Rouge was desperately trying to justify her actions.

After the ARK incident, the CIA had given her a lengthy 'vacation'— for a job well done, they said— one they actually expected her to spend recuperating. The president himself had asked her to stay away from Robotnik and anything involving the ARK until she was reassigned.

As for Robotnik, he hadn't contacted her since. He certainly wouldn't be expecting her in his base, snooping around.

Getting into the doctor's base had been easy enough, and hacking his control system was child's play. For a brilliant scientist, Robotnik's security systems were laughable. No wonder the hedgehog always bested him.

The documents she was currently copying, however, were a testament to Robotnik's genius. They were schematics for an android so unique that Rouge could only just grasp the complexity of it. There were androids out there that closely mimicked living things, but nothing on this scale. Nothing.

The precise blueprints, engineering references, and technical information may have gone over her head… but Rouge knew exactly what this machine was. What is was for.

Now all she needed was to find him.

Popping out the portadisk, now loaded with information that she was sure would come to good use later, she logged off the terminal and walked away. Carefully avoiding the multitude of robots and keeping out of the range of its security cameras, Rouge made her way through the base. Passing hallways, storage rooms, and bunkers of all kinds, she investigated every nook and cranny.

It was in a rather inconspicuous room filled with half-built machines and battered boxed of parts that she found the capsule. With a sly grin, she tugged off the heavy canvas cover that hid it.

She had disobeyed her employer, the president, and risked suspicion from her target… but it was all justified.

Rouge had just found the payoff.

- - lament - -
Fanfic by Jixie 2005
Sonic © SEGA

The capsule was easy enough to open. How to awaken its contents, she wasn't quite sure. Rouge was puzzling over it when a loud crash interrupted.

She turned around in time to come face-to-face with an E-series robot, its weapon aimed right at her. Doing a quick double-take, she realized that it wasn't aiming at her, but at the capsule behind her.

"Must eliminate all Eggman robots!" the robot announced. Rouge stood her ground, unsure if it would wait for her to move… or if it'd just shoot through her. She didn't get a chance to find out.

The Shadow android tackled her, putting them both out of the robots aim. It started shooting wildly and Shadow dodged the fire, dragging Rouge along with him. He ducked behind the capsule and dropped her ungraciously.

"Stay here."

It was hard to stay put. Not wanting to miss any of the action, she peered out from behind the capsule and watched. At least she didn't have to figure out how to turn the Shadow android on.

He darted and wove, avoiding each shot. The robot was determined, however, and did not let up. Rouge hadn't noticed it at first, but now she saw that it was covered in a thick film of dust. It must have been sitting in storage for quite a while.

Shadow looked as if he was about the charge the robot, and the E robot raised its arms to attack. "Must eliminate all Eggman robots!" it barked again. Suddenly things clicked into place and Rouge knew that she had to stop them.

Jumping out from behind the capsule, she threw herself into the middle of the fray. The two stopped hesitantly. She dared either of them to ignore her. "Quit this nonsense."

"Bat-mobian. Warning: you will be shot if you continue to stand in the way."

"That thing is going to kill us," Shadow said blandly.

"No one is going to kill anyone." Turning to face to robot, she looked it up and down. "Do you have a name?"

"Introduction: model E-123 Omega, serial number BADNIK00538725."

"I'm Rouge," she said. "What is your purpose?"

"Objective: to protect warehouse room 32-B from all intruders."

"Then why are you trying to kill him, and not me?"

The E-123 raised its weapon, then lowered it. If it was possible for a robot to look confused, this one did. "Must eliminate all Eggman robots," it repeated weakly.

Rouge furrowed her brows. There was no reason Robotnik would build a robot that would destroy his other creations. Then again, she knew the robots had some degree of free will. Was it possible this one had turned against his creator, as some of the other 'defective' E-series models had in the past?

"Why do you want to destroy Eggman's other projects?"

The E-123 seemed reluctant to reply. "Rouge," it addressed her, "Statement: E-123 Omega, serial number BADNIK00538725, has been abandoned in warehouse room 32-B for 5,043 hours, 7.3 minutes. Eggman has forgotten it. New objective: destroy all Eggman's robots for this negligence."

Grinning wildly, she glanced from Shadow to E-123. "Well, you can leave him alone then. Shadow was created by Dr. Gerald Robotnik, 'Eggman's' grandfather. Right, Shadow?"

The hedgehog gave her a blank stare. "Who?"

"Never mind," she said quickly. "See, we want to 'eliminate Eggman's robots' also. You can help us, E-123."

"We do?" asked Shadow.

"Rouge. Statement: Omega is preferred."

Nodding, she turned her attention back to Shadow. "I take it this means you can't remember anything." If she was lucky, Robotnik hadn't programmed any crazy objectives or homicidal tendencies into Shadow either.

"Yes. How do you know my name?"

"I knew you before the accident," she explained. Before he could ask 'what accident', she grabbed his hand and the E-123's. "Shadow, Omega. We're all looking for Robotnik. We should look for him together!"

"Agreement: it will be faster to work together."

"Whatever, lady."

It was hard to contain her excitement. "Aw yeah, baby! This makes us a TEAM!"

The two stared at her in disbelief. Rouge shrugged it off; if these two were going to be such killjoys, she'd just have to make up for the both of them.

They had been hunting down Robotnik for several days, with no signs of the crazy doctor. Rouge had taken a liking to Omega, the robot was almost child-like in its innocence and honesty. Shadow showed no signs of memory or deranged programming, but his attitude was intact, exactly as Rouge knew him… without any mentions of the dearly departed Maria. That was a relief.

Rouge almost danced with joy when they finally cleared out of the lost jungle. She was never really the 'woodsy' type, and it was nice to be heading back towards civilization. She was day dreaming about doing a little 'gem shopping' when Shadow suddenly stopped.

"Hey," he said, looking at something off in the distance.

Her good mood was dashed when she saw who was heading towards them. It was Sonic and his two-tailed tagalong… and that echidna. They seemed to be in a hurry.

"That hedgehog," Shadow was starting to sound a little anxious, "he looks…"

"Yeah yeah, he's your stinking long lost twin."

"I have a brother?"

Rouge slapped her face. "No, I was just kidding. Let's get out of here before they see us."

The trio changed course and tried to avoid being spotted, but it was too late. Racing ahead of his friends, Sonic approached them, grinning like a maniac.

"HEY! Talk about being stubborn and full of surprises— if it isn't the black hedgehog himself!"

Shadow fixed Sonic with one of his infamous blank stares. It changed into a look of apprehension when Sonic stepped closer, as if he was about to give him a pat on the shoulder or something like it. Rouge stepped between the two, just in time for Tails and Knuckles to catch up.

"Is it really…?"

"Sonic! How—"

"Long time, no see boys!" Rouge cut them off. If Sonic and crew were running around like this, they were probably hunting for Robotnik. In that case, she didn't want them getting in the way. "Too bad you came all this way for nothing. We'll take it from here!"

"What?" Knuckles sputtered. "What are you talking about, thief?"

Omega stepped forward, raising its weapon. "Objective: sensors locked on Eggman. Warning: non-complaint intruders will be destroyed!"

Sonic folded his arms across his chest, tapping his foot in irritation. "Duh. We haven't had much luck finding him. No point in fighting, we have a date with Eggman, too."

"Well then, it'll be a date to die for." Shadow had the barest hint of a smirk on his face. Rouge stared at him in surprise, either he was joking or he'd just delivered one of the hokiest lines she'd ever heard.

"Hey!" Sonic was determined to top Shadow off with stupidity. "That's MY line!"

As irritating as it was, Rouge was not surprised when the banter degenerated into a fist-fight— or rather, a quill fight. She and Tails were smart enough not to get involved, and Omega stayed out of it at Rouge's order.

In honesty, Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow were all just about equally matched. With the advantage of greater numbers on their side, Sonic and Knuckles should have won the fight. They might have, had they actually cooperated. Their inability to work well together meant that the display of male bravado ended in a draw.

This was fine by Rouge, although the boys seemed unhappy about it.

After a while they reluctantly agreed that all six of them searching would yield better results. Planning out territories so they wouldn't cover the same ground twice… something they'd already inadvertently done… they headed off in opposite directions. Rouge hoped they wouldn't meet up again.

The Egg Emperor had been a real pain to defeat, and Rouge was frustrated with the whole situation. She knew that Sonic and his dumb friends— including that obnoxious echidna— and some loser detective group were also looking for Robotnik, and that none of them were any closer than when they'd started.

Needing a distraction, she started checking out the base. No matter where you were, there was always treasure to be found, and Rouge was just the person to find it. It was Doctor Robotnik's personal flagship, surely there were things lying about that would provide some interest (and if she was lucky, cash).

Shadow found the idea dreadfully boring, and left to hang around for them out on the deck. Omega stayed with Rouge, following her like a big robotic puppy dog. She skipped past the areas they had fought in; they'd already been pilfered of anything valuable. The two of them meandered around for a while, digging through storage rooms, hacking computers, and blowing up any robots they came across.

…and then she stumbled into the room.

"How did I miss this?"

Nothing in Robotnik's notes or plans had hinted at it. The Shadow android design was so complicated that it seemed impossible to mass produce. She didn't understand, as easy as Robotnik's computer had been to hack, how she'd missed any reference to these androids.

"How could he do this?"

There were hundreds of capsules. They were lined from one wall to the other, each of them identical. Rouge groaned. This was… unbelievable.

She'd known that Robotnik designed and built an android, one that perfectly replicated his Grandfather's creation. She'd known that Shadow could never have survived the fall to Earth, that the current hedgehog must be a machine. She just hadn't known that Robotnik made more than one.

A lot more.

Peering into one of the capsules, she shook with disgust. What were they going to do? It was bad enough Shadow was an android, how would he react to learning he was one of hundreds? Hadn't Robotnik ever heard of 'too much of a good thing'?

"Damn you, Eggman!" she snarled, kicking the capsule.

Omega watched her from the doorway. Rearing up, it locked its firing mechanism onto the nearest capsule.

"Must eliminate all Eggman robots. Prepare to destroy immediate area!"

"Omega…" The robot watched her, waiting patiently for her to move out of the way. Rouge headed for the door, pausing in front of the E-123. "I… haven't told anyone, but Shadow is a robot. Please don't tell him. And…" No, she was only making things worse. "Never mind. I'm sorry I said anything. Blow this mess up, Omega, and lets get the hell out of here."

She ducked under Omega's arm and strolled out of the room. Its head turned to see her leave. "Rouge. Observation: cloning requires an original to create the copy. Hypothesis: the Shadow outside is the original that these clones are based off of."

"They're robots," Rouge corrected sharply, and instantly regretted using such a harsh tone. She glanced over her shoulder at Omega. "I'm sorry. The real Shadow is dead."

She wished she could say it was magical. That it happened under the star filled sky while they were covered in a blanket of cool spring air and moonlight, a scene from a young girl's romance fantasy.

It happened nothing like that.

Rouge left Omega to wreak destruction on Robotnik's base, and went outside where Shadow was milling about. "That was a huge waste of time," she said, throwing her hands in the air. "I might as well go look for the Master Emerald, since that irritating echidna is here."

Shadow snorted and gave her an amused look. "Some things never change, do they?"

Unable to stop the blush, Rouge looked away. "Emeralds are a girl's best friend," she said, trying steer the topic away from Knuckles.

Her mind drifted back to the androids, and Shadow. Was it possible Omega knew something she didn't? After all, he'd been locked in a separate room with this Shadow. It made sense that this one was a prototype of some sort, but she almost wanted to believe that…

…that it was really Shadow, flesh and blood.

In retrospect, she wasn't quite sure what motivated her to act. It was some twisted determination to find out if he was a machine or not. She reached out and grabbed him. After all, a realistic android could only be but so realistic.

Shadow had the decency to look surprised, but made no attempt to stop her. It didn't take long for the unexpected groping to become more intense, and she found herself exploring with her hands, touching…

And then they were on the ground. Rouges bodysuit came off with only a little bit of hassle. No moon, no stars. Only the hot sun and the wind, and Eggman's flying base underneath.

Physically it was a pleasant experience. Shadow was agile and athletic and Rouge's body reacted in all the right ways. He fucked like he fought, with a grim and quiet determination. She half expected him to call out Maria's name, but when it was time all she got was a primordial grunt. Rouge had wanted something special— this was empty sex, insensate and unfeeling.

She was surprised how much that hurt.

Two nights later, Rouge got as close to her starlight fantasy as she could have hoped. About halfway through the dream Shadow turned out to be Knuckles, and somehow that made it… even better…

A blood-chilling scream woke her abruptly. She sat up, heart racing, the dream all but forgotten. "Chaos!" She cursed as she jumped to her feet. "What happened?"

After confirming they were not under attack, she glanced at her teammates. Omega was standing alert while Shadow lie there, eyes wide and slightly glazed. She approached carefully.

"Shadow…"

On hearing his name, the hedgehog sat up, somewhat uneasily. "Where am I?" he asked, bewildered.

"We're just outside of Westopolis. What happened?"

The question was met with a blank stare. "I… I don't know. What…?" He shook his head, as if trying to clear it.

Rouge sat down beside him. She wanted to hug him, to console him somehow, but when she reached out he pulled away from her touch. "Shadow," trying to sound frightened as possible, "hold me."

He relented, and she took advantage of it. Hoping that any contact would provide some comfort, she rested her head under his chin and listened to the unnaturally fast heartbeat.

Although he couldn't remember anything from the past, it was haunting Shadow's nightmares. Rouge decided that could only mean one thing: Omega was right.

Android or not, he didn't have any feelings for her. Shadow only cared for two people… himself, and a young human girl who died tragically.

"You're crying," he said.

"They're happy tears," she lied.

- - Fin - -