Rusty Needs A Hug - Tumblr Posts

"Again, I'm so happy you liked my stories! If you have any more ideas you want me to write out, feel free to ask!"

Hello again! This is the guy who provided the prompt for "Best Friends Forever," (thank you SO MUCH again, not only for writing that out, but for posting it onto An Archive Of Our Own! I really do feel honored!) As luck would have it, I *do* have another idea I'd love to share with you. I'm afraid it's... fairly lengthy. (Sorry!) Yet I think it's a really solid story, all in all, and I think you would have fun fleshing it out. (Again: if this story is "too much," no worries, I understand. It'd be enough just to hear your thoughts about my idea!)

My idea boils down to this: Rusty Rose 'opens up' to Nine inside Nine's prison cell, and asks him questions about Amy and Sonic. It takes place after Episode 8 of Sonic Prime.

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The Chaos Council is currently keeping Nine held in a prison cell.  When our story starts, Nine is sitting on his prison bed, not doing anything in particular while thinking intently about a lot of things.  Suddenly, unexpectedly… he sees his prison door start to open.  Rusty Rose is about to enter his cell.  Before she can completely open the door, Nine makes a valiant attempt to push past her and escape.  Nine ALMOST succeeds too… he makes it as far as the middle of the cellblock corridor before Rusty stretches out one of her extendable cyborg arms, grabs Nine, and tosses him right back into his cell.  He rebounds against the cell’s back wall and lands on the floor.  Rusty steps in and shuts the cell door behind her.   

As he picks himself back up, Nine comments something along the lines of “What I wouldn’t give to have my gun back now.” 

Rusty responds that his gun would do him no good anyway; the Chaos Council has upgraded her and she is now ‘hackproof.’  

Nine then asks, in a sullen, moody way, how things went for her in that new universe the Doctors sent her too.

Rusty answers that “It could have gone better.”

Nine starts to ask if she succeeded in getting the Paradox Shard that the Doctors sent her to fetch… but midway through his question, Rusty interrupts him with one of her own:

“Who is Amy?”

At first, Nine’s genuinely confused.  He tells Rusty that he has no idea who she’s talking about.  He turns his gaze away from her, facing the wall.  

Only to be suddenly startled to hear SONIC’S voice:

*“And Amy is…!”*

Nine’s wide-eyed attention snaps back in Rusty’s direction. For one brief moment, he’s SURE that Sonic somehow teleported himself into this cell with him…

…Only to realize, the next second later, that what he’s actually hearing is an old recording of Sonic’s voice coming from Amy’s robotic chest.

*“Well, Amy’s the sweetest friend you could ask for.”*

Rusty then asks if Sonic ever told Nine who ‘Amy’ is, since the two of them are friends.

Nine sticks with the same claim he made to the Chaos Council (during Episode 8), telling Rusty that Sonic abandoned him when he needed him most, and they’re no longer friends.

Rusty counters that Nine has no reason NOT to tell her about Amy… if Sonic really ISN’T his friend. 

Then Nine asks Rusty why does this ‘Amy’ even matter to her?

At this point, it’s almost as if Rusty’s cold emotionless thaws by half a degree.  It’s almost as if Rusty has decided to somewhat “open up” to Nine, ever-so-slightly.

She tells Nine a bit about the alternate universe she visited; that it is a world of vast oceans, full of pirates.  She tells him that she encountered Sonic there, and that he had somehow become the captain of a crew of pirates.  

(Upon hearing Sonic’s name, especially, Nine listens with rapt attention, though he doesn’t allow his face to betray any emotion.)

Rusty also discusses ‘Black Rose,’ and actually broadcasts a VIDEO of Black Rose onto the wall of the cell , (like a movie projector,) from her robot eye, so Nine can see the pink pirate hedgehog for himself.  She confesses that seeing Black Rose had… effected her.

Nine asks ‘What kind of effect?’

Rusty has difficulty finding the proper words, but she says that initially, when the blue hedgehog kept calling her ‘Amy,’ she dismissed it as a simple case of mistaken identity.  But the more times she encountered him, the more it felt like Sonic was capable of seeing… a different side of Rusty.  More than meets the eye.  A part that Rusty herself wasn’t aware of… an ‘untapped potential,’ of sorts.

Especially after seeing Black Rose, Rusty’s starting to wonder whether ‘Amy’ may be the key to a greater understanding about herself.  She then asks if Sonic’s ever had this same effect on Nine? Has Sonic ever called Nine by a different name?

Rusty’s words are resonating a bit inside Nine’s mind, though he says nothing to the cyborg.

Trying to provoke more of a reaction out of Nine, Rusty also brings up the subject of Sails; another two-tailed fox who looks just like Nine that was part of Sonic’s pirate crew.  She shows Nine videos of Sails fighting Rusty and her fellow robots alongside the other pirates (who resemble Rebel Rouge and Renegade Knucks) and also flying down to save Sonic from drowning while saying, “Don’t worry, I got ye!”

Upon seeing Sails, something Sonic said to Nine when they first met echoes in the fox’s mind: Sonic insisting that the two of them were “best friends.”

In a would-be "offhanded" way, Nine asks Rusty whether Sonic appeared to have a closer, friendlier relationship with the two-tailed fox pirate than with the other pirates.  Rusty raises an eyebrow, but answers that, as far as she could discern, Sonic seemed to treat everyone in his pirate crew with an equal degree of friendliness… Sails included.  

Inwardly, this answer relieves Nine greatly.  Sonic is naturally friendly to almost everyone, after all… but more importantly, it doesn’t sound as though Sails has ‘replaced’ Nine as ‘Sonic’s best friend.’  Out loud, Nine simply says, “I see.”

Then Nine asks, “Let’s suppose, hypothetically, I *did* know about Amy.  What do you plan to do to her?”

“Meet her.” Rusty answers.

“And then what?”

“I will determine my next course of action after I’ve met her."

Nine considers his feelings and options.  For a moment, it almost seems as though he’ll say something that would help Rusty Rose.  But in the end, he chooses to coldly tell her that he has no obligation to help her at all.  

Electricity crackles visibly on Rusty’s metallic hands.  Nine tenses up, prepared to get electrocuted again, prepared to be tortured for information about Amy.  Instead, Rusty just abruptly storms out of Nine’s cell.

Alone again, Nine goes over and looks at himself in a reflective surface of his cell, (perhaps a well-polished wall, perhaps the water in his toilet bowl.)  He thinks more about Sonic, and for some reason, without even thinking about what he’s doing or why, finds himself repeating Sails’ words: “Don’t worry, I got ye!”

Then Nine flops onto his prison bed, rolling his eyes at himself.  

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What do you think of this idea?

P.S. - If you do end up liking it enough to flesh it out into a proper story, I'd appreciate it so much if you could also post it on "An Archive Of Our Own!"

Man, you just keep on having good ideas! We need to have more interactions between Rusty and Nine.

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It was a while in captivity, week after week, having to sleep on a horrible excuse of a bed, which was really just a barely soft surface without any blanket or pillow, only to be waked up rudely by the metal dolts controlled by the amateurs keeping him in captivity.

His (weeks...months...?) time in captivity went in one long boring dull cycle. He was woken up, fed what he assumed was breakfast, then dragged to the Council to be mocked and threatened before being taken to some kind of workshop, and forced to work on transports that'll help the dolts conquer the Shatterverse, then given a poor dinner, no he didn't have lunch, and taken back to his cell to sleep. It was a long drawled out cycle that made him bored and annoyed.

He was rather dizzy and lightheaded due to how much they zapped him if he ever opened his mouth or even look at them in the wrong way. His fur and skin were badly burnt, making his neck and back constantly itch and feel as if they were on fire. He didn't really take that much care of his fur anyway. It was better than the food he was being served anyway, just disgusting tasteless slabs and slops of mush and other things he didn't want to know. What he did know was that it was disgusting, feeling like rocks or mucus going down his throat when he managed to get past chewing without gaging or spitting it out.

Due to how weak his body was, his metal tails were useless now. They were connected to his body. If they weren't so weak, he'd consider them a saving grace, because due to them being connected to his body and not just coming from his belt, removing them could've killed the kitsune, leaving them unable to use his machines to conquer. It was a painful and difficult process to attach them, but it was worth it.

Sitting on his prison bed, he began to do what he did most: think. He thought about a lot of things. Ways to get out of here, ways to leave without being detected, to grab the Shatterdrive, find Sonic and go home. Sure it wouldn't originally seem like home to Sonic, but maybe they could make it work.

Even if it didn't, he'd be fine. He was fine staying alone on the Grim if Sonic said no, it wasn't like he hadn't done it before.

Sonic. That's what, who, he mostly thought about during his time in the cell.

He always was deeply curious and envious of how dedicated Sonic is to getting home or helping others. He wasn't jealous that the hedgehog was capable, far from that, he was more jealous of how dedicated Sonic is to them.

The hedgehog was always so energetic and friendly, managing to get even him to open up. He wasn't like anyone Nine met before, he was lively and colorful while everyone in this city, including him, was always dull and grey. Instead of looking at his tails in disgust, Sonic looked at them with amazement and never minded them. Instead of beating him and giving him bruises, Sonic's touch was...different.

It was soft, the hedgehog never put pressure or ill intent in his hand, affectionate giving him high fives and carefully grabbing him by the scruff, it was very...gentle.

It was nice and he found he wanted more of it. He wanted to see the sparkle and brimming excitement in Sonic's caring gaze, he wanted more high fives, he wanted the warm feeling that pooled into his chest whenever the hedgehog cared for and supported him unconditionally.

He lapped for more, like a puppy dog.

And that disgusted him.

His ears suddenly perked up as he sat up on his "bed". There was a rhythmic clanging of metal coming closer and closer to his cell door. The rhythm was heavy but not slow like the other dolts that often came to his cell. He had just been sent back to his cell, so it didn't make sense for the council to fetch him when they'd rather be catching their "beauty"-sleep. Yeah sure.

This meant it was Rusty. The robot must've come back from her mission to conquer the Shatterverse for those dolts. But why was she coming to the cell door at this time? It didn't mean anything good, that's for sure. He got onto his feet, preparing himself for when she opened the door.

Clang-clang-clang...

She was almost here.

Clang-clang-clang...

She was just at the door.

Clang.

She stopped, right in front of the door. His heart pounded as he heard the soft clink of her metal fingers grasping the door to push it open. The door began to open, and the robot's cold glowing green eye peered in at the child, as empty as ever.

Before she could open it all the way, however, the fox made his move. He moved without his metal appendages, pushing Rusty and managing to catch her off guard as she fell, getting out and making a break for what he hoped was the way out.

He could hear the bot's calls for him to 'cease running', and his shoes pounded against the metal ground as he ran. He was about to turn a corner-

"Urk!"

-when the robot's arm grabbed him by the scruff, pulling him back to his cell, he could feel the fingers, the hard metal fingers dig into his skin, and he faintly wondered if he would bleed.

Before he could even blink he felt his back hit something hard as he landed on the floor. The robot merely stepped into the cell, closing the door behind her. The fox, on his knees, slowly pulled himself back up, his back machine from the impact, and his neck aching from the harsh whiplash.

Panting in pain, the kitsune spoke first.

"You know I expected the drones they wasted time on, not their lowly excuse of a tin can."

"Your escaping was futile. You are required to stay and assist the council in their rule."

"Unfortunately."

"Running will do you no good", the robot repeated itself, that was all it was capable of, "The Council will hear of your poor attempt."

"Oh, please, I'm so threatened. All they do is sit in their chairs and leave waste of metal like you to do all the work."

"Do not insult the Council."

"With how stupid they make themselves look, I don't need to."

"Then you must be a fool as well.", the robot's voice coldly snarked back. Nine scowled, raising himself on his nine tails, glaring nastily at the robot.

"My point still stands. I mean they left you and the other robots easy to hack. In fact, if I had my gun right now, you'd be serving me."

"Hacking is pointless. The Council has upgraded to a new system that renders me 'hack proof'", the bot continued unfazed by the threatening fox. The kitsune merely scoffed, and the two remained glaring coldly at each other.

"So based on how you're here, what did the Council keep you from actually being useful and send some other drones to do the job?"

"No, I was sent. But", she paused, "it could have gone better."

"Oh yeah? Did you run out of oil? Did your battery die on the way there?"

"Watch it fox", she snapped, in slight annoyance, "I run on a different power source, batteries and oil are not required to function."

"So? Did you get the shard or no-"

"Who is Amy?"

"Wha-?"

Confusion and surprise came across Nine's face. The robot, while her voice was still robotic, it had a questioning tone, her face having a slight show of curiosity. The fox's face then went back to neutral, a slight hint of disinterest in his tone.

"I don't know what glitch is going on in your circuit system, but I have no idea what you're talking about."

Nine turned to lie on his cot, facing away from the robot, staring at the dull rusty metal wall. Only, his ears flicked up to a familiar voice, one that he longed to hear again, and the fox's eyes widened.

"And Amy is-"

He turned.

Only to be met by the cold red and green stare of the badnik. Her face was still expressionless, her mouth pulled in a straight line. The voice of his only friend was merely a saved recording coming from the bot's chest. As the recording continued, Rusty's voice being flat explaining how she was nothing but a tool of destruction, Nine's ears lowered in slight sadness at the truth and anger at himself for believing that foolish thought with slight hope.

The recording continued.

"Well, Amy's the sweetest friend you could ask for!"

The recording stopped, and silence was present once more before the bot spoke once more.

"Answer me fox", the voice of the robot was cold, but had no bite, the green eye of the robot dimmed ever so slightly, "Has the blue hedgehog told you who this 'Amy' is?"

"Why're you asking me about this?"

"You two are believed to be friends."

"Well, that information is incorrect. I already told the council, Sonic abandoned me when I needed him, I don't think that's friend material."

"Then you should have no problems telling me since you hold no truce to the hedgehog."

Nine scowled in annoyance.

"Why does knowing who 'Amy' is important to you anyway?"

Silence filled the cell as the fox awaited the bot's answer. Her face was still cold and empty, but her eye lights seemed to flicker, the emotion within untelling. The fox scoffed, moving the turn back to the wall before the robot speaking once more made him pause.

"During my mission of collecting the shard, I made some key observations. The world I encountered was unlike this one, it was full of nothing but vast amounts of a liquid substance combining the elements of hydrogen and oxygen, or in other words: water. In that world, the inhabitants were of the pirate kind.", she paused, looking to see if the fox was listening, which he was, just barely, "It was there I encountered the hedgehog once more."

Like a switch being flicked, the kit began to listen with more interest at the mention of the blue blur. His face remained neutral, keeping his emotions hidden from the girl bot.

"But I also encountered something else.", she paused, "Or rather someone else."

She turned, pausing for a moment, before a beam of light shot from her eye, casting a projection on the wall. There, in Rusty's point of view, the big pirate ship was observed, the inhabitants as well, only when it came to another pink hedgehog, only all organic, wearing a pirate getup and looking back with a telescope, the camera that served as Rusty's head and eyes jerked back, the dopple looking equally as shocked.

The recording paused with the pink hedgehog looking back in shock, her mouth open, having been paused in speaking.

"When I saw this...other me affected me."

Nine, now listening with more attention looked at Black Rose's still recorded form, and back to the robotized victim, then returned to the recorded Rose, speaking once more.

"What kind of effects?"

Even more silence as the girl struggled with words to describe her odd 'glitch'.

"Initially, when the hedgehog had called me 'Amy' I had originally dismissed it as a sense of mistaken identity.", Rusty settled on saying, continuing, "However, after I encountered him more I...feel like he was seeing a different side of me. Something with more potential, an untapped potential I have not been aware of until now."

Rusty paused before going on, her gaze moving to the still video, to the other her.

"After encountering this 'alternate me', I have been beginning to wonder if this 'Amy' could be a key of sorts to a better understanding of myself."

She moved her gaze to the nine-tailed fox sitting on his cot, who stayed silent, his gaze on the ground.

"Tell me fox, has the blue hedgehog ever done the same to you? Hasn't he called you something else? Wasn't it 'Tails'?"

Silence.

After a small flicker of her lights, Rusty then continued, trying to get some information from the fox. She found another person to talk about in a matter of seconds. The video switched over to something else, another two-tailed fox, one with a mechanical claw holding a pirate sword, also in a pirate getup. A frozen smile was on his face.

Nine sat up straighter at this.

"This is another one of the hedgehog's pirate crew. Name identification: Sails. He looks quite similar to you, this is another 'variant' of you in this world from my observations."

The video fast-forwarded before playing in the middle of a battle between Sonic and his crew fighting against Rusty and the other drones. There were other variants as well, a bat and echidna that must've been another variant of Rebel and Knucks. Then Sonic was suddenly off the ship falling to the sea before Sails' metal claw grabbed him, reassuring him with a call.

"Don't worry, I've got ye!"

Nine stayed silent, replaying the events in his mind. Another variant of himself? And Rebel and Knucks? This was...interesting. Sonic seemed to be on good terms with the pirates to be saved by one of them. Not just one of them, but a variant of himself. It also appears that Sonic seems to be on good terms with his variant as well. But did that mean...?

Was he best friends with Sonic like he was?

His voice was cold, but still full of curiosity and barely concealed wariness.

"Rusty Rose, answer, did Sonic have a particularly more friendly relationship with this other variant of me than the other pirates?"

In a spur of confusion, the hedgehog raised an eyebrow but didn't comment on the question, only answering with:

"As far as I could discern, the blue hedgehog showed an equal amount of friendliness to all aboard the ship."

Nine felt a wave of relief flood him, keeping his relief to himself. Ah, good. This variant of him didn't replace him as Sonic's best friend. Sonic was just naturally friendly to almost everyone other than the Chaos Council. After a long beat of silence, the kit spoke once more.

"I see.", he continued, "And what if I do know who this 'Amy' is, what do you plan to do to her?"

"Meet her.", was Rusty's simple response.

"And then what"

"I will determine my next course of action when I succeed."

Nine went quiet. A tense silence flooded the cell and waited for one of the inhabitants to speak. Nine began to think, he has heard about Amy, but it was just passing information, not anything specific to report. Besides what would he get in exchange if he does tell Rusty, she's too loyal to the Council of Amateurs to let him go that easily, and he won't get anything in return, not to mention, if he did know and did tell her, she might cross paths with Sonic again.

And he saw from experience what she'd do if she saw the hedgehog. He considered his options and once he picked one he spoke, eyes cold and spiteful, his voice cold and uncaring.

"You wasted your time robot, you have nothing you can do or give in exchange, you work for the council that made the hell hole I lived in. I have no intentions of helping you at all.", as he spoke the last sentence his voice was snarling and mocking, yet retained any yelling or shouting.

It was a firm harsh oath the fox intended to keep.

Rusty paused at the fox's words, her eyes narrowed and began to flicker rapidly. Her teeth clenched in anger, and a wave of deep anger slipped through her lips in a deep growl. Her hands began to cackle with electricity, and as they did Nine stood, his metal tails still limp and useless, his body, exhausted, swayed from side to side.

Nine tensed ready to feel volts of painful volts of energy travel throughout his body, leaving him panting and kneeling on the floor. He felt a slight pang of fear take hold of his heart, he didn't have any means to fight back, and he couldn't run due to both the cell door being closed and the deep exhaustion his body now suffered from.

The kitsune's eyes were wide as he took a slight step back, frozen. Rusty took a step towards him and Nine closed his eyes, ready as he'll ever be.

Clang-clunk-clang...!

Until her footsteps, angry and defeated walked to the door and slammed it behind her, leaving the fox behind to vent out her frustrations.

Nine sighed outwardly in relief, now that he was alone. He was sure he'd get the information tortured by electrocution out of him like it always was, not that he'd tell her if she did.

She didn't deserve any help from him.

He walked over to a water bowl, hating his meals being served in pet dishes due to it being where he drinks and eats from, like an animal. That's how those goons saw him, saw all of his kind, they were nothing but cattle and livestock to them. It was horribly dehumanizing and he hated it.

But he should be grateful that they didn't put a collar on him and gave him to the egg brat, and even that wasn't much.

As he picked the dish up to take a sip he caught sight of his reflection, his cold blue eyes, his white muzzle and small nose, his pointed ears with dark tips, the bags of exhaustion under his eyes...

What did...Sonic sees him as really? Were they really best friends? I mean from what he's seen he's a dime a dozen. No, he's not, he has way more mechanical prowess than Sails.

Sails. The other variant of him.

Without thinking he repeated the only words he heard his variant utter.

"Don't worry, I got ye."

He paused before sighing, and moving over to his bed, flopping into it with a sigh, and staring at the cold ceiling, he rolled his eyes before he turned over and fell into slumber.

How Rusty Rose Could Be Darker: Analysis Of A Rusted Rose

Alright, so I really want to talk about how the very concept of Rusty Rose could be even more messed up. So here's a post on our robotic queen <3

So you guys are wondering, how can the concept of one of the sweetest Sonic characters becoming nothing more than a robot of destruction, used for 5 dictators' purposes be darker than it already is?

Well, what if I presented the ideas of both lobotomy and body removal, not to mention the mental issues that Rusty has? Yep, we're going to explore that!

First let's speak about body removal, the easier one. Let's take a look at Rusty's design, shall we?

She has no real body parts save for her head, and only by a little. Her arms and legs have clearly been removed as well as the rest of her body, including her organs, which is horrifying. Even her hair is nothing more than a helmet.

This makes you think, well not ALL of her organs are removed, I mean she still has a heart right?

Well...

Yeah, It's not pleasant. She has a flicky in place of a heart which is horrifying, both for the implications that the flicky is being used as an energy source, and that Rusty shows no attachment to it. The only thing that has been saved is a side of her face. The rest of her is nothing but Robo limbs. It's seen in the pirate episodes that Rusty is also waterproof. And in the first two episodes, it's shown she's fireproof.

In fact, she doesn't even have her other eye, it's just a red dot now. Not to mention her emerald eye, her real eye, looks robotic as well.

Rusty isn't human anymore. She lost that to the Council, who use her as a tool. Which makes me all the more curious about what the hell happened to make Rusty this way? What made her decide to damage herself to become a killer cyborg?

We probably won't find out until season 2, so I'm just going to go on to my next point.

Lobotomy.

Now I know some of you are saying that what Rusty does is in code, but wouldn't they have to get to her brain in order to do that? Not to mention, Rusty can be programmed to change sides without question. And when that happens her red dot turns to yellow, which is probably just because Nine was the one in control with his signature color of yellow.

Rusty doesn't act like the Amy we know, she's cold, apathetic, and robotic. But Rusty shows emotions, but it's just barely expressed. Most of the time she has a stoic frown on her face.

The effects of lobotomy are a change in the subject's personality, emotions, empathy, and ability to function on their own. However, a long-term side effect is a mental dullness.

Lobotomy is a process where the subjects (I'm never saying patient to such a horrible thing) have neural connections between the frontal lobe, a part of the brain that controls the person's memory, emotions, and problem-solving skills severed by a sharp surgical tool.

I think the process Rusty went through was the Transorbital Lobotomy, which is where the process done through the person's eye sockets. Something must've gone wrong or something because her left eye is no longer there. So they replaced it with the grate and dot, which could be something planted inside Rusty's eyesocket (Yeah I know, I'm getting squirmish too).

The effects of transorbital lobotomy (which is used to eliminate excess emotion and stabilize a personality, which the Council might've used to remove any strong emotions) can cause the subject to be childlike and less prone to worry.

Now I know some of you might be saying that Rusty isn't childish, not really, but Rusty's needs to look to others for orders and random bouts of emotions evoke a childlike feel to her. Like she's a child looking to adults for guidance.

This brings me to my last point in this post; Rusty's complex issue.

When it's looked into more, Rusty doesn't seem to serve on the council because she just wants to, it's probably to feel validated or appreciated. Instead of giving herself validation and accepting herself, she undergoes robotic implants and lobotomy to please a group of dictators.

Rusty doesn't love herself.

And when she probably realized earlier her mistake, she gives up on fighting it, instilling a dull and emotionally suppressed mindset (not that it wasn't already). But then Nine programs her to fight for the Rebels, and we see that Rusty's more expressive, more lively than she was.

She expresses herself more because she's not alone anymore.

Then Nine abandons her and the Rebels, and we see this.

When Nine abandons them, Rusty doesn't show shock or surprise; she shows tired disappointment, not at Nine, in fact, she seems to accept his betrayal. In the first picture, her self-disappointment is on full display, she's saddened at the fact that Nine didn't think of her as good enough and left her.

The second picture has her looking down, still sad, still loathing herself.

Then the last one has her finally break into tears, not just at the betrayal, but at her self-thought failure to be useful. She looks angry at herself.

Knuckles is furious, and Rouge is hurt, but Rusty is the one that truly breaks down at that moment. Knuckles and Rouge escape, and we see Rusty. Her sadness was suddenly gone, a small smile on her face.

It's relieved in a way. It shows what Rusty truly thinks. She doesn't want the city to be a punk-dystopian city, she regrets her choice to join the Council, and she wants freedom like the others. But then this happens.

She gets reprogrammed to the Council, and her thoughts are overridden by code and she serves the Council once more. She doesn't look too happy about it either.

Then we'll skip to episode 6, with Nine getting captured. When Mister Dr. Eggman announces that Nine has been captured we see a brief look of some sort of sadness on Rusty.

Only for it to harden.

Rusty didn't seem happy when the fox she worked under briefly got caught, there's a sense of sadness. Only for it to be squashed down into cold aloofness. She goes back under the Council's plan.

Then in the pirate episode, Rusty sees Black Rose, and both are understandably shocked. Rusty glitches out and refuses to bomb the rest of the ship. Her face as she calls for the robots to stop and her voice both sound panicked.

She doesn't seem to want to hurt Black Rose for some reason. A reason we'll find out in season 2. Hopefully Black Rose'll make her find peace with herself.

Anyway, this was just another messed up theory, and thank you for reading it! I hope you liked it, and I'll see ya when I come up with another crazy theory.