A/N: Okay. This is gonna be the last chappie for a while, I'm going away for five weeks. I'll be online now and then, but I won't be doing any writing. Oh well, I'm still going after 45 chapters! Yaay!
A quick disposal job was all that was required of them to despatch the few guards left to deal with them. Before the last one even hit the floor, the pair of them ran after their target.
"Fast little bastard, isn't he?" Amy yelled, slightly unnecessarily, but definitely being heard clearly.
"Crocodiles can run pretty fast…" Espio called back, struggling to keep up with her. The tunnel entered a cavern with a massive fortified wall; armed to the teeth with impressive looking artillery, but not a soul in sight.
"In a straight line…" She grinned as she saw Vector in a mild panic at the base of the wall, with nowhere to run.
"AH!" He called out, surprised. "You… you… looking for something?" He held up the piece of the emerald, trying to think of a way to escape.
"Hand it over before we make crocodile stew out of you!" Amy threatened, pointing an outstretched (and somewhat bloodstained) katana at him.
"Try me!" He shouted back defiantly. He turned and hurled the emerald as high as he could, before running another way, in an attempt to split them.
"I'll take the emerald, you go after Vector!" Amy barked at Espio.
"No! That's what he wants us to do!"
"Then what do you suggest we do!?"
"Both go after the emerald!" He dashed towards the wall and started to climb. Amy followed quickly. The emerald had landed neatly on the top of the wall. Espio was the superior climber, but he kept at Amy's pace. At the top, she snapped out and grabbed the emerald quickly, not wasting any time on drama.
"Let's go! We've got the emerald!" Amy was eager to leave before anything else happened.
"No… wait. Something's not right." Espio stood and looked around for a few seconds. The cavern was silent. Almost silent… a faint rumbling slowly rose in volume until it became very apparent that Vector was not about to let the emerald slip away so easily. All they could do was watch as a large vehicle, somewhere between a drilling machine and a tank, burst through the cave wall and blocked their only route of escape, barring the small hole in the ceiling a hundred feet in the air that provided the only light source in the dank, musty cave.
"Well, well… two trapped rats and a gemstone…" He grinned as he popped up from the hatch on the top, his extraneous sunglasses hanging from his fingers. Suddenly, his mood turned from playful to serious. "Hand it over!"
"Never!" Amy cried out defiantly, discarding caution for passion.
"Looks like we're doing this the hard way…" Vector popped back down into the tank and started moving the turrets around. Amy's and Espio's eyes simultaneously widened when they saw the shell barrelling towards them. With a quick acrobatic manoeuvre, the shell slammed into the wall behind them, harmlessly chucking dust into the air.
"Hmm… distract him!" Amy yelled out to Espio. He nodded, knowing what she would probably try now. He leapt up in the air and started darting from surface to surface, drawing his fire. Amy all but disappeared, hiding behind the rubble and fortifications. "Okay baby," She whispered to herself, examining the emerald. "Let's see what you can do…" She clasped the emerald shard close to her chest, embracing its power. It appeared to do nothing for a few seconds, but then the warm energy hit her like a hard punch to the stomach. The rubble she was hiding behind backed away through some invisible force, and she felt herself rise up in the air. She let go of herself, embracing the rush. It felt almost sexual… but better. The feeling intensified, and she wanted to moan out loud… but she couldn't. It escalated until it was almost at a peak, but then everything snapped back into place and she hit reality with a smack. Here she was, back in the gritty underground fort. Her stolen black leather jacket had disappeared, replaced by some red, leathery, almost scaly garment, sleeveless and going down to her ankles. Her runners had been replaced with tough boots of the same material, and she had cuffs of the same again. She ran her tongue around her mouth. She felt those pronounced canines she had had earlier, only longer now. Her two most trusted weapons were still present; katana in right hand, hammer in left. She held the former up to check something – she observed her reflection in the shiny metal. Two, great, scaly wings, several feet in span protruded from her back. She gave them a little flap and smiled, noting their strength.
Leaving the emerald hidden, she burst forth from her hiding place, making Vector jump in his seat. She leapt forth into the air and flapped the massive wings to keep herself airborne. Inside the tank, the tracksuited crocodile began to panic. Shit… he warned me about this. I'm fish food now… Sure enough, Amy landed with a thud on the roof of the metallic behemoth. She smacked the lid a few times with her hammer, knocking it away like a piece of litter. Vector looked up at her, with her devilish grin, massive fangs showing clearly, and a glint on her weapons that made them look all the deadlier.
"Fu…" Was all he could manage before eighteen inches of smooth, curved steel slid through his skull, causing it to buckle and spill its contents violently. She flinched as a few flecks of blood splattered on to her face. She licked her lips and pulled a face.
"Ech… reptiles. Not tasty," She spat teasingly. She dropped into the cockpit and examined the corpse, still twitching slightly. "Better make sure you don't come back again…" She said dutifully to herself, before taking the sword in both hands and slicing the body into the finest pieces possible.
Espio watched the whole affair from a distance curiously, keeping his distance after seeing a few drops of blood spray from the opening. After a few tense minutes, her head popped up through the opening, splattered liberally with blood.
"You don't wanna go down there." She advised wisely. Espio nodded.
Meanwhile back at the club, Rouge was walking all over everyone. Blade kept the unarmed witnesses in check, scaring them occasionally with a dirty glance. Rouge would find somebody who wasn't quite dead yet, put a firm boot to their neck, look them in the eye and say something sarcastic and teasing to them before giving them a shove, or a kick for the 'cheeky' ones. When nobody stirred for a full five minutes she began to grow bored.
"I'm gonna see what the gruesome twosome have been up to. Kay?" She said, not expecting any kind of response. She looked over her shoulder briefly, a cursory glance into the room, and she caught Blade staring at her leather-clad behind. She smiled a little. "You like what you see?" She gave him a little wiggle to tease him. He licked his lips, maintaining his gaze. She carried on walking in a slightly more teasing manner than before. She wandered off in a clearly different direction to that which Amy and Espio had gone. Blade followed with gusto.