A few days later, Sally was working when suddenly Kuro blinked right in front of her. "Okay, got what you needed and a few bonuses," Kuro explains, tossing a chip to her that she fumbles with while he places down a few big hard drives on the table. "Found these on some unused computer. I thought it might come in handy."
"So that's your teleportation?" Sally asks a bit surprised he appeared right in front of her.
Kuro shrugs before looking around. "So…anything else?"
Sally sighs and puts the chip into the table. "Let's see what you grabbed out of that place. You can go for some food if you want, though. Must be hungry after a rough few days," she says while digging through the files.
"Compared to last month, it was a cakewalk. Seems Storm's lost my trail for now," Kuro says.
Sally smiles. "Told you it is better with us. And you can worry less. If Storm comes nearby, we can hide you or send you somewhere where she least expects it," the squirrel assures.
"Oh, trust me, I know when she comes within five miles," Kuro informs offhandedly.
"How?" Sally asks, moving onto the next set of files before Kuro shows her the Eggman communicator he had.
"Got it set up to alert me when hers comes within that range," Kuro informs
Sally raises an eyebrow as she stares at the communicator. "And if she loses hers or gets a new one?" she questions, wondering how good he is at technology based on what Tailsko told her.
"She has to use a specific frequency to keep in contact with her forces. I use that to my advantage, and she can't change it. According to her ninja, that is," Kuro informs.
"Seems you have your life sorted out for you. Amazingly, you survived all this time. Usually, one of us can't make it that long against the entire army after us, and you did for a few months," Sally mentions proudly before stopping on a file. "Yep. One step closer. Sonica had been moved from Outpost 31 to Egg base…12 three weeks ago. So now we can look for information there when we are ready."
"The main difference is my profession is that of a thief, so I know how to disappear. If it were only Storm still looking for me, I would probably be trying to hide amongst the soldiers of one of the armies. Kind of like what I did with Abyss's Southern Oceans Egg army when I stole from them," Kuro informs without thinking and almost bragging.
Sally stares at him for a while before he notices her and realizes what he said. "Even if you managed that, you would have pissed off that army too, and then the next, and the next, and the next. And you will keep going until all of the armies are on your tail," Sally points out.
"True, but I wouldn't be stealing from them while hiding out. Also, don't challenge Storm and beat her. Her attention is too much as I have learned," Kuro says.
"We noticed. We found another ninja in the meantime and was able to beat him before taking him further away to throw them off. You have made a potent enemy. I'm surprised Eggman isn't joining in capturing you for your powers," Sally wonders to herself.
"That is why I am on their wanted list," Kuro informs.
"Besides that, you did piss them off enough…and Rouge told me about your communicator and how you have Abyss's number. I believe you nicknamed her 'Sexy squid'?" Sally questions smirking.
"I slept with her. I am not going to hide that," Kuro says, making Sally sputter a bit.
The two stare at each other for a while before Sally turns the table back to normal. "So…how was she?" she asks after the uncomfortable silence.
"Likes to take charge and you sass her, she gives you a bit of a jolt…why do you ask?" Kuro asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Nothing in particular. And nothing wrong with talking about our sex life here and there. I mean, we are constantly on edge over being attacked in minutes, so it feels great to let loose now and then. Fighting, training, working, even fucking," Sally lists off on her fingers nonchalantly.
"We ain't at that stage just yet. Keep trying, though," Kuro jokes, giving her a wolfish grin.
Sally smirks back. "Please. I am not an easy girl. You're going to have to prove more to me just to even get me out to dinner. You might have better luck elsewhere in the meantime," she notes casually.
"Not currently looking, besides the moment this goes off, I am most likely out. I would rather not end up at the altar yet like Storm wants," Kuro explains.
Sally rolls her eyes. "A one-night stand guy, huh? Strange. Storm mentioned in the past that love is a weakness. And yet this is happening," she mentions smiling and looks to the side in a happy thought while Storm sweats at being found out this early. "Guess you must have charmed her. Oh well. At least you have some girls here who do need to blow off steam with how tense everything is."
"Speaking of, Tailsko seems to be the tensest given how she acted before I left," Kuro mentions as he looks thoughtful.
Sally narrows her eyes and points at him. "Watch it. I treat her like my sister. If you make her cry, I will fucking bury you. I don't care what your power is. I will make it happen. So don't play around with her," she warns, and Kuro holds up his hands in surrender before he sees her sigh dejectedly and hangs her head. "She's been like that since Sonica was captured. Tailsko looks up to her as a big sister, so it makes sense she is the most worried."
"I got…" Kuro stops when the lights go out. "This happened a few times while I was gone?" Kuro asks, looking up to the lightbulbs.
Sally scratches her head confused. "Not really. We usually have some reserves for this room."
"Sorry!"
"Tailsko?" Sally questions looking to the door before running out the door.
"I think I know what happened," Kuro says, getting out to follow Sally to Tailsko's workshop.
Sally was surprised when Kuro ran ahead of her while his shorts and loose shirt waves in the wind. When they reach the workshop door, Sally pulls open the hanger and shows a nervous chuckling fox sitting among a pile of dead electronics and robots. "I think I used too much ion power," Tailsko thinks out loud.
"This is why you start installing shielding if you work with Ion," Kuro says to himself.
Sally sighs and slowly facepalms. "Was there any benefit to this?" she asks before helping the fox up.
"You manage to recreate the effects my Ion daggers have?" Kuro asks, bringing one out and pulling the trigger to let it start lighting up the room.
Tailsko smiles sheepishly. "Well, I shut off my entire workshop."
"And the lights to Sally's room," Kuro informs.
"Oh," Tailsko releases and leans over to see the meeting room shut off. "Oops. I can fix that," she says, quickly getting up.
"I'm surprised. You managed to do something like this in a few days," Kuro says.
Tailsko smiles. "Yeah. I can't believe it either. I mean, that much of a range…or maybe I hit the power station we have," she thinks out loud while stepping out and looking to a heavily covered station near her place.
"Wait…oh shit! Come on! Get back online," Kuro says, taking out the communicator he had and started trying to get it to work.
"Oh. Your Storm detector," Sally realizes. "Tailsko, can you fix it?"
"Working on the power now," Tailsko informs while grabbing some tools.
Sally hums and looks to Kuro, becoming frantic. "Hey, take it easy. It will be okay. She hasn't found you yet, and she wouldn't as long as you stay hidden among us," Sally tries to reassure.
It took a while, but Tailsko managed to get the power on and then worked on the communicator, but soon found what broke from the ion blast. "You got another communicator with you?" Tailsko eventually asks Kuro, and he screams in frustration and fear nearby.
"Man, he is acting like he is in a horror movie, isn't he hun?" Bunnie Rabbot says. And from the quick look Kuro saw, Bunnie is a mobian golden rabbit with pale yellow fur, a white muzzle, and vibrant emerald-green eyes. Her eyelids, as well as around the eyes themselves, are looking violet or pink, and her right ear flops over. Her hair, starting as a tuft of bangs on the back of her neck and forehead, were down to her waist, which is a single ponytail. And the most notable thing that Kuro heavily notices is she is wearing a pink leotard with the top cropped off to only her breasts, but it seems what is equally distracting is her robot arm and legs. If she weren't looking married to that coyote, Kuro would be all over her.
"Or maybe he is mimicking one," Antoine guesses while they watch Kuro stare fearfully out to the forest. Kuro notes Antoine is a mobian coyote about a meter tall. He has mainly brown fur with a pale yellow coat on his front torso, muzzle and cheek turfs, blue eyes, and as well short and neatly combed blonde hair on his head. For his fancy-looking clothes, he wears red boots and arm cuffs, and two sword straps that connect on his chest, forming an "X"-shape. He also has a belt colored red and white, with a gray buckle connecting the straps, and white-colored gloves and leg cuffs.
"Unlike either of you, he has an egg boss hunting him down to marry him and has been at it for the last few months," Sally informs.
"I have to get another communicator. You have to find me another ninja looking for me," Kuro begs to Sally, still looking afraid for his life.
"If we do that, then it may be Storm we find," Sally reminds.
Kuro stares at her for a while before groaning and hanging his head. "What the heck am I going to do…you said hiding spots. Tell me the farthest one away from here," Kuro begs, looking pleadingly to Sally.
"Is she really that bad?" Tailsko asks.
"I was in a windowless room, blinded, chained up, and naked. You tell me," Kuro counts off, still angry that he lost his communicator. "Ugh…why did I teach you ion daggers? I should have done the other two," he berates himself before stopping as a shiver runs down his spine, and a bead of cold sweat runs down his back. "Oh no," Kuro practically whispers.
"Would you calm down for once? You are making everyone around you worried," Sally placates.
"No, I now know she is on my trail again," Kuro says, starting to gather stuff up.
"Oh, and how do you know?" Antoine asks.
"You ever get the feeling that your wife there is extremely pissed at you, and yet you are nowhere near her?" Kuro asks.
Bunnie turns an eye towards Antonine as he sweats and looks nervously away. "Um…well…" he tries and dodge while Bunnie leans closer toward him. "Excuse me while I deal with things," he says quickly and runs off.
Bunnie smiles at Kuro and giggles. "And please excuse me while I calm my husband down," she apologizes before walking off towards her runaway husband.
"Yeah, that is how I know she is on my trail, and it's time to move," Kuro says.
"Sally, proximity sensors are back online," Rotor says over the intercom.
"Noted," Sally replies, watching as Kuro packs his stuff before sneakily grabbing a few of Tailsko's tools and materials in a mess. "Do we have any detection?" she asks while Kuro grabs another of Tailsko's things, and Tailsko slaps at his hand harshly, earning him a frown from her as she taps a wrench against her hand.
"If you mean the far one, yes," Kuro screams in fear again when he hears that and rushes around quicker to get more things.
'Oh my lord, he was right,' Tailsko thinks, hearing that.
"Kuro, calm down. There is no guarantee it's Storm herself. If she is on your trail, that could just be one of the ninjas reporting in," Sally says, grabbing Kuro.
Kuro throws her hands off and looks worried at her. "And if she is, it will be the end of me. I doubt it will be just marriage."
"You mean she would sleep with you?" Sally whispers to him, not wanting Tailsko to hear that.
Kuro slowly nods while Sally looks confused. "I know. But the way she is going about it, it might mean I would be stuck back in that room and situation all over again," Kuro whispers back.
"You just got to show you dom…" Sally starts laughing. "Sorry, I couldn't say it with a straight face while knowing this is Storm," Sally says, laughing and holds her sides.
"What's wrong with that?" Kuro demands.
"It's not you…I mean, have you met Storm?" Sally asks.
"What…?" Kuro questions, becoming more annoyed.
"Doing so would only make her pursue you harder," Sally explains.
Kuro becomes very confused at this point and has an indigent look on his face. "What?"
"She hasn't bothered with boyfriends or love in any shape or form," Sally laughs while Kuro's eye twitches.
"So, by beating her and evading her or so long afterward…" Kuro says, starting to lose color.
Sally smirks. "Yep. You played yourself."
"Sally, you have a plan from the sounds of it, so please stop playing with him and tell him what you are thinking," Tailsko says, seeing the shocked and fearful look on Kuro's face.
Sally smiles over to Tailsko. "Simple. We use him as bait," she explains, nodding her head to Kuro, who freaks out more.
"WHY!?" Kuro's yell could be heard throughout the base.
'How was I roped into this?' Kuro wonders as he, Rouge, Vector, and Antonine were in a game of Texas hold 'em.
"Read and weep boys," Rouge giggles while showing her cards, and the rest of them throw theirs onto the table. "And thank you for the kind payments," she says happily while putting the money in her cleavage and boots. "Be happy we are playing at all."
"Yeah, about that, four aces," Kuro informs.
Rouge quickly grabs his hand before digging her other hand around his sleeve before smirking and digs into the lining of his leg shorts to pull out a card. "So, that's what you were leaning back so much."
"Yeah, it's a calling card. You going to try and strip me now to try and find some evidence?" Kuro asks before pulling out a few cards from her boots.
Rouge frowns while the rest of those at the table just groans and facepalms. "Planter."
"Cheat," Kuro accuses.
Espio shakes his head while watching the entire area as he tries to see anything moving in from the outside. Already, most of the base has been evacuated and leaves only these fours in a prominent spot to be found. Kuro was trying to hide it, but Espio could tell he was scared, and knowing he was bait, not hard to see why. Espio had a feeling of any sudden noise, and Kuro would start teleporting.
Kuro sighs while Rouge sets up another game before she freezes in place. "You hear something?" she asks as her ear twitches. Then the hanger door slams close, and Kuro jumps out of his seat.
"Sorry, guys. I will just take all of this as the misses is here," Kuro says, trying to grab the winnings.
"Don't worry. He will be staying permanently," a voice says behind him before he was blindfolded and pinned against the table. "Should have looked around first."
"It's Storm!" Antonine exclaims, drawing his sword.
"Ow…can you please let me go?" Kuro asks miserably.
"You made a big mistake coming here," Vector says before Kuro felt himself being pulled around and then the sounds of a fight starting.
Kuro struggles and tries to work his way out of the bindings. "Come on…oh yeah," he realizes and concentrates hard before feeling himself fall onto hard rock. "Ow…!" he groans and notices his hands freed up before working the blindfold off.
When he looks back near Tailsko's old hanger, he sees Rogue struggling against Storm's neck hold and Vector working around her ninja wire. As for Antonine, he is swiping his sword at any blade or throwing weapons being launched his way.
"Espio," Kuro whispers.
Espio lands next to him, still invisible, and works on getting everything else off of him. "Seems Storm is tougher than we thought," Espio remarks.
"You think," Kuro whispers as Storm avoids Rouge and spins around to hit Vector in the back of the neck with her elbow.
Espio hums. "We have to catch her off guard somehow."
"No," Kuro says, feeling his eyes on him.
"What do you mean, no? We are getting slaughtered here," Espio points out the obvious.
"I 'agreed' to be bait. Not get captured," Kuro whispered.
Espio frowns. "You have to…" he stops when Kuro disappears and blinks away. "Damn. Okay, how to take her down?" he asks himself while getting to another vantage point.
"Hey Storm, looking for me!?" Kuro calls from across the room.
Storm kicks away Rogue into a pile of empty boxes before turning to Kuro. She frowns before taking out a metal chain connected to a large sword at the end. Then she starts to swing it around, making everyone duck when the sword flies by their heads.
"You want me; you got to catch me!" Kuro calls before blinking to the door further into the base, making sure she saw him go there. Storm knew what he was up to. He was making her choose between capturing these three resistance members or chasing him.
Storm screams out and swings one more time to keep the others back before running off after Kuro. Kuro pants as he runs down into the lower levels of the hanger. He then looks behind him and sees Storm using the pillars on the wall to try and get ahead of them by jumping on them. Kuro frowns and blinks forward, landing against a large door and kicks it hard. The thin metal door is flung open before he blinks around the circular area while a large metal grate is above it, showing the outside world as moss and vines hang from the slots with rays of sunlight. As Kuro appears behind a pillar, he takes a deep breath to catch up to the situation. 'Hopefully, Espio would get the hint and get them out of here,' Kuro thinks waiting while he takes a seat.
Kuro then starts to hear popping noise and watch as smoke clouds appear around the area. He groans and sees the smoke begin to cover the entire area. Kuro gets up and walks as quietly as possible to another part of the room through the middle. "Blinding me? You know that doesn't work since last time," he calls out but gets no reply. "Come on, Storm. Talk to me face to face. You know if I were still running, I wouldn't have taken a seat and waited on you," Kuro called out and waited before feeling himself being grabbed in a hold from behind.
Kuro sighs softly and feels the tip of a kunai poke his chest. "Talk quickly, or I will kill you and try to talk to me sweetly, I will still kill you."
"Cut the crap. You aren't going to do that. If you were, you would have given your ninja the order already. Let's be real. You want me for one reason or another—no use denying it. You were chasing me for nearly two months now and made any denial moot. Also, if I were going to escape, I would have already teleported out of here," Kuro informs.
Storm presses the kunai harder against his chest and breaks through the skin with a stream of blood coming out to stain his fur. "Start talking."
"Remove the kunai. I am going to talk either way," Kuro says, and when she didn't, he blinked a foot ahead and turned to face her. "Now, you have made your point on how determined you are. If you want my attention, then how about you earn it? By beating me in what I do," Kuro says.
Storm raises an eyebrow while keeping a grip on her kunai that is dripping blood. "What are you proposing?"
"We can continue this cat and mouse game for a long time, but it is getting tiring. So meet me in a month at Casino Park in hotel Tricore. I will have picked out a challenge for us to steal. You outperform in the heist, and I will be willing to talk about what you want. Lose, and you give me some space for the month. How about it? You up to the challenge?" Kuro challenges.
Storm frowns. "Just a month? Why not forever?"
"You couldn't do that, and we both know it. I am a bit of a realist. So you accept or back to this game of Cat and Mouse?" Kuro asks, getting ready to blink again.
Storm taps her kunai before sighing. "Fine."
"See you in a month. Oh, and the reservation will be under your name. I think Abyss won't mind paying the bill, do you?" Kuro jokes before blinking away before Storm could change her mind.
Storm sighs and looks to her blood-stained kunai. "Right. She will be yelling."