Rouge the Bat (Pre-Super Genesis Wave)


 * For the version of this character after the Super Genesis Wave, see Rouge the Bat (Archie).

Rouge the Bat is a character that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-off comic series published by Archie Comics. She is a Mobian bat who is both a part-time government agent and jewel thief. She occasionally works as a spy directly under the President of Station Square and is often involved in events concerning G.U.N. She also tends to get involved in illegal activities, as she has an affinity for adventure and gems. Rouge has been known to work with heroes and villains alike, including the Chaotix and Scourge the Hedgehog, as long as she gains something out of it. Rouge later joined Team Dark and began working directly under G.U.N. along with Shadow the Hedgehog and E-123 Omega.

Treasure Hunter
Rouge is fond of riches, especially rare, beautiful gems, and has often searched for or stolen jewels. She has had several run-ins in the past with Fiona Fox and Nic the Weasel, often beating them to rare treasures, and thus has something of a past rivalry with the pair. She also competed in an illegal fighting arena, in which she defeated Fiona and her partners Bark and Bean,worsening the feud. Apart from this rather lengthy list of crimes, Rouge's past remained shrouded in mystery. Eventually, she was persuaded to work for the Guardian Units of the Nation as an agent in order to work off her substantial debt to society. While apparently mainly interested in staying out of prison, Rouge also found the whole idea quite entertaining. (StH: #165)

Agent of G.U.N.
When Sonic the Hedgehog was mistaken for Shadow in a plot that seemingly involved both Dr. Eggman and the events of a mysterious project from fifty years prior, Rouge was hired by the President to investigate. This involved allying herself with Eggman to spy on him, stealing the six Chaos Emeralds from Prison Island, allying herself with Sonic to break into Dr. Eggman's pyramid base to steal a shuttle, and stopping Shadow the Hedgehog from firing the Eclipse Cannon aboard the Space Colony ARK. As Eggman expanded his war, she became more active in events concerning the safety of Station Square and has occasionally acted as liaison with the Freedom Fighters. (StH: #98 SU: #2)

After Dr. Eggman's robotic body was destroyed along with Robotropolis from Station Square's nuclear strike, Station Square's satellites detected him constructing a new artificial body for himself within Old Megaopolis. The President dispatched Rouge to investigate, but after twelve hours without contact, the President called on Sonic and Bunnie Rabbot to have them search for Rouge and destroy Eggman's new body. While Sonic confronted Eggman and destroyed his robotic shell, Bunnie released Rouge from her prison cell. At first however, Rouge believed Bunnie to be an enemy due to her robotic parts, and the two ended up fighting for a brief period of time. Before the fight got out of hand, Sonic arrived and broke it up, while the two girls passed half-hearted apologies. (StH: #116)

Weeks later, Rouge saved the President of Station Square when Eggman remotely steered his limo off a bridge. Not long after this, she took part in the collaborative effort of Mobius to combat the Xorda. (StH: #124, #125)

Following Sonic's return from space, Rouge was personally hired by the President of Station Square to lead the G.U.N. soldiers dispatched to assist the Chaotix and Mes Braves Battalion defending Fort Acorn from a horde of SWATbots. At this time Knuckles had lost his Chaos-based powers and was unable to glide, so during the defence of Fort Acorn, Rouge carried Knuckles and helped him during the fight against the SWATbots.(StH: #131, #132, #133)

Heroics and Schemes
When Evil Sonic came to Mobius Prime and replaced Sonic, he quickly fell for Rouge upon seeing her in Knothole. Rouge had been transported to Knothole after attempting to seduce Locke into telling her where the Master Emerald was. The two returned to Angel Island where Rouge acted as a decoy, again seducing Locke, until the latter sensed trouble by the Master Emerald. Evil Sonic was defeated by the combined might of Sonic Prime and Locke, and although Rouge was disappointed, she was won over when Evil Sonic presented a shiny gem. (StH: #150, #151)

Later she and Evil Sonic again attempted to seize the Master Emerald. However, on their final attempt, both ended up in the Chaos Chamber at the same time, each thinking the other was distracting Locke, who approached while they were arguing. Trying to fight him off, Evil Sonic jumped atop the Master Emerald and was transformed into Scourge. Scourge easily defeated Locke, but Rouge prevented him from killing the echidna, saying she wouldn't go that far while working with him. Scourge then grabbed her and used the Master Emerald to teleport to Knothole so he could use his newfound strength to beat Sonic. However, Rouge was unimpressed by his bravado, and Scourge eventually got in over his head, causing the two to flee. (StH: #160, #161)

With Shadow hot on their trail, neither questioned the Warp Ring that appeared in front of them and they escaped through it. Arriving on the other side of the portal, they found it had been sent by Dr. Finitevus,who wished them to assist him in his plans. The two ended up joining Finitevus, but Rouge left his operation when she discovered he was planning to use nuclear weapons. She rendered the weapons useless before using a stolen Warp Ring to flee to Knothole seeking refuge. After revealing everything she knew to the Chaotix who were interrogating her, she was released from custody. Before leaving, she and Julie-Su exchanged harsh words concerning Knuckles that eventually lead to violence; Rouge knocked Julie to the floor and, smiling, shut the door on her as she left. (StH: #161, #165)

In order to prove to Knuckles she'd "gone legit", Rouge accompanied the Chaotix in their investigation of Renfield Rodent's Casino set up in Station Square. Rouge, along with Vector the Crocodile and Espio the Chameleon, fell under the hypnotic spell of the slot machines. However, Renfield's schemes and plans to produce newAuto Automatons for Dr. Eggman were eventually put to an end by Knuckles, Julie-Su, and Mighty the Armadillo (StH: #166)

It seemed that she was up to her old tricks even after this when it was reported that she'd stolen the Master Emerald and planned to sell it off to the highest bidder. As it turned out, it was all a ploy she'd set up to lure in villains, which worked too well as it even attracted Mammoth Mogul, and allowed the Freedom Fighters to capture them. She claimed to have done it in order to again show Knuckles that she could be good as well, though not everyone was impressed by her manipulations and deceit. When Espio was seemingly late in returning from his solo mission into Eggman's territory, she offered to assist Knuckles in finding him, though it seemed that she was once again more concerned with getting close to the echidna than anything else, causing her and Julie-Su to bicker again (StH: #173,#174)

Rouge was captured by Eggman during his assault on Knothole and transported to the Egg Grape Chamber with roughly all but a handful of the city's inhabitants. Rouge was promptly freed along with the other prisoners in the ensuing rescue mission orchestrated by Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, and Sally's computer Nicole. As a result, she was transported to the city of New Mobotropolis by Eggman's capture beam, which had been reprogrammed by Nicole to teleport victims to the city.(StH: #175, #176)

Afterwards, she returned to working with G.U.N., and was reached by Sally through a badly garbled communication requesting aid against the new Enerjak, Knuckles' arch-foe reborn as Knuckles himself. Obliging, Rouge promised the aid of G.U.N.'s newest agent, none other than Shadow the Hedgehog.(StH: #181)

Hidden Agendas
After the Enerjak incident, Rouge found Knuckles watching the Chaotix from the concealment of some nearby vegetation, too ashamed of what he'd done as Enerjak to reveal himself to his friends. She then talked him out of his decision to dedicate himself solely to the Master Emerald and cut off contact with the outside world. Rouge then watched as Knuckles rejoined his friends, making comments that suggest she may have had ulterior motives for her talk with the echidna. (StH: #186)

Whatever her motives, she left Knuckles behind to team up with Geoffrey St. John, the two of them going to Mammoth Mogul's new casino to investigate the recently re-immortalized villain. However, during the whole ordeal she was not above accepting payment from Mogul to manipulate the situation with the Destructix to his advantage.(StH: #187, #188)

Later Missions for G.U.N.
Rouge was later assigned by G.U.N.'s Chief Commander Abraham Tower on a mission with Shadow the Hedgehog. The mission was to head into New Megaopolis and deactivate Eggman's new weapon, a laser capable of destroying the Freedom Fighters' force field, their camp, and half of the Eggdome. Shadow recruited the help of Sonic, who was sleeping outside the Eggdome along with the others for the final battle. The trio attempted to disable the Doom Laser, which Rouge tried to reprogram while Sonic and Shadow occupied its laser defense system. Unable to reprogram it, Rouge suggested they take out its primary joins, flying both hedgehogs into position. Sonic and Shadow succeeded but in doing so accidentally shifted it into firing position. The situation now drastic, Shadow then took off his Inhibitor Rings and used his Chaos powers to destroy the Doom Laser. Afterwards Shadow wished Sonic good luck in his final battle, and after Sonic had departed, Rouge marveled at how far the relationship between the two had come. (SU: #2)

Member of Team Dark
Rouge and Shadow were later briefed about the mission to find and recruit a failing robot known as E-102 Gamma for GUN. To the apparent disappointment of Rouge, Shadow decided that he would handle the mission alone and proceeded to take a GUN helicopter to find Gamma. Rouge later attempted to comfort Shadow, who was disappointed he did not save Gamma, stating that instead he managed to get E-123 Omega to join them, who seemed like quite a "catch."(SU: #3)

Following this, Rouge and Shadow were tasked with retrieving a second Chaos Emerald from the Special Zone, now that Hope Kintobor had fixed her Zone-Breaching Platform. Rouge was startled by the sight of Feist, informing Shadow his powers were incredible according to her Treasure Scope The two were forced to take up Feist's challenges to obtain the emerald, though their first attempted failed. Rouge explained to the disappointed Commander Tower that it was the fault of Feist they had not retrieved the emerald. After E-123 Omega was cleared for active duty, Rouge, Shadow and Omega formed Team Dark and went back to the Special Zone to obtain the Chaos Emerald. Although failing Feist's second challenge, Rouge flew Shadow over to grab the Chaos Emerald from Feist while Omega distracted the Panda demi-god. The three then returned to G.U.N. HQ in triumph (SU: #4)

Sol Sisters
When Team Rose went to find a missing Sol Emerald, Rouge came across the group in the Great Forest while following a mysterious energy signal with her scanner. Amy was immediately distrustful of her offer to assist them and accused Rouge of spying, which she denied and claimed they had made enough noise for her to know what they were doing. Blaze showed no interest in Amy's attempts to prove Rouge distrustful, and impressed the spy when she took charge and declared the others should either help her or stay out of her way, to which Rouge then followed her lead. However, Rouge soon realized the situation would become more "complicated" when she learned the Sol Emeralds were important to Blaze as they were needed for her world's survival.

Tracing the signal to a deep ravine that a large, brittle tree collapsed over, Rouge flew Blaze down while Amy went with Cream. During the descent, a branch broke off and fell from the tree, but Rouge and Blaze destroyed it before it could hit them all. Rouge complimented Blaze on her abilities as a "princess" and she hesitantly thanked her before asking Rouge how she knew of her title. Rouge would only reply she had her sources and ignored further questions, focusing on the energy signal. Once they found signal's source to be the emerald itself, Rouge revealed she was indeed not to be trusted as she planned to take the emerald, and shoved Amy to the ground. Rouge grabbed the jewel and attempted to escape with it, only to cornered by Blaze and Amy, forcing her to call in Shadow and Omega for backup. She then warned Blaze to let her keep the emerald, threatening to not be able to "restrain" her teammates otherwise. (SU: #21)

Rouge told them to just give up as it was simply business, but when the girls refused to back down, she then, ordered Omega to open fire. Though Blaze saved them with her fire powers, Shadow asked Rouge if she lost her mind, but she claimed she only wanted to scare them. A fight soon broke out over the Sol Emerald, and Rouge tripped Blaze as she attempted to get it, but the gem landed on her face and fell into the hands of Cheese the Chao. After Cheese escaped into the forest with the emerald, Rouge stole Blaze's grey emerald as the "consolation prize" and gave it to Shadow, but the emerald erupted in flames when he tried to use Chaos Control (SU: #22)

While they recovered, Cream and Amy explained that Team Hooligan stole the gem, and Rouge believed it would be easy to steal it back. Blaze however, angrily claimed her world would die without the Sol Emeralds and the teams argued until Amy rallied them to go after the thieves before they got away. Rouge then took the wheel of her squad's bike with most of the others piled onboard, joking with Amy over Shadow's care for it while they followed Blaze's ability to sense the emerald. When Blaze collapsed in pain, Rouge pulled over to see what was wrong, only to hear her say she felt the emerald was close and complied with Amy's urgings to hurry onward. Once they found it being fought over between Nack's team and the Babylon Rouges, Rouge agreed with Amy that they could easily take the others down and win, but she secretly told her teammates to be ready to turn on the girls as well. Shadow had misgivings about betraying them a second time, but Rouge was adamant about getting the emerald and reminded him they were on a mission right before they charged into the melee.

Early on in the brawl, Rouge mainly kept Wave busy in the air and made what attempts she could to steal the emerald. The jewel began to pass through so many hands as they fought though, that she eventually exhausted herself, believing nobody would get to keep it. At that point Amy approached her again to offer one last chance to team up for real and take both their opponents out of the fight. Rouge agreed to this and had her team target the Rogues, with Rouge going after Wave again and corralling her into the others by blocking off her flight path. Blaze then set off one of Bean's bombs once the Rogues and Hooligans were herded together, with the explosion leaving Rouge and Amy's teams victorious. Rouge almost immediately demanded the girls hand over the Sol Emerald right after, but Shadow and Omega claimed they would stop her if she tried, as the emerald was more important for Blaze's world and that G.U.N. owed Blaze for giving them the green Chaos Emerald. Rouge reluctantly stood down and asked Shadow what they would tell the Commander as they departed, who only replied that as a spy she would think of something clever for their report.

Later on Dr. Eggman attacked Central City, and the president requested both Rouge & Shadow for his protection. Commander Tower tried to reason with the president to just take one of them, but the president was insistent on the matter and both agents were assigned the task, leaving Omega to lead the G.U.N. forces alone and defend the city.

Trouble on Two Worlds
In the altered reality created by the second Genesis Wave, Rouge traveled to the Skull Egg Zone and boarded the Wily Egg in order to interfere with Eggman and Dr. Wily's operations. She conversed with Dr. Light, giving him info about the doc's plans. While she managed to do some damage, she was subsequently attacked by Metal Sonic and Bass, who pursued her to a laboratory aboard the flying fortress. In an effort to distract her pursuers, she released a creature created by the evil doctors known as the Chaos Devil. Unfortunately, the creature ended up capturing her and Metal Sonic, and upon being spit out by the creature on the orders of the evil scientists Rouge was captured. She revealed to Eggman that her main reason for coming against him was payback for his kidnapping of Shadow, which prompted Eggman to order that she be subjected to the same fate he had met: becoming one of the Roboticized Masters. (WC: #7, #8)

Turned into Rouge Woman, she led the army of Robot Masters. However, she was quickly deroboticized by Mega Man using his Sonic Shot. She joined the team and was pleased that Dr. Light was safe. She battled Gemini Man, and received some help with Dr. Light's makeshift buster when the alter-images of the robot were frustrating her. She also fought Jewel Man, and tried to pull of his ruby-head until the Super Genesis Wave washed over the two universes. As Sonic tried to undo the process hover, Eggman interfered, resulting in extreme changes to Rouge's multiverse... (WC: #9, #10)
 * Note: From this point, Rouge's history continues from her new life in the altered timeline.

Personality
Rouge is a strong-minded young woman, a fearless, ambitious, independent, flirtatious, greedy, ruthless, calculating narcissist who most people see as only caring for herself and her gems. Despite this, she can be helpful and affectionate in her own way, usually towards a select few. She's not above using seduction and manipulation to get what she wants, and is willing to be dishonest and even treacherous should the situation require it with little if any qualms. She's fully aware of her image and will often appear to be sweet when at her most cruel. However, she has, on occasion, shown that she can be heroic and a touch ethical, even if it meant sacrificing something she really wanted to get her hands on (i.e. stopping Scourge from killing Locke despite the fact that she could have obtained the Master Emerald).

Despite her many past misdeeds, Rouge doesn't linger on her past, preferring to move forward to new opportunities. While she covers it up with a sassy, sarcastic demeanor, Rouge does possess a caring side beyond her thieving, double-dealing ways. While underhanded, she is also usually capable of recognizing true evil when she sees it, as in the cases of Scourge and Dr. Finitevus. Of course, her care is usually reserved for those close to her, at the expense of all others-including entire worlds. Furthermore, she still seems to have little to no respect for her position as an agent, and has been shown willing to accept bribes.

Powers and abilities
Being a bat, Rouge is able to fly and glide. She is a skilled fighter who specializes in kicks. Working as both a spy and a thief, she is also been shown to have a knack for espionage, manipulation, sneaking and computer hacking. She is also shown being competent in operating a variety of vehicles, from Nack the Weasel's Marvellous Queen airbike to space shuttles.

Friends/allies

 * G.U.N. (employer)
 * Commander Abraham Tower
 * Team Dark
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * E-123 Omega
 * Hope Kintobor
 * Knothole Freedom Fighters
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Chaotix
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Scourge the Hedgehog (formerly)
 * Team Rose
 * Amy Rose
 * Blaze the Cat
 * Silver

Enemies

 * Eggman Empire
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Scourge the Hedgehog
 * Fiona Fox
 * Team Hooligan
 * Babylon Rouges
 * Dr. Wily
 * Dr. Wily's Robot Masters

Trivia

 * In Sonic Universe #4, Rouge's eyeshadow changes from blue to green between scenes. The same thing happens with her eyes.
 * In Sonic the Hedgehog #166, Rouge was seen wearing her outfit from Sonic Heroes in the issue's back-story, as well as when she was contacted by Sally Acorn in Sonic the Hedgehog #181. She was seen wearing a similar outfit with different coloring in Sonic the Hedgehog #150 and Sonic the Hedgehog #151.
 * Everything about Rouge's past is currently unknown, but some believe that she could be a former member of the Yagyu Ninja Clan as they too are well-trained bats who tend to steal precious and valuable treasures. However, Ian Flynn has shot this theory down on his message board. This was further debunked in the off-panel segment of Sonic Universe #14.
 * Rouge's tail has sometimes been miscolored white (it's supposed to be black) for unknown reasons.
 * In an Ian podcast, Ian revealed that Rouge's work for G.U.N. is part of her paying her debt to society for various crimes.
 * The gray soles on her boots have been miscolored pink many times.
 * Unlike in other media, Rouge has been drawn with her eyes completely open in many issues of the comic series. This might be a constant drawing error that the artists keep making and do not notice.
 * In some issues, Rouge often rises her lower eyelids and they are shown to be the same color as her eyeshadow on her upper eyelids. This may be a coloring error.