#09.) Mirror / For A Fortnight | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wonderinc-sonic · 4 months

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TDW 6: "Road Trip" on Ao3

Posting this early so I can maybe go to bed a bit earlier, and scheduled. 6k, Gen+NoShip, Slice of Life, Future, Missions, She/Her Pronouns for Shadow the Hedgehog Shadow's booked Team Dark a new gig as chaperones. She failed to mention who they'd be stuck in a car with for days. This is a potential starting point to a longer story, if you want to see it, but I think it stands alone.

Shadow knocked on Rouge's door at gone 7 a.m., later than she promised but still too early, apparently. She knocked again, waited a minute, then knocked again, and waited. On the sixth cycle, she heard a theatrical groan.

"No..." Rouge grumbled from inside. Shadow tugged at her long coat and fiddled with the sleeves until finally the door clicked and was tugged open to make way for two enormous suitcases.

"Which of these-"

"Yep, you can put them in the car, thanks, I'll go get my bag."

Shadow raised her eyebrow at Rouge, who had disappeared up the stairs already.

"You know we need room in the back seats?"

"Yeah, there'll be room."

Shadow hefted the cases into the bulky car. It was hideous, not her taste at all - fitting for a mum driving her 5 kids to school, not the mighty Team Dark. Still, there was ample room for Rouge's cases, even with the seats in the back reserved.

"Well, whaddya know, I'm right. Because - where's your luggage?" She sneered slightly, locking her house door and beeping an alarm on. Shadow ruffled her coat and tapped her revolver.

"Exactly. C'mon, can we go via the drive-in?"

Rouge took her spot in the passenger seat, pulling the mirror down to check her face as Shadow set off. They'd both drained their first drinks and Rouge was set about decorating the car with pastry crumbs when they parked in the research facility.

"Checking out one E-123 Omega? Rouge said sweetly to the clerk, not observing how the name sent shivers down their spines.

"For the day? More than? The week?" The receptionist asked excitedly. Rouge turned to Shadow.

"Well, I don't know, how long is this mystery business taking place?" She winked. Shadow frowned, and muttered to her something the attendant couldn't hear. Rouge rolled her eyes, and signed the page again.

"We'll say a fortnight for now, and I'll ring you then?"

The receptionist looked as though she might have ascended at the news.

"I take it you've been good and helpful on the training grounds?" Rouge hummed, strapping Omega's car seat into the empty frame in the back.

"I am the best stress tester! I am able to induce the most stress."

"Attaboy."

Omega didn't fit in normal car backseats, and after the great tantrum of '09, was not permitted in the front. So a custom-engineered luggage mount was designed for him, despite his insistence that the roof rack was the best spot for him. It was easily ten times the strength of any seat belt, and clamped to the car chassis, so anyone in the vehicle didn't have to worry about being squashed with his enormous body in the event of a crash.

Omega hated the car seat. Cars were confinement enough, but being immobilised in a vehicle he didn't control, sitting in traffic and observing speed limits broke his spirit. And what if there were an emergency, or worse, a shooting opportunity, and he were strapped in an infernal vehicle, not able to immediately destroy? Horrific consequences they were yet to find themselves in, but haunted him nonetheless. Still, he climbed in and clanked himself down, drumming his fingers on the frame as Rouge strapped him in.

"Will this mission be sufficiently dangerous as to justify this loser vehicle?" He grumbled. Rouge nodded, turning an eye to Shadow in the front. She didn't turn around, but angled the mirror at him.

"It's a practical people-carrier."

"Loser vehicle. Failure car. Chariot of the meek-"

"He's right, why are we in this P.O.S.? We can trek faster than this." Rouge sniffed as she slid back into the passenger seat. Shadow shifted uncomfortably on the raised pedals, and waited until the car was moving before she began.

"The client we are escorting-"

She stopped as Rouge groaned too loud, and Omega whizzed his fists angrily.

"Not acceptable!"

"Why didn't you warn me? I needed days to prepare for clients-"

"I did tell you. And again, because you weren't listening." Shadow hissed at Rouge, then cast a glance to Omega over her shoulder.

"Regrettably I could not consult you, Omega - this issue is not able to be discussed over the phone, and you weren't free before I had to make the decision."

Rouge and Omega grumbled, and Shadow waited them out, baring her teeth instinctively.

"Right, fine, so we're bodyguarding. That sounds incredibly dull, why did you accept this?" Rouge sighed, sticking her heels on the dashboard and opening her phone.

"We're going to be well paid."

"How well?"

"Well. The signing deposit alone would pay off your house."

Rouge clicked her phone closed, but kept her ankles up.

"Why haven't you given it to me yet?"

"Your share you mean?"

"Ugh. Why do you two need your own savings now?" She grumbled. Shadow took a deep breath, and flicked her eyes across the signs on the motorway; she made a plan to get them into a stop and Rouge another fancy drink as quickly as possible.

"I have a long life to live. And Omega always had funds for maintenance. You should be glad you don't have to sort his pit stops any more."

"This unit has debts." Omega offered helpfully.

Rouge glared over her shoulder.

"How in the hell do you have debts? You don't eat - you live at your work - what have you done?"

Omega 'blinked' at her, and pulled on all his wisdom to conclude that this was not the moment.

"... robot... things."

"We're stopping here." Shadow said quickly, clearing her throat as the sign for Starfox loomed overhead.

The car was quiet, save for Rouge slurping a straw excessively loudly, which twitched Shadow's ear but she refused to acknowledge. She drove them off the main roads, down some smaller lanes, and finally to an abandoned quarry site before Rouge finally broke her silence.

"So who is it then? Who's paying so much for our company?"

Shadow grimaced: "We're being paid by some of the old sponsors of G.U.N.. They need someone to escort a... guest of honour to some events. They asked us to take them from A to B, and onwards, situation depending."

"Query: Why us? Babysitting is beneath this unit!"

"Yeah, why pay so much for a chauffeur?"

Shadow bit her lip.

"Officially, no reason at all."

"And off-record?"

"... see for yourself." She murmured, nodding ahead to the complex they found. It looked small, but the earth was recently turned up, and the several escape stairs Rouge could pick out from here told her there was more beneath the surface. A small round building in the centre poked out from the turned-up earth, and the road cut through the dirt in a round, tense spiral that Shadow had to crawl through to keep them under control.

Omega was tapping his claws on the case, his legs itching to stretch, but when Shadow pulled up she glanced at Omega in the mirror apologetically.

"Won't be long. It would take more time to put you in and out, I expect."

Omega was a calmer robot than he once was. He could stand one minute in the car without exploding. But his sensors were pinging with a lot of stuff below the ground that got his prey drive whirring.

"Displeasure!"

"Displeasure acknowledged." Shadow nodded, and slammed the door.

She subtly steered Rouge towards the invisible entrance. There was an art to directing someone that didn't betray any weakness on their part, but Shadow fancied she and Rouge had it mastered: neither one of them could accept being seen as lost or stumbled. She put her sunglasses on, hiding the last trace of unease from the world. Shadow cleared her throat.

"You're going to have questions-"

"I had questions. I'm already not liking the answers." She snapped, then shushed her when Shadow opened her mouth again.

There was nothing to knock on, so they waited testily, ears moving in unison when something ka-chunked behind the smooth white shell of the building. A precise zigzag emerged in the wall, and it split open horizontally. Rouge tossed a quick but murderous glare at Shadow.

A round, pinheaded man with a brushed-down moustache and fake beard stood before them, in a blue out-of-date coat that matched his wide floral trousers. He stood well more than twice their height, and had thick square glasses over his eyes, tinted yellow and one-way visible.

"Ahaha, you are perfectly on time, splendid." A terrible fake King's English voice boomed from obscured lips. Rouge pursed her lips and took a deep breath, steam softly rising from her ears.

"Well. Do the honours. Introduce us." She snarled at Shadow, who cleared her throat.

"Rouge. This is... 'Mr Automon'. He's the guest of honour we're escorting." She mumbled.

"Of course he is." Rouge sneered, turning back to their new charge, who clapped his hands together.

"And of course, no introduction is needed for the former hero agents of the Guardian Unit. How 'humbled' I am in your presence, Mr Hedgehog, Mrs Bat."

Rouge's eyes pinged with twelve new violent ideas. Shadow shook her head.

"Well, it's Miss, if you please. I'll accept Madame. But, Doctor, what an unusual nest you've got here."

"Doctor? However did you know that? I never like to mention, it seems so frightfully immodest!" He simpered. She rolled her eyes.

"Sure. Right. Have you got your bags, Mister Doctor? And your companion?"

Automon snapped his fingers over his shoulder. A figure their height clanked behind him in the pristine white hallways. They had a large puffer jacket and ski trousers on, and ski goggles from behind which two red pupils glowed in all their pixelated glory. They dumped three enormous suitcases down at their feet. Rouge pinched the space between her eyes and sighed musically.

"Just give us one moment to make space in the car."

"There's sp-"

"Car."

Shadow followed her, feeling vigilant eyes on her back.

Rouge had a fixed smile pasted on her face as she opened the boot, and turned that stiff face to Shadow.

"Well, what an interesting gentleman. Shall we unstrap Omega?" She said cheerfully when Shadow paused too long.

"Release! Release! Release! What has occurred?" Omega chanted, spinning his head excitedly. Shadow shook her head, but Rouge nodded enthusiastically.

"Sure, baby, there's an old friend out there in the most hideous excuse for palazzos I've ever seen. Go get 'em, tiger!" She laughed mirthlessly, as Omega extended his head on his springing neck to see who was at the door.

"Target acquired! Eggman sighted!"

"Please stop. Both of you, just -" Shadow huffed as she stopped, and they both faced her furiously.

"Officially, that is not Doctor Eggman."

"Eggman DNA detected."

"Eggman odour smelled. How stupid do you think we are?"

"He's officially checked himself into a psychiatric hospital. And this man is invited to provide expertise on their new plan for a global defence system since the last Zeti appearance."

"Okay, got it, so we check him into a hospital. That can certainly be arranged."

"He was going to go anyway. Unit's intel got wind of that and tried to make the best of a bad situation. And who do you think's going to keep him in check - some leftover resistance troops?" Shadow hissed, rearranging Rouge's cases in the back of the car.

"You can't be serious. Playing bodyguard to the Doctor, like he couldn't work out everything you have!" Rouge snarled. Omega beeped as he lowered his volume.

"I am not opposed: Eggman will be captive in this vehicle with me. I will explode at earliest convenience, killing us all." He offered, a metal thumb up.

"Yeah, y'know what, let's call that plan C. If I haven't driven us off a cliff in an hour, we'll talk then. Plan A, obviously, being we turn back around there and snap some necks." She started opening one of her cases and loading up a gun noisily over Shadow's voice.

"You know you can't kill him. And the point is to neutralise him. He also - he also was building a planet defence- there's no need to throw things at me." Shadow snapped, as Rouge shunted a heavy bag she was rearranging back in her face.

"You are a prick. Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because you were busy. You said you were fine for anything. If we don't do it, a lot of people are going to be in a lot more danger."

"God, how good of you. Subject us to Eggman, so other people don't have to deal with him! So noble, so kind aren't you, just a good egg."

"... is that sarcastic?"

Rouge glared at her like only she could. Omega nodded enthusiastically over Rouge's shoulder to Shadow. Shadow waited in silence, staring back at Rouge. Omega's eyes ping-ponged between them for a full minute.

"Are you over it yet?"

"Not quite."

"... it is a lot of money."

Another minute passed, before Rouge sighed.

"You owe me so many favours. Both of us, actually."

"You already owed me a few."

"Doesn't compare. Sort the bags."

She shoved them on Shadow, and stomped around the car, slamming the driver's side door. Shadow was mostly confident she wasn't going to drive them off the nearest cliff.

Shadow angled the second mirror so she couldn't see the back window, but could watch the back seats. Automon was squished in behind the passenger seat. Clearly, he felt he should have been given the front, but it wasn't within his character to insist that, much to his own chagrin. Omega was still in his crate, neck cricked so he was staring at Automon and his companion with such fervour that a soft red glow emanating from his eyes lit the side of Automon's face and the puffer jacket on his companion. The companion sat in between the two, on a booster seat - on Rouge's insistence, and those eyes burned furiously at that - squishing their arms in as tight as they could to make room for Automon and to avoid touching Omega. Rouge's and their bags were strapped up together, too, and the rest was in the roof rack.

"Is everyone strapped in?" Rouge asked in a sweet but mad voice, and Shadow checked her belt with a tug. While Automon and Companion were still fumbling, she revved the car into gear and shot up the winding road, bumping into everything and launching in and out of potholes. Shadow leant her head back and sighed.

"What, dear? Is something wrong?" Rouge asked in the same thinly veiled rage.

"Nothing. Eyes on the road. We've got three hours before the next stop."

She called the last over her shoulder, seeing Automon grimace at the mode of driving, and the companion glaring at Omega, who was glaring at them.

"Fantastic. How about some music?" Rouge beamed, swooshing onto the motorway with her hand on the horn instead of a signal. She flicked the CD player on, and one-handedly fiddled in the glove compartment for her CDs. She then two-handedly opened the case, breathed on the shiny side, wiped it on her chest, and stuffed it in the player. At the last second she jerked them back in lane. Shadow gripped her seat with both hands but said nothing as tinny 2000s pop-punk started from the speakers. In the mirror, she took some small satisfaction that Automon also looked like he wondered if they were dying, but wasn't too sorry about that.

The road was mercifully empty, so naturally Rouge was cruising twenty miles per hour above the speed limit, after a minute or so of their silence and the player's noise, she suddenly burst in for the chorus, making them all jump. Shadow was sure she could normally sing quite nicely, having shared a flat and spent many an hour waiting for her to get out of the shower so she could use the bathroom, but today she was almost shouting, and changing tune and pitch whenever she felt like it would be more comfortable for her voice, regardless of the song itself. She couldn't help looking at Rouge, the ghost of a smile on her lips. It seemed to Shadow that only an exceptional woman could chauffeur the mad dictator, two of his most deadly creations, and the Ultimate Life Form, yet by sheer willpower and terrible driving manage to be the most deadly thing in the car. Plus, she also delighted in seeing the Doctor's face lined with sweat as he desperately tried to restrain his temper over the caterwauling.

"What's up? You got a request?" She hummed at Shadow in the lull between songs. She was smirking now too, clearly enjoying her petty revenge, and they didn't look at each other so they didn't laugh.

"No, this is perfect actually. Play on."

They changed drivers after only two and a quarter hours, thanks to Rouge's bold driving, and Mr Automon stepped outside to get some fresh air and buy some earplugs. Rouge went to the bathroom, broke the ATM, and returned to the car with snacks before he was back. Shadow, Omega and the Companion all sat in ringing silence in the vehicle until she returned:

"Don't you need a comfort break, dear?" She said sweetly to the puffer jacket. They were shaking with restraint, and shook their head. During the drive, Omega had steadily extended his head into their space so they had to squish up as compacted as they could. Shadow raised her eyebrows at Rouge, who begrudgingly agreed:

"Omega, sweetie, you might be a tad too stretched out there, you're bothering our poor little friend."

Omega glared at her, but the companion's rage was palpable. Their fists shook and something rattled in them. Omega slowly backed out of their seat to just over the dividing line, until Rouge faced forward again and he clicked his head forward an inch just to bother them.

Rouge adjusted the mirror for her so she could spy on them, and pulled her blanket up from the floor, resting her feet on the dashboard again.

"It is a bit cold in the car, huh? You must get chilly, you look ready for snow." She said brightly, watching them in the mirror. Shadow sniffed and coughed over a laugh. The companion nodded.

"And what did you say you are to doc- mister A, an apprentice? I didn't even catch your name."

Omega's face was inching closer to them as they whirred. He could see the shining blue head under the fluffy hood. His eyes glowed brighter and brighter, reflecting off their goggles.

"My name is Sage. I am travelling with my father."

Omega stopped approaching with his head, and twisted one eye to Shadow and Rouge. They decidedly did not react much, but both logged the unusual timbre of her voice, and the familiar-from-somewhere name.

"Sage. That's a nice name. The herb, or the wise?"

"The A.-" they shut their own voice off with a click and shook their head like they were punishing their own voice box. Rouge watched in the mirror as they jittered awkwardly, like a fight was going on inside. They looked up again ten seconds later, stiller.

"A-choo. Excuse me. Sage the Apprentice."

"Right... bless you." Rouge rolled her eyes at their embarrassing display, and turned back to Shadow; "Your turn on the jukebox, girlie, what do you want?"

Shadow quickly became entertained with her keys, and Rouge cringed to herself. 'Sage' seemed too interested in sitting as still and normal as possible to be listening.

"Whatever."

"No, c'mon, what do you want?"

All of Shadow's usual driving music invited mocking from her friends, even Rouge, for being so obvious and typical of her. Automon was returning with his own arms full of snacks, so she flicked through the CDs on Rouge's lap urgently, her face hot.

"Seriously, not worth the stress, I can stick any old thing on." Rouge muttered, but she was already faintly amused. At least her mood was improving.

"Omega, choose."

Rouge sighed, but an arm extended enthusiastically into the front seats, and scuffled in the CDs.

A strange man with confusing lyrics and synths punctuated Shadow's turn at the wheel, but she tuned it out. Everything was smoother when she drove, and Rouge was quickly bored and resigned, scrolling on her phone, then sleeping when she finally managed to forget their company. Shadow took the worst leg of their drive, and determined in the peace that she would keep going longer than she had agreed, until Rouge woke up and told her off. Shadow didn't get tired like Rouge did; they split trips because she didn't like the implication she couldn't, and it did make things more companionable when she wasn't determined to kill them all.

In the back, Automon had a podcast playing. He kept chuckling too loud to himself, then snoring, and snore-chuckling. At some point, he flopped his shoulder onto his Assistant's puffer hood. And, they were already being squished from one side by Omega, who had stretched his arm out into their space slowly but steadily, until it extended across their lap. When Shadow had to stop promptly at another driver, Automon lolloped onto Sage so heavily they shunted into Omega, who copied his action too late and dramatically flopped the exposed part of his body across them and rested there. He closed his shutters over his eyes in bliss, as Sage shuddered. They twitched and shook like two ghosts were fighting to possess them, and finally they beeped like a microwave. Omega caught Shadow's eye in the mirror and winked - she shook her head, and he closed his eyes, pretending not to see.

The microwave beep sounded again, but louder. Rouge's ear flicked.

"Omega. Return to position." Shadow said quietly. Omega played a recording of Automon's snoring, so they were slightly out of sync and bouncing off each other. Shadow took a deep breath.

"Omega. Get up. Now."

He shoved his head into the puffer top, flopping on his 'back' like he was on a recliner. She calmly pulled the car to a stop on the hard shoulder, and faced him with a stony stare.

"It seems you can't travel safely while assembled. Apologies for the delay, everyone."

She kept her voice low, as she reached for the button of her seatbelt slowly. Omega squinted at her, daring her to keep going. Sage beeped again, and Rouge shifted and grumbled. Shadow half clicked the belt, and Omega immediately sat bolt upright and retracted his limbs into his box. Shadow sniffed, reattached her belt, and headed back onto the motorway.

One minute later, they turned slightly with the bending road, and Omega took the chance to flop his fist onto Sage's lap. They sat stiffly, still squished on one side. With the beat drop of the strange electro sounds, they shunted his hand off. At the next tiny jolt in the car, he stretched, and his hand was now resting in front of their face, knocking against their face with a clang at every shake of the car.

"Omega."

"Unit is making no contact! Air is free!"

Shadow sniffed dramatically, and tapped on the brakes suddenly, a chance they took to smack his hand away. He folded his arms and whirred angrily, and the journey continued in quiet, while the assistant's hand shook.

At the very next turn, Omega grunted indignantly. Shadow flicked her eyes up in warning, and he scowled.

"I have been shoved."

"... I'm sure it was an accident."

Omega whizzed his wrists indignantly, and waited until Shadow was watching the road before shoving the assistant full force. They immediately shoved him back with enormous force, and they were locked in a strength contest, until Shadow looked back at them, and they both instantly assumed their seats.

Shadow sighed. As soon as she looked away, she heard another clunk as they resumed their battle. For a minute, she pretended not to notice, until she tried to catch them again - but they were already back in their seats and facing away. She tried one more time, almost instantly looking back at the pair of them when they thought she wasn't paying attention. This time, they were a little too slow, and she caught them bitchslapping each other.

"I'm not sure I can drive with this stress... perhaps I'll ask Rouge to take another turn." She hissed. The assistant's red eyes turned to Automon, still flopped on them, and begrudgingly leant away from Omega, puffer-coat arms folded. Omega crossed his too, but slumped in his crate, sending evil thoughts to Shadow and his seat-neighbour.

Peace descended on the car again, and Shadow took the next turn hard, so Automon flopped in his seat against the glass window. Two pairs of glowing eyes were on her from the back, but like the music, snoring and general hostility, she found she was good at ignoring them.

It was getting dark when Rouge woke up: she was indignant and grumpy again, but this time because Shadow didn't let her take another turn.

"It's just another half hour before our hotel, a stop would waste time." She smoothed. The CD had played four times now, so Rouge switched on the radio for the seven o'clock news.

"The conference is at a hotel in the sticks?"

"No. It's another day's drive away."

"Oh for f-"

"I sent you the itinerary in the mail. You can't complain if you didn't read it."

She grumbled anyway, as the radio presenter announced the most solemn news first: Conflicts were escalating somewhere, a celebrity divorce was also spiralling with accusations of heinous abuse, and weather warnings were issued across another part of the world. Automon was awake and listening now too, and now chuckling at the news as though it were a mildly amusing panel discussion. Rouge's eye twitched.

"So another full day's drive tomorrow. And then back?"

"... maybe."

"Right. Cool. Call me, next time you're booking something. You know I don't open post unless it's present-shaped."

Shadow nodded. Obviously, she wasn't going to call, but supposed next time she'd put the papers in a hatbox and pay more for delivery.

They were on a dimly lit bypass now, swerving out of the deep gutters and potholes, the headlights jerking around the road as Shadow gritted her teeth. Single fireworks were going off somewhere nearby, and dipping down below into the trees. As Shadow drove under the sparkling lights, something prickled in her awareness, and the whiskers that usually lay flat against her quills pricked up and waved like dandelions, detecting something Rouge couldn't hear yet. Rouge's ears twitched too, flicking in different directions to try to sense whatever Shadow had found. The Assistant looked up from their huffing, suddenly poised, their hand on their seatbelt.

Shadow slowed the car right down, suddenly they were deathly quiet, even Automon was braced, leaning back in his seat as invisibly as possible. Omega started fussing with his restraint, but his fingers were too big for the keypad.

"What is it Shadow?" Rouge whispered. Shadow squinted into the darkness. She looked calm, but Rouge recognised that sort of hunting look.

"Metal Sonic, please release Omega."

Automon started to bluster, and his assistant glared red eyes at Shadow, then disdainfully at Omega. Rouge sucked in through her teeth, and leant around from the front.

"Have we not taken you this far, and kept your daddy safe? No doubt you knew where we were going - and we've done what we said. So: if we're honest, you be good. Unstrap him."

The assistant glared at her now, and kept their nose up as they unclipped Omega's pieces, and released his legs. Shadow nodded seriously to Rouge.

"I'll scout. Could be nothing."

Shadow turned the engine off, left the lights off, took a pistol out of the glove compartment, and gingerly opened the door as quietly as she could. She disappeared from Rouge's field of vision quickly, but Omega and the assistant followed her with their eyes, north-northeast, off the road.

Automon was fidgeting uncomfortably, trying to send his seat down and back.

"Any Intel, Doc?" Rouge asked softly, not turning from the front windscreen.

"Doctor? P-please, d-"

"Don't help, then." She snapped. Shadow hadn't returned or come to blows with anything - if she used her powers, they would surely have seen it, but she hadn't even engaged her air shoes.

The silence stretched in the car. Rouge tapped her nails on the dashboard in frustration. Automon fiddled with his seat again, and managed to jerk himself forward. She sighed, and pressed a button in the front controls, lowering him and the back of his seat so he could hide from the windows.

"If I knew what they wanted, I wouldn't be hiding in a car with the likes of you." He hissed. Rouge tutted nonchalantly for a moment, then started scrabbling in the sunglasses drawer for her combat belt.

"Omega hang back, give it 30 seconds, if I don't wave come get us." She huffed, and army rolled out of the car.

To any natural eyes, Rouge immediately disappeared into the shadow of the huge car and the trees on their side. But Omega and the assistant followed her heat signature, as she approached where Shadow stood still as a statue. She was counting on her fingers, and it didn't take seven seconds to reach her.

Shadow bristled as she heard something rustle gently in the tree above. She had to chance a glance to ensure it wasn't one of them - but it was just Rouge, crouched over her, eyes trained ahead.

Before them was a sharp drop down from the road into a sludgy creek. It was clearly a popular fly-tipping spot; bags of unwanted things, household trash, and even some rubble from building sites had thrown broken bricks and concrete slabs down the hill. But things were rustling in the ground despite the cover from any breeze they had.

First, the shell of a firework flopped and rolled down a bin bag, then fell still. Then, an old receipt wriggled and wobbled out of a bag, and tried to pathetically latch itself onto a brick. The brick settled slightly, but stalled, so the receipt wavered back to life, and crawled over the rubble. Elsewhere in the pile, a fork was stumbling up the hill on its tines. Rouge kept thinking she was going mad watching, and judging by her inactivity, Shadow was too, but those alien whiskers still waived in the dark ominously.

Rouge's fingers counted down to twenty-eight, twenty-nine, then heard a clunk behind her. Shadow's ears flattened in preparation, and stalked down the hill.

"DON'T TOUCH." Something suddenly called in a synthetic girl's voice; Metal grabbed her shoulder, blasting a light beam over the heap, and Omega opened fire from behind them. She shoved the hand off, but didn't approach, firing too. Rouge fumbled with her belt, and threw something; the whole clearing blew up in flames, but Shadow and Metal leapt back in time.

The four of them watched as the heap didn't move, just burned softly. Metal's eyes scanned, and then he turned away. From a speaker under his muzzle, the girl's voice emanated, that uncanny timbre in her tone:

"Brother detected no more. We return."

Team Dark shared sceptical looks, and Omega loosed another round into the ditch.

"Didn't need four of us to take care of some rats in a bag." Rouge yawned purposely as she spoke, but her mind was racing. Shadow kept her face blank, and Omega bounced on his freed legs.

Metal slipped back into their coat and ski trousers, while Rouge strapped Omega back in.

"Just a deer, was it?" Automon asked casually, still hiding beneath the side of the door.

"I don't know, your daughter seems to know what we were looking at." Rouge sneered. Automon glared at his assistant. They glared back, but their voice sounded pleading.

"It was to help!"

The Assistant jittered and shook, beeping and whirring, then stopped suddenly.

"... brother reminds me he did not endorse my help."

Automon pinched his nose and sighed a long-suffering sigh. Rouge clamped the last part of Omega into the car, and hopped back in the passenger seat, and Shadow started the engine again.

"Well?" Rouge asked after a minute of Automon's silence.

"Well, what?" He retorted, fumbling his accent in fury.

"What was that? Why did we all just stop to blow up some bin bags?"

Automon looked at the assistant for clarification.

"They landed with no appropriate vessel available." The girl's voice offered.

Automon sniffed, and kept looking out the window. The fireworks were gone, and after a minute of quiet skies he was satisfied.

"How odd. What a strange thing. Truly. Unheard of." He muttered.

"Cut the crap, dear. An experiment gone wrong?"

"My dear Rouge. My creations never go wrong."

She snorted. Omega picked up on the mirth a second too late, and turned his head straight to face Eggman.

"Observation: Eggman creations most successful at defying his orders."

Automon gripped the knee of his flowy trousers as Rouge and Omega snickered.

"Focus." Shadow sniffed, but she smiled slightly too; "What did we just meet, Doctor?"

Eggman huffed and sighed, muttering to himself. They waited him out, almost all eyes on him.

"Well. Someone'll come up with a name at the conference, no doubt."

Rouge nodded thoughtfully, eyes on the dashboard and thinking. She neglected the CD player, so after five minutes Omega extended his hand to the front, and hit play on the oddball album again, and they all groaned.

Team Dark had one double room for the night. 'Automon' and his 'Assistant' had another, just next door. Rouge showered for a long time, thinking in the hot water and steam, while Omega sorted files and Shadow tapped at her phone, eyebrows furrowed.

"Sage - the AI." She finally murmured. Omega was stomping around her, shaking the bedside lamp as he enjoyed some freedom to stretch.

"Sage - common garden herb."

"Sage - Eggman's latest assistant creation. She has no consistent form, is quite reasonable, and very knowledgeable. It's on Prower's blog from three months ago, that's where I'd heard it." She murmured.

"You read the fox's diary?"

"His public blog about technological innovations? Yes. Why, should I read the Doctor's instead?"

"Yes, actually, you should - that's where I get Omega's driver updates. Don't tell him that." Rouge said quietly as she came out of the bathroom with a towel over her ears and button-up pyjamas on. She looked a lot younger in her My Happy Pony pyjama bottoms and no makeup on. Shadow eyed them jealously.

"I don't think I'd have the patience for that." She admitted, taking a toothbrush out of her coat pocket and chucking the coat on the chair.

"Alright, hon, I still hate you, but maybe we do need to be here."

"Uh-huh," Shadow called through a mouth full of toothpaste.

"But for god's sake, you didn't half make that difficult!"

"Agreed - Shadow is not a team player."

"Mm." She mumbled again.

"And are you using my toothpaste? After making a fuss about my bags?"

"... uh huh."

"Bitch. There's nowhere I wanna hang in this stupid motel. You can take the chair." Rouge called, and she blasted the hair drier over Shadow's potential defence.

"This unit will walk the halls." Omega grumbled, jumping on his huge feet again. Rouge hummed, but tossed him one of the keys on the nightstand, and clambered into bed.

She closed her eyes, but didn't fall asleep like she pretended, and heard Shadow run the shower, then stop it, and settle down on the sofa. She heard Omega stomp past several times, until he came back to charge at about quarter past two. She heard the doctor muttering to himself through the thin walls, perhaps in his sleep, and couldn't help but listen for any sense that she could make from it, after hours of thinking she was drawing blank.

"You guys awake?" She said finally into the quiet room. Two pairs of glowing eyes opened to her.

"You need to sleep Rouge." Shadow whispered.

"I know. But I can't. What did you see in that thing that I couldn't?"

They blinked in the dark at each other.

"Multiple 'things' detected. Items of slightly raised temperature, moving animalistically. Form... inconsistent."

"I sensed something with a weak consciousness. Like... most like the synthetic Chaos guards the Professor made."

"On the Ark? That's a weird thing to find on Earth. And... that's why we're taking him to some talk, huh? It's not some hypothetical thing?"

"So it would seem."

Shadow's eyes showed she'd stood up, and the curtain rustled as she peeked out at the moon.

"But none of that should stop you sleeping, Rouge. We'll keep watch."

"Ugh. I don't wanna sleep, then wake up, then sit in the car with him again. We need a better air freshener, or like, a body bag for him." She mumbled, yawning in earnest. Shadow grunted softly, and Omega thudded across the room, squatting down next to her. She could hear the low whirring of his fans, and he purposely closed his red eyes. The familiar mechanical sounds finally sent her to sleep, and Shadow took over worrying and wondering about what fell from the sky alone.

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#tdw 2024: day 6 #wonderincs #writincs #teamdarkweek #team dark week #team dark #shadow the hedgehog #rouge the bat #e-123 omega

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