No amount of telling herself that this was all just for the purpose of talking to Tails about her ‘problem’ where she could be sure they would be alone and uninterrupted or that she hadn’t actually lied about the presence of the ‘cool’ base or how useful it might be to Tails did anything to assuage the guilt she was feeling about her current course of action or to fully bury the accusatory thoughts that she really was just an evil robot now, luring an innocent kid away from his friends and safety for her dastardly plans.
In fact, as they were journeying over to the site, she nearly slammed into a tree when she realized that, actually, from an outsider's perspective, what she was doing right now…kind of…sort of…maybe…seemed to be exactly what Eggman had ordered her to do.
It was only her desire not to create a scene with Tails that kept her moving and waving off her near accident as due to a moment of distraction, but that realization was difficult to shove away.
“No…the obedience programming, it didn’t take….I remember that clearly….”
Amy had reviewed, and re-reviewed, the logs of that moment and the (very painful) error thousands of times by now: An entire two hours of her ‘sleep’ the prior night had in fact been devoted to it.
“...I’m doing this because I…want to….I’m sure of it….”
Of course, very little of her wanted to be doing this right now, but still she felt it actually was her own (horrible, selfish) decision to be doing it. Nevertheless, the congruence between what she’d been ordered to do and what she’d voluntarily chosen to do was troubling, and she couldn’t help thinking that it would actually be a bit more comforting if she really thought that some kind of ‘obedience programming’ was making her do it.
So, it was with both relief and discomfort that she saw they were finally arriving at the abandoned base.
“Wow, Amy, you were right. Now that we’re close, I’m picking up all kinds of readings of large metal deposits and underground spaces, though I’m not surprised I missed this. There’s no real sign above ground, and I hadn’t gotten around to surveying this area yet, at least not as close as I would have needed to detect something like this.”
Amy didn’t immediately say anything in reply and just spent a moment deciding what to do next. While she could immediately start with her real reason for bringing him out here…there was no reason that she couldn’t give him the chance to explore the base and have a little fun first….What was the rush anyways?....
“...You’re…welcome, Tails….The data I received said that there should be a hidden entrance near here and a keypad that will allow us to enter….”
Consulting that data in her internal databases, she was quickly able to locate the keypad.
“Yeah, it’s right there….”
Though it was very well camouflaged, the information she had been provided on all of Eggman’s bases (active and inactive) made finding the device simple. Her sensory suite was also able to pick up the very faint energy signature the keypad put off, if the data by itself hadn’t been enough to locate it.
Trying to ignore the guilt Tails’ happy and excited (and trusting, so, so trusting) look caused in her, she began to reach out towards the now revealed keypad to enter the code she had been provided when an unexpected voice caused her to freeze in place.
“Now, let’s just wait a minute here. Going off into an unknown base like that, just by your twosome, seems a bit dangerous, don’t you think? Also, I think there might be something we need to talk about first, just between us, you know, friends?”
“Rouge?!....”
Tails’ surprised question mirrored that in Amy’s mind, though with less innocent confusion and more alarmed panic.
Their familiar bat Mobian friend exited a glide to come rest on her feet a short distance from them. Knuckles soon exited the nearby forest to join at Rouge’s side as well, looking unusually grim, even for his rather stoic personality.
“Yeah, fox boy, good to see you. Though, why don’t you come over here for a second for a chat. Like I said, there are some things we need to talk about before you fully set off on this great adventure…Amy…seems to have spontaneously talked you into.”
Tails was clearly puzzled by all of this but didn’t seem to see anything really wrong with Rouge’s suggestion and began walking over to the waiting bat….Amy just stayed where she was.
Once the fox was by her and Knuckles' sides, Rouge seemed to look away from all of them, though Amy noticed the bat still kept her clearly in her line of sight.
Rouge sighed.
“I have to say I felt really bad…when I realized that Eggman had probably kidnapped my friend. Figured he’d probably taken her back to one of his bases, but I hadn’t figured out which one yet. So, honestly, I can say I was just as glad as anyone else when I saw her suddenly running up yesterday, just as pink, whole, and ‘Amy’ as always. I mean it was clear to me she’d even taken the time to stop by her home, the home that she’d basically just been kidnapped from, to change into new clothes and fix up her appearance before even telling anyone else about what had happened to her. Our girl Amy is the only girl in the world I can imagine who would do something like that.”
Tails apparently couldn’t hold in a laugh at that comment, and, for a moment, Amy was nearly shaken out of her building panic by feeling embarrassment over the fact that, apparently, at least two, and probably all, of her friends had actually believed she was someone who would do something like that. Meanwhile, Rouge sighed again.
“So, anyways, I guess I can say being a little too excited about the return of a friend and knowing just how…dedicated…she was to maintaining her appearance, which, damn, I just have to admire that level of commitment…”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Some part of Amy was wondering whether she should be insulted, considering that Rouge was again both apparently criticizing…and praising…her previous meticulous attention to her looks…but most of her was just wondering how anything good could come from what now seemed to be happening.
“...but I guess that is my excuse for why I didn’t initially notice some things, at least not in the way I should have.”
Amy’s building panic suddenly climbed quite a bit more.
“I mean I was a bit surprised when Amy jogged up, and it seemed like she wasn’t even the slightest bit out of breath, at least not for a moment. If I didn’t know better, I would have even said she wasn’t breathing at all for a second there, crazy, huh?”
Amy’s ‘Tactical-logical analysis suite’ was now plotting viable routes of escape….She didn’t interrupt it.
“Then, you know, wow, I mean I knew you were good, Amy, but the way you could so easily clean that spilled mustard off of your dress at lunch, with only some water and a towel, amazing. I mean, sure, when I checked, I think I was just able to detect a tiiinnny yellow stain. That really took a while for me to spot, you know, like five minutes later. Seriously impressive. And, girl, don’t even get me started about your bladder control….”
Tails let out a half-shocked, half-amused snort at Rouge’s comments while Knuckles just maintained his same, grim, silence. Meanwhile, all Amy could think was:
“Rouge noticed. She noticed everything. Only apparently, it’s taken her a bit to work it all out….Though, how did she know I was going to show up here with Tails? She must have cued Knuckles at some point after ‘leaving’, and they’ve just been waiting to see what was going to happen next, possibly even listening somehow…to see what my ‘plans’ were….Why did I have to have ‘plans’ anyways?....”
It was becoming clear to Amy that if she’d just opened up to Tails, maybe even to everyone, or at least just to Sonic and Tails alone…what seemed to be happening, what now seemed inevitable…could have been avoided.
Rouge gave Amy a disappointed look, though Amy could tell the disappointment was mainly directed at the bat’s own perceived failure, before turning to face their two-tailed friend (though, again, without letting Amy leave her line of sight).
“So, anyways, what I’m trying to say, kid, is that I don’t think this is our Amy, and I’m sorry for not spotting it earlier. I’m better than that.”
Tails’ eyes widened, almost comically, at Rouge’s declaration before he began vehemently protesting.
“What?!! Rouge, how can you say something like that?! Accuse Amy of, well, not being Amy?!!!”
Rouge sighed again, which was becoming a bit of a habit for her it seemed.
“Really wish we, and particularly you, weren’t in this situation, kid. But tell me honestly has ‘Amy’ done or said anything recently you didn’t find at least a little bit odd…not in the least to exclude just suddenly whisking you off to an ‘abandoned’ Eggman base…all by yourself, without any of your other friends or even telling anyone where you were going? Is that something our Amy would do?”
Amy felt like someone had just carved out all of her insides and left nothing behind (which, honestly, seemed disturbingly close to the truth). Even apart from all the rest, what Rouge had just described…that didn’t sound like something Amy would do. She’d already thought and said as much to herself before but, now, hearing it from someone else, someone she’d considered a close (if eccentric) friend, seemed much more damning. Perhaps the worst part was that she could see that Tails was beginning to realize it too.
As she knew well, Tails was anything but an idiot and now being suddenly presented with the data by someone who wasn’t quite as…trusting…as he was, it was clear he was quickly coming to some uncomfortable conclusions.
“Amy, she’s wrong, right? You can tell me that Rouge is just making some kind of mistake….” The “please” wasn’t said but it could clearly be seen in the now ‘begging’ eyes that were turned toward her.
(...I AM A MONSTER. I’VE BROUGHT THIS ON MYSELF. I ABUSED MY FRIEND’S TRUST AND I DESERVE EVERYTHING THAT IS PROBABLY ABOUT TO HAPPEN TO ME…)
Now feeling defeated and guilt-laden, Amy decided she had to at least try to deny the accusations, or rather the most important one, the only one, you know, that wasn’t actually true…she hoped.
Amy ‘sighed’.
“Look, Tails, it wasn’t right of me to bring you out here almost by yourself and particularly without telling anyone what we were doing. Rouge is completely right about that, and I really apologize for doing that to you. It was wrong and selfish of me to do that. I haven’t been really thinking right since…you know.”
Honestly, she kind of wished right now that he actually did know. Tails looked a little worried and disappointed but also relieved, clearly believing that this had settled the matter. Of course, it was also clear that a certain bat and echidna weren’t so easily convinced, and Amy decided to continue with what was likely to be a rather fruitless denial.
“...And about the other thing, I know things haven’t been entirely ‘normal’ since I returned.…I haven’t been entirely ‘normal’, but…I’m still…Amy….” Why did that feel like such a lie now? “....So, can we just drop this, please, and just…just go back?”
And though she hadn’t exactly said it out loud, her words made clear, at least to the two other adults, that she meant not just ‘back’ from this ill-conceived trip, but back, back to the way things were, the way they used to be before she’d come running up to Sonic and Tails’ home dressed in a far too ‘clean’ outfit and not the slightest bit out of ‘breath’.
Rouge gave her a nearly unreadable look in return before sighing once more.
“Oh, girl, I really wish we could…but, you know, I have been wrong before…on occasion, maybe once every few years....”
With that, the tiniest bit of hope began to be fostered in Amy’s heart.
“...So, prove it.”
And then, the bat tossed something at her. Largely out of surprise, Amy ignored her TAS’s prompt to dodge and caught the item instead, though very quickly wished she hadn’t.
“What is….OH, NO!!!!!!!”