Ah… another chapter. Think it's stupid yet? Did you think that from the beginning? Do I wish I had milk for my cereal? Yes, I do.
Space Colony ARK: Day 10, noon—Fly on the Wall
"How's your part coming along?" "Fine. Better than expected, actually. I figure my job will be finished within two or three days. Yours?" "Done." "Excellent. Do you suppose anyone suspects anything?" "One of our fellows has been snooping around lately. They may suspect something's up. Do you anticipate a problem?" "No. Don't worry about anything, just stick to the plan. I'll take care of our little snooper." "What about the Master Emerald?" "What about it?" "Will you still need it?" "I believe so, but don't trouble yourself, my friend. I'll take care of everything."
Outside Space Colony ARK: Day 10, 2:30 p.m.—Journal of Sonic the Hedgehog
Journal,
I got bored at around lunchtime today so I went for a run outside the colony where it appears some sort of mining or construction had been taking place a long time ago. I was completing my third lap around the large structure in the middle when I saw something sitting on one of the four steel vertical support beams at the top of the platform. I, naturally, ran up to investigate and whom do you suppose I found? Well, it was none other than the mysterious Rouge the Bat. I also, naturally, stopped to chat.
She watched me calmly from beneath her eyelashes as I sat down next to her and made myself comfortable. I grinned a greeting and she responded with a crooked smile.
"I was watching you run," she said, eyes wandering down to my legs, "and I must say I've never seen anyone faster."
"They don't call me Sonic for nothing," I said proudly. She grinned and nodded. "What brings you out here?" I asked. She gestured to an empty packet next to her.
"I found a supply of frozen blood in the medical section of the colony- for transfusions and such- and I hadn't had a good drink in such a long time. Unfortunately, Amy couldn't quite stomach watching me drink it, so I came up here," Rouge explained, crumpling up the packet (which still had drops of red inside) and tossing it into the pit of lava far beneath us. "I wish people were more open minded about other peoples' tastes." I, for some reason, felt the need to defend Amy. So I did.
"Hey, Amy's a good girl. One of the sweetest I've ever known." Rouge shook her head.
"I wasn't trying to knock on 'er or anything, so calm down, lover boy," I chose to ignore that remark. She continued, "So what brings you out here?"
"I couldn't find Shadow," I shrugged, "and Tails said he was busy. So I came for a run. As far as why I came up here, I have a little secret." The bat looked intrigued. "I have a weakness for beautiful women. When I see them, I can't help but go talk to them." Rouge laughed, putting a hand on her chest.
"Why thank you."
"Don't mention it. Speaking of weaknesses, I wanted to talk to you about Knuckles."
"What do you mean?" she asked, tensing and sounding suspicious.
"I know you have a thing for gems, Rouge. And Knuckles has the biggest one around." I explained.
"I'm not following you, Sonic."
"Look," I said, "Knuckles is having some problems right now. He's starting to get jumpy from being locked up in this place for so long. He's used to being outside, and-,"
"What does this have to do with me?" she interrupted.
"Knuckles is also really shy around girls, you know? He hasn't met many of them, and I think you being around him so much is freaking him out, adding to his stress. Understand?" Rouge sat up straighter, threw back her shoulders and thrust out her chest, moving her hand to her forehead in a salute.
"Perfectly, Mr. Hedgehog," she said in a mock respectful tone. I laughed.
"Mr. Hedgehog? I can't recall being called that one before. Did you learn that one in secret agent training?" Rouge turned away with mock offense.
"It's called common courtesy, Mr. Hedgehog. And who let my cover slip this time? That makes at least three people who know my real profession."
"Shadow told me," I answered.
"Then how did Amy find out?"
"Well, um, I told her. See, she was kind of ranting about not having any other girls to talk to, and I said 'Well what about Rouge?' and she said 'I prefer not to consort with people who've tried to kill me or have abandoned me to my death'. I was a little confused, until I remembered her telling me that Eggman had been about to shoot her on Prison Island. I told her that you'd been working for the Feds the whole time, and that I was sure you had a perfectly good reason for leaving her to die."
"Real smooth, Hedgehog. But yeah, she did bring that up during our bath the other night…" the treasure hunter muttered, looking off at the stars. I didn't like the silence, so I decided to break it.
"It, uh, sure is pretty out here," I babbled. I don't know why that was the first thing that came to mind, but it got the conversation rolling again.
"You're right," she smiled, leaning back on her arms, "I guess the stars can't get much clearer than this." I nodded, and she tilted her head back and looked at the stars with her eyes half-lidded. I was about to speak when I looked at her again and realized my mouth hadn't formed the words I had wanted to say. The whole time I'd been talking to her I'd never really looked at her, but amidst the quiet… seeing her looking up at the stars like that, I suddenly felt very awkward. I was used to being around cute girls; hell, I could almost never get away from Amy! But that's just it, Amy's a girl, and Rouge seemed much more like… well, a woman.
Rouge seemed to sense my change in attitude (or she heard my heartbeat quicken… bats are supposed to have really good hearing, you know) and looked over at me curiously. "What's the matter, Sonic? Are you feeling okay?" I almost fell backwards into the lava pit beneath the platform as she leaned over me to feel my forehead. As she checked my temperature I tried desperately to avoid checking her out (which was really hard with her boobs in my face).
"Miss Rouge-" I choked into her chest, "I feel fine- really! I just need some air-!" Rouge blinked at me suspiciously but drew back nonetheless.
"Are you sure you're alright, blue boy? You looked kinda' pale for a second." I nodded and took several deep breaths, looking up to see her face devoid of any concern and looking at the stars again. I don't know what possessed me to say the next thing I did—I mean, I don't even like her like that!—but for some odd reason, I said it.
"I don't suppose you ever date younger guys?" I immediately clapped my hands over my mouth, wondering if I'd gone totally insane. To my surprise, the bat laughed.
"I don't suppose that you know my age, do you Sonic?" she asked teasingly, making me feel like a total idiot. When I shook my head, she winked. "From what I've read about you, I figure I'm three days older than you are." I never believed that peoples' jaws could actually drop before that moment… but I do now.
"Well-" I said, panicked, stumbling over the words, "it was just a rhetorical question. Nothing to do with me." Rouge laughed and patted my head.
"I see you have a quick tongue to go with your feet. Nice cover up, blue boy." She got up, stretched, and looked back down at me. "I'll see you at dinner tonight." And with a wink, she jumped off the edge and began to fly off toward the entrance to the colony. I jumped to my feet, desperate to save my image I suppose, and shouted after her.
"IT WASN'T A COVER UP!!! I WAS ASKING FOR… KNUCKLES! I ASKED FOR KNUCKLES!!" Good God, there must be something wrong with me…
Space Colony ARK: Day 10, 3:00 p.m.—A transmission from Rouge the Bat to the President.
"—And you're absolutely sure no one knows about this transmission?"
"Positive, Sir. I'm currently in an area no one but Knuckles the Echidna or Miles Prower could possibly reach without machinery, and I'd hear that a mile away."
"…Just where are you, anyway?"
"On the ceiling of one of the docking bays in the eastern wing of the colony." Sure enough, the three dimensional map of the colony the president's secretary pulled up on her laptop showed the purple dot that represented Rouge the Bat on the ceiling of the largest docking bay in the colony.
"Alright Rouge, what have you got for me?"
"What have you got for me is more the question I had in mind." The President growled in frustration.
"If you weren't the best in the business I wouldn't put up with this, Bat."
"Yeah yeah, I know. So, is my diamond ready for me when I get back?"
"Everything's ready. Now what's going on up there?"
"Well, Shadow's alive, for one thing-"
"WHAT?"
"-And the rest of us are going stir crazy. When can you get us out of here?"
"Soon. The military is only interested in collecting money for the damages suffered at the hands of Sonic's party and Eggman's… and apprehending the Doctor. However, now that Shadow's back in the picture…"
"Dammit! I don't care what you do, just get me home!"
"Don't crack under the pressure, Rouge. You're my best agent and it would be a shame if I had to let you go."
"Thanks for the compliment, Sir, but I'm afraid that if you lose me, it won't be from pressure."
"Oh?"
"Something's going on up here. I don't know who's behind it because there are so many enemies and old rivalries and past wrongs that can be dug up. And not even heroes are immune to anger or madness. I have a feeling that something's going to happen very soon, and I don't—what was that?!"
"Rouge what's going on?"
Space Colony Ark: same time, same place—Fly on the wall.
Rouge hung on the ceiling, ready to jump to the floor if necessary. Whatever was coming, it was coming fast along the ground.
"What's happening up there?" the voice of the President sounded in her ear.
"Shh…" she whispered into her headset, turning the volume down to almost nothing. It was too dark in here for any on the others to see, and if it was someone coming after her, she certainly wasn't going to let them get a fix using the President's voice. She closed her eyes, listening for the sound she heard a moment ago.
"Rouge, what's going on?" the President asked again. The bat opened her eyes and stared in the direction of the doorway.
"They're here," she breathed into the headset and moved her fingers to the switch.
"Who's there? Dammit Rouge, ta-." The voice was silenced as she ended the transmission and switched off the headset.
Her eyes followed the figure around the room as best they could in the dim lighting, losing it occasionally due to its speed.
'Whatever that thing is,' she thought, 'it's too fast to be Amy or Eggman. Its color is too dark to be Tails, unless it's wearing a suit, and I don't see any big tails. So that leaves three…' Faster than Rouge's eyes could follow in the dark the figure shot across the room and leapt at a wall. Using the wall to jump up on a large piece of machinery it stopped and waited, apparently searching for something.
'What are they doing?' the bat wondered. 'Are they looking for me?' After a moment, a familiar sound hit Rouge, literally. 'They're using sonar!' she realized, 'But none of the others can use sonar naturally like I can… who is that? Tails mentioned something about a small, full body mech, but that was still on the drawing board.' The figure jerked to life once again and leapt onto a taller machine next to it, climbing ever higher until it was less than twenty feet from the ceiling. Before the bat could react, the figure leapt the remaining distance between her and itself, claws extended. It struck her just below her left shoulder, opening the soft skin on the left side of her chest with claws that felt like razors. With a shriek, the treasure hunter fell from the ceiling.
Recovering herself during the drop, Rouge spread her wings and managed a short glide to the wall. Keeping her breathing soft and even to reduce noise, she removed one of her gloves with her teeth and gingerly felt the wound. Bleeding badly, but not too deep, actually, which she found shocking. It had been quite a blow, and, to top it off, the damn thing had flown at her! From twenty feet below! Tails was the only one who could naturally fly (aside from herself, of course), but she hadn't heard the telltale swish sound that accompanied his flights.
Rouge heard the footsteps on the floor beneath her and leapt out from the wall with a kick. Her attack hit the mystery assailant in the head just as they'd leapt up to finish what their first blow had not. Flapping her wings furiously, the bat flew to the ceiling once more, confident that it was the safest place to be now that she knew what to expect. Her blood, which had until then been running over her breasts and stomach, had changed directions and was running over her chin and down her face, where it fell and dripped onto the floor. Using the glove she'd removed earlier, Rouge tied it around her shoulder and hoped that it would be sufficient to keep the blood from flowing. With her wound cared for as well as she could manage at the moment, the bat searched for her assailant in the dark room. Locating it, she once more dropped from the ceiling but this time glided soundlessly until she was directly above it. With a vicious twist of her body she shot downwards feet first in a deadly spiral. Rouge felt her feet connect with her target's head and heard a terrible crunch.
Landing back on the floor, she noticed, to her annoyance, that her glove had already been soaked through. The bloodstains would never come out of the white material—
Rouge jumped back in surprise as the figure before her leapt to its feet, miraculously able to move. 'How in are they still conscious? Hell, alive?' she thought as the creature raised its arm. The bat had no time to react as the beam from its arm cannon pierced her body where her wound was. Her legs gave out as one of the large machines somewhere behind her exploded, filling the room with light. She would have seen her attacker standing over her if only she had had the strength to open her eyes. Rouge fell onto her back, unconscious.
Space Colony ARK: Same day, two minutes later—Fly on the Wall.
Sonic and Amy raced down the twisting halls of the ARK's east wing, heading in the direction of the explosion.
"What do you think that was, Sonic?" Amy asked as they took another turn.
"I have no idea, but we'd better hurry. Someone may have been hurt. Hey look, there's Shadow up ahead. SHADOW!" Sonic called, grabbing Amy's arm and racing forward to catch up to the black hedgehog.
"Shadow, do you know what happened?" Amy asked, arm still held in Sonic's hand.
"Not a clue," he responded, "but I'm going to find out." The three ran in silence for a moment until they reached the door at the end of the corridor. Shadow blinked up at it. "The docking bay? Who would've been in here?" he wondered aloud as he entered the code to open the door.
The light in the room was blinding. Large fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling, filling the room with their glow, which was almost too bright for the three hedgehogs.
"Knuckles!" Sonic called, seeing the echidna standing with his back to them in the middle of the room (holding some sort of tube in his hand) and racing toward him with Amy still in tow. "What ha-"
Sonic's question was cut short by Amy's scream and the blue hero looked at the floor. At Knuckles' feet lay Rouge the Bat in a pool of her own blood. The top half of her suit lay in shreds over her torso, and a hole below her shoulder was spilling blood like a small fountain. Her chest moved unevenly as her breathing became more ragged every second. Without a second thought, Sonic attacked his friend until he was unconscious.
"Shadow," he called, "go get Tails and Eggman and have them to bring something to carry her out on. And see if Eggman can work up some sort of holding cell until we figure out just what happened." Amy knelt beside the bat's comatose body and began trying to staunch the blood flow by piling strips of cloth from her ruined body suit on the wound.
"Sonic," Amy whispered, biting her lip to keep her tears back, "I can't stop the bleeding. It keeps squirting out from under my hand." The blue hedgehog sat beside her and put an arm around her, placing his other hand on hers and helping apply pressure to the wound on the bat's bloody chest. They sat in silence for a few moments until Amy finally lost it and began to sob uncontrollably.
As Sonic rubbed her back soothingly and looked at Rouge's blood covered body and the red liquid that his and Amy's combined strength couldn't keep from oozing out, he realized that things were getting serious. They couldn't stay on the ARK any longer, or they'd be risking not only their sanity, but also their lives.
"We've got to get out of here…"
Okay, so there's another chapter, and there'll be even more stuff next time! Like more chats between our mysterious villains, Tails' first journal entry, a little more Omochao, and that's just the beginning! Keep reading, and if you have any questions on the story, e-mail me or ask it in a review and I'll get back to you. Bye!