There was a pair of shoes to match but not a pair of socks. Rosen wasn't all that good at this sort of thing.

Long kept looking, but, when there was no match to be found, he did the best with what he had and tucked a short pair of socks into the shoes.

Rosen yawned again, "I mean... if you really miss being a bodyguard so much," he stated with a smirk, "you can be mine!"

Long blinked, not getting why Rosen would need a bodyguard.

"You know, if I'm ever in danger or something," Rosen explained as he closed his eyes, "you'd fly in and save me."

Long blinked blankly. Clearly Rosen had an unrealistic idea of what a body guard was.

It looked like Rosen was drifting off, "Fly in and... beat the bad guy up..." he muttered, "and then we'd..." he turned over onto his side with a yawn, "fly... off."

Long sighed a little, but let Rosen doze off as he got ready to continue about his routine.

Over the next couple days, Nic followed Kale's trail. A few times, it seemed to vanish but after looking closer, Nic always found a tiny clue. Eventually, Nic was led right to a small island right across a channel from a larger island. It looked like Kale was near the channel but it wasn't clear on which side. The smaller island was a hub of activity. It looked like some sort of military base though it had no defining marks.

Nic took extra care to learn everything he could before reporting back safely.

Before Nic could report back he would notice the hovercraft from the base in the air. Getting a signal out without traveling back a ways would be risky which was probably why Kale hadn't reported back in awhile.

Nic took some time to study the hovercraft before adapting a workaround to the transmission. It was very low quality, but it would go undetected.

A little while after he sent the transmission, he received an even lower quality one from across the canal. The transmission barely reached Nic and wouldn't go much farther. It didn't even carry words but it seemed that Kale was on the other side.

So after some time had passed, Nic sent one more transmission back to Wolfe that simply said he had made contact with Kale and was going to cease all communication for an extended period of time.

Nic learns that Kale is trapped in a sticky situation. He's not captured but in essence, trapped where he's hiding out. He's definitely going to need Nic's help getting out without being spotted.

--

"So... you're sure you want this?" James asked Yue one final time. Tulip grunted and rolled her eyes as she readied her equipment to remove his necklace.

Yue pushed James' head back against the chair so Tulip could get at the choker better. "You sure you don't want to be knocked out while Tulip gets it off?" she asked. Since Tulip was a girl.

James shook his head and Tulip laughed. As she got within the set range, the shocks started and James bit down on his lip. Tulip paused a second too long as she watched James in amusement before reaching down and in one snap, cut the collar off of him. It zapped one more time, leaving a burn mark where the edge had touched his skin but then it fell off and Tulip picked it up, "My wonderful piece of work..." she sighed.

Yue sighed and grabbed some burn gel, gently putting some on the burn marks with her fingers.

James couldn't help but wince when she touched the burns.

Yue was gentle, but she made sure all the burns were treated.

James kept his gaze on Yue as she worked on his neck, "... You're worth it," he told her quietly.

Tulip gaged a little, "Let me get out of here before you start all this mushy stuff!" she spat, heading for the door.

Yue ignored Tulip as she leaned down and kissed James' lips lightly. "... I know you are, but what am I?" she asked, a slight tease in her voice.

James chuckled a little, "Nice to see you didn't lose your spark," he noted, leaning up to kiss her nose.

"... I still managed to burn you..." she replied quietly, putting her hand near his neck, but not touching him.

"I burned myself," he corrected, taking her hand in his.

Yue kissed James' hand lightly before moving up his arm and kissing the scar on it. Yeah, everything was going to be okay.

"I must be a sadist," he noted, looking the scar with a chuckle.

"Hmm, but you're my sadist," Yue noted, rubbing his hand a little.

James sighed a little, "I'm yours alright," he agreed.

Yue slapped his arm a little before kissing his hand again.

James smiled at Yue before moving to sit up with a grunt.

Yue let James get up on his own, still holding his hand which didn't make it any easier.

So James floundered for a moment before managing to sit up. "Did we miss the sunset?" he asked quietly after a moment.

"... I don't know," Yue admitted.

"Let's go check," he murmured near her ear before nuzzling her neck.

Yue let James linger for awhile before stepping away and pulling him up with a smile.

James seemed to drink in her smile, at this moment he'd follow her anywhere.

Yue dragged him outside to check on the sunset.

It was noon. James blinked at the blinding sun. "Guess we're early..." he murmured, a little amused.

Yue blinked up at the sky. "... Huh..." she muttered. The day had felt a lot longer.