“Hey, can I level with you?
“When I was a little girl, I wanted to be an investigator. I was an investigative journalist by the time I was eight. I cracked numerous globe-spanning conspiracies by the time I was nine. Decent number of people know the name ‘Sticks the Badger’ now– but I try to keep myself low profile.
“But then I get hired by GUN. I figure, sure, it’s probably to keep a leash on me so I don’t go meddling into their business, and instead dig up dirt on people they don’t like. But I figure hey, maybe if GUN doesn’t have too many skeletons in their closet, it’ll be worth it. I can swallow my pride and let some stuff slide.
“Turns out: we let Eggman do his thing because he’s the perfect scapegoat for our own nonsense, AND it funds the war economy. He causes some world-ending disaster, we blame all of our problems on him, and use him to justify military spending. We could literally have gotten him jailed in a custom-made, maximum security cell like his granddad at any point in time.
“But we just let the blue rat take care of him instead. Alone. Risking his life each time, because the people just love a hero.
“And that’s just the tip of the ice berg.