Operation: Love Birds [ShadAmy]

Chapter 1

Rouge takes a moment to catch her breath. She'd been too lax getting to her vantage point. She'd nearly tripped an alarm and had to take care of one of the robot guards. She hoped they didn't ping their location regularly because then the mission would truly be compromised.

She gets into position and activates her comm unit. "TL to Team: I'm in position," she says quietly. "Status."

Omega's halting words soon reply. "In position."

"Same."

Rouge grins. Everything's going on without a hitch. At this rate, they should be home within eighteen hours. She glances at the metal scraps of the robot she destroyed. She brought them with her in case it's route overlapped with another robot's, but that still wouldn't matter if it got pinged.

She purses her lips as she pulls out a pair of binoculars. This is an old base, it shouldn't have any of the newer models that do ping their statuses regularly.

She takes a deep breath as she activates her comm again. "Alright, stay alert. I had to take out a guard on my way up," she reluctantly explains. "It's unlikely to ping, but be ready in case it does."

"Yeah, whatever," Shadow replies. Rouge can practically hear him rolling his eyes.

After a short pause, Omega replies. "Understood."

She scans the surrounding area. The patrol looks light, but she can't afford to underestimate it. She spots Shadow's and Omega's hiding spots but doesn't see them. Good. They're well hidden.

"Hold positions," she continues. "It shouldn't be more than a few hours to get their patrol fully catalogued."

Shadow merely grunts in respond while Omega gives another affirmative. With that done, Rouge settles back to watch.

--

It's been nearly three hours and Rouge is cursing herself for not at least bringing a nail file with her. The mission had seemed simple, if a bit long, but she didn't expect it to be this boring. The dang robots repeat their patrol routes every seventeen minutes. That all but confirmes that this is an outside occupation of an Eggman base. Well, that and the few mobian driven trucks that had entered and left the facility.

"Alright guys, this is a non-ronotnik base," Rouge sighs into her comm unit. "Shadow, head to the north north-east road and tail the next truck that drives out. Omega, that'll be your weapons free ten-counter signal. Once the commotion starts, I'll go in and gather further intel."

"Ten minute signal delay set," Omega replies.

"En route."

Rouge stands and stretches her legs and wings. Sitting in one position for too long always leaves her muscles feeling tight.

She's about to pocket her binoculars when a small blur catches her eye. Quickly crouching back down to stay hidden, she scans her surroundings. She's about to move again when she sees the movement again. Using her binoculars, she focuses on the movement.

Keeping her eye on the movement, she activates the comm link. "Be careful. The Kid's here which means Big Blue's nearby. Keep your eyes peeled for him," she instructs. "For now, our tasks still hold."

"This isn't even an Eggman base," Shadow gripes. "Why are they here?"

Before Rouge can reply, Omega starts speaking. "Hypothesis: they are likely here for the same reason we are," he says. "An old abandoned Eggman base becoming active after being abandoned for two years is suspicious."