Chapter 4

Amy grinned at the mirror, swirling around a bit for effect. The leather swirled with her, shining in the early morning sun. Today she had to report to the base, which meant she could go without her disguise until afterwards. Of course she wasn't actually looking forward to reporting back, what with failing her most recent attempt to kill Sonic, but she was getting sick of looking five years younger than she was, so this was a nice change. She wore all black (she despised colour), and mostly leather- the fact that an animal had suffered to make her look good amused her. True, the weather was too hot for such clothing, but the opportunity to wear something she liked for a change was too much too pass up. She had her hair hanging lose, framing her face with the curls that she usually tamed into obscurity. She looked good and she knew it. Of course, if any guys even thought about staring at her inappropriately she would kick them in the balls, but that was all part of the fun.

Checking that her knives and gun were easily accessible she stepped out of her house, blinking away the bright sunlight before slipping on her sunglasses. It wouldn't have taken her long to walk to the base, but she hailed a taxi and jumped in. In a profession such as hers it was easy to make enemies, and it wouldn't do for her to be recognised.

"Forty-five Welsh street please." She told the driver, drumming her fingers against the window sill impatiently. She started looking in her bag for a cigarette, but their journey had finished before she was able to fish one out. She paid the fare and got out, grumbling under her breath over the price.

She walked down the alleyway, her movements smooth from years of repetition. She walked up to a seemingly normal brick wall and pushed five bricks forward in sequence.

"What's the password?" A voice called, muffled through the wall.

"Doomsday," Amy answered. There was the sound of a lever being shifted and the wall slid back, allowing her entrance. She didn't bother to talk to the woman who had opened the door for her. Such people were lower than her rank and thus below her dignity. Besides, the whole system was stupid as it was. Much too Harry Potter-ish.

She followed a complex maze of tunnels, twisting around each other like a nest of snakes. She finally found the door she wanted and entered without bothering to knock. The elderly man at the desk looked up, unsurprised. Even though his fur had turned white in old age he still looked fearsome, his wolf teeth deadly sharp. Even Amy was subdued in his presence.

"Ah Dimitri, it's been a while. Do sit down." He gestured to the chair before his desk. She sat down, slightly confused until she remembered that Dimitri was her real name. She had been referred to as Amy for so long she was forgetting who she really was, in more ways than one.

"Anthros unite." The wolf put a fist to his chest. His voice was deep and serious.

"Anthros unite." She replied, repeating the ritual. It was a codeword, of sorts- anyone who knew it would be safe from the organisation. "It's nice to see you again, sir."

"I never thought you were one for mindless small talk, Dimitri."

"No boss."

"Well, let's get down to business, shall we? How is the mission going?" Amy diverted her eyes.

"My latest attempt failed sir. Seeing as the target is unable to swim I attempted to drown him. Unfortunately he overpowered me."

"Did he find out you were his attacker?" She felt incredulous at the question. Just who did he think she was? Some feeble-minded amateur? She suppressed the urge to yell at him.

"No sir, he has no idea."

"Good, let's keep it that way. I presume you have something else in planning?"

"I always do sir."

"Glad to see you're just as organised as always. However, be more careful this time; the drowning plan was too careless. A lot of things could have gone wrong." Amy tried her hardest not to scowl.

"It could have worked."

"But it didn't, did it? You know, you have spent quite a bit longer on this mission than we had originally planned, Dim. I have to send in someone else if you don't get results soon."

"I will get results sir. We underestimated this target but I will not make the same mistake again."

"See that you don't. Time is running out, and we must have him out of the way when we stage our big attack. Well, it's time you got back to work. You are dismissed." He turned his back to her, the conversation over. It took all her willpower not to throw something at the back of his arrogant head. Just who did he think he was? He treated her as a child! Her, one of the greatest assassins in the nation! The world, even! She was not fooled by his behaviour though. Underneath that mocking elderly exterior was pure violence, and he wasn't afraid to unleash it when he was upset. That one individual had so much power over her infuriated her. If he wasn't so needed by the group she would have killed him ages ago. If she ever did get around to destroying Sonic, this man would be the next on her list. She would crush the life out of him with her bare hands, wiping that smug expression off his face. But... not yet. He could still prove useful to her. Her hands were clenched into fists as she left the room.

Amy made her way to the outside, cursing at herself once or twice when she made a wrong turn. She was supposed to remember things like that. She stood at the curb and scanned the area for taxis, but she saw nothing. She stood there and waited for one to turn up, tapping her foot impatiently. Seeing as none were around at that moment, she sat on a nearby bench and lit up a cigarette. It was hard to support her addiction when her character was a non-smoker. She'd have to change that one day. Of course, if you asked her she would deny having an addiction. She could stop whenever she chose. She just chose to continue right now.

Getting frustrated, she stood up. She had been waiting there for ages and nothing had turned up. As much as she hated to risk it, she would have to walk back. Grinding her cigarette butt into the ground with a heavy boot, she proceeded to walk down the street.

She always disliked walking the streets because there was a good chance she would come in contact with humans. Horrible, inferior creatures. She pressed her sunglasses closer to her face and quickened her pace. Perhaps if she walked fast enough she wouldn't have to see any. If her organisation had their way she would never have to see another human again. But until that day came she would have to just avoid them.

----

Rouge gasped painfully as she woke up and quickly rolled off her side. In her sleep, she had rolled onto her injured arm. She carefully moved it from under her, and the pain started to fade. Why had she been so careless? If she hadn't gotten so close to the edge of the cliff, she would be back on the surface of the planet, filthy rich with the profits from the Master Emerald. But it was too late now. No use in complaining about it, she guessed.

She looked at Knuckles, who was lying a bit too close to her for comfort. He slept silently, undisturbed by the cold wind or her own faint breathing. The corner of his mouth was covered in dry blood, a hideous dirty crimson.

She was getting very sick of this way of life. Of having to hurt people to get what she wanted. Why, she and Knuckles could have almost been friends if they weren't working across purposes. Well, okay, perhaps not friends, she reflected, but there certainly would have been no need to hurt him as she'd done.

On an impulse, she reached out and brushed the blood away, staring as it stained her pale gloves. Knuckles didn't stir; he was within a deeper sleep than was usually possible. He looked so peaceful when he wasn't glaring at her. Quite attractive, really.

'Stop that!' she mentally snapped at herself. 'Don't you even dare think about Knuckles like that! He's your enemy! You're supposed to hate him!'

Her thoughts were disrupted by a banging noise from the back of the cave. She froze, ears pricked upward. Was it just in her head? It sounded again, definitely more than just imagination. It sounded as though something was being dragged through the dirt. She couldn't see in the dim light.

Worry was starting to consume her. She got to her knees and shuffled awkwardly towards Knuckles, progress hindered by her injured arm. She shook him gently.

"Wake up!" He muttered something unintelligible and rolled over. She shook him more aggressively.

"Come on, we gotta get out of here!" Then noise sounded again, alarmingly close. Something growled softly. She could vaguely make out a hulking figure at the back of the cave, dragging something behind it. Her panic increased ten-fold. Swiftly, she grabbed a handful of snow from the entrance and dumped it on Knuckles' face. That woke him up.

"Huh? What's going on?" Knuckles muttered. Rouge slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Shh! Not so loud!" Confused, Knuckles moved a hand to wipe the sleep out of his eyes. Rouge grabbed the hand, trying to pull him away without losing her balance.

"We've gotta get away, there's something in here! Come on!" Still not totally awake, Knuckles was pulled along as she rushed out of the cave, noticing that the blizzard had stopped. She moved frantically for a few metres, only slowing down when she realised they were not being chased. She stopped at what she felt was a safe distance away.

"I think it didn't see us." She panted.

"And what was this thing, exactly?" Knuckles asked. His headache attacked him ferociously, but he was no longer coughing up anything. Still half-asleep, he leaned against a tree as he collected his thoughts.

"I don't know. Something big." He looked at her sceptically.

"Are you sure you weren't just imagining it?"

"Of course I'm sure! Well, I'm pretty sure I'm sure. I don't think I'm delusional." Knuckles sighed.

"Well, we'd better not risk it, anyway." He picked a direction and started walking, Rouge trailing him behind.

"It's going to get dark soon, we have to find shelter." He added.

"I did find shelter!"

"And a fat lot of good that did. Let's try and find something a bit less occupied this time, should we?"

"Hey, if I hadn't found that place, we'd both be buried under a metre of snow by now. I'd like to see you do better in the middle of a blizzard."

"Argh, just drop it okay. We're fine now, right? That's all that matters."

"Fine, but you started it."

"Did not."

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"You're acting like a child!"

"At least I'm not acting like a bitch!" Rouge froze, dumbfounded. Knuckles never spoke like that.

"You really think I'm a bitch?"

"You haven't given me much reason to think otherwise, have you?"

"How dare you! If that's the way you're gonna be, then fine! I'm not travelling with you anymore! You only slow me down anyway!"

"That's fine with me. Go and get yourself killed, see if I care." Rouge's glare was venomous.

"I hope you get eaten by a bear."

"With your choice of caves, that will probably happen to you first."

"Well, if that's the case, I'll see you in hell, because that's surely where you'll end up."

"The fires of hell, it's a date." Sick of this argument, Knuckles stalked off to the right, never looking back. After staring at his retreating back for a moment, Rouge shook herself and walked in the opposite direction, just as angrily as him.

----

Tails felt a warm glow of satisfaction as the last part of the robot fell away, freeing the animal trapped inside. This one was a bird, who looked dazed for a few moments before realising its freedom and awkwardly stretched its wings, looking sideways at its rescuer. A similar situation was happening on the other side of the room, where Eggman was also working to free an animal. They had been doing this all afternoon, but Tails still found it as rewarding as the first one he freed, even though he was exhausted and fairly sure that under his gloves his hands were covered in blisters.

Any doubts Tails had harboured of Eggman's motives had vanished when he witnessed the compassion the large man had for these tiny creatures. He truly did regret what he had done and was trying to set things right. Sonic had no idea what he was talking about.

The thought of Sonic gave him a tiny pang of guilt as he remembered how he'd snuck out that morning. Not that it had been a hard task- Sonic had been asleep on the couch when he'd gotten up, sneakers still muddy from running. He was snoring that loudly that any sounds Tails had made were covered by Sonic's chainsaw impression. But the thought still worried him. He and Sonic had been best friends for years- he'd always let Sonic know what was going on. To sneak out was almost like lying- and Tails detested lying.

The bird had recovered from its shock, and it gave a chirp of thanks before taking off, flying through a window they had left open so the flying animals could get out. Of course, not all the animals were that fortunate. Some were little more than corpses; sad, twisted creatures that cried mournfully as the light hit their faces for the first time in years. Not all could be saved, and it wrenched Tail's heart to crack open a robot only to be met with the acrid scent of decay. But the surviving animals far outnumbered the dying ones, so these gruesome moments were thankfully few and far between.

Tails wondered what Eggman would get him to work on. Saving all the animals they could was only the beginning- from what he could tell Eggman had big things planned, great things that would help many. Yes, Eggman had definitely changed. Tails couldn't see why they couldn't be friends. Perhaps he should even be Eggman's sidekick, rather than Sonic's. They certainly had more in common, and Tails felt as though he was actually doing something to help, not just standing on the sidelines as Sonic got all the glory. Eggman respected him, which was a lot more than how Sonic treated him lately.

Thinking of Sonic, Tails checked his watch. He figured he should be back by lunch time, before the blue hedgehog got too worried. That still gave him over an hour. Great.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Tails reached for the next robot, retrieving his spanner with the other hand. He couldn't wait to free the next animal. Happily, he got stuck into his task.