Back to Manic! Feel free to read all about his and Rouge's wacky adventures after me and Era respond to reviews!
Guest: Sonic actually wouldn't have any idea what Sonia and Manic would look like in the present, actually. Keep in mind that he hasn't seen them or any photos of them for ten years- he struggles to remember what they looked like as six-year-olds, much less be able to imagine what they'd look like in the present. So even if they bump into each other on the street, he wouldn't make the connection.
Caisha12: Best Sonamy on Fanfiction, huh? Achievement unlocked!
Juancastri11: Aw, you're nice.
Zosonils: Glad you didn't get caught. "No ma'am, I wasn't laughing at you, I was just reading fanfiction." Yeah, that'll fly. But I'm so glad you're enjoying the story!
Starlight Sparks: Thanks!
Autumn: Yeah, we've had that date planned for a while now. So much fun to finally write it!
Wafflesbelike-NYANCAT: You and me both.
UltimateCCC: Um… okay. Not totally sure what you mean by that, but okay.
Matthews's POV:
I've always had trouble sleeping, so getting to the deli by midnight to meet Rouge was no problem for me. I wore my usual dark red vest with the hood, so my face was mostly hidden. The ratty pair of jeans I wore all the time were already a darker shade of gray, and my dark red sneakers were mostly hidden by the cuffs of my pants that sagged below my ankles. I didn't have to wear my black hoodie since I probably wouldn't be the one who could get caught on camera, but it's always better to dress dark during a job. Besides, it was a warm night.
Hitching a ride on the back of a streetcar, I made it to the deli with time to spare. Hooking my thumbs in my pockets and slouching against the brick wall, I blended perfectly into the night environment. Perfect.
Right as the hands of the wrist-watch I swiped turned to midnight, Rouge rounded the corner, wearing her usual black and gold trench coat over white boots. She didn't see me in the darkness, crossing and her arms and huffed impatiently, scanning the area for any trace of me.
Sneaking up behind her, I covered her eyes with my hands. "Guess who!" As I had suspected she would, Rouge twisted my arms behind my head in a painful position until she saw who it was she was defending herself against.
"Oh. It's you." she said flatly, releasing her grip. I rubbed my aching wrists and grinned up at her.
"Miss me?" I asked.
"Hardly. Let's go, we don't have all night." Whipping around, Rouge walked briskly up the sidewalk, me following close behind.
"So give me the details," I said, catching up and walking alongside her. "What kind of computer security are we talking here?"
"I know from my sources that they generally use the AES algorithm encryption for the master computer, and an IP camera system in every hallway."
"Sheesh. You weren't kidding when you said this place was hardcore."
Rouge turned and glared at me. "I never kid."
Okay then.
The walk to the jewelry store was quick, Rouge never pausing in her no-nonsense stride. When we arrived at the building, I quickly learned that she wasn't kidding when she said that she didn't kid.
"...Wow." I said simply, gazing up at the gargantuan structure. It was at least three stories tall, the outside made of light gray stone (no graffiti either- weird, since this place seems to me like a vandalism super-magnet). Narrow windows lined the top and middle floor, the glass in the panes shaded. The revolving front doors were clear, almost transparent glass edged by silvery metal frames. Even in the dead of night I could read the shimmering silver block letters of the sign above the doors, reading 'Stephanie & Co.'
Rouge stared up at the building with like I was, but rather than a look of wondering awe like me, her expression read something closer to… hunger. Greed. She was crazy about this store and everything in it, and she wanted it all to be hers.
"Let's move. We're on a time crunch." she said, turning her focus away from the front of the building and moving to the right side, slipping between to narrow alleyway to the back area. It was much less impressive back there, a simple black metal door with a plain latch handle replacing the glamorous glass revolving door. A small keypad was mounted on the wall between the door and the fire escape ladder. A few crates were stacked atop each other in the back end of an open truck; probably full of new jewels to exhibit in the morning.
"First things first-" said Rouge. "We need to get in."
"Got it. Any other obvious statements you'd like to contribute?"
She glared at me. "Come on," she sneered, stalking over to the keypad on the wall. She crossed her arms and glared at me expectantly. "Crack it. I know you can."
"Will do, angel." I sauntered over to the keypad, examining the buttons with an expert eye. I assumed that Rouge didn't know the password, but that no problem.
"What are you doing?" she asked scrutinously as I rifled through my knapsack that I had brought along. Combing through various supplies and bits of debris, I finally found it: my tech scrambler.
All it is is a hand-held mini computer that I can plug into other devices. It helps me a lot with the hacking process, especially on the advanced systems. I use it mostly when the data encryptions are more advanced than 128-bit, but that doesn't happen often in my experience. But I do use it for these such occasions.
I untangled a cord out from the bottom of my pack and connected it to my scrambler. On the other end of the cord was a small electric patch that I stuck to the top of the keypad. I typed in my command to search for every possible passcode, and within a few minutes the scrambler had figured out every code and detected the correct one. The keypad buzzed green and I opened the door for Rouge, bowing low and grinning up at her as she strutted in.
"Ladies first, m'lady," I saw the slightest hint of a smile creep up on her features before she quickly stifled it, replacing it with a grimace.
"Took you long enough. Let's go."
Through the door was a darkened hallway; I could make out the outlines of various objects throughout the area, but other than that I was practically blind. Figures this would be the day I forgot my flashlight at Curtis's.
"What's the plan?" I whispered. I could hear the door shutting behind us and Rouge fiddling around with something. A light came on, and I saw her holding two small but bright flashlights. She handed me one, then pulled a folded sheet of paper out from her coat pocket.
"Follow me," she breathed, stepping silently down the hall and beckoning me to follow. The beam of light protruding from the flashlight led the way down to a sleek metallic door, this one unlocked. Through there was a large circular room, the ceiling high up and mirror-like, and glass displays placed appealingly throughout the area. High windows were placed up near the ceiling, moonlight pouring in through the narrow metal bars covering the glass.
"Dang, this place is deluxe," I commented, looking around and nodding in approval. Rouge wasn't listening; she was busy unbuttoning her trench coat and taking out various pieces of equipment from the pockets.
"Here," she said, handing me an ear piece. "This is so we can communicate throughout the job. The room with the master computer is in the next corridor, third room to the left. Contact me once you've hacked the main defenses."
"Which ones?"
Rouge waved her hand around. "See these?"
"... See what?"
"Hold on," she said, pulling out a small plastic spray bottle filled with a clear liquid. She sprayed it in every direction, and glowing red lights appeared like magic before my eyes.
"Laser tripwires. They start right in front of where we're standing and stretch clear across the room. Motion activated. I could try to fly my way through them, but that would be too risky. You need to shut them down."
"Got it."
"The jewel," said Rouge, jabbing her forefinger out past the lasers. "Is in the glass case with the sensory receptors. I can break through those on my own. I just need you to override the security and keep the surveillance cameras off me. Understood?"
I snapped to attention, saluting to her. "Ma'am, yes ma'am!"
"Don't get witty." she sneered. "Oh, and take this with you. It'll weigh me down." Rouge pulled off her trench coat and handed it to me, revealing a pair of leathery black wings. She turned to face and I felt my face grow bright red. Hol-ee Chaos.
"Oh geez- um…" I stammered, averting my eyes. Obviously, this girl had never heard the phrase 'modest is hottest'. She wore a sleek, skin-tight black jumpsuit with a hot pink heart on the chest, showing off a bit too much cleavage for my liking. (Oh, who am I kidding- I felt dirty just looking at her. Someone get some censor bars.)
Rouge caught on to the cause of my discomfort and scowled. "Quit staring."
My cheeks grew hot, and beads of sweat began forming on my forehead. "What? No! No, I'm not- it's just- can you like, put on a shirt or something?"
"... what?" Rouge gaped at me in confusion. Had no one ever asked her that before? I'm surprised.
"Uh… Y- y'know what? Nevermind. I'll just, uh, get going. Things to do, computers to hack, all that fun stuff. Um… yeah." I rushed off down the corridor, clutching my knapsack and her coat. I fumbled around in my bag until I found my lockpicking kit, busting through to the computer room within minutes. The master computer was smaller than I had imagined; it was just a simple desktop (I was sort of expecting one of those over-the-top motherboards that you see in action movies. Oh well). I plugged in my scrambler to the router, hacking through the first three passwords and logging me onto the starter page.
I quickly realized that this was no ordinary desktop computer. I had never seen such an advanced firewall before; using a combination of symmetric and asymmetric ciphers? This place really is state-of-the-art.
It took me while to find and decode the defense data, and a bit longer to decrypt the password needed to shut it down. I strapped the ear piece that Rouge had given me onto the side of my head, pressing the button on top.
I heard a crackle of radio static, then her voice. "You got it?"
"I've readied the code needed to debar the lasers but I'm not sure how long I can make it last, so you'll need to hurry."
"Excellent. Cameras?"
Oh crap, I almost forgot. That could've been a disaster. "... One moment, if you please." I pulled up the file that held the surveillance data, and nine different screens popped up in the window. The one on the far left showed where the sapphire was stored; I hurriedly reprogrammed the camera to shift up, and for the quality to go fuzzy and pixelated. Perfect.
"Ready when you are, angel. Do your thing."
"Don't call me angel. Shut it down in three… two… one…"
I typed in the code to the password field and an icon popped up announcing that I had destabilized the defense, and did I want to reinstate it? I exited the window, but it kept popping up again and again and again. It was annoying. I wished that I could see her through the cameras, to get a feel for her technique.
This was getting boring. I pulled out my drumsticks from my back pocket and began tapping them absentmindedly on the desk. Somehow through the rhythm, I devised a poem in my head.
So hot of a bat was that girl
Through the sky she did fly and she twirled
She could steal a jewel,
make me feel like a fool
I'm so in love that I think I might hurl.
Thank you, thank you. Your applause flatters me.
Checking my watch, I saw that it had only been twelve minutes since Rouge had gone in. Really? It seemed like a lot longer than that to me. Well, there's always time for more poetry. There once was a man from Nantucket-
Suddenly the intercom in my earpiece began emitting the familiar buzzing noise, and Rouge's voice emerged through the static. "I got it."
"You got the jewel? That fast?" I asked incredulously. "No way."
"Way."
"Well, I'm impressed."
"I get that all the time. Let's get outta here- I'll meet you by the fire escapes."
"Race ya."
"Too late, slowpoke, I'm already at the doors."
"Cheater."
"Ametuer."
Grinning to myself, I quickly exited out of the surveillance windows and erased my hacking history, then logged out and shut down the desktop. I slung my knapsack back over my shoulder and snatched up Rouge's trench coat. I wondered briefly what she might keep in there, and before I could restrain myself I was riffling through the folds of her coat, scrutinously examining the contents of the pockets. The buttons were real gold, and the leather belt definitely wasn't cheap. In one of the pockets was a roll of mints and some spare change (which I pocketed), and in the other was a just a bit of lint. But I had hunch that this had a little more to it.
I shook the jacket around a bit, carefully running my fingers over the insides. Sure enough, I found six slim, zippered pouches sewn carefully on the insides, stuffed with goodies. So I wasn't the only one who sewed extra storage space on the insides of all my clothes. (See? I'm normal! And you didn't believe me. For shame.)
The goods inside here were far more interesting. In one I found a pink pearl bracelet edged with what appeared to be real platinum, and in another a pair of dangly jade earrings. It seemed as though Stephanie's wasn't the first jewelry store Rouge had raided tonight. A diamond-studded silk scarf was folded over two or three gold bangle bracelets. Impressive.
I returned the jewels back to the pockets where I had found them and was about to get going when my thieving sense struck. Fingering the bottoms, I found yet another zippered pocket, this one a little deeper and heavier than the others. I opened it, pulling out a pair of police-grade handcuffs- no key.
Something's wrong with this picture.
I realized that I had been searching through Rouge's coat for over eight minutes and sprinted to the exit, tucking the cuffs into one of the inside pockets of my vest. Why did she have those? Rouge was no cop!
Except that maybe she was.
After all, Rouge is an agent of GUN. She works for some big government organization doing who-knows-what for a living. She's not technically one of the feds, but given how little faith she had in my skills, and the fact that she was carrying this filthy thing in the first place… no. No. Not even gonna think about that.
I made it to the back door in record time, panting a bit from my power sprint. Rouge was waiting outside by the fire escapes, arms crossed and a dissatisfied scowl on her face.
"Doing some last minute shopping in there, princess? Or do you enjoy keeping me waiting?" she said coolly, examining her fingernails. She eyed her trench coat in my arms and, quicker than I would have thought possible, snatched it away and buttoned it back up. I still didn't feel real comfortable looking at her, though (yeah, yeah, laugh all you want, but you idiots should really come to grips with the fact that maybe- just maybe- not all guys enjoy looking at girls in that way, like… like… objects or something. Don't hate me 'cuz I ain't a sleaze).
Suddenly, a shadow of realization crossed Rouge's face. Her eyes flicked in my direction, then for seemingly no reason she spun around once. Her icy turquoise eyes narrowed into slits, her lips pursed tightly.
"What did you take?" she growled.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't play games with me. You took something from my jacket."
"Prove it."
"I don't need to. I know you took something and if you try to deny it I will beat you into the ground until you confess."
I smirked and reached into my vest, pulling out the cuffs and twirling them on my finger. "Care to explain, beauty queen?"
Her expression never wavered, but I could tell that she was upset that I had found the cuffs. "That's none of your business," she said curtly.
"Oh, I think it is. What exactly were you planning to do with a pair of police-grade handcuffs?"
Rouge sniffed rather snobbishly, refusing to look me in the eye. "Maybe I carry cuffs with me because of my job, ever thought of that?"
I didn't answer, but attempted to scan her thoughts. Rouge's job almost never involved arresting people. She left that bit of dirty work to the authorities. But she had been issued those cuffs by a higher-up… recently. And suddenly it all just clicked.
"Woah, woah, woah, hold up-" I said, holding up both hands in disbelief. "You were gonna sell me out, weren't you?"
Her eyes widened and her lips pursed even tighter than before. Anyone else might have mistaken that for a look of accused outrage, but I knew better.
"Don't try and lie to me, I already know that you were," I spat angrily. Was this the only reason why she brought me along? So that if one of us messed up, I could take the fall?
"I don't need to explain myself to you. Girl's gotta look out for number one, y'know." she replied, hard and indifferent .
My first instinct was to shout at her, to storm off and refuse to have anything to do with her ever again. I was mad, dang it. Yeah, I get it, we weren't exactly friends or anything, but plotting to frame me for her half of the job? That's low.
But… I didn't want to do that. I don't like being angry, that just ain't my thing. I closed my eyes and clenched my fists as tightly as I could, then released. I was still angry… but I didn't feel like blowing up anymore.
Taking a deep breath, I faced Rouge. "Look, I get it. You didn't really know whether or not I could be trusted to do my end of the job. You weren't able to trust me on my word, and to be totally honest, I didn't really expect you to. But having a plan to pin all the blame on me? That cuts deep. I think I at least deserve to know why."
Rouge didn't answer, but turned, her back facing me. Guess I ain't getting that explanation tonight after all. I was about to leave when she spoke suddenly, startling me.
"It's nothing personal, alright?" she said sharply. I could feel the guilt in her voice, although she was doing an excellent job of masking it. "But the fact stands that if something- anything- had gone wrong and GUN had found out what I was doing, I'd be given twenty to life in a heartbeat. And I don't do jumpsuits, okay?"
I had the feeling that there was a bit more to it than just the (albeit nauseating) prospect of wearing a fluorescent-orange prison jumpsuit, but it was to fuzzy for me to sense. All I could tell was that GUN was keeping Rouge out of the clink on a deal of some sorts, and that she had a rap sheet even longer than mine. Color me impressed.
"Hey," I said, walking up behind her and handing her the cuffs. "I had fun tonight. No harm, no foul, am I right?" She looked a bit surprised at first and peered over to me apprehensively, allowing the tiniest of smiles to escape her lips.
"I do have one more question, though-" I said as I got ready to leave.
She rolled her eyes. "What?"
"Does this count as a date? 'Cuz this felt like a date to me."
"I will pay you to shut your mouth for longer than two seconds."
"No need, angel face. I don't care about money, and the only jewel I like is you."
Ah, Manic. I don't believe Rouge could ever pay you enough to keep you quiet.
So this technically wasn't a first date for these two (not by Rouge's standards, anyway), but it does include one of their favorite date activities: going "shopping" (their other favorite will be going dancing/ clubbing. Both of them love the party scene). And yeah, Manic's no perv. As stated before, he understands people way more than your average person. He understands that everyone has real, individual minds and feelings of their own, and thinks it's wrong for women to be seen as objects of lust or prizes to be won. That's why he's uncomfortable with women who dress like tramps.
So to answer your inevitable question: Yes, Manic does get angry from time to time (Uncle Chuck, anyone?). But the thing is, that was an extreme case. He doesn't like feeling mad or holding grudges for the most part- they cramp his style. But when he begins to build a growing resentment or hatred of something/ somebody, watch out. And why didn't he start shouting at Rouge like any normal person would've? Simple. Manic's not normal. He gets angry, but cools off really fast. As stated prior, Manic understands people. He knows why they do what they do, and most of the time he can relate with them and forgive them if their intentions/ motives are in the right place. The only times when he blows up is 1, When a person is purposely doing something he considers wrong, or 2, When his own emotions about the situation are so strong they completely overshadow his sensing abilities.
And yes, Rouge has driven Manic to poetry!
And I died… like literally. I started to tear up because I was laughing so hard. Wish I thought of it…
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN ANXIETY!
The next Manic chapter won't be a romance one. Rouge won't even be in it (at least not in person, and possibly not even mentioned). What will be in it you ask? Try several near-death experiences.
Speculate about it in the comments!
...You know, I think I'm just going to let her leave it at that. But at least it's a break from 'relationships'. Anyone else getting sick of them? Ugh… As I have said before, this is about building relations between characters and building up the plot. The good news is… I think we're REALLY close to Manic and Sonia meeting up again. YAY!