With two meals on a metal tray, Shock led Rouge to a dining area that resembled a military cafeteria, with long tables with affixed benches and harsh lighting.

"Do we have to eat here?" asked the bat in slight disgust at the sterile, drab, and cold room.

"Where do you want to eat?" asked Shock, "There's not many choices, you know."

"Well, why don't you show me my room and we can eat there?"

The echidna grunted.

"Come on, Shocky. It'll be more comfortable than here," she said. Then, lowering her voice and leaning in close to his ear, "And it'll give us a chance to talk," she whispered, barely moving her lips, aware of the robots moving around nearby, seemingly oblivious of the two.

"You'll bug me about it until I give in, won't you? I guess you're right, anyway," he replied, nodding, and turned to head back to the elevator.

"Thanks, hon."

"Yeah..."

"Say, you do you have any candles?"

"What?" he asked, glancing at her.

"Candles. You got any?"

"Why?"

"So we can have a nice candlelit dinner together," she said, unable to help breaking into a wide grin, knowing how he would react.

He sighed and rolled his eyes, "No, we don't have any candles," he told her, frowning.

They entered the elevator and Shock looked at the tray he was holding.

"My hands are full. Push the button for the third floor," he told her.

"Is that where my room is?" asked Rouge, pressing the button labelled 3.

"Yeah. That's where all the rooms are."

"Including yours?"

"Of course."

"Are ours close?" she asked, moving closer herself.

Shock flushed, "...Yeah. Yours is Room Seven, the robot said."

She smirked, "I see. What number's yours?"

"Six..."

"And what about the other rooms? Who's in there?"

The elevator bumped to a stop and the doors parted.

"Nobody. Just storage. Rooms Six and Seven are the first free ones," said Shock, stepping out into the hallway.

"Ah, good to know."

Following the echidna, Rouge noted the security cameras placed along the hall, swivelling left and right. She had never liked those kinds of cameras. Not that she couldn't avoid them – they just slowed her down when she was doing some late night 'shopping'.

"This is it," said Shock.

"What a charming design," said Rouge with a raised eyebrow, indicating the Eggman caricature above the door.

They both entered the room and Shock set the tray down on a wooden crate.

"Alright. I guess we can talk safely, now," said the echidna.

"Yeah. After we eat."

"Fine..."

Getting a couple of smaller crates from the other rooms, the two sat across from each other, using the larger crate as a substitute for a table. It was a crude setup, but certainly seemed better than eating in the dining area with robots constantly buzzing around nearby.

"So, you come here often?" asked Rouge, jokingly as they set what passed as food in front of them.

"Sorry it isn't more appetising," said Shock, frowning at the plate of cooked food.

The bat shrugged, "I've had much worse."

"I guess I'm just more used to fresh fruit and vegetables. This frozen stuff tastes... off to me."

"You've never had something like this before?"

"You mean before coming here? Yeah, but it was a long time ago. I can... hardly remember."

"Tell me what you do remember," said Rouge, and took a sip of water from her glass, wishing it was wine.

Shock was silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts.

"I... well, it was back when I was at home. I enjoyed Mama's cooking, I remember that. But... I can't remember how anything tasted," he said, his eyes off to the side, unfocused.

"Tasted good, right?"

His eyes met hers briefly and he shook his head, "...That's not what I meant. More like a... specific taste. But yeah, whenever she made something, it was... it was good."

"So what happened? Did she stop cooking?"

"No... she was the only one in our house who could cook."

"So what do you mean 'it was a long time ago'?"

"I..." he let out a sigh, "I left home. For my parents' safety. Those discharges I was telling you about? That's the reason."

Rouge's expression softened, "Oh. I'm sorry to hear that."

He held up the bracelet, "But this works. It stops the discharges. After I'm done here, I'm going home," he took a deep breath at those words, "I'm going home," he said again, quietly.

"Well... good luck with that."

"Yeah. Thanks. Anyway, speaking of being done here..."

"Oh, yes. You said you found something, right?"

"Kind of. I'm not sure if this counts as something, but the Doctor's been having me firing large amounts of electricity at metal slates every so often. I think it's more than just testing my limits. I've noticed the metal seems to be affected less and less with each test. It could just be he's trying to devise a way to make a less conductive metal for some machine... or it could be something else. I don't know."

"Hmmm. Find out anything more?"

"Not really. Although, he says I'm not allowed on floor thirty-nine, just below the lab. I asked why, but he didn't tell me. I haven't really found the opportunity to sneak in and see what's there. Sorry."

The bat grinned, "Don't worry. Leave that to me," she said, then leaned forward and rested her chin on the back of her hand, "Anyway, why haven't you been talking to Sonic and Tails?"

"The Doctor won't let me out. I've wanted to get out and talk to them, but of course, I have to be cooped up in here," he said, dourly, looking out the window.

"That's why I'm here. I'll let them know what you've found out, alright?"

"Alright. Thanks."

"Don't mention it, hon," she replied with a wink.

.

Late at night, after Shock had retired to his room, Rouge slipped out of her own room and made her way down the hall towards the elevator. She flitted from wall to wall underneath the cameras as they turned their viewfinders away from the direction she was heading; an easy task for her. Reaching the elevator, she hit the button for the thirty-ninth floor.

When the elevator reached its stop, she flattened against the wall. After the doors opened, she waited. When nothing happened, she cautiously peeked out. The doors opened to a small square chamber with a large, heavy-looking circular door. Beside it was a panel with a red light illuminated. She was about to enter when her thieves' 'sixth-sense' kicked in. Stopping at the entrance of the elevator and holding her hand out to the side to stop the doors from closing, she looked up and saw a camera, unmoving, affixed above the elevator and pointed directly at the circular door.

She could see no way to avoid stepping into its field of view. Even if the door wasn't there, the camera would still see anything crossing the chamber. But there was always a way.

Nobody said it was gonna be easy... she thought, Oh well, going through the front door is too boring, anyway...

Travelling down to the floor below, Rouge quietly snuck through a large room filled with computers, keeping an ear and eye out for any patrolling robots. The heat the computers generated didn't make it easy to concentrate, however. Finally, she found what she was looking for – a window.

Although she hadn't encountered anything, Rouge took a quick look behind her before opening the window. Cool air rushed in and she gave a thankful sigh. She stepped out, unfurled her wings and closed the window before flying up. Strangely, there were three sets of windows, the third being for the lab in the fortieth floor at the top, instead of two. Flying up to investigate, keeping alert for any of the Doctor's flying robots, she peeked in. As it turned out, the thirty-ninth floor was two storeys high and it looked like something big was being built inside. Taking out her glass cutter, Rouge flew around and found a window she would be able to sneak in without drawing any attention.

Hovering near it, she attached the device to the glass and slid it over the pane three hundred and sixty degrees, creating a clean circle. She pulled the glass out carefully and slowly flew in backwards, carrying the cut out section with her. Thankful the glass was a little thicker than usual, with practiced skill, she set the glass back in place. After carefully detaching the glass cutter, Rouge slipped under a set of stairs, watching from the shadows. In the centre of the large, open area, something was being built, but with the scaffolding and large metal plates being moved around it, it was hard to tell what. Wanting to get a better look, she quietly and agilely climbed the sturdy support beams around the area up to the rafters, instinctively checking for infrared emitters on nearby walls on the way up.

Finding a spot that allowed her a decent view and kept her hidden enough, Rouge saw what looked like a partially complete robot coloured a slightly off yellow.

Looks like Eggy didn't want Shock to know this was being built... now why would that be?

She watched for a few more minutes, but nothing of note happened, so she stealthily made her way back down to the window she had entered.

Eggman building a robot is nothing new... but why keep it a secret from Shock?

Deciding she would worry about that later, the bat retraced her steps and, once back in her room, climbed under the grey covers of her temporary bed. She smirked as she laid her head on the pillow. Although she hadn't acquired any new jewels to add to her collection, it was fun sneaking past Eggman's defences.

Besides, there was that Chaos Emerald Sonic had promised her to look forward to.