9. Subversion of a Weapon
Marauve Gallery was a small place, in a high-rent district of the city. The owner was as much a crook as an art dealer though, fencing loot that came in the back door, resetting the gems and reworking the precious metals before offering the 'refurbished' jewelry in glass cases alongside the pricey paintings that decorated the walls. Therefore, Rouge had no compunction about relieving him of a few of those refurbished pieces from time to time. He couldn't even report a theft, because official attention would reveal that he lacked true provenance for most of his jewelry and also that many of his paintings were forgeries. She hadn't been there for a while, so she decided that a trip there would be a good first test of the Gizoid's skills. She wasn't about to take a total neophyte on a trip to recover a Chaos Emerald. That would be utterly stupid, since that gem would be under the closest guard of anything in the building. She did, however intend to scout the layout.
She made that trip during the afternoon, leaving Emerl to stand watch at the corner (tucked out of the way behind bus-stop shelter) and sauntered on in to Eureka Gems. She had been in the shop before, and knew that their security was very good during the day. Two obvious security guards stood in their elegantly tailored uniforms to either side of the door, and there was another, plainclothes guard circling discreetly through the displays, pretending to browse. An elegantly coiffed human woman in an emerald green gown glided gracefully towards the bat. Her necklace and earrings were emerald-colored jade set in platinum, and Rouge recognized the design as that of a modern, great artist. "May I help you, madam?"
Rouge had dressed herself carefully for this part of the job, in tailored navy pants and a shirt that, while equally close-fitting, pretended to hide more than her usual bustier. The shirt was white, intricately embroidered in navy and green, with an abstract pattern that curled below her bust, then wrapped around and over her left shoulder. A matching blue and green scarf was tied around her neck, not so incidently concealing a tiny camera. Her bracelets were blue and green agate, valuable not so much for the stones but for the artistry, because the gems and silver had been worked into a double chain of blue flowers amid green leaves and stems. They were heirlooms and looked it, and actually pieces that Rouge legitimately owned. The bat complimented the saleswoman on her jewelry and modestly accepted the return compliments, then explained that she was looking for some fire-toned jewelry to round out a particular outfit, producing another scarf in deep reds and golds. The saleswoman escorted her to several displays, until the bat found one she liked and asked to examine jewelry, politely looking at an adjacent display while the woman opened the case - and rubbing her neck under the scarf to trigger the little camera.
Once the case was opened, Rouge looked back, and studied the necklace carefully. She pulled out her loupe and examined the gems for possible flaws, then felt each carefully, testing for settings that might be too loose. I may actually have to get an outfit to go with this, she thought, admiring the intricate interweaving of red, red-orange, and orange-hued gems, which conveyed the impression of leaping flames. The setting itself was a combination of gold and red gold. The bracelets were just as well designed and made, and the earrings were equally lovely, if less detailed. Nodding thoughtfully, she asked about the price. She didn't even blink at the sum named; she'd known it was going to be impressively high. She looked back at the necklace she still held. Incredibly, she hadn't seen anything she could use to legitimately argue for a lower price. It was a master's work, and done with the best gems and material available. She considered the state of her bank account, and the probable fee for this job. "Will ten percent hold it?" she asked, finally. She hadn't actually planned to buy anything, but this work of art was far too lovely to adorn anyone but herself
The saleswoman quickly mastered her surprise, and agreed to the down payment. Signaling to another clerk, she replaced the necklace in the display and set next to it a small card the fawn-colored cat brought over: 'Reserved for a buyer'. Then while the dokan clerk skillfully distracted the bat by complimenting on her planned purchase and her taste, the first woman reclosed the case. Rouge was then escorted to an office where she filled out the perquisite paperwork to have the set reserved for her. Enshrined in the back of the office was a large, scarlet gem that glowed with its own inner light. "Oooh," gushed the bat, looking at it, "what is that? I've never seen a stone like it; how do you get that glow effect?"
The clerk explained that the gem was practically unique, one of seven rare stones called 'Chaos Emeralds' and was on loan from a government collection. It was one of the gems that had helped Sonic and Shadow the Hedgehogs save the world several times over. Rouge smirked inwardly, but kept a fascinated expression directed at the saleswoman, then clumsily knocked a cup full of pens off the desk. While exclaiming in dismay - and while the saleswoman ducked under the desk to scoop up the spilled utensils - she quickly took a few pictures of the Emerald's case. Still apologizing profusely, she handed over the bank card that was exclusively for her jewelry purchases, and waited while the downpayment was debited. Then she was escorted out by the saleswoman, who was no doubt delighted by her commission for such a sale.
Rogue picked up the Gizoid and flew into the darkening twilight, followed by Emerl. She had left him holding a small bag, from which she withdrew a dark blue pullover, charcoal gloves and bonnet, and into which she slipped her agate bracelets and necklace, as well as the camera scarf. Quickly she pulled on her outerwear, hiding her white top and fur beneath the darker colors. It was dark enough now that she became a shadow in the night, and she landed in the shadows outside the Marauve gallery. As she'd expected, it was already closed, and its secondary occupation wouldn't pick up until after midnight; and then only if someone had arranged a transfer during the day. The gallery was in an older house that had been retrofitted as a commercial space, and was surrounded still by residential dwellings. No one was visible walking in the chilly evening, so Rouge flew up to a second floor window on the side of the house. The porch roof gave her a place to stand, and a massive willow tree shielded her and the robot from detection. "Okay Emerl - DON'T say anything out loud - we need to be very quiet, and you need to show me how to get in this window."
There was a slight pause from the robot, then a very quiet "Okay! Okay!" A gold hand slid along the window frame. Rouge wasn't entirely certain how the robot was detecting the alarm wires, but the technique had been perfectly functional on her training door. It was equally effective here, as Emerl detected and neutralized the alarm, then turned one finger into a glass cutter and removed a small piece of window pane. Then he unlatched the window and raised it, and the two slipped inside.
They were in a small bathroom which Rouge didn't think ever got used. The janitor who cleaned the rest of the public spaces kept it reasonably clean, but never noticed the damaged window(which had been already cracked the first time she'd visited) behind the sagging blinds, and the owner had apparently never been in the room himself. Glancing back as Emerl turned his finger into a small heat-gun, Rouge noted the patches on the window from three previous visits were still there (one time the window had still been unlocked from her previous visit), and shook her head. Incredibly careless, especially for someone who couldn't rely on police for protection. The Gizoid carefully replaced the glass and melted the edges back into the main mass, doing a far better job than she ever had; the seams were imperceptible. Then they left the room.
There were two more alarms to deactivate, one in the front, public gallery, and another in the back rooms, and the Gizoid handled both with as much finesse as Rouge could have wished. She quickly liberated two antique necklaces which had not yet been disassembled that she knew had rewards offered, and a handful of prime loose gems. She knew from past experience where the most valuable things were kept, and had the Gizoid open those safes but wasted no time looking among the loose stones for quality or value. Then she led the way to the front gallery, where she used a cautious flashlight to scan the 'refurbished' pieces, and took the four she liked the best. Keivens did do good work, even if he was a thief. She left in each place a small card engraved with a pink heart and the words 'Thank you' in elegant script. Then they retreated back up to the bathroom and out the window, closing it (but not, of course, locking it) behind them. Emerl reset the alarm, as he had already done with the interior ones. Chuckling with pleasure at both the haul and the success of the Gizoid, Rouge flew back to the club.
"Phew, here we are!" she said as she landed, ruffling the short tendrils of fur on the back of her head. The bonnet always made her ears itch, and while she still wore the pullover, the dark gloves and the bonnet were again hidden away.
"Amy! Amy!" crowed the Gizoid, and the bat turned to see the pink hedgehog striding up the sidewalk. She didn't have her hammer out, but she looked decidedly displeased.
"I told you to forget about–" the bat began, but stopped. Either she'd only meant to tell Emerl to forget, or the command hadn't worked; either way there was little sense in repeating it now. Besides, Amy was already upon them.
"What took you so long, Madam Rouge?" asked the pink girl, with definite stress on the title.
Again, Rouge was amused by the child, although she suspected she actually meant a different word. Or else she didn't quite understand what 'madam' meant. Although Rouge knew many people believed that she sold her favors, she'd never heard of anyone accusing her of selling someone else's. And Club Rouge was a nightclub - not a strip joint, and certainly not a brothel. The two apartments above it were lived in by Rouge herself and the manager.
She eyed Amy thoughtfully, debating the best way to handle her. "How did you find this place?" she asked. It was hardly a part of town she'd expect a good little girl like Amy Rose to be familiar with.
"Just my woman's intuition, I guess."
"Oh, and does your intuition tell you that you'd better stay out of this?" returned the bat. As if to prove her point, the door to the club was shoved open and several burly, drunk humans thrust out it. One of them decided to rid himself of some of his alcohol at Amy's feet, and her expression as she jumped back was worth every bit of annoyance the bat had felt on seeing her. "I'll be here tomorrow, if you want to talk," Rouge said mildly, "but you may not want to stick around right now. Besides, what would Sonic think if he saw you here?"
"Sonic wouldn't come near this place with a ten-foot pole!" shot back the hedgehog. She looked dubiously at the splash of vomit, and then at the three drunks being 'helped' into a cab by the bouncer. Then she squared her shoulders. "Besides, I need to get Emerl back to show that I can take care of our baby!"
Rouge gave the girl credit for persistence, but signaled to the bouncer. Joe, she thought it was, although it could have been his twin, Mike. "You should know who you're dealing with here." To the man, she said, "Could you call a cab for Miss Rose please? She seems to have gotten a bit lost, and it's much too late for little girls to be out on the streets."
"Yes ma'am," said Joe (or Mike) and raised a hand to signal a cab. The other hand grasped the pink hedgehog gently but inescapably by the arm, and steered her towards the taxi stand. Amy spluttered and tried to pull free, but she had no real recourse against the massive human, and as Rouge had anticipated, she was reluctant to use her hammer against him. Smirking, the bat headed towards her private door.
"Amy! Amy!" repeated the Emerl, looking back and forth between the two dokan.
"OK," said Rouge, "let's go inside." Emerl looked back at where the unwilling hedgehog was being put into a taxi, but followed Rouge.
"Shadow, I'm back," she called. Emerl clicked and buzzed to himself, but there was no sound from the hedgehog. "Hmm, still asleep." She stepped into the den and looked him over; he appeared to be genuinely asleep, rather than the near-coma he'd been in earlier. Pulling the blanket away, she saw that the graze on his side was fully furred, vanished as if it had never been. She tucked the blanket back, but decided to leave the bandage on his arm. She wondered what he'd say if he knew about the last page she'd deciphered from Gerald's journal. From all she'd gathered, Shadow knew that he'd been designed in part to help heal Maria, but that the tests to see if he actually could help her had never been completed. On that last page, though, Professor Gerald had jubilantly announced (with handwriting worse than ever from excitement), that the tests were a success. A matter of days, only, were all that was needed to cure Maria - or so he'd thought. A matter of days when there was only one day left, thought Rouge sadly. The date of that entry was the same day the Gizoid went berserk, and Gerald got yanked down planet-side to deal with that while the GUN soldiers were sent to evacuate the Space Colony ARK - and eliminate everyone connected with Project: Shadow. She'd be the first to admit she wasn't the sentimental type, but it wasn't hard to picture Shadow's reaction to that knowledge; that the cure for his beloved Maria had been so close, and actually running through his veins, when time ran out.
She walked thoughtfully to her bedroom and removed the journal from the secret compartment in her bedside table. Opening it, she looked at the damning page a few moments, then ripped it cleanly from the binding. She nearly tore it up and threw it away, but information was power and wealth in her line of work, so instead she went to her most secure safe and slipped the folded paper into the lining of one of her jewelry boxes. Then she flipped on her computer and loaded the images from her camera, studying the containers that held both the jewelry she intended to purchase and the Chaos Emerald closely, both the 'normal light' pictures, and the special views the spy camera was capable of. Beside her computer, the shard of yellow Chaos Emerald shone and shifted. At last, she slipped out of her 'wealthy buyer' clothes and into a black bodysuit. The material was specially designed to eliminate a person's heat signature as well as absorbing light, and the matching gloves and bonnet went into the bag she'd had the gray ones in. Then she went back with the Gizoid to the training room.
Music from the club thumped through the wall as she opened a closet to bring out part two of the Gizoid's training, critical to retrieving the Chaos Emerald. "Home! Home!" cried Emerl, inexplicably.
"That's right, this is your new home now," answered the bat absently, as she pressed a sequence of buttons on a remote. Immediately, a pair of green lights lit up, just higher than her head. Emerl crowed something else, that she didn't really hear. Her attention was split between her immediate plans and the ultimate goal, that shining red gem she'd seen earlier in the day. "Yes!" she answered automatically, backing out of the closet. "Now! Finally! The ultimate treasure is all mine! OK, I'm going to train you to become the ultimate robot thief!" With a steady thump-thump, a Guard Robo stalked out of the closet. On a whim, (and to render it unrecognizable to its original owner,) she'd repainted it green, with real gold-leaf pinstriping and seven colored crystals set in a ring on its thorax, echoing the colors of the Chaos Emeralds. "Alright, let's get warmed up. Whenever you hunt for treasure, you'll always have to deal with Guard Robos. The Doctor sold these just to make extra cash on the side, under his legitimate, Robotnik Inc. brand, of course. Anyway, they can be dangerous if you don't watch out. So let's begin practicing dealing with these guys first. Why don't you fight the Guard Robo I've got here. Your goal is to defeat it five times under a time limit. Are you ready?"
Emerl did his staticy crackle again.
"Its weapons are non-lethal," added Rouge, "so this one can't hurt you, and you just need to tag it in the right places, not hit it full force. What do you say to that?"
"Play time," answered the Gizoid, clearly this time.
"Good. Now here we go!" Rouge clicked the Robo's start button and took a seat on the gym horse. She placed the bug next to her, where it wouldn't get damaged.
It took the Gizoid, with his patchwork attack style, several minutes to inactivate the other robot. Rouge reset it and told Emerl he had to take it down thirty seconds faster the second time. This time, with the addition of several of the Guard Robo's own moves, he cut the time by a whole minute. By the fifth round, he defeated his opponent by pulling two of its own moves on it in eight seconds.
Rouge gulped as she commanded the Robo back into the closet and shut it down. The speed with which Emerl learned, even though his motor and mental skills were not fully functioning, was frightening. She could well believe the danger he posed with more Chaos Emeralds. Should I hand him over to the President now? she wondered. He'll probably give it to GUN, and they'll want the Gizoid for a weapon in spite of the Commander's personal preferences. So they'll probably locate the other Chaos Emeralds to power it up fully. They don't know the commands to reset him, and they probably wouldn't reset him if they could, since that would potentially make him refuse to fight, so he'd become as dangerous as Gerald feared. Our military should be more powerful than that of four thousand years ago, but that just means the Gizoid will have that much more firepower at his disposal. No, she decided, I'll help Sonic and Tails get the rest of the Chaos Emeralds for him, and attempt to find the code word; if the President or GUN object, I'll just tell them I thought they wanted the Gizoid in a fully functional state. And who knows, if it can feel care and compassion, it may accept the role of protector, so that it will fight to defend people even if it refuses to make the first attack.
At any rate, Emerl was watching her, waiting for his next instructions. "All right, good," she told him. "Not bad at all. OK, next is the getaway technique. Even if you've got the treasure, if you get caught, it means nothing. So try not getting hit by me for five minutes. You'll have to start all over if you get hit even once."
That one took longer than the first task against the Guard Robo, as Emerl had far more offensive moves than defensive ones. And it didn't appear to have been programmed with 'strategic retreat' in mind. But eventually Rouge got not only the idea, but several of her evasive maneuvers through that metal skull, and on the last run-through, though she had to dodge a few attacks designed to discourage pursuit, she never got near enough to Emerl to land a blow.
"Sonic," said the Gizoid softly, when she complimented him.
"You don't get it, do you? I am your master from now on! Now forget about that hedgehog." That statement was more for the benefit of the bug, adding fuel to the notion that she might steal the thing wholesale. "Don't forget the Marauve Gallery, this evening!"
"Sonic," repeated the Gizoid. She couldn't tell if the metallic voice was wistful, lonely, or what.
Shaking her head, she decided it was time for her own final warmup. "OK, after this, it'll be for real! Let's do a five-hit battle!. But if I tag you even once, you have to start all over, OK?"
That bout was shorter than she'd expected, although the Gizoid now had enough of her techniques that she could predict a lot of what he was going to do. It was usually a switch to Sonic's or Shadow's move that tagged her, although the tailless tail attack nailed her twice. It actually went to twelve hits on her, since she tagged Emerl twice herself. But he was getting frighteningly good. "Hmmph, not too bad," she finally conceded. "You're built pretty sturdy. OK! Are you ready for the real thing? Our target is that place we scouted earlier today. According to my data, they have a Chaos Emerald. When the Guard Robos show up, take care of them just as we've practiced until I get the treasure. OK, you ready?"
"Sonic," said Emerl again, as it nodded. Rouge wasn't sure what that response was supposed to mean, but took it as agreement. "Marauve Gallery, here we come!" she said as she flipped the bug back into the pouch with her jammer. Kievens was far too cheap to have Guard Robos, but she hoped the other agents wouldn't know that. She didn't alert GUN this time, if anyone was eavesdropping they might or might not go look, since the last guy had gotten caught. Although it might be interesting if they did check things out; especially if Kievens was playing the fence tonight. But right now, she had a date with a very special jewel. She checked briefly on Shadow - still asleep - and headed back to Eureka Gems with Emerl.
They'd crossed out of Night Babylon when a voice hailed them from across the street. "I knew I'd find you here!"
"Shoot," growled Rouge, recognizing the voice - and the red-clad form advancing on them. This time Amy had her hammer out, and a glint in her eye that stated that she wasn't going to be diverted again. The bat sighed. "Well I guess I'd better take care of her."
"That's it!" declared the pink hedgehog as she jumped up the curb to join them. "I'll finish you here. You won't get away with this, Rouge!"
Rouge took wing, just enough that Amy would have to jump to reach her, and ordered the Gizoid to stay put. Then she dove at the pink hedgehog. Amy seemed to be going all out, wielding her hammer at full force, but she lacked the skills that the bat had and the maneuverability. Rouge spun around her, throwing a few kicks and punches to force the girl to block them, but mainly making Amy turn, and turn again. Before long, the girl was staggering from dizziness, and ended up grabbing a 'No Parking' sign to stay on her feet. Rouge hovered, not able to make out what Amy was mumbling but fairly certain that it wasn't over yet. Sure enough, the younger girl hauled herself upright and staggered back towards the bat. Tiring of the nonsense, Rouge flicked one of her bat-bombs at the girl. As the small projectile hovered towards her, Amy swatted it with her hammer, releasing a cloud of sleeping gas. She blinked a few times and sank to the ground, still mumbling. This time Rouge caught Sonic's name.
The bat snorted as she picked the girl up. "That should keep her quiet. No wonder Sonic's so sick of her. She's just way too persistent!" They were right across the street from Amy's apartment building, she realized. She carried the sleeping hedgehog into the lobby and laid her on the couch. It was rather worn, but presumably more comfortable than the floor, and certainly safer than the street. "Well," said Rouge to Emerl, who had followed silently for a change, "she'll be fine, sleeping here. Hope I don't have to fight her again," she added as they resumed their interrupted journey. "We're almost at Eureka Gems. Our target is the Chaos Emerald in the office."
This time Rouge dealt with the alarms herself, after pulling on her special gloves and bonnet. Even the boots she was wearing tonight were designed to conceal, although she wished someone had told the manufacturer that black was actually more easily seen in shadows than dark gray, blue, or brown. Very few things in nature were truly black, so the eyes of humans and dokan tended to pick out black shapes as suspicious. But in this case, it was only infrared vision she needed to avoid, and the outfit was perfect for that. The Gizoid was her decoy for the heat-sensing vision of the Guard Robos inside. She hadn't seen them during the day, but she'd accessed the database of Robotnik Inc. and knew that the store had purchased ten top-of-the-line Guard Robos, and serviced them on a regular basis. Once she was certain the alarms were bypassed she led Emerl to the employee-only door on the side. "Now remember that technique I taught you earlier to open locks?"
Emerl looked at her, and at the door, and made his crackling noise again.
"What's the matter?" Surely the thing didn't have a conscience yet. "Just do it as I taught you."
A golden hand reached towards the door, and the fingers transmuted into lockpicks. A moment later, the bottom lock clicked, followed in short order by the two above it.
The bat grinned in delight. "There you go. See that wasn't so hard. Now, just open this, and . . ." She stepped back and let the Gizoid push the door open. A crackle of energy indicated the wisdom of her discretion, as a jolt that would probably have dropped her surged harmlessly through Emerl's casing into the ground. "All right! Thank you!" She stepped into the darkened room. Enough light came in through the barred windows and the open door to allow her eyes to see reasonably well. Dokan bats were more like the fruitbats, or flying foxes, than the multitude of Microchiroptera; they did not echolocate, but had excellent sight and hearing both. She was tempted to look at the fire jewelry again, but that would waste time, and stealing it would be a bit too suggestive as to a possible culprit. Besides, she wanted to wear that set, and it was distinctive enough that that would be too risky unless she purchased it legitimately. So she moved straight for the office door. Emerl moved with her, as visually adept as she was . . . but far more visible to the guards.
"Halt, intruders! Your presence is unauthorized!" Dim red lights flicked on in pairs around the room. A quick count suggested that three of the Robos were missing, either in the office or near the jewel vault, which she knew from past experience was down a narrow flight of steps. "Get them, Emerl!" she hissed, and started on the lock to the office door.
The Guard Robos were supposed to automatically broadcast an alarm signal to the local Police, but Rouge had deployed a jammer before they entered specifically to prevent that. While Emerl made short work of the Guard Robos, Rouge picked the two locks, then pulled on an insulated glove to open the door. It turned out not to be charged, as she had rather expected - too much chance of an employee accidently zapping themself - but she hadn't gotten where she was by being careless. The Chaos Emerald's case was another matter altogether, though. She glanced back at Emerl, who was clobbering the last Robo with a hammer that bore suspicious resemblance to a certain pink hedgehog's, then ducked aside as the other three robos made their entrances, two from the vault and one from the office itself. She held her breath as the latter went past, but it didn't notice her.
Leaving the robots to their battle, she slipped into the office. Several alarms were specifically linked to the Emerald's case, one to the pedestal the gem rested on itself. She disarmed the ones protecting the outside of the case, then carefully located the three concealed locks that held it closed. Breaking the case wasn't really an option; most of them nowadays were made of the same material that the space colony's windows were made of, combining complete transparency, minimal refraction and reflection, and durability enough to resist a meteorite strike. Rouge couldn't have damaged it if she'd wanted to, nor Knuckles, nor Omega. Emerl might, possibly, but only with a lot more power than he currently possessed. With a last click, the case detached, and she braced it quickly before it could fall. Carefully and slowly lifting it away, she spotted the hair-thin wire that linked it to the base - from the inside, where it couldn't be tampered with. Break that and all the work bypassing the other alarms would be wasted. "Oh, it's gorgeous," she breathed, getting a good close-up look at the Chaos Emerald. It wasn't like she hadn't seen it before - and all its companions - but the Emerald was truly a thing of beauty and worth reexamining. She glanced over her shoulder as Emerl came in behind her. "Emerl, come hold this lid for me," she directed, intending to have him hold it steady while she dealt with the Emerald and the final alarm.
Emerl walked to join her, but then froze, a strange sound coming from his speech mechanism. "What?" asked Rouge, puzzled. It wasn't the crackle he'd made before, but sounded like a language she didn't recognize.
"Chaos Emerald," said the robot, more firmly and clearly than she had ever heard him speak. The Gizoid appeared to be trembling, with eagerness or fear, although she'd never heard of a robot doing either. "A new," he said, sounding breathless, "Power."
"What? You're speaking now?" Rouge realized the Gizoid must be already drawing energy from the Chaos Emerald. As if to confirm her suspicion, the gem itself was now glowing with steadily increasing brightness. Abruptly, one of the robot's hands shot forward and grasped the stone, while the other one rendered the alarm nonfunctional. "Hey," said Rouge. "Hey! What're you doing? Hey! That's my Chaos Emerald!" The golden chest plate cracked open and she had a brief glimpse of a dimpled panel that looked like the Eclipse Cannon's with purple and white Emeralds already glowing in their sockets. The red one floated into an empty socket and the cover snapped shut. "Hey! You stole my Chaos Emerald!"
The Gizoid went motionless again, head tipped forward, blue eyes flickering like flames, or like the Emeralds themselves. Again, it spoke in an unfamiliar language, but softly, as if talking to itself.
Rouge had never heard of a robot talking to itself either, but she was too furious to care. Shoving the case lid back into place, she flipped one latch to hold it and turned her full attention to the metal thief beside her. Slapping him on his chest, she repeated, "Hey! Give me back my Chaos Emerald!"
"Skayatin tekeir nalan. To beetos laketh slet beetos lakenth. Tralsenten reemat nickto." Suddenly the eyes flared, and Emerl brought his head up and around sharply, twisting his neck to a degree not possible for most vertebrates. "He's coming! He's coming!"
"Who's coming?" Rouge was still furious, but caution remained. Had the police been alerted? She ran for the exit, not caring if she left that underhanded robot behind.
Emerl ran right with her, though. "Sonic! It's Sonic!" he crowed, with what sounded like genuine delight. There was more inflection and depth to his voice now; although clearly robotic, it was equally clear that this was not the voice of a mindless automaton.
As they left the alley beside the jewelry store, the bat dropping into her usual saunter and stripping off dark gloves and bonnet, the blue hedgehog appeared at the corner.
"Emerl!" exclaimed Sonic.
"Sonic!"
"Sonic!" echoed Rouge. "How did you find us?"
The blue hero laughed. "A wild guess! A hedgehog's hunch!" The feel of Chaos Emeralds, guessed Rouge silently.
"Sonic, good to see you! Sonic, good to see you!" Emerl might be talking more eloquently, but he still tended to parrot himself.
"So, Rouge," Sonic leaned negligently against a lamppost, "what were you planning to do with him? If you've done something bad with him, I won't let you off easy!"
"And now why would I want to do such a thing?" countered Rouge. "I thought we'd agreed to get all the Chaos Emeralds, so we could reset him. Don't tell me now you've changed your mind? I'll have that Emerald back then." She stepped towards Emerl, reaching for his chest plate.
"Sonic!" She paused at the chorus, and spotted Tails and Knuckles jogging up the street. She really needed to get gone; the sky was rapidly paling towards the east.
"Sonic," echoed Emerl, "let's play more! Play more!"
"Hey, stop it!" Sonic could hardly not be distracted, as Emerl pulled out a hammer and swung it in his direction. Then the robot followed with one of Rouge's kicks. Sonic dodged both, then put on a serious expression that made the bat want to laugh. "This is serious!" he warned the robot.
Emerl stopped, cocking his head. "Serious?"
"That's right," replied the blue hedgehog firmly.
"Serious talk!" announced Emerl. "Let me join you! Play time! Play time!" He pounced on Sonic again, grabbing him and trying to throw him.
"Hey, Emerl, stop it!" Sonic twisted away, but he was laughing, his serious manner discarded. He began wrestling with the Gizoid, forgetting whatever he'd been going to discuss with Rouge.
"Oh that's it!" growled the bat. "I give up! You can have the Chaos Emerald; he already has it anyway. Sheesh, what kind of a mess have I gotten myself into?"
"Hey, stop pulling my quills, Emerl!" Sonic didn't seem to have heard her.
A sudden vindictive urge inspired Rouge to say, loudly, "Boy, this is ridiculous. That's why I'm only interested in jewelry. I'd never want to be a mom like that girl."
That got Sonic's attention a moment, despite the robot tugging on his ears. "What girl?" Tails and Knuckles had already gotten the reference, and were snickering together.
Rouge didn't answer, taking to the air instead. "Good luck with everything, daddy!"
"Daddy?" But the bat had already left.