It took about another two hours to get back home (not exactly a respectable time for a hedgehog, but, again, I had no intention of leaving my buddy in the dust) and by then it had already gotten pretty late.

I was disappointed that I hadn’t really been able to confirm anything other than that, yeah, Shade was really angry with G.U.N. about something, and, of course, that Eggman had gotten himself involved in it somehow. Honestly, that was the least surprising part. If there was some kind of trouble, he was usually involved in it.

Still, at least for now, I was looking forward to a good night’s rest and maybe a late night chili dog…but it seems that was going to have to wait a bit.

Having just come in through the front door, I found our living room’s couch was more occupied than I had expected it to be.

“Rouge.”

“Blue, out for a little night run?”

I tried not to sigh.

“Yeah, something like that….”

I mean I’m not an idiot (still thinking of you, Dr. Eggman). I was sure Rouge knew exactly what we had been up to and was just enjoying playing off a moment of ignorance, if her expression didn’t make it obvious enough. Looking to my side, I saw my fox buddy was glaring at her rather intensely.

Oh, yeah, Tails had been telling me earlier, with quite a lot of excitement, about the new security upgrades he’d made to our house/base….And, here Rouge was just lounging on our couch without a care in the world….Ouch. That little wink you just gave him, Rouge, probably isn’t going to help either. Well, before my little buddy popped a blood vessel, I better try to regain our bat friend’s attention.

“So, something up, Rouge, or just felt like crashing at our place for a while?”

She gave me a grin and then leaned back into the couch, clearly enjoying it. I mean it’s a nice couch. 5 stars. I was totally going to offer it to Knucks if he ever took up my offer of ‘crashing’.

“Mhhm, definitely an attractive offer, particularly after all the hard work this poor girl has gone through to get the information you two boys wanted. You wouldn’t believe how difficult most of this was to get a hold of.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Oh, this actually sounds promising…though, knowing Rouge, if she was saying what I thought she was and had probably gotten into several places she really wasn’t supposed to, I’m sure she enjoyed every second of it. Yeah, that was just the kind of the girl she was.

After giving us another grin (and a not very subtle look that said ‘Aren’t I so impressive?), all playfulness left her face, and she quickly made her way to one of Tails’ workstations (The kid had at least five in the house alone, and I’m sure he probably had at least two secret ones stashed away somewhere, and probably a secret laboratory basement or two, the lovable, little mad scientist that he was.).

Unsurprisingly, Tails let out a small growl when she demonstrated she either knew his password or at least knew how to get around it (well, she is Rouge after all), but neither of us had much time to focus on that as she stuck in a data stick and the monitor suddenly began to display a lab report featuring the title “Project Shade” and an image of a now very familiar, edgy black and purple hedgehog.

After being stunned for a second, Tails was the first to pull himself together and pushed our bat ‘guest’ aside with obvious annoyance, beginning to work through the files at hedgehog speed (What, you thought I’d say ‘lighting’? Nah, too slow.).

Meanwhile, I knew better than to get between my buddy and a data dive, particularly when Rouge had clearly already pushed him to his limits. Fortunately, there was another station nearby, and they were all networked (I mean, like I said, Tails’ approach to tech was the same as mine towards chili dogs: More is always better.).

At some point, quite a bit later, I realized Rouge had taken up a post just over my shoulder and I turned to look at her in disbelief. She could see the question in my eyes and her return look was deeply apologetic.

“Yeah, Sonic, as far as I can tell, it’s all true.”

…Illegal experimentation…An entire life as a lab subject…Everyone she knew and cared about…murdered…and nearly fifty years of imprisonment, even if she may not have been conscious for most of it…And all the other things those files mentioned or at least hinted at….

I never thought G.U.N. was squeaky clean, but even Rouge seemed shaken by all of this….

“You know, Sonic, after reading some of these things, I’m not exactly sure I’d want to stop her.” She looked away for a moment before sighing. “Honestly, I’d even be half tempted to join her on the next raid.”

I couldn’t really say anything in reply, and it didn’t look like she wanted to say anything more herself. By silent agreement, I think we both decided we needed a little break from all of this. I made my way back to my (very comfortable) couch and just sat on it for a while.

I was a bit surprised when she joined me there, but then again, maybe not so surprised. You just kind of wanted a friend nearby after seeing all of…that.