CHAPTER 42: Private Talks

That ever-annoying sound of the phone rang out in Tails's apartment, taking his mind off his blueprint. Grumbling, the fox stood up, his chair rolling backward in the process. As he walked out into the living room, Cream sat up on the couch, yawning.

"How long was I asleep?" she asked.

"About an hour," Tails said. "I was gonna let you sleep longer, but this damn phone isn't very considerate of other people." Cream yawned again as Tails looked at his caller ID.

"Who is it?" Cream asked.

"It's Rouge," Tails said. "Why doesn't she just come over here instead of calling?" He sat down next to the table, picked up the phone, put it to his ear, and said, "Hey."

"Hey Tails, I need to talk to you in private," Rouge said. "Is this a bad time?"

"That depends," Tails said. "Am I allowed to bring Cream along, or does she have to sit this one out?"

"I'd kind of prefer if she didn't come," Rouge said. "It's a psychological thing, I can't really explain it."

"Then yeah, this is kind of a bad time," Tails said.

"Well, it's about..." Rouge's voice trailed off.

"What?" Tails asked. No answer. "Rouge?"

"Sorry," Rouge said. "Had to take a look outside. I think I'm being watched."

"By who?" Tails demanded, standing up.

"I'll explain later," Rouge said. "If this is a bad time, I won't bother you, but I REALLY want to talk to you about this. I can't go into details here. I think this line's been tapped."

"Alright, how about if I come over right now?" Tails asked.

"That'd be fine," Rouge said. "I just have to call Amy, then we can go pick her up and I'll explain."

"Alright," Tails said. "I'll be there in a minute."

"Alright," Rouge said. She hung up, and so did Tails.

"What's the problem?" Cream asked.

"Rouge wants to talk to me and Amy in private," Tails said. "From the way she said it, I'd say it's urgent. And she kind of doesn't want you coming along. It's a psychological thing, she said."

"It's okay," Cream said. "If you wouldn't mind, I can just wait here for you."

"I don't mind, just as long as you don't touch my stereo," Tails said. "I don't exactly listen to G-rated music."

"I've heard it all before, but that's okay with me," Cream said. "Maybe I can stare at your blueprint and try to understand it or something."

"Fine with me," Tails said. "I'll be back in a while."

"See you later," Cream said.

"See you," Tails replied, opening the door and walking out. He walked across about thirty feet of grass, stepped up in front of Rouge's door, and knocked.

"It's open!" Rouge called from inside. Tails walked in and closed the door, locking it. Rouge was standing beside her phone, waiting for Amy to pick up.

"No answer yet?" Tails asked.

"Not yet," Rouge said. "Nice thinking with the lock, by the way. Although I really don't think anyone would be dumb enough to just barge in here or anything. They probably know I've got a gun."

"You do?" Tails asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Rouge said. "Got it when I hit twenty-one. Wasn't at a bad price, either."

"Why would a gun matter, though?" Tails asked. "If it's them, nothing short of a railgun would stop them, right?"

"It's not the 'them' you're talking about," Rouge said. "It's another 'them' this time around." At this point, Amy finally picked up.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hey Amy, it's me," Rouge said. "Listen, if it's not a bad time, I need to talk to you in private. It's important. I can't go into details here. I think the line's tapped."

"Alright," Amy said. "You gonna come over here?"

"Yeah," Rouge said. "I'm bringing Tails too, since I wanted him to be in on this."

"Okay," Amy said. "How long will you be?"

"About fifteen minutes," Rouge said. "Can you leave the house, or are you still waiting for your friend?"

"He hasn't showed up yet," Amy said."I don't expect him to for a while."

"I was hoping to talk somewhere more private, like driving down the road, but I guess your place will do," Rouge said. "See you when we get there."

"Alright, I'll see you then," Amy said.

"Alright," Rouge said. They both hung up. Rouge grabbed her car keys and headed toward the door.

Rouge reached into her glove compartment and, with a groan, pulled out a small metallic device, which crackled a little as it was detached. She flung it out her window as they crossed a bridge. She said, "Alright, now that we're not bugged, you can talk."

"So, who's watching you?" Tails asked.

"I got a call from my old friends back at the agency," Rouge said, stopping at a red light. "I think they're trying to harass me until I come back. They said they had a job, and I was their last, and I mean LAST, resort. They said all their other people were currently busy with... other things."

"And this pertains to Amy and me, how?" Tails asked.

"I'll explain once we get there," Rouge said.

"How'd you know that bug was in there?" Tails asked.

"Where else would they put it, up my ass?" Rouge asked sarcastically yet not offensively.

"Good point, and well made," Tails said. "Why all the secrecy?"

"I just think it's best to do it this way," Rouge said. "It's hard to explain. I'll try once we get to Amy's house."

"Okay," Tails said. "And, why is it just going to be us three? Wouldn't Knuckles want to know, among other people?"

"Tell you what," Rouge said, "I'm gonna pull up to this pay phone over here. I want you to get out, call Sonic, Knuckles and anyone else you can think of, and tell them we're meeting at Amy's house."

"Good point," Tails muttered.

"Come on in, guys!" Amy called when she heard the knock on her door. Rouge opened the door, and she and Tails entered, Tails closing it behind them. Amy leaned far enough out of the kitchen to see Rouge and Tails, and asked, "Anybody thirsty?"

"Nope," Rouge said. "Thanks anyway."

"I'm okay," Tails said. "More curious than anything, actually."

"Aren't we all," Amy remarked. She pulled her head back into the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water out of her refrigerator, then headed out into the living room. Tails and Rouge followed. Rouge and Amy sat on the couch, and Tails occupied a chair.

"Alright, first I want to say I'm sorry," Rouge said. "Sorry for the short notice, sorry for the secrecy..." She looked at Tails and added, "And sorry for dragging you away from your girlfriend."

"I woudn't exactly call her my girlfriend, actually," Tails said in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Yeah, sure," Rouge said.

"So, what exactly are we going to be discussing here?" Amy said. "And why all the secrecy, as you called it?"

"Alright, let me start from the beginning," Rouge said. "Just a little while ago, I got a call while I was talking to Shadow."

"How's he doing?" Amy asked.

"He's doing fine," Rouge said. "I'll tell you something interesting about him after the more important things are out of the way. Anyway, after he left, I went to get a hot shower. While I was in there, they called again. Since it was a bit more private setting than before, I answered it. It was one of my old buddies back at the agency. They wanted to offer me a job. I told him I'd left, but he insisted that I hear him out. He also said it was because no one else was available, and I was the very last resort. Makes me fuzzy all over to think about that."

"What does he want you to do?" Tails asked.

"You're aware that over a thousand people have gone missing over the last several years, right?" Rouge asked. Tails nodded. She continued on, saying, "They want me to find out where they went. By any means necessary."

"Wow, it's really no holds barred with those guys, huh?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Rouge said, nodding. "I guess the cops finally got tired of trying to figure it out, and asked the agency to take over. That means I'd have access to all the equipment we'd need to be able to access the main systems of that robot back at the storage unit. I wanted to get some input from you guys before I made my final decision."

"Such as?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, seriously," Tails said. "We don't control you. You do what you feel is the right thing to do."

"I wanted to ask," Rouge said, "because no holds barred also means a pretty short leash. I'd have to report everything from what I found out, to how I found it out, to how many times I pissed, showered, inhaled, exhaled, and everything else while doing it. I'd have to share some information I really don't feel like they need to have."

"Why wouldn't they?" Tails asked.

"For one, as soon as they found out about the robot, they'd do anything to track it down and take it from us," Rouge said. "We'd lose our only lead just so they could check out its weapons, armor, and everything else. If they gave it back, and that's a pretty big if,it would be in very small boxes. No good to us at all."

"You wouldn't be able to ask them to hang on to its computers and such?" Amy asked.

"Hell no!" Rouge exclaimed. "Those paper-pushing pricks would do anything for something like that! The computer on that robot is probably the newest part! Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they had shoot-to-kill orders against anyone who tried to stop them from taking it!"

"Here's what you do, then," Tails said. "We take and hide the parts of the robot that we need the most, let the agency take the rest of it, and both parties are happy. Then we just access the robot's systems with whatever it is you can get, and-"

"Won't work," Rouge cut in. "They'd want to know what I needed, why I needed it, where I was going to take it, and for how long. They're really stingy. If they feed you information on a need-to-know basis, they dish out equipment on a need-to-have basis."

"Damn," Tails said. "Well, what's another reason that you don't want to tell them? That one seems a little weak to me. Even IF they take the robot, there'e no guarantee that you can't have them access its CPU and release to you whatever they find."

"You want a better reason?" Rouge asked. "Alright, you've got it. Picture this. It's late at night. You're at home, in bed, getting laid or doing whatever. Little do you realize that the fly on the ceiling is a mobile camera device, and that there are miniature one-way radios hidden in the room, so they can see and hear in vivid, graphic detail. Does that sound like fun?"

"Not really," Tails said.

"Why would they ever do that?" Amy asked.

"They find out that the robot was meantfor anassassination, and those guys will be on you like stink on a pile of shit," Rouge said. "If you think they watch their own agents closely, you haven't seen the half of it. They'd have at least five people watching you at all times, including two by satellite, and a team of men packing lawgivers tailing you closely. I'm talking witness protection to the max. To annoying levels, really. If you order too much ice cream at the ice cream shop, they'll have something to say about it."

"Uh, maybe you could mention me to them," Tails said. "I could use that kind of protection."

"The first person to screw with you would be shot dead on the spot," Rouge said, shaking her head. "You don't want that on your conscience."

"I guess not," Tails said, looking at the floor.

"But anyway, back on subject," Rouge said. "That's why all the secrecy. Now, I feel a little guilty not telling this to Sonic, Knuckles, or anyone else, but let's face it, getting in touch with them would be very hard to do."

"Yeah, no joke," Amy said. "This is just a thought, but do you think I could relay all that info to Vector somehow and see what he thinks?"

"If you want," Rouge said. "What do you two think, in the meantime?"

"I say you keep them in mind, and we'll decide later," Tails said. "From what you've told us, the agency is only dragged in to handle really big, really hard stuff."

"Yeah, that's right," Rouge said. "And you're thinking that they probably wouldn't have any of their regulars available again for a while?"

"Exactly," Tails said, nodding. They both looked at Amy, who had finally opened her bottle of water and was taking a drink. She put up one index finger to indicate that she was going to be a second.

"Well," she said when she had lowered the bottle, "I agree with Tails. Keep them in mind, but don't say anything for sure yet. If you finally do decide to accept their offer, try to do it under some conditions that would work to our advantage."

"Such as?" Rouge asked.

"Well, if you gotta tell them what the robots were for, tell them to lay off the witness security crap, for one," Amy said. "I'm not sure I'd like to have people receiving satellite imagery of me in the shower. I've heard they can read the labels on candy bars with those things."

"Alright, I'll bear that in mind," Rouge said. "Any other input?" Tails shook his head, and Amy just took another drink. Rouge shrugged and said, "Alright, we'll consider the matter closed. For now, at least."

"Cool," Tails said. "Now, you said before that you were gonna tell us something interesting about Shadow, right?"

"Yeah, I was," Rouge said. "When I saw him earlier, he asked me if I knew how the 'Chaos World,' as he calls it, knows when to transform. You know, the world where the Emeralds exist?"

"Yeah," Amy said. "I hate that place. I'm still remembering the first time the plane went into overdrive while I was on it. You remember, back when Eggman had the crazy black robot doing most of his fighting for him?"

"What was that thing's name?" Tails asked himself. "Wasn't it something like G-Mel?"

"Yeah," Amy said.

"What happened when the plane went into overdrive?" Rouge asked.

"Well, I kinda never told anyone about this, but when the plane sped up and I nearly flew off..." Amy's voice trailed off.

"What?" Rouge asked. "Come on, you got me curious."

"Well, it's a bit embarrassing to admit, but..." Once again, Amy's voice trailed off. This time, though, she found it before anyone could prod her further. "My panties flew off."

"Ouch," Tails said. "Bet you were a bit nervous about grinding on anything for a while, huh?"

"Yeah," Amy said. "But anyway, back to what Rouge was saying."

"Well, Shadow said that he'd been collecting the Emeralds, just to see how many he could get on his first try," Rouge said. "I think there's more to it than that, but he probably won't tell what. He said that he'd read that the world changes whenever the world's threatened. He said the book didn't go into specifics about what kind of threat, so it could be anything. I told him the myth about a so-called 'Chaos Guardian' who guards the Emeralds a lot like Knuckles guards the Master Emerald. Then he told me that he's been having to fight off some sort of energy masses that attack him relentlessly."

"Sounds like fun," Tails said.

"Probably is," Rouge said. "He's got a bald spot on his right leg now, where one of them burned him. He had a nasty burn there until he went to sleep. When he woke up, it was gone. It was still bald, though."

"Weird," Amy said.

"I have an idea," Tails said, scratching his chin.

"Shoot," Rouge said.

"Tell the agency that you suspect Shadow might have some kind of connection to whoever sent the robots," Tails said. "Tell them you want to watch him by satellite, and see if anyone contacts him or vice versa. I know it's pretty cruel, and not something friends just go around doing to each other, but you can have them call off the surveillance at any time."

"Now THERE'S an idea," Rouge said. "Assuming I even decide to accept the job." At this moment, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Amy called. The door opened, and Big squeezed his large body through the doorway.

"Hello!" he exclaimed cheerfully.

"Hi Big," Amy greeted. "You sure found the place fast, didn't you?"

"Uh huh," Big said.

"Well, I don't really want to intrude on you, so I figure I'm gonna head out," Rouge said, standing up.

"Alright," Amy said, also standing up. Tails stretched before he stood.

"I need to get home, too," he said. "I kinda had to leave Cream hanging while we came over here."

"Whoa," Amy said. "Yeah, you ought to get going. I'll see you guys later, okay?"

"Alright," Rouge said, heading toward the door.

"See you later," Tails said, following her.

"Bye bye," Big said, stepping out of their way.

"I'll see you later," Rouge said as she got out of her car.

"See you," Tails said. Just before they headed to their apartments,he said, "Oh, almost forgot. Are you busy tomorrow?"

"I don't think so," Rouge said.

"I was wondering if you could give me a ride to the mall or something tomorrow," Tails said. "I, uh, just found out earlier that I'm gonna need to start wearing something below the waist, because things start showing when I get wet."

"That's got to be embarrassing," Rouge said, trying not to laugh. "How'd you find out? Did you get out of the shower and Cream told you?"

"No," Tails said. "Luckily, I happened to look down while I was in there, and I noticed something peeking."

"Ah, okay," Rouge said. "Alright, I'll give you a lift. Not like I have anything better to do."

"Thanks," Tails said. "Well, I'll see you then."

"Alright, later," Rouge said. This time, neither of them remembered anything, and they both headed to their apartments.

"Well, that was interesting enough," Tails said to himself as he walked in the door. Closing it, he turned and headed toward the phone, intending to check the caller ID and see if anyone had called. He doubted anyone had, but he checked anyway. Once he confirmed that there were no calls, he noticed a gleam from off to the side. He looked over, and saw that his phone was clean, white, and shiny. He raised one eyebrow, then he figured out what had happened: Cream had apparently decided to clean it up. He turned and walked over to the couch, but the rabbit wasn't there. He called out, "Hey Cream! Where'd you go?"

"I'm back here!" Cream called from the bathroom.

"Oh, okay!" Tails called. A minute later, he heard the sink turn on as he sat down on the couch. Another minute later, he heard the sink turning off and the toilet flushing. Cream walked out of the bathroom and into the living room afterward.

"Hello," she greeted.

"Hey," Tails replied. He picked up the remote and turned on the TV just as Cream sat down beside him.

"What did Rouge want to talk about?" Cream asked. "Or is it none of my business?"

"Ah, don't worry about it," Tails said. "It wasn't anything you should be worried about."

"Okay," Cream said, sitting back. "I hope you don't mind, but I called my uncle and told him where I am."

"I'm fine with that," Tails said. "I noticed you kind of resurfaced my phone, too."

"I did," Cream said, nodding. "How long have you had it? All that gunk I cleaned off it looked years old."

"It was already a little cruddy when I got it," Tails said. "I've only had it maybe six months. The guy I got it from said he'd had it for years."

"Oh," Cream said.

Rouge stepped into her apartment around the same time Tails walked into his. She closed the door and leaned on it, letting her head fall back as she sighed.

"Good to be home," she said. "Again." She leaned on the door for a minute, then headed to the kitchen to get a drink. She opened up the fridge and looked inside for a soda. Before she could reach for one, she felt someone throw their arm over her shoulder and catch her in a sleeper hold. Instinctively, she threw her left arm down, her hand balled into a fist, and pounded her assailant in the groin. She confirmed it was a man when the grip loosened. She whipped around to face him, but all she faced was a pistol aimed at her head, right between her eyes.

"You're losing it, Rouge," the man said. "They said you were better at this than that. They said you used to be able to kill a guy quicker than you hit me." He was a human, just a little taller than Rouge was, wearing a black tuxedo. His shoes were black leather. He had brown eyes, and brown hair with streaks of gray running from front to back. The pistol wasn't anything Rouge recognized, but that was for good reason. The man pulled the trigger, and Rouge was sprayed in the face with cold water.

"You little bastard!" she snapped.

"I know, aren't I?" the man said, lowering his water pistol. "I'm from the agency. My name isn't important."

"What do you want?" Rouge demanded.

"I've been following you, in case you talked to anyone we didn't know about," the man said. "I have the entire conversation between you and your friends on tape. But, I won't hand it over to my boss if you'll do something for me."

"That depends what it is," Rouge growled. "Breaking into my apartment then attacking me from behind hasn't exactly put me in a favor-doing mood."

"All I want you to do is to keep the offer in mind," the man said.

"Why should I do it?" Rouge demanded. "You must be free to do it if you've got the time to break in here and do this shit!"

"Actually, I'm waiting on the agency to send me some feedback on some info I sent them," the man said. "I'm still on a mission of my own. They just seem to be going about it slowly, I guess.Now listen, you know these guys don't have much patience, so if you choose to accept, do it soon."

"Yeah, whatever," Rouge said. "I'll call them when I reach a decision. Now get out of my apartment."

"Fine," the man said. He pocketed his water pistol, then reached into a pocket inside his jacket, pulled out a slip of paper, and dropped it on the table on his way out.

"What's that?" Rouge asked.

"Telephone number," the man said without turning around. "They changed the numbers, so whatever number you remember is invalid." With that, he opened the door and left.

'Nother chapter down. Things are getting kind of interesting, yes? Just wait until a few chapters down the road, heh heh. Review away.