Howdy, folks!

Okay, I've been getting a lot of criticisms from a new reader by the name of Diablo's Heir (Shoutout!). Diablo, if you're reading, just know that I do not take any offense at your comments. To be fair, this is my first story I've EVER written, and frankly, I'm surprised I've gotten so many comments saying I'm really good at this. It's actually kinda refreshing to see someone seriously criticizing my work. No offense to the rest of you guys.

Well, my hand is getting better from my crash I had on the 3rd. TBH, I'm disappointed that no one commented on it. Makes me wonder if you guys actually read these notes in the first place...

In other news, I finally got the Best of Soul Eater soundtrack I ordered last month. I wasn't actually supposed to get it for another week, so this is a pleasant surprise. I can finally rock out to "Resonance" and "Papermoon". Fans of Soul Eater know what I'm talkin' about. ^^

I don't own RWBY or Sonic. Enjoy!

Beacon Academy Workshop, 8:00 a.m.

After the party on Sunday, classes the next day were such a letdown. For the Mobians and the Remnant natives who were friends with them, it was a much darker day. Everyone gathered in the workshop before classes and began to discuss how to rescue Rouge the Bat.

"Okay, before we begin, can I just comment on how meta it is for a thief to be stolen- by a thief?" said Sonic.

"You have to admit, it is pretty ironic," agreed Ruby.

"How can you make jokes at a time like this?!" shouted Weiss. She was pretty upset that her friend was kidnapped by evil forces, and was very worried about Rouge, especially since her wing still wasn't healed.

"Chill, guys," said Tails. He punched a few buttons on his pad and displayed the images onto a bigger screen. "Now, because she didn't take her pistols to the party last night, the locater beacons in them are useless. However, she agreed for a transmitter be inserted into her heel, so we should be able to get a location soon."

Tails pulled up a satellite map of Vale. He pressed a button on the Miles Electric, and after a few seconds, a silhouette of Rouge's head appeared at a warehouse on the docks.

"That's where she is?" asked Knuckles. "Let's go get her!"

"Stop."

Everyone's heads turned to the speaker- Shadow. "Before you say anything, believe me, I want to rescue my teammate- my friend- as much as the rest of you do. But we need to think this through. That symbol on that paper I found goes with a known associate of Roman Torchwick. Who knows what kind of forces are going to be there?

"Additionally, we can't call upon Omega, at least not now." Shadow's head turned to the robot, who was on a table with all sorts of tools around him. "Hey, artificial intelligence, what's the status report with Omega?" he asked, a bit harsher than he intended.

Aeromi flared into existence from a hologram emitter next to Omega. "His systems were jumbled up by a close range EMP emitter. He'll be fine, but it's going to take some time for him to be a hundred percent again. Too soon if we're going to rescue Rouge within the next twenty-four hours," she said.

"What if we try to sneak into where she's hiding?" asked Jaune.

Shadow considered his suggestion. "That might work, but we'd need a small team that can move quietly. Also, since Torchwick's associated with the White Fang, we'd be up against Faunus that could probably hear us coming. Still, it's not a bad idea. The only question is who should go."

"Why don't you all go to your classes for now?" said Amy. "We'll come up with a team by the time you're done."

As the teams left for their classes, Silver suddenly had an idea. "Hey guys, I'm sure we can do this, but I think we're gonna have to call in some outside resources."

"Oh yeah? And what outside resources do we know of?" asked Sonic.

The silver hedgehog grinned. "Captain Shepard of the Normandy."

Vale Harbor, abandoned warehouse, 8:30

After being hung upside-down by the feet for a few hours after regaining consciousness, there was an undeniable conclusion to be made.

Rouge was downright bored.

She didn't remember how she arrived in the dark, featureless room, nor when her ankles and hands were tied and was left hanging upside-down in the middle of an unmarked room. She just knew she was at a party beforehand.

"Well, this sucks. At least the accommodations are nicer than the last time I lost consciousness at a party," she said to herself. On that occasion, she came to in a GUN interrogation cell, sleeping off a hangover. It was only through her feminine wiles- and Shadow and Omega- that she didn't end up in prison.

"Still, this doesn't seem like something set up in a jail cell," the bat thought out loud. She took a mental inventory of what she had, and really wasn't surprised when she remembered leaving her pistols in her room. She was more appalled that the familiar weight of her makeup kit was gone.

Still, all things considered, it could've been worse. She didn't mind that she was upside-down- she's a bat, for Bob's sake-, and she was certainly thankful that she wasn't chained up against a wall, forcing pressure on her injured wing.

Rouge's sensitive ears twitched as she heard two sets of footsteps coming her way. A door opened behind her, followed by an unknown person turning on the lights, revealing that the room was just as featureless in the light as it was in the dark. "Wake up," a female voice said harshly.

"Come on, just five more minutes," whined Rouge. She was already wide awake, but she was not going to make life easy for the person or people who captured her.

A person walked in front of the bat, and Rouge was not surprised at all to see green hair and red eyes on a dark-skinned face. "Lovely to see you again, Emerald," she said brightly, dropping the facade of someone who had just awoken.

"Can it, you freak," Emerald Sustrai commanded.

"Really? Freak's the best insult you could come up with? Hon, the government flunkies I put up with back home are more creative than you. Granted, those perverts mostly reference my perfect figure and what I do with it during interro-"

Rouge's musings were interrupted by a slap across the face. "You owe me for that embarrassment you put me through when we first met, Rouge the Bat."

"Get in line, I do it all the time," the Mobian responded cheekily.

"Your friends don't know where you are, you're unarmed, and that robot of yours won't be coming to save you anytime soon. You're out of luck," the girl said, crossing her arms.

Rouge turned her head. "Hey, you, two questions. Is she always like this, and are you enjoying the show?" she asked the person standing just outside the room.

"Trust me, she's just getting started," Mercury Black answered, stifling his laughter. "And yes, this is hilarious. Too bad this room doesn't record sound, I wanna listen to this again."

"Why is your wing bandaged up? Are you grounded?" Emerald mocked, trying to get the upper hand. When she approached the wing, Rouge uncurled it and ended up whacking the girl in the face, knocking her down.

"Nah, I've got bandages on cuz it looks nice," the bat responded. In truth, the wing was still hurting a bit, but she was given a medicine that boosted the body's natural healing the night before. Rouge figured that even though she couldn't fly yet, she could still knock the green-haired thief to the floor- and she did. "Just out of curiosity, are you just here to gloat? By the way, oops."

"No, I'm here to tell you that you may have been a big shot on Mobius, but I'm the best thief there is on this world," Emerald said, red eyes full of hate as she got up.

Rouge raised an eyebrow. "Really? If that's the case, how'd I get your wallet?"

"What the-"

Sure enough, Emerald's wallet was clenched in Rouge's bound hands. Mercury lost it at this point and just started laughing his butt off.

"You realize that the more you tick me off, the less chances there are that you'll live through the day, right?" snapped Emerald as she snatched her wallet back.

Rouge shrugged. "Hey, if I'm imprisoned, and will likely die, I might as well enjoy myself. Besides, screwing with you is so much fun."

Emerald went for the door, dragging a still laughing Mercury on the floor. "We'll see how long you can keep that attitude," she said as she slammed the door to the room, leaving Rouge all alone again.

Privately, Rouge was worried about Omega, but she dismissed it. The robot had been through worse at the hands of the Nocturnus Clan, so a young girl probably didn't damage him too much. All in all, she felt pretty good. She won against Emerald's anger, and she learned something valuable, thanks to Mercury- the room didn't have any listening devices.

Before she could exploit that, the door opened again, revealing a member of the White Fang carrying a tray of food. The woman was dressed in the usual White Fang stalker wear and mask, but she had two distinguishing features- green gauntlets on her arms, and a the tail of a squirrel as her Faunus feature.

"Well, I'll be," said Rouge, surprised. "You're a sight for sore eyes, Tali."

"Sush!" the Faunus hissed. "Don't blow my cover!"

"Oh, relax, hon. This is gonna sound embarrassing for you, but I've been awake for about three hours, and I already know there aren't any listening devices in this room."

Tali breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright, but don't expect me to hang around here. I'm just supposed to feed you and leave, so there's no time for catch-up."

"So, no releasing me?"

Tali shook her head. "I can only let you down so you can walk around, but I have to chain you to the floor." The Faunus gently lowered Rouge to the ground, then clipped the chain that hung her from the ceiling to a spot on the ground.

"Oh, well, one can dream."

Tali gave the bat the food tray, then said, "I'll try to get a message out to John, but I'm not sure he'll risk an assault for fear of blowing my cover."

"I wouldn't worry too much. I activated a locator beacon in my heel about an hour ago. If I know my friends, they'll probably be here by evening."

"Wait, how'd you do that with your hands tied?"

"Who said I used my hands?" Rouge countered with a cryptic smile.

Tali twitched her lips, then adopted a worried expression that Rouge could see through the White Fang mask. "I hope it's no later than that. One of the White Fang leaders, a terrifying man named Adam, will be here tomorrow evening. If that Emerald girl hasn't killed you by then, he'll do far worse."

A loud bang on the door caused the Mobian and Faunus to jump. "Okay, you've been in there long enough. No need to torture that abomination, the boss'll do it soon enough," a voice said just outside the room.

Tali stood up. "Wait, before you go, could you get my makeup kit?" Rouge requested. "I know I may die, but I want to look good when I do. I really need to reapply my mascara."

The squirrel Faunus suppressed a smirk. "I'll see what I can do."

When she left, Rouge was once again alone. As she ate her bland breakfast, she decided to not think about the certain doom that would happen if her friends didn't rescue her.

Instead, she thought of ways to razz Knuckles once she got out.

I'll be honest, this chapter was really fun to write. Rouge totally owning Emerald- while tied up and upside-down, no less- seems like something that's totally in Rouge's character, IMO. XD

As always, leave a review, and follow and favorite if you want to get semi-weekly updates on the story. Toodles!