Her muscles hurt and her breathing was shallow, but she finally saw them begin to file up and out after not finding what they were looking for. As soon as she heard the door slam behind them, the bat booked it through the crawlspace hastily and didn't stop until she reached an opening that led to an exit back into the city. As soon as stepped foot outside, Rouge sped away to a location far enough away from the "abandoned" base to update the others on her mission. She took a minute to catch her breath, then raised her communicator up to talk.

"Knuckles, can you hear me?"

She waited, looking around anxiously, until she heard his voice and it soothed her almost automatically. Even if the situation they were in proved there wasn't much to be calm about. She should be used to these sort of scenarios, she's a spy. But this war didn't spare anyone's feelings- including her own.

"It's about time! What's the status?"

She closed her eyes, thinking about what she would say- and how she would say it. And finally gulped down the massive weight she felt in her throat.

"I have a lot to tell you. But I guess the most important being that Sonic is alive. I don't know where he is, but I know where he's going."