Rouge The Bat: Mature Goddess

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

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Tails waited. He waited for someone to come.

They did.

Rouge stepped through the old lab, followed by her husband, Thomas
Adriani. They two wondered why they had been requested. Miles Prower,
spotting his guests, went to greet them. "Miles," Rouge greeted.
"Where's Robotnik?"

"Where... good question." The fox turned away, leading them into the
main lab. "He's not here anymore and he's not coming back."

"Oh?" Rouge was curious. "When did it happen?"

"This morning," Tails answered. "Heart failure due to old age. I'd have
called the others, but they wouldn't have come." He waved a hand,
drawing attention to the machinery. "His family line is dead. All that
the man ever was is in these machines."

Rouge let her head hang. "He did a lot to make up for what he was."

"He did good things in the end. Like the work on artificial organs
for replacement. Dealing with the problems of powering devices..."
Tails showed them the compact battery. "Small and efficient. The casing
is sturdy and won't leak. Power lasts for fifty years. Beats the old
low-life batteries."

"How'd you make it last that long?" Tom asked. "Nuclear?"

"No, hardly," Tails said, "no one would want to walk around with
a nuclear battery in them. Too much risk with the casing anyway.
No, they're false Chaos Emerald designs. Small gems which hold just
enough power to last that long at the rate of consumption. But..."
He picked up a device. "He died before practical tests. This is
an artificial lung." The contraption was made of metal and high-grade
polymers. "Weighs as much as the real thing, fully powered. A person
can keep breathing even if they're unconscious."

"But wouldn't they drown if they went swimming?" Rouge asked.

"No. It's hooked into the nervous system. You can hold your breath if
you want. Works like a real lung but has backup routines. Only problem
is, to make them work, they cost a fortune. We can't use them yet."

Tom hesitated to ask. "How much is a fortune?"

"A million each. We're talking VERY fine components. These have to
hook into the nervous, respiratory and circulatory systems, these
have to work in very nasty conditions within the body. It'd be cheaper
to harvest clone organs for transplant. Not that the whiners will let
that that kind of research happen. Worst part, we've only had one
successful implant, a test. It works but the medical companies won't
fund mass-production for another TEN YEARS! They want to watch and make
sure it works..."

Tom asked, "How much-"

"Billions, if you need to know. Billions to fund even low-level mass-
production. The key components and materials cost too much unless bought
in bulk. We'd have to make fifty lungs a month to even reduce the cost
by ten percent. That's just lungs." Tails held up a smaller chunk.
"Heart." Another piece. "Liver. These are just human-scale. Other
species can be done but require different design specifications.
Well... not your concern. I'm stuck with the business of it."

"You're in charge now?" Rouge asked.

"He left the business to me in his will. I'm the only one had to leave
much anything to. Sonic and the others, they tried to be nice to him,
but they never visited, never... they put on a face around him but
I think Sonic still hated him."


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"TIFF!"

Teal was frustrated. The bat was laying on her bed, crying, and wouldn't
tell anyone why. "Tiff, what's going on?"

She wouldn't answer. June sat down beside her. "Come on, what's wrong?"

Still no answer.

"Tiff, come on! You're making the twins upset!" Teal was growing
impatient. "What was she doing?"

June said, "she was talking to her dad on the phone. When I came back
to the room she was like this."

"Okay..." Teal picked up the phone. "Redial then?"

Springing forth, Tiff grabbed the receiver. "Please..."

"Your dad's in trouble." Teal had her answer. "What's wrong?"

Tiff continued to weep. "You don't need to worry about it."

"Slate?" Teal looked at her husband. "Slate, go get me the duct tape.
If she won't talk then-"

"My daddy's dying!" Tiff was ready to break down. "His lung is infected.
He's coughing up blood and his lung is filling with liquid! if he
can't get a new one he's DEAD! they can't even find one for him..."
She slumped to the floor. "They just won't. Because he's old... they
won't save my daddy!"

"That's not true," June said, trying to comfort her.

Teal pulled June away, leaning in. "It might be. They'd want to give
organs to younger people first. But..." She looked down. "Don't tell
her." She helped Tiff to her feet. "You go see your dad while you can.
I'll talk with my parents and see if-"

"Please, Teal, don't..."

Gritting her teeth, Teal was furious. "Why not? What's this deal you
have with not letting people help you when money's involved? You
won't ask anyone when you need it, you keep slipping money into
mom's purse when you think no one's looking, for rent money, when you
stay here for free!"

"Teal... I can't. I promised my daddy I wouldn't leech off people."
Tiff hung her head, tears running into her fur dye and smearing
the pink down her cheeks. "If I asked them for money, he wouldn't like
it. He'd rather die than ask someone to give him money for free..."

"June... help her pack." Grabbing Slate's hand, Teal left the room.

"You're asking them anyway, right?" he asked, knowing his wife rather
well.

"Wouldn't you? Tiff's out of mer mind right now with this but DAMMIT,
I'm not letting someone die just because she won't ask for money! Old
guy's probably sitting there on basic life insurance that wouldn't
pay for it anyway. I'll call GUN, too. If there's a lung out there,
we'll find one."


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"You've got to be KIDDING ME!"

Angry, Teal slammed the phone down. "What's wrong?" Slate asked.

She explained, "GUN had a decent bat lung in their medical facility,
but they USED it yesterday! An agent got shot and needed it." She
sighed. "Problem is, bat lungs are special. Can't take one from
another species. Close as bats are to humans, the lungs are too
different. Now me, I'm both. I could use a human lung if I needed
a transplant, but not..."


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"My god..." Rouge didn't know what to think. "She's already left?"

"Half an hour ago. June went with her," Teal answered.

Tom said, "I don't care about the money. But they really can't find
one? Rouge?"

She smiled. "Right... if it'll work..."

"If WHAT will work?" Teal inquired.

"Get your husband," Rouge said, "and come with us."


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Tails ran the data through. "Bat lung... yes, we DID get the proper
records to make one. But..."

"But WHAT?" Rouge was beyond patience.

"BUT... we haven't built one yet. I can make one... but it'll take
time. Twelve hours!" he shouted, knowing that he would be asked the
time. "thankfully, being smaller, the cost will be a bit less, and
faster to make. I have the materials..."

"I'll write a check," Tom said.

"Good. This won't be free. Nine hundred thousand. I have to reconfigure
the machines to build by specs and then let them do the rest.
But..."

"Here comes the catch," Teal mouthed.

"The catch," Miles commented, "is that I can't guarantee this will work.
I can't even give you the odds. It has to work with his body. It has
to work. Go on. I'm starting work, but if you can find him a lung before
I'm done then do it. Better chances he'll live that way."

He jumped. Tom slapped a check beside him.


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"What do you mean you won't do it?" Rouge was angry, facing down the
doctor with an evil intent.

"Using a robotic organ made in a factory. By ROBOTNIK'S factory!
This is insane! I don't trust such a machine!"

Kicking him back, Rouge grabbed his shirt. "Look, buddy, I don't care
what you think! I'm not giving you a choice! Or maybe you'd like
a chance to get a new boyfriend in PRISON when I get GUN involved?"

The surgeon straightened his coat. "Fine. Guess he'll die either way.
Might as well take a chance..."

Satisfied, Rouge entered the waiting room. Tom sat with the twins
as June tried to comfort Tiff. "He's in pain..." Tiff was shaking.
"He has a tube in his chest and he's..."

Rouge knew the girl's pain. This was too familiar to her. It's why she
had no choice but to help, to do everything possible.


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Tails worked, checking every part, checking every action done by the
robots in his lab. The calculations had to be perfect. No room for
error as they slowly assembled the components of the artificial lung.
Every individual air filter, every individual chamber, the connection
tubes for blood vessels and the wind pipe.

His assistant was a lot of help to him. Already, Miles Prower was
exhausted, fueled by coffee and willpower. Not by greed. Even with
payment his lab would still lose money producing this. Components
weren't cheap.

His assistant placed a hand on his shoulder. "Should be a few more
hours. Just have to keep watch on all the machines to make sure
there aren't any mistakes."

She said, "go get some rest. I'll wake you in an hour. Don't worry,
I can keep watch. I'll wake you if anything goes wrong."

Miles looked up. His assistant was a human woman, tall, roughly his
age. "Thanks. Just keep things in order." He found an empty
couch in the lobby, his bed for a brief bit.


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They rushed to the hospital. The build time was long, the flight long,
but it was done. Tails held the case tight, the lung suspended in
sterile fluid. A half hour of final cleaning had slowed them down,
bathing the device in chemicals to kill any foreign bacteria or
particles, but they were here.

Into the waiting room. Tails found them. "I have it!"

"Great, but..." Rouge wasn't sure what to say. "... we have a donor
lung for Tiff's father. They tried to get in touch but you had left
the lab."

"Well..." He felt defeated. Hours of work and it wasn't needed. "Wait,
is he still in surgery?"

"He is," Rouge said.

Wasting no time, Tails ran off, past the doctors. Rouge ran after him.
"WAIT! What are you doing?"

"He's only got one lung, right?"

"Yes, but-"

Tails explained, "they can implant BOTH!"

She knew where the surgical room was. Leading him to it, they found
the doctors. "You're a little late," the head surgeon said. "We don't
need your machine anymore."

"Put it in anyway. He has room for another lung." Rouge gave the
doctor a harsh stare. Choosing against argument, the medical team
took the container.


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Tiff was asleep. Her father was out of surgery. They were waiting
for him to wake up. The artificial lung was operating normally, though
time would tell if it was processing oxygen properly and working with
the blood vessels.

Rouge placed a small blanket over the twins, who were also napping.
Teal and Slate had gone home while the rest remained. Content that the
surgery had been a success, Tails had also returned home.

Rouge saw it. An older woman, a bat with black fur in a gaudy business
suit. She could see the faint surgical scars, no doubt from cosmetic
surgeries. Standing, she greeted the woman.

"You must be Tiff's mother."

"Hardly," the woman shot back. "I disowned that little brat. And my
ex-husband is here? I'd be too unlucky for him to just DIE. Bad enough
he sucks up alimony money, that little queer girl taking money from
ME to live with him!"

"Lady, I really don't care for your tone..." Rouge had some height
on her, a good deal of muscle mass and possibly an age advantage.

"Rouge the Bat! Yeah, I recognize you now..."

She corrected bluntly, "my name is Rouge ADRIANI!" They were slowly
attracting the attention of everyone around them.

Tiff stirred awake. "Mom?"

"Don't call me that!" The old bat was angry. "Bad enough that loser's
not dead yet. Oh well, at least with you out of his house I can
stop sending those checks."

June stood, confronting her. "That's my wife you're taking about, you
old cow!"

"WIFE? Good lord, you two are married?"

Rouge gave her a sharp stare. "That's my sister!"

The bat began to laugh. "Oh, dear, that's funny! Rouge the Bat has a
faggot sister! Married to my worthless faggot daughter!"

Furious beyond normal capacity, Rouge grabbed her collar. "I'd ask
you to apologize, but I doubt a stupid CUNT like you would know how!"

The black bat turned away, taking a few steps. Quickly, she spun on
her heels, fist flying. Rouge was quick. Her hand snapped, grabbing
the old bat woman's arm. "Too slow!" Spinning around, Rouge tossed the
woman into the reception desk. Waiting for her target to stand,
she rushed forth, a swift kick to her stomach. "Lady, I used to be in
GUN. I've given birth to three children. You think you can fight ME?"

Blood was pouring from the bat woman's mouth. "We'll see," she muttered,
kicking forward. It was pointless. Rouge grabbed her ankle. "be
thankful you're in a hospital!" A quick twist of her arm, Rouge
could hear the woman's ankle snap. She smiled, content with her
victory.

Tiff approached. She saw her own mother on the floor. Her foot slammed
down onto the broken ankle, Tiff's mother screaming loud. "I hate
you! Daddy almost died and you don't care! I want you to DIE!" Punching
the woman, Tiff let her rage go.

"That's enough!" Rouge shouted, pulling her back.

They watched security rush them. Rouge's arms were held down. She tried
to fight but they were on her and Tiff.

"STOP THAT!"

The security team halted. They were faced down by the Commander of GUN.
"I'd release both of them if I were you..." The guards complied. "Good.
Now, get that scumbag, bigot of a woman to a room for treatment."
They began helping Tiff's mother up. "Wait... who ordered this?"

"I did," one of them stated. "I'm in charge of security here."

Stepping forward, the Commander slugged him. "You NEVER interfere with
an agent of GUN in their duties! Now... I take it the surgery went
well?"

"It did," Rouge responded. "We're just waiting for him to recover."

"Very good. I shall return now. Please keep me posted."

Rouge said, "I will, sir."

"Sir? Thanks for finding my daddy a new lung..." Tiff said.

They watched the Commander leave. Tom ran forward. "Everything okay?"

Rouge looked at the guards. "Is now..." They seemed almost sorry for
trying to arrest her, though it was likely due to GUN involvement rather
than genuine remorse.