Harper's Estate: Uninvited Guest

[Leedzie]

Espio smacked himself in the face. "My point is, all we can do is wait for Harper. I'd help if I could, but I actually don't know much about this place, even though I've been here so much." The ninja let out a slow breath. "Relax; he'll be fine waiting a few more minutes until they get back. You could use some time to cool down anyway."

[Jamie Lee]

Rob frowned, glaring at him in dismay. Finally he gave a dissatisfied sigh and reached under his hood to run his hand through his quills, in the process knocking it off and causing it to fall back behind him. Bowing his head briefly in momentary defeat he marched back toward the cage and sat back down in front of it, pressing his back against one of the bars and resting his elbows on his knees.

[Stoney]

It was many minutes later when Harper finally reappeared in the area with Rouge in tow. There was an awkward silence between them that had persisted ever since they'd stopped talking in the upstairs hallway; in a sense, Harper was actually relieved to spot the rest of the group and rush over to them.

"Ah, there you all are. Terribly sorry to keep your girlfriend for so long, Rob." Harper winked at the hedgehog. "We had a very enjoyable conversation, though I must admit I did most of the talking, and I concluded that if your group needs supplies of any kind then I will be happy to provide you with them."

He kept the smile frozen on his face as he spotted the younger chameleon amongst them. "From your Espio's antics in my kitchen I can tell you have troubles with your food supply. However, since I own a chain of restaurants, I can fix that for you. Just say the word and I'll be happy to help."

Harper peered up at the ceiling as he scratched his chin. "He also mentioned wanting air-conditioning...I'm sure I could provide some sort of compact unit you could take with you. If you have electricity problems then I could fix that too, with a fuel-powered generator....hmm, what else? It probably wouldn't be practical to give you all any furniture due to transportation problems...though if I use my own vehicles then I think I could work around that." He sighed. "It's such a shame I couldn't just donate a large sum of money to you all and leave it at that, but I doubt our currency will be valid on your world."

He glanced back at Rob. "Anyway, what do you say? Rouge told me you're the leader here, so you'd have the final judgment over any donations that take place. If you agree then I can direct my employees to being loading up whatever you need, as much as you can take with you." He extended his hand in an open-palmed gesture of offering.

[Leedzie]

Rouge appeared in the doorway a couple of seconds after the colonel, still gently clutching the music box he had gifted her with. Upon spotting Rob, the bat's mood seemed to perk up, and she crossed to his side to kiss him on the cheek. "Sorry I disappeared," she quietly apologized. Rouge then knelt beside Espio's pen, looking in on him with concern. "Hey... Are you okay?"


The chameleon never quite noticed he'd been addressed; as soon as Harper made his re-entrance, Espio's back slammed against the bars of his enclosure. He vanished from view a moment later.


Meanwhile, the other Espio acknowledged Harper and Rouge's return with a simple nod. As the colonel made his extensive offer, the ninja's attention focused in on Rob, silently mouthing the words, "Take it easy."

[Jamie Lee]

Rob raised his head up quickly as the two re-entered, giving a stone cold glare at the human as he quickly brought himself back up to his feet. He returned Rouge's kiss with a brief hug, then caught his Espio's reaction as she turned her focus on him. He looked back at Harper, his frown deep.

"As generous as your offer seems, Mr. Harper, I must respectfully decline," he spoke in a very sharp tone "I think you've done quite enough already. I would like to ask that Espio be released and we be shown the door now."

[Stoney]

The smile slowly faded from Harper's face; he lowered his hand, looking confused. This had not been the reaction he'd expected.

The colonel darted a look around the room as if wondering what had caused his guest's abrupt change in attitude. His eyes fell on the cage and its newly-invisible occupant. Harper's expression went flat. It didn't take a brain surgeon to realize the root of the problem here.

Harper's eyebrows lowered in annoyance. He would've vastly preferred to not have such complications during this visit...it was supposed to be a pleasant affair after all, a friendly meeting between the ambassadors of two separate dimensions. Instead it had wound up being anything but that.

He didn't believe that he'd done anything wrong, of course. At the time he'd still been under the impression that their Espio was in fact from this dimension, and he knew the Espio who worked at the Chaotix Detective Agency could handle his threats with ease. Even after learning of the other chameleon's true age and identity, he held firm to his convictions that the kid should've been mature enough to handle the situation. Thus, Rob's silent accusation did little more than anger him.

The colonel's mood worsened further as he pondered what had just occurred. He'd made an offer of unprecedented proportions and been turned down like he'd been trying to give them pond scum scraped off the bottom of his boot. It was an insult of such immense magnitude that it could barely be comprehended.

"...Fine then," Harper growled at last, face darkening like a thundercloud as he matched Rob's cold gaze with his own steely one. All etiquette had now been breached; politeness no longer had any meaning here. "You spit upon my generosity? You come into my house, shun my hospitality, and insult me to my face? So be it."

He reached into his coat pocket and removed a remote control with a single large red button on it. Leaning his emerald-tipped cane against his leg, he curled his free hand into a fist and slammed it down on the button. The cage around the otherdimensional Espio began to ascend into the ceiling afterwards.

Harper replaced the control, picked up his cane, and scowled at Rob. "Take him and get out of my sight."

[Leedzie]

"Look, I think everybody ought to just calm down," the ninja suggested, approaching the quarrel with hands raised. "Emotions are running high here--"


The instant there was enough space between the cage's bottom and the floor, Espio took off in the opposite direction of the group with a shrill yelp. Though he was still invisible from view, his rapid footsteps could be heard pounding on the foor, and whispy traces of flour continued to cling to his feet.


"--. . ." Espio groaned and smacked himself in the face. It would probably take a chameleon to catch one. "I'll get him," he mumbled irritably, also camouflaging and taking off in persuit.


Rouge, meanwhile, glanced uncertainly between Rob and Harper, and at length after the chameleons charging off in the opposite direction (though she couldn't see them). This situation was getting rather tense.

"Rob... Colonel... please, Espio was right... Let's all take a deep breath, okay? No harm, no foul..."

[Jamie Lee]

Rob did as Rouge suggested, pulling in a deep breath through his nostrils and holding it a moment before releasing it slowly through his mouth. He straightened his posture and met the man's gaze like that of a war-torn soldier who wasn't ready to give up. Shouting wasn't to solve anything, but none the less he had a lot to say.

"Mr. Harper, your generosity is not the problem here. And if anyone has spat or insulted first, it is you having done so to me by threatening Espio! You pointed a gun and threatened to kill him. That boy is like a brother to me, and I will not stand idly by and smile at someone threatening to kill my family," his eyes narrowed "We've seen too much of that already in our lifetime."

[Stoney]

Harper pulled out his rifle at that moment. “Are you, by any chance, referring to THIS gun?”

He aimed it at the ceiling and squeezed the trigger. A single, tiny click was the only reaction.

"This thing was never loaded; he had nothing to fear from it.” Harper put the gun away, continuing to talk with barely-suppressed anger and frustration as he did so. “As for the principle of the threat, I had mistaken your Espio for the one from this world at the time. We follow a different culture over here, and our Espio is more than capable of dealing with such bluffs."

Harper’s expression was still dark as he abruptly turned to leave the room at that moment, forgetting in his ire to show his guests the way out. “But I can see it will make no difference if I try to explain myself to you; it will just waste everyone’s time. So I suggest you leave at once, sir, before I request that my security assist you.”

Harper strode away with quick, ground-gulping strides, reaching one of the walls of the hallway in mere moments. Beneath his rage was a terrible fear of how Rouge would react now that Rob had revealed the news to her -- he refused to stick around and see the disappointment on her face.

Let the ignorant fool think what he wanted; Harper no longer cared.

The colonel opened a hidden door in the side of the hallway and slammed it shut behind himself, letting it blend seamlessly into the wall. He made for his study, filling up his shotgun with ammunition as he went; hunting was always a nice way to unload, in more ways than one.

[Leedzie]

Rouge stared after Harper, her mouth frozen open with shock. Had he.... actually done what it sounded like? The bat's breath caught for a moment as she broke her gaze to look down at the music box in her hands. This is getting confusing... How can a man be so gentle and giving one moment, and so ruthless and cold the next? How many versions of him are there?


Meanwhile, a none-too-happy ninja busily tracked his less skilled counterpart. Espio had to be extremely on top of his game to keep up; the other him had all of his natural abilities, so the only edge he could rely on was what he had learned in his six additional years.

His doppleganger knew his stealth well, to be sure; the invisibility itself never faultered, and Espio found himself chasing his younger self along pretty much the same path he himself would have chosen had the roles been reversed. However, the Mobian Espio carried two fatal flaws: in his panic he was unable to keep completely silent, and the flower he had tracked earlier that day, though invisible on his shoes, showed up along his path once it lost contact.

He seems to have the same basic train of thought that I do, the chameleon thought to himself as the pair moved from the floor to the wall. I wonder if I can intercept him... It'll probably be the only way to get ahold of him at this rate. He glanced ahead, spotting a large painting directly in their path. If it was me, I'd dodge going up to give myself more space to move; there's too much furniture in the way going down. From there I think I'd head for the nearest doorway. Sure enough, the sound of the fleeing footsteps had begun to rise.

Espio sprang from the wall and made a leap for the nearest chandelier, hoping in the backmost layer of his mind that he wouldn't damage it, and swung himself along further still with the combined momentum. It was going to be close; he could hear his other self closing in fast. Now it was just a matter of actually getting ahold of someone you couldn't even see.

"OOF!!" To his surprise, the other chameleon collided with him directly. Apparently Espio had guessed his trajectory better than expected. But now that the boy had come within his reach, the ninja clamped his arms tightly around the teen's waist, pinning his arms to his sides. "Easy, easy!!" he coaxed, admittedly in not the most calming tone. "I already said I'm not going to hurt you!! Relax!!" Keeping a tight grip on the struggling child, Espio jumped to the floor with a half flip, kaleidoscoping into view and beginning to pull his captive back to where the others stood.


As if that terrifying old overlander coming back hadn't unnerved him badly enough, it sounded like he was being chased, too! Espio scrambled frantically along, unwilling to look back, and unaware that he wouldn't have spotted anyone anyway. Despite the fight-or-flight instincts at the helm, he at least kept enough focus to remember that he shouldn't get lost, and more importantly, that he needed to get back to Rob and Rouge. How he was going to do that when running in the opposite direction never quite crossed his mind.

All of a sudden his unseen assailant had ahold of him and began the arduous process of dragging him back. Espio yelped and fought his hardest to free himself, but his captor had a bit of a size advantage on him. It wasn't until a minute or so that he finally glanced back and realized who it was. The boy's eyes widened. OH CRAP, IT'S THAT OVERLANDER'S ROBOT OF ME!! HE'S GOING TO TAKE ME BACK TO THAT OVERLANDER!! WHAT IF HE THINKS I BROKE SOMETHING ELSE?! WHAT IF HE DOES DECIDE TO KILL ME?!

Doubling the efforts to escape, Espio bleated a strained, "ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOB!!!"

[Jamie Lee]

"And what of the trauma you caused him?!" Rob shouted after him before the man could finish making his exit "Bloody hell, mistake or not you've spooked the boy!"

He sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose in frustration after Harper had fled "How could anyone justify such hostile actions... And then turn around and try to appear so generous?" he lifted his head when he heard Espio's yell, shaking his head and stalking after, mumbling a strained "I want to go home..." to himself under his breath.

[Leedzie]

Rouge lingered behind for a moment, feeling somewhat torn. Just as Harper had never seen the alternate side of Espio, Rob had never seen the alternate side of Harper. Though she didn't condone the actions he'd taken against her young neighbor even a little bit, in the end she couldn't regard him with the same venom Rob so clearly held. The bat's eyes drifted to the torn rug where the cage had been. That colonel is a complicated man. He insists that he keeps expensive items around to impress his business partners only, and that he's more than willing to part with them, while at the same time he detests my other self for her own hoarding, and was upset enough with Espio to threaten him with perceived violence. Letting out a breath, Rouge eventually headed along to the chaos herself, uncurling her wings from her back. If his belongings are so unimportant to him, I don't quite understand having had such an extreme reaction to the injury of one of them; but even so, he was wronged, and is justified in having been upset over it...

Another shriek from their young ward snapped her out of her thoughts. Now wasn't really the best time to be philosophizing over the ethics of Harper's behavior, she realized; Espio was still in a panic. Setting her music box down on a nearby end table, Rouge flapped her wings and glided over to the struggle. "Espio, it's okay. Shhh... Settle down."


Even though a short while ago he'd been questioning whether or not she was the real Rouge, at that moment in time Espio was far too flustered to continue his trepidation. "Rouge, help me!!" he cried, still fighting against his doppleganger. "I really didn't do anything this time!!!"


"Kid... you're not... in trouble!! TAKE... IT... EASY!!" the other Espio growled as he strained to keep the boy under control. The ninja was surprised with how difficult the task ended up being; even though he had a size advantage of him, the teen seemed to have impressive upper body strength. As Rob and Rouge approached, Espio grunted, "You guys.... had better... quiet him down... or I'm... gonna lose him!"

[Jamie Lee]

"Espio!" Rob called, sprinting up to the chameleon pair. He grabbed the struggling boy firmly by both shoulders and glared at him "Calm down!"

[Leedzie]

Rob was at least effective in one regard: His firm order had quickly silenced the teen's shouting. However, Espio continued to squirm (though not nearly as desperately) against his counterpart. "Rob, I'm sorry!" the chameleon whined. "I know I shouldn't have done the things I did, but I don't want him to shoot me!!" With a final jerk, Espio wrenched free of the ninja's grasp and sprinted a few steps away. The boy glanced around nervously, apparently expecting Harper to come after him again.


"OW!!" the other Espio hissed, painfully holding his wrist after the teen had twisted his way free. He grit his teeth as he flexed the muscles and rotated the joins of his lower arm, casting an irritated glance at his other self. "Strong kid," he grumbled as he slowly eased the throb away.


Meanwhile, Rouge had taken to calming down the panicked chameleon. The bat embraced him from behind, one arm around his shoulders and the other gently stroking his head, as she whispered condolences and rocked him from side to side. "Shhhhh.... It's okay, it's okay... Nobody's going to hurt you. You're safe now... Shhhhhhhh..."


With Rouge's comfort, Espio did manage to calm back down for the most part. However, he remained ever anxious of whatever scoldings were about to come out of Rob's mouth now that the hubbub had passed. Letting out a short breath, the boy clutched at Rouge's arm nervously and cringed in anticipation.

[Jamie Lee]

Instead of scolding him, however, Rob just pulled in a deep breath and slowly released it. Placing one of his hands back on the boy's shoulder he gave it a reassuring squeeze and nodded "Come on. Let's get out of here,"