To Scourge's disappointment, while he was able to use the Scepter of Sealing on the Ixis who injured Fiona, depowering him for the beatdown of a lifetime, he couldn't find the Emeralds that he heard Ixis had stolen. This was disappointing to him not because he thought he needed them personally, since he was confident in his own power already, but because he was hoping to use them to heal his girlfriend faster. The weeks where Fiona's back and left arm were healing were painful for both Fiona and Scourge, since Fiona was obviously in literal pain, while Scourge hated how he couldn't " make out with " her in the same way he normally did, as he had to take care not to touch her sensitive bandaged injuries in the process.
He had to switch to having his arms around the back of her neck as it became Fiona who put her arms around him instead, as he tried to be gentle with her. Her left arm hurt to move from the cut, but fortunately it was her right arm that shot with the electrocuting ray gun anyways, so she kept on participating in Scourge's missions to take out every Robotnik he could. She simply had to be careful the rest of the day.
Eventually, after the two worked together to get rid of Professor Egg from Stealth the Hedgehog's dimension, they both gasped at hearing some roaring laughter just outside his base, and were greeted by an alternate version of Kragok. " I see you've eliminated my worst enemy! Even with the power of the Chaos Emeralds at my disposal, I was still having trouble. Thank you so much for giving the world to its rightful owner! " Just hearing the final sentence caused Fiona to use the ray gun on him and make him collapse to the ground writhing being tasered, and Scourge grabbed him by the collar intimidatingly, and said with a smirk,
" Nice try, doofus. You wouldn't happen to know where your Emeralds ARE, would ya? I have a plan for 'em. And if you let me borrow a few, I might spare ya. " Then he winked to Fiona as Kragok agreed, reassuring her that he wasn't actually going to let the next threat to the world live. He thought to himself, " Not like I care. I don't care what happens to this random planet. I just don't like this guy, " and believed that it would be all the more fun humiliating him with a harsh defeat if he was surprised from being double-crossed by him.
As Fiona kept Kragok helpless with the taser-ray gun, Scourge picked him up and was told by the frantic and resentful villain where he would have to go for the deal. The rogue couple then proceeded to run alongside each other at the speed of sound in differently-colored blurs until Kragok finally said, " Stop! It's right here! " at a dark-colored metal building. There, Kragok put in a password opening a safe, and gave them the Emeralds, saying in frustration and fear, " There, I gave you the Chaos Emeralds you wanted! Now- " Fiona then promptly electrocuted him again with her long-distance taser, while Scourge smirked in approval at not even having to tell her to do it.
Scourge said seriously, " First thing's first, " wanting to prove he cared more about alleviating Fiona's pain and getting rid of her injury than killing Kragok, and after he took off her bandages exposing her wounds, he held all of the Emeralds up to her back with his eyes closed, saying in deep concentration, " Heal! Heal! " He then exclaimed, " Yes! " as the wounds closed up by themselves being surrounded with multi-colored light, and then he aimed the emeralds lower facing her legs, and said with a smile, " Wanna run as fast as me while wearing any shoes ya want? Here ya go! " Fiona had a great big smile, her legs feeling great as they were surrounded by light, and when it stopped at last, she took off her Speed Boots and proceeded to, after some nervous hesitation, run around in a circle at the speed of sound.
" Yes! Thank you! " she exclaimed, and promptly gave him a hug, all excited as Scourge grinned. They quickly realized she wasn't shocking Kragok anymore, let go of each other, and Scourge smirked and engaged him in an almost one-sided fight. Punches and kicks were thrown left and right, but Kragok only took half a minute to be defeated by the sheer force at which he attacked, and collapsed to the floor defeated, as the two rogues cheered at their overwhelming victory.
That day, Fiona and Scourge met with the Film Noir dimension Freedom Fighters, and Queen Sally explained to them at the dinner table, " I'm glad you're here. Robotnik's sub-bosses are still running most of the planet. There's still plenty of madmen using robots to threaten the world. We're even suspecting Crocbot of making some explosives in Downunda, so we'll need all the help we can get. That's why we'd really appreciate having your help, especially yours, Scourge. I'll even, uh, turn a blind eye to the law-breaking as long as it doesn't cause big problems for us. It's the smart thing to do. What do you say? "
Scourge then said, " No big deal, I'll just warp to them and break their necks, it'll take just a few minutes. " Queen Sally said looking nervous while the other Freedom Fighters at the table shared in her sentiment, " They're robots, actually, " and Scourge replied, " Even better, I can spindash 'em, and Bounce Attack 'em. There'll be no holding back! "
Antoine-FN suddenly exclaimed, " Wait, you don't understand! My father's one of them! " Scourge said in confusion, " Huh? " and Queen Sally explained, " Not all of them are just robots! Crocbot is, but most of them are innocent people who were turned into robot slaves! He did that on purpose so we'd hold back against them. We can't just destroy them. " Scourge rolled his eyes in disappointment, and she continued, " It's not their fault they were thrown into cells and roboticized! " His pupils shrunk and his eyes opened wide at hearing that, as she continued, " Can we trust you on this? "
Hearing that reminded Scourge of when that very thing almost happened to him, which wasn't a pleasant memory, and he replied trying to hide the nervousness from earlier, " Well, that makes it more interesting. So I'll get to keep destroying robots and other machines until we capture those guys? Sounds good to me. Though I could do that in any dimension. " He ruffled the hair of the two-tailed fox kid with a blue jacket on beside him as the kid giggled, and he said, " But I'll choose this one for you. Why not, I'll be visiting anyway. It'd be a waste not to have some fun while I'm here! " Queen Sally sighed in relief and said, " Thank you! Glad to hear it, " having been worried that Scourge would destroy some innocent Robians for the same reason he did Robotnik.
She continued, " I'll let you know any time we want to include you and Scourge in a mission for some extra manpower. With Scourge's super speed and spindash, as well as physical strength, it goes without saying he'll be a tremendous help! Right? "
Scourge looked worried while she was explaining it as if Fiona was just another one of her Freedom Fighters, having some internal conflict as he wondered if being in it for purely selfish reasons was truly enough to make him not a hero, defeating the purpose when he mostly dedicated his life to rebelling against Sonic, not doing what he wanted. But upon his ego being appealed to, Scourge quickly agreed with his arms crossed and a smirk, " With someone as awesome as me, anything's possible! And I'll do it way better than Sonic ever could, " causing Sonic-FN to say looking irritated, " I'll be coming on the missions too. You aren't replacing me any time soon. " " Good! I'm my own person, and I'd like to keep it that way, " Scourge replied, being reminded of when he impersonated Sonic, and feeling awkward at the end that he had enjoyed it so much back then.
One of the regular missions with Frost's Freedom Fighters led to Fiona and Scourge being up all night chasing a few UFO superweapons of an upstart Coconuts wannabe-replacement for Robotnik. At one point, where Scourge was told to be with Antoine-FN to serve as his bodyguard, Scourge dealt the final blow to the UFO in front of him, as it was shooting out an orange laser at the same time. It narrowly missed him, but after he landed on the ground, he turned around and noticed that lasers were still being shot in the direction of the one he was told to protect, even as the UFO was breaking down. Antoine-FN screamed at an explosion-causing laser hitting a small rabbit just in front of him, reducing it to ashes, and before the final laser could actually hit him and give him the same fate as the alternate Tails he had failed to protect, Scourge pushed him out of the way in a green and black blur shouting, " No! "
With the two on the ground afterwards, Scourge, feeling self-conscious and embarrassed, tried to excuse his instinctive act of heroism with, " S-See how fast I am?! Besides... Frost wouldn't want ya getting hurt and I don't wanna deal with all that whining. "
Getting up from the ground aching from Scourge's impact with him, Antoine-FN said with a shaky voice looking terrified and trembling, " Merci! J, I-I almost got vaporized by that! Oh, mon dieu… " Scourge stood up from the dirt-covered ground asking with a cocked eyebrow, " Is this your first time or what? You've gotta have had PLENTY of close calls before! You didn't get hit by it, so there's nothin' to be upset about, " and joked, " Stop being such a wuss, they'll kick ya out at this rate, dude, "
Antoine-FN gasped and looked horrified at the prospect, and his eyes started to water as he stood up and said with forced anger to save face, " No they won't! You don't understand them at all! They wouldn't, they, I'm not that pathetic! You and Sonic both, you always bull… " When the tears escaped his eyes and he started sniffling drying his face as fast as he could, Scourge went from being really frustrated with him for looking so unusually pathetic to feeling sorry for him as he finished his sentence, " Bully you? " He was immediately reminded of the various times Miles broke down crying from just talking about the ways he'd been unfairly bullied in the past, as well as the time Sonic called him a bully, the one insult he gave him that really stuck with him. He wanted to prove him wrong about a lot of insults, and that one just added to the pile.
Still trying to save face by acting angry and resentful, the Antoine with a blue and green military jacket said with a choked up voice, " You know, for all sorts of excuses. I'm not like the rest of them. I don't have any special powers like the super speed or the ice magic, there's my constant struggles with the English, my sword doesn't even cut the robots that I try to fight. And they still keep me around… " and whispered, " as a burden to protect. "
That was enough for Scourge, and he blurted out, " I'm sorry, " being sent to the breaking point after trying to resist any sort of annoying pity for him for so long. Antoine-FN looked up at him in surprise and confusion, his eyes still watering, and he figured since he already blurted that out, he might as well keep going since he already didn't look like a bad boy anyways. He wouldn't have another chance to say what he was about to without it being even more awkward from poor timing.
" Stop crying. I was just joking around, trying to have a little fun with you. If they were really the type to ditch you, they would've done that by now. Obviously they gotta be really attached to ya then, if they've stuck by you for so long. It's not your fault you got no special powers. Maybe you could give yourself them with some Emeralds, later, or at least make your sword able to actually cut through robots finally, " Scourge comforted him sadly. He put his arm around him instinctively to reassure him and continued, " I-It'll be fine, you had every reason to be shaken after this. Just, chill out, you're remindin' me of Miles. It's too depressing trying to tease ya when this happens, "
Antoine-FN found himself smiling a little at that, even if nervously from a criminal like him being so close to him, and after deciding that teasing him about it was too risky and would ruin the heartwarming moment, he settled on saying, " Thank you. You didn't have to do that. N-Not even Sonic ever did. " Scourge sighed despite the slight smile on his face, dreading the mere idea that someone might eventually tease him about going soft. He refused to accept the very idea of it, proudly insisting,
" I'm just as evil as when I got rid of my selfish dad when he was ruling the world, so don't ever say I went soft! " As Antoine-FN looked scared of him again, Scourge continued unhappily, " I just couldn't help it when you were, bumming me out so much. It's not your fault, though. "
Antoine-FN's wrist-communicator went off with a slight vibration, much to Scourge's relief, and Sally-FN told him over it, " The mission's complete. Meet back up with us. " This caused Scourge to lift him into his arms saying, " It'll be faster if I carry you with me, " amused at him shrieking a little from being startled, and Sally-FN giggled at that as she ended the transmission and Scourge ran at the speed of sound with him over the nearest hill.
This led to Fiona and Scourge having breakfast with them at Queen Sally's castle, bacon and a mushroom omelet. After Fiona finished it, however, she felt nauseous and excused herself from the table, and it dawned on her that unlike so many mornings recently, it couldn't have been the fault of the food she was eating, because it was made by the servants of royalty, who revered her and Scourge for taking down an evil dictator.
She had been worrying for weeks that the breakfasts they were having at the hotels they were staying at were being poisoned, because of the menacing way she and Scourge looked. But with her even being sick from a high-class breakfast, she started to get worried. It had happened to her every morning for the past three weeks, and she had kept it a secret from Scourge, because if he found out and she was forced to tell him her suspicion of why it was happening, he'd just go ballistic on the hotel cooking staff. So she had kept it all a secret from him, and was incredibly thankful that she had been doing so successfully. Unfortunately for her, there was another, more personal secret that she was also keeping, and she was hoping it would turn out to be not the big deal she was making it out to be.
Eventually, she jumped at hearing a knock on the door in the bathroom, panicking at Scourge potentially finding out and asking her what happened. " Fiona? Ya okay, girl? " Fortunately for her, to her immense relief, it was the Film Noir version of Bunnie instead. Her cyborg arm was the other arm instead, and her eye shadow make-up was green instead of purple. Fiona planned on advising her to make it purple as a fashion tip. Hoping that she had gotten most of it out of her system despite still feeling a little weak, she flushed the toilet she was hunched over, unsteadily forced herself to stand with the bathroom sink from above, successfully cleaned her muzzle with sink water and folded toilet paper feeling disgusted and awkward hoping that no one would notice, and she opened the door, smiling nervously saying, " I'm fine! "
Bunnie-FN, who was wearing a purple and gray top with a cowgirl's outfit and a necklace with a pearl on it, made a gesture backing away as if she had smelled something awful and said, " Whoa! What's with the breath? No offense, Fi, but, with that combined with all the noise I heard in here… "
To make matters worse, Queen Sally walked over to her from around the hallway corner, having overheard her. Fiona quickly left the bathroom asking, " Do ya have a breath mint, at least? I don't have a toothbrush here, haven't in days actually- " lying at the end hoping that it would explain things to Bunnie well enough. Unfortunately, Bunnie pointed out grabbing her arm with her organic arm, " Nice try, but that still doesn't explain what I heard in here! "
Fiona sighed heavily as she was forced to go back into the bathroom, and try to reassure the two very concerned-looking girls who reminded her so much of her old teammates. Queen Sally said to her, " I can't imagine why you'd feel nauseous from that. The chef really outdid himself this time! He wanted to make things extra special for the saviors of Mobius. So for you to have that kind of reaction is implying something. "
Fiona said nervously scratching the back of her neck at first, " It's not a big deal. Nothing that'll keep me from going on those exciting little adventures with you guys. " Bunnie told her looking serious, " Not bein' able to hold down a breakfast fit for a king IS a big deal! What's going on? " Fiona, feeling like she was a criminal being interrogated and trying to do whatever she could to get away with it, and not wanting them to think she had an eating disorder either, was incredibly nervous and uncomfortable at the prospect of getting caught as she lied, " I'm allergic to bacon. "
Queen Sally asked, " You mean pork in general, right? Just bacon would make little sense, " as Bunnie had her hands on her hips. Fiona said looking nervous, " Well yeah, obviously. I just said bacon 'cause it was what was on the dish. " Bunnie questioned with reassuring concern in her expression rather than suspicion like her previous interrogators, " But if you were allergic, why didn't'cha say somethin'? " Fiona lied, " I didn't wanna embarrass myself, I'm kinda self-conscious about the whole thing. And besides, it still tasted pretty good, I couldn't help myself. "
Sally replied, " Alright then. The breath mints are in the kitchen, third cupboard to your left. " Feeling increasingly less worried as they seemed to believe her, she felt like a weight was lifted off her shoulders as she walked out of the bathroom in a proud stride, and then she said with a casual shrug to seal the deal, " It's no big deal, this kinda thing happens a ton! "
" A ton? " Queen Sally responded, looking at Bunnie worried after that. Just wanting to let the truth out already, Fiona said trying to look casual still, " Feels like every other morning, whether it's bacon or sausage or whatever. It doesn't matter, it's fine. I just didn't tell ya because I didn't wanna worry anyone. Including Scourge. You can't tell him about this, okay? Can I trust you guys? " She felt self-conscious of her clear trust issues slipping out at the final sentence. The two girls nodded looking worried, and she sighed in relief with her hand close to her chest, and said gratefully, " Thanks. " She started eating a breath mint after that.
Bunnie-FN asked, " How do ya manage to hide it from him, though? You spend every night with him in a hotel, and have breakfast there together. He doesn't get suspicious of you at all? " Fiona replied looking worried but feeling more relaxed around her, " No, I ALWAYS go to the bathroom to ' freshen up ' after breakfast, and he's not near the door when I'm in there. He never suspects a thing. And I'd like to keep it that way, keep his mind at ease, for as long as I can until the whole thing all blows over. " With Bunnie walking closer to the bathroom door behind her, she asked, " Wait, blows over? "
Fiona said reassuringly with a dismissive wave of her hand, " Yeah, I mean, I'm sure it's just a little bug I caught in all my dimension-travelling, it's nothing. I've never gotten really sick before, I don't even get colds! And it's just in the mornings, and I feel just fine right after. No way it's serious or else it's the kindest flu ever. " There was a dead silence as the two girls stared at her nervously, awkwardly glancing at each other for the next few seconds as it dawned on her that she might have made a mistake. " What? " she asked, anxiety creeping up in her again. Queen Sally pointed out in confusion, " How can an allergy be just a ' bug? ' "
" Oh… " Fiona said quietly, embarrassed that in her relaxing around them talking as if they were her old friends, she had completely forgotten the lie she was working with. " Come on, I just didn't wanna worry you guys! PLEASE don't tell me you don't trust me anymore just because of one little white lie! " she blurted out just from the slightest hint of a frown from Queen Sally. She realized seconds later from FN Sally's pity that she had misinterpreted her as judgmental from past experience.
With a placating gesture, Queen Sally reassured her, " Relax, it's not about that. We get it. You don't want him to know you're a little sick. At least you let the truth come out, even if you were a little late. " Fiona turned around and started walking out of the bathroom again, muttering quietly, " I'm late for somethin', alright, " as she was worried about the potential illness being more serious than she thought.
" Late? You're late? For what? " The sound of Sally saying that made her blood run cold as she froze in her tracks in front of the door again, and as she turned to face her in alarm from the exasperation with all the secrets slipping out in her tone, she jumped at hearing the bathroom door close and lock behind her, thanks to Bunnie, letting her know that they wanted answers. There was a tense awkward silence that felt like it dragged on forever, as Fiona was very uncomfortable with admitting it to them, especially since while they did look like her old friends, they were in reality people she had been smashing robots with and having meals with for only just a few weeks.
Finally, she sighed heavily, deciding to tell them because it was clear that keeping too many secrets from them when they could tell she had them would make her look untrustworthy, and risk losing the faith in her from Freedom Fighters that she had missed for so long, and replacing it with irritating and depressing suspicion. It was better to just be honest. " YOU know… " she said looking at the young queen in the eyes uncomfortable, and then said with downcast eyes, " THAT. "
There was a brief silence as Bunnie-FN looked completely confused and lost, but the implications were not lost on Queen Sally, who was starting to get what she meant, but wasn't sure if her hunch was correct. Fiona, since she was under the assumption that they all completely understood already, continued briefly, " And I'd rather Scourge not know about it. I almost got caught once and had to lie about it for a few nights, and lemme tell you, resisting the urge and missing out like that was NOT easy. We just cuddled instead as if nothing was different, but I still felt like I was cheating myself out of it. "
Finally, Bunnie-FN got it, and her and Queen Sally's eyes seemed to get as wide as saucers as it dawned on them what she meant by being late. She continued with a lovestruck blissful smile, " You wouldn't expect it from a guy who calls himself Scourge, but he can be SO loving and gentle! Not to mention just plain good at it all around! Great kisser, to say the least. Don't tell him I told ya this, but he really goes out of his way to show me how much he loves me, as much as he can. So I hate missin' out just to try and keep a secret. "
Queen Sally stammered all wide-eyed and taken aback, " You're, you're late, for THAT? " Fiona said looking worried and embarrassed, " Yeah, I hope you can understand why I didn't wanna talk about it. Especially since we like just met. What are ya worried… What? "