Rouge the Bat - Burning the Midnight Oil

A slam woke her up with a start, her hands coming up to defend herself on combat instinct. But it wasn't some old enemy, some new threat, or even Shadow just having a really rough day. Nor was it Omega who just knocked over... anything in the office. No it was just Jim, the old Janitor. He'd knocked on the door a few times before getting his keys to open the door and well, her door was always a tad loose. Even the slightest push would make it slam into the wall.

Thus Rouge woke up with a few squares imprints on her cheek as she had fallen asleep on her keyboard. Jim apoligized for the rude wake up and pointed out it was after midnight, asking if she was okay?

"Hmm yeah... just, YAAAAAAAAWN, G.U.N. runs me ragged some days." Rouge muttered, handing her trash basket to Jim to take care of with a thanks. Jim nodded and took care cleaning while Rouge took the chance for a stretch break and reheating some coffee. As she sipped from her "I Heart Gems" mug, with the heart being drawn as a ruby heart, she thanked Jim for the wake up.

"Not a problem Miss Rouge but you can't be burning the midnight oil all the time. Every time I see you in the office, I'm sure to find you here at like two in the morning. I'd rather not have to call Agent Shadow about it." the older human told her, his head tilting to the side.

"I'm fine... just ..., my punishment for NOT coming in. Thanks for the concern Jim but I'll be fine. I'll be out of your hair in an hour or two." The bat told the taller figure as she sat back down at her computer.

"Alright, well, have a good evening Miss Rouge." Jim left with a nod and a tip of his hat and made his way off to another room to clean.

Left with her thoughts, work and coffee; Rouge leaned back and wondered how people could do this years on end. There was no excitement or thrill to it. She was field work, not a paper pusher. But G.U.N. had clear guidelines about agents, even field ones, filling out reports. The only thing really organized about the group was their filling system. Rouge usually pushed them back to the end of a month, or had a friend do the reports and had herself sign off on it. At worst she...., 'convinced' some of the interns to do it for her. She gave a slight sigh as the memory of a few of them came back to her mind. Nerds or rookies they might be, some of them were surprisingly hands on when push came to shove.

But higher ups would tend to frown on inter company relations like that, and inconsistencies in reports as well. So eventually someone from the head office would come down and basically drag Rouge off to do paper work. If they couldn't find her(Rouge sometimes hid from them) they threatened to withhold pay or her expenses. And the Bat had some... very high expense accounts she loved to use. For the good of G.U.N. of course. After all, employee moral was important right?

This of course meant any time she sat down to do paper work, there was a LOT of paper work to do. Leading Rouge to have to burn the midnight oil to catch up before the loop happened again. Stall paper work, get dragged into doing it, few nights of rough paper work; repeat. Some days she wondered why she kept doing this song and dance. Sure, G.U.N. was a good gig but even on field work, the organization had too many rules and regs for her at times. From paper work, to rules of engagement, to 'Oh no Rouge you have to put that gem back'. Their clothing stance was semi lax to accommodate for Mobians, but she got looks and stares from her co-workers for her thieving outfit or short skirt, cleavage showing office outfit. Another reason she came in late; as some of those stares weren't looks of desire but condemnation or scorn. That she cared what they thought, she just didn't want to deal with the hassle all day. For as little as she came into the offices, even that had become normalized, expected, and mundane.

Honestly, she just wanted a little excitement in her life. Something to spice things up, and not just in the day to day life either. While she had no shortage of admirers to choose from, maybe something new in the bedroom would also be appreciated. Mainly due to Shadow being on a mope/'Oh look at me I'm a loner badass' kick currently. So here she was, working late, wondering what tomorrow would bring, only knowing it would bring the same ho hum grey over cast experience. At least until something happened. Like Eggman starting to move again, or some otherworldly threat appeared.

"Or... maybe..." Rouge thought as a sly smile crossed her lips before she typed away at her keyboard and flipped through a few folders, "Ah~ There you are."

The bat found several files dedicated to several items of interest seized from a number of missions Rouge was deployed on. Thus far they hadn't been cataloged, or at least not in enough detail. Perhaps something here could be of use to her. Either something to sell for some cash, maybe one of the gems listed could brighten her apartment.

"Hmmm MMM. While G.U.N.'s sleeping, let's see what we can play with." Rouge purred as she flipped through the folders.

There was a file listed 'Wardrobe' which looked to inflict changes based on what the person was wearing. Another file mentioned something about 'Weres' like what Sonic had become one adventure. Yet another talked of 'Liquid metal' when it came to robotics. All interesting, and even more folders were grouped with them.