Once You Go Human...

It was one innocent phone call that started it all for Rouge. Her cell rang as she was lounging about in her apartment, and she answered it with a bored expression. "Yes?"

"Hey. Got a lead for you" came a familiar voice from the other line. It was a contact of hers, a pawn shop owner that she occasionally got some good info from. "I think this might be a big one."

"Keep talking" Rouge said as she stood up, her interest immediately piqued. It had been a little while since she'd gone on a good heist, and there had been no word of anything world-threatening happening either, so this was welcome news.

The voice on the other end chuckled before he continued, as if he could see the expression on her face. "This guy came into my shop today and asked me some pretty weird questions. At first he was just talking about precious stones... but then he asked me how much he could get for something like a Chaos Emerald."

Her eyes widening, Rouge felt her body tense up. She tried not to get her hopes up too much, after all this was more than likely nothing. If it WAS true though, then this could be huge. "Did he have it with him or anything?"

"No, and not long after he left the shop. He probably realized he said too much." Rouge groaned in frustration, but the man quickly spoke again. "I didn't get his name or anything either, but I did happen to get his licence plate number as he was leaving the parking lot. I'll send you the picture when we're done talking. He was a guy in his late twenties or so, brown hair. Pretty average looking."

"Excellent, thank you." Nodding to herself, Rouge smiled. That would be plenty enough information to work off of. "And if this lead turns out to be genuine I'll make sure you get your cut."

"That's why I like working with you, I don't even have to ask. Good luck." With that the call shut off, and she began making preparations.

-

It was right around sunset as Rouge finally located the house she was searching for, and she smiled to herself as she strode confidently up to the door. There was even the car in the driveway with the same licence plate she had been given earlier. Thankfully due to a few people owing her some favors she had easily retrieved the info for her potential target, a man in his late twenties named Alex. She grinned to herself, feeling almost sorry for the guy. This would be all too easy. Before knocking she checked herself over one last time, smoothing out a couple of wrinkles on her suit, adjusting her fake glasses and making sure she was showing plenty of cleavage. Satisfied with the state of her disguise Rouge reached up and knocked on the door, adjusting the briefcase in her free hand.

There was nearly a minute's pause before she heard footsteps, and then a moment later the door opened as Alex looked down at her. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a loose hooded sweatshirt, his feet bare. "Oh. Good evening. Can I help you?" It was the same face as the one she'd seen on the driver's licence, though he did admittedly look better in person even if he did have unkempt brown hair.

"Yes, you can in fact." Reaching into her breast pocket Rouge withdrew a card and handed it over to a curious Alex. "My name is Barbara, I'm from a group called the Tyrell Corporation. I won't mince words with you, we believe that you are in possession of a Chaos Emerald. We were hoping that maybe we could offer you something for it." It was true that she was taking a large risk here. Normally she would just break in and steal the thing while he was at work or something, but frankly she didn't know if it was true he even had the thing in the first place. Better to confirm that it existed now, and if this didn't work she could try Plan B later.

Alex's eyes widened a bit but to his credit he didn't react much besides that. "Where'd you hear something nuts like that?" he asked casually as he pocketed the card.

"Our organization does have a substantial information network" Rouge answered cooly. She had to stop herself from smirking, his reaction had given it all away. Lifting the briefcase and looking around briefly Rouge flipped the tabs and opened it, showing Alex the neatly arranged money inside. This time she had to stop herself from bursting out into laughter as he openly gawked. "And if the rumor is true I'm authorized to make a deal for a substantial sum." Closing the briefcase with a snap, Rouge allowed herself a small satisfied smile. The money was counterfeit, of course, but judging by his reaction he had no idea whatsoever. She would only have to keep up this charade only a little bit longer and then she'd have her prize, she could feel it.

For a minute Alex looked hesitant. He scratched his head as he thought, and there was a brief moment where Rouge was unsure if she'd succeeded. "Well..." he said slowly, glancing surreptitiously at her breasts, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to hear you out." Stepping aside, Alex held the door open wide for her.

"Thank you." Rouge's smile didn't drop off her face as she was led to the living room, Alex sitting on an armchair while she sat on the couch. Thankfully her feminine charms worked just as well on humans.

"I suppose I should introduce myself, sorry about that" Alex said slightly awkwardly as he gave her a smile. "I'm Alex. Though I suppose your company probably knew that already. Would you like a drink or anything?"

Shaking her head, Rouge laid the briefcase out on the coffee table in front of her. Though she spoke calmly, she couldn't help but feel giddy about the goal in front of her. "I'll be fine. I'd like to get this done quickly if at all possible. So. Are the rumors true? Do you have a Chaos Emerald?" Alex paused for another long moment before simply nodding. "Is it here? May I see it?"

Alex nodded again. "...Sure. Just a minute." Standing up, he left the room without looking back. Rouge felt strangely apprehensive, there was something slightly suspicious in the tone of his reply. However she considered that it was probably just nerves as Alex came back into the room, sitting back down in his chair. He held up a cloth bag, and Rouge could see the noticeable lump of the item within. "Right here."

"Can you take it out of the bag for me?" Rouge tried her hardest not to sound impatient as her eyes stayed glued onto the sack.

"No." Alex's answer was short and curt, and Rouge found the smile dropping off her face as she felt a twinge of annoyance. Placing the bag next to him he looked right into her eyes. "I'd like to settle on a deal first."

Nodding back, Rouge smiled. "Of course." Reminding herself to take this slow and steady, she reopened the case. "We're prepared to give you everything here, and if we confirm it to be the genuine article we'd give you this twice over. I hope that would be satisfactory for you?"

Reaching down, Alex picked up a stack of cash and flipped through it. "Damn. That IS a lot..." he mumbled to himself. Frowning, he sat back in his chair. "I dunno. This is a big decision to make at once." Taking out his phone, Alex began fiddling with it as he thought. "I might want to get an opinion or two about this from others."

"That's completely understandable." Looking down at the case again Rouge snapped it shut and locked the clasps. There was a clicking noise from Alex that made her glance up curiously, but he appeared to be paying attention to his phone and not to her at all so she just shrugged it off. Standing up, she smiled at him. While she had planned on drawing this out a bit longer, frankly this guy didn't seem too bright. She would just get this over with right now. "Excuse me, do you mind if I use your restroom?"

"What?" glancing up, Alex seemed momentarily confused before nodding and waving his arm vaguely. "Oh, right. Yeah, down the hall, first door to the left."

"Thank you." Rouge began to walk past Alex and then stopped, looking him over. "Oh, one thing." Licking her thumb, Rouge leaned in close to Alex as she reached up and pretended to wipe something off of his cheek. She made sure that he had a nice, good look at her cleavage while she was at it. "Sorry. You had a smudge on your face" she said in a sultry voice.

"Oh... um... thanks" Alex said in a small voice. His face was red now as he glanced briefly to her breasts and back to her face again.

"Don't mention it." Standing up straight Rouge walked away slowly, making sure that he was watching as she left the room. Then, as soon as she was out of sight, she began to hurry down the hallway as silently as she could. Her heart was racing as she reached the bathroom and quickly locked the door behind her. He hadn't even noticed that she'd swiped the bag, which even now rested in one of the pockets of her suit coat. Thankfully on the wall there was a window, and after she scrambled up onto the toilet she slid it open and began to push the screen out.

Of course, even though Alex wasn't that bright the human wasn't completely dumb. "Hey, Barbara?!" came his voice, coming closer fast. There was a pounding on the bathroom door as Rouge finally pushed the screen free. "Open up!"

"Sorry honey" Rouge replied smoothly, climbing up to the window. "Better luck next time!" She slipped out easily, landing on her feet as she sprinted away. She was briefly aware of Alex's voice shouting from the window, he must've opened the door somehow even if it was too late.

Not far away Rouge made it to her parked motorcycle, and getting on she quickly fired it up. She was about to drive away as fast as possible, but her curiosity overcame her. Reaching into her suit pocket she extracted the bag, and with slightly trembling fingers she worked at the drawstring knot. "I wonder what color it is... ohhh I hope it's the pink one" she said giddily. Finally the knot came free and reaching in she pulled the gem out.

The smile died on her face. The stone inside was indeed pink, but it was just a cut piece of quartz, not a Chaos Emerald. She stared at it for a bit, uncomprehending before glancing dismally inside the empty bag as if hoping that it contained a second gem. After another minute of silence Rouge let out a frustrated growl, shoving the quartz back inside the bag and throwing it angrily into the grass nearby. Putting on her motorcycle helmet, she sped away. "That son of a bitch..." Rouge muttered to herself, narrowing her eyes. Oh, this wasn't over by a longshot. No way.

-

It was nearly a week later as Rouge sat in a rented car not far from Alex's house. She had been casing out his place every day since the incident, and now she was ready to make her move. Every weekday Alex went to work for around nine hours, so once he left today the plan was simply to break in and search the place. She had gotten here nice and early, a hat pulled down over her face as she waited.

Thankfully, right on schedule Alex's car came around the corner. Rouge was ready, making sure to angle herself so that he wouldn't notice her as the car sped past. There was no mistaking that car, its engine even had a slight whine to it that was very distinguishable. After watching it drive out of sight, Rouge waited another half an hour or so before getting out of the car and making her way to Alex's house, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. The lock opened right up after a bit of picking and in no time at all she was there in the house, closing the door behind her as she looked around. Well, time to search she supposed.

The next couple hours passed as Rouge began combing the place slowly and methodically. She checked every drawer, behind every piece of furniture and in every possible nook and cranny she could find. There was even a shed in the backyard that she searched extensively. After her first major search of the place however, she hadn't found anything interesting at all. Walking back into the living room Rouge sat down on the sofa with a grunt of annoyance. Glancing at her watch she could see that it was a little after two, which meant that she only had a few hours left until Alex showed back up. Standing up, Rouge tried to psyche herself up a bit. Of course it wouldn't be that easy, but she was confident she'd find it. Thankfully even if Alex did show back up home early, she'd hear his car coming far enough in advance to quickly leave the place.

Of course she should have known that even thinking that would jinx everything. As Rouge got up to begin looking around again, the door suddenly opened and Alex walked right in. He glanced at her and jumped, his eyes widening as he just stared. Rouge could only just stare back, like a deer caught in headlights as she too fought for what to say. The two just ended up standing there, unmoving for a time.

"Well. I didn't expect to see you again so soon" Alex finally said, breaking the silence. His body relaxed, and turning away from her he took off his sweatshirt and hung it on the hatrack near the door. "Do you want a drink or something Barbara? I'm gonna make one for myself."

Frowning, Rouge followed Alex as he left the room. She didn't know why, part of her was saying that she would have just run as soon as she was caught, but she was annoyed to admit she was intrigued. "A drink? Seriously? Aren't you going to call the cops? And where's your car?"

Shrugging, Alex still looked unconcerned. "I thought about it. I almost went and talked to them after the last time. But nah, I'm not gonna do that. It's just going to cause more problems, if you think about it. As for my car, I dropped it by the shop since the office is closed today and I got a cab home" As he walked into the kitchen, Alex looked around at the mess Rouge had left behind in her search. "Damn. You really tore this place apart, huh? Anyhow, do you want that drink or not? I'm making a whiskey sour."

Hesitating, Rouge felt unsure. This was not the attitude she had been expecting from this guy at all. However she figured that this might be advantageous. His guard still seemed down, maybe there was a chance she could still get the location of the emerald out of him. "Fine. I'll take one, sure" she conceded with a nod. Alex almost seemed to smile in return as he looked away and made his way to the counter where he kept his alcohol. "So, what exactly do you mean 'more problems'?"

Snorting, Alex rolled his eyes as he prepared the drinks. "There's just one person I told about the Chaos Emerald. And I didn't even tell the guy, I hinted I might have something like that. With just that I've already got someone here at my place trying to steal it." Turning back to her now, Alex passed her a drink as he sipped at his own. "If I told the police what I had, do you think the rumor wouldn't spread more? I don't need that Eggman guy sending robots after me or something. I can tell it was a mistake to say something in the first place, really."

"Well you're probably not wrong about that" Rouge conceded as she too sipped at her drink. "So if you're not gonna call the police... what are you gonna do?" She felt very weird right now discussing this so casually with him. It was like they were discussing what they wanted to eat for dinner or something.

"I dunno" Alex said with a shrug. "I kinda feel like I'm in a catch-22 situation because of you. I take it you're gonna keep trying to steal the gem?"

"Of course" Rouge shot back, though she regretted it almost at once. She was feeling a bit off her game right now with this guy, normally people were a little more guarded around her.

Surprisingly Alex laughed. "It's kinda cute how open you are about it" he said with a grin. Feeling annoyed, Rouge looked away from him as she felt a blush rise to her cheeks. Taking a long pull of his drink, Alex looked her in the eye again. "So. I've been thinking. If you want the gem that bad why don't we just make a deal for it? I know the money from the other day was fake, but could you just offer me some actual cash?"

"I... suppose I could" Rouge said a little uneasily. She hadn't even considered simply bargaining with him for the gem, but now that the subject was broached she might as well try it. "I couldn't offer nearly as much as that fake offer I made though. Maybe... 1/20th of the amount?" She did have a little bit of money put aside, and even though it would hurt to give that away if he DID agree to it it would be an absolute steal.

Shaking his head, Alex clearly rejected that outright as he frowned. "No way. Not nearly enough, sorry."

Rouge sat back as she drained her drink. She should have figured it wouldn't be so easy. "Fine then... I could maybe offer to do something for you?" An idea came to her mind as she sat up straight. "I could steal something for you if you'd like? Maybe you want some famous painting or gem?"

"What?" Alex looked a bit annoyed now. "No, absolutely not. Then I'd have a famous piece of stolen artwork, which would be even harder to sell and I'd probably go to prison."

Sighing, Rouge tried thinking for a few minutes. "...I don't know what I could do then" she murmured to herself as she pursed her lips. Glancing to Alex, she raised an eyebrow. "Look, there's gotta be something you want for the gem right? I'm willing to do anything. If it's just money then I could get it together, but it'll take some time."

The expression that crossed Alex's face was hard to read as he studied her face. "...Anything?" he asked, clearly intrigued.

"Within reason, of course. But yes" she said simply. She meant it too, after all this was too good to pass up.

"Fine then. Yes, there is something I want from you, and I'm willing to give you the emerald for it" Alex's face had broken out into a wide grin now as he settled back in his seat. "I want to fuck you."

It took a moment for those words to register in Rouge's head before she sat up straight. "Wait... what?!" she asked in alarm.

"What, is that asking too much?" Alex asked curiously.

Getting her emotions under control again, Rouge folded her arms and glared at Alex. "Now wait just a second. We were talking about money, and now you suddenly just want sex? What am I, an idiot? Am I really supposed to believe that you'll give me the Chaos Emerald if I hump you?"

Shrugging, Alex looked unconcerned. "This whole encounter with you has given me a lot to think about. Like I said earlier, if anyone else finds out I have this thing then I might be in real trouble. Not only that but selling it isn't going to be simple at all and I don't really have the money to pay for bodyguards or anything like that. I mean, if you came after me for just a small rumor then what'll happen when it's confirmed I have one?" Finishing off his drink, Alex reached out and took Rouge's glass as well and began making two more. "I've been thinking lately that it would probably be best if I just got rid of it as fast as possible. So, frankly this works out for me as well."

Nodding in response, Rouge wordlessly took the second drink Alex gave her and started sipping at it before speaking again. "That makes sense, but I still don't understand why you'll give up the Chaos emerald for that. I mean, even if you sold the emerald quickly for a fraction of the price you could still make a lot of money."

"It's simple." Alex paused with his drink halfway to his mouth as he looked Rouge over, his eyes exploring her body. "I've thought you were ridiculously hot since the moment I met you. Plus you have those amazing tits. Getting to fuck you in exchange for the emerald seems fair to me for that reason alone."

Momentarily speechless, Rouge could only avoid Alex's lustful gaze as she sipped at her drink in embarrassment. As much as she hated to admit it, she was a little flattered to hear that a night with her was worth that much to him. "...Well, that makes sense" she said after a pause, unsure of what else to say. Rouge was starting to get a little annoyed with herself as she sat up straight and looked Alex dead in the eyes. This wasn't like her to get so timid. It wasn't like she was a virgin after all, she would just look at this as a business transaction. "So tell me. What assurance can you give me that you even have the emerald or that you'll even hand it over?"