Kat let Eric’s words sink in for a very long minute. He had a very good point, Ryan’s men had no idea who Tony was or what he looked like. It was slightly worrying, she’d admit, but perhaps it wasn’t as big of an obstacle they were making it out to be. That had gone this long without him on their trail, and this was a huge city, he wasn’t going to find them right away. For the time being perhaps they shouldn’t worry about it too much.<br/><br/>On the other hand, it was still something to consider.<br/><br/>“If we’re going to rest,” said Ryan, making her feel a bit relieved “we’ll need to relocate. This isn’t a part of town you want to stay in one place for too long, it’s risky.” Everything about his posture, despite his obvious fatigue, was tense and ready for action. He looked around the warehouse as if expecting someone to jump out at them from the shadows. It wouldn’t have surprised Kat if something did jump out at them all of a sudden.<br/><br/>Kat nodded slowly, knowing that he had a good point, “I agree, but how long do we need to keep moving? I have to be honest here… I don’t know how much longer I can keep moving. As Eric’s pointed out, we’re at our limits.” Yet Ryan still seemed to have a bit of energy. Was this just something he had picked up from living in the streets, or were they really in that much danger? It would be a lot easier to put two and two together if she wasn’t so damn tired. She put the thought aside and added, “Do you know of any place we can go from here, Ryan?”<br/><br/>“As a matter of fact, as long as you’re up for another short hike, I do.”<br/><br/>“I can push through as long as it takes…”<br/><br/>“I figured you would; you’re a strong woman,” Ryan smirked a little. It was hard to tell whether he was being sincere or sarcastic, but that was neither here nor there at this time. “Now, I do have an idea of how to get to a better location. It’s pretty dangerous though.”<br/><br/>Kat felt insulted. Hadn’t the three of them already been through hell today? “That’s fine, just tell us how to get there,” she kept her tone neutral to prevent anything from happening, but there was still a bit of an edge there. Patience, already worn thin, was now beginning to diminish completely due to exhaustion. “Whatever obstacles decide to show up, we’ll deal with accordingly. Though I think it’s better that we don’t think of that now.”<br/><br/>“Of course, dear Kat, my apologies,” Ryan paused and looked around again. He walked to an area closer to the back, where there were some barrels lined up. “This place is still as it was left years ago… interesting…” he crouched down and ran a hand over the barrels. When he faced the two again, he added, “Alright, it looks like we can go through here. A few guys and I use to hang around here all the time. Those guys… you could say the authorities have them locked up somewhere. I managed to slip away, fortunately. I’m surprised this passage is still here.”<br/><br/>“Passage? Where does it go?”<br/><br/>“To somewhere we called the ‘hideout’.”<br/><br/>“How do you know that your ‘hideout’ won’t be claimed by someone else by now?”<br/><br/>Ryan just grinned, and turned his attention to Eric, “It’ll be at least ten minutes before we reach the hideout. We should be safe there, I can guarantee it.”<br/><br/>------------------------------------------<br/><br/>“Yeah, sure, I can get a clear picture from that. I’ll be sure to pick up the pace.” Tony decided not to grace her highness with anymore than that and switched off the comm. There simply was no need for that, actions spoke louder than words after all. His mind was too focused on thinking about what was about to go down, something that was very uncomfortable. He has was a typical grunt who has been through a lot, hardly anything phased him, but some of the things he has seen… he did not want to relive.<br/><br/>This had better be fucking worth it, he thought to himself.<br/><br/>“Tony!”<br/><br/>Tony turned around to see a small group of men approaching him. “I was hoping you’d turn up,” he said to them grinning a little. “Boy, do I have some news for you.” He tried to appear confident but the truth was these people scared the hell out of him. He wasn’t sure what they had in mind, and didn’t want to know either. However, whatever it was, he was sure it didn’t compared to what was about to go down very soon.<br/><br/>“Whatever it is, it had better be good,” The lead man said. “You should have checked in with us an hour ago. What the fuck happened?” He folded his arms over his chest and eyed Tony carefully. Intimidating barely scratched the surface when it came to this man’s appearance. He looked like a thug, but Tony knew better than to assume that he was nothing more. This man was dangerous. Very, very dangerous.<br/><br/>“I got caught up with some other business.”<br/><br/>“Oh yeah? What kind of ‘other business?’”<br/><br/>Tony ran a hand over his face, “I can’t talk about it right now… I’ve got to finish up with that ‘other business’. I’ll catch up to you once I’m finished,” he said, and then hurried away. That did not go over well with the group at all, he had a feeling it wouldn’t. It was crucial that he stayed on the good side of these people. However, he had to appease the princess and the others as well. Not only that, he had to see if he could win Kat over and then figure out how she and her partner got so damned close.<br/><br/>This job was becoming more and more of a hassle. But, he had been promised good money for this, otherwise he wouldn’t have accepted. Hopefully that man was a man of his word…