Chapter 3! The plot thinnens. Also sorry but there's a few OCs here, don't worry, they are background characters in order to move the plot forward. Manic is still center stage. Also, this is a bit of a filler chapter, because we're just building up to bigger events. Sorrryyyy.

--

Manic entered Rouge's apartment from the balcony, straight into the bedroom.

He noted on how well decorated everything was, colour coded with red, white and gold. However, what stood out most was the large amount of jewelry and gems absolutely everywhere.

They sparkled when Rouge turned on the lights, and Manic was in awe at the beauty. His fingers twitched, and he felt an urge to steal everything he could while Rouge was turned away.

Unable to control the feeling, he yanked a bracelet, but the noise it made as the gemstones knocked together made Rouge's sensitive ears turn, and she spun around to a very bashful Manic.

"Like I said before, Klept. If you steal from me, I'll only steal it right back... And more." She winked, and Manic blushed. "Don't look so hopeful, I'm talking about the emerald. Hand it over."

Before Manic could react, Rouge jumped at him and he fell to the floor. He instinctively reached for his knife, but Rouge was already in his bag, rifling through it. She growled and stood up, tossing the bag to the side. "Not there. Where'd you stash it then?" She loomed close to his face, her hands on her hips, studying him carefully.

Manic growled at her, and pushed her away, though she was quick to recover, flying up and kicking him across the room in retaliation.

His head hit the wall with a crack, and stars spun. "None of your business, batface." Manic coughed out, winded. "It's a secret, and I doubt even I know where it is now, considering it was sent away to an expert in emeralds-" Manic stopped. He'd said too much, he could tell by the way Rouge smiled at him.

"Thanks for your cooperation honey, now why don't you stay the night? You look half dead anyway. I might as well leave you in that corner while I go to bed."

Manic tried to spit back at her, but the events of the day and the hit to his head was leaving him tired and faint.

He gave in and closed his eyes as Rouge climbed into her own bed, wrapping herself under the blankets. Manic was too out of it to even notice her get changed out of her clothes. "Yeah, like, whatever." He sighed and curled up, as darkness consumed him.

--

"You know, I just realized something. How did you even get into Buttnik's base?" Manic and Rouge were walking together downtown, it was already early afternoon.

Manic had woken up with a major headache, and Rouge had let him use her shower. Apparently he had smelled awful, and Manic already felt much better for it.

After that Rouge had taken him out for a walk. She was behaving as if her attack on him last night had never happened, and it bugged Manic that he just couldn't get an understanding of her. Hell, he still knew nothing about her.

"I have my ways." Rouge took off down the street before Manic could question her further.

"Catch up, thief! We're almost at the finest diner in town, and I'm starved." Rouge called, and Manic cursed before heading after her. He definitely did not like being outed as a thief in public. Annoying bat.

When he caught up to her, he found himself at the entrance to The White Heart. It was the finest diner in town all right, and Manic could certainly not afford it.

"Of course you have expensive tastes. I should have expected it." Manic muttered dryly, earning a chuckle from Rouge.

"Don't worry honey, I have more than enough to pay for the both of us, consider it my little treat." She winked and headed in, Manic trailing behind feeling completely out of place.

Rouge was dressed up nicely for the occasion, her tight black suit from yesterday had been replaced by a purple and pink outfit, with large white boots and gloves.

Manic on the other hand was still wearing his old red jacket, sneakers and his own white gloves, with spiked wristbands around them. He looked like trash in such a nobel infested environment and he hated it.

"Yo, I think I like, would rather die than be seen here." Manic moaned, and this time Rouge outright laughed.

"Relax. A little food and a good atmosphere isn't going to kill you, no matter how much you want it to." She called a waitress over, who showed the two of them to their seats at a table near the window. Manic sat down and gazed out at the passing traffic, feeling a little lost.

Rouge slapped the top of his head with a menu, and Manic cursed loudly in response, earning dirty looks from the nearby clientele. "Oh boy, not even five minutes and I'm already like, public enemy number one." Manic drawled sarcastically, Rouge smirking quietly as she looked at her own menu.

Manic couldn't help but notice a few holes in his menu, and guiltily realised that his mohawk-like quills had probably damaged it when Rouge had hit him. He scanned through the menu, trying his best to decipher all of the different options despite all the damage. A lot of it seemed to be French, and Manic blanched, thinking about snails on a plate.

"If you keep making funny faces, the wind will turn and you'll be stuck like that." Rouge giggled, and Manic sighed inwardly, finally deciding on a simple soup and bread sticks with some extra dip. Rouge ordered something too, though Manic couldn't even tell what it was when it arrived. Though it smelled heavenly.

While he was eating, he had a look around and admired the interior of the restaurant. It was all white and marble, with black stone tables and red sofas. It looked posh, though also had a warm and clean feeling to it.

What didn't look warm however, were all the Robotnik tax paying nobles everywhere. They wore all sorts of silks and fine clothing, hats and scarves, boots and ties.

Manic growled quietly while chomping down on a bread stick. The urge to creep under tables and pickpocket distracted customers was overwhelming. He twitched and tapped his foot, his ears flattened back with impatience. He had to take whatever he could get, he needed to.

His thoughts were interrupted by a hand on his shoulder, he jumped and looked up, startled to see the waitress looking down at him, her features creased with concern.

She was a cat, her long cream fur was complimented with a smart looking uniform. Manic didn't know what to say. "Excuse me sir, is everything alright?" The cat questioned, and Manic nodded his head quickly, not wanting the attention.

As the waitress walked away, Rouge leaned over to him, a look of amusement on her face, clearly enjoying his discomfort. "Perhaps I shouldn't have brought a kleptomaniac into one of the richest places in Robotropolis." She observed dryly.

Manic scowled in response, his patience thin. "Let's just get outta here already." He growled, and Rouge shrugged innocently. "Wish granted. I already paid the bill while you were staring at people's pockets, so let's hit the road."

[C]--

Manic felt much better away from the diner, especially with his bag, much heavier than before due to his fingers getting a little sticky on the way out of the place.

Rouge hadn't even noticed, and he intended to keep it that way. They'd been chatting ever since, while walking around aimlessly, commenting on anything intriguing as they watched the world go by. Manic hasn't felt this relaxed in awhile, though he still knew nothing about the mysterious bat.

The peace was cut short by a rock song, "Wake the Dead" by Family Force 5 which was Manic's own ringtone. He cursed and grabbed his phone out of his pocket, answering the damned thing as quick as he could. "Yo, Mani." A familiar voice greeted over the line, and Manic recognised the voice of Quil.

Quil was a bird, though Manic was unsure of the breed, he seemed pretty mixed up with all sorts of features from various species. Like a mutt bird. He had teal feathers, that turned pale at the tips, with red markings along his face and sharp yellow eyes. His tail feathers were a mix of colours, and Quil strutted around often, showing them off with pride. He was a thief just like Manic, and one of his closest friends.

"Dude, like, what's up?" Manic replied, and Quil cut straight to the chase.

"Well." Quil's voice sounded scratchy over the phone line. "Farrell just received word from Coal, and we've gotta meet up with him down at the bridge, apparently he's got some information for us that we just can't refuse. Could be the best haul in awhile. Seeya there."

The call was promptly hung up before Manic could accept or reject, and he knew he didn't have a choice.

Manic groaned inwardly. Coal was a huge pain in the ass. He was Colin's younger brother, though the only things they had in common was their Doberman breed and their equally insufferable personalities. The two couldn't stand eachother, which surprised no one. Unlike Colin, Coal couldn't really be trusted, it was hard to tell just who's side he was on- hell, he was on his own side. As a result any meetings with him were always taken place far away from the secret hideout.

Manic wouldn't have anything to do with the dog, but somehow Coal always seemed to sniff out good hauls. He himself wasn't a thief, and so he let Farrell's group in on the locations, in return for a cut of the goods.

Rouge studied Manic silently before suddenly spreading her wings, flying up.

"Wait!" Manic called. "What are you doing?".

Rouge looked down at him, amused at his alarm. "Looks like you've got places to be, thief. It was a nice date while it lasted." She winked and took off without another word.

"D-date?! No way!" Manic spluttered, but Rouge was already gone.

--

When Manic arrived at the meeting point, he noticed that Quil was there already.

Quil was tapping his foot impatiently, on his own in the shade of the bridge. The bridge was the perfect meeting point, because nobody ever saw or overheard what was going on over the sound of constant traffic, which meant they were safe from spies.

Manic headed over, his hand raised. Quil swiped his own hand forward, getting a good clean high five. "My maaaan." Manic grinned, and Quil gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"Heard about ya becoming a real thief Mani, it's about time eh?"

Manic nodded, though feeling a little disappointed that he himself hadn't been able to give the news. It seems that Farrell had already told everyone in the group while Manic was out last night.

"Yo! Pay attention, street rats!" A voice boomed, and Manic had to look up to find Coal, he was standing on a crumbling wall just by the bridge, his black fur looking glossy in the sunlight, his hair looking spikey enough to rival Manic's own.

Manic hoped he would fall off of it. Coal winked and saluted the two before leaping up, landing beside Manic and Quil.

"Were you waiting long?" Coal sneered, tapping his black boots, mimicking Quil.

"Only long enough to consider how difficult it would be to jump you and kill you." Quil shot at him, while Manic sneered back at the Doberman, who seemed completely unfazed by the threat.

"If you killed me, you wouldn't have your next haul, so think more carefully, if you're smart enough." The dog growled, and Manic bristled.

"Alright, alright. Let's just cut to the chase. What do you have for us?" Quil crossed his arms and Coal smiled, far too sweet for good.

"Well, one of my buddies- he works at the new pizza parlor, just opened downtown. You been yet?"

Manic frowned. "Yeah, it's decent. So what?" He was losing his patience.

"Well, my bud tells me that the boss has a party every month, in his mansion, y'hear? And that's not all, he also invites the employee of the month right into the place, they can party with all the nobles there and everything!" Coal paused for a moment before continuing.

"See, then I had this thought. If one of you thieves could go undercover, get a job there and get invited to the party, it'd be an easy way to get right into the mansion, the security wouldn't be an issue. Then all of the treasures in it would be ours, including any nobles that are worthy of your classy pickpocket treatment, heh. So waddaya think?"

"'I'm in." Manic was a pro at undercover stealing. He could act like the best of them, putting on any kind of persona he required for a job. From a threatening street punk to a cute dopey valley boy, Manic was like a master of disguise in his own form.

"I believe in ya, Mani. I know you'll get into that mansion, go ahead the job's all yours. I'm wayyy too busy for a job at the damned pizza parlor anyways." Quil ruffled Manic's quills with a clawed hand, and took off to the sky before Manic could hit the feathery bastard.

Great, now he was alone with Coal.

"I knew you'd be interested, Manic." Coal grinned. "Infact, I already went ahead and wrote a job application for you, all you have to do is hand it in, and hope to Hell that you get a good interview." He handed the application to Manic without another word, and Manic took a look through it.

The application itself was full of lies, including some fake certificates documenting various achievements and school grades. Manic had never even been to school. The application also said that he was 17 years old, and a current highschool student looking for a job on the side. He himself was only 12, though mature for his age, he could easily pass for 17. Albeit an incredibly short and scrawny 17 year old.

"Alright, well-" Manic quickly glanced at the time on his phone. "Looks like the pizza parlor is still gonna be open. I can head on over there right now. Later, dogmuck. I'll get to that mansion before ya know it."

He flipped Coal off, who shook his fist at him in return, which made Manic laugh as he took off, pizza and a certain annoying bat fluttering on his mind.