Chapter Text
Shadow wasn’t nocturnal.
The ARK was on a set clock, synced with a time zone called “Central Time”, with red-lighted digital clock faces in every major room aboard. Constantly blinking and changing. The one in the research lab was used to time the experiments. He still remembered the day where he’d run faster than that clock, the day that Gerald had hoisted him up on his shoulders to parade him around and-
In Maria’s room there was a peculiar object. Small, white, and round. Twelve digits spread around a circular face. A small, wide arrow that moved slowly, and a thinner arrow that quivered with every pulse of his heart.
“It’s not an electronic clock. I think the word is. . . hmm. . . analog,” Maria had explained. “I’ve always had it. It’s probably from Earth!”
She slept with the clock beside her bed. He and she could count along with it to keep their minds off of the day to come.
Only these days, staring up at the ceiling while bound by Earth’s gravity, all was silent.
Shadow wasn’t nocturnal.
Shadow wasn’t nocturnal.
Rouge wasn’t nocturnal. Frustratingly so. GUN was a human organization, and human organizations worked with the sun, so she worked with the sun.
It’s not like she hated the sun. The big ball of burning space gas wasn’t the top of her priorities by any means. She had much better things to hate in a much nearer proximity. But that didn’t mean she liked it. She was always, always sleepy while the rest of the humans seemed as bright and as chipper as ever. And of course, humans tended to relate more and thus spill more to those familiar to them, so she had to become just as alert as they were to do her job most effectively during the times that night missions were few.
She’d gotten good at it by now. This was her world by choice. There was no higher-paying client in the business. Humans loved things like information and secrets on each other almost as much as she loved gems, which was saying something. She knew where she was most valuable, and it was here.
So Rouge wasn’t nocturnal. Simple as that.
Rouge wasn’t nocturnal.
Omega’s sensors registered motion in the hallway outside of his designated recharge room. His base programming ran through a pre-prepared checklist of possible sources of this motion, and determined the most likely cause to be either one of his organic teammates attending to their bodily functions.
Omega’s sensors registered more motion in the hallways outside of his designated recharge room. His base programming ran through a pre-prepared checklist of possible sources of this motion, and determined the most likely cause to be either one of his organic teammates returning to their rooms after attending to their bodily functions.
Omega’s sensors registered voices in an indeterminate location outside of his designated recharge room. His base programming could not match this stimuli to any of the conditions on the pre-prepared checklist. This instigated the reboot of his short-term adaptive processing.
Omega exited standby mode. As he unplugged himself from his power cord, a notification popped up- energy reserves were still at a mere 14%. He looked at his power cord, the measly, pathetic, “UL-Rated” cord approved for use in civilian housing infrastructure, and imagined ripping it apart and demanding to be supplied with a more suitable industrial cord.
His attention shifted when he identified Shadow and Rouge’s voices in the living room. He was too distant for his language programs to make much out of the vocals. He opened his door and traveled to the living room.
His teammates’ voices went silent as he arrived.
“WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE FOR AWAKENING AT 12:47 AM?” He asked.
Shadow looked at Rouge. Rouge shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“ORGANIC BEINGS REQUIRE A MINIMUM OF EIGHT HOURS OF REST TO FUNCTION. RETURN TO YOUR ROOMS.”
“No.” Shadow replied. “Go back to bed. This doesn't concern you.”
“THIS DOES, IN FACT, CONCERN ME. I REQUIRE MY TEAMMATES TO OPERATE AT MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY. THIS REQUIRES THAT YOU REST.”
“Oh shut up, would you?” Rouge crossed her arms. “Shadow and I are going out for a little night out and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“TRY ME.”
“Sure!”
“No fighting in the apartment.” Shadow parroted Rouge’s oft-cited rule. “Come on, let’s just go.”
“YOU WILL NOT LEAVE ME BEHIND!”
“Fine.” Shadow said.
“Only as long as you keep it quiet and don’t complain about ‘organic sleep schedules’, alright?” Rouge added.
“AFFIRMATIVE.”
Rouge grabbed her keys, Shadow grabbed his jacket, and they left the apartment in short order. Their movement was normal as they descended down the stairs, but once they reached the pavement of the sidewalk, Shadow ignited his rocket footwear and Rouge took off from the ground. They grinned at each other before taking off down the empty streets. Omega wasted no time in activating his own rocket boosters to follow.
As they raced through the suburbs and onto the 76 freeway, Shadow’s speeds crept further and further towards the sound barrier. His vitals were still within that of mild aerobic activity, whereas Rouge’s heart rate and rate of respiration increased rapidly. This strange, nonverbal race was pushing her limits.
Building lights faded into the light of individual warehouses as they neared the edge of the city. Upon crossing the last city limit, Shadow gave a single audible laugh, before breaking the sound barrier, shooting off ahead of them into the patchwork of rural roads.
Rouge shook her head and slowed, but Omega would not let himself be beaten. He increased power to his boosters and gave his own verbal “HA” as he caught the hedgehog, who’d stopped a mere twenty miles out.
“I won.” Shadow smiled.
“YOU DID NOT INSTIGATE A FORMAL RACE.” Omega replied.
Rouge arrived moments later, huffing and puffing as she landed beside them.
“Good pace.” Shadow said to her.
He sat down in the middle of the gravel road, looking up towards the stars. Rouge joined beside him, her wings draped over her shoulders.
Omega stood behind them. He did not need to rest. His rocket boosters did not get worn out and would not get sore. Such was the superiority of the Ultimate Robo-
An error warning popped up in front of his vision. Energy reserves at 7% .
This was only enough for another forty minutes of operation. Less, if he were to activate his rocket boosters again.
“Nice night.” Shadow said.
“Yeah.” Rouge concurred.
Omega queried his auxiliary power cells, only to find them empty. His memory banks not-so-helpfully reminded him that he’d spent them to get an extra boost of speed to pursue a fleeing Badnik three days ago, and he had yet to recharge them.
“I’ve been learning the constellations.” Shadow whispered.
“Really?”
“What do you mean ‘really’?”
“No, not that I think it’s weird, hun.” Rouge said. “Just that, don’t you come from space?”
Shadow laughed quietly. “We couldn’t see the stars very well from the windows.”
“Why not?”
“The light from the planet was too bright.”
“What light?”
“I’m not sure. I remember hearing something about how even the planet reflects the sun’s light.” Shadow picked up a chunk of gravel from the road, admiring it in his hand. “Or perhaps it was just the brightness of the solar panels. Either way, it blocked out the light from the stars.”
“Just like city lights.” Rouge concurred.
Omega engaged in a line of rationale that he never had to before- one that made his rage spike in his processor. He needed to preserve power for the flight back to the apartment. Every power-saving measure, no matter how humiliating, would help.
He lowered himself to the ground and began offlining auxiliary systems. He reduced power to those that weren’t absolutely vital to his targeting and weapons operation, such as his optics, tactile, and audial sensors. Shadow and Rouge’s voices became muffled and the road ahead became shadowy.
“That one’s. . . Cassiopea, I believe.” Shadow lifted his arm toward the sky, but Omega couldn’t make out much else in his motion.
“Looks like a ‘W’.” Rouge replied. “Seems a little fancy.”
“I didn’t name it.”
“Of course not. And I’m not one to scoff at sentimentality.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Okay, maybe a little.”
Omega’s rage flared up even further when he received another emergency popup. Energy reserves at 6% .
He tore through his own processor, searching for whatever errant function could’ve caused such a drastic power drain in a matter of minutes. He paused, however, when he found that the function consuming the most power was his own processing, followed closely by his cooling fans.
He was going to think himself into shut down! How imbecilic! He needed to cease this processing immediately.
“What are some other ones?” Rouge asked.
“That one is a star cluster.” Shadow replied. “They’re called the Pleiades.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. It’s what humans call them.”
“Know any more?”
A pause. “No.”
Rouge laughed. Shadow made some motion towards her that Omega’s limited vision could not determine.
“Sounds like you need to get out more when you can’t sleep.” Rouge said.
“I don’t think someone would like that.”
There was a pause in conversation. Good. The less Omega processed, the better to preserve power with. The fact that he’d let himself get this underpowered was a vital mistake. To use the appropriate vulgar terminology: fuck that power cable. It was imperative that he retrieve a new one!
“Guess he’s also enjoying the stars.” Rouge said.
Energy reserves at 5% .
Omega’s rage exploded within him. He simulated blowing apart the popup with his missiles, then tearing apart the cord with his claws. Of course, this simulation only consumed more power.
“Omega?” Shadow asked.
“SYSTEMS NOMINAL.” He snapped back, before diving back into the process of trying to reduce his rage.
A futile strategy, Omega admitted to himself.
“What’s on your mind?” Rouge asked. “Your cooling fans are going crazy.”
“SYSTEMS NOMINAL. LET US DEPART THIS LOCATION.” He instructed his legs to resume a standing position.
However, his knee joints slowed, his motors whining from lack of power.
“Something’s wrong.” Shadow hissed.
“Don’t look at me.” Rouge replied.
Omega turned and began walking down the road, only for his steps to sway. Locomotion protocols were among those he’d limited power to.
“Omega! Answer me!” Shadow said. .
It was time to retreat from this location, now . It was approximately fifty miles back to the apartment. He would have to fire his rocket boosters. . . slower, to have enough power to stay online at least. . . some of the way there. Even precise calculations were slipping form his awareness.
“Hey, what’s wrong? Are you tired?” Rouge asked.
“I DO NOT GET TIRED!” Omega replied.
Something landed in front of him, a blob of pixels lighter than the darkness behind it. “You’re walking like you’ve had one too many at the club. We didn’t wake you up from your much-needed beauty sleep, did we?”
“SILENCE!”
“What are your power levels at?” Shadow’s blob joined beside her.
Omega lowered himself to the ground so he could shift enough power to his optics to make out their facial expressions.
“You’re already weakened.” Shadow frowned. “Your attempts at hiding that have failed. Tell us what’s going on so we can help.”
A second of concern slipped onto Rouge’s expression, but she didn’t say anything.
“POWER RESERVES AT 5%.” Omega divulged.
She regained her smile. “So you are sleepy.”
“I AM NOT ‘SLEEPY’! I AM ON THE VERGE OF IMMINENT SHUTDOWN!”
“Mhmm. We’ve all been there.” Rouge replied. “Could almost fall asleep standing up if you’re in a meeting with information ops. I don’t recommend trying it for yourself, though.”
“He needs to get back.” Shadow said.
“Of course. I’ll carry him.”
“You shouldn’t have come with us if you were this low on energy.” Shadow stared at him.
Omega couldn’t generate anything to reply with.
“Alright, up you go, big boy.”
Rouge grabbed his arms and took to the sky. With the landscape passing by beneath them without the need for his own locomotion, Omega entered standby mode to conserve power.
He awakened from standby mode with his power reserves at 100%. His auxiliary power cells were even 33% restored.
The first thing his optics registered was sunlight streaming through his window. He checked his chronometer. The time was 11:00 AM. Noise emanated from the kitchen of the apartment.
Omega stormed out of his room to find Rouge gathering components for pancakes and Shadow crunching on beans from the Coffea Arabica plant.
“Someone’s bright and chipper this morning.” Rouge pouted before rubbing her eyes. “Keep it down, would you?”
“I already offered to make you coffee.” Shadow said.
“Oh shut up, you.”
“YOU DID NOT WAKE ME WHEN YOU RETURNED ME TO THIS LOCATION.”
“Figured you needed the rest. Or, hmm, the power down?” Rouge replied.
Omega’s processor, now operating at full capacity, generated seventeen different insults to deny her charge with. However, none of them were persuasive enough to combat the strength of evidence she had to the contrary.
“POWER PRESERVATION WAS INDEED NECESSARY.”
“Next time, tell us when you’re low on power, alright?”
“UNNECESSARY.”
“You insist on telling us whenever we do something against the best interest of our health. Allow us to return the favor.” Shadow added.
“I DO NOT HAVE ‘HEALTH’.”
“Fine!” Shadow tossed the bag down, spilling the beans across the counter. “Allow me to put it even more simply: tell us when you can’t operate to your fullest potential. You’d expect nothing less from us, correct?”
A brief search of his memory banks did confirm that he’d made Shadow and Rouge promise to disclose any organic weaknesses. Omega crossed his arms. “CORRECT.”
“Good. That’s that.”
“Pick up your coffee.” Rouge flicked a bean into Shadow’s lap.
Shadow scowled at her, but said nothing more.
“We’ll make sure you’re able to get the time you need to recharge from now on, alright?” She turned to Omega. “Believe it or not, we want you feeling your best, too.”
After four hours of researching Mobian sleep cycles, Omega finally interpreted her meaning.
He was not nocturnal.