4. Researching a Weapon
As Rouge had expected, Sonic had turned the robot over to Tails. What she had not expected was Shadow turning up to try to take the Gizoid. She was briefly pleased to see him back on his feet, but she realized as soon as the fight began that he was far from recovered. Sonic was actually going easy on him. Shadow figured this out himself and retreated. Rouge had an unexpected urge to go check on him, but squashed it. I don't need any information from him right now, she told herself firmly. Besides, male pride being what it is, he probably wouldn't appreciate learning that I saw that fiasco of a fight. It's Sonic I need to talk to. She watched as Tails ran up, then she shifted position enough for Sonic to be able see her and shook a bush nearby. As the hedgehog looked up towards the motion, she slipped obviously back into hiding. Then she flitted back towards the beach, again making sure that the blue hedgehog saw both her exit and its direction. She found a comfortable rock and sat down to wait.
Sure enough, about thirty seconds later the blue hedgehog made his appearance, sliding to a halt in a cloud of sand. Squinting through the haze, he spotted Rouge and vaulted up onto the rock next to her.
"Hey!" she greeted him.
He seemed less than pleased to see her, even though he'd followed her here. "What do you want?"
Rouge raised her brows at his rudeness. "Is that how you greet a beautiful woman?" she mock-pouted.
"I don't have time for niceties,"Sonic replied. "'Sides, I have enough girls chasing me around as it is."
"Heh," Rouge smirked, mentally wondering who was after him. Amy Rose was a given, but Cream seemed too young to be interested, and Knuckles and Tails were both male. Maybe some groupies or something, given how many times he's saved the world; I'll have to look into that later. New ways to fluster males were always welcome. But right now: "The only girl I saw following you was a girl robot. Where is she, anyway?"
"What girl robot?" To her amusement, Sonic sounded almost panicked. Then realization dawned. "You don't mean that robot."
"How about a little wager?" Rouge folded her arms just below her breasts and leaned forward, ensuring that the blue hedgehog got an eyeful. "If we wrestle and I win, you have to partner up with me." She leaned slightly on the word 'partner', just enough to imply another meaning, but not so much she couldn't deny having meant more that 'team up'.
Sonic looked - he was a teenage guy, after all - and gulped. "If this is your plan to get a date," he fumbled, "you'll still have to wait in line!" He didn't sound nearly so sure of himself now, though.
Rouge smirked to herself, but outwardly put on an concerned look. "Well, there's quite a line," she acknowledged. "Shadow, Dr. Eggman, and even my boss are interested in your little robot . . . ." She shook her head worriedly as she let her voice trail off. Then leaned seductively sideways. "And I hate waiting in lines, you know," she purred.
Sonic blinked, and opened his mouth once or twice. He seemed to be having difficulty focusing on what he wanted to say. "I saw Shadow earlier," he finally managed. "He said something about Eggman too. But, wait," suddenly his gaze snapped back up to meet Rouge's eyes. "Why's a master thief interested in . . . ?"
Rouge flicked a hand casually. "The robot's a special case." I wonder why he decided I was looking for it for myself, rather than for the government. He knows I'm an agent. "And it's already established a Link with you. This isn't an ordinary robot, you know. So, about my little wager," she slid off the rock and took up a fighting stance, "if I win, you have to team up with me, OK?"
"Don't you think it's a little too early to be getting romantic?" Sonic didn't know what was going on, but he was clearly suspicious that something was. But he crouched slightly opposite her, matching her pose. "And if I win, you'll leave me alone, right?"
Rouge didn't answer, lunging forward instead. She caught a wrist with each hand and hooked an ankle to try and sweep Sonic's feet out from under him. But the hedgehog was faster than she was, and twisted away, wrenching one hand free and trying to slam an elbow back towards her abdomen. Rouge jumped into the air, pulling him up with her by his other wrist, then letting go as he tried to pivot his body up to kick at her. He landed on his head.
Good thing that's the hardest part of him. She hovered above as he staggered to his feet, shaking his head slightly. "Better watch yourself," she warned. "Don't ever underestimate an agent. You might get hurt."
Sonic growled and tried a homing attack, leaping into the air and becoming a spinning projectile targeting by Chaos energy. Rouge dodged the first two attacks, but the third time he got through her guard and knocked her to the ground. "Don't underestimate me," he snapped back at her. She lay still, following his movements with her hearing as she had her face turned away from him. "Rouge?" He was wary, not trusting her stillness. Unusually perceptive of him, she thought, but it won't help. He took a step closer, then a second. "Rouge? Are you all right?" She didn't move, trying to minimize even her breathing. Her mind was moving rapidly though, sorting through options. Reaching a decision, she let the hedgehog move a few steps closer, then rolled over and swept one leg around in a large arc. The look of shock on his face was priceless as he went down with a thud, both legs knocked out from under him. Rouge continued her roll, coming up on her knees and leaping from them into the air. "You'll need to do a bit better than that," she told him. "Sorry, but I need to go. Once you get that robot back, you can introduce us properly, and we'll call it even. Ta ta."
She flew off in a random direction, turning once she was out of sight to head for Tails' lab. Sonic got there slightly ahead of her, and he and Tails took off with the robot in Tails' plane, the Tornado. Rouge followed them far enough to ascertain that they were going to Angel Island, then returned to grab lunch and wait for them to return to the lab. There was nothing on Angel Island but chao and Knuckles the Echidna, except of course for the largest and most powerful gem on the planet. But attempting to steal it would be counterproductive right now, and she knew she'd never be able to look at the gem without at least attempting the theft. So, regretfully, she opted for discretion and refrained from following. They'd have to bring the plane back, at least, and she couldn't see Knuckles tolerating the robot being left on his island. She pulled out the notebook she'd retrieved from Gerald's quarters on the ARK, and started trying to decipher the erratically faded script.
The first few entries merely increased her irritation at the task, but then she hit one that made her forget her dislike of reading and the difficulty of making out the faded sections and Gerald's none-to-neat handwriting. She was unaware that her jaw had dropped as she traced a finger across the page.
Today - although I hardly dare to write this, I must record it somewhere, and I CANNOT put it in the official journal - today, I made contact with a creature from another world. No, to be strictly accurate, I was contacted by a creature from another world. A hologram or illusion of a cyclopian creature resembling a giant, hovering starfish appeared while I was in Maria's observation room. She's still in sickbay but Ivan had ordered me out to get rest - as if I could rest when it's my fault she's so ill! But this creature claims (actually, I wonder how it knows English, I'll have to ask if it does in fact appear again) it claims that the Black Comet is actually an inhabited vessel and that shuttle blew up because it came within range of automatic asteroid defenses. The aliens supposedly did not realize that the shuttle was a craft in time to shut the defenses down. I am not sure I believe this. However, the creature offers reparation of a sort by teaching me knowledge to heal and extend life. I do not know if I can trust this being, but with Maria's life at stake . . . how can I not? I must proceed with great caution. Even more so since I have gotten word that HQ is going to shut the colony down. This cannot happen now, when I may have found information I need! Although I don't know if techniques that heal aliens or grant them extended life will work on humans . . . The journal went on, erratically dated, but it filled in a good many of the holes that Rouge had noted in the official, computerized diary, and detailed Professor Gerald's dealings with Doom's Eye and Black Doom himself. Unfortunately those parts were intermixed with Maria, anguish over the governmental and military orders, Maria, routine problems at the lab, Maria, and Maria.
Several hours after Sonic and Tails had left, her sharp ears heard the Tornado returning. Rouge shook herself and put the journal away, with mixed relief and disappointment. Gerald had an almost 'stream of consciousness' style of writing, interjecting comments and thoughts into the narrative as he had them, and he'd also annotated some of the entries at a later date, which meant the reading was slowed even further. But he was clearly approaching Shadow's actual creation; that last entry had described in detail why he had selected a dokan hedgehog as the base creature for his second attempt in Project: Shadow. She watched as the plane landed, and Sonic, Tails and the Gizoid climbed out. The robot seemed was moving much more easily now, although it still didn't look like much of a weapon. At least it doesn't look ready to topple over or collapse anymore. Hmm, I wonder if that's an effect from the Master Emerald, or if Knuckles actually had a Chaos Emerald to give them. Well, I doubt he gave it to them; knowing Knuckles and Sonic they probably fought over it, with Tails trying to talk sense to them in the background.
Sonic zoomed off somewhere, but Tails headed off towards downtown Central City with the robot in tow. Rouge followed along behind, staying out of easy view but not really worried about keeping hidden; neither the fox cub nor the robot looked back. Curiously, Tails took the robot to Central City lab, where she'd been a few days earlier looking for information on it. Making certain her shadow didn't pass over them, she landed on a decorative ledge on the third floor of the building. She smirked as she listened to the two-tailed cub trying to convince the guard robot that he needed to get into the building. For such a genius, Tails, you sure can be dumb. You can't talk a robot around; they're only programed for two options: pass, entry allowed; and no pass, entry forbidden. This would work out very well for her, though. Finally the human guard stepped out and ordered the pair to begone and stop blocking the door. Tails gave it up, and she waited while he trudged to the end of the block, the robot trailing behind. Poor baby, he looks so dejected, with his tails dragging like that, she thought with amusement. She left her perch and rapidly caught up with them, flying slightly ahead to a bus stop and dropping onto a vacant bench.
As she'd expected, he didn't even notice. "What should we do, Emerl?" he asked hopelessly as he passed.
Rouge waited until they had almost passed her. "What's the matter, kids? You lost your mama?"
The little orange fox started, and looked up. Recognizing her, he stepped back, subconsciously curling his tails up in front of him as if they were shields. "R, Rouge?" he stammered. He took another step back and grabbed the robot's wrist, tugging it after him. "Let's go, Emerl!" He turned and had to stop short because the bat had lofted over their heads and blocked his intended escape route.
"So, its name is Emerl?" mused Rouge. This was the closest she'd been to the robot. Tails had certainly cleaned it up well, but it still didn't look particularly impressive.
Tails glanced around in desperation, then squared his little shoulders. Balling his fists he stared up at Rouge; the top of his head just about reached her chin. Tails flicking behind him, he demanded, "What's it to you?"
The pale-furred bat nearly burst out laughing at the cub's 'tough' act. But in this case, irritating him would be counterproductive. He was too young for her usual bag of tricks, but she knew a few ways to get information from the younger set as well. "You want to go into the Central Lab, right?"
Tails gaped at her. "What? How did you know that?"
Because you just told me. Rouge sighed. "It's written all over your face," she told him. "I'll let you in the Central Lab if you come with me. I'm an agent for the President, you know." A double hook there; offer the prize they want, and invoke a trusted authority figure.
Tails wasn't quite that gullible, though. "But you're always so mean to us!" he objected, eyeing her suspiciously. Then a spark of vulpine mischief flared. "And I'm not supposed to talk to strangers!" he declared triumphantly. And loudly enough that passersby turned to look.
Rouge mentally awarded the cub a point. He'd neatly prevented her from hustling him off somewhere - if that had been her intention. Unfortunately for him, she had something else in mind. She shrugged and stepped past him, back towards the bench, forcing him to turn to keep her in sight. "OK, then . . ." She sat down, leaning back and not quite looking at him. "What if we just played a little game?" She said it almost as if talking to herself. The various humans on the street, except for one motherly looking woman, were already turning back to their assorted business. The only other dokan in sight was an elderly dog, who was also flicking his gaze between the bat and the fox.
"Game?" questioned Tails, not moving from his spot.
Rouge studied the tips of her fingers, noting several smudges on her gloves. Central Labs needs to wash their building more often. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the motherly woman and the black-eared dog lose interest and move off down the street. "Oh, just a little fight." She saw the cub skip back again, tails returning to defensive position. "Not you, sweetie, me versus this gallant robot of yours."
Tails looked wary and doubtful at the same time. "It's not mine," he objected, "it's Sonic's, and he told me to take care of it."
"All right then, you and the robot both against me. If you can score ten hits first, you win. And for winning," she flipped the lab pass out from where she'd tucked it in her bustier, noting how the cub's eyes widened, "I'll lend you my lab pass. With this, you can enter the Central Lab any time you want! What do you say? It shouldn't be any problem for you to win my lab pass, right?"
Tails was no fool, and he clearly didn't trust her at all. But that lab pass . . . oh, he wanted it all right. Rouge flicked it idly back and forth a few times, watching as his eyes followed the motion. "Well . . ." he said slowly, "I suppose . . ." Then his eyes narrowed, as he recovered himself. "Why do you want to help us out, anyway?"
"You two precious little boys seemed too lost," improvised the bat.
Tails scowled. "I don't trust you." But his eyes followed the pass as she waved it again, like a cobra swaying to the charmer's flute.
"Whether you do or you don't, are you ready? Shall we begin?" Rouge stood up from the bench, sliding the pass back into its hiding place, and stretched. Again, there was just the merest glimmer of interest from the cub, although Sonic - or the human guard at the lab - would be picking his eyes and jaw off the sidewalk. A little boy indeed!
The three moved off the sidewalk into a scrubby area that was stuck somewhere between 'overgrown vacant lot' and 'unkempt park'. The robot followed Tails, and simply stood there when the fox stopped. Tails looked back and forth uncertainly between the bat and the mech. Looks like it's up to me to get this ball rolling, sighed Rouge. She sashayed up to the robot, studied it a moment, then flung a roundhouse kick at its head.
Without seeming to hurry, the robot interposed an arm, blocking the kick. Rouge dropped her leg and jumped back into a defensive posture, and the robot lowered its arm . . . and continued to stand there. Tails was still watching carefully. Rouge ignored him, since the robot was her real interest, and stepped forward and repeated the kick. Again she was blocked and retreated, and again the robot just stood there.
"Do it once more," said Tails, unexpectedly. The bat glanced over at him, eyed the robot and repeated her two-part maneuver. This time, when she fell back the robot jumped forward and swung her own kick at her head. Rouge barely blocked it, - that's going to leave a mark! - and it dropped back to match her stance. Tails nodded. "Yep, I thought it was three times to capture a move. Come on, Emerl!" With a twirl of his namesake appendages, he flew forward into battle. Rouge shook her head, she'd fallen right into that one. She tried the kick on the fox, but he dodged aside and whacked her other ankle with his tails, forcing her to take wing or fall down. "One," he called as he flew up to join her, leaving Emerl to wave his arms and try to follow. Tails ignored the robot and came at the bat with an array of punches and a stun gun, but the bat was more interested in what the robot could do, so after avoiding Tails' attacks she dropped back to the ground. The kit followed her down and tried another tail attack. Rouge had to concede that the fox cub had definite potential as a fighter, but he was young, and lacked both the intensive training of his older friends and the height and muscle to back up his attacks. Although the challenge had been simply to tag her, with no stipulation as to force required. Still, by himself he'd have been no problem for Rouge to avoid, but the robot's peculiar array of attacks (a spin dash, one of Sonic's high kicks, her own roundhouse and defensive stance) and abrupt additions mid-fray - particularly a tail-lash it must have copied from Tails, which was very distracting because the robot had no tails and she couldn't make out what it was actually hitting her with - proved too much for her. Between them they landed the specified ten touches, and the bat yielded. She'd intended to give Tails the pass anyway, but had expected a bit more control over how she gave it to him. But she was used to opponents having a fighting style and sticking to it, not switching erratically between three completely different ones, especially with such a limited and illogical set of moves. She had, however, spotted a metal bug tucked under one of the robot's horns, and thought she recognized the make.
So, she waved the fox cub to a halt. As soon as he stopped, the robot returned to doorstop mode. "Not bad! Here's the lab pass as I promised. Now you can enter the Cental Lab without any difficulty." She handed the pass over. She didn't see any reason to mention that she'd already made a copy of it, so that she could still get in any time she wanted.
Tails stared at the pass in his hand. "Th-thanks . . ." he managed. She could tell he was still trying to spot the trap, not realizing it had already closed around him.
"Thanks! Thanks!" announced the Gizoid, startling her. She hadn't realized it could talk; the fractured noises it had made when Sonic found it hardly counted as speech. But part of what made her so good at her job - both of them - was that she never stayed surprised long.
"Oh, what a good little boy!" she gushed at it. "Won't you tell me your name?" Instantly the robot went silent, with just the faintest crackling hum from its speaker. Rouge shook her head, rubbing her forearm where she'd blocked the robot's first kick; there was definitely a bruise forming beneath the white glove. "It really doesn't listen to anybody but its Master," she said. "OK, I'll see you later! Bye!" She took to the air and flitted away to a convenient, shaded fire escape. Once there she pulled out her government-issued receiver and fiddled with the bandwidth. Sure enough, the bug was broadcasting on a standard military frequency, with a standard government encryption. She settled down as comfortably as she could manage, and listened.