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Post by Lans on Mar 12, 2007 20:14:58 GMT -5
The Commander was waiting for them when Rouge's group got off the elevator from the security lobby, and gave a slight frown when he saw she wasn't alone. "Agent Rouge...accepting a different type of partner these days I see, though apparently you still prefer hedgehogs."
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 12, 2007 20:23:32 GMT -5
Rouge smirked and threw her arms around Espio's and Rob's shoulders. "What, can't a girl have a nice escourt once in a while??" At that, the chameleon grimaced and shrugged his aquaintance's arm away. "Stop doing that!" She just snickered, and kissed Espio on the cheek out of spite. From which the ninja flinched. Forcefully. And swore an unkind oath below his breath. NEVER HIT A WOMAN, NEVER HIT A WOMAN, NEVER HIT A WOMAN... "Aaaanyway," Rouge said to the commander, "I wasn't quite finished with these guys when you called, so they'll just need to hang around and wait for me during the briefing. I promise they won't cause any trouble." She snickered. "They're both too uptight for that." Espio snorted, still wiping off his cheek with the back of one glove. "Remind me to bleach my head when I get home."
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Post by Jamie Lee on Mar 12, 2007 20:33:59 GMT -5
Rob grimaced a little, his face turning a bright red as he tried to pull away from her embrace. I'm never leaving my lodge for a month after this...
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Post by Lans on Mar 12, 2007 20:43:10 GMT -5
"Yes well...Agent Rouge if you'll follow me please, your...escort can make themselves comfortable in the off duty lounge while you're briefed. It's down that way gentlemen," he saidm pointing off down the hall to his right, "Second door on the left." He then turned and headed off down the hall to his left. When Espio and Rob arrived at the room they would notice the large amount of junk food and soda strewn accross one table, and the large pile of empty wrappers and cans erupting from the grossly overflowed trashcan. It looked like someone had picked open the vending machines and raided their contents. That someone being readily apparent. "Yo! Rob, Espie! You guys are here too!" Manic said gleefully as he set down a can of Chaos Cola and rushed over to greet them.
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 12, 2007 20:52:06 GMT -5
"You again!!" Espio growled irritably, quickly snatching a kunai from the back of his left glove. Meanwhile, Rouge followed the commander down the adjacent hall toward the briefing room. "I hope this is a quick meeting and an even quicker mission," she said airly as she stretched. "It's been a long day already."
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Post by Jamie Lee on Mar 12, 2007 21:06:25 GMT -5
Rob jumped back when he saw the green hedgehog and immediately held his fists up in front of him. After all, after dealing with that other Manic earlier he really had no reason to assume this was the Manic he knew. "Back away!" he barked, eyeing the other hedgehog angrily "You did enough damage to my shoulder already!"
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Post by Lans on Mar 12, 2007 21:17:37 GMT -5
"Whoa whoa!" Manic said, backing off, "Geez, I thought you'd be a bit more grateful to see a friendly face in this weirded out place." He back up to the table and piced up one of the bags ther. "Cheetos?" he offered, "And Esp, put the kinf away already, that robot gave me enough of a haircut already," he added, running a hand accross his bangs, the third one from the right was 3/4ths shorter than the others. "I don't know how quick this mission might be, but that's why I've called you in, I want the matter solved ASAP." he told her, comming to a stop next to a door. "As for the meeting, I think you'll get the gist of it rather quickly," he said, opening the door to reveal a small room with a basic table and three chairs, one of which were occupied. "Rouge the Bat, meet...Rouge the Bat."
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 12, 2007 21:40:48 GMT -5
The room was so still and so quiet... Too quiet. Normally Rouge preferred solitude, but this... This was different. This was a solitude she definitely wasn't enjoying. She was still leaning forward against the table with her chin on her folded arms. It was so dull and lifeless in that room... Ironically she would've preferred some company. Even if it was one of those gun-toting overlanders, any company would've been nice. Rouge sighed listlessly. I wonder where they took Manic off to.Just then the familiar voice of the commander could be heared approaching the door, albeit too muffled to understand. Rouge rose from her seat, to show him some respect when he entered. However, when the door opened... The bat gasped loudly and recoiled. Yes, the commander had mentioned that there was a "version" of herself in this world, but she never expected to come face-to-face with the other her! And from the sight of it, there was something seriously wrong with her doppleganger. Rouge gulped and looked at the floor, doing her best not to be so rude as to stare at this woman's unfortunate appearance. Meanwhile, the other Rouge made no attempt to redirect her attention. It may have been uncouth, it could've even been considered rude, but this was a situation just too weird to be formal for. Rouge stood staring in surprise for a moment, then eventually crossed to her duplicate and inspected her more closely. "You're... me?" The other Rouge pressed her back to the wall uncomfortably, cringing under the bat's scrutiny. " Ah-I.... I.. g-guess..." She let out an abbreviated whimper and feebly attempted to slide aside. "Hey, wait a minute!" the other Rouge said, latching onto her copie's arm to halt her progress. Suddenly Rouge blinked, inspecting the other bat's arm more carefully. Her left eye twitched with envy. "...Your fur has pigment." Rouge's attention shifted again, and eventually settled on the visitor's chest. Abruptly the jealousy left her face as she let out an amused laugh. "Oh my goodness, dear, how old are you?? You're really under-developed!" "M-Ma'am, please, stop!!" Rouge suddenly jerked away from her double and scrambled away from her reach before anything else could happen. The bat hugged herself tightly, having gotten an unexplained chill from the encounter, as her heart pounded rapidly in her chest. Meanwhile the other Rouge just chuckled airily. "Aw, I'm sorry, dear. I didn't mean you any harm." Turning her attention to the commander, the bat made herself comfortable in one of the available chairs and folded her arms behind her head, propping her feet up on the table. "SO. What do you expect me to do with her?"
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Post by Jamie Lee on Mar 12, 2007 21:53:18 GMT -5
Rob just stared at the other hedgehog for a moment. Afterward he stalked right up to Manic and scrutinized him intensely, especially paying attention to his face. "Where do you live?" he asked after a long moment of silence.
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 12, 2007 21:54:31 GMT -5
Espio lowered his kunai, but didn't put it away, waiting to see what would happen between the two first.
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Post by Lans on Mar 12, 2007 22:01:30 GMT -5
Manic just rolled his eyes. "Right below you, dude. And just for that I'm gonna treat you to a drum solo that'll rattle yer bed right out the door when we get back." Manic said, then popped a cheeto into his mouth. "Her, nothing much if you don't need to, but she may come in handy for identifying people from her own world. You see she, and a friend, were discovered in the hight security level. Sensor logs show they arrived though some form of energy portal, similar to the ones that appeared during the Soleanna incidents. However, initial questioning determined that they aren't from there, and a reiveiw of logs from outside the base shows that this is not an isolated incident. What I want from you, is to round up any...visitors before they cause any serious damage. I want this nipped in the bud before it gets out of hand."
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 12, 2007 22:12:51 GMT -5
To her credit, she wasn't trying to be obnoxious in that moment, but Rouge erupted with laughter anyway. " Serious damage?? Are you KIDDING ME?!" The bat pointed at her double, still meekly keeping to herself on the far side of the room. "You did just see how she handled a simple introduction, didn't you? I think these people are hardly a threat. I've got an import with me too, as a matter of fact; that's part of the reason the guys came with me, so we could look for information on exactly this. He's not what I'd call a balls-to-the-wall kind of person, either." The theif let out a low snicker, slouching a bit in her seat. "I can go try and dig up transplants if you want, but I already doubt I'd have much success. The whole thing seems pretty random, so it's not something I could particularly track down -- especially since these people have no record of presence in this world. If you were smart, you'd get your tech teams focused on the energy that opened that portal and see about getting it re-opened." Across the room, Rouge wasn't really paying attention to the conversation at hand. It probably would've been more beneficial to be involved, sure, but that encounter with her other self had unnerved her too deeply, and all Rouge could concentrate on was keeping herself calm.
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Post by Jamie Lee on Mar 12, 2007 22:41:31 GMT -5
Rob continued to stare Manic down with an intense expression a moment longer, then his features suddenly softened and he let out a hardy chuckle, grabbing the other hedgehog by both shoulders and giving them a friendly squeeze. "Manic, when we get home you can have a fifteen hour drum solo for all I care! I'm just happy to see someone familiar who actually recognizes me!" He released Manic's shoulders and turned toward Espio, letting out a long and relieved sigh as he did "It's alright Espio, I know him, he's a friend." And then as quickly as that relieved sensation had flooded in, it was quickly replaced by concern as he turned back to Manic "You mean that hedgehog robot?" he paused for a moment "... Where is Rouge? Is she okay? That robot didn't hurt her did it?"
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 12, 2007 22:44:40 GMT -5
"Hmph." The ninja replaced his weapon and walked the rest of the way into the lounge, folding his arms and looking disapprovingly at the mess strewn about. "It's nice to meet you," he finally said at length. "Sorry about the misunderstanding."
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Post by Lans on Mar 12, 2007 23:02:23 GMT -5
"'Nice to meet you'? What the heck do you mean about...." and then he took on an O expression, "...Oh, this is has something to do with that alternator dimensions thingy that overlander guy was talking about, right?" He looked at Rob, "Naw, robot didn't harm her, in fact, if he wasn't such a drag in the personality department, he'd be really handy on missions. Heck that...thing...we ran into when we got here was more dangerous than robo." "It's not her specifically I'm worried about. The majority of the Soleanna visitors weren't all that dangerous either, but there were still those that were. I'm more worried about who ELSE might have counterparts there, counterparts that might not be so..." he hesitated, "...docile. And I realize it's a big job, but this thing doesn't work one way. Most of my field agents have disapeared, and worse, we've confirmed that Miles Prower has gone missing as well, nor have there been any recent Sonic sightings." He sighed, "We're working on the portal problem, but you were right about it being random. They appear and disapear before we can get a good scan of them to be able to do anything with."
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 12, 2007 23:19:43 GMT -5
Rouge's demeanor became a bit more serious as she mulled over the new information. "That does propose a problem," she admitted. "I can try and work on this, but I can't guarantee you anything. These Mobians will be especially hard to track since they don't have any files of any kind here for me to follow. It'll be pure hear-say tailing. ...." Suddenly the bat's eyes widened with realization, and she slammed a fist into the table. "Oh COME ON, you have GOT to be kidding me!!" Rouge brooded angrily and shook her head. "So that's what was up with Fang," she muttered with gritted teeth. "He wasn't our Fang. He was misplaced, too." If nothing else, I guess that's one lead, she tried to assure herself as she bitterly sat back in her chair. Rouge jumped when her counterpart had forcefully struck the table, and hugged herself again. She longed to be released from this uncomfortable meeting that she didn't even seem to be involved in.
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Post by Jamie Lee on Mar 12, 2007 23:27:02 GMT -5
Rob's ears twitched and his eyes widened a bit. "Rouge is here?! Where?! Were any of the others with you?" he paused, blinking "What was more dangerous than the robot?"
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Post by Lans on Mar 12, 2007 23:51:26 GMT -5
"This weird hedgehog like...thing. It tackled Rouge and I smacked it off her, but then these guards showed up and we talked with this old overlander guy. But yeah, she's here, but the Commander dude wanted her to meet the special agent he was calling in for some reason." The Commander smiled. "Well...there's one. You've already started and I hadn't even officially assigned you yet. Try to bring them back here, or at least somewhere where we can retrieve them later. ANd be careful, we don't know what else might come over, and I don't need you to disapear either. You're both dismissed."
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 12, 2007 23:58:13 GMT -5
Espio, though rarely one to focus on the wrong thing, blinked and asked, "...What's an 'overlander'?"
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Post by Jamie Lee on Mar 13, 2007 0:32:52 GMT -5
"What?! She's alright though, isn't she?" he paused for a moment, blinking. "Special agent... did he mean..." the hedgehog's expression went blank as his voice trailed off for a few long, piercing seconds. He blinked suddenly, regaining himself "... Oh. OH. Oh my. Did he--did they--" he cut himself off again, giving a baffled expression and pushing a hand against the side of his forehead, failing to hear Espio's question in the process.
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 13, 2007 0:48:25 GMT -5
"Allllllright. I'll get on it." Letting out a sigh and stretching her muscles, Rouge rose to her feet and nodded toward the door at her doppleganger. "Come on, hon, I'm not going to bite. Let's go down to the lounge down the hall; one of the guys that came with me is, I'm assuming, also from your world. Maybe you know him?" The other Rouge's heart leapt a little, but she was afraid to hope too quickly. Approaching her copy anxiously, the bat lowly asked, " He wouldn't happen to... be a light blue hedgehog... with a brown hood??" "Yep, sure does! He said his name was R--" But Rouge had already bolted out the door and was sprinting down the hall. "Rob??!" Her heart pounded deafening in her ears as she checked the rooms along the hallway; all the other bat had said was "down the hall"; she never said where exactly. But toward the far end, there in the employee lounge, was exactly the hedgehog she'd just described a moment ago. Her heart practically skipped a beat. " Rob!!" The bat quickly closed the gap between them and threw herself into the archer's arms. Though all she'd meant to do was say she was glad he was okay, her shaken emotions boiled over, and Rouge burst into tears as she hugged him.
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Post by Jamie Lee on Mar 13, 2007 3:53:51 GMT -5
Rob blinked in surprise when he heard his name called out with such force and turned to face the voice addressing him. The next thing he knew he was stumbling to keep his footing as he was thrown back, a pair of arms having been thrown around him and a face crying into his chest. He blinked a couple of times staring in startled surprise at the girl, realization striking him a moment later. " Rouge!" he gasped happily, a wide grin spreading across his face as he wrapped his arms around her, squeezing his eyes shut tight as he gave her a tight embrace "Oh thank heavens you're alright! I've been so worried something had happened to you!" he gave her another tight squeeze and just held it for a few moments, rubbing his cheek against her forehead and enjoying the familiar scent of her fur. "It's alright... I'm here now... shhhh..." Finally he released her, pulling his face away and stroking gently at the snowy white bangs of hair on her head. Despite how happy he was, he couldn't help but be surprised at the intense emotion garnered from her - he'd never seen her react so strongly before. He glanced over toward Manic and Espio for a brief moment, giving a sheepish smile and scratching at the back of his head with his free hand, his face flustering a deep shade of red, before returning his attention back to Rouge. "You're a sight for sore eyes, come on, let's have a look at your beautiful face..." he said as he gently cupped a hand around her chin and brought her face up to study. His beaming expression suddenly fell. "You're hurt," he stated matter-of-factly, noticing the blood on her lip. One of his hands fumbled around at one of his belt's pouches until he'd retrieved his handkerchief. Taking a clean corner of it he began trying to dab at her chin with it "How did that happen?"
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 13, 2007 14:53:03 GMT -5
For the first few moments, Rouge couldn't have spoken if she wanted to. ...Actually, she did want to, but the emotional explosion refused to give an inch, and left her sobbing uncontrollably into Rob's chest. She wrapped her fingers tightly around the material of his hood; even something as simple as the sensation of that tough fabric brought her immense relief. Rouge sniffed and did her best to settle down as Rob raised her face, but the tears just wouldn't stop. Her trembling hands clasped gently around his own as he began to clean her mouth, and at last the bat found her voice. " I-It's n-nothing," she squeaked. " A-Are you ok-kay?? W... W-what happened w-with you??" Rouge's throat tightened up and her eyes welled, and she buried her face into one hand, the other still grasping Rob's. This is only worrying him about me, she silently scolded herself. Entering a few minutes behind her, the other Rouge strode in casually, and smirked at the spectacle in the center of the lounge. "I guess that means she did know him," the theif chuckled. "Or at least I HOPE she did." "Hey," Espio grunted, seizing the Rouge he knew by the wrist and pulling her aside. His expression was both intrigued and annoyed. "WHAT did you do to her??" Rouge rolled her eyes and jerked her arm away. " Nothing!!"
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Post by Lans on Mar 13, 2007 19:09:11 GMT -5
"Meh, She's been weirded out ever since we got here," Manic said in between munches. He turned to Espio, "So donlt go blamin..." He stopped, and unlike the other two travelers openly gaped at the other Rouge, "Whoa, dude you're...huge!"
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 14, 2007 20:30:44 GMT -5
Rouge arched an eyebrow at Manic before breaking into a light laugh. She hadn't necessarily never received comments like that before, but getting them from a stranger mid-sentence was definitely a first. "Well, I am compared to her at least," Rouge snickered with a nod in her double's direction. The bat folded her arms, pushing up her rack ever so slightly in the process. "And what would your name be, stranger?" And Espio just facepalmed.
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Post by Jamie Lee on Mar 14, 2007 22:59:23 GMT -5
Rob glanced off to the side, his mouth tugging to one side of his face "I'm fine. I can tell you today'll be a day I won't be forgetting anytime soon though..." He glanced at Manic and the other Rouge, giving a disapproving look at the two before looking back at the center of his affection and giving an exhausted smile to her, leaning forward to kiss her gently on the side of her face when she tries to cover it. "I think we've both had a long day..."
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Post by Lans on Mar 14, 2007 23:04:00 GMT -5
"I'm...Manic, I'm Manic," he said, after a second or two, and then before he could stop himself, he pointed to her...chest and asked, "Are...those real?"
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 14, 2007 23:30:51 GMT -5
Sniffing and wiping the salty teartrails from her face, Rouge took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The emotional storm seemed to finally be passing. Either that or it was just the eye of the damn hurricane. The bat tenderly pressed her hands to Rob's cheeks, and took a moment to just look up into his eyes. It calmed her, in a way she couldn't entirely explain. Rouge had wanted to tell him how scared she had been for both of them, and how relieved she was to have found him and that he was safe, and how much she loved him, but in the end never uttered a word; her eyes did the talking on their own. Rouge leaned up and kissed him gently, then settled her head onto his shoulder. She wanted to feel his arms around her just a little longer. Across the room, the other Rouge's eyes narrowed evilly as a wide grin spread over her face. "So far as I know," she cooly replied to Manic. "If you don't believe me you could check them for yourself." By now Espio had already vanished. This was sure to get out of control, and quickly, and he didn't want to be caught in the crossfire. He did, however, still want to watch, and perched quietly on the ceiling right above them.
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Post by Lans on Mar 15, 2007 0:01:24 GMT -5
[dice=2] Unfortunatly Manic was unable to overcome his curiosity and hormones, and before he knew it he had said, "Sure," and had reached out and given her right boob a slight squeeze.[rand=410811013400904307310856595620557840966862102510847418813084800826]
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 15, 2007 0:07:53 GMT -5
In 99.9% of the flirtacious situations Rouge winds up in, her bluffs work out to her advantage and she gets what she wants, whether it's information, something valuable, or just watching a guy squirm. But every once in a great, great while, that 0.01% rears its nasty little head and throws her completely off-guard. This apparently was one of those times. Rouge's face twisted with startled surprise as Manic grabbed her chest, and her cheeks immediately burned a deep red. It quickly became difficult to tell whether that was from shyness or anger, however, as a dark glare overtook her features and a loud growl erupted from her throat. Without warning the bat's boot bolted through the air and connected with Manic's face. Crossing her arms protectively across her bossom, Rouge clenched her eyes and screamed, " YOU LITTLE PERVERT!!!"
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