Treasure Hunting is hardly a fair game. One moment you're on top of your game — the next, you find yourself at the mercy of your rival! This is how our lovely thieving bat Rouge met Corimange, the skilled web-slinger!
Elegant and as graceful as ever, Rouge soared through the night, stars dimly shining over the outskirts of a slumbering city. The world-famous treasure hunter simply adored the feeling of the cold night breeze flowing just under her wings, especially as she had her sights on a particularly prized relic.
As the bat's intel would have it, a group of smugglers docked at the city port. They were ferrying various goods in just under the radar, and in their pursuit of profit, the simpleminded crooks seemed none the wiser that their stash housed a Chaos Emerald. A legendary gemstone of nigh-infinite power… and a stunningly beautiful gemstone at that!
Rouge perched near the warehouse at the docks. Only a couple men were lazily stationed outside. Perhaps they didn't want to draw unwanted attention in or, perhaps, they were truly oblivious to what riches their flimsy crates truly housed. Regardless, Rouge was practically doing everyone a favour, lifting such a gem from these simpletons' clutches. Such refined jewelry is much safer with her, somebody who understands just how valuable it is!
The night was her ally. The winged thief effortlessly flew through the shade, just out of the drowsy guards' sight. She picked an unremarkable window by the side and made quick work of it, silently cutting a frame with her sharpened heels, perfect for somebody of her stature to glide right in. The warehouse was quite massive on the inside, most of it cloaked in darkness, the area only barely lit up by a set of lamps hung low across supporting beams. Gently floating up to the ceiling, Rouge had a perfect view of all the stored goods. No guards present on the inside despite there seemingly being a post for one. Child's play. The shaky warehouse was filled with crates, boxes, packages of all sorts… yet none of those truly interested her. The bat focused, looking to single out the jewelry crate which happened to have one of the seven miracle gems arrogantly assorted into it. These people had no appreciation for true beauty!
Call it a treasure hunter's intuition or, perhaps some sort of an innate skill, but the bat managed to single out the exact stash she was looking for and, prying it open with a single swift dash of a kick. An enchanting blue light filled up the bleak environment. There it was, resting in a bed of riches hardly worthy of its company, the azure Chaos Emerald shined affectiously, bathing the treasure hunter with its captivating, warm glow. She took it out from the crate, liberating it from such blasphemous captivity, the gorgeous relic encasing her in its appreciative glimmer…
However, her ears twitched lightly, a faint sound of a rapidly approaching projectile ringing in her head as she regained focus and dashed aside, a shot of web landing onto the crate before which she stood mere moments ago. Harshly dragged back into the here and now, Rouge daringly looked up, seeing a set of golden, shining eyes staring her down. A spider, perched on top of the wooden beams underneath the black ceiling, returned her gaze. It was a man. A man dressed far too elegantly, looking far too well upkept to be one of the smugglers.Stretching threads of silk out in his four slender, clawed hands, he smirked at the bat lighly.
"It's hardly a sign of sound manners, sweeping in to reap the rewards after someone wrangled all the prey" Corimange spoke out, talking in a quiet, elegant voice, "I must say, I expected better from someone of your fame, Rouge" "A-ha, I suppose I ought to thank you for dealing with the chumps around this place." Rouge stretched, noting that she truly had it all too easy getting in, "Still, if you truly know anything about me, I'm not one for sharing. You snooze, you lose, as they say~" "Heh... Truth be told, you've helped me a fair bit this night yourself" the man noted, brandishing a dagger and slicing a thread of web off, "It would take me far too long to comb through the place in search of this single gem. I'll gladly lift it off of you now, though."
The air between the two went silent. Both thieves anticipated the opponent's next move, standing ready. The spider snapped two of his hands out, launching a set of webs at the bat as she, having anticipated his barrage, rolls ouf of the way and jumps, stretching her wings, gliding across the floor at an incredible pace. Yet, the arachnid swings across from bar to bar, nailing his next shot and entangling one of the bat's wings up, causing her to tumble across the floor. Still, she props herself up with hands, launching out of the spider's line of sight and behind one of the support beams.
"All the talk about manners and this is how you treat a lady?" she groaned, trying to pull the webs off of her wrapped up wing to no avail. "Oh, please, this is strictly professional" he chuckled lightly, as she could hear him dashing closer and closer, leaping from beam to beam to blindside her.
And yet, Rouge heard his approach, surprising the many-armed bounty hunter with a sharp kick in his abdomen as he launched out at her from the other side. The kick sends the thief rolling as he uses his arms to regain balance. lifting himself back up. Before the bat gets a chance to strike a finishing blow, however, he jolts one of his limbs out and lassoes her ankles with a stream of silk, pulling, forcing her to smash down onto the floor, knocking the wind out of the bat. The emerald rattles across the floor, spinning just out of reach. Both take a moment to compose themselves, their looks dashing from one another to the gem resting on the ground. Moments of deliberation pass. Corimange launches a line of web to fetch the emerald, only for Rouge to get one of her heart-decorated explosives in the way. As the arachnid zips the bomb towards himself, he manages to react in time, swinging it around and tossing it deeper into the dark abyss of the warehouse, the small explosion lighting the building up briefly. Using the brief confusion, Rouge launched at her opponent, almost landing a direct hit on his head with both her heels, yet he managed to catch the bat just as she was about to land the devastating blow. His spare hands reached out to web the bat up, yet she caught them with hands of her own. Still, he manages to encase her ankles in his webs before pushing her legs away, making the bat spin in his hands, after which he forcefully smashes her down onto the ground, using her grip on his other two limbs as leverage.
Rouge exhaled, pained from the harsh hit, disoriented just enough for Corimange to force the bat's hands behind her back and start webbing them up. He reached one of his four hands up and shot a sort of a grappling web, lifting them both up into the air. As they rose up, he spun the bat around with his spare hands, webbing her up with each subsequent spin, rendering her more and more helpless by the second. The sticky silk threads wrapped around her latex clad body, encasing her legs, tying down her wings, pinning her arms to her back, webbing up her fists, wrapping her legs up nice and tight as she wriggled, trying to resist this to no avail. The silk produced by her opponent was far too sturdy, sticking to her, tightening with each bit of movement she dared.
"Ngh..! D-dammit, stop! What are you doing?! You can't--! This isn't…! Grahh!" she merely protested as the spider lifter her all the way to the ceiling and, breathing heavily, still worn out by the struggle, plastered her onto one of the beams, shooting his webs around it, making sure she's completely hepless, stuck in place, with even her head wrapped to the beam, completely immobilizing her.
"Ahh... hahh... While I've enjoyed out little song and dance, I think it's about time I slice it short" Corimange perched on a web of his, effortlessly fetching the loose Chaos Emerald with a shot of his silk. "I'll admit, I find your your boastful reputation to be a bit exaggerated~"
"Bold words from someone with cheap tricks up his sleeve--- GHMMF?! MM-MMPH! MM!" Rouge snarled, about to protest, only to get her mouth webbed up as the Spider dragged silk across and around her face, shutting the bat up, "M-mmmph! Mmmn-nmmmf! Mmmmph! Dghm hf! Ghmmnf! Phgh!"
"Now-now. I'm sure the 'world-famous treasure hunter' will have better luck next time~" the spider teased, holding the alluring, glimmering Chaos Emerald right in front of Rouge... yer so far out of her grasp! "Worry not. Somebody's bound to check on you by the morning~"
Smirking in the face of Rouge's futile, furious struggles, the bounty hunter zipped off into the darkness, making his exist through the very same window Rouge so graciously slices out, leaving the bat short of her treasures, stuck in this filthy warehouse, entirely helpless, thoroughly bound and gagged with immsensely sturdy silk she could do very little about. No matter how much she tried, her wings wouldn't budge. She was practically glued to the bar, hanging from it as if she was some sort of a luxurious ornament. Rouge struggled against the webs encasing her body, not a single thread giving in as she awkwardly shifted around, bouncing her bust in the air, grumbling with her mouth sealed shut with the same sticky substance.
"Gh-hmmf…! M-mmph… ghrmmnnf…!"
It was so embarrassing! Despite her best efforts, the impudent arachnid took the best of her, wrapping her up as if she was a mere fly. Now he gets away with the gem and she can't do anything to free herself, unable to reach for her communicator, unable to use her sharp heels, unable to move whatsoever. Still, she had to find a way to cut herself loose, as she had no intention of letting the lowlife smugglers finding her all prettied up like this. This was going to be a long night… but she there was one thing she was certain about. The spider would pay for humiliating her like this!
I've been dying to do a picture with my bounty hunters, but the right idea just never managed to stick tight enough for me to truly flesh something out. With the new tablet, however, I fett as if I had discovered a second wind within myself, finally picturing exactly what I wanted to do with a certain multy-armed well-mannered gentleman. Been a bit since I've braved doing proper set-pieces with backgrounds and what-not and, admittedly, I think this came out rather lovely. Let me know what you think!
All characters are depicted as 18+ Rouge the Bat belongs to SEGA Corimange "Stinger" Merynnod belongs to yours truly
![Athena's Captivating Ride [COM]](https://va.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/4891/4891905_DMZ_athena_s_captivating_ride_noncustom.jpg "Athena's Captivating Ride [COM]")
