Rouge the Bat (Archie)

Rouge the Bat 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 Bean the Dynamite and Bark the Polarbear, worsening the feud. (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 defense 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 new-found strength to beat Sonic. However, Rouge was unimpressed by is bravado, and Scourge eventually got in over his head, causing the two to flee. With Shadow hot on their trail, neither questioned the Warp Ring that appeared and escaped through it. 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: #160, #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 new Auto 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 and allow 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. (StH: #173)

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 she and Julie-Su to bicker again. (StH: #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's 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 Challenge 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. Althought 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 Blaze the Cat reluctantly teamed up with Amy Rose and Cream the Rabbit to find a missing Sol Emerald, Rouge came across the group in the Great Forest. She claimed to be following a mysterious energy signal with her scanner and offered her assistance, though Amy was immediately distrustful of her. She accused Rouge of spying on them, which the bat denied; she teasingly claimed that the group had been so loud and blatant in their search that she wouldn't have needed to spy to know what they were doing. Despite Amy's attempts to prove Rouge distrustful, Blaze declared that if any of them wanted to help her, they either needed to do so or get out of her way; Rouge, impressed with Blaze's ability to take command, seemingly happily fell into line. She asked the cat why the Sol Emeralds were so important; when Blaze replied that they were needed for her world's survival, Rouge remarked to herself that that would make things more "complicated." They followed the signals to a deep ravine upon which a large, brittle tree had collapsed. Rouge offered to fly down herself to retrieve the emerald and spare the others any danger, but Blaze insisted she recover the emerald personally, so Rouge offered to fly her down instead (Amy, meanwhile, would fly down with Cream). During the descent, a large branch fell from the tree and threatened to strike them all, but Rouge and Blaze skillfully destroyed it before it could hit. Rouge complimented Blaze on her ability, addressing her as "princess" and Blaze hesitantly thanked her before realizing she'd never introduced herself as such; she asked Rouge how she knew of her title, but the bat only replied that she had her sources and ignored further questions, instead following the energy signal. They soon found the emerald encased in a giant ball of roots; Blaze was delighted and thanked the others, apologizing for her earlier distrust. Amy offered the same to Rouge and shook her hand, only for Rouge to say that she was right to not trust her, as she'd be taking the emerald now. She shoved Amy to the ground and made several attempts to escape with the emerald, only to eventually be cut off by Blaze's flames. She teasingly mused that she needed big, strong men to help save her - and smirked cruelly as Shadow and Omega burst into the root cavern. She then told Blaze to let her keep the emerald, threatening to not be able to "restrain" her friends otherwise. (SU: #21)

Rouge told them that it's just business and they should just give up. Rouge then, ordered Omega to open fire; however, Blaze conjured up a wall of fire to protect them. Shadow asked Rouge if she lost her mind, but Rouge claimed she only wanted to scare them. The two were interrupted when Blaze enveloped Omega in a spiral of fire. A fight broke out and both teams scrambled to get the Sol Emerald. As Blaze attempted to get the emerald, Rouge tripped her, 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. When Shadow attempted to use Chaos Control, the emerald erupted in flames, engulfing Team Dark and allowed Team Rose to escape. Once they recovered, they caught up to Team Rose and confronted them again. This time they managed to take them out quickly,but they realized Team Hooligan had escaped with the emerald. When Amy explained who stole the gem, Rouge decided they will go after them, but Blaze recovered and angrily claimed her world will die without the Sol Emeralds. (SU: #22)

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

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).

Background Information

 * In Sonic Universe #4, Rouge's eyeshadow changes from blue to green between scenes.
 * Rouge is by far the most controversial character in the Sonic series, mainly among parents concerned about her general appearance and mannerisms. Despite this, Rouge is one of the most popular characters in the various Sonic medias.
 * In StH #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 StH #181. She was seen wearing a similar outfit with different coloring in StH #150 and StH #151.
 * There has been some debate as to the origins of Rouge's name. Some believe it could come from the French word rouge meaning red, due to Rouge originally being introduced as a love interest for Knuckles the red echidna. Another theory was that she was named after the jewel "the rouge", relating to her jewel stealing. Baton Rouge is a city in Louisiana, which could relate to her species. Rouge is also an anagram of the word rogue, meaning deceitful or a mischievous scamp. The term rouge also had negative connections in past eras, often being associated with what was considered less-than-wholesome behavior (flirting, drinking, dancing, etc.).
 * 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 SU #14.