((AN: I'm not doing content warnings anymore, and when I have time I'll remove both them and this note from earlier chapters. They weren't being useful or helpful, and they were ruining the experience for some people. If you feel really strongly about only getting certain content, let me know and I'll send you content warnings personally. Thank you, and I hope you like the new chapter.))

Rouge normally didn't walk around the GUN base unaccompanied. It wasn't because she needed assistance, because she didn't. It wasn't because she thought anyone would treat her badly when she was alone, because she doubted any of the other agents would be that stupid. And it wasn't because she felt lonely, because… well, come on. No, it was because walking through GUN's halls without Shadow or Omega with her was a cold, boring experience. Nobody would greet her save for some of the newer recruits, who would merely stand at attention, or some especially arrogant army guys trying to make themselves seem tough. When you didn't talk to anyone, it made it that much easier to notice walls devoid of decoration, cold air going through the halls, and the lack of natural light that made her feel like she was being strangled. At least with her two main guys, she had someone to talk to, even if it was just the recap of a recent mission or exchanging jives about each other's lives.

Now, though, it was just her, some low level grunts for extra muscle, and a subdued Doctor Eggman. Not the most entertaining of company, at any rate.

The Doctor right now was a sorry sight - his trademark mustache was bent upwards at one side, an effect of the long time passed out in the passenger seat of the helicopter. He'd asked for a comb, but it was denied. Too smart, the big wigs thought. Like he could pick out of his multiple levels of locks with it or something. And funnily enough, Rouge would have agreed with them if she hadn't also seen how bloodshot his eyes were underneath his goggles, or how dark circles were badly concealed underneath him. It was like he hadn't slept in weeks. Still, he smiled like a jackal about to cut into fresh killed meat, so she said nothing and kept walking, comb denied and seemingly unsympathetic. Better safe than sorry, she thought.

"Rouge," he said to her as they walked, "remember that time you worked for me? Back on the ARK."

"With all fondness, Doctor."

"Was that… was that better or worse than working for GUN is now? Give me an honest answer."

"Why would I talk with you about something like that in a place like this?" she said, her voice on the edge between cooing and demeaning. "You think if I wanted to bad-mouth my job, I'd do it here? Practically in office?"

"So you liked working for me more, huh. You want to badmouth it. Interesting."

"I never said that."

"But you won't deny it either."

Rouge would have turned her back on him and huffed were it not for the fact that she didn't trust the two foot soldiers to keep him handled without her watchful eye. Instead, she rolled her eyes and straightened her posture. "You're talking like a child," she said. "I wouldn't work for you now if you paid all the gems in the world. I knew you to be someone who sought power, maybe wanted to bolster that giant size ego of yours. Now you're trying to kill people with a manufactured disease - and for what? What can you possibly gain from a massacre?"

The Doctor's smile fell, his expression becoming stern. "I never intended for anyone to die, Rouge. And nobody has died, at least that I know of. That wasn't what the project was for."

"Then what could it possibly be, Eggman? I don't understand."

"You can do so much more with a body than kill it, Rouge."

The group reached the interrogation rooms and fell silent. With a harsh rapping on the door, Rouge entered the receiving end and greeted the Commander. The Doctor was taken behind one way, bullet proof just-in-case glass. It looked even more dark and stuffy than the rest of the place, but then again, why should criminals feel comfortable?

The Commander thanked her for a timely operation with all the enthusiasm of a child forced to apologize to his sister. In the following second, he waved her off, telling her she was dismissed. It was appalling.

"Sir," she said, "I can still be of more use. I used to be a double agent in his empire, and he never suspected anything. I can help with getting the most information–"

"This is above your clearance level now, Agent."

"How can that be? I brought him in. I know more about him than most of the people here? I–"

"You are dismissed, Rouge. Go home. That's an order."

As she turned to leave, she thought about how trivialized she felt. How so many people looked at her like she was disposable or trivial. How the Commander didn't really acknowledge her value, even when she finished missions early with minimal overhead. How even Sonic and Shadow kept wandering off on their own to fulfill some kind of wish-fulfillment fantasy while she had to operate the vehicle or plant the bombs. Eggman was right that she had preferred working for him, but it wasn't because she liked working for an evil scientist. No – it's because when she was "working" for him, she could use that position to do something meaningful, and when he was brought down she got .

That may have been why she decided to plant a bug on the inside of the interrogation room. The Commander may have once been in the field like her, but he was older now, out of touch. And, of course, he didn't look at her or question her. He'd never suspect a thing.

The doctor's office smelled like antiseptic. The lights came down on the doctor, Shadow, and Sonic with an artificial glare. The beeping coming from the MRI machine a few doors down kept disrupting the otherwise quiet room. It would have been an altogether unpleasant experience if it wasn't for one simple fact.

That being, Sonic was getting his cast taken off.

"Doc, I cannot tell you how glad I am to get this thing off my leg!" Sonic was practically bouncing off the walls, absorbed in happiness. "I mean, they tell you when you get it on that it's going to itch, but you think it's just gonna be like, annoying sometimes. It's been like ants crawling up my leg, and I couldn't do anything! Well, except for use a pencil - and yeah, I know that I wasn't supposed to, and you can lecture me later - and it didn't even get low enough to help, so I did it for nothing! And it's probably gonna smell too, right? I just want to lather it up with a bunch of soap, scrub it down, and lay outside under the sun while it dries! I–"

"Yes, it is very exciting," Doctor Juarez said, his voice with a completely flat tone and neutral facial expression.

The three of them had been here for half an hour. The doctor checked his pain levels and, slowly but eventually deliberately, determined the cast could come off. The doctor used a dull blade, and he explained to Sonic, like he was reading from a manual that the blade itself wasn't what cut off his cast. Instead, it would vibrate quickly, and the vibrations would split the cast - that way, there was no risk of cutting the leg. It tickled, but it was a small price to pay - after almost a month, he'd at least get to see his leg again! And from there, he could get his muscle back, start really walking and running, go places – he couldn't suppress the width of his smile, nor could he hide the pent up energy he was getting just thinking about it.

"Shadow!" He exclaimed, eyes beaming. "Just think! A few weeks, maybe some luck, and I'll be crushing you in races again in no time!"

"I know you are excited, Sonic," Shadow said, not nearly as enthusiastic, "but you can't rush your healing, or it'll end up even worse."

"But you don't know what it's like, Shadow! Being all cooped up, not moving, not being able to run around or breath fresh air–"

"Sonic. I literally lived in a tube on a space station.."

Sonic shut up. The doctor looked at the two of them with a confused expression, and Sonic waved him off. "It's a long story, and we're in kind of a rush. You almost done?"

The doctor nodded slowly. "Yes. The cast will be ready… now."

Opening up the cast was like opening a durian - sticking to Sonic's skin in places, a slightly sour smell permeating the air. But he didn't care. He just felt lighter and more relaxed, rubbing his hand against the exposed leg. His grin got even bigger. The leg may be sweat soaked and lacking muscle tone, or even basic stability, but it was open to him again. "Thank you so much, doctor!"

The doctor did not move - he didn't even take the cast away, or return the thank you. Instead, he moved to one of the tables at the edges of the office. "While you are here, you need to take a vaccine."

Sonic looked at the doctor, confused. That was abrupt. "A vaccine? What about the cast? Aren't you supposed to give me follow up stuff for physical therapy?"

"The vaccine is more important."

"What does that have to do with my leg?"

"We are requiring the vaccine for patients of every kind. There is an outbreak, and we're preventing further harm. I am not permitted to let you leave until you take it."

"An outbreak?" The thought of Eggman's bioweapon struck him. His blood ran cold. We were too late. "So it's already hit here? Is it serious?"

"Yes. It is very unfortunate, but we can prevent it."

"What… what does the disease do?

"People behave irrationally. They have strong emotions that cause them to harm others."

"So it's a brain virus…." Sonic said. He fidgeted in his chair, thinking of next steps. From what Doctor Juarez said, it sounded like this disease of Eggman's made people more animalistic and violent. He did have a serious look on his face, too. But he hadn't heard of it actually reaching here. Maybe Sonic was just that out of touch?

"The vaccine is ready."

Sonic shook his head, then threw a thumbs up. "Wow! I guess Doctor Eggman isn't a doctor of medicine, so maybe the better doctors already fixed it. And you say I can't leave until I do it?"

"Yes," Doctor Juarez said. He was prepping the needle, hands shaking slightly. "Please hold still. It will be over soon, and then you can go help others."

"Sure thing, doc! Let's get this over with!" Sonic offered up his arm, eager to get it done and leave, but was interrupted by a voice that hadn't spoken the whole time they had been there.

"Wait."

Sonic turned and looked at Shadow, who was sitting on the edge of his chair. He gripped the rim of it tightly, creating creases in the fabric. What could possibly have him so worked up, he wondered?

"You haven't checked his medical record."

"I do not need to. He hasn't gotten the vaccine."

Shadow stood up, approaching him with fists balled and eyes blazing. "No, you do. You have to check that he isn't allergic to a medication before you give it to him. You have to confirm he hasn't already gotten an inoculation of a vaccine in case it causes adverse affects when given more than once. And why would you give him a vaccine anyway? You're not his PCP. Isn't that his primary doctor's responsibility? Or a nurse's?"

"I do not need to. He has not gotten the vaccine."

Sonic looked at the doctor, really paying attention to him for the first time. He had been so wrapped up in the elation that yes, he would finally get his cast off, that he hadn't paused to really look. The doctor's eyes were half shut, as if caught halfway in a day dream, and he moved with slow, stiff actions that reminded him of a zombie film. "Doctor," he asked, eyeing the needle warily, "what kind of vaccine are you trying to give me? What is it for?"

"It is to make you better."

"But that's not what vaccines are for," Shadow said. "They're to prevent getting sick later, not helping someone who is currently sick."

"And I'm not sick now!" Sonic yelled. He shimmied off the bed, landing hard on his one good foot in a way that send shockwaves up his leg. He yelped, but kept trying to move forward, determined not to let it slow him down. "Doctor–"

"You need to stay still and have it put inside you."

"He has the right to refuse treatment, and we're leaving." Shadow

"You both need to have it put inside you. You will feel so much better. That is why we called you here."

"Both of us? Called me here?"

"We told you to bring as many people as possible. It is only two of you, but that is still enough."

"What the–"

If it weren't for the fact that Sonic and Shadow were seasoned fighters, they may not have avoided what happened next. The Doctor, realizing he was not going to convince them with words, lunged at Sonic with the needle. He ducked and weaved, picking up the remains of his cast and throwing the weight of it towards the offending syringe. It hit its target with a strong impact, knocking the syringe away and sending it flying towards the wall. It shattered and fell towards the ground, and they thought the matter was settled. It was only when the doctor dove after it, practically cutting his hand open in his haste to grab something that had fallen, that they noticed it.

Something was very wrong here.

They almost didn't see anything, since it was so small. The liquid had formed a puddle on the ground, as they would expect. The glass stayed in stationary little bits, as they would expect. But something in the remains…moved.

It was bizarre.

The doctor's bleeding hand, now next to it, had it move there. It almost looked like a tiny worm, crawling up his finger in a line and making its way toward the blood. "Huh. It can go back in. This is good to know," the doctor said, seemingly to himself. He turned to the two of them, the same blank expression. "That could have been unfortunate. It cannot survive outside."

Shadow twisted the knob on the door and, grabbing Sonic, pulled him out. Normally, he would protest, but instead he just let himself be moved, gaping jaw catching air. Something was very, very wrong with the doctor. Clearly, he'd gone insane, or something worse. Shadow and he could probably talk to the receptionist about it, figure out if something was going on that would make him act like this–

His blood ran cold.

The receptionist was rummaging through a nurse's station. The other nurses were already armed with more syringes, and even some IV drips. Some of the patients were attempting to block the door. All of them looked at the two of them with the same facial expression, the same cold haze as the doctor.

"You both need to stay still and have it put inside you," they said in unison. Sonic shivered.

"What the hell?" Shadow exclaimed, taking stock of the people surrounding them. "What's going on here?"

"It's like they're under some kind of mind control!" Sonic answered. He suddenly became very aware of how limited his mobility was; no cast, but no muscle in his leg either to carry him forward. He normally didn't get scared by people like this, but there were so many, and he was at such a disadvantage.

"We called you," the group said. "We wanted you to bring a lot of people. The world should know–"

Sonic fell the air escape his lungs as he was swooped up. Looking up, he saw Shadow, who was carrying him bridal style. "We're leaving," he said, and with a blaze of motion, he ran around the crowds of people and through the doorway. "For someone with so many enemies, you're awfully eager to get things injected in you from strangers!"

"I'd like to think I have just as many friends as I do enemies," Sonic said, trying not to think about how Shadow's hands were gripping around him. Do I want to be with Shadow? came the question again, and he forcibly pushed it aside. "And he's not a stranger, he's my doctor!"

"You can't trust someone merely because they have an advanced degree! Didn't it strike you as weird that a new vaccine was already made and went through each of the medical approvals? That he wouldn't say what kind of illness it was? You are so painfully naive!"

"Than how can I trust someone?"

"When they earn it!"

For a while, the two of them were followed by more doctors, nurses, receptionists, billers, patients… but then at once, they stopped and turned back to what they were doing. Sonic felt tied between looking at them, trying to make out what was happening to them, and looking at Shadow to determine what the next step should be.

This was new.

He knew that Shadow was carrying him out of a hospital filled of nightmares backed only by the sounds of beeping machinery and the fluorescent lights lining the ceiling, but everything seemed to blur together as they moved The lights framed Shadow' face like a halo, reminding him of the artwork of Beatrice in the slightly worn copy of the Divine Comedy as she accompanied Dante through the levels of heaven. It was such an odd comparison to make; Beatrice was, frankly, used entirely for Dante's benefit. She was blatantly something for Dante to work towards as he journeyed through all the layers of hell and endured the pains of purgatory. She was symbolic, not defined. She was a concept, not a character. She was an idea, not flesh and blood.

Was his own thinking of Shadow so one dimensional? Or was the light simply playing tricks on him? He was dizzy, needing to grow used to moving at such speeds again after not running for nearly a month - maybe he was only dazed? None of this made any sense.

The two of them slammed through the entrance outside, making their way through the parking lot. Practically with a heave, Shadow tossed Sonic into the car and whipped around to take the driver's seat.

"We have to go to the GUN base, now," he said, buckling his seatbelt forcefully.

"What? Why GUN?"

"Police can't help with something like this."

"We have to help them, Shadow! We have to help them right now!"

"And what makes you think we can do that on our own? We've got nothing except for two and a half working legs and a car. They've got the whole hospital of people on their side! They're obviously being influenced by something outside of themselves - we need to find the puppet master behind this whole charade, and take him down from there."

Sonic' eyes widened. "Do you think it's Eggman?" he said. "Maybe its that disease thing he was working on. Some kind of…hypnosis virus."

"Possibly."

"But that doesn't make sense either," Sonic said, more or less interrupting his own thought. "If they were controlled by Eggman, why wouldn't they just attack us? Why try for an injection?"

"We don't know for sure. He may have been trying to infect you too, trying to make you one of them - but that doesn't seem like him either. He's always just tried to kill you." Shadow shrugged, shifted gears on the borrowed police car, and started driving off with screeching tires and little regard for traffic laws. "Regardless, GUN will have more answers for us than we can get here, and they might be able to help us solve this. If not, the Doctor is in custody there, and we can persuade him."

"What about Blaze?"

"We're not going back for her," Shadow said as they merged on to the interstate. "You can call her and let her know what's happening. Tell her to get to a safe house. She can take care of herself."

"But–"

"Sonic. We are going. That is final."

Sonic wasn't happy about it, so he crossed his arms and sat back in the car. He felt the air conditioner hit his now uncovered leg with blasts of cold, and for the first time in a month, he scratched it without thinking about it. The car drove southward, the two inside of it not knowing that each of their movements were watched and followed.

((AN: You didn't think I'd let them be happy for long, did you? That would be awfully naive of you.

On a side note, I always feel really badly when I sideline a character like Rouge in a story. She's such an interesting character who honestly deserves a whole story all her own - but since I can't quite do that here, I still hope I can do her justice in solitary scenes like this. Let me know what you think, if you have an opinion about it.))