Chapter 7

Ebony was overwhelmed with fury. As she landed just outside the Groovy train, she asked the customers that due to a sudden emergency, the Groovy Train had to close abruptly. Trying her best to smile and place their drinks into takeaway containers, she made sure everyone had left the building. Luckily for her, there weren't many customers at that time, as she closed the shutters over the front of the café. Making sure the coast was clear; she stormed straight into the office, where Super Sonic and the Bat were talking.

She raced straight towards the Bat, but suddenly was caught by the Hedgehog as he tried to calm her down.

"Ebony please!" Super tried to reassure her.

"You better start talking or I'll curse you with an itching spell for a whole month!"

Sighing, the Bat simply looked at them and slumped back against the wall, folding her arms.

"Well, seeing your friend has now compromised everything; guess I don't have a reason to hold back now."

When the Hedgehog offered the chair to her, she sighed once more and took his offer. Still feeling the sting from her wing, she watched her audience get comfortable. The feline continued to stand as her tail flickered from side to side. She was still clearly angry with her. Suddenly she watched the demon go towards her, place his hand in hers and spoke quietly. Rouge couldn't hear as much as he whispered, his back turned away from her. But seeing the feline's tail stop twitching and looking straight at him, she could see the feline was starting to calm. Wonder what he said to her; she watched them both take seats, the feline resting on the office table, while Super Sonic took the other office chair.

"We're listening." Super coldly stated.

Lowering her head down, she simple spoke out to them.

"My name is Rouge. I am a collector by trade and professionally."

"You mean a thief?" Ebony snapped.

"Depends on the client darling. And speaking of clients, my top one was topped by yours truly." She replied, showing her hand straight to Super Sonic.

Ebony looked down confused, till Super sighed and replied.

"You worked for Robotnik."

"Bingo, and honestly, I was a good X-Agent. Able to see some lovely locations, meet some interesting folks. And also, the payment was good as well; if you did the job good that is. So of course, after VR Day and being out of the job, it wasn't going to be long before someone decided to fill in those very big shoes."

Ebony and Super looked at each other with worry.

"So, who's taken over him then?" Super questioned her.

"Beats me. Even when your friend did a mind link with me, she came back fruitless."

"Wait, why would Pyjamas do a mind link on you?" Ebony asked, rising her voice.

That was when Super stood up and reached from behind the desk and pulled out a sharp kitchen knife. The feline stepped back and suddenly her anger grew furiously again.

"You threatened her?!" The feline hissed, trying her very best to keep calm.

"Not my best moment, believe me, but my options were running out. If you simply given me the time stone in the first place, none of this would have happened!" Rouge replied with her hands raised up in defence.

"And what exactly is this time stone?" Ebony asked, looking at the both of them.

Super moved away from the desk as he reached for the shoulder bag nearby. There, the hedgehog pulled out the small stone in his hand. He passed it to Ebony carefully.

"It's able to take someone back or forward in time. But it's unpredictable and I presume any wrong move, could change history for good."

"You've had dealings with this thing?" Rouge suddenly asked, surprised he knew so much.

"Not exactly; Sonic did some years ago. He may be an idiot at times, but he wasn't stupid to mess around with it. Whoever this boss of yours is, he can never have this. Who knows what time they will change? Or how far back they will go?"

"That is not my concern. My only task is to retrieve it to them and I'll be on my merry way."

"So why Omen? Does he work for this new boss as well?" Ebony asked.

"No, he hasn't a clue. I only hired him and his Gorillas for backup. But seems he has his own reason for the stone, most likely money. Look I'm sorry for threatening your friend, I had no intention of hurting her. But if I don't return the stone to the boss, well, lights out for me." Then she went quiet.

Super Sonic could see this was more then those two could imagine. Presuming it was more personal than business, he looked at Ebony for a sign. But the feline was still clearly upset over Pyjamas. Should they trust her?

Suddenly, the phone on the desk started to buzz. Frantically, Ebony turned and looked at the phone.

"It's Pyjamas."

Super stood up and together looked at the screen. They were instructions.

"Meeting point is at the Metropolis docks. Midnight. The stone for the dog. No funny business, so keep your pet under control."

Super tut under his breath, annoyed at being called a pet. The Hedgehog moved away from the desk to approach Rouge.

"If we're going for Pyjamas, you're coming with us."

Sighing, Rouge knew the predicament. And if she tried anything suspicious, Ebony was more then happy to go ahead with her threat. She stood up and simply nodded her head.

"Well, we better make ourselves look presentable. Something tells me this is going to be a rocky night."


30 minutes before Midnight.

Rouge was left with Ebony, as Super Sonic decided to check the parameter. The docks were all closed down for business as the boats swayed in the calm waters. Nothing stirred a sound, with only a few street lamps to brighten their path. They decided to not make a scene and take a longer but private route.

They tried to make a solid plan; the target was Pyjamas. Adjusting the bag pack over the damaged wing, she went through the ideas and plans in her head. She needed that stone, but with Ebony clutching it to her chest, she wasn't easily going to be tricked. Then there was Super Sonic. He was way unpredictable and couldn't read him well as much as his boss. Curse those spiral eyes she thought to herself.

The silence between the two of them was long and awkward, clearly the feline was still hating her. Sitting around and doing nothing wasn't going to make it easy either. The Bat smiled and whispered to her.

"So, what made you turn him into your employee? Surely you know what he's capable off?"

She could feel Ebony getting agitated with the Bat as she kept an eye out on where Super was. But her tone to her was calm and quiet.

"Just because he was made like that, doesn't mean he has to be like that."

"But that power of his, you can literally take down the whole world and make it yours."

"Yeah well, I'm not like your old boss Rouge. How did you even get tied up with him in the first place?"

But as she asked that question, the Bat no longer wanted to talk. The feline looked back at her and stared at her. Rouge simply sighed and continued talking.

"Believe it or not, Robotnik was a fine collector himself. So, I couldn't help but notice a few things he had, that would have looked perfect at my place instead. So, I thought I step in and see if I could get a better look. Unfortunately, as a rookie at the time, I was caught quite easily. So instead of being Roboticized, Robotnik made a deal. I work for him, get the things he needed and I continued to walk around free."

"So, what's so different about this new boss of yours from that big fat moron?"

"They know to keep their cards close to them. Giving as little information as possible except for the orders. And yet, being Roboticized is not their worst punishment for failure." The Bat answered, but couldn't help feeling a cold shudder down her spine.

The feline looked at her with awareness as she studied her, should everything she is telling her, right? Should she trust her in all this?

Suddenly both of them heard feet approaching them. Jolting down to their location, the Hedgehog kneeled to face both of them.

"Place looks pretty quiet. Seems someone has already shot down the security cameras."

"Must be the gorillas. They want no witnesses and police it seems. We better tread carefully then. Shall we get going?" Rouge stated, finally walking away from their hiding spot.

Ebony and Super simply looked at each other and agreed. But then Super stopped as he felt his mobile ringing. Grabbing the phone that was shoved in between his quills, he looked down to see, it was the number of Johnny Lightfoot. What did he want at this time? Worried the tone will unveil their cover, he simply hung up and silenced his phone.

All three of them walked from their hiding spot and headed towards the warehouses. Looking at the GPS on her phone, Ebony found the correct warehouse. Cautiously, they walked inside the huge entrance.

The place itself was in darkness. Scanning for any detection, they could only see the construction work inside. Looking above, there were small windows for moonlight to pass down. On the ceiling of the building, large steel pillars were scattered that were only held up by large warehouse pillars. Down below, there were other small machinery, one large digger and one large ship container. The rest was mainly covered in large white sheets.

Nothing seemed out of the normal, till they saw movement coming their way. All three of them moved in defence, till the moonlight showed the others arrival. Omen moved forward, with his comrades at the back. They had used the large machines to hide their large physiques. Ebony raised her hands in fury as she saw Omen with a smirk on his face; a red aura of magic, dancing around her body as if ready to attack. The Rat simply tut at his rival.

"Now, now, Ebony, I thought you'd be more civilised than this." Omen smirked.

The feline hissed as Super moved forward.

"Where is she?"

"Ah your friend? Well, she's right there." The sorcerer smiled, waving his hand behind him.

Super tilted his head behind the group and saw in the distance one stream of moonlight from above. There, with her hands bounded and wrapped in countless rope was Pyjamas.

"You ok back there?" Super shouted.

"Smashing." The Dog joked as she tried to lift her hands up to them to give thumbs up.

At least she was able to talk. Feeling more relieved, Super went back to the job in hand.

"Do you have any idea what the time stone can do?"

"Frankly, I don't care. Now as we agreed, the Stone for the Dog. Or your friend will be making her last joke tonight." Omen snared, rising his hand, ready to click his fingers.

Super had no idea what he had installed with his own magic and honestly, he wanted to avoid that at all costs. Sighing, he looked towards his friend and nodded.

Sighing, Ebony pulled out the Stone in her hand. Rouge and Super watched as the feline used her magic to levitate the artefact, watching Omen doing the same. There in the air, both magic entwined and coiled with one another, with the feline looking quite disgusted. There all of them watched as the stone swayed and flew towards Omen.

None of this felt right but what option did they have?

But then suddenly a metal clang was heard from above. Everyone looked up and in an eruption of clang and metal bangs, they just saw someone jump out of the way as the large metal pillars came crashing down towards them. Shouting out, Super dashed backwards and grabbed Ebony and Rouge. The magic had been broken and the Stone was quickly returned back in Ebony's hands. The other team jumped back from the debris as an explosion of dust and debris overfilled the warehouse.

"PYJAMAS!" Ebony cried out.

All three of them covered their heads, trying to look around. In the mass industrial mess, the Dog was nowhere to be found. But they had bigger problems as Omen and the Gorillas targeted Super Sonic, Ebony and Rouge with their magic and weapons.

"Boys! Time for Plan B. DESTROY THEM AND BRING ME THAT STONE!"

TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT CHAPTER "Time Wrap"