"... Metal's gone..." He said, exiting the now wrecked airship, buried beneath the ground about halfway. Shadow jumped out and landed on the ground swiftly as Rouge ran up to him with a calm look on her face, although she first eyes the ship for a few seconds before turning to Shadow, she looked as though she was running out of breath. "I'd recommend we head back, but Omega is in bad shape after the crash."

Shadow narrowed his eyes and thought about it for a while, but all the while his mind drifts off somewhere else, but ultimately made the decision to rest for a little until his robot comrade is up and running. The white bat nodded and walked off to where Omega is, who looks to be resting in the nearby forest. The orange sky got Rouge's attention, it meant it's getting dark soon but highly doubts that Shadow would just rest without heading off into danger.

But she couldn't argue with Shadow about that attitude of his, she's almost the same too, to an extent. She has some control over herself unlike her partner, but if anything can distract or used as a weapon against her, it would be her obsession with shiny gems and jewels. Anything that's valuable in her eyes, she wants all of them to herself, and for good reason, she is a thief after all. But when it comes to dire and probably emotional situations such as this one is a completely new world to Rouge, because of her desire to have all the gems of the world to be hers alone, she almost never understood other people's struggle with life, Shadow in particular. At first, it was just an infiltration mission from G.U.N., next thing she knew she was confronted by Shadow, but after escaping his clutches, she couldn't help but feel something strange towards him.

Her suspicions were confirmed when she had learned of his circumstances that led him to get revenge on humanity, the very living beings he despised for killing his longtime friend. Learning that he was nothing but a military weapon for the government sickened Rouge, it was a feeling she wanted to ignore once she had found out, but she was still feeling concern for the black hedgehog.

She really felt it... A bond between her and him, it made her feel soft inside like she had found someone she can rely on, someone that would stick by her. All of that was short-lived, however, when Shadow sacrificed his own life to save the very race he had held nothing but hatred with, but it wasn't for all for nothing.

Rouge continued to ponder on about her past with Shadow, as she tried to move Onega into a much more comfortable position. Not that the robot needed it, but it was comforting to know that Rouge truly does care about the E-robot, owning up to the idea of Rouge as a kind person as well. This action reminded Rouge further of her interactions with Shadow in the past, but what she was remembering was the aftermath of his supposed death, when Sonic walked up to her and gave her one of Shadow's inhibitor rings that managed to stay intact.

Today, she kept that ring like her life depended on it, it's very existence was something that motivated Rouge every day just by looking at it, reminding her of her days with Shadow. It was a nice feeling... like a warm embrace hugged her, protecting her from all the dangers of the world. It was a silly thing to feel, and she knows that, but the way it meant to Rouge just made her want to keep it to herself more. Besides, she did truly think he died...

"Rouge, " Suddenly being pulled out from her thoughts, she turned her head to the direction of the voice, Shadow walking up to her and Omega with. She couldn't tell but Rouge had a feeling that Shadow may or may not look concerned for their robotic comrade's well-being, but she knew that the hedgehog does worry for Omega. "How is he?"

Rouge was crouching next to Omega and in a caring manner, ran her hand down on his arm, narrowing her eyes, "He's fine, but he took a lot of damage from the crash..." She said, her hand then reached Omega's hand. Feeling the want and need to, she clutched his hand as gently as she can, still shaky after what happened. Busy gripping Omega's hand, she didn't even notice Shadow crouch down and set his hand down on hers. This surprised Rouge as she looked towards the black hedgehog with a gaze full of awe.

She wondered, about what Shadow is thinking right now. He looked at their partially damaged friend and after just a few seconds holding each other's hand, Shadow stood up which caught Rouge off guard. The bat thought that she must be done something wrong to provoke him but her worries subsided when Shadow simply sat down next to her, a long sigh escaping his mouth as be ruffled his quills in stress. Rouge let go of Omega's hand and sat down, at her right was her robot friend while at her left was Shadow, deep in thought.

"Well, " Shadow started, "Aren't you gonna tell me why you're out of bed?" Rouge looked away at the other direction, clearly trying to avoid eye contact with Shadow, who was waiting for an answer from her. He looked off in front of him, "Seeing as to how you were able to stand back up after the crash, I assume you're finally feeling better." The black hedgehog concluded, not bothering for Rouge to answer his question, it irritated her a little since she was about to open her mouth when he said that.

"Why wouldn't I be? I'm a quick healer, " She said, shrugging off her previous paralyzed state, wanting to forget that even happened in the first place, "But more importantly, I also came here to tell you some news. " Shadow looked back at her, now interested in what Rouge came to tell him about. A part of him says that whatever the white bat was gonna say, it's gotta be related to the bizarre bleeding head from Metal Sonic, it still shook him if he was really honest about it.

"First off, Tails got a lot out of the real Metal Sonic's memory chip, and the data you got from the two bases also telling so much. "

"There wasn't much on Metal's memory since, during the previous ones, he was just stationary. But then after being sent on an assignment by Eggman, he proceeded to come to Angel Island and, well, I guess you know what happens next, " Shadow nods a yes, confirming that he, indeed, remembers the incident on Angel Island. "It might not be much, but at least we can confirm that Eggman is behind all this, or that he has a connection with this 'destructive force'. "

"Then there's the data from the two computers. From the underwater base, there were blueprints for an armor of sorts. It wasn't much to go on, but the way it was designed looked like it was for either you or Sonic. And also, the outside layer of the armor bears striking resemblance to Metal Sonic, it was surprising that's for sure..."

"Armor...huh? " Shadow murmured to himself, he placed his arms on his knees, looking down with pondering eyes. He then thought to himself. If that were the case, then whoever Shadow faced in the underwater base and at the airship wasn't the really Metal Sonic at all, but a hedgehog clad in armor. Now begs the question,

Is that Sonic in that armor?

"Next, " He was pushed off of his thoughts when Rouge began to speak again, that was intentional on her part. She noticed that he was spacing off, trying to take all the information in without acting rash about it. But now that Shadow is out of his headspace, Rouge continued on with her explanation. "Anyway, the data disk, we also found the same ser of blueprints, but in addition to that, were notes and entries written by Eggman himself, his way of writing them made it too obvious of a finding. But those noted were important, those things documented studies and excruciating experiments of his latest works. "

Rouge pulled out a small bottle and gave it to Shadow, this didn't really matter to him at all until he saw what was inside. It was a tiny but visible spec of the virus goo that Tails got from Sonic's tracker. This itself came as a surprise to Shadow, "That virus inside the bottle, " The ebony hedgehog raised his head up and looked towards Rouge, needing more answers from her at this instant. "Turns out it was a virus that allows Eggman to control anyone it infects. Apparently, the virus only responds to Eggman, no-one else, which is a total buzzkill."

"All of these things we found, they were all prototype plans made by Eggman, but when put together creates a plan where it involves Sonic. So in my opinion, wherever Eggman is, Sonic is with him-"

"Or that he was in front of us this entire time."

Silence befell them at that very minute. Rouge's eyes widened as she looked at Shadow like she was hit with a big revelation, but Shadow couldn't blame her, he can hardly believe it himself. After just a few seconds of thinking to herself, the white bat let out a gasp but quickly covered her mouth with both hands, this prompted Shadow to stand up. "What... Shadow, what do you mean by that...?"

"It's what you think I mean..." He said, to put it calmly to Rouge. His eyes landed on Omega and just seconds, Shadow sighed and walked up to the robot, placing his hand in Omega's fixed head carefully, "Rouge, I'm heading back to headquarters, take Omega to Tails and Rose to get him repaired, I don't trust G.U.N. fixing him up. " but before he can even continue running off, Rouge grabbed his arm out of instinct, making Shadow turn his head at her with a surprised look.

"Why are you going to HQ?" She asked blandly, not even showing emotion. That shocked Shadow a little since whenever they had their quarrels with each other, she would show anger, sadness, or anything, something! He stood his ground, however, not showing a sign of emotion towards her actions. "Tails and Rose aren't the only ones we can go to for information. I requested HQ to search for any recent activities regarding Eggman, including a search for his new hideout."

She still didn't let go, not even slip a finger off of his arm, Rouge just stood there... With a blank look on her face. But soon her hand let go of Shadow's arm, he didn't run though, all he did was turn his back. He looked off in front of him with eyes of determination, "Do you have anything to say to me before I go?" Rouge cracked her mouth open out of surprise, not expecting Shadow to let her say something to him. Her eyes narrowed, she began closing her hands into fists, as she slowly walked over to him. But then what came next caught Shadow off guard.

Rouge proceeded to wrap her arms around him from behind, and as she tried to slip her head up to his cheek, her lips pecked a small but soft kiss on the hedgehog's muzzle. This sent shivers into Shadow's body, rendering him motionless as Rouge retracted her head back and onto Shadow's ear, whispering something to him quietly. Finally, she stepped back and Shadow nodded. "I will."

With that, Shadow took off leaving a gust of wind blowing behind him, but this didn't affect Rouge as she stuck her feet to the ground, looking at the black blur that is her gloomy partner. A smile crept on her face and giggled.

Looking back at what she whispered to him, she walked back to Omega and took a brief stop for a second, repeating what she said to Shadow.

"No matter what happens, you better be still alive when I arrive, you hear me?"