Rouge The Bat: Mature Goddess

Rouge and Tom have been married for twenty four years and five months
as of this chapter.

---------------------------------------------------------


It was quiet in the GUN Headquarters.

News spread fast that morning.

Twelve Agents, all high-ranking, were dead.

Shadow was in bandages, one of only two survivors of the gun battle.
Blaze the Cat, the other, was meeting with the Commander now. The
Queen had come from her dimension to collect the criminal when they
were ambushed. It became clear in the autopsy of Eggman Nega, a small
device he'd had implanted in his own body alerted his hired army to
his transfer. No doubt shielded somehow from scans, no doubt activated
by any number of body movements or motions, simple to perform even
while in bonds.

In the records room, Tiff sat at the front desk, depressed. She'd known
every one of the dead agents quite well. June, also depressed, had
yet to know everyone well, but some of their names and faces were
familiar.

Teal was planted firm to the bench in the break room. Slate, off duty
from physical training, was with her. It was only a week before their
wedding date and Teal was making a hard decision.

She waited for Blaze to leave. Teal had no part of that mission, no
idea who the dimensional-traveling feline was, only that her presence
had triggered this.

Believing sufficient time had passed, she grabbed her fiancée's hand.
"Hey, what-"

"Come on, Slate, we have something to do!"

She ran to the head office, opening the door without waiting for
approval. "Agent Teal. Something told me you'd be here..."

"Huh?" Teal was a bit surprised. "But I- whatever." Tossing her
weapon to the desk, she slapped her badge down. the bat girl was
quitting.

"Teal... do you know why your mother joined this group?"

"At the time, she was greedy and wanted to steal jewels," Teal
answered. Rouge had never hidden that from her family.

The Commander spoke, "she joined because she had nothing. If she had
been killed in the line of duty... well... why do you think she quit?"

Teal knew. "She met dad."

"You two will be married next week. You don't need to work in this
business. This is for those of us who were either born into it or
those of us who have nothing to lose. It's not for you... why did you
join?" he asked.

She answered, "I wanted to be like my mom. She called you, didn't
she?"

The Commander waved it off. "Yes. I've already begun the paperwork
on the discharge of both of you."

Slate didn't know what to think. "Both of us? But-"

"You don't need to be in this group, risking your life." The Commander
looked him in the eyes. "She doesn't need to worry about whether or
not you'll come home safe." Picking up Teal's badge, he tossed it back
to her. "Keep it. Might come in useful."

"But Sir, it won't be-"

"They don't have to know that," he said. "Now, go turn in your uniform
and go home."


---------------------------------------------------------

Hot, cooked chunks of beef were scooped into bowls while cheese slices
were layered in to melt. It was Thomas Adriani's time to talk with
his daughter, no one else around, and they were going to share a
meal. No hamburgers, no bread, just ground beef, cheese, and spoons.

"Next week," Tom muttered. "Next week my little girl becomes a woman
and walks down that aisle..."

"Dad, listen, I know you'd let me just sit and leech but I can't do that.
Slate can't do that." Teal looked him in the eyes. "We need jobs.
After the wedding and little honeymoon trip, we're going to try and
find a place to work. Together." She sighed. "It could've been me at
that GUN slaughter today..."

Tom looked at his little girl. "I didn't want you to join up but I
let you. I got scared when you started carrying that weapon. Getting
into firefights... you think Slate would take a short business class?"

"Huh... guess he could."

"Good. Then I want the two of you to run the fruit business."

Her eyes lit up. "Dad? You mean..."

"Yes, the two of you should take over. It would stay in the family,
be nice, quiet work, and Slate's part of the society we have the import
and export deal with. But... I'd have to make sure you have some
business knowledge first. It's not just something you can pick up on
and run with."

"I don't have any business know-how, dad." Teal seemed eager but was
unsure.

He said, "you were always a smart kid. A business class shouldn't be
that hard to take. Anyway, you'd have to handle all the sales,
packing facilities and even maintaining the growing lands."

"You mean here and the other properties you own?" she asked. Teal was
familiar with all the other-lying land owned by the family, used now for
growing fruit. The fields around the mansion weren't suitable for the
quantity needed.

"Yes. You'll figure it out." Tom stirred the meat, taking a bite.
"You two thought about kids yet?"

"Daddy! We..." She shied away. "We haven't even slept together yet.
Anyway, I- I don't think I'm ready yet.

He suggested, "why don't you make an appointment and get a prescription
for birth control, then... I know your mother would like grandkids but
you don't need to rush it if you don't want."

She thought it over. "Okay... hmm, dad, would you mind if we got a
pet?"

"Sure," he responded. "Preferably something in a cage or an aquarium,
though..." Tom stirred his meat again, mixing the molten cheese.
"Tiff's been pretty upset. I think what happened with GUN today had
a big impact on her."

"Yeah." Teal's mind hurt just to think about it. "I think she knew
everyone of them."

"I think you should go talk to her, okay? June's been a bit sluggish,
too. They both need the emotional support."


---------------------------------------------------------

Slate stood before the mirror. He wasn't used to wearing a full suit,
but his tuxedo had to be fit to make sure it was right. Rouge stood
nearby. "You look better than your father did," she said.

"Feels weird," he commented. Slate looked back at the bat. "You still
have issues with my father, don't you?"

"That's in the past," she said. She didn't feel like talking about it.

Slate, however, did. "I heard him talking to my mother one day a few
months ago... he said that the reason he rejected you was because he-"

Her ears turned. "Tell me!" Rouge shouted, eager to hear.

"He said he felt it was his duty to guard the Master Emerald."

"Well, DUH!" she responded. That was nothing new to her.

Slate continued, "that's not it. He said... when he thought he was
the last echidna, that he..." The boy paused. "Dad likes to brag about
his heritage and the old tribe like he's proud of them but that's
not how he really feels. He talks with my mother in private about this
stuff."

"It's really none of my business," Rouge said.

"But it is." Slate thought about the exact words. "When dad learned
about the old tribe and his destiny, he started to question his
purpose in life. It wasn't just to guard the rock anymore. He thought
that he was born to accept punishment for the sins of the old tribe.
Isolation and loneliness."

Rouge was stunned, her eyes widened. "You mean..."

"He didn't turn you down because he hated you. He turned you down
because he hated himself." Slate checked the tie in the mirror. "Our
city was founded by the women, children, the elderly... the ones who
didn't follow Pachacamac as warriors. The ones who weren't killed by
Chaos. But some of them stayed behind when the land rose into the sea.
My father was descended from that group that stayed behind, the ones
who wanted to guard the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds. Then
the Chaos Emeralds were lost and the remaining ones died off, one by
one, until it was just my father..."

"He would have stayed there until he died, lonely." Rouge was amazed.
"No wonder he kept following Sonic around. He didn't like his job
but he felt like he had no choice... he wasn't too smart, was he?"

Slate ignored the last comment. "I don't think my father would have
ever changed his mind about you... even if he wanted to abandon his
place in life, I don't think he... it's not important."

"What?" Rouge knew what he was going to say. "He wasn't attracted to me.
Why?"

"You're not an echidna," the boy explained harshly. "I know that's an
awful thing to say, to call your own father a bigot about his species,
but that's just how he is. I know I shouldn't say that, but I have to
disagree with him. One thing about our culture is that we may have to
respect our elders but we don't have to agree with them. The girl,
Tikal, was right and her father led the tribe to ruin. We have to
question our parents if we feel they are wrong."

Rouge sighed. "Boy... you had no idea. My mother was a good example of
THAT... well, if ANYONE is going to marry my daughter, I'm glad it's
you." Walking over to him, she gave him a quick looking over. "Hmm...
looks good. Go with the white carnation on your lapel. Pink isn't your
color. Now, get that thing taken off and packed away. You don't want
to damage it before the wedding. I need to go look in on the twins
and then go see how Tiff's doing. And Slate..." He turned to face her.
"I'm glad you two decided to leave GUN. Keep my daughter safe, you
hear me?"