"… So the talks are scheduled to begin in a week," Rouge said as she climbed over a rock.
"What are they talking about?" Knuckles asked.
"What to do with ARK," she said. "It was supposed to have been destroyed fifty years ago, but GUN shut it down and garrisoned it instead. Now, every person on Earth knows ARK exists and is scared to death about it."
Knuckles shook his head. "It only ever worked it if had Chaos Emeralds."
"But most people don't know that, and the Chaos Emeralds have been rather easy to find of late, don't you think?"
Knuckles nodded. "Yeah, used to be you had to put forth a lot of effort to find and secure them. These days, you almost can't help but find Emeralds."
"Which is why the Eclipse Cannon is still a threat. Besides, there's a lot of dangerous things on ARK other than the cannon—projects of every type and description. There was a time when ARK was a hub of scientific activity. Gerald was just the lead researcher on one of the many teams that worked there."
"And all of them were liquidated because of Gerald's research? What a waste!"
"Well," Rouge countered, "pretty much every researcher somehow contributed to either the Ultimate Life Form project or the Eclipse Cannon project. Even if their research was on something else, it had implications that were used in one of those two. I agree it's wasteful to kill them all, but everyone was involved with those two programs, so I understand. I mean, biologists worked on the genetic engineering, chemists designed the processes and materials to make up the body, physicists worked on the Eclipse Cannon…" she stopped suddenly. "Actually, there was a team of astronomers working there. All they did was park their offices near the high-power telescope and look through it all the time. So I guess they should have been left alone."
Knuckles laughed. "Bad day to be an astronomer."
"Tell me about it. Anyway, now that ARK's capabilities are common knowledge, everybody wants it and everyone has an opinion on what to do with it. Some high-level talks with the various interested parties will begin in a week."
"And the President wants you there to get an edge on the competition."
She smiled slyly. "Nothing expedites a negotiation like holding all the cards. If the President knows what the other parties want and will give beforehand, he can strike the best deal possible."
"Best as far as he's concerned."
"In my capacity as a spy, that's all I care about."
Knuckles began scaling a rock wall, confident that Rouge could and would follow. 'Well,' she thought, 'I wouldn't want to disappoint you.'
"How do you know all this?" he asked despite the strain of climbing.
"Some of it comes from the President," she answered. "The rest I found out by poking around ARK."
"You sure were nosy," he teased.
"As a spy, being nosy is my job. Besides, I was curious. Weren't you?"
"No, I was too busy trying to figure out how to save the world."
"That's right. I, luckily, had much more spare time than you, so I used it to figure all of this out."
"Well, at least you weren't lazy." He pulled himself over the top of the wall onto a ledge, then turned and offered a hand to Rouge.
"I don't need your help," she said, but without threat or venom. She grabbed his hand anyway, and he pulled her to the top.
Rouge looked down from their perch and saw Angel Island stretched out before them. Knuckles spoke, but Rouge kept looking; there was so much to see! "This is where I go when I need to convince myself my life isn't so bad," he said.
"I can see why this is the place," she said, her eyes soaking up the details, darting from place to place. "Everything that's beautiful about this island you can see from here."
"If you're gonna be stuck alone and bored out of your skull somewhere, it should be here," he said wryly. "I can't not be a Guardian any more than I can not be an echidna, and I've accepted that. But the only thing that ever happens is an intruder arrives, which is very bad. It's just… well…" he suddenly grew quiet.
"What?" she asked. He was letting her further and further in, letting him see the parts of him he kept armored, and she was not going to let him stop now.
"I'm protecting the world by guarding this stupid Emerald, but the best thing that can happen is that noone realizes it."
"Like a spy whose job is to remain unnoticed," Rouge said appreciatively.
"I guess," Knuckles said, unsure, "but those spies report to someone, right? I report to the Emerald, which, you might guess, isn't the best of company. It's not all loneliness, though."
"Some of it is," Rouge said, instinctively rubbing over her heart with her free hand.
"Yeah, some, but… well, I only realized this when I met Sonic. Sonic saves the world by fighting Robotnik, and everyone goes wild. I save the world by protecting the Master Emerald… and I can't let anyone know it."
There was silence for several long seconds; the air was thick with Knuckles' despair. Rouge had to do something. "I save the world, and I don't want anyone to know it," Rouge said with a smile.
"Of course. It might give you a good name," he said, also smiling.
About that time Rouge realized that they hadn't released each other's hands yet.
Rouge suddenly felt the urgent need to inspect the nails on her right hand. She dropped Knuckles' hand and brought hers to her face. Knuckles, for his part, sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.
They didn't dare look at one another.
Rouge tapped her skull, deep in thought.
"Well?" asked Knuckles.
"I'm trying to remember if there are any more protocols. I don't want another Hunter to claim this area if I follow incorrect protocol."
Knuckles rolled his eyes. "There's not another 'Hunter' I'd let on this island."
"Comforting as that is, Knuckles, I want to do this right, if only for form's sake."
"Cut it out, Rouge."
"Cut what out?"
"This whole stupid charade about the Hunter's Guild! There is no stinking Hunter's Guild! I had Sonic look it up for me! It doesn't exist!"
"It does so exist!" shouted Rouge right back.
"In your head!"
Rouge stomped to her backpack, opened it, and whipped out a piece of paper. "Look right here!" she said. "This is documented proof!"
Knuckles took it and read. "Hunter's Guild Constitution," he said, surprised.
Rouge crossed her arms and waited as he read. He looked up at her after several moments. "How many people are actually members of this "guild"?"
"That's not the point!" she said, snatching the paper back. "The point is that there are rules of conduct, written down, that provide a guide to Hunters on how to act. It's important to know how to behave, and the Hunter's Guild provides guidelines on how to do that."
Knuckles looked confused. "You mean, you provide guidelines on how to live your own life, right?"
"No, no, no," Rouge said. "The Hunter's Guild has guidelines on how I am to act as a Hunter."
"Rouge, you're still not making sense. If no one else is involved, isn't this just you doing this to yourself?"
"Most assuredly not."
Knuckles suddenly changed the way he looked at her. "Rouge, who are you?"
She drew back. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"You told me that your personality depended upon your job. Like now, you base your conduct on your job as a Hunter. But who are you, really?"
Rouge felt completely hollowed out. Her insides exploded into vacuum, filling her with an icy nothingness.
Who was she? She answered with the responses she'd always given herself—she was a spy, a thief, a Hunter. But Knuckles was forcing her deeper than that, and she realized with terror that she could not answer him.
Rouge adapted her actions and personality to match her occupation—but there was a person, some Rouge-being, that existed regardless and independent of her job. What scared her was that she had no idea who that person was.
"Don't you know me by now?" she said, weakly, almost begging him to tell her.
He shrugged, as if unaware of her petrifaction. "I suppose so," he said, and walked off.
'He… knows who I am?'
She felt an initial surge of anger at him—well, if he knew, why didn't he tell HER? Talk about rude!
The anger vanished in a second as something much more important came to her.
This is what he offered her. This was why his company was so important to her, why it mattered in a way none of her past associations had.
He didn't care about her job. She had no appearance to keep up with him. In his company, she'd said, done, and felt things she would never have done in any other context. With him, she was free.
It was only with Knuckles' help that she would find out who she truly was.
She watched him exercise more, practically oblivious to her presence. She realized she was staring, but that didn't stop her; she just kept on, watching him carefully. With surprise, she realized that he'd stopped exercising and was now flexing, showing off. He knew she was watching and was toying with her.
She laughed—and tingled.
With time, and in Knuckles' company, she would find what else lurked in this soul that called itself Rouge.
TO BE CONTINUED…