This is a fanfiction, and as such, most of the characters in the story are not mine. Most characters are © Sega, and are not used with permission.

Chapter 3: Covering your Bets

Flying high over the mountains, Rouge had waited the hour before her meeting with Shadow and Sally, but she was not idle. She had been guiding a troop of robots into positions around the plateau that Shadow had previously marked, then concealing themselves. Also included with them was a mid-sized vehicle, a containment vessel of some sort, painted bright yellow. It would surely be spotted by the two from Knothole, but the robots managed to hide it under a large stone colored tarpaulin.

Rouge turned her attention away from the robots, looking towards the plateau that Shadow had indicated. In her head, she went over Robotnik's orders.

{Convince them to let you join, follow them back to Knothole, and relay its position to him. If things go wrong, then stall them long enough for the SWATbots to surround and capture them.}

Rouge scanned the ground again, the robots were hidden from view and without knowing that they were there, no one would be the wiser. Just ahead were the mountains, and the appointed place. Looking closer, she could pick out a form standing near the rocks.

As she approached, the one became two, and the darkness of the object became a familiar black and a light brown.

{Score two suckers.}

* * *

Rouge swooped down and landed about 20 metres from the waiting pair. The three of them moved closer together and stopped when only a metre separated them.

"Princess Sally I presume."

"That is correct, and you are Rouge, world famous 'treasure hunter'."

"Ah, so you have heard of me."

"Naturally, but of course, what I know of you is that I should stay away from you."

"Well, I don't know if I should be flattered or insulted, so for your sake, I'll take that as a compliment."

Sally smirked. "Fine. Now let's get down to business. As Shadow had told you previously, we need someone who can collect Power Rings for us. Now we can do it ourselves, but we do have other things to worry about, so we're looking at hiring. He has also told you about your payment. When we defeat Robotnik, you be granted a part of the royal treasury, equivalent to several chests, depending on your performance."

"Yeah, I got that part."

"We also have a little test."

"He mentioned that too. So what do I do?"

"We want to test your collecting skills. These mountains are very hard for collecting because the terrain is rough and hard to get over. We could climb it, but we'd be left totally exposed to Robotnik. We've scanned the area and know that there are rings here. So for your test, we want you to collect some from here, 100 to be exact. Collect them and return as fast as possible, and we'll decide based on your time."

"Only 100? I thought this was going to be hard."

* * *

Sally pulled out a stopwatch and told Rouge to go, pressing the button atop the chronometer. Rouge quickly leapt up and flew away, heading up to the mountaintops, scanning them for any signs of glitter.

The mountains were wide, but rings were to be found most anywhere, usually one here or one there, but sometimes there would be a line of them together. Swooping around the rocky cliffs and peaks, Rouge collected whatever she could. She plucked rings from the tips of the peaks, to narrow crevasses in the cliffside and even those floating in mid air.

She moved with both grace and agility, showing off to the pair below. Performing tight loops to collect small rings of rings, sharp dives to grab long vertical columns of rings, and some sneaky sideways gliding to slip rings out of some very tight gaps.

Rouge was keeping a mental count of her ring total: 40, 50, 60… Her math was pretty good, but under the circumstances, it was better to go over, so she would intentionally miscount a ring here or there to make sure her real total was greater than her mental total.

80, 90, 100.

* * *

Sally pressed the button on the stopwatch as Rouge touched down.

"Let's see how many you got."

Rouge placed the rings on the ground, and Shadow started to count them out loud in groups of ten. "106."

Sally looked at the watch, "8 minutes, 19 seconds. A fair time, I suppose."

"Fair?" Rouge was a bit upset with Sally's ranking. "That was pretty good for 100 lousy rings, plus I had a few extra."

"A few extra doesn't make up for an average time. Shadow here could've done it in under 3."

"3 minutes? If he's so fast, then why do you want me?"

"Frankly, I don't know why. It was Shadow who recommended you in the first place, and I'm a little disappointed in his choice."

Shadow was getting defensive. "She has skill, and I can't collect all the rings we need."

"I think you're just trying to be lazy, or maybe you had ulterior motives." Sally glanced back at the bat. "Perhaps she's offered you a bit extra for putting in a good word. Money? Then again, she looks like a tramp, perhaps she…"

"How dare you, you stuck up little prissy face!" Rouge stormed up to Sally. "How dare you make such wild accusations?"

"Just look at you, I'm surprised you haven't 'bust out' of that outfit already. I bet you revel in having guys ogle you, and you probably don't hesitate at an opportunity for a little playtime in the sack either."

"Me?! What about you? For a princess you certainly don't look the part. If anyone is desperate, it's you girlie; you don't even bother wearing pants, apparently it would take too long to take them off."

"You would dare speak to me like that, you harlot!"

"Harlot? I'll go you one better, whore!"

Sally was really pissed of now. "You bitch. I should hire you just so I can command you to strip and let my men have their way with you!"

"As opposed to yourself?"

"You DARE imply that I'm some trashy street walker?!"

"Maybe, unless you wanted me to put out for you, your choice."

"That's it! I'm not putting up with you anymore! I order you to leave this forest and never return!"

"You can't do that, you don't run this place anymore."

"I am princess Sally Acorn, and what I say goes!"

"But you've been deposed, this place is run by Robotnik now, not you."

"I am still princess, and if I ever see you again, I'll personally have you tortured and have you screaming for mercy, before I finally put out of your misery."

"Talk is cheap, so perhaps you'll find these actions louder than your words." Rouge whistled.

Sally looked around as all about her Robotnik's robots crawled out of hiding, surrounding the trio. They levelled their weapons at Sally and Shadow. The princess stood with her jaw dropped as all routes of escape were cut off. Shadow remained stalwart, aware of the situation, but seemingly unconcerned.

The dark one glanced to the bat. "So, this is what you had up your sleeves?"

Sally turned to Shadow. "What are you talking about? You knew about this?"

"No, but I figured that she wasn't being totally honest."

"Then why in Hell didn't you say something before?"

"You wouldn't have gone along with it if I had any doubts. It was a risky gambit, but I had to try."

"Sonic wouldn't have been this stupid."

"I never knew him, but I figure he would have just taken Rouge to Knothole. How smart would that have been?" Shadow grimaced. "Don't worry, I'll get us out of this."

"How?"

"How indeed?"

Sally and Shadow turned to Rouge.

"You can't escape, there are too many robots around. And if you so much as move one foot, Blackie, they'll take you out before you can blink."

Shadow looked again, and sure enough, most of the robots were finely tuned on him. "At first I considered grabbing the both of you and using you as a hostage, but if Robotnik is the way I think he is, they'd probably just kill you along with us."

"Well, I had better make sure that doesn't happen."

Rouge took several steps away, leaving the pair alone in the line of fire. Several of the robots moved out of position as the large yellow truck came rolling into the clearing.

"I'm sure you know what this is; it's a portable roboticizer. Much smaller than the original and able to go most anywhere, yet just as effective."

Sally stood in shock of the device; she knew that Dr. Robotnik had created a miniaturized version of that demonic machine. This one certainly didn't look as menacing as the large conglomeration of machines connected to the glass chamber that she had previously seen, but if the result was the same, it was equally terrifying. Shadow had never seen the original model, but he knew what it was capable of.

"Now, here's the deal. You could just reveal the location of Knothole, and then we could skip this nasty roboticizing business. Otherwise, in you go." Rouge said with a chirp and a smile.

"You heathen!" Sally stormed up to the bat.

Some of the robots adjusted their aim towards the princess, but none of them fired, they were ordered to take her alive; as flesh or as a robot, that didn't matter. Shadow stayed put, knowing full well the consequences.

"I will never betray the others to a bitch like you."

"Maybe we should just forgo this and toss you in right now. Or perhaps you want to apologize." Rouge made half a step closer to Sally, placing her left foot in front of her. "Bow down and kiss my feet. If you'll be my slave, I'll let Robotnik keep his payment, and you can keep your skin."

Sally scowled. "Over my dead body."

"You might prefer that to what they have in store for you."

Rouge chuckled and brought her finger to Sally's nose, then gave it a flick. Sally didn't even flinch, but she flickered. The finger passed right through her nose, and for a few seconds, it seemed to flicker in and out of existence.

"What is this?"

Sally smirked. "Sorry, but that hair appointment was back on and I couldn't miss it, so I sent this hologram in my place. Then again, people like me really shouldn't be associating with people like you in the first place."

Rouge was furious. "You stuck up bitch!"

"Hey, I used a top quality hologram for this, high resolution and thermal patterns, so don't be too upset. I could have just sent a postcard." The image sneered.

Rouge screamed and ran over to Shadow, scratching at his face. Shadow stood his ground, and her nails went right through their intended target, with the same result as with Sally's nose.

Shadow's shadow laughed.

"You slime! How dare you."

"You're right, it wasn't very nice. But considering the friends you brought, it was definitely well deserved."

Sally called Rouge back. "I've wasted enough of my valuable time with you, I'm scheduled for a shampoo and set. So long, as if."

The image of princess Sally flickered and vanished, leaving only Rouge and Shadow.

"You… You!"

"Yes, me, me. I must say the princess certainly didn't take to you very well at all. I think you need to learn some manners; perhaps a few lessons on bowing, or curtseys, whatever it is ladies do."

"You set me up!"

"Whatever." Shadow's image started to fade.

"You come back here!"

"I'm sorry Rouge, but simply put, we just can't trust you." The image of Shadow started to flicker as it dimmed. "Allow me to give you some advice. I suggest you fly away, fly fast, fly far. Because if we ever meet in person, you'll be doing the rest of your flying through the fires of Hell."

The image completely faded, leaving Rouge to stand all alone.

"Rouge?! Rouge, answer me you stupid bitch!"

Rouge reached down to her boot and took out her communicator. "Show a little respect."

"Respect?! You blew it! You can forget about your bonus."

"Oh no you don't. I'll get them soon enough. No one humiliates me and gets away with it."

Robotnik grunted.

"I'll find those jerks, even if I have to track them down the old fashioned way. And if you want them, you had better pay."

"Of course I still want them, but frankly, I never put much faith in the 'old-fashioned way'. You'll need some help, perhaps an upgrade or two."

Rouge wondered what he meant when she looked up and saw the SWATbots surrounding her.

"I think you could benefit from a few little modifications, jet propulsion, high powered SONAR… SWATbots, take her to the roboticizer. Since they no longer trust you, you are no longer of any use to me, as flesh and blood."

"No!"

Rouge fought back, taking out a couple of the SWATbots with a few well-placed kicks. She tried to fly away, only to be tailed by half a dozen buzzers who swarmed her, attempting to strike her down with their foot long stingers.

"Get away, get away!" Rouge's aerial acrobatics managed to avoid them, but only for so long, when one had rushed her and planted its large spike into her side.

Rouge squealed, then started to flutter about with the end of the long metal pole in her torso. The pain was excruciating, but soon it started to fade as her whole body started to go numb. With no control over her wings, she fell unceremoniously to the ground.

Speaking through one of his robots, Robotnik taunted the bat. "A paralysing agent, quite effective, and fast. You should thank me, I hear that the roboticization process can be quite painful; this way, you won't feel a thing. Throw her in!"

Rouge was barely conscious as the SWATbot carried her to the yellow van with heavy steel armor and various warning signs. A heavy door opened on the side, and she was tossed in.

The robot pressed a few buttons on a console next to the door.

On the display, the text read:

Roboticization process commencing—powering main capacitors.
Error: Power disruption—check power conduits before proceeding.

"Dr. Robotnik, there is a problem with the roboticizer, it is malfunctioning."

"Of course it's malfunctioning, this thing was built broken!"

The robots looked up to see Shadow standing on the yellow machine, offset from the blue sky by a slight green tinge.

"Emergency procedure: Initialize anti-Shadow attack subroutines."

"Finally, you got the name right." Shadow's green aura flared. "Too bad!"

Shadow charged at the robots, tearing them apart on contact, leaving behind only a green zigzagging trail marking the positions of the SWATbots around the roboticizer. The buzzers tried to shoot at the green blur, back to no avail. Instead Shadow plucked the flying stingers out of the air, and threw them back at their projectors. As efficiently as ever, the whole troop was decimated in seconds.

Shadow stopped and scanned the area; content that there were no more robots he called out. "Alright! The coast is clear!"

Sally, Geoffrey, Rotor and about six more from Knothole emerged from nearby and approached the hideous contraption; one of them went to collect the rings Rouge had dropped. After checking the spot where their holograms stood, Shadow came over to them.

"Your highness, Nicole, quite the incredible little contraption I must say. Those holograms almost fooled me."

"Thank you, Shadow. Scratch two dozen robots, score one portable roboticizer. Rotor, do you think you have all the parts you need for your 'deroboticizer'?"

Rotor and the others were prying open panels on the machine. "I think so, but we won't know until we get home with what ever we can carry, we can't drag this sucker through the woods, that's for sure."

"Just make sure there are no tracking beacons on it that Robotnik can follow."

Shadow joined Geoffrey who had been working on the door. After some work, they got it open, and pulled Rouge's limp body from inside.

Shadow hisses through his teeth. "A nasty gash, that's for sure."

"She knew the risks when she took this job. It doesn't look life threatening, but we had better get her back to Knothole as quickly as possible anyway."

"Right." Shadow picked her up. "See you guys, later."

Shadow sped off and was soon out of sight. Geoffrey checked on the others, then looked over in the dirt and cast a sneer at the communicator that Rouge had dropped.

"O.K. people, we don't want to be out here any longer than we have to."

To be continued