Chapter one.

Hmm… thought Rouge the Bat as she dropped almost noiselessly from a ventilation duct to the hall below, Nice to see the Doctor hasn't changed too much in the last two years. Security's tighter, but not tight enough. After all, he isn't the only one who's upgraded his technology. She would have chuckled as she fingered the compact hacking device in her palm, but sound carried unnaturally far in these metallic corridors. That could be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on how one looked at it. Right now it was helping her evade Robotnik's patrolling robots. Her sensitive ears picked up the clanging footsteps long before the drones came into sight.

She shrank back into what little shadows the harsh lighting afforded as two robots came around a bend in the hall, marching in lockstep, looking straight ahead. Their search routine seemed more perfunctory than anything else. But then, Robotnik had little reason to expect enemies to infiltrate his base. His adversaries were by and large much more likely to simply kick in the door and come rushing in after him. She shook her head ever so slightly to clear out the distracting thoughts of Sonic, Shadow and Knuckles that rose up. When had she last seen them? Not lately, certainly, since she'd been overseas on "business" for the last few months.

Hmph, I no sooner get back and they want me to go see what Robotnik is up to. I don't even get time for a vacation. Not that I spent every second of my last mission on the job. Still, it's enough to make a girl reconsider her line of work. Oh, who am I kidding? I live for this.

Rouge studied the robots as they clanged out of sight. These were of a type she had not previously encountered. They were humanoid, and reminded her somewhat of Emerl, but with a sleeker design. They were clearly meant to be peak performance killers. The only gaudiness they featured was a bright red R emblazoned on the left side of their chest plates, a distinct departure from the egomaniacal design of the egg pawns. Rouge missed those rotund little robots. They were sort of cute, but far more importantly they were easy to dispatch, something, she got the distinct feeling, that the robots that had passed her were not.

So far Rouge had encountered half a dozen new types of Robotnik robots, as well as several old ones. Most of the new ones had a vague humanoid shape but they ranged in size from ones her height to ones that would have towered over even the G.U.N. commander. Apparently Robotnik had decommissioned the egg pawn line entirely, because she saw very few of them. On the other hand, there were several variations of the E series present, including many with a strong resemblance to Omega. Some had clearly come out of retirement, but many more seemed freshly made, which was interesting. It meant Robotnik was recycling –and possibly updating- one of his more dangerous lines.

Once the marching pair was well out of sight she hurried from her hiding place toward the next part of ductwork. Unfortunately, her map of the base was largely incomplete and she would have to play it by ear from this point forward. She rounded the corner and froze dead in her tracks. In front of her was a huge black and white robot. It looked like an E series robot with the lower body of a wasp instead of legs. Like some grotesque insect it hovered whisper silent in the air. Luckily, it faced in the opposite direction. With a tiny squeak Rouge turned and scurried backwards as fast as she could, hoping the robot would not turn around and notice her. She managed to get behind a stack of metal crates just as the robot spun around. Evidently it sensed something was amiss because it stayed in one place while its single green eye roved back and forth, searching for something. Rouge pressed back hard into the corner, trying to make herself as small and invisible as possible, her heart hammering in her chest. The laser targeting system swept the shadows a few inches above her head. Finally, satisfied that there was nothing to be detected, the robot moved on.

Rouge waited for a few minutes before moving on, both to make sure that the robot was gone and to give her pounding heart time to calm down. It wasn't the first close call she had had today, but it was the worst. This had been a robot, and a dangerous looking one, whereas the previous encounters had mostly involved split second timing with security cameras. In fact, she traveled only a few more yards before discovering yet another of these. Normally she would have simply climbed the wall above it, but these metal corridors afforded no purchase. Instead, she noted that the movement of the camera, judging that its back and forth movement afforded her time to slip into the blind spot directly beneath it.

As the camera pointed away from her intended path, Rouge dove and rolled, coming up hard against the wall. She flattened herself against it and waited for a few breathless seconds. When no alarms went off, she dashed down the hall, careful to stay close to the wall and out of the camera's line of vision. Before rounding the next corner she stopped to let another pair of Gizoid-esque robots go by, remaining as quiet as the shadows she had melded into until the clanking sound that had announced their passing receded in the distance.

At the end of this hallway she found what she was looking for, another duct. After a few quick movements to loosen the screws she lifted off the grate and climbed in, pulling it closed behind her as tightly as possible. It would not stand up to close inspection, but she would be long gone before anyone thought to inspect the grates.

Inside the grate the distasteful metallic smell of the base was intensified. This was not one of Robotnik's more hospitable hideouts. Rouge suspected his personal quarters would be opulently furnished, but the areas she had been through so far were all metal and unforgiving fluorescent lighting. It was enough to make one wonder if the doctor was not a robot himself. That notion was dispelled as the heat came on. A robot would have had no need for that. It wasn't hot enough to cause burns, but it made the duct distinctly uncomfortable. Sweat trickled down Rouge's back between her shoulder blades as she made her way along.

Finally she came to a grate where the lighting coming through the grates was different. It was more bluish, as opposed to the harsh white of the corridors. Peering cautiously out, Rouge saw that it was a computer room, unguarded except for a single robot drone. With infinite caution, Rouge removed the grate and slipped out behind the robot, which was thankfully facing the door. She disabled it with a single swift kick before it could raise an alarm, and with a few quick keystrokes logged in to Robotnik's computer files and began downloading onto a portable hard drive. As she scanned the most recent additions her eyes widened in horror. This was huge. She had to tell the president ASAP.

Without warning an alarm went off, startling Rouge so badly that she jumped. The lights turned red, and a mechanical voice blared "INTRUDER! INTRUDER! INT-"

Rouge glanced at the progress. Only 62 complete. She heard clanging footsteps coming closer and realized she was going to have to leave without copying all the files she wanted. She unplugged the hard drive, ignoring the abort transfer warning, and sprinted out of the room. "Damn, this is bad." She said to nobody in particular as she fled.