Black Rose

Ch.11 Buggin' Out

After Sly and Rae came back from their recon, they gave Bentley the chips to their binocucoms, piecing all the photos together to help form a plan. He had also found out that Rajan was using the elephant satellite to track what they were doing, which was a big problem, so he would have Sly gather some special spice plants to then put in the elephant's food bag. Once the elephant ate the spices, it would go into a rampage, therefore, destroying the satellite dish. Now Rae on the other had, she would have to bug Rajan's office, only there was a catch, one she particularly wasn't about to enjoy...

"Excuse me? I have to what now?"

"Bug Rajan's office." Bentley answered.

"Wearing that godforsaken outfit after the hell I just went through?"

"Rae, I know you don't like it, but we need you to bug his office because there is a very small window for Sly to do it but most likely won't be able to make it in time. You just have to this one mission in the outfit, the after this, you'll never have to wear it again, I promise."

Rae have a shirt growl, but placed her hands on the table as she leaned towards Bentley. "You owe me big time for this, turtle." She said, pushing his forehead with her finger before walking toward her room.

"Good luck."

"Oh, shut it, you oversized calculator..." She hissed, going into her room.

Rae closed the door before going over to the bed. She reached into a drawer and took out the outfit, staring at it for a long moment before growling, throwing it on the bed. Rae walked into her bathroom and slammed her hands on either side of the sink. She turned the water on and let it fill up before finally looking up at her reflection, turning the faucet off when the sink was full. An image of herself in that outfit flashed on the mirror before another of her forcing a kiss onto the tiger so he wouldn't see the wings being taken. "Ugh!?" She gasped, splashing water onto the mirror. When she looked back up, all Rae saw were her reflection behind the falling droplets of water as she panted softly.

Rajan... He's nothing but a cruel and heartless animal... But now... How do they expect me to do this? Rae clenched her hands into fists, looking away from her reflection in the mirror. After all he's done to me, and what I forced myself to do just so he wouldn't see Murray take the wings, how do they expect me to face him? How do they expect me to get over my fear of him?

Rae sighed, letting the water out and she went back into her room, when she heard the door open, glancing up to see the raccoon. "What do you want, Sly...?"

"I know you're angry--"

"--Angry? No... It's not so much anger as something else..."

"Look, I know you don't want to do this, I don't want you to either, but you have to. You won't be in there long, just subdue him for a few minutes so you can plant the bug then get out of there. I won't be too far off waiting for you..."

"Even so, it's just..." The fox swallowed hard. "How do I face him without my doubts and fears getting in the way?"

Sly sighed. "I know you're still a little shaken up about what happened earlier, and I know how much this hurts you to do, but you're stronger than you give yourself credit for, Rae, you just have to use it." He said. "It may be scary, but sometimes we all have to do things we don't want to, and that includes facing our fears."

Rae sighed this time, rubbing the back of her neck. "Yeah, you're right..." She said before lifting her gaze. "Fine, I'll do it, but Bentley owes me big time for sticking my neck out."

The raccoon grinned. "That's my fox."

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Rae walked out of her room in her dancer's outfit, her white cloth hiding her nose and mouth. "Great. Now that you're changed, take this." Bentley handed Rae a small device. "When you get to Rajan's office, press the button on top and place it under his desk where he won't be able to find it easily. And Sly, the spice plants you're looking for are high up in the canopies of the tree; you're looking for about six to eight of them; your binocucoms should tell you how many to gather."