Act IV: Dark Distance

Shadow's hand squeezed just a little tighter around Rouge's throat with each animalistic thrust. He growled in her ear, his usual signal he was close to finishing. Rouge let out a moan in response; she was close as well. She held her forehead against the headboard, pushing against it as she came, triggering Shadow's response. He pressed forward and squeezed even tighter on her throat. The two held in that position for a few seconds as his body released inside of her. Slowly, he pulled out, sliding his bare palm away from her throat, and down her chest. He squeezed her breast, his hand sliding off from her sweaty skin, and he dropped to her side.

She fell to the bed and turned onto her back, arms and legs still trembling. She glanced at him; he was laying on his back too, staring straight up at the ceiling. Rolling away from him, she reached into the pocket of her clothes on the floor beside the bed to withdraw a box of cigarettes and a lighter. She knew he wouldn't want one. The bat placed a cigarette in her mouth, lit it, tossed the lighter off the bed, and rolled back over to him. Then, she shifted closer and wrapped her arms around his warm, wet body. Scratching his patch of white chest fur, she purred in his ear. "I really am glad Gerald properly equipped you," she whispered. "Otherwise the 'Ultimate Lifeform' really wouldn't be Ultimate, would he?"

"I suppose," Shadow replied. He remained still, staring straight up. This was standard with their relationship: work, fuck, flirt to little success, professional behavior for a few weeks. Something about tonight felt different to Rouge. Usually he wasn't so forceful when choking her. And he never replied to her pillowtalk.

"Something on your mind?" Rouge asked, running a finger down his chest and to his stomach. With her free hand, she took another puff of her cigarette.

"Obviously," he replied.

Rouge stared at her coworker, cigarette between her lips. After tugging it from her mouth, she growled, "Well are you gonna tell me?"

"We failed."

"I know," she replied, looking down at the sheets. "I was hoping this little excursion would get our mind off of things. Usually it works~" she whispers, before nibbling his ear.

"Stop that," Shadow ordered, wiggling away from her.

"Shadow!" she exclaimed, excitedly.

"What?"

"That's the first time I got a physical reaction out of you!"

He rolled his eyes, and returned to his rigid position.

"It's okay, Shad. We'll figure this out. We always do. We busted that South Island sex trafficking ring, didn't we? And we stopped that Terrorist Attack in Westopolis! Metal Sonic who? We've stopped bigger assholes than him all the time!"

"That's nice and all Rouge. It really is." Shadow's response stunned Rouge. This was the most he'd ever talked after their little sessions. "But Omega's gone."

The bat sighed, and took another puff of her cigarette. "I know."

"And thanks for the pep talk, but it's really not what I need right now."

"I know. Did… Did this help at all?" She asked gesturing to her body with her cigarette hand.

Shadow paused. "You want me to be honest?"

"Obviously."

"I'm still pissed off." So that's a no.

Rouge took a deep inhale of her cigarette. Inhale. Exhale. He's stressed. They both were. She pushed on, "Why do you sleep here after we, uh, relieve stress? I know you don't… need to, but… you stay every time we do this."

"I don't."

"Wh- what!?" Rouge asked, sitting up. Her cigarette pressed against the sheets, and she had to withdraw it, smacking the bedding to put out the small fire that had started.

"You hold onto me until you fall asleep. I get you off of me when you do, and then I leave to meditate in my room, as I would any other night."

Rouge stared down at him. The audacity of him to- "Then go," she said, with a monotone voice.

"What?" Shadow asked, following in sitting up.

"Just go to your room then. You're going to go anyway."

Shadow stared at her naked, vulnerable body for a moment, then swung his legs out of the bed. Without another word, he walked towards the door.

"You know, I left Knuckles because he was emotionally nonexistent," Rouge snapped as he made his way out of the door.

"Well then it's a good thing we're not in a relationship," Shadow shot back, slamming the door behind him. She was alone, pissed off, sitting in bed, naked, covered in sweat, still wet, and with a cigarette in her hand.

o o o

Amy Rose received a call in the middle of her work day. Grabbing her phone and rushing to the unoccupied breakroom, she checked who it was: Unknown Caller. Hoping it wasn't a robocall, she answered.

"Damn, Amy, I was worried you weren't gonna pick up!" Rouge exclaimed from the other end.

"Rouge? What's up? I'm kinda at work right now, no personal calls…"

"Well you get lunch, don't you? For how long?"

"Yeah, in about an hour, and it's for thirty minutes."

"Easy. Meet us at The Executive. Upscale restaurant the bigwigs in Casinopolis frequent."

"I know the place… Is there somewhere we can go that's more uh… affordable?"

"Oh, honey, I'll pay for you!"

"You mean it? N- no, I couldn't-"

"After all the work you did yesterday? It's my pleasure."

"Thanks! Uh, yeah, I'll meet you then!"

o o o

Amy entered the restaurant shyly, intimidated by the visible wealth in this place. The golds and reds of the decor rose to the ceiling, which contained an intricate carving of various figures and events. And the dress of the clientele! She was in decent work clothes, but some of the suits in here looked even more expensive than some of the attire her boss wore! In the far corner of the restaurant were Rouge and Shadow, both dressed up to better fit in, but they still stuck out to Amy. Then again, how often was Shadow seen in high end suits? Rouge's short dress and fur scarf wasn't too surprising, but her choice to pose as some sort of escort was a bit on the nose in Amy's eyes. To think, this was the second real reunion with her old adventuring friends within the past week, and both had taken place at restaurants.

"Glad you could join us, dear," Rouge said as Amy sat down across from the two agents.

"Of course! I'm really happy to help you guys out!" Amy replied.

Rouge waved across the room to a waiter, gave the 'ok' sign, and waved him away. When returning to Amy and seeing her confused look, Rouge clarified, "We ordered for you. Minimal interruptions and saves time, you know?"

"Oh, uh, thanks!" Amy replied, shifting awkwardly in her seat.

"You're not allergic to lobster, are you?"

"Nope! All good!"

Shadow let out a short laugh, and Rouge rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Shadow. Sorry, I was certain you were. He insisted and ordered it anyway."

"No no, I love it actually, thanks!"

"Now then, the full story. And make it quick, we have more to talk about after this and you don't have all day."

It didn't take long to describe how she and Ray followed the static trail of the cameras and sent Sonic along that route. During this time Amy and Rouge's meals arrived, alongside a bottle of wine that Rouge insisted Amy partake two agents were silent as she explained, and at the end, Rouge only nodded slowly. "We'll have to say you didn't give a name as to who your Surveillance contact was. I'll send Ray a gift in the mail though."

"So, what happens now?" Amy asked, glancing between the two.

"Well, it's all hands on deck at G.U.N. Right now, Shadow and I are tasked with securing the remaining Chaos Emeralds so Metal Sonic can't acquire them. We're even outsourcing, something never seen before, or at least… since Team Sonic was active."

"Speaking of… What about Sonic? Has anyone heard from him? Tails said he never came home last night."

The two were silent. "We… We don't know where Sonic is. Really, he could be anywhere, but we expect him to be doing similar to what we are. Chasing Chaos energy, which he's most likely doing with his Chaos Emerald. Which… we should not have let him take so easily."

The two both glanced away. Amy could tell this was a sore subject and pushed on. "But… well, Sonic can take care of himself, can't he? He won't let his Emerald get stolen."

"Our, Emerald," Shadow said. It was the first thing he'd said the entire conversation. "After all, he took it off of our property."

"Settle down, Shad, she didn't take it," Rouge shot back. When Shadow didn't respond, Rouge turned back to Amy. "A lot is uncertain at HQ. Long story short we don't have much secure right now and we're scrambling to catch up. Whether or not Robotnik is behind this, Badnik activity and Chaos related crimes are the worst things we could imagine beyond a Black Arms invasion. We'd hoped to prevent something like this through stronger surveillance and combat tech, but they neutered the surveillance and stole our combat test robot."

"Your combat test- oh… right." Amy's ears flattened when reminded of Omega's vanishing. "You guys… must be going through a really hard time, not having Omega with you."

Rouge hesitated. Amy thought she could just barely see a hint of water in Rouge's eyes. Even Shadow looked visibly uncomfortable when Omega was brought up. "Yeah. We miss him," Rouge said. "But… work goes on. We need to make up for it somehow."

"Well, I'm sure you two can work it out! Not to stroke his ego or anything, but Shad's pretty tough!"

Rouge glanced at Shadow and giggled when she noticed him squirm just a little. "Sure, Shadow's got some muscle behind him, but we were thinking of bringing someone in. Off the books, outsourcing type of thing."

"Oh? Well, I remember Big was a, uh, big help when it came to power back in the day! I could give him a call-"

"No!" Shadow barked.

"Amy, you don't get it," Rouge said, before Shadow could continue. "We've both been at the oversized end of that hammer of yours. Whether or not you've been in the game for the past five years, I doubt you've stopped working out. You're strong. And you got guts. Outside of the two of us, I doubt many people in G.U.N. would have the stones to take over Surveillance Team's intel like you did."

"W- wow. You want me in Team Dark?"

"Until we get Omega back, correct."

"Can't you guys get in trouble for bringing me in on this?"

"Absolutely."

"You don't care?"

"Shadow, do we care about getting in trouble?"

With his signature, short smile, Shadow replied, "Never have before."

Amy bit her lip, considering the offer. She had a job now. She had obligations. It's been five years since she'd done anything dangerous like this barring yesterday. Yesterday. Scheming with Ray, racing to the scene of a crime with Tails… But she's changed so much over the past five years! She works in an office now! A dull, miserable office, with no excitement. And here excitement was, offering her a new adventure…

"I'm in," Amy said.

Rouge clapped her hands together and grinned. "Perf-!"

"But!" Amy raised her voice to interrupt the bat. "Shadow, I think I remember you saying you didn't need Team Rose's help! But, it seems you're here, begging the leader of Team Rose to do just that."

"What are you getting at here, Pinky?" Shadow asked in a low growl. Ouch, Amy preferred her old nickname.

"Apologize, and admit you need Team Rose's help. Then I'll help you guys."

Rouge spun around to Shadow, using her eyes to plead he just go along with it. Shadow growled, baring his teeth at the two girls, but eventually whispered, "We need Team Rose's help."

"Sorry, I didn't hear you! And I'm not looking for a 'we,' I know Rouge is asking for my help. I want to hear that just you need it."

Rouge's eyes darted back and forth between the two hedgehogs, from Amy's smug grin to Shadow's rage. Fuck fuck fuck Amy why won't you just go along with it you got him to admit it stop push-

"Fine!" Through clenched teeth, Shadow spat out, "I need Team Rose's help! But you better not try and get the rabbit and that cat involved with this!"

"Wouldn't dream of it Shad!" Amy cheered. Rouge couldn't believe it. She knew the two of them were in tough times, but for him to humiliate himself? Maybe it would be worth it to try and talk to him about things later… What was she thinking? Like hell Shadow would be that vulnerable if he wasn't forced.

"After work, head to our safehouse," Rouge ordered. "I'll write down the directions for you on a napkin. After you memorize it, burn it."

"How? I don't have a lighter…"

Rouge handed Amy a cigarette and a lighter. "Here, you'll look natural starting fires on the street with this."

"Uh, I really don't smoke…" Amy said, taking the two objects.

"The alternative is swallowing the napkin. I'm trying to keep us from being completely cliche here."

"Ugh… Okay…" Amy whined, pocketing the lighter and cigarette.

"We'll go over plans when you arrive," Rouge said, standing up. Amy looked at the clock and realized she was running late getting back. Shit.

"Totally. Thank you so much for this, both of you!" Amy put her arms out and Rouge closed in, hugging her new teammate.

"Of course," Rouge whispered. "We talked a long time today about what to do, and we both agreed you were the only person we knew would do well on this."

"Really? I figured Shadow wouldn't want me with you guys," Amy whispered back.

"Same. Maybe he knew you were the most capable. Or least annoying. You beat hiring one of the schmucks from the Chaotix." The two laughed and broke their hug. Amy waved as she rushed back to work, reading over the address before lighting up a cigarette- improperly, mind you- and disposing of her first piece of classified information.