G.U.N. -- Back to Work

[Leedzie]

Despite all the commotion about the small closet just a short while ago, the room had fallen silent for some time, broken only by the gentle breaths of its two occupants. Once in a while, perhaps, the dull echoes of footsteps passing by the otherside of the door floated in, but little else disturbed the quiet.


Until the bat drifted back into the world of the waking, that is. Rouge's eyes slitted open, greeted by a blurry view of red fur. The thief shut them and sighed, nuzzling more comfortably into Knuckles' shoulder. Her body ached, but she didn't mind; she would never take back this day. Perhaps the only thing she might've changed at all would've been a location somewhat more desirable than a maintenance closet.

Knuckles' heart thumped soothingly in her sensitive ear, and Rouge easily could've fallen back to sleep. However, they'd already been interrupted once, and the odds of it happening a second time weren't all that unlikely. Reluctantly, the bat drew a breath and pushed herself upright, stiffly wiggling into her discarded jumpsuit.

[Lans]

Meanwhile, Knuckles just lay there, trying to sort things out in his head as he watched her redress. It seemed a tad unreal to him how all this had happened. But more importantly, where did they go from here?

I mean, it was needless to say he'd never quite been in a situation like this before. So...now what. Obviously they were together...in some way, but what did that mean exactly? Were they...married or something?

He sighed, wishing his parents, or someone, could have at least left him a manual for these situations when they'd left him on Angel island...

[Leedzie]

"I didn't realize you were awake," Rouge commented quietly when she'd caught his eye. The bat slipped her right arm into one of her long, white gloves. "I'm sorry if I woke you."

[Lans]

"S'alright. I wasn't asleep," he told her as he sat up. He was silent for a moment, not really sure what to say. Finally he just said the first thing that came to mind. "...Do you know where my hat ended up?"

[Leedzie]

"Couldn't tell ya," she replied with a low chuckle, pulling on her other glove. "I was more focused on something else."

[Lans]

He blushed a little. "Oh...yeah," he said with a return chuckle. A quickly look around revealed his hat to have ended up behind a broom in the corner and he quickly retrieved it. "...I guess we'd better stop keeping your boss waiting...before he comes looking for us again."

[Leedzie]

"Probably," the bat muttered. Honestly, work was the last thing she was interested in doing right now, but it didn't make his point any less correct. Pausing for a preparatory breath, Rouge began the arduous process of rising to her feet, ignoring the protests of her sore muscles. "Ow..."

[Lans]

Knux looked over at that. "Are you all right?" he asked, concernedly.

[Leedzie]

"Yeah," Rouge breathily replied, smiling awkwardly. "Just still sore."

[Lans]

"Oh right." There went that blush again. "Uh...sorry about that," he said sheepishly.

[Leedzie]

A hue none too unlike her own name overtook the thief's cheeks as well. "It's okay," Rouge quietly assured as she half-walked, half-limped toward the door. "It was worth it."

[Lans]

"Oh...well that's good to hear," he responded with a sheepish smile. "And I uh...I feel the same way," he told her as he put his hat back on.

[Leedzie]

At that, the bat regained her manipulative smirk. "Of course you do. I figured out where your sweet spot was~" Unable to withhold her smugness, Rouge aborted her exit in favor of running her fingers through the echidna's spines.

[Lans]

If you had thought it was impossible for Knux to go any redder than he was...you were wrong. His muscles seemed to turn to butter as he made a soft crooning sound. "Ooooooh yeah..."

[Leedzie]

Content with her assault on Knuckles' senses for the moment, Rouge returned her attention to the long-delayed task of reporting for duty. Upon opening the door, however, the pair was reminded just how stuffy it really was in that cramped closet, as a rush of comparatively chilly air hurried in to greet them. The bat shivered, the brisk air seeming to zero in on her bare skin.

"Comwell said he wanted to see both of us," Rouge reminded the guardian as they stepped out into the hall, still unable to hide her awkward limp. "Are you coming, too?"

[Lans]

Knuckles shook himself a bit to clear his head as best he could. "Yesh...yeah I'm comming," he told her, as he moved to follow. He moved up beside her and put an arm around her shoulder, aloowing her to lean on him.

[Leedzie]

An echidna-shaped crutch was always a welcome gift, especially when each step burned intensely. As long as the walk felt, Rouge was gratefully aware that it ended up being much shorter than it otherwise would've been, and before long the pair had arrived in Comwell's office.

"You wanted to see us?" Rouge greeted in a surprisingly neutral tone. After a second of consideration, she quickly adjusted the top of her jumpsuit -- just in case.

[Lans]

"Ah yes," Comwell said, glancing at her, and luckily the current situation had temporarily removed what he had walked into from his mind. "Unfortunatly we have a situation that takes priority. One of the Metal Sonic's is loose in the base!"


"Wait...Metal SonicS? As in more than one!?"

[Leedzie]

"Myeah," Rouge mumbled, inviting herself to sit in the commander's chair. Once she'd delicately adjusted herself, the thief continued, "The other dimension has other versions of ourselves, remember? Like that other me from before?" Taking to massaging one temple, she added, "I suppose this means there's a counterpart to Metal Sonic as well."

[Raki]

... And on the topic of parallel doppelgangers...

The space between the three and the ceiling suddenly rippled, as a pond would from a thrown pebble. Unlike a pond, however, the rippling escalated to a tear in reality above them. Fragments of the universe twisted and turned like shards of glass held aloft, dancing around a bright portal of light. And then... a rather familiar red figure fell out of the portal.

And onto Knuckles.

@saknux@
WHUMP!

"OOF!"

Very familiar indeed.

And just as quickly as the portal came, it was gone.

[Lans]

"What in the-!?" Comwell started, abruptly getting to his feet. "Security! In here on the double!"


Meanwhile Knuckles was struggling under whatever had fallen on him. All he could see was the red of (he thought) one of his arms shoved in his face, though it was odd since it didn't FEEL like either of his arms was in that position, but with a face full of red fur, he couldn't be sure. "Hey, ger'off me!"

[Leedzie]

Unlike the men, Rouge's composure never faltered at the abrupt arrival. By this point, she'd gained far more experience than she could ever care to have with interdimensional look-alikes. Rather than grow flustered over a doppleganger yet again, the bat calmly rested her chin atop her right fist, tenderly crossing her legs and uttering a non-committal, "Oh my."

[Raki]

The other red figure scrambled to his feet, extracting himself from the tangle of body parts and limbs he'd found himself trapped in. Stepping back away from Knuckles, the figure blinked... mainly because he really hadn't been expecting to see... well, himself.

@saknux@
"Well...", he muttered to himself, barely audible, "... that was easier then I expected."

[Lans]

Two soldiers had burst into the office just as the two echidnas were getting up, allowing Comwell to see what they were dealing with. He motioned them to stop, but not to leave yet.


"Of course it was, since I broke your fall!" Knux snapped, even as a surreal feeling settled over him as he came face to face with...himself.

[Leedzie]

Still unmoved by the display, Rouge's attention shifted to Comwell. "I expect to get paid for that one, too."

[Raki]

@saknux@
Giving a momentarily glance at the other two in the room, Knuckles... well, the other Knuckles, shrugged off their presence and returned his attention to the... other him.

"I'm wasn't talking about the fall- I'm talking about finding you."

Crossing his arms, he frowned at the sight in front of him. Apparently the water deity... thing... hadn't been lying, at least.

"A water spirit guarding a gem on a large floating island sent me to find you."

He paused a moment, still taking in the sight of himself, before adding one last comment-
"Nice hat."

[Lans]

"...Thanks," Knuckles replied, as he took in what his counterpart was saying. "So...Chaos sent you? And he's guarding the Master Emerald? Good, at least its still safe..."

[Raki]

@saknux@
Frowning, he shook his head slightly.
"I wouldn't say good, no. What it told me sounded pretty dire... which is why it sent me to get you."

[Lans]

"...Great. He didn't happen to also tell you of a way to get BACK?"


"Ahem," Comwell interrupted. "I...believe we may be able to assist there, but unfortunatly we still have a robot to subdue," he reminded them.

[Leedzie]

"Where exactly is said robot?"